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Project Gutenberg's The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917, by VariousThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917Author: VariousRelease Date: March 6, 2007 [EBook #20752]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO HISTORY ***Produced by Curtis Weyant, Richard J. Shiffer and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

The Journal
of
Negro History

Volume II

1917

Contents

Vol II—January, 1917—No. 1

Vol II—April, 1917—No. 2

Vol II—July, 1917—No. 3

Vol II—October, 1917—No. 4

[Pg 1]

The Journal
of
Negro History

Vol. II—January, 1917—No. 1

Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa

I. The Origin and Extent of Slavery in the Several Economic Zones ofAfrica

Slavery in Africa has existed from time immemorial, having arisen, notfrom any outside influence, but from the very nature of the localconditions. The three circumstances necessary to develop slavery are:

First, a country favored by the bounty of nature. Unless nature yieldsgenerously it is impossible for a subject class to produce surplusenough to maintain their masters. Where nature is niggardly, as inmany hunting districts, the labor of all the population is required tomeet the demands of subsistence.

Second, a country where the labor necessary to subsistence is, in someway, very disagreeable. In such cases every man and woman will seek toimpose the task of production upon another. Among most primitiveagricultural peoples, the labor necessary to maintenance is verymonotonous and uninteresting, and no freeman will voluntarily performit. On the contrary, among hunting and fishing peoples, the labor ofmaintenance is decidedly interesting. It partakes of the nature ofsport.

Third, a country where there is an abundance of free land. In such acountry it is impossible for one man to secure another to work for himexcept by coercion; for when[Pg 2] a man has a chance to use free land andits products he will work only for himself, and take all the productfor himself rather than work for another and accept a bare subsistencefor himself. On the contrary, where all the land is appropriated a manwho does not own land has no chance to live except at the mercy of thelandlord. He is obliged to offer himself as a wage-earner or a tenant.The landlord can obtain, therefore, all the help he may need withoutcoercion. Free labor is then economically advantageous to both thelandlord and the wage-earner, since the freedom of the latter inspiresgreatly increased production. From these facts and considerations,verified by history, it may be laid down as a sociological law thatwhere land is monopolized slavery necessarily yields to a regime offreedom.[1]

In applying these principles to Africa it is necessary to take accountof the natural division of the continent into distinct economic zones.Immediately under the equator is a wide area of heavy rainfall anddense forest. The rapidity and rankness of vegetable growth rendersthe region unsuited to agriculture. But the plentiful streams aboundin fish and the forests in animals and fruits. The banana and plantaingrow there in superabundance, and form the chief diet of theinhabitants. This may be called, for convenience, the banana zone. Tothe north and south of this zone are broad areas of less rainfall andforest, with a dry season suitable to agriculture. These may be calledthe agriculture zones. Still further to the north and south are areasof very slight rainfall and almost no forests, suitable for pasturage.Here cattle flourish in great numbers. These may be called thepastoral zones. These zones stretch horizontally across the continentexcept in case of the cattle zones, which, on account of themountainous character of East Africa, include the plateau extendingfrom Abyssinia to the Zambesi river. Each of these zones gives rise todifferent types of men, and different characteristics of economicorganization, of family life, government, religion, and art.[Pg 3]

In the banana zone nature is extremely bountiful. The people subsistmostly upon the spontaneous products. A small expenditure of effortwill support a vast population. Agriculture is very little practiced.Here the effort to live would seem to be easier and more agreeablethan in any other part of the world, so that man would not be underpressure to enslave his kind. But alas, the work of gathering andtransporting the fruits, of the preparation and cooking them, as wellas the bringing home and cooking of the game, the building of houses,etc., is not altogether pleasant. It is uninteresting, and the heatand the humidity of the climate render it almost insupportable incertain seasons and hours of the day. The repugnance to labor oftropical people, whether natives or white immigrants, is proverbial.Every one in the banana zone, therefore, seeks to shift his burdenupon another. As a first resort, he unloads it upon his wife, and she,finding it grievous, cries out, and he then relieves her by procuringadditional wives. This kind of wife-slavery suffices for the supportof the population in this zone, but in the case of families of rank,who have been accustomed to some degree of luxury, other helpers areneeded, and these form a class of domestic slaves. Now, in this zone,the climatic conditions not only render labor disagreeable but tend tocurb aspiration, so that people do not acquire a taste or demand forproducts which minister to the higher nature. Lassitude keeps thestandard of living down to a low level. Hence, in this zone the laborof women suffices, for the most part, for the maintenance of thepopulation. Since land is free and no one will voluntarily work foranother, such additional workers as are needed must be obtained andbound to the master by coercion.

In this zone two very remarkable consequences follow from the factthat very few slaves are needed for workers. The first is the practiceof cannibalism, once universal in this zone, and still in voguethroughout vast regions. The bountiful food supply attracts immigrantsfrom all sides, and the result is a condition of chronic warfare. Whenone tribe defeats another the question arises, What is to be[Pg 4] donewith the prisoners? As they cannot be profitably employed asindustrial workers, they are used to supplement a too exclusivevegetable diet. Wars come to be waged expressly for the sake ofobtaining human flesh for food. The Monbuttu eat a part of theircaptives fallen in battle, and butcher and carry home the rest forfuture consumption. They bring home prisoners not to reduce to slaverybut as butcher-meat to garnish future festivals.

A second consequence of the limited demand for slaves is that warcaptives are sold to foreigners. Adjacent to the banana zone are zonesof agriculture, where slaves are in great request, and, during theEuropean connection with the slave trade, the normal demand for slavesin this zone was greatly heightened. Among the Niam Niam all prisonersbelong to the monarch. He sells the women and keeps the children forslaves. Hence, the banana zone has been the great reservoir forsupplying slaves to other parts of the world. Hundreds of thousands ofslaves came from this zone to the West Indies, and to the slave statesof North and South America. In Dahomey and Ashanti war captives usedto be sold "en bloc" to white traders at so much per capita.

In the agricultural zones to the north and south nature is moreniggardly, though she yields enough, when coaxed by the hoe, to permitof a large class of parasites. The labor of maintenance is moreonerous than in the banana zone. While the heat and humidity are notso great the work is more grievous because of its greater quantity andmonotony. The motive to shift the work is, therefore, very strong andthe demand for slaves is very great. In fact, the ratio of slaves tofreemen is about three or four to one. As land is free and theresources open, the only means of obtaining workers is by coercion.The supply of slaves is kept up by kidnapping, by warfare upon weaktribes, by the purchase of children from improvident parents, and byforfeiture of freedom through crime.

In the cattle zones farther to the north and south, nature is stillless bountiful. The labor of maintenance requires[Pg 5] a combination ofthe pastoral art, agriculture and trade. A slave class could notmaintain itself and at the same time support a large master class. Thelabor of a large proportion of the population is, in one way oranother, necessary to existence. The nature of the work, so far as itis pastoral or trading, is not especially irksome, but ratherfascinating. Tending cattle is full of excitement, and is a kind ofsubstitute for hunting; while trading is an occupation which appealswith wonderful force to all the races of Africa. The impulse to shiftlabor in the cattle zones is, therefore, very slight, except in thecase of a few populations subsisting largely upon agriculture. Theruling classes, therefore, instead of owning many personal slaves,make a practice of subjugating the agricultural groups in such a wayas to constitute a kind of feudalism. As land is free the enslavedgroups can be made to serve the free class only by coercion.

Similar conditions among the natural races all over the world giverise in the same way to the institution of slavery. Ellis thinks thatslavery probably originated under the regime of exogamy where the sonsborn of captured women formed the slave class because they wereconsidered inferior to the sons born of the women of the group.[2] Butit is quite evident that slavery originated primarily from economicconditions. For further sociological explanations of slavery in theseveral zones the reader is referred to the author's first and secondvolumes on the Negro races.

II. The Slave Trade of West Africa and the Desert of Sahara

The African slave trade goes back as far as our knowledge of the Negrorace. The first Negroes of which we have any record were probablyslaves brought in caravans to Egypt. They were in demand as slaves inall the oases of the deserts, and along the coasts of theMediterranean. "Among the ruling nations on the north coast," saysHeeren, "the Egyptians, Cyrenians and Carthaginians, slavery was[Pg 6] notonly established but they imported whole armies of slaves, partly forhome use, and partly, at least by the latter, to be shipped off toforeign markets. These wretched beings were chiefly drawn from theinterior, where kidnapping was just as much carried on then as it isat present. Black male and female slaves were even an article ofluxury, not only among the above mentioned nations, but even in Greeceand Italy; and as the allurement to this traffic was on this accountso great, the unfortunate Negro race had, even thus early, thewretched fate to be dragged into distant lands under the galling yokeof bondage."[3] Since the introduction of Mohammedanism, slaves havebeen carried eastward into all of the Moslem States as far as AsiaMinor and Turkey, where they are still much valued as domesticservants or as eunuchs to guard the seraglios of Mohammedan princes.In the middle ages many African slaves were carried into Spain throughthe instrumentality of the Saracens, and from there the first slaveswere imported into America. The supply of slaves for the Northern andEastern States was obtained chiefly from the region of the Sudan. Atan early period many caravan routes led northward from this region.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the slaves wereobtained by a variety of methods, of which the most common was that ofraiding the agricultural Nigritians who lived in towns and citiesscattered and unorganized in the agricultural zone, and who were easyvictims of the mounted bands of desert Berbers, Tuaregs and Arabs whodescended into the region in quest of booty and captives. RobertAdams, an American sailor who was wrecked on the West Coast of Africain 1810, said of the raiding parties sent out from Timbuktu, "Thesearmed parties were all on foot except the officers. They were usuallyabsent from one week to a month, and at times brought in considerablenumbers," mostly from the Bambaras. "The slaves thus brought in werechiefly women and children, who, after[Pg 7] being detained a day or two atthe king's house, were sent away to other parts for sale."[4]

The Fellatahs, who, since the beginning of the nineteenth century,have been the dominators of the Nigritians in West Africa, used tocarry on a merciless campaign against their subjects, destroying theirhomes and fields, and seizing women and children by the thousands tobarter away to the West, or to send across the desert. Describing theeffects of a Fellatah raid, Barth says: "The whole village, which onlya few moments before had been the abode of comfort and happiness, wasdestroyed by fire and made desolate. Slaughtered men, with their limbssevered from their bodies, were lying about in all directions and madepassers-by shudder with horror."[5]

The slave traffic in the Sudan gave rise at a very early date toregular slave markets. The city of Jenné on the Niger was, in themiddle ages, the greatest emporium in West Africa, far outshiningTimbuktu. From the fifteenth century to the present time, the mostcelebrated slave markets have been Kuka, on Lake Chad, Timbuktu,capital of the Songhay empire, Kano, capital of the Haussa empire, andKatsena, capital of a district of the same name. Rohlfs found at theKuka slave market, white haired old men and women, children sucklingstrange breasts, young girls and strong boys who had come from Bornu,Baghirmi, Haussa, Logun, Musgu, Waday and from lands still moredistant.[6]

The slaves were carried across the desert by two kinds of caravans.First, those composed of nomad tribes, which migrated periodicallyfrom north to south. During the winter the tribes would pasture theircamels along the edges of the desert, but in the spring they wouldvisit the cities in the oases to gather up a supply of dates and otherdesert products to sell in the north. They would then in the sameseason proceed north to the cultivated regions of the Atlas mountainsand arrive there in the midst of the harvest, exchanging theirsouthern commodities for grain, raw-wool,[Pg 8] and a variety of Europeangoods. At the end of the summer they would return to the south,arriving at the oases just as the dates were ripening. Here the grain,wool and other stuffs from the north would be exchanged for dates andmanufactured articles of the desert. The same tribes which advancedfrom the oases of the desert to the north also descended towards thesouth, thus establishing intercourse between the Barbary States andTimbuktu. Many slaves picked up by these immigrating tribes werecarried from one oasis to another until they were finally sold intothe states bordering the Mediterranean.

The second kind of caravans were those conducted by merchants,traveling with hired camels, and making rapid and direct journeysacross the desert to and from the chief slave markets. These caravanswould come into the Sudan composed of men mounted upon camels, assesand mules, bringing salt, hides, cloth, and sundry articles fromcivilized North Africa, and return with slaves through Tibbu toFezzan, and there fatten them for the Tripoli slave markets. Thosethat came to Timbuktu returned to any of the Barbary States, and theretransferred their slaves to other traders who carried them as far asTurkey in Asia. Those that came to Kano usually passed out by way ofKuka or Katsena and proceeded thence by several routes to markets inNorth Africa.

The journey across the desert was exceedingly fatal to the blacks,since they were not accustomed to the northern climate. They sufferedfrom hunger, thirst and cold, and a large per cent. of them perishedalong the way. Damberger, who traveled through the interior of Africabetween 1781 and 1797, relates, as follows, his experience as aslave-captive in crossing the desert. Passing through the Sudan hefell in with some Moors, journeying to Tegorarin, where he was sold toa slave dealer, who resold him to a Mussulman en route to Mezzabath, atown on the river Oniwoh. Here again he was sold to a merchant whocarried him to Marocco. He narrates that "On the 6th of September, mynew master and I departed with the caravan. It consisted[Pg 9] of merchantsfrom various nations, of persons of distinction, who had beenperforming a pilgrimage to Mecca, and of slaves. We proceeded slowlyon our journey, as the roads were bad and our beasts were very heavilyladen. Every day some of our company left the caravan, as weapproached or passed the respective destinations. We traveled overmountains where the path was sometimes so narrow as only to permit thepassage of one person at a time. We were constantly on the watch inthese parts to prevent being surprised by the Arabs, as our caravanconveyed many valuable articles, which would have afforded richplunder to those robbers. That which we apprehended actually happenedon the seventh day after our departure, namely, on the 13th of Sept. Anumber of armed Arabs attacked us between the Cozul mountains and theriver Tegtat; killed four of our slaves and three camels; and, thoughthey lost several men in the attack, obstinately continued the combat.We defended ourselves to the utmost of our power, and at length hadthe good fortune to repel the whole troop. The victory, however, wasnot obtained till two of our merchants and five slaves were wounded,besides the four that were killed. We preserved all our property andthe burthens of the slain camels were distributed among those thatremained."[7]

An account of the caravan traffic from Timbuktu is given by Jackson,who says that Timbuktu "has from time immemorial carried on a veryextensive and lucrative trade with the various maritime states ofNorth Africa, viz., Marocco, Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli, Egypt, etc., bymeans of accumulated caravans, which cross the great desert of Sahara,generally between the months of September and April inclusive; thesecaravans consist of several hundred loaded camels, accompanied by theArabs who let them to the merchants for the transportation of theirmerchandise to Fez, Marocco, etc., and at a very low rate. Duringtheir routes they were often exposed to the attacks of the rovingArabs of Sahara who generally commit their depredations as they[Pg 10]approach the confines of the desert."[8] The wind sometimes rolls upthe sand like great billows of the ocean, and caravans are oftenburied under the pile, and then the wind, shifting, scatters in theair those newly constructed mounds, and forms, amidst the chaos,dreadful gulfs and yawning abysses: the traveler, continually deceivedby the aspect of the place, can discover his situation only by theposition of the stars.

When the caravans reach Akka, on the northern border of the desert,the camels and the guides are discharged, and others hired to proceedto Fez, Marocco, etc. The trip across the desert is made in about 130days, including the necessary stops. Caravans go at the rate of threeand one half miles an hour, and travel seven hours a day. The convoysof the caravan usually consist of two or more Arabs belonging to thetribe through whose territory the caravan passes. When the convoysreach the limit of their country, they transfer the caravan to otherguides, and so on till the desert is crossed. The individuals whocompose the caravans are accustomed to few comforts. "Their food,dress and accommodation are simple and natural: proscribed from theuse of wine and intoxicating liquors by their religion, and exhortedby its principles to temperance, they were commonly satisfied with afew nourishing dates and a draft of water; and they will travel forweeks successively without any other food."[9]

The caravans from Timbuktu were wont to export to the Barbary Statesgold dust and gold rings, ivory, spices, and a great number of slaves."A young girl of Haussa, of exquisite beauty," remarks Jackson, "wasonce sold at Marocco, whilst I was there, for four hundred ducats,whilst the average price of slaves is about one hundred."[10] As tothe cost of transporting the slaves, Jackson states that "Ten dollarsexpended in rice in Wangara is sufficient for a year's consumption forone person; the wearing apparel[Pg 11] is alike economical; a pair ofdrawers, and sometimes a vest, forming all the clothing necessary intraversing the desert."[11]

Gen. Daumas describes a journey he made from Katsena in the Sudanacross the desert about the middle of the nineteenth century. Arrivingat Katsena, he says that his caravan was met by a great and mixedcrowd of Negroes, who crowded around the camels, speaking in the mostanimated manner their unknown language. He and his companions wereassigned to a special quarter of the city, and provided with lodgings.The camels were put in charge of some poor men of the caravan who ledthem away every day to the pasture, brought them back at four or fiveo'clock in the evening, and placed them in the enclosure in the city.The caravan leaders paid their respects to the chief of the city whobade them welcome and promised them protection. The business proceededleisurely, as it was customary for the caravans to remain there twomonths.

The chief, not having a sufficient supply of slaves on hand to trade,caused his big drums to be beaten, and organized two bands of troopsto execute a raid among the heathen tribes to the east and southwest.The raiding bands attacked only tribes with whom they were at war, orwho refused to adopt the Mohammedan religion. While the troops were onthe warpath, the caravan leaders visited the city slave market andmade, from day to day, a few purchases. The price paid for an oldNegro was 10,000 to 15,000 cowries, an adult Negro 30,000, a youngNegro woman 50,000 to 60,000, a Negro boy or girl 35,000 to 45,000.The seller agreed to take back, within three days of the date of thepurchase, any slaves that proved to have objectionable qualities, suchas a disease, bad eyes or teeth, or a habit of snoring in sleep. As arule slaves that come below Nupé were not salable for the reason that,being unaccustomed to eat salt, it was difficult for them to withstandthe regime of the desert. Also, slaves from certain countries south ofKano were not salable because they were cannibals.[Pg 12] The slaves fromthis region were recognized by their teeth which were sharpened to apoint, resembling those of a dog. Negroes from other tribes were notpurchased because they were believed to have the power of causing aman to die of consumption by merely looking at him. The purchase ofFellatahs, or pregnant Negro women, or Jews was strictly forbidden bythe Sultan. The Fellatahs were not bought because they boasted ofbeing white people. The Negro women could not be bought because thechild to be born would be the property of the Sultan if its motherwere a heathen, and it would be free if the mother were a Mohammedan.The Jew Negroes could not be bought because they were jewelers,tailors, artisans and indispensable negotiators.

The raiding troops, after having been on the campaign for nearly amonth, returned with 2,000 captives, who marched in front of thecolumn, the men, women, old and young, almost all nude, or half cladin ragged blue cloth, and the children piled upon the camels. Thewomen were groaning, and the children crying, while the men, thoughseemingly more resigned, bore bloody marks upon their backs made bythe whips. The convoy was marched to the palace, where its arrival wasannounced to the Sultan by a band of musicians. The Sultancomplimented the chief, examined the slaves and ordered them to theslave market; and the next morning the caravan leaders were invited tocome and make their purchases.

After the slave-trading was over, it was necessary to purchasesupplies of corn, millet, dried meat, butter and flour for threemonths, also to purchase camels and hide-tents. Daumas's caravan,which set out from Metlily with only 64 camels and sixteen men, hadnow increased to 400 slaves and nearly 600 camels.

A caravan from Tuat, which had joined that of Daumas, had augmented inthe same proportions. It had bought 1,500 slaves and its camels hadincreased to 2,000. These two caravans waited two days to be joined bythree others which had penetrated farther to the south. It wasdesirable[Pg 13] that all of the caravans recross the desert together inorder better to resist attacks from the Tuaregs, Tibbus, and otherhighwaymen of that region.

The slaves had to be watched very closely, since believing that theywere to be eaten by the white men, they were ready to take any chanceof escaping. The women were tied in twos by the feet, and the men tiedeight or ten together, each with his neck in an iron collar, to whichwas attached a short chain which held the hand of each slave at theheight of his chest. At night Daumas fastened to his wrist the chainswhich bound all of his slaves together so that the least movementwould wake him.

In a short time the three expected caravans arrived. One hadoriginally come from Ghedames, one from Ghat and one from Fezzan. Thefirst had gone as far as Nupé. It brought back 3,000 slaves and 3,500camels. The second had gone to Kano and returned with 400 or 500slaves and 700 or 800 camels. The third returned from Sokoto, and hadabout the same number of slaves and camels as the second.

After the proper ceremonies of farewell at the palace of the Sultan,the camels were loaded, and the children placed upon the baggage. TheNegro men, chained together, were placed in the middle of eachcaravan, and the women were grouped eight or ten together, and guardedby a man with a whip. The signal was given, and the great combinedcaravans, consisting in all of about 6,000 slaves and 7,500 camels,started on their homeward march.

But suddenly there was a mighty noise of crying and groaning, ofcalling at each other and bidding farewell to friends. Some were soovercome at the fear of being eaten that they rolled upon the groundand absolutely refused to walk. Nothing could persuade them to get upuntil a guard came along with his great whip which brought blood ateach lash. As the great army passed through the gate of the city, anofficer of the Sultan examined every slave to be sure none was aFellatah, Mohammedan, or Jew. The Ghat caravan happened to have amongits slaves a[Pg 14] Fellatah, who was at once discovered and set free. Atthe first camp, says Daumas, "Each caravan established its bivouacseparately, and as soon as the camels were crouched, and after havingchained our Negro women by the feet and in groups of eight or ten, weforced our Negro men to aid us, with the left hand which we had leftfree, to unload our baggage, to arrange it in a circle and to stretchin the center the tents which we had brought from Katsena. Two orthree of the oldest women that we had not put in chains, but who hadalways had their two feet fettered, were directed to prepare oursupper. We ate in groups of four. This sad supper over, we placed theguards around our camp, and made the slave women and men sleep asbefore said."[12]

The next day the caravans were obliged to stop in consequence of aNegro woman who gave birth to a child. This stop, however, was notvery lengthy. In a few hours she and her infant were placed upon acamel and the caravan went forward. When the camp was pitched for thenext night, the leader, in making his rounds, ordered that the youngNegro mother be left unshackled, and that she be given some meat forsupper and allowed to sleep warmly upon a mat. But during the night,when everything was quiet, the mother put her infant in a basketfilled with ostrich feathers, placed it upon her head, and made herescape.

Next morning, upon discovering her flight, several bands of men weresent out in different directions to find her. One of these, after afew hours of search, found her in a thicket nursing her child. She wasled back to the camp, and two gun-shots recalled the other bands, andthe caravans then resumed their march. The caravans stopped atAghezeur to replenish their provisions and make repairs; and up tothat time none of the people had died, and only one camel was lost.

After a month's traveling they reached "Ogla d'Assaoua," which was arendezvous for all the marauding[Pg 15] bands that returned from the Sudan.It was particularly dangerous for the reason that it was the point atwhich groups of caravans divided and proceeded in different directionsacross the desert, and some of the independent caravans had to passnear the Tuareg nomads.

"None of our slaves," says Daumas, "I am sure, will ever forget thisstop, for it was there that they were for the first time given theirliberty after being in irons a month. The men and women danced all dayafter the fashion of their own country, until they fell prostratedwith heat and fatigue. Even those whose legs and necks had been madesore from the chains took an active part in this fatiguing exercise,and all came to kiss our hands and to prostrate themselves at our feetand to sprinkle them with sand. We were careful not to interrupt thisfeast of good augury. It was the first proof to us that they had atlast accepted their lot, and we had no longer to fear they would dreamof escaping as they were so far from the Sudan and in the very middleof the desert.... From that day all were sincerely attached to us, andour joy was not less than theirs, for the continued watch which hadbeen imposed upon us had been frightfully fatiguing. They helped us toload and unload our camels, to guide them en route, to stretch ourtents, and to bring wood and water, labors which we alone hadperformed for a month. Finally we could lie down and sleep inpeace."[13] At an early hour the next morning the tents were foldedand the several caravans parted company. One went eastward throughGhat to Ghedames, accompanied as far as Ghat by another whose wareswere sold in Fezzan and to other caravans coming from Murzuk. Anotherwent eastward directly to Fezzan, where its merchandise was to bedistributed to points in Tunis, Tripoli and Egypt. Daumas and hiscompanion caravan of Tuat struck out to the northwest for the oasis ofTuat.

Two thirds of the camels bought by Daumas in the Sudan died before hereached "Isalab" (Ain Salah?), as they could not stand the hardship ofthe journey, especially the[Pg 16] chilly and damp nights of the desert.Arriving at Metlily the Arab merchants repaired to a mosque andthanked God for His protection.

III. Region of Northwest Africa and the Desert of Sahara. Hardship ofthe Desert Route

In 1850 Barth estimated the number of slaves carried across the desertfrom Kuka at 5,000 per annum, and in 1865 Rohlfs estimated the numberat 10,000. A British Blue Book of 1873 estimated that the MohammedanStates of North Africa absorbed annually one million slaves.

The mortality in crossing the desert was frightful. Denham saw near awell in the Tibbu country 100 skeletons of Negroes who had perishedfrom hunger and thirst. In his travels he saw a skeleton every fewmiles, and for several days he passed from sixty to ninety skeletonsper day. Sometimes a whole caravan perished, consisting of as many as2,000 persons and 1,800 camels. The Negroes composing the caravansoften had to walk and carry heavy loads. Rohlfs says that if one didnot know the route of their pilgrimage he could find the way by thebones that lie to the right and left of the path. When he was passingthrough Murzuk in 1865, he gave medical aid to a slave dealer who wasvery ill, and, in compensation, received a boy about seven or eightyears old. The boy had traveled four months across the desert fromLake Chad. He knew nothing of his home country, had even forgotten hismother tongue, and could jabber only some fragments of speech pickedup from the other slaves of the caravan. As a result of the longjourney he was emaciated to a skeleton and so enfeebled that he couldscarcely stand up. He crawled on all fours and kissed the hand of hisnew master, and the first words he uttered were "I am hungry." The boyprospered and followed Rohlfs to Berlin. Thomson, in his travels,mentions having met a caravan of forty slave-girls crossing the AtlasMountains on its way to Marocco. "A few were on camel-back, but mostof them trudged on foot, their appearance[Pg 17] telling of the frightfulhardships of the desert route. Hardly a rag covered their swarthyforms." Marocco used to be the destination of most of the slavestransported across the desert. About twenty-five years ago the centerof the traffic in that state was Sidi Hamed ibu Musa, seven daysjourney south of Mogador where a great yearly festival was held. Theslaves were forwarded thence in gangs to different towns, especiallyto Marocco City, and Mequinez. Writing in 1897, Vincent says the slavetrade is as active as ever at Mequinez and Marocco City. The slaveswere sold on Fridays in the public markets of the interior, but neverpublicly at any of the seaports, owing to the adverse Europeaninfluence. There is a large traffic at Fez, but Marocco City is thegreat mart for them, where one may see frequently men, women andchildren sold at one time. Marakesh was once a chief market inMarocco. In 1892 a caravan from Timbuktu reached that city with noless than 4,000 slaves, chiefly boys and girls whose price ranged fromten to fourteen pounds per head. As many as 800 were sold there withinten days to buyers from Riff, Tafilett and other remote parts of theempire. A writer in theAnti-slavery Reporter, December, 1895, said:"Few people know the true state of affairs in Marocco; only those wholive in daily touch with the common life of the people really get tounderstand the pernicious and soul-destroying system of humanflesh-traffic as carried on in the public markets of the interior.Having resided and traveled extensively in Marocco for some sevenyears, I feel constrained to bear witness against the whole gang ofArab slave-raiders and buyers of poor little innocent boys and girls.

"When I first settled in Marocco I met those who denied the existenceof slave-markets but since that time I have seen children, some ofwhom were of tender years, as well as very pretty young women, openlysold in the city of Marocco, and in the towns along the Atlanticseaboard. It is also of very frequent occurrence to see slaves sold inFez, the capital of Northern Marocco.

"The first slave-girls that I actually saw being sold were[Pg 18] of variousages. They had just arrived from the Soudan, a distance by camel,perhaps, of forty days' journey. Two swarthy-looking men were incharge of them. The timid little creatures, mute as touching Arabic,for they had not yet learned to speak in that tongue, were pushed outby their captors from a horribly dark and noisome dungeon into whichthey had been thrust the night before. Then, separately, or two bytwo, they were paraded up and down before the public gaze, beingstopped now and again by some of the spectators and examined exactlyas a horse dealer would examine the points of a horse before buyingthe animal at any of the public horse-marts in England. The sight wassickening. Some of the girls were terrified, others were silent andsad. Every movement was watched by the captives, anxious to know theirpresent fate. My own face blushed with anger as I stood helpless byand saw those sweet, dark-skinned, wooly-headed Soudanese sold intoslavery.

"Our hearts have ached as we have heard from time to time from thelips of slaves of the indescribable horrors of the journeys acrossdesert plains, cramped in pain, parched with thirst, and suffocated inpanniers, their food a handful of maize. Again, we have sickened atthe sight of murdered corpses, left by the wayside to the vulture andthe burning rays of the African sun, and we have prayed, perhaps asnever before, to the God of justice to stop these cruel practices."

Tunis and Algiers have also been great receptacles for the slaves ofthe Sudan. Describing the slave market at Tunis, Vincent says that itis a courtyard surrounded by arcades, the pillars of which are all ofthe old Roman fabrication. Around the court are little chambers orcells in which the slaves are kept, the men below, the women in thestory above.

According to the statement of Barard, in 1906, Negro slavery is stillprevalent throughout Marocco, and Negro women still populate theharems. "In the towns and plains, the present generations are prettystrongly colored by their[Pg 19] infusion of black blood. But themountainous tribes who represent three fourths of a Maroccanpopulation have kept themselves almost free from mixture; white orblond, they always resemble, by the color of their skin or texture ofhair, the Europeans of Germany or France rather than theMediterraneans of Spain and Italy." In Tunis the open sale of slavesis pretty well suppressed, but in a modified form the trade continues.Vivian says: "By resorting to fictitious marriages, and othersubterfuges, the owner of a harem may procure as many slaves as hepleases, and, once he has got them into his house, no one can possiblyinterfere to release them. Slaves can, of course, escape and claimprotection from the Consulates, but, as a matter of fact, they aregenerally quite contented with their position and know that suchaction would only involve them in ruin." In all of the Barbary Statesthe slave trade is at the present time under prohibition, although ithas not been effectively suppressed in any of them. According to arecent statement in theAnti-slavery Reporter, "a sale of slavesamong which some white women and children were included, took place ina Fondak (an enclosure for accommodation of travelers and animals) inTangier in April last (1906) and the sale was reported in a localnewspaper,Al Moghreb Al Aksa." In July of the same year it wasreported that a young black girl had been brought to the city and soldas a slave. The sultan had issued orders to the customs officers andat the various ports to prevent the transport of slaves by sea, and inevent of any person discovered to be bringing slaves by sea, to punishhim and free the slaves in his possession.

In July, 1906, the Anti-slavery Society of Italy published theparticulars of a Turkish ship which left the port of Bengazi (Tripoli)for Constantinople with six slaves on board. Through the activity ofthe Society's agent the vessel was boarded and the slaves liberated.

Within the last decade the traffic in slaves across the desert hasbeen limited to routes between the Niger and Marocco, and between Kukaand Tripoli. At the present[Pg 20] time there are probably no regular slaveroutes across the desert. Owing to the activity of European consuls inNorthwest Africa caravans have a precarious existence and no safemarkets.

"Only a few years ago," says theAnti-slavery Reporter, "Timbuctu,the famous trade metropolis of Central Africa, was also the mostactive center of the slave trade. French occupation (1894) has put anend to that traffic, and it is extending thepax Gallica throughoutthe vast and fertile territory of the Niger where formerly anarchy andbrutality reigned."[14]

Jerome Dowd,

Professor in the University of Oklahoma.

[Pg 21]

The Negro in the Field of Invention

There is no branch of technical and scientific industry in our countrythat is at all comparable in scope and results with the business ofperfecting inventions. These constitute the basis on which nearly allour great manufacturing enterprises are conducted, both as to themachinery employed and the articles produced. So vast is the fieldcovered by inventors, and so industriously do they apply their talentto it that patents for new and useful inventions are now being grantedthem by our government at the rate of more than one hundred a day forevery day that the office is open for business. And when one considersthe enormous part played by American inventors in the economic,industrial and financial development of our country, it becomes amatter of importance to ascertain what share in this great work isdone by the American Negro.

The average American seems not to know that the Negro has contributedvery materially to this result. Not knowing it, he does not believeit, and not believing it he easily advances to the mental attitude ofbeing ready to assert that the Negro has done absolutely nothing worthwhile in the field of invention. This conclusion necessarily grows outof the traditional attitude of the average American on the question ofthe capacity of the Negro for high scientific and technicalachievement. This state of mind on the part of the general public isnot perceptibly changed by the well-authenticated reports now and thenof meritorious inventions in many lines of experiment made by Negroesin various parts of the country, notwithstanding the fact that thesereports are frequently made through channels that would seem to leavenothing to doubt.

It has always been and presumably always will be difficult for truthto outrun a falsehood. One instance of the way in which such false anderroneous impressions of the[Pg 22] Negro's capacity and achievement gaincurrency and fix themselves in the public mind is shown sometimes inthe campaign methods of some politicians. One of these, a Marylander,addressing a political gathering in his native State in behalf of hisown candidacy for Congress, a few years ago declared that the Negrowas not entitled to vote because he had never evinced sufficientcapacity to justify such a privilege, and that not one of the race hadever yet reached the dignity of an inventor. It is not easy tounderstand how a gentleman of the requisite qualifications torepresent an intelligent constituency acceptably in the Congress ofthe United States could so palpably pervert the truth in a matter onwhich he could so easily have rightly informed himself. At the timewhen this statement was made, 1903, in Talbot County, Maryland, therewas on the shelves of the Library of Congress a book[15] containing achapter on "The Negro as an Inventor," and citing several hundredpatents granted by our government for inventions by Negroes. And stillanother instance is that of a leading newspaper of Richmond, whichsome time ago published the bold statement that of the many thousandsof patents granted to the inventors in this country annually not asingle patent had ever been granted to a colored man. These andsimilar general statements which make no mention of exceptions admitof but one interpretation. The wish may be father to the thought, butthe truth is not father to their words.

In the cause of truth it is very gratifying to the writer to be ableto show that notwithstanding the frequency and the persistency ofthese misrepresentations, the facts are gradually coming to the frontto prove that the Negro not only now but in the remote past exhibitedconsiderable of the inventive genius which has been so instrumental inthe development of our country. In the ordinary course ofinvestigation along this particular line the official records of theU. S. Patent Office must necessarily be referred to in[Pg 23] order toascertain the number of patents granted either for a given class ofinventors, or to a certain geographical group of citizens, as by Stateor nationality, or for a given period of time. But, voluminous as arethese records, and various as are the items they cover, they makealmost no disclosure of the fact that any of the multitude of patentsthat are granted daily are for inventions by Negroes. The solitaryexception to this statement is the case of Henry Blair, of Maryland,to whom were granted two patents on corn harvesters, one in 1834, theother in 1836. In both cases he is designated in the official recordsas a "colored man." To the uninformed this very exception might appearconclusive, but it is not. It has long been the fixed policy of thePatent Office to make no distinction as to race in the records ofpatents granted to American citizens. All American inventors stand ona level before the Patent Office. It may perhaps be an open questionwhether, in the enforcement of such a policy, the advantages outweighthe disadvantages as it regards colored inventors.

In the period preceding the Civil War mechanical inventions of meritby colored persons were not numerous, so far as the investigation hasshown, but this was also true of all classes of inventors of thattime. With the great majority of slaves the question uppermost amongthem was how to effect their freedom, and those who were fortunatelygifted with an active intelligence and some vision were, for the mostpart, using their mental faculties to devise some plan to interestothers in their efforts for emancipation. This situation wouldobviously lend itself more readily to developing literary talent andoratorical ability than to producing machinists, engineers orinventors. Hence the preachers and teachers and orators of the coloredrace that here and there rose above the masses greatly outnumbered theinventors. But it should be remembered also in this connection that inthe period just mentioned the mechanical industries of the South werecarried on mostly by slaves, and that bits of history gathered hereand there show that many of the simple mechanical contrivances of theday[Pg 24] were devised by the Negro in his effort to minimize the exactionsof his daily toil. None of these inventions were patented by theUnited States as being the inventions of slaves; and it is quiteconceivable that some inventions of value perfected by this class willbe forever lost sight of through the attitude at that time of theFederal Government on that subject. In 1858 Jeremiah S. Black,Attorney-General of the United States, confirmed a decision of theSecretary of the Interior, on appeal from the Commissioner of Patents,refusing to grant a patent on an invention by a slave, either to theslave as the inventor, or to the master of the latter, on the groundthat, not being a citizen, the slave could neither contract with thegovernment nor assign his invention to his master.[16]

Another instance of this sort was an invention on the plantation ownedby Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President of the late ConfederateStates. The Montgomerys, father and sons, were attached to thisfamily, and some of them made mechanical appliances which were adoptedfor use on the estate. One of them in particular, Benjamin T.Montgomery, father of Isaiah T. Montgomery, founder of the prosperousNegro Colony of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, invented a boat propeller.It attracted the favorable attention of Jefferson Davis himself, whounsuccessfully tried to have it patented. The writer is informed by arecent letter from Isaiah T. Montgomery that it was Jefferson Davis'sfailure in this matter that led him to recommend to the ConfederateCongress the law passed by that body favorable to the grant of patentsfor the inventions of slaves. The law was:

"And be it further enacted, that in case the original inventor ordiscoverer of the art, machine or improvement for which a patentis solicited is a slave, the master of such slave may take anoath that the said slave was the original; and on complying withthe requisites of the law shall receive a patent for saiddiscovery or invention, and have all the rights to which apatentee is entitled by law."[17]

[Pg 25]

The national ban on patents for the inventions of slaves did not, ofcourse, attach itself to the inventions made by "free persons ofcolor" residing in this country. So that when James Forten, ofPhiladelphia, who lived from 1766 to 1842, perfected a new device forhandling sails, he had no difficulty in obtaining a patent for hisinvention, nor in deriving from it comfortable financial support forhimself and family during the remainder of his life.

This was also true in the case of Norbert Rillieux, a colored Creoleof Louisiana. In 1846 he invented and patented a vacuum pan which inits day revolutionized to a large extent the then known method ofrefining sugar. This invention with others which he also patented areknown to have aided very materially in developing the sugar industryof Louisiana. Rillieux was a machinist and an engineer of finereputation in his native State, and displayed remarkable talent forscientific work on a large scale. Among his other known achievementswas the development of a practicable scheme for a system of seweragefor the city of New Orleans, but he here met his handicap of colorthrough the refusal of the authorities to accord to him such an honoras would be evidenced by the acceptance and adoption of his plan.[18]Who knows but that the city of New Orleans might have been able towrite a different chapter in the history of its health statistics onthe Yellow Fever peril if its prejudices had not been allowed todominate its prophecy?

[Pg 26]

N. Rillieux Evaporating Pan. No. 4,879
Patented Dec. 10, 1846

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Let us turn now to a consideration of those inventions made by coloredinventors since the war period, and at a time when no obstacles stoodin the way. With the broadening of their industrial opportunities, andthe incentive of a freer market for the products of their talent, itwas thought that the Negroes would correspondingly exhibit inventivegenius, and the records abundantly prove this to have been true. Buthow have these records been made available? It has already been shownthat no distinction as to race appears in the public records of thePatent Office,[Pg 27] and for this reason the Patent Office has beenrepeatedly importuned to set in motion some scheme of inquiry thatwould disclose, as far as is possible, how many patents have beengranted by the government for the inventions of Negroes. This has beendone by the Patent Office on two different occasions. The firstofficial inquiry was made by the Office at the request of the UnitedStates Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900, and the second atthe request of the Pennsylvania Commission conducting the EmancipationExposition at Philadelphia in 1913. In both instances the PatentOffice sent out several thousand circular letters directed toprominent patent lawyers, large manufacturing firms, and to newspapersof wide circulation, asking them to inform the Commissioner of Patentsof any authentic instances known by them to be such, in which thepatents granted by the Office had been for inventions by Negroes.

The replies were numerous, interesting and informing. Every one of theseveral thousand that came to the Patent Office was turned over to thewriter who, in his capacity as an employee of that department, verywillingly assumed the additional task of assorting and recording them,verifying when possible the information presented, and extending thecorrespondence personally when this proved to be necessary either totrace a clew or clinch a fact. The information obtained in this wayshowed, first, that a very large number of colored inventors hadconsulted patent lawyers on the subject of getting patents on theirinventions, but were obliged finally to abandon the project for lackof funds; secondly, that many colored inventors had actually obtainedpatents for meritorious inventions, but the attorneys were unable togive sufficient data to identify the cases specifically, inasmuch asthey had kept no identifying record of the same; thirdly, that manypatents had been taken out by the attorneys for colored clients whopreferred not to have their racial identity disclosed because of theprobably injurious effect this might have upon the commercial value oftheir patents; and lastly, that more than a thousand[Pg 28] authentic caseswere fully identified by name of inventor, date and number of patentand title of invention, as being the patents granted for inventions ofNegroes. These patents represent inventions in nearly every branch ofthe industrial arts—in domestic devices, in mechanical appliances, inelectricity through all its wide range of uses, in engineering skilland in chemical compounds. The fact is made quite clear that the namesobtained were necessarily only a fractional part of the number grantedpatents.

It developed through these inquiries that some very importantindustries now in operation on a large scale in our country are basedon the inventions of Negroes. Foremost among these is the giganticenterprise known as The United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston. In abiographical sketch of its president, Mr. Sidney W. Winslow, amultimillionaire,[19] it is related that he claims to have laid thefoundation of his immense fortune in the purchase of a patent for aninvention by a Dutch Guiana Negro named Jan E. Matzeliger. Thisinventor was born in Dutch Guiana, September, 1852. His parents were anative Negro woman and her husband, a Dutch engineer, who had beensent there from Holland to direct the government construction works atthat place. As a very young man Matzeliger came to this country andserved an apprenticeship as a cobbler, first in Philadelphia and laterin Lynn, Massachusetts. The hardships which he suffered graduallyundermined his health and before being able to realize the full valueof his invention, he passed away in 1889 in the thirty-seventh year ofhis age.

He invented a machine for lasting shoes. This was the first applianceof its kind capable of performing all the steps required to hold ashoe on its last, grip and pull the leather down around the heel,guide and drive the nails into place and then discharge the completedshoe from the machine. This patent when bought by Mr. Winslow was madeto form the nucleus of the great United Shoe Machinery Company, whichnow operates on a capital stock of[Pg 29] more than twenty million dollars,gives regular employment to over 5,000 operatives, occupies with itsfactories more than 20 acres of ground, and represents theconsolidation of over 40 subsidiary companies. The establishment andmaintenance of this gigantic business enterprise forms one of thebiggest items in the history of our country's industrial development.

Within the first twenty years following the formation of The UnitedShoe Machinery Company, in 1890, the product of American shoemanufacturers increased from $220,000,000 to $442,631,000, and duringthe same period the export of American shoes increased from $1,000,000to $11,000,000, the increase being traceable solely to the superiorityof the shoes produced by the new American machines, founded on theMatzeliger type. The cost of shoes was reduced more than 50 per cent.by these machines and the quality improved correspondingly. The wagesof workers greatly increased, the hours of labor diminished, and thefactory conditions surrounding the laborers immensely improved. Theimprovement thus brought about in the quality and price of Americanshoes has made the Americans the best shod people in the world.[20]

That invention will serve as Matzeliger's towering monument far beyondour vision of years. Throughout all shoe-making districts of NewEngland and elsewhere the Matzeliger type of machine is well known,and to this day it is frequently referred to in trade circles as the"Nigger machine," the relic, perhaps, of a possible contemptuousreference to his racial identity; and yet there were some newspaperaccounts of his life in which it was denied that he had Negro blood inhim. A certified copy of the death certificate of Matzeliger, whichwas furnished the writer by William J. Connery, Mayor of Lynn, on Oct.23, 1912, states that Matzeliger was a mulatto.[Pg 30]

An illustration showing the models made by Matzeliger to illustratehis inventions in shoe machines.
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[Pg 31]

Another prosperous business growing out of the inventions of a coloredman is The Ripley Foundry and Machine Company, of Ripley, Ohio,established by John P. Parker. He obtained several patents on hisinventions, one being a "screw for Tobacco Presses," patented inSeptember, 1884, and another for a similar device patented in May,1885. Mr. Parker set up a shop in Ripley for the manufacture of hispresses, and the business proved successful from the first. The smallshop grew into a large foundry where upwards of 25 men were constantlyemployed. It was owned and managed by Mr. Parker till his death. Thefactory is still being operated, and on the business lines originatedby the founder, but the ownership has passed from the Parker family.

Another business, the development of which is due in large measure tothe inventions of a colored man, Elijah McCoy, is that of makingautomatic lubricators for machinery. Mr. McCoy is regarded as apioneer inventor in that line. He completed and patented his firstlubricating cup in 1872. Since then he has patented both in thiscountry and abroad nearly fifty different inventions relatingprincipally to the art of automatic lubrication machinery, butincluding also a considerable variety of other devices. Hislubricating cup was at one time in quite general use on thelocomotives of the leading railways of the Northwest, on the steamersof the Great Lakes, and in up-to-date factories throughout thecountry. He is still living in Detroit, Michigan, and still adding newinventions to his already lengthy list.

In completing and patenting upwards of 50 different inventionsGranville T. Woods, late of New York, appears to have surpassed everyother colored inventor in the number and variety of his inventions.His inventive record began in 1884 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he thenresided, and continued without interruption for over a quarter of acentury. He passed away January 30, 1910, in the city of New York,where he had carried on his business for several years immediatelypreceding. While his inventions relate principally to electricity, thelist also includes such as a steam boiler furnace, the subject of hisfirst patent, obtained in[Pg 32] June, 1884; an amusement apparatus,December, 1899; an incubator, August, 1900; and automatic airbrakes,in 1902, 1903, and 1905. His inventions in telegraphy include severalpatents for transmitting messages between moving trains, also a numberof other transmitters. He patented fifteen inventions for electricrailways, and as many more various devices for electrical control anddistribution.

In the earlier stages of his career as a successful inventor heorganized the Woods Electric Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Thiscompany took over by assignment many of his earlier patents; but ashis reputation in the scientific world grew apace, and his inventionsbegan to multiply in number and value, he seems to have found a readymarket for them with some of the largest and most prosperous technicaland scientific corporations in the United States. The official recordsof the United States Patent Office show that many of his patents wereassigned to such companies as the General Electric Company, of NewYork, some to the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, of Pennsylvania,others to the American Bell Telephone Company, of Boston, and stillothers to the American Engineering Company, of New York. So far as thewriter is aware there is no inventor of the colored race whosecreative genius has covered quite so wide a field as that of GranvilleT. Woods, nor one whose achievements have attracted more universalattention and favorable comment from technical and scientific journalsboth in this country and abroad.

Granville Woods' brother, Lyates Woods, is credited with uniting withGranville in the joint invention of several machines. Most of theseconsisted of electrical apparatuses, but two of them seem to have beenof sufficient importance to attract the attention of such corporationsas the Westinghouse Electric Company, of Pennsylvania. Patents No.775,825, of March 29, 1904, and No. 795,243, of July 18, 1905, bothfor railway brakes, were assigned by the Woods brothers to thiscompany. The record shows that the American Bell Telephone Companypurchased Woods' patent No. 315,386, granted April 7, 1885, for thelatter's[Pg 33] invention of an apparatus for transmitting messages byelectricity. The same inventor sold to the General Electric Company,of New York, his patent No. 667,110, of January 29, 1901, on hisinvention for electric railways.

We should mention here also two other inventors of importance in theline of appliances for musical instruments, Mr. J. H. Dickinson andhis son S. L. Dickinson, both of New Jersey. They have been grantedmore than a dozen patents for their appliances, mostly in the line ofdevices connected with the player piano machinery. They are stillengaged in the business of inventing, and both are holding responsibleand lucrative positions with first-class music corporations.

The inventions of W. B. Purvis, of Philadelphia, in machinery formaking paper bags are reported to be responsible for much of the greatimprovement made in that art; and his patents, more than a dozen innumber on that subject alone, are said to have brought him goodfinancial returns. Many of them are recorded as having been sold tothe Union Paper Bag Company, of New York.

Another instance is that of an invention capable of playing animportant part in the cotton raising industry. This was acotton-picking machine covered by two patents granted to A. P. Albert,a native Louisiana Creole. Mr. Albert invented a second machine whichis said to have the merit of perfect practicability, a feat not easyof accomplishment in that class of machinery. Special significance isattached to this case because of the inventor's experience in puttingthrough his application for a patent. He was obliged to appeal fromthe adverse decision of the principal examiner to the Board ofExaminers-In-Chief, a body of highly trained legal and technicalexperts appointed to pass upon the legal and mechanical merits of aninvention turned down by the primary examiners. Albert appeared beforethis Board in his own defense with a brief prepared entirely byhimself, and won his case through his thorough painstakingpresentation of all the legal and technical points involved. Mr.Albert is a graduate of the Law Department of Howard University inWashington, and is connected with[Pg 34] the United States Civil Service asan examiner in the Pension Office.

Other colored men in the Departmental Civil Service at Washington haveobtained patents for valuable inventions. W. A. Lavalette patented twoprinting presses, Shelby J. Davidson a mechanical tabulator and addingmachine, Robert A. Pelham a pasting machine, Andrew F. Hilyer two hotair register attachments; and Andrew D. Washington a shoe horn. Nearlya dozen patents have been granted Benjamin F. Jackson, ofMassachusetts, on his inventions. These consisted of a heatingapparatus, a matrix drying apparatus, a gas burner, an electrotyper'sfurnace, a steam boiler, a trolley wheel controller, a tank signal,and a hydrocarbon burner system.

It is not generally known that Frederick J. Loudin, who brought fameand fortune to one of the leading Negro universities in the South bycarrying the Fisk Jubilee Troupe of Singers on several successfulconcert tours around the world, is also entitled to a place on thelist of Negro inventors. He obtained two patents for his inventions,one for a fastener for the meeting rails of sashes, December, 1893,and the other a key fastener in January, 1894. Several coloredinventors have also applied their inventive skill to solving theproblem of aerial navigation, with the result that some of them havebeen granted patents for their inventions in airships. Among these areJ. F. Pickering, of Haiti, February 20, 1900; James Smith, California,October, 1912; W. G. Madison, Iowa, December, 1912; and J. E. Whooter,Missouri, 2 patents, October 30 and November 3, 1914. It has beenreported that the invention in automatic car coupling covered by thepatent to Andrew J. Beard, of Alabama, dated November 23, 1897, wassold by the patentee to a New York car company, for more than fiftythousand dollars. This same patentee has obtained patents on more thana half dozen other inventions, mostly in the same line.

Willie H. Johnson, of Texas, obtained several patents on hisinventions, two of them being for an appliance for overcoming "deadcenter" in motion; one for a compound engine,[Pg 35] and another for a waterboiler. Joseph Lee, a colored hotel keeper, of Boston, completed andpatented three inventions in dough-kneading machines, and is reportedas having succeeded in creating a considerable market for them in thebread-making industry in New England. Brinay Smartt, of Tennessee,made inventions in reversing valve gears, and received several patentson them in 1905, 1906, 1909, 1911 and 1913.

The path of the inventor is not always an easy one. The experiences ofmany of them often lie along paths that seem like the proverbial "wayof the transgressor." This was fitly exemplified in the case of HenryA. Bowman, a colored inventor in Worcester, Massachusetts, who devisedand patented a new method of making flags. After he had established apaying business on his invention, the information came to him that aNew York rival was using the same invention and "cutting" hisbusiness. Bowman brought suit for infringement, but, as he informedthe writer, the suit went against him on a legal technicality, andbeing unable to carry the case through the appellate tribunals, thedestruction of his business followed.

One inventor, J. W. Benton, of Kentucky, completed an invention of aderrick for hoisting, and being without sufficient means to travel toWashington to look after the patent, he packed the model in a grip,and walked from Kentucky to Washington in order to save carfare. Heobtained his patent, October 2, 1900.

One other instance in which the inventor regards his experience as oneof special hardship is the case of E. A. Robinson of Chicago. Heobtained several patents for his inventions, among which are anelectric railway trolley, September 19, 1893; casting composite andother car wheels, November 23, 1897; a trolley wheel, March 22, 1898;a railway switch, September 17, 1907; and a rail, May 5, 1908. Heregards the second patent as covering his most valuable invention. Hesays that this was infringed on by two large corporations, theAmerican Car and Foundry Company, and the Chicago City RailwayCompany. He endeavored to stop[Pg 36] them by litigation, but the courtproceedings in the case[21] appear to reveal some rather discouragingaspects of a fight waged between a powerless inventor on the one sideand two powerful corporations on the other. So far as is known, thecase is still pending.

These instances of hardships, however, in the lot of inventors are inno sense peculiar to colored inventors. They merely form a part of thehard struggle always present in our American life—the struggle forthe mighty dollar; and in the field of invention as elsewhere the raceis not always to the swift. A man may be the first to conceive a newidea, the first to translate that idea into tangible, practical formand reduce it to a patent, but often that "slip betwixt the cup andthe lip" leaves him the last to get any reward for his inventivegenius.

Because of the very many interesting instances at hand the temptationis very great to extend this enumeration beyond the intended limits ofthis article by specific references to the large number of colored menand women who in many lands and other days have given unmistakableevidence of really superior scientific and technical ability. But thistemptation the writer must resist. Let it suffice to say that thecitations already given show conclusively that the color of a man'sskin has not yet entirely succeeded in barring his admission to thedomain of science, nor in placing upon his brow the stamp ofintellectual inferiority.

Henry E. Baker

Assistant Examiner, United States Patent Office.

[Pg 37]

Anthony Benezet

During the eighteenth century the Quakers gradually changed from theintrospective state of seeking their own welfare into the altruisticmood of helping those who shared with them the heritage of beingdespised and rejected of men. After securing toleration for their sectin the inhospitable New World they began to think seriously of otherswhose lot was unfortunate. The Negroes, therefore, could not escapetheir attention. Almost every Quaker center declared its attitudetoward the bondmen, varying it according to time and place. From thefirst decade of the eighteenth century to the close of the AmericanRevolution the Quakers passed through three stages in the developmentof their policy concerning the enslavement of the blacks. At firstthey directed their attention to preventing their own adherents fromparticipating in it, then sought to abolish the slave trade andfinally endeavored to improve the condition of all slaves as apreparation for emancipation.

Among those who largely determined the policy of the Quakers duringthat century were William Burling[22] of Long Island, Ralph Sandifordof Pennsylvania, Benjamin Lay of Abington, John Woolman of New Jerseyand Anthony Benezet of Philadelphia. Early conceiving an abhorrence toslavery, Burling denounced it by writing anti-slavery tracts andportraying its unlawfulness at the yearly meetings of the Quakers.Ralph Sandiford followed the same[Pg 38] methods and in his "Mystery ofIniquity" published in 1729, forcefully exposed the iniquitouspractice in a stirring appeal in behalf of the Africans.[23] BenjaminLay, not contented with the mere writing of tracts, availed himself ofthe opportunity afforded by frequent contact with those in power tointerview administrative officials of the slave colonies, undauntedlydemanding that they bestir themselves to abolish the evil system.[24]Struck by the wickedness of the institution while traveling throughthe South prior to[Pg 39] the Revolution, John Woolman spent his remainingyears as an itinerant preacher, urging the members of his societyeverywhere to eradicate the evil.[25] Anthony Benezet, going a stepfurther, rendered greater service than any of these as an anti-slaverypublicist and at the same time persistently toiled as a worker amongthe Negroes.

Benezet was born in St. Quentin in Picardy in France in 1713. He was adescendant of a family of Huguenots who after all but establishingtheir faith in France saw themselves denounced and persecuted asheretics and finally driven from the country by the edict of Nantes.One of the reformer's family, François Benezet, perished on thescaffold at Montpelier in 1755, fearlessly proclaiming to themultitude of spectators the doctrines for which he had been condemnedto die.[26] Unwilling to withstand the imminent[Pg 40] persecution, however,John Stephen Benezet, Anthony's father, fled from France to Hollandbut after a brief stay in that country moved to London in 1715.

After being liberally educated by his father, Benezet served anapprenticeship in one of the leading establishments of London toprepare himself for a career in the commercial world. He had somedifficulty, however, in coming to the conclusion that he would be veryuseful in this field. He, therefore, soon abandoned this idea andfollowed mechanical pursuits until he moved with his family toPhiladelphia in 1731. There his brothers easily established themselvesin a successful business and endeavored to induce Anthony to jointhem, but the youth was still of the impression that this was not hiscalling. His life's work was finally determined by his earlyconnection with the Quakers, to the religious views and testimonies ofwhom he rigidly adhered. He continued his mechanical pursuit and laterundertook manufacturing at Washington, Delaware, but feeling thatneither of these satisfied his desire to be thoroughly useful hedecided to return to Philadelphia to devote his life to religion andhumanity.[27]

Benezet finally became a teacher. In this field he, for more thanforty years, served in a disinterested and Christian spirit all whodiligently sought enlightenment. He aimed to train up the youth inknowledge and virtue, manifesting in this position such "a rightnessof conduct, such a courtesy of manners, such a purity of intention,and such a spirit of benevolence" that he attracted attention andingratiated himself into the favor of all of those who knew him. Hefirst served in this capacity in Germantown, working a part of histime as a proof reader. In 1742 he was chosen to fill a vacancy in theEnglish department of the public school founded by charter fromWilliam Penn. After serving there satisfactorily twelve years hefounded a female seminary of his own, instructing the daughters of themost aristocratic families of Philadelphia.[Pg 41][28]

Benezet was a really modern teacher, far in advance of hiscontemporaries. Much better educated than most teachers of his time,he could write his own textbooks. He had an affectionate and fatherlymanner and always showed a conscientious interest in the welfare ofhis pupils. "He carefully studied their dispositions," says hisbiographer, "and sought to develop by gentle assiduity the peculiartalents of each individual pupil. With some persuasion was his onlyincitement, others he stimulated to a laudable emulation; and evenwith the most obdurate he seldom, if ever, appealed to any othercorrective than that of the sense of shame and the fear of publicdisgrace." In his teaching, too, he endeavored to make "a worldlyconcern subservient to the noblest duties and the most intensivegoodness."[29] In serious discussions like that of slavery heundertook to instill into the minds of his students firm convictionsof the right, believing that in so doing he would greatly influencepublic sentiment when these properly directed youths should take theirplaces in life.

This whole-souled energetic man, however, could not confine himselfaltogether to teaching. While following this profession he devoted somuch of his time to philanthropic enterprises and reforms that he wasmainly famous for his achievements in these fields. "He considered thewhole world his country," says one, "and all mankind hisbrethren."[30] Benezet was for several reasons interested in the manfar down. In the first place, being a Huguenot, he himself knew whatit is to be persecuted. He was, moreover, during these years afaithful coworker of the Friends who were then fearlessly advocatingthe cause of the downtrodden. He deeply sympathized, therefore, withthe Indians. His work, too, was not limited merely to that ofrelieving individual cases of suffering but comprised also the task ofpromoting the agitation for respecting the rights of that people.Unlike most Americans, he had faith in the Indians, believing that iftreated justly they would give the[Pg 42] whites no cause to fear them. Whenin 1763 General Amherst was at New York preparing to attack theIndians, Benezet addressed him an earnest appeal in these words: "Andfurther may I entreat the general, for our blessed Redeemer's sake,from the nobility and humanity of his heart, that he would condescendto use all moderate measures if possible to prevent that prodigiousand cruel effusion of blood, that deep anxiety of distress, that mustfill the breast of so many helpless people should an Indian war beonce entered upon?"[31] Not long before his death Benezet expressedhimself further on this wise in a work entitled "Some Observations onthe Situation, Disposition, and Character of the Indian Natives of theContinent."

Further evidence of Benezet's philanthropy was exhibited in hisattitude toward certain Acadians who for political reasons were drivenfrom their homes to Philadelphia in 1755. Devoid of the comforts oflife in a foreign community, they were in a situation miserable to betold. Being of the same stock and speaking their language, Benezettook upon himself the task of serving as mediator between thisdeported group and the community. A man of high character and muchinfluence, he easily obtained a relief fund with which he providedasylum for the decrepit, sustenance for the needy, and employment forthose able to labor. He attended the sick, comforted the dying, anddelivered over their remains the last tribute due the dead.[32]

His sympathetic nature too impelled him to speak in behalf of thesuffering soldiers of the American Revolution. Adhering to the faithof the Quakers, he could not but shudder at the horrors of that war.He was interested not only in the soldiers but also in the unfortunateAmericans on whom they were imposed. He saw in the whole course of warnothing but bold iniquity and crass inconsistency of nations whichprofessed to be Christian. To set forth the distress which such astate of the country caused him Benezet[Pg 43] wrote a dissertation entitled"Thoughts on the Nature of War," and distributed it among persons ofdistinction in America and Europe. In 1778 when the struggle forindependence had reached a crisis he issued in the interest of peacewith the enemy a work entitled "Serious Reflections on the Timesaddressed to the Well-disposed of every Religious Denomination."[33]

Moved by every variety of suffering whenever and wherever found,Benezet's attention had during these years been attracted to a classof men much farther down than the lowliest of the lowly of otherraces. He had not been in this country long before he was moved to putforth some effort to alleviate the sufferings of those bondmen whosefaces were black. In the year 1750, when the Quakers, althoughdenouncing the evil of slavery here and there, were not presenting asolid front to the enemy, Anthony Benezet boldly attacked the slavetrade, attracting so much attention that he soon solidified theanti-slavery sentiment of the Quakers against the institution.[34] Formore than thirty years thereafter he was a tireless worker in thiscause, availing himself of every opportunity to impress men with thethought as to the wickedness of the traffic. In his class room he heldup to his pupils the horrors of the system, always mentioned it in hispublic utterances, and seldom failed to speak of it when conversingwith friends or strangers. Benezet set forth in the almanacs of thetime accounts of the atrocities of those engaged in slavery and theslave trade and published and circulated numerous pamphletsingeniously exposing their iniquities.[35]

Devoted as Benezet was to the cause of the blacks, he was not anardent abolitionist like Garrison, who fifty years later fearlesslyadvocated the immediate destruction of the system. Benezet wasprimarily interested in the suppression of the slave trade. He hopedalso to see the slaves[Pg 44] gradually emancipated after having hadadequate preparation to live as freedmen. Writing to Fothergill,Benezet expressed his concurrence with the former's opinion that itwould be decidedly dangerous both to the Negroes and the mastersthemselves in the southern colonies, should the slaves be suddenlymanumitted. Except in particular cases, therefore, even in thenorthern colonies the liberation of slaves in large numbers was not atfirst Benezet's concern. He believed that "the best endeavors in ourpower to draw the notice of the governments, upon the grievousiniquity and great danger attendant on a further prosecution of theslave trade, is what every truly sympathizing mind cannot butearnestly desire, and under divine direction promote to the utmost oftheir power." If this could be obtained, he believed the sufferings of"those already amongst us, by the interposition of the government, andeven from selfish ends in their masters, would be mitigated, and intime Providence would gradually work for the release of those, whoseage and situation would fit them for freedom." Benezet thought thatthis second problem could be solved by colonizing the Negroes on thewestern lands. "The settlements now in prospect to be made in thatlarge extent of country," said he, "from the west side of the Alleganymountains to the Mississippi, on a breadth of four or five hundredmiles, would afford a suitable and beneficial means of settlement formany of them among the white people, which would in all probability beas profitable to the negroes as to the new settlers." But he did notdesire to take up time especially with matters of so remote a nature,it being indeed with reluctance that he took up at all a questionwhich he would have avoided, "if there had been any person to whom hecould have addressed himself with the same expectation, that what hehad in view would have thereby been answered."[36]

Taking a more advanced position with this propaganda Benezet publishedin 1762 a work entitled "A Short Account of that Part of Africainhabited by Negroes, with general Observations on the Slave Trade andSlavery." "The end proposed[Pg 45] by this essay," says the author, "is tolay before the candid reader the depth of evil attending thisiniquitous practice, in the prosecution of which our duty to God, thecommon Father of the family of the whole earth, and our duty of loveto our fellow creatures, is totally disregarded; all social connectionand tenderness of nature being broken, desolation and bloodshedcontinually fomented in those unhappy people's country." It was alsointended, said he, "to invalidate the false arguments which arefrequently advanced for the palliation of this trade, in hopes it maybe some inducement to those who are not yet defiled therewith to keepthemselves clear; and to lay before such as have unwarily engaged init, their danger of totally losing that tender sensibility to thesufferings of their fellow creatures, the want whereof set men beneaththe brute creation."[37]

In the year 1769 appeared his "Caution and Warning to Great Britainand her Colonies on the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes inthe British Dominions." Referring to this work, he says: "The intentof publishing the following sheets, is more fully to make known theaggravated iniquity attending the practice of the Slave Trade; wherebymany thousands of our fellow creatures, as free as ourselves by natureand equally with us the subjects of Christ's redeeming Grace, areyearly brought into inextricable and barbarous bondage; and many; verymany, to miserable and untimely ends." Fearlessly directing this as anattack on public functionaries he remarks: "How an evil of so deep adye, hath so long, not only passed uninterrupted by those in power,but hath even had their countenance, is indeed surprising; and charitywould suppose, must in a great measure have arisen from this, thatmany persons in government both of the Laity and Clergy, in whosepower it hath been to put a stop to the Trade, have been unacquaintedwith the corrupt motives which gives life to it, and with the groans,the dying groans, which daily ascend to God, the common Father ofmankind, from the broken[Pg 46] hearts of those his deeply oppressedcreatures." Coming directly to the purpose in mind, however, theauthor declares: "I shall only endeavor to show from the nature of theTrade, the plenty which Guinea affords to its inhabitants, thebarbarous treatment of the Negroes and the observations made thereonby authors of note, that it is inconsistent with the plainest preceptsof the Gospel, the dictates of reason, and every common sentiment ofhumanity."[38]

This work turned out to be the first really effective one of Benezet'swritings, creating not a little sensation both on this continent andEurope. It was especially rousing to the Quakers here and abroad. TheYearly Meeting of London recommended in 1785 that all the quarterlymeetings give this book the widest circulation possible. The Quakersin various parts accordingly approached numerous classes of persons,all sects and denominations, and especially public officials. Desiringalso to reach the youth the agents for distribution visited theschools of Westminster, the Carter-House, St. Paul's, MerchantTailors', Eton, Winchester, and Harrow. From among the youths thusinformed came some of those reformers who finally abolished the slavetrade in the English dominions.

The most effective of Benezet's works, however, was his "AnHistorical Account of Guinea, its Situation, Produce, and the GeneralDisposition of its Inhabitants, with an Enquiry into the Rise andProgress of the Slave Trade, its Nature and Calamitous Effect." Thisvolume approached more nearly than his other writings what students ofto-day would call a scientific treatise. The author devoted much timeto the collection of facts and substantiated his assertions byquotations from the standard authorities in that field. While it addednothing really new to the argument already advanced, the usualtheories were more systematically arranged and more forcefully setforth.[39] "This book," says a writer, "became instrumental beyond anyother work[Pg 47] ever before published in disseminating a proper knowledgeand detestation of this Trade."[40]

The most important single effect the book had, was to convert ThomasClarkson, who thereafter devoted his life to the cause of abolishingthe slave trade. While a Senior Bachelor of Arts at the University ofCambridge, Clarkson had in 1784 distinguished himself by winning aprize for the best Latin dissertation. The following year a prize wasoffered for the best essay on the subject "anne Liceat invitos inservitutem dare," is it lawful to make slaves of others against theirwill? Knowing that he was then unprepared to compete, he hesitated toenter the contest, not wishing to lose the reputation he had sorecently won. Yet owing to the fact that it was expected of him, heentered his name, actuated by no other motive than to distinguishhimself as a scholar. As there was then a paucity of literature onslavery in England, his first researches in this field were notproductive of gratifying results. "I was in this difficulty," saysClarkson, "when going by accident into a friend's house, I took up anewspaper there lying on the table. One of the first articles whichattracted my notice was an advertisement of Anthony Benezet's'Historical Account of Guinea.' I soon left my friend and his paper,and, to lose no time, hastened to London to buy it. In this preciousbook I found almost all I wanted." Clarkson easily won the firstprize. Although Benezet himself did not live to see it, this volumeconverted to the cause of the oppressed race a man who as an authorand reformer became one of the greatest champions it ever had.[41]

Benezet continued to write on the slave trade, collecting allaccessible data from year to year and publishing it whenever he could.He obtained many of his facts about the sufferings of slaves from theNegroes themselves, moving among them in their homes, at the placeswhere they worked, or on the wharves where they stopped whentraveling.[Pg 48] To diffuse this knowledge where it would be mostproductive of the desired results, he talked with tourists andcorresponded with every influential person whom he could reach.Travelers who came into contact with him were given thoughts toreflect on, messages to convey or tracts to distribute among otherswho might further the cause. Hearing that Granville Sharp had in 1772obtained the significant verdict in the famous Somerset case, Benezetwrote him, that this champion of freedom abroad might be enabled tocooperate more successfully with those commonly concerned on this sideof the Atlantic.[42] With the same end in view he corresponded withGeorge Whitefield and John Wesley.[43]

His connection with the work of George Whitefield was further extendedby correspondence with the Countess of Huntingdon who had at theimportunity of Whitefield established at Savannah a college known asthe Orphan House, to promote the enlightenment of the poor and toprepare some of them for the clerical profession. Unlike Whitefield,the founder, who thought that the Negroes also might derive somebenefit from this institution, the successors of the good manendeavored to maintain the institution by the labor of slavespurchased to cultivate the plantations owned by the institution.Benezet, therefore, wrote the Countess a brilliant letter patheticallydepicting the misery she was unconsciously causing by thus encouragingslavery and the slave trade. He was gratified to learn from thedistinguished lady that in founding the institution she had no suchpurpose in mind and that she would prohibit the wicked crime.[44]

Learning that Abbé Raynal had exhibited in his celebrated work afeeling of sympathy for the African, Benezet sought in the same way toattach him more closely to the cause of prohibiting the slave trade.Observing that the slave trade which had because of the AmericanRevolution[Pg 49] declined only to rise again after that struggle hadceased, Benezet addressed a stirring letter to the Queen of England,who on hearing from Benjamin West of the high character of the writer,received it with marks of peculiar condescension.

Let no casual reader of this story conclude that Benezet was a meretheorist or pamphleteer. He ever translated into action what heprofessed to believe. Knowing that the enlightenment of the blackswould not only benefit them directly but would also disprove the madtheories as to the impossibility of their mental improvement, Benezetbecame one of the most aggressive and successful workers who evertoiled among these unfortunates. As early as 1750 he established forthe Negroes in Philadelphia an evening school in which they wereoffered instruction gratuitously. His noble example appealing to theSociety of Friends, he encouraged them to raise a fund adequate toestablishing a larger and well-organized school.[46] This additionaleffort, to be sure, required much of his time. When he discovered,however, that he could not direct the colored school and at the sametime continue his female academy which he had conducted for threegenerations, he abandoned his own interests and devoted himselfexclusively to the uplift of the colored people. In this establishmenthe received all the rewards he anticipated. It was sufficient for himfinally to be able to say: "I can with truth and sincerity declarethat I have found amongst the Negroes as great variety of talents, asamong a like number of whites, and I am bold to assert, that thenotion entertained by some, that the blacks are inferior in theircapacities, is a vulgar prejudice, founded on the pride or ignoranceof their lordly masters, who have kept their slaves at such a distanceas to be unable to form a right judgment of them."[47]

His devotion to this work was further demonstrated by another nobledeed. His will provided that after the payment of certain legacies andsmaller obligations his estate should at the death of his widow beturned over to the trustees[Pg 50] of the public school "to hire and employa religious-minded person or persons to teach a number of negroe,mulatto, or Indian children, to read, write, arithmetic, plainaccounts, needle work." "And," continued he, "it is my particulardesire, founded on the experience I have had in that service, that inthe choice of such tutor, special care may be had to prefer anindustrious, careful person, of true piety, who may be or becomesuitably qualified, who would undertake the service from a principleof charity, to one more highly learned not equally disposed."[48]

But this philanthropist's work was almost done. He was then seventyyears of age and having been an earnest worker throughout his life hehad begun to decline. One spring morning in the year 1784 it wasspread abroad in Philadelphia that Anthony Benezet was seriously illand that persons realizing his condition were apprehensive of hisrecovery. So disturbed were his friends by this sad news that they forseveral days besieged the house to seek, so to speak, the dyingbenediction of a venerable father. The same in death as he had been inlife, he received their attentions with due appreciation of what hehad been to them but exhibited at the same time in the presence of hisMaker the deepest self-humiliation. "I am dying," said he, "and feelashamed to meet the face of my Maker, I have done so little in hiscause." Anthony Benezet was no more.

The honors which his admirers paid him were indicative of the highesteem in which they held the distinguished dead. Thousands of thepeople of Philadelphia followed his remains to witness the intermentof all that was mortal of Anthony Benezet. Never had that city on suchan occasion seen a demonstration in which so many persons of allclasses participated. There were the officials of the city, men of alltrades and professions, various sects and denominations, and hundredsof Negroes, "testifying by their attendance, and by their tears, thegrateful sense they entertained of his pious efforts in theirbehalf."[49]

C. G. Woodson.

[Pg 51]

People of Color in Louisiana

Part II

Louisiana was transferred to Spain but was not long to be secure inthe possession of that country. France again claimed her in 1800, andNapoleon, busy with his English war and realizing the dangers of aprovince so open to British attack as was this bounded by theMississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, readily listened to theproposition of the United States. Twenty days after the Frenchtri-color waved in place of the Spanish flag in the old Place d'Armes,the American stars and stripes proclaimed the land American territory.The Creoles, French though they were in spirit, in partisanship, insympathy, could not but breathe a sigh of relief, for Napoleon haddangerous ideas concerning the freedom of slaves, and already hadspoken sharply about the people of color in the province.[50] Were theterrors of San Domingo to be reenacted on the banks of Mississippi?The United States answered with a decided negative.

Men of color, however, were to be important factors in the maintenanceof order in the province.[51] Laussat, the Colonial Prefect of France,placed in charge of Louisiana in 1803, tells how the old SpanishGovernor Salcedo, in his[Pg 52] anxiety to keep the province loyal to Spain,had summoned all the military officers of the militia to come to hislodgings and declare whether they intended to remain in the service ofthe king of Spain. "The Marquis," writes Laussat to his friend Decrès,"went so far as to exact a declaration in the affirmative from twocompanies of men of color in New Orleans, which were composed of allthe mechanics whom that city possessed. Two of these mulattoescomplained to me of having been detained twenty-four hours in prisonto force them to utter the fatal yea which was desired of them."[52]

Within the next six years New Orleans doubled in population and thatpopulation was far from white. Those refugees from San Domingo who hadescaped to Cuba were now forced by the hostilities between France andSpain again to become exiles. Within sixty days between May and Julyin one year alone, 1809, thirty-four vessels from Cuba set ashore inthe streets of New Orleans nearly 5,800 persons, 4,000 of these beingfree colored and blacks.[53] Later others came from Cuba, Guadaloupeand neighboring islands until they amounted to 10,000. The firstAmerican governor of Louisiana certainly had no easy task before him.Into the disorganized and undisciplined city, enervated by frequentchanges and corruption of government, torn by dissensions, uncertainwhether its allegiance was to Spain or to France, reflecting thespirit of upheaval and uncertainty which made Europe one hugebrawl—into this cosmopolitan city swarmed ten thousand white, yellowand black West Indian islanders, some with means, most of themdestitute, all of them desperate. Americans, English, Spanish,French—all cried aloud. Claiborne begged the consuls of Havana andSantiago de Cuba to stop the movement; the laws forbidding theimportation of slaves were more rigidly enforced; and free people ofcolor were ordered point blank to leave the city.[54] Where they wereto go, however,[Pg 53] no one seemed to care, and as the free people ofcolor had no intention of going, the question was not discussed. Forsome reason the enforcement of the law was not insisted upon. When ameagre attempt was made, it proved unsuccessful, and the complexion ofLouisiana was definitely settled for many years to come.[55]

The administration of Governor Claiborne from 1803 to 1816 was onelong wrestle, not only with the almost superhuman task of adjusting apractically foreign country to American ideals of government but ofwrestling with the color problem. Slowly and insidiously it had cometo dominate every other problem. The people of color had helped tosettle the territory, had helped to make it commercially important,had helped to save it from the Indians and from the English, and theyseemed likely to become the most important factors in its history.

The Louisianians were greatly mortified at the enforcement byClaiborne of the law against the importation of slaves. They wereundecided whether to blame Claiborne for enforcing the law or to blamePhiladelphia for harboring the first Abolition Society which met in1804 and promulgated doctrines as dangerous as those of Napoleonregarding human slavery. Slaves were daily smuggled into the territoryby way of Barataria Bay, the lakes, and all the innumerable outlets toSpanish possessions.[56] Claiborne was alternately accused ofconniving at this smuggling and abused for trying to suppress it. Jeanand Pierre Lafitte, infamous in history for their feats of smugglingand piracy, made capital of the slave trade, and but for theirstalwart Africans would have been captured and hung long beforeLouisiana had suffered from their depredations and the bad reputationwhich they gave her. The Lafittes appealed to the romantic temperamentof the French, and the fact that the American governor, Claiborne, hadset a price upon[Pg 54] their heads was almost sufficient in itself tosecure them immunity from the Creoles.[57]

"Americans," says Grace King, "were despised and ridiculed." Men,women and children of color, free and slave, united to insult theAmerican Negro or—"Mericain Coquin," as they called him. The Frenchand the Spaniards, moreover, united in using the people of color tofurther their own interests, or to annoy the new American governmentwhile the intrigues of Spain and France weakened the feeble territory.It was difficult to know how to treat this almost alien people.Governor Claiborne found the militia in the territory entirelyinadequate for the purposes of protection, should Spain make anattempt to wrest the land back from the United States. In one of hisanxious despatches to headquarters he says plaintively: "With respectto the Mulatto Corps in this city, I am indeed at a loss to know whatpolicy is best to pursue."[58] The corps, old and honorable, as itwas, had been ignored by the previous Legislative Council, and was nowdisaffected. The neglect had "soured them considerably with theAmerican government."[59]

Claiborne, however, determined to procure a census of free people ofcolor in the city. He estimated that there were five hundred capableof bearing arms, and added that he would do all in his power toconciliate them, and secure a return of their allegiance to theAmerican government.[Pg 55] One Stephen, a free black man, had appearedbefore Claiborne and declared on oath that the people of color werebeing tampered with by the Spanish government.[60] This caused thegovernor to redouble his energies toward conciliating the doubtfulmilitia. Louisiana bordered on the Spanish territory, Texas, and aconstant desertion of people of color to this foreign land continued,Spain doing all in her power to make the flight of these free men andslaves interesting. Colored men were furnished the Spanish cockades,and dances were given in their honor when they escaped over theborder. The disaffected adherents of Aaron Burr on the border-land ofTexas kept up the underhand warfare against the government, throughthese people of color. Perhaps it was as a means of protection thatLouisiana and a much restricted Louisiana was admitted as a State in1812.

Writers describing the New Orleans of this period agree in presentinga picture of a continental city, most picturesque, most un-American,and as varied in color as a street of Cairo. There they saw French,Spaniards, English, Bohemians, Negroes, mulattoes; varied clothes,picturesque white dresses of the fairer women, brilliant cottons ofthe darker ones. The streets, banquettes, we should say, were brightwith color, the nights filled with song and laughter. Through thescene, the people of color add the spice of color; in the life, theyadd the zest of romance.[61]

Such was the situation in the city of New Orleans. The condition ofthe free people of color in Louisiana as a whole, however, and theform of slavery which existed in that state are somewhat difficult todetermine because of the conflicting statements of observers who didnot distinguish between the conditions obtaining in the metropolis andthose obtaining in the parishes. All seem to agree, however, that onaccount of the extensive miscegenation so common in the Frenchcolonies there had been produced in that state various classes ofmixed breeds enjoying degrees of freedom in conformity with theirproximity or separation from the[Pg 56] white race. Paul Alliot said in hisreflection on Louisiana in 1803: "The population of that city countingthe people of all colors is only twelve thousand souls. Mulattoes andNegroes are openly protected by the Government. He who was to strikeone of those persons, even though he had run away from him, would beseverely punished. Also twenty whites could be counted in the prisonsof New Orleans against one man of color. The wives and daughters ofthe latter are much sought after by the white men, and white women attimes esteem well-built men of color."[62] Elsewhere the same writer,in speaking of the white men, said that few among them married,choosing rather to live with their slaves or with women of color.[63]

A generation later the situation was apparently the same despite thereactionary forces which seemed likely to change the social order.While on a tour through this country in 1818 Evans saw much in NewOrleans to interest him. "Here," said he, "may be seen in the samecrowds, Quadroons, mulattoes, Samboes, Mustizos, Indians, and Negroes;and there are other commixtures which are not yet classified. As tothe Negroes, I may add that whilst in this place I saw one who wasperfectly white. This peculiarity, however, is rarely witnessed inthis country."[64] Thereafter the tendency seemed to be not to checkpromiscuous miscegenation but to debase the offspring resultingtherefrom.[Pg 57][65]

In the midst of this confusing commixture of population and unstablesociety of mixed breeds of three nations the second war betweenEngland and the United States came like a thunderbolt to upset thealready seething administration of Claiborne. As of old, Louisiana wasthe strategical point upon which both powers had their eyes. It wasthe intention of England to weaken the United States by capturingLouisiana and handing it over in its entirety to the Spanishgovernment waiting greedily over the border of Texas. On the same daythat Gov. Claiborne sent the communication to the Secretary of Warcontaining this astounding piece of information which he had obtainedfrom authentic sources, he wrote to General Jackson, the despised "redIndian" of the aristocratic Louisianians. He had reason, he said inthis letter, to doubt the loyalty of many men in the state, because oftheir known adherence to foreign nations, but he hopefully adds,"Among the militia of New Orleans there is a battalion of chosen menof color, organized under a special act of Legislature, of which Iinclose a copy for your perusal."

Under the Spanish Government the men of color of New Orleans werealways relied upon in time of difficulties, and on several occasionsevinced in the field the greatest firmness and courage.[66] "Withthese gentlemen, Colonel Fortier and Major Lacoste, and the officersattached to companies," Claiborne continued, "I had an interview onyesterday, and assured them that, in the hour of peril, I should relyon their valor and fidelity to the United States. In return,[Pg 58] theyexpressed their devotion to the country and their readiness to serveit."[67] Claiborne then ordered the taking of a census of the men ofcolor in the city capable of bearing arms, and found that theynumbered nearly eight hundred. In his appeal to General Jackson,Claiborne said, "These men, Sir, for the most part, sustain goodcharacters. Many of them have extensive connections and much propertyto defend, and all seem attached to arms. The mode of acting towardthem at the present crisis, is an inquiry of importance. If we givethem not our confidence, the enemy will be encouraged to intrigue andcorrupt them."[68] General Jackson took the cue from GovernorClaiborne and enlisted the services of the battalion of men of color,addressing them in stirring and thrilling words. There were notwanting objections to this address. Its publication was delayed a fewdays to give him time to reconsider the matter, since advisers of Gov.Claiborne thought it a little too free with its suggestions of perfectequality between the companies. But the well-known temper of GeneralJackson precluded the possibility of any retraction, and the addresscame down in history as he originally drafted it.[Pg 59][69]

The American soldiers on the field aggregated 3,600, among whom were430 colored. The first battalion of men of color was commanded byMajor Lacoste, a wealthy white planter. In reviewing the troops, Gen.Jackson was so well pleased with Major Lacoste's battalion, that hedeemed it prudent to levy a new battalion of the same description.Jean Baptiste Savary, a colored man who had fled from Santo Domingoduring the struggle there, undertook, therefore, to form a battalionof his countrymen. Savary obtained the rank of captain, and wasremarkably successful.[70] The new battalion was put under the commandof Major Jean Daquin, also a native of Santo Domingo. Whether or notMajor Daquin was a white man as Gayarré tells us, or a quadroon asother writers assert, is a disputed question.[71]

But not only was this regiment of free men of color to have all thehonor of the struggle. The colored men were enlisted in more ways thanone. Slaves were used in throwing up the famous entrenchments. Theidea of a fortification of cotton bales, which we are told practicallysaved the city, was that of a colored man, a slave from Africa, whohad seen the same thing done in his native country. It was the cottonbreastworks that nonplussed the British. Colored men, free and slave,were used to reconnoitre, and the pirate Lafitte, true to his word, tocome to the aid of Louisiana[Pg 60] should she ever need assistance, broughtin with his Baratarians a mixed horde of desperate fighters, white andblack.

On the British side was a company composed of colored men, andhistorians like to tell of their cowardice compared with the coloredmen of the American side.[72] Evidently a scarlet coat does not wellfit a colored skin. To the eternal credit of the State troops composedof the men of color, not one act of desertion or cowardice is recordedagainst them. There was a most lamentable exhibition of panic on theright bank of the river by the American troops, but the battalion ofthe men of color was not there. They were always in the front of theattack.[73]

In the celebration of the victory which followed in the great publicsquare, the Place d'Armes, now Jackson Square, where a statue of thecommander rears itself in the center, the colored troops came in fortheir share of glory.[74] The train which brought in the four hundredwounded prisoners was met by the colored women, the famous nurses ofNew Orleans, who have in every war from the Revolutionary until theSpanish-American held the reputation of being some of the best nursesin the world.

The men of color were apparently not content with winning the victory;they must furnish material for dissension for many days afterwards.When the British army withdrew from Louisiana on January 27, 1815,they carried[Pg 61] away with them 199 slaves, whom they had acquired by thevery easy method of taking them willy-nilly. The matter of havingthese bondmen restored to their original owners, of convincing theBritish that the Americans did not see the joke of the abductioncaused one of the most acrimonious discussions in the history of theState. The treaty between the two countries, England and America, wasdistorted by both sides to read anything they wished. The English tooka high stand of altruism, of a desire to free the oppressed; theLouisianians took as high a stand of wishing to grow old with theirown slaves. It was an amusing incident which the slaves watched withinterest. In the end the colored men were restored, and theinterpretation of the treaty ceased.[75]

Following the War of 1812 the free people of color occupied a peculiarposition in Louisiana, especially in New Orleans. There were distinctgrades of society. The caste system was almost as strong as that ofIndia. Free people of color from other states poured into Louisiana ina steady stream. It was a haven of refuge. Those were indeed halcyontimes both for the Creole and the American, who found in the rapidlygrowing city a commercial El Dorado. For the people of color it wasindeed a time of growth and acquisition of wealth. Three famousstreets in New Orleans bear testimony to the importance of the coloredpeople in the life of the city. Congo Square, one of the great opensquares in the old Creole quarter, was named for the slaves who usedto congregate in its limits and dance the weird dances to the tunes ofblood-stirring minor strains. Those who know the weird liet-motif ofColeridge-Taylor's Bamboula dance have heard the tune of the Congodance, which every child in New Orleans could sing. Gottschalk's Dansedes Nègres is almost forgotten by this generation but in it herecorded the music of the West Indians. Camp Street, to-day one of theprincipal business streets in the city, was so called because it ranback of the old Campo de Negros.[76] Julia[Pg 62] Street, which runs alongthe front of the so-called New Basin, a canal of great commercialimportance, connecting, as it does, the city with Lake Pontchartrain,and consequently, the greater gulf trade, was named for one Julia, afree woman of color, who owned land along the banks.[77] What Julia'scognomen was, where she came from, and whence she obtained thevaluable property are hidden in the silent grave in which timeencloses mere mortals. Somewhere in the records of the city it isrecorded that one Julia, a F. W. C. (free woman of color), owned thisland.

The minor distinctions of complexion and race so fiercely adhered toby the Creoles of the old regime were at their height at this time.The glory and shame of the city were her quadroons and octoroons,apparently constituting two aristocratic circles of society,[78] theone as elegant as the other, the complexions the same, the men thesame, the women different in race, but not in color, nor in dress, norin jewels. Writers on fire with the romance of this continental citylove to speak of the splendors of the French Opera House, the firstplace in the country where grand opera was heard, and tell of thetiers of beautiful women with their jewels and airs and graces. Abovethe orchestra circle were four tiers, the first filled with thebeautiful dames of the city; the second filled with a second array ofbeautiful women, attired like those of the first, with no apparentdifference; yet these were the octoroons and quadroons, whose beautyand wealth were all the passports needed. The third was for the hoipolloi of the white race, and the fourth for the people of color whosecolor was more evident. It was a veritable sandwich of races.

With the slaves, especially those outside of New Orleans, thesituation was different. The cruelty of the slave owners in the Statewas proverbial. To be "sent down the Mississippi" became a by-word ofhorror, a bogie with which slave-holders all over the South threatenedtheir incorrigible slaves. The slave markets, the tortures of the oldplantations,[Pg 63] even those in the city, which Cable has immortalized,help to fill the pages of romance, which must be cruel as well asbeautiful.

The reaction against the Negro was then well on its way in Louisianaand evidences of it soon appeared in New Orleans where their conditionfor some time yet differed much from that of the blacks in theparishes. Moved by the fear of a rising class of mixed breedsresulting from miscegenation, the whites endeavored to diminish theirpower by restraining the free people of color from exercisinginfluence over the slaves, who were becoming insurrectionary as in thecase of those of the parish of St. John the Baptist in 1811. The Statehad in 1807 and 1808 made additional provisions for the regulation ofthe coming of free Negroes into Louisiana, but when there came reportsof the risings of the blacks in various places in the Seaboard States,and of David Walker's appeal to Negroes to take up arms against theirmasters, it was deemed wise to prohibit the immigration of freepersons into that Commonwealth. In 1830 it was provided that whoevershould write, print, publish or distribute anything having thetendency to produce discontent among the slaves, should on convictionthereof be imprisoned at hard labor for life or suffer death at thediscretion of the court. It was further provided that whoever used anylanguage or became instrumental in bringing into the State any paper,book or pamphlet inducing discontent should suffer practically thesame penalty. Any person who should teach or permit or cause to betaught, any slave to read or write should be imprisoned not less thanone month nor more than twelve.[80]

Under the revised Black Code of Louisiana special care was taken toprevent free Negroes from coming in contact with bondmen. Free personsof color were restricted from obtaining licenses to sell spirituousliquors, because of the fear that intoxicants distributed by thisclass might excite[Pg 64] the Negroes to revolt. The law providing thatthere should be at least one white person to every thirty slaves on aplantation was re-enacted so as to strengthen the measure, the policesystem for the control of Negroes was reorganized to make it moreeffective, and slaves although unable to own property were furtherrestricted in buying and selling. Those taken by masters beyond thelimits of the State were on their return to be treated as freeNegroes. But it was later provided on the occasion of the institutionof proceedings for freedom by a slave who had been carried to theNorthwest Territory[81] that "no slave shall be entitled to his or herfreedom under the pretense that he or she has been, with or withoutthe consent of his or her owner, in a country where slavery does notexist or in any of the States where slavery is prohibited."[82]

After that the condition of the Negroes in Louisiana was decidedlypitiable, although in certain parts of the State, as observed byBishop Polk,[83] Timothy Flint,[84] and Frederic Law Olmsted[85] atvarious times, there were some striking exceptions to this rule. Aboutthis time Captain Marryat made some interesting remarks concerningthis situation. "In the Western States," said he, "comprehendingLouisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama, the Negroesare, with the exception, perhaps, of the latter States, in a worstcondition than they were in the West India Islands. This may be easilyimagined," continued he, "when the character of the white people whoinhabit the larger portion of these States is considered—a class ofpeople, the majority of whom are without feelings of honor, recklessin their habits, intemperate, unprincipled, and lawless, many of themhaving fled from the Eastern States, as fraudulent bankrupts,swindlers or committers of other crimes, which have subjected them tothe penitentiaries, miscreants, defying the climate, so that they can[Pg 65]defy the laws. Still this representation of the character of thepeople, inhabiting these States, must from the chaotic state ofsociety in America be received with many exceptions. In the city ofNew Orleans, for instance, and in Natchez and its vicinity, and alsoamong the planters, there are many honorable exceptions. I have saidthe majority: for we must look to the mass—the exceptions do provethe rule. It is evident that slaves under such masters can have butlittle chance of good treatment, and stories are told of them at whichhumanity shudders."[86]

The free people of color, however, kept on amassing wealth andeducating their children as ever in spite of opposition, for it isdifficult to enforce laws against a race when you cannot find thatrace. Being well-to-do they could maintain their own institutions oflearning, and had access to parochial schools. Some of them like theirwhite neighbors, sent their sons to France and their daughters to theconvents to continue their education beyond the first communion. Thefirst free school ever opened for colored children in the UnitedStates was the "Ecole Des Orphelins Indigents," a School for IndigentOrphans opened in 1840. Mme. Couvent, a free woman of color, died,leaving a fund in trust for the establishment and maintenance of thisinstitution. It has been in continuous operation ever since. Later, itwas aided by Aristide Mary, a well-to-do Creole of color, who left$5,000 for its support, and by Thomy Lafon, also a colored Creole, oneof the noted benefactors of the city. Until now, the instruction is inboth English and French, and many children, not orphans, are willingto pay a fee to obtain there the thorough education obtainable.[87]

In 1859 John F. Cook, afterwards of Washington, D. C., went to NewOrleans from St. Louis, Missouri, and organized a school for freechildren of color. This was just at the time when discontent amongSouthern States was rife, when there was much war-talk, and secessionwas imminent. Mr. Cook had violated two laws, he was an immigrant, andhe[Pg 66] opened a school for children of persons of color. He continued asa successful instructor for one year, at the expiration of which hewas forced to leave, being warned by one John Parsons, a barber, whohad been told by his white friends that Mr. Cook was to be arrestedand detained.[88]

Mr. Trotter, in his "Music and Some Musical People," gives unwittinglya picture of the free people of color of this epoch in fortune andeducation. He quotes theNew Orleans Picayune in its testimony totheir superior taste for and appreciation of the drama, particularlyShakespeare, and their sympathetic recognition of the excellence ofclassical music. Grace King aptly says "even the old slaves, the mostenthusiastic of theatre-goers, felt themselves authorized to laugh anymodern theatrical pretension to scorn."[89] Trotter records a numberof families whose musical talent has become world-wide. The Lambertfamily, one of whom was decorated by the King of Portugal, became aprofessor in Paris, and composer of the famous Si J'Etais Roi,L'Africaine, and La Somnambula.[90] In this same field Basile Barrèsalso achieved unusual fame.

Natives of New Orleans remember now how some years ago Edmond Dédécame from Paris, whence he had been sent in 1857 by an appreciativetownspeople to complete his musical education. He became director ofthe orchestra of L'Alcazar in Bordeaux, and a great friend of Gounod.When he returned to New Orleans after an absence of forty-six years toplay for his native city once more, he was old, but not worn, norbent, the fire of youth still flashed in his eye, and leaped along thebow of his violin.[91] One may mention a long list of famous musiciansof color of the State, but our picture must be filled in rather withthe broad sweep of the mass, not of the individual.

Across the cloudless sky of this era of unexampled commercial,[Pg 67]artistic and social sphere[92] the war cloud crept with ominousgrimness. It burst and drenched the State with blood. Louisiana madeready to stand with the South. On the 23d of November, 1861, there hadbeen a grand review of the Confederate troops stationed in NewOrleans. An associated press despatch announced that the line wasseven miles long. The feature of the review, however, was one regimentcomposed of fourteen hundred free colored men. The state militia wasreorganized entirely for whites but Governor Moore ordered the men ofcolor into the army. Another grand review followed the next spring.TheNew Orleans Picayune made the following comment. "We must alsopay a deserved compliment to the companies of free colored men, allvery well drilled and comfortably uniformed. Most of these companies,quite unaided by the administration, have supplied themselves witharms without regard to cost or trouble."[93] On the same day, one ofthese colored companies was presented with a flag, and every evidenceof public approbation was manifested.

These men of color in New Orleans were the only organized body ofNegro soldiery on the Confederate side during the Civil War. They wereaccepted as part of the State militia forming three regiments and twobatteries of artillery. In the report of the Select Commission on theNew Orleans Riots, Charles W. Gibbons testified that when the warbroke out, the Confederacy called on all free people to[Pg 68] do somethingfor the seceding States, and if they did not a committee was appointedto look after them, to rob, kill, and despoil their property. Gibbonshimself was advised by a policeman to enlist on the Confederate sideor be lynched. This accounts for the seeming disloyalty of these freemen of color.[94] The first victories of the South made their leadersoverconfident thereafter and the colored troops were dismissed.

When Unionists finally got control of New Orleans they found it a cityof problems. Wherever there was a Union fort, slaves, the famous"contrabands of war," made their appearance, and in a few monthsGeneral Butler, then in command, found himself face to face with oneof the most serious situations ever known in the history of a State.Obviously, the only thing to do was to free all of the slaves, butwith Gen. Hunter's experience in South Carolina to warn him, and withLincoln's caution, Butler was forced to fight the problem alone. Hedid the best he could under the circumstances with this mass of blackand helpless humanity. The whipping posts were abolished; the starcars—early Jim Crow street cars—were done away with. Those slaveswho had been treated with extreme cruelty by their masters wereemancipated, and by enforcing the laws of England and France, whichprovided that no citizen of either country should own slaves, manymore were freed. But the problem increased, the camps filled withrunaway slaves, the feeling grew more intense, and the situation moredesperate every day. Gen. Butler asked repeatedly for aid andreenforcement from the North. Vicksburg was growing stronger, PortHudson above the city became a menace with its increasing Confederatebatteries, and Mobile and a dozen camps near the city made thecondition alarming. No help coming from the North, General Butlerturned to the free men of color in the city for aid, and as usual,they responded gallantly to his appeal.

The free people of color in Louisiana then furnished the first coloredcontingent of the Federal Army, just as they[Pg 69] had furnished the firstcolored contingent of the Confederate Army.[95] The army recordslikewise show that Louisiana furnished more colored troops for the warthan any other State. By the 27th of September, 1862, a full regimentof free men of color entered the service of the government, many ofthem being taken over from the State militia. It was in the beginningcalled the First Regiment of the Louisiana Native Guards. In June,1863, its designation was changed to the First Regiment CorpsD'Afrique, and later to the 73d Regiment U. S. C. Infantry. InOctober, 1862, another regiment was formed and the following month aregiment of heavy artillery was organized. About the same time afourth regiment of men of color answered the call. Gen. Butlerwas succeeded in Louisiana by General Banks, who was so pleased withthe appearance and drill of the colored regiments, that he issued anorder for the organization of more in 1863, contemplating 18regiments, comprising infantry, artillery, and cavalry. These wereentirely officered by colored men, at first, but, as Col. Lewistersely puts it, after the battle of Port Hudson,[97] a "steeple-chasewas made[Pg 70] by the white men to take our places."[98] These troopsthereafter acquitted themselves with great honor in this battle andalso at that of Milliken's Bend.

The Emancipation Proclamation of January, 1863, was a most complicatedmatter in Louisiana, for the reason that out of the forty-eightparishes in the State, thirteen were under federal control, andconsequently the slaves there were left in their original state. Manyof the masters even in those parishes where the slaves were declaredemancipated sent their most valuable slaves to Alabama and Texas,some[Pg 71] of them themselves fleeing with them. In parishes far removedfrom Union headquarters, news of the Emancipation Proclamation did notreach the slaves until long after it had been issued. Even then, inmany cases, the proclamation had to be read at the point of the sword,federal soldiers compelling the slave owners to tell their chattelsthe news.[99]

From the time of the accession of General Banks to 1876, the historyof Louisiana becomes a turmoil of struggle, centering around thebrother in black.[100] It is no longer romance; it is grim war, andthe colored man is the struggle, not the cause of it. Politicalparties in 1862 were many and various. The Free State party was infavor of abolishing slavery, but wanted representation basedaltogether on the white population. This was opposed by the UnionDemocrat party, which repudiated secession, but wished slaverycontinued or rather revived, believing that emancipation was only awar measure, and that after cessation of hostilities, slavery could bereestablished. But the plans of both parties fell to the ground.[101]The colored man became more and more of a political factor from day today.

Cognomens here too proved to be another difficulty. Louisiana had twoclasses of colored men, freedmen and free men, a delicate, butcarefully guarded distinction, the latter distinctly aristocratic. In1863, the free men of color held a meeting and appealed to GovernorShepley for permission to register and vote. In the address to him,they reviewed their services to the United States from the time ofGeneral Jackson through the Civil War, and stated that they were thenpaying taxes on over $9,000,000. Several petitions of this sort failedto move General Banks,[102] for he thought it unfeasible to draw theline between free men of color and the recently emancipated Negroes.

The war of Reconstruction in Louisiana was fairly well launched in theConstitutional Convention of 1864. The[Pg 72] issue on which this bodydivided was what treatment should be accorded the freedmen. The twoparties had much difficulty in reaching an agreement.[103] P. M.Tourne was sent to Washington to see President Lincoln. He had alreadysuggested the ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation and theeducation of the colored youth.[104] In a letter congratulating therecently elected Governor Hahn on his election as the "firstfree-state governor of Louisiana" in 1864, Lincoln suggested suffragefor the more intelligent Negroes, and those who had served the countryin the capacity of soldiers. This letter of Lincoln's, says Blaine,was the first proposition from any authentic source to endow the Negrowith the right of suffrage.[105] In his last public utterance on April11, 1865, Lincoln again touched the subject of suffrage in Louisiana,repeating that he held it better to extend to the more intelligentcolored men the elective franchise, giving the recently emancipated aprize to work for in obtaining property and education.[106] TheConvention tried in vain to declare what constituted a Negro, givingit up in disgust. It did abolish slavery in general; granted suffrageto those whites who were loyal to the government; and to colored menaccording to educational and property qualifications. In 1865, theThirteenth Amendment was ratified and the body adjourned.

The culmination of the fight between the Democrat and the Radical wasin the struggle over the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in July,1866. An attempt was made to re-open the Constitutional Convention of1864.[107] The delegates, who favored the reopening of the convention,formed in the streets of New Orleans, and proceeded to march to thefamous Mechanics Hall, the scene of almost every political[Pg 73] riot inthe history of the city. The paraders became involved in a brawl withthe white spectators; the police were called in; and the coloredmembers of the convention and their white sympathizers fled to thehall where they attempted to barricade themselves. A general fightensued, and over two hundred were killed.[108] The effect of this riotwas electrical, not only in Louisiana but in the North, where it wasconstrued as a deliberate massacre, and an uprising against the UnitedStates Government by the unreconstructed Louisianians.[109]

Efforts were made to bring about changes satisfactory to all. In 1867,Sheridan, in charge of the department of Louisiana, dismissed theboard of aldermen of New Orleans, on the ground that they impeded thework of reconstruction and kept the government of the city in adisorganized condition. He appointed a new board of aldermen, some ofwhom were men of color, and in the next month this council appointedfour assistant recorders, three of whom were colored, and two coloredcity physicians. In this month, September, 1867, the first legalvoting of the colored man under the United States Government wasrecorded, that being their voting for delegates to the ConstitutionalConvention of 1868.[Pg 74][110]

This body proved to be an assemblage of ardent fighters for the rightsof the factions they represented. Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchbackproposed the adoption of the Civil Rights Bill, and the abolition ofseparate schools. In the convention were proposed the most stringentof all suffrage laws which would practically disfranchise many whites.Mr. Pinchback voted against this. He saved the day for the Republicanparty by opposing Wickliffe and other demagogues who wished to use thevote of the colored man by promising a majority of the offices toNegroes. Pinchback maintained that offices should be awarded withreference not to race, but to education and general ability.[111] Inthis he was fiercely opposed by many who were anxious for office, butnot for the good of the State.[112]

Louisiana did not long delay in returning to the Union. On the sameday on which she voted for the constitution which restored her to theUnion, H. C. Warmoth was elected governor, and Oscar J. Dunn, acolored man, Lieutenant-Governor. Pinchback was then a Statesenator.[113] When the State legislature met in New Orleans in 1868,more than half of the members were colored men. Dunn was President ofthe Senate, and the temporary chairman of the lower house was R. H.Isabelle, a colored man. The first act of the new legislature was toratify the Fourteenth Amendment.[114]

And then ensued another halcyon period for the colored man inLouisiana, a period about which the average historian has little butsneers. Government in Louisiana by the colored man was different fromthat in other Southern States. There the average man who wasinterested in politics had wealth and generations of education andculture back of him. He was actuated by sincerest patriotism, and[Pg 75]while the more ignorant of the recently emancipated were too evidentlyunder the control of the unscrupulous carpetbagger, there were notwanting more conservative men to restrain them.

The period following the meeting of the State legislature in 1868 wasa stirring one. The Louisiana free people of color had a larger sharein their government than that class had in any other Southern State.Among their representatives were Lieut.-Governor Oscar J. Dunn, StateTreasurer Antoine Dubuclet, State Superintendent of Education Wm. G.Brown, Division Superintendent of Education Gen. T. Morris Chester, aPennsylvanian by birth, congressmen, William Nash, and J. WillisMenard, the first colored representative elected, although he was notseated. Col. Lewis became Sergeant of the Metropolitan Police,following his service as Collector of the Port. Upon the death ofDunn, C. C. Antoine, who had served his country as a captain in thefamous Seventh Louisiana, and then in the State Senate, succeeded him.Antoine was Lieutenant-Governor for eight years, first under GovernorKellogg, and then re-elected to serve under Governor Packard.

But the most thrilling part of the whole period centers about theperson of that redoubtable fighter, Pinchback. He was nominated forGovernor, and to save his party accepted a compromise on the Kelloggticket. In 1872 he ran the great railroad race with Governor Warmoth,being Lieutenant-Governor and Acting Governor in the absence of theGovernor from the State. His object was to reach the capital and signtwo acts of the legislature, which involved the control of the Stateand possibly the national government.[115] It was a desperateundertaking, and the story of the race, as told by Governor Pinchbackhimself, reads like a romance. By a clever trick and the courage tostay up and fight in the senate all night, he saved the senate to theRepublicans and perpetuated their rule four years longer in Louisianathan it would have continued.[Pg 76][116]

By the impeachment of Governor Warmoth in December, 1872, he becameActing Governor of the State until Jan., 1873, when the term expiredand the Kellogg government was inaugurated, with C. C. Antoine,Lieutenant-Governor. That period when Pinchback was Governor ofLouisiana was the stormiest ever witnessed in any state in the Union;but he was equal to the emergency. Then followed his long three years'fight for the seat in the United States Senate, with the defeat afterthe hard struggle.

The campaign of 1874 was inaugurated. The White Camelias, a leagueformed of Southern white men, determined to end the existinggovernment, stood armed and ready. The Governor was garrisoned at theCustom-house, a huge citadel, and the fight was on between the WhiteLeague and the Metropolitan Police. It was characteristic of thiscommunity that the fight should take place on Sunday. The strugglelasted all day, September 14, 1874, and by evening the citizens werein command of the situation. President Grant ordered troops to theplace; the insurgents were ordered to disperse in five days, and theGovernor resumed his office. But it was the end of the government bythe men of color and their allies in the State. President Hayes, inorder to conciliate his constituents in the South, withdrew federalsupport, and the downfall was complete.[117]

The history of the Reconstruction and the merits and demerits of themen who figured in that awful drama belong to the present generation.The unstable Reconstruction regime was overthrown in 1874 and thewhites, eliminating the freedmen and free people of color from thegovernment, established what they are pleased to call "home rule." TheNegroes, who had served the State, however, deserved well of theirconstituents. It should be said to the credit of these black men thatupon an investigation of the Treasurer's office which had for yearsbeen held by Antoine Dubuclet, a man of color, the committee of whichChief Justice Edward D. White of the United States Supreme[Pg 77] Court wasthen chairman, made a report practically exonerating him. Althoughmaking some criticisms as to irregularities and minor illegalities,the committee had to report that "the Treasurer certainly by acomparison deserves commendation for having accounted for all moneyscoming into his hands, being in this particular a remarkableexception." A minority report signed by C. W. Keeting and T. T.Allain[118] thoroughly exonerated him. The expected impeachmentproceedings which were to follow this investigation did notmaterialize.[Pg 78][119]

More about the people of color in Louisiana might be written. It is atheme too large to be treated save by a master hand. It is interwovenwith the poetry, the romance, the glamour, the commercial prosperity,the financial ruin, the rise and fall of the State. It is hung aboutwith garlands, like the garlands of the cemeteries on All Saints Day;it may be celebrated in song, or jeered at in charivaris. Some day,the proper historian will tell the story. There is no State in theUnion, hardly any spot of like size on the globe, where the man ofcolor has lived so intensely, made so much progress, been of suchhistorical importance and yet about whom so comparatively little isknown. His history is like the Mardi Gras of the city of New Orleans,beautiful and mysterious and wonderful, but with a serious thoughtunderlying it all. May it be better known to the world some day.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson.

[Pg 79]

Notes on Connecticut as a Slave State

On June 17 Mr. E. B. Bronson, the Winchester historian and presidentof the Winchester Historical Society, delivered before the woman'sclub and the students of the Gilbert School an address on "Connecticutas a Slave State." The address in part was:

"The caste system was in full being in church, business andsocial life. There was no more question about his right ofkeeping slaves than of his owning sheep. The minister—the leaderand aristocrat of the day—invariably owned his slave or slaves.Even the heavenly-minded John Davenport and Edward Hopkins werenot adverse to the custom, and Rev. Ezra Stiles, one timepresident of Yale college and later a vigorous advocate ofemancipation, sent a barrel of rum to Africa to be traded for a'Blackamoor,' because, he said, 'It is a great privilege for thepoor Negroes to be taken from the ignorant and wicked people ofGuiana and be placed in a Christian land, where they can becomegood Christians and go to heaven when they die.' Religiousfreedom was an inherent right of the mind, but slaveholding was amatter of the pocketbook, and an entirely different propositionin the Puritan eyes. The fact of the matter is, he kept thembecause it paid.

"The high-water mark of slavery in Connecticut was reached in1774, and thereafter steadily declined. To speak in the BillySunday vernacular, 'Connecticut had hit the sawdust path.' Thenumber of slaves rapidly decreased from 6,562 in 1774 to only2,759 in 1790, and 10 years later, in 1800, there were only 951slaves in the state. Still the good work went on, and in 1810only 310 were left. In 1820 but 97, and in 1830, 200 years fromthe commencement of the evil system, there were only 25 slavesowned within Connecticut's borders. In 1840 there were 17. In1848 Connecticut experienced a full change of heart and enacted alaw forever doing away with this blot upon her fair escutcheon,and emancipated all slaves remaining in Connecticut. At this timethere were but six slaves remaining in bondage within the state.

"Throughout the whole history of this slavery thraldom inConnecticut, some curious laws were passed, showing that thePuritan was not fully satisfied with the situation. In 1702,there[Pg 80] was enacted a law which arose from the practice of turningloose a slave who had broken down, and was of little use, andabandoning him, thus forcing him to care for himself. This lawobliged the last owner of the slave and his heirs, andadministrators, to pay for the care of these wrecks of humanity.In 1711 it was further enacted, that in case the former ownerrefused to give the care required, the selectmen of the townwhere the owner resided, should care for the needy slave, andcollect with costs from his owner. In 1774 it was enacted that'no Indian, Negro, or mulatto slave, shall at any time hereafterbe brought or imported into this state, by sea or by land, fromany place or places whatsoever, to be disposed of, left or sold,within this state.'

"In 1784, a law was passed which provided that no Negro ormulatto child born after March 1, 1784, should be held inservitude beyond the age of 25 years. In 1797, a furtherenactment released all colored children from slavery, when they'had attained the age of 21 years.' Connecticut gradually was'coming to her own' again. Even the ministry received a change ofheart, for in 1788, the general association of ministers ofConnecticut declared the slave trade to be unjust, and that everyjustifiable measure ought to be taken to suppress it. In 1789,Connecticut shippers were prohibited from engaging in the slavetrade anywhere.

"One of the interesting points to note in this gradualmetamorphosis is that as the number of slaves graduallydiminished, the number of free Negroes correspondingly increased,showing that but comparatively few left the state. The castesystem was in full force everywhere. It was very evident in thechurch. For years the system of 'dignifying the pews,' as it wastermed, was practiced. That is, assigning seats to the differentmembers of the parish by a committee appointed for that purpose.For a man must go to church whether he wished to or not, and payhis share of supporting the minister, by a tax laid upon him andcollected by the town. Social standing secured the first choiceof seats, wealth the second, and piety the last. In thisassignment one or more pews were 'set off' away up in the top ofthe gallery for the slaves of the social leaders and ministers.At the First Congregational church, Winsted, there were two pewsthus 'set off' in the gallery, and they were so high up that theywere called 'Nigger heaven.'

"In 1837, a number of enthusiasts were invited to meet inWolcottville (now Torrington) to organize a county abolitionsociety.[Pg 81] Upon looking for a place of meeting, they found thatevery church, public and private hall, was closed against them,and also heard public threats of violence if they persisted inattempting to hold a meeting, from the proslavery element of thetown. A barn was offered them as a meeting place and promptlyaccepted. The barn was filled, floor, scaffold, haymow andstables, by these disciples of abolition. It was a very cold dayin January, and much suffering resulted in spite of their warmzeal. Roger S. Mills of New Hartford was appointed chairman, andRev. R. M. Chipman of Harwinton secretary, and Daniel Coe ofWinsted offered prayer. The following officers were appointed:President, Roger S. Mills; vice-presidents, Erastus Lyman ofGoshen, Gen. Daniel Brinsmade of Washington, Gen. Uriel Tuttle ofTorringford and Jonathan Coe of Winsted; secretary, Rev. R. M.Chipman of Harwinton, and treasurer, Dr. E. D. Hudson ofTorringford. While being addressed by an agent of the Americansociety, and suffering from extreme cold, they were attacked by amob of proslaveryites who had paraded the streets of Wolcottvilleand had elevated their courage with New England rum. Theygathered around the barn which was near the Congregationalchurch, yelling, blowing horns, thumping on tin pans and kettles,and ringing furiously the church bell, and finally, by bruteforce, broke up the meeting which took a hasty adjournment.

"When the people were leaving Wolcottville the entire villageseemed to be a bedlam. Dea Ebenezer Rood was set upon while inhis sleigh, and some of the mob endeavored to overturn him andcause his horses to run away. But the blood of his Puritanancestors became rampant, and in defiance he shouted: 'Rattleyour pans; hoot and toot; ring your bells, ye pesky fools, if itdoes ye any good,' and plying his whip to his now frantic horseshe escaped the mob.

"Torringford street arose in its anger and might, at this insult,opened her church doors, and the abolition convention heldsession there for two days. Although there was great oppositionon the street at this new move, there was no other demonstration.

"Inspired by Dea Rood's defiance, the abolition spirit blazedhigh, and monthly meetings were held in barns, sheds, and groves,throughout the county. These enthusiasts were called all sorts ofopprobrious names such as, 'Nigger friends, and disturbers ofIsrael,' and some were excommunicated from the churches. These[Pg 82]were indeed stirring days; Connecticut had received a change ofheart, and in her ecstasy had forgotten her own sins.

"Even our own village did not escape unscathed. A pastor of theFirst Congregational church who had strong antislaveryprinciples, dared to preach an abolition sermon one Sunday fromhis pulpit, and the next morning the village was flooded with a'Broadside' demanding the people to rise, and teach thisdisturber a lesson, and not allow such sins to be perpetrated intheir midst. A copy of this sheet was even nailed upon his owndoorway, and is now deposited in our historical society, and isworthy of your perusal.

"Even the historic cannon now reposing in our historical roomswas used to break up 'pestilent abolition meetings' in our ownmidst. Thus I have endeavored to give you some idea of aninteresting phase in the history of our Commonwealth, that maynot be familiar to all, and which I would term as a Connecticutmistake."—The Springfield Republican, June 18, 1916.

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Documents

LETTERS OF ANTHONY BENEZET

Benezet published his letters at his own expense and distributed themwith the accompanying circular letter below.

"Copy of the substance of a letter written to several persons of note,both in Europe and America, on sending them some of the negroepamphlets, viz. account of Africa, &c. particularly to theArchbishopof Canterbury, dated about the year 1758, and since.

"With the best respects I am capable of, and from, I trust, no othermotive but that of love to mankind; and from a persuasion of thysincere desires for the suppression of evil and the promotion of thatrighteousness which alone exalteth a nation, I make boldaffectionately to salute thee, and to request a little of thyattention to a subject which has long been a matter of deep concern tomany, vast many, well disposed people of all denominations in theseparts, viz. that of the negroe trade, the purchase and bringing thepoor negroes from their native land, and subjecting them to a state ofperpetual bondage, the most cruel and oppressive, in which the Englishnation is so deeply engaged, and which with additional sorrow weobserve to be greatly increasing in their northern colonies, andlikely still more to increase by the acquisition the English havelately made of the factories on the river Senegal. I herewith sendthee some small treatises lately published here on that subject,wherein are truely set forth the great inhumanity and wickedness whichthis trade gives life to, whereby hundreds of thousands of our fellowcreatures, equally with us the objects of Christ's redeeming grace,and as free as we are by nature, are kept under the worst oppression,and many of them yearly brought to a miserable and untimely end.

"I make bold earnestly to entreat, that thou wouldst be pleasedseriously to read them, when I doubt not thou wilt perceive it to be amatter which calls for the most deep consideration of all who areconcerned for the civil, as well as religious welfare of theircountry, and who are desirous to avert those judgments, which evils ofsuch a dye must necessarily sooner or later bring upon every people[Pg 84]who are defiled therewith, and will, I trust, plead my excuse for thefreedom I take in thus addressing myself to thee. How an evil of sodeep a dye, has so long, not only passed unnoticed, but has even hadthe countenance of the government, and been supported by law, issurprising; it must be because many worthy men in power, both of thelaity and clergy, have been unacquainted with the horrible wickednesswith which the trade is carried on, the corrupt motives which givelife to it, and the groans, the numberless dying groans, which dailyascend to God, the common father of mankind, from the broken hearts ofthose our deeply oppressed fellow creatures."[120]

"Philadelphia, Tenth Month, 30th, 1772.

"I herewith send thee a small tract (which I desire thou mayest keep)lately sent me by Granville Sharp; it is an appendix to his formertreatise, and was published on account of the late negroe trial. Hehas wrote me a long intelligent letter, with relation to the situationof things in London on that head, which I shall be well pleased tohave an opportunity to communicate to thee. It seems lord Mansfield,notwithstanding truth forced him to give such a judgment, was ratherdisposed to favour the cause of the master than that of the slave. Headvised the master to apply to the parliament then sitting, which wasdone accordingly, but without success. He fears such an applicationwill be renewed at the next session, and is preparing through hisfriends in parliament and the bishops, to endeavour to prevent itstaking place, and calls for our help from this side the water. In thiscase as he desires a speedy answer, I stand in need of the advice ofmy friends what answer to make him. I have already let one opportunitypass; there will be soon another to Liverpool. I have also tocommunicate an interesting letter from Benjamin Franklin on the samesubject."

Philadelphia, Eleventh Month, 30th, 1772.

"Dear Samuel,

"I received both thy letters, inclosing the petition, and have beenconcerned that I have not sooner acquainted thee with what had beenresulted thereon; but the care of a large school, engagement uponengagement, I think four or five evenings last week, on[Pg 85] committees,&c., and the books which I received from England, which I intended tosend thee not being all returned, occasioned the delay. The vesselfrom Virginia being near its departure when the petitions came tohand, had but just time to confer with James Pemberton, on theexpediency of forwarding them, when we concluded best to take moretime and wait for a future opportunity which he thought would offer. Iherewith send thee such of the pieces relating to slavery, &c. of thenegroes, which I have been able to get back; people are shamefullycareless in not returning borrowed books. That wanting, wrote by aWest Indian, I will send hereafter. I have received since I saw thee,a letter from the chief justice of South Carolina, which will Ibelieve afford thee much satisfaction."

Philadelphia, Twelfth Month, 14th, 1773.

"Beloved Friend,

"The passage we were seeking for is Psalms 68, 31, 'Princes shall comeout of Egypt, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God,'under which name all that part of Africa inhabited by negroes may becomprehended, and that these are the people here intended is clearfrom Jer. 13, 23, 'can the Ethiopian change his skin?'

"Since my return I have received letters from Thomas Nicholson inNorth Carolina, Edward Stabler in Virginia, and James Berry inMaryland, all leading members in their several yearly meetings (theseI shall be glad to communicate to thee) expressive of their concernfor forwarding the great and good work we are engaged in. EdwardStabler, clerk of the yearly meeting of Virginia, expresses, thatthough they have not yet received the encouragement they desire totheir petition in England, yet it has not abated the zeal of some oftheir leading men against the traffic."

Philadelphia, Fourth Month, 28th, 1773.

"Doctor John Fothergill,

"Thy kind letter of the twenty-eighth of Eight Month last, I receivedin due time, and gratefully acknowledge thy kind sympathy thereinexpressed. I am likeminded with thee, with respect to the danger anddifficulty which would attend a sudden manumission of those negroesnow in the southern colonies, as well as to themselves, as to thewhites; wherefore except in particular cases the obtaining theirfreedom, and indeed the freedom of many even[Pg 86] amongst us, is by nomeans the present object of my concern. But the best endeavors in ourpower to draw the notice of the governments, upon the grievousiniquity and great danger attendant on a further prosecution of theslave trade, is what every truly sympathising mind cannot butearnestly desire, and under divine direction promote to the utmost oftheir power. If this could be obtained, I trust the sufferings ofthose already amongst us, by the interposition of the government, andeven from selfish ends in their masters, would be mitigated, and intime Providence would gradually work for the release of those, whoseage and situation would fit them for freedom. The settlements now inprospect to be made in that large extent of country, from the westside of the Allegany mountains to the Mississippi, on a breadth offour or five hundred miles, would afford a suitable and beneficialmeans of settlement for many of them among the white people, whichwould in all probability be as profitable to the negroes as to the newsettlers. But I do not desire to take up thy time especially withmatters of so remote a nature, it being indeed with reluctance I takeup any of it, which I would have avoided, was there any person to whomI could have addressed myself with the same expectation, that what Ihave in view would be thereby answered. An address has been presentedto our assembly, desiring it would use its utmost endeavours with theking and parliament, that an end may be put to the slave trade, bylaying a duty of twenty pounds on all slaves imported. It was thoughtnecessary that some friends with you should be acquainted with thefurther steps that had been, or were likely to be taken, so as toenable you to speak in support of the law, if necessary: to which endI herewith send thee a copy of the address, also a copy of what I nowwrite to our agent, Benjamin Franklin, on that head, in order to makehim acquainted with what passes here on this momentous concern.

"I have also enclosed a number of copies of a pamphlet wrote at thetime we presented the petition, in order to lay the weight of thematter briefly before the members of the assembly, and other activemembers of government in this and the neighbouring provinces. It waswritten by Benjamin Rush, a young physician of the Presbyteriancommunion, a person who I understand thou was acquainted with, whenpursuing his studies three or four years past with you. I almost senda small collection of religious tracts, chiefly compiled for the useof inquiring people in our back countries, where such books are muchwanted. I endeavoured so to collect[Pg 87] them as to be plain, instructiveand edifying, without touching upon that which might be of fruitlessdebate.

"Anthony Benezet."

Philadelphia, Fourth Month, 1773.

"Granville Sharp,

"I wrote thee at large, by a vessel for Ireland, about six weeks past,and also three weeks ago by the packet from New York, respecting thesteps taken, and likely to be pursued in the several more northernprovinces, in relation to the slave trade. I am glad to understandfrom my friend Benjamin Franklin, that you have commenced anacquaintance, and that he expects in future, to concert with thee inthe affair of slavery. I herewith send thee some pamphlets, and in aconfidence of thy goodness of heart, which by looking to theintention, will construe the freedom I have taken in the best light,

"I remain with love,

"Anthony Benezet.

Hanover, January 18, 1773.

"Dear Sir:

"I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of AnthonyBenezet's book against the slave trade: I thank you for it. It is nota little surprising, that the professors of christianity, whose chiefexcellence consists in softening the human heart, in cherishing andimproving its finer feelings, should encourage a practice so totallyrepugnant to the first impressions of right and wrong. What adds tothe wonder is, that this abominable practice has been introduced inthe most enlightened ages. Times, that seem to have pretensions toboast of high improvements in the arts and sciences, and refinedmorality, have brought into general use, and guarded by many laws, aspecies of violence and tyranny, which our more rude and barbarous,but more honest ancestors detested. Is it not amazing, that at a time,when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision,in a country, above all others, fond of liberty; that in such an age,and in such a country, we find men professing a religion the mosthumane, mild, gentle and generous, adopting a principle as repugnantto humanity, as it is inconsistent with the bible, and destructive toliberty? How few in practice from conscientious motive!

"Would any one believe that I am master of slaves, of my own[Pg 88]purchase! I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living herewithout them. I will not, I cannot justify it. However capable myconduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue, as to own theexcellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want ofconformity to them.

"I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered toabolish this lamentable evil. Every thing we can do, is to improve it,if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants,together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot, and anabhorrence for slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished forreformation to practice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity.It is the furthest advance we can make towards justice. It is a debtwe owe to the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variancewith that law, which warrants slavery.

"I know not where to stop. I could say many things on the subject; aserious view of which, gives a gloomy perspective in futuretimes!"[121]

Philadelphia, Tenth Month, 23d, 1774.

"Dear ——.

"I was pleased to hear from thee. I have not been unmindful ofendeavoring to lay before all the delegates I have conversed with, thedreadful situation of the people in the most southern provinces, andthe absolute necessity they are under of ceasing, at least from anyfarther import of negroes. With Patrick Henry I went further, he gavesome attention when I mentioned from whence I apprehended we must lookfor deliverance, even from God alone, but pursuing such methods aswould be most agreeable to the nature of the Beneficent Father of thefamily of mankind, whose love and regard to his children, even suchwho were influenced by wrong dispositions, remained unchangeable. Thatwe could not conciliate the Divine regard, but by acting agreeably tothe Divine attribute, which was love, and was to overcome bysuffering.

"That whatever wound might be given or received, between us and themother country, if ever that which was right prevailed, we shouldmourn over. That as christianity knew of no enemies, we could notexpect deliverance by the violent method proposed, without departingfrom the true foundation. To this with seriousness he replied, that itwas strange to him, to find some of the Quakers manifesting sodifferent a disposition from that I had described.[Pg 89] I reminded himthat many of them had no other claim to our principles, but as theywere children or grandchildren of those who professed thoseprinciples. I suppose his remark principally arose from the violentspirit which some under our profession are apt to show, moreparticularly in the congress, amongst whom I understand one of thedeputies from your city, and one from ours, appear as principals forpromoting such measures. I feel but little apprehension at theprospect of things, which to many is so alarming. People are afraid ofbeing disturbed in their enjoyments, in their ease, their confidencein the world, and the things of it. But I fear nothing more thangiving way to a spirit whose hope and expectation is from theunchristian, yea unnatural, and cruel measures proposed by many, toomany, who seemed to have worked themselves to such a pitch, that itlooks as if they were athirst for blood! Its from God alone, by truefaith in his promises, deliverance must arise; and if from theprevalence of other measures affliction and distress should be ourlot, it will be our own fault if it does not work for our good. Oh! ifa sufficient concern prevailed to experience grace to gain thevictory, to know all worldly inclinations and desires to be broughtunder the regulation of the humbling power of the gospel, many wouldfeel so much of self in themselves, inducing to hope and seek forcomfort from the world, from our ease and plenty, which is yet as abar to obtaining an establishment in the pure, the humble, selfdenying path of truth. If we properly felt our wants, the gulf betweenus and true peace, if the combat between nature and grace were dulymaintained, the dread of outward evils would have little weight withus, however we fall by outward commotion, even if the earth should bedissolved, if in proper dispositions we cannot fall lower than inGod's arms.

"Anthony Benezet.

"P.S. I should have been glad to have seen thyself and dear companionbefore you left us, but make it a rule to take no exception where noslight is intended; indeed where it is, to bear it, and take the firstopportunity to return kindness for the contrary, as most noble, andmost conducive to peace."

Philadelphia, Third Month, 30th, 1774.

"I was sorrowfully disappointed in not seeing thee in town. I had justreceived a long letter from Granville Sharp, which I should have beenglad of an opportunity of showing thee, and[Pg 90] taking thy advice upon asuitable answer, more particularly upon a matter he appears to havemuch at heart, viz. our procuring as many petitions as possible frompersons of some weight in the several provinces, to the same purportas ours to the assembly, immediately to the king alone. As I shall notsend my letter before William Dillwyn goes, which may be some timefirst, perhaps I may still have an opportunity of consulting thee onthis matter. Inclosed I send the copy of an argument, &c. I found inGranville Sharp's letter which strikes me boldly and deeply. I hopethe idea will have a tendency to raise generous sentiments in some ofthy brethren of the law, whose hearts are not yet quite scared withthe love of the world, to appear in the noble cause of real liberty. Ishowed it to Dr. Rush, and inquiring whether we should publish it inthe prints, he replied, 'they would knock us on the head if we did,' Ibelieve it will in future be profitably made use of. Remember meaffectionately to James Kinsey, I should be glad to know hissentiments on the law reasoning of the argument. What a great thing itis to stand up for liberty, true liberty, from a mind truly deliveredfrom all selfishness, in an unfeigned love to God and mankind. O theselfishness of the human heart, how much of it is apt still to cleaveto us, even when our designs are upright."

"Dear Samuel,

"I herewith send thee a dozen pamphlets. I shall be glad that theseand more of the same may be handed to the members of your assembly,and such others in your province, with whom they may be likely topromote a representation being made to the king and parliament againstthe slave trade."

"Seventh day, 4 o'clock.

"Dear Friend,

"I should have been very glad to have got thee to peruse the notes (onslavery) I intend to make, as they will be large, and I wish ifpossible to put them into the hands of the members of every assemblyon the continent, except South Carolina and Georgia, but do not desirethou shouldst be put out of the way on that occasion. I suppose itwill be eight or ten, or more days before in the press. It mightpreserve me from inadvertently publishing something which might ratherweaken the cause we have both at heart. However, in this, and allother things, I desire to stand clear in the purity of my design, andleave the event, but watch against my national activity."[Pg 91]

From Governor Livingstone, of New Jersey

"The piece on slave keeping is excellent, but the arguments againstthe lawfulness of war, have been answered a thousand times. May thefather of lights lead us into all truths, and over all the commotionsof this world, to his own glory, and the introduction of that kingdomof peace and righteousness, which will endure forever. Believe me tobe your sincere friend."

From Ambrose Serle, Secretary to Lord Howe

Philadelphia, June 2d, 1778.

"I ought not to omit, my valued friend, the returning you my kindestthanks for your obliging present of books, which I shall peruse withintention, and for your sake keep them by me. It would be happy forthe world at large, and for individuals, if the principles theymaintain were rightly understood and cordially received; we should inthat case have had no occasion to deplore the present miseries andtroubles, which (as the certain effect of sin) naturally result fromthe ambition, dishonesty and other unmortified passions of mankind.The world on the contrary would be something like a paradise regained;and universal benevolence and philanthropy, reside as they ought inthe human heart. But though from long experience we may and mustdespair of the general diffusion of Christian sentiments and practice,we have this comfortable trust, in our own particular persons, that wehave a peace which the world can neither give nor take away; andthough the kingdoms of this world tumble into confusion, and are lostin the corrupted strivings of men, we have a kingdom prepared of God,incorruptible and that cannot fade away. There, though I see your faceno more upon earth, I have hope of meeting with you again; both of usdivested of all that can clog or injure our spirits, and bothparticipating that fulness of joy which flows from God's right handfor evermore. To his tender protection I commend you, and remain withsincere esteem your affectionate friend."

From John Wesley

"Mr. Oglethorp you know went so far as to begin settling a colonywithout negroes, but at length the voice of those villains prevailedwho sell their country and their God for gold, who laugh at humannature and compassion, and defy all religion but that of gettingmoney. It is certainly our duty to do all in our power to[Pg 92] check thisgrowing evil, and something may be done by spreading those tractswhich place it in a true light. But I fear it will not be stopped tillall the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms of our God."

From Nathaniel Gilbert, of Antigua

"October 29, 1768.

"I desire to embrace as my brethern all who love the Lord Jesus insincerity. I cannot but think that all true Christians agree infundamentals. Your tracts concerning slavery are very just, and it isa matter I have often thought of, even before I became acquainted withthe truth: your arguments are forcible against purchasing slaves, orbeing any way concerned in that trade."

Philadelphia, Seventh Month, 16th, 1781.

"My Friend Abbé Raynal,

"From the idea which I conceived of the justice, and generosity of thysentiments, I took the liberty of writing to thee about seven or eightmonths past under cover of my friend Benjamin Franklin, and likewiseby J—— B——, who we are afraid was lost on his passage. Havingreceived no answer by several vessels, nor knowing whether my lettersreached thee, or whether thine miscarried, and a good opportunityoffering by my friend Dr. Griffitts, I now seize it to send thee twocopies of a small extract of origin and principles of my brethern theQuakers, whom I observe in such of thy writings as have come to ourhands, thou didst not think unworthy of thy attention. I have nothingto add to what I have already wrote thee, but I shall repeat my wishof saluting thee affectionately on the principles of reason andhumanity, which constitutes that grand circle of love and charity,unconfined by our parentage or country, but which affectionatelyembraces the whole creation, earnestly desiring to the utmost of myabilities to promote the happiness of all men, even of my enemiesthemselves, could I have any. I beseech God to give thee strength thatthou mayest continue to hold up to mankind, thy brethren, principlestending to replenish their hearts with goodness, friendship andcharity towards each other, that thus thou mayest, to the utmost ofthy power, render men reasonable, useful, and consequently happy; andmore especially that thou mayest combat that false principle ofhonour, or rather of intolerable pride and folly, which so stronglyprevails in our nation, where the most indolent, and the[Pg 93] leastuseful, fancy themselves, and are reputed the most noble. Let usendeavour to make them sensible that men are noble, but in exactproportion with their being rational. The happiness which is to befound in virtue alone, is sought for by men through the titlesacquired by their fathers for their activity in those wars which havedesolated the world, or in the wealth accumulated by their ancestors;both means generally unjust and oppressive, and consequently rathersources of shame and humiliation. For as the Chinese philosopher wellobserves, 'there is scarcely one rich man out of an hundred, who wasnot himself an oppressor, or the son of an oppressor.'

"Let us display to princes and rulers of nations, the example of NumaPompilius, who, by a conduct opposite to that of Romulus, hispredecessor, and most of his successors, rendered the Romans, duringhis long reign, so respectable and happy. Above all, my dear friend,let us represent to our compatriots the abominable iniquity of theGuinea trade. Let us put to the blush the pretended disciples of thebenign Saviour of the World, for the encouragement given to theunhappy Africans in invading the liberty of their own brethren. Let usrise, and rise with energy against the corruption introduced into theprinciples and manners of the masters and owners of slaves, by aconduct so contrary to humanity, reason, and religion. Let us be stillmore vehement in representing its baneful influence on the principlesand manners of their wretched offspring, necessarily educated inidleness, pride, and all the vices to which human nature is liable.

"How desirable is it that Lewis the Sixteenth, whose virtues, and gooddisposition have been so nobly praised, would set an example to theother potentates of Europe, by forbidding his subjects to be concernedin a traffic so evil in itself, and so corrupting in its consequences;and that he would also issue out ordinances in favour of the negroes,who are now slaves in his dominions. Alas! should christianity, thatlaw of love and charity, work its proper effect on the hearts of itspretended disciples, we should see numbers of christians traverseAfrica, and both the Indies, not to pollute themselves with slaveryand slaughter, nor to accumulate wealth, the supreme wish of thepresent nominal christians, but that divine love would impel them tovisit remote regions in order to make the inhabitants acquainted withthe corruption of the human heart, and invite them to seek for theinfluence of that grace proposed by the gospel, by which they mayobtain salvation. I am under the necessity[Pg 94] of concluding hastily,requesting thou wouldst excuse faults, which time does not allow me tocorrect, and to write to me by various opportunities, the vesselsbound to those parts often missing their destination.

"I am affectionately thy friend,

Anthony Benezet."

To this energetic and impassioned epistle, the abbé made the followinganswer.

Bruxelles, December 26, 1781.

"All your letters have miscarried; happily I received that of thesixteenth of July, 1781, with the pamphlets filled with light andsensibility, which accompany it. Never was any present more agreeableto me. My satisfaction was equal to the respect I have always had forthe society of Quakers. May it please Heaven to cause all nations toadopt their principles; men would then be happy, and the globe notstained with blood. Let us join in our supplications to the supremeBeing, that he may unite us in the bonds of a tender and unalterablecharity.

"I am, &c.

"Raynal."

To Charlotte,Queen of Great Britain.

"Impressed with a sense of religious duty, and encouraged by theopinion generally entertained of thy benevolent disposition to succourthe distressed, I take the liberty, very respectfully, to offer to thyperusal some tracts which I believe faithfully describe the sufferingcondition of many hundred thousands of our fellow creatures of theAfrican race, great numbers of whom, rent from every tender connexionin life, are annually taken from their native land, to endure, in theAmerican islands and plantations, a most rigorous and cruel slavery,whereby many, very many of them, are brought to a melancholy anduntimely end. When it is considered, that the inhabitants of Britain,who are themselves so eminently blessed in the enjoyment of religiousand civil liberty, have long been, and yet are, very deeply concernedin this flagrant violation of the common rights of mankind, and thateven its national authority is exerted in support of the African slavetrade, there is much reason to apprehend that this has been, and aslong as the evil exists, will continue to be, an occasion of drawingdown the Divine displeasure on the nation and its dependencies. Maythese considerations induce[Pg 95] thee to interpose thy kind endeavours onbehalf of this greatly oppressed people, whose abject situation givesthem an additional claim to the pity and assistance of the generousmind, inasmuch as they are altogether deprived of the means ofsoliciting effectual relief for themselves. That so thou may not onlybe a blessed instrument in the hand of Him 'by whom kings reign, andprinces decree justice,' to avert the awful judgments by which theempire has already been so remarkably shaken, but that the blessingsof thousands ready to perish may come upon thee, at a time when thesuperior advantages attendant on thy situation in this world, will nolonger be of any avail to thy consolation and support. To the tractson the subject to which I have thus ventured to crave thy particularattention, I have added some others, which at different times, I havebelieved it my duty to publish, and which I trust will afford theesome satisfaction; their design being for the furtherance of thatuniversal peace, and good will amongst men, which the gospel wasintended to introduce. I hope thou will kindly excuse the freedom usedon this occasion, by an ancient man, whose mind for more than fortyyears past, has been much separated from the common course of theworld, and long painfully exercised in the consideration of themiseries under which so large a part of mankind equally with us theobjects of redeeming love, are suffering the most unjust and grievousoppression, and who sincerely desires the temporal, and eternalfelicity of the queen and her royal consort.

"Anthony Benezet.

"Philadelphia, Eighth Month, 25th, 1783."

[Pg 96]

Reviews Of Books

The Life and Times of Booker T. Washington. ByB. F. Riley, D.D.,LL.D. Introduction byEdgar Y. Mullins, D.D., LL.D., President of theSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary. Fleming H. Revell Company, NewYork, 1916. Pp. 301.

Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization. ByEmmett J. ScottandLyman Beecher Stowe. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1916. Pp. 331.

Since the death of Dr. Booker T. Washington, the press has been loudin singing his praises and writers have hurriedly published sketchesof his career. These first biographies unfortunately have beeninadequate to furnish the public a proper review of the record of thedistinguished man. In these two volumes before us, however, thisrequirement has certainly been met.

The first is a valuable work which must find its way into everyup-to-date library in this country. It is an excellent estimate of theservices of a distinguished Negro, written by a white man who isunselfishly laboring for the uplift of the black race. "Though ofanother race," says Dr. Riley, "the present biographer is not affectedby the consciousness that he is writing of a Negro." Throughout thiswork the writer is true to this principle. He has endeavored to beabsolutely frank in noting here and there the difficulties andhandicaps by which white men of the South have endeavored to keep theNegro down. The aim of the author is so to direct attention to theneeds of the Negro and so to show how this Negro demonstrated thecapacity of the blacks that a larger number of white men may lendthese struggling people a helping hand.

Primarily interested in the bearing of the educator's career on theconditions now obtaining in this country, the author has little to sayabout his private life, choosing rather to present him as a man of theworld. Tracing his career, the author mentions his antecedent, hispoverty, his training at Hampton, his first ventures and theestablishment of Tuskegee. He then treats with more detail Dr.Washington's national prominence, widening influence, ability toorganize, and increasing power. He carefully notes, too, the greateducator's chief characteristics, his sane and balanced views, hisbelief in the cooperation of the two races, and his power to[Pg 97]interpret one race to the other. It is mainly this portion of the bookthat makes this biography a work of incalculable value in the study ofthe Negro during the last quarter of the century.

The other biography of Booker T. Washington is a somewhat moreintensive study of his life than that of Dr. Riley. The authors areMr. Washington's confidential associate and a trained and experiencedwriter, sympathetically interested in the Negro because of the careerof his grandmother, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom'sCabin." It contains a fitting foreword by Major R. R. Moton, Dr.Washington's successor, and a forceful preface by Ex-PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. The book is well written and well illustrated.

These authors were chosen by Mr. Washington himself with the hope thatthey would produce "a record of his struggles and achievements at onceaccurate and reliable." Coming from persons so closely associated withthe distinguished educator, the reader naturally expects some suchtreatment as the "Life and Letters of Booker T. Washington." A work ofsuch scope, however, the authors themselves maintain is yet to bewritten. Passing over his childhood, early training and education,which they consider adequately narrated in "Up From Slavery," theauthors have directed their attention toward making an estimate of theservices of the educator during the last fifteen years of his life.Written with this purpose in view the work serves as a complement ofDr. Riley's book which is more concerned with the earlier period.

Each chapter is complete in itself, setting forth a distinctachievement or the manifestation of some special ability. Here we getan excellent account of the making of Tuskegee, the leadership of itsfounder, his attitude on the rights of the Negro, how he met raceprejudice, the way in which he taught Negroes to cooperate, how heencouraged the Negro in business, what he did for the Negro farmer,his method of raising large sums of money, his skill in managing alarge institution, and finally an appropriate estimate of the man.

In Spite of Handicap. An Autobiography. ByJames D. Corrothers. Withan Introduction byRay Stannard Baker. George H. Doran Co., New York,1916. Pp. 238.

This book is a study of Negro race prejudice, chiefly in the North.One can not read the life of this member of the Negro race withoutbecoming much more vividly informed of the terrible power raceprejudice plays in retarding the progress of undeniably[Pg 98] capablepersons when they are known to have some Negro blood. It is a sadlytrue picture not only of the handicaps to Mr. Corrothers, but ofpractically all Negroes of talent who essay to come out of the casteto which barbaric prejudice assigns his group. For this reason wecould substitute for this individual as subject of this story most ofhis race in the North.

The student of history will be more interested in his description ofhis boyhood home, a Negro settlement in Cass County, Michigan. Thisplace was first an Under-Ground Railroad Station established in 1838by some Southern Quakers whose conscience no longer allowed them tohold their black brethren in slavery. They brought their slaves intothis far Northern region and soon protected other fugitive slaves fromthe South. It became such a place of security for these runaway slavesthat in a few years they became sufficiently numerous to constitute alarge settlement. In 1847 a number of slave owners raided the place inan effort to capture some of their Negroes. They had little success,however. Manumitted slaves, free persons of color, and fugitivescontinued to come and at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War thecommunity had been well established. Since the Civil War many of thedescendants of these pioneers have risen in various walks of life andhave left an impress on the world. The author of this volume is arepresentative of this class.

The writer describes how that early in his career in this Cass Countyatmosphere he met with the awful handicap of race prejudice whichforced upon him the conviction as to the difficulty of a colored manto rise. In running from the conditions in the South his people didnot find a paradise in the North. Just as the author began by fightinghis way among the white boys who objected to him because of hismanifestation of superior talent for one of his color so he has had tostruggle throughout life. He has, however, become a writer of somenote, contributing verse and stories to such leading publications astheCentury Magazine,Harper's,The Dial,The Crisis,TheSouthern Workman,The Boston Transcript, andThe Chicago Tribune.

The author makes no pretence of writing a scientific historical orsociological treatise. He relates such anecdotes of his own life aswill throw light on the influence of race prejudice in impeding theprogress of capable Negroes. His style is easy and clear, at timesbeautiful. The book is well worth the reading of any person seriouslyinterested in our race problems.

E. L. McLean.

[Pg 99]

The Administration of President Hayes.By John W. Burgess. CharlesScribner's Sons, New York, 1916. Pp. 154.

These lectures, the author says, give in bare outline a description ofthe administration of President Hayes. For various reasons hisadministration has not received extended treatment by the students ofAmerican History. Professor Burgess seeks to show that Hayes was oneof the greatest executives in the history of our nation, and thatwrongfully "the manner of his election has been used to depreciate hisservice." He says: "As time goes on, however, and as the partisanhatreds which are clustered around the election are lost from view,his work looms larger and ever larger."

At the present time when there is such uncertainty in the election ofPresident and reference is made to that one of 1876, many arerepeating the contention that a partisan vote of the ElectoralCommission unconstitutionally made Hayes President. The author veryclearly points out that no president was more entitled to his officeon constitutional grounds than Rutherford B. Hayes. Contrary to theassertion that eight Republican members of the Electoral Commissionvoted on partisan grounds, Professor Burgess says that it was they whostood squarely on the constitution and the seven Democratic members ofthat commission voted purely on party lines. The Democrats had neither"a leg nor a peg to stand upon in any one of the cases" of Oregon,Louisiana, Florida or South Carolina. The Electoral Commission in eachcase went back of the returns and accepted those certified by theofficials of the State, who had been in conformity with theConstitution of the United States duly qualified to make them.

These lectures review the important problems of Hayes'sadministration. Among these problems growing out of the Civil War wasthe increasing aggression of the legislative branch of the federalgovernment. Beginning with the Reconstruction Period the governmentwas more and more becoming a parliamentary one. Hayes was determinedto reestablish it on its constitutional foundations. When he came intopower the lower house was in control of the Democrats and it was theywho were determined to usurp executive power. Riders were placed onappropriation bills and efforts were made to force the President toassent to laws which would eliminate the Federal Government from allinterference with the affairs of the Southern States. Notwithstandingthe fact that they forced an extra session of Congress when bothbranches were Democratic, Hayes stood firm and in a long fight curbedthe[Pg 100] aggression of the legislative branch. Among other greatachievements of his administration the author points out the reform ofthe currency, improvements in civil service, and the adoption of awise policy in the treatment of the Indians.

The withdrawal of the troops from the defence of the Republicangovernments in the South, President Hayes thought was necessary thatstrife might cease and that those best fitted to rule should takecharge of their home affairs. The author considers this to be one ofthe greatest acts of statesmanship that any president ever performed.The old charge that this was a result of a deal between SouthernDemocrats who were peacefully to permit Hayes to become President inreturn for relieving them of military rule, he terms an invention ofthe politicians and radical friends of the Negro. He maintains thatbefore Hayes ever became a candidate for the presidency it was wellknown that he held such views favorable to the South.

The reader should bear in mind here that this theory of Mr. Burgess isin keeping with his radical position that the Negro being inferior andunfit for citizenship he should have been left at the mercy of thewhite man who wanted to enslave him. Here as in all of Mr. Burgess'sReconstruction discussions he sees only one side of the question. Thewhite man should be supreme and the Negro should merely have freedomof body with no guarantee that even this would not be of doubtfultenure. Reconstruction studies will always be valueless as long asthey are prosecuted by men of biased minds.

Orville Holliday.

American Patriots and Statesmen from Washington to Lincoln. ByAlbert Bushnell Hart. P. F. Collier & Son, New York, 1916. FiveVolumes.

The editor deserves great credit for bringing together so muchoriginal material reflecting the thought of the men who made thenation. Every phase of American life and politics has been considered,giving both the scholar and the layman a ready reference and guide fora more intensive study of public opinion in this country than can beobtained from the ordinary treatises on history and government. Themanner of selecting and arranging the materials exhibits evidence ofbreadth of view on the part of the compiler and places his longexperience as a professor in the leading university of this country atthe disposal of persons who have not labored in this field so long.[Pg 101]

Here we have the thoughts of almost every distinguished man whomaterially influenced the history of this country from the time of thediscovery of America to the outbreak of the Civil War. The writer hasdrawn on the works of all classes, statesmen, sages, men of affairs,State officials, congressmen, senators, presidents, judges; ministers,doctors, lawyers, educators, novelists, essayists and travellers;poets and orators. Every section of the country, too, is representedin this collection and a few foreigners who have manifested peculiarinterest in Americans have also been included. Some of these importantsubjects treated in these documents are such questions as"Expectations from the New World," "The First Immigrants," "Principlesof Personal Liberty," "Extension of Colonial Freedom," "The AmericanRevolution," "Independence of the United States," "Liberty in aFederal Constitution," "National Democracy," "The Frontier," "StatesRights," "Slavery," "Nullification," and "The Popularization ofGovernment." Important treatises having a special bearing on the Negrohave not been omitted. Among these are Hinton Rowan Helpers'Appealto the Non-slaveholding Whites, Benjamin Wade'sDefiance ofSecession, John Brown'sLast Speech of a Convicted Abolitionist,William H. Seward'sIrrepressible Conflict, Abraham Lincoln'sAHouse Divided against itself cannot Stand, hisMeaning of theDeclaration of Independence, hisPhilosophy of Slavery, theGettysburg Address, and theEmancipation Proclamation.

The collection as a whole makes a valuable reference work for themodern teacher who is trying to explain the past in terms of presentachievements. These materials are so arranged as to show that what wenow call new problems in American life are issues of old, that thequestions now arising as to how to manage the army and navy, how todeal with our colonies, how to maintain our position as a world power,and how to promote national preparedness, have all been discussed proand con by leading statesmen in the past. Libraries in need of sourcematerial lying in this field would make no mistake in purchasing thisvaluable collection.

A. H. Clemmons.

[Pg 102]

Notes

Harrison and Sons, London, have published an "Anthropological Reporton Sierra Leone," by Northcote W. Thomas, in three parts. Part Icovers the law and customs of the Tinne and other tribes. Part IIconsists of a "Tinne-English dictionary" and part III of a grammar andstories.

This firm has also brought out "Specimens of Languages from SierraLeone" by the same author. This work contains tabular vocabularieswith short stories and notes on Tones, illustrated with the StaffNotation.

Macmillan and Company have published the "My Yoruba Alphabet" by R.E. Bennett.

"Mâliki Law" by F. H. Buxton has appeared with the imprint of Luzacand Company. This is a summary from French Translations of the"Mukhtasar of Sîdî Khalîl" by Captain Buxton of the PoliticalDepartment of Nigeria. It was published by order of Sir F. D. Sugard,Governor-General of Nigeria.

"Native Life in South Africa before and since the European War andthe Boer Rebellion" by Sol. T. Plaatje has been published by P. S.King. This work is especially valuable for students of Negro Historyin that they may obtain from it the other side of the race problem inthat country. The author is an educated native who has served thegovernment as an interpreter, and now edits for a native syndicateTsala ea Batho (The People's Friend). The purpose of the writer isto explain the grievances of the natives and especially that oneresulting from the Land Act of 1913.

Allen and Unwin have published the third volume of "The History ofSouth Africa from 1795 to 1872" by G. McCall Theal. The work is to becompleted in five volumes.

Among Putnam's recent publications is F. W. Seward's "Reminiscencesof a War Time Statesman and Diplomat," being his father William H.Seward.

The University of Chicago Press has published "Slavery in GermanicSociety during the Middle Ages."[Pg 103]

C. R. Hall has published through the Princeton University Press his"Andrew Johnson: Military Governor of Tennessee."

Stokes has published J. A. B. Scherer'sCotton as a World Power.

Mr. Henry B. Rankin's "Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln"has come from the press of the Putnams. This book is interesting andvaluable in that it is written by a man who studied law under Lincolnand Herndon.

The Chicago Historical Society has published a booklet entitled "TheConvention that nominated Lincoln," giving its outward and localaspects.

In C. J. Heatwole'sHistory of Education in Virginia, published byMacmillan, passing mention is given the effort to enlighten theNegroes in that State. The writer is mainly concerned with the effortsfor the uplift of the Negro since emancipation. He seemed to beignorant of the many efforts at education put forth by the Negroeswith the help of their friends even before the Civil War.

E. S. Green'sHistory of the University of South Carolina has beenpublished by the State Publishing Company at Columbia. In treating theperiod during which the Negroes were in control of that institutionthe author is adversely critical of the freedmen in general, butmentions some colored graduates and pays a tribute to the highcharacter of Richard Theodore Greener, who served there as instructor.

"The South To-day" by John M. Moore has been published by theMissionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada.

TheJournal of Negro History has received a copy of Charles E.Benton's "Troutbeck: A Dutchess County Homestead," with anintroduction by John Borroughs. Among the beautiful illustrations inthis pamphlet is that of Webutuck River at Troutbeck during theperformance of the "Hiawatha Pageant" at the fifth Amenia Field Day,August 15, 1914.

A. A. Schomburg'sBibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetryhas been published as one of a series of monographs edited by CharlesF. Heartman of New York. It is a valuable work.[Pg 104]

The Argosy Company, Georgetown, British Guiana, has recently publisheda work entitledBlack Talk. This book consists of notes on Negrodialect compiled by C. G. Cruickshank. It is an interesting andinforming volume.

[Pg 105]

The Journal
of
Negro History

Vol. II—April, 1917—No. 2

I
The Evolution of the Slave Status in American Democracy

Slavery and freedom were constituent elements in American institutionsfrom the very beginning. In the inherent antagonism of the two,DeTocqueville recognized the most serious menace to the permanence ofthe nation.[122] Slavery, which came in time to be known as the"peculiar institution" of the South, gradually shaped the social,moral, economic and political ideas of that section to fit its genius.The more democratic tendencies of the free industrial order of theNorth served by contrast to crystallize still more the groupconsciousness of the South. In this wise the erstwhile loyal South wasslowly transformed into a section that was prepared to place local andsectional interests above national, and the result was secession. Justas it was not loyalty to inalienable human rights in the abstract thatbrought about the abolition of slavery in the North, but rather thegradual expansion of the idea of liberty through the free give andtake of a vigorous democracy in which economic and social conditionsmilitated against slavery, so it was not loyalty to States' rights inthe abstract that brought about the Civil War but rather the aliengroup[Pg 106] consciousness of the slave States which was the outgrowth oftotally different economic and social conditions. It is the object ofthis paper to trace the influence of these various factors upon thestatus of the slave.

Slavery of both Indians and Negroes and white servitude were wellrecognized forms of social status in all the colonies, and slavery wasgeneral down to the time of the American Revolution. As early as 1639we hear of a Negro slave in Pennsylvania. In 1644 Negroes were indemand to work the lowlands of the Delaware. In 1685 William Penndirected his steward at Pennsbury to secure blacks for work "sincethey might be held for life," which was not true of indenturedservants.[123] Negro slaves were sold in Maryland in 1642.[124]Negroes are referred to in the Connecticut records as early as1660.[125] An "act against trading with negro slaves" was passed inElizabeth-Town, New Jersey, in 1682.[126] An entry in Winthrop'sJournal, February 26, 1638, states that a "Mr. Peirce, in the Salemship, theDesire, returned from the West Indies after seven months.He had been to Providence, and brought some cotton, and tobacco, andNegroes, etc."[127] The twenty Negroes sold to the colonists atJamestown, 1619, were the first landed on the soil of Virginia andpossibly the first brought to the American colonies.[128]

There is evidence to show that the status of the Negro was at firstvery closely affiliated with that of the white servant with whom thecolonists were thoroughly familiar and who stood half way betweenfreedom and complete subjection. It is probable, therefore, that bothIndian and Negro servitude preceded Indian and Negro slavery in allthe colonies,[129] though the transition to slavery as the normalstatus of the Negro was very speedily made. The first and[Pg 107] essentialfeature in this transition was the lengthening of the period ofservitude from a limited time to the natural life. The slave differedfrom the servant then not so much in the loss of liberty, civil andpolitical, as in the perpetual nature of that loss.[130]

There were several factors operating in the case of the Negro to fixthe status of the slave as his normal condition, the earliest and oneof the strongest of which was economic in character. Certainly theinfluences which brought Negro slavery to the West-Indies and later tothe British colonies to the north were primarily economic. As a resultof her great commercial expansion in the first half of the fifteenthcentury Spain had established a thriving slave trade with the westcoast of Africa. When it was discovered that the natives of the WestIndies, who had been enslaved to meet the labor demands of the newworld, were unable to do the work Spain began to import Negro slavelabor at the suggestion of Bishop Las Casas, thus turning the streamof slave trade westward about the beginning of the sixteenth century.By way of the English island colonies, the Bermudas and Barbados, theslave trade extended northward to the American colonies, the firstslaves being brought from the West Indies to Virginia in 1619, so thatby the end of the seventeenth century the traffic had reachedproportions that frightened the colonists into taking measures for itsrestriction.[131]

The fact that Negro slavery reached American soil by way of the WestIndies is not without significance as throwing light upon the statusof the slave especially in the southern colonies such as the Carolinasand Georgia. The first Negro slaves imported into South Carolina camefrom Barbados in 1671 and there is reason for thinking that theBarbadian slave code and customs were imported with the slaves, forthe act passed in Barbados in 1668 declaring Negro slaves to be realestate was copied very closely in the[Pg 108] South Carolina act of1690.[132] The stringency of the Barbadian slave code and theresulting barbarous treatment of the slaves have made the littleisland famous in history. "For a hundred years," says Johnston,"slaves in Barbados were mutilated, tortured, gibbeted alive and leftto starve to death, burnt alive, flung into coppers of boiling sugar,whipped to death, overworked, underfed, obliged from sheer lack of anyclothing to expose their nudity to the jeers of the 'poor'whites."[133] And yet the owners of these slaves were English, of thesame stock under which developed the mild patriarchal type of slaveryof Virginia. The difference in the status of the slave in Virginia andin the northern colonies as opposed to the colonies farther south,where in some places the Barbadian conditions were at leastapproximated, is to be explained in terms of the different social andeconomic conditions rather than the character of the slave-owners. TheWest Indian type of slavery was not conducive to the more intimate andsympathetic relations which arose between slave and master in thecolonies to the north where a fairly complete integration of the Negroin the social consciousness of the white took place.

It is easy to distinguish factors in the economic conditions in thenorthern and southern colonies which brought about these differencesin the status of the slave in the two sections. In the tradingcolonies of New England and in the farming colonies of the MiddleStates the occupations in which slave labor could be profitably madeuse of were limited in number. The climate was too cool, especiallyfor freshly imported slaves. Slave labor was ill adapted to the kindof crops the soil demanded. The status of the slave from the verynature of the case approximated that of the servant. The slaves becamefor the most part servants, the time of whose service was perpetual.The slaves of Pennsylvania, for this reason, were treated much morekindly than the Negroes in the West Indies. Their lot was doubtless[Pg 109]far happier than that of the slaves in the lower South.[134]

The conditions in the planting colonies from Virginia southward weredifferent. Here was an unlimited supply of fertile lands which lentthemselves readily to the unskillful and exhausting methods of slavelabor. Here too was a warm climate congenial to the Negro, thoughenervating and often unhealthful for the white. The staples, such asthe sugar cane, rice and later the cotton plant, were such as theunscientific slave labor might easily cultivate. All the conditions ofprofitable slave labor were present, namely, possibilities forconcentration of labor, its absolute control and direction andexploitation.

The status of the Negro in the planting colonies was the outcome ofthese economic conditions. He was deprived of the stimulating effectof personal intercourse with the white, enjoyed by the slave at thenorth. His status was fixed by a certain position in an industrialsystem, the tendency of which was to attach him more and more to thesoil and, especially on the larger plantation, to make of him a"living tool." He became, as time went on, the economic unit. Evenfree labor, in so far as it survived slave labor, was forced to takeits measure of values from the slave. There were of course gradationsin status even among the slaves in the lower South so that the samesystem could include the conditions described in Fanny Kemble'sJournal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation as well as thoseportrayed in Smedes'Memorials of a Southern Planter. If we take thewhole sweep of country from New England to the far South, thedifferences in the status of the slave varied still more, includingthe exceedingly mild form of slavery in Pennsylvania where the slavewas not essentially different from the indentured servant, thepatriarchal slavery of Virginia, as well as the capitalisticexploitation of slave labor in the great rice plantations of SouthCarolina and Georgia and the cotton and cane plantations ofMississippi and Louisiana. Here, in some cases at least, the WestIndian conditions were approximated. In the lower South particularly[Pg 110]were found those conditions which as we shall see later tended to fixthe slave status as an integral part of southern life so that in timeit came to be spoken of as the South's "peculiar institution."

Strange as it may seem, religion also played a large part in thedetermination of the status of the slave in early colonial days. Justas it was the zeal of the early Church which had much to do with theeradication of the slavery of antiquity, so it was also the zeal andbigotry of churchmen that had much to do with the reinstatement ofslavery of a type worse in some respects than that of antiquity.Speaking of the custom of the Spaniards of enslaving the Moors thatfell into their hands through conquest, Prescott says: "It was thereceived opinion among good Catholics of that period, that heathen andbarbarous nations were placed by the circumstances of their infidelitywithout the pale both of spiritual and civil rights."[135] Theexpansion that took place as a result of the discovery of the newworld brought Europeans into contact with heathen who according to theprevailing opinions were without the pale of Christianity and,therefore, possessed of no rights that Christians need observe. It isnot surprising then that Columbus brought back Indian slaves with him,though Isabella ordered returned those "who had not been taken in justwar."

The Puritan settlers of New England were not one whit behind theSpanish in making use of the same religious grounds for the enslavingof the Indians conquered in war. Roger Williams in a letter to JohnWinthrop in 1637 writes as follows of a successful expedition againstthe Pequots: "It having again pleased the Most High to put into ourhands another miserable drove of Adam's degenerate seed, and ourbrethren by nature, I am bold (if I may not offend in it) to requestthe keeping and bringing up of one of the children." The followingextract from a letter to Winthrop in 1645 is a curious mixture ofreligious bigotry and Yankee shrewdness: "A war with the Narragansettsis very considerable to this plantation, for I doubt whether it be notsin[Pg 111] in us, having power in our hands, to suffer them to maintain theworship of the devil, which their pow wows often do; secondly, if upona just war the Lord should deliver them into our hands, we mighteasily have men, women and children enough to exchange for Moors(Negroes?) which will be more gainful pillage for us than we conceive,for I do not see how we can thrive until we get into a flock of slavessufficient to do all our business, for our children's children willhardly see this great continent filled with people, so that ourservants will still desire freedom to plant for themselves and notstay but for very great wages. And I suppose you know very well how weshall maintain twenty Moors cheaper than one English servant."[136]Few passages better illustrate how religious ideas and economic needsconspired to bring about the enslavement of both Indian and Negro atthis early period.

Race also played its part in determining the slave status. There waspresent more or less from the very beginning of slavery in States likeVirginia the tendency to limit such servitude to the Negro race. Atfirst, when both Indian and Negro slaves were found together, therewas noa priori ground for discriminating against the Negro in favorof the Indian and designating the status of the slave as the normalstatus of the Negro. The probable reason is that racialcharacteristics of the Indian made him a bad subject for slavery. TheMassachusetts colonists found the Pequot Indians surly, revengeful andin the words of Cotton Mather unable to "endure the Yoke."[137] TheNegro, on the contrary, proved himself much more tractable andtherefore more profitable as a slave. These plastic race traits, infact, have enabled the Negro to survive while the less adaptive Indianhas disappeared. Thus the bonds of a servile status hardened fromdecade to decade about the Negro, being determined partly by economicneeds, partly by religious prejudices and partly by the Negro's ownpeculiar racial traits.

Legislation, which always follows in the wake of status[Pg 112] and normallygives expression to it, corroborates what has just been stated.Virginia in the act of 1670 first fixed the legal status of the slaveand so worded the act as virtually to protect the Indian fromenslavement. By an act of 1705 she made Indian enslavement illegal,thus practically limiting slavery to the Negro. Hence at the time whenVirginia drew up her famous Declaration of Rights, in which sheaffirmed the natural equality and inalienable rights of all men, theprevailing sentiment of the community undoubtedly was that the normalstatus of the Negro was that of the slave, which status placed himentirely without the scope of these lofty declarations. The protestsof such men as George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson were contrary to thedrift of the social mind.[138] The last stage in this process ofdetermining status on the basis of race is to be found in the variousslave codes that grew up in the Southern States. They were supposed tobe done away with forever by the war amendments and Sumner's famousBill of Rights but the problem is one far too subtle and intricate forregulation by statute, as the Supreme Court has discovered. Statusbased upon color still exists both North and South though withoutlegal sanction.[139]

The noble conceptions of freedom and equality which were embodied inthe bills of rights and the Declaration of Independence were destinedin time to triumph over slavery, though not without bloodshed. It isinteresting to trace their influence on the status of the slave. Thedoctrine of human rights found in the Declaration of Independence andin the bills of rights of the State constitutions, despite itsmetaphysical cast, is not derived from the political philosophy of theFrench; the key of the demolished Bastile sent by Lafayette toWashington by the hand of Thomas Paine symbolized rather the debt owedto America by France.[Pg 113][140] The Declaration itself perhaps showscloser affiliations with John Locke'sTreatise on Civil Government,which may be taken as a statement of the principles contended for inthe Puritan Revolution of 1688. But even Locke's ideas of civil andreligious liberty were not original with him. They were in reality theresult of applying to the sphere of politics the logical implicationsof doctrines preached by the Protestant reformers of a century or twoearlier in their revolt against the authority of tradition. To be surethe masses of men were ignorant of the theological distinctions drawnby Luther and Knox between the democracy of sin under the first Adamand the democracy of grace under the second Adam or Christ. Thelevelling effect of these ideas, however, was unmistakably felt as inthe doggerel of John Ball, the mad Wycliffite priest of Kent,

In the next century under the pressure of their struggle againstinjustice masquerading behind charters and parliaments, the Puritansunder the leadership of John Locke made their appeal to natural rightsjust as the reformers before them had made their appeal to the higherrights and duties that hold in a spiritual kingdom of grace. Theappeal, originally religious in origin, now appears stripped of itstheological setting and hence with a certain "metaphysical nakedness"which only the enthusiasm and sense of need arising from thenecessities of their situation prevented its champions fromperceiving. Locke and Blackstone, while insisting upon the absoluteand inalienable rights of the individual, never broke with the feelingfor precedent inherent in the Englishman. The natural rights theypreached were only conceived as having validity within the sphere ofthe British subject and not for humanity in general.[141]

In very much the same way the colonists, in the struggles againstroyal oppression, felt the need for a higher and[Pg 114] more comprehensivesanction for their conduct and following the precedent set them by thePuritans of the seventeenth century, they fell back upon the notion ofinalienable rights possessed by each individual independent ofsociety. Here, too, the inspiration and original setting of theseideas were strongly religious. Religious toleration had gainedconstitutional recognition in almost all the colonies so that thepolitical movement out of which American freedom was born had thepowerful support of religious sanction. To this fact must beattributed in part at least the tone of finality and absoluteness inthe American declarations of rights. Out of this universal recognitionof liberty of conscience arose the notion of a right of a higher sortnot inherited but inherent and inalienable because rooted in man'sreligious nature—"a God-given franchise."

This sense of the inherent and inalienable nature of the rights ofconscience was, under the stress of the immediate political exigenciesof the struggle with England, very easily and naturally extended fromthe sphere of religion to that of civil and political rights. Itprovided the sanction for the break with the mother-country that wascontemplated. Virginia's declaration of rights was intended to be law,for the preamble states that these rights "do pertain to them (thepeople of Virginia) and their posterity as the basis and foundation ofgovernment." And what are these rights? They are first of all, "Thatall men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certaininherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society,they can not by any compact deprive or divest their posterity,etc."[142] Thus, from the logic of events and not as a result of aphilosophical speculation, the Revolutionary fathers were forced totake advanced ground in their definition of human rights. Leaving thefixed social order of the old country for the wilderness, where theonly society was that of the savage, they naturally looked upongovernment as arising out of a compact behind which lay the sovereignautonomy of the individual by virtue of inalienable[Pg 115] rights given himby God. What more natural in their revolt from the old country than tomake this doctrine the political and moral sanction of their course?

The rich emotional life aroused by the war for national independenceas well as the struggle of over half a century later for theemancipation of the slave have given to these ideas of inalienablehuman rights a hold upon the conscience of the nation altogetherincommensurate with their actual validity. It would be a thanklesstask and yet an altogether feasible one to show that the Revolutionaryfathers did not break with English traditions in their declarations ofrights. They simply stripped these principles of their originalreligious and political setting and persuaded themselves that througha fresh and rigorous restatement of them they had established theirfinality and originality. A stream is not changed by altering the nameit bears at its fountain head. The very enthusiasm and loyalty of themen of '76 for what has been called "metaphysical jargon" leads one tosuspect that the ultimate basis of these ideas lay in the socialconsciousness of the people. The democratic ideals they expressed ininstitutional forms—social, political or religious—belonged, ofcourse, to the social heritage they brought with them from the oldcountry. They did not, therefore, discover these "lost title deeds ofthe human race." It would be much nearer the truth to say they merelystated them clearly because by virtue of previous training and a newenvironment they had succeeded best in realizing those conditions,social and political, which alone make their clear statement possible.The measure of success and validity of any social doctrine, no matterhow abstract, is to be found in its harmony with the background fromwhich it springs and in the extent to which it actually succeeds ineffecting needed social adjustments. It was perfectly natural that ourforefathers should wish to proclaim as a new and unalterable truth,the everlasting possession of themselves and of all free people, whatthey already enjoyed. This did not alter the fact that the onlyguarantee for the perpetuity of these rights was the vigorous[Pg 116]democracy of which they were the expression. "The Americans," writesJellinek, "could calmly precede their plan of government with a billof rights, because that government and the controlling laws hadalready long existed."[143]

As these great notions of human rights first took hold of the AngloSaxon through religion, so it was through religion also that theideals of freedom and equality first affected the status of the slave.We have already seen what was the prevailing doctrine of Christendomat the time of the discovery of the new world. It was that infidelsand heathen were without the Christian fold and so did not come underthose sanctions of conduct that prevailed in the dealings ofChristians with each other. The colonists, therefore, assumed "a rightto treat the Indians on the footing of Canaanites or Amalekites" withno rights a Christian need regard.[144] The same was held true of theNegroes. In time, however, petitions began to be received from slavesdesiring to be admitted to baptism and this raised the questionconcerning the status of the slave after conversion toChristianity.[145] The dilemma faced by the slave-owner with religiousscruples was as follows: To confer baptism would be in accordance withthe contention of pious churchmen that slavery was but a means tobring about the salvation of the heathen.[146] On the other hand, toadmit to baptism would, according to the doctrines of the Reformation,destroy the slave status entirely. By virtue of having entered thedemocracy of grace represented by the Church of Christ, thedistinction of bond and free disappeared. To keep out the slave wouldbe to hamper the spread of Christianity; to admit him would be toeliminate slavery.[Pg 117]

This problem, however, seems never to have troubled the Puritan'sconscience greatly.[147] From his stern, high Calvinistic point ofview he was the elect of the earth, to whom the Almighty had given theheathen for an inheritance, and in this he found a satisfactoryjustification for his harsh and high-handed dealings with weaker racessuch as the Indian and the Negro. Yet the germ of freedom contained inthe limited democracy of the elect of Calvinism was bound in time tobreak the hard theological moulds in which it was originally cast. Itdid this subsequently under the stress of external events in theeffort to throw off the shackles of British oppression. Nowhere didthe essential injustice of slavery become more evident to the minds ofmen than in the healthful humanizing and socializing atmosphere of theprogressive industrial democracy of New England.

In the southern colonies especially, the question about the status ofthe converted slave threatened to interfere with the slave-traffic sothat several of them passed acts to relieve the consciences of itscitizens. That of Virginia in 1667 is typical. It was enacted that"Baptism doth not alter the condition of the person as to his bondageor freedom; in order that diverse masters freed from this doubt maymore carefully endeavor the propagation of Christianity."[148] Thisact is interesting as showing the appearance even at this early periodof the ethical dualism between free spiritual personality and thephysical disabilities of slavery. This in time became classic withpro-slavery writers and perhaps received its strongest statement in abook that appeared even after emancipation.[149]

In the constitution of the province of Carolina, drawn up by JohnLocke in 1669, we have another interesting instance of the way inwhich the traditions of freedom associated with religion conflictedwith slavery. The author of the famousTreatise on Government, whichwas in part the inspiration of our Declaration of Independence, didnot feel that slavery was in any way incompatible[Pg 118] with the doctrineof freedom. Locke's constitution takes it for granted that slaveswould form part of the population of the province, though theconstitution was drawn up possibly two years before the first slavewas brought to the colony.[150] Locke insists upon entire religiousfreedom. "No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecuteanother for his speculative opinions in religion or his way ofworship." But he stipulates that this spiritual freedom shall in noway affect the status of the slave. "Since charity obliges us to wishwell to the souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing inany man's civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for slaves, aswell as others, to enter themselves, and be of what church orprofession any of them shall think best and, therefore, be as fullymembers as any freeman. But no slave shall hereby be exempted fromthat civil dominion his master hath over him, but be in all things inthe same state and condition he was in before." And again, even moreexplicitly in section 110: "Every freeman of Carolina shall haveabsolute power and authority over his negro slaves, of what opinion orreligion soever." These sections were evidently intended to meet anyscruples that might arise as to the effect of conversion upon theslave's status. The culmination of this discussion was an opinion ofthe Crown-Attorney and Solicitor-General of England, given in 1729 inresponse to an appeal from the colonists, to the effect that baptismin no way changed the status of the slave.[151] The trade of Britishmerchantmen was being endangered and it was important to remove thescruples of the religious slaveholder.

In this feeling of Christian sympathy and fellowship for the slave whoprofessed Christianity undoubtedly lay potentialities for thebetterment of his conditions. Had there been favorable economic andpolitical forces working to bring these notions of equality more andmore to the consciousness[Pg 119] of men, just as the storm and stress ofpolitical struggle forced them to espouse the doctrines of inalienablehuman rights, doubtless freedom would have come to the slave with thegrowing sense of the wider implications of democracy. Certainly hadthere prevailed in the South economic and social forces similar tothose in the North, the emancipation of the Negro would have takenplace naturally and normally in both sections. That Locke and hiscontemporaries felt no incongruity between their ideas of liberty andthe existence of slavery must be attributed to the fact that the fullsocial implications of their doctrines had not yet been brought hometo them by industrial development. They accepted the status of theslave as a matter of course in the existing agricultural order.

It is easy to see in Virginia, the chief slave-holding State of theearlier period, how economic interests in time narrowed the sphere ofaction and finally counteracted entirely the tendency of religion toextend to the slave the ideal of freedom. In the act of 1670, thefirst which dealt with slaves in Virginia, the enfranchising effect ofconversion was limited to servants imported from Christian lands; thuswere excluded at once the great majority of Negroes who came, ofcourse, from Africa. The few Negroes brought in from Christian lands,such as England and the West Indies, were assigned by the act to thestatus of servants from which many attained freedom. It was inevitablethat, in Virginia and the southern colonies especially, the religiousnotion that profession of Christianity made a difference in statusshould disappear before the more practical principle of race andcolor. By the time of the Revolution the matter of religion hadpractically disappeared as a factor in the status of the slave,[152]except in so far as it continued in the form of the vicious ethicaldualism which asserted that the slave could enjoy equality and freedomin the spiritual sphere while enduring physical bondage. This providedan effective salve for many a pious slaveholder's conscience.

At the time of the American Revolution before the real[Pg 120] problem ofslavery was felt, except in the minds of a few prophetic spirits suchas Jefferson, we can still detect two clearly marked tendencies. Atthe South economic forces were combining with the social and racialconditions to fix the status of slave as the normal condition of theNegro, a most portentous fact for the future of that section. At theNorth economic and social conditions were pointing already towards agradual emancipation of the slave in a democratic order that wasbecoming more and more conscious of the full significance of the ideasof freedom and equality.

What was the effect upon the status of the slave North and South ofthe struggle for independence and the adoption of a declaration to theeffect that all men are free and equal and possessed of certaininalienable rights?[153] In Pennsylvania from the very beginning ofthe war of independence interest in the manumission of slavesincreased until it finally culminated in the act of 1780, an "Act forthe Gradual Abolition of Slavery," by adopting which Pennsylvaniabecame the first State to pass an abolition law.[154] The preamble ofthis act asserts it to be the duty of Pennsylvanians to givesubstantial proof of their gratitude for deliverance from theoppression of Great Britain "by extending freedom to those of adifferent color but the work of the same Almighty hand." Previous to1776 discussion had been going on also in Massachusetts looking to theabolition of slavery and in 1777 there was introduced an act with thepreamble declaring that "the practice of holding Africans and thechildren born of them, or any other persons in slavery, isunjustifiable in a civil government, at a time when they are assertingtheir natural freedom."[155] This act never became law and it is aninteresting commentary upon conditions in the North, and especially inNew England, that in Massachusetts slavery was not abolished bylegislation but by the slow working of public sentiment.[Pg 121] The assemblyof Rhode Island, likewise, prefaced an act against the importation ofslaves in 1774 by asserting that those who were struggling for thepreservation of their rights and liberties, among which that ofpersonal freedom is greatest, must be willing to extend a like libertyto others.[156] Similar agitation and legislation were going on inalmost all the Northern and Middle States under the stimulus of thespirit of freedom of the time.[157]

It is easy to note a change in the mental atmosphere as we pass to theStates farther south. The Assembly of Delaware tabled indefinitely abill of 1785 for the gradual abolition of slavery, and Maryland in herdeclaration of rights adopted in 1776 restricted the enjoyment ofcertain rightsto freemen only. A petition introduced in the Houseof Burgesses of Virginia in 1785, asking for general emancipation onthe ground that slavery was contrary to the principles of religion andthe ideas of freedom on which the government was founded, was read andrejected without an opposing voice; Washington remarked in a letter toLafayette that it could hardly get a hearing.[158] In fact, there isevidence for believing that, while leading men such as Jefferson,Madison, Washington, Mason and Pinkney saw the evil of slavery andwished heartily to rid their States of it, the mass of the citizens ofMaryland and Virginia did not wish to do away with the institutioneither because of social habits and economic interests, or becausethey felt unable to cope with the problem of an emancipated blackpopulation. It must be remembered that in Maryland there were threeslaves to five whites, in Virginia and Georgia the numbers were aboutequal, in South Carolina there were two slaves to one white, while inMassachusetts there were sixty whites to one slave.[159] In the Statesfarther south, the Carolinas and Georgia, no change or attemptedchange in the status of the slave seems to have occurred. The force[Pg 122]of social and economic habits was already too strong for the movingsof the spirit of freedom to affect the status of the slave.

The leaders of the time realized this only too well. Patrick Henry,writing to a Quaker in 1773, said that slavery was "as repugnant tohumanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible and destructive ofliberty. Every thinking honest man rejects it as speculation, but howfew in practice from conscientious motives! Would any one believe thatI am a master of slaves of my own purchase?I am drawn along by thegeneral inconvenience of living without them."[160] Jefferson in aletter written in 1815 expressed the hope that slavery would in timeyield "to the enlargement of the human mind, and its advancement inscience," but he confessed also that "where the disease is most deeplyseated, there it will be slowest in eradication. In the NorthernStates it was merely superficial and easily corrected; in theSouthern, it is incorporated with the whole system, and requires time,patience and perseverance in the curative process. That it may finallybe effected and its progress hastened, will be my last and fondestprayer."[161]

Little light is gained as to the position occupied by the slave in thesocial mind from the discussions and debates of the constitutionalconvention of 1787, although slavery is tacitly recognized in theclauses on representation and taxation, the extension of theslave-trade, and the regulation of fugitive slaves. In connection withthe basis of representation and taxation the question arose whetherthe slave was a person or a chattel, but it was debated not with theview of bringing out what the consensus of opinion of the nation atlarge was but rather with a view to the political exigencies of thesituation. The individual States had never been inclined nor did theynow propose to surrender to the Union the right to determine thestatus of persons within their limits so that the debates were begunwith the general concession of the fact that slavery existed in some[Pg 123]of the States, that it would in all probability continue to exist, andthat the future of the institution was primarily a problem thatbelonged to the individual States where it was found.

The problem facing the members of the convention was, therefore, toprovide a system of representation that would ensure politicalequality to all sections and at the same time safeguard the peculiarconditions and social and economic institutions of each State. To baserepresentation entirely upon the number of the free population wouldgive an undue preponderance to the free States, while to base it uponall, both slave and free, would give an undue advantage to the fiveslave States. Hence the rather queer compromise that representation"shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons,including those bound to service for a term of years, and excludingIndians not taxed,three fifths of all other persons"—"all otherpersons" being a euphemism for "slaves," a term which does not occurin the document. By this measure the slave was made to be only threefifths of a full social unit, or three fifths of a man. This wouldseem to imply that in the social consciousness of the nation at largethe slave was part chattel and part person and this doubtless was thefact. Certainly this is not the last instance where a tendency hasmanifested itself to assign to the Negro a sort of intermediary statusbetween a chattel and a full social unit. The question came up in 1829in the Virginia constitutional convention in the struggle between theslaveholding eastern and the free western section of that State.[162]Doubtless one reason for the refusal of Congress to reduce therepresentation of the Southern States, after the legislation of a fewyears ago, that practically disfranchised the Negro in the far South,has been an unwillingness thus to lend national sanction to theinferior political as well as social status to which this legislationhas at least for the time being reduced the Negro.

The clause in the constitution which subjected its framers to thebitterest criticism at the hands of anti-slavery agitators[Pg 124] is thatwhich requires that a "person held to service"—the term "slave" ishere avoided also—in one State and escaping to another shall bedelivered up on claim of the party to whom the service is due. In viewof the interests to be reconciled this clause was undoubtedlynecessary to union.[163] If the free States were to become a place ofrefuge for escaping slaves it meant disaster for the States in whichthe institution of slavery existed and they insisted upon this as aself-protective measure. The constitution recognized the right of eachState to preserve the integrity of its own domestic institutions. "Itcan never too often be called to mind," says Rhodes, "that thepolitical parties of the Northern States and their senators andrepresentatives in Congress, scrupulously respected the constitutionalprotection given to the peculiar institution of the South, until, byher own act, secession dissolved the bonds of union."[164] The tragedyof the situation lay in the fact that the political necessities of thetime made unavoidable this strange union between freedom and slavery,the fundamental incompatibility of which the expanding national lifewas bound to make clear to the minds of men.

Looking back on this momentous period we are struck with what Leckycalls "the grotesque absurdity of slaveowners signing a Declaration ofIndependence which asserted the inalienable right of every man toliberty and equality."[165] That the contradiction existed, that itwas felt by men like Jefferson, and that it was destined to becomemore prominent in the mind of the nation as the implications andapplications of the great ideas of freedom and equality were enrichedand enlarged in the expanding life of a virile democracy, can not bedenied. But it may be remarked in the defense of our Revolutionaryfathers that they were facing the practical problem of effectingnational unity and that "it is a tendency of the Anglo-Saxon race totake the expedient in politics when the absolute right can[Pg 125] not behad."[166] They compromised on slavery and on the whole wisely.Moreover, the history of the development of great moral and politicalconcepts indicates that men often formulate principles the logicalimplications of which are not grasped until new problems and thedemand for new social adjustments emerge. The great moral categoriesof courage, temperance and justice first received scientificformulation at the hands of the Greeks; the ever swelling stream ofhuman civilization has vastly enriched and enlarged these conceptionsbut without altering their essential meaning. When the idea of libertywhich in 1776 included only one class, namely, those who owned theproperty and administered the government of the nation, was expandedso as to include every member of the social order, at that momentslavery was doomed.

John M. Mecklin

Professor in the University of Pittsburgh

[Pg 126]

John Woolman's Efforts in Behalf of Freedom

Pioneers of epoch-making reforms are seldom accorded the reward theymerit. Later apostles usually obscure the greatness of theirpredecessors, and posterity is prone to overlook the pristineachievements of those who first had the vision. Such is the case ofJohn Woolman, a poor, untutored shopkeeper of New Jersey. He was amongthe foremost to visualize the wrongs of human slavery, but his realsignificance as an abolitionist has been greatly dimmed by thesubsequent deeds of such apostles as Garrison, Phillips, and Lincoln.

John Woolman's career as an apostle of freedom dates from his firstappearance in the ministry of the Society of Friends, an organizationcommonly known as the Quakers, founded by George Fox in England duringthe middle of the seventeenth century. Shortly after the organizationof this society, many of the members migrated to New England and theMiddle Atlantic Colonies. Others were exiled by Charles II to the WestIndies.[167] Paradoxical as it may seem, these earliest Friends,though distinguishing themselves from other Christian sects by theirspecial stress on immediate teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit,had no scruples against keeping slaves. As a matter of fact, there wasa prevalent conviction that Christianity indorsed slavery.[168]

This anomalous indifference to the enslaved Negro's condition remainedalmost constant until 1742. A few sporadic attempts, to be sure, weremade to discountenance[Pg 127] slavery, but popular opinion, incited bygreed, favored the institution. In 1671, for example, George Fox,during his visit to Barbadoes, admonished slaveholders to train theirslaves in the fear of God; and further admonished the overseers "todeal gently and mildly with their Negroes, and not use cruelty towardsthem as the manner of some hath been and is, and after certain yearsof servitude make them free."[169] Four years later, William Edmundsoncomplained against the unjust treatment of slaves, but was brought,for his pains, before the Governor, on the charge of "endeavoring toexcite an insurrection among the blacks."[170] In 1688 the GermanQuakers of Germantown, Pennsylvania, sent to the Yearly Meeting forthe Pennsylvania and New Jersey Colonies a protest against "the buyingand keeping of Negroes."[171] The matter was taken under advisement,but not until eight years later did the Yearly Meeting advise against"bringing in any more Negroes." The Chester Quarterly Meeting,however, insisted upon the adoption of definite measures against slavetraffic, but the Society never manifested any enthusiasm for suchlegislation. The Friends were themselves slaveholders, andslaveholders were rapidly increasing their wealth and power throughslavery; so they felt no pressing need of reform. The Yearly Meetings,therefore, like many modern congresses, dextrously dodged the graveissue of Negroes' rights, and merely expressed an opinion meeklyopposed to the importation of the blacks, and a desire that "Friendsgenerally do, as much as may be, avoid buying such Negroes as shallhereafter be brought in, rather than offend any Friends who areagainst it; yet this is only caution and not censure."[172] Not until1742 was any appreciable influence exerted on the Friends againstslavery. A storekeeper of Mount Holly, New Jersey, requested his clerkto prepare a bill of sale of a Negro woman whom he had sold. Thethought of writing[Pg 128] such an instrument greatly oppressed the clerk. Hecomplied, however, but afterwards told both the employer and thecustomer that he considered slave-keeping inconsistent with theChristian religion.[173] The clerk who ventured such an opinion wasJohn Woolman.

John Woolman was born in Northampton, in Burlington County, WestJersey, in the year 1720. His youthful struggle against wickedness wasin many respects similar to Bunyan's. The fear of God seized him inearly boyhood, and an intense religious fervor characterized hisfuture career. Though this fervor was undoubtedly an innate tendency,it owed its development partly to the early guidance of pious parents;for Woolman's father was, without doubt, a devout Christian. EverySunday after meeting, the children were required to read the HolyScriptures or some religious books. Here, no doubt, was the beginningof Woolman's religious devotion to the teachings of the Bible.[174] Attimes, during his youth, he apparently forgot these earliestteachings, but he never wandered too far to be reproved by hisconscience. When he reached the age of[Pg 129] sixteen, his will was finallysubdued, and he learned the lesson that youth seldom learns,—that"all the cravings of sense must be governed by a Divine principle." Hetells us that he became convinced that "true religion consisted in aninward life, wherein the heart doth love and reverence God, theCreator, and learns to exercise true justice and goodness, not onlytoward all men, but also toward the brute creatures."[175]

All this time Woolman lived with his parents and worked on theplantation. His schooling was, consequently, meagre, but he gave agenerous portion of his leisure to his self-improvement. At the age oftwenty-one, he left home to tend shop and keep books for a baker inMount Holly. Meanwhile, his religious fervor was growing more intense,and with it his genuine philanthropy. The inevitable sequence of hisaccelerated enthusiasm for spreading the teachings of Christianity washis entrance into the Christian ministry.[176]

In 1746 Woolman accompanied his beloved friend, Isaac Andrews, on atour through Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. It was on this journeythat he beheld for the first time the miseries of slavery.[177] Hebecame so depressed with[Pg 130] what he saw that on his return he wrote anessay on the subject, publishing it in 1754. The essay appeared underthe elongated title of "Some Considerations on the Keeping of NegroesRecommended to the Professors of Christianity of EveryDenomination."[178] The theme of Woolman's discussion is theBrotherhood of Man. "All men by nature," he argues, "are equallyentitled to the equity of the Golden Rule, and under indispensableobligations to it."[179] The whole discussion, which is an appeal tothe Friends to be mindful of the teachings of the Bible, glows withthe religious zeal which was so eminently characteristic of theauthor. It is replete with such Biblical references as are sure tohave a wholesome effect upon a religious sect like the Society ofFriends.

Woolman made a second visit in 1757 to the Southern meetings of theSociety of Friends. Again he beheld the miseries of slavery and becamegreatly alarmed at the extension of the system. Everywhere he turned,he saw slaves. What pained him most was the presence of slaves in thehomes of Friends. He declined, therefore, to accept the hospitality ofhis several hosts, feeling that the acceptance of such courtesieswould be an indorsement or encouragement of the[Pg 131] evil.[180] Meanwhile,he held confidential talks with Friends on the subject of slavery. Onone occasion, when a colonel of the militia berated the Negroes'slothful disposition, Woolman replied that free men, whose minds areproperly on their business, find a satisfaction in improving,cultivating, and providing for their families; whereas Negroes,laboring to support others, and expecting nothing but slavery duringlife, have not the same inducement to be industrious. Again, whenanother slaveholder gave the wretchedness of Negroes, occasioned byintestine wars, as a justification of slave-traffic, Woolman answeredthat, if compassion for the Africans, on account of their domestictroubles, was the real motive of buying them, the spirit of tendernessshould incite the Friends to use the Negroes kindly, as strangersbrought out of affliction. Many other arguments were urged in defenceof slavery, among which number was the oft-repeated notion that theAfricans' color subjects them to, or qualifies them for, slavery,inasmuch as they are descendants of Cain who was marked with thiscolor, because he slew his brother Abel.[181] In short, a large portion
[Pg 132]of Woolman's time during this second journey was given over to
answering such arguments. He travelled in the two months, during whichhe was out, about eleven hundred and fifty miles. His efforts were notwithout fruit, for he made a profound impression on many of thehonest-hearted.

All this time Woolman fought single-handed against overwhelming odds,but he was destined soon to have help from two of the most remarkableand antithetical personages connected with this early movement againstslavery; namely, Benjamin Lay and Anthony Benezet.[182] Layrepresented the revolutionary type of reformer. Whittier describes hispersonal appearance as "a figure only four and a half feet high,hunchbacked, with projecting chest, legs small and uneven, arms longerthan his legs; a huge head, showing only beneath his enormous whitehat large, solemn eyes and a prominent nose; the rest of his facecovered with a snowy semicircle of beard falling low on his breast—afigure to recall the old legends of troll, brownie, and kobold."[183]By birth he was a Friend, but the Society in England disowned[Pg 133] him onaccount of his revolutionary propensities. He took up residence in theWest Indies, but was compelled to leave on account of his violentdenunciation of slavery. He went to Philadelphia, but finding slaverythere, retired to a cave, where he lived a most eccentric life,refusing to eat food or wear clothes which had been secured at theexpense of animal life, or produced by slave labor. He made frequentexcursions, however, from his cave to denounce slavery, his favoritesubject being "Deliverance to the Captive." He usually succeeded inbeing heard, though he was detested by the slaveholders. On oneoccasion, when he interrupted a meeting in Philadelphia, he wasforcibly ejected by a burly blacksmith. He remained, however, the mostfearless of the earliest abolitionists. Though his methods wereentirely different from Woolman's, and though, no doubt, neitherreformer was influenced by the other, Lay's stubborn fight againstslavery was obviously helpful to Woolman's calmer campaign against thesame evil.

Anthony Benezet, on the other hand, was a reformer of riper judgmentand calmer methods than Lay. He has been described as "a small,eager-faced man, full of zeal and activity, constantly engaged inworks of benevolence, which were by no means confined to theblacks."[184] He was a descendant of persecuted French Protestants.He, therefore, inherited an aversion to any form of persecution, andreadily became a benefactor of the slave. It was inevitable that heshould become a friend of Woolman, and a coadjutor in the movement toabolish slavery.[185]

Whether Lay or Benezet was influenced by Woolman may be a matter ofspeculation and debate. The consideration of primary importance is theincreasing interest manifested in abolition. The Friends werebeginning to realize that slavery was contradictory to the basicprinciples of[Pg 134] their organization. Woolman's real opportunity,therefore, came at the memorable Yearly Meeting of 1758, inPhiladelphia—the meeting which Whittier has seen fit to term "one ofthe most important convocations in the history of the Christianchurch." All during the early part of the meeting, Woolman remainedsilent, his "mind frequently covered with inward prayer." But when,towards the close of the meeting, the subject of slavery was broughtup, he took such an active part in the discussion that he dominatedthat part of the meeting. His remarks were simple but impressive.[186]The effect was so immediate that many slaveholders expressed a desireto pass a rule to treat as offenders Friends who in the future boughtslaves. But there arose the criticism that the real evil could hardlybe cured "until a thorough search was made in the circumstances ofsuch Friends as kept Negroes with respect to the uprighteousness oftheir motives in keeping them, that impartial justice might beadministered throughout." Sober thought prevailed. Many assented tothe proposition, and others declared that liberty was the Negro'sright. Before the meeting closed, John Woolman, John Scarborough,Daniel Stanton, and John Sykes were appointed a committee "to visitand treat with such Friends as kept slaves."[187] Thus the firstimportant step towards the abolition of slavery was taken.

The committee lost no time in setting out on their mission. Such astupendous undertaking, however, was fraught with obviousdifficulties. In the first place, the system of[Pg 135] slavery had assumedsuch large proportions that it required a number of years to visit andtreat with any appreciable number of slaveholders. Again, it was by nomeans easy to persuade slaveholders to give up a possession whichmeant so much to them in power and wealth. Finally, it wasunfortunately true in the eighteenth century, as it is in thetwentieth, that an argument of right and justice, based uponChristianity, did not have instantaneous effect upon professingChristians. But Woolman seemed divinely inspired to perform hismission. He travelled extensively and never hesitated to approachFriends on the subject of slavery.[188] At the Yearly Meeting for1759, he was gratified to learn that a recommendation had been made toFriends "to labor against buying and keeping slaves."[189]

As a means of promoting his cause, Woolman published in 1762 thesecond part of his "Considerations on Keeping Negroes," a continuationof his appeal for the operation of the Golden Rule.[190] The overseersof the press offered to print the essay at the expense of the YearlyMeeting, but[Pg 136] Woolman did not accept the offer. He published the essayat his own expense.[191] Woolman gives the following reason for notaccepting the overseers' offer: "This stock is the contribution of themembers of our religious society in general, among whom are some whokeep Negroes, and being inclined to continue them in slavery, are notlikely to be satisfied with such books being spread among a people,especially at their own expense, many of whose slaves are taught toread, and, such receiving them as a gift, often conceal them. But asthey who make a purchase generally buy that which they have a mindfor, I believe it best to sell them expecting by that means they wouldmore generally be read with attention."

The story of the rest of Woolman's life is but a repetition of histravels and labors in behalf of abolition. He travelled extensively,beheld the deplorable conditions attending slavery, and preached toFriends his only sermon, that "Whatsoever ye would that men should dounto you, do ye even so unto them." He did not live to see the slavesmanumitted by all the slaveholding Friends, but he "was renewedlyconfirmed in mind that the Lord (whose tender mercies are over all hisworks, and whose ear is open to all the cries and groans of theoppressed) is graciously moving in the hearts of people to draw themoff from the desire of wealth and to bring them into such an humble,lowly way of living that they may see their way clearly to repair tothe standard of true righteousness, and may not only break the yoke ofoppression, but may know Him to be their strength and support in timesof outward affliction."[192]

Woolman's career was fittingly brought to an end in England, thebirthplace of the society for whose improvement he labored sofaithfully. He landed at London in June, 1772, and went straightway tothe Yearly Meeting.[Pg 137][193] He visited a number of meetings inneighboring towns. While he was attending a meeting of Friends atYork, he was smitten with small-pox. He died of the malady, October 1,1772. But his difficult duty had been performed, and his labor had notbeen in vain. His efforts had so greatly influenced the Society ofFriends that the traffic in slaves had been almost abandoned duringhis life. Some, of course, continued the practice of holding slaves;but a protest against the practice was made at the Yearly Meeting twoyears after the death of Woolman, and in 1776 the subordinate meetingswere instructed to "deny the right of membership to such as persistedin holding their fellow-men as property." Thus, within four yearsafter the pious reformer's death, the Society of Friends embraced thedoctrine of abolition and made slaveholding an offence againstChristianity.

The life of John Woolman furnishes another example of a poor butcourageous man, who, guided by the real teachings[Pg 138] of the Christianreligion, rendered a great service to mankind. Living at a time whenthe defence of black men's rights was considered reprehensible, hefought against discouraging odds for the brotherhood of mankind. Hewas meek, persuasive, and confident. He was not a scholar, but "thegreatest clerks be not the wisest men," says Chaucer. Like Bunyan, hewas a student of the Holy Bible, and well understood its teachings. Herealized that no power is durable, or any religion permanent, that isbased on hypocrisy. He realized, further, that the grave question ofmen's rights must be interpreted in terms of the Christian religion.His fellow Friends, incited by selfish motives, had become unmindfulof the basic elements of their religion. In their attempt to condoneslavery and embrace the religion of brotherhood, they had madeChristianity appear farcical. John Woolman's task, then, was not topropagate a new religion, but to make fashionable the Christianreligion in which all professed a belief. He succeeded because he wasallied to the right. He succeeded because he fought courageouslyagainst the wrong. He succeeded because he was a true disciple of theChristian religion. Although his laudable achievement is somewhatoverlooked in these days, and his name does not command a conspicuousplace on the pages of anthologies, the true lovers of freedom and thesincere exponents of the Christian religion will always remember withreverence the wonderful service of John Woolman, the pious Quaker ofNew Jersey.

G. David Houston

[Pg 139]

The Tarik É Soudan

The sixteenth century was the golden age of science and literature inTimbuctoo. Her scholars with the University of Sankoré as a center hadso generously contributed to the world's thought that they had broughtto that country no less fame than its statesmen and warriors by theirconstructive work and daring deeds. The country, however, was finallyinvaded by the Moors and the scattering of the talented classresulting thereby led to the inevitable decline of culture. "Yet,"says Félix DuBois, "the greatest work of all literature of the Sudanwas produced in the first days of its twilight, namely, that Tarik éSoudan (the History of the Soudan)"[194] which we shall here brieflyconsider.

Investigators had for years endeavored to discover this valuable book,which because of certain traces in the Barbary States had beengenerally considered the work of Ahmed Baba. The explorer Barth, thefirst to make a study of this document, was of the same opinion. FélixDuBois expresses his surprise that a man so well informed on Arabiansubjects as Barth could be so easily misled, when the very extractsthemselves quote Ahmed Baba as an authority. This misconception wasdue to the failure of the German scholar to read anything but thefragments which he discovered at Gando and to his suspicion that theauthor in quoting Ahmed Baba was following the Arabs' custom ofquoting themselves. Félix DuBois found an excellent copy in Jenne andmade from it a duplicate which was corrected from a copy ofTimbuctoo,[195] so that he now has the work in what he considers ascomplete a form as possible.[196]

In establishing the authorship of this work, Félix DuBois emphasizesthe fact that the book contains the date, year,[Pg 140] month and day ofAhmed Baba's death and that elsewhere the author gives a verycircumstantial account of himself and his belongings. "His name,"according to this authority, "is Abderrahman (ben Abdallah, ben Amran,ben Amar) Sadi el Timbucti, and he was born at Timbuctoo, (the 'objectof his affections'), of one of those families in which science andpiety are transmitted as a patrimony."[197] It seems that he wastrained by a distinguished professor who inspired him with the desireto be intellectual. This book shows, too, that he was a mature mansome time between 1625 and 1635, during the period when the star ofTimbuctoo was waning. That he should still maintain himself as ascholar and obtain the respect of the destructive invaders was due tothe reverence with which they held the learned men of the fallenEmpire. Having established a reputation which far transcended thebounds of his native country, Abderrahman Sadi was received with marksof honor and presented with gifts during all of his travels to Massinaand the regions of the Upper Niger. He was made iman of a mosque ofJenne in 1631, but was later deprived of that honor. He then returnedto Timbuctoo, where he was received with sympathy and consoled byfriends.

Abderrahman Sadi spent his remaining years, first at Timbuctoo, thenat Jenne. It seems that because of his unusual learning and knowledgeof politics and government he was employed by the pashas in diplomaticaffairs. Although there was then no longer the same center of cultureas flourished at the University of Sankoré in former years,Abderrahman Sadi, still imbued with the desire to impart knowledge,devoted no little of his time to giving lectures and holdingconferences. His most important undertaking, however, was his greathistorical work embracing all the countries of the Niger. For such astupendous task he had adequate preparation not only by his formertraining but by his experience as a traveller, his services as apublic functionary, his social contact and his access to documentswhich are no longer extant. The following is the preface:[Pg 141]

"Praise be to God whom the weight of a pearl upon the earth doesnot escape. May prayer and salvation be with the Master of thefirst and last, our Lord Mohammed. We know that our ancestorstook pleasure in mentioning the companions of the Prophet and thesaints, the sheiks and eminent kings of their country, with theirlives, their edifices, and the great events of their reigns. Theyhave told us all that they have seen, or heard, of the timesextending behind us.

"As for the present time, no one is to be found to take aninterest in these things or follow the path traced by theirancestors. Witnessing the decline of this science (history), soprecious on account of the instruction it offers to mankind, Ihave implored the assistance of God in writing down all that Ihave read, seen, or heard concerning the kings of the Sudan andthe Songhoi people, and in relating their history and the eventsconnected with their expeditions of war. I shall speak ofTimbuctoo and of its foundation, of the princes who have wieldedthe power of that city, I shall mention the learned and pious menwho dwelt therein, and I shall continue this history to the closeof the dominion of the sultans of Morocco."[198]

While it is not our purpose to sketch here the history of this empire,some knowledge of it will give a better appreciation of this greatwork. As an historical document the Tarik é Soudan is the only sourcefrom which we get an idea as to the origin of the Songhoi. The nativesof this country inform the traveller that they came from the east. TheTarik é Soudan says: "The first king of the Songhoi was calledDialliaman," meaning, "He has come from Yemen." Dialliaman quittedYemen in company with his brother. They travelled through the countryof God until destiny brought them to the land of Kokia. Giving a moredetailed account it says:

"Now Kokia was a town of the Songhoi people situated on the banksof a river, and was very ancient. It existed in the time of thePharaohs, and it is said that one of them, during his disputewith Moses, sent thither for the magician whom he opposed to theProphet.

"The two brothers reached the town in such a terrible state ofdistress that their appearance was scarcely human; their skinswere cracked by the heat and dust of the desert, and they werealmost naked. The inhabitants questioned them concerning thecountry of their origin, and their names have been forgotten inthe surname with which their reply provided them, 'Dia min alJemen'—'Come from Yemen,' And Dialliaman the elder settled inKokia. Now the god of the Songhoi was a fish who appeared to themfrom the water at certain periods wearing a golden ring in hisnose; and the people gethered together and worshipped the fish,receiving its commands and prohibitions and obeying its oracles.[Pg 142]

"Perceiving their error, Dialliaman hid in his heart a resolutionto kill the false deity, and God assisted him in his design.

"One day he pierced the fish with a lance in the presence of thepeople and killed it. Then the people proclaimed Dialliamanking."[199]

Here the author has confused tradition with history.[200] The documentitself, however, substantiates the contention that there arose in thisregion one of the world's greatest empires ruled by an almost unbrokensuccession of kings who piloted the nation through the trials of itsincipiency, enabled it to develop a very advanced civilization, andextended its influence over a large portion of Africa. The empire ofthe Songhoi lasted about 1,000 years, during which three dynastiesruled over these people. The kings of these lines adopted the namesDia, Sunni, and Askia. The first included thirty kings who ruled from700 to 1335; the second a line of eighteen kings from 1335 to 1492,and the third and last dynasty from 1494 to 1591.

During the reign of Dia Sobi of the first dynasty the empire passedthrough a crisis. Unable to conquer its enemies from without, itfinally became the vassal of the Mali empire on the west. Jenne, thecity of much wealth and culture, was then separated from the Songhoiempire. But finally there came Ali Kolon, of the second dynasty, whofreed the Songhoi from the rule of Mali. The country thereaftercontinued for some time in peace. Later it expanded considerably underSunni Ali, "the true Negro soldier," who ruled from 1464 to 1493.Although skeptical,[Pg 143] violent and oppressive he paved the way for theestablishment of the largest empire which had ever existed in thatpart of the world.

In 1494 the second dynasty was brought to a close when Sunni Barro,the last of that line, was obliged to flee from the country and AskiaMohammed usurped the throne. He began as a pious ruler and was,therefore, praised as "a brilliant light shining after great darkness;a savior who drew the servants of God from idolatry and the countryfrom ruin."[201] He made pilgrimages to Mecca, scattered his funds inthe holy places, rendered homage to the Khalif Abassid Motewekkel inEgypt, got in touch with the theologians and learned men of Cairo andendeavored to take over the more advanced civilization of Egypt.During these years, however, his piety did not deter him from the useof the sword. He ever fought his neighbors, conducting an expeditionagainst some nation almost every year. He eventually succeeded intriumphing over his enemies, conquering Mali on the west and Agades,Katsina, Kano, Zegzey, and Sanfara on the east. He was then Askia theGreat, the ruler of one of the greatest empires of the world,extending north and south from Thegazza to Bandouk and east and westfrom Lake Chad to the Atlantic Ocean. He was not a mere warrior. Hewas just as successful in carrying out a constructive policy ofincorporation. Instead of being satisfied with the payment of tribute,he destroyed old systems, established his lieutenants in the seats ofgovernment, appointed viceroys[Pg 144] to supervise the governors ofprovinces, promoted commerce, and built up a formidable standing army.

Askia the Great, however, finally declined and was deposed by his sonAskia Moussa in 1521. He entered upon the policy of killing hishundred brothers and was finally assassinated. Then came a nephew ofAskia the Great, Askia Bankouri, who, much like his predecessor,endeavored to murder his uncles who might pretend to the throne.Despite this blot on his escutcheon, however, it is said that hewielded power with magnificence and maintained a great court. He wasdethroned by the Viceroy of Dandi in 1537 and Askia Ismael wasproclaimed king. His motives, according to the Tarik, are interesting."I accepted the honour for three reasons," declared he; "to rescue myfather from his distressful condition, to enable my sisters to resumethe veil that Bankouri had obliged them to relinquish, and to pacifyYan Mara, one of the hundred hen ostriches, who was wont to throwherself into a frenzy whenever she saw Bankouri."[202]

Ismael died in 1540 and was succeeded by his brother Ishak. Followingthe example of his predecessor, he put to death many of his relations.The last four Askia to rule over the entire empire had much difficultyin maintaining their positions because of the internal and externalcauses operating to make it decline and fall. The Moors, the mostaggressive peoples then seeking to invade the dominions, finallyoverran the empire and made it a colony.

Referring to this turbulent period through which the empire passed,the Tarik says: "All was changed in a moment. Danger took the place ofsecurity, destitution of abundance, trouble, calamities, and violencesucceeded to tranquillity. Everywhere the populations began to destroyeach other. In all places and in every direction rapine became thelaw, war spared neither life nor property, nor the position of thepeople. Disorder was general, it spread everywhere till it reached atlast the highest degree of intensity." "Things continued thus," addsthe historian, "until towards the moment in which the Songhoi dynastyapproached its[Pg 145] end, and its empire ceased to exist. At this momentfaith was exchanged for infidelity; there was nothing forbidden by Godwhich was not openly done. Men drank wine, they gave themselves up tovice.... As to adultery, it became so frequent that indulgence in itwas almost accepted as permissible. Without it there was no eleganceand no glory. ... Because of these abominations, the Almighty in hisvengeance drew down upon the Songhoi the victorious army of the Moors.He brought it through terrible suffering from a distant country. Thenthe roots of this people were separated from the trunk, and thechastisement they underwent was exemplary."[203]

The Tarik é Soudan, however, continues its story beyond the fall ofthe empire of the Songhoi. It throws light on Foulbes, Touaregs, Mossiand Ouolofs, mentions Morocco and Massina, sketches the careers ofsaints and scholars, sets forth the authorscurriculum vitae, andbrings this narrative to a close in 1653. His task as a historianfinished, the author appends the annals of the country to the year1656, saying: "What shall happen hereafter I shall relate in the samemanner as that which is past, for as long as I shall be alive."[204]It is highly probable that the author died that year.

Considered from all angles the student must agree with theinvestigator that the Tarik é Soudan is a masterpiece. Barth, thedistinguished German scholar, says that the book forms "one of themost important additions that the present age has made to the historyof mankind."[205] Lady Lugard, another writer in this field, believesthat it is not merely an authentic narrative but is an unusuallyvaluable document since it throws unconscious light upon the life,manners, politics and literature of that country. "Above all," saysshe, "it possesses the crowning quality, displayed usually in creativepoetry alone, of presenting a vivid picture of the character of themen with whom it deals. It has been called the 'Epic of the Soudan,'"continues the writer. "It lacks[Pg 146] the charm of form, but in all elsethe description is well merited. Its pages are a treasure-house ofinformation for the careful student and the volumes may be read manytimes without extracting from them more than a small part of all thatthey contain."[206]

Félix DuBois refers to it as serving him as his "charming andpicturesque guide through the Soudan." "TheTarik é Soudan," sayshe, "is conceived upon a perfectly clear and logical plan according tothe most correct rules of literary composition."[207] "It forms, withthe exception of the holy writings, the favorite volume of the negro,and is known to the furthest extremity of western Africa, from theshores of the Niger to the borders of Lake Chad." "Its style,"continues he, "is very simple and clear, entirely lacking thoseliterary artifices so much in vogue among the Arabs; and the authordisplays an unusual conscientiousness, never hesitating to give bothversions of a doubtful event."[208] On the whole it is a book ofelevated active morals and with its charming combination of fables,marvels and miracles it is well adapted to influence the negraic mind.The work is not an uninteresting narration of events but anexplanation of them as the rewards of God when fortunate andpunishments of the wicked when calamitous. Devoted to religion andcivic virtue, the author portrays as sinful the evil deeds of allwhether they be peasants or kings. "TheTarik is to this day,"remarks Félix DuBois, "the Hozier of the Soudan. In addition to theattractions to be found in its pages, it contains a charm whichentirely escapes the Sudanese, and which we alone are privileged totaste, viz., thenaïvete, good nature, and delicious sincerity whichpervade the book." The "book admirably reflects the life and mind ofthe Soudan of yesterday. One enjoys from its pages," says this writer,"the delicate repasts offered by Homer, Herodotus, and Froissard, andit is for this reason I have called theTarik the chef-d'oeuvre ofSudanese literature."[209]

A.O. Stafford

[Pg 147]

From a Jamaica Portfolio—Francis Williams[210]

A great dividing line in the history of Jamaica runs across the recordbetween the years 1834 and 1838. On the further side lay slavery; onthe hitherward side lies the freedom, partially proclaimed on August1, 1834, and made complete and absolute on a like date in the year ofgrace 1838. Amid the noise and gloom of the period from these yearsback into the past, it is only here and there that the face and figureof a son of Africa stands out with anything like clearness ordistinction against the background of historic events. It was in 1494that the European first came to Jamaica. The island was thendiscovered by Columbus. Fifteen years later the Spaniards, who hadmeantime harried and slain the native Indians, set to work seriouslyto settle in the island. As the Arrowaks withered from the land,before the cruelty of the conqueror, the African was brought in tosupply slave labor.[211] It is not our immediate task to enquire intothe condition of the slaves during the Spanish occupation, nor doesthere exist very much material for answering such an enquiry, but itmay be noted, as an interesting fact, that a black priest was in thedeputation that came forth to negotiate with the British conquerorwhen, in 1655, the surrender of the capital city, St. Jago de la Vega,became a necessity. The Spanish Governor, Don Arnoldi Gasi, sent asone of his representatives Don[Pg 148] Acosta, "a noble Portuguese."Belonging to his establishment and accompanying him as chaplain was aNegro priest. His name has not come down to us but we know his fate.One of the conditions of the surrender was that the Spaniards were notto attempt to remove their belongings.[212] The town, however,contained a party, chiefly of Portuguese, hostile to the surrender.The first article of the capitulation required that all "goods, wares,merchandizes, or what else upon the said island, be delivered up,etc., without any deceit, embezzlement, or concealment whatever." Acertain Colonel made bold to drive away into the woodlands all thecattle he could collect. Don Acosta was not only as a man of honorshocked at this breach of a solemnly signed agreement, but he had thepainful personal interest in it of being a hostage in the hands of theBritish for the due performance of the treaty of surrender. Hetherefore, we are told, sent to the Colonel "his priest, a discreetNegro, to remonstrate."[213] The Colonel put the priest to death, andapparently suffered no worse punishment for this dastardly act than tohave the cattle he had gone away with discovered and brought back tothe British lines.[214]

When the Spaniards a few weeks after evacuated the island, going byship to Cuba, they took the liberty of further transgressing thetreaty made with Penn and Venables, the British commanders, for,instead of taking their slaves with them, they turned them loose intothe hills, with directions to harass the British as much as waspossible. These slaves formed the nucleus of the Maroons, a body ofmountain warriors whose deeds of daring and battle form a story toolong and too interesting to be dealt with here.[215]

The British speedily introduced African slaves into the island, and,after a few generations, the population had taken the contour it stillpreserves, namely, the pure whites,[Pg 149] the colored folk (mixed breeds)and the pure blacks. For one reason and another, individuals in thelast-named section obtained their freedom. Sometimes it was granted tothem by masters who appreciated some special service rendered.Sometimes it was bequeathed to them by kind-hearted masters. At timesit was a gift from the state for services rendered in times ofrebellion or other disaster to the commonwealth.[216]

Among the colored element of the population the tendency towardsmanumission was even more marked and extensive, for there the whitefathers often not only bestowed freedom on their offspring butbequeathed to them comfortable, if not ample, means. Our immediateinterest is, however, to be found among the blacks, for it is amongthem that we see a face and figure that holds our attention.

Among the earliest Negroes in Jamaica freed because of servicesrendered to the state was one John Williams. Under date of 1708, a lawstands on record, the first of its kind, forbidding slave testimonybeing received in evidence against two Negroes, to wit, ManuelBartholomew and John Williams. This was bestowing on them one of thevital privileges as a rule confined to whites. Eight years later therewas passed another act extending the privilege to Dorothy Williams,wife of John, and also to the sons of these two, namely, John, Thomas,and Francis. Exactly what led to such marked discrimination in favorof Williams and his family the records have not so far revealed, butthe mere continuation of the concession and its extension suggest thatthere was something special about the character and worth of JohnWilliams, Senior, as viewed by the ruling authorities. Another factemphasizes this. John Williams, between 1708 and 1716, had to endurethe rather dangerous hostility of a member of the legislature. Thislegislator applied to Williams the term "a black Negro," as one ofcontempt. Williams replied with the term, self-contradictory no doubtbut effective enough to rile a Jamaican legislator in the early partof the eighteenth century. He styled[Pg 150] his would-be traducer a "whiteNegro." As a result he ran the risk of seeing his valued privilegeswithdrawn once and for all. Supported by a few of his friends, theirate legislator brought the matter before the House of Assembly, andit was actually proposed that the Act of 1708, the Magna Charta so tospeak of the Williams family, should be revoked. The effort, however,failed, and it seems reasonable to view that fact as a testimony tosomething of worth in John Williams, especially when we find that soonafter his privileges were extended to his wife and his threesons.[217]

Francis Williams now replaces John, his father, and Dorothy, hismother, against the background of the past. The Duke of Montaguewished to put to the test some of his opinions about the capabilitiesof the Negro. He desired to see whether a black boy taken and trainedat an English school and then at a university would not equal inintellectual attainments a white youth similarly educated.[218] Thelinks that would explain how it was that the choice for thisexperiment fell on Francis Williams are missing, but there it didfall. He must certainly have been, as Gardner suggests, "a lively,intelligent lad,"[219] but that by itself would not fully explain hisbeing chosen. Someone fairly high up in Jamaica must have been takinga special interest in the Williams family, and that interest, in viewof the collateral facts, must have been based on something of note inJohn Williams, Senior.

Francis received preliminary training in Jamaica, and then was sent toan English grammar school. Thence he went to Cambridge University.Only the bare facts of his story remain, like a skeleton, but we cansafely argue that he did not disappoint the expectations of his patronto any serious extent, for, when the time came for Francis to returnto Jamaica, the Duke of Montague used his influence with somedetermination to get his protégé appointed to a seat in the Council,that his abilities might be fully put to[Pg 151] the test. The Governor ofthe island with whom the Duke had to do was Edward Trelawny, and thisshows that Williams returned to Jamaica between 1738 and 1748, for itwas between those years that Trelawny held sway. They were stormytimes, and Trelawny was a man with anything but a placid temper orcompliant views. The famous war of "Jenkin's ear," between Britain andSpain, began in 1738. Porto Bello was destroyed by Vernon andCartagena was attacked with troops whose base was Jamaica. In fact,Trelawny added a Negro detachment to the army employed.[220] In thequarrels that followed the disastrous failure at Cartagena, Trelawnyhad even more than his fair share of the cursing, and it is hardlysurprising to find that a man of such temper, and amid such storms offate, was anything but malleable to the Duke's request. The Governorknew his mind, and it was that setting a black man in the Councilwould excite restlessness among the slave population. The Duke'sexperiment with Williams was, therefore, not completed as the Dukehimself intended it should be.[221]

Williams settled down in Spanish Town (St. Jago de la Vega), the thencapital of the island, and conducted a school for imparting aclassical and mathematical education. He became known also in theisland, and to some extent abroad, as a poet and the fragments of hiswork that have come down to us show that he was at any rate a fairliterary craftsman. Of the sort of man he was personally, we have notthe material for a fair judgment, for we are practically shut up tosurveying the man through the very colored glass that the historianLong inserts in the loophole of observation he has turned on Williams.Long, who published his History of Jamaica in 1774, was of the planterclass, and his prejudice on such a matter was probably so completethat he was not even conscious that prejudice existed. He says ofWilliams: "In regard to the general character of the[Pg 152] man, he washaughty, opinionated, looked down with sovereign contempt on hisfellow blacks, entertained the highest opinion of his own knowledge,treated his parents with much disdain, and behaved towards his ownchildren and slaves with a severity bordering on cruelty. He was fondof having great deference paid to him, and exacted it with the utmostdegree from the negroes about him. He affected a singularity of dressand a particularly grave cast of countenance, to impart an idea of hiswisdom and learning; and to second this view, he wore in common a hugewig, which made a very venerable figure."[222] The influence ofprejudice on this picture is easily to be detected. There is not asingle line of sympathy through the whole presentation, and it issomething more than probable that there is actual misrepresentation offacts. Long would repeat what was current in his own circle, withoutfeeling himself at all bound to investigate the assertions beforesetting them down for future generations to read.[223]

That Williams was set in a most difficult position is obvious. It wasone that could only be creditably filled by one highly andexceptionally gifted, both in intellect and spirit. Still moredifficult was it so to fill that position that he would appear beforean age of wider and sweeter altruistic principles without disfavor inits eyes. Long credits him with the saying: "Show me a negro, and Ishow you a thief";[224] and Gardner, who enters in his behalf adefence that is in many ways effective, merely says regarding thisaccusation: "The race to which he belonged was then almost universallydespised, and the temptation to curry favor with the whites bydenouncing the negroes was too great for him to resist."[225] But itseems to me that something[Pg 153] more deserves to be said on the subject.We do not know whether Williams' epigram was a sober opinion or merelyone cast off in a fit of irritation, that moment of "haste," whicheven the Psalmist knew, when he was led to sweep all mankind in underthe term of "liar." But, further, if Williams was the deliberatesycophant and racial toady Gardner strives to shelter behind hisshield of excuse, how was it that he had not won from the planterparty, whose voice reaches us through Long, a more softened if not amore favorable opinion? There must have been some marked independenceof spirit about a man who cut himself off thus on the one side and onthe other. He was an educated man, placed in a false position; cut offby the narrowmindedness of the educated men around him from theenvironment for which training and education had fitted him. Had hissavage epigram employed the term "slave," instead of "negro," and thatwas practically what it meant, it could stand as a thought-compellingtruth, pointing beyond the slave to the tyrant system that made theslave.

Gardner, whose history was published in 1876, was, by class, of themissionaries, and by disposition a liberal, and a conscientiousliberal. His estimate of Williams is thoroughly well-intentioned, andnot wholly inadequate. It lacks subtlety, rather than sympathy. Icannot help hoping that time will bring to light material by whichsomething may be attempted regarding the personality and character ofFrancis Williams, nearer what one feels instinctively is the truththan the outline at present holding the field.

Francis Williams has been mentioned as the author of the song:"Welcome, welcome, fellow debtor," but on what grounds, beyondtradition, it is not clear. We have, however, a Latin poem which isindubitably his work. It was addressed to General George Haldane, whoarrived in Jamaica as Governor, April 17, 1758. It is panegyric, afterthe fashion of the eighteenth century, that is excessively so, butthere are lines in it worth remembering. It is thus inscribed:[Pg 154]

Integerrimo et Fortissimo
Viro
GEORGIO HALDANO, ARMIGERO,
Insulæ Jamaicensis Gubernatori;
Cui, omnes morum, virtutumque dotes billicarum,
In cumulum accesserunt,
CARMEN.[226]

DENIQUE venturum fatis volventibus annum (e)
Cuncta per extensum læta videnda diem,
Excussis adsunt curis, sub inagine (f) clara
Felices populi, terraque lege virens.
(g) Te duce, (h) quæ fuerant malesuada mente peracta
Irrita, conspectu non reditura tuo.
Ergo omnis populus, nee non plebecula cernet
(h) Hæsurum collo te (i)relegasse jugum,
Et mala, quæ diris quondam cruciatibus, insons
Insula passa fuit; condoluisset onus
Ni victrix tua Marte manus prius inclyta, nostris
Sponte (k) ruinosis rebus adesse velit.
Optimus es servusRegi servireBritanno,
Dum gaudet genio (l)Scotica terra tuo:
Optimus heroum populi (m) fulcire ruinam:
Insula dum superest ipse (n) superstes eris.
Victorem agnoscet teGuadaloupa, suorum
Despiciet (o) merito dirutà castra ducum.
Aurea vexillis flebit jactantibus (p)Iris,
Cumque suis populis, oppida victa gemet.[Pg 155]
Crede, (q) menum non est, virMarti chare! (r)Minerva
DenegatÆthiopi bella sonare ducum.
Concilio, caneret teBuchananus et armis,
CarminePeleidae scriberet ille parem.
Ille poeta, decus patriæ, tua facta referre
Dignior, (s) altisono vixque Marone minor.
(t) Flammiferos agitante suos sub solejugales (u)
Vivimus; eloquium deficit omne focis.
Hoc demum accipias, multa fuligine fusum
Ore sonaturo; non cute, corde valet.
Pollenti stabilita manu, [(w) Deus almus, eandem
Omnigenis animam, nil prohibente dedit]
Ipsa coloris egens virtus, prudentia; honesto
Nulus inest animo, nullus in arte color.
Cur timeas, quamvis, dubitesve, nigerrima celsam
Cæsaris occidui, candere (x)Musa domum?
(y) Vade salutatum, nec sit tibi causa pudoris,
(z)Candida quod nigra corpora pelle geris!
Integritas morum (a)Maurum magis ornat, et ardor
Ingenii, etdocto (b)dulcis in ore decor;
Hunc, mage,cor sapines, patriæ virtutis amorque,
(c) Eximit e sociis, conspicuumque facit.
(d) Insula me genuit, celebres aluereBritianni,
Insula, te salvo non dolitura (e) patre!
Hoc precor; o (f) nullo videant te fine, regentem
Florentes populos, terra, Deique locus!

FRANCISCUS WILLIAMS

(e)Aspice venturo lætentur ut omnia Sæclo. Virg. E. iv. 52.

(f) Clara seems to be rather an improper epithet joined toImago.

(g)Te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostriIrrita, perpetua solvent formidine terras.Virg. E. iv. 13.

(h) Alluding perhaps to the contest about removing the seat of government and public offices fromSpanish Town toKingston, during the administration of governor Kn——s.

(i) Prorelevasse.

(k) Quem vocet divum populusruentis Imperirebus. Hor. Lib. I.Od. ii.

(l) Mr. Haldane was a native of North Britain.

(m) Tu Ptolomaee potes magnifulcire ruinam. Lucan.Lib. viii. 528.

(n) This was a promise of somewhat more than antediluvian longevity. But the poet proved a false prophet, for Mr. Haldane did not survive the delivery of this address many months.

(o) Egeritjusto domitos triumpho.Hor. Lib. I.Od. xii.

(p)Iris. Botanic name of thefleur-de-luce, alluding to the arms of France.

(q)Phœbus, volentem prælia me loqui Victas et urbes, increpuit lyra Ne.Hor.

(r) Invita Minerva.Hor. de Art. Poet.

(s)Maronis altisoni carmina.Juv. Sat. xi.ver. 178.

(t)Flammiferas rotas toto cæloagitat.

(u) I apprehend Mr. Williams mistook this forjubara, fun beams.

(w) This is apetitio principii, or begging the question, unless with Mr. Pope,

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
"Whose body nature is, and God the Soul."
But,
"Far as creation's ample range extends,
"TheScale of sensualmental powers ascends."

(x) Mr. Williams has added ablack Muse to the Pierian choir; and, as he has not thought proper to bestow a name upon her, we may venture to announce her by the title of madam Æthiopissa.

(y)Vade salutatum subito perarata parentem Litera.Ovid.

(z) See his apophthegms before mentioned.

(a)Maurus is not in classic strictness proper Latin for aNegroe.

(b)Mollis in ore decor. Incert.

(c) Medoctarum ederæ præmia frontium
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Secernunt populo.         Hor. Lib. I. Od. 1.

(d) Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere.Virg.

(e) Hic ames dicipater atque princeps.Hor.

(f) Serus in cœlum redeas,diuqueLætus intersis populo. Hor.

[Pg 156]

This is Long's translation:

To
That most upright and valiant Man,
GEORGE HALDANE, Esq;
Governor of the Island of Jamaica;
Upon whom
All military and moral Endowments are accumulated.
An ODE.

AT length revolving fates th' expected year
Advance, and joy the live-long day shall cheer,
Beneath the fost'ring law's auspicious dawn
New harvests rife to glad th' enliven'd (g) lawn.
With the bright prospect blest, the swains repair
In social bands, and give a loose to care.
Rash councils now, with each malignant plan,
Each faction, that in evil hour began,
At your approach are in confusion fled,
Nor, while you rule, shall rear their dastard head.
Alike the master and the slave shall fee
Their neck reliev'd, the yoke unbound by thee.
Ere now our guiltless isle, her wretched fate
Had wept, and groan'd beneath th' oppressive weight
Of Cruel woes; save thy victorious hand,
Long fam'd in war, from Gallia's hostile land;
And wreaths of fresh renown, with generous zeal,
Had freely turn'd, to prop our sinking weal.
Form'd as thou art, to serveBritannia's crown,
WhileScotia claims thee for her darling son;
Oh! best of heroes, ablest to sustain
A falling people, and relax their chain.
Long as this isle shall grace the Western deep,
From age to age, thy fame shall never sleep.
Thee, her dread victorGuadaloupe shall own,
Crusht by thy arm, her slaughter'd chiefs bemoan;
View their proud tents all level'd in the dust,
And, while she grieves, confess the cause was just.
The goldenIris the sad scene will share,[Pg 157]
Will mourn her banners scattered in the air;
Lament her vanquisht troops with many a sigh,
Nor less to see her towns in ruin lie.
Fav'rite ofMars! believe, th' attempt were vain,
It is not mine to try the arduous strain.
What! shall anÆthiop touch the martial string,
Of battles, leaders, great achievements sing?
Ah no!Minerva, with th' indignantNine,
Restrain him, and forbid the bold design.
To aBuchanan does the theme belong;
A theme, that well deservesBuchanan's song,
'Tis he, should swell the din of war's alarms,
Record thee great in council, as in arms;
Recite each conquest by thy valour won,
And equal thee to greatPeleides' son.
That bard, his country's ornament and pride,
Who e'en withMaro might the bays divide:
Far worthier he, thy glories to rehearse,
And paint thy deeds in his immortal verse.
We live, alas! where the bright god of day,
Full from the zenith whirls his torrid ray:
Beneath the rage of his consuming fires,
All fancy melts, all eloquence expires.
Yet may you deign accept this humble song,
Tho' wrapt in gloom, and from a faltering tongue;
Tho' dark the stream on which the tribute flows,
Not from theskin, but from theheart it rose.
To all of human kind, benignant heaven
(Since nought forbids) one common soul has given.
This rule was 'stablish'd by th' Eternal Mind;
Nor virtue's self, nor prudence are confin'd
To colour; none imbues the honest heart;
To science none belongs, and none to art.
Oh!Muse, of blackest tint, why shrinks thy breast.
Why fears t' approach theCæsar of theWest!
Dispel thy doubts, with confidence ascend
The regal dome, and hail him for thy friend:
Nor blush, altho' in garb funereal drest,
Thy body's white, tho' clad in sable vest.
Manners unsullied, and the radiant glow
Of genius, burning with desire toknow;
And learned speech, with modest accent worn,
Shall best the sootyAfrican adorn.
An heart with wisdom fraught, a patriot flame.
A love of virtue; these shall lift his name
Conspicuous, far beyond his kindred race,
Distinguish'd from them by the foremost place.
In this prolific isle I drew my birth,
AndBritain nurs'd, illustrious through the earth;[Pg 158]
This, my lov'd isle, which never more shall grieve,
Whilst you our common friend, our father live.
Then this my pray'r—"My earth and heaven survey
"A people ever blest, beneath your sway!"

The following translation of this poem has been supplied by Mr. E.J.Chinock, M.A., LL.B.:

A Poem in Honour of
Sir George Haldane, Knt.,
Amost virtuous and brave man,
Governor of the island of Jamaica, on whom all the endowments of
morals and of warlike virtues have been accumulated.

Since the Fates wish the year should come at last, all the joyswhich are to be seen through a lengthened day are present. Thepeople having shaken off their anxieties, are prosperous under abright image, and the land flourishing under law. While thou artruler, the useless things which had been done by an ill-advisingmind will not return at thy appearance. Therefore, all thepeople, even the rabble, will see that thou hast removed the yokeclinging to their necks, and the ills which the guiltless islandhas formerly endured with dreadful tortures. The burden wouldhave been excessively painful did not thy victorious hand,previously renowned for valour, wish of its own accord to aid ourstate going to ruin. The British King has no better servant thanthou art, whilst Scotland rejoices in thy talent. Thou are thebest of heroes to prop up the fall of a nation; while the islandsurvives, the memory of thee will also survive. Quadaloupe willrecognise thee as her conqueror, and will deservedly despise theplundered camps of its governors. The golden Iris will weep forher boastful standards, and together with her inhabitants willgroan for the conquered towns. Believe me, it is not in my power,O man, dear to Mars! Minerva denies to an Ethiopian to celebratethe wars of generals. Buchanan would sing thee in a poem, hewould describe thee as equal to Achilles in counsel and in war.That famous poet, the honour of his country, is more worthy torelate thy exploits, and is scarcely inferior to the majesticVirgil. We live under an Apollo driving his own flame-bringingteam. Every kind of eloquence is lacking to slaves. Receive thisat any rate. Though poured forth from one very black, it isvaluable, coming from a sonorous mouth; not from his skin, butfrom his heart. The bountiful Deity, with a hand powerfully andfirm, has given the same soul to men of all races, nothingstanding in his way. Virtue itself, and prudence, are free fromcolour; there is no colour in an honourable mind, no colour inskill. Why dost thou fear or doubt that the blackest Muse mayscale the lofty house of the western Caesar? Go and salute him,and let it not be to thee a cause of shame that thou wearest awhite body in a black skin. Integrity ofmorals more adorns aMoor, and ardour of intellect and sweet elegance in a learnedmouth. A wise heart and a love of his ancestral virtue the moreremove him from his comrades and make him conspicuous. The island(of Jamaica) gave me birth; the renowned Britons brought me up;the island which will not grieve while thou its father art well.This I pray: O may earth and heaven see thee without end, rulinga flourishing people.[227]

[Pg 159]

Gardner quotes the line

giving it an interpretation disparaging to Williams' racialself-respect. With more understanding of the poet's surroundings itmay be taken rather to express the poet's desire to be marked asdistinct from the then condition of those who represented his raceround him, namely slaves.

The following lines especially deserve praise for the height inemotion and manliness to which they ascend:

Mr. Chinook's rendering conveys some of their stirring force, but theydeserve a better translation, and one reason for giving the whole poemhere is the hope that it may elicit another translation from some oneentering more feelingly and with equal lingual knowledge into thepoet's conception.

T. H. MacDermot

Redeam,
Kingston,
Jamaica, B. W. I.

[Pg 160]

Notes on the Nomolis of Sherbroland

Among Sierra Leoneans the Sherbro country enjoys a reputation formysteriousness. A country where every object, from the sandy soil onetreads in the streets to the bamboo chair one sits upon at home, issupposed to possess intelligence and to be capable of "catching" one,to wit, afflicting one with disease; a country where the penalty forsuch a venal offence as stubbing one's devoted foot against the rootsof a famous cotton tree, which stands perilously near the roadside, isa sure attack of elephantiasis; a country which boasts of a certainholy city upon whose soil no man on earth may walk shod and live tosee the next day, a tradition for which the District Commissioners,adventurous Britons as they are, have had so much respect that theyhave been content to get only a cruising knowledge of the place,always summoning the headmen to conferences on the beach anddelivering instructions from the safe precincts of a boat awning; sucha country evidently deserves to be called a land of mystery.

Now, to this air of mystery is added one of interest for students ofarchæology in general, and particularly for all Negroes who areinterested in the study of the history of their race with a view todiscover whether it has really made any worthy achievements in thepast or, as its traducers love to make us believe, it is indeed abackward race, that is only just emerging from barbarism and beginningto enjoy and assimilate the blessings of Western culture. I refer tocertain sculptured finds which are from time to time made in thecountry and are naturally looked upon by the unsophisticated nativemind as nothing short of a mystery.

These images, ornomolis, as they are called in the vernacular, areby no means the empirical efforts of some crude artists, but are theproducts of finished workmanship wrought in steatite or soapstone,which abounds in the Protectorate. They present purely Egyptian andEthiopian features, and are apparently of great antiquity, possiblythousands of years old. They are dug out from old graves in the courseof ploughing, and the finder of one of them considers himself a luckyman indeed. He sees visions of an unprecedentedly rich harvest, or ofan extraordinarily brisk trade, if he happens to be in the commercialline, as thenomoli is the presiding[Pg 161] deity of crops and commerce.If the good services of the god are required on the farm a smallshrine is erected there for it and a great big hamper and a bundle ofrods placed in front of it. The demon is then addressed in some suchmanner as this: "I wish you to protect this farm from injury. Make thecrop prosper more than everybody's else, and, to do this, every dayyou must steal from other people's farms and fill this hamper to thefull. If you do this I shall treat you well; but if you fail, thisbundle of rods is reserved for your punishment." The god is thenheartily treated to a sample of the walloping it should expect in caseof default. When its help is needed in the store a similar temple isput up for it in a corner within, and its duty is then to protect thestore from burglary, to replenish it by theft and to "draw" custom bya sort of personal magnetism. In either case it must be well caredfor. Whatever food or drink its owner partakes every day, a portionmust be given to it—and don't forget the whipping. Whether yourealize or are disappointed in your expectations of it the guardianangel respects force more than gentleness, and must be whipped soundlyevery morning.

It will be seen from this that the morality of thenomoli is of arather naughty order. The controlling principle of its life is theft;in fact it idealizes this vice, since ownership in regard to it cannotbe transferred except by stealing. The god argues it this way: "He whois so careless of me that he allows me to be stolen from him, is notworthy to be my master; but he who so much believes in my powers thathe risks the consequences of theft for the sake of getting possessionof me, is deserving to be my master and I will serve him." In theevent of discovery the culprit is taken to the barre or native courtand the Chief inflicts a fine on him; and, "whereas, contrary tocustomary law, Kai Baki, the plaintiff, did harbour a 'big man'stranger (to wit, anomoli) in the chiefdom without intimating theChief in order that his majesty might pay his homage etc., etc.," theaforesaid plaintiff, who in native law is entitled to receive theamount of defendant's fine as compensation, is not only mulcted in thesame amount more or less, but hisnomoli becomes forfeited to thecrown in the bargain. Obviously, then, it does not pay to prosecutefornomoli stealing, and the robbed native would rather bear histrouble like a philosopher, secretly admiring the cuteness of theother fellow and stealing his property back at the earliestopportunity.[Pg 162]

Origin of the Nomoli

If one depends upon the aborigines for a clue as to the origin of thenomoli the enquiry would, like Kipling's "eathen," "end where itbegan." The whole thing is veiled in mystery; there is not even alegend about it. All that the native would tell you, and it is what hehonestly believes to be the truth, is that the image was created byGehwor (God) and came down directly from heaven. The fact that nosculpturing of the kind is now-a-days prosecuted in the country,although the Sherbros are clever at wood-carving, makes him ridiculethe idea that thenomoli is man's handiwork. The enquiring studentmust for the present, therefore, go upon very scanty basis toformulate his theory. In order to help in the solution of this problemI shall state one or two facts about the natives of these regions. TheSherbros and Mendis, both of whom inhabit the vast territory known asSherbroland, are, of all primitive Africans, the least given to fetishworship. This fact has always proved a stumbling-block to the spreadof Mohammedanism in that part of the world. Arab as well as NegroMoslem missionaries have always found the Sherbro and Mendi man ratherhard nuts to crack. Many an emissary of the prophet has invadedSherbroland, exposing for sale all the tempting superstitiousparaphernalia of the faith, but the native has almost invariablybeaten him with his cold logic.

"How long does it take to come here from Mecca?" once asked a nativeof an Arab Sheik, who went out hawking some charms in the course of areligious tour. "Oh, more than a month," answered the unsuspectingMoslem. "A month!" exclaimed the intended convert. "Yes." "And youhave come all that distance to help us with these things?" "Yes.""Then you must have paid quite a lot of money for your passage?""Quite a lot." "And I dare say, you must have only a little money leftnow?" pursued the native. "Oh, yes, that's why I am selling thesepotent charms so cheaply, because I wish to raise money to go backhome," confessed the true believer. "But how is that?" queried thenative; "if, as you say, these charms can make a poor man become rich,how is it that you did not stay in Mecca and use them yourself tobecome rich instead of coming all the way here to sell them to getmoney?"

As this attitude towards charms, which is typical of the Sherbronatives, shows that they are not a fetish worshipping people, it canhardly be supposed that thenomolis are relics of that superstition.If this were the case, it could easily be suggested by those who wishto discredit the race that the images might have been made by[Pg 163] membersof some foreign race and exported to the "heathen," who are supposedto delight in "bowing down to wood and stone," a sort of execution toorder. This should be quite possible, because it was recentlydiscovered that a certain London firm did a thriving business in idolswith China; and it has even been suggested that thenomolis wereimported into Sherbroland from Phoenicia.

But such a contingency being ruled out of court, in view of theSherbro native's antipathy to idol worship, we must look for anexplanation of the origin of thenomoli to one other feature in thecustoms of Sherbroland. The Sherbros have a custom almost similar tothat of the Timnis, a kindred people. The latter are given to ancestorworship. At the burial of a Timni, a few stones are placed upon thegrave, and after three days, when the spirit of the deceased issupposed to have entered into the stones, they are removed to a littleshrine in the porch of the family house. The spirit then becomes aguardian angel, and offerings are made at the shrine from day to day.The Sherbros also make use of stones for the reception of the spiritsof their departed ones, but not with a view to ancestor worship. If aSherbro happened to die away from home, which is considered a greatcalamity, the remains are either exhumed and brought back to the oldfamiliar scenes, or, if the distance be too great, three stones aretaken to the last resting place and, after three days in the case of amale, or four days in the case of a female, the spirit is supposed tohave entered the stones, and the latter are brought to the old townandburied.

Is it not possible, then, that thenomolis are real pictures of someancient Sherbro men and women, and that these people, dying away from"home, sweet home," their images, after having supposedly receivedtheir spirits, were interred in the old homeland? I believe the Rev.Dr. Hayford in his "Ethiopia Unbound" suggests that Ethiopia orNegrodom was once the mistress of the world; that much-talked-of Egyptwas but a province of hers, and the pharaohs not real kings, butmerely governors sent from the mother country. If this be true, mightit not be that some of thesenomolis are sculptures of eminent menand women, natives of the region now known as Sherbroland, who went tofar-away Egypt as Empire builders, lost their lives in the land of thesphynx; and, since distance prevented the return of their bodies,their busts, after receiving their imperishable parts, were broughtback home and buried with due solemnity "under the stately walls ofTroy?"

Walter L. Edwin

Sierra Leone, West Africa

[Pg 164]

Documents

Observations on the Negroes of Louisiana

To present a broad view of the Negroes concerned in this and thesubsequent series of documents we have given below accounts appearingfrom decade to decade, written by men of different classes and ofvarious countries. Some received one impression and some another, asthe situation was viewed from different angles. In the mass ofinformation, however, there is the truth which one may learn forhimself.

Considerations sur l'esclavage; Nègres libres; Mulâtres de laLouisiane, 1801

L'esclavage, le plus grand de tous les maux nécessaires, soitrelativement à ceux qui l'endurent, soit par rapport à ceux quisont contraints d'en employer les victimes, existe dans toutel'étendue des deux Louisianes. Il ne seroit pas facile dedeterminer pendant combien d'années la partie septentrionale enaura besoin; mais on peut assurer qu'il doit exister bien dessiècles encore dans le Midi si le Gouvernement veut y encouragerl'agriculture, qui est son unique ressource. Les Nègres seulspeuvent se livrer aux travaux dans ces climats brûlans: le Blancqui y périt jeune malgré toutes sortes de ménegemens, ne feroitqu s'y montrer s'il étoit obligé d'y cultiver son champ de sespropres mains. Pour tirer parti de cette colonie, l'on doit doncprotéger l'importation des Nègres qui y sont en trop petitnombre; mais il est en même temps de l'intérêt du Gouvernement,de veiller a ce que les habitans n'y abusent pas du pouvoir quela loi et droit de propriété leur donnent.

Après la cruelle expérience de Saint-Domingue, qui probablementaura ouvert les yeux de tous ces philantropes qui ne comptentpour rien la prosperité des empires, lorsqu'elle semble être encontradiction avec ces sentimens d'humanité, dont ils feignentsouvent d'avoir été doués par la nature; je suis loin d'engageraucun gouvernement à relâcher les liens de l'esclavage: on doitles laisser subsister dans leur intégrité, ou perdre lescolonies. Cependant doivent-ils négliger cette branched'administration et s'en rapporter aveuglément aux proprietaires,qui paroissent avoir un[Pg 165] intérêt direct à ménager leurs esclaves?C'est ce que je suis loin de croire. Les passions agissent tropfortement sur le coeur des hommes, pour ne pas en restreindre lavivacité par des règlemens sages; leur intérêt même souventmal-entendu les aveugle sur leurs propres avantages. L'avaricecrie à l'un que ses esclaves mal vêtus et mal nourris, n'en sontpas moins tenus a lui rendre les services qu'l exige; la colèreconduit l'autre à faire des exemples terribles, sous prétexted'effrayer ceux qui seroient tentés de lui manquer; un grandnombre enfin se croit autorisé à s'en servir pour assouvir sespassions et servir ses passions et servir ses gouts, fussent-ilsmême contraires aux devoirs de la société et opposés auxprincipes religieux. Aux yeux des gouvernans les hommes nedoivent être que de grands enfans, dont, en sages précepteurs,ils dirigent les caprices de manière à les faire tourner à leurplus grand bien.

Dans la basse Louisiane les Nègres sont très mal nourris: chacunne reçoit pas par mois audelà, d'un baril de maïs en épis, ce quine fait que le tiers d'un baril en grain;[228] encore beaucoup depropriétaries prélèvent-ils quelque chose sur leur ration. Ilsdoivent se procurer le suplus de leur nourriture, ainsi que leursvêtemens, avec le produit de leur travail du dimanche. S'ils nele font pas, ils sont exposés à rester nus pendant la saisonrigoureuse. Ceux qui leur fournissent des vêtemens, lecontraignent à employer pour eux les jours de repos, jusqu'a cequ'ils aient été remboursés de leurs avances. Pendant tout l'été,les Nègres ne sont pas vêtus. Les parties naturelles sontuniquement cachées par une pièce d'étoffe, qui s'attache à laceinture par devant et par derrière, et qui a conservé dans toutel'Amérique septentrionale habitée par les François, le nom debraguet. L'hiver ils ont généralement une chemise et unecouverture de laine, faite en forme de redingotte. Les enfansrestent souvent nus jusqu'à l'age de huit ans, qu'ils commencentà rendre quelques services.

Un maître ne doit-il pas a son esclave le vêtement et unenourriture substantielle, à proportion du travail qu'il en exige?Le jour du repos n'appartient-il pas à tous les hommes, et plusparticulièrement à ceux qui sont employés aux penibles travaux dela campagne? Ce sont des questions qui n'en seroient pas, sil'avarice, plus forte que l'humanité, ne dominoit presque tousles hommes, mais sur-tout les habitans des colonies. Querésulte-t-il cependant de cette avarice mal entendue? les Nègresmal nourris et trop fatigués s'épuisent et ne peuplent pas; del'épuisement nait la foiblesse, de la foiblesse le decouragement,la maladie et la mort.[Pg 166] Pour augmenter son revenue lepropriétaire perd donc le capital, sans que son expérience lerende ordinairement plus sage. Je n'ignore pas que les Nègressont loin de ressembler aux autres hommes; qu'ils ne peuvent êtreconduits ni par la douceur, ni par les sentimens; qu'ils semoquent de ceux qui les traitent avec bonté; qu'ils tiennent parla morale à la brute, autant qu'à l'homme par leur constitutionphysique; mais ayons au moins pour eux soins que nous avons pourles quadrupèdes, dont nous nous servons: nourrissons-les bienpour qu'ils travaillent bien, et n'exigeons pas au-dela de leursfacultés ou de leurs forces.

Les Nègres sont naturellement fourbes, paresseux, voleurs etcruels; il est inutile d'ajouter qu'ils sont tous dans le coeurennemis des Blancs: le serpent cherche à mordre celui qui lefoule aux pieds; l'esclave doit haïr son maître. Mais ce dontilest difficile de rendre compte, c'est l'aversion et la brutalitédes Noirs libres pour ceux de leur espèce. Parviennent-ils à seprocurer des esclaves? ils les traitent avec une barbarie dontrien ne peut approcher; ils les nourrissent plus mal encore quene font les Blancs, et les surchargent de travail: heureusementleur penchant à la fainéantise et a l'ivrognerie, les tient dansun état de mediocrité dont ils sortent rarement.

Quoique les Nègres libres perdent très-peu de leur haine pour lesBlancs, ils sont cependant loin d'être aussi dangereux que lesMulâtres. Ces hommes qui semblent participer aux vices des deuxespèces, comme ils out participé à leurs couleurs, sont méchans,vindicatifs, traîtres et également ennemis des Noirs qu'ilsméprisent, et des Blancs qu'ils ont en horreur. Cruels jus qu'àla barbarie envers les premiers, ils sont toujours prêts à saisirl'occasion de tourner leurs bras contre les seconds. Fruits dulibertinage de leurs pères, dont ils recoivent presque tous laliberté et une éducation assez soignée, ils sont loin d'en êtrereconnaissans; ils voudroient en être traités comme des enfanslégitimes, et la différence que l'on met entr'eux les porte àdétester même les auteurs de leurs jours. On en a vu un grandnombre, dans le massacre de Saint-Domingue, porter sur eux leursmains parricides. Les plus délicats se chargeoient mutuellementde cette détestable commission. Vas tuer mon père, sedisoient-ils, je tuerai le tien.

Mais, dira-t-on, le premier droit de la nature est de se racheterde l'esclavage, comme c'en est un aussi de faire jouir desbienfaits de la liberté l'être qui tient de nous l'existence. Cesvérités ne peuvent être contestées; mais une troisième qui n'estpas moins[Pg 167] évidente, c'est qu'il est du devoir d'un bongouvernement d'assurer par toutes sortes de moyens la vie et lapropriété des peuples qui vivent sous sa domination: or, par-toutoù il y aura des Nègres libres ou des Mulâtres, l'une et l'autreseront chaque jour exposées au plus imminent danger. Un esclavefuit-il son maître? c'est chez un Nègre libre qu'il va seréfugier. Un vol a-t-il été commis? si le Nègre libre n'en estpoint l'auteur, il en est au moins le receleur. Lorsque par lasuite de son travail ou de son économie un esclave peut rachetersa liberté, qu'il aille en jouir parmi les nations qui voudrontle recevoir, ou qu'il retourne dans son pays, c'est tout ce quele Gouvernement lui doit. Mais je ne crains pas d'assurer quetoute colonie où l'on souffrira des Nègres libres, sera lerepaire du brigandage et des crimes.

Quant aux hommes de couleur, plus dangereux encore, il seroitprobablement très-avantageux d'en former des colonies dansquelques parties inhabitées du continent: cette mesure auroit unesuite doublement utile; elle priveroit les colonies de ces êtrespar lesquels elles seront tôt ou tard anéanties, et ellediminueroit ce goût crapuleux des Blancs pour leurs esclaves, quiest la ruine de la société et la cause première du pen depopulation des pays qu'ils habitent.—Voyage dans Les DeuxLouisianes, 1801, 1802, and 1803, pp. 408-415, par M. Perrin DuLac.

Observations of Berquin Duvallon on the Freed People Of Colour inLouisiana in 1802

The class of free people of colour is composed of negroes andmulattoes, but chiefly of the last, who have either obtained orpurchased their liberty from their masters, or held it in virtueof the freedom of their parents. Of these, some residing in thecountry, cultivate rice and a little cotton; a great number, men,women and children collected in the city, are employed inmechanical arts, and menial offices.

The mulattoes are in general vain and insolent, perfidious anddebauched, much giving to lying, and great cowards. They have aninveterate hatred against the whites, the authors of theirexistence, and primitive benefactors. It is the policy of theSpanish government to cherish this antipathy; but nothing is tobe feared from them. There is a proportion of six whites to oneman of colour, which, with their natural pusillanimity, is asufficient restraint.[Pg 168]

The mulatto women have not all the faults of the men. But theyare full of vanity, and very libertine; money will always buytheir caresses. They are not without personal charms; goodshapes, polished and elastic skins. They live in open concubinagewith the whites; but to this they are incited more by money thanany attachment. After all we love those best, and are most happyin the intercourse of those, with whom we can be the mostfamiliar and unconstrained. These girls, therefore, only affect afondness for the whites; their hearts are with men of their owncolour.

They are, however, not wanting in discernment, penetration,finesse; in this light they are superior to many of the whitegirls in the lower classes of society, girls so impenetrablydull, that like that of Balsac's village, they are too stupid tobe deceived by a man of breeding, gallantry and wit.

Observations on the Negro Slave

We come now to the class of negro slaves, the most numerous butleast fortunate of all. The negro Creoles of the country, or bornin some other European colony, and sent hither, are the mostactive, the most intelligent, and the least subject to chronicdistempers; but they are also the most indolent, vicious anddebauched.

Those who come from Guinea are less expert in domestic service,and the mechanical arts, less intelligent, and oftener victims ofviolent sickness or grief (particularly in the early part oftheir transportation) but more robust, more laborious, moreadapted to the labours of the field, less deceitful and libertinethan the others. Such are the discriminative characteristics ofeach, and as to the rest, there is a strong relation betweentheir moral and physical character.

Negroes are a species of beings whom nature seems to haveintended for slavery; their pliancy of temper, patience underinjury, and innate passiveness, all concur to justify thisposition; unlike the savages or aborigines of America, who couldnever be brought to servile controul.

This colony of Louisiana, offers a philosophic and instructivespectacle on this subject, from which I shall make a number ofdeductions. If nature had imparted the same instinct to negroesthat she has to savages, it is certain that, instead ofsubjecting themselves mechanically to the eternal labours of thefield, and the[Pg 169] discipline of an imperious task-master, theywould abandon those places (to which they are not chained), andgaining the woods, encamp themselves in the interior of thecountry; in this imitating the savages, or aborigines, who soonerthan live in the vicinity of the whites, retire at theirapproach.

Is it the uncertainty of a subsistence in this new mode of life,that deters them from undertaking it? They have never anysolicitude for their future support. Is it the fear of beingpursued and overtaken that is an obstacle to the project?Ignorant as they are, they cannot but know that, protected byalmost impenetrable woods, and formidable in numbers, they mightset at defiance a handful of whites. Does the apprehension ofbeing combated by the Indians damp their enterprize? Such achimera could never affright them, since the Indians roving indetached parties, would be the first to flee; nay, they wouldprobably court their union, there having been instances ofnegroes finding an asylum among them, but after a lapse of time,unworthy to enjoy freedom, the fugitives have returned to theirplantation, like a dog, who, having escaped from his kennel,returns to it by an instinct of submission. To multiplycomparisons, as the ox resigns himself to his yoke, so the negrobends to his burden.

Their defect in instinct is apparent. Could the Indians be everbrought to that state of slavery which the negroes bear withoutrepining; every method hitherto practiced to deprive them oftheir liberty, has been ineffectual.

But it is not so with the negroes. In their own country, orabroad, if they have ever discovered a desire to emerge fromslavery this flame as resembled a meteor which appears only for amoment. And even, the scenes, which have been witnessed in theFrench colonies, and, particularly, the island of SaintDomingo,[229] serve to corroborate and support my theory. It isundeniable that the negroes of that colony have never ceased tobe slaves. Before their insurrection they were the slaves of thelegitimate masters; in the early part of the revolution they wereslaves to the French commissioners and mulattoes; and afterwardsthey became subject to the nod of negroes like themselves. We donot alter the substance of a thing by changing the name.

Nature may be modified but cannot be essentially changed. It isnot possible to impart to the dog the habits of the wolf, nor to[Pg 170]the ape those of the sheep. This position cannot be refuted.Sophistry may for a while delude, but the mind reposes upon thestability of truth.

From this digression let us return to the examination of thenegro slave of Louisiana. He has the faults of a slave. He islazy, libertine, and given to lying, but not incorrigibly wicked.His labour is not severe, unless it be at the rolling of sugars,an interval of from two to three months, when the number oflabourers is not proportionate to the labour; then he works bothby day and night. It must be allowed that forty negroes rolling ahundred and twenty thousand weight of sugar, and as manyhogsheads of syrup, in the short space of two cold, foggy, rainymonths (November and December) under all the difficulties andembarrassments resulting from the season, the shortness of thedays, and the length of the nights, cannot but labour severely;abridged of their sleep, they scarce retire to rest during thewhole period. It is true they are then fed more plentifully, buttheir toils are nevertheless excessive.[230] In the countrywhere there are not those resources that distinguished[Pg 171] theAntilles, nor its spontaneous supplies, such as bananas, yams,sweet potatoes, &c. the food of the negroes is less abundant.

The fixed ration of each negro a month is a barrel of maize notpounded; indian corn being the only grain of the colony which canassure an unfailing subsistence to the slaves. The rice, beansand potatoes cultivated here, would not supply a quarter of themwith food. Some masters, more humane than others, add to theration a little salt.

The negro, during his hours of respite from labour, is busied inpounding his corn; he has afterwards to bake it with what wood hecan procure himself. Both in summer and winter, he must be in thefields at the first dawn of day. He carries his sorry pittance ofa breakfast with him, which he eats on the spot; he is, however,scarce allowed time to digest it. His labour is suspended fromnoon till two, when he dines, or rather makes a supplement to hisformer meal. At two his labour re-commences, and he prosecutes ittill dark, sometimes visited by his master, but always exposed[Pg 172]to the menaces, blows and scourges either of a white overseer, ora black driver.

The good negro, during the hours of respite allowed him, is notidle. He is busy cultivating the little lot of ground grantedhim, while his wife (if he has one) is preparing food for him andtheir children. For it is observable that in this colony, thechildren of the slaves are not nourished by their masters, asthey are at the Antilles; their parents are charged with them,and allowed half a ration more for every child, commencing fromthe epoch when it is weaned.

Retired at night to their huts, after having made a frugal meal,they forget their labors in the arms of their mistresses. Butthose who cannot obtain women (for there is a great disproportionbetween the numbers of the two sexes) traverse the woods insearch of adventures, and often encounter those of an unpleasantnature. They frequently meet a patrole of the whites, who tiethem up and flog them, and then send them home.

They are very fond of tobacco; they both smoke and chew it withgreat relish.

Nothing can be more simple than the burial of a slave; he is putinto the plainest coffin, knocked together by a carpenter of hisown colour, and carried unattended by mourners to theneighbouring grave-field. The most absolute democracy, however,reigns there; the planter and slave, confounded with one another,rot in conjunction.Under ground precedency is all a jest!

"Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,
"May stop some hole to keep the wind away!"—Pope.

Death is not so terrible in aspect to these negroes as to thewhites. In fact death itself is not so formidable to any man asthe pageantry with which it is set forth. It is not death that isso terrible, but the cries of mothers, wives and children, thevisits of astonished and afflicted friends, pale and blubberingservants, a dark room set round with burning tapers, our bedssurrounded with physicians and divines. These, and not deathitself, affright the minds of the beholders, and make that appearso dreadful with which armies, who have an opportunity of beingthoroughly acquainted and often seeing him without any of theseblack and dismal disguises, converse familiarly, and meet withmirth and gaiety.

The only cloathing of a slave is a simple woollen garment; it isgiven to them at the beginning of winter. And will it bebelieved,[Pg 173] that the master, to indemnify himself for thisexpense, retrenches half an hour from his negro's hours ofrespite, during the short days of the rigorous season!

Their ordinary food is indian corn, or rice and beans, boiled inwater, without fat or salt. To them nothing comes amiss. Theywill devour greedily racoon, opossum, squirrels, wood-rats, andeven the crocodile; leaving to the white people the roebuck andrabbit, which they sell them when they kill those animals.

They raise poultry and hogs, but seldom eat either. They preferselling them, and purchasing from their profits, cloathing andbrandy. They love brandy to excess. Promise a negro a dram, andhe will go through fire and water to serve you.

Their smoaky huts admit both wind and rain. An anecdote offersitself to my pen on this subject, which will exhibit the frigidindifference of the colonists of Louisiana towards every thingthat interests humanity. Being on a visit at a plantation on theMississippi, I walked out one fine evening in winter, with someladies and gentlemen, who had accompanied me from the town, andthe planters at whose house we were entertained. We approachedthe quarter where the huts of the negroes stood. "Let us visitthe negroes," said one of the party; and we advanced towards thedoor of a miserable hut, where an old negro woman came to thethreshold in order to receive us, but so decrepit as well as old,that it was painful for her to move.

Notwithstanding the winter was advanced, she was partly naked;her only covering being some old thrown away rags. Her fire was afew chips, and she was parching a little corn for supper. Thusshe lived abandoned and forlorn; incapable from old age to workany longer, she was no longer noticed.

But independently of her long services, this negro woman hadformerly suckled and brought up two brothers of her master, whomade one of our party. She perceived him, and accosting him,said, "My master, when will you send one of your carpenters torepair the roof of my hut? Whenever it rains, it pours down uponmy head." The master lifting his eyes, directed them to the roofof the hut, which was within the reach of his hand. "I will thinkof it," said he.—"You will think of it," said the poor creature."You always say so, but never do it."—"Have you not," rejoinedthe master, "two grandsons who can mend it for you?"—"But arethey mine," said the old woman, "do they not work for you, and[Pg 174]are you not my son yourself? who suckled and raised your twobrothers? who was it but Irrouba? Take pity then on me, in my oldage. Mend at least the roof of my hut, and God will reward youfor it."

I was sensibly affected; it wasle cri de la bonne nature. Andwhat repairs did the poor creature's roof require? What waswanting to shelter her from the wind and rain of heaven? A fewshingles!—"I will think of it," repeated her master, anddeparted.

The ordinary punishment inflicted on the negroes of the colony isa whipping. What in Europe would condemn a man to the galleys orthe gallows incurs here only the chastisement of the whip. Butthen a king having many subjects does not miss them after theirexit from this life, but a planter could not lose a negro withoutfeeling the privation.

I do not consider slavery either as contrary to the order of awell regulated society, or an infringement of the social laws.Under a different name it exists in every country. Soften thenthe word which so mightily offends the ear; call it dependence.

The most common maladies of the negroes are slight fevers in thespring, more violent ones in the summer, dysenteries in autumn,and fluxions of the breast in winter. Their bill of mortality,however, is not very considerable. The births exceed the deaths.

The language of the negro slaves, as well as of a great number ofthe free mulattoes, is a patois derived from the French, andspoken according to rules of corruption. There are somehouse-slaves, however, who speak French with not less purity thantheir masters: their language, it may be presumed, is depravedwith many words not to be found in a Voltaire, a Thomas or aRousseau.—Travels in Louisiana and The Floridas, in the Year,1802, by Berquin Duvallon, pp. 79-94. Trans. by Davis.

John Davis, 1806

Timothy Flint's Recollections of Conditions in Louisiana in 1826

In the region where I live, the masters allow entire liberty tothe slaves to attend public worship, and as far as my knowledgeextends, it is generally the case in Louisiana. We have regularmeetings of the blacks in the building where I attend publicworship. I have, in the years past, devoted myself assiduously,every Sabbath morning, to the labour of learning them to read.[Pg 175] Ifind them quick of apprehension. They learn the rudiments ofreading quicker than even the whites, but it is with me anundoubting conviction, that having advanced them to a certainpoint, it is much more difficult to carry them beyond. In otherwords, they learn easily to read, to sing, and scrape the fiddle.But it would be difficult to teach them arithmetic, orcombination of ideas or abstract thinking of any kind. Whethertheir skull indicates this by the modern principles ofcraniology, or not, I cannot say. But I am persuaded, that thissusceptible and affectionate race have heads poorly adapted toreasoning and algebra.

I had heard, before I visited the slave states in the West,appalling stories of the cruelty and barbarity of masters toslaves. In effect I saw there instances of cruel and brutalmasters. But I was astonished to find that the slaves in generalhad the most cheerful countenances, and were apparently thehappiest people that I saw. They appeared to me to be as well fedand clothed, as the labouring poor at the North. Here I was told,that the cruelty and brutality were not here, but among the greatplanters down the Mississippi. So strongly is this ideainculcated, that it is held up to the slave, as a bugbear overhis head to bind him to good behaviour, that if he does notbehave well, he will be carried down the river, and be sold. WhenI descended to this country, I had prepared myself to witnesscruelty on the one part, and misery on the other. I found thecondition of the slaves in the lower country to be still moretolerable, than in that above; they are more regularly and betterclothed, endure less inclemency of the seasons, are moresystematically supplied with medical attendance and medicine,when diseased, and what they esteem a great hardship, but what isin fact a most fortunate circumstance in their condition, theycannot, as in the upper country, obtain whiskey at all.

It is a certain fact, and to me it is a delightful one, that agood portion of the lights of reason and humanity, that have beenpouring such increasing radiance upon every part of the country,have illumined the huts of the slaves, and have dawned in thehearts of their masters. Certain it is, that in visiting greatnumbers of plantations, I have generally discovered in the slavesaffection for their masters, and sometimes, though not sogenerally, for the overseers. It appears to be a growing desireamong masters, to be popular with their slaves, and they havefinally become impressed, that humanity is their best interest,that cheerful, well fed and clothed slaves, perform so much moreproductive labour, as to[Pg 176] unite speculation and kindness in thesame calculation. In some plantations they have a jury of negroesto try offences under the eye of the master, as judge, and itgenerally happens that he is obliged to mitigate the severity oftheir sentence. The master too has hold of the affection of theslaves, by interposing his authority in certain cases between theslave and the overseer. Where the master is really a considerateand kind man, the patriarchal authority on the one hand, and thesimple and affectionate veneration on the other, render thisrelation of master and slave not altogether so forbidding, as wehave been accustomed to consider it.

The negro village that surrounds a planter's house, is, for themost part, the prototype of the village of Owen of Lanark. It isgenerally oblong rows of uniform huts. In some instances I haveseen them of brick, but more generally of cypress timber, andthey are made tight and comfortable. In some part of the villageis a hospital and medicine chest. Most masters have a physicianemployed by the job, and the slave, as soon as diseased, isremoved there. Provision is also made for the subsistence andcomfort of those that are aged and past their labour. In thisvillage by night you hear the hurdy-gurdy, and the joyous andunthinking laugh of people, who have no care nor concern for themorrow. I enter among them, and the first difficulty appears toarise from jealousy, and mutual charges of inconstancy, betweenthe husbands and wives. In fact, the want of any sanction orpermanence to their marriage connexions, and the promiscuousintimacies that subsist among them, are not only the sources ofmost of their quarrels and troubles, but are among the mostformidable evils, to a serious mind, in their condition. You nowand then see a moody and sullen looking negro, and if you inquireinto the cause of his gloom, you will be informed that he hasbeen a fugitive, that he has lived long in the woods uponthieving, that he has been arrested and whipped, and is waitinghis opportunity to escape again. Judging of their condition fromtheir countenances, and from their unthinking merriment, I shouldthink them the happiest people here, and in general, far more sothan their masters.

It is a most formidable part of the evil of slavery, that therace is far more prolific than that of the whites, and that theirpopulation advances in a greater ratio. They are at present inthis region more numerous than the whites, and this inequality isincreasing every day. Thinking people here, who look to thecondition of their posterity, are appalled at this view ofthings, and[Pg 177] admit that something must be done to avert thecertain final consequences of such an order of things. I remark,in concluding this subject, that the people here always haveunder their eye the condition and character of the free blacks.It tends to confirm them in their opinions upon the subject. Theslaves are addicted to theft, but the free blacks much more so.They, poor wretches, have had the privilege of getting drunk, andthey avail themselves of it. The heaviest scourge of New Orleansis its multitudes of free black and coloured people. They wallowin debauchery, are quarrelsome and saucy, and commit crimes, inproportion to the slaves, as a hundred to one.

The population of Louisiana is supposed to be, at present,between two and three hundred thousand. After New Orleans, themost populous parishes are Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Rapidé, andNatchitoches. Parishes in this region are civil divisions,derived from the former regime. They are often larger than ourcounties at the North. This country, from the character of itssoil, cannot have a dense population, until the swamps aredrained. The population, except the sparse inhabitants of thepine woods, is fixed along the margin of the water courses, andthe greater part of the planters can convey their produceimmediately on board the steam-boats.—Recollections of the LastTen Years. Passed in Occasional Residences and Journeyings in theValley of the Mississippi, by Timothy Flint, 1826, pp. 345-349.

The Observations of Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, in New Orleans

The garrison consists of two companies of infantry, of the firstand fourth regiments. This has been here since the lastinsurrection of Negroes, and has been continued, to overawe them.In case of a serious alarm, this would prove but of littleservice; and what security is there against such an alarm? InChartres street, where we dwelt, there were two establishments,which constantly revolted my feelings, to wit: shops in whichNegroes were purchased and sold. These unfortunate beings, ofboth sexes, stood or sat the whole day, in these shops, or infront of them, to exhibit themselves, and wait for purchasers.The abomination is shocking, and the barbarity and indifference,produced by the custom in white men, is indescribable.[Pg 178][231]

There were subscription balls given in New Orleans, to which themanagers had the politeness to invite us. These balls took placetwice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, at the French theatre, wherethe masquerade had been, which I mentioned before. None but goodsociety were admitted to these subscription balls; the first thatwe attended was not crowded, however, the generality of theladies present were very pretty, and had a very genteel Frenchair. The dress was extremely elegant, and after the latest Parisfashion. The ladies danced, upon the whole, excellently and didgreat honour to their French teachers. Dancing, and someinstruction in music, is almost the whole education of the femaleCreoles.

Most of the gentlemen here are far behind the ladies in elegance.They did not remain long at the ball, but hasted away to thequadroon ball, so called, where they amused themselves more, andwere more at their ease. This was the reason why there were moreladies[Pg 179] than gentlemen present at the ball, and that many wereobliged to form "tapestry." When a lady is left sitting, she issaid to be "bredouillè." Two cotillions and a waltz, are dancedin succession, and there is hardly an interval of two or threeminutes between the dances. The music was performed by negroesand coloured people, and was pretty good. The Governor was alsoat the ball, and introduced me to several gentlemen, amongothers, a Frenchman, General Garrigues de Flaugeac, who, havingemigrated here from St. Domingo, had married, and given the worldsome very handsome daughters. Several of the French families heresettled, and indeed, the most respectable, were emigrants fromthat island, who wait for the indemnification due to them, butwithout any great hopes of receiving it.

---

At the masked balls, each paid a dollar for admission. As Ivisited it for the second time, I observed, however, many presentby free tickets, and I was told that the company was very muchmixed. The unmasked ladies belonging to good society, sat in therecesses of the windows, which were higher than the saloon, andfurnished with galleries. There were some masks in character, butnone worthy of remark. Two quarrels took place, which commencedin the ball-room with blows, and terminated in the vestibule,with pocket-pistols and kicking, without any interruption fromthe police.

On the same evening, what was called a quadroon ball took place.A quadroon is the child of a mestize mother and a white father,as a mestize is the child of a mulatto mother and a white father.The quadroons are almost entirely white: from their skin no onewould detect their origin; nay many of them have as fair acomplexion as many of the haughty Creole females. Such of them asfrequent these balls are free. Formerly they were known by theirblack hair and eyes, but at present there are completely fairquadroon males and females. Still, however, the strongestprejudice reigns against them on account of their black blood,and the white ladies maintain, or affect to maintain, the mostviolent aversion towards them. Marriage between the white andcoloured population is forbidden by the law of the state. As thequadroons on their part regard the negroes and mulattoes withcontempt, and will not mix with them, so nothing remains for thembut to be friends, as it is termed, of the white men. The femalequadroon looks upon such an engagement as a matrimonial contract,though it goes no farther than a formal contract by which the"friend" engages to pay the father or mother[Pg 180] of the quadroon aspecified sum. The quadroons both assume the name of theirfriends, and as I am assured preserve this engagement with asmuch fidelity as ladies espoused at the altar. Several of thesegirls have inherited property from their fathers or friends, andpossess handsome fortunes. Notwithstanding this, their situationis always very humiliating. They cannot drive through the streetsin a carriage, and their "friends" are forced to bring them intheir own conveyances after dark to the ball: they dare not sitin the presence of white ladies, and cannot enter theirapartments without special permission. The whites have theprivilege to procure these unfortunate creatures a whipping likethat inflicted on slaves, upon an accusation, proved by twowitnesses. Several of these females have enjoyed the benefits ofas careful an education as most of the whites; they conductthemselves ordinarily with more propriety and decorum, and confermore happiness on their "friends," than many of the white ladiesto their married lords. Still, the white ladies constantly speakwith the greatest contempt, and even with animosity, of theseunhappy and oppressed beings. The strongest language of highnobility in the monarchies of the old world, cannot be morehaughty, overweening or contemptuous towards their fellowcreatures, than the expressions of the creole females with regardto the quadroons, in one of the much vaunted states of the freeUnion. In fact, such comparison strikes the mind of a thinkingbeing very singularly! Many wealthy fathers, on account of theexisting prejudices send daughters of this description to France,where these girls with a good education and property, find nodifficulty in forming a legitimate establishment. At the quadroonball, only coloured ladies are admitted, the men of that caste,be it understood, are shut out by the white gentlemen. To takeaway all semblance of vulgarity, the price of admission is fixedat two dollars, so that only persons of the better class canappear there.

As a stranger in my situation should see every thing, to acquirea knowledge of the habits, customs, opinions and prejudices ofthe people he is among, therefore I accepted the offer of somegentlemen who proposed to carry me to this quadroon ball. And Imust avow I found it much more decent than the masked ball. Thecoloured ladies were under the eyes of their mothers, they werewell and gracefully dressed, and conducted themselves with muchpropriety and modesty. Cotillions and waltzes were danced, andseveral of the ladies performed elegantly. I did not remain longthere that I[Pg 181] might not utterly destroy my standing in NewOrleans, but returned to the masked ball and took great care notto disclose to the white ladies where I had been. I could nothowever refrain from making comparisons, which in no wiseredounded to the advantage of the white assemble. As soon as Ientered I found a state of formality.[232]

At the end of January, a contagious disorder prevailed, calledthe varioloid. It was said to be a species of small-pox, and wasdescribed as malignant in the highest degree. Even persons whohad undergone vaccination, and those who had passed through thenatural small-pox, were attacked by this disorder. The garrisonlost six men, of whom two were severely marked. The garrison wereplaced in the barracks to preserve them from this malady. It wasthrough that it was imported by some negro slaves from the north.Many owners of slaves in the states of Maryland and Virginia havereal—(pardon the loathsome expression, I know not how otherwiseto designate the beastly idea,) stud nurseries for slaves, whencethe planters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern statesdraw their supplies, which increase every day in price. Such adisease as the varioloid is a fit present, in return for slavesthus obtained![233]

From Charles Gayarré's Unpublished Manuscript on the People of Colorin Louisiana

"By 1830, some of thesegens de couleur had arrived at such adegree of wealth as to own cotton and sugar plantations withnumerous slaves. They educated their children, as they had beeneducated, in France. Those who chose to remain there, attained,many of them, distinction in scientific and literary circles. InNew Orleans they became musicians, merchants, and money and realestate brokers. The humbler classes were mechanics; theymonopolized[Pg 182] the trade of shoemakers, a trade for which, even tothis day, they have special vocation; they were barbers, tailors,carpenters, upholsterers. They were notable successful huntersand supplied the city with game. As tailors, they were almostexclusively patronized by theélite, so much so that theLegoasters', the Dumas', the Clovis', the Lacroix', acquiredindividually fortunes of several hundred thousands of dollars.This class was most respectable; they generally married women oftheir own status, and led lives quiet, dignified and worthy, inhomes of ease and comfort. A few who had reached a competencysufficient for it, attempted to settle in France, where there wasno prejudice against their origin; but in more than one case theexperiment was not satisfactory, and they returned to theirformer homes in Louisiana. When astonishment was expressed, theywould reply, with a smile: 'It is hard for one who has oncetasted the Mississippi to keep away from it.'

"In fact, the quadroons of Louisiana have always shown a stronglocal attachment, although in the state they were subjected togrievances, which seemed to them unjust, if not cruel. It istrue, they possessed many of the civil and legal rights enjoyedby the whites, as to the protection of person and property; butthey were disqualified from political rights and social equality.But ... it is always to be remembered that in their contact withwhite men, they did not assume that creeping posture ofdebasement—nor did the whites expect it—which has more or lessbeen forced upon them in fiction. In fact, their handsome,good-natured faces seem almost incapable of despair. It is truethe whites were superior to them, but they, in their turn, weresuperior, and infinitely superior, to the blacks, and had as muchobjection to associating with the blacks on terms of equality asany white men could have to associating with them. At the Orleanstheatre they attended their mothers, wives, and sisters in thesecond tier, reserved exclusively for them, and where no whiteperson of either sex would have been permitted to intrude. Butthey were not admitted to the quadroon balls, and when whitegentlemen visited their families it was the accepted etiquettefor them never to be present.

"Nevertheless it must not be imagined that the amenities were notobserved when the men of the races met, for business orotherwise; many anecdotes are told to illustrate this. Thewealthy owner of a large sugar plantation lived in a parish whereresided also a rich, highly educated sugar planter of mixedblood, a man who had[Pg 183] a reputation in his day for his rare andextensive library. Both planters met on a steamboat. When thehour for dinner struck, the white gentleman observed a smalltable set aside, at which his companion quietly took his place.Moved by this voluntary exhibition of humble acquiescence in theexigencies of his social position, the white gentleman, escortedby a friend, went over to the small table and addressed thesolitary guest: 'We desire you to dine with us.' 'I am verygrateful for your kindness, gentlemen,' was the reply, 'and Iwould cheerfully accept your invitation, but my presence at yourtable, if acceptable to you, might be displeasing to others.Therefore, permit me to remain where I am.'

"Another citizen, a Creole, and one of the finest representativesof the old population, occupying the highest social position, wasonce travelling in the country. His horses appearing tired, andhe himself feeling the need of refreshment, he began to lookaround for some place to stop.

"He was just in front of a very fine, large plantation belongingto a man of color, whom he knew very well, a polished, educatedman, who made frequent visits to Paris. He drove unhesitatinglyto the house, and, alighting, said: 'I have come to tax yourhospitality.' 'Never shall a tax be paid more willingly,' was theprompt reply. 'I hope I am not too late for dinner.' 'For you,sir, it is never too late at my house for anything that you maydesire.' A command was given; cook and butler made theirpreparations, and dinner was announced. The guest noticed but oneseat and one plate at the table. He exclaimed: 'What! Am I todine alone?' 'I regret, sir, that I cannot join you, but I havealready dined.' 'My friend,' answered his guest, with agood-natured smile on his lips, 'Permit me on this occasion todoubt your word, and to assure you that I shall order my carriageimmediately and leave, without touching a mouthful of thisappetizing menu, unless you share it with me.' The host was toomuch of a Chesterfield not to dine a second time, if courtesy ora guest required.

"The free quadroon women of middle age were generally in easycircumstances, and comfortable in their mode of living. Theyowned slaves, skilful hairdressers, fine washerwomen,accomplished seamstresses, who brought them in a handsomerevenue. Expert themselves at all kinds of needle-work, and notdeficient in taste, some of them rose to the importance ofmodistes, and fashioned the dresses of the elegantes among thewhite ladies. Many of them made a specialty of making the finelinen shirts worn at that day by[Pg 184] gentlemen and were paid twodollars and a half apiece for them, at which rate of profit aquadroon woman could always earn a honest, comfortable living.Besides, they monopolized the renting, at high prices, offurnished rooms to white gentlemen. This monopoly was easilyobtained, for it was difficult to equal them in attention totheir tenants, and the tenants indeed could have been hard toplease had they not been satisfied. These rooms, with their largepost bedsteads, immaculate linen, snowy mosquito bars, weremodels of cleanliness and comfort. In the morning the nicest cupof hot coffee was brought to the bedside; in the evening, at thefoot of the bed, there stood the never failing tub of fresh waterwith sweet-smelling towels. As landladies they were both menialsand friends, and always affable and anxious to please. A crossone would have been a phenomenon. If their tenants fell ill, theold quadroons and, under their direction, the young ones, werethe best and kindest of nurses. Many of them, particularly thosewho came from St. Domingo, were expert in the treatment of yellowfever. Their honesty was proverbial."—Grace King,New Orleans,the Place and People, pp. 346-349.

Caswall's Account of Bishop Polk's Efforts in Louisiana in 1854

"Bishop Polk, of Louisiana, was one of the guests. He assured methat he had been all over the country on Red River, the scene ofthe fictitious sufferings of 'Uncle Tom,' and that he had foundthe temporal and spiritual welfare of the negroes well cared for.He had confirmed thirty black persons near the situation assignedto Legree's estate. He is himself the owner of four hundredslaves, whom he endeavours to bring up in a religious manner. Hetolerates no religion on his estate but that of the Church. Hebaptizes all the children, and teaches them the Catechism. All,without exception, attend the Church service, and the chanting iscreditably performed by them, in the opinion of their owner.Ninety of them are communicants, marriages are celebratedaccording to the Church ritual, and the state of morals issatisfactory. Twenty infants had been baptized by the bishop justbefore his departure from home, and he had left his whole estate,his keys, &c., in the sole charge of one of his slaves, withoutthe slightest apprehension of loss or damage. In judging of theposition of this Christian prelate as a slave-owner, the Englishreader must bear[Pg 185] in mind that, by the laws of Louisiana,emancipation has been rendered all but impracticable, and, thatif practicable, it would not necessarily be, in all cases, an actof mercy or of justice."—The Western World Revisited, by theRev. Henry Caswall, M.A., author ofAmerica and the AmericanChurch, etc. Oxford, John Henry Parker, 1854. SeeJourneys andExplorations in the Cotton Kingdom, by Frederick Law Olmsted,Vol. II, pp. 212-213.

Olmsted's Observations in Louisiana in 1860

With regard to the religious instruction of slaves, widelydifferent practices of course prevail. There are someslaveholders, like Bishop Polk of Louisiana, who oblige, and manyothers who encourage, their slaves to engage in religiousexercises, furnishing them certain conveniences for the purpose.Among the wealthier slave owners, however, and in all those partsof the country where the enslaved portion of the populationoutnumbers the whites, there is generally a visible, and often anavowed distrust of the effect of religious exercises upon slaves,and even the preaching of white clergymen to them is permitted bymany with reluctance. The prevailing impression among us, withregard to the important influence of slavery in promoting thespread of religion among the blacks, is an erroneous one in myopinion. I have heard northern clergymen speak as if theysupposed a regular daily instruction of slaves in the truths ofChristianity to be general. So far is this from being the case,that although family prayers were held in several of the fiftyplanters' houses in Mississippi and Alabama, in which I passed anight, I never in a single instance saw a field-hand attend orjoin in the devotion of the family.—See Olmsted'sCottonKingdom, II, 212-213.

[Pg 186]

The Conditions against which Woolman and Anthony Benezet Inveighed

Impressions of Jasper Danckaerts in 1679-1680

Servants and negroes are chiefly employed in the culture oftobacco, who are brought from other places to be sold to thehighest bidders, the servants for a term of years only, but thenegroes for ever, and may be sold by their masters to otherplanters as many times as their masters choose, that is, theservants until their term is fulfilled, and the negroes for life.These men, one with another, each make, after they are able towork, from 2,500 pounds to 3,000 pounds and even 3,500 pounds oftobacco a year, and some of the masters and their wives who passtheir lives here in wretchedness, do the same. The servants andnegroes after they have worn themselves down the whole day, andcome home to rest, have yet to grind and pound the grain, whichis generally maize, for their masters and all their families aswell as themselves, and all the negroes, to eat. Tobacco is theonly production in which the planters employ themselves, as ifthere were nothing else in the world to plant but that, and whilethe land is capable of yielding all the productions that can beraised any where, so far as the climate of the place allows. Asto articles of food, the only bread they have is that made ofTurkish wheat or maize, and that is miserable. They plant thisgrain for that purpose everywhere. It yields well, not a hundred,but five or six hundred for one; but it takes up much space, asit is planted far apart like vines in France. This grain, when itis to be used for men or for similar purposes, has to be firstsoaked, before it is ground or pounded, because the grains beinglarge and very hard, can not be broken under the small stones oftheir light hand-mills; and then it is left so coarse it must besifted. They take the finest for bread, and the other fordifferent kinds of groats, which, when it is cooked is calledsapaen or homina. The meal intended for bread is kneaded moistwithout leaven or yeast, salt or grease, and generally comes outof the oven so that it will hardly hold together, and so blue andmoist that it is as heavy as dough; yet the best of it when cutand roasted, tastes almost like warm white bread, at least itthen seemed to us so. This corn is also the only provender forall their animals, be it horses, oxen, cows, hogs, or fowls,which generally run in the woods to get their[Pg 187] food, but are feda little of this, mornings and evenings during the winter whenthere is little to be had in the woods; though they are not fedtoo much, for the wretchedness, if not cruelty, of such living,affects both man and beast. This is said not without reason, fora master having a sick servant, and there are many so, andobserving from his declining condition, he would finally die, andthat there was no probability of his enjoying any more servicefrom him, made him, sick and languishing as he was, dig his owngrave, in which he was to be laid a few days afterwards, in ordernot to busy any of the others with it, they having their handsfull in attending to the tobacco.—Jasper Danckaerts'OriginalNarratives of Early American History, 1679-1680, p. 133.

Observations of Campbell in 1745-1746

The Negroes live as easily as in any other Part of America, andat set Times have a pretty deal of Liberty in their Quarters, asthey are called. The Argument of the Reasonableness and Legality,according to Nature, of the Slave-Trade, has been so well handledon the Negative Side of the Question, that there remains littlefor an Author to say on that Head; and that Captives taken inWar, are the Property of the Captor, as to Life and Person, aswas the Custom amongst the Spartans; who, like the Americans,perpetuated a Race of Slaves, by marrying them to one another, Ithink, has been fully disprov'd: But allowing some Justice in,or, at least, a great deal of Necessity for, making Slaves ofthis sable Part of the Species; surely, I think, Christianity,Gratitude, or, at least, good Policy, is concerned in using themwell, and in abridging them, instead of giving themEncouragement, of several brutal and scandalous Customs, that aretoo much practised: Such as giving them a Number of Wives, or, inshort, setting them up for Stallions to a whole Neighborhood;when it has been prov'd, I think, unexceptionably, that Polygamyrather destroys than multiplies the Species; of which we havealso living Proofs under the Eastern Tyrants, and amongst theNatives of America; so that it can in no Manner answere the End;and were these Masters to calculate, they'd find a regularProcreation would make them greater Gainers. A sad Consequence ofthis Practice is, that their Children's Morals are debauch'd bythe Frequency of such Sights, as only fit them to become theMasters of Slaves. This is one bad Custom amongst many others;but as to their general Usage of them, 'tis monstrous, andshocking. To be sure, a new Negro, if he must be broke, eitherfrom Obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to suppose, fromGreatness[Pg 188] of Soul, will require more hard Discipline than ayoung Spaniel: You would really be surpriz'd at theirPerseverance; let an hundred men shew him how to hoe, or drive aWheelbarrow, he'll still take the one by the Bottom, and theother by the Wheel; and they often die before they can beconquer'd. They are, no Doubt, very great Thieves, but this mayflow from their unhappy, indigent Circumstances, and not from anatural Bent; and when they have robb'd, you may lash them Hoursbefore they will confess the Fact; however, were they not to lookupon every White Man as their Tormentor; were a slight Fault tobe pardon'd now and then; were their Masters, and thoseadamantine-hearted Overseers, to exercise a little morePersuasion, Complacency, Tenderness and Humanity towards them, itmight perhaps, improve their Tempers to a greater Degree ofTractability. Such Masters and such Overseers, Maryland may withJustice Boast; and Mr. Bull, the late Lieutenant-Governor ofCarolina, is an Instance, amongst many, of the same, in thatProvince: But, on the contrary, I remember an Instance of a lateSea Officer, then resident in a neighbouring Colony, that for amere Peccadillo, order'd his Slave to be ty'd up, and for a wholeHour diverted himself with the Wretched Groans; struck at theMournful Sound, with a Friend, I hasted to the Noise, where theBrute was beginning a new Scene of Barbarity, and belabour'd theCreature so long with a large Cane, his Overseer being tir'd withthe Cowskin, that he remained without Sense and Motion. Happilyhe recovered, but, alas! deceas'd soon after, and perhaps, maymeet him, where the Wicked cease from troubling, and the Weary beat rest: Where as our immortal Pope sings.

No friends torment, no christians thirst for gold. Another, uponthe same Spot, when a Girl had been lash'd till she confess'd aRobbery, in mere Wantonness continu'd the Persecution, repeatingevery now and then these christian-like, and sensible Expressionsin the Ragings of his Fury, G—dd—mn you, when you go to Hell, Iwish G—d would d—mn me, that I might follow you with theCowskin there.

Slavery, thou worst and greatest of Evils! Sometimes thouappearest to my affrighted Imagination, sweating in the Mines ofPotosi, and wiping the hard-bound Tears from thy exhausted eyes;sometimes I view thy sable Liberty under the Torture of the Whip,inflicted by the Hands, the remorseless Hands of an AmericanPlanter: At other Times I view thee in the Semblance of a Wretch[Pg 189]trod upon by ermin'd or turban'd Tyrants, and with poignant,heart-breaking Sighs, dragging after thee a toilsome Length ofChain, or bearing African Burdens. Anon I am somewhat comforted,to see thee attempt to smile under the Grand Monarque; but on theother Side of the Alpes, thou again resum'st thy Tears, and what,and how great are thy Iberian Miseries! In Britain, and Britainonly, thy name is not heard; thou hast assum'd a new Form, andthe heaviest Labours are lightsome under those mild Skies!

Oh Liberty, do thou inspire our breasts!
And make our lives in thy possession happy;
Or our deaths glorious, in thy just defence.

Addison.
—Campbell,Itinerant Observations in America, 1745-1746, p. 37.

Impressions of Priscilla Wakefield

After one of these handsome entertainments, where we had beenattended by negro slaves, I observed a cloud upon the brow of myyoung friend, for which I could not account, till he confessed,that the sight of men who were the property of their fellowcreatures, and subject to every indignity, excited such painfulreflections, that he could not banish them from his mind. Iendeavoured to soothe him, by representing that their treatmenthere is gentle, compared with that exercised in the southernstates, and in the West Indies; though the efforts that have beenmade for the abolition of slavery, have improved their conditionsevery where.

It is indeed to be regretted, that men, so ardent in the love ofliberty for themselves as the Americans are, should continue, inany degree, to tolerate the slave trade. Many amongst them,however, have used every endeavour to abolish it, particularlyAnthony Benezet. He was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in 1712.France, at this time, suffered from religious persecution; whichdrove the parents of Benezet to England, where he embraced thedoctrines of the Quakers. He went to America in 1736, and settledat Philadelphia, in a commercial line of business; but thatemployment being unsuitable to his turn of mind, he quitted itfor the instruction of youth, and undertook the management of aschool, belonging to the society whose principles he had adopted.From that period, he devoted the chief part of his life to publicinstruction, to the relief of the poor, and the defense of theunhappy negroes.

The amiable Benezet was warmed with universal philanthropy:[Pg 190] hefelt a brotherly affection for all men, of all countries, and ofall colours. Not contented with persuasion, he composed manybooks, in which he collected authorities from Scripture and otherwritings, to discourage and condemn the slave-trade and slavery.The first influence of his works was perceived amongst theQuakers. Many of them determined to emancipate their slaves; andthe society since has been very active in promoting theabolition. Benezet knew that instruction was necessary for thoseblacks whose liberty he had procured; and finding few willing toundertake a task, that prejudice had rendered contemptible, hedetermined to devote his own time to the glorious occupation ofenlightening the ignorant and neglected, and his little fortuneto the establishment of a school for the negroes. The influenceof a good example is powerful. Those who had not courage tobegin, cheerfully assisted the work; and the school now enjoys arevenue of two hundred pounds per annum. This good man died in1784; honoured by the tears of the blacks, and the regrets ofevery friend to humanity. John Woolman, also a member of the samesociety, remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and hisopposition to the slave-trade, united with Benezet and others, inapplication to the British government for the abolition. Theirefforts were ineffectual. America after gaining her independence,has listened, more favourably, to the cause of humanity. Most ofthe northern and middle states have proscribed for ever, theimportation of slaves; and in some others, the prohibition islimited to a certain time. Georgia is the only state thatcontinues to receive transported slaves. Rhode Island had a greattraffic in slaves, but has totally prohibited it. The abolition,and amendment in the condition of the negroes, certainly advance,though by slow degrees; and it is to be devoutly wished, that intime these improvements will extend to all parts of the world,where slavery prevails. It will be interesting to you, my dearbrother, to know the steps that have procured these advantages.In 1780, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania abolished slaveryfor ever; compelled the owners of slaves to have them registered;declared their children free at the age of twenty-eight; placedthem, while under that age, on the footing of hired servants; andassured to them the privilege of trial by jury. But this was notsufficient to secure to them all the intended advantages: by asecond act it was ordained, that no negro could be sent into aneighbouring state without his consent; that all vessels andcargoes employed in the slave trade should be confiscated; andthat all stealers of the negroes should be condemned to thepublic works.[Pg 191] The little state of Delaware followed this nobleexample. New York has sanctioned nearly the same regulations intheir favour as Pennsylvania. A society, connected with one inLondon, and others in the American states, formed for the expresspurpose of promoting the abolition, has greatly ameliorated theircondition, in all respects; especially by affording numbers ofthem a degree of instruction in religion, and the useful arts ofreading and writing, which they acquire with as much facility aswhite men brought up in the same manner. From this information wemay encourage the hope, that the time approaches when theirshackles shall be removed, and they shall participate with theother races of mankind, in the common benefits of liberty andindependence: that instead of the treatment of beasts of burthen,they shall be considered as rational beings, and co-heirs with usof immortality: that a conscientious care of educating theirchildren in the great duties of Christianity, will produce ahappy change from the vices in which, from ignorance and acombination of unfavorable circumstances, they now live, to thepractice of religion and morality, and entitle them to rank on anequality with their fellow-creatures. Besides these public actsin favour of the negroes, many individuals have generously givenliberty to their slaves; amongst others that have fallen under mynotice, I shall mention the instance of Messrs. David and JohnBarclay, respectable merchants in London, who received, as anequivalent for a debt, a plantation in Jamaica, stocked withthirty-two slaves. They immediately resolved to set these negroesfree; and that they might effectually enable them afterwards toprovide for themselves, the surviving brother, David, sent anagent from England to manage the business, and convey them toPhiladelphia, having first supplied them with all necessaries;where, under the fostering hand of his friends in the city, withthe assistance of the Abolition Society, they were apprenticed tomechanic trades, and the children sent to school to be properlyinstructed. This benevolent act was rewarded with extraordinarysuccess. Except two, these liberated slaves prospered, and becameuseful members of the community.

Many of those who are free, gain a great deal of money; as Iconclude, from a ball given among themselves, at which we werepresent, where, though all of a sooty black, the company was welldressed, came in coaches, and were regaled with a good supper andvariety of refreshments.—Priscilla Wakefield,Excursions inNorth America, 1806, p. 16 et seq.

[Pg 192]

Book Reviews

Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee. ByClifton R. Hall,Ph.D. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1916. Pp. 234.

This book, according to the author, is an attempt to "trace thepersonality of Andrew Johnson through the years 1862-1865 when theburden of military government and reconstruction in Tennessee restedprincipally upon his shoulders." The author has intentionallyneglected to give detailed treatment of the military administration inWest Tennessee by the generals of the regular army and also of theFederal trade regulations in the State. No effort is here made totrace the career of Johnson after the close of his services inTennessee. The account is largely based on the papers of Johnson foundin theOfficial Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and onthe newspapers of that period, especially theNashville Union. Theauthor is conscious of his failure adequately to present the"Confederate side of many controverted points," because of "a mostregrettable dearth of material for this purpose."

Dr. Hall aims to answer certain charges, among which are such as theassertion that Johnson purposely delayed the work of reconstructionand that he by rather harsh treatment excluded many unquestionablyloyal men from the work of reconstruction. The purpose of the work isto show how the lesson learned by Johnson in reconstructing his ownState constituted a training for the higher work to which he was sosuddenly and unexpectedly called. With this end in view the writerconsiders first secession, and then gives a sketch of Andrew Johnsonleading up to his inauguration as Military Governor. Then follow suchtopics as the defense of Nashville, repression under Rosecrans,military and political reverses, the progress of reorganization andthe presidential campaign of 1864. Throughout the treatise an effortis made to show the arduousness of the task of theGovernor-of-all-work had to do and how he summoned to his aid theconstructive element and reestablished order. There is given also anaccount not only of the opposition of those who looked upon theGovernor as a traitor but of that of the militant factions thatdivided on the question as to how the State should be reconstructed.Lincoln's plan of reconstruction is[Pg 193] presented as a factor whichfigured largely in the problems the Governor had to solve.

How the question of slavery was then treated by the men solving theproblem of maintaining the Union is not neglected. Andrew Johnson isreferred to as product of the poor white stock that hoped to see theevil of slavery exterminated because it was at variance with theprinciples of democracy, but on the other hand believed that it was sodeeply rooted in the life of the nation that it should not be molestedso long as it "remained in strict subordination to and in harmony withthe government." The writer shows also how Johnson felt that in caseof secession the Federal Government could not coerce a State, yetbelieving that this government, the best and freest on earth, shouldbe preserved, he undermined his own anti-coercion doctrine bydenouncing the right of secession and urging that although the FederalGovernment could not coerce a State, it had a right to guarantee theloyal citizens representing it a constitutional form of government.Some space is given to the discussion of the exception of Tennesseefrom the Emancipation Proclamation, the growing tendency of Johnson toignore slavery to preserve the Union, how the opponents sought toweaken him by saying that he was opposed to the institution andfinally how he suffered it to be sacrificed to save the Union. Passingmention is given the working out of the problem of abolition and theproposition as to what relief and what privileges should be given theemancipated Negroes.

J. O. Burke

The New Negro. ByWilliam Pickens, Dean of Morgan College,Baltimore. Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 239.

"The New Negro" is a collection of speeches and essays through whichthis well known orator has endeavored to present his views on the raceproblem in the United States. Primarily polemic and ex-parte, thiswork will hardly attract the attention of the investigator. But whenan author like this one, a man of reputation and influence among hispeople, writes on such subjects as the "renaissance" of the Negro, hisconstitutional status, and discusses Alexander Hamilton, FrederickDouglass, and Abraham Lincoln, the serious reader might well pause togive this work more than ordinary consideration.

The book does not bear the stamp of research; the aim of the[Pg 194] work isto defend the Negro and laud those who have championed his cause. Thebold claims which Negroes have been making from time immemorial areset forth in brilliant and forceful style. In this respect the book isa success. It goes over old ground, but it does its work well.Although not historical, some valuable facts of Negro history aregiven from page to page. It contains, however, a few statements whichare not essential to the establishment of the Negro's claim to greatachievement. It is very difficult to demonstrate to a thinking man theadvantage to the Negro of such a contention as the much mootedconnection of Alexander Hamilton and Robert Browning with the blackrace when those men spent their lives and passed into history as whitemen. Such argument has just about as much bearing on the present asthe efforts now being made by certain enthusiastic race leaders toprove that Christ was a black man rather than a Jew. Fraught then withopinions rather than with organized facts adequate to the developmentof the subject constituting its title, the book must be classed ascontroversial literature.

It may be well to note here, however, exactly what the author means bythe "new Negro." The "new Negro," says he, "is not really new; he isthe same Negro under new conditions. Those who regret the passing ofthe 'old Negro' and picture the new as something very different mustremember that there is no sharp line of demarcation between the oldand the new in any growing organism like a germ, a plant or a race."The "new Negro" then is simply the Negro differently circumstanced. Heis ignored by the white man and, therefore, misunderstood. The "newNegro" is living under the handicap of isolation by white men whodiffer from their former masters who lived in close contact with them.The result is that the white man of today, choosing not to becomeacquainted with the Negro, has constructed within his mind a personentirely different from what the Negro actually is. The "new Negro" isnot treacherous, indolent and criminal as suspected. He "is a sober,sensible creature, conscious of his environment, knowing that not allis right, but trying hard to become adjusted to this civilization inwhich he finds himself by no will or choice of his own. He is not theshallow, vain, showy creature which he is sometimes advertised to be.He still hopes that the unreasonable opposition to his forward andupward progress will relent. But, at any rate, he is resolved tofight, and live or die, on the side of God and the Eternal Verities."[Pg 195]

Cotton as a World Power. ByJames A. B. Scherer, LL.D. Frederick A.Stokes Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 452.

Here we see cotton again not as king but as a world power. It is thenew Golden Fleece. The Civil War brought home to the public mind thatthis vegetable fleece is really golden "and that its golden values areso interwoven with the solidarity of mankind as to depend to apeculiar degree for their stability on the maintenance of an unbrokennetwork of international trade. Cotton is here considered peculiar inthat it is the only crop of importance, all of which is sold by thosewho produce it. It, therefore, gives rise to an enormous commerce andprovides a medium of exchange that almost entirely takes the place ofgold in the settlement of interstate and international balances." Byit countries are bound together "in its globe engirdling web; so thatwhen a modern economist concerns himself with the interdependence ofnations he naturally looks to cotton for his most effectiveillustration."

Showing its startling growth in the Orient and the Occident even fromthe time of Alexander the Great, cotton is traced as a factor in thedevelopment of ancient nations and in the rise of the modern. Itstrikes one as being a little strange to read in this economictreatise such captions as "The Vegetable Lamb" and "Cotton Mythology."The author then gives in more detail the earliest history of theindustry, referring to Hindu skill, Alexander's trade routes, Egyptianmummies, the microscope, the transit from Rome to Spain, cotton andthe Renaissance, Edward III as the weaver king, the entrance of cottoninto England and the transformation of the country.

Taking up the industrial revolution the author develops the subjectmore scientifically. The work contains less of mere history and givesa more economic view of the forces set to work by the culture ofcotton throughout the civilized world. The numerous inventions whichfigured so conspicuously in the rise of the industry are discussed. Inthis portion of the work, however, the author has hardly said anythingnew. He has merely restated well-known facts so as to give them asomewhat enlarged and original treatment. Here we read more about Kay,Hargraves, Arkwright, Compton, Cartwright, Watt, Davy and Brindley,whose inventive genius supplied the mechanical appliance upon whichthis industrial progress was based. Mention is also made of thecaptains of industry who set this machinery going and directed theworld-wide movement which resulted in multiplying the wealth of someand bringing[Pg 196] comfort and prosperity to many. The references to theinfluence of cotton on such writers as Malthus and Darwin and uponsuch explorers as Columbus and Cortes show the breadth with which theauthor treats the subject.

A large part of this work, of course, is devoted to tracing theconnection of cotton with the early manufacturing in the UnitedStates, its impetus to slavery, its influences upon States' rights,its effects on manufacturing in New England and on protection, freetrade, secession, the reconstruction of the South and the socialproblem. On the whole this is an excellent work and will be receivedby students of economic history as a valuable contribution in itsfield.

C. B. Walter

Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.ByRichard R. Wright, Jr., Ph.D., Editor-in-chief, assisted byJohn R.Hawkins, LL.B. Book Concern of the A. M. E. Church, Philadelphia, Pa.,1916. Pp. 392.

This is a neatly printed and handsomely bound volume of valuable factsmeeting a long-felt need. It contains an introduction by Bishop L. J.Coppin, a foreword entitled "One Hundred Years of African Methodism,"a sketch of "What African Methodism Has to Say for Itself," by Dr. J.T. Fenifer, the historian of the church, and the Chronology of AfricanMethodism by Dr. R. R. Wright. In these pages one finds in epitome theleading facts of the history of this church from the time of itsestablishment by Richard Allen to the present time.

Then follows the Centennial Encyclopedia of the African MethodistEpiscopal Church. "The purpose of this work," according to theeditors, "is to present in some literary form the work of the men andwomen, both ministers and laymen, who have helped to make the Churchwhat it is and especially those now living who receive the inheritanceof the fathers and upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility ofpassing the work down to a new century." The editors disclaimpretension to scientific historical treatment. The work is ratherbiographical and autobiographical and was prepared under such ahandicap that some of the matter presented could not be verified. Yetwhen we consider the fact that the editors had access to the files ofnewspapers, church histories, and other church encyclopedias, we mustconclude that they have here compiled information of incalculablevalue. The reader must be impressed too[Pg 197] by the scientific dispositionof the editors in that they show no inclination to criticize oreulogize, but endeavor to present facts.

The second part of the book, differing somewhat from the first, isequally as valuable. It contains an account of the Church in general,its location, laws, doctrines, statistics and almost every sort ofinformation bearing on the life of those connected with this Church.Among these facts, too, the reader finds not only a religious historybut an excellent account of the development of education among thesepeople. In this respect, therefore, the editors have rendered thecause of education a service hardly less valuable than that to theChurch.

The volume as a whole shows much progress. It is the best Negro Churchencyclopedia hitherto produced. One may obtain here in succinct forman excellent ready reference work. The book is modestly given to thepublic as a beginning, but it has accomplished much for the race notonly in the information which it contains but in demonstrating what astore of knowledge may be obtained through an effective organization.Just as the African Methodist Episcopal Church has gone to the expenseof bringing out this valuable volume to publish to posterity the deedsof its fathers, so should every Negro organization address itself tothe task of preserving a record of all of their connection, who havedone something for the development of the country and the progress oftheir people.

[Pg 198]

Notes

Father Uncles of Baltimore

The following from theBrooklyn Tablet, January 13, 1917, willinterest students of the Negro Church:

"Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles, of Baltimore, Maryland, receivedcongratulatory messages from all parts of the country last month,the occasion being the twenty-fifth anniversary of hisordination. Father Uncles was the first colored man of the UnitedStates to be raised to the priesthood, and he has had a brilliantcareer during the quarter century that has elapsed since CardinalGibbons ordained him in the Baltimore Cathedral on December 19,1891.

"Father Uncles has done much missionary work and is at presentengaged in teaching Latin and French in Epiphany College,Walbrook, Maryland, the preparatory school for St. Joseph'sSeminary, where young men are trained to carry on work among thenegroes of the United States.

"Father Uncles was the first negro in this country to beordained. He reached his goal after years of preliminary studywhich led to his taking a course in St. Joseph's and St. Mary'sSeminaries. He was graduated with honors and went to EpiphanyCollege as teacher as soon as he left St. Mary's. He has donemuch to put the negro missions on a thorough working basis, andhe has the admiration of Cardinal Gibbons. Father Uncles was bornin Baltimore November 6, 1859, and his parents and grandparentswere free negroes. His father was a machinist and worked foryears with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His mother is stillliving.

"He was baptized at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Calvert andPleasant streets, Baltimore, and there he recently said hisjubilee Mass. He studied at St. Francis's parish school and inthe public schools. He worked as printer and journalist from 1874to 1879 and then as printer. In 1880 he began as teacher in theBaltimore county schools, and in 1883 entered St. Hyacinth'sCollege, Quebec, to study. He returned to St. Joseph's Seminaryin 1888."

The same paper said on this date in its editorial columns:

"Congratulations to Father Uncles, of Baltimore, a priest, agentleman, a scholar—and a negro. He has just celebrated the[Pg 199]twenty-fifth anniversary of his entrance into the Order of Abel,Abraham and Melchizedek.

"Father Uncles was the first of his race in this country to beraised to the dignity of the priesthood. His was a uniqueposition. The eyes of the American world were upon him. Thoughone of God's anointed, he was a "colored man," and thus more wasdemanded of him than of any of his white brothers. At the end oftwenty-five years, he can, with his gentle good nature, laugh atthe world's scrutiny.

"For Father Uncles is gentle—a gentleman. In conversation withhim, in association with him, one never thought of the color ofhis body. The beautiful whiteness of his soul shone so in thekindly lightning of his eyes, the courtesy of his speech, thecorrectness of his manner.

"He was, and is, a scholar—not merely book-learned, for he wasone of the first three in a class of sixty in Saint Mary'sSeminary, but the man of parts that bespeak the student.

"Yet he is a negro—of that long-suffering race that we firstdamned into slavery and then freed into servitude. But a man's aman for a' that, and from time to time the negro is proving that.Father Uncles was a pioneer in that line. For emancipation's sakehe will not object to this projection of himself upon America'smental screen."

In connection with the sketch given above the following account of thework of the Catholics at Van de Vyver College, Richmond, Virginia,from 1885 to the present time should also be interesting.

Among the many signs of the progress of the colored people in the cityof Richmond is the Van de Vyver College on North First street, whichis equipped with all modern improvements, and has accommodations forfive hundred pupils.

This elegant plant was erected at the sole expense of the Catholicswho, abreast of the times, met at every turn the requirements of anaspiring class of colored boys and girls.

It was not erected with the idea of drawing the attention or ofeliciting the applause of the people of Richmond; it is an institutionwhich, by its growth and development, has marked time with the demandsof the younger generation of the colored people, whose endeavor is tofollow the higher ideals as they are set before them.

This grand building, with its large auditorium, now covers the site,together with additional area, of a former two-roomed schoolhouse,which thirty years back first gave the Catholic Sisters from[Pg 200] MillHill, England, a place and opportunity to show their zeal for, andtheir interest in, the future welfare of the colored youth of theprincipal city of the Old Dominion.

These Sisters are known as the Sisters of St. Francis of Baltimore.They have the privilege of being the first of all the whitesisterhoods in this country to take up the work of teaching coloredchildren exclusively. Today there are many colored citizens who arenot backward in their praise of the successful and unselfish effortsof these same good sisters, whose energetic endeavors have led many acolored boy and girl to a happy and prosperous career.

On the college grounds is an excellently equipped kindergarten, inwhich many pupils, who later on were graduated from the commercial andacademic courses, made their first start.

Special classes in music, fancy needlework, Latin and French are alsotaught to those desiring to pursue such lines.

For the working boys and young men, there is a night session, whereinis given a theoretical and practical knowledge of the automobile. Manya young man has gone forth from this class qualified as an expertmechanician and chauffeur.

The church adjoining the college, attendance at which is of courseoptional, affords all the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of thedoctrine of the Catholic Church. Affiliated with this church are fourflourishing societies, one for the men called the Holy Name Society;one for the women called The Sodality of the Mother of Jesus; one formen and women called The League of the Sacred Thirst—a TemperanceSociety; and one for the boys and girls called the Knights and Ladiesof the Cross. The members of these societies are very faithful in theduties required of them, and hence give great edification to thepeople of both races.

This whole plant, it is needless to say, is an inspiring spectacle tothe very many colored men and women, who pass up and down North Firststreet. They have reason to point to it with pride. They appreciateall that it represents to them. It matters not of what denominationthe people may be, Catholic or Non-Catholic, words of the highestcommendation are freely and generously given by all alike.

Father Tobin

More about Negro Soldiers

The following account of the services of Negroes during the AmericanRevolution appeared in theWashington Post, January 16, 1917:[Pg 201]

"The employment of colored men became a subject of muchimportance at an early stage of the American war of independence.The British naturally regarded slavery as an element of weaknessin the condition of the colonies, in which the slaves werenumerous, and laid their plans to gain the colored men and inducethem to take up arms against their masters by promising themliberty on this condition.

"The situation was looked upon by the public men of the coloniesas alarming, and several of them urged the Congress to adopt thepolicy of emancipation. But while the general question ofemancipation was defeated, the exigencies of the contest againand again brought up the practical one of employment for coloredmen, whether bond or free.

"Only Freemen Wanted in Army

"In May, 1775, Hancock and Warren's committee of safetyintroduced the following formal resolution: 'Resolved, That it isthe opinion of this committee, as the contest now between GreatBritain and the colonies respects the liberties and privileges ofthe latter, which the colonies are determined to maintain, thatthe admission of any person as a soldier into the army nowraising, but only such as are freemen, will be inconsistent withthe principles that are to be supported and reflect dishonor onthese colonies, and that no slaves be admitted into this armyupon any consideration whatever.'

"Washington took command of the army around Boston on July 3,1775. The instructions for the recruiting officers from hisheadquarters at Cambridge prohibited the enlistment of any'negro.' It may also be noticed that they were forbidden toenlist 'any person who is not an American born, unless suchperson has a wife and family and is a settled person in thiscountry.'

"Many Colored Men Enrolled

"Notwithstanding all this, the fact remains, according toBancroft, that 'the roll of the army at Cambridge had, from itsfirst formation, borne the names of men of color.' Free coloredmen stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginningof the war they had entered the provincial army, and the coloredmen, like others, were retained in the service after the troopswere adopted by the continent.

"A committee on conference, consisting of Dr. Franklin, BenjaminHarrison and Thomas Lynch, met at Cambridge, October 18,[Pg 202] 1775,with the deputy governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island and thecommittee of the council of Massachusetts Bay, to confer withGen. Washington, and advise a method for renovating the army. Onthe 23d of October the negro question was presented and disposedof as follows: 'Ought not negroes to be excluded from the newenlistment, especially such as are slaves?' All were thoughtimproper by the council of officers. It was agreed that they berejected altogether.

"In general orders, issued November 12, 1775, Washington says:'Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit toendure the fatigues of the campaign are to be enlisted.'

"Permitted Their Enlistment

"Washington, however, in the last days of the year, underrepresentations to him that the free colored men who had servedin his army were very much dissatisfied at being discarded, andfearing that they might seek employment in the British army, tookthe responsibility to depart from the resolution respecting themand gave license for their being enlisted.

"Washington promised that if there was any objection on the partof Congress he would discontinue the enlisting of colored men,but, on January 15, 1776, Congress determined 'that the freenegroes who had served faithfully in the army at Cambridge may bereenlisted therein, but no others.'

"The entire aspect of the affairs changed when, in 1779, theSouth began to be invaded. South Carolina, especially, was unableto make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of thegreat proportion of citizens necessary to remain at home toprevent insurrections among the colored men and their desertionsto the enemy, who were assiduous in their endeavors to exciteboth revolt and desertion.

"The result was that in all the Southern States the legislaturespassed resolutions to enlist the colored men, and the coloredpatriots of the Revolution are as much entitled as their whitebrethren for the ardor with which they fought the common enemy,whether they were bondmen or freemen. It has never been possibleto give an exact statement as to the number of colored men whoserved in the Revolution, for the reason that they were generallymixed in regiments and not calculated separately."

The following was taken from the columns of theBoston Journal,June, 1897, by Mr. Frederic S. Monroe.

[Pg 203]

A Gallant Negro

How Salem Poor Fought at the
Battle of Bunker Hill

There is an interesting record in the Massachusetts Archives(clxxx, 241) which Dr. Samuel A. Green ran across during hishistorical researches, and which theJournal prints below. Itrelates to a colored man at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Subscribers begg leave to Report to your Honble. House (WhichWee do in justice to the Caracter of so Brave a Man) that underOur Own observation, Wee declare that A Negro Man Called SalemPoor of Col Fryes Regiment. Capt. Ames. Company in the lateBattle at Charleston, behaved like an Experienced Officer, asWell as an Excellent Soldier, to Set forth Particulars of hisConduct Would be Tedious, Wee Would Only begg leave to say in thePerson of this sd. Negro Centers a Brave & gallant Soldier. TheReward due to so great and Distinguisht a Caracter, Wee submit tothe Congress——

Cambridge Decr. 5th 1775

Jona. Brewer.Col
Thomas NixonLt. Col
Wm PrescottColo.
Ephm. CoreyLieut.
Joseph BakerLieut
Joshua ReedLieut

To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay.

Jonas RichardsonCapt.
Eliphelet BodwellSegt
Josiah FosterLeutn.
Ebenr Varnum2d Lut.
Wm Hudson BallardCpt
William SmithCapn
John MartenSurgt: of a Brec:
Lieut. Richard Welsh

  In Council Decr. 21st. 1775
    Read & Sent down
     Perez Morton
      Dpy Secry

[Pg 204]

This paper is indorsed

Recommendation of
Salem Poor a free Negro
for his Bravery at ye Battle
of Charlestown
leave to withdraw it

Although histories have been written of the members and actions ofCol. Frye's regiment and Capt. Ames's company, of which Salem Poor wasa member, the account given of him shows that the story of his lifewas not known. It is, however, noted in Miss Bailey's "History ofAndover" that he was a slave, owned by John Poor. At the Battle ofBunker Hill, when Lieut. Col. Abercrombie, of the British forces,sprang upon the redoubt, while the Americans were running in retreat,and exclaimed, "The day is ours," Salem Poor turned, aimed his gun andfelled with a bullet the English leader. The deed was considered bythe officers of the regiment to be one of great bravery, as theirpetition to the General Court of Massachusetts shows.

Other colored men serving at the Battle of Bunker Hill were TitusCoburn, Alexander Ames, Barzillai Lew, all of Andover; Cato Howe ofPlymouth, and Peter Salem.

Among those who gave valued services in the Continental Army wasDeborah Gannett. She assumed the dress of a man, and under the name ofRobert Shurtliff, enlisted in the fourth Massachusetts Regiment,Captain Webb, serving in the ranks without once revealing her sex fromMay 20, 1782, to October 23, 1783, a period of seventeen months. By anact of the legislature, Jan. 20, 1792, she was paid £34 by the Statefor her services.

The extract below is from a discussion of the questions of pension andbounty for Negro soldiers by James Croggon. It appeared in theWashington Star.

"January 21 Gen. Jackson read an address to each of the commandswhich had taken part in the battles, reviewing the campaign, andsaying of the engagement of January 8 that the loss of the enemywas more than 3,000 while the American loss was but thirteen—"awonderful interposition of heaven! An unexampled event in thehistory of war!" Gen. Jackson characterizes the event.

"In his general orders of January 21, prior to breaking camp,Gen. Jackson complimented the various regiments and commands,[Pg 205]saying of the two bodies of colored volunteers: 'They have notdisappointed the hopes that were formed of their courage andperseverence in the performance of their duty. Majs. Lacoste andDaquin, who commanded them, have deserved well of their country.'

"Rewards Held Up

"Yet, although these colored troops were commended for theircoolness and bravery under fire, especially in the memorableengagement of December 23 when they were attached to Coffee'sbrigade, which opened the series of battles, recognition fortheir services, by way of pension and bounty, was withheld forseveral years after their discharge from the service and then wasgranted only after an opinion had been given by William Wirt,Attorney General of the United States at that time, that theymight legally be so recompensed.

"When the colored troops enlisted the act of Congress of December24, 1811, provided a bounty of $16, with three months' pay, and agrant of 160 acres of land to those who had served five years,the same amount of land to the heirs of those killed in battle,and the same amount of land to the heirs of those who had died inthe service after having served five years. The act of January11, 1812, carried like provisions, and the act of December 10,1814, again carried the provisions, except that the amount ofland granted was doubled.

"After the colored troops were mustered out, application was madein their behalf for recognition under these acts, especially forthe bounty of 320 acres of land, but it was not until 1823 thattheir claims were recognized.

"Jackson Praised Troops

"This apathy and long delay ensued notwithstanding the fact thatunder date of December 27, 1814, Gen. Jackson had reviewed thefirst engagement in a report in which he spoke highly of the menof color attached to Coffee's brigade. He said in this engagementa number of prisoners were taken, and the British loss was about100. On the night of the 23d of December, in the engagement belowNew Orleans, the British left 100 killed, and 230 wounded, theirloss in prisoners taken making their total loss that night about400.

"Again, reporting on the battle of January 8, Gen. Jackson saidthat the enemy advanced in two strong columns, and that 'theywere received with a firmness which defeated all their hopes.For[Pg 206] upward of an hour the firing was incessant, but the enemy atlength fled in confusion from the field, their losses includingGen. Sir Edward Pakenham.' Under date of January 19 Gen. Jacksoninformed the War Department that the enemy had decamped, leavingeighty of their wounded and fourteen pieces of heavy artillery,and that he believed Louisiana was then 'clear.'

"Attorney General's Opinion

"It was to J. C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, that WilliamWirt, then Attorney General, wrote, under date of March 27, 1823,declaring that it was not, in his opinion, in the power of thegovernment to deny the colored troops and their heirs theemoluments of their service in the army. Mr. Wirt's letter is asfollows:

"'Sir: Had I been called on a priori to give a construction tothe several acts of Congress, which are the subject of Mr.Cutting's letters of the 21st of May, 1821, and 30th of January,1823, of Maj. Charles J. Nourse's of the 20th of January, 1823,and Mr. J. W. Murray's of the 22d of December, 1822, I shouldhave had no hesitation in expressing the opinion that it was notthe intention of Congress to incorporate negroes and people ofcolor with the army, any more than with the militia of the UnitedStates. But the acts of Congress, under which this body of peopleof color are understood to have been raised during the late war,uses no other terms of description as to the recruits than thatthey shall be 'effective, able-bodied men' (act 24th December,1811), 'for completing the existing military establishment,' andact 11th January, 1812, 'to raise an additional military force,'of 'free, effective, able-bodied men' (act December 10, 1814),'making further provision for filling the ranks of the army ofthe United States.'

"All Requirements Fulfilled

"As either of these descriptions was satisfied by the persons ofcolor in question; as the recruiting officers, who were quoad hocthe agents of the United States, recruited these persons on acontract for the pay and bounty stipulated by law, as theofficers of government recognize them as a part of the army, bytheir regular returns of this corps, who received, till the closeof the war, the same pay and rations with other troops, weresubject to the same military law and performed the same militaryservices, it seems to me that a practical construction has beengiven to the law in this particular, from which it is not in thepower of the government justly to depart.[Pg 207]

"I think, therefore, that they ought to receive the promised landbounty. But, without some further and more explicit declarationof the purpose of Congress, I would not recommend a repetition ofsuch contracts on any future occasion on laws worded like thoseunder consideration; by which I mean, not merely the three lawswhich I have cited, but the whole military system of the UnitedStates, militia included."

Mrs. R. L. Pendleton has published the new edition of theLife andWorks of Phillis Wheatley by G. Herbert Renfro. This volume containsa sketch of G. Herbert Renfro and a much more detailed sketch of thelife of Phillis Wheatley by this writer. It contains thecorrespondence of the poetess and a larger number of her poems than wefind in some of the other editions of her works. The book is wellprinted and nicely bound and may be purchased for the small sum of$1.50 from R. L. Pendleton, 1216 You St., Washington, D. C.

Longmans and Company have published A. J. McDonald'sTrade, Politicsand Christianity in Africa and the East. It is a valuablecontribution to the British colonial policy.

H. O. Newland'sSierra Leone; its People, Products and SecretSocieties has come from the press of Bale, Sons and Donnelson. Theauthor is a student of sociology and knows much about West Africa. Tothis is appended 44 pages of information on Sierra Leone by H. HamelSmith.

In the Hands of Senoussi has been published by Mrs. GwatkinWilliams. This book is a collection of facts compiled from the diaryof Captain R. Gwatkin Williams, giving an account of nineteen weeks ofcaptivity of the survivors of H. M. S.Tara in the Libyan Desert.

The tales of General Botha's desert march in Southwest Africa havebeen published asSun, Sand and Sin by Hodder and Stoughton.

Articles of interest on Africa recently published areIslam on theCongo by W. J. W. Roome in the Moslem World,L'Islam en Mauritanieet au Senegale in the Revue du Monde Musulman andObservations onthe Northern Section of the Tanganyika-Nile Rift Valley by Captain C.H. Stigand in the Geographical Journal.[Pg 208]

The Early History of Cuba, 1492-1586, by I. A. Wright, has beenpublished by MacMillan Company. The book shows evidence of extensiveresearch and scholarly treatment.

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History is makingextensive preparation to bring together during the last week in Augustall persons who are now seriously interested in the study of Negrohistory. It is hoped that a large number of members may be able toattend and that interest in the work may extend throughout thecountry. Some of the leading historians of the United States will beinvited to address this body.

[Pg 209]

The Journal
of
Negro History

Vol. II—July, 1917—No. 3

The Formation of the American Colonization Society

What to do with the Negro population has almost always been a questionbefore the American people. Since the early date of 1714 its removalto some territory beyond the limits of the United States or to anunsettled area of our public lands has been advocated. During thecentury which followed the earliest mention of deportation, itsadvocates published their plans as individual propaganda, sought theapprobation of religious and humanitarian organizations, and in one ortwo instances tried to secure favorable State or national action onthem. But throughout this long period of one hundred years noconcerted action was taken: the period is characterized by sporadicorigins and isolated efforts; and these early projectors of plans toremove the Negro were the trailmakers in a pioneering movement whichculminated in a national organization.[234]

Obviously private enterprise alone could make little headway in theactual colonization of the Negroes in a territory sufficiently distantto be beyond the pale of the white population. The one item of expensewas too serious a handicap for individual initiative to overcome.Besides the case of Captain Izard Bacon of Virginia, who temporarily[Pg 210]removed his fifty-two freedmen to Pennsylvania to await a favorabletime for sending them over sea,[235] and of Mary Matthews of KingGeorge's County, Virginia, who by will emancipated her slaves andprovided for their removal to a place where they could enjoy theirliberty,[236] there is but one significant example of actualcolonization under individual auspices. This occurred in 1815 whenPaul Cuffe took thirty-eight Negroes to the western coast ofAfrica.[237] This dramatic event in Negro deportation, owing to thewide publicity given to it, stimulated activity anew in colonizationventures.

We shall now review these new schemes and show how representatives ofthe transportation movement assembled in Washington city, and havingenlisted in their cause men most distinguished in the councils of thenation, formed the American Society for Colonizing the Free People ofColor of the United States, an organization still in existence but nowknown as the American Colonization Society and having as a monument toits checkered career, the free Negro republic, Liberia, on the westerncoast of Africa.

To begin with, it is well to point out that Thomas Jefferson, whoseadvocacy of Negro colonization dates from 1773, replied in 1811, to arequest for his opinion on Ann Mifflin's proposition to make asettlement of colored people on the west coast of Africa under theauspices of the different States, that he considered it "the mostdesirable measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off"the black population; and he added: "nothing is more to be wished thanthat the United States should themselves undertake to make such anestablishment on the coast of Africa."[238] It requires little effortto appreciate the weight of this Ex-President's[Pg 211] opinion, andcolonizationists later gave wide publicity to it in order tostrengthen their cause.[239]

Additional deportation sentiment is found in the recommendations ofthe Union Humane Society, an anti-slavery organization founded in1815, in Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy. Two planks in the program of theSociety are noteworthy: first, it emphasized the necessity of commonaction by all forces interested in the amelioration of the Negro race;and, second, it recommended as a basis for common action the removalof the Negroes beyond the pale of the white man.[240]

While the Union Humane Society was silent on national aid, theKentucky Colonization Society came out in strong terms for it. Takingadvantage of the close of the War of 1812 and of the existence of vasttracts of unappropriated lands in the United States, and realizingthat the number of free blacks daily increased, and that the territoryopen to them for residence was greatly restricted owing to theprohibitory legislation existing in many States, this Society, at itsannual meeting, held in Frankfort, October 18 and 19, 1815, petitionedCongress that a suitable territory "be laid off as an asylum for allthose negroes and mulattoes who have been, and those who may hereafterbe, emancipated within the United States; and that such donations,allowances, encouragements, and assistance be afforded them as may benecessary for carrying them thither and settling them therein; andthat they be under such regulations and government in all respects asyour wisdom shall direct."[241]

Another manifestation of sentiment for removing the Negroes to adistant territory is found in a series of resolutions passed by theVirginia Assembly on December 21, 1816. These resolutions wereintroduced and sponsored by[Pg 212] Charles Fenton Mercer, a slaveholder. Inthe spring of 1816, he accidentally discovered the secret action ofthe Assembly, taken in 1800, just after the Negro insurrection of thatyear, the upshot of which was two resolutions directing the Governorto correspond with the President of the United States for the purposeof securing somewhere a suitable territory for the colonization ofemancipated slaves and free Negroes[242]. It was too near the end ofthe session when Mercer found these resolutions for him to present aprogram to the Assembly. In the interim, however, Mercer broke the barof secrecy, interviewed Francis S. Key, of Georgetown, and Elias B.Caldwell, of Washington city, and with their advice drew up someresolutions to introduce in the Assembly at its next session.Moreover, while in the North that summer for the purpose of therecuperation of his health, having made known his plan, he received"promises of pecuniary aid, and of active cooperation."[243] At thenext session of the Virginia Assembly, Mercer introduced hisresolutions, the purport of which asked the national government tofind a territory on the North Pacific on which to settle free blacksand those afterwards emancipated in Virginia. These resolutions havingbeen amended by the Senate to read on the North Pacific or the AfricanCoast were passed by the Assembly on December 21, 1816, the very dayon which the first public meeting of deportationists was held inWashington and out of which grew the American Colonization Society.

A year later, speaking before this organization, Mercer stated hisreasons for supporting deportation. "Many thousand individuals in ournative State, you well know Mr. President, are restrained frommanumitting their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholyconviction that they cannot yield to the suggestions of humanitywithout manifest[Pg 213] injury to their country." He held that the rapidlyincreasing free black population endangered the peace of the State andimpaired in a large section the value of slave property. Whatbanditti, consisting of the degraded, idle, and vicious free blacks,"sally forth from their coverts, beneath the obscurity of night, andplunder the rich proprietors of the valleys. They infest thesuburbs of the towns and cities, where they become the depositories ofstolen goods, and, schooled by necessity, elude the vigilance of ourdefective police."[245] Thus a Virginia slaveholder saw in Negrocolonization a means to relieve the State of a dangerous population,to increase the value of slave property and to make possiblemanumission by that class of slaveholders in which he put himself.

A concurrent expression on Negro deportation, but apparently anindependent one, is connected with the name of Robert Finley, ofBasking Ridge, New Jersey. A graduate of Princeton, a teacher, aPresbyterian pastor, Finley was in 1816 made president of theUniversity of Georgia, at Athens, where he died the following year atthe age of forty-five. As early as 1814 he wrote "a very particularfriend in Philadelphia" his ideas on Negro colonization.[246] OnFebruary 15, 1815, he wrote a letter to John O. Mumford, of New YorkCity, in which he argued for the removal of the free blacks. He saidin part: "Everything connected with their condition, including theircolor, is against them; nor is there much prospect that their statecan ever be greatly ameliorated, while they shall continue among us.Could not the rich and benevolent devise means to form a colony onsome part of the Coast of Africa, similar to the one at Sierra Leone,which might gradually induce many free blacks to go[Pg 214] there and settle,devising for them the means of getting there, and of protection andsupport till they were established? Ought not Congress to bepetitioned to grant them a district in a good climate, say on theshores of the Pacific Ocean? Our fathers brought them here, and we arebound if possible to repair the injuries inflicted by our fathers.Could they be sent to Africa, a three-fold benefit would arise. Weshould be cleared of them; we should send to Africa a populationpartially civilized and christianized for its benefits; our blacksthemselves would be put in better condition. Think much on thissubject, then please write me again when you have leisure."[247]

Reverend Mr. Finley participated in a colonization meeting held inPrinceton, New Jersey, November 6, 1816, which drew up a memorialurging the legislature to use its influence in securing the adoptionof some deportation scheme by Congress. The memorialists recognizedthat many slaves had been emancipated; that the same principles thatprompted past manumissions would gradually effect the freedom of allothers; that freedmen should be able "to rise to that condition towhich they are entitled by the laws of God and nature"; therefore,they should be separated from the whites and placed in a favorablesituation, possibly Africa.[248]

A third concurrent manifestation of colonization activity is connectedwith the name of Samuel J. Mills, whose indefatigable energy andunselfish devotion to all causes missionary are scarcely paralleled inhistory. Whether as an undergraduate at Williams College or as agraduate student at Yale or Andover Theological Seminary, he wasfeverishly[Pg 215] active in projecting plans for Christian missionary work.His mother said: "I have consecrated this child to the service of Godas a missionary,"[249] and surely he was faithful to death to thisdedication. He was the leader of the Society of Inquiry RespectingMissions, founded in 1810, an organization which favored Africancolonization.[250] As soon as his college work was over he made amissionary tour through the Middle West and South, under the auspicesof the Society for Propagating the Gospel,[251] and in 1814-15 he madea second tour.[252] He is credited with having originated the AmericanBible Society, the United Foreign Missionary Society, and the AmericanBoard of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He took a deep interestin the movement which about this time sent men to India, Ceylon, theSandwich Islands, and to the various tribes of the American Indians.He had a hand in the formation of the Foreign Mission school atCornwall, Connecticut, and the establishment of the African School atParsippany, New Jersey, is directly attributed to him.

When Mills made his tour through the West and South he not onlypreached the Gospel and distributed Bibles, he studied the conditionof the Negro as well. "We must save the Negroes or the Negroes willruin us," he concluded. He was convinced that if some dispositioncould be made of the free Negroes, many slaveholders would gladlyemancipate their slaves. With this in view, he sought to procure adistrict in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois where the blacks might becolonized. In this way he could test his principle and develop leadersfor a more extended settlement in the far West or in Africa.[253] Thisplan did not mature, but he continued to recommend emigration both tothe blacks and whites and[Pg 216] to provide for the training of Negroteachers and preachers. The young missionary established a schoolunder the care of the synod of New York and New Jersey at Parsippanyin the latter state, which was to "qualify young men of color forteachers of schools and preachers of the gospel, in hope of exertingan influence in correcting morals and manners of their brethren incities and large towns; and also to raise up teachers for thesepeople, should an effort be made to settle them by themselves, eitherin this country or abroad." Some gave to aid the school as anauxiliary to the colonization effort, who would not have given, hadnot that view been presented. "I am confident," Mills wrote (in 1817),"that the people of color now in this country, that is, many of them,will be settled by themselves, either in this country or abroad. Theteachers who may be raised up will promote this object. Whether theyremain in this country or not, much must be done to qualify them forliving in society by themselves."[254]

One of the earliest movements in which an effort was made to adoptsome particular plan of operation was at Georgetown, District ofColumbia, in March, 1816. The meeting was called by a resident ofGeorgetown, then a little village, and several citizens of theneighboring States were present and took part in the discussion.[255]

Other expressions favorable to the deportation of Negroes were madeabout this time. At a meeting in Greene County, Tennessee, composed ofdelegates of the Manumission Society, emancipation was recommended"and if thought best, that a colony be laid off for their reception asthey become free."[256] Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jr., a physician, writing afew days before the passage of the Virginia resolutions, advocated thetransfer of the Negroes to some distant[Pg 217] American Territory. Hethought, since Congress had done nothing toward such a movement,public subscriptions from beneficent societies and individuals shouldbe solicited with which to purchase a suitable site for a colony andmeet the expense of transportation.[257] Hezekiah Niles, the greatcompiler, said he had thought on colonization from his youth up.[258]An editorial in a Georgia newspaper dated January 1, 1817, saiddeportation was seriously agitated in different parts of the country.The Georgia editor believed that free blacks were dangerous to thewelfare of society and that the gradual reduction of the number ofslaves was imperative to the public good. "We must choose between ourown destruction and general emancipation," said the Georgian. "If thegovernment will find means of conveying out of the country such slavesas may be emancipated and would likewise purchase annually a certainnumber, particularly females for transportation, it is believed ourblack population would soon become harmless if not extinct. To theimportance of such an object, the expense will bear no comparison; anda more favorable period than at present for its accomplishment canscarcely be expected."[259]

The Georgia editor was right. On the very day that his editorial wentto press, a representative body of men were in conference on thissubject at Washington city; and as a result of their deliberation theAmerican Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the UnitedStates (later known as the American Colonization Society) wasorganized. The leading advocates of Negro deportation looked to thecity of Washington as the strategic place to advance their cause. Theearliest arrival was Robert Finley, who reached the capital about thebeginning of the month of December,[Pg 218] 1816. He had spent the greaterpart of the fall maturing plans for bringing the cause before thepeople. It is highly probable that he knew nothing about the plans ofother advocates nor of the action of the Virginia Assembly. Upon hisarrival at Washington he immediately began to call on Congressmen, theCabinet officials, the President, and, in fact, on any one whom hecould interest.[260]

Finley was in communication with Paul Cuffe, the only practicalcolonizationist in America. His expeditions to Africa and England, andespecially the transportation of Negroes to Sierra Leone, in 1815,were noted in the press as far west as Louisville, Kentucky,[261] andthose interested in further efforts along this line were in touch withhim. Samuel C. Aiken, of Andover, had written him on July 23, 1816,and Jedekiah Morse four days later.[262] Finley wrote Cuffe, December5, on the back of the printed memorial to the New Jersey Legislature,undoubtedly the work of the Princeton meeting of the previousNovember, for information about Sierra Leone, information to be usedby him and others interested in the free people of color. He alsoasked if Cuffe thought some other part of Africa more desirable for asettlement than Sierra Leone and stated that "the great desire ofthose whose minds are impressed with this subject is to give anopportunity to the free people of color to rise to their proper leveland at the same time to provide a powerful means of putting an end tothe slave trade and sending civilization and Christianity toAfrica."[263] Cuffe was unable to reply to this letter before January8. He gave Finley the information he desired and recommended in theevent of a general deportation the Cape of Good Hope as a location fora settlement.[Pg 219][264]

In a printed pamphlet, "Thoughts on the Colonization of FreeBlacks,"[265] which Finley wrote about this time and which he wasdistributing in Washington, is contained the line of argument he wasusing. He said: "At present, as if by divine impulse, men of virtue,piety, and reflection, are turning their thoughts to this subject, andseem to see the wished-for plan unfolding, in the gradual separationof the black from the white population, by providing for the former,some suitable situation, where men may enjoy the advantages to whichthey are entitled by nature and their Creator's will." He argued forthe practicability of establishing a colony either in the "Wild Lands"of America or in Africa, but he thought Africa the more desirable asthis location would prevent conflicts with the remaining slavepopulation, and avoid foreign intrigues. He held that Africa had theadvantage of being the real home of the Negro, of having the existingsettlements in Sierra Leone formed by English philanthropists and byPaul Cuffe. On the other hand, requiring explorations, diplomaticnegotiations and great expense, it offered greater obstacles than alocation within America. But Finley was not disheartened, believing,as he did, in the justice of the cause and in the wisdom of Congressto devise some means to lighten, perhaps to repay, the cost. Hecontinued by saying: "Many of the free people of color have propertysufficient to transport, and afterward to establish themselves. Theships of war might be employed occasionally in this service, whilemany Negroes themselves could be induced to procure a passage to theland of their independence. The crews of the national ships whichmight be from time to time at the colony, would furnish at least apart of that protection which would be necessary for the settlers; andin a little time the trade which the colony would open with theinterior, would more than compensate for every expense, if the colonywere wisely formed." The Negroes, Finley thought, would gladly go, forthey long after happiness and have the common pride[Pg 220] and feelings ofmen. Already, he pointed out, an association of free blacks existed inPhiladelphia whose purpose was to correspond with Sierra Leone andinvestigate the possibilities of an immigration. Finley held thatcolonization would gradually reduce slavery, because provision beingmade for the emancipated slaves, masters would manumit them.

Samuel J. Mills, "having been providentially made acquainted"[266]with this movement, about the close of November left New York, wherehe was working among the poor, immediately for Washington. What he, aswell as the other workers, did there, is pretty well indicated byCongressman Elijah J. Mills of Massachusetts in a letter to his wife,under date of December 25: "Among the great and important objects towhich our attention is called, a project is lately started forsettling, with free blacks which abound in the South and West, acolony, either on the coast of Africa, or in some remote region in ourown country. It has excited great interest, and I am inclined to thinkthat in the course of a few years it will be carried into effect. Ienclose you an address which is in circulation here upon the subject.Agents are attending from different parts of the United States,soliciting Congress to take the subject up immediately, and I was thismorning called upon by a Mr. Mills (a young clergyman who was at NewOrleans with Smith), who is very zealously engaged in the work. He isan intelligent young man, and appears completely devoted to the greatwork of diffusing the blessings of Christianity to those who areignorant of it."[267]

The first general conference that the colonization workers had inWashington was in the nature of a "prayer meeting"[268] held in thehome of Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law[Pg 221] of Finley, clerk of theUnited States Supreme Court, and afterward secretary of the AmericanColonization Society. This meeting, which both Mills and Finleyattended, was "for the purpose of imploring the divine direction, onthe evening of the following day, when the expediency of forming aColonization Society was to be publicly discussed."[269] Theenthusiasm of Finley at this time was almost boundless; he would givefive hundred dollars of his own scanty means to insure its success;when some, thinking the project foolhardy, laughed at it, he declared,"I know the scheme is from God."[270] The efficacy of prayer bore thetraditional fruit, for whereas persons "were brought there fromcuriosity, or by the solicitation of their friends, viewing the schemeas too chimerical for any national being to undertake [nevertheless] agreat change"[271] was produced on them.

According to their plans, Congressman Charles Marsh, of Vermont,having made the necessary arrangements,[272] the colonizationists heldon the next evening, December 21, 1816, in the Davis Hotel, a publicmeeting, attended by citizens of Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria,and other parts of the country. Among the men of note present, notheretofore mentioned, were Henry Clay, Francis S. Key, Bishop WilliamMeade, John Randolph, and Judge Bushrod Washington.[273] Niles reportsthe attendance "numerous and respectable, and its proceedings fraughtwith interest."[274] The avowed object of the meeting was for the[Pg 222]"purpose of considering the expediency and practicability ofameliorating the condition of the Free People of Color now in theUnited States, by providing a Colonial Retreat, either on thiscontinent or that of Africa."[275]

Henry Clay, the chairman of the meeting, pointed out in his remarksthat no attempt was being made "to touch or agitate in the slightestdegree, a delicate question, connected with another portion of thecolored population of this country. It was not proposed to deliberateupon or consider at all, any question of emancipation, or that whichwas connected with the abolition of slavery. It was upon thatcondition alone he was sure, that many gentlemen from the South andWest, whom he saw present, had attended, or could be expected tocooperate. It was upon that condition only that he himself hadattended."[276]

The principal address was delivered by Elias B. Caldwell, thePrinceton schoolmate of Charles Fenton Mercer. He argued for theexpediency and practicability of African colonization. It wasexpedient because the free blacks have a demoralizing influence on ourcivil institutions; they can never enjoy equality among the whites inAmerica; only in a district by themselves will they ever be happy. Tocolonize them in America would invite the possibility of their makingcommon cause with the Indians and border nations, and furnish anasylum for fugitives and runaway slaves. Africa seemed the best placeto send them: there was a settlement already in Sierra Leone, theclimate was agreeable to the colored man's constitution, they couldlive cheaply there, and above all other reasons, they could carrycivilization and Christianity to the Africans. While the expense wouldbe greater than that connected with a settlement on the American[Pg 223]Continent yet, in order to make atonement for the wrongs done Africa,America should contribute to this object both from the treasury of thenational government and from the purse of private individuals. Withthe promise of equality, a homestead, and a free passage, no blackwould refuse to go. In concluding his speech he said: "It is for us tomake the experiment and the offers; we shall then, and not till then,have discharged our duty. It is a plan in which all interests, allclasses, and descriptions of people may unite, in which all discordantfeelings may be lost in those of humanity, in promoting 'peace onearth and good will to man.'"[277]

Robert Wright of Maryland, having pointed out some difficulties, gavecolonization his approbation with the hope that there would arise forgradual emancipation some plan in which slaves would be prepared forfreedom, and slaveholders would be remunerated out of the funds of thenation.[278]

It appeared to John Randolph of Roanoke that "it had not beensufficiently insisted on with a view to obtain the cooperation of allthe citizens of the United States, not only that this meeting does notin any wise affect the question of Negro Slavery, but, as far as itgoes, must materially tend to secure the property of every master inthe United States over his slaves." He considered the free black "agreat evil," "a nuisance," and "a bug-bear to every man who feels aninclination to emancipate his slaves." "If a place could be providedfor their reception," said Randolph, "and a mode of sending themhence, there were [sic] hundreds, nay thousands of citizens" who wouldmanumit their slaves.[279] Randolph's characterization of the freeblack was generally approved by the leaders in this movement. Caldwellused "degraded" and "ignorant" in describing this class of people.Mills said: "It[Pg 224] will transfer to the coast of Africa the blessings ofreligion and civilization; and Ethiopia will soon stretch out herhands to God."[280]

One finds it difficult to explain how the colonizationists could arguethat one of their objects was to remove a dangerous element from ourpopulation and at the same time take civilization and Christianity toAfrica. No doubt it was expected that the Negroes who attended theschools, established principally by Mills, would become efficientleaders of their fellows. It is highly probable also that thearguments were designed for different sections of the country anddifferent classes of people—to remove the dangerous element wouldmake a strong appeal to the slaveholder and the South, for it wasbelieved that the free black contaminated and ruined the slave; tocivilize and Christianize Africa would appeal to churchmen andreligious bodies, and this argument could be used in the North. Toreturn to Africa people who could contribute to her betterment;indeed, to return to Africa the descendants of her enslaved sons anddaughters improved by contact with the civilization of the whiteswould be a recompense to that continent for the wrongs perpetrated,during a period of two hundred years, on her population. It was onlyAmerica's moral obligation, said the colonizationists, to return theblack population to Africa.

Another object the deportationists had in mind was to stop the slavetrade. They believed that the existence of a settlement in Africawould deter the slaveholder from securing his cargo in human beings.It would also furnish the opportunity needed to develop a commerce inlegitimate articles of trade between Africa and America and otherparts of the world. It was also hoped by the leaders of thisdeportation movement to remove the great obstacle to the abolition ofslavery. Now that provision was made for the freedmen the slaveholderfelt at liberty to manumit his slaves. To quote Mills again: "It isconfidently believed[Pg 225] by many of our best and wisest men, that, if theplan proposed succeeds, it will ultimately be the means ofexterminating slavery in our country."[281]

The charge was made later, especially by the Abolitionists, that themovement was a deeply laid device for making slavery more secure thanever. They took great delight in referring to Randolph's remark, madeat the first public meeting of the deportationists, that colonizationwould tend "to secure the property of every master in the UnitedStates over his slaves." Subsequently the management of the Societyitself recognized the force of this remark as a quotation from theeighty-second report will show: "It was this ill-omened utterance of asolitary member of the Society, who appears to have taken very littleif any part in its subsequent proceedings, that afterward gave theimpracticable abolitionists a text for the most vituperative andpersistent assaults upon the Society and its purpose."[282] Randolph'sremark is not only qualified by the fact that he took "very little ifany part in its subsequent proceedings" but also by his predictionthat thousands of slaveholders, when assured of a place to send theNegroes, would emancipate their slaves because they would then berelieved from their care. With all this, however, Randolph claimed thecolonization movement had nothing to do with abolition.

And it must also be remembered that the eccentric Randolph was onlyone man among a large group of men who were interested in thedeportation movement. In this large group two, Mills and Finley,religious patriots, stand head and shoulders above all the others,both of whom, Mills, particularly, hoped to provide a method for theabolition of slavery. Moreover, the Abolitionists should have observedthat the name of Daniel Webster appeared among the signers of theconstitution as well as the name of Ferdinando Fairfax[283] andespecially that of William Thorton.[Pg 226][284] Fairfax and Thorton wereexcellent representatives of deportation schemes, proposed in theeighteenth century and deliberately designed to remove from ourcountry all Negroes both free and slave. It seems, therefore, safe toconclude that the colonization movement of 1816-17 was at that timesincere in its purpose and straightforward in its aims.

Therefore with humanitarian aims the colonizationists at their firstpublic meeting, December 21, 1816, passed resolutions favorable to theformation of an association for the purpose of deporting the freeblacks to Africa or elsewhere, and appointed a committee to draw upand present a memorial to Congress requesting measures for securing asuitable territory for a settlement, and another committee to preparea constitution and rules to govern the association when formed.[285]Having taken this action, they decided to adjourn until the followingSaturday, December 28, at six o'clock.

According to this arrangement "citizens of Washington, Georgetown, andAlexandria, and many others" met in the Hall of the House ofRepresentatives of the United States and adopted a Constitution.[286]By provision of the Constitution the Association was "The AmericanSociety for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States"and its exclusive object "to promote and execute a plan for colonizing(with their consent) the Free People of Color residing in our Country,in Africa, or such other[Pg 227] place as Congress shall deem mostexpedient." Every citizen of the United States was eligible tomembership upon the payment of one dollar, the annual dues, or asamended a few days later, thirty dollars for life membership.Provision was made for the usual officers and for the formation ofauxiliary societies to this parent organization.[287] The first annualmeeting was fixed for Wednesday, January 1, 1817.

On this date the colonizationists met in Davis's Hotel, Henry Clayagain presiding. Bushrod Washington was elected President of theSociety, equally noted men were chosen for the other officers,[288]and on motion of the Honorable[Pg 228] John C. Herbert of Maryland, ReverendRobert Finley was "requested to close the meeting with an address tothe Throne of Grace"[289] which he did, it being "his last public actin the last public meeting"[290] for the organization and success ofthe American Colonization Society.

Henry Noble Sherwood, Ph.D.

State Normal School,
La Crosse, Wis.

[Pg 229]

The Evolution of Slave Status in American Democracy

II

The story of the evolution of the status of the Negro in the Northduring the first part of the nineteenth century can be easily told asit was the result of forces the existence of which we have alreadysuggested. By far the most important among these were economic andindustrial. Lecky has said somewhere that the masses of men areinfluenced far more by the practical implications of daily life in thepursuit of their callings than they are by abstract ideas and thisfinds abundant illustration in the attitude taken by the northern mindupon the Negro. In Pennsylvania, where slavery existed in its mildestform and where the moral sentiment of the community was best preparedfor its eradication, thanks to the persistent and effective campaignof education begun by the Quakers as early as 1688 and prosecutedunder the leadership of such men as the saintly John Woolman andBenezet, economic interests still played a more important part thanethical.[291] Slavery flourished only where the plantation system wasprofitable and this was not the case in Pennsylvania. The industrialdevelopment of the State was in the direction of small farming,manufacturing and commerce, all of which were uncongenial to slavery.In the absence of paramount economic needs, slavery was unable to holdits own against the moral idealism of the Quaker and the racialantipathies of the German and the Scotch Irish.

Even in respect to New England the evidence is abundant that it waseconomic rather than moral or religious influences that paved the wayto freedom for the slave. At the beginning it was the imperativedemand for labor that[Pg 230] led to the enslavement of the Indian and Negro,which the Puritan justified by an appeal to his high Calvinism. Whenthis demand ceased because of the increase of white labor and when thediminished supply rendered it more difficult to get profitable slaves,the same economic laws tended to encourage the freedom of theslave.[292] "Fortunately for the moral development of our belovedcolonies," says Weeden, "the climate was too harsh, the social systemtoo simple, to engender a good economic employment of black labor. Thesimple industrial methods of each New England homestead, described inso many ways through these pages, make a natural barrier against analien social system including either black or copper-coloreddependents. The blacks soon dwindled in numbers, or dropped out from alife too severe for any but the hardiest and firmest fiberedraces."[293] When we see how during the constitutional convention of1787 selfish economic interests led Massachusetts to enter into theunholy alliance with the pro-slavery States of the far South to fixupon another section of the country the nefarious slave-trade fortwenty years longer, we may perhaps conclude that it was after allfortunate for the integrity of the Puritan conscience that slavery wasunprofitable as a domestic institution. The slave-trade ended in 1808and during the years 1806, 1807 six hundred New England slaversarrived at the port of Charleston alone.[294]

There seems to have been, on the whole, comparatively little expresslegislation in the way of constitutional changes and few express actsabolishing slavery in the North during this period.[295] The processwas a gradual one, proceeding by acts of manumission or gradualabolition, the act of Pennsylvania in 1780 being typical. Slavery doesnot appear to have ever been made illegal in Pennsylvania by expresslaw but died out in the natural course of events.[Pg 231] Hence slaves werefound in this State well on toward the middle of the nineteenthcentury.[296] This goes to show that the abolition of slavery and theadmission of the Negro to complete citizenship were the result of aslow evolution of public sentiment. Moore even contends that slaverywas never formally abolished in Massachusetts until 1866 when it wasagreed on all hands that it was "considered as abolished."[297] Thusthe social mind, by a natural and normal development of democraticideals, arrived unconsciously at the point where it was impossible toharmonize the status of the slave with the prevailing sentiments ofthe community. The social mind was for this reason often far inadvance of the legal status of the Negro as determined by the lawswhich represented earlier stages of opinion. A case in point is theMassachusetts act of 1788, of which Moore says: "We doubt if anythingin human legislation can be found which comes nearer branding color asa crime," and yet this law remained upon the statute books of theState long after it had ceased to be in accord with the feelings andpractices of the community and was only repealed in 1834.[298] Thehesitancy of the legislators of the different free States to passexpress acts of abolition and thus formally to pronounce slaveryillegal may have been due in part to the fact that slavery wassanctioned to a certain extent by the constitution and was the"peculiar institution" around which centered the social and economiclife of a large number of sister States.

The great industrial expansion of the North and West toward the end ofthe second decade of the century and the increase of populationthrough immigration in time reduced the Negro in the North in point ofnumber to an almost negligible factor. He was swept along with therising tide of the growing industrial democracy and shared in thegeneral benefits of citizenship accorded to all. But it would give avery superficial idea of the real status of the Negro[Pg 232] in the Northduring this time if we were to base our judgments upon the statisticsof slave and free, the various acts for manumission or the vigorousanti-slavery agitation from 1830 on. A closer acquaintance with theactual conditions of the time shows that there was a striking contrastbetween the theoretical rights and privileges which the Negro wassupposed to enjoy by virtue of the constitution and bills of rightsand those he really did enjoy.

This was a subject of frequent remark by foreigners travelling inAmerica. Captain Marryat, writing of conditions in Philadelphia in1838, says, "Singular is the degree of contempt and dislike in whichthe free blacks are held in all the free states of America. They aredeprived of their rights as citizens; and the white pauper who holdsout his hand for charity ... will turn away from a negro or coloredman with disdain."[299] DeTocqueville, in a remarkablecharacterization of the relations between the races based upon hisobservations in the early thirties, says that as the legal barriersfall away in the free States those of race prejudice are drawn all thesharper. Wherever the freemen have increased the gap has widenedbetween them and the whites. "The prejudice which repels the negroesseems to increase in proportion as they are emancipated, andinequality is sanctioned by the manners while it is effaced from thelaws of the country. Though having the franchise the Negro may notexercise the right for fear of his life;[300] his rights before thelaw are pronounced upon by white judges only; his children may notattend the same school with the white's and gold can not buy a ticketfor him in the same theater; he lies apart in the hospital, worshipsat a different altar and must bury his dead in a differentcemetery."[301]

Harriet Martineau, writing in 1834-35 and commenting upon thestatement of a Boston gentleman that the Negroes[Pg 233] were perfectly welltreated in New England in the matter of education, the franchise, andotherwise, states that while they are nominally citizens, "yet theirhouses and schools are pulled down,[302] and they can obtain no remedyat law. They are thrust out of offices, and excluded from the mosthonorable employments, and stripped of all the best benefits ofsociety by fellow-citizens who, once a year, solemnly lay their handson their hearts, and declare that all men are born free and equal, andthat rulers derive their just powers from the consent of thegoverned."[303] Fanny Kemble, the English actress, writes in 1838-39of the treatment of the free blacks at the North, "They are marked asthe Hebrew lepers of old, and are condemned to sit, like theseunfortunates, without the gates of every human and social sympathy.From their own sable color, a pall falls over the whole of God'suniverse to them, and they find themselves stamped with a badge ofinfamy of Nature's own devising, at sight of which all naturalkindness of man to man seems to recoil from them. They are not slavesindeed, but they are pariahs; debarred from all fellowship save withtheir own despised race—scorned by the lowest white ruffian in yourstreets, not tolerated as companions by the foreign menials in yourkitchens. They are free certainly but they are also degraded,rejected, the offscum and the offscouring of the very dregs of yoursociety; they are free from the chain, the whip, the enforced task andunpaid toils of slavery; but they are not the less under a ban."[304]

There was in fact throughout this entire period a remarkable paradoxin the social mind of the North with regard to the Negro, for we findeverywhere the strongest antipathy to the Negro personally and generaldiscriminations against him socially and politically, united with thegreatest enthusiasm for his rights in the abstract. Even the bestspirits of the time did not escape it. Fanny[Pg 234] Kemble relates of JohnQuincy Adams, who became the very head and front of the anti-slaveryelement in Congress,[305] that while discussing with her at a Bostondinner-party the Shaksperean heroine Desdemona, he asserted "with amost serious expression of sincere disgust, that he considered all hermisfortunes as a very just judgment upon her for having married a'nigger.'"[306] About the time when Garrisonian abolition was at itshigh tide, when Wendell Phillips was placing Toussaint l'Ouvertureabove Caesar and Napoleon on the roll of fame, when Whittier,Longfellow, and Lowell were lending their talents to the cause ofunalterable and inalienable rights of mankind, Jesse Chickeringpublished a "Statistical View of the Population of Massachusetts from1765 to 1840," at the end of which he appended some very interestingfacts and conclusions as to the colored population of this State. Hestated that, owing partly to their race traits and partly to fixed andimmovable prejudices of the whites against them, the blacks aredeprived of sympathy and social enjoyments and reduced to a servileand degraded condition of poverty and dependence (p. 137). Because ofthis widespread prejudice against their color, "they cannot obtainemployment on equal terms with the whites, and wherever they go asneer is passed upon them, as if this sportive inhumanity were an actof merit.... Thus, though their legal rights are the same as those ofthe whites, their condition is one of degradation and dependence." Inspite of the vigorous agitation for the rights of the Negro whichstirred New England and the entire nation at this time, the writersays "the prejudices which are now felt in this Commonwealth againstthe people of color and the disadvantages under which they labor ...we can hardly expect will soon be removed," though he is persuadedthat "this want of true sympathy, and this sense of degradation, mustoperate on their sensibility and unfavorably affect their physical,moral, and social condition, and shorten to them the duration of life"(pp. 156, 157).[Pg 235]

The anti-slavery movement in Pennsylvania never went to therhapsodical extremes we find in Massachusetts. It was from beginningto end sane and reasonable and yet vigorous and unremittent.Nevertheless, we find the same enthusiasm for the rights of the Negroin the abstract combined with racial antipathy, social and politicaldiscriminations, and even on more than one occasion mob violence inthe actual treatment of the Negro population of the State.[307]Pennsylvania's interest in slavery, because of her position just tothe north of slaveholding States, was never allowed to lag even aftershe had set all her slaves free. Her Negro population was constantlybeing replenished from the South and largely by fugitive slaves. Thisbrought about much friction with Maryland, owing to the unwillingnessof Pennsylvanians to surrender the runaways. In spite of Federal lawthe spirit of freedom made it unsafe for owners to hunt for theirescaped slaves in Pennsylvania, as the famous Christiana riot of 1851shows, and brought the State to the verge of nullification,[308] tosuch extremes were a peaceful and yet liberty-loving people ready togo in their championship of the abstract rights of the oppressedslave.

But while this was true, there is abundant evidence to show that bythe masses of the people the Negro was thoroughly disliked, persecutedand relegated to an inferior social status by no means in harmony withthe doctrine of the inalienable and unalterable rights of man. Negroeswere set upon in the streets, beaten, cut and even stoned to death insheer wanton cruelty. In 1831 the refusal of New Haven, Connecticut,to establish a Negro college was enthusiastically endorsed inresolutions passed at a public meeting in Philadelphia, and in 1834,1835, 1838, 1842 and 1849 this city was distracted by riots directedagainst the Negroes. The houses of the Negroes were sacked, theirinmates beaten and mobs of whites and blacks fought through thestreets with clubs and stones.[309] "A careful study of each of these[Pg 236]riots," says Turner, "makes inevitable the deduction that the deepunderlying cause which made every one of them possible, and whichprepared them long before they burst forth, was a fierce, and at leastamong the lower classes, an almost universal, hatred of the negrohimself."

How are we to explain this contradiction in dealing with the Negro?Why did Pennsylvanians mob him, disfranchise him from 1838 to 1873,seek to get rid of him by colonization and yet hide him from hismaster and resolutely refuse to close to him the door of freedom evenin the face of Federal laws? The answer is one of fundamentalimportance for the comprehension of the status of the Negro in thesocial consciousness of the nation now as well as then. The people ofPennsylvania had been educated for generations in the great traditionsof freedom. These traditions had their roots in the religiousemancipation of the reformation and gradually extended to thepolitical sphere and became endeared to the hearts of all Americansthrough the struggle with Great Britain. Pennsylvanians had littlespecial love for the Negro but they loved these traditions dearly. Ina healthy democracy these traditions are inseparably united in thethought of the average citizen with the personal sense of liberty. Toviolate them is to violate that which lends validity to his ownconviction of his right to be free.

It will be said, of course, that in the social and politicalrestrictions placed upon the Negro as an actual member of thecommunity, these lofty ideals were negated. Rights that are granted intheory but are denied in the actual give and take of social contactsare not true rights. This was undoubtedly the case. But to registerthis criticism does not by any means exhaust the situation. For theseso-called inalienable rights are not something that the individual isborn heir to as he is to his father's fortune. They are hisinalienably only by virtue of his potentiality for realizing them andas such they exist only as possible forms of self-activity, functionswhich by common consensus of opinion are conceded to each individual.In a very real sense, therefore,[Pg 237] they must be won or created by eachfor himself. The individual or the group, which through ignorance orinefficiency or thriftlessness or racial discrimination isincapacitated for measuring up to the demands of an aggressive andvirile democracy, will inevitably find these inalienable andunalterable rights merely a name so far as they are concerned. Actualsocial status in existing American democracy is the result of abalance of forces one of which is the individual's power ofself-assertion. Inder Kampf um's Recht the community imagines ithas done its utmost when it insists upon fair play. There was also theinevitable friction due to the close contact of diverse race groups.The Negro population of Pennsylvania was larger than that of any othernorthern State. The presence of thousands of members of a differentrace, to whom complete social assimilation through intermarriage wasrefused, and who represented different standards of living and lowerindustrial efficiency, led inevitably to group conflicts.

Just on the eve of the Civil War, therefore, the theoretical statusassigned the Negro in the social consciousness of the North and theone very soon to be assured to him throughout the entire nation inLincoln's emancipation proclamation, insisted that he be included inthose broad and somewhat indefinite categories of rights embodied inour national political symbols. The enthusiasm for these is to beexplained not so much from the objective and eternal nature of therights themselves as from the feeling that they represent a phase ofcommon social experience of fundamental importance for society as awhole. Previous training in democratic traditions made men capable ofthe noblest self-sacrifice in their loyalty to these ideas of freedomand equality, but the fact of their being associated with the enslavedNegro was accidental. No sooner had they assisted the runaway slave tofreedom than they forgot him. He was left to make good in theautonomous,laissez faire atmosphere of a vigorous democracy. Soon,however, his economic helplessness and inefficiency, his ignorance ofthe[Pg 238] tense northern life aroused the same men who had helped him tofreedom to the realization that he was of an alien race, withcharacteristics that made his social assimilation difficult. Where theblacks were present in large numbers the situation was fraught withthe gravest difficulties of social adjustment. These were facts notencouraging for the future of the two races in the nation. They shouldhave taught men that emancipation, instead of solving the problem,would plunge the nation and particularly the South into a situationthe infinite difficulties of which were never dreamed of by theenthusiastic champions of abstract human rights. DeTocqueville'slanguage, though written almost thirty years before thedébâclecame, sounds like a veritable prophecy. He felt that nationalabolition was bound to come in the course of events. "I am obliged toconfess," he says however, "that I do not regard the abolition ofslavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in theUnited States," for abolition will inevitably "increase the repugnanceof the white population for the men of color."[310]

It is well to remember, when we come to examine the status of theNegro in the slave States, that slavery would naturally follow linesof development determined by the economic, social and climaticconditions of the sections concerned. These conditions, of course,vary greatly throughout a region stretching from Maryland to Texas. Aslate as the famous Dred Scott case, when slavery was limited to theSouth, Justice Curtis could say, "the status of slavery embraces everycondition from that in which the slave is known to the law simply as achattel, with no civil rights, to that in which he is recognized as aperson for all purposes, save the compulsory power of directing andreceiving the fruits of his labor. Which of these conditions shallattend the status of slavery, must depend upon the municipal law whichcreates and upholds it."[311] A comparative study of the legislationof all the slave States with regard to the[Pg 239] Negro both as slave andfree will very clearly reveal the effect of these varying conditionsin the several States concerned.[312] Nothing is more necessary to acalm and unprejudiced study of the institution of slavery than therealization of this fact.

What then were the economic, climatic and social conditions in theSouth which contributed to shape the attitude of the social mind ofthe section toward the Negro? The dominant feature of the social andeconomic life of the South of ante bellum days was the plantation.This was the industrial unit comprising usually large land areas,worked by slaves divided into groups, under strict supervision, with afixed routine of labor in the production of special commodities suchas tobacco, rice, sugar-cane or cotton. Two types of plantation lifedeveloped even before the Revolution, the Virginian and the WestIndian, the latter confined at first to the coast line of SouthCarolina and later covering the "Black Belt" of the far South. Theterm "plantation" was originally synonymous with colony. Virginia wasthe "plantation of the London Company"[313] but was later broken upinto smaller economic units which retained the name. By the beginningof the eighteenth century the prevailing industrial system in Virginiaand Maryland was these small plantations or farms where Negro slavesgradually took the place of white redemptioners and the prevailingstaple was tobacco. About the end of the seventeenth century theJamaican or West Indian type of plantation was introduced on the coastregion around Charleston. It consisted of larger estates cultivated bythirty or more slaves, with few or no white laborers, the master andhis family often being the only whites present the year around. FannyKemble's "Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation," 1838-39,gives an interesting though somewhat sombre picture of the conditionsprevailing on the rice plantations near Darien, Georgia.[Pg 240]

Slavery, as an industrial institution, has flourished only incountries with great natural resources, easy of access and affordingready means of sustenance. The crops cultivated must be simple, suchas tobacco, rice or cotton, and hence admitting of easy mastery by theslave as well as the efficient organization and direction of gangs oflaborers. The soil must be very fertile and unlimited in extent toassure a profit on the unskilled routine labor of the slave, whichmakes rotation of the crops impossible and soon exhausts the soil sothat the worn out lands must be abandoned for new. The industrialcycle passed through by the great slave-estates of the West Indiesfinds a parallel in the South, where the speedy exhaustion of afertile soil with the resulting necessity for a more scientific andintensive agriculture, impossible under slavery, forced slaveholdersto open up new lands constantly. Hence the insatiable land hunger ofthe slave power.[314]

There is evidence that at the end of the colonial period the olderlands of Virginia and Maryland, where slavery and the plantationsystem had long existed, were approaching a period of decay. This wasthe logical result of slavery. An industrial readjustment was takingplace involving the decline of the plantation system and with it thedecline of slavery. It was at this juncture that the fate of slavery,and with it the destiny of the entire southwestern region, wasdetermined by a new factor, namely, the rise of the cotton culture.But for the invention of the cotton-gin, and the improvements incotton manufacture that accompanied it, the economic forces alreadymilitating against the patriarchal form of slavery in Virginia woulddoubtless have brought about in time its peaceful abolition. As itwas, these discoveries created an industrial basis for the fosteringof slavery more dangerous than any pro-slavery legislation had beenand more sweeping and insidious than anti-slavery agitators couldpossibly imagine. It opened up for[Pg 241] the cultivation of the cottonplant the vast fertile region extending from eastern North Carolinathrough South Carolina, middle Georgia and Alabama to Mississippi,Louisiana and Texas[315]. Here were found all the conditions mentionedabove as necessary to the success of slavery.

Within this vast region, however, there were variations of climate andsoil which made certain sections better adapted to slavery and theplantation system than others. Between the foothills just to the southof the Appalachian mountains and the flat sandy levels of the seacoast lay a central rich alluvial region called the "black belt" atfirst after the color of its soil and later after the color of themajority of its inhabitants. This section was peculiarly well suitedto the growth of the cotton plant and here, after the pell-mell ofimmigration which poured into the southwest with the development ofcotton culture began to take on the forms of a fixed social order,arose those large cotton plantations which were the central feature ofsouthern ante-bellum civilization. The "black belt" included virtuallythe whole of South Carolina, a strip through central Georgia andsouth-central Alabama and the rich alluvial lands along theMississippi and Red rivers in the States of Mississippi and Louisiana.Here the large plantations gradually absorbed the lands of thefrontiersmen and small farmers who had preceded them and spread overall the lands where the gang labor of the slave system could beprosecuted with profit[316].

This slave aristocracy of the "black belt," which determined thesocial standards and shaped the morals and directed the politicalpolicies of the South, was composed of a few powerful families whothrough their wealth, social standing and talents for leadershipcontrolled the destinies of a vast section. Perhaps 500,000 out of atotal white population of 9,000,000 profited by slavery in 1860, butout of this[Pg 242] number some ten thousand families, including suchfamiliar names as Hampton, Rutledge, Brooks, Hayne, Lee, Mason, Tyler,Wise, Polk, Breckenridge and Claibourne, really determined thepolicies of the South[317]. Beneath the slave aristocracy were rangedthe other elements of society. First among these came the smallfarmers, often owning a few slaves. Though having occupied the landfirst, they were gradually crowded out by the competition of the largeslaveholders, who bought up their lands and forced them to occupy thefoothills to the north of the "black belt" in Georgia, Alabama andMississippi which were ill adapted to the plantation slave system.Next came the thriftless and impecunious whites, variously known asthe "pine-landers" and "crackers" in Georgia, the "sand-hillers" ofSouth Carolina, or the "red-necks" of Mississippi. The lowest stratumwas composed of slaves with a slight intermixture of free Negroes.

Bagehot remarks that slavery "creates a set of persons born to workthat others may not work, and not to think in order that others maythink. Therefore, slave-owning nations, having time to think, arelikely to be more shrewd in policy, and more crafty in strategy[318]."This is amply illustrated in the case of southern leaders. The sons ofthe slaveholders received the best education the land could afford;the plantation life gave a training in administration and leadershipand with leisure and natural political talent they looked to publiclife for advancement. Those who showed ability in local or Stategovernments were advanced to the House or Senate so that by a processof natural selection the slave-power at the South was able to developleaders, who not only moulded the public sentiment of the South itselfbut shaped the policies of the nation for the better part of half acentury[319].

Thus, by a slow process of evolution, was built up in the[Pg 243] "blackbelt" of the South an industrial empire, based upon slavery, nominallydemocratic, but in reality an oligarchy composed of a group oftalented men, united in their traditions, social standards andpolitical ideals by virtue of their common loyalty to the "peculiarinstitution" of their section. It was democratic within its ownlimits, chivalrous, cultured although it cherished ideals essentiallyat variance with democratic institutions and bound in time to givebirth to a social consciousness that was incompatible with thatentertained by the rest of the nation. When the slave-power wasdefeated at the polls in the election of 1860, secession was thelogical result.

The status of the Negro, both slave and free, was intimatelyassociated with this economic development of the far South. There ismuch to indicate that the entire South gradually underwent a profoundchange of attitude towards slavery in the three decades from 1800 to1830. Slavery was generally looked upon as an evil by the southernleaders of the time of the constitutional convention and for twodecades afterwards, perhaps. Mason of Virginia in the debates of 1787stated that slavery discouraged the arts and manufactures, preventedimmigration of whites, exercised a most pernicious effect uponmanners, made every master a petty tyrant and would bring the judgmentof heaven down upon the country. Baldwin, speaking for Georgia, saidthat "If left to herself, she may probably put an end to theevil[320]." Jefferson's expressions against slavery were many andpronounced[321], and there is reason for thinking that these ideaswere shared by many even in the far South. An editorial in theMilledgeville Journal of Georgia, January 1, 1817, has thisremarkable language: "With such a hint from a distinguishedphilosopher (i. e., Jefferson), shall we not merit execration, if wefail to provide in time an adequate remedy for this great and growingevil, an evil which is[Pg 244] always staring us in the face—which obtrudesso frequently upon us in spite of ourselves, the most gloomy and awfulapprehension[322]." As late as 1826, when Edward Everett, ofMassachusetts, asserted before the House that slavery was sanctionedby religion, John Randolph, of Virginia, himself a slaveholder,replied: "Sir, I envy neither the head nor the heart of that man fromthe North who rises here to defend slavery from principle[323]."

Apparently the first assertion of the usefulness and beneficence ofthe institution from a southern man of political repute came from thegovernor of South Carolina in 1830[324]. How then are we to explainthe profound change of sentiment indicated by the leading papers ofthe South just before the war?The Richmond Enquirer, September 6,1855, asserts: "Every moment's additional reflection but convinces usof the absolute impregnability of the Southern position on thissubject. Facts, which can not be questioned, come thronging in supportof the true doctrine—that slavery is the best condition of the blackrace in this country, and that the true philanthropists should ratherdesire that race to remain in the state of servitude, than to becomefree with the privilege of becoming worthless." TheRichmondExaminer, 1854, advises all southern men to act "as if the canopy ofheaven were inscribed with a covenant in letters of fire that thenegro is here, and here forever; is our property and ours forever; isnever to be emancipated; is to be kept hard at work, and in rigidsubjection all his days[325]." TheDaily Intelligencer, of Atlanta,January 9, 1860, states editorially: "Whenever we see a negro, wepresuppose a master and if we see him in what is commonly called a'free state' we consider him out of his place. This matter ofmanumission, or emancipation, now thank heaven less practiced thanformerly, is a species of false philanthropy, which we look upon as acousin german to Abolitionism—bad[Pg 245] for the master, worse for theslave." Calhoun pronounced slavery "the most solid and durablefoundation on which to rear free and stable politicalinstitutions[326]." Hammond claimed, in a eulogy of slavery in theSenate, March 4, 1858, that its "frame of society is the best in theworld." Jefferson Davis defended it as "a form of civil government forthose who by nature are not fit to govern themselves";[327] Mason, adescendant of the great Mason of revolutionary days, described it as"ennobling to both races."[328]

It is useless to try to explain these statements by attributing totheir authors moral perverseness; the explanation must be sought inthe conditions that surrounded them. We have already alluded to thefact that our moral conceptions are absorbed from the social milieu inwhich we are reared. The prevailing ideals of family, business, thesocial, political or national group of which we happen to be memberswe absorb as part of our "social copy" and build into the fabric ofour social selves. The larger the group and the more vital any givenideal is considered by the group as a whole the greater will be itshold upon the loyalty of the individual member. Everything conspiredto give to the social sanction of the slave-aristocracy anauthoritativeness and binding force without a parallel in the historyof the nation. Upon the basis of the slave as the industrial unit wasreared in the course of years a mass ofmores which conditioned theentire world-view of the slave-owner. Economic methods, socialdifferentiations, political institutions, religious ideals, moralvalues, local patriotism and pride, all took their color from the"peculiar institution" of the section. To question its validity or todeny its divine authority was to threaten the entire social order withanUmwerthung aller Werthe that to the southern mind wasunthinkable. The increase of the slave population and the everwidening gap between white and black made it all the harder for thewhite to consider schemes for emancipation or manumission[Pg 246] which meanteconomic and social chaos. The weight of accumulated traditions, thehardening of social habits and even the constantly increasing economichandicaps of the ruinous slave-labor made any change more difficultand dangerous. Many, who would gladly be rid of slavery, foundthemselves in the predicament described by Jefferson, "We have thewolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let himgo."[329]

The status of the slave was determined directly by the rise of theslave-power and on the whole shows, as was to be expected, a tendencyto treat the slave more and more as a chattel or, as Aristotle wouldsay, a "living tool." The general drift of the slave codes of thevarious southern States was to negate the personality of the slave andto fix his status as a part of an industrial system. The earliest ofthe slave laws to be passed were of the nature of police regulations,restricting the personal liberties of the blacks.[330] Of peculiarinterest are the laws with regard to emancipation and the status ofthe free Negro, for the latter was a standing rebuke to slavery and afruitful source of discontent among the slaves. In 1822 a Charlestonwriter says, "We look upon the existence of the Free Blacks among usas the greatest and most deplorable evil with which we are unhappilyafflicted.... Our slaves when they look around them and see persons oftheir own color enjoying a comparative degree of freedom and assumingprivileges beyond their own condition, naturally become dissatisfiedwith their lot, until the feverish restlessness of this dispositionfoments itself into insurrection and the 'black flood of long retainedspleen' breaks down every principle of duty and obedience."[331]

As early as 1800 South Carolina prohibited free Negroes and mulattoesfrom entering the State. In 1822 they were required to have a guardianand in 1825 were forbidden the[Pg 247] use of firearms. By an act of 1841emancipation of slaves was made unlawful and in 1860 free Negroes wererequired to wear badges with their name and occupation.[332] In manyStates emancipation was made unlawful and in Arkansas by an act of1858 all free Negroes and mulattoes were required to leave the Stateor be sold as slaves.[333] About 1830, and probably as a result ofabolition activity, acts were passed in practically all the southernStates prohibiting even the elementary forms of education to the slaveand placing heavy penalties upon whites who violated it. Thus thestatus of the free Negro tended always to approximate that of theslave. Moreover, a study of the evolution of the slave codes of eachState shows a gradual narrowing of the sphere of the slave and ageneral drift towards the principle expressed in South Carolina lawthat "Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed and adjudged in lawto bechattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessorsand their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents,constructions and purposes whatsoever."[334]

So far then as the relations of master and slave went, the law gavethe former complete control over the slave's time and labor, his foodand clothing, punishment, together with the right to turn him over toan agent or sell his labor. The slave had no property rights in law,could be sold, mortgaged, leased or disposed of in payment of debt;the slave could not be party in a legal action against his master,could not redeem himself, change his master or make a contract. Hisstatus was hereditary and perpetual both for himself and his children.In his civil status no slave could be a witness against a white or bea party to a suit; he was deprived of the benefits of education and insome States of religious instruction also.[335] The actual status ofthe slave was, of course, subject to the varying conditions of thedifferent sections[Pg 248] of a wide area of country, the status of the slaveon a Virginia or North Carolina farm being very different from that ofthe field hand on a sugar or cotton plantation of the far South. Theslaveholders also were to a very large extent a law unto themselves."On our estates," says DeBow, "we dispense with the whole machinery ofpublic police and public courts of justice. Thus we try, decide, andexecute the sentences in thousands of cases, which in other countrieswould go into the courts."[336] Fanny Kemble describes how she madeuse of this autonomous position of the slaveholder on her ownplantation to teach her slave Aleck to read in violation of thelaw.[337] This explains the great extremes in southern slavery and themistakes of writers who judge the institution as a whole by extremecases.[338]

Our conclusion as to the effect upon the Negro himself of slavery willdepend largely upon whether we stress his previous savage estate andthe gain made through contact with a superior civilization or theinherent evils of slavery itself and their effect upon his character.That the transition from African savagery to slavery was a gain forthe Negro in many respects will hardly be denied.[339] The field handof the plantation of the far South doubtless retained many of his mostprimitive savage traits. Olmsted, an unprejudiced observer, describeshim as on the average a very poor and a very bad creature, "clumsy,awkward, gross and elephantine in movement ... sly, sensual andshameless in expression and demeanor." "He seems to be but animperfect man, incapable of taking care of himself in a civilizedmanner, and his presence in large numbers must be considered adangerous circumstance to a civilized people."[340] And yet hetestifies that slavery improved the African Negro.[Pg 249][341]

The most beneficial effects were noticeable where the slave came inconstant contact with the whites. For this reason the household slavesmanifested a degree of intelligence and initiative far above that ofthe untutored field hand; this contact with the white was in effect aninvoluntary education. This appeared even in dress. "For though theirown native taste," says Kemble, "is decidedly both barbarous andludicrous, it is astonishing how very soon they mitigate it inimitation of their white models." The mulattoes in Charleston wereoften as well dressed as the whites.[342] The best witness to thebenefits derived from slavery was the fact that for a generation afteremancipation the older Negroes who received their training under theold regime made the most faithful and consistent laborers when setfree.[343]

There were, however, other effects of slavery which offset itsadvantages. The slave had no true home life and without this it isimpossible to train personality and character. The father felt noresponsibility for children that were not really his but his master's.The mother merely discharged the animal functions of bearing andrearing the child, all the finer instincts of motherhood beingprostituted to a selfish commercial end. The slave-mother, of course,did not feel the pathos of the situation when pointing to her childrenshe said: "Look missis! little niggers for you and massa; plentylittle niggers for you and little missis." The slave lived perpetuallyin an atmosphere of fawning and flattery by no means conducive to thedevelopment of independent manhood either in himself or his master.Being outside those social sanctions which keep the free man honestand trustworthy he was often guilty of petty theft and deceit and thelaw recognized the logical results of his status upon his character byrefusing to take the word of a slave against a freeman. The slave hadno social standing and no respect for himself or his fellow slaves andhence[Pg 250] exercised unbounded insolence and tyranny towards his fellows.This gave to the social intercourse between slaves a flavor ofvulgarity and insincerity utterly incompatible with the development ofthe finer instincts of personality.[344]

The essential injustice of slavery lies in withholding the legitimateuse of those means for self-development which are the inalienableright of every creature born with potentialities for personality. Itbecomes a national crime when the public conscience in any agerecognizes in a group or an individual potentialities for the exerciseof rights or the discharge of social functions with a rational regardfor the well-being of society as a whole, and yet through powerfulclass interests refuses to give legal recognition to those rights. Theparadox of the slaveholder's position and the fundamental injustice ofit appear even in the slave codes and the arguments used in defense ofthe "peculiar institution." The slave codes treated the slave in oneclause as a chattel, an irrational thing, and yet proceed to embody inthe same code regulations against learning to read and write, theft,and murder, thus acknowledging that the slave is both rational andmoral. Laws against teaching slaves were passed in South Carolina in1834, in Georgia, 1829, Louisiana, 1829, Alabama, 1830 and Virginia,1849.

As a result of this negation of his personality the slave thought andacted solely in terms of the social mind of the white. Hence theprevailing idea of the slave, "massa can do no wrong."[345] The slavehad no social consciousness, no ethical code apart from that of thewhite master; his self-determining powers of personality had no scopefor expression or development. He looked down with infinite scorn uponthe "poor white trash" which had no entrée into his master's circleand he pitied the free Negro because his lack of a master gave him nosocial standing. To have a Negro overseer was a disgrace. Olmstedoverheard the following conversation between two Negroes: "Workin' ina tobacco factory all de year roun', an' come Christmas, only twenty[Pg 251]dollars! Workin' mighty hard too—up to twelve o'clock o'night veryoften—an' den to hab a nigger oberseah!" "A nigger!" "Yes dat's ityer see. Wouldn't care ef it warn't for dat.Nothin' but a dirtynigger! orderin' 'round, jes' as ef he was a wite man."[346] To besure, on the basis of this submerged status of the slave, ties of thegreatest intimacy and affection often grew up between master andslave. But the slave's personality was absorbed by that of his master.Petty thefts, deceits and delinquencies of the slave were excusedbecause it was all in the family. The master even felt his slave'sacts to be morally his own and condoned them as he would his ownfoibles. It should never be forgotten that when the Negro made thetransition from the artificial and quasi-social status of the slave toa free democratic order, where individual worth and social efficiencydetermine one's place in society, he was like a child taught to swimwith bladders and suddenly deprived of them.

John M. Mecklin.

[Pg 252]

History of the High School for Negroes in Washington

If one is making a collection of striking contrasts betweenwhat oncewas, but now is, he should certainly include in this list thePreparatory High School established for Negro youth in the NationalCapital, November, 1870, and the beautiful new Dunbar High Schoolwhich was dedicated January 15, 1917. It is indeed a far cry from thebasement of the Presbyterian Church in which this first PreparatoryHigh School was located and the magnificent brick, stone-trimmedbuilding of Elizabethan architecture with a frontage of 401 feet whichwas recently christened the Dunbar High School in honor of the poet,Paul Laurence Dunbar. This new school represents an outlay of morethan a half a million dollars. The ground cost the government $60,000,the building and equipment $550,000, and it is considered one of themost complete and beautiful institutions for Negro youth in thecountry.[347] There is a faculty of 48 teachers,[Pg 253] many of them beinggraduates from the leading colleges and universities of the country,and 1,252 pupils are enrolled, 545 boys and 707 girls.

It would have required a vivid and fertile imagination indeed for apupil who attended that first high school to have dreamed of aninstitution so comprehensive and efficient as the high school ofto-day. In fact, the first high school for Negro youth was not a highschool at all. It was, as its name indicated, a Preparatory HighSchool established in 1870. It was mainly composed of pupilscompleting the last two years of the grammar grades, although,according to the school report of that year, a small number ofstudents were pursuing the high school course.[348] The newinstitution labored under several decided disadvantages. In the firstplace, the teaching force was inadequate, as there was only oneinstructor for 45 pupils. Sufficient time for advanced studies was notgiven and the school suffered also from the loss of pupils employed tomeet the growing demand for teachers in the lower grades.[349]

The first class would have graduated in 1875, but the demand forteachers being so much greater than the supply, the first two classeswere drawn into the teaching corps, before they had completed theprescribed course.[350] It was not[Pg 254] until 1877, therefore, that thefirst high school commencement was held, eleven pupils being awardeddiplomas. These were Dora F. Baker, Mary L. Beason, Fannie M. Costin,Julia C. Grant, Fannie E. McCoy, Cornelia A. Pinckney, Carrie E.Taylor, Mary E.M. Thomas, James C. Craig, John A. Parker, and James B.Wright. Three members of this class are now teaching in the Washingtonpublic schools. Of the capabilities of the pupils and conditions ofthe school, Superintendent Newton in his annual report said: "Theprogress which has been made in the organization and the perfecting ofan efficient school system in a brief period has probably fewparallels in any part of the country. The capabilities of the pupilsin general for acquiring knowledge have been demonstrated to be notinferior to those of any children in the country."[351]

The first principal of the Preparatory High School was Miss Emma J.Hutchins, a native of New Hampshire. Like many white men and women whocame from the North at that time, Miss Hutchins was fired with zeal todo everything in her power to educate and uplift the youth of thenewly emancipated race. She served as principal of the O Street, nowthe John F. Cook, School and was then placed in charge of thePreparatory High School in 1870. After teaching here one year, MissHutchins resigned to accept a position in Oswego County, New York.There was no dissatisfaction on the part of either Miss Hutchins or ofthe people whom she served, but she resigned, because, as she said,there were among the Negroes themselves teachers thoroughly equippedto take up the work and carry it on and she could find employmentelsewhere. From one who knew her personally comes the statement, "MissHutchins' term of service in the Washington public schools was brief,but the impress she made upon those with whom she came into contacthas remained indelibly fixed through the years that have followed.High ideals, conscientious performance of duty under adverseconditions and loyalty to the[Pg 255] interest of her pupils—hers was indeedthe spirit of the true teacher."

In the third report of the Board of Trustees the Public SchoolsSuperintendent, George F. T. Cook, tells us: "The pupils firsttransferred to this Preparatory High School, as well as those for twoor three subsequent years, had completed only the sixth year of theseven required for the completion of the school course at thattime—hence the name Preparatory High School." But the superintendentrecommended that the transfer of small classes of pupils in the firstgrade of the grammar course from the several school districts bediscontinued, and that in lieu thereof there be two central grammarschools for the accommodation of all pupils in the last year of thegrammar course—one to be located in the Summer or Stevens buildingand the other in the Lincoln building. This was intended to bring intothe high school only those pupils pursuing advanced studies. Theobject of this Preparatory High School, according to Mr. Cook, wastwofold: "to economize teaching force by concentrating under oneteacher several small classes of the same grade of attainment, locatedin different parts of the city, and to present to the pupils of theschools incentives to higher aim in education. In both respects," sayshe, "it has been eminently successful, perhaps more so in the latter,since it has furnished to the teacherships of these schools and thoseof the surrounding country many teachers."[352]

In the fall of 1871 Miss Mary J. Patterson succeeded Miss Hutchins asprincipal of the high school, which was then located in the Stevensbuilding on 21st Street during that year. Miss Patterson was graduatedfrom Oberlin College with the degree of A.B. in 1862. So far as therecords show, she has the distinction of being the first woman, ofAfrican blood, to receive a college education. When Miss Pattersonattended Oberlin College, she took what was called thegentleman'scourse, which required a study[Pg 256] of not only Latin and Greek, but thehigher mathematics as well. It doubtless received the namegentleman's course, because at that time women did not as a rulepursue such studies. It is easy to imagine what an impetus and aninspiration such a woman would be at the head of a new schoolestablished for the youth of a race for which high standards and loftyideals had to be set. She was a woman with a strong, forcefulpersonality, and showed tremendous power for good in establishing highintellectual standards in the public schools. Thoroughness was one ofMiss Patterson's most striking characteristics as a teacher. She was aquick, alert, vivacious and indefatigable worker. During MissPatterson's administration, which lasted altogether twelve years,three important events occurred: the name "Preparatory High School"was dropped; in 1877, the first high school commencement was held; andthe normal department was added with the principal of the high schoolas its head.

After Miss Patterson had served one year as principal, Mr. Richard T.Greener was appointed in 1872 to take her place. As Miss Patterson wasthe first woman of color to be graduated from Oberlin College, so Mr.Greener has the distinction of being the first man of African descentto be thus honored by Harvard College. He received his preparatoryeducation in Boston, Oberlin and Cambridge, and was graduated fromHarvard in 1870. A scholar and lawyer by profession, Mr. Greener hasattracted attention by his essays and orations. He has held a numberof important positions, having served as Professor in the Universityof South Carolina in the Reconstruction period, Dean of the Law Schoolof Howard University, Chief Civil Service Examiner for New York City,and United States Consul at Vladivostock, Russia. After serving asprincipal of the high school nearly one year, Mr. Greener left it forfields of broader opportunity. Miss Patterson was then reappointedprincipal of the Preparatory High School and held the position till1884, when Mr. F. L. Cadozo, Sr., succeeded her.[Pg 257]

When Mr. F.L. Cardozo, Sr., was appointed to the principalship of thehigh school, the standard of scholarship required of the principalswas certainly maintained. For he had the rare distinction of beingeducated at Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland. There he won twoscholarships of $1,000 each in Greek and Latin. He also took a coursein the London School of Theology, London, England, where he completedthe three-year course in two years. He was once pastor of the TremontStreet Congregational Church, New Haven, Connecticut. Later he went toCharleston, South Carolina, where he engaged in missionary work in theemploy of the American Board of Missions. Mr. Cardozo founded theAvery Institute in Charleston, and served as its principal until hebecame Treasurer of the State of South Carolina, in 1870. UnderGovernor Chamberlain he was Secretary of State for two terms.[353]

At that time there were 172 pupils in the school, but by 1886 theenrollment was 247, which was more than five times what it was whenthe school was established. In 1887-88, when the enrollment was 361,there were nine teachers, exclusive of the instructors in music anddrawing. There was an increase of two teachers in 1888-89. From 1877to 1894 the high school course consisted of three years' work. But in1894 the course was enriched and enlarged by the addition of severalelectives and since then it has been lengthened to four years. Thecommercial department was established in 1884-85 and in 1887 abusiness course requiring two years of study was added. This with atechnical course also requiring two years of study laid the foundationof the Armstrong Manual Training School. Girls were given anopportunity of taking up domestic science and boys militarydrill.[354] Referring to the school in 1889-90 Superintendent Cooksaid: "This school is growing, not only in number but in a conditionto perform better and more useful work. In the practical importance ofsubjects[Pg 258] taught and in their better and increasing provision forpreparing pupils for business life there is recognition of the factthat practical usefulness is the great end of intellectualdiscipline."[355]

It was during Mr. Cardozo's administration that the high school wasmoved from the Miner building to a new structure in 1891. So far backas 1874 Mr. Cook urged the construction of a suitable building for thehigh school. But it was not until 1889-90 that an appropriationtherefor was made.[356] This building, known as the M Street HighSchool, was erected on M Street, near the intersection of New York andNew Jersey Avenues, where the institution remained until it moved intothe Dunbar.

In 1896 Dr. W. S. Montgomery was appointed principal of the M StreetHigh School and held that position for three years. Dr. Montgomery wasgraduated at Dartmouth College, receiving the degree of A.B. in 1879and the degree of A.M. in 1906. He completed the Howard Universitymedical course in 1884. From the time Dr. Montgomery was appointedprincipal of the Hillsdale School in 1875 till the present, with theexception of two years spent in study at Dartmouth, he has served thepublic school system of the District of Columbia continuously.[357] Inreferring to his principalship of the M Street High School, one of hisco-laborers states that it "was marked by a period of constructivework. He stood for high scholarship with a leaning toward theclassical high school."[Pg 259]

Judge Robert H. Terrell succeeded Dr. Montgomery in 1899. He was thesecond principal of the high school to hold a degree from HarvardCollege. When a boy, he was a pupil in the public schools of theDistrict of Columbia and was a member of one of the early classes inthe old Preparatory High School. Mr. Terrell finished his preparationfor college at Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts and wasgraduated from Harvard University in the class of 1884. In the fall ofthat year he was appointed a teacher in the high school and held thatposition for five years. In the fall of 1889 he was appointed chief ofa division in the United States Treasury Department, where he servedfour years. In the meantime Mr. Terrell had studied law. He practicedthat profession till 1889, when he was again appointed teacher in thehigh school. He was afterward promoted to the principalship. In 1902President Roosevelt nominated him for a judgeship of one of the CityCourts of Washington and Mr. Terrell resigned the principalship toaccept this position. While serving as principal of the high schoolMr. Terrell devoted much of his time out of school to preparing hisboys for college. It is largely due to his influence that a goodlynumber of its graduates have completed their education at Harvard.

Mrs. Anna J. Cooper was appointed Judge Terrell's successor and servedfrom 1901 till 1906. Mrs. Cooper prepared for college at the St.Augustine Normal School. Like Miss Patterson, Mrs. Cooper wasgraduated at Oberlin College, receiving the degrees A.B. in 1884 andA.M. in 1888. With the exception of a few years Mrs. Cooper has taughtin the public schools from 1887 to the present time. She is the authorof "A Voice from the South," which received most complimentary noticesin representative newspapers and magazines. During her administrationin 1904 the course of study for the M Street High School like that ofthe other academic high schools was considerably changed and greatlyenlarged.

Mr. William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson succeeded Mrs.[Pg 260] Cooper in 1906.He was educated at Amherst College which conferred upon him thedegrees of A.B. in 1892 and A.M. in 1897. He thereafter pursuedpostgraduate studies at the Catholic University of America. Mr.Jackson's twenty-five years of service have all been in the highschool. He was teacher of mathematics from 1892 to 1904, principal ofM Street High School from 1906 to 1909 and has been head teacher inthe Department of Business Practice from 1912 to the present time. Incommenting upon Mr. Jackson's work, one of his superior officersdeclared that he "introduced the individual promotion system,stimulated interest in athletics and fostered the school spirit."

Mr. Edward Christopher Williams succeeded Mr. Jackson as principal ofthe M Street High School in 1909. He was graduated from the CentralHigh School in Cleveland, Ohio, holds the degree of B.L. from theWestern Reserve University, and an honor certificate from the New YorkState Library School. He was Librarian of the Western ReserveUniversity from 1894 to 1909, and was instructor in bibliographicalsubjects in the Western Reserve University Library School from 1904 to1909. After serving seven years as principal of the M Street HighSchool, he resigned June, 1916, to accept a position in HowardUniversity as Librarian and Director of the Library School. Mr.Williams achieved success as an administrative officer while principalof the M Street High School.

Mr. G. C. Wilkinson, the present principal of this school, waseducated in the public schools of the District of Columbia, finishingthe course at the M Street High School in June, 1898. He was graduatedfrom Oberlin, with the degree of A.B. in 1902, and from the LawDepartment of Howard University in 1909. In 1902 he was appointedteacher in the M Street High School and discharged his duties in thenew field of action with enthusiasm and zeal. During these years Mr.Wilkinson devoted much of his time after school hours to the trainingand instructing of athletic teams, particularly football and baseball,at a time when physical[Pg 261] training for high school boys was not anestablished part of the regular curriculum. This interest was notconfined to M Street High School only but extended to all secondaryschools of the vicinity and resulted in the formation of theInter-Scholastic Athletic Association of the Middle Atlantic Statesunder whose auspices track meets and basket ball were first introducedinto the capital of the nation. Thus athletic interest was extended,until they were registered in the Amateur Athletic Union of America asthe first and at present the only football officials of color inAmerica. Mr. Wilkinson was equally active in assisting the militaryorganization of the high school. In November, 1912, Mr. Wilkinson waspromoted to the principalship of the Armstrong Manual Training Schooland transferred to the principalship of the Dunbar High School, July15, 1916.

It is safe to assert that at the head of no school in the UnitedStates have there been teachers who have availed themselves of bettereducational advantages than have the principals of the high school forthe education of Negroes in the District of Columbia. In looking overthe list one observes that of the ten principals, who have guided andmolded the school, two held degrees from Harvard University, threefrom Oberlin College, one from Dartmouth, one from Amherst, one fromWestern Reserve University, and one was educated in the University ofGlasgow in Scotland.

But, however well-trained and strong the principal of a school may be,it is impossible for him to accomplish as much as he might, if histeachers also are not efficient and conscientious in the discharge oftheir duties. In this respect this high school has been greatlyblessed, for the teachers have, as a rule, not only enjoyed superioreducational advantages, but have faithfully discharged their duties.Although it is impossible in this article to mention by name all theteachers who have done so much to raise the standard of the highschool to the enviable position it occupies to-day, no sketch, howevershort, could do the subject justice without reference to a few of theinstructors who have been in the school almost from its establishmentto the present time.[Pg 262] Among these none have rendered more valuableservice than the late Miss Laura Barney, for many years a teacher ofhistory and an assistant principal, Miss Carolina E. Parke, teacher ofalgebra, Miss Harriet Riggs, head of the English Department, Mr. HughM. Browne, instructor in physics, and Mr. T. W. Hunster, the organizerand director of the Drawing Department.

It would be difficult to name a high school, the graduates or formerpupils of which have achieved success in such numbers and of suchbrilliancy as have those trained in the high school for Negroes in theDistrict of Columbia. If one investigates the antecedents of some ofthe young Negroes who have made the most brilliant records at the bestuniversities in the country, he will discover that a large number ofthem were trained in this high school. Miss Cora Jackson bycompetitive examination won a scholarship at the University ofChicago. Phi Beta Kappa keys have been won by R. C. Bruce at Harvard,Ellis Rivers at Yale, Clyde McDuffie and Rayford Logan at Williams,Charles Houston and John R. Pinkett at Amherst, Adelaide Cooke atCornell, and Herman Drear at Bowdoin.

In scanning the list of the men and women whose foundation ofeducation and usefulness was laid in this institution, one issurprised to see the wide range of positions they so creditably fill.In almost every trade and profession open to the colored American,from a janitorship to a judgeship, it is possible to find a man or awoman who has either completed or only partially completed the courseof this high school. Mr. R. C. Bruce, a graduate of Harvard College,now assistant superintendent of colored public schools; Miss NannieBurroughs, the founder and president of the National Training Schoolfor Women; Mr. Frederick Morton, principal of the Manassas IndustrialSchool; Miss Marian Shadd, Mr. John C. Nalle, Major James E. Walker,supervising principals in the District of Columbia; Dr. John Smith,the statistician of the Board of Education; Miss Emma G. Merritt,director of primary instruction; Mr. Charles M. Thomas, a successfulinstructor in the Miner[Pg 263] Normal School; 36 out of the 47 principals ofbuildings and a large corps of efficient teachers of Washington, haveall either been graduated from or pursued courses in this high school.

The first Negro who ever won the distinction of being commencementorator at Harvard College was Robert H. Terrell, who studied in thePreparatory High School shortly after it was established and who isnow one of five justices in the Municipal Court of the District ofColumbia, having been first appointed by President Roosevelt and thenreappointed by Presidents Taft and Wilson. The first Negro who wasever elected class orator at Harvard University was Clement G. Morgan,another graduate of this high school. He was formerly a member of theBoard of Aldermen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is at present alawyer of good repute.

The young man who won the Pasteur prize at Harvard University, who wastwice chosen one of the three to represent Harvard in her debate,first with Princeton and then with Yale, the young man, who, inaddition to all this honor, was finally elected class orator, wasRoscoe Conklin Bruce, a former student of the same high school. Adistinguished representative in the legal profession is Hugh C.Francis, who completed the four-year course in Harvard University inthree years, then was graduated from the Harvard Law School with honorand is now practicing his profession in Porto Rico. Otherrepresentatives of the law are Albertus Brown, who served as a judgein Toledo, Ohio, for two days by appointment of the mayor, andFerdinand Morton, Assistant District Attorney of New York City.

The record made by some of the high school graduates in the Army andNavy of this country has been very creditable indeed. When Deweyelectrified the world on an eventful day in May some years ago, one ofthe seamen who aimed a gun straight and made it bark loud was acertain colored youth named John Jordan, who had studied in this samehigh school. It is even said by those in a position to know that heopened the battle of Manila. It is certain, however,[Pg 264] that he wasplaced in charge of a crew of gunners in a forward turret, and that hewas afterward promoted to the position of chief gunner's mate. For atime he was in Annapolis instructing classes in ordnance, the membersof which were, of course, practically all white. Just a short time agohe was retired. Frank Stewart, another graduate of this school, servedwith distinction as a captain of the volunteer army during thePhilippine campaign and was later madepresidente of a town where herendered further services with credit to himself and his country.

A few years ago Joseph Cook, another representative of this highschool, taught classes in electricity in the training station atNewport. Cook ran a dynamo, an extremely complicated affair, onAdmiral Sampson's ship during the Spanish-American war. For somereason he was assigned to other duty on the ship, was taken from thedynamo and a white man was put in his place. But the latter was unableto master the intricacies of the machine and was soon given other workto do.

Oliver Davis is another alumnus of this school. He is now a captain inthe United States Army, being the first colored man from the ranks whopassed an examination for a commission in the army. Three of thefinest lieutenants in the Spanish-American War, Thomas Clarke, HarryBurgess and William Cardozo, were all trained at this institution.Under command of Major James E. Walker, another product of thisschool, the First Separate Battalion was the first organization toleave the District of Columbia for the Mexican border last summer,because this, the only colored unit in the District National Guard,was the first to be ready for such military service. Eleven of itsofficers are graduates of this high school. This battalion had thedistinction of being generally lauded for the valuable services itrendered the country during the late unpleasantness with Mexico.[358]

Among others who have distinguished themselves in military[Pg 265] affairsare Eldridge Hawkins, Ex-Secretary of the American Legation at Liberiaand for several years captain of the Liberian Constabulary. JosephMartin also served as a lieutenant in Liberia.[359]

Graduates of this school have succeeded in all the walks of life. Inmusic Captain Walter H. Loving is a distinguished representativeindeed. He is the founder and director of the far-famed Philippineband, conceded by foremost musicians of the day to be one of thefinest organizations of its kind in the whole world. This band hasmade extensive tours and has scored phenomenal success everywhere ithas played. The credit due Captain Loving, who has now retired, is allthe greater, when one considers, that when he commenced this work, alarge proportion of the men not only knew little or nothing aboutmusic but nothing at all about the instruments they now play with suchartistic skill. James Reese Europe is a composer of distinction andthe leader of an orchestra which is constantly in demand among themost cultured and the wealthiest people of New York. Among these highschool graduates there is at least one theatrical manager, in theperson of Andrew Thomas, who has directed the affairs of the HowardTheatre with much success. Miss Mary P. Burrill and Mr. Nathaniel Guy,dramatic readers and trainers, deserve special mention for the servicethey have rendered the Washington schools and the community in theirparticular field.

Dr. Charles I. West, formerly assistant surgeon-in-chief of Freedman'sHospital, distinguished himself in a competitive medical examinationheld a few years ago, and is to-day one of the foremost physicians inWashington. Some of the wealthiest and most skillful physicians in thenational capital, among whom may be mentioned Dr. John R. Francis,lately deceased, and Dr. Thomas Martin, received their scholastictraining in this high school. There are other products of this schoolachieving success, both here and elsewhere, in the professions ofmedicine and dentistry.[Pg 266]

It is very clear that this high school has given a wonderfulintellectual impetus to the youth of Washington, many of whom wouldhave been unable to get even a sip at the fountain of knowledge, ifthey could not have quenched their thirst without money and withoutprice. Without the knowledge acquired in the high school it would havebeen impossible for many teachers to occupy the positions ofusefulness, honor and emolument which they now hold. This high schooltoo has been a great blessing, not only to those representatives ofthe race who live under the shadow of the capitol, but to manyelsewhere. There is no doubt that a majority of the pupils trained inthis school have reflected great credit upon their alma mater by doingtheir work in the world conscientiously and well. And here inWashington, if you meet a skillful physician, an excellent teacher, anexpert typewriter or stenographer, a faithful, efficient lettercarrier, a distinguished officer in the national guard, or a goodcitizen on general principles, you are likely to find a graduate ofthis high school or somebody who has studied there.

Mary Church Terrell

[Pg 267]

Our New Possessions—The Danish West Indies

By the recent purchase treaty agreed upon between this country andDenmark the United States government has for the sum of $25,000,000obtained the three Virgin Islands known as the Danish West Indies. Asmore than ninety per cent. of their 27,000 inhabitants are Negroes,the American people, upon whom devolves the duty of shaping thedestiny of these new subjects, will doubtless be interested inlearning more about them. Searching for these islands on the map theyappear as three tiny spots lying to the east and southeast of PortoRico and at the extreme east of the Greater Antilles. The islands areSt. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix which lies about 40 miles southeastof St. Thomas. The area of St. Thomas is about 33 square miles; thatof St. John 21, while St. Croix is much larger, covering about 84square miles. These islands are no less remarkable for their fertilitythan for the intelligence and industry of their inhabitants. Theclimate is delightful, but this is counterbalanced by the earthquakesand hurricanes which occur at uncertain intervals.[Pg 268][360]

Although the discovery and settlement of the Danish West Indies byEuropeans are not of ancient date, their early history is fragmentaryand conjectural. Tribes of Caribs[361] were found on these islands byChristopher Columbus when he discovered the group on his second voyageto America in 1493. Judging from carvings upon the rocks and numerous[Pg 269]relics these people had occupied the islands from time immemorial. Thenatives were decreed enemies of the state by Charles V in 1550 andthereafter were soon exterminated. When the Earl of Cumberland touchedat the islands on his way to Porto Rico in 1596 he described them as aknot of little islands, uninhabited, sandy, barren and craggy[362].

The Dutch and English preceded the Danes in the occupation of St.Thomas, but as far as is known, they were at no time present in largenumbers. Nine families of them with their slaves were found there in1666. That year a company of Danes under Erik Smidt landed at St.Thomas and made the first Danish settlement in the Virgin Islands.They claimed to represent the Danish Chartered Company of Guinea andthe West Indies with headquarters at Copenhagen. Before these settlerscould permanently settle here, however, their expedition was broken upby certain Dutchmen led by one Huntman after the death of Smidt andbefore the Danes had finished their fort. But this was only temporarysuccess for the Dutch. This company had previously acquired territoryon the Gold Coast and had built forts between Christiansburg and theeastern side of the Volta River. Their purpose in the West Indies wasthe cultivation of sugar, tobacco and other products; and because ofthe scarcity of labor the work was to be done by slaves[363] fromtheir African possessions. Under the encouragement of Christian V thefirst cargo of slaves was brought over in 1680[364].

It is conceded that the real progress of the colony began with therule of Gov. Jörgen Iwersen, who succeeded Smidt, landing on theisland May 23, 1672. He was a man of stern and forceful personalitywho exacted absolute observance of the regulations he imposed, withsevere penalties for[Pg 270] their violation. He required the strict keepingof the Sabbath, dealt severely with bond servants guilty ofmisdemeanors, and treated the Negro slaves still more cruelly.[365]

It is said that while the Danes in Africa were not particularly unkindto the slaves the West Indian Danes were very cruel, especially in St.John and later in St. Croix. "Besides the usual floggings, cutting offof ears, hands, and legs and final hangings (when there was nothingmore to torture) the Danes—till the influence of the Moravianmissionaries bettered things—were in the habit of 'pinching' recreantslaves with red-hot iron pinchers, or for heinous offences pinchingpieces of flesh out of them. The Moravian missionaries came to theislands and brought to the inhabitants the practice and precept of asimple Christianity. Their work among the slaves being especiallyhelpful, the lot of the latter was lightened and masters were nolonger allowed to exercise the power of life and death overthem."[366]

In those days pirates and buccaneers held sway over the seas and forthe better defence of the colony "Christians'-fort" was erected. In1674 Gov. Iwersen bought a slave to serve for seven years as mastermason in the building of this fort. Within the fort was the governor'sresidence, and the services of the Lutheran Church (the State Churchof Denmark) were also held therein, usually in the armory."Christians'-fort," modernized, is still standing and is supposed tobe the oldest building on the island.[367]

About 1682 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, entered intopartnership with the Danish Company. The purpose of this agreement wasto encourage immigration from Europe and to promote trade with theislands. The Brandenburghers established themselves in St. Thomas,built a factory there and maintained a line of ships trading betweenStettin, the Gold Coast and St. Thomas.[368] This arrangement[Pg 271]seemingly worked satisfactorily for a while, but finally caused suchdiscontent that it was discontinued.

In 1684 the Danes took possession of St. John, the smallest but themost fertile of these islands. It was colonized about two generationslater by some inhabitants who had the courage to leave St. Thomas. Atthis period the colonists were fearful not only of depredations ofpirates or of the settlers of neighboring islands but they dreaded theattacks of the maroons and uprisings among the slaves. When inFebruary, 1697, after a severe hurricane the force of the garrison wasreduced to one lieutenant, one ensign, one drummer, and five privates,a number of maroons gathered in the western part of the island wereconsidered a menace but no outbreak occurred. For a period of aboutsixty years afterward prosperity reigned in the islands.[369] Sugar,molasses, rum, tobacco and spices were the principal exports andwealth brought to the master class leisure, luxury, and refinement.

In 1733 the island of St. Croix, after continuously passing from thecontrol of one proprietor[370] to another, was purchased by certainmerchants of Copenhagen and later was bought from them by KingChristian VI of Denmark. The land was then divided into estates andsold to various planters, some of whom came from St. Eustatius,Virgin[Pg 272] Gorda, and Tortola. Being thereafter under more stablecontrol, the island made progress, becoming, like the other DanishWest Indies, a sugar colony. The seat of government was thentransferred from St. Thomas to St. Croix.

The outstanding fact in the history of this group in the eighteenthcentury is the insurrection of 1733, which took place on the island ofSt. John. Because a large number of slaves had just been brought infrom Africa there had been urged by the masters and later enacted bydecree of the Royal Council certain additional tyrannical regulationswhich doubtless caused this trouble. Instead of increasing the numberof armed men necessary to keep order the planters resorted tolegislation.[371] At that time at the west[Pg 273] end of St. John stood theonly fort which was garrisoned by eight soldiers under a lieutenantand a sergeant. These men had to be depended upon to handle thousandsof discontented slaves.[372] The insurrection, on the other hand, waswell planned. Governor Philip Gardelin, of St. Thomas, who was at thattime on a visit to the island was to be murdered along with all otherwhite inhabitants so as to bring the island entirely under the controlof the Negroes. An unexpected change in his arrangements, however,caused the Governor and a part of his family to leave St. John on theday preceding the uprising. On the following Sunday, however, theinsurrection began.

Early that morning certain slaves, as was usual, took into the fortbundles of wood for the use of the soldiers. Within these bundles theyhad concealed their knives and cutlasses, and at a given signal theybrought them forth and murdered all the garrison save one whosucceeded in concealing himself. When in possession, the insurgentsfired the signal previously agreed upon and at once upon everyplantation the slaves began to massacre the masters and theirfamilies. Most of the surviving planters fled with their families tothe Durlo estate, situated on an eminence and protected by two cannonand, under the direction of an old Englishman, repulsed the slaves,killing and wounding many. While the slaves were in retreat theplanters hastily removed their families to vessels which conveyed themto Tortola and St. Thomas.

Thinking that this insurrection might spread to St. Thomas, precautionwas immediately taken. Ninety men[Pg 274] were armed, sixty sailors fromvessels in the harbor were impressed into service, and the largevessel on which the Governor had come from St. John was brought nearerthe town. A detachment of thirty soldiers, some young burghers, andthe Jaeger Corps, fully armed and equipped, then proceeded to St. Johnand drove the slaves from the fort. The Durlo estate was then relievedwith much difficulty, so determined were the slaves to continue theirwork. In spite of these successes, however, the whites decided that itwas impossible to suppress the insurrection with such a small body oftroops and withdrew to St. Thomas. It was discovered that save thosewho had sought refuge on the Durlo estate only Dr. Cornelius F. Bodgerhad survived. He had been spared on the condition that he would givewounded Negroes medical aid. The whites learned too that the CreoleNegroes had not taken a part in the uprising. In obtaining informationthe whites were assisted by a servant of Dr. Bodger, called ChristianSout,[373] who, having the confidence of both the whites and theblacks, became a useful spy for the former, who rewarded him withfreedom for these services.

Upon returning to St. Thomas the Royal Council secured the assistanceof Captain Meaux and his sixty men of theNevis, a vessel lying inharbor, but he failed to subdue the Negroes, losing two of his sons inthe conflict. The government then sent to Martinique for help. Thegovernor of that colony promptly despatched a force of 400 men who,joined by all the available troops from St. Thomas, drove the Negroesfrom the fort and, sending out detachments in various directions,finally forced the insurgents to concentrate on the northeast side ofthe island, where they were surrounded. After holding the island sixmonths, the blacks, finding all chances of escape cut off, resolvedupon self-destruction. "Three hundred," says an historian, "were,after a few days from the time they were surrounded,[Pg 275] found lying deadat Brim's Bay, now Anna Burg. In a ravine, a short distance off, werediscovered seven others, who appeared to have been leaders in theinsurrection, who had shot each other. Seven guns broken to pieces,save one, were found lying by their sides. Tradition reports thatthree hundred had cast themselves from a high precipice on the rocksbelow. The historian Höst says they were shot and were found lying ina circle. A few had been taken prisoners. Two of these had beensummarily executed in St. John and twenty-six in St. Thomas, some ofthe latter having been made to undergo the severest torture."[374]

The disproportion of the white and black elements of the populationwas then brought before the planters as a perplexing problem. In thisunstable state of affairs the islands could not prosper. Many plantersfor fear of servile insurrection moved to other islands, as thesituation did not soon become inviting. Captain Peter Tamaryn, of theJaeger Corps (the night guard of the town), was ordered by GovernorJens Kragh to take a census in 1772 of free colored people living inSt. Thomas. It was discovered that there were one hundred and six mencapable of bearing arms; forty-one Catholics, twenty-one ReformedDutch, and the rest Moravians and heathen. Among these were elevenmasons, twelve carpenters, ten captains of boats, twenty-nine sailors,thirteen fishermen, eleven tailors, five shoemakers, one cigar-maker,one washer, one goldsmith, one musician, two planters and the restwithout occupation. Belonging to the free group were 285 women andchildren. In 1773, however, on account of the European wars, duringwhich Denmark remained neutral, prosperity returned and the populationgreatly increased. Once more the harbor of St. Thomas was crowded withthe vessels of all nations. The town limits were extended, businessestablishments were multiplied and thousands of refugees, adventurersand capitalists sought its shores for commercial purposes.

For some decades thereafter the history of these islands was largelycommercial. At one time, however, the Dutch[Pg 276] took from the Danespractically all of the trade of the islands. The Danes, therefore,secretly fitted out vessels and sent them from Amsterdam under theDutch flag and regained their trade, driving the Dutch from thefield.[375] But this was not without some evil consequences. Having amonopoly of the trade, the Danes set prices rather high and discontentfollowed. To put an end to the oppressive restrictions thenprevailing, King Frederik V purchased the privileges of the DanishWest India Company in 1755.[376] The port of St. Thomas brought thenunder royal control was no longer free. This sweeping change causedruin and starvation to follow. The prosperity of the colony ceased,money became scarce, and some inhabitants moved away, adding anotherproblem by leaving slaves in the majority. Endeavoring to check theinjudicious importation of slaves and actuated by the same motiveswhich led him to liberate the serfs of Denmark, King Frederik VIprohibited the slave trade in 1792.[377] Prosperity did not againreturn until 1764 when St. Thomas was declared a free port for allnations. For some time thereafter things went well despite theEuropean wars as Denmark still remained neutral.

This state of affairs continued until 1800 when Denmark becameinvolved in a war with Great Britain and the islands were blockaded.They endured for a while and surrendered in 1801. After holding themten months, the British restored them in 1802. The short occupation,however, materially affected the commerce of the island and as aresult of further complication in the Napoleonic wars they wereconquered again by the English and held from 1807 to 1815. Then cameanother revival of commerce in these islands, the port of St. Thomasbecoming the principal rendezvous for the Royal Mail Steam PacketCompany's vessels.[378] Yet to a student of economic conditions it wasevident that the prosperity of the colony could not become permanentafter[Pg 277] the rise of the beet sugar industry at the expense of the canesugar of the West Indies.[379]

During these years slavery was becoming onerous and undesirable incertain parts of the West Indies and humanitarian forces wereoperating, at least, to ameliorate the condition of the slaves as apreparation for gradual emancipation. Steps were, therefore, taken todo the same in the Danish West Indies but seemingly without permanentresults. There still remained evidences of oppression and cruelty andas an observer saw the situation the low physical, intellectual, andmoral condition of the slaves, as compared with that of the liberatedNegroes of the British islands, was obvious and unquestionable.[380]Some time in the forties, however, a commission was appointed atCopenhagen to inquire into the state of the islands with a view toemancipation. Moreover, there were constructed "seven large buildingsin different parts of the island to serve as chapels and schools forthe religious and literary instruction of the Negro population." Someof the planters too were making "laudable exertions for the educationof their slaves in reading and in a knowledge of the HolyScriptures."[381] At the head of this system of schools was oneMcFarlane, an intelligent and efficient man of color, who wassuccessfully disseminating information from plantation toplantation.[382] The condition of the Negroes was thereby improved,but this increasing knowledge instead of making them grateful to theirbenefactors led them to appreciate freedom and to realize their power.

In 1848, therefore, came an upheaval long to be remembered. Thishappened in St. Croix during the administration of Major General P.von Scholten, a friend of the Negroes. King Christian VIII was inducedin the year 1847 to enact laws to emancipate the slaves in the DanishWest Indies. It was ordered that from the 28th of July, 1847, all[Pg 278]children born of slaves should be free and that at the end of twelveyears slavery should cease altogether. These decrees caused little joyamong the slaves. Discontent was generally shown. They were therebymade more anxious to have freedom and to have it immediately. They,therefore, plotted an insurrection which broke out in Frederiksted andextended to the eastern part of the island.[383] It seemed that thecountry Negroes were coming to town to plunder and destroy.

The details of this insurrection are interesting. On the evening ofSunday, July 2, 1848, the Negroes began rioting and the ringing ofbells and blowing of horns aroused the island. At first they hadconfined themselves to noisy demonstration, but the planters,remembering the insurrection in St. John's more than 100 years before,were in a state of great alarm. There was in St. Croix one efficientcompany of fire-fighters called the Brand Corps which was composedentirely of free colored men. The Stadthauptmand was advised to callthem out to put down the disorder, but he hesitated to place so muchauthority in their hands. One of the Brand officers, however, took afew of his men and assisted in maintaining peace. The white major ofthe Brand Corps nearly lost his life at the hands of a colored womanwho attacked him with an ax. The blow, aimed at his neck, glanced offand his brave bearing saved him from a second attack. The rioting,looting of homes and stores, burning of bonfires and the likecontinued through several nights. The slaves were led by a young Negrowhom they called Bourdeaux, and in whom they had great confidence. Inthe west end of the islands Martin King, another Negro, was in commandor as the slaves styled it, "chief of the fleet." The free people ofcolor had little or nothing to do with the outbreak. "It is but fairto say," says Chamberlain Von Scholten, "that it was owing to theactivity and[Pg 279] representations of the free colored people that moreviolence was not committed."[384]

"A considerable number of Negroes had assembled together in the Fortyard," continues he. "They cried and shouted, demanded their freedom,and called on the soldiers to fire upon them. This the commander ofthe fort had some difficulty in preventing. Many who were presentbegged him also not to do so, as the town would surely be burnt toashes. Of this there could not be any doubt, as near by, behind acorner house which could not be commanded by the guns of the fortthere were several Negro women gathered together with trash and drycane leaves which, at the first shot from the fort, it was arrangedthey should light and throw into the doors and windows. The fire wouldthus have quickly spread through the town, as the houses were mostlydeserted, and there was no one to check it."[385]

Governor-General von Scholten, the friend of the Negroes, arrived atthe fort in Frederiksted on the morning of July 3 and upon his ownauthority proclaimed freedom to all slaves in the Danish West IndiesIslands. As it took some time for this news to spread throughout theisland the rioting continued. Finally the authorities called to theirassistance General Bourdeaux and Martin King, who partly restoredorder. The rioters in the eastern part who refused to disperse werefired upon. A few were killed and many wounded. General von Scholtendid not at first let the military commander fire on the rioters. Theplanters appealed to him for permission to take the field against theNegroes but he refused. Upon renewal of the request, however, themilitant element was allowed to proceed on the condition that theyshould not fire on the rioters, unless the latter fired on them.Accordingly the cavalry ran over the estates and forced and overawedmany Negroes into respecting the law on the north side of the island.On the south side in the meantime disorder was unusual, but energetic[Pg 280]troops under Major V. Geillerup and Captain V. Castonier scoured thecountry, captured leaders of the riot and imprisoned them. In themeantime Governor Prim of Porto Rico had in response to an appeal forassistance despatched 600 Spanish troops and two mountain howitzersthat assured peace and order.

The subsequent humiliation of General Bourdeaux is a blot on thecharacter of the Danish government. After using his influence to savethe lives of many of the planters who assured him of their good will,he was forcibly abducted from his station and made a prisoner. MajorGyllich, whose life General Bourdeaux saved, stood by him, sharingeven his imprisonment a few days. He was finally sent aboard a vesselin the garb of a gentleman, provided with all the necessaries andcomforts and then stripped of them as soon as the vessel was out ofport and forced to toil as a member of the crew. He was taken to thePort of Spain, Trinidad, where he was told that if he returned to theDanish West Indies, he would be executed.[386] He was said to havebeen seen in Curaçao afterwards, whence he proceeded to the UnitedStates of America. Martin King escaped arrest until after the reign ofmartial law. He was imprisoned, however, for two years and in 1855could do no better than serve his community as rat-catcher.

Peter Hansen the next governor undertook to settle these difficulties.He passed what is known as the "Labor Act," intended to meet theexigencies of the situation. This was a little better than slavery butit actually gave the Negroes a status ranging between serfdom andindentured service. They were still under rigid restrictions.[387]Thereafter an effort was made to prevent Negroes from assembling,especially at Christmas dances, which were considered dangerous to thepeace of the colony. On one occasion in[Pg 281] 1852 to put a stop to such afunction a squad of militiamen were ordered out and it fired upon theparticipants in private dances in their homes, killing many innocentpersons. This caused great alarm. The militia was ordered back to thebarracks, an investigation was made but no one could tell exactly whogave the order for this cowardly act.

Things went on prosperously for years thereafter. It seemed ideal evenunder the Labor Act, which the Negroes learned to endure withoutcomplaint. In this ideal state of things it was thought advisable toreduce the militia. This was finally done, leaving the whole islandoutside of Christiansted defenseless. Forced labor, however, under thedisguise of apprenticeship could not but be odious, especially so whenthe differences of blood and color tended to render irritating thevery semblance of restraint, and exaggerate every difficulty of classand position. Hence, these injudicious artificial regulations, howeverseemingly well-intentioned, only gave rise to ill-feeling, mistrustand eventually resistance. The trouble was that the Negroes had grownin intelligence and had begun to appreciate the blessings of actualfreedom and free labor. Seeing the trouble in the embryo, thegovernment procrastinatingly made some amendments to the Labor Act.The Negroes, however, eventually defied the act, abandonedagriculture, and came to town to assert themselves.

In 1878 a large number of the country laborers got from some sourcethe impression that the Labor Act was to cease to be operative on thefirst of October of that year.[388] This was the usual time for theshifting of laborers from one estate to another upon the expiration oftheir annual contracts and they usually assembled in towns to find newfields, many of them seeking, however, to secure employment in thetown. Some planters having foresight, saw the need of larger militaryforce to deal with these people, should they become discontented. Theestablishment of a rural constabulary was urged, but it was notprovided. There were only 60 soldiers to maintain order. On the first[Pg 282]of October there started an uproar in the street of Frederiksted nearthe home of Rev. J.C. DuBois, the British Vice-Consul, who uponinquiring of the mob the cause of the uproar, was informed that theyhad been ill-treated by the police, who had severely beaten one oftheir number, for which they had chased them into the fort. Rev. Mr.DuBois sought to appease the rioters, persuading them to leave town.They eventually consented, but upon being authoritatively and roughlyordered by the Policemaster and his assistants, brandishing theirswords, the crowd became furious and attacked these officers withstones, driving them to the fort. Seeing that they intended to attackthe fort, Rev. Mr. DuBois followed them, earnestly entreating them notto resort to such harsh measures to redress their grievances. The mobfinally agreed to accept his advice, the Vice-Consul agreeing to hearfrom a representative delegation the following day exactly what theircomplaints were, and promising to assist them in righting theirwrongs. Before leaving them, however, a few of their most intelligentmen set forth what these grievances were. They were in short: low rateof estate wages in comparison with the larger amounts given those wholabored in the Central Factory—10 cents against 30 cents; the annualcontract which was so managed as to be virtually slavery; the frequentabuse of the power given the manager by law to impose fines forcertain offences; and the difficulties thrown in the way of laborersleaving the island by the police in requiring them to exhibit whatmoney they had when they wanted a passport. They then gave threecheers for the Vice-Consul and were about to depart when theresuddenly appeared a woman running towards them to convey theinformation that the one of their number who had been arrested haddied at the hospital. The mob then hastened to the hospital,threatened to kill the doctor, rushed in, knocked down the sick nurseand one of the patients and demanded to see the dead man. It was saidthat he was not seriously hurt. They then started for the fort andattacked it with stones[Pg 283] and all sorts of missiles. The fire of thefort being too hot the mob had to withdraw, as several were wounded.The defenders, too, managed to send word to the President atChristiansted, asking for help. The mob, however, ceased to disturbthose armed and sought to harass those who were defenseless,destroying homes, stores or whatever they found in their way. Therioters did not, however, destroy the property of such persons, forexample, as Rev. Mr. DuBois who was known to be their friend. Goodswere thrown into the street and burned. Men dared not utter a wordwhen they saw their accumulations of a life time destroyed. Therioters later made another attack on the fort but could not carry it.When they contemplated making a third attack the much desiredassistance had come in time to drive the mob away in all directions.

There had been much difficulty in reaching Christiansted andespecially in informing the Governor. This official arrived thefollowing afternoon and declared the town in a state of siege. Newtroops were put in the field, but it was not until the 3d of Octoberthat they succeeded in overtaking the first band of rioters, afterseveral soldiers and other whites had been killed and one third ofFrederiksted had been reduced to ashes. Some were captured and someshot. Others were later hunted down and bayoneted, the innocentsuffering with the guilty. The militia was reenforced by othersoldiers and French and British men-of-war arriving opportunely inport offered their assistance to the struggling government. Later theUnited StatesPlymouth appeared and assisted. Three hundredprisoners were finally captured, and twelve were condemned by a courtmartial and shot. On the 28th of October the court martial wasdiscontinued and a commission of investigation charged with adjudgingall cases arising from the riot was appointed. No other severepunishments, however, ensued. The fact is that the riot had destroyedthe Labor Act and made the Negro actually free.

Despite these undesirable conditions, the United States had for yearsdesired to purchase the Danish West Indies.[Pg 284] The Civil Wardemonstrated very clearly our need for a naval and coaling station inthe West Indies. The ports of the Southern States were declaredblockaded, but it was difficult to maintain that decree, when atseveral ports in the West Indies, especially at Nassau, blockaderunners were hospitably received and helped where our vessels were notwanted.[389] A writer has said: "If it had not been for the friendshipof Denmark our vessels would have had a hard time in the Caribbeanduring the Civil War so President Lincoln was disposed to be generousin his offer for the islands out of gratitude to the Danes. Thepurchase of Alaska was in part payment of a war debt of the samesort."[390] It doubtless appears strange, however, that one of theseplans was carried out immediately after the war, while the other couldnot be effected before 1917. That this was not done earlier is a sadreflection on American diplomacy.

The negotiation for the purchase of these islands began January, 1865,when Secretary of State Seward and General Raasloff, the DanishMinister to the United States, met at a dinner party.[391] Sewardwanted them for a naval station. The minister was not in favor of itand did not think the King of Denmark would sell, and so Denmarkreplied. When the unfavorable report came, Seward was confined to hisbed and the minister was advised to drop it and leave it to the UnitedStates to take it up again. Then came the assassination of Lincoln andthe attack on Seward. In the meantime there came to power in Denmark anew ministry favorable to the project. The instructions then were tosay that the government had no desire to sell but would not be[Pg 285]unwilling to entertain Seward's proposition. Not long thereafterSeward went to Cuba for his health and on the way saw St. Thomas. Hethen became resolved to buy and asked Denmark to name a price, but sherefused. The plan, however, was laid before the Danish Cabinet in1866. The Danes were reluctant to alienate these islands because theyloved the colony. They believed, too, that the sale would offendEngland, France, and Spain. Mr. Seward and Mr. Yeamen, our minister atCopenhagen, however, pushed it and the Danish government finallyoffered the United States the three islands for $15,000,000. Denmarkwas finally persuaded to sell St. Thomas and St. John for $7,500,000.A vote of the natives was taken and they agreed to the transfer oftheir country to the United States. The treaty was laid before theUnited States Senate but delayed on account of the serious troublethen existing between Charles Sumner, the chairman of the ForeignRelations Committee, and the administration. The Danish governmentregarded this an indignity of the worst kind. The time forratification was extended but the treaty finally fell a victim to thestorm of political hatred then raging, and it was dropped in 1868.After an adverse report of the Foreign Relations Committee of theSenate it was finally rejected in 1870.[392]

After this the situation of Denmark became such that the transfer ofthe islands would have been almost impossible even if the twocountries had come to another agreement. By a secret alliance betweenGermany and Russia, Denmark was rendered helpless. Germany was hostileto American expansion in that quarter.[393] The Republican[Pg 286] Partyincorporated into its platform in 1896 a plank requiring the purchaseof the Danish West Indies and in 1898 Senator Henry Cabot Lodgeintroduced in the Senate a bill to purchase the group for$5,000,000.[394] No steps were then taken, doubtless for the reasonthat we had just come into the possession of Porto Rico and thePhilippines, which were regarded as burdens to the nation. Manythought still, however, of the commercial advantages of the islands;the protection they would be to the proposed Panama Canal, and thedifficulty we would encounter, should a foreign nation in violation ofthe Monroe Doctrine undertake to get possession of them.

But the purchase could not then have been effected on account of thedominating influence of Germany although, because of the MonroeDoctrine, she dared not acquire the islands herself. Germany decidedupon a policy of commercial expansion in the Danish West Indies, ascheme to which the United States could make no objection, althoughthe country was much alarmed by rumors as to German annexation. In1902, therefore, President Roosevelt and Secretary John Hay offeredthe Danish government $5,000,000 for the islands.[395] It was acceptedand the required treaty was drawn up and sent to the United StatesSenate, where it was held up too long. German influence being at workin Denmark, however, it was rejected there also. Prominent among thoseopposing the transfer were persons claiming to be friends of theislands and promising to see to it that several millions be spent fortheir improvement. This was accordingly done, bringing some prosperityto the islands. The present war, however, brought this to an end. Forfear then on this side that the complications of this war might resultin the transfer of the islands to some other power and for fear inDenmark that she might have to alienate them without receiving justcompensation the two countries reached an agreement that they shouldbe transferred to this country for $25,000,000.[Pg 287]

We have thereby come into possession of three islands inhabited byabout 27,000 inhabitants, ninety per cent. of whom are Negroes. Theyhave come under all European influences which have reached the WestIndies, as some of them have lived in other islands. It may seemstrange too that although England held the islands only a few yearstheir language is not Danish but English.[396] Danish was confinedlargely to the officials formerly sent out from Denmark and even thesequickly learned English. This was doubtless due to the influence ofEngland and the United States, with which these islands have had closecommercial relations and to the fact that Denmark never forced thenatives to learn the official language. The Lutheran has been thestate church, but many of the people have Roman Catholic, Moravian,Israelite, Episcopalian, Dutch Reformed and Methodist connections. Theislands have had no system of actual public education and for thatreason the country is in this respect backward. The Danish governmenthas been content to subventionize schools maintained by otheragencies, especially those of the churches.

These islands, however, despite their handicaps have produced someuseful Negroes. In addition to Bourdeaux, King and McFarlane they canpoint to at least one truly great man. This was Edward W. Blyden, aman whose sterling character and scholarly attainments gained for himinternational recognition. Dr. Blyden was born in St. Thomas in 1832,of purest Negro parentage. He early felt an ardent love for Africa,the fatherland, and came to the United States hoping to preparehimself for work in Africa. Failing in this, he went to Liberia andwas among the first pupils enrolled in the State College. He servedafter graduation as professor in the college and was appointedSecretary of State in 1864. In 1877, Dr. Blyden was made ministerplenipotentiary of the Republic of Liberia at the Court of St. Jamesand was received by Her Majesty July 30,[Pg 288] 1878. He numbered among hispersonal friends Lord Brougham, Mr. Gladstone, Dean Stanley, CharlesDickens, Charles Sumner and many other notables. He was sent on adiplomatic mission to powerful chiefs in the interior by the Governorof Sierra Leone, in which mission he was entirely successful. As ateacher, an author and a statesman Dr. Blyden was a shining example ofwhat the pure-blooded Negro may accomplish under unhamperedconditions. He died in Sierra Leone in 1912 loved by his countrymenand respected throughout the civilized world.

Leila Amos Pendleton.

[Pg 289]

Documents

Relating to the Danish West Indies

It is possible to multiply here the documents bearing on the DanishWest Indies but these are considered adequate to give the student ofhistory an idea as to the colonial policy of the Danes, theirtreatment of the bondmen and the subsequent self-assertion whichculminated in open resistance to established authority. We areconcerned then with what the Danish were endeavoring to do, what theyactually accomplished, and what the observer from afar thought ofthese achievements. To bring out more strikingly these phases of thesituation these documents have been added.

A short Description of the Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix, in thePossession of the Danes, in 1769

The only remaining islands in this part of the world, that weshall now mention, are those of St. Thomas and St. Croix, whichbelong to the Danes; the former is situated in 18°. northlatitude, and is one of that cluster of islands called theVirgins. Though it is not above seven leagues in circumference,it is in a commodious situation, and has an excellent port of anoval form, in a manner surrounded by two promontories, whichdefend the ships that lie within from almost all winds. In thebottom of this port is a small fortress which stands in a plain,and is a regular square with four small bastions, but it hasneither outworks nor a ditch, it being only surrounded with apallisade. On the right and left of the fort are two smalleminences which in our plantations would be called bluffs; butthough they seem designed for batteries that would command thewhole harbour, no such use is made of them. The King of Denmarkhas here a Governor and a garrison; notwithstanding which, thereis a large factory on the island belonging to theBrandenburghers, the subjects of the King of Prussia.

The neighbourhood of the Spanish island of Porto Rico is only at17 leagues distance, and secures the inhabitants from the danger[Pg 290]of wanting provisions, to which they would otherwise be exposed;for though the soil is tolerably good and every foot of itcultivated, yet it would not produce sufficient for themaintenance of the inhabitants, who are very numerous.

The town of St. Thomas consists of one long street, at the end ofwhich is the Danish magazine, a large magnificent and convenientbuilding. The Brandenburgh factory is also very considerable, andthe persons belonging to it are chiefly French refugees, who fledthither when the protestants were expelled from the Frenchislands. The chief produce of their plantations is sugar, whichis very fine grained, but made in small quantities; yet theDanish Governor, who is usually a man of some rank, lives in amanner suitable to his character, and generally acquires a goodfortune in that station. The director of the Danish trade alsobecomes rich in a few years, and the inhabitants in general arein very easy circumstances.

To this island the Spaniards are continually sending largevessels to purchase slaves. This is the chief support of theDanish and Brandenburgh commerce, as these slaves are drawn fromtheir settlements upon the coast of Africa, which, if they hadnot this trade, would have long ago become useless, andconsequently deserted. The Spaniards also buy here, as well as atCuracao, all sorts of European goods, of which there is always avast stock in the magazine, belonging chiefly to the Dutch. Thereis likewise a great resort of English, Dutch, and French, vesselsto this port, where they can always depend upon the sale ofsuperfluous, and the purchase of necessary commodities. Butthough a prodigious deal of business is transacted in time ofpeace, in time of war it is vastly increased, for being a neutralport, the privateers of all nations resort thither to sell theirprizes.

St. Croix is seated about five leagues east of St. Thomas's, andabout 30 west of St. Christopher's, in 18°. north lat. and in65°. west longitude. It is about ten or twelve leagues in length,but not above three broad. The air is very unhealthy but the soilis easily cultivated; very fertile, and produces sugar canes,citrons, oranges, lemons, pomegranates, and other excellentfruits, and has several fine trees, whose wood is very beautiful,and proper for inlaying.

This island has had several masters; but the French abandoning itin 1696, it was purchased by his late Danish Majesty. It was[Pg 291]then a perfect desert, but was settled with great expedition,many persons from the English islands, and among them some ofgreat wealth, having removed thither.—"The World displayed or aCurious Collection of Voyages and Travels," 1769, pp. 127-129.

II
Danish Colonization in the West Indies in 1798

The Danes had no sooner submitted to one single chief, than theyfell into a kind of lethargic state. To those great convulsions,which are occasioned by the clashing of important rights,succeeded the delusive tranquillity of servitude. A nation, whichhad filled the scene for several ages, appeared no more on thetheatre of the world. In 1671, it just recovered so far from thetrance, into which the accession of despotism had thrown it, asto look abroad, and take possession of a little American island,known by the name of St. Thomas.

This island, the farthest of the Caribbees towards the west, wastotally uninhabited, when the Danes undertook to form asettlement upon it. They were at first opposed by the English,under pretence that some emigrants of that nation had formerlybegun to clear it. The British ministry stopped the progress ofthis interference; and the colony were left to form plantationsof sugar, such as a sandy soil, of no greater extent than fiveleagues in length, and two and a half in breadth, would admit of.These improvements, which were at that time very rare in theAmerican Archipelago, were brought on by particular causes.

The Elector of Brandenburgh had formed, in 1681, a company forthe western part of Africa. The object of this association was topurchase slaves; but they were to be sold again; and that couldbe done in no other place than in the New World. It was proposedto the court of Versailles to receive them in their possessions,or to cede Santa-Cruz. These two proposals being equallyrejected, Frederic William turned his views towards St. Thomas.Denmark consented in 1685, that the subjects of this enterprisingprince should establish a factory in the island, and that theyshould carry on a free trade there, upon condition of paying thetaxes established, and of agreeing to give an annual stipend.

They were then in hopes of furnishing the Spanish colonies, whichwere dissatisfied with England and Holland, with the Negroeswhich those provinces were continually in want of. The[Pg 292] treatynot having taken place, and the vexations being incessantlymultiplied, even at St. Thomas's, the transactions of theinhabitants of Brandenburg were always more or less unfortunate.Their contract, however, which had been only made at first forthirty years, was renewed. Some few of them still belonged to it,even in 1731; but without any shares or any charter.

Nevertheless, it was neither to the productions, nor to theundertakings of the inhabitants of Brandenburg, that the islandof St. Thomas was indebted for its importance.

The sea has hollowed out from its coast an excellent harbour, inwhich fifty ships may ride with security. This advantageattracted both the English and French Buccaneers, who weredesirous of exempting their booty from the duties they weresubject to pay in the settlements belonging to their own nations.Whenever they had taken their prizes in the lower latitudes, fromwhich they could not make the Windward Islands, they put intothat of St. Thomas to dispose of them. It was also the asylum ofall merchant-ships which frequented it as a neutral port in timeof war. It was the mart, where the neighbouring colonies barteredtheir respective commodities which they could not do elsewherewith so much ease and safety. It was the port from which werecontinually dispatched vessels richly laden to carry on aclandestine trade with the Spanish coasts; in return for which,they brought back considerable quantities of metal andmerchandise of great value. In a word, St. Thomas was a market ofvery great consequence.

Denmark, however, reaped no advantage from the rapid circulation.The persons who enriched themselves were foreigners, who carriedtheir wealth to other situations. The mother-country had no othercommunication with its colony than by a single ship, sent outannually to Africa to purchase slaves, which being sold inAmerica, the ship returned home laden with the productions ofthat country. In 1719 their traffic increased by the clearing ofthe island of St. John, which is adjacent to St. Thomas, but nothalf so large. These slender beginnings would have required theaddition of Crab Island, or Bourriquen, where it had beenattempted to form a settlement two years before.

This island, which is from eight to ten leagues in circumference,has a considerable number of hills; but they are neither barren,steep, nor very high. The soil of the plains and valleys, whichrun between them, seems to be very fruitful; and is watered[Pg 293] by anumber of springs, the water of which is said to be excellent.Nature, at the same time that she has denied it a harbour, hasmade it amends by a multitude of the finest bays that can beconceived. At every step some remains of plantations, rows oforange and lemon trees, are still found; which make it evident,that the Spaniards of Porto-Rico, who are not further distantthan five or six leagues, had formerly settled there.

The English, observing that so promising an island was withoutinhabitants, began to raise some plantations there towards theend of the last century; but they had not time to reap the fruitof their labour. They were surprised by the Spaniards, whomurdered all the men, and carried off the women and children toPorto-Rico. This accident did not deter the Danes from makingsome attempts to settle there in 1717. But the subjects of GreatBritain, reclaiming their ancient rights, sent thither someadventurers, who were at first plundered, and soon after drivenoff, by the Spaniards. The jealousy of these American tyrantsextends even to the prohibiting of fishing-boats to approach anyshore where they have a right of possession, though they do notexercise it. Too idle to prosecute cultivation, too suspicious toadmit industrious neighbours, they condemn the Crab Island toeternal solitude; they will neither inhabit it themselves, norsuffer any other nation to inhabit it. Such an exertion ofexclusive sovereignty has obliged Denmark to give up this islandfor that of Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz had a better title to become an object of nationalambition. It is eighteen leagues in length, and from three tofour in breadth. In 1643 it was inhabited by Dutch and English.Their rivalship in trade soon made them enemies to each other. In1646, after an obstinate and bloody engagement, the Dutch werebeat, and obliged to quit a spot from which they had formed greatexpectations. The conquerors were employed in securing theconsequences of their victory, when, in 1650, they were attackedand driven out in their turn by twelve hundred Spaniards, whoarrived there in five ships. The triumph of these lasted but afew months. The remains of that numerous body, which were leftfor the defence of the island, surrendered without resistance toa hundred and sixty French, who had embarked in 1651, from St.Christopher's, to make themselves masters of the island.

These new inhabitants lost no time in making themselvesacquainted with a country so much disputed. On a soil, in otherrespects excellent, they found only one river of a moderatesize,[Pg 294] which, gliding gently almost on a level with the seathrough a flat country, furnished only a brackish water. Two orthree springs, which they found in the innermost parts of theisland, made but feeble amends for this defect. The wells werefor the most part dry. The construction of reservoirs requiredtime. Nor was the climate more inviting to the new inhabitants.The island being flat, and covered with old trees, scarceafforded an opportunity for the winds to carry off the poisonousvapours, with which its morasses clogged the atmosphere. Therewas but one remedy for this inconvenience; which was to burn thewoods. The French set fire to them without delay; and, getting onboard their ships, became spectators from the sea, for severalmonths, of the conflagration they had raised in the island. Assoon as the flames were extinguished, they went on shore again.

They found the soil fertile beyond belief. Tobacco, cotton,arnotto, indigo, and sugar, flourished equally in it. So rapidwas the progress of this colony, that, in eleven years from itscommencement, there were upon it eight hundred and twenty-twowhite persons, with a proportionable number of slaves. It wasrapidly advancing to prosperity, when such obstacles were thrownin the way of its activity as made it decline again. This decaywas as sudden as its rise. In 1696 there were no more than onehundred and forty-seven men, with their wives and children, andsix hundred and twenty-three blacks remaining; and these weretransported from hence to St. Domingo.

Some obscure individuals, some writers unacquainted with theviews of government, with their secret negotiations, with thecharacter of their ministers, with the interests of theprotectors and the protected, who flatter themselves that theycan discern the reason of events, amongst a multitude ofimportant or frivolous causes, which may have equally occasionedthem; who do not conceive, that among all these causes, the mostnatural may possibly be the farthest from the truth; who afterhaving read the news, of journal of the day, with profoundattention, decide as peremptorily as if they had been placed alltheir life-time at the helm of the state, and had assisted at thecouncil of kings; who are never more deceived than in thosecircumstances, in which they display some share of penetration;writers as absurd in the praise as in the blame which they bestowupon nations, in the favourable or unfavourable opinion they formof ministerial operations; these idle dreamers, in a word, whothink they are persons of importance, because[Pg 295] their attention isalways engaged on matters of consequence, being convinced thatcourts are always governed in their decisions by the mostcomprehensive views of profound policy, have supposed, that thecourt of Versailles had neglected Santa Cruz, merely because theywished to abandon the small islands, in order to unite all theirstrength, industry, and population, in the large ones; but thisis a mistaken notion: this determination, on the contrary, arosefrom the farmers of the revenue, who found, that the contrabandtrade of Santa Cruz with St. Thomas was detrimental to theirinterests. The spirit of finance hath in all times been injuriousto commerce; it hath destroyed the source from whence it sprang.Santa Cruz continued without inhabitants, and withoutcultivation, till 1733, when it was sold by France to Denmark for738,000 livres (30,750l.). Soon after the Danes built there thefortress of Christianstadt.

Then it was, that this northern power seemed likely to take deeproot in America. Unfortunately, she laid her plantations underthe yoke of exclusive privileges. Industrious people of allsects, particularly Moravians, strove in vain to overcome thisgreat difficulty. Many attempts were made to reconcile theinterests of the colonists and their oppressors, but withoutsuccess. The two parties kept up a continual struggle ofanimosity, not of industry. At length the government, with amoderation not to be expected from its constitution, purchased,in 1754, the privileges and effects of the Company. The price wasfixed at 9,900,000 livres (412,500l.) part of which was paid inready money, and the remainder in bills upon the treasury,bearing interest. From this time the navigation to the islandswas opened to all the subjects of the Danish dominions.

On the first January 1773, there was reckoned in St. Johnsixty-nine plantations, twenty-seven of which were devoted to theculture of sugar, and forty-two to other productions of lessimportance. There were exactly the same number at St. Thomas, andthey had the same destination, but were much more considerable.Of three hundred and forty-five plantations, which were seen atSanta Cruz, one hundred and fifty were covered with sugarcanes.In the two former islands, the plantations acquire what degree ofextent it is in the power of the planter to give them, but in thelast, every habitation is limited to three thousand Danish feetin length, and two thousand in breadth.

St. John is inhabited by one hundred and ten white men, and[Pg 296] bytwo thousand three hundred and twenty-four slaves: St. Thomas, bythree hundred and thirty-six white men, and by four thousand twohundred and ninety-six slaves: Santa Cruz, by two thousand onehundred and thirty-six white men, and by twenty-two thousand twohundred and forty-four slaves. There are no freed men at St.John's, and only fifty-two at St. Thomas, and one hundred andfifty-five at Santa Cruz; and yet the formalities required forgranting liberty are nothing more than a simple enrolment in acourt of justice. If so great a facility hath not multipliedthese acts of benevolence, it is because they have been forbiddento those who had contracted debts. It hath been apprehended, thatthe debtors might be tempted to be generous at the expence oftheir creditors.

This law appears to me a very prudent one; with some mitigationit might be of service, even in our countries. I should very muchapprove, that all citizens invested with honourable functions,either at court, in the army, in the church, or in themagistracy, should be suspended whenever they should be legallysued by a creditor, and that they should be unremittinglydeprived of their rank whenever they should be declared insolventby the tribunals. It appears to me that money would then be lentwith more confidence, and borrowed with greater circumspection.Another advantage which would accrue from such a regulation,would be, that the subaltern orders of men, who imitate thecustoms and the prejudices of the higher class of citizens, wouldsoon be apprehensive of incurring the same disgrace; and thatfidelity in engagements would become one of the characteristic ofthe national manners.

The annual productions of the Danish islands are reduced to asmall quantity of coffee, to a great deal of cotton, to seventeenor eighteen millions weight of raw sugar, and to a proportionatequantity of rum. Part of these commodities are delivered to theEnglish, who are proprietors of the best plantations, and inpossession of the slave trade. We have before us at present, veryauthentic accounts, which prove that from 1756 to 1773, thatnation hath sold in the Danish settlements of the New World, tothe amount of 2,307,686 livres 11 sols (96,153l. 125.1-1/2d.).and carried off to the value of 3,197,047 livres 5 sols 6 deniers(133,210l. 6s. 0-3/4d.). North America receives likewise some ofthese productions in exchange for its cattle, for its wood, andfor its flour. The remainder is conveyed to the mother-countryupon[Pg 297] forty ships of one hundred, and from that to four hundredtons burden. The greatest part is consumed in Denmark, and thereis scarcely sold in Germany, or in the Baltic, for more than thevalue of one million of livres (41,661l. 13s. 4d.).

The lands susceptible of cultivation in the Danish islands arenot all tilled, and those which are, might be improved. Accordingto the opinion of the best-in-formed men, the produce of thesepossessions might easily be increased by one third, or perhaps byone half.

One great obstacle to this increase of riches, is the extremelynarrow circumstances of the colonists. They owe 4,500,000 livres(187,500l.) to the government, 1,200,000 livres (50,000l.) to thetrade of the mother-country, and 26,630,170 livres (1,109,590l.8s. 4d.) to the Dutch, who, from the immensity of their capitals,and the impossibility of employing them all themselves,necessarily become the creditors of all nations.

The avidity of the treasury puts fresh restraints upon industry.The provisions and merchandise which are not peculiar to thecountry, or which have not been brought upon Danish vessels, areobliged to pay four per cent. upon their departure from Europe.The national and foreign commodities equally pay six per cent. ontheir arrival in the islands; 18 livres (15s) are required forevery fresh Negro brought in, and a poll-tax of 4 livres 10 sols(3s. 9d.). Some heavy duties are laid upon stamp paper; an impostof 9 livres (7s. 6d.) for each thousand foot square of ground,and the tenth of the price of every habitation that is sold. Theproductions are all subjected to five per cent. duty on theirleaving the colonies, and to three per cent. on their arrival inany of the ports of the mother-country, exclusive of the dutieswhich are paid for rum when consumed in retail. These tributescollectively bring in to the crown an income of eight or ninehundred thousand livres, (from 33,333 pounds. 6s. 8d. to37,500l.).

It is time that the court of Copenhagen should give up thesenumerous and oppressive taxes. Well-grounded motives of interestought certainly to suggest the same kind of conduct to all thepowers that have possessions in the New World. But Denmark ismore particularly compelled to this act of generosity. Theplanters are loaded with such enormous debts, that they willnever be able to repay the capitals, and cannot even make goodthe arrears, unless the treasury should entirely drop every kindof claim upon them.[Pg 298]

But can such a prudent measure be expected, either in Denmark orelsewhere, as long as the public expences shall exceed the publicrevenues; as long as the fatal events, which, in the presentorder, or rather disorder, of things, are perpetually renewed,shall compel the administration to double or to treble the burdenof their unfortunate, and already overloaded subjects; as long asthe councils of the sovereigns shall act without any certainviews, and without any settled plan; as long as ministers shallconduct themselves, as if the empire, or their functions, were toend the next day; as long as the national treasures shall beexhausted by unparalleled depredations, and that its indigenceshall only be removed by extravagant speculations, the ruinousconsequences of which will not be perceived, or will beneglected, for the trifling advantages of the moment? and to makeuse of an energetic, but true metaphor, one that is terrifying,but symbolical of what is practised in all countries; as long asthe folly, the avarice, the dissipation, the degradation, or thetyranny of the rulers, shall have rendered the treasury so muchexhausted or rapacious, as to induce them toburn the harvest,in order the more speedily to collect the price of the ashes!

If the treasury were by chance to become wiser and more generousin Denmark than they have been, or than they are in any otherpart of the globe, the islands of St. Thomas, of St. John, and ofSanta Cruz, might possibly prosper, and their productions might,in some measure, compensate for the trifling value of those ofthe mother-country.—Abbé Raynal,A Philosophical and PoliticalHistory of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the Eastand West Indies, 1798, pp. 256-265.

III
Santa Cruz in General in 1838

St. Croix is an island, about eighteen miles long, situated inlatitude 17° 45' north, longitude—west of Greenwich. It isalmost exclusively devoted to the cultivation of sugar-cane, andthe manufacture of sugar molasses, and rum. In a good season itproduces from fifty to sixty thousand hogsheads of muscovadosugar of the best quality. It is generally calculated that themolasses and rum will pay all the contingent expenses of theestates; leaving the sugar for clear income, which atseventy-five dollars the hogshead, for which it is generally soldthere, in a good season, amounts to[Pg 299] three millions seven hundredand fifty thousand dollars. This great revenue is produced by thecareful cultivation of almost every inch of the soil, the estatesgenerally consisting of but one hundred and fifty to threehundred acres each; and nearly one hundred negroes being employedupon each one hundred and fifty acres. The soil is dry and sweet,producing the best cane, and consequently the best sugar known. Ihad heard much of filthiness in the manufacture of sugar andmolasses, but the first view of a St. Croix sugar workscontradicted it. The kettles, the vats in which the sugar iscooled, the hogsheads in which it is drained, and even themolasses vats under them, are so perfectly neat and clean, thatno one who has seen them can feel any squeamishness in eating St.Croix sugar, or molasses either. To look at a vat-full, a footdeep, just chrystalizing over the surface, and perfectlytransparent to the bottom, would satisfy the most scrupulous uponthis point. There is about twenty-five thousand black, and threethousand white population. Of course, it is seldom a white man isseen in riding through the island.

Many of the blacks are free, and the slaves, by the protectionafforded them by the Danish laws, are about as well satisfiedwith slavery as they would be with freedom. No slave can be takenfrom the island without security for his or her return; masterscannot inflict punishment without the intervention of publicauthority; no slave can be sold against his or her consent,except with the estate; and cheap and easy provisions are madefor emancipation. Such is the expectation of a general abolition,that the prices of slaves are only about one fourth as high as inthe United States. In the village of Christianstadt, a largeproportion of the retail trade, and nearly all the mechanicallabour, is in the hands of the free blacks and mulattoes; and thepoliteness, intelligence, and ability of some of these, wouldsurprise those who think their race by Nature unfit for freedom.Many of them have good countenances, are well behaved, and appearto evince as much discretion and judgment as whites under similarcircumstances. Some of them hold commissions in the militiaservice; one has been promoted to the distinguished situation ofGovernor's aid-de-camp; and instead of considering the race as ona level with brutes, many of the white inhabitants deem themnearly, if not quite, on a level with themselves. I listened fora whole evening to a very warm discussion of the question,whether a lady would be justified in refusing[Pg 300] to dance with anegro or mulatto at a ball; and the negative was not wanting insupporters.

It is almost surprising, that so small a number of proprietorsshould have had the public spirit and perseverance to make suchcostly fine roads, not only as public highways whenever needed,but should also have made a good private road around almost everyestate; beautifully ornamenting both with palm and cocoa-nuttrees, which cut the whole into squares, and add much to thebeauty of the scenery. On each estate there are generally a finemansion, a sugar-house, windmill, and plenty of negro-houses, allsituate upon an eminence and interspersed with fruit andornamental trees. Little attention is given, however, to thecultivation of fruits, and, in many places, not an orange will beseen for miles. Sugar-cane seems to have engrossed the wholeattention of the inhabitants, and crowded out almost every thingelse.—A Winter in the West Indies and Florida by an Invalid,1839, pp. 62-65.

IV
A Letter from an American Visiting Santa Cruz in 1840

My dear Friend,

---

I understand that the slaves form about four-fifths of thepopulation, and are in number about 19,000. Time was, when thetreatment to which they were exposed, was harsh and severe; andthen their numbers were constantly declining. Of late years,however, the Danish government has instituted variousrestrictions which have ameliorated the condition of the slaves.They are not allowed, as I understand, to be worked longer in theday, than from 6 o'clock in the morning, to the same hour in theevening, with intervals, (not always long enough) for breakfastand dinner. Legal provisions are made respecting food andclothing. The driver in the field is not permitted to carry anymore terrible instrument than a tamarind switch of moderate size;and twelve lashes with the rope, and a short period of solitaryconfinement, (mostly I believe in a light room) are the extent ofpunishment which even the manager or master is permitted toinflict. This rope however, is a dangerous instrument of torture;and I am told that the reduction of the allowed number of lashes,from thirty to twelve, is no matter of law, but the simple resultof the imperative benevolence[Pg 301] of the governor-general VonScholten. Any negro has a right to buy his own freedom; and, incase of need, the price is settled by a public appraiser. Theconsequence of these benevolent provisions is, that the conditionof the slaves is improved, and their number is now kept up, witha very small increase.

I cannot, however, refrain from observing, that legal provisionsfor the amelioration of slavery, are in general of little use. Inthe British Colonies, the measures of this kind which wereenacted by the Parliament at home, were constantly frustrated bylocal influence; and in spite of law or reason, man will often befound, in the hour of temptation, to abuse arbitrary power overhis fellow man. I consider it therefore highly probable, thateven in Santa Cruz, where the ameliorating laws are enforced by alocal government, at once vigilant and despotic, acts ofoppression and cruelty may at times take place, which are whollyunknown to the government; much more, to an occasional visitor ofthe island.

In the mean time the degradation occasioned by slavery in theDanish islands—the low physical, intellectual, and moralcondition of the slaves, as compared with that of the liberatednegroes of the British islands—is obvious and unquestionable.The worst feature of the system is the "Sunday market," as it iscalled. The slaves are allowed no one of the working days of theweek for their own business. The consequence is, that multitudesof them throng from the country (often from a great distance)into the towns of Bassin and West End, on the First day of theweek, with their provisions and fruits for sale. The rum shopsare hard by the market places. The buyers, of course, misuse theday as well as the sellers; and the scene is one, not only ofbusy traffic, but of noisy merriment, idleness, and dissipation.Before we left Santa Cruz, we called on General Söbötker, thepresent Governor, of the island, to take our leave; and weventured to press this subject on his consideration, not withoutsome remarks on slavery in general. He listened to us in a veryobliging manner, and seemed to look forward to better days; buthis last words to us, as we went down the steps from his door,were, "PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE."

It was very satisfactory to us, to learn from our friend CaptainVon Scholten, the brother of the Governor General (then inDenmark) that a commission had been appointed at Copenhagen, toenquire into the state of these colonies, with a view toemancipation. In the meantime, seven large buildings have beenerected in[Pg 302] different parts of the island, to serve as chapelsand schools, for the religious and literary instruction of theNegro population. They are not yet in use: but several of theplanters are making laudable exertions for the education of theirslaves in reading and in a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Acolored person of the name of Macfarlane, in every way adaptedfor the office, is employed for the purpose; this schoolcirculates, with excellent effect, from one estate to another.Having been taught their moral and religious obligations, thenegroes, on these estates, are greatly improved, and are muchmore useful to their masters, than in the days of theirignorance.

The schools held on the First day of the week under the care ofthe members of the Episcopal church, at Bassin and West End, areattended by several hundreds of black, mulatto, and whitechildren. Some of the planters and their wives are united withcolored persons and others, as instructors in these schools; andthe blessed work is carried on, both among the teachers and thetaught, without prejudice of caste, or distinction ofcolor.—Joseph John Guerney,A Winter in the West Indiesdescribed in familiar Letters to Henry Clay, of Kentucky, 1840,pp. 20-23.

V
Stadthauptmand Chamberlain Von Scholten's Narrative of theInsurrection of 1848

In the week that preceded the 3rd July, 1848, I was confined tomy bed with a rheumatic swelling in my right hand. On Sunday the2nd July I felt a little better, and could more or less use thehand. On the afternoon of that day I received a visit from one ofour most respectable planters. In the course of our conversation,he told me that there were strange reports in circulationconcerning the negroes, who, it was said, were to refuse to go towork on the next day, and to demand their freedom. He could notassign any further grounds for these reports than hearsay. Beingaccustomed to hear of war and revolution in Europe, as well asdisturbances and riot in the French islands, from the fact of themajority in this little place, Frederiksted, seeking to make upfor the monotony of their existence by spreading and listening toall sorts of idle rumours and scandals, this information made nofurther impression upon me. I bade him, in the meantime, toacquaint the commander of the fort, and the policemaster with[Pg 303]what he had heard, and promised myself to inform my brother, theGovernor-General, as soon as he arrived here in the "Ornen," abrig-of-war, which was momentarily expected.

At about eight o'clock in the evening my physician came to attendto me, and he spoke of the alarming reports that were incirculation. As he appeared to be somewhat concerned about thematter, I remonstrated with him and spoke of the evil ofspreading such reports, which, if unfounded, might awaken ideasamong the slaves which it was to the interest of every one toprevent. Not that I feared that they would be disposed toviolence or riot. They had been generally well treated and wereapparently satisfied.

About nine o'clock, I received a message that theGovernor-General had arrived in Christiansted, and that hiscarriage which stood in my yard was to go up there, but as it waslate, I gave orders to the coachman to wait until next day. Inthe meantime I went to bed. A short time after my servant told methat there must be fire in the country as the bells were beingrung and shells blown. As this is the customary manner of givingnotice of such, the thought of anything unusual did not occur tome. And as I could see no sign of any fire from my house, whichis built on an elevation, I concluded that it was upon a distantestate, and again sought refuge in sleep. This lasted but a shorttime, when I was once again aroused by a loud knocking at mygate. Opening the window, I immediately recognized the voice ofthe Brandmajor commanding in Frederiksted, he told me that thenegroes in the country were rioting and desired their freedom,and that was the reason why the bell-ringing and blowing ofshells were to be heard. We then spoke about the plan of actionwe should adopt, and whether the alarm gun should be fired or theBrand corps and Militia should be called out. The Major havingstated that the negroes were committing no excesses and onlymaking a disturbance, I looked upon this as a good sign, for whenone has evil designs he rarely makes a noise, but generallyproceeds to action at once. Nevertheless, it was a doubtful pointwith me whether I, as Stadthauptmand, would be justified infiring the alarm, the militia law not stating anything definiteor to the point as to who should give such an order. On the otherhand, my authority only extended over the militia. Over the Fortfrom which the alarm gun should be fired I had no commandwhatsoever.[Pg 304]

There were many considerations which induced me to proceed withcaution in the matter.

To have fired the alarm would have been equivalent to placing theisland in a state of siege. The power to do this rested only withthe Governor. Moreover, such an act would have summoned the wholeof the white population into town, away from their estates,leaving their wives, children and old women in the power of thenegroes. With no one to check them, had excesses been committed,how blameable it would have been to have acted so precipitately.I was confirmed in this opinion by a planter and militaryofficer, who shared my views on the subject. The officerremarking that: "Should the negroes be intent on evil, they couldeasily prevent isolated members of the militia from coming in,and should the opposite be the case, he saw no reason for callingthem from their estates, where they might by their presence beable to check violence and plunder." Thepolicemaster—Andersen—coincided with these views, observing:"Let us not by hasty proceedings provoke the negroes. Thebell-ringing and noise do not indicate that they are intent uponviolence. We must proceed with caution if we do not desire to seethings worse." These words from one who had a large experience ofthe character of the negro, carried weight with most of us.

The opinion has since been expressed on more than one occasion,that the Brand corps, which was composed of free coloured people,should have been called out, but from prudential motives it wasdeemed advisable to limit their action until absolutelynecessary. I shall now attempt to picture the events whichfollowed.

About two o'clock a.m., eight or ten mounted militiamen came infrom the country and informed me that the condition was such asthe earlier reports had stated. That there were noisydemonstrations and disorder, but nowhere had actual violence beencommitted. These gentlemen had left behind them their wives,mothers and children, so to speak, in the power of the negroes,without the least fear that they would be exposed to any kind ofdanger. They came to inquire if the alarm gun had been fired, andif such were the case, to meet as accustomed. I explained to themthat the gun had not been fired, as it was not considered prudentto call them away at such a moment from their property, wherethey could best work to preserve order. They therefore returnedto their homes. At four o'clock a.m., I sent off my brother'scarriage to Christiansted, and by same opportunity a letter inwhich I[Pg 305] described to him the condition of things inFrederiksted. At the same time expressing the hope that order andquiet might be restored by representations and negotiations.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the negroes streamed into thetown in large numbers. Shortly afterwards it was reported to methat the police office was being plundered and demolished. Thesecond Brand officer, who was with me, after expressing theopinion that it was in no way advisable to call out the corps,undertook with some of the best disposed of his men to assist inthe keeping of order. And it is but fair to say, that it wasowing to the activity and representations of the free colouredmen that more violence was not committed, only three houses beingplundered and wrecked. At about this time a negro came crying tome and begged me to write a letter to the Governor-General askingthat he would come down to Frederiksted as soon as possible, sothat by his presence he might save the town from furthermolestation. With this I joyfully complied, beseeching my brothernot to delay, as only he would be able to quiet the negroes. Inthe meantime the Brand major had narrowly escaped with his life.Riding into town from his estate he was attacked by the negroes,a negro woman striking at his neck with an axe, which fortunatelyglanced off without injuring him. To show that he intended themno harm, he threw away his sword, exclaiming: "Take my life, ifthat can satisfy you, I come not as an enemy, but as a friend!"With these words they seemed impressed, and allowed him to passon his way.

A crowd of negroes came shouting and yelling up the street, andstood in front of my residence, demanding that I should proclaimtheir immediate freedom. Representing to them how wrongly theyhad acted by destroying and plundering, I advised them to keepquiet until the Governor-General arrived, as he alone couldsatisfy their demands. Seeing that they were now more peaceable,I went to the Fort, where several of the inhabitants of the townhad assembled. These were most restless, not to say unreasonable.Some thought that to save the town from further disturbance, Ishould, in the Governor-General's name, have declared the negroesfree, but, as, in my opinion, I had no such power, I could not,nor would not, take it upon myself to do so. Nevertheless, it wasthe opinion of every one that only the prompt emancipation of theslaves would save the island from further destruction. And now aconsiderable number of negroes had[Pg 306] assembled together in theFort yard. They cried and shouted, demanded their freedom, andcalled on the soldiers to fire upon them. This the commander ofthe Fort had some difficulty in preventing. Many who were presentbegged him also not to do so, as the town would surely be burntto ashes. Of this there could not be any doubt, as near by,behind a corner house, which could not be commanded by the gunsof the Fort there were several negro women gathered together with"trash" or dry cane leaves, which, at the first shot from theFort, it was arranged they should light and throw into the doorsand windows. The fire would thus have spread quickly through thetown, as the houses were mostly deserted, and there was no one tocheck it. With a view of quieting the threatening multitude, Iwent among them, accompanied by the Catholic priest[397] and afew of the bravest of the inhabitants. The priest, whoseinfluence was very great, spoke to them, admonishing andexhorting them to be quiet. On the other hand, on my addressingmyself to one who appeared to be a leader of them, I received thefollowing reply: "Massa, we poor negroes cannot fight with thesoldiers, as we have no guns, but we can burn and destroy if wedo not get our freedom, and that is what we intend to do."

It was rumoured in the Fort that the negroes intended to stormit, and for that reason had procured an English flag, which theyregarded as the symbol of freedom. I myself saw the flag in thecrowd, and nearing the flag-bearer after some difficulty, I askedthe young negro why he did not carry the Danish instead of theEnglish flag, to which he answered: "Any flag is good on such anoccasion." But on my speaking further he seemed visiblyembarrassed, and moved away among the crowd. About ten o'clocka.m. a great noise was heard in the upper part of the town. Somesaid it was the Governor-General, but it turned out to be theStadthauptmand of Christiansted, Oberst de Nully, and theGovernor-General's adjutant. The Oberst stepped out of thecarriage and spoke to the crowd, which was so dissatisfied thatthe Governor-General had not come himself that they would notlisten to him. Suddenly there was a great movement among them,and with repeated cries of "Moore!" "Moore!" they rushed down theStrand-street. Here the infuriated mob commenced immediately toplunder and destroy Merchant Moore's store and residence. Mr.Moore himself sought refuge on board one of the vessels in the[Pg 307]harbour. The cause of this unexpected outbreak is said to havebeen brought about by Mr. Moore's carelessly speaking to thenegroes, who understood that he would request the garrison of theFort to shoot them down. This would have been an easy matter, forit was quite possible to sweep the street with a couple of fieldguns from the water battery and the Fort gate; but the commanderof the Fort was besought not to fire for fear that in theirdesire for revenge the negroes would burn down the town anddestroy every white person who might fall into their hands.Besides, as the actually guilty ones were in Mr. Moore's house,plundering, only innocent people who were in the street wouldhave been killed. Several sailors from the English vessels in theharbour were now to be seen among the excited people, encouragingthem by words and actions. And particularly conspicuous upon thewharf were several water casks belonging to these vessels, onwhich was written in large letters—"Liberty." It is worthy ofremark, in contrast to these proceedings, that the free colouredpopulation did their utmost to prevent the negroes from breakinginto the houses and warehouses in the vicinity.

Most of the whites were now either on board the vessels or inhiding. About this time a negro appeared upon the scene, whoseemed to be in command of the immense concourse of people whichfilled the street. This was Buddhoe, or as he was called lateron, General Bourdeaux.

About three o'clock p.m., the Governor-General arrived,accompanied by Kammerjunker Upper Court Assessor Rothe. TheGeneral stepped out near the Fort, went in among the crowd anddeclared the negroes to be free. He then requested KammerjunkerRothe, and as far as I can remember, Major Gyllich, the Brandmajor, to see that the negroes left the town, which thesegentlemen soon accomplished.

Later on a detachment of troops arrived from Christiansted, andat five o'clock p.m. the Governor-General returned toChristiansted, after having ordered the cavalry, which hadrecently arrived, to go back again. First Lieutenant v Holstein,with two pieces of cannon and forth men, remained over night inthe Fort.

The brig-of-war "Ornen," Captain Irminger, arrived in the harbourshortly before sunset. The night passed quietly enough, thoughfires illuminated the hills of the north side. On Tuesday, the4th of July, a number of negroes were seen on the road leading tothe North side, and it was feared that, should they enter the[Pg 308]town, it would doubtless result in bloodshed or incendiarism. Inorder to prevent this, Major Gyllich rode out among them, and, byrepeated assurances that they were now free and would not bebrought back to slavery again, succeeded in inducing them toreturn to their homes. At the same time he persuaded the negroBuddhoe to accompany him to town, a wise move, for it was throughthis negro's influence over them that order and quiet wererestored to this part of the island. In the meantime,Kammerjunker Rothe arrived from Christiansted, whence he hadstarted in the morning with a number of printed copies of theproclamation of freedom. Shortly after his arrival, threeexpeditions were organised to make their contents known among thenegroes. Kammerjunker Rothe, the Vice-Brand major and a prominentplanter, went to Annally and Spring Garden, while Major Gyllich,Buddhoe, or General Bourdeaux[398] and two of the mostrespectable free coloured burghers went to the South side.

The company in which I found myself arrived first at estate "LaGrange." We had little difficulty in getting the negroestogether, who stood around our carriage as Kammerjunker Rotheread out and explained the proclamation to them. Continuing ourroad, we came to estate "Northside," where we met the owner andhis family who had remained there during the whole tumult. Theytold us that during the forenoon of the same day, they had beenattacked by the negroes from the neighbouring estate of "Ham'sBay," who under the pretext of wanting to take the overseer'sweapons from him, attempted to force the dwelling house. Thenegroes of the estate defended them and prevented the intendedviolence. From that place we went to "Ham's Bay," where we foundit difficult to collect the negroes, who had forced the owner andhis family to take flight in a fishing boat shortly before. Afterhaving restored something like order among them, we returned toFrederiksted.

The expedition in charge of Major Gyllich, after visiting twentyodd estates reached as far as "La Reine." Mr. Beech read theproclamation on each of them. On the road they learned that therewas a large gathering at estate "Slob," which had been doing agreat deal of plundering and destruction. Though Buddhoe declaredthat he did not know the negroes on that part of the island, andit was remarked that estate "Slob" was outside of[Pg 309] West Endjurisdiction, Major Gyllich decided to go there, being under theimpression that he might prevent further troubles.

Going up the hill towards "Slob," they met a man named "MartinKing," chief of the "fleet," as they called this meeting. Thisnegro who was half drunk and riding a white horse, and who seemedto be a leader among the crowd which they encountered, uponunderstanding the object of the expedition, after a great deal ofoutrageous and foolish talk yielded to the representations of theMajor, and by the influence he seemed to wield over the rest ofhis comrades, was of great assistance in restoring order amongthem. After visiting estates "La Reine" and "Mount Pleasant," themajor and his party returned to Frederiksted.

On Tuesday and Wednesday several planters with their familiescame into town, and sought refuge on board the ships in theharbour. The owner of the estate "Negro Bay," with twenty orthirty other managers and overseers also came in, an error whichresulted in his estate being plundered. By this time prisonerswere being continually brought in. The negroes bringing them inthemselves. To this Buddhoe mainly contributed. On Thursdaymorning at four o'clock a considerable force consisting of twocannon, infantry and cavalry under the command of Captain vCastonier left the town. In the meantime the Fort was garrisonedfrom the brig-of-war. Though this expedition met with noopposition, it served a good purpose, as from that time perfectquiet and order were brought about.—Taylor,Leaflets from theDanish West Indies, pp. 126-132.

VI
Chamberlain Irminger's Account of the Insurrection of 1848

After a stay of several days in the island of St. Thomas,Governor-General v Scholten sailed in the forenoon of the 2ndJuly, 1848, for St. Croix, in the brig-of-war "Ornen," which Icommanded.

About four o'clock in the afternoon we anchored in Bassin(Christiansted), suspecting nothing of the row which the negroesintended to make. The General dined with me. At sunset he landedin order to proceed to Bülowsminde, and as he heard that Iintended to have the ship painted, he invited me to pass the timeat his beautiful country seat.

About 10 o'clock, p.m. we retired to rest. The 3rd July, at[Pg 310]about two o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by the General'sservant with a request that I would come to the General asquickly as possible. I immediately repaired to his presence andfound him already dressed. He then showed me a report from theChief Commander of the Fort in West End (Frederiksted), Capt. vCastonier, which stated that the negroes were restless at thatpart of the island—that bells were being rung on theestates—and they were sounding the alarm on their shells(conchshells).

When I had read the report, the Governor-General said: "What isnow to be done?" To this I answered that I thought the best thingto do was to seek as quickly as possible to smother thedisturbance at its birth, because every minute now lost wouldlend additional strength to the disturbers of the peace. It wasmy impression that twenty to thirty armed men should immediatelybe sent on horseback to West End in order to scatter the negroesapart.

The Governor remarking that he could not dispose of such a force,I replied that I did not think it would be so difficult to getsuch a number of mounted militia collected from the nearestestates.

In the meantime, the General's horses were saddled and we nowboth rode, accompanied by a mounted servant, down to theGovernment house in Bassin. The night was a starry one and theweather exceedingly fine. We stopped now and then on the tops ofthe different hills which we rode over to listen if we could nothear the blowing of shells or any shouting. But all was hushed,and we heard only the rustling of the cocoa-nut palm leaves movedby the trade wind. As soon as we arrived in town, messages weresent to Major v Falbe, who was Chief of the Fort in Bassin, Majorv Geillerup, who lived in the barracks, Oberst de Nully, MajorKeutsch and others. We now spoke of what was to be done. I stillmaintained that action should be taken immediately and that ifthe cavalry force which I had asked for could not be got, which Icould by no means admit, other military must immediately be sentto West End. I furthermore said to the General that I would go onboard to let the men that could be dispensed with get ready toland, and, at the same time, get the brig ready for sea so as tobe able to leave for West End by daybreak, if ordered. TheGeneral requested me to remain a little longer in the GovernmentHouse so as to avoid making any disturbance in town where all wasstill and quiet. The conference ended, I believe, in Major[Pg 311]Keutsch's coachman being sent towards West End for moreinformation as to how it stood with the island. It was now nearlyfive o'clock in the morning. The time passed and nothing wasdone. I believed I knew the negro character, and that the riotcould have been smothered at the beginning by decisive action.Seeing that my presence at Government House was of no furtheruse, I told the General that I would now go on board, so that Icould get the brig ready for sea, and to send armed men on shore,if required. This I did, and awaited the General's order.

To my surprise I received none whatsoever, and about eighto'clock a.m. I again went on shore. There I was informed thatOberst de Nully and Lieutenant v Meincke had been sent to WestEnd. I also found some soldiers drawn up and ready to set out,though I afterwards learned, with orders not to go further thanKing's Hill (an estate in the middle of the island.)Interrogating the General as to whether the brig should not sailto West End, I received the answer that she might be possiblyrequired in Bassin, and I would receive further orders.

In Bassin, everything was quiet, and I began to believe that thewhole affair did not mean much. Indeed, scarcely any one seemedto have any knowledge of it. I then informed the General thateverything was ready as well for sea, as to send men ashore, andshould the General have anything to order, I could be found inthe Athenaeum; a reading room nearly opposite the GovernmentHouse. About one o'clock p.m., Lieutenant v Meincke arrived fromWest End and reported the state of affairs. He brought at thesame time information that the negroes wanted to speak to theGovernor-General himself. General v Scholten had the horsesimmediately put to, taking Kammerjunker Rothe with him into thecarriage to drive to Frederiksted. This man, from what I hadheard, had been always an advocate for the emancipation of thenegroes. Before the General drove off, I requested a decidedorder from him as to whether I should remain lying in Bassin ordepart for West End. After some reflection, he gave me the order.With this I left for that place.

On my arrival, and immediately after having anchored, the"Ornen's" boats were armed, and I went ashore. The King's Wharfwas full of negroes, and everything was in disorder. Accompaniedby some of my armed men, I went to the Fort. By the entrance tosame, I met General v Scholten in his carriage; he was just readyto drive back to Bassin. I reported my arrival,[Pg 312] and asked fororders. The General's answer was: "I have given Emancipation.Remain here with the 'Ornen'."

This was the last order I received from him, and I did not seehim again before my arrival in Denmark in the following year.

In the Fort I spoke with Captain v Castonier, and shortly after,I sent, according to agreement with him, an officer with aboutfifty men as a reinforcement as well as for patroling. Thisdetachment remained ashore some time.

"By this time nearly all the estate negroes had left the town.Still everything was in the greatest confusion. Town-BailiffAndresen's house and Police-Assistant Didrichsen's were entirelywrecked by the negroes. A Mr. Moore's house and store hadsuffered to the extent of 20,000 dollars. Several lesser excesseshad been committed, and armed negroes were seen off and on ridingthrough the streets at a gallop. Most of the whites had fled tovessels lying in the harbour, of which the 'Johann Marie' hadover two hundred fugitives on board. On the night of our arrival,fires illumined different parts of the island."[399]

As every thing was yet in the greatest confusion, and deeming itof the utmost importance to bring about order,Vice-Stadthauptmand F. v Scholten, the commander of the Fort,Captain Castonier, Police-master Ogaard and myself, assembled,and after due deliberation, issued the following order:—

"It is hereby made known, for the information of everyoneconcerned, that in case the country people should come totown in a riotous way and threaten to attack the Fort, orotherwise to disturb the inhabitants, then, and in suchcase, where more than ten people are collected together, theFort is ordered to fire upon them, as also his Majesty'sbrig-of-war 'Ornen.' All peaceable inhabitants are thereforedesired not to interfere with the country people, but keepout of their way.

"Frederiksted, 4th July, 1848.
"F. Scholten, C. Irminger, Castonier, Ogaard."

At the same time, the Proclamation of Emancipation that had beensent to West End from Bassin was read out. It is as follows:—

1. All unfree in the Danish West India Islands are fromtoday free.[Pg 313]

2. The estate negroes retain for three months from date theuse of the houses and provision grounds of which they havehitherto been possessed.

3. Labour is in future to be paid for by agreement, butallowance of food to cease.

4. The maintenance of the old and infirm, who are not ableto work, is, until further determined, to be furnished bythe late owners.

The General Government of the Danish West India Islands,
       St. Croix, the 3rd July, 1848.

P. v Scholten.
(L. S.)

Still the greatest disorder reigned in the country, and there wasmuch plundering and destruction on the estates. In the meantimemany negroes showed that they themselves wished for peace andorder. So much so, that several of the originators of thedisturbances were caught and brought into the Fort by thefriendly-inclined negroes.

On the 5th July, the condition of the country being about thesame, and as several buildings, together with a large gardenplanted with cocoa-nut trees near to the Fort, obscured the viewand prevented firing from the Fort in that direction, it wasfound expedient to demolish them. This was soon effected by thebrig's indefatigable crew, so that we could now cover the Northside road from the Fort.

There were now forty or fifty men from the brig almostcontinually in the Fort as a reinforcement. As it was then foundnecessary to undertake military excursions inland to overawe thenegroes, and at the same time to secure the authors of the riot,I took over on the 6th before daybreak the command of the Fortand garrisoned it with the crew from the brig. At four a.m. allthe Royal infantry and artillery, together with the planters,overseers, and managers of estates, marched off under the commandof Captain v Castonier. The latter force alone amounted to fortyhorsemen, and from sixty to seventy foot.

At noon Art. Lieutenant Frank arrived from Bassin with adetachment of militia cavalry. Immediately after, a report wascirculated that the Governor-General was dying, and on thataccount a Provisional Government had been organized in Bassin. Iasked Lieutenant Frank if he knew anything about it, to which[Pg 314] heanswered that shortly before he had left Bassin, he had seen theGeneral on the wharf.

Some time after Kammerjunker Rothe arrived in a boat from Bassinand read aloud the following:—

"On account of the illness of the Governor-General, and withhis concurrence, have we, the undersigned, Govt. CouncillorKunzen, Govt. Councillor Petersen, KammerjunkerLandsoverrets Assessor Rothe, Justitsraad Lands-overretsAssessor Foester, Justitsraad Police-master Frederiksen,Kammar Assessor Arnesen, and Lawyer Bahneberg, assembled asa Governing Commission, with full power to take all stepsnecessary in the present disturbed condition to bring aboutpeace and order in the country.

"The command of the military will be taken over by Oberst P.de Nully and Major A. v Falbe, who will confer with theabove-named commission if necessary.

"St. Croix Christensted,
6th July, 1848.

"Kunzen, C. B. Petersen, Foester, Rothe, Frederiksen, II.L. Arnesen, Bahneberg.

"Carl Reimers."

As the two Royal Government Councillors, Kunzen and Petersen,according to my ideas, could just as well have been in charge ofthe Government with full powers, notwithstanding that theGovernor-General was sick, and there were even contradictoryreports as to the correctness of that. I, for my part, protestedagainst acknowledging this new Government until I was certain asto how it had originated. At half past four o'clock p.m. the menthat had marched out in the morning returned with several of theleaders of the rising, upon which I again handed over the Fort toits commander.

Although the military which had returned had not met with anyopposition on their march, and the negroes on many estates hadshown that they wished for peace and order, there were yet manyof them who sought to excite the better part of the population.For this reason, and in view of the necessity for action,Vice-Stadthauptmand F. v Scholten, Major Gyllich, Capt, vCastonier, Policemaster Ogaard, Lawyer Sarauw, and I wereunanimous in publishing the following:—

"As the Authorities here have received no answer from HisExcellency the Governor-General to the Reports forwarded tohim,[Pg 315] nor any of the instructions requested, and having thisday learned that on account of illness he is not in acondition to occupy himself with instructions, and as it ismoreover necessary during the present negro rebellion inthis jurisdiction to act immediately, we, the undersigned,as the highest authority in the place, have assembled to actuntil further.

"Frederiksted, 6th July, 1848.

"F. Scholten, C. Irminger, Castonier, Gyllich, Ogaard,Sarauw."

We then made known:—

"It is with the utmost satisfaction that the inhabitants ofthis jurisdiction have learned that order and obedience tothe laws has commenced to be re-established, and as frommost evidence the hope can be entertained that regularityand order will go hand and hand, it is hereby promulgatedthat any person or persons opposing the authorities, or inany other manner combining for illegal or violent purposes,will be dealt with as rioters, and instantly shot. Allpeaceable and well-disposed inhabitants are called upon toassist the authorities in quelling disorder and apprehendingthe rioters.

"Frederiksted, 6th July, 1848.

"F. Scholten, C. Irminger, Castonier, Gyllich, Ogaard,Sarauw."

As many of the refugees on board the vessels were still in dreadof the rioting negroes, and as there was some reason to supposethat in their fear they would remove from the island, in order toprevent them doing so, I forbade all ferrying with boats, fromnine o'clock in the evening till four o'clock in the morning,which times were made known by a cannon shot from the brig.

On the 7th the military again marched out in differentdirections. This had a good effect upon the negroes, and theroads became once more safe for traffic. In the Fort there wereabout one hundred rioters, of which the greater part had beenbrought in by the friendly negroes from the estates. A portion ofthe prisoners were taken on board the brig, and some distributedamong the merchant vessels. In the meantime an order was issuedto all parties concerned that they should within three daysdeliver up all stolen goods and arms, as every one, who afterthat time was found in possession of such, would be punished tothe utmost extent of the law.[Pg 316]

On the 8th several carriages passed between Bassin and West End.Everything was quiet and safe on the road. Refugees from thevessels returned on shore to take up their residence to town.Sugar was brought in from several estates for shipment, and aseverything now promised to go on smoothly, we who had assembledas the highest authority in the place, handed over the charge ofaffairs to the commander of the Fort and the policemaster.

At noon 220 men, auxiliary troops, arrived in Frederiksted; 360were already in Christiansted. The Governor-General had asked forthe assistance from Porto Rico. As an instance of GeneralPrim's[400] customary activity it should be mentioned that thisfine body of men 580 all told, with cannon, and 30,000 cartridgeswere got ready and put to sea five hours after he had receivedthe letter of the Governor-General. This prompt action and thefact that the insurrection had been repressed in the eastern andwestern parts of the island, contributed much to allay the fearsof the inhabitants, and to inspire confidence. On the 9thChamberlain Oxholm came to West End and took over theGovernor-General's affairs. In the meantime the country wasquiet, and the negroes had returned to work on a few of theestates. By this time several of the rioters had been tried bycourt-martial and shot.

---

From the reports it will be seen that Kammerjunker Rothe was sentas a sort of commissioner to Frederiksted, in order to proclaimthe new Government established in Bassin. As I had already agreedwith Captain v Castonier, to take over the command of the Fortwith my men, while he undertook a march into the country with themilitary, I protested against subjecting myself to thisGovernment, because—

1. I assumed after the account that Lieutenant Frank had givenme, that General v Scholten was not so sick but that he couldhave signed an order to me.

2. There were in the new Government several names almost unknownto me.

3. Kammerjunker Rothe did not produce anything in writing, eitherfrom General v Scholten, the existing Government, or the othertwo Government Councillors, Kunzen and Petersen, concerning thisnewly appointed Government Commission. I, therefore, consideredit my duty not to submit myself blindly to the command[Pg 317] of thisCommission, especially as the report said that theGovernor-General had been deposed. When Captain Castonierreturned in the afternoon, I informed him of my protest. He fullyconcurred in my views. The other authorities in Frederikstedfollowed our example, and although Vice-Stadthauptmand,Chamberlain F. v Scholten, hesitated, he still signed themeasures we took to restore order and quiet.

On the 12th July I despatched my report from West End to St.Thomas to leave by the Packet for Europe. It bears that day'sdate. Written during the actual occurrence of the riots, itcontains my views respecting the events as they then appeared tome. I have seen no reason to change them. I never imagined thatGeneral v Scholten would leave the island, which, as is known,happened immediately after; consequently, my report arrived homewith the same Packet on which he took passage.

On the 24th July I left West End to be on hand to assist in St.Thomas. The 6th September I received orders to come with the"Ornen" to Bassin as quickly as possible, as riots had occurred,and it was not desirable, except absolutely necessary, to use theSpaniards. The Fort in Bassin was now reinforced by men from the"Ornen," because, as is known, the Government had given way tothe Brand corps and discharged the energetic Police masterFrederiksen.—Taylor,Leaflets from the Danish West Indies, pp.133-140.

VII
St. Thomas as Seen by an Observer in 1858

I have said in a previous chapter that the people one meets theremay be described as an Hispano-Dano-Niggery-Yankee-doodlepopulation. In this I referred not only to the settlers, but tothose also who are constantly passing through it. In the shopsand stores, and at the hotels, one meets the same mixture. TheSpanish element is of course strong, for Venezuela, New Granada,Central America, and Mexico are all Spanish, and hereabouts arecalled Spaniards. To the Danes the island belongs. The soldiers,officials, and custom-house people are Danes. They do not,however, mix much with their customers. They affect, I believe,to say that the island is overrun and destroyed by these strangecomers, and that they would as lief be without such visitors. Ifthey are altogether indifferent to money making, such may be thecase. The labouring people are all black—if these blacks can becalled a[Pg 318] labouring people. They do coal the vessels at about adollar a day each—that is when they are so circumstanced as torequire a dollar. As to the American element, that is by no meansthe slightest or most retiring. Dollars are going there, andtherefore it is of course natural that Americans should be goingalso. I saw the other day a map, "The United States as they noware, and in prospective;" and it included all theseplaces—Mexico, Central America, Cuba, St. Domingo, and even poorJamaica. It may be that the man who made the map understood thedestiny of his country; at any rate he understood the tastes ofhis countrymen.—Anthony Trollope,The West Indies and theSpanish Main pp. 224-225.

VIII
The Labor Act

Provisional Act to Regulate the Relations between theProprietors of Landed Estates and the Rural Population of FreeLaborers

I, Peter Hansen, Knight Commander of the Order Dannebrog, theKing's Commissioner for, and officiating Governor-General of theDanish West India Islands, Make known: That, whereas theordinance dated 29th July, 1848, by which yearly contracts forlabor on landed estates were introduced, has not been duly actedupon: whereas the interest of the proprietors of estates, as wellas of the laborers, requires that their mutual obligations shouldbe defined: and whereas on inquiry into the practice of theIsland, and into the printed contracts and agreements hithertomade, it appears expedient to establish uniform rules throughoutthe Island, for the guidance of all parties concerned, it isenacted and ordained:

1st. All engagements of laborers now domiciled on landed estatesand receiving wages in money, or in kind, for cultivating andworking such estates, are to be continued as directed by theordinance of 29th July, 1848, until the first day of October ofthe present year: and all similar engagements shall, in future,be made, or shall be considered as having been made, for a termof twelve months, viz: from the first of October till the firstof October, year after year. Engagements made by heads offamilies are to include their children between five and fifteenyears of age, and other relatives depending on them and stayingwith them.

2nd. No laborer engaged as aforesaid, in the cultivation of soil,shall be discharged or dismissed from, or shall be permitted todissolve,[Pg 319] his or her engagement before the expiration of thesame on the first of October of the present, or of any followingyear, except in the instances hereafter enumerated.

A. By mutual agreement of master and laborer, before amagistrate.

B. By order of a magistrate on just and equitable cause beingshown by the parties interested.

Legal marriage, and the natural tie between mothers and theirchildren, shall be deemed by the magistrate just and legal causeof removal from one estate to another. The husband shall have aright to be removed to his wife, the wife to her husband, andchildren under fifteen years of age to their mother, provided noobjection to employing such individuals shall be made by theowner of the estate to which the removal is to take place.

3rd. No engagement of a laborer shall be lawful in future, unlessmade in the presence of witnesses, and entered in the day-book ofthe estate.

4th. Notice to quit service shall be given by the employer, aswell as by the laborer, at no other period but once a year, inthe month of August, not before the first, nor after the last dayof the said month; an entry thereof shall be made in theday-book, and an acknowledgement in writing shall be given to thelaborer.

The laborer shall have given, or received, legal notice ofremoval from the estate where he serves, before any one canengage his services; otherwise the new contract to be void, andthe party engaging in tampering with a laborer employed byothers, will be dealt with according to law.

In case any owner or manager of an estate should dismiss alaborer during the year without sufficient cause, or shouldrefuse to receive him at the time stipulated, or refuse to granthim a passport when due notice of removal has been given, theowner or manager is to pay full damages to the laborer, and to besentenced to a fine not exceeding $20.

5th. Laborers employed or rated as first, second, or third classlaborers, shall perform all the work in the field, or about theworks, or otherwise concerning the estate, which it hitherto hasbeen customary for such laborers to perform, according to theseason. They shall attend faithfully to their work, and willinglyobey the directions given by the employer, or the personappointed by him. No laborer shall presume to dictate what workhe or she is to do, or refuse the work he may be ordered toperform, unless expressly[Pg 320] engaged for some particular work only.If a laborer thinks himself aggrieved, he shall not thereforeleave the work, but in due time apply for redress to the owner ofthe estate, or to the magistrate. It is the duty of all laborerson all occasions, and at all times, to protect the property ofhis employer, to prevent mischief to the estate, to apprehendevil-doers, and not to give countenance to, or conceal, unlawfulpractices.

6th. The working days to be as usual only five days in the week,and the same days as hitherto. The ordinary work of estates is tocommence at sunrise, and to be finished at sunset, every day,leaving one hour for breakfast, and two hours at noon from twelveto two o'clock.

Planters who prefer to begin the work at seven o'clock in themorning, making no separate breakfast time, are at liberty toadopt this plan, either during the year, or when out of crop.

The laborers shall be present in due time at the place where theyare to work. The list to be called and answered regularly.Whoever does not answer the list when called, is too late.

7th. No throwing of grass, or of wood, shall be exacted duringextra hours, all former agreements to the contrarynotwithstanding; but during crop the laborers are expected tobring home a bundle of long tops from the field where they are atwork.

Cartmen and crook-people, when breaking off, shall attendproperly to their stock as hitherto usual.

8th. During crop, the mill gang, crook gang, boilermen, firemen,still men, and any other person employed about the mill and theboiling house, shall continue their work during breakfast andnoon hours, as hitherto usual; and the boilermen, firemen, megasscarriers, etc., also, during evening hours after sunset, whenrequired, but all workmen employed as aforesaid, shall be paid anextra remuneration for the work done by them in extra hours.

The boiling house is to be cleared, the mill to be washed down,and the megass to be swept up, before the laborers leave the workas hitherto usual.

The mill is not to turn after six o'clock in the evening, and theboiling not to be continued after ten o'clock, except by specialpermission of the Governor-General, who then will determine, ifany, what extra remuneration shall be paid to the laborers.

9th. The laborers are to receive, until otherwise ordered, thefollowing remuneration:

A. The use of a house, or dwelling-rooms for themselves and[Pg 321]their children, to be built and repaired by the estate, but to bekept in proper order by the laborers.

B. The use of a piece of provision ground, thirty feet square, asusual, for every first and second class laborer, or if it bestanding ground, up to fifty feet in square. Third class laborersare not entitled to, but may be allowed, some provision ground.

C. Weekly wages at the rate of fifteen cents to every first classlaborer, of ten cents to every second class laborer, and of fivecents to every third class laborer, for every working day. Whenthe usual allowance of meal and herrings has been agreed on inpart of wages, full weekly allowance shall be taken for fivecents a day, or twenty-five cents a week.

Nurses losing two hours every working day, shall be paid at therate of four full working days in the week. The wages of minorsto be paid as usual to their parents, or to the person in chargeof them.

Laborers not calling at pay time personally, or by anotherauthorized, to wait till next pay day, unless they were preventedby working for the estate.

No attachment of wages for private debts to be allowed, nor morethan two thirds to be deducted for debts to the estate, unlessotherwise ordered by the magistrate.

Extra provisions occasionally given during the ordinary workinghours are not to be claimed as a right, nor to be bargained for.

10th. Work in extra hours during crop, is to be paid as follows:To the mill gang, and to the crook gang, for working through thebreakfast hour, one stiver, and for working through noon, twostivers per day. Extra provision is not to be given, except atthe option of the laborers in place of the money, or in part ofit.

The boilermen, firemen, the megass carriers, are to receive forall days when the boiling is carried on until late hours, amaximum pay of twenty (20) cents per day. No bargaining for extrapay by the hour, is permitted.

Laborers working such extra hours only by turns, are not to haveadditional payment.

11th. Tradesmen on estates are considered as engaged to performthe same work as hitherto usual, assisting in the field, carting,potting sugar, &c. They shall be rated as first, second, andthird class laborers, according to their proficiency; where nodefinite terms have been agreed on previously, the wages of firstclass tradesmen, having full work in their trade, are to betwenty (20)[Pg 322] cents per day. Any existing contract with tradesmenis to continue until October next.

No tradesman is allowed to keep apprentices without the consentof the owner of the estate, such apprentices to be bound for noless a period than three years, and not to be removed without thepermission of the magistrate.

12th. No laborer is obliged to work for others on Saturday; butif they choose to work for hire, it is proper that they shouldgive their own estate the preference. For a full day's work onSaturday, there shall not be asked for nor given more than twenty(20) cents to a first class laborer, thirteen (13) cents to asecond class laborer, seven (7) cents to a third class laborer.

Work on Saturday may, however, be ordered by the magistrate as apunishment to the laborer, for having absented himself from workduring the week for one whole day or more, and for having beenidle during the week, and then the laborer shall not receive morethan his usual pay for a common day's work.

13th. All the male laborers, tradesmen included, above eighteenyears of age, working on an estate, are bound to take the usualnight watch by turns, but only once in ten days, notice to begiven before noon to break off from work in the afternoon withthe nurses, and to come to work next day at eight o'clock. Thewatch to be delivered in the usual manner by nightfall and bysunrise.

The above rule shall not be compulsory, except where voluntarywatchmen cannot be obtained at a hire the planters may be willingto give, to save the time lost by employing their ordinarylaborers as watchmen.

Likewise the male laborers are bound once a month, on Sundays andholydays, to take the day watch about the yard, and to act aspasturemen, on receiving their usual pay for a week day's work;this rule applies also to the crook-boys.

All orders about the watches to be duly entered in the day bookof the estate.

Should a laborer, having been duly warned to take the watch, notattend, another laborer is to be hired in the place of theabsentee, and at his expense, not, however, to exceed fifteencents. The person who wilfully leaves the watch, or neglects it,is to be reported to the magistrate and punished as the casemerits.

14th. Laborers wilfully abstaining from work on a working day,are to forfeit their wages for the day, and will have to pay overand above the forfeit, a fine which can be lawfully deducted intheir wages, of seven (7) cents for a first class laborer, five(5)[Pg 323] cents for a second class laborer, and two (2) cents for athird class laborer. In crop or grinding days, when employedabout the works, in cutting canes, or in crook, an additionalpunishment will be awarded for wilful absence and neglect by themagistrate, on complaint being made. Laborers abstaining fromwork for half a day, or breaking off from work before beingdismissed, to forfeit their wages for one day.

Laborers not coming to work in due time to forfeit half a day'swages.

Parents keeping their children from work, shall be fined insteadof the children.

No charge of house rent is to be made in future, on account ofabsence from work, or for the Saturday.

15th. Laborers wilfully abstaining from work for two or more daysduring the week, or habitually absenting themselves, or workingbadly and lazily shall be punished as the case merits, oncomplaint to the magistrate.

16th. Laborers assaulting any person in authority on the estate,or planning and conspiring to retard, or to stop the work of theestate, or uniting to abstain from work, or to break theirengagements, shall be punished according to law, on investigationbefore a magistrate.

17th. Until measures can be adopted for securing medicalattendance to the laborers, and for regulating the treatment ofthe sick and the infirm, it is ordered:

That infirm persons unfit for any work, shall, as hitherto, bemaintained on the estates where they are domiciled, and to beattended to by their next relations.

That parents or children of such infirm persons shall not removefrom the estate, leaving them behind, without making provisionfor them to the satisfaction of the owner, or of the magistrate.

That laborers unable to attend to work on account of illness, oron account of having sick children, shall make a report to themanager, or any other person in authority on the estate, who, ifthe case appears dangerous, and the sick person destitute, shallcause medical assistance to be given.

That all sick laborers willing to remain in the hospital duringtheir illness, shall there be attended to, at the cost of theestate.

18th. If a laborer reported sick, shall be at any time foundabsent from the estate without leave, or is trespassing about theestate, or found occupied with work requiring health, he shall beconsidered skulking and wilfully absent from work.[Pg 324]

When a laborer pretends illness, and is not apparently sick, itshall be his duty to prove his illness by medical certificate.

19th. Pregnant women shall be at liberty to work with the smallgang as customary, and when confined, not to be called on to workfor seven weeks after their confinement.

Young children shall be fed and attended to during the hours ofwork at some proper place, at the cost of the estate.

Nobody is allowed to stay from work on pretence of attending asick person, except the wife and the mother in dangerous cases ofillness.

20th. It is the duty of the managers to report to the police anycontagious or suspicious cases of illness and death; especiallywhen gross neglect is believed to have taken place, as whenchildren have been neglected by their mothers, in order that theguilty person may be punished according to law.

21st. The driver or foreman on the estate, is to receive in wagesfour and a half dollars monthly, if no other terms have beenagreed upon. The driver may be dismissed at any time during theyear with the consent of the magistrate. It is the duty of thedriver to see the work duly performed, to maintain order andpeace on the estate during the work, and at other times, and toprevent and report all offences committed. Should any laborerinsult, or use insulting language towards him during, or onaccount of the performance of his duties, such person is to bepunished according to law.

22nd. No laborer is allowed, without the especial permission ofthe owner or manager, to appropriate wood, grass, vegetables,fruits, and the like, belonging to the estate, nor to appropriatesuch produce from other estates, nor to cut canes, or to burncharcoal. Persons making themselves guilty of such offences,shall be punished according to law, with fines or imprisonmentwith hard labor; and the possession of such articles notsatisfactorily accounted for, shall be sufficient evidence ofunlawful acquisition.

23d. All agreements contrary to the above rules, are to be nulland void, and owners and managers of estates convicted of anypractice tending wilfully to counteract or avoid these rules bydirect or indirect means, shall be subject to a fine notexceeding $200.

(Signed,)    P. Hansen.

Government House, St. Croix, 26th January, 1849.
—Knox,An Historical Account of St. Thomas, West Indies,pp. 248-255.

Reviews of Books

A History of the United States, Vol. IV. ByEdward Channing,Professor in Harvard University. New York, MacMillan Company, 1917.Pp. 575. Price $2.75.

This is the fourth volume of what promises to be the most interestingand possibly the most valuable single work hitherto produced in thisfield. It begins with the discovery of the New World and whencompleted will come down to 1910. The volume herein referred to coversthe period of "Federalists and Republicans from 1789 to 1815." Thework, therefore, goes over ground which has been extensively treatedby such writers as Richard Hildreth, James Schouler, Herman von Holst,and James B. McMaster. Professor Channing, however, has given thisperiod an original treatment and incorporated into his narrative somuch material of human interest that his history makes a more readableand at the same time a more informing work than any of the generalhistories of the United States.

Professor Channing does not fall a victim to the mistakes of hispredecessors. Hildreth is prejudiced, Schouler is dry and ex parte,von Holst is lost in the debates over slavery, and McMaster, at times,sinks beneath the load of his undigested material. Realizing that theproblems of peace are greater than those of war and that the mereproceedings of legislative bodies cannot altogether be depended uponto reflect the political development of a country, Professor Channingis making his history economic as well as political. It is just asimportant to him to know the prices of commodities in 1800 as to knowthe terms of Jay's treaty. In other words, Professor Channing has anew point of view. He aims not to set forth an interesting narrativebut to marshall his facts so as to make interesting his well-balancedaccount of the various forces which have operated to make this countrywhat it is to-day. The smooth style, common sense, and thoroughnesswith which he is now doing this task will doubtless make this thestandard history of the United States.

In reading this valuable work, however, one cannot but express regretthat Professor Channing did not see fit to spell the word[Pg 326] "Negro"with a capital letter and to say more about the people of color. Inthe volumes to follow the treatment of this element of our populationwill probably be more extensive in keeping with the increasingimportance of the Negro as a factor in history of the later period.Professor Channing will hardly be so unfortunate as most writers ofAmerican history, who in their voluminous works give space forhonorable mention of every race but the black, considering itsufficient to mention it, merely as the cause of the great agitationwhich finally rent the nation and the present cause of the raceproblem in the United States. The bearing of worthy achievements ofthe Negroes on the development of this country should be mentionedalong with the deeds of others who have helped to make the nation.

The Early History of Cuba, 1492 to 1586. ByI. A. Wright. TheMacMillan Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 390.

This book begins with the discovery of Cuba by Columbus and ends withthe raid of Sir Francis Drake in the West Indies in 1586, by which itwas demonstrated that Great Britain ruled the sea and that theretention of the Spanish possessions in the New World required thatthey be provided with means of local defence rather than be left inthe position of dependence on protection from Spain. With this changeis connected the subsequent economic development of Cuba and thesuccess of the Spanish colonial policy.

In writing this book the author had an advantage over most historiansin this field. It was compiled from documents now available atSeville, Spain. Miss Wright, however, did not use the documents foundin other archives. What documents she had access to, however, areconsidered sufficient as they contain "letters and reports of theisland's governors, of royal officials and lesser clergy, of municipaland ecclesiastical councils, of distinguished and humble citizens."This large collection, too, contains some of the documents copied byMunoz in his collection preserved at Madrid and some printed in theunsatisfactory series ofDocumentos Ineditos. The author, therefore,gives this book to the public as the only exhaustive treatment ofCuban history of this period, which has hitherto been published,despite the estimate we have placed on such works as those of De lasCasas, Oviedo, Gomara, Solis, Bernal Diaz del Costillo, and Herrera.

The introduction of slavery and the treatment of the bondmen, althoughnot objective points in this treatise, are given considerable[Pg 327] space.The slave trade was authorized in Cuba in 1513 and we hear of BishopUbite in the possession of as many as 200 slaves in 1523 and later ofBishop Maestro Miguel Ramirez with a license from the crown to takehalf a dozen slaves and two white slave women. The writer shows howthe failure of the native captives to meet the demand for laboreventually led to declaration making them the free vassals of thecrown and authorizing the enslavement of Negroes in sufficiently largenumbers to make up the deficiency. It was necessary to issue anotherorder rescinding the license of the slave-traders because of the fearof servile insurrection, should the slave population too far exceedthat of the whites. This restricted importation of Negroes, however,did not prevent their uprising in 1533, which, however, was easilyquelled, the four Negroes defending themselves to death.

The author explains too how slavery in Cuba or in the Spanishpossession differed from that of other nations in that although theSpaniard regarded the black as socially and politically inferior, hedid not look down upon him as a "soul-less son of Cain condemned toservitude by divine wrath" but recognized the black's equality withhim before the altar of the church. When he became free and evenbefore he became free the slave had rights before the law. "Thisattitude of mind of the Spaniard—so very different indeed from thatof the slave-holding North American,—partly explains the facilitywith which he mingled his 'pure, clean' white blood with black, sobegetting a mulatto population to be reckoned with later." Freeblacks, therefore, soon appeared. By 1568 forty in Havana had boughttheir freedom. Others, though still slaves, lived independently, themen doing such as working at trades and the women running eatinghouses, but all reporting their earnings to their masters atintervals.

C. B. Walter.

Sierra Leone: Its Peoples, Products and Secret Societies. ByH.Osman Newland, F. R. Hist. S., F.I.D. John Bale, Sons and Danielsson,London, 1916. Pp. 247.

This work consists of the observations on a journey by canoe, rail andhammock through Sierra Leone. To this is appended fifty-three pages ofmatter on "Practical Planting Notes for Sierra Leone and West Africa,"by H. Hamel Smith. Subject to sufficient demand, however, it isproposed to issue this book, annually or biennially, with amendmentsand additions to date, as a Sierra[Pg 328] Leone Year Book and with a Who'sWho section. Accordingly, it treats of the geographic and economicconditions of that land and the rule of 1,500,000 Africans, largely byless than 900 Europeans. Taking up the elements of population theauthor devotes much space to the Creole and Aborigine elements, givingthe characteristics of these classes. He then considers the riversystem, the railroads, life in the interior, the rubber industry, thenative chiefs, the amusements of the people, native law, peculiarcustoms of the people, their secret societies, the important productsand the management of estates.

The author undertakes to answer the questions as to whether this is acountry for a black or white man to live in, which of the two shouldrule, whether the people are becoming Europeanized in their habits andreligion and whether it is a place for commerce and capital. Answeringthe last question first the author asserts that there are in SierraLeone many possibilities for smaller capitalists and companies. As forthe climate, Sierra Leone is much maligned, especially so sincescience has reclaimed its swamps and decreased the death rate. Thewriter too is satisfied with the progress with which the natives aretaking over European civilization, although he is not anxious to seethe African adopt this culturein toto because of the difference inclimate. Unlike some other travelers, he found the nativesindustrious, honest, and truthful. Moreover, he does not share theprejudices foreigners have against the Creoles and blacks. He believesthat the white man should rule not so long as he is white but so longas he can prove his superiority. "The black man," says he, "will onlyrespect the rule of the white man as long as the latter can prove hissuperiority, and consequently, reasonableness." The natives have sucha keen sense of justice that they are not blinded by hypocrisy. Thewriter believes that neither the white man nor his religion must rulebecause they are white and not black. The administrators, too, mustnot rule for themselves but as representatives only. "It is Britainthat must rule—Britain which has one law for all, and administers itnot for white or black, but for all who own her sway whatever theircolour, race, or religion." While the portraiture of the sense ofjustice of Great Britain does not square with her colonial policy, thecaution to those administering the affairs of Sierra Leone is wellput.

After all that he says, however, the writer does not seem to be sosanguine as to future of West Africa. "Probably West[Pg 329] Africa," sayshe, "will always remain a land of romance, mystery and imagination,"Science may reclaim the swamp. The iron railroad may open up tracksfor the engineer and planter to exploit its vast resources. ButNature, unchecked by man, has been allowed too long to run riot thereamong its impenetrable forests. Never, perhaps, will it be entirelysubdued. As with the primeval forest, so with the people.Mohammedanism, Christianity, modern education, have all tried theircivilizing influences upon the West African, and nowhere, perhaps,with more success than in Sierra Leone. But the old Adam dies slowly.Civilization is too tame, too quiet for those who love noise andmystery. And this feeling is infectious.

J. O. Burke.

Trade Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East. ByA. J.MacDonald, M.A. With an introduction bySir Harry Johnston. Longmans,Green and Co., London, 1916. Pp. 296.

This is a dissertation awarded the Maitland Prize at Cambridge in 1915for an essay on the thesis,Problems raised by the contact of theWest with Africa and the East and the part that Christianity can playin their solution. The work shows scientific treatment. The factsused were obtained largely from the Government Blue Books, the Minutesof Evidence attached to Reports of the Committee of Inquiry into theLiquor Trade in Southern Nigeria together with the reports of theUnited Races Committee, the Journal of the Anglo-Indian TemperanceAssociation, the British Quarterlies, the publications of the Societyfor the Suppression of the Opium Trade, and the reports of theProceedings of the First Universal Race Congress.

The writer traces the development of contact with the natives by meansof trade which, supplying them with what they want rather than withwhat they need, often demoralizes them. Then along with the problem oftrade comes that of labor, giving rise to labor contracts or forcedlabor, and this with another problem of preventing the nativepopulation from too far exceeding that of the whites. Then comes theconsideration of the liquor question, the opium trade, education andself-government, and inter-racial marriage, with the merits anddemerits of the methods of those who have attacked these problems.Caution is given in the assertion that Christianity must be thelife-principle. "Imperialism," says the author, "is a matter ofreligion." The extension of the[Pg 330] empire, therefore, is an extension ofreligion. The success of an imperial policy then depends upon thedegree of attention paid religion, which lies deeper thanstatesmanship, deeper than civilization, which is, indeed, theinspiration of both. Administrators, therefore, must not neglectChristianity, as they are only imperialists so long as they rememberthat they are in spite of themselves religious men. "Translated intopractical terms," says he, "the theory means that if the black andwhite races are unequal in intelligence and social capacity they areequal on the basis of common Christianity. The old doctrine of the'solidarity of humanity' needs to be revived and to be applied over awider area. The Empire can only be extended securely by the extensionof its religion, but that means that settler, trader and administratormust realize in the black man a capacity to receive Christianity." TheChurch, too, must cease to regard the propagation of the gospel as itsown task and missionaries must no longer retard the extension of theempire by carrying on their work as members of an independentorganization.

Taking up inter-racial marriage, the author raises many questions. Hedoes not seem to fear race fusion, as there is evidence "to prove thatthe crossing of the different races does produce definite physical andmental results in succeeding generations." He contends that the whiteman's objection to connection with women of colored races and to thechildren who spring from those unions has no scientific justification.The exclusive attitude of the white man is accounted for by thedifference in degree of civilization, the so-called superiority of thewhite race. Although he does not show how science has uprooted theidea of racial superiority, the author does raise the question as towhether the integrity of the dominant races has been maintained. Asevidence of this he cites the facts that the Pelasgii of Greece were,according to Professor Sturgis, of African origin, that Sir HarryJohnston traced Negro blood across India and the Malay States toPolynesia, that a negroid race penetrated Italy and France, accordingto recent discoveries, leaving traces at the present day in thephysiognomy of the people of Southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, andWestern France, and even in parts of the United Kingdom of GreatBritain and Ireland, and that even to-day there are some examples ofKeltiberian peoples of western Scotland and western Wales and southernand western Ireland of distinctly negroid type.

W. R. Ward.

[Pg 331]

Notes

The following letter was addressed to theNew Orleans Daily Statesby Mr. W. O. Hart:

Louisiana Governors.

New Orleans, La., April 19, 1917.

EditorDaily States

Dear Sir:—Recently your paper published a very interestingaccount of many governors of Louisiana at one time being in theCosmopolitan Hotel, but in giving the names of the ex-governorsyou omitted three, William P. Kellogg, P. B. S. Pinchback andGeneral Joseph R. Brooke.

Kellogg while never elected was inaugurated in January, 1873, andserved a full term of four years, having been upheld in office byPresident Grant.

Pinchback, who was elected President of the Senate when Oscar J.Dunn, elected lieutenant governor, died, in 1868, became actinggovernor on December 10, 1872, when Governor H. C. Warmoth wasimpeached and served until the inauguration of Kellogg, January13, 1873.

There are now on the statute books ten laws passed at this extrasession and which bear the approval of Pinchback; they will befound bound with the Acts of 1873, pages 37 to 50.

Pinchback's title as acting governor was upheld by the SupremeCourt of Louisiana, in the case of Morgan vs. Kennard, decided inMarch, 1873, and reported in the 25th An. Reports, page 238,which was a contest over the office of Justice of the SupremeCourt between John Kennard, appointed by Warmoth, and P. H.Morgan, appointed by Pinchback, and the judgment was affirmed bythe Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Kennard vs.Morgan, reported in 92d U. S. 480. The opinion was rendered byChief Justice Ludeling and concurred in by Justices Taliaferroand Howell, and Justice Wyly dissented. The case was tried in theSuperior District Court before Judge Jacob Hawkins who decided infavor of Morgan and this judgment was affirmed by the SupremeCourt.[Pg 332]

Judge Kennard was appointed to the Court on December 3, 1872,vice W. W. Howe resigned; Morgan was appointed on January 4,1873, and at the end of the litigation took his seat as a memberof the Court on February 1st, serving until the Manning Courtwent into office on January 9, 1877.

After the eventful fourteenth of September, 1874, when GeneralEmory took charge, he appointed Colonel (now Brigadier Generalretired) Joseph R. Brooke, military governor of Louisiana, but heonly served one day, because President Grant disapproved of theappointment and ordered General Emory to reinstate GovernorKellogg.

W. O. Hart.

In the January number of theSouth Atlantic Quarterly Gilbert T.Stephenson, Judge of the Municipal Court of Winston-Salem, NorthCarolina, writes on the subject, "Education and Crime amongNegroes." Although he accepts as facts certain unreliable statisticsconcerning the criminality of Negroes, he nevertheless presents thesubject in a liberal manner. His following conclusion is interesting.

"All the available statistics and the unanimous opinion of men ina position to know the facts would seem to be proof thateducation—elementary or advanced, industrial orliterary—diminishes crime among Negroes. The alarming high rateof Negro criminality is as much a condemnation of the communityin which it exists as of the offending Negroes themselves. Havingdiscovered that the Negro school is, at least, one institutionwhich successfully combats crime, the community cannot afford towithhold its active interest in and generous support of its Negroschool. The more money spent in making such schools responsive tothe special needs of the race, the less will have to be spent oncrime, and if it comes to a question of cost, it is cheaper inthe long run to maintain and equip schools—Negro schools,even—than police departments, courts, jails, penitentiaries, andreformatories; for the school, properly conducted, makes theNegro a greater asset, while the court finds him a liability, andnearly always leaves him a greater liability to the community."

Some interesting articles in various publications are: "Problems ofRace Assimilation," by Arthur C. Parker, in the January number ofTheAmerican Indian Magazine; The Cavalry Fight at Carrizal, by Louis S.Morey, inThe Journal of the United States Cavalry[Pg 333]Association;The Present Labor Situation, in the January number ofThe Annals ofthe American Academy of Political and Social Sciences; Physic Factorsin the New American Race Situation, inThe Journal of RaceDevelopment, by George W. Ellis; and La Independencia de Tejas y laEsclavitud, by Senor V. Salado Alvarez, in the Cuban journalLaReforma Social.

Other such articles in this field are: Germany's Ambition in CentralAfrica, by Emile Cammaerts, in the October number ofThe NationalReview; The Present System of Education in Uganda, in the July numberofUganda Notes; The Gold Coast: Some Consideration of itsStructures, People, and Natural History, by A. E. Kitson, in the Julynumber of theGeographic Journal.

The arrangements for the biennial meeting of the Association for theStudy of Negro Life and History have been almost completed. A majorityof the members of the Executive Council desire that it be held onWednesday, the twenty-ninth of August, and have so ordered it. Theprogram has not yet been made up, but several persons of prominencehave promised to attend and speak. Among these are Mrs. Mary ChurchTerrell, Dean Kelly Miller, Professor George E. Haynes, Dr. R. R.Wright, Jr., Mr. Monroe N. Work, and Dr. Thomas J. Jones. Two of theimportant topics will beSome Values of Negro History andThe Negroin the World War.

[Pg 334]

The African Origin of the Grecian Civilization[401]

I imagine, ladies and gentlemen, that when you first read the subjectof the address to be delivered before this society to-day, you were abit surprised, and, I trust, a bit interested. To claim an Africanorigin for the Grecian civilization is hardly in keeping with thehistorical traditions inherited from our school days. It savors of asort of heresy and passes far beyond the limits of popular opinion.There is a peculiar unanimity among all historians to state withoutreservation that the greatest civilization the world has ever knownwas pre-eminently Aryan, but historians are not always to be reliedupon. They write for their own race and times and are careful to giveas little credit as possible to races and events which fall within thepale of their prejudices. I question, however, if there is to begained any ultimate good by subverting truth and popularizing error.Indeed, I believe that if to-day our historians, authors, press andpulpit would give the public the truth as far as it is possible toattain it, to-morrow would find us filled with a new vigor and a freshdetermination to conquer the wrongs and inconsistencies of human life.

The old idea of the Grecian civilization was that it sprung, likeMinerva, full armed from the brow of Zeus. It seemed to have notangible beginning. The fabled kings and heroes of the Homeric Age,with their palaces and strongholds, were said to have been humanizedsun-myths; their deeds but songs woven by wandering minstrels to wintheir meed of bread. Yet there has always been a suspicion amongscholars that this view was wrong. The more we study the moral aspectsof humanity the more we become convinced that the flower and fruit ofcivilization are evolved according to laws as immutable as those lawsgoverning the manifestations of physical life. Historians have writtenthat Greece was invaded by Aryans about 1400 B.C., and that hencefortharose the wonderful civilization; but the student knows that such wasan impossibility and that some vital factor has been left out of theequation. When the Aryans invaded Greece they were savages[Pg 335] fromNeolithic Europe and could not possibly have possessed the highartistic capacities and rich culture necessary for the unfolding ofÆgean civilization. "Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of abramble bush gather they grapes."

Speaking of the two foremost Grecian states, Herodotus writes asfollows: "These are the Lacedæmonians and Athenians, the former ofDoric, the latter of Ionic blood. And, indeed, these two nations hadheld from very early times the most distinguished place in Greece, theone being Pelasgic, the other a Hellenic people, and the one havingnever quitted its original seas, while the other had been excessivelymigratory." "The Hellenes," wrote Professor Boughton in theArenasome years ago, "were the Aryans first to be brought into contact withthese sunburnt Hamites, who, let it be remembered, though classed aswhites, were probably as strongly Nigritic as are the Afro-Americans.""Greek art is notαυτοχθονυς," said Thiersch some fiftyyears ago, "but we derived from the Pelasgians, who, being bloodrelations of the Egyptians, undoubtedly brought the knowledge fromEgypt." "The aptitude for art among all nations of antiquity,"remarked Count de Gobineau a few years later, "was derived from anamalgamation with black races. The Egyptians, Assyrians and Etruscanswere nothing but half-breeds, mulattoes." In the year 1884 AlexanderWinchell, the famous American geologist, upset Americans with anarticle appearing in theNorth American Review. From it I quote thefollowing: "The Pelasgic empire was at its meridian as early as 2500B.C. This people came from the islands of the Ægean, and more remotelyfrom Asia Minor. They were originally a branch of the sunburnt Hamiticstock that laid the basis of civilization in Canaan and Mesopotamia,destined later to be Semitized. Danaus and his daughters—that is, thefugitive 'shepherds' from Egypt—sought refuge among their Hamitickindred in the Peloponnesus about 1700 B.C. Three hundred years beforethis these Pelasgians had learned the art of weaving from Aryanimmigrants. In time they occupied the whole of Greece and Thessaly.Before 200 B.C. they established themselves in Italy. Thus do we get aconception of a vast Hamitic empire existing in prehistoric times,whose several nationalities were centered in Mesopotamia, Canaan,Egypt, Northwestern Africa, Iberia, Greece, Italy, Sicily, Sardiniaand Central Europe—an intellectual ethnic family, the first of theAdamites to emerge into historic light, but with the records of itsachievements buried in gloom[Pg 336] almost as dense as that which covers theruder populations that the Hamites everywhere displaced. To thisfamily, chiefly, are to be traced the dark complexions of the nationsand tribes still dwelling around the shores of the Mediterranean."

It was to be expected that such statements as the foregoing wouldthrow the scholastic world into a ferment. There was a scramble tobolster up the cause of Aryanism and to preserve this onecivilization, at least, to the credit of the Caucasian race. Homer wasscanned with a patience unknown to college students and the classicmyths were refined in the alembics of master minds. Yet there weresome who cared for truth more than for racial glory and among them wasDr. Schlieman. Armed with a spade he went to the classic lands andbrought to light a real Troy; at Tiryns and Mycenæ he laid to view thepalaces and tombs and treasures of Homeric kings. His message back toscholars who waited tensely for his verdict was, "It looks to me likethe civilization of an African people." A new world opened toarcheologists and the Ægean became the Mecca of the world. Traces ofthis prehistoric civilization began to make their appearance farbeyond the limits of Greece itself. From Cyprus and Palestine toSicily and Southern Italy, and even to the coasts of Spain, thecolonial and industrial enterprise of the Myceneans has left its markthroughout the Mediterranean basin. The heretics were vindicated."Whether they like it or not," declared Sir Arthur Evans before theLondon Hellenic Society a short time ago, "classical students mustconsider origins. The Grecians whom we discern in the new dawn werenot the pale-skinned northerners, but essentially the dark-haired,brown-complexioned race." Perhaps Sir Arthur's words will carry weightwith you when I remark that his wonderful discoveries in classicallands have brought him the honor of election last year as president ofthe British Association, the most notable assemblage of scholars inthe world. I might further mention that Professor Sergi, of theUniversity of Rome, has founded a new study of the origin of Europeancivilization upon the remarkable archeological finds, entitled "TheMediterranean Race." From this masterly work I choose the following:"Until recent years the Greeks and Romans were regarded as Aryans, andthen as Aryanized peoples; the great discoveries in the Mediterraneanhave overturned all these views. To-day, although a few belatedsupporters of Aryanism still remain, it is becoming clear that themost ancient civilization of the Mediterranean[Pg 337] is not of Aryanorigin. The Aryans were savages when they invaded Europe; theydestroyed in part the superior civilization of the Neolithicpopulations, and could not have created the Græco-Latin civilization.The primitive populations of Europe originated in Africa and the basinof the Mediterranean was the chief center of movement when the Africanmigrations reached the center and north of Europe."

What, then, are some of those discoveries which have so completelydestroyed the ethnic fetish of the Caucasian race? The greatest andmost conclusive of them all was the discovery of the palace of Minosby Sir Arthur Evans. In 1894 this scientist undertook a series ofexploration campaigns in central and eastern Crete; it has so happenedthat some years previous he had been hunting out ancient engravedstones at Athens and came upon some three or four-sided seals showingon each of their faces groups of hieroglyphics and linear signsdistinct from the Egyptian and Hittite, but evidently representingsome form of script. Upon inquiry Sir Arthur learned that these sealshad been found in Crete, and to Crete he went. The legends of thefamous labyrinth and palace of Minos came back to him and wererefreshed by the gossipy peasants, who repeated the tales that hadcome down as ancestral memories. In wandering around the site of hisproposed labors Sir Arthur noticed some ruined walls, the great gypsumblocks of which were engraved with curious symbolic characters,crowning the southern slope of a hill known as Kephala, overlookingthe ancient site of Knossos, the city of Minos. It was the prelude tothe discovery of the ruins of a palace, the most wonderfularcheological find of modern times.

Who was Minos? In the myths that have come down to us he was a sort ofan Abraham, a friend of God, and often appears as almost identicalwith his native Zeus. He was the founder and ruler of the royal cityof Knossos, the Cretan Moses, who every nine years repaired to thefamous cave of Zeus whether on the Cretan Ida or on Dicta, andreceived from the god of the mountain the laws for his people. He waspowerful and great and extended his dominions far and wide over theÆgean Isles and coast lands, and even Athens paid to him its tributeof men and maidens. To him is attributed the founding of the greatMinoan civilization.

I will not have time today to review the mass of archeological datawhich the discoveries of this civilization have produced.[Pg 338] Theyconsist of cyclopean ruins of cities and strongholds, tombs, vases,statues, votive bronzes, and exquisitely engraved gems and intaglios.That which is most valuable in establishing the claim of the Africanorigin of the Grecian civilization is the discovery of the frescoes onthe palace walls. These opened up a new epoch in painting and are ofthe utmost interest to the world. The colors are almost as brilliantas when laid down more than three thousand years ago. Among thesefrescoes are numerous representations of the race whose civilizationthey represent. It was a race neither Aryan nor Semitic, but African.The portraitures follow the Egyptian precedent and for the first timethe mysterious Minoan and Mycenean people rise before us. The tint ofthe flesh is of a deep reddish brown and the limbs finely moulded. Theprofile of the face is pure and almost classically Greek. The hair isblack and curling and the lips somewhat full, giving the entirephysiognomy a distinct African cast. In the women's quarters thefrescoes show them to be much fairer, the difference in complexionbeing due, probably, to the seclusion of harem life. But in theircountenances, too, remain those distinguishable features which linkwith the African race.

You will pardon me, I trust, if occasion is taken here to impress uponyou the value of genuine archeological evidence. Historians may writeanything to reflect their vanity or their prejudices, but when theremains of ancient civilizations rise out of the dust and sands andgive the lie to their assertions there is nothing more to be said.Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenecia, Greece, and Rome, have all been claimedfor the Aryan, but the spade has unearthed stone that bears sentientwitness to the fact that Africa has been the pioneer in the field ofcivilization. We wonder, then, why the historians continue to ignorethese remains and persist in continuing falsehood. There can be butone answer and that is racial vanity prefers falsehood to truth andprejudice demands suppression rather than expression.

Yet these frescoes of Crete need not be such a surprise to scholarsand public after all. The very classics themselves have more thanhinted of the great part played by Africa in the development ofGrecian civilization. Let us revert to the myths and trace the descentof Minos and his progeny. You will recollect that the ancient heroesof Greece were divided into the older and younger branches, the formerbelonging to the house of Inachus, distinctly[Pg 339] Hamitic, while thelatter belonged to the race of Japotus, distinctly a mixture.

The Pelasgic races of the south traced their descent from Inachus, theriver god and son of Oceanus. The son of Inachus, Phoroneus, lived inthe Peloponnesus and founded the town of Argos. He was succeeded byhis son, Pelasgus, from whom the aforementioned races of the southderived their name. Io, the divine sister of Phoroneus, had the goodfortune, or perhaps misfortune, to attract the attention of theall-loving Zeus and as a consequence incurred the enmity of Hera. Sheis transformed into a beautiful heifer by Zeus, but a gadfly sent byHera torments her until she is driven mad and starts upon those famouswanderings which became the subject of many of the most celebratedstories of antiquity. Æschylus reviews her roamings in his greattragedy, "Prometheus Bound," and makes Io to arrive at Mount Caucasusto which the fire-bringer is chained. It is here that Prometheusdelivers to her the oracle given him by his mother, Themis,Titan-born. He directs her to Canobos, a city on the Nile, and tellsher that there Zeus will restore her mind.

Aryan parents do not usually bear black children and to show thatÆschylus was thoroughly cognizant of the ethnical relationship hereimplied, permit me to quote from "The Suppliants," another of histragedies. The Suppliants were the fifty daughters of Danaus, theShepherds of Egypt, and they described themselves as, "We, of swartsunburnt race," "our race that sprang from Epaphos," and when theyappear before the Argive king, claiming his country as their ancestralhome, their color causes him to question their claims in the followingwords:

No, Æschylus made no mistake. He meant just what he wrote and thediscoveries of the wonderful Minoan civilization have proven that theswarthy touch-born son of Zeus and Io was the incarnation of theAfrican element that raised Greece to the very pinnacle ofcivilization. Minos is in direct descent from Epaphos and from thelatter's prolific progeny we note such names as Agenor, Cadmus,Europa, Ægyptus, Danaus, Perseus, Menelaus, husband of the famousHelen, Hercules, and Agamemnon, chosen by the Greeks to lead themagainst Troy.

If I should conclude at this point my thesis would be complete andconclusive, but there are other subjects which demand some attention.I cannot pass in silence the supposed testimony to the presence of thefair type in Greece, and to its superiority over the darkerpopulation, furnished by the Homeric poems. This supposed testimonyhas precipitated wordy wars as terrible, though perhaps lesssanguinary, as those which were engaged in by the gods and heroesthemselves. The fault, however, lies with the translators rather thanwith the epics. From the work of these industrious authors we get theidea that golden hair and blue eyes were so common that there waslittle chance of any other sort of people lingering around. The truthof the matter is that these translators, like historians, havepermitted their prejudices to warp their accuracy. There is not in theentire writings of Homer an adjective or description applying to anyof the principals that even suggests a single one of them having blueeyes and golden hair. Indeed, it is quite the reverse. Athena isγλαυκωπις;γλαυκος means blue like the sea and theunclouded sky; the olive isγλαυκος also, and Athena isguardian of the olive.Γλαυκωπις means that her eyes arebrilliant and terrible. Apollo in Homer isχρυσαορος, thatis to say, bearing a golden sword; whileξανθος, which hasbeen mistranslated to mean fair, means reddish brown and brown,Artemis isχρυσεη, golden, that is to say, brilliant, butnever fair. Neptune isκυανοχαιτης, that is to say, bluish,blackish, like the dark and deep waves of the ocean. Eos, the dawn, isχρυσοθρονος,ροδοδακτυλος,κροκοπεπλος, because the colorof the dawn is golden, rosy and red. Neither Hera nor Kalypsos is fairfrom the descriptive adjectives. Achilles isξανθος which,as was said before, means reddish brown and brown. Agamemnon is alsoξανθος and remember, if you please, that he is in directdescent from Epaphos, the swarthy ancestor of the Pelasgic houses.

So you see that even our translators are not to be trusted.[Pg 341] ProfessorSergi made an extensive investigation of the supposed testimony to thepresence of the fair type in Greece and his conclusions are asfollows: "In Homer none of the individuals are fair in theethnographic sense of the word. I could bring forth a wealth of factsto show that what I have just stated regarding the anthropologicalcharacters of the Homeric gods and heroes may also be said, and withmore reason, of the types of Greek and Roman statuary which, though inthe case of the divinities they may be conventionalized, do not in theslightest degree recall the features of a northern race." Hence theblue-eyed and golden-haired gods and goddesses who grace the canvasesof our art galleries and theater curtains are but pigmentary creationsfrom the minds of artists who visualize the peculiarities of their ownrace just as the Jewish Madonna is depicted as a Spanish, Dutch,German, English, Italian, Russian, Scandinavian, and even as anAfrican mother by the different nationalities in turn.

Another idea which seems to be rapidly taking hold upon the scholasticmind is that the Iliad and Odyssey are in reality Minoan epics madeover, if you please, to fit the later Grecian epochs. While the Homerwe know professedly commemorates the deeds of Achaean heroes,everything about them is non-Hellenic. The whole picture of thecivilization, including home life, dress, religious worship, andarchitecture, is Minoan and Mycenean. Warriors' weapons are of bronzewhen the age to which we attribute Homer was an iron age. Thecombatants use huge body shields when, as a matter of fact, suchshields had been obsolete long previous to 1200 B.C. The form ofworship, hymns and invocations to deities, and the use of certainsacrificial forms were all adaptations from the Mycenean ritual. Thearrangements of the palaces and courts as narrated in the epics werecounterparts of the Minoan and Mycenean palaces and had long sincepassed out of existence. Among the discoveries in Crete have beenfound pictorial scenes exactly as described in Homer, and the artisticrepresentations upon the shield of Achilles and upon the shield ofHercules, as described by Hesiod, have been duplicated among the ruinsof Crete. Upon intaglios recovered we find combatants striking at eachother's throats and you will recollect that Achilles does just thisthing in his fight with Hector. I might continue these coincidencesindefinitely, but I believe that the point I desire to make issufficiently clear to merit your attention. The great Grecian epicsare[Pg 342] epics of an African people and Helen, the cause of the Trojanwar, must henceforth be conceived as a beautiful brown skin girl.

In the press and periodicals of our country we read that the classicsare doomed and about to pass out of our lives, but the classics cannever die. I sometimes dream of a magical time when the sun and moonwill be larger than now and the sky more blue and nearer to the world.The days will be longer than these days and when labor is over andthere falls the great flood of light before moonrise, minds now dulledwith harsh labor and commercialism will listen to those who love themas they tell stories of ages past, stories that will make them tinglewith pleasure and joy. Nor will these story tellers forget theclassics. They will hear the surge of the ocean in Homer and marchwith his heroes to the plains of Troy; they will wander with Ulyssesand help him slay the suitors who betrayed the hospitality of thefaithful Penelope; they will escape from Priam's burning city withÆneas, weep over Dido's love, and help him to found a nation besidethe Tiber. And the translators who shall again bring into life thedead tongues will not let prejudice cloud their brains or truth makebitter their tongues. The heroes of Homer shall, like the Prince ofMorocco, wear the livery of the burnished sun and be knit by bindingties to the blood of Afric's clime from whence civilization took itsprimal rise.

Permit me now, ladies and gentlemen, to show definitely the debt whichGreece owes to the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations. Crete, as I havesaid before, appears to be the center from which the Mediterraneanculture radiated. It is the "Mid-Sea Land," a kind of half-way housebetween three continents, and its geographical position makes it thelogical cradle of European civilization. It is near the mainland ofGreece, opposite the mouths of the Nile and in easy communication withAsia Minor, with which it was actually connected in late geologicaltimes. As I mentioned before, the civilization expanded in everydirection and at the time of the conquest it had firm hold uponGreece, appearing at Mycenæ, Tiryns, Thebes, Orochomenos, and otherplaces. That some vanguard of Aryan immigrants came into contact withthis culture at its climax is plain from the evidence furnished byHomer. That they mingled with the inhabitants is certain. The lateronrush about 1200 B.C. destroyed in part the civilization found there,but fortunately there was not utter destruction. These rude people[Pg 343]realized the difference between their savagery and their enemies'culture. They, too, merged with the inhabitants and formed the Grecianpeople of historic times. This amalgamation is clearly apparent in theGreeks to-day and because of it Count de Gobineau has called theirancestors half-breeds and mulattoes. Note, also, if you will, thatGreek genius burned brightest in those parts of Greece where theMinoan elements were most thoroughly planted.

If you should inquire the source of the Minoan civilization I wouldfirst call your attention to the fact that Herodotus attributed muchof the Grecian civilization to Egypt, and secondly to the opinionexpressed by Sir Arthur Evans in his presidential address before theBritish Association last fall. "My own recent investigations," saidhe, "have more and more brought home to me the all pervading communitybetween Minoan Crete and the land of Pharaohs. When we realize thegreat indebtedness of the succeeding classical culture of Greece toits Minoan predecessor the full significance of this conclusion willbe understood. Ancient Egypt itself can no longer be regarded assomething apart from general human history. Its influences are seen tolie about the very cradle of our civilization. The first quickeningimpulse came to Crete from the Egyptian and not from the Orientalside." Herodotus has been called the father of lies, but at this latedate we again see him vindicated in a conclusion reached by thegreatest living authority upon classical archeology.

Before closing I wish again to enforce the fact that the fermentcreating the wonderful Grecian civilization was preeminently theferment of African blood. Take all the archeological facts of the lastfifty years and read them up or down, across or diagonally, inside andout, and this fact rises into your mind like a Banquo that will notdown. Historians may distort truth and rob the African race of itshistorical position, but facts are everywhere throwing open the secretclosets of nations and exposing ethnic skeletons that laugh and jestat our racial vanities. The Aryan savages of Europe came down uponGreece, found there a great civilization, merged with the inhabitantsand builded a greater. The all but savage European of the Dark Agesknew nothing of culture save what had been taught him by the Romanlegions, the heirs of the Mediterranean civilization. This little wasalmost forgotten until religious fanaticism started the Crusades andbrought them into contact with the civilized refinement of theArabians,[Pg 344] Moors and Saracens, likewise peoples in whose veins flowedthe fiery ferment of African blood. If, as Sir Arthur Evans declares,classical students must consider origins and admit the ancientGrecians of African descent, so must they go a bit further and admitthe Renaissance to have sprung because of contact between feudalEurope and African Mohammedanism. Again we must admit, no matter howbitter the taste, that the mixed race has always been the greatrace—the pure race always the stagnant race. One potent reason forthe possible downfall of European civilization to-day is the fact thatthe Aryan element has proven incapable of the mighty trust. It hasforgotten the everlasting lesson of history that mergence of distincttypes means the perpetuation of nationalism. The sole tenet of Europehas been the domination of the world by the Caucasian and suddenly itdiscovers that the term Caucasian is too narrow to include both Saxonand Teuton. Hence a war for the extermination of both.

The end of the world is not near and the dream of a millennium isequidistant. The sum of all that is past is but a prelude of thatwhich is to come. It has taken the brute a myriad of years for hisgaze to reach beyond them. Civilization is a mixture of dictions andcontradictions and none of us to-day is sure that we know just what itmeans. Through all there yet remain:

I close with the hope of a time when earthly values will be measuredwith a justice now deemed divine. It is then that Africa and hersun-browned children will be saluted. In that day men will gladlylisten with open minds when she tells how in the deep and darkpre-historic night she made a stairway of the stars so that she mightclimb and light her torch from the altar fires of heaven, and how shehas held its blaze aloft in the hall of ages to brighten the waveringfootsteps of earthly nations.

[Pg 345]

The Journal
of
Negro History

Vol. II—October, 1917—No. 4

Some Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes

While on a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, some time ago, the guest of mygood friend George A. Myers, my attention was called to Rhodes'History of the United States. This was due, no doubt, to the fact thatMr. Myers had been in correspondence with Mr. Rhodes relative tocertain points in the career of the late M. A. Hanna, brought out byMr. Rhodes, which, in the opinion of Mr. Myers, were not accurate. Inglancing over one of the volumes, I came across the chapters givinginformation about what took place in the State of Mississippi duringthe period of Reconstruction. I detected so many statements andrepresentations which to my own knowledge were absolutely groundlessthat I decided to read carefully the entire work. I regret to saythat, so far as the Reconstruction period is concerned, it is not onlyinaccurate and unreliable but it is the most biased, partisan andprejudiced historical work I have ever read. In his preface to volumesix, the author was frank enough to use the following language:"Nineteen years' almost exclusive devotion to the study of one periodof American history has had the tendency to narrow my field ofvision." Without doing the slightest violence to the truth, he couldhave appropriately added these words: "And since the sources of myinformation touching the Reconstruction[Pg 346] period were partial, partisanand prejudiced, my field of vision has not only been narrowed, but mymind has been poisoned, my judgment has been warped, my decisions anddeductions have been biased and my opinions have been so influencedthat my alleged facts have not only been exaggerated, but my comments,arguments, inferences and deductions based upon them, can have verylittle if any value for historical purposes."

Many of his alleged facts were so magnified and others so minimized asto make them harmonize with what the author thought the facts shouldbe rather than what they actually were. In the first place, the veryname of his work is a misnomer: "History of the United States from theCompromise of 1850to the Final Restoration of Home Rule at the Southin 1877." I have emphasized the words "to the final restoration ofhome rule at the South in 1877" because those are the words thatconstitute the misnomer. If home rule were finally restored to theSouth in 1877, the natural and necessary inference to be drawn is thatprior to that time those States were subjected to some other kind ofrule, presumably that of foreigners and strangers, an inference whichis wholly at variance with the truth. Another inference to be drawn isthat those States had enjoyed home rule until the same wasrevolutionized or set aside by the Reconstruction Acts of Congress andthat it was finally restored in 1877. If this is the inference whichthe writer meant to have the reader make, it is conclusive evidence ofthe fact that he was unpardonably and inexcusably ignorant of thesubject matter about which he wrote. As that term is usually andgenerally understood, there never was a time when those States did nothave home rule, unless we except the brief period when they were undermilitary control, and even then the military commanders utilized homematerial in making appointments to office. Since the officers,however, were not elected by the people, it may be plausibly claimedthat they did not have home rule. But the State governments that wereorganized and brought into existence under the Reconstruction Acts ofCongress were the first and only[Pg 347] governments that were genuinelyrepublican in form. The form of government which existed inante-bellum days was that of an aristocracy. That which has existedsince what Mr. Rhodes is pleased to term the restoration of home ruleis simply that of a local despotic oligarchy. The formerwas not,and the presentis not, based upon the will and choice of themasses; but the former was by far the better of the two, for whatevermay be truthfully said in condemnation and in derogation of thesouthern aristocracy of ante-bellum days, it can not be denied thatthey represented the wealth, the intelligence, the decency and therespectability of their respective States. While the State governmentsthat were dominated by the aristocrats were not based upon the will ofthe people, as a whole, yet from an administrative point of view theywere not necessarily bad. Such can not be said of those who are nowthe representatives of what Mr. Rhodes is pleased to term home rule.

On page 171 of his seventh volume, Mr. Rhodes says: "Some Southern menat first acted with the Republican party, but they gradually slippedaway from it as the color line was drawn and reckless and corruptfinancial legislation inaugurated." That thousands of white men in theSouth, who identified themselves with the Republican party between1868 and 1876, subsequently left it, will not be denied, but thereasons for their action are not those given by Mr. Rhodes. In fact,there is no truth in the allegation about the drawing of the colorline and very little in the one about corrupt or questionablefinancial legislation. The true reason why so many white men at theSouth left the Republican party may be stated under three heads:first, the Democratic victories of 1874 which were accepted bysouthern Democrats as a national repudiation of the congressional planof Reconstruction; second, the closeness of the Presidential electionof 1876 together with the supposed bargain entered into between theHayes managers and southern Democratic members of Congress, by whichthe South was to be turned over to the Democrats of that section inconsideration of which the said southern Democrats gave their consent[Pg 348]to the peaceable inauguration of Hayes; third, the decisions of theSupreme Court of the United States by which the doctrine of States'Rights was given new life and strength.

It is true there are some men whose party affiliations are based uponprinciple and convictions regardless of consequences personal tothemselves. Occasionally there are found some who are even willing tobe martyrs, but they are exceptions to the general rule. The averageman is politically ambitious. He desires political distinction andofficial recognition. In determining his party affiliations,therefore, he is more than apt to cast his lot with the party throughwhich he believes that ambition may be gratified. After theconsummation of the events above referred to, the conviction becamesettled in the minds of white men at the South that the Democraticparty in that section would be, for a generation, at least, the onlychannel through which it would be possible for any one to have hispolitical ambition realized. Hence, thousands of those who hadpreviously joined the Republican party returned to the Democraticsince that party presented the only hope of their future politicalsalvation.

Mr. Rhodes would lead one to infer that the southern white men whocame into the Republican party in the South between 1868 and 1876 werenot among the most intelligent, cultivated, refined and representativemen of that section. As a rule, they were men who belonged to, andwere identified with, what was known as the "Southern aristocracy."Such men, for instance, as Ex-Governors Orr of South Carolina, Parsonsof Alabama, Reynolds of Texas, and Brown of Georgia. Also such men asMosby, Wickham, and subsequently Mahone, Massey, Paul, Fulkerson andRiddleberger, of Virginia. General R. E. Lee was known to haveleanings in the same direction, but since he was not politicallyambitious, his views were not made a matter of public discussion. Inaddition to Ex-Governor Brown of Georgia, they included such men asGeneral Longstreet, Joshua Hill, Bullock and many others of likecaliber. Even Ben Hill was suspected by some and accused by others of[Pg 349]leaning in the same direction. In Louisiana, not less than 25 percent. of the best and most substantial white men of that State becameidentified with the Republican party under the leadership of such menas Ex-Governor Hahn and the Honorable Mr. Hunt (who was appointedSecretary of the Navy by President Garfield), Wells, Anderson and manyothers. General Beauregard was known, or at any rate believed, to bein sympathy with these men and the cause they represented, although hetook no active part in politics. But it was in my own State ofMississippi, where I had an intimate knowledge of, and acquaintancewith, the solid and substantial white men who identified themselveswith the Republican party and whose leadership the newly enfranchisedblacks faithfully followed. They included such men as James L. Alcorn,who was elected Governor of the State by the Republicans in 1869 andto the United States Senate by the legislature that was elected at thesame time. Alcorn was one of the aristocrats of the past. He servedwith Mr. Lamar in the secession convention of 1861 and was a generalin the Confederate Army.

Mr. Rhodes failed to inform his readers of the fact that theDemocratic candidate for Governor against Alcorn, Judge Louis Dent,belonged to that much abused class called "carpet baggers," but who,like thousands of others of that class, both Democrats andRepublicans, was a man of honor and integrity. The same was true ofTarbell, Powers, Pierce, McKee, Jeffords, Speed and others of the sametype in both parties. In addition to Alcorn, there was Col. R. W.Flournoy, who also served with Mr. Lamar as a member of the secessionconvention and who was the Republican candidate for Congress againstMr. Lamar in 1872, also Judge Jason Niles, who served as a member ofthe State legislature, Judge of the Circuit Court and member ofCongress. His able and brilliant son, Judge Henry Clay Niles, is nowthe United States District Judge for that State, having been appointedby President Harrison. He has the reputation of being one of the bestand finest Judges[Pg 350] on the Federal Bench. The State never had beforeand has not had since, a finer judiciary than it had under theadministrations of Alcorn, Powers and Ames, the three RepublicanGovernors. In referring to the three justices of the State SupremeCourt, Mr. Rhodes made the statement that eligible material in theRepublican party was so scarce that, in order to get three competentjudges the Governor was obliged to select a Democrat. This is nottrue. Chief Justice E. G. Peyton and Associate Justice H. F. Simrallwere both southern Republicans. Justice Tarbell, though a so-called"carpet bagger," was also a Republican and an able judge, who enjoyedthe confidence and respect of the bench and bar. When he retired fromthe bench he was made Second Comptroller of the United StatesTreasury.

In addition to these able and brilliant men, I feel justified innaming a few others, such as R. W. Millsaps, in whose honor one of theeducational institutions at Jackson was named; W. M. Compton; T. W.Hunt; J. B. Deason; W. H. Vasser; Luke Lea, who was at one time UnitedStates District Attorney; his son, A. M. Lea, who subsequently heldthe same office; J. L. Morphis, who was one of the first Republicanselected to Congress; Judge Hiram Cassidy, who was the recognizedleader of the bar in the southern part of the State; his able andbrilliant son, Hiram Cassidy, Jr.; and his law partner, Hon. J. F.Sessions. Among the circuit and chancery court judges there were suchjurists as Messrs. Chandler, Davis, Hancock, Walton, Smyley,Henderson, Hill, Osgood, Walker, Millsaps, McMillan, and Drane.Moreover, there were thousands of others, such as J. N. Carpenter andJames Surget, men of character, wealth and intelligence, who had noambition for official recognition or political distinction, but whowere actuated by what they honestly believed to be conducive to thebest interests of their country, their State and their section. Infact, the southern white men that came into the Republican party weretypical representatives of the best blood and the finest manhood ofthe South, than whom no better men ever lived. And yet to read whatMr. Rhodes has written, one would naturally[Pg 351] assume that the oppositeof this was true, that the Republican party in that section was underthe domination of northern "carpet baggers," a few worthless southernwhites and a number of dishonest and incompetent colored men. This, nodoubt, is the false, deceptive and misleading picture which had beenpainted from the vividness of his partial, mistaken, prejudiced anddiseased imagination.

That many mistakes were made during the progress of Reconstructioncannot and will not be denied. No friend and supporter of thecongressional plan of Reconstruction will maintain that every thingwas perfect. On the contrary, it is frankly admitted that quite anumber of grave blunders were made; but they were not confined to anyone party. Neither Republicans nor Democrats can justly lay claim toall that was good or truthfully charge the other with all that wasbad. Of those who were selected as representatives of the two parties,the Democrats had, in point of experience and intelligence, a slightadvantage over the Republicans; but in point of honesty and integritythe impartial historian will record the fact that the advantage waswith the Republicans. How could either escape error? The Civil War hadjust come to a close; sectional animosity was bitter and intense. TheRepublican party was looked upon as the party of the North and,therefore, the bitter enemy of the South. The southern white men whojoined the Republican party were accused of being traitors to theirsection and false to their own race and blood; they were calledScalawags. Through a process of intimidation, chiefly by means ofsocial ostracism, independent thought and action on the part ofsouthern whites, during the early period of Reconstruction, werepretty effectually prevented. Through such methods, they were quitesuccessfully held under the subjection and control of those whoseleadership they had been accustomed to follow.

Under such circumstances, the reader may ask the question, why was itand how was it that so many of the best white men of that sectionjoined the Republican party? The answer is that, prior to the electionof General Grant to the[Pg 352] presidency in 1868, very few of them did so.It was never a question of men. It was always a question of party.Under such circumstances, thousands of white men were obliged to votefor certain Democratic candidates who were otherwise objectionable asagainst certain Republicans who were otherwise acceptable. In likemanner, thousands of colored men were obliged to vote for certainRepublican candidates who were otherwise objectionable as againstcertain Democrats who were otherwise acceptable. The wonder,therefore, is, not that so many, but that so few mistakes were made;not that so many, but that so few objectionable persons were electedto important and responsible positions.

After the election of Grant, however, in 1868 the feeling ofintolerance somewhat subsided, resulting in a large number ofaccessions to the Republican party from the ranks of the best and mostsubstantial white men of that section. But it was not until thereelection of Grant in 1872 that the feeling of politicalproscription, social ostracism and intolerance among the whitesseemingly disappeared. It was then that white men came into, tookcharge of and assumed the leadership of the Republican party, in largenumbers. They then had nothing to fear and nothing to lose by beingidentified with the Republican party when social distinctions growingout of politics ceased to be effective. The South then entered upon anew era which was destined to bring to that section wealth andprosperity with happiness and contentment among its people of bothraces, all living under local governments successfully controlled bythe better element of native whites with the cooperation andparticipation to some extent of the newly enfranchised blacks.

The writer of this article has always believed it to be a misfortuneto his race and to the country, if conditions be such as to make itnecessary for any race or group, of which our citizenship is composed,to act in a solid body with any one political party. The writer timelycalled attention to this in a speech which he delivered on the floorof the House of Representatives over thirty years ago. He then madean[Pg 353] appeal to the Democrats to change the attitude of their partytowards the colored Americans. While the colored people, he said, weregrateful to the Republican party for their physical emancipation, theywould be equally grateful to the Democratic party for their politicalemancipation. While he was a Republican from choice, he personallyknew of many members of his race who were Republicans, not from choicebut from necessity, and that the Democratic party was responsible forthe existence of that necessity. Upon economic questions there aredifferences of opinion among colored as well as white persons. It isan injustice to the colored race and a misfortune to the country, ifthey can not vote in accordance with their convictions upon suchquestions. No race or group can be true and independent Americancitizens, as all should be, when they are made to feel that theexercise and enjoyment by them of their civil and political rights arecontingent upon the result of an election. It must be said to thecredit of the late Grover Cleveland that he did all in his power bothas Governor of New York and as President of the United States to bringabout this necessary change and reform in his party. That his effortswere not crowned with success, was through no fault of his.

The newly enfranchised blacks at the South, as I have endeavored toshow, had no other alternative than to act with the Republican party.That some objectionable persons should have been elected by them undersuch conditions, could not very well have been prevented. But thereader of Mr. Rhodes's history cannot fail to see that he believed itwas a grave mistake to have given the colored men at the South theright to vote, and in order to make the alleged historical factsharmonize with his own views upon this point, he took particular painsto magnify the virtues and minimize the faults of the Democrats and tomagnify the faults and minimize the virtues of the Republicans, thecolored men especially. On page 97 of his fifth volume, for instance,Mr. Rhodes says: "But few Negroes were competent to perform theduties; for instance, it was said that the colored[Pg 354] man, who for fouryears was Sheriff of DeSoto County, could neither read nor write. TheNegro incumbent generally farmed out his office to a white deputy fora share of the revenue."

The foregoing is one of the most barefaced and glaringmisrepresentations that can possibly be made. The reader will noticethat the allegation is based upon "it has been said." But if Mr.Rhodes had been anxious to record only what was accurate and true, heshould have, as he easily could have done, found out just what thefacts were, as I have done. The facts were these. When Tate County wascreated the greater part of the territory composing the new county hadbeen taken from the county of DeSoto. The then sheriff of DeSotoCounty lived in that section which was made a part of the new countyof Tate. It thus became necessary for a new sheriff to be appointed bythe Governor for DeSoto County to hold office until the election of asheriff at the next regular election. Rev. J. J. Evans, a coloredBaptist minister and a Union soldier, was thereupon appointed. Sincethis took place in 1873, the appointment must have been made byGovernor R. C. Powers, who had been elected Lieutenant Governor on theticket with Alcorn in 1869 and had become Governor when Alcorn went tothe United States Senate in 1871. Although he was one of those whobelonged to that class called "carpet baggers," Governor Powers wasknown to be an honest and an upright man and one who exercised greatcare in all of his appointments. Governor Powers never could have beeninduced to appoint as sheriff of any county a man who could neitherread nor write.

Mr. Evans discharged the duties of his position with such entiresatisfaction that he was nominated by the Republicans and elected tosucceed himself at the regular election in November, 1873, for thefull term of two years. In 1875 he was renominated by his party tosucceed himself. Mr. Evans's administration had been so satisfactorythat when the Democratic county convention met to nominate a localticket, no nomination was made for the office of[Pg 355] sheriff. But betweenthe nomination and election the Democratic organization in the Statesaw a new light. It was decided that the State must be "redeemed,"and that nearly all of the counties must be included in thatredemption. The Democratic executive committee of DeSoto County was,therefore, directed to meet and complete the local ticket bynominating a candidate for sheriff. This was done, and the ticket asthus completed was, of course, declared elected and DeSoto County"redeemed."

It is a fact of which Mr. Rhodes may not be aware, that the countysheriff in Mississippi is also the county tax collector, and as suchhe is required to give a heavy bond. These bonds are usually given byproperty owners of the county, nearly all of whom are white men andDemocrats. Had Mr. Evans been the man described by Mr. Rhodes, henever could have qualified for the office. It is also a fact of whichMr. Rhodes may not be aware, that the county sheriff in Mississippi asthe chief executive and administrative officer of his county, isnecessarily obliged, regardless of his own qualifications and fitness,to employ a number of assistants and deputies to aid him in runningthe office. The number of persons, with the salary or compensation ofeach, is fixed by law or the court and they are paid according to lawout of money appropriated for that purpose. In making theseappointments, it is both reasonable and natural that the appointingpower would favorably consider a suggestion or recommendation from anyone of the sureties. At any rate, Mr. Evans had the good sense tosurround himself with honest, efficient and capable assistants. He isstill living at Hernando, DeSoto County, Mississippi. As I write theselines, an autograph letter from him is before me. While it is clearthat he is not a college graduate, his letter effectually disprovesthe allegation that he can neither read nor write. Moreover, even ifhis education is limited, this cannot be considered exceptional, forthe sheriffs of many counties in the South today are illiterate andmentally undeveloped. I judge from the contents of Mr. Evans's letterthat there is no truth in the allegation that he divided any[Pg 356] part ofhis own compensation with any one or more of his assistants. He leftthe office with a spotless record, every dollar of the public fundsthat passed through his hands, and for which he was liable, havingbeen honestly and faithfully accounted for.

But even if Mr. Evans had been the man described by Mr. Rhodes, itwould have been manifestly unfair and unjust to the colored voters ofMississippi to select him as a typical representative of those whowere elected to important and responsible positions by the votes ofcolored men. Out of seventy-two counties of which the State was thencomposed, not more than twelve ever had colored sheriffs at any time,and they did not all hold office at the same time. Of those who werethus honored, the writer of these lines was personally acquainted withnot less than ten. Mr. Evans was one of the few whom he did not thenknow personally. If Mr. Rhodes had desired to be fair and impartial,he would have taken all of them into consideration and would havedrawn an average. But this would not have answered his purpose. Itwould have shown that in point of intelligence, capacity, and honestythe colored sheriffs would have favorably compared with the whites.

Take, for instance, the county of Adams-Natchez, my own home, wheretwo colored men at different times held the office of sheriff. Thefirst of the two was Wm. McCary, who was elected in 1873. He belongedto that small class known as free persons of color during the days ofslavery. His father was the leading barber of Natchez for whitebusiness men and a private school teacher. He taught the children ofthose who were identified with his own class, of which there werequite a number, having privileges and advantages which were denied tothe children of slaves. His own children, of course, were notneglected. Wm. McCary, therefore, had a good English education. He wasalso a property owner and a taxpayer. He was one of the two coloredmen who qualified as a surety on the bond of the writer of these lineswhen he was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1869. Mr. McCary washeld in high esteem by the[Pg 357] people of the city of Natchez and thecounty of Adams, both white and colored. Prior to his election to theoffice of sheriff he had served as a member of the board of aldermenfor the city of Natchez and also as treasurer of the county of Adams,and subsequently as postmaster of Natchez, the duties of all of whichhe discharged with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public.In 1875 he was succeeded as sheriff by another colored man, Robert H.Wood, who in all important particulars was about on a par with McCary.Wood had previously served as mayor of Natchez, to which position hewas elected by popular vote in December, 1870. He was serving thepeople of Natchez as their postmaster when he was elected to theoffice of sheriff.

These men not only gave satisfaction to the people whom they served,but they reflected credit upon themselves, their race, their party andthe community that was so fortunate as to have the benefit of theirservices. What was true of these two men was also true in a largemeasure of Harney of Hinds, Scott of Issaquena, Sumner of Holmes, andseveral others. But, if Mr. Rhodes had desired to be impartial andpreferred to select but one man as a typical representative of thosewho were elected to such positions by the votes of colored men, hewould have selected B. K. Bruce, who was sheriff of Bolivar Countywhen he was elected to the United States Senate. Mr. Bruce needs nointroduction to intelligent and reading Americans. He developed into anational character. He reflected credit not only upon himself, hisrace and his party but his country as well. And yet he typified in amost remarkable degree the colored men who were elected to importantand responsible positions chiefly by the votes of members of thatrace. But the reader of Rhodes's history will look in vain foranything that will give him accurate information along these lines.His history, therefore, is remarkable, not only for what it says, butfor what it leaves unsaid. In fact, it is plain to the intelligentreader that he started out with preconceived notions as to what thefacts were or should have been, and that he took particular pains toselect such data and so[Pg 358] to color the same as to make them harmonizewith his opinions. He thus passed over in silence all facts whichcould not be so distorted as to make them thus harmonize. He couldfind nothing that was creditable or meritorious in the career of anycolored member of either house of Congress, notwithstanding thefavorable impression made and the important and dignified servicerendered by Revels and Bruce in the Senate and by Rainey, Rapier,Elliott, Smalls, Cain, Langston, Miller, Ohara, Cheatham, White andothers in the House.[403]

But, to return to Mississippi, let us take up another error of Mr.Rhodes. Referring to the political and sanguinary revolution whichtook place in Mississippi in 1875, Mr. Rhodes makes use of thesewords: "Whilst regretting some of the means employed, all lovers ofgood government must rejoice at the redemption of Mississippi....Since 1876 Mississippi has increased in population and in wealth; herbonded indebtedness and taxation are low."[404] It is difficult toconceive how an intelligent man, claiming to be an impartial recorderof historical events, could be induced to make such glaring statementsas the above, when he ought to have known that just the opposite ofwhat he affirms is true, except as to increase in population and inwealth. "All lovers of good government must rejoice at theredemption of Mississippi."Redemption from what? The reader isled to believe that the "redemption" is from bad to good government,from high to low taxes, from increased to decreased bondedindebtedness, from incompetent, inefficient and dishonestadministration to one that was competent, efficient and honest.

Now let us see just what the facts were and are. In 1875 there wasjust one State officer to be elected, that of[Pg 359] State treasurer, tofill the vacancy caused by the death of George H. Holland, who waselected on the ticket with Ames in 1873. The Democrats nominated Hon.Wm. L. Hemingway, of Carroll County, whose nomination was favorablyreceived. He had the reputation of being a capable, an honest andupright man. In addition to this, he was identified with that wing ofhis party which was known to be progressive, liberal and fair. In theearly days of Reconstruction, the Democratic party in the State wassharply divided into two factions. One, the major faction, adoptedwhat they termed a policy of "masterly inactivity," which meant thatthe white Democrats should take no part in the organization of a Stategovernment under the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, with a view ofmaking the work of Reconstruction as odious, as objectionable and asunpopular as possible. The other faction believed it to be the duty ofthe white Democrats to take an active part in the formation of a Stategovernment, elect as many Democrats to the State ConstitutionalConvention of 1868 as possible with a view of framing a newconstitution that would have very few if any objectionable clauses.Wm. L. Hemingway was one of that number, and as such he was elected tothe convention from Carroll County. The nomination of Hemingway forState treasurer by the Democratic State Convention in 1875 was lookedupon as a concession to that element of the party.

The Republicans did not fail to see that in order to carry the Statethey must nominate their strongest and best man, even if the electionshould be fair and honest, which they hoped would be the case, butwhich hope they had good reasons to apprehend would not be fullyrealized. Capt. George M. Buchanan, of Marshal County, was nominated.Buchanan had been a brave and gallant Confederate soldier. He hadserved as sheriff of Marshal County for a number of years. He wasstrong, able and popular. He was known to be the best fitted and bestqualified man for the office of State treasurer. With a half-waydecent election his triumph, even over so popular a man as Wm. L.Hemingway,[Pg 360] was an assured fact. The Democrats, however, had decidedthat the time had come for the State to be "redeemed," peaceably andfairly if possible, violently and unfairly if necessary. With GeorgeM. Buchanan as the Republican candidate, it was necessary to employmeans which Mr. Rhodes so much regretted, but which he justifiesbecause, as he understands it, they were employed in the interest ofgood government.

Was that true? Let us see. Buchanan, of course, was declared defeatedand Hemingway declared elected. Mississippi was thus "redeemed, forwhich all lovers of good government must rejoice," but Mr. Rhodesfailed to record the fact that this man who was the representative oftheredemption of the State had been in office a comparatively briefperiod when the discovery was made that he was a defaulter to theamount of $315,612.19.[405] It would be a reflection upon Mr. Rhodes'sintelligence to assume that he was ignorant of this important fact.Oh, no! he must have known about it, but to make any allusion to itwould be out of harmony with the purposes he evidently had in view. Itis safe to assume that, if the will of a majority of the legal votersof the State had not been violently suppressed in the interest ofgood andhonest government, which would have resulted in theelection of honest George M. Buchanan, while the State would not havebeenredeemed, it would have been saved from the loss of$315,612.19. The writer of these lines has never believed thatHemingway was the personal beneficiary of this money or any partthereof, but that he was the instrument in the hands of others. Stillhe was the official representative of theredemption of the Statefor which "all lovers of good government must rejoice."

That there was a material increase in the population and in the wealthof the State will not be denied. These results would have followed,even if the State had never beenredeemed. They were not due toredemption but in spite of it. In fact, there was a marked increasein population and in wealth before as well as subsequent to theredemption.[Pg 361] But when the author states that the bonded indebtednessand taxation are low, the impression necessarily made, and intended tobe made upon the mind of the reader, is that after theredemptiontook place and as a result thereof, therate of taxation wasreduced, the volume of money paid into the State treasury annually forthe support of the government was less than it had been before, andthat there had been a material reduction in the bonded debt of theState, neither of which is true.[406] If Mr. Rhodes had been disposedto record the truth and nothing but the truth, which is presumed to bethe aim of an impartial historian, he could have easily obtained thefacts, because they are matters of record. To give the reader an ideaof what the facts were and are, I will take, for purposes ofcomparison, one year prior and one subsequent to theredemption ofthe State. In 1875, the year that theredemption took place, theassessed value of taxable property was $119,313,834. The receipts fromall sources that year amounted to $1,801,129.12. Disbursements for thesame year, $1,430,192.83. In 1907 the assessed value of taxableproperty was reported to be $373,584,960. Receipts from all sources,same year, $3,391,127.15. Disbursements, same year, $3,730,343.29. Theabove figures speak for themselves. They are from the officialrecords, the accuracy of which cannot be questioned.[407] The recordsshow too that during the administration of Governor Ames, which wasabout half over when theredemption took place, the rate of taxationhad been reduced from seven mills to four mills and that a materialreduction had been made in the bonded debt of the State and that aftertheredemption took place the tax rate was increased from four millsto six mills and that by 1907 $732,890.74 had been added to the bondeddebt of the State. And yet in the opinion of Mr. Rhodes, these areconditions for the deliverance from which the employment ofregrettable means was necessary, at which, however, "all lovers ofgood government should rejoice," since their employment resulted intheredemption of the State.[Pg 362]

But another evidence of Mr. Rhodes's careless and reckless manner ofstating alleged historical facts will be found in a paragraph on page132 of his seventh volume. In speaking of Governor Ames's unsuccessfulefforts to have troops sent to the State to assist in maintainingorder and insuring a fair and peaceable election, he says: "A numberof the white Republicans of Mississippi who had quarrelled or differedwith Ames, among whom were both the United States senators, used theirinfluence against the sending of federal troops to Mississippi andnone were sent." The two United States Senators at that time were J.L.Alcorn and B.K. Bruce. Bruce was a strong friend and loyal supporterof Ames and did all in his power to have Ames's request granted. Thisstatement is based upon my own knowledge. Senator Alcorn was one ofthe few white Republicans who had quarrelled with Ames. In fact, heran as an Independent for governor against Ames in 1873. But he was aRepublican United States Senator and as such he had no sympathy withthe Democratic party. My relations with both senators were cordial. IfAlcorn had used his influence to prevent having federal troops sent tothe State, I am sure I would have known it. If he raised his voice orused his pen for such purpose, that fact was never brought to mynotice and I am satisfied it was never done. My own opinion is that heremained reticent and refused to take sides. The true reason whytroops were not sent in compliance with the request of Governor Ameswas that, although the President once directed that the requisition becomplied with, he later rescinded the order when informed byRepublicans from Ohio that such interference would cause the loss ofOhio to the Republicans at the October election and would not saveMississippi.[408]

Referring to the Reconstruction policy, Mr. Rhodes says: "Stevens'Reconstruction Acts, ostensibly in the interest of freedom, were anattack on civilization.[409] In my judgment Sumner did not show wiseconstructive statesmanship[Pg 363] in forcing unqualified Negro Suffrage onthe South."[410] The truth is that Stevens and Sumner were wiser thantheir day and generation. They were not favorable to an immediaterestoration of the States lately in rebellion upon any conditions.They knew that after the cessation of hostilities, the flower of theConfederate Army, an army which it took the entire North with all ofits numbers, immense wealth and almost limitless resources four yearsto conquer, would be at the South and that upon the completion ofReconstruction and the withdrawal of the federal troops, that armycould be utilized to bring about practically the same conditions thatexisted before the war. They, therefore, opposed immediaterestoration. This is what Mr. Rhodes characterizes as an attack oncivilization. To what civilization does he refer? He surely could nothave had in mind the civilization which believed in the divine rightof slavery and which recognized and sanctioned the right of one man tohold another as his property; and yet this was the only civilizationupon which the rebuilding of the rebellious governments was an attack.But for the adoption of the Congressional plan of Reconstruction andthe subsequent legislation of the nation along the same line, theabolition of slavery through the ratification of the 13th Amendmentwould have been in name only, a legal and constitutional myth. This isthe civilization, however, an attack upon which Mr. Rhodes so deeplydeplores. It is fortunate for the country that a majority of Mr.Rhodes's fellow citizens did not and do not agree with him along theselines.

Since Stevens and Sumner could not secure the adoption of the planadvocated by them, they proceeded to secure the adoption of the bestone that it was possible to obtain under conditions as they thenexisted. Hence they insisted, successfully, as was then believed, thatthe legislation, including the 14th Amendment, should be so framed asnot only to create national citizenship, as distinguished from Statecitizenship, but that it should be made the duty of the FederalGovernment to protect its own citizens, when necessary,[Pg 364] againstdomestic violence, to protect its citizens at home as well as whenthey are abroad. The closing clause of the 14th Amendment, therefore,declares that Congress shall have power to enforce the provisions ofthe amendment by appropriate legislation.

But Mr. Rhodes says the Congressional plan of Reconstruction was afailure. The defeat of the Republican party at the North, especiallyin 1874, he believes "was due to the failure of the Southern policy ofthe Republican party." In speaking of the action of President Hayes,he says: "Indeed it was the final admission of the Republican partythat their policy of forcing Negro suffrage upon the South was afailure." Is it true that Reconstruction was a failure? That dependsupon the view one takes of it. Admitting that some of the thingsexpected of it by many of its friends and supporters were not fullyrealized, its failure even to that extent was, in a large measure, oneof theresults but not one of the contributorycauses of theDemocratic national victory of 1874. On the contrary, that policy wasa grand and brilliant success.

In the first place, when the split between Congress and PresidentJohnson took place, there was soon developed the fact that theenfranchisement of the blacks was the only plan which could be adoptedand by which the one advocated by the President could be defeated. Ithad been seen and frankly admitted that the war for the preservationof the Union could not have been brought to a successful conclusionwithout putting the musket in the hands of the loyal blacks. The factwas now made plain that the fruits of the victory that had been won onthe battlefield could not be preserved without putting the ballot intheir hands. Hence, it was done.

Was this a mistake? Mr. Rhodes says it was; but the results prove thatit was not. But for the enfranchisement of the blacks at the South atthe time and in the way it was done the 14th and subsequently the 15thAmendment to the Federal Constitution never could have been ratified.The ratification of these two measures alone vindicated the[Pg 365] wisdom ofthat legislation. The 14th Amendment, among other things, made thecolored people American citizens. It was, in effect, a recall of thefamous Dred Scott decision. The 15th Amendment gave the coloredAmerican access to the ballot box, in every State in the Union. Thefundamental principles that were carried into effect through theReconstruction acts of Congress were embodied in these two amendments.After the ratification of these measures, what had previously beenlocal to the South became national. No State north, south, east orwest can now legally and constitutionally make or enforce any lawmaking race or color the basis of discrimination in the exercise andenjoyment of civil and public rights and privileges, nor can it makerace or color the basis of discrimination in prescribing thequalification of electors. By the ratification of those amendments theright of an American citizen to the exercise and enjoyment of civiland political rights and the right to vote ceased to be local andbecame national. But it is claimed by some that because the 15thAmendment has been successfully evaded in certain States, it is, forthat reason, a failure. I will state here in passing, however, thatthere has never been made nor can be made any law or constitution thatcan not at certain times and in some places be successfully evaded.But this does not necessarily prove that the law or constitution inquestion was a mistake and should, for that reason, be repealed. Tothis extent and for the reasons and purposes above stated, the wisdomof the Reconstruction Acts of Congress has been more than vindicated.

The failure of the Reconstruction legislation was not due so much tothe change of sentiment in the North as to an unwise interpretation ofthese laws. This started with two unfortunate decisions rendered bythe United States Supreme Court, the result of two unwise appointmentsto seats on the bench made by President Grant. The Judges referred toare Waite of Ohio, and Bradley of New Jersey. Both were supposed to beRepublicans and believed to be in[Pg 366] accord with the other leaders andconstitutional lawyers in the Republican party in their constructionof the War Amendments to the Federal Constitution. But they proved tobe strong States' Rights men and, therefore, strict constructionists.Those two, with the other States' Rights men already on the bench,constituted a majority of that tribunal. The result was that the courtdeclared unconstitutional and void, not only the national civil rightsact, but also the principal sections of the different enforcement actswhich provided for the protection of individual citizens by theFederal Government against domestic violence. National citizenship hadbeen created by the 14th Amendment and the Federal Government had beenclothed with power to enforce the provisions of that amendment.Legislation for that purpose had been placed upon the statute booksand they were being enforced whenever and wherever necessary, as inthe case of the lawless and criminal organization called the Ku KluxKlan. But the Supreme Court, very much to the surprise of every one,stepped in and tied the hands of the national administration andprevented any further prosecutions for violence upon the person of acitizen of the United States, if committed within the limits of anyone of the States of the Union. In other words, if the State in whicha citizen of the United States may reside can not, does not or willnot protect him in the exercise and enjoyment of his personal, civiland political rights, he is without a remedy. The result is that theFederal Government is placed in the awkward and anomalous position ofexacting support and allegiance from its citizens, to whom it can notin return afford protection, unless they should be outside theboundaries of their own country. By those unfortunate and fataldecisions the vicious and mischievous doctrine of States' Rights,called by some State sovereignty, by others local self government,which was believed to have perished upon the battlefields of thecountry, was given new life, strength and audacity, and fostered bythe preaching of the fear of "Negro domination." The decisiondeclaring[Pg 367] the Civil Rights Law unconstitutional was rendered by Mr.Justice Bradley, and nearly all of those by which the principalsections of the different enforcement laws were nullified, wererendered by Chief Justice Waite.

If in every southern State today no attempt were made to violate orevade the 15th Amendment and colored men were allowed free andunrestricted access to the ballot boxes and their votes were fairlyand honestly counted, there would be no more danger of "Negrodomination" in any one of these States than there is of femaledomination in States where women have the right to vote. All thatcolored men have ever insisted upon, was not to dominate but toparticipate, not to rule but to have a voice in the selection of thosewho are to rule. In view of their numerical strength the probabilitiesare that more of them would be officially recognized than in othersections of the country, but never out of proportion to their fitnessand capacity, unless there should be a repetition of conditions thatexisted in the early days of Reconstruction, which is improbable. Thedominant element in the Democratic party in that section at that timeadopted, as stated above, the policy of "masterly inactivity" whichwas intended to prevent white men, through intimidation, from takingany part in the organization and reconstruction of the Stategovernments, with a view of making the governments thus organized asodious and as objectionable as possible, in other words, to make themas far as possible "Negro governments." This policy proved to besomewhat effective in many localities. The result was the colored menfound much difficulty in finding desirable white men outside of theDemocratic party for the different local positions to be filled. Thismade it necessary in some instances for colored men to be selected tofill certain positions for which white men would have been chosen. Butunder the present order of things, a repetition of any thing of thissort would be wholly out of the question.

I can not close this article without giving expression to the hopethat a fair, just and impartial historian will, some[Pg 368] day, write ahistory covering the Reconstruction period, in which an accurateaccount based upon actual facts of what took place at that time willbe given, instead of a compilation and condensation of untrue,unreliable and grossly exaggerated statements taken from politicalcampaign literature.

John R. Lynch,

Author of "The Facts of Reconstruction."

4352 Forrestville Avenue,
Chicago, Illinois

[Pg 369]

The Struggle for the Recognition of Haiti and Liberia as Independent Republics

The doctrine of recognition as a principle of International lawappeared in definite form at the close of the American Revolution. Newstates had arisen and successful revolutions had given birth to newgovernments.[411] In Washington's Neutrality Proclamation of 1793, theFrench Republic was recognized and the neutral position of America wasannounced.[412] These principles, developed later by Adams andJefferson through application to the South American colonies which haddeclared their independence of Spain, marked the beginning of thewell-defined international principle of recognition.[413]

Between 1810 and 1825, the Spanish colonies of Mexico, New Granada(Columbia), Venezuela, Peru, Buenos Ayres, Chile, Ecuador and UpperPeru (Bolivia) had revolted and rejected Spanish dominion.[414] In1824, England recognized the independence of Buenos Ayres, Mexico andColumbia, and gave no heed to the assertion that this "tended toencourage the revolutionary spirit which it had been found sodifficult to restrain in Europe."[415]

But before the Spanish colonies had gained their independence, and thespirit of democracy had begun to diffuse its light, movements were onfoot to secure the recognition of Haiti. After its discovery byColumbus in 1492, Haitian soil was drenched with the blood of theSpaniard and the native. Civil wars were begun and bloody scenes wereenacted.[416] In 1533, peace came between the natives and the[Pg 370]Spaniards. Soon thereafter, other Europeans began to arrive. TheFrench and the English were attracted by the stories of riches andtheir chances for gain. The bloody struggles between these nations andthe natives fill many pages of Haitian history.[417] The inhabitantstook now the one side, now the other.

Led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, the cause of the French was championed.Finding the French yoke as heavy as the Spanish yoke, Toussaint struckfor absolute liberty.[418] He was not, in a real sense, the liberatorof the Haitians, as commonly supposed, but he was the precursor oftheir liberty.[419] His deportation aroused them to struggle with newvigor. Under Dessalines, one of the generals in the army of ToussaintL'Ouverture, the rebellion grew more successful, and on January 1,1804, the army swore to abjure their allegiance to France forever, andthereupon declared the independence of Haiti.[420] Dessalines waschosen Governor-General and upon abolishing the name "Santo Domingo,"the aboriginal name "Haiti" was reestablished.

The history of Haiti after 1804 is concerned with internaldissensions, and contentions with foreign powers. Haiti was notimmediately recognized nor was she welcomed into the family ofnations. Retaliatory measures were taken by her government to compelthe powers to see the advantage in this recognition. Christophe, acontender for power with Pétion, one of the founders of the republic,issued in 1816 the proclamation that no negotiation would be enteredupon with France unless the independence of the kingdom of Haiti,[421]political as well as commercial, be previously recognized.[Pg 371][422]

In 1823, the independence of Mexico, Columbia, and others wasrecognized by Great Britain, but Haiti after nineteen years ofindependence was not given this consideration.[423] As a result theBritish trade privileges were abolished and the import tax of 12 percent. was levied on the products of all nations.[424]

Early indications of American commercial relations with Haiti and ofan unsatisfactory condition may be discerned in the followingresolutions, the first of which was submitted in the Senate, January11, 1819:

"Resolved: that the President of the United States be requestedto communicate to the Senate any information in his possessionand which, in his opinion, the public interest may permit todisclose, relating to the seizure and detention of the propertyof American citizens by the government of Haiti, and the state ofany negotiations to procure restitution."[425]

On December 31, 1822, the following resolution was submitted in theHouse:

"Resolved: that the committee on commerce be instructed toinquire into the present state of the trade and intercoursebetween the United States and the Island of Haiti, and reportwhat measures would be necessary to improve the commerce betweenthe two countries."[426]

[Pg 372]

As a matter of fact, the trade with Haiti was very important duringthis period. By the report of the Register's Office, 1825, Haitiranked twenty-ninth in the list of countries trading with the UnitedStates.[427]

The actual presentation of the question to the country as a whole grewout of an invitation to attend the Panama Congress. In 1825, GeneralBolivar, leader of the South American revolutionists, invited thestates north and south of the Isthmus to send delegates to a congresswhich would assemble at Panama. Formal invitations to attend thecongress were received from Mexico, Guatemala and Columbia and others.The following suggestions were made as to questions to be considered:the interference of European powers in America, the recognition ofHaiti, the slave trade and the formation of an American league.[428]That the recognition of Haiti was one of the objects of considerationis so stated among the lists of subjects in theOfficial Gazette ofColumbia. The congress was to determine on what footing should beplaced the political and commercial relations of those portions of ourhemisphere, which had obtained their independence, but whoseindependence had not been recognized by any American or Europeanpower, as was for many years the case with Haiti.[429] Other evidenceis found in a letter of the Columbian minister, Salazar: "On whatbasis the relations of Haiti, and of other parts of our Hemispherethat shall hereafter be in like circumstances, are to be placed," saidhe, "is a question simple at first view, but attended with seriousdifficulties when closely examined. These arise from the differentmanner of regarding Africans, and from their different rights inHaiti, the United States and in other American states. This questionwill be determined at the Isthmus, and if possible, an uniform rule[Pg 373]of conduct adopted in regard to it, or those modifications that may bedemanded by circumstances."[430]

A special message was sent to Congress by President Adams on December26, naming the delegates to this congress, and asking for anappropriation for expenses. Both Clay, then Secretary of State, andPresident Adams wished to extend the commercial power of the UnitedStates over the Americas, and they welcomed this opportunity. Theydisclaimed any desire to enter any league, but left poorly defined theobjects which would be considered.[431]

The southern point of view, as expressed in the debates on thisquestion, was that disaster awaited the Southern States, if the UnitedStates should send delegates to a congress in which Haitianrepresentatives would sit, and which would consider the separation ofCuba and Porto Rico from Spain and the cessation of slavery. Thisviewpoint was expressed by Benton of Missouri, saying: "We buy coffeefrom her, and pay for it; but we interchange no consuls or ministers.We receive no mulatto consuls or black ambassadors. And why? Becausethe peace of eleven states in this Union will not permit the fruits ofa successful Negro insurrection to be exhibited among them.... Who areto advise and sit in judgment upon it? Five nations who have alreadyput the black man upon an equality with the white, not only in theirconstitutions but in real life; five nations who have at this moment(at least some of them) black generals in their armies and mulattoSenators in their Congresses."[432]

The same attitude was expressed by Hayne of South Carolina. "Withnothing connected with slavery," said he,[Pg 374] "can we consent to treatwith other nations, and least of all, ought we to touch the questionof the independence of Haiti, in conjunction with revolutionarygovernments.... You find men of color at the head of their armies, intheir legislative halls, and in their executive departments. They arelooking to Hayti, even now, with feelings of the strongest fraternityand show, by the very documents before us, that they acknowledge herto be independent."[433] So far as the mission itself was concerned,these arguments were farfetched and served rather to delay the time ofdeparture than to hinder it. The Senate confirmed the nomination andthe House voted the expenses. The delegates arrived after the close ofthe sessions of the congress. Another session was to be held atTacubaya, but because of dissensions this congress did not assemble.Therefore, the Panama Congress served only to excite debate on theslavery issue and the recognition question, and this last became arallying cry for the opponents of the administration.

During the intervening years between 1825 and 1860, many memorials,petitions and recommendations were made to Congress respecting therecognition of Haiti. In June, 1838, a petition was received by theSenate from "certain citizens of the United States praying that adiplomatic representative be sent and commercial regulations beentered into with the Republic."[434] This, as others, was laid on thetable. While this session continued, petitions were repeatedlypresented. John Quincy Adams was the champion of this cause, as ofthat against the Gag Resolutions, and, again and again, it was throughhim that the memorials were presented.

Objections were frequently made to the presentation of thesememorials. On December 19, Legaré of South Carolina said: "As sure asyou live, Sir, if this course is permitted to go on, the sun of thisUnion will go down—it will go down in blood and go down to rise nomore. I will vote[Pg 375] unhesitatingly against nefarious designs likethese. They are treason."[435] In 1839, while the House wasconsidering an outfit for a chargé d'affaires to Holland, Slade ofVermont began a speech in favor of appointing a diplomatic agent toHaiti. He spoke until the House refused to hear the continuation ofhis remarks.[436] A resolution was offered later to appoint acommercial agent to Haiti, but it was ruled out of order.[437] In thesame year, the Committee on Foreign Affairs asked to be dischargedfrom the "further consideration of sundry memorials asking for theopening of international relations with Haiti."[438] In spite of thisrequest, the next year, 1840, petitions urging the recognition werecontinued.[439] That Garrison was active in this agitation of theabolition period is shown by the statement of Wise, of Virginia: "itis but part and parcel of the English scheme set on foot by Garrison,and to bring abolition as near as possible...."[440]

In 1844, the Committee on Foreign Affairs made a report on the subjectof commercial intercourse with the republic of Haiti. Ten thousandcopies were ordered to be printed.[441] As a result of this report,and the agitation of years back, a commission was appointed to Haitiin 1844 and again in 1851.[442] In the latter year, an invitation wasmade to the United States Government to join France and England in anoffensive interference in Haiti.[443] The correspondence and thereports of one of the American Commissioners, Robert[Pg 376] Walsh, was madepublic in 1852, and they were widely discussed.[444] The reports wereunjust and unfair estimations even of the Haitian commercialsituation. A reliable estimate of the trade of Haiti with the UnitedStates, at this time, places the trade as equal to the total trade ofVenezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, the Cisalpine Republics and Peru withthe United States. Mexico, with more than sixteen times as large apopulation as Haiti, exported from the United States in 1851, $330,000less than Haiti and used for the purpose 26,000 tons less ofshipping.[445] And yet these countries were recognized as independentrepublics, while Haiti was denied that right.

European countries were not as slow as the United States in grantingrecognition to Haiti. England formally acknowledged the Republic in1825, and sent a Consul-General.[446] An imperfect recognition wasgranted by Charles X of France, by sending Baron Mackau as hisrepresentative.[447] Its independence was recognized fully in 1838,after thirty-four years of independence. Two treaties were negotiated,one of them political, by which the independence of the republic wasrecognized; the other financial, by which the claims of the Frenchcolonists were reduced to sixty million francs.[448] This debt madeHaiti almost a dependency of France for over sixty years.[38] Before1860, all important countries had representatives in Haiti. GreatBritain, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Hanoverand Austria were all duly chronicled in the Almanach de Gotha.[449] Inthe language of Frederick Douglass: "After Haiti had shaken off thefetters of bondage, and long after her freedom and independence hadbeen recognized by all[Pg 377] other civilized nations, we continued torefuse to acknowledge the fact and treated her as outside thesisterhood of nations."

By act of Congress in 1819, the colony of Liberia was established.During the years following, groups of colonists left America for thisshore.[450] The decade after 1832 was marked by the action of theindependent State colonization societies. In 1847, the people ofLiberia undertook self-government, which was adopted by popular vote.A later convention drew up a declaration of independence, and a newconstitution modeled on that of the United States was adopted, July26, 1847. In September, it was ratified by the people, and PresidentRoberts took office, January 3, 1848.[451]

President Roberts set out on a voyage to the foreign countries withthe intention of seeking favor for his country. In many countries, hewas welcomed and his efforts were successful. In England, for example,not only was recognition secured, but also an armed vessel of smalltonnage and a few guns were given him.[452] In the United States, noteven the formal recognition of Liberia was obtained. This was due, insome measure, to the slavery question and the contention which wasalways aroused when any subject even remotely related thereto waspresented.[453]

When Liberia declared its independence in 1848, the second Negrorepublic entered its demand for the recognition of its sovereignty bythe United States. Henry Clay, one of the early officers of theAmerican Colonization Society, wrote in a letter dated Ashland,October 18, 1851: "I have thought for years that the independence ofLiberia ought to be recognized by our government, and I havefrequently[Pg 378] urged it upon persons connected with the administrationand I shall continue to do so if I have suitable opportunity."

England recognized the independence of Liberia in 1848 and France in1852.[454] In 1855 treaties were formed with the Hanseatic Republics,Lubeck, Bremen and Hamburg, with Belgium in 1858, with Denmark in1861, with Italy and the Netherlands in 1862, with Holland, Sweden,Norway and Haiti in 1864, with Portugal and Denmark in 1865 andAustria in 1867.[455] For a period of years the United States hadmaintained a commercial agent at Monrovia and at Gaboon.[456] It wasevident to those acquainted with the commercial situation thatrecognition was desirable, for both of these Republics.[457]

In 1859, the leading northern newspapers carried advertisements fromthe Haitian government, offering homes with land and free passage tothose unable to provide the same.[Pg 379] A reply was published in theTribune addressed especially to the free people of color of Missouriand the North. A significant clause in this reply said: "Remember thatwhen you pass beyond the limits of the United States, the governmentand laws of this country cease to protect you."[458] A circular wassent out in 1860, addressed to the "Blacks, Men of color, and Indiansin the United States and British North American Provinces," and aftercalling attention to the prosperous condition of the country, added"that our relations with the powers represented in Haiti are on afooting of perfect harmony."[459]

The triumph of the Republican party in 1860 foreshadowed the exclusionof slavery from the territories, and the ultimate ruin of theinstitution. Six weeks after Lincoln's election, South Carolina hadadopted the Ordinance of Secession, and the Gulf States soon followed.There were only four slave-holding States with representatives inCongress, Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. At the opening ofthe 37th Congress, 1861, the President's message contained thefollowing: "If any good reason exists why we should persevere longerin withholding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty ofHaiti and Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, toinaugurate a novel policy in regard to them without the approbation ofCongress, I submit to your consideration the expediency of anappropriation for maintaining a Chargé d'Affaires near each of thesestates. It does not admit of doubt that important commercialadvantages might be secured by favorable treaties with them."[460]Commenting on Lincoln's message, Garrison terms it "feeble andrambling" and he "could find nothing in it to praise except therecommendation that Congress should recognize the independence andsovereignty of Haiti and Liberia."[Pg 380][461]

The 45th annual report, January 21, 1862, of the American ColonizationSociety contained a section calling attention to the message.[462] Theboard of managers of the Pennsylvania Colonization Society took noteof the same, May, 1862.[463] Newspapers and magazines took up theagitation. ThePhiladelphia North American said: "It is high timethat Congress should recognize Liberia as an independent,self-sustaining government. Such a measure would be perfectlycomformable to the principles, policy and direct interests of ourcountry."[464]

On February 4, 1862, Charles Sumner from the Committee on ForeignRelations, introduced a bill "authorizing the President to appointDiplomatic Representatives to the Republics of Haiti and Liberiarespectively. Each Representative so appointed is to be accredited asCommissioner and Consul-General and is to receive, out of any money inthe Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the compensation ofcommissioners provided for by Act of Congress, approved August 18,1856; but the compensation of the Representative at Liberia is not toexceed $4,000."[465] With the introduction of the bill, Sumner spokeat some length, favoring the passage of the bill.[466] Following thespeech of Sumner, the opposition arose. Davis, of Kentucky, said: "Ifafter such a measure should take effect, the Republic of Haiti and theRepublic of Liberia were to send their Ministers Plenipotentiary ortheir Chargé d'Affaires to our government, they would have to bereceived by the President and by all the functionaries of thegovernment upon the same terms of equality with similarrepresentatives from other powers. If a full-blooded Negro were sentin that capacity from[Pg 381] either of the two countries, by the laws ofnations he could demand that he be received precisely on the sameterms of equality with the white representative from the powers on theearth composed of white people."[467] This sentiment of theopposition, however, was expressed in harsher terms in some instances.Through Saulsbury, of Maryland, this sentiment again was: "How fine itwill look, after emancipating the slaves in this District, to welcomehere at the White House an African, full-blooded, all gilded andbelaced, dressed in court style, with wig and sword and tights andshoe-buckles and ribbons and spangles and many other adornments whichAfrican vanity will suggest;" and "If this bill should pass the Housesof Congress and become a law, I predict that in twelve months, someNegro will walk upon the floor of the Senate and carry his family intothat which is apart for foreign Ministers. If that is agreeable to thetastes and feelings of the people of this country, it is not tomine...."[468]

To these attacks, Sumner replied: "I content myself with a singleremark. I have more than once had the opportunity of meeting citizensof those republics and I say nothing more than truth when I add that Ihave found them so refined, and so full of self-respect that I am ledto believe no one of them charged with a mission from his governmentwill seek any society where he will not be entirely welcome."[469] Aletter from the Commercial Agent at Port au Prince was read, urgingimmediate recognition in order to counteract "the schemes of foreignpowers"; adding further that "the Haitians believed that when thepresent administration came into power in the United States, ourformer coldness and neglect would cease; and they feel and do nothesitate to express a bitter disappointment that nothing has yet beendone."[470] The bill was passed by the Senate, by a vote of 32 yeas to7 nays. In the House, it was championed[Pg 382] by Gooch of Massachusetts andpassed by a vote of 86 yeas to 37 nays, and with the President'ssignature became a law. In November, 1864, a treaty of friendship,commerce and navigation was signed between the United States andHaiti.[471] A similar treaty was signed with Liberia.[472]

Both of the Republics have felt deeply indebted to Charles Sumner forthe passage of this bill. The Liberian Commissioners, AlexanderCrummell, Edward Blyden, and J. D. Johnson, expressed thanks for hisdiscretion in securing its passage.[473] The republic of Haiti as lateas 1871 manifested its gratitude for his continued interest in itswelfare by presenting him with a medal and by an order that hisportrait be placed in its capitol.[474] The A. M. E. Church,representing thousands of Negroes in the United States, expressed thesentiment of this people in a resolution adopted in August, 1862, tothe effect "that, in the noble act of the United States Senate inpassing a law recognizing the independence of Haiti and Liberia, wesee the hand of God in a movement which we regard as ominous of goodfor the race."[475]

Thus after Haiti had been an independent power for sixty years andLiberia for fifteen years, the government of the United States grantedrecognition to them as independent republics, on the eve of the deathof the slave system. Under the average circumstances, promptrecognition may have come as the result of the efforts of the nations[Pg 383]themselves, as in the case of the republic of Texas.[476] But becauseof the unusual circumstance which the adoption of recognition forNegro republics would produce—holding some as slaves and recognizingothers as equals—these republics were forced to ally themselves withthe opponents of slavery and to encourage the presentation of theircase through the champions of anti-slavery in the legislative halls.Without regard to their more recent internal politics and moderndifficulties, the recognition of these republics as independent powersforms one of the great landmarks in the Negro's progress towarddemocracy, and justice.

Charles H. Wesley

[Pg 384]

Three Negro Poets: Horton, Mrs. Harper, and Whitman[477]

With the exception of a few noteworthy individuals, conscious literaryeffort on the part of the Negro in America is, of course, a matter ofcomparatively recent years. Decades before Emancipation, however,there were those who yearned toward poetry as a means of artisticexpression, and sought in this form to give vent to their groping,their striving, and their sorrow. Handicapped as they were, scores ofthese black bards must forever remain unknown. Even after the CivilWar those who had gifts were frequently held back by insufficienteducation or the lack of other advantages of culture. At least threepersons, however, in the long period between Phillis Wheatley and PaulDunbar, deserve not wholly to pass unnoticed. These were George MosesHorton, Mrs. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Albery A. Whitman. Eachone of these poets had faults and even severe limitations as anartist. Each one had also, however, a spark of the divine fire thatoccasionally even kindled a flame.

George M. Horton was born a slave in Chatham County, North Carolina,in 1797. Later he became the property of one Hall Horton, son ofJames, who, from all accounts, was a very hard master. George,however, was permitted to hire his time out at Chapel Hill, the seatof the University of North Carolina, where by some accounts hereceived twenty-five cents a day for his labor, by others fifty cents.He was very ambitious. He was fond of the melodies and hymns sung atcampmeetings, and learned to read largely by matching the words heknew in the hymnal to those in a spelling-book. Many people ofdistinction became interested in his abilities; several legends existas to[Pg 385] his instructors; and Dr. Caldwell, president of the University,was for some years a special patron. George's earliest poeticalcompositions, however, had to be written down for him by other people.His work was infused with his desire for freedom, and much of it wassuggested by the common evangelical hymns, as were the followinglines:

Some of Horton's friends undertook to help him publish a volume of hispoems so that from the sale of these he might purchase his freedom andgo to the new colony of Liberia. The young man now became fired withambition and inspiration. Thrilled by the new hope he wrote

Horton's master, however, demanded for him an exorbitant price, andwhen the booklet,The Hope of Liberty, appeared in 1829 it hadnothing of the sale that was hoped for. He lived for years as ajanitor at the University, executed small commissions for verse fromthe students, who treated him kindly, and in later years even went toPhiladelphia; but his old dreams had faded. Several reprintings of hispoems were made, however, and one of these was bound with the 1838edition of Phillis Wheatley's poems. He died in 1880 (by otheraccounts 1883). A scholarly article about[Pg 386] him was written for theSouthern Workman of October, 1914, by Mr. Stephen B. Weeks, who inturn owed much to the researches of Prof. George S. Wills.

Horton's work showed readily the influence of his models. He usedespecially the meter of the common evangelical hymns, and cultivatedthe vague personification of the poets of the eighteenth century. Hehimself, however, was essentially a romantic poet, as was evinced byhis fondness for Byron and Marlowe. His common style is represented bythe following lines from his poem entitledOn the Evening andMorning:

The passion in the heart of this man, his undoubted gifts as a poet,and the bitter disappointment of his yearnings have all but added onemore to the long list of those who died with their ambitions blastedand their most ardent hopes defeated.

In 1854 appeared the first edition ofPoems on MiscellaneousSubjects, by Frances Ellen Watkins, commonly known as Mrs. Frances E.W. Harper, who was for many years before the public and who is evennow remembered by many friends. Mrs. Harper was a woman of strongpersonality and could read her poems to advantage. Her verse was verypopular, not less than ten thousand copies of her booklets being sold.It was decidedly lacking in technique, however, and much in the styleof Mrs. Hemans.The Death of the Old Sea King, for instance, is inthe ballad style cultivated by this poet and Longfellow; but it is nota well-sustained effort. Mrs. Harper was best when most simple, aswhen in writing of children she said:[Pg 387]

The secret of her popularity is to be seen in such lines as thefollowing fromBury me in a Free Land:

Of the Emancipation Proclamation she wrote:

While Mrs. Harper was still prominently before the public appearedAlbery A. Whitman, a Methodist minister, whose important collection,Not a Man and Yet a Man, appeared in 1877, and whose long andambitious poem,Twasinta's Seminoles, orThe Rape of Florida (thelatter title being the one most used), was issued in 1884. This writerhad great love for his work. In the preface to his second volume hewrote of poetry as follows: "I do not believe poetry is on thedecline. I do not believe that human advancement extinguishes thetorch of sentiment. I can not think that money-getting is the wholebusiness of man. Rather am I convinced that the world is approaching apoetical revolution. The subtle evolution of thought must yet beexpressed in song. Poetry is the language of[Pg 388] universal sentiment.Torch of the unresting mind, she kindles in advance of all progress.Her waitings are on the threshold of the infinite, where, beckoningman to listen, she interprets the leaves of immortality. Her voice isthe voice of Eternity dwelling in all great souls. Her aims are theinducements of heaven, and her triumphs the survival of the Beautiful,the True, and the Good. In her language there is no mistaking of thatliberal thought which is the health of mind. A secret interpreter, shewaits not for data, phenomena, and manifestations, but anticipates andspells the wishes of Heaven."

The work of Whitman himself is exceedingly baffling. It is to hiscredit that something about his work at once commands judgment by thehighest standards. If we consider it on this basis, we find that it isdiffuse, exhibits many lapses in taste, is faulty metrically, as ifdone in haste, and shows imitation on every hand. It imitatesWhittier, Longfellow and Tennyson; Scott, Byron and Moore.The OldSac Village andNanawawa's Suitors are very evidentlyHiawathaover again, andCuster's Last Ride is simply another version ofTheCharge of the Light Brigade. And yet, whenever one has about decidedthat Whitman is not worthy of consideration, the poet insists on arevision of judgment; and he certainly could not have imitated so manywriters so readily, if he had not had some solid basis inappreciation. The fact is that he shows a decided faculty for brisk,though not sustained, narration. This may be seen inThe House of theAylors. He has, moreover, a romantic lavishness of description thatin spite of all technical faults still has some degree of merit. Thefollowing quotations, taken respectively fromThe Mowers andTheFlight of Leeona, with all their extravagance, will exemplify bothhis weakness and his strength in description:

InA Dream of Glory occur the lines,

The Bards of England discusses many poets. The following is thepassage on Byron:

Whitman's shortcomings become readily apparent when he attemptssustained work.The Rape of Florida is the longest poem yet writtenby a Negro in America, and also the only attempt by a member of therace to use the elaborate Spenserian stanza throughout a long piece ofwork. The story is concerned with the capture of the Seminoles inFlorida through perfidy and the taking of them away to their new homein the West. It centers around three characters, Palmecho, an oldchief, Ewald, his daughter, and Atlassa, a young Seminole who isEwald's lover. The poem is decidedly diffuse; there is too muchsubjective description, too little strong characterization. Palmecho,instead of being a stout warrior, is a "chief of peace and[Pg 390] kindlydeeds." Stanzas of merit, however, occasionally strike the eye. Theboat-song forces recognition as genuine poetry:

It is important to note in a consideration of Whitman's method thatwhile he is writing a story about Indians he frequently leaves this totell how he feels as a Negro. The following stanzas, however, arepertinent to present-day discussion:

In 1890 Whitman brought out an edition ofNot a Man and Yet a ManandThe Rape of Florida, adding to these a collection ofmiscellaneous poems,Drifted Leaves, and in 1901 he publishedAnIdyl of the South, an epic poem in[Pg 391] two parts. It is to be regrettedthat he did not have the training that comes from the best universityeducation. He had the taste and the talent to benefit from suchculture in the greatest degree.

This brief review of the work of three earnest members of the raceprompts a few reflections on the whole art of poetry as this iscultivated by the Negro in America. If we may make any reasonablededuction from the work of the poets studied, if we may arrive at anyconclusion from the work of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the youngerwriters of the day, we should say that the genius of the race issubjective and romantic rather than objective and classic. In poetry,least of all arts, does the Negro conceal his individuality. This ishis great gift, but also in another way the spur to furtherachievement. The race should in course of time produce many brilliantlyric poets. Dunbar was a lyric poet; so was Pushkin. The drama andthe epic obviously call for more extended information, a moreobjective point of view, and a broader basis in general culture thanmany members of the race have so far had the time or the talent or theinclination to give to them.

Again, has one ever asked himself why it is that so much of the poetryof the Negro fails to reach the ultimate standards of art? Itcertainly is not because of lack of imagination, for God has beengenerous in the imagery with which he has endowed the race. First ofall, last of all, is it not the matter of technique? Many booklets ofverse that have been issued show that the writers had not masteredeven the ordinary fundamentals of English grammar. For one to think ofrivalling Tennyson with his classical tradition when he can not make aclearcut English sentence is out of the question. Further, and this isthe most important point, the work of those in question almost neverexhibits imagination expressed in intense, condensed, vivid, andsuggestive phrase—such phrasing, for instance, as one will find in"The Eve of St. Agnes," which I am not alone in considering the mostlavishly brilliant and successful brief effort in poetry in thelanguage. To all of this might be added a[Pg 392] refining of taste,something all too frequently lacking and something that can come onlyfrom the most arduous and diligent culture. When we further securesuch things as these the race may indeed possess not only a Horton, aHarper, or a Whitman, but a Tennyson, a Keats, and even a Shakespeare.

Benjamin Brawley

[Pg 393]

Catholics and the Negro

In order to understand and to gain an adequate idea of what Catholicsand their ancient Church have done for the American Negro, it isnecessary to take into account the facts and testimony of impartialhistory in regard to human slavery among the nations, and theinfluence which the Roman Catholic Church brought to bear on thatinstitution. We must study and remember the conditions and customs inpre-Christian times in regard to slaves, and we should also note thegradual transition from the state of things existing in the heathenworld to that prevailing in our modern Christian civilization.

The student of history observes that ideas and principles take theirrise and, growing, permeate society, bringing about a change in themorals and manners of a nation. These changes, which may be for goodor evil, do not come of a sudden. Even during the Christian ages theprinciples of the gospel do not always prevail in their fulness andbeauty. At times, through the passions of men, non-Christian and paganideas gain ground and for a time predominate. It is only by dealingtactfully with human nature and by persistent efforts that the Churchhas been enabled to make Christian ideals prevail.

At the dawn of Christianity, slavery was an established institution inall countries.[478] Some pagan philosophers, like Seneca, maintainedthat all men are by nature free and equal, still by the law of nationsslavery was upheld in all lands; and it was an axiom among the rulingclasses, that "the human race exists for the sake of the few."Aristotle held that no perfect household could exist without slavesand freemen and that the natural law, as well as the law of nations,makes a distinction between bond and free.[479] Plato[Pg 394] avowed thatevery slave's soul was fundamentally corrupt and should not betrusted.[480] The proportion of slaves to freemen varied in differentcountries, though usually the former were largely in excess of thefree population. In Rome for a long time, according to the testimonyof Blair, the slaves were three to one. At one time they became soformidable there that the Senate, fearing that if conscious of theirown numbers the public safety might be endangered, forbade them adistinctive dress. Atrocious laws regulated the relations of masterand slaves. The head of the family was absolute master of his slaves,having over them the power of life and death. Moral and socialdegradation was the common lot of slaves. Their wretched condition inpagan times was often rendered more intolerable by aggravatingcircumstances. Many of them had once enjoyed the blessings of freedom,but had been reduced to bondage by the calamities of war. Unlike theNegro slaves of America, they were usually of the same color as theirmasters; and in some instances, better educated, more refined, and ofmore delicate frame, than those whom they served. Epictetus, one ofthe ablest of the Stoic philosophers, was a slave. Horace and Juvenalwere the sons of freedmen.[481]

There is something of the ruthlessness of the ancient pagans in theatrocities practiced in later times, and even in our day, by theMohammedans in Africa. Livingstone, Cameron, and still more recentlyCardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Carthage, who was furnished withinformation by his missionaries, declare that at least 400,000 Negroesare annually carried into bondage in Africa by Mussulman traders, andthat fully five times that number perish either by being massacred inthe slave hunt, or from hunger and hardship on the journey. Thus thelives or liberty of an immense number of the human race are each yearsacrificed on the altars of lust and mammon. No pagan government ofantiquity ever framed any law aiming at the immediate[Pg 395] or gradualextinction of slavery. The same is true of modern nations outside thepale of Christianity.[482]

With the life and teaching of Christ and the preaching of his gospelby his Apostles, began a new era in the history of slavery. TheApostles and their successors pursued a policy that without injustice,violence or revolution, led to the gradual emancipation of the slaves.The labors and influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which have beenthat of organized Christianity, make a long story, reaching throughall the Christian ages. The early Church mitigated the condition ofthe slave, by teaching him the consoling doctrines of Christ. Shetaught the slave and master reciprocal duties, prescribing laws thatexercised a salutary restraint on the authority of the one, andsanctified the obedience of the other; she contributed to the moralelevation of the slave by leveling all distinctions between bond andfree in her temples and religious assemblies.[483] Masters wereencouraged to emancipate their slaves by a public ceremony ofmanumission celebrated in the church on festival days. The dignity andduty of labor for all is inculcated by St. Paul and the earlyChristian teachers in opposition to the pagan practice, which scornedlabor as being only fit for slaves. The absolute religious equalityproclaimed in the Church was the negation of slavery as practiced bypagan society. The Church made no account of the social condition ofthe faithful. Bond and free received the same sacraments. Clerics ofservile origin were numerous. The very Chair of St. Peter was occupiedby men who had been slaves—Pius in the second century and Callistusin the third.[484] The names of slaves are numbered among the martyrsof the Christian faith and they are inscribed on the calendar ofsaints honored by the Church.

In giving them a place in religious society, the Church restored toslaves the family and marriage. In Roman law, neither legitimatemarriage nor regular paternity, nor even[Pg 396] any impediment to the mostunnatural unions had existed for the slave. In upholding the moraldignity and prerogatives of the slave, the Church was striking a blowfor his civil freedom. Though she was not charged with the framing ofthe civil laws, she moved the hearts of the slaveowners by moralsuasion, and she moulded the conscience of legislators by an appeal tothe innate rights of men. In the early Fathers of the Church, like St.Gregory of Nyssa and St. John Chrysostom, the most energeticreprobation of slavery may be found.

The redemption of captives was another work which engaged the pioussolicitude of the Church. From the fourth to the fourteenth centuryEurope was periodically a prey to northern invaders. The usual fate ofthe vanquished was death or slavery. They who escaped were carriedinto bondage. A more wretched fate awaited the female sex, for theywere reserved to gratify the caprices of their conquerors. Religiousorders were founded to succor and redeem them.[485] "Closely connectedwith the influence of the Church," says Mr. Lecky, "in destroyinghereditary slavery, was its influence in redeeming captives fromservitude. In no other form of charity was its beneficial charactermore continually and more splendidly displayed."[486]

Among the forces enlisted in the cause of freedom the most potent camefrom the Papacy. In every age the voice of the Popes resounded clearlythroughout the world in the interests of human freedom. They eithercommended the slaves to the humanity of their masters, or advocatedtheir manumission, and also condemned the slave trade with all itsabuses. Pope Gregory the Great, who occupied the chair of Peter from590 to 604, wrote: "Since our Blessed Redeemer, the Author of alllife, in His goodness assumed our human flesh, in order that bybreaking the bond of servitude in which we were held, the grace of Hisdivinity might restore us to our original liberty, it is a wholesomedeed by the benefits of emancipation to restore the freedom in which[Pg 397]they were born, to men whom nature, in the beginning brought forthfree, and whom the law of nations has subjected to the yoke ofslavery."[487]

On October 7, 1462, Pope Pius II issued a letter in which he reprovedand condemned the slave trade then carried on. Again, a short timelater Leo X denounced slavery in 1537. Paul III forbade theenslavement of the Indians. In the later centuries on the revival ofslavery by some of the nations, especially among those coming underthe power of Mohammedanism in Persia, Arabia, Turkey and Africa, asalso on account of the enslavement of Negroes and Indians in theAmericas, other Popes proclaimed the Christian law in regard to thecruelties of the slave trade. Again Urban VIII, in 1639, and BenedictXIV, in 1741, were defenders of the liberty of the Indians and blackseven though they were not as yet instructed in the Christianfaith.[488] In 1815, Pius VII demanded of the Congress of Vienna thesuppression of the slave trade. In the Bull of Canonization of St.Peter Claver, one of the most illustrious adversaries of slavery, PiusIX speaks of the "supreme villainy" of the slave-traders. Gregory XVI,in 1839, published a memorable[Pg 398] encyclical in which the followingstrong language occurs:

"By virtue of our Apostolic office, we warn and admonish in theLord all Christians of whatever conditions they may be, andenjoin upon them that for the future, no one shall ventureunjustly to oppress the Indians, Negroes or other men whoeverthey may be, to strip them of their property, or reduce them intoservitude, or give aid or support to those who commit suchexcesses or carry on that infamous traffic by which the blacks,as if they were not men, but mere impure animals reduced likethem into servitude, contrary to the laws of justice andhumanity, are bought, sold and devoted to endure the hardestlabor. Wherefore, by virtue of our Apostolic authority, wecondemn all these things as absolutely unworthy of the Christianname."[489]

Probably the most memorable statement of the history and Catholicposition on slavery is the beautiful letter which Pope Leo XIII, in1888, addressed to the Brazilian Bishops, exhorting them to banishfrom their country the remnants of slavery—a letter to which theBishops responded with their most energetic efforts. Some generousslave-owners freed their slaves in a body, as in the first ages of theChurch. Catholic Brazil emancipated its slaves without war orbloodshed. The following are some extracts from the Pope's letter:

"The condition of slavery, in which a considerable part of thehuman family has been sunk in squalor and affliction now for manycenturies, is deeply to be deplored; for the system is one whollyopposed to that which was originally ordained by God and bynature. The Supreme Author of all things so decreed that manshould exercise a sort of royal dominion over beasts and cattleand fish and fowl, but never that man should exercise a likedominion over his fellow-man. * * * * * * * * * Monuments, laws,institutions, through a continuous series of ages, teach andsplendidly demonstrate the great love of the Church towardsslaves, whom in their miserable condition, she never leftdestitute of protection, and always to the best of her poweralleviated. Therefore, praise and thanks are due to the CatholicChurch, since she has merited it[Pg 399] in the prosperity of nations,by the very great beneficence of Christ, our Redeemer andbanisher of slavery, and cause of true liberty, fraternity andequality among men. Toward the end of the fifteenth century, whenthe base stain of slavery was almost blotted out from amongChristian nations, the Catholic Church took the greatest carethat the evil germs of such depravity should nowhere revive.Therefore, she directed her provident vigilance to thenewly-discovered regions of Africa, Asia and America, for areport had reached her that the leaders of the expeditions,Christians though they were, were wickedly making use of theirarms and ingenuity to establish and impose slavery on thoseinnocent nations. Indeed, since the crude nature of the soilwhich they had to overcome, nor less the wealth of metals whichhad to be extracted by mining, required very hard work, unjustand inhuman plans were entered into; for a new traffic was begun,slaves being transported for that purpose from Ethiopia, which atthat time, under the name of theslave trade, too much occupiedthose colonies."[490]

The fact that the Catholic Church has been a leader of mankind tolight and Christian liberty is attested by leading non-Catholicscholars and historians. The historian Lecky, who holds no brief forCatholicism, says: "The Catholic Church was the very heart ofChristendom and the spirit that radiated from her penetrated into allthe relations of life. Catholicism laid the very foundations of moderncivilization. Herself the most admirable of all organizations, therewas formed beneath her influence, a vast network oforganizations—political, municipal and social—which supplied a largeproportion of the materials of almost every modern structure. In thetransition from slavery to serfdom, and in the transition from serfdomto liberty, she was the most zealous, the most unwearied and the mostefficient agent."[491] The French Protestant Guizot says: "There canbe no doubt that the Catholic Church struggled resolutely against thegreat vices of the social state—against slavery,[Pg 400] for instance. Thesefacts are so well known that it is needless for me to enter intodetails."[492]

Speaking of the development of the colored race under Catholicinfluence, Dr. Blyden, a noted Negro scholar, wrote inFrazer'sMagazine for May, 1870, the following words, which he afterwardsincorporated into hisChristianity, Islam, and the Negro Race:

"The thoughtful and cultivated Protestant Negro, though he may,ex animo, subscribe to the tenets of the particulardenomination to which he belongs, as approaching nearest to theteaching of God's word, yet he cannot read history withoutfeeling a deep debt of gratitude to the Roman Catholic Church.The only Christian Negroes who have had the power to successfullythrow off oppression and maintain their position as freemen wereRoman Catholic Negroes—the Haitiens; and the greatest Negro theChristian world has yet produced was a Roman Catholic—ToussaintL'Ouverture. In the ecclesiastical system of modern, as was thecase in the military system of ancient Rome, there seems to be aplace for all races and colors. At Rome the names of Negroes,males as well as females, who have been distinguished for pietyand good works, are found in the calendar under the designationof saints."[493]

Coming to America, we find that from the beginning of our history, theChristian forces, which in the past strove to civilize andChristianize the old world, have exerted themselves in behalf of theoppressed in the New World. Catholic missionaries have always feltconstrained to carry out the injunction of the Divine Savior to hisapostles, "Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to everycreature."[494] Their object was not to gain gold or worldly fortune,[Pg 401]but to bring the light of Christian truth to the minds of savageaborigines; to win souls to Christ. To those missionaries, as theChurch teaches, the souls of the children of all races are equallyprecious in the sight of God, whatever may be their individual orracial character. It is for this that they left in young manhood,their relatives and comfortable homes, with a probability of neverreturning. In early ages, they brought Christianity and civilizationto peoples and nations of the lands of the Eastern Hemisphere. Afterthe discovery of the New World by Columbus, they were with theexplorers of North and South America. From about 1615 we find themlaboring among the Indian tribes from Quebec in Canada to Californiain the West. Intrepid apostles like Marquette, Breheuf, Menard,Millet, Lallemant, Jogues, Le Moyne, Dablon, Garnier, and a host ofothers like them blazed the way through the wilderness to labor andsuffer and die for the salvation of the Indians. They made records inthe service of Christ among the Hurons, Algonquins, Iroquois andMohawks. To the South, in Florida, Spanish Franciscans fell victims tothe treachery of Creeks and Seminoles. In the middle of the lastcentury, before the coming of the settlers, Father De Smet spentnearly forty years among the tribes of the great Western plains and inthe Rocky Mountain region. Other missionaries in Western Canadapenetrated the North as far as the Arctic Circle. In the seventies andeighties of the nineteenth century, a frail and slender man, in theperson of the learned and saintly Archbishop Charles J. Seghers,journeyed thousands of miles, to bring the message of the Master tothe red men in the vast territory of distant Alaska. In California,Arizona and Texas, the traveler meets with many evidences andmonuments of the work of early Spanish Catholic missionaries among theIndians. The records show that in some instances, the missionarieswere accompanied by Negroes. Probably the first Negro whose name isrecorded in North American history is that of Estevan, or Stephen, whoaccompanied Father Marcos de Niza, in 1536, on a missionary[Pg 402]expedition into the territory of the present States of Arizona and NewMexico.[495]

It is at a later period, however, than that of these earlymissionaries, that the coming of the Negro as a notable part of thepopulation of the American Colonies begins. This growth takes its risewith the revival of the slave trade in America after the firstimportation of slaves brought to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Therewas long a demand for laborers, and thus an increasing number ofslaves were brought from Africa to the various colonies on theAtlantic seaboard, from Massachusetts to Louisiana. British ships atthat time supplied not only English colonies with slave labor, butalso those of France and Spain.[496] Catholic colonists were confinedto Maryland and Louisiana. They also had slaves in their homes and ontheir plantations, but it is known that they provided for theirreligious needs and were obliged by their religion to regard theirslaves as human beings and not as mere chattels. Under LordBaltimore's government in the English Colony of Maryland, the CatholicProprietary himself tells us in his answer to the Lords in 1676,concerning the law that had been enacted "to encourage the baptizingand the instructing of those kinds of servants in the faith ofChrist."[497] There had been remissness towards the slaves in thisrespect among other sections of the population, but such denominationswere spurred to action by the example of Catholics. The work ofSpanish and French missionaries, as Dr. Woodson points out, influencedthe education of the Negro throughout America.[498] The freedom andwelfare of the unhappy slaves were especially promoted in the famous"Code Noir," the most humane legislation in their behalf which hadbeen devised before the repeal of slavery. In 1724, M. de Bienvilledrew up the "Code Noir," containing all the legislation applicable toslaves in Louisiana, which remained in force until[Pg 403] 1803. This code,signed in the name of the King, and inspired by Catholic teaching andpractice, was probably based on a similar code, which was promulgatedin 1685, in Santo Domingo, by Louis XIV, King of France. The Edictordained that all slaves be instructed and that they be admitted tothe sacraments and rites of the Roman Catholic Church. It allowed theslave time for instruction, worship and rest, not only every Sunday,but every festival usually observed by the Church. It prohibited undersevere penalties all masters and managers from corrupting their femaleslaves, and provided for the Christian marriage of the slave. It didnot allow the Negro, husband, wife or infant children, to be soldseparately. It forbade the use of torture or immoderate and inhumanpunishments. It obliged the owners to maintain their old and decrepitslaves. If the Negroes were not fed or clothed as the law prescribed,or if they were in any way cruelly treated, they might apply to theprocurer, who was obliged by his office to protect them. A somewhatsimilar edict, known as the Spanish Code, was promulgated in theSpanish West Indies in 1789.

At the time of the Revolutionary War such Catholic patriots as CharlesCarroll, of Carrollton, the Polish General Kosciuszko, and GeneralLafayette, of France, gave evidence of their interest in theimprovement of the Negro. Kosciuszko provided in his will that theproperty which he acquired in America should be used for the purchaseof slaves to be educated for higher service and citizenship.[499]Lafayette persistently urged that the blacks be educated andemancipated.[500]

The impression seems to prevail in some quarters that the CatholicChurch in the United States has been indifferent to the welfare of theNegro. Sir Harry H. Johnston in his work,The Negro in the NewWorld, rather unjustly asserts that the Church maintains "nothing inthe way of Negro education and has never at any time shown particularsympathy or desire to help the Negro slave." At the[Pg 404] same time heacknowledges that the Roman Catholic Church in the West Indies andSouth America has been the great opponent of slavery. Johnston states"that the infractions of the Code Noir," and the increasedmal-treatment of slaves and free mulattoes did not take place untilthe Catholic order of Jesuits had been expelled from Saint Dominiqueabout 1766. Here, as in Brazil, and Paraguay, they had exasperated thewhite colonists by standing up for the natives or the Negro slaves;and in Hispaniola they had endeavored to exact from the localgovernment a full application of the various slave-protecting edicts.Whatever faults and mistakes they may have been guilty of in thenineteenth century, the Jesuits played, for two hundred years, a noblepart in acting as a buffer between the Caucasian on the one hand, andthe backward peoples on the other.[501]

Before the emancipation of the slaves in the United States, greatdifficulties prevented the Catholic Church from benefiting the slaves,especially in those parts where the Church had no adherents and nofreedom to act. The Church had but a limited number of clergy andsmall means. The most of the South was predominantly Protestant and insome sections, penal laws were in force against Catholics. In manyStates laws were enacted against the instruction of slaves in anymanner whatever.

Notwithstanding these obstacles, we find Catholic schools inWashington and Baltimore educating Negro children as early as1829.[502] The Rt. Rev. John England, the first Catholic Bishop ofCharleston, South Carolina, who held his office from 1820 until hisdeath in 1842, cared much for the poor friendless slaves. He began toteach them, founding a school for males under the care of a priest,and a school for girls under the care of the Sisters of Mercy. He wascompelled to suspend the slave schools by the passage of a law makingit criminal to teach a slave to read and write, but he[Pg 405] continued theschools for emancipated blacks.[503] After the Civil War, theauthorities of the Church were better enabled to take an active partin meeting the religious needs of the Negro. The Plenary Councils ofBaltimore invite the colored people of our country to enter theCatholic Church. To her pastors the Negro is a man with an immortalsoul to save. Rome, writing to the Bishops of the United States, onJanuary 31, 1866, in preparation for the Second Plenary Council ofBaltimore, declares: "It is the mind of the Church that the Bishops ofthe United States, because of the duty weighing upon them of feedingthe Lord's flock, should take council together, in order to bringabout in a steady way the salvation and the Christian education of thelately emancipated negroes." When assembled in Council the Bishops ofthe United States cordially seconded the wishes of Rome by quoting thevery words in an entire chapter devoted to the question of thesalvation of the colored race. The Council declares: "This is truecharity, if not only temporal prosperity of men be increased, but ifthey are sharers in the highest and inestimable benefits, namely, ofthat true liberty by which we are called and are sons of God, whichChrist, dying on a cross and smiting the enemy of the human race,obtains for all men without any exceptions whatsoever."[504] Eighteenyears later, in 1884, the Third Plenary Council, in the same city,renewed the exhortations of the preceding council. Among other thingsit states: "Out of six millions of colored people there is a verylarge multitude who stand sorely in need of Christian instruction andmissionary labor; and it is evident that in the poor dioceses, inwhich they are mostly found, it is most difficult to bestow on themthe care they need without the generous cooperation of our Catholicpeople in more prosperous localities.... Since the greatest part ofthe Negroes are as yet outside the fold of Christ, it is a matter of[Pg 406]necessity to seek workmen inflamed with zeal for souls, who will besent into this part of the Lord's harvest."[505]

With the encouragement of the higher authorities of the Church, whosought the spiritual welfare and progress of the race, religiousorders and missionary associations took up the work for the Negro. Thefirst of these was the Fathers of the Society of St. Joseph, foundedby Cardinal Vaughan, of England. They are known as the Josephites andnow have priests and missionaries in nearly all Southern States anddioceses. There are also laboring in this field Fathers of the HolyGhost, as also members of the Society of the African Missions, and theSociety of the Divine Word. Furthermore, there are a number of coloredand white Sisterhoods conducting orphanages, academies and ChristianSchools for colored children.

In the Second and Third Plenary Councils, the Bishops of the CatholicChurch in the United States as a body took up the cause of the Negrorace. The Bishops have when occasion offered, by word and deed, showntheir friendship and zeal in behalf of the Negro. They haveindividually raised their voices for humanity and the black man.Cardinal Gibbons, who has long been the leading prelate among theAmerican Bishops, has not only often spoken a good word for the Negro,when the occasion called for it, but has proved by actions hisChristian spirit and heroic charity. Among the many instances of hiszeal and self-sacrifice, it is related that when he was a young priestin charge of the parish of Elk Ridge, near Baltimore, smallpox brokeout in the village, and a general exodus at once followed. One oldNegro man, lying at the point of death, had been abandoned by hisfamily and was left alone in his cabin, without food or medicine.Father Gibbons, hearing of the case, hastened to the old man's relief;he procured everything necessary for him, and stood by and tended himuntil he died. He then procured a coffin and having placed the corpsein it, carried it to the graveyard and buried it with[Pg 407] his ownhands.[506] A similar incident is told of Rev. J. A. Cunnane, of UpperMarlboro, Maryland, now a pastor in Baltimore. When stationed inCharles County he attended an old colored man during an epidemic ofsmallpox, "took the body to the grave on a wheelbarrow, and with hisown hands buried it."[507]

Cardinal Gibbons, some years ago, wrote a letter in which occur thefollowing sentiments:

"What then is the first need of the colored people? A soundreligious education; an education that will bring them to apractical knowledge of God, that will teach them their origin andthe sublime destiny that awaits them in a better world; aneducation that will develop their superior being, that willinspire them with the love of wisdom and hatred for sin, thatwill make them honest, moral and God-fearing men. Such aneducation will elevate and ennoble them and place them on areligious footing with the white man.

"And secondly, it is a matter of observation that few coloredpeople are mechanics. Now, to be a factor in their country'sprosperity, to make their presence felt and to give any influencewhatever to their attempts to better their status, it isabsolutely necessary that, besides a sound religious trainingthey should be taught to be useful citizens; they should bebrought up from childhood to habits of industry. They should betaught that to labor is honorable, and that the idler is a menaceto the commonwealth. Institutions should be founded wherein theyoung men may learn the trades best suited to their inclinations.Thus equipped—on the one hand well-instructed Christians, on theother skilled workmen—our colored people may look forwardhopefully to the future. I am happy to bear testimony frompersonal observation to the many virtues exhibited among so manyof the colored people of Maryland, especially their deep sense ofreligion, their gratitude for favors shown, and theiraffectionate disposition."[508]

The Cardinal used his great influence against the lynching[Pg 408] evil andin an article in theNorth American Review for October, 1905,pronounced lynching "a blot on our American civilization."[509] Itshould be stated too that in Catholic countries of Central and SouthAmerica we rarely ever hear of lynching nor of unnatural crimes whichprovoke it. In an address announcing "Colorphobia" as a "malignantlyunchristian disease," Mr. John C. Minkins, a journalist, not long agotold a Baptist Ministers' Conference of Providence, Rhode Island, thatthe lynchings in the United States are nearly all in States wherethere are scarcely any Catholics. He based his statements on figuresfrom the Research Bureau of the Negro Industrial Institute atTuskegee, Alabama.[510]

In March, 1904, Cardinal Gibbons wrote the following letter to theRev. George F. Bragg, of Baltimore:

"In reply to your letter of yesterday, I hasten to say that theintroduction of the 'Jim Crow' bill into the Maryland Legislatureis very distressing to me. Such a measure must of necessityengender very bitter feelings in the colored people against thewhites. Peace and harmony can never exist where there is unjustdiscrimination, and where the members of every community mustconstantly strive for its peace, especially now in the hour ofour affliction. While calamity and disaster are frowning upon ourcity, mutual helpfulness should be the common endeavor and noaction should be lightly taken which would precipitate enmities,strife and acrimonious feelings. The duty of every man is tolighten the burdens that weigh heavily upon his neighbor to thefull extent of his power. It is equally the duty of every memberof a community to avoid any action which is calculated to makehard and bitter the lot of a less fortunate race. Furthermore, itwould be most injudicious to make the whole race suffer for thedelinquencies of a few individuals, to visit upon thousands whoare innocent that punishment and chastisement which should bemeted out to the guilty alone."

Hostile legislation to the colored people was opposed by a notedCatholic layman of Maryland, the Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte, AttorneyGeneral of the United States, under[Pg 409] President Roosevelt. Mr.Bonaparte rendered service and wrote sympathetic words to Mr. Bragg,in 1904, concerning the proposed restriction of the electivefranchise. He said: "Whatever the restrictions imposed, they should bethe same for all citizens; there should not be one law for white menand another law for black men, one law for Americans of twogenerations and another for Americans of three."[511]

The distinguished Archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, John Ireland, aman of wide influence, on May 5, 1890, spoke on the race problem in asermon delivered at St. Augustine's Church, Washington, D. C.Secretary Windom, Recorder Bruce, the whole Minnesota delegation toCongress and many Senators and others prominent in public life wereamong the congregation. The bold and outspoken stand of the Archbishopon this occasion created somewhat of a sensation throughout America.Among other things he said:

"It make me ashamed as a man, as a citizen, as a Christian, tosee the prejudice that is acted against the colored citizens ofAmerica because of his color. As to the substance, the coloredman is equal to the white man; he has a like intellect, the sameblood courses in their veins; they are both equally the childrenof a common Father, who is in heaven. A man shows a narrowness ofmind and becomes unworthy of his humanity by refusing anyprivilege to his fellowman because he is colored. Every prejudiceentertained, every breach of justice and charity against afellow-citizen because of color is a stain flung upon the bannerof our liberty that floats over us. No church is a fit temple ofGod where a man, because of his color, is excluded or made tooccupy a corner. Religion teaches that we cannot be pleasing toGod unless we look upon all mankind as children of our Father inheaven. And they who order and compel a man because he is coloredto betake himself to a corner marked off for his race,practically contradict the principles of justice and of equalrights established by the God of Mercy, who lives on the altar.Let Christians act out their religion, and there is no more raceproblem. Equality for the colored man is coming. The coloredpeople are showing themselves worthy of it. Let the colored beindustrious, purchase homes, respect law and[Pg 410] order, educatethemselves and their children, and keep insisting on theirrights. The color line must go; the line will be drawn atpersonal merit."[512]

There may be cited other instances of the friendly interest of leadingprelates and Bishops of the Church in the welfare of the Negro and ofcare for their spiritual interests. They have ever been anxious thatjustice be done to the race. The late Pope Pius X, sometime before hisdeath, wrote a letter through his secretary to the Rt. Rev. Thomas S.Byrne, Bishop of Nashville, Tennessee, saying that he "most earnestlywishes that the work of the Apostolate to the colored people, worthyof being encouraged and applauded beyond any other undertaking ofChristian civilization, may find numerous and generous contributors."

Joseph Butsch

St. Joseph's Seminary,
Baltimore, Md.

[Pg 411]

Documents

Letters of George Washington Bearing on the Negro

In bringing together here the important expressions of GeorgeWashington reflecting his attitude toward the Negro, no claim to thediscovery of something new is made. Our aim is rather to publish theseextracts in succinct form for the convenience of those who may beinterested in this field. While it is to be regretted that we have nothere a large collection of such materials, these are adequate to giveone a better conception of what Washington thought about the Negrothan can be usually obtained from secondary works.

Complying with the custom of transporting troublesome blacks to theWest Indies,[513] Washington addressed Captain John Thompson thefollowing July 2, 1766:

"Sir:

"With this letter comes a Negro (Tom), which I beg the favour ofyou to sell, in any of the Islands you may go to, for whatever hewill fetch and bring me in return for him.

"One hhd of best molasses
One ditto of best rum
One barrell of lymes if good and cheap
One pot of tamarinds containing about 10 Ibs.
Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats about 5 lbs. each.

"And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That thisfellow is both a rogue and a runaway (tho' he was by no meansremarkable for the former, and never practiced the latter till oflate) I shall not pretend to deny—But he is exceeding healthy,strong, and good at the hoe the whole neighbourhood can testifieand particularly M. Johnson and his son, who have both had himunder them as foreman of the gang; which gives me reason to hope[Pg 412]he may, with your good management, sell well, if kept clean andtrim'd up a little when offered for sale.

"I shall cherfully allow you the customary commissions on thisaffair, and must beg the favour of you (least he shoud attempthis escape) to keep him handcuffd till you get to sea—or in thebay—after which I doubt not but you may make him very useful toyou.

"I wish you a pleasant and prosperous passage, and a safe andspeedy return, being Sir

"Y^r Yery H^ble. Serv^t.

"G^o. WASHINGTON."[514]

The question as to whether Washington wanted Negroes in the army hasoften been raised. Addressing a Committee of Congress January 28,1778, Washington said in part:

"Gentlemen,

"The difficulty of getting waggoners and the enormous wages giventhem would tempt one to try any expedient to answer the end ofeasier and cheaper terms. Among others it has occurred to mewhether it would not be eligible to hire negroes in Carolina,Virginia and Maryland for the purpose. They ought however to befreemen, for slaves could not be sufficiently depended on. It isto be apprehended they would too frequently desert to the enemyto obtain their liberty, and for the profit of it, or toconciliate a more favorable reception would carry off their wagonhorses with them."[515]

The student finds it difficult to determine exactly what wasWashington's attitude toward the enlistment of Negro soldiers. Whenthat question was extensively agitated Laurens wrote Washington:

"Had we arms for three thousand such black men as I could selectin Carolina, I should have no doubt of success in driving theBritish out of Georgia, and subduing East Florida before the endof July."

To this Washington replied:

[Pg 413]

"The policy of our arming slaves is in my opinion a moot point,unless the enemy set the example. For, should we begin to formBattalions of them, I have not the smallest doubt, if the war isto be prosecuted, of their following us in it, and justifying themeasure upon our own ground. The contest then must be who can armfastest, and where are our arms? Besides I am not clear that adiscrimination will not render slavery more irksome to those whoremain in it. Most of the good and evil things in this life arejudged by comparison; and I fear a comparison in this case willbe productive of much discontent in those, who are held inservitude. But, as this is a subject that has never employed muchof my thoughts, these are no more than the first crude Ideas thathave struck me upon ye occasion."[516]

Writing to Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, July 10, 1782, concerninghis plan to arm Negroes to defend the South, he said:

"My Dear Sir:

"The last post brought me your letter of the 19th of May. I mustconfess that I am not at all astonished at the failure of yourplan. That spirit of freedom, which at the commencement of thiscontest would have gladly sacrificed every thing to theattainment of its object, has long since subsided, and everyselfish passion has taken its place. It is not the public butprivate interest, which influences the generality of mankind, norcan the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under thesecircumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you hadsucceeded nor will you I fear succeed better in Georgia."[517]

From his headquarters October 24, 1781, Washington wrote David Rossthe following concerning Negroes who had been recaptured during theRevolutionary War:

"Sir:

"In answer to your Queries of Yesterday, the Negroes that havebeen retaken, from whatever State, whose owners do not appear,should all be treated in the same manner, and sent into theCountry to work for their Victuals and Cloathes, and advertisedin the States they came from. Those from N. York, are mostprobably the property of Inhabitants of that State and N. Jersey,and should[Pg 414] be there Advertised. If any officers, knowing who theowners are, will undertake to send them home, they may bedelivered to them. The other steps taken by you, are proper andExpedient. The Negroes may be furnished with two days' Provisionsto carry them to Williamsburg, where there is a State Commissary.

"I am etc.,"[518]

In a letter to Colonel Bland in 1783 Washington took up one of theimportant questions arising at the close of the Revolution. This wasthe return of the slaves carried off by the British:

"Sir,

"Head Quarters 31st March, 1783.

"The Article in the provisional Treaty respecting Negroes, whichyou mention to Sir Guy Carleton, had escaped my Notice, but upona recurrence to the Treaty, I find it as you have stated. I havetherefore tho't it may not be amiss to send in your Letter to SirGuy, and have accordingly done it.

"Altho I have Servants in like predicament with yours, I have notyet made any attempt for their recovery.

"Sir Guy Carleton's reply to you will decide upon the proprietyor expediency of any pursuit to obtain them. If that reply shouldnot be transmitted thro my Hands, I will thank you for aCommunication of it.

"With much Regard, I am &c."[519]

Writing to Sir Guy Carleton about the same question on May 6, 1783,Washington said:

"Respecting the other point of discussion, in addition to what Imentioned in my communication of the 21st ultimo, I took occasionin our conference to inform your Excellency, that, in consequenceof your letter of the 14th of April to Robert R. Livingston,Esquire, Congress had been pleased to make a further reference tome of that letter, and had directed me to take such measures asshould be found necessary for carrying into effect the severalmatters mentioned by you therein.[520] In the course of ourconversation[Pg 415] on this point, I was surprised to hear you mention,that an embarkation had already taken place, in which a largenumber of negroes had been carried away. Whether this conduct is,consonant to, or how far it may be deemed an infraction of thetreaty, is not for me to decide. I cannot, however, conceal fromyou, that my private opinion is, that the measure is totallydifferent from the letter and spirit of the treaty. But, wavingthe discussion of the point, and leaving its decision to ourrespective sovereigns, I find it my duty to signify my readiness,in conjunction with your Excellency, to enter into any agreement,or to take any measures, which may be deemed expedient, toprevent the future carrying away of any negroes, or otherproperty of the American inhabitants. I beg the favor of yourExcellency's reply, and have the honor to be, &c."[521]

In the substance of the conference between Gen. Washington and Sir GuyCarleton, at an interview at Orangetown, 6th May, 1783, one gets astill better idea of the attitude of Washington on this question:

"General Washington opened the Conference by observing that heheretofore had transmitted to Sir Guy Carleton the resolutions ofCongress of the 15th ulto, that he conceived a personalConference would be the most speedy & satisfactory mode ofdiscussing and settling the Business; and that therefore he hadrequested[Pg 416] the Interview—That the resolutions of Congressrelated to three distinct matters, namely, the setting at Libertythe prisoners, the receiving possession of the posts occupied bythe British Troops, and the obtaing. the Delivery of all Negroes& other property of the Inhabitants of these States in thepossession of the Forces or subjects of, or adherents to hisBritannic Majesty.—That with respect to the Liberation of theprisoners, he had, as far as the Business rested with him, put itin Train, by meetg. & conferring with the Secretary of War, &concertg. with him the proper measures for collecting prisoners &forwarding them to N. York, and that it was to be optional withSir Guy, whether the prisoners should march by land, or whetherhe would send Transports to convey them by Water—and that theSecty. of War was to communicate with Sir Guy Carleton on thesubject & obtain his Determination.

"With respect to the other two Matters which were the Objects ofthe Resolutions, General Washington requested the Sentiments ofGeneral Carleton.

"Sir: Guy then observed that his Expectations of a peace had beensuch that he had anticipated the Event by very early commencinghis preparations to withdraw the British Troops from thisCountry—and that every preparation which his situation &circumstances would permit was still continued—That anadditional Number of Transports, and which were expected, werenecessary to remove the Troops & Stores—and as it was impossibleto ascertain the Time when the Transports would arrive, theirpassage depending on the casualties of the Seas, he was thereunable to fix a determinate period within which the Britishforces would be withdrawn from the City of New York—But that itwas his desire to exceed even our own Wishes in this Respect, &That he was using every means in his power to effect with allpossible despatch an Evacuation of that & every other post withinthe United States, occupied by the British Troops, under hisDirection—That he considered as included in the preparations forthe final Departure of the B. Troops, the previously sending awaythose persons, who supposed that, from the part they had taken inthe present War, it would be most eligible for them to leave theCountry—and that upwards of 6,000 persons of this Character hadembarked & sailed—and that in this Embarkation a Number ofNegroes were comprised—General Washington therefore express hisSurprize, that after what appeared to him an express Stipulationto the contrary[Pg 417] in the Treaty, Negroes the property of theInhabitants of these States should be sent off.

"To which Sir: Guy Carleton replied, that he wished to beconsidered as giving no construction of the Treaty—That byProperty in the Treaty might only be intended Property at theTime, the Negroes were sent off—That there was a difference inthe Mode of Expression in the Treaty; Archives, Papers, &c., &c.,were to be restored—Negroes & other property were only not to bedestroyed or carried away. But he principally insisted that heconceived it could not have been the Intention of the B.Government by the Treaty of Peace, to reduce themselves to thenecessity of violating their faith to the Negroes who came intothe British Lines under the proclamation of his Predecessors inCommand—That he forebore to express his sentiments on thepropriety of those proclamations, but that delivering up theNegroes to their former Masters would be delivering then up somepossible to Execution, and others to severe punishments, which inhis Opinion would be a dishonorable violation of the publicFaith, pledged to the Negroes in the proclamations—That if thesending off the Negroes should hereafter be declared inInfraction of the Treaty, Compensation must be made by the Crownof G. Britain to the Owners—that he had taken measures toprovide for this, by directing a Register to be kept of all theNegroes who were sent off, specifying the Name, Age & Occupationof the person, and the Name, & Place of Residence of his formerMaster. Genl. Washington again observed that he conceived thisConduct on the part of Genl. Carleton, a Departure from both theLetter and Spirit of the Articles of Peace;—and particularlymentioned a difficulty that would arise in compensating theproprietors of Negroes, admitting this infraction of the Treatycan be satisfied by such a compensation as Sir Guy had alludedto, as it was impossible to ascertain the Value of the Slavesfrom any Fact or Circumstance which may appear in theRegister,—the Value of a Slave consisting chiefly in hisIndustry and Sobriety—& Genl. Washington mentioned a furtherDifficulty which would attend Identifying the Slave, supposinghim to have changed his own and to have given a wrong Name of hisMaster—In answer to which Sir Guy Carleton said, that as theNegroe was free & secured against his Master, he could have noinducement to conceal his own true Name or that of HisMaster—Sir Guy Carleton then observed that by the Treaty he wasnot held to deliver up any property but was only restricted[Pg 418] fromcarrying it way—and therefore admitting the interpretation ofthe Treaty as given by Genl. Washington to be just, he wasnotwithstanding pursuing a Measure which would operate most forthe security of the proprietors. For if the Negroes were left tothemselves without Care of Controul from him, numbers of themwould very probably go off, and not return to the parts of theCountry from whence they came, or clandestinely get on Board theTransports in such a manner as would not be in his Power toprevent—in either of which Cases an inevitable Loss would ensueto the proprietors—But as the Business was now conducted theyhad at least a Chance for Compensation—Sir Guy concluded theConversation on this subject by saying that he Imagined that themode of Compensating as well as the Amount and other points withrespect to which there was no provision made in the Treaty, mustbe adjusted by the Commissioners to be hereafter appointed by thetwo Nations."[522]

Washington admitted that slavery was wrong but he never did much tocurb its growing power, contenting himself with a deprecation muchlike this expressed in the letter to Lafayette, April 5, 1783.

"The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a precedent toencourage the emancipation of the black people of this Countryfrom that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a strikingevidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy tojoin in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail ofthe business, till I have had the pleasure of seeing you."[523]

In 1786 Washington wrote the Marquis:

"The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is soconspicuous on all occasions, that I never wonder at any freshproofs of it; but your late purchase of an estate in the colonyof Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is agenerous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a likespirit might diffuse itself generally, into the minds of thepeople of this country. But I despair of seeing it. Somepetitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session, forthe abolition of slavery, but they could scarcely obtain areading. To set the slave afloat at once would, I really believe,be productive of much inconvenience and[Pg 419] mischief, but by degreesit certainly might and assuredly ought to be effected; and thattoo by legislative authority."[524]

Addressing Robert Morris in 1786, Washington said:

"I hope that it will not be conceived, from these observations,that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who are the subjectof this letter, in slavery. I can only say that there is not aman living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a planadopted for the abolition of it; but there is only one proper andeffectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is bylegislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go,shall never be wanting."[525]

Although not an active abolitionist Washington did not believe in theslave traffic, as this part of his letter to John Mercer in 1786 willshow:

"I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compelme to it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among myfirst wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in thecountry may be abolished by law."[526]

In 1799 he wrote Robert Lewis:

"It is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount Vernon)I have more working negroes by a full moiety, than can beemployed to any adventage in the farming system, and I shallnever turn Planter thereon.

"To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled againstthis kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, isalmost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in familiesto any advantage, and to disperse the families I have anaversion. What then is to be done? Something must or I shall beruined; for all the money (in addition to what I raise by crops,and rents) that have been received for Lands, sold within thelast four years, to the amount of Fifty thousand dollars, hasscarcely been able to keep me afloat.

"Under these circumstances and a thorough conviction that halfthe workers I keep on this Estate would render me a greater nettprofit than I now derive from the whole, has made me resolve ifit can be accomplished, to settle Plantations on some of myother[Pg 420] Lands. But where? without going to the Western Country, Iam unable, as yet to decide; as the best, if not all the Land Ihave on the East side of the Aleghanies are under Leases, or somekind of incumbrance or another. But as you can give me thecorrect information relative to this matter, I now early applyfor it."[527]

The best evidence as to what Washington thought of the Negro may beobtained from his treatment of his slaves, as brought out by thefollowing clauses from his will.

"Item—Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire,that all the slaves which I hold inmy own right shall receivetheir freedom—To emancipate them during her life, would thoearnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperabledifficulties, on account of their intermixture by marriages withthe Dower negroes as to excite the most painful sensations—ifnot disagreeable consequences from the latter while bothdescriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, it notbeing in my power under tenure by which the dower Negroes areheld to manumit them—And whereas among those who will receivefreedom according to this devise there may be some who from oldage, or bodily infirmities & others who on account of theirinfancy, that will be unable to support themselves, it is my willand desire that all who come under the first and seconddescription shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirswhile they live and (3) that such of the latter description ashave no parents living, or if living are unable, or unwilling toprovide for them, shall be bound by the Court until they shallarrive at the age of twenty five years, and in cases where norecord can be produced whereby their ages can be ascertained, theJudgment of the Court upon it's own view of the subject shall beadequate and final—The negroes thus bound are (by their mastersand mistresses) to be taught to read and write and to be broughtup to some useful occupation, agreeable to the laws of thecommonwealth of Virginia, providing for the support of orphansand other poor children—and I do hereby expressly forbid thesale or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of any SlaveI may die possessed of, under any pretence, whatsoever—and I domoreover most positively, and solemnly enjoin it upon myExecutors hereafter named, or the survivors of them to see thatthis clause respecting slaves and every part thereof bereligiously fulfilled at the Epoch at which it is directed totake place without evasion[Pg 421] neglect or delay after the cropswhich may then be on the ground are harvested, particularly as itrespects (4) the aged and infirm, seeing that a regular andpermanent fund be established for their support so long as thereare subjects requiring it, not trusting to the uncertainprovisions to be made by individuals.—And to my mulatto man,William (calling himself William Lee) I give immediate freedom orif he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which havebefallen him and which have rendered him incapable of walking orof any active employment)[528] to remain in the situation he nowis, it shall be optional in him to do so—In either case howeverI allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural lifewhich shall be independent of the victuals and cloaths he hasbeen accustomed to receive; if he chuses the last alternative,but in full with his freedom, if he prefers the first, and this Igive him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me andfor his services during the Revolutionary War.[Pg 422][529]

"Item—The balance due to me from the Estate of BartholomewDandridge deceased, (my wife's brother) and which amounted on thefirst day of October, 1795, to Four hundred and twenty-fivepounds (as will appear by an account rendered by his deceased sonJohn Dandridge, who was the Executor of his father's will) Irelease and acquit from the payment thereof,—And thenegros(then thirty three in number) formerly belonging to the saidEstate who were taken in Execution,—sold—and purchased in, onmy account in the year (1795?) and ever since have remained inthe possession and to the use of Mary, widow of the saidBartholomew Dandridge with their increase, it is my will anddesire shall continue and be in her possession, without payinghire or making (13) compensation for the same for the time pastor to come during her natural life, at the expiration of which, Idirect that all of them who are forty years old and upwards shallreceive their freedom, all under that age and above sixteen shallserve seven years and no longer, and all under sixteen yearsshall serve until they are twenty-five years of age and then befree.—And to avoid disputes respecting the ages of any of thesenegros they are to be taken to the Court of the County in whichthey reside and the judgment thereof in this relation shall befinal and a record thereof made, which may be adduced as evidenceat any time thereafter if disputes should arise concerning thesame.—And I further direct that the heirs of the saidBartholomew Dandridge shall equally share the benefits arisingfrom the services of the saidnegros according to the tenor ofthis devise upon the decease of their mother."

[Pg 423]

Petition for Compensation for the Loss of Slaves by Emancipation inthe Danish West Indies[530]

We, the undersigned, inhabitants of the West India Islands St.Thomas and St. John, beg leave most respectfully to present tothe Rigsdag of Denmark, this Petition, praying that just andequitable compensation may be granted us for the loss we havesustained in our property, in consequence of the ordinance of theGovernor General, bearing date 3d July, 1848, by which he tookupon himself to abolish Negro Slavery in the Danish Colonies, andwhich act received the Royal sanction on the 22d September of thesame year.

If, notwithstanding the heavy loss thus sustained, we havehitherto been silent, it should be attributed to the hope we hadentertained, that the government, without being called upon to doso, would have taken steps to obtain compensation for us; and tothe sentiments of sympathy with which we beheld the struggle ofthe mother country in the trying situation in which the revolt ofthe Duchies, and war with many powerful enemies had placed her, astruggle which required all her resources, both intellectual andmaterial, of which she could dispose; and thus it would have beeninopportune had we at that time obtruded ourselves on the noticeof the government. But now, that the clouds which obscured thepolitical horizon have been dissipated, now, that a glorious waris concluded, and peace sheds its blessings over Denmark, we canno longer defer our just demand for compensation, lest oursilence should be construed into acquiescence with the act, bywhich we have been despoiled of our property, or interpreted asan abandonment of our claims. We had as good a title of propertyto our negroes, as to our land, houses, or any other property wepossess; this right was established not only by law, but thegovernment had moreover ever encouraged the subjects to acquiresuch property as being advantageous to the state. For thispurpose the government granted loans to the colonists uponreduced interest from the so dominated "negro loan." Thegovernment bought and sold such property, took it in mortgage,levied[Pg 424] duties upon their importation, and imposed a yearlycapitation tax, consequently not a shadow of doubt could exist ofthe legality of such property; and if it was a fault to becomepossessors of such property, it must be laid to the charge of thegovernment which had fostered and encouraged it. The highesttribunal of the land, the King's High Court, acknowledged thisright in its fullest sense, so that a negro slave, even on thefree soil of Denmark, continued to be the property of his masterso thoroughly, that the latter in direct opposition to theslave's will, could oblige him to return to the West Indies. Thatthe negro's ability to work, and personal qualities, enhanced hisvalue, is a fact too palpable to stand in need of proof; thenumberless legal appraisements upon oath, the sales which tookplace daily between man and man, as well as the normal value,which according to the Ordinance of the first of May, 1840, wasdetermined every year by the government, after a previous hearingof the Burgher Council, and the respective authorities, renderthis matter incontestable.

This ordinance admits the owner's right to full compensation, foronly on condition of paying the full value of the services whichthe master could have from the slave, had the slave the right todemand his freedom; but without such remuneration, his mastercould not be deprived of him.

The forementioned ordinance, the common law, and in particularthe eighty-seventh section of the constitution, lay down as aninvariable rule, that no subject can be compelled to cede hisproperty, unless the general good of the commonwealth requiresit, and then only on receiving full compensation.

Those civilized nations in whose colonies slavery has beenabolished, have neither raised any question nor doubt as to thelegality of the principle of compensation. Thus England, Franceand Sweden have granted compensation. The first £ 25 12 2sterling at an average per head; the second 490 francs per head,which is, however, considered but part of the whole sum; and thethird in the following manner: first class, under fifteen years,$80 per head, second class, from fifteen to sixty years, $240 perhead; third class, over sixty years, $40 per head.

With regard to emancipation without compensation, the followinglanguage was held to the King of Sweden: "Your most graciousMajesty, in your high wisdom, will never allow such violation ofjustice as emancipation without compensation would be; such athing has never anywhere occurred."[Pg 425]

The Dutch government has declared that it will not abolishslavery without indemnifying the owners, and for this reason ithas not given any formal sanction to the liberty which the Dutchgovernor of St. Martin's (with the consent of the planters) foundhimself compelled to concede to the negroes, when emancipationwas proclaimed in the French part of the same island, but leftmatters instatu quo. Once, however, there existed an instanceof emancipation without compensation. The National Convention ofFrance, in the year 1793, did, disregarding the sacred rights ofproperty, proclaim the abolition of slavery; but ten yearsafterwards, on the 28th of May, 1802, that act was declared bythe corps legislatif, to be an act of spoliation, and as suchillegal; consequently slavery was re-established by decree of theFirst Consul, and continued for half a century, and would in allprobability be still in full vigor, at least for some time, hadit not been for the revolution of February. For us, we have themost implicit reliance on the honor of the Danish Government, andthe Danish people, and we feel persuaded that they will notfollow the example of the National Convention. In Denmark, loveof justice and respect for the sacredness of the rights ofproperty are too deeply implanted in the soil to be easily rootedout. The proverbial honesty of Denmark is as firm as the courage,loyalty, and gallantry of which her sons have so lately givensuch signal proof.

The Rigsdag of Denmark will not on account of the burden, shrinkfrom the demands of justice; it will not allow it to be said thatit refused to satisfy a claim, the justness of which has neverbeen doubted by any civilized nation, nor will it suffer a numberof its fellow citizens to be illegally bereft of their propertywithout compensation. The Rigsdag of Denmark will not leave it inthe power of the world to say, that it was liberal at the expenseof others, or that it denied compensation to the weak, becausethey had only the right, but not the power to enforce it. Inreviewing the means that present themselves, the burden will notbe so considerable or so heavy, when we take into considerationthat the state possesses many plantations, in respect of which totheir former complement of slaves, there will of course be noquestion of compensation, and that it also holds mortgages onmany properties, where the compensation can be written off,without any real loss in many cases; on the other hand, therealm, by fulfilling its duty in settling a lawful claim, willgain by the disbursement of the compensation, which will as mayreasonably be expected, not alone[Pg 426] increase the prosperity of thecolonies, but their inhabitants will attach themselves moreclosely to Denmark.

We do not entertain any doubt but that the Rigsdag will grant usthe compensation to which we have the most incontestable right,and which cannot be controverted by such futile arguments, as,that the owners have lost nothing by the government deprivingthem of their property, as the stock of labor is the same, and tobe had for an equitable hire. If it even in reality were thecase, that the expenses were not greater, and the work not lessthan before the emancipation, while, alas! the contrary is thecase, it would, nevertheless, be a species of argument in itselfcontrary to common sense, in a degree, that it would scarcelyrequire any refutation at the bar of the enlightened Rigsdag, asit might with just as much reason be said, that all the rest ofthe property of people could be taken away whenever thegovernment managed matters in such a way, that the propertiescould be rented at so moderate a rate, that the expenses did notexceed, what those of the keeping of the property yearly hadamounted to. It will be clearly evident that the ownernotwithstanding, loses his essential rights, for the propertywould no longer be at his disposal, or under his control, hewould be dependent upon others not only as to renting of thatkind of property of which he had formerly been possessed, but hewould not be able to sell, mortgage, or dispose of it in anymanner whatever, either in favor of himself, his children, orother heirs; in short, property would to him, entirely lose itsmoney value, and the capital vested in it would be sunk as is nowthe case with us. Many a slave owner derived his living from theyearly income which the hire of his slaves produced, but now thestate has bereft him of his property, and hurled him, widows andorphans into the most abject poverty and misery, while that act,as yet without compensation, has more or less generally affectedthose who possessed that class of property, and in numberlessinstances produced pecuniary embarrassment; while the slaveowners who are proprietors of plantations have not alone lost thecapital invested in their slaves, but the subversion of theancient normal order in the colonies, but in addition thereto,they are exposed to the imminent risk of seeing their estates,buildings, and fabrics eventually reduced to no value whatever.Most assuredly the circumstances which precede the emancipation,cannot be brought forward in support of the necessity thereof.Such a delusion cannot hold good. It is notorious that the socalled insurrection which was begun in the[Pg 427] jurisdiction ofFredericksted, at St. Croix on the 3d of July, 1848, would havebeen put down, if the forces, although reduced as they had been,had been called out and made use of by the government of thatisland. This is borne out by the sentence of 5th of February, inthis year, rendered against the governor-general by thecommission, which sentence expressly states that the declarationof emancipation partly originated in a desire to procure thetreasury an exemption from compensation, or what is the samething, it was intended to serve as a means to deprive theproprietors of their lawful rights. Furthermore, it is quiteevident, that even the most trifling commotion would not haveoccurred, if the Captain-General of Puerto Rico's offer ofassistance on perceiving the impending dangers had been accepted.Neither is it less certain that the normal order could have beenre-established subsequently. His Majesty's government bypresenting to royal assent the emancipation of the negro slaves,which the governor-general had taken upon himself to grant, hasadopted the act as its own. It has also from the very beginningbeen considered that the insurrection could not be viewed assufficient foundation for the act. This is clearly to be seenfrom the wording of the royal mandate on which the emancipationis made a concession "to the lively" wishes of the negroes. Thathis late Majesty King Christian VIII., of glorious and blessedmemory, had by rescript of 28th July 1847, given freedom to allchildren born of slaves in the Danish West India possessions, andat the same time ordained that slavery should finally cease intwelve years, cannot be pleaded as a reason that proprietors ofslaves are to sustain loss and receive no compensation, for thequestion remained open, and had been only glanced at by saidrescript. It is much to be lamented that the emancipation in themanner it took place, and with the circumstances with which itwas accompanied, induced the slave population, althougherroneously, to believe that they had overawed the government,and to receive the emancipation not as boon, but rather as atrophy. The bad impression which such a management of matters hascaused, will ever remain, and render the march of administrationdifficult, for defiance has taken the place which only shouldhave been ceded to gratitude. It ought here to be observed that asuccession of ordinances had gradually loosed the ties whichexisted between the master and the slave. What heretofore hadbeen esteemed as a favor on the master's part, was by lawconverted into an obligation, and the slave was not onlyrendered[Pg 428] more and more independent of his master, but hissentiments of attachment to him were destroyed. Thus the law madeit obligatory on the master to cede a negro his freedom when hecould pay his full value; a favor which hardly any one hadthought of refusing; thus the law bound the master to give hisslaves certain little extras for Christmas, a favor which no onehad thought of denying, and thus the law compelled the planter togive his negroes the Saturday free; a boon, which hithertofrequently had been granted as a recompense for diligent workduring the week. But from the moment that the law converted intoan obligation, that which hitherto had been received as a favor,indifference usurped the place of gratitude. Thus, by consecutiveinnovations, the state of things became precarious, the relationsinsecure, impatience sprung up, and the seeds of the tumultuousscenes which ensued and served as a pretext for emancipation,were sown. Here we must observe, that though it were admittedthat the pretended insurrection at St. Croix renderedemancipation an act of necessity, it cannot, at all events, inany manner be cited with regard to St. Thomas or St. John, whereno kind of disturbance existed among the slave population, Thus,entertaining the intimate conviction that our right tocompensation is as conformable to reason, as it ought to besacred and inviolable, and in solemnly protesting against ourbeing bereft of our property without full compensation, we submitthis our representation to the Rigsdag of Denmark, with the mostunlimited confidence in its justice. We have the consoling hopeand encouraging persuasion that the representatives of a peoplewho, by the bill of indemnity of 30th June, 1850, have gone aheadof, and set a brilliant example to other nations, by theacknowledgment of the principle of equity, that "all citizensought equally to share the losses which the scourge of war hadbrought upon individuals," will not deny a principle of justice,which every European nation has hitherto not neglected to complywith towards its colonies.

St. Thomas and St. John, June, 1851.

To the Rigsdag of Denmark.

[Pg 429]

An Extract from the Will of Robert Pleasants Dated February 6, 1800,and Admitted to Probate in Henrico County, Virginia, April 6, 1801

"From a full conviction that slavery is an evil of greatmagnitude and no less repugnant to the Divine command of doing toothers as we would they should do unto us that it is inconsistentwith the true interest and prosperity of my country, I didconfirm freedom to all the Negroes that by law, I had property inby a Deed of Emancipation bearing date the first of the 8thmonth, 1782, duly acknowledged and admitted to record in theClerk's office of Henrico County, three boys excepted namesMoses, Nat and James, who at that time lived with their mothersin Goochland County and were forgotten but have since beenemancipated, but as it is still necessary that those who areancient and incapable of getting a living (being over forty-fiveyears of age at the time of emancipation) should be supported, Inow desire and direct it to be done and that the young ones mayhave learning sufficient to enable them to transact the commonaffairs of life for that purpose I have had a Schoolhouse put onmy land called Gravely hills tract containing by estimation 350acres the use and profits whereof I give for that purposeforever, or so long as the Monthly Meeting of Friends in thisCounty may think it necessary for the benefit of the children anddescendants of those who have been emancipated by me, or otherblack children whom they may think proper to admit; reservingonly to my heirs hereafter named the priviledge of cutting timberoccasionally for building, of which there appears to be more thanperhaps may ever be necessary for the use of the School and theTenants who are now on it, or hereafter may settle thereon andreserving also a privilege for my old servant Philip and his WifeDilcy to settle on and occupy such part thereof as they maychoose (not interfering with the school) during their naturallives, they not committing Waste or taking others to work theland under colour of this gift except it should be necessary fortheir support reserving also to the women Effee, Sarah, Dilcy andElcy to continue or live on rent free during their natural liveson the same conditions or restrictions expressed in my grant toPhilip[Pg 430] and Dilcy and I further direct that in case those of myheirs who may claim a right to the service of the young blacksunder this will should neglect or refuse to give them learningeither at the above mentioned School or by some other way ormeans, I hereby declare them free one year before their time ofservitude expires and to be sent to school at the expense of myestate for that time. And Whereas a suit was instituted severalyears ago in my name as the Heir at Law of my Father and onlyacting executor to him and my Brother Jonathan Pleasants for therelief of a number of Negroes by them directed to be free at acertain age, but wrongfully held in Bondage which suit was latelydetermined in their favor, but considering that many of them havebeen brought up in ignorance and may need the care, advice andperhaps assistance too of friends I do request my beloved friendsto be nominated Executors by thisWill to extend such caretowards them as the nature of the case may call for or require."

[Pg 431]

Proceedings of a Reconstruction Meeting[531]

On April 19, 1867, a general meeting of the citizens of Mobilewas held relative to the new measures of reconstruction. Amongthe vice-presidents were men of all classes and color—as civiljudges, bishops, clergy, physicians, citizens, etc., etc., ofwhom five were colored men. The only colored speaker on theoccasion said:

"Fellow-Citizens: I feel my incapacity to-night to speak, afterhearing the eloquence of those preceding me. I received aninvitation from the white citizens of Mobile to speak for thepurpose of reconciling our races—the black to the white—toextend the hand of fellowship. You have heard the resolutions.You are with us, and I believe are sincere in what they promise.It is my duty to accept the offer of reconstruction when it isextended in behalf of peace to our common country. Let us removethe past from our bosoms, and reconcile ourselves and positionstogether. I am certain that my race cannot be satisfied unlessgranted all the rights allowed by the law and by that flag. Theresolutions read to you to-night guarantee every thing. Can youexpect any more? If you do, I would like to know where you aregoing to get it. I am delighted in placing myself upon thisplatform, and in doing this I am doing my duty to my God and mycountry. We want to do what is right. We believe white men willalso do what is right."

The next speaker was a late Confederate officer during the war.He said:

"It is the first time for seven long years that we sit—and atfirst we sat with diffidence—under the 'old flag' and I connotdeny that my feelings are rather of a strange nature. Lookingback to the past, I remembered the day (the 10th day of January,1861) when I hauled down that flag from its proud staff in FortSt. Philip, and thought then that another flag would soon spreadits ample folds over the Southern soil.

"But that flag is no more. It has gone down in a cloud ofglory—no more to float even over the deserted graves of ourdeparted heroes—one more of the bright constellations in thebroad canopy of that firmament where great warriors are madedemigods.

"But I did not come here to-night to tell you, men of Alabama,[Pg 432]that my heart was with you—for you well know that as far as thatheart can go, it never will cease beating for what is held dearand sacred to you. But I came here to speak to those of our newfellow-citizens, who are not seeking the light of truth.

"It is said that two races now stand in open antagonism to eachother—that the colored man is the natural enemy of the whiteman, and, hereafter, no communion of interests, feelings and pastassociations, can fill the gulf which divides them.

"But who is it that says so? Is it the Federal soldier who foughtfor the freedom of that race? Is it even the political leaderwhose eloquence stirred up the North and West to the rescue ofthat race? No; it is none of these. It is not even theintelligent and educated men of that class, for I now stand onthe very spot where one of them, Mr. Trenier, disclaimed thosedisorganizing principles, and eloquently vindicated the cause oftruth and reason.

"Why, then, should there be any strife between us? Why should notour gods be their gods—our happiness be their happiness? Hasanything happened which should break up concert of action,harmony, and concord in the great—the main objects of life—thepursuit of happiness?

"Where can that happiness spring from? Is it from the midst of acommunity divided against itself, or from one blessed with peaceand harmony?

"In what particular have our relations changed? In what case haveour interests in the general welfare been divided? Is not todaythe colored man as essential to our prosperity as he was before?

"Is not our soil calling for the energetic efforts of his sinewyarms? Can we, in fact, live without him? But while we want hislabor he wants our lands, our capital, our industry, ourinfluence in the commerce and finances of the world.

"And if, coming down from those higher functions in society, wedescend to our domestic relations, where do we find that thoserelations are changed?

"Does not the intelligent freedman know that neither he nor weare accountable to God for the condition in which we wererespectively born?

"Does he not know that, for generations past, the institution ofslavery had been forced upon us by the avarice, the love of powerof the North? Does he not know that to-day we have in him thesame implicit faith and reliance we had before?"[532]

[Pg 433]

Reviews of Books

History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872. ByGeorge McCall Theal,Litt.D., LL.D. George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London.

This work is intended to be a general history of South Africa indetail. It is to be completed as a revised edition in five volumes,three of which have already appeared. Each volume contains about 500pages, is neatly printed and substantially bound. The work is wellsupplied with maps and charts reflecting the growth and development ofthe country.

The author of this history has lived in South Africa and has served askeeper of the archives of the Cape Colony. The preparation of thishistory has occupied his almost undivided attention during the lastfifty years. He says that he has made the closest possible researchamong official documents of all kinds. Apparently he has had littleuse for secondary material, but his large collection of books on SouthAfrica has served him as a guide. The author asserts that to theutmost of human ability he has striven to write without fear, favor orprejudice, to do equal justice to all with whom he had to deal. Forthis reason, he offers his work to the public as "not alone the onlydetailed history of South Africa yet prepared, but as a true andabsolutely unbiased narrative." The work shows, however, that it iswritten in the attitude of arrogating to himself the privileges of thesuperior group, exhibiting occasionally a bit of sympathy for theinferior, who had to be exterminated to make room for those chosen ofGod.

The first volume of the work deals largely with the conquest of thecolony. It is mainly a narrative of the deeds of the conqueringleaders of the colonists, closing with an account of the destructionof the Bantu tribes. In succession, we read here about the exploits ofJames Henry Craig, Earl McCartney, Major General Dundas, Sir GeorgeYounge, Jacob Abraham De Mist, J.W. Janssens, General David Baird, DuPré Alexander, Lord Charles Somerset, Sir Rufane Shaw, and GeneralRichard Bourke.

The second volume adheres in the beginning to the same sort of style,making the history of the whole colony center largely around the lifeof a single man, mentioning such characters as Sir Lowry[Pg 434] Cole, SirBenjamin D'Urban, Sir George Napier, and Sir Peregrine Maitland. Inthe 32d chapter, however, the work becomes more nearly historical intaking up the emigration from Cape Colony, and the abandonment of thatcountry by many thousands of substantial burghers, who were intentupon seeking homes in the wilderness. This movement is furtherilluminated by a treatment of the emigrant farmers in Natal, therepublic of Natal, its overthrow, its transitory state, and movementsnorth of the Orange.

The third volume maintains the standard of the last part of the secondin dealing with the Kaffir Wars, and sketching the conditions leadingup to the grant of a liberal constitution. It returns to the Districtof Natal from 1845 to 1857, discusses the creation of the Orange RiverSovereignty, the abandonment of the Sovereignty, and the events northof the Vaal, in the South African Republic and Orange Free State from1854 to 1857. In these last chapters the author brings out moreprominently than elsewhere the conflict between the whites and theblacks, the correlated problems arising therefrom, and measuresbrought forward to solve them. The reader easily learns that thehandling of the question in South Africa has not been very differentfrom the method of attack in the United States. The South Africanmethod has, in some respects, been more cruel than that of the UnitedStates.

J. O. Burke.

Native Life in South Africa, before and since the European War andthe Boer Rebellion. BySolomon T. Plaatje. P.S. King and Son, Ltd.,London, 1916. Pp. 352.

Mr. Plaatje is a South African native, educated near Barkly West at amission school. He later studied languages and served as aninterpreter for important officials such as Duke of Connaught and Mr.Chamberlain. He later rose to a position of some importance in theDepartment of Native Affairs. He once edited a paper calledKorantaea Becoana. He is now the editor of theTsala ea Batho (thePeople's Friend). Although treating of questions concerning theoppression of his people, his writings have been marked by moderationand common sense. He is not an agitator, not a firebrand, and can,therefore, be read with profit. Rather resenting the power of theuneducated chiefs who rule by virtue of their birth alone, Mr. Plaatjebelongs to a new school of thought. He is making a new appeal for thenative.[Pg 435]

Mr. Plaatje modestly disclaims any pretension to literary merit. He ismerely giving a "sincere narrative of a melancholy situation, inwhich, with all its shortcomings," he "has endeavored to describe thedifficulties of South African natives under a very strange law, so asmost readily to be understood by the sympathetic reader." The authorhad access to sources from which he obtained the facts presented. Hehas made personal observations in the Transvaal, Orange Free State andthe Province of the Cape of Good Hope. He used other facts collectedby Attorney Msimang of Johannesburg. Organizing these facts, Mr.Plaatje shows how the native has been maltreated and debased so as tobe considered a pariah of society in his own native land. In thestruggle between right and wrong, the latter has triumphed,culminating in such an evil as the Native Land Act, an effort at classlegislation, the worst sort of discrimination and segregation in landtenure.

One would have difficulty in believing that such barbarities could bepracticed within the British Empire, were it not for the fact that Mr.Plaatje not only quotes from the actin extenso but quotes also fromthe debates in the Colonial Parliament to show that the intention ofthe legislators was to restrict the native to their reservations or toservitude among the white population to placate the extreme DutchParty in South Africa. In other words, the Colonial Parliament tookthe position of Mr. J.G. Keyter, the member for Ficksburg, who said:"They should tell the native, as the Free State told him, that it waswhite man's country, that he was not going to be allowed to buy landthere or hire land there, and that if he wanted to be there, he mustbe in service." The author is thankful for the assistance given thenatives by the British, but contends that the fortunes of the formershould not have been committed to the hands of the Dutch Republicanswithout adequate safeguards.

The work will doubtless be successful as an appeal to the court ofpublic opinion, as it is intended. The case is ably and seriously putand is supported by adequate evidence to warrant the author'sconclusions as to the enormity of the crimes against the natives. Inmaking this bold agitation for economic equality, this book maymaterially influence future events in South Africa and in England. Itwill doubtless lead British statesmen to conclude that the imperialpower cannot dissociate itself from the responsibility for nativeaffairs. The writer will attract attention too because of the noveltyin that this work is the product of the brains[Pg 436] of an intelligentnative, who can think and express himself well on public questions. Itwill be surprising to those Englishmen who have hitherto treated thenatives altogether as an uneducated mass incapable of thinking andwill certainly excite sympathy among those who believe in theprinciples of liberty and justice.

The Danish West Indies under Company Rule, 1671-1754. With aSupplementary Chapter, 1755-1917. ByWaldemar Westergaard, AssistantProfessor of History at Pomona College. Introduction byH. MorseStephens. Macmillan Company, New York, 1917. Pp. 359.

This work is the history of a company of Danish merchants desiring toavail themselves of the commercial opportunities of the New World. Thework was undertaken prior to the recent negotiations of the UnitedStates for the purchase of the islands. It is the result of an attemptto "identify and appraise" a number of official and other papers foundin the Bancroft Collection at the University of California. The studyof these documents led to further research in the Danish libraries andarchives, especially the archives of the Danish West India and GuineaCompany. The work then becomes a treatise on the rise and fall of agreat corporation with business as its objective rather than thesketch of a mere colony. It has a number of helpful maps andillustrations.

In writing this work, the author easily realized that treated as anisolated subject it would be worthless. It is, therefore, dealt withas a part of European history, that phase commonly characterized ascommercial expansion. He, therefore, in accounting for the Danishinterest in colonization and in estimating the part that nationactually played, finds that the experiences of the Danes were fairlytypical of those of the Dutch, the French, the English and theSpanish. The narrative then is a succession of accounts ofspeculation, competition, prosperity and depression. There aresketches of adventurers, buccaneers and pirates all brought forward insuch a way as to tell their own story.

The author directs attention to the West Indies as the great theaterin which was played the drama of history in the New World during theseventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Sugar is presented as king. Theauthor is chiefly concerned with the crucial test to which the companywas subjected, the establishment of the Brandenburgers at St. Thomas,the leasing of Guinea and St.[Pg 437] Thomas, the governorship of JohnLorentz, the plantation colonies of St. Thomas and St. John, theintroduction of slavery, the slave trade, the relations of the planterand the company, the acquisition of St. Croix, and the career of thecompany under a new charter. In the appendix there is such valuableinformation as the list of governors in the West Indies and theGuinea, the directors and board of shareholders in Copenhagen, thefirst charter of the Danish West India and Guinea Company, the charterof 1697, important letters of officials and the report of the board ofpolice and trade to King Frederick IV in 1716. One finds also the listof slave cargoes arriving in the Danish West Indies, the list ofprices on St. Thomas from 1687 to 1751, West Indian sugar exportedfrom Copenhagen, the company's receipts and debts at St. John and St.Croix, the capital invested in St. Thomas in 1747, the company'sbusiness in cotton, returns on the company's capital, and otherstatistics.

The supplementary chapter is an effort to connect as far as possiblethe sketch set forth in the preceding part of the book with the eventsleading up to the recent purchase of the group by the United States.The work throughout necessarily deals with the contact of the Negrowith the European, as the African slaves constituted the class ofpopulation to be exploited and, of course, were the factor essentialto the rise and growth of the company.

A. H. Clemmons.

The Taxation of Negroes in Virginia. ByTopton Ray Snavely,Phelps-Stokes Fellow at the University of Virginia, 1915-1917.Publication of the University of Virginia Phelps-Stokes Papers. Pp.97.

This work is the result of the establishment at the University ofVirginia of a fellowship through a gift from the trustees of thePhelps-Stokes Fund. The holder of this fellowship must "stimulate andconduct investigations and encourage a wider general interest amongstudents concerning the character, condition and possibilities of theNegroes in the Southern States." Carrying out this plan the incumbentshave organized classes for study and conducted special investigations,assigning related topics for study, bringing the results beforeclasses for discussion and sometimes securing distinguished men forlectures in this field.

In this dissertation the author has undertaken something new. No onehad so far treated the taxation of the Negroes in any State.[Pg 438] Astaxation is an important concern of the commonwealth, it was believedthat the way in which the State determined how this burden should fallon the Negro race would do much in bringing out an understanding as tothe attitude of the whites to the blacks. The author claims to haveadhered strictly to the facts to give an unbiased interpretation ofthis phase of history. The work is well done in parts. It should havebeen amplified. The most valuable part of it is that which treats ofthe problem of taxation since the Civil War. In treating theantebellum period, the author shows a lack of breadth in that he doesnot connect the question of the taxation of Negroes with the strugglebetween Eastern and Western Virginia, which finally resulted in thedisruption of the State. He does not show that the West wanted theincrease in taxes, necessitated by the construction of internalimprovements, obtained from a tax on slaves, as the mountaineers didnot have many, while the East was anxious to tax more heavily cattleand the like which flourished beyond the Alleghanies.

During the colonial period and, at times, after the Revolution,Negroes paid a capitation tax. It is remarkable that the State ofVirginia in 1814 collected $8,322 from 5,547 free Negroes. The sameclass of Negroes paid $11,554 in 1863 at the rate of $2 a head.Provision was made for the capitation tax in the Constitution of1867-68. In 1870 the prepayment was required of voters but because ofcorruption at the ballot box it was repealed. Delinquency followed andto counteract this the tax was made a lien on real estate. TheConstitution of 1901-02 made the poll-tax a political measure inproviding that the payment of it six months in advance of election dayshould be a prerequisite for voting with a registration clause asanother requirement. These provisions, it seems, have not beenenforced and for that reason many Negroes are returned as delinquent.In 1914 the whites showed a delinquency of thirty per cent, and theNegroes sixty per cent.

Taking up real estate, which is the principal source of all taxes paidby Negroes, the author confines himself to the period since the War.The Negroes of Virginia had $12,464,377 subject to taxation in 1900and $28,775,199 in 1914. The tax levy in 1910 was $48,173 and $93,245in 1914, having almost doubled during the intervening years. Thedelinquency in real estate taxes too is much less than that in thecase of capitation taxes.

In answer to the question as to whether the Negroes of the State aresharing its burden of taxation in proportion to their[Pg 439] ability theauthor brings out some interesting facts. He finds it difficult toanswer this question accurately. He shows, however, that Negroescomposing 32.6 per cent. of the population pay only a small part ofthe $7,757,532 in taxes of all kinds. The real estate, capitation,personal property and income taxes paid by Negroes in 1914 aggregated$318,381, or 5 per cent. of the real estate taxes, 3.8 per cent. ofthe personal property taxes, 28.1 per cent. of the capitation taxes,and .000006 per cent. of the income taxes. In all the Negroes payabout 4.1 per cent. of the revenue of the State. This estimate isdoubtless too low.

[Pg 440]

Notes

Mr. A. E. Martin, of the Pennsylvania State College, will soon publishthrough the Filson ClubThe Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky to1850. Mr. Martin plans to bring this study down to 1870.

The New York Missionary Education Movement of the United States andCanada has publishedThe Lure of Africa by C. H. Patton.

W. M. Ramsay'sThe Intermixture of Races in Asia Minor has come fromthe Oxford University Press.

The Harvard University Press has publishedEphod and Ark, by W. R.Arnold.

July number ofThe Journal of Race Development contains twointeresting articles:On the Culture of White Folk, by Dr. W. E. B.DuBois, andPsychic Factors in the New American Race Situation, byGeorge W. Elliss, K.C., F.R.G.S.

The July number of theAmerican Journal of Sociology contains arather misinforming article onThe Superiority of the Mulatto, byMr. E. B. Reuter, and another onClass and Caste, by Edward AlsworthRoss.

In the July number of theSouth Atlantic Quarterly appearsTheBlack Codes, by Prof. John M. Mecklin, of the University ofPittsburgh.

Prof. Benjamin Brawley will soon publish a work to be known asTheGenius of the Negro.

La Revista Bimestre Cubana has published LosNegros Esclavos, astudy in sociology and public law by Fernando Ortiz, professor in theUniversity of Havana.

The United States Bureau of Education in cooperation with thePhelps-Stokes Fund has published in two volumes a report entitledNegro Education, a Study of the Private and Higher Schools forColored People in the United States. This report was prepared underthe direction of Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, specialist in the educationof racial groups. This work was undertaken to comply with[Pg 441] thatprovision of the will of Miss Caroline Phelps-Stokes directing thatsome portion of the income from a fund originally amounting to about$900,000 be used for the education of Negroes and for research andpublication. In 1912 it was decided to prepare a report on Negroeducation to furnish the public with valuable information as toexisting conditions throughout the South. The Bureau of Educationagreed to cooperate with the trustees of the Phelps-Stokes Fund,bringing the work under the general supervision of the United StatesCommissioner of Education. This report is the result of theirefficient cooperation.

On the thirtieth of August, there assembled at the request of theUnited States Commissioner of Education a conference to discuss thisreport. For two days practically all of the active white and colorededucators in Negro schools discussed the various phases of educationas brought out by this report and undertook to find a working basisfor a more extensive cooperation of all agencies in the uplift of theNegro. The frank statements of several of the State Superintendents,like that of Mr. Harris of Louisiana, showed how much good a report ofthis kind may do in arousing the best white people of the South to arealization that it pays to educate all citizens of the state whetherthey be white or black. No definite decision was reached but theconference was a success in leading men to study more seriously theproblems of Negro education.

[Pg 442]

The First Biennial Meeting of the Association for the Study of NegroLife and History at Washington

There is no fixed rule to determine exactly where the meetings of theAssociation shall be held. The constitution grants this power to theExecutive Council. Washington, however, naturally proved attractivefor the reasons that it is located mid-way between the North and theSouth, the Association is incorporated under laws of the District ofColumbia, and several of its officers reside there. The extensiveadvertising given the meeting and the occurrence of the conference inWashington on the education of the Negro the following day brought tothe meeting probably the largest number of useful and scholarlyNegroes ever assembled at the national capital. Among these were:President Nathan B. Young, Mr. W. T. B. Williams, President ByrdPrillerman, Dr. C. V. Roman, Prof. George E. Haynes, Mr. Monroe N.Work, President W. J. Hale, Dean Benjamin G. Brawley, Bishop I. N.Ross, Prof. J. R. Hawkins, Mr. R. P. Hamlin, Mr. C. H. Tobias, and Mr.A. L. Jackson. The meeting was further honored with the presence ofsome of the most useful and distinguished white persons in thecountry, namely: Mrs. Louis F. Post, the wife of the AssistantSecretary of Labor; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, Educational Expert of theUnited States Bureau of Education; Dr. James H. Dillard, Director ofthe John F. Slater Fund; Mr. George Foster Peabody, the New Yorkbanker; and Mr. Julius Rosenwald, the well-known philanthropist.

The morning session proved to be the most interesting of all. Theintroductory address was delivered by Dr. J. E. Moorland, theSecretary-Treasurer, who, in the absence of the President, presidedthroughout the meeting. In his remarks Dr. Moorland gave a briefaccount of what the Association had undertaken and endeavored to showhow important[Pg 443] the work is and how successfully it is being prosecutedunder tremendous difficulties. He paid a high tribute to the Directorof Research and Editor as the one who has done most of the work andcontributed most of the money to finance the movement.

Mr. Monroe N. Work then read a very carefully prepared andilluminating paper on "The Negro and the World War." Taking aworld-wide view of the great struggle, Mr. Work discussed the social,economic and political roots of the war as it concerns the black raceand explained how the interests of these people connect with theupheaval in all its ramifications. As Dr. R. R. Wright, Jr., wasunavoidably absent, all the time allowed for the discussion of thepaper was given to Prof. George E. Haynes. Basing his remarks on theactual facts of the migration of the Negroes to the North, ProfessorHaynes spoke of the war as a rejuvenating and regenerating factor inenabling the Negro to know his possibilities and to come into his own.

Dr. C. G. Woodson followed Mr. Work, making a clear statement as tothe meaning of the movement to study Negro life and history andsetting forth the plans to save the records of the black race that theNegro may not, like the Indian, leave no written account of histhoughts, feelings, aspirations, and achievements. Dr. Woodson wentinto detail to explain how necessary it is to have trainedinvestigators to undertake this work immediately, before it is toolate, as many valuable documents bearing on the Negro are beingdestroyed for the reason that persons now possessing them do not knowtheir value and the facilities for collection of such materials nowafforded are inadequate. This topic was further discussed by Dr. C. V.Roman and Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones. Dr. Roman restricted his remarkslargely to a definition of civilization to determine whether or notthe Negro has made any contribution to it. After speaking of certainachievements of the Negro he deplored the fact that not only the whitepeople but the Negroes themselves know very little about what theirrace has contributed to the progress of mankind. Dr. Jones spoke of[Pg 444]how important it is for a race to know and write its own history, forbecause of race prejudice, a man of one race cannot easily tell thetruth about one of another. He then expressed his deep interest in thework and lauded the enterprise of those who are prosecuting it.

Probably the most interesting features of the morning session,however, were the brief addresses of Mr. George Foster Peabody, Mr.Julius Rosenwald, and Mr. James H. Dillard. Mr. Peabody expressed hisdelight at seeing such an important work undertaken and urgedcooperation as the only successful way of carrying it on. He tookoccasion, also, to speak of his general interest in the Negro and hisbelief in his ultimate success. Mr. Julius Rosenwald referred to thetime when he received a copy of the first issue of theJournal ofNegro History and how it so impressed him that he decided tocontribute one hundred dollars to its support every quarter. Hebelieves that this magazine of standard scientific stamp, published inthe interest of the propagation of the truth concerning the Negro,will be another means of helping him onward and upward. Dr. James H.Dillard spoke of the importance of studying Africa, mentioning severalbooks which are so informing to him that the far-off continent seemsto be an unexplored land of wonders. He maintained that largelythrough the study of the history of one's race one can have highideals, without which there can be no actual progress.

The business session was looked forward to as an important one, asinterested members were anxious to know what the Association had doneduring the first two years of its history. As there was no unfinishedbusiness, new business was in order. The chairman appointed ProfessorKelly Miller, Dean Benjamin G. Brawley and Mr. M. N. Work as thecommittee on nominations and Mr. A. L. Jackson, Prof. George E. Haynesand Dr. Thomas J. Jones as an auditing committee. The most importantbusiness was amending the constitution, the changes of which havingbeen previously sanctioned by a majority of the members of the[Pg 445]Executive Council, they were duly ratified by the Association. Thisconstitution follows.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE ANDHISTORY

I

The name of this body shall be the Association for the Study ofNegro Life and History.

II

Its object shall be the collection of sociological and historicaldocuments and the promotion of studies bearing on the Negro.

III

Any person approved by the Executive Council may become a memberby paying $1.00 and after the first year may continue a member bypaying an annual fee of one dollar. Persons paying $2.00 annuallybecome both active members of the Association and subscribers totheJournal of Negro History. On the payment of $30.00, anyperson may become a life member, exempt from assessments. Personsnot resident in the United States may be elected honorary membersand shall be exempt from payment of assessments. Membersorganized as clubs for the study of the Negro shall gratuitouslyreceive from the Director such instruction in this field as maybe given by mail.

IV

The Officers of this Association shall be a President, aSecretary-Treasurer, a Director of Research and Editor, and anExecutive Council, consisting of the three foregoing officers andtwelve others elected by the Association. The Association shallelect three members of the Executive Council as trustees. Itshall also appoint a business committee to certify bills and toadvise the Director in matters of administrative nature. Theseofficers shall be elected by ballot through the mail or at eachbiennial meeting of the Association.

V

The President and Secretary-Treasurer shall perform the dutiesusually devolving on such officers. The Director of Research andEditor shall devise plans for the collection of documents, directthe studies of members and determine what matter shall bepublished in theJournal. The Executive Council shall have chargeof the general interests of the Association, including theelection of members, the calling of meetings, the collection anddisposition of funds.

VI

ThisConstitution may be amended at any biennial meeting, noticeof such amendment having been given at the previous biennialmeeting or the proposed amendment having received the approval ofthe Executive Council.

[Pg 446]

Then the Director followed by the Secretary-Treasurer, with afinancial statement, made this report:

The Association was organized in Chicago, September 9, 1915, byfive persons who felt that something effective should be done todirect attention to the long-neglected work of saving the recordsof the Negro race. At first, it was thought best to call anational meeting to form an organization. This plan wasabandoned, however, for the reason that it was not believed thata large number of persons would pay any attention to the movementuntil an actual demonstration as to the possibilities of thefield had been made. The Director, therefore, had these fewpersons join him in organizing, so to speak, in a corner andproceeded at once to bring out theJournal of Negro History. Howit was received by the public is now a matter of history.

The growth of theJournal has been more than was expected. Thefirst edition was 1,500, the second 1,300, the third 1,000, thefourth 2,000. At the end of 1916 the demand for back numbers soincreased that it soon became evident that the editions were notlarge enough and that the back numbers would have to bereprinted. One thousand copies of volume I, and some extranumbers of it were accordingly reprinted and the current editionwas increased to 4,000. The total circulation of theJournal is2,830. The subscription list shows 1,430 subscribers, about 400copies are sold at newstands, 1,000 copies are used forpromotion, and about 1,000 copies are kept on hand for futuresubscribers.

These achievements, however, have been due to sacrifice both oftime and means. The Director has had to work under tremendousdifficulties, but he has never lost faith in his coworkers andbelieves in the ultimate triumph of the cause. The problem hasbeen threefold, that of research, that of editing and that ofpromotion.

As the Association has not had adequate funds to provide theDirector with an office force or sufficient stenographicassistance, he has too often found himself in the position ofhaving to do all things at one time. But in spite of thesehandicaps there was a gradual increase in the number ofsubscribers and contributors until unfortunately the income fromthese sources was greatly diminished by the war. A fewsubstantial friends, however, have helped us when seemingly atour extremity. Among the more important contributions obtainedare: $75 from Dr. R. E. Park, $100 from the Phelps-Stokes Fund,$100 from Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, $200 from Mr. Harold H. Swift,$500 from Mr. Julius Rosenwald and $1,000 from Dr. C. G. Woodson.We have, therefore, been able to come to the end of the first twoyears of our history free from debt and with a considerablebalance on the right side of the ledger as is attested by thefollowing financial statement of the Secretary-Treasurer:[Pg 447]

Statement of Receipts and Expenditures of the Association for theStudy of Negro Life and History, from October 14, 1915, toSeptember 9, 1917, Inclusive

Receipts		Expenditures
Bound Volumes and Subscriptions	$1,216.39	Printing and Stationery	$2,993.32
Life and Active Memberships	512.75	Petty Cash	603.59
Contributions and Advertising	1,800.05	Stenographic Services	254.16
News Agents	222.84	Rent and Light	81.00
Loans	296.50	Bond	10.00
	——————		——————
Total Receipts	$4,048.53	Total Expenses	$3,942.07
		Balance on hand	106.46
			——————
			$4,048.53

Respectfully submitted,

J. E. Moorland
Secretary-Treasurer.