A Visit To The United States In 1841 | Page 3

return for their outlay of money,
of time, of labor, -- for their painful sympathies and self-denying
prayers, -- where will they find a cause where help is more needed, or
where it would be rewarded more surely and abundantly? Let them
reflect on what has been effected, within a few short years, in the
British West Indies, so recently numbered among "the dark places of
the earth, full of the habitations of cruelty," -- but now scenes of light,
gladness, and prosperity, temporal and spiritual. To show what remains
to be accomplished for the universal abolition of slavery -- a field in
which the laborers are few indeed, in proportion to its extent -- I may
be allowed to quote the following comprehensive statement, from the
preface to one of the most important volumes that ever issued from the
press on the subject of slavery:[A]
[Footnote A: "Proceedings of the London Anti-Slavery Convention."]
"The extent of these giant evils may be gathered from a brief statement
of facts. In the United States of America, the slave population is
estimated to be 2,750,000; in Brazil, 2,500,000; in the Spanish
Colonies, 600,000; in the French Colonies, 265,000; in the Dutch
Colonies, 70,000; in the Danish and Swedish Colonies, 30,000; and in
Texas, 25,000; besides those held in bondage by Great Britain, in the
East Indies, and the British Settlements of Ceylon, Malacca, and
Penang; and by France, Holland, and Portugal, in various parts of Asia
and Africa; amounting in all to several millions more; and exclusive
also of those held in bondage by the native powers of the East, and
other parts of the world, of whose number it is impossible to form a
correct estimate.
"To supply the slave-markets of the Western world, 120,000 native
Africans are, on the most moderate calculation, annually required;
whilst the slave-markets of the East require 50,000 more. In procuring
these victims of a guilty traffic, to be devoted to the rigors of perpetual
slavery, it is computed that
280,000 perish in addition, and under circumstances the most revolting
and afflicting.

"But this is not all. In the Southern section of the United States, and in
British India, a vast internal slave-trade is carried on, second only in
horror and extent to that which has so long desolated and degraded
Africa.
"These facts exhibit, also, the magnitude of the responsibility which
devolves upon abolitionists; in view of it they may well be allowed to
disclaim, as they do, all sectarian motive, all party feeling: 'Glory to
God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to man,' is their aim:
consistently with the blessed character of this gospel anthem, they
recognize no means as allowable for them, in the prosecution of their
holy enterprise, than those which are of a moral, religious, and pacific
nature; in the diligent use of these means, and trusting in God, they
cherish the hope that, under His blessing, they may be permitted to
accomplish the great work to which they are devoted; and thus be made
instrumental in advancing the sacred cause of freedom, and its
attendant blessings, civilization and religion, throughout the earth."
J.S.
Edgbaston, near Birmingham, Second Month, 1st, 1842.

A VISIT, &c.
I embarked at Portsmouth, on board the British Queen steam packet,
commanded by Captain Franklin, on the 10th of the 3d Month, (March,)
1841. During the first two or three days, the weather was unusually fine
for the season of the year, and gave us the prospect of a quick and
prosperous voyage. The passengers, about seventy in number, were of
various nations, including English, French, German and American.
The very objectionable custom of supplying the passengers with
intoxicating liquors without limit and without any additional charge,
thus compelling the temperate or abstinent passenger to contribute to
the expenses of the intemperate, was done away. Each individual paid
for the wine and spirits he called for, a circumstance which greatly

promoted sobriety in the ship; but I am sorry to say three or four, and
these my own countrymen, were not unfrequently in a state of
intoxication. On one occasion, after dinner, one of these addressed an
intelligent black steward, who was waiting, by the contemptuous
designation of
"blackey;" the man replied to him in this manner: -- "My name is
Robert; when you want any thing from me please to address me by my
name; there is no gentleman on board who would have addressed me as
you have done; we are all the same flesh and blood; I did not make
myself; God made me." This severe and public rebuke commended
itself to every man's conscience, and my countryman obtained no
sympathy even from the most prejudiced slaveholder on board. Several
of my fellow passengers stood in this relation; and I found I