Oldal 150 [150]
CANADIAN LANDSCAPES/ PAYSAGES CANADIENS
of the United States government’s Indian Removal Act. This writer connected
logically British Canada’s hospitality to refugees and the deterrence of forced
colonization of both enslaved and free Blacks. Cited as desirable destinations
for voluntary emigration were the Canadas, Hayti [sic] and the British Islands,
all “infinitely superior asylums” at least when contrasted with “barbarous,
pestilential Africa.” (“Commercial Enterprise”). One would find there the
“climate, moral habits, [and] equality of rights” appealing to those with com¬
mercial ambitions (“Commercial Enterprise”).
The question arises whether the newspaper’s conservatism on the Canadas
meant it opposed other, popular revolutions. It did not. In 1837, editor Cornish
praised the independence movements of the Greeks against Turks (1821-1832)
and Poles against the Russians (1830-31). He asserted that, because these
rebels, just like the Americans of the 1770s, had declared their grievances
against their oppressors and their rights in writing, “they [were] worthy to be
freemen” (Ripley 217). The Colored American also lauded the violent Haitian
revolution against French colonial rule, highlighting the diverse republican
society that it had produced (Yingling 344-345). However, as far as this news¬
paper was concerned, revolutions abroad were one thing, revolutions on one’s
border were quite another.
In sum, The Colored American throughout the latter 1830s depicts positively
the continuation of British rule in Canada, not simply because it serves as a
refuge for the escaped slave. Its editorials evince the effort to appeal to free
Blacks for reasons they would view as relevant to their own interests as free
but not yet equal citizens. While preserving imperial Canada as the ‘North
Star’ terminus for the escaped slave was paramount, the paper’s writer(s) clearly
felt that republican overthrow there would engender risks far outweighing the
benefits. True, British Canada was not ruled by popularly-elected legislators
and lacked a ‘Declaration’ enshrining Lockean consent and natural rights. That
likely discomfited at least some of the newspaper’s editorialists and readers
who ascribed to that sacred American creed. Ray, for example, admitted that
he was a pragmatic royalist regarding the rebellions but was confident that
Blacks would be able to realize the promise of the Declaration in the United
States. Free Blacks, in his view, should reject a future in British Canada because
of its foundation on ‘unnatural assumptions of the feudal system’ (Minutes
33). In holding this view, Ray was typical of many Northern Blacks who, prior
to 1850, generally rejected emigration as a solution to their problems in the
United States (Hepburn 101). Yet, as Ray and many free Blacks would surely
have agreed, British rule served both continental and domestic stability, mod¬
eled racial integration, and helped deter United States governmental coloni¬
zation. Given the circumstances, compromising ideological consistency for
tangible benefits seemed a small price to pay.
+ 148 +