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Brig Creole: For The Signal Of Liberty

Brig Creole: For The Signal Of Liberty image
Parent Issue
Day
26
Month
January
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Since ihe glorions emancipalion act of the Britisu Parliament in 1834, no single event hus occurred whicb, in ils beanng on the antislavery cause, approaches in interest and imp.ortance - the selfrescue of the 6laves on board the Brig Creóle. lt is the first act of successful resistance to the master's aulhority on the part of the slave population in the United Statos. The triumphnnt result of this a (tempt to throw off the yoke of slavery is now known to at least lo one half the slaves of thia Union. What feelings it incites in the bosoms of the more thinking and energetic of the race, we can only conjecture, but we can imagine ihem not vcry favorable to that quiet dcmennur and passiva obedience, which consiitute ihe whole of the slave'd excellence in the eyes of lus master. It will bc slrange indeed if it does not herea f ter fire many a heart on board our American slave-ships with adetermination"to do or die." The eíFort wascertainly he roic, and it seems to have been planncd and execulcd uilh that cool deliberation and that determined daring, which throw around t an air of moral greatness. lYhat instance is there on record of victory achieved under such circumstances being used with so much moderation? Four or five of the victors lost their lives, and but one of the vanquished! A circumstance perhaps without a parallel. If this is the vengeance of the blacks of our country, of which wc hearso frequent prating in case of their emancipation, there seems no such dreadful reason to fear it. Under all the excitement of a hot contest for their freedorn and ihe apprehension of losing it, their deadliest foe alone loseB his life - the rest arespured, some of thcm with their hands reeking in the blood oftheir victors. If the blacks have something to learn frorn us, we may ia turn take a lesson from them in the duty of patience under injuries. Their conduct throughout this trying occasion, as we learn it from their enemies, will raise not a I i tile the estímale of the chiracter of the blacks. It is customary to deny their intellect and their courage. If any band of white men have shown under similar circumslaíjces, more skill in contriving, more courage in executing, or more prudence in securing the fruits of a daring enterprise, 1 know not when or where. A class cannot long reloain in subjeclion, which numbers many such men as Madison Washington. How many sueh instances will it take to wake all the slumbering lires of the Africanrace. Cinque, and Madison Washington have, though in a narrower patb, trod in the footstepa of Touissaint L'Ouverlure. Wil! they have no followers? Southern masters! do not believe t. Tiief-e men have sown that seed in the hearts of their brethren whichyou cannot ki!l, and which will noi die of itself. Henceforth the southern slave-ship navigates not the waters of the Atlantic with the same security a9 heretofore. Thisforms another link in that great chain of events which is leading surely to the ernancipation at no dis- tant period, of every slave on lbo Aineri cm Continent. Tho recurrence of these examples of skill nnd daring on the part of the b'ucks does not opérate on them alohe. There ia not a frcemen vvorthy of the name unconnected with the slave system, who does not rejoice at every such triuinph of the oppressed in a contesi with his opprcssor. VVe cannot but sytnpalhise with the black man, who strikes for his freedom. A few such instances of heroic daring, and the sneer at the pretensions of the black to an equalily of politica! privileges would forever cease. Lel them show that they can help themselve?, and thus secure ihe respect, of the norlhem whites, nnd they will not loog want any aid that they can render them in a peaceful and constiluional way. Let no one assert that this ielp would be small and inefficiënt. The ïorthern people through their repiesentaives in Congress have it in their power so o act on elavery as to cause its certain aboiition in a short f eriod. Lel them use heir Constitutional power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia - to put a top to the nter-state slave trade - to pronbit the export of slaves to Texas, and to 'ree all in the Territories, and to recognize he black republic of Hayti, and the cessaon of it in the States would speedily fulüw as a matter of course. A few such men ae Madison Washington, and a few uch acts as the self rescue of the cargo of the Creóle would enlist Northern symmthies so strongly in favor of the blacks as to win over to them the strong Northern nnjority in Congress, which under the new census will bemore than Ihree to two. And why 6hould not the North, at least its vorking population, sympaihise with the )lacks of the South, that is, with its work ng population? Nothing on earth prevents but the prejudice of color. Let the )lacka efi'ace the stigma by a few bold acts and they have the northern workiog man 'or their friend. Not a northeru vote tn Congress that is not controlled ultimately by the northern working manl