sire of the black population to learn…. Open the Missionary sluice and the current will swell in its gradual onward advance. We thus expect a progressive system of improvement will be introduced, or will follow from the nature and force of circumstances which, if not checked, (though it may be shrouded in sophistry and disguise,) will ultimately revolutionize our civil institutions.” The missionary withdrew, and the local newspaper in announcing his withdrawal stated that the great body of the people were manifestly opposed to the religious instruction of their slaves, even if it were only given orally.[1]
And when, in despite of the difficulties thrown in the way, some religious knowledge has been obtained by the negroes, the enjoyment of it seems to be not very secure. Twenty-four coloured men, most of them apparently free, were found assembling privately in the evening at Washington, and were lodged in the watch-house. When they were examined before a magistrate, no evidence was offered, nor does it appear to have been even suggested, that they were meeting for any criminal purpose. On searching their persons, there were found a Bible, a volume of Seneca’s “Morals,” “Life in Earnest,” the printed constitution of a Society the object of which was stated to be to relieve the sick and bury the dead, and a subscription paper to purchase the freedom of a slave whom her master was willing to sell at a certain price. One of the prisoners, a slave, was ordered to be flogged; four
- ↑ Olmsted, Journeys and Explorations, vol. ii., p. 214.
