USA > Illinois > Edwards County > History of the English settlement in Edwards County, Illinois : founded in 1817 and 1818, by Morris Birkbeck and George Flower > Part 16
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219
A DIVINE DEFENDER OF SLAVERY.
most absurdly expect, be realized and weighed against any one of the evils which I have enumerated, they would be as a feather to a millstone. JONATHAN FREEMAN."
A reverend divine enters the list, with Bible-arguments for slavery; his letter, over the signature W. K., appeared in the Republican Advocate; I never learned his name or residence. He was the Parson Brownlow of that day. We will give him a hearing, and see how he is handled by Jonathan Freeman:
" To the Editor of the Spectator:
" Sir :- The following article, with the signature W. K., has appeared in the Republican Advocate and the Illinois Republican. As it is an extraordinary production, to give it a still more general circulation, I request the favor of your inserting it in your paper, with a reply to it from your ob'd't serv't, JONATHAN FREEMAN."
""'Several gentlemen, who are raising a great hue and cry against the introduction of slavery into this State, appear to be influenced strongly by religious considera- tions and scruples of conscience. One would conclude, from what they say and write on this subject (if we can believe them sincere), that they really suppose it contrary to the spirit and precepts of our holy religion, to reduce the black curled-headed Africans to a state of bondage to white men, and bring them into the Western Hemisphere, and compel some of them to serve the good Christians of Illinois.
""'That it would better the condition of all Africa to bring her unhappy sable children to the American Conti-
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nent, no one, it is presumed, can be found so stupid and destitute of common sense as to deny or, indeed, for one moment, to hesitate to believe. Therefore, I say nothing on this head; and shall content myself by referring the religiously-scrupulous part of the community, and espec- ially the preaching and exhorting part thereof, to such passages of holy writ as I would think ought to close their lips, and which are conceived to be unanswerable, in favor of reducing the negroes to a state of bondage to the whites, and of introducing and treating them as slaves among us.
" 'The passages of scripture to which I would refer, and which may be deemed conclusive by reasonable and can- did men, are to be found in many different parts of the Bible; but it is considered sufficient for our purpose to quote from the 25th chapter of Leviticus, the 44th, 45th, and 46th verses: "Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you, and of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families, which are with you, which they beget in your land, and they shall be your possession; they shall be your bondmen forever." From these passages, we see very plainly that the Israelites were permitted to make slaves of the heathen that were around them. It is very evident that the African negroes are to be considered as "strangers" and "heathen" to us Christians, who stand in the place and footsteps of the ancient Jews, God's chosen people; and whatever was lawful for them to do, is lawful for us also.
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221
JONATHAN FREEMAN ANSWERS HIM.
"'I call upon the teachers of the Christian religion, and the expounders of the sacred book, which contains its pre- cepts; likewise the cunning and crafty opposers of a con- vention, for the purpose of so amending our constitution, that we may legally enjoy the blessings of slavery, to explain away, if they can, the plain and obvious meaning of those passages which I have transcribed. W. K.'"
To our reverend brother, if we yield to him nothing else, we must thank him for his candor. He at least wishes, through the medium of a convention, so to amend the constitution, that we may legally enjoy the blessings of slavery. He goes the whole hog; and for that I rather like him, in comparison with that hypocritical, fast-and- loose crew, who, while working and pleading for a con- vention, denied that the object was to introduce slavery. But I leave him to Jonathan Freeman:
"To W. K., Reverend Sir :- I am one of those who are strongly influenced by religious considerations and scruples of conscience in opposition to slavery ; being quite certain that it is contrary to the spirit of our holy religion to reduce any human being to a state of bondage, excepting as a punishment for crimes. I have attentively considered the passages you have quoted, and I learn from them that the laws of Moses permitted the Hebrews, according to the custom of those barbarous ages, to buy bondmen and bondmaids, of the heathen round about them; but I do not discover that they were permitted to make them slaves. On the contrary, it is evident from all collateral passages, that the persons who might become bondmen
220 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
nent, no one, it is presumed, can be found so stupid and destitute of common sense as to deny or, indeed, for one moment, to hesitate to believe. Therefore, I say nothing on this head; and shall content myself by referring the religiously-scrupulous part of the community, and espec- ially the preaching and exhorting part thereof, to such passages of holy writ as I would think ought to close their lips, and which are conceived to be unanswerable, in favor of reducing the negroes to a state of bondage to the whites, and of introducing and treating them as slaves among us.
" 'The passages of scripture to which I would refer, and which may be deemed conclusive by reasonable and can- did men, are to be found in many different parts of the Bible; but it is considered sufficient for our purpose to quote from the 25th chapter of Leviticus, the 44th, 45th, and 46th verses: "Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you, and of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families, which are with you, which they beget in your land, and they shall be your possession; they shall be your bondmen forever." From these passages, we see very plainly that the Israelites were permitted to make slaves of the heathen that were around them. It is very evident that the African negroes are to be considered as "strangers" and "heathen" to us Christians, who stand in the place and footsteps of the ancient Jews, God's chosen people; and whatever was lawful for them to do, is lawful for us also.
221
JONATHAN FREEMAN ANSWERS HIM.
"'I call upon the teachers of the Christian religion, and the expounders of the sacred book, which contains its pre- cepts; likewise the cunning and crafty opposers of a con- vention, for the purpose of so amending our constitution, that we may legally enjoy the blessings of slavery, to explain away, if they can, the plain and obvious meaning of those passages which I have transcribed. W. K.'"
To our reverend brother, if we yield to him nothing else, we must thank him for his candor. He at least wishes, through the medium of a convention, so to amend the constitution, that we may legally enjoy the blessings of slavery. He goes the whole hog; and for that I rather like him, in comparison with that hypocritical, fast-and- loose crew, who, while working and pleading for a con- vention, denied that the object was to introduce slavery. But I leave him to Jonathan Freeman:
"To W. K., Reverend Sir :- I am one of those who are strongly influenced by religious considerations and scruples of conscience in opposition to slavery ; being quite certain that it is contrary to the spirit of our holy religion to reduce any human being to a state of bondage, excepting as a punishment for crimes. I have attentively considered the passages you have quoted, and I learn from them that the laws of Moses permitted the Hebrews, according to the custom of those barbarous ages, to buy bondmen and bondmaids, of the heathen round about them; but I do not discover that they were permitted to make them slaves. On the contrary, it is evident from all collateral passages, that the persons who might become bondmen
224 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
from the pen of the editor of the Illinois Gazette, which precedes the two letters that immediately follow it, will show the tone held by the conventionists at that time :
" The writers of the following communications take two things for granted, which we deem very questionable, if not positive mistakes : First, that the main object of the convention was to introduce slavery ; and secondly, that the saline can be worked with more profit to the State by free laborers than hired slaves.
"We do not believe that the introduction of absolute slavery is the object of the friends of a convention, speak- ing of them as a body; though there are individuals, doubtless, who would desire it. We answer for ourselves, that it is not ours, nor ever was ; and we believe we may say as much for all the most influential and intelligent persons of that party throughout the State. As to work- ing the saline, we are clear that it can not be done either to private or public advantage by free laborers. Indeed it is a primary object of the friends of a convention in this quarter, to procure a prolongation of the privilege of hiring slaves at those works. Such is the conviction of the greater advantages to be derived from that species of labor, in the present paucity of our population."
"' To the Editor of the Illinois Intelligencer:
"'Sir :- In the Illinois Intelligencer of December 6, is an account of a meeting of certain individuals styling them- selves 'Friends of a Convention,' held at Vandalia, of which Gen. Willis Hargrave was the chairman.
' "As it is thoroughly understood by every citizen who is
"ONE OF THE PEOPLE" SPEAKS. 225
capable of distinguishing his right hand from his left, that the main object of the convention of which these gentle- men profess to be the friends, is the introduction of slavery. I can not refrain from expressing my extreme regret that the General should have allowed himself to be placed in such a situation. I should have thought that the lament- able condition of the Gallatin Saline (of which I understand he is the official inspector) might have induced him to raise a warning voice so loud and so earnest as to be heard through every county and every plantation in the State, proclaiming to his fellow-citizens that their hard-earned dollars expended in salt have passed away into Kentucky and Tennessee for the hire of negroes ; not leaving a suf- ficiency to pay even the rent in our depreciated currency, at the rate of twenty-five cents to the dollar ! He should have laid before us this distressing fact; and have reminded us, that if free laborers had been employed instead of slaves, the amount of their wages, at least, would have remained in circulation among us, and would have prevented this valuable national estate from being an enormous drain upon our specie, instead of being a source of profit to the public. "ONE OF THE PEOPLE.'"
"'To the Editor of the Illinois Gasette:
"'Sir :- At a time when avarice and folly are combining on the one hand for the introduction of slavery into our State, and virtue with good sense, her never-failing coad- jutor, on the other, are combining to oppose it, it is amus- ing to observe the artifices of the slave-party, by which they endeavor to impose on the public, by mustering and
15
226 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
manœuvring under the colors of the friends of freedom. In the Illinois Intelligencer of November I, and in several other papers, is an account of an affair of this kind. Cer- tain citizens of Fox-River Township, in White County, to the number of about sixty persons, being assembled for the purpose of electing county - commissioners, formed them- selves into a society in support of a convention, which everybody knows is designed to bring about the toleration of slavery ; but, instead of proceeding like men, who have no cause to conceal their intentions, they drew up the fol- lowing resolutions :
"(These resolutions were published in this paper of the 8th; lack of room compels us to refer to them in this way.) ""'Here the first resolution, unexceptionable in principle, is held up as a standard. Governments are instituted to secure the rights and insure the happiness of the governed, etc .; under these colors they march to the second resolu- tion, by which they bind themselves to use every honest exertion to induce their neighbors and fellow-citizens to act with them in bringing about a change of government ; and by which projected change a portion of the governed, instead of having their rights secured to them according to the tenor of the first resolution, are to be held, with their children after them, in perpetual bondage. They then pro- ceed to appoint a committee to carry into effect, not the resolutions including the first, but the resolution meaning the second; thus, laying down the colors of freedom, they take up the black banner and cut the figure which all peo- ple do when they are ashamed of their own transactions.
"'The majority of my fellow-citizens of White County
227
LETTER OF JONATHAN FREEMAN.
will, I trust, put a just value on their rights and their inde- pendence, and faithfully adhere to the first resolution.
"'People talk of the right of slave-owners to hold their - fellow-man in bondage; but there is a great difference be- tween power and right. There may be a power but not a right to do wrong. The State of New York had the power to practise slavery, but never the right to do it. The people of that and other free-states, to their honor and incalculable advantage, have relinquished that noxious power, and they can not resume it. The states which have abolished sla- very have abolished it forever. Nothing short of a dissolu- tion of all government can introduce slavery among a free people. The end of government is the intellectual and moral, as well as the corporal good of the whole. Should slavery be among their customs, the legitimate object of government would then be to mitigate the evil during its existence, and abolish it as soon as practicable. Such as been the course of the states alluded to. They have extirpated the accursed thing. We have bound ourselves, by a solemn compact, not to plant it; and on this express condition, we have been admitted to all the rights and privileges of the original States. The criminal power, which the advocates of slavery are coveting, and would sanctify under the name of a right, was not one of those rights and privileges. Slavery was a calamity under which they were afflicted, and from which we are happily exempted by our constitution; and this exemption is one of the most precious of its gifts.
".JONATHAN FREEMAN.'"
228
ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
"To the Editor of the Shawneetown Gazette:
"Sir :- I beg leave to submit to you and the other gentlemen of the legal profession at Shawneetown the following queries, arising from facts, which I shall premise.
"The property of the soil of this State, being vested in the General Government, offices were opened for the sale of land, and certain rights and immunities granted to purchasers.
"Query I .- May not such purchasers require of the United States protection and support in the enjoyment of those rights and immunities? When they attained the number of sixty thousand, or at an earlier period with the consent of Congress, they had a right to form a govern- ment under certain definitions and provisions, vis .: that it should be a republic; that it should have no hereditary nobility, no church establishment; and no slavery, except as a punishment for crimes.
"Q. 2 .- If the majority had prefered a monarchy, would not the United States have upheld the minority in its right to form a republic?
"Q. 3 .- If the majority had attempted to create heredi- tary rank, or an established church, would not the United States have supported the minority in their rejection of those usurpations?
"Q. 4 .- If the majority had attempted to introduce slavery, would not the United States have been bound to enable the minority effectually to resist it? There was, however, no need of the interposition of Congress in regard to these matters! The constitution of Illinois was framed in consistency with these stipulations; and under
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LETTER OF JONATHAN FREEMAN.
those express conditions and limitations, the people of the territory were admitted into the Union as a State.
"Q. 5 .- Did that contract cease to be binding the moment after it was executed? .
"If your honorable fraternity shall see good to enlighten your unlearned fellow-citizens on these points, I may be encouraged to propose a few after queries for your so- lution. JONATHAN FREEMAN."
In reply to some sneering remarks, as to the absurdity of comparing the capacity of a curly-headed black fellow with white men, the following pertinent piece of history was given :
"To the Editor of the Shawncetown Gazette:
"Sir :- Before the admission of slaves into this State, I would counsel the Solomons in our legislature to devise some plan to prevent any from being bought or stolen, or in any manner procured or brought among us, who are able to read or write; as it is to be feared they might soon be an overmatch for us in those exercises. A negro fellow, called Du Vasty, in St. Domingo, took it in his head to write a book in answer to Mr. Mazere, a white gentleman, who had written in defence of the slave-trade. In this answer the black breaks out in the following language:
"'I have discovered,' says he, 'such absurdities, false- hoods, and equivocations in this work,' meaning the book of the white gentleman, 'that I have been twenty times on the point of throwing down my pen, and abandoning him and his brethren to the profound contempt they have
230 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
inspired. I am a man! I feel it in all my being: I pos- sess thought, reason, strength. I have every feeling of my sublime existence. I am humbled at being obliged to reply to such childish sophisms, and to prove to men like myself that I am their fellow. My soul, indignant at this excess of falsehood and folly, leads me in my turn to doubt if they are men who dare to discuss a question no less impious and immoral than absurd.'
"You may perceive from this specimen, Mr. Editor, that the Carolinians and Georgians have some reason for pro- hibiting the instruction of their slaves. Yours,
"JONATHAN FREEMAN."
"Sir :- As the following six queries may be answered in seven words, and require but little legal knowledge, though your indulgence, I propose them to our fellow- citizens in general. I would request them to answer in- genuously, to the satisfaction of their own conscience, each query severally and in succession as they read it, and then to make up their minds about voting for or against a con- vention designed to bring in slavery.
"Query 1. What was the original title of the white man to the negro? Q. 2. The power of enforcing it excepted, has not the negro as good a title to the white man? Q. 3. Can the transfer of a bad title improve or confirm it? Q. 4. Is not the receiver of stolen goods, knowing them to be such, as bad as the thief; and should they pass from one such receiver to another, and so on, is not the last receiver as bad as the first? Q. 5. Which is the greatest villain, a horse-thief or a man-thief; a receiver of
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LETTER OF JONATHAN FREEMAN.
stolen horses or a receiver of stolen men? Q. 6. If the majority of the legislature should happen to be of the latter class, and they were to pass a law, authorizing their constituents to steal men, women, and children, or to re- ceive them, knowing them to be stolen, would such a law justify the villainy? JONATHAN FREEMAN." " To the Editor of the Illinois Gasette:
"Sir: The complaining tone, which has become so com- mon among us, is no doubt occasioned by inconveniences, which we pretty generally feel as wants, which we are at present unable to satisfy.
"People who suffer are apt to complain, and I suppose there is relief in it; but sometimes we indulge this pro- pensity unreasonably, and spend time and strength in grumbling, which well applied might set all to rights. This, I am inclined to believe, is our present case. Here we are, about sixty thousand persons, old and young, possessing the portions of our choice in a rich and beauti- ful country, lately a wilderness, but under well-directed industry fast becoming a fertile field. We labor for our- selves and our children, and have nothing to pay but for our benefit.
"Our operations commence in the creation of real wealth. We build houses, and they are 'our own; make enclosures which produce more than enough for our subsistence. We have planted orchards, and are beginning to gather their fruit. We have store of cattle of all descriptions (sheep excepted) beyond our wants. We have also made ourselves clothing; but in this particular, our industry may
232 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
have been somewhat deficient. Things have arrived at this point without much money; for the little we brought with us has been mostly expended in paying for our land, and in purchasing articles of the first necessity, which are not to be found in a new country. There are, however, other articles necessary for our comfort, if not for our sub- sistance, which can not be procured without money; and here lies our difficulty. The times are somewhat 'out of joint'. The old world does not, as heretofore, take off the surplus produce of the new. The plain articles of food yield, at New Orleans, which is our emporium, little more than the cost of freight, and afford us a very scanty supply of foreign productions of luxury and comfort.
" What is our reasonable course under these circum- stances? To direct a portion of our industry to the supply of our own wants, instead of raising unmarketable producc. Let us examine into the resources of our country, and avail ourselves of them. Have we no iron-ore in our State, no clay suitable for pottery? At all events, we should grow the materials of our clothing, as we have cer- tainly skill to manufacture them; and the skill which is not exerted, is dormant capital, lost to the public.
"No country ever acquired lasting wealth and prosperity by exporting raw produce. It will be a fortunate event, which we are now deploring as a calamity, should it put us in the way of working up, and consuming our own pro- duce. We shall then be as independent as any people ought to be. Foreign commerce is not to be viewed as the source of wealth, but of convenience. We must give an equivalent for all we receive .. The balance of trade is
233
. LETTER OF JONATHAN FREEMAN.
held by the even hand of mutual interest; both parties are served by it. The merchants in each country may grow rich, but it is at the expense of their home customers.
"The real wealth of a country is of its own creation; consisting in its arts and industry, its productive lands, its buildings, its roads, canals, and public institutions; and in the means of enjoyment possessed by the people. Illinois might be both rich and happy, though walled in from the rest of the world; certainly neither so speedily, nor to an equal degree, as through a liberal communication with other nations. Let us have patience and perseverance, and all will be well. We generally left our ancient abodes under the pressure or apprehension of distress; some from want or fear of it; some from the galling of political oppression. Now let us be thankful. Want is far from us, and we are free. Just escaped from the gripe of pov- erty, or the more horrible gripe of tyranny, it becomes us not to murmur because we have nothing better than liberty and plenty. Shall we complain because our corn-cribs are overflowing and our harvests too abundant? If any of us choose to exchange four or even eight bushels of corn for a pound of tea, we have good right so to do; or if we choose to give a hundred and twenty bushels of corn for a coat of British broadcloth, so be it, but no grumbling ; the better way might be to do at present without the tea, and forever without a coat of foreign fabric, 'to wear our old coats,' as Dr. Franklin said on another occasion, 'until we can make new ones;' but this will never take place if we tolerate slavery; for that would encourage extravagance, cripple industry, keep us poor, and blight all our pros- pects. JONATHAN FREEMAN."
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ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN EDWARDS COUNTY.
" To the Editor of the Shawneetoron Gazette:
."Sir :- I would freely commit the question, which now agitates and disgraces this State, to a congress of wise and conscientious men, taken from a slave-holding state, and consent to abide by their decision, confined to this simple question: 'Is slavery, considered as affecting the enslaving party, a blessing or a curse?'
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