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William Priest - Travels in the United States of America
"Look up, worthy friends, from yonder bright hills
See how Phoebus smiles, to hail the new year:
I bring you a tribute - rejoice thus to find,
So many are living, and meet with us here.
"May health be confirm'd, and sickness remov'd;
May no sweeping flames take place in this state;
We sympathise deeply with neighbouring friends,
Whose cup has run over with this bitter fate.
"May teachers this day find help from above
To publish glad news, as heralds of grace,
While Zion is mourning her light shall break forth,
And shadows of midnight away from her chase.
"I wish through this year God's presence may smile
On all your just schemes at home or abroad;
I wish you his protection, by sea or by land;
May your theatrical works find favour in God.
[Footnote: The boy must surely mean the gods.]
"Gentlemen and ladies, accept these wishes sincere,
And I wish you all a happy new year."
Boston, January 1st, 1797.
DEAR FRIEND,
To answer your last, wherein you desire me to send you the exact state of negro slavery in this country, is
a task to which I am unequal.
You will conceive the great difficulty of obliging you in this request, when you are informed, that on this
subject each individual state has it's own laws. The only point in which they are unanimous, is to prohibit
their importation, either from the Coast of Africa, or the West Indies. I can only inform you in general
terms, that in the southern states there is little alteration in the negro code since the revolution; of
course the laws are nearly the same as in the British West India islands. In the middle states,
though negro slavery is allowed, their situation has been considerably meliorated, by a variety of laws in
their favour, some tending to their gradual emancipation, others to render their servitude less irksome,
&c.
Societies are formed in several of the large towns to enforce these lenient laws, and to purchase the
freedom of a few of the most deserving slaves. The quakers, beside liberating all their negroes, have
contributed liberally towards the funds these societies have established, for carrying their benevolent
intentions into effect. In consequence of these measures, there are a number of free negroes in
Philadelphia, whose situation is very comfortable. A handsome episcopalian church has been built for
their use, and one of the most respectable negroes ordained, who performs all the duties of his office with
great solemnity and fervour of devotion, assisted occasionally by his white brethren; and there are also
two schools, where the children of people of colour are educated gratis; one supported by the quakers,
the other by the abolition society.
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