The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-09
THE AFFAIR AT CHRISTIANA.

~ w Al y. A@L4ANA'
Genesec county, Michigan, Sept, 1851
THE AFFAIR AT CHRISTIANA.
FROM THE FRIENDS REVIEW.
In our last number, under the head of Sum
mary of News a brief notice was introduced o.
a melancholy event which occurred few milei
from Lancaster, in this State We are sorry t.
find that this circumstance has been laid hole
OF to excite to greater intensity the already
existing unjust and cruel prejudice against tn,
cOlored inhabitants Of the State not against thos,
only whowere engagedin opposition to the execu
ton OF law which disgraces the legislation o
the Union, but against those who were innocen
and ignorant of the whole transaction At
tempts, indeed, have not been wanting to afi1
upon the ayowed and active opponents of Sla
very in Pennsylvania, the imputation of ad
vlsing and encouraging the colored people Il
resist by force of arms the capture of all fugi
tive slaves, who may seek shelter among them
1t would be no easy matter TO find anything
more unjust than such an imputation, when
applied to the advocates of negro rights in
general. There may DO, and probably are, a
few rash and impetuOus individuals, who be-
ing nursed in the lap of American freedom,
and imbued with the doctrines which have
| been scattered broadcast over our land during
| three-fourths of century, may have arrived at
the conclusion that negro slavery is sufficiently
odious to justify any and every means which
can be adopted to destroy its root or lop its
| branches. But these are not the sentiments of
| the sober Christian phlanthropist nor are they,
as far as the editor of this journal is informed
the sentiments of any considerable portion of
the active opponents Of slavery. We believe
that righteous ends should always be sought
by righteous means. Living under Govern
ment OF laws we owe submission, either actively
or passiyely, to the mandates of the law
When laws are unjust and oppressive, as the
late Fugitive Act has been again and again
demonstrated to be, it is the right, not to say
the duty, of the peaceabe citizens, TO seek their
repeal or modification, by regular and consti-
tutional means. But such laws can no more
demand the active assistance Of the conscien-
tiOus opponents of slavery, than the decree of
Nebuchadnezar could require the active obed-
ence of the three Hebrew youths, worshipping
the golden image, or than the decree of Darius
and his council could command the abstinence
of Daniel from offering his accutomed prayer to
God These DEGREES unquestionably emanated
from the acknowledged authorities of the State;
and the pious Hebrews, seeing their inconsistency
with the Divine law withheld compliance, and
quietly submitted TO the penalty.
Wishing to avoid taking part in the existing
excitement or encouraging it in others no
attempt will be made at present to examine
how far the laws either of the Union or of the
Commonwealth can be invoked to support an
assault, with deadly weapons, even upon fugi-
tive slaves But we must be permitted to enter
our solemn protest against any measures, or the
PRONUNCIATION of opinions, tending to involve the
colored inhabitants of Pennsylvania, in any
manner or i'll any degree, in the consequences
OF this melancholy transaction. The cOlored
inhabitants of the State amount at this time
to about ffty-three thousand, nearly all of whom
are living in peaceable submission to the laws
OF the country, and consequently entitled to the
protection which the laws are designed to afford
IL is not to be forgotten that the colored race
in the United States were planted there in
manner peculiar to themselves and in man.
ner which furnishes strong and unqueston-
able claim to n residence here The white
inhabitants, their ancestors were, with very
few exceptions, voluntary immigrants. They
came to this continent with hope and expecta-
ton of improving their condition, or providing
for the improved condition of their posterity
But the ancestors of our colored race so far as
the African ancestry was concerned, were, with
scarcely solitary exception, brought here by
compulsion. When the first negro slaves were
introduced, the land was nearly all covered
with it's primeval forests In clearing away
these forests, and preparing the land for culture,
as well as in its early cultivation, there can be
no doubt that the slaves performed their full
share of the labor. But the soil, with its
value thus enhanced by the labor bestowed
on il, is nearly all possessed by the whites.
After the negro race had passed several genera
tons in state of slavery, and in that condi-
ton contributed their part towards the wealth
of the country, it was considered noble act
on the part of the Legislature of Pennsylvania
to decree-not that the slaves then in the State
should be set free, and compensated for the
services rendered during their years or ages of
servitude-but that the children thereafter born
in the State, whose mothers were slaves, should
be free ut the age of twenty-eight years, seven
or ten years beyond the period of servitude
allowed to white persons Under the operation
of this law, partially just as it was, Pennsyl-
vania is now happily no longer a slaveholding
State And surely the least that Pennsylvania
justice can award them, is permission to remain
unmoested on the soil to which many of their
ancestors were transplanted by violence 1t is
surely calamity enough for them to find the
sanctuary of their homes invaded by the minis
tiers of the law, and to see their compatriots
ruthlessly and violently torn from them, for no
crime real or pretended, but merely because
they had the misfortune to be descended from
parents who had for several generations been
deprived of the rights of humanity, and under
Government which legalizes such acts of
oppression.
II we sometimes witness an outbreak, such
rs has recently taken place in Lancaster county,
or violent opposition to the recapture of fugitive
slaves II may not be uninteresting to inquire to
whose instructions are we to look for an expla-
nation! As already intimated, the principles
of the opponents of negro slavery, taken in the
aggregate, are opposed to violence. Whatever
means they may adopt or encourage to effect
the delivery of the slave, the shedding of blood
is not one.
There is, however, class of instructors whose
prompting are calculated to make n much
stronger impression on the colored race, than
the pacific admonitions of Abolitonsts because
more congenial TO the impulses of nature
Seventy-hve years ago the American Con-
gress solemnly announced as "selfevident truths
that all men are created equal--that they ARE
endowed with certain unalienabe rights-that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness; and that to secure not to DESTROY
"these rights, Governments are instituted among
men" There is no limitation in regard to color
Ii the colored man hears or reads this declara-
ton, can he possibly fail to construe it MS appl-
cable to himself equally with the white man {!
This declaration closes with the emphatic ex-
preston, "For the support of this declaration
with firm reliance on the protection Of Divine
providence we mutually pledge to each other
our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor
Now we know that this declaration is annual
ly read and made the basis of numerous ora
tons in the principal cities and towns in the
United States. Ii is almost nugatory to remark,
that the encrOachments of the British Govern