第 4 节
作者:冷如冰      更新:2021-02-24 23:31      字数:9322
  might likewise restrict or forbid interstate commerce in slaves。 The West Indies and Mexico were also closely associated with the United States in the matter of slavery。 When Jamestown was founded; negro slavery was already an old institution in the islands of the Caribbean Sea; and thence came the first slaves to Virginia。 The abolition of slavery in the island of Hayti; or San Domingo; was accomplished during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars。 As incidental to the process of emancipation; the Caucasian inhabitants were massacred or banished; and a republican government was established; composed exclusively of negroes and mulattoes。 From the date of the Missouri Compromise to that of the Mexican War; this island was united under a single republic; though it was afterwards divided into the two republics of Hayti and San Domingo。 The 〃horrors of San Domingo〃 were never absent from the minds of those in the United States who lived in communities composed chiefly of slaves。 What had happened on the island was accepted by Southern planters as proof that the two races could live together in peace only under the relation of master and slave; and that emancipation boded the extermination of one race or the other。 Abolitionists; however; interpreted the facts differently: they emphasized the tyranny of the white rulers as a primary cause of the massacres; they endowed some of the negro leaders with the highest qualities of statesmanship and self…sacrificing generosity; and Wendell Phillips; in an impassioned address which he delivered in 1861; placed on the honor roll above the chief worthies of historyincluding Cromwell and Washington Toussaint L'Ouverture; the liberator of Hayti; whom France had betrayed and murdered。 Abolitionists found support for their position in the contention that other communities had abolished slavery without such accompanying horrors as occurred in Hayti and without serious race conflict。 Slavery had run its course in Spanish America; and emancipation accompanied or followed the formation of independent republics。 In 1833 all slaves in the British Empire were liberated; including those in the important island of Jamaica。 So it happened that; just at the time when Southern leaders were making up their minds to defend their peculiar institution at all hazards; they were beset on every side by the spirit of emancipation。 Abolitionists; on the other hand; were fully convinced that the attainment of some form of emancipation in the United States was certain; and that; either peaceably or through violence; the slaves would ultimately be liberated。
  CHAPTER III。 EARLY CRUSADERS At the time when the new cotton industry was enhancing the value of slave labor; there arose from the ranks of the people those who freely consecrated their all to the freeing of the slave。 Among these; Benjamin Lundy; a New Jersey Quaker; holds a significant place。 Though the Society of Friends fills a large place in the anti…slavery movement; its contribution to the growth of the conception of equality is even more significant。 This impetus to the idea arises from a fundamental Quaker doctrine; announced at the middle of the seventeenth century; to the erect that God reveals Himself to mankind; not through any priesthood or specially chosen agents; not through any ordinance; form; or ceremony; not through any church or institution; not through any book or written record of any sort; but directly; through His Spirit; to each person。 This direct enlightening agency they deemed coextensive with humanity; no race and no individual is left without the ever…present illuminating Spirit。 If men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; what they spoke or wrote can furnish no reliable guidance to the men of a later generation; except as their minds also are enlightened by the same Spirit in the same way。 〃The letter killeth; it is the Spirit that giveth life。〃 This doctrine in its purity and simplicity places all men and all races on an equality; all are alike ignorant and imperfect; all are alike in their need of the more perfect revelation yet to be made。 Master and slave are equal before God; there can be no such relation; therefore; except by doing violence to a personality; to a spiritual being。 In harmony with this fundamental principle; the Society of Friends early rid itself of all connection with slavery。 The Friends' Meeting became a refuge for those who were moved by the Spirit to testify against slavery。 Born in 1789 in a State which was then undergoing the process of emancipating its slaves; Benjamin Lundy moved at the age of nineteen to Wheeling; West Virginia; which had already become the center of an active domestic slave…trade。 The pious young Quaker; now apprenticed to a saddler; was brought into personal contact with this traffic in human flesh。 He felt keenly the national disgrace of the iniquity。 So deep did the iron enter into his soul that never again did he find peace of mind except in efforts to relieve the oppressed。 Like hundreds and thousands of others; Lundy was led on to active opposition to the trade by an actual knowledge of the inhumanity of the business as prosecuted before his eyes and by his sympathy for human suffering。 His apprenticeship ended; Lundy was soon established in a prosperous business in an Ohio village not far from Wheeling。 Though he now lived in a free State; the call of the oppressed was ever in his ears and he could not rest。 He drew together a few of his neighbors; and together they organized the Union Humane Society; whose object was the relief of those held in bondage。 In a few months the society numbered several hundred members; and Lundy issued an address to the philanthropists of the whole country; urging them to unite in like manner with uniform constitutions; and suggesting that societies so formed adopt a policy of correspondence and cooperation。 At about the same time; Lundy began to publish anti…slavery articles in the Mount Pleasant Philanthropist and other papers。 In 1819 he went on a business errand to St。 Louis; Missouri; where he found himself in the midst of an agitation over the question of the extension of slavery in the States。 With great zest he threw himself into the discussion; making use of the newspapers in Missouri and Illinois。 Having lost his property; he returned poverty…stricken to Ohio; where he founded in January; 1821; the Genius of Universal Emancipation。 A few months later he transferred his paper to the more congenial atmosphere of Jonesborough; Tennessee; but in 1824 he went to Baltimore; Maryland。 In the meantime; Lundy had become much occupied in traveling; lecturing; and organizing societies for the promotion of the cause of abolition。 He states that during the ten years previous to 1830 he had traveled upwards of twenty…five thousand miles; five thousand of which were on foot。 He now became interested in plans for colonizing negroes in other countries as an aid to emancipation; though he himself had no confidence in the colonization society and its scheme of deportation to Africa。 After leading a few negroes to Hayti in 1829; he visited Canada; Texas; and Mexico with a similar plan in view。 During a trip through the Middle States and New England in 1828; Lundy met William Lloyd Garrison; and the following year he walked all the way from Baltimore to Bennington; Vermont; for the express purpose of securing the assistance of the youthful reformer as coeditor of his paper。 Garrison had previously favored colonization; but within the few weeks which elapsed before he joined Lundy; he repudiated all forms of colonization and advocated immediate and unconditional emancipation。 He at once told Lundy of his change of views。 〃Well;〃 said Lundy; 〃thee may put thy initials to thy articles; and I will put my witness to mine; and each will bear his own burden。〃 The two editors were; however; in complete accord in their opposition to the slave…trade。 Lundy had suffered a dangerous assault at the hands of a Baltimore slave…trader before he was joined by Garrison。 During the year 1830; Garrison was convicted of libel and thrown into prison on account of his scathing denunciation of Francis Todd of Massachusetts; the owner of a vessel engaged in the slave…trade。 These events brought to a crisis the publication of the Genius of Universal Emancipation。 The editors now parted company。 Again Lundy moved the office of the paper; this time to Washington; D。C。; but it soon became a peripatetic monthly; printed wherever the editor chanced to be。 In 1836 Lundy began the issue of an anti…slavery paper in Philadelphia; called the National Inquirer; and with this was merged the Genius of Universal Emancipation。 He was preparing to resume the issue of his original paper under the old title; in La Salle County; Illinois; when he was overtaken by death on August 22; 1839。 Here was a man without education; without wealth; of a slight frame; not at all robust; who had undertaken; singlehanded and without the shadow of a doubt of his ultimate success; to abolish American slavery。 He began the organization of societies which were to displace the anti…slavery societies of the previous century。 He established the first paper devoted exclusively to the cause of emancipation。 He fo