American Slave Trade: Or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous TrafficTorrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834
History
American Slave Trade: Or, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic
Torrey, Jesse, active 1787-1834
Slavery -- United States
"The chiefs of the nation were called together, who answered them, that
they would take it into consideration, but in the mean time they might
instruct their women, but they should not speak to the men. They spent
fourteen days in council, and then dismissed them very courteously, with
an answer to us. This answer made great acknowledgments for the favor we
had done them: They rejoiced exceedingly at our happiness in thus being
favored by the Great Spirit, and felt very grateful that we had
condescended to remember our red brethren in the wilderness: But they
could not help recollecting that we had a people among us, who, because
they differed from us in colour, we had made slaves of, and made them
suffer great hardships and lead miserable lives. Now, they could not see
any reason, if a people being black, entitled us thus to deal with them,
why a red colour should not equally justify the same treatment: They
therefore had determined to wait, to see whether all the black people
amongst us were made thus happy and joyful, before they could put
confidence in our promises; for they thought a people who had suffered
so much and so long by our means, should be entitled to our first
attention; that therefore, they had sent back the two missionaries, with
many thanks, promising that when they saw the black people among us
restored to freedom and happiness, they would gladly receive our
missionaries. This is what in any other case, would be called close
reasoning, and is too mortifying a fact to make further observations
upon."
[7] An inn-keeper, in the south part of Virginia, who hires his stand,
complains that his landlord _does_ him _much_ harm, by inviting nearly
all his respectable company to the festivities of his own dwelling
house.
[8] The ingenious and benevolent Mr. J. M'Leod, teacher of a respectable
seminary in the city of Washington, has assured the author, that he has
extended the science of encouraging promptitude in duty to such a
degree, that, (by his permission) his pupils have often flocked to his
lodgings, in crowds, before the dawn of day, emulating each other, who
should first rouse him from his bed, in order to proceed upon their
studies. At the same time, he did not permit his rules to be violated
with impunity. He pursued the same policy with soldiers, while an
officer a short time formerly, in the United States' army, and with the
same success. While a private teacher in a family in which slaves were
kept, his sympathy was so deeply wounded by the severity of their
punishments for misconduct, that he frequently gave them a quarter of a
dollar out of his own pocket, as an inducement for doing their duty so
as not to incur the displeasure of their masters. Might not such a
system of _genuine_ and _generous republican government_ as this be
adopted with mutual benefit to both _the people and their rulers_, on
the slave plantations universally?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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