The Life, Travels, and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy, Including his Journeys to Texas and Mexico, with a Sketch of Contemporary Events, and a Notice of the Revolution in Hayti

Front matter

TH E

LIFE, TRAVELS AND OPINIONS

OF

Preface

v

In preparing a history of the life and opinions of Benjamin Lundy, as well as of cotemporary events connected with the anti-slavery cause, the compiler has in general abstained from the introduction of his own opinions in reference to the matters recofded. In the very few instances of a departure from this rule, he has been solicitous to avoid giving offence to any class of emancipationists, and not to offer his own views on points respecting which the different classes are at issue. Jt has been suggested, however, since the succeeding pages were printed, that a remark written in reference to an observation made by Lundy on “political action,” might be understood differently from what was intended. He will therefore state, that the term “ political action,” as used by himself, was intended to signify any kind of action, by petitions, resolutions, editorials, lectures or otherwise, aimed expressly at effecting a change in the laws, the constitution or the political relations of the country, or any part of it.

The notice of the Haytien revolution is appended to the volume, both because it is an abridgement of one of Lundy’s works, and because the main facts of that revolution, which have been much misunderstood, are of interest, as illustrating the only instance recorded in history of a supposed successful insurrection of slaves.

Contents

Introductory Statement, . . . :

Narrative of Lundy to the period of the commencement of his Anti-

Slavery labours,

CHAPTER I. Introductory Statement

It has, perhaps, been too often the province of Bio* graphy to record the achievements of the heroes of the sword — of those whose principal distinction arose from the torrents of blood they had caused to flow, from the number of widows and orphans they had made, and from the extent of the countries which they had devastated or enslaved, with no better motive than that principle of self-aggrandizement which actuates the thief, the robber and the pirate.

Our enterprise is of a different character. Its purpose is to record the deeds of a hero of the soul — of one who toiled incessantly, and patiently endured every privation in order that he might heal the wounds which tyranny had inflicted ; that he might bind up the hearts which avarice had rent ; that he might sanctify the rights of consanguinity ; that he might secure to labour its just reward ; to virtue its due protection, to the rights of man their full enjoyment, to human intellect its freedom of expansion, to life the shield of just laws ; and that he might elevate his race to a more full conformity to that religion which teaches peace on earth and good will to men.

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LL'NDY.

As Benjamin Lundy was principally known through his devotion to the cause of emancipation, we will, before entering on his personal history, give a brief account of the previous state of that cause in the United States of America.

The first Anti-Slavery publication ever issued in North America, is said to have been a tract written by Ralph Sandiford, in 1729. The next was written by Benjamin Lay, and published by Dr. Franklin, at Philadelphia, in 1737. As Dr. Franklin was printer of one of the earlier tracts, so he became at an early period president of the first Society established in America expressly to promote emancipation, viz. the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, which received an act of incorporation from the State Legislature, and which is still in active existence.

From the period of the publication of Lay’s tract, the anti-slavery doctrine continued to spread, until at length it manifested itself as the sentiment of the country at large, in the declaration, signed by all the members of the North American Congress of 1774, that they would not engage in the slave trade themselves nor lease their vessels’ to others for that purpose. Slavery was extinguished by provisions of the State Constitutions adopted in Massachusetts in 1776, in New Hampshire in 1792, and in Vermont in 1793. Laws for gradual abolition were passed by the State Legislatures, in Pennsylvania in 1780, in Rhode Island and Connecticut in 1784, in New York in 1799, and in New Jersey in 1804. Laws favouring voluntary emancipation by the owners of slaves, were passed in Delaware in 1787, in Maryland in 1796, in Kentucky in 1798, and in Tennessee in 1801. The national congress in 1787, conformably to the request of Virginia, who had relinquished her claims to the territory north-west of the Ohio river, passed an ordinance prohibiting the introduction of slaves into that territory, and thus the region of country which now composes Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, became permanently free.

During the revolutionary war, viz., from 1776 to 1783,

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

the slaves who enlisted in the army were emancipated ; and at that time, as well as subsequently, up to the year 1789, fugitive slaves escaping from one state to another, were held to be free, in conformity to the law of Moses, and the international code of civilized nations.

When the Convention of 1788 assembled to revise the articles of confederation existing between the states, it was found that every state except North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia was opposed to the toleration of the African slave trade, and North Carolina would probably have readily yielded the point ; but at the ultimate settlement of the question, the extreme northern States, in consideration of the concession by the extreme south to Congress of the privilege of passing navigation acts, for the benefit of northern ship-owners, coalesced with Carolina and Georgia, and effected, in opposition to the votes of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, the insertion of a clause in the Constitution, by which the continuance of the slave trade was authorized, in such states as should choose to permit it, for the period of twenty years longer, viz., until 1808. The Convention also conceded to each state, for the slaves contained within its limits, a representation in Congress, in the proportion of five slaves to three freemen. It likewise inserted, in the Constitution, a provision for the return to each state of persons held to labour or service by its laws, and escaping to other states. This provision was construed by the framers of the Constitution, by Congress and by the Judiciary, as applicable to fugitive slaves. The propriety of this construction, however, has recently been disputed by a considerable number, but it has received the sanction of a late unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court of the Union.

It will thus be seen, that the cause of slavery gained some practical advantages in the adoption and construction of the Constitution ; while, on the other hand, Congress obtained the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves altogether, after the year 1808, which it did

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

not before possess, and the amendatory clause of the Constitution authorized three-fourths of the states, by means of an alteration of that instrument, to extinguish slavery entirely throughout the country : — a power which has hitherto been unproductive of utility.

Directly after the adoption of the Constitution, petitions Were sent to Congress by the Pennsylvania Society and others, asking that body to exert its full constitutional power for the abolition of Slavery. These petitions were referred to a committee, who reported, that the national government had no power to interfere for the extinction of slavery within the limits of any state of the confederacy. The report, to this [effect, was adopted with unanimity. From that time the energy of anti-slavery action evidently declined, and it seemed ultimately to have been almost extinguished in the high excitement of the conflict between the two great political parties of the country, insomuch that in the year 1810 there were scarcely any abolition societies still in existence, and the very few that remained confined their operations principally to the defence, in courts of justice, of free people of colour, against unfounded claims to their services, and to the improvement of their condition, by education and other means ; and even in these departments, the efforts made were altogether inadequate to the objects in view.

The lethargy into which the nation had sunk, in reference to the great question of slavery, was at length dissipated, by a renewed agitation, in which Benjamin Lundy, the subject of this memoir, may be justly considered the pioneer, as well as one of the most energetic, indefatigable and self-sacrificing actors.

The following narrative of his life has been compiled partly from letters written by him to a friend, and partly from his publications and other sources. The materials would doubtless have been more ample, had it not been for the destruction of a portion of his papers, in the conflagration of the Pennsylvania Hall at Philadelphia, in May, 1838.

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

The compiler has generally adopted the use of the first person in the narrative, in consideration of the fact that it is principally taken from Lundy’s own account, and nearly in his own words ; yet his language has been varied and corrected, condensed or modified, in a manner similar to what it may be presumed he would have done himself, had he revised for publication what had been hastily composed for the perusal of a friend.

Chapter II

Narrative of Lundy to the period of the commencement of his Anti- Slavery labours.

My native place (says Lundy) was the county of Sussex, New Jersey. Both my parents, as also their ancestors and most of their connexions, were members of the religious Society of Friends. Their families came originally from England and Wales. My great grandfather settled at Buckingham, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, at an early period. He was a preacher, and one of the principal founders of the Friends’ meeting at that place, as he was also of the meeting at Plumstead,

■ Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and of that at Handwich, Sussex county, New Jersey ; so that it was said of him, that he had been mainly instrumental in establishing three “ churches in the wilderness.” He had removed to each place, successively, in the commencement of its settlement. It was at Handwich that my father and myself were born. The date of my birth was the 4th of the first month, (January,) 1789.

My mother, whose maiden name was Shotwell, died when I was about five years of age, leaving me an only child. About two years after her decease my father married again.

2*

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

During my mother’s life I had been to school and learned to read a little. After my father’s second marriage, I attended school again for a few weeks, and began to try to write before I was eight years of age.

I went again for a short time, when at the age of sixteen, to learn arithmetic. This is all the schooling I ever had.

I had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and was, withal, very ambitious, insomuch that when my father hired men to work on his farm, I laboured with them, much too hard for my physical frame, in order to convince them, that though a mere boy, I could do the work of the largest and strongest man. By this means,

I partially lost my hearing, and otherwise injured my health. In this, I was alone to blame, as my father often cautioned me against it.

At the age of nineteen, my health continuing to decline, I concluded to travel a while. Accordingly, I went to Maiden Creek, in Berks county, Pennsylvania, thence to Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and thence to Wheeling, Virginia, where I remained four years, during which period I served an apprenticeship at the saddler’s trade, and worked at it for eighteen months as a journeyman.

While at Wheeling, I paid little attention to any thing but the mechanical business in which I was engaged. But during my stay there, my faculties were developed, my character became known to myself, and the principles that have since guided me in my public labours ■were formed and fixed.

My father, while I was at home, had been very strict in restraining me with respect to dress and amusements ; but when I found myself free from his control, I felt a strong disposition to indulge my youthful propensities in these matters. I was settled, too, among a worldly minded people, most of whom cared little for ray future welfare. The man with whom I lived, was a regular gambler ; and my only associates were wild, fashionable

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

youths, “clever”* enough, but thoughtless and fond of frivolous sport. For my own part, I had some concern for the future, and, upon reflection, I resolved to check my unreasonable propensities, before it should be too late. I kept on my plain dress, attended regularly the meetings of our religious Society, shunned every species of gambling and frolicking, and spent most of my leisure in reading instructive books.

It was in this situation that I first became acquainted with the wrongs of the slave. Wheeling was a great thoroughfare for the traffickers in human flesh. Their “ coffles” passed through the place frequently. My heart was deeply grieved at the gross abomination ; I heard the wail of the captive ; I felt his pang of distress ; and the iron entered my soul.

On leaving Wheeling I returned to Mount Pleasant, Ohio, where 1 became acquainted with William Lewis and his sisters, one of whom I afterwards married. Here I published, anonymously, my first poetical effusion. It was an answer to a tirade of a bachelor against matrimony. After remaining two years at Mount Pleasant I went home to New Jersey, and spent eight or ten months there. My father urged me to stay in his vicinity and pursue my trade, offering me some assistance, which he could not well render at a distance. Upon inquiry, however, I concluded that I could do better at the West, though without aid.

I accordingly returned to Ohio, was married, and went to St. Clairsville, ten miles west of Wheeling, and there set up my business. I began w'ith no other means but my hands and a disposition for industry and economy. In a llittle more than four years, however, I found myself in possession of more than three thousand dollars worth of property, beyond what was necessary to pay the moderate amount which I owed.

I had then a loving wife and two beautiful little daughters, that it was real happiness to possess and to

*The word clever is here used in the American sense of amiable.

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

cherish : I was at peace with my neighbours, and knew not that I had an enemy ; I had bought a lot and built myself a comfortable house ; all my wants and those of my lovely family were fully supplied ; my business was increasing, and prosperity seemed to smile before me.

Chapter III

Narrative from the commencement of Lundy’s Anti-Slavery labours in Ohio, to his removal to Tennessee.

I had lamented the sad condition of the slave, ever since I became acquainted with his wrongs and sufferings. But the question, “ What can I do ?” was the continual response to the impulses of my heart. As I enjoyed no peace of mind, however, I at length concluded that I must act ; and shortly after my settlement at ‘St. Clairsville, I called a few friends together, and unbosomed my feelings to them. The result was the organization of an anti-slavery association, called the Union Humane Society.* The first meeting, which was held at my own house, consisted of but five or six persons. In a few months afterwards, the Society contained nearly five hundred members, among whom were most of the influential preachers and lawyers, and many respectable citizens of several counties in that section of the state.

I also wrote an appeal on the subject of slavery, addressed to the philanthropists of the United States, and circulated five or six copies in manuscript. I was urged to publish it by some of my friends, and by persons from a distance whom I met at the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, held at Mount Pleasant.

* This was in the year 1815, when Lundy was at the age of 26.

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

I consented, on condition that it should appear with a fictitious signature. Since that time my modesty has much worn off’.*

Soon after this occurrence, proposals were issued by Charles Osborne, for publishing a paper at Mount Pleasant, to be entitled the Philanthropist. He stated in his

* The address or circular here alluded to was dated, in the printed copies, one of which is now before me, “St. Clairsville, 1st mo. 4th, 1816,” being Lundy’s birth day, on attaining 27 years.

After an introduction in which he urged the impolicy of stopping short at the abolition of the African slave-trade, as the seeds of the evil system had been sown in our soil, and were springing up and producing increase, he proposed, 1. That societies should be formed wherever a sufficient number of persons could be induced to join in them. 2. That a title should be adopted common to all the societies. 3. That they should all have a uniform constitution, “varying only on account ofnecessity, arising from location.” 4. That a correspondence should be kept up between the societies, that they should co-operate in action, and that in case of important business, they should choose delegates to meet in general convention.

This plan, it will be seen, is nearly the same as that which was in efficient operation twenty years afterwards, and then embraced nearly 1000 anti-slavery societies.

At the conclusion of the address, which was signed “Philo Justitia,” the writer stated that he had had the subject long in contemplation, and that he had now taken it up, fully determined, for one, never to lay it down while he breathed, or until the end should be obtained. The first alternative of this determination he accomplished; the second will beperfectedby his successors.

A note appended to the printed circular stated, that since the circular was drawn up, a number of societies had been formed in various parts of Ohio, each taking the name of “ The Union Humane Society;” and that a constitution had been formed, calculated to embrace all the societies which existed, or might thereafter be established. — QEd.

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

prospectus, that he should discuss the subject of slavery in the columns of the paper. The idea now occurred to me, that I might act efficiently for the cause of emancipation — that I could select articles, (for I did not think of writing myself,) and have them published in the Philanthropist, and that I could also get subscribers to the publication. Engrossed with these thoughts, I went to work with alacrity.

My leisure moments were now fully employed. When I sent my selections to Charles, I sometimes wrote him a few lines. After he had published the Philanthropist a few months, I was surprised at receiving from him a request that I should assist in editing it. The thought that I could do such a thing had not then even occurred to me. But on his repeating the request, I consented to try ; — and from that moment, whenever I have thought that something ought to be done, my maxim has been, though doubtful of rny ability — “ try.” Although I resided ten miles from the office, and was extensively engaged in other business, I continued, for some time, to write editorial articles for the paper.

At length, Charles proposed to me to join him in the printing business, and to take upon myself the superintendence of the office. After some deliberation, I consented to accept the offer, and, with that view, prepared to diminish my other business. I discharged some of my workmen, and took a portion of the articles which had been made in my shop, to Missouri, in order to sell them. I returned in about six months, when finding business more dull than before, I determined to break up my establishment at St. Clairsville, altogether, and remove to Mount Pleasant.

With that view, I then took all the articles from my shop, put them in a boat, and accompanied by my three apprentices, started again for Missouri. We proceeded down the Ohio river, my boys working at their trade in the boat, while I steered it in the current. In going up the Mississippi, the boys assisted the boat hands in row-

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

insr. It was late in the fall of 1819 when I arrived at St. Louis.

At this time the famous “ Missouri question ,” being that of the toleration or prohibition of slavery in the Constitution of the proposed new State of Missouri, which was to be formed out of the Louisiana territory, had begun to agitate the American Union. I was on the great scene of discussion, and in the midst of those whose interests were most involved. My feelings prompted me to engage in the controversy. I devoted myself sedulously to an exposition, in the newspapers of Missouri and Illinois, of the evils of slavery. The contest, which was long and severe, terminated in our losingthe day. Congress decided that the people of Missouri might form a Constitution, without restriction as to slavery, which was accordingly done; and at the next session of that body, the State with her slave Constitution, was admitted as a member of the Union.

After this event, I returned home, a distance of 700 miles, on foot, and in the winter season. I had lost, at St. Louis, some thousands of dollars, and had been detained from home a year and ten months. The tide of misfortune to me, was caused by the utter stagnation of business, which at that time overspread the whole country, and occasioned the sacrifice of property to an incalculable amount.

Before I left St. Louis, I heard that, as I had staid from home so much longer than had been anticipated, Charles Osborne had become quite tired of the employment of editor, and had sold out his printing establishment to Elisha Bates, and also that Elihu Embree had commenced the publication of an anti-slavery paper, called “ The Emancipator,” at Jonesborough in Tennessee. I therefore made up my mind to settle with my family in Illinois. But on my way home I was informed of the death of E. Embree ; and as E. Bates did not come up to my standard of anti-slavery, I determined immediately to establish a periodical of my own. I therefore removed to Mount Pleasant, and commenced

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

I the publication of the Genius of Universal Emancipation, in January 1821.

E. Bates published my prospectus, and also the first number of my paper. I afterwards had my printing done at Steubenville, Ohio, a distance of twenty miles. I wentto and from thatplace on foot, carrying my papers, when printed, on my back. I had begun the work without a dollar of funds, trusting for success to the sacredness of the cause ; nor was I disappointed. In four months from the commencement, my subscription list had become quite large.

When the friends of the deceased Elihu Embree heard of my paper, they urged me to remove to Tennessee and use the press on which his had been printed. I assented ; an<k after having issued eight monthly numbers of the “ Genius” in Ohio, I started for Tennessee. I travelled, in going there, eight hundred miles, one-half on foot, and the rest by water. On my arrival, I rented the printing office, and immediately went to work with the paper, laboring myself at the mechanical as well as the editorial department. I thus learned to be a printer, by carrying on the trade, without having ever served an hour’s apprenticeship. In a short time, in addition to publishing tc The Genius of Universal Emancipation,” I established a weekly newspaper, and a monthly agricultural work.

Chapter IV

Narrative from Lundy’s settlement in Tennessee in 1821, until his removal thence to Baltimore in 1824.

While thus engaged in the midst of a slaveholding region, I was often threatened in various ways. On one occasion two ruffians came a distance of thirty miles to demand some concession respecting an article that had been inserted in the Genius. They asked me into

LIFE OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

a private room, shut the door, and with deadly weapons undertook to enforce their demand. They found themselves mistaken in the person with whom they had to deal, and the owner of the house hearing the dispute, came in and released me from confinement. Often the bullies vapoured around me with bludgeons, in such a manner, that the sparing of my life might seem to have been providential.

I had not taken my family along with me at first, but after a few months trial I removed them to Tennessee, where I continued to reside for nearly three years. During this period I went to Philadelphia, a distance of six hundred miles, to attend “ the American Convention for the Abolition of Slavery,” performingthejourney on horseback, in the winter season, and at my own expense. I was the first delegate that ever attended the Convention from any portion of the country as far south as Tennessee. On this occasion I became personally acquainted, for the first time, with some of the abolitionists east of the Allegheny mountains.

“ The Genius of Universal Emancipation” had now obtained a pretty wide circulation in the United States.* As it was the only anti-slavery paper in America, I con- - eluded to attempt the transfer of its publication to one of, the Atlantic cities, hoping thereby to extend its influence still more widely, and secure for it a better support. In going to Philadelphia to attend the Convention,

I had made a few acquaintances in Baltimore, and had suggested to them the measure of transferring the paper to that city. They gave me but slight encouragement, as most of them were very little interested in the subject of emancipation. Acting, however, on my before mentioned maxim, of “ trying,” I resolved to make the experiment. Having arranged my business in Tennes-

* In a letter dated 3d month 16th, 1823, Lundy said : “My paper circulates well. If any person had told me when I commenced that I should be as successful under all my disadvantages as 1 have been, I could not have believed them.”

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see, I shouldered my knapsack and set outfor Baltimore, on foot, in the summer of 1824.

I proceeded through the south-western part of Virginia into the State of North Carolina, where I had some family connections. On this occasion, I delivered at Deep Creek, North Carolina, my first public lecture on the subject of slavery.* I shall never forget the incidents of that meeting. It was held by the side of a line spring, in a beautiful shady grove near the Friends’ Meeting House at Deep Creek, after the meeting for worship had closed. The audience signified their approbation of the lecture, by appointing another meeting for me to be held in the meeting house on a subsequent day. The second meeting having been publicly aidvertised, was attended by many persons, besides members of the Society of Friends, and before its adjournment, an anti-slavery or abolition society was organized. I afterwards, during that visit to North Carolina, held some fifteen or twenty anti-slavery meetings at various places. My discourses were similar to all that I have since delivered in other parts of the United States, and as ultra orthodox in anti-slavery sentiment as any of modern times.

I embraced every opportunity of obtaining an audience. At one time I went to the raising of a house, and lectured to the persons who were there assembled. At another I called a meeting at a place where there was to be a militia muster! The captain and some of his men attended, as did also a number of “Friends” who resided in the vicinity. It was quite amusing to see the intermingled plain and military dresses, while I was reminding the wearers of them of the principles of Christian humanity, and of civil liberty, as based upon eternal justice. At this meeting an anti-slavery society, consist-

* This was probably the commencement of the system of lecturing on the subject of emancipation, which has since been so extensively and effectively pursued in the United States. — En.

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ing of fourteen members, was formed. The captain of militia was chosen president, and a member of the Society of Friends, secretary. One of my meetings was at Raleigh, the seat of government of North Carolina. Before I left the State, there were some twelve or fourteen anti-slavery societies organized.

On departing from North Carolina I again entered Virginia, and travelled through the middle section of that State, holding numerous meetings, and effecting the organization of several anti-slavery societies.

Chapter V

Narrative from Lundy’s removal to Baltimore till his return from a visit to New England in 1828.

I then went, through a part of Maryland, to the city of Baltimore, where the friends of the cause received me civilly, but coolly enough. They wished me success, but entertained strong doubts of my attaining it. I nevertheless engaged a printer, made arrangements to save expense by working for him a portion of the time as a journeyman, and issued the first Baltimore number of the “ Genius,” in the tenth month (October) 1824, it being No. 1 of Vol. 4, and the 44th monthly number from the commencement; some interruptions of the regular publication having previously occurred.