EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY BENJAMIN LUNDY, WASHINGTON, D. C. AT $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain nalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Declaration of Independence, U. S. No. 10. VOL. III. THIRD SERIES.] "GLORIOUS NEWS. AUGUST, 1833. [WHOLE NUMBER 286: VOL. XIII. THE CANTERBURY AFFAIR. The system of persecution against P. Crandall, has at length been consummated by a suit for al ledged violation of Andrew T. Judson's law, commonly called the "Black Law." The trial came on in the Windham county court, and was finally dismissed, at least for the present, because the jury could not agree upon a verdict. We cannot do better than to present to outr readers an account of the trial given in the Abo The bill for the emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies, has passed both houses of Parliament. The Jubilee of West Indian Slavery has at length arrived. The sound of the whip, and the lash of the task-master will no more be heard in the British isles of the west. Innocent and helpless females will no longer be shamelessly and inhumanly lacerated by the scourge of the slave driver; but wholesome laws will supersede and control the exercise of arbitrary power andlitionist. The conductors of that paper are much unrestrained licentiousness. The effects of this glorious triumph of humanity and justice will soon be seen in the increased prosperity of the planters, and the improved condition of the slaves. The value of West India estates will be enhanced, and the produce of the islands will be increased in consequence of the improved condition of the cul We have been surprised at some of the Philadelphia editors who have copied without comment from Jamaica papers, statements about the apprehensions of the slaves, lest the efforts of the "fanatics" should succced in casting them helpless and destitute upon the world. What dreadful ideas the slaves must have of freedom! Alas! this dreaded boon has at length been achievedand all their worst forebodings have been realized! What will become of the poor negro now he is going to be set free! He will have no humane master to whip him when exhausted nature refuses to perform the task assigned him-no kind friend to tear him from all he holds dear on earth, and sell him to strange and unknown hands! Indeed! what will become of him? Such silly fears as have been uttered in the name of the slaves, are too supremely ridiculous to deceive any man of common sense-and we are utterly at a loss to assign any rational motive which could in. duce respectable editors to copy them without comment. nearer the scene of action, and have taken an interest in the result, so much so at least as to entitle their report to the fullest credit. THE BLACK LAW OF CONNECTICUT. We neglected to mention in our last that Miss Crandall for a violation of this nefarious statute, been arrested and carried before a justice of the in continuing to instruct coloured children, had peace, by whom she was committed to jail to take her trial at the ensuing court. We are informed that she was confined in the same room which the last days of his life. In this 'opprobrious den was occupied by the murderer, Watkins, during of shame, however, she only remained one day, her friends finding bail for her on the day after she was committed. this high minded and devoted philanthropist, has We are glad to perceive that the persecution of excited a burst of indignation from many of the northern editors. And we acknowledge with pleasure, that even some of the thorough colonization. ists have exhibited the manly and honourable feeling which the brutal persecution of this benevolent lady was well calculated to rouse. Miss Crandall has been exposed, we doubt not that Deeply as we regret the indignities to which they will advance the great cause of human rights. If we are not mistaken, the violent measures of her unchristian persecutors will open the eyes of many men to their own prejudices against people of colour;-make them ashained of their past injustice, and anxious to make amends for it by kindness to the victims of their former dislike. Since the above was written Miss Crandall has been tried, for the offence of instructing colored children, inhabitants of places out of Connecticut, Miss Crandall was defended by Messrs. Ellsworth and Strong, distinguished members of the Connecticut Bar. 6 The ground of defence was that the colored children in Miss Crandall's school were citizens of other states, and were, therefore, entitled to the protection of the provision of the Constitution of the United States, which provides that the citi zens of each State shall be entitled to all the pri. vileges and iramunities of citizens in the several States;'-that in order to their protection it was necessary that the law should be considered unconstitutional in its application to Miss Crandall, as long as she instructed none but citizens of the United States. These positions were supported in speeches of great ability. On behalf of the Fiat Justitia Ruat Colum. government Messrs. J. Judson (the Canterbury || agitator) and Welsh argued that colored persons were not citizens within the meaning of the Constitution. The counsel for the defendant informed the jury that they were judges of the law as well as of the facts in the case, and were not bound by the instructions of the court in regard to the law. This position was not disputed on the other side, but the danger of juries setting up their own views of the law in opposition to those of the judges was strongly urged. The court instructed the jury that the law was constitutional. account of his convictions of sin, which were indeed as deep and as piercing as any I ever heard of, and what Scriptures came to his mind which he had read, that both probed him to the bottom of his sinful heart, and were made the means of light and comfort to his soul. I then inquired of him what ministry or means he made use of, and found that his master was a Quaker,* a plain sort of man who taught his slaves to read, but had not ever conversed with his negro upon the state of his soul. I asked him likewise, how he got comfort under all this trial. "O! Massa," says he, "it was Christ gave me comfort by his dear word, he bade me come unto him and he would give me rest; for I was very weary and heavy laden." Here The jury could not agree in a verdict, and, after having been twice sent out, without agree-he went through a line of the most precious texts ing, were discharged. It was understood that five of the jury were. for acquitting, and seven for convicting, the defendant. The trial produced an intense interest in Brooklyn, where it was tried, and the vicinity. The arguments of the defendant's counsels produced a deep and powertul impression. It cannot be doubted that this trial will do much in promoting a correct state of public sentiment. We have reason to believe that a full and correct report of the trial will be speedily published. The firmness of the five jurymen who dared to oppose an unconstitutional law, though supported by the weight of the bench, is highly honourable to them. It shows that there is a large proportion of the people of Connecticut who still retain a respect for the rights of the colored people, and have courage to oppose arbitrary power. THE CONVERTED NEGRO. From a late English publication. Some years ago an English gentleman had occasion to be in North America, where the follow. ing circumstance occurred to him, which is related in his own words.-" In one of my excursions, while I was in the province of New York, I was walking by myself over a considerable plantation;-amused with its husbandry, and comparing it with that of my own country;—I came near a middle aged Negro, who was tilling the ground. I felt a strong inclination to converse with him. After asking him some questions about his work which he answered very sensibly, I wished him to tell me whether his state of sla "I am very was not very disagreeable to him, and whether he would not gladly exchange it for liberty: "Massa," said he, looking seriously upon me, "I have wife and children, my Massa takes care of them, and I have no care to provide any thing: I have a good Massa who teach me to read, and I read good book that makes me happy." glad (replied I) to hear you say so; and pray what is the good book you read?" "The BIBLE, Massa: God's own book." "Do you understand, friend, as well as read his book? for many who can read the words well, cannot get hold of the true and good sense." "O! Massa, (says he) I read the book much before I understand, but at last I feel pain in my heart; I find things in the book that cut me to pieces." "Aye, (said I) what things were they?" "Why, Massa, I found that I had bad heart, very bad heart indeed. I felt pain that God would destroy me, because I was wicked, and done nothing as I should do: God was holy, and I was very vile and naughty; so I could have nothing from him but fire and brimstone in hell." In short, he entered into a full in the Bible, shewing me by his artless comment upon them, as he went along, what great things God had done in the course of some years for his soul. Being rather more acquainted with doctrinal truths and the analogy of the Bible than he had been, or could be, I had a mind to try how far a simple untutored experience, graciously given, without the usual means, could carry a man from some speculative errors; I therefore asked him several questions about the merit of works, the justification of sinners, the power of grace, and the like. Iown I was as much astonished at, as I admired the sweet spirit and simplicity of his answers, with the heavenly wisdom that God had put into the mind of this negro. His discourse flowing merely from richness of grace, with the tenderness and expression far beyond the reach of art, perfectly charmed me. On the other hand, my entering into all his feelings, together with an account to him which he had never heard before, that thus and thus the Lord in his mercy dealt with all his children and had dealt with me, drew streams of joyful tears down his black face, so that we looked upon each other and talked with that inexpressible glow of Christian affection which made me more than ever believe what I have often too thoughtlessly professed, the communion of saints. hours, I scarce ever enjoyed the happy swiftness of Though my conversation lasted two or three time so sweetly in all my life; we knew not how to part; he would accompany me as far as he might, and I felt for my part, such a delight in the this dear soul, that I could have been glad to have artless, savoury, solid, unaffected experience of impossible; I therefore took an affectionate adieu, seen him often. But my situation rendered this with an ardour equal to the warmest and most ancient friendship; telling him that neither the color of his body, nor the condition of his present life, could prevent him from being my dear brother, in our Saviour; and that though we must world, I had no doubt of having another joyful part now, never to see each other again in this meeting in our Father's home, where we should live together, and love one another through a long and happy eternity. dear Massa," said he, "God me too for ever and ever." bless you, and poor "Amen, amen, my If I had been an angel from heaven, he could not have received me with more evident delight than he did; nor could I consider him with a more sympathetic regard, if he had been a long established Christian of the good old sort, grown up into my affection in the course of many years. *This occurrence must have happened before the American revolution, as no Quaker has been permitted to hold a slave in this country since 1774. Fiat Justitia Ruat Cœlum. A vindication of a loan of £15,000,000, to the || ing for a compensation for old and exploded ma West India planters, shewing that it may not only be lent with perfect safety, but with immense advantage both to the West Indians and the people of || England; by James Cropper, of Liverpool. London, 1833." A pampblet with the above title has lately been received. The writer is well known, not only as a decided advocate of the abolition of slavery in the British colonies, but also as an experienced merchant, and a sound political economist. His views of the advantage to be derived from the proposed loan, both to Great Britain and her colonies, are sustained by facts and arguments which appear to us conclusive. -To the colonies, by relieving the planters from their difficulties and embarrassment, consequent upon the present system, and enabling them profitably to furnish sugar for the British market, in larger quantities and at a lower price, by the operation of free labor, than by slave labor.-To|| Great Britain, by relieving her from the burthen and expense of bounties, which costs the nation two millions of pounds sterling per annum. The money could be borrowed by the government at 3 per cent, drawing an annual interest of only £525,000, which would leave a clear gain to Great Britain of nearly a million and a half annually. Besides, the planters, or colonial proprietors, often pay from 15 to 20 per cent. per annum in interest and commercial advantages, to the lenders of money. Hence the advantage of the proposed loan would operate mutually in Great Britain and the colonies. The writer is opposed to the plan of apprenticeship; and to repaying the loan from the labor of the emancipated slave. The money should be repaid by the planters, which they would be enabled to do with facility from the increased profits and diminished expense of the new system to be introduced upon the abolition of slavery. To afford relief to the West India Planters by means of a loan would be highly advantageous, the security of which would be unquestionable, if emancipation is complete; and if it were never repaid, we should give them a benefit four times the amount of what it would cost the country, and it would surely be an excellent substitute for the relief now afforded by a bounty on the exportation of refined sugar. The latter, by operating in a way directly the contrary, costs twice, nay, perhaps, in all its effects, four times as much as the benefit it confers on the planters. But how much soever the loan may be approved by all who have paid attention to the subject, the proposed mode of repayment merits no less condemnation. chinery when they are about to substitute it with better? It is absurd to presume beforehand that such an improvement must be attended with loss, and highly unjust to lay the burden of this assumed, but unproved, loss on the only innocent party. If slavery is only to be exchanged for apprenticeship, the substitution of magisterial for the arbitrary power of the master, will doubtless be an improvement in the condition of slaves; but slender will be the stimulus of hope, if its only object is freedom at the end of twelve long years; what effect can we expect to produce on minds so uncultivated as those of the negro race, who, in general, can only be influenced by reaping, at once, the fruits of their exertion in adequate wages! In the absence of this stimulus, no prospect of advantage at the end of twelve years can be expected to be more effective than the present system of coercion. From what source then is the slave to re-pay the loan as a part of the price of his redemption? If no more labor is obtained from him, and if a portion of that labor is to be applied in reduction of the loan, his master's situation will be rendered worse. Under this plan, neither the planter nor the slave will have the means of re-payment. Before the planter can do it, his situation must be improved-either by cheapening the cost of production, or by raising the price of sugar to the British consumer. The first can only be affected by the introduction of a better system-a system which will be more productive to the master. Will long apprenticeships sent pursues? If it will not, what then will be be more profitable to him than the plan he at prethe result of this attempt to charge the price of redemption, or the repayment of the loan upon the slaves, if it is first extracted from the master's end, is charged upon the people of England in an present scanty and insufficient means; and in the increased price of their sugar, which can only be obtained by the continuance and even extension of the present bounty and monopoly; surely, any of such attempts, must know, that they injure the one who possesses any knowledge of the working country much more than double the amount of the benefit they confer on the party intended to folly and absurdity of the present bounty on the be served. We need no stronger proof than the exportation of refined sugar. * * * It is a notorious fact, that a very large proportion of the West India estates are mortgaged, and that in some cases the interest and commercial advantages will be 15 or 20 per cent. on the sum lent. There is little doubt that government could borrow money and lend it to the West Indians 10 per cent. below what they are now paying for it; a loan £15,000,000, if lent 10 per cent. cheaper than it now costs, would be an advantage of £1,500,000 per annum. A loan of £15,000,000 might be divided amongst the planters, according to the value of the slaves in the different colonies, being about two-fifths of their present value. If they are worth £20, on colonial authority, in the In that proposition it is assumed, that to make Bahamas, the loan would be £8; if £50 in Jaa change from slavery to freedom, from a system maica, the loan would be £20; and if £80 in the worst and most expensive, to one the best and Demerara, the loan would be £32. This money most economical, must necessarily be attended would, of course, be lent upon the land and buildwith loss, and require compensation. What wouldings, and on the condition of an immediate emanthe British manufacturers, who are daily making cipation of the slaves. improvements in their manufactures, say to such It is proposed that the loan should be offered to a proposition as this? Would they think of ask- || all the planters, whether they are in debt or not, Fiat Justitia Ruat Cœlum. in proportion to the number of their slaves. The There could be no risk whatever of the security, or even of the regular payment of interest, for the produce would be shipped to this country, or, in case of shipment to any other, the interest of the loan should first be paid at the colonial customhouse. Some fears have been entertained, that if the slaves were at liberty to choose their masters, and agree for their wages, those who had fertile soils would outbid the owners of exhausted estates; that these would be deserted, and become valueless, and the country must in such case lose its security. their own neglect; and that it is strictly our business to look to that. Slavery, the source of all those evils, is the great hindrance to the use of the plough. If our farmers could not obtain extra hands in crop time, they would be obliged to keep on their own farms an additional number, whom they must employ all the year round. Now, this is precisely the situation of the planters, and therefore, a saving of labor at other times of the year is of very little importance; but let the laborers be made free, let the plough be introduced wherever it is practicable, and they may reduce more than one-half their laborers, except in crop time. The men set at liberty from the sugar planting, might rent lands from the proprietor, for the cultivation of cotton or coffee, or any other article of which the crop is not gathered at the same time as sugar; they could then assist in the sugar crop, and their wages would assist them to pay their rents. This, amongst many others, would be the obvious advantage of emancipation, but the exact extent cannot be easily ascertained. A loan would obviate one of the great disadvantages of the British slave system, as compared with the Brazils and Cuba, the non-residence of the planters; which admits of no remedy whilst slavery exists, without sacrifices that many of the proprietors would be very unwilling to make. When the slaves are emancipated, the estates, with the sugar mills, might be let to tenants, who would manage them with emancipated laborers, and pay a rent as English farmers do. The mere collection of rents for non-resident planters would be very simple, and would only cost a moderate commission upon the nett income, instead of a high rate on the gross produce. Few, if any, concerns can be successfully managed by agents in the absence of the party interested, and least of all agricultural. Here the advantages of the presence of the sugar farmer, his having the unshackled management of his own concerns, and depending on that management alone for success, would be almost incalculable. Nothing is more easily obviated than this difficulty. If the loan were £20,000,000, instead of £15,000,000, the interest, if raised at 33 per cent. would only be about 20s. per annum for every slave. There are few, if any, estates in the West Indies, where there are not two acres of land for every slave; a rent of the land at 10s. per acre, would pay the interest of the loan. The rent of land occupied by the settlers in Jamaica is £2 per acre; see J. B. Wildman's evidence, Anti-Slavery Reporter, No. 104, p. 450. 10s. per acre would be ample security for the loan, and 10s. more clear to himself would be a vast improvement in the situation of the owner of an exhausted estate, deeply involved in debt. Distress would be banished from this country if every poor man had the opportunity of renting two acres of land for each one of his family at 20s. per acre. These exhausted estates are not barren rocks, or unpro-2s. per cwt. more. ductive sands, but lands on which sugar works have been erected; and which, by a proper system of cultivation, are capable of being restored again to the growth of Sugar. In relation to the improvements in the mode of cultivation, which would be likely to result from the abolition of slavery, our author's reasoning is conclusive. The plough ought to be generally introduced; but, as is natural, the planters do not admit that any further improvement could be made in their practice; it would be strange, if, when seeking help from the legislature, they should admit they had not done all they could for themselves. It may be said that we are meddling with things we do not understand; our reply to this is, the planters want our money to compensate for Whilst the soil has been exhausting and deteriorating in the West Indies, the productions of this country have been more than doubled. By better cultivation in the West Indies, and without additional expense, we may very soon have an increase of sugar, 20 to 25 per cent.: and as the cost is now 15s. 8d. per cwt. the advantage of such an increase would be fully 3s. per cwt. By the introduction of the plough, one-half of the hands might also be dispensed with a great part of the year, which would probably reduce the cost The concluding part of the pamphlet exhibits an immense saving to the country from the proposed change in the colonies. The proposed loan, coupled with the emancipation of the slaves, would enable the planters to make such savings as would afford them all the profits they sought in 1832, whilst the country would be supplied with sugar at 10s. 6d. per cwt. cheaper than the present price. The profit to the planters would be 10s. per cwt. The saving in the different items recapitulated is 16s. 1d., or more than £3,000,000 per annum; this, added to a million, or a million and a half for naval and military expenses to keep the slaves in subjection, will make altogether four and a half millions of clear saving, in case complete emancipation should take place. But so long as slavery is continued in any " Fiat Justitia Ruat Colum. into effect his noble and humane design. Assisted by a few contemporary philanthropists, and cheered onwards by the approvings of conscience, he fearlessly embarked in the work, which thus far has been prosecuted with an energy that pro I view it as preposterous for the slave holder to labor to avert what must inevitably and shortly form, this expense will fall upon some party: it has already been shown that neither the slaves nor the planters are able to pay it. Hence it is evident that the country must continue to bear this immense burden until it is removed by complete emancipation, and the consequent introduc-mises, at no distant day, to crown his efforts with tion of great improvements in the cultivation of triumphant and complete success. the West Indies. If this statement affords the reasonable probability, that the abolition of slavery would relieve the country from more than four millions per annum, is there one representative of the people who can hold himself excused from a full investigation of the subject? and if that investigation shall prove the general truth of the preceding statements, that man who would refuse to make the experiment, where there is scarcely a risk of loss, whilst the country has so much to gain, is wholly unworthy of the character of a British Senator. The people are naturally desirous of the removal of obnoxious taxes, but hitherto no way has been devised, except that of transferring taxation from one object to another. Let their repre come to pass. We are told by our fellow citizens at the south, that as the evil of slavery is confined to themselves, the north have no interest at all in the question, and therefore need not concern themselves about it.-We think otherwise, and on the contrary, maintain that we are interested, and that vitally too, in this subject. As citizens of the same republic, living under the same benign government and laws, we are concerned in sponging out forever this blot upon our national esration of our unrivalled political institutions. I cutcheon; concerned in the preservation and duriously be contended that the genius of slavery is trust that in this enlightened age, it will not senot hostile to the spirit of liberty. Liberty and will have the ascendency. Either liberty will slavery cannot exist together; one or the other sentatives examine the means of relief here proposed; this is not transferring taxation from one thing to another, but lessening the cost of production, and cheapening the commodity of the people. In this way the revenues will be increas-abolish slavery, or slavery will extirpate liberty.— ed by an increase of consumption, whilst the As fellow mortals journeying onwards together upprice of commodities will not be increased but on the road of life, to another, and it is to be hoped, a better world, as candidates for a blessed immortal diminished. And as we shall soon enjoy the ad-ity, in short, as Christians, we feel concerned, and vantages of opening of the trade with China, we shall then have the manifest advantages of free trade in two great commodities-sugar and tea, each of them affording a large increase to the revenue, at the same time that the price of each is reduced to the consumer. For the Genius of Universal Emancipation. SLAVERY. MR. EDITOR,-I hold it undeniably true, that all men interested, directly or indirectly, in the event of a question, are entitled, by the fundamental law of civil society, to a respectful hearing at the bar of public opinion; and so long as they confine themselves within the boundaries of decorum and the law, no one has a right to interfere, much less to prohibit the promulgation of their opinions to the world. Their right to discuss the expediency, the policy, the morality of any subject is clear beyond all controversy, hence, it is an affront of fered to the majesty of the law, an insult to the human understanding, to impugn the motives, or to denounce a fellow citizen, because he differs in opinion with ourselves. one. are interested for the welfare, not only of ourselves, but of all men. "No matter whether an Indian or an African sun may have shone upon them," we strained by the positive and powerful injunctions feel called upon by the plainest precepts, and conof the author of our holy religion, to assist one another while here, and to do our fellow men all the good in our power. Upon these grounds, therefore, we are willing to rest our claim of interest, nay, our right to interfere in the momentous question of slavery, and are not afraid to abide the decision of posterity upon the issue. In the investigation of subjects we too frequently limit our inquiries to the surface of things, which leads to the formation of erroneous opinions and conclusions. We ought, therefore to go further, to penetrate beyond the surface, and occasionally examine questions in the abstract, and profoundly, when we shall many times discover a direct connexion to exist between apparently antagonist parts of our subject, and perceive an influence, silent, though sure, to pervade every branch of the question. We think our southern brethren do not take a These observations are suggested by a remark profound and comprehensive view of the deeply recently delivered by a distinguished member of interesting and important subject now under con. the national legislature, upon the floor of congress, sideration; they seem to forget that we are all in reference, no doubt, to the exertions of William citizens of the same common country, that we Lloyd Garrison, and a few other individuals, in the abide under the same government and laws, that cause of slavery. The labors of this eminent phi- we entertain, or ought to entertain, the same polanthropist in the cause of humanity, are worthy litical feelings and interests; that we must stand of all praise. His cause is a righteous one, a holy or fall together, and that finally, it is a matter of Mr. Garrison, therefore, need entertain no no small importance whether a cause exist in the fears with regard to the verdict posterity will pro- north, or operates at the south, calculated to denounce upon his great and benevolent undertak-moralize the minds of our citizens, and exert a ing. He did not commence before he had fully disastrous influence upon the political institutions counted the costs; he calculated, of course, to en- of our country. counter hostility from various sources, particularly throughout the southern states; but the mountain of opposition, which appeared in prospective, towering to its loftiest altitude, did not shake his resolution, or deter him from carrying The experiment has been made, and the ques tion satisfactorily determined, that the only effectual means of escape from the bondage of intemperance, is by firmly resolving to abstain for ever from the use of ardent spirits. The two evils, sla |