ELIHU EMBREE, ABOLITIONIST * BY REV. E.E. HOSS, D.D., LL.D. (Editor of the Christian Advocate.) * Read before Vanderbilt Southern Society, February 24, 1897. Reprinted from “American Historical Magazine,” Vol. II. No.2.

If anyone doubts whether the world is making substantial moral progress, he has only to consider how vast a change has been effected within the past 125 years in regard to the question of human bondage. By the close of the fourteenth century white slavery had been utterly extirpated in Western Europe. But at the beginning of our Revolutionary War, the trade in negroes was still carried on without restrictions of any sort. Even the King of England, whose realm was then, as it is now, the most enlightened and Christian country in the Old World, deliberately vetoed, time and again, the enactments of the Virginia House of Delegates, prohibiting the further importation of African slaves into that Colony. He also vetoed the action of the South Carolina Legislature, imposing a tax of £50 upon every negro imported for purposes of slavery. The subjects of his Majesty were doing so lucrative a business in men-stealing that he could not find it in his heart to interfere. Historic truthfulness makes it necessary to add that divers and sundry of the God-fearing inhabitants of New England were also turning a dirty dollar in the same nefarious business.

As to the Christian church, it had only the scantest protest to make to these proceedings. George Whitefield fully approved the action by which Georgia was changed from a free to a slave colony. He also bought a large number of slaves for the plantation connected with his orphanage in the neighborhood of Savannah. When he died, he bequeathed them all, along with other property, 0005 4to Selina, the Countess of Huntingdon. The letter is still extant, in which that nursing mother-in-Israel bitterly complains that her overseer had shipped the best of them to Boston—and sold them in that market for his personal benefit. But I believe that the only modern church that has been a slave owner, in its corporate capacity, is the John Street Methodist Church, of New York City, the so-called and miscalled cradle of American Methodism. To make entirely sure of having a good sexton, the stewards of that congregation purchased a negro man and paid for him on the installment plan. A full account of the whole transaction may be found in Wakefield's “Lost Chapters of American Methodism,” and also in a pamphlet written by the late Richard Abbey, D.D., and published by the Book Agents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, entitled: “Peter, not an Apostle but a Chattel.”

There was one man whose mind was never seduced by any specious pleas into giving his assent to such proceedings, and that was John Wesley. It is true that even he did not think every slaveholder would necessarily be damned, for in 1747, at Wandsworth, in England, he baptized Nathaniel Gilbert and his two slaves from Antigua in the West Indies. But all the same he stoutly protested against the whole system of involuntary servitude servitude, as being an essential antagonism to the spirit of the gospel. Current tradition reports him to have said that slavery in the Southern Colonies of North America was the “sum of all villainies.” As is often the case, tradition is here at fault. What he did say was: The African slave trade is the sum of all villainies"—a judgment with which no living man will fail to concur. Life on a cotton or rice plantation was not exactly paradisical, but it was infinitely better than life in the foul hold of a British or Yankee slave ship.

By the middle of the present century, a great revolution in sentiment had been wrought throughout the world. 0006 5Under the lead of such men as Wilberforce, England had abolished slavery in the West Indies and compensated the slave owners, and the citizens of the Northern States of the Union were increasingly minded to do the same in this country. Forty years ago, as many remember, the burning question in every part of the Union was whether slavery should longer be tolerated under the stars and stripes. Men, women and children discussed it, always with eagerness, and often with passion. It led on, step by step, to a great civil war, and threatened at one time to prove the destruction of our republican form of government.

But who cares to talk about it now? Other grave issues have arisen. We are engrossed with matters of present concern. The eyes of the modern world front to the future, and are rarely ever turned upon the past. Nevertheless, the thoughtful student of the social, political and ethical problems that are given for solution to this generation will find it immensely profitable and interesting to go back and examine the whole course of that wonderful agitation which terminated in the liberation of the slaves. At many points he will be startled by the discovery of facts entirely new to him. Nothing, I suppose, will surprise him more than the abundant evidence of the existence of a strong abolition feeling in many parts of the Southern States, notably in Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee, far along into the decades of the current century. This fact ought not, however, to be considered strange. Nearly all the great Virginia statesmen of the Revolutionary era, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were philosophical abolitionists. If New England had stood solidly by Virginia in the Constitutional Convention of 1789, the life of the African slave trade would not have been prolonged till 1808. Let him who doubts the statement consult the record.

But, besides these conspicuous recorded facts, there 0007 6are many others that have never yet been brought before the general public. It is my purpose to give a brief account of the philanthropic labors of a most remarkable man, of whom the majority of my readers have probably not heard a single word. It may be depended upon that all I may have to say concerning him is susceptible of documentary verification. From my childhood up, I have known more or less of his character and career by hearsay, but I shall set out nothing now except what rests upon the basis of recorded history.

Travelers along the line of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad may see about eight miles west of the old town of Jonesboro. Tenn., a comfortable stone residence, with a roof barely projecting over the walls, and windows so narrow as to suggest the scarcity of glass. This house was built at least one hundred years ago by Thomas Embree, a Quaker preacher, then lately removed to Washington County from the State of Pennsylvania. It looks, moreover, as if it might stand for another century, for it was an honest job, such as good Quakers are supposed to do.

Among the children of Thomas Embree and his wife, Esther, were two sons, Elijah and Elihu, who became citizens of much more than ordinary prominence. Elijah lived to be sixty-five or seventy years of age, and took an active part in the industrial development of the country. He possessed uncommon intelligence, a great love of enterprise, and commanding executive ability. When he died in 1846, although his business had for a long time been crippled by a lack of ready money, he was the owner of about seventy thousand acres of mineral lands, besides an iron furnace and other valuable properties. After the lapse of long years, this estate has lately been purchased by an English company, and, in the judgment of competent persons, is supposed to be worth not less than $1,000,000.

Elihu Embree was also an iron manufacturer, but was 0008 7somewhat visionary and impracticable in his plans. He was a dreamer of dreams, and had in him the genuine stuff out of which enthusiasts and martyrs are made. Born, November, 11, 1782, and dying, December 12, 1820, he lived only a little over thirty-eight years. The probabilities are that if he had survived another decade he would have made a great stir in the world. It is his unique distinction that, though resident in a Southern State, he was a radical, outspoken and aggressive abolitionist at a time when New England had only a nascent conscience on the subject of slavery, and that, in furtherance of his peculiar views, he began the publication of the Emancipator as early as 1820, or ten full years before Garrison and Lundy took the field as agitators. Fortunately a full file of this remarkable journal, which was stopped at the end of eight months by the untimely death of the editor, has been preserved. It is bound in book form and contains 112 pages. It has been my privilege to give it a thorough examination, and examination, and I now have it in my possession.

The first number, dated “Jonesboro, Tenn., 4th month, 30, 1820.” leads off with an “address” in due form from the editor to the general public. For manifest reasons it will be proper to quote from this address in no stinted way:

“The Emancipator will be published monthly in Jonesborough Ten. by ELIHU EMBREE, on a fine superroyal sheet of paper, in octavo form, at ONE DOLLAR per annum, payable on receipt of the first number.

“This paper is especially designed by the editor to advocate the abolition of slavery, and to be a repository of tracts on that interesting and important subject. It will contain all the necessary information that the editor can obtain of the progress of the abolition of slavery of the descendants of Africa, together with a concise history of their introduction into slavery, collected from the best authorities.

0009 8

“The constitutions and the proceedings of the several benevolent societies in the United States elsewhere who have had this grand object in view, will be carefully selected and published in the Emancipator.

“A correspondence between those societies, and between individuals in different parts of the nation on the subject of emancipation, will be kept up through the medium of this paper by inserting in its pages all interesting communications, letters &c. that may come to the knowledge of the editor.

“The speeches of those have been and are eminently advocating this glorious cause, either in the Congress of the U.S. the state legislatures, or in the parliaments and courts of other nations will be strictly attended to.

“Biographical sketches of the lives of those who have been eminent in this cause will also occasionally find a place in this work.

“A portion of this paper is intended to be devoted as a history of the abolition of the African slave trade, in every part of the world, from its first dawn down to the present time.

“In the prosecution of this work the editor professes that he expects like other periodical editors) to live much upon the borrow: and to make use of such materials as he may find in his way, suited to his object, without being very particular to take up much time or room in acknowledging a loan, unless he may think it necessary, willing that others should use the same freedom with him, & hoping that by offering such a fair exchange, such borrowing will be thought no robbery.

“Communications on the subject, and materials for the work are solicited and will be thankfully received both from societies and individuals friendly to the abolition of slavery. Such communications, if approved of by the editor, will find a hearty welcome in the Emancipator.

“The Manumission Society, of Tenn. in particular, it is expected, will afford many tracts on the subject 0010 9of slavery which the editor assures them he will feel inclined to respect: and where his judgment should not otherwise dictate will give them an early and gratuitous insertion. They will find in the Emancipator a true chronicle of the proceedings of that benevolent society, as far as the editor is enabled.—And for this purpose the clerks of the convention, and of each branch of the society are requested to forward from time to time true copies of all their minutes, which may not be really improper to publish and it is hoped there will be none such), together with the names of their members, their places of residence, &c, all which particulars we are of opinion, will not be unprofitable to the cause of abolition to be published.

“Letters from one individual to another, with the names of both, we think will be often beneficial to be published. If they do nothing more, they will shew that all are not asleep or dumb to the cries of suffering humanity.

“Those who have had, or may have law suits on hand for the freedom of such as are unlawfully held in bondage, are desired to forward the true history of the facts, their progress, final decision, &c, with the places of residence and names of plaintiffs and defendants, with every interesting particular, and they shall find in the Emancipator a true repository.

“Altho' the editor is as far from being a man of leisure as any in his acquaintance, and not the owner of the office where this paper will be printed, and therefore shall have to hire the printing of it: and altho' he has spent several of dollars already in some small degree abolishing, and in endeavoring to facilitate the general abolition of Slavery—yet he feels not satisfied without continuing to throw in his mite, hoping that if the weight of it should not at present be felt that when the scale comes nearly to a preponderancy, it will more sensibly be perceived, and in some small degree hasten an 0011 10even balance of equal rights to the now neglected sons of Africa.

“And as it will be at considerable trouble and expense that this work will be published, agreeably to the editor's intentions, it is hoped that none who have any love for African liberty, will think hard of paying $1 annually to the support of the only paper of this kind in the United States. And as the sum is too small and the income by no means expected to be sufficient to warrant the editor in traveling over the country to procure subscribers, he takes the liberty of sending the Emancipator to a good many whose names and places of residence he has become acquainted with, without their having subscribed.—And he requests, and from the nature of the work, he will expect that those to whom they are sent, will, on receiving the first number, and having time to peruse it, remit to the editor, by mail or otherwise, One Dollar in some good current bank paper: or if they do not wish it continued, will carefully wrap it up in a separate paper to preserve it from being injured, and direct it to the editor at Embree's Ironworks.

“All communications by mail to the editor must be directed as follows: Elihu Embree, post master, Embree's Ironworks. Sullivan County, Tennessee —By this means the postage will be free, both to and from the editor: the government bearing the expense, as it righteously ought, of distributing these communications through the country, for the purpose of preparing the public mind for a practical reform from imposing unconditional slavery on a portion of its subjects.

“It is intended that each number bear date the last day of each month.

“Those who procure twelve subscribers and pay for them shall be entitled to one gratis.”

Reference is made in the foregoing address to the Tennessee Manumission Society. It was organized at Lost Creek Meeting House, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 0012 11February 25, 1815, by Charles Osborn, John Canady, John Swain, Elihu Swain, John Underhill, Jesse Wills, David Maulsby, and Thomas Morgan. The leader in the movement was Charles Osborn, who subsequently removed to Mt. Pleasant, O., and there published for some time a weekly paper called the Philanthropist, “in which he frequently took occasion to vindicate the rights of the injured sons of Africa.” From Ohio he went to Indiana, whither he was followed at a later day by Jesse Wills and John Underhill. Alluding to these facts, the Emancipator in its first issue indulged in the following comments: “Thousands of first rate citizens, men remarkable for their piety and virtue, have within twenty years past, removed from this and other slave states, to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, that their eyes may be hid from seeing the cruel oppressor lacerate the back of his slaves, and that their ears may not hear the bitter cries of the oppressed. I have often regretted the loss of so much virtue from these slave states, which held too little before. Could all those who have removed from slave states on that account, to even the single state of Ohio, have been induced to remove to, and settle in Tennessee, with their high toned love for universal liberty and aversion to slavery, I think that Tennessee would ere this have began to sparkle among the true stars of liberty.”

The Constitution of the Manumission Society contained, after a brief preliminary statement, only four short Articles.

“We whose names are hereunto subscribed, having met for the purpose of taking into consideration the case of the people of colour held in bondage in our highly favoured land, are of opinion that their case calls aloud for the attention and sympathy of Columbia's free born sons, and for their exertions in endeavoring, by means calculated to promote and preserve the good of our government, to procure for that oppressed part of the community that inestimable jewel, freedom, the distinguishing glory 0013 12of our country; without which all other enjoyments of life must become insignificant.

“And while we highly esteem the incomparable constitution of our country, for maintaining this great truth “that freedom is the natural right of all men,” we desire that the feelings of our countrymen may be awakened, and they stimulated to use every lawful exertion in their power to advance that glorious day wherein all may enjoy their natural birthright. As we conceive this the way to ensure to our country the blessings of heaven, we think it expedient to form into a society, to be known by the name of the “Tennessee Society for promoting the manumission of slaves” and adopt the following

CONSTITUTION.

Article I. “Each member to have an advertisement in the most conspicuous part of his house, in the following words, viz:— Freedom is the natural right of all men; I therefore acknowledge myself a member of the Tennessee Society for promoting the manumission of slaves.

Article II. That no member vote for governor, or any legislator, unless we believe him to be in favor of emancipation.

Article III. That we convene twelve times a year at Lost Creek meeting house; the first on the 11th of the 3d month next; which meeting shall proceed to appoint a president, clerk and treasurer, who shall continue in office for twelve months.

Article IV. The requisite qualifications of our members are true republican principle, patriotic, and in favor of emancipation; and that no immoral character be admitted into society as a member.”

Very speedily similar srocieties were organized in 0014 13Greene, Sullivan, Washington, Blount, Grainger, Knox and other Counties; and in less than one year steps were taken to consolidate them into one strong body. The Emancipator says: “Each branch at first formed a Constitution to suit its own views, but finding their objects all to be the same, a correspondence took place between them, and it was not long before delegates were elected by each branch that then existed, and a convention agreed on for them all to meet, for the purpose of forming one Constitution for the government of the whole Society, which accordingly took place on the 21st of the eleventh month (November), 1815, at the Lick Creek Meeting House of Friends in Green County.”

The new Constitution provided among other things, for a “Committee of Inspection,” without whose consent nothing should be printed. This precaution was taken at the suggestion of Mr. Embree himself. Subsequently when he became an editor, and went into the inspecting business on his own account, he found it necessary to withdraw his membership in order to enjoy a free pen.

In spite of the fact that he was a Quaker by profession, he had a militant temper. I have heard that in his own household he was not counted an angel of light. His motto might well have been: “Blessed be the Lord, my strength, that teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.” Whenever occasion offered itself, he struck hard. A great fire having occurred in the city of Savannah, liberal contributions were sent in from different parts of the country for the relief of the distressed. The contribution of $10,000 from New York was rejected because it was conditioned upon the demand, not very politely expressed, that it be distributed without any reference to color. This act roused the resentment of Mr. Embree, who had himself given $100, and he spoke out as follows:

“I had always thought until those haughty slave holders told me otherwise) that a donor has the right of 0015 14directing his donation as pleases, and I still think that where justice is not entirely turned out of doors, it continues to be a donor's privilege. I pitied their circumstances when I first heard of their late calamity; I now am truly ashamed that they are human beings, as this act of theirs disgraces human nature. But when I reflect that these monsters in human shape are citizens of America, the land of boasted LIBERTY, and that these very men have the audacity to take that sacred word in their polluted lips, I am struck with astonishment, amaze and wonder at the mercy of the Supreme Being, that instead of burning the town of Savannah, he has not destroyed its proud inhabitants with fire unquenchable!!!”

Somewhat more forcible still was the malediction which he allowed one of his correspondents, impersonating an enslaved African prince, to express in an original poem, the last two stanzas of which run as follows: “Arise Almighty Power, Stretch forth thy hand, And draw the sword of vengeance from its sheath; Let Mercy veil herself, till o'er this land Thy fury blows a gale of woe and death. Let fretted Ruin mount her fiery car, And o'er these sons of Plunder fiercely ride— Each flood gate of thy burning wrath unbar, And sweep to hell each demon in the tide.” Poets were quite as plentiful in those days as in these. Many of them came to the front with rhymed denunciations of “the peculiar institution.” I subjoin another specimen: “Canst thou, and honored with the Christian name. Buy what is woman born, and feel no shame; Trade in the blood of innocence and plead Expedience as warrant for the deed? So may the wolf whom famine has made bold To quit the forest and invade the fold: So may the ruffian, who with ghastly glide, Dagger in hand, steals close to your bedside- Not he, but his emergence forced the door. He found it inconvenient to be poor.”

0016 15

It was the habit of Mr. Embree to send memorials from year to year to the Tennessee Legislature praying for the abolition of slavery. His memorial for 1820, he printed in full. A single passage will show what his standpoint was:

“Your memorialist conceives that there is but one opinion entertained with respect to slavery being a violation of natural and civil rights—That it originated in avarice, injustice and the commission of the blackest crimes, which one man is capable of committing against another; and which is now by a late law of Congress, justly declared to be piracy, and punishable with death. Of course it follows, when this is admitted, that titles obtained to men in this way have no foundation in justice, and can never become just, tho' handed down from father to son, for a thousand generations—That every new born child has a complete a title to his liberty, from the laws of nature, and as just a right to possess it, as if his father had never been wronged out of it. And it is to be hoped that the objection held up by some avaricious, and narrow minded men, that they have laid out their money for slaves, will; have but little weight with your better enlightened judgment, who, with every friend and lover of liberty, will agree, that the value of a slave, added to, or taken from a man's estate, is less than the dust of the balance, when weighed against his freedom. Hence your memorialist would humbly suggest the obligations which honor, morality & religion, hold on you in this your collected capacity, to wield the sceptre of your power, for the promotion of justice, which never fails to exalt a nation, and for the removal of that kind of oppression, (slavery,) which is a shame to any people.

“Your memorialist conceives that it would be offering an indignity to the understanding of your honorable body, to offer to prove that the laws which first sanctioned slavery, were passed in a dark and barbarous age; and 0017 16that were they yet to be passed, that there is not a civilized legislature now upon earth that would do it; but would humbly ask, are these the only laws which the representatives of a free and enlightened republic cannot modify, or repeal? Or are they to stand as lasting monuments of human depravity? No.—It is the boast of our nation, that the grievances of the poor can be heard—abuses rectified, and those laws repealed which invade and destroy the rights of individuals, and the happiness of the state.”

When the practical difficulties of emancipation were urged upon him, he coolly replied: “In answer to these insurmountable difficulties, it has been observed, that as slavery is a moral evil, it ought to be removed as speedily as possible, and trust the consequences of such duty in the hands of an unerring Providence, who punished the Egyptians for disobedience in a similar case; but has never suffered the obedient in any age or nation to sustain any real loss in consequence of their submission to his commands!” Such statements, true as they are in one aspect, contain, nevertheless, something more than a touch of fanaticism. They imply that what is right and what is wrong in the constitution of human society may be distinguished and separated by a process as simple as the rule of three, and that any calculation of probable consequences is an offense against sound ethics.

Replying to the suggestion that abolition would lead to miscegenation, Mr. Embree said:

“For my part, I should have less fear of a mixture in consequence of their being free, than in their remaining in bondage; for I am persuaded that matters of fact will testify that mixtures are more abundant in the slave states, than in the free, according to the numbers of the coloured population; and if they are still held in slavery, it cannot be a subject of wonder, if the white and coloured inhabitants of America should come to be blended in one mass of mixed blood, as a reaction, & as a just 0018 17retaliation of the former, for their cupidity and avarice. If so— 'the party coloured race may plead a double pedigree; And boast of sires, from two great continents.' “With respect to the dreaded equality of the blacks with the whites, I have but little to say, I have never been able to discover that the author of nature intended that one complexion of the human skin should stand higher in the scale of being, than another; nor do I feel any disposition to contradict the declaration of rights, established by the sages of our American revolution; nor yet to call in question the wisdom of Deity in fixing that variety of climate, calculated to produce the diversities of light, and shade, discoverable on the surface of the human body.”

On more pages than one Mr. Embree bears testimony to the rapid growth of the abolition sentiment in Tennessee. A single quotation will be sufficient:

“Twenty years ago the cause of abolition was so unpopular in Tennessee, that it was at the risque of a man's life that he interfered or assisted in establishing the liberty of a person of colour that was held in slavery, though held contrary to law. The lives of some of my intimate acquaintances, I well recollect to have been threatened, who had felt it their duty to aid some of my intimate acquaintances, I well recollect to have been threatened, who had felt it their duty to aid some out of their unlawful thraldom. And it was sufficient in those times to procure a man the general hatred of his neighbors, although he never even succeeded, and the case made plain that the poor negro was not lawfully a slave. But by little & little, times are much changed here, until societies of respectable citizens have arisen to plead the cause of abolition; and instead of it being a disgrace to a man to be a member of these societies, it is rather a mark of the goodness of his heart, and redounds to his honor. I have no hesitation in believing that less than twenty years ago a man would have been mobbed, and the printing office torn down for printing and publishing anything 0019 18like the EMANCIPATOR; whereas it now meets the approbation of thousands, and is patronized perhaps at least equal to any other paper in the State.”

According to his announced intention, he also reports cases of manumission, with proper accompanying comments:

“At the July Session of the county court of Washington held in Jonesboro'. Henry Hale of this county emancipated seventeen Slaves, giving bond and security to secure them from becoming a charge to the county. He is an old man, & having made his will, leaves these negroes at his death 300 acres of land, including a considerable part of his farm, together with the chief of his stock and household furniture. They are the best looking set of negroes that I ever saw, taking the whole together; and there is no likelihood of them ever being thrown on their securities for assistance, having acquired the habits of industry and economy while nominally slaves, which will defend them from want.

“This magnanimous act of Henry Hale's is worthy of the imitation of all slaveholders, especially those professing Christianity.

“When it is understood that the security required is only to idemnify the county in case of inability to maintain themselves, the great bugbear and difficulty in the way of emancipation is measurably removed. Becoming willing is the main point. There appeared to be no difficulty in procuring eight or ten securities in this instance, to join in a bond of ten thousand dollars to keep them from becoming a county charge.”

Ten or fifteen years later such instances had become so common as to excite no remark.

Mr. Embree made free use of the gift of sarcasm. When he found anything anywhere that suited his purposes, he borrowed it bodily. The following extract was taken from Osborn's Philanthropist:

“Those who are opposed to slavery, frequently assert 0020 19that slave-holding is equally criminal with the slave-trade. This, on the other hand, is declared to be 'ungenerous' and untrue. They say, that one is an evil, not of their own making, that it is inherited from their ancestors, lamented by the present race, and that 'the wisest heads have not been able to devise a way to remove it'; while the slave trade is altogether a voluntary act.

“The truth probably lies somewhere between these two propositions. There is, no doubt, a difference between the two cases. The evil of slavery is inherited from father to son; the master becomes reconciled to it in his infancy, and consequently makes no sudden departure from principle. It is probable too, that they do not know how to abolish slavery.

“But there are other considerations that might have some weight.—The man who feels the crime of slavery mitigated as to himself, from the consideration of its being transmitted to him by his father, must recollect that to the evil of holding slaves, he is about to add the sin of transmitting the evil to his posterity.

“'they do not know how to remove the evil of slavery'.—The Southern members in Congress did not know how to prohibit the introduction of slaves in Missouri—The people of Missouri do not know how to exclude slavery from their territory—These all stand on the same general ground and are entitled to the same sort of charitable allowances.—Nor are they the only people in the world, who have been placed in that kind of predicament. The British ministry probably did not know how to grant the American Colonies the rights and privileges they begged and demanded, previous to the Revolutionary war. And at the present day, they do not know how to establish a system of equitable representation, and remove the burden of taxes from the people.—Ferdinand and his ministers did not know how to dispense with the Inquisition and establish a constitutional goverment, until the very moment when the people were about to do it for 0021 20themselves—at that fortunate crisis he made the grand discovery, and now tells the world how much happiness he enjoys in the happiness of his people.—In fact, it may be laid down as a general truth, that we do not, with great facility, know how to give up power, or profit or convenience. And whether we refer to facts, or reason on the passions implanted in the human mind, we shall be drawn to the conclusion, that the master does not know how to dispense with the services of his slaves—he does not know how to prepare them for freedom, by the cultivation of their minds—he does not know where they are to begin to rise in the scale of civil society: but they might cease to be an inferior class—and he does not know how to reconcile to himself the idea of liberty and equality on the broad scale. And consequently does not know how to remove the evils of slavery.

“Laying aside these mitigating considerations, (if you please to call them so) and taking up the subject abstractly, it will be difficult to prove that the home born slave has not as fair a claim to freedom as the native African.—They rest their claims on the same simple law of nature, viz., that freedom is the inalienable right of all men. Nor will it be less difficult to prove that a wrong committed on an individual is in any degree extenuated by the plea that an equal wrong has been inflicted on his parents. No, it is an aggravation of the offence; and while the wrongs and sufferings of slavery, descend from father to son, of a devoted race, the crime rolls down, like the avalanche on the snow clad mountain, with a dreadful, and portentous increase of magnitude.”

I have already alluded to the fact that, in spite of his Quakerism, Mr. Embree had a rather polemical temper. Indications of such a temper are somewhat numerous in the pages under review. When Jonathan Tipton, James Dardis, and William Montgomery to each of whom he had sent a specimen copy, returned the same wrapped up so as to be subject to letter postage—no inconsiderable 0022 21thing in those days—he gave those gentlemen the benefit of a free advertisement, winding up with this blistering sentence:

“Without entering into any nice disquisitions to discover whether such conduct is any better than pocket picking, I leave my readers to judge for themselves.”

That such a man would stir up the spirit of resentment among those whose interests he was antagonizing was what might readily have been expected. The report went abroad that he himself had been a slaveholder, and one of his correspondents wrote to make inquiry as to the facts. To this inquiry he gave a prompt, full, and frank reply:

“Friend G. M. & others whom it may concern. In answer to the above I will just observe, that, to my shame be it said, I have owned slaves. To my shame be it also said, I have denied for years the truth of the Christian religion; and during these years I became possessed to slaves. I have always believed slavery to be wrong, but deism had a tendency to make me not very scrupulous in adhering to what I believed to be right, as respected much of my moral conduct. During this time I married a woman who had several slaves, and afterwards purchased a man his wife and their only child. During the time I kept those last mentioned slaves, the woman had a 2d child, and not being able to pay for them, I soon had to let the man from I bought them have the woman and her children in part payment, who at the same time transfered them over to a man that I sold the husband to in part pay of another slave I had bought, by which means they were all kept together. This last mentioned slave (who cost me $1000) together with 7 or 8 others, I let go free about 6 or 7 years ago, soon after I became convinced of the reality of the Christian religion, and have not claimed them, nor exacted any of their labor since, without compensation. Two are dead.

“One circumstance, over which I have not yet had 0023 22control, prevents their legal emancipation; but I have arranged that matter to the satisfaction of the society of Friends, of which I am a member, whose well known principles, as well as practice, are so decisive on this point, that I could not retain my membership among them, much less become a member, unless I stood fair in this respect.

“This is the true history of all my dealing in slaves, by which I have lost in cash not less than $4000. Not so much on account of the loss, as on account of the deviation from rectitude, I repent that I ever owned one. And indeed the crime is of such a hue, that the time may yet come, that a man who has, in a single instance, gone astray thus far, may never be able in his life time to regain public confidence: and should this change of public sentiment take place in my day, and render me disqualified to act in the promotion of this glorious cause, I hope to acquiesce in, and be resigned to suffer the just judgment, and be more humble under a sense of my past misconduct: meanwhile I shall doubtless have the pleasure of rejoicing at seeing this stigma on our religious professions, and stain upon our national escutcheon, eradicated by men of clean hands.

“But in as much as I have not set up even the best part of my life as a criterion, it is to be hoped that the worst act of the worst part of it cannot be applied in such a way as to render even doubtful this self evident truth, 'that all men are created equally free and independent,' and are entitled to their liberty, whatever may be the misconduct of others.

“Men who plead the crimes of one man against the just claims of another, evince to the world that they either do no believe themselves, or not reasonable creatures, and deserve in the one case our pity, and in the other our indignation.”

It was not his purpose to put his light under a bushel. He sought in every possible way to increase the 0024 23circulation of his paper, and soon had a paying list of 2,000 subscribers. In order to reach the creators of public opinion, he sent copies of the Emancipator gratis to a great many of them including the governors of all the States. This policy brought him back a number of sharp letters. I shall insert the one from Gov. Poindexter of Mississippi, merely stopping to say that this distinguished gentleman, in spite of his abilities and of his real services to the State of his adoption, was subsequently retired from public life because he had championed a measure prohibiting the religious instruction of slaves, this result having been brought about chiefly through the agency of the late Dr. William Winans, one of the foremost Methodist ministers in the Southwest.

“Ashwood Place, (Miss.) July 31. Sir: You have thought proper to address to me several numbers to “The Emancipator,' edited and published by you, at Jonesborough, in Tennessee; an honor, which was both unsolicited and unexpected.

“The price demanded for your sheet annually, being one dollar, is to my mind, conclusive evidence, that you represent an association of individuals, in another section of the United States, who bear the expense of the work you have undertaken, and reward your labors; and that your position in the western country, has been selected with a view to economy. I regard it as an effort, mischievous in its tendency; designed to sever the bond of social harmony, which ought to be cherished, and strengthened in every part of the union, and totally unworthy of public patronage. I cannot, therefore subscribe, even one cent for your paper, and have no wish to receive it on any terms.

“The same providence, which has permitted African slavery in the new world, will point to the period of its happy termination. Every real christian & patriot, will look with patient hope, for the 'consumation devoutly to be wished' of that event, without resorting to means, calculated, 0025 24if not intended, to excite passions and prejudices, the most unfavorable to domestic tranquility, and national prosperity.

Your fellow citizen, Geo. Poindexter.”

The response to this gubernatorial epistle may be fairly described as salty. A few extracts must suffice here.

“The governor of Mississippi seems rather displeased than otherwise at my sending him the Emancipator, but I assured him that I had no such intentions, nor did I expect to receive anything from him for it, having directed one to every governor in the union. Three besides himself have given me to understand they did not want them. The governors of Georgia and Alabama wrapped them up carefully in newspaper form, and directed them back to me without subjecting me to more than newspaper postage, which was gentleman-like, but the governor of North Carolina sent his paper back wrapped up in such a manner as authorized the postmaster to charge $1 postage, and Poindexter subjected me to 25 cents to inform me he did not 'wish to receive it on any terms,' atho' he professes to think in the next breath that the business of itself is so poor that it must be supported by an association of individuals in some other section of the United States'.

“He says, 'every real christian, and patriot, will look with patient hope for the consumation devoutly to be wished, of that event, without resorting to means calculated, if not intended, to excite passions and prejudices, the most favorable to domestic tranquility, and national prosperity'.

“How a real christian can wish and desire a thing devoutly (which signifies ardent devotion) and shew no marks of these desires by words, writings, nor actions, I cannot well conceive. I think such devoutness in christians is like faith without works. The apostle James had but low opinion of such faith, and such christians. But 0026 25that kind of (lively) faith and devout ardent wishing which produceth good works, is the only kind worth propagating or worth having.”

I need hardly say that Mr. Embree opposed the Missouri Compromise with his might. “Not another foot of slave territory,” was his war cry. He also poured out vials of his wrath on all the States, North and South, that passed laws prohibiting the incoming of free negroes into their bounds. In season and out of season, day and night, he labored for one thing only. It became a consuming fire in his bones. Speculations as to the probable outcome of his work, if he had lived to be an old man, would be at least interesting if not profitable. He left behind him a large family of young children, and has now a considerable posterity. At the beginning of the late civil war his only grandson bearing his name enlisted in the Confederate Army, and died of a disease contracted in that service. Such is the way of history.

But even as it was, the work of Mr. Embree and his fellow laborers did not fall to the ground. More and more, as the years went by, it enlisted the interest of many good citizens of the State. Helpers also came in from abroad, among them the father of the late Hon. W.E. Foster, the English Liberal statesman, whose grave is still shown to strangers about 16 miles from Knoxville, Tenn.

Citizens of all ranks and classes gave the movement their approval and support. The Churches looked upon it with a friendly eye. The Methodist itinerants, almost to a man, were in favor of the emancipation. The Presbyterians of that region were equally decided in their convictions. Rev. Dr. David Nelson, the famous author of the “Cause and Cure of Infidelity,” a native of Washington County, and a brother-in-law of the late highly esteemed Chief Justice, James W. Deaderick, threw himself with great earnestness and eloquence into the advocacy of the proposed reform. Rev. Dr. Frederick A. 0027 26Ross—so I have been told—liberated and sent to Liberia more than forty men and women. A number of laymen followed the example of their clerical instructors, among others that very upright man and useful citizen, Judge S.J.W. Lucky. The Hon. John Blair, who was a ruling elder, and who for twelve years represented the First District in the United States Congress, became convinced that slavery was morally wrong, but could not see, as a practical question, how he could benefit his servants by manumitting them; and he therefore offered to give Dr. Nelson a bill of sale for them, authorizing him to dispose of them as his enlightened judgment might direct. Dr. Nelson, however, promptly declined to accept the responsibility. He was not the first man that has found it easier to proclaim an abstract principle requires to be done in a given instance. The cases that I have mentioned are only a few out of many. I might multiply them indefinitely. These are enough for my purposes. They indicate the widespread prevalence of a sentiment of no ordinary character.

When the Tennessee Constitutional Convention of 1834 came together, it was flooded with petitions from all parts of the State, and especially from East Tennessee, praying for immediate emancipation. Nearly one third of the members of that body voted in favor of the action requested. But the majority turned a deaf ear to all entreaties, and spread upon the journal an elaborate paper written by that astute lawyer, John A. McKinney who sat for the County of Hawkins, in defense of their action. The remarkable thing about this paper, which I have published in full in the Quarterly Review of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for April 1892, is that it fully and frankly concedes slavery to be a great evil, and predicts that some way or other its abolition is sure to come. The “protest” of the minority, which was also made a matter of record, was a strong a document as 0028 27Wendell Phillips or William Lloyd Garrison ever wrote. It reads as if it might have come from one or the other of those radical reformers.

But after the year 1840—perhaps a little later—slavery came to be considered a fixed thing in Tennessee. Free debate concerning it was not longer tolerated, though many persons continued to cherish in silence the conviction that it was a great evil. Perhaps the last open utterance on the subject was in an address delivered by the Hon. John M. Lea before the Apprentice's Union at Nashville in 1841. Judge Lea is still living, as fine a specimen of a cultivated and high-minded gentleman as can be founded in these United States. He is a son of the Hon. Luke Lea, who, as Congressman from the Knoxville District, secured David Farragut his position as midshipman in the United States Navy. I may also add that he was himself a large slaveholder, and treated his slaves with such humanity and consideration that when emancipation came they were all capable of making a comfortable support for themselves. By his own testimony, they are now—such of them as are still living—doing better for themselves than they did when they belonged to him.

The reasons for the sudden arrest of the reform that seemed to be imminent may be set down under four heads:

1. There was a natural resentment of the interference of the North, which, whether justly or unjustly, was looked upon as an impertinence.

2. There was a growing fear, fed by such incidents as the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia, that the further agitation of the question would lead to tumult and insurrection. Men who knew something from history as to what a servile war meant, might be excused if they shuddered at the mere prospect of such a thing.

3. There was a perplexing doubt as to what would or could be done with the slaves if they were set free. Did not this doubt have some rational foundations? Do we yet know what the final results of emancipation are 0029 28to be? As late as 1866, the Hon. Horace Maynard predicted that it would prove “the euthanasia of the negro race.” Is the man alive who would now venture to give any definite opinion on the subject? One thing is certain: the stroke of Mr. Lincoln's pen that set these ebon millions free raised almost as many questions as it settled.

4. In consequence of the invention of the cotton gin, slavery became, what it had never before been, a very profitable institution. Human greed and avarice were thereby enlisted in favor of its perpetuation. No wonder that it got a new lease of life. Let not our Northern friends be too critical of us on this score. They had no vested interests to interfere with the operation of their benevolent sentiments. The notion that if conditions had been reversed, they would have exhibited a loftier and more unselfish morality than the Southerners did, is one of those pleasant delusions which the attentive student of human nature does not think it worth while to consider with anything like a careful scrutiny. It were easy to be virtuous did virtue consist in denying to another man his cakes and ale.

All this is now past? Let us be thankful that it is so. Who does not rejoice in his inmost heart that no man, woman, or child can now be held in bondage where the flag of the Republic floats? Who does not wish that the emancipated slaves should enjoy to the full the fruits of their freedom in increasing wealth, growing intelligence, and an improved morality? To assess the responsibility of the different sections of the country for the introduction and perpetuation of the evil system from which we are now happily released, would be an impossible task. That is a matter that must be settled at a more august and impartial tribunal than has ever yet been set up on this earth. But we can, nevertheless, without thinking of the errors and mistakes of the past, address ourselves to the glorious work of lifting up all the citizens of our land to the highest level on which it is possible for them to stand. The past is history. But the present is in our hands.