9 10 250 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CORRESPONDENCE Between the Buckingham Female A.S. Society, and the Female A.S. Society of Philadelphia Description An account of the resource CORRESPONDENCE Between the Buckingham Female A.S. Society, and the Female A.S. Society of Philadelphia. Buckingham. 4th of 8th mo. 1837. RESPECTED FRIENDS: At a late meeting of the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Buckingham, a renewed interest was manifested respecting the use of free produce; and after much animated discussion on this important subject, it was unanimously agreed to address some inquiries to your Society, in relation to this concern. We are not apprised to what extent the use of articles procured by free labor has attained; but, judging from the high price, and indifferent quality, of many kinds that we have seen, it appears very evident to us, that the demand for them must be very limited. And yet if the members of Anti-Slavery Societies are true to their principles, we should be led to suppose that there could be few who do not abstain from the product of slave labor, in many articles in daily use. We believe that the practice of abstaining from such articles, and encouraging those which are the result of compensated labor, is not only among the imperious duties of every abolitionist, but that a neglect of it will justly subject abolitionists to the charge of inconsistency, and disqualify them for efficiently promulgating their principles. These positions, we believe, are so clear, that they require no illustration nor confirmation. We also entertain a belief that such a practice as the one alluded to, would be among the most available and powerful means of promoting the great cause of emancipation. A recurrence to the progress of this reformation will show that there are not about 1100 Anti-Slavery Societies in the United States, embracing at least 100,000 members; now if these Societies would individually, as well as collectively, use their influence to encourage the labor of free men, to the exclusion of that of slaves, can any one doubt that such influence would have a most salutary effect in promoting a market for free produce, and of course increase the supply to an indefinite extent? We wish to confer with you on this point, and inquire whether, in your opinion, more effectual means should not be employed to draw the attention of abolitionists to this subject? We the more readily solicit information, having understood that several of your members were, in years past, practically concerned in promoting this particular branch of your labors. We are aware that the results of your efforts were embodied in your reports, but these were made at a time when little attention was given to the cause in which you were engaged. We think such an exposition might satisfy many doubts relative to the practicability of obtaining free articles. I will, therefore, on behalf of our Society propound a few interrogatories. 1st. From what parts of the world are free groceries obtained? The same question in relation to the raw materials of which cotton fabrics are manufactured. And how may satisfactory information be obtained in regard to the sources from which the articles are respectively obtained? 2nd. If any Anti-Slavery Society should be a free produce association, would not such encouragement give an impulse to the market for free goods, that would eventually, if followed up, insure a triumph to free labor? 3rd. Would it not be advisable for abolitionists to patronize associations formed for the purpose of encouraging the importation and manufacture of free products? Answers to all or any one of the above questions, would be thankfully received. On behalf of our Association, MARY JOHNSON. REPLY Philadelphia, September 12th, 1827. RESPECTED FRIENDS: Absence from home during the last few weeks, has occasioned my delay in answering your letter of August 4th. Its subject is one of importance, and should interest far more deeply than it does, abolitionists generally. We rejoice that you are considering it seriously, and trust that the influence of your example will be extensively felt. Surely they who declare it to be a heinous crime to drive the slave to his unwilling and unremunerated toil, and are rebuking in thunder tones the perpetrators of such sin, should take heed that they, in deed as well as in word, "despise the gain of oppression," and see to it that their tables are not spread "by unrighteousness," and their bodies clothed "by wrong." Yet it is a lamentable fact that many abolitionists will purchase the products of the slave's unrequited labor, thus hiring the oppressor to continue in the commission of sin, from which they are, at the same time, solemnly warning him to desist. Such inconsistency the slaveholder easily detects, and in reply to our arguments and reproofs, eagerly and triumphantly asks: "Are you not fed and clothed by the labor of slaves?" Well will it be for the cause of freedom, when our one hundred thousand abolitionists can answer, NO. We agree with you respecting the importance of calling the attention of Anti-Slavery Societies to this subject, and perhaps we cannot speak more loudly and effectually than by our example. A Free Produce Society has existed in this city for many years, which has imported large quantities of free cotton from St. Domingo and the Southern States. It is, however, a distinct organization from our Anti-Slavery Society. In reply to your inquiries we can inform you, that free groceries are imported from the islands of Antigua, Bermuda, and St. Domingo, from Siam, Batavia, Java, Canton, and perhaps other parts of East India. Indigo may be obtained from Bengal, Mexico, and St. Domingo,--figs from Turkey,--oranges, lemons, and other foreign fruits from the Mediterranean. Most of the free cotton used in this country, is probably imported from St. Domingo, which is able to supply a larger than the present demand. It may also be ob-from the East Indies. Respecting satisfactory information in regard to the sources from which particular articles are obtained, it is necessary to confide, in some measure, in the testimony of the merchants who import them. In reply to your second inquiry, "If any Anti-Slavery Society should be a free produce association," would it not "give an impulse to the market for free goods, that would eventually, if followed up, insure a triumph to free labor?" No doubt a large demand for the produce of free labor, whether from an Anti-Slavery Society, or any other source, would increase the supply; and when such demand becomes greater than that for slave produce, free labor will triumph. But probably before that time can arrive slavery will be abolished by other and more powerful means, and while we would carefully abstain from the use of slave produce, such abstinence should, perhaps, be regarded as a simple duty, which consistency with our principles requires, and as an evidence of our sincerity, rather than as a weapon wielded for the overthrow of oppression. If it may be, we would that this warfare should have entirely a moral aspect, and we would rather win the slaveholder with arguments addressed to his heart, and his conscience, than by appeals to his pecuniary interests. If he understands that our reason for abstaining from his fruits of the plantation, is simply because we cannot conscientiously use them, he will respect our consistency; the slight self-denial will afford him some evidence of our sincerity, and he may be thus inclined to listen with candor to arguments, from which he would angrily turn away, if he supposed that we were attempting to compel him to emancipate his slaves, by making their labor unprofitable. In reply to your third inquiry;--we think it is "advisable for abolitionists to patronize associations formed for the purpose of encouraging the importation and manufacture of free produce." Better than to resolve themselves into such associations, which would seem to be making that an end and aim, which is only a collateral and incidental duty. We shall be happy at any time to receive communications from you, respecting this or any other subject relevant to our work, and wish you abundant prosperity in every department of your labor. In behalf of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. MARY GREW, Cor. Sec. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mary Johnson, Mary Grew Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Genius of Universal Emancipation 1:2, p. 91 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10.1837 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource PRODUCE OF FREE LABOR. CIRCULAR.: To the Farmers, Planters, Merchants, and others, in the United States and elsewhere. Description An account of the resource The system of slavery, as it exists at present, particularly on the American continent and islands, has produced much uneasiness and deep concern among the philanthropists of our time. It is very evident that the evil resulting from it is increasing steadily, and in an alarming degree. It is also susceptible of the clearest demonstration that, unless something be done speedily to arrest the progress of this evil, those sections of country wherein it prevails are destined to witness the most direful calamities; for all experience teaches us that, if the course at present pursued be long preserved in, that must, in the nature of things, be the inevitable consequence. Much has been said by persons who have the welfare of mankind at heart, to awaken the public attention, and exercise the public mind upon this subject. Many plans have been proposed with the view of totally abolishing the slave system, as the only means of preventing a state of things that must destroy the peace and prosperity of the nations, in which it is tolerated. But the advocates of this measure have difficulties of the most imposing kind to encounter at every step. The habits and prejudices contracted in several centuries, and all the calculations of avarice and self-interest (however blind, mistaken, and erroneous they may be,) are arrayed before them, and present obstacles altogether insurmountable. Many are convinced that free labor is, invariably, more profitable than that of slaves: and when this shall be fairly proven, an important point will be gained. For this reason and from motives of a conscientious nature, many have resolved to abstain from using the productions of slave-labor, and encourage those who may produce the staple commodities of slaveholding countries by free hands. Although much good has been done by the friends of humanity for a portion of our fellow-men, who have had unjustly to drink of the bitter cup of slavery, still much more remains to be done. There are, at this time, several millions of human beings, in our own and other countries, who are held in bondage, and must continue to groan under the tyrant's yoke, while the hopeless sign for liberty is heaved in vain, unless the philanthropic and the truly conscientious shall put forth their peaceful, but effective energies, in their behalf. While the love of money prevails over that of justice and humanity, but little can be hoped for through the medium of argument. While we continue to purchas and consume the labor of slaves, the cupidity of their owners will be nourished, and their chains more firmly rivetted. In order, therefore, to lessen the inducements for the continuance of this unhallowed practice; first, by aiding the philanthropic in effecting their wishes, as aforesaid, whereby the attention of many more may be drawn towards the subject; and secondly, by assisting to facilitate the making of experiments that may have a tendency to throw light upon it; we, the undersigned, have opened a mercantile house in the city of Baltimore, for the purchase and sale, on commission, of the products of free labor in general, (particularly article in the grocery line,) with the excption of spiritous liquors. The business of the firm will be transacted in the name of M. LAMB & LUNDY: and from the arrangements which we have made, and are making, together with a studied and careful attention to the orders of our friends and the promotion of their interests, we hope to be able to give general satisfaction. We shall strictly confine our dealings to commodities which are the production of free labor, as aforesaid, and shall endeavor to keep constantly on hand a general assortment of articles of that description, to dispose of by wholesale or retail. Farmers, Planters, and Merchants, in the United States and elsewhere, who may be disposed to make consignments to our care, may depend on having their business promptly and faithfully transacted.--And all, willing to patronize such an establishment, are hereby assured that the utmost care will be taken to guard against deception in the articles offered by us for sale. Having taken a commodious ware-house in a central part of the city, and being determined to use every exertion to accommodate such as may favor us with their custom, we shall confidently look forward with the hope of success in our undertaking. Persons at a distance, who may desire to correspond with us on business of a commercial nature, will please direct their communications to M. LAMB & LUNDY, No. 61. South Calvert Street, Baltimore. MICHAEL LAMB BENJAMIN LUNDY Baltimore, 8th mo. 5th, 1826. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael Lamb and Benjamin Lundy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Genius of Universal Emancipation 1:49, p. 388 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 8.5.1826 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A COMPARISON: BETWEEN FREE LABOR AND SLAVE LABOR Description An account of the resource The slave is bought, sometimes at a very high price; in free labor there is no such investment of capital. The slave does not care how slowly or carelessly he works; it is the freeman's interest to do his business well and quickly. The slave is indifferent how many tools he spoils; the freeman has a motive to be careful. The freeman will be honest for reputation's sake; but a slave has no care for reputation, while his poverty and sense of wrong both urge him to steal from his master. A salary must be paid to an overseer to compel the slave to work; the freeman is impelled by the desire of increasing the comforts of himself and family. Mrs. Child. Whenever the option exists to employ, at an equal hire, free or slave labor, the former will be decidedly preferred. It is more capable, more diligent, more faithful, and in every respect more worthy of confidence. It is believed that no where in the farming portion of the U.S. would slave labor be generally employed, if the proprietors were not tempted to raise slaves by the high price of the southern market, which keeps it up in his own.--Henry Clay The labor of a West India slave costs about thrice as much as it would if executed by a free man. Dr. Anderson. A West India planter found by experiment that six slaves, stimulated by the offer of a premium, did more work in the same time, than eighteen who were driven by the lash.--Hodgson. The mind of a slave, while a slave, is like a watch without its main-spring. You may take hold of its hands by direct physical force and move them round, but you cannot make them go alone. Th self-moving power is gone. But make that slave a freeman, restore his long-lost, but inalienable right, and by that single act, you have put the main-spring back again. --Phelps Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mrs. Child (Lydia Maria Child), Henry Clay, Dr. Anderson, Hodgson, Phelps Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Religious Intelligencer...Containing the Principal Transactions of the Various Bible and Missionary Societies, with Particular Accounts of Revivals of Religion 20:36, p. 566 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2.6.1836 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Who wants Sugar at such a cost? Description An account of the resource In an article in the Baton Rouge Gazette, a Louisiana paper, headed "Sugar vs. Cotton," published in 1839, and intended to urge the more extensiv cultivation of sugar in that state, is the following remark:--"The rigorous measures about to be enforced against the African slave-trade, will probably enhance the price of slaves in the Spanish Islands, and diminish the amount of sugar annually made. The natural increase of the slaves in Cuba falls short of the demand, on account of the excessive hard labour to which they are subjected; the men being worked during eight months of the year, twenty hours out of the twenty-four, and consequently short lived. Every thing then seems to be in favour of the sugar planter, and bids him take courage!" I doublted the extent of the atrocious oppression in Cuba, indicated in this cold argument, until I met with R.R. Madden's poem, called "The Sugar Estate." Dr. Madden had abundant facilities for informing himself of Cuban slavery; and his name is high authority for whatever he asserts regarding it. The doctor makes the mayoral, or overseer of a sugar estate, to say:-- "But where, you ask me, are the poor old slaves? Where should they be, of course, but in their graves? We do not send them there before their time, But let them die, when they are past their prime. Men who are worked by night as well as day, Some how or other, live not to be grey; Sink from exhaustion---sicken--droop, and die, And leave the Count another batch to buy; There's stock abundant in the slave bazaars, Thanks to the banner of the stripes and stars! You cannot think how soon the want of sleep Breaks down their strengths, 'tis well they are so cheap! Four hours of rest in time of crop--for five Or six long months, and few indeed will thrive. With twenty hours of unremitting toil, Twelve in the field, and eight in doors, to boil Or grind the cane--believe me, few grow old. But life is cheap, and sugar, sir,--is gold. You think our interest is to use our blacks As careful owners use their costly backs; Our interest is to make the most we can, Of every negro in the shortest span!" Dr. Madden gives it as his opinion, that on sugar estates the annual mortality is about ten per cent., and on coffee estates five per cent. After this statement "That tells a tale of murder largely done," who wants to buy Havana sugar? The superintendent of the free negroes of Trinidad, persons who, during the American revolution, had escaped from bondage into the British service, and were colonized there, gave evidence to the British Parliament, more than twenty years since, as follows:--"I do not think that sugar estates could be carried on entirely by free labour, in the manner the work is done at present; making large quantities of work in a given time; in many instances, working eighteen hours out of twenty-four, which constant labour the free settler will not submit to." Happily British West India slavery has now ceased, and with it this oppressive labour. The motive which induces the holding of slaves is every where the same--the desire of wrongful gain to the holder--wrongful as taking from the holden their moral and natural rights. Under this motive, the question of how much labour may be exacted from the slave, without prejudice to his human existence, will soon degenerate into one of how much that life is worth, not to the man--but to the holder of him, and not to him in its moral, but in its productive aspects! This is the evident result of the downward tendency of a bad commencement. Hence we are not to look any where for a very different condition of the slave in similar subjects of culture, and with the spur to the extortion of labour, which commercial competition furnishes. The "law of trade" is but followed out, when men, coming to regard their fellow-beings as mere chattels, so "use them up," as to get out of them the greatest possible amount of production. It belongs especially to the coerced sugar cultivation to be prodigal of human life,--every where prodigal, yet with such variations of amount us the cost of the human implement, and other adventitious circumstancs may demand. Do we expect a system of sugar cultivation in our Southern country by slave-labour, which shall be essentially more benignant than that which we find is exerted elsewhere? Are our planters more humane than those of Cuba, Brazil, and other foreign places where slave-sugar is produced? What says for their clemency, the burning of negroes alive, and the protection given by the public sentiment, and even the courts of justice, to the perpetrators of such horrid tragedies? We err, if we expect to separate from the American system the evils which belong to universal slavery. What the true facts are of the sugar cultivation in Louisiana, the state in which it most abounds, in reference to the abridgment of human life, is stated below in the language of David Lee Child. "In 1831, the Secretary of the Treasury made a report to the House of Representatives, embracing the statements of a great number of sugar planters of Louisiana and other states, concerning the expenses and profits of their business. There was a statement by the central committee of the sugar planters of Louisiana; one by a committee of the parish [county] of Plaquemine, containing an immense table of the expenditures and products of twenty plantations in that parish; one from the Agricultural Society of Baton Rouge, and several from individuals, including J.S. Johnston, then a senator from Louisiana in the Congress of the United States. All these, with the exception of the Baton Rouge Society, set down the annual loss of slave-property, on the sugar plantations, at five per cent. That society says, "two and a half" per cent.; but this answer, in form, relates to "slave property," in general, and is not confined to the sugar estates. On the other hand, I have been informed that some sugar planters have admitted, that they "use up" seven per cent. of their hands every year. The loss to which I refer, is placed in the Secretary's report, and in the communications from Louisiana, under the heads of "risk," "decreased value," "death," and "deterioration." The chasms thus made are to be filled up with new cargoes, and c[?] from Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, &c. In order to appreciate and apply these admissions of the adversary, it is necessary to consider that the annual increase of the population of the United States is about four per cent.--in other words, the vacancies caused by death are supplied, and four per cent. net gain is added; therefore, on the sugar plantations of the South, a positive loss of "five per cent." must be added to the negative loss of four, making an outright waste of human life, or downright massacre, of nine slaves to every hundred, every year! The amount on the sugar plantations of Louisiana, to pass over those of Florida, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, is three thousand one hundred and fifty per annum. These are just as much murdered as if they were shot en masse, and indeed more inhumanly, inasmuch as death by torture is more terrible. In this single branch of slave employment, there is a greater destruction of human life, every year, than there was in the whole French Revolution, bloody as that has ever been deemed. Who wants to buy New Orleans sugar? P. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource P. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Friend; a Religious and Literary Journal 16:8, p. 63 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 11.19.1842 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Convention of American Women Description An account of the resource CONVENTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN. PUTNEY, (Vt.) April 27th, 1838. MR. GARRISON: Permit me, sir, through the medium of the Liberator, to address a few words to my fair country-women, who are soon to convene at Philadelphia. Though far remote in the country, I am permitted to read and hear all the movements that are making to elevate the condition of my own sex, in various ways, though more especially those who are now suffering under southern slaveholders. What I have to say, has been suggested to me by noticing the efforts that are making to promote the use of free labor, and by witnessing the great want of employment that is now experienced by a large class of females in this section of the country. For several years past, the braiding of palm-leaf for men's hats, has given employment to a prodigious number of female hands; and it is almost incredible the amount that was earned, and the alacrity with which this opportunity was seized, to supply themselves not only with the necessaries of life, but with many of its comforts and superfluities. Of course, the market is now overstocked, and they are compelled, as it were, comparatively, to stand 'all the day idle.' I would therefore throw in my petition, and ask whether something cannot be done, by encouraging the working of palm-leaf into ladies' hats or bonnets? They can be wrought with great fineness and precision, and into any shape or fashion. Of the money that would thus be earned, there can be no doubt but some part of it would find its way into the treasury of the Lord, as it would enable many who would gladly cast in their mite, but now find it quite impossible. I am well aware, however, that no movement in our favor can in reality better our condition, while the present rage for dress and devotion to fashion continues-to have its sway over us; There is a slavery and a mischief in this thing not much inferior, in its effects, to the slave trade, and as much calls for benevolent exertion. And is it not some object to remove the great guilt that now separates the rich and the poor? Can the war of God be done upon earth, as it is done in heaven, till we feel that we have 'all one Father,' and the rich and the poor meet together'? To encourage industry in the lower classes of society, and at the same time to give your example and influence to simplicity of dress, by using our own, as much as possible, instead of foreign fabrics, must be an object worthy the attention of your Convention. Though I shall not be present on this occasion, my spirit will be with you, and I shall look to it with great interest, as indicating the approach of the latter day glory' and as preparatory to the fulfilment of the promise which has never yet received its full accomplishment—The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. P. NOYES. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5.4.1838 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource P. Noyes Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lo, a wail of hopeless sorrow (Poem) Description An account of the resource "When the news of the reduction of the sugar duties, by the British Parliament, reached Havanna, the city was illuminated; the price of slaves rose twenty five percent; and twelve slavers were about to be fitted for the coast of Africa for slaves."  Letter from a friend Lo, a wail of hopeless sorrow Comes from Cuba's arid plains, And the broad Brazilian valleys Where Oppression proudly reigns, And his fiery demons scatter Pestilence with lavish hand Like the plagues that swept in fury Over Egypt's guilty land! 'Tis the wretched slave despairing That his day of hope is o'er, While a cry responsive rises Over Afric's golden shore. Mingled with that wail of anguish Comes the sound of joy and mirth, Like the mountain torrent breaking From its darksome cavern forth. Hark! it is the haughty Spaniard's  And the glad Brazilian's shout, 'Mid the Universal wailing Of the bondman, bursting out. What can mean this strange confusion? Are the fires of Freedom dead, And the clouds of endless slavery Black o'er hill and mountain head? Are the foes of despotism Driven from the battle-field? Has the friend of Afric, fleeing, Vilely cast away his shield? Where is Liberty's fair Goddess? Has she turned to take her flight? Or the sun of Freedom, setting, Left the world in Slavery's night? That the broken hearted bondman Pours afresh his sorrow forth, While his iron-hearted master Revels in indecent mirth! Creole thieves--Brazilin tyrants Rob the Negro of his toil-- England's silver buys the plunder English freemen share the spoil. England, slavery-hating England, On oppression's dainties feeds -- 'Tis for this the slaver gladdens, And anew the captive bleeds! Pause a moment, ye who revel O'er the toil of weeping slaves, Tell me who has sent those slaveships O'er the broad Atlantic's waves? Lo in Afric scenes of murder, Robbery and revolting crime, Horrid deeds that stand unrivalled In the chronicles of Time! Mark yon conflagrating village-- Hear those shrieks of wild despair -- Pause and tell me -- are ye guiltless? Who has sent those slaveships there? Foes to slavery, who have nobly All its thousand wiles withstood, Friends to Freedom, the world over, Will ye buy the price of blood! Hear ye not the voice of Clarkson Speaking from the silent grave, "Will YE aid in plundering Afric! Will YE help to rob the slave!" Heed ye then the solemn warning, Led the robber keep his prey, And with firm and noble purpose, Turn ye from the spoil away. Richmond, Ia., 12the mo. 22d, 1846. R.T.R. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource R.T.R. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Non-Slaveholder 2:5, p. 96 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5.1847 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Poetry Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Good Bye (Poem) Description An account of the resource Good bye, proud world! I'm going home: Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine, Long through thy weary crowds I roam; A river ark on the ocean brine. Long I've been toss'd like the driven foam; But now, proud world! I'm going home! Good-bye to Flattery's fawning face; To Grandeur with his wise grimace; To upstart Wealth's averted eye; To supple Office, low and high; To crowded halls, to court and street; To frozen hearts and hasting feet; To those who go and those who come; Good-bye, proud world! I'm going home. I'm going to my own hearth-stone, Bosom'd in yon green hills alone-- A secret nook in a pleasant land, Whose groves the frolic fairies planned; Where arches green, the livelong day, Echo the black-bird's roundelay, And vulgar feet have never trod A spot that is sacred to thought and God. O, when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece and Tome; And when I am stretched beneath the pines, Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and the pride of man, At the sophist schools, and the learned clan, For what are they all in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ralph Waldo Emerson Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <div id="dublin-core-source" class="element"> <div class="element-text five columns omega"> The Non-Slaveholder 2:7, pp. 168 </div> </div> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 7.1.1847 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Cotton Question: Free Versus Slave Labor, A Paper Read at the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science Description An account of the resource Social Science Congress. (Extracted from The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, October 11th, 1865.) THE REV. SELLA MARTIN, New York, a coloured gentleman, read a paper under the title of "Free Labour--the Cotton Question." He gave a very interesting description of the cotton culture in America, and mentioned some of the improvements which had already been introduced since free labour had been substituted for slave labour in the United States. He then entered into a clever and ingenious argument against the objections which had been made to the emancipation of the Negro, on the ground of the alleged inferiority of the race. The paper was a remarkably pointed and well-written one, and was received with loud applause. At the close, Mr. BOLT moved a vote of thanks to Mr. MARTIN. (Applause.) Mr. JOHN NOBLE, Liverpool, seconded the motion, and mentioned that Mr. MARTIN had done. (Hear, hear, and applause.) It was worthy of the greatest possible praise. He (Mr. Jeffrey) was sure, and he mentioned it in no offensive spirit, the gentleman had negro blood in his vein, and in his own person he stood before them giving the lie direct to the impossibility of the Negro being liefted to the social position of the white man. (Applause.) He trusted Mr. MARTIN would live many years, and would long go on putting on paper such sentiments as he had given utterance to that day, and that they might have the widest possible circulation. (Loud applause.) THe motion was also supported by Mr. POLLARD URQUHART, M.P., and carried unanimously. Mr. MARTIN, in acknowledging the vote of thanks, mentioned that he was in this country at present as a deputation from the Freedmen's Aid Society, and that for some time he had opportunities, almost every day, of speaking ont he subject which he had now treated. THE COTTON QUESTION. MY LORD, NOTWITHSTANDING the unrealized desire of those who, in their dream of success, saw cotton enthroned and crowned king; such a king as would make even England bend the supple hinges of the knee to procure his favour; notwithstanding the unrealized dream that England would make haste to do him honour by aiding in securing his success, or become his ally in misfortune, there is much truth in the assertion of his adherents, that Cotton is King. The cotton that grows in the pod, the labourer who picks it, the gin that cleans it, the press that packs it into bales, the ship that transports it, the commission merchant, the manufacturer, the labourer at the loom, the printer of its patterns, the dry-good merchant, the people who wear it, the rag-picker who gathers it when it is worn out, the paper-maker who uses the rags in manufacture, the stationer who sells the paper, the writer who transfers his thoughts to it, the printer who prints the thoughts, the ink-maker who depends up on its use, the bookseller who disposes of the works, and those who read the printing upon the paper,--all these, in their commercial relations and aspects, countenance the claim of his majesty, if not to a kingdom, at least to a very large principality. Shall he be a despot or a constitutional monarch? that is the question,--a question, the immediate issues of which affect the political bearings and prosperity of America; at the same time affecting, and that not very remotely, the mercantile success of the three foremost nations of Christendom. In seeking a solution of this problem, let us inquire briefly what is cotton, and how it is cultivated. What is Cotton? It is a plant with a strong and vigorous root, a quickly-growing, rank and prolific stalk, with an abundant, capricious, but valuable product. The soil on which it grows must be prolific, but not too rank. The ground on which it is for the first time produced, must be chastened by maze and pumpkins, which are gross in their nature. So exhausting is cotton, that the land on which it grows must be left to rest every third year at least. And even then, the stalk--which, on account of its gross cellular formation, its rank juices, and its weakness of fibre, decays as quickly as it grows--the stalk, or its chemical equivalents, must form the manure which makes possible a second crop. The nature of this plant requires three things in its production. It requires promptitude in planting, constancy of attendance while growing, and great application in the gathering. Its culture is attended by these evils, namely, malaria in its locality, and rheumatic tendencies in its gatherers, on account of the dew that hangs about its pods and its abundant leaves, which keeps the hands and garments of its gatherers wet for many hours in the early morning. It is also generally exhausting to the whole system of the labourer, since to preserve the weight and quality of the cotton, he must work not only all day, but late at night, to press into bales the picking of the preceding day, as it will either become mouldy from the dampness, or dry and brittle in fibre from the quick evaporation of the dew when exposed to the sun. There are three kinds of cotton: known as Midland, Upland, and Sea Island. The lowest of this class is that produced on lands which, though not the best for cotton, will pay best with a cotton crop. The next is that produced on what is called the prairie lands of the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi--lands of such a rich though clayey character, that the feet of the beasts and labourer have to be cleaned of it every half hour, to enable them to continue their toil, so heavy is the weight. Then there is the finest species, the most expensive but the most injurious to human life in its cultivation, called the Sea Island cotton, produced only on the Sea Islands adjacent to the State of South Carolina. This cotton requires peculiar conditions. It requires the sea-weed for manure, and the influence of the Gulf stream to bring it to its state of superiority over all other cottons. It always brings nearly double, and sometimes quadruple, the price of any other. But, as I intimated, these conditions are secured at terrible expense to its producers. Where it grows, terrible fevers prevail--fevers contagious and deadly to the [?], and deteriorating even to the native. So [?], that during slavery the average negro-life on the Sea Isalnds was not more than severn years, nor in any other Cotton region more than nine years. Th rapid decay of the sea-weed, and the humid air produced by the Gulf stream especially, breed and perpetuate the deadly malaria. It is doubted very much by many whether any constitution but that of the Negro could be employed in the production of this cotton, as his constitution carries with it, by descent from a tropical race, a natural adaptedness to such conditions as I have mentioned, and possesses a vitality that throws off the diseases peculiar to this atmosphere. Be that as it may, it is certain that no other labourer is now so acclimatised as the Negro to conditions which seem to be indispensable to the production of all cottons in a more or less degree. For, though contagious diseases, rheumatism, and general debility, do not prevail in other cotton localities to the same extent as in the Sea Islands, they are still known to prevail to some extent in all cotton-growing districts. It may be, and I think it is possible, that free labour will find some means of defeating the evils heretofore attendant upon the cultivation of cotton in respect to climatic conditions and diseases. Skill, we all know, or must see, was impossible with slave labour.The more complicated the machinery put into the hands of the slave, the greater his excuse for not understanding the use of it, and the greater his temptation to break it, that he might rest while it was being mended; and in the proportion of pressure put upon the Negro to get the most work out of him in a given time, in that same proportion was the soil exhausted, so as to need a stimulant which was unhealthy for the land and the labourer. But with, the return of peace, companies are being formed to gather the sea-weed necessary to perpetuate the prolificacy of the Sea Islands, rather than to wait for the sea-weed to come to them as was the case during Slavery; and Chemistry is at work, through the aid of free capital, and liberty-loving Science, in the effort to rob the sea-weed of all but its powers to enrich the soil. And when steam and other improved agencies are put to work upon those rich prairies of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, it will be found that there is not only a great saving of Negro life, but that white men as well as coloured men, can aid in furnishing to the world a class of cotton only to be got from America. In view of what science has already achieved, there is no doubt that cotton may be made to grow so high under the inventive genius of free labour in stimulating the soil, and that too without any detriment in fibre, that the back-breaking and deforming position of constant stooping in picking it may be rendered unnecessary? Who can doubt that waterproof garments will be adopted under the care, forethought, economy, and humanity of free labour, so as to prevent rheumatism and other diseases heretofore unavoidable to the cotton producer? And when these improvements come, there will come with them a better class of cotton. It will be cleaner of sand, which the slave put in in former times to make the weight that his taskmaster required of him. It will be longer and more tenacious of fibre, through more scientific manuring and more artistic ginning, and the world will get more of it on account of the new impulse under which the Negro will work, and the addition of skilled labourers which freedom will bring. These are not speculations, but assertions capable of proof by statistics, for which I only go to one spot of experiment. On the Sea Islands, since the beginning of the war, and in one single year, the cotton was so improved in every respect, and so increased in quantity by the freedmen employed by the United States' Government, that it realized £120,000 by Free Negro labour; and the Negroes themselves there, purchased one-third of the estates that were sold by the government, on account of the unpaid taxes. I am sorry to say that this is true only of these Sea Islands and a few other localities; but this is no fault of the Negroes of the Federal Government. On acount of the South being so devastated by war, and the war ending too late to plant crops this season, little cotton has been planted, indeed, little of all things has ben planted; so that while I have the honour to speak to you to-day, many poor whites, and still more of the Negro race, are dying of starvation, exposure, and lack of medical attention. But though liberty has come to the Negro at this fearful cost, and, though English as well as American charity is taxed for his present relief--to which, thank God, both nations are nobly responding--though, I repeat, his liberty may be leaner than his slavery for the present, the members of this Association have this reason for rejoicing, that henceforth the stoppage of cotton will not chill the energy of the manufacturer, nor starve the household of the operative in Lancashire, through slavery trying to prove its shameless and tyrannical boast that Cotton is King, even at the expense of involving the nations in war. In turning to the aspect of this paper that concerns the Negro as a free labourer, no one can understand the pleasure with which I make the statement which I am now about to make, unless he has been a slave.--My LORD,--the American Slave is free: the Negro, as to his social existence, has risen from the degradation of chattelhood to the privileges and responsibilities of manhood. And the question which it will require the next few years to solve, is: Does this change involve a blessing or a curse to his race? Is he inherently and irretrievably inferior as a man? And if so, is he, therefore, unfit to grapple with the difficulties of freedom, or to disprove his natural adaptedness to slavery, or to overcome ites terrible traces upon him? There is no reason to account him naturally inferior, except on the Darwinian theroy, that all races, at some period of development, are inferior. But even though that theory were allowed to be true, it would prove too much, since it would take away the only claim for the Negro's enslavement, that, namely, of inherent inferiority. For, if the Negro is in a transition state from the brute to the man, he is simply where all races have been at some point of their history; and if any other race has finally risen to superiority, so may the Negro race eventually rise. But refusing to accept this theory for the white race, I reject it in the case of the Negro; and until some one catches and exhibits a specimen of speaking ourangs-outangs, or of a speechless race of men, or till I am shown a gorilla with a thumb that is not as long as its fingers, I shall continue to reject it. Nay, while we have black men like Soloque of Hayti, who can be as despotic as white men; and like Benson of Liberia, who are as able in statesmanship; and men amongst us as brilliant as Frederick Douglass and as dull as Dogberry, I must be excused for adopting the opposite theory.  But admitting the Negro to be inferior, how does that justify enslaving him, especially if we mean to hold our theory about the superiority of the white race, and to reap the results of it, since the inferiority of the Negro necessitates an inferior form of labour, an inferior social fabric, and inferior political appliances, from all of which the white man must suffer even more than the Negro? Brutality may be restrained when driving a mere brute; but when the labourer has not only the feelings of a brute to be excited, but the determination of a man to resist, the driver must himself become a brute through the constant necessity of coercion. Further, the form of labour applied to such a being must in itself be inferior. If the labourer does not progress in the arts, the employer cannot progress in the science of labour. The form of labour must therefore remain stationary, which, in our time, is the same as being retrogade in character. It may be right to deny marriage to a semi-brute, but it cannot be right to adopt a form of social existence that tempts the superior race to disregard marraige themselves, and to show that disregard in connection with semi-brutes in having progeny by them. For, if the negro woman is not a brute, it is a strange thing to say that she is one, seeing the members of the superior race are often the fathers of her children; and if she is a brute, for them to be the fathers of her children is a thing stranger still. Then, too, if the superior race may become thus inferior without perceiving it, a shrewd suspicion may be allowed that the race accounted inferior by them may be equal without their recognizing it.  Still further: to plead the inferiority of the victim of Slavery is to stand in the way of all political advancement. For if the Negro can be made and kept happy only at the expense of hampering the progressive tendencies of free government for white men--if a white man who is opposed to the negro's enslavement must be driven away from his enterprise and his residence when he would improve the law for white men--if, in short, the life of a white man is not worth as much as the life of a negro's, where slavery exists, provided the white man refuses to be degraded by yielding to the terms of slavery, then, I say, the inferiority of the Negro is recognised and practised upon at fearful expense. For the white man is thus made as inferior as the Negro: if not so inherently, he is practically, and with a curse greater than even the Negro fears or feels. I submit that the Negro has no right to be happy and contented as a bondsman, at such fearful expense to the superior race. I am prepared now for the rejoinder that this alternative is not necessary, since the Negro may leave the vicinity of the white people. But this yields the whole argument. If the Negro may go away from the white people, he may be free; and if he may be free, white superiority does not require negro inferiority to set it off. My argument does not interfere with the question of where he may go, but only with that of where he shall stay.  Our position, then, is this: That freedom is a good thing for all, the Negro included; that his inferiority is no sound argument for his enslavement, since it makes his enslaver inferior; that he is not inferior, except from circumstances. But were these positions false, what then? The negroes are free, and it would cost as much blood and treasure to re-enslave them as it has already cost to free them. Shall we allow prejudices which have been rebuked by Providence to stand in the way of the white man's advancement, by throwing them as obstructions in the way of the Negro's elevation? We are told by some that Emancipation may be right, but that the method of accomplishing it in America was wrong. We are told it cost too much blood, suffering, and treasure. Well, that may be. But that was the choice of the superior race, and if their wisdom was not equal to the task without this sacrifice, that only proves that they are not so superior to the Negro after all: for had the method been left to him, he would have laid down his chains without shedding, or causing to be shed, one drop of blood. We are told that Emancipation ought to have been gradual and not immediate. Well, all that we can say, seeing such objectors have done nothing else but say,--it was not gradual; neither is this any fault of the Negro's. But if this be an evil, there is a partial remedy left for it: especially if those who speak of it desire to cure, rather than to be captious about it. The remedy is this: that go I and able men of the superior race should carry or send to these negroes the aids and elements of knowledge, and so try to make up by the number of volunteers, and by the amount of aid, for the lack of preparation which attended the Negro's entrance into freedom. Nor is it the fault of the Negro or his friends that Emancipation was not gradual but immediate: for those who approved of his enslavement continued to reject all offers to that end. It is remarkable that whenever even slave-holders have had to deal with this question by practice rather than by theory, they have discarded gradual emancipation as impracticable. In the West India Islands the gradual had to be abandoned for the immediate system. When the District of Columbia had to deal with the question, Emancipation was immediate; and this also was the case in Missouri and Maryland: and in this the people of these States only followed the example set them by the great Creator and Emancipator, in the model act of Hebrew emancipation. It is further objected that the negroes are lazy, because of the tropical influences that still linger in them, and on account of the habits engendered by slavery. Well, the claim which I set up for his equal humanity, compels me to admit, apart from his tropical tendencies or his slavish habits, that he may be lazy. I have seen so many lazy men among white people, and I have seen them indulge their laziness at such fearful expense to truth, virtue, and uprightness, that I am quite prepared to believe that the Negro may be lazy also. But I have known so many negroes escaping to the cold and rigorous climate of Canada and the Northern States, where they knew they would have to work even harder than in slavery,--I have seen so many of them, by night-work and secret acquisition, purchase their freedom, and continue to work till they had purchased that of their whole family,--I have seen so many wealthy coloured people in the North, working against prejudice and proscription, up to positions of ease and affluence,--that I never would have believed that a negro was lazy, had I not seen so many lazy white men. But why should this fact stand in the way of practical men? If the negro is not entirely a brute, he may, upon the Darwinian theory, eventually become a man; and supposing that impossible, we have seen that it is too great a hinderance to the material progress, and at too great a cost to social purity and political economy, for the white race to bring itself down to the only terms on which the Negro can be kept a slave. The alternative then being, that the Negro must go free; and the fact being, that he is at least a progressive brute, what nobler work can scientific minds be engaged in, than helping to prove the soundness of their own theory about ethnological development, and the wise arrangement of Providence, that even the lowest races may be uplifted by the help of the superior. But if this theory is unsound, and that held by others is true, that "God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth;" then, inasmuch as you would like help out of degradation, if in the Negro's present condition, and would wish to be aided in effacing the traces of bondage, and would long for assistance in forming habits of self-reliance and feelings of self-respect. "Do unto others even as ye would that they should do unto you." But apart from theory, this whole matter affects the objects for which this Association exists, in a most practical way. The world needs cotton. It is better for mankind that it should be got by free than by slave labour. Cotton may be got by free labour--from a race that understands its cultivation--that is acclimatised to its locality. Britain needs cotton more than all the world beside: because, having got wealthy by it, her various industries must be carried on by its sufficient supply. By taking the right view of the social problem which I have so imperfectly touched upon, both America and Africa, through the aid of Africo-Americans, will lay their treasures of this staple at the feet of Britain, and the race ot which her best minds and hearts have been devoted in its suffering, will rise up to call her blessed. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rev. Sella Martin of New York Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Extracted from The Sheffield Daily Teleb Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Freedmen's Aid Society (Glasgow: Thomas Street, Printer and Stationer, 52 Argyle Street) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1865, October Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Free Labor. Description An account of the resource Though we may differ in sentiment, yet if we speak and act with submission, it is no trespass upon the rights of individuals of the quiet society, to offer interchanges of thought, or feelings. The fear which suggests to our conservatism the need of placing defenses around the truth, is, perhaps, as dangerous an element as innovation. We are safe only, and only free, in that pure love which casts out all fear. I have felt that allusion may be made to a subject that has claimed the attention of many just and consistent persons through two or three generations past, and which seems to rather increase than otherwise; although it has not, and never may become a testimony of the Society, as a body. I allude to the concern to avoid the use of the products of the slave, or unpaid labor. That such a concern is in the abstract right, none can deny. It might seem that all who come to hear this inspoken mandate, "Be ye perfect," would feel its force as an individual requisition; yet, as it is for us not to judge, perhaps it may be otherwise. The amount of encouragement that is given to free labor by a demand for its products, has not so far as I remember, been clearly stated. It seems to me, that it would not only prove, as a record of facts, the superiority [?] freedom, but would develop a quiet force, that without war or turmoil, would raze the ever tottering fabric of oppression to its foundation. Now, that a Friend of Philadelphia not only procures free groceries of every description needed, but has in operation a cotton manufactory which supplies every essential article of that material, it seems that the scruples of those who are thus concerned, may be kept inviolate; particularly as those goods are offered at wholesale, as well as retail, and can be sent to any part of the country, where desired. S.A. Woodstown. N.J. 9 mo. 1855. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Friends' Intelligencer 12:29, p. 458 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 10.6.1855 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource S.A. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Articles, Letters to the Editors, etc. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Free Produce. Description An account of the resource For the Liberator.<xsl-text></xsl-text> FREE PRODUCE. In the Liberator No. 15, in Aunt Margery's interesting conversation with the children, she observed that free sugar came from Java or Batavia—(sugar from the East Indies, I believe, is generally free)—but coffee raised on the island of Java, I learn, is generally cultivated by the Malay slaves— prisoners of war.—Those who feel scruples about using the products of slavery would be pleased to have the point settled. There is plenty of free coffee from Africa and St. Domingo for sale in New-England. S.B. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Liberator Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5.12.1832 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource S.B.