Delivered at Detroit City Hall, Detroit, Michigan 10 January 1843.
The committee would respectfully report, that their efforts for the past year, though few and feeble, have far exceeded our most sanguine expectations. At the time it was first proposed to organize a Committee of Vigilance from among our own people, to watch over our interests – to draft our petitions to the Legislature, praying that we may enjoy the elective franchise in common with other men, or to do any other business which they may deem of importance to our people. It was argued by some, that there was no necessity for such a committee, as we had friends who were already advocating our cause, and endeavoring to elevate us to our rights. Therefore, we should stand still, lest we should take a burden upon our own shoulders, that we were not able to bear, and thereby retard the great enterprise which they were about to achieve. But the more reflecting portion of us, being well satisfied that the long lost rights and liberties of our people in this community, or in any other, could only be regained by our own exertions, elected and organized a committee of nine persons from among ourselves, and sent them forth to act in behalf of our whole people. As a matter of course, the want of experience in the various duties to be performed, caused much difficulty in deciding upon some definite plan of operating calmly, upon those difficult case which have hitherto heated the minds of our people with inflamed passion, and called forth their physical force, to consummate in riot and bloodshed, that which should have been done calmly, peaceably, and with deliberate reason. Thus have the committee learned from the past transactions of our people, as well as from history, that the spirit of physical conquest, led on by ignorance, was always formed in enmity, pursued in hatred, inflamed by passion, and consummated in riot and bloodshed, and often without accomplishing the object of its design. And as the object of the committee was to lay the foundation for the triumph of the just principles of liberty, and the right of all men to enjoy an equal protection, under the government in which they live, and this to be done under the dominion of calm and deliberate reason, have adopted morality as their shield – education, as their armor, and ungarnished truth as their weapon to carry on this moral and political warfare.
From these instruments, the committee have learned that education is the principle means by which an enslaved and degraded people can be elevated; and that our moral, upright and correct deportment will be one of the strongest arguments we can present, in favor of our universal elevation to our civil, religious and political rights. In laying down this plan, the committee have endeavored to impress upon the minds of our people the great necessity of laying aside those light and frivolous amusements of the giddy and gay, for the more calm, studious and reflecting mind of the Philosopher, and thereby bring ourselves and posterity within the benign influence of education, temperance and morality.
The committee would now respectfully report that they have seen their efforts abundantly blessed. They are now able to point to the names of from 60 to 70 individuals, from our own people, the majority having no children of their own to educate, who have resolved to contribute a portion of their daily earnings to support a day school where all sects and denominations may be taught free of charge. The committee are now able to enter into a day school supported principally by our people, and taught by a man of color, and there behold its scholars, making rapid strides in moral and intellectual improvement. They are also able to count the names of a hundred individuals who have laid aside the intoxicating bowl, and came and signed the “temperance pledge.” They can also refer to a Young Man’s Society, their debating Club, their Reading Room with a Library of Historical works, all established by their own individual exertions, to disseminate a general diffusion of knowledge among our people. The committee have beheld, with much joy, the organization of two Female Societies, whose objects appear to be education, temperance, economy, and the universal reformation of the present, as well as the rising generations. It is true that the committee have had cause to grieve, on seeing the spirit of ignorance rising up in the midst of our people, to draw a division, and thereby presenting itself an obstacle and stumbling block in the way of our general elevation. But as ignorance is the mother of misfortune, and its wars always formed in enmity, pursed in hatred and inflamed with passion, always destroys itself and sinks to its own level, without accomplishing its designs. Such has been the fate of those obstacles which presented themselves to retard the general reformation which we are about to achieve. Thus have the committee learned from experience as well as from history, the superiority of the moral and intellectual power over that of ignorance or physical force. The case of Nelson Hackett, a fugitive slave from Arkansas, is a striking evidence of the superiority of calm and deliberate reason, over that of hatred and inflamed passion. When Nelson Hackett was arrested in Chatham, brought and cast into Sandwich jail, information was forwarded to our committee that a slave had been pursed into Canada by his master, who had offered five hundred dollars for his arrest, and he had been arrested and cast into Sandwich jail, to await his trial at the Court of King’s Bench. A portion of our committee made it our their business to attend that Court, and there learned from the presiding Judge that Nelson Hackett had been arrested on a charge of felony, and would remain in jail a certified time, and if sufficient proof should be brought within that time, the case would go before the Governor, and as there was no treaty stipulation (then) binding the two governments to agree up fugitives, and as Nelson Hackett was a slave, it was his decided opinion that he would not be given up. The committee returned to Detroit and reported. General information of the case was circulated among our people, recommending to keep a vigilant eye upon the course under the pursued by British law, in the case of a slave claimed on British soil, under the charge of felony. Nelson Hackett remained in Sandwich jail for several months. Inquiry was made, time after time, by the committee, respecting Nelson Hackett’s case and all the information we could receive from our people in Sandwich was, they had been informed that he had been set at liberty, yet no one had seen him. Thus the case died gradually away, and faded from the minds of many. But the mysteriousness of the case excited the suspicion of our committee, and caused them to keep an eye of vigilance to ferret out the whole proceedings.
On the night of the 8th of February 1842, at a dark and late hour of the night, Nelson Hackett was taken out of Sandwich jail, conveyed across the river and lodged in our city prison, unknown to the inhabitants of Sandwich, or the good citizens of Detroit. But a vigilant eye encompassed the whole affair. General notice was circulated among our people, calm and deliberate reason was recommended as the basis of action; our friends and able counsel was consulted, who after examining the papers gave it as their opinion that they had been correctly made out, all had been legally done, as he was a felon, it was better to let him go back to the prison house of slavery, than to bring a reproach upon the cause of emancipation by instituting a suit on his behalf. But the committee feeling themselves duty bound to act in his behalf called a general meeting of our people and resolved to publish the whole affair to the world, and thereby set a ball in motion that would roll into the British House of Commons. It had its desired effect; several letters were immediately received from distinguished persons in Canada, calling on the committee for more information upon the subject, and were all immediately answered. On the 26th of July 1842, a letter was received from England, calling on the committee for the names of all those concerned in the affair, with such other information as the committee was able to collect , such facts as the committee were in possession of were immediately forwarded. It is true that Nelson Hackett was returned to the prison house of bondage, but the name of “Nelson Hackett is now sounding upon the highest notes in the British House of Lords.” Thus have the committee learned from experience, the superiority of moral and intellectual power, guided by calm, and deliberate reason, over that of ignorance and physical force, guided by heated and inflamed passion.
The committee while endeavoring to secure justice for our own people have also endeavored to impress upon their minds the great necessity of observing the law and becoming good and peaceable citizens. The committee was present themselves, before the good inhabitants of this community, to lay our people’s claims upon your sympathy to act in our behalf. [William Lambert]
From THE BLACK ABOLITIONIST PAPERS, VOLUME III. C. Peter Ripley, Editor. University of North Carolina Press, pp 397-400.