American Scenes, and Christian Slavery: A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United StatesDavies, Ebenezer
History
American Scenes, and Christian Slavery: A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United States
Davies, Ebenezer
Slavery -- United States; United States -- Description and travel
In our progress, we had to cross several arms of the Chesapeak Bay.
These arms were from one to two miles wide, and the railway is carried
over them upon posts driven into the ground. It seemed like crossing
the sea in a railway carriage. At Havre de Grace we had to cross the
Susquehannah River. This word Susquehannah is Indian, and means
literally, I am told, "the rolling thunder." In crossing it, however,
we heard no thunder, except that of the luggage-van over our heads, on
the top of the steamer. Here we changed carriages. We soon got sight of
the Delaware, which kept us company nearly all the way to Philadelphia.
Delaware, the smallest of all the States except Rhode Island, we
entirely crossed. A few days before, Delaware had well nigh done
herself great honour. Her House of Representatives carried, by a
majority, a vote for the abolition of slavery within her boundaries;
but the measure was lost in her Senate by a majority of one or two. The
State legislature will not meet again for two years. All parties are
confident that the measure will then be triumphantly carried through.
In America, however, the abolition of slavery in any State does not
always mean freedom to the slaves. Too often it is a mere
transportation of them to the Southern States. Had Delaware passed a
law that all slaves should he free at the expiration of five years, or
that all children born after a certain period should he free, the
owners of slaves would have had an obvious interest in disposing of
their human property to the Southern traders _before_ that period
arrived. Mothers, too, would have been hastened Southward to give birth
to their offspring; so that the "peculiar institution" might lose none
of its prey. Measures for the abolition of slavery in any part of
America do not arise from sympathy with the negro, and from a wish to
improve his condition and promote his happiness, but from aversion to
his presence, or perhaps from a conviction that the system of slavery
is expensive and impolitic. Those who feel kindly towards their
coloured brother, and act towards him under the impulse of pure and
lofty philanthropy, are, I am sorry to say, very few indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account