paupers, be compelled to labor for their own maintenance ? Immediate emancipation does not necessarily contemplate any relaxation of the restraints of government or morality; any admission to political rights, or improper exemption from compulsory labor. What then does such emancipation imply? It implies, that black men, being no longer property, will be capable of entering into the marriage state, and of exercising the rights, and enjoying the blessings of the conjugal and parental relations, it implies, that they will be entitled to the fruits of their honest industry-to the protection of the laws of the land, and to the privilege of securing a happy immortality, by learning and obeying the will of their Creator.

Now, it is almost universally supposed, that such emancipation would, as a matter of course, lead to insurrection, robbery and massacre. Yet this opinion will, on examination, be found utterly irreconcilable with the divine economy, the principles of human nature, and the testimony of experience.

It is a trite remark, that nations are punished and rewarded in this world, and individuals in the next; and both sacred and profane history will be searched in vain for an instance, in which the Supreme Ruler has permitted a nation to suffer for doing justice and loving mercy. To believe that God would permit any community to be destroyed, merely because it had ceased to do evil, is to call in question the equity of his government, or the power of his providence. Who that acknowledges the truth of Revelation, can doubt, that if slavery be sinful, the sooner we part with it, the more confidently may we rely on the divine favor and protection. Infidelity alone will seek safety in human counsels, when opposed to the divine will.

But the opinion we are considering, is no less at variance with the motives and passions of our common nature, than with the dictates of Christian faith.

What is the theory on which this opinion rests? Why, that cruelty, injustice and grievous oppression, render men quiet, docile, and inoffensive subjects; and that if delivered from this cruelty, injustice, and oppression, they will rob and murder their deliverers!

This theory is happily unsupported by any facts, and rests upon the simple dogma, that the slaves are not yet fitted for freedom. Now we would ask, what is meant by fitness for freedom? Ought a man to be a slave, unless he can read, write

and cipher? Must he be taught accounts, before he can re ceive wages? Should he understand law, before he enjoys its protection? Must he be instructed in morals, before he reads his Bible? If all these are pre-requisites for freedom, how and when are they to be acquired in slavery?

If one century of bondage has not produced this fitness, how many will? Are our slaves more fit now, than they were ten, twenty, fifty years ago? Let the history of slave legislation answer the inquiry. When the British government insisted that female slaves should no longer be flogged naked in the colonies, the Jamaica legislature replied, that it would be impossible to lay aside the practice " UNTIL the negro women have acquired more of the sense of shame, which distinguishes European females." Slaves, while such, will become fit for freedom as soon but not sooner, than negro women will become modest in consequence of the West-Indian mode of correction. No postponement of emancipation, will increase the fitness of slaves for freedom, and to wait for this fitness, resembles the conduct of the simpleton who loitered by the brook, expecting to pass dry shod, after the water had run off.

The conclusion to which religion and common sense would lead us on this subject, is most abundantly confirmed by experience. Passing by the emancipation of the Serfs of Europe, let us advert to various instances of the sudden abolition of negro slavery, and let us see how far the theory we are considering is supported by facts.

On the 10th October, 1811, the Congress of Chili, decreed that every child born after that day, should be free.

On the 9th April, 1812, the government of Buenos Ayres, ordered that every child born after 1st January, 1813, should be free.

On the 19th July, 1821, the Congress of Colombia passed an Act, emancipating all slaves, who had borne arms in favor of the Republic, and providing for the emancipation in eighteen years, of the whole slave population of 230,000.

On the 15th September, 1821, the government of Mexico granted instantaneous and unconditional emancipation to every slave.

On the 4th July, 1827, ten thousand slaves were emancipated in the State of New-York by act of the legislature.

In all these various instances, not one case of insurrection

or of bloodshed is known to have resulted from emancipation. But St. Domingo-ah, what recollections are awakened by that name! With that name are associated the most irrefragable proofs of the safety and wisdom of immediate emancipation and of the ability of the African race, to value, defend and enjoy the blessings of freedom. The apologists of slavery, are constantly reminding Abolitionists of the "SCENES IN ST. DOMINGO." Were the public familiar with the origin and history of those scenes, none but Abolitionists would dare to refer to them. We will endeavor in the next chapter to dispel the ignorance, which so extensively prevails relative to the " scenes in St. Domingo," and we trust our efforts will furnish new confirmation of the great truth, that the path of duty is the path of safety.

CHAPTER VIII.

EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO AND GUADALOUPE, AND PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO.

IN 1790, the population of the French part of St. Domingo was estimated at 686,000. Of this number, 42,000 were white, 44,000 free people of color, and 600,000 slaves. At the com

mencement of the French revolution the free colored people petitioned the National Assembly, to be admitted to political rights, and sent a deputation to Paris to attend to their interests. On the 8th March, 1790, a law was passed, granting to the colonies the right of holding representative assemblies, and of exercising to a certain extent, legislative authority. On the 28th of the same month, another law was passed, declaring that all free persons in the colonies, who were proprietors, and residents of two years standing, and who contribute to the exigencies of the State, shall exercise the right of voting."

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The planters insisted that this law did not apply to free colored persons. They proceeded to elect a general assembly, and in this election the free blacks were, with but few exceptions, prevented from voting. The newly elected assembly issued a manifesto, declaring they would rather die, than divide their political rights with "a bastard and degenerated race." A portion of the free colored people resolved to maintain the right

given them by the mother country, and assembled in arms under one of their own number named Oge. A letter addressed by this chief to the St. Domingo assembly, is fortunately extant, and explains the true origin of those awful calamities, which it is found expedient to ascribe to the Abolition of slavery.

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SIRS,

1

"A prejudice for a long time upheld, is at last about to fall. Charged with a commission honorable to myself, I call upon you to proclaim throughout the colony the decree of the Ñational Assembly of the 28th March, which gives, without distinction, to every free citizen the right of being admitted to all duties and functions whatever. My pretensions are just, and I do hope you will regard them. I shall not have recourse to any raising of the slave gangs. It is unnecessary and would be unworthy of me. I wish you to appreciate duly, the purity of my intentions. When I solicited of the National Assembly* the decree I obtained in favor of our American Colonists, known under the hitherto injurious distinction of the mixed race, I never comprehended in my claims the negroes in a state of slavery. You and our adversaries have mixed this with my proceedings to destroy my estimation in the minds of all well disposed people: but I have demanded only concessions for a class of free men, who have endured the yoke of your oppression for two centuries. We have no wish but for the execution of the decree of the 28th March. We insist on its promulgation; and we cease not to repeat to our friends, that our adversaries are not merely unjust to us, but to themselves, for they do not seem to know that their interests are one with ours. Before employing the means at my command, I will see what good temper will do; but if contrary to my object, you refuse what is asked, I will not answer for those disorders which may arise from merited revenge."

The shout of battle was the only answer returned to this letter. The free blacks were defeated, and their brave leader being taken prisoner, was, with a barbarity equalled only by its folly, broken alive on the wheel. A ferocious struggle now commenced between the two parties, and Oge's death was awfully avenged. On the 15th May, 1791, the French Convention issued a decree declaring explicitly, that "free colored per

* Oge had been one of the deputies who were sent to Paris.

sons were entitled to all the rights of citizenship." The planters however, refused to submit till after 2,000 whites and 10,000 blacks had perished. The free blacks had armed their own slaves; and many of the slaves belonging to the whites taking advantage of the disturbed state of the island revolted. The general assembly at length became alarmed, and on the 20th September, 1791, issued a proclamation announcing their acquiescence in the decree of the 15th May, admitting the free blacks to political equality with the whites. This proclamation immediately restored peace, and the free blacks even assisted the planters in reducing to obedience their revolted slaves. The peace, however, was of short duration. Intelligence was soon received that the French Convention had yielded to the clamors of the planters, and on the 24th September, only four days after the Assembly's proclamation, had repealed the decree giving political rights to the free blacks. The irritation caused by this measure may easily be imagined, and the feelings of the free blacks were exasperated by an act of folly and presumption on the part of the Colonial Assembly. This body passed an order for disarming the whole free colored population. That population, however, instead of surrendering their arms, challenged their proud oppressors to take them, and immediately renewed the war.

On the 4th April, 1792, the vacillating policy of the French government led it once more to pass a decree, investing the free negroes in the Colonies with political rights; and three Commissioners, with 6,000 troops, were sent to St. Domingo to enforce the decree. The Commissioners arrived on the 13th September, and assumed the government of the island. In June, 1793, they quarrelled with the governor, and each party took arms. The Commissioners called to their aid 3,000 revolted slaves, promising pardon for the past, and freedom for the fu ture. About this time it was estimated that no less than 10,000 of the white inhabitants had fled from the island, in consequence of its disturbed state, and this, be it remembered, before a single slave had been emancipated. The Commissioners were successful in their contest with the governor, and retained the supreme power in their own hands. But a new danger threatened them. The planters were dissatisfied with the political rights conferred on the blacks, and were in many instances, hostile to the Republic which had been reared on the