|
Insurrection Of The Blacks
from
the Niles’ Register
SEPT.
17, 1831
The
South. The people
in lower Virginia and the adjacent parts of N. Carolina are
excessively agitated, because of the massacre in Southampton.
There is a report that the Dismal Swamp is to be scoured,
for it is said to contain from 2 to 3,00 blacks, and that these
were in concert with the murdered in Southampton; it is said
that troops were marching to Newbern, N.C. where an insurrection
was expected, or had actually broken out; and it is well known
that the white people in all this section of the county are
arming themselves and that suspicion and fear prevails to an
unprecedented extent.
Five
full and efficient volunteer companies have been formed, or
renewed at Petersburg, Va. Great apprehension prevails that
inflammatory papers have been distributed among the Negroes in
North Carolina; but no fact has been discovered to sustain the
supposition. If
such are discovered, we hope that the authors of them may be
designated, and blasted by the contempt and scorn of every
honest man. We
hate-without reservation, hate, Negro slavery and regret it as
the supreme curse of our land—but we have
the blacks and must make the best of the unhappy condition in
which we are placed that we can.
And
this we think, is certain---that a large majority of the slaves
were better fed and clothed, more comfortable and virtuous, than
the free Negroes who are the very pests of society in Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York, Providence, &c.
Much experience has taught us that emancipation
without removal, adds
to the grievance under which we are suffering; and it is this
belief that prevents thousands of human masters from liberating
their people; fearing that too many of them would become
vagabonds and thieves, if cast upon the taking care of
themselves. We have such a surfeit of them, as to make us many
thousand times wish that we had a home almost anywhere--it
relieves from seeing black faces, though some very worthy
persons have them; and with much revulsion of feeling we see it
proposed to drive all the free colored persons out of Virginia!
Verily
we have enough of them, and our jail, penitentiary, poor house, are besides
chiefly filled with them. We cannot accept anymore- we have much
more than our share already!
We are willing to bear our own part of the evil, or
relieve it by supporting the African colonization society, and
must insist that Virginia shall bear her part, also. She should do unto others as she would that they
should do unto her. A
man cannot be justified in placing his
own encumbrance upon his neighbor’s ground. It is a
procedure that should be nullificated. But does not it appear that those who talk about
“nullification” are
like idle boys playing with squibs and cruckers, in a powder
magazine?
(A
Negro man supposed to be the famous Gen. Nat of Southampton
negroes, arrested and detained at Baltimore as a runaway
slave-has been demanded by and given up to the executive of
Virginia. Many of
the prisoners have already been executed.)
The Fredericksburg Arena has the following remarks—It is gratifying to
state that the language held by our editorial brethren of the
north, in relation to the late disastrous occurrences, is
entirely unobjectionable. We
have seen no taunts, no cant, no complacent dwelling upon the
superior advantages of the non-slave holding states; on the
contrary, there has been a burst of generous sympathy, an
unequivocal expression of horror at the scenes enacted by the
deluded wretched. We
have no doubt, that should it ever be necessary, the citizens of
the northern states would promptly fly to the assistance of
their southern brethren—we speak of the vast
majority—fanatics there are, doubtless, who so far from thus
acting would not very much scruple to foment disaffection, and
excite servile insurrection.
<<<---Previous
* *
* * *
update 28 June 2008 |
