jjjjiiig i WfrMs- University of California Berkeley CLASS OF 1887 .. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA 1619 TO I8OO HISTORY NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA FROM 1619 TO 1880 NEGROES AS SLAVES, AS SOLDIERS, AND AS CITIZENS TOGETHER WITH A PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION OF THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AFRICA, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE NEGRO GOVERNMENTS OF SIERRA LEONE AND LIBERIA BY GEORGE W. WILLIAMS FIRST COLORED MEMBER OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE, AND LATE JUDGE ADVOCATE OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF OHIO, ETC. POPULAR EDITION TWO VOLUMES IN ONE NEW YORK & LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 8% Jtmtkrtottar $)nss 1885 COPYRIGHT, BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1882. Press of tatefiman: WHO, ENDUED WITH THE GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE, TOO EXALTED TO BE INFLAMED BY TEMPORARY PARTY OR FACTIONAL STRIFE, AND WHO, AS CONGRESSMAN AND GOVERNOR, IN STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS, HAS PROVEN HIMSELF CAPABLE OF SACRIFICING PERSONAL INTEREST TO PUBLIC WELFARE; WHO, IN DEALING WITH THE NEGRO PROBLEM, HAS ASSERTED A NEW DOCTRINE IN IGNORING THE CLAIMS OF RACES; AND WHO, AS THE FIRST NORTHERN GOV ERNOR TO APPOINT A COLORED MAN TO A POSITION OF PUBLIC TRUST, HAS THEREBY DECLARED THAT NEITHER NATIONALITY NOR COMPLEXION SHOULD ENHANCE OR IMPAIR THE CLAIMS OF MEN TO POSITIONS WITHIN THE GIFT OF THE EXECUTIVE. TO THESE NOBLE MEN THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, WITH SENTIMENTS OF HIGH ESTEEM AND PERSONAL REGARD, BY THEIR FRIEND AND HUMBLE SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. VI PREFACE. would give the world more correct ideas of the Colored people, and incite the latter to greater effort in the struggle of citizenship and manhood. The single reason that there was no history of the Negro race would have been a sufficient reason for writing one. The labor incident upon the several public positions held by me pre cluded an earlier completion of this task ; and, finding it absolutely im possible to write while discharging public duties or practising law, I retired from the public service several years ago, and since that time have devoted all my energies to this work. It is now nearly seven years since I began this wonderful task. I have been possessed of a painful sense of the vastness of my work from first to last. I regret that for the sake of pressing the work into a single volume, favorable to a speedy sale, at the sacrifice of the record of a most remarkable people, I found my heart unwilling, and my best judgment protesting. In the preparation of this work I have consulted over twelve thousand volumes, about one thousand of which are referred to in the foot notes, and thousands of pamphlets. After wide and careful reading, extending through three years, I con ceived the present plan of this history. I divided it into nine parts. Two thoughts led me to prepare the chapters under the head of PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. First, The defenders of slavery and the traducers of the Negro built their pro-slavery arguments upon biblical ethnology and the curse of Canaan. I am alive to the fact, that, while I am a* believer in the Holy Bible, it is not the best authority on ethnology. As far as it goes, it is agreeable to my head and heart. Whatever science has added I have gladly appropriated. I make no claim, however, to be a specialist. While the curse of Canaan is no longer a question of debate, yet never theless the folly of the obsolete theory should be thoroughly understood by the young men of the Negro race who, though voting now, were not born when Sumter was fired upon. Second, A growing desire among the enlightened Negroes in America to learn all that is possible from research concerning the antiquity of the race, Africa, its inhabitants, and the development of the Negro governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia, led me to furnish something to meet a felt need. If the Negro slave desired his native land before the Rebellion, will not the free, intelligent, and reflective American Negro turn to Africa with its problems of geography PREFACE. vi* and missions, now that he can contribute something towards the improve ment of the condition of humanity? Editors and writers everywhere throughout the world should spell the word Negro with a capital N ; and when referring to the race as Colored people employ a capital C. I trust this will be observed. In PART II., SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES, I have striven to give a suc cinct account of the establishment and growth of slavery under the Eng lish Crown. It involved almost infinite labor to go to the records of " the original thirteen colonies." It is proper to observe that this part is one of great value and interest. In PART III., THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION, I found much of an almost romantic character. Many traditions have been put down, and many obscure truths elucidated. Some persons may think it irreverent to- tell the truth in the plain, homely manner that characterizes my narrative ; but, while I have nothing to regret in this particular, I can assure them that I have been actuated by none other spirit than that of candor. Where I have used documents it was with a desire to escape the charge of superfi ciality. If, however, I may be charged with seeking to escape the labor incident to thorough digestion, I answer, that, while men with the reputa tion of Bancroft and Hildreth could pass unchallenged when disregarding largely the use of documents and the citation of authorities, I would find myself challenged by a large number of critics. Moreover I have felt it would be almost cruel to mutilate some of the very rare old documents that shed such peerless light upon the subject in hand. I have brought the first volume down to the close of the eighteenth century, detailing the great struggle through which the slavery problem passed. I have given as fair an idea of the debate on this question, in the convention that framed the Constitution, as possible. It was then and there that the hydra of slavery struck its fangs into the Constitution j and, once inoculated with the poison of the monster, the government was only able to purify itself in the flames of a great civil war. The second volume opens with the present century, and closes with the year 1880. Unable to destroy slavery by constitutional law, the best thought and effort of this period were directed against the extension of the evil into the territory beyond the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri rivers. But having placed three-fifths of the slave population under the Constitu tion, having pledged the Constitution to the protection of slave property, viii PREFACE. it required an almost superhuman effort to confine the evil to one section of the country. Like a loathsome disease it spread itself over the body politic until our nation became the eyesore of the age, and a byword among the nations of the world. The time came when our beloved coun try had to submit to heroic treatment, and the cancer of slavery was removed by the sword. In giving an account of the Anti-Slavery Agitation Movement^ I have found myself able to deal briefly with methods and results only. I have striven to honor all the multifarious measures adopted to save the Negro and the Nation. I have not attempted to write a history of the Anti- Slavery Movement. Many noble men and women have not even been mentioned. It should not be forgotten that this is a history of the Negro race ; and as such I have not run into the topic discussed by the late Henry Wilson in his " Rise and Fall of the Slave Power." In discussing the problem of the rendition of fugitive slaves by the Union army, I have given the facts with temperate and honest criticism. And, in recounting the sufferings Negro troops endured as prisoners of war in the hands of the Rebels, I have avoided any spirit of bitterness. A great deal of the material on the war I purchased from the MS. library of Mr. Thomas S. Townsend of New- York City. The questions of vital, prison, labor, educational, and financial statistics cannot fail to interest intelligent people of all races and parties. These statistics are full of comfort and assurance to the Negro as well as to his friends. Every cabinet minister of the President wrote me full information upon all the questions I asked, and promptly too. The refusal of the general and adjutant-general of the army did not destroy my hope of getting some information concerning the Negro regiments in the regular army. I visited the Indian Territory, Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico, where I have seen the Ninth and Tenth Regiments of cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth Regi ment of infantry. The Twenty -fifth Regiment of infantry is at Fort Ran dall, Dakota. These are among the most effective troops in the regular army. The annual desertions in white regiments of cavalry vary from ninety-eight to a hundred and eighteen; while in Negro regiments of cavalry the desertions only average from six to nine per annum. The Negro regiments are composed of young men, intelligent, faithful, brave. I heard but one complaint from the lips of a score of white officers I met, and that was that the Negroes sometimes struck their horses over the head. PREFACE. IX Every distinction in law has disappeared, except in the regular army. Here Negroes are excluded from the artillery service and engineer's department. It is wrong, and Congress should place these brave black soldiers upon the same footing as the white troops. I have to thank Drs. George H. Moore and S. Austin Allibone, of the Lenox Library, for the many kind favors shown me while pursuing my studies in New- York City. And I am under very great obligations to Dr. Moore for his admirable " History of Early Slavery in Massachusetts," with out which I should have been put to great inconvenience. To Mr. John Austin Stevens, late editor of "The Magazine of American History," who, ^during several months residence in New- York City, placed his private library and office at my service, and did every thing in his power to aid my investigations, I return my sincerest thanks. To the Librarians of the New- York Historical, Astor, and New- York Society Libraries, I return thanks for favors shown, and privileges granted. I am especially grateful to the Hon. Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, for the manner in which he facilitated my researches during my sojourn in Washington. I had the use of many newspapers of the last century, and of other mate rial to be found only in the Congressional Library. To Sir T. Risely Griffith, Colonial Secretary and Treasurer of Sierra Leone, I am indebted for valuable statistics concerning that colony. To the Assistant Librarian of the State Library of Ohio, the accom plished and efficient Miss Mary C. Harbough, I owe more than to any other person. Through her unwavering and untiring kindness and friendship, I have been enabled to use five hundred and seventy-six volumes from that library, besides newspaper files and Congressional Records. To Gov. Charles Foster, Chairman of the Board of Library Commissioners, I offer my profoundest thanks for the intelligent, active, and practical interest he has taken in the completion of this work. And to Major Charles Town- send, Secretary of State, I offer thanks for favors shown me in securing documents. To the Rev. J. L. Grover and his competent assistant, Mr. Charles H. Bell, of the Public Library of Columbus, I am indebted for the use of many works. They cheerfully rendered whatever aid they could, and for their kindness I return many thanks. I am obliged to the Rev. Benjamin W. Arnett, Financial Secretary of the A. M. E. Church of the United States, for the statistics of his denomi nation. And to all persons who have sent me newspapers and pamphlets X PREFACE. I desire to return thanks. I am grateful to C. A. Fleetwood, an efficient clerk in the War Department, for statistics on the Freedmen's Bank. And, above all and more than all, I return my profoundest thanks to my heavenly Father for the inspiration, health, and money by which I have been enabled to complete this great task. I have mentioned such Colored men as I thought necessary. To give a biographical sketch of all the worthy Colored men in the United States, would require more space than has been occupied in this work. Not as the blind panegyrist of my race, nor as the partisan apologist, but from a love for "the truth of history" I have striven to record the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I have not striven to revive sectional animosities or race prejudices. I have avoided comment so far as it was consistent with a clear exposition of the truth. My whole aim has been to write a thoroughly trustworthy history ; and what I have writ ten, if it have no other merit, is reliable. I commit this work to the public, white and black, to the friends and foes of the Negro, in the hope that the obsolete antagonisms which grew out of the relation of master and slave may speedily sink as storms beneath the horizon ; and that the day will hasten when there shall be no North, no South, no Black, no White, but all be American citizens, with equal duties and equal rights. GEORGE W. WILLIAMS. NEW YORK, November, 1882. CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. CHAPTER I. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. PAGE The Biblical Argument. One Race and One Language. One Blood. The Curse of Canaan I CHAPTER II. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, AND EGYPTOLOGY. Cushim and Ethiopia. Ethiopians, White and Black. Negro Characteristics. The Dark Continent. The Antiquity of the Negro. Indisputable Evidence. The Military and Social Condition of Negroes. Cause of Color. The Term " Ethiopian " . . .12 CHAPTER III. PRIMITIVE NEGRO CIVILIZATION. The Ancient and High Degree of Negro Civilization. Egypt, Greece, and Rome borrow from the Negro the Civilization that made them Great. Cause of the Decline and Fall of Negro Civilization. Confounding the Terms " Negro " and " African " . .22 CHAPTER IV. NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. BENIN : Its Location. Its Discovery by the Portuguese. Introduction of the Catholic Religion. The King as a Missionary. His Fidelity to the Church purchased by a White Wife. Decline of Religion. Introduction of Slavery. Suppression of the Trade by the English Government. Restoration and Peace. DAHOMEY : Its Location. Origin of the Kingdom. Meaning of the Name. War. Capture of the English Governor, and his Death. The Military Establishment. Women as Soldiers. Wars and their Objects. Human Sacrifices. The King a Despot. His Powers. His Wives. Polygamy. Kingly Succession. Coronation. Civil and Criminal Law. Revenue System. Its Future. YORUBA : Its Location. Slavery and its Abolition. Growth of the People of Abeokuta. Missionaries and Teachers from Sierra Leone. Prosperity and Peace attend the Peo ple. Capacity of the People for Civilization. Bishop Crowther. His Influence . 26 xi xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. THE ASHANTEE EMPIRE. PAGE Its Location and Extent. Its Famous Kings. The Origin of the Ashantees Obscure. The War with Denkera. The Ashantees against the Field conquer two Kingdoms, and annex them. Death of Osai Tutu. The Envy of the King of Dahomey. Invasion of the Ashantee Country by the King of Dahomey. His Defeat shared by his Allies. - Akwasi pursues the Army of Dahomey into its own Country. Gets a Mortal Wound and suffers a Humiliating Defeat. The King of Dahomey sends the Royal Kudjoh his Congratulations. Kwamina deposed for attempting to introduce Mohammedanism into the Kingdom. The Ashantees conquer the Mohammedans. Numerous Wars. In vasion of the Fanti Country. Death of Sir Charles McCarthy. Treaty. Peace . 34 CHAPTER VI. THE NEGRO TYPE. Climate the Cause. His Geographical Theatre. He is susceptible to Christianity and Civilization CHAPTER VII. AFRICAN IDIOSYNCRASIES. Patriarchal Government. Construction of Villages. Negro Architecture. Election of Kings. Coronation Ceremony. Succession. African Queens. Law, Civil and Criminal. Priests. Their Functions. Marriage. Warfare. Agriculture. Me chanic Arts. Blacksmiths 50 CHAPTER VIII. LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. Structure of African Languages. The Mpongwe, Mandingo, and Grebo. Poetry : Epic, Idyllic, and Miscellaneous. Religions and Superstitions 66 CHAPTER IX. SIERRA LEONE. Its Discovery and Situation. Natural Beauty. Founding of a Negro Colony. The Sierra Leone Company. Fever and Insubordination. It becomes an English Province. Character of its Inhabitants. Christian Missions, etc 85 CHAPTER X. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. Liberia. Its Location. Extent. Rivers and Mountains. History of the First Colony. The Noble Men who laid the Foundation of the Liberian Republic. Native Tribes. Translation of the New Testament into the Vei Language. The Beginning and Triumph of Christian Missions to Liberia. History of the Different Denominations on the Field. A Missionary Republic of Negroes. Testimony of Officers of the Royal Navy as to the Efficiency of the Republic in suppressing the Slave- Trade. The Work of the Future 95 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER XI. RESUME'. PAGE The Unity of the Human Family re-affirmed. God gave all Races of Men Civilization. The Antiquity of the Negro beyond Dispute. Idolatry the Cause of the Degradation of the African Races. He has always had a Place in History, though Incidental. Negro Type caused by Degradation. Negro Empires an Evidence of Crude Ability for S elf-Government. Influence of the two Christian Governments on the West Coast upon the Heathen. Oration on Early Christianity in Africa. The Duty of Christianity to evangelize Africa 108 Part H. SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XII. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 1619-1775. Introduction of the First Slaves. "The Treasurer" and the Dutch Man-of-War. The Correct Date. The Number of Slaves. Were there Twenty, or Fourteen ? Litiga tion about the Possession of the Slaves. Character of the Slaves imported, and the Character of the Colonists. Race Prejudices. Legal Establishment of Slavery. Who are Slaves for Life. Duties on Imported Slaves. Political and Military Prohibi tions against Negroes. Personal Rights. Criminal Laws against Slaves. Emanci pation. How brought about. Free Negroes. Their Rights. Moral and Religious Training. Population. Slavery firmly established 115 CHAPTER XIII. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 1628-1775. Settlement of New York by the Dutch in 1609. Negroes introduced into the Colony, 1628. The Trade in Negroes increased. Tobacco exchanged for Slaves and Merchandise. Government of the Colony. New Netherland falls into the Hands of the English, Aug. 27, 1664. Various Changes. New Laws adopted. Legislation. First Repre sentatives elected in 1683. In 1702 Queen Anne instructs the Royal Governor in Regard to the Importation of Slaves. Slavery Restrictions. Expedition to effect the Conquest of Canada unsuccessful. Negro Riot. Suppressed by the Efficient Aid of Troops. Fears of the Colonists. Negro Plot of 1741. The Robbery of Hogg's House. Discovery of a Portion of the Goods. The Arrest of Hughson, his Wife, and Irish Peggy. Crimination and Recrimination. The Breaking-out of Numerous Fires. The Arrest of Spanish Negroes. The Trial of Hughson. Testimony of Mary Burton. Hughson hanged. The Arrest of Many Others implicated in the Plot The Hanging of Caesar and Prince. Quack and Cuffee bur-ned at the Stake. The Lieutenant-Governor's Proclamation. Many White Persons accused of being Conspira tors. Description of Hughson's Manner of swearing those having Knowledge of the Plot. Conviction and Hanging of the Catholic Priest Ury. The Sudden and Unex pected Termination of the Trial. New Laws more stringent toward Slaves adopted . 134 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1633-1775- PAGE The Earliest Mentions of Negroes in Massachusetts. Pequod Indians exchanged for Negroes. Voyage of the Slave-Ship " Desire" in 1638. Fundamental Laws adopted. Hereditary Slavery. Kidnapping Negroes. Growth of Slavery in the Seventeenth Century. Taxation of Slaves. Introduction of Indian Slaves prohibited. The Posi tion of the Church respecting the Baptism of Slaves. Slave Marriage. Condition of Free Negroes. Phillis Wheatley the African Poetess. Her Life. Slavery recognized in England in Order to be maintained in the Colonies. The Emancipation of Slaves. Legislation favoring the Importation of White Servants, but prohibiting the Clandestine bringing-in of Negroes. Judge Sewall's Attack on Slavery. Judge Saffin's Reply to Judge Sewall 172 CHAPTER XV. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, CONTINUED. 1633-1775- The Era of Prohibitory Legislation against Slavery. Boston instructs her Representatives to vote against the Slave-Trade. Proclamation issued by Gov. Dummer against the Negroes, April 13, 1723. Persecution of the Negroes. "Suing for Liberty." Let ter of Samuel Adams to John Pickering, jun., on Behalf of Negro Memorialists. A Bill for the Suppression of the Slave-Trade passes. Is vetoed by Gov. Gage, and fails to become a Law 220 CHAPTER XVI. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 1634-1775. Maryland under the Laws of Virginia until 1630. First Legislation on the Slavery Question in 1637-38. Slavery established by Statute in 1663. The Discussion of Slavery. An Act passed encouraging the Importation of Negroes and White Slaves in 1671. An Act laying an Impost on Negroes and White Servants imported into the Colony. Duties imposed on Rum and Wine. Treatment of Slaves and Papists. Convicts imported into the Colony. An Attempt to justify the Convict-Trade. Spirited Replies. The Laws of 1723, 1729, 1752. Rights of Slaves. Negro Population in 1728. Increase of Slavery in 1756. No Efforts made to prevent the Evils of Slavery. The Revolution nearing. New Life for the Negroes 238 CHAPTER XVII. THE COLONY OF DELAWARE. 1636-1775. The Territory of Delaware settled in part by Swedes and Danes, anterior to the Year 1638. The Duke of York transfers the Territory of Delaware to William Penn. Penn grants the Colony the Privilege of Separate Government. Slavery introduced on the Delaware as early as 1636. Complaint against Peter Alricks for using Oxen and Negroes belonging to the Company. The First Legislation on the Slavery Question in the Colony. An Enactment of a Law for the Better Regulation of Servants. An Act restraining Manumission 2 49 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XVIII. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT 1646-1775. PAGE The Founding of Connecticut, 1631-36. No Reliable Data given for the Introduction of Slaves. Negroes were first introduced by Ship during the Early Years of the Colony. " Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations." Interrogating the Governor as to the Number of Negroes in the Colony in 1680. The Legislature (1690) passes a Law pertaining to the Purchase and Treatment of Slaves and Free Persons. An Act passed by the General Court in i7ii,reruiring Persons manumitting Slaves to maintain them. Regulating the Social Conduct of Slaves in 1723. The Punishment of Negro, Indian, and Mulatto Slaves, for the Use of Profane Language, in 1630. Lawfulness of Indian and Negro Slavery recognized by Code, Sept. 5, 1646. Limited Rights of Free Negroes in the Colony. Negro Population in 1762. Act against Importation of Slaves, 1774 253 CHAPTER XIX. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. I647-I77S- Colonial Government in Rhode Island, May, 1647. An Act passed to abolish Slavery in 1652, but was never enforced. An Act specifying what Times Indian and Negro Slaves should not appear in the Streets. An Impost-Tax on Slaves (1708). Penalties imposed on Disobedient Slaves. Anti-Slavery Sentiment in the Colonies receives Little Encouragement. Circular Letter from the Board of Trade to the Governor of the English Colonies, relative to Negro Slaves. Governor Cranston's Reply. List of Militia-Men, including White and Black Servants. Another Letter from the Board of Trade. An Act preventing Clandestine Importations and Exportations of Passen gers, Negroes, or Indian Slaves. Masters of Vessels required to report the Names and Number of Passengers to the Governor. Violation of the Impost-Tax Law on Slaves punished by Severe Penalties. Appropriation by the General Assembly, July 5, 1715, from the Fund derived from the Impost-Tax, for the paving of the Streets of Newport. An Act passed disposing of the Money raised by Impost-Tax. Impost-Law repealed, May, 1732. An Act relating to freeing Mulatto and Negro Slaves passed 1728. An Act passed preventing Masters of Vessels from carrying Slaves out of the Colony, June I7> I 7S7- Eve of the Revolution. An Act prohibiting Importation of Negroes into the Colony in 1774. The Population of Rhode Island in 1730 and 1774 . . . 262 CHAPTER XX. THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY. 1664-1775. New Jersey passes into the Hands of the English. Political Powers conveyed to Berkeley and Carteret. Legislation on the Subject of Slavery during the Eighteenth Century. The Colony divided into East and West Jersey. Separate Governments. An Act concerning Slavery by the Legislature of East Jersey. General Apprehension respect ing the rising of Negro and Indian Slaves. East and West Jersey surrender their Rights of Government to the Queen. An Act for regulating the Conduct of Slaves. Impost-Tax of Ten Pounds levied upon each Negro imported into the Colony. The General Court passes a Law regulating the Trial of Slaves. Negroes ruled out of the Militia Establishment upon Condition. Population of the Jerseys in 1738 and 1745 . 282 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 1665-1775. PACK* The Carolinas receive two Different Charters from the Crown of Great Britain. Era of Slavery Legislation. Law establishing Slavery. The Slave Population of this Prov ince regarded as Chattel Property. Trial of Slaves. Increase of Slave Population. The Increase in the Rice- Trade. Severe Laws regulating the Private and Public Con duct of Slaves. Punishment of Slaves for running away. The Life of Slaves re garded as of Little Consequence by the Violent Master Class. An Act empowering two Justices of the Peace to investigate Treatment of Slaves. An Act prohibiting the Overworking of Slaves. Slave-Market at Charleston. Insurrection. A Law authoriz ing the carrying of Fire-Arms among the Whites. The Enlistment of Slaves to serve in Time of Alarm. Negroes admitted to the Militia Service. Compensation to Masters for the Loss of Slaves killed by the Enemy or who desert. Few Slaves manumitted. From 1754-76, Little Legislation on the Subject of Slavery. Threatening War between England and her Provincial Dependencies. The Effect upon Public Sentiment . . 289 CHAPTER XXII. THE COLONY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1669-1775. The Geographical Situation of North Carolina favorable to the Slave-Trade. The Locke Constitution adopted. William Sayle commissioned Governor. Legislative Career of the Colony. The Introduction of the Established Church of England into the Colony. The Rights of Negroes controlled absolutely by their Masters. An Act respecting Conspiracies. The Wrath of Ill-natured Whites visited upon their Slaves. An Act against the Emancipation of Slaves. Limited Rights of Free Negroes .... 303 CHAPTER XXIII. THE COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 1679-1775. The Provincial Government of Massachusetts exercises Authority over the State of New Hampshire at its Organization. Slavery existed from the Beginning. The Governor releases a Slave from Bondage. Instruction against Importation of Slaves. Several Acts regulating the Conduct of Servants. The Indifferent Treatment of Slaves. The Importation of Indian Servants forbidden. An Act checking the Severe Treatment of Servants and Slaves. Slaves in the Colony until the Commencement of Hostilities . 309 CHAPTER XXIV. THE COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 1681-1775. Organization of the Government of Pennsylvania. The Swedes and Dutch plant Settle ments on the Western Bank of the Delaware River. The Governor of New York seeks to exercise Jurisdiction over the Territory of Pennsylvania. The First Laws agreed upon in England. Provisions of the Law. Memorial against Slavery draughted and adopted by the Germantown Friends. William Penn presents a Bill for the Better Regulation of Servants. An Act preventing the Importation of Negroes and Indians. Rights of Negroes. A Duty laid upon Negroes and Mulatto Slaves. The Quaker the Friend of the Negro. England begins to threaten, her Dependencies in North America. The People of Pennsylvania reflect upon the Probable Outrages their Negroes might commit 3 ia CONTENTS. xvu CHAPTER XXV. THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. I732-I775- PAGE Georgia once included in the Territory of Carolina. The Thirteenth Colony planted in North America by the English Government. Slaves ruled out altogether by the Trus tees. The Opinion of Gen. Oglethorpe concerning Slavery. Long and Bitter Discus sion in Regard to the Admission of Slavery into the Colony. Slavery introduced. History of Slavery in Georgia 316 Part Eft THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION. CHAPTER XXVI. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 1775-1780. The Colonial States in 1715. Ratification of the Non-Importation Act by the Southern Colonies. George Washington presents Resolutions against Slavery, in a Meeting at Fairfax Court-House, Va. Letter written by Benjamin Franklin to Dean Woodward, pertaining to Slavery. Letter to the Freemen of Virginia from a Committee, concern ing the Slaves brought from Jamaica. Severe Treatment of Slaves in the Colonies modified. Advertisement in "The Boston Gazette" of the Runaway Slave Crispus Attucks. The Boston Massacre. Its Results. Crispus Attucks shows his Loyalty. His Spirited Letter to the Tory Governor of the Province. Slaves admitted into the Army. The Condition of the Continental Army. Spirited Debate in the Continental Congress, over the Draught of a Letter to Gen. Washington. Instructions to discharge all Slaves and Free Negroes in his Army. Minutes of the Meeting held at Cambridge. Lord Dunmore's Proclamation. Prejudice in the Southern Colonies. Negroes in Virginia flock to the British Army. Caution to the Negroes printed in a Williamsburg Paper. The Virginia Convention answers the Proclamation of Lord Dunmore. Gen. Greene, in a Letter to Gen. Washington, calls Attention to the raising of a Negro Regiment on Staten Island. Letter from a Hessian Officer. Connecticut Legislature on the Subject of Employment of Negroes as Soldiers. Gen. Varnum's Letter to Gen. Washington, suggesting the Employment of Negroes, sent to Gov. Cooke. The Gov ernor refers Varnum's Letter to the General Assembly. Minority Protest against enlisting Slaves to serve in the Army. Massachusetts tries to secure Legal Enlistments of Negro Troops. Letter of Thomas Kench to the Council and House of Representa tives, Boston, Mass. Negroes serve in White Organizations until the Close of the American Revolution. Negro Soldiers serve in Virginia. Maryland employs Negroes. New York passes an Act providing for the Raising of two Colored Regiments. War in the Middle and Southern Colonies. Hamilton's Letter to John Jay. Col. Laurens's. Efforts to raise Negro Troops in South Carolina. Proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, inducing Negroes to desert the Rebel Army. Lord Cornwallis issues a Proclamation offering Protection to all Negroes seeking his Command. Col. Laurens is called to. France on Important Business. His Plan for securing Black Levies for the South, upon his Return. His Letters to Gen. Washington in Regard to his Fruitless Plans. Capt. David Humphreys recruits a Company of Colored Infantry in Connecticut. Return of Negroes in the Army in 1778 '. 324 xvin CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVII. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 1775-1783. PAGE The Negro as a Soldier. Battle of Bunker Hill. Gallantry of Negro Soldiers. Peter Salem, the Intrepid Black Soldier. Bunker-hill Monument. The Negro Salem Poor distinguishes himself by Deeds of Desperate Valor. Capture of Gen. Lee. Capture of Gen. Prescott. Battle of Rhode Island. Col. Greene commands a Negro Regi ment. Murder of Col. Greene in 1781. The Valor of the Negro Soldiers . . . 363 CHAPTER XXVIII. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION. The Negro was Chattel or Real Property. His Legal Status during his New Relation as a Soldier. Resolution introduced in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to pre vent the selling of Two Negroes captured upon the High Seas. The Continental Congress appoints a Committee to consider what should be done with Negroes taken by Vessels of War in the Service of the United Colonies. Confederation of the New States. Spirited Debate in Congress respecting the Disposal of Recaptures. The Spanish Ship "Victoria" captures an English Vessel having on Board Thirty-four Negroes taken from South Carolina. The Negroes recaptured by Vessels belonging to the State of Massachusetts. They are delivered to Thomas Knox, and conveyed to Cas tle Island. Col. Paul Revere has Charge of the Slaves on Castle Island. Massachu setts passes a Law providing for the Security, Support, and Exchange of Prisoners brought into the State. Gen. Hancock receives a Letter from the Governor of South Carolina respecting the Detention of Negroes. In the Provincial Articles between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty, Negroes were rated as Property. And also in the Definite Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty. And also in the Treaty of Peace of 1814, between His Britan nic Majesty and the United States, Negroes were designated as Property. Gen. Wash ington's Letter to Brig.-Gen. Rufus Putnam in regard to a Negro in his Regimen claimed by Mr. Hobby. Enlistment in the Army did not always work a Practical Emancipation ............... 370 CHAPTER XXIX. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. BANNEKER THE ASTRONOMER. FULLER THE MATHEMATICIAN. DERHAM THE PHYSICIAN. Statutory Prohibition against the Education of Negroes. Benjamin Banneker, the Negro Astronomer and Philosopher. His Antecedents. Young Banneker as a Farmer and Inventor. The Mills of Ellicott & Co. Banneker cultivates his Mechanical Genius and Mathematical Tastes. Banneker's first Calculation of an Eclipse submitted for Inspection in 1 789. His Letter to Mr. Ellicott. The Testimony of a Personal Acquaintance of Banneker as to his Upright Character. His Home becomes a Place of Interest to Visitors. Record of his Business Transactions. Mrs. Mason's Visit to him. She addresses him in Verse. Banneker replies by Letter to her. Prepares his First Almanac for Publication in 1792. Title of his Almanac. Banneker's Letter to Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's Reply. Banneker invited to accompany the Commissioners to run the Lines of the District of Columbia. Banneker's Habits of studying the Heavenly Bodies. Minute Description given to his Sisters in Reference .to the Disposition of his Personal Property after Death. His Death. Regarded as the most Distinguished Negro of his Time. Fuller the Mathematician, or "The CONTENTS. xix PAGE Virginia Calculator." Fuller of African Birth, but stolen and sold as a Slave into Virginia. Visited by Men of Learning. He was pronounced to be a Prodigy in the Manipulation of Figures. His Death. Derham the Physician. Science of Medi cine regarded as the most Intricate Pursuit of Man. Early Life of James Derham. His Knowledge of Medicine, how acquired. He becomes a Prominent Physician in New Orleans. Dr. Rush gives an Account of an Interview with him. What the Negro Race produced by their Genius in America ........ 385 CHAPTER XXX. SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. Progress of the Slave-Trade. A Great War for the Emancipation of the Colonies from Political Bondage. Condition of the Southern States during the War. The Virginia Declaration of Rights. Immediate Legislation against Slavery demanded. Advertise ment from "The Independent Chronicle." Petition of Massachusetts Slaves. An Act preventing the Practice of holding Persons fti Slavery. Advertisements from " The Continental Journal." A Law passed in Virginia limiting the Rights of Slaves. Law emancipating all Slaves who served in the Army. New York promises her Negro Soldiers Freedom. A Conscientious Minority in Favor of the Abolition of the Slave-Trade. Slavery flourishes during the Entire Revolutionary Period . . . 402 CHAPTER XXXI. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 1775-1800. British Colonies in North America declare their Independence. A New Government established. Slavery the Bane of American Civilization. The Tory Party accept the Doctrine of Property in Man. The Doctrine of the Locke Constitution in the South. The Whig Party the Dominant Political Organization in the Northern States. Slave ry recognized under the New Government. Anti-Slavery Agitation in the States. Attempted Legislation against Slavery. Articles of Confederation. Their Adoption in 1778. Discussion concerning the Disposal of the Western Territory. Mr. Jeffer son's Recommendation. Amendment by Mr. Spaight. Congress in New York in 1787. Discussion respecting the Government of the Western Territory. Convention at Philadelphia to frame the Federal Constitution. Proceedings of the Convention. The Southern States still advocate Slavery. Speeches on the Slavery Question by Leading Statesmen. Constitution adopted by the Convention in 1787. First Session of Congress under the Federal Constitution held in New York in 1789. The Introduc tion of a Tariff-Bill. An Attempt to amend it by inserting a Clause levying a Tax on Slaves brought by Water. Extinction of Slavery in Massachusetts. A Change in the Public Opinion of the Middle and Eastern States on the Subject of Slavery. Dr. Ben jamin Franklin's Address to the Public for promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Memo rial to the United-States Congress. Congress in 1790. Bitter Discussion on the Restriction of the Slave-Trade. Slave-Population. Vermont and Kentucky admitted into the Union. A Law providing for the Return of Fugitives from "Labor and Ser vice." Convention of Friends held in Philadelphia. An Act against the Foreign Slave-Trade. Mississippi Territory. Constitution of Georgia revised. New York passes a Bill for the Gradual Extinction of Slavery. Constitution of Kentucky revised. Slavery as an Institution firmly established .......... 412 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. CHAPTER I. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. THE BIBLICAL ARGUMENT. ONE RACE AND ONE LANGUAGE. ONE BLOOD. THB CURSE OF CANAAN. DURING the last half-century, many writers on ethnology, anthropology, and slavery have strenuously striven to place the Negro outside of the human family ; and the disciples of these teachers have endeavored to justify their views by the most dehumanizing treatment of the Negro. But, for tunately for the Negro and for humanity at large, we live now in an epoch when race malice and sectional hate are disappearing beneath the horizon of a brighter and better future. The Negro in America is free. He is now an acknowledged factor in the affairs of the continent ; and no community, state, or government, in this period of the world's history, can afford to be indifferent to his moral, social, intellectual, or political well-being. It is proposed, in the first place, to call the attention to the absurd charge that the Negro does not belong to the human family. Happily, there are few left upon the face of the earth who still maintain this belief. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis it is clearly stated that " God created man," " male and female created he them ; " r that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 2 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul ;" l and that "the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." 2 It is notice able that the sacred historian, in every reference to Adam, speaks of him as "man ;" and that the divine injunction to them was, - Adam and Eve, " Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." 3 As among the animals, so here in the higher order, there were two, a pair, "male and female," of the human species. We may begin with man, and run down the scale, and we are sure to find two of a kind, "male and female." This was the divine order. But they were to " be fruitful," were to "replenish the earth." That they did "multiply," we have the trustworthy testimony of God ; and it was true that man and beast, fowl and fish, increased. We read that after their expul sion from the Garden of Eden, Eve bore Adam a family. Cain and Abel ; and that they "peopled the earth." After a number of years we find that wickedness increased in the earth ; so much so that the Lord was provoked to destroy the earth with a flood, with the exception of Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives, eight souls in all.4 Of the animals, two of each kind were saved. But the most interesting portion of Bible history comes after the Flood. We then have the history of the confusion of tongues, and the subsequent and consequent dispersion of mankind. In the eleventh chapter and first verse of Genesis it is recorded : "And the WHOLE EARTH was of ONE LANGUAGE, and of ONE SPEECH." " The whole earth " here means all the inhabitants of the earth, all mankind. The medium of communication was common. Everybody used one language. In the sixth verse occurs this remarkable language: "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language." Attention is called to this verse, because we have here the testimony of the Lord that "the people is one" and that the language of the people is one. This verse establishes two very important facts ; i.e., there was but one nationality, and hence but one language. The fact that they had but one language furnishes reasonable proof that they were of one blood ; and the historian has covered the whole x 1 Gen. ii. 7. 2 Gen. ii. 15. 3 Gen. i. 28. 4 Gen. vi. 5 sq. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 3; question very carefully by recording the great truth that they were one people, and had but one language. The seventh, eighth, and ninth verses of the eleventh chapter are not irrelevant : " Go to, let us go down, and there confound theii language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel ; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth : and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." It was the wickedness of the people that caused the Lord ta disperse them, to confound their speech, and bring to nought their haughty work. Evidently this was the beginning of differ ent families of men, different nationalities, and hence different languages. In the ninth verse it reads, that "from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." There is no ambiguity about this language. He did not only "confound their language," but "scattered them from thence," from Babel, "upon the face of all the earth." Here, then, are two very im portant facts : their language was confused, and they were "scat tered." They were not only "scattered," they were "scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth." That is, they were dis persed very widely, sent into the various and remote parts of the earth ; and their nationality received its being from the latitudes to which the divinely appointed wave of dispersion bore them ;, and their subsequent racial character was to borrow its tone and color from climateric influences. Three great families, the She- mitic, Hamitic, and Japhetic, were suddenly built up. Many other families, or tribes, sprang from these ; but these were the three great heads of all subsequent races of men. " That the three sons of Noah overspread and peopled the whole earth, is so expressly stated in Scripture, that, had we not to argue against those who unfortunately disbelieve such evidence, we might here stop: let us, however, inquire how far the truth of this declaration is substantiated by other consid erations. Enough has been said "to show that there is a curious, if not a remarkable, analogy between the predictions of Noah on the future descend ants of his three sons, and the actual state of those races which are generally supposed to have sprung from them. It may here be again remarked, that, to render the subject more clear, we have adopted the quinary arrangement of Professor Blumenbach : yet that Cuvier and other learned physiologists are of opinion that the primary varieties of the human form are more properly but three ; viz., the Caucasian, Mongolian, and Ethiopian. This number corre? 4 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. sponds with that of Noah's sons. Assigning, therefore, the Mongolian race to Japheth, and the Ethiopian to Ham, the Caucasian, the noblest race, will belong to Shem, the third son of Noah, himself descended from Seth, the third son of Adam. That the primary distinctions of the human varieties are but three, has been further maintained by the erudite Prichard ; who, while he rejects the nomenclature both of Blumenbach and Cuvier, as implying absolute divisions, arranges the leading varieties of the human skull under three sec tions, differing from those of Cuvier only by name. That the three sons of Noah who were to 'replenish the earth,' and on whose progeny very opposite destinies were pronounced, should give birth to different races, is what might reasonably be conjectured ; but that the observation of those who do, and of those who do not, believe the Mosaic history, should tend to confirm truth, by pointing out in what these three races do actually differ, both physically and morally, is, to say the least, a singular coincidence. . It amounts, in short,, to a presumptive evidence, that a mysterious and very beautiful analogy pervades throughout, and teaches us to look beyond natural causes in attempting to account for effects apparently interwoven in the plans of Omnipotence." J In the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, twenty-sixth verse, we find the following language : " And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." 2 The Apostle Paul was a mis sionary. He was, at this time, on a mission to the far-famed city of Athens, "the eye of Greece, and the fountain of learning and philosophy." He told the "men of Athens," that, as he travelled through their beautiful city, he had not been unmindful of its at tractions ; that he had not been indifferent to the claims of its citizens to scholarship and culture, and that among other things he noticed an altar erected to an unknown God. He went on to remark, that, great as their city and nation were, God, whose off spring they were, had created other nations, who lived beyond their verdant hills and swelling rivers. And, moreover, that God had created " all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth " out "of one blood." He called their attention to the fact that God had fenced all the nations in by geographical bounda ries, had fixed the limits of their habitation. We find two leading thoughts in the twenty-sixth verse ; viz., 1 Encycl. of Geo., p. 255. 2 If the Apostle Paul had asserted that all men resembled each other in the color of their skin and the texture of their hair, or even in their physiological make-up, he would have been at war with observation and critical investigation. But, having announced a wonderful truth in reference to the unity of the human race as based upon one blood, science comes to his support, and through the microscope reveals the corpuscles of the blood, and shows that the globule is the .same in all human blood. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 5 that this passage establishes clearly and unmistakably the unity of mankind, in that God created them of one blood ; second, he hath determined "the bounds of their habitation," hath located them geographically. The language quoted is very explicit. " He hath determined the bounds of their habitation," that is, " all the nations of men. 1 We have, then, the fact, that there are different "nations of men," and that they are all "of one blood," and, therefore, have a common parent. This declaration was made by the Apostle Paul, an inspired writer, a teacher of great erudition, and a scholar in both the Hebrew and the Greek languages. It should not be forgotten either, that in Paul's masterly dis cussion of the doctrine of sin, the fall of man, he always refers to Adam as the "one man" by whom sin came into the world. 2 His Epistle to the Romans abounds in passages which prove very plainly the unity of mankind. The Acts of the Apos tles, as well as the Gospels, prove the unity we seek to establish. But there are a few who would admit the unity of mankind, and still insist that the Negro does not belong to the human family. It is so preposterous, that one has a keen sense of humiliation in the assured consciousness that he goes rather low to meet the enemies of God's poor ; but it can certainly do no harm to meet them with the everlasting truth. In the Gospel of Luke we read this remarkable historical state ment : " And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus." 3 By referring to the map, the reader will observe that Cyrene is in Libya, on the north coast of Africa. All the commentators we have been able to consult, on the passage quoted below, agree that this man Simon was a Negro, a black man. John Melville produced a very remarkable sermon from this passage.4 And many of the most celebrated pictures of " The Crucifixion," in Europe, represent this Cyrenian as black, and give him a very prominent place in the most tragic scene ever witnessed on this earth. In the Acts 1 Deut. xxxii. 8, 9 : "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when ,he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." 3 Rom. v. 12, 14-21. 3 Luke xxiii. 26; Acts vi. 9, also second chapter, tenth verse. Matthew records the same fact in the twenty-seventh chapter, thirty-second verse : " And as they came out, they found a jman of Cyrene, Simon by name : him they compelled to bear his cross." 4 See Melville's Sermons. 6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of the Apostles we have a very full and interesting account of the conversion and immersion of the Ethiopian eunuch, " a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship." l Here, again, we find that all the commentators agree as to the nationality of the eunuch : he was a Negro ; and, by implication, the passage quoted leads us to the belief that the Ethiopians were a numerous and wealthy peo ple. Candace was the queen that made war against Augustus Caesar twenty years before Christ, and, though not victorious, secured an honorable peace. 2 She reigned in Upper Egypt, up the Nile, and lived at Meroe, that ancient city, the very cradle of Egyptian civilization. 3 " In the time of our Saviour (and indeed from that time forward), by Ethi opia was meant, in a general sense, the countries south of Egypt, then but imperfectly known ; of one of which that Candace was queen whose eunuch was baptized by Philip. Mr. Bruce, on his return from Abyssinia, found in latitude 16 38' a place called Chendi, where the reigning sovereign was then a queen ; and where a tradition existed that a woman, by name Hendaque (which comes as near as possible to the Greek name XavdaKrj), once governed all that country. Near this place are extensive ruins, consisting of broken pedestals and obelisks, which Bruce conjectures to be those of Meroe, the capital of the African Ethiopia, which is described by Herodotus as a great city in his time, namely, four hundred years before Christ ; and where, separated from the rest of the world by almost impassable deserts, and enriched by the commercial expeditions of their travelling brethren, the Cushites continued to cultivate, so- late as the first century of the Christian era, some portions of those arts and sciences to which the settlers in the cities had always more or less devoted themselves." 4 But a few writers have asserted, and striven to prove, that the Egyptians and Ethiopians are quite a different people from the Negro. Jeremiah seems to have understood that these people about whom we have been writing were Negroes, we mean black. " Can the Ethiopian," asks the prophet, " change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? " The prophet was as thoroughly aware that the Ethiopian was black, as that the leopard had spots ; and Luther's German has for the word "Ethiopia," " Negro-land," 1 Acts viii. 27. 2 Pliny says the Ethiopian government subsisted for several generations in the hands of queens whose name was Candace. 3 See Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon. 4 Jones's Biblical Cyclopaedia, p. 311. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 7 the country of the blacks. 1 The word " Ethiop " in the Greek literally means "sunburn." That these Ethiopians were black, we have, in addition to the valuable testimony of Jeremiah, the scholarly evidence of Herod otus, Homer, Josephus, Eusebius, Strabo, and others. It will be necessary for us to use the term " Cush " farther along in this discussion : so we call attention at this time to the fact, that the Cushites, so frequently referred to in the Scriptures, are the same as the Ethiopians. Driven from unscriptural and untenable ground on the unity of the races of mankind, the enemies of the Negro, falling back in confusion, intrench themselves in the curse of Canaan. " And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." 2 This passage was the leading theme of the defenders of slavery in the pulpit for many years. Bishop Hopkins says, " The heartless irreverence which Ham, the father of Canaan, displayed toward his eminent parent, whose piety had just saved him from the Deluge, presented the immediate occasion for this remarkable prophecy ; but the actual fulfilment was reserved for his posterity after they had lost the knowledge of God, and become utterly polluted by the abominations of heathen idolatry. The Almighty, foreseeing this total degradation of the race, ordained them to servitude or slavery under the descendants of Shem and Japheth, doubtless because he judged it to be their fittest condition. And all history proves how accurately the prediction has been accomplished, even to the present day." 3 Now, the first thing to be done by those who adopt this view is, to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Noah was inspired to pronounce this prophecy. Noah had been, as a rule, a righteous man. For more than a hundred years he had lifted up his voice against the growing wickedness of the world. His fidelity to the cause of God was unquestioned ; and for his faith and correct living, he and his entire household were saved from the Deluge. But after his miraculous deliverance from the destruction that overcame the old world, his entire character is changed. There is not a single passage to show us that he continued his avoca tion as a preacher. He became a husbandman ; he kept a vine yard ; and, more than all, he drank of the wine and got drunk ! 1 The term Ethiope was anciently given to all those whose color was darkened by the sun. Smyth's Unity of the Human Races, chap. i. p. 34. 2 Gen. ix. 24, 25. See also the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses. 3 Bible Views of Slavery, p. 7. 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Awaking from a state of inebriation, he knew that Ham had beheld his nakedness and "told his two brethren." But "Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoul ders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father ; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." * It is quite natural to suppose, that, humil iated and chagrined at his sinful conduct, and angered at the behavior of his son and grandson, Ham and Canaan, Noah ex pressed his disapprobation of Canaan. It was his desire, on the impulse of the moment, that Canaan should suffer a humiliation somewhat commensurate with his offence ; and, on the other hand, it was appropriate that he should commend the conduct of his other sons, who sought to hide their father's shame. And all this was done without any inspiration. He simply expressed himself as a fallible man. Bishop Hopkins, however, is pleased to call this a "prophecy." In order to prophesy, in the scriptural meaning of the word, a man must have the divine unction, and must be moved by the Holy Ghost ; and, in addition to this, it should be said, that a true prophecy always comes to pass, is sure of fulfilment. Noah was not inspired when he pronounced his curse against Canaan, for the sufficient reason that it was not fulfilled. He was not speaking in the spirit of prophecy when he blessed Shem and Japheth, for the good reason that their descendants have often been in bondage. Now, if these words of Noah were prophetic, were inspired of God, we would naturally expect to find all of Canaan s descendants in bondage, and all of Shem's out of bond age, free! If this prophecy granting this point to the learned bishop for argument's sake has not been fulfilled, then we con clude one of two things ; namely, these are not the words of God, or they have not been fulfilled. But they were not the words of prophecy, and consequently never had any divine authority. It was Canaan upon whom Noah pronounced the curse : and Canaan was the son of Ham ; and Ham, it is said, is the progenitor of the Negro race. The Canaanites were not bondmen, but freemen, powerful tribes when the Hebrews invaded their country ; and from the Canaanites descended the bold and intelligent Car thaginians, as is admitted by the majority of writers on this subject. From Ham proceeded the Egyptians, Libyans, the Phu- 1 Gen. ix. 23. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 9 tim, and the Cushim or Ethiopians, who, colonizing the African side of the Red Sea, subsequently extended themselves indefi nitely to the west and south of that great continent. Egypt was called Chemia, or the country of Ham ; and it has been thought that the Egyptian's deity, Hammon or Ammon, was a deification of Ham. 1 The Carthaginians were successful in numerous wars against the sturdy Romans. So in this, as in many other in stances, the prophecy of Noah failed. Following the chapter containing the prophecy of Noah, the historian records the genealogy of the descendants of Ham and Canaan. We will quote the entire account that we may be. assisted to the truth. "And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan; and the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah : the same is a great city. And Mizraim begat Luclim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Cas- luhim (out of whom came Philistim), and Caphtorim. And Canaan begat Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite : and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomor rah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations." 2 ^ Here is a very minute account of the family of Ham, who it is said was to share the fate of his son Canaan, and a clear account of the children of Canaan. " Nimrod," says the record, " began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. . . . And the beginning of his kingdom," etc. We find that Cush was the oldest son of Ham, and the father of Nimrod the "mighty one in the earth," whose "kingdom" was so extensive. He founded the Babylonian empire, and was the father of the founder of the city of Nineveh, one of the grandest cities of the ancient world. These wonderful achieve- 1 Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride. See also Dr. Morton, and Ethnological Journal, 4th No- p. 172. 2 Gen. x. 6-20. 10 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. inents were of the children of Cush, the ancestor of the Negroes. It is fair to suppose that this line of Ham's posterity was not lacking in powers necessary to found cities and kingdoms, and maintain government. Thus far we have been enabled to see, according to the Bible record, that the posterity of Canaan did not go into bondage ; that it was a powerful people, both in point of numbers and wealth ; and, from the number and character of the cities it built, we infer that it was an intellectual posterity. We conclude that thus far there is no evidence, from a biblical standpoint, that Noah's prophecy was fulfilled. But, notwithstanding the absence of scriptural proof as to the bondage of the children of Canaan, the venerable Dr. Mede says, " There never has been a son of Ham who has shaken a sceptre over the head of Japheth. Shem .has subdued Japheth, and Japheth has subdued Shem ; but Ham has never subdued either." The doctor is either falsifying the facts of history, or is ignorant of history. The Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt for centuries. Egypt was peopled by Misraim, the second son of Ham. Who were the Shemites ? They were Hebrews ! The Shemites were in slavery to the Hamites. Mel- chizedek, whose name was expressive of his character, king of rigJiteousness (or a righteous king), was a worthy priest of the most high God ; and Abimelech, whose name imports parental king, pleaded the integrity of his heart and the righteousness of his nation before God, and his plea was admitted. Yet both these personages appear to have been Canaanites." x Melchize- dek and Abimelech were Canaanites, and the most sacred and honorable characters in Old-Testament history. It was Abra ham, a Shemite, who, meeting Melchizedek, a Canaanite, gave him a tenth of all his spoils. It was Nimrod, a Cushite, who "went to Asher, and built Nineveh," after subduing the Shem ites. So it seems very plain that Noah's prophecy did not come true in every respect, and that it was not the word of God. "And God blessed Noah and his sons." 2 God pronounces his blessing upon this entire family, and enjoins upon them to " be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Afterwards Noah seeks to abrogate the blessing of God by his "cursed be Canaan." But this was only the bitter expression of a drunken and humilia ted parent lacking divine authority. No doubt he and his other Dr. Bush. 2 Gen. ix. i. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 1 1 two sons conformed their conduct to the spirit of the curse pro nounced, and treated the Hamites accordingly. The scholarly Dr. William Jones r says that Ham was the youngest son of Noah.; that he had four sons, Cush, Misraim, Phut, and Canaan ; and that they peopled Africa and part of Asia. 2 The Hamites were the offspring of Noah, and one of the three great families that have peopled the earth.3 1 Jones's Biblical Cyclopaedia, p. 393. Ps. Ixxviii. 51. 2 Ps. cv. 23. 3 If Noah's utterance were to be regarded as a prophecy, it applied only to the Canaanites, the descendants of Canaan, Noah's grandson. Nothing is said in reference to any person but Canaan in the supposed prophecy. 12 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER II. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, AND- EGYPTOLOGY. CUSHIM AND ETHIOPIA. ETHIOPIANS, WHITE AND BLACK. NEGRO CHARACTERISTICS. THE DARK CONTINENT. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE NEGRO. INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE. THE MILITARY AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF NEGROES. CAUSE OF COLOR. THE TERM ETHIOPIAN. THERE seems to be a great deal of ignorance and confusion in the* use of the word "Negro;" 1 and about as much trouble attends the proper- classification of the inhabitants of Africa. In the preceding chapter we endeavored to prove, not that Ham and Canaan were the progenitors of the Negro races, for that is admitted by the most consistent enemies of the blacks, but that the human race is one, and that Noah's curse was not a divine prophecy. The term " Negro " seems to be applied chiefly to the dark and woolly-haired people who inhabit Western Africa. But the Negro is to be found also in Eastern Africa. 2 Zonaras says, " Chus is the person from whom the Cuseans are derived. They are the same people as the Ethiopians." This view is corrobo rated by Josephus,3 Apuleius, and Eusebius. The Hebrew term "Gush "is translated Ethiopia by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and by almost all other versions, ancient and modern, as well as by the English version. "It is not, therefore, to be doubted -that 1 Edward W. Blyden, LL.D., of Liberia, says, "Supposing that this term was originally used as a phrase of contempt, is it not with us to elevate it ? How often has it not happened that names originally given in reproach have been afterwards adopted as a title of honor by those against whom it was used? Methodists, Quakers, etc. But as a proof that no unfavorable signification attached to the word when first employed, I may mention, that, long before the slave- trade began, travellers found the blacks on the coast of Africa preferring to be called Negroes" (see Purchas' Pilgrimage . . .). And in all the pre-slavetrade literature the word was spelled with a capital N. It was the slavery of the blacks which afterwards degraded the term. To say that the name was invented to degrade the race, some of whose members were reduced to slavery, is to be guilty of what in grammar is called a hysteron proteron. The disgrace became attached to the name in consequence of slavery ; and what we propose to do is, now that slavery is abolished, to restore it to its original place and legitimate use, and therefore to restore the capital N." 2 Prichard, vol. ii. p. 44. 3 Josephus, Antiq., lib. i, chap. 6. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY. 13 the term ' Cushim ' has by the interpretation of all ages been translated by ' Ethiopians/ because they were also known by their black color, and their transmigrations, which were easy and frequent." J But while it is a fact, supported by both sacred and profane history, that the terms " Cush " and " Ethiopian " were used interchangeably, there seems to be no lack of proof that the same terms were applied frequently to a people who were not Negroes. It should be remembered, moreover, that there were nations who were black, and yet were not Negroes. And the only distinction amongst all these people, who are branches of the Hamitic family, is the texture of the hair. " But it is equally certain, as we have seen, that the term ' Cushite 9 is applied in Scripture to other branches of the same family ; as, for instance, to the Midianites, from whom Moses selected his wife, and who could not have been Negroes. The term ' Gush- ite,' therefore, is used in Scripture as denoting nations who were not black, or in any respect Negroes, and also countries south of Egypt, whose inhabitants were Negroes ; and yet both races are declared to be the descendants of Cush, the son of Ham. Even in Ezekiel's day the interior African nations' were not of one race ; for he represents Cush, Phut, Lud, and Chub, as either themselves constituting, or as being amalgamated with, 'a min gled people' (Ezek. xxx. 5) ; 'that is to say,' says Faber, 'it was a nation of Negroes who are represented as very numerous, #// the mingled people.' " 2 The term " Ethiopia " was anciently given to all those whose color was darkened by the sun. Herodotus, therefore, distin guishes the Eastern Ethiopians who had straight hair, from the Western Ethiopians who had curly or woolly hair.3 "They are a twofold people, lying extended in a long tract from the rising to the setting sun." 4 The conclusion is patent. The words "Ethiopia" and " Cush " were used always to describe a black people, or the country where such a people lived. The term "Negro," from the Latin " niger' and the French " noir" means black; and consequently is a. modern term, with all the original meaning of Cush and Ethiopia, with a single exception. We called 'attention above to the fact that all Ethiopians were not of the pure Negro type, but were 1 Poole. 2 Smyth's Unity Human Races, chap, n, p. 41. 3 Herodotus, vii., 69, 70. Ancient Univ. Hist., vol. xviii. pp. 254, 255. * Strabo, vol. i. p. 60. 14 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. nevertheless a branch of the original Hamitic family from whence sprang all the dark races. The term " Negro " is now used to designate the people, who, in addition to their dark complexion, have curly or woolly hair. It is in this connection that we shall use the term in this work. 1 Africa, the home of the indigenous dark races, in a geographic and ethnographic sense, is the most wonderful country in the world. It is thoroughly tropical. It has an area in English square miles of 11,556,600, with a population of 192,520,000 souls. It lies between the latitudes of 38 north and 35 south; and is, strictly speaking, an enormous peninsula, attached to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. The most northern point is the cape, situated a little to the west of Cabo Blanco, and opposite Sicily, which lies in latitude 37 20' 40" north, longitude 9 41' east. Its southernmost point is Cabo d'Agulhas, in 34 49' 15" south; the distance between these two points being 4,330 geographical, or about 5,000 English miles. The westernmost point is Cabo Verde, in longitude 17 33' west; its easternmost, Cape Jerdaffun, in longitude 51 21' east, latitude 10 25' north, the distance between the two points being about the same as its length. The western coasts are washed by the Atlantic, the northern by the Mediterranean, and the eastern by the Indian Ocean. The shape of this "dark continent" is likened to a triangle or to an oval. It is rich in oils, ivory, gold, and precious timber. It has beautiful lakes and mighty rivers, that are the insoluble problems of the present times. Of the antiquity of the Negro there can be no doubt. He is known as thoroughly to history as any of the other families of men. He appears at the first dawn of history, and has con tinued down to the present time. The scholarly Gliddon says, that " the hieroglyphical designation of ' KeSH,' exclusively ap plied to African races as distinct from the Egyptian, has been found by Lepsius as far back as the monuments of the sixth dynasty, 3000 B.C. But the great influx of Negro and Mulatto races into Egypt as captives dated from the twelfth dynasty ; when, about the twenty-second century, B.C., Pharaoh SESOUR- TASEN extended his conquests up the Nile far into Nigritia. After the eighteenth dynasty the monuments come down to the 1 It is not wise, to say the least, for intelligent Negroes in America to seek to drop the word 11 Negro." It is a good, strong, and healthy word, and ought to live. It should be covered with glory : let Negroes do it. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY. 15 third century. A.D., without one single instance in the Pharaonic or Ptolemaic periods that Negro labor was ever directed to any agricultural or utilitarian objects." J The Negro was found in great numbers with the Sukim, Thut, Lubin, and other African nations, who formed the strength of the army of the king of Egypt, Shishak, when he came against Rehoboam in the year 971 B.C. ; and in his tomb, opened in 1849, there were found among his depicted army the exact representation of the genuine Negro race, both in color, hair, and physiognomy. Negrqes are also represented in Egyptian paintings as connected with the military campaigns of the eighteenth dynasty. They formed a part of the army of Ibrahim Pacha, and were prized as gal lant soldiers at Moncha and in South Arabia. 2 And Herodotus assures us that Negroes were found in the armies of Sesostris and Xerxes ; and, at the present time, they are no inconsider able part of the standing army of Egypt.3 Herodotus states that eighteen of the Egyptian kings were Ethiopians.4 It is quite remarkable to hear a writer like John P. Jeffries, who evidently is not very friendly in his criticisms of the Negro, make such a positive declaration as ^he following : "Every rational mind must, therefore, readily conclude that the African race has been in existence, as a distinct people, over four thousand two hun dred years ; and how long before that period is a matter of conjecture only, there being no reliable data upon which to predicate any reliable opinion." s It is difficult to find a writer on ethnology, ethnography, or Egyptology, who doubts the antiquity of the Negroes as a distinct people. Dr. John C. Nott of Mobile, Ala., a Southern man in the widest meaning, in his "Types of Mankind," while he tries to make his book acceptable to Southern slaveholders, strongly maintains the antiquity of the Negro. " Ethnological science, then, possesses not only the authoritative testimo nies of Lepsius and Birch in proof of the existence of Negro races during the twenty-fourth century, B.C., but, the same fact being conceded by all living Egyptologists, we may hence infer that these Nigritian types were contem porary with the earliest Egyptians." 6 In 1829 there was a remarkable Theban tomb opened by Mr. Wilkinson, and in 1840 it was carefully examined by Harris and 1 Journal of Ethnology, No. 7, p. 310. 2 Pickering's Races of Men, pp. 185-89. 3 Burckhardt's Travels, p. 341. 4 Euterpe, lib. 6. * Jeffries's Nat. Hist, of Human Race, p. 315. b Types of Mankind, p. 259. 16 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Gliddon. There is a most wonderful collection of Negro scenes in it. Of one of these scenes even Dr. Nott says, " A Negress, apparently a princess, arrives at Thebes, drawn in a plaustrum by a pair of humped oxen, the driver and groom being red-colored Egyptians, and, one might almost infer, eunuchs. Following her are multitudes of Negroes and Nubians, bringing tribute from the upper country, as well as black slaves of both sexes and all ages, among which are some red children, whose fathers were Egyptians. The cause of her advent seems to have been to make offer ings in this tomb of a 'royal son of KeS^ Amunoph,' who may have been her husband." It is rather strange that the feelings of Dr. Nott toward the Negro were so far mollified as to allow him to make a statement that destroys his heretofore specious reasoning about the political and social status of the Negro. He admits the antiquity of the Negro ; but makes a special effort to place him in a servile state at all times, and to present him as a vanquished vassal before Ramses III. and other Egyptian kings. He sees no change in the Negro's condition, except that in slavery he is better fed and clothed than in his native home. But, nevertheless, the Negress of whom he makes mention, and the entire picture in the Theban tomb, put down the learned doctor's argument. Here is a Negro princess with Egyptian driver' and groom, with a large army of attendants, going on a long journey to the tomb of her royal hus band ! There is little room here to question the political and social conditions of the Negroes. 2 They either had enjoyed a long and peaceful rule, or by their valor in offensive warfare had won honorable place by conquest. And the fact that black slaves are mentioned does not in any sense invalidate the historical trustworthiness of the pictures found in this Theban tomb ; for Wilkinson says, in reference to the condition of society at this period, "It is evident that both white and black slaves were employed as ser vants ; they attended on the guests when invited to the house of their mas- 1 Types of Mankind, p. 262. 2 Even in Africa it is found that Negroes possess great culture. Speaking of Sego, the capital of Bambara, Mr, Park says : " The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes upon the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence which I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa." See Park's Travels, chap. ii. Mr. Park also adds, that the population of this city, Sego, is about thirty thousand. It had mosques, and even ferries were busy conveying men and horses over the Niger. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY. 17 ter ; and, from their being in the families of priests as well as of the military chiefs, we may infer that they were purchased with money, and that the right of possessing slaves was not confined to those who had taken them in war. The traffic in slaves was tolerated by the Egyptians ; and it is reasonable to suppose that many persons were engaged ... in bringing them to Egypt for public sale, independent of those who were sent as part of the tribute, and who were probably, at first, the property of the monarch ; nor did any difficulty occur to the Ishmaelites in the purchase of Joseph from his brethren, nor in his sub sequent sale to Potiphar on arriving in Egypt." So we find that slavery was not, at this time, confined to any particular race of people. This Negro princess was as liable to purchase white as black slaves ; and doubtless some were taken in successful wars with other nations, while others were pur chased as servants. But we have further evidence to offer in favor of the antiquity of the Negro. In Japan, and in many other parts of the East, there are to be found stupendous and magnificent temples, that are hoary with age. It is almost impossible to determine the antiquity of some of them, in which the idols are exact represen tations of woolly-haired Negroes, although the inhabitants of those countries to-day have straight hair. Among the Japanese, black is considered a color of good omen. In the temples of Siam we find the idols fashioned like unto Negroes. 1 Osiris, one of the principal deities of the Egyptians, is frequently represented as black. 2 Bubastis, also, the Diana of Greece, and a member of the great Egyptian Triad, is now on exhibition in the British Museum, sculptured in black basalt sitting figure.3 Among the Hindus, Kali, the consort of Siva, one of their great Triad ; Crishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu ; and Vishnu also himself, the second of the Trimerti or Hindu Triad, are represented of a black color.4 Dr. Morton says, " The Sphinx may have been the shrine of the Negro population of Egypt, who, as a people, were unquestionably under our average size. Three million Buddhists in Asia represent their chief deity, Buddha, with Negro features .and hair. There are two other images of Buddha, one at Ceylon and the other at Calanee, of which Lieut. Mahoney says, ' Both these statues agree in having crisped hair and long, pendent ear-rings.' " s 1 See Ambassades Memorables de la Companie des Indes orientales des Provinces Unies vers les Empereurs du Japan, Amst., 1680 ; and Kaempfer. 2 Wilkinson's Egypt, vol. iii. p. 340. 3 Coleman's Mythology of the Hindus, p. 91. Dr. William Jones, vol. iii., p. 377. 4 Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. pp. 436-448. 5 Heber's Narrative, vol. i. p. 254. 1 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. And the learned and indefatigable Hamilton Smith says, "In the plains of India are Nagpoor, and a ruined city without name at the gates of Benares (perhaps the real Kasi of tradition), once adorned with statues of a woolly-haired race." " Now, these substantial and indisputable traces of the march of the Negro races through Japan and Asia lead us to conclude that the Negro race antedates all profane history. And while the great body of the Negro races have been located geographically in Africa, they have been, in no small sense, a cosmopolitan people. Their wanderings may be traced from the rising to the setting sun. "The remains of architecture and sculpture in India seem to prove an early connection between that country and Africa. . . . The Pyramids of Egypt, the colossal statues described by Pausanias and others, the Sphinx, and the Hermes Canis, which last bears a strong resemblance to the Varaha Avatar, indicate the style of the same indefatigable workmen who formed the vast ex cavations of Canarah, the various temples and images of Buddha, and the idols which are continually dug up at Gaya or in its vicinity. These and other in dubitable facts may induce no ill-grounded opinion, that Ethiopia and Hindus tan were peopled or colonized by the same extraordinary race ; in confirmation of which it maybe added, that the mountaineers of Bengal and Benhar can hardly be distinguished in some of their features, particularly in their lips and noses, from the modern Abyssinians." 2 There is little room for speculation here to the candid searcher after truth. The evidence accumulates as we pursue our investiga tions. Monuments and temples, sepulchred stones and pyramids, rise up to declare the antiquity of the Negro races. Hamilton Smith, after careful and critical investigation, reaches the conclu sion, that the Negro type of man was the most ancient, and the indigenous race of Asia, as far north as the lower range of the Himalaya Mountains, and presents at length many curious facts which cannot, he believes, be otherwise explained. "In this view, the first migrations of the Negro stock, coasting westward by catamarans, or in wretched canoes, and skirting South-western Asia, may synchronize with the earliest appearance of the Negro tribes of Eastern Africa, and just precede the more mixed races, which, like the Ethiopians of Asia,; passed the Red Sea at the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, ascended the Nile, or crossed that river to the west." 3 Taking the whole southern portion of Asia westward to Ara bia, this conjecture which likewise was a conclusion drawn, 1 Nat. Hist, of the Human Species, pp. 209, 214, 217. ' 2 Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 427. Also Sir William Jones, vol. iii. 3d disc. 3 Nat. Hist. Human Species, p. 126. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY. 19 after patient research, by the late Sir T. Stanford Raffles accounts, more satisfactorily than any other, for the Oriental habits, ideas, traditions, and words which can be traced among several of the present African tribes and in the South-Sea Islands. Traces of this black race are still found along the Himalaya range from the Indus to Indo-China, and the Malay peninsula, and in a mixed form all through the southern states to Ceylon. 1 But it is unnecessary to multiply evidence in proof of the antiquity of the Negro. His presence in this world was coetane- ous with the other families of mankind : here he has toiled with a varied fortune; and here under God his God he will, in the process of time, work out all the sublime problems connected with his future as a man and a brother. There are various opinions rife as to the cause of color and texture of hair in the Negro. The generally accepted theory years ago was, that the curse of Cain rested upon this race ; while others saw in the dark skin of the Negro the curse* of Noah pro nounced against Canaan. These two explanations were comfort ing to that class who claimed that they had a right to buy and sell the Negro ; and of whom the Saviour said, " For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoul ders ; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." 2 But science has, of later years, attempted a solution of this problem. Peter Barrere, in his treatise on the subject, takes the ground that the bile in the human system has much to do with the color of the skin.3 This theory, however, has drawn the fire of a number of European scholars, who have combated it withi more zeal than skill. It is said that the spinal and brain matter are of a dark, ashy color ; and by careful examination it is proven that the blood of Ethiopians is black. These facts would seem to clothe this theory with at least a shadow of plausibility. But the opinion of Aristotle, Strabo, Alexander, and Blumenbach is, that the climate, temperature, and mode of life, have more to do with giving color than any thing else. This is certainly true among animals and plants. There are many instances on record where dogs and wolves, etc., have turned white in winter, and then as sumed a different color in* the spring. If you start at the north and move south, you will find, at first, that the flowers are very 1 Prichard, pp. 188-219. 2 Matt, xxiii. 4. 3 Discours sur la cause physicale de la couleur des negres. 20 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. white and delicate ; but, as you move toward the tropics, they begin to take on deeper and richer hues until they run into almost endless varieties. Guyot argues on the other side of the question to account for the intellectual diversity of the races of mankind. " While all the types of animals and of plants go on decreasing in perfec tion, from the equatorial to the polar regions, in proportion to the tempera tures, man presents to our view his purest, his most perfect type, at the very centre of the temperate continents, at the centre of Asia, Europe, in the regions of Iran, of Armenia, and of the Caucasus ; and, departing from this geographical centre in the three grand directions of the lands, the types gradu ally lose the beauty of their forms, in proportion to their distance, even to the extreme points of the southern continents, where we find the most deformed and degenerate races, and the lowest in the scale of humanity." l The learned professor seeks to carry out his famous geographi cal argument, and, with great skill and labor, weaves his theory of the influence of climate upon the brain and character of man. But while no scholar would presume to combat the theory that plants take on the most gorgeous hues as one nears the equator, and that the races of mankind take on a darker color in their march toward the equator, certainly no student of Oriental his tory will assent to the unsupported doctrine, that the intensity of the climate of tropical countries affects the intellectual status of races. If any one be so prejudiced as to doubt this, let him turn to " Asiatic Researches," and learn that the dark races have made some of the most invaluable contributions to science, literature, civil-engineering, art, and architecture that the world has yet known. Here we find the cradle of civilization, ancient and remote. Even changes and differences in color are to be noted in almost every community. " As we go westward we observe the light color predominating over the dark; and then, again, when we come within the influence of damp from the sea-air, we find the shade deepened into the general blackness of the coast population." The artisan and farm-laborer may become exceedingly dark from exposure, and the sailor is frequently so affected by the weather that it is next to impossible to tell his nationality. " It is well known that the Biscayan women are a shining white, the inhabitants of Granada on the contrary dark, to such an extent, that, in this 1 Earth and Man. Lecture x. pp. 254, 255. THE NEGRO IN THE LIGHT OF PHILOLOGY. 21 region, the pictures of the blessed Virgin and other saints are painted of the same color." 1 The same writer calls attention to the fact, that the people on the Cordilleras, who live under the mountains towards the west, and are, therefore, exposed to the Pacific Ocean, are quite, or nearly, as fair in complexion as the Europeans ; whereas, on the contrary, the inhabitants of the opposite side, exposed to the burning sun and scorching winds, are copper-colored. Of this theory of climateric influence we shall say more farther on. It is held by some eminent physicians in Europe and America, that the color of the skin depends upon substances external to the cutis vera. Outside of the cutis are certain layers of a sub stance various in consistence, and scarcely perceptible : here is the home and seat of color ; and these may be regarded as secre tions from the vessels of the cutis. The dark color of the Negro principally depends on the substance interposed between the true skin and the scarf-skin. This substance presents different appear ances : and it is described sometimes as a sort of organized net work or reticular tissue ; at others, as a mere mucous or slimy layer ; and it is odd that these somewhat incompatible ideas are l>oth conveyed by the term reticulum mucosum given to the inter mediate portion of the skin by its orignal discoverer, Malpighi. There is, no doubt, something plausible in all the theories advanced as to the color and hair of the Negro ; but it is verily all speculation. One theory is about as valuable as another. Nine hundred years before Christ the poet Homer, speaking of the death of Memnon, killed at the siege of Troy, says, " He was received by his Ethiopians." This is the first use of the word Ethiopia in the Greek ; and it is derived from the roots cudm, "to burn," and coy, "face." It is safe to assume, that, when God dispersed the sons of Noah, he fixed the " bounds of their habitation," and, that, from the earth and sky the various races have secured their civilization. He sent the different nations into separate parts of the earth. He gave to each its racial peculiarities, and adaptibility for the climate into which it went. He gave color, language, and civilization ; and, when by wisdom we fail to interpret his inscrutable ways, it is pleasant to know that "he worketh all things after the counsel of his own mind." 1 Blumenbach, p. 107. 22 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER III. PRIMITIVE NEGRO CIVILIZATION. THE ANCIENT AND HIGH DEGREE OF NEGRO CIVILIZATION. EGYPT, GREECE, AND ROME BORROW FROM THE NEGRO THE CIVILIZATION THAT MADE THEM GREAT. CAUSE OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NEGRO CIVILIZATION. CONFOUNDING THE TERMS "NEGRO" AND "AFRICAN." IT is fair to presume that God gave all the races of mankind civilization to start with. We infer this from the known char acter of the Creator. Before Romulus founded Rome, before Homer sang, when Greece was in its infancy, and the world quite young, "hoary Meroe " was the chief city of the Negroes along the Nile. Its private and public buildings, its markets and public squares, its colossal walls and stupendous gates, its gor geous chariots and alert footmen, its inventive genius and ripe scholarship, made it the cradle of civilization, and the mother of art. It was the queenly city of Ethiopia, for it was founded by colonies of Negroes. Through its open gates long and cease less caravans, laden with gold, silver, ivory, frankincense, and palm- oil, poured the riches of Africa into the capacious lap of the city. The learning of this people, embalmed in the immortal hiero glyphic, flowed adown the Nile, and, like spray, spread over the delta of that time-honored stream, on by the beautiful and vener able city of Thebes, the city of a hundred gates, another monu ment to Negro genius and civilization, and more ancient than the cities of the Delta, until Greece and Rome stood transfixed before the ancient glory of Ethiopia ! Homeric mythology borrowed its; very essence from Negro hieroglyphics ; Egypt borrowed her light from the venerable Negroes up the Nile. Greece went to school to the Egyptians, and Rome turned to Greece for law and the science of warfare. England dug down into Rome twenty cen turies to learn to build and plant, to establish a government, and maintain it. Thus the flow of civilization has been from the East the place of light to the West ; from the Oriental to the Occidental. (God fixed the mountains east and west in Europe.) PRIMITIVE NEGRO CIVILIZATION. 23 " Tradition universally represents the earliest men descending, it is true, from the high table-lands of this continent ; but it is in the low and fertile plains lying at their feet, with which we are already acquainted, that they unite themselves for the first time in natural bodies, in tribes, with fixed habitations, devoting themselves to husbandry, building cities, cultivating the arts, in a word, forming well-regulated societies. The traditions of the Chinese place the first progenitors of that people on the high table-land, whence the great rivers flow : they make them advance, station by station, as far as the shores of the ocean. The people of the Brahmins come down from the regions of the Hindo-Khu, and from Cashmere, into the plains of the Indus and the Ganges ; Assyria and Bactriana receive their inhabitants from the table-lands of Arme nia and Persia. " These alluvial plains, watered by their twin rivers, were better formed than all other countries of the globe to render the first steps of man, an infant still, easy in the career of civilized life. A rich soil, on which overflowing rivers spread every year a fruitful loam, as in Egypt, and one where the plough is almost useless, so movable and so easily tilled is it, a warm climate, finally, secure to the inhabitants of these fortunate regions plentiful harvests in return for light labor. Nevertheless, the conflict with the river itself and with the desert, which, 'on the banks of the Euphrates, as on those of the Nile and the Indus, is ever threatening to invade the cultivated lands, the necessity of irri gation, the inconstancy of the seasons, keep forethought alive, and give birth to the useful arts and to the sciences of observation. The abundance of resources, the absence of every obstacle, of all separation between the different parts of these vast plains, allow the aggregation of a great number of men upon one and the same space, and facilitate the formation of those mighty primitive states which amaze us by the grandeur of their proportions. " Each of them finds upon its own soil all that is necessary for a brilliant exhibition of its resources. We see those nations come rapidly forward, and reach in the remotest antiquity a degree of culture of which the temples .and the monuments of Egypt and of India, and the recently discovered palaces of Nineveh, are living and glorious witnesses. " Great nations, then, are separately formed in each of these areas, cir cumscribed by nature within natural limits. Each has its religion, its social principles, its civilization severally. But nature, as we have seen, has sep arated them ; little intercourse is established between them ; the social principle on which they are founded is exhausted by the very formation of the social state they enjoy, and is never renewed. A common life is wanting to them: they do not reciprocally share with each other their riches. With them movement is stopped : every thing becomes stable and tends to remain stationary. " Meantime, in spite of the peculiar seal impressed on each of these Oriental nations by the natural conditions in the midst of which they live, they have, nevertheless, some grand characteristics common to all, some family traits that betray the nature of the continent and the period of human progress to which they belong, making them known on the one side as Asiatic, and on the other side as primitive." 1 Earth and Man, pp. 300-302. 24 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Is it asked what caused the decline of all this glory of the primitive Negro ? why this people lost their position in the world's history ? Idolatry ! Sin ! l Centuries have flown apace, tribes have perished, cities have risen and fallen, and even empires, whose boast was their dura tion, have crumbled, while Thebes and Meroe stood. And it is a remarkable fact, that the people who built those cities are less- mortal than their handiwork. Notwithstanding their degradation, their woes and wrongs, the perils of the forest and dangers of the desert, this remarkable people have not been blotted out. They still live, and are multiplying in the earth. Certainly they have been preserved for some wise purpose, in the future to be un folded. But, again, what was the cause of the Negro's fall from his high state of civilization ? It was forgetfulness of God, idolatry F " Righteousness exalteth a nation ; but sin is a reproach to any people." The Negro tribes of Africa are as widely separated by mental, moral, physical, and social qualities as the Irish, Huns, Copts, and Druids are. Their location on the Dark Continent, their sur roundings, and the amount of light that has come to them from the outside world, are the thermometer of their civilization. It is as manifestly improper to call all Africans Negroes as to call Americans Indians. " The Negro nations of Africa differ widely as to their manner of life and their characters, both of mind and body, in different parts of that continent, according as they have existed under different moral and physical conditions. Foreign culture, though not of a high degree, has been introduced among the population of some regions ; while from others it has been shut out by almost impenetrable barriers, beyond which the aboriginal people remain secluded amid their mountains and forests, in a state of instinctive existence, a state from which, history informs us, that human races have hardly emerged, until moved by some impulse from without. Neither Phoenician nor Roman culture seems to have penetrated into Africa beyond the Atlantic region and the desert. The activity and enthusiasm of the propagators of Islam have reached farther. In the fertile low countries beyond the Sahara, watered by rivers which descend northward from the central highlands, Africa has contained for centuries several Negro empires, originally founded by Mohammedans. The Negroes of this part of Africa are people of a very different description from 1 It is a remarkable fact, that the absence of salt in the food of the Eastern nations, espe cially the dark nations or races, has been very deleterious. An African child will eat salt by the handful ; and, once tasting it, will cry for it. The ocean is the womb of nature ; and the Creator has wisely designed salt as the savor of life, the preservative element in human food. PRIMITIVE NEGRO CIVILIZATION. 25 the black pagan nations farther towards the South. They have adopted many of the arts of civilized society, and have subjected themselves to governments and political institutions. They practise agriculture, and have learned the necessary, and even some of the ornamental, arts of life, and dwell in towns of considerable extent ; many of which are said to contain ten thousand, and even thirty thousand inhabitants, a circumstance which 'implies a considerable advancement in industry and the resources of subsistence. All these improve ments were introduced into the interior of Africa three or four centuries ago ; and we have historical testimony, that in the region where trade and agriculture now prevail the population consisted, previous to the introduction of Islam, of savages as wild and fierce as the natives farther towards the south, whither the missionaries of that religion have never penetrated. It hence appears that human society has not been in all parts of Africa stationary and unprogres- sive from age to age. The first impulse to civilization was late in reaching the interior of that continent, owing to local circumstances which are easily under stood ; but, when it had once taken place, an improvement has resulted which is, perhaps, proportional to the early progress of human culture in other more favored regions of the world." But in our examination of African tribes we shall not confine ourselves to that class of people known as Negroes, but call attention to other tribes as well. And while, in this country, all persons with a visible admixture of Negro blood in them are con sidered Negroes, it is technically incorrect. For the real Negro was not the sole subject sold into slavery: very many of the noblest types of mankind in Africa have, through the uncertain ties of war, found their way to the horrors of the middle passage, and finally to the rice and cotton fields of the Carolinas and Vir ginias. So, in speaking of the race in this country, in subsequent chapters, I shall refer to them as colored people or Negroes. 1 Physical History of Mankind, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46. 26 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER IV. NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. BENIN: ITS LOCATION. ITS DISCOVERY BY THE PORTUGUESE. INTRODUCTION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION. THE KING AS A MISSIONARY. His FIDELITY TO THE CHURCH PURCHASED BY A WHITE WIFE. DECLINE OF RELIGION. INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY. SUPPRESSION OF THE TRADE BY THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. RESTORATION AND PEACE. DAHOMEY: ITS LOCATION. ORIGIN OF THE KINGDOM. MEANING OF THE NAME. WAR. CAP TURE OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR, AND HIS DEATH. THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT. WOMEN AS SOLDIERS. WARS AND THEIR OBJECTS. HUMAN SACRIFICES. THE KING A DESPOT. His POWERS. His WIVES. POLYGAMY. KINGLY SUCCESSION. CORONATION. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW. REVENUE SYSTEM. ITS FUTURE. YORUBA: ITS LOCATION. SLAVERY AND ITS ABOLITION. GROWTH OF THE PEOPLE OF ABEOKUTA. MISSIONARIES AND TEACHERS FROM SIERRA LEONE. PROSPERITY AND PEACE ATTEND THE PEOPLE. CAPACITY OF THE PEOPLE FOR CIVILIZATION. BISHOP CROWTHER. His INFLUENCE. BENIN. THE vast territory stretching from the Volta River on the west to the Niger in the Gulf of Benin on the east, the Atlantic Ocean on the south, and the Kong Mountains on the north, embraces the three powerful Negro kingdoms of Benin, Dahomey, and Yoruba. From this country, more than from any other part of Africa, were the people sold into American slavery. Two or three hundred years ago there were several very powerful Negro empires in Western Africa. They had social and political government, and were certainly a very orderly people. But in 1485 Alfonso de Aviro, a Portuguese, discovered Benin, the most easterly province ; and as an almost immediate result the slave- trade was begun. It is rather strange, too, in the face of the fact, that, when De Aviro returned to the court of Portugal, an ambas sador from the Negro king of Benin accompanied him for the purpose of . requesting the presence of Christian missionaries among this people. Portugal became interested, and despatched Fernando Po to the Gulf of Benin ; who, after discovering the island that bears his name, ascended the Benin River to Gaton, where he located a Portuguese colony. The Romish Church lifted her standard here. The brothers of the Society of Jesus, if they did not convert the king, certainly had him in a humor to NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. 27 bring all of his regal powers to bear upon his subjects to turn them into the Catholic Church. He actually took the contract to turn his subjects over to this Church! But this shrewd sav age did not agree to undertake this herculean task for nothing. He wanted a white wife. He told the missionaries that he would deliver his subjects to Christianity for a white wife, and they agreed to furnish her. Some priests were sent to the Island of St. Thomas to hunt the wife. This island had, even at that early day, a considerable white population. A strong appeal was made to the sisters there to consider this matter as a duty to the holy Church. It was set forth as a missionary enterprise. After some contemplation, one of the sisters agreed to accept the hand of the Negro king. It was a noble act, and one for which she should have been canonized, but we believe never was. The Portuguese continued to come. Gat on grew. The mis sionary worked with a will. Attention was given to agriculture and commerce. But the climate was wretched. Sickness and death swept the Portuguese as the fiery breath of tropical light ning. They lost their influence over the people. They estab lished the slave-trade, but the Church and slave-pen would not agree. The inhuman treatment they bestowed upon the people gave rise to the gravest suspicions as to the sincerity of the mis sionaries. History gives us the sum total of a religious effort that was not of God. There isn't a trace of Roman Catholicism in that country, and the last state of that people is worse than the former. The slave-trade turned the heads of the natives. Their cruel and hardened hearts assented to the crime of man-stealing. They turned aside from agricultural pursuits. They left their fish-nets on the seashore, their cattle uncared for, their villages neglected, and went forth to battle against their weaker neighbors. They sold their prisoners of war to slave-dealers on the coast, who gave them rum and tobacco as an exceeding great reward. When war failed to give from its bloody and remorseless jaws the victims for whom a ready market awaited, they turned to duplicity, treachery, and cruelty. " And men's worst enemies were those of their own household." The person suspicioned of witchcraft was speedily found guilty, and adjudged to slavery. The guilty and the inno cent often shared the same fate. The thief, the adulterer, and the aged were seized by the rapacity that pervaded the people, and were hurled into the hell of slavery. 28 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Now, as a result of this condition of affairs, the population was depleted, the people grew indolent and vicious, and finally the empire was rent with political feuds. Two provinces was the result. One still bore the name of Benin, the other was called Waree. The capital of the former contains about 38,000 inhab itants, and the chief town and island of Waree only contain about 16,000 of a population. Finally England was moved to a suppression of the slave- trade at this point. The ocean is very calm along this coast, which enabled her fleets to run down slave-vessels and make prizes of them. This had a salutary influence upon the natives. Peace and quietness came as angels. A spirit of thrift possessed the people. They turned to the cultivation of the fields and to commercial pursuits. On the river Bonny, and along other streams, large and flourishing palm-oil marts sprang up ; and a score or more of vessels are needed to export the single article of palm-oil. The morals of the people are not what they ought to be ; but they have, on the whole, made wonderful improvement during the last fifty years. DAHOMEY. This nation is flanked by Ashantee on the west, and Yoruba on the east ; running from the seacoast on the south to the Kong mountains on the north. It is one hundred and eighty miles in width, by two hundred in breadth. Whydah is the principal town on the seacoast. The story runs, that, about two hundred and seventy-five years ago, Tacudons, chief of the Foys, carried a siege against the city of Abomey. He made a solemn vow to the gods, that, if they aided him in pushing the city to capitulate, he would build a palace in honor of the victory. He succeeded. He laid the foundations of his palace, and then upon them ripped open the bowels of Da. He called the building Da-Omi, which meant Da's belly. He took the title of King of Dahomey, which has remained until the present time. The neighboring tribes, proud and am bitious, overran the country, and swept Whydah and adjacent places with the torch and spear. Many whites fell into their hands as prisoners ; all of whom were treated with great consider ation, save the English governor of the above-named town. They put him to death, because, as they charged, he had incited and excited the people of Dahomey to resist their king. This is a remarkable people. They are as cruel as they are NEGRO. KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. 29 cunning. The entire population is converted into an army : even women are soldiers. Whole regiments of women are to be found in the army of the king of Dahomey, and they are the best foot- regiments in the kingdom. They are drilled at stated periods, are officered, and well disciplined. The army is so large, and is so constantly employed in predatory raids upon neighboring tribes, that the consuming element is greater than the producing. The object of these raids was threefold : to get slaves for human sacri fices, to pour the blood of the victims on the graves of their ances tors yearly, and to secure human skulls to pave the court of the king and to ornament the walls about the palace ! After a suc cessful war, the captives are brought to the capital of the king dom. A large platform is erected in the great market space, encircled by a parapet about three feet high. The platform blazes with rich clothes, elaborate umbrellas, and all the evidences of kingly wealth and splendor, as well as the spoils taken in battle. The king occupies a seat in the centre of the platform, attended by his imperturbable wives. The captives, rum, tobacco, and cow ries are now ready to be thrown to the surging mob below. They have fought gallantly, and now clamor for their reward. " Feed us, king!" they cry, "feed us, king! for we are hungry!" and as the poor captives are tossed to the mob they are despatched without ceremony ! But let us turn from this bloody and barbarous scene. The king is the most absolute despot in the world. He is heir-at-law to all his subjects. He is regarded as a demigod. It is unlawful to indicate that the king eats, sleeps, or drinks. No one is allowed to approach him, except his nobles, who at a court levee disrobe themselves of all their elegant garments, and, prostrate upon the ground, they crawl into his royal presence. The whole people are the cringing lickspittles of the nobles in turn. Every private in the army is ambitious to please the king by valor. The king is literally monarch of all he surveys. He is proprietor of the land, and has at his disposal every thing animate or inanimate in his. kingdom. He has about three thousand wives. 1 Every man who- would marry must buy his spouse from the king ; and, while the system of polygamy obtains everywhere throughout the kingdom, the subject must have care not to secure so many wives that it 1 The king of Dahomey is limited to 3,333 wives ! It is hardly fair to suppose that his, majesty feels cramped under the ungenerous act that limits the number of his wives.. 30 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. would appear that he is attempting to rival the king. The robust women are consigned to the military service. But the real con dition of woman in this kingdom is slavery of the vilest type. She owns nothing. She is always in the market, and lives in a state of constant dread of being sold. When the king dies, a large number of his wives are sacrificed upon his grave. This fact inspires them to take good care of him ! In case of death, the king's brother, then his nephew, and so on, take the throne. An inauguration generally lasts six days, during which time hun dreds of human lives are sacrificed in honor of the new monarch. The code of Dahomey is very severe. Witchcraft is punished with death ; and in this regard stalwart old Massachusetts bor rowed from the barbarian. Adultery is punished by slavery or sudden death. Thieves are also sold into slavery. Treason and cowardice and murder are punished by death. The civil code is as complicated as the criminal is severe. Over every village, is a Caboceer, equivalent to our mayor. He can convene a court by prostrating himself and kissing the ground. The court con venes, tries and condemns the criminal. If it be a death sen tence, he is delivered to a man called the Milgan, or equivalent to our sheriff, who is the ranking officer in the state. If the crim inal is sentenced to slavery, he is delivered to the Mayo, who is second in rank to the Milgan, or about like our turnkey or jailer. All sentences must be referred to the king for his approval ; and all executions take place at the capital, where notice is given of the same by a public crier in the market-places. The revenue system of this kingdom is oppressive. The majority of slaves taken in war are the property of the king. A tax is levied on each person or slave exported from the kingdom. In relation to domestic commerce, a tax is levied on every article of food and clothing. A custom-service is organized, and the tax-collectors are shrewd and exacting. The religion of the people is idolatry and fetich, or supersti tion. They have large houses where they worship snakes ; and so great is their reverence for the reptile, that, if any one kills one that has escaped, he is punished with death. But, above their wild and superstitious' notions, there is an ever-present con sciousness of a Supreme Being. They seldom mention the name of God, and then with fear and trembling. " The worship of God in the absurd symbol of the lower animals I do not NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. 31 wish to defend : but it is all that these poor savages can do ; and is not that less impious than to speak of the Deity with blasphemous familiarity, as our illiterate preachers often do ? " * But this people are not in a hopeless condition of degradation. "The Wesleyan Missionary Society of England have had a mission- station at Badagry for some years, and not without some important and encour aging tokens of success. . . . The king, it is thought, is more favorable to Christian missions now than he formerly was." 2 And we say Amen ! YORUBA. This kingdom extends from the seacoast to the river Niger, by which it is separated from the kingdom of Nufi. It contains more territory than either Benin or Dahomey. Its principal sea port is Lagos. For many years it was a great slave-mart, and only gave up the traffic under the deadly presence of English guns. Its facilities for the trade were great. Portuguese and Spanish slave-traders took up their abode here, and, teaching the natives the use of fire-arms, made a stubborn stand for their lucra tive enterprise; but in 1852 the slave-trade was stopped, and the slavers driven from the seacoast. The place came under the English flag ; and, as a result, social order and business enterprise have, been restored and quickened. The slave-trade wrought great havoc among this people. It is now about fifty-five years since a few weak and fainting tribes, decimated by the slave-trade, fled to Ogun, a stream seventy-five miles from the coast, where they took refuge in a cavern. In the course of time they were joined by other tribes that fled before the scourge of slave-hunt ers. Their common danger gave them a commonality of inter ests. They were, at first, reduced to very great want. They lived for a long time on berries, herbs, roots, and such articles of food as nature furnished without money and without price ; but, leagued together to defend their common rights, they grew bold, and began to spread out around their hiding-place, and engage in agriculture. Homes and villages began to rise, and the desert to blossom as the rose. They finally chose a leader, a wise and judicious man by the name of Shodeke ; and one hundred and thirty towns were united under one government. In 1853, less than a generation, a feeble people had grown to be nearly one 1 Savage Africa, p. 51. 2 Western Africa, p. 207. 32 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. hundred thousand (100,000) ; and Abeokuta, named for their cave, contains at present nearly three hundred thousand souls. In 1839 som e colored men from Sierra Leone, desirous of engaging in trade, purchased a small vessel, and called at Lagos and Badagry. They had been slaves in this country, and had been taken to Sierra Leone, where they had received a Christian educa tion. Their visit, therefore, was attended with no ordinary inter est. They recognized many of their friends and kindred, and were agreeably surprised at the wonderful change that had taken place in so short a time. They returned to Sierra Leone, only to inspire their neighbors with a zeal for commercial and missionary enterprise. Within three years, five hundred of the best colored people of Sierra Leone set out for Lagos and Badagry on the sea- coast, and then moved overland to Abeokuta, where they intended to make their home. In this company of noble men were mer chants, mechanics, physicians, school-teachers, and clergymen. Their people had fought for deliverance from physical bondage : these brave missionaries had come to deliver them from intel lectual and spiritual bondage. The people of Abeokuta gave the missionaries a hearty welcome. The colony received new blood and energy. School-buildings and churches rose on every hand. Commerce was revived, and even agriculture received more skil ful attention. Peace and and plenty began to abound. Every thing wore a sunny smile, and many tribes were bound together by the golden cords of civilization, and sang their Te Deum together. Far-away England caught their songs of peace, and sent them agricultural implements, machinery, and Christian ministers and teachers. So, that, nowhere on the continent of Africa is there to be found so many renewed households, so many reclaimed tribes, such substantial results of a vigorous, Christian civilization. The forces that quickened the inhabitants of Abeokuta were not all objective, exoteric : there were subjective and inherent forces at work in the hearts of the people. They were capable of civilization, longed for it ; and the first blaze of light from without aroused their slumbering forces, and showed them the broad and ascending road that led to the heights of freedom and usefulness. That they sought this road with surprising alacrity, we have the most abundant evidence. Nor did all the leaders come from abroad. Adgai, in the Yoruba language, but Crow- ther, in English, was a native of this country. In 1822 he was NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. 33 sold into slavery at the port of Badagry. The vessel that was to bear him away to the " land of chains and stocks " was captured by a British man-of-war, and taken to Sierra Leone. Here he came under the influence of Christian teachers. He proved to be one of the best pupils in his school. He received a classical education, fitted for the ministry, and then hastened back to his native country to carry the gospel of peace. It is rather remarka ble, but he found his mother and several sisters still " in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity." The son and brother became their spiritual teacher, and, ere long, had the great satis faction of seeing them " clothed, in their right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus." His influence has been almost boundless. A man of magnificent physical proportions, tall, a straight body mounted by a ponderous head, shapely, with a kind eye, benevo lent face, a rich cadence in his voice, the "black Bishop" Crowther is a princely looking man, who would attract the atten tion of cultivated people anywhere. He is a man of eminent piety, broad scholarship, and good works. He has translated the Bible into the Yoruba language, founded schools, and directed the energies of his people with a matchless zeal. His beautiful and beneficent life is an argument in favor of the possibilities of Negro manhood so long injured by the dehumanizing influences of slavery. Others have caught the inspiration that has made Bishop Crowther's life "as terrible as an army with banners" to the enemies of Christ and humanity, and are working to dissipate darkness of that land of night. 34 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER V. THE ASHANTEE EMPIRE. ITS LOCATION AND EXTENT. ITS FAMOUS KINGS. THE ORIGIN OF THE ASHANTEES OBSCURE. THE WAR WITH DENKERA. THE ASHANTEES AGAINST THE FIELD CONQUER TWO KINGDOMS AND ANNEX THEM. DEATH OF OSAI TUTU. THE ENVY OF THE KlNG OF DAHOMEY. INVA SION OF THE ASHANTEE COUNTRY BY THE KING OF DAHOMEY. His DEFEAT SHARED BY HIS ALLIES. AKVVASI PURSUES THE ARMY OF DAHOMEY INTO ITS OWN COUNTRY. GETS A MOR TAL WOUND AND SUFFERS A HUMILIATING DEFEAT. THE KlNG OF DAHOMEY SENDS THE ROYAL KUDJOH HIS CONGRATULATIONS. KWAMINA DEPOSED FOR ATTEMPTING TO INTRODUCE MOHAMMEDANISM INTO THE KINGDOM. THE ASHANTEES CONQUER THE MOHAMMEDANS. NUMEROUS WARS. INVASION OF THE FANTI COUNTRY. DEATH OF SIR CHARLES MCCARTHY. TREATY. PEACE. THE kingdom of Ashantee lies between the Kong Mountains and the vast country of the Fantis. The country occupied by the Ashantees was, at the first, very small ; but by a series of brilliant conquests they finally secured a territory of three hundred square miles. One of their most renowned kings,, Osai Tutu, during the last century, added to Ashantee by con quest the kingdoms of Sarem, Buntuku, Warsaw, Denkera, and Axim. Very little is known as to the origin of the Ashantees. They were discovered in the early part of the eighteenth century in the great valley between the Kong Mountains and the river Niger, from whence they were driven by the Moors and Moham medan Negroes. They exchanged the bow for fire-arms, and soon became a warlike people. Osai Tutu led in a desperate engagement against the king of Denkera, in which the latter was slain, his army was put to rout, and large quantities of booty fell into the hands of the victorious Ashantees. The king of Aximi unwittingly united his forces to those of the discomforted Den kera, and, drawing the Ashantees into battle again, sustained heavy losses, and was put to flight. He was compelled to accept: the most exacting conditions of peace, to pay the king of the: Ashantees four thousand ounces of gold to defray the expenses of the war, and have his territory made tributary to the conqueror. In a subsequent battle Osai Tutu was surprised and killed. His courtiers and wives were made prisoners, with much goods. This THE ASH ANTE E EMPIRE. 35 enraged the Ashantees, and they reeked vengeance on the heads of the inhabitants of Kromanti, who laid the disastrous ambus cade. They failed, however, to recover the body of their slain king; but many of his attendants were retaken, and numerous enemies, whom they sacrificed to the manes of their dead king at Kumasi. After the death of the noble Osai Tutu, dissensions arose among his followers. The tribes and kingdoms he had bound to his victorious chariot-wheels began to assert their independence. His life-work began to crumble. Disorder ran riot ; and, after a few ambitious leaders were convinced that the throne of Ashantee demanded brains and courage, they cheerfully made way for the coronation of Osai Opoko, brother to the late king. He was- equal to the existing state of affairs. He proved himself a states man, a soldier, and a wise ruler. He organized his army, and took the field in person against the revolting tribes. He reconquered all the lost provinces. He defeated his most valorous foe, the king of Gaman, after driving him into the Kong Mountains. When his jealous underlings sought his overthrow by conspiracy, he conquered them by an appeal to arms. His rule was attended by the most lasting and beneficent results. He died in 1742, and was succeeded by his brother, Osai Akwasi. The fame and military prowess of the kings of the Ashantees were borne on every passing breeze, and told by every fleeing fugi tive. The whole country was astounded by the marvellous achieve ments of this people, and not a little envy was felt among adjoining nations. The king of Dahomey especially felt like humiliating this people in battle. This spirit finally manifested itself in feuds, charges, complaints, and, laterally, by actual hostilities. The king of Dahomey felt that he had but one rival, the king of Ashantee. He felt quite sure of victory on account of the size, spirit, and discipline of his army. It was idle at this time, and was ordered to the Ashantee border. The first engagement took place near the Volta. The king of Dahomey had succeeded in securing an alliance with the armies of Kawaku and Bourony, but the valor and skill of the Ashantees were too much for the invading armies. If King Akwasi had simply maintained his- defensive position, his victory would have been lasting ; but, over joyed at his success, he unwittingly pursued the enemy beyond the .Volta, and carried war into the kingdom of Dahomey. Troops fight with great desperation in their own country. The Ashantee 36 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. army was struck on its exposed flanks, its splendid companies of Caboceers went down before the intrepid Amazons. Back to the Volta, the boundary-line between the two empires, fled the routed Ashantees. Akwasi received a mortal wound, from which he died in 1752, when his nephew, Osai Kudjoh, succeeded to the throne. Three brothers had held the sceptre over this empire, but now it passed to another generation. The new king was worthy of his illustrious family. After the days of mourning for his royal uncle were ended, before he ascended the throne, several provinces revolted. He at once took the field, subdued his recal citrant subjects, and made them pay a heavy tribute. He won other provinces by conquest, and awed the neighboring tribes until an unobstructed way was open to his invincible army across the country to Cape Palmas. His fame grew with each military manoeuvre, and each passing year witnessed new triumphs. Fawning followed envy in the heart of the king of Dahomey ; and a large embassy was despatched to the powerful Kudjoh, con gratulating him upon his military achievements, and seeking a friendly alliance between the two governments. Peace was now restored ; and the armies of Ashantee very largely melted into agricultural communities, and great prosperity came. But King Kudjoh was growing old in the service of his people; and, as he tould no longer give his personal attention to public affairs, dis sensions arose in some of the remote provinces. With impaired vision and feeble health he, nevertheless, put an army into the field to punish the insubordinate tribes ; but before operations began he died. His grandson, Osai Kwamina, was designated as legal successor to the throne in 1781. He took a solemn vow that he would not enter the palace until he secured the heads of Akombroh and Afosee, whom he knew had excited and incited the people to rebellion against his grandfather. His vengeance was swift and complete. The heads of the rebel leaders were long kept at Kumasi as highly prized relics of the reign of King Kwamina. His reign was brief, however. He was deposed for attempting to introduce the Mohammedan religion into the king dom. Osai Apoko was crowned as his successor in 1797. The Gaman and Kongo armies attached themselves to the declining fortunes of the deposed king, and gave battle for his lost crown. It was a lost cause. The new king could wield his sword as well as wear a crown. He died of a painful sickness, and was suc ceeded by his son, Osai Tutu Kwamina, in 1800. THE ASHANTEE EMPIRE. 37 The new king was quite youthful, only seventeen ; but he inherited splendid qualities from a race of excellent rulers. He re-organized his armies, and early won a reputation for courage, sagacity, and excellent ability, extraordinary in one so young. He inherited a bitter feeling against the Mohammedans, and made up his mind to chastise two of their chiefs, Ghofan and Ghobago, and make the territory of Banna tributary to Ashantee. He invaded their country, and burned their capital. In an engage ment fought at Kaha, the entire Moslem army was defeated and captured. The king of Ghofan was wounded and made prisoner, and died in the camp of the Ashantee army. Two more provinces were bound to the throne of Kwamina ; and we submit that this is an historical anomaly, in that a pagan people subdued an army that emblazoned its banner with the faith of the one God ! The Ashantee empire had reached the zenith of its glory. Its flag waved in triumph from the Volta to Bossumpea, and the Kong Mountains had echoed the exploits of the veterans that formed the strength of its army. The repose that even this un civilized people longed for was denied them by a most unfortunate incident. Asim was a province tributary to the Ashantee empire. Two of the chiefs of Asim became insubordinate, gave offence to the king, and then fled into the country of the Fantis, one of the most numerous and powerful tribes on the Gold Coast. The Fantis promised the fugitives armed protection. There was no extradi tion treaty in those days. The king despatched friendly messen gers, who were instructed to set forth the faults of the offending subjects, and to request their return. The request was contemptu ously denied, and the messengers subjected to a painful death. The king of Ashantee invaded the country of the enemy, and defeated the united forces of Fanti and Asim. He again made them an offer of peace, and was led to believe it would be accepted. But the routed army was gathering strength for another battle, although Chibbu and Apontee had indicated to the king that the conditions of peace were agreeable. The king sent an embassy to learn when a formal submission would take place ; and they, also, were put to death. King Osai Tutu Kwamina took "the great oath" and vowed that he would never return from the seat of war or enter his capital without the heads of the rebellious chiefs. The Ashantee army shared the desperate feelings of their leader; and a war was begun, which for cruelty and carnage has 38 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. no equal in the annals of the world's history. Pastoral communi ties, hamlets, villages, and towns were swept by the red waves of remorseless warfare. There was no mercy in battle : there were no prisoners taken by day, save to be spared for a painful death at nightfall. Their groans, mingling with the shouts of the victors, made the darkness doubly hideous ; and the blood of the van quished army, but a short distance removed, ran cold at the thoughts of the probable fate that waited them on the morrow. Old men and old women, young men and young women, the rollicking children whose light hearts knew no touch of sorrow, as well as the innocent babes clinging to the agitated bosoms of their mothers, unable to distinguish between friend or foe, felt the cruel stroke of war. All were driven to an inhospitable grave in the place where the fateful hand of war made them its victims, or perished in the sullen waters of the Volta. For nearly a hundred miles " the smoke of their torment " mounted the skies. Nothing was left in the rear of the Ashantee army, not even cattle or buildings. Pursued by a fleet-footed and impartial dis aster, the fainting Fantis and their terrified allies turned their faces toward the seacoast. And why ? Perhaps this fleeing army had a sort of superstitious belief that the sea might help them. Then, again, they knew that there were many English on the Gold Coast ; that they had forts and troops. They trusted, also, that the young king of the Ashantees would not follow his enemy under the British flag and guns. They were mistaken. The twa revolting chiefs took refuge in the fort at Anamabo. On came the intrepid king, thundering at the very gates of the English fort. The village was swept with the hot breath of battle. Thou sands perished before this invincible army. The English soldiers poured hot shot and musketry into the columns of the advancing army ; but on they marched to victory with an impurturbable air, worthy of "the old guard" under Ney at Waterloo. Preparations were completed for blowing up the walls of the fort ; and it would have been but a few hours until the king of Ashantee would have taken the governor's chair, had not the English capitu lated. During the negotiations one of the offending chiefs made good his escape to a little village called Cape Coast ; but the other was delivered up, and, having been taken back to Kumasi, was tortured to death. Twelve thousand persons fell in the engage ment at Anamabo, and thousands of lives were lost in other engagements. This took place in rSo/. THE ASH ANTE E EMPIRE. 39 In 1811 the king of Ashantee sent an army to Elmina to pro tect his subjects against predatory bands of Fantis. Three or four battles were fought, and were invariably won by the Ashantee troops. Barbarians have about as long memories as civilized races. They are a kind-hearted people, but very dangerous and ugly when they are led to feel that they have been injured. " The great 'Oath " means a great deal ; and the king was not happy in the thought that one of the insolent chiefs had found refuge in the town of Cape Coast, which was in the Fanti country. So in 1817 lie invaded this country, and called at Cape Coast, and reduced the place to the condition of a siege. The English authorities saw the Fantis dying under their eyes, and paid the fine imposed by the King of Ashantee, rather than bury the dead inhabitants of the beleaguered town. The Ashantees retired. England began to notice the Ashantees. They had proven themselves to be a most heroic, intelligent, and aggressive people. The Fantis lay stretched between them and the seacoast. The frequent invasion of this country, for corrective purposes as the Ashantees believed, very seriously interrupted the trade of the coast ; and England began to feel it. The English had been defeated once in an attempt to assist the Fantis, and now thought it wise to turn attention to a pacific policy, looking toward the establishment of amicable relations between the Ashantees and themselves. There had never been any unpleasant relations be tween the two governments, except in the instance named. The Ashantees rather felt very kindly toward England, and for pru dential and commercial reasons desired to treat the authorities at the coast with great consideration. They knew that the English gave them a market for their gold, and an opportunity to purchase manufactured articles that they needed. But the Fantis, right under the English flag, receiving a rent for the ground on which the English had their fort and government buildings, grew so in tolerably abusive towards their neighbors, the Ashantees, that the British saw nothing before them but interminable war. It was their desire to avoid it if possible. Accordingly, they sent an embassy to the king of the Ashantees, consisting of Gov. James, of the fort at Akra, a Mr. Bowdich, nephew to the governor-in- chief at Cape Coast, a Mr. Hutchinson, and the surgeon of the English settlement, Dr. Teddlie. Mr. Bowdich headed the em bassy to the royal court, where they were kindly received. A 40 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. treaty was made. The rent that the Fantis had been receiving- for ground occupied by the English four ounces of gold per month was to be paid to the king of Ashantee, as his by right of conquest. Diplomatic relations were to be established between the two governments, and Mr. Hutchinson was to remain at Ku- masi as the British resident minister. He was charged with the carrying out of so much of the treaty as related to his government. The treaty was at once forwarded to the home government, and Mr. Dupuis was appointed consul of his Ma jesty's government to the court of Ashantee. A policy was out lined that meant the opening up of commerce with the distant provinces of the Ashantee empire along the Kong Mountains. In those days it took a long time to sailfrom England to the Gold Coast in Western Africa ; and before Consul Dupuis reached the coast, the king of Ashantee was engaged in a war with the king of Gaman. The Ashantee army was routed. The news of the disaster was hailed by the Fantis on the coast with the most bois terous and public demonstrations. This gave the king of Ashan tee offence. The British authorities were quite passive about the conduct of the Fantis, although by solemn treaty they had become responsible for their deportment. The Fantis grew very insulting and offensive towards the Ashantees. The king of the latter called the attention of the authorities at the Cape to the con duct of the Fantis, but no official action was taken. In the mean while Mr. Dupuis was not allowed to proceed on his mission to the capital of the Ashantees. Affairs began to assume a very threatening attitude ; and only after the most earnest request was he permitted to proceed to the palace of the king of Ashan tee. He received a hearty welcome at the court, and was enter tained with the most lavish kindness. After long and painstaking consideration, a treaty was decided upon that was mutually agree able ; but the self-conceited and swaggering insolence of the British authorities on the coast put it into the waste-basket. The commander of the British squadron put himself in harmony with the local authorities, and refused to give Consul Dupuis trans portation to England for the commissioners of the Ashantee government, whom he had brought to the coast with the intention of taking to London with him. A war-cloud was gathering. Dupuis saw it. He sent word to the king of Ashantee to remember his oath, and refrain from hostilities until he could communicate with the British govern- THE ASH ANTE E EMPIRE. 41 ment. The treaty stipulated for the recognition, by the British authorities, of the authority of the Ashantee king over the Fantis. Only those immediately around the fort were subject to English law, and then not to an extent to exempt them from tax imposed by the Ashantee authorities. In the midst of these complications, Parliament, by a special act, abolished the charter of the African Company. This put all its forts, arsenals, and stations under the direct control of the crown. Sir Charles McCarthy was made governor-general of the British possessions on the Gold Coast, and took up his head quarters at Cape Coast in March, 1822. Two months had passed now since Dupuis had sailed for England ; and not a syllable had reached the king's messenger, who, all this time, had waited to hear from England. The country was in an unsettled state, Gov. McCarthy was not equal to the situation. He fell an easy prey to the fawning and lying Fantis. They received him as the champion of their declining fortunes, and did every thing in their power to give him an unfriendly opinion of the Ashantees. The king of the Ashantees began to lose faith in the British. His faithful messenger returned from the coast bearing no friendly tidings. The king withdrew his troops from the seacoast, and began to put his army upon a good war-footing. When all was in readiness a Negro sergeant in the British service was seized, and put to a torturous death. This was a signal for the grand opening. Of course the British were bound to demand redress. Sir Charles McCarthy was informed by some Fantis scouts that the king of Ashantee, at the head of his army, was marching for Cape Coast. Sir Charles rallied his forces, and went forth to give him battle. His object was to fight the king at a distance from the cape, and thus prevent him from devastating the entire coun try as in former wars. Sir Charles McCarthy was a brave man, and worthy of old England ; but in this instance his courage was foolhardy. He crossed the Prah River to meet a wily and des perate foe. His troops were the worthless natives, hastily gath ered, and were intoxicated with the hope of deliverance from. Ashantee rule. He should have waited for the trained troops of Major Chisholm. This was his fatal mistake. His pickets felt the enemy early in the morning of the 2ist of January, 1824. A lively skirmish followed. In a short time the clamorous war- horns of the advancing Ashantees were heard, and a general engagement came on. The first fighting began along a shallow 42 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. stream. The Ashantees came up with the courage and measured tread of a well-disciplined army. They made a well-directed charge to gain the opposite bank of the stream, but were repulsed by an admirable bayonet charge from Sir Charles's troops. The Ashantees then crossed the stream above and below the British army, and fell with such desperation upon its exposed and naked flanks, that it was bent into the shape of a letter A, and hurled back toward Cape Coast in dismay. Wounded and exhausted, toward evening Sir Charles fled from his exposed position to the troops of his allies under the command of the king of Denkera. He concentrated his artillery upon the heaviest columns of the enemy ; but still they came undaunted, bearing down upon the centre like an avalanche. Sir Charles made an attempt to retreat with his staff, but met instant death at the hands of the Ashantees. His head was removed from the body and sent to Kumasi. His heart was eaten by the chiefs of the army that they might imbibe his courage, while his flesh was dried and issued in small rations among the line-officers for the same pur pose. His bones were kept at the capital of the Ashantee kingdom as national fetiches. 1 Major Chisholm and Capt. Laing, learning of the disaster that had well-nigh swallowed up Sir Charles's army, retreated to 'Cape Coast. There were about thirty thousand troops remaining, but they were so terrified at the disaster of the day that they could not be induced to make a stand against the gallant Ashan tees. The king of Ashantee, instead of following the routed army to the gates of Cape Coast, where he could have dealt it a death-blow, offered the English conditions of peace. Capt. Rick- etts met the Ashantee messengers at Elmina, and heard from them the friendly messages of the king. The Ashantees only wanted the British to surrender Kudjoh Chibbu of the province of Denkera; but this fugitive from the Ashantee king, while negotiations were pending, resolved to rally the allied armies and make a bold stroke. He crossed the Prah at the head of a con- 1 The following telegram shocks the civilized world. It serves notice on the Christians of the civilized world, that, in a large missionary sense, they have come far short of their duty to the "nations beyond," who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. "MASSACRE OF MAIDENS. LONDON, Nov. 10, 1881. Advices from Cape Coast Castle report that the king of Ashantee killed two hundred young girls for the purpose of using their blood for mixing mortar for repair of one of the state buildings. The report of the massacre was received from a refugee chosen for one of the victims. Such wholesale massacres are known to be Singular, egara evolu, a large chest. Second Declension. \ Plural> ^ ra volu , large chests> t Singular, iddmbe ivolu, a large sheep. on ' 1 Plural, iddmbe ampolu, large sheep. ( Singular, omamba ompolu, a large snake. Fourth Declension, j plural> imamba ^^ }arge snakes< , We presume it would be a difficult task for a Mpongwe to explain the arbitrary law by which such changes are made. And yet he is as uniform and strict in his obedience to this law as if it were written out in an Mpongwe grammar, and taught in every village. His verb has four moods ; viz., indicative, imperative, condi tional, and subjunctive. The auxiliary particle gives the indica tive mood its grammatical being. The imperative is formed from the present of the indicative by changing its initial consonant into its reciprocal consonant as follows : tonda, to love. ronda, love thou. denda, to do. lenda, do thou. The conditional mood has a form of its own ; but the conjunc tive particles are used as auxiliaries at the same time, and differ ent conjunctive particles are used with different tenses. The subjunctive, having but one form, in a sentence where there are two verbs is used as the second verb. 2 So by the use of the auxiliary particles the verb can form the infinitive and potential mood. The Mpongwe verb carries four tenses, present, past or historical, perfect past, and future. Upon the principle of alliteration the perfect past tense, representing an action as com pleted, is formed from the present tense by prefixing a, and by changing "did love." The past or historical tense is derived from the imperative by prefixing a, and by changing tf-final into i. Thus ronda, "love;" arondi, "have loved." The future tense is con structed by the aid of the auxiliary particle be, as follows : mi be tonda, " I am going to love." We have not been able to find a Mandingo grammar, except Mr. MacBrair's, which is, as far as we know, the only one in 1 Western Africa, p. 470. 2 Equatorial Africa, p. 531. LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 71 -existence. We have had but little opportunity to study the structure of that language. But what scanty material we have at hand leads us to the conclusion that it is quite loosely put together. The saving element in its verb is the minuteness with which it defines the time of an action. The causative form is made by the use of a suffix. It does not use the verb "to go " or "come" in order to express a future tense. Numerous particles are used in the substantive verb sense. The Mandingo language is rather smooth. The letters v and z are not in it. About one- -fiith of the verbs and nouns commence with vowels, and the noun always terminates in the letter o. Here is a wide and interesting field for philologists : it should be cultivated. The African's nature is as sunny as the climate he lives in. He is not brutal, as many advocates of slavery have asserted. It is the unanimous testimony of all explorers of, and travellers through, the Dark Continent, that the element of gentleness pre dominates among the more considerable tribes ; that they have a 'keen sense of the beautiful, and are susceptible of whatever culture is brought within their reach. The Negro nature is not sluggish, but joyous and vivacious. In his songs he celebrates victories, and laughs at death with the complacency of the Greek .Stoics. " Rich man and poor fellow, all men must die : Bodies are only shadows. Why should I be sad ? " * He can be deeply wrought upon by acts of kindness ; and bears a friendship to those who show him favor, worthy of a better .state of society. When Henry M. Stanley (God bless him ! noble, brave soul !) was about emerging from the Dark Conti nent, he made a halt at Kabinda before he ended his miraculous journey at Zanzibar on the Pacific Ocean. He had been accom panied in his perilous journey by stout-hearted, brave, and faith ful natives. Their mission almost completed, they began to sink into that listlessness which is often the precursor of death. They had been true to their master, and were now ready to die as bravely as they had lived. Read Mr. Stanley's account without emotion if you can : " ' Do you wish to see Zanzibar, boys ? ' I asked. " ' Ah, it is far. Nay, speak not, master. We shall never see it,' they replied. 1 Savage Africa, p. 212. 72 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "'But you will die if you go on in this way. Wake up shake your selves show yourselves to be men.' " ' Can a man contend with God ? Who fears death ? Let us die undis turbed, and be at rest forever,' they answered. " Brave, faithful, loyal souls ! They were, poor fellows, surrendering them selves to the benumbing influences of a listlessness and fatal indifference to life ! Four of them died in consequence of this strange malady at Loanda, three more on board her Majesty's ship Industry, and one woman breathed her last the day after we arrived at Zanzibar. But in their sad death they had one consolation, in the words which they kept constantly repeating to them selves " ' We have brought our master to the great sea, and he has seen his white brothers. La il Allah, il Allah ! There is no God but God ! ' they said and died. " It is not without an overwhelming sense of grief, a choking in the throat, and swimming eyes, that I write of those days ; for my memory is still busy with the worth and virtues of the dead. In a thousand fields of incident, adventure, and bitter trials, they had proved their stanch heroism and their fortitude ; they had lived and endured nobly. I remember the enthusiasm with which they responded to my appeals ; I remember their bold bearing during the darkest days ; I remember the Spartan pluck, the indomitable courage, with which they suffered in the days of our adversity. Their voices again loyally answer me, and again I hear them address each other upon the necessity of standing by the * master.' Their boat-song, which contained sentiments similar to the following : ' The pale-faced stranger, lonely here, In cities afar, where his name is dear, Your Arab truth and strength shall show; He trusts in us, row, Arabs, row ' despite all the sounds which now surround me, still charms my listening ear. . . . " They were sweet and sad moments, those of parting. What a long, long, and true friendship was here sundered ! Through what strange vicissitudes of life had they not followed me ! What wild and varied scenes had we not seen together ! What a noble fidelity these untutored souls had exhibited ! The chiefs were those who had followed me to Ujiji in 1871 ; they had been wit nesses of the joy of Livingstone at the sight of me ; they were the men to whom I intrusted the safe-guard of Livingstone on his last and fatal journey, who had mourned by his corpse at Muilala, and borne the illustrious dead to the Indian Ocean. " And in a flood of sudden recollection, all the stormy period here ended rushed in upon my mind ; the whole panorama of danger and tempest through which these gallant fellows had so stanchly stood by me these gallant fel lows now parting from me. Rapidly, as in some apocalyptic vision, every scene of strife with Man and Nature, through which these poor men and women had borne me company, and solaced me by the simple sympathy of 1 Through the Dark Continent, vol. ii. pp. 470, 471. LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 73; common suffering, came hurrying across my memory ; for each face before me was associated with some adventure or some peril, reminded me of some tri umph or of some loss. What a wild, weird retrospect it was, that mind's flash over the troubled past ! so like a troublous dream ! u And for years and years to come, in many homes in Zanzibar, there will be told the great story of our journey, and the actors in it will be heroes among their kith and kin. For me too they are heroes, these poor, ignorant children of Africa, for, from the first deadly struggle in savage Ituru to the- last staggering rush into Embomma, they had rallied to my voice like veterans, and in the hour of need they had never failed me. And thus, aided by their willing hands and by their loyal hearts, the expedition had been successful, and' the three great problems of the Dark Continent's geography had been fairly settled." i How many times we have read this marvellous narrative o Stanley's march through the Dark Continent, we do not know ; but we do know that every time we have read it with tears and emotion, have blessed the noble Stanley, and thanked God for the grand character of his black followers ! There is no romance: equal to these two volumes. The trip was one awful tragedy from beginning to end, and the immortal deeds of his untutored guards are worthy of the famous Light Brigade. On the fourth day of August, 1877, Henry M. Stanley arrived at the village of Nsanda on his way to the ocean. He had in his command one hundred and fifteen souls. Foot-sore, travel-soiled, and hungry, his people sank down exhausted. He tried to buy food from the natives ; but they, with an indifference that was painful, told them to wait until market-day. A foraging party scoured the district for food, but found none. Starvation was imminent. The feeble travellers lay upon the ground in the camp, with death pictured on their dusky features. Stanley called his boat-captains to his tent, and explained the situation. He knew that he was within a few days march of Embomma, and that here were located one Englishman, one Frenchman, one Spaniard, and one Portuguese. He told the captains that he had addressed' a letter to these persons for aid ; and that resolute, swift, and, courageous volunteers were needed to go for the relief, without which the whole camp would be transformed into a common graveyard. We will now quote from Mr. Stanley again in proof of the noble nature of the Negro : " The response was not long coming ; for Uledi sprang up and said, ' O master, don't talk more ! I am ready now. See, I will only buckle on my belt,. 1 Through the Dark Continent, vol. ii. pp. 482, 483. 74 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and I shall start at once, and nothing will stop me. I will follow on the track like a leopard.' " ' And I am one,' said Kacheche. * Leave us alone, master. If there are white men at Embomma, we will find them out. We will walk and walk, and when we cannot walk we will crawl.' '"Leave off talking, men,' said Muini Pembe, 'and allow others to speak, won't you ? Hear me, my master. I am your servant. I will outwalk the two. I will carry the letter, and plant it before the eyes of the white men.' " ' I will go too, sir,' said Robert. "'Good! It is just as I should wish it; but, Robert, you cannot follow ihese three men. You will break down, my boy.' " ' Oh, we will carry him if be breaks down,' said Uledi. ' Won't we, Kacheche ? " " * Inshallah ! ' responded Kache'che decisively. ' We must have Robert along with us, otherwise the white men won't understand us.' " What wonderful devotion ! What sublime self-forgetfulness ! The world has wept over such stories as Bianca and Heloise, and .has built monuments that will stand, " While Fame her record keeps, Or Honor paints the hallowed spot Where Valor proudly sleeps? and yet these black heroes are unremembered. "I will follow the track like a leopard," gives but a faint idea of the strong will of Uledi ; and Kacheche's brave words are endowed with all the attributes of that heroic abandon with which a devoted general hurls the last fragment of wasting strength against a stubborn enemy. And besides, there is something so tender in these words that they seem to melt the heart. " We will walk and walk, and when we cannot walk we will crawl ! " We have never read but one story that approaches this narrative of Mr. Stanley, and that was the tender devotion of Ruth to her mother-in-law. We read it in the Hebrew to Dr. O. S. Stearns of Newton, Mass. ; and confess that, though it has been many years since, the blessed impres sion still remains, and our confidence in humanity is strengthened thereby. Here are a few white men in the wilds of Africa, surrounded by the uncivilized children of the desert. They have money and valuable instruments, a large variety of gewgaws that possessed the power of charming the fancy of the average savage ; and therefore the whites would have been a tempting prey to the blacks. But not a hair of their head was harmed. The white .men had geographical fame to encourage them in the struggle, LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 75 friends and loved ones far away beyond the beautiful blue sea. These poor savages had nothing to steady their purposes save a paltry sum of money as day-wages, no home, no friends; and yet they were as loyal as if a throne were awaiting them. No, no ! nothing waited on their heroic devotion to a magnificent cause but a lonely death when they had brought the " master" to the sea. When their stomachs, pinched by hunger ; when their limbs, stiff from travel ; when their eyes, dim with the mists of death ; when every vital force was slain by an heroic ambition to serve the great Stanley ; when the fires of endeavor were burnt to feeble embers, then, and only then, would these faithful Negroes fail in the fulfilment of their mission, so full of peril, and yet so grateful to them, because it was in the line of duty. Cicero urged virtue as necessary to effective oratory. The great majority of Negroes in Africa are both orators and logicians. A people who have such noble qualities as this race seems to possess has, as a logical necessity, the poetic element in a large degree. In speaking of Negro poetry, we shall do so under three dif ferent heads ; viz,, the Epic, Idyllic, Religious, or miscellaneous. The epic poetry of Africa, so far as known, is certainly worthy of careful study. The child must babble before it can talk, and all barbarians have a sense of the sublime in speech. Mr. Taine, in his " History of English Literature," speaking of early Saxon poetry, says, " One poem nearly whole, and two or three fragments, are all that remain of this lay-poetry of England. The rest of the pagan current, German and barbarian, was arrested or overwhelmed, first by the influx of the Christian religion, then by the conquest of the Norman-French. But what remains more than suffices to show the strange and powerful poetic genius of the race, and to exhibit beforehand the flower in the bud. " If there has ever been anywhere a deep and serious poetic sentiment, it is here. They do not speak : they sing, or rather they shout. Each little verse is an acclamation, which breaks forth like a growl ; their strong breasts heave with a groan of anger or enthusiasm, and a vehement or indistinct phrase or expression rises suddenly, almost in spite of them, to their lips. There is no art, no natural talent, for describing, singly and in order, the different parts of an object or an event. The fifty rays of light which every phenomenon emits in succession to a regular and well-directed intellect, come to them at once in a glowing and confused mass, disabling them by their force and convergence. Listen to their genuine war-chants, unchecked and violent, as became their terrible voices ! To this day, at this distance of time, separated as they are by manners, speech, ten centuries, we seem to hear them still." 1 History of English Literature, vol. i. pp. 48, 49. 76 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE JN AMERICA. This glowing description of the poetry of the primitive and hardy Saxon gives the reader an excellent idea of the vigorous, earnest, and gorgeous effusions of the African. Panda was king of the Kaffirs. He was considered quite a great warrior. It took a great many isi-bongas to describe his virtues. His chief isi-bongas was " O-Elephant." This was chosen to describe his strength and greatness. Mr. Wood gives an account of the song in honor of Panda : " i. Thou brother of the Tchaks, considerate f order, 2. A swallow which fled in the sky j 3. A swallow with a whiskered breast ; 4. Whose cattle was ever in so huddled a crowd, 5. They stumble for room when they ran. 6. Thou false adorer of the valor of another, 7. That valor thou tookest at the battle of Makonko* 8. Of the stock of N'dabazita, ramrod of brass, 9. Survivor alone of all other rods j 10. Others they broke and left this in the soot, 11. Thinking to burn at some rainy cold day. 12. Thigh of the bullock of Inkakavini, 13. Always delicious if only 'tis roasted, 14. It will always be tasteless if boiled. 15. The woman from Mankeba is delighted; 1 6. She has seen the leopards of Jama, 17. Fighting together between the Makonko. 18. He passed between the Jutuma and Ihliza, 19. The Celestial who thundered between the Makonko. 20. I praise thee, O king ! son of Jokwane, the son of Undaba y 21. The merciless opponent of every conspiracy. 22. Thou art an elephant, an elephant, an elephant. 23. All glory to thee, thou monarch who art black." "The first isi-bonga, in line I, alludes to the ingenuity with which Panda succeeded in crossing the river so as to escape out of the district where Din- gan exercised authority. In the second line, ' swallow which fled in the sky * is another allusion to the secrecy with which he managed his flight, which left no more track than the passage of a swallow through the air. Lines 4 and 5, allude to the wealth, i.e., the abundance of cattle, possessed by Panda. Line 6 asserts that Panda was too humble-minded, and thought more of the power of Dingan than it deserved ; while line 7 offers as proof of this assertion, that, when they came to fight, Panda conquered Dingan. Lines 8 to II all relate to the custom of seasoning sticks by hanging them over the fireplaces in Kaffir huts. Line 14 alludes to the fact that meat is very seldom roasted by the Kaffirs, but is almost invariably boiled, or rather stewed, in closed vessels. In line 15 the ' woman from Mankebe ' is Panda's favorite wife. In line 19, 'The Celestial' alludes to the name of the great Zulu tribe over which Panda reigned; the word 'Zulu' meaning celestial, and having much the same im- LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 77 port as the same word when employed by the Chinese to denote their origin. Line 21 refers to the attempts of Panda's rivals to dethrone him, and the inge nious manner in which he contrived to defeat their plans by forming judicious alliances." There is a daring insolence, morbid vanity, and huge descrip tion in this song of Panda, that make one feel like admitting that the sable bard did his work of flattery quite cleverly. It should not be forgotten by the reader, that, in the translation of these songs, much is lost of their original beauty and perspicuity. The following song was composed to celebrate the war triumphs of Dinga, and is, withal, exciting, and possessed of good movement. It is, in some instances, much like the one quoted above : " Thou needy offspring of Umpikazi, Eyer of the cattle of men ; Bird of Maube, fleet as a bullet, Sleek, erect, of beautiful parts ; Thy cattle like the comb of the bees ; O head too large, too huddled to move ; Devourer of Moselekatze, son of Machobana; Devourer of 'Swazi, son of Sobuza; Breaker of the gates of Machobana ; Devourer of Gundave of Machobana ; A monster in size, of mighty power; Devourer of Ungwati of ancient race ; Devourer of the kingly Uomape; Like heaven above, raining and shining." The poet has seen fit to refer to the early life of his hero, to call attention to his boundless riches, and, finally, to celebrate his war achievements. It is highly descriptive, and in the Kaffir language is quite beautiful. Tchaka sings a song himself, the ambitious sentiments of which would have been worthy of Alexander the Great or Napo leon Bonaparte. He had carried victory on his spear throughout all Kaffir-land. Everywhere the tribes had bowed their submis sive necks to his yoke ; everywhere he was hailed as king. But out of employment he was not happy. He sighed for more tribes, to conquer, and thus delivered himself : " Thou hast finished, finished the nations ! Where will you go out to battle now? Hey ! where will you go out to battle now ? Thou hast conquered kings ! Where are you going to battle now? 78 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Thou hast finished, finished the nations ! Where are you going to battle now ? Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! Where are you going to battle now? " There is really something modern in this deep lament of the noble savage ! The following war song of the Wollof, though it lacks the sonorous and metrical elements of real poetry, contains true military aggressiveness, mixed with the theology of the fatalist. A WAR SONG. " I go in front. I fear not death. I am not afraid. If I die, I will take my blood to bathe my head. " The man who fears nothing marches always in front, and is never hit by the murderous ball. The coward hides himself behind a bush, and is killed. "Go to the battle. It is not lead that kills. It is Fate which strikes us, and which makes us die." Mr. Reade says of the musicians he met up the Senegal, "There are three classes of these public minstrels, i, those who play such vulgar instruments as the flute and drum; 2, those who play on the ballafond, which is the marimba of Angola and South America, and on the harp ; 3, those who sing the legends and battle-songs of their country, or who improvise satires or panegyrics. This last class are dreaded, though despised. They are richly rewarded in their lifetime, but after death they are not even given a decent burial. If they were buried in the ground, it would become barren ; if in the river, the water would be poisoned, and the fish would die : so they are buried in hollow trees. The idyllic poetry of Africa is very beautiful in its gorgeous native dress. It requires some knowledge of their mythology in order to thoroughly understand all their figures of speech. The following song is descriptive of the white man, and is the produc tion of a Bushman. " In the blue palace of the deep sea Dwells a strange creature : His skin as white as salt / His hair long and tangled as the sea-weed. He is more great than the princes of the earth ; He is clothed with the skins of fishes, Fishes more beautiful than birds. His house is built of brass rods j His garden is a forest of tobacco. On his soil white beads are scattered Like sand-grains on the seashore? 1 LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 79 The following idyl, extemporized by one of Stanley's black soldiers, on the occasion of reaching Lake Nyanza, possesses more energy of movement, perspicuity of style, and warm, glowing imagery, than any song of its character we have yet met with from the lips of unlettered Negroes. It is certainly a noble song of triumph. It swells as it rises in its mission of praise. It breathes the same victorious air of the song of Miriam : " Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriotisly ; the horse and the rider hath he thrown into the sea." And in the last verse the child- nature of the singer riots like " The May Queen " of Tennyson. THE SONG OF TRIUMPH. " Sing, O friends, sing ; the journey is ended : Sing aloud, O friends ; sing to the great Nyanza. Sing all, sing loud, O friends, sing to the great sea; Give your last look to the lands behind, and then turn to the sea. Long time ago you left your lands, Your wives and children, your brothers and your friends ; Tell me, have you seen a sea like this Since you left the great salt sea ? CHORUS. Then sing, O friends ! sing; the journey is ended: Sing aloud, O friend ! sing to this great sea. This sea is fresh, is good and sweet ; Your sea is salt, and bad, unfit to drink. This sea is like wine to drink for thirsty men ; The salt sea bah ! it makes men sick. Lift up your heads, O men, and gaze around ; Try if you can see its end. See, it stretches moons away, This great, sweet, fresh-water sea. We come from Usukuma land, The land of pastures, cattle, sheep and goats, The land of braves, warriors, and strong men, And, lo ! this is the far-known Usukuma sea. Ye friends, ye scorned at us in other days. Ah, ha ! Wangwana. What say ye now ? Ye have seen the land, its pastures and its herds, Ye now see the far-known Usukuma sea. Kaduma's land is just below ; He is rich in cattle, sheep, and goats. The Msungu is rich in cloth and beads ; His hand is open, and his heart is free. 80 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. To-morrow the Msungu must make us strong With meat and beer, wine and grain. We shall dance and play the livelong day, And eat and drink, and sing and play." The religious and miscellaneous poetry is not of the highest order. One of the most remarkable men of the Kaffir tribe was Sicana, a powerful chief and a Christian. He was a poet, and composed hymns, which he repeated to his people till they could retain them upon their memories. The following is a specimen of his poetical abilities, and which the people are still accustomed to sing to a low monotonous air : " Ulin guba inkulu siambata tina Ulodali bom' unadali pezula, Umdala undala idala izula, Yebinza inquinquis zixeliela. UTIKA umkula gozizuline, Yebinza inquinquis nozilimele. Umze uakonana subiziele, Umkokeli ua sikokeli tina, Uenza infama zenza go bomi ; Imali inkula subiziele, Wena wen a q'aba inyaniza, Wena wena kaka linyaniza, Wena wena klati linyaniza ; Invena inh'inani subiziele, Ugaze laku ziman' heba wena, Usanhla zaku ziman' heba wena, Umkokili ua, sikokeli tina: Ulodali bom' uadali pezula, Umdala uadala idala izula." TRANSLATION. " Mantle of comfort ! God of love ! The Ancient One on high ! Who guides the firmament above, The heavens, and starry sky; Creator, Ruler, Mighty One ; The only Good, All-wise, To him, the great eternal God, Our fervent prayers arise. Giver of life, we call on him, On his high throne above, Our Rock of refuge still to be, Of safety and of love ; LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 8 1 Our trusty shield, our sure defence, Our leader, still to be : We call upon our pitying God, Who makes the blind to see. We supplicate the Holy Lamb Whose blood for us was shed, Whose feet were pierced for guilty man, Whose hands for us have bled ; Even our God who gave us life, From heaven, his throne above, The great Creator of the world, Father, and God of love." When any person is sick, the priests and devout people consult their favorite spirits. At Goumbi, in Equatorial Africa, this ceremony is quite frequent. Once upon a time the king fell sick. Quengueza was the name of the afflicted monarch. Ilogo was a favorite spirit who inhabited the moon. The time to invoke the favor of this spirit is during the full moon. The moon, in the language of Equatorial Africa, is Ogouayli. Well, the people gathered in front of the king's house, and began the cere mony, which consisted chiefly in singing the following song : " Ilogo, we ask thee ! Tell who has bewitched the king! Ilogo, we ask thee, What shall we do to cure the king? The forests are thine, Ilogo / The rivers are thine, Ilogo / The moon is thine / O moon ! O moon ! O moon / Thou art the house of Ilogo ! Shall the king die? O Ilogo ! O Ilogo ! O moon / O moon / " r In African caravans or processions, there is a man chosen to go in front and sing, brandishing a stick somewhat after the man ner of our band-masters. The song is rather an indifferent howl, with little or no relevancy. It is a position much sought after, and affords abundant opportunity for the display of the voice. 1 Equatorial Africa, pp. 448, 449. 82 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Such a person feels the dignity of the position. The following is a sample : " Shove him on ! But is he a good man ? No, I think he 's a stingy fellow : Shove him on / Let him drop in the road, then. No, he has a big stick : Shove him on ! Oh, matta-bicho ! matta-bicho ! IV ho will give me matta-bicho ? " Of this song Mr. Reade says, "Matta-bicho is a bunda compound meaning kill-worm; the natives sup posing that their entrails are tormented by a small worm, which it is necessary to kill with raw spirits. From the frequency of their demand, it would seem to be the worm that ever gnaws, and that their thirst is the fire which is never quenched." The Griot, as we have already mentioned, sings for money. He is a most accomplished parasite and flatterer. He makes a study of the art. Here is one of his songs gotten up for the occasion. I. " The man who had not feared to pass the seas through a love of study and of science heard of the poor Griot. He had him summoned. He made him sing songs which made the echoes of the Bornou mountains, covered with palm-trees, ring louder and louder as the sounds flew over the summits of the- trees. II. " The songs touched the heart of the great white man, and the dew of his. magnificence fell upon the Griot's head. Oh ! how can he sing the wonderful deeds of the Toubab? His voice and his breath would not be strong enough to sing that theme. He must be silent, and let the lion of the forest sing his, battles and his victories. III. " Fatimata heard the songs of the Griot. She heard, too, the deeds which the Toubab had accomplished. She sighed, and covered her head with her robe. Then she turned to her young lover, and she said, * Go to the wars ; let the flying ball kill thee : for Fatimata loves thee no longer. The white man. fills her thoughts.' " The most beautiful nursery song ever sung by any mother, in any language, may be heard in the Balengi county, in Central! Africa. There is wonderful tenderness in it, tenderness that LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. 83 would melt the coldest heart. It reveals a bright spot in the heart-life of this people. 1 " Why dost thou weep, my child? The sky is bright; the sun is shining : why dost thou weep ? Go to thy father : he loves thee ; go, tell him why thou weepest. What! thou weepest still! Thy father loves thee; I caress thee : yet still thou art sad. Tell me then, my child, why dost thou weep ? " It is not so very remarkable, when we give the matter thought, that the African mother should be so affectionate and devoted in her relations to her children. The diabolical system of polygamy has but this one feeble apology to offer in Africa. The wives of one man may quarrel, but the children always find loving maternal arms ready to shelter their heads against the wrath of an indifferent and cruel father. The mother settles all the disputes of the children, and cares for them with a zeal and tenderness that would be real beautiful in many American mothers ; and, in return, the children are very noble in their rela tions to their mothers. " Curse me, but do not speak ill of my mother," is a saying in vogue throughout nearly all Africa. The old are venerated, and when they become sick they are abandoned to die alone. It is not our purpose to describe the religions and supersti tions of Africa. 2 To do this would occupy a book. The world knows that this poor people are idolatrous, " bow down to wood and stone" They do not worship the true God, nor conform their lives unto the teachings of the Saviour. They worship snakes, the sun, moon, and stars, trees, and water-courses. But the bloody human sacrifice which they make is the most revolting feature of their spiritual degradation. Dr. Prichard has gone into this sub ject more thoroughly than our time or space will allow. " Nowhere can the ancient African religion be studied better than in the kingdom of Congo. Christianity in Abyssinia, and Mohammedanism in North ern Guinea, have become so mingled with pagan rites as to render it extremely difficult to distinguish between them. 1 On the intellectual faculties of the Negro, see Prichard, third ed., 1837, vol. ii. p. 346, sect. lii. Peschel's Races of Men, p. 462, sq., especially Blumenbach's Life and Works, p. 305, sq. Western Africa, p. 379, all of chap. xi. 2 See Prichard, fourth ed., 1841, vol. i. p. 197, sect. v. Moffat's Southern Africa; Uncivil ized Races of Men, vol. i. pp. 183-219. 84 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " The inhabitants of Congo, whom I take as a true type of the tribes of Southern Guinea generally, and of Southern Central Africa, believe in a supreme Creator, and in a host of lesser divinities. These last they represent by images ; each has its temple, its priests, and its days of sacrifice, as among the Greeks and Romans." The false religions of Africa are but the lonely and feeble reaching out of the human soul after the true God. 1 Savage Africa, p. 287, sy. SIERRA LEONE. 85 CHAPTER IX. SIERRA LEONE. ITS DISCOVERY AND SITUATION. NATURAL BEAUTY. FOUNDING OF A NEGRO COLONY. THE SIERRA LEONE COMPANY. FEVER AND INSUBORDINATION. IT BECOMES AN ENGLISH PROVINCE. CHARACTER OF ITS INHABITANTS. CHRISTIAN MISSIONS, ETC. SIERRA LEONE was discovered and named by Piedro de Cintra. It is a peninsula, about thirty miles in length by about twenty-five in breadth, and is situated 8 and 30' north latitude, and is about 13! west longitude. Its topography is rather queer. On the south and west its mountains bathe their feet in the Atlantic Ocean, and on the east and north its boundaries are washed by the river and bay of Sierra Leone. A range of moun tains, co-extensive with the peninsula, forming its backbone, rises between the bay of Sierra Leone and the Atlantic Ocean, from two to three thousand feet in altitude. Its outlines are as severe as Egyptian architecture, and the landscape view from east or west is charming beyond the power of description. Freetown is the capital, with about twenty thousand inhabitants, situated on the south siffc of Sierra Leone River, and hugged in by an amphi theatre of beautiful hills and majestic mountains. " On the side of the hill [says Mr. Reed] which rises behind the town is a charming scene, which I will attempt to describe. You have seen a rural hamlet, where each cottage is half concealed by its own garden. Now convert your linden into graceful palm, your apples into oranges, your gooseberry-bushes into bananas, your thrush which sings in its wicker cage into a gray parrot whistling on a rail; . . . sprinkle this with strange and powerful perfumes; place in the west a sun flaming among golden clouds in a prussian-blue sea, dotted with white sails ; imagine those mysterious and unknown sounds, those breathings of the earth-soul, with which the warm night of Africa rises into life, and then you will realize one of those moments of poetry which reward poor travellers for long days and nights of naked solitude." In 1772 Lord Mansfield delivered his celebrated opinion on the case of the Negro man Sommersett, whose master, having 1 Savage Africa, p. 25. 86 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. abandoned him in a sick condition, afterwards sought to reclaim him. The decision was to the effect that no man, white or black, could set foot on British soil and remain a slave. The case was brought at the instance of Mr. Granville Sharp. The decision created universal comment. Many Negroes in New England, who had found shelter under the British flag on account of the procla mation of Sir Henry Clinton, went to England. Free Negroes from other parts Jamaica, St. Thomas, and San Domingo hastened to breathe the free air of the British metropolis. Many came to want, and wandered about the streets of London, strangers in a strange land. Granville Sharp, a man of great humanity, was deeply affected by the sad condition of these people. He consulted with Dr. Smeathman, who had spent considerable time in Africa ; and they conceived the plan of transporting them to the west coast of Africa, to form a colony. 1 The matter was agitated in London by the friends of the blacks, and finally the government began to be interested. A district of about twenty square miles was purchased by the government of Naimbanna, king of Sierra Leone, on which to locate the proposed colony. About four hundred Negroes and sixty white persons, the greater portion of the latter being "women of the town," 2 were embarked on " The Nautilus," Capt. Thompson, and landed at Sierra Leone on the Qth of May, 1787. The climate was severe, the sanitary condition of the place vile, and the habits of the people immoral. The African fever, with its black death-stroke, reaped a harvest ; while the irregularities and indolence of the majority of the colonists, added to the deeds of plunder perpeti^ted by pre datory bands of savages, reduced the number of the colonists to about sixty-four souls in 1791. The dreadful news of the fate of the colony was borne to the philanthropists in England. But their faith in colonization stood as unblanched before the revelation as the Iron Duke at Waterloo. An association was formed under the name of " St. George's Bay," but afterwards took the name of the " Sierra Leone Company," with a capital stock of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with such humanitarians as Granville Sharp, Thornton, Wilberforce, and Clarkson among its directors. The object of the company was to push forward the work of colonization. One 1 Precis sur PEtablissement des Colonies de Sierra Leona et de Boulama, etc. Par C. B. Wadstrom, pp. 3-28. Wadstrom Essay on Colonization, p SIERRA LEONE. 87 hundred Europeans landed at Sierra Leone in the month of February, 1792, and were followed in March by eleven hundred and thirty-one Negroes. A large number of them had served in the British army during the Revolutionary War in America, and, accepting the offer of- the British Government, took land in this colony as a reward for services performed in the army. Another fever did its hateful work ; and fifty or sixty Europeans, and many blacks, fell under its parching and consuming touch. 1 Jealous feuds rent the survivors, and idleness palsied every nerve of industry in the colony. In 1794 a French squadron besieged the place, and the people sustained a loss of about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Once more an effort was made to revive the place, and get its drowsy energies aroused in the dis charge of necessary duties. Some little good began to show itself ; but it was only the tender bud of promise, and was soon trampled under the remorseless heel of five hundred and fifty insurrectionary maroons from Jamaica and Nova Scotia. The indifferent character of the colonists, and the hurtful touch of the climate, had almost discouraged the friends of the movement in England. It was now the year 1800. This vine yard planted by good men yielded " nothing but leaves." No industry had been developed, no substantial improvement had been made, and the future was veiled in harassing doubts and fears. The money of the company had almost all been expended. The company barely had the signs of organic life in it, but the light of a beautiful Christian faith had not gone out across the sea in stalwart old England. The founders of the colony believed that good management would make the enterprise succeed : so they looked about for a master hand to guide the affair. On the 8th of August, 1807, the colony was surrendered into the hands of the Crown, and was made an English colony. During the same year in which this transfer was made, Parliament declared the slave-trade piracy ; and a naval squadron was stationed along the coast for the purpose of suppressing it. At the first, many colored people of good circumstances, feeling that they would be safe under the English flag, moved from the United States to Sierra Leone. But the chief source of supply of population was the captured slaves, who were always unloaded at this place. 1 This led to the sending of 119 whites, along with a governor, as counsellors, physicians, soldiers, clerks, overseers, artificers, settlers, and servants. Of this company 57 died within the year, 22 returned, and 40 remained. See Wadstrom, pp. 121, sq. 88 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. When the English Government took charge of Sierra Leone, the population was 2,000, the majority of whom were from the West Indies or Nova Scotia. In 1811 it was nearly 5,000; in 1820 it was 12,000; it 1833 it was 30,000; in 1835 it was 35,000; in 1844 it was 40,000; in 1869 it was 55,3/4, with but 129 white men. On the 3 ist of March, 1827, the slaves that had been captured and liberated by the English squadron numbered 11,878; of which there were 4,701 males above, and 1,875 under, fourteen years of age. There were 2,717 females above, and 1,517 under, the age of fourteen, besides 1,068 persons who settled in Freetown, work ing in the timber-trade. With the dreadful scourge of slavery driven from the sea, the sanitary condition of the place greatly improved ; and with a vigorous policy of order and education enforced, Sierra Leone began to bloom and blossom as a rose. When the slaver dis appeared, the merchant-vessel came on her peaceful mission of commerce. The annual trade-returns presented to Parliament show that the declared value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported to the West Coast of Africa, arranged in periods of five years each, has been as follows : EXPOKTS FROM GREAT BRITAIN. 1846-50. . . ^2,773,408; or a yearly average of ^554,681 1851-55. . . 4,314,752; " " 862,950 1856-60. . . 5,582,941; " 1,116,588 1861-63. . . 4,216,045; 1,405,348 IMPORTS. The same trade-returns show that the imports of African- produce from the West Coast into Great Britain have been as follows. The "official value" is given before 1856, after that date the " computed real value " is given. Official value, 1851-55 . . . ^4,154,725 ; average, .830,945 Computed real value, 1856-60 . . 9,376,251; " 1,875,250 1861-63. . 5,284,611; " i,76i,537 The value of African produce has decreased during the last few years in consequence of the discovery of the petroleum or rock-oil in America. In 1864 between four and five thousand bales of cotton were shipped to England. It is to be borne in mind, that under the system which existed when Sierra Leone, the Gambia, and Gold Coast settlements were SIERRA LEONE. 89 maintained for the promotion of the slave-trade, the lawful com merce was only 20,000 annually, and that now the amount of tonnage employed in carrying legal merchandise is greater than was ever engaged in carrying slaves. 1 W. Win wood Readc visited Sierra Leone during the Rebellion in America ; but, being somewhat prejudiced against the Negro, we do not expect any thing remarkably friendly. But we quote from him the view he took of the people he met there : " The inhabitants of the colony may be divided into four classes : "First, The street-venders, who cry cassada-cakes, palm-oil, pepper, pieces of beef, under such names as agedee, aballa, akalaray, and which are therefore as unintelligible as the street-cries of London. This is the coster- monger type. " Second, The small market-people, who live in frame houses, sell nails, fish-hooks, tape, thread, ribbons, etc., and who work at handicrafts in a small way. " Third, The shopkeepers, who inhabit frame houses on stone foundations, and within which one may see a sprinkling of mahogany, a small library of religious books, and an almost English atmosphere of comfort. " Lastly, The liberated Africans of the highest grade, who occupy two- story stone houses enclosed all around by spacious piazzas, the rooms furnished with gaudy richness ; and the whole their own property, being built from the proceeds of their . . . thrift." When England abolished the slave-trade on the West Coast of Africa, Christianity arose with healing in her wings. Until slavery was abolished in this colony, missionary enterprises were abortive ; but when the curse was put under the iron heel of British prohibition, the Lord did greatly bless the efforts of the missionary. The Episcopal Church "the Church of England'" was the first on the ground in 1808; but it was some years, before any great results were obtained. In 1832 this Church had 638 communicants, 294 candidates for baptism, 684 sabbath- school pupils, and 1,388 children in day-schools. This Church carried its missionary work beyond its borders to the tribes that were "sitting in darkness ;" and in 1850 had built 54 seminaries and schools, had 6,600 pupils, 2,183 communicants, and 7,500 attendants on public worship. It is pleasant to record that out of 6 1 teachers, 56 were native Africans! In 1865 there were sixteen missionary societies along the West Coast of Africa. Seven were American, six English, two German, and one West- Indian. These societies maintained 104 European or American 1 See Livingstone's Zambesi, pp. 633, 634. 90 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. missionaries, had 1 10 mission-stations, 13,000 scholars, 236 schools, 19,000 registered communicants ; representing a Christian popu lation of 60,000 souls. The Wesleyan Methodists began their work in 1811; and in 1831 they had two missionaries, 294 members in their churches, and 1 60 pupils in school. They extended their missions westward to the Gambia, and eastward toward Cape Coast Castle, Badagry, Abbeokuta, and Kumasi ; and in this connection, in 1850, had 44 houses of worship, 13 out-stations, 42 day-schools, 97 teachers, 4,500 pupils in day and sabbath schools, 6,000 communicants, 560 on probation, and 14,600 in attendance on public worship. In 1850 the population of Sierra Leone was 45,000; of which 36,000 were Christians, against 1,734 Mohammedans. Sierra Leone represents the most extensive composite popula tion in the world for its size. About one hundred different tribes are represented, with as many different languages or dialects. Bishop Vidal, under direction of the British Parliament, gave special attention to this matter, and found not less than one hun dred and fifty-one distinct languages, besides several dialects, spoken in Sierra Leone. They were arranged under twenty-six groups, and yet fifty-four are unclassified that are as distinct as German and French. " God makes the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder thereof he will restrain." Through these numerous languages, poor benighted Africa will yet hear the gospel. Some years ago Dr. Ferguson, who was once governor of the Sierra Leone colony, and himself a colored man, wrote an ex tended account of the situation there, which was widely circulated in England and America at the time. It is so manifestly just and temperate in tone, so graphic and minute in description, that we reproduce it in extenso : " i. Those most recently arrived are to be found occupying mud houses and small patches of ground in the neighborhood of one or other of the vil lages (the villages are about twenty in number, placed in different parts of the colony, grouped in three classes or districts ; namely, mountain, river, and sea districts). The majority remain in their locations as agriculturists ; but sev eral go to reside in the neighborhood of Freetown, looking out for work as laborers, farm-servants, servants to carry wood and water, grooms, house- servants, etc. ; others cultivate vegetables, rear poultry and pigs, and supply eggs, for the Sierra Leone market. Great numbers are found offering for sale in the public market and elsewhere a vast quantity of cooked edible substances rice, corn, and cassava cakes ; heterogeneous compounds of rice and corn flower, yams, cassava, palm-oil, pepper, pieces of beef, mucilaginous vegetables, SIERRA LEONE. 91 etc., etc., under names quite unintelligible to a stranger, such as aagedee, aballa, akalaray, cabona, etc., etc., cries which are shouted along the streets of Freetown from morn till night. These, the lowest grade of liberated Africans, are a harmless and well-disposed people ; there is no poverty among them, nor begging; their habits are frugal and industrious; their anxiety to possess money is remarkable : but their energies are allowed to run riot and be wasted from the want of knowledge requisite to direct them in proper channels. " 2. Persons of grade higher than those last described are to be found occupying frame houses : they drive a petty trade in the market, where they expose for sale nails, fish-hooks, door-hinges, tape, thread, ribbons, needles, pins, etc. Many of this grade also look out for the arrival of canoes from the country laden with oranges, kolas, sheep, bullocks, fowls, rice, etc., purchase the whole cargo at once at the water-side, and derive considerable profit from selling such articles by retail in the market and over the town. Many of this grade are also occupied in curing and drying fish, an article which always sells well in the market, and is in great request by people at a distance from the water-side, and in the interior of the country. A vast number of this grade are tailors, straw-hat makers, shoemakers, cobblers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, etc. Respectable men of this grade meet with ready mercantile credits amount ing from twenty pounds to sixty pounds ; and the class is very numerous. " 3. Persons of grade higher than that last mentioned are found occupying frame houses reared on a stone foundation of from six to ten feet in height. These houses are very comfortable ; they are painted outside and in ; have piazzas in front and rear, and many of them all round ; a considerable sprin kling of mahogany furniture of European workmanship is to be found in them ; several books are to be seen lying about, chiefly of a religious character; and a general air of domestic comfort pervades the whole, which, perhaps more than any thing else, bears evidence of the advanced state of intelligence at which they have arrived. This grade is nearly altogether occupied in shopkeeping, hawking, and other mercantile pursuits. At sales of prize goods, public auc tions, and every other place affording a probability of cheap bargains, they are to be seen in great numbers, where they club together in numbers of from three to six, seven, or more, to purchase large lots or unbroken bales. And the scrupulous honesty with which the subdivision of the goods is afterwards made cannot be evidenced more thoroughly than this : that, common as such transactions are, they have never yet been known to become the subject of controversy or litigation. The principal streets of Freetown, as well as the approaches to the town, are lined on each side by an almost continuous range of booths and stalls, among which almost every article of merchandise is offered for sale, and very commonly at a cheaper rate than similar articles are sold in the shops of the merchants. " Two rates of profit are recognized in the mercantile transactions of the European merchants ; namely, a wholesale and retail profit, the former varying from thirty to fifty per cent, the latter from fifty to one hundred per cent. The working of the retail trade in the hands of Europeans requires a considerable outlay in the shape of shop-rent, shopkeepers' and clerks' wages, etc. The liberated Africans were not slow in observing nor in seizing on the advantages which their peculiar position held out for the successful prosecution of the retail trade. 92 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Clubbing together, as before observed, and holding ready money in their hands, the merchants are naturally anxious to execute for them considerable orders on such unexceptionable terms of payment ; while, on the other hand, the liberated Africans, seeing clearly their advantage, insist most pertinaciously on the lowest possible percentage of wholesale profit. " Having thus become possessed of the goods at the lowest possible ready- money rate, their subsequent transactions are not clogged with the expense of shop-rents, shopkeepers' and clerks' wages and subsistence, etc., etc., expenses unavoidable to Europeans. They are therefore enabled at once to undersell the European retail merchants, and to secure a handsome profit to themselves ; a consummation the more easily attained, aided as it is by the extreme sim plicity and abstemiousness of their mode of living, which contrast so favorably for them with the expensive and almost necessary luxuries of European life. Many of this grade possess large canoes, with which they trade in the upper part of the river, along shore, and in the neighboring rivers ; bringing down rice, palm-oil, cam-wood, ivory, hides, etc., etc., in exchange for British manu factures. They are all in easy circumstances, readily obtaining mercantile credits from sixty pounds to two hundred pounds. Persons of this and the grade next to be mentioned evince great anxiety to become possessed of houses and lots in old Freetown. These lots are desirable because of their proximity to the market-place and the great thoroughfares, and also for the superior advantages which they afford for the establishment of their darling object, 'a retail store.' Property of this description has of late years become much enhanced in value, and its value is still increasing, solely from the annu ally increasing numbers and prosperity of this and the next grade. The town- lots originally granted to the Nova-Scotian settlers and the Maroons are, year after year, being offered for sale by public auction ; and in every case liberated Africans are the purchasers. A striking instance of their desire to possess property of this description, and of its increasing value, came under my imme diate notice a few months ago. " The gentlemen of the Church Missionary Society having been for some time looking about in quest of a lot on which to erect a new chapel, a lot suitable for the purpose was at length offered for sale by public auction ; and at a meeting of the society's local committee, it was resolved, in order to secure the purchase of the property in question, to offer as high as sixty pounds. The clergyman delegated for this purpose, at my recommendation, resolved, on his own responsibility, to offer, if necessary, as high as seventy pounds ; but. to the surprise and mortification of us all, the lot was knocked down at upward of ninety pounds, and a liberated African was the purchaser. He stated very kindly that if he had known the society were desirous of purchasing the lot he would not have opposed them ; he nevertheless manifested no desire of trans ferring to them the purchase, and even refused an advance of ten pounds on his bargain. "4. Persons of the highest grade of liberated Africans occupy comfort able two-story stone houses, enclosed all round with spacious piazzas. These houses are their own property, and are built from the proceeds of their own industry. In several of them are to be seen mahogany chairs, tables, sofas, and four-post bedsteads, pier-glasses, floor-cloths, and other articles indicative of domestic comfort and accumulating wealth. SIERRA LEONE. 93 " Persons of this grade, like those last described, are almost wholly en gaged in mercantile pursuits. Their transactions, however, are of greater magnitude and value, and their business is carried on with an external appear ance of respectability commensurate with their superior pecuniary means thus, instead of exposing their wares for sale in booths or stalls by the way side, they are to be found in neatly fitted-up shops on the ground-floors of their stone dwelling-houses. " Many individual members of this grade have realized very considerable sums of money, sums which, to a person not cognizant of the fact, would appear to be incredible. From the studied manner in which individuals con ceal their pecuniary circumstances from the world, it is difficult to obtain a correct knowledge of the wealth of the class generally. The devices to which they have recourse in conducting a bargain are often exceedingly ingenious ; and to be reputed rich might materially interfere with their success on such occasions. There is nothing more common than to hear a plea of poverty set up and most pertinaciously urged, in extenuation of the terms of a purchase, by persons whose outward condition, comfortable well-furnished houses, and large mercantile credits, indicate any thing but poverty. " There are circumstances, however, the knowledge of which they cannot conceal, and which go far to exhibit pretty clearly the actual state of matters . such as, First, the facility with which' they raise large sums of cash prompt ' at public auctions. Second, the winding up of the estates of deceased persons. (Peter Newland, a liberated African, died a short time before I left the colony : and his estate realized, in houses, merchandise, and cash, upward of fifteen hundred pounds.) Third, the extent of their mercantile credits. I am well acquainted with an individual of this grade who is much courted and caressed by every European merchant in the colony, who has transactions in trade with all of them, and whose name, shortly before my departure from the colony, stood on the debtor side of the books of one of the principal merchants to the amount of nineteen hundred pounds, to which sum it had been reduced from three thousand pounds during the preceding two months. A highly respectable female has now, and has had for several years, the government contract for the supplying of fresh beef to the troops and the naval squadron ; and I have not heard that on a single occasion there has been cause of complaint for negli gence or non-fulfilment of the terms of the contract. Fourth, many of them at the present moment have their children being educated in England at their own expense. There is at Sierra Leone a very fine regiment of colonial militia, more than eight-tenths of which are liberated Africans. The amount of prop erty which they have acquired is ample guaranty for their loyalty, should that ever be called in question. They turn out with great alacrity and cheerfulness, on all occasions for periodical drill. But perhaps the most interesting point oi view in which the liberated Africans are to be seen, and that which will render their moral condition most intelligible to those at a distance, is where they sit at the Quarter Sessions as petty, grand, and special jurors. They constitute a considerable part of the jury at every session; and I have repeatedly heard the highest legal authority in the colony express his satisfaction with their decisions." 94 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. But this account was written at the early sunrise of civili zation in Sierra Leone. Now civilization is at its noonday tide, and the hopes of the most sanguine friends of the liberated Negro have been more than realized. How grateful this renewed spot on the edge of the Dark Continent would be to the weary and battle-dimmed vision of Wilberforce, Sharp, and other friends of the colony ! And if they still lived, beholding the wonderful results, would they not gladly say, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel " ? THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 95 CHAPTER X. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. LIBERIA. ITS LOCATION. EXTENT. RIVERS AND MOUNTAINS. HISTORY OF THE FIRST COLONY. THE NOBLE MEN WHO LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE LIBERIAN REPUBLIC. NATIVE TRIBES. TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT INTO THE VEI LANGUAGE. THE BEGINNING AND TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS TO LIBERIA. HISTORY OF THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS ON THE FIELD. A MISSIONARY REPUBLIC OF NEGROES. TESTIMONY OF OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL NAVY AS TO THE EFFICIENCY OF THE REPUBLIC IN SUPPRESSING THE SLAVE-TRADE. THE WORK OF THE FUTURE. THAT section of country on the West Coast of Africa known as Liberia, extending from Cape Palmas to Cape Mount, is about three hundred miles coastwise. Along this line there are six colonies of Colored people, the majority of the original settlers being from the United States. The settlements are Cape Palmas, Cape Mesurado, Cape Mount, River Junk, Basa, and Sinon. The distance between them varies from thirty-five to one hundred miles, and the only means of communication is the coast-vessels. Cape Palmas, though we include it under the general title of Liberia, was founded by a company of intelligent Colored people from Maryland. This movement was started by the indefatigable J. H. B. Latrobe and Mr. Harper of the Mary land Colonization Society. This society purchased at Cape Pal mas a territory of about twenty square miles, in which there was at that time more than a half-century ago a population of about four thousand souls. Within two years from the time of the first purchase, this enterprising society held deeds from friendly proprietors for eight hundred square miles, embracing the domin ions of nine kings, who bound themselves to the colonists in friendly alliance. This territory spread over both banks of the Cavally River, and from the ocean to the town of Netea, which is thirty miles from the mouth of the river. In the immediate vicinity of Cape Palmas, say within an area of twenty miles, there was a native population of twenty-five thousand. Were we to go toward the interior from the Cape about forty-five or fifty miles, we should find a population of at least seventy thousand 96 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. natives, the majority of whom we are sure are anxious to enjoy the blessings of education, trade, civilization, and Christianity. The country about Cape Palmas is very beautiful and fertile. The cape extends out into the sea nearly a mile, the highest place being about one hundred and twenty-five feet. Looking from the beach, the ground rises gradually until its distant heights are crowned with heavy, luxuriant foliage and dense forest timber. And to plant this colony the Maryland Legislature appropriated the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ! And the colony has done worthily, has grown rapidly, and at present enjoys all the blessings of a Christian community. Not many years ago it de clared its independence. But Liberia, in the proper use of the term, is applied to all the settlements along the West Coast of Africa that were founded by Colored people from the United States. It is the most beautiful spot on the entire coast. The view is charming in approaching this country. Rev. Charles Rockwell says, " One is struck with the dark green hue which the rank and luxuriant growth of forest and of field everywhere presents. In this respect it strongly resembles in appearance the dark forests of evergreens which line a portion of the coast of Eastern Virginia. ... At different points there are capes or promontories rising from thirty or forty to one or two hundred feet above the level of the sea ; while at other places the land, though somewhat uneven, has not, near the sea, any considerable hills. In some places near the mouths of the rivers are thickly wooded marshes ; but on entering the interior of the country the ground gradually rises, the streams become rapid, and at the dis tance of twenty miles or more from the sea, hills, and beyond them mountains, are often met with." The physical, social, and political bondage of the Colored peo ple in America before the war was most discouraging. They were mobbed in the North, and sold in the South. It was not enough that they were isolated and neglected in the Northern States : they were proscribed by the organic law of legislatures, and afflicted by the most burning personal indignities. They had a few friends ; but even their benevolent acts were often hampered by law, and strangled by caste-prejudice. Following the plans of Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce, Liberia was founded as a refuge to all Colored men who would avail themselves of its blessings. Colonization societies sprang into being in many States, and large sums of money were contributed to carry out the objects of THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 97 these organizations. Quite a controversy arose inside of anti- slavery societies, and much feeling was evinced ; but the men who believed colonization to be the solution of the slavery ques tion went forward without wavering or doubting. In March, 1820, the first emigrants sailed for Africa, being eighty-six in number ; and in January, 1822, founded the town of Monrovia, named for President Monroe. Rev. Samuel J. Mills, while in college in 1806, was moved by the Holy Spirit to turn his face toward Africa as a missionary. His zeal for missionary labor touched the hearts of Judson, Newell, Nott, Hall, and Rice, who went to mission-fields in the East as early as I8I2. 1 The American Colonization Society secured the services of the Rev. Samuel J. Mills and Rev. Ebenezer Burgess to locate the colony at Monro via. Mr. Mills found an early, watery grave ; but the report of Mr. Burgess gave the society great hope, and the work was carried forward. The first ten years witnessed the struggles of a noble band of Colored people, who were seeking a new home on the edge of a continent given over to the idolatry of the heathen. The funds of the society were not as large as the nature and scope of the work demanded. Emigrants went slowly, not averaging more than 170 per annum, only 1,232 in ten years: but the average from the first of January, 1848, to the last of December, 1852, was 540 yearly ; and, in the single year of 1853, 782 emigrants arrived at Monrovia. In 1855 the population of Monrovia and Cape Palmas had reached about 8,000. Going south from Monrovia for about one hundred miles, and inland about twenty, the country was inhabited by the Bassa tribe and its branches ; numbering about 130,000 souls, and speak ing a common language. "They were peaceful, domestic, and industrious ; and, after fully supplying their own wants, furnish a large surplus of rice, oil, cattle, and other articles of common use, for exportation." 2 This tribe, like the Veis, of whom we shall make mention subsequently, have reduced their language to a written system. The New Testament has been translated into their language by a missionary, and they have had the gospel these many years in their own tongue. The "Greybo language," spoken in and about Cape Palmas, has been reduced to a written form ; and twenty thousand copies 1 Ethiope, p. 197. 2 Foreign Travel and Life at Sea, vol. ii. p. 359. 98 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of eleven different works have been printed and distributed. There are about seventy-five thousand natives within fifty miles of Cape Palmas ; and, as a rule, they desire to avail themselves of the blessings of civilization. The Veis occupy about fifty miles of seacoast ; extending from Gallinas River, one hundred miles north of Monrovia, and extending south to Grand Mount. Their territory runs back from the seacoast about thirty miles, and they are about sixteen thousand strong. This was a grand place to found a Negro state, a mission ary republic, as Dr. Christy terms it. When the republic rose, the better, wealthier class of free Colored people from the United States embarked for Liberia'. Clergymen, physicians, merchants, mechanics, and school-teachers turned their faces toward the new republic, with an earnest desire to do something for themselves and race; and history justifies the hopes and prayers of all sin cere friends of Liberia. Unfortunately, at the first, many white men were more anxious to get the Negro out of the country than to have him do well when out ; and, in many instances, some unworthy Colored people got transportation to Liberia, of whom Americans were rid, but of whom Liberians could not boast. But the law of the survival of the fittest carried the rubbish to the bottom. The republic grew and expanded in every direction. From year to year new blood and fresh energy were poured into the social and business life of the people ; and England, America, and other powers acknowledged the republic by sending resident ministers there. The servants of Christ saw, at the earliest moment of the con ception to build a black government in Africa, that the banner of the cross must wave over the new colony, if good were to be expected. The Methodist Church, with characteristic zeal and aggressiveness, sent with the first colonists several members of their denomination and two " local preachers ; " and in March, 1833, the Rev. Melville B. Cox, an ordained minister of this church, landed at Monrovia. The mission experienced many severe trials ; but the good people who had it in charge held on with great tenacity until the darkness began to give away before the light of the gospel. Nor did the Board of the Methodist Missionary Society in America lose faith. They appropriated for this mission, in 1851, $22,000; in 1852, $26,000; in 1853, $32,957; and 'in 1854, $32,957. In the report of the board of managers for 1851, the following encouraging statement occurs : THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 99 "All eyes are now turned toward this new republic on the western coast of Africa as the star of hope to the colored people, both bond and free, in the United States. The republic is establishing and extending itself; and its Christian population is in direct contact with the natives, both Pagans and Mohammedans. Thus the republic has, indirectly, a powerful missionary influence, and its moral and religious condition is a matter of grave concern to the Church. Hence the Protestant Christian missions in Liberia are essential to the stability and prosperity of the republic ; and the stability and prosperity of the republic are necessary to the protection and action of the missions. It will thus appear that the Christian education of the people is the legitimate work of the missions." At this time (1851) they had an annual Conference, with three districts, with as many presiding elders, whose duty it was to visit all the churches and schools in their circuit. The Conference had 21 members, all of whom were colored men. The churches contained 1,301 members, of whom 115 were on probation, and 116 were natives. There were 20 week-day schools, with 839 pupils, 50 of whom were natives. Then there were seven schools among the natives, with 127 faithful attend ants. Bishop Scott, of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was, by order of his Conference, sent on an official visit to Liberia. He spent more than two months among the missions, and returned in 1853 much gratified with the results garnered in that distant field. "The government of the republic of Liberia, which is formed on the model of our own, and is wholly in the hands of colored men, seems to be exceedingly well administered. I never saw so orderly a people. I saw but one intoxicated colonist while in the country, and I heard not one profane word. The sabbath is kept with singular strictness, and the churches crowded with attentive and orderly worshippers." The above is certainly re-assuring, and had its due influence among Christian people at the time it appeared. At an anni versary meeting of the Methodist Church, held in Cincinnati, O., in the same year, 1853, Bishop Ames gave utterance to senti ments in regard to the character of the government of Liberia that quite shocked some pro-slavery people who held "hired pews " in the Methodist Church. His utterances were as brave as they were complimentary. 1 Bishop Scott's Letter in the Colonization Herald, October, 1853. 100 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Nations reared under religious and political restraint are not capable of self-government, while those who enjoy only partially these advantages have set an example of such capability. We have in illustration of this a well- authenticated historical fact : we refer to the colored people of this country, "who, though they have grown up under the most unfavorable circumstances, were enabled to succeed in establishing a sound republican government in Africa. They have given the most clear and indubitable evidence of their capability of self-government, and in this respect have shown a higher grade of manhood than the polished Frenchman himself." J The Presbyterian Board of Missions sent Rev. J. B. Pinny into the field in 1833. In 1837, missions were established among the natives, and were blessed with very good results. In 1850 there were, under the management of this denomination, three congregations, with 116 members, two ordained ministers, and a flourishing sabbath-school. A high-school was brought into existence in 1852, with a white gentleman, the Rev. D. A. Wilson, as its principal. It was afterward raised into a college, and was always crowded. The American Protestant-Episcopal Church raised its mis sionary standard in Liberia in 1836. The Rev. John Payne was at the head oi this enterprise, assisted by six other clergymen, until 1850, when he was consecrated missionary bishop for Africa. He was a white gentleman of marked piety, rare scholarship, and large executive ability. The station at Monrovia was under the care of the Rev. Alexander Crummell, an educated and eloquent preacher of the Negro race. There was an excellent training- school for religious and secular teachers ; there are several board ing-schools for natives, with an average attendance of a hundred ; and up to 1850 more than a thousand persons had been brought into fellowship with this church. The Foreign Missionary Board of the Southern Baptist Con vention in 1845 turned its attention to this fruitful field. In 1855, ten years after they began work, they had 19 religious and secular teachers, 1 1 day-schools, 400 pupils, and 484 members in their churches. There were 13 mission-stations, and all the teachers were colored men. We have said, a few pages back in this chapter, that the Methodist Church was first on the field when the colony of Liberia was founded. We should have said one of the first ; because we find, in " Gammell's History of the American Baptist 1 In Methodist Missionary Advocate, 1853. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. IOI Missions," that the Baptists were in this colony as missionaries in 1822; that under the direction of the Revs. Lot Carey and Collin Teage, two intelligent Colored Baptists, a church was founded. Mr. Carey was a man of most exemplary character. He had received an education in Virginia, where he had resided as a freeman for some years, having purchased his freedom by his personal efforts, and where also he was ordained in 1821. " In September, 1826, he was unanimously elected vice-agent 'of the colony ; and on the return of Mr. Ashmun to the United States, in 1828, he was appointed to discharge the duties of governor in the interim, a task which he performed during the brief remnant of his life with wisdom, and with credit to himself. His death took place in a manner that was fearfully sudden and extraordinary. The natives of the country had committed depredations upon the property of the colony, and were threatening general hostilities. Mr. Carey, ife his capacity as acting governor, immediately called out the military forces of the colony, and commenced vigorous measures for repelling the assault and protecting the settlements. He was at the magazine, engaged in superintending the making of cartridges, when, by the oversetting of a lamp, a large mass of powder became ignited, and produced an explosion which resulted in the death of Mr. Carey, and seven others who were engaged with him. In this sudden and awful manner perished an extraordinary man, one who in a higher sphere might have developed many of the noblest energies of character, and who, even in the humble capacity of a missionary among his own benighted brethren, deserves a prominent place in the list of those who .have shed lustre upon the African race. "At the period of Mr. Carey's death, the church of which he was the pastor contained a hundred members, and was in a highly flourishing condi tion. It was committed to the charge of Collin Teage, who now returned from Sierra Leone, and of Mr. Waring, one of its members, who had lately been ordained a minister. The influences which had commenced with the inde fatigable founder of the mission continued to be felt long after he had ceased to live. The church at Monrovia was increased to two hundred members ; and the power of the gospel was manifested in other settlements of the Coloniza tion Society, and even among the rude natives of the coast, of whom nearly a hundred were converted to Christianity, and united with the several churches -of the colony." * We regret that statistics on Liberia are not as full as desira ble ; but we have found enough to convince us that the cause of religion, education, and republican government are in safe hands, and on a sure foundation. There are now more than three thou sand members within their churches. The sabbath-schools have about eighteen hundred children, seven hundred of whom are 1 Gammell's History of the American Baptist Missions, pp. 248, 249. 102 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. natives ; * and in the day-schools are gathered about two thousand bright and promising pupils. Many noble soldiers of the cross have fallen on this field, where a desperate battle has been waged between darkness and light, heathenism and religion, the wooden gods of men and the only true God who made heaven and earth. Many have been mortally touched by the poisonous breath of African fever, and, like the sainted Gilbert Haven, have staggered back to home and friends to die. Few of the white teachers have been able to- remain on the field. During the first thirty years of missionary effort in the field, the mortality among the white missionaries was. terrible. Up to 1850 the Episcopal Church had employed twenty white teachers, but only three of them were left. The rest died, or were driven home by the climate. Of nineteen missionaries sent out by the Presbyterian Church up to 1850, nine diati, seven returned home, and but three remained. The Methodist Church sent out thirteen white teachers : six died, six returned home, and but one remained. Among the colored missionaries the mor tality was reduced to a minimum. Out of thirty-one in the employ of the Methodist Church, only seven died natural deaths, and fourteen remained in the service. On this subject of mor tality, Bishop Payne says, " It is now very generally admitted, that Africa must be evangelized chiefly by her own children. It should be our object to prepare them, so far as we may, for their great work. And since colonists afford the most advanced material for raising up the needed instruments, it becomes us, in wise co-opera tion with Providence, to direct our efforts in the most judicious manner to them. To do this, the most important points should be occupied, to become in. due time radiating centres of Christian influence to colonists and natives." 2 In thirty-three years Liberia gained wonderfully in population, and, at the breaking-out of the Rebellion in the United States, had about a hundred thousand souls, besides the three hundred thousand natives in the vast territory over which her govern ment is recognized. Business of every kind has grown up. The laws are wholesome ; the law-makers intelligent and upright ; the army and navy are creditable, and the republic is in every sense a grand success. Mr. Wilson says, 1 Edward W. Blyden, LL.D., president of Liberia College, a West Indian, is a scholar of marvellous erudition, a writer of rare abilities, a subtle reasoner, a preacher of charming graces, and one of the foremost Negroes of the world. He is himself the best argument in favor of the Negro's capacity for Christian civilization. He ranks amongst the world's greatest linguists. 2 Report of Bishop Payne, June 6, 1853. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 103 " Trade is the chosen employment of the great mass of the Liberians, and :some of them have been decidedly successful in this vocation. It consists in the exchange of articles of American or European manufacture for the natural products of the country; of which palm-oil, cam-wood, and ivory are the princi pal articles. Cam-wood is a rich dye-wood, and is brought to Monrovia on the shoulders of the natives from a great distance. It is worth in the European and American markets from sixty to eighty dollars per ton. The ivory of this region does not form an important item of commerce. Palm-oil is the main article of export, and is procured along the seacoast between Monrovia and Cape Palmas. The Liberian merchants own a number of small vessels, built by themselves, and varying in size from ten or fifteen to forty or fifty tons: These are navigated by the Liberian sailors, and are constantly engaged in bringing palm-oil to Monrovia, from whence it is again shipped in foreign vessels for Liverpool or New York. I made inquiry, during a short sojourn at this place in 1852 on my way to this country, about the amount of property owned by the wealthier merchants of Monrovia, and learned that there were four or five who were worth from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars, a large number who owned property to the amount of ten thousand dollars, and perhaps twelve or fifteen who were worth as much as five thousand dollars. The property of some of these may have increased materially since that time. " The settlers along the banks of the St. Paul have given more attention to the cultivation of the soil. They raise sweet-potatoes, cassava, and plantains, for their own use, and also supply the Monrovia market with the same. Ground nuts and arrow-root are also cultivated, but to a very limited extent. A few individuals have cultivated the sugar-cane with success, and have manufactured a considerable quantity of excellent sugar and molasses. Some attention has been given to the cultivation of the coffee-tree. It grows luxuriantly, and bears most abundantly. The flavor of the coffee is as fine as any in the world ; and, if the Liberians would give the attention to it they ought, it would probably be as highly esteemed as any other in the world. It is easily cultivated, and requires little or no outlay of capital ; and we are surprised that it has not already become an article of export. The want of disposition to cultivate the soil is, perhaps, the most discouraging feature in the prospects of Liberia. Mercan tile pursuits are followed with zeal and energy, but comparatively few are will ing to till the ground for the means of subsistence." Liberia had its first constitution in 1825. It was drawn at the instance of the Colonization Society in the United States. It set forth the objects of the colony, defined citizenship, and declared the objects of the government. It remained in force until 1836. In 1839 a "Legislative Council" was created, and the constitu tion amended to meet the growing wants of the government. In 1847 Liberia declared herself an independent republic. The first article of the constitution of 1847 reads as follows : " ARTICLE I., SECTION i. All men are born equally free and independent, and among their natural, inherent and inalienable rights are the rights of enjoy ing and defending life and LIBERTY." 104 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. This section meant a great deal to a people who had aban doned their homes in the United States, where a chief justice of the Supreme Court had declared that "a Negro has no rights which a white man is bound to respect," a country where tho Federal Congress had armed every United-States marshal in all the Northern States with the inhuman and arbitrary power to apprehend, load with chains, and hurl back into the hell of slavery, every poor fugitive who sought to find a home in a pro fessedly free section of " the land of the free and the home of the brave" These brave black pilgrims, who had to leave "the freest land in the world " in order to get their freedom, did not intend that the solemn and formal declaration of principles con tained in their constitution should be reduced to a reductio ad absurdum, as those in the American Constitution were by the infamous Fugitive-slave Law. And in section 4 of their constitu tion they prohibit "the sum of all villanies " slavery! The article reads : " There shall be no slavery within this republic. Nor shall any citizen of this republic, or any person resident therein, deal in slaves, either within or without this republic." They had no measure of compromise by which slavery could be carried on beyond certain limits "for highly commercial and business interests of a portion of their fellow-citizens." Libe- rians might have grown rich by merely suffering the slave-trade to be carried on among the natives. The constitution fixed a scale of revenue, and levied a tariff on all imported articles. A customs-service was introduced, and many reforms enforced which greatly angered a few avaricious white men whose profession as men-stealers was abolished by the constitution. Moreover, there were others who for years had been trading and doing business along the coast, without paying any duties on the articles they exported. The new government incurred their hostility. In April, 1850, the republic of Liberia entered into a treaty with England, and in article nine of said treaty bound herself to the suppression of the slave-trade in the following explicit lan guage : " Slavery and the slave-trade being perpetually abolished in the republic of Liberia, the republic engages that a law shall be passed declaring it to be piracy for any Liberian citizen or vessel to be engaged or concerned in the slave-trade." THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 105 Notwithstanding the above treaty, the enemies of the republic circulated the report in England and America that the Liberian government was secretly engaged in the slave-trade. The friends of colonization in both countries were greatly alarmed by the rumor, and sought information in official quarters, of men on the ground. The following testimony will show that the charge was malicious : " Capt. Arabian, R.N., in one of his despatches says, ' Nothing had been done more to suppress the slave-trade in this quarter than the constant inter course of the natives with these industrious colonists ; ' and again, * Their char acter is exceedingly correct and moral, their minds strongly impressed with religious feeling, and their domestic habits remarkably neat and comfortable.' 'Wherever the influence of Liberia extends, the slave-trade has been aban doned by the natives.' "Lieut. Stott, R.N., in a letter to Dr. Hodgkin, dated July, 1840, says, it (Liberia) promises to be the only successful institution on the coast of Africa, keeping in mind its objects ; viz., ' that of raising the African slave into a free man, the extinction of the slave-trade, and the religious and moral improve ment of Africa; ' and adds, 'The surrounding Africans are aware of the nature of the colony, taking refuge when persecuted by the few neighboring slave- traders. The remnant of a tribe has lately fled to and settled in the colony on land granted them. Between my two visits, a lapse of only a few days, four or five slaves sought refuge from their master, who was about to sell, or had sold, them to the only slave-factory on the coast. The native chiefs in the neighborhood have that respect for the colonists that they have made treaties for the abolition of the slave-trade.' "Capt. Irving, R.N., in a letter to Dr. Hodgkin, Aug. 3, 1840, observes, ' You ask me if they aid in the slave-trade ? I assure you, no ! and I am sure the colonists would feel themselves much hurt should they know such a ques tion could possibly arise in England. In my opinion it is the best and safest plan for the extinction of the slave-trade, and the civilization of Africa; for it is a well-known fact, that wherever their flag flies it is an eye-sore to the slave- dealers.' " Capt. Herbert, R.N. : ' With regard to the present state of slave-taking in the colony of Liberia, I have never known one instance of a slave being owned or disposed of by a colonist. On the contrary, I have known them to render great facility to our cruisers in taking vessels engaged in that nefarious traffic.' " Capt. Dunlop, who had abundant opportunities for becoming acquainted with Liberia during the years 1848-50, says, ' I am perfectly satisfied no such thing as domestic slavery exists in any shape amongst the citizens of the republic.' " Commodore Sir Charles Hotham, commander-in-chief of her British Majesty's squadron on the western coast of Africa, in a letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, dated April 7, 1847, and published in the Parliamentary Returns, says, ' On perusing the correspondence of my predecessors, I found a great difference of opinion existing as to the views and objects of the settlers :. 106 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. some even accusing the governor of lending himself to the slave-trade. After discussing the whole subject with officers and others best qualified to judge on the matter, I not only satisfied my own mind that there is no reasonable cause for such a suspicion, but further, that this establishment merits all the support we can give it ; for it is only through their means that we can hope to improve the African race.' Subsequently, in 1849, the same officer gave his testimony before the House of Lords, in the following language : ' There is no necessity for the squadron watching the coast between Sierra Leone and Cape Palmas, as the Liberian territory intervenes, and there the slave-trade has been extin guished.' " ' The government was firmly and wisely administered, and its friends everywhere found occasion for great pleasure in its marked success. While the government had more than a quarter of a million of natives under its care, the greatest caution was exer cised in dealing with them legally. The system was not so com plicated as our Indian system, but the duties of the officers in dealing with the uncivilized tribes were as delicate as those of an Indian agent in the United States. " The history of a single case will illustrate the manner in which Liberia exerts her influence in preventing the native tribes from warring upon each other. The territory of Little Cape Mount, Grand Cape Mount, and Gallinas was purchased, three or four years since, and added to the Republic. The chiefs, by the term of sale, transferred the rights of sovereignty and of soil to Liberia, and bound themselves to obey her laws. The government of Great Britain had granted to Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, & Co., of London, a contract for the supply of laborers from the coast of Africa to the planters of her West India colonies. This grant was made under the rule for the substitution of apprentices, to supply the lack of labor produced by the emancipation of the slaves. The agents of Messrs. Hyde, Hodge, & Co. visited Grand Cape Mount, and made an offer of ten dollars per head to the chiefs for each person they could supply as emigrants for this object. The offer excited the cupidity of some of the chiefs ; and to procure the emigrants and secure the bounty one of them, named Boombo, of Little Cape Mount, resorted to war upon several of the surrounding tribes. He laid waste the country, burned the towns and vil lages, captured and murdered many of the inhabitants, carried off hundreds of others, and robbed several factories in that region belonging to merchants in Liberia. On the 26th of February, 1853, President Roberts issued his procla mation enjoining a strict observance of the law regulating passports, and for bidding the sailing of any vessel with emigrants without first visiting the port of Monrovia, where each passenger should be examined as to his wishes. On the ist of March the president, with two hundred men, sailed for Little Cape Mount, arrested Boombo and fifty of his followers, summoned a council of the other chiefs at Monrovia for his trial on the I4th, and returned home with his prisoners. At the time appointed, the trial was held, Boombo was found 1 Colonization Herald, December, 1852. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. 107 guilty of 'high misdemeanor? and sentenced 'to make restitution, restora tion, and reparation of goods stolen, people captured, and damages committed ; to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned for two years.' When the sentence was pronounced, the convict shed tears, regarding the ingredient of imprisonment in his sentence to be almost intolerable. These rigorous measures, adopted to maintain the authority of the government and majesty of the laws, have had a salutary influence upon the chiefs. No outbreaks have since occurred, and but little apprehension of danger for the future is enter tained." r The republic did a vast amount of good bfeore the Great Rebellion in the United States, but since emancipation its population has been fed by the natives who have been educated and converted to Christianity. Professor David Christy, the great colonizationist, said in a lecture delivered in 1855, " If, then, a colony of colored men, beginning with less than a hundred, and gradually increasing to nine thousand, has in thirty years established an independent republic amidst a savage people, destroyed the slave-trade on six hundred miles of the African coast, put down the heathen temples in one of its largest counties, afforded security to all the missions within its limits, and now casts its shield over three hundred thousand native inhabitants, what may not be done in the next thirty years by colonization and missions com bined, were sufficient means supplied to call forth all their energies ? " The circumstances that led to the founding of the Negro republic in the wilds of Africa perished in the fires of civil war. The Negro is free everywhere ; but the republic of Liberia stands, and should stand until its light shall have penetrated the gloom of Africa, and until the heathen shall gather to the bright ness of its shining. May it stand through the ages as a Christian republic, as a faithful light-house along the dark and trackless sea of African paganism ! 1 Ethiope, pp. 207, 208. 108 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XI. THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN FAMILY RE-AFFIRMED Goo GAVE ALL RACES OF MEN CIVILIZATION. THE ANTIQUITY OK THE NEGRO BEYOND DISPUTE IDOLATRY THE CAUSE OF THE DEGRADATION- OF THE AFRICAN RACES. HE HAS ALWAYS HAD A PLACE IN HISTORY, THOUGH INCIDENTAL. NEGRO TYPE CAUSED BY DEGRADATION. NEGRO EMPIRES AN EVIDENCE OF CRUDE ABILITY FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT. INFLUENCE OF THE TWO CHRISTIAN GOVERNMENTS ON THE WEST COAST UPON THE HEATHEN. ORATION ON EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA. THE DUTY OF CHRISTI ANITY TO EVANGELIZE AFRICA. r I ^HE preceding ten chapters are introductory in their nature. We felt that they were necessary to a history of the Colored race in the United States. We desired to explain and ex plode two erroneous ideas, the curse of Canaan, and the theory that the Negro is a distinct species, that were educated into our white countrymen during the long and starless night of the bond age of the Negro. It must appear patent to every honest student of God's word, that the slavery interpretation of the curse of Canaan is without warrant of Scripture, and at war with the broad and catholic teachings of the New Testament. It is a sad commen tary on American civilization to find even a few men like Helper, "Ariel," and the author of " The Adamic Race" still croaking about the inferiority of the Negro ; but it is highly gratifying to know that they no longer find an audience or readers, not even in the South. A man never hates his neighbors until he has in jured them. Then, in justification of his unjustifiable conduct, he uses slander for argument. During the late war thousands of mouths filled with vitupera tive wrath against the colored race were silenced as in the pres ence of the heroic deeds of " the despised race," and since the war the obloquy of the Negro's enemies has been turned into the most fulsome praise. We stand in line and are in harmony with history and histo rians modern and ancient, sacred and profane on the sub ject of the unity of the human family. There are, however, a few RESUME. 109 who differ; but their wild, incoherent, and unscholarly theories deserve the mercy of our silence. It is our firm conviction, and it is not wholly unsupported by history, that the Creator gave all the nations arts and sciences. Where nations have turned aside to idolatry they have lost their civilization. The Canaanites, Jebusites, Hivites, etc., the idola trous l nations inhabiting the land of Canaan, were the descend ants of Canaan; and the only charge the Lord brought against them when he commanded Joshua to exterminate them was, that they were his enemies 2 in all that that term implies. The sacred record tells us that they were a warlike, powerful people,3 living in walled cities, given to agriculture, and possessing quite a respectable civilization ; but they were idolaters God's enemies. It is worthy of emphasis, that the antiquity of the Negro race is beyond dispute. This is a fact established by the most immu table historical data, and recorded on the monumental brass and marble of the Oriental nations of the most remote period of time. The importance and worth of the Negro have given him a place in all the histories of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. His position, it is true, in all history up to the present day, has been accidental, incidental, and collateral ; but it is sufficient to show how he has been regarded in the past by other nations. His brightest days were when history was an infant ; and, since he early turned from God, he has found the cold face of hate and the hurtful hand of the Caucasian against him. The Negro type is the result of degrada tion. It is nothing more than the lowest strata of the African race. Pouring over the venerable mountain terraces, an abundant stream from an abundant and unknown source, into the malarial districts, the genuine African has gradually degenerated into the typical Negro. His blood infected with the poison of his low habitation, his body shrivelled by disease, his intellect veiled in pagan superstitions, the noblest yearnings of his soul strangled at birth by the savage passions of a nature abandoned to sensuality r the poor Negro of Africa deserves more our pity than our contempt. It is true that the weaker tribes, or many of the Negroid type, were the chief source of supply for the slave-market in this country for many years; but slavery in the United States a severe ordeal through which to pass to citizenship and civilization 1 Deut. xii. 2, 3, also 301)1 verse. 2 Deut. vi. 19. 3 Deut. vii. 7. HO HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. had the effect of calling into life many a slumbering and dying attribute in the Negro nature. The cruel institution drove him from an extreme idolatry to an extreme religious exercise of his faith in worship. And now that he is an American citizen, the condition and circumstances which rendered his piety appropriate abolished, he is likely to move over to an extreme rationalism. The Negro empires to which we have called attention are an argument against the theory that he is without government ; and his career as a soldier * would not disgrace the uniform of an American soldier. Brave, swift in execution, terrible in the onslaught, tireless in energy, obedient to superiors, and clannish to a fault, the abilities of these black soldiers are worthy of a good cause. On the edge of the Dark Continent, Sierra Leone and Liberia have sprung up as light-houses on a dark and stormy ocean of lost humanity. Hundreds of thousands of degraded Negroes have been snatched from the vile swamps, and Christianity has been received and appreciated by them. These two Negro settlements have solved two problems ; viz., the Negro's ability to administer a government, and the capacity of the native for the reception of education and Christian civilization. San Domingo and Jamaica have their lessons too, but it is not our purpose to write the history of the Colored people of the world. The task may be undertaken some time in the future, however. It must be apparent to the interested friends of languishing Africa, that there are yet two more problems presented for our solution ; and they are certainly difficult of solution. First, we must solve the problem of African geography; second, we must redeem by the power of the gospel, with all its attending bless ings, the savage tribes of Africans who have never heard the beautiful song of the angels : "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." That this work will be done we do not doubt. We have great faith in the outcome of the missionary work going on now in Africa ; and we are especially encouraged by the wide and kindly interest awakened on behalf of Africa by the noble life-work of Dr. David Livingstone, and the thrilling narrative of Mr. Henry M. Stanley. It is rather remarkable now, in the light of recent events, that we should have chosen a topic at the close of both our academic 1 News comes to us from Egypt that Arabi Pacha's best artillerists are Negro soldiers. RESUME. 1 1 1 and theological course that we can see now was in line with this work so near our heart. The first oration was on " The Footsteps of the Nation," the second was " Early Christianity in Africa." Dr. Livingstone had just fallen a martyr to the cause of geography, and the orators and preachers of enlightened Christendom were busy with the virtues and worth of the dead. It was on the tenth day of June, 1874, that we delivered the last-named oration; and we can, even at this distance, recall the magnificent audience that greeted it, and the feeling with which we delivered it. We were the first Colored man who had ever taken a diploma from that venerable and world-famed institution (Newton Seminary, New ton Centre, Mass.), and therefore there was much interest taken in our graduation. We were ordained on the following evening at Watertown, Mass. ; and the original poem written for the occa sion by our pastor, the Rev. Granville S. Abbott, D.D., contained the following significant verses : "Ethiopia's hands long stretching, Mightily have plead with God ; Plead not vainly : time is fetching Answers, as her faith's reward. God is faithful, Yea, and Amen is his word. Countless prayers, so long ascending, Have their answer here and now ; Threads of purpose, wisely meeting In an ordination vow. Afric brother, To thy mission humbly bow." The only, and we trust sufficient, apology we have to offer to the reader for mentioning matters personal to the author is, that we are deeply touched in reading the oration, after many years, in the original manuscript, preserved by accident. It is fitting that it should be produced here as bearing upon the subject in hand. EARLY CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA. ORATION BY GEORGE W. WILLIAMS, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS GRADUATION FROM NEWTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEWTON CENTRE, MASS., JUNE 10, 1874. Africa was one of the first countries to receive Christianity. Simon, a Cyrenian, from Africa, bore the cross of Jesus for him to Calvary. There was 112 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. more in that singular incident than we are apt to recognize, for the time soon came when Africa did indeed take up the Saviour's cross. The African, in his gushing love, welcomed the new religion to his coun try and to his heart. He was willing to share its persecutions, and endure shame for the cross of Christ. Africa became the arena in which theological gladiators met in dubious strife. It was the scene of some of the severest doctrinal controversies of the early Church. Here men and women, devoted to an idea, stood immovable, indomitable as the pyramids, against the severest persecution. Her sons swelled the noble army of martyrs and confessors. The eloquence of their shed blood has been heard through the centuries, and pleads the cause of the benighted to-day. It was Africa that gave the Christian Church Athanasius and Origen, Cyprian, Tertullian, and Augustine, her greatest writers and teachers. Athana sius, the missionary of monachism to the West, was the indefatigable enemy of Arianism, the bold leader of the catholic party at Alexandria, at the early age of thirty (30) elevated to its bishopric, one of the most 'important sees in the East. Ever conscientious and bold, the whole Christian Church felt his influence, while emperors and kings feared his power. His life was stormy, because he loved the truth and taught it in all boldness. He hated his own life for the truth's sake. He counted all things but loss, that he might gain Christ. He was often in perils by false brethren , was driven out into the solitary places of the earth, into the monasteries of the Thebaid ; and yet he endured as seeing Him who is invisible, looking for the reward of the promise, knowing that He who promised is faithful. Origen was an Alexandrian by birth and culture, an able preacher, a forci ble writer, and a theologian of great learning. His influence while living was great, and was felt long after his death. In North Africa, Cyprian, the great writer of Church polity, a pastor and teacher of rare gifts, was the first bishop to lay down his life for the truth's sake. The shadows of fifteen centuries rest upon his name; but it is as fade less to-day as when a weeping multitude followed him to his martyrdom, and exclaimed, " Let us die with our holy bishop." The weary centuries intervene, and yet the student of Church polity is fascinated and instructed by the brilliant teachings of Cyprian. His bitterest enemies those who have most acrimoniously assailed him have at length recognized in him the qualities of a great writer and teacher ; and his puissant name, sending its influence along the ages, attracts the admiration of the eccle siastical scholars of every generation. Tertullian, the leader of the Montanists, fiery, impulsive, the strong preacher, the vigorous writer, the bold controversialist, organized a sect which survived him, though finally disorganized through the influence of Augustine, the master theologian of the early Church, indeed of the Church universal. Other fathers built theological systems that flourished for a season ; but the system that Augustine established survived him, has survived the inter vening centuries, and lives to-day. Africa furnished the first dissenters from an established church, the Donatists. They were the Separatists and Puritans of the early Church. Their struggle was long, severe, but useless. They were condemned, not RESUME. 113 convinced; discomfited, not subdued; and the patient, suffering, indomitable spirit they evinced shows what power there is in a little truth held in faith. Christianity had reached its zenith in Africa. It was her proudest hour. Paganism had been met and conquered. The Church had passed through a baptism of blood, and was now wholly consecrated to the cause of its Great Head. Here Christianity flowered ; here it brought forth rich fruit in the lives of its tenacious adherents. Here the acorn had become the sturdy oak, under which the soldiers of the cross pitched their tents. The African Church had triumphed gloriously. But, in the moment of signal victory, the Saracens poured into North Africa, and Mohammedanism was established upon the ruins of Christianity. The religion of Christ was swept from its moorings, the saint was trans formed into the child of the desert, and quiet settlements became bloody fields where brother shed brother's blood. Glorious and sublime as was the triumph of Christianity in North Africa, we must not forget that only a narrow belt of that vast country, on the Medi terranean, was reached by Christianity. Its western and southern portions are yet almost wholly unknown. Her vast deserts, her mighty rivers, and her dusky children are yet beyond the reach of civilization ; and her forests have been the grave of many who would explore her interior. To-day England stands by the new-made grave of the indomitable Livingstone, her courageous son, who, as a missionary and geographer spent his best days and laid down his life in the midst of Africa. For nearly three centuries Africa has been robbed of her sable sons. For nearly three centuries they have toiled in bondage, unrequited, in this youthful republic of the West. They have grown from a small company to be an exceed ingly great people, five millions in number. No longer chattels, they are human beings ; no longer bondmen, they are freemen, with almost every civil disability removed. Their weary feet now press up the mount of science. Their darkened intellect now sweeps, unfettered, through the realms of learning and culture. With his Saxon brother, the African slakes his insatiable thirstings for knowl edge at the same fountain. In the Bible, he reads not only the one unalterable text, " Servants, obey your masters," but also, " Ye are all brethren." " God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." " He is no respecter of persons." The Negro in this country has begun to enjoy the blessings of a free citi zenship. Under the sunny sky of a Christian civilization he hears the cla'rion voices of progress about him, urging him onward and upward. From across the ocean, out of the jungles of Africa, come the voices of the benighted and perishing. Every breeze is freighted with a Macedonian call, "Ye men of the African race, come over and help us ! " " Shall we, whose souls are lighted By wisdom from on high, Shall we, to men benighted The lamp of life deny ? " God often permits evil on the ground of man's free agency, but he does not commit evil. 114 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The Negro of this country can turn to his Saxon brothers and say, as Joseph said to his brethren who wickedly sold him, " As for you, ye meant it unto evil, but God meant it unto good ; that we, after learning your arts and sciences, might return to Egypt and deliver the rest of our brethren who are yet in the house of bondage." That day will come ! Her chains will be severed by the sword of civiliza tion and liberty. Science will penetrate her densest forests, and climb her loftiest mountains, and discover her richest treasures. The Sun of righteous ness, and the star of peace, shall break upon her sin-clouded .vision, and smile upon her renewed households. The anthem of the Redeemer's advent shall float through her forests, and be echoed by her mountains. Those dusky chil dren of the desert, who now wander and plunder, will settle to quiet occupa tions of industry. Gathering themselves into villages, plying the labors of handicraft and agriculture, they will become a well-disciplined society, instead of being a roving, barbarous horde. The sabbath bells will summon from scattered cottages smiling popula tions, linked together by friendship, and happy in all the sweetness of domestic charities. Thus the glory of her latter day shall be greater than at the begin ning, and Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God. It is our earnest desire and prayer, that the friends of missions in all places where God in his providence may send this history will give the subject of the civilization and Christianization of Africa prayerful consideration. The best schools the world can afford should be founded on the West Coast of Africa. The na tive should be educated at home, and mission-stations should be planted under the very shadow of the idol-houses of the heathen. The best talent and abundant means have been sent to Siam,. China, and Japan. Why not send the best talent and needful means to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cape Palmas, that native missionaries may be trained for the outposts of the Lord ? There is not a more promising mission-field in the world than Africa,, and yet our friends in America take so little interest in this work t The Lord is going to save that Dark Continent, and it behooves-- his servants here to honor themselves in doing something to has ten the completion of this inevitable work ! Africa is to be re deemed by the African, and the white Christians of this country can aid the work by munificent contributions. Will you do it> brethren ? God help you ! THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 1 15. 51* SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. 1 CHAPTER XII. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 1619-1775. INTRODUCTION OF THE FIRST SLAVES. " THE TREASURER " AND THE DUTCH MAN-OF-WAR. THE CORRECT DATE. THE NUMBER OF SLAVES. WERE THERE TWENTY, OR FOURTEEN? LITIGA TION ABOUT THE POSSESSION OF THE SLAVES. CHARACTER OF THE SLAVES IMPORTED, AND THE CHARACTER OF THE COLONISTS. RACE PREJUDICES. LEGAL ESTABLISHMENT OF SLAVERY. WHO ARE SLAVES FOR LIFE. DUTIES ON IMPORTED SLAVES. POLITICAL AND MILITARY PROHIBITIONS AGAINST NEGROES. PERSONAL RIGHTS. CRIMINAL LAWS AGAINST SLAVES. EMANCIPATION. How BROUGHT ABOUT. FREE NEGROES. THEIR RIGHTS. MORAL AND- RELIGIOUS TRAINING. POPULATION. SLAVERY FIRMLY ESTABLISHED. VIRGINIA was the mother of slavery as well as " the mother of Presidents." Unfortunate for her, unfortunate for the other colonies, and thrice unfortunate for the poor Colored people, who from 1619 to 1863 yielded their liberty, their toil, unrequited, their bodies and intellects to an institution that ground them to powder. No event in the history of North America has carried with it to its last analysis such terrible forces. It touched the brightest features of social life, and they faded under the contact of its poisonous breath. It affected legis lation, local and national ; it made and destroyed statesmen ; it prostrated and bullied honest public sentiment ; it strangled the voice of the press, and awed the pulpit into silent acquiescence ; it organized the judiciary of States, and wrote decisions for judges; it gave States their political being, and afterwards dragged them 1 A Flemish favorite of Charles V. having obtained of his king a patent, containing an exclu sive right of importing four thousand Negroes into America, sold it for twenty-five thousand ducats to some Genoese merchants, who first brought into a regular form the commerce for slaves between. Africa and America. HOLMES'S American Annals, vol. i. p. 35. Il6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. by the fore-hair through the stormy sea of civil war ; laid the parricidal fingers of Treason against the fair throat of Liberty, and through all time to come no event will be more sincerely deplored than the introduction of slavery into the colony of Vir ginia during the last days of the month of August in the year 1619 ! The majority of writers on American history, as well as most histories on Virginia, from Beverley to Howison, have made a mistake in fixing the date of the introduction of the first slaves. Mr. Beverley, whose history of Virginia was printed in London in 1772, is responsible for the error, in that nearly all subsequent writers excepting the laborious and scholarly Bancroft and the erudite Campbell have repeated his mistake. Mr. Beverley, speaking of the burgesses having " met the Governor and Cauncil at James Town in May 1620," adds in a subsequent paragraph, " In August following a Dutch Man of War landed twenty Negroes for sale ; which were the first of that kind that were carried into the country." l By " August following," we infer that Beverley would have his readers understand that this was in 1620. But Burk, Smith, Campbell, and Neill gave 1619 as the date. 2 But we are persuaded to believe that the first slaves were landed at a still earlier date. In Capt. John Smith's history, printed in London in 1629, is a mere incidental reference to the introduction of slaves into Virginia. He mentions, under date of June 25, that the " governor and councell caused Burgesses to be chosen in all places," 3 which is one month later than the occurrence of this event as fixed by Beverley. Smith speaks of a vessel named " George " as having been " sent to Newfoundland " for fish, and, having started in May, returned after a voyage of "seven weeks." In the next sentence he says, " About the last of August came in a dutch man of warre that sold vs twenty Negars."4 Might not he have meant "about the end of last August " came the Dutch man-of-war, etc. ? All historians, except two, agree that these slaves were landed in August, but disagree as to the year. Capt. Argall, of whom so much complaint was made by the Virginia Company to Lord Delaware,5 fitted out the ship "Treasurer" at the expense of the Earl of Warwick, who sent him "an olde com mission of hostility from the Duke of Savoy against the Span- 1 R. Beverley's History of Virginia, pp. 35, 36. 2 See Campbell, p. 144 ; Burk, vol. i. p. 326. 3 Smith, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39. * Smith's History of Virginia, vol. ii. p. 39. 5 Virginia Company of London, p. 117, sq. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 1 17 yards," for a "filibustering" cruise to the West Indies. 1 And, "after several acts of hostility committed, and some purchase gotten, she returns to Virginia at the end of ten months or there abouts." 2 It was in the early autumn of 1618,3 that Capt. Edward (a son of William) Brewster was sent into banishment by Capt. Argall ; and this, we think, was one of the last, if not the last official act of that arbitrary governor. It was certainly before this that the ship " Treasurer," manned " with the ablest men in the colony," sailed for " the Spanish dominions in the Western hemisphere." Under date of June 15, 1618, John Rolfe, speaking of the death of the Indian Powhatan, which took place in April, says, " Some private differences happened betwixt Capt. Bruster and Capt. Argall," etc. 4 Capt. John Smith's information, as secured from Master Rolfe, would lead to the conclusion that the difficulty which took place between Capt. Edward Brewster and Capt. Argall occurred in the spring instead of the autumn, as Neill says. If it be true that " The Treasurer" sailed in the early spring of 1618, Rolfe's statement as to the time of the strife between Brewster and Argall would harmonize with the facts in reference to the length of time the vessel was absent as recorded in Burk's history. But if Neill is correct as to the time of the quarrel, for we maintain that it was about this time that Argall left the colony, then his statement would tally with Burk's account of the time the vessel was on the cruise. If, therefore, she sailed in October, 1618, being absent ten months, she was due at Jamestown in August, 1619. But, nevertheless, we are strangely moved to believe that 1618 was the memorable year of the landing of the first slaves in Vir ginia. And we have one strong and reliable authority on our side. Stith, in his history of Virginia, fixes the date in i6i8.5 On the same page there is an account of the trial and sentence of Capt. Brewster. The ship "Treasurer" had evidently left Eng land in the winter of 1618. When she reached the Virginia colony, she was furnished with a new crew and abundant supplies for her cruise. Neill says she returned with booty and "a certain number of negroes." Campbell agrees that it was some time before the landing of the Dutch man-of-war that "The Treasurer" returned to Virginia. He says, " She returned to Virginia after 1 Campbell, p. 144. 2 Burk, vol. i. p. 319. 3 jjeill, p. 120. * Smith, vol. ii. p. 37. 5 There were two vessels, The Treasurer and the Dutch man-of-war; but the latter, no doubt, put the first slaves ashore. Il8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. some ten months with her booty, which consisted of captured negroes, who were not left in Virginia, because Capt. Argall had gone back to England, but were put on the Earl of Warwick's plantation in the Somer Islands." ' During the last two and one-half centuries the readers of the history of Virginia have been mislead as to these two vessels, the Dutch man-of-war and "The Treasurer." The Dutch man-of- war did land the first slaves; but the ship " Treasurer" was the first to bring them to this country, in 1618. When in 1619 the Dutch man-of-war brought the first slaves to Virginia, Capt. Miles Kendall was deputy-governor. The man-of-war claimed to sail under commission of the Prince of Orange. Capt. Kendall gave orders that the vessel should not land in any of his harbors : but the vessel was without provisions ;: and the Negroes, fourteen in number, were tendered for supplies, Capt. Kendall accepted the slaves, and, in return, furnished the man-of-war with the coveted provisions. In the mean while Capt. Butler came and assumed charge of the affairs of the Virginia Company, and dispossessed Kendall of his slaves, alleging that they were the property of the Earl of Warwick. He insisted that they were taken from the ship " Treasurer," 2 " with which the said Holland man-of-war had consorted." Chagrined, and wronged by Gov. Butler, Capt. Kendall hastened back to England to lay his case before the London Company, and to seek equity. The Earl of Warwick appeared in court, and claimed the Negroes as his property, as having belonged to his ship, "The Treasurer." Every thing that would embarrass Kendall was introduced by the earl. At length, as a final resort, charges were formally pre ferred against him, and the matter referred to Butler for decision. Capt. Kendall did not fail to appreciate the gravity of his case, when charges were preferred against him in London, and the trial ordered before the man of whom he asked restitution ! The case remained in statu quo until July, 1622, when the court made a disposition of the case. Nine of the slaves were to be delivered to Capt. Kendall, "and the rest to be consigned to the company's use." This decision was reached by the court after the Earl of Warwick had submitted the case to the discretion and judicial impartiality of the judges. The court gave instructions to Capt. Bernard, who was then the governor, to see that its order was 1 Campbell, p. 144. 2 Burk, Appendix, p. 316, Declaration of Virginia Company, ;th May, 1625 THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 119 -enforced. But while the order of the court was in transitu, Ber nard died. The earl, learning of the event, immediately wrote a letter, representing that the slaves should not be delivered to Kendall; and an advantage being taken purely technical of the omission of the name of the captain of the Holland man-of- war, Capt. Kendall never secured his nine slaves. It should be noted, that while Rolfe, in Capt. Smith's history, fixes the number of slaves in the Dutch vessel at twenty, as also does Beverley, it is rather strange that the Council of Virginia, in 1623, should state that the commanding officer of the Dutch man-of-war told Capt. Kendall that " he had fourteen Negroes on board ! " J Moreover, it is charged that the slaves taken by " The Treasurer " were divided up among the sailors ; and that they, having been cheated out of their dues, asked judicial interference. 2 Now, these slaves from " The Treasurer " " were placed on the Earl of Warwick's lands in Bermudas, and there kept anfi detained to his Lordship's use." There are several things apparent ; viz., that there is a mistake between the state ment of the Virginia Council in their declaration of May 7, 1623, about the number of slaves landed by the man-of-war, and the statements of Beverley and Smith. And if Stith is to be relied upon as to the slaves of "The Treasurer" having been taken to the " Earl of Warwick's lands in Bermudas, and there kept," his lordship's claim to the slaves Capt. Kendall got from the Dutch man-of-war was not founded in truth or equity ! Whether the number was fourteen or twenty, it is a fact, beyond historical doubt, that the Colony of Virginia purchased the first Negroes, and thus opened up the nefarious traffic in human flesh. It is due to the Virginia Colony to say, that these slaves were forced upon them ; that they were taken in exchange for food given to relieve the hunger of famishing sailors ; that white servitudes was common, and many whites were convicts 4 from England ; and the extraordinary demand for laborers may have deadened the moral sensibilities of the colonists as to the enormity of the great crime to which they were parties. Women were sold for wives, 5 and sometimes were kidnapped 6 in England and sent into the colony. There was nothing in the moral atmos phere of the colony inimical to the spirit of bondage that was 1 See Burk, vol. i. p. 326. z Stith, Book III. pp. 153, 154. 3 Beverley, 235, sq. 4 Campbell, 147. 5 Beverley, p. 248. * Court and Times of James First, ii. p. 108 ; also, Neill p. 121. 120 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. manifest so early in the history of this people. England had always held her sceptre over slaves of some character : villeins in the feudal era, stolen Africans under Elizabeth and under the house of the Tudors ; Caucasian children whose German blood could be traced beyond the battle of Hastings in her mines, factories, and mills ; and vanquished Brahmans in her Eastern possessions. How, then, could we expect less of these " knights " and "adventurers " who " degraded the human race by an exclusive respect for the privileged classes " ? J The institution of slavery once founded, it is rather remarkable that its growth was so slow. According to the census of Feb. 16, 1624, there were but twenty-two in the entire colony. 2 There were eleven at Flourdieu Hundred, three in James City, one on James Island, one on the plantation opposite James City, four at Warisquoyak, and two at Elizabeth City. In 1648 the population of Virginia was about fifteen thousand, with a slave population of three hundred.3 The cause of the slow increase *>f slaves was not due to any colonial prohibition. The men who were engaged in tearing unoffending Africans from their native home were some time learning that this colony was at this time a ready market for their helpless victims. Whatever feeling or scruple, if such ever existed, the colonists had in reference to the subject of dealing in the slave-trade, was destroyed at conception by the golden hopes of large gains. The latitude, the products of the soil, the demand for labor, the custom of the indenture of white servants, were abundant reasons why the Negro should be doomed to bondage for life. The subjects of slavery were the poor unfortunates that the strong push to the outer edge of organized African society, where, through neglect or abuse, they are consigned to the mercy of avarice and malice. We have already stated that the weaker tribes of Africa are pushed into the alluvial flats of that continent ; where they have perished in large numbers, or have become the prey of the more powerful tribes, who consort with slave-hunters. Disease, tribal wars in Africa, and the merciless greed of slave- hunters, peopled the colony of Virginia with a class that was expected to till the soil. African criminals, by an immemorial usage, were sold into slavery as the highest penalty, save death ; and often this was preferred to bondage. Many such criminals 1 Bancroft, vol. i. p. 468. 2 Neill, p. 121. 3 Hist. Tracts, vol. ii. Tract viii. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 121 found their way into the colony. To be bondmen among neigh boring tribes at home was dreaded beyond expression ; but to wear chains in a foreign land, to submit to the dehumanizing treatment of cruel taskmasters, was an ordeal that fanned into life the last dying ember of manhood and resentment. The character of the slaves imported, and the pitiable con dition of the white servants, produced rather an anomalous result. "Male servants, and slaves of both sex" were bound together by the fellowship of toil. But the distinction " made between them in their clothes and food " : drew a line, not between their social condition, for it was the same, but between their nationality. First, then, was social estrangement, next legal difference, and last of all political disagreement and strife. In order to oppress the weak, and justify the unchristian distinction between God's creatures, the persons who would bolster themselves into respecta bility must have the aid of law. Luther could march fearlessly to the Diet of Worms if every tile on the houses were a devil ; but Macbeth was conquered by the remembrance of the wrong he had done the virtuous Duncan and the unoffending Banquo, long before he was slain by Macduff. A guilty conscience always needs a multitude of subterfuges to guard against dreaded contingencies. So when the society in the Virginia Colony had made up its mind that the Negroes in their midst were mere heathen, 2 they stood ready to punish any member who had the temerity to cross the line drawn between the races. It was not a mitigating circum stance that the white servants of the colony who came into natural contact with the Negroes were "disorderly persons," or convicts sent to Virginia by an order of the king of England, It was fixed by public sentiment and law that there should be no relation between the races. The first prohibition was made "September i/th, 1630." Hugh Davis, a white servant, was publicly flogged "before an assembly of Negroes and others," for defiling himself with a Negro. It was also required that he should confess as much on the following sabbath. 3 In the winter of 1639, on tne 6th of January, during the incumbency of Sir Francis Wyatt, the General Assembly passed the first prohibition against Negroes. "All persons," doubtless including fraternizing Indians, "except Negroes," were required to secure arms and ammunition, or be subject to a fine, to be 1 Beverley, p. 236. 2 Campbell, p. 145. 3 Hening, vol. i. p. 146; also p. 552. 122 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. imposed by "the Governor and Council." T The records are too .scanty, and it is impossible to judge, at this remote day, what was the real cause of this law. We have already called attention to the fact that the slaves were but a mere fraction of the summa summarum of the population. It could not be that the brave Virginians were afraid of an insurrection ! Was it another reminder that the " Negroes were heathen," and, therefore, not entitled to the privileges of Christian freemen ? It was not the act of that government, which in its conscious rectitude " can put ten thousand to flight," but was rather the inexcusable feebleness of a diseased conscience, that staggers off for refuge "when no man pursueth." Mr. Bancroft thinks that the " special tax upon female slaves " 2 was intended to discourage the traffic. It does not so seem to us. It seems that the Virginia Assembly was endeavoring to establish friendly relations with the Dutch and other nations in order to secure " trade." Tobacco was the chief commodity of the colo nists. They intended by the act 3 of March, 1659, to guarantee the most perfect liberty "to trade with " them. They required, however, that foreigners should " give bond and pay the impost of tenn shillings per hogshead laid upon all tobacco exported to any fforreigne dominions." The same act recites, that whenever any .slaves were sold for tobacco, the amount of imposts would only be "two shillings per hogshead," which was only the nominal sum paid by the colonists themselves. This act was passed several years before the one became a law that is cited by Mr. Bancroft. It seems that much trouble had been experienced in determining who were taxable in the colony. It is very clear that the LIV. Act of March, 1662, which Mr. Bancroft thinks was intended to discourage the importation of slaves by taxing female slaves, seeks only to determine who shall be taxable. It is a general law, declaring "that all male persons, of what age soever imported into this country shall be brought into lysts and be liable to the payment of all taxes, and all negroes, male and female being imported shall be accompted tythable, and all Indian servants male or female however procured being adjudged sixteen years of age shall be likewise tythable from which none shall be exempted." 4 Beverley says that "the male servants, and slaves of both sexes," were employed together. It seems that white women were so 1 Herring, vol. i. p 226. 2 Bancroft, vol. i. p. 178. 3 Hening, vol. i. p. 540. 4 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 84. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 123 scarce as to be greatly respected. But female Negroes and Indians were taxable ; although Indian children, unlike those of Negroes, were not held as slaves. 1 Under the LIV. Act there is but one class exempted from tax, white females, and, we might add, persons under sixteen years of age. 2 So what Mr. Bancroft mistakes as repressive legislation against the slave-trade is only an exemption of white women, and intended to encourage their coming into the colony. The legal distinction between slaves and servants was, " slaves for life, and servants for a time." 3 Slavery existed from 1619 until 1662, without any sanction in law. On the I4th of Decem ber, 1662, the foundations of the slave institution were laid in the old law maxim, " Partus sequitur ventrum" that the issue of slave mothers should follow their condition.4 Two things were accomplished by this act ; viz., slavery received the direct sanction of statutory law, and it was also made hereditary. On the 6th of March, 1655, seven years before the time mentioned above, an act was passed declaring that all Indian children brought into the colony by friendly Indians should not be treated as slaves,5 but be instructed in the trades. 6 By implication, then, slavery existed legally at this time ; but the act of 1662 was the first direct law on the subject. In 1670 a question arose as to whether Indians taken in war were to be servants for a term of years, or for life. The act passed on the subject is rather remarkable for the language in which it is couched ; showing, as it does, that it was made to relieve the Indian, and fix the term of the Negro's bondage beyond a reasonable doubt. " It is resolved and enacted that all servants not being Christians imported into this colony by shipping shall be slaves for their lives ; but what shall come by land shall serve, if boyes or girles, until thirty yeares of age, if men or women twelve yeares and no longer." 7 This remarkable act was dictated by fear and policy. No doubt the Indian was as thoroughly despised as the Negro ; but the Indian was on his native soil, and, therefore, was a more dangerous 8 subject. In structed by the past, and fearful of the future, the sagacious colo nists declared by^his act, that those who " shall come by land" should not be assigned to servitude for life. While this act was passed to define the legal status of the Indian, at the same time, x Hening, vol. i. p. 396. 2 Burk, vol. ii. Appendix, p. xxiii. 3 Beverley, p. 235. 4 Hening, vol. ii. p. 170 ; see, also, vol. iii. p. 140. s Beverley, p. 195. * Hening, vol. i. p. 396. 7 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 283. 8 Campbell, p. 160; also Bacon's Rebellion. 124 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and with equal force, it determines the fate of the Negro who is so unfortunate as to find his way into the colony. "All servants not being Christians imported into this colony by shipping shall be slaves for their lives." Thus, in 1670, Virginia, not abhorring the insti tution, solemnly declared that "all servants not Christians" heathen Negroes coming into her "colony by shipping" there was no other way for them to come ! should " be slaves, for their lives ! " In 1682 the colony was in a flourishing condition. Opulence generally makes men tyrannical, and great success in business makes them unmerciful. Although Indians, in special acts, had not been classed as slaves, but only accounted "servants for a term of years," the growing wealth and increasing number of the colonists seemed to justify them in throwing off the mask. The act of the 3d of October, 1670, defining who should be slaves, was repealed at the November session of the General Assembly of 1682. Indians were now made slaves, 1 and placed upon the same legal footing with the Negroes. The sacred rite of baptism * did not alter the condition of children Indian or Negro when born in slavery. And slavery, as a cruel and inhuman institution, flourished and magnified with each returning year. Encouraged by friendly legislation, the Dutch plied the slave- trade with a zeal equalled only by the enormous gains they reaped from the planters. It was not enough' that faith had been broken with friendly Indians, and their children doomed by statute to the hell of perpetual slavery ; it was not sufficient that the Indian and Negro were compelled to serve, unrequited, for their lifetime. On the 4th of October, 1705, "an act declaring the Negro, Mulatto, and Indian slaves, within this dominion, to be real estate," 3 was passed without a dissenting voice. Before this time they had been denominated by the courts as chattels : now they were to pass in law as real estate. There were, however, several provisos to this act. Merchants coming into the colony with slaves, not sold, were not to be affected by the act until the slaves had actually passed in a bond-fide sale. Until such time their slaves were contemplated by the law as chattels. In case a master died without lawful heirs, his slaves did not escheat, but were regarded as other personal estate or property. Slave prop- 1 Hening, voL ii. pp. 490, 491. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 260 ; see, also, vol. iii. p. 460. 3 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 333. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 125 erty was liable to be taken in execution for the payment of debts, and was recoverable by a personal action. 1 The only apology for enslaving the Negroes we can find in all the records of this colony is, that they "were heathen." Every statute, from the first to the last, during the period the colony was under the control of England, carefully mentions that all persons Indians and Negroes who "are not Christians" are to be slaves. And their conversion to Christianity afterwards did not release them from their servitude. 2 The act making Indian, Mulatto, and Negro slaves real prop erty, passed in October, 1705, under the reign of Queen Anne, and by her approved, was "explained" and "amended" in February, 1/27, during the reign of King George II. Whether the act received its being out of a desire to prevent fraud, like the " Statutes of Frauds," is beyond finding out. But it was an act that showed that slavery had grown to be so common an institution as not to excite human sympathy. And the attempt to "explain" and "amend" its cruel provisions was but a faint precursor of the evils that followed. Innumerable lawsuits grew out of the act, and the courts and barristers held to conflicting interpretations and constructions. Whether complaints were made to his Majesty, the king, the records do not relate ; or whether he was moved by feelings of humanity is quite as diffi cult to understand. But on the 3ist of October, 1751, he issued a proclamation repealing the act declaring slaves real estate.3 The proclamation abrogated nine other acts, and quite threw the colony into confusion. 4 It is to be hoped that the king was animated by the noblest impulses in repealing one of the most dehumanizing laws that ever disgraced the government of any civilized people. The General Assembly, on the I5th of April, 1752, made an appeal to the king, "humbly" protesting against the proclamation. The law-makers in the colony were inclined to doubt the king's prerogative in this matter. They called the attention of his Majesty to the fact that he had given the "Governor" "full power and authority with the advice and consent of the council " to make needful laws ; but they failed 1 Hening, vol. iii. pp. 334, 335. 2 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 448 ; see, also, vol. v. p. 548. 3 Hildreth, in his History of the United States, says that the law making " Negroes, Mulat- toes, and Indians " real estate "continued to be the law so long as Virginia remained a British colony." This is a mistake, as the reader can see. The law was repealed nearly a quarter of a century before Virginia ceased to be a British colony. 4 Hening, vol. v. p. 432, sq. 126 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to realize fully that his Majesty, in accordance with the proviso contained in the grant of authority made to the governor and council of the colony, was using his veto. They recited the causes which induced them to enact the law, recounted the benefits accruing to his Majesty's subjects from the conversion of human beings into real property, 1 and closed with a touching appeal for the retention of the act complained of, so that slaves " might not at the same time be real estate in some respects, personal in others, and bothe in others ! " History does not record that the brusque old king was at all moved by this earnest appeal and con vincing argument of the Virginia Assembly. In 1699 the government buildings at James City were de stroyed. The General Assembly, in an attempt to devise means to build a new Capitol, passed an act on the nth of April of the aforesaid year, fixing a " duty on servants and slaves imported " 2 into the colony. Fifteen shillings was the impost tax levied upon every servant imported, "not born in England or Wales, and twenty shillings for every Negro or other slave " thus imported. The revenue arising from this tax on servants and slaves was to go to the building of a new Capitol. Every slave-vessel was inspected by a customs-officer. The commanding officer of the vessel was required to furnish the names and number of the servants and slaves imported, the place of their birth, and pay the duty imposed upon each before they were permitted to be landed. This act was to be in force for the space of " three years from the publication thereof, and no longer." 3 But, in the .summer of 1701, it was continued until the 25th day of Decem ber, 1703. The act was passed as a temporary measure to secure revenue with which to build the Capitol.4 Evidently it was not intended to remain a part of the code of the colony. In 1732 it was revived by an act, the preamble of which leads us to infer that the home government was not friendly to its passage. In short, the act is preceded by a prayer for permission to pass it. Whatever may have been the feeling in England in reference to levying imposts upon servants and slaves, it is certain the colonists were in hearty accord with the spirit and letter of the act. It must be clear to every honest student of history, that there never was, up to this time, an attempt made to cure the growing evils of 1 Beverley, p. 98. 2 Hening, vol. iii, pp. 193, 194. 3 Hening, vol. iii. p. 195. 4 Burk, vol. ii. Appendix, p. xxii. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 127 slavery. When a tax was imposed upon slaves imported, the object in view was the replenishing of the coffers of the colonial govern ment. In 1734 another act was passed taxing imported slaves, because it had "been found very easy to the subjects of this colony, and no ways burthensome to the traders in slaves." The addi tional reason for continuing the law was, " that a competent reve nue" might be raised "for preventing or lessening a poll-tax." x And in 1738, this law being "found, by experience, to be an easy expedient for raising a revenue towards the lessening a pooll- tax, always grievous to the people of this colony, and is in no way. burthensom to the traders in slaves," it was re-enacted. In every instance, through all these years, the imposition of a tax on slaves imported into the colony had but one end in view, the raising of revenue. In 1699 the end sought through the taxing of im ported slaves was the building of the Capitol ; in 1734 it was to lighten the burden of taxes on the subjects in the colony ; but, in 1740, the object was to get funds to raise and transport troops in his Majesty's service. 2 The original duty remained ; and an addi tional levy of five per centum was required on each slave imported, over and above the twenty shillings required by previous acts. In 1742 the tax was continued, because it was "necessary" "to discharge the public debts." 3 And again, in 1745, it was still believed to be necessary "for supporting the public expense." 4 The act, in a legal sense, expired by limitation, but in spirit remained in full force until revived by the acts of 1752-53.5 In the spring of 1755 the General Assembly increased the tax on imported slaves above the amount previously fixed by law. 6 The duty at this time was ten per centum on each slave sold into the colony. The same law was reiterated in I757, 7 and, when it had expired by limitation, was revived in 1759, to be in force for " the term of seven years from thence next following." 8 Encouraged by the large revenue derived from the tax imposed on servants and slaves imported into the colony from foreign parts, the General Assembly stood for the revival of the impost-tax. The act of 1699 required the tax at the hands of "the importer," and from as many persons as engaged in the slave-trade who were subjects of Great Britain, and residents of the colony ; but the tax at length became a burden to them. In 1 Hening, vol. iv. p. 394. 2 Ibid., vol. v. pp. 92, 93. 3 Ibid., vol. v. pp. 160, 161. * Ibid., vol. v. pp. 318, 319. 5 Ibid., vol. vi. pp. 217, 218. 6 Ibid., vol. vii. p. 466. 7 Ibid., vol. vii. p. 81. 8 Ibid., vol. vii. p. 281. 128 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. order to evade the law and escape the tax, they frequently went into Maryland and the Carolinas, and bought slaves, ostensibly for their own private use, but really to sell in the local market. To prevent this, an act was passed imposing a tax of twenty per centum on all such sales ; J but there was a great outcry made against this act. Twenty per centum of the gross amount on each slave, paid by the person making the purchase, was a bur den that planters bore with ill grace. The question of the reduc tion of the tax to ten per centum was vehemently agitated. The argument offered in favor of the reduction was three-fold ; viz., " very burthensom to the fair purchaser," inimical " to the settle ment and improvement of the lands" in the colony, and a great hinderance to "the importation of slaves, and thereby lessens the fund arising upon the duties upon slaves." 2 The reduction was made in May, 1760; and, under additional pressure, the addi tional duty on imported slaves to be " paid by the buyer " was taken off altogether.3 But in 1766 the duty on imported slaves was revived ; 4 and in 1772 an act was passed reviving the "additional duty" on "imported slaves, and was continued in force until the colonies threw off the British yoke in 1775. "5 In all this epoch, from 1619 down to 1775, there is not a scrap of history to prove that the colony of Virginia ever sought to prohibit in any manner the importation of slaves. That she encouraged the traffic, we have abundant testimony ; and that she enriched herself by it, no one can doubt. During the period of which we have just made mention above, the slaves in this colony had no political or military rights. As early as i639, 6 tne Assembly excused them from owning or carry ing arms; and in 1705 they were barred by a special act from holding or exercising " any office, ecclesiastical, civil, or military, or any place of publick trust or power," 7 in the colony. If found with a " gun, sword, club, staff, or other weopon," 8 they were turned over to the constable, who was required to administer "twenty lashes on his or her bare back." There was but one exception made. Where Negro and Indian slaves lived on the border of the colony, frequently harassed by predatory bands of hostile Indians, they could bear arms by first getting written 1 Hening, vol. vii. p. 338. 2 Ibid., vol. vii. p. 363. 3 Ibid., vol. vii. p. 383. 4 Ibid., vol. vhi. pp. 190, 191, 237, 336, 337. s Ibid., vol. viii. pp. 530, 532. 6 Ibid., vol. i. p. 226. 7 Ibid., vol. Hi. p. 251. 8 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 459 ; also vol. iv. p. 131, vol. vi. p. 109, and vol. ii. p. 481. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 129 license from their master ; l but even then they were kept under surveillance by the whites. Personal rights, we cannot see that the slaves had any. They were not allowed to leave the plantation on which they were held us chattel or real estate, without a written certificate or pass from their master, which was only granted under the most urgent cir cumstances. 2 If they dared lift a hand against any white man, or " Christian " (?) as they loved to call themselves, they were punished by thirty lashes ; and if a slave dared to resist his mas ter while he was correcting him, he could be killed ; and the master would be guiltless in the eyes of the law.3 If a slave remained on another plantation more than four hours, his master was liable to a fine of two hundred pounds of tobacco.4 And if any white person had any commercial dealings with a slave, he was liable to imprisonment for one month without bail, and com pelled to give security in the sum of ten pounds. 5 If a slave had earned and owned a horse and buggy, it was lawful to seize them ; 6 and the church-warden was charged with the sale of the articles. Even with the full permission of his master, if a slave were found going about the colony trading any articles for his or master's profit, his master was liable to a fine of ten pounds ; which fine went to the church-warden, for the benefit of the poor of the parish in which the slave did the trading.? In all the matters of law, civil and criminal, the slave had no rights. Under an act of 1705, Catholics, Indian and Negro slaves, were denied the right to appear as "witnesses in any cases whatsoever," "not being Christians;" 8 but this was modified somewhat in 1732, when Negroes, Indians, and Mulattoes were admitted as witnesses in the trial of slaves. 9 In criminal causes the slave could be arrested, cast into prison, tried, and con demned, with but one witness against him, and sentenced with out a jury. The solemnity and dignity of "trial by jury," of which Englishmen love to boast, was not allowed the criminal slave. 10 And, when a slave was executed, a value was fixed upon him ; and the General Assembly was required to make an appro priation covering the value of the slave to indemnify the master. 11 More than five slaves meeting together, " to rebel or make insur- 1 Hening., vol. vi. p. no. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 481. 3 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 270. 4 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 493. s Ibid., vol. iii. p. 451. 6 Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 459, 460. 7 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 360. 8 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 298. 9 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 327. 10 Ibid., vol. iii. p. 103. 1J Ibid., vol. iii. p. 270, and vol. iv. p. 128. 130 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. rection " was considered " felony ; " and they were liable to " suf fer death, and be utterly excluded the benefit of clergy ; " J but, where one slave was guilty of manslaughter in killing another slave, he was allowed the benefit of clergy. 2 In case of burglary by a slave, he was not allowed the benefit of the clergy, except " said breaking, in the case of a freeman, would be burglary." 3 And the only humane feature in the entire code of the colony was an act passed in 1772, providing that no slave should be con demned to suffer " unless four of the judges " before whom he is tried "concur." 4 The free Negroes of the colony of Virginia were but little removed by law from their unfortunate brothers in bondage. Their freedom was the act of individuals, with but one single exception. In 1710 a few recalcitrant slaves resolved to offer armed resistance to their masters, whose treatment had driven them to the verge of desperation. A slave of Robert Ruffin, of Surry County, entered into the plot, but afterwards revealed it to the masters of the rebellious slaves. As a reward for his services, the General Assembly, on the Qth of October, 1710, gave him his manumission papers, with the added privilege to remain in the colony.5 For the laws of the colony required "that no negro, mulatto, or indian slaves " should be set free " except for some meritorious services." The governor and council were to decide upon the merits of the services, and then grant a license to the master to set his slave at liberty. 6 If any master presumed to- emancipate a slave without a license granted according to the act of 1723, his slave thus emancipated could be taken up by the church-warden for the parish in which the master of the slave resided, and sold "by public outcry." The money accruing from such sale was to be used for the benefit of the parish. 7 But if a slave were emancipated according to law, the General Assembly paid the rnaster so much for him, as in the case of slaves executed by the authorities. But it was seldom that emancipated persons were permitted to remain in the colony. By the act of 1699 they were required to leave the colony within six months after they had secured their liberty, on pain of having to pay a fine of " ten pounds sterling to the church-wardens of the parish ; " which money was to be used in transporting the liberated slave out of 1 Hening, vol. iv. p. 126, and vol. vi. p. 104, sq. 2 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 139. 3 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 522. 4 Ibid., vol. viii. p. 523. 5 Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 536, 537* 6 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 132. 7 Ibid., vol. vi. p. 112. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 131 the country. 1 If slave women came in possession of their free dom, the law sought them out, and required of them to pay taxes ; 2 a burden from which their white sisters, and even Indian women, were exempt. If free Colored persons in the colony ever had the right of franchise, there is certainly no record of it. We infer, however, from the act of 1723, that previous to that time they had exercised the voting privilege. For that act declares " that no free negro shall hereafter have any vote at the election." 3 Perhaps they had had a vote previous to this time ; but it is mere conjecture, unsup ported by historical proof. Being denied the right of suffrage did not shield them from taxation. All free FJegroes, male and female, were compelled to pay taxes.4 They contributed to the support of the colonial government, and yet they had no voice in the government. They contributed to the building of schoolhouses, but were denied the blessings of education. Free Negroes were enlisted in the militia service, but were not permitted to bear arms. They had to attend the trainings, but were assigned the most servile duties. 5 They built fortifica tions, pitched and struck tents, cooked, drove teams, and in some instances were employed as musicians. Where free Negroes were acting as housekeepers, they were allowed to have fire arms in their possession ; 6 and if they lived on frontier planta tions, as we have made mention already, they were permitted to use arms under the direction of their employers. In a moral and religious sense, the slaves of the colony of Virginia received little or no attention from the Christian Church. All intercourse was cut off between the races. Intermarrying of whites and blacks was prohibited by severe laws. 7 And the most common civilities and amenities of life were frowned down when intended for a Negro. The plantation was as religious as the Church, and the Church was as secular as the plantation. The "white Christians" hated the Negro, and the Church bestowed upon him a most bountiful amount of neglect. 8 Instead of receiv ing religious instruction from the clergy, slaves were given to them in part pay for their ministrations to the whites, for their "use and encouragement." 9 It was as late as 1756 before any 1 Hening, vol. iii. pp. 87, 88. 2 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 267. 3 Ibid., vol. iv. pp. 133, 134.. 4 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 133. s Ibid., vol. vii. p. 95 ; and vol. vi. p. 533. 6 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 131. 7 ibid., vol. iii. p. 87. 8 Campbell, p. 529. 9 Burk, vol. ii. Appendix, p. xiii. 132 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. white minister had the piety and courage to demand instruction for the slaves. 1 The prohibition against instruction for these poor degraded vassals is not so much a marvel after all. For in 1670, when the white population was forty thousand, servants six thousand, and slaves two thousand, Sir William Berkeley, when inquired of by the home government as to the condition of educa tion in the colony, replied : "The same course that is taken in England out of towns, every man according to his ability instructing his children. We have forty-eight parishes, and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent should be better if they would pray oftener and preach less. But of all other commodities, so of this, the worst are sent us, and wehad few that we could boast of, since the persecu tion of Cromwell's tyranny drove divers worthy men hither. But I thank God, there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hun dred years : for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best govern ment. God keep us from both ! " 2 Thus was the entire colony in ignorance and superstition, and it was the policy of the home government to keep out the light. The sentiments of Berkeley were applauded in official circles in England, and most rigorously carried out by his suc cessor who, in 1682, with the concurrence of the council, put John Buckner under bonds for introducing the art of printing into the colony.3 This prohibition continued until 1733. If the whites of the colony were left in ignorance, what must have been the mental and moral condition of the slaves ? The ignorance of the whites made them the pliant tools of the London Company, and the Negroes in turn were compelled to submit to a condition " of rather rigorous servitude." 4 This treatment had its reflexive influence on the planters. Men fear most the ghosts of their sins, and for cruel deeds rather expect and dread " the reward in the life that now is." So no wonder Dinwiddie wrote the father of Charles James Fox in 1758 : "We dare not venture to part with any of our white men any distance, as we must have a watchful eye over our negro slaves." In 1648, as we mentioned some pages back, there were about three hundred slaves in the colony. Slow coming at first, but at length they began to increase rapidly, so that in fifty years they 1 Foot's Sketches, First Series, p. 291. 2 Hening, vol. ii. p. 517. 3 Hening, vol. ii. p. 518. * Campbell, p. 383. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 133 had increased one hundred per cent. In 1671 they were two thousand strong, and all, up to that date, direct from Africa. In 1715 there were twenty-three thousand slaves against seventy-two thousand whites. 1 By the year 1758 the slave population had increased to the alarming number of over one hundred thousand, which was a little less than the numerical strength of the whites. During this period of a century and a half, slavery took deep root in the colony of Virginia, and attained unwieldy and alarming proportions. It had sent its dark death-roots into the fibre and organism of the political, judicial, social, and religious life of the people. It was crystallized now into a domestic institution. It existed in contemplation of legislative enactment, and had high judicial recognition through the solemn forms of law. The Church had proclaimed it a " sacred institution," and the clergy had covered it with the sanction of their ecclesiastical office. There it stood, an organized system, the dark problem of the uncertain future : more terrible to the colonists in its awful, spec tral silence during the years of the Revolution than the victorious .guns of the French and Continental armies, which startled the English lion from his hurtful hold at the throat of white men's liberties black men had no country, no liberty in this new world in the West. But, like the dead body of the Roman mur derer's victim, slavery was a curse that pursued the colonists ever more. 1 Chalmers's American Colonies, vol. ii. p. 7. 134 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XIII. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 1628-17/5. SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK BY THE DUTCH IN 1609. NEGROES INTRODUCED INTO THE COLONY, 1628. THE TRADE IN NEGROES INCREASED. TOBACCO EXCHANGED FOR SLAVES AND MER CHANDISE. GOVERNMENT OF THE COLONY. NEW NETHERLAND FALLS INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENGLISH, AUG. 27, 1664. VARIOUS CHANGES. NEW LAWS ADOPTED. LEGISLATION. FIRST REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED IN 1683. IN 1702 QUEEN ANNE INSTRUCTS THE ROYAL GOV ERNOR IN REGARD TO THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. SLAVERY RESTRICTIONS. EXPEDITION TO EFFECT THE CONQUEST OF CANADA UNSUCCESSFUL. NEGRO RlOT. SUPPRESSED BY THE EFFI CIENT AID OF TROOPS. FEARS OF THE COLONISTS. NEGRO PLOT OF 1741. THE ROBBERY OF HOGG'S HOUSE. DISCOVERY OF A PORTION OF THE GOODS. THE ARREST OF HUGHSON, HIS WIFE, AND IRISH PEGGY. CRIMINATION AND RECRIMINATION. THE BREAKING-OUT OF NUMEROUS FIRES. THE ARREST OF SPANISH NEGROES. THE TRIAL OF HUGHSON. TESTI MONY OF MARY BURTON. HUGHSON HANGED. THE ARREST OF MANY OTHERS IMPLICATED IN THE PLOT. THE HANGING OF C^SAR AND PRINCE. QUACK AND CUFFEE BURNED AT THE STAKE. THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR'S PROCLAMATION. MANY WHITE PERSONS ACCUSED OF BEING CONSPIRATORS. DESCRIPTION OF HUGHSON'S MANNER OF SWEARING THOSE HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF THE PLOT. CONVICTION AND HANGING OF THE CATHOLIC PRIEST URY. THE SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED TERMINATION OF THE TRIAL. NEW LAWS MORE STRINGENT TOWARD SLAVES ADOPTED. FROM the settlement of New York by the Dutch in 1609, down to its conquest by the English in 1664, there is no reliable record of slavery in that colony. That the institu tion was coeval with the Holland government, there can be no historical doubt. During the half-century that the Holland flag waved over the New Netherlands, slavery grew to such proportions as to be regarded as a necessary evil. As early as 1628 the iras cible slaves from Angola, 1 Africa, were the fruitful source of wide spread public alarm. A newly settled country demanded a hardy and energetic laboring class. Money was scarce, the colonists poor, and servants few. The numerous physical obstructions across the path of material civilization suggested cheap but effi cient labor. White servants were few, and the cost of securing them from abroad was a great hinderance to their increase. The Dutch had possessions on the coast of Guinea and in Brazil, and 1 Brodhead's History of New York, vol. i. p. 184. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 135 hence they found it cheap and convenient to import slaves to perform the labor of the colony. 1 The early slaves went into the pastoral communities, worked on the public highways, and served as valets in private families. Their increase was stealthy, their conduct insubordinate, and their presence a distressing nightmare to the apprehensive and conscientious. The West India Company had offered many inducements to its patroons. 2 And its pledge to furnish the colonists with "as many blacks as they conveniently could," was scrupulously per- formed.3 In addition to the slaves furnished by the vessels plying between Brazil and the coast of Guinea, many Spanish and Portu guese prizes were brought into the Netherlands, where the slaves were made the chattel property of the company. An urgent and extraordinary demand for labor, rather than the cruel desire to traffic in human beings, led the Dutch to encourage the bringing of Negro slaves. Scattered widely among the whites, treated often with the humanity that characterized the treatment bestowed upon the white servants, there was little said about slaves in this period. The majority of them were employed upon the farms, and led quiet and sober lives. The largest farm owned by the company was " cultivated by the blacks ; " 4 and this fact was recorded as early as the igth of April, 1638, by " Sir William Kieft, Director- General of New Netherland." And, although the references to slaves and slavery in the records of Amsterdam are incidental, yet it is plainly to be seen that the institution was purely patri archal during nearly all the period the Hollanders held the Netherlands. Manumission of slaves was not an infrequent event. 5 Some times it was done as a reward for meritorious services, and some times it was prompted by the holy impulses of humanity and justice. The most cruel thing done, however, in this period, was to hold as slaves in the service of the company the children of Negroes who were lawfully manumitted. "All their children already born, or yet to be born, remained obligated to serve the company as slaves." In cases of emergency the liberated fathers of these bond children were required to serve "by water or by land" in the defence of the Holland government. 6 It is gratify- 1 O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands, pp. 384, 385. 2 Brodhead, vol. i. p. 194. 3 Ibid., vol. i. pp. 196, 197. 4 Dunlap's History of New York, vol. i. p. 58. 5 O'Callaghan, p. 385. 6 Van Tienhoven. 136 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. ing, however, to find the recorded indignation of some of the best citizens of the New Netherlands against the enslaving of the chil dren of free Negroes. It was severely denounced, as contrary to justice and in " violation of the law of nature." " How any oni born of a free Christian mother" could, notwithstanding, be a slave, and be obliged to remain such, passed their comprehension. 1 It was impossible for them to explain it." And, although " they were treated just like Christians," the moral sense of the people could not excuse such a flagrant crime against humanity. 2 Director-General Sir William Kieft's unnecessary war, " with out the knowledge, and much less the order, of the XIX., and against the will of the Commonality there," had thrown the Province into great confusion. Property was depreciating, and a feeling of insecurity seized upon the people. Instead of being a source of revenue, New Netherlands, as shown by the books of the Amsterdam Chamber, had cost the company, from 1626 to 1644, inclusive, " over five hundred and fifty thousand guilders, deducting the returns received from there." It was to be expected that the slaves would share the general feeling of uneasiness and expect ancy. Something had to be done to stay the panic so imminent among both classes of the colonists, bond and free. The Bureau of Accounts made certain propositions to the company calculated to act as a tonic upon the languishing hopes of the people. After reciting many methods by which the Province was to be rejuven ated, it was suggested " that it would be wise to permit the patroons, colonists, and other farmers to import as many Negroes from the Brazils as they could purchase for cash, to assist them on their farms ; as (it was maintained) these slaves could do more work for their masters, and were less expensive, than the hired laborers engaged in Holland, and conveyed to New Netherlands, "by means of much money and large promises" 3 Nor was the substitution of slave labor for white a temporary expedient. Again in 1661 a loud call for more slaves was heard. 4 In the October treaty of the same year, the Dutch yielded to the seductive offer of the English, " to deliver two or three thousand hogsheads of tobacco annually ... in return for negroes and merchandise." At the first the Negro slave was regarded as a cheap laborer, a blessing to the Province ; but after a while the 1 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 441 ; also Hoi. Doc., III. p. 351. 2 Annals of Albany, vol. ii. pp. 5S-6O.. 3 O'Callaghan, p. 353. N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. ii. pp. 368, 369. 4 Brodhead, vol. i. p. 697. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 137 cupidity of the English induced the Hollanders to regard the Negro as a coveted, marketable chattel. " In its scheme of political administration, the West-India Company ex hibited too often a mercantile and selfish spirit ; and in encouraging commerce in Negro slaves, it established an institution which subsisted many generations after its authority had ceased." * The Dutch colony was governed by the Dutch and Roman law. The government was tripartite, executive, legislative, and judicial, all vested in, and exercised by, the governor and coun cil. There seemed to be but little or no necessity for legislation on the slavery question. The Negro seemed to be a felt need in the Province, and was regarded with some consideration by the kind-hearted Hollanders. Benevolent and social, they desired to see all around them happy. The enfranchised African might and did obtain a freehold ; while the Negro who remained under an institution of patriarchal simplicity, scarcely knowing he was in bondage, danced merrily at the best, in "kermis," at Christmas and Pinckster. 2 There were, doubtless, a few cases where the slaves received harsh treatment from their masters ; but, as a rule, the jolly Dutch fed and clothed their slaves as well as their white servants. There were no severe rules to strip the Negroes of their personal rights, such as social amusements or public feasts when their labors had been completed. During this entire period,, they went and came among their class without let or hinderance. They were married, and given in marriage ; 3 they sowed, and, in many instances, gathered an equitable share of the fruits of their labors. If there were no schools for them, there were no laws against an honest attempt to acquire knowledge at seasonable times. The Hollanders built their government upon the hearth stone, believing it to be the earthly rock of ages to a nation that would build wisely for the future. And while it is true that they regarded commerce as the life-blood of the material existence of a people, they nevertheless found their inspiration for multifarious duties in the genial sunshine of the family circle. A nation thus constituted could not habilitate slavery with all the hideous features it wore in Virginia and Massachusetts. The slaves could not escape the good influences of the mild government of the New Netherlands, nor could the Hollanders withhold the bright ness and goodness of their hearts from their domestic slaves. 1 Brodhead, vol. i. p. 746. 2 Ibid., vol. 1. p. 748. 3 Valentine's Manual for 1861, pp. 640-664. 138 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. On the 2/th of August, 1664, New Netherlands fell into the hands of the English; and the city received a new name, New York, after the famous Duke of York. When the English colors were run up over Fort Amsterdam, it received a new name, " Fort James." In the twenty-four articles in which the Hollanders surrendered their Province, there is no direct mention of slaves or slavery. The only clause that might be construed into a reference to the slaves is as follows : " IV. If any inhabitant have a mind to remove himself, he shall have a year and six weeks from this day to remove himself, wife, children, servants, goods, and to dispose of his lands here." There was nothing in the articles of capitulation hostile to slavery in the colony. During the reign of Elizabeth, the English government gave its royal sanction to the slave-traffic. "In 1562 Sir John Hawk ins, Sir Lionel Duchet, Sir Thomas Lodge, and Sir William Winter" all "honorable men" became the authors of the greatest curse that ever afflicted the earth. Hawkins, assisted by the aforenamed gentlemen, secured a ship-load of Africans from Sierra Leone, and sold them at Hispaniola. Many were murdered on the voyage, and cast into the sea. The story of this atrocity coming to the ears of the queen, she was horrified. She sum moned Hawkins into her presence, in order to rebuke him for his crime against humanity. He defended his conduct with great skill and eloquence. He persuaded her Royal Highness that it was an act of humanity to remove the African from a bad to a better country, from the influences of idolatry to the influences of Christianity. Elizabeth afterwards encouraged the slave- trade. So when New Netherlands became an English colony, slavery received substantial official encouragement, and the slave became the subject of colonial legislation. The first laws under the English Government were issued under the patent to the Duke of York, on the 1st of March, 1665, and were known as "the Duke's Laws." It is rather remarkable that they were fashioned after the famous "Massa chusetts Fundamentals," adopted in 1641. These laws have the following caption : "Laws collected out of the several laws now in force in his majesty's American colonies and plantations." The first mention of slavery is contained in a section under the caption of "Bond Slavery." THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 139 " No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery, villenage, or Captivity, Except Such who shall be Judged thereunto by Authority, or such as willing have sold or shall sell themselves, In which Case a Record of Such servitude shall be entered in the Court of Sessions held for that Jurisdiction where Such Masters shall Inhabit, provided that nothing in the Law Contained shall be to the preju dice of Master or Dame who have or shall by any Indenture or Covenant take Apprentices for Terme of Years, or other Servants for Term of years or Life." l By turning to the first chapter on Massachusetts, the reader will observe that the above is the Massachusetts law of 1641 with but a very slight alteration. We find no reference to slavery directly, and the word slave does not occur in this code at all. Article 7, under the head of " Capital Laws," reads as fol lows : " If any person forcibly stealeth' or carrieth away any man kind he shall be put to death." On the 27th of January, 1683, Col. Thomas Dongan was sent to New York as its governor, and charged with carrying out a long list of instructions laid down by his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Gov. Dongan arrived in New York during the latter part of August ; and on the I3th of September, 1683, the council sitting at Fort James promulgated an order calling upon the people to elect representatives. On the I7th October, 1683, the General Assembly met for the first time at Fort James, in the city of New York. It is a great misfortune that the journals of both houses are lost. The titles of the Acts passed have been preserved, and so far we are enabled to fairly judge of the charac ter of the legislation of the new assembly. On the ist Novem ber, 1683, the Assembly passed "An Act for naturalizing all those of foreign nations at present inhabiting within this province and professing Christianity, and for encouragement for others to come and settle within the same." 2 This law was re-enacted in 1715, and provided, that " nothing contained in this Act is to be con strued to discharge or set at liberty any servant, bondman or slave, but only to have relation to such persons as are free at the making hereof." 3 So the mild system of domestic slavery introduced by the Dutch now received the sanction of positive British law. Most of the slaves in the Province of New York, from the time they were first introduced, down to 1664, had been the property of the West-India Company. As such they had small plots of land to 1 New York Hist. Coll., vol. i. pp. 322, 323. 2 Journals of Legislative Council, vol. i. p xii. 3 Bradford's Laws, p. 125. 140 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. work for their own benefit, and were not without hope of emanci pation some day. But under the English government the condi tion of the slave was clearly defined by law and one of great hardships. On the 24th of October, 1684, an Act was passed in which slavery was for the first time regarded as a legitimate institution in the Province of New York under the English government. 1 The slave-trade grew. New York began to feel the necessity of a larger number of slaves. In 1702 her "most gracious majesty," Queen Anne, among many instructions to the royal governor, directed that the people " take especial care, that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served," and that the " Royal African Company of England " " take especial care that the said Province may have a constant and sufficient supply of merchanta ble Negroes, at moderate rates." 2 It was a marvellous zeal that led the good queen to build up the Church of England alongside of the institution of human slavery. It was an impartial zeal that sought their mutual growth, the one intended by our divine Lord to give mankind absolute liberty, the other intended by man to rob mankind of the great boon of freedom ! But with the sanction of statutory legislation, and the silent acquiescence of the Church, the foundations of the institution of slaVery were firmly laid in the approving conscience of a selfish public. Dazzled by prospective riches, and unscrupulous in the methods of accumulations, the people of the Province of New York clam ored for more exacting laws by which to govern the slaves.3 Notwithstanding Lord Cornbury had received the following instructions from the crown, "you shall endeavor to get a law passed for the restraining of any inhuman severity ... to find out the best means to facilitate and encourage the conversion of Negroes and Indians to the Christian religion," the Colonial Assembly (the same year, 1702) passed severe laws against the slaves. It was "An Act for regulating slaves" but was quite lengthy and specific. It was deemed "not lawful to trade with negro slaves? and the violation of this law was followed by fine and imprisonment. "Not above three slaves may meet together:'" if they did they were liable to be whipped by justice of the peace, or sent to jail. "A common whipper to be appointed" 1 Journals, etc., N.Y., vol. i. p. xiii. 2 Dunlap's Hist, of N.Y., vol. i. p. 260. 3 Booth's Hist, of N.Y., vol. i. p. 270-272. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 141 showed that the justices had more physical exercise than they cared for. "A slave not to strike a freeman" indicated that the slaves in New York as in Virginia were accounted as heathen. " Penalty for concealing slaves" and the punishment of Negroes for stealing, etc., were rather severe, but only indicated the temper of the people at that time. 1 The recommendations to have Negro and Indian slaves bap tized gave rise to considerable discussion and no little alarm. As was shown in the chapter on Virginia, the proposition to bap tize slaves did not meet with a hearty indorsement from the master-class. The doctrine had obtained in most of the colonies, that a man was a freeman by virtue of his membership in a Christian church, and hence eligible to office. To escape the logic of this position, the dealer in human flesh sought to bar the door of the Church against the slave. But in 1706 "An Act to encourage the baptizing of Negro, Indian, and mulatto slaves" was passed in the hope of quieting the public mind on this question. " WHereas divers of her Majesty's good Subjects, Inhabitants of this Colony, now are, and have been willing that such Negroe, Indian, and Mulatto Slaves, who belong to them, and desire the same, should be baptized, but are deterred and hindered therefrom by reason of a groundless Opinion that hath spread itself in this Colony, that by the baptizing of such Negro, Indian, or Mulatto Slave, they would become Free, and ought to be set at liberty. In order therefore to put an end to all such Doubts and scruples as have, or hereafter at any time may arise about the same "JBe it enacted, &c., that the baptizing of a Negro, Indian, or Mulatto Slave shall not be any cause or reason for the setting them or any of them at liberty. "And be it, &C., that all and every Negro, Indian, Mulatto and Mestee bastard child and children, who is, are, and shall be born of any Negro, Indian, or Mestee, shall follow the state and condition of the mother and be esteemed, reputed, taken and adjudged a slave and slaves to all intents and purposes whatsoever. " Provided always, and be it, &c., That no slave whatsoever in this colony shall at any time be admitted as a witness for or against any freeman in any- case, matter or cause, civil or criminal, whatsoever." 2 1 On the 22d of March, 1680, the following proclamation was issued: "Whereas, several inhabitants within this city have and doe dayly harbour, entertain and countenance Indian and neger slaves in their houses, and to them sell and deliver wine, rum, and other strong liquors,. for which they receive money or goods which by the said Indian and negro slaves is pilfered, purloyned, and stolen from their several masters, by which the publick peace is broken, and the damage of the master is produced, etc., therefore they are prohibited, etc. ; and if neger or Indian slave make application for these forbidden articles, immediate information is to be given to his, master or to the mayor or oldest alderman." DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p. cxxviii. 2 Bradford Laws, p. 81. 142 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. So when the door of the Christian Church was opened to the Negro, he was to appear at the sacred altar with his chains on. Though emancipated from the bondage of Satan, he nevertheless remained the abject slave of the Christian colonists. Claiming spiritual kinship with Christ, the Negro could be sold at the pleasure of his master, and his family hearthstone trodden down by the slave-dealer. The humane feature of the system of slavery under the simple Dutch government, of allowing slaves to acquire an interest in the soil, was now at an end. The tendency to manu mit faithful slaves called forth no approbation. The colonists grew cold and hard-fisted. They saw not God's image in the slave, only so many dollars. There were no strong men in the pulpits of the colony who dared brave the avaricious spirit of the times. Not satisfied with colonial legislation, the municipal government of the city of New York passed, in i/io, 1 an ordinance forbidding Negroes, Indians, and Mulatto slaves from appearing "in the streets after nightfall without a lantern with a lighted candle in it." 2 The year before, a slave-market was erected at the foot of Wall Street, where slaves of every description were for sale. Negroes, Indians, and Mulattoes ; men, women, and children ; the old, the middle-aged, and the young, all, as sheep in shambles, were daily declared the property of the highest cash-bidder. And what of the few who secured their freedom ? Why, the law of 1712 declared that no Negro, Indian, or Mulatto that shall hereafter be set free " shall hold any land or real estate, but the same shall escheat." 3 There was, therefore, but little for the Negro in either state, bondage or freedom. There was little in this world to allure him, to encourage him, to help him. The institution under which he suffered was one huge sepulchre, and he was buried alive. The poor grovelling worm turns under the foot of the pedes trian. The Negro winched under his galling yoke of British colonial oppression. A misguided zeal and an inordinate desire of conquest had 1 The ordinance referred to was re-enacted on the 22d of April, 1731, and reads as follows: " No Negro, Mulatto, or Indian slave, above the age of fourteen, shall presume to appear in any of the streets, or in any other place of this city on the south side of Fresh \Vater, in the night time, above an hour after sunset, without a lanthorn and candle in it (unless in company with his owner or some white belonging to the family). Penalty, the watch-house that night ; next day, prison, until the owner pays 4^., and before discharge, the slave to be whipped not exceeding forty lashes." DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p. clxiii. 2 Booth, vol. i. p. 271. 3 Kurd's Bondage and Freedom, vol. i. p. 281. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 143 led the Legislature to appropriate ten thousand pounds sterling toward an expedition to effect the conquest of Canada. Acadia had just fallen into the hands of Gov. Francis Nicholson without firing a gun, and the news had carried the New Yorkers off their feet. " On to Canada ! " was the shibboleth of the adventurous colonists ; and the expedition started. Eight transports, with eight hundred and sixty men, perished amid the treacherous rocks and angry waters of the St. Lawrence. The troops that had gone overland returned in chagrin. The city was wrapped in gloom : the Legislature refused to do any thing further ; and here the dreams of conquest vanished. The city of New York was thrown on the defensive. The forts were repaired, and every thing put in readiness for an emergency. Like a sick man the colonists started at every rumor. On account of bad faith the Iroquois were disposed to mischief. In the feeble condition of the colonial government, the Negro grew restless. At the first, as previously shown, the slaves were very few, but now, in 1712, were quite numerous. The Negro, the Quaker, and the Papist were a trinity of evils that the colo nists most dreaded. The Negro had been badly treated ; and an attempt on his part to cast off the yoke was not improbable, in the mind of the master-class. The fears of the "colonists were at length realized. A Negro riot broke out. A house was burned, and a number of white persons killed ; and, had it not been for the prompt and efficient aid of the troops, the city of New York would have been reduced to ashes. Now, what was the condition of the slaves in the Christian colony of New York ? They had no family relations : for a long time they lived together by common consent. They had no prop erty, no schools, and, neglected in life, were abandoned to burial in a common ditch after death. They dared not lift their hand to strike a Christian or a Jew. Their testimony was excluded by the courts, and the power of their masters over their bodies extended sometimes to life and limb. This condition of affairs yielded its bitter fruit at length. " Here we see the effects of that blind and wicked policy which induced England to pamper her merchants and increase her revenues, by positive instructions to the governours of her colonies, strictly enjoining them (for the good of the African company, and for the emoluments expected from the assiento contract), to fix upon America a vast negro population, torn from their homes and brought hither by force. New York was at this time filled with 144 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. negroes ; every householder who could afford to keep servants, was surrounded by blacks, some pampered in indolence, all carefully kept in ignorance, and considered, erroneously, as creatures whom the white could not do without, yet lived in dread of. They were feared, from their numbers, and from a con sciousness, however stifled, that they were injured and might seek revenge or a better condition." x The Negro plot of 1741 furnishes the most interesting and thrilling chapter in the history of the colony of New York. Un fortunately for the truth of history, there was but one historian 2 of the affair, and he an interested judge ; and what he has written should be taken cum grano salts. His book was intended to defend the action of the court that destroyed so many innocent lives, but no man can read it without being thoroughly convinced that the decision of the court was both illogical and cruel. There is nothing in this country to equal it, except it be the burning of the witches at Salem. But in stalwart old England the Popish Plot in 1679, started by Titus Gates, is the only occurrence in human history that is so faithfully reproduced by the Negro plot. Certainly history repeats itself. Sixty-two years of history stretch between the events. One tragedy is enacted in the metropolis of the Old World, the other in the metropolis of the New World. One was instigated by a perjurer and a heretic, the other by an indentured servant, in all probability from a convict ship. The one was suggested by the hatred of the Catholics, and the other by hatred of the Negro. And in both cases the evidence that con victed and condemned innocent men and women was wrung from the lyingjips of doubtful characters by an overwrought zeal on the part of the legal authorities. Titus Oates, who claimed to have discovered the "Popish Plot" was a man of the most execrable character. He was the son of an Anabaptist, took orders in the Church, and had been settled in a small living by the Duke of Norfolk. Indicted for perjury, he effected an escape in a marvellous manner. While a chaplain in the English navy he was convicted of practices not fit to be mentioned, and was dismissed from the service. He next sought communion with the Church of Rome, and made his way into the Jesuit College of St. Omers. After a brief residence among the students, he was deputed to perform a confidential mission to Spain, and, upon his return to St. Omers, was dis missed to the world on account of his habits, which were very 1 Dunlap, vol. i. p. 323. 2 Judge Daniel Horsemanden. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 145 distasteful to Catholics. He boasted that he had only joined them to get their secrets. Such a man as this started the cry of the Popish Plot, and threw all England into a state of consterna tion. A chemist by the name of Tongue, on the I2th of August, 1678, had warned the king against a plot that was directed at his life, etc. But the king did not attach any importance to the state ment until Tongue referred to Titus Gates as his authority. The latter proved himself a most arrant liar while on the stand : but the people were in a credulous state of mind, and Gates became the hero of the hour ; l and under his wicked influence many souls were hurried into eternity. Read Hume's account of the Popish Plot, and then follow the bloody narrative of the Negro plot of New York, and see how the one resembles the other. " Some mysterious design was still suspected in every enterprise and pro fession : arbitrary power and Popery were apprehended as the scope of all projects : each breath or rumor made the people start with anxiety : their ene mies, they thought, were in their very bosom, and had gotten possession of their sovereign's confidence. While in this timorous, jealous disposition, the cry of a//0/all on a sudden struck their ears: they were wakened from their slumber, and like men affrightened and in the dark, took every figure for a spectre. The terror of each man became the source of terror to another. And a universal panic being diffused, reason and argument, and common-sense .and common humanity, lost all influence over them. From this disposition of men's minds we are to account for the progress of the Popish Plot, and the credit given to it; an event which would otherwise appear prodigious and altogether inexplicable." 2 On the 28th of February, 1741, the house of one Robert Hogg, Esq., of New-York City, a merchant, was robbed of some fine linen, medals, silver coin, etc. Mr. Hogg's house was situ ated on the corner of Broad and Mill Streets, the latter some times being called Jew's Alley. The case was given to the officers of the law to look up. The population of New-York City was about ten thousand, about two thousand of whom were slaves. On the i8th of March the chapel in the fort took fire from some coals carelessly left by an artificer in a gutter he had been soldering. The roof was of shingles ; and a brisk wind from the south-east started a fire, that was not observed until it had made great headway. In those times the entire populace usually turned out to assist in extin guishing fires ; but this fire being in the fort, the fear of an 1 Hume, vol. vi. pp. 171-212. 2 Ibid., vol. vi. p. 171. 146 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. explosion of the magazine somewhat checked their usual celerity on such occasions. The result was, that all the government build ings in the fort were destroyed. A militia officer by the name of Van Home, carried away by the belief that the fire was purposely set by the Negroes, caused the beating of the drums and the post ing of the " night watch." And for his vigilance he was nick named "Major Drum." The "Major's"' apprehensions, however, were contagious. The fact that the governor reported the true cause of the fire to the Legislature had but little influence in dis possessing the people of their fears of a Negro plot. The next week the chimney of Capt. Warren's house near the fort took fire, but was saved with but slight damage. A few days after this the storehouse of a Mr. Van Zandt was found to be on fire, and it was said at the time to have been occasioned by the care lessness of a smoker. In about three days after, two fire-alarms were sounded. One was found to be a fire in some hay in a cow- stable near a Mr. Quick's house. It was soon extinguished. The other alarm was on account of a fire in the kitchen loft of the dwelling of a Mr. Thompson. On the next day coals were dis covered under the stables of a Mr. John Murray on Broadway. On the next morning an alarm called the people to the residence of Sergeant Burns, near the fort ; and in a few hours the dwelling of a Mr. Hilton, near Fly Market, was found to be on fire. But the flames in both places were readily extinguished. It was thought that the fire was purposely set at Mr. Hilton's,, as a bundle of tow was found near the premises. A short time before these strange fires broke out, a Spanish vessel, partly manned by Spanish Catholic Negroes, had been brought into the port of New York as a prize. All the crew that were Negroes were hurried into the Admiralty Court ; where they were promptly condemned to slavery, and an order issued for their sale. The Negroes pleaded their freedom in another country, but had no counsel to defend them. A Capt. Sarly purchased one of these Negroes. Now, Capt. Sarly's house adjoined that of Mr. Hilton's; and so, when the latter's house was discovered to be on fire, a cry was raised, " The Spanish Negroes ! The Spanish ! Take up the Span ish Negroes ! " Some persons took it upon themselves to ques tion Capt. Sarly's Negro about the fires, and it is said that he behaved in an insolent manner ; whereupon he was sent to jail. A magistrate gave orders to the constables to arrest and incar cerate the rest of the Spanish Negroes. The magistrates held a THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 147 meeting the same day, in the afternoon ; and, while they were deliberating about the matter, another fire broke out in Col. Phillipes's storehouse. Some of the white people cried " Negro ! Negro ! " and " Cuff Phillipes ! " Poor Cuff, startled at the cry, ran to his master's house, from whence he was dragged to jail by an excited mob. Judge Horsemanden says, " Many people had such terrible apprehensions on this occasion that several Negroes (many of whom had assisted to put out the fire) who were met in the streets, were hurried away to jail ; and when they were there they were contin ued some time in confinement before the magistrates could spare time to examine into their several cases." I Let the reader return now to the robbery committed in Mr. Hogg's house on the 28th of February. The officers thought they had traced the stolen goods to a public house on the North River, kept by a person named John Hughson. This house had been a place of resort for Negroes ; and it was searched for the articles, but nothing was found. Hughson had in his service an indentured servant, a girl of sixteen years, named Mary Burton. She intimated to a neighbor that the goods were concealed in Hugh- son's house, but that it would be at the expense of her life to make this fact known. This information was made known to the sheriff, and he at once apprehended the girl and produced her before Alderman Banker. This benevolent officer promised the girl her freedom on the ground that she should tell all she knew about the missing property. For prudential reasons the Alder man ordered Mary Burton to be taken to the City Hall, corner Wall and Nassua Streets. On the 4th of March the fe justices met at the City Hall. In the mean while John Hughson and his. wife had been arrested for receiving stolen goods. They were now examined in the presence of Mary Burton. Hughson ad mitted that some goods had been brought to his house, produced them, and turned them over to the court. It appears from the testimony of the Burton girl that another party, dwelling in the house of the Hughson's, had taken part in receiving the stolen articles. She was a girl of bad character, called Margaret Soru- biero, alias Solinburgh, alias Kerry, but commonly called Peggy Carey. This woman had lived in the home of the Hughsons for about ten months, but at one time during this period had remained a short while at the house of John Rommes, near the new Bat- 1 Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 29. 148 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tery, but had returned to Hughson's again. The testimony of Mary Burton went to show that a Negro by the name of Caesar Varick, but called Quin, on the night in which the burglary was committed, entered Peggy's room through the window. The next morning Mary Burton saw " speckled linen" in Peggy's room, and that the man Varick gave the deponent two pieces of silver. She further testified that Varick drank two mugs of punch, and bought of Hughson a pair of stockings, giving him a lump of silver; and that Hughson and his wife received and hid away the linen. 1 Mr. John Varick (it was spelled Vaarck then), a baker, the owner of Caesar, occupied a house near the new Battery, the kitchen of which adjoined the yard of John Romme's house. He found some of Robert Hogg's property under his kitchen floor, -and delivered it to the mayor. Upon this revelation Romme fled to New Jersey, but was subsequently captured at Brunswick. He had followed shoemaking and tavern-keeping, and was, withal, a very suspicious character. Up to this time nothing had been said about a Negro plot. It was simply a case of burglary. Hughson had admitted receiving certain articles, and restored them ; Mr. Varick had found others, and delivered them to the mayor. The reader will remember that the burglary took place on the .28th of February ; that the justices arraigned the Hughsons, Mary Burton, and Peggy Carey on the 4th of March ; that the first fire broke out on the i8th, the second on the 25th, of March, the third on the 1st of April, and the fourth and fifth on the 4th of April ; that on the 5th of April coals were found disposed so as to burn a haystack, and that the day following two houses were discovered to be on fire. On the nth of April the Common Council met. The follow ing gentlemen were present : John Cruger, Esq., mayor ; the recorder, Daniel Horsemanden ; aldermen, Gerardus Stuyvesant, 'William Romaine, Simon Johnson, John 4 Moore, Christopher Banker, John Pintard, John Marshall ; assistants, Henry Bogert, Isaac Stoutenburgh, Philip Minthorne, George Brinckerhoff, Robert Benson, and Samuel Lawrence. Recorder Horsemanden sug- 1 As far back as 1684 the following was passed against the entertainment of slaves: "No person to countenance or entertain any negro or Indian slave, or sell or deliver to them any strong liquor, without liberty from his master, or receive from them any money or goods ; but, upon any offer made by a slave, to reveal the same to the owner, or to the mayor, under penalty of .5." DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p. cxxxiii. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 149 gested to the council that the governor be requested to offer rewards for the apprehension of the incendiaries and all persons implicated, and that the city pay the cost, etc. It was accordingly resolved that the lieutenant-governor be requested to offer a reward of one hundred pounds current money of the Province to any white person, and pardon, if concerned ; and twenty pounds, freedom, and, if concerned, pardon to any slave (the master to be paid twenty-five pounds) ; and to any free Negro, Mulatto, or Indian, forty-five pounds and pardon, if concerned. The mayor and the recorder (Horsemanden), called upon Lieut.-Gov. Clark, and laid the above resolve before him. The city was now in a state of great excitement. The air was peopled with the wildest rumors. On Monday the I3th of April each alderman, assistant, and constable searched his ward. The militia was called out, and sentries posted at the cross-streets. While the troops were patrolling the streets, the aldermen were examining Negroes in reference to the origin of the fires. Nothing was found. The Negroes denied all knowledge of the fires or a plot. On the 2 ist of April, 1741, the Supreme Court convened. 1 Judges Frederick Phillipse and Daniel Horsemanden called the grand jury. The members were as follows : Robert Watts, mer chant, foreman ; Jeremiah Latouche, Joseph Read, Anthony Rut gers, John M'Evers, John Cruger, jun., John Merrit, Adoniah Schuyler, Isaac DePeyster, Abraham Ketteltas, David Provoost, Rene Hett, Henry Beeckman, jun., David van Home, George Spencer, Thomas Duncan, and Winant Van Zandt, all set down as merchants, a respectable, intelligent, and influential grand jury ! Judge Phillipse informed the jury that the people "have been put into many frights and terrors," in regard to the fires ; that it was their duty to use "all lawful means " to discover the guilty parties, for there was "much room to suspect" that the fires were not accidental. He told them that there were many persons in jail upon whom suspicion rested ; that arson was felony at common law, even though the fire is extinguished, or goes out itself ; that arson was a deep crime, and, if the perpetrators were not appre hended and punished, "who can say he is safe, or where will it end ? " The learned judge then went on to deliver a moral lecture against the wickedness of selling "penny drams" to Negroes, 1 Horsemanden 's Negro Plot, p. 33. 150 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. without the consent of their masters. In conclusion, he charged the grand jury to present "all conspiracies, combinations and other offences." It should be kept in mind that Mary Burton was only a witness in the burglary case already mentioned. Up to that time there had been no fires. The fires, and wholesale arrests of innocent Negroes, followed the robbery. But the grand jury called Mary Burton to testify in reference to the fires. She refused to be sworn. She was questioned concerning the fires, but gave no answer. Then the proclamation of the mayor, offering protec tion, pardon, freedom, and one hundred pounds, was read. It had the desired effect. The girl opened her mouth, and spake all the words that the jury desired. At first she agreed to tell all she knew about the stolen goods, but would say nothing about the fires. This declaration led the jury to infer that she could, but would not say any thing about the fires. After a moral lecture upon her duty in the matter in the light of eternal reward, and a reiteration of the proffered reward that then awaited her wise decision, her memory brightened, and she immediately began to tell all she knew. She said that a Negro named Prince, belong ing to a Mr. Auboyman, and Prince (Varick) brought the goods, stolen from Mr. Hogg's house, to the house of her master, and that Hughson, his wife, and Peggy (Carey) received them ; further, that Caesar, Prince, and Cuffee (Phillipse) had frequently met at Hughson's tavern, and discoursed about burning the fort; that they had said they would go down to the Fly (the east end of the city), and burn the entire place ; and that Hughson and his wife had assented to these insurrectionary remarks, and promised to assist them. She added, by w/ay of fulness and emphasis, that when a handful of wretched slaves, seconded by a miserable and ignorant white tavern-keeper, should have lain the city in ashes, and murdered eight or nine thousand persons, then Caesar should be governor, Hughson king, and Cuffee supplied with abundant riches ! The loquacious Mary remembered that this intrepid trio had said, that when they burned the city it would be in the night, so they could murder the people as they came out of their homes. It should not be forgotten that all the fires broke out in the daytime ! It is rather remarkable and should be observed, that this won derful witness stated that her master, John Hughson, had threat ened to poison her if she told anybody that the stolen goods were THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 151 in his house ; that all the Negroes swore they would burn her if she told ; and that, when they talked of burning the town during their meetings, there were no white persons present save her master, mistress, and Peggy Carey. The credulous Horsemanden tells us that "the evidence of a conspiracy," not only to burn the city, but also "to destroy and murder the people," was most "astonishing to the grand jury !" But that any white person should confederate with slaves in such a wicked and cruel purpose was astounding beyond measure ! And the grand jury was possessed of the same childlike faith in the ingenious narrative of the wily Mary. In their report to the judges, they set forth in strong terms their faith in the statements of the deponent, and required the presence of Peggy Carey. The extent of the delusion of the judges, jury, and people may be seen in the fact, that, immediately upon the report of the jury, the judges summoned the entire bar of the city of New York to meet them. The following gentlemen responded to the call : Messrs. Murray, Alexander, Smith, Chambers, Nichols, Lodge, and Jameson. All the lawyers were present except the attorney- general. By the act of 1712, "for preventing, suppressing and punishing the conspiracy and insurrection of negroes and other slaves," l a justice of the peace could try the refractory slaves at once. But here was a deep, dark, and , bloody plot to burn the city and murder its inhabitants, in which white persons were implicated. This fact led the learned judges to conclude it wise and prudent to refer this whole matter to the Supreme Court. And the generous offer of the entire bar of New-York City to assist, in turns, in every trial, should remain evermore an inde structible monument to their unselfish devotion to their city, the existence of which was threatened by less than a score of igno rant, penniless Negro slaves ! By the testimony of Mary Burton, Peggy Carey stood con victed as one of the conspirators. She had already languished in jail for more than a month. The judges thought it advisable to examine her in her cell. They tried to cajole her into criminating others ; but she stoutly denied all knowledge of the fires, and said " that if she should accuse anybody of any such thing, she must accuse innocent persons, and wrong her own soul." On the 24th of April, Caesar Varick, Prince Auboyman, John 1 Bradford's Laws, pp. 141-144. 152 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey were arraigned for felony,, and pleaded not guilty. Caesar and Prince were first put on triaL As they did not challenge the jury, the following gentlemen were sworn : Messrs. Roger French, John Groesbeck, John Richard, Abraham Kipp, George Witts, John Thurman, Patrick Jackson, Benjamin Moore, William Hammersley, John Lashiere, Joshua Sleydall, and John Shurmer. " Guilty ! " as charged in the indict ment. They had committed the robbery, so said the jury. On the 3d of May one Arthur Price, a common thief, was committed to jail for theft. He occupied a cell next to the noto rious Peggy Carey. In order to bring himself into favor with the judges, he claimed to have had a conversation with Peggy through the hole in the door. Price says she told him that "she was afraid of those fellows " (the Negroes) ; that if they said any thing in any way involving her she would hang every one of them ; that she did not care to go on the stand again unless she was called ; that when asked if she intended to set the town on fire she said no ; but she knew about the plot ; that Hughson and his wife " were sworn with the rest ; " that she was not afraid of "Prince, Cuff, Caesar, and Fork's Negro not Caesar, but another," because they " were all true-hearted fellows." This remarkable conversation was flavored throughout with the vilest species of profanity. Notwithstanding this interview was between a common Irish prostitute and a wretched sneak-thief, it had great weight with the solemn and upright judges. In the midst of this trial, seven barns were burnt in the town of Hackinsack. Two Negroes were suspected of the crime, but there was not the slightest evidence that they were guilty. But one of them said that he had discharged a gun at the party wha set his master's barn on fire, but did not kill any one. The other one was found loading a gun with two bullets. This vps enough to convict. They were burnt alive at a stake. This only added fuel to the flame of public excitement in New York. On the 6th of May (Wednesday) two more arrests were made, Hughson's daughter Sarah, suspected of being a confederate, and Mr. Sleydall's Negro Jack, on suspicion of having put fire to Mr. Murray's haystack. On the same day the judges arraigned the white persons implicated in the case, John Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey. The jury promptly found them guilty of "receiving stolen goods." "Peggy Carey," says Recorder Horsemanden, " seeming to think it high time to do something THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 153, to recommend herself to mercy, made a voluntary confession."' This vile, foul-mouthed prostitute takes the stand, and gives a new turn to the entire affair. She removes the scene of the conspiracy to another tavern near the new Battery, where John Romme had made a habit of entertaining, contrary to law, Negro slaves. Peggy had seen many meetings at this place, particularly in December, 1740. At that time she mentioned the following Negroes as being present : Cuff, Brash, Curacoa, Caesar, Patrick, Jack, Cato ; but her especial Caesar Varick was not implicated !. Romme administered an oath to all these Negroes, and then made a proposition to them ; viz., that they should destroy the fort, burn the town, and bring the spoils to him. He engaged to divide with them, and take them to a new country, where he would give them their freedom. Mrs. Romme was present during this conversa tion ; and, after the Negroes had departed, she and the deponent (Peggy) were sworn by Romme to eternal secrecy. Mrs. Romme denied swearing to the conspiracy, but acknowledged that her husband had received stolen goods, that he sold drams to Negroes who kept game-fowls there ; but that never more than three Negroes came at a time. She absconded in great fright. It has been mentioned that Peggy Carey had lived at the tavern of John Romme for a short time, and that articles belonging to Mr. Hogg had been found under the kitchen floor of the house next to Romme's. The judges evidently reasoned that all Negroes would steal, or that stealing was incident upon or implied by the condition of the slave. Then Romme kept a "tippling-house," and defied the law by selling "drams" to Negroes. Now, a man who keeps a. " tippling-house " was liable to encourage a conspiracy. A full list of the names of the persons implicated by Peggy was handed to the proper officers, and those wicked persons ap prehended. They were brought before the redoubtable Peggy for identification. She accused them of being sworn conspirators. They all denied the charge. Then they were turned over to Mary Burton ; and she, evidently displeased at Peggy's attempt to rival, her in the favor of the powerful judges, testified that she knew them not. But it was vain. Peggy had the ear of the court, and the terror-stricken company was locked up in the jail. Alarmed at their helpless situation, the ignorant Negroes began "to accuse one another, as it would seem, by way of injuring an enemy and guarding "themselves." 154 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Caesar and Prince, having been tried and convicted of felony, were sentenced to be hanged. The record says, "Monday, nth of May. Caesar and Prince were executed this day at the gallows, according to sentence : they died very stubbornly, without confessing any thing about the conspiracy : and denied that they knew any thing about it to the last. The body of Caesar was accordingly hung in chains." r On the I3th of May, 1741, a solemn fast was observed; "be cause many houses and dwellings had been fired about our ears, without any discovery of the cause or occasion of them, which had put us into the utmost consternation." Excitement ran high. Instead of getting any light on the affair, the plot thickened. On the 6th of May, Hughson, his wife, and Peggy Carey had been tried and found guilty, as has already been stated. Sarah Hughson, daughter of the Hughsons, was in jail. Mary Burton was the heroine of the hour. Her word was law. Whoever she named was produced in court. The sneak-thief, Arthur Price, was employed by the judges to perform a mission that was at once congenial to his tastes and in harmony with his criminal education. He was sent among the incarcerated Negroes to administer punch, in the desperate hope of getting more " confes sions ! " Next, he was sent to Sarah Hughson to persuade her to accuse her father and mother of complicity in the conspiracy. He related a conversation he had with Sarah, but she denied it to his teeth with great indignation. This vile and criminal method of securing testimony of a conspiracy never brought the blush to the cheek of a single officer of the law. " None of these things moved "them. They were themselves so completely lost in the general din and excitement, were so thoroughly convinced that ,a plot existed, and that it was their duty to prove it in some man ner or other, that they believed every thing that went to estab lish the guilt of any one. Even a feeble-minded boy was arrested, and taken before the grand jury. He swore that he knew nothing of the plot to burn the town, but the kind magistrates told him that if he would tell the truth he should not be hanged. Ignorant as these helpless .slaves were, they now understood "telling the truth" to mean to criminate some one in the plot, and thus gratify the inor- idinate hunger of the judges and jury for testimony relating to a 1 Horsemanden's Negro Plot, p. 60. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 155 "conspiracy." This Negro imbecile began his task of telling "what he knew," which was to be rewarded by allowing him to leave without being hung ! He deposed that Quack desired him to burn the fort ; that Cuffee said he would fire one house, Cura- coa Dick another, and so on ad infinitum. He was asked by one of the learned gentlemen, "what the Negroes intended by all this mischief ? " He answered, " To kill all the gentlemen and take their wives ; that one of the fellows already hanged, was to be an officer in the Long Bridge Company, and the other, in the Fly Company." I On the 25th of May a large number of Negroes were arrested. The boy referred to above (whose name was Sawney, or Sandy) was called to the stand again on the 26th, when he grew very talkative. He said that "at a meeting of Negroes he was called in and frightened into undertaking to burn the slip Market ; " that he witnessed some of the Negroes in their attempts to burn certain houses ; that at the house of one Comfort, he, with others, was sworn to secrecy and fidelity to each other ; said he was never at either tavern, Hughson's nor Romme's ; and ended his revela tions by accusing a woman of setting fire to a house, and of mur dering her child. As usual, after such confessions, more arrests followed. Quack and Cuffee were tried and convicted of felony, " for wickedly and maliciously conspiring with others to burn the town and murder the inhabitants." This was an occasion to draw forth the eloquence of the attorney-general ; and in fervid utter ance he pictured the Negroes as "monsters, devils, etc." A Mr. Rosevelt, the master of Quack, swore that his slave was home when the fire took place in the fort ; and Mr. Phillipse, Cuffee's master, testified as much for his servant. But this testimony was not what the magistrates wanted : so they put a soldier on the stand who swore that Quack did come to the fort the day of the fire ; that his wife lived there, and when he insisted on going in he (the sentry) knocked him down, but the officer of the guard passed him in. Lawyer Smith, " whose eloquence had disfran chised the Jews," was called upon to sum up. He thought too much favor had been shown the Negroes, in that they had been accorded a trial as if they were freemen ; that the wicked Negroes might have been proceeded against in a most summary manner ; that the Negro witnesses had been treated with too much consid- 1 The city of New York was divided into parts at that time, and comprised two militia districts. 156 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. eration ; that "the law requires no oath to be administered to them ; and, indeed, it would be a profanation of it to administer it to a heathen in a legal form ; " that " the monstrous ingratitude of this black tribe is what exceedingly aggravates their guilt ; '" that their condition as slaves was one of happiness and peace ; that " they live without care ; are commonly better fed and clothed than the poor of most Christian countries ; they are indeed slaves," continued the eloquent and logical attorney, "but under the protection of the law : none can hurt them with impu nity ; but notwithstanding all the kindness and tenderness with which they have been treated among us, yet this is the second attempt of this same kind that this brutish and bloody species of mankind have made within one age ! " Of course the jury knew their duty, and merely went through the form of going out and coming in immediately with a verdict of "guilty." The judge sentenced them to be chained to a stake and burnt to death, - " and the Lord have mercy upon your poor wretched souls." His Honor told them that " they should be thankful that their feet were caught in the net ; that the mischief had fallen upon their own pates." He advised them to consider the tenderness and humanity with which they had been treated ; that they were the most abject wretches, the very outcasts of the nations of the earth ; and, therefore, they should look to their souls, for as to their bodies, they would be burnt. These poor fellows were accordingly chained to the stake the next Sunday; but, before the fuel was lighted, Deputy Sheriff More and Mr. Rosevelt again questioned Quack and Cuffee, and reduced their confessions to paper, for they had stoutly protested their innocence while in court. In hope of being saved they confessed, in substance, that Hughson contrived to burn the town,, and kill the people; that a company of Negroes voted Quack the- proper person to burn the fort, because his wife lived there ; that he did set the chapel on fire with a lighted stick; that Mary Burton had told the truth, and that she could implicate many more if she would, etc. All this general lying was done with the understanding that the confessors were to be reprieved until the governor could be heard from. But a large crowd had gathered to witness the burning of these poor Negroes, and they compelled the sheriff to proceed with the ceremonies. The convicted slaves were burned. On the ist of June the boy Sawney was again put upon the THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 157 witness-stand. His testimony led to the arrest of more Negroes. He charged them with having been sworn to the plot, and with having sharp penknives with which to kill white men. One Fortune testified that he never knew of houses where conspirators met, nor did he know Hughson, but accuses Sawney, and Quack who had been burnt. The next witness was a Negro girl named Sarah. She was frightened out of her senses. She foamed at the mouth, uttered the bitterest imprecations, and denied all knowledge of a conspiracy. But the benevolent gen tlemen who conducted the trial told her that others had said certain things in proof of the existence of a conspiracy, that the only way to save her life was to acknowledge that there had been a conspiracy to burn the town and kill the inhabitants. She then assented to all that was told her, and thereby implicated quite a number of Negroes ; but, when her testimony was read to her, she again denied all. She was without doubt a fit subject for an insane-asylum rather than for the witness-stand, in a cause that involved so many human lives. It will be remembered that John Hughson, his wife, and daughter had been in the jail for a long time. He now desired to be called to the witness-stand. He begged to be sworn, that in the most solemn manner he might deny all knowledge of the conspiracy, and exculpate his wife and child. But the modest recorder reminded him of the fact that he stood convicted as a felon already, that he and his family were doomed to be hanged, and that, therefore, it would be well for him to "confess all." He was sent back to jail unheard. Already condemned to be hung, the upright magistrates had Hughson tried again for " conspir acy " on the 4th of June ! The indictments were three in number: First, that Hughson, his wife, his daughter, and Peggy Carey, with three Negroes, Caesar, Prince, and Cuffee, conspired in March last to set fire to the house in the fort. Second, That. Quack (already burnt) did set fire to and burn the house, and that the prisoners, Hughson, his wife, daughter Sarah, and Peggy,, encouraged him so to do. Third, That Cuffee (already burnt)- did set fire to Phillipse's house, and burnt it; and they, the prisoners, procured and encouraged him so to do. Hughson, his family, and Peggy pleaded not guilty to all the above indictments. The attorney-general delivered a spirited address to the jury, which was more forcible than elegant. He denounced the unlucky Hughson as "infamous, inhuman, an arch-rebel against God, his 158 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. king, and his country, a devil incarnate," etc. He was ably assisted by eminent counsel for the king, Joseph Murray, James Alexander, William Smith, and John Chambers. Mary Burton was called again. She swore that Negroes used to go to Hughson's at night, eat and drink, and sometimes buy provisions ; that Hughson did swear the Negroes to secrecy in the plot ; that she herself had seen seven or eight guns and swords, a bag of shot, and a barrel of gunpowder at Hughson's house ; that the prisoner told her he would kill her if she ever revealed any thing she knew or saw ; wanted her to swear like the rest, offered her silk gowns, and gold rings, but none of those tempting things moved the virtuous Mary. Five other witnesses testified that they heard Quack and Cuffee say to Hughson while in jail, "This is what you have brought us to." The Hughsons had no counsel, and but three witnesses. One of them testified that he had lived in Hughson's tavern about three months during the past winter, and had never seen Negroes furnished entertainment there. The two others said that they had never seen any evil in the man nor in his house, etc. "William Smith, Esq." now took the floor to sum up. He told the jury that it was "black and hellish" to burn the town, and then kill them all ; that John Hughson, by his complicity in this crime, had made himself blacker than the Negroes ; that the credit of the witnesses was good, and that there was nothing left for them to do but to find the prisoners guilty, as charged in the indictment. The judge charged the jury, that the evidence against the prisoners "is ample, full, clear, and satisfactory. They were found guilty in twenty minutes, and on the 8th of June were brought into court to receive sentence. The judge told them that they were guilty of a terrible crime ; that they had not only made Negroes their equals, but superiors, by waiting upon, keeping company with, entertaining them with meat, drink, and lodging ; that the most amazing part of their conduct was their part in a plot to burn the town, and murder the inhabitants, to have consulted with, aided, and abetted the " black seed of Cain," was an unheard of crime, that although "with uncommon assurance they deny the fact, and call on God, as a witness of their innocence, He, out of his goodness and mercy, has con founded them, and proved their guilt, to the satisfaction of the court and jury." After a further display of forensic eloquence, the judge sentenced them "to be hanged by the neck 'till dead," on Friday, the I2th of June, 1741. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 159 The Negro girl Sarah, referred to above, who was before the jury on the ist of June in such a terrified state of body and mind, was re-called on the 5th of June. She implicated twenty Negroes, whom she declared were present at the house of Comfort, whet ting their knives, and avowing that " they would kill white people." On the 6th of June, Robin, Caesar, Cook, Cuffee, and Jack, another Cuffee, and Jamaica were arrested, and put upon trial on the 8th of June. It is a sad fact to record, even at this distance, that these poor blacks, without counsel, friends, or money, were tried and convicted upon the evidence of a poor ignorant, hysterical girl, and the " dying confession " of Quack and Cuffee, who " con fessed " with the understanding that they should be free ! Tried and found guilty on the 8th, without clergy or time to pray, they were burned at the stake the next day ! Only Jack found favor with the court, and that favor was purchased by perjury. He was respited until it "was found how well he would deserve further favor." It was next to impossible to understand him, so two white gentlemen were secured to act as interpreters. Jack testified to having seen Negroes at Hughson's tavern ; that "when they were eating, he said they began to talk about set ting the houses on fire : " he was so good as to give the names of about fourteen Negroes whom he heard say that they would set their masters' houses on fire, and then rush upon the whites and kill them ; that at one of these meetings there were five or six Spanish Negroes present, whose conversation he could not understand ; that they waited a month and a half for the Span iards and French to come, but when they came not, set fire to the fort. As usual, more victims of these confessors swelled the number already in the jail ; which was, at this time, full to suffocation. On the i Qth of June the lieutenant-governor issued a procla mation of freedom to all who would "confess and discover" before the ist of July. Several Indians were in the prison, charged with conspiracy. The confessions and discoveries were numerous. Every Negro charged with being an accomplice of the unfor tunate wretches that had already perished at the stake began to accuse some one else of complicity in the plot. They all knew of many Negroes who were going to cut the white people's throats with penknives ; and when the town was in flames they were to " meet at the end of Broadway, next to the fields ! " And it must be recorded, to the everlasting disgrace of the judiciary 160 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of New York, that scores of ignorant, helpless, and innocent Negroes and a few white people too were convicted upon the confessions of the terror-stricken witnesses ! There is not a court to-day in all enlightened Christendom that would accept as evidence not even circumstantial the incoherent utterances of these Negro "confessors." And yet an intelligent (?) New- York court thought the evidence " clear (?), and satisfactory ! " But the end was not yet reached. A new turn was to be given to the notorious Mary Burton. The reader will remember that she said that there never were any white persons present when the burning of the town was the topic of conversation, except her master and mistress and Peggy Carey. But on the 25th of June the budding Mary accused Rev. John Ury, a reputed Catholic priest, and a schoolmaster in the town, and one Camp bell, also a school-teacher, of having visited Hughson's tavern with the conspirators. On the 26th of June, nine more Negroes were brought before the court and arraigned. Seven pleaded guilty in the hope of a reprieve : two were tried and convicted upon the testimony of Mary Burton. Eight more were arraigned, and pleaded guilty ; followed by seven more, some of whom pleaded guilty, and some not guilty. Thus, in one day, the court was enabled to dispose of twenty-four persons. On the 2/th of June, one Adam confessed that he knew of the plot, but said he was enticed into it by Hughson, three years before ; that Hughson told him that he knew a man who could forgive him all his sins. So between John Hughson's warm rum, and John Ury's ability to forgive sin, the virtuous Adam found all his scruples overcome ; and he took the oath. A Dr. Hamilton who lodged 'at Holt's, and the latter also, are brought into court as accused of being connected with the plot. It was charged that Holt directed his Negro Joe to set fire to the play-house at the time he should indicate. At the beginning of the trial only four white persons were mentioned ; but now they began to multiply, and barrels of powder to increase at a wonderful rate. The con fessions up to this time had been mere repetitions. The arrests were numerous, and the jail crowded beyond its capacity. The poor Negroes implicated were glad of an opportunity to "con fess " against some one else, and thereby save their own lives. Recorder Horsemanden says, " Now many negroes began to squeak, in order to lay hold of the benefit of the proclamation." THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. l6l He deserves the thanks of humanity for his frankness ! For before the proclamation there were not more than seventy Negroes in jail ; but, within eight days after it was issued, thirty more frightened slaves were added to the number. And Judge Horsemanden says, " 'Twas difficult to find room for them, nor could we see any likelihood of stopping the impeachments." The Negroes turned to accusing white persons, and seven or eight were arrested. The sanitary condition of the prison now became a subject of grave concern. The judges and lawyers consulted together, and agreed to pardon some of the prisoners to make room in the jail. They also thought it prudent to lump the con fessions, and thereby facilitate their work ; but -the confessions -went on, and the jail filled up again. The Spanish Negroes taken by an English privateer, and adjudged to slavery by the admiralty court, were now taken up, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hung. Five others received sentence the same day. The bloody work went on. The poor Negroes in the jail, in a state of morbid desperation, turned upon each other the blistering tongue of accusation. They knew that they were accusing each other innocently, as many confessed afterwards, but this was the last straw that these sinking people could see to catch at, and this they did involuntarily. " Victims were required ; and those who brought them to the altar of Moloch, purchased their own safety, or, at least, their lives." On the 2d of July, one Will was produced before Chief-Justice James DeLancy. He plead guilty, and was sentenced to be burnt to death on the 4th of July. On the 6th of July, eleven plead guilty. One Dundee implicates Dr. Hamilton with Hugh- son in giving Negroes rum and swearing them to the plot. A white man by the name of William Nuill deposed that a Negro belonging to Edward Kelly, a butcher named London swore by God that if he should be arrested and cast into the jail, he would hang or burn all the Negroes in New York, guilty or not guilty. On this same day five Negroes were hanged. One of them was "hung in chains" upon the same gibbet with Hughson. And the Christian historian says " the town was amused " on account of a report that Hughson had turned black and the Negro white ! The vulgar and sickening description of the condition of the bodies, in which Mr. Horsemanden took evident relish, we with hold from the reader. It was rumored that a Negro doctor had 162 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. administered poison to the convicts, and hence the change in the bodies after death. In addition to the burning of the Negro Will, on the 4th of July, was the sensation created by his accusing two white soldiers, Kane and Kelly, with complicity in the conspiracy. Kane was examined the next day : said that he had never been to the house of John Romme ; acknowledged that he had received a stolen silver spoon, given to his wife, and sold it to one Van Dype, a silversmith ; that he never knew John Ury, etc. Knowing Mary Burton was brought forward, as she always was when the trials began to lag, and accused Kane. He earnestly denied the accu sation at first, but finally confessed that he was at Hughson's in reference to the plot on two several occasions, but was induced to go there "by Corker, Coffin, and Fagan." After his tongue got limbered up, and his memory refreshed, he criminated Ury. He implicated Hughson's father and three brothers, Hughson's mother-in-law, an old fortune-teller, as being parties to the plot as sworn "to burn, and kill;" that Ury christened some of the Negroes, and even had the temerity to attempt to proselyte him, Kane ; that Ury asked him if he could read Latin, could he read English ; to both questions he answered no ; that the man Coffin read to him, and descanted upon the benefits of being a Roman Catholic ; that they could forgive sins, and save him from hell ; and that if he had not gone away from their company they might have seduced him to be a Catholic ; that one Conolly, on Gov ernor's Island, admitted that he was "bred up a priest;" that one Holt, a dancing-master, also knew of the plot ; and then described the mystic ceremony of swearing the plotters. He said, "There was a black ring made on the floor, about a foot and a half in diameter ; and Hughson bid every one put off the left shoe and put their toes within the ring ; and Mrs. Hughson held a bowl of punch over their heads, as the Negroes stood around the circle, and Hughson pronounced the oath above mentioned, (something like a freemason's oath and penalties,) and every negro severally repeated the oath after him, and then Hughson's wife fed them with a draught out of the bowl." This was "new matter," so to speak, and doubtless broke the monotony of the daily recitals to which their honors had been listening all summer. Kane was about to deprive Mary Burton of her honors ; and, as he could not write, he made his mark. A peddler named Coffin was arrested and examined. He denied all THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 163 knowledge of the plot, never saw Hughson, never was at his plaoe, saw him for the first time when he was executed ; had never seen Kane but once, and then at Eleanor Waller's, where they drank beer together. But the court committed him. Kane and Mary Burton accused Edward Murphy. Kane charged David Johnson, a hatter, as one of the conspirators ; while Mary Burton accuses Andrew Ryase, " little Holt," the dancing-master, John Earl, and seventeen soldiers, all of whom were cast into prison. On the 1 6th of July nine Negroes were arraigned : four plead guilty, two were sentenced to be burnt, and the others to be hanged. On the next day seven Negroes plead guilty. One John Schultz came forward, and made a deposition that perhaps had some little influence on the court and the community at large. He swore that a Negro man slave, named Cambridge, belonging to Christopher Codwise, Esq., did on the gth of June, 1741, confess to the deponent, in the presence of Codwise and Richard Baker, that the confession he had made before Messrs. Lodge and Nichols was entirely false ; viz., that he had confessed him self guilty of participating in the conspiracy ; had accused a Negro named Cajoe through fear; that he had heard some Negroes talking together in the jail, and saying that if they did not confess they would be hanged ; that what he said about Horsefield Caesar was a lie; that he had never known in what section of the town Hughson lived, nor did he remember ever hearing his name, until it had become the town talk that Hughson was concerned in a plot to burn the town and murder the inhabit ants. This did not in the least abate the zeal of Mary Burton and William Kane. They went on in their work of accusing white people and Negroes, receiving the approving smiles of the magis trates. Mary Burton says that John Earl, who lived in Broad way, used to come to Hughson's with ten soldiers at a time ; that these white men were to command the Negro companies ; that John Ury used to be present ; and that a man near the Mayor's Market, who kept a shop where she (Mary Burton) got rum from, a doctor, by nationality a Scotchman, who lived by the Slip, and another dancing-master, named Corry, used to meet with the conspirators at Hughson's tavern. On the 1 4th of July, John Ury was examined, and denied ever having been at Hughson's, or knowing any thing about the con spiracy; said he never saw any of the Hughsons, nor did he 1 64 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. know Peggy Carey. But William Kane, the soldier, insisted that tlry did visit the house of Hughson. Ury was again committed. On the next day eight persons were tried and convicted upon the evidence of Kane and Mary Burton. The jail was filling up again, and the benevolent magistrates pardoned fourteen Negroes. Then they turned their judicial minds to the case of William Kane vs. John Ury. First, he was charged with having coun selled, procured, and incited a Negro slave, Quack, to burn the king's house in the fort : to which he pleaded not guilty. Second, that being a priest, made by the authority of the pretended See -of Rome, he had come into the Province and city of New York after the time limited by law against Jesuits and Popish priests, passed in the eleventh year of William III., and had remained for the space of seven months ; that he had announced himself to be an ecclesiastical person, made and ordained by the authority of the See of Rome ; and that he had appeared so to be by celebrat ing masses and granting absolution, etc. To these charges Ury pleaded not guilty, and requested a copy of the indictments, but was only allowed a copy of the second ; and pen, ink, and paper grudgingly granted him. His private journal was seized, and a portion of its contents used as evidence against him. The following was furnished to the grand jury : "Arrived at Philadelphia the 1 7th of February, 1738. At Ludinum, 5th March. To Philadelphia, 2gth April. Began school at Burlington, i8th June. Omilta Jacobus Atherthwaite, 27th July. Came to school at Burling ton, 23d January, 1740. Saw , 7th May. At five went to Burlington, to Piercy, the madman. Went to Philadelphia, iQth May. Went to Burling ton, i8th June. At six in the evening to Penefack, to Joseph Ashton. Began school at Dublin under Charles Hastie, at eight pounds a year, 3ist July, , 1 5th October, ,27th ditto. Came to John Croker (at the Fighting Cocks), New York, 2d November. I boarded gratis with him, 7th November, Natura Johannis Pool, 26th December. I began to teach with John Campbell, 6th April, 1741. Baptized Timothy Ryan, born i8th April, 1740, son of John Ryan and Mary Ryan, i8th May. Pater Confessor Butler, two Anni, no sacramentum non confessio." x On the 2 ist of July, Sarah Hughson, who had been respited, was put on the witness-stand again. There were some legal errors in the indictments against Ury, and his trial was postponed until the next term ; but he was arraigned on a new indictment. The energies of the jury and judges received new life. Here was a 1 Dunlap, vol. i. p. 344. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 165 man who was a Catholic, or had been a Catholic, and the spirit of religious intolerance asserted itself. Sarah Hughson remem bered having seen Ury at her father's house on several occasions ; had seen him make a ring with chalk on the floor, make all the Negroes stand around it, while he himself would stand in the middle, with a cross, and swear the Negroes. This was also "new matter : " nothing of this kind was mentioned in the first confes- siQn. But this was not all. She had seen Ury preach to the Negroes, forgive their sins, and baptize some of them ! She said that Ury wanted her to confess to him, and that Peggy confessed to him in French. On the 24th of July, Elias Desbroses, confectioner, being called, swore that Ury had come to his shop with one Webb, a carpenter, and inquired for sugar-bits, or wafers, and asked him "whether a minister had not his wafers of him ? or, whether that paste, which the deponent showed him, was not made of the same ingredients as the Luthern minister's ? " or words to that effect : the deponent told Ury that if he desired such things a joiner would make him a mould ; and that when he asked him whether he had a congregation, Ury "waived giving him an answer." On the 27th of July, Mr. Webb, the carpenter, was called to the witness-stand and testified as follows : That he had met Ury at John Croker's (at the Fighting Cocks), where he became ac quainted with him ; that he had heard him read Latin and Eng lish so admirably that he employed him to teach his child ; that finding out that he was a school-teacher, he invited him to board at his house without charge ; that he understood from him that he was a non-juring minister, had written a book that had drawn the fire of the Church, was charged with treason, and driven out of England, sustaining the loss of "a living" worth fifty pounds a year ; that on religious matters the deponent could not always comprehend him ; that the accused said Negroes were only fit for slaves, and to put them above that condition was to invite them to cut your throats. The observing Horsemanden was so much pleased with the above declaration, that he gives Ury credit in a footnote for understanding the dispositions of Negroes ! l Farther on Mr. Webb says, that, after one Campbell removed to Hugh- son's, Ury went thither, and so did the deponent on three different times, and heard him read prayers after the manner of the Church 1 Horseman den's Negro Plot, p. 284. 1 66 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of England ; but in the prayer for the king he only mentioned "our sovereign lord the King," and not "King George." He said that Ury pleaded against drunkenness, debauchery, and Deists ; that he admonished every one to keep his own minister ; that when the third sermon was delivered one Mr. Hildreth was pres ent, when Ury found fault with certain doctrines, insisted that good works as well as faith were necessary to salvation ; that he announced that on a certain evening he would preach from the text, " Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ; and whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted, and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained." The judges, delighted with this flavor added to the usually dry proceedings, thought they had better call Sarah Hughson ; that if she were grateful for her freedom she would furnish the testimony their honors desired. Sarah was accordingly called. She is recommended for mercy. She is, of course, to say what is put in her mouth, to give testimony such as the court desires, So the fate of the poor schoolmaster was placed in the keeping of the fateful Sarah. On the 28th of July another grand jury was sworn, and, like the old one, was composed of merchants. The following persons composed it : Joseph Robinson, James Livingston, Hermanus Rutgers, jun., Charles LeRoux, Abraham Boelen, Peter Rutgers, Jacobus Roosevelt, John Auboyneau, Stephen Van Courtlandt, jun., Abraham Lynsen, Gerardus Duyckinck, John Provost, Henry Lane, jun., Henry Cuyler, John Roosevelt, Abraham DePeyster, Edward Hicks, Joseph Ryall, Peter Schuyler, and Peter Jay. 1 Sarah Hughson had been pardoned. John Ury was brought into court, when he challenged some of the jury. William Ham- mersley, Gerardus Beekman, John Shurmur, Sidney Breese, Daniel Shatford, Thomas Behenna, Peter Fresneau, Thomas Willett, John Breese, John Hastier, James Tucker, and Brandt Schuyler were sworn to try him. Barring formalities, he was arraigned upon the old indictment ; viz., felony, in inciting and exciting the Negro slave Quack to set fire to the governor's house. The king's counsel were the attorney-general, Richard Bradley, and Messrs. Murray, Alexander, Smith, and Chambers. Poor Ury had no counsel, no sympathizers. The attorney-general, in an opening speech to the jury, said that certain evidence was to be produced 1 Horseman den's Negro Plot, p. 286. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 167 showing that the prisoner at the bar was guilty as charged in the indictment ; that he had a letter that he desired to read to them, which had been sent to Lieut.-Gov. Clark, written by Gen. Ogle- thorpe ( u the visionary Lycurgus of Georgia"), bearing date of the 1 6th of May. The following is a choice passage from the letter referred to : " Some intelligence I had of a villanous design of a very extraordinary nature, and if true very important, viz., that the Spaniards had employed emis- .saries to burn all the magazines and considerable towns in the English North America, and thereby to prevent the subsisting of the great expedition and fleet in the West Indies ; and for this purpose many priests were employed, who pretended to be physicians, dancing-masters, and other such kinds of occupa tions, and under that pretence to get admittance and confidence in families." l The burden of his effort was the wickedness of Popery and the Roman-Catholic Church. The first witness called was the irrepressible Mary Burton. She began by rehearsing the old ;story of setting fire to the houses : but this time she varied it .somewhat ; it was not the fort that was to be burnt first, but Ooker's, near a coffee-house, by the long bridge. She remem bered the ring drawn with chalk, saw things in it that looked like rats (the good Horsemanden throws a flood of light upon this otherwise dark passage by telling his reader that it was the Negroes' black toes !) ; that she peeped in once and saw a black thing like a child, and Ury with a book in his hand, and at this moment she let a silver spoon drop, and Ury chased her, and would have caught her, had she not fallen into a bucket of water, and thus marvellously escaped ! But the rule was to send this curious Mary to bed when any thing of an unusual nature was going on. Ury asked her some questions. ''Prisoner. You say you have seen me several times at Hughson's, what clothes did I usually wear? " Mary Burton. I cannot tell what clothes you wore particularly. "Prisoner. That is strange, and know me so well ? " She then says several kinds, but particularly, or chiefly, a riding-coat, and often a brown coat, trimmed with black. " Prisoner. I never wore such a coat. What time of the day did I used to come to Hughson's ? " M. Btirton. You used chiefly to come in the night-time, and when I have been going to bed I have seen you undressing in Peggy's room, as if you 1 Colonial Hist, of N. Y., vol. vi. p. 199. 168 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. were to lie there ; but I cannot say that you did, for you were always gone before I was up in the morning. " Prisoner. What room was I in when I called Mary, and you came up. as you said ? " M. Burton. In the great room, up stairs. ^Prisoner. What answer did the Negroes make, when I offered to for give them their sins, as you said ? "M. Burton. I don't remember." 1 William Kane, the soldier, took the stand. He was very bold' to answer all of Ury's questions. He saw him baptize a child,, could forgive sins, and wanted to convert him ! Sarah Hughson was next called, but Ury objected to her because she had been convicted. The judge informed him that she had been pardoned,, and was, therefore, competent as a witness. Judge Horsemanden was careful to produce newspaper scraps to prove that the court of France had endeavored to create and excite revolts and insurrec tions in the English colonies, and ended by telling a pathetic story about an Irish schoolmaster in Ulster County who drank the health of the king of Spain ! 2 This had great weight with the jury, no doubt. Poor Ury, convicted upon the evidence of three notorious liars, without counsel, was left to defend himself. He addressed the jury in an earnest and intelligent manner. He showed where the evidence clashed ; that the charges were not in harmony with his previous character, the silence of Quack and others already executed. He showed that Mr. Campbell took possession of the house that Hughson had occupied, on the 1st of May ; that at that time Hughson and his wife were in jail, and Sarah in the house ; that Sarah abused Campbell, and that he reproved her for the foul language she used ; and that this fur nished her with an additional motive to accuse him ; that he never knew Hughson or any of the family. Mr. John Croker testified that Ury never kept company with Negroes, nor did he receive them at Croker's house up to the ist of May, for all the plotting was done before that date ; that he was a quiet, pious preacher, and an excellent schoolmaster ; that he taught Webb's child, and always declared himself a non-juring clergyman of the Church of England. But the fatal revelation of this friend of Ury's was,, that Webb made him a desk ; and the jury thought they saw in it an altar for a Catholic priest ! That was enough. The attorney- general told the jury that the prisoner was a Romish priest, and 1 Horsemanden 's Negro Plot, pp. 292, 293. z Ibid., pp. 298, 299, note. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 169, then proceeded to prove the exceeding sinfulness of that Church., Acknowledging the paucity of the evidence intended to prove him : a priest, the learned gentleman hastened to dilate upon all the dark deeds of Rome, and thereby poisoned the minds of the jury against the unfortunate Ury. He was found guilty, and on the 29th of August, 1741, was hanged, professing his innocence, and submitting cheerfully to a cruel and unjust death as a servant of the Lord. 1 The trials of the Negroes had continued, but were somewhat overshadowed by that of the reputed Catholic priest. On the 1 8th of July seven Negroes were hanged, including a Negro doctor named Harry. On the 23d of July a number of white persons were fined for keeping disorderly houses, entertaining Negroes ; while nine Negroes were, the same day, released from jail on account of a lack of evidence! On the I5th of August a Spanish Negro was hanged. On the 3ist of August, Corry (the* dancing-master), Ryan, Kelly, and Coffin all white persons were dismissed because no one prosecuted ; while the reader must have observed that the evidence against them was quite as strong as that offered against any of the persons executed, by the lying trio Burton, Kane, and Sarah. But Mr. Smith the historian gives, the correct reason why these trials came to such a sudden end. "The whole summer was spent in the prosecutions; every new trial led to further accusations : a coincidence of slight circumstances, was magnified by the general terror into violent presumptions ; tales collected without doors, mingling with the proofs given at the bar, poisoned the minds of the jurors; and the sanguinary spirit of the day suffered no check till Mary, the capital: informer, bewildered by frequent examinations and suggestions, lost her first impressions, and began to touch characters, which malice itself did not dare to, suspect." 2 The 24th of September was solemnly set apart for public- thanksgiving for the escape of the citizens from destruction ! As we have already said, this " Negro plot " has but one parallel in the history of civilization. It had its origin in a diseased public conscience, inflamed by religious bigotry, accele rated by hired liars, and consummated, in the blind and bloody action of a court and jury who imagined themselves sitting over a powder-magazine. That a robbery took place, there was abun dant evidence in the finding of some of the articles, and the 1 Horsemanden's Negro Plot, pp. 221, 222. 2 Smith's Hist, of N. Y., vol. n. pp. 59, 60.. 1 70 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. admissions of Hughson and others ; but there was not a syllable of competent evidence to show that there was an organized plot. And the time came, after the city had gotten back to its accus tomed quietness, that the most sincere believers in the " Negro plot " were converted to the opinion that the zeal of the magis trates had not been "according to knowledge." For they could not have failed to remember that the Negroes were considered .heathen, and, therefore, not sworn by the court ; that they were not allowed counsel ; that the evidence was indirect, contradictory, -and malicious, while the trials were hasty and unfair. From the nth of May to the 2gth of August, one hundred and fifty -four Negroes were cast into prison ; fourteen of whom were burnt, eighteen hanged, seventy-one transported, and the remainder pardoned. During the same space of time twenty-four whites were committed to prison ; four of whom were executed, and the remainder discharged. The number arrested was one hundred .and seventy-eight, thirty-six executed, and seventy-one trans ported ! What a terrible tragedy committed in the name of law and Christian government ! Mary Burton, the Judas Iscariot of the period, received her hundred pounds as the price of the blood she had caused to be shed ; and the curtain fell upon one of the most tragic events in all the history of New York or of the civil ized world. 1 The legislature turned its attention to additional legislation upon the slavery question. Severe laws were passed against the Negroes. Their personal rights were curtailed until their condi tion was but little removed from that of the brute creation. We have gone over the voluminous records of the Province of New York, and have not found a single act calculated to ameliorate the condition of the slave. 2 He was hated, mistrusted, and feared. Nothing was done, of a friendly character, for the slave in the 1 "On the 6th of March, 1742, the following order was passed by the Common Council: ' Ordered, that the indentures of Mary Burton be delivered up to her, and that she be discharged from the remainder of her servitude, and three pounds paid her, to provide necessary clothing.' The Common Council had purchased her indentures from her master, and had kept her and them, until this time." DUNLAP, vol. ii. Appendix, p. clxvii. 2 On the 1 7th of November, 1767, a bill was brought into the House of Assembly " to prevent the unnatural and unwarrantable custom of enslaving mankind, and the importation of slaves into this province." It was changed into an act "for laying an impost on Negroes .imported." This could not pass the governor and council ; and it was afterward known that Benning I. Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire, had received instructions not to pass any law "imposing duties on negroes imported into that province." Hutchinson of Massachusetts -had similar instructions. The governor and his Majesty's council knew this at the time. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 1 71 Province of New York, until threatening dangers from without taught the colonists the importance of husbanding all their resources. The war between the British colonies in North America and the mother country gave the Negro an opportunity to level, by desperate valor, a mountain of prejudice, and wipe out with his blood the dark stain of 1741. History says he did it. 172 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XIV. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1633-1775. THE EARLIEST MENTIONS OF NEGROES IN MASSACHUSETTS. PEQUOD INDIANS EXCHANGED FOR NEGROES. VOYAGE OF THE SLAVE-SHIP "DESIRE" IN 1638. FUNDAMENTAL LAWS ADOPTED. HEREDITARY SLAVERY. KIDNAPPING NEGROES. GROWTH OF SLAVERY IN THE SEVEN TEENTH CENTURY. TAXATION OF SLAVES. INTRODUCTION OF INDIAN SLAVES PROHIBITED. THE POSITION OF THE CHURCH RESPECTING THE BAPTISM OF SLAVES. SLAVE MARRIAGE. CONDITION OF FREE NEGROES. PHILLIS WHEATLEY THE AFRICAN POETESS. HER LIFE. SLAVERY RECOGNIZED IN ENGLAND IN ORDER TO BE MAINTAINED IN THE COLONIES. THE EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. LEGISLATION FAVORING THE IMPORTATION OF WHITE SERVANTS, BUT PROHIBITING THE CLANDESTINE BRINGING-IN OF NEGROES. JUDGE SEWALL*S ATTACK ON SLAVERY. JUDGE BAFFIN'S REPLY TO JUDGE SEW ALL. HAD the men who gave the colony of Massachusetts its political being and Revolutionary fame known that the Negro so early introduced into the colony as a slave would have been in the future Republic for years the insoluble problem, and at last the subject of so great and grave economic and political concern, they would have committed to the jealous, keeping of the chroniclers of their times the records for which the historian of the Negro seeks so vainly in this period. Stolen as he was from his tropical home ; consigned to a servitude at war with man's intellectual and spiritual, as well as with his phys ical, nature ; the very lowest of God's creation, in the estimation of the Roundheads of New England ; a stranger in a strange land, the poor Negro of Massachusetts found no place in the sympathy or history of the Puritan, Christians whose deeds and memory have been embalmed in song and story, and given to an immortality equalled only by the indestructibility of the English language. The records of the most remote period of colonial history have preserved a silence on the question of Negro slavery as ominous as it is conspicuous. What data there are concerning the introduction of slavery are fragmentary, uncertain, and unsatis factory, to say the least. There is but one work bearing the lumi nous stamp of historical trustworthiness, and which turns a flood THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 173 of light on the dark records of the darker crime of human slavery in Massachusetts. And we are sure it is as complete as the ripe scholarship, patient research, and fair and fearless spirit of its author, could make it. 1 The earliest mention of the presence of Negroes in Massachu setts is in connection with an account of some Indians who were frightened at a Colored man who had lost his way in the tangled path of the forest. The Indians, it seems, were " worse scared than hurt, who seeing a blackamore in the top of a tree looking out for his way which he had lost, surmised he was Abamacho, or the devil ; deeming all devils that are blacker than themselves : and being near to the plantation, they posted to the English, and entreated their aid to conjure this devil to his own place, who finding him to be a poor wandering blackamore, conducted him to his master." 2 This was in 1633. It is circumstantial evidence of a twofold nature ; i.e., it proves that there were Negroes in the colony at a date much earlier than can be fixed by reliable data, and that the Negroes were slaves. It is a fair presumption that this "wandering blackamore" who was conducted "to his mas ter" was not the only Negro slave in the colony. Slaves generally come in large numbers, and consequently there must have been quite a number at this time. Negro slavery in Massachusetts was the safety-valve to the pent-up vengeance of the Pequod Indians. Slavery would have been established in Massachusetts, even if there had been no Indians to punish by war, captivity, and duplicity. Encouraged by the British authorities, avarice and gain would have quieted the consciences of Puritan slave-holders. But the Pequod war was the early and urgent occasion for the founding of slavery under the foster care of a free church and free government ! As, the Pequod Indians would "not endure the yoke," would not remain "as servants," 3 they were sent to Bermudas 4 and ex changed for Negroes,5 with the hope that the latter would "endure 1 George H. Moore, LL.D., for many years librarian of the New- York Historical Society, but at present the efficient superintendent of the Lenox Library, in his " Notes on the History of Slavery in Massachusetts," has summoned nearly all the orators and historians of Massachusetts to the bar of history. He leaves them open to one of three charges ; viz., evading the truth, igno rance of it, or falsifying the record. And in addition to this work, which is authority, his " Additional Notes " glow with an energy and perspicuity of style which lead me to conclude that. Dr. Moore works admirably under the spur ; and that his refined sarcasm, unanswerable logic, and. critical accuracy give him undisputed place amongst the ablest writers of our times. 2 Wood's New-England Prospect, 1634, p. 77. 3 Slavery in Mass., p. 7. * Ibid., pp. 4, 5, and 6. * Elliott's New-England Hist., pp. 167-205.. 174 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the yoke " more patiently. The first importation of slaves from Barbados, secured in exchange for Indians, was made in 1637, the first year of the Pequod war, and was doubtless kept up for many years. But in the following year we have the most positive evidence that New England had actually engaged in the slave-trade. "Mr. Pierce, in the Salem ship, the Desire, returned from the West Indies after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some cotton, and tobacco, and negroes, &c., from thence, and salt from Tertugos. . . . Dry fish and strong liquors are the only commodities for those parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent forth by the lords, &c., of Providence with letters of mart, who had taken divers prizes from the Spaniard and many negroes." * "The Desire" was built at Marblehead in 1636 ; 2 was of one hundred and twenty tons, and perhaps one of the first built in the colony. There is no positive proof that "The Mayflower," after landing the holy Pilgrim Fathers, was fitted out for a slave- cruise ! But there is no evidence to destroy the belief that " The Desire " was built for the slave-trade. Within a few years from the time of the building of "The Desire," there were quite a number of Negro slaves in Massachusetts. "John Josselyn, Gen't" in his "Two Voyages to New England," made in " 1638, 1663," and printed for the first time in 1674,3 gives an account of an attempt to breed slaves in Massachusetts. "The Second of October, (1639) about 9 of the clock in the morning, Mr. Maverick's Negro woman came to my chamber window, and in her own Coun- trey language and tune sang very loud and shril, going out to her, she used a great deal of respect towards me, and willingly would have expressed her grief in English; but I apprehended it by her countenance and deportment, where upon I repaired to my host, to learn of him the cause, and resolved to entreat him in her behalf, for that I understood before, that she had been a Queen in her own Countrey, and observed a very humble and dutiful garb used towards her by another Negro who was her maid. Mr. Maverick was desirous to have a breed of Negroes, and therefore seeing she would not yield by persuasions 1 Winthrop's Journal, Feb. 26, 1638, vol. i. p. 254 ; see, also, Felt, vol. ii. p. 230. 2 Dr. Moore backs his statement as to the time The Desire was built by quoting from Winthrop, vol. i. p. 193. But there is a mistake somewhere as to the correct date. Winthrop says she was built in 1636 ; but I find in Mr. Drake's " Founders of New England," pp. 31, 32, this entry: " More (June) XXth, 1635. In the Desire de Lond. Pearce, and bond for New Eng. p'r cert. fr5 ij Justices of Peace and ministers of All Saints lionian in Northampton." If she sailed in 1635, she must have been built earlier. 3 Dr. George H. Moore says Josselyn's Voyages were printed in 1664. This is an error. They were not published until ten years later, in 1674. In 1833 the Massachusetts Historical Society printed the work in the third volume and third series of their collection. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 175 to company with a Negro young man he had in his house ; he commanded him will'd she nill'd she to go to bed to her, which was no sooner done but she kickt him out again, this she took in high disdain beyond her slavery, and this was the cause of her grief." * It would appear, at first blush, that slavery was an individual speculation in the colony ; but the voyage of the ship " Desire " was evidently made with a view of securing Negro slaves for sale. Josselyn says, in 1627, that the English colony on the Island of Barbados had " in a short time increased to twenty thousand, besides Negroes." 2 And in 1637 ne savs tnat tne New Eng- landers "sent the male children of Pequets to the Bermudus."3 It is quite likely that many individuals of large means and estates had a few Negro slaves quite early, perhaps earlier than we have any record ; but as a public enterprise in which the colony was interested, slavery began as early as 1638. "It will be observed," says Dr. Moore, "that this first entrance into the slave-trade was not a private, individual speculation. It was the enterprise of the authorities of the colony. And on the I3th of March, 1639, ^ was ordered by the General Court "that 3/ 8s should be paid Lieftenant Davenport for the present, for charge disbursed for the slaves, which, when they have earned it, hee is to repay it back againe." The marginal note is " Lieft. Davenport to keep ye slaves." (Mass. Rec. i. 253.4) So there can be no doubt as to the permanent establishment of the institution of slavery as early as 1639, while before that date the institution existed in a patriarchal condition. But there isn't the least frag ment of history to sustain the haphazard statement of Emory Washburn, that slavery existed in Massachusetts "from the time Maverick was found dwelling on Noddle's Island in 1630." 5 We are sure this assertion lacks the authority of historical data. It is one thing for a historian to think certain events happened at a particular time, but it is quite another thing to be able to cite reliable authority in proof of the assertion. 6 But no doubt Mr. Washburn relies upon Mr. Palfrey, who refers his reader to Mr. 1 Josselyn, p. 28. 2 Ibid., p. 250. 3 Ibid., p. 258. 4 Slavery in Mass., p. 9. 5 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. 4th Series, p. 333, sq. 6 Mr. Bancroft (Centenary Edition, vol. i. p. 137) says, "The earliest importation of Negro slaves into New England was made in 1637, from Providence Isle, in the Salem ship Desire." But Winthrop (vol. i. p. 254, under date of the 26th of February, 1638) says, " The Desire re turned from the West Indies after seven months." He also states (ibid., p. 193) that The Desire was "built at Marblehead in 1636." But this may or may not be true according to the old method of keeping time. 176 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Josselyn. Palfrey says, "Before Winthrop's arrival, there were two negro slaves in Massachusetts, held by Mr. Maverick, on Noddle's Island." x Josselyn gives the only account we have of the slaves on Noddle's Island. The incident that gave rise to this scrap of history occurred on the 2d of October, 1639. Win- throp was chosen governor in the year 1637. 2 It was in this year, on the 26th of February, that the slave-ship " Desire " landed a cargo of Negroes in the colony. Now, if Mr. Palfrey relies upon Josselyn for the historical trustworthiness of his statement that there were two Negroes in Massachusetts before Winthrop arrived, he has made a mistake. There is no proof for the assertion. That there were three Negroes on Noddle's Island, we have the authority of Josselyn, but nothing more. And if the Negro queen who kicked Josselyn's man out of bed had been as long in the island as Palfrey and Washburn indicate, she would have been able to explain her grief to Josselyn in English. We have no doubt but what Mr. Maverick got his slaves from the ship " Desire" in 1638, the same year Winthrop was inaugurated governor. In Massachusetts, as in the other colonies, slavery made its way into individual families first ; thence into communities, where it was clothed with the garment of usage and custom ;3 and, finally, men longing to enjoy the fruit of unrequited labor gave it the sanction of statutory law. There was not so great a demand for slaves in Massachusetts as in the Southern States ; and yet they had their uses in a domestic way, and were, consequently, sought after. As early as 1641 Massachusetts adopted a body of funda mental laws. The magistrates,* armed with authority from the crown of Great Britain, had long exercised a power which well- nigh trenched upon the personal rights of the people. The latter desired a revision of the laws, and such modifications of the power and discretion of the magistrates as would be in sympathy with the spirit of personal liberty that pervaded the minds of the colonists. But while the people sought to wrest an arbitrary power from the unwilling hands of their judges, they found no pity in their hearts for the poor Negroes in their midst, who, having served as slaves because of their numerical weakness and the passive silence of justice, were now to become the legal 1 Palfrey's Hist, of N. E., vol. ii. p. 30, note. 2 Josselyn, p. 257. 3 Elliott's New-England Hist., vol. ii. pp. 57, 58. * Hildreth, vol. i. p. 270, sg. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 177 and statutory vassals for their life-time of a liberty-loving and liberty-seeking people! In the famous "Body of Liberties" is to be found the first statute establishing slavery in the United States. It is as follows : "It is ordered by this court, and the authority thereof ; that there shall never be any bond slavery, villainage or captivity amongst us, unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars, as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us, and such shall have the liberties and Christian usage which the law of God estab lished in Israel concerning such persons doth morally require ; provided this exempts none from servitude, who shall be judged thereto by authority." I We have omitted the old spelling, but none of the words, as they appeared in the original manuscript. There isn't the shadow of a doubt but what this law has been preserved inviolate. 2 There has been considerable discussion about the real bearing of this statute. Many zealous historians, in discussing it, have betrayed more zeal for the good name of the Commonwealth than for the truth of history. Able lawyers and some of them still survive have maintained, with a greater show of learning than of facts, that this statute abolished slavery in Massachusetts. But, on the other hand, there are countless lawyers who pronounce it a plain and unmistakable law, " creating and establishing slavery." An examination of the statute will help the reader to a clear understanding of it. To begin with, this law received its being from the existent fact of slavery in the colony. From the prac tice of a few holding Negroes as slaves, it became general and prodigious. Its presence in society called for lawful regulations concerning it. While it is solemnly declared " that there shall never be any bond slavery, villianage, or captivity " in the colony, there were three provisos; viz., "lawful captives taken in just wares," those who would " sell themselves or are sold to us," and such as "shall be judged thereto by authority." Under the fore going conditions slavery was plainly established in Massachusetts. The "just wares" were the wars against the Pequod Indians. That these were made prisoners and slaves, we have the universal testimony of all writers on the history of Massachusetts. Just what class of people would " sell themselves " into slavery we are at a loss to know ! We can, however, understand the meaning of the words, "or are sold to us." This was an open door for the traffic in human beings ; for it made it lawful for to sell slaves to 1 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., pp. 52, 23. 2 Slavery in Mass., p. 13, note. 178 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the colonists, and lawful for the latter to purchase them. Those who were "judged thereto by authority " were those in slavery already and such as should come into the colony by shipping. This statute is wide enough to drive a load of hay through. It is not the work of a novice, but the labored and skilful product of great law learning. " The law must be interpreted in the light of contemporaneous facts of history. At the time it was made (1641), what had its authors to provide for ? " i. Indian slaves their captives taken in war. " 2. Negro slaves their own importations of ' strangers,' obtained by purchase or exchange. " 3. Criminals condemned to slavery as a punishment for offences. " In this light, and only in this light, is their legislation intelligible and consistent. It is very true that the code of which this law is a part ' exhibits throughout the hand of the practised lawyer, familiar with the principles and securities of English Liberty;' but who had ever heard, at that time, of the 'common-law rights' of Indians and Negroes, or anybody else but English men? " Thus stood the statute through the whole colonial period, and it was never expressly repealed. Based on the Mosaic code, it is an absolute recog nition of slavery as a legitimate status, and of the right of one man to sell himself as well as that of another man to buy him. It sanctions the slave- trade, and the perpetual bondage of Indians and Negroes, their children and their children's children, and entitles Massachusetts to precedence over any and all the other colonies in similar legislation. It anticipates by many years any thing of the sort to be found in the statutes of Virginia, or Maryland, or South Carolina, and nothing like it is to be found in the contemporary codes of her sister colonies in New England." l The subject had been carefully weighed ; and, lacking authority for legalizing a crime against man, the Mosaic code was cited, and in accordance with its humane provisions, slaves were to be treated. But it was authority for slavery that the cunning lawyer who drew the statute was seeking, and not precedents to deter mine the kind of treatment to be bestowed upon the slave. Under it " human slavery existed for nearly a century and a half without serious challenge ; " 2 and here, as well as in Virginia, it. received the sanction of the Church and courts. It grew with its growth, and strengthened with its strength ; until, as an organic institution, it had many defenders and few apologists.3 " This article gives express sanction to the slave-trade, and the practice of holding Negroes and Indians in perpetual bondage, anticipating by many 1 Slavery in Mass., pp. 18, 19. 2 Ibid., p. 12. 3 Elliott's New-England Hist., vol. i. p. 383. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 179 years any thing of the sort to be found in the statutes of Virginia or Mary land." i And it is rather strange, in the light of this plain statute establishing and legalizing the purchase of slaves, that Mr. Wash- burn's statement, unsustained, should receive the public indorse ment of so learned a body as the Massachusetts Historical Society ! " But, after all [says Mr. Wash burn], the laws on this subject, as well as the practice of the government, were inconsistent and anomalous, indicating clearly, that whether Colony or Province, so far as it felt free to follow its own inclinations, uncontrolled by the action of the mother country, Massachusetts was hostile to slavery as an institution ! " 2 No doubt Massachusetts was "inconsistent " in seeking liberty for her white citizens while forging legal chains for the Negro. And how far the colony "felt free to follow its own inclinations" Chief-Justice Parsons declares from the bench. Says that emi nent jurist, " Slavery was introduced into this country [Massachusetts] soon after its first settlement, and was tolerated until the ratification of the present Consti tution of 1 780." 3 So here we find an eminent authority declaring that slavery followed hard upon the heels of the Pilgrim Fathers, "and was tolerated" until 1780. Massachusetts "felt free" to tear from the iron grasp of the imperious magistrates the liberties of the people, but doubtless felt not " free " enough to blot out " the crime and folly of an evil time." And yet for years lawyers and clergymen, orators and statesmen, historians and critics, have stubbornly maintained, that, while slavery did creep into the colony, and did exist, it was " not probably by force of any law, for none such is found or known to exist." (?) 4 Slavery having been firmly established in Massachusetts, the next step was to make it hereditary. This was done under the sanction of the highest and most solemn forms of the courts of law. It is not our purpose to give this subject the attention it merits, in this place ; but in a subsequent chapter it will receive due attention. We will, however, say in passing, that it was the opinion of many lawyers in the last century, some of whom served upon the bench in Massachusetts, that children followed the 1 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 278. 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. iv. 4th Series, p. 334. 3 Quoted by Dr. Moore, p. 20. 4 Commonwealth vs. Aves, 18 Pickering, p. 208. l8o HISTORY "OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. condition of their mothers. Chief-Justice Parsons held that "the issue of the female slave, according to the maxim of the civil law, was the property of her master." And, subsequently, Chief- Justice Parker rendered the following opinion : " The practice was ... to consider such issue as slaves, and the property of the master of the parents, liable to be sold and transferred like other chattels, and as assets in the hands of executors and administrators. . . . We think there is no doubt that, at any period of our history, the issue of a slave husband and a free wife would have been declared free. His children, if the issue of a marriage with a slave, would, immediately on their birth, become the property of his master, or of the master of the female slave." l This decision is strengthened by the statement of Kendall in reference to the wide-spread desire of Negro slaves to secure free Indian wives, in order to insure the freedom of their children. He says, " While slavery was supposed to be maintainable by law in Massachusetts, there was a particular temptation to Negroes for taking Indian wives, the chil- 'dren of Indian women being acknowledged to be free. "2 We refer the reader, with perfect confidence, to our friend Dr. George H. Moore, who, in his treatment of this particular feature of slavery in Massachusetts, has, with great research, put down a number of zealous friends of the colony who have denied, with great emphasis, that any child was ever born into slavery there. Neither the opinion of Chief-Justice Dana, nor the naked and barren assertions of historians Palfrey, Sumner, and Washburn, great though the men were, can dispose of the historical reality of hereditary slavery in Massachusetts, down to the adoption of the Constitution of 1780. The General Court of Massachusetts issued an order in 1645 3 for the return of certain kidnapped or stolen Negroes to their native country. It has been variously commented upon by his torians and orators. The story runs, that a number of ships, plying between New-England seaport towns and Madeira and the Canaries, made it their custom to call on the coast of Guinea "to trade for negroes." Thus secured, they were disposed of in the 1 Andover vs. Canton, Mass. Reports, 551, 552, quoted by Dr. Moore. 2 Kendall's Travels, vol. ii. p. 179. 3 The following note, if it refers to the kidnapped Negroes, gives an earlier date, " 2Qth May, 1644. Mr. Blackleach his petition about the Mores was consented to, to be committed to the eldrs, to enforme us of the mind of God herein, & then further to consider it " -Mass. Records, vol. ii. p. 67. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. l8l slave-markets of Barbadoes and the West Indies. The New- England slave-market did not demand a large supply. Situated on a cold, bleak, and almost sterile coast, Massachusetts lacked the conditions to make slave-trading as lucrative as the Southern States ; but, nevertheless, she disposed of quite a number, as the reader will observe when we examine the first census. A ship from the town of Boston consorted with " some Londoners " with the object of gaining slaves. Mr. Bancroft I says that " upon the Lord's day, invited the natives aboard one of their ships," and then made prisoners of such as came ; which is not mentioned by Hildreth. 2 The latter writer says, that "on pretence of some quarrel with the natives," landed a small cannon called a " mur derer," attacked the village on Sunday ; and having burned the village, and killed many, made a few prisoners. Several of these prisoners fell to the Boston ship. On account of a disagreement between the captain and under officers of the ship, as well as the owners, the story of the above affair was detailed before a Boston court. Richard Saltonstall was one of the magistrates before whom the case was tried. He was moved by the recital of the cruel wrong done the Africans, and therefore presented a petition to the court, charging the captain and mate with the threefold crime of "murder," "man-stealing," and "sabbath- breaking." 3 1 Bancroft, Centennial edition, vol. i. p. 137. 2 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 282. 3 The petition is rather a remarkable paper, and is printed below. It is evident that the judge was in earnest. And yet the court, while admitting the petition, tried the case on only one ground, man-stealing. To the honored general court. The oath I took this yeare att my enterance upon the place of assistante was to this effect : That I would truly endeavour the advancement of the gospell and the good of the people of this plantation (to the best of my skill) dispencing justice equally and impartially (according to the laws of God and this land) in all cases wherein I act by virtue of my place. I conceive myself called by virtue of my place to act (according to this oath) in the case concerning the negers taken by captain Smith and Mr. Keser; wherein it is apparent that Mr. Keser gave chace to certaine negers; and upon the same day tooke divers of them; and at another time killed others; and burned one of their townes. Omitting several misdemeanours, which accompained these acts above mentioned, I conceive the acts themselves to bee directly contrary to these following laws (all of which are capitall by the word of God; and two of them by the lawes of this jurisdic tion). The act (or acts) of murder (whether by force or fraude) are expressly contrary both to the law of God, and the law of this country. The act of stealing negers, or taking them by force (Whether it be considered as theft or robbery) is (as I conceive) expressly contrary, both to the law of God, and the law of this country. The act of chaceing the negers (as aforesayde} upon the sabbath day (being' a servile ivorke and such as cannot be considered under any other heade) is expressly capitall by the law of God. These acts and outrages being committed where there was noe civill government, which might call them to accompt, and the persons, by whom they were committed beeing of our jurisdiction, I conceive this court to bee the ministers of God in this case, and therefore my humble request is that the severall offenders 1 82 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. It seems that by the Fundamental Laws, adopted by the people in 1641, the first two offences were punishable by death, and all of them "capitall, by the law of God." The court doubted its juris diction over crimes committed on the distant coast of Guinea. But article ninety-one of "The Body of Liberties" determined who were lawful slaves, those who sold themselves or were sold, " lawful captives taken in just wares," and those " judged thereto by authority." Had the unfortunate Negroes been purchased, there was no law in Massachusetts to free them from their owners ; but having been kidnapped, unlawfully obtained, the court felt that it was its plain duty to bear witness against the " sin of man- stealing." For, in the laws adopted in 1641, among the "Capital Laws," at the latter part of article ninety-four is the following: " If any man stealeth a man, or mankind, he shall surely be put to death." ' There is a marginal reference to Exod. xxi. 16. Dr. Moore does not refer to this in his elaborate discussion of statute on "bond slavery." And Winthrop says that the magis trates decided that the Negroes, "having been procured not honestly by purchase, but by the unlawful act of kidnaping," should be returned to their native country. That there was a criminal code in the colony, there can be no doubt ; but we have searched for it in vain. Hildreth 2 says it was printed in 1649, but that there is now no copy extant. The court issued an order about the return of the kidnapped Negroes, which we will give in full, on account of its historical value, and because of the difference of opinion concerning it. " The general court conceiving themselves bound by the first opportunity to bear witness against the heinous, and crying sin of man-stealing, as also to prescribe such timely redress for what is past, and such a law for the future, as. may sufficiently deter all others belonging to us to have to do in such vile and odious courses, justly abhorred of all good and just men, do order that the negro interpreter with others unlawfully taken, be by the first opportunity at the charge of the country for the present, sent to his native country (Guinea) and a letter with him of the indignation of the court thereabouts, and justice thereof, desiring our honored governor would please put this order in exe cution.'^ may be imprisoned by the order of this court, and brought into their deserved censure in convenient time; and this I humbly crave that soe the sinn they have committed may be upon their own heads, and not upon ourselves (as otherwise it will.) Vrs in ^ christean observa n ce , RICHARD SALTONSTALL. The house of deputs thinke meete that this petition shall be granted, and desire our honnored magis- trats concurrance herein. EDWARD RAWSON. COFFIN'S Newbury, pp. 335, 336. 1 Laws Camb., 1675, P- I 5- 2 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 368. 3 Coffin, p. 335. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 183 This "protest against man-stealing" has adorned and flavored many an oration on the " position of Massachusetts " on the slavery question. It has been brought out " to point a moral and adorn a tale " by the proud friends of the Commonwealth ; but the law quoted above against " man-stealing," the language of the "protest," the statute on "bond servitude," and the practices of the colonists for many years afterwards, prove that many have gloried, but not according to the truth. 1 When it came to the question of damages, the court said : " For the negars (they being none of his, but stolen) we thinke meete to allow nothing." 2 So the decision of the court was based upon law, the pro hibition against "man-stealing." And it should not be forgotten that many of the laws of the colony we're modelled after the Mosaic code. It is referred to, apologetically, in the statute of 1641 ; and no careful student can fail to read between the lines the desire there expressed to refer to the Old Testament as authority for slavery. Now, slaves were purchased by Abraham, and the New-England "doctors of the law" were unwilling to have slaves stolen when they could be bought 3 so easily. Dr. Moore says, in reference to the decision, . "In all the proceedings of the General Court on this occasion, there is not a trace of anti-slavery opinion or sentiment, still less of anti-slavery legislation ; though both have been repeatedly claimed for the honor of the colony." 4 And Dr. Moore is not alone in his opinion ; for Mr. Hildreth says this case "in which Saltonstall was concerned has been magnified by too precipitate an admiration into a protest on the part of Massachusetts against the African slave-trade. So far, however, from any such protest being made, at the very birth of the foreign commerce of New England the African slave-trade became a regular business." 5 There is now, therefore, no room to doubt but what the decision was rendered on a technical point of law, and not inspired by an anti-slavery sentiment. As an institution, slavery had at first a stunted growth in Massachusetts, and did not increase its victims to any great extent until near the close of the seventeenth century. But when it did begin a perceptible growth, it made rapid and prodi gious strides. In 1676 there were about two hundred slaves in 1 Drake (p. 288) says, " This act, however, was afterwards repealed or disregarded." 2 Mass. Records, vol. ii. p. 129. 3 Moore, Appendix, 251, sq. 4 Slavery in Mass., p. 30. 5 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 282. 1 84 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the colony, and they were chiefly from Guinea and Madagascar. p In 1680 Gov. Bradstreet, in compliance with a request made by the home government, said that the slave-trade was not carried on to any great extent. They were introduced in small lots, and brought from ten to forty pounds apiece. He thought the entire number in the colony would not reach more than one hundred and twenty-five. Few were born in the colony, and none had been baptized up to that time. 2 The year 1700 witnessed an unprece dented growth in the slave-trade. From the 24th of January, 1698, to the 25th of December, 1707,3 two hundred Negroes were imported into the colony, quite as many as in the previous sixty years. In 1708 Gov. Dudley's report to the board of trade fixed the number of Negroes at five hundred and fifty, and suggested that they were not so desirable as white servants, who could be used in the army, and in time of peace turn their attention to planting. The prohibition against the Negro politically and in a military sense, in that section of the country, made him almost valueless to the colonial government struggling for deliverance from the cruel laws of the mother country. The white ser vant could join the " minute-men," plough with his gun on his back, go to the church, and, having received the blessing of the parish minister, could hasten to battle with the proud and almost boastful feelings of a Christian freeman ! But the Negro, bond and free, was excluded from all these sacred privileges. Wronged, robbed of his freedom, the heritage of all human kind, he was suspicioned and contemned for desiring that great boon. On the 1 7th of February, 1720, Gov. Shute placed the number of slaves including a few Indians in Massachusetts at two thou sand. During the same year thirty-seven males and sixteen females were imported into the colony.4 We are unable to dis cover whether these were counted in the enumeration furnished by Gov. Shute or not. We are inclined to think they were in cluded. In 1735 there were two thousand six hundred 5 bond and free in the colony ; and within the next seventeen years the. Negro population of Boston alone reached i,54i. 6 1 Slavery in Mass., p. 49. See, also, Drake's Boston, p. 441, note. 2 Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. viii. 3d Series, p. 337. 3 Slavery in Mass., p. 50. * Coll. Amer. Stat. Asso., vol. i. p. 586. 5 Douglass's British Settlements, vol. i. p. 531. 6 Drake, p. 714. I cannot understand how Dr. Moore gets 1,514 slaves in Boston in 1742, except from Douglass. His " 1742 " should read 1752, and his " 1,514 " slaves should read 1,541 slaves. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 185 In 1754 the colonial government found it necessary to estab lish a system of taxation. Gov. Shirley was required to inform the House of Representatives as to the different kinds of taxable property. And from a clause in his message, Nov. 19, 1754, on the one hundred and nineteenth page of the Journal, we infer two things ; viz., that slaves were chattels or real estate, and, therefore, taxable. The governor says, "There is one part of the Estate, viz., the Negro slaves, which I am at a loss how to come at the knowledge of, without your assistance." In accordance with the request for assistance on this matter, the Legislature instructed the assessors of each town and district within the colony to secure a correct list of all Negro slaves, male and female, from sixteen years old and upwards, to be deposited in the office of the secre tary of state. 1 The result of this enumeration was rather sur prising ; as it fixed the Negro population at 4,489, quite an increase over the last enumeration. Again, in 1764-65, another census of the Negroes was taken ; and they were found to be 5,779- Here, as in Virginia, an impost tax was imposed upon all Negro slaves imported into the colony. We will quote section 3 of the Act of October, 1705, requiring duty upon imported Negroes ; because many are disposed to discredit some historical statements about slavery in Massachusetts. "SECT. 3. An'd be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the first day of May, in the year one thousand seven hundred and six, every master of ship or vessel, merchant or other person, importing or bringing into this province any negroe or negroes, male or female, of what age soever, shall enter their number, names and sex in the impost office ; and the master shall insert the same in the manifest of his lading, and shall pay to the commissioner and receiver of the impost, four pounds per head for every such negro, male or female ; and as we.ll the master, as the ship or vessel wherein they are brought, shall be security for payment of the said duty ; and both or either of them shall stand charged in the law therefor to the commissioner, who may deny to grant a clearing for such ship or vessel, until payment be made, or may recover the same of the master, at the commissioner's election, "There is a curious illustration of 'the way of putting it' in Massachusetts, in Mr. Felt's account of this ' census of slaves,' in the Collections of the American Statistical Asso ciation, vol. i. p. 208. He says that the General Court passed this order 'for the purpose of having an accurate account of slaves in our Commonwealth, as a subject in which the people tvere becoming much interested, relative to the caiise of liberty! " There is not a particle of authority for this suggestion such a motive for their action never existed anywhere but in the imagination of the writer himself ! " Slavery in Mass., p. 51, note. 1 86 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 'by action of debt, bill, plaint or information in any of her majesty's courts of record within this province." J A fine of eight pounds was imposed upon any person refusing this law was to act as a restraint upon and against " their rebel lion and hostilities." And the reader should understand that it was not an anti-slavery measure. It was not "hostile to slavery" as a system : it was but the precaution of a guilty and ever- gnawing public conscience. Slavery grew. There was no legal obstacle in its way. It had the sanction of the law, as we have already shown, and what was better still, the sympathy of public sentiment. The traffic in slaves appears to have been more an object in Boston than at 1 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 748. 2 Ibid. 3 Slavery in Mass., p. 61. * Hildreth, vol. ii. pp. 269, 270. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 187 any period before or since. For a time dealers had no hesitation in advertising them for sale in their own names. At length a very few who advertised would refer purchasers to " inquire of the printer, and know further." l This was in 1727, fifteen years after the afore-mentioned Act became a law, and which many apologists would interpret as a specific and direct prohibition against slavery ; but there is no reason for such a perversion of so plain an Act. Slavery in Massachusetts, as elsewhere, in self-defence had to claim as one of its necessary and fundamental principles, that the slave was either naturally inferior to the other races, or that, by some fundamentally inherent law in the institution itself, the master was justified in placing the lowest possible estimate upon his slave property. " Property " implied absolute control over the thing possessed. It carried in its broad meaning the awful fact, not alone of ownership, but of the supremacy of the will of the owner. Mr. Addison says, " What color of excuse can there be for the contempt with which we treat this part of our species, that we should not put them upon the common foot of humanity, that we should only set an insignificant fine ^^pon the man who mur ders them ; nay, that we should, as much as in us lies, cut them off from the prospect of happiness in another world, as well as in this, and deny them that which we look upon as the proper means for obtaining it ? " 2 None whatever! And yet the Puritans put the Negro slaves in their colony on a level with " horses and hogs." Let the intelli gent American of to-day read the following remarkable note from Judge Sewall's diary, and then confess that facts are stranger than fiction. "1716. I essayed June 22, to prevent Indians and Negroes being rated with Horses and Hogs ; but could not prevail. Col. Thaxter bro't it back, and gave as a reason of y r Nonagreement, They were just going to make a new valuation." 3 It had been sent to the deputies, and was by them rejected, and then returned to the judge by Col. Thaxter. The House was "just going to make a New Valuation " of the property in the Drake's Boston, p. 574. 2 Spectator, No. 215, Nov. 6, 1711, 3 Slavery in Mass., p. 64. 1 88 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. colony, and hence did not care to exclude slaves from the list of chattels, 1 in which they had always been placed. " In 1718, all Indian, Negro, and Mulatto servants for life were estimated as other Personal Estate viz.: Each male servant for life above fourteen years of age, at fifteen pounds value ; each female servant for life, above fourteen years of age, at ten pounds value. The assessor might make abatement for cause of age or infirmity. Indian, Negro, and Mulatto Male servants for a term of years were to be numbered and rated as other Polls, and not as Per sonal Estate. In -i 726, the assessors were required to estimate Indian, Negro, and Mulatto servants proportionably as other Personal Estate, according to their sound judgment and discretion. In 1727, the rule of 1718 was restored, but during one year only, for in 1728 the law was the same as that of 1726;. and so it probably remained, including all such servants, as well for term of years as for life, in the ratable estates. We have seen the supply-bills for I 73^, 1738, 1739, an d r 74> i n which this feature is the same. "And thus they continued to be rated with horses, oxen, cows, goats, sheep, and swine, until after the commencement of the War of the Revo lution." 2 On the 22d of April, 1728, the following notice appeared in a Boston newspaper : "Two very likely Negro girls. Enquire two doors from the Brick Meeting house in Middle-street. At which place is to be sold women's stays, children's good callamanco stiffened-boddy'd coats, and childrens' stays of all sorts, and women's hoop-coats ; all at very reasonable rates." 3 So the " likely Negro girls " were mixed up in the sale of "women's stays " and "hoop-coats " ! It was bad enough to "rate Negroes with Horses and Hogs," but to sell them with second hand clothing was an incident in which is to be seen the low depth to which slavery had carried the Negro by its cruel weight. A human being could be sold like a cast-off garment, and pass without a bill of sale.4 The announcement that a " likely Negro 1 " In the inventory of the estate of Samuel Morgaridge, who died in 1754, I find, ' Item, three negroes *33> 6J., %d. Item, flax 12, 2s., 8.' "In the inventory of Henry Rolfe's estate, taken in April, 1711, I find the following, namel), ' Fifteen sheep, old and young ........ .3, 15-*. An old gun 2 An old Negroe man 10 o 13 7j. COFFIN, p. 188. 2 Slavery in Mass., pp. 64, 65. 3 Drake, 583, note. 4 Here is a sample of the sales of those days : " In 1716, Rice Edwards, of Newbury, ship wright, sells to Edmund Greenleaf ' my whole personal estate with all my goods and chattels as also one negro man, one cow, three pigs with timber, plank, and boards." COFFIN, p. 337. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 189 woman about nineteen years and a child about six months of age to be sold together or apart " I did not shock the Christian sensi bilities of the people of Massachusetts. A babe six months old could be torn from the withered and famishing bosom of the young mother, and sold with other articles of merchandise. How bitter and how cruel was such a separation, mothers 2 only can know ; and how completely lost a community and government are that regard with complacency a hardship so diabolical, the Chris tians of America must be able to judge. The Church has done many cruel things in the name of Chris tianity. In the dark ages it filled the minds of its disciples with fear, and their bodies with the pains of penance. It burned Michael Servetus, and it strangled the scientific opinions of Galileo. And in stalwart old Massachusetts it thought it was doing God's service in denying the Negro slave the right of Christian baptism." "The famous French Code Noir of 1685 obliged every planter to have his Negroes baptized, and properly instructed in the doctrines and duties of Christianity. Nor was this the only important and humane provision of that celebrated statute, to which we may seek in vain for any parallel in British Colonial legislation." 3 On the 25th of October, 1727, Matthias Plant 4 wrote, in answer to certain questions put to him by "the secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," as follows : "6. Negro slaves, one of them is desirous of baptism, but denied by her master, a woman of wonderful sense, and prudent in matters, of equal knowl edge in Religion with most of her sex, far exceeding any of her own nation that ever yet I heard of." 5 It was nothing to her master that she was " desirous of bap tism," "of wonderful sense," "prudent in matters," and "of equal knowledge in religion with most of her sex ! " She was a Negro slave, and as such was denied the blessings of the Christian) Church. 1 New-England Weekly Journal, No. 267, May i, 1732. 2 A child one year and a half old a nursing child sold from the bosom of its mother ! and for life ! COFFIN, p. 337. 3 Slavery in Mass., p. 96. Note. 4 Eight years after this, on the 22d of June, 1735, Mr. Plant records in his diary : " I wrote Mr. Salaion of Barbadoes to send me a Negro." (Coffin, p. 338.) It doesn't appear that the reverend gentleman was opposed to slavery ! 5 Note quoted by Dr. Moore, p. 58. 190 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " The system of personal servitude was fast disappearing from Western Europe, where the idea had obtained that it was inconsistent with Christian duty for Christians to hold Christians as slaves. But this charity did not extend to heathen and infidels. The same system of morality which held the possessions of unbelievers as lawful spoils of war, delivered over their persons also to the condition of servitude. Hence, in America, the slavery of the Indians, and presently of Negroes, whom experience proved to be much more capable of enduring the hardships of that condition." r And those who were so fortunate as to secure baptism were not freed thereby. 2 In Massachusetts no Negro ever had the courage to seek his freedom through this door, and, therefore, there was no necessity for legislation there to define the question ; but in the Southern colonies the law declared that baptism did not secure the liberty of the subject. As early as 1631 a law was passed admitting no man to the rights of " freemen" who was not a member of some church within the limits of the jurisdiction of the colony.3 The blessings of a "freeman" were reserved for church-members only. Negroes were not admitted to the church, and, therefore, were denied the rights of a freeman.4 Even the mother country had no bowels of compassion for the Negro. In 1677 the English courts held that a Negro slave was property. " That, being usually bought and sold among merchants as merchandise, and also being infidels, there might be a property in them sufficient to maintain trover." s So as "infidels" the Negro slaves of Massachusetts were deprived of rights and duties belonging to a member of the Church and State. " Zealous for religion as the colonists were, very little effort was made to convert the Negroes, owing partly, at least, to a prevalent opinion that neither Christian brotherhood nor the law of England would justify the holding Chris- 1 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 44. 2 "For they tell the Negroes, that they must believe in Christ, and receive the Christian faith, and that they must receive the sacrament, and be baptized, and so they do ; but still they keep them slaves for all this." MACY'S Hist, of Nantucket, pp. 280, 281. 3 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 117. 4 Mr. Palfrey relies upon a single reference in Winthrop for the historical trustworthiness of his statement that a Negro slave could be a member of the church. He thinks, however, that this "presents a curious question," and wisely reasons as follows: "As a church-member, he was eligible to the political franchise ; and, if he should be actually invested with it, he would have a part in making laws to govern his master, laws with which his master, if a non-communicant, would have had no concern except to obey them. But it is improbable that the Court would have made a slave while a slave a member of the Company, though he were a communicant. PALFREY, vol. ii. p. 30. Note. 5 Butts vs. Penny, 2 Lev., p. 201 ; 3 Kib., p. 785. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 19 1 tians as slaves. Nor coutd repeated colonial enactments to the contrary entirely root out this idea, for it was not supposed that a colonial statute could set aside the law of England." But the deeper reason the colonists had for excluding slaves from baptism, and hence citizenship, was twofold ; viz., to keep in harmony with the Mosaic code in reference to " strangers " and "Gentiles," and to keep the door of the Church shut in the face of the slave ; because to open it to him was to emancipate him in course of time. Religious and secular knowledge were not favor able to slavery. The colonists turned to the narrow, national spirit of the Old Testament, rather than to the broad and catholic spirit of the New Testament, for authority to withhold the mercies of the Christian religion from the Negro slaves in their midst. The rigorous system of domestic slavery established in the colony of Massachusetts bore its bitter fruit in due season. It was impossible to exclude the slaves from the privileges of the Church and State without inflicting a moral injury upon the holy marriage relation. In the contemplation of the law the slave was a chattel, an article of merchandise. The custom of separating parent and child, husband and wife, was very clear proof that the marriage relation was either positively ignored by the institution of slavery, or grossly violated under the slightest pretext. All well-organized society or government rests upon this sacred rela tion. But slavery, with lecherous grasp and avaricious greed, trailed the immaculate robes of marriage in the moral filth of the traffic in human beings. True, there never was any prohibition against the marriage of one slave to another slave, for they tried to breed slaves in Massachusetts ! but there never was any law encouraging the lawful union of slaves until after the Revolu tionary War, in 1786. We rather infer from the following in the Act of October, 1705, that the marriage relation among slaves had been left entirely to the caprices of the master. "And no master shall unreasonably deny marriage to his Negro with one of the same nation; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwith standing."* We have not been able to discover "any law" positively pro hibiting marriage among slaves ; but there was a custom denying 1 Hildreth, vol. ii. p. 426. 2 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 748. 192 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. marriage to the Negro, that at length received the weight of posi tive law. Mr. Palfrey says, " From the reverence entertained by the fathers of New England for the nuptial tie, it is safe to infer that slave husbands and wives were never sepa rated." ' We have searched faithfully to find the slightest justification for this inference of Mr. Palfrey, but have not found it. There is not a line in any newspaper of the colony, until 1710, that indi cates the concern of the people in the lawful union of slaves. And there was no legislation upon the subject until 1786, when an " Act for the orderly Solemnization of Marriage " passed. That Negro slaves were united in marriage, there is abundant evidence, but not many in this period. It was almost a useless ceremony when "the customs and usages" of slavery separated them at the convenience of the owner. The master's power over his slaves was almost absolute. If he wanted to sell the children and keep the parents, his decision was not subject to any court of law. It was final. If he wanted to sell the wife of his slave man into the rice-fields of the Carolinas or into the West India Islands, the tears of the husband only exasperated the master. "The fathers of New England " had no reverence for the " nuptial tie " among their slaves, and, therefore, tore slave families asunder without the least compunction of conscience. " Negro children were con sidered an incumbrance in a family, and, when weaned, were given away like puppies," says the famous Dr. Belknap. But after the Act of 1705, "their banns were published like those of white persons ; " and public sentiment began to undergo a change on the subject. The following Negro marriage was prepared by the Rev. Samuel Phillips of Andover. His ministry did not com mence until 1710; and, therefore, this marriage was prepared subsequent to that date. He realized the need of something, and acted accordingly. " You, Bob, do now, in ye Presence of God and these Witnesses, Take Sally to be your wife ; " Promising, that so far as shall be consistent with ye Relation which you now Sustain as a servant, you will Perform ye Part of an Husband towards her: And in particular, as you shall have ye Opportunity & Ability, you will take proper Care of her in Sickness and Health, in Prosperity & Adversity ; " And that you will be True & Faithful to her, and will Cleave to her 1 Palfrey, vol. ii. p. 30. Note. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 193 only, so long as God, in his Providence, shall continue your and her abode in Such Place (or Places) as that you can conveniently come together. Do You thus Promise ? "You, Sally, do now, in ye Presence of God, and these Witnesses, Take Bob to be your Husband ; " Promising, that so far as your present Relation as a Servant shall admit, you will Perform the Part of a Wife towards him : and in particular, "You Promise that you will Love him; And that as you shall have the Opportunity & Ability, you will take a proper Care of him in Sickness and Health; in Prosperity and Adversity: " And you will cleave to him only, so long as God, in his Providence, shall continue his & your Abode in such Place (or Places) as that you can come together. Do you thus Promise ? I then, agreeable to your Request, and with ye Consent of your Masters & Mistresses, do Declare that you have License given you to be conversant and familiar together as Husband and Wife, so long as God shall continue your Places of Abode as aforesaid ; And so long as you Shall behave yourselves as it becometh servants to doe : " For you must both of you bear in mind that you remain still, as really and truly as ever, your Master's Property, and therefore it will be justly ex pected, both by God and Man, that you behave and conduct yourselves as Obedient and faithful Servants towards your respective Masters & Mistresses for the Time being : " And finally, I exhort and Charge you to beware lest you give place to the Devil, so as to take occasion from the license now given you, to be lifted up with Pride, and thereby fall under the Displeasure, not of Man only, but of God also ; for it is written, that God resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the humble. " I shall now conclude with Prayer for you, that you may become good Christians, and that you may be enabled to conduct as such ; and in particular, that you may have Grace to behave suitably towards each Other, as also duti fully towards your Masters & Mistresses, Not with Eye Service as Men pleasers, ye Servants of Christ doing ye Will of God from ye heart, &c. [" ENDORSED] NEGRO MARRIAGE." Where a likely Negro woman was courted by the slave of another owner, and wanted to marry, she was sold, as a matter of humanity, " with her wearing apparel " to the owner of the man. "A Bill of Sale of a Negro Woman Servant in Boston in 1724, recites that ' Whereas Scipio, of Boston aforesaid, Free Negro Man and Laborer, proposes Marriage to Margaret, the Negro Woman Servant of the said Dorcas MarshalKfa Widow Lady of Boston] : Now to the Intent that the said Intended Marriage may take Effect, and that the said Scipio may Enjoy the said Margaret without any Interruption/ etc., she is duly sold, with her apparel, for Fifty Pounds." 2 Within the next twenty years the Governor 1 Hist. Mag., vol. v., 2d Series, by Dr. G. H. Moore. 2 Slavery in Mass., p. 57, note. 194 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and his Council found public opinion so modified on the question of marriage among the blacks, that they granted a Negro a divorce on account of his wife's adultery with a white man. But in Quincy's Reports, page 30, note, quoted by Dr. Moore, in 1758 the following rather loose decision is recorded : that the child of a female slave never married according to any of the forms pre scribed by the laws of this land, by another slave, who "had kept her company with her master's consent," was not a bastard. The Act of 1705 forbade any "Christian" from marrying a Negro, and imposed a fine of fifty pounds upon any clergyman who should join a Negro and "Christian" in marriage. It stood as the law of the Commonwealth until 1843, when it was repealed by an " Act relating to Marriage between Individuals of Certain Races." As to the political rights of the Negro, it should be borne in mind, that, as he was excluded from the right of Christian bap- ti^rn, hence from the Church ; and as only church-members enjoyed the rights of freemen, it is clear that the Negro was not admitted to the exercise of the duties of a freeman. 1 Admitting that there were instances where Negroes received the rite of bap tism, it was so well understood as not en-titling them to freedom or political rights, that it was never questioned during this entire period. Free Negroes were but little better off than the slaves. While they might be regarded as owning their own labor, political rights and ecclesiastical privileges were withheld from them. " They became the objects of a suspicious legislation, which deprived them of most of the rights of freemen, and reduced them to a social position very similar, in many respects, to that which inveterate prejudice in many parts of Europe has fixed upon the Jews." Though nominally free, they did not come under the head of " Christians." Neither freedom, nor baptism in the Church, could free them from the race-malice of the whites, that followed them like the fleet-footed " Furies." There were special regulations for free Negroes. The Act of 1703, forbidding slaves from being out at night after the hcrur of nine o'clock, extended to free Negroes. 2 In 1707 an Act was passed "regulating of free negroes. "3 It recites that "free negroes and mulattos, able of body, and fit for 1 I use the term freeman, because the colony being under the English crown, there were no citizens. All were British subjects. 2 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., p. 746. s Ibid., p. 386. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 195 labor, who are not charged with trainings, watches, and other ser vices," I shall perform service equivalent to militia training. They were under the charge of the officer in command of the military company belonging to the district where they resided. They did fatigue-duty. And the only time, that, by law, the Negro was admitted to the trainings, was between 1652 and 1656. But there is no evidence that the Negroes took advantage of the law. Pub lic sentiment is more potent than law. In May, 1656, the law of 1652, admitting Negroes to the trainings, was repealed. " For the better ordering and settling of severall cases in the military com- pftnyes within this jurisdiction, which, upon experience, are found either want ing or inconvenient, it is ordered and declared by this Court and the authoritie thereof, that henceforth no negroes or Indians, although servants to the Eng lish, shal be armed or permitted to trayne, and y* no other person shall be exempted from trayning but such as some law doth priveledge." 2 And Gov. Bradstreet, in his report to the " Committee for Trade," made in May, 1680, says, " We account all generally from Sixteen to Sixty that are healthfull and strong bodys, both House-holders and Servants fit to beare Armes, except Ne groes and slaves, whom wee arme not." 3 The law of 1707 which is the merest copy of the Virginia law on the same subject requires free Negroes to answer fire- alarms with the company belonging to their respective precincts. They were not allowed to entertain slave friends at their houses, without the permission of the owner of the slaves. To all prohi bitions there was affixed severe fines in large sums of money. In case of a failure to pay these fines, the delinquent was sent to the House of Correction ; where, under severe discipline, he was con strained to work out his fine at the rate of one shilling per day \ If a Negro "presume to smite or strike any person of the Eng lish, or other Christian nation," he was publicly flogged by the. justice before whom tried, at the discretion of that officer. During this period the social condition of the Negroes, bond 1 Mr. Palfrey is disposed to hang a very weighty matter on a very slender thread of authority. He says, " In the list of men capable of bearing arms, at Plymouth, in 1643, occurs the name of ' Abraham Pearse, the Black-moore,' from which we infer . . . that Negroes were not dispensed from military service in that colony " (History of New England, vol. ii. p. 30, note). This single case is borne down by the laws and usages of the colonists on this subject. Negroes as a class were absolutely excluded from the military service, from the commencement of the colony down to the war with Great Britain. 2 Slavery in Mass., Appendix, p. 243. 3 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. viii. 3d Series, p. 336. 196 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and free, was very deplorable. The early records of the town of Boston preserve the fact that one Thomas Deane, in the year 1 66 1, was prohibited from employing a Negro in the manufacture of hoops, under a penalty of twenty shillings ; for what reason is not stated." J No churches or schools, no books or teachers, they were left to the gloom and vain imaginations of their own fettered intellects. John Eliot " had long lamented it with a Bleeding and Burning Passion, that the English used their Ne groes but as their Horses or their Oxen, and that so little care was taken about their immortal souls ; he looked upon it as. a Prodigy, that any wearing the Name of Christians should so mucji have the Heart of Devils in them, as to prevent and hinder the Instruction of the poor Blackamores, and confine the souls of their miserable Slaves to a Destroying Ignorance, merely for fear of thereby losing the Benefit of their Vassalage; but now he made a motion to the English within two or three Miles of him, that at such a time and place they would send their Negroes qnce a week unto him : For he would then Catechise them, and Enlighten them, to the utmost of his power in things of their Everlasting Peace ; however, he did not live to make much progress in this under taking." 2 The few faint voices of encouragement, that once in a great while reached them from the pulpit 3 and forum, were as strange music, mellowed and sweetened by the distance. The free and slave Negroes were separated by law, were not allowed to communicate together to any great extent. They were not allowed in numbers greater than three, and then, if not in the service of some white person, were liable to be arrested, and sent to the House of Correction. " The slave was the property of his master as much as his ox or his horse ; he had 110 civil rights but that of protection from cruelty ; he could acquire no property nor dispose of any 4 without the consent of his master. . . . We think he had not the capacity to communicate a civil relation to his children, which he did not enjoy himself, except as the property of his master." s With but small means the free Negroes of the colony were unable to secure many comforts in their homes. They were hated and dreaded more than their brethren in bondage. They could 1 Lyman's Report, 1822. 2 Mather's Magnalia, Book III., p. 207. Compare also p. 209. 3 Elliott's New-England Hist., vol. ii. p. 165. 4 Mr. Palfrey comes again with his single and exceptional case, asking us to infer a rule therefrom. See History of New England, note, p. 30. 5 Chief-Justice Parker, in Andover vs. Canton, 13 Mass. p. 550. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 197 judge, by contrast, of the abasing influences of slavery. They were only nominally free ; because they were taxed z without rep resentation, had no voice in the colonial government. But, notwithstanding the obscure and neglected condition of the free Negroes, some of them by their industry, frugality, and aptitude won a place in the confidence and esteem of the more humane of the white population. Owning their own time, many of the free Negroes applied themselves to the acquisition of knowl edge. Phillis Wheatley, though nominally a slave for some years, stood at the head of the intellectual Negroes of this period. She was brought from Africa to the Boston slave-market, where, in 1761, she was purchased by a benevolent white lady by the name of Mrs. John Wheatley. She was naked, save a piece of dirty carpet about her loins, was delicate of constitution, and much fatigued from a rough sea-voyage. Touched by her modest demeanor and intelligent countenance, Mrs. Wheatley chose her from a large company of slaves. It was her intention to teach her the duties of an ordinary domestic ; but clean clothing and wholesome diet effected such a radical change in the child for the better, that Mrs. Wheatley changed her plans, and began to give her private instruction. Eager for learning, apt in acquiring, though only eight years old, she greatly surprised and pleased her mistress. Placed under the instruction of Mrs. Wheatley's daugh ter, Phillis learned the English language sufficiently well as to be able to read the most difficult portions of the Bible with ease and accuracy. This she accomplished in less than a year and a half. She readily mastered the art of writing ; and within four years from the time she landed in the slave-market in Boston, she was able to carry on an extensive correspondence on a variety of topics. Her ripening intellectual faculties attracted the attention of the refined and educated people of Boston, many of whom sought her society at the home of the Wheatleys. It should be remem bered, that this period did not witness general culture among the masses of white people, and certainly no facilities for the educa tion of Negroes. And yet some cultivated white persons gave Phillis encouragement, loaned her books, and" called her out on matters of a literary character. Having acquired the principles of an English education, she turned her attention to the study of 1 Slavery in Mass., p. 62. 198 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the Latin language, l and was able to do well in it. Encouraged by her success, she translated one of Ovid's tales. The transla tion was considered so admirable that it was published in Boston by some of her friends. On reaching England it was republished, and called forth the praise of many of the reviews. Her manners were modest and refined. Her nature was sen sitive and affectionate. She early gave signs of a deep spiritual experience, 2 which gave tone and character to all her efforts in composition and poetry. There was a charming vein of grati tude in all her private conversations and public utterances, which her owners did not fail to recognize and appreciate. Her only distinct recollection of her native home was, that every morning early her mother poured out water before the rising sun. Her growing intelligence and keen appreciation of the blessings of civilization overreached mere animal grief at the separation from her mother. And as she knew more of the word of God, she became more deeply interested in the condition of her race. At the age of twenty her master emancipated her. Naturally delicate, the severe climate of New England, and her constant application to study, began to show on her health. Her friend and mother, for such she proved herself to be, Mrs. Wheatley, solicitous about her health, called in eminent medical counsel, who prescribed a sea-voyage. A son of Mrs. Wheatley was about to visit England on mercantile business, and therefore took Phillis with him. For the previous six years she had cultivated her taste for poetry ; and, at this time, her reputation was quite well established. She had corresponded with persons in England in social circles, and was not a stranger to the English. She was heartily welcomed by the leaders of the society of the British metropolis, and treated with great consideration. Under all the trying circumstances of high social life, among the nobility and rarest literary genius of London, this redeemed child of the des ert, coupled to a beautiful modesty the extraordinary powers of an incomparable conversationalist. She carried London by storm. Thoughtful people praised her ; titled people dined her ; and the press extolled the -name of Phillis Wheatley, the African poetess. 1 Mott's Sketches, p. 17. 2 At the early age of sixteen, in the year 1770, Phillis was baptized into the membership of the society worshipping in the " Old South Meeting-House." The gifted, eloquent, and noble Dr. Sewall was the pastor. This was an exception to the rule, that slaves were not baptized into the Church. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 199 Prevailed upon by admiring friends, in 1773 J she gave her poems to the world. They were published in London in a small octavo volume of about one hundred and twenty pages, compris ing thirty-nine pieces. It was dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, with a picture of the poetess, and a letter of recom mendation signed by the governor and lieutenant-governor, with many other " respectable citizens of Boston." TO THE PUBLIC. As it has been repeatedly suggested to the publisher, by persons who have seen the manuscript, that numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following attestation, from the most respectable characters in Boston, that none might have the least ground for disputing their Original. We, whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following page were (as we verily believe) written by PHILLIS, a young Negro Girl, who was, but a few Years since, brought, an uncultivated Barbarian, from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the disad vantage of serving as a Slave in a family in this town. She has been exam ined by some of the best judges, and is thought qualified to write them. His Excellency, THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor. The Hon. ANDREW OLIVER, Lieutenant Governor. Hon. Thomas Hubbard, Hon. John Erving, Hon. James Pitts, Hon. Harrison Gray, Hon. James Bowdoin, John Hancock, Esq. Joseph Green, Esq. Richard Gary, Esq. Rev. Charles Chauncy, Rev. Mather Byles, Rev. Ed. Pemberton, Rev. Andrew Elliot, Rev. Samuel Cooper, Rev. Samuel Mather, Rev. John Moorhead, Mr. John Wheatley, her master. The volume has passed through several English and American editions, and is to be found in all first-class libraries in the country. Mrs. Wheatley sickened, and grieved daily after Phillis. A picture of her little ward, sent from England, adorned her bed room ; and she pointed it out to visiting friends with all the sin cere pride of a mother. On one occasion she exclaimed to a friend, " See ! Look at my Phillis ! Does she not seem as though she would speak to me ? " Getting no better, she sent a loving 1 All writers I have seen on this subject and I think I have seen all leave the impression that Miss Wheatley's poems were first published in London. This is not true. The first pub lished poems from her pen were issued in Boston in 1770. But it was a mere pamphlet edition, and has long since perished. 200 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. request to Phillis to come to her at as early a moment as possible^ With a deep sense of gratitude to Mrs. Wheatley for countless, blessings bestowed upon her, Phillis hastened to return to Boston. She found her friend and benefactor just living, and shortly had the mournful satisfaction of closing her sightless eyes. The hus band and daughter followed the wife and mother quickly to the grave. Young Mr. Wheatley married, and settled in England. Phillis was alone in the world. " She soon after received an offer of marriage from a respectable colored man, of Boston. The name of this individual was John Peters.' He kept a grocery in Court Street, and was a man of handsome person. He wore a wig, carried a cane, and quite acted out ' the gentleman? In an evil hour, he was. accepted; and, though he was a man of talents and information, writing with fluency and propriety, and, at one period, reading law, he proved utterly unworthy of the distinguished woman who honored him by her alliance." Her married life was brief. She was the mother of one child,, that died early. Ignorant of the duties of domestic life, courted and flattered by the cultivated, Peters's jealousy was at length turned into harsh treatment. Tenderly raised, and of a delicate constitution, Phillis soon went into decline, and died Dec. 5, 1784, in the thirty-first 2 year of her life, greatly beloved and sincerely mourned by all whose good fortune it had been to know of her high mental endowments and blameless Christian life. Her influence upon the rapidly growing anti-slavery sentiment of Massachusetts was considerable. The friends of humanity took pleasure in pointing to her marvellous achievements, as an evidence of what the Negro could do under favorable circum stances. From a state of nudity in a slave-market, a stranger to the English language, this young African girl had won her way over the rough path of learning; had conquered the spirit of caste in the best society of conservative old Boston ; had brought two continents to her feet in admiration and amazement at the rare poetical accomplishments of a child of Africa ! 3 She addressed a poem to Gen. Washington that pleased the old warrior very much. We have never seen it, though we have searched diligently. Mr. Sparks says of it, 1 All the historians but Sparks omit the given name of Peters. It was John. 2 The date usually given for her death is 1 780, while her age is fixed at twenty-six. The best authority gives the dates above, and I think they are correct. 3 " Her correspondence was sought, and it extended to persons of distinction even in Eng land ; among whom may be named the Countess of Huntingdon, Whitefield, and the Earl o Dartmouth." SPARKS'S Washington, vol. iii. p. 298, note. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 2OI " I have not been able to find, among Washington's papers, the letter and poem addressed to him. They have doubtless been lost. From the circum stance of her invoking the muse in his praise, and from the tenor of some of her printed pieces, particularly one addressed to King George seven years before, in which she compliments him on the repeal of the Stamp Act, it may be inferred, that she was a Whig in politics after the American way of thinking ; and it might be curious to see in what manner she would eulogize liberty and the rights of man, while herself, nominally at least, in bondage." Gen. Washington, in a letter to Joseph Reed, bearing date of the loth of February, 1776, from Cambridge, refers to the letter and poem as follows : " I recollect nothing else worth giving you the trouble of, unless you can be amused by reading a letter and poem addressed to me by Miss Phillis Wheatley. In searching over a parcel of papers the other day, in order to destroy such as were useless, I brought it to light again. At first, with a view of doing justice to her poetical genius, I had a great mind to publish the poem ; but not knowing whether it might not be considered rather as a mark of my own vanity, than as a compliment to her, I laid it aside, 2 till I came across it again in the manner just mentioned." 3 This gives the world an "inside" view of the brave old gen eral's opinion of the poem and poetess; but the " outside" view, as expressed to Phillis, is worthy of reproduction at this point. CAMBRIDGE, 28 February, 1776. Miss PHILLIS, Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands, till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences, con tinually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents; in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehensive, that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity. This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it place in the public prints. If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect, your obedient, humble servant, GEORGE WASHINGTON^ 1 Sparks's Washington, vol. iii. p. 299, note. 2 This destroys the last hope I have nursed for nearly six years that the poem might yet come to light. Somehow I had overlooked this note. 3 Sparks's Washington, vol iii. p. 288. * Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 297, 298. 202 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. This letter is a handsome compliment to the poetess, and does honor to both the head and heart of the general. His modesty, so characteristic, has deprived history of its dues. But it is consoling to know that the sentiments of the poem found a response in the patriotic heart of the first soldier of the Revolu- . tion, and the Father of his Country ! While Phillis Wheatley stands out as one of the most dis tinguished characters of this period, and who, as a Colored person, had no equal, yet she was not the only individual of her race of intellect and character. A Negro boy from Africa was purchased by a Mr. Slocum, who resided near New Bedford, Mass. After he acquired the language, he turned his thoughts to freedom, and in a few years, by working beyond the hours he devoted to his master, was enabled to buy himself from his master. He married an Indian woman named Ruth Moses, and settled at Cutter- hunker, in the Elizabeth Islands, near New Bedford. In a few years, through industry and frugality, John Cuffe the name he took as a freeman was enabled to purchase a good farm of one hundred (100) acres. Every year recorded new achievements, until John Cuffe had a wide reputation for wealth, honesty, and intelli gence. He applied himself to books, and secured, as the ripe fruit of his studious habits, a fair business education. Both him self and wife were Christian believers; and to lives of industry and increasing secular knowledge, they added that higher knowl edge which makes alive to "everlasting life." Ten children were born unto them, four boys and six girls. One of the boys, Paul Cuffe, became one of the most distinguished men of color Massachusetts has produced. The reader will be introduced to him in the proper place in the history. John Cuffe died in 1745, leaving behind, in addition to considerable property, a good name, which is of great price. 1 Richard Dalton, Esq., of Boston, owned a Negro boy whom he taught to read any Greek writer without hesitancy. Mr. Dalton was afflicted with weak eyes ; and his fondness for the classics would not allow him to forego the pleasure of them, and hence his Negro boy Caesar was instructed in the Greek. 2 "The Boston Chronicle " of Sept. 21, 1769, contains the following adver tisement : "To be sold, a Likely Little negroe boy, who can .speak the French language, and very fit for a Valet." 1 Armistead's A Tribute to the Negro, pp. 460, 461. 2 Douglass, vol. ii. p. 345, note. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 203 With increasing evidence of the Negro's capacity for mental improvement, and fitness for the duties and blessings of a free man, and the growing insolence and rigorous policy of the mother country, came a wonderful change in the colony. The Negroes were emboldened to ask for and claim rights as British subjects, and the more humane element among the whites saw in a relaxation of the severe treatment of the blacks security and immunity in war. But anti-slavery sentiment in Massachusetts was not born of a genuine desire to put down a wicked and cruel traffic in human beings. Two things operated in favor of humane treatment of the slaves, an impending war, and the decision of Lord Mansfield in the Sommersett case. The English govern ment was yearly increasing the burdens of the colonists. The country was young, its resources little known. The people were largely engaged in agricultural pursuits. There were no tariff laws encouraging or protecting the labor or skill of the people. Civil war seemed inevitable. Thoughtful men began to consider the question as to which party the Negroes of the colony would contribute their strength. It was no idle question to determine whether the Negroes were Tories or Whigs. As early as 1750 the questions as to the legality of holding Negroes in slavery in British colonies began to be discussed in England and New Eng land. " What, precisely, the English law might be on the subject of slavery, still remained a subject of doubt." I Lord Holt held that slavery was a condition unknown to English law, that the being in England was evidence of freedom. This embarrassed New-England planters in taking their slaves to England. The planters banded for their common cause, and secured the written opinion of Yorke and Talbot, attorney and solicitor general of England. They held that slaves could be held in England as well as in America ; that baptism did not confer freedom : and the opinion stood as sound law for nearly a half-century. 2 The men in England who lived on the money wrung from the slave-trade, the members of the Royal African Company, came to the rescue of the institution of slavery. In order to maintain it by law in the American colonies, it had to be recognized in England. The people of Massachusetts took a lively interest in the question. In 1761, at a meeting "in the old court-house," James Otis,3 in a 1 Hildreth, vol. ii. p. 426. 2 Pearce vs. Lisle, Ambler, 76. 3 It may sound strangely in the ears of some friends and admirers of the gifted John Adams to hear now, after the lapse of many years, what he had to say of the position Otis took. His 204 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. speech against the "writs of assistance," struck a popular chord on the questions of " The Rights of the Colonies," afterwards published (1764) by order of the Legislature. He took the broad ground, " that the colonists, black and white, born here, are free- born British subjects and entitled to all the essential rights of such." 1 In 1766 Nathaniel Appleton and James Swan distin guished themselves in their defence of the doctrines of " liberty for all." It became the general topic of discussion in private and public, and country lyceums and college societies took it up as a subject of^ forensic disputation. 2 In the month of May, 1766, the representatives of the people were instructed to advocate the total abolition of slavery. And on the i6th of March, 1767, a resolution was offered to see whether the instructions should be adhered to, and was unanimously carried in the affirmative. But it should be remembered that British troops were in the colony, in the streets of Boston. The mutterings of the distant thunder of revolution could be heard. Public sentiment was greatly tempered toward the Negroes. On the 3ist of May, 1609, tne House of Representatives of Massachusetts resolved against the presence of troops, and besought the governor to remove them. His Excellency disclaimed any power under the circumstances to- interfere. The House denounced a standing army in time of peace, without the consent of the General Court, as " without precedent, and unconstitutional." 3. In 1769 one of the courts of Massachusetts gave a decision friendly to a slave, who' was the plaintiff. This stimulated the Negroes to an exertion for free dom. The entire colony was in a feverish state of excitement. An anonymous Tory writer reproached Bostonians for desiring freedom when they themselves enslaved others. mild views on slavery were as deserving of scrutiny as those of the elder Quincy. Mr. Adams says: " Nor were the poor negroes forgotten. Not a Quaker in Philadelphia, or Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia, ever asserted the rights of negroes in stronger terms. Young as I was, and ignorant as I was, I shuddered at the doctrine he taught ; and I have all my lifetime shuddered, and still shudder, at the consequences that may be drawn from such premises. Shall we say, that the rights of masters and servants clash, and can be decided only by force? I adore the idea of gradual abolitions ! But who shall decide how fast or how slowly these abolitions shall be made? " 1 Hildreth, vol. ii. pp. 564, 565. 2 Coffin says, "In October of 1773, an action was brought against Richard Greenleaf, of Newburyport, by Caesar [Hendrick], a colored man, whom he claimed as his slave, for holding him in bondage. He laid the damages at fifty pounds. The council for the plaintiff, in whose favor the jury brought in their verdict and awarded him eighteen pounds' damages and costs, was John Lowell, Esq., afterward Judge Lowell. This case excited much interest, as it was the first,, if not the only one of the kind, that ever occurred in the county." 3 Hildreth, vol. ii. pp. 550, 551. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 205 " ' What ! ' cries our good people here, ' Negro slaves in Boston ! It cannot be.' It is nevertheless true. For though the Bostonians have grounded their rebellion on the 'immutable laws of nature,' yet, notwithstanding their re solves about freedom in their Town-meetings, they actually have in town 2,000 Negro slaves." * These trying and exasperating circumstances were but the friendly precursors of a spirit of universal liberty. In England the decision of Lord Mansfield in the Sommersett case had encouraged the conscientious few who championed the cause of the slave. Charles Stewart, Esq., of Boston, Mass., had taken to London with him his Negro slave, James Sommersett. The Negro was seized with a sickness in the British metropolis, and was thereupon abandoned by his master. He afterwards regained his health, 'and secured employment. His master, learn ing of his whereabouts, had him arrested, and placed in confine ment on board the vessel " Ann and Mary," Capt. John Knowls, commander, then lying in the Thames, but soon to sail for Jamaica, where Sommersett was to be sold. "On the 3rd of Dec., 1771, affidavits were made by Thomas Walklin, Eliza beth Cade, and John Marlow, that James Sommersett, a Negro, was confined in irons on board a ship called the Ann and Mary, John Knowls com mander, lying in the Thames, and bound for Jamaica. Lord Mansfield, upon the prayer of the above subscribers, allowed a writ of habeas corpus, requiring the return of the body of Sommersett before his lordship with an explanation of the cause of his detention. On the pth of Dec., Capt. Knowls produced the body of Sommersett in Court. Lord Mansfield, after a preliminary ex amination, referred the matter to the Court of King's Bench, and, therefore, took sureties, and bound Sommersett over 'till 'the 2nd day of the next Hil lary term.' At the time appointed the defendant, with counsel, the reputed master of the Negro man Sommersett, and Capt. John Knowls, appeared before the court. Capt. Knowls recited the reasons that led him to detain Sommer sett ; whereupon the counsel for the latter asked for time in which to prepare an argument against the return. Lord Mansfield gave them until the 7th of February. At the time appointed Mr. Sergeant Davy and Mr. Sergeant Glynn argued against the return, and had further argument ' postponed 'till Easter term,' when Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Alleyne, and Mr. Hargrave argued on the same side. 'The only question before us is whether the cause on the return io. sufficient. If it is, the Negro must be remanded; if it is not, he must be dis charged. The return states that the slave departed and refused to serve, whereupon he was kept to be sold abroad. So high an act of dominion must be recognized by the law of the country where it is used. The power of a master over his slave has been exceedingly different in different countries. 1 Drake, p. 720, note. 2 I use the English spelling, Sommersett. 206 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time itself from whence it was created is erased from memory. It is so odious that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England, and therefore the black must be discharged.' " The influence of this decision was wide-spread, and hurtful to slavery in the British colonies in North America. It poured new life into the expiring hopes of the Negroes, and furnished a rule of law for the advocates of "freedom for all." It raised a ques tion of law in all the colonies as to whether the colonial govern ments could pass an Act legalizing that which was " contrary to English law." * Notwithstanding the general and generous impulse for liberty, the indissoluble ties of avarice, and the greed for the unearned gains of the slave-trade, made public men conservate to conserve the interests of those directly interested in the inhuman traffic. "In an age when the interests of trade guided legislation, this branch of commerce possessed paramount attractions. Not a statesman exposed its enormities ; and, if Richard Baxter echoed the opinions of Puritan Massachu setts, if Southern drew tears by the tragic tale of Oronooko, if Steele awakened a throb of indignation by the story of Inkle and Yarico, if Savage and Shen- stone pointed their feeble couplets with the wrongs of * Afric's sable children,' if the Irish metaphysician Hutcheson, struggling for a higher system of morals, justly stigmatized the traffic; yet no public opinion lifted its voice against it. English ships, fitted out in English cities, under the special favor of the royal family, of the ministry, and of parliament, stole from Africa, in the years from 1700 to 1750, probably a million and a half of souls, of whom one-eighth were buried in the Atlantic, victims of the passage ; and yet in England no general indignation rebuked the enormity ; for the public opinion of the age was obe dient to materialism." 2 Humane masters who desired to emancipate their slaves were embarrassed by a statute unfriendly to manumission. The Act of 1703 3 deterred many persons from emancipating their slaves on account of its unjust and hard requirements. And under it quite a deal of litigation arose. It required every master who desired to liberate his slave, before doing so, to furnish a bond to the treasurer of the town or place in which he resided, in a sum not 1 Hildreth, vol. ii. p. 567. 2 Bancroft, i2th ed. vol. iii. p. 412. 3 Ancient Charters and Laws of Mass., pp. 745, 746. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 207 less than fifty pounds. 1 This was to indemnify the town or place in case the Negro slave thus emancipated should, through lame ness or sickness, become a charge. In case a master failed to furnish such security, his emancipated slaves were still contem plated by the law as in bondage, " notwithstanding any manumis sion or instrument of freedom to them made or given." Judge Sewall, in a letter to John Adams, cites a case in point. " A man, by will, gives his Negro his liberty, and leaves him a legacy. The executor consents that the Negro shall be free, but refuseth to give bond to the selectmen to indemnify the town against any charge for his support in case he should become poor (without which, by the province law, he is not manumitted), or to pay him the legacy. " Query. Can he recover the legacy, and how? " I have just observed that in your last you desire me to say something towards discouraging you from removing to Providence; and you say, any thing will do. At present, I only say, you will do well enough where you are. I will explain myself, and add something further, in some future letter. I have not time to enlarge now, for which I believe you will not be inconsolably grieved. So, to put you out of pain, your hearty friend, JONATHAN SEW ALL."* Mr. Adams replied as follows : "Now. En mesure le manner. The testator intended plainly that his negro should have his liberty and a legacy ; therefore the law will presume that he intended his executor should do all that without which he could have neither. That this indemnification was not in the testator's mind, cannot be proved from the will any more than it could be proved, in the first case above, that the testator did not know a fee-simple would pass a will without the word heirs ; nor than, in the second case, that the devise of a trust, that might continue forever, would convey a fee-simple without the like words. I take it, therefore, that the executor of this will is, by implication, obliged to give bonds to the town treasurer, and, in his refusal, is a wrongdoer; and I cannot think he ought to be allowed to take advantage of his own wrong, so much as to allege this want of an indemnification to evade an action of the case brought for the legacy by the negro himself. "But why may not the negro bring a special action of the case against the executor, setting forth the will, the devise of freedom and a legacy, and then 1 The following is from Felt's Salem, vol. ii. pp. 415, 416, and illustrates the manner in which the law was complied with : "1713. Ann, relict of Governor Bradstreet, frees Hannah, a negro servant. 1717, Dec. 21. William and Samuel Upton, of this town, liberate Thomas, who has faithfully served their father, John Upton, of Reading. They give security to the treasurer, that they will meet all charges, which may accrue against the said black man. 1721, May 27. Elizur Keyser does the same for his servant, Cato, after four years more, and then the latter was to receive two suits of clothes. . . . 1758, June -5. The heirs of John Turner, having freed two servants, Titus and Rebeckah, give bonds to the selectmen, that they shall be no public charge." 2 John Adams's Works, vol. i. p. 51. 208 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the necessity of indemnification by the province law, and then a refusal to indemnify, and, of consequence, to set free and to pay the legacy ? " Perhaps the negro is free at common law by the devise. Now, the province law seems to have been made only to oblige the master to maintain his manumitted slave, and not to declare a manumission in the master's life time, or at his death, void. Should a master give his negro his freedom, under his hand and seal, without giving bond to the town, and should afterwards repent and endeavor to recall the negro into servitude, would not that instru ment be a sufficient discharge against the master ? " * It is pleaded in extenuation of this Act, that it was passed to put a stop to the very prevalent habit of emancipating old and decrepit Negroes after there was no more service in them. If this be true, it reveals a practice more cruel than slavery itself. In 1702 the representatives of the town of Boston were "desired to promote the encouraging the bringing of White servants and to put a period to Negroes being slaves." 2 This was not an anti-slavery measure, as some have wrongly supposed.3 It was not a resolution or an Act : it was simply a request ; and one that the " Representatives " did not grant for nearly a century afterwards. "In 1718, a committee of both Houses prepared a bill entitled 'An Act for the Encouraging the Importation of White Male Servants, and the prevent ing the Clandestine bringing in of Negroes and Molattoes.' " It was read in Council a first time on the i6th of June, and "sent down recommended " to the House ; where it was also read a first time on the same day. The next day it was read a second time, and, "on the question for a third reading, decided in the negative. "4 In 1706 an argument or "Computation that the Importation of Negroes is not so profitable as that of White Servants," was published in Boston. 5 It throws a flood of light upon the Act mentioned above, and shows that the motives that inspired the people who wanted a period put to the holding of Negroes as slaves were grossly material and selfish. It was the first published article on the subject, and is worthy of reproduc- 1 Adams's Works, vol. i. p. 55. 2 Drake, p. 525. 3 The late Senator Sumner, in a speech delivered on the a8th of June, 1854, refers to this as " the earliest testimony from any official body against negro slavery." Even the weight of the senator's assertion cannot resist the facts of history. The "resolve" instructing the "representa tives" was never carried; but, on the contrary, the next Act was the law of 1703 restricting manumission ! * Journal H. of R., 15, 16. General Court Records, x. 282. s Slavery in Mass., p. 106. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 209 tion in full. It is reprinted from " The Boston News-Letter," No. 112, June 10, 1706, in the New- York Historical Society. " By last Year's Bill of Mortality for the Town of Boston, in Number 100 News-Letter, we are furnished with a List of 44 Negroes dead last year, which being computed one with another at 3o/. per Head, amounts to the Sum of One Thousand three hundred and Twenty Pounds, of which we would make this Remark: That the Importing of Negroes into this or the Neighboring Prov inces is not so beneficial either to the Crown or Country, as White Servants would be. " For Negroes do not carry Arms to defend the Country as Whites do. " Negroes are generally Eye-Servants, great Thieves, much addicted to Stealing, Lying and Purloining. " They do not People our Country as Whites would do whereby we should be strengthened against an Enemy. " By Encouraging the Importing of White Men Servants, allowing some what to the Importer, most Husbandmen in the Country might be furnished with Servants for 8, 9, or io/. a Head, who are not able to launch out 40 or 5o/, for a Negro the now common Price. "A Man then might buy a White Man Servant we suppose for io/. to serve 4 years, and Boys for the same price to Serve 6, 8, or io years; If a White Servant die, the Loss exceeds not io/. but if a Negro dies, 'tis a very great loss to the Husbandman ; Three years Interest of the price of the Negro, will near upon if not altogether purchase a White Man Servant. " If necessity call for it, that the Husbandman must fit out a Man against the Enemy ; if he has a Negro he cannot send him, but if he has a White Servant, 'twill answer the end, and perhaps save his son at home. " Were Merchants and Masters Encouraged as already said to bring in Men Servants, there needed not be such Complaint against Superiors Impress ing our Children to the War, there would then be Men enough to be had without Impressing. "The bringing in of such Servants would much enrich this Province, because Husbandmen would not only be able far better to manure what Lands are already under Improvement, but would also improve a great deal more that now lyes waste under Woods, and enable this Province to set about raising of Naval Stores, which would be greatly advantageous to the Crown of England, and this Province. " For the raising of Hemp here, so as to make Sail-cloth and Cordage to furnish but our own shipping, would hinder the Importing it, and save a con siderable sum in a year to make Returns for which we now do, and in time might be capacitated to furnish England not only with Sail-cloth and Cordage, but likewise with Pitch, Tar, Hemp, and other Stores which they are now obliged to purchase in Foreign Nations. "Suppose the Government here should allow Forty Shillings per head for five years, to such as should Import every of these years 10.0 White Men Ser vants, and each to serve 4 years, the cost would be but zoo/, a year, and a looo/. for the 5 years. The first roo Servants, being free the 4th year they serve the 5th for Wages, and the 6th there is 100 that goes out into the Woods, 210 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and settles a 100 Families to Strengthen and Baracado us from the Indians, and also a 100 Families more every year successively. "And here you see that in one year the Town of Boston has lost 13207. by 44 Negroes, which is also a loss to the Country in general, and for a less loss (if it may improperly be so called) for a iooo/. the Country may have 500 Men in 5 years time for the 44 Negroes dead in one year. " A certain person within these 6 years had two Negroes dead computed both at 6o/. which would have procured him six white Servants at io/. per head to have Served 24 years, at 4 years apiece, without running such a great risque, and the Whites would have strengthened the Country, that Negroes do not. " 'Twould do well that none of those Servants be liable to be Impressed during their Service of Agreement at their first Landing. "That such Servants being Sold or Transported out of this Province dur ing the time of their Service, the Person that buys them be liable to pay 3/. into the Treasury." Comment would be superfluous. It is only necessary for the reader to note that there is not a humane sentiment in the entire article. But universal liberty was not without her votaries. All hac> not bowed the knee to Baal. The earliest friend of the Indian and the Negro was the scholarly, pious, and benevolent Samuel Sewall, at one time one of the judges of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, and afterwards the chief justice. He hated slavery with a righteous hatred, and early raised his voice and used his pen against it. He contributed the first article against slavery printed in the colony. It appeared as a tract, on the 24th of June, 1700, and was ''Printed by Bartholomew Green and John Allen." It is withal the most remarkable document of its kind we ever saw. It is reproduced here to show the reader what a learned Christian judge thought of slavery one hundred and eighty-two years ago. "THE SELLING OF JOSEPH A MEMORIAL. " By the Hon'ble JUDGE SEWALL in New England. "FORASMUCH as LIBERTY is in real value next unto Life; None ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon most mature consideration. " The Numerousness of Slaves at this Day in the Province, and the Un easiness of them under their Slavery, hath put many upon thinking whether the Foundation of it be firmly and well laid ; so as to sustain the Vast Weight that is built upon it. It is most certain that all Men, as they are the Sons of Adam, are Co-heirs, and have equal Right unto Liberty, and all other outward THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 211 Comforts of Life. GOD hath given the Earth {with all its commodities} unta the Sons of Adam, PsaL, 115, 16. And hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men, for to dwell on all the face of the Earth, and hath determined the Times before appointed, and the bounds of their Habitation : That they should seek the Lord. Forasmuch then as we are the Offspring of GOD, &c. Acts, 17, 26, 27, 29. Now, although the Title given by the last ADAM doth infinitely better Men's Estates, respecting GOD and themselves; and grants them a most beneficial and inviolable Lease under the Broad Seal of Heaven, who were before only Tenants at Will; yet through the Indulgence of GOD to our First Parents after the Fall, the outward Estate of all and every of their Children, remains the same as to one another. So that Originally, and Naturally, there is no such thing as Slavery. Joseph was rightfully no more a slave to his Brethren, than they were to him; and they had no more Authority to .5W/him, than they had to Slay him. And if they had nothing to do to sell him ; the Ishmaelites bargaining with them, and paying down Twenty pieces of Silver, could not make a Title. Neither could Potiphar have any better Interest in him than the Ishmaelites had. Gen. 37, 20, 27, 28. For he that shall in this case plead Alteration of Property, seems to have forfeited a great part of his own claim to Humanity. There is no proportion between Twenty Pieces of Silver and LIBERTY. The Commodity itself is the Claimer. If Arabian Gold be imported in any quantities, most are afraid to meddle with it, though they might have it at easy rates ; lest it should have been wrongfully taken from the Owners, it should kindle a fire to the Consumption of their whole Estate. 'Tis pity there should be more Caution used in buying a Horse, or a little lifeless dust, than there is in purchasing Men and Women : Whereas they are the Offspring of GOD, and their Liberty is, . . . Auro pretiofior Omni. " And seeing GOD hath said, He that Stealeth a Man, and Selleth him, or if he be found in his Hand, he shall surely be put to Death. Exod. 21, 16. This Law being of Everlasting Equity, wherein Man-Stealing is ranked among the most atrocious of Capital Crimes : What louder Cry can there be made of that Celebrated Warning Caveat Emptor ! " And all things considered, it would conduce more to the Welfare of the Province, to have White Servants for a Term of Years, than to have Slaves for Life. Few can endure to hear of a Negro's being made free ; and indeed they can seldom use their Freedom well ; yet their continual aspiring after their forbidden Liberty, renders them Unwilling Servants. And there is such a disparity in their Conditions, Colour, and Hair, that they can never embody with us, & grow up in orderly Families, to the Peopling of the Land ; but still remain in our Body Politick as a kind of extravasat Blood. As many Negro Men as there are among us, s l o many empty Places are there in our Train Bands, and the places taken up of Men that might make Husbands for our Daughters. And the Sons and Daughters of New England would become more like Jacob and Rachel, if this Slavery were thrust quite out of Doors. Moreover it is too well known what Temptations Masters are under, to connive 212 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. at the Fornication of their Slaves ; lest they should be obliged to find them Wives, or pay their Fines. It seems to be practically pleaded that they might be lawless ; 'tis thought much of, that the Law should have satisfaction for their Thefts, and other Immoralities ; by which means, Holiness to the Lord is more rarely engraven upon this sort of Servitude. It is likewise most lament able to think, how in taking Negroes out of Africa, and selling of them here, That which GOD has joined together, Men do boldly rend asunder; Men from their Country, Husbands from their Wives, Parents from their Children. How horrible is the Uncleanness, Mortality, if not Murder, that the Ships are guilty of that bring great Crowds of these miserable Men and Women. Methinks when we are bemoaning the barbarous Usage of our Friends and Kinsfolk in Africa, it might not be unreasonable to enquire whether we are not culpable in forcing the Africans to become Slaves amongst ourselves. And it may be a question whether all the Benefit received by Negro Slaves will balance the Accompt of Cash laid out upon them ; and for the Redemption of our own enslaved Friends out of Africa. Besides all the Persons and Estates that have perished there. " Obj. i. These Blackamores are of the Posterity of Cham, and therefore we under the Curse of Slavery. Gen. 9, 25, 26, 27. " Ans. Of all Offices, one would not beg this; viz. UncalPd for, to be an Executioner of the Vindictive Wrath of God ; the extent and duration of which is to us uncertain. If this ever was a Commission ; How do we know b\it that it is long since out of Date ? Many have found it to their Cost, that a Pro phetical Denunciation of Judgment against a Person or People, would not warrant them to inflict that evil. If it would, Hazael might justify himself in all he did against his master, and the Israelites from 2 Kings 8, 10, 12. " But it is possible that by cursory reading, this Text may have been mis taken. For Canaan is the Person Cursed three times over, without the men tioning of Cham, Good Expositors suppose the Curse entailed on him, and that this Prophesie was accomplished in the Extirpation of the Canaanites, and in the Servitude of the Gibeonites. Vide Pareum. Whereas the Blackmores are not descended of Canaan, but of Cush. Psal. 68, 31. Princes shall come out of Egypt [Mizraim]. Ethiopia [Cush] shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Under which Names, all Africa may be comprehended ; and their Promised Conversion ought to be prayed for. Jer. 13, 23. Can the Ethiopian change his Skin ? This shows that Black Men are the Posterity of Cush. Who time out of mind have been distinguished by their Colour. And for want of the true, Ovid assigns a fabulous cause of it. Sanguine turn credunt in corpora summa vocato s&thiopum populos nigrum traxisse color em. Metamorph. lib. 2. " Obj. 2. The Nigers are brought out of a Pagan Country, into places where the Gospel is preached. " Ans. Evil must not be done, that good may come of it. The extraordi nary and comprehensive Benefit accruing to the Church of God, and to Joseph personally, did not rectify his Brethren's Sale of him. "Obj. 3. The Africans have Wars one with another: Our Ships bring -lawful Captives taken in those wars. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 213 *' Answ. For aught is known, their Wars are much such as were between 'Jacob's Sons and their Brother Joseph. If they be between Town and Town ; Provincial or National : Every War is upon one side Unjust. An Unlawful War can't make lawful Captives. And by receiving, we are in danger to pro mote, and partake in their Barbarous Cruelties. I am sure, if some Gentlemen should go down to the Brewsters to take the Air, and Fish : And a stronger Party from Hull should surprise them, and sell them for Slaves to a Ship out ward bound; they would think themselves unjustly dealt with; both by Sellers and Buyers. And yet 'tis to be feared, we have no other Kind of Title to our Nigers. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so to them : for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7, 12. "Obj. 4. Abraham had Servants boitght with his money and born in his House. " Ans. Until the Circumstances of Abrahams purchase be recorded, no Argument can be drawn from it. In the mean time, Charity obliges us to conclude, that He knew it was lawful and good. " It is Observable that the Israelites were strictly forbidden the buying or selling one another for Slaves. Levit. 25. 39. 46. Jer. 34, 8-22. And GOD gaged His Blessing in lieu of any loss they might conceit they suffered thereby, Deut. 15. 1 8. And since the partition Wall is broken down, inordinate Self- love should likewise be demolished. GOD expects that Christians should be of a more Ingenuous and benign frame of Spirit. Christians should carry it to all the World, as the Israelites were to carry it one towards another. And for Men obstinately to persist in holding their Neighbours and Brethren under the Rigor of perpetual Bondage, seems to be no proper way of gaining Assurance that God has given them Spiritual Freedom. Our Blessed Saviour has altered the Measures of the ancient Love Song, and set it to a most Excellent New Tune, which all ought to be ambitious of Learning. Matt. 5. 43. 44. John 13. 34. These Ethiopians, as black as they are, seeing they are the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the Brethren and Sisters of the Last ADAM, and the Offspring of GOD ; They ought to be treated with a Respect agree able. " Servitus perfecta voluntaria, inter Christianum &* Christianum, ex parte servi patientis saepe est licita, quia est necessaria; sed ex parte domini agentis, &* procurando & exercendo, vix potest esse licita; quia non convenit regula illi generali : Quaecunque volueritis utfaciant vobis homines, ita 6 vos facite eis. Matt. 7, 12. "Perfecta servitus paenae, non potest jure lociim habere, nisi ex delicto gravi quod ultimum supplicium aliquo modo meretur : quia Libertas ex naturali astimatione proxime accedit advitam ipsam, 6 eidem a multis prceferri solet. " Ames. Cas. Confc. Lib. 5. Cap. 23. Thes. 2. 3." Judge Sewall's attack on slavery created no little stir in Boston ; and the next year, 1701, Judge John Saffin, an associate of Judge Sewall, answered it in quite a lengthy paper. 1 Having furnished 1 It was thought to be lost for some years, until Dr. George H. Moore secured a copy from George Brinley, Esq., of Hartford, Conn., and reproduced it in his Notes. 214 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Judge Sewall's paper, it is proper that Judge Baffin's reply should likewise have a place here. "JUDGE BAFFIN'S REPLY TO JUDGE SEWALL, 1701. " A Brief and Candid Answer to a late Printed Sheet, Entituled, The Selling of Jpseph. "THAT Honourable and Learned Gentleman, the Author of a Sheet, Enti tuled, The Selling of Joseph, A Memorial, seems from thence to draw this conclusion, that because the Sons of Jacob did very ill in selling their Brother Joseph to the Ishmaelites, who were Heathens, therefore it is utterly unlawful to Buy and Sell Negroes, though among Christians ; which Conclusion I pre sume is not well drawn from the Premises, nor is the case parallel; for it was unlawful for the Israelites to Sell their Brethren upon any account, or pretence whatsoever during life. But it was not unlawful for the Seed of Abraham to have Bond men, and Bond women either born in their House, or bought with their Money, as it is written of Abraham, Gen. 14. 14. c. See also, I Cor. 12. 13. Whether we be Bond or Free, which shows that in the times of the New Testament, tj|ere were Bond men also, &c. " In fine, The sum of this long Haurange, is no other, than to compare the Buying and Selling of Negro's unto the Stealing of Men, and the Selling of 2l6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Joseph by his Brethren, which bears no proportion therewith, nor is there any congruiety therein,'as appears by the foregoing Texts. " Our Author doth further proceed to answer some Objections of his own framing, which he supposes some might raise. u Object. I. That these Blackamores are of the Posterity of Cham, and therefore under the Curse of Slavery. Gen. 9. 25, 26, 27. The which the Gentleman seems to deny, saying, they ware the Seed of Canaan that were Cursed, &c. " Answ. Whether they were so or not, we shall not dispute: this may suffice, that not only the seed of Cham or Canaan, but any lawful Captives of other Heathen Nations may be made Bond men as hath been proved. " Obj. 2. That the Negroes are brought out of Pagan Coimtreys into places where the Gospel is preached. To which he Replies, that we must not doe Evil that Good may come of it. " Ans. To which we answer, That it is no Evil thing to bring them out of their own Heathenish Country, where they may have the knowledge of the True God, be Converted and Eternally saved. " Obj. 3. The Affricans have Wars one with another j our Ships bring lawful Captives taken in those Wars. "To. which our Author answers Conjecturally, and Doubtfully,/c. Be it so, what doth that signify: We read of lawful Captives taken in the Wars, and lawful to be Bought and Sold without contracting the guilt of the Agressors ; for which we have the example of Abraham before quoted ; but if we must stay while both parties Warring are in the right, there would be no lawful Captives at all to be Bought; which seems to be rediculous to imagine, and contrary to the tenour of Scripture, and all Humane Histories on that subject "Obj. 4. Abraham had Servants bought with his Money, and born in his House. Gen. 14. 14. To which our worthy Author answers, until the Cir cumstances of Abraham" 1 s purchase be recorded, no Argument can be drawn from it. "Ans. To which we Reply, this is also Dogmatical, and proves nothing. He farther adds, In the mean time Charity Obliges us to conclude, that he kftew it was lawful and good. Here the gentleman yields the case ; for if we are in Charity bound to believe Abrahams practice, in buying and keeping Slaves in his house to be lawful and good: then it follows, that our Imitation of him in this his Moral Action, is as warrantable as that of his Faith; who is the FatJier of all them that believe. Rom. 4. 16. " In the close all, Our Author Quotes two more places of Scripture, viz.*. Levit. 25. 46, and Je+ 34, from the 8. to the 22. v. To prove that the people of Israel were strictly forbidden the Buying and Selling one another for Slaves : who questions that? and what is that to the case in hand? What a strange piece of Logick 5s this ? 'Tis unlawful for Christians to Buy and Sell one THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 217 another for slaves. Ergo, It is unlawful to Buy and Sell Negroes that are lawful Captiv'd Heathens. " And after a Serious Exhortation to us all to Love one another according to the Command of Christ. Math. 5, 43, 44. This worthy Gentleman con eludes with this Assertion, That these Ethiopeans as Black as they are, seeing they are the Sons and Daughters of the first Adam ; the Brethren and Sisters of the Second Adam, and the Offspring of Godj we oitght to treat them with a respect agreeable. " Ans. We grant it for a certain and undeniable verity, That all Mankind are the Sons and Daughters of Adam, and the Creatures of God: But it doth not therefore follow that we are bound to love and respect all men alike ; this under favour we must take leave to deny ; we ought in charity, if we see our Neighbour in want, to relieve them in a regular way, but we are not bound to give them so much of our Estates, as to make them equal with ourselves, be cause they are our Brethren, the Sons of Adam, no, not our own natural Kins men : We are Exhorted to do good unto all, but especially to them who are of the Household of Faith, Gal. 6. 10. And we are to love, honour and respect all men according to the gift of God that is in them : I may love my Servant well, but my Son better; Charity begins at home, it would be a violation of common prudence, and a breach of good mariners, to treat a Prince like a Peasant. And this worthy Gentleman would deem himself much neglected, if we should show him no more Defference than to an ordinary Porter: And therefore these florid expressions, the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the Brethren and Sisters of the Second Adam, and the Offspring of God, seem to be misapplied to import and insinuate, that we ought to tender Pagan Negroes with all love, kindness, and equal respect as to the best of men. " By all which it doth evidently appear both by Scripture and Reason, the practice of the People of God in all Ages, both before and after the giving of the Law. and in the times of the Gospel, that there were Bond men, Women and Children commonly kept by holy and good men, and improved in Service; and therefore by the Command of God, Lev. 25, 44, and their venerable Example, we may keep Bond men, and use them in our Service still ; yet with all candour, moderation and Christian prudence, according to their state and condition consonant to the Word of God." Judge Sewall had dealt slavery a severe blow, and opened up an agitation on the subject that was felt during the entire Revolu tionary struggle. He became the great apostle of liberty, the father of the anti-slavery movement in the colony. He was the bold and stern John the Baptist of that period, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness " of bondage, to prepare the way for freedom. The Quakers, or Friends as they were called, were perhaps, the earliest friends of the slaves, but, like Joseph of Arimathaea, were "secretly" so, for fear of the "Puritans." But they early recorded their disapprobation of slavery as follows : :2l8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 26tk day of y tyh mo. 1716. " An epistle from the last Quarterly Meeting was read in this, and ye mat ter referred to this meeting, viz., whether it is agreeable to truth for friends to purchase slaves and keep them term of liffe, was considered, and ye sense and judgment of this meeting is, that it is not agreeable to truth for friends to purchase slaves and hold them term of liffe. " Nathaniel Starbuck, junr is to draw out this meeting's judgment concern ing friends not buying slaves and keeping them term of liffe, and send it to the snext Quarterly Meeting, and to sign it in ye meeting's behalf." l Considering the prejudice and persecution that pursued this good people, their testimony against slavery is very remarkable. In 1729-30 Elihu Coleman- of Nantucket, a minister of the society of Friends, wrote a book against slavery, published in 1733, entitled, "A Testimony against that Anti-Christian Practice of MAKING SLAVES OF MEN. 2 It was well written, and the truth fearlessly told for the conservative, self-seeking period he lived in. He says, " I am not unthoughtful of the ferment or stir that such discourse as this may make among some, who (like Demetrius of old) may say, by this craft we have our wealth, which caused the people to cry out with one voice, great is Diana of the Ephesians, whom all Asia and the world worship." He examined and refuted the arguments put forth in defence of slavery, charged slaveholders with idleness, and contended that slavery was the mother of vice, at war with the laws of nature and of God. Others caught the spirit of reform, and the agitation movement gained recruits and strength every year. Felt says, "1765. Pamphlets and newspapers discuss the subjects of slavery with increasing zeal." The colonists were aroused. Men were taking one side or the other of a question of great magni tude. In 1767 an anonymous tract of twenty octavo pages against slavery made its appearance in Boston. It was written by Nathaniel Appleton, a co-worker with Otis, and an advanced thinker on the subject of emancipation. It was in the form of a letter addressed to a friend, and was entitled, "Considerations on Slavery/' The Rev. Samuel Webster Salisbury published on the 2d of March, 1769, "An Earnest Address to my Country on Slavery." He opened his article with an argument showing the inconsistency of a Christian people holding slaves, pictured the evil results of slavery, and then asked, 1 History of Nantucket, p. 281. 2 Coffin, p. 338 ; also History of Nantucket, pp. 279, 280. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 219 " What then is to be done ? Done ! for God's sake break every yoke and let these oppressed ones go free without delay let them taste the sweets of that liberty, which we so highly prize, and are so earnestly supplicating God and man to grant us : nay, which we claim as the natural right of every man. Let me beseech my countrymen to put on bowels of compassion for these their brethren (for so I must call them,) yea, let me beseech you for your own sake and for God's sake, to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free." * Begun among the members of the bar and the pulpit, the common folk at length felt a lively interest in the subject of emancipation. An occasional burst of homely, vigorous eloquence from the pulpit on the duties of the hour inflamed the conscience of the pew with a noble zeal for a righteous cause. The afflatus of liberty sat upon the people as cloven tongues. Every village, town, and city had its orators whose only theme was emancipa tion. " The pulpit and the press were not silent, and sermons .and essays in behalf of the enslaved Africans were continually making their appearance." The public conscience was being rapidly educated, and from the hills of Berkshire to the waters of Massachusetts Bay the fires of liberty were burning. 1 Coffin, p. 338. 220 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.. CHAPTER XV. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, CONTINUED. 1633-1775. THE ERA OF PROHIBITORY LEGISLATION AGAINST SLAVERY. BOSTON INSTRUCTS HER REPRESENTA,- TIVES TO VOTE AGAINST THE SLAVE-TRADE. PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY GoV. DuMMER AGAINST THE NEGROES, APRIL 13, 1723. PERSECUTION OF THE NEGROES. "SUING FOR LIBERTY." LETTER OF SAMUEL ADAMS TO JOHN PICKERING, JUN., ON BEHALF OF NEGRO MEMORIALISTS. A BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE PASSES. Is VETOED BY Gov. GAGE, AND FAILS TO BECOME A LAW. THE time to urge legislation on the slavery question had come. Cultivated at the first as a private enterprise, then fostered as a patriarchal institution, slavery had grown to such gigantic proportions as to be regarded as an unwieldy evil, and subversive of the political stability of the colony. Men winked at the "day of its small things," and it grew. Little legislation was required to regulate it, and it began to take root in the social and political life of the people. The necessities for legislation in favor of slavery increased. Every year witnessed the enactment of laws more severe, until they appeared as scars upon the body of the laws of the colony. To erase these scars was the duty of the hour. It was now 1755. More than a half-century of agitation and discussion had prepared the people for definite action. Manu mission and petition were the first methods against slavery. On the loth of March, 1755, the town of Salem instructed their rep resentative, Timothy Pickering, to petition the General Court against the importation of slaves. 1 The town of Worcester, in June, 1765, instructed their representative to "use his influence to obtain a law to put an end to that unchristian and impolitic practice of making slaves of the human species, and that he give his vote for none to serve in His Majesty's Council, who will use their influence against such a law." 2 The people of Boston, in 1 Felt, vol. ii. p, 416. 2 Newspaper Literature, vol. i. p. 31. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 221 the month of May, 1766, instructed their representatives as follows : " And for the total abolishing of slavery among us, that you move for a law to prohibit the importation and the purchasing of slaves for the future." J And in the following year, 1767, on the i6th of March, the question was put as to whether the town should adhere to its previous instructions in favor of the suppression of the slave- trade, and passed in the affirmative. Nearly all the towns, espe cially those along the coast, those accessible by mails an.d news papers, had recorded their vote, in some shape or other, against slavery. The pressure for legislation on the subject was great. The country members of the Legislature were almost a unit in favor of the passage of a bill prohibiting the further importation of slaves. The opposition came from the larger towns, but the opposers were awed by the determined bearing of the enemies of the slave-trade. The scholarship, wealth, and piety of the colony were steadily ranging to the side of humanity. On the 1 3th of March, 1767, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives "to prevent the unwarrantable and unlawfitl Practice or Custom of inslaving Mankind in this Prov ince, and the importation of slaves into the same." 2 It was read the first time, when a dilatory motion was offered that the bill lie over to the next session, which was decided in the negative. An amendment was offered to the bill, limiting it " to a certain time," which was carried ; and the bill made a special order for a second reading on the following day. It was accordingly read on the I4th, when a motion was made to defer it for a third reading to the next " May session." The friends of the bill voted down this dilatory motion, and had the bill made the special order of the following Monday, it now being Saturday. On Sunday there must have been considerable lobbying done, as can be seen by the vote taken on Monday. After it was read, and the debate was concluded, it was " Ordered that the Matter subside, and that Capt. Sheaffe, Col. Richmond, and Col. Bourne, be a Commit tee to bring in a Bill for laying a Duty of Impost on slaves im porting into this Province." 3 This was a compromise, that, as will be seen subsequently, impaired the chances of positive and wholesome legislation against slavery. The original bill dealt a 1 Lyman's Report, quoted by Dr. Moore. 2 House Journal, p. 387. 3 Ibid. , 222 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. double blow : it struck at the slave-trade in the Province, and levelled the institution already in existence. But some secret influences were set in operation, that are forever hidden from the searching eye of history ; and the friends of liberty were bullied or cheated. There was no need of a bill imposing an impost tax on slaves imported, for such a law had been in existence for more than a half-century. If the tax were not heavy enough, it could have been increased by an amendment of a dozen lines. On the 1 7th the substitute was brought in by the special committee appointed by the Speaker the previous day. The rules requiring bills to be read on three several 'days were suspended, the bill ordered to a first and second reading, and then made the special order for eleven o'clock on the next day, Wednesday, the i8th. The motion to lie on the table until the "next May" was defeated. An amendment was then offered to limit the life of the bill to one year, which was carried, and the bill recommitted. On the after noon of the same day it was read a third time, and placed on its passage with the amendment. It passed, was ordered engrossed, and was "sent up by Col. Bowers, Col. Gerrish, Col. Leonard, Capt. Thayer, and Col. Richmond." On the igth of March it was read a first time in the council. On the 2Oth it was read a second time, and passed to be engrossed "as taken into a new draft." When it reached the House for concurrence, in the after noon of the same day, it was "Read and unanimously non-con curred, and the House adhere to their own vote, sent up for concurrence." l Massachusetts has gloried much and long in this Act to prohibit "the Custom of enslaving mankind;" but her silver-tongued ora tors and profound statesmen have never possessed the courage to tell the plain truth about its complete failure. From the first it was harassed by dilatory motions and amendments directed to its life; and the substitute, imposing an impost tax on imported slaves for one year, showed plainly that the friends of the original bill had been driven from their high ground. It was like applying for the position of a major-general, and then accepting the place of a corporal. It was as though they had asked for a fish, and accepted a serpent instead. It seriously lamed the cause of emancipation. It filled the slaves with gloom, and their friends with apprehension. On the other hand, those who profited by 1 House Journals; see, also, Gen. Court Records, May, 1763, to May, 1767, p. 485. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 223 barter in flesh and blood laughed secretly to themselves at the abortive attempt of the anti-slavery friends to call a halt on the trade. They took courage. For ten weary years the voices lifted for the freedom of the slave were few, faint, and far between. The bill itself has been lost. What its subject-matter was, is left to uncertain and unsatisfactory conjecture. All we know is from the title just quoted. But it was, nevertheless, the only direct measure offered in the Provincial Legislature against slavery during the entire colonial period, and came nearest to passage of any. But "a miss is as good as a mile ! " It was now the spring season of 1771. Ten years had flown, and no one in all the Province of Massachusetts had had the courage to attempt legislation friendly to the slave. The scenes of the preceding year were fresh in the minds of the inhabitants of Boston. The blood of the martyrs to liberty was crying from the ground. The " red coats " of the British exasperated the people. The mailed hand, the remorseless steel finger, of English military power was at the throat of the rights of the people. The colony was gasping for independent political life. A terrible struggle for liberty was imminent. The colonists were about to contend for all that men hold dear, their wives, their children, their homes, and their country. But while they were panting for an untrammelled existence, to plant a free nation on the shores of North America, they were robbing Africa every year of her sable children, and condemning them to a bondage more cruel than political subjugation. This glaring inconsistency imparted to reflecting persons a new impulse toward anti-slavery legislation. In the spring of 1771 the subject of suppressing the slave- trade was again introduced into the Legislature. On the I2th of April a bill " To prevent the Importation of slaves from Africa " was introduced, and read the first time, and, upon the question "When shall the bill be read again?" was ordered to a second reading on the day following at ten o'clock. Accordingly, on the 1 3th, the bill was read a second time, and postponed till the fol lowing Tuesday morning. On the i6th it was recommitted. On the iQth of the same month a " Bill to prevent the Importation of Negro slaves into this Province" was read a first time, and ordered to a second reading "to-morrow at eleven o'clock." On the following day it was read a second time, and made the special order for three o'clock on the following Monday. On the 22d, Monday, it was read a third time, and placed upon its passage and 224 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. engrossed. On the 24th it passed the House. When it reached the Council James Otis proposed an amendment, and a motion prevailed that the bill lie upon the table. But it was taken from the table, and the amendment of Otis was concurred in by the House. It passed the Council in the latter part of April, but failed to receive the signature of the governor, on the ground that he was "not authorized by Parliament." 1 The same reason for refusing his signature was set up by Gen. Gage. Thus the bill failed. Gov. Hutchinson gave his reasons to Lord Hillsborough, secretary of state for the colonies. The governor thought him self restrained by "instructions" to colonial governors "from assenting to any laws of a new and unusual nature." In addition to the foregoing, his Excellency doubted the lawfulness of the legislation to which the "scruple upon the minds of the people in many parts of the province " would lead them ; and that he had suggested the propriety of transmitting the bill to England to learn "his Majesty's pleasure" thereabouts. Upon these reasons Dr. Moore comments as follows : " These are interesting and important suggestions. It is apparent that at this time there was no special instruction to the royal governor of Massachu setts, forbidding his approval of acts against the slave-trade. Hutchinson evi dently doubted the genuineness of the 'chief motive' which was alleged to be the inspiration of the bill, the 'meerly moral' scruple against slavery; but his reasonings furnish a striking illustration of the changes which were going on in public opinion, and the gradual softening of the harsher features of slavery under their influence. The non-importation agreement throughout the Colonies, by which America was trying to thwart the commercial selfishness of her rapa cious Mother, had rendered the provincial viceroys peculiarly sensitive to the slightest manifestation of a disposition to approach the sacred precincts of those prerogatives by which King and Parliament assumed to bind their distant dependencies: and the 'spirit of non-importation' which Massachusetts had imperfectly learned from New York was equally offensive to them, whether it interfered with their cherished 'trade with Africa,' or their favorite monopolies elsewhere." Discouraged by the failure of the House and General Court to pass measures hostile to the slave-trade, the people in the out lying towns began to instruct their representatives, in unmistak able language, to urge the enactment of repressive legislation on this subject. At a town meeting in Salem on the i8th of May, I/73, 2 the representatives were instructed to prevent, by appro- 1 Slavery in Mass., pp. 131, 132. 2 Felt, vol. ii. pp. 416, 417. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 22$ priate legislation, the further importation of slaves into the colony, as " repugnant to the natural rights of mankind, and highly preju dicial to the Province." On the very next day, May 19, 1773, at a similar meeting in the town of Leicester, the people gave among other instructions to Thomas Denny, their representative, the fol lowing on the question of slavery: " And, as we have the highest regard for (so as even to revere the name of) liberty, we cannot behold but with the greatest abhorrence any of our fellow-creatures in a state of slavery. " Therefore we strictly enjoin you to use your utmost influence that a stop may be put to the slave-trade by the inhabitants of this Province ; which, we apprehend, may be effected by one of these two ways : either by laying a heavy duty on every negro imported or brought from Africa or elsewhere into this Province ; or by making a law, that every negro brought or imported as afore said should be a free man or woman as soon as they come within the jurisdic tion of it ; and that every negro child that shall be born in said government after the enacting such law should be free at the same age that the children of white people are ; and, from the time of their birth till they are capable of earning their living, to be maintained by the town in which they are born, or at the expense of the Province, as shall appear most reasonable. " Thus, by enacting such a law, in process of time will the blacks become free ; or, if the Honorable House of Representatives shall think of a more eligible method, we shall be heartily glad of it. But whether you can justly take away or free a negro from his master, who fairly purchased him, and (although illegally; for such is the purchase of any person against their consent unless it be for a capital offence) which the custom of this country has justified him in, we shall not determine ; but hope that unerring Wisdom will direct you in this and all your other important undertakings." l Medford instructed the representative to "use his utmost influence to have a final period put to that most cruel, inhuman and unchristian practice, the slave-trade." At a town meeting the people of Sandwich voted, on the i8th of May, 1773, "that our representative is instructed to endeavor to have an Act passed by the Court, to prevent the importation of slaves into this -country, and that all children that shall be born of such Africans as are now slaves among us, shall, after such Act, be free at 21 yrs. of age." 2 This completes the list of towns that gave instructions to their representatives, as far as the record goes. But there doubtless were others ; as the towns were close together, and as the " spirit of liberty was rife in the land." 1 Hist, of Leicester, pp. 442, 443. 2 Freeman's Hist, of Cape Cod, vol. ii. pp. 114, 115. 226 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The Negroes did not endure the yoke without complaint. Having waited long and patiently for the dawn of freedom in the colony in vain, a spirit of unrest seized them. They grew sullen and desperate. The local government started, like a sick man, at every imaginary sound, and charged all disorders to the Negroes. If a fire broke out, the " Negroes did it," in fact, the Negroes, who were not one-sixth of the population, were continu ally committing depredations against the whites ! On the I3th of April, 1723, Lieut. -Gov. Dummer issued a proclamation against the Negroes, which contained the following preamble : "Whereas, within some short time past, many fires have broke out within the town of Boston, and divers buildings have thereby been consumed : which fires have been designedly and industriously kindled by some villanous and desperate negroes, or other dissolute people, as appears, by the confession of some of them (who have been examined by the authority), and many concurring circumstances ; and it being vehemently suspected that they have entered into a combination to burn and destroy the town, I have therefore thought fit, with, the advice of his Majesty's council, to issue forth this proclamation," etc. On Sunday, the i8th of April, 1723, the Rev. Joseph Sewall preached a sermon suggested " by the late fires yt have broke out in Boston, supposed to be purposely set by ye negroes." The town was greatly exercised. Everybody regarded the Negroes with distrust. Special measures were demanded to insure the safety of the town. The selectmen of Boston passed "nineteen articles " for the regulation of the Negroes. The watch of the town was increased, and the military called out at the sound of every fire-alarm "to keep the slaves from breaking out"! In August, 1730, a Negro was charged with burning a house in Maiden ; which threw the entire community into a panic. In 1755 two Negro slaves were put to death for poisoning their master, John Codman of Charlestown. One was hanged, and the other burned to death. In 1766 all slaves who showed any dis position to be free were "transported and exchanged for small negroes." 1 In 1768 Capt. John Willson, of the Fifty-ninth Regi ment, was accused of exciting the slaves against their masters ; assuring them that the soldiers had come to procure their free dom, and that, "with their assistance, they should be able to drive the Liberty Boys to the Devil." The following letter from Mrs. John Adams to her husband, dated at the Boston Garrison, 1 Boston Gazette, Aug. 17, 1761. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 227 22d September, 1774, gives a fair idea of the condition of the public pulse, and her pronounced views against slavery. "There has been in town a conspiracy of the negroes. At present it is kept pretty private, and was discovered by one who endeavored to dissuade them from it. He being threatened with his life, applied to Justice Quincy for protection. They conducted in this way, got an Irishman to draw up a petition to the Governor [Gage], telling him they would fight for him provided he would arm them, and engage to liberate them if he conquered. And it is said that he attended so much to it, as to consult Percy upon it, and one Lieutenant Small has been very busy and active. There is but little said, and what steps they will take in consequence of it I know not. I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the province ; it always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. You know my mind upon this subject." I The Negroes of Massachusetts were not mere passive observers of the benevolent conduct of their white friends. They were actively interested in the agitation going on in their behalf. Here, as in no other colony, the Negroes showed themselves equal to the emergencies that arose, and capable of appreciating the opportunities to strike for their own rights. The Negroes in the colony at length struck a blow for their liberty. And it was not the wild, indiscriminate blow of Turner, nor the military measure of Gabriel ; not the remorseless logic of bludgeon and torch, but the sober, sensible efforts of men and women who believed their condition abnormal, and slavery prejudicial to the largest growth of the human intellect. The eloquence of Otis, the impassioned appeals of Sewall, and the zeal of Eliot had rallied the languishing energies of the Negroes, and charged their hearts with the divine passion for liberty. They had learned to spell out the letters of freedom, and the meaning of the word had quite ravished their fainting souls. They had heard that the royal charter declared all the colonists British subjects ; they had devoured the arguments of their white friends, and were now- prepared to act on their own behalf. The slaves of Greece and Rome, it is true, petitioned the authorities for a relaxation of the severe laws that crushed their manhood ; but they were captives from other nations, noted for government and a knowledge of the science of warfare. But it was left to the Negroes of Massachu- 1 Letters of Mrs. Adams, p. 20. 228 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. setts to force their way into courts created only for white men, and win their cause ! On Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1766, John Adams makes the follow ing record in his diary : " 5. Wednesday. Attended Court ; heard the trial of an action of trespass, brought by a mulatto woman, for damages, for restraining her of her liberty. This is called suing for liberty ; the first action that ever I knew of the sort, though I have heard there have been many." * So as early as 1766 Mr. Adams records a case of "suing for liberty ; " and though it was the first he had known of, neverthe less, he had "heard there have been many." How many of these cases were in Massachusetts it cannot be said with certainty, but there were "many." The case to which Mr. Adams makes reference was no doubt that of Jenny Slew vs. John Whipple, jun., cited by Dr. Moore. It being the earliest case mentioned anywhere in the records of the colony, great interest attaches to it. " JENNY SLEW of Ipswich in the County of Essex, spinster, Pltff., agst. JOHN WHIFFLE, Jun., of said Ipswich Gentleman, Deft., in a Plea of Trespass for that the said John on the 29th day of January, A.D. 1762, at Ipswich afore said with force and arms took her the said Jenny, held and kept her in servi tude as a slave in his service, and has restrained her of her liberty from that time to the fifth of March last without any lawful right & authority so to do and did her other injuries against the peace & to the damage of said Jenny Slew as she saith the sum of twenty-five pounds. This action was first brought at last March Court at Ipswich when & where the parties appeared & the case was continued by order of Court to the then next term when and where the Pltff appeared & the said John Whipple Jun, came by Edmund Trowbridge, Esq. his attorney & defended when he said that there is no such person in nature as Jenny Slew of Ipswich aforesaid, Spinster, & this the said John was ready to verify wherefore the writ should be abated & he prayed judgment accordingly which plea was overruled by the Court and afterwards the said John by the said Edmund made a motion to the Court & praying that another person might endorse the writ & be subject to cost if any should finally be for the Court but the Court rejected the motion and then Deft, saving his plea in abatement aforesaid said that he is not guilty as the plaintiff contends, & there of put himself on the Country, & then the cause was continued to this term, and now the Pltff. reserving to herself the liberty of joining issue on the Deft's plea aforesaid in the appeal says that the defendant's plea aforesaid is an insufficient answer to the Plaintiff's declaration aforesaid and by law she is not held to reply thereto & she is ready to verify wherefore for want of a sufficient answer to the Plaintiff's declaration aforesaid she prays judg- 1 Adams's Works, vol. ii. p. 200. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 229 ment for her damages & costs & the defendant consenting to the waiving of the demurrer on the appeal said his plea aforesaid is good & because the Pltff refuses to reply thereto He prays judgment for his cost. It is considered by the Court that the defendant's plea in chief aforesaid is good & that the said John Whipple recover of the said Jenny Slew costs tax at the Pltff appealed to the next Superior Court of Judicature to be holden for this County & entered into recognizance with sureties as the law directs for prose cuting her appeal to effect." Records of the Inferior Court of C. C. P., Vol. , (Sept. 1 760 to July 1 766), page 502. " JENNY SLEW of Ipswich, in the County of Essex, Spinster, Appellant, versus JOHN WHIPPLE, Jr. of said Ipswich, Gentleman Appellee from the judgment of an Inferior Court of Common Pleas held at Newburyport within and for the County of Essex on the last Tuesday of September 1765 when and where the appellant was plaint., and the appellee was defendant in a plea of trespass, for that the said John upon the 2pth day of January, A.D. 1762, at Ipswich aforesaid with force and arms took her the said Jenny held kept her in servitude as a slave in his service & has restrained her of her liberty from that time to the fifth of March 1765 without any lawful right or authority so to do & did other injuries against the Peace & to the damage of the said Jenny Slew, as she saith, the sum of twenty-five pounds, at which Inferior Court, judgment was rendered upon the demurrer then that the said John Whipple recover against the said Jenny Slew costs. This appeal was brought forward at the Superior Court of Judicature &c., holden at Salem, within & for the County of Essex on the first Tuesday of last November, from whence it was continued to the last term of this Court for this County by consent & so from thence unto this Court, and now both parties appeared & the demurrer aforesaid being waived by consent & issue joined upon the plea tendered at said Inferior Court & on file. The case after full hearing was committed to a jury sworn according to law to try the same who returned their verdict there in upon oath, that is to say, they find for appellant reversion of the former judgment four pounds money damage '& costs. It's therefore considered by the Court, that the former judgment be reversed & that the said Slew recover against the said Whipple the sum of four pounds lawful money of this Prov ince damage & costs taxed 9/. 9^. 6d. "Exon. issued 4 Dec. 1766." Records of the Superior Court of Judica ture (vol. 1766-7), page 175. The next of the "freedom cases," in chronological order, was the case of Newport vs. Billing, and was doubtless the one in which John Adams was engaged in the latter part of September, I768. 1 It was begun in the Inferior Court, where the decision was against the slave, Amos Newport. The plaintiff took an appeal to the highest court in the colony ; and that court gave as its solemn opinion, "that the said Amos [Newport] was not a freeman, as he alleged, but the proper slave of the said Joseph 1 Adams's Works, vol. ii. p. 213. 230 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. [Billing]." J It should not be lost sight of, that not only the Fundamental laws of 1641, but the highest court in Massachusetts, held, as late as 1768, that there was property in man ! The case of James vs. Lechmere is the one " which has been for more than half a century the grand cheval de bataille of the champions of the historic fame of Massachusetts." 2 Richard Lechmere resided in Cambridge, and held to servitude for life a Negro named "James." On the 2d of May, 1769, this slave began an action in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. The action was " in trespass for assault and battery, and imprisoning and holding the plaintiff in servitude from April n, 1758, to the date of the writ." The judgment of the Inferior Court was adverse to the slave ; but on the 3ist of October, 1769, the Superior Court of Suffolk had the case settled by compromise. A long line of worthies in Massachusetts have pointed with pride to this decision as the legal destruction of slavery in that State. But it " is shown by the records and files of Court to have been brought lip from the Inferior Court by sham demurrer, and, after one or two continuances, settled by the parties." 3 The truth of history demands that the facts be given to the world. It will not be pleasant for the people of Massachusetts to have this delusion torn from their affectionate embrace. It was but a mere historical chimera, that ought not to have survived a single day ; and, strangely enough, it has existed until the present time among many intelligent people. This case has been cited for the last hundred years as having settled the question of bond servitude in Massachusetts, when the fact is, there was no decision in this instance ! And the claim that Richard Lechmere's slave James was adjudged free " upon the same grounds, substantially, as those upon which Lord Mansfield discharged Sommersett," is absurd and baseless.4 For on the 27th of April, 1785 (thirteen years after the famous decision), Lord Mansfield himself said, in reference to the Sommersett case, "that his decision went no farther than that the master cannot by force compel the slave to go out of the kingdom." Thirty-five years of suffering and degradation remained for the Africans after the decision of Lord Mansfield. His lordship's decision was ren- 1 Records, 1768, fol., p. 284. 2 This is the case referred to by the late Charles Sumner in his famous speech in answer to Senator Butler of South Carolina; see also Slavery in Mass., p. 115, 116; Washburn's Judicial Hist, of Mass., p. 202 ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., 1863-64, p. 322* 3 Records, 1769, fol. p. 196. Gray in Quincy's Reports, p. 30, note, quoted by Dr. Moore- 4 Slavery in Mass., pp. 115, 116, note. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 231 dered on the 22d of June, 1772 ; and in 1807, thirty-five years after wards, the British government abolished the slave-trade. And then, after twenty-seven years more of reflection, slavery was abolished in English possessions. So, sixty-two years after Lord Mans field's decision, England emancipated her slaves I It took only two generations for the people to get rid of slavery under the British flag. How true, then, that " facts are stranger than fic tion " ! In 1770 John Swain of Nantucket brought suit against Elisha Folger, captain of the vessel " Friendship," for allowing a Mr. Roth to receive on board his ship a Negro boy named " Boston," and for the recovery of the slave. This was a jury-trial in the Court of Common Pleas. The jury brought in a verdict in favor of the slave, and he was " manumitted by the magistrates." John Swain took an appeal from the decision of the Nantucket Court to the Supreme Court of Boston, but never prosecuted it. 1 In 1770, in Hanover, Plymouth County, a Negro asked his master to grant him his freedom as his right. The master refused ; and the Negro, with assistance of counsel, succeeded in obtaining his liberty. 2 " In October of 1773, an action was brought against Richard Greenleaf, of Newburyport, by Caesar [Hendrick,] a colored man, whom he claimed as his slave, for holding him in bondage. He laid the damages at fifty pounds. The counsel for the plaintiff, in whose favor the jury brought in their verdict and awarded him eighteen pounds damages and costs, was John Lowell, esquire, afterward judge Lowell. This case excited much interest, as it was the first, if not the only one of the kind, that ever occurred in the county." 3 This case is mentioned in full by Mr. Dane in his " Abridg ment and Digest of American Law," vol. ii. p. 426. In the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, in the county of Essex, July term in 1774, a Negro slave of one Caleb Dodge of Beverly brought an action against his master for restraining his liberty. The jury gave a verdict in favor of the Negro, on the ground that there was "no law of the Province to hold a man to serve for life." 4 This is the only decision we have been able to find based upon such a reason. The jury may have reached this conclusion from a knowledge of the provisions of the charter of the colony ; or they may have found a verdict in accordance with 1 Lyman's Report, 1822. 2 Slavery in Mass., p. 118. 3 Hist, of Newbury, p. 339, 4 The Watchman's Alarm, p. 28, note; also Slavery in Mass., p. 119. 232 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the charge of the court. The following significant language in the charter of the colony could not have escaped the court : " That all and every of the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, which go to and inhabit within our said province and territory, and every of their children which shall happen to be born there, or on the seas in going thither, or returning from thence, shall have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects within the dominions of us, our heirs and successors, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever, as if they and every of them were born within our realm of England." The Rev. Dr. Belknap, speaking of these cases which John Adams speaks of as "suing for liberty," gives an idea of the line of argument used by the Negroes : " On the part of the blacks it was pleaded, that the royal charter expressly declared all persons born or residing in the province, to be as free as the King's subjects in Great Britain ; that by the laws of England, no man could be de prived of his liberty but by the judgment of his peers ; that the laws of the province respecting an evil existing, and attempting to mitigate or regulate it, did not authorize it; and, on some occasions, the plea was, that though the slavery of the parents be admitted, yet no disability of that kind could descend to children." l The argument pursued by the masters was, " The pleas on the part of the masters were, that the negroes were pur chased in open market, and bills of sale were produced in evidence ; that the laws of the province recognized slavery as existing in it, by declaring that no person should manumit his slave without giving bond for his maintenance." 2 It is well that posterity should know the motives that inspired judges and juries to grant these Negroes their prayer for liberty. "In 1773, etc., some slaves did recover against their masters ; but these cases are no evidence that there could not be slaves in the Province, for some times masters permitted their slaves to recover, to get clear of maintaining them as paupers when old and infirm ; the effect, as then generally understood, of a judgment against the master on this point of slavery; hence, a very feeble defence was often made by the masters, especially when sued by the old or infirm slaves, as the masters could not even manumit their slaves, without in demnifying their towns against their maintenance, as town paupers." And Chief-Justice Parsons, in the case of Winchendon vs. Hatfield, in error, says, " Several negroes, born in this country of imported slaves demanded their freedom of their masters by suit at law, and obtained it by a judgment of court. 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. iv. ist Series, pp. 202, 203. 2 Hildreth, vol. ii. p. 564. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 233 The defence of the master was feebly made, for such was the temper of the times, that a restless discontented slave was worth little ; and when his free dom was obtained in a course of legal proceedings, the master was not holden for his future support, if he became poor." Thus did the slaves of Massachusetts fill their mouths with arguments, and go before the courts. The majority of them, aged and infirm, were allowed to gain their cause in order that their masters might be relieved from supporting their old age. The more intelligent, and, consequently, the more determined ones, were allowed to have their freedom from prudential reasons, more keenly felt than frankly expressed by their masters. In some instances, however, noble, high-minded Christians, on the bench and on juries, were led to their conclusions by broad ideas of justice and humanity. But the spirit of the age was cold and materialistic. With but a very few exceptions, the most selfish and constrained motives conspired to loose the chains of the bondmen in the colony. The slaves were not slow to see that the colonists were in a frame of mind to be persuaded on the question of emancipation. Their feelings were at white heat in anticipation of the Revolu tionary struggle, and the slaves thought it time to strike out a few sparks of sympathy. On the 25th of June, 17/3, a petition was presented to the House of Representatives, and read before that body during the afternoon session. It was the petition "of Felix Holbrook, and others, Negroes, praying that they may be liberated from a state of Bondage, and made Freemen of this Community ; and that this Court would give and grant to them some part of the unimproved Lands belonging to the Province, for a settlement, or relieve them in such other Way as shall seem good and wise upon the Whole." After its reading, a motion prevailed to refer it to a select com mittee for consideration, with leave to report at any time. It was therefore " ordered, that Mr. Hancock, Mr. Greenleaf, Mr. Adams,. Capt. Dix, Mr. Pain, Capt. Heath, and Mr. Pickering consider this, Petition, and report what may be proper to be done." I It was a remarkably strong committee. There were the patriotic Hancock,, the scholarly Greenleaf, the philosophic Pickering, and the elo quent Samuel Adams. It was natural that the Negro petitioners should have expected something. Three days after the committee 1 House Journal, p. 85, quoted by Dr. Moore. 234 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. was appointed, on the 28th of June, they recommended "that the further Consideration of the Petition be referred till next session." The report was adopted, and the petition laid over until the " next session." l But the slaves did not lose heart. They found encouragement among a few noble spirits, and so were ready to urge the Legis lature to a consideration of their petition at the next session, in the winter of 1774. The following letter shows that they were anxious and earnest "SAMUEL ADAMS TO JOHN PICKERING, JR. "BOSTON, Jany. 8, 1774. ".Sir, As the General Assembly will undoubtedly meet on the 26th of this month, the Negroes whose petition lies on file, and is referred for consid eration, are very solicitous for the Event of it, and having been informed that you intended to consider it at your leisure Hours in the Recess of the Court, they earnestly wish you would compleat a Plan for their Relief. And in the meantime, if it be not too much Trouble, they ask it as a favor that you would by a Letter enable me to communicate to them the general outlines of your Design. I am, with sincere regard," etc. 2 It is rather remarkable, that on the afternoon of the first day of the session, Jan. 26, 1774, the " Petition of a number of Negro Men, which was entered on the Journal of the 25th of June last, and referred for Consideration to this session," was " read again, together, with a Memorial of the same Petitioners, and Ordered, that Mr. Speaker, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Adams, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Pain, and Mr. Greenleaf consider the same and report." 3 The public feeling on the matter was aroused. It was considered as important as, if not more impor tant than, any measure before the Legislature. The committee were out until March, considering what was best to do about the petition. On the 2d of March, 1774, they reported to the House "a Bill to prevent the Importation of Negroes and others as slaves into this Province," when it was read a first time. On the 3d of March it was read a second time in the morning session ; in the afternoon session, read a third time, and passed to be engrossed. It was then sent up to the Council to be concurred in, by Col. Gerrish, Col. Thayer, Col. 1 House Journal, p. 94. a Slavery in Mass., p. 136. 3 House Journal, p. 104. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 235 Bowers, Mr. Pickering, and Col. Bacon. 1 On the next day the bill "passed in Council with Amendments," 2 and was returned to the House. On the 5th of March the House agreed to concur in Council amendments, and on the 7th of March passed the bill as amended. On the day following it was placed upon its passage in the Council, and carried. It was then sent down to the governor to receive his signature, in order to become the law of the Province. That official's approval was withheld ; and the reason given was, "the' secretary said (on returning the approved bills) that his Excellency had not had time to consider the other Bills that had been laid before him." 3 It is quite fortunate that the bill was preserved ; 4 for it is now, in the certain light of a better civilization, a document of great historic value. "ANNO REGNI REGIS GEORGII TERTII &c. DECIMO QUARTO. " AN ACT to prevent the importation of Negroes or other Persons as Slaves into this Province; and the purchasing them within the same; and for making provision for relief of the children of such as are already sub jected to slavery Negroes Mulattoes 6 Indians born within this Province. "WHEREAS the Importation of Persons as Slaves into this Province has been found detrimental to the interest of his Majesty's subjects therein ; And it being apprehended that the abolition thereof will be beneficial to the Province "Be it therefore Enacted by the Governor Council and House of Repre sentatives that whoever shall after the Tenth Day of April next import or bring into this Province by Land or Water any Negro or other Person or Persons whether Male or Female as a Slave or Slaves shall for each and every such Person so imported or brought into this Province forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred Pounds to be recovered by presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury and when so recovered to be to his Majesty for the use of this Govern ment: or by action of debt in any of his Majesty's Courts of Record and in case of such recovery the one moiety thereof to be to his majesty for the use of this Government the other moiety to the Person or Persons who shall sue for the same. "And be it further Enacted that from and after the Tenth Day of April next any Person or Persons that shall purchase any Negro or other Person or Persons as a Slave or Slaves imported or brought into this Province as afore said shall forfeit and pay for every Negro or other Person so purchased Fifty Pounds to be recovered and disposed of in the same way and manner as before directed. 1 House Journal, p. 224. 2 Ibid., p. 226. 3 House Journal, Gen. Court Records, xxx. pp. 248, 264 ; also, Slavery in Mass., p. 137. 4 Mass. Archives, Domestic Relations, 1643-1774, vol. ix. p. 457. 236 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "And be it further Enacted 'that every Person, concerned in importing or bringing into this Province, or purchasing any such Negro or other Person or Persons as aforesaid within the same ; who shall be unable, or refuse, to pay the Penalties or forfeitures ordered by this Act ; shall for every such offence suffer Twelve months' imprisonment without Bail or mainprise. "Provided allways that nothing in this act contained shall extend to subject to the Penalties aforesaid the Masters, Mariners, Owners or Freighters of any such Vessel or Vessels, as before the said Tenth Day of April next shall have sailed from any Port or Ports in this Province, for any Port or Ports not within this Government, for importing or bringing into this Province any Negro or other Person or Persons as Slaves who in the prosecution of the same voyage may be imported or brought into the same. Provided he shall not offer them or any of them for sale. " Provided also that this act shall not be construed to extend to any such Person or Persons, occasionally hereafter coming to reside within this Province, or passing thro' the same, who may bring such Negro or other Person or Persons as necessary servants into this Province provided that the stay or residence of such Person or Persons shall not exceed Twelve months or that such Person or Persons within said time send such Negro or other Person or Persons out of this Province there to be and remain, and also that during said Residence such Negro or other Person or Persons shall not be sold or alienated within the same. "V And be it further Enacted and declared that nothing in this act contained shall extend or be construed to extend for retaining or holding in Perpetual servitude any Negro or other Person or Persons now inslaved within this Province but that every such Negro or other Person or Persons shall be intituled to all the Benefits such Negro or other Person or Persons might by Law have been intituled to, in case this act had not been made. " In the House of Representatives March 2, 1774. Read a first & second Time. March 3, 1774. Read a third Time & passed to be engrossed. Sent up for concurrence. T. GUSHING, Spkr. "In Council March 3, 1774. Read a first time. 4. Read a second Time and passed in Concurrence to be Engrossed with the Amendment at y dele the whole Clause. Sent down for concurrence. THOS. FLUCKER, Secry* " In the House of Representatives March 4, 1 774. Read and concurred. T. CUSHING, Spkr." Like all other measures for the suppression of the slave-trade, this bill failed to become a law. If Massachusetts desired to free herself from this twofold cross of woe, even if her great jurists could trace the law that justified the abolition of the curse, in the pages of the royal charter, were not the British governors of the Province but conserving the corporation inter ests of the home government and the members of the Royal African Company? By the Treaty of Utrecht, England had THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 237 agreed to furnish the Spanish West Indies with Negroes for the space of thirty years. She had aided all her colonies to establish slavery, and had sent her navies to guard the vessels that robbed Africa of five hundred thousand souls annually. 1 This was the cruel work of England. For all her sacrifices in the war, the millions of treasure she had spent, the blood of her children so prodigally shed, with the glories of Blenheim, of Ramillies, of Oudenarde and Malplaquet, England found her consolation and reward in seizing and enjoying, as the lion's share of results of the grand alliance against the Bourbons, the exclusive right for thirty years of selling African slaves to the Spanish West Indies and the coast of America ! 2 Why should Gov. Hutchinson sign a bill that was intended to choke the channel of a commerce in human souls that was so near the heart of the British throne ? Gov. Hutchinson was gone, and Gen. Gage was now governor. He convened the General Court at Salem, in June, 1774. On the. 10th of June the same bill that Gov. Hutchinson had refused to sign was introduced, with a few immaterial changes, and pushed to a third reading, and engrossed the same day. It was called up on the i6th of June, and passed. It was sent up to the Council, where it was read a third time, and concurred in. But the next day the General Court was dissolved ! And over the grave of this, the last attempt at legislation to suppress the slave-trade in Massachusetts, was written : "Not to have been consented to by the governor " ! These repeated efforts at anti-slavery legislation were strate gic and politic. The gentlemen who hurried those bills through the House and Council, almost regardless of rules, knew that the royal governors would never affix their signatures to them. But the colonists, having put themselves on record, could appeal to the considerate judgment of the impatient Negroes ; while the refusal of the royal governors to give the bills the force of law did much to drive the Negroes to the standard of the colonists, In the long night of darkness that was drawing its sable curtains, about the colonial government, the loyalty of the Negroes was the lonely but certain star that threw its peerless light upon the pathway of the child of England so soon to be forced to lift its parricidal hand against its rapacious and cruel mother. 1 Ethiope, p. 12. 2 Bolingbroke, pp. 346-348. 238 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XVI. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 1634-1775. MARYLAND UNDER THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA UNTIL 1630. FIRST LEGISLATION ON THE SLAVERY QUES TION IN 1637-38. SLAVERY ESTABLISHED BY STATUTE IN 1663. THE DISCUSSION OF SLAVERY. AN ACT PASSED ENCOURAGING THE IMPORTATION OF NEGROES AND WHITE SLAVES IN 1671. AN ACT LAYING AN IMPOST ON NEGROES AND WHITE SERVANTS IMPORTED INTO THE COLONY. DUTIES IMPOSED ON RUM AND WINE. TREATMENT OF SLAVES AND PAPISTS. CONVICTS IM- PORTED INTO THE COLONY. AN ATTEMPT TO JUSTIFY THE CONVICT-TRADE. SPIRITED REPLIES. THE LAWS OF 1723, 1729, 1752. RIGHTS OF SLAVED. NEGRO POPULATION IN 1728. INCREASE OF SLAVERY IN 1756. No EFFORTS MADE TO PREVENT THE EVILS OF SLAVERY. THE REVO LUTION NEARING. NEW LIFE FOR THE NEGROES. UP to the 20th of June, 1630, the territory that at present constitutes the State of Maryland was included within the limits of the colony of Virginia. During that period the laws of Virginia obtained throughout the entire territory. In 1637 l the first assembly of the colony of Maryland agreed upon a number of bills, but they never became laws. The list is left, but nothing more. The nearest and earliest attempt at legis lation on the slavery question to be found is a bill that was intro duced " for punishment of ill servants." During the earlier years of the existence of slavery in Virginia, the term "servant" was applied to Negroes as well as to white persons. The legal distinc tion between slaves and servants was, "servants for a term of years," white persons ; and " servants for life," Negroes. In the first place, there can be no doubt but what Negro slaves were a part of the population of this colony from its organization ; 2 and, in the second place, the above-mentioned bill of 1637 for the "punishment of ill servants " was intended, doubtless, to apply 1 Dr. Abiel Holmes, in his American Annals, vol. ii. p. 5, says, " Maryland now contained about thirty-six thousand persons, of white men from sixteen years of age and upwards, and negroes male, and female from sixteen to sixty." I infer from this statement that slavery was in existence in Maryland in 1634 ; and I cannot find any thing in history to lead me to doubt but that slavery was born with the colony. 2 Cabinet Cyclopaedia, vol. i. p. 61. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 239 to Negro servants, or slaves. So few were they in number, that they were seldom referred to as " slaves." They were " servants ; " and that appellation dropped out only when the growth of slavery as an institution, and the necessity of specific legal distinction, made the Negro the only person that was suited to the condition of absolute property. In 1638 there was a list of bills that reached a second reading, but never passed. There was one bill "for the liberties of the people" that declared " all Christian inhabitants (slaves only ex- cepted) to have and enjoy all such rights, liberties, immunities, privileges and free customs, within this province, as any natural born subject of England hath or ought to have or enjoy in the realm of England, by force or virtue of the common law or statute law of England, saving in such cases as the same are or may be altered or changed by the laws and ordinances of this province." f There is but one mention made of "slaves" in the above Act, but in none of the other Acts of 1638. There are certain features of the Act worthy of special consideration. The reader should keep the facts before him, that by the laws of England no Christian could be held in slavery ; that in the Provincial governments the laws were made to conform with those of the home government ; that, in specifying the rights of the colonists, the Provincial as semblies limited the immunities and privileges conferred by the Magna Charta upon British subjects, to Christians ; that Negroes were considered heathen, and, therefore, denied the blessings of the Church and State ; that even where Negro slaves were bap tized, it was held by the courts in the colonies, and was the law- opinion of the solicitor-general of Great Britain, that they were not ipso facto free ; 2 and that, where Negroes were free, they had no rights in the Church or State. So, while this law of 1638 did not say that Negroes should be slaves, in designating those who were to enjoy the rights of freemen, it excludes the Negro, and there by fixes his condition as a slave by implication. If he were not named as a freeman, it was the intention of the law-makers that 1 See Bacon's Laws ; also Holmes's Annals, vol. i. p. 250. 2 The following appeared in the Plantation Laws, printed in London in 1705: "Where any negro or slave, being in servitude or bondage, is or shall become Christian, and receive the sacrament of baptism, the same shall not nor ought not to be deemed, adjudged or construed to be a manumission or freeing of any such negro or slave, or his or her issue, from their servitude or bondage, but that notwithstanding they shall at all times hereafter be and remain in servitude and bondage as they were before baptism, any opinion, matter or thing to the contrary notwith standing." 240 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. he should remain a bondman, the exception to an established rule of law. 1 In subsequent Acts reference was made to " servants," "fugi tives," " runaways," etc. ; but the first statute in this colony estab lishing slavery was passed in 1663. It was " An Act concerning negroes and other slaves." It enacts section one : " All negroes or other slaves within the province, and all negroes and other slaves to be hereafter imported into the province, shall serve durante vita; and all children born of any negro or other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were for the term of their lives." Section two : " And forasmuch as divers freeborn English women, forgetful of their free condition, and to the disgrace of our nation, do intermarry with negro slaves, by which also divers suits may arise, touching the issue of such women, and a great damage doth befall the master of such negroes, for preservation whereof for deterring such free-born women from such shameful matches, be it enacted, &c. : That whatsoever free-born woman shall intermarry with any slave, from and after the last day of the present assembly, shall serve the master of such slave during the life of her husband; and that all the issue of such free-born women, so married, shall be slaves as their fathers were." Section three : "And be it further enacted, that all the issues of English, or other free- born women, that have already married negroes, shall serve the master of their parents, till they be thirty years of age and no longer." 2 Section one is the most positive and sweeping statute we have ever seen on slavery. It fixes the term of servitude for the longest time man can claim, the period of his earthly existence, and dooms the children to a service from which they were to find discharge only in death. Section two was called into being on account of the intermarriage of white women with slaves. Many of these women had been indentured as servants to pay their passage to this country, some had been sent as convicts, while still others had been apprenticed for a term of years. Some of them, however, were very worthy persons. No little confusion attended the fixing of the legal status of the issue of such mar riages ; and it was to deter Englishwomen from such alliances, and to determine the status of the children before the courts, that this section was passed. Section three was clearly an ex post 1 McSherry's Hist, of Maryland, p. 86. 2 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 249. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 241 facto law : but the public sentiment of the colony was reflected in it ; and it stood, and was re-enacted in 1676. Like Virginia, the colony of Maryland found the soil rich, and the cultivation of tobacco a profitable enterprise. The country was new, and the physical obstructions in the way of civilization numerous and formidable. Of course all could not pursue the one path that led to agriculture. Mechanic and trade folk were in great demand. Laborers were scarce, and the few that could be obtained commanded high wages. The Negro slave's labor could be made as cheap as his master's conscience and heart were small. Cheaper labor became the cry on every hand, and the Negro was the desire of nearly all white men in the colony. 1 In 1671 the Legislature passed "An Act encouraging the importation of negroes and slaves into " the colony, which was followed by another and similar Act in 1692. Two motives inspired the colony to build up the slave-trade ; viz., to have more laborers, and to get some thing for nothing. And, as soon as Maryland was known to be a good market for slaves, the traffic increased with wonderful rapidity. Slaves soon became the bone and sinew of the working- force of the colony. They were used to till the fields, to fell the forests, to assist mechanics, and to handle light crafts along the water-courses. They were to be found in all homes of opulence and refinement ; and, unfortunately, their presence in such large numbers did much to lower honorable labor in the estimation of the whites, and to enervate women in the best white society. While the colonists persuaded themselves that slavery was an institution indispensable to the colony, its evil effects soon became apparent. It were impossible to engage the colony in the slave- trade, and escape the bad results of such an inhuman enterprise. It made men cruel and avaricious. It was the motion of individuals to have legislative encourage ment tendered the venders of human flesh and blood ; but the time came when the government of the colony saw that an impost tax upon the slaves imported into the colony would not impair the trade, while it would aid the government very materially. In 1696 "An Act laying an imposition on negroes, slaves and white persons imported" into the colony was passed. It is plain from the reading of the caption of the above bill, that it was intended to reach three classes of persons ; viz., Negro servants, Negro 1 McMahon's Hist, of Maryland, vol. i. p. 274. 242 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. slaves, and white servants. The word " imported " means such persons as could not pay their passage, and were therefore inden tured to the master of the vessel. When they arrived, their time was hired out, if they were free, for a term of years, at so much per year ; l but if they were slaves the buyer had to pay all claims against this species of property before he could acquire a fee sim ple in the slave. Some historians have too frequently misinter preted the motive and aim of the colonial Legislatures in imposing an impost tax upon Negroes and other servants imported into- their midst. The fact that the law applied to white persons does not aid in an interpretation that would credit the makers of the act with feelings of humanity. A people who could buy and sell wives did not hesitate to see in the indentured white servants prop erty that ought to be taxed. Why not ? These white servants represented so many dollars invested, or so many years of labor in prospect ! So all persons imported into the colony of Mary land, "Negroes, slaves, and white persons," were taxed as any other marketable article. A swift and remorseless civilization against the stolid forces of nature made men indiscriminate and cruel in their impulses to obtain. Public sentiment had been formulated into law: the law contemplated "servants and slaves" as chattel property ; and the political economists of the Province saw in this species of property rich gains for the government. It was condition, circumstances, that made the servant or slave ; but at length it was nationality, color. When, on the threshold of the eighteenth century, "white indentured " servants were rapidly ceasing to exist under color or sanction of law, religious bigotry and ecclesiastical intolerance joined hands with the supporters of Negro slavery in a crusade 2 1 The following form was used for a long time in Maryland for binding out a servant. This Indenture made the day of in the yeere of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles, &*c. betiveene of the one party, and on the other party, Witnesseth, that the said doth hereby covenant promise, and grant, to and with the said his Executors and Assignes, to serve him from the day of the date hereof, vntill his first and next arrivall in Maryland; and after for and during the tearme of yeeres, in such service and imployment, as the said or his assignes shall there imploy him, according to the cnstome of the Countrey in the like kind. In consideration whereof, the said doth promise and grant, to and with the said to pay for his passing, and to find him with Meat, Drinke, Apparell and Lodging, with other necessaries during the said terme; and at the end of the said terme, to give him one whole yeeres provision of Corne, and fifty acres of Land, according to the order of the countrey. In witnesse whereof, the said hath hereitnto put his hand and scale, the day and yeere above written. Sealed and delivered in the presence of Relation of the state of Maryland, pp. 62, 63.. 2 Modern Traveller, vol. i. pp. 122, 123. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 243 against the Irish Catholics. In 1704 the Legislature passed "An Act imposing three pence per gallon on rum and wine, brandy and spirits, and twenty shillings per poll for negroes, for raising a supply to defray the public charge of this province, and twenty shil lings, per poll, on Irish servants, to prevent the importing too great a number of Irish papist into this province," Although this Act was intended to remain on the statute-books only three years, its life was prolonged by a supplemental Act, and it disgraced the colony for twenty-one years. As in New York, so here, the gov ernment regarded the slave and Papist with feelings of hatred and fear. The former was only suited to a condition of perpetual bondage, the latter to be ostracized and driven out from before the face of the exclusive Protestants of that period. Both were cruelly treated ; one on account of his face, the other on account of his faith. " Unfortunately for the professors of the Catholic religion, by the force of circumstances which it is not necessary to detail, their religious persuasions became identified, in the public mind, with opposition to the principles of the revolution. Their political disfranchisement was the consequence. Charles Calvert, the deposed proprietary, shared the common fate of his Catholic brethren. Sustained and protected by the crown in the enjoyment of his mere private rights, the general jealousy of Catholic power denied him the govern ment of the province." J A knowledge of the antecedents of the master-class will aid the reader to a more accurate conception of the character of the institution of slavery in the colony of Maryland. It is not very pleasing for the student of history at this time to remember that the British colonies in North America received into their early life the worst poison of European society, the criminal element. From the first the practice of transporting convicts into the colonies obtained. And, during the reign of George I. , statutes were passed "authorizing transportation as a commutation punishment for clergyable felonies." These con victs were transported by private shippers, and then sold into the colony ; and thus it became a gainful enterprise. From 1700 until 1760 this nefarious and pestiferous traffic greatly increased. At length it became, as already indicated, the subject of a special impost tax. Three or four hundred convicts were imported into the colony annually, and the people began to complain. 2 In "The 1 McMahoivs Maryland, vol. i. p. 278. 2 ist Pitkin's United States, p. 133. 244 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Maryland Gazette" of the 3Oth of July, 1767, a writer attempted to show that the convict element was not to be despised, but was rather a desirable addition to the Province. He says, " I suppose that for these last thirty years, communibus annis, there have been at least 600 convicts per year imported into this province : and these have probably gone into 400 families." After answering some objections to their importation because of the contagious diseases likely to be communicated by them, he further remarks, " This makes at least 400 to one, that they do no injury to the country in the way complained of : and the people's continuing to buy and receive them so constantly, shows plainly the general sense of the country about the matter; notwithstanding a few gentlemen seem so angry that convicts are imported here at all, and would, if they could, by spreading this terror, prevent the peo ple's buying them. I confess I am one, says he, who think a young country cannot be settled, cultivated, and improved, without people of some sort : and that it is much better for the country to receive convicts than slaves. The wicked and bad amongst them, that come into this province, mostly run away to the northward, mix with their people, and pass for honest men : whilst those more innocent, and who came for very small offences, serve their times out here, behave well, and become useful people." This attempt to justify the convict trade elicited two able and spirited replies over the signatures of " Philanthropos " and " C. D." appearing in "Green's Gazette" of 2Oth of August, 1767, in which the writer of the first article is handled "with the gloves off." " His remarks [says Philanthropos] remind me of the observation of a great philosopher, who alleges that there is a certain race of men of so selfish a cast, that they would even set a neighbour's house on fire, for the con venience of roasting an egg at the blaze. That these are not the reveries of fanciful speculatists, the author now under consideration is in a great measure -a proof; for who, but a man swayed with the most sordid selfishness, would endeavor to disarm the people of all caution against such imminent danger, lest their just apprehensions should interfere with his little schemes of profit? And who but such a man would appear publicly as an advocate for the impor tation of felons, the scourings of jails, and the abandoned outcasts of the British nation, as a mode in any sort eligible for peopling a young country ? " In another part of his reply he remarks, "In confining the indignation because of their importation to a few, and representing that the general sense of the people is in favor of this vile impor tation, he is guilty of the most shameful misrepresentation and the grossest THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 245 calumny upon the whole province. What opinion must our mother country, and our sister colonies, entertain of our virtue, when they see it confidently asserted in the Maryland Gazette, that we are fond of peopling our country with the most abandoned profligates in the universe ? Is this the way to purge ourselves from that false and bitter reproach, so commonly thrown upon us, that we are the descendants of convicts? As far as it has lain in my way to be acquainted with the general sentiments of the people upon this subject, I solemnly declare, that the most discerning and judicious amongst them esteem it the greatest grievance imposed upon us by our mother country." The writer felt that a young country could not be settled "without people of some sort," and that it was better to secure " convicts than slaves." Upon what grounds precisely this de fender of buying convict labor based his conclusion that he would rather have " convicts than slaves "is not known. It could not have been that he believed the convicts of England more indus trious or skilful than Negro slaves ? Or, had he theoretical objec tions to slavery as a permanent institution ? Perhaps the writer had himself graduated from the criminal class ! But there were gentlemen who differed with him, and couched their objections to the convict system of importation in very vigorous English. On the 2Oth of August, 1767, two articles appeared in "Greene's Gazette."' Says one of these writers, " For who, but a man swayed with the most sordid selfishness, would endeavor to disarm the people of all caution against such imminent danger, lest their just apprehensions should interfere with his little schemes of profit? And who but such a man would appear publicly as an advocate for the impor tation of felons, the scourings of jails, and the abandoned outcasts of the British nation, as a mode in any sort eligible for peopling a young country ? " There can be no doubt but that many of the convicts thus imported, having served out their time, in a brief season became slave-drivers and slave-owners. With hearts reduced to flinty hardness in the fires of unrestrained passions, the convict element, as it became absorbed in the great free white population of the Province, 1 created a most positive sentiment in favor of a cruel code for the government of the Negro slave. There were two motives that inspired the ex-convict to cruelty to the Negro : to 1 McMahone says of this convict element : " The pride of this age revolts at the idea of going back to such as these, for the roots of a genealogical tree ; and they, whose delight it would be, to trace their blood through many generations of stupid, sluggish, imbecile ancestors, with no claim to merit but the name they carry down, will even submit to be called ' novi homines,' if a convict stand in the line of ancestry." 246 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. divert attention from himself, and to persuade himself, in his doubting mind, that the Negro was inferior to him by nature. It was, no doubt, a great undertaking ; but the findings of such a court must have been comforting to an anxious conscience ! The result can be judged. Maryland made a slave-code, which, for cruelty and general inhumanity, has no equal in the South. 1 The Maryland laws of 1715 contained, in chapter forty-four, an act with one hundred and thirty-five sections relating to Negro slaves. A most rigorous pass-system was established. By section six, no Negro or other servant was allowed to leave the county without a pass under the seal of the county in which their master resided ; for which pass the slave or other servant was compelled to pay ten pounds of tobacco, or one shilling in money. If such persons were apprehended, a justice of the peace could irrtpose such fines and inflict such punishment as were fixed by the law applying to runaways. By the Act of 1723, chapter fifteen, under the caption of "An Act to prevent the tumultuous meeting and other irregularities of negroes and other slaves" the severity of the laws was increased tenfold. According to section four, a Negro or other slave who had the temerity to strike a white person, was to have his ears " cropt on order of a Justice." Section six denies slaves the right of possession of property : they could not own cattle. Section seven gave authority to any white man to kill a Negro who resisted an attempt to arrest him ; and by a supplemental Act of 175 1, chap ter fourteen, the owner of a slave thus killed was to be paid out of "the public treasury. In 1729 an Act was passed providing, that upon the conviction of certain crimes, Negroes and other slaves shall be not only hanged, but the body should be quartered, and exposed to public view. When slaves grew old and infirm in the service of their masters, and the latter were inspired by a desire to compliment the faithfulness of their servants by emancipation, the law came in and forbade manumission by the "last will or testament," or the making free in any way of Negro slaves. It. was a temporary Act, passed in 1752, void of every element of humanity ; and yet it stood as the law of the colony for twenty long years. In 1748 the Negro population of Maryland was thirty-six thousand, and still rapidly increasing. 1 With perhaps the single exception of South Carolina, of which the reader will learn more farther on. THE COLONY OF MARYLAND. 247 "By a 'very accurate census,' taken this year, this was found to be the number of white inhabitants in Maryland : FREE. SERVANTS. ' CONVICTS. TOTAL. Men . . . 24,058 3,576 i,57 29,141 Women . . 23,5 2 I 1,824 386 25,731 Boys . . . 26,637 1,048 67 27,75 2 Girls . . . 24,141 422 21 24,584 98^57 6,870 I,98l 107,208 " By the same account the total number of mulattoes in Maryland amounted to 3,592 ; and the total number of Negroes, to 42,764. Pres. Stiles' MS. It was reckoned (say the authors of Univ. Hist.), that above 2,000 Negro slaves were annually imported into Maryland." 1 In 1756 the blacks had increased to 46,225, and in 1761 to 49,675. There was nothing in the laws to prohibit the instruction of Negroes, and yet no one dared to brave public sentiment on that point. The churches gave no attention or care to the slaves. During the first half or three-quarters of a century there was an indiscriminate mingling and marrying among the Negroes and white servants ; and, although this was forbidden by rigid statutes, it went on to a considerable extent. The half-breed, or Mulatto, population increased ; 2 and so did the number of free Negroes. The contact of these two elements of slaves and convicts was neither prudent nor healthy. The Negroes suffered from the touch of the moral contagion of this effete matter driven out of European society. Courted as rather agreeable companions by the convicts at first, the Negro slaves were at length treated worse by the ex-convicts than by the mosj; intelligent and opulent slave- dealers in all the Province. And with no rights in the courts, incompetent to hold an office of any kind, the free Negroes were in almost as disagreeable a situation as the slaves. From the founding of the colony of Maryland in 1632 down to the Revolutionary War, there is no record left us that any effort was ever made to cure the most glaring evils of slavery. For the Negro this was one long^ starless night of oppression and out- 1 American Annals. 2 Dr. Holmes says, " The total number of mulattoes in Maryland amounted to 3,592," in 1755. 248 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. rage. No siren's voice whispered to him of a distant future, propitious and gracious to hearts almost insensible to a throb of joy, to minds unconscious of the feeblest rays of light. Being absolute property, it was the right of the master to say how much food, or what quantity of clothing, his slave should have. There were no rules by which a slave could claim the privilege of ceas ing from labor at the close of the day. No, the master had the same right to work his slaves after nightfall as to drive his horse morning, noon, and night. Poor clothes, rough and scanty diet, wretched quarters, overworked, neglected in body and mind, the Negroes of Maryland had a sore lot. The Revolution was nearing. Public attention was largely occupied with the Stamp Act and preparations for hostilities. The Negro was left to toil on ; and, while at this time there was no- legislation sought for slavery, there was nothing done that could be considered hostile to the institution. The Negroes hailed the mutterings of the distant thunders of revolution as the precursor of a new era to them. It did furnish an opportunity for them in Maryland to prove themselves patriots and brave soldiers. And how far their influence went to mollify public sentiment concern ing them, will be considered in its appropriate place. Suffice it now to say, that cruel and hurtful, unjust and immoral, as the institution of slavery was, it had not robbed the Negro of a lofty conception of the fundamental principles that inspired white men to resist the arrogance of England ; nor did it impair his enthusiasm in the cause that gave birth to a new republic amid the shock of embattled arms. THE COLONY OF DELAWARE. 249 CHAPTER XVII. THE COLONY OF DELAWARE. 1636-1775. THE TERRITORY OF DELAWARE SETTLED IN PART BY SWEDES AND DANES, ANTERIOR TO THE YEAR 1638. THR DUKE OF YORK TRANSFERS THE TERRITORY OF DELAWARE TO WILLIAM PENN. PENN GRANTS THE COLONY THE PRIVILEGE OF SEPARATE GOVERNMENT. SLAVERY INTRODUCED ON THE DELAWARE AS EARLY AS 1636. COMPLAINT AGAINST PETER ALRICKS FOR USING OXEN AND NEGROES BELONGING TO THE COMPANY. THE FIRST LEGISLATION ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION IN THE COLONY. AN ENACTMENT OF A LAW FOR THE BETTER REGULATION OF SERVANTS. AN ACT RESTRAINING MANUMISSION. A NTERIOR to the year 1638, the territory now occupied by J~\^ the State of Delaware was settled in part by Swedes and Danes. It has been recorded of them that they early declared that it was "not lawful to buy and keep slaves." l But the Dutch claimed the territory. When New Netherlands was ceded to the Duke of York, Delaware was occupied by his repre sentatives. On the 24th of August, 1682, the Duke transferred that territory to William Penn. 2 But in 1703 Penn surren dered the old form of government, and gave the Delaware counties the privilege of a separate administration under the Charter of Privileges. Delaware inaugurated a legislature, but remained under the Council and Governor of Pennsylvania. But slavery made its appearance on the Delaware as early as 1636.3 " At this early period there appears to have been slavery on the Delaware. As one Coinclisse was 'condemned, on the 3d of February, to serve the company with the blacks on South River for wounding a soldier at Fort Amsterdam. He was also to pay a fine to the fiscal, and damages to the wounded soldier.' On the 22d, a witness testifying in the case of Governor Van Twiller, (the governor of New Neitherlands before Kieft,) who was charged with neglect and mismanagement of the company's affairs, said that 1 Dr. Stevens, in his History of Georgia, vol. i.p. 288, says, " In the Swedish and German colony, which Gustavus Adolphus planted in Delaware, and which in many points resembled the plans of the Trustees, negro servitude was disallowed." But he gives no authority, I regret. 2 See Laws of Delaware, vol. i. Appendix, pp. 1-4. 3 Albany Records, vol. ii. p. 10, 250 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. '' he had in his custody for Van Twiller, at Fort Hope and Nassau, twenty-four to thirty goats, and that three negroes bought by the director in 1636, were since employed in his private service.' Thus it will be seen that slavery was intro duced on the Delaware as early as 1636, though probably not in this State, as the Dutch at that time had no settlement here." x And on the I5th of September, 1657, complaint was made that Peter Alricks had "used the company's oxen and negroes;" thus showing that there were quite a number of Negroes in the colony at the time mentioned. In September, 1661, there was a meeting between Calvert, D'Hinoyossa, Peter Alricks, and two Indian chiefs, to negotiate terms of peace. At this meeting the Mary landers agreed to furnish the Dutch annually three thousand hogsheads of tobacco, provided the Dutch would "supply them with negroes and other commodities." 2 Negroes were numerous, and an .intercolonial traffic in slaves was established. The first legislation on the slavery question in the colony of Delaware was had in 1721. "An Act for the trial of Negroes" provided that two justices and six freeholders should have full power to try "negro and mulatto slaves" for heinous offences. In case slaves were executed, the Assembly paid the owner two- thirds the value of such slave. It forbade convocations of slaves, and made it a misdemeanor to carry arms. During the same year an Act was passed punishing adultery and fornication. In case of children of a white woman by a slave, the county court bound them out until they were thirty-one years of age. In 1739 the Legislature passed an Act for the better regulation of servants and slaves, consisting of sixteen articles. It provided that no indentured servant should be sold into another government with out the approval of at least one justice. Such servant could not be assigned over except before a justice. If a person manumitted a slave, good security was required : if he failed to do this, the manumission was of no avail. If free Negroes did not care for their children, they were liable to be bound out. In 1767 the Legislature passed another Act restraining manumission. It recites : " SECTION 2. And be it enacted by the honorable John Penn, esq. with his Majesty's royal approbation, Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of the counties of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware, and province of Pennsylvania, under the honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, esquires, 1 Vincent's History of Delaware, p. 159. 2 Ibid., p. 381. THE COLONY OF DELAWARE. 251 .true and absolute proprietaries of the said counties and province, by and with -the advice and consent of the Representatives of the freemen of the said coun ties, in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That if any master or m/stress shall, by will or otherwise, discharge or set free any Mulatto or Negro slave or slaves ; he or she, or his or her executors or administrators, at the next respective County Court of Quarter Sessions, shall enter into a recognizance with sufficient sureties, to be taken in the name of the Treasurer of the said county for the time being, in the sum of Sixty Pounds for each slave so set free, to indemnify the county from any charge they or any of them may be unto the same, in case of such Negro or Mulattoe's being sick, or otherwise rendered incapable to support him or herself; and that until such recognizance be given, no such Negro or Mulatto shall be deemed free." J The remainder of the slave code in this colony was like unto those of the other colonies, and therefore need not be described. Negroes had no rights, ecclesiastical or political. They had no property, nor could they communicate a relation of any character. They had no religious or secular training, and none of the bless ings of home life. Goaded to the performance of the most severe tasks, their only audible reply was an occasional growl. It sent a feeling of terror through their inhuman masters, and occasioned them many ugly dreams. 1 Laws of Delaware, vol. i. p. 436. 252 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.. CHAPTER XVIII. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 1646-1775. THE FOUNDING OF CONNECTICUT, 1631-36. No RELIABLE DATA GIVEN FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF SLAVES. NEGROES WERE FIRST INTRODUCED BY SHIP DURING THE EARLY YEARS OF THE COLONY. " COMMITTEE FOR TRADE AND FOREIGN PLANTATIONS." INTERROGATING THE GOVERNOR AS TO THE NUMBER OF NEGROES IN THE COLONY IN 1680. THE LEGISLATURE (1690) PASSES A LAW PERTAINING TO THE PURCHASE AND TREATMENT OF SLAVES AND FREE PERSONS. AN ACT PASSED BY THE GENERAL COURT IN 1711, REQUIRING PERSONS MANUMITTING SLAVES TO MAINTAIN THEM. REGULATING THE SOCIAL CONDUCT OF SLAVES IN 1723. THE PUNISHMENT OF NEGRO, INDIAN, AND MULATTO SLAVES, FOR THE USE OF PROFANE LANGUAGE, IN 1630. LAWFULNESS OF INDIAN AND NEGRO SLAVERY RECOGNIZED BY CODE, SEPT. 5, 1646. LIMITED RIGHTS OF FREE NEGROES IN THE COLONY. NEGRO POPULATION IN 1762. ACT AGAINST IMPORTATION OF SLAVES, 1774. A LTHOUGH the colony of Connecticut was founded between /\ the years 1631 and 1636, there are to be found no reliable data by which to fix the time of the introduction of slavery there. 1 Like the serpent's entrance into the Garden of Eden, slavery entered into this colony stealthily ; and its power for evil was discovered only when it had become a formidable social and political element. Vessels from the West Coast of Africa, from the West Indies, and from Barbadoes, landed Negroes for sale in Connecticut during the early years of its settlement. And for many years slavery existed here, without sanction of law, it is true, but perforce of custom. Negroes were bought as laborers and domestics, and it was a long time before their number called for special legislation. But, like a cancer, slavery grew until there was not a single colony in North America that could boast of its ability to check the dreadful curse. When the first slaves were introduced into this colony, can never be known ; but, that there were Negro slaves from the beginning, we have the strongest 1 In the Capital Laws of Connecticut, passed on the ist of December, 1642, the tenth law reads as follows; " 10. If any man stealeth a man or mankind, he shall be put to death. Ex. 21 1 6." But this was the law in Massachusetts, and yet slavery existed there for one hundred and; forty-three (143) years. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 253 historical presumption. For nearly two decades there was no reference made to slavery in the records of the colony. In 1680 "the Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations " addressed to the governors of the North-American plantations or colonies a series of questions. Among the twenty-seven ques tions put to Gov. Leete of Connecticut, were two referring to Negroes. The questions were as follows : "17. What number of English, Scotch, Irish or Forreigners have (for these seaven yeares last past, or any other space of time) come yearly to plant and inhabit within your Corporation. And also, what Blacks and Slaves have been brought in within the said time, and att what rates ? "18. What number of Whites, Blacks or Mulattos have been born and christened, for these seaven yeares last past, or any other space of time, for as many yeares as you are able to state on account of?" * To these the governor replied as follows : " 17. Answ. For English, Scotts and Irish, there are so few come in that we cannot give a certain acco*- Som yeares come none ; sometimes, a famaly or two, in a year. And for Blacks, there comes sometimes 3 or 4 in a year from Barbadoes ; and they are sold usually at the rate of 22^- a piece, some times more and sometimes less, according as men can agree with the master of vessells, or merchants that bring them hither. " 18. Answ. We can give no acco 1 - of the perfect number of either born; but fewe blacks ; and but two blacks christened, as we know of." 2 It is evident that the number of slaves was not great at this time, and that they were few and far between. The sullen and ofttimes revengeful spirit of the Indians had its effect upon the few Negro slaves in the colony. Sometimes they were badly treated by their masters, and occasionally they would run away. The country was new, the settlements scattered ; and slavery as an institution, at this time and in this colony, in its infancy. The spirit of insubordination among the slave population seemed to call aloud for legislative restriction. In October, 1690, the Legis^ lature passed the following bill : "Whereas many persons of this Colony doe for their necessary use pur chase negroe seruants, and often times the sayd seruants run away to the great wronge, damage and disapoyntment of their masters and owners, for preven tion of which for [221] the future, as much as || may be, it is ordered by this Court that Whateuer negroe or negroes shall hereafter, at any time, be fownd wandring out of the towne bownds or place to which they doe belong, without 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1678-89, p. 293. 2 Ibid., p. 298. 254 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. a ticket or pass from the authority, or their masters or owners, shall be stopt and secured by any of the inhabitants, or such as shall meet with them, and brought before the next authority to be examined and returned to their owners, who shall sattisfy for the charge if any be ; and all ferrymen within this Colony are hereby required not to suffer any negroe without such certificate, to pass ouer their ferry by assisting them therein, upon the penalty of twenty shillings, to be payd as a fine to the county treasury, and to be leuyed upon theire estates for non-payment in way of distresse by warrant from any one Assistant or Comr. This order to be obserued as to vagrant and susspected persons fownd wandring from town to town, haueing no passes ; such to be seized for exami nation and farther disspose by the authority ; and if any negroes are free and for themselues, trauelling without such ticket or certificate, they to bear the charge themselues of their takeing up." The general air of complaint that pervades the above bill leaas to the conclusion that it was required by an alarming state of affairs. The pass-system was a copy from the laws of the older colonies where slavery had long existed. By implication free Negroes had to secure from the proper authorities a certificate of freedom ; and the bill required them to carry it, or pay the cost of arrest. One of the most palpable evidences of the humanity of the Connecticut government was the following act passed in May, 1702 : "Whereas it is observed that some persons in this Colonie having pur chased Negro or Malatta Servants or Slaves, after they have spent the princi- pall part of their time and strength in their masters service, doe sett them at liberty, and the said slaves not being able to provide necessaries for themselves may become a charge and burthen to the towns where they have served : for prevention whereof, " It is ordered and enacted by this Court and the authority thereof: That every person in this Colonie that now is or hereafter shall be owner of a negro or mulatta servant or slave, and after some time of his or her being taken into imployment in his or her service, shall sett such servant or slave at liberty to provide for him or herselfe, if afterwards such servant or slave shall come to want, every such servant shall be relieved at the onely cost and charge of the person in whose service he or she was last reteined or taken, and by whome sett at liberty, or at the onely cost and charge of his or her heirs, executors or administrators, any law, usage or custome to the contrary notwithstanding." 2 Massachusetts had acted and did act very cowardly about this matter. But Connecticut showed great wisdom and humanity in making a just and equitable provision for such poor and decrepit slaves as might find themselves turned out to charity after a long 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1689-1706, p. 40. 2 Ibid., 1689-1706, pp. 375, 376. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 255 life of unrequited toil. Slavery was in itself "the sum of all vil- lanies," the blackest curse that ever scourged the earth. To buy and sell human beings ; to tear from the famishing breast of the mother her speechless child ; to separate the husband from the wife of his heart ; to wring riches from the unpaid toil of human beings ; to tear down the family altar, and let lecherous beasts, who claim the name of " Christian," run over defenceless womanhood as swine over God's altar ! is there any thing worse, do you ask ? Yes ! To work a human being from youth to old age, to appropriate the labor of that being exclusively, to rob it of the blessings of this life, to poison every domestic charity, to fetter the intellect by Jhe po\ver of fatal ignorance, to withhold the privileges of the gospel of love ; and then, when the hollow cough comes under an inclement sky, when the shadows slant, when the hand trembles, when the gait is shuffling, when the ear is deaf, the eye dim, when desire faileth, then to turn that human being out to die is by far the profoundest crime man can be guilty of in his dealings with mankind ! And slavery had so hardened men's hearts, that the above act was found to be neces sary to teach the alphabet of human kindness. No wonder human forbearance was strained to its greatest tension when masters, thus liberating their slaves, assumed the lofty air of humanitarians who had actually done a noble act in manumitting a slave ! In 1708 the General Court was called upon to legislate against the commercial communion that had gone on between the slaves and free persons in an unrestricted manner for a long time. Slaves would often steal articles of household furniture, wares, clothing, etc., and sell them to white persons. And, in order to destroy the ready market this wide-spread kleptomania found, an Act was passed making it a misdemeanor for a free person to pur chase any article from slaves. It is rather an interesting law, and is quoted in full. " Whereas divers rude and evil minded persons for the sake of filthie lucre do frequently receive from Indians, malattoes and negro servants, money and goods stolen or obteined by other indirect and unlawful means, thereby incour- aging such servants to steal from their masters and others : for redress whereof, [35] Be it enacted by the Governour, Council and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authoritie of the same, That every free person whomsoever, which shall presume either openly or privately to buy or receive of or from any Indian, molato or negro servant or slave, any goods, money, merchandize, wares, or provisions, without order from the master or 256 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. mistress of such servant or slave, every person so offending and being thereor convicted, shall be sentenced to restore all such money, goods, wares, merchan dizes, or provisions, unto the partie injured, in specie, (if not altered,) and also forfeit to the partie double the value thereof over and above, or treble the value where the same are disposed of or made away. And if the person so offend ing be unable, or shall not make restitution as awarded, then to be openly whipt with so many stripes (not exceeding twentie,) as the court or justices that have cognizance of such offence shall order, or make satisfaction by ser vice. And the Indian, negro, or molatto servant or slave, of or from whom such goods, money, wares, merchandizes or provisions shall be received or bought, if it appear to be stolen, or that shall steal any money, goods, or chat- tells, and be thereof convicted, although the buyer or receiver be not found, shall be punished by whipping not exceeding thirtie stripes, and the money, goods or chattels shall be restored to the partie injured, if it be found. And every assistant and justice of peace in the countie where such offence is com mitted, is hereby authorized to hear and determine all offences against this law, provided the damage exceed not the sum of fortie shillings." l On the same day another act was passed, charging that as Mulatto and Negro slaves had become numerous in parts of the colony, destined to become insubordinate, abusive of white peo ple, etc., and is as follows : " And whereas negro and molatto servants or slaves are become numerous in some parts of this Colonie, and are very apt to be turbulent, and often quar relling with white people to the great disturbance of the peace : " // is therefore ordered and enacted by the Governour, Council and Repre sentatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authoritie of the same, That if any negro or malatto servant or slave disturb the peace, or shall offer to strike any white person, and be thereof convicted, such negro or malatto ser vant or slave shall be punished by whipping, at the discretion of the court, assistant, or justice of the peace that shall have cognizance thereof, not exceed ing thirtie stripes for one offence." 2 In 1711 the General Court of Connecticut Colony signally dis tinguished itself by the passage of an act in harmony with that of 1702. It was found that indentured servants as well as slaves had been made the victims of the cruel policy of turning slaves and servants out into the world without means of support after they had become helpless, or had served out their time. This class of human beings had been cast aside, like a squeezed lemon, to be trodden under the foot of men. The humane and thought ful men of the colony demanded a remedy at law, and it came in the following admirable bill : 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1706-16, p. 52. 2 Ibid., pp. 52, 53. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 257 "An Act relating to Slaves, and such in particular as shall happen to 'become Servants for Time. " // is ordered and enacted by the Governour, Council and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the atithority of the same, That all slaves set at liberty by their owners, and all negro, malatto, or Spanish Indians, who are servants to masters for time, in case they come to want, after they shall be so set at liberty, or the time of their said service be expired, shall be relieved by such owners or masters respectively, their heirs, executors, or administra tors ; and upon their, or either of their refusal so to do, the said slaves and servants shall be relieved by the selectmen of the towns to which they belong, and the said selectmen shall recover of the said owners or masters, their heirs, executors, or administrators, all the charge and cost they were at for such relief, in the usual manner as in the case of any other debts." x In 1723 an Act was passed regulating the social conduct, and restricting the personal rights, of slaves. The slaves were quite numerous at this time, and hence the colonists deemed it proper to secure repressive legislation. It is strange how anticipatory the colonies were during the zenith of the slavery institution ! They were always expecting something of the slaves. No doubt they thought that it would be but the normal action of goaded humanity if the slaves should rise and cut their masters' throats. The colonists lived in mortal dread of their slaves, and the char acter of the legislation was but the thermometer of their fear. This Act was a slight indication of the unrest of the people of this colony on the slavery question : "[376] AN ACT TO PREVENT THE DISORDER OF NEGRO AND INDIAN SER VANTS AND SLAVES IN THE NIGHT SEASON. " Be it enacted by the Governour, Council and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the publication of this act, if any negro or Indian servant or slave shall be found abroad from home in the night season, after nine of the clock, without special order from his or their master or mistress, it shall be lawful for any person or persons to apprehend and secure such negro or Indian servant or slave so offending, and him or them bring before the next assistant or justice of peace ; which assistant or justice of peace shall have full power to pass sentence upon such negro or Indian servant or slave so offending, and order him or them to be publickly whipt on his or their naked body, not exceeding ten stripes, and pay cost of court, except his or their master or mistress shall redeem them by paying a fine not exceeding twenty shillings. " And it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any such negro or Indian servant or slave as abovesaid shall have entertainment in any house after nine of the clock as aforesaid, except to do any business they may be sent 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1706-16, p. 233. 258 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. upon, the head of the family that entertaineth or tolerates them in his or their house, or any the dependencies thereof, and being convicted thereof before any one assistant or justice of the peace, who shall have power to hear and deter mine the same, shall forfeit the sum of twenty shillings, one-half to the com- plainer and the other half to the treasury of the town where the offence is committed; any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. And that it shall be the duty of the several grand-jurors and constables and tything-men, to make diligent enquiry into and present of all breaches of this act." J The laws regulating slavery in the colony of Connecticut, up to this time, had stood, and been faithfully enforced. There had been a few infractions of the law, but the guilty had been pun ished. And in addition to statutory regulation of slaves, the refrac tory ones were often summoned to the bar of public opinion and dealt with summarily. Individual owners of slaves felt themselves at liberty to use the utmost discretion in dealing with this species of their property. So on every hand the slave found himself scrutinized, suspicioned, feared, hated, and hounded by the entire community of whites who were by law a perpetual posse comitatus. The result of too great vigilance and severe censorship was posi tive and alarming. It made the slave desperate. It intoxicated him with a malice that would brook no restraint. It is said that the use of vigorous adjectives and strong English is a relief to one in moments of trial. But even this was denied the oppressed slaves in Connecticut ; for in May, 1730, a bill was passed punish ing them for using strong language. "AN ACT FOR THE PUNISHMENT OF NEGROES, INDIAN AND MOLATTO SLAVES, FOR SPEAKING DEFAMATORY WORDS. " Be it enacted by the Governour, Council and Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That if any Negro, Indian or Molatto slave shall utter, publish and speak such words of any person that would by law be actionable if the same were uttered, published or spoken by any free person of any other, such Negro, Indian or Molatto slave, being thereof convicted before any one assistant or justice of the peace, (who are hereby im- powred to hear and ^determine the same,) shall be punished by whipping, at the discretion of the assistant or justice before whom the tryal is, (respect being had to the circumstances of the case,) not exceeding forty stripes. And the said slave, so convict, shall be sold to defray all charges arising thereby, unless the same be by his or their master or mistress paid and answered, &c." 2 The above act is the most remarkable document in this period of its kind. And yet there are two noticeable features in it : viz., 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1717-25, pp. 390, 391. 2 Ibid., 1726-35, p. 290. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 259 the slave is to be proceeded against the same as if he were a free person ; and he was to be entitled to offer evidence, enter his plea, and otherwise defend himself against the charge. This was more than was allowed in any of the other colonies. On the Qth of September, 1730, Gov. J. Talcott, in a letter to the "Board of Trade," said that there were "about 700 Indian and Negro slaves" in the colony. The most of these were Negro slaves. For on the 8th of July, 1715, a proclamation was issued by the governor against the importation of Indians ; x and on the 1 3th of October, 1715, a bill was passed "prohibiting the Im portation or bringing into" the colony any Indian slaves. It was an exact copy of the Act of May, 1712, passed in the colony of Massachusetts. The colony of Connecticut never established slavery by direct statute ; but in adopting a code which was ordered by the General Court of Hartford to be " copied by the secretary into the book of public records," it gave the institution legal sanction. This code was signed on the 5th of September, 1646. It recognized the lawfulness of Indian and Negro slavery. This was done under the confederacy of the "United Colonies of New England." 2 For some reason the part of the code recognizing slavery is omitted from the revised laws of 1715. In this colony, as in Massachusetts, only members of the church, "and living within the jurisdiction," could be admitted to the rights of freemen. In 1715 an Act was passed requiring persons who desired to become "freemen of this corporation," to secure a certificate from the selectmen that they were " persons of quiet and peaceable behavior and civil conversation, of the age of twenty-one years, and freeholders." This provision excluded all free Negroes. Ilj was impossible for one to secure such a certificate. Public senti ment alone would have frowned upon such an innovation upon the customs and manners of the Puritans. On the I7th of May, 1660, the following Act was passed : " It is ordered by this court, that neither Indian nor negar serv ts shall be required to traine, watch or ward in the Collo : " 3 To determine the status of the Negro here, this Act was neces sary. He might be free, own his own labor ; but if the law ex cluded him from the periodical musters and trainings, from the 1 Conn. Col. Recs., 1706-16, pp. 515, 516. 2 Hazard, State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 1-6. 3 Conn. Col. Recs., vol. i. p. 349. 260 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. church and civil duties, his freedom was a mere misnomer. It is difficult to define the rights of a free Negro in this colony. He was restricted in his relations with the slaves, and in his inter course with white people was regarded with suspicion. If he had, in point of law, the right to purchase property, the general preju dice that confronted him on every hand made his warmest friends judiciously conservative. There were no provisions made for his intellectual or spiritual growth. He was regarded by both the religious and civil government, under which he lived, as a heathen. Even his accidental conversion could not change his condition, nor mollify the feelings of the white Christians (?) about him. Like the wild animal, he was possessed with the barest privilege of getting something to eat. Beyond this he had noth ing. Everywhere he turned, he felt the withering glance of a suspicious people. Prejudice and proscriptive legislation cast their dark shadows on his daily path ; and the conscious superiority of the whites consigned him to the severest drudgery for his daily bread. The recollection of the past was distressing, the trials and burdens of the present were almost unbearable, while the future was one shapeless horror to him. Perhaps the lowly and submissive acquiescence of the Negroes, bond and free, had a salutary effect upon the public mind. There is something awfully grand in an heroic endurance of undeserved pain. The white Christians married, and were given in marriage ; they sowed and gathered rich harvests ; they bought and built happy homes ; beautiful children were born unto them ; they built magnificent churches, and worshipped the true God : the present was joyous, and the future peopled with sublime anticipation. The contrast of these two peoples in their wide-apart conditions must have made men reflective. And added to this came the loud thunders of the Revolution. Connecticut had her orators, and they touched the public heart with the glowing coals of patriotic resolve. They felt the insecurity of their own liberties, and were now willing to pronounce in favor of the liberty of the Negroes. The inconsistency of asking for freedom, praying for freedom, fight ing for freedom, and dying for freedom, when they themselves held thousands of human beings in bondage the most cruel the world ever knew, helped the cause of the slave. In 1762 the Negro popu lation of this colony was four thousand five hundred and ninety. 1 1 Pres. Stiles's MSS. THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT. 261 Public sentiment was aroused on the slavery question ; and in Octo ber, 1774, the following prohibition was directed at slavery : "Act against importation of slaves " No Indian, negro, or mulatto slave shall at any time hereafter be brought or imported into this State, by sea or land, from any place or places whatsoever, to be disposed of, left or sold, within this State." < The above bill was brief, but pointed ; and showed that Con necticut was the only one of the New-England colonies that had the honesty and courage to legislate against slavery. And the patriotism and incomparable valor of the Negro soldiers of Con necticut, who proudly followed the Continental flag through the fires of the Revolutionary War, proved that they were worthy of the humane sentiment that demanded the Act of 1774. 1 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. pp. 272, 273. 262 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XIX. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 1647-1775. COLONIAL GOVERNMENT IN RHODE ISLAND, MAY, 1647. AN ACT PASSED TO ABOLISH SLAVERY m 1652, BUT WAS NEVER ENFORCED. AN ACT SPECIFYING WHAT TlMES INDIAN AND NEGRO SLAVES SHOULD NOT APPEAR IN THE STREETS. AN IMPOST-TAX ON SLAVES (1708,). PENALTIES IMPOSED ON DISOBEDIENT SLAVES. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT IN THE COLONIES RECEIVES LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT. CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF TRADE TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES RELATIVE TO NEGRO SLAVES. GOVERNOR CRANSTON'S REPLY. LIST OF MILITIA-MEN, INCLUDING WHITE AND BLACK SERVANTS. ANOTHER LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF TRADE. AN ACT PREVENTING CLANDESTINE IMPORTATIONS AND EXPORTATIONS OF PAS SENGERS, NEGROES, OR INDIAN SLAVES. MASTERS OF VESSELS REQUIRED TO REPORT THE NAMES AND NUMBER OF PASSENGERS TO THE GOVERNOR. VIOLATION OF THE IMPOST-TAX LAW ON SLAVES PUNISHED BY SEVERE PENALTIES. APPROPRIATION BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, JULY 5, 1715, FROM THE FUND DERIVED FROM THE IMPOST-TAX, FOR THE PAVING OF THE STREETS OF NEWPORT. AN ACT PASSED DISPOSING OF THE MONEY RAISED BY IMPOST-TAX. IMPOST-LAW REPEALED, MAY, 1732. AN ACT RELATING TO FREEING MULATTO AND NEGRO SLAVES PASSED 1728. AN ACT PASSED PREVENTING MASTERS OF VESSELS FROM CARRYING SLAVES OUT OF THE COLONY, JUNE 17, 1757. EVE OF THE REVOLUTION. AN ACT PROHIBITING IMPORTATION OF NEGROES INTO THE COLONY IN 1774. THE POPULATION OF RHODE ISLAND IN 1730 AND 1774. INDIVIDUAL Negroes were held in bondage in Rhode Island from the time of the formation of the colonial government there, in May, 1647, down to the close of the eighteenth century. Like her sister colonies, she early took the poison of the slave-traffic into her commercial life, and found it a most difficult political task to rid herself of it. The institution of slavery was never established by statute in this colony ; but it was so firmly rooted five years after the establishment of the government, that it required the positive and explicit prohibition of law to destroy it. On the iQth of May, 1652, the General Court passed the following Act against slavery. It is the earliest positive prohibition against slavery in the records of modern nations. " Whereas, there is a common course practiced amongst English men to buy negers, to that end they may have them for service or slaves forever; for the preventinge of such practices among us, let it be ordered, that no blacke mankind or white being forced by covenant bond, or otherwise, to serve any man or his assighnes longer than ten yeares, or until they come to bee twentie- THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 263 four yeares of age, if they bee taken in under fourteen, from the time of their cominge within the liberties of this Collonie. And at the end or terme of ten yeares to sett them free, as the manner is with the English servants. And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end that they may bee enslaved to others for a long time, hee or they shall for feit to the Collonie forty pounds." J The above law was admirable, but there was lacking the public sentiment to give it practical force in the colony. It was never repealed, and yet slavery flourished under it for a century and a half. Mr. Bancroft says, "The law was not enforced, but the principle lived among the people." 2 No doubt the principle lived among the people ; but, practically, they did but little towards emancipating their slaves until the Revolutionary War cloud broke over their homes. There is more in the statement Mr. Bancroft makes than the casual reader is likely to discern. The men who founded Rhode Island, or Providence Plantation as it was called early, were of the highest type of Christian gen tlemen. They held advanced ideas on civil government and religious liberty. They realized, to the full, the enormity of the sinfulness of slavery ; but while they hesitated to strike down what many men pronounced a necessary social evil, it grew to be an institution that governed more than it could be governed. The institution was established. Slaves were upon the farms, in the towns, and in the families, of those who could afford to buy them. The population of the colony was small ; and to" manumit the slaves in whom much money was invested, or to suddenly cut off the supply from without, was more than the colonists felt able to perform. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. For a half-century there was nothing done by the General Court to check or suppress the slave-trade, though the Act of 1652 remained the law of the colony. The trade was not exten sive. No vessels from Africa touched at Newport or Providence. The source of supply was Barbadoes ; and, occasionally, some came by land from other colonies. Little was said for or against slavery during this period. It was a question difficult to handle. The sentiment against it was almost unanimous. It was an evil ; but how to get rid of it, was the most important thing to be con sidered. During this period of perplexity, there was an ominous silence on slavery. The conservatism of the colonists produced 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. i. p. 243. 2 Bancroft, vol. i. 5th ed. p. 175. 264 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the opposite in the Negro population. They began to think and talk about their "rights.'* The Act of 1652 had begun to bear fruit. At the expiration of ten years' service, slaves began to- demand their freedom-papers. This set the entire Negro class in a state of expectancy.- Their eagerness for liberty was inter preted by the more timid among the whites as the signal for disorder. A demand was made for legislation that would curtail the personal liberties of the Negroes in the evenings. It is well to produce the Act of Jan. 4, 1703, that the reader may see the similarity of the laws passed in the New-England colonies against Negroes : "An Act to restrict negroes and Indians for walking in unseasonable times in the night, and at other times not allowable. " Voted, Be it enacted by this Assembly and the authority thereof, and it is hereby enacted, If any negroes or Indians, either freemen, servants, or slaves, do walk in the streets of the town of Newport, or any other town in this Collony, after nine of the clock of the night, without a certificate from their masters, or some English person of said family with them, or some lawful!' excuse for the same, that it shall be lawfull for any person to take them up and deliver them to a Constable, to be secured, or see them secured, till the next morning, and then to be brought before some Justice of the Peace in said town, to be dealt withall, according to the recited Act, which said Justice shall cause said person or persons so offending, to be whipped at the publick whip ping post in said town, not exceeding fifteen stripes upon their naked backs, except their incorrigible behavior require more. And all free negroes and free Indians to be under the same penalty, without a lawful excuse for their so. being found*walking in the streets after such unseasonable time of night. " And be it further enacted, All and every house keeper, within said town or towns or Collony, that shall entertain men's servants, either negroes or Indians, without leave of their masters or to whom they do belong, after said set time of the night before mentioned, and being convicted of the same before any one Justice of the Peace, he or they shall pay for each his defect five shillings in money, to be for the use of the poor in the town where the person lives ; and if refused to be paid down, to be taken by distraint by a warrant to any one Constable, in said town ; any Act to the contrary notwithstanding." * It is rather remarkable that this Act should prohibit free Negroes and free Indians from walking the streets after nine o'clock. In this particular this bill had no equal in any of the other colonies. This act seemed to be aimed with remarkable precision at the Negroes as a class, both bond and free. The influence of free Negroes upon the slaves had not been in har mony with the condition of the latter ; and the above Act was 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iii. pp. 492, 493. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 265 intended as a reminder, in part, to free Negroes and Indians. It went to show that there was but little meaning in the word "free," when placed before a Negro's name. No such restriction could have been placed upon the personal rights of a white colonist*; for, under the democratical government of the colony, a subject was greater than the government. No law could stand that was inimical to his rights as a freeman. But the free Negro had no remedy at law. He was literally between two conditions, bondage and freedom. Attention has been called to the fact, that the Act of 1652 was never enforced. In April, 1708, an Act, laying an impost-tax upon slaves imported into the colony, was passed which really gave legal sanction to the slave-trade. 1 The following is the Act re ferred to : " And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that whereas, by an act of Assembly, in February last past, concerning the importing negroes, one article of said act, expressing that three pounds money shall be parid into the treasury for each negro imported into this colony; but upon exporting such negro in time limited in said act, said three pounds were to be drawn out of the treasury again by the importer: "It is hereby enacted, that said sum for the future, shall not be drawn out, but there continued for the use in said act expressed; any act to the contrary, notwithstanding." 2 The Act referred to as having passed "in February last past,'* cannot be found.3 But, from the one quoted above, it is to be inferred that two objects were aimed at, viz. : First, under the codes of Massachusetts and Virginia, a drawback was allowed to an importer of a Negro who exported him within a stated time : the Rhode-Island Act of " February " had allowed importers this privi lege. Second, notwithstanding the loud-sounding Act of 1652, this colony was not only willing to levy an impost-tax upon all slaves imported, but, in her greed for "blood money," even denied the importer the mean privilege, in exporting his slave, of drawing his rebate ! The consistency of Rhode Island must have been a jewel that the other colonies did not covet. The last section of the Act of 1703 was directed against " house 1 There is no law making the manufacturing of whiskey legal in the United States ; and yet the United-States government makes laws to regulate the business, and collects a revenue from it. It exists by and with the consent of the government, and, in a sense, is legal. 2 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 34. 3 I have searched diligently for the Act of February, among the Rhode-Island Collections and Records, but have not found it. It was evidently more comprehensive than the above Act. 266 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. keepers," who were to be fined for entertaining Negro or Indian slaves after nine o'clock. In 1708 another Act was passed, sup plemental to the one of 1703, and added stripes as a penalty for non-payment of fines. Many white persons in the larger towns had grown rather friendly towards the slaves ; and, even where they did not speak out in public against the enslavement of human beings, their hearts led them to the performance of many little deeds of kindness. They discovered many noble attributes in the Negro character, and were not backward in expressing their admiration. When summoned before a justice, and fined for entertaining Negroes after nine o'clock, they paid the penalty with a willingness and alacrity that alarmed the slave-holding caste. This was regarded as treason. Some could not pay the fine, and, hence, went free. The new Act intended to remedy this. It was as follows : " An Act to prevent the entertainment of Negroes, &c. "Whereas, there is a law in this colony to suppress any persons from entertaining of negro slaves or Indian servants that are not their own, in their houses, or unlawfully letting them have strong drink, whereby they were dam nified, such persons were to pay a fine of five shillings, and so by that means go unpunished, there being no provision made [of] what corporeal punishment they should have, if they have not wherewith to pay : "Therefore, it is now enacted, that any such delinquent that shall so offend, if he or she shall not have or procure the sum of ten shillings for each defect, to be paid down before the authority before whom he or she hath been legally convicted, he or she shall be by order of said authority, publicly whipped upon their naked back, not exceeding ten stripes ; any act to the con trary, notwithstanding." l It is certain that what little anti-slavery sentiment there was in the British colonies in North America during the first century of their existence received no encouragement from Parliament. From the beginning, the plantations in this new world in the West were regarded as the hotbeds in which slavery would thrive, and bring forth abundant fruit, to the great gain of the English gov ernment. All the appointments made by the crown were ex pected to be in harmony with the plans to be carried out in the colonies. From the settlement of Jamestown down to the break ing out of the war, and the signing of the Declaration of Inde pendence, not a single one of the royal governors ever suffered his sense of duty to the crowned heads to be warped by local 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 50. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 267 views on "the right of slavery." The Board of Trade was untir ing in its attention to the colonies. And no subject occupied greater space in the correspondence of that colossal institution than* slavery. The following circular letter, addressed to the governors of the colonies, is worthy of reproduction here, rather than in the Appendix. It is a magnificent window, that lets the light in upon a dark subject. It gives a very fair idea of the pro found concern that the home government had in foreign and domestic slavery. I "CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF TRADE TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES, RELA TIVE TO NEGRO SLAVES. "APRIL 17, 1708. " SIR : Some time since, the Queen was pleased to refer to us a petition relating to the trade of Africa, upon which we have heard what the Royal African Company, and the separate traders had to offer; and having otherwise informed ourselves, in the best manner we could, of the present state of that trade, we laid the same before Her Majesty. The consideration of that trade came afterwards into the house of commons, and a copy of our report was laid before the house ; but the session being then too far spent to enter upon a matter of so great weight, and other business intervening, no progress was made therein. However, it being absolutely necessary that a trade so beneficial to the kingdom should be carried on to the greatest advantage, there is no doubt but the consideration thereof will come early before the Parliament at their next meeting; and as the well supplying of the plantations and colonies with sufficient number of negroes at reasonable prices, is in our opinion the chief point to be considered in regard to that trade, and as hitherto we have not been able to know how they have been supplied by the company, or by separate traders, otherwise than according to the respective accounts given by them, which for the most part are founded upon calculations made from their exports on one side and the other, and do differ so very much, that no certain judgment can be made upon those accounts. " Wherefore, that we may be able at the next meeting of the Parliament to lay before both houses when required, an exact and authentic state of that trade, particularly in regard to the several plantations and colonies ; we do hereby desire and strictly require you, that upon the receipt hereof, you do inform yourself from the proper officers or otherwise, in the best manner you can, what number of negroes have been yearly imported directly from Africa into Jamaica, since the 24th of June, 1698, to the 25th of December, 1707, and at what rate per head they have been sold each year, one with another, distin guishing the numbers that have been imported on account of the Royal African Company, and those which have been imported by separate traders ; as like wise the rates at which such negroes have been sold by the company and by separate traders. We must recommend it to your care to be as exact and diligent therein as possibly you can, and with the first opportunity to transmit 268 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to us such accounts as aforesaid, that they may arrive here in due time, as also duplicates by the first conveyance. "And that we may be the better able to make a true judgment of the present settlement of that trade, we must further recommend it to you to confer with some of the principal planters and inhabitants within your government touching that matter, and to let us know how the negro trade was carried on, and the island of Jamaica supplied with negroes till the year 1698, when that trade was laid open by act of Parliament; how it has been carried on, and negroes supplied since that time, or in what manner they think the said trade may best be managed for the benefit of the plantations. " We further desire you will inform us what number of ships, if any, are employed from Jamaica to the coast of Africa in the negro trade, and how many separate traders are concerned therein. " Lastly, whatever accounts you shall from time to time send us touching these matters of the negro trade, we desire that the same may be distinct, and not intermixed with other matters ; and that for the time to come, you do transmit to us the like half yearly accounts of negroes, by whom imported and at what rates sold ; the first of such subsequent accounts, to begin from Christmas, 1707, to which time those now demanded, are to be given. So we bid you heartily farewell, " Your very loving friends, " STAMFORD, HERBERT, PH. MEADOWS,. I. PULTENEY, R. MONCKTON. " P. S. We expect the best account you can give us, with that expedition which the shortness of the time requires. " Memorandum. This letter, mutatis mutandis, was writ to the Governors of Barbadoes, the Leeward Islands, Bermuda, New York, New Jersey, Mary land, the President of the Council of Virginia, the Governor of New Hamp shire and the Massachusetts Bay, the Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, the Lords proprietors of Carolina, the Governors and Companies of Connecticut and Rhode Island." ' The good Queen of England was interested in the traffic in human beings ; and although the House of Commons was too busy to give attention to "a matter of so great weight," the "Board of Trade" felt that it was "absolutely necessary that a trade so beneficial to the kingdom should be carried on to the greatest advantage." England never gave out a more cruel docu ment than the above circular letter. To read it now, under the glaring light of the nineteenth century, will almost cause the English-speaking people of the world to doubt even " the truth of history." Slavery did not exist at sufferance. It was a crime 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. pp. 53, 54. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 269 Against the weak, ignorant, and degraded children of Africa, systematically perpetrated by an organized Christian government, backed by an army that grasped the farthest bounds of civiliza tion, and a navy that overshadowed the oceans. The reply of the governor of Rhode Island was not as encouraging as their lordships could have wished. GOVERNOR CRANSTON'S REPLY. " May it please your Lordships : In obedience to your Lordships' com mands of the 1 5th of April last, to the trade of Africa. "We, having inspected into the books of Her Majesty's custom, and informed ourselves from the proper officers thereof, by strict inquiry, can lay before your Lordships no other account of that trade than the following, viz. : " i. That from the 24th of June, 1698, to the 25th of December, 1707, we have not had any negroes imported into this colony from the coast of Africa, neither on the account of the Royal African Company, or by any of the separate traders. "2. That on the 3oth day of May, 1696, arrived at this port from the coast of Africa, the brigantine Seaflower, Thomas Windsor, master, having on board her forty-seven negroes, fourteen of which he disposed of in this colony, for betwixt ^30 and ^35 per head ; the rest he transported by land for Boston, where his owners lived. "3. That on the loth of August, the I9th and 28th of October, in the year 1700, sailed from this port three vessels, directly for the coast of Africa; the two former were sloops, the one commanded by Nicho's Hillgroue, the other by Jacob Bill ; the last a ship, commanded by Edwin Carter, who was part owner of the, said three vessels, in company with Thomas Bruster, and John Bates, merchants, of Barbadoes, and separate traders from thence to the coast of Africa ; the said three vessels arriving safe to Barbadoes from the coast of Africa, where they made the disposition of their negroes. "4. That we have never had any vessels from the coast of Africa to this colony, nor any trade there, the brigantine above mentioned, excepted. " 5. That the whole and only supply of negroes to this colony, is from the island of Barbadoes ; from whence is imported one year with another, betwixt twenty and thirty ; and if those arrive well and sound, the general price is from ^3 to ^4 per head. " According to your Lordships' desire, we have advised with the chiefest of our planters, and find but small encouragement for that trade to this colony ; since by the best computation we can make, there would not be disposed in this, colony above twenty or thirty at the most, annually ; the reasons of which are chiefly to be attributed to the general dislike our planters have for them, by reason of their turbulent and unruly tempers. " And that most of our planters that are able and willing to purchase any of them, are supplied by the offspring of those they have already, which increase daily; and that the inclination of our people in general, is to employ white servants before Negroes. 270 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Thus we have given our Lordships a true and faithful account of what hath occurred, relating to the trade of Africa from this colony ; and if, for the future, our trade should be extended to those parts, we shall not fail transmit ting accounts thereof according to your Lordships' orders, and that at all times be ready to show ourselves, " Your Lordships' obedient servant, " SAMUEL CRANSTON, Governor. "NEWPORT, ON RHODE ISLAND, December 5, 1708." l So in nine years there had been no Negro slaves imported into the colony; that in 1696 fourteen had been sold to the colonists for between thirty pounds and thirty-five pounds apiece; that this was the only time a vessel direct from the coast of Africa had touched in this colony ; that the supply of Negro slaves came from Barbadoes, and that the colonistc who would purchase slaves were supplied by the offspring of those already in the plantation ; and that the colonists preferred white servants to black slaves. The best that can be said of Gov. Cranston's letter is, it was very respectful in tone. The following table was one of the enclosures of the letter. It is given in full on account of its general inter est: " A list of the number of freemen and militia, with the servants, white and black, in the respective towns; as also the number of inhabitants in Her Majesty's colony of Rhode Island, &c., December the 5th, 1708. TOWNS. FREEMEN. MILITIA. WHITE SERVANTS. BLACK SERVANTS. TOTAL NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. Newport . . . 190 358 20 220 2,203 Providence . . . 241 283 6 7 1,446 Portsmouth . . 98 104 8 40 628 Warwick . . . 80 95 4 10 480 Westerly . . . 95 100 5 20 570 New Shoreham . 38 47 6 208 Kingstown . . . 200 282 85 I,2OO Jamestown . . . 33 28 9 32 206 Greenwich . . . 40 65 3 6 240 Total . . . 1,015 1,362 56 426 7,181 1 R. I. Coll. Recs., vol. iv. pp. 54, 55. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 271 " It is to be understood that all men within this colony, from the age of sixteen to the age of sixty years, are of the militia, so that all freemen above and under said ages, are inclusive in the abovesaid number of the militia. " As to the increase or decrease of the inhabitants within five years last past, we are not capable to give an exact account, by reason there was no list ever taken before this (the militia excepted), which hath increased since the I4th of February, 1704-5 (at which time a list was returned to your Lordships), the number of 287. " SAMUEL CRANSTON, Governor. "NEWPORT, ON RHODE ISLAND, December the 5th, 1708." 1 The Board of Trade replied to Gov. Cranston, under date of "Whitehall, January i6th, 1709-10.," saying they should be glad to hear from him "in regard to Negroes," etc. 2 The letter of inquiry from the Board of Trade imparted to slave-dealers an air of importance and respectability. The insti tution was not near so bad as it had been thought to be ; the royal family were interested in its growth ; it was a gainful enterprise ; and, more than all, as a matter touching the conscience, the Bible and universal practice had sanctified the institution. To attempt to repeal the Act of 1652 would have been an occasion unwisely furnished for anti-slavery men to use to a good purpose. The bill was a dead letter, and its enemies concluded to let it remain on the statute-book of the colony. The experiment of levying an impost-tax upon Negro slaves imported into the colony had proved an enriching success. After 1709 the slave-trade became rather brisk. As the population increased, public improvements became necessary, there were new public buildings in demand, roads to be repaired, bridges to be built, and the poor and afflicted to be provided for. To do all this, taxes had to be levied upon the freeholders. A happy thought struck the leaders of the government. If men would import slaves, and the freemen of the colony would buy them, they should pay a tax as a penalty for their sin. 3 And the people easily accommo dated their views to the state of the public treasury. Attention has been called already to the impost Act of 1708. On the 27th of February, 1712, the General Assembly passed "An Act for preventing clandestine importations and exportations 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 59. 2 J. Carter Brown's Manuscripts, vol. viii. Nos. 506, 512. 3 It was a specious sort of reasoning. I learn that the bank over on the corner is to be robbed to-night at twelve o'clock. Shall I go and rob it at ten o'clock ; because, if I do not do so, another person will, two hours later ? 272 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of passengers, or negroes, or Indian slaves into or out of this colony" etc. The Act is quite lengthy. It required masters of vessels to report to the governor the names and number of all passengers landed into the colony, and not to carry away any person without a pass or permission from the governor, upon pain of a fine of fifty pounds current money of New England. Persons desiring to leave the colony had to give public notice for ten days in the most public place in the colony ; and it specifies the duties of naval officers, and closes with the following in reference to Negro slaves, calling attention to the impost Act of 1708 : " It was then and there enacted, that for all negroes imported into this colony, there shall be 3 current money, of New England, paid into the general treasury of this colony for each negro, by the owner or importer of said negro ; reference being had unto the said act will more fully appear. " But were laid under no obligation by the said act, to give an account to the Governor what negroes they did import, whereby the good intentions of said act were wholly frustrated and brought to no effect ; and by the clandes tinely hiding and conveying said negroes out of the town into the country, where they lie concealed : " For the prevention of which for the future, it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the publication of this act, all masters of vessels that shall come into the harbor of Newport, or into any port of this government, that hath imported any negroes or Indian slaves, shall, before he puts on shore in any port of this government, or in the town of Newport, any negroes or Indian slaves, or suffers any negroes or Indian slaves to be put on shore by any person whatsoever, from on board his said vessel, deliver unto the naval officer in the town of Newport, a fair manifest under his hand, which shall specify the full number of negroes and Indian slaves he hath imported in his said vessel, of what sex, with their names, the names of their owners, or of those they are consigned to ; to the truth of which manifest so given in, the said master shall give his corporal oath, or solemn engagement unto the said naval officer, who is hereby empowered to administer the same unto him ; which said manifest being duly sworn unto, the said naval officer shall make a fair entry thereof in a book, which shall be prepared for that use, whereunto the said master shall set his hand. . . . " And when the said master hath delivered his said manifest and sworn to it, as abovesaid, and before he hath landed on shore, or suffer to be landed, any negroes or Indian slaves as aforesaid, he, the said master, shall pay to the naval officer the sum of ^3 current money, of New England, for each negro ; and the sum of forty shillings of the like money for each Indian that shall be by him imported into this colony, or that shall be brought into this colony in the vessel whereof he is master. " But if he hath not ready money to pay down, as aforesaid, he shall then give unto the said naval officer a bill, as the law directs, to pay unto him the full sum above mentioned, for each and every negro and Indian imported as above said, which bill shall run payable in ten days from the entering the mani- THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 273 fest as above said ; and if at the end of the ten days, the said master shall refuse to pay the full contents of his bill, that then the said naval officer shall deliver the said bill unto the Governor, or in his absence, to the next officer of the peace, as aforesaid who shall immediately proceed with the said master in the manner above said, by committing of him to Her Majesty's jail, where he shall remain without bail or mainprize, until he hath paid unto the naval officer, for the use of this colony, double the sum specified in his said bill, and all charges that shall accrue thereby ; which money shall be paid out by the said naval officer, as the General Assembly of this colony shall order the same. " And it is further enacted, that the naval officer who now is, and who ever shall be for the future put into said office, shall at his entering into the said office, take his engagement to the faithful performance of the above said acts. And for his encouragement, shall have such fees as are hereafter mentioned at the end of this act. " And for the more effectual putting in execution those acts, and that none may plead ignorance : " It is enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all masters of vessels trading to this government, shall give bond, with sufficient surety in the naval office, for the sum of ^50, current money of New England." We have omitted a large portion of the bill, because of its length ; but have quoted sufficient to give an excellent idea of the marvellous caution taken by the good Christians of Rhode Island to get every cent due them on account of the slave-trade, which their prohibition did not prohibit. It was a carefully drawn bill for those days. The diligence of the public officers in the seaport town of Newport was richly rewarded. The slave-trade now had the sanction and regulation of colonial law. The demand for Negro laborers was not affected in the least, while traders did not turn aside on account of three pounds per head tax upon every slave sold into Rhode Island. On the 5th of July, 1715, the General Assembly appropriated a portion of the fund derived from the impost-tax on imported Negroes -to repairing the streets ; and then strengthened and amplified the original law on impost-duties, etc. The following is the Act : " This Assembly, taking into consideration that Newport is the metropolitan town in this colony, and that all the courts of judicature within this colony are held there; and also, that it is the chief market town in the government; and that it hath very miry streets, especially that leading from the ferry, or landing place, up to the colony house, so that the members of the courts are very much discommoded therewith, and is a great hindrance to the transporting of pro- 1 R. I. Coi. Recs., vol. iv. pp. 133-135. 274 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. visions, &c., in and out of the said towns, to the great loss of the inhabitants thereof ; " Therefore, be it enacted by this present Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that the sum of ^289 173. 3d., now lying in the naval officer's hand, (being duties paid to this colony for importing of slaves), shall be, and is hereby granted to the town of Newport, towards paving the streets of Newport, from the ferry place, up to the colony house, in said Newport ; to be improved by their directors, such as they shall, at their quarter meetings appoint for the same. " And whereas, there was an act of Assembly, made at Newport, in the year 1701-2, for the better preventing of fraud, and cozen, in paying the duties for importing of negro and Indian slaves into this colony, and the same being found in some clauses deficient, for the effecting of the full intent and purpose thereof ; "Therefore, it is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, that every master of ship, or vessel, merchant or other person or persons, importing or bringing into this colony any negro slave or slaves of what age soever, shall enter their number, names, and sex in the naval office ; and the master shall insert the same in the manifest of his lading, and shall pay to the naval officer in Newport, 3 per head, for the use of this colony, for every negro, male or female, so imported, or brought in. And every such master, merchant, or other person, refusing or neglecting to pay the said duty within ten days after they are brought ashore in said colony, then the said naval officer, on knowledge thereof, shall enter an action and sue [for] the recovery of the same, against him or them, in an action of debt, in any of His Majesty's courts of record, within this colony. "And if any master of ship or vessel, merchant or others, shall refuse or neglect to make entry, as aforesaid, of all negroes imported in such ship or vessel, or be convicted of not entering the full number, such master, merchant, or other person, shall forfeit and pay the sum of 6, for every one that he shall refuse or neglect to make entry, of one moiety thereof to His Majesty, for and towards the support of the government of this colony; and the other moiety to him or them that shall inform or sue for the same ; to be recovered by the naval officer in manner as above said. " And also, all persons that shall bring any negro or negroes into this colony, from any of His Majesty's provinces adjoining, shall in like manner enter the number, names and sex, of all such negroes, in the above said office, under the penalty of the like forfeiture, as above said ; and to be recovered in like manner by the naval officer, and shall pay into the said office within the time above limited, the like sum of ,3 per head ; and for default of payment, the same to be recovered by the naval officer in like manner as aforesaid. " Provided always, that if any gentleman, who is not a resident in this colony, and shall pass through any part thereof, with a waiting man or men with him, and doth not reside in this colony six months, then such waiting men shall be free from the above said duty ; the said gentleman giving his solemn en gagement, that they are not for sale ; any act or acts, clause or clauses of acts, to the contrary hereof, in any ways, notwithstanding. " Provided, that none of the clauses in the aforesaid act, shall extend to THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 275; any masters or vessels, who import negroes into this colony, directly from the coast of Africa. "And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the money raised by the impost of negroes, as aforesaid, shall be disposed of as followeth, viz. : " The one moiety of the said impost money to be for the use of the town of Newport, to be disposed of by the said town towards paving the streets of said town, and for no other use whatsoever, for and during the full time of seven years from the publication of this act; and that ^60 of said impost money be for, and towards the erecting of a substantial bridge over Potowo- mut river, at or near the house of Ezekiel Hunt, in East Greenwich, and to no other use whatsoever. "And that Major Thomas Frye and Capt. John Eldredge be the persons appointed to order and oversee the building of said bridge, and to render an account thereof, to the Assembly ; and the said Major Frye and Capt. Eldredge to be paid for their trouble and pains, out of the remaining part of said impost money; and the remainder of said impost money to be disposed of as the Assembly shall from time to time see fit." J And in October, 1717, the following order passed the as sembly : " It is ordered by this Assembly, that the naval officer pay out of the impost money on slaves, .100, to the overseer that oversees the paving of the streets, of Newport, to be improved for paying the charges of paving said streets." 2 The fund accruing from the impost-duty on slaves was re garded with great favor everywhere, especially in Newport. It. had cleaned her streets and lightened the burdens of taxation which rested so grievously upon the freeholders. There was no voice lifted agahist the iniquitous traffic, and the conscience of the colony was at rest. In June, 1729, the following Act was passed : "An Act disposing of the money raised in this colony on importing negro slaves into this colony. " Forasmuch as there is an act of Assembly made in this colony the 27th day of February, A.D. 1711, laying a duty of ^3 per head on all slaves imported into this colony, as is in said act is expressed ; and several things of a public nature requiring a fund to be set apart for carrying them on ; " Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, and by the authority of the same it is enacted and declared, that henceforward all monies that shall be raised in this colony by the aforesaid account, on any slaves imported into this colony, shall be employed, the one moiety thereof for the use of the town of Newport, towards paving and amending the streets thereof; and the other moiety, for, and towards the support, repairing and mending the great bridges. 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. pp. 191-193. 2 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 225. 276 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. on the main, in the country roads, and for no other use whatsoever; any thing in the aforesaid act to the contrary, in anywise notwithstanding." * It is wonderful how potential the influence of money is upon mankind. The sentiments of the good people had been scattered to the winds ; and they had found a panacea for the violated convictions of the wrong of slavery in the reduction of their taxes, new bridges, and cleansed streets. Conscience had been bribed into acquiescence, and the iniquity thrived. There were those who still endeavored to escape the vigilance of the naval officers, and save the three pounds on each slave. But the dili gence and liberality of the authorities were not to be outdone by the skulking stinginess of Negro-smugglers. On the i8th of June, 1723, the General Assembly passed the following order: " Voted, that Mr. Daniel Updike, the attorney general, be, and he hereby is ordered, appointed and empowered to gather in the money due to this colony, for the importation of negroes, and to prosecute, sue and implead such person or persons as shall refuse to pay the same ; and that he be allowed five shil lings per head, for every slave that shall be hereafter imported into this colony, out of the impost money ; and that he be also allowed ten per cent, more for all such money as he shall recover of the outstanding debts ; and in all respects to have the like power as was given to the naval officer by the former act." 2 The above illustrates the spirit of the times. There was a mania for this impost-tax upon stolen Negroes, and the law was to be enforced against all who sought to evade its requirements. But the Assembly had a delicate sense of equity, as well as an inexorable opinion of the precise demands of the law in its letter and spirit. On the igth of June, 1716, the following was passed : " It is ordered by this Assembly, that the duty of two sucking slaves im ported into this colony by Col. James Vaughan, of Barbadoes, be remitted to the said James Vaughan." 3 It was not below the dignity of the Legislature of the colony of Rhode Island to pass a bill of relief for Col. Vaughan, and refund to him the six pounds he had paid to land his two sucking Negro baby slaves! In June, 1731, the naval officer, James Cranston, called the attention of the Assembly to the case of one Mr. Roy- all, who had imported forty-five Negroes into the colony, and 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. pp. 423, 424. 2 Ibid., p. 330. 3 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 209. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 277 after a short time sold sixteen of them into the Province of Mas sachusetts Bay, where there was also an impost-tax, and asked directions. The Assembly replied as follows : " Upon consideration whereof, it is voted and ordered, that the duty to this colony of the said sixteen negroes transported into the Massachusetts Bay, as aforesaid, be taken off and remitted ; but that he collect the duty of the other twenty-nine." ' But the zeal of the colony in seeking the enforcement of the impost-law created a strong influence against it from without ; and by order of the king the entire law was repealed in May, I732. 2 The cruel practice of manumitting aged arid helpless slaves became so general in this plantation, that the General Assembly passed a law regulating it, in February, 1728. It was borrowed very largely from a similar law in Massachusetts, and reads as follows : " An Act relating to freeing mulatto and negro slaves. " Forasmuch, as great charge, trouble and inconveniences have arisen to the inhabitants of divers towns in this colony, by the manumitting and setting free mulatto and negro slaves ; for remedying whereof, for the future, " Be it enacted by the General Assembly of this colony, and by the au thority of the same it is enacted, that no mulatto or negro slave, shall be hereafter manumitted, discharged or set free, or at liberty, until sufficient security be given to the town treasurer of the town or place where such person dwells, in a valuable sum of not less than ^100, to secure and indemnify the town or place from all charge for, or about such mulatto or negro, to be manu mitted and set at liberty, in case he or she by sickness, lameness or otherwise, be rendered incapable to support him or herself. " And no mulatto or negro hereafter manumitted, shall be deemed or accounted free, for whom security shall not be given as aforesaid, but shall be the proper charge of their respective masters or mistresses, in case they should stand in need of relief and support ; notwithstanding any manumission or instrument of freedom to them made and given ; and shall be liable at all times to be put forth to service by the justices of the peace, or wardens of the town.' 's It is very remarkable that there were no lawyers to challenge the legality of such laws as the above, which found their way into the statute books of all the New-England colonies. There could be no conditional emancipation. If a slave were set at liberty, why he was free, and, if he afterwards became a pauper, was entitled to the same care as a white freeman. But it is not diffi- 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. iv. p. 454. 2 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 471. 3 Ibid., vol. iv. pp. 415, 416. 278 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. cult to see that the status of a free Negro was difficult of defini tion. When the Negro slave grew old and infirm, his master no longer cared for him, and the public was protected against him by law. Death was his most beneficent friend. In October, 1743, a widow lady named Comfort Taylor, of Bristol County, Massachusetts Bay, sued and obtained judgment against a Negro named Cuff Borden for two hundred pounds, and cost of suit "for a grievous trespass." Cuff was a slave. An ordinary execution would have gone against his person : he would have been imprisoned, and nothing more. In view of this condi tion of affairs, Mrs. Taylor petitioned the General Assembly of Rhode Island, praying that authority be granted the sheriff to sell Cuff, as other property, to satisfy the judgment. The Assembly granted her prayer as follows : " Upon consideration whereof, it is voted and resolved, that the sheriff of the said county of Newport, when he shall receive the execution against the said negro Cuff, be, and he is hereby fully empowered to sell said negro Cuff as other personal estate ; and after the fine of ^20 be paid into the general treasury, and all other charges deducted out of the price of said negro, the remainder to be appropriated in said satisfying said execution." J This case goes to show that in Rhode Island Negro slaves were rated, at law, as chattel property, and could be taken in execution to satisfy debts as other personal property. A great many slaves availed themselves of frequent opportu nities of going away in privateers and other vessels. With but little before them in this life, they were even willing to risk being sold into slavery at some other place, that they might experience a change. They made excellent seamen, and were greatly desired by masters of vessels. This went on for a long time. The loss to the colony was great ; and the General Assembly passed the subjoined bill as a check to the stampede that had become quite general : "AN ACT TO PREVENT THE COMMANDERS OF PRIVATEERS, OR MASTERS OF ANY OTHER VESSELS, FROM CARRYING SLAVES OUT OF THIS COLONY. " Whereas, it frequently happens that the commanders of privateers, and masters of other vessels, do carry off slaves that are the property of inhabit ants of this colony, and that'without the privity or consent of their masters or mistresses ; and whereas, there is no law of this colony for remedying so great an evil, . 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. v. pp. 72, 73. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 279 " Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, it is enacted, that from and after the publication of- this act, if any commander of a private man of war, or master of a merchant ship or other vessel, shall knowingly carry away from, or out of this colony, a slave or slaves, the property of any inhabitant thereof, the commander of such privateer, or the master of the said merchant ship or vessel, shall pay, as a fine, the sum of ^500, to be recovered by the general treasurer of this colony for the time being, by bill, plaint, or information in any court of record within this colony. " And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the owner or owners of any slave or slaves that may be carried away, as aforesaid, shall have a right of action against the commander of the said privateer, or master of the said merchant ship or vessel, or against the owner or owners of the same, in which the said slave or slaves is, or are carried away ; and by the said action or suit, recover of him or them, double damages. "And whereas, disputes may arrise respecting the knowledge that the owner or owners, commanders or masters of the said private men of war, mer chant ships or vessels may have of any slave or slaves being on board a priva teer, or merchant ship or vessel, "Be it therefore further enacted, and by the authority aforesaid, it is enacted, that when any owner or owners of any slave or slaves in this colony, shall suspect that a slave or slaves, to him, her or them belonging, is, or are, on board any private man of war, or merchant ship or vessel, the owner or owners of such slave or slaves may make application, either to the owner or owners, or to the commander or master of the said ship or vessel, before its sailing, and inform him or them thereof; which being done in the presence of one or more substantial witness or witnesses, the said information or applica tion shall amount to, and be construed, deemed and taken to be a full proof of his or their knowledge thereof; provided, the said slave or slaves shall go in any such ship or vessel. " And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if the owner or owners of any slave or slaVes in this colony, or any other person or persons, legally authorized by the owner or owners of a slave or slaves, shall attempt to go on board any privateer, or a merchant ship or vessel, to search for his, her or their slave or slaves, and the commander or master of such ship or vessel, or other officer or officers on board the same, in the absence of the commander or master, shall refuse to permit such owner or owners of a slave or slaves, or other person or persons, authorized, as aforesaid, to go on board and search for the slave or slaves by him, her or them missed, or found absent, such refus al shall be deemed, construed, and taken to be full proof that the owner or owners, commander or master of the said privateer or other ship or vessel, hath, or have a real knowledge that such slave or slaves is, or are on board. " And this act shall be forthwith published, and therefrom have, and take force and effect, in and throughout this colony. "Accordingly the said act was published by the beat of drum, on the i;th day of June, 1757, a few minutes before noon, by "THO. WARD, Secretary.'^ 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. vi. pp. 64, 65. 280 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The education of the Negro slave in this colony was thought to be inimical to the best interests of the master class. Ignorance was the sine qua non of slavery. The civil government and eccle siastical establishment ground him, body and spirit, as between "the upper and nether millstones." But the Negro was a good listener, and was not unconscious of what was going on around him. He was neither blind nor deaf. The fires of the Revolutionary struggle began to melt the frozen feelings of the colonists towards the slaves. When they began to feel the British lion clutching at the throat of their own liber ties, the bondage of the Negro stared them in the face. They knew the Negro's power of endurance, his personal courage, his admirable promptitude in the performance of difficult tasks, and his desperate spirit when pressed too sharply. The thought of such an ally for the English army, such an element in their rear,, was louder in their souls than the roar of the enemy's guns. The act of June, 1774, shows how deeply the people felt on the subject, " AN ACT PROHIBITING THE IMPORTATION OF NEGROES INTO THIS COLONY. Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preser vation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest ; as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal lib erty to others ; " Therefore, be it enacted by this General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that for the future, no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony ; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free, so far as respects personal freedom, and the enjoyment of private property, in the same manner as the native Indians. " Provided, nevertheless, that this law shall not extend to servants of per sons travelling through this colony, who are not inhabitants thereof, and who carry them out with them, when they leave the same. " Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave, belonging to any inhabitant of either of the British colonies, islands or plantations, who shall come into this colony, with an intention to settle or reside, for a number of years, therein ; but such negro or mulatto, so brought into this colony, by such person inclining to settle or reside therein, shall be, and remain, in the same situation, and subject in like manner to their master or mistress, as they were in the colony or plan tation from whence they removed. " Provided, nevertheless, that if any person, so coming into this colony, to settle or reside, as aforesaid, shall afterwards remove out of the same, such person shall be obliged to carry all such negro or mulatto slaves, as also all such as shall be born from them, out of the colony with them. THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND. 28 r " Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed ta extend, to any negro or mulatto slave brought from the coast of Africa, into- the West Indies, on board any vessel belonging to this colony, and which negro or mulatto slave could not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be brought into this colony. " Provided, that the owner of such negro or mulatto slave give bond to the general treasurer of the said colony, within ten days after such arrival in the sum of ^100, lawful money, for each and every such negro or mulatto slave so brought in, that such negro or mulatto slave shall be exported out of the colony, within one year from the date of such bond ; if such negro or mulatto be alive,, and in a condition to be removed. "Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed ta extend, to any negro or mulatto slave that may be on board any vessel belong ing to this colony, now at sea, in her present voyage." * In 1730 the population of Rhode Island was, whites, 15,302; Indians, 985; Negroes, 1,648; total, 17,935. In 1749 there were 28,439 whites, and 3,077 Negroes. Indians were not given this, year. In 1756 the whites numbered 35,939, the Negroes 4,697. In 1774 Rhode Island contained 9,439 families, Newport had 9,209 inhabitants. The whites in the entire colony numbered 54,435, the Negroes, 3,761, and the Indians, 1,482.2 It will be observed that the Negro population fell off between the years 1749 and 1774 It is accounted for by the fact mentioned before, that many ran away on ships that came into the Province. The Negroes received better treatment at this time than at any other period during the existence of the colony. There was a general relaxation of the severe laws that had been so rigidly enforced. They took great interest in public meetings, devoured with avidity every scrap of news regarding the movements of the Tory forces, listened with rapt attention to the patriotic conver sations of their masters, and when the storm-cloud of war broke were as eager to fight for the independence of North America as- their masters. 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. vii. pp. 251, 252. 2 American Annals, vol. ii. pp. 107, 155, 156, 184, and 265. 282 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XX. THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY. 1664-1775. NEW JERSEY PASSES INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENGLISH. POLITICAL POWERS CONVEYED TO BERKELEY AND CARTERET. LEGISLATION ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. THE COLONY DIVIDED INTO EAST AND WEST JERSEY. SEPARATE GOVERNMENTS. AN ACT CONCERNING SLAVERY BY THE LEGISLATURE OF EAST JERSEY. GENERAL APPREHENSION RESPECTING THE RISING OF NEGRO AND INDIAN SLAVES. EAST AND WEST JERSEY SURRENDER THEIR RIGHTS OF GOVERNMENT TO THE QUEEN. AN ACT FOR REGULATING THE CONDUCT OF SLAVES. IMPOST-TAX OF TEN POUNDS LEVIED UPON EACH NEGRO IMPORTED INTO THE COLONY. THE GENERAL COURT PASSES A LAW REGULATING THE TRIAL OF SLAVES. NEGROES RULED OUT OF THE MILITIA ESTABLISHMENT UPON CONDITION. POPULATION OF THE JERSEYS IN 1738 AND 1745. r I ^HE colony of New Jersey passed into the control of the English in 1664; and the first grant of political powers, upon which the government was erected, was conveyed by the Duke of York to Berkeley and Carteret during the same year. In the " Proprietary Articles of Concession, " the words ser vants, slaves, and Christian servants occur. It was the intention of the colonists to draw a distinction between " servants for a term of years" and (< servants for life" between white servants and black slaves, between Christians and pagans. When slavery was introduced into Jersey is not known. 1 There is no doubt but that it made its appearance there almost as early as in New Netherlands. The Dutch, the Quakers, and the English held slaves. But the system was milder here than in any of the other colonies. The Negroes were scattered among the families of the whites, and were treated with great humanity. Legislation on the subject of slavery did not begin until the middle of the eighteenth century, and it was not severe. Before this time, say three-quarters of a century, a few Acts had been passed calculated to protect the slave element from the sin of intoxication. In 1675 an Act passed, imposing fines and punish- 1 It is unfortunate that there is no good history of New Jersey. The records of the Historical Society of that State are not conveniently printed, nor valuable in colonial data. THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY. 283 merits upon any white person who should transport, harbor, or entertain "apprentices, servants, or slaves." It was perfectly natural that the Negroes should be of a nomadic disposition. They had no homes, no wives, no children, nothing to attach them to a locality. Those who resided near the seacoast watched, with unflagging interest, the coming and going of the mysterious white-winged vessels. They hung upon the storied lips of every fugitive, and dreamed of lands afar where they might find that liberty for which their souls thirsted as the hart for the water-brook. Far from their native country, without the blessings of the Church, or the warmth of substantial friendship, they fell into a listless condition, a somnolence that led them 'to stagger against some of the regulations of the Province. Their wandering was not inspired by any subjective, inherent, generic evil : it was but the tossing of a weary, distressed mind under the dreadful influences of a hateful dream. And what little there is in the early records of the colony of New Jersey is at once a compliment to the humanity of the master, and the docility of the slave. In 1676 the colony was divided into East and West Jersey, with separate governments. The laws of East Jersey, promul gated in 1682, contained laws prohibiting the entertaining of fugitive servants, or trading with Negroes. The law respecting fugitive servants was intended to destroy the hopes of runaways in the entertainment they so frequently obtained at the hands of benevolent Quakers and other enemies of "indenture" and slavery. The law-makers acted upon the presumption, that as the Negro had no property, did not own himself, he could not sell any article of his own. All slaves who attempted to dispose of any article were regarded with suspicion. The law made it a misde meanor for a free person to purchase any thing from a slave, and hence cut off a source of revenue to the more industrious slaves, who by their frugality often prepared something for sale. In 1694 "an Act concerning slaves" was passed by the Legis lature of East Jersey. It provided, among other things, for the trial of " negroes and other slaves, for felonies punishable with death, by a jury of twelve persons before three justices of the peace ; for theft, before two justices ; the punishment by whipping" Here was the grandest evidence of the high character of the white population in East Jersey. In every other colony in North America the Negro was denied the right of "trial by jury," so 284 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. sacred to Englishmen. In Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts,, Connecticut, in all the colonies, the Negro went into court convicted, went out convicted, and was executed, upon the frailest evidence imaginable. But here in Jersey the only example of justice was shown toward the Negro in North America. " Trial by jury" implied the right to be sworn, and give competent testimony. A Negro slave, when on trial for his life, was accorded the privilege of being tried by twelve honest white colonists before three justices of the peace. This was in striking contrast with the conduct of the colony of New York, where Negroes were arrested upon the incoherent accusations of disso lute whites and terrified blacks. It gave the Negroes a new and an anomalous position in the New World. It banished the cruel theory of Virginia, New York, and Connecticut, that the Negro was a pagan, and therefore should not be sworn in courts of justice, and threw open a wide door for his entrance into a more hopeful state than he had, up to that time, dared to antici pate. It allowed him to infer that his life was a little more than that of the brute that perisheth ; that he could not be dragged by malice through the forms of a trial, without jury, witness, counsel, or friend, to an ignominious death, that was to be regretted only by his master, and his regrets to be solaced by the Legislature paying " the price ; " that the law regarded him as a man, whose life was too dear to be .committed to the disposition of irascible men, whose prejudices could be mollified only in extreme cruelty or cold-blooded murder. It had much to do toward elevating the character of the Negro in New Jersey. It first fired his heart with the noble impulse of gratitude, and then led him to hope. And how much that little word means ! It causes the soul to spread its white pinions to every favoring breeze, and hasten on to a propitious future. And then the fact that Negroes had rights acknowledged by the statutes, and respectfully accorded them by the courts, had its due influence upon the white colonists. The men, or class of men, who have rights not chal lenged, command the respect of others. The fact clothes them with dignity as with a garment. And then, by the inevitable logic of the position of the courts of East Jersey, the colonists were led to the conclusion that the Negroes among them had other rights. And, as it has been said already, they received bet ter treatment here than in any other colony in the country. In West Jersey happily the word " slave " was omitted from the THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY. 285 laws. Only servants and runaway servants were mentioned, and the selling of rum to Negroes and Indians was strictly forbidden. The fear of insurrection among Indians and Negroes was general throughout all of the colonies. One a savage, and the other untutored, they knew but two manifestations, gratitude and revenge. It was deemed a wise precaution to keep these unfortunate people as far removed from the exciting influences of rum as possible. Chapter twenty-three of a law passed in West Jersey in 1676, providing for publicity in judicial proceedings, concludes as follows : " That all and every person and persons inhabiting the said province, shall, as far as in us lies, be free from oppression and slavery." l In 1702 the proprietors of East and West Jersey surrendered their rights of government to the queen. The Province was immediately placed with New York, and the government commit ted to the hands of Lord Cornbury. 2 In 1704 "An Act for regu lating negroe, Indian and mulatto slaves within the province of New Jersey" was introduced, but was tabled and disallowed. The Negroes had just cause for the fears they entertained as to legislation directed at the few rights they had enjoyed under the Jersey government. Their fellow-servants over in New York had suffered under severe laws, and at that time had no privilege in which they could rejoice. In 1713 the following law was passed : " An act for regulating slaves, (i Nev. L., c. 10.) Sect. i. Against trading with slaves. 2. For arrest of slaves being without pass. 3. Negro belonging to another province, not having license, to be whipped and committed to jail. 4. Punishment of slaves for crimes to be by three or more justices of the peace, with five of the principal freeholders, without a grand jury; seven agreeing, shall give judgment. 5. Method in such causes more particularly described. Provides that 'the evidence of Indian, negro, or mulatto slaves shall be admitted and allowed on trials of such slaves, on all causes criminal/ 6. Owner may demand a jury. 7, 8. Compensation to owners for death of slave. 9. A slave for attempting to ravish any white woman, or presuming * to assault or strike any free man or woman professing Christianity,' any two. 1 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 283. 2 The following were the instructions his lordship received, concerning the treatment of Negro slaves : " You shall endeavour to get a law past for the restraining of any inhuman severity, which by ill masters or overseers may be used towards their Christian servants and their slaves, and that provision be made therein that the wilfull killing of Indians and negroes may be punished with death, and that a fit penalty be emposed for the maiming of them." Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 280, note. 286 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. justices have discretionary powers to inflict corporal punishment, not extending to life or limb. 10. Slaves, for stealing, to be whipped, n. Penalties on justices, &c., neglecting duty. 12. Punishment for concealing, harboring, or entertaining slaves of others. 13. Provides that no Negro, Indian, or mulatto that shall thereafter be made free, shall hold any real estate in his own right, in fee simple or fee tail. 14. 'And whereas it is found by experience that free Negroes are an idle, slothful people, and prove very often a charge to the place where they are,' enacts that owners manumitting, shall give security, &c." T Nearly all the humane features of the Jersey laws were sup planted by severe prohibitions, requirements, and penalties. The trial by jury was construed to mean that one Negro's testimony was good against another Negro in a trial for a felony, allowing the owner of the slave to demand a jury. Humane masters were denied the right to emancipate their slaves, and the latter were prohibited from owning real property in fee simple or fee tail. Having stripped the Negro of the few rights he possessed, the General Court, during the same year, went on to reduce him to absolute property, and levied an impost-tax of ten pounds upon every Negro imported into the colony, to remain in force for seven years. In 1754 an Act provided, that in the borough of Elizabeth any white servant or servants, slave or slaves, which shall " be brought before the Mayor, &c., by their masters or other inhabitant of the Borough, for any misdemeanor rude or disorderly behavior, may be committed to the workhouse to hard labor and receive correc tion not exceeding thirty lashes." 2 This Act was purely local in character, and indiscriminate in its application to every class of servants. It was nothing more than a police regulation, and as such was a wholesome law. In 1768 the General Court passed An Act to regulate the trial of slaves for murder and other crimes and to repeal so much of an act, &c. Sections one and two provided for the trial of slaves by the ordinary higher criminal courts. Section three provided that the expenses incurred in the execution of slaves should be levied upon all the owners of able-bodied slaves in the county, by order of the justices presiding at the trial. Section four repealed sec tions four, five, six, and seven of the Act of 1713. This was significant. It portended a better feeling toward the Negroes, and illumined the dark horizon of slavery with the distant light of 1 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 284. 2 Hurd, vol. i. p. 285. THE COLONY OF NEW JERSEY. 287 hope. A strong feeling in favor of better treatment for Negro slaves made itself manifest at this time. When the Quaker found the prejudice against himself subsiding, he turned, like a good Samaritan, to pour the wine of human sympathy into the lacerated feelings of the Negro. Private instruction was given to them in many parts of Jersey. The gospel was expounded to them in its beauty and simplicity, and produced its good fruit in better lives. The next year, 1769, a mercenary spirit inspired and secured the passage of another Act levying a tax upon imported slaves, and requiring persons manumitting slaves to give better securi ties. It reads, " Whereas duties on the importation of negroes in several of the neighbor ing colonies hath, on experience, been found beneficial in the introduction of sober industrious foreigners, to settle under his Majesty's allegiance, and the promoting a spirit of industry among the inhabitants in general, in order there fore to promote the same good designs in this government and that such as purchase slaves may contribute some equitable proportion of the public burdens." I How an impost-tax upon imported slaves would be "benefi cial in the introduction of sober industrious foreigners," is not easily perceived ; and how it would promote " a spirit of industry among the inhabitants in general," is a problem most difficult of solution. But these were the lofty reasons that inspired the General Court to seek to fill the coffers of the Province with money drawn from the slave-lottery, where human beings were raffled off to the highest bidders in the colony. The cautious language in which the Act was couched indicated the sensitive state of the public conscience on slavery at that time. They were afraid to tell the truth. They did not dare to say to the people : We propose to repair the streets of your towns, the public roads, and lighten the burden of taxation, by saying to men-stealers, we will allow you to sell your cargoes of slaves into this colony pro vided you share the spoils of your superlative crime ! No, they had to tell the people that the introduction of Negro slaves, upon whom there was a tax, would entice sober and industrious white people to come among them, and would quicken the entire Prov ince with a spirit of thrift never before witnessed ! In 1760 the Negro was ruled out of the militia establishment upon a condition. The law provided against the enlistment of 1 Kurd, vol. i. p. 285. 288 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. any "young man under the age of twenty-one years, or any slaves who are so for terms of life, or apprentices" without leave of their masters. This was the mildest prohibition against the entrance of the slave into the militia service in any of the colonies. There is nothing said about the employment of the free Negroes in this service ; and it is fair to suppose, in view 'of the mild character of the laws, that they were not excluded. In settle ments where the German and Quaker elements predominated, the Negro found that his " lines had fallen unto him in pleasant places, and that he had a goodly heritage." In the coast towns, and in the great centres of population, the white people were of a poorer class. Many were adventurers, cruel and unscrupulous in their methods. The speed with which the people sought to obtain a competency wore the finer edges of their feeling to the coarse grain of selfishness ; and they not only drew themselves up into the miserable rags of their own selfish aggrandizements as far as all competitors were concerned, but regarded slavery with imperturbable complacency. In 1738 the population of the Jerseys was, whites, 43,388; blacks,. 3,981. In 1745 the whites numbered 56,797, and the blacks, 4,6o6. r 1 American Annals, vol. ii. pp. 127, 143. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 289 CHAPTER XXI. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 1665-1775. THE CAROLINAS RECEIVE TWO DIFFERENT CHARTERS FROM THE CROWN OF GREAT BRITAIN. ERA OF SLAVERY LEGISLATION. LAW ESTABLISHING SLAVERY. THE SLAVE POPULATION OF THIS PROVINCE REGARDED AS CHATTEL PROPERTY. TRIAL OF SLAVES. INCREASE OF SLAVE POPU LATION. THE INCREASE IN THE RICE-TRADE. SEVERE LAWS REGULATING THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CONDUCT OF SLAVES. PUNISHMENT OF SLAVES FOR RUNNING AWAY. THE LIFE OF SLAVES REGARDED AS OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE BY THE VIOLENT MASTER CLASS. AN ACT EMPOWERING TWO JUSTICES OF THE PEACE TO INVESTIGATE TREATMENT OF SLAVES. AN ACT PROHIBITING THE OVERWORKING OF SLAVES SLAVE-MARKET AT CHARLESTON. INSURRECTION. A LAW AUTHORIZING THE CARRYING OF FlRE-ARMS AMONG THE WHITES THE ENLISTMENT OF SLAVES TO SERVE IN TIME OF ALARM. NEGROES ADMITTED TO THE MILITIA SERVICE. COMPENSATION TO MASTERS FOR THE Loss OF SLAVES KILLED BY THE ENEMY OR WHO DESERT. FEW SLAVES MANUMITTED. FROM 1754-1776 LITTLE LEGISLATION ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. THREATENING WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND HER PROVINCIAL DEPENDENCIES. THE EFFECT UPON PUBLIC SENTIMENT. THE Carolinas received two different charters from the crown of Great Britain. The first was witnessed by the king at Westminster, March 24, 1663 ; the second, June 30, 1665. The last charter was surrendered to the king by seven of the eight proprietors on the 25th July, 1729. The government became regal ; and the Province was immediately divided into North and South Carolina by an order of the British Council, and the bound aries between the two governments fixed. There were Negro slaves in the Carolinas from the earliest days of their existence. The era of slavery legislation began about the year 1690. The first Act for the " Better Ordering of Slaves" was " read three times and passed, and ratified in open Parliament, the seventh day of February, Anno Domini, 1690." It bore the signatures of Seth Sothell, G. Muschamp, John Beresford, and John Harris. It contained fifteen articles of the severest charac ter. On the 7th of June, 1712, the first positive law establishing slavery passed, and was signed. 1 The entire Act embraced thirty- 1 An eminent lawyer, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of , and a warm personal friend of mine, recently said to me, during an afternoon stroll, that he never knew that slavery was ever established by statute in any of the British colonies in North America. 200 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. five sections. Section one is quoted in full because of the interest that centres in it in connection with the problem of slavery legis lation in the colonies. "i. Be it therefore enacted, by his Excellency, William, Lord Craven, Palatine, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of this Province, by and with the advice and consent of the rest of the members of the General Assembly, now met at Charlestown, for the South-west part of this Province, and by the authority of the same, That all negroes, mulatoes, musti- zoes or Indians, which at any time heretofore have been sold, or now are held or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought and sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves ; and they, and their children, are hereby made and declared slaves, to all intents and purposes ; excepting all such negroes, mulatoes, mus- tizoes or Indians, which heretofore have been, or hereafter shall be, for some particular merit, made and declared free, either by the Governor and council of this Province, pursuant to any Act or law of this Province, or by their respective owners or masters ; and also, excepting all such negroes, mulatoes, mu--". oes or Indians, as can prove they ought not to be sold for slaves. And in case. any negro, mulatoe, mustizoe or Indian, doth lay claim to his or her freedom, upon all or any of the said accounts, the same shall be finally heard and determined by the Governor and council of this Province." l The above section was re-enacted into another law, containing forty-three sections, passed on the 23d of February, 1722. Vir ginia declared that children should follow the condition of their mothers, but never passed a law in any respect like unto this most remarkable Act. South Carolina has the unenviable reputation of being the only colony in North America where by positive statute the Negro was doomed to perpetual bondage. 2 On the loth of May, 1740, an act regulating slaves, containing fifty sec tions, recites : "WHEREAS, in his Majesty's plantations in America, slavery has been introduced and allowed, and the people commonly called negroes, Indians, mulattoes and mustizoes, have been deemed absolute slaves, and the subjects of property in the hands of particular persons, the extent of whose power over such slaves ought to be settled and limited by positive laws, so that the slave may be kept in due subjection and obedience, and the owners and other per sons having the care and government of slaves may be restrained from exer cising too great rigour and cruelty over them, and that the public peace and order of this Province may be preserved : We pray your most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted." 3 1 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. p. 352. 2 Virginia made slavery statutory as did other colonies, but we have no statute so explicit as the above. But slavery was slavery in all the colonies, cruel and hurtful. 3 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. p. 397. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 291 The first section of this Act was made more elaborate than any .other law previously passed. It bore all the marks of ripe schol arship and profound law learning. The first section is produced here : " i. And be it enacted, by the honorable William Bull, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-chief, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty's honorable Council, and the Commons House of Assembly of this Province, and by the authority of the same, That all negroes and Indians, (free Indians in amity with this government, and negroes, mulattoes and mustizoes, who are now free, excepted,) mulattoes or mustizoes who now are, or shall hereafter be, in this Province, and all their issue and offspring, born or to be born, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, and remain forever here after, absolute slaves, and shall follow the condition of the mother, and shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administra tors and assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes whatsoever ; pro vided always, that if any negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo, shall claim his or her freedom, it shall and may be lawful for such negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo, or any person or persons whatsoever, on his or her behalf, to apply to the justices of his' Majesty's court of common pleas, by petition or motion, either during the sitting of the said court, or before any of the justices of the same court, at any time in the vacation ; and the said court, or any of the jus tices thereof, shall, and they are hereby fully impowered to, admit any person so applying to be guardian for any negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo, claiming his, her or their freedom ; and such guardians shall be enabled, entitled and capable in law, to bring an action of trespass in the nature of ravishment of ward, against any person who shall claim property in, or who shall be in pos session of, any such negro, Indian, mulatto or mustizo; and the defendant shall and may plead the general issue on such action brought, and the special matter may and shall be given in evidence, and upon a general or special ver dict found, judgment shall be given according to the very right of the cause, without having any regard to any defect in the proceedings, either in form or substance ; and if judgment shall be given for the plaintiff, a special entry shall be made, declaring that the ward of the plaintiff is free, and the jury shall assess damages which the plaintiff's ward hath sustained, and the court shall give judgment, and award execution, against the defendant for such damage, with full costs of suit; but in case judgment shall be given for the defendant, the said court is hereby fully impowered to inflict such corporal punishment, not extending to life or limb, on the ward of the plaintiff, as they, in their discretion, shall think fit ; provided always, that in any action or suit to be brought in pursuance of the direction of this Act, the burthen of the proof shall lay on the plaintiff, and it shall be always presumed that every negro, Indian, mulatto and mustizo, is a slave, unless the contrary can be made appear, the Indians in amity with this government excepted, in which case the burthen of the proof shall lye on the defendant ; provided also, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to hinder or restrain any other court of law or equity in this Province, from determining the property of slaves, or their right of freedom, 292 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. , which now have cognizance or jurisdiction of the same, when the same shall happen to come in judgment before such courts, or any of them, always taking this Act for their direction therein." * The entire slave population of this Province was regarded as chattel property, absolutely. They could be seized in execution as in the case of other property, but not, however, if there were other chattels available. In case of "burglary, robbery, burning of houses, killing or stealing of any meat or other cattle, or other petty injuries, as maiming one of the other, stealing of fowls, pro visions, or such like trespass or injuries," a justice of the peace was to be informed. He issued a warrant for the arrest of the offender or offenders, and summoned all competent witnesses. After examination, if found guilty, the offender or offenders were committed to jail. The justice then notified the justice next to him to be associated with him in the trial. He had the authority to fix the day and hour of the trial, to summon witness, and " three discreet and sufficient freeholders." The justices then swore the "freeholders," and, after they had tried the case, had the authority to pronounce the sentence of death, "or such other punishment" as they felt meet to fix. "The solemnity of a jury" was never accorded to slaves. "Three freeholders" could dispose of human life in such cases, and no one could hinder. 2 The confession of the accused slave, and the testimony of another slave, were "held for good and convincing evidence in all petty larcenies or tres passes not exceeding forty shillings." In the case of a Negro on trial for his life, " the oath of Christian evidence " was required, or the "positive evidence of two Negroes or slaves," in order to convict. The increase of slaves was almost phenomenal. The rice- trade had grown to enormous proportions. The physical obstruc tion gave away rapidly before the incessant and stupendous efforts of Negro laborers. The colonists held out most flattering induce ments to Englishmen to emigrate into the Province. The home government applauded the zeal and executive abilities of the local authorities. Attention was called to the necessity of legislation for the government of the vast Negro population in the colony. The code of South Carolina was without an example among the civil ized governments of modern times. It was unlawful for any free 1 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. pp. 397, 398. 2 Ibid., vol. vii. pp. 343, 344. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 293 person to inhabit or trade with Negroes. 1 Slaves could not leave the plantation on which they were owned, except in livery, or armed with a pass, signed by their master, containing the name of the possessor. For a violation of this regulation they were whipped on the naked back. No man was allowed to conduct a "plantation, cow-pen or stock," that shall be six miles distant from his usual place of abode, and wherein six Negroes were employed, without one or more white persons were residing on the place. 2 Negro slaves found on another plantation than the one to- which they belonged, "on the Lord's Day, fast days, or holy-days," even though they could produce passes, were seized and whipped. If a slave were found "keeping any horse, horses, or neat cattle," any white man, by warrant, could seize the animals, and sell them through the church-wardens ; and the money arising from such sale was devoted to the poor of the parish in which -said presumptuous slaves resided. If more than seven slaves were found travelling on the highway, except accompanied by a white man, it was lawful for any white man to apprehend each and every one of such slaves, and administer twenty lashes upon their bare back. No slave was allowed to hire out his time. Some owners of slaves were poor, and, their slaves being trusty and industrious, permitted them to go out and get whatever work they could, with the understanding that the master was to have the wages. An Act was passed in 1735, forbidding such transac tions, and fining the persons who hired slaves who had no written certificate from their masters setting forth the terms upon which the work was to be done. No slave could hire a house or planta tion. No amount of industry could make him an exception to the general rule. If he toiled faithfully for years, amassed a for tune for his master, earned quite a competence for himself during the odd moments he caught from a busy life, and then, with acknowledged character and business tact, he sought to hire a plantation or buy a house, the law came in, and pronounced it a misdemeanor, for which both purchaser and seller had to pay in fines, stripes, and imprisonment. A slave could not keep in his own name, or that of his master, any kind of a house of enter tainment. He was even prohibited by law from selling corn or rice in the Province. The penalty was a fine of forty shillings, 1 This Act, passed on the i6th of March, 1696, was made " perpetual" on the iath of December, 1712. It remained throughout the entire period. See Statutes of S. C., vol. ii. p. 598. 2 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. p. 363. 294 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and the forfeiture of the articles for sale. They could not keep a boat or canoe. The cruelties of the code are without a parallel, as applied ta the correction of Negro slaves. "If any negro or Indian slave [says the act of Feb. 7, 1690] shall offer any violence, by stricking or the like, to any white person, he shall for the first offence be severely whipped by the constable, by order of any justice of peace j and for the second offence, by like order, shall be severely whipped, his or her nose slit, and face burnt in some place ; and for the third offence, to be left to two justices and three sufficient freeholders, to inflict death, or any other punishment, according to their discretion." As the penalties for the smallest breach of the slave-code grew more severe, the slaves grew more restless and agitated. Sometimes under great fear they would run away for a short time, in the hope that their irate masters would relent. But this, instead of helping, hindered and injured the cause of the slaves. Angered at the conduct of their slaves, the master element, hav ing their representatives on the floor of the Assembly, secured the passage of the following brutal law : " That every slave of above sixteen years of age, that shall run away from his master, mistress or overseer, and shall so continue for the space of twenty days at one time, shall, by his master, mistress, overseer or head of the family's procurement, for the first offence, be publicly and severely whipped, not exceed ing forty lashes ; and in case the master, mistress, overseer, or head of the family, shall neglect to inflict such punishment of whipping, upon any negro or slave that shall so run away, for the space of ten days, upon complaint made thereof, within one month, by any person whatsoever, to any justice of the peace, the said justice of the peace shall, by his warrant directed to the constable, order the said negro or slave to be publicly and severely whipped, the charges of such whipping, not exceeding twenty shillings, to be borne by the person neglecting to have such runaway negro whipped, as before directed by this Act. And in case such negro or slave shall run away a second time, and shall so continue for the space of twenty days, he or she, so offending, shall be branded with the letter "R, on the right cheek. And in case the master, mistress, over seer, or head of the family, shall neglect to inflict the punishment upon such slave running away the second time, the person so neglecting shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds, and upon any complaint made by any person, within one month, to any justice of the peace, of the neglect of so punishing any slave for running away the second time, such justice shall order the constable to inflict the same punishment upon such slave, or cause the same to be done, the charges thereof, not exceeding thirty shillings, to be borne by the person neglecting to have the punishment inflicted. And in case such negro or slave shall run away the third time, and shall so continue for the space of thirty days, he or she, so offending, for the third offence, shall be severely whipped, THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 295 not exceeding forty lashes, and shall have one of his ears cut off; and in case the master, mistress, overseer or head of the family, shall neglect to inflict the punishment upon such slave running away the third time, the person so neglecting shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds, and upon any complaint made by any person, within two months, to any justice of the peace, of the neglect of the so punishing any slave for running away the third time, the said justice shall order the constable to inflict the same punishment upon such slave, or cause the same to be done, the charges thereof, not exceeding forty .shillings, to be borne by the person neglecting to have the punishment inflicted. And in case such male negro or slave shall run away the fourth time, and shall .so continue for the space of thirty days, he, so offending, for the fourth offence, by order or procurement of the master, mistress, overseer or head of the iamily, shall be gelt; and in case the negro or slave that shall be gelt, shall die, by reason of his gelding, and without any neglect of the person that shall -order the same, the owner of the negro or slave so dying, shall be paid for him, out of the public treasury. And if a female slave shall run away the fourth time, then she shall, by order of her master, mistress or overseer, be severely whipped, and be branded on the left cheek with the letter R, and her left ear cut off. And if the owner, if in this Province, or in case of his absence, if his agent, factor or attorney, that hath the charge of the negro or slave, by this Act required to be gelt, whipped, branded and the ear cut off, for the fourth time of running away, shall neglect to have the same done and executed, accordingly as the same is ordered by this Act, for the space of twenty days after such slave is in his or their custody, that then such owner shall lose his property to the said slave, to him or them that will sue for the same, by infor mation, at any time within six months, in the court of common pleas in this Province. And every person who shall so recover a slave by information, for the reasons aforesaid, shall, within twenty days after such recovery, inflict such punishment upon such slave as his former owner or head of a family ought to have done, and for neglect of which he lost his property to the said slave, or for neglect thereof shall forfeit fifty pounds ; and in case any negro slave so recovered by information, and gelt, shall die, in such case, the slave so dying shall not be paid for out of the public treasury. And in case any negro or slave shall run away the fifth time, and shall so continue by the space of thirty days at one time, such slave shall be tried before two justices of the peace and three freeholders, as before directed by this Act in case of murder, and being by them declared guilty of the offence, it shall be lawful for them to order the cord of one of the slave's legs to be cut off above the heel, or else to pronounce sentence of death upon the slave, at the discretion of the said justices ; and any judgment given after the first offence, shall be sufficient conviction to bring the offenders within the penalty for the second offence ; and after the second, within the penalty of the third ; and so for the inflicting the rest of the punish ments." ' If any slave. attempted to run away from his or her master, and go out of the Province, he or she could be tried before two 1 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. pp. 359, 360. 296 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. justices and three freeholders, and sentenced to suffer a most cruel death. If it could be proved that any Negro, free or slave, had endeavored to persuade or entice any other Negro to run off out of the Province, upon conviction he was punished with forty lashes r and branded on the forehead with a red hot iron, " that the mark thereof may remain." If a white man met a slave, and demanded of him to show his ticket, and the slave refused, the law empowered the white man " to beat, maim, or assault ; and if such Negro or slave" could not "be taken, to kill him," if he would not "shew his ticket." The cruel and barbarous code of the slave-power in South Carolina produced, in course of time, a re-action in the opposite direction. The large latitude that the law gave to white people in their dealings with the hapless slaves made them careless and extravagant in the use of their authority. It educated them into a brood of tyrants. They did not care any more for the life of a Negro slave than for the crawling worm in their path. Many white men who owned no slaves poured forth their wrathful invec tives and cruel blows upon the heads of innocent Negroes with the slightest pretext. They pushed,' jostled, crowded, and kicked the Negro on every occasion. The young whites early took their lessons .in abusing God's poor and helpless children ; while an overseer was prized more for his brutal powers to curse, beat, and torture than for any ability he chanced to possess for busi ness management. The press and pulpit had contemplated this state of affairs until they, too, were the willing abettors in the most cruel system of bondage that history has recorded. But no man wants his horse driven to death, if it is a beast. No one cares to have every man that passes kick his dog, even if it is not the best dog in the community. It is his dog, and that makes all the dif ference in the world. The men who did the most cruel things to the slaves they found in their daily path were, as a rule, without slaves or any other kind of property. They used their authority unsparingly. Common-sense taught the planters that better treat ment of the slaves meant better work, and increased* profits for themselves. A small value was finally placed upon a slave's life, fifty pounds. Fifty pounds paid into the public treasury by a man who, " of wantonness, or only of bloody-mindedness, or cruel intention," had killed "a negro or other slave of his own," was enough to appease the public mind, and atone for a cold-blooded murder ! If he killed another man's slave, the law demanded that THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 297 he pay fifty pounds current money into the public treasury, and the full price of the slave to the owner, but was "not to be liable to any other punishment or forfeiture for the same." * The law just referred to, passed in 1712, was re-enacted in 1722. One change was made in it : i.e., if a white servant, having no property, killed a slave, three justices could bind him over to the master whose slave he killed to serve him for five years. This law had a wholesome effect upon irresponsible white men, who often pre sumed upon their nationality, having neither brains, money, nor social standing, to punish slaves. In 1740, May 10, the following Act became a law ; showing that there had been a wonderful change in public sentiment resoecting the treatment of slaves : "XXXVII. And whereas, cruelty is not only highly unbecoming those who profess themselves Christians, but is odious in the eyes of all men who have any sense of virtue or humanity; therefore, to restrain and prevent bar barity being exercised towards slaves, Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons whosoever, shall wilfully murder his own slave, or the slave of any other person, every such person shall, upon conviction there of, forfeit and pay the sum of seven hundred pounds, current money, and shall be rendered, and is hereby declared altogether and forever incapable of holding, exercising, enjoying or receiving the profits of any office, place or employment, civil or military, within this Province : And in case any such person, shall not be able to pay the penalty and forfeitures hereby inflicted and imposed, every such person shall be sent to any of the frontier garrisons of this Province, or committed to the work house in Charlestown, there to remain for the space of seven years, and to serve or to be kept at hard labor. And in case the slave murdered shall be the property of any other person than the offender, the pay usually allowed by the public to the soldiers of such garrison, or the profits of the labor of the offender, if committed to the work house in Charlestown, shall be paid to the owner of the slave murdered. And if any person shall, on a sudden heat of passion, or by undue correction, kill his own slave, or the slave of any other person, he shall forfeit the sum of three hundred and fifty pounds, current money. And in case any person or persons shall wilfully cut out the tongue, put out the eye, castrate, or cruelly scald, burn, or deprive any slave of any limb or member, or shall inflict any other cruel punishment, other than by whipping or beating with a horse-whip, cow-skin, switch or small stick, or by putting irons on, or confining or imprisoning such slave, every such person shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, current money." 2 It may be said truthfully that the slaves in the colony of South Carolina were accorded treatment as good as that bestowed upon 1 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii p. 36.3. 2 Ibid., vol. vii. pp. 410, 411. 298 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. horses, in 1750. But their social condition was most deplorable. The law positively forbid the instruction of slaves, and the penalty was "one hundred pounds current money." For a few years Saturday afternoon had been allowed them as a day of recreation, but as early as 1690 it was forbidden by statute. In the same year an Act was passed declaring that slaves should "have convenient clothes, once every year; and that no slave" should "be free by becoming a Christian, 1 but as to payments of debts " were " deemed and taken as all other goods and chattels." Their houses were searched every fortnight "for runaway slaves" and "stolen goods." Druggists were not allowed to employ a Negro to handle medicines, upon pain of forfeiting twenty pounds current money for every such offence. Negroes were not allowed to practise medicine, nor administer drugs of any kind, except by the direction of some white person. Any gathering of Negroes could be broken up at the discretion of a justice living in the district where the meeting was in session. Poor clothing and insufficient food bred wide-spread discontent among the slaves, and attracted public attention. 2 Many masters endeavored to get on as cheaply as possible in providing for their slaves. In 1722 the Legislature passed an Act empowering two justices of the peace to inquire as to the treatment of slaves on the several plantations ; and if any master neglected his slaves in food and raiment, he was liable to a fine of not more than fifty shillings. In May, 1740, an Act was passed requiring masters to see to it that their slaves were not overworked. The time set for them to work, was "from the 25th day of March to the 25th day of September," not "more than fifteen hours in four-and- twenty ;" and "from the 25th day of September to the 25th day of March," not " more than fourteen hours in four-and-twenty." 1 The following is the Act of the ;th of June, 1690. "XXXIV. Since charity, and the Christian religion, which we profess, obliges us to wish well to the souls of all men, and that reli gion may not be made a pretence to alter any man's property and right, and that no person may neglect to baptize their negroes or slaves, or suffer them to be baptized, for fear that thereby they should be manumitted and set free, Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall be, and is hereby declared, lawful for any negro or Indian slave, or any other slave or slaves what soever, to receive and profess the Christian faith, and be thereinto baptized ; but that notwithstand ing such slave or slaves shall receive and profess the Christian religion, and be baptized, he or they shall not thereby be manumitted or set free, or his or their owner, master or mistress lose his or their civil right, property and authority over such slave or slaves, but that the slave or slaves, with respect to his servitude, shall remain and continue in the same state and condition that he or they was in before the making of this act." Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. pp. 364, 365. 2 In 1740 an Act was passed requiring masters to provide "sufficient clothing" for their slaves. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 299 The history of the impost-tax on slaves imported into the Province of South Carolina is the history of organized greed, ambition, and extortion. Many were the gold sovereigns that were turned into the official coffers at Charleston ! With a magnificent harbor, and a genial climate, no city in the South could rival it as a slave-market. With an abundant supply from without, and a steady demand from within, the officials at Charleston felt assured that high impost-duties could not interfere with the slave-trade ; while the city would be a great gainer by the traffic, both mediately and immediately. Sudden and destructive insurrections were the safety-valves to the institution of slavery. A race long and cruelly enslaved may endure the yoke patiently for a season : but like the sudden gathering of the summer clouds, the pelting rain, the vivid, blinding lightning, the deep, hoarse thundering, it will assert itself some day; and then it is indeed a day of judgment to the task-masters ! The Negroes in South Carolina endured a most cruel treatment for a long time ; and, when " the day of their wrath " came, they scarcely knew it themselves, much less the whites. Florida was in the possession of the Spaniards. Its governor had sent out spies into Georgia and South Carolina, who held out very flattering inducements to the Negroes to desert their masters and go to Florida. Moreover, there was a Negro regiment in the Spanish service, whose officers were from their own race. Many slaves had made good their escape, and joined this regiment. It was allowed the same uniform and pay as the Spanish soldiers had. The colony of South Carolina was fearing an enemy from without, while behold their worst enemy was at their doors! In 1740 some Negroes assembled themselves together at a town called Stone, and made an attack upon two young men, who were guarding a warehouse, and killed them. They seized the arms and ammunition, effected an organization by electing one of their number captain ; and, with boisterous drums and flying banners, they marched off "like a disciplined com pany." They entered the house of one Mr. Godfrey, slew him, his wife, and child, and then fired his dwelling. They next took up their march towards Jacksonburgh, and plundered and burnt the houses of Sacheveral, Nash, Spry, and others. They killed ail the white people they found, and recruited their ranks from the Negroes they met. Gov, Bull was " returning to Charleston from the southward, met them, and, observing them armed, 300 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. quickly rode out of their way." * In a march of twelve miles,, they had wrought a work of great destruction. News reached Wiltown, and the militia were called out. The Negro insurrec tionists were intoxicated with their triumph, and drunk from rum they had taken from the houses they had plundered. They halted in an open field to sing and dance ; and, during their hilarity, Capt. Bee, at the head of the troops of the district, fell upon them, and, having killed several, captured all who did not make their escape in the woods. The Province was thrown into intense excitement. The Legis^ lature called attention to the insurrection, 2 and declared legal some very questionable and summary acts. In 1743 the people had not recovered from the fright they received from the insur rection. On the /th of May, 1743, an Act was passed requiring every white male inhabitant, who resorted " to any church or any other public place of divine worship, within " the Province to " carry with him a gun or a pair of horse pistols, in good order and fit for service, with at least six charges of gun-powder and ball," upon pain of paying "twenty shillings." As there was a law against teaching slaves to read and write,, there were no educated preachers. If a Negro desired to preach to his fellow-slaves, he had to secure written permission from his master. While Negroes were sometimes baptized into the com munion of the Church, usually the Episcopal Church, they were allowed only in the gallery, or organ-loft, of white congrega tions, in small numbers. No clergyman ventured to break unta this benighted people the bread of life. They were abandoned to the superstitions and religious fanaticisms incident to their con dition. In 1704 an Act was passed "for raising and enlisting such slaves as shall be thought serviceable to this Province in time of Alarms" It required, within thirty days after the publication of the Act, that, the commanders of military organizations through out the Province should appoint "five freeholders," "sober and discreet men," who were to make a complete list of all the able- bodied slaves in their respective districts. Three of them were competent to decide upon the qualifications of a slave. After the completion of the list, the freeholders mentioned above notified the owners to appear before them upon a certain day, and show 1 Hist. S. C. and Georgia, vol. ii. p. 73. 2 Statutes of S. C., vol. vii. p. 416. THE COLONY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 301 cause why their slaves should not be chosen for the service of the colony. The slaves were then enlisted, and their masters charged with the duty of arming them " with a serviceable lance, hatchet or gun, with sufficient amunition and hatchets, according to the conveniency of the said owners, to appear under the colours of the respective captains, in their several divisions, throughout " the Province, for the performance of such " public service " as required. If an owner refused to equip or permit his slave to respond to alarms, he was fined five pounds for each neglect, which was to be paid to the captain of the company to which the slave belonged. If a slave were killed by the enemy "in the line of duty," the owner of such slave was paid out of the public treasury such sum of money as three freeholders, under oath, should award. The Negroes did admirably ; and four years later, op the 24th of April, 1708, the Legislature re-enacted the bill making them militia-men. The last Act contained ten sections, and bears evidence of the pleasure the whites took in the employ ment of Negroes as their defenders. If a Negro were taken prisoner by the enemy, and effected his escape back into the Province, he was emancipated. And if a Negro captured and killed an enemy, he was emancipated, but if wounded himself, was set free at the public expense. If he deserted to the enemy, his master was paid for his loss. Few slaves were manumitted. The law required that masters who emancipated their slaves should make provisions for trans porting them out of the Province. If they were found in the Province twelve months after they were set free, the manumission was considered void, except approved by the Legislature. From 1754 till 1776 there was little legislation on the subject of slavery. The pressure from without made men conservative about slavery, and radical on the question of the rights and liber ties of the colonies. The threatening war between England and her provincial dependencies made men humane and patriotic ; and during these years of anxiety and excitement, the weary slaves breathed a better atmosphere, and enjoyed the rare sensation of confidence and benevolence. 302 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXII. THE COLONY OF NORTH CAROLINA. - 1669-1775. THE GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION OF NORTH CAROLINA FAVORABLE TO THE SLAVE-TRADE. THE LOCKE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. WILLIAM SAYLE COMMISSIONED GOVERNOR. LEGISLATIVE CAREER OF THE COLONY. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF ENGLAND INTO THE COLONY. THE RIGHTS OF NEGROES CONTROLLED ABSOLUTELY BY THEIR MASTERS. AN ACT RESPECTING CONSPIRACIES. THE WRATH OF ILL-NATURED WHITES VISITED UPON THEIR SLAVES. AN ACT AGAINST THE EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES. LIMITED RIGHTS OF FREE NEGROES. THE geographical situation of North Carolina was favorable to the slave-trade. Through the genius of Shaftesbury, and the subtle cun ning of John Locke, Carolina received, and for a time adopted, the most remarkable constitution ever submitted to any people in any age of the world. The whole affair was an insult to humanity, and in its fundamental elements bore the palpable evidences of the cruel conclusions of an exclusive philosophy. " No elective franchise could be conferred upon a freehold of less than fifty acres," while all executive power was vested in the proprietors themselves. Seven courts were controlled by forty- two counsellors, twenty-eight of whom held their places through the gracious favor of the proprietary and "the nobility." Trial by jury was concluded by the opinions of the majority. "The instinct of aristocracy dreads the moral power of a proprietary yeomanry ; the perpetual degradation of the cultivators of the soil was enacted. The leet-men, or tenants, holding ten acres of land at a fixed rent, were not only destitute of political franchises, but were adscripts to the soil; 'under the jurisdiction of their lord, without appeal ; ' and it was added, * all the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and so to all generations.' " x The men who formed the rank and file of the yeomanry of the colony of North Carolina were ill prepared for a government 1 Bancroft, vol. ii. 5th ed. p. 148. THE COLONY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 303 launched upon the immense scale of the Locke Constitution. The hopes and fears, the feuds and debates, the vexatious and insolu ble problems, of the political science of government which had clouded the sky of the most astute and ambitous statesmen of Europe, were dumped into this remarkable instrument. The distance between the people and the nobility was -sought to be made illimitable, and the right to govern was based upon perma nent property conditions. Hereditary wealth was to go arm in arm with political power. The constitution was signed on the 2ist of July, 1669, and William Sayle was commissioned as governor. The legislative career of the Province began in the fall of the same year; and history must record that it was one of the most remarkable and startling North America ever witnessed. The portions of the con stitution which refer to the institution of slavery are as follows : " 97th. But since the natives of that place, who will be concerned in our plantation, are utterly strangers to Christianity, whose idolatry, ignorance or mistake, gives us no right to expel or use them ill ; and those who remove from other parts to plant there, will unavoidably be of different opinions, concerning matters of religion, the liberty whereof they will expect to have allowed them, and it will not be reasonable for us on this account to keep them out ; that civil peace may be obtained amidst diversity of opinions, and our agreement and compact with all men, may be duly and faithfully observed ; the violation whereof, upon what pretence soever, cannot be without great offence to Almighty God, and great scandal to the true religion which we profess ; and also that Jews, Heathens and other dissenters from the purity of the Christian religion, may not be scared and kept at a distance from it, but by having an opportunity of acquainting themselves with the truth and reasonableness of its doctrines, and the peaceableness and inoffensiveness of its professors, may by good usage and persuasion, and all those convincing methods of gentleness and meekness, suitable to the rules and design of the gospel, be won over to embrace, and unfeignedly receive the truth ; therefore any seven or more per sons agreeing in any religion, shall constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give some name, to distinguish it from others. . . . "loist. No person above seventeen years of age, shall have any benefit or protection of the law, or be capable of any place of profit or honor, who is not a member of some church or profession, having his name recorded in some one, and but one religious record, at once. . . . " royth. Since charity obliges us to wish well to the souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing in any man's civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for slaves as well as others, to enter themselves and be of what church or profession any of them shall think best, and thereof be as fully members as any freemen. But yet no slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his master hath over him, but be in all things in the same state and condition he was in before. . . . 304 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " i loth. Every freeman of Carolina, shall have absolute power and authori ty over his negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever." Though the Locke Constitution was adopted by the proprie taries, March i, 1669, it may be doubted whether it ever had the force of law, as it was never ratified by the local Legislature. Article one hundred and ten, granting absolute power and authority to a master over his Negro slave, is without a parallel in the legislation of the colonies. And while the slave might enter the Christian Church, and his humanity thereby be recog nized, it was strangely inconsistent to place his life at the disposal of brutal masters, who "neither feared God nor regarded man." The Negro slaves in North Carolina occupied the paradoxical position of being eligible to membership in the Christian Church, and the absolute property of their white brothers. In the second draught of the constitution, signed in March, 1670, against the eloquent protest of John Locke, the section on religion was amended so as, while tolerating every religious creed, to declare "the Church of England" the only true Orthodox Church, and the national religion of the Province. This, in the face of the fact that the great majority of all the Christians who flocked to the New World were dissenters, separatists, and nonconformists, can only be explained in the light of the burning zeal of the Church of England to out-Herod Herod, to carry the Negroes into the communion of the State church for political purposes. It was the most sordid motive that impelled the churchmen to open the church to the slave. His membership did not change, his condition, nor secure him immunity from the barbarous treat ment the institution of slavery bestowed upon its helpless victims. In the eyes of the law the Negro, being absolute property, had no rights, except those temporarily delegated by the master ; and he acted in the relation of an agent. Negro slaves were not allowed " to raise horses, cattle or hogs ; " and if any stock were found in their possession six months after the passage of the Act of 1741, they were to be seized by the sheriff of the county, and sold by the church-wardens of the parish. The profits arising from such sales went, one half to the parish, the other half to the informer. 2 A slave was not suffered to go off of the plantation where he was appointed to live, without a pass signed by his 1 Statutes of S. C., vol. i. pp. 53-55. 2 Public Acts of N. C., vol. 1. p. 64. THE COLONY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 305 master or the overseer. There was an exception made in the case of Negroes wearing liveries. Negro slaves were not allowed the use of fire-arms or other weapons, except they were armed with a certificate from their master granting the coveted permission. If they hunted with arms, not having a certificate, any Christian could apprehend them, seize the weapons, deliver the slave to the first justice of the peace ; who was authorized to administer, with out ceremony, twenty lashes upon his or her bare back, and send him or her home. The master had to pay the cost of arrest and punishment. The one exception to this law was, that one Negro on each plantation or in each district could carry a gun to shoot game for his master and protect stock, etc. ; but his certificate was to be in his possession all the time. If a Negro went from the plantation on which he resided, to another plantation or place, he was required by statute to travel in the most generally frequented road. If caught in another road, not much travelled, except in the company of a white man, it was lawful for the man who owned the land through which he was passing to seize him, and adminis ter not more than forty lashes. If Negroes visited each other in the night season, the only time they could visit, the ones who were found on another plantation than their master's were pun ished with lashes on their naked back, not exceeding forty ; while the Negroes who had furnished the entertainment received twenty lashes for their hospitality. In case any slave, who had not been properly fed and clothed by his master, was convicted of stealing cattle, hogs, or corn from another man, an action of trespass could be maintained against the master in the general or county court, and damages recovered. 1 Here, as in the other colonies, the greatest enemy of the colonists was an accusing conscience. The people started at every breath of rumor, and always imagined their slaves con spiring to cut their throats. There was nothing in the observed character of the slaves to justify the wide-spread consternation that filled the public mind. Nor was there any occasion to warrant the passage of the Act of 1741, respecting conspiracies among slaves. It is a remarkable document, and is produced here. " XLVI I. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any number of negroes or other slaves, that is to say, three, or more, shall, at any 1 This is an instance of humanity in the North-Carolina code worthy of special note. It stands as the only instance of justice toward the over-worked and under-fed slaves of the colony. 306 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. time hereafter, consult, advise or conspire to rebel, or make insurrection,' or shall plot or conspire the murder of any person or persons whatsoever, every such consulting, plotting or conspiring, shall be adjudged and deemed felony; and the slave or slaves convicted thereof, in manner herein after directed, shall suffer death. "XLVIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every slave committing such offence, or any other crime or misdemeanor, shall forthwith be committed, by any justice of the peace, to the common jail of the county within which the said offence shall be committed, there to be safely kept; and that the sheriff of such county, upon such commitment, shall forthwith certify the same to any Justice in the commission for the said court for the time being, resident in the county, who is thereupon required and directed to issue a summons for two or more Justices of the said court, and four freeholders, such as shall have slaves in the said county; which said three Justices and four freeholders, owners of slaves, are hereby impowered and required upon oath, to try all manner of crimes and offences, that shall be com mitted by any slave or slaves, at the court house of the county, and to take for evidence, the confession of the offender, the oath of one or more credible wit nesses, or such testimony of negroes, mulattoes or Indians, bond or free, with pregnant circumstances, as to them shall seem convincing, without the solemnity of a jury; and the offender being then found guilty, to pass such judgment upon such offender, according to their discretion, as the nature of the crime or offence shall require ; and on such judgment, to award execution. "XLIX. Provided always, and be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for each and every Justice, being in the commission of the peace for the county where any slave or slaves shall be tried, by virtue of this act, (who is owner of slaves) to sit upon such trial, and act as a member of such court r though he or they be not summoned thereto: anything herein before contained to the contrary, in any wise, notwithstanding. " L. And to the end such negro, mulatto or Indian, bond or free, not being Christians, as shall hereafter be produced as an evidence on the trial of any slave or slaves, for capital or other crimes, may be under the greater obligation to declare the truth ; Be it further enacted, There where any such negro, mu latto or Indian, bond or free, shall, upon due proof made, or pregnant circum stances, appearing before any county court within this government, be found to have given a false testimony, every such offender shall, without further trial, be ordered, by the said court, to have one ear nailed to the pillory, and there stand for the space of one hour, and the said ear to be cut off, and thereafter the other ear nailed in like manner, and cut off, at the expiration of one other hour; and moreover, to order every such offender thirty-nine lashes, well laid on, on his or her bare back, at the common whipping post. " LI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That at every such trial of slaves committing capital or other offences, the first person in commission sitting on such trial, shall, before the examination of every negro, mulatto or Indian, not being a Christian, charge such to declare the truth. " LI I. Provided always, and it is hereby intended, That the master, owner or overseer of any slave, to be arraigned and tried by virtue of this act, may appear at the trial, and make what just defence he can for such slave or slaves ; THE COLONY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 307 so that such defence do not relate to any formality in the proceeding on the trial." ' The manner of conducting the trials of Negroes charged with felony or misdemeanor was rather peculiar. Upon one or more white persons' testimony, or the evidence of Negroes and Indians, bond or free, the unfortunate defendant, " without the solemnity of a jury," before three justices and four freeholders, could be hurried through a trial, convicted, sentenced to die a dreadful death, and then be executed without the officiating presence of a minister of the gospel. The unprecedented discretion allowed to masters in the govern ment led to the most tragic results. Men were not only reckless of the lives of their own slaves, but violent toward those belong ing to others. If a Negro showed the least independence in con versation with a white man, he could be murdered in cold blood ; and it was only a case of a contumacious slave getting his dues. But men became so prodigal in the exercise of this authority that the public became alarmed, and the Legislature called a halt on the master-class. At first the Legislature paid for the slaves who were destroyed by the consuming wrath of ill-natured whites, but finally allowed an action to lie against the persons who killed a slave. This had a tendency to reduce the number of murdered slaves ; but the fateful clause in the Locke Constitution had educated a voracious appetite for blood, and the extremest cruel treatment continued without abatement. The free Negro population was very small in this colony. The following act on manumission differs so widely from the law on this point in the other colonies, that it is given as an illustra tion of the severe character of the legislation of North Carolina against the emancipation of Negroes. " LVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no- Negro or mulatto slaves shall be set free, upon any pretence whatsoever, except for meritorious services, to be adjudged and allowed of by the county court, anc; Licence thereupon first had and obtained : and that where any slave shall be set free by his or her master or owner, otherwise than is herein before directed, it shall and may be lawful for the church-wardens of the parish wherein such negro, mulatto or Indian, shall be found, at the expiration of six months, next after his or her being set free, and they are hereby authorized and required, to take up and sell the said negro, mulatto or Indian, as a slave, at the next court to 1 Public Acts of N. C., p. 65. 308 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. be held for the said county, at public vendue : and the monies arising by such sale, shall be applied to the use of the parish, by the vestry thereof : and if any negro, mulatto or Indian slave, set free otherwise than is herein directed, shall depart this province, within six months next after his or her freedom, and shall afterwards return into this government, it shall and may be lawful for the churchwardens of the parish where such negro or mulatto shall be found, at the expiration of one month, next after his or her return into this government to take up such negro or mulatto, and sell him or them, as slaves, at the next court to be held for the county, at public vendue ; and the monies arising there by, to be applied, by the vestry, to the use of the parish, as aforesaid." l The free Negroes were badly treated. They were not allowed any communion with the slaves. A free Negro man was not allowed to marry a white woman, nor even a Negro slave woman without the consent of her master. If he formed an alliance with a white woman, her offspring were bound out, or sold by the church-wardens, until they obtained their majority. 2 If the white woman were an indentured servant, she was constrained to serve an additional year. If she were a free woman, she was sold for two years by the church-wardens. Free Negroes were greatly despised and shunned by both slaves and white people. As a conspicuous proof of the glaring hypocrisy of the " nobility," who, in the constitution, threw open the door of the Church to the Negro, it should be said, that, during the period from the founding of the Province down to the colonial war, no attempt was ever made, through the ecclesiastical establishment, to dissi pate the dark clouds of ignorance that enveloped the Negro's mind. They were left in a state of ignorance and crime. The gravest social evils were winked at by masters, whose lecherous examples were the occasion for the most grievous offending of the slaves. The Mulattoes and other free Negroes were taxed. They had no place in the militia, nor could they claim the meanest rights of the humblest "leetman." 1 Public Acts of N. C., p. 66. 2 The Act of 1741 says, "until 31 years of age." THE COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 309 CHAPTER XXIII. THE COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 1679-1775. THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS EXERCISES AUTHORITY OVER THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AT ITS ORGANIZATION. SLAVERY EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING. THE GOVERNOR RELEASES A SLAVE FROM BONDAGE. INSTRUCTION AGAINST IMPORTATION OF SLAVES. SEVERAL ACTS REGULATING THE CONDUCT OF SERVANTS. THE INDIFFERENT TREATMENT Oh SLAVES. THE IMPORTATION OF INDIAN SERVANTS FORBIDDEN. AN ACT CHECKING THE SEVERE TREAT MENT OF SERVANTS AND SLAVES. SLAVES IN THE COLONY UNTIL THE COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. A NTERIOR to the year 1679, the provincial government of J~Y Massachusetts exercised authority over the territory that now comprises the State of New Hampshire. It is not at all improbable, then, that slavery existed in this colony from the beginning of its organic existence. As early as 1683 it was set upon by the authorities as a wicked and hateful institution. On the 1 4th of March, 1684, the governor of New Hampshire as sumed the responsibility of releasing a Negro slave from bondage. The record of the fact is thus preserved : " The governor toidd Mr. Jaffery's negro hee might goe from his master, hee would dere him under hande and sele, so the fello no more attends his master's consernes" J It may be inferred from the above, that the royal governor of the Province felt the pressure of public sentiment on the question of anti-slavery. While this colony copied its criminal code from Massachusetts, its people seemed to be rather select, and, on the question of human rights, far in advance of the people of Massa chusetts. The twelfth article was: "If any man stealeth man kind he shall be put to death or otherwise grievously punished." The entire code the first one was rejected in England as "fanatical and absurd." 2 It was the desire of this new and 1 Belknap's Hist, of N. H., vol. i. p. 333. 2 Hildreth, vol. i. p. 501. 310 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. feeble colony to throw every obstacle in the way of any legal recognition of slavery. The governors of all the colonies received instruction in regard to the question of slavery, but the governor of New Hampshire had received an order from the crown to have the tax on imported slaves removed. The royal instructions, dated June 30, 1761, were as follows : "You are not to give your assent to, or pass any law imposing duties on negroes imported into New Hampshire." New Hampshire never passed any law establishing slavery, but in 1714 enacted several laws regulating the conduct of servants. One was An Act to prevent disorders in the night : "Whereas great disorders, insolencies and burglaries are ofttimes raised and committed in the night time by Indian, negro and mulatto servants and slaves, to the disquiet and hurt of her Majesty's good subjects , for the pre vention whereof Be it, &c. that no Indian, negro or mulatto servant or slave may presume to be absent from the families where they respectively belong, or be found abroad in the night time after nine o'clock; unless it be upon errand for their respective masters." 2 The instructions against the importation of slaves were in harmony with the feelings of the great majority of the people. They felt that slavery would be a hinderance rather than a help to them, and in the selection of servants chose white ones. If the custom of holding men in bondage had become a part of the institutions of Massachusetts, so like a cancer that it could not be removed without endangering the political, and commercial life of the colony, the good people of New Hampshire, acting in the light of experience, resolved, upon the threshold of their pro vincial life, to oppose the introduction of slaves into their midst. The first result was, that they learned quite early that they could get on without slaves ; and, second, the traders in human flesh discovered that there was no demand for slaves in New Hamp shire. Even nature fought against the crime ; and Negroes were found to be poorly suited to the climate, and, of course, were an expensive luxury in that colony. But, nevertheless, there were slaves in New Hampshire. The majority of them had gone in during the time the colony was a part of the territory of Massachusetts. They had been purchased by men who regarded them as indispensable to them. They had 1 Gordon's Hist, of Am. Rev., vol. v. Letter 2. 2 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 266. THE COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 311 lived long in many families ; children had been born unto them, and in many instances they were warmly attached to their owners. But all masters were not alike. Some treated their servants and slaves cruelly. The neglect in some cases was worse than stripes or over-work. Some were poorly clad and scantily fed ; and, thus exposed to the inclemency of the severe climate, many were pre cipitated into premature graves. Even white and Indian servants shared this harsh treatment. The Indians endured greater hard ships than the Negroes. They were more lofty in their tone, more sensitive in their feelings, more revengeful in their disposi tion. They were both hated and feared, and the public sentiment against them was very pronounced. A law, passed in 1714, forbid their importation into the colony under a heavy penalty. In 1718 it was found necessary to pass a law to check the severe treatment inflicted upon servants and slaves. An Act for restraining inhuman severities recited, " For the prevention and restraining of inhuman severities which by evil masters or overseers, may be used towards their Christian servants, that from .and after the publication hereof, if any man smite out the eye or tooth of his man servant or maid servant, or otherwise maim or disfigure them much, unless it be by mere casualty, he shall let him or her go free from his service, and ;shall allow such further recompense as the court of quarter sessions shall adjudge him. 2. That if any person or persons whatever in this province shall wilfully kill his Indian or negroe servant or servants he shall be punished with death." ' There were slaves in New Hampshire down to the breaking- out of the war in the colonies, but they were only slaves in name. Few in number, widely scattered, they felt themselves closely identified with the interests of the colonists. 1 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 267. 312 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXIV. THE COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 1681-1775. ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE SWEDES AND DUTCH PLANT SETTLE MENTS ON THE WESTERN BANK OF THE DELAWARE RIVER. THE GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK SEEKS TO EXERCISE JURISDICTION OVER THE TERRITORY OF PENNSYLVANIA THE FlRST LAWS AGREED UPON IN ENGLAND. PROVISIONS OF THE LAW. MEMORIAL AGAINST SLAVERY DRAUGHTED AND ADOPTED BY THE GERMANTOWN FRIENDS. WlLLIAM PENN PRESENTS A BlLL FOR THE BETTER REGULATION OF SERVANTS. AN ACT PREVENTING THE IMPORTATION OF NEGROES AND INDIANS. RIGHTS OF NEGROES. A DUTY LAID UPON NEGROES AND MULATTO SLAVES. THE QUAKER THE FRIEND OF THE NEGRO. ENGLAND BEGINS TO THREATEN HER DEPENDENCIES IN NORTH AMERICA. THE PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA REFLECT UPON THE PROBABLE OUTRAGES THEIR NEGROES MIGHT COMMIT. LONG before there was an organized government in Pennsyl vania, the Swedes and Dutch had planted settlements on the western bank of the Delaware River. But the English crown claimed the soil ; and the governor of New York, under patent from the Duke of York, sought to exercise jurisdiction over the territory. On the nth of July, 1681, " Conditions and Concessions were agreed upon by William Penn, Proprietary," and the persons who were "adventurers and purchasers in the same province." Provision was made for the punishment of persons who should injure Indians, and that the planter injured by them should "not be his own judge upon the Indian." All con troversies arising between the whites and the Indians were to be settled by a council of twelve persons, six white men and six Indians. The first laws for the government of the colony were agreed upon in England, and in 1682 went into effect. Provision was made for the registering of all servants, their full names, amount of wages paid, and the time when they received their remunera tion. It was strictly required that servants should not be kept beyond the time of their indenture, should be kindly treated, and the customary outfit furnished at the time of their freedom. The baneful custom of enslaving Negroes had spread through THE COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 313 every settlement in North America, and was even "tolerated in Pennsylvania under the specious pretence of the religious instruc tion of the slave." l In 1688 Francis Daniel Pastorius draughted a memorial against slavery, which was adopted by the Germantown Friends, and by them sent up to the Monthly Meeting, and thence to the Yearly Meeting at Philadelphia. 2 The original document was found by Nathan Kite of Philadelphia in 1844.3 It was a remarkable document, and the first protest against slavery issued by any religious body in America. Speaking of the slaves, Pasto rius asks, " Have not these negroes as much right to fight for their freedom as y*ou have to keep them slaves ? " He believed the time would come, "When, from the gallery to the farthest seat, Slave and slave-owner shall no longer meet, But all sit equal at the Master's feet." He regarded the "buying, selling, and holding men in slavery,, as inconsistent with the Christian religion." When his memorial came before the Yearly Meeting for action, it confessed itself " un prepared to act," and voted it "not proper then to give a positive judgment in the case." In 1696 the Yearly Meeting pronounced against the further importation of slaves, and adopted measures looking toward their moral improvement. George JCeith, catch ing the holy inspiration of humanity, with a considerable follow ing, denounced the institution of slavery "as contrary to the religion of Christ, the rights of man, and sound reason and policy."4 While these efforts were, to a certain extent, abortive, yet,, nevertheless, the Society of the Friends made regulations for the better treatment of the enslaved Negroes. The sentiment thus created went far toward deterring the better class of citizens from purchasing slaves. To his broad and lofty sentiments of human ity, the pious William Penn sought to add the force of positive law. The published views of George Fox, given at Barbadoes in 1671, in his "Gospel Family Order, being a short discourse con cerning the ordering of Families, both of Whites, Blacks, and Indians," had a salutary effect upon the mind of Penn. In 1700 1 Gordon's History of Penn., p. 114. 2 Whittier's Penn. Pilgrim, p. viii. 3 The memorial referred to was printed in extenso in The Friend, vol. xviii. No 16. * Minutes of Yearly Meeting, Watson's MS. Coll. Bettle's notices of N. S. Minutes, Penn.. Hist Soc. .314 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. he proposed to the Council " the necessitie of a law [among others] about y e marriages of negroes." The bill was referred to a joint committee of both houses, and they brought in a bill "for regulat ing Negroes in their Morals and Marriages &c." It readied a second reading, and was lost. 1 Penn regarded the teaching of Negroes the sanctity of the marriage relation as of the greatest importance to the colony, and the surest means of promoting pure morals. Upon what grounds it was rejected is not known. He presented, at the same session of the Assembly, another bill, which provided "for the better regulation of servants in this prov ince and territories" He desired the government of slaves to be prescribed and regulated by law, rather than by the capricious whims of masters. No servant was to be sold out of the Province without giving his consent, nor could he be assigned over except before a justice of the peace. It provided for a regular allowance to servants at the expiration of their time, and required them to serve five days extra for every day's absence from their master without the latter's assent. A penalty was fixed for concealing runaway slaves, and a reward offered for apprehending them. No free person was allowed to deal with servants, and justices and sheriffs were to be punished for neglecting their duties in the premises. In case a Negro was guilty of murder, he was tried by two justices, appointed by the governor, before six freeholders. The manner of procedure was prescribed, and the nature of the sen tence and acquittal. Negroes were not allowed to carry a gun or other weapons. Not more than four were allowed together, upon pain of a severe flogging. An Act for raising revenue was passed, and a duty upon imported slaves was levied, in 1710. In 1711-12, an Act was passed " to prevent the importation of negroes and Indians " into the Province. A general petition for the emanci pation of slaves by law was presented to the Legislature during this same year; but the wise law-makers replied, that "it was neither just nor convenient to set them at liberty." The bill passed on the /th of June, 1712, but was disapproved by Great Britain, and was accordingly repealed by an Act of Queen Anne, Feb. 20, 1713. In 1714 and 1717, Acts were passed to check the importation of slaves. But the English government, instead of being touched by the philanthropic endeavors of the people of 1 Colonial Rec.. vol. i. pp. 598, 606. See also Votes of Assembly, vol. 5. pp. 120-122. THE COLONY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 315 Pennsylvania, was seeking, for purposes of commercial trade and gain, to darken the continent with the victims of its avarice. Negroes had no political rights in the Province. Free Negroes were' prohibited from entertaining Negro or Indian slaves, or trad- ing with them. Masters were required, when manumitting slaves, to furnish security, as in the other colonies. Marriages between the races were forbidden. Negroes were not allowed to be abroad after nine o'clock at night. In 1773 the Assembly passed "An Act making perpetual the Act entitled. An Act for laying a duty on negroes and mulatto slaves" etc., and added ten pounds to the duty. The colonists did much to check the vile and inhuman traffic ; but, having once obtained a hold, it did eat like a canker. It threw its dark shadow over personal and collective interests, and poisoned the springs of human kindness in many hearts. It was not alone hurtful to the slave : it transformed and blackened character everywhere, and fascinated those who were anxious for riches beyond the power of moral discernment. Here, however, as in New Jersey, the Negro found the Quaker his practical friend ; and his upper and better life received the pruning advice, refining and elevating influence, of a godly people. But intelligence in the slave was an occasion of offending, and prepared him to realize his deplorable situation. So to enlighten him was to excite in him a deep desire for liberty, and, not unlikely, a feeling of revenge toward his enslavers. So there was really danger in the method the guileless Friends adopted to ameliorate the condition of the slaves. When England began to breathe out threatenings against her contumacious dependencies in North America, the people of Pennsylvania began to reflect upon the probable outrages their Negroes would, in all probability, commit. They inferred that the Negroes would be their enemy because they were their slaves. This was the equitable findings of a guilty conscience. They did not dare expect less than the revengeful hate of the beings they had laid the yoke of bondage upon ; and verily they found them selves with "fears within, and fightings without." 316 H1S20RY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXV. THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 1732-1775. GEORGIA ONCE INCLUDED IN THE TERRITORY OF CAROLINA. THE THIRTEENTH COLONY PLANTED IN NORTH AMERICA BY THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. SLAVES RULED our ALTOGETHER BY THE TRUSTEES. THE OPINION OF GEN. OGLETHORPE CONCERNING SLAVERY. LONG AND BITTER DISCUSSION IN REGARD TO THE ADMISSION OF SLAVERY INTO THE COLONY. SLAVERY INTRO DUCED. HISTORY OF SLAVERY IN GEORGIA. GEORGIA was once included in the territory of Carolina, and extended from the Savannah to the St. John's River. A corporate body, under the title of " The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia," was created by charter, bear ing date of June 9, 1/32. The life of their trust was tor the space of twenty-one years. The rules by which the trustees sought to manage the infant were rather novel ; but as a discus sion of them would be irrelevant, mention can be made only of that part which related to slavery. Georgia was the last colony the thirteenth planted in North America by the English government. Special interest centred in it for several reasons, that will be explained farther on. The trustees ruled out slavery altogether. Gen. John Ogle- thorpe, a brilliant young English officer of gentle blood, the first governor of the colony, was identified with "the Royal African Company, which alone had the right of planting forts and trading on the coast of Africa." He said that "slavery is against the gospel, as well as the fundamental law of England. We refused, as trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime/' Another of the trustees, in a sermon preached on Sunday, Feb. 17, 1734, at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London, declared, "Slavery, the misfortune, if not the dishonor, of other plantations, is absolutely proscribed. Let avarice defend it as it will, there is an honest reluctance in humanity against buying and selling, and regarding those of our own species as our wealth THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 317 and possessions." Beautiful sentiments ! Eloquent testimony against the crime of the ages ! At first blush the student of history is apt to praise the sublime motives of the "trustees," in placing a restriction against the slave-trade. But the declara tion of principles quoted above is not borne out by the facts of history. On this point Dr. Stevens, the historian of Georgia, observes, "Yet in the official publications of that body [the trustees], its inhibition is based only on political and prudential, and not on humane and liberal grounds ; and even Oglethorpe owned a plantation and negroes near Parachucla in South Caro lina, about forty miles above Savannah." * To this reliable opinion is added : " The introduction of slaves was prohibited to the colony of Georgia for some years, not from motives of humanity, but for the reason it was encouraged elsewhere, to wit : the interest of the mother country. It was a favorite idea with the 'mother country,' to make Georgia a protecting barrier for the Caro- linas, against the Spanish settlements south of her, and the principal Indian tribes to the west ; to do this, a strong settlement of white men was sought to be built up, whose arms and interests would defend her northern plantations. The introduction of slaves was held to be unfavorable to this scheme, and hence its prohibition. During the time of the prohibition, Oglethorpe himself was a slave-holder in Carolina." 2 The reasons that led the trustees to prohibit slavery in the colony are put thus tersely : " ist. Its expense; which the poor emigrant would be entirely unable to sustain, either in the first cost of a negro, or his subsequent keeping. 2d. Because it would induce idleness, and render labour degrading. 3d. Because the settlers, being freeholders of only fifty-acre lots, requiring but one or two extra hands for their cultivation, the German servants would be a third more profitable than the blacks. Upon the last original design I have mentioned, in planting this colony, they also based an argument against their admission, viz., that the cultivation of silk and wine, demanding skill and nicety, rather than strength and endurance of fatigue, the whites were better calculated for such labour than the negroes. These were the prominent arguments, drawn from the various considerations of internal and external policy, which influenced the Trustees in making this prohibition. Many of them, however, had but a temporary bearing; none stood the test of experience." 3 It is clear, then, that the founders of the colony of Georgia were not moved by the noblest impulses to prohibit slavery within 1 Stephens's Journal, vol. iii. p. 281. 2 Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 310, note. 3 Stevens's Hist, of Georgia, vol. i. p. 289. 3l8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. their jurisdiction. In the chapter on South Carolina, attention was called to the influence of the Spanish troops in Florida on the recalcitrant Negroes in the Carolinas, the Negro regiment with subalterns from their own class, and the work of Spanish emissaries among the slaves. The home government thought it wise to build up Georgia out of white men, who could develop its resources, and bear arms in defence of British possessions along an extensive border exposed to a pestiferous foe. But the Board of Trade soon found this an impracticable scheme, and the colo nists themselves began to clamor "for the use of negroes." 1 The first petition for the introduction and use of Negro slaves was offered to the trustees in 1735. This prayer was promptly and positively denied, and for fifteen years they refused to grant all requests for the use of Negroes. They adhered to their prohibi tion in letter and spirit. Whenever and wherever Negroes were found in the colony, they were sold back into Carolina. In the month of December, 1738, a petition, addressed to the trustees, including nearly all the names of the foremost colonists, set forth the distressing condition into which affairs had drifted under the enforcement of the prohibition, and declared that "the use of negroes, with proper limitations, which, if granted, would both occasion great numbers of white people to come here, and also to render us capable to subsist ourselves, by raising provisions upon our lands, until we could make some produce fit for export, in some measure to balance our importations." But instead of securing a favorable hearing, the petition drew the fire of the friends of the prohibition against the use of Negroes. On the 3d of January, 1739, a petition to the trustees combating the argu ments of the above-mentioned petition, and urging them to remain firm, was issued at Darien. This was followed by another one, issued from Ebenezer on the I3th of March, in favor of the position occupied by the trustees. A great many Scotch and German people had settled in the colony ; and, familiar with the arts of husbandry, they became the ardent supporters of the trustees. James Habersham, the "dear fellow-traveller" of Whitefield, exclaimed, " I once thought, it was unlawful to keep negro slaves, but I am now induced to think God may have a higher end in permitting them to be brought to this Christian country, than merely to support their masters. Many of the 1 Bancroft, vol. iii. i2th ed. p. 427. THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 319 poor slaves in America have already been made freemen of the heavenly Jerusalem, and possibly a time may come when many thousands may embrace the gospel, and thereby be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. These, and other considerations, appear to plead strongly for a limited use of negroes ; for, while we can buy provisions in Carolina cheaper than we can here, no one will be induced to plant much." But the trustees stood firm against the subtle cunning of the politicians, and the eloquent' pleadings of avarice. On the 7th October, 1741, a large meeting was held at Savan nah, and a petition drawn, in which the land-holders and settlers presented their grievances to the English authorities in London. On the 26th of March, 1742, Mr. Thomas Stephens, armed with the memorial, as the agent of the memorialists, sailed for Lon don. While the document ostensibly set forth their wish for a definition of "the tenure of the lands," really the burden of the prayer was for "Negroes" He presented the memorial to the king, and his Majesty referred it to a committee of the " Lords of Council for Plantation Affairs." This committee transferred a copy of the memorial to the trustees, with a request for their answer. About this time Stephens presented a petition to Parlia ment, in which he charged the trustees with direliction of duty, improper use of the public funds, abuse of their authority, and numerous other sins against the public welfare. It created a genuine sensation. The House resolved to go into a "committee of the whole," to consider the petitions and the answer of the- trustees. The answer of the trustees was drawn by the able pen of the Earl of Egmont, and by them warmly approved on the 3d of May, and three days later was read to the House of Commons. A motion prevailed " that the petitions do lie upon the table," for the perusal of the members, for the space of one week. At the expiration of the time fixed, Stephens appeared, and all the peti tions of the people of Georgia to the trustees in reference to " the tenure of lands," and for " the use of negroes," were laid before the honorable body. In the committee of the whole the affairs of the colony were thoroughly investigated ; and, after a few days session, Mr. Carew reported a set of resolutions, being the sense of the committee after due deliberation upon the matters before them : "That the province of Georgia, in America, by reason of its situation, may be an useful barrier to the British provinces on the continent of America against the French and Spaniards, and Indian nations in their interests ; that 320 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the ports and harbours within the said province may be a good security to the trade and navigation of this kingdom ; that the said province, by reason of the fertility of the soil, the healthfulness of the climate, and the convenience of the rivers, is a proper place for establishing a settlement, and may contribute greatly to the increasing trade of this kingdom ; that it is very necessary and advantageous to this nation that the colony of Georgia should be preserved and supported ; that it will be an advantage to the colony of Georgia to permit the importation of rum into the said colony from any of the British colonies ; that the petition of Thomas Stephens contains false, scandalous and malicious charges, tending to asperse the characters of the Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia, in America." When the resolution making the importation of rum lawful reached a vote, it was amended by adding, "As also the use of negroes, who may be employed there with advantage to the colony, under proper regulations and restrictions." It was lost by a majority of nine votes. A resolution prevailed calling Thomas Stephens to the bar of the House, " to be reprimanded on his knees by Mr. Speaker," for his offence against the trustees. On the next day Stephens, upon his bended knees at the bar of the House of Commons, before the assembled statesmen of Great Britain, was publicly reprimanded by the speaker, and discharged after paying his fees. Thus ended the attempt of the people of the colony of Georgia to secure permission, over the heads of the trustees, to introduce slaves into their service. The dark tide of slavery influence was dashing against the borders of the colony. The people were discouraged. Business was stagnated. Internal dissatisfaction and factional strife wore hard upon the spirit of a people trying to build up and develop a new country. Then the predatory incursions of the Spaniards, and the threatening attitude of the Indians, unnerved the entire Province. In this state of affairs white servants grew insolent and insubordinate. Those whose term of service expired refused to work. In this dilemma many persons boldly put the rule of the trustees under foot, and hired Negroes from the Carolinas. At length the trustees became aware of the clandestine importa tion of Negroes into the colony, and thereupon gave the magis trates a severe reproval. On the 2d of October, 1747, they received the following reply : " We are afraid, sir, from what you have wrote in relation to negroes, that :he Honourable Trustees have been misinformed as to our conduct relating thereto ; for we can with great assurance assert, that this Board has always acted an uniform part in discouraging the use of negroes in this colony, well THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 321 knowing it to be disagreeable to the Trustees, as well as contrary to an act existing for the prohibition of them, and always gave it in charge to those whom we had put in possession of lands, not to attempt the introduction or use of negroes. But notwithstanding our great caution, some people from Carolina, soon after settling lands on the Little Ogeechee, found means of bringing and employing a few negroes on the said lands, some time before it was discovered to us ; upon which they thought it high time to withdraw them, for fear of being seized, and soon after withdrew themselves and families out of the colony, which appears to us at present to be the resolution of divers others." ' It was charged that the law-officers knew of the presence of Negroes in Georgia ; that their standing and constant toast was, "the one thing needful" (Negroes) ; and that they themselves had surreptitiously aided in the procurement of Negroes for the colony. The supporters of the colonists grew less powerful as the struggle went forward. The most active grew taciturn and conservative. The advocates of Negro labor became bolder, and more acrimonious in debate ; and at length the champions of exclusive white labor shrank into silence, appalled at the despera tion of their opponents. The Rev. Martin Bolzius, one of the most active supporters of the trustees, wrote those gentlemen on May 3, 1748:- " Things being now in such a melancholy state, I must humbly beseech your honors, not to regard any more our or our friend's petitions against negroes." The Rev. George Whitefield and James Piabersham used their utmost influence upon the trustees to obtain a modification of the prohibition against "the use of negroes." On the 6th of Decem ber, 1748, Rev. Whitefield, speaking of a plantation and Negroes he had purchased, wrote the trustees : " Upwards of five thousand pounds have been expended in that under taking, and yet very little proficiency made in the cultivation of my tract of land, and that entirely owing to the necessity I lay under of making use of white hands. Had a negro been allowed, I should now have had a sufficiency to support a great many orphans, without expending above half the sum which has been laid out. An unwillingness to let so good a design drop, and having a rational conviction that it must necessarily, if some other method was not fixed upon to prevent it these two considerations, honoured gentlemen, prevailed on me about two years ago, through the bounty of my good friends, to purchase a plantation in South Carolina, where negroes are allowed. Blessed 1 Stevens's Hist, of Georgia, vol. i. p. 307. 322 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. be God, this plantation has succeeded; and though at present I have only eight working hands, yet in all probability there will be more raised in one year, and with a quarter the expense, than has been produced at Bethesda for several years last past. This confirms me in the opinion I have entertained for a long time, that Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province with out negroes are allow ed?" 1 J The sentiment in favor of the importation of Negro slaves had become well-nigh unanimous. The trustees began to waver. On the loth of January, 1749, another petition was presented to the trustees. It was carefully drawn, and set forth the restric tions under which slaves should be introduced. On the i6th of May following, it was read to the trustees ; and they resolved to have it "presented to His Majesty in council." They also asked that the prohibition against the introduction of Negroes, passed in " 1735, be repealed." The Earl of Shaftesbury, at the head of a special committee, draughted a bill repealing the prohibition. On the 26th of October, 1749, a large and influential committee of twenty-seven drew up and signed a petition urging the imme diate introduction of slavery, with certain limitations. The paper was duly attested, and returned to the trustees. The opposition to the introduction of slavery into the colony of Georgia had been conquered ; and, after a long and bitter struggle, slavery was- firmly and legally established in this the last Province of the English in the Western world. The colonists were jubilant. The charter under which the trustees acted expired by limita tion in 1752, and a new form of government was established under the Board of Trade. The royal commission appointed a governor and council. One of the first ordinances enacted by them was one whereby " all offences committed by slaves were to be tried by a single justice, without a jury r who was to award execution, and, in capital cases, to set a value on the slave, to be paid out of the public treasury." At the first session of the Assembly in 1755, a law was passed "for the regulation and gov ernment of slaves." In 1765 an Act was passed establishing a pass system, and the rest of the legislation in respect to slaves was a copy of the laws of South Carolina. The history of slavery in Georgia during this period is unpar alleled and incomparably interesting. It illustrates the power of the institution, and shows that there was no Province sufficiently 1 Whitefield's Works, vol. ii. pp. 90, 105, 208. THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 323 independent of its influence so as to expel it from its jurisdiction. Like the Angel of Death that passed through Egypt, there was no colony that it did not smite with its dark and destroying pinions. The dearest, the sublimest, interests of humanity were prostrated by its defiling touch. It shut out the sunlight of human kindness ; it paled the fires of hope ; it arrested the devel opment of the branches of men's better natures, and peopled their lower being with base and consuming desires ; it placed the "Golden Rule" under the unholy heel of time-servers and self- seekers ; it made the Church as secular as the 'Change, and the latter as pious as the former : it was a gigantic system, at war with the civilization of the Roundheads and Puritans, and an intolerable burden to a people who desired to build a new nation in this New World in the West. 324 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. $art HI. THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION. CHAPTER XXVI. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 1775-1780. " Many black soldiers were in the service during all stages of the war." SPARKS. THE COLONIAL STATES IN 1715. RATIFICATION OF THE NON-IMPORTATION ACT BY THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. GEORGE WASHINGTON PRESENTS RESOLUTIONS AGAINST SLAVERY, IN A MEETING AT FAIRFAX COURT-HOUSE, VA. LETTER WRITTEN BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO DEAN WOOD WARD, PERTAINING TO SLAVERY. LETTER TO THE FREEMEN OF VIRGINIA FROM A COMMITTEE, CONCERNING THE SLAVES BROUGHT FROM JAMAICA. SEVERE TREATMENT OF SLAVES IN THE COLONIES MODIFIED. ADVERTISEMENT IN "THE BOSTON GAZETTE" OF THE RUNAWAY SLAVE CRISPUS ATTUCKS. THE BOSTON MASSACRE. ITS RESULTS. CRISPUS ATTUCKS SHOWS HIS LOYALTY. His SPIRITED LETTER TO THE TORY GOVERNOR OF THE PROVINCE. SLAVES ADMITTED INTO THE ARMY. THE CONDITION OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY. SPIRITED DEBATE IN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, OVER THE DRAUGHT OF A LETTER TO GEN. WASHINGTON. INSTRUCTIONS TO DISCHARGE ALL SLAVES AND FREE NEGROES IN HIS ARMY. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD AT CAMBRIDGE. LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION. PREJUDICE IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. NEGROES IN VIRGINIA FLOCK TO THE BRITISH ARMY. CAUTION TO THE NEGROES PRINTED IN A WILLIAMSBURG PAPER. THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION ANSWERS THE PROCLAMATION OF LORD DUNMORE. GEN. GREENE, IN A LETTER TO GEN. WASHINGTON, CALLS ATTENTION TO THE RAISING OF A NEGRO REGIMENT ON STATEN ISLAND. LETTER FROM A HESSIAN OFFICER. CONNECTICUT LEGISLATURE ON THE SUBJECT OF EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. GEN. VARNUM'S LETTER TO GEN. WASHINGTON, SUGGESTING THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES, SENT TO Gov. COOKE. THE GOVERNOR REFERS VARNUM'S LETTER TO THE GEN ERAL ASSEMBLY. MINORITY PROTEST AGAINST ENLISTING SLAVES TO SERVE IN THE ARMY. MASSACHUSETTS TRIES TO SECURE LEGAL ENLISTMENTS OF NEGRO TROOPS. LETTER OF THOMAS KENCH TO THE COUNCIL AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, BOSTON, MASS. NEGROES SERVE IN WHITE ORGANIZATIONS UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. NEGRO SOLDIERS SERVE IN VIRGINIA. MARYLAND EMPLOY NEGROES. NEW YORK PASSES AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE RAISING OF Two COLORED REGIMENTS. WAR IN THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN COLO NIES HAMILTON'S LETTER TO JOHN JAY. COL. LAURENS'S EFFORTS TO RAISE NEGRO TROOPS IN SOUTH CAROLINA. PROCLAMATION OF SIR HENRY CLINTON INDUCING NEGROES TO DESERT THE REBEL ARMY. LORD CORNWAI.LIS ISSUES A PROCLAMATION OFFERING PROTECTION TO ALL NEGROES SEEKING HIS COMMAND. COL. LAURENS is CALLED TO FRANCE ON IMPORTANT BUSI NESS. His PLAN FOR SECURING BLACK LEVIES FOR THE SOUTH UPON HIS RETURN. His LETTERS TO GEN. WASHINGTON IN REGARD TO HIS FRUITLESS PLANS. CAPT. DAVID HUMPHREYS RECRUITS A COMPANY OF COLORED INFANTRY IN CONNECTICUT. RETURN OP NEGROES IN THE ARMY IN 1778. THE policy of arming the Negroes early claimed the anxious consideration of the leaders of the colonial army during the American Revolution. England had been crowding her American plantations with slaves at a fearful rate ; and, when hos- MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 325 tilities actually began, it was difficult to tell whether the American army or the ministerial army would be able to secure the Negroes as allies. In 1715 the royal governors of the colonies gave the Board of Trade the number of the Negroes in their respective colonies. The slave population was as follows : NEGROES. New Hampshire 15 Massachusetts 2,000 Rhode Island 500 Connecticut 1,500 .New York 4,000 New Jersey 1,500 Pennsylvania and Delaware . 2,500 NEGROES. Maryland 9, 500 Virginia 23,000 North Carolina 3>7oo South Carolina 10,500 Total 58,850 Sixty years afterwards, when the Revolution had begun, the slave population of the thirteen colonies was as follows : NEGROES. Massachusetts 3,5 Rhode Island 4,373 Connecticut 5,000 New Hampshire 629 New York 15,000 New Jersey 7,600 Pennsylvania 10,000 Delaware 9,000 NEGROES. Maryland 80,000 Virginia 165,000 North Carolina 75,ooo South Carolina 110,000 Georgia 16,000 Total 501,102 Such a host of beings was not to be despised in a great mili tary struggle. Regarded as a neutral element that could be used simply to feed an army, to perform fatigue duty, and build fortifi cations, the Negro population was the object of fawning favors of the white colonists. In the NON-IMPORTATION COVENANT, passed by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, on the 24th of October, 1774, the second resolve indicated the feeling of the representatives of the people on the question of the slave- trade : " 2. We will neither import nor purchase, any slave imported after the first day of December next; after which time, we will wholly discontinue the slave- trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it." i Journal of the Continental Congress. 326 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. It, with the entire covenant, received the signatures of all the delegates from the twelve colonies. 1 The delegates from the Southern colonies were greatly distressed concerning the probable attitude of the slave element. They knew that if that ignorant mass of humanity were inflamed by some act of strategy of the enemy, they might sweep their homes and families from the face of the earth. The cruelties of the slave-code, the harsh treat ment of Negro slaves, the lack of confidence in the whites every where manifested among the blacks, as so many horrid dreams, harassed the minds of slaveholders by day and by night. They did not even possess the courage to ask the slaves to remain silent and passive during the struggle between England and themselves. The sentiment that adorned the speeches of orators, and graced the writings of the colonists, during this period, was " the equality of the rights of all men." And yet the slaves who bore their chains under their eyes, who were denied the commonest rights of humanity, who were rated as chattels and real property, were living witnesses to the insincerity and inconsistency of this decla ration. But it is a remarkable fact, that all the Southern colonies, in addition to the action of their delegates, ratified the Non- Importation Covenant. The Maryland Convention on the 8th of December, 1774; South Carolina Provincial Congress on the nth January, 1775 ; Virginia Convention on the 22d March, 1775 ; North Carolina Provincial Congress on the 23d of August, 1775 ; Delaware Assembly on the 25th of March, 1775 (refused by Gov. John Penn) ; and Georgia, passed the following resolves there abouts : " i. Resolved, That this Congress will adopt, and carry into execution, all and singular the measures and recommendations of the late Continental Con gress. " 4. Resolved, That we will neither import or [nor] purchase any slave imported from Africa or elsewhere after this date." Meetings were numerous and spirited throughout the colonies, in which, by resolutions, the people expressed their sentiments in reference to the mother country. On the i8th of July, 1774, at a meeting held in Fairfax Court-House, Virginia, a series of twenty- 1 The Hon. Peter Force, in an article to The National Intelligencer, Jan. 16 and 18, 1855, says: "Southern colonies, jointly with all the others, and separately each for itself, did agree to prohibit the importation of slaves, voluntarily and in good faith." Georgia was not represented in this Congress, and, therefore, could not sign. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 327 four resolutions was presented by George Washington, chairman of the committee on resolutions, three of which were directed against slavery. " 1 7. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that, during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be imported into any of the British colonies on this continent ; and we take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop for ever put to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade, - . . "21. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that this and the other associating colonies should break off all trade, intercourse, and dealings "with that colony, province, or town, which shall decline, or refuse to agree to, the plan which shall be adopted by the General Congress. . , . " 24. Resolved, That George Washington and Charles Broadwater, lately elected our representatives to serve in the General Assembly, be appointed to attend the Convention at Williamsburg on the first day of August next, and present these resolves, as the sense of the people of this county upon the measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous situation of America." Mr. Sparks comments upon the resolutions as follows : "The draught, from which the resolves are printed, I find among Washing ton's papers, in the handwriting of George Mason, by whom they were probably drawn up ; yet, as they were adopted by the Committee of which Washington was chairman, and reported by him as moderator of the meeting, they may be presumed to express his opinions, formed on a perfect knowledge of the subject, and after cool deliberation. This may indeed be inferred from his letter to Mr. Bryan Fairfax, in which he intimates a doubt only as to the article favoring the idea of a further petition to the king. He was opposed to such a step, believ ing enough had been done in this way already; but he yielded the point in tenderness to the more wavering resolution of his associates. " These resolves are framed with much care and ability, and exhibit the question then at issue, and the state of public feeling, in a manner so clear and forcible as to give them a special claim to a place in the present work, in addi tion to the circumstance of their being the matured views of Washington at the outset of the great Revolutionary struggle in which he was to act so conspicu ous a part. . . . " Such were the opinions of Washington, and his associates in Virginia, at the beginning of the Revolutionary contest. The seventeenth resolve merits attention, from the pointed manner in which it condemns the slave-trade." ' Dr. Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Dean Woodward, dated April 10, 1773, says, " I have since had the satisfaction to learn that a disposition to abolish slavery prevails in North America ; that many of the Pennsylvanians have set 1 Sparks's Washington, vol. ii. pp. 488-495, 328 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. their slaves at liberty; and that even the Virginia Assembly have petitioned the king for permission to make a law for preventing the importation of more into that Colony. This request, however, will probably not be granted, as their former laws of that kind have always been repealed, and as the interest o' a few merchants here has more weight with Government than that of thousand^ at a distance." Virginia gave early and positive proof that she was in earnest on the question of non-importation. One John Brown, a merchant of Norfolk, broke the rules of the colony by purchasing imported slaves, and was severely rebuked in the following article : "'TO THE FREEMEN OF VIRGINIA: " 'COMMITTEE CHAMBER, NORFOLK, March 6, 1775. " ' Trusting to your sure resentment against the enemies of your country, we, the committee, elected by ballot for the Borough of Norfolk, hold up for your just indignation Mr. John Brown, merchant of this place. "'On Thursday, the 2d of March, this committee were informed of the arrival of the brig Fanny, Capt. Watson, with a number of slaves for Mr. Brown ; and, upon inquiry, it appeared they were shipped from Jamaica as his property, and on his account ; that he had taken great pains to conceal their arrival from the knowledge of the committee; and that the shipper of the slaves, Mr. Brown's correspondent, and the captain of the vessel, were all fully apprised of the Continental prohibition against that article. "'From the whole of this transaction, therefore, we, the committee for Norfolk Borough, do give it as our unanimous opinion, that the said John Brown has wilfully and perversely violated the Continental Association to which he had with his own hand subscribed obedience ; and that, agreeable to the eleventh article, we are bound forthwith to publish the truth of the case, to the end that all such foes to the rights of British America may be publicly known and universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty, and that every person may henceforth break off all dealings with him.' " And the first delegation from Virginia to Congress in August, 1774, had instructions as follows, drawn by Thomas Jefferson : " For the most trifling reasons, and sometimes for no conceivable reason at all, his Majesty has rejected laws of the most salutary tendency. The aboli tion of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those Colonies, ivJicre it was, unhappily, introduced in their infant state. But, previous to tJie enfran chisement of the slaves ive have, it is necessary to exclude all further importa tions from Africa. Yet our repeated attempts to effect this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a prohibition, have been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's negative ; thus preferring the immediate advantages 1 Sparks's Franklin, vol. viii. p. 42. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 329 of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American States, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this infamous practice." It is scarcely necessary to mention the fact, that there were several very cogent passages in the first draught of the Declara tion of Independence that were finally omitted. The one most pertinent to this history is here given : " He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him; captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemi sphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This pirati cal warfare, the opprobrium of Infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legis lative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And, that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them ; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another." 2 The solicitude concerning the slavery question was not sa great in the Northern colonies. The slaves were not so numerous as in the Carolinas and other Southern colonies. The severe treatment of slaves had been greatly modified, the spirit of masters toward them more gentle and conciliatory, and the public sentiment concerning them more humane. Public discus sion of the Negro question, however, was cautiously avoided. The failure of attempted legislation friendly to the slaves had discouraged their friends, while the critical situation of public affairs made the supporters of slavery less aggressive. On the 25th of October, 1774, an effort was made in the Provincial Con gress of Massachusetts to re-open the discussion, but it failed. The record of the attempt is as follows : " Mr. Wheeler brought into Congress a letter directed to Doct. Appleton, purporting the propriety, that while we are attempting to free ourselves from our present embarrassments, and preserve ourselves from slavery, that we also take into consideration the state and circumstances of the negro slaves in this province. The same was read, and it was moved that a committee be appointed to take the same into consideration. After some debate thereon, the question was put, whether the matter now subside, and it passed in the affirmative." 3 1 Jefferson's Works, vol. i. p. 135. 2 Ibid., pp. 23, 24* 3 Journals of the Provincial Congress of Mass., p. 29. 33 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Thus ended the attempt to call the attention of the people's representatives to the inconsistency of their doctrine and practice on the question of the equality of human rights. Further agita tion of the question, followed by the defeat of just measures in the interest of the slaves, was deemed by many as dangerous to the colony. The discussions were watched by the Negroes with a lively interest ; and failure led them to regard the colonists as their enemies, and greatly embittered them. Then it was difficult to determine just what would be wisest to do for the enslaved in this colony. The situation was critical : a bold, clear-headed, loyal-hearted man was needed. On Tuesday, Oct. 2, 1750, "The Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal," contained the following advertisement : " T3 AN-away from his master William Brown of Framingham, on the 3oth J-X of Sept. last, a Molatto Fellow, about 27 Years of Age, named Crispas, 6 Feet 2 Inches high, short curl'd Hair, his Knees nearer together than com mon ; had on a light colour'd Bear-skin Coat, plain brown Fustain Jacket, or brown all- Wool one, new Buckskin Breeches, blue Yarn Stockings, and a checked woolen Shirt. " Whoever shall take up said Run-away, and convey him to his abovesaid Master, shall have ten Pounds, old Tenor Reward, and all necessary Charges paid. And all Masters of Vessels and others, are hereby cautioned against concealing or carrying off said Servant on Penalty of the Law. Boston, October 2, 1 750." During the month of November, the I3th and 2Oth, a similar advertisement appeared in the same paper ; showing that the " Molatto Fellow " had not returned to his master. Twenty years later "Crispas's " name once more appeared in the journals of Boston. This time he was not advertised as a runaway slave, nor was there reward offered for his apprehension. His soul and body were beyond the cruel touch of master ; the press had paused to announce his apotheosis, and to write the name of the Negro patriot, soldier, and martyr to the ripening cause of the American Revolution, in fadeless letters of gold, CRISPUS ATTUCKS ! On March 5, 1770, occurred the Boston Massacre; and, while it was not the real commencement of the Revolutionary struggle, it was the bloody drama that opened the most eventful and thrilling chapter in American history. The colonists had endured, with obsequious humility, the oppressive acts of Britain, the .swaggering insolence of the ministerial troops, and the sneers MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 331 of her hired minions. The aggressive and daring men had found themselves hampered by the conservative views of a large class of colonists, who feared lest some one should take a step not exactly according to the law. But while the "wise and prudent" were deliberating upon a legal method of action, there were those, who, "made of sterner stuff," reasoned right to the conclusion, that they had rights as colonists that ought to be respected. That there was cause for just indignation on the part of the people towards the British soldiers, there is no doubt. But there is reason to question the time and manner of the assault made by the citizens. Doubtless they had "a zeal, but not according to knowledge." There is no record to controvert the fact of the leadership of Crispus Attucks. A manly-looking fellow, six feet two inches in height, he was a commanding figure among the irate colonists. His enthusiasm for the threatened interests of the Province, his loyalty to the teachings of Otis, and his willing ness to sacrifice for the cause of equal rights, endowed him with a courage, which, if tempered with better judgment, would have made him a military hero in his day. But consumed by the sacred fires of patriotism, that lighted his path to glory, his career of usefulness ended at the beginning. John Adams, as the counsel for the soldiers, thought that the patriots Crispus Attucks led were a "rabble of saucy boys, negroes, mulattoes, &c.," who could not restrain their emotion. Attucks led the charge with the shout, "The way to get rid of these soldiers is to attack the main-guard; strike at the root : this is the nest." A shower of missiles was answered by the discharge of the guns of Capt. Preston's company. The exposed and commanding person of the intrepid Attucks went down before the murderous fire. Samuel Gray and Jonas Caldwell were also killed, while Patrick Carr and Samuel Maverick were mortally wounded. The scene that followed beggared description. The people ran from their homes and places of business into the streets, white with rage. The bells rang out the alarm of danger. The bodies of Attucks and Caldwell were carried into Faneuil Hall, where their strange faces were viewed by the largest gathering of people ever before witnessed. Maverick was buried from his mother's house in Union Street, and Gray from his brother's residence in Royal Exchange Lane. But Attucks and Caldwell, strangers in the city, without relatives, were buried from Faneuil Hall, so justly called " the Cradle of Liberty." The four hearses 332 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. formed a junction in King Street ; and from thence the procession moved in columns six deep, with a long line of coaches containing the first citizens of Boston. The obsequies were witnessed by a very large and respectful concourse of popple. The bodies were deposited in one grave, over which a stone was placed bearing this inscription : " Long as in Freedom's cause the wise contend, Dear to your country shall your fame extend ; While to the world the lettered stone shall tell Where Caldwell, Attucks, Gray and Maverick fell." Who was Crispus Attucks ? A Negro whose soul, galling under the destroying influence of slavery, went forth a freeman, went forth not only to fight for his liberty, but to give his life as an offering upon the altar of American liberty. He was not a madcap, as some would have the world believe. He was not ignorant of the issues between the American colonies and the English government, between the freemen of the colony and the dictatorial governors. Where he was during the twenty years from 1750 to 17/0, is not known; but doubtless in Boston, where he had heard the fiery eloquence of Otis, the convincing argu ments of Sewall, and the tender pleadings of Belknap. He had learned to spell out the fundamental principles that should govern well-regulated communities and states ; and, having come to the rapturous consciousness of his freedom in fee simple, the brightest crown God places upon mortal man, he felt himself neighbor and friend. His patriotism was not a mere spasm produced by sudden and exciting circumstances. It was an education ; and knowledge comes from experience ; and the experience of this black hero was not of a single day. Some time before the memorable 5th of March, Crispus addressed the following spirited letter to the Tory governor of the Province : "To THOMAS HUTCHINSON: Sir, You will hear from us with astonish ment. You ought to hear from us with horror. You are chargeable before God and man, with our blood. The soldiers were but passive instruments, mere machines ; neither moral nor voluntary agents in our destruction, more than the leaden pellets with which we were wounded. You was a free agent. You acted, coolly, deliberately, with all that premeditated malice, not against us in particular, but against the people in general, which, in the sight of the law, is an ingredient in the composition of murder. You will hear further from us hereafter. CRISPUS ATTUCKS." 1 Adams's Works, vol. ii. p. 322. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 333 This was the declaration of war. It was fulfilled. The world has heard from him ; and, more, the English-speaking world will never forget the noble daring and excusable rashness of Attucks in the holy cause of liberty ! Eighteen centuries before he was saluted by death and kissed by immortality, another Negro bore the cross of Christ to Calvary for hirn. And when the colonists were staggering wearily under their cross of woe, a Negro came to the front, and bore that cross to the victory of glorious martyrdom ! And the people did not agree with John Adams that Attucks led " a motley rabble," but a band of patriots. Their evidence of the belief they entertained was to be found in the annual com memoration of the "5th of March," when orators, in measured sentences and impassioned eloquence, praised the hero-dead. In March, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren, who a few months later, as Gen. Warren, made Bunker Hill the shrine of New-England patriotism, was the orator. On the question of human liberty, he said, " That personal freedom is the natural right of every man, and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labor, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed beyond the reach of contradiction. And no man, or body of men, can, without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any other man, or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a right has arisen from some compact between the parties, in which it has been explicitly and freely granted." These noble sentiments were sealed by his blood at Bunker Hill, on the I7th of June, 1775, and are the amulet that will pro tect his fame from the corroding touch of centuries of time The free Negroes of the Northern colonies responded to the call " to arms" that rang from the placid waters of Massachusetts Bay to the verdant hills of Berkshire, and from Lake Champlain to the upper waters of the Hudson. Every Northern colony had its Negro troops, not as separate organizations, save the black regiment of Rhode Island, but scattered throughout all of the white organizations of the army. At the first none but free Negroes were received into the army ; but before peace came Negroes were not only admitted, they were purchased, and sent into the war, with an offer of freedom and fifty dollars bounty at the close of their service. On the 2Qth of May, 1775, the "Committee of Safety" for the Province of Massachusetts passed 334 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the following resolve against the enlistment of Negro slaves as soldiers : " Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, as the contest now between Great Britain and the colonies respects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which the colonies are determined to maintain, that the admission of any persons, as soldiers, into the army now raising, but only such as are free men, will be inconsistent with the principles that are to be supported, and reflect dishonor on this colony, and that no slaves be admitted into this army upon any consideration whatever." On Tuesday, the 6th of June, 1775, "A resolve of the com mittee of safety, relative to the [admission] of slaves into the army was read, and ordered to lie on the table for further con sideration." 2 But this was but another evidence of the cold, conservative spirit of Massachusetts on the question of other people's rights. The Continental army was in bad shape. Its arms and cloth ing, its discipline and efficiency, were at such a low state as to create the gravest apprehensions and deepest solicitude. Gen. George Washington took command of the army in and around Boston, on the 3d of July, 1775, and threw his energies into the work of organization. On the loth of July he issued instructions to the recruiting-officers of Massachusetts Bay, in which he for bade the enlistment of any "negro," or "any Person who is not an American born, unless such Person has a Wife and Family and is a settled resident in this Country." 3 But, nevertheless, it is a curious fact, as Mr. Bancroft says, "the roll of the army at Cam bridge had from its first formation borne the names of men of color." "Free negroes stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginning of the war they had entered the pro vincial army ; the first general order which was issued by Ward, had required a return, among other things, of the * complexion ' 1 Journals of the Provincial Congress of Mass., p. 553. 2 Ibid., p. 302. 3 The following is a copy of Gen. Gates's order to recruiting-officers : " You are not to enlist any deserter from the Ministerial Army, or any stroller, negro, or vagabond, or person suspected of being an enemy to the liberty of America, nor any under eighteen years of age. " As the cause is the best that can engage men of courage and principle to take up arms, so it is expected that none but such will be accepted by the recruiting officer. The pay, provision, &c., being so ample, it is not doubted but that the officers sent upon this service will, without delay, complete their respective corps, and march the men forthwith to camp. " You are not to enlist any person who is not an American born, unless such person has a wife and family, and is a settled resident in this country. The persons you enlist must be provided with good and complete arms." MOORE'S Diary of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. no. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 335 of the soldiers ; and black men like others were retained in the service after the troops were adopted by the continent." There is no room to doubt. Negroes were in the army from first to last, but were there in contravention of law and positive pro hibition. 1 On the 29th of September, 1775, a spirited debate occurred in the Continental Congress, over the draught of a letter to Gen. Washington, reported by Lynch, Lee, and Adams. Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina moved that the commander-in-chief be in structed to discharge all slaves and free Negroes in his army. The Southern delegates supported him earnestly, but his motion was defeated. Public attention was called to the question, and at length the officers of the army debated it. The following minute of a meeting held at Cambridge preserves and reveals the senti ment of the general officers of the army on the subject : "At a council of war, held at head-quarters, October 8th, 1775, present: His Excellency, General Washington ; Major-Generals Ward, Lee, and Put nam; Brigadier-Generals Thomas, Spencer, Heath, Sullivan, Greene, and Gates the question was proposed: "* Whether it will be advisable to enlist any negroes in the new army? or whether there be a distinction between such as are slaves and those who are free?' " It was agreed unanimously to reject all slaves ; and, by a great majority, to reject negroes altogether." Ten days later, Oct. 18, 1775, a committee of conference met at Cambridge, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, and Thomas Lynch, who conferred with Gen. Washington, the deputy- governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the Committee of the Council of Massachusetts Bay. The object of the confer ence was the renovation and improvement of the army. On the 23d of October, the employment of Negroes as soldiers came before the conference for action, as follows : "Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new enlistment, especially such as are slaves ? all were thought improper by the council of officers." " Agreed that they be rejected altogether." 1 The Provincial Congress of South Carolina, Nov. 20, 1775, passed the following resolve: " On motion, Resolved, That the colonels of the several regiments of militia throughout the Colony have leave to enroll such a number of able male slaves, to be employed as pioneers and laborers, as public exigencies may require; and that a daily pay of seven shillings and sixpence be allowed for the service of each such slave while actually employed." American Archives, 4th Series, vol. Iv. p. 6. 336 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In his General Orders, issued from headquarters on the I2th of November, 1775, Washington said, " Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign, are to be enlisted." * But the general repaired this mistake the following month. Lord Dunmore had issued a proclamation declaring " all indented servants, negroes, or others (appertaining to rebels) free." Fear ing lest many Negroes should join the ministerial army, in Gen eral Orders, 3Oth December, Washington wrote : " As the General is informed that numbers of free negroes are desirous of enlisting, he gives leave to the recruiting officers to entertain them, and prom ises to lay the matter before the Congress, who, he doubts not, will approve of it." Lord Dunmore's proclamation is here given : "By his Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN, Earl of DUNMORE, his Majes ty 's Lieutenant and Governor-General of the Colony and Dominion of Vir ginia^ and Vice-Admiral of the same, "A PROCLAMATION. "As I have ever entertained hopes that an accommodation might have taken place between Great Britain and this Colony, without being compelled by my duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary step, ren dered so by a body of armed men, unlawfully assembled, firing on his Majesty's tenders ; and the formation of an army, and that army now on their march to attack his Majesty's troops, and destroy the well-disposed subject of this Colony : To defeat such treasonable purposes, and that all such traitors and their abettors may be brought to justice, and that the peace and good order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary course of the civil law is unable to effect, I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation ; hereby declaring, that, until the aforesaid good purposes can be obtained, I do, in virtue of the power and authority to me given by his Majesty, determine to execute martial law, and cause the same to be executed, throughout this Colo ny. And, to the end that peace and good order may the sooner be restored, I do require every person capable of bearing arms to resort to his Majesty's standard, or be looked upon as traitors to his Majesty's Crown and Govern ment, and thereby become liable to the penalty the law inflicts upon such offences, such as forfeiture of life, confiscation of lands, &c., &c. And I do hereby further declare all indented servants, negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his Majes ty's troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper sense of their duty to his Majesty's crown and dignity. I do further Sparks's Washington, vol. iii. p. 155, note. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 337 order and require all his Majesty's liege subjects to retain their quit-rents, or any other taxes due, or that may become due, in their own custody, till such time as peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy country, or demanded of them, for their former salutary purposes, by officers properly authorized to receive the same. "Given under my hand, on board the Ship William, off Norfolk, the seventh day of November, in the sixteenth year of his Majesty's reign. " DUNMORE. " God save the King ! " ' On account of this, on the 3ist of December, Gen. Washington wrote the President of Congress as follows : " It has been represented to me, that the free negroes, who have served in this army, are very much dissatisfied at being discarded. As it is to be apprehended, that they may seek employ in the ministerial army, I have pre sumed to depart from the resolution respecting them, and have given license for their being enlisted. If this is disapproved of by Congress, I will put a stop to it." 2 This letter was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Wythe, Adams, and Wilson. On the i6th of January, 1776, they made the following report : "That the free negroes who have served faithfully in the army at Cam bridge may be re-enlist therein, but no others." 3 This action on the part of Congress had reference to the army around Boston, but it called forth loud and bitter criticism from the officers of the army at the South. In a letter to John Adams, dated Oct. 24, 1775, Gen. Thomas indicated that there was some feeling even before the action of Congress was secured. He says, " I am sorry to hear that any prejudices should take place in any- Southern colony, with respect to the troops raised in this. I am certain the insinuations you mention are injurious, if we consider with what precipitation we were obliged to collect an army. In the regiments at Roxbury, the privates are equal to any that I served with in the last war ; very few old men, and in the ranks very few boys. Our fifers are many of them boys. We have some negroes ; but I look on them, in general, equally serviceable with other men for fatigue ; and, in action, many of them have proved themselves brave. " I would avoid all reflection, or any thing that may tend to give umbrage ; but there is in this army from the southward a number called riflemen, who are 1 Force's American Archives, 4th Series, vol. iii. p. 1,385. 2 Sparks's Washington, vo\. iii. p. 218. 3 Journals of Congress, vol. ii. p. 26. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. as indifferent men as I ever served with. These privates are mutinous, and often deserting to the enemy; unwilling for duty of any kind; exceedingly vicious ; and, I think, the army here would be as well without as with them. But to do justice to their officers, they are, some of them, likely men." The Dunmore proclamation was working great mischief in the Southern colonies. The Southern colonists were largely engaged in planting, and, as they were Tories, did not rush to arms with the celerity that characterized the Northern colonists. At an early moment in the struggle, the famous Rev. Dr. Hopkins of Rhode Island wrote the following pertinent extract : " God is so ordering it in his providence, that it seems absolutely necessary something should speedily be done with respect to the slaves among us, in order to our safety, and to prevent their turning against us in our present struggle, in order to get their liberty. Our oppressors have planned to gain the blacks, and induce them to take up arms against us, by promising them liberty on this condition; and this plan they are prosecuting to the utmost of their power, by which means they have persuaded numbers to join them. And should we attempt to restrain them by force and severity, keeping a strict guard over them, and punishing them severely who shall be detected in attempting to join our opposers, this will only be making bad worse, and serve to render our inconsistence, oppression, and cruelty more criminal, perspicuous, and shocking, and bring down the righteous vengeance of Heaven on our heads. The only way pointed out to prevent this threatening evil is to set the blacks at liberty ourselves by some public acts and laws, and then give them proper encouragement to labor, or take arms in the defence of the American cause, as they shall choose. This would at once be doing them some degree of justice, and defeating our enemies in the scheme that they are prosecuting." * On Sunday, the 24th of September, 1775, John Adams re corded the following conversation, that goes to show that Lord Dunmore's policy was well matured : " In- the evening, Mr. Bullock and Mr. Houston, two gentlemen from Georgia, came into our room, and smoked and chatted the whole evening. Houston and Adams disputed the whole time in good humor. They are both dabs at disputation, I think. Houston, a lawyer by trade, is one of course, and Adams is not a whit less addicted to it than the lawyers. The question was, whether all America was not in a state of war^and whether we ought to con fine ourselves to act upon the defensive only? He was for acting offensively, next spring or this fall, if the petition was rejected or neglected. If it was not answered, and favorably answered, he would be for acting against Britain and Britons, as, in open war, against French and Frenchmen ; fit privateers, and take their ships anywhere. These gentlemen give a melancholy account of 1 Hopkins's Works, vol. ii. p. 584. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 339 the State of Georgia and South Carolina. They say that if one thousand regular troops should land in Georgia, and their commander be provided with arms and clothes enough, and proclaim freedom to all the negroes who would join his camp, twenty thousand negroes would join it from the two Provinces in a fortnight. The negroes have a wonderful art of communicating intelli gence among themselves; it will run several hundreds of miles in a week or fortnight. They say, their only security is this ; that all the king's friends, and tools of government, have large plantations, and property in negroes ; so that the slaves of the Tories would be lost, as well as those of the Whigs." * The Negroes in Virginia sought the standards of the minis terial army, and the greatest consternation prevailed among the planters. On the 2/th of November, 1775, Edmund Pendleton wrote to Richard Lee that the slaves were daily flocking to the British army. " The Governour, hearing of this, marched out with three hundred and fifty soldiers, Tories and slaves, to Kemp's Landing; and after setting up his standard, and issuing his proclamation, declaring all persons Rebels who took up arms for the country, and inviting all slaves, servants, and apprentices to come to him and receive arms, he proceeded to intercept Hutchings and his party, upon whom he came by surprise, but received, it seems, so warm a fire, that the ragamuffins gave way. They were, however, rallied on discovering that two companies of our militia gave way; and left Hutchings and Dr. Reid with a vol unteer company, who maintained their ground bravely till they were overcome by numbers, and took shelter in a swamp. The slaves were sent in pursuit of them ; and one of Col. Hutchings's own, with another, found him. On their approach, he discharged his pistol at his slave, but missed him ; and was taken by them, after receiving a wound in his face with a sword. The number taken or killed, on either side, is not ascertained. It is said the Governour went to Dr. Reid's shop, and, after taking the medicines and dressings neces sary for his wounded men, broke all the others to pieces. Letters mention that slaves flock to him in abundance ; but I hope it is magnified." 2 But the dark stream of Negroes that had set in toward the English troops, where they were promised the privilege of bear ing arms and their freedom, could not easily be stayed. The proclamation of Dunmore received the criticism of the press, and the Negroes were appealed to and urged to stand by their "true friends." A Williamsburg paper, printed on the 23d of Novem ber, 1775, contained the following well-written plea: 1 Works of John Adams, vol. ii. p. 428. 2 Force's American Archives, 4th Series, vol. iv. p. 202. 340 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "CAUTION TO THE NEGROES. "The second class of people for whose sake a few remarks upon this proclamation seem necessary is the Negroes. They have been flattered with their freedom, if they be able to bear arms, and will speedily join Lord Dun- more's troops. To none, then, is freedom promised, but to such as are able to do Lord Dunmore service. The aged, the infirm, the women and children, are still to remain the property of their masters, of masters who will be pro voked to severity, should part of their slaves desert them. Lord Dunmore's declaration, therefore, is a cruel declaration to the Negroes. He does not pretend to make it out of any tenderness to them, but solely upon his own account ; and, should it meet with success, it leaves by far the greater number at the mercy of an enraged and injured people. But should there be any amongst the Negroes weak enough to believe that Lord Dunmore intends to do them a kindness, and wicked enough to provoke the fury of the Americans against their defenceless fathers and mothers, their wives, their women and children, let them only consider the difficulty of effecting their escape, and what they must expect to suffer if they fall into the hands of the Americans. Let them further consider what must be their fate should the English prove conquerors. If we can judge of the future from the past, it will not be much mended. Long have the Americans, moved by compassion and actuated by sound policy, endeavored to stop the progress of slavery. Our Assemblies have repeatedly passed acts, laying heavy duties upon imported Negroes ; by which they meant altogether to prevent the horrid traffick. But their humane intentions have been as often frustrated by the cruelty and covetousness of a set of English merchants, who prevailed upon the King to repeal our kind and merciful acts, little, indeed, to the credit of his humanity. Can it, then, be supposed that the Negroes will be better used by the English, who have always encouraged and upheld this slavery, than by their present masters, who pity their condition ; who wish, in general, to make it as easy and comfortable as possible ; and who would, were it in their power, or were they permitted, not cnly preventther arts, to desert their masters' service, and take up arms against the in*"* Chants of this Colony, shall be liable to such punishment as shall hereafter *>e directed by the General Convention. And to the end that all such wh<> ^2ve taken this unlawful and wicked step may return in safety to their di^y, and escape the punishment due to their crimes, we hereby promise p**7don to them, they surrendering themselves to Colonel William Woodfo"^ or any other commander of our troops, and not appearing in arms s-^tcr the publication hereof. And we do further earnestly recommend it to all humane and benevolent persons in this Colony to explain and make kr^wn this our offer of mercy to those unfortunate people." I Gen, ' -ashington was not long in observing the effects of the proclamation. He began to fully realize the condition of affiars at the South, and on Dec. 15 wrote Joseph Reed as follows : " If the Virginians are wise, that arch-traitor to the rights of humanity, Lord Dunmore, should be instantly crushed, if it takes the force of the whole army to do it; otherwise, like a snow-ball in rolling, his army will get size, some through fear, some through promises, and some through inclination, joining his standard : but that which renders the measure indispensably neces sary is the negroes ; for, if he gets formidable, numbers of them will be tempted to join who will be afraid to do it without." * 1 Force's American Archives, 4th Series, vol. iv. pp. 84, 85. * Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, vol. i. p. 135. 342 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The slaves themselves were not incapable of perceiving the cunning of Lord Dunmore. England had forced slavery upon the colonists against their protest, had given instructions to the royal governors concerning the increase of the traffic, and therefore could not be more their friends than the colonists. The number that went over to the enemy grew smaller all the while, and finally the British were totally discouraged in this regard. Lord Dunmore was unwilling to acknowledge the real cause of his fail ure to secure black recruits, and so he charged it to the fever. "LORD DUNMORE TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. [No. I.] "Snip 'DUNMORE,' IN ELIZABETH RIVER, VIRGINIA, 3oth March, 1776. " Your Lordship will observe by my letter, No. 34, that I have been en deavouring to raise two regiments here one of white people, the other of black. The former goes on very slowly, but the latter very well, and would have been in great forwardness, had not a fever crept in amongst them, which carried off a great many very fine fellows." [No. 3.] "SHIP 'DUNMORE,' IN GWIN'S ISLAND HARBOUR, VIRGINIA, June 26, 1776. " I am extremely sorry to inform your Lordship, that that fever, of which I informed you in my letter No. I, has proved a very malignant one, and has carried off. an incredible number of our people, especially the blacks. Had it not been for this horrid disorder, I am satisfied I should have had two thousand blacks ; with whom I should have had no doubt of penetrating into the heart of this Colony." * While the colonists felt, as Dr. Hopkins had written, that some thing ought to be done toward securing the services of the Negroes, yet their representatives were not disposed to legislate the Negro into the army. He was there, and still a conservative policy was pursued respecting him. Some bold officers took it upon them selves to receive Negroes as soldiers. Gen. Greene, in a letter to Gen. Washington, called attention to the raising of a Negro regi ment on Staten Island. "CAMP ON LONG ISLAND, July 21, 1776, two o'clock. "Sm; Colonel Hand reports seven large ships are coming up from the Hook to the Narrows. " A negro belonging to one Strickler, at Gravesend, was taken prisoner (as 1 Force's American Archives, 5th Series, vol. ii. pp. 160, 162. MILITARY EMPLOYMEN1 OF NEGROES. 343 he says) last Sunday at Coney Island. Yesterday he made his escape, and was taken prisoner by the rifle-guard. He reports eight hundred negroes collected on Staten Island, this day to be formed into a regiment. " I am your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant, "N. GREENE. " To his Excellency GEN. WASHINGTON, Headquarters, New York." x To the evidence already produced as to the indiscriminate employment of Negroes as soldiers in the American army, the observations of a foreign officer are added. Under date of the 23d of October, 1777, a Hessian officer wrote : 2 " From here to Springfield, there are few habitations which have not a negro family dwelling in a small house near by. The negroes are here as fruitful as other cattle. The young ones are well foddered, especially while they are still calves. Slavery is, moreover, very gainful. The negro is to be considered just as the bond-servant of a peasant. The negress does all the coarse work of the house, and the little black young ones wait on the little white young ones. The negro can take the field, instead of his master; and therefore no regiment is to be seen in which there are not negroes in abundance: and among tJictn there are able-bodied, strong, and brave fellows. Here, too, there are many families of free negroes, who live in good houses, have prop erty, and live just like the rest of the inhabitants." 3 In the month of May, 1777, the Legislature of Connecticut sought to secure some action on the subject of the employment of Negroes as soldiers." "In May, 1777, the General Assembly of Connecticut appointed a Com mittee * to take into consideration the state and condition of the negro and mulatto slaves in this State, and what may be done for their emancipation.' This Committee, in a report presented at the same session (signed by the chairman, the Hon. Matthew Griswold of Lyme), recommended "'That the effective negro and mulatto slaves be allowed to 'enlist with the Continental battalions now raising in this State, under the following regulations and restrictions : viz., that all such negro and mulatto slaves as can procure, either by bounty, hire, or in any other way, such a sum to be paid to their masters as such negro or mulatto shall be judged to be reasonably worth by the selectmen of the town where such negro or mulatto belongs, shall be allowed to enlist into either of said battalions, and shall thereupon be, de facto, free and emancipated ; and that the master of such negro or mulatto shall be exempted from the support and maintenance of such negro or mulatto, in case 1 Force's American Archives, 5th Series, vol. i. p. 486. 2 During a few months of study in New-York City, I came across the above in the library of the N. Y. Hist. Soc. 3 Schloezer's Briefwechsel, vol. iv. p. 365. 344 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. such negro or mulatto shall hereafter become unable to support and maintain, himself. " ' And that, in case any such negro or mulatto slave shall be disposed to enlist into either of said battalions during the [war], he shall be allowed so to do : and such negro or mulatto shall be appraised by the selectmen of the town to which he belongs ; and his master shall be allowed to receive the bounty to which such slave may be entitled, and also one-half of the annual wages of such slave during the time he shall continue in said service ; provided, however, that said master shall not be allowed to receive such part of said wages after he shall have received so much as amounts, together with the bounty, to the sum at which he was appraised.' " In the lower house the report was put over to the next session, but when it reached the upper house it was rejected. "You will see by the Report of Committee, May, 1777, that General Varnum's plan for the enlistment of slaves had been anticipated in Connecti cut; with this difference, that Rhode Island adopted it, while Connecticut did not. " The two States reached nearly the same results by different methods. The unanimous declaration of the officers at Cambridge, in the winter of 1775, against the enlistment of slaves, confirmed by the Committee of Congress, had some weight, I think, with the Connecticut Assembly, so far as the formal enactment of a law authorizing such enlistments was in question. At. the same time, Washington's license to continue the enlistment of negroes was regarded as a rule of action, both by the selectmen in making up, and by the State Government in accepting, the quota of the towns. The process of draughting, in Connecticut, was briefly this: The able-bodied men, in each town, were divided into ' classes ; ' and each class was required to furnish one- or more men, as the town's quota required, to answer a draught. Now, the Assembly, at the same session at which the proposition for enlisting slaves was rejected (May, 1777), passed an act providing that any two men belonging to- this State, ' who should procure an able-bodied soldier or recruit to enlist into either of the Continental battalions to be raised from this State,' should them selves be exempted from draught during the continuance of such enlistment Of recruits or draughted men thus furnished, neither the selectmen nor com manding officers questioned the color or the civil status : white and black, bond and free, if 'able-bodied,' went on the roll together, accepted as the representa tives of their ' class,' or as substitutes for their employers. At the next session (October, 1 777), an act was passed which gave more direct encouragement to the enlistment of slaves. By this existing law, the master who emancipated a slave was not released from the liability to provide for his support. This law was now so amended, as to authorize the selectmen of any town, on the application of the master, after 'inquiry into the age, abilities, circum stances, and character' of the servant or slave, and being satisfied 'that it was likely to be consistent with his real advantage, and that it was probable that he would be able to support himself,' to grant liberty for his emancipation, and to discharge the master 'from any charge or cost which may be occasioned by MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 345 maintaining or supporting the servant or slave made free as aforesaid.' This enactment enabled the selectmen to offer an additional inducement to enlist ment, for making up the quota of the town. The slave (or servant for term of years) might receive his freedom : the master might secure exemption from draught, and a discharge from future liabilities, to which he must otherwise have been subjected. In point of fact, some hundreds of blacks slaves and freemen were enlisted, from time to time, in the regiments of the State troops and of the Connecticut line. How many, it is impossible to tell; for, from first to last, the company or regimental rolls indicate no distinctions of color. The name is the only guide : and, in turning over the rolls of the Connecticut line, the frequent recurrence of names which were exclusively appropriated to negroes and slaves, shows how considerable was their proportion of the material of the Connecticut army ; while such surnames as * Liberty,' ' Free man,' Freedom,' &c., by scores, indicate with what anticipations, and under what inducements, they entered the service. " As to the efficiency of the service they rendered, I can say nothing from the records, except what is to be gleaned from scattered files, such as one of the petitions I send you. So far as my acquaintance extends, almost every family has its traditions of the good and faithful service of a black servant or slave, who was killed in battle, or served through the war, and came home to- tell stories of hard fighting, and draw his pension. In my own native town, not a large one, I remember five such pensioners, three of whom, I believe, had been slaves, and, in fact, were slaves to the day of their death ; for (and this explains the uniform action of the General Assembly on petitions for emancipation) neither the towns nor the State were inclined to exonerate the- master, at a time when slavery was becoming unprofitable, from the obligation to provide for the old age of his slave." * Gen. Yarn urn, a brave and intelligent officer from Rhode Island, early urged the employment of Negro soldiers. He communicated his views to Gen. Washington, and he referred the correspondence to the governor of R'hode Island. GEN. WASHINGTON TO GOV. COOKE. "HEADQUARTERS, 2d January, 1778. " SIR : Enclosed you will receive a copy of a letter from General Varnum to me, upon the means which might be adopted for completing the Rhode Island troops to their full proportion in the Continental army. I have nothing to say in addition to what I wrote the 2pth of the last month on this important subject, but to desire that you will give the officers employed in this business all the assistance in your power. " I am with great respect, sir, " Your most obedient servant, "G. WASHINGTON. " To GOVERNOR COOKE." 2 1 An Historical Research (Liver-more), pp. 114-116. 2 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 640. 346 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The letter of Gen. Varnum to Gen. Washington, in reference to the employment of Negroes as soldiers, is as follows : GEN. VARNUM TO GEN. WASHINGTON. " CAMP, January 2d, 1778. "SiR: The two battalions from the State of Rhode Island being small, and there being a necessity of the state's furnishing an additional number to make up their proportion in the Continental army; the field officers have repre sented to me the propriety of making one temporary battalion from the two, so that one entire corps of officers may repair to Rhode Island, in order to receive and prepare the recruits for the field. It is imagined that a battalion of negroes can be easily raised there. Should that measure be adopted, or recruits ob tained upon any other principle, the service will be advanced. The field officers who go upon this command, are Colonel Greene, Lieutenant Colonel Olney, and Major Ward ; seven captains, twelve lieutenants, six ensigns, one paymaster, one surgeon and mates, one adjutant and one chaplain. " I am Your Excellency's most obedient servant, "J. M. VARNUM. " To His EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON." 1 Gov. Cooke wrote Gen. Washington as follows : " STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, &c. " PROVIDENCE, January igth, 1778. " SIR : Since we had the honor of addressing Your Excellency by Mr. Thompson, we received your favor of the 2d of January current, enclosing a proposition of Gen. Varnum's for raising a battalion of negroes. "We in our letter of the I5th current, of which we send a duplicate, have fully represented our present circumstances, and the many difficulties we labor under, in respect to our filling up the Continental battalions. In addition thereto, will observe, that we have now in the state's service within the govern ment, two battalions of infantry, and a regiment of artillery who are enlisted to serve until the i6th day of March next; and the General Assembly have ordered two battalions of infantry, and a regiment of artillery, to be raised, to serve until the i6th of March, 1779. So that we have raised and kept in the field, more than the proportion of men assigned us by Congress. "The General Assembly of this state are to convene themselves on the .second Monday of February next, when your letters will be laid before them, and their determination respecting the same, will be immediately transmitted to Your Excellency. " I have the honor to be, &c., "NICHOLAS COOKE. "To GEN. WASHINGTON." 2 1 R. I. CoL Recs., vol. viii. p. 641. * Ibid., vol. viii. p. 524. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 347 The governor laid the above letters before the General Assem bly, at their February session ; and the following act was passed : " Whereas, for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the United States, it is necessary that the whole powers of government should be exerted in recruiting the Continental battalions ; and whereas, His Excellency Gen. Washington hath enclosed to this state a proposal made to him by Brigadier General Varnum, to enlist into the two battalions, raising by this state, such slaves as should be willing to enter into the service ; and whereas, history affords us frequent precedents of the wisest, the freest, and bravest nations having liberated their slaves, and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in defence of their country ; and also whereas, the enemy, with a great force, have taken possession of the capital, and of a greater part of this state ; and this state is obliged to raise a very considerable number of troops for its own immediate defence, whereby it is in a manner rendered impossible for this state to furnish recruits for the said two battalions, without adopting the said measure so recom mended. " It is voted and resolved, that every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man slave, in this state, may enlist into either of the said two battalions, to serve during the continuance of the present war with Great Britain. " That every slave, so enlisting, shall be entitled to, and receive, all the bounties, wages, and encouragements, allowed by the Continental Congress, to any soldier enlisting into their service. "It is further voted and resolved, that every slave, so enlisting, shall, upon his passing muster before Col. Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely FREE, as though he had never been encumbered with any kind of servitude or slavery. " And in case such slave shall, by sickness or otherwise, be rendered unable to maintain himself, he shall not be chargeable to his master or mistress; but shall be supported at the expense of the state. " And whereas, slaves have been, by the laws, deemed the property of their owners, and therefore compensation ought to be made to the owners for the loss of their service, "It is further voted and resolved, that there be allowed, and paid by this state, to the owner, for every such slave so enlisting, a sum according to his worth ; at a price not exceeding ^120 for the most valuable slave; and in pro portion for a slave of less value. " Provided, the owner of said slave shall deliver up to the officer, who shall enlist him, the clothes of the said slave ; or otherwise he shall not be entitled to said sum. " And for settling and ascertaining the value of such slaves, "It is further voted and resolved, that a committee of five be appointed, to wit: " One from each county ; any three of whom, to be a quorum, to examine the slaves who shall be so enlisted, after they shall have passed muster, and to set a price upon each slave according to his value, as aforesaid. " It is further voted and resolved, that upon any ablebodied negro, mulatto, or Indian slave, enlisting as aforesaid, the officer who shall so enlist him, after 348 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. he shall have passed muster, as aforesaid, shall deliver a certificate thereof, to the master or mistress of said negro, mulatto, or Indian slave; which shall discharge him from the service of his said master or mistress, as aforesaid. "It is further voted and resolved, that the committee who shall estimate the value of any slave, as aforesaid, shall give a certificate of the sum at whicin he may be valued, to the owner of said slave ; and the general treasurer of this, state.is hereby empowered and directed to give unto the said owner of the said! slave, his promissory note, as treasurer, as aforesaid, for the sum of money at which he shall be valued, as aforesaid, payable on demand, with interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum ; and that said notes, which shall be so given r shall be paid with the money which is due to this state, and is expected from Congress ; the money which has been borrowed out of the general treasury, by this Assembly, being first re-placed." l This measure met with some opposition, but it was too weak to effect any thing. The best thing the minority could do was to enter a written protest. "PROTEST AGAINST ENLISTING SLAVES TO SERVE IN THE ARMY. "We, the subscribers, beg leave to dissent from the vote of the lower house, ordering a regiment of negroes to be raised for the Continental service, for the following reasons, viz. : " ist. Because, in our opinion, there is not a sufficient number of negroes in the state, who would have an inclination to enlist, and would pass muster, to constitute a regiment; and raising several companies of blacks, would not answer the purposes intended; and therefore the attempt to constitute said regiment would prove abortive, and be a fruitless expense to the state. "2d. The raising such a regiment, upon the footing proposed, would sug gest an idea and produce an opinion in the world, that the state had purchased a band of slaves to be employed in the defence of the rights and liberties of our country, which is wholly inconsistent with those principles of liberty and constitutional government, for which we are so ardently contending ; and would be looked upon by the neighboring states in a contemptible point of view, and not equal to their troops ; and they would therefore be unwilling that we should have credit for them, as for an equal number of white troops ; and would also give occasion to our enemies to suspect that we are not able to procure our own people to oppose them in the field; and to retort upon us the same kind of ridicule we so liberally bestowed upon them, on account of Dunmore's regi ment of blacks ; or possibly might suggest to them the idea of employing black regiments against us. " 3d. The expense of purchasing and enlisting said regiment, in the man ner proposed, will vastly exceed the expenses of raising an equal number of white men; and at the same time will not have the like good effect. "4th. Great difficulties and uneasiness will arise in purchasing the negroes 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. pp. 358-360. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 349 from their masters ; and many of the masters will not be satisfied with any prices allowed. "JOHN NORTHUP, GEORGE PIERCE, " JAMES BABCOK, JR., SYLVESTER GARDNER, " OTHNIEL GORTON, SAMUEL BABCOCK." i Upon the passage of the Act, Gov. Cooke hastened to notify Gen. Washington of the success of the project. " PROVIDENCE, February 23d, 1778. "Sm: I have been favored with Your Excellency's letter of the [3d instant,] 2 enclosing a proposal made to you by General Varnum, for recruiting the two Continental battalions raised by this state. " I laid the letter before the General Assembly at their session, on the second Monday in this month ; who, considering the pressing necessity of fill ing up the Continental army, and the peculiarly difficult circumstances of this state, which rendered it in a manner impossible to recruit our battalions in any other way, adopted the measure. " Liberty is given to every effective slave to enter the service during the war; and upon his passing muster, he is absolutely made free, and entitled to all the wages, bounties and encouragements given by Congress to any soldier enlisting into their service. The masters are allowed at the rate of .120, for the most valuable slave ; and in proportion to those of less value. " The number of slaves in this state is not great ; but it is generally thought, that three hundred, and upwards, will be enlisted. " I am, with great respect, sir, " Your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant, "NICHOLAS COOKED "To GEN. WASHINGTON." s Where masters had slaves in the army, they were paid an annual interest on the appraised value of the slaves, out of the public treasury, until the end of the military service of such slaves.4 If owners presented certificates from the committee appointed to appraise enlisted Negroes, they were paid in part or in full in " Continental loan-office certificates." 5 The reader will remember, that it has been already shown that Negroes, both bond and free, were excluded from the militia, of Massachusetts ; and, furthermore, that both the Committee of Safety and the Provincial Congress had opposed the enlistment of Negroes. The first move in the colony to secure legal enlist- 1 R. I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 361. 8 This is evidently a mistake, as Washington's letter was dated Jan. 2, as the reader will see. 8 R, I. Col. Recs., vol. viii. p. 526. * Ibid., p. 376. s ibid., p. 465. 350 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. ments and separate organizations of Colored troops was a com munication to the General Assembly of Massachusetts, 3d of April, 1778. " To the Honorable Council, and House of Representatives, Boston, or at Roxbury. "HONORED GENTLEMEN, At the opening of this campaign, our forces should be all ready, well equipped with arms and ammunition, with clothing sufficient to stand them through the campaign, their wages to be paid monthly, so as not to give the soldiery so much reason of complaint as it is the general cry from the soldiery amongst whom I am connected. "We have accounts of large re-enforcements a-coming over this spring against us; and we are not so strong this spring, I think, as we were last. Great numbers have deserted ; numbers have tfied, besides what is sick, and incapable of duty, or bearing arms in the field. " I think it is highly necessary that some new augmentation should be added to the army this summer, all the re-enforcements that can possibly be obtained. For now is the time to exert ourselves or never ; for, if the enemy can get no further hold this campaign than they now possess, we [have] no need to fear much from them hereafter. "A re-enforcement can quick be raised of two or three hundred men. Will your honors grant the liberty, and give me the command of the party ? And what I refer to is negroes. We have divers of them in our service, mixed with white men. But I think it would be more proper to raise a body by them selves, than to have them intermixed with the white men ; and their ambition would entirely be to outdo the white men in every measure that the fortune of war calls a soldier to endure. And I could rely with dependence upon them in the field of battle, or to" any post that I was sent to defend with them ; and they would think themselves happy could they gain their freedom by bearing a part of subduing the enemy that is invading our land, and clear a peaceful inheritance for their masters, and posterity yet to come, that they are now slaves to. " The method that I would point out to your Honors in raising a detach ment of negroes; that a company should consist of a hundred, including -commissioned officers ; and that the commissioned officers should be white, and consist of one captain, one captain-lieutenant, two second lieutenants; the orderly sergeant white ; and that there should be three sergeants black, four corporals black, two drums and two fifes black, and eighty-four rank and file. These should engage to serve till the end of the war, and then be free men. And I doubt not, that no gentleman that is a friend to his country will disap prove of this plan, or be against his negroes enlisting into the service to maintain the cause of freedom, and suppress the worse than savage enemies of ,our land. " I beg your Honors to grant me the liberty of raising one company, if no more. It will be far better than to fill up our battalions with runaways and deserters from Gen. Burgoyne's army, who, after receiving clothing and the bounty, in general make it their business to desert from us. In the lieu thereof, if they are [of] a mind to serve in America, let them supply the families of those gentlemen where those negroes belong that should engage. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 351 " I rest, relying on your Honor's wisdom in this matter, as it will be a quick way of having a re-enforcement to join the grand army, or to act in any other place that occasion shall require ; and I will give my faith and assurance that I will act upon honor and fidelity, should I take the command of such a party as I have been describing. " So I rest till your Honors shall call me ; and am your very humble and obedient servant, "THOMAS KENCH, " In Col. Craft's Regiment of Artillery, now on Castle Island. "CASTLE ISLAND, April 3, 1778." A few days later he addressed another letter to the same body. " To the Honorable Council in Boston. " The letter I wrote before I heard of the disturbance with Col. Scares, Mr. Spear, and a number of other gentlemen, concerning the freedom of negroes, in Congress Street. It is a pity that riots should be committed on the occasion, as it is justifiable that negroes should have their freedom, and none amongst us be held as slaves, as freedom and liberty is the grand contro versy that we are contending for ; and I trust, under the smiles of Divine Providence, we shall obtain it, if all our minds can be united ; and putting the negroes into the service will prevent much uneasiness, and give more satisfac tion to those that are offended at the thoughts of their servants being free. " I will not enlarge, for fear I should give offence ; but subscribe myself " Your faithful servant, "THOMAS KENCH. "CASTLE ISLAND, April 7, 1778." x On the nth of April the first letter was referred to a joint committee, with instructions "to consider the same, and report." On the 1 7th of April, "a resolution of the General Assembly of Rhode Island for enlisting Negroes in the public service " was referred to the same committee. In the Militia Act of 1775, tne exceptions were, "Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes." By the act of May, 1776, providing for the re-enforcement of the American army, it was declared that, " Indians, negroes, and mulattoes, shall not be held to take up arms or procure any person to do it in their room." By another act, passed Nov. 14, 1776, looking toward the improvement of the army, " Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes " were excluded. During the year 1776 an order was issued for taking the census of all males above sixteen, but excepted "Negroes, Indians, and mulattoes." But after some reverses to the American army, Massachusetts passed a resolve on Jan. 6, 1 MSS. Archives of Mass., vol. cxcix. pp. 80, 84. 352 HISTORY OF 2HE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 1777, "f r raising every seventh man to complete our quota," " without any exceptions, save the people called Quakers." This was the nearest Massachusetts ever got toward recognizing Negroes as soldiers. And on the 5th of March, 1778, Benjamin Goddard, for the selectmen, Committee of Safety, and militia officers of the town of Grafton, protested against the enlistment of the Negroes in his town. It is not remarkable, in view of such a history, that Massachu setts should have hesitated to follow the advice of Thomas Kench. On the 28th of April, 1778, a law was draughted following closely the Rhode-Island Act. But no separate organization was ordered ; and, hence, the Negroes served in white organizations till the close of the American Revolution. There is nothing in the records of Virginia to show that there was ever any legal employment of Negroes as soldiers ; but, from the following, it is evident that free Negroes did serve, and that there was no prohibition against them, providing they showed their certificates of freedom : "And whereas several negro slaves have deserted from their masters, and under pretence of being free men have enlisted as soldiers : For prevention whereof, Be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for any recruiting officer within this commonwealth to enlist any negro or mulatto into the service of this or either of the United States, until such negro or mulatto shall produce a certificate from some justice of the peace for the county wherein he resides that he is a free man." * Maryland employed Negroes as soldiers, and sent them into regiments with white soldiers. John Cadwalder of Annapolis, wrote Gen. Washington on the 5th of June, 1781, in reference to Negro soldiers, as follows : " We have resolved to raise, immediately, seven hundred and fifty negroes, to be incorporated with the other troops ; and a bill is now almost completed." 2 The legislature of New York, on the 2Oth of March, 1781, passed the following Act, providing for the raising of two regi ments of blacks : " SECT. 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that any person who shall deliver one or more of his or her able-bodied male slaves to any warrant officer, as afore said, to serve in either of the said regiments or 1 Hening, vol. ix. 280. 2 Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 331. MILITARY EMPLOYMEN7 OF NEGROES. 353 independent corps, and produce a certificate thereof, signed by any person authorized to muster and receive the men to be raised by virtue of this act, and produce such certificate to the Surveyor-General, shall, for every male slave so entered and mustered as aforesaid, be entitled to the location and grant of one right, in manner as in and by this act is directed ; and shall be, and hereby is, discharged from any future maintenance of such slave, any law to the con trary notwithstanding : And such slave so entered as aforesaid, who shall serve for the term of three years or until regularly discharged, shall, immediately after such service or discharge, be, and is hereby declared to be, a free man of this State." ' The theatre of the war was now transferred from the Eastern to the Middle and Southern colonies. Massachusetts alone had furnished, and placed in the field, 67,907 men ; while all the colo nies south of Pennsylvania, put together, had furnished but 50,493, or 8,414 less than the single colony of Massachusetts. 2 It was a difficult task to get the whites to enlist at the South. Up to 1779, nearly all the Negro soldiers had been confined to the New-England colonies. The enemy soon found out that the Southern colonies were poorly protected, and thither he moved. The Hon. Henry Laurens of South Carolina, an intelligent and observing patriot, wrote Gen. Washington on the i6th of March, 1779, concerning the situation at the South : "Our affairs [he wrote] in the Southern department are more favorable than we had considered them a few days ago; nevertheless, the country is greatly distressed, and will be more so unless further reinforcements are sent to its relief. Had we arms for three thousand such black men as I could select in Carolina, I should have no doubt of success in driving the British out of Georgia, and subduing East Florida, before the end of July." 3 Gen. Washington sent the following conservative reply: "The policy of our arming slaves is in my opinion a moot point, unless the enemy set the example. For, should we begin to form battalions of them, I have not the smallest doubt, if the war is to be prosecuted, of their following us in it, and justifying the measure upon our own ground. The contest then must be, who can arm fastest. And where are our arms ? Besides, I am not clear that a discrimination will not render slavery more irksome to those who remain in it. Most of the good and evil things in this life are judged of by comparison ; and I fear a comparison in this case will be productive of much discontent in those, who are held in servitude. But, as this is a subject that has never employed much of my thoughts, these are no more than the first crude ideas that have struck me upon the occasion." 4 1 Laws of the State of New York, chap, xxxii. (March 20, 1781, 4th Session). 2 The American Loyalist, p. 30, second edition. 3 Sparks's Washington, vol. vi. p. 204, note. * Ibid., vol. vi. p. 204. 354 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The gifted and accomplished Alexander Hamilton, a member of Washington's military family, was deeply interested in the plan suggested by the Hon. Henry Laurens, whose son was on Wash ington's staff. Col. John Laurens was the bearer of the following remarkable letter from Hamilton to John Jay, President of Con gress. " HEADQUARTERS, March 14, 1779. " To JOHN JAY. "DEAR SIR, Col. Laurens, who will have the honor of delivering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina, on a project which I think, in the present situation of affairs there, is a very good one, and deserves every kind of support and encouragement. This is, to raise two, three, or four battalions of negroes, with the assistance of the government of that State, by contributions, from the owners, in proportion to the number they possess. If you should think proper to enter upon the subject with him, he will give you a detail of his, plan. He wishes to have it recommended by Congress to the State ; and, as an inducement, that they should engage to take those battalions into Conti nental pay. " It appears to me, that an expedient of this kind, in the present state of Southern affairs, is the most rational that can be adopted, and promises very important advantages. Indeed, I hardly see how a sufficient force can be col lected in that quarter without it ; and the enemy's operations there are growing infinitely more serious and formidable. I have not the least doubt that the negroes will make very excellent soldiers with proper management; and I will venture to pronounce, that they cannot be put into better hands than those of Mr. Laurens. He has all the zeal, intelligence, enterprise, and every other qualification, necessary to succeed in such an undertaking. It is a maxim with some great military judges, that, with sensible officers, soldiers can hardly be too stupid ; and, on this principle, it is thought that the Russians would make the best troops in the world, if they were under other officers than their own. The King of Prussia is among the number who maintain this doctrine ; and has a very emphatic saying on the occasion, which I do not exactly recollect. I mention this because I hear it frequently objected to the scheme of embody ing negroes, that they are too stupid to make soldiers. This is so far from appearing to me a valid objection, that I think their want of cultivation (for their natural faculties are probably as good as ours), joined to that habit of subordination which they acquire from a life of servitude, will make them sooner become soldiers than our white inhabitants. Let officers be men of sense and sentiment ; and the nearer the soldiers approach to machines, per haps the better. " I foresee that this project will have to combat much opposition from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt we have been taught to entertain for the blacks makes us fancy many things that are founded neither in reason nor experience ; and an unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a kind will furnish a thousand arguments to show the impracticability or perni cious tendency of a scheme which requires such a sacrifice. But it should be considered, that, if we do not make use of them in this way, the enemy proba- MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 355 bly will ; and that the best way to counteract the temptations they will hold out will be to offer them ourselves. An essential part of the plan is to give them their freedom with their muskets. This will secure their fidelity, animate their courage, and, I believe, will have a good influence upon those who remain, by opening a door to their emancipation. This circumstance, I confess, has no small weight in inducing me to wish the success of the project; for the dictates of humanity, and true policy, equally interest me in favor of this unfortunate class of men. " With the truest respect and esteem, " I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, "ALEX. HAMILTON."* The condition of the Southern States became a matter of Con gressional solicitude. The letter of Col. Hamilton was referred to a special committee on the 2Qth of March, 1779. ^ was repre sented that South Carolina especially was in great danger. The white population was small ; and, while there were some in the militia service, it was thought necessary to keep as large a number of whites at home as possible. The fear of insurrection, the desertion 2 of Negroes to the enemy, and the exposed condition of her border, intensified the anxiety of the people. The only remedy seemed to lie in the employment of the more fiery spirits among the Negroes as the defenders of the rights and interests of the colonists. Congress rather hesitated to act, it was thought that that body lacked the authority to order the enlistment of Negroes in the States, and therefore recommended to "the states of South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think the same expedi ent, to take measures immediately for raising three thousand able- bodied negroes." After some consideration the following plan was recommended by the special committee, and adopted : "IN CONGRESS, March 29, 1779. "The Committee, consisting of Mr. Burke, Mr. Laurens, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Dyer, appointed to take into consideration the circum stances of the Southern States, and the ways and means for their safety and defence, report, " That the State of South Carolina, as represented by the delegates of the said State and by Mr. Huger, who has come hither, at the request of the Gov ernor of the said State, on purpose to explain the particular circumstances thereof, is unable to make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizens necessary to remain at home to prevent insurrec tions among the negroes, and to prevent the desertion of them to the enemy. 1 Life of John Jay, by William Jay, vol. li, pp. 31, 32. 2 Ramsay, the historian of South Carolina says, " It has been computed by good judges, that, between 1775 and 1783, the State of South Carolina lost twenty-five thousand negroes." 356 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "That the state of the country, and the great numbers of those people among them, expose the inhabitants to great danger from the endeavors of the enemy to excite them either to revolt or desert. " That it is suggested by the delegates of the said State and by Mr. Huger, {hat a force might be raised in the said State from among the negroes, which \vould not only be formidable to the enemy from their numbers, and the disci pline of which they would very readily admit, but would also lessen the danger from revolts and desertions, by detaching the most vigorous and enterprising from among the negroes. " That, as this measure may involve inconveniences peculiarly affecting the States of South Carolina and Georgia, the Committee are of the opinion that the same should be submitted to the governing powers of the said States ; and if the said powers shall judge it expedient to raise such a force, that the United States ought to defray the expense thereof: whereupon, " Resolved, That it be recommended to the States of South Carolina and Georgia, if they shall think the same expedient, to take measures immediately for raising three thousand able-bodied negroes. " That the said negroes be formed into separate corps, as battalions, accord ing to the arrangements adopted for the mam army, to be commanded by white commissioned and non-commissioned officers. " That the commissioned officers be appointed by the said States. " That the non-commissioned officers may, if the said States respectively shall think proper, be taken from among the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Continental battalions of the said States respectively. " That the Governors of the said States, together with the commanding officer of the Southern army, be empowered to incorporate the several Con tinental battalions of their States with each other respectively, agreeably to the arrangement of the army, as established by the resolutions of May 27, 1778; and to appoint such of the supernumerary officers to command the said negroes as shall choose to go into that service. " Resolved, That Congress will make provision for paying the proprietors of such negroes as shall be enlisted for the service of the United States during the war a full compensation for the property, at a rate not exceeding one thou sand dollars for each active, able-bodied negro man of standard size, not exceed ing thirty-five years of age, who shall be so enlisted and pass muster. " That no pay or bounty be allowed to the said negroes ; but that they be clothed and subsisted at the expense of the United States. " That every negro who shall well and faithfully serve as a soldier to the end of the present war, and shall then return his arms, be emancipated, and receive the sum of fifty dollars." Congress supplemented the foregoing measure by commission ing young Col. Laurens to carry forward the important work suggested. The gallant young officer was indeed worthy of the following resolutions: 1 Secret Journals of Congress, vol. i pp. 107-110. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 357 "Whereas John Laurens, Esq., who has heretofore acted as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief, is desirous of repairing to South Carolina, with a design to assist in defence of the Southern States; " Resolved, That a commission of lieutenant-colonel be granted to the said John Laurens, Esq." x He repaired to South Carolina, and threw all his energies into his noble mission. That the people did not co-operate with him, is evidenced in the following extract from a letter he subsequently wrote to Col. Hamilton : " Ternant will relate to you how many violent struggles I have had between duty and inclination, how much my heart was with you, while I appeared to be most actively employed here. But it appears to me, that I should be inex cusable in the light of a citizen, if I did not continue my utmost efforts for carrying the plan of the black levies into execution, while there remain the smallest hopes of success." 2 The enemy was not slow in discovering the division of senti ment among the colonists as to the policy of employing Negroes as soldiers. And the suspicions of Gen. Washington, indicated to Henry Laurens, in a letter already quoted, were not groundless. On the 3Oth of June, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclama tion to the Negroes. It first appeared in " The Royal Gazette " of New York, on the 3d of July, 1779. " By his Excellency Sir HENRY CLINTON, K.B. General and Commander-in- chief of all his Majesty's Forces within the Colonies laying on the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West-Florida, inclusive, &c., &c., &. "PROCLAMATION. " Whereas the enemy have adopted a practice of enrolling NEGROES ;among their Troops, I do hereby give notice That all NEGROES taken in arms, or upon any military Duty, shall be purchased for \the public service af\ a stated Price ; the money to be paid to the Captors. " But I do most strictly forbid any Person to sell or claim Right over any NEGROE, the property of a Rebel, who may take Refuge with any part of this Army: And I do promise to every NEGROE who shall desert the Rebel Stand ard, full security to follow within these Lines, any Occupation which he shall think proper. " Given under my Hand, at Head-Quarters, PHILLIPSBURGH, the 3oth day of June, 1779. "H. CLINTON. " By his Excellency's command, " JOHN SMITH, Secretary" 1 Journals of Congress, vol. v. p. 123. s Works of Hamilton, vol. i. pp. 114, 115. 358 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The proclamation had effect. Many Negroes, weary of the hesitancy of the colonists respecting acceptance of their services, joined the ministerial army. On the I4th of February, 1780, Col. Laurens wrote Gen. Washington, from Charleston, S.C., as follows : " Private accounts say that General Prevost is left to command at Savannah ; that his troops consist of the Hessians and Loyalists that were there before, re-enforced by a corps of blacks and a detachment of savages. It is generally reported that Sir Henry Clinton commands the present expedition." * Lord Cornwallis also issued a proclamation, offering protection to all Negroes who should seek his command. But the treatment he gave them, as narrated by Mr. Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Gordon, a few years after the war, was extremely cruel, to say the least. " Lord Cornwallis destroyed all my growing crops of corn and tobacco ; he burned all my barns, containing the same articles of the last year, having first taken what corn he wanted ; he used, as was to be expected, all my stock of cattle, sheep, and hogs, for the sustenance of his army, and carried off all the horses capable of service ; of those too young for service he cut the throats ; and he burned all the fences on the plantation, so as to leave it an absolute waste. He carried off" also about thirty slaves. Had this been to give them freedom, he would have done right; but it was to consign them to inevitable death from the small-pox and putrid fever, then raging in his camp. This I, knew afterwards to be the fate of twenty-seven of them. I never had news of the remaining three, but presume they shared the same fate. When I say that Lord Cornwallis did all this, I do not mean that he carried about the torch in his own hands, but that it was all done under his eye ; the situation of the house, in which he was, commanding a view of every part of the plantation, so that he must have seen every fire. I relate these things on my own knowledge, in a great degree, as I was on the ground soon after he left it. He treated the rest of the neighborhood somewhat in the same style, but not with that spirit of total extermination with which he seemed to rage over my possessions. Wherever he went, the dwelling-houses were plundered of every thing which could be carried off. Lord Cornwallis's character in England would forbid the belief that he shared in the plunder; but that his table was served with the plate thus pillaged from private houses, can be proved by many hundred eye witnesses. From an estimate I made at that time, on the best information I could collect, I suppose the State of Virginia lost, under Lord Cornwallis '.? hand, that year, about thirty thousand slaves / and that, of these, twenty-seven thousand died of the small-pox and camp-fever j and the rest were partly sent to the West Indies, and exchanged for rum, sugar, coffee, and fruit ; and partly sent to New York, from whence they went, at the peace, either to Nova Scotia 1 Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. ii. p. 402. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 359 4>r to England. From this last place, I believe, they have been lately sent to Africa. History will never relate the horrors committed by the British Army in the Southern States of America." ' Col. Laurens was called from the South, and despatched to France on an important mission in 1780. But the effort to raise Negro troops in the South was not abandoned. On the 1 3th of March, 1780, Gen. Lincoln, in a letter to Gov. Rutledge of South Carolina, dated at Charleston, urged the importance of raising a Negro regiment at once. He wrote, " Give me leave to add once more, that I think the measure of raising a black corps a necessary one ; that I have great reason to believe, if permission is given for it, that many men would soon be obtained. I have repeatedly urged this matter, not only because Congress have recommended it, and because it thereby becomes my duty to attempt to have it executed, but because my own mind suggests the utility and importance of the measure, as the safety of the town makes it necessary." James Madison saw in the emancipation and arming of the Negroes the only solution of the vexatious Southern problem. On the 2Oth of November, 1780, he wrote Joseph Jones as follows: "Yours of the i8th came yesterday. I am glad to find the Legislature persist in their resolution to recruit their line of the army for the war; though, without deciding on the expediency of the mode under their consideration, would it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once of the blacks themselves, as to make them instruments for enlisting white soldiers? It would certainly be more consonant with the principles of liberty, which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty : and, with white officers and a majority of white soldiers, no imaginable danger could be feared from them selves, as there certainly could be none from the effect of the example on those who should remain in bondage ; experience having shown that a freedman immediately loses all attachment and sympathy with his former fellow-slaves." 2 The struggle went on between Tory and Whig, between traitor and patriot, between selfishness and the spirit of noble consecra tion to the righteous cause of the Americans. Gen. Greene wrote from North Carolina on the 28th of February, 1781, to Gen. Washington as follows : "The enemy have ordered two regiments of negroes to be immediately embodied, and are drafting a great proportion of the young men of that State [South Carolina], to serve during the war." 3 1 Jefferson's Works, vol. ii. p. 426. 2 Madison Papers, p. 68. 3 Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 246. 360 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Upon his return to America, Col. Laurens again espoused his favorite and cherished plan of securing black levies for the South. But surrounded and hindered by the enemies of the country he so dearly loved, and for the honor and preservation of which he gladly gave his young life, his plans were unsuccessful. In two letters to Gen. Washington, a few months before he fell fighting for his country, he gave an account of the trials that beset his path, which he felt led to honorable duty. The first bore date of May 19, 1782. " The plan which brought me to this country was urged with all the zeal which the subject inspired, both in our Privy Council and Assembly; but the single voice of reason was drowned by the howlings of a triple-headed mon ster, in which prejudice, avarice, and pusillanimity were united. It was some degree of consolation to me, however, to perceive that truth and philosophy had gained some ground ; the suffrages in favor of the measure being twice as numerous as on a former occasion. Some hopes have been lately given me from Georgia; but I fear, when the question is put, we shall be outvoted there with as much disparity as we have been in this country. " I earnestly desire to be where any active plans are likely to be executed, and to be near your Excellency on all occasions in which my services can be acceptable. The pursuit of an object which, I confess, is a favorite one with me, because I always regarded the interests of this country and those of the Union as intimately connected with it, has detached me more than once from your family; but those sentiments of veneration and attachment with which your Excellency has inspired me, keep me always near you, with the sincerest and most zealous wishes for a continuance of your happiness and glory." The second was dated June 12, 1782, and breathes a despond ent air : " The approaching session of the Georgia Legislature, and the encourage ment given me by Governor Howley, who has a decisive influence in the coun sels of that country, induce me to repaain in this quarter for the purpose of taking new measures on the subject of our black levies. The arrival o Colonel Baylor, whose seniority entitles him to the command of the light troops, affords me ample leisure for pursuing the business in person ; and I shall do it with all the tenacity of a man making a last effort on so interesting an occasion." 2 Washington's reply showed that he, too, had lost faith in the patriotism of the citizens of the South to a great degree. He wrote his faithful friend : " I must confess that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit of freedom, which, at the commencement of this contest, would 1 Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 506. 2 Ibid., p. 515. MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. 361 have gladly sacrificed every thing to the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the- public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind ; nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these circumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you had succeeded ; nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia." Although the effort of the Legislature of Connecticut to authorize the enlistment of Negroes in 1777 had failed, many Negroes, as has been shown, served in regiments from that State ;, and a Negro company was organized. When white officers refused to serve in it, the gallant David Humphreys volunteered his. services, and became the captain. "In November, 1782, he was, by resolution of Congress, commissioned as a Lieutenant-Colonel, with order that his commission should bear date from the 23d of June, 1780, when he received his appointment as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-chief. He had, when in active service, given the sanction of his name and influence in the establishment of a company of colored infantry, attached to Meigs', afterwards Butler's, regiment, in the Connecticut line. He continued to be the nominal captain of that company until the establishment of peace." 2 The following was the roster of his company : " Captain, DAVID HUMPHREYS. Privates, Jack Arabus, Brister Baker, John Ball, John Cleveland, Caesar Bagdon, John McLean,, Phineas Strong, Gamaliel Terry, Jesse Vose, Ned Fields, Lent Munson, Daniel Bradley,. Isaac Higgins, Heman Rogers, Sharp Camp, Lewis Martin, Job Caesar, Jo Otis, Caesar Chapman, John Rogers, James Dinah,. Peter Mix, Ned Freedom, Solomon Sowtice^ Philo Freeman, Ezekiel Tupham, Peter Freeman, Hector Williams, Tom Freeman, Cato Wilbrow, Juba Freeman, Congo Zado, Cuff Freeman, Cato Robinson, Peter Gibbs, Juba Dyer, Prince George, Prince Johnson, Andrew Jack, Prince Crosbee, Alex. Judd, Peter Morando, Shubael Johnson, Pomp Liberty, Peter Lion, Tim Caesar, Cuff Liberty, Sampson Cuff, Jack Little, Pomp Cyrus, Dick Freedom, Bill Sowers, Harry Williams, Pomp McCuff." 3 Dick Violet, Sharp Rogers, 1 Sparks's Washington, vol. viii. pp. 322, 323. 2 Biographical Sketch in " The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans." * Colored Patriots of the Revolution, p. 134. 362 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. But notwithstanding the persistent and bitter opposition to the employment of slaves, from the earliest hours of the Revolu tionary War till its close, Negroes, bond and free, were in all branches of the service. It is to be regretted that the exact number cannot be known. Adjutant-Gen. Scammell made the following official return of Negro soldiers in the main army, >under Washington's immediate command, two months after the battle of Monmouth ; but the Rhode-Island regiment, the Connect icut, New York, and New-Hampshire troops are not mentioned. Incomplete as it is, it is nevertheless official, and therefore cor rect as far as it goes. RETURN OF NEGROES IN THE ARMY, 2 4 TH AUG., 1778. BRIGADES. PRESENT. SICK ABSENT. ON COMMAND. TOTAL. North Carolina . . 42 10 6 58 Woodford . . . 36 3 i 40 Muhlenburg . . . 64 26 8 98 Smallwood . . . 20 3 i 24 2d Maryland . . . 43 15 2 60 Wayne 2 2 2d Pennsylvania [33] ii [I] [35] Clinton .... 33 2 4 39 Parsons .... 117 12 19 148 Huntington . . . 56 2 4 62 Nixon 26 i 27 Patterson .... 64 13 12 89 Late Learned . . 34 4 8 46 Poor 16 7 4 27 Total. . . . 586 98 . 7I 755 ALEX. SCAMMELL, Adj.-Gen.* It is gratifying to record the fact, that the Negro was enrolled as a soldier in the war of the American Revolution. What he did will be recorded in the following chapter. 1 This return was discovered by the indefatigable Dr. George H. Moore. It is the only docu ment of the kind in existence. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 363 CHAPTER XXVII. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 1775-1783. THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. GALLANTRY OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. PETER SALEM, THE INTREPID BLACK SOLDIER. BUNKER-HILL MONUMENT. THE NEGRO SALEM POOR DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF BY DEEDS OF DESPERATE VALOR. CAPTURE OF GEN. LEE. CAPTURE OF GEN. PRESCOTT. BATTLE OF RHODE ISLAND. COL. GREENE COMMANDS A NEGRO REGI MENT. MURDER OF COL. GREENE IN 1781. THE VALOR OF THE NEGRO SOLDIERS. AS soldiers the Negroes went far beyond the most liberal expectations of their stanchest friends. Associated with white men, many of whom were superior gentlemen, and nearly all of whom were brave and enthusiastic, the Negro soldiers of the American army became worthy of the cause they fought to sustain. Col. Alexander Hamilton had said, u their natural fac ulties are as good as ours;" and the assertion was supported by their splendid behavior on all the battle-fields of the Revolution. Endowed by nature with a poetic element, faithful to trusts, abid ing in friendships, bound by the golden threads of attachment to places and persons, enthusiastic in personal endeavor, sentimental and chivalric, they made hardy and intrepid soldiers. The daring, boisterous enthusiasm with which they sprang to arms disarmed racial prejudice of its sting, and made friends of foes. Their cheerfulness in camp, their celerity in the performance of fatigue-duty, their patient endurance of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and their bold efficiency in battle, made them welcome companions everywhere they went. The officers who frowned at their presence in the army at first, early learned, from experience, that they were the equals of any troops in the army for severe service in camp, and excellent fighting in the field. The battle of Bunker Hill was one of the earliest and most important of the Revolution. Negro soldiers were in the action of the i /th of June, 1775, and nobly did their duty. Speaking of this engagement, Bancroft says, 364 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Nor should history forget to record that, as in the army at Cambridge, so also in this gallant band, the free negroes of the colony had their representa tives." * Two Negro soldiers especially distinguished themselves, and rendered the cause of the colonists great service. Major Pitcairn was a gallant officer of the British marines. He led the charge against the redoubt, crying exultingly, "The day is ours!" His sudden appearance and his commanding air at first startled the men immediately before him. They neither answered nor fired, probably not being exactly certain what was next to be done. At this critical moment, a Negro soldier stepped forward, and, aiming his musket directly at the major's bosom, blew him through. 2 Who was this intrepid black soldier, who at a critical moment stepped to the front, and with certain aim brought down the incarnate enemy of the colonists ? What was his name, and whence came he to battle ? His name was Peter Salem, a private in Col. Nixon's regiment of the Continental Army. " He was born in Framingham [Massachusetts], and was held as a slave, probably until he joined the army; whereby, if not before, he became free. . . . Peter served faithfully as a soldier, during the war." 3 Perhaps Salem was then a slave : probably he thought of the chains and stripes from whence he had come, of the liberty to be purchased in the ordeals of war, and felt it his duty to show him self worthy of his position as an American soldier. He proved that his shots were as effective as those of a white soldier, and that he was not wanting in any of the elements that go to make up the valiant soldier. Significant indeed that a Negro was the first to open the hostilities between Great Britain and the colo nies, the first to pour out his blood as a precious libation on the altar of a people's rights ; and that here, at Bunker Hill, when the crimson and fiery tide of battle seemed to be running hard against the small band of colonists, a Negro soldier's steady mus ket brought down the haughty form of the arch-rebel, and turned victory to the weak ! England had loaded the African with chains, and doomed him to perpetual bondage in the North-American colonies ; and when she came to forge political chains, in the flames of fratricidal war, for an English-speaking people, the Negro, whom she had grievously wronged, was first to meet her soldiers, and welcome them to a hospitable grave. 1 Bancroft, vol. vii., 6th ed. , p. 421. 2 An Historical Research, p. 93. 3 History of Leicester, p. 267. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 365 Bunker-hill Monument has a charm for loyal Americans ; and the Negro, too, may gaze upon its enjduring magnificence. It com memorates the deeds, not of any particular soldier, but all who stood true to the principles of equal rights and free government on that memorable " i/th of June." "No name adorns the shaft; but ages hence, though our alphabets may become as obscure as those which cover the monuments of Nineveh and Baby lon, its uninscribed surface (on which monarch s might be proud to engrave their titles) will perpetuate the memory of the I7th of June. It is the monu ment of the day, of the event, of the battle of Bunker Hill; of all the brave men who shared its perils, alike of Prescott and Putnam and Warren, the chiefs of the day, and the colored man, Salem, who is reported to have shot the gallant Pitcairn, as he mounted the parapet. Cold as the clods on which it rests, still as the silent heavens to which it soars, it is yet vocal, eloquent, in their undivided praise." The other Negro soldier who won for himself rare fame and distinguished consideration in the action at Bunker Hill was Salem Poor. Delighted with his noble bearing, his superior offi cers could not refrain from calling the attention of the civil au thorities to the facts that came under their personal observation. The petition that set forth his worth as a brave soldier is still preserved in the manuscript archives of Massachusetts : " To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay. "The subscribers beg leave to report to your Honorable House (which we do in justice to the character of so brave a man), that, under our own observation, we declare that a negro man called Salem Poor, of Col. Frye's regiment, Capt. Ames' company, in the late battle at Charlestown, behaved like an experienced officer, as well as an excellent soldier. To set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious. We would only beg leave to say, in the person of this said negro centres a brave and gallant soldier. The reward due to so great and distinguished a character, we submit to the Congress. "JONA. BREWER, Col. THOMAS NIXON, Lt.-Col. WM. PRESCOTT, Colo. EPHM. COREY, Lieut. JOSEPH BAKER, Lieut. JOSHUA Row, Lieut. JONAS RICHARDSON, Capt. ELIPHALET BODWELL, Sgt. JOSIAH FOSTER, Lieut. EBENR. VARNUM, 2d Lieut. WM. HUDSON BALLARD, Cpt. WILLIAM SMITH, Cap. JOHN MORTON, Sergt. [?] Lieut. RICHARD WELSH. "CAMBRIDGE, Dec. 5, 1775. "In Council, Dec. 21, 1775. Read, and sent down. " PEREZ MORTON, Depy Sefy? * 1 Orations and Speeches of Everett, vol. iii. p. 529. 2 MS. Archives of Massachusetts, vol. clxxx. p. 241. 366 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. How many other Negro soldiers behaved with cool and deter mined valor at Bunker Hill, it is not possible to know. But many were there : they did their duty as faithful men, and their achieve ments are the heritage of the free of all colors under our one flag. Col. Trumbull, an artist as well as a soldier, who was stationed at Roxbury, witnessed the engagement from that elevation. Inspired by the scene, when it was yet fresh in his mind, he painted the historic picture of the battle in 1786. He represents several Negroes in good view, while conspicuous in the foreground is the redoubtable Peter Salem. Some subsequent artists mere copyists have sought to consign this black hero to oblivion, but 'tis vain. Although the monument at Bunker Hill "does not bear his name, the pencil of the artist has portrayed the scene, the pen of the impartial historian has recorded his achievement, and the voice of the eloquent orator has resounded his valor." Major Samuel Lawrence "at one time commanded a company whose rank and file were all Negroes, of whose courage, military discipline, and fidelity he always spoke with respect. On one occasion, being out reconnoitring with this company, he got so far in advance of his command, that he was surrounded, and on the point of being made prisoner by the enemy. The men, soon discovering his peril, rushed to his rescue, and fought with the most determined bravery till that rescue was effectually secured. He never forgot this circumstance, and ever after took especial pains to show kindness and hospitality to any individual of the colored race who came near his dwelling." l Gen. Lee, of the American army, was captured by Col. Har- court of the British army. It was regarded as a very distressing event ; and preparations were made to capture a British officer of the same rank, so an exchange could be effected. Col. Barton of the Rhode-Island militia, a brave and cautious officer, was charged with the capture of Major-Gen. Prescott, commanding the royal army at Newport. On the night of the Qth of July, 1777, Col. Barton, with forty men, in two boats with muffled oars, evaded the enemy's boats, and, being taken for the sentries at Prescott's head quarters, effected that officer's capture a Negro taking him. The exploit was bold and successful. " They landed about five miles from Newport, and three-quarters of a mile from the house, which they approached cautiously, avoiding the main guard, 1 Memoir of Samuel Lawrence, by Rev. S. K. Lothrop, D.D., pp. 8, g, NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 367 which was at some distance. The Colonel went foremost, with a stout, active negro close behind him, and another at a small distance ; the rest followed so as to be near, bitt not seen. "A single sentinel at the door saw and hailed the Colonel; he answered by exclaiming against, and inquiring for, rebel prisoners, but kept slowly advancing. The sentinel again challenged him, and required the countersign. He said he had not the countersign, but amused the sentry by talking about rebel prison ers, and still advancing till he came within reach of the bayonet, which, he presenting, the Colonel suddenly struck aside and seized him. He was imme diately secured, and ordered to be silent, on pain of instant death. Meanwhile y the rest of the men surrounding the house, the negro, with his head, at the second stroke forced a passage into it, and then into the landlord's apartment. The landlord at first refused to give the necessary intelligence; but, on the prospect of present death he pointed to the GeneraVs chamber, which being instantly opened by the negro's head, the Colonel calling the General by name, told him he was a prisoner" x Another account was published by a surgeon of the army, and is given here : "Albany, Aug. 3, 1777. The pleasing information is received here that Lieut.-Col. Barton, of the Rhode-Island militia, planned a bold exploit for the purpose of surprising and taking Major-Gen. Prescott, the commanding officer of the royal army at Newport. Taking with him, in the night, about forty men, in two boats, with oars muffled, he had the address to elude the vigilance of the ships-of-war and guard-boats : and, having arrived undiscovered at the quarters of Gen. Prescott, they were taken for the sentinels ; and the general was not alarmed till his captors were at the door of his lodging-chamber, which was fast closed. A negro man, named Prince, instantly thrust his beetle head through the panel door, and seized his victim while in bed. . . . This event is extremely honorable to the enterprising spirit of Col. Barton, and is considered as ample retaliation for the capture of Gen. Lee by Col. Harcourt. The event occasions great joy and exultation, as it puts in our possession an officer of equal rank with Gen. Lee, by which means an exchange may be obtained. Congress resolved that an elegant sword should be presented to Col. Barton for his brave exploit.'' 2 Col. Barton evidently entertained great respect for the valor and trustworthiness of the Negro soldier whom he made the chief actor in a most hazardous undertaking. It was the post of honor ; and the Negro soldier Prince discharged the duty assigned him in a manner that was entirely satisfactory to his superior officer, and crowned as one of the most daring and brilliant coups d'etat of the American Revolution. 1 Frank Moore's Diary of the American Revolution, vol. i. p. 468. 2 Thatcher's Military Journal, p. 87. 368 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The battle of Rhode Island, fought on the 2Qth of August, 1 778, was one of the severest of the Revolution. Newport was laid under siege by the British. Their ships-of-war moved up the bay on the morning of the action, and opened a galling fire upon the exposed right flank of the American army ; while the Hessian columns, stretching across a chain of the "highland," attempted to turn Gen. Greene's flank, and storm the advanced redoubt. The heavy cannonading that had continued since nine in the morning was now accompanied by heavy skirmishing ; and the action began to be general all along the lines. The American army was disposed in three lines of battle ; the first extended in front of their earthworks on Butt's Hill, the second in rear of the hill, and the third as reserve a half-mile in the rear of the advance line. At ten o'clock the battle was at white heat. The British vessels kept up a fire that greatly annoyed the Americans, but imparted courage to the Hessians and British infantry. At length the foot columns massed, and swept down the slopes of Anthony's Hill with the impetuosity of a whirlwind. But the American columns received them with the intrepidity and cool ness of veterans. The loss of the enemy was fearful. " Sixty were found dead in one spot. At another, thirty Hessians were buried in one grave. Major-Gen. Greene commanded on the right. Of the four brigades under his immediate command, Varnum's, Glover's, Cornell's and Greene's, all suffered severely, but Gen. Varnum's perhaps th most. A third time the enemy, with desperate courage and increased strength, attempted to assail the redoubt, and would have carried it but for the timely aid of two continental battalions despatched by Sullivan to support his almost exhausted troops. It was in repelling these furious onsets, that the newly raised black regiment, under Col. Greene, distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor. Posted behind a thicket in the valley, they three times drove back the Hessians who charged repeatedly down the hill to dislodge them; and so determined were the enemy in these successive charges, that the day after the battle the Hessian colonel, upon whom this duty had devolved, applied to exchange his command and go to New York, because he dared not lead his regiment again ro battle, lest his men should shoot him for having caused them so much loss." A few years later the Marquis de Chastellux, writing of this regiment, said, "The 5th [of January, 1781] I did not set out till eleven, although I had thirty miles' journey to Lebanon. At the passage to the ferry, I met with a detachment of 'the Rhode-Island regiment, the same corps we had with us 1 Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. ii. pp. 427, 428. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 369 all the last summer, but they have since been recruited and clothed. The greatest part of them are negroes or mulattoes ; but they are strong, robust men, and those I have seen had a very good appearance." * On the I4th of May, 1781, the gallant Col. Greene was sur prised and murdered at Point's Bridge, New York ; but it was not effected until his brave black soldiers had been cut to pieces in defending their leader. It was one of the most touching and beautiful incidents of the war, and illustrates the self-sacrificing devotion of Negro soldiers to the cause of American liberty. At a meeting of the Congregational and Presbyterian Anti- Slavery Society, at Francestown, N.H., the Rev. Dr. Harris, him self a Revolutionary soldier, spoke thus complimentarily of the Rhode-Island Negro regiment : " Yes, a regiment of negroes, fighting for our liberty and independence, not a white man among them but the officers, stationed in this same danger ous and responsible position. Had they been unfaithful, or given away before the enemy, all would have been lost. Three times in succession were they attacked, with most desperate valor and fury, by well disciplined and veteran troops, and three times did they successfully repel the assault, and thus preserve our army from capture. They fought through the war. They were brave, hardy troops. They helped to gain our liberty and independence." From the opening to the closing scene of the Revolutionary War ; from the death of Pitcairn to the surrender of Cornwallis ; on many fields of strife and triumph, of splendid valor and republican glory ; from the hazy dawn of unequal and uncer tain conflict, to the bright morn of profound peace ; through and out of the fires of a great war that gave birth to a new, a grand republic, the Negro soldier fought his way to undimmed glory, .and made for himself a magnificent record in the annals of Amer ican history. Those annals have long since been committed to the jealous care of the loyal citizens of the Republic black men fought so heroically to snatch from the iron clutches of Britain. 1 Chastellux' Travels, vol. i. p. 454; London, 1789. 370 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXVIII. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO DURING THE REVOLUTION. 1775-1783. THE NEGRO WAS CHATTEL OR REAL PROPERTY. His LEGAL STATUS DURING HIS NEW RELATION AS- A SOLDIER. RESOLUTION INTRODUCED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO PREVENT THE SELLING OF Two NEGROES CAPTURED UPON THE HlGH SEAS. THE CONTINENT AL CONGRESS APPOINTS A COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH NEGROES TAKEN BY VESSELS OF WAR IN THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED COLONIES. CONFEDERATION OF THE NEW STATES. SPIRITED DEBATE IN CONGRESS RESPECTING THE DISPOSAL OF RECAPTURES. THE SPANISH SHIP " VICTORIA" CAPTURES AN ENGLISH VESSEL HAVING ON BOARD THIRTY-FOUR NEGROES TAKEN FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. THE NEGROES RECAPTURED BY VESSELS BELONGING TO THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. THEY ARE DELIVERED TO THOMAS KNOX, AND CONVEYED TO CASTLE ISLAND. COL. PAUL REVERE HAS CHARGE OF THE SLAVES ON CASTLE ISLAND. MASSACHUSETTS PASSES A LAW PROVIDING FOR THE SECURITY, SUPPORT, AND EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS BROUGHT INTO THE STATE. GEN. HANCOCK RECEIVES A LETTER FROM THE GOV ERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA RESPECTING THE DETENTION OF NEGROES. IN THE PROVINCIAL ARTICLES BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND His BRITANNIC MAJESTY, NEGROES WERE RATED AS PROPERTY. AND ALSO IN THE DEFINITE TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND His BRITANNIC MAJESTY. AND ALSO IN THE TREATY OF- PEACE OF 1814, BETWEEN His BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES, NEGROES WERE; DESIGNATED AS PRO'PERTY GEN. WASHINGTON'S LETTER TO BRIG. -GEN. RuFUS PUTNAM INI REGARD TO A NEGRO IN HIS REGIMENT CLAIMED BY MR. HOBBY. ENLISTMENT IN THE ARMY DID NOT ALWAYS WORK A PRACTICAL EMANCIPATION. WHEN the Revolutionary War began, the legal status of the Negro slave was clearly defined in the courts of all the colonies. He was either chattel or real property. The question naturally arose as to his legal status during his new rela tion as a soldier. Could he be taken as property, or as a prisoner of war? Was he booty, or was he entitled to the usage of civil ized warfare, a freeman, and therefore to be treated as such? The Continental Congress, Nov. 25, 1775, passed a resolution recommending the several colonial legislatures to establish courts that should give jurisdiction to courts, already in existence, to dispose of "cases of capture." In fact, and probably in law, Congress exercised power in cases of appeal. Moreover, Congress had prescribed a rule for the distribution of prizes. But, curiously enough, Massachusetts, in 1776, passed an Act declaring, that, in case captures were made by the forces of the colony, the local LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 371 authorities should have complete jurisdiction in their distribution ,-; but, when prizes or captives were taken upon colonial territory by the forces of the United Colonies, the distributions should be made in accordance with the laws of Congress. This was but a single illustration of the divided sovereignty of a crude government. That there was need of a uniform law upon this question, there could be no doubt, especially in a war of the magnitude of the one that was then being waged. On the 1 3th of September, 1776, a resolution was introduced into the Massachusetts House of Representatives, "to prevent the sale of two negro men lately brought into this state, as pris oners taken on the high seas, and advertised to be sold at Salem, the 1 7th inst., by public auction." 1 The resolve in full is here given : "!N THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SEPT. 13, 1776: "WHEREAS this House is credibly informed that two negro men lately brought into this State as prisoners taken on the High Seas are advertised to be sold at Salem, the I7th instant, by public auction, " Resolved, That the selling and enslaving the human species is a direct violation of the natural rights alike vested in all men by their Creator, and utterly inconsistent with the avowed principles on which this and the other United States have carried their struggle for liberty even to the last appeal, and therefore, that all persons connected with the said negroes be and they hereby are forbidden to sell them or in any manner to treat them otherways than is already ordered for the treatment of prisoners of war taken in the same vessell or others in the like employ and if any sale of the said negroes shall be made, it is hereby declared null and void. " Sent up for concurrence. . FREEMAN, Speaker, P. T. "IN COUNCIL, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and concurred as taken into a new draught. Sent down for concurrence. " JOHN AVERY, Dpy. Secy. "IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and non-con curred, and the House adhere to their own vote. Sent up for concurrence. "J. WARREN, Speaker. " IN COUNCIL, Sept. 16, 1776. Read and concurred as now taken into a new draft. Sent down for concurrence. " JOHN AVERY, Dpy. Secy. 1 Felt says, in History of Salem, vol. ii. p. 278 : " Sept. 17 [1776]. At this date two slaves, taken on board of a prize, were to have been sold here ; but the General Court forbid the sale, and ordered such prisoners to be treated like all others." 37 2 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Sept. l6, 1779. Rea d and COH- curred. " J. WARREN, Speaker. " Consented to. "JER. POWELL, JABEZ -FISHER, W. SEVER, B. WHITE, B. GREENLEAF, MOSES GILL, CALEB GUSHING, DAN'L HOPKINS, B. CHADBOURN, BENJ. AUSTIN, JOHN WHETCOMB, WM. PHILLIPS, ELDAD TAYLOR, D. SEWALL, S. HOLTEN, DAN'L HOPKINS." On the Journal of the House, p. 106, appears the following record : "David Sewall, Esq., brought down the resolve which passed the House yesterday, forbidding the sale of two negroes, with the following vote of Coun cil thereon, viz.: In Council, Sept. 14, 1776. Read and concurred, as taken into a new draught. Sent down for concurrence. Read and non-concurred, and the House adhere to their own vote. Sent up for concurrence." The resolve, as it originally appeared, was dragged through a tedious debate, non-concurred in by the House, recommitted, remodelled, and sent back, when it finally passed. "LXXXIII. Resolve forbidding the sale of two Negroes brought in as Prisoners; Passed September 14, [i6th,] 1776. "Whereas this Court is credibly informed that two Negro Men lately taken on the High Seas, on board the sloop Hannibal, and brought into this State as Prisoners, are advertized to be sold at Salem, the I7th instant, by public Auction : " Resolved, That all Persons concerned with the said Negroes be, and they are hereby forbidden to sell them, or in any manner to treat them otherwise than is already ordered for the Treatment of Prisoners taken in like manner ; and if any Sale of the said Negroes shall be made it is hereby declared null and void ; and that whenever it shall appear that any Negroes are taken on the High Seas and brought as Prisoners into this State, they shall not be allowed to be Sold, nor treated any otherwise than as Prisoners are ordered to be treated who are taken in like Manner." * It looked like a new resolve. The pronounced and advanced sentiment in favor of the equal rights of all created beings had been taken out ; and it appeared now as a war measure, warranted upon military policy. This is the only chaplet that the most 1 Resolves, p. 14. Quoted by Dr. Moore from the original documents. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 373 devout friends of Massachusetts can weave out of her acts on the Negro problem during the colonial period, to place upon her brow. It attracted wide-spread and deserved attention. During the following month, on the I4th of October, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a special committee, Messrs. Lee, Wilson, and Hall, "to consider what is to be done with Negroes taken by vessels of war, in the service of the United States." Here was a profound legal problem presented for solu tion. According to ancient .custom and law, slaves came as the bloody logic of war. War between nations was of necessity international ; but while this truth had stood through many cen turies, the conversion of the Northern nations of Europe into organized society greatly modified the old doctrine of slavery. Coming under the enlightening influences of modern international law, war captives could not be reduced to slavery. 1 This doctrine was thoroughly understood, doubtless, in the North-American colonies as in Europe. But the almost universal doctrine of property in the Negro, and his status in the courts of the colo nies, gave the royal army great advantage in the appropriation of Negro captives, under the plea that they were " property," and hence legitimate " spoils of war ; " while, on the part of the colo nists, to declare that captured Negroes were entitled to the treatment of " prisoners of war," was to reverse a principle of law as old as their government. It was, in fact, an abandonment of the claim of property in the Negro. It was a recognition of his rights as a soldier, a bestowal of the highest favors known in the treatment of captives of war. 2 But there was another diffi culty in the way. Slavery had been recognized in the venerable memorials of the most remote nations. This condition was coeval with the history of all nations, but nowhere regarded as a relation of a local character. It grew up in social compacts, in organized communities of men, and in great and powerful states. It was recognized in private international law ; and the relation of master and slave was guarded in their local habitat, and respected wherever found.3 And this relation, this property in man, did 1 Mr. Motley, " Rise of Dutch Republic," vol. i. p. 151, says that in the sixteenth century, in wars between European states, the captor had a property in his prisoner, .which was assignable. 2 Law of Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 158. 3 Mr. Hurd says, " In ascribing slavery to the law of nations it is a very common error to use that term not in the sense of universal jurisprudence the Roman jus gentium but in the modern sense of public international law, and to give the custom of enslaving prisoners of war, in 374 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, not cease because the slave sought another nation, for it was; recognized in all the commercial transactions of 'nations. Now, upon this principle, the colonists were likely to claim their right to property in slaves captured. The confederation of the new States was effected on the 1st of March, 1781. Art. IX. gave the "United States in Congress assembled " the exclusive authority of making laws to govern the disposal of all captures made by land or water ; to decide which were legal ; how prizes taken by the land or naval force of the government should be appropriated, and the right to establish courts of competent jurisdiction in such case, etc. The first legislation under this article was an Act establishing a court of appeals on the 4th of June, 1781. It was discussed on the 25th of June, and again, on the i/th of July, took up a great deal of time ; but was recommitted. The committee were instructed to prepare an ordinance regulating the proceedings of the admi ralty cases, in the several States, in instances of capture ; to codify all resolutions and laws upon the subject; and to request the States to enact such provisions as would be in harmony with the reserved rights of the Congress in such cases as were speci fied in the Ninth Article. Accordingly, on the 2ist of September, 1781, the committee reported to Congress the results of their labor, in a bill on the subject of captures. Upon the question of agreeing to the following section, the yeas and nays were demanded by Mr. Mathews of South Carolina: " On the recapture by a citizen of any negro, mulatto, Indian, or other person from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed by another citizen, specific restitution shall be adjudged to the claimant, whether the original capture shall have been made on land or water, a reasonable salvage being paid by the claimant to the recaptor, not exceeding one-fourth part of the value of such labor or service, to be estimated according to the laws of the State of which the claimant shall be a citizen : but if the service of such negro, mulatto, Indian or other person, captured below high-water mark, shall not be. legally claimed by a citizen of these United States, he shall be set at liberty." The delegates from North Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut, refrained from voting ; South Carolina voted in the negative : but it was carried by twenty-eight yeas, against two nays. After a spirited debate, continuing through several days, illustration : as if the legal condition of other slaves who had never been taken in war were not equally jure gentium according to the Roman jurisprudence." See Mr. Webster's speech, ?th March, 1850; Works, vol. v. p. 329. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 375 and having received several amendments, it finally passed on Dec. 4, 1781, as follows : " On the recapture by a citizen of any negro, mulatto, Indian, or other person, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed by a State or a citizen of a State, specific restitution shall be adjudged to the claimant, whether the original capture shall have been made on land or water, and 'without regard to the time of possession by the enemy, a reasonable salvage being paid by the claimant to the recaptor, not exceeding i-4th of the value of such labor or service, to be estimated according to the laws of the State under which the claim shall be made. " But if the service of such negro, mulatto, Indian, or other person, cap tured below high water mark, shall not be legally claimed 'within a year and a day from the sentence of the Court, he shall be set at liberty." It should be carefully observed that the above law refers only to recaptures. It would be interesting to know the views the committee entertained in reference to slaves captured by the ministerial army. Nothing was said about this interesting feature of the case. Why Congress did not claim proper treatment of the slaves captured by the enemy while in the service of the United Colonies, is not known. Doubtless its leaders saw where the logic of such a position would lead them. The word " another " was left out of the original measure, and was made to read, in the one that passed, "a State or citizen ; " as if it were feared that, by implication, a Negro would be recognized, as a citizen. By the proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, already mentioned in the preceding chapter, Negroes were threatened with sale for "the public service;" and Mr. Jefferson in his letter to Mr. Gordon (see preceding chapter), says the enemy sold the Negroes captured in Virginia into the West Indies. After the capture of Stony Point by Gen. Wayne, concerning two Negroes who fell into his hands, he wrote to Lieut.-Col. Meigs, from New Windsor on the 25th of July, 1779, as follows : " The wish of the officers to free the three Negroes after a few Years Service meets my most hearty approbation but as the Chance of War or other Incidents may prevent the officer [owner] from Compling with the Intention of the Officers it will be proper for the purchaser or purchasers to sign a Condition in the Orderly Book. "... I wou'd cheerfully join them in their Immediate Manumission if a few days makes no material difference I could wish the sale put off until a Consultation may be had, & the opinion of the Officers taken on this Business." 1 Dawson's Stony Point, pp. in, 118. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In June, 1779, a Spanish ship called "Victoria" sailed from Charleston, S.C., for Cadiz. During the first part of her voyage she was run down by a British privateer ; but, instead of being- captured, she seized her assailant, and found on board thirty-four Negroes, whom the English vessel had taken from plantations in South Carolina. The Spaniards got the Negroes on board their ship, disabled the English vessel, and then dismissed her. Within a few days she was taken by two British letters-of-marque, and headed for New York. During her passage thither she was re-captured by the " Hazard " and " Tyrannicide," armed vessels in the service of Massachusetts, and taken into the port of Bos ton. By direction of the Board of War she was ordered into the charge of Capt. Johnson, and was unloaded on the 2ist of June. The Board of War reported to the Legislature that there were thirty-four Negroes " taken on the high seas and brought into the state." On the 23d of June [1779] the Legislature ordered "that Gen. Lovell, Capt. Adams, and Mr. Cranch, be a committee to consider what is proper to be done with a number of negroes brought into port in the prize ship called the T Lady Gage." 2 On the 24th of June, "the committee appointed to take into con sideration the state and circumstances of a number of negroes lately brought into the port of Boston, reported a resolve direct ing the Board of War to inform our delegates in Congress of the state of facts relative to them, to put them into the barracks on Castle Island, and cause them to be supplied and employed." 3 The resolve passed without opposition. " CLXXX. Resolve on the Representation of the Board of War respecting a number of negroes captured and brought into this State. Passed June 24, 1779. "On the representation made to this Court by the Board of War, respect ing a number of negroes brought into the Port of Boston, on board the Prize Ship Victoria: " Resolved, that the Board of War be and they are hereby directed forth with to write to our Delegates in Congress, informing them of the State of Facts relating to said Negroes, requesting them to give information thereof ta the Delegates from the State of South Carolina, that so proper measures may be taken for the return of said Negroes, agreeable to their desire. " And it is further Resolved, that the Board of War be and they hereby are directed to put the said Negroes, in the mean time, into the barracks on Castle Island in the Harbor of Boston, and cause them to be supplied with such 1 Dr. Moore thinks this the wrong name. The resolve proves it * House Journal, p. 60. 3 Ibid., pp. 63, 64. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 377 Provision and Clothing as shall be necessary for their comfortable support, putting them under the care and direction of some Prudent person or Persons, whose business it shall be to see that the able-bodied men may be usefully employed during their stay in carrying on the Fortifications on said Island, or elsewhere within the said Harbor; and that the Women be employed according to their ability in Cooking, Washing, etc. And that the said Board of War keep an exact Account of their Expenditures in supporting said Negroes." The Negroes were delivered to Thomas Knox on the 28th of June, and were conveyed " to Castle Island pr. Order of Court." The Board of War voted the " 34 Negroes delivered " rations. Lieut.-Col. Paul Revere was instructed to " issue to the Negroes at Castle Island i Ib. of Beef, i Ib. of Rice pr. day." The following letter is not without interest : "WAR OFFICE, 28 June, 1779. " Lx.-CoL. REVERE, "Agreeable to a Resolve of Court we send to Castle Island and place under your care the following Negroes, viz. : [19] Men, [10] Women, [5] Children, lately brought into this Port in the Spanish retaken Ship Victoria. The Men are to be employed on the Fortifications there or elsewhere in the Harbor, in the most useful manner, and the Women and Children, according to their ability, in Cooking, Washing, etc. They are to be allowed for their subsistence One Ib. of Beef, and one Ib. of Rice per day each, which Commissary Salis bury will furnish upon your order, and this to continue until our further orders. "By Order of the Board." In accordance with the order of the Legislature, made on the 24th of June, the president of the Board of War, Samuel P. Savage, wrote a letter to the Massachusetts delegates in Con gress, dated "War Office June 2Qth 1779," calling attention to- the re-captured Negroes. The letter closed with the following : " Every necessary for the speedy discharge of these people, we have no doubt you will take, that as much expense as possible may be saved to those who call themselves their owners." The writer was at pains to enumerate, in his letter, such slaves as he was enabled to locate. " 5 Men 4 Women 4 Boys i Girl belonging to Mr. Wm. Vryne. "9 Men i Woman belonging to Mr. Anthony Pawley. 1 Resolves, p. 51. 37$ HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " I Man belonging to Mr. Thomas Todd. " 2 Men 3 Women belonging to Mr. Henry Lewis. "2 Men 2 Women belonging to Mr. William Pawley. " One of the negroes is an elderly sensible man, calls himself James, and says he is free, which we have no reason to doubt the, truth of. He also says that he with the rest of the Negroes were taken from a place called George town." * Pending the action of the lawful owners of these captives, the council instructed the commandant of Castle Island, Col. Paul Revere, to place out to service, in different towns, some of the Negroes, with the understanding that they should be delivered up to the authorities on their order. Some were delivered to gentle men who desired them as servants. But in the fall of 1779 quite a number were still on the island, as may be seen by the following touching letter : "BOSTON, Get*. 12, 1779. A Return of ye Negroes at Castle Island, Viz.: "NEGRO MEN. "i. ANTHONY. 6. BOBB. n. JUNE. 2. PARTRICK. 7. ANTHONEY. 12. RHODICK. 3. PADDE. 8. ADAM. 13. JACK. 4. ISAAC. 9. JACK. 14. FULLER. 5. QUASH. 10. GYE. 15. LEWIS. " The above men are stout fellows. . "NEGRO BOYS. "No. i. SMART. 2. RICHARD. " Boys very small. "NEGRO WOOMEN. NEGRO GlRLS. "No. i. KITTEY. No. i. LYSETT. 2. LUCY. 2. SALLY. 3. MILLEY. 3. MERCY. 4. LANDER. " Pretty large. Rather stout. " Gentlemen, " The Scituation of these Negroes is pitiable with respect to Cloathing. " I am.) Gen*- " Your very hum. Serv*. " John Hancock." * "OCT. 12, 1779." 1 Mass. Archives, vol. cli., pp. 292-294. 2 The indefatigable Dr. George H. Moore copied the letter from the original manuscript. The portions in Italics are in the handwriting of Hancock. I have been placed under many obligations to my friend Dr. Moore. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 379 In the mean time some of the reputed owners of the Negroes at Castle Island had come from Charleston, S.C., to secure their property. When they arrived in Boston they secured the services of John Codman, Isaac Smith, and William Smith, who on the 1 5th of November, 1779, petitioned the Council for the "restitu tion " of slaves taken by a British privateer, and retaken by two armed vessels of Massachusetts. A committee was appointed to consider the petitions, and report what action should be taken in the matter. Two days later another petition was presented to the Council by one John Winthrop, " praying that certain negroes, who were brought into this state by the Hazard and Tyrannicide, may be delivered to him." It was referred to the committee appointed on the I5th of November. On the i8th of November, "Jabez Fisher, Esq., brought down a report of the Committee of both Houses on the petition of Isaac Smith, being by way of resolve, directing the Board of War to deliver so many of the negroes therein mentioned, as are now alive. Passed in Council, and sent down for concurrence." The order of the House is, " Read and concurred, as taken into a new draught. Sent up for concurrence." It is printed among the resolves of November, 1779. "XXXI. Resolve relinquishing this state's claim to a number of Negroes, passed November 18, 1779. "Whereas a number of negroes were re-captured and brought into this State by the armed vessels Hazard and Tyrannicide, and have since been supported at the expense of this State, and as the original owners of said Negroes now apply for them : " Therefore Resolved, That this Court hereby relinquish and give up any claim they may have upon the said owners for re-capturing said negroes : Provided they pay to the Board of War of this State the expence that has arisen for the support and clothing of the Negroes aforesaid." On the 1 2th of April, 1780, Massachusetts passed an Act pro viding more effectually "for the security, support, and exchange of prisoners of war brought into the State." It declares that " All Prisoners of War, whether captured by the Army or Navy of the United States, or armed Ships or Vessels of any of the United States, or by the Subjects, Troops, Ships, or Vessels of War of this State, and brought into the same, or cast on shore by shipwreck on the coast thereof .... all such prisoners, so brought in or cast on shore (including Indians, Negroes, and 1 Resolves, p. 131. 380 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Molatoes) be treated in all respects as prisoners of war to the United States r any law or resolve of this Court to the contrary notwithstanding." r The above Act was passed in compliance with a resolution of Congress, Jan. 13, 1780; and it repealed an Act of 1777, that made no provisions for the capture of Negroes. On the 23d of January, 1784, Gov. Hancock sent a message to the Legislature, transmitting correspondence received during the adjournment of the Legislature from Oct. 28, 1783, to Jan. 21, 1784. Calling the attention of the Legislature to this cor respondence, he referred to a letter from " His Excellency the Governor of South Carolina, respecting the detention of some Negroes here, belonging to the subjects of that state. I have communicated it to the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court their observations upon it are with the Papers. I have made no reply to the letter, judging it best to have your decision upon it." 2 The same papers on the same day were read in the Senate, and a joint committee of both houses was appointed. The com mittee reported to both branches of the Legislature on the 23d of March, 1784, and the report was adopted. A request was made of the governor to furnish copies of the opinions of the judges, etc. " CLXXI. Order requesting the Governor to write to Governor Gtierard of South Carolina, inclosing the letter of the Judges of the Supreme Judi cial Court, March, 23d, 1784. " Ordered, that his Excellency the Governor be requested to write to His Excellency Benjamin Guerard, Governor of South Carolina, inclosing for the information of Governor Guerard, the letter of the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth, with the copy in the said letter referred to, upon the subject of Governor Guerard 's letter, dated the sixth October, 1783." The papers referred to seem to have been lost, but extracts are here produced : "GOVERNOR GUERARD TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK, 6th October, 1783. EXTRACT. "That such adoption is favoring rather of the Tyranny of Great Britain which occasioned her the loss of these States that no act of British Tyranny could exceed the encouraging the negroes from the State owning them to desert their owners to be emancipated that it seems arbitrary and domination assuming for the Judicial Department of any one State, to prevent a restoration voted by the Legislature and ordained by Congress. 1 Laws, 1780, chap. v. pp. 283, 284. 2 Journal, vol. iv. pp. 308, 309. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 381 That the liberation of our negroes disclosed a specimen of Puritanism I should not have expected from gentlemen of my Profession." MEMORANDUM. " He had demanded fugitives, carried off by the British, captured by the North, and not given up by the interference of the Judiciary.' ' Governor Hancock referred the subject to the Judges." "JUDGES GUSHING AND SARGENT TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK, Boston, Dec. 20, 1783. EXTRACT. " How this determination is an attack upon the spirit, freedom, dignity, independence, and sovereignty of South Carolina, we are unable to conceive. That this has any connection with, or relation to Puritanism, we believe is above y r Excellency's comprehension as it is above ours. We should be sincerely sorry to do any thing inconsistent with the Union of the States, which is and must continue to be the basis of our Liberties and Independence; on the contrary we wish it may be strengthened, confirmed, and endure for ever." * By the Treaty of Peace in 1783, Negroes were put in the same category with horses and other articles of property. 2 " Negroes [says Mr. Hamilton], by the laws of the States, in which slave ry is allowed, are personal property. They, therefore, on the principle of those laws, like horses, cattle and other movables, were liable to become booty and belonged to the enemy, [captor] as soon as they came into his hands. Belonging to him, he was free either to apply them to his own use, or set them at liberty. If he did the latter, the grant was irrevocable, restitution was impossible. Nothing in the laws of nations or in those of Great Britain, will authorize the resumption of liberty, once granted to a human being." 3 On the 6th of May, 1783, Gen. Washington wrote Sir Guy Carleton : " In the course of our conversation on this point, I was surprised to hear you mention, that an embarkation 'had already taken place, in which a large number of negroes had been carried away. Whether this conduct is conso nant to, or how far it may be deemed an infraction of the treaty, is not for me to decide. I cannot, however, conceal from you, that my private opinion is, that the measure is totally different from the letter and spirit of the treaty. But waiving the discussion of the point, and leaving its decision to our respec tive sovereigns, I find it my duty to signify my readiness, in conjunction with your Excellency, to enter into any agreement, or take any measures, which may be deemed expedient, to prevent the future carrying away of any negroes, or other property of the American inhabitants." 4 1 From Mr. Bancroft's MSS., America, 1783, vol. ii. Quoted by Dr. Moore. 8 Sparks's Washington, vol. viii. p. 428, note. 3 Works of Hamilton, vol. vii. p. 191. * Sparks's Washington, vol. viii. pp. 431, 432. 382 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In his reply, dated New York, May 12, 1783, Sir Guy Carle- ton says, " I enclose a copy of an order, which I have given out to prevent the carry ing away any negroes or other property of the American inhabitants." r It is clear, that notwithstanding the Act of the Massachusetts Legislature, and in the face of the law of Congress on the ques tion of recaptures, Gen. Washington, the Congress of the United Colonies, and subsequently of the United States, regarded Negroes as property from the beginning to the end of the war. The fol lowing treaties furnish abundant proof that Negroes were regarded as property during the war, by the American government : "PROVISIONAL ARTICLES BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND His BRITANNIC MAJESTY. " Agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, Esquire the Commissioner of His Britannic Majesty, for treating of Peace with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said Majesty, on one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens, four of the Commis sioners of the said States, etc., etc., etc. "Article VII. * * * All prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without caus ing any destruction, or carrying away any 'negroes or other property' of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the said United States, and from every port, place and harbour within the same. * * * " Done at Paris, Nov. 30, 1 782. "RICHARD OSWALD, [L.S.] "JOHN ADAMS, [L.S.] " B. FRANKLIN, [L.S.] "JOHN JAY, [L.S.] " HENRY LAURENS, [L.S.] " * "DEFINITE TREATY OF PEACE, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERI CA AND HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY. "Article VII. * * * And His Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any ' negroes or other property" of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, etc., etc., etc. * * * " Done at Paris, Sept. 3, 1783. "D. HARTLEY. [L.S.] "JOHN ADAMS, [L.S.] " B. FRANKLIN, [L.S.] "JOHN JAY, [L.S.]"3 1 Sparks's Washington, vol. viii., Appendix, p. 544. 8 U. S. Statutes at large, vol. viii. pp. 54, 57. 3 Ibid., pp. 80, 83. LEGAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO. 383 "TREATY OF PEACE AND AMITY, BETWEEN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, "[Ratified and confirmed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Feb. n, 1815.] "Article I. * * * Shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any * slaves or other private property? * * * * "Done, in triplicate, at Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814. " GAMBIER, [L.S.] "HENRY GOULBURN, [L.S.] "WILLIAM ADAMS, [L.S.] "JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, [L.S.] "J. A. BAYARD, [L.S.] "H. CLAY, [L.S.] "JONA. RUSSELL, [L.S.] " ALBERT GALLATIN. [L.S.] " l It was not a difficult matter to retake Negroes captured by the enemy, and then treat them as prisoners of war. But no officer in the American army, no member of Congress, had the moral courage to proclaim that property ceased in a man the moment he donned the uniform of a Revolutionary soldier, and that all Negro soldiers captured by the enemy should be treated as prisoners of war. So, all through the war with Britain, the Negro soldier was liable to be claimed as property ; and every bayonet in the army was at the command of the master to secure his property, even though it had been temporarily converted into an heroic soldier who had defended the country against its foes. The unprece dented spectacle was to be witnessed, of a master hunting his slaves under the flag of the nation. And at the close of hostilities many Negro soldiers were called upon to go back into the service of their masters ; while few secured their freedom as a reward for their valor. The following letter of Gen. Washington, addressed to Brig.-Gen. Rufus Putnam, afterwards printed at Marietta, O., from his papers, indicates the regard the Father of his Country had for the rights of the master, though those rights were pushed into the camp of the army where many brave Negroes were found ; and it also illustrates the legal strength of such a claim : 1 U. S. Statutes at large, vol. viii. p. 218. 384 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " HEAD QUARTERS, Feb. 2, 1783. "SiR, Mr. Hobby having claimed as his property a negro man now serving in the Massachusetts Regiment, you will please to order a court of inquiry, consisting of five as respectable officers as can be found in your bri gade, to examine the validity of the claim, the manner in which the person in question came into service, and the propriety of his being discharged or retained in service. Having inquired into the matter, with all the attending circumstances, they will report to you their opinion thereon ; which you will report to me as soon as conveniently may be. " I am, Sir, with great respect, " Your most obedient servant, "G. WASHINGTON. " P.S. All concerned should be notified to attend. " Brig.-Gen. PUTNAM." Enlistment in the army did not work a practical emancipation of the slave, as some have thought. Negroes were rated as chat tel property by both armies and both governments during the entire war. This is the cold fact of history, and it is not pleasing to contemplate. The Negro occupied the anomalous position of an American slave and an American soldier. He was a soldier in the hour of danger, but a chattel in time of peace. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. CHAPTER XXIX. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. BANNEKER THE ASTRONOMER. 1 FULLER THE MATHEMATICIAN. DERHAM THE PHYSICIAN. STATUTORY PROHIBITION AGAINST THE EDUCATION OF NEGROES. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, THE NEGRO ASTRONOMER AND PHILOSOPHER. His ANTECEDENTS. YOUNG BANNEKER AS A FARMER AND INVENTOR. THE MILLS OF ELLICOTT & Co. BANNEKER CULTIVATES HTS MECHANICAL GENIUS AND MATHEMATICAL TASTES. BANNEKER'S FIRST CALCULATION OF AN ECLIPSE SUBMITTED FOR INSPECTION IN 1789. His LETTER TO MR. ELLICOTT. THE TESTIMONY OF A PERSONAL ACQUAINT ANCE OF BANNEKER AS TO HIS UPRIGHT CHARACTER. His HOME BECOMES A PLACE OF INTER EST TO VISITORS. RECORD OF HIS BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. MRS. MASON'S VISIT TO HIM. SHE ADDRESSES HIM INVERSE. BANNEKER REPLIES BY LETTER TO HER. PREPARES HIS FlRST ALMANAC FOR PUBLICATION IN 1792. TITLE OF HIS ALMANAC. BANNEKER'S LETTER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. THOMAS JEFFERSON'S REPLY. BANNEKER INVITED TO ACCOMPANY THE COMMIS SIONERS TO RUN THE LlNES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. BANNEKER'S HABITS OF STUDYING THE HEAVENLY BODIES. MINUTE DESCRIPTION GIVEN TO HIS SISTERS IN REFERENCE TO THE DISPOSITION OF HIS PERSONAL PROPERTY AFTER DEATH. His DEATH. REGARDED AS THE MOST DISTINGUISHED NEGRO OF HIS T'ME. FULLER THE MATHEMATICIAN, OR "THE VIRGINIA CALCULATOR." FULLER OF AFRICAN BIRTH, BUT STOLEN AND SOLD AS A SLAVE INTO VIRGINIA. VISITED BY MEN OF LEARNING. HE WAS PRONOUNCED TO BE A PRODIGY IN THE MANIPULA TION OF FIGURES. His DEATH. DERHAM THE PHYSICIAN. SCIENCE OF MEDICINE REGARDED AS THE MOST INTRICATE PURSUIT OF MAN. EARLY LlFE OF JAMES DERHAM. HlS KNOWL EDGE OF MEDICINES, HOW ACQUIRED. HE BECOMES A PROMINENT PHYSICIAN IN NEW ORLEANS. DR. RUSH GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH HIM. WHAT THE NEGRO RACE PRO DUCED BY THEIR GENIUS IN AMERICA. FROM the moment slavery gained a foothold in North America until the direful hour that witnessed its dissolution amid the shock of embattled arms, learning was the forbidden fruit that no Negro dared taste. Positive and explicit statutes every where, as fiery swords, drove him away hungry from the tree of intellectual life ; and all persons were forbidden to pluck the fruit for him, upon pain of severe penalties. Every yearning for intellectual food was answered by whips and thumb-screws. But, notwithstanding the state of almost instinctive ignorance in which slavery held the Negro, there were those who occasionally 1 William Wells Brown, William C. Nell, and all the Colored men whose efforts I have seen, have made a number of very serious mistakes respecting Banneker's parentage, age, accomplish ments, etc. He ivas of mixed blood. His mother's name was not Molly Morton, but one of his sisters bore that name. I have used the Memoirs of Banneker, prepared by J. H. B. Latrobe and J. Saurin Norris, and other valuable material from the Maryland Historical Society. 3 86 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. astounded the world with the brightness of their intellectual genius. There were some Negroes whose minds ran the gauntlet of public proscription on one side and repressive laws on the other, and safely gained eminence in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. BANNEKER THE ASTRONOMER. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, the Negro astronomer and philosopher, was born in Maryland, on the gth of November, 1731. His maternal grandmother was a white woman, a native of England, named Molly Welsh. She came to Maryland in a shipload of white emigrants, who, according to the custom of those days, were sold to pay their passage. She served her master faithfully for seven years, when, being free, she purchased a small farm, at a nominal price. Soon after she bought two Negro slaves from a ship that had come into the Chesapeake Bay, and began life anew. Both of these Negroes proved to be men of more than ordinary fidelity, industry, and intelligence. One of them, it was said, was the son of an African king. She gave him his freedom, and then married him. His name was Banneker. 1 Four children were the fruit of this union ; but the chief interest centres in only one, a girl, named Mary. Following the example of her mother, she also married a native of Africa : but both tradition and history preserve an unbroken silence respecting his life, with the single exception that, embracing the Christian religion, he was baptized "Robert Banneker;" and the record of his death is thus pre served, in the family Bible : " Robert Banneker departed this life, Julyy loth 1759." Thus it is evident that he took his wife's surname. Benjamin Banneker was the only child of Robert and Mary Banneker. Young Benjamin was a great favorite with his grandmother, who taught him to read. She had a sincere love of the Sacred Scriptures, which she did not neglect to inculcate into the youth ful heart of her grandson. In the neighborhood, at that time an almost desolate spot, a school was conducted where the master admitted several Colored children, with the whites, to the benefits of his instructions. It was a "pay school," and thither young Banneker was sent at a very tender age. His application to his studies was equalled by none. When the other pupils were 1 In the most remote records the name vras written Banneky. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 387 playing, he found great pleasure in his books. How long he remained in school, is not known. His father purchased a farm of one Richard Gist, and here he spent the remnant of his days. When young Banneker had obtained his majority, he gave attention to the various interests of farm-life. He was indus trious, intelligent in his labors, scrupulously neat in the manage ment of his grounds, cultivated a valuable garden, was gentle in his treatment of stock, horses, cows, etc., and was indeed comfortably situated. During those seasons of leisure which come to agriculturists, he stored his mind with useful knowledge. Starting with the Bible, he read history, biography, travels, romance, and such works on general literature as he was able to borrow. His mind seemed to turn with especial satisfaction to mathematics, and he acquainted himself with the most difficult problems. He had a taste also for mechanics. He conceived the idea of making a timepiece, a clock, and about the year 1770 constructed one. With his imperfect tools, and with no other model than a borrowed watch, it had cost him long and patient labor to perfect it, to make the variation necessary to cause it to strike the hours, and produce a concert of correct action between the hour, the minute, and the second machinery. He confessed that its regu larity in pointing out the progress of time had amply rewarded all his pains in its construction. 1 In 1773 Ellicott & Co. built flour-mills in a valley near the banks of the Patapsco River. Banneker watched the mills go up ; and, when the machinery was set in motion, looked on with interest, as he had a splendid opportunity of observing new prin ciples of mechanism. He made many visits to the mills, and became acquainted with their proprietors ; and, till the day of his death, he found in the Ellicotts kind and helpful friends. After a short time the Ellicotts erected a store, where, a little later, a post-office, was opened. To this point the farmers and gentlemen, for miles around, used to congregate. Banneker often called at the post-office, where, after overcoming his natural mod esty and diffidence, he was frequently called out in conversations covering a variety of topics. His conversational powers, his inexhaustible fund of information, and his broad learning (for 1 J. Saurin Norris's sketch. 388 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. those times and considering his circumstances), made him the connoisseur of that section. At times he related, in modest terms, the difficulties he was constrained to encounter in order to acquire the knowledge of books he had, and the unsatisfied longings he still had for further knowledge. His fame as a mathematician was already established, and with the increasing facilities of communication his accomplishments and achievements were occu pying the thought of many intelligent people. " By this time he had become very expert in the solution of difficult mathematical problems, which were then, more than in this century, the amuse ment of persons of leisure ; and they were frequently sent to him from scholars residing in different parts of our country who wished to test his capacity. He is reported to have been successful in every case, and, sometimes, he returned with his answers, questions of his own composition conveyed in rhyme." The following question was propounded to Mr. George Elli- cott, and was solved by Benjamin Hallo well of Alexandria. " A Cooper and Vintner sat down for a talk, Both being so groggy, that neither could walk, Says Cooper to Vintner, ' I'm the first of my trade, There's no kind of vessel, but what I have made, And of any shape, Sir, just what you will, And of any size, Sir, from a ton to a gill ! ' * Then,' says the Vintner, 'you're the man for me, Make me a vessel, if we can agree. The top and the bottom diameter define, To bear that proportion as fifteen to nine ; Thirty-five inches are just what I crave, No more and no less, in the depth, will I have ; Just thirty-nine gallons this vessel must hold, Then I will reward you with silver or gold, Give me your promise, my honest old friend ? ' * I'll make it to-morrow, that you may depend ! ' So the next day the Cooper his work to discharge, Soon made the new vessel, but made it too large ; He took out some staves, which made it too small, And then cursed the vessel, the Vintner and all. He beat on his breast, ' By the Powers ! ' he swore, He never would work at his trade any more ! Now my worthy friend, find out, if you can, The vessel's dimensions and comfort the man ! "BENJAMIN BANNEKER." The greater diameter of Banneker's tub must be 24.746 inches; the less diameter, 14.8476 inches. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 389 He was described by a gentleman who had often met him at "Ellicott's Mills as "of black complexion, medium stature, of uncommonly soft and gentlemanly manners and of pleasing colloquial powers." Fortunately Mr. George Ellicott was a gentleman of exquisite literary taste and critical judgment. He discovered in Banneker the elements of a cultivated gentleman and profound scholar. He threw open his library to this remarkable Negro, loaded him with books and astronomical instruments, and gave him the emphatic assurance of sympathy and encouragement. He occa sionally made Banneker a visit, when he would urge upon him the importance of making astronomical calculations for almanacs. Finally, in the spring of 1789, Banneker submitted to Mr. Elli cott his first projection of an eclipse. It was found to contain a slight error; and, having kindly pointed it out, Mr. Ellicott received the following reply from Banneker : LETTER OF BENJAMIN BANNEKER TO GEORGE ELLICOTT. "SiR, I received your letter at the hand of Bell but found nothing strange to me In the Letter Concerning the number of Eclipses, tho according to authors the Edge of the penumber only touches the Suns Limb in that Eclips, that I left out of the Number which happens April I4th day, at 37 minutes past 7 o'clock in the morning, and is the first we shall have ; but since you wrote to me, I drew in the Equations of the Node which will cause a small Solar Defet, but as I did not intend to publish, I was not so very peticular as I should have been, but was more intent upon the true method of projecting a Solar Eclips It is an easy matter for us when a Diagram is laid down before us, to draw one in resemblance of it, but it is a hard matter for young Tyroes in Astronomy, when only the Elements for the projection is laid down before him to draw his diagram with any degree of Certainty. " Says the Learned LEADBETTER, the projection, I shall here describe, is that mentioned by Mr. Flamsted. When the sun is in Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio or, Sagitary, the Axes of the Globe must lie to the right hand of the Axes of the Ecliptic, but when the sun is in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, or Gemini, then to the left. " Says the wise author FERGUSON, when the sun is in Capercorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemeni, the Northern half of the Earths Axes lies to the right hand of the Axes of the Ecliptic and to the left hand, whilst the Sun is on the other six signs. " Now Mr. Ellicott, two such learned gentlemen as the above mentioned, one in direct opposition to the other, stagnates young beginners, but I hope the stagnation will not be of long duration, for this I observe that Leadbetter counts the time on the path of Vertex r. 2. 3 &c. from the right to the left hand or from the consequent to the antecedent, But Ferguson on the path of Vertex counts the time I. 2. 3 &c. from the left to the right hand, according 390 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to the order of numbers, so that that is regular, shall compensate for irregu larity. Now sir if I can overcome this difficulty I doubt not being able to calculate a Common Almanac. Sir no more " But remain your faithful friend, " B. BANNEKER. "MR. GEORGE ELLICOTT, Oct. itfh, 1789." His mother, an active, intelligent, slight-built Mulatto, with long black hair, had exercised a tender but positive influence over him. His character, so far as is known, was without blemish, with the single exception of an occasional use of ardent spirits. He found himself conforming too frequently to the universal habit of the times, social drinking. Liquors and wines were upon the tables and sideboards of the best families, and wherever Banneker went it confronted him. He felt his weakness in this regard, and resolved to abstain from the use of strong drink. Some time after returning from a visit to Washington, in com pany with the commissioners who laid out the District of Colum bia, he related to his friends that during the entire absence from home he had abstained from the use of liquors ; adding, "I feared to trust myself even with wine, lest it should steal away the little sense I have." On a leaf of one of his almanacs, appears the following in his own handwriting : " Evil communications corrupt good manners, I hope to live to hear, that good communication corrects * bad manners.' " He had a just appreciation of his own strength. He hated vice of every kind ; and, while he did not connect himself to any church, he was deeply attached to the Society of Friends. He was frequently seen in their meeting-house. He usually occupied the rear bench, where he would sit with uncovered head, leaning upon his staff, wrapt in profound meditation. The following letter addressed to Mr. J. Saurin Norris shows that his character was upright : " In the year 1800, I commenced my engagements in the store of Ellicott's Mills, where my first acquaintance with Benjamin Banneker began. He often came to the store to purchase articles for his own use ; and, after hearing him converse, I was always anxious to wait upon him. After making his purchases, he usually went to the part of the store where George Ellicott was in the habit of sitting, to converse with him about the affairs of our Government and other matters. He was very precise in conversation and exhibited deep reflection. His deportment whenever I saw him, appeared to be perfectly upright and THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 391 correct, and he seemed to be acquainted with every thing of importance that was passing in the country. " I recollect to have seen his Almanacs in my father's house, and believe they were the only ones used in the neighborhood at the time. He was a large man inclined to be fleshy, and was far advanced in years, when I first saw him, I remember being once at his house, but do not recollect any thing about the comforts of his establishment, nor of the old clock, about which you enquired. He was fond of, and well qualified, to work out abstruse questions in arithme tic. I remember, he brought to the store, one which he had composed himself, and presented to George Ellicott for solution. I had a copy which I have since lost ; but the character and deportment of the man being so wholly different from any thing I had ever seen from one of his color, his question made so deep an impression on my mind I have ever since retained a perfect recollec tion of it, except two lines, which do not alter the sense. I remember that George Ellicott, was engaged in making out the answer, and cannot now say that he succeeded, but have no doubt he did. I have thus, briefly given you my recollections of Benjamin Banneker. I was young when he died, and doubtless many incidents respecting him, have, from the time which has since elapsed, passed from my recollection : "CHARLES W. DORSEY, of ' Elkridge." After the death of his mother, Banneker dwelt alone until the day of his death, having never married. His manners were gen tle and engaging, his benevolence proverbial. His home became a place of great interest to visitors, whom he always received cor dially, and treated hospitably all who called. " We found the venerable star-gazer," says the author of the Memoir of Susanna Mason, " under a wide spreading pear tree, leaden with delicious fruit; he came forward to meet us, and bade us welcome to his lowly dwelling. It was built of logs, one story in height, and was surrounded by an orchard. In one corner of the room, was suspended a clock of his own construction, which was a true hearald of departing hours. He was careful in the little affairs of life as well as in the great matters. He kept record of all his business tran sactions, literary and domestic. The following extracts from his Account Book exhibit his love for detail. "'Sold on the 2nd of April, 1795, to Buttler, Edwards & Kiddy, the right -of an Almanac, for the year 1796, for the sum of 80 dollars, equal to ^30. -"'On the 3oth of April, 1795, lent John Ford five dollars, i 175. 6d. "* 1 2th of December, 1797, bought a pound of candles at is. 8d. " * Sold to John Collins 2 qts. of dried peaches 6d. " I qt. mead 4d. " ' On the 26th of March, came Joshua Sanks with 3 or 4 bushels of turnips to feed the cows. "* 1 3th of April, 1803, planted beans and sowed cabbage seed.' " He took down from a shelf a little book, wherein he -registered the names of those, by whose visits he felt particularly honored, and recorded my mother's name upon the list ; he then, diffidently, but very respectfully, requested her acceptance of one of his Almanacs in manuscript." 392 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Within a few days after this visit Mrs. Mason addressed hint in a poetical letter, which found its way into the papers of the section, and was generally read. The subjoined portions are suffi cient to exhibit the character of the effusion. The admonitory lines at the end doubtless refer to his early addiction to strong drink. "An Address to BENJAMIN BANNEKER, an African Astronomer, who pre sented the Author with a Manuscript Almanac in 1796." " Transmitted on the wings of Fame, Thine eclat sounding with thy name, Well pleased, I heard, ere 'twas my lot To see thee in thy humble cot. That genius smiled upon thy birth, And application called it forth ; That times and tides thou could'st presage, And traverse the Celestial stage, Where shining globes their circles run, In swift rotation round the sun ; Could'st tell how planets in their way, From order ne'er were known to stray. Sun, moon and stars, when they will rise, When sink below the upper skies ; When an eclipse shall veil their light, And, hide their splendor from our sight. Some men whom private walks pursue, Whom fame ne'er ushered into view, May run their race, and few observe To right or left, if they should swerve, Their blemishes would not appear, Beyond their lives a single year. But thou, a man exalted high, Conspicuous in the world's keen eye, On record now, thy name's enrolled, And future ages will be told, There lived aman named BANNEKER, An African Astronomer ! Thou need'st to have a special care, Thy conduct with thy talent square, That no contaminating vice, Obscure thy lustre in our eyes." During the following year Banneker sent the following letter to his good friend Mrs. Mason : " August 26th, 1797. "DEAR FEMALE FRIEND: " I have thought of you every day since I saw you last, and of my promise in respect of composing some verses for your amusement, but I am very much. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 393. indisposed, and have been ever since that time. I have a constant pain in my head, a palpitation in my flesh, and I may say I am attended with a complica tion of disorders, at this present writing, so that I cannot with any pleasure or delight, gratify your curiosity in that particular, at this present time, yet I say my will is good to oblige you, if I had it in my power, because you gave me good advice, and edifying language, in that piece of poetry which you was. pleased to present unto me, and I can but love and thank you for the same ; and if ever it should be in my power to be serviceable to you, in any measure,, your reasonable requests, shall be armed with the obedience of, " Your sincere friend and well-wisher, "BENJAMIN BANNEKER.. "MRS. SUSANNA MASON._ " N.B. The above is mean writing, done with trembling hands. B. B." With the use of Mayer's Tables, Ferguson's Astronomy, and Leadbeater's Lunar Tables, Banneker had made wonderful prog ress in his astronomical investigations. He prepared his first almanac for publication in 1792. Mr. James McHenry became deeply interested in him, and, convinced of his talent in this, direction, wrote a letter to the firm of Goddard & Angell, pub lishers of almanacs, in Baltimore. They became the sole publish ers of Banneker's almanacs till the time of his death. In an editorial note in the first almanac, they say, " They feel gratified in the opportunity of presenting to the public, through their press, what must be considered as an extraordinary effort of genius ; a complete and accurate Ephemeris for the year 1792, calculated by a sable descendant of Africa," etc. And they further say, " That they flatter themselves that a philanthropic public, in this enlight ened era, will be induced to give their patronage and support to this work, not only on account of its intrinsic merits, (it having met the approbation of several of the most distinguished astronomers of America, particularly the celebrated Mr. Rittenhouse,) but from similar motives to those which induced the editors to give this calculation the preference, the ardent desire of draw ing modest merit from obscurity, and controverting the long-established illiberal prejudice against the blacks." The title of his almanac is given below as a matter of historic interest. " Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland Almanac and Ephemeris, for the year of our Lord 1792, being Bissextile or leap year, and the sixteenth year of American Independence, which commenced July 4, 1776: containing the motions of the Sun and Moon, the true places and 394 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. aspects of the Planets, the rising and setting of the Sun, and the rising, setting, and southing, place and age of the Moon, &c. The Lunations, Conjunctions, Eclipses, Judgment of the Weather, Festivals, and remarkable days." He had evidently read Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia ; and touched by the humane sentiment there exhibited, as well as saddened by the doubt expressed respecting the intellect of the Negro, Banneker sent him a copy of his first almanac, accom panied by a letter which pleaded the cause of his race, and in itself, was a refutation of the charge that the Negro had no intel lectual outcome. "MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY, August 19, 1791. SIR, " I am fully sensible of the greatness of the freedom I take with you on the present occasion; a liberty which seemed scarcely allowable, when I reflected on that distinguished and dignified station in which you stand, and the almost general prejudice which is so prevalent in the world against those of my complexion. " It is a truth too well attested, to need a proof here, that we are a race of beings, who have long laboured under the abuse and censure of the world; that we have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt; and considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments. " I hope I may safely admit, in consequence of the report which has reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible in sentiments of this nature, than many others ; that you are measurably friendly, and well disposed towards us ; and that you are willing to lend your aid and assistance for our relief from those many distresses, and numerous calamities, to which we are reduced. " If this is founded in truth, I apprehend you will embrace every opportu nity to eradicate that train of absurd and false ideas and opinions, which so generally prevail with respect to us : and that your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are, that one universal Father hath given being to us all; that He hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that He hath also, without par tiality, afforded us all the same sensations, and endowed us all with the same faculties ; and that however variable we may be in society or religion, however diversified in situation or in colour, we are all of the same family, and stand in the same relation to Him. " If these are sentiments of which you are fully persuaded, you cannot but acknowledge, that it is the indispensable duty of those, who maintain for them selves the rights of human nature, and who profess the obligations of Chris tianity, to extend their powers and influence to the relief of every part of the human race, from whatever burden or oppression they may unjustly labour under; and this, I apprehend, a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles should lead all to. " I have long been convinced, that if your love for yourselves, and for those inestimable laws which preserved to you the rights of human nature, was founded on sincerity you could not but be solicitous, that every individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with you equally enjoy the blessings thereof; neither could you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 395 your exertions, in order to their promotion from any state of degradation, to which the unjustifiable cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced them. " I freely and cheerfully acknowledge, that I am of the African race, and in that colour which is natural to them, of the deepest dye ; and it is under a sense of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, that I now confess to you, that I am not under that state of tyrannical thral dom, and inhuman captivity, to which too many of my brethren are doomed, but that I have abundantly tasted of the fruition of those blessings, which proceed from that free and unequalled liberty with which you are favoured ; and which I hope you will willingly allow you have mercifully received, from the immediate hand of that Being from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift. " Suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms of the British crown were exerted, with every powerful effort, in order to reduce you to a state of servitude : look back, I entreat you, on the variety of dangers to which you were exposed; reflect on that period in which every human aid appeared unavailable, and in which even hope and fortitude wore the aspect of inability to the conflict, and you cannot but be led to a serious and grateful sense of your miraculous and providential preservation; you cannot but acknowledge, that the present freedom and tranquillity which you enjoy, you have mercifully received, and that it is the peculiar blessing of heaven. " This, Sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a state of Slavery, and in which you had just apprehensions of the horrors of its condi tion. It was then that your abhorrence thereof was so excited, that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine, which is worthy to be recorded and remembered in all succeeding ages : ' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' " Here, was a time in which your tender feelings for yourselves had engaged you thus to declare; you were then impressed. with proper ideas of the great violation of liberty, and the free possession of those blessings, to which you were entitled by nature ; but, sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privi leges which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence, so numerous a part of my brethren under groaning captivity and cruel oppression, that you should at the same time be found guilty of that most criminal act, which you profess edly detested in others, with respect to yourselves. " Your knowledge of the situation of my brethren is too extensive to need a recital here ; neither shall I presume to prescribe methods by which they may be relieved, otherwise than by recommending to you and all others, to wean yourselves from those narrow prejudices which you have imbibed with respect to them, and as Job proposed to his friends, 'put your soul in their soul's stead ; ' thus shall your hearts be enlarged with kindness and benevo lence towards them; and thus shall you need neither the direction of myself or others, in what manner to proceed herein. " And now, sir, although my sympathy and affection for my brethren hath 396 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. caused my enlargement thus far, I ardently hope, that your candour and gen erosity will plead with you in my behalf, when I state that it was not originally my design; but having taken up my pen in order to present a copy of an almanac which I have calculated for the succeeding year, I was unexpectedly led thereto. "This calculation is the production of my arduous study, in my advanced stage of life ; for having long had unbounded desires to become acquainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to gratify my curiosity herein through my own assiduous application to astronomical study, in which I need not recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages which I have had to encounter. "And although I had almost declined to make my calculation for the ensuing year, in consequence of the time which I had allotted for it being taken up at the federal territory, by the request of Mr. Andrew Ellicott, yet I industriously applied myself thereto, and hope I have accomplished it with correctness and accuracy. I have taken the liberty to direct a copy to you, which I humbly request you will favourably receive ; and although you may have the opportunity of perusing it after its publication, yet I desire to send it to you in manuscript previous thereto, that thereby you might not only have an earlier inspection, but that you might also view it in my own handwriting. " And now, sir, I shall conclude, and subscribe myself, with the most pro found respect, " Your most obedient humble servant, "BENJAMIN BANNEKER" Mr. Jefferson, who was Secretary of State under President Washington, sent the great Negro the following courteous reply: "PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 30, 1791. " SIR, I thank you sincerely for your letter of the igth instant, and for the almanac it contained,. Nobody wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that Nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing only to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can add, with truth, that no one wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition, both of their body and mind, to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, and members of the Philanthropic Society, because I considered it a document to which your whole color had a right, for their justification against the doubts which have been entertained of them. " I am, with great esteem, sir, " Your most obedient servant, "THO. JEFFERSON. " MR. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, near Ellicott's | Lower Mills, Baltimore county." l 1 Jefferson's Works, vol. iii. p. 291. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 397 The only time Banneker was ever absent from his home any distance was when "the Commissioners to run the lines of the District of Columbia " then known as the " Federal Territory " invited him to accompany them upon their mission. Mr. Norris says : " Banneker's deportment throughout the whole of this engagement, secured their respect, and there is good authority for believing, that his endowments led the commissioners to overlook the color of his skin, to converse with him freely, and enjoy the clearness and originality of his remarks on various subjects. It is a fact, that they honored him with an invitation to a daily seat at their table; but this, with his usual modesty, he declined. They then ordered a side table laid for him, in the same apartment with themselves. On his return, he called to give an account of his engagements, at the house of one of his friends. He arrived on horseback, dressed in his usual costume ; a full suit of drab cloth, surmounted by a broad brimmed beaver hat. He seemed to have been .re-animated by the presence of the eminent men with whom he had mingled in the District, and gave a full account of their proceedings." His habits of study were rather peculiar. At nightfall, wrapped in a great cloak, he would lie prostrate upon the ground, where he spent the night in contemplation of the heavenly bodies. At sunrise he would retire to his dwelling, where he spent a portion of the day in repose. But as he seemed to require less sleep than most people, he employed the hours of the afternoons in the cultivation of his garden, trimming of fruit- trees, or in observing the habits and flight of his bees. When his service and attention were not required out-doors, he busied himself with his books, papers, and mathematical instruments, at a large oval table in his house. The situation of Banneker's dwelling was one which would be admired by every lover of nature, and furnished a fine field for the observation of celestial phenomena. It was about half a mile from the Patapsco River, and commanded a prospect of the near and distant hills upon its banks, which have been so justly celebrated for their picturesque beauty. A never-failing spring issued from beneath a large golden-willow tree in the midst of his orchard. 1 The whole sit uation was charming, inspiring, and no doubt helped him in the: solution of difficult problems. There is no reliable data to enlighten us as to the day of his death ; but it is the opinion of those who lived near him, and their 1 See Norris, paper on Banneker. 398 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. descendants, that he died in the fall of 1804. It was a bright, beautiful day, and feeling unwell he walked out on the hills to enjoy the sunlight and air. During his walk he came across a neighbor, to whom he complained of being sick. They both returned to his house, where, after lying down upon his couch, he became speechless, and died peacefully. During a previous sickness he had charged his sisters, Minta Black and Molly Morten, that, so soon as he was dead, all the books, instruments, etc., which Mr. Ellicott had loaned him, should be taken back to the benevolent lender ; and, as a token of his gratitude, all his manuscripts containing all his almanacs, his observations and writings on various subjects, his letter to Thomas Jefferson, and that gentleman's reply, etc., were given to Mr. Ellicott. 1 On the day of his death, faithful to the instructions of their brother, Banneker's sisters had all the articles moved to Mr. Ellicott's house ; and their arrival was the first sad news of the astrono mer's death. To the promptness of these girls in carrying out his orders is the gratitude of the friends of science due for the preservation of the results of Banneker's labors. During the performance of the last sad rites at the grave, two days after his death, his house was discovered to be on fire. It burnt so rapidly that it was impossible to save any thing : so his clock and other personal property perished in the flames. He had given to one of his sisters a feather-bed, upon which he had slept for many years ; and she, fortunately and thoughtfully, removed it when he died, and prized it as the only memorial of her dis tinguished brother. Some years after, she had occasion to open the bed, when she discovered a purse of money another illus tration of his careful habits and frugality. Benjamin Banneker was known favorably on two continents, and at the time of his death was the most intelligent and dis tinguished Negro in the United States. FULLER THE MATHEMATICIAN. One of the standing arguments against the Negro was, that he lacked the faculty of solving mathematical problems. This charge 1 All of Banneker's literary remains were published by J. H. B. Latrobe in the Maryland Historical Society, and in the Maryland Colonization Journal in 1845. The Memoir of Banneker was somewhat marred by a too precipitous and zealous attempt to preach the doctrine of colo nization. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 399 was made without a disposition to allow him an opportunity to submit himself to a proper test. It was equivalent to putting out a man's eyes, and then asserting boldly that he cannot see ; of manacling his ankles, and charging him with the inability to run. But notwithstanding all the prohibitions against instructing the Negro, and his far remove from intellectual stimulants, the sub ject to whom attention is now called had within his own untutored intellect the elements of a great mathematician. Thomas Fuller, familiarly known as the Virginia Calculator, was a native of Africa. At the age of fourteen he was stolen, and sold into slavery in Virginia, where he found himself the property of a planter residing about four miles from Alexandria. He did not understand the art of reading or writing, but by a marvellous faculty was able to perform the most difficult calculations. Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, Penn., in a letter addressed to a gentleman residing in Manchester, Eng., says that hearing of the phenomenal mathematical powers of " Negro Tom," he, in com* pany with other gentlemen passing through Virginia, sent for him. One of the gentlemen asked him how many seconds a man of seventy years, some odd months, weeks, and days, had lived. He gave the exact number in a minute and a half. The gentle man took a pen, and after some figuring told Tom he must be mistaken, as the number was too great. "'Top, massa ! " exclaimed Tom, "you hab left out de leap-years!" And sure enough, on including the leap-years in the calculation, the number given by Tom was correct. "He was visited by William Hartshorn and Samuel Coates," says Mr. Needles, "of this city (Philadelphia), and gave correct answers to all their questions : such as, How many seconds there are in a year and a half? In two minutes he answered 47,304,000. How many seconds in seventy years, seven teen days, twelve hours ? In one minute and a half, 2,110,500,800.1 That he was a prodigy, no one will question. 2 He was the wonder of the age. The following appeared in several news papers at the time of his death: " DIED Negro Tom, the famous African calculator, aged 80 years. He was the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, of Alexandria. Tom was a very black man. He was brought to this country at the age of fourteen, and was sold as a slave with many of his unfortunate countrymen. This man was a 1 Needles's Hist. Memoir of the Penn. Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, p. 32. 2 J. P. Brissot de Warville's Travels in the U. S., vol. i. p. 243. 400 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. prodigy. Though he could neither read nor write, he had perfectly acquired the use of enumeration. He could give the number of months, days, weeks, hours, minutes, and seconds, for any period of time that a person chose to mention, allowing in his calculations for all the leap years that happened in the time. He would give the number of poles, yards, feet, inches, and barley-corns in a given distance say, the diameter of the earth's orbit and in every calculation he would produce the true answer in less time than ninety-nine out of a hundred men would take with their pens. And what was, perhaps, more extraordinary, though interrupted in the progress of his calculations, and engaged in discourse upon any other subject, his operations were not thereby in the least deranged ; he would go on where he left off, and could give any and all of the stages through which the calculation had passed. " Thus died Negro Tom, this untaught arithmetician, this untutored scholar. Had his opportunities of improvement been equal to those of thou sands of his fellow-men, neither the Royal Society of London, the Academy of Science at Paris, nor even a Newton himself need have been ashamed to acknowledge him a brother in science." DERHAM THE PHYSICIAN. Through all time the science of medicine has been regarded as ranking among the most intricate and delicate pursuits man could follow. Our Saviour was called "the Great Physician," and St. Luke "the beloved physician." No profession brings a man so near to humanity, and no other class of men have a higher social standing than those who are consecrated to the "art of healing." Such a position demands of a man not only profound research in the field of medicine, but the rarest intellectual and social gifts and accomplishments. For a Negro to gain such a position in the nineteenth century would require merit of unusual order. But in the eighteenth century, when slavery had cast its long, dark shadows over the entire life of the nation, for a Negro, born and reared a slave, to obtain fame in medicine second to none on the continent, was an achievement that justly challenged the admiration of the civilized world. Dr. James Derham was born a slave in Philadelphia in 1762. His master was a physician. James was taught to read and write, and early rendered valuable assistance to his master in compound ing medicines. Endowed with more than average intelligence, he took a great liking to the science of medicine, and absorbed all the information that came within his observation. On the death of his master he was sold to the surgeon of the Sixteenth British Regi- 1 Columbian Centinal of Boston, Dec. 29, 1790. THE NEGRO INTELLECT. 4OI rnent, at that time stationed in Philadelphia. At the close of the war he was sold to Dr. Robert Dove of New Orleans, a humane and intelligent man, who employed him as his assistant in a large business. He grew in a knowledge of his profession every day, was prompt and faithful in the discharge of the trusts reposed in him, and thereby gained the confidence of his master. Dr. Dove was so much pleased with him, that he offered him his freedom upon very easy terms, requiring only two or three years' service. At the end of the time designated, Dr. Derham entered into the practice of medicine upon his own account. He acquired the English, French, and Spanish languages so as to speak them fluently, and built up a practice in a short time worth three thou sand dollars a year. 1 He married, and attached himself to the Episcopal Church, in 1788, and at twenty-six years of age was regarded as one of the most eminent physicians in New Orleans. Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, in " The American Museum " for January, 1789, gave an interesting account of this distinguished "Negro physician." Says Dr. Rush, " I have conversed with him upon most of the acute and epidemic diseases of the country where he lives. I expected to have suggested some new medi cines to him, but he suggested many more to me. He is very modest and engaging in his manners. He speaks French fluently, and has some knowl edge of the Spanish," 2 Phillis Wheatley has been mentioned already. So, in the midst of darkness and oppression, the Negro race in America, without the use of the Christian church, schoolhouse, or printing-press, produced a poetess, an astronomer, a mathematician, and a physician, who, had they been white, would have received monuments and grateful memorials at the hands of their countrymen. But even their color cannot rob them of the immortality their genius earned. 1 Brissot de Warville's New Travels in the U. S., ed. 1794, vol. i. p. 242. 2 For an account of Fuller and Derham, see De la LitteVature des Negres, ou Recherches sur leurs Facultes intellectuelles, leurs Qualites morales et leur Litterature; suivies de Notices sur la Vie et les Ouvrages des Negres qui se sont distingues dans les Sciences, les Lettres et les Arts. Par H. GREGOIRE, ancien Eveque de Blois, membre du Senat conservateur, de 1'Institut national, de la Socie"te royale des Sciences de Gottingue, etc. Paris : MDCCCVIII. 402 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXX. SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 1775-1783. PROGRESS OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. A GREAT WAR FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE COLONIES FROM' POLITICAL BONDAGE. CONDITION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES DURING THE WAR. THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. IMMEDIATE LEGISLATION AGAINST SLAVERY DEMANDED. ADVERTISE MENT FROM "THE INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE." PETITION OF MASSACHUSETTS SLAVES. AN ACT PREVENTING THE PRACTICE OF HOLDING PERSONS IN SLAVERY ADVERTISEMENTS FROM "THE CONTINENTAL JOURNAL. " A LAW PASSED IN VIRGINIA LIMITING THE RIGHTS OF SLAVES. LAW EMANCIPATING ALL SLAVES WHO SERVED IN THE ARMY. NEW YORK PROMISES HER NEGRO SOLDIERS FREEDOM. A CONSCIENTIOUS MINORITY IN FAVOR OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. SLAVERY FLOURISHES DURING THE ENTIRE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD. THE thunder of the guns of the Revolution did not drown the voice of the auctioneer. The slave-trade went on. A great war for the emancipation of the colonies from the political bondage into which the British Parliament fain would precipitate them did not depreciate the market value of human flesh. Those whose hearts were not enlisted in the war skulked in the rear, and gloated over the blood-stained shekels they wrung from the domestic slave-trade. While the precarious condition of the Southern States during the war made legislation in support of the institution of slavery impolitic, there were, nevertheless, many severe laws in force during this entire period. In the New England and Middle States there was heard an occasional voice for the oppressed ; but it was generally strangled at the earliest moment of its being by that hell-born child, avarice. On the 2ist of September, 1776, William Gordon of Roxbury, Mass., wrote, "The Virginians begin their Declaration of Rights with saying, 'that all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive themselves or their pos terity; among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty.' 1 The Congress declare that they 'hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.' The Continent has rung with affirmations of the like import. If these, Gentlemen, are our SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 403, genuine sentiments, and we are not provoking the Deity, by acting hypocriti cally to serve a turn, let us apply earnestly and heartily to the extirpation of slavery from among ourselves. Let the State allow of nothing beyond servi tude for a stipulated number of years, and that only for seven or eight, when persons are of age, or till they are of age : and let the descendants of the Africans born among us, be viewed as free-born ; and be wholly at their own disposal when one-and-twenty, the latter part of which age will compensate for the expense of infancy, education, and so on." No one gave heed. Two months later, Nov. 14, there appeared in "The Independent Chronicle" of Boston a plan for gradual emancipation ; and on the 28th of the same month, in the same paper there appeared a communication demanding specific and immediate legislation against slavery. But all seemed vain : there were few moral giants among the friends of "liberty for all ; " and the comparative silence of the press and pulpit gave the advocates of human slavery an easy victory. Boston, the home of Warren, and the city that witnessed the first holy offering to liberty, busied herself through all the peril ous years of the war in buying and selling human beings. The following are but a few of the many advertisements that appeared in the papers of the city of Boston during the war : J From "The Independent Chronicle," Oct. 3, 1776: " To be SOLD A stout, hearty, likely NEGRO GIRL, fit for either Town or Country. Inquire of Mr. Andrew Gillespie, Dorchester, Octo. I., 1776." From the same, Oct. 10: "A hearty NEGRO MAN, with a small sum of Money to be given away." From the same, Nov. 28 : "To SELL A Hearty likely NEGRO WENCH about 12 or 13 Years of Age, has had the Small Pox, can wash, iron, card, and spin, etc., for no other Fault but for want of Employ." From the same, Feb. 27, 1777: " WANTED a NEGRO GIRL between 12 and 20 Years of Age, for which a good Price will be given, if she can be recommended." From "The Continental Journal," April 3, 1777: " To be SOLD, a likely Negro Man, twenty-two years old, has had the small-pox, can do any sort of business ; sold for want of employment." 1 See Slavery in Mass., p. 178. 404 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " To be SOLD, a large, commodious Dwelling House, Barn, and Out houses, with any quantity of land from I to 50 acres, as the Purchaser shall choose within 5 miles of Boston. Also a smart well-tempered NEGRO BOY of 14 years old, not to go out of this State and sold for 15 years only, if he con tinues to behave -well." From "The Independent Chronicle," May 8, 1777: " To be SOLD, for want of employ, a likely strong NEGRO GIRL, about 18 years old, understands all sorts of household business, and can be well recom mended." The strange and trying vicissitudes through which the colonies had passed exposed their hypocrisy, revealed the weakness of their government, and forced them to another attempt at the extir pation of slavery. The valorous conduct of the Negro soldiers in the army had greatly encouraged their friends and emboldened their brethren, who still suffered from the curse of slavery. The latter were not silent when an opportunity presented to claim the rights they felt their due. On the 1 8th of March, 1777, the fol lowing petition was addressed, by the slaves in Boston, to the Legislature : "PETITION OF MASSACHUSETTS SLAVES. " The petition of a great number of negroes, who are detained in a state of slavery in the very bowels of a free and Christian country, humbly show ing, " That your petitioners apprehend that they have, in common with all other men, a natural and inalienable right to that freedom, which the great Parent of the universe hath bestowed equally on all mankind, and which they have never forfeited by any compact or agreement whatever. But they were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand of power from their dearest friends, and some of them even torn from the embraces of their tender parents, from a populous, pleasant and plentiful country, and in violation of the laws of nature and of nations, and in defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity, brought hither to be sold like beasts of burthen, and, like them, condemned to slavery for life among a people possessing the mild religion of Jesus a people not insen sible of the sweets of national freedom, nor without a spirit to resent the unjust endeavors of others to reduce them to a state of bondage and subjection. " Your Honors need not to be informed that a life of slavery like that of your petitioners, deprived of every social privilege, of every thing requisite to render life even tolerable, is far worse than non-existence. " In imitation of the laudable example of the good people of these States, your petitioners have long and patiently waited the event of petition after petition, by them presented to the legislative body of this State, and cannot but with grief reflect that their success has been but too similar. SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 405 " They cannot but express their astonishment that it has never been con sidered, that every principle from which America has acted, in the course of her unhappy difficulties with Great Britain, bears stronger than a thousand argu ments in favor of your humble petitioners. They therefore humbly beseech Your Honors to give their petition its due weight and consideration, and cause an act of the legislature to be passed, whereby they may be restored to the enjoyment of that freedom, which is the natural right of all men, and their children (who were born in this land of liberty) may not be held as slaves after they arrive at the age of twenty-one years. So may the inhabitants of this State (no longer chargeable with the inconsistency of acting themselves the part which they condemn and oppose in others) be prospered in their glorious struggles for liberty, and have those blessings secured to them by Heaven, of which benevolent minds cannot wish to deprive their fellow-men. " And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray : LANCASTER HILL, PETER BESS, BRISTER SLENFEN, PRINCE HALL, JACK PIERPONT, [his X mark.] NERO FUNELO, [his X mark.] NEWPORT SUMNER, [his x mark.] " The following entry, bearing the same date, was made : " A petition of Lancaster Hill, and a number of other Negroes, praying the Court to take into consideration their state of bondage, and pass an act whereby they may be restored to the enjoyment of that freedom which is the natural right of all men. Read and committed to Judge Sargent, Mr. Dal ton, Mr. Appleton, Col. Brooks, and Mr. Story." There is no record of the action of the committee, if any were ever had ; but at the afternoon session of the Legislature, Monday, June 9, 1777, a bill was introduced to prevent "the Practice of holding persons in Slavery." It was "read a first time, and ordered to be read again on Friday next, at 10 o'clock A.M." Accordingly, on the I3th of June, the bill was "read a second time, and after Debate thereon, it was moved and seconded, That the same lie upon the Table, and that Application be made to Congress on the subject thereof; and the Question being put, it passed in the affirmative, and Mr. Speaker, Mr. Wendell, and Col. Orne, were appointed a Committee to prepare a letter to Congress accordingly, and report." The last action, as far as indicated by the journal, was had on Saturday, June 14, when "the Com mittee appointed to prepare a Letter to Congress, on the subject of the Bill for preventing the Practice of holding Persons in 406 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Slavery, reported." It was "Read and ordered to lie." l And so it did "lie," for that was the end of the matter. Judge Sargent, who was chairman of the committee appointed on the 1 8th of March, 1777, was doubtless the author of the fol lowing bill : "STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD, 1777. " AN ACT for preventing the practice of holding persons in Slavery. "WHEREAS, the practice of holding Africans and the children born of them, or any other persons, in Slavery, is unjustifiable in a civil government, at a time when they are asserting their natural freedom ; wherefore, for pre venting such a practice for the future, and establishing to every person residing within the State the invaluable blessing of liberty. " Beit Enacted, by the Council and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all persons, whether black or of other complexion, above 21 years of age, now held in Slavery, shall, from and after the day of next, be free from any subjection to any master or mistress, who have claimed their servitude by right of purchase, heirship, free gift, or otherwise, and they are hereby entitled to all the freedom, rights, privileges and immunities that do, or ought of right to belong to any of the subjects of this State, any usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. ''And be it Enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all written deeds, bar gains, sales or conveyances, or contracts without writing, whatsoever, for con veying or transferring any property in any person, or to the service and labor of any person whatsoever, of more than twenty-one years of age, to a third person, except by order of some court of record for some crime, that has been, or hereafter shall be made, or by their own voluntary contract for a term not exceeding seven years, shall be and hereby are declared null and void. " And WHEREAS, divers persons now have in their service negroes, mulat- toes or others who have been deemed their slaves or property, and who are now incapable of earning their living by reason of age or infirmities, and may be desirous of continuing in the service of their masters or mistresses, be it therefore Enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that whatever negro or mulatto, who shall be desirous of continuing in the service of his master or mistress, and shall voluntarily declare the same before two justices of the County in which said master or mistress resides, shall have a right to continue in the service, and to a maintenance from their master or mistress, and if they are incapable of earning their living, shall be supported by the said master or mistress, or their heirs, during the lives of said servants, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding. ''Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this act shall be understood to prevent any master of a vessel or other person from bringing into this State any persons, not Africans, from any other part of the world, except the United States of America, and selling their service for a term of time not exceeding five years, if twenty-one years of age, or, if under twenty-one, not exceeding the time 1 House Journal, pp. 19, 25. SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 407 when he or she so brought into the State shall be twenty-six years of age, to pay for and in consideration of the transportation and other charges said master of vessel or other person may have been at, agreeable to contracts made with the persons so transported, or their parents or guardians in their behalf, before they are brought from their own country." * On the back of the bill the following indorsement was written by some officer of the Legislature : " Ordered to lie till the second Wednesday of the next Session of the General Court." This might have ended the struggle for the extinction of slavery in Massachusetts, had not the people at this time made an earnest demand for a State constitution. As the character of the consti tution was discussed, the question of slavery divided public senti ment. If it were left out of the constitution, then the claims of the master would forever lack the force of law ; if it were inserted as part of the constitution, it would evidence the insincerity of the people in their talk about the equality of the rights of man, etc. The Legislature Convention of 1777-78 prepared, debated, and finally approved and submitted to the people, a draught of a constitution for the State, on the 28th of February, 1778. The framers of the constitution seemed to lack the courage necessary to declare in favor of the freedom of the faithful blacks who had rendered such efficient aid to the cause of the colonists. The prevailing sentiment of the people demanded an article in the constitution denying Negroes the right of citizens. It may be fortunate for the fame of the Commonwealth that the record of the debates on the article denying Negroes the right of suffrage has not been preserved. The article is here given : " V. Every male inhabitant of any town in this State, being free, and twenty- one years of age, excepting Negroes, Indians and Mulattoes, shall be intitled to vote for a Representative or Representatives, as the case may be," etc. By this article three classes of inhabitants were excluded from the rights, blessings, and duties of citizenship ; and the institution of slavery was recognized as existing by sanction of law. But the constitution was rejected by the people, by an overwhelming majority ; not, however, on account of the fifth article, but because the instrument was obnoxious to them on general principles. The defeat of the constitution did not temper public senti ment on the question of Negro slavery, for the very next year the 1 Mass. Archives : Revolutionary Resolves, vol. vii. p. 133. 408 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. domestic trade seemed to receive a fresh impetus. The following advertisements furnish abundant proof of the undiminished vigor of the enterprise. From "The Continental Journal," Nov. 25, 1779: " To be SOLD A likely NEGRO GIRL, 16 years of Age, for no fault, but want of employ." From the same, Dec. 16, 1779: " To be SOLD, A Strong likely NEGRO GIRL," etc. From "The Independent Chronicle," March 9, 1780: " To be SOLD, for want of employment, an exceeding likely NEGRO GIRL,, aged sixteen." From the same, March 30 and April 6, 1780: " To be SOLD, very Cheap, for no other Reason than for want of Employ, an exceeding Active NEGRO BOY, aged fifteen. Also, a likely NEGRO GIRL, aged seventeen." From "The Continental Journal," Aug. 17, 1780: ' To be SOLD, a likely NEGRO BOY." From the same, Aug. 24 and Sept. 7 : " To be SOLD or LETT, for a term of years, a strong, hearty, likely NEGRO GIRL." From the same, Oct. 19 and 26, and Nov. 2 : " To be SOLD, a likely NEGRO BOY, about eighteen years of Age, fit for to serve a Gentleman, to tend horses or to work in the Country." From the same, Oct. 26, 1780: " To be SOLD, a likely NEGRO BOY, about 13 years old, well calculated to wait on a Gentleman. Inquire of the Printer." " To be SOLD, a likely young Cow and CALF. Inquire of the Printer." "Independent Chronicle," Dec. 14, 21, 28, 1780: "A NEGRO CHILD, soon expected, of a good breed, may be owned by any Person inclining to take it, and Money with it." "Continental Journal," Dec. 21, 1780, and Jan. 4, 1781 : " To be SOLD, a hearty, strong NEGRO WENCH, about 29 years of age, fit for town or country." SLAVERY DURING THR RRVOLUTION. 409 From "The Continental Journal," March I, 1781 : " To be SOLD, an extraordinary likely NEGRO WENCH, 17 years old, she can be warranted to be strong, healthy and good-natured, has no notion of Freedom, has been always used to a Farmer's Kitchen and dairy, and is not known to have any failing, but being with Child, which is the only cause of her being sold." It is evident, from the wording of the last advertisement quoted, that the Negroes were sniffing the air of freedom that occasionally blew from the victorious battle-fields, where many of their race had distinguished themselves by the most intrepid valor. They began to get "notions of freedom" and this depre ciated their market value. Dr. William Gordon, the steadfast, earnest, and intelligent friend of the Negro, was deposed as chaplain of both branches of the Legislature on account of his vehement protest against the adoption of the fifth article of the constitution by that body. But his zeal was not thereby abated. He continued to address able articles to the public, and wrought a good work upon the public conscience. In Virginia, notwithstanding Negroes were among the State's most gallant defenders, a law was passed in October, 1776, "de claring tenants of lands or slaves in taille to hold the same in fee simple." Under the circumstances, after the war had begun, and after the declaration by the State of national independence, it- was a most remarkable law. " That any person who now hath, or hereafter may have, any estate in fee taille, general or special, in any lands or slaves in possession, or in the use or trust of any lands or slaves in possession, or who now is or hereafter may be entitled to any such estate taille in reversion or remainder, after the determi nation of any estate for life or lives, or of any lesser estate, whether such estate taille hath been or shall be created by deeds, will, act of assembly, or by any other ways or means, shall from henceforth, or from the commencement of such estate taille, stand ipso facto seized, possessed, or entitled of, in, or to such lands or slaves, or use in lands or slaves, so held or to be held as afore said, in possession, reversion, or remainder, in full and absolute fee simple, in like manner as if such deed, will, act of assembly, or other instrument, had conveyed the same to him in fee simple; any words, limitations, or conditions, in the said deed, will, act of assembly, or other instrument, to the contrary not withstanding." * 1 Hening, vol. ix. p. 226. 410 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. But the valor of the Negro soldier had great influence upon the public mind, and inspired the people in many of the States to demand public recognition of deserving Negroes. It has been noted already, that in South Carolina, if a Negro, having been captured by the enemy, made good his escape back into the State, he was emancipated ; and, if wounded in the line of duty, was rewarded with his freedom. Rhode Island purchased her Negroes for the army, and presented them with fifty dollars bounty and a certificate of freedom at the close of the war. Even Virginia, the mother of slavery, remembered, at the close of the war, the brave Negroes who had fought in her regiments. In October, 1783, the following Act was passed emancipating all slaves who had served in the army with the permission of their masters. It is to be regretted, however, that all slaves who had served in the army were not rewarded with their freedom. " I. WHEREAS it hath been represented to the present general assem bly, that during the course of the war, many persons in this state had caused their slaves to enlist in certain regiments or corps raised within the same, hav ing tendered such slaves to the officers appointed to recruit forces within the state, as substitutes for free persons, whose lot or duty it was to serve in such regiments or corps, at the same time representing to such recruiting officers that the slaves so enlisted by their direction and concurrence were freemen ; and it appearing further to this assembly, that on the expiration of the term of enlistment of such slaves that the former owners have attempted again to force them to return to a state of servitude, contrary to the principles of justice, and to their own solemn promise. " II. And whereas it appears just and reasonable that all persons enlisted as aforesaid, who have faithfully served agreeable to the terms of their enlist ment, and have thereby of course contributed towards the establishment of American liberty and independence, should enjoy the blessings of freedom as a reward for their toils and labours; Be it therefore enacted, That each and every slave who by the appointment and direction of his owner, hath enlisted in any regiment or corps raised within this state, either on continental or state establishment, and hath been received as a substitute for any free person whose .duty or lot it was to serve in such regiment or corps, and hath served faithfully -during the term of such enlistment, or hath been discharged from such service by some officer duly authorized to grant such discharge, shall from and after the passing of this act. be fully and compleatly emancipated, and shall be held and deemed free in as full and ample a manner as if each and every of them were specially named in this act; and the attorney-general for the common wealth, is hereby required to commence an action, in forma pauper is, in behalf of any of the persons above described who shall after the passing of this act be detained in servitude by any person whatsoever; and if upon such prosecu tion it shall appear that the pauper is entitled to his freedom in consequence SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION. 411 of this act, a jury shall be empannelled to assess the damages for his deten tion." i New York enlisted her Negro soldiers under a statutory promise of freedom. They were required to serve three years, or until regularly discharged. Several other States emancipated a few slaves who had served faithfully in the army ; and the recital of the noble deeds of black soldiers was listened to with great interest, had an excellent effect upon many white men after the war, and went far towards mollifying public sentiment on the slavery question. If Massachusetts were ever moved by the valor of her black soldiers to take any action recognizing their services, the record has not been found up to the present time. After commemorat ing the 5th of March for a long time, as a day on which to inflame the public zeal for the cause of freedom, her Legislature refused to mark the grave of the first martyr of the Revolution, Crispus Attucks ! Slavery flourished during the entire Revolutionary period. It enjoyed the silent acquiescence of the pulpit, the support of the public journals, the sanction of the courts, and the indorsement of the military establishment. In a free land (?), under the flag of the government Negroes fought, bled, sacrificed, and died to establish, slavery held undisputed sway. The colonial govern ment, built by the cruel and voracious avarice of Britain, crumbled under the master-stroke of men who desired political and religious liberty more than jewelled crowns ; but the slave institution stood unharmed by the shock of embattled arms. The colonists asked freedom for themselves and children, but forged chains for Negroes and their children. And while a few individual Negro slaves were made a present of themselves at the close of the war, on account of their gallant service, hundreds of thousands of their brethren were still retained in bondage. 1 Hening, vol. xi. pp. 308, 309, 412 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXXI. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. I775-I80O. BRITISH COLONIES IN NORTH AMERICA DECLARE THEIR INDEPENDENCE. A NEW GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED. SLAVERY THE BANE OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. THE TORY PARTY ACCEPT THE DOCTRINE OF PROPERTY IN MAN. THE DOCTRINE OF THE LOCKE CONSTITUTION IN THE SOUTH. THE WHIG PARTY THE DOMINANT POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN THE NORTHERN STATES. SLAVERY RECOGNIZED UNDER THE NEW GOVERNMENT. ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION IN THE STATES. ATTEMPTED LEGISLATION AGAINST SLAVERY. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. THEIR ADOPTION IN 1778. DISCUSSION CONCERNING THE DISPOSAL OF THE WESTERN TERRITORY. MR. JEFFERSON'S RECOMMENDATION. AMENDMENT BY MR. SPAIGHT. CONGRESS IN NEW YORK IN 1787. DISCUSSION RESPECTING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WESTERN TERRITORY. CON VENTION AT PHILADELPHIA TO FRAME THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CON VENTION. THE SOUTHERN STATES STILL ADVOCATE SLAVERY. SPEECHES ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION BY LEADING STATESMEN. CONSTITUTION ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION IN 1787. FIRST SESSION OF CONGRESS UNDER THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION HELD IN NEW YORK IN 1789. THE INTRODUCTION OF A TARIFF-BILL. AN ATTEMPT TO AMEND IT BY INSERTING A CLAUSE LEVYING A TAX ON SLAVES BROUGHT BY WATER. EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS. A CHANGE IN THE PUBLIC OPINION OF THE MIDDLE AND EASTERN STATES ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC FOR PROMOTING THE ABOLI TION OF SLAVERY. MEMORIAL TO THE UNITED-STATES CONGRESS. CONGRESS IN 1790. BITTER DISCUSSION ON THE RESTRICTION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. SLAVE POPULATION. VERMONT AND KENTUCKY ADMITTED INTO THE UNION. A LAW PROVIDING FOR THE RETURN OF FUGITIVES FROM " LABOR AND SERVICE." CONVENTION OF FRIENDS HELD IN PHILADELPHIA. AN ACT AGAINST THE FOREIGN SLAVE-TRADE. MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY. CONSTITUTION OF GEORGIA REVISED. NEW YORK PASSES A BILL FOR THE GRADUAL EXTINCTION OF SLAVERY. CONSTITUTION OF KENTUCKY REVISED. SLAVERY AS AN INSTITUTION FIRMLY ESTABLISHED. THE charge that the mother-country forced slavery upon the British colonies in North America held good until the colonies threw off the yoke, declared their independence, and built a new government, on the 4th of July, 1776. After the promulgation of the gospel of human liberty, the United States of America could no longer point to England as the "first man Adam " of the accursed sin of slavery. Henceforth the American government, under the new dispensation of peace and the equality of all men, was responsible for the continuance of slavery, both as a political and legal problem. Slavery did not escheat to the English government upon the expiration of its authority in North America. It became the SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PXOJ3LEM. 413 dreadful inheritance of the new government, and the eyesore of American civilization. Instead of expelling it from the political institutions of the country, it gradually became a factor of great power. Instead of ruling it out of the courts, it was clothed with the ample garments of judicial respectability. The first article of the immortal Declaration of Independence was a mighty shield of beautifully wrought truths, that the authors intended should protect every human being on the American Continent. " We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 'equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness" It was to be expected, that, after such a declaration of prin ciples, the United States would have abolished slavery and the slave-trade forever. While the magic words of the Declaration of Independence were not the empty " palaver " of a few ambitious leaders, yet the practices of the local and the national govern ment belied the grand sentiments of that instrument. From the earliest moment of the birth of the United-States government, slavery began to receive political support and encouragement. Though it was the cruel and depraved offspring of the British government, it nevertheless was adopted by the free government of America. Political policy seemed to dictate the methods of a political recognition of the institution. And the fact that the slave-trade was prohibited by Congress at an early day, and by many of the colonies also, did not affect the institution in a local sense. The Tory party accepted the doctrine of property in man, without hesitation or reservation. Their political fealty to the Crown, their party exclusiveness, and their earnest desire to co-operate with the Royal African Company in the establishment of the slave institution in America, made them, as per necessity the political guardians of slavery. The institution once planted* property in man having been acquired, it was found to be a diffi cult task to uproot it. Moreover, the loss of the colonies to the 4 14 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. British Crown did not imply death to the Tory party. It doubt less suffered organically ; but its individual members did not forfeit their political convictions, nor suffer their interest in the slave-trade to abate. The new States were ambitious to acquire political power. The white population of the South was small when compared with that of the North ; but the slave population, added to the former, swelled it to alarming proportions. The local governments of the South had been organized upon the fundamental principles of the Locke Constitution. The government was lodged with the few, and their rights were built upon landed estates and political titles and favors. Slaves in the Carolinas and Virginias answered to the vassals and villeins of England. This aristocratic element in Tory politics was in harmony, even in a republic, with the later wish of the South to build a great political "government upon Slavery as its chief corner-stone." Added to this was the desire to abrogate the law of indenture of white servants, and thus to the odium of slavery to loan the powerful influence of caste, ranging the Caucasian against the Ethiopian, the intelligent against the ignorant, the strong against the weak. New England had better ideas of popular government for and of the people, but her practical position on slavery was no better than any State in the South. The Whig party was the dominant political organization throughout the Northern States ; but the universality of slavery made dealers in human flesh members of all parties. The men who wrote the Declaration of Independence depre cated slavery, as they were pronounced Whigs ; but nevertheless many of them owned slaves. They wished the evil exterminated, but confessed themselves ignorant of a plan by which to carry their desire into effect. The good desires of many of the people, born out of the early days of the struggle for independent exist- ence, perished in their very infancy ; and, as has been shown, all the States, and the Congress of the United States, recognized slavery as existing under the new political government. But public sentiment changes in a country where the intellect is unfettered. First, on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Con gress and nearly all the States pronounced against slavery ; a few years later they all recognized the sacredness of slave property ; and still later all sections of the United States seemed to have been agitated by anti-slavery sentiments. In 1780 the Legislature SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 415 of Pennsylvania prohibited the further introduction of slaves, and gave freedom to the children of all slaves born in the State. Delaware resolved "that no person hereafter imported from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any pretense whatever." In 1784 Connecticut and Rhode Island modified their slave-code, and forbade further importations of slaves. In 1778 Virginia passed a law prohibiting the importation of slaves, and in 1782 repealed the law that confined the power of emancipating to the Legislature, only on account of meritorious conduct. Private emancipations became very numerous, and the sentiment in its favor pronounced. But the restriction was re-enacted in about ten years. The eloquence of Patrick Henry and the logic of Thomas Jefferson went far to enlighten public sentiment ; but the political influence of the institution grew so rapidly that in 1785, but two years after the war, Washington wrote LaFayette, " peti tions for the abolition of slavery, presented to the Virginia Legis lature, could scarcely obtain a hearing." Maryland, New York, and New Jersey prohibited the slave-trade; but the institution held its place among the people until 1830. North Carolina attempted to prohibit in 1777, but failed; but in 1786 declared the slave-trade " of evil consequences and highly impolitic" South Carolina and Georgia refused to act, and the slave-trade continued along their shores. After the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1778, the Continental Congress found itself charged with the responsi bility of deciding the conflicting claims of the various States to the vast territory stretching westward from the Ohio River. The war over, the payment of the public debt thus incurred demanded the consideration of the people and of their representatives. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia laid claim to boundless tracts of lands outside of their State boundaries. But New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and South Carolina, making no such claims, and lacking the resources to pay their share of the war debt, suggested that the other States should cede all the territory outside of their State lines, to the United States Government, to be used towards liquidating the entire debt. The proposition was accepted by the States named ; but not, however, without some modification. Virginia reserved a large territory beyond the Ohio with which to pay the bounties of her soldiers, while Connecticut retained a portion of the Reserve since so famous in the history 416 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of Ohio. The duty of framing an ordinance for the government of the Western territory was referred to a select committee by Congress, consisting of Mr. Jefferson of Virginia (chairman), Mr. Chase of Maryland, and Mr. Howell of Rhode Island. The plan reported by the committee contemplated the whole region in cluded within our boundaries west of the old thirteen States, and as far south as our thirty-first degree north latitude. The plan proposed the ultimate division of this territory into seventeen States ; eight of which were to be located below the parallel of the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville), and nine above it. But the most interesting rule reported by Mr. Jefferson was the fol lowing, on the I Qth of April, 1784: "That after the year 1800, of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been convicted to be per sonally guilty." Mr. Spaight of North Carolina moved to amend the report by striking out the above clause, which was seconded by Mr. Reed of South Carolina. The question, upon a demand for the yeas and nays, was put : " Shall the words moved to be stricken out stand ? " The question was lost, and the words were stricken out. The ordinance was further amended, and finally adopted on the 23d of April. The last Continental Congress was held in the city of New York in 1787. The question of the government of the Western territory came up. A committee was appointed on this subject, with Nathan Dane of Massachusetts as chairman. On the nth of July the committee reported " An Ordinance for the govern ment of the Territory of the United States, Northwest of the Ohio." It embodied many of the features of Mr. Jefferson's bill, concluding with six unalterable articles of perpetual compact, the last being the following: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly con victed." When upon its passage, a stipulation was added for the delivery of fugitives from " labor or service ; " x and in this shape the entire ordinance passed on the I3th of July, 1787. Thus it is clear that under the Confederation slavery existed, 1 St. Clair Papers, vol. i. p. 120. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 417 a part of the political government, as a legal fact. There was no effort made by Congress to abolish it. Mr. Jefferson simply sought to arrest its progress, and confine it to the original thirteen States. On the 25th of May, 1787, the convention to frame the Federal Constitution met at Philadelphia, although the day appointed was the I4th. George Washington was chosen presi dent, a committee chosen to report rules of proceeding, and a secretary appointed. The sessions were held with closed doors, and all the proceedings were secret. It contained the most eminent men in the United States, generals of the army, states men, lawyers, and men of broad scholarship. The question of congressional apportionment was 'early before them, and there was great diversity of opinion. But, as there was no census, therefore there could be no just apportionment until an enumera tion of the people was taken. Until that was accomplished, the number of delegates was fixed at sixty-five. Massachusetts was the only State in the Union where slavery did not exist. The Northern States desired representation according to the free inhabitants only ; while all of the Southern States, where the great mass of slaves was, wanted representation according to the entire population, bond and free. Some of the Northern delegates urged their view with great force and eloquence. Mr. Patterson of New Jersey said he regarded slaves as mere property. They were not represented in the States : why should they be in the general government ? They were not allowed to vote : why should they be represented ? He regarded it as an encouragement to the slave-trade. Mr. Wilson of Pennsylvania said, "Are they admitted as citizens ? then, why not on an equality with citizens ? Are they admitted as property ? then, why is not other property admitted into the computation ? " It was evident that neither -extreme view could carry : so the proposition carried to reckon three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes, and to make taxation the basis of representation. New Jersey and Delaware voted Nay ; Massachusetts and South Carolina were divided ; and New York was not represented, her delegates having failed to arrive. It was apparent during the early stages of the debates, that a constitution had to be made that would be acceptable to the Southern delegates. A clause was inserted relieving the Southern States from duties on exports, and upon the importation of slaves ; and that no navigation act should be passed except by a two-thirds 41 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. vote. By denying Congress the authority of giving preference to American over foreign shipping, it was designed to secure cheap transportation for Southern exports ; but, as the shipping- was largely owned in the Eastern States, their delegates were zealous in their efforts to prevent any restriction of the power ot Congress to enact navigation laws. It has been already shown that all the States, with the exception of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, had prohibited the importation of slaves. The prohibition of duties on the importation of slaves was demanded by the delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. They assured the Convention that without such a provision they could never give their assent to the constitution. This declara tion dragooned some Northern delegates into a support of the restriction, but provoked some very plain remarks concerning slavery. Mr. Pinckney said, that, " If the Southern States were let alone, they would probably of themselves stop importations. He would himself, as a citizen of South Carolina, vote for it." Mr. Sherman remarked that "the abolition of slavery seemed to be going on in the United States, and that the good sense of the several states would probably by degrees complete it ; " and Mr. Ellsworth thought that " slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country." Mr. Madison said "he thought it wrong to admit in the Constitution the idea of property in men." Slavery, notwithstanding the high-sounding words just quoted,, was recognized in and by three separate clauses of the Constitu tion. The word "slave" was excluded, but the language does not admit of any doubt. "ART. I. SECT. 2. ... Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor tioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers ; which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons :* . . . "ART. I. SECT. 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person. . . . "ART. IV. SECT. 2. ... No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be 1 The clause " three-fifths of all other persons " refers to Negro slaves. The Italics are our own. The Negro is referred to as a person all through the Constitution. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 419 delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." The debate on the above was exciting and interesting, as the subject of slavery was examined in all its bearings. Finally the Constitution was submitted to Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, to receive the finishing touches of his facile pen. On the 8th of August, 1787, during the debate, he delivered the following speech : " He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of Heaven on the States where it prevailed. Compare the free regions of the Middle States, where a rich and noble culti vation marks the prosperity and happiness of the people, with the misery and poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Virginia, Maryland, and the other States having slaves. Travel through the whole continent, and you Dehold the prospect continually varying with the appearance and disappearance of slavery. The moment you leave the Eastern States, and enter New York, the effects of the institution become visible. Passing through the Jerseys, and entering Pennsylvania, every criterion of superior improvement witnesses the change. Proceed southwardly, and every step you take through the great regions of slaves presents a desert, increasing with the increasing proportion of these wretched beings. Upon what principle is it that the slaves shall be computed in the representation ? Are they men ? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? Why, then, is no other property included ? The houses in this city (Philadelphia) are worth more than all the wretched slaves who cover the rice-swamps of South Carolina. The admission of slaves into the representation, when fairly explained, comes to this, that the inhabitant of Georgia and South Carolina, who goes to the coast of Africa,, and, in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity, tears away his fellow- creatures from their dearest connections, and damns them to the most cruel bondage, shall have more votes in a government instituted for the protection of the rights of mankind than the citizen of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, who views with a laudable horror so nefarious a practice. He would add, that domestic slavery is the most prominent feature in the aristocratic countenance of the proposed Constitution. The vassalage of the poor has ever been the favorite offspring of aristocracy. And what is the proposed compensation to the Northern States for a sacrifice of every principle of right, of every impulse of humanity? They are to bind themselves to march their militia for the defence of the Southern States, for their defence against those very slaves of whom they complain. They must supply vessels and seamen in case of foreign attack. The Legislature will have indefinite power to tax them by excises and duties on imports, both of which will fall heavier on them than on the Southern inhabitants ; for the bohea tea used by a Northern freeman will pay more tax than the whole consumption of the miserable slave, which consists of nothing more than his physical subsistence and the rag that covers his nakedness. On the other side, the Southern States are not to be restrained from importing fresh supplies of wretched Africans, at once to increase the danger of attack 420 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and the difficulty of defence : nay, they are to be encouraged to it by an assur ance of having their votes in the National Government increased in propor tion ; and are, at the same time, to have their exports and their slaves exempt from all contributions for the public service. Let it not be said that direct taxation is to be proportioned to representation. It is idle to suppose that the General Government can stretch its hand directly into the pockets of the people scattered over so vast a country. They can only do it through the medium of exports, imports, and excises. For what, then, are all the sacrifices to be made ? He would sooner submit himself to a tax for paying for all the negroes in the United States than saddle posterity with such a Constitution." * Mr. Rufus King of Massachusetts in the same debate said, " The admission of slaves was a most grating circumstance to his mind, 'and he believed would be so to a great part of the people of America. He had not made a strenuous opposition to it heretofore, because he had hoped that this concession would have produced a readiness, which had not been mani fested, to strengthen the General Government, and to mark a full confidence in it. The report under consideration had, by the tenor of it, put an end to all those hopes. In two great points, the hands of the Legislature were abso lutely tied. The importation of slaves could not be prohibited. Exports could not be taxed. Is this reasonable? What are the great objects of the general system? First, defence against foreign invasion; secondly, against internal sedition. Shall all the States, then, be bound to defend each ? and shall each be at liberty to introduce a weakness which will render defence more difficult? Shall one part of the United States be bound to defend another part, and that other part be at liberty, not only to increase its own danger, but to withhold the compensation for the burden ? If slaves are to be imported, shall not the exports produced by their labor supply a revenue, the better to enable the Gen- eral Government to defend their masters ? There was so much inequality and unreasonableness in all this, that the people of the Northern States could never be reconciled to it. No candid man could undertake to justify it to them. He had hoped that some accommodation would have taken place on this subject; that, at least, a time would have been limited for the importation of slaves. He never could agree to let them be imported without limitation, and then be represented in the National Legislature. Indeed, he could so little persuade himself of the rectitude of such a practice, that he was not sure he could assent to it under any circumstances. At all events, either slaves should .not be represented, or exports should be taxable." Mr. Roger Sherman of Connecticut, " Regarded the slave-trade as iniquitous : but, the point of representation having been settled after much difficulty and deliberation, he did not think him self bound to make opposition ; especially as the present article, as amended, did not preclude any arrangement whatever on that point, in another place of the report." 2 1 Madison Papers, Elliot, vol. v. pp. 392, 393. 2 Ibid., vol. v. pp. 391, 392. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 421 Mr. Luther Martin of Maryland, in the debate, Tuesday, Aug. 21, " Proposed to vary Art. 7, Sect. 4, so as to allow a prohibition or tax on the importation of slaves. In the first place, as five slaves are to be counted as three free men in the apportionment of representatives, such a clause would leave an encouragement to this traffic. In the second place, slaves weakened one part of the Union, which the other parts were bound to protect : the privi lege of importing them was therefore unreasonable. And, in the third place, it was inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution, and dishonorable to the American character, to have such a feature in the Constitution. " Mr. RUTLEDGE did not see how the importation of slaves could be encouraged by this section. He was not apprehensive of insurrections, and would readily exempt the other States from the obligation to protect the Southern against them. Religion and humanity had nothing to do with this question: interest alone is the governing principle with nations. The true question at present is, whether the Southern States shall or shall not be parties to the Union. If the Northern States consult their interest, they will not oppose the increase of slaves, which will increase the commodities of which they will become the carriers. " Mr. ELLSWORTH was for leaving the clause as it stands. Let every State import what it pleases. The morality or wisdom of slavery are con siderations belonging to the States themselves. What enriches a part enriches the whole, and the States are the best judges of their particular interest. The old Confederation had not meddled with this point ; and he did not see any greater necessity tor bringing it within the policy of the new one. " Mr. PINCKNEY. South Carolina can never receive the plan if it prohib its the slave-trade. In every proposed extension of the powers of Congress, that State has expressly and watchfully excepted that of meddling with the importation of Negroes. If the States be all left at liberty on this subject, South Carolina may perhaps, by degrees, do of herself what is 'wished, us Virginia and Maryland have already done. " Adjourned. " WEDNESDAY, Aug. 22. "/ Convention. Art. 7, Sect. 4, was resumed. " Mr. SHERMAN was for leaving the clause as it stands. He disapproved of the slave-trade ; yet, as the States were now possessed of the right to import slaves, as the public good did not require it to be taken from them, and as it was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed .scheme of government, he thought it best to leave the matter as we find it . . . He urged on the Convention the necessity of despatching its business. " Col. MASON. This infernal traffic originated in the avarice of British merchants. The British Government constantly checked the attempts of Vir ginia to put a stop to it. The present question concerns, not the importing States alone, but the whole Union. The evil of having slaves was experienced during the late war. Had slaves been treated as they might have been by the enemy, they would have proved dangerous instruments in their hands. But their folly dealt by the slaves as it did by the Tories. He mentioned the dan gerous insurrections of the slaves in Greece and Sicily, and the instructions 422 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. given by Cromwell to the commissioners sent to Virginia, to arm the serv ants and slaves, in case other means of obtaining its submission should fail. Maryland and Virginia, he said, had already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly. North Carolina had done the same in substance. All this would be in vain, if South Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to import. The Western people are already calling but for slaves for their new lands ; and will fill that country with slaves, if they can be got through South Carolina and Georgia. Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the emigration of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effect 's, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. He lamented that some of our Eastern brethren had, from a lust of gain, embarked in this- nefarious traffic. As to the States being in possession of the right to import,, this was the case with many other rights, now to be properly given up. He held it essential, in every point of view, that the General Government should have power to prevent the increase of slavery. " Mr. ELLSWORTH, as he had never owned a slave, could not judge of the effects of slavery on character. He said, however, that, if it was to be con sidered in a moral light, we ought to go further, and free those already in the country. As slaves also multiply so fast in Virginia and Maryland, that it is. cheaper to raise than import them, whilst in the sickly rice-swamps foreign supplies are necessary, if we go no further than is urged, we shall be unjust towards South Carolina and Georgia. Let us not intermeddle. As population increases, poor laborers will be so plenty as to render slaves useless. Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country. Provision is already made in Connecticut for abolishing it; and the abolition has already taken place in Massachusetts. As to the danger of insurrections from foreign influence, that will become a motive to kind treatment of the slaves. " Gen. PINCKNEY declared it to be his firm opinion, that if himself and all his colleagues were to sign the Constitution, and use their personal influence, it would be of no avail towards obtaining the assent of their constituents. South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves. As to Virginia, she will gain by stopping the importations. Her slaves will rise in value, and she has more than she wants. It would be unequal to require South Carolina and Georgia to confederate on such unequal terms. He said, the royal assent, before the Revolution, had never been refused to South Carolina as to Virginia. He contended, that the importation of slaves would be for the interest of the whole Union. The more slaves, the more produce to employ the carrying- trade ; the more consumption also ; and, the more of this, the more revenue for the common treasury. He admitted it to be reasonable, that slaves should be dutied like other imports ; but should consider a rejection of the clause as an exclusion of South Carolina from the Union. "Mr. BALDWIN had conceived national objects alone to be before the Convention; not such as, like the present, were of a local nature. Georgia was decided on this point. That State has always hitherto supposed a General Government to be the pursuit of the Central States, who wished to have a SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 423 vortex for every thing; that her distance would preclude her from equal advantage ; and that she could not prudently purchase it by yielding national powers. From this it might be understood in what light she would view an attempt to abridge one of her favorite prerogatives. If left to herself, she may probably put a stop to the evil. As one ground for this conjecture, he took notice of the sect of , which, he said, was a respectable class of people, who carried their ethics beyond the mere equality of men, extending their humanity to the claims of the whole animal creation. " Mr. WILSON observed, that, if South Carolina and Georgia were them selves disposed to get rid of the importation of slaves in a short time, as had been suggested, they would never refuse to unite because the importation might be prohibited. As the section now stands, all articles imported are to be taxed. Slaves alone are exempt. This is, in fact, a bounty on that article. " Mr. GERRY thought we had nothing to do with the conduct of the States as to slaves, but ought to be careful not to give any sanction to it. " Mr. DICKINSON considered it as inadmissible, on every principle of honor and safety, that the importation of slaves should be authorized to the States by the Constitution. The true question was, whether the national. happiness would be promoted or impeded by the importation ; and this question ought to be left to the National Government, not to the States particularly interested. If Eng land and France permit slavery, slaves are, at the same time, excluded from both those kingdoms. Greece and Rome were made unhappy by their slaves. He could not believe that the Southern States would refuse to confederate on the account apprehended ; especially as the power was not likely to be immedi ately exercised by the General Government. " Mr. WILLIAMSON stated the law of North Carolina on the subject ; to wit, that it did not directly prohibit the importation of slaves. It imposed a duty of ^5 on each slave imported from Africa, ^10 on each from elsewhere, and ^50 on each from a State licensing manumission. He thought the South ern States could not be members of the Union, if the clause should be rejected; and it was wrong to force any thing down not absolutely necessary, and which any State must disagree to. " Mr. KING thought the subject should be considered in a political light only. If two States will not agree to the Constitution, as stated on one side, he could affirm with equal belief, on the other, that great and equal opposition would be experienced from the other States. He remarked on the exemption of slaves from duty, whilst every other import was subjected to it, as an ine quality that could not fail to strike the commercial sagacity of the Northern and Middle States. " Mr. LANGDON was strenuous for giving the power to the General Gov ernment. He could not, with a good conscience, leave it with the States, who could then go on with the traffic, without being restrained by the opinions here given, that they will themselves cease to import slaves. " Gen. PINCKNEY thought himself bound to declare candidly, that he did not think South Carolina would stop her importations of slaves in any short time ; but only stop them occasionally, as she now does. He moved to commit the clause, that slaves might be made liable to an equal tax with other imports ; which he thought right, and which would remove one difficulty that had been started. 424 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Mr. RUTLEDGE. If the Convention thinks that North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia will ever agree to the plan, unless their right to import slaves be untouched, the expectation is vain. The people of those States will never be such fools as to give up so important an interest. He was strenuous against striking out the section, and seconded the motion of Gen. Pinckney for a commitment. " Mr. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS wished the whole subject to be committed, including the clauses relating to taxes on exports and to a navigation act. These things may form a bargain among the Northern and Southern States. " Mr. BUTLER declared, that he never would agree to the power of taxing exports. " Mr. SHERMAN said it was better to let the Southern States import slaves than to part with them, if they made that a sine qua non. He was opposed to a tax on slaves imported, as making the matter worse, because it implied they were property. He acknowledged, that, if the power of prohibit ing the importation should be given to the General Government, it would be exercised. He thought it would be its duty to exercise the power. " Mr. READ was for the commitment, provided the clause concerning taxes on exports should also be committed. " Mr. SHERMAN observed, that that clause had been agreed to, and there fore could not be committed. " Mr. RANDOLPH was for committing, in order that some middle ground might, if possible, be found. He could never agree to the clause as it stands. He would sooner risk the Constitution. He dwelt on the dilemma to which the Convention was exposed. By agreeing to the clause, it would revolt the Quakers, the Methodists, and many others in the States having no slaves. On the other hand, two States might be lost to the Union. Let us then, he said, try the chance of a commitment." Three days later (Saturday, Aug. 25) the debate on the subject was resumed, and the report of the committee of eleven was taken up. It was in the following words : " Strike out so much of the fourth section as was referred to the Com mittee, and insert ' The migration or importation of such persons as the sev eral States, now existing, think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Legislature prior to the year 1800; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such migration or importation, at a rate not exceeding the average of the duties laid on imports.' " Gen. PINCKNEY moved to strike out the words ' the year eighteen hun dred ' as the year limiting the importation of slaves, and to insert the words ' the year eighteen hundred and eight.' " Mr. GORHAM seconded the motion. " Mr. MADISON. Twenty years will produce all the mischief that can be apprehended from the liberty to import slaves. So long a term will be more 1 Madison Papers, Elliot, vol. v. pp. 457-461. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 425 dishonorable to the American character than to say nothing about it in the Constitution. " On the motion, which passed in the affirmative, " New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, ay, 7 ; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vir ginia, no, 4. " Mr. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS was for making the clause read at once, "'The importation of slaves into North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, shall not be prohibited,' &c. This, he said, would be most fair, and would avoid the ambiguity by which, under the power with regard to natural ization, the liberty reserved to the States might be defeated. He wished it to. be known, also, that this part of the Constitution was a compliance with those States. If the change of language, however, should be objected to by the members from those States, he should not urge it. " Col. MASON was not against using the term 'slaves,' but against naming North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, lest it should give offence to the people of those States. " Mr. SHERMAN liked a description better than the terms proposed, which had been declined by the old Congress, and were not pleasing to some people. " Mr. CLYMER concurred with Mr. Sherman. " Mr. WILLIAMSON said, that, both in opinion and practice, he was against slavery ; but thought it more in favor of humanity, from a view of all circum stances, to let in South Carolina and Georgia on those terms, than to exclude them from the Union. " Mr. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS withdrew his motion. " Mr. DICKINSON wished the clause to be confined to the States which had not themselves prohibited the importation of slaves ; and, for that purpose, moved to amend the clause so as to read, " ' The importation of slaves into such of the States as shall permit the same shall not be prohibited by the Legislature of the United States until the year 1808;' " which was disagreed to, nem. con. " The first part of the Report was then agreed to, amended as follows : " ' The migration or importation of such persons as the several States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the Legislature prior to the year 1808.' " New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, ay,- -7; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Vir ginia, no, 4."! The above specimens of the speeches on the slavery ques tion, during the debate, are sufficient to furnish a fair idea of the personal opinion of the great thinkers of that time on slavery. It is clear that it was the wish of the great majority of the North ern delegates to abolish the institution, in a domestic as well as in J Madison Papers, Elliot, vol. v. pp. 477, 478. .426 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. a foreign sense; but they were not strong enough to resist the temptation to compromise their profoundest convictions on a ques tion as broad and far-reaching as the Union that they were met to launch anew. Thus by an understanding, or, as Gouyerneur Morris called it, " a bargain," between the commercial representa tives of the Northern States and the delegates of South Carolina .and Georgia, and in spite of the opposition of Maryland and Vir ginia, the unrestricted power of Congress to enact navigation-laws was conceded to the Northern merchants ; and to the Carolina rice-planters, as an equivalent, twenty years' continuance of the African slave-trade. This was the third great " compromise" of the Constitution. The other two were the concession to the smaller States of an equal representation in the Senate; and, to the slaveholders, the counting three-fifths of the slaves in deter mining the ratio of representation. If this third compromise differed from the other two by involving not merely a political but a moral sacrifice, there was this partial compensation about it, that it was not permanent like the others, but expired, by limita tion, at the end of twenty years. 1 The Constitution was adopted by the Convention, and signed, on the 1 7th of September, 1787. It was then forwarded to Congress, then in session in New- York City, with the recom mendation that that body submit it to the State conventions for ratification ; which was accordingly done. Delaware adopted it on the 7th of December, 1787; Pennsylvania, Dec. 12; New Jersey, Dec. 18; Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. 9; Massachusetts, Feb. 7 ; Maryland, April 28 ; South Carolina, May 23; New Hampshire, June 21 (and, being the ninth ratify ing, gave effect to the Constitution) ; Virginia ratified June 27 ; New York, July 26. North Carolina gave a conditional ratifica tion on the 7th of August, but Congress did not receive it until January, 1790; nor that of Rhode Island, until June of the same year. At the conclusion of the deliberations of the convention that framed the Constitution, it was voted that its journal be intrusted to the custody of George Washington. He finally deposited it in the State Department, and it was printed in 1818 by order of Congress. The first session of Congress, under the new Constitution, was 1 Examine Hildreth and the Secret Debates on the subject of the " compromises." SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 427 held in the city of New York, in 1789. A quorum was obtained on the 6th of April ; and the first measure brought up for consid eration was a tariff-bill which Mr. Parker of Virginia sought to amend by inserting a clause levying an impost-tax of ten dollars upon every slave brought by water. " He was sorry the Consti tution prevented Congress from prohibiting the importation alto gether. It was contrary to revolution principles, and ought not to be permitted." Thus the question of slavery made its appear ance early at the first session of the first Congress under the present Constitution. At that time Georgia was the only State in the Union that seemed to retain a pecuniary interest in the importation of slaves. Even South Carolina had passed an Act prohibiting for one year the importation of slaves. In this, as on several occasions before, she was actuated on account of the low prices of produce, too low to be remunerative. But, notwith standing this, Mr. Smith, the member from the Charleston dis trict, grew quite captious over the proposition of the gentleman from Virginia. He " Hoped that such an important and serious proposition would not be hastily adopted. It was rather a late moment for the first introduction of a subject so big with serious consequences. No one. topic had been yet intro duced so important to South Carolina and the welfare of the Union." Mr. Sherman got the floor, and said he " Approved the object of the motion, but did not think it a fit subject to be embraced in this bill. He could not reconcile himself to the insertion of human beings, as a subject of impost, among goods, wares, and merchandise. He hoped the motion would be withdrawn for the present, and taken up after wards as an independent subject." Mr. Jackson of Georgia " Was not surprised, however others might be so, at the quarter whence this motion came. Virginia, as an old settled State, had her complement of slaves, and the natural increase being sufficient for her purpose, she was care less of recruiting her numbers by importation. But gentlemen ought to let their neighbors get supplied before they imposed such a burden. He knew this business was viewed in an odious light at the Eastward, because the people there were capable of doing their own work, and had no occasion for slaves. But gentlemen ought to have some feeling for others. Surely they do not mean to tax us for every comfort and enjoyment of life, and, at the same time, to take from us the means of procuring them ! He was sure, from the unsuit- ableness of the motion to the business now before the house, and the want of time to consider it, the gentleman's candor would induce him to withdraw it. 428 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Should it ever be brought forward again, he hoped it would comprehend the white slaves as well as the black, imported from all the jails of Europe; wretches convicted of the most flagrant crimes, who were brought in and sold without any duty whatever. They ought to be taxed equally with Africans, and he had no doubt of the equal constitutionality and propriety of such a course." Mr. Parker of Virginia obtained the floor again, and proceeded to reply to the remarks offered upon his amendment by Sherman, Jackson, and Smith. He declared, " That, having introduced the motion on mature reflection, he did not like to withdraw it. The gentleman from Connecticut had said that human beings ought not to be enumerated with goods, wares, and merchandise. Yet he believed they were looked upon by African traders in that light. He hoped Congress would do all in their power to restore to human nature its inherent privileges; to wipe off, if possible, the stigma under which America labored; to do away the inconsistence in our principles justly charged upon us ; and to show, by our actions, the pure beneficence of the doctrine held out to the world in our Declaration of Independence." Mr. Ames of Massachusetts " Detested slavery from his soul ; but he had some doubts whether impos ing a duty on their importation would not have an appearance of countenan cing the practice." Mr. Madison made an eloquent speech in support of Mr. Park er's amendment. He said, "The confounding men with merchandise might be easily avoided by altering the title of the bill ; it was, in fact, the very object of the motion to prevent men, so far as the power of Congress extended, from being confounded with merchandise. The clause in the Constitution allowing a tax to be imposed, though the traffic could not be prohibited for twenty years, was inserted, he believed, for the very purpose of enabling Congress to give some testimony of the sense of America with respect to the African trade. By expressing a national disapprobation of that trade, it is to be hoped we may destroy it, and so save ourselves from reproaches, and our posterity from the imbecility ever attendant on a country filled with slaves. This was as much the interest of South Carolina and Georgia as of any other States. Every addition they received to their number of slaves tended to weakness, and rendered them less capable of self-defence. In case of hostilities with foreign nations, their slave population would be a means, not of repelling invasions, but of inviting attack. It was the duty of the general government to protect every part of the Union against danger, as well internal as external. Every thing, therefore, which tended to increase this danger, though it might be a local affair, yet, if it involved national expense or safety, became of concern to every part of the SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 429 Union, and a proper subject for the consideration of those charged with the general administration of the government." Mr. Bland approved the position taken by Mr. Madison, while Mr. Burke of South Carolina charged the gentlemen with having wasted the time of Congress upon a useless proposition. He contended, that, while slaves were not mentioned in the Constitu tion, they would come under the general five per cent ad valorem duty on all unenumerated articles, which would be equivalent to the proposition of the gentleman from Virginia. Mr. Madison replied by saying, that no collector of customs would presume to apply the terms " goods," " wares," and " merchandise " to persons. Mr. Sherman followed him in the same strain, and denied that persons were anywhere recognized as property in the Constitution. Finally, at the suggestion of Mr. Madison, Mr. Parker consented to withdraw his motion with the understanding that a separate bill should be brought in. A committee was appointed to dis charge that duty, but the noble resolve found a quiet grave in the committee-room. The failure of this first attempt, under the new Constitution, to restrict slavery, did not lame the cause to any great extent. It was rather accelerated. .The manner and spirit of the debate on the subject quickened public thought, animated the friends of the Negro, and provoked many people to good works. Slavery had ceased to exist in Massachusetts. Several suits, entered by slaves, against their masters for restraining their liberty, had been won. The case of Elizabeth Freeman, better known as " Mum Bet,'* was regarded as the first-fruits of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in the new Constitution of 1780. The Duke de la Rochefoucault Laincort gives the following interesting account of the extinction of slavery in Massachusetts : - "In 1781, some negroes, prompted by private suggestion, maintained that they were not slaves : they found advocates, among whom was Mr. Sedgwick, now a member of the Senate of the United States ; and the cause was carried before the Supreme Court. Their counsel pleaded, i. That no antecedent law had established slavery, and that the laws which seemed to suppose it were the offspring of error in the legislators, who had no authority to enact them : 2, That such laws, even if they had existed, were annulled by the new Constitu tion. They gained the cause under both aspects : and the solution of this first question that was brought forward set the negroes entirely at liberty, and at the same time precluded their pretended owners from all claim to indemnifica tion, since they were proved to have possessed and held them in slavery with- 430 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. out any right. As there were only a few slaves in Massachusetts, the decision passed without opposition, and banished all further idea, of slavery." J Mr. Nell gives an account of the legal death of slavery in Massachusetts, but unfortunately does not cite any authority. John Quincy Adams, in reply to a question put by John C. Spencer, stated that "a note had been given for the price of a slave in 1787. This note was sued, and the Court ruled that the maker had received no consideration, as a man could not be sold. From that time forward, slavery died in the Old Bay State." There were several suits instituted by slaves against their reputed masters in 1781-82; but there are strong evidences that slavery died a much slower death in Massachusetts than many are willing to admit. James Sullivan wrote to Dr. Belknap in 1795 : "In 1781, at the Court in Worcester County, an indictment was found against a white man named Jennison for assaulting, beating, and imprisoning Quock Walker, a black. He was tried at the Supreme Judicial Court in 1783. His defence was, that the black was his slave, and that the beating, etc., was the necessary restraint and correction of the master. This was answered by citing the aforesaid clause in the declaration of rights. The judges and jury were of opinion that he had no right to imprison or beat the negro. He was found guilty and fined 40 shillings. This decision put an end to the idea of slavery in Massachusetts." 2 There are two things in the above that throw considerable uncertainty about the subject as to the precise date of the end of slavery in the Commonwealth. First, the suit referred to was tried in 1783, three. years after the adoption of the new Constitu tion. Second, the good doctor does not say that the decision sealed the fate of slavery, but only that it " was a mortal wound to slavery in Massachusetts." From 1785-1790, there was a wonderful change in the public opinion of the Middle and Eastern States on the subject of slavery. Most of them had passed laws providing for gradual emancipation. The Friends of New York, New Jersey, and Penn sylvania began to organize a crusade against domestic slavery. In the fall of 1789, while the Congressional debates were still fresh in the minds of the people, the venerable Dr. Benjamin Franklin, as president of the " Pennsylvania Society for Promot ing the Abolition of Slavery," etc., issued the following let ter: 1 Travels, etc., vol. ii. p. 166. 2 M. H. S. Coll., 5th Series, III., p. 403. SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 431 "AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. "From the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage. "It is with peculiar satisfaction we assure the friends of humanity, that, in prosecuting the design of our association, our endeavors have proved suc cessful, far beyond our most sanguine expectations. "Encouraged by this success, and by the daily progress of that luminous and benign spirit of liberty which is diffusing itself throughout the world, and humbly hoping for the continuance of the divine blessing on our labors, we have ventured to make an important addition to our original plan ; and do therefore earnestly solicit the support and assistance of all who can feel the tender emotions of sympathy and compassion, or relish the exalted pleasure of beneficence. " Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. "The unhappy man, who has long been treated as a brute animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human species. The galling chains that bind his body do also fetter his intellectual faculties, and impair the social affections of his heart. Accustomed to move like a mere machine, by the will of a master, reflection is suspended ; he has not the power of choice ; and reason and conscience have but little influence over his conduct, because he is chiefly governed by the passion of fear. He is poor and friendless ; perhaps worn out by extreme labor, age, and disease. " Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove a misfortune to himself, and prejudicial to society. " Attention to emancipated black people, it is therefore to be hoped, will become a branch of ou^national police ; but, as far as we contribute to promote this emancipation, so far that attention is evidently a serious duty incumbent on us, and which we mean to discharge to the best of our judgment and abilities. " To instruct, to advise, to qualify those who have been restored to free dom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty ; to promote in them habits of industry; to furnish them with employments suited to their age, sex, talents, and other circumstances ; and to procure their children an education calculated for their future situation in life, these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted, and which we conceive will essentially promote the public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected fellow-creatures. " A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution without considera ble pecuniary resources, beyond the present ordinary funds of the Society. We hope much from the generosity of enlightened and benevolent freemen, and will gratefully receive any donations or subscriptions for this purpose which may be made to our Treasurer, James Starr, or to James Pembertonj Chairman of our Committee of Correspondence. " Signed by order of the Society, " B. FRANKLIN, President. "PHILADELPHIA, gth of November, 1789." 432 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. And as his last public act, Franklin gave his signature to the subjoined memorial to the United-States Congress : " The memorial respectfully showeth, " That, from a regard for the happiness of mankind, an association was formed several years since in this State, by a number of her citizens, of various religious denominations, for promoting the abolition of slavery, and for the relief of those unlawfully held in bondage. A just and acute conception of the true principles of liberty, as it spread through the land, produced accessions to their numbers, many friends to their cause, and a legislative co-operation with their views, which, by the blessing of Divine Providence, have been suc cessfully directed to the relieving from bondage a large number of their fel low-creatures of the African race. They have also the satisfaction to observe, that, in consequence of that spirit of philanthropy and genuine liberty which is generally diffusing its beneficial influence, similar institutions are forming at home and abroad. " That mankind are all formed by the same Almighty Being, alike objects of his care, and equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness, the Chris tian religion teaches us to believe, and the political creed of Americans fully coincides with the position. Your memorialists, particularly engaged in attend ing to the distresses arising from slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to present this subject to your notice. They have observed, with real satisfac tion, that many important and salutary powers are vested in you for 'promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to the people of the United States ' ; and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be ad ministered, without distinction of color, to all descriptions of people, so they indulge themselves in the pleasing expectation, that nothing which can be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will be either omitted or delayed. " From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birth-right, of all men ; and influenced by the strong ties of humanity, and the principles of their institution, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and pro mote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. Under these impres sions, they earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of slavery ; that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those un happy men, who alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groan ing in servile subjection ; that you will devise means for removing this incon sistency from the character of the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race ; and that you will step to the very verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men. " BENJ. FRANKLIN, President. "PHILADELPHIA, February 3, 1790." The session of Congress held in 1/90 was stormy. The slavery question came back to haunt the members. On the I2th SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 433 of February, the memorial from the Pennsylvania society was read. It provoked fresh discussion, and greatly angered many of the Southern members. As soon as its reading was completed, the " Quaker Memorial," that had been read the day previous, was called up ; and Mr. Hartley moved its commitment. A long and spirited debate ensued. It was charged that the memorial was " a mischievous attempt, an improper interference, at the best, an act of imprudence ; " and that it " would sound an alarm and blow the trumpet of sedition through the Southern States." Mr. Scott of Pennsylvania replied by saying, " I cannot entertain a doubt that the memorial is strictly agreeable to the Constitution. It respects a part of the duty particularly assigned to us by that instrument." Mr. Sherman was in favor of the commitment of the memorial, and gave his reasons in extenso. Mr. Smith of South Carolina said, "Notwithstanding all the calmness with which some gentlemen have viewed the subject, they will find that the mere discussion of it will create alarm. We have been told that, if so, we should have avoided discussion by saying nothing. But it was not for that purpose we were sent here. We look upon this measure as an attack upon property ; it is, therefore, our duty to oppose it by every means in our power. When we entered into a political connection with the other States, this property was there. It had been acquired under a former government conformably to the laws and constitution, and every attempt to deprive us of it must be in the nature of an ex post facto law, and, as such, forbidden by our political compact." Fol lowing the unwise and undignified example set by the gentlemen who had preceded him on that side of the question, he slurred the Quakers. "His constituents wanted no lessons in religion and morality, and least of all from such teachers." Madison, Gerry, Boudinot, and Page favored commitment. Upon the question to commit, the yeas and nays being demanded, the reference was made by a vote of forty-three to eleven. Of the latter, six were from Georgia and South Carolina, two from Virginia, two from Maryland, and one from New York. A special committee was announced, to whom the memorial was referred, consisting of one member from each of the following States : New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. At the end of a month, the commit tee made the following report to Congress : 434 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 11 1st. That the general government was expressly restrained, until the year 1808, from prohibiting the importation of any persons whom any of the existing states might till that time think proper to admit. 2d. That, by a fair construction of the constitution, congress was equally restrained from inter fering to emancipate slaves within the states, such slaves having been born there, or having been imported within the period mentioned. 3d. That con gress had no power to interfere in the internal regulation of particular states relative to the instruction of slaves in the principles of morality and religion, to their comfortable clothing, accommodation, and subsistence, to the regulation of marriages or the violation of marital rights, to the separation of children and parents, to a comfortable provision in cases of age or infirmity, or to the seizure, transportation, and sale of free negroes; but entertained the fullest confidence in the wisdom and humanity of the state legislature that, from time to time, they would revise their laws, and promote these and all other measures tending to the happiness of the slaves. The fourth asserted that congress had authority to levy a tax of ten dollars, should they see fit to exact it, upon every person imported under the special permission of any of the states. The fifth declared the authority of congress to interdict or to regulate the African slave-trade, so far as it might be carried on by citizens of the United States for the supply of foreign countries, and also to provide for the humane treatment of slaves while on their passage to any ports of the United States into which they might be admitted. The. sixth asserted the right of congress to prohibit foreigners from fitting out vessels in the United States to be employed in the supply of foreign countries with slaves from Africa. The seventh expressed an intention on the part of congress to exercise their authority to its full extent to promote the humane objects aimed at in the Quaker's memorial." Mr. Tucker took the floor against the report of the committee, and, after a bitter speech upon the unconstitutionally of meddling with the slavery question in any manner, moved a substitute for the whole, in which he pronounced the recommendations of the committee "as unconstitutional, and tending to injure some of the States of the Union." Mr. Jackson seconded the motion in a rather intemperate speech, which was replied to by Mr. Viraing, The substitute of Mr. Tucker was declared out of order. Mr. Benson moved to recommit in hopes of getting rid of the subject, but the motion was overwhelmingly voted down. The report was taken up article by article. The three first resolutions (those relating to the authority of Congress over slavery in the States) were adopted ; while the second and third were merged into one, stripped of its objectionable features. But on the fourth the debate was carried to a high pitch. This one related to the ten- dollar tax. Mr. Tucker moved to amend by striking out the fourth resolution. Considerable discussion followed ; and, upon the question being put, it was carried by one vote. The fifth SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 435 resolution, affirming the power of Congress to regulate the slave- trade, drew the fire of Jackson, Smith, and Tucker. Mr. Madison offered to modify it somewhat. It was argued by the opponents of this resolution, that Congress, under the plea of regulating the trade, might prohibit it entirely. Mr. Vining of Delaware, some what out of patience with the demands of the Southern members, told those gentlemen very plainly that they ought to be satisfied with the changes already made to gratify them ; that they should show some respect to the committee ; that all the States from Virginia to New Hampshire had passed laws prohibiting the slave- trade ; and then delivered an eloquent defence of the Quakers. The resolution, as modified by Mr. Madison, carried. The sixth resolution, relating to the foreign slave-trade carried on from ports of the United States, received considerable atten tion. Mr. Scott made an elaborate speech upon it, in which he claimed, that, if it were a question as to the power of Congress to regulate the foreign slave-trade, he had no doubts as to the author ity of that body. " I desire," said that gentleman, " that the world should know, I desire that those people in the gallery, about whom so much has been said, should know, that there is at least one member on this floor who believes that Congress have ample powers to do all they have asked respecting the African slave- trade. Nor do I doubt that Congress will, whenever necessity or policy dictates the measure, exercise those powers." Mr. Jackson attempted to reply. He started out with a labored argument showing the divine origin of slavery, quoting Scriptures ; showed that the Greeks and Romans had held slaves, etc. He was followed and supported by Smith of South Carolina. Boudinot obtained the floor, and, after defending the Quakers and praising Franklin, declared that there was nothing unreasonable in the memorial ; that it simply requested them "to go to the utmost verge of the Constitution," and not beyond it. Further debate was had, when the sixth resolution was adopted. The seventh resolution, pledging Congress to exert their full powers for the restriction of the slave-trade and, as some under stood it, to discountenance slavery was struck out. The com mittee then arose and reported the resolutions to the house. The next day, the 23d March, 1790, after some preliminary business was disposed of, a motion was made to take up the report of the committee. Ames, Madison, and others thought the matter, hav ing occupied so much of the time of the house, should be left 43 6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. where it was ; or rather, as Mr. Madison expressed it, simply entered on the Journals as a matter of public record. After some little discussion, this motion prevailed by a vote of twenty-nine to twenty-five. The entry was accordingly made as follows : " That the migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, can not be prohibited by congress prior to the year 1808. " That congress have no right to interfere in the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them, in any of the states, it remaining with the several states alone to provide any regulations therein which humanity and true policy require. " That congress have authority to restrain the citizens of the United States from carrying on the African slave-trade for the purpose of supplying for eigners with slaves, and of providing by proper regulations for the humane treatment, during their passage, of slaves imported by the said citizens into the said states admitting such importation. " That congress have also authority to prohibit foreigners from fitting out vessels in any port of the United States for transporting persons from Africa to any foreign port." The census of 1790 gave the slave population of the States as follows : SLAVE POPULATION. CENSUS OF 1790. Connecticut 2,759 Delaware 8,887 Georgia 29,264 Kentucky 11,830 Maryland 103,036 New Hampshire 158 New Jersey .......... 1 1,423 New York . 21,324 North Carolina 100,572 Pennsylvania 3,737 Rhode Island 952 South Carolina 107,094 Vermont ........... 17 Virginia 293,427 Territory south of Ohio 3A 1 7 Aggregate, 697,897. Vermont was admitted into the Union on the i8th of Feb ruary, 1791 ; and the first article of the Bill of Rights declared that " no male person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be bound by law to serve any person as a servant, slave, or apprentice after he arrives at the age of twenty-one years, nor SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 437 female, in like manner, after she arrives at the age of twenty-one years, unless they are bound by their own consent after they arrive at such age, or are bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like." This provision was contained in the first Constitution of that State, and, therefore, it was the -first one to abolish and prohibit slavery in North America. On the 4th of February, 1791, Kentucky was admitted into the Union by Act of Congress, though it had no Constitution. But the next year a Constitution was framed. By it the Legisla ture was denied the right to emancipate slaves without the con sent of the owner, nor without paying the full price of the slaves before emancipating them ; nor could any laws be passed prohib iting emigrants from other states from bringing with them per sons deemed slaves by the laws of any other states in the Union, so long as such persons should be continued as slaves in Ken tucky. The Legislature had power to prohibit the bringing into the state slaves for the purpose of sale. Masters were required to treat their slaves with humanity, to properly feed and clothe them, and to abstain from inflicting any punishment extending to life and limb. Laws could be passed granting owners the right to emancipate their slaves, but requiring security that the slaves thus emancipated should not become a charge upon the county. During the session of Congress in 1791, the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery presented another memorial, calling upon Congress to exercise the powers they had been declared to possess by the report of the committee which had been spread upon the Journals of the house. Thus emboldened, other anti-slavery societies, of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and a few local societies of Maryland, presented memorials praying for the suppression of slavery in the United States. They were referred to a select committee; and, as they made no report, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the next year, called the attention of Congress to the subject. On the 24th of November, 1792, a Mr. Warner MifHin, an anti-slavery Quaker from Delaware, addressed a memorial to Congress on the general subject of slavery, which was read and laid upon the table without debate. On the 26th of November, Mr. Stute of North Carolina offered some sharp remarks upon the presumption of the Quaker, and moved that the petition be returned to the peti tioner, and that the clerk be instructed to erase the entry from the Journal. This provoked a heated discussion ; but at length the HISTORY OF 7 HE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. petition was returned to the author, and the motion to erase the- record from the Journal was withdrawn by the mover. In 1793 a law was passed providing for the return of fugitives- from justice and from service. "In case of the escape out of any state or territory of any person held to service or labor under the laws thereof, the person to whom such labor was due, his agent, or attorney, might seize the fugitive and carry him before: any United States judge, or before any magistrate of the city, town, or county in which the arrest was made ; and such judge or magistrate, on proof to his satisfaction, either oral or by affidavit before any other magistrate, that the person seized was really a fugitive, and did owe labor as alleged, was to grant a certificate to that effect to the claimant, this certificate to serve as sufficient warrant for the removal of the fugitive to the state whence he had fled. Any person obstructing in any way such seizure or removal, or harboring or concealing any fugitive after notice, was liable to- a penalty of $500, to be recovered by the claimant." In 1794 an anti-slavery convention was held in Philadelphia,. in which nearly all of the abolition societies of the country were represented. A memorial, carefully avoiding constitutional objec tions, was drawn and addressed to Congress to do whatever they could toward the suppression of the slave-trade. This memorial, with several other petitions, was referred to a special committee. In due time they reported a bill, which passed without much opposition. It was the first act of the government toward repressing the slave-trade, and was as mild as a summer's day. On Wednesday, the 7th of January, 1795, another meeting was held in Philadelphia, the second, to consider anti-slavery measures. The Act of Congress was read. "An Act to prohibit the carrying on the Slave-trade from the United States to any foreign place or country. " SECTION I. BE it enacted by the Senate and Hoiise of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That no citizen or citi zens of the United States, or foreigner, or any other person coming into, or residing within the same, shall, for himself or any other person whatsoever, either as master, factor or owner, build, fit, equip, load or otherwise prepare any ship or vessel, within any port or place of the said United States, nor shall cause any ship or vessel to sail from any port or place within the same, for the purpose of carrying on any trade or traffic in slaves, to any foreign country ; or for the purpose of procuring, from any foreign kingdom, place or country, the inhabitants of such kingdom, place or country, to be transported to any foreign country, port or place whatever, to be sold or disposed of, as slaves: And if .SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 439 any ship or vessel shall be so fitted out, as aforesaid, for the said purposes, or shall be caused to sail, so as aforesaid, every such ship or vessel, her tackle, furniture, apparel and other appurtenances, shall be forfeited to the United States ; and shall be liable to be seized, prosecuted and condemned, in any of the circuit courts or district court for the district, where the said ship or vessel may be found and seized. "SECTION II. And be it further enacted, That all and every person, so building, fitting out, equipping, loading, or otherwise preparing, or sending away, any ship or vessel, knowing, or intending, that the same shall be employed in such trade or business, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, or any ways aiding or abetting therein, shall severally forfeit and pay the sum of two thousand dollars, one moiety thereof, to the use of the United States, and the other moiety thereof, to the use of him or her, who shall sue for and prosecute the same. " SECTION III. And be it further enacted. That the owner, master or factor of each and every foreign ship or vessel, clearing out for any of the coasts or kingdoms of Africa, or suspected to be intended for the slave-trade, and the suspicion being declared to the officer of the customs, by any citizen, on oath or affirmation, and such information being to the satisfaction of the said officer, shall first give bond with sufficient sureties, to the Treasurer of the United States, that none of the natives of Africa, or any other foreign country or place, shall be taken on board the said ship or vessel, to be transported, or sold as slaves, in any other foreign port or place whatever, within nine months thereafter. " SECTION IV. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen or citizens of the United States shall, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, take on board, receive or transport any such persons, as above described, in this act, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, as aforesaid, he or they shall forfeit and pay, for each and every person, so received on board, trans ported, or sold as aforesaid, the sum of two hundred dollars, to be recovered in any court of the United States proper to try the same ; the one moiety thereof, to the use of the United States, and the other moiety to the use of such person or persons, who shall sue for and prosecute the same. "FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, Speaker of the House of Representatives. "JOHN ADAMS, Vice-President of the United States, and President of the Senate. " Approved March the twenty-second, 1 794. G: WASHINGTON, President of the United States." In 1797 Congress again found themselves confronted by the dark problem of slavery, that would not down at their bidding. The Yearly Meeting of the Quakers of Philadelphia sent a memo rial to Congress, complaining that about one hundred and thirty- four Negroes, and others whom they knew not of, having been 440 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. lawfully emancipated, were afterwards reduced to bondage by arr ex post facto law passed by North Carolina, in 1777, for that cruel purpose. After considerable debate, the memorial went to a committee, who subsequently reported that the matter complained of was purely of judicial cognizance, and that Congress had no authority in the premises. During the same session a bill was introduced creating all that portion of the late British Province of West Florida, within the jurisdiction of the United States, into a government to be called the Mississippi Territory. It was to be conducted in all respects like the territory north-west of the Ohio, with the single excep tion that slavery should not be prohibited. During the discus sion of this section of the bill, Mr. Thatcher of Massachusetts, moved to amend by striking out the exception as to slavery, so as to make it conform to the ideas expressed by Mr. Jefferson a few years before in reference to the Western Territory. But, after a warm debate, Mr. Thatcher's motion was lost, having received only twelve votes. An amendment of Mr. Harper of South Carolina, offered a few days later, prohibiting the introduction of slaves into the new Mississippi Territory, from without the limits of the United States, carried without opposition. Georgia revised her Constitution in 1798, and prohibited the importation of slaves "from Africa or any foreign place." Her slave-code was greatly moderated. Any person maliciously killing or dismembering a slave was to suffer the same punishment as if the act had been committed upon a free white person, except in case of insurrection, or "unless such death should happen by accident, in giving such slave moderate correction." But, like Kentucky, the Georgia constitution forbade the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the individual owner ; and encour aged emigrants to bring slaves into the State. In 1799, after three failures, the Legislature of New York passed a bill for the gradual extinction of slavery. It provided that all persons in slavery at the time of the passage of the bill should remain in bondage for life, but all their children, born after the fourth day of July next following, were to be free, but were required to remain under the direction of the owner of their parents, males until twenty-eight, and females until twenty-five. Exportation of slaves was disallowed; and if the attempt were made, and the parties apprehended, the slaves were to be free instanter. Persons moving into the State were not allowed ta SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL AND LEGAL PROBLEM. 441 bring slaves, except they had owned them for a year previous to- coming into the State. In 1799 Kentucky revised her Constitution to meet the wants of a growing State. An attempt was made to secure a provision providing for gradual emancipation. It was supported by Henry Clay, who, as a young lawyer and promising orator, began on that occasion a brilliant political career that lasted for a half-century. But not even his magic eloquence could secure the passage of the humane amendment, and in regard to the question of slavery the Constitution received no change. As the shadows gathered about the expiring days of the eighteenth century, it was clear to be seen that slavery, as an institution, had rooted itself into the political and legal life of the American Republic. An estate prolific of evil, fraught with danger to the new government, abhorred and rejected at first, was at length adopted with great political sagacity and deliberateness, and then guarded by the solemn forms of constitutional law and legislative enactments. APPENDIX. Part IE. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. CHAPTER 1. THE UNITY OF MANKIND. IN Acts xvii. 26 the apostle says, "And God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before ap pointed, and the bounds of their habitation." In Mark xvi. 15, 16, is recorded that remarkable command of our Saviour, "Go YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, and preach the gospel TO EVERY CREATURE. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (See also Matt, xxviii. 18, 20.) Now there is a very close connection between the statement here made by the apostle, and the command here given by our Lord Jesus Christ ; for it was in obedience to this command that the apostle was at that time at Athens. There, amid the proud and conceited philosophers of Greece, in the centre of their resplendent capital, surrounded on every hand by their noblest works of art and their proudest monuments of learning, the apostle proclaims the equality of ALL MEN, their common origin, guilt, and danger, and their universal obligations to receive and embrace the gospel. The Athenians, like other ancient nations, and like them, too, in opposition to their own mythology, regarded themselves as a peculiar and distinct race, created upon the very soil which they inhabited, and pre-eminently elevated above the barbarians of the earth, as they regarded the other races of men. Paul, however, as an inspired and infallible teacher, authoritatively declares that " God who made the world and all things therein," " hath made of one blood," and caused to descend from one original pair the whole species of men, who are now by His providential direction so propagated as to inhabit " all the face of the earth," having marked out in his eternal and unerring counsel the determinate periods for their inhabiting, and the boundaries of the regions they should inhabit. The apostle in this passage refers very evidently to the record of the early coloni zation and settling of the earth contained in the books of Moses. Some Greek copies preserve only the word croc, leaving out m/zarof, a reading which the vulgar Latin fol lows. The Arabic version, to explain both, has ex homine, or as De Dieu renders it, ex Adamo nno, there being but the difference of one letter in the Eastern languages between dam and adam, the one denoting blood, and the other man. But if we take this passage as our more ordinary copies read it, e^evof aifiaroc, it is still equally plain that the meaning is not that all mankind were made of the same uniform matter, as the author of the work styled Pre-Adamites weakly imagined, for on that ground, not only mankind, but the whole world might be said to be ex henos haimatos, i.e., of the same 443 444 APPENDIX. blood, since all things in the world were at first formed out of the same matter. The word aifj.a therefore must be here rendered in the same sense as that in which it occurs in the best Greek authors the stock out of ivhich men come Thus Homer says, " EL ereov y' c#of eart ic In like manner those who are near relations, are called by Sophocles 01 Trpoj- And hence the term consanguinity, employed to denote nearness of relation. Virgil uses sanguis in the same sense. " Trojano a sanguine duci" So that the apostle's meaning is, that however men now are dispersed in their habita tions, and however much they differ in language and customs from each other, yet they were all originally of the same stock, and derived their succession from the first man whom God created, that is, from Adam, from which name the Hebrew word for blood i.e. dam is a derivative. Neither can it be conceived on what account Adam in the Scripture is called " the first man," and said to be " made a living soul," and " of the earth earthy," unless it is to denote that he was absolutely the first of his kind, and was, therefore, designed to be the standard and measure of all the races of men. And thus when our Saviour would trace up all things to the beginning, he illustrates his doctrine by quoting those words which were pronounced after Eve was formed. " But from the beginning of the crea tion, God made them male and female ; for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife." Now nothing can be more plain and incontroverti ble than that those of whom these words were spoken, were the first male and female which were made in " the beginning of the creation." It is equally evident that these words were spoken of Adam and Eve : for " Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh ; therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife." If the Scriptures then of the New Testament be true, it is most plain and evident that all mankind are descended from Adam. 1 THE CURSE OF CANAAN. IT is not necessary nay, it is not admissible to take the words of Noah, as to Shem and Japheth, as prophetic. We shall presently see that, as prophetic, they have failed. Let us not, in expounding Scripture, introduce the supernattiral when the natu ral is adequate. Noah had now known the peculiarities of his sons long enough, and well enough, to be able to make some probable conjecture as to their future course, and their success or failure in life. It is what parents do now-a-days. They say of one son, He will succeed, he is so dutiful, so economical, so industrious. They say of another, This one will make a good lawyer he is so sharp in an argument. Of another, they say, We will educate him for the ministry, for he has suitable qualifica tions While of another they may be constrained to predict that he will not succeed, because he is indolent, and selfish, and sensual. Does it require special inspiration for a father, having ordinary common sense, to discover the peculiar talents and dispo sitions of his children, and to predict the probable future of each of them ? Some times they hit it : sometimes they miss it. Shall it not be conceded to Noah that he could make as probable a conjecture, as to his sons, as your father made as to you, or as you think yourselves competent to make for either of your sons ? Noah made a 1 The Unity of the Human Races, pp. 14-17. APPENDIX. 445 good hit. What he said as to the future of his sons, and of their posterity, has turned out, in some respects, as he said ^t would, but not exactly^ not so exactly as to authorize our calling his words an inspired prophecy, as we shall presently show. But, if we set out to establish or to justify slavery upon these words of Noah, on the assumption GOD spake by Noah as to the curse and blessings here recorded, we have a right to expect to find the facts of history to correspond. If the facts of history do not correspond with these words of Noah, then God did not speak them by Noah as his own. Let us face this matter. It is said, by those who interpret the curse of Canaan as divine authority for slavery, that God has hereby ordained that the de scendants of Ham shall be slaves. The descendants of Shem are not, of course, doomed to that curse. Now, upon the supposition that these are the words of God, and not the denunciations of an irritated father just awaking from his drunkenness, we ought not to find any of Canaan's descendants out of a condition of slavery, nor any of the de scendants of Shem in it. If we do, then either these are not God's words, or God's words have not come true. But it is a fact that not all of Ham's entire descendants, nor even of Canaan's de scendants (on whom alone, and not at all on Ham, nor on his three other sons, Noah's curse fell), are now, nor ever have been, as a whole, in a state of bondage. The Ca- naanites were not slaves, but free and powerful tribes, when the Hebrews entered their territory. The Carthaginians, it is generally admitted, were descended from Canaan. They certainly were free and powerful when, in frequent wars, they contended, often with success, against the formidable Romans. If the curse of Noah was intended for all the descendants of Ham, it signally failed in the case of the first military hero men tioned in the Bible, who was the founder of a world-renowned city and empire. I refer to Nimrod, who was a son of Cush, the oldest son of Ham. Of this Nimrod the record is, " He began to be a mighty one in the earth : he was a mighty hunter before the Lord : and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Cal- neh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah ; the same is a great city." This is Bible authority, informing us that the grandson of Ham (Nim rod, the son of Cush) was a mighty man the great man of the world, in his day the founder of the Babylonian empire, and the ancestor of the founder of the city of Nine veh, one of the grandest cities of the ancient world. We are not led to conclude, from these wonderful achievements by the posterity of Cush (who was the progenitor of the Negroes), that this line of Ham's descendants was so weak in intellect as to be unable to set up and maintain a government. 1 CHAPTER III. NEGRO CIVILIZATION. DR. WISEMAN has also shown that both Aristotle and Herodotus describe the Egyptians to whom Homer, Lycurgus, Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato resorted for wisdom as having the black skin, the crooked legs, the distorted feet and the woolly hair of the Negro, from which we do not wish, or feel it necessary to infer that the Egyptians were Negroes, but first that the ideas of degradation and not-human, asso ciated with the dark-colored African races of people now, were not attached to them 1 Curse of Canaan, pp. 5-7. By Rev. C. H. Edgar. 446 APPENDIX. at an early period of their history ; and secondly, that while depicted as Negroes, the Egyptians were regarded by these profound anciefots the one a naturalist and the other a historian as one of the branches of the human family, and as identified with a nation of whose descent from Ham there is no question. 1 Egyptian antiquity, not claiming priority of social existence for itself, often pointed to the regions of Habesh, or high African Ethiopia, and sometimes to the North, for the seat of the gods and demigods, because both were the intermediate stations of the progenitor tribes. 2 There is, therefore, every reason to believe that the primitive Egyptians were con formed much more to the African than to the European form and physiognomy, and therefore that there was a time when learning, commerce, arts, manufactures, etc., were all associated with a form and character of the human race now regarded as the evidence only of degradation and barbarous ignorance. But why question this fact when we can refer to the ancient and once glorious kingdoms of Meroe, Nubia, and Ethiopia, and to the prowess and skill of other an cient and interior African Nations ? And among the existing nations of interior Africa, there is seen a manifold diversity as regards the blackest races. The characteristics of the most truly Negro race are not found in all, nor to the same degree in many. Clapperton and other travellers among the Negro tribes of interior Africa, attest the superiority of the pure Negroes above the mixed races around them, in ail moral characteristics, and describe also large and populous kingdoms with numerous towns, well-cultivated fields, and various manufactures, such as weaving, dyeing, tanning, working in iron and other metals, and in pottery. 3 From the facts we have adduced it seems to follow, that one of the earliest races of men of whose existence, civilization and physiognomy, we have any remaining proofs, were dark or black colored. " We must," says Prichard, " for the present look upon the black races as the aborigines of Kelaenonesia, or Oceanica, that is as the immemorial and primitive inhabitants. There is no reason to doubt that they were spread over the Austral island long before the same or the contiguous regions were approached by the Malayo-Polynesians. We cannot say definitely how far back this will carry us, but as the distant colonizations of the Polynesians probably happened before the island of Java received arts and civilization from Hindustan, it must be sup posed to have preceded by some ages the Javan era of Batara Guru, and therefore to have happened before the Christian era." The Negro race is known to have existed 3,345 years, says Dr. Morton, 268 years later than the earliest notice of the white race, of which we have distinct mention B.C. 2200. This makes the existence of a Negro race certain about 842 years after the flood, according to the Hebrew chronology; or 1650 years after the flood, according to the Septuagint chronology, which may very possibly have been the original Hebrew chro nology. There is thus ample time given for the multiplication and diffusion of man over the earth, and for the formation either by natural or supernatural causes, in combination with the anomalous and altogether extraordinary condition of the earth of all the various races of men. It is also apparent from the architecture, and other historical evidences of their character, that dark or black races, with more or less of- the Negro physiognomy, were in the earliest period of their known history cultivated and intelligent, having king doms, arts, and manufactures. And Mr. Pickering assures us that there is no fact to show that Negro slavery is not of modern origin. The degradation of this race of men therefore, must be regarded as the result of external causes, and not of natural, inherent and original incapacity. 4 1 See Dr. Wiseman's Lectures on the connection between Science and Revealed Religion, Am. ed., x pp. 95, 98. 2 See Nat. Hist. Human Species, p. 373. 3 See British Encyclopaedia, vol. ii. pp. 237, 238. * Tiedeman, on the Brain of the Negro, in the Phil. Trans., 1838, p. 497. APPENDIX. 447 CHAPTER VI. NEGRO TYPE. IT has often been said that, independently of the woolly hair and the complexion of the Negroes, there are sufficient differences between them and the rest of mankind to mark them as a very peculiar tribe. This is true, and yet the principal differences are perhaps not so constant as many persons imagine. In our West Indian colonies very many Negroes, especially females, are seen, whose figures strike Europeans as remarkably beautiful. This would not be the case if they deviated much from the idea prevalent in Europe, or from the European standard of beauty. Yet the slaves in the colonies, particularly in those of England, were brought from the west coast of intertropical Africa, where the peculiarities of figure, which in our eyes constitute deformity in the Negro, are chiefly prevalent. The black people imported into the French and to some of the Portuguese colonies, from the eastern coast of the African continent, and from Congo, are much better made. The most degraded and savage nations are the ugliest. Among the most improved and the partially civilized, as the Ashantees, and other interior States, the figure and the features of the native people approach much more to the European. The ugliest Negro tribes are confined to the equatorial countries ; and on both sides of the equator, as we advance towards the temperate zones, the persons of the inhabitants are most handsome and well formed. In a later period of this work I shall cite authors who have proved that many races belonging to this department of mankind are noted for the beauty of their fea tures, and their fine stature and proportions. Adanson has made this observation of the Negroes on the Senegal. He thus describes the men. " Leur taille est pour 1'ordinaire au-dessus de la mediocre, bien prise et sans defaut. Us sont forts, robustes, et d'un temperament propre a la fatigue. Us ont les yeux noirs et bien fendus, peu de barbe, les traits du visage assez agreables." They are complete Negroes, for it is added that their complexion is of a fine black, that their hair is black, frizzled, cottony, and of extreme fineness. The women are said to be of nearly equal stature with the men, and equally well made. " Leur visage est d'une douceur extreme. Elles ont les yeux noirs, bien fendus, la bouche et les levres petites, et les traits du visage bien pro- portionnes. II s'en trouve plusieurs d'une beaute parfaite." Mr. Rankin, a highly intelligent traveller, who reports accurately and without prejudice the results of his personal observation, has recently given a similar testimony in regard to some of the numerous tribes of northern Negro-land, who frequent the English colony of Sierra Leone. In the skull of the more improved and civilized nations among the woolly- haired blacks of Africa, there is comparatively slight deviation from the form which may be looked upon as the common type of the human head. We are assured, for example, by M. Golberry, that the loloffs, whose colour is a deep transparent black, and who have woolly hair, are robust and well made, and have regular features. Their countenances, he says, are ingenuous, and inspire confidence : they are honest, hos pitable, generous, and faithful. The women are mild, very pretty, well made, and of agreeable manners. On the other side of the equinoctial line, the Congo Negroes, as Pigafetta declares, have not thick lips or ugly features ; except in colour they are very like the Portuguese. Kafirs in South Africa frequently resemble Europeans, as many late travellers have declared. It has been the opinion of many that the Kafirs ought to be separated from the Negroes as a distinct branch of the human family. This has been proved to be an error. In the conformation of the skull, which is the leading character, the Kafirs associate themselves with the great majority of woolly African nations. 1 1 Prichard's Physical History of Mankind, vol. i. pp. 247-249. 448 APPENDIX, THE NEGROES. THE Negroes inhabit Africa from the southern margin of the Sahara as far as the territory of the Hottentots and Bushmen, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, although the extreme east of their domain has been wrested from them by intrusive Hamites and Semites. Most negroes have high and narrow skulls. According to Welcker the average percentage of width begins at 68 and rises to 78. The variations are so great that, among eighteen heads from Equatorial Africa, Barnard Davis found no less than four brachycephals. In the majority dolichocephalism is ccmbined with a prominence of the upper jaw and an oblique position of the teeth, yet there are whole nations which are purely mesognathous. It is to be regretted that in the opin ion of certain mistaken ethnologists, the negro was the ideal of every thing barbarous and beast-like. They endeavoured to deny him any capability of improvement, and even disputed his position as a man. The negro was said to have an oval skull, a flat forehead, snout-like jaws, swollen lips, a broad flat nose, short crimped hair, falsely called wool, long arms, meagre thighs, caifless legs, highly elongated heels, and flat feet. No single tribe, however, possesses all these deformities. The colour of the skin passes through every gradation, from ebony black, as in the Joloffers, to the light tint of the mulattoes, as in the Wakilema, and Earth even describes copper-coloured negroes in Marghi. As to the skull in many tribes, as in the above mentioned Joloffers, the jaws are not prominent, and the lips are not swollen. In some tribes the nose is pointed, straight, or hooked ; even " Grecian profiles " are spoken of, and travellers say with surprise that they cannot perceive anything of the so-called negro type among the negroes. According to Paul Broca, the upper limbs of the negro are comparatively much shorter than the lower, and therefore less ape-like than in Europeans, and, although in the length of the femur the negro may approximate to the proportions of the ape, he differs from them by the shortness of the humerus more than is the case with Euro peans. Undoubtedly narrow and more or less high skulls are prevalent among the negroes. But the only persistent character which can be adduced as common to all is greater or less darkness of skin, that is to say, yellow, copper-red, olive, or dark brown, passing into ebony black. The colour is always browner than that of Southern Europe. The hair is generally short, elliptic in section, often split longitudinally, and much crimped. That of the negroes of South Africa, especially of the Kaffirs and Betshuans, is matted into tufts, although not in the same degree as that of the Hotten tots. The hair is bl^ck, and in old age white, but there are also negroes with red hair, red eye-brows, and eye-lashes, and among the Monbuttoo, on the Uelle, Schweinfurth even discovered negroes with ashy fair hair. Hair on the body and beards exist, though not abundantly; whiskers are rare although not quite unknown. The negroes form but a single ^ace, for the predominant as well as the constant characters recur in Southern as well as in Central Africa, and it was therefore a mis take to separate the Bantu negroes into a peculiar race. But, according to language, the South Africans can well be separated, as a great family, from the Soudan negroes. 1 THE RELATION OF PHYSICAL CHARACTER TO CLIMATE. WE shall now find, on comparing these several departments with each other, that marked differences of physical character, and particularly of complexion, distinguished the human races which respectively inhabit them, and that these differences are suc cessive or by gradations. 1 Peschel, The Races of Man, pp. 462-464. APPENDIX. 449 First, Among the people of level countries within the Mediterranean region, includ ing Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Moors, and the Mediterranean islanders, black hair with dark eyes is almost universal, scarcely one person in some hundreds presenting an exception to this remark : with this colour of the hair and eyes is conjoined a com plexion of brownish white, which the French call the colour of brunettes. We must observe, that throughout all the zones into which we have divided the European region, similar complexions to this of the Mediterranean countries are occasionally seen. The qualities, indeed, of climate are not so diverse, but that even the same plants are found sporadically in the North of Europe as in the Alps and Pyrenees. But if we make a comparison between the prevalent colours of great numbers, we can easily trace a succession of shades or of different hues. Secondly, In the southernmost of the three zones, to the northward of the Pyreno- Alpine line, namely, in the latitude of France, the prevalent colour of the hair is a chestnut-brown, to which the complexion and the colour of the eyes bear a certain relation. Thirdly, In the northern parts of Germany, England, in Denmark, Finland, and a great part of Russia, the xanthous variety, strongly marked, is prevalent. The Danes have always been known as a people of florid complexion, blue eyes, and yellow hair. The Hollanders were termed by Silius Italicus, " Auricomi Batavi," the golden-haired Batavians ; and Linnaeus has defined the Finns as a tribe distinguished by " capillis flavis prolixis." Fourthly, In the northern division we find the Norwegians and Swedes to be gen erally tall, white-haired men, with light gray eyes, characters so frequent to the north ward of the Baltic, that Linnasus has specified them in a definition of the inhabitants of Swedish Gothland. We have thus to the northward of Mount Atlas, four well- marked varieties of human complexion succeeding each other, and in exact accordance with the gradations of latitude and of climate from south to north. The people are thus far nearly white in the colour of their skin ; but in the more southerly of the three regions above defined, with a mixture of brown, or of the complexion of brunettes, or such as we term swarthy or sallow persons. Fifthly, In the next region, to the southward of Atlas, the native inhabitants are the " gentes sub fusci coloris " of Leo, and the immigrant Arabs in the same country are, as we have seen by abundant testimonies, of a similar light brown hue, but vary ing between that and a perfect black. Sixthly, With the tropic and the latitude of the Senegal, begins the region of pre dominant and almost universal black, and this continues, if we confine ourselves to the low and plain countries, through all inter-tropical Africa. Seventhly, Beyond this is the country of copper-coloured and red people, who, in Kafirland, are the majority, while in inter-tropical Africa there are but few such tribes, and those in countries of mountainous elevation. Lastly, Towards the Cape are the tawny Hottentots, scarcely darker than the Mon- goles, whom they resemble in many other particulars besides colour. It has long been well known, that as travellers ascend mountains, in whatever region, they find the vegetation at every successive level altering its character, and assuming a more northern aspect, thus indicating that the state of the atmosphere, temperature, and physical agencies in general, assimilate as we approach alpine regions, to the peculiarities locally connected with high latitudes. If therefore, com plexions and other bodily qualities belonging to races of men depend upon climate and external conditions, we should expect to find them varying in reference to elevation of surface, and if they should be found actually to undergo such variations, this will be a strong argument that these external characters do, in fact, depend upon local condi tions. Now, if we inquire respecting the physical characters of the tribes inhabiting high tracts within either of the regions above marked out, we shall find that they coin- 45 APPENDIX. tide with those which prevail in the level or low parts of more northern tracts. The Swiss, in the high mountains above the plains of Lombardy, have sandy or brown hair. What a contrast presents itself to the traveller who descends into the Milanese, where the peasants have black hair and eyes, with strongly-marked Italian and almost Orien tal features. In the higher parts of the Biscayan country, instead of the swarthy com plexion and black hair of the Castilians, the natives have a fair complexion with light-blue eyes and flaxen or auburn hair. And in Atlantica, while the Berbers of the plains are of brown complexion with black hair, we have seen that the Shuluh moun taineers are fair, and that the inhabitants of the high tracts of Mons Aurasius are completely xanthous, having red or yellow hair and blue eyes, which fancifully, and without the shadow of any proof, they have been conjectured to have derived from the Vandal troops of Genseric. Even in the inter-tropical region, high elevations of surface, as they produce a cooler climate, seem to occasion the appearance of light complexions. In the high parts of Senegambia, which front the Atlantic, and are cooled by winds from the West ern Ocean, where, in fact, the temperature is known to be moderate and even cool at times, the light copper-coloured Frelahs are found surrounded on every side by Negro nations inhabiting lower districts ; and nearly in the same parallel, but at the opposite side of Africa, are the high plains of Enarea and Kaffa, where the inhabitants are said to be fairer than the natives of southern Europe. The Galla and the Abyssinians them selves are, in proportion to the elevation of the country inhabited by them, fairer than the natives of low countries ; and lest an exception should be taken to a comparison of straight-haired races with woolly Negroes or Shungalla, they bear the same comparison with the Danakil, Hazorta, and the Bishari tribes, resembling them in their hair and features, who inhabit the low tracts between the mountains of Tigre and the shores of the Red Sea, and who are equally or nearly as black as Negroes. We may find occasion to observe that an equally decided relation exists between local conditions and the existence of other characters of human races in Africa. Those races who have the Negro character in an exaggerated degree, and who may be said to approach to deformity in person the ugliest blacks with depressed foreheads, flat noses, crooked legs are in many instances inhabitants of low countries, often of swampy tracts near the sea-coast, where many of them, as the Papels, have scarcely any other means of subsistence than shell fish, and the accidental gifts of the sea. In many places similar Negro tribes occupy thick forests in the hollows beneath high chains of mountains, the summits of which are inhabited by Abyssinian or Ethiopian races. The high table-lands of Africa are chiefly, as far as they are known, the abode or the wandering places of tribes of this character, or of nations who, like the Kafirs, recede very considerably from the Negro type. The Mandingos are, indeed, a Negro race inhabiting a high region ; but they have neither the depressed forehead nor the projecting features considered as characteristic of the Negro race. 1 CHAPTER VII. CITIES OF AFRICA. Carthage. The foundation of this celebrated city is ascribed to Elissa, a Tyrian princess, better known as Dido; it may therefore be fixed at the year of the world 3158 ; when Joash was king of Judah; 98 years before the building of Rome, and 846 1 Prichard, vol. ii pp. 334-338. APPENDIX. 45 1 years before Christ. The king of Tyre, father of the famous Jezebel, called in Scrip ture Ethbaal, was her great-grandfather. She married her near relation Acerbas, also called Sicharbas, or Sichseus, an extremely rich prince; Pygmalion, king of Tyre, was her brother. Pygmalion put Sichaeus to death in order that he might have an oppor tunity to seize his immense treasures ; but Dido eluded her brother's cruel avarice, by secretly conveying away her deceased husband's possessions. With a large train of followers she left her country, and after wandering some time, landed on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Africa; and located her settlement at the bottom. of the gulf, on a peninsula, near the spot where Tunis now stands. Many of the neighboring people, allured by the prospect of gain, repaired thither to sell to those foreigners the necessa ries of life ; and soon became incorporated with them. The people thus gathered from different places soon grew very numerous. And the citizens of Utica, an African city about fifteen miles distant, considering them as their countrymen, as descended from the same common stock, advised them to build a city where they had settled. The other natives of the country, from their natural esteem and respect for strangers, like wise encouraged them to the same object. Thus all things conspiring with Dido's views, she built her city, which was appointed to pay an annual tribute to the Africans for the ground it stood upon, and called it Carthage a name that in the Phoenician and Hebrew languages, [which have a great affinity,] signifies the " New City." It is said that in digging the foundation, a horse's head was found ; which was thought to be a good omen, and a presage of the future warlike genius of that people. Carthage had the same language and national character as its parent state Tyre. It became at length, particularly at the period of the Punic War, one of the most splendid cities in the world ; and had under its dominion 300 cities bordering upon the Mediterranean. From the small beginning we have described, Carthage increased till her population numbered 700,000 ; and the number of her temples and other public buildings was im mense. Her dominion was not long confined to Africa. Her ambitious inhabitants extended their conquest into Europe, by invading Sardinia, seizing a great part of Sicily, and subduing almost all of Spain. Having sent powerful colonies everywhere,., they enjoyed the empire of the seas for more than six hundred years ; and formed a State which was able to dispute pre-eminence with the greatest empire of the world, by their wealth, their commerce, their numerous armies, their formidable fleets, and above all by the courage and ability of their commanders; and she extended her commerce over every part of the known world. A colony of Phoenicians or Ethiopians, known in Scripture as Canaanites, settled in Carthage. The Carthaginians settled in Spain and Portugal. The first inhabitants of Spain were the Celtas, a people of Gaul ; after them the Phoenicians possessed themselves of the most southern parts of the country, and may well be supposed to have been the first civilizers of this kingdom, and the founders of the most ancient cities. After these, followed the Grecians ; then the Carthagini ans. Portugal was anciently called Lusitania, and inhabited by tribes of wandering, people, till it became subject to the Carthaginians and Phoenicians, who were dispos sessed by the Romans 2 50 years before Christ. (RoLLiN.) The Carthaginians were masters of all the coast which lies on the Mediterranean, and all the country as far as the river Iberus. Their dominions, at the time when Hannibal the Great set out for Italy, all the coast of Africa from the Arae Phileanorum, by the great Syrtis, to the pillars of Hercules was subject to the Carthaginians, who had maintained three great wars against the Romans. But the Romans finally prevailed by carrying the war into Africa, and the last Punic war terminated with the overthrow of Carthage. (NEPOS, in Vita Annibalis, liv.) The celebrated Cyrenc was a very powerful city, situated on the Mediterranean, towards the greater Syrtis, in Africa, and had been built by Battus, the Lacedaemoniaa (ROLLIN.) 45 2 APPENDIX. Cyrene. (Acts xi. 20.) A province and city of Libya. There was anciently a >*Phoenician colony called Cyrenaica, or " Libya, about Cyrene." (Acts ii. 10.) Cyrene, A country west of Egypt, and the birthplace of Callimachus the poet, 'Eratosthenes the historian, and Simon who bore the Saviour's cross. Many Jews from hence were at the Pentecost, and were converted under Peter's sermon (Acts ii.). The region is now under the Turkish power, and has become almost a desert. It is now ^called Cairoan. Some of the Cyrenians were among the earliest Christians (Acts xi. ~2o) ; and one of them, it is supposed, was a preacher at Antioch (Acts xiii. i). We find also, that among the most violent opposers of Christianity were the Cyrenians, who had a synagogue at Jerusalem, as had those of many other nations. It is said there were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem. Lybia, or Libya (Acts ii. 10), was anciently, among the Greeks, a general name for Africa ; but properly it embraced only so much of Africa as lay west of Egypt, on the ^southern coast of the Mediterranean. Profane geographers call it Libya Cyrenaica, because Cyrene was its capital. It was the country of the Lubims (2 Chron. xii. 3), or Lehabims, of the Old Testament, from which it is supposed to have derived its name. The ancient city of Cyrene is now called Cyreune, Cairoan, or Cayran, and lies in 'the dominion of Tripoli. This district of the earth has lately occasioned much inter- est among Italian and French geographers. Great numbers of Jews resided here '{Matt, xxvii. 32). Libya, a part of Africa, bordering on Egypt, famous for its armed chariots and 'horses (2 Chron. xvi. 8). Ophir, the son of Joktan, gave name to a country in Africa, famous for gold, which was renowned even in the time of Job (Job xxii. 24, xxviii. 16) ; and from the time of David to the time of Jehoshaphat the Hebrews traded with it, and Uzziah revived Jhis trade when he made himself master of Elath, a noted port on the Red Sea. In Solomon's time, the Hebrew fleet took up three years in their voyage to Ophir, and brought home gold, apes,, peacocks, spices, ivory, ebony, and almug-trees (i Kings ix. 28, x. n, xxii. 48 , 2 Chron. ix. 10). Tarshish (Isa. xxiii. i), or Tharsish (i Kings x. 22). It is supposed that some place of this name existed on the eastern coast of Africa, or among the southern ports of Asia, with which the ships of Hiram and Solomon traded in gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks (2 Chron. ix. 21). It is said that once in every three years these ships completed a voyage, and brought home their merchandise. Hence, it is inferred, the place with which they traded must have been distant from Judea. The vessels given by Hiram to Solomon, and those built by Jehoshaphat, to go to Tarshish, were all launched at Eziongeber, at the northern extremity of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, now called the Gulf of Ahaba (2 Chron. xx. 36). The name of Tarshish was from one of the sons of Javan (Gen. x. 4). Phut (Gen. x. 6), or Put (Nah. iii. 9), was the third son of Ham ; and his descend ants, sometimes called Libyans, are supposed to be the Mauritanians, or Moors of Tnodern times. They served the Egyptians and Tyrians as soldiers (Jer. xlvi. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 10, xxx. 5, xxxviii. 5). Put. A district in Africa, thought by Bochart to be an island in the Nile, not far from Syene (Isa. Ixvi. 19). Seba (Isa. xliii. 3). A peninsular district of African Ethiopia, deriving its name from the eldest son of Cush (Gen. x. 7), who is supposed to have been the progenitor of the Ethiopians. It is called Seba by the Hebrews. APPENDIX. 453 CITIES OF ETHIOPIA. Ethiopian is a name derived from the " Land of Ethiopia," the first settled country Taef ore the flood. " The second river that went out of Eden, to water the garden, or earth, was Gihon ; the same that encompasseth the whole land, or country, of Ethiopia " (Gen. ii. 13). Here Adam and his posterity built their tents and tilled the ground (Gen. iii. 23, 24). The first city was Enoch, built before the flood, in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden, a country now called Arabia. Cain, the son of Adam, went out of Eden, and dwelt in the land of Nod. We suppose, according to an ancient custom, he married his sister ; and she bare Enoch. And Cain built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch (Gen. iv. 16, 17). We know there must have been more than Cain and his son Enoch in the land of Nod, to build a city, but who were they ? . . . (MALCOM'S Bible Dictionary.} The first great city described in ancient and sacred history was built by the Cush- ites, or Ethiopians. They surrounded it with walls, which, according to Rollin, were eighty-seven feet in thickness, three hundred and fifty feet in height, and four hundred and eighty furlongs in circumference. And even this stupendous work they shortly after eclipsed by another, of which Diodorus says, " Never did any city come up to the greatness and magnificence of this." It is a fact well attested by history, that the Ethiopians once bore sway, not only in all Africa, but over almost all Asia ; and it is said that even two continents could not afford field enough for the expansion of their energies. " They found their way into Europe, and built a city on the western coast of Spain, called by them Iberian Ethiopia." "And," says a distinguished writer, "wherever they went, they were rewarded for their wisdom" THE TOWER OF BABEL. Nimrod, the son of Cush, an Ethiopian, attempted to build the Tower of Babel (Gen. x. 8-10, xi. 4-9). One hundred and two years after the flood, in the land of Shinar an extensive and fertile plain, lying between Meso potamia on the west and Persia on the east, and watered by the Euphrates, mankind being all of one language, one color, and one religion, they agree to erect a tower of prodigious extent and height. Their design was not to secure themselves against a second deluge, or they would have built their tower on a high mountain ; but to get themselves a famous character, and to prevent their dispersion by the erection of a monument which should be visible from a great distance. No quarries being found in that alluvial soil, they made bricks for stone, and used slime for mortar. Their haughty and rebellious attempt displeased the Lord; and after they had worked, it is said, twenty-two years, he confounded their language. This effectually stopped the building, procured it the name of Babel, or Confusion, and obliged some of the off spring of Noah to disperse themselves and replenish the world. The tower of Babel was in sight from the great city of Babylon. Nimrod was a hunter and monarch of vast ambition. When he rose to be king of Babylon he re-peopled Babel, which had been desolate since the confusion of tongues ; but did not dare to attempt the finishing of the tower. The Scriptures inform us, he became "mighty upon earth;" but the extent of his conquests is not known. (MALCOM'S Bible Dictionary.} The private houses, in most of the ancient cities, were simple in external appear ance ; but exhibited, in the interior, all the splendor and elegance of refined luxury. The floors were of marble ; alabaster and gilding were displayed on every side. In every great house there were several fountains, playing in magnificent basins. The smallest house had three pipes, one for the kitchen, another for the garden, and a third for washing. The same magnificence was displayed in the mosques, churches, and coffee-houses. The environs presented, at all seasons of the year, a pleasing ver dure, and contained extensive series of gardens and villas. 454 APPENDIX. THE GREAT AND SPLENDID CITY OF BABYLON. This city was founded by Nimrod, about 2,247 years B.C., in the land of Shinar, or Chaldea, and made the capi tal of his kingdom. It was probably an inconsiderable place, until it was enlarged and embellished by Semiramis ; it then became the most magnificent city in the world, sur passing even Nineveh in glory. The circumference of both these cities was the same ; but the walls which surrounded Babylon were twice as broad as the walls of Nineveh, and having a hundred brass gates. The city of Babylon stood on the river Euphrates, by which it was divided into two parts, eastern and western ; and these were connected by a cedar bridge of wonderful construction, uniting the two divisions. Quays of beau tiful marble adorned the banks of the river ; and on one bank stood the magnificent Temple of Belus, and on the other the Queen's Palace. These two edifices were con nected by a passage under the bed of the river. This city was at least forty-five miles in circumference ; and would, of course, include eight cities as large as London and its appendages. It was laid out in six hundred and twenty-five squares, formed by the intersection of twenty-five streets at right angles. The walls, which were of brick r were three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty-seven feet broad. A trench sur rounded the city, the sides of which were lined with brick and waterproof cement. This city was famous for its hanging gardens, constructed by one of its kings, to please his queen. She was a Persian, and was desirous of seeing meadows on mountains, as in her own country. She prevailed on him to raise artificial gardens, adorned with meadows and trees. For this purpose, vaulted arches were raised from the ground, one above another, to an almost inconceivable height, and of a magnificence and strength sufficient to support the vast weight of the whole garden. Babylon was a great com mercial city, and traded to all parts of the earth then known, in all kinds of merchan dise ; and she likewise traded in slaves, and the souls of men. For her sins she has been blotted from existence, even her location is a matter of supposition. Great was Babylon of old ; in merchandise did she trade, and in souls. For her sins she thus became blotted from the sight of men. THE ETHIOPIAN KINGS OF EGYPT. 1. Menes was the first king of Egypt. We have accounts of but one of his success ors Timans, during the first period, a space of more than two centuries. 2. Shishak was king of Ethiopia, and doubtless of Egypt. After his death 3. Zerah the son of Judah became king of Ethiopia, and made himself master of Egypt and Libya ; and intending to add Judea to his dominions made war upon Asa king of Judea. His army consisted of a million of men, and three hundred chariots of war (2 Chron. xiv. 9). 4. Sabachus, an Ethiopian, king of Ethiopia, being encouraged by an oracle, en tered Egypt with a numerous army, and possessed himself of the country. He reigned with great clemency and justice. It is believed, that this Sabachus was the same with Solomon, whose aid was implored by Hosea king of Israel, against Salmanaser king of Assyria. 5. Sethon reigned fourteen years. He is the same with Sabachus, or Savechus the son of Sabacan or Saul the Ethiopian who reigned so long over Egypt. 6. Tharaca, an Ethiopian, joined Sethon, with an Ethiopian army to relieve Jeru salem. After the death of Sethon, who had filled the Egyptian throne fourteen years, Tharaca ascended the throne and reigned eight years over Egypt. 7. Sesach or Shishak was the king of Egypt to whom Jeroboam fled to avoid APPENDIX. 455 death at the hands of king Solomon. Jeroboam was entertained till the death of Solomon, when he returned to Judea and was made king of Israel. (2 Chron. xi. and xii.) This Sesach, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam marched against Jeru salem, because A Jews had transgressed against the Lord. He came with twelve hundred chariots mL war, and sixty thousand horses. He had brought numberless multitudes of people, who were all Libyans, Troglodytes, and Ethiopians. He seized upon all the strongest cities of Judah, and advanced as far as Jerusalem. Then the king, and the princes of Israel, having humbled themselves, and implored the protection of the God of Israel, he told them, by his prophet Shemaiah, that, because they hum bled themselves, he would not utterly destroy them, as they had deserved ; but that they should be the servants of Sesach ; in order that they might know the difference of his service, and the service of the kingdoms of the country. Sesach retired from Jeru salem, after having plundered the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house; he carried off everything with him, and even also the three hundred shields of gold which Solomon had made. The following are the kings of Egypt mentioned in Scripture by the common ap pellation of Pharaoh : 8. Psammetichus. As this prince owed his preservation to the lonians and Carians, he settled them in Egypt, from which all foreigners hitherto had been ex cluded; and, by assigning them sufficient lands and fixed revenues, he made them forget their native country. By his order, Egyptian children were put under their care to learn the Greek tongue ; and on this occasion, and by this means, the Egyptians began to have a correspondence with the Greeks ; and, from that era, the Egyptian history^ which till then had been intermixed with pompous fables, by the artifice of the priests, begins, according to Herodotus, to speak with greater truth and certainty. As soon as Psammetichus was settled on the throne, he engaged in a war against the king of Assyria, on account of the limits of the two empires. This war was of long continuance. Ever since Syria had been conquered by the Assyrians, Palestine, being the only country that separated the two kingdoms, was the subject of continual discord : as afterwards it was between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. They were perpetually contending for it, and it was alternately won by the stronger. Psam metichus, seeing himself the peaceable possessor of all Egypt, and having restored the ancient form of government, thought it high time for him to look to his frontiers, and to secure them against the Assyrian, his neighbour, whose power increased daily. For this purpose he entered Palestine at the head of an army. Perhaps we are to refer to the beginning of this war, an incident related by Diodorus ; that the Egyptians, provoked to see the Greeks posted on the right wing by the king himself in preference to them, quitted the service, being upwards of two hundred thousand men, and retired into Ethiopia, where they met with an advantageous settlement. Be this as it will, Psammetichus entered Palestine, where his career was stopped by Azotus, one of the principal cities of the country, which gave him so much trouble, that he was forced to besiege it twenty-nine years before he could take it. This is the longest siege mentioned in ancient history. Psammetichus died in the 24th year of the reign of Josiah king of Judah ; and was succeeded by his son Nechoa or Necho in Scriptures frequently called Pharaoh Necho. 9. Nechao or Pharaoh-Necho reigned sixteen years king of Egypt, (2 Chron. xxxv. 20,) whose expeditions are often mentioned in profane history. The Babylonians and Medes having destroyed Nineveh, and with it the empire of the Assyrians, were thereby become so formidable, that they drew upon themselves the jealousy of all their neighbours. Nechao, alarmed at .the danger, advanced to the Euphrates, at the head of a powerful army, in order to check their progress. Josiah, APPENDIX. king of Judah, so famous for his uncommon piety, observing that he took his route- through Judea, resolved to oppose his passage. With this view he raised all the forces of his kingdom, and posted himself in the valley of Megiddo (a city on this side of Jordan, belonging to the tribe of Manasseh, and called Magdolus by Herodotus). Nechao informed him by a herald, that his enterprise was not designed against him ; that he had other enemies in view, and that he had undertaken this war in the name of God, who was with him; that for this reason he advised Josiah not to concern himself with this war for fear it otherwise should turn to his disadvantage. However, Josiah was not moved by these reasons ; he was sensible that the bare march of so powerful an army through Judea would entirely ruin it. And besides, he feared that the victor, after the defeat of the Babylonians, would fall upon him and dispossess him of part of his dominions. He therefore marched to engage Nechao ; and was not only overthrown by him, but unfortunately received a wound of which he died at Jerusalem, whither he had ordered himself to be carried. Nechao, animated by this victory, continued his march and advanced towards the Euphrates. He defeated the Babylonians ; took Carchemish, a large city in that coun try ; and securing to himself the possession of it by a strong garrison, returned to his own kingdom after having been absent three months. Being informed in his march homeward, that Jehoaz had caused himself to be pro claimed king at Jerusalem, without first asking his consent, he commanded him to- meet him at Riblah in Syria. The unhappy prince was no sooner arrived there than he was put in chains by Nechao's order, and sent prisoner to Egypt, where he died. From thence, pursuing his march, he came to Jerusalem, where he gave the sceptre to Eliakim (called by him Jehoiakim), another of Josiah's sons, in the room of his brother ; and imposed an annual tribute on the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold. This being done, he returned in triumph to Egypt. Herodotus, mentioning this king's expedition, and the victory gained by him at Magdolus, (as he calls it,) says that he afterwards took the city Cadytis, which he repre sents as situated in the mountains of Palestine, and equal in extent to Sardis, the capi tal at that time not only of Lydia, but of all Asia Minor. This description can suit only Jerusalem, which was situated in the manner above described, and was then the: only city in those parts that could be compared to Sardis. It appears besides, from Scripture, that Nechao, after his victory, made himself master of this capital of Judea; for he was there in person, when he gave the crown to Jehoiakim. The very name Cadytis, which in Hebrew, signifies the holy, points clearly to the city of Jerusalem, as is proved by the learned dean Prideaux. 10. Psammis. His reign was but of six years' duration, and history has left us nothing memorable concerning him, except that he made an expedition into Ethi opia. 11. Apries. In Scripture he is called Pharaoh-Hophra ; and, succeeding his father Psammis, reigned twenty-five years. During the first year of his reign, he was as happy as any of his predecessors. He carried his arms into Cyprus ; besieged the city of Sidon by sea and land ; took it, and made himself master of all Phoenicia and Palestine. So rapid a success elated his heart to a prodigious degree, and, as Herodotus informs us, swelled him with so much pride and infatuation, that he boasted it was not in the power of the gods themselves to dethrone him ; so great was the idea he had formed to himself of the firm establishment of his own power. It was with a view to these arrogant conceits, that Ezekiel put the vain and impious words following into his mouth : My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But the true God proved to him afterwards that he had a master, and that he was a mere man ; and he had threatened him long before, by his prophets, with all the calamities he was resolved to bring upon him, in order to punish him for his pride. APPENDIX. 457 12. Amasis. After the death of Apries, Amasis became peaceable possessor of Egypt, and reigned over it forty years. He was, according to Plato, a native of the city of Sais. As he was but of mean extraction, he met with no respect, and was contemned by his subjects in the beginning of his reign. He was not insensible of this ; but never theless thought it his interest to subdue their tempers by an artful carriage, and to win their affection by gentleness and reason. He had a golden cistern, in which himself, and those persons who were admitted to his table, used to wash their feet ; he melted it down, and had it cast into a statue, and then exposed the new god to public worship. The people hastened in crowds to pay their adorations to the statue. The king, having assembled the people, informed them of the vile uses to which this statue had once been put, which nevertheless was now the object of their religious prostrations: the application was easy, and had the desired success; the people thenceforward paid the king all the respect that is due to majesty. He always used to devote the whole morning to public affairs, in order to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentences, and hold his councils : the rest of the day was given to pleasure ; and as Amasis, in hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to repre sent to him the unsuitableness of such a behaviour ; when he answered that it was impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent. It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book kept by the magistrates for that purpose, with their profession and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws. He built many magnificent temples, especially at Sais the place of his birth. Herodotus admired especially a chapel there, formed of one single stone, and which was twenty-one cubits in front, fourteen in depth, and eight in height; its dimensions within were not quite so large : it had been brought from Elephantina, and two thousand men were employed three years in conveying it along the Nile. Amasis had a great esteem for the Greeks. He granted them large privileges ; and permitted such of them as were desirous of settling in Egypt to live in the city of Naucratis, so famous for its harbour. When the rebuilding of the temple of Delphi* which had been burnt, was debated on, and the expense was computed at three hundred talents, Amasis furnished the Delphians with a very considerable sum towards dis charging their quota, which was the fourth part of the whole charge. He made an alliance with the Cyrenians, and married a wife from among them. He is the only king of Egypt who conquered the island of Cyprus, and made it tributary. Under his reign Pythagoras came into Egypt, being recommended to that monarch by the famous Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, who had contracted a friendship with Amasis, and will be mentioned hereafter. Pythagoras, during his stay in Egypt,, was initiated in all the mysteries of the country, and instructed by the priests in what ever was most abstruse and important in their religion. It was here he imbibed his doctrine of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls. In the expedition in which Cyrus conquered so great a part of the world, Egypt doubtless was subdued, like the rest of the provinces ; and Xenophon positively de clares this in the beginning of his Cyropaedia, or institution of that prince. Probably, after that the forty years of desolation, which had been foretold by the prophet, were expired, Egypt beginning gradually to recover itself, Amasis shook off the yoke, and recovered his liberty. Accordingly we find, that one of the first cares of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, atter he had ascended the throne, was to carry his arms into Egypt. On his arrival there, Amasis was just dead, and succeeded by his son Psammetus. 13. Rameses Miamun, according to Archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, 45$ APPENDIX. -who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most grievous manner. He set over them taskmasters, to afflict them with .their burdens, and they btiilt for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithon and Raamses. And .the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field ; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. This king had two sons, Amenophis and Busiris. 14. Amenophis, the eldest, succeeded him. He was the Pharaoh under whose reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and who was drowned in his passage through the Red Sea. Archbishop Usher says, that Amenophis left two sons, one .called Sesothis, or Sesostris, and the other Armais. The Greeks call him Belus, and his two sons, Egyptus and Danaus. 15. Sesostris was not only one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the greatest conquerors that antiquity boasts of. He was at an advanced age sent by his father against the Arabians, in order that, by fighting with them, he might acquire mili tary knowledge. Here the young prince learned to bear hunger and thirst, and sub dued a nation which till then had never been conquered. The youth educated with him, attended him in all his campaigns. Accustomed by this conquest to martial toils he was next sent by his father to try his fortune westward. He invaded Libya, and subdued the greatest part of that vast continent. His army consisted of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty thousand horse, be sides twenty thousand armed chariots. He invaded Ethiopia, and obliged the nations of it to furnish him annually with a certain quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold. He had fitted out a fleet of four hundred sail, and ordering it to sail to the Red Sea, made himself master of the isles and cities lying on the coast of that sea. After having spread desolation through the world for nine years, he returned, laden with the spoils of the vanquished nations. A hundred famous temples, raised as so many mon- uments of gratitude to the tutelar gods of. all the cities, were the first, as well as the most illustrious testimonies of his victories. 1 6. Pheron succeeded Sesostris in his kingdom, but not in his glory. He probably reigned fifty years. 17. Proteus was son of Memphis, and according to Herodotus, must have suc ceeded the first since Proteus lived at the time of the siege of Troy, which, accord ing to Usher, was taken An. Mun. 2820. 18. Rhampsinitus who was richer than any of his predecessors, built a treasury. Till the reign of this king, there had been some shadow at least of justice and modera tion in Egypt ; but, in the two following reigns, violence and cruelty usurped their place. 19. 20. Cheops and Cephrenus, reigned in all one hundred and six years. Cheops reigned fifty years, and his brother Cephrenus fifty-six years after him. They kept the temples closed during the whole time of their long reign ; and forbid the offerings of sacrifice under the severest penalties. They oppressed their subjects. 21. Mycerinus the son of Cheops, reigned but seven years. He opened the tem ples ; restored the sacrifices ; and did all in his power to comfort his subjects, and make them forget their past miseries. 22. Asychis one of the kings of Egypt. He valued himself for having surpassed all his predecessors, by building a pyramid of brick, more magnificent, than any hither to seen. 23. Busiris, built the famous city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire. This prince is not to be confounded with Busirus, so infamous for his cruelties. 24. Osymandyas, raised many magnificent edifices, in which were exhibited sculp tures and paintings of exquisite beauty. APPENDIX. 459 25. Uchoreus, one of the successors of Osymandyas, built the city of Memphis. This city was 150 furlongs, or more than seven leagues in circumference, and stood at the point of the Delta, in that part where the Nile divides itself into several branches or streams. A city so advantageously situated, and so strongly fortified, became soon the usual residence of the Egyptian kings. 26. Thethmosis or Amosts, having expelled the Shepherd kings, reigned in Lower Egypt. 1 CHAPTER VIII. AFRICAN LANGUAGES. IN the language of the Kafirs, for example, not only the cases but the numbers and genders of nouns are formed entirely by prefixes, analogous to articles. The pre fixes vary according to number, gender and case, while the nouns remain unaltered ex cept by a merely euphonic change of the initial letters. Thus, in Coptic, from sheri, a son, comes the plural neu-sheri, the sons ; from sort, accusation, han-sori, accusa tions. Analogous to this we have in the Kafir ama marking the plural, as amakosah the plural of kosah, amahashe the plural of ihashe, insana the plural of usana. The Kafir has a great variety of similar prefixes ; they are equally numerous in the lan guage of Kongo, in which, as in the Coptic and the Kafir, the genders, numbers, and cases of nouns are almost solely distinguished by similar prefixes. "The Kafir language is distinguished by one peculiarity which immediately strikes a student whose views of language have been formed upon the examples afforded by the inflected languages of ancient and modern Europe. With the exception of a change of termination in the ablative case of the noun, and five changes of which the verb is susceptible in its principal tenses, the whole business of declension, conjuga tion, &c., is carried on by prefixes, and by the changes which take place in the initial letters or syllables of words subjected to grammatical government." 2 Resources are not yet in existence for instituting a general comparison of the languages of Africa. Many years will probably elapse before it will be possible to produce such an analysis of these languages, investigated in their grammatical struc ture, as it is desirable to possess, or even to compare them by extensive collections of well-arranged vocabularies, after the manner of Klaproth's Asia Polyglotta. Suffi cient data however are extant, and I trust that I have adduced evidence to render it extremely probable that a principle of analogy in structure prevails extensively among the native idioms of Africa. They are probably allied, not in the manner or degree in which Semitic or Indo-European idioms resemble each other, but by strong analogies in their general principles of structure, which may be compared to those discoverable between the individual members of two other great classes of languages, by no means connected among themselves by what is called family relation. I allude to the mono syllabic and the polysynthetic languages, the former prevalent in Eastern Asia, the latter throughout the vast regions of the New World. If we have sufficient evidence for constituting such a class of dialects under the title of African languages, we have likewise reason and it is equal in degree for associating in this class the language of the ancient Egyptians. 3 That the written Abyssinian language, which we call Ethiopick, is a dialect of old Chaldean, and sister of Arabick and Hebrew', we know with certainty, not only from the great multitude of identical words, but (which is a far stronger proof) from 1 Rollin, vol. i. pp. 129-147. 2 Kafir Grammar, p. 3. 3 Prichard, vol. ii. pp. 216, 217. 460 APPENDIX. the similar grammatical arrangement of the several idioms : we know at the same time-* that it is written like all the Indian characters, from the left hand to the right, and that the vowels are annexed, as in Devanagari, to the consonants ; with which they form a syllabick system extremely clear and convenient, but disposed in a less artificial order than the system of letters now exhibited in the Sanscrit grammars ; whence it may justly be inferred, that the order contrived by PANINI or his disciples is comparatively modern; and I have no doubt, from a cursory examination of many old inscriptions on pillars and in caves, which have obligingly been sent to me from all parts of India, that the Nagari and Ethiopean letters had at first a similar form. It has long been my opinion, that the Abyssinians of the Arabian stock, having no symbols of their own to represent articulate sounds, borrowed those of the black pagans, whom the Greeks call Troglodytes, from their primeval habitations in natural caverns, or in mountains exca vated by their own labour : they were probably the first inhabitants of Africa, where they became in time the builders of magnificent cities, the founders of seminaries for the advancement of science and philosophy, and the inventors (if they were not rather the importers) of symbolical characters. I believe on the whole, that the Ethiops of Meroe were the same people with the first Egyptians, and consequently, as it might easily be shown, with the original Hindus. To the ardent and intrepid MR. BRUCE, whose travels are to my taste, uniformally agreeable and satisfactory, though he thinks very differently from me on the language and genius of the Arabs, we are indebted for more important, and, I believe, more accurate information concerning the nations established near the Nile, from its fountains to its mouths, than all Europe united could before have supplied ; but, since he has not been at the pains to compare the seven languages, of which he has exhibited a specimen, and since I have not leisure to make the comparison, I must be satisfied with observing, on his authority, that the dialects of the Gafots and the Gallas, the Agouus of both races, and the Falashas, who must originally have used a Chaldean idiom, were never preserved in writing, and the Amharick only in modern times : they must, therefore, have been for ages in fluctua tion, and can lead, perhaps, to no certain conclusion as to the origin of the several tribes who anciently spoke them. It is very remarkable, as MR. BRUCE and MR. BRY ANT have proved, that the Greeks gave the appellation of Indians both to the southern nations of Africk and to the people, among whom we now live ; nor is it less observ able, that, according to EPHORUS, quoted by STRABO, they called all the southern nations in the world Ethiopians, thus using Indian and Ethiop as convertible terms : but we must leave the gymnosophists of Ethiopia, who seemed to have professed the doctrines of BUDDHA, and enter the great Indian ocean, of which their Asiatick and African brethren were probably the first navigators. 1 SHERBRO MISSION-DISTRICT, WESTERN AFRICA. Western Africa is one of the most difficult mission-fields in the entire heathen world. The low condition of the people, civilly, socially, and religiously, and the deadly climate to foreigners, make it indeed a hard field to cultivate. I am fully pre pared to indorse what Rev. F. Fletcher, in charge of Wesleyan District, Gold Coast, wrote a few months ago in the following language : " The Lord's work in western Africa is as wonderful as it is deadly. In the last forty years more than 120 mission aries have fallen victims to that climate ; but to-day the converts to Christianity num ber at least 30,000, many of whom are true Christians. In this district we have 6,000 1 Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. pp. 4, 5. APPENDIX. 461 church-members ; and though they are poor, last year they gave over 5,000 dollars for evangelistic and educational work. " Sherbro Mission now has four stations and chapels and over forty appointments, 112 church-members, 164 seekers of religion, 75 acres of clear land, with carpenter, blacksmith, and tailor shops, in and upon which, twenty-five boys are taught to labor, and where eleven girls are taught to do all ordinary house work and sewing, with its four day and Sunday-schools, 212 in the former and more than that number in the lat ter, and with an influence for good that now reaches the whole Sherbro tribe, embra cing a country at least fifty miles square and containing about 1 5,000 people. The seed sown is taking deep root there, and the harvest is rapidly ripening, when thousands of souls will be garnered for heaven. Surely we ought to thank God for past success and resolve to do much more for that needy country in the future. " We now have Revs. Gomer, Wilberforce, Evans, and their wives, all excellent mis sionaries, from America ; then Revs. Sawyer, Hero, Pratt, and their wives, Mrs. Lucy Caulker, and other native laborers, all of whom are doing us good service. With these six ordained ministers, and twice that number of teachers and helpers, who are devoting all their time to the mission, the work is going forward gloriously. Still, there should be new stations opened and more laborers sent out immediately." x Part m. SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. CHAPTER XV. CONDITION OF SLAVES IN MASSACHUSETTS. THE following memorandum in Judge Sewall's letter-book was called forth by Samuel Smith, murderer of his Negro slave at Sandwich. It illustrates the deplorable condition of servants at that time in Massachusetts, and shows Judge Sewall to have been a man of great humanity. " The poorest Boys and Girls in this Province, such as are of the lowest Condition ; whether they be English, or Indians, or Ethiopians: They have the same Right to- Religion and Life, that the Richest Heirs have. " And they who go about to deprive them of this Right, they attempt the bom barding of HEAVEN, and the Shells they throw, will- fall down upon their own heads. " Mr Justice Davenport, Sir, upon your desire, I have sent you these Quotations^. and my own Sentiments. I pray GOD, the Giver and Guardian of Life, to give his gracious Direction to you, and the other Justices; and take leave, who am your brother and most humble servant, "SAMUEL SEWALL, BOSTON, July 20, 1719. " I inclosed also the selling of Joseph, and my Extract out of the Athenian Oracle. " To Addington Davenport, Esq., etc., going to Judge Sam'l. Smith of Sandwitch, for killing his Negro." 2 1 Twenty-fifth Annual Report, United Brethren, 1881. 2 Slavery in Mass., pp. 96, 97. 462 APPENDIX. Petition of Slaves in Boston. On the 23d of June, 1773, the following petition was presented to the General Court of Massachusetts, which was read, and referred to the next session : PETITION OF SLAVES IN BOSTON. PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. To His Excellency, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Governor ' " To the Honorable, His Majesty's Council, and to the Honorable House of Rep resentatives, in general court assembled at Boston, the 6th day of January, 1773: The humble petition of many slaves living in the town of Boston, and other towns in the province, is this, namely ; That Your Excellency and Honors, and the Honorable the Representatives, would be pleased to take their unhappy state and condition under your wise and just con sideration. We desire to bless God, who loves mankind, who sent his Son to die for their sal vation, and who is no respecter of persons, that he hath lately put it into the hearts of multitudes, on both sides of the water, to bear our burthens, some of whom are men of great note and influence, who have pleaded our cause with arguments, which we hope will have their weight with this Honorable Court. We presume not to dictate to Your Excellency and Honors, being willing to rest our cause on your humanity and justice, yet would beg leave to say a word or two on the subject. Although some of the negroes are vicious, (who, doubtless, may be punished and restrained by the same laws which are in force against others of the King's subjects,) there are many others of a quite different character, and who, if made free, would soon be able, as well as willing, to bear a part in the public charges. Many of them, of good natural parts, are discreet, sober, honest and industrious; and may it not be said of many, that they are virtuous and religious, although their condition is in itself so un friendly to religion, and every moral virtue, except patience ? How many of that num ber have there been and now are, in this province, who had every day of their lives embittered with this most intolerable reflection, that, let their behavior be what it will, neither they nor their children, to all generations, shall ever be able to do or to possess and enjoy any thing no, not* even life itself but in a manner as the beasts that perish ! We have no property ! we have no wives ! we have no children ! we have no city ! no country ! But we have a P'ather in heaven, and we are determined, as far as his grace shall enable us, and as far as our degraded condition and contemptuous life will admit, to keep all his commandments ; especially will we be obedient to our masters, so long as God, in his sovereign providence, shall suffer us to be holden in bondage= It would be impudent, if not presumptuous, in us to suggest to Your Excellency and Honors, any law or laws proper to be made in relation to our unhappy state, which .although our greatest unhappiness, is not our fault ; and this gives us great encourage ment to pray and hope for such relief as is consistent with your wisdom, justice and goodness. We think ourselves very happy, that we may thus address the great and general court of this province, which great and good court is to us the best judge, under God, of what is wise, just and good. We humbly beg leave to add but this one thing more : we pray for such relief only, which by no possibility can ever be productive of the least wrong or injury to our masters, but to us will be as life from the dead. 1 1 Nell, pp. 39-41. APPENDIX. 463 CHAPTER XIII. THE COLONY OF NEW YORK. 1693, August 2ist. All Indians, Negroes, and others not "listed in the militia," are ordered to work on the fortification for repairing the same, to be under the com mand of the captains of the wards they inhabit. And /"ioo to be raised for the fortifi cations. 1722, February 20th. A law passed by the common council of New York, "re straining slaves, negroes, and Indians from gaming with moneys." If found gaming with any sort of money, " copper pennies, copper halfpence, or copper farthings," they shall be publickly whipped at the publick whipping-post of this city, at the discretion of the mayor, recorder, and aldermen, or any one of them, unless the owner pay to the church-wardens for the poor, 35. 1731, November i8th. If more than three negro, mulatto, or Indian slaves assem ble on Sunday and play or make noise, (or at any other time at any place from their master's service,) they are to be publickly whipped fifteen lashes at the publick whip ping-post. NEW YORK. NEGRO slavery, a favorite measure with England, was rapidly extending its bane ful influence in the colonies. The American Register, of 1769, gives the number of negroes brought in slavery from the coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and the river Congo, by different nations in one year, thus: Great Britain, 53,100; British Ameri cans, 6,300; France, 23,520; Holland, 11,300; Portugal, 1,700; Denmark, 1,200; in all, 104,100, bought by barter for European and Indian manufacturers, ^15 sterling being the average price given for each negro. Thus we see that more than one-half of the wretches who were kidnapped, or torn by force from their homes by the agents of European merchants (for such those who supply the market must be considered), were sacrificed to the cupidity of the merchants of Great Britain : the traffic encouraged by the government at the same time that the boast is sounded through the world, that the moment a slave touches the sacred soil, governed by those who encourage the slave- makers, and inhabited by those who revel in the profits derived from murder, he is free- Somerset, the negro, is liberated by the court of king's bench, in 1772, and the world is filled with the fame of English justice and humanity! James Grahame tells us that Somerset's case was not the first in which the judges of Great Britain counteracted in one or two cases the practical inhumanity of the government and the people : he says, that in 1762, his grandfather, Thomas Grahame, judge of the admiralty court of Glas gow, liberated a negro slave imported into Scotland. It was in vain that the colonists of America protested against the practice of slave dealing. The governors appointed by England were instructed to encourage it; and when the assemblies enacted laws to prohibit the inhuman traffic, they were annulled by the vetoes of the governors. With such encouragement, the reckless and avari cious among the colonists engaged in the trade ; and the slaves were purchased when brought to the colonies by those who were blind to the evil, or preferred present ease or profit to all future good. Paley, the moralist, thought the American Revolution was designed by Providence, to put an end to the slave-trade, and to show that a nation encouraging it was not fit to be intrusted with the government of extensive colonies. But the planter of the Southern States have discovered, since made free by that revo- 464 APPENDIX. lution, that slavery is no evil ; and better moralists than Paley, that the increase of slaves, and their extension over new regions, is the duty of every good democrat. The men who lived in 1773, to whom America owes her liberty, did not think so. Although resistance to the English policy of increasing the number of negro slaves in America agitated many minds in the colonies, opposition to the system of taxation was the principal source of action ; and this opposition now centered in a determination to baffle the designs of Great Britain in respect to the duties on tea. Seventeen mil lions of pounds of tea were now accumulated in the warehouses of the East-India Company. The government was determined, for reasons I have before given, to assist this mercantile company, as well as the African merchants, at the expense of the colo nists of America. The East-India Company were now authorized to export their tea free of all duty. Thus the venders being enabled to offer it cheaper than hitherto to the colonists, it was expected that it would find a welcome market. But the Americans saw the ultimate intent of the whole scheme, and their disgust towards the mother country was proportionably increased. INDEX. ABBOTT, GRANVILLE S., verses by, in. Adams, Abigail, views on slavery, 227. Adams, John, views on slavery, 203 ; letter to Jonathan Sewall on emancipation, 207. Adams, Samuel, urges the consideration of the memorial of Massachusetts Negroes, 234- Adgai, see Crowther. Africa, described, 14; Negro tribes, 24, 25 ; Negro kingdoms, 26, 28, 31 ; natives en gage in the slave-trade, 27 ; laws, 30, 56, 57 ; religion, 30, 81-84, 89, 90; war be tween the different tribes, 35-39; war with England, 41-43 ; patriarchal govern ment, 50, 54, 55 ; villages described, 51, 52 ; architecture, 51-53 ; women reign in, 55, 56 ; marriage, 57, 58 ; polygamy, 58 ; status of the natives, 58, 59; warfare, 61, 62; agriculture, 62, 63; mechanic arts, 63-65; languages, 66-70, 90, 459; literature, 75-80; colony founded at Sierra Leone, 86, 87; and Liberia, 95, 97; first emigrants to, 97; republican government established, 100; first con stitution abolishing slavery in Liberia, 103-105 ; weaker tribes chief source of slavery, 109, 120; early Christianity in, in; earliest commerce for slaves be tween America and, 115; slaves from Angola, 134; shipload of slaves from Sierra Leone sold at Hispaniola, 138; number of Negroes stolen from annually, 237 ; slaves from, sold at Barbadoes, 259 ; cities of, described, 450 ; number of slaves brought from, 463. See Ne groes. African Company, their charter abolished, 41 : see Royal African Company. Akwasi Osai, king of Ashantee, invades Dahomey, 35 ; his defeat and death, 36. Alexander, James, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151, 158, 166. Alricks, Peter, resident of New York 1657, 250. Amasis, king of Egypt, 457. Amenophis, king of Egypt, 458. America, introduction of Negro slaves, 1 16; colonies declare independence, 412 ; slavery in, 461 ; slaves imported to British America, 463. American Colonization Society locate a colony at Monrovia, 97. American Revolution, service of Negroes in the army of the, 324, 334, 337, 342, 353 362 ; slavery during the, 402. Ames, Edward B., remarks in favor of the government of Liberia, 99. Angola, Africa, slaves imported from, 134. Anne, queen of England, encourages the slave-trade, 140. Anti-slavery societies, memorials to Con gress, 437; convention held at Phila delphia, 438. Apoko, Osai, king of Ashantee, 36. Appleton, Nathaniel, defends the doctrine of freedom for all, 204 ; author of " Con sideration on Slavery," 218. A pries, king of Egypt, 456. Argall, Samuel, engaged in the slave- trade, 116, 117. Ashantee Empire, described, 34 ; wars of, 35, 37-39; revolt in, 36; troubles with England, 41, 42; massacre of women, 42 ; government, 44. Asia, idols with Negro features in, 17; traces of the race, 18. Asychis, king of Egypt, 458. 465 466 INDEX. Attucks, Crispus, advertised as a runaway slave, 330; figures in the Boston Massa cre, 330; his death and funeral, 331; letter to Gov. Hutchinson, 332. Aviia, tribe in Africa, 51. Aviro, Alfonso de, discovers Benin in Africa, 26. BABEL, the tower of, built by an Ethio pian, 453. Babylon, description of, 454. Bancroft, George, views on slavery, 206. Banneker, Benjamin, astronomer and phi losopher, 386 ; farmer and inventor, 387 ; mathematician, 388 ; his first calcula tion of an eclipse, 389 ; letter to George Ellicott, 389; character of, 390; his business transactions, 391 ; verses ad dressed to, 392 ; letter to Mrs. Mason, 392 ; his first almanac, 393 ; letter to Thomas Jefferson, 394; accompanies commissioners to run the lines of Dis trict of Columbia, 397; his habits of studying the heavenly bodies, 397 ; his death, 398. Baptist missionaries in Liberia, 101. Barbadoes, Negro slaves exchanged for Indians, 174; a slave-market for New- England traders, 181 ; Rhode Island supplied with slaves from, 269. Barrere, Peter, treatise on the color of the skin, 19. Barton, Col. William, captures Gen. Pres- cott, 366. Bates, John, a slave-trader, 269. Belknap, Jeremy, remarks on the slave- trials in Massachusetts, 232. Benin, a kingdom in Africa, supplies America with slaves, 26; discovered by the Portuguese and colonized, 26; the king contracts to Christianize his sub jects for a white wife, 27 ; the kingdom divided, and slave-trade suppressed, 28. Berkeley, Sir William, opposed to educa tion and printing, 132. Bermuda Islands, slaves placed on War wick's plantation, 118, 119; Pequod In dians exchanged for Negroes at, 173. Bernard, John, governor of the Bermu das, 118. Beverley, Robert, correction of his His- .tory of Virginia, 116. Bill, Jacob, a slave-trader, 269. Billing, Joseph, sued by his slave Amos Newport, 229. Blumenbach, Jean Frederic, opinion in re gard to the color of the skin, 19. Blyden, Edward W., defines the term "Ne gro," 12; president of Liberia College, 102. Board of Trade, circular to the governors of the English colonies, relative to Negro slaves, 267 ; reply of Gov. Cranston of Rhode Island, 269. Bolzius, Henry, favors the introduction of slavery into Georgia, 321. Boombo, a Negro chief of Liberia, 106. Borclen, Cuff, a Negro slave in Massachu setts, sued for trespass and ordered to be sold to satisfy judgment, 278. Boston, a slave-trader from, 181; Negro prohibited from employment in manu facturing hoops, 196; number of slaves in, 205 ; instructs the representatives to vote against the slave-trade, 221 ; Ne groes charged with firing the town, 226; articles for the regulation of Negroes passed, 226; massacre in, 1770, 330; Ne groes on Castle Island, 376, 378. Bowditch, Thomas Edward, commissioner to treat with the Ashantees, 39. Bradley, Richard, attorney-general of New York, prosecutes the Negroes, 166. Bradstreet, Ann, frees her slave, 207. Brazil, slaves sold to the Dutch, 136. Brewster, Capt. Edward, banished by Capt. Argall, 117. Brewster, Thomas, a slave-trader, 269. Bristol County, Mass., a slave ordered to be sold, to satisfy judgment against him for trespass, 278. British army, Negroes in the, 87. Brown, John, reproved by Virginia com mittee of 1775 for purchasing slaves, 328. Brown, Joseph, effect of climate on man, 46. Bruce, James, discovers the ruins of the city of Meroe, 6. Bunker Hill, Negroes in the battle of, 3 6 3- Burgess, Ebenezer, missionary to Mon rovia, 97. Burton, Mary, testifies in the Negro plot at New York, 1741, 147, M^, I5 J 5 8 1 60, 162-164, 167, 1 68; recompensed by the government, 170. INDEX. 467 Busiris, king of Egypt, 458. Butler, Nathaniel, commissioner for Vir ginia Company, 1 18. CADE, ELIZABETH, a witness in the Somer- sett case, 205. Calanee, image of Buddha at, 17. Caldvvell, Jonas, killed at the Boston Mas sacre, 331. Campbell, Sir Neill, determines the war with Ashantees, 43. Canaan, the curse of, 444. Canada, expedition from New York against, 143. Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, 6. Carey, Lot, vice-agent of Liberia, 101. Carey, Peggy, implicated with Negro plot in New York, 1741, 147; trial, 152; found guilty, 152; her evidence, 153; sentenced to be hanged, 158. Carr, Patrick, wounded at the Boston Massacre, 331. Carter, Edwin, a slave-trader, 269. Carthage, description of, 452. Castle Island, Boston, Negroes sent to the barracks at, 376 ; list of the same, 378. Cepharenus, king of Egypt, 458. Ceylon, image of Buddha at, 17. Chaillu, Paul B. Du, description of the Obongos, 46 ; of the villages of Mandji and Ishogo, 51, 52. Chambers, John, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151, 158, 1 66. Charles V., grants a patent to import Ne groes to America, 115. Charleston, S.C., slave-market at, 299 ; Negroes from, recaptured, 376; list of, 378 ; claimed by owners, 379. Charlestown, Mass., Negro slaves executed at, in 1755, 226. Chastellux, Marquis de, describes the bravery of Col. Greene's Negro regi ment at the battle of Rhode Island, 368. Cheops, king of Egypt, 458. Chibbu, Kudjoh, captured by the Eng lish, 42. Chisholm, Major J., services in Ashantee mentioned, 41, 42. Christy, David, describes the colony of Liberia, 107. Cintra, Piedro de, discoverer of Sierra Leone, 85. Clinton, Sir Henry, proclamation concern ing fugitive Negroes, 1779, 357. Coclman, John, poisoned by his slave, 226. Coleman, Elihu, author of "Testimony against making Slaves of Men," 218. Coney Island, N.Y., slave captured at, 343- Congo Empire, Shinga queen of, 55. Congress, see United-States Congress. Connecticut, slavery in, 252-261 ; Negro slaves introduced, 252 ; number of Ne groes in 1680, 253; purchase and treat ment of slaves and free persons, 253 ; persons manumitting slaves, to main tain them, 254 ; commerce with slaves prohibited, 255 ; punishment of insub ordinate slaves, 256 ; social conduct regulated, 257 ; punished for using pro fane language, 258; number of slaves in 1730, 259; Indian slaves prohibited, 259 ; Indian and Negro slavery legalized, 259 ; limited rights of free Negroes, 259 ; Negro population in 1762, 260; impor tation of slaves prohibited, 261 ; num ber of slaves in 1715,325; enlistment of Negroes prohibited, 343 ; enlisted, 345 ; a Colored company recruited by David Humphreys, 361 ; slave popula tion in 1790, 436. Continental army, condition of the, 334; Negroes in the, 337 ; Negro regiment raised for the, 342 ; number of men sup plied to the, 353 ; return of Negroes in 1778, 362. Continental Congress, prohibits the im portation of Negroes, 325 ; debate on the discharge of Negroes from the army, 335 ; action on the enlistment of Ne groes, 355 ; resolution to establish courts to decide cases of captured slaves, 370 ; action of the, relative to Negroes cap tured at sea, 373 ; discussion on the Western territory, 415,416; last meet ing, 416. Cooke, Nicholas, governor of Rhode Island, letters to Washington on the en listment of Negroes, 346, 349. Cornwallis, Lord, proclamation offering protection to fugitive Negroes, 358. Cox, Melville B., missionary to Monrovia, 98. 468 INDEX. Cranston, Samuel, letter to the board of trade, relative to Negro slaves in Rhode Island, 269. Croker, John, testimony in the Negro plot at New York, 168. Crowther, Negro sold into slavery, 32 ; set at liberty by the English, 33 ; fitted for the ministry, returns to Africa as a mis sionary, 33. tl^uffe, John, sketch of, 202. 'Cuffe, Paul, a distinguished Negro, 202. *Cush, ancestor of the Negro race, 10; meaning of the term, 13. Cushing, Nathan, his opinion, 1783, rela tive to the South-Carolina Negroes, 381. 'Cuvier, Baron, varieties of the human form, 3. Cyrene, Africa, mentioned, 5; described, 452. DAHOMEY, a Negro kingdom of Africa, described, 28 ; women serve in the army, 29; laws, 30; invaded by King Akwasi, 35. Dalton, Richard, his slave reads Greek, 202. Davis, Hugh, a white servant, flogged in Virginia, for consorting with a Negro woman, 121. Deane, Thomas, mentioned, 196. Delaware, slavery in, 249-251 ; settled by Danes and Swedes, 249; slavery not allowed by the Swedes, 249; conveyed to William Penn, 249; granted a separ ate government, 249; slavery introduced, 249; first legislation on slavery, 250; law for the regulation of servants, 250; act restraining manumission of slaves, 250; number of slaves in 1715, 325; slave population in 1790, 436. iDenmark, engaged in the slave-trade, 463. Denny, Thomas, representative of Leices ter, Mass., instructed to vote against slavery, 225. Derham, James, a Negro physician of New Orleans, 400. Desbrosses, Eli as, testimony in the Negro plot in New York, 1741, 165. "Desire," ship built for the slave-trade, 174. Dodge, Caleb, of Beverly, Mass., sued by his slave, 231. Dorsey, Charles W., character of Banne- ker, the Negro astronomer, 390. Duchet, Sir Lionel, engaged in the slave- trade, 138. Dummer, William, proclamation against Negroes of Boston, 226. Dunmore, Lord, proclamation in regard to fugitive Negroes, 336; condemned by the Virginia convention, 341 ; his failure to enlist Negroes, 342. Dupuis, M., appointed English consul to the court of Ashantee, 40. Dutch man-of-war lands the first Negroes in Virginia, 118; engage in the slave- trade, 124; import slaves to New Neth erlands, 135; encourage the trade, 136; settlement on the Delaware, 312. EARL, JOHN, his connection with the Ne gro plot at New York, 163. East Greenwich, R. I., bridge built at, by Negro impost-tax, 275. Egmont, Earl of, opposed to slavery in Georgia, 319. Egypt, first settlers of, 6, 10 ; Negro and Mulatto races in, 14; slavery in, 17; Negro civilization imitated by, 22 ; the Ethiopian kings of, 454. Elizabeth, Queen, of England, encourages the slave-trade, 138. Elizabeth, N.J., police regulations, 286. England, suppresses the slave-trade, 28, 31 ; sends agricultural implements, machine ry, and missionaries to Africa, 32 ; con duct in the Ashantee war, 38, 41, 42 ; treaty with Ashantee, 42 ; founds a col ony in Sierra Leone, 86 ; all slaves de clared free on reaching British soil, 86; declares slave-trade piracy, 87 ; estab lishes a mission at Sierra Leone, 89 ; women sent to Virginia, 119; laws relating to slavery, 125; sanctions the slave-trade, 138-140, 463; courts decide in 1677 that a Negro slave is property, 190; slavery recognized in, 203; agrees to furnish Negroes to the West Indies, 236; treaty with United States, 382. Enoch, description of the city of, 453. Ethiopia, war with Caesar, 6; natives same race as Egyptians, 6; meaning of, 13; cities of, described, 453 ; kings rule Egypt, 454- INDEX. 469 FAIRFAX, Va., meeting at, in 1774, pass res olutions against slavery, 327. " Fanny," brig, arrives at Norfolk, Va., with slaves, 328. Federal Constitution, proceedings of con vention to frame the, 417. Ferguson, Dr., describes character of the inhabitants of Sierra Leone, 90-93. Folger, Elisha, captain of ship " Friend ship," sued for recovery of a slave, 231. Forbes, Archibald, mentions Africans nine feet in height, 59. Fox, George, views concerning slaves, 3i3- France engaged in the slave-trade, 463. Franklin, Benjamin, letter to Dean Wood ward on the abolition of slavery, 327 ; address to the public on the abolition of slavery, 431. Friends, see Quakers. Fuller, THomas, a Negro mathematician, 399- GAGE, THOMAS, refuses to sign the bill to prevent the importation of Negroes into Massachusetts, 235, 237. t~rates, Gen. Horatio, his order not to en list Negroes, 334. George III. in 1751 repeals the act declar ing slaves real estate, 125. Georgia, slavery in, 316-323; colony of, established, 316; slavery prohibited in, 316, 317; discussion in regard to the ad mission of slavery, 318-322 ; clandestine importation of Negroes, 320 ; slavery es tablished, 322 ; history of slavery, 322 ; number of slaves in 1715, 325; importa tion of slaves prohibited, 440; slave population in 1790, 436. Germantown, Penn., memorial of Quakers against slavery in 1688, 313. Glasgow, Scotland, a slave liberated in 1762, 463. Goddard, Benjamin, protests against en listing Negroes in Grafton, Mass., 352. Godfrey family of South Carolina, killed by a Negro mob, 299. Gordon, William, letter on the emancipa tion of slaves, 402 ; deposed as chaplain of the legislature of Massachusetts, 409. Grafton, Mass., protest in 1778 against the enlistment of Negroes, 352. Grahame, Judge Thomas, liberates Negro slave in Glasgow, Scotland, 463. Gray, Samuel, killed at the Boston Massa cre, 331. Greece, Negro civilization imitated by, 22. Greene, Col. Christopher, commands a Negro regiment in 1778 at battle of Rhode Island, 368 ; his death, 369. Greene, Gen. Nathanael, letters to Wash ington on the raising of a Negro regi ment, 342 ; on the enlistment of Negroes, the British army, 359 ; at battle of Rhode Island, 368. Greenleaf, Richard, sued by his slave, 204, 231. Guerard, Benjamin, governor of South Carolina, letter to Gov. Hancock rela tive to slaves recaptured from the Brit ish, 380. Guyot, Arnold H., opinion on the diversity of the human race, 20. HABERSHAM, JAMES, favors slavery in Georgia, 318, 321. Ham, the progenitor of the Negro race, 8 ; family of, 9, 1 1 ; founder of the Baby lonian empire, 9. Hamilton, Alexander, letter to John Jay on the enlistment of Negroes, 354 ; opin ion in regard to slaves captured by the British, 381. Hamilton, Dr., his connection with the Negro plot at New York, 160. Hancock, John, letter on the condition of the South-Carolina Negroes recaptured from the British, 378. " Hannibal," sloop, Negroes captured from, 372. Harcourt, Col. William, captures Gen. Charles Lee, 366. Harper, , one of the founders of the colony at Cape Palmas, Liberia, 95. Harris, Rev. Samuel, describes bravery of Negro regiment at battle of Rhode Is land, 369. Hawkins, Sir John, a slave-trader, 138. " Hazard," armed vessel, recaptures Ne groes, 376. Hendrick, Caesar, a slave, sues for his freedom, 204, 231. 470 INDEX. Hessian officer, letter on the employment of Negroes in the army, 343. Hillgroue, Nicholas, engaged in the slave- trade, 269. Hispaniola, slaves from Sierra Leone sold at, 138. Hobby, Mr., Negro in the army claimed by, 384- Hogg, Robert, a merchant of New York, robbed by Negroes, 145. Holbrook, Felix, petition of, for freedom, '33- Holland, growth of slavery in New Neth erlands, 134 ; children of manumitted Negroes held as slaves to serve the gov ernment of, 135; slaves exchanged for tobacco, 136; engaged in the slave- trade, 463. Holt, Lord, his opinion that slavery was unknown to English law, 203. Hopkins, John H., views of slavery, 7, 8. Hopkins, Samuel, necessity of employing the Negroes in the American army, 338. Horsmanden, Daniel, one of the judges in the trial of the Negro plot at New York, 1741, 148. Hotham, Sir Charles, testimony in regard to the abolishment of slavery in Liberia, 105, r 06. Hughson, John, his tavern at New York a resort for Negroes, 147 ; his connection with the Negro plot, 147 ; trial, 152, 157 ; sentenced to be hanged, 158; executed, 161. Hughson, Sarah, her connection with the New York Negro plot, 152; trial, 157; respited, 164; testimony, 165, 166, 168. Human race, the unity of, 443. Humphreys, David, recruits a company of colored infantry in Connecticut, 361. Hutchinson, a commissioner to treat with king of Ashantee, 39. Hutchinson, Gov. Thomas, refuses to sign bill to prevent the importation of slaves from Africa, 223. INDIANS, taxable, 122, 123; not treated as slaves, 123; declared slaves, 124, 125; denied the right to appear as witnesses, 129; act to baptize, 141; proclamation against the harboring, 141 ; alarmed on seeing a Negro, 173; exchanged for Ne groes, 173; sent to Bermudas, 173; held in perpetual bondage, 178 ; mar riage with Negroes, 180; introduction of, as slaves, prohibited in Massachusetts, 186; importation of, prohibited, 259, 311, 314; slavery of, legalized, 259. Ishogo villages in Africa described, 52. JACKSONBURGH, S. C., Negro insurrection at, 299. Jamaica, slaves from, sold in Virginia, 328. James, Gov., commissioner to treat with king of Ashantee, 39. James City, Va., buildings destroyed, 126. Jameson, David, volunteers to prosecute the negroes in New York, 151. Japan, negro idols in, 17. Jefferson, Thomas, author of instructions to the Virginia delegation in Congress, 1774, on the abolition of slavery, 328; letters to Dr. Gordon relative to the treat ment of Negroes in Cornwallis's army, 358; to Benjamin Banneker, 396; his recommendation in regard to slavery in the Western Territory, 416. Jeffries, John P., declares there are no reli able data of the Negro race, 15. Johnson, David, accused of conspiracy in New York, 163. Jones, William, his genealogy of Noah, ii. Joseph, the selling of, a memorial by Sam uel Sewall, 210; answered by John Saffin, 214. Josselyn, John, describes attempt to breed slaves in Massachusetts, 174. KANE, WILLIAM, accused of conspiracy in New York, 162; testimony of, in the Negro plot, 162-164, 168. Kench, Thomas, letters to the General Assembly of Massachusetts on the en listment of Negroes, 350, 351. Kendall, Capt. Miles, deputy governor of Virginia, receives Negro slaves in ex change for supplies, 118; dispossessed of the same, returns to England to seek equity, 118; portion of the Negroes al lotted to him, 118; none of which he receives, 119. Kentucky, admitted into the Union, 437 ; constitution revised, 441. Keyser, Elizur, emancipates his slave, 207. INDEX. 471 Knowls, John, confines James Sommersett on board his ship " Mary and Ann," 205. Knox, Thomas, South Carolina, recaptured slaves delivered to, 377. Kudjoh Osai, king of Ashantee, 36. Kwamina Osai, succeeds his father Kud joh as king of Ashantee, 36. " LADY GAGE," a prize-ship with Negroes, 376. Laing, Capt., his services in Ashantee, 42. Latrobe, J. H. B., one of the founders of the colony at Cape Palmas, Liberia, 95- Laurens, Henry, letter to Washington on arming of the Negroes of South Caro lina, 353. Laurens, John, endeavors to raise Negro troops in South Carolina, 356; sails for France, 359; letters to Washington on his return, urging the enlistment of Ne groes, 360. Lawrence, Major Samuel, commands a company of Negro soldiers, 366. Lechmere, Richard, sued by his slave, 230. Lee, Gen. Charles, captured by the Brit ish, 366. Leicester, Mass., representative of, in structed to vote against slavery, 225. Liberia, founded by Colored people from Maryland, 95 ; population, 95, 97, 102 ; refuge for Colored people, 96; native tribes, 97, 98 ; Christian mission founded, 98 ; government, 99 ; a republic, 100 ; school and college established, TOO; churches, 101 ; trade, 103 ; first consti tution, 103; slavery and slave-trade abolished, 104; treaty with England in regard to slavery, 104 ; testimony of offi cers of the Royal Navy in regard to the slave-trade at, 105; revolt in, subdued, 106, 107. Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, letter to Gov. Rutledge of South Carolina, on the en listment of Negroes, 359. Livingstone, David, describes African wars, 50, 51 ; status of the Africans, 58, 59; skilful in the mechanic arts, 63, 64. Locke, John, constitution prepared by, adopted in North Carolina, 302 ; local governments of the South organized on his plan, 414. Lodge, Abraham, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151. Lodge, Sir Thomas, a slave-trader, 138. Lowell, John, sues for the freedom of a slave in Newburyport, Mass., 231. Lybia, Africa, description of, 452. MACBRAIR, R. M., author of a Mandingo grammar, 70. McCarthy, Charles, appointed governor- general of Western Africa, 41 ; war with the Ashantees, 41 ; his defeat and death, 42. Madison, James, letter to Joseph Jones, on the arming of the Negroes, 359. Mahoney, Lieut., his description of a Ne gro idol at Calanee, 17. Mandji, a village in Africa described, Si- Mankind, unity of, i, 7, 108, 443 ; varieties of, 3- Mansfield, Lord, decision in the case of the Negro Sommersett, 85, 205. Marlow, John, affidavit in the Sommersett case, 206. Maryland, appropriates money for the colony at Cape Palmas, 96 ; slaves pur chased to evade tax, 128; slavery in, 238-248 ; under the laws of Virginia, 238 ; first legislation on slavery, 238 ; population of, 238 ; slavery established by statute, 240; Act passed encour aging the importation of Negroes and slaves, 241 ; impost on Negroes, slaves, and white persons imported into, 241 ; duties on rum and wine, 243 ; treatment of slaves and papists, 243 ; convicts im ported into, 243 ; convict trade con demned, 244 ; defended, 244 ; slave-code, 246; rights of slaves, 246; law against manumission of slaves, 246 ; Negro pop ulation, 246, 247; white population, 247 ; increase of slavery, 247 ; number of slaves in 1715, 325; Negroes enlist in the army, 352 ; slave population in 1790, 436. Maryland Colonization Society, found colony of Negroes at Cape Palmas, Li beria, 95. 472 INDEX. Mason, George, author of the Virginia resolutions of 1774 against slavery, 327. Mason, Susanna, addresses a poetical let ter to Benjamin Banneker, 392. Massachusetts, slavery in, 172-237; earli est mention of the Negro in, 173; Moore's history of slavery in, 173; Pe- quod War the cause of slavery, 173; slaves imported to, 174; ship " Desire " arrives with slaves, 174, 176; slavery established, 175; first statute establish ing slavery, 177; made hereditary, 179; kidnapped Negroes, 180, 182 ; number of slaves, 183, 184; tax on slaves, 185; Negro population, 185 ; introduction of Indian slaves prohibited, 186 ; Negroes rated with cattle, 187, 188, 196; denied baptism, 189 ; Act in relation to marriage of Negro slaves, 191, 192; slave-mar riage ceremony, 192 ; condition of free Negro, 194, 196; Act to abolish slavery, 204 ; slave awarded a verdict against his master, 204; emancipation of slaves, 205; legislation favoring the importa tion of white servants, and prohibiting the clandestine bringing-in of Negroes, 208; importation of Negroes not as profitable as white servants, 208, 209; prohibitory legislation against slavery, 220; proclamation against Negroes, 226 ; slaves executed, 226; transported and exchanged for small Negroes, 226; slaves sue for freedom, 228-232 ; Ne groes petition for freedom, 233 ; bill passed for the suppression of the slave- trade, 234, 235; vetoed by Gov. Gage, 235; number of slaves in, 325, emanci pation of slaves, 329 ; enlistment of Negroes and emancipation of slaves prohibited, 329; enlistment of Negroes opposed, 334, 351 ; mode of enlisting Negroes, 352 ; Negroes serve with white troops, 352 ; number of men furnished to the army, 353; act relative to cap tured Negroes, 370; sale of captured Negroes prohibited, 371 ; armed vessels from, recapture Negroes, 376; act rela tive to prisoners of war, 379; slaves petition for freedom, 404; act against slavery, 405 ; extinction of slavery, 429; lawsuits brought by slaves, 430; condi tion of slaves, 461. Maverick, Samuel, attempts to breed slaves in Massachusetts, 174. Maverick, Samuel, mortally wounded at the Boston Massacre, 331. Mede, Joseph, his statement in regard to Ham corrected, 10. Medford, Mass., representative of, in structed to vote against slavery, 225. Melville, John, his sermon on Simon men tioned, 6. Menes, first king of Egypt, 454. Meroe, Egypt, capital of African Ethiopia and chief city of the Negroes, 6. Methodist Episcopal Church, establishes a mission in Liberia, 98, 100. Methodist Missionary Society appropriate money for the mission at Monrovia,. 98. Mifflin, Warner, presents a memorial to Congress in 1792 for the abolition of slavery, 437. Mills, James, missionary to Monrovia, 97 ; death, 97. Missah Kwanta, son of the king of Ashan- tee, sent to England as a hostage,, 43- Mississippi, slavery in Territory of, prohib ited, 1797, 440. Monroe, James, town of Monrovia named in honor of, 97. Monrovia, Africa, founded, 97 ; popula tion, 97 ; Christian mission established, 98, 99. Moore, George H., his history of slavery in Massachusetts commended, 173 ; mentioned, 180, 183 ; remarks on the bill to prohibit the importation of slaves. from Africa, 224. Morton, Samuel G., the sphinx a shrine of the Negro, 17. Murphy, Edward, accused of conspiracy in New York, 163. Murray, Joseph, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151, 158, 166. Mycerinus, king of Egypt, 458. " NAUTILUS," ship arrives at Sierra Leone with colony of Negroes, 86. Nechao, king of Egypt, 455. Negro plot in New York City, 1741, 143- 170. INDEX. 473: Negroes, members of the human family, i, 5; descendants of Ham, 3, 8; repre sented in pictures of the crucifixion of Christ, 5 ; an Ethiopian eunuch becomes a Christian, 6 ; same race as Egyptian, 6; Cush an ancestor, 10; use of the term "Negro," 12, 13; antiquity of the race, 14-19; early military service, 15; figured in a Theban tomb, 15, 16 ; politi cal and social condition, 16; the Sphinx a shrine of, 17; idols, 17, 18; origin of color and hair, 19-21 ; primitive civiliza tion, 22; decline, 24; kingdoms, 26, 28, 31 ; engage in the slave-trade, 27 ; wo men in the army, 29; laws, religion, 30; different tribes at war, 30-40 ; war with England, 41-43 ; the Negro type, 45-48 ; physical and mental character affected by climate, 46, 47, 385, 448 ; longevity, 46; slaves the lower class, 47; habits, 48 ; susceptible to Christianity, 48 ; idiosyncrasies of the, 50; patriarchal government, 50, 54; village.5, 51, 52; pursuits, 51 ; architecture, 51, 53 ; women as rulers, 55, 56; priests, 55; laws, 56, 57 ; marriage, 57, 58 ; status, 58, 59; nine feet in height, 59; beauty of the, 60, 61 ; warfare, 61, 62; agricul ture, 62, 63 ; mechanic arts, 63-65 ; lan guages, 66-70, 90; literature, 75-80; religion, 81-84, 89, 90; free, leave for England, 86; colony of, at Sierra Leone, 86; serve in the British army, 87 ; their condition in America, 96 ; found colony at Liberia, 95; first im portance of, 109; military abilities, no; early Christianity, in ; earliest im portation to America, 115; in Virginia, 116, 118; number of, in Virginia, 119, 120; prohibition against, 121; tax on female, 122, 123; law of Virginia de clares them slaves, 123, 124; repeal of the Act declaring them real estate, 125; duty on slaves in Virginia, 126-128; traffic encouraged in Virginia, 128; no political or military rights in Virginia, 128, 129; denied the right to appear as witnesses, 129 ; revolt of free, in Virginia, 130; pay taxes, 131 ; in the military ser vice, 131 ; intermarriage of, prohibited, 131; denied education, 132; children of manumitted, made slaves, 135, 136; not allowed to hold real estate in New York, 142 ; earliest mention of, in Massachu setts, 173; held in perpetual bondage, 178 ; condition of free, in Massachusetts, 194, 196; importation of, not so profita ble as white servants, 208 ; Act encour aging the importation of, into Maryland, 241 ; condition of free, in Maryland, 247 ; limited rights of free, 259, 308, 315; prohibited the use of the streets in Rhode Island, 264 ; military employ ment of, 324 ; excluded from the Conti nental Army, 335 ; allowed to re-enlist, 337 ; in Virginia join the British army, 339; cautioned against joining the lat ter, 340 ; serve in the army with white troops in Massachusetts, 352 ; efforts to. enlist in South Carolina, 355 ; company of, enlisted in Connecticut, 361 ; return of, in the army, 1778, 362 ; as soldiers,. I 775~ I 78j5 363 ; at the battle of Bunker Hill, 363; at battle of Rhode Island,. 368 ; valor of, 369 ; sale of two captured, prohibited in Massachusetts, 371 ; dis posal of recaptured, 374, 376 ; education of, prohibited, 385. Newburyport, Mass., a slave sues for free dom, 231. New England Negroes leave for England, 86; engaged in the slave-trade, 174, 180; see Massachusetts. New Hampshire, Massachusetts exercises authority over, 309; slavery in, 309-311 ; Negro slave emancipated, 309; instruc tion against importation of slaves, 309; conduct of servants regulated, 319; ill treatment of slaves, 31 1 ; importation of Indian servants prohibited, 311; ill treatment of servants and slaves pro hibited, 311 ; duration of slaves in, 311 ;. number of slaves in, 325; slave popula tion in 1790, 436. New Jersey, slavery in, 282-288; Act in- regard to slaves, 282 ; the colony divided, with separate governments, 283 ; enter taining of fugitive servants, or trading with Negroes, prohibited, 283 ; Negroes and other slaves allowed trial by a jury, 283; publicity in judicial proceedings, 285; rights of government of, surren dered to the queen, 285; conduct of slaves regulated, 285 ; impost - tax on imported Negroes, 286, 287; trials of slaves regulated, 286 ; security required; 474 INDEX. for manumitted slaves, 287 ; slaves pro hibited from joining the militia, 288 ; population, 1738-45, 288; number of slaves in, 325; slave population in 1790, 43 6 - New Netherlands, see New York. Newport, Amos, a slave, sues for his free dom, 229. Newport, R.I., Negroes and Indians pro hibited the use of the streets, 264; Negro slaves arrive, 269; part of them sold, 269 ; vessels fitted out for the slave- trade, 269; streets repaired from the impost-tax on Negroes, 273, 275. New York, slavery in, 134-171; slaves imported from Brazil, 146; laws rela tive to slavery, 139; slaves the property of West-India Company, 139; supply of slaves, 140; Act for regulating slaves, 140; Act to baptize slaves, 141 ; expedi tion against Canada, 143; governor of, claims jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, 312; number of slaves in, 325; Act for raising Negro troops, 352 ; Negro sol diers promised freedom, 411; slave population in 1790, 436; bill for the gradual extinction of slavery, 440 ; laws in regard to slaves, 463. Nexv-York City, settled by the Dutch, 134; growth of slavery under the Hol land government, 134; children of manumitted Negroes made slaves, 135, 136; slaves imported from Brazil, 136; captured by the English, 138; laws on slavery, 139; identical with Massachu setts, 139; Gov. Dongan arrives, 139; General Assembly meet, 139; procla mation against the harboring of slaves, 141 ; slaves forbidden the streets after nightfall, 141 ; slave - market erected, 142; Negro riot, 143; Negro plot, 144- 171 ; house of Robert Hogg robbed, 145; population, 145; fire at Fort George, 145; fires in, 146; crew of Spanish vessel adjudged slaves, 146; charged with firing houses, 146, house of John Hughson, resort for Negroes, 147 ; act against entertaining slaves, 148 ; council meet, request governor to offer reward for incendiaries, 149 ; Negroes deny all knowledge of the fires and plot, 149 ; Supreme Court con vened, 149; trial of Negroes, 149; Ne groes hanged, 154; fast observed in, 154; Negroes arrested, 155; chained to a stake, and burned, 157 ; proclamation granting freedom to conspirators who would confess, 159; Spanish Negroes sentenced to be hung, 161; Hughson executed, 161 ; Negroes hanged, 161, 169; thanksgiving, 169; Rev. John Ury executed, 169; arrests for con spiracy, 170; first session of Congress held at, in 1789, 426. Nicoll, Benjamin, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151. Nineveh, the city of, founded, 910. Noddle's Island, Mass., slaves on, 176. Non-Importation Act passed by Congress, 325- Norfolk, Va., arrival of slaves at, 328. North Carolina, slaves purchased in, to evade the tax, 128 ; slavery in, 302-308; situation of, favorable to the slave-trade, 302 ; the Locke Constitution adopted, 302; William Sayle commissioned governor, 303 ; Negro slaves eligible to membership in the church, 304; Church of England established in, 304; rights of Negroes controlled by their masters, 304; act respecting conspiracies, 305; form of trying Negroes, 307 ; ill treat ment of Negroes, 307 ; emancipation of slaves prohibited, 307 ; limited rights of free Negroes, 308 ; number of slaves in, 325 ; slave population in 1790, 436. Nott, John C., antiquity of the Negro, 15; his social condition, 16. GATES, TITUS, his connection with the Popish plot, 144. Obongos of Africa described, 46. Ockote, Osai, king of Ashantee, his war with the English, 43. Oglethorpe, John, first governor of Geor gia, opposed to slavery, 316. Ophir, Africa, description of, 452. Opoko, Osai, king of Ashantee, 35. Osymandyas, king of Egypt, 458. Otis, James, speech in favor of freedom to the Negroes, 203. PARSONS, THEOPHILUS, his opinion on the existence of slavery in Massachusetts, 179, 180; decision in the case of Win- chendon vs. Hatfield, 232. INDEX. 475 Pastorius, Francis Daniel, his memorial against slavery, 1688, 313. Payne, John, missionary bishop of Africa, 100. Pendleton, Edmund, letter to Richard Lee on the slaves of Virginia joining the British army, 339. Penn, William, Delaware conveyed to, 249; grants the privilege of separate government, 249; introduces bill for the regulation of servants, 314; op posed to slavery, 314. Pennsylvania, slavery in, 312-315; govern ment organized, 312 ; Swedes and Dutch settlement, 312; governor of New York claims jurisdiction over, 312; first laws of, 312 ; memorial against slavery, 313; Penn presents bill for the better regu lation of servants, 314; tax on imported slaves, 314; importation of Negroes and Indians prohibited, 314; petition for the freedom of slaves denied, 314; rights of the Negroes, 315; tax on Ne groes and Mulatto slaves, 315; fears for the conduct of the slaves, 315; number of slaves in, 325; slave population in 1790, 436. Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of slavery, address of the, 1789, 431. Pequod Indians captured in war exchanged for Negroes, 173; as slaves, 177. Peters, John, married to Phillis Wheatley, 200. Peters, Phillis, see Wheatley, Phillis. Pheron, king of Egypt, 458. Philadelphia, Federal Convention meet at, 417 ; Anti-slavery Convention held at, 438 ; see Pennsylvania. Phut, Africa, description of, 452. Pickering, Timothy, representative of Salem, Mass., instructed to vote against the importation of slaves, 220. Pinny, J. B., missionary to Liberia, ICO. Pitcairn, John, killed at Bunker Hill by a Negro soldier, 364. Plant, Matthias, missionary of the Propa gation Society in Mass., 189. Po, Fernando, locates Portuguese colony in Africa, 26. Poor, Salem, a Negro soldier, his bravery at Bunker Hill, 365. Popish plot in England concocted by Titus Gates, 144. Portugal, engages in the slave-trade, 26, 31, 463 ; locates colony at Benin, Africa, 26, 27. Prescott, Richard, captured by Lieut.-Col. Barton, 366. Presbyterian Board of Missions establish missions in Liberia, 100. Price, Arthur, arrested for theft in New York, 152 ; testimony in the Negro plot, 152, 154. Prichard, John C., varieties of the human race, 4. Prince, a Negro, assists in the capture of Gen. Prescott, 367. Protestant Episcopal Church establishes first mission at Sierra Leone, 89 ; in Li beria, 100. Proteus, king of Egypt, 458. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, 455. Psammis, king of Egypt, 456. Pul, Africa, description of, 452. QUAKERS, opposed to slavery, 218; me morial of, against slavery in Pennsyl vania, 313 ; the friends of the Negroes, 315; memorial to Congress relative to slavery, 439. RAMESES, MIAMUN, king of Egypt, 458. Raffles, T. Stanford, his researches on the Negro race, 19. Reade, W. Winwood, describes patriarchal government of Africa, 55 ; beauty of the Negro, 60, 6 1 ; people of Sierra Leone,, 87. Revere, Paul, Negroes placed in his charge, at Castle Island, Mass., 377. Rhampsinitus, king of Egypt, 458. Rhode Island, slavery in, 262-281 ; colo nial government, 262 ; Act of 1652 to abolish slavery not enforced, 262 ; Ne groes and Indians prohibited the use of the streets, 264 ; impost-tax on slaves s , 265 ; entertainment of slaves prohibited^. 266 ; Negro slaves sold in, 269 ; supply of Negroes from Barbadoes, 269 ; ves sels fitted out for the slave-trade, 269 ; value of Negro slaves, 269 ; list of militia-men, including white and black servants, 270 ; clandestine importations and exportations of passengers, Negroes, 476 INDEX. or Indian slaves prohibited, 271 ; mas ters of vessels required to report the names and number of passengers, 272, 274; penalties for violating the impost tax law on slaves, 272 ; portion of the impost-tax on imported Negroes appro priated to repair streets of Newport, 273 ; disposition of the money raised by impost-tax, 275 ; slaves imported into, 276 ; impost-tax repealed, 277 ; manu mission of aged and helpless slaves regulated, 277 ; Negro slaves rated as chattel property, 278 ; masters of ves sels prohibited from carrying slaves out of, 278 ; importation of Negroes prohib ited, 280; population from 1730-1774, 281 ; number of slaves in, 325 ; act emancipating slaves on joining the army, 347 ; protest against the enlist ment of slaves, 348 ; Negro troops en gaged in the battle of, 368 ; slave popu lation in 1790, 436. Ricketts, Capt., services in the Ashantee war, 42. Roberts, J. J., president of Liberia, proc lamation regarding passports, 106. Rockwell, Charles, descrUjes Liberia, 96. Roman Catholics denied the right to ap pear as witnesses in Virginia, 129; treatment of, in Maryland, 243 ; de nounced by Gates, 144 ; suspected in New York, 160, 162, 164, 167. Rome, Negro civilization imitated by, 22. Rommes, John, charged with burglary at New York, 148 ; accused of being in the Negro plot, 153. Royal African Company, charter abol ished, 41 ; ordered to send supply of slaves to New York, 140 ; has sole right to trade on the coast of Africa, 316. Royall, Jacob, imports Negro slaves into Rhode Island, 276. Ruffin, Robert, a slave of, declared free for revealing plot of free Negroes in Virginia, 130. Rush, Benjamin, his opinion of James Derham the Negro physician, 401. Ryase, Andrew, accused of conspiracy in New York, 163. SABACHUS, king of Ethiopia, 454. Baffin, John, reply to Judge Sewall's tract, "The Selling of Joseph," 214. St. George's Bay Company organized, 86; succeeded by the Sierra Leone Com pany, 86. Salem, Mass., representative of, instructed to vote against the importation of slaves, 220, 224 ; Negro conspiracy, 227 ; slaves sent to, 269, 376; petition of slaves in, 462 ; Negroes captured at sea adver tised for sale, 372. Salem, Peter, a Negro soldier, his bravery at Bunker Hill, 364. Salisbury, Samuel Webster, author of an address on slavery, 1769, 218. Saltonstall, Richard, petitions the General Court of Massachusetts against stealing Negroes for slaves, 181. Sandwich, Mass., representative of, in structed to vote against slavery, 225. Sargent, Nathaniel P., opinion, 1783, rela tive to South-Carolina Negroes, 381. Savage, Samuel P., letter, 1783, in regard to South-Carolina Negroes, 377. Sayle, William, commissioned governor of North Carolina, 302. Schultz, John, testimony in the Negro plot at New York, 1741, 163. Scotland, a Negro slave liberated in 1762, 463- Scott, Bishop, letter on the government of Liberia, 99. " Seaflower," ship, arrives at Newport, R.I., from Africa, with slaves, 269. Seba, Africa, description of, 452. Sesach, king of Egypt, 454. Sesostris, king of Egypt, 458. Sethon, king of Egypt, 454. Sewall, Jonathan, letter to John Adams on the emancipation of slaves, 207. Sewall, Joseph, sermon on the fires in Boston, 1723, 226. Sewall, Samuel, protests against rating Negroes with cattle, 187 ; his hatred of slavery, 210; publishes his tract "The Selling of Joseph," 210; father of the anti-slavery movement in Massachusetts, 217; letter to Addington Davenport on the murder of Smith's slave, 1719, 461. Shaftesbury, Earl of, in favor of introdu cing slavery into Georgia, 322. Sharp, Granville, one of the founders of Sierra Leone colony, 86. Sherbro, mission-district, Western Africa, described, 460. INDEX. 477 Shinga, queen of Congo, 55. Shishak, king of Ethiopia, 454. Shodeke, king of Yoruba, Africa, 31. Siam, negro idols in, 17. Sicana, chief of the Kaffir tribe, a Chris tian and a poet, 80. Sierra Leone, sends colony to Yoruba, Africa, 32 ; discovered, 85 ; Negro colony founded, 86, 8;; attacked by French squadron, 87 ; England takes possession of, 87 ; population, 88, 90 ; trade, 88 ; Christian missions at, 89, 90 ; languages of colony, 90 ; character of the inhabit ants described by Gov. Ferguson, 90- 93 ; slaves from, sold at Hispaniola, 138. Sierra Leone Company, organized, 86; objects of, 87. Simon, a negro, bears the cross of Jesus, 5. Slavery, Hopkins's Bible views of, 7, 8; in Egypt, 17 ; in Africa, 25-27 ; Lord Manfield's decision in the Sommersett case, 85 ; colonization, the solution of, 97 ; abolished in Liberia, 104, 105 ; weaker tribes of Africa, chief source of, 109; introduced in Virginia, 115, 116, 118; made legal in Virginia, 123, 124; growth of, in Virginia, 133; growth in New York, 134 ; sanctioned by the Eng lish, 138; New-York laws, 139; made legal in New York, 140; in Massachu setts, 172-237; established, 175, 179; first statute establishing, in United States, 177 ; sanctioned by the church and courts, 178 ; made hereditary in Massachusetts, 179 ; growth of, in Massachusetts, 183; recognized in Eng land, 203; act to abolish in Massachu setts 204; prohibitory legislation against, 220-225 ; first legislation in Maryland, 238 ; established by statute, 240 ; in creased in Maryland, 247 ; introduced in Delaware, 249 ; first legislation on, 250 ; Indian and Negro, legalized in Connecticut, 259; in New Jersey, 282; established in South Carolina, 289; per petual, 290, 291 ; in New Hampshire, 309 ; memorial against, in Pennsylvania, 313; prohibited in Georgia, 316; Gov. Oglethorpe's opinion on, 316 ; discussion on the admission of, in Georgia, 318- 322 ; established in Georgia, 322 ; Wash ington prevents resolutions against, 327; legislation against, demanded, 403 ; act against, in Massachusetts, 405 ; progress of, during the Revolution, 41 1 ; as a po litical and legal problem, 412; recog nized under the new government of United States, 414; attempted legisla tion against, 415 ; advocated by the Southern States, 418; speeches delivered in the convention at Philadelphia on, 420; in the Federal Congress, 427; ex tinction of, in Massachusetts, 429 ; Franklin's address for the abolition of, 431 ; memorials to Congress for the abolition of, 432, 437 ; bill for the gradu al extinction of, in New York, 440; firmly established, 441. Slaves, social condition of white and black, 16 ; the lower class of negroes, 47 ; Lord Mansfield's decision in the Sommersett case, 85, 86 ; declared free on reaching British soil, 86 ; introduced in America, 115; first introduced in Virginia, 116, 118; on Somer Islands, 118; number of, in Virginia, 119, 120, 132, 133; prohibi tion against, 121 ; special tax on female, 122, 123; sold for tobacco, 122 ; laws of Virginia in regard to, 123-125 ; act re pealed declaring them real estate, 125; duty on, 126, 1-27; purchased in Mary land and Carolina to evade the tax, 128 ; tax on sales of, in Virginia, 128 ; reduced, 128; repealed, 128; revived, 128; traffic in, encouraged in Virginia, 128; no po litical or military rights, 1 28, 1 29 ; laws in Virginia, 129, 130; value fixed on, when executed, 129; laws of Virginia in regard to freedom of, 130; presented to clergymen, 131 ; prohibition against instructing, 132; denied education, 132; introduced in New York, 134; West India Company trade in, 135; manumit ted in New York ; 135; children of the latter held as, 135; imported from Bra zil to New York, 136; exchanged for tobacco, 136; intermarry in New York, 137 ; New York to have constant supply, 140; Act to regulate, 140, 141; Act to baptize, 140; against the harboring of, 141, 148; forbidden the streets in New York, 141 ; Negro riot, 143 ; Negro plot, 144-171 ; executed, 154, 161 ; burned, 157 ; Negroes exchanged for Indians, 173; Indians sent to Bermudas, 173; imported from Barbadoes to Massachu- INDEX. setts, 174; ship "Desire" arrives with, 174, 176; attempt to breed, in Massa chusetts, 174; sold in Massachusetts, 175; issue of female, the property of their master, 180; marriage of, 180, 191, 192 ; sold at Barbadoes and West Indies, 181 ; number in Massachusetts, 183, 184; tax on, 185; rated as cattle, 187, 188, 196 ; denied baptism, 189 ; marriage- ceremony, 192 ; verdict awarded to a slave in Massachusetts, 204 ; number in Boston, 205 ; emancipated, 206 ; exe cuted in Massachusetts, 226 ; transported and exchanged for small negroes, 226; sue for freedom in Massachusetts, 228- 232 ; emancipated by England, 231 ; slave-code of Maryland, 246 ; laws against manumission of, 246, 250; intro duced in Connecticut, 252 ; purchase and treatment of, 253; persons manu mitting to maintain them, 254; com merce with, prohibited, 255; importa tion of, prohibited, 259, 261 ; impost-tax on, in Rhode Island, 265 ; entertainment of, prohibited, 266 ; letter of the board of trade relative to, 267 ; Rhode Island supplied with, from Barbadoes, 269 ; slaves sold in Rhode Island, 269 ; value of, 269 ; clandestine importation and ex portation of, prohibited, 271; Act relative to freeing Mulatto and Negro, in Rhode Island, 277 ; rated as chattel property, 278 ; masters of vessels prohibited from carrying Negro out of Rhode Island, 280 ; importation of, prohibited, 280 ; allowed trial by jury, in New Jersey, 283 ; impost-tax on, 286, 287 ; prohibited from joining militia, 288 ; regarded as chattel property in-South Carolina, 292 ; branded, 294 ; life of, regarded as of little consequence, 296 ; education of, prohibited, 298, 300; overworking of, prohibited, 298; insurrection, 299; en listment of, 300; masters compensated for the loss of, 301 ; rights of, controlled by the master in North Carolina, 304 ; emancipation of, prohibited, 307 ; New Hampshire opposed to the importation of, 309 ; ill treatment of, prohibited, 31 1 ; duration of, in New Hampshire, 311; tax on, imported into Pennsylvania, 314, 315; petition for freedom of, denied, 314; number of slaves in the colonies, 1715 and 1775, 325; arrival of, at Vir ginia, from Jamaica, 328 ; severe treat ment of, modified, 329 ; the Boston Mas sacre, 330; in the Continental army, 333, 335; excluded from the army, 335; al lowed to re-enlist, 337 ; Lord Dunmore's proclamation freeing, 336 ; join the British army, 339 ; prohibited from en listing in Connecticut, 343 ; Rhode Island emancipates, on joining the army, 347 ; protest against the same, 348 ; mas ters of enlisted, recompensed, 349 ; serve in the army with white troops, 352 ; Act to enlist, in New York, 352 ; efforts to enlist, in South Carolina, 357 ; treatment of, by Cornwall's, 358; ex changed for merchandise, 358 ; disposal of recaptured, 374, 376, 379 ; recaptured, sent to Boston, 376 ; list of recaptured, 377 ; held as personal property, 381, 384 ; education of, prohibited, 385 ; sale of, advertised, 403, 408 ; in Massachusetts petition for freedom, 404 ; rights of, lim ited in Virginia, 409 ; who served in the army emancipated, 410 ; promised their freedom in New York, 411 ; impost-tax on, introduced in Federal Congress^427 ; lawsuits instituted by, in Massachusetts, 430; number of, in United States, 1790, 436; law for the return of fugitive, 438 ; introduction of, prohibited into the Mis sissippi Territory, 440 ; importation of, prohibited in Georgia, 440 ; condition of, in Massachusetts, 461 ; petition of, in Boston, 462 ; Massachusetts laws in regard to, 463. Slave-trade, commenced at Benin, Africa, 26 ; natives of Africa engage in, 27 ; sup pressed by England, 28, 31 ; at Yoruba, Africa, 31 ; declared piracy by England, 87 ; abolished in Liberia, 104, 105 ; ear liest commerce for slaves between Africa and America, 115 ; introduced first in Virginia, 116, 118; Dutch engage in the, 124, 135; tax on the subjects of Great Britain in the, 127; encouraged in Vir ginia, 128; with Angola, Africa, 134; encouraged by the Dutch, 135; sanc tioned by the English, 138; encouraged by Queen Elizabeth, 138 ; growth in New York, 140; slave-market erected in New York, 142 ; Indians exchanged for Ne groes, 173; in New England, 174; ship INDEX. 479 Desire " built for the, 174 ; arrives with cargo of slaves, 174, 176; on the coast of Guinea, 180; increased in Massachu setts, 184; abolished by England, 231; bill for the suppression of, in Massachu setts, 235 ; sanctioned in Rhode Island, 265, 273 ; vessels fitted out for the, 269; slave-market at Charleston, S. C., 299 ; the situation of South Carolina favorable to the, 302 ; progress during the Revo lution, 402 ; discussion in Congress on the restriction of the, 434 ; act against the foreign, 438. Slew, Jenny, a slave, sues for her freedom, 228. Smeatham, Dr., one of the founders of the Sierra Leone colony, 86. Smith, Hamilton, antiquity of the Negro race, 18. Smith, Samuel, murders his Negro slave, 461. Smith, William, volunteers to prosecute the Negroes in New York, 151, 158, 166. Sommersett, James, a Negro slave, brought to England and abandoned by his mas ter, 85, 205; discharged, 206. Sorubiero, Margaret, connected with the New-York Negro plot, 1741,147,152, 153. South Carolina, slaves purchased in, to evade the tax, 128; slavery in, 289-301 ; receives two charters from Great Britain, 289 ; Negro slaves in, 289 ; slavery legis lation, 289 ; slavery established, 289 ; perpetual bondage of the Negro, 290, 291 ; slaves regarded as chattel property, 292 ; trial of slaves, 292 ; increase of ^lave population, 292 ; growth of the rice-trade, 292 ; trade with Negroes pro- 'hibited, 293 ; conduct of slaves regu lated, 293 ; punishment of slaves, 294 ; branded, 294; life of slaves regarded as of little consequence, 296 ; fine for killing slaves, 296 ; education of slaves prohibited, 298, 300 ; permitted to be baptized, 298; inquiry into the treat ment of slaves, 298 ; overworking of slaves prohibited, 298 ; hours of labor, 298; slave-market at Charleston, 299; Negro insurrection, 299 ; whites au thorized to carry fire-arms, 300 ; enlist ment of slaves, 300; Negroes admitted to the militia service, 300 ; masters com pensated for the loss of slaves, 301 ; few slaves manumitted, 301; little legisla tion on slavery from 1754-1776, 301 ; effect of the threatened war with Eng land, 301 ; number of slaves in 1715 and 1775, 325 ; efforts to raise Negro troops, 355 5 Negroes desert from, 355 ; recap ture of Negroes from the British, 376 ; slave population, 1790, 436. Spain engaged in the slave-trade, 31 ; her colonies in the West Indies to be fur nished with Negroes, 237. Stanley, Henry M., description of a jour ney through Africa, 72. Staten Island, N. Y., a Negro regiment to be raised there, 342. Stephens, Thomas, favors the introduction of slavery in Georgia, 319; reprimanded, 320. Stewart, Charles, owner of the Negro slave James Sommersett, 205. Stone, S. C., a Negro insurrection at, 299. Swain, John, suit to recover a slave, 231. Swan, James, advocate of liberty for all, 204. Swedes, settle on the Delaware River, 312. TACUDONS, king of Dahomey, 28. Tarshish, Africa, -description of, 452. Taylor, Comfort, sues a slave for trespass, 278. Teage, Collin, missionary to Liberia, 101. Tembandumba, queen of the Jagas, 56. Tharaca, king of Egypt, 454. Thethmosis, king of Egypt, 459. Thomas, John, letter to John Adams, 1775, on the employment of Negroes in- the army, 337. Thompson, Capt., of ship " Nautilus," ar rives at Sierra Leone with Negroes, 86. Timans, second king of Egypt, 454. Tutu Osai, king of Ashantee, 34. " Treasurer," ship, sails to West Indies for Negroes, 1 16; arrives at Virginia, 117. " Tyrannicide," armed vessel, re-captures Negroes, 376. UCHOREUS, king of Egypt, 459. Undi, African chief, 50. United States, condition of the Colored population before the war of 1861,96; first statute establishing slavery in, 177 ; slave population, 1715 and 1775, 325; confederation of the, 374; treaty with 480 INDEX. Englan , 382 ; the Tory party in favor of slavery, 413; the Whigs the domi nant party in the Northern States, 414; slavery recognized under the new gov ernment of the, 414 ; anti-slavery agita tion in, 414; plan for the disposal of the Western Territory, 416; proceedings of Federal Convention, 417; slave popula tion in 1790, 436. United-States Congress, action on the dis posal of recaptured Negroes, 374 ; first session at New York, 1789, 426; pro ceedings, 427 ; memorials to, for the abolition of slavery, 432, 437; discussion in, on the restriction of the slave-trade, 433 prohibits the introduction of slaves into the Mississippi Territory, 440. Upton, Samuel and William, emancipate their father's slave, 207. Ury, John, his connection with the New- York Negro plot, 1741, 160, 162, 163, 166; executed, 169. Utrecht, the treaty of, to provide Negroes for the Spanish West Indies, 236. VAN TWILLER, WOUTER, charged with neglect of public affairs in New Nether lands, 249 ; owner of Negro slaves, 250. Varick, Caesar, charged with burglary at New York, 148. Varnum, Gen. J. M., letter to Washington on the enlistment of Negroes, 346. Vaughan, Col. James, Legislature of Rhode Island refund tax on two child slaves imported by, 276. Vermont, slave population, 1790; admitted into the Union, 436. " Victoria," ship, captures British privateer with Negroes, 376. Virginia, slavery in, 115-133; slaves first introduced, 116; number of, 119; forced on the colony, 119; the first to pur chase slaves, 119; women purchased in England and sent to, 119; number of slaves, 119, 120, 132, 133; popula tion, 120; Assembly pass prohibition against Negroes, 121; slavery legalized, 123; Indians declared slaves, 124, 125; Assembly protest against the repeal of the Act declaring Negroes real estate, . 125, 126; impose duty on slaves and servants imported, 126, 127; tax on slaves sold, 128; reduced, 128; repealed, 128; revived, 128; prohibit Catholics, Indians, and Negro slaves to appear as witnesses, 129; pass act to value slave when executed, 129; threatened revolt of the free Negroes, 130; Act in regard to the freedom of slaves, 130 ; number of slaves in 1715 and 1775, 325; arrival of slaves in 1775, 3 2 ^; purchaser of the same reproved, 328; instructions to delegation to Congress relative to the abolition of slavery, 328; Lord Dun- more's proclamation freeing slaves, 336 j Negroes join the British army, 339, 352 j declaration of convention against Dun- more's proclamation, 341 ; number of slaves in Cornwallis's army, 358 ; rights of slaves limited, 409 ; slaves who served in the army emancipated, 410; slave population, 1790, 436. WALKLIN, THOMAS, testimony in the Sommersett case, 205. Warren, Joseph, oration on human liberty, 333- Warwick, Earl of, slaves on his plantation at the Bermudas, 116, 118. Washburn, Emory, views on the slavery laws of Massachusetts, 179. Washington, George, acknowledges verses written by Phillis Wheatley 200, 201; presents Virginia resolutions of 1774 against slavery, 327 ; takes command of the army, 334 ; forbids the enlistment of Negroes, 334; instructed to discharge all Negroes and slaves in the army, 335 \ order of, against Negro enlistments, 336; letter to Congress on admitting Negroes to the army, 337; letter to Joseph Reed on Lord Dunmore's proc lamation, 341 ; letter to Gov. Cooke, 345; letter to Henry Laurens, on the arming of the Negroes, 353; letter to John Laurens on the failure to enlist Negroes in the South, 360 ; letter to Sir Guy Carleton relative to Negroes, 381 ; to Gen. Putnam in regard to a Negro in the army claimed by his owner, 384 ; president of the Federal Convention, 417. Watson, Capt., arrives at Norfolk, Va., with slaves, 328. Wayne, Anthony, letter to Lieut.-Col. Meigs relative to Negroes captured by him, 375. INDEX. 481 Wesleyan Methodists establish mission at Sierra Leone, 90. West India Company, trade in slaves, 135; children of manumitted Negroes held as slaves by the, 135 ; cost of the government of New Netherland to the, 136; encourage commerce in slaves, 137 ; slaves in New York the property of the, 139. West Indies, Negroes captured and made slaves, 117, 118; slaves sold at, 181 ; England furnishes Negroes to the, 237. Western Territory, plan for the disposal of the, 416; slave population, 1790, 436. Wheatley, Phillis, an African poetess, 197 ; visits England, 198 ; publishes her poems, 199; marries John Peters, 200; death of, 200; poem to Washington, 200 ; Washington's letter of acknowl edgment, 201. Whipple, John, sued by Jenny Slew, a slave, 228. Whitefield, Rev. George, his plantation and Negroes in Georgia, 321. Williams, George W., orations on " The Footsteps of the Nation," "Early Christianity in Africa," 1 1 1 ; first col ored graduate from Newton Seminary, in; ordination poem by Rev. Dr. Ab bott, in. Wilson, D. A., principal of school at Liberia, 100. Wilson, Jacob, on African languages, 67. Wilkinson, Gardiner, discovers a Theban tomb with Negro scenes, 1 5 ; condition of white and black slaves, 16. Willson, Capt. John, charged with excit ing slaves, 226. Windsor, Thomas, master of ship " Sea- flower," arrives at Newport, R.I., with slaves from Africa, 269. Winter, Sir William, a slave-trader, 138- Worcester, Mass, representative instructed to vote against slavery, 220. YORK, DUKE OF, conveys Delaware to William Penn, 249. Yoruba, Africa, Negro kingdom, 31 ; slave trade stopped, 31. ZERAH, king of Ethiopia, 454. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA I800 TO I880 NOTE. THIS second volume brings the HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA from 1800 down to 1880. It consists of six parts and twenty-nine chapters. Few memories can cover this eventful period of American history. Commencing its career with the Republic, slavery grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength. The dark spectre kept pace and company with liberty until separated by the sword. Beginning with the struggle for restriction or extension of slavery, I have striven to record, in the spirit of honest and impartial historical inquiry, all the events of this period belonging properly to my subject. The development and decay of anti-slavery sentiment at the South ; the pious efforts of the good Quakers to ameliorate the condi tion of the slaves ; the service of Negroes as soldiers and sailors ; the anti-slavery agitation movement ; the insurrections of slaves ; the na tional legislation on the slavery question ; the John Brown movement ; the war for the Union ; the valorous conduct of Negro soldiers ; the emancipation proclamations ; the reconstruction of the late Confederate States ; the errors of reconstruction ; the results of emancipation ; vital, prison, labor, educational, financial, and social statistics ; the exodus cause and effect ; and a sober prophecy of the future, are all faithfully recorded. After seven years I am loath to part with the saddest task ever committed to human hands ! I have tracked my bleeding countrymen through the widely scattered documents of American history ; I have listened to their groans, their clanking chains, and melting prayers, until the woes of a race and the agonies of centuries seem to crowd upon my soul as a bitter reality. Many pages of this history have been blistered with my tears ; and, although having lived but a little more than a generation, my mind feels as if it were cycles old. The long spectral hand on the clock of American history points to the completion of the second decade since the American slave became an American citizen. How wondrous have been his strides, how mar vellous his achievements ! Twenty years ago we were in the midst of a iv NOTE. great war for the extinction of slavery ; in this anniversary week I com plete my task, record the results of that struggle. I modestly strive to lift the Negro race to its pedestal in American history. I raise this post to indicate the progress of humanity ; to instruct the present, to inform the future. I commit this work to the considerate judgment of my fellow-citizens of every race, " with malice toward none, and charity for all." GEO. W. WILLIAMS. HOFFMAN HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 28, 1882, CONTENTS, gart 4* CONSERVATIVE ERA NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY. CHAPTER I. RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1800-1825. PAGB Commencement of the Nineteenth Century. Slave Population of 1800. Memorial presented to Congress calling Attention to the Slave-trade to the Coast of Guinea. Georgia cedes the Territory lying West of her to become a State. Ohio adopts a State Constitution. William Henry Harrison appointed Governor of the Territory of Indiana. An Act of Congress prohibiting the Importation of Slaves into the United States or Territories. Slave Population of 1810. Mississippi applies for Admission into the Union with a Slave Constitution. Congress besieged by Memorials urging more Specific Legislation against the Slave-trade. Premium offered to the Informer of every illegally imported African seized within the United States. Circular-letters sent to the Naval Officers on the Sea-coast of the Slave-holding States. President Monroe's Message to Congress on the Question of Slavery. Petition presented by the Missouri Delegates for the Admission of that State into the Union. The Organization of the Arkansas Territory. Resolutions passed for the Restriction of Slavery in New States. The Missouri Controversy. The Organization of the Anti -slavery Societies. An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in New Jersey. Its Provisions. The Attitude of the Northern Press on the Slavery Question. Slave Population of 1820. Anti-slavery Sentiment at the North . . . x CHAPTER II. NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF l8l2. Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in the War of 1812. The New York Legislature authorizes the Enlistment of a Regiment of Colored Soldiers. Gen. Andrew Jackson's Proclamation to the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana calling them to Arms. Stir ring Address to the Colored Troops the Sunday before the Battle of New Orleans. Gen. Jackson anticipates the Valor of his Colored Soldiers. Terms of Peace at the Close of the War by the Commissioners at Ghent. Negroes placed as Chattel Property. Their Valor in War secures them no Immunity in Peace 23 CHAPTER III. NEGROES IN THE NAVY. No Proscription against Negroes as Sailors. They are carried upon the Rolls in the Navy without Regard to their Nationality. Their Treatment as Sailors. Commodore Perry's Letter to Commodore Chauncey in Regard to the Men sent him. Commodore Chaun- cey's Spirited Reply. The Heroism of the Negro set forth in the Picture of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie. Extract of a Letter from Nathaniel Shaler, Commander of a Private Vessel. He cites Several Instances of the Heroic Conduct of Negro Sailors . 28 vi CONTENTS. lart 5. ANTI-SLA VER Y AGITA TIOW. CHAPTER IV. RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION. 1825-1850. PAGB The Security of the Institution of Slavery at the South. The Right to hold Slaves ques tioned. Rapid Increase of the Slave Population. Anti-slavery Speeches in the Legisla ture of Virginia. The Quakers of Maryland and Delaware emancipate their Slaves. The Evil Effect of Slavery upon Society. The Conscience and Heart of the South did not respond to the Voice of Reason or the Dictates of Humanity 3 x CHAPTER V. ANTI-SLAVERY METHODS. The Antiquity of Anti-slavery Sentiment. Benjamin Lundy's Opposition to Slavery in the South and at the North. He establishes the " Genius of Universal Emancipa tion." His Great Sacrifices and Marvellous Work in the Cause of Emancipation. William Lloyd Garrison edits a Paper at Bennington, Vermont. He pens a Petition to Congress for the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia. Garrison the Peer less Leader of the Anti-slavery Agitation. Extract from a Speech delivered by Daniel O'Connell at Cork, Ireland. Increase of Anti-slavery Societies in the Country. Charles Sumner delivers a Speech on the "Anti-slavery Duties of the Whig Party." Marked Events of 1846. Sumner the Leader of the Political Abolition Party. Hetero dox Anti-slavery Party. Its Sentiments. Horace Greeley the Leader of the Economic Anti-slavery Party. The Aggressive Anti-slavery Party. Its Leaders. The Coloniza tion Anti-slavery Society. American Colonization Society. Manumitted Negroes colo- nizeon the West Coast of Africa. A Bill establishing a Line of Mail Steamers to the Coast of Africa. It provides for the Suppression of the Slave-trade, the Promotion of Com merce, and the Colonization of Free Negroes. Extracts from the Press warmly urging the Passage of the Bill. The Underground Railroad Organization. Its Efficiency in freeing Slaves. Anti-Slavery Literature. It exposes the True Character of Slavery. u Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, pleaded the Cause of the Slave in Twenty Different Languages. The Influence of " Impending Crisis." . 37 CHAPTER VI. ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. Intelligent Interest of Free Negroes in the Agitation Movement. " First Annual Conven tion of the People of Color" held at Philadelphia. Report of the Committee on the Establishment of a College for Young Men of Color. Provisional Committee appointed in each City. Conventional Address. Second Convention held at Benezet Hall, Philadelphia. Resolutions of the Meeting. Conventional Address. The Massa chusetts General Colored Association. Convention of Anti-slavery Women of America at New York. Prejudice against admitting Negroes into White Societies. Colored Orators. Their Eloquent Pleas for their Enslaved Race 61 CHAPTER VII. NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. The Negro not so Docile as supposed. The Reason why he was kept in Bondage. Negroes possessed Courage but lacked Leaders. Insurrection of Slaves. Gen. Gabriel as a Leader. Negro Insurrection planned in South Carolina. Evils of, revealed The 11 Nat. Turner " Insurrection in South Hampton County, Virginia. The Whites arm themselves to repel the Insurrectionists. Capture and Trial of " Nat. Turner." His Execution. Effect of the Insurrection upon Slaves and Slave-holders . . . .82 CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER VIII. THE " AMISTAD " CAPTIVES. PAGE The Spanish Slaver " Amistad " sails from Havana, Cuba, for Porto Principe. Fifty-four Native Africans on Board. Joseph Cinquez, the Son ot an African Prince. The "Amistad" captured and taken into New London, Conn. Trial and Release of the Slaves. Tour through the United States. Return to their Native Country in Company with Missionaries. The Anti-slavery Cause benefited by their Stay in the United States. Their Appreciation of Christian Civilization 93 lart 6. THE PERIOD OF PREPARA TION. CHAPTER IX. NORTHERN SYMPATHY AND SOUTHERN SUBTERFUGES. 1850-1860. Violent Treatment of Anti-slavery Orators. The South misinterprets the Mobocratic Spirit of the North. The " Garrisonians " and " Calhounites." Slave Population of 1830- 1850. The Thirty-first Congress. Motion for the Admission of New Mexico and Cali fornia. The Democratic and Whig Parties on the Treatment of the Slave Question. Convention of the Democratic Party at Baltimore, Maryland. Nomination of Franklin Pierce for President. Whig Party Convention. Nomination of Gen. Winfield Scott for the Presidency by the Whigs. Mr. Pierce elected President in 1853. A Bill in troduced to repeal the " Missouri Compromise." Speech by Stephen A. Douglass. Mr. Chase's Reply. An Act to organize the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. State Militia in the South make Preparations for War. President Buchanan in Sympathy with the South 97 CHAPTER X. THE " BLACK LAWS " OF " BORDER STATES." Stringent Laws enacted against Free Negroes and Mulattoes. Fugitive-slave Law respected in Ohio. A Law to prevent Kidnapping. The First Constitution of Ohio. History of the Dred Scott case. Judge Taney's Opinion in this Case. Ohio Constitution of 1851 denied Free Negroes the Right to vote. The Establishment of Colored Schools. Law in Indiana Territory in Reference to Executions. An Act for the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into the Territory. First Constitution of Indiana. The Illinois Consti tution of 1818. Criminal Code enacted. Illinois Legislature passes an Act to prevent the Emigration of Free Negroes into the State. Free Negroes of the Northern States endure Restriction and Proscription nt CHAPTER XI. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. Nominal Rights of Free Negroes in the Slave States. Fugitive Slaves seek Refuge in Canada. Negroes petition against Taxation without Representation. A Law preventing Negroes from other States from settling in Massachusetts. Notice to Blacks, Indians, and Mulat toes, warning them to leave the Commonwealth. The Rights and Privileges of the Negro restricted. Colored Men turn their Attention to the Education of their own Race. John V. De Grasse, the first Colored Man admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society. Prominent Colored Men of New York and Philadelphia. The Organization of the African Methodist Episcopal and Colored Baptist Churches. Colored Men distin guish themselves in the Pulpit. Report to the Ohio Anti-slavery Society of Colored viii CONTENTS. PAGB People in Cincinnati in 1835. Many purchase their Freedom. Henry Boyd, the Me chanic and Builder. He becomes a Successful Manufacturer in Cincinnati. Samuel T. Wilcox, the Grocer. His Success in Business in Cincinnati. Ball & Thomas, the Photographers. Colored People of Cincinnati evince a Desire to take Care of themselves. LydiaP. Mott establishes a Home for Colored Orphans. The Organization effected in 1844. Its Success. Formation of a Colored Military Company called " The Attucks Guards." Emigration of Negroes to Liberia. The Colored People live down much Prejudice 125 CHAPTER XII. NEGRO SCHlOOL LAWS. 1619-1860. The Possibilities of the Human Intellect. Ignorance Favorable to Slavery. An Act by the Legislature of Alabama imposing a Penalty on any one instructing a Colored Person. Educational Privileges of the Creoles in the City of Mobile. Prejudice against Colored Schools in Connecticut. The Attempt of Miss Prudence Crandall to admit Colored Girls, into her School at Canterbury. The Indignation of the Citizens at this Attempt to mix the Races in Education. The Legislature of Connecticut passes a Law abolishing the School. The Building assaulted by a Mob. Miss Crandall arrested and imprisoned for teaching Colored Children against the Law. Great Excitement. The Law finally re pealed. An Act by the Legislature of Delaware taxing Persons who brought into, or' sold Slaves out of, the State. Under Act of 1829 Money received for the Sale of Slaves in Florida was added to the School Fund in that State. Georgia prohibits the Education of Colored Persons under Heavy Penalty. Illinois establishes Separate Schools for Col ored Children. The "Free Mission Institute " at Quincy, Illinois, destroyed by a Mis souri Mob. Numerous and Cruel Slave Laws in Kentucky retard the Education of the Negroes. An Act passed in Louisiana preventing the Negroes in any Way from being instructed. Maine gives Equal School Privileges to Whites and Blacks. St. Francis Academy for Colored Girls founded in Baltimore in 1831. The W T ells School. The First School for Colored Children established in Boston by Intelligent Colored Men in 1798. A School-house for the Colored Children built and paid for out of a Fund left by Abiel Smith for that Purpose. John B. Russvvorm one of the Teachers and afterward Gov ernor of the Colony of Cape Palmas, Liberia. First Primary School for Colored Chil dren established in 1820. Missouri passes Stringent Laws against the Instruction of Negroes. New York provides for the Education of Negroes. Elias Neau opens a School in New York City for Negro Slaves in 1704. u New York African Free School " in 1786. Visit of Lafayette to the African Schools in 1824. His Address. Public Schools for Colored Children in New York. Colored Schools in Ohio. " Cincinnati High School" for Colored Youths founded in 1844. Oberlin College opens its Doors to Colored Students. The Establishment of Colored Schools in Pennsylvania by Anthony Benezet in 1750. His Will. ''Institute for Colored Youths" established in 1837. " Avery College," at Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, founded in 1849. Ashmun Institute, or Lincoln University, founded in October, 1856. South Carolina takes Definite Action against the Education or Promotion of the Colored Race in 1800-1803-1834. Tennessee makes no Discrimination against Color in the School Law of 1840. Little Opportunity afforded in Virginia for the Colored Man to be enlightened. Stringent Laws enacted. History of Schools for the Colored Population in the District of Columbia . . . .1.7 CHAPTER XIII. JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. John Brown's Appearance in Kansas. He denounces Slavery in a Political Meeting at Osa- watomie. Mrs. Stearns's Personal Recollection of John Brown. Kansas infested by Border Ruffians. The Battle of Harper's Ferry. The Defeat and Capture of Captain John Brown. His Last Letter written to Mrs. Stearns. His Trial and Execution. His Influence upon the Anti-slavery Question at the North. His Place in History . . . CONTENTS. ix gart 7. THE NEGRO IN 7'HE WAR FOR THE UNION. CHAPTER XIV. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. PAGE: Increase of Slave Population in Slave-holding States from 1850-1860. Products of Slave Labor. Basis of Southern Representation. Six Seceding States organize a New Govei n- ment. Constitution of the Confederate Government. Speech by Alexander H. Ste phens. Mr. Lincoln in Favor of Gradual Emancipation. He is elected President of the United States. The Issue of the War between the States 228; CHAPTER XV. " A WHITE MAN'S WAR." The First Call for Troops. Rendition of Fugitive Slaves by the Army. Col. Tyler's Ad dress to the People of Virginia. General Isaac R. Sherwood's Account of an Attempt to secure a Fugitive Slave in his Charge. Col. Steedman refuses to have his Camp searched for Fugitive Slaves by Order from Gen. Fry. Letter from Gen. Buell in De fence of the Rebels in the South. Orders issued by Generals Hooker, Williams, and Others, in Regard to harboring Fugitive Slaves in Union Camps. Observation Concern ing Slavery from the ''Array of the Potomac." Gen. Butler's Letter to Gen. Winfield Scott. It is answered by the Secretary of War. Horace Greeley's Letter to the Presi dent. President Lincoln's Reply. Gen. John C. Fremont, Commander of the Union Army in Missouri, issues a Proclamation emancipating Slaves in his District. It is disap proved by the President. Emancipation Proclamation by Gen. Hunter. It is rescinded by the President. Slavery and Union joined in a Desperate Struggle 241 CHAPTER XVI. THE NEGRO ON FATIGUE DUTY. Negroes employed as Teamsters and in the Quartermaster's Department. Rebel General Mercer's Order to the Slave-holders issued from Savannah. He receives Orders from the Secretary of War to impress a Number of Negroes to build Fortifications. The Negro proves himself Industrious and earns Promotion 260 CHAPTER XVII. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. Congress passes an Act to confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes. A Fruit less Appeal to the President to issue an Emancipation Proclamation. He thinks the Time not yet come for such an Action, but within a Few Weeks changes his Opinion and issues an Emancipation Proclamation, The Rebels show no Disposition to accept the Mild Terms of the Proclamation. Mr. Davis gives Attention to the Proclamation in his Third Annual Message. Second Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln Jan uary i, 1863. The Proclamation imparts New Hope to the Negro 263? CHAPTER XVIII. EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. The Question of the MilitaryEmployment of Negroes. The Rebels take the First-Step toward the Military Employment of Negroes. Grand Review of the Rebel Troops at New- Orleans. General Hunter Arms the First Regiment of Loyal Negroes at the South. Official Correspondence between the Secretary of War and General Hunter respecting Ihe Enlistment of the Black Regiment. The Enlistment of Five Negro Regiments au thorized by the President. The Policy of General Phelps in Regard to the Employ- x CONTENTS. PAGB ment of Negroes as Soldiers in Louisiana. A Second Call for Troops by the Presi dent. An Attempt to amend the Army Appropriation Bill so as to prohibit the Further Employment of Colored Troops. Governor John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, au thorized by Secretary of War to organize Two Regiments of Colored Troops. General Lorenzo Thomas is despatched to the Mississippi Valley to superintend the Enlistment of Negro Soldiers in the Spring of 1863. An Order issued by the War Department in the Fall of 1863 for the Enlistment of Colored Troops. The Union League Club of New York City raises Two Regiments. Reciuiting of Colored Troops in Pennsylvania. Major George L. Stearns assigned Charge of the Recruiting of Colored Troops in the Depart ment of the Cumberland. Free Military School established at Philadelphia, Pennsyl vania. Endorsement of the School by Secretary Stanton. The Organization of the School. Official Table giving Number of Colored Troops in the Army. The Char acter of Negro Troops. Mr. Greeley's Editorial on u Negro Troops." Letter from Judge-Advocate Holt to the Secretary of War on the ' l Enlistment of Slaves." The Negro Legally and Constitutionally a Soldier. History records his Deeds of Patriotism. 276 CHAPTER XIX. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. justification of the Federal Government in the Employment of Slaves as Soldiers. Trials of the Negro Soldier. He undergoes Persecution from the White Northern Troops, and Baibarous Treatment from the Rebels. Editorial of the "New York Times" on the Negro Soldiers in Battle. Report of the " Tribune " on the Gallant Exploits of the ist South Carolina Volunteers. Negro Troops in all the Departments. Negro Soldiers in the Battle of Port Hudson. Death of Captain Andre Callioux. Death of Color-Sergeant Anselmas Planciancois. An Account of the Battle of Port Hudson. Official Report of General Banks. He applauds the Valor of the Colored Regiments at Port Hudson. George H. Boker's Poem on " The Black Regiment." Battle of Milliken's Bend, June, 1863. Description of the Battle. Memorable Events of July, 1863. Battle on Morris Island. Bravery of Sergeant Carney. An Account of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment by Edward L. Pierce to Governor Andrew. Death of Col. Shaw. Colored Troops in the Army of the Potomac. Battle of Petersburg. Table showing the Losses at Nash ville. Adjt.-Gen. Thomas on Negro Soldiers. An Extract from the "New York Tri bune " in Behalf of the Soldierly Qualities of the Negroes. Letter received by Col. Darling from Mr. Aden and Col. Foster praising the Eminent Qualifications of the Negro for Military Life. History records their Deeds of Valor in the Preservation of the Union 310 CHAPTER XX. CAPTURE AND TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. The Military Employment of Negroes Distasteful to the Rebel Authorities. The Confed erates the First to employ Negroes as Soldiers. Jefferson Davis refers to the Subject in his Message, and the Confederate Congress orders All Negroes captured to be turned over to the State Authorities, and raises the " Black Flag "upon White Officers com manding Negro Soldiers. The New York Press calls upon the Government to protect its Negro Soldiers. Secretary Stanton's Action. The President's Order. Cor respondence between Gen. Peck and Gen. Pickett in Regard to the Killing of a Colored Man after he had surrendered at the Battle of Newbern. Southern Press on the Capt ure and Treatment of Negro Soldiers. The Rebels refuse to exchange Negro Soldiers captured on Morris and James Islands on Account of the Order of the Confederate Congress which required them to be turned over to the Authorities of the Several States. Jefferson Davis issues a Proclamation outlawing Gen. B. F. Butler. He is to be hung without Trial by any Confederate Officer who may capture him. The Battle of Fort Pillow. The Gallant Defence by the Little Band of Union Troops. It refuses to capitu late and is assaulted and captured by an Overwhelming Force. The Union Troops butchered in Cold Blood. The Wounded are carried into Houses which are fired and burned with their Helpless Victims. Men are nailed to the Outside of Buildings through their Hands and Feet and burned alive. The Wounded and Dying are brained where they lay in their Ebbing Blood. The Outrages are renewed in the Morning. Dead and Living find a Common Sepulchre in the Trench. General Chalmers orders the Killing of a CONTENTS. xi PAGE Negro Child. Testimony of the Few Union Soldiers who were enabled to crawl out of the Gilt-Edge, Fire-Proof Hell at Pillow. They give a Sickening Account of the Massacre before the Senate Committee on the Conduct of the War. Gen. Forrest's Futile Attempt to destroy the Record of his Foul Crime. Fort Pillow Massacre without a Parallel in History 350 8. THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM. CHAPTER XXI. RECONSTRUCTION MISCONSTRUCTION. 1865-1875. The War over, Peace restored, and the Nation cleansed of a Plague. Slavery gives Place to a Long Train of Events. Unsettled Condition of Affairs at the South. The Absence of Legal Civil Government necessitates the Establishment of Provisional Military Gov ernment. An Act establishing a Bureau for Refugees and Abandoned Lands. Con gressional Methods for the Reconstruction of the South. Gen. U. S. Grant carries these States in 1868 and 1872 Both Branches of the Legislatures in all the Southern States contain Negro Members. The Errors of Reconstruction chargeable to both Sections of the Country 377 CHAPTER XXII. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. The Apparent Idleness of the Negro Sporadic rather than Generic. He quietly settles down to Work. The Government makes Ample Provisions for his Educational and Social Im provement. The Marvellous Progress made by the People of the South in Education. Earliest School for Freedmen at Fortress Monroe in 1861. The Richmond Institute for Colored Youth. The Unlimited Desire of the Negroes to obtain an Education. Gen eral Order organizing a " Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands." Gen. O. O. Howard appointed Commissioner of the Bureau. Report of all the Receipts and Expenditures of the Freedman's Bureau from 1865-1867. An Act Incorporating the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company. The Business of the Company as shown from 1866-1871. Financial Statement by the Trustees for 1872. Failure of the Bank. The Social and Financial Condition of the Colored People in the South. The Negro rarely receives Justice in Southern Courts. Treatment of Negroes as Convicts in Southern Prisons. Increase of the Colored People from 1790-1880. Negroes susceptible of the Highest Civilization 384 CHAPTER XXIII. REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN. Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Legal Destruction of Slavery and a Consti tutional Prohibition. Fifteenth Amendment granting Manhood Suffrage to the American Negro. -President Grant's Special Message upon the Subject. Universal Rejoicing among the Colored People. The Negro in the United States Senate and House of Repre sentatives. The Negro in the Diplomatic Service of the Country. Frederick Douglass His Birth, Enslavement, Escape to the North, and Life as a Freeman. Becomes an Anti- slavery Orator. Goes to Great Britain. Returns to America. Establishes the " North Star." His Eloquence, Influence, and Brilliant Career. Richard Theodore Greener. His Early Life, Education, and Successful Literary Career. John P. Green. His Early Struggles to obtain an Education. A Successful Orator, Lawyer, and Useful Legislator. Other Representative Colored Men. Representative Colored Women . . . .419 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. PACK' Its Origin, Growth, Organization, and Excellent Influence. Its Publishing House, Periodi cals, and Papers. Its Numerical and Financial Strength. Its Missionary and Educa tional Spirit. Wilberforce University . . . .- 452 CHAPTER XXV. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. Founding of the M. E. Church of America in 1768. Negro Servants and Slaves among the First Contributors to the Erection of the First Chapel in New York. The Rev. Harry Hosier the First Negro Preacher in the M. E. Church in America. His Remarkable Eloquence as a Pulpit Orator. Early Prohibition against Slave-holding in the M. E. Church. Strength of the Churches and Sunday-schools of the Colored Members in the M. E. Church. The Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D.D. His Ancestors. His Early Life and Struggles for an Education. He Teaches School in Kentucky. His Experi ences as a Teacher. Is ordained to the Gospel Ministry and becomes a Preacher and Missionary Teacher. His Settlement as Pastor in Indiana and Ohio. Is given the Title of Doctor of Divinity by the Tennessee College. His Influence as a Leader, and his Standing as a Preacher 465. CHAPTER XXVI. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. The Colored Baptists an Intelligent and Useful People. Their Leading Ministers in Missouri, Ohio, and in New England. The Birth, Early Life, and Education of Duke William Anderson. As Farmer, Teacher, Preacher, and Missionary. His Influence in the West. Goes South at the Close of the War. Teaches in a Theological Institute at Nashville, Tennessee. Called to Washington. Pastor of igth Street Baptist Church. He occupies Various Positions of Trust. Builds a New Church. His Last Revival. His Sickness and Death. His Funeral and the General Sorrow at his Loss. Leonard Andrew Grimes, of Boston, Massachusetts. His Piety, Faithfulness, and Public Influence for Good. The Completion of his Church. His Last Days and Sudden Death. General Sorrow. Reso lutions by the Baptist Ministers of Boston. A Great and Good Man Gone .... 475 9. THE DECLINE OF NEGRO GOVERNMENTS^ CHAPTER XXVII. REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. 1875-1880. The Beginning of the End of the Republican Governments at the South. Southern Election Methods and Northern Sympathy. Gen. Grant not Responsible for the Decline and Loss of the Republican State Governments at the South. A Party without a Live Issue. Southern War Claims. The Campaign of 1876. Republican Lethargy and Demo cratic Activity. Doubtful Results. The Electoral Count in Congress. Gen. Garfield and Congressmen Foster and Hale to the Front as Leaders. Peaceful Results. Presi dent Hayes's Southern Policy. Its Failure. The Ideas of the Hon. Charles Foster on the Treatment of the Southern Problem. " Nothing but Leaves ' ' from Conciliation. A New Policy demanded by the Republican Party. A Remarkable Speech by the Hon. Charles Foster at Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He calls for a Solid North against a Solid South. He sounds the Key-note for the North and the Nation responds. The Decay CONTENTS. xiii PAGE and Death of the Negro Governments at the South Inevitable. The Negro must turn his Attention to Education, the Accumulation of Property and Experience. He will return to Politics when he shall be Equal to the Difficult Duties of Citizenship . . . .516 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. The Negroes of the South delight in their Home so Long as it is Possible for them to remain. The Policy of abridging their Rights Destructive to their Usefulness as Members of Society. Political Intimidation, Murder, and Outrage disturb the Negroes. The Planta tion Credit System the Crime of the Century. The Exodus not inspired by Politicians, but the Natural Outcome of the Barbarous Treatment bestowed upon the Negroes by the Whites. The Unprecedented Sufferings of 60,000 Negroes fleeing from Southern Demo cratic Oppression. Their Patient Christian Endurance. Their Industry, Morals, and Frugality. The Correspondent of the "Chicago Inter-Ocean" sends Information to Senator Voorhees respecting the Refugees in Kansas. The Position of Gov. St. John and the Faithful Labors of Mrs. Comstock. The Results of the Exodus Beneficent. The South must treat the Negro Better or lose his Labor 529 CHAPTER XXIX. RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. 'The Three Grand Divisions of the Tribes of Africa. Slave Markets of America supplied from the Diseased and Criminal Classes of African Society. America robs Africa of 15,000,000 Souls in 360 Years. Negro Power of Endurance. His Wonderful Achieve ments as a Laborer, Soldier, and Student. First in War, and First in Devotion to the Country. His Idiosyncrasies. Mrs. Stowe's Errors. His Growing Love for Schools and Churches. His General Improvement. The Negro will endure to the End. He is Capable for All the Duties of Citizenship. Amalgamation will not obliterate the Race. The American Negro will civilize Africa. America will establish Steamship Communi cation with the Dark Continent. Africa will yet be composed of States, and " Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her Hands unto God." 544 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. fart 4. CONSERVATIVE ERA NEGROES IN THE ARMY AND NAVY. CHAPTER I. RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1800-1825. COMMENCEMENT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. SLAVE POPULATION OF 1800. MEMORIAL PRE SENTED TO CONGRESS CALLING ATTENTION TO THE SLAVE-TRADE TO THE COAST OF GUINEA. GEORGIA CEDES THE TERRITORY LYING WEST OF HER TO BECOME A STATE. OHIO ADOPTS A STATE CONSTITUTION. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON AFroiNTED GOVERNOR OF THE TERRI TORY OF INDIANA. AN ACT OF CONGRESS PROHIBITING THE IMPORTATION OF SLAVES INTO THE UNITED STATES OR TERRITORIES. SLAVE POPULATION OF 1810. MISSISSIPPI APPLIES. FOR ADMISSION INTO THE UNION WITH A SLAVE CONSTITUTION. CONGRESS BESIEGED BY ME MORIALS URGING MORE SPECIFIC LEGISLATION AGAINST THE SLAVE-TRADE. PREMIUM OFFERED. TO THE INFORMER OF EVERY ILLEGALLY IMPORTED AFRICAN SEIZED WITHIN THE UNITED, STATES. CIRCULAR LETTERS SENT TO THE NAVAL OFFICERS ON THE SEACOAST OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING STATES. PRESIDENT MONROE'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS ON THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY. PETITION PRESENTED BY THE MISSOURI DELEGATES FOR THE ADMISSION OF THAT- STATE INTO THE UNION. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY. RESOLUTIONS PASSED FOR THE RESTRICTION OF SLAVERY IN NEW STATES. THE MISSOURI CONTROVERSY. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES. AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLI TION or SLAVERY IN NEW JERSEY. ITS PROVISIONS. THE ATTITUDE OF THE NORTHERN PRESS ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. SLAVE POPULATION OF 1820. ANTI-SLAVERY SENTIMENT AT THE NORTH. THE nineteenth century opened auspiciously for the cause of the Negro. Although slavery had ceased to exist in Massachusetts and Vermont, the census of 1800 showed that the slave population in the other States was steadily on the increase. In the total population of 5,305,925, there were 893,- 041 slaves. The subjoined table exhibits the number of slaves, in each of the slave-holding States in the year 1800. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CENSUS OF 1800 SLAVE POPULATION. District of Columbia 3,244 Connecticut 951 Delaware . . . . . . . 6,153 Georgia . ' . . 59>44 Indiana Territory ...... 135 Kentucky ........ 40,343 Maryland . . . . . . . . 105,635 Mississippi Territory ...... 3,489 New Jersey . . ... . . 12,422 New Hampshire ....... 8 New York ....... 20,343 North Carolina ....... 133,296 Pennsylvania ....... 1,706 Hhode Island 381 South Carolina 146,151 Tennessee . . . . . . . . 13,584 Virginia . . . . 345>79 6 Aggregate ... . 893,041 On the 2d of January, 1800, a number of Colored citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia presented a memorial to Congress, through the delegate from that city, Mr. Wain, calling attention to the slave-trade to the coast of Guinea. The me morial charged that the slave-trade was clandestinely carried on from various ports of the United States contrary to law ; that under this wicked practice free Colored men were often seized and sold as slaves; and that the fugitive-slave law of 1793 sub jected them to great inconvenience and severe persecutions. The memorialists did not request Congress to transcend their authority respecting the slave-trade, nor to emancipate the slaves, but only to prepare the way, so that, at an early period, the oppressed might go free. Upon a motion by Mr. Wain for the reference of the memorial to the Committee on the Slave-trade, Rutledge, Harper, Lee, Randolph, and other Southern members, made speeches against such a reference. They maintained that the petition requested Congress to take action on a question over which they had no control. Wain, Thacher, Smilie, Dana, and Gallatin contended that there were portions of the petition that came within the jurisdiction of the Constitution, and, therefore, ought to be re- RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 3 ceived and acted upon. Mr. Rutledge demanded the yeas and nays ; but in such a spirit as put Mr. Wain on his guard, so he withdrew his motion, and submitted another one by which such parts of the memorial as came within the jurisdiction of Congress should be referred. Mr. Rutledge raised a point of order on the motion of the gentleman from Pennsylvania that a " part " of the memorial could not be referred, but was promptly overruled. Mr. Gray, of Virginia, moved to amend by adding a declaratory clause that the portions of the memorial, not referred, inviting Congress to exercise authority not delegated, " have a tendency to create disquiet and jealousy, and ought, therefore, to receive the pointed disapprobation of this House." After some discus sion, it was finally agreed to strike out the last clause and insert the following: "ought therefore to receive no encouragement or countenance from this House." The call of the roll resulted in the adoption of the amendment, with but one vote in the nega tive by Mr. Thacher, of Maine, an uncompromising enemy of slavery. The committee to whom the memorial was referred brought in a bill during the session prohibiting American ships from supplying slaves from the United States to foreign markets. On the 2d of April, 1802, Georgia ceded the territory lying west of her present limits, now embracing the States of Alabama and Mississippi. Among the conditions she exacted was the fol lowing : "That the territory thus ceded shall become a State, and be ad mitted into the Union as soon as it shall contain sixty thousand free in habitants, or at an earlier period, if Congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner, as provided in the ordinance of Congress of the i3th day of July, 1787, for the government of the western territory of the United States : which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory contained in the present act of cession, the article only ex- cepted which forbids slavery." The demand was acceded to, and, as the world knows, Ala bama and Mississippi became the most cruel slave States in the United States. Ohio adopted a State constitution in 1802-3, and the residue of the territory not included in the State as it is now, was desig nated as Indiana Territory. William Henry Harrison was ap pointed governor. One of the earliest moves of the government 4 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of the new territory was to secure a modification of the ordi nance of 1787 by which slavery or involuntary servitude was pro hibited in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. It was ordered by a convention presided over by Gen. Harrison in 1802-3, that a memorial be sent to Congress urging a restriction of the ordinance of 1787. It was referred to a select committee,, with John Randolph as chairman. On the 2d of March, 1803,. he made a report by the unanimous request of his committee,, and the portion referring to slavery was as follows : " The rapid population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region. That this labor demonstrably the dearest of any can only be employed in the cultivation of products more valuable than any known to that quar ter of the United States ; that the committee deem it highly dangerous and inexpedient to impair a provision wisely calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of the northwestern country, and to give strength and security to that extensive frontier. In the salutary opera tions of this sagacious and benevolent restraint, it is believed that the inhabitants of Indiana will, at no very distant day, find ample remunera tion for a temporary privation of labor and of emigration." After discussing the subject-matter embodied in the memorial from the territory of Indiana, the committee presented eight re solves, one of which related to the subject of slavery, and was as follows : " Resolved, That it is inexpedient to suspend, for a limited time, the operation of the sixth article of the compact between the original States and the people and the States west of the river Ohio." Congress was about to close its session, and, therefore, there was no action taken upon this report. At the next session it went into the hands of a new committee whose chairman was Caesar Rodney, of Delaware, who had just been elected to Con gress. On the 1 7th of February, 1804, Mr. Rodney made the following report : "That taking into their consideration the facts stated in the said memorial and petition, they are induced to believe that a qualified sus pension, for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact between the original States and the people and States west of the river Ohio, might be productive of benefit and advantage to said territory." RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 5 After discussing other matters contained in the Indiana peti tion, the committee says, in reference to slavery : " That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery within the said territory, be suspended in a qualified manner for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual States : provided, that such individual State does not permit the importation of slaves from foreign countries ; and provided further, that the descendants of all such slaves shall, if males, be free at the age of twenty-five years, and, if female, at the age of twenty-one years." The House did not take up and act upon this report, and so the matter passed for the time being. But the original memorial, with several petitions of like import, came before Congress in 1805-6. They were referred to a select committee, and on the I4th of February, 1 806, Mr. Garnett, of Virginia, the chairman, made the following favorable report : *' That, having attentively considered the facts stated in the said petitions and memorials, they are of opinion that a qualified suspension for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact between the original States and the people and States west of the river Ohio, would be bene ficial to the people of the Indiana Territory. The suspension of this article is an object almost universally desired in that Territory. " It appears to your committee to be a question entirely different from that between Slavery and Freedom ; inasmuch as it would merely occasion the removal of persons, already slaves, from one part of the country to another. The good effects of this suspension, in the present instance, would be to accelerate the population of that Territory, hitherto retarded by the operation of that article of compact, as slave-holders emi grating into the Western country might then indulge any preference which they might feel for a settlement in the Indiana Territory, instead of seeking, as they are now compelled to do, settlements in other States or countries permitting the introduction of slaves. The condition of the slaves themselves would be much ameliorated by it, as it is evident, from experience, that the more they are separated and diffused, the more care and attention are bestowed on them by their masters each proprietor having it in his power to increase their comforts and con veniences, in proportion to the smallness of their numbers. The dangers, too (if any are to be apprehended), from too large a black population existing in any one section of country, would certainly be very much diminished, if not entirely removed. But whether dangers are to be O HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. feared from this source or not, it is certainly an obvious dictate of sound policy to guard against them, as far as possible. If this danger does exist, or there is any cause to apprehend it, and our Western brethren are not only willing but desirous to aid us in taking precau tions against it, would it not be wise to accept their assistance ? " We should benefit ourselves, without injuring them, as their popu lation must always so far exceed any black population which can ever exist in that country, as to render the idea of danger from that source chimerical." After a lengthy discussion of matters embodied in the Indi ana memorial, the committee recommended the following resolve on the question of slavery: "Resolved, That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibits slavery within the Indiana Territory, be suspended for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves born within the United States, from any of the individual States." The report and resolves were made the special order for the following Monday, but were never called up. At the opening of the next session, Gen. Harrison presented another letter, accompanied by several resolves passed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, urging the passage of a measure restricting the ordinance of 1787. The let ter and enclosures were received on the 2ist of January, 1807, and referred to the following select committee: Parke, of Indi ana, chairman; Alston, North Carolina; Masters, New York; Morrow, Ohio; Rhea, Tennessee ; Sandford, Kentucky; Trigg, Virginia. On the I2th of February, 1807, the chairman, Mr. Parke, made the following report in favor of the request of the memorialists [the third\ It was unanimous. " The resolutions of the Legislative Council and House of Repre sentatives of the Indiana Territory relate to a suspension, for the term of ten years, of the sixth article of compact between the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the river Ohio, passed the ?3th July, 1787. That article declares that there shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory. " The suspension of the said article would operate an immediate and essential benefit to the Territory, as emigration to it will be inconsider able for many years, except from those States where Slavery is tolerated. RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 7 " And although it is not considered expedient to force the popula tion of the Territory, yet it is desirable to connect its scattered settle ments, and, in admitted political rights, to place it on an equal footing with the different States. From the interior situation of the Territory, it is not believed that slaves could ever become so numerous as to endanger the internal peace or future prosperity of the country. The current of emigration flowing to the Western country, the Territories should all be opened to their introduction. The abstract question of Liberty and Slavery is not involved in the proposed measure, as Slavery now exists to a considerable extent in different parts of the Union ; it would not augment the number of slaves, but merely authorize the removal to Indiana of such as are held in bondage in the United States. If Slavery is an evil, means ought to be devised to render it least dangerous to the community, and by which the hapless situation of the slaves would be most ameliorated ; and to accomplish these objects, no measure would be so effectual as the one proposed. The Committee, therefore, respectfully submit to the House the following resolution : " Resolved, That it is expedient to suspend, from and after the ist day of January, 1808, the sixth article of compact between the United States and the Territories and States northwest of the Ohio, passed the 1 3th day of July, 1787, for the term of ten years." Like its predecessor this report was made a special order, but was never taken up. On the 7th of November, 1807, the President laid a letter from Gen. Harrison [probably the one already referred to], and the resolves of his Legislature, before Congress, and that body referred them to a select committee consisting of Franklin, of North Carolina; Ketchel, of New Jersey; and Tiffin, of Ohio. On the 1 3th of November, Mr. Franklin made the following adverse report : " The Legislative Council and House of Representatives, in their resolutions, express their sense of the propriety of introducing Slavery into their Territory, and solicit the Congress of the United States to suspend, for a given number of years, the sixth article of compact, in the ordinance for the government of the Territory northwest of the Ohio, passed the i3th day of July, 1787. That article declares: 'There shall be neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude within the said Territory.' "The citizens of Clark County, in their remonstrance, express their sense of the impropriety of the measure, and solicit the Congress of the United States not to act on the subject, so as to permit the introduc- 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tion of slaves into the Territory ; at least, until their population shall entitle them to form a constitution and State government. " Your Committee, after duly considering the matter, respectfully submit the following resolution : " Resolved, That it is not expedient at this time to suspend the sixth article of compact for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio." Thus ended in defeat the stubborn effort to secure a restriction of the ordinance of 1787, and the admission of slavery into the Territory lying west of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, now comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In his message to Congress at the commencement of the ses sion of 1806-7, President Jefferson suggested to that body the wisdom of abolishing the African slave-trade. He said in this connection : " I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of the period at which you may interpose your authority, constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have so long been continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputa tion, and the best interest of our country have long been eager to proscribe." This portion of the message was referred to a select committee ; and in due time they reported a bill "to prohibit the importation or bringing of slaves into the United States or the territories thereof after the 3 1st day of December, 1807." Mr. Early, of Georgia, the chairman of the committee, inserted a clause into the bill requiring that all slaves illegally imported " should be forfeited and sold for life for the benefit of the United States." A long debate ensued and was conducted with fiery earnestness from beginning to end. It was urged in support of the above regulation, that nothing else could be done but to sell them ; that it would never do to release them in the States where they might be captured, poor, ignorant, and dangerous. It was said by the opponents of the measure, that Congress could not regulate the matter, as the States had the reserved authority to have slavery, and were, therefore, competent to say who should be free and who bond. It was suggested, farther along in the debate, that Congress might order such slaves into such States RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 9 .as prohibited slavery, where they could be bound out for a term of years. After a great many able speeches the House refused to strike out the forfeiture clause by a vote of sixty-three to thirty- six. When the act was called up for final passage, it was amended by inserting a clause imposing a fine of $20,000, upon all persons concerned in fitting out a vessel for the slave-trade; and likewise a fine of $5,000, and forfeiture of the vessel, for taking on board any Negro or Mulatto, or any person of color, in any foreign port with the intention of selling them in the United States. During these efforts at restriction the slave population was growing daily. The census of 1810 showed that within a decade the slave population had sprung from 893,041, in 1800, to 1,191,364, an increase of 33 per cent. The following table ex hibits this remarkable fact : CENSUS OF l8lO. SLAVE POPULATION. District of Columbia ..... 5395 Rhode Island 108 Connecticut ....... 310 Pennsylvania ...... 795 Delaware 4,177 New Jersey 10,851 New York . . . . . . 15,017 Louisiana ....... 34,660 Tennessee ....... 44,535 Kentucky . . . . . . . 80,561 Georgia 105,218 Maryland . 111,502 North Carolina ...... 168,824 South Carolina 196,365 Virginia 392,518 Mississippi Territory ..... 17,088 Indiana Territory . . . ... . 237 Louisiana Territory ..... 3, on Illinois Territory ...... 168 Michigan Territory ..... 24 On the loth of December, 1817, Mississippi applied for admis sion into the Union with a slave constitution. The provisions relating to slavery dispensed with grand juries in the indictment of slaves, and trial by jury was allowed only in trial of capital cases. 10 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. During the session of 1817-8, Congress was besieged by a large number of memorials praying for more specific legislation against the slave-trade. During the session the old fugitive-slave act was amended so as to make it more effective, and passed by a vote of eighty-four to sixty-nine. * In the Senate, with several amendments, and heated debate, it passed by a vote of seventeen to thirteen ; but upon being returned to the House for concur rence, the Northern members had heard from their constituents^, and the bill was tabled, and its friends were powerless to get it up. In 1818-9, Congress passed an act offering a premium of fifty dollars to the informer of every illegally imported African seized within the United States, and twenty-five dollars for those taken at sea. The President was authorized to have such slaves re moved beyond the limits of the Uniteol States, and to appoint agents on the West Coast of Africa to superintend their recep tion. An effort was made to punish slave-trading with death. It passed the House, but was struck out in the Senate. On the 1 2th of January, 1819, the Secretary of the Navy trans mitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives copies, of circular letters that had been sent to the naval officers on the various stations along the sea-coast of the slave-holding; States. The following letter is a fair sample of the remainder : * "NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1811. "Sm : I hear, not without great concern, that the law prohibiting the importation of slaves has been violated in frequent instances, near St. Mary's, since the gun-boats have been withdrawn from that station.. " We are bound by law, by the obligations of humanity and sound policy, to use our most strenuous efforts to restrain this disgraceful traffic, and to bring those who shall be found engaged in it to those for feitures and punishments which are bylaw prescribed for such offences. " Hasten the equipment of the gun-boats which, by my letter of the 24th ultimo, you were directed to equip, and as soon as they shall be ready, despatch them to St. Mary's with orders to their commanders to use all practicable diligence in enforcing the law prohibiting the im portation of slaves, passed March 2, 1807, entitled * An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States, from and after the ist day of January, 1808.* *I have in my possession large numbers of official orders and letters on the suppres sion of the slave-trade, but the space appropriated to this history precludes their publi cation. There are, however, some important documents in the appendix to this volume. RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1 1 The whole of this law, but especially the 7th section, requires your particular attention ; that section declares, that any ship or vessel which shall be found in any river, port, bay, or harbor, or on the high seas, within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, or hovering on the coast thereof, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of color, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, or with intent to land the same in any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States, contrary to the prohibition of the act, shall, together with her tackle, apparel, and furniture, and the goods and effects which shall be found on board the same, be forfeited and may be seized, prosecuted, and condemned in any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof. "It further authorizes the President of the United States to cause any of the armed vessels of the United States to be manned and employed to cruise on any part of the coast of the United States, or terri tories thereof, and to instruct and direct the commanders to seize, take,, and bring into any port of the United States, all such ships or vessels ; and, moreover, to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United States, all ships or vessels of the United States, wherever found on the high seas, contravening the provisions of the act, to be proceeded against according to law. " You will, therefore, consider yourself hereby especially instructed and required, and you will instruct and require all officers placed under your command, to seize, take, and bring into port, any vessel of whatever nature, found in any river, port, bay, or harbor, or on the high seas, within the juisdictional limits of the United States, or hovering on the coast thereof, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of color,, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, or with intent to land the same, contrary to law ; and, moreover, to seize, take, and bring into port,, all ships or vessels of the United States, wheresoever found on the high seas or elsewhere, contravening the provisions of the law. Vessels thus to be seized, may be brought into any port of the United States ; and when brought into port, must, without delay, be reported to the district- attorney of the United States residing in the district in which such port may be, who will institute such further proceedings as law and justice require, " Every person found on board of such vessels must be taken especial care of. The negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, are to be deliv ered to such persons as the respective States may appoint to receive the same. The commanders and crews of such vessels will be held under the prosecutions of the district-attorneys, to answer the pains and penalties prescribed by law for their respective offences. When ever negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color shall be delivered to the persons appointed to receive the same, duplicate receipts must be taken ji HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. therefore, and if no person shall be appointed by the respective States to receive them, they must be delivered ' to the overseers of the poor of the port or place where such ship or vessel may be brought or found,' and an account of your proceedings, together with the number and -descriptive list of such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, must be immediately transmitted to the governor or chief magistrate of the State. You will communicate to me, minutely, all your proceedings. " I am, sir, respectfully, etc. PAUL HAMILTON. "H. G. CAMPBELL, Commanding Naval Officer, Charleston, S. C." On the I7th of December, 1819, President Monroe sent the following message to Congress on the subject of the slave-trade : " To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : "Some doubt being entertained respecting the true intent and mean ing of the act of the last session, entitled ' An Act in addition to the Acts prohibiting the slave-trade,' as to the duties of the agents, to be appointed on the coast of Africa, I think it proper to state the interpre tation which has been given of the act, and the measures adopted to carry it into effect, that Congress may, should it be deemed advisable, amend the same, before further proceeding is had under it. " The obligation to instruct the commanders of all our armed ves sels to seize and bring into port all ships or vessels of the United States, wheresoever found, having on board any negro, mulatto, or per son of color, in violation of former acts for the suppression of the slave- trade, being imperative, was executed without delay. No seizures have yet been made, but, as they were contemplated by the law, and might be presumed, it seemed proper to make the necessary regulations applicable to such seizures for carrying the several provisions of the act into effect. " It is enjoined on the executive to cause all negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, who may be taken under the act, to be removed to Africa. It is the obvious import of the law, that none of the persons thus taken should remain within the United States ; and no place other than the coast of Africa being designated, their removal or delivery, whether carried from the United States or landed immediately from the vessels in which they were taken, was supposed to be confined to that coast. No settlement or station being specified, the whole coast RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1 3 was thought to be left open for the selection of a proper place, at which the persons thus taken should be delivered. The executive is author ized to appoint one or more agents, residing there, to receive such per sons ; and one hundred thousand dollars are appropriated for the general purposes of the law. " On due consideration of the several sections of the act, and of its humane policy, it was supposed to be the intention of Congress, that all the persons above described, who might be taken under it, and landed in Africa, should be aided in their return to their former homes, or in their establishment at or near the place where landed. Some shelter and food would be necessary for them there, as soon as landed, let their subsequent disposition be what it might. Should they be landed without such provision having been previously made, they might perish. It was supposed, by the authority given to the executive to appoint agents residing on that coast, that they should provide such shelter and food, and perform the other beneficent and charitable offices contemplated by the act. The coast of Africa having been little explored, and no persons residing there who possessed the requisite qualifications to entitle them to the trust being known to the execu tive, to none such could it be committed. It was believed that citi zens only, who would go hence, well instructed in the views of their government, and zealous to give them effect, would be competent to these duties, and that it was not the intention of the law to preclude their appointment. It was obvious that the longer these persons should be detained in the United States in the hands of the marshals, the greater would be the expense, and that for the same term would the main purpose of the law be suspended. It seemed, therefore, to be incumbent on me to make the necessary arrangements for carrying this act into effect in Africa, in time to meet the delivery of any persons who might be taken by the public vessels, and landed there under it. " On this view of the policy and sanctions of the law, it has been de cided to send a public ship to the coast of Africa with two such agents, who will take with them tools and other implements necessary for the purposes above mentioned. To each of these agents a small salary has been allowed fifteen hundred dollars to the principal, and twelve hundred to the other. All our public agents on the coast of Africa receive salaries for their services, and it was understood that none of our citizens possessing the requisite qualifications would accept these trusts, by which they would be confined to parts the least fre quented and civilized, without a reasonable compensation. Such allow ance, therefore, seemed to be indispensable to the execution of the act. It is intended, also, to subject a portion of the sum appropriated, to the order of the principal agent, for the special objects above stated, 14 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. amounting in the whole, including the salaries of the agents for one year, to rather less than one third .of the appropriation. Special in structions will be given to these agents, defining, in precise terms, their duties in regard to the persons thus delivered to them ; the disburse ment of the money by the principal agent ; and his accountability for the same. They will also have power to select the most suitable place on the coast of Africa, at which all persons who may be taken under this act shall be delivered to them, with an express injunction to exer cise no power founded on the principle of colonization, or other power than that of performing the benevolent offices above recited, by the permission and sanction of the existing government under which they may establish themselves. Orders will be given to the commander of the public ship in which they will sail, to cruise along the coast, to give the more complete effect to the principal object of the act. "JAMES MONROE. "WASHINGTON, December, 17, 1819." In March, 1818, the delegate from Missouri presented petitions from the inhabitants of that territory, praying to be admitted into the Union as a State. They were referred to a select com mittee, and a bill was reported for the admission of Missouri as a State on equal footing with the other States. The bill was read twice, when it was sent to the Committee of the Whole, where it was permitted to remain during the entire session. Dur ing the next session, on the I3th of February, 1819, the House went into the Committee of the Whole with Gen. Smith, of Maryland, in the chair. The committee had two sittings during which they discussed the bill. Gen. Tallmadge, of New York, offered the following amendment directed against the life of the clause admitting slavery : "And provided that the introduction of slavery, or involuntary servi, tude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party has been duly convicted, and that all children born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years." A long and an able discussion followed, in which the author ity of the government to prohibit slavery under new State gov ernments was affirmed and denied. On coming out of the Com mittee of the Whole, the yeas and nays were demanded on the amendment prohibiting the introduction of slavery into Mis souri, and resulted as follows : yeas, 87, only one vote from the RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 1 5 South, Delaware ; nays, 76, ten votes from Northern States. Upon the latter clause of the amendment " and that all chil dren of slaves, born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years": yeas, 82, one vote from Maryland; nays, yg, fourteen from Northern States. And thus the entire amend ment of Gen. Tallmadge was sustained, and being reported to the House, passed by a vote 98 to 56. The bill reached the Senate on the 1 7th of February, and after its second reading was referred to a select committee. On the 22d of February, the chairman, Mr. Tait, of Georgia, re ported the bill back with amendments, striking out the Tall madge restriction clauses. The House went into the Committee of the Whole on the 27th of February, to consider the bill, when Mr. Wilson, of New Jersey, moved to postpone the further con sideration of the bill until the 5th of March. It was rejected. The committee then began to vote upon the recommendations of the select committee. Upon striking out the House amendment, providing that all the children of slaves born within said State should be free, etc., it was carried by a vote of 27 to 7, eleven Northern Senators voting to strike out. The seven votes against striking out were all from free States. Upon the clause prohibiting servitude except for crimes, etc., 22 votes were cast for striking out, five being from Northern States ; against striking out, 16, and they were all from North ern States. Thus amended, the bill was ordered to be engrossed, and on the 2d of March the last day but one of the session was read a third time and passed. It was returned to the House, where the amendments were read, when Mr. Tallmadge moved that the bill be indefinitely postponed. His motion was rejected by a vote of : yeas, 69 ; nays, 74. But upon a motion to concur in the Senate amendments, the House refused to concur: yeas, 76; nays, 78. The Senate adhered to their amendments, and the I louse adhered to their disagreement by a vote of 76 to 66 ; and thus the bill fell between the two Houses and was lost. The southern portion of the territory of Missouri, which was not included within the limits of the proposed State, was organized as a separate territory, under the designation of the Arkansas Territory. After considerable debate, and several attempts to insert an amendment for the restriction of slavery, 16 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the bill creating the territory of Arkansas passed without any reference to slavery, and thus the territory was left open to slavery, and also the State some years later. The Congressional discussion of the slavery question aroused the anti-slavery sentiment of the North, which found expression in large and earnest meetings, in pungent editorials, and numer ous memorials. At Trenton, New York, Philadelphia, Boston,, and other places, the indignation against slavery was great. On December 3, 1819, a large meeting was held in the State House at Boston, when a resolution was adopted to memorialize Con gress on the subject of "restraining the increase of slavery in new States to be admitted into the Union." The memorial was drawn by Daniel Webster, and signed by himself, George Blake, Josiah Quincy, James T. Austin, and others. The New York Legislature passed resolutions against the extension of slavery into the territories and new States ; and requested the Congress men and instructed the Senators from that State not to vote for the admission of any State into the Union, except such State should pledge itself to unqualified restriction in the letter and spirit of the ordinance of 1787. These resolutions were signed on January 17, 1820. On the 24th of January the New Jersey Legislature followed in the sa^me strain, with six pertinent resolves, a copy of which the governor was requested to forward " to each of the senators, and representatives of this State, in the Congress of the United States." Pennsylvania had taken action on the I ith of December, 1819 ; but the resolves were not signed by Gov. William Findlay until the i6th of the month. The Legislature was composed of fifty- four Democrats and twenty Whigs, and yet there was not a dis senting vote cast. Two Southern States passed resolutions, Delaware and Ken tucky : the first in favor of restriction, the last opposed to re striction. The effort to secure the admission of Missouri with a slave constitution was not dead, but only sleeping. The bill was called up as a special order on the 24th of January, 1820. It occupied most of the time of the House from the 25th of January till the I9th of February, when a bill came from the Senate providing for the admission of Maine into the Union,, but containing a rider authorizing the people of Missouri to RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 17 adopt a State constitution, etc., without restrictions respecting slavery. The bill providing for the admission of Maine had passed the House during the early days of the session, and now returned to the House for concurrence in the rider. The debate on the bill and amendments had occupied much of the time of the Senate. In the Judiciary Committee on the i6th of February, the question was taken on amendments to the Maine admission bill, authorizing Missouri to form a State constitu tion, making no mention of slavery : and twenty-three votes were cast against restriction, three from Northern States ; twenty-one in favor of restriction, but only two from the South. Mr. Thomas offered a resolution reaffirming the doctrine of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, and declaring its applicability to all that territory ceded to the United States by France, under the general designation of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, etc. But on the following day he withdrew his original amendment, and submitted the following : " And be it further enacted, That in all the territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the pun ishment of crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited. Provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from where labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid." Mr. Trimble, of Ohio, offered a substitute, but it was rejected. The question recurring upon the passage of the amendment of Mr. Thomas, excluding slavery from all the territory north and west of Missouri, it was carried by a vote of 34 to 20. Thus amended, the bill was ordered to engrossment by a vote of 24 to 20. On the i8th of February the bill passed, and this was its condition when it came to the House. By a vote of 93 to 72 the House agreed not to leave the Missouri question on the Maine bill as a rider ; but immediately thereafter struck out the Thomas Senate amendment by a vote of 159 to 18. The House :i8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. disagreed to the remaining Senate amendments, striking out the clause restricting slavery in Missouri by a vote of 102 to 68. Thus rejected, the bill was returned to the Senate shorn of its amendments. After four days of debate in the Senate it was decided not to recede from the attachment of the Missouri subject to the Maine bill ; not to recede from the amendment prohibiting slavery west of Missouri, and north of 36 30' north latitude, and insisted upon the remaining amendments without division. When the bill was returned to the House a motion was made to insist upon its disagreement to all but section nine of the Senate amendments, and was carried by a vote of 97 to 76. The Senate asked for a committee of conference upon differ ences between the two Houses, which was cheerfully granted by the House. On the 2d of March, Mr. Holmes, of Massachusetts, as chairman, made the following report : " i. The Senate should give up the combination of Missouri in the same bill with Maine. " 2. The House should abandon the attempt to restrict Slavery in Missouri. " 3. Both Houses should agree to pass the Senate's separate Missouri bill, with Mr. Thomas's restriction or compromising proviso, excluding Slavery from all territory north and west of Missouri. " The report having been read, " The first and most important question was put, viz. : " Will the House concur with the Senate in so much of the said amendments as proposes to strike from the fourth section of the [Mis souri] bill -the provision prohibiting Slavery or involuntary servitude in the contemplated State, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes ? " The vote resulted as follows : For giving up restriction on Missouri, yeas, 90 ; against giving up restriction of slavery in Missouri, 87. Mr. Taylor, of New York, offered an amendment to include Arkansas Territory under the prohibition of slavery in the terri tory west and north of Missouri, but his amendment was cut off by a call for the previous question. Then the House concurred in the Senate amendment excluding forever slavery from the ter ritory west and north of Missouri by a vote of 134 to 42 ! And on the following day the bill admitting Maine into the Union was passed without opposition. Thus the Northern delegates in Congress were whipped into RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 19 line, and thus did the South gain her point in the extension of slavery in violation of the sacred compact between the States contained in the ordinance of 1787. But the struggle was opened afresh when Missouri presented herself for admission on the i6th of November, 1820. The con stitution of this new State, adopted by her people on the iQth of July, 1820, contained the following resolutions which greatly angered the Northern members, who so keenly felt the defeat and humiliation they had suffered so recently: " The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws, first, for the emancipation of Slaves without the consent of their owners, or with out paying them, before such emancipation, a full equivalent for such slaves so emancipated ; and second, to prevent bona-fide emigrants to this State, or actual settlers therein, from bringing from any of the United States, or from any of their Territories, such persons as may there be deemed to be Slaves, so long as any persons of the same de scription are allowed to be held as Slaves by the laws of this State. . . . " It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary, " First, to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and settling in, this State, under any pretext whatever." Upon the motion to admit the State the vote stood : yeas, 79; nays, 93. Upon a second attempt to admit her, with the under standing that the resolution just quoted should be expunged, the vote was worse than before, standing: yeas, 6; nays, 146! The House now rested, until a joint resolve, admitting her with but a vague and ineffective qualification, came down from the Senate, where it was passed by a vote of 26 to 18 six Sena tors from Free States in the affirmative. Mr. Clay, who had resigned in the recess, and been succeeded, as Speaker, by John W. Taylor, of New York, now appeared as the leader of the Mis souri admissionists, and proposed terms of compromise, which were twice voted down by the Northern members, aided by John Randolph and three others from the South, who would have Mis souri admitted without condition or qualification. At last, Mr. Clay proposed a joint committee on this subject, to be chosen by ballot which the House agreed to by a vote of 101 to 55 ; and Mr. Clay became its chairman. By this committee it was agreed, that a solemn pledge should be required of the Legislature of Missouri, that the constitution of that State should not be con- 26 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. strued to authorize the passage of any act, and that no act should be passed " by which any of the citizens of either of the States should be excluded from the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the United States." The joint resolution, amended by the addition of this proviso, passed the House by 86 yeas to 82 nays ;, the Senate concurred (Feb. 27, 1821) by 26 yeas to 15 nays (all Northern but Macon, of N. C). Missouri complied with the condition, and became an accepted member of the Union. Thus closed the last stage of the fierce Missouri controversy, which for a time seemed to threaten as so many other controversies have harmlessly threatened the existence of the Union. By this time there was scarcely a State in the North but that had organized anti-slavery, or abolition, societies. Pennsylvania boasted of a society that was accomplishing a great work. Where it was impossible to secure freedom for the enslaved, religious training was imparted, and many excellent efforts made for the amelioration of the condition of the Negroes, bond and free. A society for promoting the "Abolition of Slavery " was formed at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 2d of March, 1786. It adopted an elaborate constitution, which was amended on the 26th of November, 1788. It did an effective work throughout the State ; embraced in its membership some of the ablest men of the State ; and changed public sentiment for the better by the methods it adopted and the literature it circulated. On the I5th of February, 1804, it secured the passage of the following Act for the gradual emancipation of the slaves in the State : " AN ACT FOR THE GRADUAL ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. " SECTION i. Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this- State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That every child born of a slave within this State, after the fourth day of July next, shall be free ; but shall remain the servant of the owner of his or her mother, and the executors, administrators, or assigns of such owner, in the same manner as if such child had been bound to service by the trustees or overseers of the poor, and shall continue in such service, if a male, until the age of twenty- five years, and if a female, until the age of twenty-one years. " 2. And be it enacted, That every person being an inhabitant of this State, who shall be entitled to the service of a child born as aforesaid, after the said fourth day of July next, shall within nine months after RESTRICTION AND EXTENSION. 21 die birth of such child, cause to be delivered to the clerk of the county whereof such person shall be an inhabitant, a certificate in writing, con taining the name and station of such person, and the name, age, and sex of the child so born ; which certificate, whether the same be delivered before or after the said nine months, shall be by the said clerk recorded in a book to be by him provided for that purpose ; and such record thereof shall be good evidence of the age of such child ; and the clerk of such county shall receive from said person twelve cents for every child so registered ; and if any person shall neglect to deliver such certificate to the said clerk within said nine months, such person shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, five dollars, and the further sum of one dollar for every month such person shall neglect to deliver the same, to be sued for and recovered by any person who will sue for the same, the one half to the use of such prosecutor, and the residue to the use of the poor of the township in which such delinquent shall reside. " 3. And be it enacted, That the person enitled to the service of any child born as aforesaid, may, nevertheless, within one year after the birth of such child, elect to abandon such right ; in which case a notification of such abandonment, under the hand of such person, shall be filed with the clerk of the township, or where there may be a county poor-house established, then with the clerk of the board of trustees of said poor-house of the county in which such person shall reside ; but every child so abandoned shall be maintained by such person until such child arrives to the age of one year, and thereafter shall be considered as a pauper of such township or county, and liable to be bound out by the trustees or overseers of, the poor in the same manner as other poor children are directed to be bound out,, until, if a male, the age of twenty-five, and if a female, the age of twenty-one ; and such child, while such pauper, until it shall be bound out, shall be maintained by the trustees or overseers of the poor of such county or township, as the case may be, at the expense of this State ; and for that purpose the director of the board of chosen freeholders of the county is hereby required, from time to time, to draw his warrant on the treasurer in favor of such trustees or overseers for the amount of such expense, not exceeding the rate of three dollars per month ; provided the accounts for the same be first certified and approved by such board of trustees, or the town committee of such township ; and every person who shall omit to notify such abandonment as aforesaid, shall be considered as having elected! to retain the service of such child, and be liable for its maintenance un til the period to which its servitude is limited as aforesaid. "A. Passed at Trenton, Feb. 15, 1804." The public journals of the larger Northern cities began to 22 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. take a lively interest in the paramount question of the day, which, without doubt, was the slavery question. Gradual eman cipation was doing an excellent work in nearly all the Northern States, as may be seen by the census of 1820. When the entire slave population was footed up it showed an increase of 30 per cent, during the previous ten years, but when examined by States it was found to be on the decrease in all the Northern or free States, except Illinois, The slave population of Virginia had increased only 8 per cent. ; North Carolina 21 per cent.; Soutfh Carolina 31 per cent.; Tennessee 79 per cent.; Mississippi 92 per cent. ; and Louisiana 99 per cent. The slave population by States was as follows: CENSUS OF T82O SLAVE POPULATION. Alabama 41,879 District of Columbia ... . 6,377 Connecticut 97 Delaware . . . . , . . .4,509 Georgia i49, 6 54 Illinois 917 Indiana ........ 190 Kentucky ........ 126,732 Louisiana ....... 69,064 Maryland . . . . . . . . 107,397 Mississippi . . . .,.- . . . . 32,814 Missouri ........ 10,222 New Jersey . 7,557 New York 10,088 North Carolina ...... 205,017 Pennsylvania . . ... . . . 211 Rhode Island 48 South Carolina ....... 258,475 Tennessee ....... 80,107 Virginia 425,153 Arkansas Territory 1,617 Aggregate .... 1,538,125 The anti-slavery sentiment of the Northern States was grow ing, but no organization with a great leader at its head had yet announced its platform or unfurled its banner in a holy war for the emancipation of the Bondmen of the Free Republic of North America. NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812. 23 CHAPTER II. NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1 8 12. EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF 1812. THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE AUTHORIZES THE ENLISTMENT OF A REGIMENT OF COLORED SOLDIERS. GEN. ANDREW JACK- SON'S PROCLAMATION TO THE FREE COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA CALLING THEM TO ARMS. STIRRING ADDRESS TO THE COLORED TROOPS THE SUNDAY BEFORE THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS. GEN. JACKSON ANTICIPATES THE VALOR OF HIS COLORED SOLDIERS. TERMS OF PEACE AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR BY THE COMMISSIONERS AT GHENT. NEGROES PLACED AS CHATTEL PROPERTY. THEIR VALOR IN WAR SECURES THEM NO IMMUNITY IN PEACE. WHEN the war-clouds gathered in 1812, there was no time wasted in discussing whether it would be prudent to arm the Negro, nor was there a doubt expressed as to his valor. His brilliant achievements in the war of the Revo lution, his power of endurance, and martial enthusiasm, were the golden threads of glory that bound his memory to the vic torious cause of the American Republic. A lack of troops and an imperiled cause led to the admission of Negroes into the American army during the war of the Revolution. But it was the Negro's eminent fitness for military service that made him a place under the United States flag during the war in Louisiana. The entire country had confidence in the Negro's patriotism and effectiveness as a soldier. White men were willing to see Ne groes go into the army because it reduced their chances of being sent forth to the tented field and dangerous bivouac. New York did not hesitate to offer a practical endorsement of the prevalent opinion that Negroes were both competent and worthy to fight the battles of the Nation. Accordingly, the fol lowing Act was passed authorizing the organization of two regi ments of Negroes. "AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE RAISING OF Two REGIMENTS OF MEN OF COLOR; PASSED OCT. 24, 1814. " SECT. i. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That the Governor of the State be, 24 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and he is hereby, authorized to raise, by voluntary enlistment, two regi ments of free men of color, for the defence of the State for three years, unless sooner discharged. " SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That each of the said regiments shall consist of one thousand and eighty able-bodied men ; and the said regiments shall be formed into a brigade, or be organized in such man ner, and shall be employed in such service, as the Governor of the State of New York shall deem best adapted to defend the said State. " SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That all the commissioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall be white men ; and the Governor of the State of New York shall be, and he is hereby, author ized to commission, by brevet, all the officers of the said regiments and brigade, who shall hold their respective commissions until the council of appointment shall have appointed the officers of the said regiments and brigade, in pursuance of the Constitution and laws of the said State. " SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioned officers of the said regiments and brigade shall receive the same pay, rations, forage, and allowances, as officers of the same grade in the army of the United States ; and the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and pri vates of the said regiments shall receive the same pay, rations, clothing, and allowances, as the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the army of the United States ; and the sum of twenty-five dollars shall be paid to each of the said non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, at the time of enlistment, in lieu of all other bounty. " SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That the troops to be raised as aforesaid may be transferred into the service of the United States, if the Government of the United States shall agree to pay and subsist them, and to refund to this State the moneys expended by this State in clothing and arming them ; and, until such transfer shall be made, may be ordered into the service of the United States in lieu of an equal number of militia, whenever the militia of the State of New York shall be ordered into the service of the United States. " SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any able-bodied slave, with the written assent of his master or mistress, to enlist into the said corps ; and the master or mistress of such slave shall be entitled to the pay and bounty allowed him for his service ; and, further, that the said slave, at the time of receiving his discharge, shall be deemed and adjudged to have been legally manumitted from that time, and his said master or mistress shall not thenceforward be liable for his maintenance. " SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That every such enrolled per son, who shall have become free by manumission or otherwise, if he shall thereafter become indigent, shall be deemed to be settled in the town in which the person who manumitted him was settled at the time NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812. 25 of such manumission, or in such other town where he shall have gained a settlement subsequent to his discharge from the said service ; and the former owner or owners of such manumitted person, and his legal representatives, shall be exonerated from his maintenance, any law to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. " SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That, when the troops to be raised as aforesaid shall be in the service of the United States, they shall be subject to the rules and articles which have been or may be hereafter established by the By-laws of the United States for the gov ernment of the army of the United States ; that, when the said troops shall be in the service of the State of New York, they shall be subject to the same rules and regulations ; and the Governor of the said State shall be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to exercise all the power and authority which, by the said rules and articles, are required to be exercised by the President of the United States." 1 Gen. Andrew Jackson believed in the fighting capacity of the Negro, as evidenced by the subjoined proclamation : "HEADQUARTERS OF ;TH MILITARY DISTRICT, "MOBILE, September 21, 1814. * To THE FREE COLORED INHABITANTS OF LOUISIANA : " Through a mistaken policy you have heretofore been deprived of a participation in the glorious struggle for national rights in which our country is engaged. This no longer shall exist. "As sons of freedom, you are now called upon to defend our most inestimable blessing. As Americans, your country looks with con fidence to her adopted children for a valorous support, as a faithful return for the advantages enjoyed under her mild and equitable gov ernment. As fathers, husbands, and brothers, you are summoned to rally around the standard of the eagle, to defend all which is dear in existence. " Your country, although calling for your exertions, does not wish you to engage in her cause without amply remunerating you for the services rendered. Your intelligent minds are not to be led away by false representations. Your love of honor would cause you to despise the man who should attempt to deceive you. In the sincerity of a sol dier and the language of truth I address you. " To every noble-hearted, generous freeman of color, volunteering to serve during the present contest with Great Britain, and no longer, there 1 Laws of the State of New York, passed at the Thirty-eighth Session of the Legis lature, chap, xviii. 26 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. will be paid the same bounty in money and lands, now received by the white soldiers of the United States, viz.: one hundred and twenty-four dollars in money, and one hundred and sixty acres of land. The non commissioned officers and privates will also be entitled to the same monthly pay and daily rations, and clothes, furnished to any American soldier. " On enrolling yourselves in companies, the major-general com manding will select officers for your government from your white fel low-citizens. Your non-commissioned officers will be appointed from among yourselves. " Due regard will be paid to the feelings of freemen and soldiers.. You will not, by being associated with white men in the same corps, be- exposed to improper comparisons or unjust sarcasm. As a distinct, in dependent battalion or regiment, pursuing the path of glory, you will,, undivided, receive the applause and gratitude of your countrymen. " To assure you of the sincerity of my intentions, and my anxiety to engage your invaluable services to our country, I have communicated my wishes to the Governor of Louisiana, who is fully informed as to the manner of enrollment, and will give you every necessary information, on the subject of this address. " ANDREW JACKSON, Major-General Commanding" ' Just before the battle of New Orleans, General Jackson re viewed his troops, white and black, on Sunday, December 18, 1814. At the close of the review his Adjutant-General, Edward Livingston, rode to the head of the column, and read in rich andt sonorous tones the following address : " To THE MEN OF COLOR. Soldiers ! From the shores of Mobile I collected you to arms ; I invited you to share in the perils and to divide- the glory of your white countrymen. I expected much from you, for I was not uninformed of those qualities which must render you so for midable to an invading foe. I knew that you could endure hunger andi thirst and all the hardships of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves, you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you surpass my hopes. I have found in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds. " Soldiers ! The President of the United States shall be informed of your conduct on the present occasion ; and the voice of the representa tives of the American nation shall applaud your valor, as your general now praises your ardor. The enemy is near. His sails cover the lakes. 1 Niles's Register, vol. vii. p. 205. NEGRO TROOPS IN THE WAR OF 1812. 27 But the brave are united ; and if he finds us contending among our selves, it will be for the prize of valor, and fame, its noblest reward." * But in this war, as in the Revolutionary struggle, the com- missioners who concluded the terms of peace, armed with ample and authentic evidence of the Negro's valorous services, placed him among chattel property. And in no State in the South were the laws more rigidly enforced against Negroes, both free and slave, than in Louisiana. The efficient service of the Louisiana Negro troops in the war of 1812 was applauded on two continents at the time, but the noise of the slave marts soon silenced the praise of the " Black heroes of the battle of New Orleans." 1 Niles's Register, vol. vii. pp. 345, 346. 28 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER III. NEGROES IN THE NAVY. No PROSCRIPTION AGAINST NEGROES AS SAILORS. THEY ARE CARRIED UPON THE ROLLS IN THE NAVY WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR NATIONALITY. THEIR TREATMENT AS SAILORS. COMMO DORE PERRY'S LETTER TO COMMODORE CHAUNCEY IN REGARD TO THE MEN SENT HIM. COMMODORE CHAUNCEY'S SPIRITED REPLY. THE HEROISM OF THE NEGRO SET FORTH IN THE PICTURE OF PERRY'S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF A PRIVATE VESSEL. HE CITES SEVERAL INSTANCES OF THE HEROIC CONDUCT OF NEGRO SAILORS. IT is rather a remarkable fact of history that Negroes were carried upon the rolls of the navy without reference to their nationality. About one tenth of the crews of the fleet that sailed to the Upper Lakes to co-operate with Col. Croghan at Mackinac, in 1814, were Negroes. Dr. Parsons says: "In 1816, I was surgeon of the 'Java,' under Commodore Perry. The white and colored seamen messed together. About one in six or eight were colored. " In 1819, I was surgeon of the ' Guerriere,' under Commodore Mac- donough ; and the proportion of blacks was about the same in her crew. There seemed to be an entire absence of prejudice against the blacks as messmates among the crew. What I have said applies to the crews of the other ships that sailed in squadrons." 1 This ample and reliable testimony as to the treatment of Negroes as sailors, puts to rest all doubts as to their status in the United States navy. In the summer of 1813, Captain (afterwards Commodore) Perry wrote a letter to Commodore Chauncey in which he complained that an indifferent lot of men had been sent him. The following is the letter that he wrote. ** SIR : I have this moment received, by express, the enclosed letter from General Harrison. If I had officers and men and I have no 1 Livermore, pp. 159, 160. NEGROES JN THE NA VY. 29 doubt you will send them I could fight the enemy, and proceed up the lake ; but, having no one to command the ' Niagara,' and only one commissioned lieutenant and two acting lieutenants, whatever my wishes may be, going out is out of the question. The men that came by Mr. Champlin are a motley set blacks, soldiers, and boys. I can not think you saw them after they were selected. I am, however, pleased to see any thing in the shape of a man." ' Commodore Chauncey replied in the following sharp letter, in which he gave Captain Perry to understand that the color of the skin had nothing to do with a man's qualifications for the navy: " SIR : I have been duly honored with your letters of the twenty- third and twenty-sixth ultimo, and notice your anxiety for men and officers. I am equally anxious to furnish you ; and no time shall be lost in sending officers and men to you as soon as the public service will allow me to send them from this lake. I regret that you are not pleased with the men sent you by Messrs. Champlin and Forrest ; for, to my knowledge, a part of them are not surpassed by any seamen we have in the fleet ; and I have yet to learn that the color of the skin, or the cut and trimmings of the coat, can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have nearly fifty blacks on board of this ship, and many cf them are among my best men ; and those people you call soldiers have been to sea from two to seventeen years ; and I presume that you will find them as good and useful as any men on board of your vessel ; at least, if I can judge by comparison ; for those which we have on board of this ship are attentive and obedient, and, as far as I can judge, many of them excellent seamen : at any rate, the men sent to Lake Erie have been selected with a view of sending a fair proportion of petty officers and seamen ; and, I presume, upon examination it will be found that they are equal to those upon this lake." * Perry was not long in discovering that the Negroes whom Commodore Chauncey had sent him were competent, faithful, and brave ; and his former prejudice did not prevent him from speaking their praise. " Perry speaks highly of the bravery and good conduct of the ne groes, who formed a considerable part of his crew. They seemed to be absolutely insensible to danger. When Captain Barclay came on board the ' Niagara,' and beheld the sickly and party-colored beings 1 Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 165, 166. a Mackenzie's Life of Perry, vol. i. pp. 186, 187. 30 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, around him, an expression of chagrin escaped him at having been con quered by such men. The fresh-water service had very much impaired the health of the sailors, and crowded the sick-list with patients.'' 1 These brave Negro sailors served faithfully through all the battles on the Lakes, and in the battle of Lake Erie rendered most effective service. Once more the artist has rescued from oblivion the heroism of the Negroes ; for in the East Senate stairway of the Capitol at Washington, and in the rotunda of the Capitol at Columbus, in the celebrated picture of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie, a Negro sailor has a place among the im mortalized crew. The following testimony to the bravery of Colored sailors is of the highest character. " EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SHALER, COMMANDER OF THE PRIVATE-ARMED SCHOONER ' GOV. TOMPKINS,' TO HIS AGENT IN NEW YORK, DATED " AT SEA, Jan. i, 1813. "Before I could get our light sails in, and almost before I could turn round, I was under the guns, not of a transport, but of a large frigate / and not more than a quarter of a mile from her. . . . Her first broadside killed two men, and wounded six others. . . . My officers conducted themselves in a way that would have done honor to a more permanent service. . . . The name of one of my poor fellows who was killed ought to be registered in the book of fame, and remembered with reverence as long as bravery is considered a virtue. He was a black man, by the name of John Johnson. A twenty-four-pound shot struck him in the hip, and took away all the lower part of his body. In this state, the poor brave fellow lay on the deck, and several times ex claimed to his shipmates : ' Fire away, my boys ; no haul a color down* The other was also a black man, by the name of John Davis, and was struck in much the same way. He fell near me, and several times re quested to be thrown overboard, saying he was only in the way of others. 'When America has such tars, she has little to fear from the tyrants. of the ocean." a After praise of such a nature and from such a source, eulogy is superfluous. J Analectic Magazine, vol. iii. p. 255. 8 Niles's Weekly Register, Saturday, Feb. 26, 1814. . RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION 3 1 5. ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATION. CHAPTER IV. RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION. 1825-1850. THE SECURITY OF THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AT THE SOUTH. THE RIGHT TO HOLD SLAVES QUESTIONED. RAPID INCREASE OF THE SLAVE POPULATION. ANTI-SLAVERY SPEECHES IN THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA, THE QUAKERS OF MARYLAND AND DELAWARE EMANCIPATE THEIR SLAVES. THE EVIL EFFECT OF SLAVERY UPON SOCIETY. THE CONSCIENCE AND HEART OF THE SOUTH DID NOT RESPOND TO THE VOICE OP REASON OR DICTATES OF HUMANITY. AN awful silence succeeded the stormy struggle that ended in the violation of the ordinance of 1787. It was now time for reflection. The Southern statesmen had proven themselves the masters of the situation. The institution of slavery was secured to them, with many collateral political ad vantages. And, in addition to this, they had secured the inocu lation of the free territory beyond the Mississippi and Ohio rivers with the virus of Negro-slavery. If the mother-country had forced slavery upon her colonial dependencies in North America, and if it were difficult and in convenient to part with slave-labor, who were now responsible for the extension of the slave area? Southern men, of course. What principle or human law was strong enough to support an institution of such cruel proportions? The old law of European pagans born of bloody and destroying wars? No; for it was now the nineteenth century. Abstract law ? Certainly not ; for law is the perfection of reason it always tends to conform thereto and that which is not reason is not law. Well did Jus tinian write : " Live honestly, hurt nobody, and render to every 32 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. one his just dues." The law of nations? Verily not ; for it is a system of rules deducible % from reason and natural justice, and established by universal consent, to regulate the conduct and mutual intercourse between independent States. The Declara tion of Independence? Far from it; because the prologue of that incomparable instrument recites : " We hold these truths to be self-evident that all MEN are created equal ; that they are en dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to se cure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." And the peerless George Bancroft has added : " The heart of Jefferson in writing the Declaration, and of Congress in adopting it, beat for all humanity ; the assertion of right was made for all mankind and all coming generations, without any exception whatever; for the proposition which admits of exceptions can never be self- evident." There was but one authority for slavery left, and that was the Bible. Many slave-holders thought deeply on the question of their right to hold slaves. A disturbed conscience cried aloud for a "Thus saith the Lord," and the pulpit was charged with the task of quieting the general disquietude. The divine origin of slavery was heard from a thousand pulpits. God, who never writes a poor hand, had written upon the brow of every Negro, the word "Slave"; slavery was their normal condition, and the white man was God's agent in the United States to carry out the prophecy of Noah respecting the descendants of Ham ; while St. Paul had sent Onesimus back to his owner, and had written, " Servants, obey your masters." But apologetic preaching did not seem to silence T:he gnaw ing of a guilty conscience. Upon the battle-fields of two great wars; in the army and in the navy, the Negroes' had demon strated their worth and manhood. They had stood with the undrilled minute-men along the dusty roads leading from Lex^ ington and Concord to Boston, against the skilled redcoats of boastful Britain. They were among the faithful little band that held Bunker Hill against overwhelming odds ; at Long Island, Newport, and Monmouth, they had held their ground against the stubborn columns of the Ministerial army. They had journeyed with the Pilgrim Fathers through eight years of despair and hope, of defeat and victory; had shared their suf- RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION. 33; ferings and divided their glory. These recollections made difficult an unqualified acceptance of the doctrine of the divine nature of perpetual slavery. Reason downed sophistry, and human sym pathy shamed prejudice. And against prejudice, custom, and political power, the thinking men of the South launched their best thoughts. Jefferson said: "The hour of emancipation is advancing in the march of time. It will come, and whether brought on by the generons energy of our own minds, or by the bloody process of St. Domingo, excited and conducted by the power of our present enemy [Great Britain], if once stationed permanently within our country and offering asylum and arms to- the oppressed [Negro], is a leaf in our history not yet turned over" These words, written to Edward Coles, in August, 1814, were still ample food for the profound meditation of the slave-holders. In his " Notes on Virginia " Mr. Jefferson had written the follow ing words : " Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect tliai God is just ; tJiat His justice cannot sleep forever. That, consider ing numbers, nature, and natural means, only a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possi ble events. That it may become probable by supernatural inter ference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with its in such a contest" The eloquence of Patrick Henry and the logic and philosophy of Madison and Jefferson rang in the ears of the people of the slave-holding States, and they paused to think. In forty years the Negro population of Virginia had increased 186 per cent. from 1790 to 1830, while the white had increased only 51 per cent. The rapid increase of the slave population winged the fancy and produced horrid dreams of insurrection ; while the pronounced opposition of the Northern people to slavery seemed to proclaim the weakness of the government and the approach of its dissolution. In 1832, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, a grandson of Thomas Jefferson, lifted up his voice in the Legislature ot Virginia against the institution of slavery. Said Mr. Jefferson : " There is one circumstance to which we are to look as inevitable in the fulness of time a dissolution of this Union. God grant it may not happen in our time or that of our children ; but, sir, it must come sooner or later, and when it does come, border war follows it, as certain as the night follows the day. An enemy upon 1 Jefferson's Writings, vol. viii, p. 404. 34 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. your frontier offering arms and asylum to this population, tampering with it in your bosom, when your citizens shall march to repel the in vader, their families butchered and their homes desolated in the rear, the spear will fall from the warrior's grasp ; his heart may be of steel, but it must quail. Suppose an invasion in part with black troops, speak ing the same language, of the same nation, burning with enthusiasm for the liberation of their race ; if they are not crushed the moment they put- foot upon your soil, they roll forward, an hourly swelling mass ; your energies are paralyzed, your power is gone ; the morasses of the low lands, the fastnesses of the mountains, cannot save your wives and .children from destruction. Sir, we cannot war with these disadvan tages ; peace, ignoble, abject peace, -peace upon any conditions that an enemy may offer, must be accepted. Are we, then, prepared to barter the liberty -of our children for slaves for them ? . . . Sir, it is a practice, and .an increasing practice in parts of Virginia to rear slaves for market. How can an honorable mind, a patriot and a lover of his country, bear to see this ancient Dominion, rendered illustrious by the noble devotion .and patriotism of her sons in the cause of liberty, converted into one :grand managerie, where men are to be reared for market like oxen for the shambles. Is this better, is it not worse, than the Slave-Trade, that trade which enlisted the labor of the good and the wise of every creed and .every clime to abolish it?" Mr. P. A. Boiling said : " Mr. Speaker, it is vain for gentlemen to deny the fact, the feelings of society are fast becoming adversed to slavery. The moral causes which produce that feeling are on the march, and will on until the groans of slavery are Jicard no more in this else happy country. Look over this world's wide page see the rapid progress of liberal feelings see the shackles falling from nations who have long writhed under the galling yoke of slavery. Liberty is going over the whole earth hand- in-hand with Christianity. The ancient temples of slavery, rendered venerable alone by their antiquity, are crumbling into dust. Ancient prejudices are flying before the light of truth are dissipated by its rays, as the idle vapor by the bright sun. The noble sentiment of Burns : 1 Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that, That man to man, the warld o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that ' is rapidly spreading. The day-star of human liberty has risen above the dark horizon of slavery, and will continue its bright career, until it .smiles alike on all men." RETROSPECTION AND REFLECTION. 35 Mr. C. J. Faulkner said : " Sir, I am gratified that no gentleman has yet risen in this hall, the advocate of slavery. * * * Let me compare the condition of the slave-holding portion of this commonwealth, barren, desolate, and scarred, as it were, by the avenging hand of Heaven, with the descrip tions which we have of this same country from those who first broke its virgin soil. To what is this change ascribable ? Alone to the withering, blasting effects of slavery. If this does not satisfy him, let me request him to extend his travels to the Northern States of this Union, and beg him to contrast the happiness and contentment which prevail throughout that country the busy and cheerful sound of industry, the rapid and swelling growth of their population, their means and institu tions of education, their skill and proficiency in the useful arts, their enterprise and public spirit, the monuments of their commercial and manufacturing industry, and, above all, their devoted attachment to the government from which they derive their protection, with the division, discontent, indolence, and poverty of the Southern country. To what, sir, is all this ascribable ? 'T is to that vice in the organization of so ciety by which one half of its inhabitants are arrayed in interest and feel ing against the other half ; to that unfortunate state of society in which free men regard labor as disgraceful, and slaves shrink from it as a bur den tyrannically imposed upon them. ' To that condition of things in which half a million of your population can feel no sympathy with the so ciety in the prosperity of which they are- forbidden to participate, and no attachment to a government at whose hands they receive nothing but injus tice.' In the language of the wise, prophetic Jefferson, 'you must approach this subject, YOU MUST ADOPT SOME PLAN OF EMANCIPA* "TION, OR WORSE WILL FOLLOW.' " In Maryland and Delaware the Quakers were rapidly eman cipating their slaves, and the strong reaction that had set in among the thoughtful men of the South began to threaten the institution. Men felt that it was a curse to the slave, and poi soned the best white society of the slave-holding States. As a day ever sacred to memories of freedom, in a speech at Faneuil Hall, he volunteered, in advance of any other Northern Whig, to re ceive Texas with a welcome into the family of States, although on that very day she was preparing a constitution placing slavery beyond the reach of Legislative change." 2 Here, then, was another party created a Political Abolition Party for the suppression of slavery. In 1848, Mr. Sumner left the Whig party, and gave his mag nificent energies and splendid talents to the organization of the Free-Soil Party, upon the principles he had failed to educate the Whigs to accept. Charles Sumner was in the United States Senate, where " his words were clothed with the majesty of Massachusetts." The young lawyer who had upbraided Winthrop for his indifference respecting the slave, and opposed the Mexican war, was consis tent in the Senate, and in harmony with his early love for humani ty. He closed his great speech on FREEDOM NATIONAL, SLAVERY SECTIONAL, in the following incisive language: " At the risk of repetition, but for the sake of clearness, review now this argument, and gather it together. Considering that slavery is of such an offensive character that it can find sanction only in positive law, and that it has no such 'positive ' sanction in the Constitution ; that the Constitution, according to its Preamble, was ordained to ' establish justice,' and 'secure the blessings of liberty' ; that in the convention which framed it, and also elsewhere at the time, it was declared not to ' sanction ' ; that according to the Declaration ot Independence, and the address of the Continental Congress, the nation was dedicated to 'Lib- erty' and the 'rights of human nature'; that according to the principles of common law, the Constitution must be interpreted openly, actively, and 1 At the election that took place on the gth of November, 1846, the vote stood as follows: Winthrop (Whig), 5,980 ; Howe (Anti- Slavery), 1,334; Homer (Democrat), I, 688 ; Whiton (Independent), 331. The number of tickets in the field indicated the. state of public feeling. * Sumner's Works, vol. I. p. 337. ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 47 perpetually for Freedom ; that according to the decision of the Supreme Court, it acts upon slaves, not as property, but as persons ; that at the first organization of the national government under Washington, slavery had no national favor, existed nowhere on the national territory, beneath the national flag, but was openly condemned by the nation, the Church, the colleges, and literature of the times ; and finally, that accord ing to an amendment of the Constitution, the national government can only exercise powers delegated to it, among which there is none to sup port slavery ; considering these things, sir, it is impossible to avoid the single conclusion that slavery is in no respect a national institution, and that the Constitution nowhere upholds property in man." This speech set men in the North to thinking. Sumner was now the acknowledged leader of the only political party in the country that had a wholesome anti-slavery plank in its platform. Daniel Webster and the Whig party were in their grave. After the Democratic Convention had met and adjourned with out mentioning Webster, a Northern farmer exclaimed when he had read the news, " The South never pay tlicir slaves / " During all these years of agitation and struggle, the pulpit of New England maintained an unbroken silence on the slavery question. Doctor Lyman Beecher was the acknowledged leader of the orthodox pulpit. Dr. William E. Channing was the champion of Unitarianism and the leader of the heterodox pulpit. Dr. Beecher was fond of controversy, enjoyed a battle of words upon every thing but the slavery question. He pro claimed the doctrine of " immediate repentance" ; was earnest in ihis entreaties to men to quit their "cups" at once ; but on the slavery question was a slow coach. He was for gradual emanci pation. He frowned not a little upon the vigorous editorials in "The Liberator." He regarded Mr. Garrison as a hot-head; "having zeal, but not according to knowledge." Abolitionism received no encouragement from this venerable divine. Dr. Channing was a gentle, pure-hearted, and humane sort of a man. He dreaded controversy, and shunned the agitation and agitators of anti-slavery. The lesser lights followed the example of these bright stars in the churches. But all could not keep silent, for slavery needed apologists in the North. Stewart, of Andover ; Alexander, of Princeton ; Pisk, of Wilberham, and many other leading ministers endeav ored to prove the Divine Origin and Biblical Authority of Slavery. 48 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The silence of the pulpit drove out many anti-slavery men- who, up to this time, had been hoping for aid from this quarter. Many went out of the Church temporarily, hoping that the scales would drop from the eyes of the preachers ere long; but others never returned were driven to infidelity and bitter hatred of the Christian Church. Dr. Albert Barnes said : " That there was no power out of the Church that would sustain slavery an hour if it were not sustained in it." Among the leaders of the HETERODOX ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY those who attacked the reticency, silent acquiescence, or act of support the Church gave slavery, were Parker Pillsbury, James G. Birney, Stephen S. Foster, and Samuel Brooke. The platform of this party was clearly defined by Mr. Pillsbury : " That slavery finds its surest and sternest defence in the prevailing, religion of the country, is no longer questionable. Let it be driven from the Church, with the burning seal of its reprobation and execration stamped on its iron brow, and its fate is fixed forever. Only while its- horrors are baptized and sanctified in the name of Christianity, can it maintain an existence. " The Anti-Slavery movement has unmasked the character of the- American Church. Our religion has been found at war with the interests of humanity and the laws of God. And it is more than time the world was awakened to its unhallowed influence on the hopes and happiness of man, while it makes itself the palladium of the foulest iniquity ever perpetrated in the sight of heaven." This was a bold movement, but it was doubtless a sword that was as dangerous to those who essayed to handle it, as to the Church whose destruction it was intended to effect. The doc trine that was to sustain and inspire this party can be briefly stated in a sentence: THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD, AND THE. BROTHERHOOD OF MAN. Once outside the orthodox church, Theodore Parker gave himself wholly to this idea. He preached the " Gospel of Hu manity " ; and, standing upon a broad platform, preaching a broad doctrine, bound by no ecclesiastical law, his claims to a place in the history of his county, and in the gratitude of his countrymen can be fairly audited when his work for the emanci pation of evangelical churches from the thraldom of slavery is 1 Church As It Is, etc., Introduction. ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 49 considered. He did more in his day to rupture the organic and sympathetic relation existing between the Northern and Southern churches, and, thereby, hasten the struggle between the sections for the extension or extinction of domestic slavery, than any other man in America. The men who found themselves on the out side of the Church gathered about Parker, and applauded his invective and endorsed his arraignment of the churches that had placed their hands upon their mouths, and their mouths in the dust, before the slave power. He touched a chord in the human heart, and it yielded rich music. He educated the pew until an occasional voice broke the long silence respecting the bondman of the land. First, the ministers were not so urgent in their invitations to Southern ministers to occupy their pulpits. This coldness was followed by feeble prayer and moderate speech on behalf of those who were bound. And the churches themselves began to feel that they were " an offence " to the world. Every note of sympathy that fell from the pulpit was amplified into a grand chorus of pity for the slave. And thus the leaven of human sympathy hid in the orthodox church of New England, leavened the whole body until a thousand pulpit^ were ablaze with a righteous condemnation of the wrongs of the slaves. Even Dr. Channing came to the conclusion that something should be " So done as not to put in jeopardy the peace of the slave-holding States ! " ' THE ECONOMIC ANTI-SLAVERY PARTY was headed by the industrious and indomitable Horace Greeley. His claim to the feelings of humanity should never be disputed ; but as a prac tical man who sought to solve the riddle of every-day life he placed his practical views in the foreground. As a political economist he reasoned that slave labor was degrading to free labor ; that free labor was better than slave labor, and, therefore,, he most earnestly desired its abolition. Wherever you turn in his writings this idea gives the edge to all his arguments concern ing slavery. " But slavery," wrote Mr. Greeley, " primarily con sidered, has still another aspect that of a natural relation of simplicity to cunning, of ignorance to knowledge, of weakness to power. Thomas Carlyle, before his melancholy decline and fall into devil-worship, truly observed, that the capital mistake of Rob Roy was his failure to comprehend that it was cheaper 1 Channing's Works, vol. ii. p. 10, sq. ^50 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to buy the beef he required in the Grassmarket at Glasgow "than to obtain it without price, by harrying the lowland farms. So the first man whoever imbibed or conceived the fatal delusion that it was more advantageous to him, or to any human being, to procure whatever his necessities or his appetites re quired by address and scheming than by honest work by the unrequited rather than the fairly and faithfully recompensed toil of his fellow-preachers was, in essence and in heart, a slave holder, and only awaited opportunity to become one in deed and practice. . . . It is none the less true, however, that ancient 'civilization, in its various national developments, was habitually corrupted, debauched, and ultimately ruined by slavery, which rendered labor dishonorable, and divided society horizontally into a small caste of the wealthy, educated, refined, and inde- -pendent, and a vast hungry, sensual, thriftless, and worthless populace ; rendered impossible the preservation of republican liberty and of legalized equality, even among the nominally free. Diogenes, with his lantern, might have vainly looked, through many a long day, among the followers of Marius, or Catiline, or 'Caesar, for a specimen of the poor but virtuous and self-respect ing Roman citizen of the days of Cincinnatus, or even of Regulus." ' But Mr. Greeley's philosophy was as destructive as his logic ^was defective. He wished the slave free, not because he loved him ; but because of the deep concern he had for the welfare of the free, white working-men of America. He was willing the Negro should be free, but never suggested any plan of relief for his social condition, or prescribed for his spiritual and intel- 'lectual health. He handled the entire Negro problem with the icy fingers of the philosopher, and always applied the flinty logic of abstract political economy. He was an anti-slavery advocate, but not an abolitionist. He was opposed to slavery, as a system at war with the social and commercial prosperity of the nation ; but so far as the humanity of the question, in reaching out after the slave as an injured member of society, was concerned, he was silent. THE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-SLAYERY PARTY had its birth in the pugnacious brains of E. P. Lovejoy, James G. Birney, Cassius M. Clay, and John Brown. All of the anti-slavery parties had 1 American Conflict, vol. i. pp. 25, 26. ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 5 * taught the doctrine of non-resistance ; that if " thy enemy smite thee on thy cheek, turn the other also." But there were a few men who believed they were possessed of sacred rights, and that it was their duty to defend them, even with their lives. It was not a popular doctrine ; and yet a conscientious few practised it with sublime courage whenever occasion required. In 1836 James G. Birney, editor of The Philanthropist, published at Cin cinnati, Ohio, defended his press, as best he could, against a mob, who finally destroyed it. And on the /th of November, 1837, tne R GV - Mr. Lovejoy sealed the sacred doctrine of the liberty of the press with his precious blood in the defence of his printing-press at Alton, Illinois. Cassius M. Clay went armed, and insisted upon his right to freely and peaceably discuss the cause of anti-slavery. But these men only laid down a great, fundamental truth ; it was given to John Brown to write the lesson upon the hearts of the American people, so that they were enabled, a few years later, to practise the doctrine of resistance, and preserve the Na tion against the bloody aggressions of the Southern Confederacy. THE COLONIZATION ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY ante-dated any of the other organizations. Benjamin Lundy was one of the earliest advocates of colonization. The object of colonizationists was to transport to Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa, all manumitted slaves. Only free Negroes were to be colonized. It was claimed by the advocates of the scheme that this was the only hope of the free Negro ; that the proscription everywhere directed against his social and intellectual endeavors cramped and lamed him in the race of life ; that in Liberia he could build his own government, schools, and business; and there would be nothing to hinder him in his ambition for the highest places in Church or State. Moreover, they claimed that the free Negro owed something to his benighted brethren who were still in pagan darkness ; that a free Negro government on the West Coast of Africa could exert a missionary influence upon the natives, and thus the evangelization of Africa could be effected by the free Negro himself. 1 J The following were the objects of the Colonization Society : " 1st. To rescue the free colored people of the United States from their political and social disadvantages. " 2d. To place them in a country where they may enjoy the benefits of free govern roent, with all the blessings which it brings in its train. 52 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. To this method Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Horace Mann, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Howard Malcom, of Pennsylvania ; Rev. R. R. Gurley, of New York ; and many other persons of distinction, grave their endorsement and assistance. The American Coloni- o zation Society was organized in 1817. Its earliest supporters were from the Southern and Middle States. A fair idea can be had of the character of the men who sustained the cause of col onization by an examination of the following list of officers elected in March, 1834. " President. JAMES MADISON, of Virginia. 4< Vice- Presidents. Chief-Justice MARSHALL ; General LAFAYETTE, of France ; Hon. WM. H. CRAWFORD, of Georgia ; Hon. HENRY CLAY, of Lexington, Kentucky; Hon. JOHN C. HERBERT, of Maryland; ROBERT RALSTON, Esq., of Philadelphia ; Gen. JOHN MASON, of George town, D. C. ; SAMUEL BAYARD, Esq., of New Jersey ; ISAAC McKiM, Esq., of Maryland ; Gen. JOHN HARTWELL COCKE, of Virginia ; Rt. Rev. Bishop WHITE, of Pennsylvania ; Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER, of Bos ton ; Hon. CHARLES F. MERCER, of Virginia ; JEREMIAH DAY, D.D., of Yale College ; Hon. RICHARD RUSH, of Pennsylvania ; Bishop Mc- KENDREE ; PHILIP E. THOMAS, Esq., of Maryland ; Dr. THOMAS C. JAMES, of Philadelphia ; Hon. JOHN COTTON SMITH, of Connecticut ; Hon. THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, of New Jersey ; Hon. Louis Mc- LANE, of Washington City ; GERRIT SMITH, of New York ; J. H. M'CLURE, Esq., of New Jersey ; Gen. ALEXANDER MACOMB, of Wash ington City ; MOSES ALLEN, Esq., of New York ; Gen. WALTER JONES, of Washington City ; F. S. KEY, Esq., of Georgetown, D. C. ; SAMUEL H. SMITH, Esq., of Washington City ; JOSEPH GALES, Jr., Esq., of Washington City ; Rt. Rev. WM. MEADE, D.D., Assistant Bishop of Virginia ; Hon. ALEXANDER PORTER, of Louisiana ; JOHN McDoN- OUGH, Esq., of Louisiana ; Hon. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, of New Jersey. "Managers. Rev. JAMES LAURIE, D.D. ; Gen. WALTER JONES; FRANCIS S. KEY ; Rev. WM. HALEY ; JOHN UNDERWOOD ; WILLIAM W. SEATON ; WALTER LOWRIE Dr. PHINEAS BRADLEY ; Dr. THOMAS SEWALL. " Secretaries. Rev. RALPH R. GURLEY, WILLIAM H. MACFARLAND. " Treasurer. JOSEPH GALES, Senior. " Recorder. PHILLIP R. FENDALL." " 3d. To spread civilization, sound morals, and true religion through the continent of Africa. " 4. To arrest and destroy the slave-trade. "5. To afford slave-owners who wish, or are willing, to liberate their slaves an asylum for their reception." ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 5 3 The Colonization Society was never able to secure the sym pathy of the various anti-slavery societies of the country ; and was unable to gain the confidence of the Colored people to any great extent. But it had the advantage of being in harmony with what little humane sentiment there was at the South. It did not attempt to agitate. It only sought to colonize on the West Coast of Africa all Negroes who could secure legal manu mission. Nearly all the Southern States had laws upon their statute-books requiring all emancipated slaves to leave the State. The question as to where they should go was supposed to be answered by the Colonization Society. It had much influence with Congress, and did not hesitate to use it. A Mr. Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, petitioned Congress for the establishment " of a line of Mail Steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa," in the summer of 1850. The Committee on Naval Affairs re ported favorably the following bill: "A BILL TO ESTABLISH A LINE OF WAR STEAMERS TO THE COAST OF AFRICA. [Report No. 438.] "In the House of Representatives, August i, 1850. Read twice, and com mitted to the Committee of the whole House on the State of the Union. " Mr. F. P. Stanton, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, reported the following bill : A bill to establish a line of war steamers to the coast of Africa, for the suppression of the slave-trade, and the promo tion of commerce and colonization : SEC. i "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Navy, immediately after the passage of this act, to enter into contract with Joseph Bryan, of Alabama, and George Nicholas Saunders, of New York, and their associates, for the building, equipment, and maintenance of three steam-ships to run between the United States and the coast of Africa, upon the following, terms and conditions, to wit : "The said ships to be each of not less than four thousand tons bur den, to be so constructed as to be convertible, at the least possible expense, into war steamers of the first class, and to be built and equipped in accordance with plans to be submitted to and approved by the Secretary of the Navy, and under the superintendence of an officer to be appointed by him , two of said ships to be finished and ready for sea in two and a half years, and the other within three years after the date of the contract, and the whole to be kept up by alterations, re- 54 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. pairs, or additions, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, so as to be fully equal to the exigencies of the service and the faithful per formance of the contract. The said Secretary, at all times, to exercise such control over said ships as may not be inconsistent with the pro visions of this act, and especially to have the power to direct, at the expense of the Government, such changes in the machinery and internal arrangements of the ships as he may at any time deem ad visable. " Each of said ships to be commanded by an officer of the Navy, who with four Passed Midshipmen to act as watch officers, and any mail agents who may be sent by the Government, shall be accommodated and provided for in a manner suitable to their rank, at the expense of the contractors. Each of said ships, if required by the Secretary, shall receive two guns of heavy calibre, and the men from the United States Navy necessary to serve them, who shall be provided for as aforesaid. In the event of war the Government to have the right to take any or all of said ships for its own exclusive use on payment of the value thereof ; such value not exceeding the cost, to be ascertained by appraisers chosen by the Secretary of the Navy and the con tractors. " Each of said ships to make four voyages per annum ; one shall leave New Orleans every three months ; one shall leave Baltimore every three months, touching at Norfolk and Charleston ; and one shall leave New York every three months, touching at Savannah ; all having liberty to touch at any of the West India Islands ; and to proceed thence to Liberia, touching at any of the islands or ports on the coast of Africa : thence to Gibraltar, carrying the Mediterranean mails ; thence to Cadiz, or some other Spanish port to be designated by the Secretary of the Navy ; thence to Lisbon ; thence to Brest, or some other French port to be designated as above ; thence to London, and back to the place of departure, bringing and carrying the mails to and from said ports. " The said contractors shall further agree to carry to Liberia so many emigrants being free persons of color, and not exceeding twenty-five hundred for each voyage, as the American Colonization Society may require, upon the payment by said Society of ten dollars for each emi grant over twelve years of age, and five dollars for each one under that age , these sums, respectively, to include all charges for baggage of emi grants and the daily supply of sailors' rations. The contractors, also, to carry, bring back, and accommodate, free from charge, all necessary agents of the said Society. ''The Secretary of the Navy shall further stipulate to advance to said contractors, as the building of said ships shall progress, two thirds of the amount expended thereon ; such advances to be made in the ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 5 5 bands of the United States, payable thirty years after date, and bearing five per cent, interest, and not to exceed six hundred thousand dollars for each ship. And the said contractors shall stipulate to repay the said advances in equal annual instalments, with interest from the date of the completion of said ships until the termination of the contract, which shall continue fifteen years from the commencement of the ser vice. The Secretary of the Navy to require ample security for the faithful performance of the contract, and to reserve a lien upon the ships for the sum advanced. The Government to pay said contractors forty thousand dollars for each trip, or four hundred and eighty thou sand dollars per annum. "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States shall cause to be issued the bonds of the United States, as the same may, from time to time, be required by the Secretary of the Navy to carry out the contract aforesaid." Public sentiment, North and South, was greatly in favor of the measure. T. J. Durant, Esq., of New Orleans, in an elabor ate letter addressed to the " Commercial Bulletin " of New Orleans, under date of September 12, 1850, answered objections, and warmly urged the passage of the bill. The Chaplain of the U. S. Senate, Rev. R. R. Gurley, wrote a letter on the loth of October, 1850, to George N. Saunders, Esq., urging the measure as of paramount importance to both America and Africa. The press of the country generally endorsed the bill, and commented upon the general good to follow in numerous editorials. A scheme of such gigantic proportions poorly set forth the profound thought that harassed the public mind in regard to the crime of keeping men in slavery. A few extracts from the papers will suffice to show how the matter was regarded. EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESS. " The Report of the Naval Committee to the House of Representa tives in favor of the establishment of a line of mail steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa, and thence via the Mediterranean to London, has been received by the public press throughout the Union with the warmest expressions of approbation. The Whig, Democratic, and neu tral papers of the North and South, in the slave-holding and non-slave- holding States, with a very few exceptions, appear to vie with each other in pressing its consideration upon the public attention. This earnest and almost unanimous support of the measure by the organs of public opinion, without respect to party or section, shows the deep hold 56 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. which the objects it proposes to effect have upon the public favor Those objects are to promote the emigration of free persons of color from this country to Liberia ; also to increase the steam navy, and to ex tend the commerce of the United States, all, it will be almost univer sally conceded, desirable objects. The desirableness of the objects being admitted, the question is, does the mode proposed for promoting them recommend itself to the sanction of Congress ? We are forced to the conclusion that it does. We are aware that while all agree as to the expediency of increasing our steam navy some are in favor of the Government's building its own steam-ships, and others advocate the en couragement of lines of steam-packets, to be established by private en terprise under the auspices of Government. . . . 44 The considerations, however, which in our opinion should commend this measure to the favorable attention of Congress are so obvious, and have been so clearly and strongly presented in the report of the com mittee, that we need not here repeat them. If the voice of the press, of all sections and of all parties, be any indication of popular opinion, we are free to say, that it would be difficult for Congress to pass a measure which would be received with more general satisfaction by the people of the United States." ' " AFRICAN STEAM-LINES. The entertainment by the Government of Great Britain of a project for the establishment of a powerful line of steam- vessels between that country and the African coast, ostensibly for the conveyance of a monthly mail, and the more effectual checking of the slave-traffic, is strong proof, we think, of the value that the com merce between the two countries is capable of becoming. It may, in addition, be regarded as corroborative of the justness of the position taken by the advocates of a mail-steamer line between this country and Africa, We are by no means disposed to look invidiously on the en terprising spirit exhibited abroad for securing a closer connection with a country, the great mercantile wealth of which is yet, comparatively speaking, untouched. This spirit should have on us no other than a stimulating effect. Besides, for years, if not ages, to come, the trade with Africa can admit of no very close competition. The promised vastness of this trade, whilst excluding all idea of monopoly, must con tinue to excite the new enterprise by its unlimited rewards. It is un necessary that we should exhibit statistics to show her how largely England has been benefited by persevering though frequently inter rupted communication with the interior parts of that great continent ; nor to make plain how, with better knowledge and more ready means of access, mercantile risks will be lessened and mercantile profits en larged. It will be remembered that the Congressional committee to 1 The Republic, Sept. n, 1850. ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. 57 whom the question of establishing mail steamers between this country and Africa was referred, adverted in their report to the aid its adoption would afford in the consummation of the plans of the Colonization Society. On the intimate relation between the one and the other, it was supposed that a good part of the required success was dependent. It is something singular that the colored race those in reality most interested in the future destinies of Africa should be so lightly affected by the evidences continually being presented in favor of colonization. He will do a service to this country as well as Africa who shall do any thing to open the eyes of the colored race to the advantages of emigra tion to the fertile and, to them, congenial shores of Africa." 1 " AFRICA AND STEAM-SHIPS. If but a single line of steam-ships is to be authorized this Session and the state and prospects of the finances must counsel frugality and caution, we think a line to Africa fairly entitled to the preference. That continent on its western side is com paratively proximate and accessible ; it is filled with inhabitants who need the articles we can abundantly fabricate, and it is the ancestral soil of more than three millions of our people of a race on whose ac count we are deeply debtors to justice and to heaven. That race is more plastic and less conservative than the Chinese ; their soil pro duces in spontaneous profusion many articles which are to us comforts and luxuries, while nearly every thing we produce is in eager demand among its inhabitants, if they can but find the wherewithal to pay for them. Instead of being a detriment and a depression to our own manufacturing and mechanical industry, as the trade induced by our costly steam-ship lines to Liverpool, Bremen, and Havre mainly is, ail the commerce with Africa which a more intimate communication with her would secure, would be advantageous to every department of Amer ican labor. Her surplus products are so diverse from ours, that no col lision of interests between her producers and ours could ever be real ized, while millions' worth of her tropical products which will not endure the slow and capricious transportation which is now their only recourse, would come to us in good order by steam-ships, and richly reward the labor of the gatherers and the enterprise of the importers. " But the social and moral aspects of this subject are still more im portant. We are now expending life and treasure, in concert with other nations, to suppress the African slave-trade, and it is now gener ally conceded that such suppression can never be effected by the means hitherto relied on. The colonization of the Slave Coast, with direct reference to its Christianization and civilization, is the only sure means of putting an end to this inhuman traffic. And this coloni zation, all who are interested in the work seem heartily to agree, would 1 National Intelligencer, October 23, 1850. 58 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. be immensely accelerated by the establishment of a line of Africans steam-ships. Liberia, now practically distant as Buenos Ayres, would, by such a line, be brought as near us as Bremen, and the ports regu larly visited by our steamers could not fail rapidly to assume impor tance as centres of commerce and of increasing intelligence and iiv dustry." ' "THE COLONY OF LIBERIA AND ITS PROSPECTUS. By every ar rival from Liberia we learn that the colony of free negroes from the United States is progressing at a rate truly astonishing, and that before many years it promises to be a strong and powerful republic. The experiment of self-government has been completely successful ; the educational interests of the inhabitants are duly cared for ; civilization is making great headway among the aborigines ; and, by means of Liberia, there is a very flattering prospect of the slave-trade on the coast of Africa being entirely destroyed. Governor Roberts, a very intelligent colored man, of mixed blood, goes even so far as to say that Liberia is destined to rival the United States, and that both republics, by a unity of action,, can civilize and Christianize the world, and especially benighted Africa. We are pleased to hear such good accounts from Liberia, and we shall always be pleased to hear of its success, and of the progress and wel fare of its inhabitants. Founded, as it has been, by American philan thropists, and peopled by our emancipated slaves, the United States will ever watch its progress with interest, and aid and assist it as far as it possibly can." a But notwithstanding the apparent favor the cause of coloni zation received from the press, it was an impractical, impossible, wild, and visionary scheme that could not be carried to the ex tent its projectors designed. It lost strength yearly, until all were convinced that the Negro would be emancipated here and remain here ; that it was as impossible to colonize a race of peo ple as to colonize the sun, moon, and stars. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD organization was perhaps one of the most useful auxiliaries the cause of agitation had. It could scarcely be called an organization. Unlike the other societies, it did not print its reports. 3 Like good Samaritans, its conductors did not ask passengers their creed ; but wherever they found human beings wounded in body and mind by slavery, 1 Tribune, December 25, 1850. 2 Herald, December, 17, 1850. 8 It is to be regretted that William Still, the author of the U. G. R. R., failed to give any account of its origin, organization, workings, or the number of persons helped to freedom. It is an interesting narrative of many cases, but is shorn of that minuteness of detail so indispensable to authentic historical memorials. ANTI-SLA VER Y METHODS. . 59 they gave them passage to the " Inn "..of Freedom on Canadian soil. In a sense, the Underground Railroad was a secret organi zation. This was necessary, as the fugitive-slave law gave the master the right to pursue his slave when " fleeing from labor and service in one State into another," and apprehend him by due process of Federal law. The men who managed this road felt that they should obey God rather than man ; that the slave's right to his freedom was greater than any law the nation could make through its representatives. So the Underground Rail road was made up of a company of godly men who stretched themselves across the land, from the borders of the sunny slave States to the snow-white shores of Canada. When men came up out of the hell of slavery gasping for a breath of free air,, these good friends sheltered and fed them ; and then hastened them off in the stillness of the night, with the everlasting stars as their ministers, toward Canada. The fugitives would be turned over to another conductor, who would conceal them until nightfall, when he would load his living freight into a covered conveyance, and drive all night to reach the next " station " ; and so on until the fugitives found themselves free and safe under the English flag in Canada. This was the safety-valve to the institution of slavery. As soon as leaders arose among the slaves, refusing to endure the yoke, they came North. Had they remained, the direful scenes of St. Domingo would have been enacted, and the hot, vengeful breath of massacre would have swept the South as a tornado, and blanched the cheek of the civilized world. ANTI-SLAVERY LITERATURE wrought mightily for God in its. field. 1 Frederick Douglass's book, " My Bondage and My Free dom " ; Bishop Loguen's, " As a Slave and As a Freeman " ; Au tobiography of a Fugitive Negro," by the Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward ; " Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Free man," by the Rev. Austin Stewart ; " Narrative of Solomon Northup," ' Walker's Appeal," all by eminent Negroes, ex posed the true character of slavery, informed the public mind, stimulated healthy thought, and touched the heart of two conti nents with a sympathy almost divine. But the uncounted millions of anti-slavery tracts, pamphlets, 1 Judge Stroud, William Goodell, Wendell Phillips, William Jay, and hundreds of other white men contributed to the anti-slavery literature of the period. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. journals, and addresses of- the entire period of agitation were little more than a paper wad compared with the solid shot " Uncle Tom's Cabin " was to slavery. Written in vigorous English, in scintillating, perspicuous style ; adorned with gorgeous imagery, bristling with living "facts' '; going to the lowest depths, mount ing to the greatest altitudes, moving with panoramic grandeur, picturing humanity forlorn and outraged ; giving forth the shrill est, most despairing cries of the afflicted, and the sublimest strains of Christian faith ; the struggle of innocent, defenceless womanhood, the subdued sorrow of chattel-babyhood, the yearn ings of fettered manhood, and the piteous sobs of helpless old age, made Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin " the magnifying wonder of enlightened Christendom ! It pleaded the cause of the slave in twenty different languages ; it engrossed the thought of philosophers, and touched the heart of youth with a strange pity for the slave. It covered audiences with the sun light of laughter, wrapt them in sorrow, and veiled them in tears. It illustrated the power of the Gospel of Love, the gentleness of Negro character, and the powers and possibilities of the race. It was God's message to a people who had refused to listen to his anti-slavery prophets and priests ; and its sad, wierd, and heart- touching descriptions and dialogues restored the milk of human kindness to a million hearts that had grown callous in an age of self-seeking and robbery of the poor. In a political and sectional sense, the " Impending Crisis," by Helper, exerted a wide influence for good. It was read by mer- chants and politicians. Diverse and manifold as were the methods of the friends of universal freedom, and sometimes apparently conflicting, under God no honest effort to rid the Negro and the country of the curse of slavery was lost. All these agencies, running along dif ferent lines, converged at a common centre, and aimed at a common end the ultimate extinction of the foreign and domes tic slave-trade. ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 6l CHAPTER. VI. ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. INTELLIGENT INTEREST OF % FREE NEGROES IN THE AGITATION MOVEMENT. il FIRST ANNUAL CON VENTION OF THE PEOPLE OF COLOR" HELD AT PHILADELPHIA. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLLEGE FOR YOUNG MEN OF COLOR. PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE APPOINTED IN EACH ClTY. CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS. SECOND CONVENTION HELD AT BENE- ZET HALL, PHILADELPHIA. RESOLUTIONS OF THE MEETING. CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS. THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COLORED ASSOCIATION. CONVENTION OF ANTI-SLAVERY WOMEN OF AMERICA AT NEW YORK. PREJUDICE AGAINST ADMITTING NEGROES INTO WHITE SOCIE TIES. COLORED ORATORS. THEIR ELOQUENT PLEAS FOR THEIR ENSLAVED RACE. THE free Negroes throughout the Northern States were not passive during the agitation movement. They took a lively interest in the cause that had for its ultimate end the freedom of the slave. They did not comfort themselves with the consciousness that they were free; but thought of their brethren who were bound, and sympathized with them. u The First Annual Convention of the People of Color" was held in Philadelphia from the 6th to the i ith of June, 1831. Its sessions were held " in the brick Wesleyan Church, Lombard Street," "pursuant to public notice, . . . signed by Dr. Belfast Burton and William Whipper." The following delegates were present: Philadelphia John Bowers, Dr. Belfast Burton, James Cornish, Junius C. Morel, William Whipper. New York Rev. Wm. Miller, Henry Sipkins, Thos. L. Jennings, Wm. Hamilton, James Pennington. Maryland Rev. Abner Coker, Robert Cowley. Delaware Abraham D. Shad, Rev. Peter Gardiner. Virginia Wm. Duncan. The following officers were chosen : President John Bowers. Vice- Presidents Abraham D. Shad, William Duncan. Secretary William Whipper. Assistant Secretary Thos. L. Jennings. 62 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The first concern of this convention was the condition of that class which it directly represented the "free persons of color " in the United States. A committee, consisting of Messrs. Morel, Shad, Duncan, Cowley, Sipkins, and Jennings, made the follow ing report on the condition of the free persons of color in the United States: " Brethren ana Fellow-Citizens : " We, the Committee of Inquiry, would suggest to the Convention the propriety of adopting the following resolutions, viz. : " Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Convention, it is highly nec essary that the different societies engaged in the Canadian Settlement be earnestly requested to persevere in their praiseworthy and philan thropic undertaking ; firmly believing that, at a future period, their labors will be crowned with success. " The Committee would also recommend this Convention to call on the free people of color to assemble annually by delegation at such place as may be designated as suitable. " They would also respectfully submit to your wisdom the necessity of your deliberate reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and ignorant condition of a large portion of the colored population of the United States. They would not, however, refer to their unfortunate circum stances to add degradation to objects already degraded and miserable nor, with some others, improperly class the virtuous of our color with the abandoned, but with the most sympathizing and heartfelt commiser ation, show our sense of obligation as the true guardians of our inter ests, by giving wholesome advice and good counsel. " The Committee consider it as highly important that the Conven tion recommend the necessity of creating a general fund, to be denomi nated the CONVENTIONAL FUND, for the purpose of advancing the objects of this and future conventions, as the public good may require. " They would further recommend, that the Declaration of Indepen dence and the Constitution of the United States be read in our Conven tions ; believing, that the truths contained in the former are incontro vertible, and that the latter guarantees in letter and spirit to every free man born in this country, all the rights and immunities of citizenship. "Your Committee with regret have witnessed the many oppressive, unjust, and unconstitutional laws which have been enacted in the dif ferent parts of the Union against the free people of color, and they would call upon this Convention, as possessing the rights of freemen, to recommend to the people, through their delegation, the propriety of memorializing the proper authorities, whenever they may feel them selves aggrieved, or their rights invaded, by any cruel or oppressive laws. ANTI-SLA VER Y EFFOR TS OF FREE NEGROES. 63 "And your Committee would further report, that, in their opinion, Education, Temperance, and Economy are best calculated to promote the elevation of mankind to a proper rank and standing among men, as they enable him to discharge all those duties enjoined on him by his Creator. We would, therefore, respectfully request an early attention to those virtues among our brethren who have a desire to be useful. "And lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in these United States. " We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste of lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some indi viduals engaged in that cause. But we cannot for a moment doubt, but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and un heard-of sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source ; and we would call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." : The convention was in session for several days. It attracted public attention on account of the intelligence, order, and excel lent judgment which prevailed. It deeply touched the young white men who had, but a few months previous, enlisted under the broad banner Wm. Lloyd Garrison had given to the breeze. They called to see Colored men conduct a convention. The Rev. S. S. Jocelyn, of New Haven, Connecticut ; Arthur Tappan, of New York ; Benjamin Lundy, of Washington, D. C. ; William Lloyd Garrison, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Thomas Shipley and Charles Pierce, of Philadelphia, visited the convention and were cordially received. Messrs. Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison were invited to address the convention, They delivered stirring ad dresses, and especially urged the necessity of establishing a col lege for the education of " Young Men of Color." At the sug gestion of the speaker the convention appointed a committee with whom the speaker conferred. The report of the committee was as follows : " That a plan had been submitted to them by the above-named gentlemen, for the liberal education of Young Men of Color, on the Manual- Laboi; System, all of which they respectfully submit to the con: sideration of the Convention, are as follow : " The plan proposed is, that a College be established at New Haven, Conn., as soon as $20,000 are obtained, and to be on the Manual- Labor The Minutes, in possession of the author. 64 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. System, by which, in connection with a scientific education, they may also obtain a useful Mechanical or Agricultural profession ; and (they further report, having received information) that a benevolent individual has offered to subscribe one thousand dollars toward this object, provided that a farther sum of nineteen thousand dollars can be obtained in one year. " After an interesting discussion, the above report was unanimously adopted ; one of the inquiries by the Convention was in regard to the place of location. On interrogating the gentlemen why New Haven should be the place of location, they gave the following as their rea sons ' " i st. The site is healthy and beautiful. " 2d. Its inhabitants are friendly, pious, generous, and humane. " 3d. Its laws are salutary and protecting to all, without regard to complexion. " 4th. Boarding is cheap and provisions are good. " 5th. The situation is as central as any other that can be obtained with the same advantages. " 6th. The town of New Haven carries on an extensive West India trade, and many of the wealthy colored residents in the Islands, would, no doubt, send their sons there to be educated, and thus a fresh tie of friendship would be formed, which might be productive of much real good in the end. " And last, though not the least, the literary and scientific character of New Haven, renders it a very desirable place for the location of the college." The report of the Committee was received and adopted. The Rev. Samuel E. Cornish was appointed general agent to solicit funds, and Arthur Tappan was selected as treasurer. A Pro visional Committee was appointed in each city, as follows : " Boston Rev. Hosea Easton, Robert Roberts, James G. Barbadoes, and Rev. Samuel Snowden. " New York Rev. Peter Williams, Boston Cromwell, Philip Bell, Thomas Downing, Peter V.oglesang. " Philadelphia Joseph Cassey, Robert Douglass, Sr., James For- ten, Richard Howell, Robert Purvis. " 'Baltimore Thomas Green, James P. Walker, Samuel G. Mathews, Isaac Whipper, Samuel Hiner. " New Haven Biars Stanley, John Creed, Alexander C. Luca. " Brooklyn, L. I. Jacob Deyes, Henry Thomson, Willis Jones. " Wilmington, Del. Rev. Peter Spencer, Jacob Morgan, William S. Thomas. ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 6$; " Albany Benjamin Latimore, Captain Schuyler, Captain Francis, March. " Washington, D. C. William Jackson, Arthur Waring, Isaac Carey. " Lancaster, Pa. Charles Butler and Jared Grey. " Carlisle, Pa. John Peck and Rowland G. Roberts. " Chambersburg, Pa. Dennis Berry. " Pittsburgh John B. Vashon, Lewis Gardiner, Abraham Lewis.. " Newark, N. J. Peter Petitt, Charles Anderson, Adam Ray. " Trenton Samson Peters, Leonard Scott." The proceedings of the convention were characterized by a deep solemnity and a lively sense of the gravity of the situation. The delegates were of the ablest Colored men in the country, and were conversant with the wants of their people. The subjoined address shows that the committee that prepared it had a thorough knowledge of the public sentiment of America on the subject of race prejudice. "CONVENTIONAL ADDRESS. " Respected Brethren and Fellow -Citizens : " Our attention has been called to investigate the political standing of our brethren wherever dispersed, but more particularly the situation of those in this great Republic. " Abroad, we have been cheered with pleasant views of humanity, and the steady, firm, and uncompromising march of equal liberty to the human family. Despotism, tyranny, and injustice have had to retreat,. in order to make way for the unalienable rights of man. Truth has conquered prejudice, and mankind are about to rise in the majesty and splendor of their native dignity. " The cause of general emancipation is gaining powerful and able friends abroad. Britain and Denmark have performed such deeds as will immortalize them for their humanity, in the breasts of the philan thropists of the present day ; whilst, as a just tribute to their virtues, after-ages will yet erect unperishable monuments to their memory. (Would to God we could say thus of our own native soil !) " And it is only when we look to our own native land, to the birth place of our fathers, to the land for whose prosperity their blood and our sweat have been shed and cruelly extorted, that the Convention has had cause to hang its head and blush. Laws, as cruel in themselves as they were unconstitutional and unjust, have in many places been en acted against our poor unfriended and unoffending brethren ; laws,, (without a shadow of provocation on our part,) at whose bare recital ^56 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the very savage draws him up for fear of the contagion, looks noble, and prides himself because he bears not the name of a Christian. " But the Convention would not wish to dwell long on this subject, -as it is one that is too sensibly felt to need description. " We would wish to turn you from this scene with an eye of pity, ,and a breast glowing with mercy, praying that the recording angel may drop a tear, which shall obliterate forever the remembrance of so foul a -stain upon the national escutcheon of this great Republic. '* This spirit of persecution was the cause of our Convention. It was that first induced us to seek an asylum in the Canadas ; and the -Convention feels happy to report to its brethren, that our efforts to establish a settlement in that province have not been made in vain. Our prospects are cheering ; our friends and funds are daily increasing ; wonders have been performed far exceeding our most sanguine expecta tions ; already have our brethren purchased eight hundred acres of land and two thousand of them have left the soil of their birth, crossed the lines, and laid the foundation for a structure which promises to prove an asylum for the colored population of these United States. They have erected two hundred log-houses, and have five hundred acres amder cultivation. " And now it is to your fostering care the Convention appeals, and we appeal to you as to men and brethren, yet to enlarge their borders. " We therefore ask of you, brethren, we ask of you, philanthropists of every color and of every kindred, to assist us in this undertaking. We look to a kind Providence and to you to say whether our desires shall be realized and our labors crowned with success. " The Convention has done its duty, and it now remains for you, brethren, to do yours. Various obstacles have been thrown in our way by those opposed to the elevation of the human species ; but, thanks to an all-wise Providence, his goodness has as yet cleared the way, and our advance has been slow but steady. The only thing now wanted, is ;an accumulation of funds, in order to enable us to make a purchase agreeable to the direction of the first Convention ; and, to effect that purpose, the Convention has recommended, to the different Societies engaged in that cause, to preserve and prosecute their designs with double energy ; and we would earnestly recommend to every colored man (who feels the weight of his degradation), to consider himself in duty bound to contribute his mite toward this great object. We would say to all, that the prosperity of the rising generation mainly depends aipon our active exertions. " Yes, it is with us to say whether they shall assume a rank and stand- ing among the nations of the earth, as men and freemen, or whether they shall still be prized and held at market-price. Oh, then, by a brother's love, and -by all that makes man dear to man, awake in time ! ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 67 Be wise ! Be free ! Endeavor to walk with circumspection ; be obe dient to the laws of our common country ; honor and respect its law makers and law-givers ; and, through all, let us not forget to respect ourselves. " During the deliberations of this Convention, we had the favor of advising and consulting with some of our most eminent and tried phil anthropists men of unblemished character and of acknowledged rank and standing. Our sufferings have extited their sympathy ; our igno rance appealed to their humanity ; and, brethren, we feel that gratitude is due to a kind and benevolent Creator, that our excitement and appeal have neither been in vain. A plan has been proposed to the Convention for the erection of a college for the instruction of young men of color, on the manual-labor system, by which the children of the poor may re ceive a regular classical education, as well as those of their more opulent brethren, and the charge will be so regulated as to put it within the reach of all. In support of this plan, a benevolent individual has offered the sum of one thousand dollars, provided that we can obtain subscriptions to the amount of nineteen thousand dollars in one year. " The Convention has viewed the plan with considerable interest, and, after mature deliberation, on a candid investigation, feels strictly justified in recommending the same to the liberal patronage of our brethren, and respectfully solicits the aid of those philanthropists who feel an interest in sending light, knowledge, and truth to all of the human species. " To the friends of general education, we do believe that our appeal will not be in vain. For the present ignorant and degraded condition of many of our brethren in these United States (which has been a subject of much concern to the Convention) can excite no astonishment (al though used by our enemies to show our inferiority in the scale of hu man beings) ; for, what opportunities have they possessed for mental cultivation or improvement ? Mere ignorance, however, in a people divested of the means of acquiring information by books, or an exten sive connection with the world, is no just criterion of their intellectual incapacity ; and it had been actually seen, in various remarkable in stances, that the degradation of the mind and character, which has been too hastily imputed to a people kept, as we are, at a distance from those sources of knowledge which abound in civilized and enlightened com munities, has resulted from no other causes than our unhappy situation and circumstances. "True philanthropy disdains to adopt those prejudices against any people which have no better foundation than accidental diversities of color, and refuses to determine without substantial evidence and incon- testible fact as the basis, of her judgment. And it is in order to remove these prejudices, which are the actual causes of our ignorance, that we have appealed to our friends in support of the contemplated institution. 68 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " The Convention has not been unmindful of the operations of th% American Colonization Society, and it would respectfully suggest to that august body of learning, talent, and worth, that, in our humble opinion, strengthened, too, by the opinions of eminent men in this country, as well as in Europe, that they are pursuing the direct road to perpetuate slavery, with all its unchristianlike concomitants, in this boasted land of freedom ; and, as citizens and men whose best blood is sapped to gain popularity for that institution, we would, in the most feeling manner, beg of them to desist ; or, if we must be sacrificed to their philan thropy, we would rather die at home. Many of our fathers, and some of us, have fought and bled for the liberty, independence, and peace which you now enjoy ; and, surely, it would be ungenerous and unfeel ing in you to deny us an humble and quiet grave in that country which gave us birth ! " In conclusion, the Convention would remind our brethren that knowledge is power, and to that end, we call on you to sustain and sup port, by all honorable, energetic, and necessary means, those presses which are devoted to our instruction and elevation, to foster and encour age the mechanical arts and sciences among our brethren, to encourage simplicity, neatness, temperance, and economy in our habits, taking due care always to give the preference to the production of freemen wherever it can be had. Of the utility of a General Fund, the Convention be lieves there can exist but one sentiment, and that is for a speedy estab lishment of the same. Finally, we trust our brethren will pay due care to take such measures as will ensure a general and equal representation in the next Convention [Signed] " BELFAST BURTON, " JUNIUS C. MOREL, " WILLIAM WHIPPER, "Publishing Committee." Encouraged by the good results that followed the first con vention, another one was called, and assembled in Philadelphia, at Benezet Hall, Seventh Street, June 4, 1832. The following delegates were admitted to seats in the convention : PENNSYLVANIA. Pittsburgh John B. Vashon. Philadelphia John Bowers, William Whipper, J. C. Morel, Benjamin Paschal, F. A. Hinton. Carlisle John Peck. Lewistown, Miffin County Samuel Johnson. ANTI-SLA VER Y EFFOR TS OF FREE NEGROES. 69 NEW YORK. New York City William Hamilton, Thomas L. Jennings, Henry Sipkins, Philip A. Bell. Brooklyn James Pennington. DELAWARE. Wilmington Joseph Burton, Jacob Morgan, Abm. D. Shad, William Johnson, Peter Gardiner. MARYLAND. Baltimore Samuel Elliott, Robert Cowley, Samuel Hiner. NEW JERSEY. Gloucester Thomas D. Coxsin, Thomas Banks. Trenton Aaron Roberts. MASSACHUSETTS. Boston Hosea Easton. New Bedford Nathan Johnson. CONNECTICUT. Hartford Paul Dray ton. New Haven Scipio C. Augustus. / RHODE ISLAND. Providence Ichabod Northrop. On the following day the convention adjourned to the " First African Presbyterian Church." The following report was adopted : " Resolved, That in the opinion of this Committee, the plan suggested by the first General Convention, of purchasing land or lands in Upper Canada, for the avowed object of forming a settlement in that province, for such colored persons as may choose to emigrate there, still merits and deserves our united support and exertions ; and further, that the appearances of the times, in this our native land, demand an immediate action on that subject. Adopted. " Resolved, That in the opinion of this committee, we still solemnly and sincerely protest against any interference, on the part of the Ameri can Colonization Society, with the free colored population in these United States, so long as they shall countenance or endeavor to use coercive measures (either directly or indirectly) to colonize us in any place which is not the object of our choice. And we ask of them re spectfully, as men and as Christians, to cease their unhallowed persecu- 70 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tions of a people already sufficiently oppressed, or if, as they profess to have our welfare and prosperity at heart, to assist us in the object of our choice. " Resolved, That this committee would recommend to the members of this Convention, to discountenance, by all just means in their power, any emigration to Liberia or Hayti, believing them only calculated to distract and divide the whole colored family." In accordance with a resolution of the previous day the Rev. R. R. Gurley, Secretary of the American Colonization Society, was invited to address the convention. He endeavored to offer an acceptable explanation of the Society, and to advocate its principles. But the Colored people, almost to a man, were op posed to colonization ; and most of the anti-slavery societies re garded colonization as impracticable and hurtful to the cause of emancipation. William Lloyd Garrison happened to be present, and followed Gurley in a speech that destroyed the hopes of the friends of colonization, and greatly delighted the convention. While the Colored people opposed colonization they regarded Canada as a proper place to go. They felt that as citizens they had the right to decide where to go, and, when they got ready, to go on their own account. Canada had furnished an asylum to their flying, travel-soiled, foot-sore, and needy brethren, was not so very far away, and, therefore, it was preferred to the West Coast of Africa. The committee having under consideration this subject, made the following comprehensive report : " Resolved, That the members of this Convention take into consider ation the propriety of effecting the purchase of lands in the province of Upper Canada, as an asylum for those of our bretheren who may be compelled to remove from these United States, beg leave, most respect fully to report : " That, after due consideration, they believe the resolution em braces three distinct inquiries for the consideration of this Convention, which should be duly weighed before they can adopt the sentiments contained in the above-named resolution. Therefore, your Committee conceive the resolution premature, and now proceed to state the en quiries separately. " First. Is it proper for the Free people of color in this country, under existing circumstances, to remove to any distant territory beyond these United States ? " Secondly. Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages and conveniences to those held out in these United States or elsewhere ? ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 71 " Thirdly. Is there any certainty that the people of color will be compelled by oppressive legislative enactments to abandon the land of their birth for a home in a distant region ? "Your Committee, before examining those enquiries, would most respectfully take a retrospective view of the object for which the Con vention was first associated, and the causes which have actuated their deliberations. " The expulsory laws of Ohio, in 1829, which drove our people to seek a new home in Upper Canada, and their impoverished situation afterward, excited a general burst of sympathy for their situation, by the wise and good, over the whole country. This awakened public feeling on their behalf, and numerous meetings were called to raise funds to alleviate their present miseries. The bright prospects that then appeared to dawn on the new settlement, awakened our people to the precariousness of their situations, and, in order more fully to be prepared for future exigencies, and to extend the system of benevolence still further to those who should remove to Upper Canada, a circular was issued by five individuals, viz.: the Rev. Richard Allen, Cyrus Black, Junius C. Morel, Benjamin Pascal, and James C. Cornish, in behalf of the citizens of Philadelphia, calling a convention of the col ored delegates from the several States, to meet on the 2oth day of Sep tember, 1830, to devise plans and means for the establishment of a colony in Upper Canada, under the patronage of the general Conven tion, then called. " That Convention met, pursuant to public notice, and recom mended the formation of a parent society, to be established, with auxil iaries in the different towns where they had been represented in general convention, for the purpose of raising moneys to defray the object of purchasing a colony in the province of Upper Canada, for those who should hereafter wish to emigrate thither, and that immediately after its organization, a corresponding agent should be appointed to reside at or near the intended purchase. " Our then limited knowledge of the manners, customs, and privi leges, and rights of aliens in Upper Canada, together with the climate, soil, and productions thereof, rendered it necessary to send out agents to examine the same, who returned with a favorable report, except that citizens of these United States could not purchase lands in Upper Canada, and legally transfer the same to other individuals. " The Convention resolved to reassemble on the first Monday in June, 1831, during which time the order of the Convention had been carried into operation, relative to establishing Societies for the promo tion of said object ; and the sum and total of their proceedings were, that the Convention recommended to the colored people generally, when persecuted as were our brethren in Ohio, to seek an Asylum in 72 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Upper Canada. During which time, information having been received that a part of the white inhabitants of said province had, through prejudice and the fear of being overburthened with an ejected population, petitioned the provincial parliament to prohibit the general influx of colored population from entering their limits, which threw some con sternation on the prospect. The Convention did not wholly abandon the subject, but turned its attention more to the elevation of our people in this, our native home. " The recent occurrences at the South have swelled the tide of preju dice until it has almost revolutionized public sentiment, which has given birth to severe legislative enactments in some of the States, and almost ruined our interests and prospects in others, in which, in the opinion of your Committee, our situation is more precarious than it has been at any other period since the Declaration of Independence. " The events of the past year have been more fruitful in persecu tion, and have presented more inducements than any other period of the history of our country, for the men of color to fly from the graves of their fathers, and seek new homes in a land where the roaring bil lows of prejudice are less injurious to their rights and privileges. " Your Committee would now approach the present Convention and examine the resolution under consideration, beginning with the first interrogatory, viz. : Is it proper for the Free people of color in this country, under existing circumstances, to remove to any distant ter ritory beyond the United States ? " If we admit the first interrogatory to be true, as it is the exact spirit of the language of this resolution, now under consideration, it is altogether unnecessary for us to make further preparation for either our moral, intellectual, or political advancement in this our own, our native land. " Your Committee also believe that if this Convention shall adopt a resolution that will, as soon as means can be obtained, remove our colored population to the province of Upper Canada, the best and brightest prospect of the philanthropists who are laboring for our eleva tion in this country will be thwarted, and they will be brought to the conclusion that the great object which actuated their labors would now be removed, and they might now rest from their labors and have the painful feeling of transmitting to future generations, that an oppressed people, in the land of their birth, supported by the genuine philanthropists of the age, amidsts friends, companions, and their nat ural attachments, a genial clime, a fruitful soil, amidst the rays of as proud institutions as ever graced the most favored spot that has ever received the glorious rays of a meridian sun, have abandoned their homes on account of their persecutions, for a home almost similarly precarious, for an abiding-place among strangers ! ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 73 " Your Committee further believe that any express plan to colonize our people beyond the limits of these United States, tends to weaken the situation of those who are left behind, without any peculiar ad vantage to those who emigrate. But it must be admitted, that the rigid oppression abroad in the land is such, that a part of our suffer ing brethren cannot live under it, and that the compulsory laws and the inducements held out by the American Colonization Society are such as will cause them to alienate all their natural attachments to their homes, and accept of the only mode left open, which is to re move to a distant country to receive those rights and privileges of which they have been deprived. And as this Convention is associated for the purpose of recommending to our people the best mode of al leviating their present miseries, " Therefore, your Committee would, most respectfully, recommend to the general Convention, now assembled, to exercise the most vigor ous means to collect monies through their auxiliaries, or otherwise, to be applied in such manner, as will advance the interests, and contribute to the wants of the free colored population of this country generally. " Your Committee would now most respectfully approach the second inquiry, viz. : Does Upper Canada possess superior advantages and -conveniences to those held out in the United States or elsewhere ? " Your Committee, without summing up the advantages and disad vantages of other situations, would, most respectfully answer in the affirmative. At least they are willing to assert that the advantage is much in favor of those who are obliged to leave their present homes. For your more particular information on that subject we would, most respectfully, refer you to the interesting account given by our real and indefatigable friend, Benjamin Lundy, in a late number of the " Genius of Universal Emancipation." Vide " Genius of Universal Emancipa tion," No. 10, vol. 12. " From the history there laid down, your Committee would, most respectfully, request the Convention to aid, so far as in their power lies, those who are obliged to seek an asylum in the province of Upper Canada ; and, in order that they may more effectually carry their views into operation, they would respectfully request them to appoint an Agent in Upper Canada, to receive such funds as may be there transmitted f<3r their use. "Your Committee have now arrived at the third and last inquiry, TIZ. : Is there any certainty that we, as a people, will be compelled to leave this our native land, for a home in a distant region ? To this in- quiry your Committee are unable to answer ; it belongs to the fruitful events of time to determine. The mistaken policy of some of the friends of our improvement, that the same could be effected on the .-shore of Africa, has raised the tide of our calamity until it has over- 74 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. flowed the valleys of peace and tranquillity the dark clouds of prejudice have rained persecution the oppressor and the oppressed have suffered together and we have yet been protected by that Almighty arm, who holds in his hands the destinies of nations, and whose presence is a royal safeguard, should we place the utmost reliance on his wisdom and power. " Your Committee, while they rejoice at the noble object for which the Convention was first associated, have been unable to come to any conclusive evidence that lands can be purchased by this Convention and legally transferred to individuals, residents of said colony, so long as the present laws exist. But, while they deem it inexpedient for the Convention to purchase lands in Upper Canada for tne purpose of erecting a colony thereon, do again, most respectfully, hope that they will exercise the same laudable exertions to collect funds for the com fort and happiness of our people there situated, and those who may hereafter emigrate, and pursue the same judicious measures in the ap^ propriation of said funds, as they would in procuring a tract of land, as expressed by the resolution. " Your Committee, after examining the various circumstances con nected with our situation as a people, have come, unanimously, to the conclusion to recommend to this Convention to adopt the following resolution, as the best mode of alleviating the miseries of our oppressed brethren : " 'Resolved, That this Convention recommend the establishment of a Society, or Agent, in Upper Canada, for the purpose of purchasing lands and contributing to the wants of our people generally, who may be, by oppressive legislative enactments, obliged to -flee from these United States and take up residence within her borders. And that this Convention will employ its auxiliary societies, and such other means as may lie in its power, for the purpose of raising monies, and remit the same for the purpose of aiding the proposed object. [Signed] " ROBERT COWLEY, BENJ. PASCHAL, " JOHN PECK, THOS. D. COXSIN, , _ . . " WM. HAMILTON, J. C. MOREL, " WM. WHIPPER, This convention's work was carefully done, its plans were laid upon a broader scale, and the Colored people, beholding its proceedings, took heart, and went forward with zeal and courage seeking to increase their intelligence and wealth, and improve their social condition. In their address the convention did not fail to give the Colonization Society a parting shot. ANTI-SLA VER Y EFFOR TS OF FREE NEGROES. " To the Free Colored Inhabitants of these United States : " FELLOW-CITIZENS : We have again been permitted to associate m our representative character, from the different sections of this Union r to pour into one common stream, the afflictions, the prayers, and sym pathies of our oppressed people ; the axis of time has brought around this glorious, annual event. And we are again brought to rejoice that the wisdom of Divine Providence has protected us during a year whose autumnal harvest has been a reign of terror and persecution, and whose winter has almost frozen the streams of humanity by its frigid legis lation. It is under the influence of times and feelings like these, that we now address you. Of a people situated as we are, little can be said, except that it becomes our duty strictly to watch those causes that operate against our interests and privileges ; and to guard against what ever measures that will either lower us in the scale of being, or per petuate our degradation in the eyes of the civilized world. " The effects of Slavery on the bond and Colonization on the free. Of the first we shall say but little, but will here repeat the language of a high-minded Virginian in the Legislature of that State, on the recent discussion of the slave question before that honorable body, who de clared, that man could not hold property in man, and that the master held no right to the slave, either by a law of nature or a patentee from God, but by the will of society ; which we declare to be an unjust usurpation of the rights and privileges of men. " But how beautiful must the prospect be to the philanthropist, to view us, the children of persecution, grown to manhood, associating in our delegated character to devise plans and means for our moral eleva tion, and attracting the attention of the wise and good over the whole country, who are anxiously watching our deliberations. " We have here to inform you, that we have patiently listened to the able and eloquent arguments produced by the Rev. R. R. Gurley, Sec retary of the American Colonization Society, in behalf of the doings of said Society, and Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Esq., in opposition to its action. " A more favorable opportunity to arrive at truth seldom has been witnessed, but while we admire the distinguished piety and Christian feel ings with which he so solemnly portrayed the docrines of that institution, we do now assert, that the result of the same has tended more deeply to rivet our solid conviction, that the doctrines of said Society are at enmity with the principles and precepts of religion, humanity, and justice, and should be regarded by every man of color in these United States as an evil, for magnitude, unexcelled, and whose doctrines aim at the entire extinction of the free colored population and the riveting of slavery. .76 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " We might here repeat our protest against that institution, but it is unnecessary ; your views and sentiments have long since gone to the world ; the wings of the wind have borne your disapprobation to that institution. Time itself cannot erase it. You have dated your oppo sition from its beginning, and your views are strengthened' by time and circumstances, and they hold the uppermost seat in your affections. We have not been unmindful of the compulsory laws which caused our brethren in Ohio to seek new homes in a distant land, there to share and suffer all the inconveniences of exiles in an uncultivated region ; which has led us to admire the benevolent feelings of a rival govern ment in its liberal protection to strangers ; which has induced us to recommend to you, to exercise your best endeavors, to collect monies to secure the purchase of lands in the Canadas, for those who may by oppressive legislative enactments be obliged to move thither. " In contributing to our brethren that aid which will secure them a refuge in a storm, we would not wish to be understood as possessing any inclination to remove, nor in the least to impoverish, that noble -sentiment which we rejoice in exclaiming " This is our own, Our native land. "All that we have done, humanity dictated it ; neither inclination nor alienated feelings to our country prescribed it, but that power which is above all other considerations, viz. : the law of necessity. " We yet anticipate in the moral strength of this nation, a final re demption from those evils that have been illegitimately entailed on us as a people. We yet expect, by due exertions on our part, together with the aid of the benevolent philanthropists of our country, to acquire a moral and intellectual strength that will unshaft the calumnious darts of our adversaries, and present to the world a general character that 'they will feel bound to respect and admire. " It will be seen by a reference to our proceedings, *hat we have again recommended the further prosecution of the contemplated col lege, proposed by the last Convention, to be established a-t New Haven, under the rules and regulations then established. A place for its location will be selected in a climate and neighborhood where the inhabitants are less prejudiced to our rights and privileges. The proceedings of the citizens of New Haven, with regard to the erec tion of the college, were a disgrace to them, and cast a stigma on the reputed fame of New England and the country. We are unwill ing that the character of the whole country should sink by the pro ceedings of a few. We are determined to present to another portion of the country not far distant, and at no very remote period, the ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 77 opportunity of gaining for them the character of a truly philanthropic spirit, and of retrieving the character of the country, by the disreputable proceedings of New Haven. We must have colleges and high-schools on the manual-labor system, where our youth may be instructed in all the arts of civilized life. If we ever expect to see the influence of prejudice decrease, and ourselves respected, it must be by the bless ings of an enlightened education. It must be by being in posses sion of that classical knowledge which promotes genius, and causes man to soar up to those high intellectual enjoyments and acquirements, which place him in a situation to shed upon a country and a people that scientific grandeur which is imperishable by time, and drowns in oblivion's cup their moral degradation. Those who think that our pri mary schools are capable of effecting this, are a century behind the age when to have proved a question in the rule of three was considered a higher attainment than solving the most difficult problem in Euclid is now. They might have at that time performed what some people ex pect of them now, in the then barren state of science ; but they are now no longer capable of reflecting brilliancy on our national character, which will elevate us from our present situation. If we wish to be re spected, we must build our moral character on a base as broad and high as the nation itself ; our country and our character require it ; we have performed all the duties from the menial to the soldier, our fathers shed their blood in the great struggle for independence. In the late war between Great Britain and the United States, a proclama tion was issued to the free colored inhabitants of Louisiana, Septem ber 21, 1814, inviting them to take up arms in defence of their coun try, by Gen. Andrew Jackson. And in order that you may have an idea of the manner in which they acquitted themselves on that peril ous occasion, 'we will refer you to the proclamation of Thomas But ler, Aid-de-Camp. "You there see that your country expects much from you, and that you have much to call you into action, morally, religiously, and scien tifically. Prepare yourselves to occupy the several stations to which the wisdom of your country may promote you. We have been told in this Convention, by the Secretary of the American Colonization Society, that there are causes which forbid our advancement in this country, which no humanity, no legislation, and no religion can control. Believe it not. Is not humanity susceptible of all the tender feelings of benev olence ? Is not legislation supreme and is not religion virtuous ? Our oppressed situation arises from their opposite causes. There is an awakening spirit in our people to promote their elevation, which speaks volumes in their behalf. We anticipated at the close of the last Con vention, a larger representation and an increased number of delegates ; we were not deceived, the number has been tenfold. And we have a 78 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. right to expect that future Conventions will be increased by a geometri cal ratio, until we shall present a body not inferior in numbers to our State Legislatures, and the phenomenon of an oppressed people, deprived of the rights of citizenship, in the midst of an elightened nation, devising plans and measures for their personal and mental elevation, by moral suasion alone. " In recommending you a path to pursue for our present good and future elevation, we have taken into consideration the circumstances of the free colored population, so far as it was possible to ascertain their views and sentiments, hoping that at a future Convention, you will all come ably represented, and that your wishes and views may receive that deliberation and attention for which this body is particularly associated. " Finally, before taking our leave, we would admonish you, by all that you hold dear, beware of that bewitching evil, that bane of society, that curse of the world, that fell destroyer of the best prospects and the last hope of civilized man, INTEMPERANCE. " Be righteous, be honest, be just, be economical, be prudent, offend not the laws of your country, in a word, live in that purity of life, by both precept and example, live in the constant pursuit of that moral and intellectual strength which will invigorate your understandings and ren der you illustrious in the eyes of civilized nations, when they will assert that all that illustrious worth which was once possessed by the Egyp tians, and slept for ages, has now arisen in their descendents, the inhabi tants of the New World." Excellent as was the work of these conventions of men of color, they nevertheless became the magazines from which the pro-slavery element secured dangerous ammunition with which to attack the anti-slavery movement. The white anti-slavery socie ties were charged with harboring a spirit of race prejudice ; with inconsistency, in that while seeking freedom for the Negro by means of agitation, separate efforts were put forth by the white and black anti-slavery people of the North. And this had its due effect. Massachusetts and other States had abolition societies composed entirely of persons of Color. " The Massachusetts Gen eral Colored Association " organized in the early days of the agi tation movement. It had among its leading men the most in telligent and public-spirited Colored citizens of Boston. James G. Barbadoes, Coffin Pitts, John E. Scarlett, the Eastons, Hosea and Joshua ; Wm. C. Nell, Thomas Cole, Thomas Dalton, Fred erick Brimley, Walker Lewis, and John T. Hilton were a few of " the faithful." In January, 1833, the following communication was sent to the white anti-slavery society of New England. ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 7$ " BOSTON, January 15, 1833. ** To the Board of Managers of the N ew- England Anti- Slavery Society : " The Massachusetts General Colored Association, cordially approv ing the objects and principles of the New-England Anti-Slavery Socie ty, would respectfully communicate their desire to become auxiliary thereto. They have accordingly chosen one of their members to attend the annual meeting of the Society as their delegate (Mr. JOSHUA EAS- TON, of North Bridgewater), and solicit his acceptance in that capacity. " THOMAS DALTON, President, " WILLIAM C. NELL, Vice-President. 41 JAMES G. BARBADOES, Secretary." The request was granted, but a few hints among friends on the outside sufficed to demonstrate the folly and hurtfulness of anti-slavery societies composed exclusively of men of color. Within the next two years Colored organizations perished, and their members took their place in the white societies. Such Col ored men as John B. Vashon and Robert Purvis, of Pennsyl vania ; David Ruggles and Philip A. Bell, of New York ; and Charles Lenox Remond and Wm. Wells Brown, of Massachusetts, were soon seen as orators and presiding officers in the different anti-slavery societies of the free States. Frederick Douglass, the Rev. Samuel Ringgold Ward, James McCune Smith, M.D. ; James W. C. Pennington, D.D. ; Henry Highland Garnett, D.D. ; Alexander Crummell, D.D.; and other Colored men were eloquent, earnest, and effective in their denunciation of the institution that enslaved their brethren. In England and in Europe a corps of intelligent Colored orators was kept busy painting, to interested audiences, the cruelties and iniquities of American slavery. By association and sympathy these Colored orators took on the polish of Anglo-Saxon scholarship. Of the influence of the American Anti-slavery Society upon the Colored man, Maria Weston Chapman once said, it is " church and university, high school and common school, to all who need real instruction and true religion. Of it what a throng of authors, editors, law yers, orators, and accomplished gentlemen of color have taken their degree ! It has equally implanted hopes and aspirations, noble thoughts, and sublime purposes, in the hearts of both races. It has prepared the white man for the freedom of the black man, and it has made the black man scorn the thought of enslavement, as does a white man, as far as its influence has ex- 80 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tended. Strengthen that noble influence ! Before its organiza tion, the country only saw here and there in slavery some ' faith ful Cudjoe or Dinah,' whose strong natures blossomed even in bondage, like a fine plant beneath a heavy stone. Now, under the elevating and cherishing influence of the American Anti- slavery Society, the colored race, like the white, furnishes Corin thian capitals for the noblest temples. Aroused by the American Anti-slavery Society, the very white men who had forgotten and denied the claim of the black man to the rights of humanity, now thunder that claim at every gate, from cottage to capitol, from school-house to university, from the railroad carriage to the house of God. He has a place at their firesides, a place in their hearts the man whom they once cruelly hated for his color. So feeling, they cannot send him to Coventry with a horn-book in his hand, and call it instruction ! They inspire him to climb to their side by a visible, acted gospel of freedom. Thus, instead of bowing to prejudice, they conquer it." In January, 1836, Rev. Mr. Pollen offered the following reso lution in a meeting of the New England Anti-slavery Society : " Resolved, That we consider the Anti-slavery cause the cause of philanthropy, with regard to which all human beings, white men and colored men, citizens and foreigners, men and women, have the same duties and the same rights." In support of his resolution, he said : " We have been advised, if we really wished to benefit the slave and the colored race generally, not unnecessarily to shock the feelings,, though they were but prejudices, of the white people, by admitting col ored persons to our Anti-slavery meetings and societies. We have been told that many who would otherwise act in unison with us were kept away by our disregard of the feelings of the community in this respect. . . . But what, I would ask, is the great, the single object of all our meetings and societies ? Have we any other object than to impress upon the community this one principle, that the colored man is a man ? And, on the other hand, is not the prejudice which would have us ex clude colored people from our meetings and societies the same which, in our Southern States, dooms them to perpetual bondage ? " In May, 1837, tne Anti-slavery Women of America met in convention in New York. In a circular issued by the authority of the convention, and signed by Mary S. Parker, President,, ANTI-SLAVERY EFFORTS OF FREE NEGROES. 8 1 Angelina E. Grimkie, Secretary, another attack was made upon, proscription in anti-slavery societies. There was a Colored lady named Sarah Douglass on the Central Committee. The follow ing paragraphs from the circular are specimens sufficient to show the character of the circular; and the poetry at the end, written by a Colored member, Miss Sarah Forten, justified the hopes of her white sisters concerning the race : " Those Societies that reject colored members, or seek to avoid them, have never been active or efficient. The blessing of God does, not rest upon them, because they 'keep back a part of the price of the land,' they do not lay all at the apostle's feet. " The abandonment of prejudice is required of us as a proof of our sincerity and consistency. How can we ask our Southern brethren to make sacrifices, if we are not even willing to encounter inconveniences? First cast the beam from thine own eye, then wilt thou see clearly to cast it from his eye. " We are thy sisters. God has truly said That of one blood the nations He has made. O Christian woman ! in a Christian land, Canst thou unblushing read this great command ? Suffer the wrongs which wring our inmost heart, To draw one throb of pity on thy part ? Our Skins may differ, but from thee we claim A sister's privilege and a sister's name." Every barrier was now broken down inside of anti-slavery organizations; and having conquered the prejudice that crippled their work, they enjoyed greater freedom in the prosecution of their labors. The Colored orators wrought a wonderful change in public sentiment. In the inland white communities throughout the Northern States Negroes were few, and the majority of them were servants ; some of them indolent and vicious. From these few the moral and intellectual photograph of the entire race was taken. So it was meet that Negro orators of refinement should go from town to town. The North needed arousing and educating on the anti-slavery question, and no class did more practical work in this direction than the little company of orators, with the peer less Douglass at its head, that pleaded the cause of their brethren in the flesh before the cultivated audiences of New England, the Middle and Western States, yea, even in the capital cities of conservative Europe. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER VII. NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. THE NEGRO NOT so DOCILE AS SUPPOSED. THE REASON WHY HE WAS KEPT IN BONDAGE. NEGROES POSSESSED COURAGE BUT LACKED LEADERS. INSURRECTION OF SLAVES. GEN. GABRIEL AS A LEADER. NEGRO INSURRECTION PLANNED IN SOUTH CAROLINA. EVILS OF SLAVERY REVEALED. THE "NAT. TURNER" INSURRECTION IN SOUTH HAMPTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA. THE WHITES ARM THEMSELVES TO REPEL THE INSURRECTIONISTS. CAPTURE AND TRIAL OF "NAT. TURNER." His EXECUTION. EFFECT OF THE INSURRECTION UPON SLAVES AND SLAVE-HOLDERS. THE supposed docility of the American Negro was counted among the reasons why it was thought he could never gain his freedom on this continent. But this was a misinter- pretation of his real character. Besides, it was next to impossi ble to learn the history of the Negro during the years of his enslavement at the South. The question was often asked : Why don't the Negroes rise at the South and exterminate their en slavers ? Negatively, not because they lacked the courage, but because they lacked leaders [as has been stated already, they sought the North and their freedom through the Underground R. R.] to organize them. But notwithstanding this great disad vantage the Negroes did rise on several different occasions, and did effective work. " Three times, at intervals of thirty years, has a wave of unutterable terror swept across the Old Dominion, bringing thoughts of agony to every Virginian master, and of vague hope to every Virginian slave. Each time has one man's name become a spell of dismay and a symbol of deliver ance. Each time has that name eclipsed its predecessor, while recalling it for a moment to fresher memory ; John Brown revived the story of Nat. Turner, as in hu's day Nat. Turner recalled the vaster schemes of Gabriel." 1 Mention has been made of the insurrection of slaves in South Carolina in the last century. Upon the very threshold of the 1 Atlantic Monthly, vol. x. p. 337. NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. 83 nineteenth century, " General Gabriel " made the master-class of Virginia quail with mortal dread. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence ; and his plans were worthy of greater suc cess. The following newspaper paragraph reveals the condition of the minds of Virginians respecting the Negroes : " For the week past, we have been under momentary expectation of a rising among the negroes, who have assembled to the number of nine hundred or a thousand, and threatened to massacre all the whites. They are armed with desperate weapons, and secrete themselves in the woods. God only knows our fate ; we have strong guards every night tinder arms." The above was communicated to the " United States Gazette," printed in Philadelphia, under date of September 8, 1800, by a Virginia correspondent. The people felt that they were sleeping over a magazine. The movement of Gabriel was to have taken place on Saturday, September 1st. The rendezvous of the Negro troops was a brook, about six miles from Richmond. The force was to comprise eleven hundred men, divided into three divi sions. Richmond then a town of eight thousand inhabitants was the point of attack, which was to be effected under cover of night. The right wing was to fall suddenly upon the peniten tiary, lately improvised into an arsenal ; the left wing was to seize the powder-house ; and, thus equipped and supplied with the munitions of war, the two columns were to assign the hard fight ing to the third column. This column was to have possession of all the guns, swords, knives, and other weapons of modern warfare. It was to strike a sharp blow by entering the town from both ends, while the other two columns, armed with shov els, picks, clubs, etc., were to act as a reserve. The white troops were scarce, and the situation, plans, etc., of the Negroes were admirable. ". . . the penitentiary held several thousand stand of arms ; ihe powder-house was well-stocked ; the capitol contained the State treasury ; the mills would give them bread ; the control of the bridge across James River would keep off enemies from beyond. Thus se cured and provided, they planned to issue proclamations summoning to their standard ' their fellow-negroes and the friends of humanity throughout the continent.' In a week, it was estimated, they would have fifty thousand men on their side, with which force they could easily 84 HISTOR Y OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. possess themselves of other towns ; and, indeed, a slave named John; Scott possibly the dangerous possessor of ten dollars was already appointed to head the attack on Petersburg. But in case of final fail ure, the project included a retreat to the mountains, with their new found property. John Brown was therefore anticipated by Gabriel sixty years before, in believing the Virginia mountains to have been 4 created, from the foundation of the world, as a place of refuge for fugitive slaves.' " 1 The plot failed, but everybody, and the newspapers also, said the plan was well conceived. In 1822 another Negro insurrection was planned in Charles ton, S. C. The leader of this affair was Denmark Vesey. 3 This plot for an insurrection extended for forty-five or fifty miles around Charleston, and intrusted its secrets to thousands. Den mark Vesey, assisted by several other intelligent and trusty Negroes, had conceived the idea of slaughtering the whites in and about Charleston, and thus securing liberty for the blacks. A recruiting committee was formed, and every slave enlisted was sworn to secrecy. Household servants were rarely trusted.. Talkative and intemperate slaves were not enlisted. Women, were excluded from the affair that they might take care of the children. Peter Poyas, it was said, had enlisted six hundred without assistance. There were various opinions respecting the number enlisted. Some put it at hundreds, others thousands; one witness at the trial said there were nine thousand, another six thousand. But no white person ever succeeded in gaining the confidence of the black conspirators. Never was a plot so carefully guarded for so long a time. " During the excitement and the trial of the supposed conspirators, rumor proclaimed all, and doubtless more than all, the horrors of the plot. The city was to be fired in every quarter, the arsenal in the im mediate vicinity was to be broken open, and the arms distributed to the insurgents, and an universal massacre of the white inhabitants to- take place. Nor did there seem to be any doubt in the rnind of the people that such would actually have been the result, had not the plot fortunately been detected before the time appointed for the outbreak. It was believed, as a matter of course, that every black in the city would join in the insurrection, and that, if the original design had been at- 1 Atlantic Monthly, vol. x. p. 339. 3 Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii. pp. 728, 744. NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. 85 tempted, and the city taken by surprise, the negroes would have achieved a complete and easy victory. Nor does it seem at all impos sible that such might have been or yet may be the case, if any well- arranged and resolute rising should take place." ] This bold plot failed because a Negro named William Paul began to make enlistments without authority. He revealed the secret to a household servant, just the very man he should have left to the skilful manipulations of Peter Poyas or Denmark Vesey. As an evidence of the perfection of the plot it should be stated that after a month of official investigation only fifteen out of the thousands had been apprehended ! "The leaders of this attempt at insurrection died as bravely as they had lived ; and it is one of the marvels of the remarkable affair, that none of this class divulged any of their secrets to the court. The men who did the talking were those who knew but little." The effect was to reveal the evils of slavery, to stir men to tho'ught, and to hasten the day of freedom. " Nat." Turner combined the lamb and lion. He was a Christian and a man. He was conscious that he was a man and not a " thing " ; therefore, driven by religious fanaticism, he undertook a difficult and bloody task. Nathaniel Turner was born in Southampton County, Virginia, October 2, 1800. His master was one Benjamin Turner, a very wealthy and aristocratic man. He owned many slaves, and was a cruel and exacting master. Young " Nat." was born of slave parents, and carried to his grave many of the superstitions and traits of his father and mother. The former was a preacher ; the latter a " mother in Israel." Both were unlettered, but, nevertheless, very pious people. The mother began when Nat. was quite young to teach him that he was born, like Moses, to be the deliverer of his race. She would sing to him snatches of wild, rapturous songs, and re peat portions of prophecy she had learned from the preachers of those times. Nat. listened with reverence and awe, and believed every thing his mother said. He imbibed the deep religious character of his parents, and soon manifested a desire to preach. He was solemnly set apart to " the Gospel Ministry " by his. father, the Church, and visiting preachers. He was quite low in stature, dark, and had the genuine African features. His eyes. 1 Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii. p. 737. 86 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. were small, but sharp, and gleamed like fire when he was talking about his " mission," or preaching from some prophetic passage of Scripture. It is said that he never laughed. He was a dreamy sort of a man, and avoided the crowd. Like Moses, he lived in the solitudes of the mountains and brooded over the condition of his people There was something grand to him in the rugged scenery that nature had surrounded him with. He believed that he was a prophet, a leader raised up by God to burst the bolts of the prison-house and set the oppressed free. The thunder, the hail, the storm-cloud, the air, the earth, the stars, at which he would sit and gaze half the night, all spake the language of the God of the oppressed. He was seldom seen in a large com pany, and never drank a drop of ardent spirits. Like John 4 the Baptist, when he had delivered his message, he would retire to the fastness of the mountain, or seek the desert, where he could meditate upon his great work. At length he declared that God spake to him. He began to dream dreams and to see visions. His grandmother, a very old and superstitious person, encouraged him in his dreaming. But, notwithstanding, he believed that he had communion with God, and saw the most remarkable visions, he denounced in the severest terms the familiar practices among slaves, known as " con juring," "gufering," and fortune-telling. The people regarded him with mixed feelings of fear and reverence. He preached with great power and authority. He loved the prophecies, and drew his illustrations from nature. He presented God as the " A ll-Po^verful "/ he regarded him as a great " Warrior." His master soon discovered that Nat. was the acknowledged leader among the slaves, and that his fame as "prophet" and " leader" was spreading throughout the State. The poor slaves on distant plantations regarded the name of Nat. Turner as very little removed from that of God. Though having n-ever seen him, yet they believed in him as the man under whose lead they would some time march out of the land of bondage. His in fluence was equally great among the preachers, while many white people honored and feared him. His master thought it necessary to the safety of his property, to hire Nat. out to a most violent and cruel man. Perhaps he thought to have him " broke." If so, he was mistaken. Nat. Turner was the last slave to submit to an insult given by a white man. His new master could do nothing with him. He ran off, and spent thirty NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. 87 days in the swamps but returned. He was upbraided by some of his fellow-slaves for not seeking, as he certainly could have done, " the land of the free." He answered by saying, that a voice said to him : " Return to your earthly master ; for he who knoweth his Master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." It was no direction to submit to an earthly master, but to return to him in order to carry out the will of his Heavenly Master. He related some of the visions he saw during his absence. "About that time I had a vision, and saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle; and the sun was darkened, the thunder rolled in the heavens, and blood flowed in streams ; and I heard a voice saying : ' Such is your luck, such are you. called on to see; and let it come, rough or smooth, you must surely bear it.' " It was not long after this when he saw another vision. He says a spirit appeared unto him and spake as follows : " The serpent is loosened, and Christ has laid down the yoke he has borne for the sins of men ; and you must take it up and fight against the serpent, for the time is fast approach ing when the first shall be last, and the last shall be first." These visions and many others enthused Nat., and led him to believe that the time was near when the Blacks would be " first " and the whites " last." The plot for a general uprising was laid in the month of February, 1831. He had seen the last vision. He says: " I was told I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my enemies with their own weapons." He was now prepared to arrange the de tails of his plot. He appointed a meeting, to which he invited four trusted friends, Sam. Edwards, Hark Travis, Henry Porter, and Nelson Williams. A wild and desolate glen was chosen as the place of meeting, and night the time when they could per fect their plans without being molested by the whites. They brought with them provisions, and ate while they debated among themselves the methods by which to carry out their plan of blood and death. The main difficulty that confronted them was how to get arms. Nat. remembered that a spirit had instructed him to " slay my enemies with their own weapons," so they decided to follow these instructions. After they had decided upon a plan, " the prophet Nat." arose, and, like a great general, made a speech to his small but brave force. " Friends and brothers," said he, " we are to commence a great work to-night ! Our race is to be delivered from slavery, and God has appointed us as the 88 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, men to do his bidding; and let us be worthy of our calling. I am told to slay all the whites we encounter, without regard to age or sex. We have no arms or ammunition, but we will find these in the houses of our oppressors ; and, as we go on, others can join us. Remember, we do not go forth for the sake of blood and carnage ; but it is necessary that, in the commence ment of this revolution, all the whites we meet should die, until we have an army strong enough to carry on the war upon a Chris tian basis. Remember that ours is not a war for robbery, nor to satisfy our passions; it is a struggle for freedom. Ours must be deeds, not words. Then let 's away to the scene of action ! " The blow was struck on the night of the 2ist of August, 1831, in Southampton County, near Jerusalem Court-House. The latter place is about seventy miles from Richmond. Not only Southampton County but old Virginia reeled under the blow ad ministered by the heavy hand of Nat. Turner. On their way to the first house they were to attack, that of a planter by the name of Joseph Travis, they were joined by a slave belonging to a neighboring plantation. We can find only one name for him, " Will." He was the slave of a cruel master, who had sold his wife to the " nigger traders." He was nearly six feet in height, well developed, and the most powerful and athletic man in the county. He was marked with an ugly scar, extending from his right eye to the extremity of the chin. He hated his master, hated slavery, and was glad of an opportunity to wreak his ven geance upon the whites. He armed himself with a sharp broad- axe, under whose cruel blade many a white man fell. Nat.'s speech gives us a very clear idea of the scope and spirit of his plan. We quote from his confession at the time of the trial, and will let him tell the story of this terrible insurrection. " On returning to the house, Hark went to the door with an axe, for the purpose of breaking it open, as we knew we were strong enough to murder the family should they be awakened by the noise ; but, reflect ing that it might create an alarm in the neighborhood, we determined to enter the house secretly, and murder them whilst sleeping. Hark got a ladder and set it against the chimney, on which I ascended, and, hoist ing a window, entered and came down stairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. It was then observed that I must spill the first blood, on which, armed with a hatchet and accompanied by Will., I entered my master's chamber. It being dark, I could not give a death-blow. The hatchet glanced from his head ; he sprang NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. 89 from his bed and called his wife. It was his last word. Will, laid him dead with a blow of his axe." After they had taken the lives of this family, they went from plantation to plantation, dealing death-blows to every white man, woman, or child they found. They visited vengeance upon every white household they came to. The excitement spread rapidly, and the whites arose and armed themselves in order to repel these insurrectionists. " The first news concerning the affair was in the shape of a letter from Col. Trezvant, which reached Richmond Tuesday morning, too late for the columns of the (Richmond) "Enquirer," which was a tri weekly. The letter was written on the 2ist of August, and lacked definiteness, which gave rise to doubts in reference to the 'insurrection.' It was first sent to Petersburgh, and was then immediately dispatched to the Mayor of Richmond. " Arms and ammunition were dispatched in wagons to the county of Southampton. The four volunteer companies of Petersburgh, the dragoons and Lafayette artillery company of Richmond, one volunteer company from Norfolk and one from Portsmouth, and the regiments of Southampton and Sussex, were at once ordered out. -The cavalry and infantry took up their line of march on Tuesday evening, while the ar tillery embarked on the steamer ' Norfolk,' and landed at Smithfield. . . . A member of the Richmond dragoons, writing from Peters burgh, under date of the 23d, after careful examination, thought that ' about two hundred and fifty negroes from a camp-meeting about the 'Dismal Swamp had murdered about sixty persons, none of them families much known.' " 1 Will., the revengeful slave, proved himself the most destruc tive and cruel of Nat.'s followers. A hand to hand battle came. The whites were well armed, and by the force of their superior numbers overcame the army of the " Prophet,"' five men. Will, would not surrender. He laid three white men dead at his feet, when he fell mortally wounded. His last words were : " Bury my axe with me," believing that in the next world he would need it for a similar purpose. Nat. fought with great valor and skill with a short sword, and finding it useless to continue the struggle, escaped with some of his followers to the swamps, where he de ified the vigilance of the military and the patient watching of the 1 Richmond Enquirer, August 26, 1831. 90 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. citizens for more than two months. He was finally compelled to* surrender. When the Court asked : " Guilty or not guilty? " he pleaded : "Not guilty." He was sustained during his trial by his unfaltering faith in God. Like Joan of Arc, he "heard the spirits," the "voices," and believed that God had " sent him to free His people." In the impression of the " Enquirer " of the 3oth of August,. 1831, the first editorial, or leader, is under the caption of THR BANDITTE. The editor says : " They remind one of a parcel of blood-thirsty wolves rushing down from the Alps ; or, rather like a former incursion of the Indians upon the white settlements. Nothing is spared : neither age nor sex respected the helplessness of women and children pleads in vain for mercy . . .. The case of Nat. Turner warns us. No black-man ought to be per mitted to turn a Preacher through the country. The law must be en forced or the tragedy of Southampton appeals to us in vain." 1 A remarkable prophecy was made by Nat. The trial was- hurried, and, like a handle on a pitcher, was on one side only. He was sentenced to die on the gallows. He received the an nouncement with stoic indifference, and was executed at Jeru salem, the county seat of Southampton, in April, 1831. He died like a man, bravely, calmly ; looking into eternity, made radiant by a faith that had never faltered. He prophesied that on the day of his execution the sun would be darkened, and other evidences of divine disapprobation would be seen. The sheriff was much impressed by Nat.'s predictions, and conse quently refused to have any thing to do with the hanging. Na Colored man could be secured to cut the rope that held the trap.. An old white man, degraded by drink and other vices, was engaged to act as executioner, and was brought forty miles. Whether it was a fulfilment of Nat.'s prophecy or not, the sun was hidden behind angry clouds, the thunder rolled, the light ning flashed, and the most terrific storm visited that county ever known. All this, in connection with Nat.'s predictions, made a wonderful impression upon the minds of the Colored people, and not a few white persons were frightened, and regretted the death, of the " Prophet." The results of this uprising, led by a lone man he was alone,. 1 Richmond Enquirer, August 26 and 30, 1831. NEGRO INSURRECTIONS. 91- and yet he was not alone, are apparent when we consider that fifty-seven whites and seventy-three Blacks were killed and many were wounded. The first reliable list of the victims of the " tragedy " was written on the 24th of August, 1831. " List of the dead that have been buried : At Mrs. Whiteheads', 7 ;; Mrs. Waller's, 13 ; Mr. Williams', 3 ; Mr. Barrows', 2 ; Mr. Vaughn's, 5 ;. Mrs. Turner's, 3 ; Mr. Travis's, 5 ; Mr. J. Williams^', 5 ; Mr. Reice's, 4 ; Names unknown, 10 ; Total, 57." Then there was a feeling of unrest among the slaves and a fear among the whites throughout the State. Even the proceed ings of the trial of Nat. were suppressed for fear of evil conse quences among the slaves. But now all are free, and the ex- planters will not gnash their teeth at this revelation. Nat. Turner's insurrection, like all other insurrections led by op pressed people, lacked detail and method. History records but one successful uprising San Domingo has the honor. Even France failed in 1789, and in 1848. There is always a zeal for freedom, but not according to knowledge. No stone marks the resting-place of this martyr to freedom, this great religious, fanatic, this Black John Brown. And yet he has a prouder and more durable monument .than was ever erected of stone or brass.. The image of Nat. Turner is carved on the fleshy tablets of four million hearts. His history has been kept from the Colored peo ple at the South, but the women have handed the tradition to. their children, and the " Prophet Nat." is still marching on. Of the character of this remarkable man, Mr. Gray, the gentle man to whom he made his confession, had the following to say : " It has been said that he was ignorant and cowardly, and that his object was to murder and rob, for the purpose of obtaining money to> make his escape. It is notorious that he was never known to have a dollar in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits. As to his ignorance, he certainly never had the advantages of education ;. but he can read and write, and for natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As to his being a coward, his reason, as given, for not resisting Mr. Phipps, shows the decision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps present his gun, he said he knew it was impossible for him to escape, as the woods were full of men ; he therefore thought it was better for him to surrender, and trust to fortune for his escape. 92 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. . " He is a complete fanatic, or plays his part most admirably. On other subjects he possesses an uncommon share of intelligence, with a mind capable of attaining any thing, but warped and perverted by the influence of early impressions. He is below the ordinary stature, though strong and active, having the true negro face, every feature of which is strongly marked. I shall not attempt to describe the effect of his narrative, as told and commented on by himself, in the con demned hole of the prison : the calm, deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds and intentions ; the expression of his fiend-like face, when excited by enthusiasm ; still bearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet daring to raise his manacled hands to Heaven, with a spirit soaring above the attributes of man. I looked on him, and the blood curdled in my veins." In the "Richmond Enquirer," of September 2, 1831, appeared the following: " It is reported that a map was found, and said to have been drawn by Nat. Turner, with polk-berry juice, which was a description of the county of Southampton." The influence of this bloody insurrection spread beyond the Old Dominion, and for years afterward, in nearly every Southern State the whites lived in a state of dread. To every dealer in flesh and blood the " Nat. Turner Insurrection " was a stroke of poetic justice. THE " AMISTAD" CAPTIVES. 93 CHAPTER VIII. THE " AMISTAD " CAPTIVES. THE SPANISH SLAVER "AMISTAD" SAILS FROM HAVANA, CUBA, FOR PORTO PRINCIPE. FIFTY- FOUR NATIVE AFRICANS ON BOARD. JOSEPH CINQUEZ, THE SON OF AN AFRICAN PRINCE. THE " AMISTAD" CAPTURED AND TAKEN INTO NEW LONDON, CONN. TRIAL AND RELEASE OF THE SLAVES. TOUR THROUGH THE UNITED STATES. RETURN TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTKY IN COMPANY WITH MISSIONARIES. THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE BENEFITED BY THEIR STAY IN THE UNITED STATES. THEIR APPRECIATION OF CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. ON the 28th of June, 1839, the " Amistad," a Spanish slaver (schooner), with Captain Ramon Ferrer in command, sailed from Havana, Cuba, for Porto Principe, a place in the island of Cuba, about 100 leagues distant. The passengers were Don Pedro Montes and Jose Ruiz, with fifty-four Africans just from their native country, Lemboko, as slaves. Among the slaves was one man, called in Spanish, Joseph Cinquez, 1 said to be the son of an Afri can prince. He was possessed of wonderful natural abilities, and was endowed with all the elements of an intelligent and intrepid leader. The treatment these captives received was very cruel. They were chained down between the decks space not more than four feet by their wrists and ankles ; forced to eat rice, sick or well, and whipped upon the slightest provocation. On the fifth night out, Cinquez chose a few trusty companions of his misfortunes, and made a successful attack upon the officers and crew. The captain and cook struck down, two sailors put ashore, the Negroes were in full possession of the vessel. Montes was compelled, under pain of death, to navigate the vessel to Africa. He steered eastwardly during the daytime, but at night put about hoping to touch the American shore. Thus the vessel wandered until it was cited off of the coast of the United States -during the month of August. It was described as a " long, low, black schooner." Notice was sent to all the collectors of the ports along the Atlantic Coast, and a steamer and several revenue 1 Sometimes written Cinque. 94 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. cutters were dispatched after her. Finally, on the 26th of Au gust, 1839, Lieut. Gedney, U. S. Navy, captured the " Amistad," and took her into New London, Connecticut. The two Spaniards and a Creole cabin boy were examined before Judge Andrew T. Judson, of the United States Court, who, without examining the Negroes, bound them over to be tried as pirates. The poor Africans were cast into the prison at. New London. Public curiosity was at a high pitch ; and for a long time the " Amistad captives" occupied a large place in pub lic attention. The Africans proved to be natives of the Mendi country, and quite intelligent. The romantic story of their suf ferings and meanderings was given to the country through a competent interpreter; and many Christian hearts turned toward them in their lonely captivity in a strange land. The trial was continued several months. During this time the anti-slavery friends provided instruction for the Africans. Their minds were active and receptive. They soon learned to read, write, and do sums in arithmetic. They cultivated a garden of some fifteen acres, and proved themselves an intelligent and industrious people. The final decision of the court was that the " Amistad cap tives " were not slaves, but freemen, and, as such, were entitled to their liberty. The good and liberal Lewis Tappan had taken a lively interest in these people from the first, and now that they were released from prison, felt that they should be sent back to their native shores and a mission started amongst their country men. Accordingly he took charge of them and appeared before the public in a number of cities of New England. An admission fee of fifty cents was required at the door, and the proceeds were devoted to leasing a vessel to take them home. Large audiences greeted them everywhere, and the impression they made was of the highest order. Mr. Tappan would state the desire of the people to return to their native land, appeal to the philanthropic to aid them, and then call upon the people to read the Script ures, sing songs in their own language, and then in the English. Cinquez would then deliver an account of their capture, the horrors of the voyage, how he succeeded in getting his mana cles off, how he aided his brethren to loose their fetters, how he invited them to follow him in an attempt to gain their liberty, the attack, and their rescue, etc., etc. He was a man of magnificent physique, commanding presence, graceful manners, and effective THE " AMISTAD" CAPTIVES. 95 oratory. His speeches were delivered in Mendi, and translated into English by an interpreter. " It is impossible," wrote Mr. Tappan from Boston, "to describe the novel -and deeply interesting manner in which he acquitted himself. The subject of his speech was similar to that of his countrymen who had spoken in English ; but he related more minutely and graphically the occurrences on board the "Amistad." The easy manner of Cinquez, his natural, graceful, and energetic action, the rapidity of his utterance, and the remaikable and various expressions of his countenance, ex cited admiration and applause. He was pronounced a powerful natural orator, and one born to sway the minds of his fellow-men. Should he be converted and become a preacher of the cross in Africa what de lightful results may be anticipated ! " A little fellow called Kali, only eleven years of age, pleased the audience- every where he went by his ability not only to spell any word in the Gospels, but sentences, without blundering. For example, he would spell out a sentence like the following sen tence, naming each letter and syllable, and recapitulating as he went along, until he pronounced the whole sentence : " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Of their doings in Philadelphia, Mr. Joseph Sturge wrote: " On this occasion, a very crowded and miscellaneous assembly col lected to see and hear the Mendians, although the admission had been fixed as high as half a dollar, with the view of raising a fund to carry them to their native country. Fifteen of them were present, including one little boy and three girls. Cinque, their chief, spoke with great fluency in his native language ; and his action and manner were very animated and graceful. Not much of his speech was translated, yet he greatly interested his audience. The little boy could speak our lan guage with facility ; and each of them read, without hesitation, one or two verses in the New Testament. It was impossible for any one to go .away with the impression, that in native intellect these people were in ferior to the whites. The information which I privately received from their tutor, and others who had full opportunities of appreciating their capacities and attainments, fully confirmed my own very favorable im pressions." But all the while their sad hearts were turning toward their home and the dear ones so far away. One of them eloquently declared : " If Merica men offer me as much gold as fill this cap 96 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. full up, and give me houses, land, and every ting, so dat I stay in this country, I say: 'No! no! I want to see my father, my mother, my brother, my sister.'" Nothing could have been more tender and expressive. They were willing to endure any hard ships short of life that they might once more see their own, their native land. The religious instruction they had enjoyed made a wonderful impression on their minds. One of them said : " We owe every thing to God ; he keeps us alive, and makes us free. When we go to home to Mendi we tell our brethren about God, Jesus Christ, and heaven." Another one was asked : " What is faith ?" and replied : " Believing in Jesus Christ, and trusting in him." Reverting to the murder of the captain and cook of the " Amistad," one of the Africans said that if it were to be done over again he would pray for rather than kill them. Cinquez, hearing this, smiled and shook his head. When asked if he would not pray for them, said : " Yes, I would pray for 'em, an* kill 'em too." These captives were returned to their native country in the fall of 1841, accompanied by five missionaries. Their objective point was Sierra Leone, from which place the British Govern ment assisted them to their homes. Their stay in the United States did the anti-slavery cause great good. Here were poor, naked, savage pagans, unable to speak English, in less than three years able to speak the English language and appreciate the blessings of a Christian civilization. NOR THERN S YMPA TH Y. 9? f art 6, THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION. CHAPTER IX. NORTHERN SYMPATHY AND SOUTHERN SUBTERFUGES. 1850-1860. VIOLENT TREATMENT OF ANTI-SLAVERY ORATORS. THE SOUTH MISINTERPRETS THE MOBOCRATIC SPIRIT OF THE NORTH. THE " GARRISONIANS" AND "CALHOUNITES." SLAVE POPULATION OF 1830-1850. THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS. MOTION FOR THE ADMISSION OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. THE DEMOCRATIC AND WHIG PARTIES ON THE TREATMENT OF THE SLAVE QUESTION. CONVENTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AT BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. NOMI NATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCE FOR PRESIDENT. WHIG PARTY CONVENTION. NOMINATION OF GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT FOR THE PRESIDENCY BY THE WHIGS. MR. PIERCE ELECTED PRESIDENT IN 1853. A BILL INTRODUCED TO REPEAL THE ll MISSOURI COMPROMISE." SPEECH BY STEPHEN A. DOUGLASS. MR. CHASE'S REPLY. AN ACT TO ORGANIZE THE TERRITORIES OF KANSAS AND NEBRASKA. STATE MHLITIA IN THE SOUTH MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. PRESIDENT BUCHANAN IN SYMPATHY WITH THE SOUTH. r I ^HE arguments of anti-slavery orators were answered everywhere throughout the free States by rotten eggs, clubs, and missiles. The public journals, as a rule, were unfriendly and intolerant. Even Boston could contemplate, with unruffled composure, a mob of her most " reputable citizens " dragging Mr. Garrison through the streets with a halter about his neck. Public meetings were broken up by pro-slavery mobs ; owners of public halls required a moneyed guarantee against the destruction of their property, when such halls were used for anti-slavery meetings. Colored schools were broken up, the teachers driven away, and the pupils maltreated. The mobocratic demonstrations in the Northern States were the thermometer of public feeling upon the subject of slavery. The South was, therefore, emboldened ; for the political leaders, in that section thought they saw a light from the distance that 98 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. encouraged them to entertain the belief and indulge the hope that their present sectional institution could be made national. -Southerners thought slavery would grow in the cold climate of the North, excited into a lively existence by the warmth of a generous sympathy. But the South misinterpreted the real motive that inspired opposition to anti-slavery agitation in the 'North. The violent opposition came from the mercantile class and foreign element who believed that the agitation of the slav- ery question was a practical disturbance of their business affairs. The next class, more moderate in opposition to agitation, be- lieved slavery constitutional, and, therefore, argued that anti- slavery orators were traitors to the government. The third class, conservative, did not take sides, because of the unpopular ity of agitation on the one hand, and because of an harassing conscience on the other. There were two classes of men who were seeking the dissolu tion of the Union. The Garrisonians sought this end in the -hope of forming another Union without slavery. In an address delivered by Wm. Lloyd Garrison, July 20, 1860, at the Framingham celebration, he declares: " Our object is the abolition of slavery throughout the land ; and whether in the prosecution of our object this party goes up or the other party goes down, it is nothing to us. We cannot alter our course one hair's breadth, nor accept a compromise of our principles for the hearty adoption of our principles. I am for meddling with slavery everywhere attacking it by night and by day, in season and out of season (no, it can never be out of season) in order to effect its overthrow. (Loud applause.) Higher yet will be my cry. Upward and onward ! No union with slave-holders ! Down with this slave-holding government ! Let this 'covenant with death and agreement with hell' be annulled ! Let there be a 'free, independent, Northern republic, and the speedy abo lition of slavery will inevitably follow ! (Loud applause.) So I am laboring to dissolve this blood-stained Union as a work of paramount importance. Our mission is to regenerate public opinion." The Calhounites sought the dissolution of the Union in order that another Union might be formed with slavery as its chief corner-stone. Inspired by this hope and misguided by the appa rent sympathy of the North, Southern statesmen began prepara tions to dissolve the Union of the United States. During these years of agitation and discussion, although the NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 99 foreign slave-trade had been suppressed, the slave population in creased at a wonderful ratio. CENSUS OF 1830. SLAVE POPULATION. District of Columbia . . . . . 6,119 Delaware 3,292 Florida T 5,5 01 'Georgia 217,531 Illinois ........ 747 Kentucky ....... 165,213 Louisiana 109,588 Maryland . . . . . . . 102,994 Alabama ........ 117,549 Mississippi 65,659 Missouri 25,091 New Jersey . . . . . . 2,254 North Carolina ...... 245,601 South Carolina ...... 315,401 Tennessee 141,603 Virginia 469,757 Arkansas ........ 4,576 Aggregate . . 2,008,476 Now, this was the year the agitation movement began. In stead of the slave population decreasing during the first decade of anti-slavery discussion and work, it really increased 478,412 I 1 CENSUS OF 1840. SLAVE POPULATION. Alabama 253,532 Arkansas ....... I 9935 District of Columbia ..... 4,694 Delaware 2,605 Florida 25,717 Georgia ....... 280,944 Illinois . . . . . . . 331 Kentucky 182,258 Louisiana 168,452 Maryland 89,737 Mississippi ....... 195,211 Missouri ....... 58,240 New Jersey ....... 674 New York ....... 4 1 There were nearly 500 slaves held in Northern States not placed in this census. 100 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CENSUS OF 1840. SLAVE POPULATION. (Continued?) Pennsylvania ....... 64 North Carolina ...... 245,817 South Carolina . . . . . 327,038 Tennessee . 183,059 Virginia 449,087 Aggregate . . 2,487,399 During the next decade the slave population swept forward to an increase of 716,858. The entire population of slaves was 3,204,313 ; 2,957,657 were unmixed Africans, and 246,656 were Mulattoes. The free Colored population amounted to 434,495, of whom 275,400 were unmixed, and 159,095 mixed or Mulatto. The total number of families owning slaves in 1850 was 347,525. CENSUS OF 1850. -SLAVE POPULATION. Alabama . ' . . . . . 342,844 Arkansas . . . . 47,100 District of Columbia . * . . . 3,687 Delaware .'.".'. . . . 2,290 Florida . . . . . . 39,310 Georgia . . . . . . . 381,682 Kentucky ... ... 210,981 Louisiana 244,809 Maryland . . . . . . . 90,368 Mississippi . . . . . . . 309,878 Missouri ........ 87,422 New Jersey ....... 236 North Carolina ...... 288,548 South Carolina 384,984 Tennessee . . . . . . 239,459 Texas 58,161 Virginia . . . . . . . . 472,528 Utah Territory - 26 Total . . . 3,204,313 The Thirty-first Congress was three weeks attempting an or ganization, and at last effected it by the election of a Southerner to the Speakership, the Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia. Presi dent Zachary Taylor had called the attention of Congress to the admission of California and New Mexico into the Union, in his message to that body upon its assembling. On the 4th of Janu ary, 1850, Gen. Sam. Houston, United States Senator from Texas, submitted the following proposition to the Senate : NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 101 "WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States, possessing only a delegated authority, has no power over the subject of negro slavery within the limits of the United States, either to prohibit or to interfere with it in the States, territories, or districts, where, by municipal law, it now exists, or to establish it in any State or territory where it does not exist ; but as an assurance and guarantee to promote harmony, quiet apprehension, and remove sectional prejudice, which by possi bility might impair or weaken love and devotion to the Union in any part of the country, it is hereby " Resolved, That, as the people in territories have the same in herent rights of self-government as the people in the States, if, in the exercise of such inherent rights, the people in the newly acquired ter ritories, by the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California and New Mexico, south of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude, extending to the Pacific Ocean, shall .estab lish negro slavery in the formation of their State governments, it shall be deemed no objection to their admission as a State or States into the Union, in accordance with the Constitution of the United States." On the 2Qth of January, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, submitted to the United States Senate the following propositions looking toward an amicable adjustment of the entire slavery question : " i. Resolved, That California, with suitable boundaries, ought, upon her application, to be admitted as one of the States of this Union, without the imposition by Congress of any restriction in respect to the exclusion or introduction of slavery within those boundaries. " 2. Resolved, That as slavery does not exist by law, and is not likely to be introduced into any of the territory acquired by the United States from the republic of Mexico, it is inexpedient for Congress to provide by law either for its introduction into, or exclusion from, any part of the said territory ; and that appropriate territorial governments ought to be established by Congress in all the said territory not as signed as within the boundaries of the proposed State of California,, without the adoption of any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery. " 3. Resolved, That the western boundary of the State of Texas ought to be fixed on the Rio del Norte, commencing one marine league from its mouth, and running up that river to the southern line of New Mexico, thence with that line eastwardly, and so continuing in the same direction to the line as established between the United States and Spain, excluding any portion of New Mexico, whether lying on the east, or west of that river. 102 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " 4. Resolved, That it be proposed to the State of Texas, that the United States will provide for the payment of all that portion of the legitimate and bona-fide public debt of that State contracted prior to its annexation to the United States, and for which the duties on foreign imports were pledged by the said State to its creditors, not exceeding the sum of dollars, in consideration of the said duties so pledged having been no longer applicable to that object after the said annex ation, but having thenceforward become payable to the United States ; and upon the condition, also, that the said State of Texas shall, by some solemn and authentic act of her Legislature, or of a convention, relinquish to the United States any claim which she has to any part of New Mexico. "5. Resolved, That it is inexpedient to abolish slavery in the Dis trict of Columbia whilst, that institution continues to exist in the State of Maryland, without the consent of that State, without the consent of the people of the District, and without just compensation to the owners of slaves within the District. " 6. But Resolved, That it is expedient to prohibit within the Dis trict, the slave-trade in slaves brought into it from States or places beyond the limits of the District, either to be sold therein as mer chandise, or to be transported to other markets without the District of Columbia. " 7. Resolved, That more effectual provision ought to be made by law, according to the requirement of the Constitution, for the restitu tion and delivery of persons bound to service or labor in any State, who may escape into any other State or territory in the Union. And " 8. Resolved, That Congress has no power to prohibit or obstruct the trade in slaves between the slave-holding States, but that the admis sion or exclusion of slaves brought from one into another of them, de pends exclusively upon their own particular laws." Senator Bell, of Tennessee, offered a series of resolutions on the same question on the 28th of February, containing nine re solves. As usual, on all propositions respecting slavery, the debate was protracted, earnest, and able. The Clay resolutions attracted most attention. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, said: " Sir, we are called upon to receive this as a measure of compro mise ! As a measure in which we of the minority are to receive nothing. A measure of compromise ! I look upon it as but a modest mode of taking that, the claim to which has been more boldly asserted by others ; and, that I may be understood upon this question, and that my position may go forth to the country in the same columns that convey the senti- NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 103 ments of the Senator from Kentucky, I here assert, that never will I take less than the Missouri compromise line extended to the Pacific Ocean, with the specific recognition of the right to hold slaves in the territory below that line ; and that, before such territories are admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be taken there from any of the United States at the option of the owners. I can never consent to give additional power to a majority to commit further aggressions upon the minority in this Union, and will never consent to any proposition which will have such a tendency, without a full guaranty or counteracting measure is connected with it." A number of very able speeches were made on the resolu tions of Mr. Clay, but the most characteristic one the one most thoroughly representing the sentiment of the South was made by John C. Calhoun. He said : " The Union was in danger. The cause of this danger was the dis content at the South. And what was the cause of this discontent ? It was found in the belief which prevailed among them that they could not, consistently with honor and safety, remain in the Union. And what had caused this belief ? One of the causes was the long-continued agitation of the slave question at the North, and the many aggressions they had made on the rights of the South. But the primary cause was in the fact, that the equilibrium between the two sections at the time of the adoption of the Constitution had been destroyed. The first of the series of acts by which this had been done, was the ordinance of 1787, by which the South had been excluded from all the northwestern region. The next was the Missouri compromise, excluding them from all the Louisiana territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, except the State of Missouri, in all 1,238,025 square miles, leaving to the South the southern portion of the original Louisiana territory, with Florida, to which had since been added the territory acquired with Texas, making in all but 609,023 miles. And now the North was en deavoring to appropriate to herself the territory recently acquired from Mexico, adding 526,078 miles to the territory from which the South was, if possible, to be excluded. Another cause of the destruction of this equilibrium was our system of revenue (the tariff), the duties fall ing mainly upon the Southern portion of the L T nion, as being the greatest exporting States, while more than a due proportion of the reve nue had been disbursed at the North. . " But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium between the two sections, the action of the government was leading to a radical change in its character. It was maintained that the government it- -04 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. self had the right to decide, in the last resort, as to the extent of its powers, and to resort to force to maintain the power it claimed. The doctrines of General Jackson's proclamation, subsequently asserted and maintained by Mr. Madison, the leading framer and expounder of the Constitution, were the doctrines which, if carried out, would change the character of the government from a federal republic, as it came from the hands of its framers, into a great national consolidated de mocracy." Mr. Calhoun also spoke of the anti-slavery agitation, whicli, if not arrested, would destroy the Union ; and he passed a censure upon Congress for receiving abolition petitions. Had Congress in the beginning adopted the course which he had advocated, which was to refuse to take jurisdiction, by the united voice of all parties, the agita tion would have been prevented. He charged the North with false professions of devotion to the Union, and with having violated the Constitution. Acts had been passed in Northern States to set aside and annul the clause of the slavery question, with the avowed purpose of abolishing slavery in the States, which was another violation of the Consti tution. And during the fifteen years of this agitation, in not a single instance had the people of the North denounced these agitators. How then could their professions of devotion to the Union be sincere ? Mr. Calhoun disapproved both the plan of Mr. Clay and that of President Taylor, as incapable of saving the Union. He would pass by the former without remark, as Mr. Clay had been replied to by several Senators. The Executive plan could not save the Union, be cause it could not satisfy the South that it could safely or honorably remain in the Union. It was a modification of the Wilmot proviso, proposing to effect the same object, the exclusion of the South from the new territory. The Executive proviso was more objectionable than the Wilmot. Both inflicted a dangerous wound upon the Constitution, by depriving the Southern States of equal rights as joint partners in these territories ; but the former inflicted others equally great. It claimed for the inhabitants the right to legislate for the territories, which belonged to Congress. The assumption of this right was utterly unfounded, unconstitutional, and without example. Under this as sumed right, the people of California had formed a constitution and a State government, and appointed Senators and Representatives. If the people as adventurers had conquered the territory and established their independence, the sovereignty of the country would have been vested in them. In that case they would have had the right to form a State government, and afterward they might have applied to Congress for admission into the Union. But the United States had conquered nnd acquired California ; therefore, to them belonged the sovereignty NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 105 and the powers of government over the territory. Michigan was the first case of departure from the uniform rule of acting. Hers, however, was a slight departure from established usage. The ordinance of 1787 secured to her the right of becoming a State when she should have 60,000 inhabitants. Congress delayed taking the census. The people became impatient ; and after her population had increased to twice that number, they formed a constitution without waiting for the taking of the census ; and Congress waived the omission, as there was no doubt of the requisite number of inhabitants. In other cases there had existed territorial governments. Having shown how the Union could not be saved, he then pro ceeded to answer the question how it could be saved. There was but one way certain. Justice must be done to the South, by a full and final settlement of all the questions at issue. The North must con cede to the South an equal right to the acquired territory, and ful fil the stipulations respecting fugitive slaves ; must cease to agitate the slave question, and join in an amendment of the Constitution, re storing to the South the power she possessed of protecting herself, before the equilibrium between the two sections had been destroyed by the action of the government. Here was a clear statement of the position and feelings of the South respecting slavery. The ordinance of 1787 and the Mis souri compromise of 1820 " were destroying the equilibrium be tween the two sections ! " And the anti-slavery agitation, " if not arrested, would destroy the Union !" The sophistry of Cal- houn sought a reasonable excuse for the South to dissolve the Union. In a speech of his, written during a spell of sickness, and read by Mr. Mason, of Virginia, he referred to Washington as " the illustrious Southerner." When it was read in the Senate Mr. Cass said : " Our Washington the Washington of our whole country receives in this Senate the epithet of ' Southerner,' as if that great man, whose distinguished characteristic was his attachment to his country, and his whole country, who was so well known, and who, more than any one, deprecated all sectional feeling and all sectional action, loved Georgia better than he loved New Hampshire, because he hap pened to be born on the southern bank of the Potomac. I repeat, sir, that I heard with great pain that expression from the distin guished Senator from South Carolina." There was certainly no ground for reasonable complaint on the part of the South. From the convention that framed the 106 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Federal Constitution, through all Congressional struggle, and in national politics as well, the South had secured nearly all meas ures asked for. And the discussion in Congress at this time was intended to divert attention from the real object of the South. Another fugitive-slave law was demanded by the South, and the Northern members voted them the right to hunt slaves upon free soil. The law passed, and was approved on the i8th of September, 1850. It was difficult to choose between the Democratic and Whig parties by reading the planks in their platforms referring to the subject of slavery. On the 1st of June, 1852, the Democratic Convention, at Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for the Presidency, on the forty-ninth bal lot. This plank defined the position of that party on the question of slavery. " That Congress has no power under the Constitution to inter fere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution ; that all efforts of the abolitionists, or others, made to induce Con gress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dan gerous consequences ; and that all such efforts have an inevitable ten dency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stabil ity and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. " That the foregoing proposition covers, and was intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress ; and therefore the Democratic party of the Union, standing on this national platform, will abide by and adhere to a faithful execution of the acts known as the c( mpr >mise measures settled by the last Congress the act for reclaim ing fugitives from service or labor included ; which act being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, can not with fidelity thereto be repealed, nor so changed as to destroyer impair its efficiency. " That the Democratic party will, resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under what ever shape or color the attempt may be made." The Whig party, at the same city, in convention assembled,, on the i6th of June, 1852, nominated Gen. Winfield Scott, for the Presidency, on the fifty-third ballot. The Whig party de clared its position on the slavery question as follows : NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 107 " That the series of acts of the Thirty-first Congress the act known as the fugitive-slave law included are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States, as a settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting question which they embrace ; and so far as they are concerned, we will maintain them and insist on their strict enforcement, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation, to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand, and the abuse of their powers on the other, not impairing their present efficiency ; and we deprecate all agitation of the question thus settled, as dangerous to our peace ; and will discounte nance all efforts to continue or renew such agitation whenever, wher ever, or however the attempt may be made ; and we will maintain this, system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party of the Union." The political contest ended in the autumn in favor of Mr. Pierce. The public journals in many parts of the country thought the end of the " slavery question " had come, and that as the Whigs were determined to " discountenance all efforts to con tinue or renew " the agitation of the subject, there was no fear of sectional strife. In his inaugural address, March 4, 1853, President Pierce said:: " I believe that involuntary servitude is recognized by the Constitu tion. I believe that the States where it exists are entitled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold that the compromise measures of 1850 are strictly constitutional, and to be un hesitatingly carried into effect. And now, I fervently hope that the question is at rest," etc. In the month of December, upon the assembling of Congress, the President, in his message to that body, again referred to slavery as " a subject which had been set at rest by the deliber- ate judgment of the people." But on the i$th of December^ nine days after the message of the President had been received by Congress, Mr. Dodge, of Iowa, submitted to the Senate a bill to organize the territory of Nebraska, which was referred to the Committee on Territories. After some discussion in the commit- .tee, it was finally reported back to the Senate by Mr. Douglass, of Illinois, with amendments. The report was elaborate, and raised considerable doubt as to whether the amendments did not repeal the Missouri compromise. A special report was made on the 4th of January, 1854,50 amending the bill as to remove all doubt; and, contemplating the opening of all the vast territory secured 108 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. forever to freedom, startled the nation from the " repose " it had apparently taken from agitation on the slavery question, and opened an interminable controversy. On the i6th of January, Mr. Dixon, of Kentucky, gave notice that he would introduce a bill clearly repealing the Missouri compromise. The first champion of the repeal of the compro mise of 1820 was a Northern Senator, Stephen A. Douglass, of Illinois. He hung a massive argument excelling rather in quan tity than in quality upon the following propositions: " From these provisions, it is apparent that the compromise measures of 1850 affirm, and rest upon, the following propositions : "First. That all questions pertaining to slavery in the territories, and the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the de cision of the people residing therein, by their appropriate representa tives, to be chosen by them for that purpose. ^Second. That 'all cases involving title to slaves,' and 'questions of personal freedom/ are to be referred to the adjudication of the local tribunals, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. " Third. That the provision of the Constitution of the United States in respect to fugitives from service, is to be carried into faithful execution in all ' the original territories,' the same as in the States. " The substitute for the bill which your committee have prepared, and which is commended to the favorable action of the Senate, pro poses to carry these propositions and principles into practical opera tion, in the precise language of the compromise measures of 1850." Mr. Douglass said : " The legal effect of this bill, if passed, was neither to legislate slavery into nor out of these territories, but to leave the people to do as they pleased. And why should any man, North or South, object to this principle ? It was by the operation of this principle, and not by any dictation from the Federal government, that slavery had been abol ished in half of the twelve States in which it existed at the time of the adoption of the Constitution." On the 3d of February, Mr. Chase, of Ohio, moved to amend by striking out the words, " was superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise meas ures, and," so that the clause would read : " That the Constitu tion, and all laws of the United States which are not locally in- NORTHERN SYMPATHY. 109 applicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said territory of Nebraska as elsewhere within the United States, ex cept the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which is hereby declared inoperative." Mr. Chase then proceeded to reply to Mr. Douglass. He called attention to that part of the President's message which referred to the " repose" of the subject of slavery, and then said: " The agreement of the two old political parties, thus referred to by the Chief Magistrate of the country, was complete, and a large majority of the American people seemed to acquiesce in the legislation of which he spoke. A few of us, indeed, doubted the accuracy of these state ments, and the permanency of this repose. We never believed that the acts of 1850 would prove to be a permanent adjustment of the slavery question. But, sir, we only represented a small, though vigorous and growing party in the country. Our number was small in Congress. By some we were regarded as visionaries, by some as factionists; while almost all agreed in pronouncing us mistaken. And so, sir, the country was at peace. As the eye swept the entire circumference of the horizon and upward to mid-heaven, not a cloud appeared ; to common observation there was no mist or stain upon the clearness of the sky. But suddenly all is changed ; rattling thunder breaks from the cloudless firmament. The storm bursts forth in fury. And now we find ourselves in the midst of an agitation, the end and issue of which no man can foresee. " Now, sir, who is responsible for this renewal of strife and contro versy ? Not we, for we have introduced no question of territorial slavery into Congress ; not we, who are denounced as agitators and factionists. No, sir ; the quietists and the finalists have become agita tors ; they who told us that all agitation was quieted, and that the resolutions of the political conventions put a final period to the discussion of slavery. This will not escape the observation of the country. It is slavery that renews the strife. It is slavery that again wants room. It is slavery with its insatiate demand for more slave terri tory and more slave States. And what does slavery ask for now ? Why, sir, it demands that a time-honored and sacred compact shall be rescinded a compact which has endured through a whole generation a compact which has been universally regarded as inviolable, North and South a compact, the constitutionality of which few have doubted, and by which all have consented to abide." But notwithstanding the able and eloquent speech of Mr. Chase, his amendment only received thirteen votes. The debate 1 10 HISTOR Y OF THE- NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. went on until the 3J1 1 Judge Taney gave the following opinion: " The question is simply this : Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitu tion of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights and privileges and immunities guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen ? One of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution. " It will be observed that the plea applies to that class of persons only whose ancestors were negroes of the African race, and imported into this country, and sold and held as slaves. The only matter in issue before the court, therefore, is, whether the descendants of such slaves, when they shall be emancipated, or who are born of parents who had become free before their birth, are citizens of a State, in the sense in which the word citizen is used in the Constitution of the United States. And this being the only matter in dispute on the pleadings, the 1 Sanford's Dred Scott Case, pp. 397-399. THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES." 1 17 court must be understood as speaking in this opinion of that class only, that is, of those persons who are the descendants of Africans who were imported into this country and sold as slaves. "We proceed to examine the case as presented by the pleadings. " The words * people of the United States' and 'citizens ' are synony mous terms, and mean the same thing. They both describe the political body who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the government through their representatives. They are what we familiarly call the ' sovereign . people, and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. The question before us is, whether the class of persons described in the plea in abatement compose a portion of this people, and are constituent members of this sover eignty. We think they are not, and that they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizen' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time considered as a subor dinate [405] and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained sub ject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the government might choose to grant them. " It is not the province of the court to decide upon the justice or injustice, the policy or impolicy, of these laws. . . . " In discussing this question, we must not confound the rights of citizenship which a State may confer within its own limits, and the rights of citizenship as a member of the Union. It does not by any means follow, because he has all the rights and privileges of a citizen of a State, that he must be a citizen of the United States. He may have all of the rights and privileges of the citizen of a State, and yet not be entitled to the rights and privileges of a citizen of any other State. For, previous to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, every State had the undoubted right to confer on whomsoever it pleased the character of citizen, and to endow him with all its rights. But this character of course was confined to the boundaries of the State, and gave him no rights or privileges in other States beyond those secured to him by the laws of nations and the comity of States. Nor have the several States surrendered the power of conferring these rights and privileges by adopting the Constitution of the United States. Each State may still confer them upon an alien, or any one it thinks proper,. or upon any class or description of persons ; yet he would not be a citi zen in the sense in which that word is used in the Constitution of the II 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. United States, nor entitled to sue as such in one of its courts, nor to the privileges and immunities of a citizen in the other States. The rights which he would acquire would be restricted to the State which gave them. The Constitution has conferred on Congress the right to establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and this right is evidently exclusive, and has always been held by this court to be so. Conse quently no State, since the adoption of the Constitution, can, by na turalizing an alien, invest him with the rights and privileges secured to a citizen of a State under the Federal Government, although, so far as the State alone was concerned, he would undoubtedly be entitled to the rights of a citizen, and clothed with all the [406]- rights and immunities which the Constitution and laws of the State attached to that char acter. " It is very clear, therefore, that no State can, by any act or law of its own, passed since the adoption of the Constitution, introduce a new member into the political community created by the Constitution of the United States. It cannot make him a member of this community by making him a member of its own. And, for the same reason, it cannot introduce any person or description of persons who were not intended to be embraced in this new political family, which the Constitution brought into existence, but were intended to be excluded from it. " The question then arises, whether the provisions of the Constitu tion, in relation to the personal rights and privileges to which the citi zen of a State should be entitled, embraced the negro African race, at that time in this country, or who might afterwards be imported, who had then or should afterwards be made free in any State ; and to put it in the power of a single State to make him a citizen of the United States, and indue him with the full rights of citizenship in every other State without their consent. Does the Constitution of the United States act upon him whenever he shall be made free under the laws of a State, and raised there to the rank of a citizen, and immediately clothe him with all the privileges of a citizen in every other State and in its own courts ? " The court think the affirmative of these propositions cannot be maintained. And if it cannot, the plaintiff in error could not be a citi zen of the State of Missouri, within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States, and, consequently, was not entitled to sue in its courts." ] This decision of the Supreme Court on the plea in abatement that the plaintiff (a Negro, Dred Scott) was not a citizen in the sense of the word in Article iii, Sec. 2 of the Constitution, was 1 Howard's Reports, vol. xix. pp. 403-405, sq. THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES."' 119 based upon an erroneous idea respecting the location of the word citizen in the instrument. The premise of the court was wrong, and hence the feebleness of the reasoning and the false conclu sions. Article iii, Section 2 of the Constitution, extends judicial power to all cases, in law and equity, "between citizens of differ ent States, between citizens of the same State," etc. But Article iv, Section 2, declares that " citizens of each State shall be enti tled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." The plea in abatement was brought under Article iii, but all the judges, except Justice McLean, built their decision upon the word citizen as it stood in Article iv. By the constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1851, free Negroes were not only denied the right to vote, but were excluded from the militia service. This law was not repealed until 1878. Neither the constitution of 1802, nor that of 1851, discrimi nated against free Negroes in matters of education ; but separate schools have been maintained in Ohio from the beginning down to the present time, by special acts of the Legislature. ' In the territory of Indiana there were quite a number of Ne groes from the beginning of the century. Some were slaves. In 1806, the first Legislature, at its second session, passed a law in reference to executions, as follows : " Sec. 7. And whereas doubts have arisen whether the time of ser vice of negroes and mulattoes, bound to service in this territory, may be sold on execution against the master, Be it therefore enacted that the time of service of such negroes or mulattoes may be sold on execution against the master, in the same manner as personal estate, immediately from which sale the said negroes or mulattoes shall serve the purchaser or purchasers for the residue of their time of service ; and the said pur chasers and negroes and mulattoes shall have the same remedies against each other as by the laws of the territory are mutually given them in the several cases therein mentioned, and the purchasers shall be obliged to fulfil to the said servants the contracts they made with the masters, as expressed in the indenture or agreement of servitude, and shall, for want of such contract, be obliged to give him or them their freedom due at the end of the time of service, as expressed in the second section of the law of the territory, entitled ' Law concerning servants,' adopted the twenty-second day of September, eighteen hundred and three. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of Feb ruary next." : 1 Hurd, vol ii. p. 123. 120 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. This was bold legislation ; but it was not all. Negroes were required to carry passes, as in the slave States. And on the I7th of September, 1807, "An Act for the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into" the territory was passed. " Sec. i. That it shall and may be lawful for any person being the owner or possessor of any negroes or mulattoes of and above the age of fifteen years, and owning service and labor as slaves in any of the States or territories of the United States, or for any citizens of the said States or territories purchasing the same to bring the said negroes and mulattoes into this territory. " Sec. 2. The owners or possessors of any negroes or mulattoes as aforesaid, and bringing the same into this territory, shall, within thirty days after such removal, go with the same before the clerk of Court of Common Pleas of proper county, and in presence of said clerk the said owner or possessor shall determine and agree to, and with his or her negro or mulatto, upon the term of years which the said negro or mu latto will and shall serve his or her said owner or possessor, and the clerk shall make a record. "Sec. 3. If any negro or mulatto removed into this territory as aforesaid shall refuse to serve his or her owner as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for such person, within sixty days thereafter, to remove the said negro or mulatto to any place [to] which by the laws of the United States or territory from whence such owner or possessor may [have come] or shall be authorized to remove the same. (As quoted in Phcebe v. Jay, Breese, 111. R., 208.) " Sec. 4. An owner failing to act as required in the preceding sections should forfeit all claim and right to the service of such negro or mulatto. " Sec. 5. Declares that any person removing into this territory and being the owner or possessor of any negro or mulatto as aforesaid, under the age of fifteen years, or if any person shall hereafter acquire a property in any negro or mulatto under the age aforesaid, and who shall bring them into this territory, it shall and may be lawful for such person, owner, or possessor to hold the said negro to service or labor the males until they arrive at the age of thirty-five, and females until they arrive at the age of thirty-two years. " Sec. 6. Provides that any person removing any negro or mulatto into this territory under the authority of the preceding sections, it shall be incumbent on such person, within thirty days thereafter, to register the name and age of such negro or mulatto with the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the proper county. " Sec. 7. Requires new registry on removal to another county." THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES" 121 " Sees. 8, 9. Penalties by fine for breach of this act. " Sec. 10. Clerk to take security that negro be not chargeable when his term expires. "Sec. 12. Fees. " Sec. 13. That the children bom in said territory of a parent of color owning service or labor, by indenture according to law, should serve the master or mistress of such parent the males until the age of thirty, and the females until the age of twenty-eight years. (As quoted in Boon v. Juliet, 1836, i, Scammon, 258.) "Sec. 14. That an act respecting apprentices misused by their master or mistress should apply to such children. (See the statute cited in Rankin v. Lydia, 2, A. K. Marshall's Ky., 467 ; and in Jarrot v. Jarrot, 2, Oilman, 19.) This act was repealed in 1810." Under the first constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, Negroes were not debarred from the elective franchise. In Ar ticle i, Section I, of the Bill of Rights, this remarkable language occurs : " That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights," etc. But the very next year the primal rights of the Negro as a citi zen were struck down by the following : " No negro, mulatto, or Indian shall be a witness, except in pleas of the State against negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, or in civil cases where negroes, mulattoes, or Indians alone shall be parties." a In 1819 [March 22d], an execution law was passed by which the time of service of Negroes could be sold on execution against the master, in the same manner as personal estate. From the time of the sale, such Negroes or Mulattoes were compelled to serve the buyer until the expiration of the term of service. 3 In 1831, an act regulating free Negroes and Mulattoes, ser vants and slaves, declared : " Sec. i. Negroes and mulattoes emigrating into the State shall give bond, etc. " Sec. 2. In failure of this, such negro, etc., may be hired out and the proceeds applied to his benefit, or removed from the State under the poor law. " Sec. 3. Penalty for committing such without authority. " Sec. 4. Penalty for harboring such who have not given bond. "Sec. 5. That the right of any persons to pass through this State, 1 Terr, laws 1807-8, p. 423. 2 Laws of 1817, ch. 3, sec. 52. 3 See Hurd, vol. ii. p. 129. 122 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. with his, her, or their negroes or mulattoes, servant or servants, when- emigrating or travelling to any other State or territory or country, mak ing no unnecessary delay, is hereby declared and secured." 1 In 1851 the new constitution limited the right of franchise to "white male citizens of the United States." "No negro or mulatto shall have the right of suffrage." "Art. xii., Sec. i. The militia shall consist of all able-bodied white male persons, between, etc. "Art. xiii., Sec. i. No negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in the State after the adoption of this Constitution. " Sec. 2. All contracts made with any negro or mulatto coming into the State contrary to the foregoing section shall be void ; and any person who shall employ such negro or mulatto or encourage him to remain in the State shall be fined not less than ten, nor more than five hundred dollars. " Sec. 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the pro visions of this article, or of any law hereafter passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such negroes and mulattoes and their descend ants as maybe in the State at the adoption of this Constitution and may be willing to emigrate. " Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the pro visions of this article." Other severe laws were enacted calculated to modify and limit the rights of free persons of color. The first constitution of the State of Illinois, adopted in 1818,, limited the [Art. ii, Sec. 27] elective franchise to " free white " persons. Article v, Sec. I, exempted " negroes, mulattoes, and Indians" from service in the militia. In March, 1819, "An Act Respecting Free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants, and Slaves' 1 passed. Sec. i required Negro and Mulatto persons coming into the State to produce a certificate of freedom. Sec. 2 required them to register their family as well as themselves. Sec. 3 required per sons bringing slaves into the State, for the purpose of emancipating, them, to give bonds. Passes were required of Colored people,, and many other hard exactions. The bill above referred to con tained twenty-five sections. 2 1 Revised Laws of Indiana, 1838. 3 Session Laws, 1819, p. 354. R. S., 1833, p 466. THE "BLACK LAWS" OF "BORDER STATES." 123 On the 6th of January, 1827, a criminal code was enacted for offences committed by Negroes and servants, which contained many cruel features. On the 2d of February a law was passed declaring that all Negroes, Mulattoes, and Indians were incom petent to be witnesses in any court against a white person ; and that a person having one fourth part Negro blood shall be ad judged a Mulatto. This law was re-enacted in 1845.' ^ n ^53, February I2th, the Legislature of Illinois passed "An Act to Pre vent the Immigration of Free Negroes into this State" "Sees, i, 2. Fine and imprisonment for bringing slave, for any purpose, into the State. Proviso : ' That this shall not be construed so as to affect persons or slaves, bona fide, travelling through this State from and to any other State in the United States.' " Sec. 3. Misdemeanor for negro or mulatto, bond or free, to come with intention of residing. "Sec. 4. Such may be prosecuted and fined or sold, for time, for fine and costs. " Sees. 5, 6, 7. If such do not afterwards remove, increased fine and like proceedings, etc., etc. Appeal allowed to the circuit. " Sec. 8. If claimed as fugitive slave, after being thus arrested, a justice of the peace, ' after hearing the evidence, and being satisfied that the person or persons claiming said negro or mulatto is or are the owner or owners of and entitled to the custody of said negro or mulatto, in accordance with the laws of the United States passed upon this subject,' shall give the owner a certificate, after his paying the costs and the negro's unpaid fine, ' and the said owner or agent so claiming shall have a right to take and remove said slave out of the State.' " Sec. 9. Punishment of justice for nonfeasance, and of witness falsely accusing negro." 2 While slavery had no legal, constitutional existence in the three border States, there were, in fact, quite a number of slaves within their jurisdiction during the first generation of their existence. And the free people of Color were, first, de nied the right of citizenship ; second, excluded from the militia service ; third, ruled out of the courts whenever their testimony was offered against a white person ; fourth, could not come into the free border States without producing a certificate of freedom ; and, fifth, were annoyed by many little, mean laws in the exer cise of the few rights they were suffered to enjoy. A full 1 R. S., 1845, p. 154. 2 Rev. St. of 1856, p. 780. 124 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. description of the infamous "Black Code " of these States would occupy too much space, and, therefore, the dark subject must be dismissed. Posterity shall know, however, how patiently the free Negroes of the Northern States endured the restrictions and pro scriptions which law and public sentiment threw across their so cial and political pathway 1 THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 12$ CHAPTER XI. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. NOMINAL RIGHTS OF NEGROES IN THE SLAVE STATES. FUGITIVE SLAVES SEEK REFUGE IN CANADA. NEGROES PETITION AGAINST TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. A LAW PREVENTING NEGROES FROM OTHER STATES FROM SETTLING IN MASSACHUSETTS. NOTICE TO BLACKS, INDIANS, AND MULATTOES, WARNING THEM TO LEAVE THE COMMONWEALTH. THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE NEGRO RESTRICTED. COLORED MEN TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THB EDUCATION OF THEIR OWN RACE. JOHN V. DE GRASSE, THE FIRST COLORED MAN ADMITTED TO THE MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SOCIETY. PROMINENT COLORED MEN OF NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL AND COLORED BAPTIST CHURCHES. COLORED MEN DISTINGUISH THEMSELVES IN THE PULPIT. REPORT TO THE OHIO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY OF COLORED PEOPLE IN CINCINNATI IN 1835. MANY PURCHASE THEIR FREEDOM. HENRY BOYD, THE MECHANIC AND BUILDER. HE BECOMES A SUCCESSFUL MANUFACTURER IN CINCINNATI. SAMUEL T. WILCOX, THE GROCER. His SUC CESS IN BUSINESS IN CINCINNATI. BALL AND THOMAS, THE PHOTOGRAPHERS. COLORED PEOPLE OF CINCINNATI EVINCE A DESIRE TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES. LYDIA P. MOTT ESTABLISHES A HOME FOR COLORED ORPHANS. THE ORGANIZATION EFFECTED IN 1844. ITS SUCCESS. FORMATION OF A COLORED MILITARY COMPANY CALLED "THE ATTUCKS GUARDS." EMIGRATION OF NEGROES TO LIBERIA. THE COLORED PEOPLE LIVE DOWN MUCH PREJU- PICE. IN 1850 there were 238,187 free Negroes in the slave States. Their freedom was merely nominal. They were despised beneath the slaves, and were watched with suspicious eyes, and disliked by their brethren in bondage. In 1850 there were 196,016 free Negroes in the Northern States. Their increase came from [chiefly] two sources, viz.: births and emancipated persons from the South. Fugitive slaves generally went to Canada, for in addition to being in danger of arrest under the fugitive-slave law, none of the State govern ments in the North sympathized with escaped Negroes. The Negroes in the free States were denied the rights of citizenship, and were left to the most destroying ignorance. In 1780, some free Negroes, of the town of Dartmouth, petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for relief from taxation, because they were denied the privileges and duties of citizenship. The peti tion set forth the hardships free Negroes were obliged to endure, even in Massachusetts, and was in itself a proof of the fitness of the petitioners for the duties of citizenship. 126 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives, in General Court Assembled, for the State of Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng land : " The petition of several poor negroes and mulattoes, who are in habitants of the town of Dartmouth, humbly showeth : "That we being chiefly of the African extract, and by reason of long bondage and hard slavery, we have been deprived of enjoying the profits of our labor or the advantage of inheriting estates from our parents, as our neighbors the white people do, having some of us not long enjoyed our own freedom ; yet of late, contrary to the invariable custom and practice of the country, we have been, and now are, taxed both in our polls and that small pittance of estate which, through much hard labor and industry, we have got together to sustain ourselves and families withall. We apprehend it, therefore, to be hard usage, and will doubt less (if continued) reduce us to a state of beggary, whereby we shall become a burthen to others, if not timely prevented by the interposition of your justice and power. ''Your petitioners further show, that we apprehend ourselves to be aggrieved, in that, while we are not allowed the privilege of freemen of the State, having no vote or influence in the election of those that tax us, yet many of our color (as is well known) have cheerfully entered the field of battle in the defence of the common cause, and that (as we con ceive) against a similar exertion of power (in regard to taxation) too well known to need a recital in this place. " We most humble request, therefore, that you would take our un happy case into your serious consideration, and, in your wisdom and power, grant us relief from taxation, while under our present depressed circumstances ; and your poor petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc. " JOHN CUFFE, " ADVENTUR CHILD, " PAUL CUFFE, " SAMUEL GRAY, [his x mark.] " PERO ROWLAND, [his x mark.] " PERO RUSSELL, [his x mark.] " PERO COGGESHALL. "Dated at Dartmouth, the roth of February, 1780. " Memorandum in the handwriting of John Cuffe : " This is the copy of the petition which we did deliver unto the Honorable Council and House, for relief from taxation in the days of our distress. But we received none. JOHN CUFFE." * 1 This is inserted in this volume as the more appropriate place. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 1 27 Not discouraged at the failure that attended the above peti tion, the indefatigable Paul Cuffe, addressed the following to the selectmen of his town the next year. " A REQUEST. " To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting : We, the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for calling a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before said town, by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether all free negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in this said Town of Dart mouth as the white people have, respecting places of profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together with all other privileges in all cases that shall or may happen or be brought in this our said Town of Dart mouth. We, your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, [Signed.] " JOHN CUFFE, "PAUL CUFFE, '*' Dated at Dartmouth, the 226. of the 4th mo., 1781." As early as 1788 Massachusetts passed a law requiring all Negroes who were not citizens, to leave the Commonwealth within two months from the date of the publication of the law. It has been said, upon good authority, that this law was drawn by several of the ablest lawyers in the Bay State, and was in tended to keep out all Negroes from the South who, being eman cipated, might desire to settle there. It became a law on the 26th of March, 1788, and instead of becoming a dead letter, was published and enforced in post-haste. The following section is the portion of the act pertinent to this inquiry. " V. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid [the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled], that no person being an African or Negro, other than a subject of the Emperor of Morocco, or a citizen of some one of the United States (to be evidenced by a certificate from the Secretary of the State of which he shall be a citizen), shall tarry within this Commonwealth, for a longer time than two months, and upon complaint made to any Justice of the Peace within this Commonwealth, that any such person has been within the same more than two months, the said Justice shall order the said person to depart out of this Commonwealth, and in case that the said African or Negro shall not depart as aforesaid, any Justice of the 128 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Peace within this Commonwealth, upon complaint and proof made that such person has continued within this Commonwealth ten days after notice given him or her to depart as aforesaid, shall commit the said person to any house of correction within the county, there to be kept to hard labor, agreeable to the rules and orders of the said house, until the Sessions of the Peace, next to be holden within and for the said county ; and the master of the said house of correction is hereby required and directed to transmit an attested copy of the war rant of commitment to the said Court on the first day of their said ses sion, and if upon trial at the said Court, it shall be made to appear that the said person has thus continued within the Commonwealth, contrary to the tenor of this act, he or she shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes, and ordered to depart out of this Commonwealth within ten days ; and if he or she shall not so depart, the same process shall be had and punishment inflicted, and so toties quoties" The following notice, with the subjoined names, shows that the cruel law was enforced. NOTICE TO BLACKS. The Officers of Police having made return to the Subscriber of the names of the following persons, who are Africans or Negroes, not sub jects of the Emperor of Morocco nor citizens of the United States, the same are hereby warned and directed to depart out of this Common wealth before the loth day of October next, as they would avoid the pains and penalties of the law in that case provided, which was passed by the Legislature, March 26, 1788. CHARLES BULFINCH, Superintendent. By Order and Direction of the Selectmen. Portsmouth Prince Patterson, Eliza Cotton, Flora Nash. Rhode Island Thomas Nichols and Philis Nichols, Hannah Champ- lin, Plato Alderson, Raney Scott, Jack Jeffers, Thomas Gardner, Julius Holden, Violet Freeman, Cuffy Buffum, Sylvia ^Gardner, Hagar Black burn, Dolly Peach, Polly Gardner, Sally Alexander, Philis Taylor. Providence Dinah Miller, Salvia Hendrick, Rhode Allen, Nancy Hall, Richard Freeman, Elizabeth Freeman, Nancy Gardner, Margaret Harrison. Connecticut Bristol Morandy, John Cooper, Scipio Kent, Margaret Russell, Phoebe Seamore, Phoebe Johnson, Jack Billings. 1 Slavery in Massachusetts, pp. 228, 229. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 129 New London John Denny, Thomas Burdine, Hannah Burdine. New York Sally Evens, Sally Freeman, Caesar West and Hannah West, Thomas Peterson, Thomas Santon, Henry Sanderson, Henry Wilson, Robert Willet, Edward Cole, Mary Atkins, Polly Brown, Amey Spalding, John Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, George Homes, Prince Kilsbury, Abraham Fitch, Joseph Hicks, Abraham Francis, Elizabeth Francis, Sally Williams, William Williams, Rachel Pewinck, David Dove, Esther Dove, Peter Bayle, Thomas Bostick, Katy Bostick, Prince Hayes, Margaret Bean, Nancy Hamik, Samuel Benjamin, Peggy Ocamum, Primus Hutchinson. Philadelphia Mary Smith, Richard Allen, Simon Jeffers, Samuel Posey, Peter Francies, Prince Wales, Elizabeth Branch, Peter Gust, William Brown, Butterfield Scotland, Clarissa Scotland, Cuffy Cum- mings, John Gardner, Sally Gardner, Fortune Gorden, Samuel Stevens. Baltimore Peter Larkin and Jenny Larkin, Stepney Johnson, Anne Melville. Virginia James Scott, John Evens, Jane Jackson, Cuffey Cook, Oliver Nash, Robert Woodson, Thomas Thompson. North Carolina James Jurden, Polly Johnson, Janus Crage. South Carolina Anthony George, Peter Cane. Halifax Catherine Gould, Charlotte Gould, Cato Small, Philis Cole, Richard M'Coy. West Indies James Morfut and Hannah his wife, Mary Davis, George Powell, Peter Lewis, Charles Sharp, Peter Hendrick, William Shoppo and Mary Shoppo, Isaac Johnson, John Pearce, Charles Esings, Peter Branch, Newell Symonds, Rosanna Symonds, Peter George, Lewis Victor, Lewis Sylvester, John Laco, Thomas Foster, Peter Jesemy, Rebecca Jesemy, David Bartlet, Thomas Grant, Joseph Lewis, Hamet Lewis, John Harrison, Mary Brown, Boston Alexander. Cape Francois Casme Francisco and Nancy his wife, Mary Frace- way. Aux Cayes Susannah Ross. Port-au-Prince John Short. Jamaica Charlotte Morris, John Robinson. Bermuda Thomas Williams. New Providence Henry Taylor. Liverpool John Mumford. Africa Francis Thompson, John Brown, Mary Joseph, James Mel- vile, Samuel Bean, Hamlet Earl, Cato Gardner, Charles Mitchel, Sophia Mitchel, Samuel Frazier, Samuel Blackburn, Timothy Philips, Joseph Ocamum. France Joseph . Isle of France Joseph Lovering. 13 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. LIST OF INDIANS AND MULATTOES. The following persons from several of the United States, being peo ple of colour, commonly called Mulattoes, are presumed to come within the intention of the same law, and are accordingly warned and directed to depart out of the Commonwealth before the loth day of October next. Rhode Island Peter Badger, Kelurah Allen, Waley Green, Silvia Babcock. Providence Polly Adams, Paul Jones. Connecticut John Brown, Polly Holland, John Way and Nancy Way, Peter Virginia, Leville Steward, Lucinda Orange, Anna Sprague, Britton Doras, Amos Willis, Frank Francies. New London Hannah Potter. New York Jacob and Nelly Cummings, James and Rebecca Smith, Judith Chew, John Schumagger, Thomas Willouby, Peggy Wil- louby, John Reading, Mary Reading, Charles Brown, John Miles, Han nah Williams, Betsy Harris, Douglass Brown, Susannah Foster, Thomas Burros, Mary Thomson, James and Freelove Buck, Lucy Glapcion, Lucy Lewis, Eliza Williams, Diana Bayle, Caesar and Sylvia Caton, Thompson, William Guin. Albany Elone Virginia, Abijah Reed and Lydia Reed, Abijah Reed, Jr., Rebecca Reed and Betsy Reed. New Jersey Stephen Boadley, Hannah Victor. Philadelphia Polly Boadley, James Long, Hannah Murray, Jere miah Green, Nancy Principeso, David Johnson, George Jackson Will iam Coak, Moses Long. Maryland Nancy Gust. Baltimore John Clark, Sally Johnson. Virginia Sally Hacker, Richard and John Johnson, Thomas Stew art, Anthony Paine, Mary Burk, William Hacker, Polly Losours, Betsy Guin, Lucy Brown. Africa Nancy Doras. 1 The constitutions of nearly all the States, statutes, or public sentiment drove the Negro from the ballot-box, excused him from the militia, and excluded him from the courts. Although born on the soil, a soldier in two wars, an industrious, law- abiding person, the Negro, nevertheless, was not regarded as a member of political society. He was taxed, but enjoyed no representation ; was governed by laws, and yet had no voice in making the laws. 1 Massachusetts Mercury, vol. xvi. No. 22, Sept. 16, 1780. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 13 J The doors of nearly all the schools of the entire North were shut in his face ; and the few separate schools accorded him were given grudgingly. They were usually held in the lecture-room of some Colored church edifice, or thrust off to one side in a portion of the city or town toward which aristocratic ambi tion would never turn. These schools were generally poorly equipped ; and the teachers were either Colored persons whose opportunities of securing an education had been poor, or white persons whose mental qualifications would not encourage them to make an honest living among their own race; there were noble exceptions. A deeply rooted prejudice shut the Negro out from the trades. He could not acquire the art of setting type, civil en gineering, building machinery, house carpentering, or any of the trades. The schools of medicine, law, and theology were not open to him ; and even if he secured admission into some gen tleman's office, or instruction from some divine, the future gave him no promise. The white wings of hope were broken in an ineffectual attempt to move against the bitter winds of persecu- cution, under the dark sky of hate and proscription. Corpora tions, churches, theatres, and political parties made the Negro a subject of official action. If a Negro travelled by stage coach, it was among the baggage in the "boot," or on top with the driver. If he were favored with a ride on a street car, it was in a separate car marked, "This car for Colored people" If he jour neyed any distance by rail, he was assigned to the " Jim Crow " car, or " smoker," where himself and family were subjected to inconvenience, insult, and the society of the lowest class of white rowdies. If he were hungry and weary at the end of the jour ney, there was "' no room for him in the inn," and, like his Master, was assigned a place among the cattle. If he were so fortunate as to get into a hotel as a servant, bearing the baggage of his master, he slept in the garret, and took his meals in the kitchen. It mattered not who the Colored man was whether it was Langston, the lawyer, McCune Smith, the physician, or Douglass, the orator he found no hotel that would give him accommodations. And forsooth, if some host had the temerity to admit a Negro to his dining-room, a dozen white guests would leave the hotel rather than submit to the " outrage ! " The places of amusements in all the large cities in the North excluded the Negro ; and when he did gain admission, he was 132 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. shown to the gallery, where he could enjoy peanut-hulls, boot blacks, and " black-legs." Occasionally the side door of a college was put ajar for some invincible Negro. But this was a per formance of very rare occurrence ; and the instances are easily remembered. When courts and parties, corporations and companies had re fused to accord the Negro the rights that were his due as a man, he carried his case to the highest earthly court, the Christian Church. He felt sure of sympathy and succor from this source. The Church had stood through the centuries as a refuge for the unfortunate and afflicted. But, alas ! the Church shrank from the Negro as if he had been a reptile. If he gained admission it was to the " Negro pew " in the " organ loft." If he secured the precious " emblems of the broken body and shed blood " of his Divine Master, it was after the " white folks " were through. If the cause of the Negro were mentioned in the prayer or ser mon, it was in the indistinct whisper of the moral coward who occupied the sacred desk. And when the fight was on at fever heat, when it was popular to plead the cause of the slave and demand the rights of the free Negro, the Church was the last organization in the country to take a position on the question ; and even then, her " moderation was known to all men." If the Negro had suffered from neglect only, had been left to solve the riddle of his anomalous existence without further embarrassment, it would have been well. But no, it was not so. Studied insolence jostled Colored men and women from the streets of the larger cities ; mobocratic violence broke up assem blages and churches of Colored people; and malice sought them in the quiet of their homes outraged and slew them in cold blood. Thus with the past as a haunting, bitter recollection, the present filled with fear and disaster, and the future a shapeless horror, think ye life was sweet to the Negro ? Bitter? Bitter as death ? Ay, bitter as hell ! Driven down from the lofty summit of laudable ambitions into the sultry plains of domestic drudgery and menial toil, nearly every ray of hope had perished upon the strained vision of the Negro. The only thing young Colored men could aspire to was the position of a waiter, the avocation of a barber, the place of a house-servant or groom, and teach or preach to their own people with little or no qualifications. Denied the opportu nities and facilities of securing an education, they were upbraided THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 133 by the press and pulpit, in private gatherings and public meet ings, for their ignorance, which was enforced by a narrow and contracted public prejudice. But " none of these things moved " the Negro. Undismayed he bowed to his herculean task with a complacency and courage worthy of any race or age of the world's history. The small encouragement that came to him from the conscientious minority of white men and women was as refreshing as the cool ocean breeze at even-tide to the feverish brow of a travel-soiled pilgrim. The Negro found it necessary to exert himself, to lift himself out of his social, mental, and political dilemma by the straps of his boots. Colored men turned their attention to the education of themselves and their children. Schools were begun, churches organized, and work of general improvement and self-culture en tered into with alacrity and enthusiasm. Boston had among its teachers the scholarly Thomas Paul ; among its clergymen Leonard A. Grimes and John T. Raymond; among its lawyers Robert Morris and E. G. Walker ; among its business men J. B. Smith and Coffin Pitts ; among its physicians John R. Rock and John V. DeGrasse ; among its authors Brown and Nell; and among its orators Remond and Hilton. Robert Morris was ad mitted to the bar in Boston, on Thursday, June 27, 1850, at a meeting of the members of the Suffolk County Bar. The record is as follows: "Resolved, That ROBERT MORRIS, Esq., be recommended for ad mittance to practice as a Counsellor and Attorney of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States. " (Signed) ELLIS GRAY LORING, Chairman. " CHAS. THEO. RUSSELL, Secretary." John V. DeGrasse, M.D., an eminent physician of Boston was perhaps the most accomplished Colored gentleman in New Eng land between 1850-1860. The following notice appeared in a Boston journal in August, 1854: " On the 24th of August, 1854, Mr. DeGrasse was admitted in due form a member of the * Massachusetts Medical Society.' It is the first instance of such honor being conferred upon a colored man in this State, at least, and probably in the country ; and therefore it deserves particular notice, both because the means by which he has reached this distinction are creditable to his own intelligence and perseverance, and because others of his class may be stimulated to seek an elevation which 134 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. has hitherto been supposed unattainable by men of color. The Doctor is a native of New York City, where he was born in June, 1825, and where he spent his time in private and public schools till 1840. He then entered the Oneida Institute, Beriah Green, President, and spent one year ; but as Latin was not taught there, he left and entered the Clinton Seminary, where he remained two years, intending to enter college in the fall of 1843. He was turned from this purpose, however, by the persuasions of a friend in France, and after spending two years in a college in that country, he returned to New York in November, 1845, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel R. Childs, of that city. There he spent two years in patient and diligent study, and then two more in attending the medical lectures of Bowdoin Col lege, Me. Leaving that institution with honor in May, 1849, he went again to Europe in the autumn of that year, and spent considerable time in the hospitals of Paris, travelling, at intervals, through parts of France, England, Italy, and Switzerland. Returning home in the ship * Samuel Fox,' in the capacity of surgeon, he was married in August, 1852, and since that time he has practised medicine in Boston. Earn ing a good reputation here by his diligence and skill, he was admitted a member of the Medical Society, as above stated. Many of our most respectable physicians visit and advise with him whenever counsel is required. The Boston medical profession, it must be acknowledged, has done itself honor in thus discarding the law of caste, and gener ously acknowledging real merit, without regard to the hue of the skin." The Colored population of New York was equal to the great emergency that required them to put forth their personal ex ertions. Dr. Henry Highland Garnet, Dr. Charles B. Ray, and the Rev. Peter Williams in the pulpit ; Charles L. Reason and William Peterson as teachers ; James McCune Smith and Philip A. White as physicians and chemists ; James Williams and Jacob Day among business men, did much to elevate the Negro in self- respect and self-support. Philadelphia early ranked among her foremost leaders of the Colored people, William Whipper, Stephen Smith, Robert Purvis, William Still, Frederick A. Hinton, and Joseph Cassey. From an inquiry instituted in 1837, it was ascertained that out of the 18,768 Colored people in Philadelphia, 250 had paid for their freedom the aggregate sum of $79,612, and that the real and per sonal property owned by them was near $1,500,000. There were returns of several chartered benevolent societies for the purpose of affording mutual aid in sickness and distress, and THE NOR THERN NEGROES. 1 3 5 there were sixteen houses of public worship, with over 4,000 com municants. And in Western Pennsylvania there were John Peck, John B. Vashon, Geo. Gardner, and Lewis Woodson. Every State in the North seemed to produce Colored men of marked ability to whom God committed a great work. Their examples of patient fortitude, industry, and frugality, and their determined efforts to obtain knowledge and build up character, stimulated the youth of the Negro race to greater exertions in the upward direction. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized as early as 1816. Its churches grew and its ministry increased in numbers, intelligence, and piety, until it became the most powerful organization of Colored men on the continent. The influence of this organization upon the Colored race in America was excel lent. It brought the people together, not only in religious sym pathy, but by the ties of a common interest in all affairs of their race and condition. The men in the organization who possessed the power of speech, who had talents to develop, and an am bition to serve their race, found this church a wide field of use fulness. The Colored Baptists were organized before the Methodists, [in Virginia,] but their organization has always lacked strength. The form of government, being purely Democratic, was adapted to a people of larger intelligence and possessed of greater ca pacity for self-government. But, notwithstanding this fact, the " independent " order of Colored Baptists gave the members and clergymen of the denomination exalted ideas of government, and abiding confidence in the capacity of the Negro for self-govern ment. No organization of Colored people in America has pro duced such able men as the Colored Baptist Church. In Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, Colored men dis tinguished themselves in the pulpit, in the forum, in business, and letters. William Howard Day, of Cleveland, during this period [1850-1860] Librarian of the Cleveland Library and editor of a newspaper; John Mercer Langston, of Oberlin ; John Liverpool and John I.. Gaines, of Cincinnati, Ohio, were good men and true. What they did for their race was done worthily and well. At the Ohio Anti-Slavery Convention, held at Putnam on the 22d, 23d, and 24th of April, 1835, the committee on the condition of the " people of Color," made the following report from Cincinnati : 136 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The number of Colored people in Cincinnati is about 2,500. As illustrating their general condition, we will give the statistics of one or two small districts. The families in each were visited from house to house, taking them all as far as we went : Number of families in one of these districts ... 26 of individuals ....... 125 of heads of families ...... 49 of heads of families who are professors of religion . 19 of children at school . . ... . . 20 of heads of families who have been slaves . . 39 of individuals who have been slaves ... 95 Time since they obtained their freedom, from i to 15 years ; average, 7 years. Number of individuals who have purchased themselves . 23 Whole amount paid for themselves ..... $9,112 Number of fathers and mothers still in slavery . . 9 " of children 18 of brothers and sisters 98 of newspapers taken ...... o of heads of families who can read 2 EMPLOYMENT OF HEADS OE FAMILIES. Common laborers and porters . . . . 7 Dealers in second-hand clothing ..... i Hucksters ......... i Carpenters 2 Shoe-blacks ......... 6 Cooks and waiters ........ n Washer-women 18 Five of these women purchased themselves from slavery. One paid four hundred dollars for herself, and has since bought a house and lot worth six hundred dollars. All this she has done by washing. Another individual had bargained for his wife and two children. Their master agreed to take four hundred and twenty dollars for them. He succeeded at length in raising the money, which he carried to their owner. " I shall charge you thirty dollars more than when you was here before," said the planter, " for your wife is in a family-way, and you may pay thirty dollars for that or not take her, just as you please." THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 137 " And so," said he (patting the head of a little son, three years old, who hung upon his knee), " I had to pay thirty dollars for this little fellow six months before he was born." Number of families in another district .... 63 of individuals ....... 258 " of heads of families 106 " of families who are professors of religion . . 16 of heads of families at school .... 53 of newspapers taken 7 Amount of property in real estate ..... $9,850 Number of individuals who have been slaves . . . 108 " of heads of families who have 'been slaves . . 69 Age at which they obtained their freedom, from 3 months to 60 years ; average, 33 years. Time since they obtained their freedom, from 4 weeks to 27 years ; average, 9 years. Number of heads of families who have purchased themselves, 36 Whole amount paid for themselves .... $21,515.00 Average price ....... $597.64 Number of children which the same families have already purchased . . . . . . . . 14 Whole amount paid for these children . . . $2,425.75 Average price $173.27 Total amount paid for these parents and children . $23,940.75 Number of parents still in slavery ..... 16 of husbands or wives ...... 7 of children 35 of brothers and sisters ...... 144 These districts were visited without the least reference to their being exhibited separately. If they give a fair specimen of the whole popu lation (and we believe that to be a fact), then we have the following re sults : 1,129 of the Colored population of Cincinnati have been in slavery ; 476 have purchased themselves, at the total expense of $215,522.04, averaging for each, $452.77 ; 163 parents are still in slavery, 68 husbands and wives, 346 children, 1,579 brothers and sisters. There are a large number in the city who are now working out their own freedom their free papers being retained as security. One man of our acquaintance has just given his master seven notes of one hun dred dollars each, one of which he intends to pay every year, till he has paid them all ; his master promises then to give him his free papers. After paying for himself, he intends to buy his wife and then his chil- 138 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. dren. Others are buying their husbands or wives, and. others again their parents or children. To show that on this subject they have sympathies like other people, we will state a single fact. A young man, after purchasing himself, earned three hundred dollars. This sum he supposed was sufficient to purchase his aged mother, a widow, whom he had left in slavery five years before, in Virginia. Hearing that she was for sale, he started immediately to purchase her. But, after trav elling five hundred miles, and offering all his money, he was refused. Not because she was not for sale, nor because he did not offer her full value. She had four sons and daughters with her, and the planter thought he could do better to keep the family together and send them all down the river. In vain the affectionate son pleaded for his mother. The planter's heart was steel. He would not sell her, and with a heavy heart the young man returned to Cincinnati. He has since heard that they were sold in the New Orleans market " in lots to suit purchasers." Cincinnati produced quite a number of business men among her Colored population. HENRY BOYD was born in the State of Kentucky, on the I4th day of May, 1802. He received some instruction in reading and writing. He was bound out to a gentleman, from whom he learned the cabinet-making trade. He developed at quite an early age a genius for working in all kinds of wood could make any thing in the business. He came to Ohio in 1826, and located in Cin cinnati. He was a fine-looking man of twenty-four years, and a master mechanic. He expected to secure employment in some of the cabinet shops in the city. Accordingly, he applied at several, but as often as he applied he was refused employment on the ground of complexional prejudice. In some instances the proprietor was willing that a Colored man should work for him, but the white mechanics would not work by the side of a Colored man. In other cases it was quite different. The proprietors would not entertain the idea of securing the services of a " Black- mechanic." So it was for weeks that Mr. Boyd sought an op portunity to use his skill in the direction of his genius and train ing; but he sought in vain. Disappointed, though not disheart- ened, he turned to the work of a stevedore, which he did for four months. At the expiration of this time he found employment with a house-builder. Within six months from the time he be- THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 139 gan work as a builder he had so thoroughly mastered the trade that he quit working as a journeyman, formed a co-partnership with a white man, and went into business. The gentleman with whom he joined his fortunes was a mechanic of excellent abili ties, and acknowledged the superior fitness of Boyd for the business. As a builder he succeeded first-rate for four years. But his color was against him. His white partner would make the con tracts, secure the jobs, and then Boyd would come forward when the work was to be done. He had an abundance of work, and always finished it to the entire satisfaction of his patrons. It is impossible to estimate just how many houses he built, but the number is not small. He had made a beginning, and secured some capital. He did not like the builder's trade, and only en tered it at the first from necessity as a stepping-stone to his own trade, for which he had a great deal of enthusiasm. In 1836, ten years after his arrival in Cincinnati, he engaged in the manufacture of bedsteads. For six years he carried on this busi ness found a ready market and liberal pay. He brought to his business some of the oldest buyers in the bedstead line, and had a trade that kept him busy at all seasons of the year. His very excellent business habits won for him many friends, and through their solicitations he enlarged his business by manufacturing all kinds of furniture. He put up a building on the corner of Eighth Street and Broadway, where he carried on his manufacturing from 1836 till 1859, a period of twenty-three years. His business required four large buildings and a force of skilful workmen, never less than twenty, frequently fifty. He used the most approved ma chinery and paid excellent wages. His manufactory presented, perhaps, what was never seen in this country before or since. His workmen represented almost all the leading races. There were Negroes, Americans, Irishmen,. Scotchmen, Englishmen, Frenchmen, and men of other nation alities. And they did n't bite each other ! Their relations were, pleasant. He was burned out three times, but he rebuilt and went ahead'.. He was doing such an extensive business that some thought it advisable to destroy his buildings. His losses were very heavy, yet he kept right on, and kept up his business for some time ; but finally had to yield at the last fire, when he had no insur ance. 140 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. He invented a machine to turn the rails of a bed, but being a Colored man he could not take out a patent. He, therefore, had one taken out in the name of a white gentleman. "The Boyd bedstead " sold throughout the United States then, and was popular for many years after he quit the business. He has been engaged in several different businesses since he quit manufacturing, and for the last nine years has been in the employ of the city. SAMUEL T. WILCOX. In 1850 Samuel T. Wilcox decided to embark in some busi ness venture in Cincinnati. Accordingly he built a store on the northeast corner of Broadway and Fifth streets. He at once oc cupied it as a grocer. In those days fancy groceries were not kept. But Mr. Wilcox opened a new era in the business. He introduced fancy articles, such as all varieties of canned fruit, choice liquors, cigars, first quality of hams, all kinds of dried fruit, the best brands of sugars, molasses, and fine soaps. He made a specialty of these, and succeeded admirably. His trade was divided between two classes the finest river packets and the best families of the city. His customers were the very best families people of wealth and high standing. And perhaps no grocer of his times in Cincinnati did so large a busi ness as Samuel T. Wilcox. His business increased rapidly until he did about $140,000 of trade per year / This continued for six years, when his social habits were not favorable to permanent success. He had been sole owner of the business up to this time. He sold out one half of the store to Charles Roxboro, Sr. ; thus the firm name became " Wilcox & Roxboro." The latter gentleman was energetic and business-like in his habits. He cast his courage and marvellous tact against the high tide of business disaster that came sweeping along in the last days of the firm. He re sorted to every honorable and safe expedient in order to avert failure. But the handwriting was upon the wall. He failed. Wilcox had begun business with $25,000 cash. He had accumu lated $60,000 in real estate, and had transacted $140,000 of business in a single year ! He failed because his life was im moral, his habits extravagant, and his attention to business in different. THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 141 ALEX. S. THOMAS. This gentleman came to Cincinnati in 1852, where he made the acquaintance of a Colored gentleman of intelligence, J. P. Ball, who was in the daguerrian business at Nos. 28 and 30 West Fourth Street. Mr. Thomas became affianced to Miss Eliza beth Ball, sister of J. P. Ball ; and after they were married, Mr. Thomas accepted the position of reception clerk for his brother- in-law. He filled this position with credit and honor for the space of one year. It was now 1853. Daguerrotypes were all the " rage." Photography was unknown. Mr. Ball had an excellent run of custom, and was making money rapidly. As operator, Mr. Ball soon discovered that Mr. Thomas was a man of quick perception, thorough, and entirely trustworthy. He soon became familiar with the instrument, and in 1854 began to " operate." He continued at the instrument during the re mainder of the time he spent at 28 West Fourth Street. He shortly acquired the skill of an old and well-trained operator; and his success in this department of the business added greatly to the already well-established reputation of the gallery. Mr. Thomas was not satisfied with being a successful clerk and first-class operator. He wanted to go into business for him self. Accordingly he opened a gallery at No. 120 West Fourth Street, near the "Commercial," under the firm name of " Ball & Thomas." The rooms were handsomely fitted up, and the building leased for five years. In May, 1860, a severe tornado passed over the city, destroy ing much property and several lives. The roof of the Commer cial [Potter's Building] was carried away ; part passed over the gallery of Ball & Thomas, while part went through the operating room, and some fragments of timber, etc., penetrated a saloon in the rear of the photographic gallery, and killed a child and a woman. The gallery was a complete wreck, the instruments, chemicals, scenery, cases, pictures, carpets, furniture, and every thing else, were ruined. This was in the early days of the firm. All their available capital had been converted into stock, used in fitting up the gallery. Ball & Thomas were young men they were Colored men, and were financially ruined. Apparently their business was at an end. But they were artists ; and many white families in Cincinnati recognized them as such. Their white friends came to the rescue. The gallery was fitted up again most elaborately, and was known as " the finest photo graphic gallery west of the Alleghany Mountains." 142 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. This marked a distinct era in the history of the firm, and many persons often remarked that the luckiest moment in their history was when the roof of the Commercial building sat down upon them. For years the best families of the city patronized the famous firm of Ball & Thomas. They had more business than they could attend to at times, and consequently had to en gage extra help. These were years of unprecedented success. One hundred dollars a day was small money then. The firm be came quite wealthy. After spending fifteen years at 120 they returned to 30 West Fourth Street, where they remained until May, 1874. Photographers move considerable, and it is seldom that men in this business remain in one street or building as long as Ball & Thomas. They passed twenty-one of the best years of the firm in Fourth Street. This is both a compliment to the public and themselves. It shows, on the one hand, that Colored men can conduct business like white men, and, on the other hand, if Colored men have ability to carry on any kind of business, white people will patrcnize them. The old stand at 30 West Fourth Street was fitted up anew, and business began with all the wonted zeal and desire to please the public which characterized the firm in former years. The rooms were at once elegant and capacious. Their motto was to do the best work at the cheapest rates. But as in all other busi nesses, so in photographic art, there was competition. And rather than do poor work at the low rates of competitors, they de cided to remove to another locality. Accordingly, in May, 1874, they moved into No. 146 West Fifth Street. The building was leased for a term of years. It was in no wise adapted to the photographic business. The walls were cut out, doors made, stairs changed, skylight put in, chemical rooms constructed, gas- fixtures put in, papering, painting, and graining done, carpets and new furniture ordered. It cost the firm more than $2,800 to enter this new stand. The first year at the new stand was characterized by liberal' custom and excellent work. The old customers who were de lighted with the work done at 30 West Fourth Street, were con vinced that the firm had redoubled its artistic zeal, and was de termined to outdo the palmy days of Fourth Street. The business, which at this time was in a flourishing condition, was destined to suffer an interruption in the death of Thomas Carroll THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 143 the senior member of the firm. It was at a time when the trade demanded the energies of both gentlemen. But Death never tarries to consider the far-reach of results or the wishes of the friends of his subject. The business continued. Ball Thomas, the son of Mr. A. S. Thomas, who had grown up under the faith ful tuition of his father, now became a successful retouching artist. For the last two years Mr. Thomas has cpnducted the business alone. He is now doing business at 166 West Fifth Street, and it is said that he is doing a good business. The Colored people of Cincinnati evinced not only an anxiety to take care of themselves, but took steps early toward securing a home for the orphans in their midst. In ante-bellum days there was no provision made for Colored paupers or Colored orphans. Where individual sympathy or charity did not intervene, they were left to die in the midst of squalid poverty, and were cast into the common ditch, without having medical aid or ministerial consolation. There was not simply studious neglect, but a strong prohibition against their entrance into institutions sustained by the county and State for white persons not more fortunate than they. At one time a good Quaker was superintendent of the county poorhouse. His heart was touched with kindest sympathy for the uncared- for Colored paupers in Cincinnati. He acted the part of a true Samaritan, and gave them separate quarters in the institution of which he was the official head. This fact came to the public ear, and the trustees of the poorhouse, in accordance with their own convictions and in compliance with the complexional preju dices of the community, discharged the Quaker for this breach of the law. The Colored paupers were turned out of this lazar- house on the Sabbath. The time to perpetuate this crime against humanity was indeed significant on the Lord's day. The God of the poor and His followers beheld the streets of Christian Cincinnati filled with the maimed, halt, sick, and poor, who were denied the common fare accorded the white paupers ! There was no sentiment in those days, either in the pulpit or press, to raise its voice against this act of cruelty and shame. Lydia P. Mott, an eminent member of the Society of Friends and an able leader of a conscientious few, espoused the cause of the motherless, fatherless, and homeless Colored children of this community. She attracted the attention and won the confi- 144 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. dence of the few Abolitionists of this city. She determined to* establish a home for these little wanderers, and immediately set to work at a plan. The late Salmon P. Chase was then quite young, a man of brilliant abilities and of anti-slavery sentiments. He joined himself to the humane movement of Lydia P. Mott, with the following persons : Christian Donaldson, James Pullan, William Donaldson, Robert Buchanan, John Liverpool, Richard Phillips, John Woodson, Charles Satchell, Wm. W. Watson, William Darnes, Michael Clark, A. M. Sumner, Reuben P. Gra ham, Louis P. Brux, Sarah B. McLain, Mrs. Eustis, Mrs. Dr. Stanton, Mrs. Hannah Cooper, Mrs. Mary Jane Gordon, Mrs. Susan Miller, Mrs. Rebecca Darnes, Mrs. Charlotte Armstrong, Mrs. Eliza Clark, Mrs. Ruth Ellen Watson, and others. Six of the gentlemen and four of the ladies were white. Only six of this noble company are living at this time. The organization was effected in 1844, an d the act of incor poration was drawn up by Salmon P. Chase. It was chartered in February, .1845, the passage of the act having been assured through the personal influence of Mr. Chase upon the members of the Legislature. The first Board of Trustees under the charter were William Donaldson, John Woodson, Richard Phillips, Christian Donald son, Reuben P. Graham, Richard Pullan, Charles Satchell, Louis P. Brux, and John Liverpool. But one is alive Richard Pullan. The first building th"e Trustees secured as an asylum was on Ninth Street, between Plum and Elm. They paid a rental of $12.50 per month. The building was owned by Mr. Nicholas Longworth, but the ground was leased by him from Judge Bur- net. The Trustees ultimately purchased the building for $1,500; and in 1851 the ground also was purchased of Mr. Groesbeck for $4,400 in cash. During the three or four years following, the institution had quite an indifferent career. The money requisite to run it was not forthcoming. The children were poorly fed and clothed, and many times there was no money in the treasury at all. The Trustees were discouraged, and it seemed that the asylum would have to be closed. But just at this time that venerable Aboli tionist and underground railroader, Levi Coffin, with his excellent wife, " Aunt Kitty," came to the rescue. He took charge of the institution as superintendent, and his wife assumed the duties of matron. Through their exertions and adroit management they THE NORTHERN NEGROES. 145 succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of many benevolent folk, and secured the support of many true friends. It was now 1866. The asylum building presented a forlorn aspect. It was far from being a comfortable shelter for the chil dren. But a lack of funds forbade the Trustees from having it repaired. They began to look about for a more desirable and comfortable building. During the closing year of the Rebellion a large number of freedmen sought the shelter of our large Northern cities. Cincinnati received her share of them, and acted nobly toward them. The government authorities built a hospital for freedmen in a very desirable locality in Avondale. At this time (1866), the building, which was very capacious, was not occupied. The Trustees secured a change in the charter, permitting them, by consent of the subscribers, to sell the Ninth Street property, and purchase the hospital building and the ac companying six acres in Avondale. The Ninth Street property brought $9,000; the purchase in Avondale, refitting, etc., cost $11,000, incurring a debt of $2,000. During the first twenty-two years of the institution much good was accomplished. Hundreds of children orphans and friendless children found shelter in the asylum, which existed only through the almost superhuman efforts of the intelligent Colored persons in the community, and the unstinted charity of many generous white persons. The asylum has been pervaded with a healthy religious atmosphere ; and many of its inmates have gone forth to the world giving large promise of usefulness. An occa sional letter from former inmates often proves that much good has been done ; and that some of these children, without the kindly influence and care of the asylum, instead of occupying places of usefulness and trust in society, might have drifted into vagrancy and crime. Amidst the struggle for temporal welfare, the Colored people of Cincinnati were not unmindful of the interests and destinies of the Union. A military company was formed, bearing the name of Attucks Guards. On the 25th of July, 1855, an associa tion of ladies presented a flag to the company. The address, on the part of the ladies, was delivered by Miss Mary A. Darnes. Among many excellent things, she said : " Should the love of liberty and your country ever demand your ser vices, may you, in imitation of that noble patriot whose name you bear, 146 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. promptly respond to the call, and fight to the last for the great and noble principles of liberty and justice, to the glory of your fathers and the land of your birth. " The time is not far distant when the slave must be free ; if not by moral and intellectual means, it must be done by the sword. Remem ber, gentlemen, should duty call, it will be yours to obey, and strike to the last for freedom or the grave. " But God forbid that you should be called upon to witness our peaceful homes involved in war. May our eyes never behold this flag in any conflict ; let the quiet breeze ever play among its folds, and the fullest peace dwell among you ! " While the great majority of the Colored people in the coun try were bowing themselves cheerfully to the dreadful task of living among wolves, some of the race were willing to brave the perils of the sea, and find a new home on the West Coast of Africa. Between the years of 1850-1856, 9,502 Negroes went to Liberia, of whom 3,676 had been born free. In 1850, there were 1,467 manumitted, while 1,011 ran away from their masters. Notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which the free Negroes of the North had to labor, they accomplished a great deal. In an incredibly short time they built schools, planted churches, established newspapers ; had their representatives in law, medicine, and theology before the world as the marvel of the centuries. Shut out from every influence calculated to incite them to a higher life, and provoke them to better works, never theless, the Colored people were enabled to live down much prejudice, and gained the support and sympathy of noble men and women of the Anglo-Saxon race. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 147 CHAPTER XII. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 1619-1860. VE POSSIBILITIES OF THE HUMAN INTELLECT. IGNORANCE FAVORABLE TO SLAVERY. AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA IMPOSING A PENALTY ON ANY ONE INSTRUCTING A COLORED PERSON. EDUCATIONAL PRIVILEGES OF THE CREOLES IN THE CITY OF MOBILE. PREJUDICE AGAINST COLORED SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT. THE ATTEMPT OF Miss PRUDENCE CRANDALL. TO ADMIT COLORED GIRLS INTO HER SCHOOL AT CANTERBURY. THE INDIGNATION OF THE CITIZENS AT THIS ATTEMPT TO Mix THE RACES IN EDUCATION. THE LEGISLATURE OF CON NECTICUT PASSES A LAW ABOLISHING THE SCHOOL. THE BUILDING ASSAULTED BY A MOB. Miss CRANDALL ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED FOR TEACHING COLORED CHILDREN AGAINST THE LAW. GREAT EXCITEMENT. THE LAW FINALLY REPEALED. AN ACT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF DELAWARE TAXING PERSONS WHO BROUGHT INTO, OR SOLD SLAVES OUT OF, THE STATE. UNDER ACT OF 1829 MONEY RECEIVED FOR THE SALE OF SLAVES IN FLORIDA WAS ADDED TO THE SCHOOL FUND IN THAT STATE. GEORGIA PROHIBITS THE EDUCATION OF COLORED PER SONS UNDER HEAVY PENALTY. ILLINOIS ESTABLISHES SEPARATE SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHIL DREN. THE "FREE MISSION INSTITUTE" AT QUINCY, ILLINOIS, DESTROYED BY A MISSOURI MOB. NUMEROUS AND CRUEL SLAVE LAWS IN KENTUCKY RETARD THE EDUCATION OF THE NEGROES. AN ACT PASSED IN LOUISIANA PREVENTING THE NEGROES IN ANY WAY FROM BEING INSTRUCTED. - MAINE GIVES EQUAL SCHOOL PRIVILEGES TO WHITES AND BLACKS. ST. FRANCIS ACADEMY FOR COLORED GIRLS FOUNDED IN BALTIMORE IN 1831. THE WELLS SCHOOL. THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED IN BOSTON BY INTELLI GENT COLORED MEN IN 1798. A SCHOOL-HOUSE FOR THE COLORED CHILDREN BUILT AND PAID FOR OUT OF A FUND LEFT BY AeiEL SMITH FOR THAT PURPOSE. JOHN B. RuSSWORM ONE OF THE TEACHERS AND AFTERWARD GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF CAPE PALMAS, LIBERIA. FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL FOR COLORED CHILDREN ESTABLISHED IN 1820. MISSOURI PASSES STRINGENT LAWS AGAINST THE INSTRUCTION OF NEGROES. NEW YORK PROVIDES FOR THE EDUCATION OF NEGROES. ELIAS NEAU OPENS A SCHOOL IN NEW YORK CITY FOR NEGRO SLAVES IN 1704. "NEW YORK AFRICAN FREE SCHOOL" IN 1786. VISIT OF LAFAY ETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOLS IN 1824. His ADDRESS. PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN IN NEW YORK. COLORED SCHOOLS IN OHIO. "CINCINNATI HIGH SCHOOL" FOR COLORED YOUTHS FOUNDED IN 1844. OBERLIN COLLEGE OPENS ITS DOORS TO COLORED STU DENTS. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COLORED SCHOOLS IN PENNSYLVANIA BY ANTHONY BENEZET IN 1750. His WILL. "INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTHS" ESTABLISHED IN 1837. "AVERV COLLEGE," AT ALLEGHENY CITY, PENNSYLVANIA, FOUNDED IN 1849. ASHMUN INSTITUTE, OR LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, FOUNDED IN OCTOBER, 1856. SOUTH CAROLINA TAKES DEFINITE ACTION AGAINST THE EDUCATION OR PROMOTION OF THE COLORED RACE IN 1800-1803-1834. TENNESSEE MAKES NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST COLOR IN THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1840. LITTLE OPPORTU NITY AFFORDED IN VIRGINIA FOR THE COLORED MAN TO BE ENLIGHTENED. STRINGENT LAWS ENACTED. HISTORY OF SCHOOLS FOR THE COLORED POPULATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. "*HE institution of American slavery needed protection from the day of its birth to the day of its death. Whips, thumb screws, and manacles of iron were far less helpful to it than the thraldom of the intellects of its hapless victims. " Created a little lower than the angels," " crowned with glory and honor," 148 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. armed with authority " over every living creature," man was in, tended by his Maker to rule the world through his intellect. The homogeneousness of the crude faculties of man has been quite generally admitted throughout the world ; while even scientists, differing widely in many other things, have united in ascribing to the human mind everywhere certain possibilities. But one class of men have dissented from this view the slave-holders of all ages. A justification of slavery has been sought in the alleged belief of the inferiority of the persons enslaved ; while the broad truism of the possibilities of the human mind was confessed in all legislation that sought to prevent slaves from acquiring knowledge. So the slave-holder asserted his belief in the men tal inferiority of the Negro, and then advertised his lack of faith in his assertion by making laws to prevent the Negro intellect from receiving those truths which would render him valueless as a slave, but equal to the duties of a freeman. ALABAMA had an act in 1832 which declared that "Any person or persons who shall attempt to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indict ment, be fined in a sum not less than $250, nor more than $500." This act also prohibited with severe penalties, by flogging, " any free negro or person of color" from being in company with any slaves without written permission from the owner or over seer of such slaves ; it also prohibited the assembling of more than five male slaves at any place off the plantation to which they belonged ; but nothing in the act was to be considered as forbidding attendance at places of public worship held by white persons. No slave or free person of color was permitted to "preach, exhort, or harangue any slave or slaves, or free persons of color, except in the presence of five respectable slave-holders,, or unless the person preaching was licensed by some regular body of professing Christians in the neighborhood, to whose society or church the negroes addressed properly belonged." In 1833, the mayor and aldermen of the city of Mobile were authorized by an act of the Legislature to grant licenses to such persons as they deemed suitable to give instruction to the chil dren of free Colored Creoles. This applied only to those who re sided in the city of Mobile and county of Baldwin. The instruction was to be given at brief periods, and the children had to secure a NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 149 certificate from the mayor and aldermen. The ground of this action was the treaty between France and the United States in 1803, by which the rights and privileges of citizens had been secured to the Creoles residing in the above places at the time of the treaty. ARKANSAS, so far as her laws appear, did not prohibit the education of Negroes ; but a study of her laws leaves the impression that the Negroes there were practically denied the right of instruc tion. CONNECTICUT never legislated against educating Colored persons, but the preju dice was so strong that it amounted to the same thing. The intolerant spirit of the whites drove the Colored people of Hartford to request a separate school in 1830. Prejudice was so great against the presence of a Colored school in a com munity of white people, that a school, established by a very worthy white lady, was mobbed and then legislated out of ex istence. " In the summer of 1832, Miss Prudence Crandall, an excellent, well-educated Quaker young lady, who had gained considerable repu tation as a teacher in the neighboring town of Plainfield, purchased, at the solicitation of a number of families in the village of Canterbury, Connecticut, a commodious house in that village, for the purpose of es tablishing a boarding and day school for young ladies, in order that they might receive instruction in higher branches than were taught in the public district school. Her school was well conducted, but was in terrupted early in 1833 in this wise : Not far from the village a worthy colored man was living, by the name of Harris, the owner of a good farm, and in comfortable circumstances. His daughter Sarah, a bright girl, seventeen years of age, had passed with credit through the public school of the district in which she lived, and was anxious to acquire a better education, to qualify herself to become a teacher of the colored people. She applied to Miss Crandall for admission to her school. Miss Crandall hesitated, for prudential reasons, to admit a colored per son among her pupils ; but Sarah was a young lady of pleasing appear ance and manners, well known to many of Miss Crandall's present pupils, having been their classmate in the district school, and was, more over, a virtuous, pious girl, and a member of the church in Canterbury. No objection could be made to her admission, except on acount of her complexion, and Miss Crandall decided to receive her as a pupil. 150 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. No objection was made by the other pupils, but in a few days the parents of some of them called on Miss Crandall and remonstrated ; and although Miss Crandall pressed upon their consideration the eager de sire of Sarah for knowledge and culture, and the good use she wished to make of her education, her excellent character, and her being an ac cepted member of the same Christian church to which they belonged, they were too much prejudiced to listen to any arguments 'they would not have it said that their daughters went to school with a nigger girl.' It was urged that if Sarah was not dismissed, the white pupils would be withdrawn ; but although the fond hopes of success for an institution which she had established at the risk of all her property, and by incurring a debt of several hundred dollars, seemed to be doomed to disappointment, she decided not to yield to the demand for the dismissal of Sarah ; and on the 26. day of March, 1833, she adver tised in the * Liberator ' that on the first Monday in April her school would be open for 'young ladies and little misses of color.' Her deter mination having become known, a fierce indignation was kindled and fanned by prominent people of the village and pervaded the town. In this juncture, the Rev, Samuel J. May, of the neighboring town of Brooklyn, addressed her a letter of sympathy, expressing his readiness to assist her to the extent of his power, and was present at the town meeting held on the pth of March, called for the express purpose of devising and adopting such measures as ' would effectually avert the nuisance or speedily abate it if it should be brought into the village.' " The friends of Miss Crandall were authorized by her to state to the moderator of the town meeting that she would give up her house, which was one of the most conspicuous in the village, and not wholly paid for, if those who were opposed to her school being there would take the property off her hands at the price for which she had pur chased it, and which was deemed a reasonable one, and allow her time to procure another house in a more retired part of the town. " The town meeting was held in the meeting-house, which, though capable of holding a thousand people, was crowded throughout to its utmost capacity. After the warning for the meeting had been read, resolutions were introduced in which were set forth the disgrace and damage that would be brought upon the town if a school for colored girls should be set up there, protesting emphatically against the im pending evil, and appointing the civil authority and select-men a com mittee to wait upon * the person contemplating the establishment of said school, and persuade her, if possible, to abandon the project.' "The resolutions were advocated by Rufus Adams, Esq., and Hon. Andrew T. Judson, who was then the most prominent man of the town, and a leading politician in the State, and much talked of as the Demo- NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 151 cratic candidate for governor, and was a representative in Congress from 1835 to l8 39> when he was elected judge of the United States District Court, which position he held until his death in 1853, adjudi cating, among other causes, the libel of the ' Amistad ' and the fifty-four Africans on board. After his address on this occasion, Mr. May, in company with Mr. Arnold Buffum, a lecturing agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, applied for permission to'speak in behalf of Miss Crandall, but their application was violently opposed, and the resolu tions being adopted, the meeting was declared, by the moderator, ad journed. " Mr. May at once stepped upon the seat where he had been sitting, and rapidly vindicated Miss Crandall, replying to some of the mis- statements as to her purposes and the character of her expected pupils, when he gave way to Mr. Buffum, who had spoken scarcely five minutes before the trustees of the church ordered the house to be vacated and the doors to be shut. There was then no alternative but to yield. " Two days afterward Mr. Judson called on Mr. May, with whom he had been on terms of a pleasant acquaintance, not to say of friendship, and expressed regret that he had applied certain epithets to him ; and went on to speak of the disastrous effect on the village from the estab lishment of ' a school for nigger girls.' Mr. May replied that his purpose was, if he had been allowed to do so, to state at the town meeting Miss Crandall's proposition to sell her house in the village at its fair valuation, and retire to some other part of the town. To this Mr. Judson replied : ' Mr. May, we are not merely opposed to the es tablishment of that school in Canterbury, we mean there shall not be such a school set up anywhere in the State.' " Mr. Judson continued, declaring that the colored people could never rise from their menial condition in our country, and ought not to be permitted to rise here ; that they were an inferior race and should not be recognized as the equals of the whites ; that they should be sent back to Africa, and improve themselves there, and civilize and Christianize the natives. To this Mr. May replied that there never would be fewer colored people in this country than there were then ; that it was unjust to drive them . out of the country ; that we must ac cord to them their rights or incur the loss of our own ; that education was the primal, fundamental right of all the children of men ; and that Connecticut was the last place where this should be denied. " The conversation was continued in a similar strain, in the course of which Mr. Judson declared with warmth : * That nigger school shall never be allowed in Canterbury, nor in any town of this State ' ; and he avowed his determination to secure the passage of a law by the Legislature then in session, forbidding the institution of such a school in any part of the State. 152 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Undismayed by the opposition and the threatened violence of her neighbors, Miss Crandall received, early in April, fifteen or twenty colored young ladies and misses from Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Boston, and the annoyances of her persecutors at once commenced : all accommodations at the stores in Canterbury being denied her, her pupils being insulted whenever they appeared on the streets, the doors and door-steps of her house being besmeared, and her well filled with filth ; under all of which, both she and her pupils remained firm. Among other means used to intimidate, an attempt was made to drive away those innocent girls by a process under the obsolete vagrant law, which provided that the select-men of any town might warn any person, not an inhabitant of the State, to depart forthwith, demanding $1.67 for every week he or she remained after receiving such warning ; and in case the fine was not paid and the person did not depart before the expiration of ten days after being sentenced, then he or she should be whipped on the naked body, not exceeding ten stripes. " A warrant to that effect was actually served upon Eliza Ann Ham mond, a fine girl from Providence, aged seventeen years ; but it was finally abandoned, and another method was resorted to, most disgrace ful to the State as well as the town. Foiled in their attempts to frighten Tway Miss Crandall's pupils by their proceedings under the obso lete < pauper and vagrant law,' Mr. Judson and those who acted with him pressed upon the Legislature, then in session, a demand for the enactment of a law which should enable them to accomplish their pur pose ; and in that bad purpose they succeeded, by securing the follow ing enactment, on the 24th of May, 1833, known as the ''black law' " ' Whereas, attempts have been made to establish literary institu tions in this State for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other States and countries, which would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the State, and thereby to the injury of the people : therefore, " * Be it enacted, etc., That no person shall set up or establish in this State any school, academy, or other literary institution for the instruc tion or education of colored persons, who are not inhabitants of this State, or harbor or board, for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such school, academy, or literary institution, any colored person who is not an inhabitant of any town in this State, with out the consent in writing, first obtained, of a majority of the civil au thority, and also of the select-men of the town in which such school, academy, or literary institution is situated,' etc. " * And each and every person who shall knowingly do any act for bidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein, shall for the first offense forfeit and pay to the treasurer of this State a fine of $100, and for the second offense $200, and so double for every offense of NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 153 which he or she shall be convicted ; and all informing officers are re quired to make due presentment of all breaches of this act.' " On the receipt of the tidings of the passage of this law, the people of Canterbury were wild with exultation ; the bells were rung and a cannon was fired to manifest the joy. On the 27th of June, Miss Crandall was arrested and arraigned before Justices Adams and Bacon, two of those who had been the earnest opponents of her enterprise ; and the result being predetermined, the trial was of course brief, and Miss Crandall was * committed ' to take her trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Brooklyn, in August. A messenger was at once dispatched by the party opposed to Miss Crandall to Brooklyn, to in form Mr. May, as her friend, of the result of the trial, stating that she was in the hands of the sheriff, and would be put in jail unless he or some of her friends would ' give bonds ' for her in a certain sum." The denouement may be related most appropriately in the language of Mr. May : " I calmly told the messenger that there were gentlemen enough in Canterbury whose bond for that amount would be as good or better than mine, and I should leave it for them to do Miss Crandall that favor. 'But,' said the young man, 'are you not her friend?' 'Cer tainly,' I replied, * too sincerely her friend to give relief to her enemies in their present embarrassment, and I trust you will not find any one of her friends, or the patrons of her school, who will step forward to help them any more than myself.' ' But, sir,' he cried, * do you mean to allow her to be put in jail ? ' ' Most certainly,' was my answer, ' if her persecutors are unwise enough to let such an outrage be commit ted.' He turned from me in blank surprise, and hurried back to tell Mr. Judson and the justices of his ill success. " A few days before, when I first heard of the passage of the law, I had visited Miss Crandall with my friend, Mr. George W. Benson, and advised with her as to the course she and her friends ought to pursue when she should be brought to trial. She appreciated at once and fully the importance of leaving her persecutors to show to the world how base they were, and how atrocious was the law they had in duced the Legislature to enact a law, by the force of which a woman might be fined and imprisoned as a felon in the State of Connecticut for giving instruction to colored girls. She agreed that it would be best for us to leave her in the hands of those with whom the law origi nated, hoping that, in their madness, they would show forth all their hideous features. " Mr. Benson and I, therefore, went diligently around to all who he iknew were friendly to Miss Crandall and her school, and counselled 154 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. them by no means to give bonds to keep her from imprisonment, be cause nothing would expose so fully to the public the egregious wicked ness of the law and the virulence of her persecutors as the fact that they had thrust her into jail. " When I found that her resolution was equal to the trial which seemed to be impending, that she was ready to brave and to bear meekly the worst treatment that her enemies would venture to subject her to, I made all the arrangements for her comfort that were practi cable in our prison. It fortunately happened that the most suitable room, unoccupied, was the one in which a man named Watkins had re cently been confined for the murder of his wife, and out of which he had been taken and executed. This circumstance we foresaw would add not a little to the public detestation of the black law. The jailer, at my request, readily put the room in as nice order as was possible,, and permitted me to substitute for the bedstead and mattrass on which the murderer had slept, fresh and clean ones from my own house and Mr. Benson's. "About 2 o'clock, P.M., another messenger came to inform me that the sheriff was on the way from Canterbury to the jail with Miss Cran- dall, and would imprison her unless her friends would give the required bail. Although in sympathy with Miss Crandall's persecutors, he saw clearly the disgrace that was about to be brought upon the State, and begged me and Mr. Benson to avert it. Of course we refused. I went to the jailer's house and met Miss Crandall on her arrival. We stepped aside. I said : ' If now you hesitate if you dread the gloomy place so much as to wish to be saved from it, I will give bonds for you .even now.' ' Oh, no,' she promptly replied, * I am only afraid they will not put me in jail. Their evident hesitation and embarrassment show plainly how much they deprecated the effect} of this part of their folly, and therefore I am the more anxious that they should be exposed,, if not caught in their own wicked devices. " We therefore returned with her to the sheriff and the company that surrounded him, to await his final act. He was ashamed to do it.. He knew it would cover the persecutors of Miss Crandall and the State of Connecticut with disgrace. He conferred with several about: him, and delayed yet longer. Two gentlemen came and remonstrated with me in not very seemly terms : 'It would be a shame, an eternal disgrace to the State, to have her put into jail into the very: room that Watkins had last occupied.' " * Certainly, gentlemen,' I replied, ' and this you may prevent if you please.' " ' Oh ! ' they cried, * we are not her friends ; we are not in favor of her school ; we don't want any more - - niggers coming among us. It is your place to stand by Miss Crandall and help her now. You and NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 155 your abolition brethren have encouraged her to bring this nuisance into Canterbury, and it is mean in you to desert her now/ " I rejoined : ' She knows we have not deserted her, and do not intend to desert her. The law which her persecutors have persuaded our legislators to enact is an infamous one, worthy of the dark ages. It would be just as bad as it is whether we would give bonds for her or not. But the people generally will not so soon realize how bad, how wicked, how cruel a law it is unless we suffer her persecutors to inflict upon her all the penalties it prescribes. She is willing to bear them for the sake of the cause she has so nobly espoused. If you see fit to keep her from imprisonment in the cell of a murderer for having proffered the blessings of a good education to those who in our country need it most, you may do so ; we shall not' "They turned from us in great wrath, words falling from their lips which I shall not repeat. " The sun had descended nearly to the horizon ; the shadows of night were beginning to fall around us. The sheriff could defer the dark deed no longer. With no little emotion, and with words of earnest deprecation, he gave that excellent, heroic, Christian young lady into the hands of the jailer, and she was led into the cell of Watkins. So soon as I had heard the bolts of her prison door turned in the lock, and saw the key taken out, I bowed and said : * The deed is done, com pletely done. It cannot be recalled. It has passed into the history of our nation and our age.' I went away with my steadfast friend, George W. Benson, assured that the legislators of the State had been guilty of a most unrighteous act, and that Miss Crandall's persecutors had also com mitted a great blunder ; that they all would have much more reason to be ashamed of her imprisonment than she or her friends could ever have. " The next day we gave the required bonds. Miss Crandall was- released from the cell of the murderer, returned home, arid quietly re sumed the duties of her school until she should be summoned as a. culprit into court, there to be tried by the infamous ' Black Law of Connecticut. 1 And, as we expected, so soon as the evil tidings could be^ carried in that day, before Professor Morse had given to Rumor her tele graphic wings, it was known all over the country and the civilized world, that an excellent young lady had been imprisoned as a criminal yes, put into a murderer's cell in the State of Connecticut, for opening a school for the instruction of colored girls. The comments that were made upon the deed in almost all the newspapers were far from grateful to the feelings of her persecutors. Even many who, under the same cir cumstances, would probably have acted as badly as Messrs. A. T. Jud- son & Co., denounced their procedure as * un-Christian ? inhuman, anti- Democratic, base, mean.' " On the 23d of August, 1833, the first trial of Miss Crandall was- 356 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. had in Brooklyn, the seat of the county of Windham, Hon. Joseph Eaton presiding at the county court. " The prosecution was conducted by Hon. A. T. Judson, Jonathan A. Welch, Esq., and I. Bulkley, Esq. Miss Crandall's counsel was Hon. Calvin Goddard, Hon. W. W. Elsworth, and Henry Strong, Esq. " The judge, somewhat timidly, gave it as his opinion ' that the law was constitutional and obligatory on the people of the State.' " The jury, after an absence of several hours, returned into court, not having agreed upon a verdict. They were instructed and sent out again, and again a third time, in vain ; they stated to the judge that there was no probability that they could ever agree. Seven were for conviction and five for acquittal, so they were discharged. " The second trial was on the 3d of October, before Judge Daggett of the Supreme Court, who was a strenuous advocate of the black law. His influence with the jury was overpowering, insisting in an elaborate and able charge that the law was constitutional, and, without much hesitation, the verdict was given against Miss Crandall. Her counsel at once filed a bill of exceptions, and took an appeal to the Court of Errors, which was granted. Before that, the highest legal tribunal in the State, the cause was argued on the 22d of July, 1834. Both the Hon. W. W. Elsworth and the Hon. Calvin Goddard argued with great ability and eloquence against the constitutionality of the black law. The Hon. A. T. Judson and Hon. C. F. Cleaveland said all they could to prove such a law consistent with the Magna Charta of our republic. The court reserved a decision for some future time ; and that decision was never given, it being evaded by the court finding such defects in the information prepared by the State's attorney that it ought to be quashed. " Soon after this, an attempt was made to set the house of Miss Crandall on fire, but without effect. The question of her duty to risk the lives of her pupils against this mode of attack was then considered, and upon consultation with friends it was concluded to hold on and bear a little longer, with the hope that this atrocity of attempting to fire the house, and thus expose the lives and property of her neigh bors, would frighten the instigators of the persecution, and cause some restraint on the 'baser sort.' But a few nights afterward, about 12 o'clock, being the night of the pth of September, her house was assaulted by a number of persons with heavy clubs and iron bars, and windows were dashed to pieces. Mr. May was summoned the next morning, and after consultation it was determined that the school should be abandoned." Mr, May thus concluded his account of this event, and of the enterprise : NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. i$? " The pupils were called together and I was requested to announce to them our decision. Never before had I felt so deeply sensible of the cruelty of the persecution which had been carried on for eighteen months in that New England village, against a family of defenseless females. Twenty harmless, well-behaved girls, whose only offense against the peace of the community was that they had come together there to obtain useful knowledge and moral culture, were to be told that they had better go away, because, forsooth, the house in which they dwelt would not be protected by the guardians of the town, the conser vators of the peace, the officers of justice, the men of influence in the village where it was situated. The words almost blistered my lips. My bosom glowed with indignation. I felt ashamed of Canterbury, ashamed of Connecticut, ashamed of my country, ashamed of my color." : Thus ended the generous, disinterested, philanthropic Chris tian enterprise of Prudence Crandall, but the law under which her enterprise was defeated was repealed in 1838. It is to be regretted that Connecticut earned such an unenvi able place in history as this. It seems strange, indeed, that such an occurrence could take place in the nineteenth century in a free State in a republic in North America ! But such is " the truth of history." DELAWARE never passed any law against the instruction of Negroes, but in 1833 passed an act taxing every person who sold a slave out of the State, or brought one into the State, five dollars, which went into a school fund for the education of white children alone. In 1852, the Revised Statutes provided for the taxation of all the property of the State for the support of the schools for white children alone. So, by implication, Delaware prohibited the education of Colored children. In 1840, the Friends formed the African School Association in Wilmington ; and under its management two excellent schools, for boys and girls, were established. FLORIDA. On the 28th of December, 1848, an act was passed providing " for the establishment of common schools." The right to vote at district meetings was conferred upon every person whose property was liable to taxation for school purposes; but only white children were allowed school privileges. 1 Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict, by Rev. Samuel J. May. 158 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In the same year an act was passed providing that the school funds should consist of " the proceeds of the school lands," and of all estates, real or personal, escheating to the State, and " the proceeds of all property found on the coast or shores of the State." In 1850 the counties were authorized to provide, by taxation, not more than four dollars for each child within their limits of the proper school age. In the same year the amount received from the sale of any slave, under the act of 1829, was required to be added to the school fund. The common school law was revised in 1853, an< ^ the county commissioners were authorized to add from the county treasury any sum they thought proper for the support of common schools. 1 GEORGIA passed a law in 1770 (copied from S. C. Statutes, passed in 1740), fixing a fine of 20 for teaching a slave to read or write. In 1829 the Legislature enacted the following law: " If any slave, negro, or free person of color, or any white person, shall teach any other slave, negro, or free person of color to read or write either written or printed characters, the said free person of color or slave shall be punished by fine and whipping, or fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court ; and if a white person so offend, he, she, or they shall be punished with a fine not exceeding $500, and imprison ment in the common jail at the discretion of the court." In 1833 the above law was consolidated into a penal code. A penalty of $100 was provided against persons who employed any slave or free person of Color to set type or perform any other labor about a printing-office requiring a knowledge of reading or writing. During the same year an ordinance was passed in the city of Savannah, " that if any person shall teach or cause to be taught any slave or free person of color to read or write within the city, or who shall keep a school for that purpose, he or she shall be fined in a sum not exceeding $100 for each and every such offense; and if the offender be a slave or free person of color, he or she may also be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes." In the summer of 1850 a series of articles by Mr. F. C.Adams appeared in one of the papers of Savannah, advocating the edu cation of the Negroes as a means of increasing their value and 1 Barnard, p. 337. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 159 of attaching 1 them to their masters. The subject was afterward 'taken up in the- Agricultural Convention which met at Macon in September of the same year. The matter was again brought up in September, 1851, in the Agricultural Convention, and after being debated, a resolution was passed that a petition be presented to the Legislature for a law granting permission to educate the slaves. The petition was presented to the Legislature, and Mr. Harlston introduced a bill in the winter of 1852, which was discussed and passed in the lower House, to repeal the old law, and to grant to the masters the privilege of educating their slaves. The bill was lost in the senate by two or three votes. 1 ILLINOIS' school laws contain the word " white" from beginning to end. There is no prohibition against the education of Colored persons ; but there being no mention of them, is evidence that they were purposely omitted. Separate schools were established for Col ored children before the war, and a few white schools opened their doors to them. The Free Mission Institute at Quincy was destroyed by a mob from Missouri in ante-bellum days, be cause Colored persons were admitted to the classes. INDIANA denied the right of suffrage to her Negro population in the con stitution of 1851. No provision was made for the 'education of the Negro children. And the cruelty of the laws that drove the Negro from the State, and pursued him while in it, gave the poor people no hope of peaceful habitation, much less of education. KENTUCKY never put herself on record against the education of Negroes. By an act passed in 1830, all the inhabitants of each school dis trict were taxed to support a common-school system. The property of Colored persons was included, but they could not vote or enjoy the privileges of the schools. And the slave laws were so numerous and cruel that there was no opportunity left the bondmen in this State to acquire any knowledge of books even secretly. 1 Barnard, p. 339. 160 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. LOUISIANA passed an act in 1830, forbidding free Negroes to enter the State. It provided also, that whoever should " write, print, publish, or distribute any thing having a tendency to produce discontent among the free colored population, or insubordination among the slaves," should, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned " at hard labor for life, or suffer death, at the discretion of the court." And whoever used language calculated to produce discontent among the free or slave population, or was " instrumental in bringing into the State any paper, book, or pamphlet having^ such tendency," was to " suffer imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three years nor more than twenty-one years, or death, at the discretion of the court." "All persons," continues the act, " who shall teach, or permit, or cause to be taught, any slave to read or write, shall be imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months." In 1847, a system of common schools for " the education of white youth was established." It was provided that " one mill on the dollar, upon the ad valorem amount of the general list of taxable property," should be levied for the support of the schools. MAINE gave the elective franchise and ample school privileges to all her citizens, without regard to race or color, by her constitution of. 1820. MARYLAND always restricted the right of suffrage to her "white male inhabi tants," and, therefore, always refused to make any provisions for the education of her Negro population. There is nothing upon her statute-books prohibiting the instruction of Negroes, but the law that designates her schools for " white children" is sufficient proof that Negro children were purposely omitted and excluded from the benefits of the schools. St. Frances Academy for Colored girls was founded in connec tion with the Oblate Sisters of Providence Convent, in Baltimore, June 5, 1829, under the hearty approbation of the Most Rev. James Whitfield, D.D., the Archbishop of Baltimore at that time, and receiving the sanction of the Holy See, October 2, 1831, The convent originated with the French Fathers, who came to Baltimore from San Domingo as refugees, in the time of the NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. i6t revolution in that island in the latter years of last century.. There were many Colored Catholic refugees who came to Balti more during that period, and the French Fathers soon opened schools there for the benefit of the refugees and other Colored people. The Colored women who formed the original society which founded the convent and seminary, were from San Do mingo, though they had, some of them, certainly, been educated in France. The schools which preceded the organization of the convent were greatly favored by Most Rev. Ambrose Marechal, D.D., who was a French Father, and Archbishop of Baltimore from 1817 to 1828, Archbishop Whitfield being his successor. The Sisters of Providence is the name of a religious society of Colored women who renounced the world to consecrate them selves to the Christian education of Colored girls. The follow ing extract from the announcement which, under the caption of " Prospectus of a School for Colored Girls under the Direction of the Sisters of Providence," appeared in the columns of the " Daily National Intelligencer," October 25, 1831, shows the spirit in which the school originated, and at the same time shadows forth the predominating ideas pertaining to the prov ince of the race at that period. The prospectus says : " The object of this institute is one of great importance, greater, in deed, than might at first appear to those who would only glance at the advantages which it is calculated to directly impart to the leading por tion of the human race, and through it to society at large. In fact, these girls will either become mothers of families or household servants. In the first case the solid virtues, the religious and moral principles which they may have acquired in this school will be carefully trans ferred as a legacy to their children. Instances of the happy influence which the example of virtuous parents has on the remotest lineage in this humble and naturally dutiful class of society are numerous. As to such as are to be employed as servants, they will be intrusted with domestic concerns and the care of young children. How important., then, it will be that these girls shall have imbibed religious principles, and have been trained up in habits of modesty, honesty, and in tegrity." A The Wells School, established by a Colored man by the name of Nelson Wells, in 1835, gave instruction to free children of 1 Barnard, pp. 205, 206. 62 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. color. It was managed by a board of trustees who applied the income of $7,000 (the amount left by Mr. Wells) to the support of the school. It accomplished much good. MASSACHUSETTS. A separate school for Colored children was established in Boston, in 1798, and was held in the house of a reputable Colored man named Primus Hall. The teacher was one Elisha Sylvester, whose salary was paid by the parents of the children whom he taught. In 1800 sixty-six Colored citizens presented a petition to the School Committee of Boston, praying that a school might be established for their benefit. A sub-committee, to whom the petition had been referred, reported in favor of granting the prayer, but it was voted down at the next town meeting. How ever, the school taught by Mr. Sylvester did not perish. Two young gentlemen from Harvard University, Messrs. Brown and Williams, continued the school until 1806. During this year the Colored Baptists built a church edifice in Belknap Street, and fitted up the lower room for a school for Colored children. From the house of Primus Hall the little school was moved to its new quarters in the Belknap Street church. Here it was continued until 1835, when a school-house for Colored children was erected and paid for out of a fund left for the purpose by Abiel Smith, and was subsequently called " Smith School-house." The au thorities of Boston were induced to give $200.00 as an annual appropriation, and the parents of the children in attendance paid I2|- cents per week. The school-house was dedicated with appropriate exercises, Hon. William Minot delivering the dedi catory address. The African school in Belknap Street was under the con trol of the school committee from 1812 to 1821, and from 1821 was under the charge of a special sub-committee. Among the teachers was John B. Russworm, from 1821 to 1824, who entered Bowdoin College in the latter year, and afterward be came governor of the colony of Cape Palmas in Southern Li beria. The first primary school for Colored children in Boston was es tablished in 1820, two or three of which were subsequently kept until 1855, when they were discontinued as separate schools, in accordance with the general law passed by the Legislature in NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 163 that year, which provided that, " in determining the qualifica tions of scholars to be admitted into any public school, or any district school in this commonwealth, no distinction shall be made on account of the race, color, or religious opinions of the applicant or scholar." "Any child, who, on account of his race, color, or religious opinions should be excluded from any public or district school, if otherwise qualified," might recover damages in an action of tort, brought in the name of the child in any court of competent jurisdiction, against the city or town in which the school was located. 1 MISSISSIPPI passed an act in 1823 providing against the meeting together of slaves, free Negroes, or Mulattoes above the number of five. They were not allowed to meet at any public house in the night ; or at any house, for teaching, reading, or writing, in the day or night. The penalty for the violation of this law was whipping, " not exceeding thirty-nine " lashes. In 1831 an act was passed making it "unlawful for any slave, free negro, or mulatto to preach the Gospel," upon pain of re ceiving thirty-nine lashes upon the naked back of the presump tuous preacher. If a Negro received written permission from his master he might preach to the Negroes in his immediate neighborhood, providing six respectable white men, owners of slaves, were present. In 1846, and again in 1848, school laws were enacted, but in both instances schools and education were prescribed for " white youth between the ages of six and twenty years." MISSOURI ordered all free persons of color to move out of the State in 1845. I* 1 l &47 an act was passed providing that "no person shall keep or teach any school for the instruction of negroes or mu- lattoes in reading or writing in this State." NEW YORK had the courage and patriotism, in 1777, to extend the right of suffrage to every male inhabitant of full age. But by the revised constitution, in 1821, this liberal provision was abridged so that 1 Barnard, p. 357. 164 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State, and for one year next preceding any elec tion, shall be seized and possessed of a freehold estate of $250 over and above all debts and encumbrances charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid.". In 1846, and again in 1850, a Constitutional amendment conferring equal privileges upon the Negroes, was voted down by large majorities. A school for Negro slaves was opened in the city of New York in 1704 by Elias Neau, a native of France, and a catechist of the u Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." After a long imprisonment for his public profession of faith as a Protestant, he founded an asylum in New York. His sympathies were awakened by the condition of the Negroes in slavery in that city, who numbered about 1,500 at that time. The difficulties of holding any intercourse with them seemed al most insurmountable. At first he could only visit them from house to house, after his day's toil was over ; afterward he was permitted to gather them together in a room in his own house for a short time in the evening. As the result of his instructions at the end of four years, in 1708, the ordinary number under his instruction was 2OO. Many were judged worthy to receive the sacrament at the hands of Mr. Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church, some of whom became regular and devout communi cants, remarkable for their orderly and blameless lives. But soon after this time some Negroes of the Carmantee and Pappa tribes formed a plot for setting fire to the city and mur dering the English on a certain night. The work was commenced but checked, and after a short struggle the English subdued the Negroes. Immediately a loud and angry clamor arose against Elias Neau, his accusers saying that his school was the cause of the murderous attempt. He denied the charge in vain ; and so furious were the people that, for a time, his life was in danger. The evidence, however, at the trial proved that the Negroes most deeply engaged in this plot were those whose masters were most opposed to any means for their instruction. Yet the offence of a few was charged upon the race, and even the provincial gov ernment lent its authority to make the burden of Neau the heavier. The common council passed an order forbidding NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 165 Negroes " to appear in the streets after sunset, without lanthorns or candles " ; and as they could not procure these, the result was to break up the labors of Neau. But at this juncture Governor Hunter interposed, and went to visit the school of Neau, accom panied by several officers of rank and by the society's mission aries, and he was so well pleased that he gave his full approval to the work, and in a public proclamation called upon the clergy of the province to exhort their congregations to extend their approva also. Vesey, the good rector of Trinity Church, had long watched the labors of Neau and witnessed the progress of his scholars, as well as assisted him in them ; and finally the gov ernor, the council, mayor, recorder, and two chief justices of New York joined in declaring that Neau " in a very eminent degree deserved the countenance, favor, and protection of the society." He therefore continued his labors until 1722, when, "amid the unaffected sorrow of his negro scholars and the friends who hon ored him for their sake, he was removed by death." The work was then continued by " Huddlestone, then school master in New York " ; and he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Wet- more, who removed in 1726 to Rye ; whereupon the Rev. Mr. Colgan was appointed to assist the rector of Trinity Church, and to carry on the instruction of the Negroes. A few years after ward Thomas Noxon assisted Mr. Colgan, and their joint success was very satisfactory. Rev. R. Charlton, who had been en gaged in similar labor at New Windsor, was called to New York in 1732, where he followed up the work successfully for fifteen years, and was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Auchmuty. Upon the death of Thomas Noxon, in 1741, Mr. Hildreth took his place, who, in 1764, wrote that "not a single black admitted by him to the holy communion had turned out badly, or in any way disgraced his profession." Both Auchmuty and Hildreth received valuable support from Mr. Barclay, who, upon the death of Mr.. Vesey, in 1746, had been appointed to the rectory of Trinity Church. The frequent kidnapping of free persons of color excited' public alarm and resulted in the formation of " The New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and Protect ing such of them as have been or may be Liberated." These are the names of the gentlemen who organized the society, and became the board of trustees of the " New York African, Free School" : 1 66 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Melancthon Smith, Jno. Bleeker, James Cogswell, Lawrence Embree, Thomas Burling, Willett Leaman, Jno. Lawrence, Jacob Leaman, White Mattock, Mathew Clarkson, Nathaniel Lawrence, Jno. Murray, Jr. Their school, located in Cliff Street, between Beekman and Ferry, was opened in 1786, taught by Cornelius Davis, attended by about forty pupils of both sexes, and appears, from their book of minutes, to have been satisfactorily conducted. In the year 1791 a female teacher was added to instruct the girls in needle work, the expected advantages of which measure were soon realized and highly gratifying to the society. In 1808 the society was incorporated, and in the preamble it is recorded that "a free school for the education of such persons as have been liberated from bondage, that they may hereafter become useful members of the community," has been established. It may be proper here to remark that the good cause in which the friends of this school were engaged, was far from being a popular one. The prejudices of a large portion of the community were against it ; the means in the hands of the trustees were often very in adequate, and many seasons of discouragement were witnessed ; but they were met by men who, trusting in the Divine support, were resolved neither to relax their exertions nor to retire from the field. Through the space of about twenty years they struggled on ; the number of scholars varying from forty to sixty, until the year 1809, when the Lancasterian, or monitorial, system of in struction was introduced (this being the second school in the United States to adopt the plan), under a new teacher, E. J. Cox, and a very favorable change was produced, the number of pupils, and the efficiency of their instruction being largely in creased. Soon after this, however, in January, 1814, their school-house was destroyed by fire, which checked the progress of the school for a time, as no room could be obtained large enough to ac commodate the whole number of pupils. A small room in Doyer Street was temporarily hired, to keep the school together till further arrangements could be made, and an appeal was made to the liberality of the citizens and to the corporation of the city, which resulted in obtaining from the latter a grant of two lots of ground in William Street, on which to build a new school-house; and in January, 1815, a commodious brick building, to accommo- NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 167 date 200 pupils, was finished on this lot, and the school was re sumed with fresh vigor and increasing interest. In a few months the room became so crowded that it was found necessary to en gage a separate room, next to the school, to accommodate such of the pupils as were to be taught sewing. This branch had been for many years discontinued, but was now resumed under the direction of Miss Lucy Turpen, a young lady whose amiable dis position and faithful discharge of her duties rendered her greatly esteemed both by her pupils and the trustees. This young lady, after serving the board for several years, removed with her parents to Ohio, and her place was supplied by Miss Mary Lincrum,who was succeeded by Miss Eliza J. Cox, and the latter by Miss Mary Ann Cox, and she by Miss Carolina Roe, under each of whom the school continued to sustain a high character for order and usefulness. The school in William Street increasing in numbers, another building was found necessary, and was built on a lot of ground 50 by 100 feet square, on Mulberry Street, between Grand and Hester streets, to accommodate five hundred pupils, and was completed and occupied, with C. C. Andrews for teacher, in May, 1820. General Lafayette visited this school September 10, 1824, an abridged account of which is copied from the " Commercial Ad vertiser" of that date: VISIT OF LAFAYETTE TO THE AFRICAN SCHOOL IN 1824. " At i o'clock the general, with the company invited for the occa sion, visited the African free school, on Mulberry Street. This school embraces about 500 scholars ; about 450 were present on this occasion, and they are certainly the best disciplined and most interesting school of children we have ever witnessed. As the general was conducted to a seat, Mr. Ketchum adverted to the fact that as long ago as 1788 the general had been elected a member of the institution (Manumission So ciety) at the same time with Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson, of England. The general perfectly remembered the circumstances, and mentioned particularly the letter he had received on that occasion from the Hon. John Jay, then president of the society. One of the pupils, Master James M. Smith, aged eleven years, then stepped forward and gracefully delivered the following address : < GENERAL LAFAYETTE : In behalf of myself and fellow-school mates may I be permitted to express our sincere and respectful grati- 1 68 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tude to you for the condescension you have manifested this day in visiting this institution, which is one of the noblest specimens of New York philanthropy. Here, sir, you behold hundreds of the poor children of Africa sharing with those of a lighter hue in the blessings of education ; and while it will be our pleasure to remember the great deeds you have done for America, it will be our delight also to cherish the memory of General Lafayette as a friend to African emancipation, and as a member of this institution.' " To which the general replied, in his own characteristic style, ' I thank you, my dear child.' " Several of the pupils underwent short examinations, and one of them explained the use of the globes and answered many questions in geography." PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN. These schools continued to flourish under the same manage ment, and with an attendance varying from 600 in 1824 to 862 in 1832, in the latter part of which year the Manumission Society, whose schools were not in part supported by the public fund, ap plied to the Public School Society for a committee of conference to effect a union. It was felt by the trustees that on many ac counts it was better that the two sets of schools should remain separate, but, fearing further diversion of the school fund, it was desirable that the number of societies participating should be as small as possible, and arrangements were accordingly made for a transfer of the schools and property of the elder society. After some delay, in consequence of legislative action being found necessary to give a title to their real estate, on the 2d of May, 1834, the transfer was effected,, all their schools and school property passing into the hands of the New York Public School Society, at an appraised valuation of $12,130.22. The aggregate register of these schools at the time of the transfer was nearly 1,400, with an average attendance of about one half that number. They were placed in charge of a com mittee with powers similar to the committee on primary schools, but their administration was not satisfactory, and it was soon found that the schools had greatly diminished in numbers, effi ciency, and usefulness. A committee of inquiry was appointed, and reported that, in consequence of the great anti-slavery riots and attacks on Colored people, many families had removed from the city, and of those that remained many kept their children at home ; they knew the Manumission Society as their special friends. NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 169 but knew nothing of the Public School Society ; the reduction of all the schools but one to the grade of primary had given great offence ; also the discharge of teachers long employed, and the discontinuance of rewards, and taking home of spelling books ; strong prejudices had grown up against the Public School So ciety. The committee recommended a prompt assimilation of the Colored schools to the white ; the establishment of two or more upper schools in a new building ; a normal school for Colored monitors ; and the appointment of a Colored man as school agent, at $150 a year. The school on Mulberry Street at this time, 1835, was designated Colored Grammar School No. I. A. Libolt was principal, and registered 317 pupils ; there were also six primaries, located in different parts of the city, with an ag gregate attendance of 925 pupils. In 1836 a new school building was completed in Laurens Street, opened with 210 pupils, R. F. Wake (colored), principal, and was designated Colored Grammar School No. 2. Other means were taken to improve the schools, and to induce the Colored people to patronize them ; the principal of No. I, Mr. Libolt, was replaced by Mr. John Peterson, colored, a sufficient assurance of whose ability and success we have in the fact that he has been continued in the position ever since. A " Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children " was organized, and established two additional schools, one in Thomas Street, a*nd one in Centre, and a marked improvement was mani fest ; but it required a long time to restore the confidence and interest felt before the transfer, and even up to 1848 the aggregate attendance in all the Colored schools was only 1,375 pupils. In the winter of 1852 the first evening schools for Colored pupils were opened ; one for males and one for females, and were attended by 379 pupils. In the year 1853 the Colored schools, with all the schools and school property of the Public School Society, were transferred to the " Board of Education of the City and County of New York," and still further improvements were made in them ; a normal school for Colored teachers was established, with Mr. John Peterson, principal, and the schools were graded in the same manner as those for white children. Colored Grammar School No. 3, was opened at 78 West Fortieth Street, Miss Caroline W. Simpson, principal, and in the ensuing year three others were added ; No. 4 in One Hundred and Twentieth Street (Harlem), Miss Nancy Thompson, principal; I/O HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. No. 5, at 101 Hudson Street, P. W. Williams, principal; and No. 6, at 1,167 Broadway, Prince Leveridge, principal. Grammar Schools Nos. 2, 3, and 4, had primary departments attached, and there were also at this time three separate primary schools, and the aggregate attendance in all was 2,047. Since then the at tendance in these schools has not varied much from these figures. The schools themselves have been altered and modified from time to time, as their necessity seemed to indicate ; though under the general mangement of the Board of Education, they have been in the care of the school officers of the wards in which they are located, and while in some cases they received the proper attention, in others they were either wholly, or in part, neglected. A recent act has placed them directly in charge of the Board of Education, who have appointed a special committee to look after their interests, and measures are being taken by them which will give this class of schools every opportunity and convenience pos sessed by any other, and, it is hoped, will also improve the grade of its scholarship. 1 NORTH CAROLINA suffered her free persons of color to maintain schools until !835> when they were abolished by law. During the period re ferred to, the Colored schools were taught by white teachers, but after 1835 the few teachers who taught Colored children in pri vate houses were Colored persons. The public-school system of North Carolina prov-ided that no descendant from Negro an cestors, to the fourth generation inclusive, should enjoy the benefit thereof. OHIO. The first schools for Colored children in Ohio were established at Cincinnati in 1820, by Colored men. These schools were not kept up regularly. A white gentleman named Wing, who taught a night school near the corner of Vine and Sixth Streets, ad mitted Colored pupils into his school. Owen T. B. Nickens, a public-spirited and intelligent Colored man, did much to establish schools for the Colored people. In 1835 a school for Colored children was opened in the Bap tist Church on Western Row. It was taught at different periods. by Messrs. Barbour, E. Fairchild, W. Robinson, and Augustus J Barnard, pp. 364-366. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 171 Wattles; and by the following-named ladies : Misses Bishop, Mat thews, Lowe, and Mrs. Merrell. Although excellent teachers as well as upright ladies and gentlemen, they were subjected to great persecutions. They were unable to secure board, because the spirit of the whites would not countenance the teachers of Negro schools, and they spelled the word with two g's. And at times the teachers were compelled to close the school on account of the violence of the populace. The salaries of the teachers were paid partly by an educational society of white philanthropists,, and partly by such Colored persons as had means. Of the latter class were John Woodson, John Liverpool, Baker Jones, Dinnis Hill, Joseph Fowler, and William O'Hara In 1844, the Rev. Hiram S. Gilmore, founded the " Cincinnati High School " for Colored youth. Mr. Gilmore was a man rich in sentiments of humanity, and endowed plenteously with executive ability and this world's goods. All these he conse crated to the elevation and education of the Colored people. This school-house was located at the east end of Harrison^ Street, and was in every sense a model building, comprising five rooms, a chapel, a gymnasium, and spacious grounds. The pupils increased yearly, and the character of the school made many friends for the cause. The following persons taught in* this school : Joseph H. Moore, Thomas L. Boucher, David P.. Lowe, Dr. A. L. Childs, and W. F. Colburn. Dr. Childs became: principal of the school in 1848. In 1849, tne Legislature passed an act establishing schools for Colored children, to be maintained at the public expense. In 1850, a board of Colored trustees was elected, teachers enir ployed, and buildings hired. The schools were put in opera tion. The law of 1849 provided that so much of the funds be longing to the city of Cincinnati as would fall to the Colored youth, by a per capita division, should be held subject to the order of the Colored trustees. But their order was not honored; by the city treasurer, upon the ground that under the constitu tion of the State only electors could hold office ; that Colored men were not electors, and, therefore, could not hold office. After three months the Colored schools were closed, and the teachers went out without their salaries. John I. Gaines, an intelligent and fearless Colored leader, made a statement of the case to a public meeting of the Col ored people of Cincinnati, and urged the employment of counsel 1/2 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to try the case in the courts. Money was raised, and Flamen Ball, Sr., was secured to make an application for mandamus. The case was finally carried to the Supreme Court and won by the 'Colored people. In 1851, the schools were opened again ; but the rooms were small and wretchedly appointed, and the trustees unable to pro vide better ones. Without notice the Colored trustees were de posed. The management of the Colored schools was vested in a board of trustees and school visitors, who were also in charge of the schools for the white children. This board, under a new law, had authority to appoint six Colored men who were to manage the Colored schools with the exception of the school fund. This greatly angered the leading Colored men, and, there fore, they refused to endorse this new management. The law was altered in 1856, giving the Colored people the right to elect, by ballot, their own trustees. In 1858, Nicholas Longworth built the first school-house for the Colored people, and gave them the building on a lease of fourteen years, in which time they were to pay for it $14,000. In 1859, a l ar g e building was erected on Court Street. Oberlin College opened its doors to Colored students from the moment of its existence in 1833, and they have never been closed at any time since. It was here that the incomparable Finney, with the fierceness of John Baptist, the gentleness of John the Evangelist, the logic of Paul, and the eloquence of Isaiah, pleaded the cause of the American slave, and gave instruc tion to all who sat at his feet regardless of color or race. George B. Vashon, William Howard Day, John Mercer Langston, and many other Colored men graduated from Oberlin College before any of the other leading colleges of the country had consented to give Colored men a classical education. PENNSYLVANIA. Anthony Benezet established, in 1750, the first school for Colored people in this State, and taught it himself without money and without price. He solicited funds for the erection of a school-house for the Colored children, and of their intellectual capacities said : " I can with truth and sincerity declare that I have found among the negroes as great variety of talents as among a like number of whites, and I am bold to assert that NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 173 the notion entertained by some, that the blacks are inferior in their capacity, is a vulgar prejudice, founded on the pride or ig norance of their lordly masters, who have kept their slaves at such a distance as to be unable to form a right judgment of them." He died on the 3d of May, 1784, universally beloved and sincerely mourned, especially by the Negro population of Penn sylvania, for whose education he had done so much. The follow ing clause in his will illustrates his character in respect to public instruction : " I give my above said house and lot, or ground-rent proceeding from it, and the rest and residue of my estate which shall remain un disposed of after my wife's decease, both real and personal, to the public school of Philadelphia, founded by charter, and to their succes sors forever, in trust, that they shall sell my house and lot on perpetual ground-rent forever, if the same be not already sold by my executors, as before mentioned, and that as speedily as may be they receive and take as much of my personal estate as may be remaining, and there with purchase a yearly ground-rent, or ground-rents, and with the in come of such ground-rent proceeding from the sale of my real estate, hire and employ a religious-minded person, or persons, to teach a num ber of negro, mulatto, or Indian children to read, write, arithmetic, plain accounts, needle-work, etc. And it is my particular desire, founded on the experience I have had in that service, that in the choice of such tutors, special care may be had to prefer an industrious, careful person of true piety, who may be or become suitably qualified, who would undertake the service from a principle of charity, to one more highly learned, not equally disposed ; this I desire may be carefully attended to, sensible that from the number of pupils of all ages, the irregularity of attendance their situation subjects them to will not admit of that particular inspection in their improvement usual in other schools, but that the real well-doing of the scholars will very much depend upon the master making a special conscience of doing his duty ; and shall like wise defray such other necessary expense as may occur in that service ; and as the said remaining income of my estate, after my wife's decease, will not be sufficient to defray the whole expense necessary for the sup port of such a school, it is my request that the overseers of the said public school shall join in the care and expense of such school, or schools, for the education of negro, mulatto, or Indian children, with any committee which may be appointed by the monthly meetings of Friends in Philadelphia, or with any other body of benevolent persons who may join in raising money and employing it for the education and 174 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. care of such children ; my desire being that as such a school is now- set up, it may be forever maintained in this city." Just before his death he addressed the following note to the " overseers of the school for the instruction of the black people." " My friend, Joseph Clark, having frequently observed to me his desire, in case of my inability of continuing the care of the negro school, of succeeding me in that service, notwithstanding he now has a more advantageous school, by the desire of doing good to the black people makes him overlook these pecuniary advantages, I much wish the overseers of the school would take his desires under their peculiar notice and give him such due encouragement as may be proper, it be ing a matter of the greatest consequence to that school that the master be a person who makes it a principle to do his duty." The noble friends were early in the field as the champions of education for the Negroes. It was Anthony Benezet, who, on the 26th of January, 1770, secured the appointment of a com mittee by the monthly meeting of the Friends, " to consider on the instruction of negro and mulatto children in reading, writing, and other useful learning suitable to their capacity and circum stances." On the 3Oth of May, 1770, a special committee of Friends sought to employ an instructor " to teach, not more at one time than thirty children, in the first rudiments of school learning and in sewing and knitting." Moles Paterson was first employed at a salary of ;8o a year, and an additional sum of 11 for one half of the rent of his dwelling-house. Instruction was free to the poor ; but those who were able to pay were re quired to do so " at the rate of los. a quarter for those who write, and 75. 6d. for others." In 1784, William Waring was placed in charge of the larger children, at a salary of ;ioo; and Sarah Dougherty, of the younger children and girls, in teaching spelling, reading, sewing^ etc., at a salary of 50. In 1787, aid was received from David Barclay, of London, in behalf of a committee for managing a donation for the relief of Friends in America ; and the sum of .500 was thus obtained, which, with the fund derived from the estate of Benezet, and 300 from Thomas Shirley, a Colored man, was appropriated to the erection of a school-house. In 1819 a committee of " women Friends," to have exclusive charge of the NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. i?$ admission of girls and the general superintendence of the girls' school, was associated with the overseers in the charge of the school. In 1830, in order to relieve the day school of some of the male adults who had been in the habit of attending, an even ing school for frhe purpose of instructing such persons gratui tously was opened, and has been continued to the present time. In 1844, a l ot was secured on Locust Street, extending along Shield's Alley, now Aurora Street, on which a new house was erected in 1847, tne expense of which was paid for in part from the proceeds of the sale of a lot bequeathed by John Pember- ton. Additional accommodations were made to this building, from time to time, as room was demanded by new classes of pupils. In 1849, a statistical return of the condition of the people of color in the city and districts of Philadelphia shows that there were then one grammar school, with 463 pupils ; two public primary schools, with 339 ; and an infant school, under the charge of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, of 70 pupils, in Clifton Street ; a ragged and a moral-reform school, with 81 pupils. In West Philadelphia there was also a public school, with 67 pupils ; and, in all, there were about 20 private schools, with 300 pupils ; making an aggregate of more than 1,300 children receiv ing an education. In 1859, according to Bacon's " Statistics of the Colored Peo ple of Philadelphia," there were 1,031 Colored children in public schools, 748 in charity schools of various kinds, 21 1 in benevolent and reformatory schools, and 331 in private schools, making an aggregate of 2,321 pupils; besides four evening schools, one for adult males, one for females, and one for young apprentices. There were 19 Sunday-schools connected with the congrega tions of the Colored people, and conducted by their own teachers, containing 1,667 pupils, and four Sunday-schools gath ered as mission schools by members of white congregations, with 215 pupils. There was also a " Public Library and Reading- room " connected with the "Institute for Colored Youth," es tablished in 1853, having about 1,300 volumes ; besides three other small libraries in different parts of the city. The same pamphlet shows that there were 1,700 of the Colored population engaged in different trades and occupations, representing every department of industry. 1 1 Barnard, pp. 377, 378. 1/6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In 1794, the Pennsylvania Abolition Society established a school for children of the people of color, and in 1809 erected a school building at a cost of four thousand dollars, which they designated as " Clarkson Hall," in 1815. In 1813, a board of education was organized consisting of thirteentpersons, with a visiting committee of three, whose duty it was to visit the schools once each week. In 1818, the school board, in their report, speak very kindly and encouragingly of the Clarkson Schools, which, they say, " furnish a decided refutation of the charge that the mental endowments of the descendants of Africa are inferior to those possessed by their white brethren. We can assert, with out fear of contradiction, that the pupils of this seminary will sustain a fair comparison with those of any other institution in which the same elementary branches are taught." In 1820, an effort was made to have the authorities of the white schools provide for the education of the Colored children as well as the whites, because the laws of the State required the education of all the youth. The comptrollers of the public schools confessed that the law provided for the education of " poor and indigent children," and that it extended to those of persons of color. Accordingly, in 1822, a school for the educa tion of indigent persons of color of both sexes, was opened in Lombard Street, Philadelphia. In 1841, a primary school was opened in the same building. In 1833, the " Unclassified School" in Coates Street, and at frequent intervals after this several schools of the same grade, were started in West Philadelphia. In 1837, by the will of Richard Humphreys, who died in 1832, an " Institute for Colored Youth " was started. The sum of ten thousand dollars was devised to certain trustees who were to pay it over to some society that might be disposed to estab lish a school for the education of the " descendants of the Afri can race in school learning in the various branches of the me chanic arts and trade, and in agriculture." Thirty members of the society of Friends formed themselves into an association for the purpose of carrying out the wishes and plans of Mr. Humphreys. In the preamble of the constitution they adopted, their ideas and plans were thus set forth : " We believe that the most successful method of elevating the moral and intellectual character of the descendants of Africa, as well as of improving their social condition, is to extend to them the benefits NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 177 of a good education, and to instruct them in the knowledge of some useful trade or business, whereby they may be enabled to obtain a com fortable livelihood by their own industry ; and through these means to prepare them for fulfilling the various duties of domestic and social life with reputation and fidelity, as good citizens and pious men." In order to carry out the feature of agricultural and me chanic arts, the association purchased a farm in Bristol town ship, Philadelphia County, in 1839, where boys of the Colored race were taught farming, shoemaking, and other useful trades. The incorporation of the institution was secured in 1842, and in 1844 another friend dying Jonathan Zane added a handsome sum to the treasury, which, with several small legacies, made $18,000 for this enterprise. But in 1846 the work came to a standstill ; the farm with its equipments was sold, and for six years very little was done, except through a night school. In 1851, a lot for a school building was purchased on Lom bard Street, and a building erected, and the school opened in the autumn of 1852, for boys, under the care of Charles L. Reason, an accomplished young Colored teacher from New York. A girls' school was opened the same year, and, under Mr. Reason's excellent instruction, many worthy and competent teachers and leaders of the Negro race came forth. Avery College, at Allegheny City, was founded by the Rev.. Charles Avery, a native of New York, but for the greater part of a long and useful life adorned by the noblest virtues, a resi dent of Pennyslvania. By will he left $300,000 for the christiani- zation of the African race; $150,000 to be used in Africa, and $150,000 in America. He left $25,000 as an endowment fund for Avery College. At a stated meeting during the session of the Presbytery at New Castle, Pa., October 5, 1853, it was resolved that "there shall be established within our bounds, and under our super vision, an institution, to be called the Ashum Institute, for the scientific, classical, and theological education of colored youth; of the male sex." Accordingly, J. M. Dickey, A. Hamilton, R. P. Dubois, minis ters ; and Samuel J. Dickey and John M. Kelton, ruling elders, were appointed a committee to perfect the idea. They were to solicit and receive funds, secure a charter from the State of Pennsylvania, and erect suitable buildings for the institute. On. i;8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the 1/j.th of November, 1853, they purchased thirty acres of land at the cost of $1,250. At the session of the Legislature in 1854, .a charter was granted establishing "at or near a place called Hinsonville, in the county of Chester, an institution of learning for the scientific, classical, and theological education of colored youth of the male sex, by the name and style of Ashum Insti tute." The trustees were John M. Dickey, Alfred Hamilton, Robert P. Dubois, James Latta, John B. Spottswood, James M. Crowell, Samuel J. Dickey, John M. Kelton, and William Wilson. By the provisions of the charter the trustees were empowered " to procure the endowment of the institute, not exceeding the sum of $100,000; to confer such literary degrees and academic honors as are usually granted by colleges " ; and it was required that " the institute shall be open to the admission of colored pupils of the male sex, of all religious denominations, who ex hibit a fair moral character, and are willing to yield a ready obedience to the general regulations prescribed for the conduct of the pupils and the government of the institute." The institute was formally dedicated on the 3ist of Decem ber, 1856. It is now known as Lincoln University. RHODE ISLAND conferred the right of elective franchise upon her Colored citi zens by her constitution in 1843, an d ever since equal privileges nave been afforded them. In 1828 the Colored people of Provi dence petitioned for a separate school, but it was finally abolished oy an act of the Legislature. ' SOUTH CAROLINA took the lead in legislating against the instruction of the Colored race, as she subsequently took the lead in seceding from the Union. In 1740, while yet a British province, the Legislature -passed the following law : " Whereas the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with inconveniences, Be it enacted, That all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatever, hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall for every .such offense forfeit the sum of ^100 current money." NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 179 In 1800 the State Assembly passed an act, embracing free Col ored people as well as slaves in its shameful provisions, enacting " that assemblies of slaves, free negroes, mulattoes, and mes tizoes, whether composed of all or any such description of persons, or of all or any of the same and a proportion of white persons, met together for the purpose of mental instruction in a confined or secret place, or with the gates or doors of such place barred, bolted, or locked, so as to prevent the free ingress to and from the same," are declared to be unlawful meetings ; the officers dis persing such unlawful assemblages being authorized to " inflict such corporal punishment, not exceeding twenty lashes, upon such slaves, free negroes, mulattoes, and mestizoes, as they may judge necessary for deterring them from the like unlawful assem blage in future." Another section of the same act declares, "that it shall not be lawful for any number of slaves, free negroes, mulattoes, or mestizoes, even in company with white persons, to meet together and assemble for the purpose of mental instruc tion or religious worship before the rising of the sun or after the going down of the same." This section was so oppressive, that in 1803, in answer to petitions from certain religious societies, an amending act was passed forbidding any person before 9 o'clock in the evening " to break into a place of meeting wherever shall be assembled the members of any religious society of the State, provided a majority of them shall be white persons, or other to disturb their devotions unless a warrant has been procured from a magistrate, if at the time of the meeting there should be a magistrate within three miles of the place ; if not, the act of 1800 is to remain in full force." On the i /th of December, 1834, definite action was taken against the education of free Colored persons as well as slaves. The first section is given : " SECTION i. If any person shall hereafter teach any slave to read or write, or shall aid or assist in teaching any slave to read or write, or cause or procure any slave to be taught to read or write, such person, if a free white person, upon conviction thereof shall, for each and every offense against this act, be fined not exceeding $100 and imprisonment not more than six months ; or, if a free person of color, shall be whipped not exceeding fifty lashes, and fined not exceeding $50, at the discretion of the court of magistrates and free holders before which such free person of color is tried ; and if a slave, to he whipped, at the discretion of the court, not exceeding i8o HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. fifty lashes, the informer to be entitled to one-half the fine and to- be a competent witness. And if any free person of color or slave shall keep any school or other place of instruction for teaching any slave or free person of color to read or write, such free person of color or slave shall be liable to the same fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment as by this act are imposed and inflicted on free persons of color and slaves for teaching slaves to write." The second section forbids, under pain of severe penalties, the employment of any Colored persons as " clerks or salesmen in or about any shop, store, or house used for trading." TENNESSEE passed a law in 1838 establishing a system of common schools by which the scholars were designated as " white children over the age of six years and under sixteen." In 1840 an act was passed in which no discrimination against color appeared. It simply provided that " all children between the ages of six and twenty- one years shall have the privilege of attending the public schools." And while there was never afterward any law prohib iting the education of Colored children, the schools were used exclusively by the whites. TEXAS never put any legislation on her statute-books withholding the blessings of the schools from the Negro, for the reason, doubt less, that she banished all free persons of color, and worked her slaves so hard that they had no hunger for books when night came. VIRGINIA, under Sir William Berkeley, was not a strong patron of education for the masses. For the slave there was little opportunity to learn, as he was only allowed part of Saturday to rest, and kept under the closest surveillance on the Sabbath day. The free persons of color were regarded with suspicion, and little chance was given them to cultivate their minds. On the 2d of March, 1819, an act was passed prohibiting " all meetings or assemblages of slaves, or free negroes, or mulat- toes, mixing and associating with such slaves, at any meeting house or houses, or any other place or places, in the night, or at any school or schools for teaching them reading and writing NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 181 either in the day or night." But notwithstanding this law, schools for free persons of color were kept up until the Nat. Turner insurrection in 1831, when, on the /th of April following, the subjoined act was passed : " SEC. 4. And be it enacted. That all meetings of free negroes or mulattoes at any school-house, church, meeting-house, or other place, for teaching them reading or writing, either in the day or night, under whatsoever pretext, shall be deemed and considered an unlawful as sembly ; and any justice of the county or corporation wherein such assemblage shall be, either from his own knowledge, or on the informa tion of others of such unlawful assemblage or meeting, shall issue his warrant directed to any sworn officer or officers, authorizing him or them to enter the house or houses where such unlawful assemblage or meeting may be, for the purpose of apprehending or dispersing such free negroes or mulattoes, and to inflict corporal punishment on the offender or offenders, at the discretion of any justice of the peace, not exceeding 20 lashes. " SEC. 5. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons as semble with free negroes or mulattoes at any school-house, church, meeting-house, or other place, for the purpose of instructing such free negroes or mulattoes to read or write, such persons or persons shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding $50, and, more over, may be imprisoned, at the discretion of a jury, not exceeding two months. " SEC. 6. And be it enacted, That if any white person, for pay or compensation, shall assemble with any slaves for the purpose of teach ing, and shall teach any slave to read or write, such person, or any white person or persons contracting with such teacher so to act, who shall offend as aforesaid, shall, for each offense, be fined, at the discre tion of a jury, in a sum not less than $10, nor exceeding $100, to be re covered on an information or indictment." This law was rigidly enforced, and in 1851, Mrs. Margaret Douglass, a white lady from South Carolina, was cast into the.- Norfolk jail for violating its provisions. West Virginia was not admitted into the Union until 1863. Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New Jersey did not prohibit the education of their Colored children. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA presents a more pleasing and instructive field for the examina tion of the curious student of history. 182 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In 1807, the first school-house for the use of Colored pupils was erected in Washington, D. C., by three Colored men, named George Bell, Nicholas Franklin, and Moses Liverpool. Not one of this trio of Negro educators knew a letter of the alphabet ; but having lived as slaves in Virginia, they had learned to ap preciate the- opinion that learning was of great price. They secured a white teacher, named Lowe, and put their school in operation. At this time the entire population of free persons amounted to 494 souls. After a brief period the school subsided, but was reorganized again in 1818. The announcement of the opening of the school was printed in the "National Intelligencer" on the 29th of August, 1818. "A School, Founded by an association of free people of color, of the city of Washington, called the * Resolute Beneficial Society,' situate near the Eastern Public School and the dwelling of Mrs. Fenwick, is now open for the reception of children of free people of color and others, that ladies or gentlemen may think proper to send to be instructed in read ing, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, or other branches of educa tion apposite to their capacities, by a steady, active, and experienced teacher, whose attention is wholly devoted to the purposes described. It is presumed that free colored families will embrace the advantages thus presented to them, either by subscribing to the funds of the so~ ciety, or by sending their children to the school. An improvement ot the intellect and morals of colored youth being the objects of this institution, the patronage of benevolent ladies and gentlemen, by dona tion or subscription, is humbly solicited in aid of the fund, the demands thereon being heavy and the means at present much too limited. For the satisfaction of the public, the constitution and articles of association are printed and published. And to avoid disagreeable occurrences, no writings are to be done by the teacher for a slave, neither directly nor indirectly, to serve the purpose of a slave on any account whatever. Further particulars may be known by applying to any of the under signed officers. "WILLIAM COSTIN, President. " GEORGE HICKS, Vice- President. " JAMES HARRIS, Secretary. " GEORGE BELL, Treasurer. " ARCHIBALD JOHNSON, Marshal. " FRED. LEWIS, Chairman of the Committee. " ISAAC JOHNSON, ) ^ ' \ Committee. SCTPIO BEENS, ) NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 183 " N. B. An evening school will commence on the premises on the first Monday of October, and continue throughout the season. " i^" The managers of Sunday-schools in the eastern district are thus most dutifully informed that on Sabbath-days the school-house belonging to this society, if required for the tuition of colored youth, will be uniformly at their service. August 29, 3/." This school was first taught by a Mr. Pierpont, of Massachu setts, a relative of the poet, and after several years was succeeded by a Colored man named John Adams, the first teacher of his race in the District of Columbia. The average attendance of this school was about sixty-five or seventy. MR. HENRY POTTER'S SCHOOL. The third school for Colored children in Washington was established by Mr. Henry Potter, an Englishman, who opened his school about 1809, m a brick building which then stood on the southeast corner of F and Seventh streets, opposite the block where the post-office building now stands. He continued there for several years and had a large school, moving subsequently to what was then known as Clark's Row on Thirteenth Street, west, between G and' H 'streets, north. MRS. HALL'S SCHOOL. During this period Mrs. Anne Maria Hall started a school on Capitol Hill, between the old Capitol and Carroll Row, on First Street, east. After continuing there with a full school for some ten years, she moved to a building which stood on what is now the vacant portion of the Casparis House lot on A Street, close to the Capitol. Some years later she went to the First Bethel Church, and after a year or two she moved to a house still standing on E Street, north, between Eleventh and Twelfth, west, and there taught many years. She was a Colored woman from Prince George's County, Maryland, and had a respectable education, which she obtained at schools with white children in Alexandria. Her husband died early, leaving her with children to support, and she betook herself to the work of a teacher, which she loved, and in which, for not less than twenty-five years, she met with uniform success. Her schools were all quite large, and the many who remember her as their teacher speak of her with great respect. 1 84 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. MRS. MARY BILLING'S SCHOOL. Of the early teachers of Colored schools in this district there is no one whose name is mentioned with more gratitude and re spect by the intelligent Colored residents than that of Mrs. Mary Billing, who established the first Colored school that was gath ered in Georgetown. She was an English woman ; her husband, Joseph Billing, a cabinet-maker, coming from England in 1800, settled with his family that year in Washington, and dying in 1807, left his wife with three children. She was well educated, a capable and good woman, and immediately commenced teach ing to support her family. At first, it is believed, she was con nected with the Corporation School of Georgetown. It was while in a white school certainly that her attention was arrested by the wants of the Colored children, whom she was accustomed to re ceive into her schools, till the opposition became so marked that she decided to make her school exclusively Colored. She was a woman of strong religious convictions, and being English, with none of the ideas peculiar to slave society, when she saw the peculiar destitution of the Colored children in the community around her, she resolved to give her life to the class who seemed most to need her services. She established a Colored school about 1810, in a brick house still standing on Dunbarton Street, opposite the Methodist church, between Congress and High streets, remaining there till the winter of i82O-'2i, when she came to Washington and opened a school in the house on H Street, near the Foundry Church, then owned by Daniel Jones, a Col ored man, and still owned and occupied by a member of that family. She died in 1826, in the fiftieth year of her age. She continued her school till failing health, a year or so before her death, compelled its relinquishment. Her school was always large, it being patronized in Georgetown as well as afterward by the best Colored families of Washington, many of whom sent their children to her from Capitol Hill and the vicinity of the Navy Yard. Most of the better-educated Colored men and women now living, who were school children in her time, re ceived the best portion of their education from her, and they all speak of her with a deep and tender sense of obligation. Henry Potter succeeded her in the Georgetown school, and after him Mr. Shay, an Englishman, who subsequently came to Washing ton and for many years had a large Colored school in a brick building known as the Round Tops, in the western part of the NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 185 city, near the Circle, and still later removing to the old Western Academy building, corner of I and Seventeenth streets. He was there till about 1830, when he was convicted of assisting a slave to his freedom, and sent a term to the penitentiary. Mrs. Billing had a night school in which she was greatly assisted by Mr. Mon roe, a government clerk and a Presbyterian elder, whose devout and benevolent character is still remembered in the churches. Mrs. Billing had scholars from Bladensburg and the surrounding country, who came into Georgetown and boarded with her and with others. About the time when Mrs. Billing relinquished her school in 1822 or 1823, what may be properly called THE SMOTHERS SCHOOL-HOUSE, was built by Henry Smothers on the corner of Fourteenth and H streets, not far from the Treasury building. Smothers had a small dwelling-house on this corner, and built his school- house on the rear of the same lot. He had been long a pupil of Mrs. Billing, and had subsequently taught a school on Washing ton Street, opposite the Union Hotel in Georgetown. He opened his school in Washington in the old corporation school- house, built in 1806, but some years before this period abandoned as a public school-house. It was known as the Western Acad emy, and is still standing and used as a school-house on the cor ner of I and Nineteenth streets, west. When his school-house on Fourteenth and H streets was finished, his school went into the new quarters. This school was very large, numbering always more than a hundred and often as high as a hundred and fifty scholars. He taught here about two years, and was succeeded by John W. Prout about the year 1825. Prout was a man of ability. In 1831, May 4, there was a meeting, says the "National Intelligencer " of that date, of " the colored citizens, large and very respectable, in the African Methodist Episcopal Church/' to consider the question of emigrating to Liberia. John W. Prout was chosen to preside over the assemblage, and the article in the " In telligencer" represents him as making " a speech of decided force and well adapted to the occasion, in support of a set of resolu tions which he had drafted, and which set forth views adverse to leaving the soil that had given them birth, their true and verita ble home, without the benefits of education." The school under Prout was governed by a board of trustees and was organized as 186 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. A FREE SCHOOL, and so continued two or three years. The number of scholars was very large, averaging a hundred and fifty. Mrs. Anne Maria Hall was the assistant teacher. It relied mainly for support upon subscription, twelve and a half cents a month only being expected from each pupil, and this amount was not compulsory. The school was free to all Colored children, without money or price, and so continued two or three years, when failing of voluntary pecuniary support (it never wanted scholars), it became a regular tuition school. The school under Mr. Prout was called the "Columbian Institute," the name being suggested by John McLeod, the famous Irish school-master, who was a warm friend of this institution after visiting and commending the scholars and teachers, and who named his new building, in 1835, the Columbian Academy. The days of thick darkness to the Col ored people were approaching. The Nat. Turner insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia, which occurred in August, 1831, spread terror everywhere in slave communities In this district, immediately upon that terrible occurrence, the Colored children, who had in very large numbers been received into the Sabbath- schools in the white churches, were all turned out of those schools. This event, though seeming to be a fiery affliction, proved a blessing in disguise. It aroused the energies of the Colored people, taught them self-reliance, and they organized forthwith Sabbath-schools of their own. It was in the Smothers school-house that they formed their first Sunday-school, about the year 1832, and here they continued their very large school for several years, the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church ulti mately springing from the school organization. It is important to state in this connection that THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL, always an extremely important means of education for Colored people in the days of slavery, was emphatically so in the gloomy times now upon them. It was the Sabbath-school that taught the great mass of the free people of color about all the school knowledge that was allowed them in those days, and hence the consternation which came upon them when they found them selves excluded from the schools of the white churches. Lind say Muse, who has been the messenger for eighteen Secretaries. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 187 of the Navy, successively, during fifty-four years, from 1828 to the present time, John Brown, Benjamin M. McCoy, Mr. Smallwood, Mrs. Charlotte Norris, afterward wife of Rev. Eli Nugent, and Siby McCoy, are the only survivors of the resolute little band of Colored men and women who gathered with and guided that Sunday-school. They had, in the successor of Mr. Prout, a man after their own heart, JOHN F. COOK, who came into charge of this school in August, 1834, about eight years after his aunt, Alethia Tanner, had purchased his freedom. He learned the shoemaker's trade in his boyhood, and worked diligently, after the purchase of his freedom, to make some return to his aunt for the purchase-money. About the time of his becoming of age, he dislocated his shoulder, which compelled him to seek other employment, and in 1831, the year of his majority, he obtained the place of assistant messenger in the Land Office. Hon. John Wilson, now Third Auditor of the Treasury, was the messenger, and was Cook's firm friend till the day of his death. Cook had been a short time at school under the instruction of Smothers and Prout, but when he entered the Land Office his education was at most only the ability to stumble along a little in a primary reading-book. He, however, now gave himself in all his leisure moments, early and late, to study. Mr. Wilson remembers his indefatigable application, and affirms that it was a matter of astonishment at the time, and that he has seen nothing in all his observations to surpass and scarcely to equal it. He was soon able to write a good hand, and was employed with his pen in clerical work by the sanction of the commissioner, Elisha Hayward, who was much attached to him. Cook was now beginning to look forward to the life of a teacher, which, with the ministry, was the only work not menial in its nature then open to an educated Colored man. At the end of three years he resigned his place in the Land Office, and entered upon the work which he laid down only with his life. It was then that he gave himself wholly to study and the business of education, working witlv all his might ; his school numbering quite a hun dred scholars in the winter and a hundred and fifty in the sum mer. He had been in his work one year when the storm which had been, for some years, under the discussion of the slavery question, gathering over the country at large, burst upon this, district. iS8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. THE SNOW RIOT, or '"Snow storm," as it has been commonly called, which oc curred in September, 1835, * s an event that stands vividly in the memory of all Colored people who lived in this community at that time. Benjamin Snow, a smart Colored man, keeping a restaurant on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, was reported to have made some remark of a bravado kind derogatory to the wives of white mechanics ; whereupon this class, or those assuming to represent them, made a descent upon his establishment, destroying all his effects. Snow himself, who denied using the offensive language, with difficulty escaped un harmed, through the management of white friends, taking refuge in Canada, where he still resides. The military was promptly called to the rescue, at the head of which was General Walter Jones, the eminent lawyer, who characterized the rioters, greatly to their indignation, as "a set of ragamuffins," and his action was thoroughly sanctioned by the city authorities. At the same time, also, there was a fierce excitement among the mechanics at the Navy Yard, growing out of the fact that a large quantity of copper bolts being missed from the yard and found to have been carried out in the dinner-pails by the hands, the commandant had forbid eating dinners in the yard. This order was interpreted as an insult to the white mechanics, and threats were made of an assault on the yard, which was put in a thorough state of defence by the commandant. The rioters swept through the city, ransacking the houses of the prominent Colored men and women, ostensibly in search of anti-slavery papers and documents, the most of the gang impelled un doubtedly by hostility to the Negro race and by motives of plunder. Nearly all the Colored school-houses were partially demolished and the furniture totally destroyed, and in several cases they were completely ruined. Some private houses were also torn down or burnt. The Colored schools were nearly all broken up, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the Colored churches were saved from destruction, as their Sabbath-schools were re garded, and correctly regarded, as the means through which the Colored people, at that time, procured much of the^r education. The rioters sought, especially, for John F. Cook, who, how- -ever, had seasonably taken from the stable the horse of his friend, Mr. Hayward, the Commissioner of the Land Office, an anti-slavery man, and fled precipitately from the city. They NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 189 marched to his school-house, destroyed all the books and furni ture, and partially destroyed the building. Mrs. Smothers, who owned both the school-house and the dwelling adjoining the lots, was sick in her house at the time, but an alderman, Mr. Edward Dyer, with great courage and nobleness of spirit, stood between the house and the mob for her protection, declaring that he would defend her house from molestation with all the means he could command. They left the house unharmed, and it is still standing on the premises. Mr. Cook went to Columbia, Pennsylvania, opened a school there, and did not venture back to his home till the autumn of 1836. At the time the riot broke out, General Jackson was absent in Virginia. He returned in the midst of the tumult, and immediately issuing orders in his bold, uncompromising manner to the authorities to see the laws respected at all events, the violence was promptly subdued. It was, nevertheless, a very dark time for the Colored people. The timid class did not for a year or two dare to send their children to school, and the whole mass of the Colored people 'dwelt in fear day and night. In August, 1836, Mr. Cook returned from Pennsylvania and reopened his school, which under him had, in 1834, received the name of UNION SEMINARY. During his year's absence he was in charge of a free Col ored public school in Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, which he surrendered to the care of Benjamin M. McCoy when he came back to his home, Mr. McCoy going there to fill out his engagement. He resumed his work with broad and elevated ideas of his business. This is clearly seen in the plan of his institution, em braced in the printed annual announcements and programmes of his annual exhibitions, copies of which have been preserved. The course of study embraced three years, and there was a male and a female department, Miss Catharine Costin at one period being in charge of the female department. Mr. Seaton, of the " National Intelligencer," among other leading and enlightened citizens and public men, used to visit his school from year to year, and watch its admirable working with deep and lively in terest. Cook was at this period not only watching over his very large school, ranging from 100 to 150 or more pupils, but was active in the formation of the " First Colored Presbyterian 190 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.. Church of Washington," which was organized in November, 1841, by Rev. John C. Smith, D.D., and worshipped in this school-house. He was now also giving deep study to the prepa ration for the ministry, upon which, in fact, as a licentiate of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he had already in some degree entered. At a regular meeting of " The presbytery of the District of Columbia," held in Alexandria, May 3, 1842, this church, now commonly called the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, was formally received under the care of that presbytery, the first and still the only Colored Presbyterian church in the district. Mr. Cook was elected the first pastor July 13, 1843, an< 3 preached his trial sermon before ordination on the evening of that day in the Fourth Presbyterian Church (Dr. J. C. Smith's) in the city, in the presence of a large congregation. This sermon is remembered as a manly production, delivered with great dig nity and force, and deeply imbued with the spirit of his work. He was ordained in the Fifteenth Street Church the next evening, and continued to serve the church with eminent success till his death in 1855. Rev. John C. Smith, D.D., who had preached his ordination sermon, and been his devoted friend and counsellor for nearly twenty years, preached his funeral sermon, selecting as his text, " There was a man sent from God whose name was John." There were present white as well as Colored clergymen of no less than five denominations, many of the oldest and most re spectable citizens, and a vast concourse of all classes white and Colored. " The Fifteenth Street Church," in the words of Dr. Smith in relation to them and their first pastor, " is now a large and flourishing congregation of spiritually-minded people. They have been educated in the truth and the principles of our holy religion, and in the new, present state of things the men of this church are trusted, relied on as those who fear God and keep His commandments. The church is the monument to John F. Cook, the first pastor, who was faithful in all his house, a workman who labored night and day for years, and has entered into his reward. ' Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.' l They rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.' " In 1841, when he entered, in a preliminary and informal way, upon the pastorate of the Fifteenth Street Church, he seems to have attempted to turn his seminary into a high school, limited to twenty-five or thirty pupils, exclusively for the more advanced scholars of both sexes ; and his plan of studies to that end, as NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 191 seen in his prospectus, evinces broad and elevated views a de sire to aid in lifting his race to higher things in education than they had yet attempted. His plans were not put into execution, in the matter of a high school, being frustrated by the circum stances that there were so few good schools in the city for the Colored people, at that period, that his old patrons would not allow him to shut off the multitude of primary scholars which were depending upon his school. His seminary, however, con tinued to maintain its high standard, and had an average at tendance of quite 100 year after year, till he surrendered up his work in death. He raised up a large family and educated them well. The oldest of the sons, John and George, were educated at Oberlin College. The other three, beiflg young, were in school when the father died. John and George, it will be seen, succeeded their father as teachers, continuing in the business down to the present year. Of the two daughters, the elder was a teacher till married in 1866, and the other is now a teacher in the public schools of the city. One son served through the war as sergeant in the Fortieth Colored Regiment, and another served in the navy. At the death of the father, March 21, 1855, the school fell into the hands of the son, John F. Cook, who continued it till May, 1857, when it passed to a younger son, George F. T. Cook, who moved it from its old home, the Smothers House, to the basement of the Presbyterian Church, in the spring of 1858, and maintained it till July, 1859. J onn F. Cook, jr., who had erected a new school-house on Sixteenth Street, in 1862, again gathered the school which the tempests of the war had dispersed, and continued it till June, 1867, when the new order of things had opened ample school facilities throughout the city, and the teacher was called to other duties. Thus ended the school which had been first gathered by Smothers nearly forty-five years before, and which, in that long period, had been continually maintained with seldom less than one hundred pupils, and for the most part with one hundred and fifty, the only suspensions being in the year of the Snow riot, and in the two years which ushered in the war. The Smothers House, after the Cook school was removed in 1858, was occupied for two years by a free Catholic school, sup ported by " The St. Vincent de Paul Society," a benevolent 192 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. organization of Colored people. It was a very large school with two departments, the boys under David Brown, and the girls under Eliza Anne Cook, and averaging over one hundred and fifty scholars. When this school was transferred to another house, Rev. Chauncey Leonard, a Colored Baptist clergyman, now pastor of a church in Washington, and Nannie Waugh opened a school there, in 1861, that became as large as that which had preceded it in the same place. This school was broken up in 1862 by the destruction of the building at the hands of the incendiaries, who, even at that time, were inspired with all their accustomed vindictiveness toward the Colored people. But this was their last heathenish jubilee, and from the ashes of many burnings imperishable liberty has sprung forth. About the time that Smothers built his school-house, in 1823, LOUISA PARKE COSTIN's SCHOOL was established in her father's house on Capitol Hill, on A Street, south, under the shadow of the Capitol. This Costin family came from Mount Vernon immediately after the death of Martha Wash ington, in 1802. The father, William Costin, who died suddenly in his bed, May 31, 1842, was for twenty-four years messenger for the Bank of Washington in this city. His death was noticed at length in the columns of the "National Intelligencer" in more than one communication at the time. The obituary notice,, written under the suggestions of the bank officers who had pre viously passed a resolution expressing their respect for his mem ory, and appropriating fifty dollars toward the funeral expenses^ says : " It is due to the deceased to say that his colored skin covered a benevolent heart"; concluding with this language: "The deceased raised respectably a large family of children of his own, and, in the exercise of the purest benevolence, took into his family and supported four orphan children. The tears of the orphan will moisten his grave, and his memory will be dear to all those a numerous class who have experienced his kind ness " ; and adding these lines : " Honor and shame from no condition rise ; Act well your part there all the honor lies." John Quincy Adams, also, a few days afterward, in a dis cussion of the wrongs of slavery, alluded to the deceased in these NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 193 words , " The late William Costin, though he was not white, was as much respected as any man in the district, and the large concourse of citizens that attended his remains to the grave, as well white as black, was an evidence of the manner in which he was estimated by the citizens of Washington." His portrait, taken by the direction of the bank authorities, still hangs in the directors' room, and it may also be seen in the houses of more than one of the old and prominent residents of the city. William Costin's mother, Ann Dandridge, was the daughter of a half-breed (Indian and Colored), her grandfather being a Cherokee chief, and her reputed father was the father of Martha Dandridge, afterward Mrs. Custis, who, in i/59> was married to General Washington. These daughters, Ann and Martha, grew up together on the ancestral plantations. William Costin's re puted father was white, and belonged to a prominent family in Virginia, but the mother, after his birth, married one of the Mount Vernon slaves by the name of Costin, and the son took the name of William Costin. His mother, being of Indian de scent, made him, under the laws of Virginia, a free-born man. In 1800 he married Philadelphia Judge (his cousin), one of Mar tha Washington's slaves, at Mount Vernon, where both were born in 1780. The wife was given by Martha Washington at her decease to her granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis, who was the wife of Thomas Law, of Washington. Soon after William Costin and his wife came to Washington, the wife's freedom was secured on kind and easy terms, and the children were all born free. This is the account which William Costin and his wife and his mother, Ann Dandridge, always gave of their ancestry, and they were persons of great precision in all matters of family his tory, as well as of the most marked scrupulousness in their state ments. Their seven children, five daughters and two sons, went to school with the white children on Capitol Hill, to Mrs. Maria Haley and other teachers. The two younger daughters, Martha and Frances, finished their education at the Colored convent in Baltimore. Louisa Parke and Ann had passed their school days be fore the convent was founded. Louisa Parke Costin opened her school at nineteen years of age, continuing it with much success till her sudden death in 1831, the year in which her mother also died. When Martha returned from the convent seminary, a year or so later, she reopened the school, continuing it till about 1839. This school, which was maintained some fifteen years, was 194 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. always very full. The three surviving sisters own and reside in the house which their father built about 1812. One of these sisters married Richard Henry Fisk, a Colored man of good edu cation, who died in California, and she now has charge of the Senate ladies' reception-room. Ann Costin was for several years in the family of Major Lewis (at Woodlawn, Mount Vernon), the nephew of Washington. Mrs. Lewis (Eleanor Custis) was the granddaughter of Martha Washington. This school was not molested by the mob of 1835, and it was always under the care of a well-bred and well-educated teacher. THE WESLEYAN SEMINARY. While Martha Costin was teaching, James Enoch Ambush, a Colored man, had also a large school in the basement of the Israel Bethel Church, on Capitol Hill, for a while, commencing there in April, 1833, and continuing in various places till 1843, when he built a school-house on E Street, south, near Tenth, island, and established what was known as " The Wesleyan Seminary," and which was successfully maintained for thirty-two years, till the close of August, 1865. The school-house still stands, a comfortable one-story wooden structure, with the sign " Wesleyan Seminary " over the door, as it has been there for twenty-five years. This was the only Colored school on the island of any account for many years, and in its humble way it accomplished a great amount of good. For some years Mr. Am bush had given much study to botanic medicine, and since closing his school he has become a botanic physician. He is a man of fine sense, and without school advantages, has acquired a respect able education. FIRST SEMINARY FOR COLORED GIRLS. The first seminary in the District of Colurhbia for Colored girls was established in Georgetown, in 1827, under the special auspices of Father Vanlomen, a benevolent and devout Catholic priest, then pastor of the Holy Trinity Church, who not only gave this interesting enterprise his hand and his heart, but for several years himself taught a school of Colored boys three days in a week, near the Georgetown college gate, in a small frame house, which was afterward famous as the residence of the broken-hearted widow of Commodore Decatur. This female seminary was under the care of Maria Becraft, who was the most NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 195 remarkable Colored young woman of her time in the district, and, perhaps, of any time. Her father, William Becraft, born while his mother, a free woman, was the housekeeper of Charles Car roll, of Carrollton, always had the kindest attentions of this great man, and there are now pictures, more than a century and a half old, and other valuable relics from the Carroll family in the possession of the Becraft family, in Georgetown, which Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, in his last days presented to William Be craft as family keepsakes. William Becraft lived in Georgetown sixty-four years, coming there when eighteen years of age. He was for many years chief steward of Union Hotel, and a remark able man, respected and honored by everybody. When he died, the press of the district noticed, in a most prominent manner, his life and character. From one of the extended obituary notices, marked with heavy black lines, the following paragraph is copied : " He was among the last surviving representatives of the old school of well-bred, confidential, and .intelligent domestics, and was widely known at home and abroad from his connection, in the capacity of steward for a long series of years, and probably from its origin, and until a recent date, with the Union Hotel, Georgetown, with whose guests, for successive generations, his benevolent and venerable aspect, dignified and obliging manners, and moral excellence, rendered him a general favorite." Maria Becraft was marked, from her childhood, for her un common intelligence and refinement, and for her extraordinary piety. She was born in 1805, and first went to school for a year to Henry Potter, in Washington, about 1812; afterward attend ing Mrs. Billing's school constantly till 1820. She then, at the age of fifteen, opened a school for girls in Dunbarton Street, in Georgetown, and' gave herself to the work, which she loved, with the greatest assiduity, and with uniform success. In 1827, when she was twenty-two years of age, her remarkable beauty and elevation of character so much impressed Father Vanlomen, the good priest, that he took it in hand to give her a higher style of school in which to work for her sex and race, to the educa tion of which she had now fully consecrated herself. Her school was accordingly transferred to a larger building, which still stands on Fayette Street, opposite the convent, and there she opened a boarding and day school for Colored girls, which she 196 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. continued with great success till August, 1831, when she surren dered her little seminary into the care of one of the girls that she had trained, and in October of that year joined the convent at Baltimore as a Sister of Providence, where she was the leading teacher till she died, in December, 1833, a great loss to that young institution, which was contemplating this noble young woman as its future Mother Superior. Her seminary in George town averaged from thirty to thirty-five pupils, and there are those living who remember the troop of girls, dressed uniformly,, .which was wont to follow in procession their pious and refined teacher to devotions on the Sabbath at Holy Trinity Church. The school comprised girls from the best Colored families of Georgetown, Washington, Alexandria, and surrounding country. The sisters of the Georgetown convent were the admirers of Miss Becraft, gave her instruction, and extended to her most heartfelt aid and approbation in all her noble work, as they were in those days wont to do in behalf of the aspiring Colored girls who sought for education, withholding themselves from such work only when a depraved and degenerate public sentiment upon the subject of educating the Colored people had compelled them to a more rigid line of demarcation between the races. Ellen Simonds and others conducted the school a few years, but with the loss of its original teacher it began to fail, and finally became extinct. Maria Becraft is remembered, wherever she was known, as a woman of the rarest sweetness and exaltation of Christian life, graceful and attractive in person and manners, gifted, well-educated, and wholly devoted to doing good. Her name as a Sister of Providence was Sister Aloyons. MISS MYRTILLA MINER'S SEMINARY for Colored girls was initiated in Washington. This philan thropic woman was born in Brookfield, Madison County, New York, in 1815. Her parents were farmers, with small resources for the support of a large family. The children were obliged to work, and the small advantages of a common school were all the educational privileges furnished to them. Hop-raising was a feature in their farming, and this daughter was accustomed to work in the autumn, picking the hops. She was of a delicate physical organization, and suffered exceedingly all her life with spinal troubles. Being a girl of extraordinary intellectual activ ity, her place at home chafed her spirit. She was restless, dis. NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 197 satisfied with her lot, looked higher than her father, dissented from his ideas of woman's education, and, in her desperation, when about twenty-three years old, wrote to Mr. Seward, then recently elected Governor of her State, asking him if he could show her how it was possible for a woman in her circumstances to become a scholar ; receiving from him the reply that he could not, but hoped a better day was coming, wherein woman might have a chance to be and to do to the extent of her abilities. Hearing at this time of a school at Clinton, Oneida County, New York, for young women, on the manual-labor system, she de cided to go there ; but her health being such as to make manual labor impossible at the time, she wrote to the principal of the Clover Street Seminary, Rochester, New York, who generously received her, taking her notes for the school bills, to be paid after completing her education. Grateful for this noble act, she afterward sent her younger sister there to be educated, for her own associate as a teacher ; and the death of this talented sister, when about to graduate and come as her assistant in Washing ton, fell upon her with crushing force. In the Rochester school, with Myrtilla Miner, were two free Colored girls, and this asso ciation was the first circumstance to turn her thoughts to the work to which she gave her life. From Rochester she went to Mississippi, as a teacher of planters' daughters, and it was what she was compelled to see, in this situation, of the dreadful prac tices and conditions of slavery, that filled her soul with a pity for the Colored race, and a detestation of the system that bound them, which held possession of her to the last day of her life. She remained there several years, till her indignant utterances, which she would not withhold, compelled her employer, fearful of the results, to part reluctantly with a teacher whom he valued. She came home broken down with sickness, caused by the harassing sights and sounds that she had witnessed in plantation life, and while in this condition she made a solemn vow that whatever of life remained to her should be given to the work of ameliorating the condition of the Colored people. Here her great work begins. She made up her mind to do something for the education of free Colored girls, with the idea that through the influence of educated Colored women she could lay the solid foundations for the disenthrallment of their race. She selected the district for the field of her efforts, because it was the com mon property of the nation, and because the laws of the district 198 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. gave her the right to educate free Colored children, and she attempted to teach none others. She opened her plan to many of the leading friends of freedom, in an extensive cor respondence, but found especially, at this time, a wise and warm encourager and counsellor in her scheme, in William R. Smith, a Friend, of Farmington, near Rochester, New York, in whose family she was now a private teacher. Her correspond ents generally gave her but little encouragement, but wished her God-speed in what she should dare in the good cause. One Friend wrote her from Philadelphia; entering warmly into her scheme, but advised her to wait till funds could be collected. " I do not want the wealth of Croesus," was her reply ; and the Friend sent her $100, and with this capital, in the autumn of 1851, she came to Washington to establish a Normal School for the education of Colored girls, having associ ated with her Miss Anna Inman, an accomplished and benevolent lady of the Society of Friends, from Southfield, Rhode Island, who, however, after teaching a class of Colored girls in French, in the house of Jonathan Jones, on the island, through the win ter, returned to New England. In the autumn of 1851 Miss Miner commenced her remarkable work here in a small room, about fourteen feet square, in the frame house then, as now, owned and occupied by Edward C. Younger, a Colored man, as his dwelling, on Eleventh Street, near New York Avenue. With but two or three girls to open the school, she soon had a room ful, and to secure larger accommodation, moved, after a couple of months, to a house on F Street, north, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, west, near the houses then occupied by William T. Carroll and Charles H. Winder. This house furnished her a very comfortable room for her school, which was composed of well-behaved girls from the best Colored families of the dis trict. The persecution of those neighbors, however, compelled her to leave, as the Colored family who occupied the house was threatened with conflagration, and after one month her little school found a more unmolested home in the dwelling-house of a German family on K Street, near the western market. After tarrying a few months here, she moved to L Street, into a room in the building known as " The Two Sisters," then occupied by a white family. She now saw that the success of her school demanded a school-house, and in reconnoitring the ground she found a spot suiting her ideas as to size and locality, with a NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 199 house on it, and in the market at a low price. She raised the money, secured the spot, and thither, in the summer of 1851, she moved her school, where for seven years she was destined to prosecute, with the most unparalleled energy and conspicuous success, her remarkable enterprise. This lot, comprising an entire square of three acres, between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, west, N and O streets, north, and New Hampshire Avenue, selected under the guidance of Miss Miner, the contract being perfected through the agency of Sayles J. Bowen, Thomas Williamson, and Allen M. Gangewer, was originally conveyed in trust to Thomas Williamson and Samuel Rhodes, of the Society of Friends, in Philadelphia. It was purchased of the executors of the will of John Taylor, for $4,000, the deed being executed June 8, 1853, the estimated value of the property now being not less than $30,000. The money was mainly contributed by Friends, in Philadelphia, New York, and New England. Cath arine Morris, a Friend, of Philadelphia, was a liberal benefactor of the enterprise, advancing Miss Miner $2,000, with which to complete the purchase of the lot, the most, if not all, of which sum, it is believed, she ultimately gave to the institution ; and Harriet Beecher Stowe was another generous friend, who gave her money and her heart to the support of the brave woman who had been willing to go forth alone at the call of duty. Mr. Rhodes, some years editor of the " Friends' Quarterly Review," died several years ago, near Philadelphia. Mr. Williamson, a conveyancer in that city, and father of Passmore Williamson, is still living, but oome years ago declined the place of trustee. The board, at the date of the act of incorporation, consisted of Benjamin Tatham, a Friend, of New York City, Mrs. Nancy M. Johnson, of Washington, and Myrtilla Miner, and the transfer of the property to the incorporated body was made a few weeks prior to Miss Miner's death. This real estate, together with a fund of $4,000 in government stocks, is now in the hands of a corporate body, under act of Congress approved March 3, 1863, and is styled " The Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in the District of Columbia." The officers of the corporation at this time are John C. Underwood, president ; Francis G. Shaw, treasurer ; George E. Baker, secretary ; who, with Nancy M. Johnson, S. J. Bowen, Henry Addison, and Rachel Howland, constitute the executive committee. The purpose of the pur chase of this property is declared, in a paper signed by Mr. 200 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Williamson and Mr. Rhodes, dated Philadelphia, June 8, 1858, to have been " especially for the education of colored girls" This paper also declares that " the grounds were purchased at the special instance of Myrtilla Miner," and that " the contribu tions by which the original price of said lot, and also the cost of the subsequent improvements thereof, were procured chiefly by her instrumentality and labors." The idea of Miss Miner in planting a school here was to train up a* class of Colored girls, in the midst of slave institutions, who should show forth in their culture and capabilities, to the country and to mankind, that the race was fit for something higher than the degradation which rested upon them. The amazing energy with which this frail woman prosecuted her work is well known to those who took knowledge of her career. She visited the Colored people of her district from house to house, and breathed a new life into them pertaining to the education of their daughters. Her correspond ence with the philanthropic men and women of the North was immense. She importuned Congressmen, and the men who shaped public sentiment through the columns of the press, to come into her school and see her girls, and was ceaseless in her activities day and night, in every direction, to build up, in dignity and refinement, her seminary, and to force its merits upon public attention. The buildings upon the lot when purchased a small frame dwelling of two stories, not more than twenty-five by thirty-five feet in dimensions, with three small cabins on the other side of the premises served for the seminary and the homes of the teacher and her assistant. The most aspiring and decently bred Colored girls of the district were gathered into the school ; and the very best Colored teachers in the schools of the district at the present time, are among those who owe their education to this self-sacrificing teacher and her school. Mrs. Means, aunt of the wife of General Pierce, then President of the United States, at tracted by the enthusiasm of this wonderful person, often visited her in the midst of her work, with the kindest feelings ; and the fact that the carriage from the Presidential mansion was in this way frequently seen at the door of this humble institution, did much to protect it from the hatred with which it was sur rounded. Mr. Seward and his family were very often seen at the school, both Mrs. Seward and her daughter Fanny being constant visitors ; NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 201 the latter, a young girl at the time, often spending a whole day there. Many other Congressmen of large and generous instincts, some of them of pro-slavery party relations, went out there, all confessing their admiration of the resolute woman and her school, and this kept evil men in abeyance. The opposition to the school throughout the district was strong and very general, among the old as well as the young. Even Walter Lenox, who, as mayor, when the school was first started, gave the teacher assurances of favor in her work, came out in 1857, following the prevailing current of depraved public sentiment and feeding its tide, in an elaborate article in the " National Intelligencer," under his own signature ; assailed the school in open and direct language, urging against it that it was raising the standard of education among the Colored population, .and distinctly declaring that the white population of the district would not be just to themselves to permit the continuance of an institution which had the temerity to extend to the Colored people " a degree of instruction so far beyond their social and political condition, which condition must continue," the article goes on to say, " in this and every other slave-holding commu nity." This article, though fraught with extreme ideas, and to the last degree prescriptive and inflammatory, neither stirred any open violence, nor deterred the courageous woman in the slight est degree from her work. When madmen went to her school room threatening her with personal violence, she laughed them to shame ; and when they threatened to burn her house, she told them that they could not stop her in that way, as another house, better than the old, would immediately rise from its ashes. The house was set on fire in the spring of 1860, when Miss Miner was asleep in the second story, alone, in the night-time, but the smell of the smoke awakened her in time to save the building and herself from the flames, which were extinguished. The school-girls, also, were constantly at the mercy of coarse and insulting boys along the streets, who would often gather in gangs before the gate to pursue and terrify these inoffensive children, who were striving to gather wisdom and understanding in their little sanctuary. The police took no cognizance of such brutality in those days. But their dauntless teacher, uncompro mising, conscientious, and self-possessed in her aggressive work, in no manner turned from her course by this persecution, was, on the other hand, stimulated thereby to higher vigilance and 202 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. energy in her great undertaking. The course of instruction in the school was indeed of a higher order than had hitherto been opened to the Colored people of the district, as was denounced against the school by Walter Lenox, in his newspaper attack. Lectures upon scientific and literary subjects were given by pro fessional and literary gentlemen, who were friends to the cause. The spacious grounds afforded to each pupil an ample space for a flower bed, which she was enjoined to cultivate with her own hands and to thoroughly study. And an excellent library, a collection of paintings and engravings, the leading magazines and choice newspapers, were gathered and secured for the humble home of learning, which was all the while filled with students, the most of whom were bright, ambitious girls, composing a female Colored school, which, in dignity and usefulness, has had no equal in the district since that day. It was her custom to gather in her vacations and journeys not only money, but every thing else that would be of use in her school, and in this way she not only collected books, but maps, globes, philosophical, and chemical, and mathematical apparatus, and a great variety of things to aid in her instruction in illustrating all branches of knowledge. This collection was stored in the school building during the war, and was damaged by neglect, plundered by soldiers, and what remains is not of much value. The elegant sofa-bedstead which she used during all her years in the semi nary, and which would be an interesting possession for the semi nary, was sold, with her other personal effects, to Dr. Carrie Brown (Mrs. Winslow), of Washington, one of her bosom friends, who stood at her pillow when she died. Her plan embraced the erection of spacious structures, upon the site which had been most admirably chosen, complete in all their appointments for the full accommodation of a school of one hundred and fifty boarding scholars. The seminary was to be a female college, endowed with all the powers and professorships belonging to a first-class college for the other sex. She did not contemplate its springing up into such proportions, like a mush room, in a single night, but it was her ambition that the institu- tion should one day attain that rank. In the midst of her anxious,, incessant labors, her physical system began so sensibly to fail, that in the summer of 1858, under the counsel of the friends of herself and her cause, she went North to seek health, and, as usual in all her journeys, to beg for her seminary, leaving her NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 203 girls in the care of Emily Rowland, a noble young woman, who came down here for the love of the cause, without money and without price, from the vicinity of Auburn, New York. In the autumn, Miss Miner returned to her school ; Miss Rowland still continuing with her through the winter, a companion in her trials, aiding her in her duties, and consenting to take charge of the school again in the summer of 1859, while Miss Miner was on another journey for funds and health. In the autumn of that year, after returning from her journey, which was not very suc cessful, she determined to suspend the school, and to go forth into the country with a most persistent appeal for money to erect a seminary building, as she had found it impossible to get a house of any character started with the means already in her hands. She could get no woman, whom she deemed fit to take her work, willing to continue her school, and in the spring of 1860, leasing the premises, she went North on her errand. In the ensuing year she traversed many States, but the shadow of the Rebellion was on her path, and she gathered neither much money nor much strength. The war came, and in October, 1862, hoping, but vainly, for health from a sea-voyage and from the Pacific climate, she sailed from New York to California. When about to return, in 1866, with vivacity of body and spirit, she was thrown from a carriage in a fearful manner ; blighting all the high hopes of resuming her school under the glowing auspices she had anticipated, as she saw the Rebellion and the hated sys tem tumbling to pieces. She arrived in New York, in August of that year, in a most shattered condition of body, though with the fullest confidence that she should speedily be well and at her work in Washington. In the first days of December she went to Washington in a dying condition, still resolute to resume her vork; was carried to the residence of her tried friend, Mrs. Nancy M. Johnson; and on the tenth of that month, surrounded by the friends who had stood with her in other days, she put off her wasted and wearied body in the city which had witnessed her trials and her triumphs, and her remains slumber in Oak Hill Cemetery. Her seminary engaged her thoughts to the last day of her life. She said in her last hours that she had come back here to resume her work, and could not leave it thus unfinished. No marble marks the resting-place of this truly wonderful woman, but her memory is certainly held precious in the hearts of her throngs of pupils, in the hearts of the Colored people of this district, and ol 204 HISTOR Y OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. all who took knowledge of her life, and who reverenced the cause in which she offered herself a willing sacrifice. Her assistants in the school were Helen Moore, of Washington ; Margaret Clapp, Amanda Weaver, and Anna H. Searing, of New York State, and two of her pupils, Matilda Jones, of Washington, and Emma Brown, of Georgetown, both of whom subsequently, through the influence of Miss Miner and Miss Howland, finished their education at Oberlin, and have since been most superior teachers in Washington. Most of the assistant teachers from the North were from families connected with the Society of Friends, and it has been seen that the bulk of the money came from that society. The sketch would be incomplete without a special tribute to Lydia B. Mann, sister of Horace Mann, who came here in the fall of 1856, from the Colored Female Orphan Asylum of Providence, R. I., of which she was then, as she con tinues to be, the admirable superintendent, and, as a pure labor of love, took care of the school in the most superior manner through the autumn and winter, while Miss Miner was North re cruiting her strength and pleading for contributions. It was no holiday duty to go into that school, live in that building, and work alone with head and hands, as was done by all those refined and educated women who stood from time to time in that hum ble, persecuted seminary. Miss Mann is gratefully remembered by her pupils here and their friends. Mention should also be made of Emily Howland, who stood by Miss Miner in her darkest days, and whose whole heart was with her in all her work. She is a woman of the largest and most self-sacrificing purposes, who has been and still is giving her best years, all her powers, talents, learning, refinement, wealth, and personal toil, to the education and elevation of the Colored race. While here she adopted, and subsequently edu cated in the best manner, one of Miss Miner's pupils, and assisted several others of her smart girls in completing their edu cation at Oberlin. During the war she was teaching contrabands in the hospital and the camp, and is now engaged in planting a colony of Colored people in Virginia with homes and a school- house of their own. A seminary, such as was embraced in the plan of Miss Miner, is exceedingly demanded by the interest of Colored female education in the District of Columbia and the country at large, and any scheme by which the foundations that she laid so NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 205 well may become the seat of such a school, would be heartily approved by all enlightened friends of the Colored race. The trustees of the Miner property, not insensible of their respon sibilities, have been carefully watching for the moment when ac tion on their part would seem to be justified. They have re peatedly met in regard to the matter, but, in their counsels, hitherto, have deemed it wise to wait further developments. They are now about to hold another meeting, it is understood, and it is to be devoutly hoped that some plan will be adopted by which a school of a high order may be, in due time, opened for Colored girls in this district, who exceedingly need the refin ing, womanly training of such a school. The original corporators of Miss Miner's institution were Henry Addison, John C. Underwood, George C. Abbott, William H. Channing, Nancy M. Johnson, and Myrtilla Miner. The ob jects, as expressed in the charter, " are to educate and improve the moral and intellectual condition of such of the colored youth of the nation as may be placed under its care and influence." MARY WORMLEY'S SCHOOL. In 1830, William Wormley built a school-house for his sister Mary, near the corner of Vermont Avenue and I Street, where the restaurant establishment owned and occupied by his brother, James Wormley, now stands. He had educated his sister ex pressly for a teacher, at great expense, at the Colored Female ' Seminary in Philadelphia, then in charge of Miss Sarah Doug lass, an accomplished Colored lady, who is still a teacher of note in the Philadelphia Colored High School. William Wormley was at that time a man of wealth. His livery-stable, which oc cupied the place where the Owen House now stands, was one of the largest and best in the city. Miss Wormley had just brought her school into full and successful operation when her health broke down, and she lived scarcely two years. Mr. Calvert, an English gentleman, still living in the first ward, taught a class of Colored scholars in this house for a time, and James Wormley was one of the class. In the autumn of 1834, William Thomas Lee opened a school in the same place, and it was in a flourish ing condition in the fall of 1835, when the Snow mob dispersed it, sacking the school-house, and partially destroying it by fire. William Wormley was at that time one of the most enterprising and influential Colored men of Washington, and was the original 206 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. agent of the " Liberator " newspaper for this district. The mob being determined to lay hold of him and Lee, they fled from the city to save their lives, returning when General Jack son, coming back from Virginia a few days after the outbreak, gave notice that the fugitives should be protected. The perse cution of William Wormley was so violent and persistent, that his health and spirits sank under its effects, his business was broken up, and he died a poor man, scarcely owning a shelter for his dying couch. The school-house was repaired after the riot, and occupied for a time by Margaret Thompson's school, and still stands in the rear of James Wormley's restaurant. BENJAMIN M'COY'S, AND OTHER SCHOOLS. About this time another school was opened in Georgetown, by Nancy Grant, a sister of Mrs. William Becraft, a well-educated Colored woman. She was teaching as early as 1828, and had a useful school for several years. Mr. Nuthall, an Englishman, was teaching in Georgetown during this period, and as late as 1833 he went to Alexandria and opened a school in that city. William Syphax, among others now resident in Washington, at tended his school in Alexandria about 1833. He was a man of ability, well educated, and one of the best teachers of his time in the district. His school in Georgetown was at first in Dunbarton Street, and afterward on Montgomery. The old maxim, that " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church/' seems to find its illustration in this history. There is no period in the annals of the country in which the fires of persecution against the education of the Colored race burned more fiercely in this district, and the country at large, than in the five years from 1831 to 1836, and it was during this period that a larger number of respectable Colored schools were established than in any other five years prior to the war. In 1833, the same year in which Ambush's school was started, Benjamin M. McCoy, a Colored man, opened a school in the northern part of the city, on L Street, between Third and Fourth streets, west. In 1834 he moved to Massachusetts Avenue, continuing his school there till he went to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the autumn of 1836, to finish the engagement of Rev. John F. Cook, who came back to Washington at that time and re-opened his school. The school at Lancaster was a free public Colored school, and Mr. McCoy was solicited to continue another year ; but declin- NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 207 i-ng, came back, and in 1837 opened a school in the basement of Asbury Church, which, in that room and in the house adjoining, he maintained with great success for the ensuing twelve years. Mr. McCoy was a pupil of Mrs. Billing and Henry Smothers; is a man of good sense, and his school gave a respectable rudi- mental education to multitudes, who remember him as a teacher with great respect. He is now a messenger in the Treasury Department. In 1833, a school was established by Fanny Hamp ton, in the western part of the city, on the northwest corner of K and Nineteenth streets. It was a large school, and was con tinued till about 1842, the teacher dying soon afterward. She was half-sister of Lindsay Muse. Margaret Thompson suc ceeded her, and had a flourishing school of some forty scholars on Twenty-sixth Street, near the avenue, for several years, about 1846. She subsequently became the wife of Charles H. Middle- ton, and assisted in his school for a brief time. About 1830, Robert Brown commenced a small school, and continued it at intervals for many years till his death. As early as 1833, there was a school opened in a private house in the rear of Franklin Row, near the location of the new Franklin School building. It was taught by a white man, Mr. Talbot, and continued a year or two. Mrs. George Ford, a white teacher, a native of Virginia, kept a Colored school in a brick house still standing on New Jersey Avenue, between K and L streets. She taught there many years, and as early, perhaps, as half a century ago. DR. JOHN H. FLEET'S SCHOOL was opened, in 1836, on New York Avenue, in a school-house which stood nearly on the spot now occupied by the Richards buildings at the corner of New York Avenue and Fourteenth Street. It had been previously used for a white school, taught by Mrs. McDaniel, and was subsequently again so used. Dr. Fleet was a native of Georgetown, and was greatly assisted in his edu cation by the late Judge James Morsell, of that city, who was not only kind to this family, but was always regar.ded by the Colored people of the district as their firm friend and protector. John H. Fleet, with his brothers and sisters, went to the George town Lancasterian School, with the white children, for a long period, in their earlier school days, and subsequently to other white schools. He was also for a time a pupil of Smothers and Prout. He was possessed of a brilliant and strong intellect, in- 208 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. herited from his father, who was a white man of distinguished abilities. He studied medicine in Washington, in the office of Dr. Thomas Henderson, who had resigned as assistant surgeon in the army, and was a practising physician of eminence in Wash ington. He also attended medical lectures at the old medical college, corner of Tenth and E streets. It was his intention at that time to go to Liberia, and his professional education was conducted under the auspices of the Colonization Society. This, with the influence of Judge Morsell, gave him privileges never extended here to any other Colored man. He decided, however, not to go to Liberia, and in 1836 opened his school. He was a refined and polished gentleman, and conceded to be the foremost Colored man in culture, in intellectual force, and general influ ence in this district at that time. His school-house on New York Avenue was burned by an incendiary aboufci843, and his flourishing and excellent school was thus ended. For a time he subsequently taught music, in which he was very proficient ; but about 1846 he opened a school on School-house Hill, in the Hobbrook Mili tary School building, near the corner of N Street, north, and Twenty-third Street, west, and had a large school there till about 1851, when he relinquished the business, giving his atten tion henceforth exclusively to music, and with eminent success. He died in 1861. His school was very large and of a superior character. CHARLES H. MIDDLETON'S SCHOOL was started in the same section of the city, in a school-house which then stood near the corner of Twenty-second Street, west, and I, north, and which had been used by Henry Hardy for a white school. Though both Fleet's and Johnson's schools were in full tide of success in that vicinity, he gathered a good school, and when his two competitors retired as they both did about this time, his school absorbed a large portion of their patronage, and was thronged. In 1852, he went temporarily with his school to Sixteenth Street, and thence to the basement of Union Bethel Church on M Street, near Sixteenth, in which, during the administration of President Pierce, he had an exceed ingly large and excellent school, at the same period when Miss Miner was prosecuting her signal work. Mr. Middleton, now a messenger in the Navy Department, a native of Savannah, Ga., is free-born, and received his very good education in schools NEGRO SCHOOL LA WS. 209 in that city, sometimes with white and sometimes with Col ored children. When he commenced his school he had just returned from the Mexican war, and his enterprise is especially worthy of being made prominent, not only because of his high style as a teacher, but also because it is associated with THE FIRST MOVEMENT FOR A FREE COLORED PUBLIC SCHOOL. This movement originated with a city officer, Jesse E. Dow, who, in 1848 and 1849, was a leading and influential member of the common council. He encouraged Mr. Middleton to start his school, by assuring him that he would give all his influence to the establishment of free schools for Colored as well as for white children, and that he had great confidence that the coun cil would be brought to give at least some encouragement to the enterprise. In 1850 Mr. Dow was named among the candi dates for the mayoralty ; and when his views in this regard were assailed by his opponents, he did not hesitate to boldly avow his opinions, and to declare that he wished no support for any office which demanded of him any modification of these convictions. The workmen fail, but the work succeeds. The name of Jesse E. Dow merits conspicuous record in this history for this bold and magnanimous action. Mr. Middleton received great assist ance in building up his school from Rev. Mr. Wayman, then pas tor of the Bethel Church, and afterward promoted to the bishopric. The school was surrendered finally to Rev. J. V. B. Morgan, the succeeding pastor of the church, who conducted the school as a part of the means of his livelihood. ALEXANDER CORNISH AND OTHERS. In the eastern section of the city, about 1840, Alexander Cornish had a school several years in his own house on D Street, south, between Third and Fourth, east, with an average of forty scholars. He was succeeded, about 1846, by Richard Stokes, who was a native of Chester County, Pa. His school, averaging one hundred and fifty scholars, was kept in the Israel Bethel Church, near the Capitol, and was continued for about six years. In 1840, there was a school opened by Margaret Hill in Georgetown, near Miss English's seminary. She taught a very good school for several years. ALEXANDER HAYS's SCHOOL was started on Ninth Street, west, near New York Avenue. Mr. Hays was born in 1802, and belonged originally to the Fowler 210 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. family in Maryland. When a boy he served for a time at the Washington Navy Yard, in the family of Captain Dove, of the navy, the father of Dr. Dove, of Washington, and it was in that family that he learned to read. Michael Tabbs had a school at that time at the Navy Yard, which he taught in the afternoons under a large tree, which stood near the old Masonic Hall. The Colored children used to meet him there in large numbers daily, and while attending this singu lar school, Hays was at the same time taught by Mrs. Dove, with her children. This was half a century ago. In 1826, Hays went to live in the family of R. S. Coxe, the eminent Washing ton lawyer, who soon purchased him, paying Fowler $300 for him. Mr. Coxe did this at the express solicitation of Hays, and seventeen years after he gave him his freedom in 1843. While living with Mr. Coxe he had married Matilda Davis, the daughter of John Davis, who served as steward many years in the family of Mr. Seaton, of the " National Intelligencer." The wedding was at Mr. Seaton's residence, and Mr. Coxe and family were present on the occasion. In 1836, he bought the house and lot which they still own and occupy, and in 1842, the year before he was free, Hays made his last payment, and the place was conveyed to his wife. She was a free woman, and had opened a school in the house in 1841. Hays had many privileges while with Mr. Coxe, and with the proceeds of his wife's school they paid the purchase-money ($550) and interest in seven years. Mr. Hays was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by Mr. Coxe, his wife, and daughters, while a slave in their family. When the Colored people were driven from the churches, in the years of the mobs, Mrs. Coxe organized a large Colored Sabbath-school in her own parlor, and maintained it for a long period, with the co operation of Mr. Coxe and the daughters. Mr. Hays was a mem ber of this school. He also attended day schools, when his work would allow of it. This was the education with which, in 1845, he ventured to take his wife's school in charge. He is a man of good-sense, and his school flourished. He put up an addition to his house, in order to make room for his increasing school, which was continued down to 1857 sixteen years from its open ing. He had also a night school and taught music, and these two features of his school he has revived since the war. This school contained from thirty-five to forty-five pupils. Rev. Dr. Samson, Mr. Seaton, and Mr. Coxe often visited his school and NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 2 II encouraged him in his excellent work. Thomas Tabbs used also to come into his school and give him aid and advice, as also did John McLeod. MR. AND MRS. FLETCHER'S SCHOOL was opened about 1854, in the building in which Middleton first taught, on I, near Twenty-second Street. Mr. Fletcher was an Englishman, a well-educated gentleman, and a thorough teacher. He was induced to open the school by the importunities of some aspiring Colored young men in that part of the city, who desired first-rate instruction. He soon became the object of persecution, though he was a man of courtesy and excellent character. His school-house was finally set on fire and consumed, with all its books and furniture ; but the school took, as its asylum, the basement of the John Wesley Church. The churches which they had been forced to build in the days of the mobs, when they were driven from the white churches which they had aided in building, proved of immense service to them in their subsequent struggles. Mrs. Fletcher kept a variety store, which was destroyed about the time the school was opened. She then became an assistant in her husband's school, which numbered over one hundred and fifty pupils. In 1858, they were driven from the city, as persecution at that time was particularly violent against all white persons who instructed the Colored people. This school was conducted with great thoroughness, and had two departments, Mrs. Fletcher, who was an accomplished per son, having charge of the girls in a separate room. ELIZA ANNE COOK, a niece of Rev. John F. Cook, and one of his pupils, who has been teaching for about fifteen years, should be mentioned. She attended Miss Miner's school for a time, and was afterward at the Baltimore convent two years. She opened a school in her mother's house, and subsequently built a small school-house on the same lot, Sixteenth Street, between K and L streets. With the exception of three years, during which she was teaching in the free Catholic school opened in the Smothers school-house in 1859, anc * one year in the female school in charge of the Colored sisters, she has maintained her own private school from 1854 down to the present time, her number at some periods being above sixty, but usually not more than twenty-five or thirty. 212 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. MISS WASHINGTON'S SCHOOL. In 1857, Annie E. Washington opened a select primary school in her mother's house, on K Street, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, west. The mother, a widow woman, was a laundress, and by her own labor has given her children good ad vantages, though she had no such advantages herself. This daughter was educated chiefly under Rev. John F. Cook and Miss Miner, with whom she was a favorite scholar. Her oldes sister was educated at the Baltimore convent. Annie E. Wash ington is a woman of native refinement, and has an excellent aptitude for teaching, as well as a good education. Her schools have always been conducted with system and superior judgment,, giving universal satisfaction, the number of her pupils being limited only by the size of her room. In 1858, she moved to the basement of the Baptist Church, corner of Nineteenth and I streets, to secure larger accommodations, and there she had a school of more than sixty scholars for several years. A FREE CATHOLIC COLORED SCHOOL. A free school was established in 1858, and maintained by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, an association of Colored Catholics,, in connection with St. Matthew's Church. It was organized under the direction of Father Walter, and kept in the Smothers school-house for two years, and was subsequently for one season maintained on a smaller scale in a house on L Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, west, till the association failed to give it the requisite pecuniary support after the war broke out. This school has already been mentioned. OTHER SCHOOLS. In 1843, Elizabeth Smith commenced a school for small chil dren on the island in Washington, and subsequently taught on Capitol Hill. In 1860, she was the assistant of Rev. Wm. H.. Hunter, who had a large school in Zion Wesley Church, George town, of which he was the pastor. She afterward took the school into her own charge for a period, and taught among the contra bands in various places during the war. About 1850, Isabella Briscoe opened a school on Montgomery Street, near Mount Zion Church, Georgetown. She was well educated, and one of the best Colored teachers in the district be- NEGRO SCHOOL LAWS. 213 fore the Rebellion. Her school was always well patronized, and she continued teaching in the district up to 1868. Charlotte Beams had a large school for a number of years, as early as 1850, in a building next to Galbraith Chapel, I Street, north, between Fourth and Fifth, west. It was exclusively a girls' school in its later years. The teacher was a pupil of Enoch Ambush, who assisted her in establishing her school. A year or two later, Rev. James Shorter had a large school in the Israel Bethel Church, and Miss Jackson taught another good school on Capitol Hill about the same time. The above- mentioned were all Colored teachers. Among the excellent schools broken up at the opening of the war, was that of Mrs. Charlotte Gordon, Colored, on Eighth Street, in the northern section of the city. It was in successful operation several years, and the number in attendance some times reached one hundred and fifty. Mrs. Gordon was assisted by her daughter. In 1841, David Brown commenced teaching on D Street, south, between First and Second streets, island, and continued in the business till 1858, at which period he was placed in charge of the large Catholic free school in the Smothers house, as has been stated. 1 Here is a picture that every Negro in the country may con template with satisfaction and pride. In the stronghold of slavery, under the shadow of the legalized institution of slavery, within earshot of the slave-auctioneer's hammer, amid distressing circumstances, poverty, and proscription, three unlettered ex- slaves, upon the threshold of the nineteenth century, sowed the seed of education for the Negro race in the District of Columbia, from which an abundant harvest has been gathered, and will be gathered till the end of time ! What the Negro has done to educate himself, the trials and hateful laws that have hampered him during the long period anterior to 1860, cannot fail to awaken feelings of regret and admiration among the people of both sections and two conti nents. 1 Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1871. 214 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO^ RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XIII. JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. JOHN BROWN'S APPEARANCE IN KANSAS. HE DENOUNCES SLAVERY IN A POLITICAL MEETING AT OSAWATOMIE. MRS. STEARNS's PERSONAL RECOLLECTION OF JOHN BROWN. KANSAS IN FESTED BY BORDER RUFFIANS. THE BATTLE OF HARPER'S FERRY. THE DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. His LAST LETTER WRITTEN TO MRS. STEARNS. His TRIAL AND EXECUTION. His INFLUENCE UPON THE SLAVERY QUESTION AT THE NORTH. His PLACE IN HISTORY. ON the gth of May, 1800, at Torrington, Connecticut, was born a man who lived for two generations, but accom plished the work of two centuries. That man was John Brown, who ranks among the world's greatest heroes. Greater than Peter the Hermit, who believed himself commissioned of God to redeem the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of infidels ; greater than Joanna Southcote, who deemed herself big with the promised Shiloh ; greater than Ignatius Loyola, who thought the Son of Man appeared to him, bearing His cross upon His shoulders, and bestowed upon him a Latin commission of won derful significance ; greater than Oliver Cromwell, the great Re publican Protector ; and greater than John Hampden, he deserves to rank with William of Orange. John Brown was nearly six feet high, slim, wiry, dark in com plexion, sharp in feature, dark hair sprinkled with gray, eyes a dark gray and penetrating, with a countenance that betokened frankness, honesty, and firmness. His brow was prominent, the centre of the forehead flat, the upper part retreating, which, in conjunction with his slightly Roman nose, gave him an interest ing appearance. The crown of his head was remarkably high, in the regions of the phrenological organs of firmness, conscien tiousness, self-esteem, indicating a stern will, unswerving integrity, and marvellous self-possession. He walked rapidly with a firm and elastic tread. He was somewhat like John Baptist, taciturn in habits, usually wrapped in meditation. He was rather meteoric JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 215 in his movements, appearing suddenly and unexpectedly at this place, and then disappearing in the same mysterious manner. When Kansas lay bleeding at the feet of border ruffians; when Congress gave the free-State settlers no protection, but was rather trying to drag the territory into the Union with a slave constitution, without noise or bluster John Brown dropped down into Osage County. He was not a member of the Repub lican party ; but rather hated its reticency. When it cried Halt ! he gave the command Forward, march / He was not in sympa thy with any of the parties, political or anti-slavery. All were too conservative to suit him. So, as a political orphan he went into Kansas, organized and led a new party that swore eternal death to slavery. The first time he appeared in a political meet ing in Kansas, at Osawatomie, the politicians were trimming their speeches and shaping their resolutions to please each politi cal faction. John Brown took the floor and made a speech that threw the convention into consternation. He denounced slavery as the curse of the ages ; affirmed the manhood of the slave ; dealt " middle men " terrible blows ; and said he could " see no use in talking." "Talk," he continued, "is a national institution; but it does no good for the slave." He thought it an excuse very well adapted for weak men with tender consciences. Most men who were afraid to fight, and too honest to be silent, de ceived themselves that they discharged their duties to the slave by denouncing in fiery words the oppressor. His ideas of duty were far different; the slaves, in his eyes, were prisoners of war; their tyrants, as he held, had taken up the sword, and must per ish by it. This was his view of the great question of slavery. The widow of the late Major George L. Stearns gives the fol lowing personal recollections of John Brown, in a bright and entertaining style. Mrs. Stearns's noble husband was very intimately related to the "old hero," and what Mrs. Stearns writes is of great value. " The passage of the Fugitive- Slave Bill in 1850, followed by the virtual repeal of the Missouri Compromise, under the name of the Kansas Nebraska Act, in 1854, alarmed all sane people for the safety of republican institutions ; and the excitement reached a white heat when, on the 22d of May, 1856, Charles Sumner was murderously assaulted in the Senate chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, for words spoken in debate : the celebrated speech of the iQth and 20th of May, known as ' The Crime Against Kansas.' That same week the town of Lawrence in the territory of Kansas was sacked and burned 216 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. in the interest of the slave power. The atrocities committed by the ' Border Ruffians ' upon the free-State settlers sent a thrill of terror through all law-abiding communities. In Boston the citizens gathered in Faneuil Hall to consider what could be done, and a committee was chosen, with Dr. S. G. Howe as chairman, for the relief of Kansas, called the ' Kansas Relief Committee.' After some $18,000 or $20,000 had been collected, chiefly in Boston, and forwarded to Kansas, the interest flagged, and Mr. Stearns, who had been working with that committee, saw the need of more energetic action ; so one day he went to Dr. Howe, and told him he was ready to give all his time, and much of his money, to push forward the work. Dr. Howe seeing that here was the man for the hour, immediately resigned, and Mr. Stearns was chosen unanimously chairman of the ' Massachusetts State Kansas Commit tee,' which took the place of the one first organized. In the light of subsequent history it is difficult to believe the apathy and blindness which failed to recognize the significance of this attack upon Kansas by the slave-holding power. Only faithful watchmen in their high towers could see that it was the first battle-ground between the two conflicting systems of freedom and slavery, which was finally to culmi nate in the war of the Rebellion. 'Working day and night with out haste or rest,' failing in no effort to rouse and stimulate the com munity, still Mr. Stearns found that a vitalizing interest was wanting. When Gov. Reeder was driven in disguise from the territory, he wrote to him to come to Boston and address the people. He organized a mass-meeting for him in Tremont Temple, and for a few days the story he related stimulated to a livelier activity the more conservative people, who were inclined to think the reports of the free-State men much exaggerated. Soon, however, things settled back into the old sluggish way ; so that for three consecutive committee meetings the chairman was the only person who presented himself at the appointed time and place. Nothing daunted, he turned to the country towns, and at the end of five months he had raised by his personal exertions, and through his agents, the sum of $48,000. Women formed societies all over the State, for making and furnishing clothing, and various sup plies, which resulted in an addition of some $20,000 or $30,000 more. In January, 1867, this species of work was stopped, by advices from Kansas that no more contributions were needed, except for defense. At this juncture Mr. Stearns wrote to John Brown, that if he would come to Boston and consult with the friends of freedom he would pay his expenses. They had never met, but * Osawatomie Brown ' had become a cherished household name during the anxious summer of 1856.' Arriving in Boston, they were introduced to each other in the 1 This was in the last days of 1856. JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 217 street by a Kansas man, who chanced to be with Mr. Stearns on his way to the committee rooms in Nilis's Block, School Street. Captain Brown made a profound impression on all who came within the sphere of his moral magnetism. Emerson called him ' the most ideal of men, for he wanted to put all his ideas into action.' His absolute superiority to all selfish aims and narrowing pride of opinion touched an answer ing chord in the self-devotion of Mr. Stearns. A little anecdote illus trates the modest estimate of the work he had in hand. After several efforts to bring together certain friends to meet Captain Brown at his home in Medford, he found that Sunday was the only day that would serve their several convenience, and being a little uncertain how it might strike his ideas of religious propriety, he prefaced his invitation with something like an apology. With characteristic promptness came the reply : * Mr. Stearns, I have a little ewe-lamb that I want to pull out of the ditch, and the Sabbath will be as good a day as any to do it.' " It was this occasion which furnished to literature one of the most charming bits of autobiography. Our oldest son, Harry, a lad of eleven years, was an observant listener, and drank eagerly every word that was said of the cruel wrongs in Kansas, and of slavery everywhere. When the gentlemen rose to go, he privately asked his father if he might be allowed to give all his spending money to John Brown. Leave being .granted, he bounded away, and returning with his small treasure, said : * Captain Brown, will you buy something with this money for those poor people in Kansas, and some time will you write to me and tell me what sort of a little boy you were ? ' * Yes, my son, I will, and God bless you for your kind heart ! ' The autobiography has been printed many times, but never before with the key which unlocked it. " It may not be out of place to describe the impression he made upon the writer on this first visit. When I entered the parlor, he was sitting near the hearth, where glowed a bright open fire. He rose to greet me, stepping forward with such an erect, military bearing ; such fine courtesy of demeanor and grave earnestness, that he seemed to my instant thought some old Cromwellian hero suddenly dropped down be fore me ; a suggestion which was presently strengthened by his saying [proceeding with the conversation my entrance had interrupted] : ' Gentlemen, I consider the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Inde pendence one and inseparable ; and it is better that a whole generation of men, women, and children should be swept away, than that this crime of slavery should exist one day longer.' These words were uttered like rifle balls ; in such emphatic tones and manner that our little Carl, not three years old, remembered it in manhood as one of his earliest recol lections. The child stood perfectly still, in the middle of the room, gazing with his beautiful eyes on this new sort of man, until his ab sorption arrested the attention of Captain Brown, who soon coaxed him 2l8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. to his knee, tho' the look of awe and childlike wonder remained. His dress was of some dark brown stuff, quite coarse, but its exactness and neatness produced a singular air of refinement. At dinner, he de clined all dainties, saying that he was unaccustomed to luxuries, even to partaking of butter. " The * friends of freedom ' with whom Mr. Stearns had invited John Brown to consult, were profoundly impressed with his sagacity, integ rity, and devotion ; notably among these were R. W. Emerson, Theodore Parker, H. D. Thoreau, A. Bronson Alcott, F. B. Sanborn, Dr. S. G. Howe, Col. T. W. Higginson, Gov. Andrew, and others. In February (1857) he appeared before a committee of the State Legislature, to urge that Massachusetts should make an appropriation in money in aid of those persons who had settled in Kansas from her own soil. The speech is printed in Redpath's ' Life.' He obtained at this time, from the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, 1 some two hundred Sharp's rifles, with which to arm one hundred mounted men for the defense of Kansas, who could also be of service to the peculiar property of Mis souri. In those dark days of slave-holding supremacy, the friends of freedom felt justified in aiding the flight of its victims to free soil when ever and wherever opportunity offered. The Fugitive-Slave Law was powerless before the law written on the enlightened consciences of those devoted men and women. These rifles had been forwarded pre viously to the National Committee at Chicago, for the defense of Kansas, but for some unexplained reasons had never proceeded farther than Tabor, in the State of Iowa. Later on, Mr. Stearns, in his individual capacity, authorized Captain Brown to purchase two hundred revolvers from the Massachusetts Arms Company, and paid for them from his pri vate funds, thirteen or fifteen hundred dollars. During the summer of 1857 he united with Mr. Amos A. Lawrence and others in paying off the mortgage held by Mr. Gerritt Smith on his house and farm at North Elba, N. Y., he paying two hundred and sixty dollars. It would be difficult to state the entire amount of money Mr. Stearns put into the hands of John Brown for Anti-Slavery purposes and his own subsistence. He kept no account of what he gave. In April or May, 1857, he gave him a check for no less a sum than seven thousand dollars. Early in 1858, Hon. Henry Wilson wrote to Dr. S. G. Howe that he had learned John Brown was suspected of the intention of using those arms in other ways than for the defense of Kansas ; and by order of the committee, Mr. Stearns wrote (under date May 14, 1858) to Brown not to use them for any other purpose, and to hold them subject to his order, as chairman of said committee. When the operations of the Massachusetts State Kan- 1 The committee also authorized him to draw on their treasurer, Patrick L. Jack son, for $500. JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 219 sas Committee virtually ceased, in June or July, 1858, it happened that this committee were some four thousand dollars in debt to Mr. Stearns, for advances of money from time to time to keep the organization in ex istence ; and it was voted to make over to the chairman these two hun dred Sharp's rifles as part payment of the committee's indebtedness. They were of small account to Mr. Stearns. He knew them to be in good hands, and troubled himself no further about them, either the rifles or the revolvers ; although keeping up from time to time a corre spondence with his friend upon the all-engrossing subject. " In February of 1859, John Brown was in Boston, and talked with some of his friends about the feasibility of entrenching himself, with a little band of men, in the mountains of Virginia, familiar to him from having surveyed them as engineer in earlier life. His plan was to open communication with the slaves of neighboring plantations, collect them together, and send them off in squads, as he had done in Missouri, ' without snapping a gun.' Mr. Stearns had so much more faith in. John Brown's opposition to Slavery, than in any theories he advanced of the modus operandi, that they produced much less impression on his mind than upon some others gifted with more genius for details. From first to last, he believed in John Brown. His plans, or theories, might be feasible, or they might not. If the glorious old man wanted money to try his plans, he should have it. His plans might fail ; prob ably would, but he could never be a failure. There he stood, uncon querable, in the panoply of divine Justice. Both of these men were of the martyr type. No thought or consideration for themselves, for his tory, or the estimation of others, ever entered into their calculations. It was the service of Truth and Right which brought them together, and in that service they were ready to die. "In the words of an. eminent writer 1 : 'A common spirit made these two men recognize each other, at first sight ; and the power of both lay in that inability to weigh difficulties against duty, that instant ste of thought to deed, which makes individuals fully possessed by the idea of the age, the turning-points of its destiny ; hands in the right place for touching the match to the train it has laid, or for leading the public will to the heart of its moral need. They knew each other as minute-men on the same watch ; as men to be found in the breach, be fore others knew where it was ; they were one in pity, one in indigna tion, one in moral enthusiasm, burning beneath features set to patient self-control ; one in simplicity, though of widely different culture ; one in religious inspiration, though at the poles of religious thought. The old frontiersman came from his wilderness toils and agonies to find 1 Samuel Johnson, the accomplished Oriental scholar and devoted friend of the slave. 220 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. within the merchant's mansion of art and taste by the side of Bunker Hill, a perfect sympathy : the reverence of children, tender interest in his broken household, free access to a rich man's resources, and even a valor kindred with his own.' " The attack upon Harper's Ferry was a ' side issue, ' to quote the words of John Brown, Jr., and a departure from his father's original plan. It certainly took all his friends by surprise. In his letter of Nov. 15, 1859 (while in prison), to his old schoolmaster, the Rev. H. L. Vaill, are these words : ' I am not as yet, in the main, at all disap pointed. I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself in not keeping up to my own plans ; but I now feel entirely reconciled to that even : for God's plan was infinitely better, no doubt, or I should have kept my own. Had Samson kept to his determination of not tell ing Delilah wherein his great strength lay, he would probably have never overturned the house. I did not tell Delilah ; but I was induced to act very contrary to my better judgment' 1 ******** " It is idle to endeavor to explain, by any methods of the understand^ iftg, any rules of worldly wisdom, or prudence, this influx of the Divine Will, which has made John Brown already an ideal character. ' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof ; but know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth.' So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Man works in the midst of laws which execute themselves, more especially, if by virtue of obedience he has lost sight of all selfish aims, and perceives that Truth and Right alone can claim allegiance. Emerson says : ' Divine intelligence carries on its admini stration by good men ; that great men are they who see that the spiri tual are greater than any material forces ; and that really there never was any thing great accomplished but under religious impulse.' "The deadly Atheism of Slavery was rolling its car of Juggernaut all over 'the beautiful Republic, and one pure soul was inspired to con front it by a practical interpretation of the Golden Rule. " That Virginia would hang John Brown was a foregone conclusion. The Moloch of Slavery would have nothing less. His friends exerted themselves to secure the best counsel which could be induced to un dertake the formality of a defense, foremost among whom was Mr. Stearns. A well-organized plan was made to rescue him, conducted by a brave man from Kansas, Col. James Montgomery, but a message came from the prisoner, that he should not feel at liberty to walk out, if the doors were left open ; a sense of honor to his jailer (Captain Acvis) forbidding any thing of the kind. 1 The italics are his. yOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 221 " Not a litttle anxiety was felt lest certain of his adherents might be summoned as witnesses, whose testimony would lessen the chances of acquittal, and possibly involve their own lives. John A. Andrew (afterward Gov. Andrew) gave it as his opinion, after an exhaustive search of the records, that Virginia would have no right to summon these persons from Massachusetts, but subsequently changed his opin ion, and urged Mr. Stearns to take passage to Europe, sending him home one day to pack his valise. The advice was opposed to his in stincts, but he considered that his wife should have a voice in the matter, who decided, 'midst many tears and prayers, that if slavery re quired another victim, he must be ready. " With Dr. Howe it was quite different. He became possessed with a dread that threatened to overwhelm his reason. He was in deli cate health, and constitutionally subject to violent attacks of nervous headache. One day he came to Medford and insisted that Mr. Stearns should accompany him to Canada, urging that if he remained here he should be insane, and that Mr. Stearns of all his friends was the only one who would be at all satisfactory to him. This request, or rather demand, Mr. Stearns promptly declined. How well I remember his agitation., walking up and down the room, and finally entreating Mr. Stearns for ' friendship's sake ' to go and take care of him. I can recall no instance of such self-abnegation in my husband's self-denying career, He did not stoop to an explanation, even when Dr. Howe declared in his presence, some months later, " that he never did any thing in his life he so much wished to take back." I had hoped that Dr. Howe would himself have spared me from making this contribution to the truth of history. " On the 2d of December, Mr. Stearns yearned for the solitude of his own soul, in communion of spirit, with the friend who, on that day, would ' make the gallows glorious like the Cross ' ; and he left Dr. Howe and took the train for Niagara Falls. There, sitting alone be side the mighty rush of water, he solemnly consecrated his remaining life, his fortune, and all that was most dear, to the cause in whose ser vice John Brown had died. " How well and faithfully he kept his vow, may partly be seen in his subsequent efforts in recruiting the colored troops at a vital moment in the terrible war of the Rebellion which so swiftly followed the sub lime apotheosis of ' Old John Brown.' " That John Brown intended to free the slaves, and nothing more, the record shows clearly. His move on Harper's Ferry 1 The above account of Capt. Brown was prepared for us by the widow of the late Major Geo. L. Stearns. It is printed as written, and breathes a beautiful spirit of love and tender remembrance for the two heroes mentioned. 222 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. was well planned, and had all the parties interested done their part the work would have been done well. As to the rectitude of his intentions he gives the world this leaf of history: " And now, gentlemen, let me press this one thing on your minds. You all know how dear life is to you, and how dear your lives are to your friends : and in remembering that, consider that the lives of others are as dear to them as yours are to you. Do not, therefore, take the life of any one if you can possibly avoid it ; but if it is necessary to take life in order to save your own, then make sure work of it." John Brown, before the battle at Harper's Ferry. " I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of prop erty, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. The design on my part was to free the slaves." John Brown, after the battle at Harper's Ferry. Distance lends enchantment to the view. What the world condemns to-day is applauded to-morrow. We must have a " fair count " on the history of yesterday and last year. The events chronicled yesterday, when the imagi nation was wrought upon by exciting circumstances, need re vision to-day. The bitter words spoken this morning reproach at eventide the smarting conscience. And the judgments prematurely formed, and the conclusions rapidly reached, maybe rectified and repaired in the light of departed years and enlarged knowledge. John Brown is rapidly settling down to his proper place in history, and " the madman " has been transformed into a " saint." When Brown struck his first blow for freedom, at the head of his little band of liberators, it was almost the universal judgment of both Americans and foreigners that he was a " fanatic." It seemed the very soul of weakness and arrogance for John Brown to attempt to do so great a work with so small a force. Men reached a decision with the outer and surface facts. But many of the most important and historically trustworthy truths bearing upon the motive, object, and import of that " bold move," have been hidden from the public view, either by prejudice or fear. Some people have thought John Brown " The Hero of Harpers Ferry" a hot-headed, blood-thirsty brigand; they animadverted against the precipitancy of his measures, and the severity of his invectives ; said that he was lacking in courage and deficient in judgment ; that he retarded rather than accele- JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 223 rated the cause he championed. But this was the verdict of other times, not the judgment of to-day. John Brown said to a personal friend during his stay in Kansas: "Young men must learn to wait. Patience is the hardest lesson to learn. I have waited for twenty years to ac complish my purpose." These are not the words of a mere visionary idealist, but the mature language of a practical and judicious leader, a leader than. whom the world has never seen a greater. . By greatness is meant deep convictions of duty, a sense of the Infinite, "a strong hold on truth," a " conscience void of offence toward God and man," to which the appeals of the innocent and helpless are more potential than the voices of angry thunder or destructive artillery. Such a man was John Brown. He was strong in his moral and mental nature, as well as in his physical nature. He was born to lead ; and he led, and made himself the pro-martyr of a cause rapidly perfecting. All through his boyhood days he felt himself lifted and quickened by great ideas and sublime purposes. He had flowing in his veins the blood of his great ancestor, Peter Brown, who came over in the " Mayflower"; and the following inscription appears upon a marble monument in the graveyard at Canton Centre, New York: "In memory of Captain John Brown, who died in the Revolutionary army, at New York, September 3, 1776. He was of the fourth generation, in regular descent, from Peter Brown, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed from the ' May flower,' at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 22, 1620." This is the best commentary on his inherent love of absolute liberty, his marvellous courage and transcendent military genius. For years he elaborated and perfected his plans, working upon the public sentiment of his day by the most praiseworthy means. He bent and bowed the most obdurate conservatism of his day, and rallied to his standards the most eminent men, the strongest intellects in the North. His ethics and religion were as broad as the universe, and beneficent in their wide ramification. And it was upon his " religion of human ity," that embraced our entire species, that he proceeded with his herculean task of striking off the chains of the enslaved. Few, very few of his most intimate friends knew his plans the plan of freeing the slaves. Many knew his great faith, his exalted sentiments, his ideas of liberty, in their crudity ; but to a faithful few only did he reveal his stupendous plans in their entirety. 224 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Hon. Frederick Douglass and Colonel Richard J. Hinton r knew more of Brown's real purposes than any other persons, with the exception of J. H. Kagi, Osborn Anderson, Owen Brown, Richard Realf, and George B. Gill. " Of men born of woman," there is not a greater than John Brown. He was the forerunner of Lincoln, the great apostle of freedom. One year before he went to Harper's Ferry, a friend met Brown in Kansas [in June, 1858], and learned that during the previous month he had brought almost all of his plans to perfection ; and that the day and hour were fixed to strike the blow. One year before, a convention had met, on the 8th of May, 1858, at Chat ham, Canada. At this convention a provisional constitution and ordinances were drafted and adopted, with the following officers i Commander-in-Chief, John Brown ; Secretary of War, J. H. Kagi ; Members of Congress, Alfred M. Ellsworth, Osborn Anderson ; Treasurer, Owen Brown ; Secretary of the Treasury, Geo. Bw Gill ; Secretary of State, Richard Realf. John Brown made his appearance in Ohio and Canada in the spring of 1859. He wrote letters, made speeches, collected funds for his little army, and made final arrangements with his Northern allies, etc. He purchased a small farm, about six miles from Harper's Ferry, on the Maryland side, and made it his ord nance depot. He had 102 Sharp's rifles, 68 pistols, 55 bayonets, 12 artillery swords, 483 pikes, 150 broken handles of pikes, 16 picks, 40 shovels, besides quite a number of other appurtenances of war. This was in July. He intended to make all of his ar rangements during the summer of 1859, anc ^ meet his men in the Alleghanies in the fall of the same year. The apparent rashness of the John Brown movement may be mitigated somewhat by the fact that he failed to carry out his original plan. During the summer of 1859 ^ e instructed his Northern soldiers and sympathizers to be ready for the attack on the night of the 24th of October, 1859. But while at Baltimore,, in September, he got the impression that there was conspiracy in his camp, and in order to preclude its consummation, suddenly,, without sending the news to his friends at the North, determined to strike the first blow on the night of the i/th of October. The news of his battle and his bold stand against the united forces of Virginia and Maryland swept across the country as the wild storm comes down the mountain side. Friend and foe were JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR. 225 alike astonished and alarmed. The enemies of the cause he represented, when they recovered from their surprise, laughed their little laugh of scorn, and eased their feelings by referring ta him as the " madman." Friends faltered, and, while they did not question his earnestness, doubted his judgment. " Why," they asked, " should he act with such palpable rashness, and thereby render more difficult and impossible the emancipation of the slaves ? " They claimed that the blow he struck, instead of severing, only the more tightly riveted, the chains upon the helpless and hapless Blacks. But in the face of subsequent his tory we think his surviving friends will change their views. There is no proof that his fears were not well grounded ; that a conspiracy was in progress. And who can tell whether a larger force would have been more effective, or the night of the 24th more opportune ? May it not be believed that the good old man was right, and that Harper's Ferry was just the place, and the i /th of October just the tirne to strike for freedom, and make the rock-ribbed mountains of Virginia to tremble at the presence of a " master ! " the king of freedom ? He was made a prisoner on the iQth of October, 1859, an< i remained until the /th of November without a change of clothing or medical aid. Forty-two days from the time of his imprison ment he expiated his crime upon the scaffold a crime against slave-holding, timorous Virginia, for bringing liberty to the op pressed. He was a man, and there was nothing that interested man which was foreign to his nature. He had gone into Virginia to save life, not to destroy it. The sighs and groans of the op pressed had entered into his soul. He had heard the Macedonian cry to come over and help> them. He went, and it cost him his life, but he gave it freely. Captain Acvis, the jailer, said : " He was the gamest man I ever saw." And Mr. Valandingham, at that time a member of Congress from Ohio, and who examined him in court, said in a speech afterward. " It is in vain to underrate either the man or the conspiracy. Cap tain John Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever headed an in surrection, and, in a good cause, and with a sufficient force, would have been a consummate partisan commander. He has coolness, daring, persistency, stoic faith and patience, and a firmness of will and purpose, unconquerable ! He is the farthest possible remove from the ordinary ruffian, fanatic, or madman." 226 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. No friend, howsoever ardent in his love, could have woven a chaplet more worthy than the one placed upon the brow of the old hero by his most embittered foe. A truer estimate of John Brown cannot be had. South Carolina, Missouri, and Kentucky sent a rope to hang him, but, the first two lacking strength, Kentucky had the ever lasting disgrace of furnishing the rope to strangle the noblest man that ever lived in any age. The last letter he ever wrote was written to Mrs. Geo. L. Stearns, and she shall give its history : This letter requires the history which attaches to it, and illustrates the consideration which the brave martyr had for those in any way con nected with him. It was written on a half sheet of paper, the exact size of the pages of a book into which he carefully inserted it, and tied up in a handkerchief with other books and papers, which he asked his jailer (Mr. Avis) to be allowed to go with his body to North Elba, and which Mrs. Brown took with her from the Charlestown prison. Her statement to me about it is this : She had been at home some two weeks, had looked over the contents of the handkerchief many times, when one day in turning the leaves of that particular book, she came upon this letter, on which she said she found two or three blistered spots, the only tear drops she had seen among his papers. They are now yellow with time. On the back of the half sheet was written : " Please mail this to her," which she did, and so it reached my hand ; seeming as if from the world to which his spirit had fled. It quite overwhelmed my husband. Presently he said : " See, dear, how care ful the old man has been, he would not even direct it with your name to go from Virginia to Boston through the post-offices ; and altho' it contains no message to me, one of those ' farewells /' is intended for me, and also the ' Love to All who love their neighbors.' " " CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co VA. 2gih Nov. 1859. " MRS. GEORGE L. STEARNS " Boston, Mass. " My Dear Friend : No letter I have received since my imprison ment here, has given me more satisfaction, or comfort, than yours of the 8th inst. I am quite cheerful : and never more happy. Have only time to write you a word. May God forever reward you and all yours. "My love to ALL who love their neighbors. I have asked to be spared from having any mock, or hypocritical prayers made over me when I am publicly murdered ; and that my only religious attendents be JOHN BROWN HERO AND MARTYR, 227 $oor little, dirty, ragged, bareheaded and barefooted, Slave Boys ; and Girls, led by some old gray-headed slave Mother. " Farewell. Farewell. "Your Friend, "JOHN BROWN." 1 The man who hung him, Governor Wise, lived to see the plans of Brown completed and his most cherished hopes fulfilled. He heard the warning shot fired at Sumter, saw Richmond fall, the war end in victory to the party of John Brown; saw the slave- pen converted into the school-house, and the four millions Brown fought and died for, elevated to the honors of citizenship. And at last he has entered the grave, where his memory will perish with his body, while the soul and fame of John Brown go march ing down the centuries ! Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, and John Brown have to wait the calmer judgments of future generations. These men be lieved that God sent them to do a certain work to reveal a hidden truth ; to pour light into the minds of benighted and superstitious men. They completed their work ; they did nobly and well, then bowed to rest "With patriarchs of the infant world with kings, The powerful of the earth," while generation after generation studies their handwriting on the wall of time and interprets their thoughts. Despised, per secuted, and unappreciated while in the flesh, they are honored after death, and enrolled among earth's good and great, her wise and brave. The shock Brown gave the walls of the slave insti tution was felt from its centre to its utmost limits. It was the entering wedge ; it laid bare the accursed institution, and taught good men everywhere to hate it with a perfect hatred. Slavery received its death wound at the hands of a " lonely old man." When he smote Virginia, the non-resistants, the anti-slavery men, learned a lesson. They saw what was necessary to the accom plishment of their work, and were now ready for the " worst." He rebuked the conservatism of the North, and gave an exam ple of adherence to duty, devotion to truth, and fealty to God and man that make the mere " professor " to tremble with shame. " John Brown's body lies mouldering in the clay," but his immortal name will be pronounced with blessings in all lands and by all people till the end of time. 1 This letter is printed for the first time, with Mrs. Stearns's consent. 228 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 7. THE NEGRO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. CHAPTER XIV. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. INCREASE OF SLAVE POPULATION IN SLAVE-HOLDING STATES FROM 1850-1860. PRODUCTS OP SLAVE LABOR. BASIS OF SOUTHERN REPRESENTATION. Six SECEDING STATES ORGANIZE A NEW GOVERNMENT. CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT. SPEECH BY ALEX ANDER H. STEPHENS. MR. LINCOLN IN FAVOR OF GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. HE is ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THE ISSUE OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. IN 1860 there were, in the fifteen slave-holding States, 12,240,- ooo souls, of whom 8,039,000 were whites, 251,000 free per sons of color, and 3,950,000 were slaves. The gain of the entire population of the slave-holding States, from 1850-1860, was 2,627,- ooo, equal to 27.33 per cent. The slave population had increased 749,931, or 23.44 per cent., not including the slaves in the Dis trict of Columbia, where they had lost 502 slaves during the decade. The nineteen non-slave-holding States and the seven territories, including the District of Columbia, contained 19,203-, 008 souls, of whom 18,920,771 were whites, 237,283 free persons of color, and 41,725 civilized Indians. The actual increase of this population was 5,624,101, or 41.24 per cent. During the same period 1850-1860 the total population of free persons of color in the United States increased from 434,449 to 487,970, or at the rate of 12.33 P er cent., annual increase of above I per cent. In 1850 the Mulattoes were 11.15 per cent., regarding the United States as one aggregate, and in 1860 were 13.25 per cent., of the entire Colored population. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 229 TOTAL COLORED POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. Colored. Numbers. Proportions. 1850. 1860. 1850. 1860. Blacks 3,233,057 405, 75 1 3,853,478 588,352 88.85 11.15 86.75 13-25 Mulattoes Total Colored . . 3,638,808 4,441,830 100.00 100.00 So, in ten years, from 1850-1860, the increase of blacks above the current deaths was 620,421, or more than one half of a million, while the corresponding increase of Mulattoes was 182,601. Estimating the deaths to have been 22.4 per cent, dur ing the same period, or one in 40 annually, the total births of Blacks in ten years was about 1,345,000, and the total births of Mulattoes about 273,000. Thus it appears, in the prevail ing order, that of every 100 births of Colored, about 17 were Mulattoes, and 83 Blacks, indicating a ratio of nearly I to 5. There were : Deaf and dumb slaves Blind .... Insane . Idiotic Total 3,427 There were 400,000 slaves in the towns and cities of the South, and 2,804,313 in the country. The products of slave labor in 1850 were as follows : SLAVE LABOR PRODUCTS IN 1850. Cotton 198,603,720 Tobacco ....... 13,982,686 Cane sugar ....... 12,378,850 Hemp 5,000,000 Rice 4,000,000 Molasses 2,540,179 $136,505,435 230 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. There were 347,525 slave-holders against 5,873,893 non- slave-holders in the slave States. The representation in Con gress was as follows : Northern representatives based on white population . . 142 Northern representatives based on Colored population . 2 Southern representatives based on white population . . 68 Southern representatives based on free Colored population 2 Southern representatives based on slave population . . 20 Ratio of representation for 1853 . . . 93,420 The South owned 16,652 churches, valued at $22,142,085 ; the North owned 21,357 churches, valued at $65,167,586. The South printed annually 92,165,919 copies of papers and periodicals ; the North printed annually 334,146,081 copies of papers and periodi cals. The South owned, other than private, 722 libraries, contain ing 742,794 volumes ; the North owned, other than private, 14,902 libraries, containing 3,882,217 volumes. In sentiment, motive, and civilization* the two " Sections " were as far apart as the poles. New England, Puritan, Round head civilization could not fellowship the Cavaliers of the South. There were not only two sections and two political par ties in the United States; there were two antagonistic govern mental ideas. John C. Calhoun and Alexander H. Stephens, of the South, represented the idea of the separate and individual sovereignty of each of the States ; while William H. Seward and Abraham Lincoln, of the North, represented the idea of the centralization of governmental authority, so far as it was neces sary to secure uniformity of the laws, and the supremacy of the Federal Constitution. On the 25th of October, 1858, in a speech delivered in Rochester, N. Y., William H. Seward said: " Our country is a theatre which exhibits, in full operation, two radi cally different political systems : the one resting on the basis of servile or slave labor ; the other on the basis of voluntary labor of freemen. " The two systems are at once perceived to be incongruous. They never have permanently existed together in one country, and they never can. . . " These antagonistic systems are continually coming in closer contact, and collision ensues. " Shall I tell you what this collision means ? It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 231 United States must, and will, sooner or later, become entirely a slave- holding nation, or entirely a free labor nation. Either the cotton and rice fields of South Carolina, and the sugar plantations of Louisiana, will ultimately be tilled by free-labor, and Charleston and New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the rye fields and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York must again be sur rendered by their farmers to the slave culture and to the production of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade in the bodies and souls of men." Upon the eve of the great Rebellion, Mr. Seward said in the United States Senate : " A free Republican government like this, notwithstanding all its constitutional checks, cannot long resist and counteract the progress of society. " Free labor has at last apprehended its rights and its destiny, and is organizing itself to assume the government of the Republic. It will henceforth meet you boldly and resolutely here (Washington) ; it will meet you everywhere, in the territories and out of them, where- ever you may go to extend slavery. It has driven you back in Cali fornia and in Kansas ; it will invade you soon in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas. It will meet you in Arizona, in Central America, and even in Cuba. " You may, indeed, get a start under or near the tropics, and seem safe for a time, but it will be only a short time. Even there you will found States only for free labor, or to maintain and occupy. The in terest of the whole race demands the ultimate emancipation of all men. Whether that consummation shall be allowed to take effect, with needful and wise precautions against sudden change and disaster, or be hurried on by violence, is all that remains for you to decide. The white man needs this continent to labor upon. His head is clear, his arm is strong, and his necessities are fixed. " It is for yourselves, and not for us, to decide how long and through what further mortifications and disasters the contest shall be protracted before Freedom shall enjoy her already assured triumph. "You may refuse to yield it now, and for a short period, but your refusal will only animate the friends of freedom with the courage and the resolution, and produce the union among them, which alone is neces sary on their part to attain the position itself, simultaneously with the impending overthrow of the existing Federal Administration and the constitution of a new and more independent Congress." 232 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Mr. Lincoln said during a discussion of the impending crisis : " I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved ; I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinc tion, or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. " I have always hated slavery as much as any Abolitionist. I have always been an old-line Whig. I have always hated it, and I always believed it in a course of ultimate extinction. If. I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision I would vote that it should." Notwithstanding the confident tone of Mr. Lincoln's state ment that he did " not expect the house to fall," it did fall, and great was the fall thereof ! On Saturday, Qth of February, 1861, six seceding States met at Montgomery, Alabama, and organized an independent gov ernment. The ordinances of secession were passed by the States as follows: STATE. DATE. YEAS. NAYS. South Carolina . . Dec. 20, 1860 . . . 169 Mississippi . . . Jan. 9, 1861 . . .84 15 Alabama . . . Jan. n, 1861 61 39 Florida . . . Jan. n 1861 ... 62 7 Georgia . . . Jan. 19, 1861 . . . 228 89 Louisiana . . . Jan. 25, 1861 . . .113 17 The following delegates presented their credentials and were admitted and represented their respective States : ALABAMA. R. W. Walker, R. H. Smith, J. L. M. Curry, W. P. Chilton, S. F. Hale Colon, J. McRae, John Gill Shorter, David P. Lewis, Thomas Fearn. FLORIDA. James B. Owens, J. Patten Anderson, Jackson Morton (not present). GEORGIA. Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, F. S. Bartow, M. J. Crawford, E. A. Nisbet, B. H. Hill, A. R. Wright, Thomas R. Cobb, A. H. Kenan, A. H. Stephens. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 233 LOUISIANA. John Perkins, Jr., A. Declonet, Charles M. Conrad, D. F. Kenner, G. E. Sparrow, Henry Marshall. MISSISSIPPI. W. P. Harris, Walter Brooke, N. S. Wilson, A. M. Clayton, W. S. Barry, J. T. Harrison. SOUTH CAROLINA. R. B. Rhett, R. W. Barnwell, L. M. Keitt, James Chestnut, Jr., C. G. Memminger, W. Porcher Miles, Thomas J. Withers, W. W. Boyce. A president and vice-president were chosen by unanimous vote. President Honorable Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. Vice-President Honorable Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia. The following gentlemen composed the Cabinet : Secretary of State, Robert Toombs ; Secretary of Treasury, C. G. Memminger ; Secretary of Interior (Vacancy) ; Secretary of War, L. P. Walker ; Secretary of Navy, John Perkins, Jr. ; Post master-General, H. T. Ebett ; Attorney-General, J. P. Benjamin. The Constitution of the Confederate Government did not dif fer so very radically from the Federal Constitution. The follow ing were the chief points : " i. The importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States of the Confederate States is hereby forbidden, and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectu ally prevent the same. " 2. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of this Confederacy. " The Congress shall have power : " i. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts and carry on the government of the Confederacy, and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederacy. " A slave in one State escaping to another shall be delivered, upon the claim of the party to whom said slave may belong, by the Executive authority of the State in which such slave may be found ; and in any case of abduction or forcible rescue, full compensation, including the value of slave, and all costs and expense, shall be made to the party by the State in which such abduction or rescue shall take place. " 2. The government hereby instituted shall take immediate steps for the settlement of all matters between the States forming it and their late confederates of the United States in relation to the public property and public debt at the time of their withdrawal from them ; these States hereby declaring it to be their wish and earnest desire to adjust every thing pertaining to the common property, common liabilities, and com- 234 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. mon obligations of that Union, upon principles of right, justice, equity, and good faith." At first blush it would appear that the new government had not been erected upon the slave question ; that it had gone as far as the Federal Government to suppress the foreign slave-trade ; and that nobler and sublimer ideas and motives had inspired and animated the Southern people in their movement for a new gov ernment. But the men who wrote the Confederate platform knew what they were about. They knew that to avoid the charge that would certainly be made against them, of having seceded in order to make slavery a national institution, they must be careful not to exhibit such intentions in their Constitu tion. But that the South seceded on account of the slavery question, there can be no historical doubt whatever. Jefferson Davis, President, so-called, of the Confederate Government, said in his Message, April 29, 1861 : " When the several States delegated certain powers to the United States Congress, a large portion of the laboring population consisted of African slaves, imported into the colonies by the mother-country. In twelve out of the thirteen States, negro slavery existed ; and the right of property in slaves was protected by law. This property was recog nized in the Constitution ; and provision was made against its loss by the escape of the slave. " The increase in the number of slaves by further importation from Africa was also secured by a clause forbidding Congress to prohibit the slave-trade anterior to a certain date ; and in no clause can there be found any delegation of power to the Congress, authorizing it in any manner to legislate to the prejudice, detriment, or discouragement of the owners of that species of property, or excluding it from the protection of the Government. " The climate and soil of the Northern States soon proved unpropi- tious to the continuance of slave labor ; whilst the converse was the case at the South. Under the unrestricted free intercourse between the two sections, the Northern States consulted their own interest, by selling their slaves to the South, and prohibiting slavery within their limits. The South were willing purchasers of a property suitable to their wants, and paid the price of the acquisition without harboring a suspicion that their quiet possession was to be disturbed by those who- were inhibited not only by want of constitutional authority, but by good faith as vendors, from disquieting a title emanating from themselves. " As soon, however, as the Northern States that prohibited African DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 235 slavery within their limits had reached a number sufficient to give their representation a controlling voice in the Congress, a persistent and or ganized system of hostile measures against the rights of the owners of slaves in the Southern States was inaugurated, and gradually extended. A continuous series of measures was devised and prosecuted for the purpose of rendering insecure the tenure of property in slaves. *' With interests of such overwhelming magnitude imperilled, the people of the Southern States were driven by the conduct of the North to the adoption of some course of action to avoid the danger with which they were openly menaced. With this view, the Legislatures of the several States invited the people to select delegates to conventions to be held for the purpose of determining for themselves what measures were best adapted to meet so alarming a crisis in their history." J Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President, as he was called, said, in a speech delivered at Savannah, Georgia, 2ist of March, 1861 : " The new Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution, African slavery as it exists amongst us, the proper status of the negro in our form of civili zation. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. JEFFERSON, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the ' rock upon which the old Union would split.' He was right. What was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that great rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of tke leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution, were, that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature y that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with ; but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent, and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the Constitution, was the prevailing idea at the time. The Constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last ; and hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the as sumption of the equlity of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation ; and the idea of a government built upon it, when the 4 storm came and the wind blew, it fell' 1 National Intelligencer, Tuesday, May 7, 1861. 236 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas. Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man j that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new gov ernment, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various depart ments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well that this truth was not generally ad mitted, even within their day." } Now, then, what was the real issue between the Confederate States and the United States ? Why, it was extension of slavery by the former, and the restriction of slavery by the latter. To put the issue as it was understood by Northern men in poetic language, it was " The Union as it is." While the South, at length, through its leaders, acknowledged that slavery was their issue, the North, standing upon the last analysis of the Free-Soil idea of resistance to the further inoculation of free territory with the virus of slavery, refused to recognize slavery as an issue. But what did the battle cry of the loyal North, " The Union as it is," mean ? A Union half free and half slave ; a dual govern ment, if not in fact, certainly in the brains and hearts of the p.eople ; two civilizations at eternal and inevitable war with each other ; a Union with the canker-worm of slavery in it, impairing its strength every year and threatening its life ; a Union in which two hostile ideas of political economy were at work, and where unpaid slave labor was inimical to the interests of the free workingmen. And it should not be forgotten that the Re publican party acknowledged the right of Southerns to hunt slaves in the free States, and to return such slaves, under the fugitive-slave law, to their masters. Mr. Lincoln was not an Abolitionist, as many people think. His position on the ques tion was clearly stated in the answers he gave to a number of questions put to him by Judge Douglass in the latter part of the summer of 1858. Mr. Lincoln said : " Having said this much, I will take up the judge's interrogatories as I find them printed in the Chicago ' Times,' and answer them seri atim. In order that there may be no mistake about it, I have copied 1 National Intelligencer, Tuesday, April, 2, 1861. DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 237 the interrogatories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words : " Question i. 'I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive- Slave Law ? ' " Answer. I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the uncon ditional repeal of the Fugitive-Slave Law. " Q. 2. * I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more slave States into the Union, even if the people want them ? ' " A. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admis sion of any more slave States into the Union. " Q- 3- 'I want to know whether he stands pledged against the ad mission of a new State into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make.' " Q. 4. 'I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia ? ' *'A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. " Q- 5- 'I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States ? ' " A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States. " Q. 6. 'I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit slavery in all the territories of the United States, north as well as south of the Missouri Compromise line ? ' " A. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territories. [Great applause.] " Q- 7- 'I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the ac quisition of any new territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein ? ' " A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition of territory ; and, in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not agi tate the slavery question among ourselves. " Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an examination of these questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. The judge has not framed his inter rogatories to ask me any thing more than this, and I have answered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly that I am not pledged at all upon any of the points to which I have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his interroga tories. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these questions, and state what I really think upon them. 238 HISI^ORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive-Slave Law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, the people of the Southern States are entitled to a congressional slave law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive-Slave Law, further than that I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its efficiency. And inasmuch as we are not now in an agitation in re gard to an alteration or modification of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a new subject of agitation upon the general question of slavery. " In regard to* the other question, of whether I am pledged to the admission of any more slave States into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave State admitted into the Union ; but I must add, that if slavery shall be kept out of the territories during the territorial existence of any one given territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when they come to adopt the constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit them into the Union. [Applause.] " The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the second. " The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in the Dis trict of Columbia. In relation to that I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the constitu tional power to abolish it. Yet, as a member of Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery ii> the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions : First, that the abolition should be gradual ; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters in the district ; and, third, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three con ditions I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, * sweep from our capital that foul blot upon our nation.' " In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here that, as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have, that I 2cc& pledged \.Q nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make me feel authorized to state a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that question has never been DEFINITION OF THE WAR ISSUE. 239 prominently enough before me to induce me to investigate whether we really have the constitutional power to do it. I could investigate it, if I had sufficient time, to bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject ; but I have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglass. I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that Congress does possess the constitutional power to abolish slave-trading among the different States, I should still not be in favor of the exercise of that power unless upon some conservative principle as I conceive it, akin to what I have said in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. " My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should be prohibited in all territories of the United States, is full and explicit within itself, and cannot be made clearer by any comments of mine. So, I suppose, in regard to the question whether I am opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless slavery is first prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better understood, than the answer which I have placed in writing. " Now, in all this the judge has me, and he has me on the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I was really entertaining one set of opinions for one place, and another set for another place that I was afraid to say at one place what I uttered at another. What I am saying here I suppose I say to a vast audience as strongly tending to abolitionism as any audience in the State of Illinois, and I believe I am saying that which, if it would be offensive to any persons and render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this au dience." Here, then, is the position of Mr. Lincoln set forth with delib eration and care. He was opposed to any coercive measures in settling the slavery question ; he was for gradual emancipation ; and for admitting States into the Union with a slave constitu tion. Within twenty-four months, without a change of views, he was nominated for and elected to the Presidency of the United States. With no disposition to interfere with the institution of slav ery, Mr. Lincoln found himself chief magistrate of a great no- tion in the midst of a great rebellion. And in his inaugural address on the 4th of March, 1861, he referred to the question of slavery again in a manner too clear to admit of misconception, affirming his previous views : Barrett, pp. 177-180. 240 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions : " ' No person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regu lation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.' " It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. " All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Consti tution to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause 'shall be delivered up,' their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal una nimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath ? " There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by National or by State authority ; but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done ; and should any one, in any case, be content that this oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept ? " So the issues were joined in war. The South aggressively, offensively sought the extension and perpetuation of slavery. The North passively, defensively stood ready to protect her free territory, but not to interfere with slavery. And there was no day during the first two years of the war when the North would not have cheerfully granted the slave institution an indefinite lease of legal existence upon the condition that the war should cease. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 241 CHAPTER XV. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." THE FIRST CALL FOR TROOPS. RENDITION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES BY THE ARMY. COL. TYLER'S ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA. GENERAL ISAAC R. SHERWOOD'S ACCOUNT OF AN ATTEMPT TO SECURE A FUGITIVE SLAVE IN HIS CHARGE. COL. STEEDMAN REFUSES TO HAVE HIS CAMP SEARCHED FOR FUGITIVE SLAVES, BY ORDER FROM GEN. FRY. LETTER FROM GEN. BUELL IN DEFENCE OF THE REBELS IN THE SOUTH. ORDERS ISSUED BY GENERALS HOOKER, WILLIAMS, AND OTHERS, IN REGARD TO HARBORING FUGITIVE SLAVES IN UNION CAMPS. OBSERVATION CONCERNING SLAVERY FROM THE "ARMY OF THE POTOMAC." GEN. BUTLER'S LETTER TO GEN. WINFIELD SCOTT. IT is ANSWERED BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR. HORACE GREELEY'S LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY. GEN. JOHN C. FRE MONT, COMMANDER OF THE UNION ARMY IN MISSOURI, ISSUES A PROCLAMATION EMANCIPATING SLAVES IN HIS DISTRICT. IT is DISAPPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT. EMANCIPATION PROCLA MATION BY GEN. HUNTER. IT is RESCINDED BY THE PRESIDENT. SLAVERY AND UNION JOINED IN A DESPERATE STRUGGLE. WHEN the war clouds broke over the country and hostili ties began, the North counted the Negro on the outside of the issue. The Federal Government planted itself upon the policy of the " defence of the free States," pursued a defen sive rather than an offensive policy. And, whenever the Negro was mentioned, the leaders of the political parties and the Union army declared that it was " a white mans war." The first call for three months' troops indicated that the au thorities at Washington felt confident that the "trouble " would not last long. The call was issued on the I5th of April, 1861, and provided for the raising of 75,000 troops. It was charged by the President that certain States had been guilty of forming " combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," and then he proceeded to state : " The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long enough en dured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth, will probably be to repossess the forts, places, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with, property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens of any part of the country ; and I hereby command the persons composing the com binations aforesaid, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date." J There was scarcely a city in the North, from New York to San Francisco, whose Colored residents did not speedily offer their services to the States to aid in suppressing the Rebellion. But everywhere as promptly were their services declined. The Colored people of the Northern States were patriotic and enthu siastic ; but their interest was declared insolence. And being often rebuked for their loyalty, they subsided into silence to bide a change of public sentiment. The almost unanimous voice of the press and pulpit was against a recognition of the Negro as the cause of the war. Like a man in the last stages of consumption who insists that he has only a bad cold, so the entire North urged that slavery was not the cause of the war: it was a little local misunderstanding. But the death of the gallant Col. Elmer E. Elsworth palsied the tongues of mere talkers ; and in the tragic silence that followed, great, brave, and true men began to think. Not a pulpit in all the land had spoken a word for the slave. The clergy stood dumb before the dreadful issue. But one man was found, like David of old, who, gathering his smooth pebble of fact from the brook of God's eternal truth, boldly met the boastful and erroneous public sentiment of the hour. That man was the Rev. Justin D. Fulton, a Baptist minister of Albany, New York. He was chosen to preach the funeral sermon of Col. Elsworth, and performed that duty on Sunday, May 26, 1861. Speaking of slavery, the reverend gentleman said : " Shall this magazine of danger be permitted to remain ? We must answer this question. If we say no, it is no ! Slavery is a curse to the North. It impoverishes the South, and demoralizes both. It is the parent of treason, the seedling of tyranny, and the fountain-source of all the ills that have infected our life as a people, being the central cause of all our conflicts of the past and the war of to-day. What 1 Rebellion Recs., vol. i. Doc., p. 63. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR.'' 243 reason have we for permitting it to remain ? God does not want it, for His truth gives freedom. The South does not need it, for it is the chain fastened to her limb that fetters her progress. Morality, patriot ism, and humanity alike protest against it. " The South fights for slavery, for the despotism which it represents, for the ignoring the rights of labor, and for reducing to slavery or to serfdom all whose hands are hardened by toil. " Why not make the issue at once, which shall inspire every man that shoulders his musket with a noble purpose ? Our soldiers need to be reminded that this government was consecrated to freedom by those who first built here the altars of worship, and planted on the shore of the Western Continent the tree of liberty, whose fruit to-day fills the garners of national hope. ... I would not forget that I am a messenger of the Prince of Peace. My motives for throwing out these suggestions are three-fold : i. Because I believe God wants us to be actuated by motives not one whit less philanthropic than the giv ing of freedom to four million of people. 2. I confess to a sympathy for and faith in the slave, and cherish the belief that if freed, the war would become comparatively bloodless, and that as a people we should enter on the discharge of higher duties and a more enlarged prosperity. 3. The war would hasten to a close, and the end secured would then form a brilliant dawn to a career of prosperity unsurpassed in the an nals of mankind." : Brave, prophetic words ! But a thousand vituperative editors sprang at Mr. Fulton's utterances, and as snapping curs, growled at and shook every sentence. He stood his ground. He took no step backward. When notice was kindly sent him that a committee would wait on him to treat him to a coat of tar and feathers, against the entreaties, of anxious friends, he sent word that he would give them a warm reception. When the best citi zens of Albany said the draft could not be enforced without bloody resistance, the Rev. Mr. Fulton exclaimed : " If the flood gates of blood are to be opened, we will not shoot down the poor and ignorant, but the swaggering and insolent men whose hearts are not in this war! " The " Atlas and Argus," in an editorial on ///- Timed Pulpit Abolitionism, denounced Rev. Mr. Fulton in bitterest terms ; while the " Evening Standard " and " Journal " both declared that the views of the preacher were as a fire-brand thrown into the maga zine of public sentiment. 1 Albany Atlas and Argus, May 27, 1861. 244 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, Everywhere throughout the North the Negro was counted as on the outside. Everywhere it was merely " a war for the Union," which was half free and half slave. When the Union army got into the field at the South it was confronted by a difficult question. What should be done with the Negroes who sought the Union lines for protection from their masters ? The sentiment of the press, Congress, and the people of the North generally, was against interference with the slave, either by the civil or military authorities. And during the first years of the war the army became a band of slave- catchers. Slave-holders and sheriffs from the Southern States were permitted to hunt fugitive slaves under the Union flag and within the lines of Federal camps. On the 22d of June, 1861, the following paragraph appeared in the " Baltimore American " : " Two free negroes, belonging to Frederick, Md., who concealed themselves in the cars which conveyed the Rhode Island regiment to Washington from this city, were returned that morning by command of Colonel Burnside, who supposed them to be slaves. The negroes were accompanied by a sergeant of the regiment, who lodged them in jail." On the 4th of July, 1861, Col. Tyler, of the ;th Ohio regi ment, delivered an address to the people of Virginia ; a portion of which is sufficient to show the feeling that prevailed among army officers on the slavery question : " To you, fellow-citizens of West Virginia many of whom I have so long and favorably known, I come to aid and protect. [The grammar is defective.] " I have no selfish ambition to gratify, no personal motives to actu ate. I am here to protect you in person and property to aid you in the execution of the law, in the maintenance of peace and order, in the defence of the Constitution and the Union, and in the extermination of our common foe. As our enemies have belied our mission, and repre sented us as a band of Abolitionists, I desire to assure you that the relation of master and servant as recognized in your State shall be re spected. Your authority over that species of property shall not in the least be interfered with. To this end I assure you that those under my command have peremptory orders to take up and hold any negroes found running about the camp without passes from their masters." When a few copies had been struck off, a lieutenant in Captain G. W. Shurtleff s company handed him one. He waited upon "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 245 the colonel, and told him, that it was not true that the troops had been ordered to arrest fugitive slaves. The colonel threat ened to place Captain Shurtleff in arrest, when he exclaimed : " I '11 never be a slave-catcher, so help me God ! " There were few men in the army at this time who sympathized with such a noble declaration, and, therefore, Captain Shurtleff found himself in a very small minority. The following account of an attempt to secure a fugitive slave from General Isaac R. Sherwood has its historical value. General Sherwood was as noble a man as he was a brave and intelligent soldier. He obeyed the still small voice in his soul and won a victory for humanity : " In the February and March of 1863, I was a major in command of i nth O. V. I. regiment. I had a servant, as indicated by army regulations, in charge of my private horse. He was from Frankfort, Ky., the property of a Baptist clergyman. When the troops passed through Frankfort, in the fall of 1862, he left his master, and followed the army. He came to me at Bowling Green, and I hired him to take care of my horse. He was a lad about fifteen years old, named Alfred Jackson. il At this time, Brig. -Gen. Boyle, or Boyd (I think Boyle), was in command of the District of Kentucky, and had issued his general order, that fugitive slaves should be delivered up. Brig.-Gen. H. M. Judah was in command of Post of Bowling Green, also of our brigade, there stationed. " The owner of Alfred Jackson found out his whereabouts, and sent a U. S. marshal to Bowling Green to get him. Said marshal came to my headquarters under a pretence to see my very fine saddle-horse, but really to identify Alfred Jackson. The horse was brought out by Alfred Jackson. The marshal went to Brig.-Gen. Judah's headquar ters and got a written order addressed to me, describing the lad and ordering me to deliver the boy. This order was delivered to me by Col. Sterling, of Gen. Judah's staff, in person. I refused to obey it. I sent word to Gen. Judah that he could have my sword, but while I commanded that regiment no fugitive slave should ever be delivered to his master. The officer made my compliments to Gen. Judah as afore said, and I was placed under arrest for disobedience to orders, and my sword taken from me. " In a few days the command was ordered to move to Glasgow, Ky., and Gen. Judah, not desiring to trust the regiment in command of a captain, I was temporarily restored to command, pending the meet ing of a court-martial to try my case. When the command moved I 246 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. took Alfred Jackson along. After we reached Glasgow, Ky., Gen. Judah sent for me, and said if I would then deliver up Alfred Jackson he would restore me to command. The United States marshal was present. This I again refused to do. " The same day, I sent an ambulance out of the lines, with Alfred Jackson tucked under the seat, in charge of a man going North, and I gave him money to get to Hillsdale, Michigan, where he went, and where he resided and grew up to be a good man and a citizen. I called the attention of Hon. James M. Ashley (then Member of Congress) to the matter, and under instructions from Secretary Stanton, Gen. Boyle's order was revoked, and I never delivered a fugitive, nor was I ever tried." In Mississippi, in 1862, Col. James B. Steedman (afterward major-general) refused to honor an order of Gen. Fry, delivered by the man who wanted the slave in Steedman's camp. Col. Steedman read the order and told the bearer that he was a rebel ; that he could not search his camp ; and that he would give him just ten minutes to get out of the camp, or he would riddle him with bullets. When Gen. Fry asked for an explanation of his refusal to allow his camp to be searched, Col. Steedman said he would never consent to have his camp searched by a rebel ; that he would use every bayonet in his regiment to protect the Negro slave who had come to him for protection ; and that he was sus tained by the Articles of War, which had been amended about that time. Again, in the late summer of 1863, at Tuscumbia, Tennessee, Gen. Fry rode into Col. Steedman's camp to secure the return of the slaves of an old lady whom he had known before the war. Col. Steedman said he did not know that any slaves were in his camp ; and that if they were there they should not be taken ex cept they were willing to go. Gen. Fry was a Christian gentle man of a high Southern type, and combined with his loyalty to the Union an abiding faith in " the sacredness of slave prop erty." Whether he ever recovered from the malady, history saith not. The great majority of regular army officers were in sympa thy with the idea of protecting slave property. Gen. T. W. Sherman, occupying the defences of Port Royal, in October, 1861, issued the following proclamation to the people of South Carolina: " In obedience to the orders of the President of these United States of America, I have landed on your shores with a small force of "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 247 National troops. The dictates of a duty which, under the Constitution, I owe to a great sovereign State, and to a proud and hospitable people, among whom I have passed some of the pleasantest days of my life, prompt me to proclaim that we have come among you with no feel ings of personal animosity j no desire to harm your citizens, destroy your property, or interfere with any of your lawful rights, or your social and local institutions, beyond what the causes herein briefly al luded to may render unavoidable." l This proclamation sounds as if the general were a firm be liever in State sovereignty ; and that he was possessed with a feeling that he had landed in some strange land, among a people of different civilization and peculiar institutions. On the 1 3th of November, 1861, Major-Gen. John A. Dix, upon taking possession of the counties of Accomac and North ampton, Va., issued the following proclamation : " The military forces of the United States are about to enter your counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be compelled to become your enemies. They will invade no right of per son or property. On the contrary, your laws, your institutions, your usages, will be scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves. " Special directions have been given not to interfere with the con dition of any person held to domestic servitude ; and, in order that there may be no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresentation, commanders of regiments or corps have been instructed not to per mit such persons to come within their lines." 8 Gen. Halleck, while in command of the Union forces in Missouri, issued his " Order No. 3." as follows : " It has been represented that important information, respecting the number and condition of our forces, is conveyed to the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such person be hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march, and that any now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom." ^Greeley, vol. ii. p. 240. 8 Rebellion Records, vol. iii. Doc. p. 376. 248 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. On the 23d of February, 1862, in " Order No. 13," he referred to the slave question as follows : " It does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master and slave. Such questions must b settled by the civil courts. No fugitive slaves will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, except when specially ordered by the general commanding." On the 1 8th of February, 1862, Major-Gen. A. E. Burnside is sued a proclamation in which he said to the people : " The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized ; and we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of any sort, or your usages in any respect." The following letter from Gen. Buell shows how deeply at tached he was to the " constitutional guaranties " accorded to the rebels of the South : " HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO, ) " NASHVILLE, March 6, 1862. > " Dear Sir : I have the honor to receive your communication of the ist instant, on the subject of fugitive slaves in the camps of the army. " It has come to my knowledge that slaves sometimes make their way improperly into our lines ; and in some instances they may be en ticed there ; but I think the number has been magnified by report. Several applications have been made to me by persons whose servants have been found in our camps ; and in every instance that I know of the master has recovered his servant and taken him away. " I need hardly remind you that there will always be found some lawless and mischievous person in every army ; but I assure you that the mass of this army is law-abiding, and that it is neither its disposi tion nor its policy to violate law or the rights of individuals in any par ticular. With great respect, your obedient servant, " D. C. BUELL, " Brig.-Gen. Commanding Department. " Hon. J. R. UNDERWOOD, Chairman Military Committee, " Frankfort, Ky." So " in every instance " the master had recovered his slave when found in Gen. Buell's camp ! On the 26th of March, 1862, Gen. Joseph Hooker, command ing the " Upper Potomac," issued the following order: "A WHITE MAN'S WAR" 249 '" To Brigade and Regimental Commanders of this Division : " Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dunnington, Dent, Adams, Speake, Price, Posey, and Cobey, citizens of Maryland, have negroes supposed to be with some of the regiments of this division. The brigadier-general commanding directs that they be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search of their property ; and if found, that they be al lowed to take possession of the same, without any interference what ever. Should any obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer or soldier in the division, he will be at once reported by the regimental commander to these headquarters." In the spring of 1862, Gen. Thos. Williams, in the Depart ment of the Gulf, issued the following order x : , " In consequence of the demoralizing and disorganizing tendencies to the troops of harboring runaway negroes, it is hereby ordered that the respective commanders of the camps and garrisons of the several regiments, 2d brigade, turn all such fugitives in their camps or gar risons out beyond the limits of their respective guards and sentinels. " By order of " Brig.-Gen. T. WILLIAMS." a In a letter dated " Headquarters Army of the Potomac, July 7, 1862," Major-Gen. Geo. B. McClellan made the following observations concerning slavery : " This Rebellion has assumed the character of a war ; as such it should be regarded ; and it should be conducted upon the highest prin ciples known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon populations, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither confiscation of property, political exe cutions of persons, territorial organization of States, nor forcible aboli tion of slavery should be contemplated for a moment." But the drift of the sentiment of the army was in the direc tion of compromise with the slavery question. Nearly every statesman at Washington in the White House and in the Con gress and nearly every officer in the army regarded the Negro question as purely political and not military. That it was a problem hard of solution no one could doubt. Hundreds of loyal 1 1 have quite a large number of such orders, but the above will suffice. 2 Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246. 250 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Negroes, upon the orders of general officers, were turned away from the Union lines, while those who had gotten on the inside were driven forth to the cruel vengeance of rebel masters. Who could solve the problem ? Major-Gen. Benjamin F. Butler ban ished the politician, and became the loyal, patriotic soldier ! In the month of May, 1861, during the time Gen. Butler command ed the Union forces at Fortress Monroe, three slaves made good their escape into his lines. They stated that they were owned by Col. Mallory, of the Confederate forces in the front ; that he was about to send them to the North Carolina seaboard to work on rebel fortifications ; and that the fortifications were intended to bar that coast against the Union arms. Having heard this statement, Gen. Butler, viewing the matter from a purely mili tary stand-point, exclaimed : " These men are contraband of war ; set them at work." Here was a solution of the entire problem; here was a blow delivered at the backbone of the Rebellion. He claimed no right to act as a politician, but acting as a loyal- hearted, clear-headed soldier, he coined a word and hurled a shaft at the enemy that struck him in a part as vulnerable as the heel of Achilles. In his letter to the Lieut.-Gen. of the Army, Win- field Scott, 2/th of May, 1861, he said : " Since I wrote my last, the question in regard to slave property is becoming one of very serious magnitude. The inhabitants of Virginia are using .their negroes in the batteries, and are preparing to send their women and children South. The escapes from them are very numer ous, and a squad has come in this morning, and my pickets are bringing in their women and children. Of course these can not be dealt with upon the theory on which I designed to treat the services of able-bodied men and women who might come within my lines, and of which I gave you a detailed account in my last dispatch. " I am in the utmost doubt what to do with this species of property. Up to this time I have had come within my lines men and women, with their children, entire families, each family belonging to the same owner. I have therefore determined to employ as I can do very profitably the able-bodied persons in the party, issuing proper food for the support of all ; charging against their services the expense of care and sustenance of the non-laborers ; keeping a strict and accurate account, as well of the services as of the expenditures ; having the worth of the services and the cost of the expenditures determined by a board of survey hereafter to be detailed. I know of no other manner in which to dispose of this subject and the questions connected there with. As a matter of property, to the insurgents it will be of very great "A WHITE MAN'S WAR: 251 moment the number that I now have amounting, as I am informed, to what in good times would be of the value of $60,000. " Twelve of these negroes, I am informed, have escaped from the erection of the batteries on Sewell's Point, which fired upon my expe dition as it passed by out of range. As a means of offense, therefore, in the enemy's hands, these negroes, when able-bodied, are of great im portance. Without them the batteries could not have been erected ; at least, for many weeks. As a military question it would seem to be a measure of necessity, and deprives their masters of their services. " How can this be done ? As a political question, and a question of humanity, can I receive the services of a father and a mother and not take the children ? Of the humanitarian aspect, I have no doubt ; of the political one, I have no right to judge. I therefore submit all this to your better judgment, and, as these questions have a political aspect, I have ventured and I trust I am not wrong in so doing to duplicate the parts of my dispatch relating to this subject, and forward them to the Secretary of War. " Your obedient servant, " Lt.-General SCOTT." * " BENJ. F. BUTLER. The letter of Gen. Butler was laid before the Secretary of War, who answered it as follows : " SIR : Your action in respect to the negroes who came within your lines, from the service of the rebels, is approved. The Department is sensible of the embarrassments which must surround officers conduct ing military operations in a State, by the laws of which slavery is sanc tioned. The Government can not recognize the rejection by any State of its Federal obligations, resting upon itself. Among these Federal obligations, however, no one can be more important than that of sup pressing and dispersing any combination of the former for the purpose of overthrowing its whole constitutional authority. While, therefore, you will permit no interference, by persons under your command, with the relations of persons held to service under the laws of any State, you will, on the other hand, so long as any State within which your military operations are conducted remains under the control of such armed combinations, refrain from surrendering to alleged masters any persons who come within your lines. You will employ such persons in the services to which they will be best adapted ; keeping an account of the labor by them performed, of the value of it, and the expenses of their maintenance. The question of their final disposition will be re served for future determination. " SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. " To Maj.-Gen. BUTLER. < 'Greelev, vol. ii. n. 238. 252 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. In an account of the life and services of Capt. Grier Talmadge, the " Times " correspondent says : " To the deceased, who was conservative in his views and actions, belongs the credit of first enunciating the ' contraband ' idea as subse quently applied in the practical treatment of the slaves of rebels, Early in the spring of 1861, Flag-Officer Pendergrast, in command of the frigate 'Cumberland,' then the vessel blockading the Roads, restored to their owners certain slaves that had escaped from Norfolk. Shortly after, the Flag-Officer, Gen. Butler, Capt. Talmadge, and the writer chanced to meet in the ramparts of the fortress, when Capt. T. took occasion, warmly, but respectfully, to dissent from the policy of the act, and proceeded to advance some arguments in support of his views. Turning to Gen. Butler, who had just assumed command of this depart ment, he said : ' General, it is a question you will have to decide, and that, too, very soon ; for in less than twenty-four hours deserting slaves will commence swarming to your lines. The rebels are employ ing their slaves in thousands in constructing batteries all around us. And, in my judgment, in view of this fact, not only slaves who take refuge within our lines are contrabands, but I hold it as much our duty to seize and capture those employed, or intended to be employed, in constructing batteries, as it is to destroy the arsenals or any other war- making element of the rebels, or to capture and destroy the batteries themselves.' Within two days after this conversation, Gen. Butler has the question practically presented to him, as predicted, and he solved it by applying the views advanced by the deceased." : The conservative policy of Congress, the cringing attitude of the Government at Washington, the reverses on the Potomac, the disaster of Bull Run, the apologetic tone of the Northern press, the expulsion of slaves from the Union lines, and the conduct of " Copperheads " in the North who crawled upon their stomachs, snapping and biting at the heels of Union men and Union measures, bred a spirit of unrest and mob violence. It was not enough that the service of free Negroes was declined ; they were now hunted out and persecuted by mobs and other agents of the disloyal element at the North. Like a man sick unto death the Government insisted that it only had a slight cold, and that it would be better soon. The President was no better informed as to the nature of the war than other conserva tive Republicans. On the I9th of August, 1862, Horace Greeley 1 New York Times. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 253 addressed an open letter to the President, known as u The Prayer of Twenty Millions," of which the following are specimen pas sages : " On the face of this wide earth, Mr. President, there is not one dis interested, determined, intelligent champion of the Union cause who does not feel that all attempts to put down the Rebellion, and at the same time uphold its inciting cause, are preposterous and futile that the Rebellion, if crushed out to-morrow, would be renewed within a year if slavery were left in full vigor that army officers, who remain to this day devoted to slavery, can at best be but half-way loyal to the Union and that every hour of deference to slavery is an hour of added and deepened peril to the Union. I appeal to the testimony of your Embassadors in Europe. It is freely at your service, not mine. Ask them to tell you candidly whether the seeming subserviency of your policy to the slave-holding, slavery-upholding interest, is not the per plexity, the despair, of statesmen of all parties ; and be admonished by the general answer ! " I close, as I began, with the statement that what an immense majority of the loyal millions of your countrymen require of you is a frank, declared, unqualified, ungrudging execution of the laws of the land, more especially of the Confiscation Act. That Act gives freedom to the slaves of rebels coming within our lines, or whom those lines may at any time inclose, we ask you to render it due obedience by publicly requiring all your subordinates to recognize and obey it. The rebels are everywhere using the late anti-negro riots in the North as they have long used your officers' treatment of negroes in the South to convince the slaves that they have nothing to hope from a Union suc cess that we mean in that case to sell them into a bitter bondage to defray the cost of the war. Let them impress this as a truth on the great mass of their ignorant and credulous bondmen, and the Union will never be restored never. We can not conquer ten millions of people united in solid phalanx against us, powerfully aided by Northern sympathizers and European allies. We must have scouts, guides, spies, cooks, team sters, diggers, and choppers, from the blacks of the South whether we allow them to fight for us or not or we shall be baffled and re pelled. As one of the millions who would gladly have avoided this struggle at any sacrifice but that of principle and honor, but who now feel that the triumph of the Union is indispensable not only to the existence of our country, but to the well-being of mankind, I entreat you to render a hearty and unequivocal obedience to the law of the land. " Yours, " HORACE GREELEY." * l Greelcy, vol. ii. pp. 249, 250. 254 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. It was an open letter. Mr. Greeley had evidently lost sight of his economic theories as applied to slavery in the abstract, and now. as a practical philosopher, caught hold of the question by the handle. Mr. Lincoln replied within a few days, but was still joined to his abstract theories of constitutional law. He loved the Union, and all he should do for the slave should be done to help the Union, not the slave. He was not desirous of saving or destroying slavery. But certainly he had spoken more wisely than he knew when he had asserted, a few years before, that " a nation half free and half slave, could not long exist." That was an indestructible truth. Had he adhered to that doctrine the way would have been easier. In every thing he consulted the Constitution. His letter is interesting reading. " EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, ) " AugUSt 22, 1862. I " Hon. HORACE GREELEY : "Dear Sir : I have just read yours of the ipth instant, addressed to myself through the New York Tribune. " If there be in it any statements or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and here controvert them. " If there be any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. " If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always sup posed to be right. " As to the policy ' I seem to be pursuing,' as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the Constitution. " The sooner the national authority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be the Union as it was. " If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. " If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. " My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy slavery. " If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it ; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. " What I do about slavery and the Colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear be cause I do not believe it would help to save the Union. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 255 " I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause ; and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help the cause. " I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors ; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. " I have here stated my purpose according to my views of official duty ; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. " Yours, " A. LINCOLN." 1 But there were few men among the general officers of the army who either reached the conclusion by their own judgment, or were aided by the action of General Butler, that it was their duty to confiscate all the property of the enemy. Acting upon the plainest principle of military law, Major-General John C. Fremont, commanding the Department of the Missouri, or the Union forces in that State, issued the following proclamation : " HEADQUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEP'T, ) "ST. Louis, August 3ist. [ " Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the Commanding General of this Department should assume the administrative power of the State. Its disorganized condi tion, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest nearly every county in the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State. In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms require unity of purpose, without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs. " In order, therefore, to suppress disorders, to maintain, as far as now practicable, the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this State are, for the present, de clared to extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi River. 1 Greeley, vol. ii. p. 250. 256 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands, within these lines, shall be tried by Court Martial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, or shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is de clared to be confiscated to the public use ; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men. " All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publi cation of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law. " All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interest warned that they are exposing themselves. " All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are re quired to return to their homes forthwith ; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them. " The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand. But it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the usual manner and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably exercised. " The Commanding General will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and, in his efforts for their safety, hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support, of the people of the country. " J. C. FREMONT, Major-Gen. Com" ' This magnificent order thrilled the loyal hearts of the North with joy; but the President, still halting and hesitating, requested a modification of the order so far as it related to the liberation of slaves. This Gen. Fremont declined to do unless ordered to do so by his superior. Accordingly the President wrote him as fol lows : "WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. n, 1861. " Major-Gen. JOHN C. FREMONT : " Sir : Yours of the 8th, in answer to mine of the 2d inst., is just received. Assured that you, upon the ground, could better judge of the necessities of your position than I could at this distance, on seeing 1 Greeley, vol. i. p. 585. "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 257 your proclamation of August 3oth, I perceived no general objection to it ; the particular clause, however, in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberation of slaves, appeared to me to be objec tionable in its non-conformity to the Act of Congress, passed the 6th of last August, upon the same subjects ; and hence I wrote you, ex pressing my wish that that clause should be modified accordingly. Your answer, just received, expresses the preference on your part that I should make an open order for the modification, which I very cheer fully do. It is, therefore, ordered that the said clause of said proclama tion be so modified, held, and construed, as to conform with, and not to transcend, the provisions on the same subject contained in the Act of Congress entitled ' An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insur rectionary Purposes/ approved August 6, 1861; and that the said act be published at length with this order. " Your obedient servant, "A. LINCOLN." 1 Gen. Fremont's removal followed speedily. He was in ad vance of the slow coach at Washington, and was sent where he could do no harm to the enemy of the country, by emancipating Negroes. It seems as if there were nothing else left for Gen. Fremont to do but to free the slaves in his military district. They were the bone and sinew of Confederate resistance. It was to weaken the enemy that the general struck down this peculiar species of property, upon which the enemy of the country relied so entirely. Major-Gen. David Hunter assumed command at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on the 3ist of March, 1862. On the o,th of May he issued the following " General Order : " " HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF THL SOUTH, ) "HILTON HEAD, S. C., May 9, 1862. j " General Order, No. n. " The three States of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, com prising the Military Department of the South, having deliberately de clared themselves no longer under the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them Under martial law. "This was accordingly done on the 25th day of April, 1862. Sla very and martial law in a free country are altogether incompatible. The persons in* these States Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina hereto fore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free." a 1 Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 239, 240. 2 Greeley, vol. ii. p. 246. 258 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. But the President, in ten days after its publication, rescinded the order of General Hunter, in the following Proclamation : " And whereas, The same [Hunter's proclamation] is producing some excitement and misunderstanding, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi dent of the United States, proclaim and declare that the Government of the United States had no knowledge or belief of an intention on the part of Gen. Hunter to issue such a proclamation, nor has it yet any authentic information that the document is genuine : and, further, that neither Gen. Hunter nor any other commander or person have been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamation declaring the slaves of any State free ; and that the supposed proclamation now in question, whether genuine or false, is altogether void, so far as respects such declaration. I further make known that, whether it be competent for me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, to declare the slaves of any State or States free ; and whether at any time, or in any case, it shall have become a necessity indispensable to the maintenance of the Government to exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my responsibility, I reserve to myself, and which I cannot feel justified in leaving to the decision of commanders in the field. " Those are totally different questions from those of police regula tions in armies or in camps. "On the sixth day of March last, by a special Message, I recom mended to Congress the adoption of a joint resolution, to be substantially as follows : " * Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be used by such State in its discretion, to compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by such change of system.' " The resolution, in the language above quoted, was adopted by large majorities in both branches of Congress, and now stands an authentic, definite, and solemn proposal of the nation to the States and people most interested in the subject-matter. To the people of these States now I mostly appeal. I do not argue I beseech you to make the arguments for yourselves. You cannot, if you would, be blind to the signs of the times. " I beg of you a calm and enlarged consideration of them, ranging, if it may be, far above partisan and personal politics. " This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no reproaches upon any. It acts not the Pharisee. The change it con templates would come gently as the dews of Heaven, not rending or wrecking any thing. Will you not embrace it ? So much good has not been done by one effort in all past time. as. in the Providence of God, "A WHITE MAN'S WAR." 259 it is now your high privilege to do. May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it ! " In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. " Done at the city of Washington this ipth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1862, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. " (Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " By the President : " W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." The conservative policy of the President greatly discouraged the friends of the Union, who felt that a vigorous prosecution of the war was the only hope of the nation. Slavery and the Union had joined in a terrible struggle for the supremacy. Both could not exist. Our treasury was empty ; our bonds depreciated ; our credit poor ; our industries languishing ; and the channels of commerce were choked. European governments were growing impatient at the dilatory policy of our nation ; and everyday we were losing sympathy and friends. Our armies were being re pulsed and routed ; and Columbia's war eagles were wearily flap ping their pinions in the blood-dampened dust of a nerveless nation. But the Negro was still on the outside, it was "a white man's war." 260 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XVI. THE NEGRO ON FATIGUE DUTY. NEGROES EMPLOYED AS TEAMSTERS AND IN THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT. GENERAL MERCER'S ORDER TO THE SLAVE-HOLDERS ISSUED FROM SAVANNAH. HE RECEIVES ORDERS- FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO IMPRESS A NUMBER OF NEGROES TO BUILD FORTIFICATIONS. THE NEGRO PROVES HIMSELF INDUSTRIOUS AND EARNS PROMOTION. THE light began to break through the dark cloud of preju dice in the minds of the friends of the Union. If a Negro were useful in building rebel fortifications, why not in casting up defences for the Union army? Succeeding Gen. But ler in command at Fortress Monroe, on the I4th of October, 1861, Major-Gen. Wool issued an order, directing that " all colored persons called contrabands," employed by officers or others within his command, must be furnished with subsistence by their employers, and paid, if males, not less than four dollars per month, and that " all able-bodied colored persons, not employed as afore, said," will be immediately put to work in the Engineer's or the Quartermaster's Department. On the 1st of November, Gen. Wool directed that the compensation of " contrabands " working for the government should be five to ten dollars per month, with soldier's rations.- These Negroes rendered valuable service in the sphere they were called upon to fill. In the Western army, Gen. James B. Steedman was the first man to suggest the idea of employing Negroes as teamsters. He saw that every Negro who drove a team of mules gave to the army one more white soldier with a musket in his hands ; and so with the sympathy and approval of the gallant Gen. Geo. H. Thomas, Gen. Steedman put eighty Negroes into uniforms, and turned them over to an experienced white " wagon-master." The Negroes made excellent teamsters, and the plan was adopted quite generally. In September, 1862, an order from Washington directed the employment of fifty thousand Negro laborers in the Quarter master's Department, under Generals Hunter and Saxton ! This showed that the authorities at Washington had begun to get THE NEGRO ON FATIGUE DUTY. 261 their eyes open on this question. " And while speaking of the negroes," wrote a " Times " correspondent, in 1862, from Hilton Head, " let me present a few statistics obtained from an official source, respecting the success which has crowned the experiment of employing them as free paid laborers upon the plantations. The population of the Division (including Port Royal, St. Helena and Ladies' islands, with the smaller ones thereto adja cent, but excluding Hilton Head and its surroundings) is as fol lows : " Effective 3,817 "Non-effective 3,110 "Total 6,927 " The number of acres under cultivation on the same islands, is: " Of Corn 6,444 " Of Cotton 3,384 " Of Potatoes 1,407 " A little calculation will show that the negroes have raised enough corn and potatoes to support themselves, besides a crop of cotton (now ripe) somewhat smaller than in former years, but still of very considerable value to the Government." 3 Gen. Mercer issued the following order at Savannah, Georgia, which shows that the rebels did not despise the fatigue services of Negroes : " C. S. ENGINEER'S OFFICE, ) "SAVANNAH, GA., Aug. i, 1863. f " The Brigadier-General Commanding desires to inform the slave holders of Georgia that he has received authority from the Secretary of War to impress a number of negroes sufficient to construct such addi tional fortifications as are necessary for the defence of Savannah. " He desires, if possible, to avoid the necessity of impressment, and therefore urges the owners of slave property to volunteer the services of their negroes. He believes that, while the planters of South Caro lina are sending their slaves by thousands to aid the defence of Charles ton, the slave-holders of Georgia will not be backward in contributing in the same patriotic manner to the defence of their own seaport, which has so far resisted successfully all the attacks of the enemy at Fort McAllister and other points. " Remember, citizens of Georgia, that on the successful defence of Georgia depends the security of the interior of your State, where so. 1 Times, Sept. 4, 1862. 262 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. much of value both to yourselves and to the Confederacy at large is concentrated. It is best to meet the enemy at the threshold, and to hurl back the first wave of invasion. Once the breach is made, all the horrors of war must desolate your now peaceful and quiet homes. Let no man deceive himself. If Savannah falls the fault will be yours, and your own neglect will have brought the sword to your hearth-stones. " The Brigadier-General Commanding, therefore, calls on all the slave-holders of Eastern, Southern, and Southwestern Georgia, but espe cially those in the neighborhood of Savannah, to send him immediately one fifth of their able-bodied male slaves, for whom transportation will be furnished and wages paid at the rate of twenty-five dollars per month, the Government to be responsible for the value of such Negroes as may be killed by the enemy, or may in any manner fall into his hands. By order of " Brig. -Gen. MERCER, Commanding. " JOHN Me CRADY, " Captain and Chief Engineer, State of Georgia" ' Negroes built most of the fortifications and earth-works for Gen. Grant in front of Vicksburg. The works in and about Nash ville were cast up by the strong arm and willing hand of the loyal Blacks. Dutch Gap was dug by Negroes, and miles of earth works, fortifications, and corduroy-roads were made by Negroes. They did fatigue duty in every department of the Union army. Wherever a Negro appeared with a shovel in his hand, a white soldier took his gun and returned to the ranks. There were 200,000 Negroes in the camps and employ of the Union armies, as servants, teamsters, cooks, and laborers. What a mighty host ! Suppose the sentiment that early met the Negro on the picket lines and turned him back to the enemy had continued, 50,000 white soldiers would have been required in the Engineer's and Quartermaster's Department; while 25,000 white men would have been required for various other purposes, outside of the ranks of the army. A narrow prejudice among some of the white troops, upon whose pedigree it would not be pleasant to dwell, met the Negro teamster, with a blue coat and buttons with eagles on them, with a growl. They disliked to see the Negro wearing a Union uni form ; it looked too much like equality. But in his lowly station as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, the Negro proved himself industrious, trustworthy, efficient, and cheerful. He earned promotion, and in due time secured it. 1 Rebellion Recs. , vol. vii. Doc. p. 479. THE EMANCIPA TION PROCLAMA TIONS. 263 CHAPTER XVII. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. CONGRBSS PASSES AN ACT TO CONFISCATE PROPERTY USED FOR INSURRECTIONARY PURPOSES. A FRUITLESS APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT TO ISSUE AN EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. HE THINKS THE TlME NOT YET COME FOR SUCH AN ACTION, BUT WITHIN A FEW WEEKS CHANGES HIS OPINION AND ISSUES AN EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. THE REBELS SHOW NO DISPOSI TION TO ACCEPT THE MlLD TERMS OF THE PROCLAMATION. MR. DAVIS GIVES ATTENTION TO THE PROCLAMATION IN HIS THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE. SECOND EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN JANUARY i, 1863. THE PROCLAMATION IMPARTS NEW HOPE TO THE NEGRO. THE position taken by General Butler on the question of receiving into the Federal lines the slaves of persons who were in rebellion against the National Government, and who were liable to be used in service against the government by their owners, had its due influence in Washington. But all the general officers did not share in the views of General Butler. As many as twenty Union generals still had it in their minds that it was the duty of the army " to catch run-away slaves " ; and they afforded rebels every facility to search their camps. They arrested fugitive Negroes and held them subject to the order of their masters. Congress was not long in seeing the suicidal tendency of such a policy, and on the 6th of August, 1861, passed " An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes." Notwithstanding this act, General McClellan and other officers still clung to the obsolete doctrine of " the sacred- ness of slave property.'* His conduct finally called forth the following letter from the Secretary of State : u CONTRABANDS IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. " DEPARTMENT OF STATE, / "WASHINGTON CITY, December 4, 1861. j " To Major- General George B. McClellan, Washington : " GENERAL : I am directed by the President to call your attention to the following subject : 264 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Persons claimed to be held to service or labor under the laws of the State of Virginia, and actually employed in hostile service against the Government of the United States, frequently escape from the lines of the enemy's forces and are received within the lines of the Army of the Potomac. This Department understands that such persons, afterward coming into the city of Washington, are liable to be arrested by the city police, upon presumption, arising from color, that they are fugitives from service or labor. " By the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved August 6, 1 86 1, entitled 'An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes,' such hostile employment is made a full and sufficient answer to any further claim to service or labor. Persons thus employed and escaping are received into the military protection of the United States, and their arrest as fugitives from service or labor should be immediately followed by the military arrest of the parties making the seizure. " Copies of this communication will be sent to the Mayor of the City of Washington and to the Marshal of the District of Columbia, that any collision between the civil and military authorities may be avoided. " I am, General, your very obedient, "Wai. H. SEWARD." It was now 1862. The dark war clouds were growing thicker. The Union army had won but few victories ; our troops had to fight a tropical climate, the forces of nature, and an arrogant, jubilant, and victorious' enemy. Autumn had come but nothing had been accomplished. The friends of the Union who favored a speedy and vigorous prosecution of the war, besieged the Presi dent with letters, memorials, and addresses to " do something." But intrenched behind his " constitutional views " of how the war should be managed he heard all, but would not yield. On the 1 3th of September, 1862, a deputation of gentlemen, repre senting the various Protestant denominations of Chicago, called upon the President and urged him to adopt a vigorous policy of emancipation as the only way to save the Union ; but he denied the request. He said : :< The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For in stance : the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war ; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general Emancipation; upon which the other two at once attacked them. You know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti-slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 265 same is true of the religious people. Why, the Rebel soldiers are pray ing with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops, and expecting God to favor their side: for one of our soldiers, who had been taken prisoner, told Senator Wilson a few days since that he met noth ing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case. " What good would a proclamation of Emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated ? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet. Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the Rebel States ? Is there a single court, or magistrate, or individual, that would be influenced by it there ? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come within our lines ? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And, suppose they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them ? How can we feed and care for such a multitude ? Gen. Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more rations to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the White troops under his command. They eat, and that is all ; though it is true Gen. Butler is feeding the Whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the Blacks to Slavery again ; for I am told that whenever the rebels take any Black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately auction them off ! They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee river a few days ago. And then I am very ungenerously attacked for it ! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Run, an expedition went out from Washington, under a flag of truce, to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the Rebels seized the Blacks who went along to help, and sent them into Slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the Government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do ? " Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire ? Under stand : I raise no objection against it on legal or constitutional grounds ; for, as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy in time of war, I sup pose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy ; nor do I urge objections of a moral nature, in view of possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the 266 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the Re bellion." Not discouraged, the deputation urged in answer to his con servative views, that a policy of emancipation would strengthen the cause of the Union in Europe, and place the government upon high humane grounds, where it could boldly and confidently appeal to Almighty God in an honest attempt to save His poor children from the degrading curse of American slavery. But the President replied : " I admit that Slavery is at the root of the Rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act ; they would have been impotent without Slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that Emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help somewhat at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you and those you represent imagine. Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the war ; and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the Rebels by drawing off their labor ers, which is of great importance ; but I am not so sure we could do much with the Blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the Rebels ; and, indeed, thus far,, we have not had arms enough to equip our White troops. I will men tion another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in the Union army from the Border Slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclama tion such as you desire, they should go over to the Rebels. I do not think they all would not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the Rebels. Let me say one thing more : I think you should admit that we already have an important principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fundamental idea, going down about as deep as anything." ] But there were millions of prayers ascending to the God of Battles daily that the President might have the courage and dis position to pursue a course required by the lamentable condition of the Union. And just nine days from the time he thought a proclamation not warranted and impracticable, he issued the fol lowing : 1 Greeley, vol. ii. pp. 251, 252. THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 267 " I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States of America, and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional re lation between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation is or may be suspended or dis turbed. " That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the peo ple whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery within their respective limits ; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. That, on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou sand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thencefor ward, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. " That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the ab sence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States. " That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled 'An Act to make an additional Article of War,' approved March i3th, 1862 ; and which act is in the words and figures following : Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the fol lowing shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the gov ernment of the Army of the United States, and shall be obeyed and ob served as such : 268 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " ' SECTION i. All officers or persons in the military or naval ser vice of the United States are prohibited -from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due ; and any officer who shall be found guilty of a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. " ' SEC. 2. And bejt further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.' "Also, to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled 'An Act to Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to Seize and Confiscate Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes,' approved July 1 6, 1862 ; and which sections are in the words and figures follow ing: ! ' SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves captured from such persons, or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States ; and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place oc cupied by Rebel forces and afterward occupied by forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves. ' ' SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, ex cept for crime, or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present Rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the Unitecf States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dis missed from the service.' " And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey,^ and enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and sections above recited. " And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States, who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the Rebellion, shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation be- THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 269 tween the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of the United States, including the loss of slaves. " In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. " Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day of r -i September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun dred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " By the President : "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State" But why this change in the views of the President ? History, thus far, is left to conjecture. It was hinted that our embassa- dors in Western Europe had apprised the State Department at Washington that an early recognition of the Southern Confed eracy was possible, even, probable. It was also stated that he was waiting for the issue at the battle of Antietam, which was fought on the i/th five days before the proclamation was issued. But neither explanation stands in the light of the positive and explicit language of the President on the 1 3th of September. However, he issued the proclamation, the Diving Being may have opened his eyes to see the angel that was to turn him aside from the destruction that awaited the Union that he sought to save with slavery preserved ! The sentiment of the people upon the wisdom of the procla mation was expressed in the October elections. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois went democratic ; while the supporters of the Administration fell off in Michigan and other Western States. In the Congress of 1860 there were 78 Republicans and 37 Democrats ; in 1862 there were 57 Administration representatives, and 67 in the Oppo sition. The army did not take kindly to the proclamation. It was charged that " the war for the Union was changed into a war for the Negro." Some officers resigned, while many others said that if they thought they were fighting to free the " niggers" they would resign. This sentiment was contagious. It found its way into the rank and file of the troops, and did no little harm. The following telegram shows that the rebels were angered not a little at the President : 270 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " CHARLESTON, S. C., Oct. 13, 1862. " Hon. WM. P. MILES, Richmond, Va. : " Has the bill for the execution of Abolition prisoners, after Janu ary next, been passed ? Do it ; and England will be stirred into action. It is high time to proclaim the black flag after that period. Let the execution be with the garrote. ' (Signed) G. T. BEAUREGARD." But the proclamation was a harmless measure. First, it declared that the object of the war was to restore " the consti tutional relation between the United States and each of the States." After nearly two years of disastrous war Mr. Lincoln declares the object of the war. Certainly no loyal man had ever entertained any other idea than the one expressed in the proc lamation. It was not a war on the part of the United States to destroy her children, nor to disturb her own constitutional, com prehensive unity. It must have been understood, then, from the commencement, that the war begun by the seceding States was waged on the part of the United States to preserve the Union of the States, and restore them to their " constitutional relation." Second, the proclamation implored the slave States to accept (certainly in the spirit of compromise) a proposition from the United States to emancipate their slaves for a pecuniary consider ation, and, by their gracious consent, assist in colonizing loyal Negroes in this country or in Africa ! Third, the measure proposed to free slaves of persons and States in rebellion against the lawful authority of the United States Government on the first day of January, 1863. Nothing more difficult could have been undertaken than to free only the slaves of persons and States in actual rebellion against the Government of the United States. Persons in actual rebellion would be most likely to have immediate oversight of this species of their property; and the owners of slaves in the States in actual rebellion against the United States Government would doubtless be as thoroughly prepared to take care of slave prop erty as the muskets in their rebellious hands. Fourth, this emancipation proclamation (?) proposed to pay out of the United States Treasury, for all slaves of loyal masters lost in a rebellion begun by slave-holders and carried on by slave-holders ! THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 271 Under the condition of affairs no emancipation proclamation was necessary. Treason against the United States is " levying war against them," or " adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." The rebel States were guilty of treason ; and from the moment Sumter was fired upon, every slave in the Confederate States was ipso facto free ! But it was an occasion for rejoicing. The President had taken a step in the right direction, and, thank God ! he never retraced it. A severe winter had set in. The rebels had shown the kind- hearted President no disposition to accept the mild terms of his proclamation. On the contrary, it was received with gnashing of teeth and bitter imprecations. On the I2th of January, 1863, the titular President of the Confederate States, in his third Annual Message, gave attention to the proclamation of the President of the United States. Mr. Davis said : " It has established a state of things which can lead to but one of three possible consequences the extermination of the slaves, the exile of the whole white population of the Confederacy, or absolute and total separation of these States from the United States. This proclamation is also an authentic statement by the Government of the United States of its inability to subjugate the South by force of arms, and, as such, must be accepted by neutral nations, which can no longer find any justification in withholding our just claims to formal recognition. It is also, in effect, an intimation to the people of the North that they must prepare to submit to a separation now become inevitable ; for that people are too acute not to understand that a restitution of the Union has been rendered forever impossible by the adoption of a measure which, from its very nature, neither admits of retraction nor can coexist with union. " We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow- men of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race peaceful and contented laborers in their sphere are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their mas ters by the insidious recommendation to abstain from violence unless in necessary self-defense. Our own detestation of those who have at tempted the most execrable measures recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it 272 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA discloses. So far as regards the action of this Government on such, criminals as may attempt its execution, I confine myself to informing you that I shall unless in your wisdom you deem some other course more expedient deliver to the several State authorities all commis sioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the proclamation, that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes, and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole." And although the President and his supporters had not reaped the blessings their hopes had sown, they were, neverthe less, not without hope. For when the sober second thought of the nation took the place of prejudice and undue excitement, the proclamation had more friends. And so, in keeping with his promise, the President issued the following proclamation on the first of January, 1863. " Whereas^ on the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit : ' That on the ist day of January, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such per sons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. ' That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evi dence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.' " Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 273 the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebel lion against the authority and Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebel lion against the United States, the following, to wit : " Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Or leans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the coun ties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. "And, by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do or der and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States, are and henceforward shall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. " And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to ab stain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense ; and I recom mend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. " And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suit able condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and' to man vessels of all sorts in said service. " And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an , act of justice, war ranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the consid erate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. " In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. " Done at the City of Washington, this ist day of January, in the [L. s.] year of our Lord 1863, and of the independence of the Unit ed States the 8yth. " By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State" 274 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Even this proclamation not a measure of humanity to save the Union, not the slave left slaves in many counties and States at the South. It was a war measure, pure and simple. It was a blow aimed at the most vulnerable part of the Confed eracy. It was destroying its corner-stone, and the ponderous fab ric was doomed to a speedy and complete destruction. It dis covered that the strength of this Sampson of rebellion lay in its vast slave population. To the slave the proclamation came as the song of the rejoicing angels to the shepherds upon the plains 'of Bethlehem. It was like music at night, mellowed by the dis tance, that rouses slumbering hopes, gives wings to fancy, and peoples the brain with blissful thoughts. TThe notes of freedom came careering to them across the red, billowy waves of battle and thrilled their souls with ecstatic peace. Old men who, like Samuel the prophet, believing the ark of God in the hands of the Philistines, and were ready to give up the ghost, felt that it was just the time to begin to live. Husbands were transported with the thought of gathering to their bosoms the wife that had been sold to the " nigger traders "; mothers swooned under the ten der touch of the thought of holding in loving embrace the chil dren who pined for their care ; and young men and maidens could only " think thanksgiving and weep gladness." The slave-holder saw in this proclamation the handwriting upon the walls of the institution of slavery. The brightness and revelry of his banqueting halls were to be succeeded by gloom and sorrow. His riches, consisting in human beings, were to dis appear under the magic touch of the instrument of freedom. The chattel was to be transformed into a person, the person into a soldier, the soldier into a citizen and thus the Negro slave, like the crawling caterpillar, was to leave his grovelling situa tion, and in new form, wing himself to the sublime heights of free American citizenship ! The Negroes had a marvellous facility of communicating news to each other. The proclamation, in spite of the pre cautions of the rebel authorities, took to itself wings. It came to the plantation of weary slaves as the glorious light of a new-born day. It flooded the hovels of slaves with its golden light and rich promise of "forever free." Like St. Paul the poor slaves could exclaim : '* In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings ; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATIONS. 275 by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report ; as de ceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, and, behold, we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet al- way rejoicing ; as poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." And the significant name of Abraham " father of the faith ful " was pronounced by the Negroes with blessings, and min gled in their songs of praise. 276 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XVIII. EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. THE QUESTION OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. THE REBELS TAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARD THE MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES. GRAND REVIEW OF THE REBEL TROOPS AT NEW ORLEANS. GENERAL HUNTER ARMS THE FIRST REGIMENT OF LOYAL NEGROES AT THE SOUTH. OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SECRETARY OF WAR AND GENERAL HUNTER RESPECTING THE ENLISTMENT OF THE BLACK REGIMENT. THE ENLISTMENT OF FIVE NEGRO REGIMENTS AUTHORIZED BY THE PRESIDENT. THE POLICY OF GENERAL PHELPS IN REGARD TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN LOUISIANA. A SECOND CALL FOR TROOPS BY THE PRESIDENT. AN ATTEMPT TO AMEND THE ARMY APPROPRIATION BILL so AS TO PROHIBIT THE FURTHER EMPLOYMENT OF COLORED TROOPS. GOVERNOR JOHN A. ANDREW, OF MASSACHUSETTS, AUTHORIZED BY SECRETARY OF WAR TO ORGANIZE Two REGIMENTS OF COLORED TROOPS. GENERAL LORENZO THOMAS is DESPATCHED TO THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY TO SUPERINTEND THE ENLISTMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN THE SPRING OF 1863. AN ORDER ISSUED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT IN THE FALL OF 1863 FOR THE ENLISTMENT OF COLORED- TROOPS. THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF NEW YORK CITY. RECRUITING OF COLORED TROOPS IN PENNSYLVANIA. GEORGE L. STEARNS ASSIGNED CHARGE OF THE RECRUITING OF COLORED TROOPS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF THE CUMBERLAND. FREE MILITARY SCHOOL ESTABLISHED AT PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. ENDORSEMENT OF THE SCHOOL BY SECRETARY STANTON. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOL. OFFICIAL TABLE GIVING NUMBER OF COLORED TROOPS IN THE ARMY. THE CHARACTER OF NEGRO TROOPS. MR. GREELEY'S EDITORIAL ON "NEGRO TROOPS." LETTER FROM JUDGE ADVOCATE HOLT TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR ON THE "ENLISTMENT OF SLAVES." THE NEGRO LEGALLY AND CONSTITUTIONALLY A SOLDIER. HISTORY RECORDS HIS DEEDS OF PATRIOTISM. AT no time during the first two years of the war was the President or the Congress willing to entertain the idea of employing Negroes as soldiers. It has been shown that the admission of loyal Negroes into the Union lines, and into the service of the Engineer's and Quartermaster's Department, had been resisted with great stubbornness by the men in the " chief places." There were, however, a few men, both in and out of the army, who secretly believed that the Negro was needed in the army, and that he possessed all the elements necessary to make an excellent soldier. Public sentiment was so strong against the employment of Negroes in the armed service that few men had the courage of conviction ; few had the temerity to express their views publicly. In the summer of 1860, before the election of Abraham Lincoln, General J. Watts De Peyster, of New York, wrote an article for a Hudson paper, in which he EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 277 advocated the arming of Negroes as soldiers, should the Southern States declare war against the Government of the United States. The article was reproduced in many other papers, pronounced a fire-brand, and General De Peyster severely denounced for his advice. But he stood his ground, and when the war did come he gave to his country's service three gallant sons ; and from the first to the last was an efficient and enthusiastic supporter of the war for the Union. The rebels took the first step in the direction of the military employment of Negroes as soldiers. Two weeks after the firing upon Sumter took place, the following note appeared in the "Charleston Mercury" : Several companies of the Third and Fourth Regiments of Georgia passed through Augusta for the expected scene of warfare Virginia. Sixteen well-drilled companies of volunteers and one negro company, from Nashville, Tennessee, offered their services to the Confederate States." l In the " Memphis Avalanche " and " Memphis Appeal of the Qth, loth, and nth of May, 1861, appeared the following notice: " ATTENTION, VOLUNTEERS : Resolved by the Committee of Safety, that C. Deloach, D. R. Cook, and William B. Greenlaw be authorized to organize a volunteer company composed of our patriotic free men of color, of the city of Memphis, for the service of our common defence. All who have not enrolled their names will call at the office of W. B. Greenlaw & Co. " F. TITUS, President. " F. W. FORSYTHE, Secretary:' On the Qth of February, 1862, the rebel troops had a grand review, and the " Picayune," of New Orleans, contained the fol lowing paragraph : " We must also pay a deserved compliment to the companies of free colored men, all very well drilled, and comfortably uniformed. Most of these companies, quite unaided by the administration, have supplied themselves with arms without regard to cost or trouble. One of these companies, commanded by the well-known veteran, Captain Jordan, was presented, a little before the parade, with a fine war-flag of the new style. This interesting ceremony took place at Mr. Cushing's store, on 'Charleston Mercury, April 30, 1861. 278 HISTOR Y OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Camp, near Common Street. The presentation was made by Mr. Bigney, and Jordan made, on this occasion, one of his most felicitous speeches." And on the 4th of February, 1862, the " Baltimore Traveller " contained the following paragraph : "ARMING OF NEGROES AT RICHMOND. Contrabands who have recently come within the Federal lines at Williamsport, report that all the able-bodied colored men in that vicinity are being taken to Rich mond, formed into regiments, and armed for the defence of that city." The following telegram was sent out : "NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 23, 1861. " Over twenty-eight thousand troops were reviewed to-day by Gov ernor Moore, Major-General Lovell, and Brig.-General Ruggles. The line was over seven miles long. One regiment*comprised fourteen hun dred free colored men." These are sufficient to show that from the earliest dawn of the war the rebel authorities did not frown upon the action of local authorities in placing arms into the hands of free Negroes. The President of the United States was still opposing any at tempt on the part of the supporters of the war to constrain him to approve of the introduction of Negroes into the army. But the Secretary of War, the Hon. Simon Cameron, had sent an order to Brig.-Gen. T. W. Sherman, directing him to accept the services of all loyal persons who desired to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion in and about Port Royal. When Gen. David Hunter relieved Gen. Sherman, the latter turned over to him the instruc tions of the Secretary of War. There was no mention of color, nor was any class of persons mentioned save " loyal persons." Gen. Hunter was a gentleman of broad, liberal, and humane views, and seeing an opportunity open to employ Negroes as soldiers, in the spring of 1862 directed the organization of a regiment of blacks. He secured the best white officers for the regiment, and it soon obtained a fine condition of discipline. The news of a Union Negro regiment in South Carolina completely surprised the people at Washington. On the Qth of June, 1862, Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, introduced in the National House of Representa tives a resolution of inquiry, calling upon Gen. Hunter to ex plain to Congress his unprecedented conduct in arming Negroes EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 279 'to fight the battles of the Union. Mr. Stanton was now at the head of the War Department, and the following correspondence took place : "GENERAL HUNTER'S NEGRO REGIMENT. " OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. . " WAR DEPARTMENT, June 14, 1862. "Hon. G. A. Grow, Speaker of the House of Representatives : " SIR : A resolution of the House of Representatives has been re ceived, which passed the ninth instant, to the following effect : " ' Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to inform this House if Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has organ ized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men (fugitive slaves), and appointed a Col onel and officers to command them. ' * 2d. Was he authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the army of the United States, as soldiers, the fugitive or captive slaves ? ' * 3d. Has he been furnished with clothing, uniforms, etc., for such force ? " ' 4th. Has he been furnished, by order of the Department of War, with arms to be placed in the hands of the slaves ? " ' 5th. To report any orders given said Hunter, and correspond ence between him and the Department.' ' " In answer to the foregoing resolution, I have the honor to inform the House : " i st. That this Department has no official information whether Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, has or has not organized a regiment of South Carolina volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men, fugitive slaves, and appointed the Colonel and other officers to command them. In order to ascertain whether he has done so or not, a copy of the House resolution has been transmitted to Gen. Hunter, with instructions to make immediate report thereon. " 2d. Gen. Hunter was not authorized by the Department to organize and muster into the army of the United States the fugitive or captive slaves. " 3d. Gen. Hunter, upon his requisition as Commander of the South, has been furnished with clothing and arms for the force under his command, without instructions as to how they should be used. " 4th. He has not been furnished by order of the Department of War with arms to be placed within the hands of * those slaves.' 280 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "5th. In respect to so much of said . resolution as directs the Secretary * to report to the House my orders given said Hunter, and correspondence between him and the Department,' the President in structs me to answer that the report, at this time, of the orders given to and correspondence between Gen. Hunter and this Department would, in his opinion, be incompatible with the public welfare. " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, " EDWIN M. STANTON, " Secretary of War" "WAR DEPARTMENT, \ " WASHINGTON, July 2, 1862. f " SIR : On reference to the answer of this Department of the fourteenth ultimo to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the ninth of last month, calling for information respecting the organiza tion by Gen. Hunter, of the Department of South Carolina, of a regi ment of volunteers for the defence of the Union, composed of black men, fugitive slaves, etc., it will be seen that the resolution had been referred to that officer with instructions to make an immediate report thereon. I have now the honor to transmit herewith the copy of a communication just received from Gen. Hunter, furnishing information as to his action touching the various matters indicated in the resolution. " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " EDWIN M. STANTON, " Secretary of War. " Hon. G. A. GROW, " Speaker of the House of Representatives" " HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH, ) " PORT ROYAL, S. C., June 23, 1862. j" " Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War\ Washington. " SIR : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communi cation from the Adjutant-General of the army, dated June thirteenth, 1862, requesting me to furnish you with the information necessary to answer certain resolutions introduced in the House of Representatives, June ninth, 1862, on motion of the Hon. Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, their substance being to inquire : " First. Whether I had organized or was organizing a regiment of ' fugitive slaves ' in this department ? " Second. Whether any authority had been given to me from the War Department for such organization ? and " Third. Whether I had been furnished, by order of the War Depart ment, with clothing, uniforms, arms, equipments, etc., for such a force ? EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 281 " Only having received the letter covering these inquiries at a late hour on Saturday night, I urge forward my answer in time for the steamer sailing to-day (Monday) this haste preventing me from enter ing as minutely as I could wish upon maay points of detail, such as the paramount importance of the subject calls for. But, in view of the near termination of the present session of Congress, and the widespread interest which must have been awakened by Mr. Wickliffe's resolutions, I prefer sending even this imperfect answer to waiting the period neces sary for the collection of fuller and more comprehensive data. " To the first question, therefore, I reply that no regiment of ' fugi tive slaves ' has been or is being organized in this department. There is, however, a fine regiment of persons whose late masters are * fugitive rebels,' men who everywhere fly before the appearance of the national flag, leaving their servants behind them to shift as best they can for themselves. So far, indeed, are the loyal persons composing this regi ment from seeking to avoid the presence of their late owners, that they are now, one and all, working with remarkable industry to place them selves in a position to go in full and effective pursuit of their fugacious and traitorous proprietors. " To the second question I have the honor to answer that the in structions given to Brig.-Gen. T. W. Sherman, by the Hon. Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, and turned over to me by succession for my guidance, do distinctly authorize me to employ all loyal persons offering their services in defence of the Union and for the suppression of this rebellion in any manner I might see fit, or that the circumstances might call for. There is no restriction as to the character or color of the persons to be employed, or the nature of the employment, whether civil or military, in which their services should be used. I conclude, therefore, that I have been authorized to enlist ' fugitive slaves ' as sol diers, could any such be found in this department. No such charac ters, however, have yet appeared within view of our most advanced pickets, the loyal slaves everywhere remaining on their plantations to welcome us, aid us, and supply us with food, labor, and information. It is the masters who have in every instance been the ' fugitives,' run ning away from loyal slaves as well as loyal soldiers, and whom we have only partially been able to see chiefly their heads over ramparts, or, rifle in hand, dodging behind trees in the extreme distance. In the absence of any * fugitive-master law,' the deserted slaves would be wholly without remedy, had not the crime of treason given them the right to pursue, capture, and bring back those persons of whose protec tion they have been thus suddenly bereft. " To the third interrogatory it is my painful duty to reply that I never have received any specific authority for issues of clothing, uni forms, arms, equipments, and so forth, to the troops in question my 282 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. general instructions from Mr. Cameron to employ them in any manner I might find necessary, and the military exigencies of the department and the country being my only, but, in my judgment, sufficient justifica tion. Neither have I had any specific authority for supplying these persons with shovels, spades, and pickaxes when employing them as laborers, nor with boats and oars when using them as lightermen ; but these are not points included in Mr. Wickliffe's resolution. To me it seemed that liberty to employ men in any particular capacity implied with it liberty also to supply them with the necessary tools ; and acting upon this faith I have clothed, equipped, and armed the only loyal regi ment yet raised in South Carolina. " I must say, in vindication of my own conduct, that had it not been for the many other diversified and imperative claims on my time, a much more satisfactory result might have been hoped for ; and that in place of only one, as at present, at least five or six well-drilled, brave, and thoroughly acclimated regiments should by this time have been added to the loyal forces of the Union. " The experiment of arming the blacks, so far as I have made it, has been a complete and even marvellous success. They are sober, do cile, attentive, and enthusiastic, displaying great natural capacities for acquiring the duties of the soldier. They are eager beyond all things to take the field and be led into action ; and it is the unanimous opinion of the officers who have had charge of them, that in the peculiarities of this climate and country they will prove invaluable auxiliaries, fully- equal to the similar regiments so long and successfully used by the British authorities in the West-India Islands. " In conclusion, I would say it is my hope there appearing no pos sibility of other reinforcements, owing to the exigencies of the campaign in the Peninsula to have organized by the end of next fall, and to be able to present to the Government, from forty-eight to fifty thousand of these hardy and devoted soldiers. " Trusting that this letter may form part of your answer to Mr. Wickliffe's resolutions, I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your very obedient servant, " D. HUNTER, "Major- General Commanding" Mr. Wickliffe seemed to feel that he had received an exhaust ive reply to his resolution of inquiry, but his colleague, Mr. Dunlap, offered the following resolution on the 3d of July, 1862,. which was never acted upon: " Resolved, That the sentiments contained in the paper read to this body yesterday, approving the arming of slaves, emanating from Major- EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 283 General David Hunter, clothed in discourteous language, are an indig nity to the American Congress, an insult to the American people and our brave soldiers in arms ; for which sentiments, so uttered, he justly merits our condemnation and censure." There was quite a flutter among the politicians in the rear, and many army officers felt that the United States uniform had been disgraced by being put upon " fugitive slaves." Within a few weeks after the affair in Congress alluded to above, two United States Senators, 1 charmed with the bold idea of General Hunter, called upon the President to urge him to ac cept the services of two Negro regiments. The " New York Herald " of the 5th of August, 1862, gave an account of the in terview under the caption of " Important Decision of the Presi dent:' 11 The efforts of those who love the negro more tnan the Union to induce the President to swerve from his established policy are unavail ing. He will neither be persuaded by promises nor intimidated by threats. To day he was called upon by two United States Senators and rather peremptorily requested to accept the services of two negro regi ments. They were flatly and unequivocally rejected. The President did not appreciate the necessity of employing the negroes to fight the battles of the country and take the positions which the white men of the nation, the voters, and sons of patriotic sires, should be proud to occupy ; there were employments in which the negroes of rebel masters might well be engaged, but he was not willing to place them upon an equality with our volunteers, who had left home and family and lucra tive occupations to defend the Union and the Constitution, while there were volunteers or militia enough in the loyal States to maintain the Government without resort to this expedient. If the loyal people were not satisfied with the policy he had adopted, he was willing to leave the administration to other hands. One of the Senators was impudent enough to tell the President he wished to God he would resign." 2 But there the regiment was, one thousand loyal and com petent soldiers ; and there was no way out but for the govern ment to father the regiment, and, therefore, on the 25th of August, 1862, the Secretary of War sent General Rufus Saxton the following order : 1 They were, no doubt, from Massachusetts. 2 New York Herald, Tuesday, August 5, 1862. 284 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. "3. In view of the small force under your command, and the ina bility of the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into the service of the United States, such number of Vol unteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand ; and may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and duty, and to command them ; the persons so received into service, and their officers, to be entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law to Volunteers in the service. "4. You will occupy, if possible, all the islands and plantations here tofore occupied by the Government, and secure and harvest the crops, and cultivate and improve the plantations. ''5. The population of African descent, that cultivate the land and perform the labor of the Rebels, constitute a large share of their military strength, and enable the White masters to fill the Rebel armies, and wage a cruel and murderous war against the people of the Northern States. By reducing the laboring strength of the Rebels, their military power will be reduced. You are, therefore, authorized, by every means in your power, to withdraw from the enemy their laboring force and population, and to spare no effort, consistent with civilized warfare, to weaken, harass, and annoy them, and to establish the authority of the Government of the United States within your Department." But public sentiment was growing with every passing day. The very presence of the Negro regiment at Port Royal con verted the most pronounced enemies of Negro troops into friends and admirers. The newspaper correspondents filled their letters to the papers North with most extravagant praise of the Negro soldier; and the President was driven from his position of "" no negro soldiers." The correspondent of the " Times," in a letter dated Sep tember 4, 1862, wrote : " There is little doubt that the next mail from the North will bring an order from the War Department recalling Major-Gen. Hunter to a field of greater activity. The Government had not lent him a hearty support in carrying out his policy of arming the blacks, by which alone he could make himself useful in this department to the National cause ; and, therefore, more than two months since he applied to be relieved, rather than sit supinely with folded hands when his military abilities might be found of service elsewhere. Now, however, I have reason to EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 285 believe that Gen. Hunter's views upon the question, of forming negro regiments, have been unreservedly adopted by the President, and the whole question has assumed such a different phase that Gen. Hunter almost regrets that he is to leave the department. The last mail brought the authorization of the President to enlist five negro regiments, each of a thousand negroes, to be armed and uniformed for the service of the United States, and also authorizes the enrollment of an additional 50,000 to be employed in the Quartermaster's Department nominally as laborers, but as they are to be organized into companies and uniformed, and a portion of their time is to be spent in drilling, it is easy to under stand that the possibility of their being used as soldiers is not lost sight of. The exact time of commencing the work of enlisting the colored recruits, I am not able to state, but that it will be shortly, to my mind, there is not a shadow of doubt. The only way in which the men can be obtained is by the establishment of posts at various places upon the coast, where the negroes, assured of protection, will flock to us by thou sands. Past experience and present information both go to prove this fact, and to establish these posts more men will be required ; therefore we may soon expect that the Government will be deriving positive ad vantages from this department which, heretofore, has been only nega tive of service, as the field of experiments and the testing of ideas. Gen. Saxton will go to Washington by the first steamer, for consultation with the President on the subject." Just what one thing changed the President so suddenly upon the question of the employment of Negroes as soldiers was not known. In Louisiana the Negroes were anxious to enlist in the ser vice of the Union, and with this object in view thousands of them sought the Federal camps. Brig.-Gen. J. W. Phelps, com manding the forces at Carrolton, La., found his camps daily crowded with fugitives from slavery. What to do with them became a question of great moment. Gen. Phelps became con vinced that it was impossible to subdue a great rebellion if slavery were to have the protection of Federal bayonets. He gave the Negroes who came to his camp protection ; and for this . was reported to his superior officer, Gen. Butler. In a report to the latter officer's Adjutant-General, on June 16, 1862, he said : "The enfranchisement of the people of Europe has been, and is still, going on, through the instrumentality of military service ; and by this means our slaves might be raised in the scale of civilization and prepared for freedom. Fifty regiments might be raised among them at 286 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. once, which could be employed in this climate to preserve order, and thus prevent the necessity of retrenching our liberties, as we should do by a large army exclusively of Whites. For it is evident that a con siderable army of Whites would give stringency to our Government ; while an army partly of Blacks would naturally operate in favor of free dom and against those influences which at present most endanger our liberties. At the end of five years, they could be sent to Africa, and their places filled with new enlistments." Receiving no specific response to this overture, Gen. Phelps made a requisition of arms, clothing, etc., for " three regiments of Africans, which I propose to raise for the defense of this point " ; adding: " The location is swampy and unhealthy ; and our men are dying at the rate of two or three a day. " The Southern loyalists are willing, as I understand, to furnish their share of the tax for the support of the war ; but they should also furnish their quota of men ; which they have not thus far done. An opportunity now offers of supplying the deficiency ; and it is not safe to neglect opportunities in war. I think that, with the proper fa cilities, I could raise 'the three regiments proposed in a short time. Without holding out any inducements, or offering any reward, I have now upward of 300 Africans organized into five companies, who are all willing and ready to show their devotion to our cause in any way that it may be put to the test. They are willing to submit to any thing rather than to slavery. " Society, in' the South, seems to be on the point of dissolution ; and the best way of preventing the African from becoming instrumental in a general state of anarchy, is to enlist him in the cause of the Republic. If we reject his services, any petty military chieftain, by offering him freedom, can have them for the purpose of robbery and plunder. It is for the interests of the South, as well as of the North, that the African should be permitted to offer his block for the temple of freedom. Sentiments unworthy of the man of the present day worthy only of another Cain could alone prevent such an offer from being accepted. " I would recommend that the cadet graduates of the present year should be sent to South Carolina and this point, to organize and dis cipline our African levies ; and that the more promising non-commis sioned officers and privates of the army be appointed as company offi cers to command them. Prompt and energetic efforts in this direction would probably accomplish more toward a speedy termination of the EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 287 war, and an early restoration of peace and unity, than any other course which could be adopted." ' Gen. Butler advised Gen. Phelps to employ " contrabands " for mere fatigue duty, and charged him not to use them as sol diers. On the 3 1st of July, 1862, Gen. Phelps rejoined by in forming Gen. Butler: "I am not willing to become the mere slave-driver you propose, having no qualifications that way," and immediately tendered his resignation. Nothing could stay the mighty stream of fugitives that poured into the Union lines by day and by night. Nothing could cool the ardor of the loyal Negroes who so earnestly de sired to share the perils and honors of the Federal army. There was but one course left and that was to call the Negroes to arms as Gen. Jackson had done nearly a half century before. Gen. Butler repented his action toward the gallant and intelligent Phelps, and on the 24th of August, 1862, appealed to the free Colored men of New Orleans to take up arms in defence of the Union. As in the War of 1812, they responded to the call with enthusiasm ; and in just two weeks one thousand Negroes were organized into a regiment. All the men and line officers were Colored ; the staff-officers were white. Another regiment was raised and officered like the first only two white men in it; while the third regiment was officered without regard to nation ality. Two Colored batteries were raised, but all the officers were white because there were no Negroes found who under stood that arm of the service. The summer was gone, and Gen. McClellan, instead of " tak ing Richmond," had closed his campaign on the Peninsula most ingloriously. The President was compelled to make another call for troops 60,000. Conscription was unavoidable in many places, and prejudice against the military employment of Negroes began to decrease in proportion to the increase of the chances of white men to be drafted. On the i6th of July, 1862, Gen. Henry Wilson, United States Senator from Massachusetts, and Chair man of the Committee on Military Affairs, introduced a bill in the Senate amending the act of 1795, prescribing the manner of the calling forth of the militia' to suppress insurrections, etc. Several amendments were offered, much debate was had, and finally it passed, amended, empowering the President to accept 1 Greeley, vol. ii, pp. 517, 518. 288 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " persons of African descent, for the purpose of constructing en trenchments or performing camp service, or any war service for which they may be found competent." It was agreed, grudging ly, to free the slaves of rebels only who should faithfully serve the country, but not their wives and children ! The vote was 28 yeas to 9 nays. It went to the House, where it was managed by Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and upon a call of the previous question was passed. On the next day, July i/th, it received the signature of the President, and became the law of the land. On the 28th of January the Army Appropriation bill was under consideration in the United States Senate. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, had opposed,, by the most frantic and desperate efforts, every attempt to use Negroes in any capacity to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion. Accordingly he offered the following amendment to the Appropriation bill : "Provided, That no part of the sums appropriated by this act shall be disbursed for the pay, subsistence, or any other supplies, of any negro, free or slave, in the armed military service of the United States." It received 8 votes, with 28 against it. Those who sustained the amendment were all Democrats : Messrs. Carlyle, G. Davis, Kennedy, Latham, Nesmith, Powell, Turpie, and Wall. The fight against the employment of Negroes as soldiers was renewed. On every occasion the opposition was led by a Ken tucky representative ! On the 2 1st of December, 1863, during the pendency of the Deficiency bill in the House, Mr. Harding, of Kentucky, desired to amend it by inserting the following : " Provided, That no part of the moneys aforesaid shall be applied to the raising, arming, equipping, or paying of negro soldiers." It was rejected : yeas, 41 ; nays, 105. The yeas were : Messrs. Ancona, Bliss, James S. Brown, Coffroth, Cox, Daw- son, Dennison, Eden, Edgerton, Eldridge, Finck, Grider, Hall, Harding, Harrington, Benjamin G. Harris, Charles M. Harris, Philip Johnson, William Johnson, King, Knapp, Law, Long, Marcy, McKinney, William H. Miller, James R. Morris, Mor rison, Noble, John O'Neill, Pendleton, Samuel J. Randall, Rogers, Ross, Scott, Stiles, Strouse, Stuart, Chilton A. White, Joseph W. White, Yeaman. EM FLO YMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 289 On the 26th of January, 1863, the Secretary of War author ized Gov. John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, to raise two regi ments of Negro troops to serve three years. The order allowed the governor to raise " volunteer companies of artillery for duty in the forts of Massachusetts and elsewhere, and such companies of infantry for the volunteer military service as he may find con venient, and may include persons of African descent, organized into separate corps." The Governor of Massachusetts immediately delegated au thority to John W. M. Appleton to superintend the recruiting of the 54th Massachusetts, the first regiment of free Colored men raised at the North. The regiment was filled by the 1 3th of May, and ready to march to the front. It had been arranged that the regiment should pass through New York City on its way to the scene of the war in South Carolina, but the Chief of Police of New York suggested that the regiment would be sub ject to insult if it came. The regiment was sent forth with the blessings of Massachusetts and the prayers of its patriotic people. It went by water to South Carolina. While Massachusetts was engaged in recruiting Negro sol diers, Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the United States Army, was despatched from Washington to the Mississippi Valley, where he inaugurated a system of recruiting service for Negroes. In a speech to the officers and men in the organization of white troops, he said, on the 8th of April, 1863, at Lake Providence, La. : " You know full well for you have been over this country that the Rebels have sent into the field all their available fighting men every man capable of bearing arms ; and you know they have kept at home all their slaves for the raising of subsistence for their armies in the field. In this way they can bring to bear against us all the strength of their so-called Confederate States ; while we at the North can only send a portion of our fighting force, being compelled to leave behind another portion to cultivate our fields and supply the wants of an im mense army. The Administration has determined to take from the Rebels this source of supply to take their negroes and compel them to send back a portion of their whites to cultivate their deserted planta tions and very poor persons they would be to fill the place of the dark- hued laborer. They must do this, or their armies will starve. * * * 11 All of you will some day be on picket duty ; and I charge you all, if any of this unfortunate race come within your lines, that you do not 290 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. turn them away, but receive them kindly and cordially. They are to be encouraged to come to us ; they are to be received with open arms ; they are to be fed and clothed ; they are to be armed." On the ist of May, 1863, Gen. Banks, in an order directing the recruiting of the " Corps d'Afrique," said : " The prejudices or opinions of men are in no wise involved" ; and " it is not established upon any dogma of equality, or other theory, but as a practical and sensible matter of business. The Government makes use of mules, horses, uneducated and educated White men, in the de fense of its institutions. Why should not the negro contribute whatever is in his power for the cause in which he is as deeply interested as other men ? We may properly demand from him whatever service he can render," etc., etc. . In the autumn of 1863, Adjutant-General Thomas issued the following order respecting the military employment of Negroes as soldiers : "ENLISTMENT OF COLORED TROOPS. " GENERAL ORDERS, No. 329. " WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ) "WASHINGTON, D. C, October 13, 1863. ) " WHEREAS, The exigencies of the war require that colored troops be enlisted in the States of Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee, it is " ORDERED BY THE PRESIDENT, That the Chief of the Bureau for the Organization of Colored Troops shall establish recruiting stations at convenient places within said States, and give public notice thereof, and be governed by the following regulations : " First. None but able-bodied persons shall be enlisted. " Second, The State and county in which the enlistments are made shall be credited with the recruits enlisted. " Third. All .persons enlisted into the military service shall forever thereafter be FREE. " Fourth. Free persons, and slaves with the written consent of their owners, and slaves belonging to those who have been engaged in or given aid or comfort to the rebellion, may now be enlisted the owners who have not been engaged in or given aid to the rebellion be ing entitled to compensation as hereinafter provided. " Fifth. If within thirty days from the date of opening enlistments, notice thereof and of the recruiting stations being published, a suffi cient number of the description of persons aforesaid to meet the exi- EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 291 gencies of the service should not be enlisted, then enlistments may be made of slaves without requiring consent of their owners, but they may receive compensation as herein provided for owners offering their slaves for enlistment. " Sixth. Any citizen of said States, who shall offer his or her slave for enlistment into the military service, shall, if such slave be accepted, receive from the recruiting officer a certificate thereof, and become en titled to compensation for the service of said slave, not exceeding the sum of three hundred dollars, upon filing a valid deed of manumission and of release, and making satisfactory proof of title. And the recruit ing officer shall furnish to any claimant of descriptive list of any person enlisted and claimed under oath to be his or her slave, and allow any one claiming under oath that his or her slave has been enlisted without his or her consent, the privilege of inspecting the enlisted man for the purpose of identification. "Seventh. A board of three persons shall be appointed by the President, to whom the rolls and recruiting lists shall be furnished for public information, and, on demand exhibited, to any person claiming that his or her slave has been enlisted against his or her will. " Eighth. If a person shall within ten days after the filing of said rolls, make a claim for the service of any person so enlisted, the board shall proceed to examine the proof of title, and, if valid, shall award just compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars for each slave enlisted belonging to the claimant, and upon the claimant filing a valid deed of manumission and release of service, the board shall give the claimant a certificate of the sum awarded, which on presentation shall be paid by the chief of the Bureau. " Ninth. All enlistments of colored troops in the State of Mary- land, otherwise than in accordance with these regulations, are forbidden. " Tenth. No person who is or has been engaged in the rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who in any way has or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Government, shall be permitted to present any claim or receive any compensation for the la bor or service of any slave, and all claimants shall file with their claim an oath of allegiance to the United States. By order of the President. "E. D. TOWNSEND, "Assistant A djutant- General. " This order was extended, on October 26th, to Delaware, at the personal request of Governor Cannon. On the I2th of November, 1863, the Union League Club of New York City appointed a committee for the purpose of re cruiting Colored troops. Col. George Bliss was made chairman 292 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. and entered upon the work with energy and alacrity. On the 23d of November the committee addressed a letter to Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York, stating that as he had no authority to grant them permission to enlist a Negro regiment ; and as the National Government was unwilling to grant such authority without the sympathy and assent of the State govern ment, they would feel greatly obliged should his excellency grapt the committee his official concurrence. Gov. Seymour assured the committee of his official inability to grant authority for the raising of Colored troops, just what the committee had written him, and referred them to the National Government, on the 2/th of November. The committee applied to the authori ties at Washington, and on the 5th of December, 1863, the Sec retary of War granted them authority to raise the 2oth Regi ment of United States Colored Troops. Having secured the authority of the Government to begin their work, the committee wrote Gov. Seymour : " We express the hope that, so far as in your power, you will give to the movement your aid and coun tenance." The governor never found the time to answer the request of the committee ! The work was pushed forward with zeal and enthusiasm. The Colored men rallied to the call, and within two weeks from the time the committee called for Colored volunteers 1,000 men re- sponded. By the 2/th of January, 1 864, a second regiment was full ; and thus in forty-five days the Union League Club Committee on the Recruiting of Colored Regiments had raised 2,000 soldiers! Out of 9,000 men of color, eligible by age 18 to 45 years to go into the service, 2,300 enlisted in less than sixty days.. There was no bounty held out to them as an incentive to enlist ; no protection promised to their families, nor to them should they fall into the hands of the enemy. But they were patriots! They were willing to endure any thing rather than the evils that would surely attend the triumph of the Confederacy. They went to the front under auspicious circumstances. The 2Oth. Regiment, under the command of Col. Bartram, landed at Thirty-Sixth Street, was headed by the police and the patriotic members of the Union League Club, and had a trium phal march through the city. "The scene of yesterday," says a New York paper, "was one which marks an era of progress in the political and social history of New York. A thousand men with black skins and clad and equipped with the uni- EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 293 forms and arms of the United States Government, marched from their camp through the most aristocratic and busy streets, received a grand ovation at the hands of the wealthiest and most respectable ladies and gentlemen of New York, and then moved down Broadway to the steamer which bears them to their destination all amid the enthusiastic cheers, the encouraging plaudits, the waving handkerchiefs, the showering bou quets and other approving manifestations of a hundred thousand of the most loyal of our people. " In the month of July last the homes of these people were burned and pillaged by an infuriated political mob ; they and their families were hunted down and murdered in the public streets of this city ; and the force and majesty of the law were powerless to protect them. Seven brief months have passed, and a thousand of these despised and persecuted men march through the city in the garb of United States soldiers, in vindication of their own manhood, and with the approval of a countless multitude in effect saving from inevitable and distasteful conscription the same number of those who hunted their persons and destroyed their homes during those days of humiliation and disgrace. This is noble vengeance a vengeance taught by Him who commanded, ' Love them that hate you ; do good to them that persecute you.' " The recruiting of Colored troops in Pennsylvania was carried on, perhaps, with more vigor, intelligence, and enthusiasm than in any of the other free States. A committee for the recruiting of men of color for the United States army was appointed at Philadelphia, with Thomas Webster as Chairman, Cadwalader Biddle, as Secretary, and S. A. Mercer, as Treasurer. This com mittee raised $33, 388.00 for the recruiting of Colored regiments. The 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments had cost about $60,000, but this committee agreed to raise three regiments at a cost of $10,000 per regiment. The committee founded a camp, and named it u Camp William Penn," at Shelton Hill, near Philadelphia. On the 26th of June, 1863, the first squad of eighty men went into camp. On the 3d of February, 1864, the committee made the following statement, in reference to the raising of regiments : " On the 24th July, 1863, the First (3d United States) regiment was full. " On the i3th September, 1863, the Second (6th United States) regiment was full. " On the 4th December, 1863, the Third (8th United States) regi ment was full. ?94 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " On the 6th January, 1864, the Fourth (22^ United States) regi* ment was full. " On the 3d February, 1864, the Fifth (25th United States) regi ment was full. " August 1 3th, 1863, the Third United States regiment left Camp William Penn, and was in front of Fort Wagner when it surrendered. " October i4th, 1863, the Sixth United States regiment left for Yorktown. " January i6th, 1864, the Eighth United States regiment left for Hilton Head. " The 22d and 25th regiments are now at Camp William Penn, waiting orders from the Government." The duty of recruiting " Colored troops " in the Department of the Cumberland was committed by Secretary Stanton to an able, honest, and patriotic man, Mr. George L. Stearns, of Massa chusetts. Mr. Stearns had devoted his energies, wealth, and time to the cause of the slave during the holy anti-slavery agita tion. He was a wealthy merchant of Boston ; dwelt, with a noble wife and beautiful children, at Medford. He had been, from the commencement of the agitation, an ultra Abolitionist. He re garded slavery as a gigantic system of complicated evils, at war with all the known laws of civilized society ; inimical to the fundamental principles of political economy ; destructive to republican institutions ; hateful in the sight of God, and ever abhorrent to all honest men. He hated slavery. He hated truckling, obsequious, cringing hypocrites. He put his feelings into vigorous- English, and keyed his deeds and actions to the sublime notes of charity that filled his heart and adorned a long and eminently useful life. He gave shelter to the majestic and heroic John Brown. His door was like the heavenly gates ajar to every fugitive from slavery, and his fiery earnestness kindled the flagging zeal of many a conservative friend of God's poor. Such a man was chosen to put muskets into the hands of the Negroes in the Department of the Cumberland. His rank was that of major, with the powers of an assistant adjutant-general. He took up his headquarters at Nashville, Tennessee. He carried into the discharge of the duties of his important office large executive ability, excellent judgment, and rare fidelity. He organized the best regiments that served in the Western army. When he had placed the work in excellent condition he com- EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 295 mitted it to the care of Capt. R. D. Mussey, who afterward was made the Colonel of the looth U. S. Colored Troops. The intense and unrelenting prejudice against the Negroes, and their ignorance of military tactics, made it necessary for the Government to provide suitable white commissioned officers. The prospect was pleasing to many young white men in the ranks ; and ambition went far to irradicate prejudice against Negro soldiers. Nearly every white private and non-commis sioned officer was expecting the lightning to. strike him ; every one expected to be promoted to be a commissioned officer, and, therefore, had no prejudice against the men they hoped to com mand as their superior officers. To prepare the large number of applicants for commissions in Colored regiments a " Free Mili tary School" was established at No. 1210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Secretary Stanton gave the school the follow ing official endorsement in the spring of 1864. " WAR DEPARTMENT, ) "WASHINGTON CITY, March 21, 1864. j "THOMAS WEBSTER, ESQ., Chairman, "1210 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. " SIR : The project of establishing a free Military School for the education of candidates for the position of commissioned officers in the Colored Troops, received the cordial approval of this Department. Sufficient success has already attended the workings of the institution to afford the promise of much usefulness hereafter in sending into the service a class of instructed and efficient officers. " Very respectfully, "Your obedient servant, " EDWIN M. STANTON, " Secretary of War." In reply to a letter from Thomas Webster, Esq., Chairman, etc., of the Recruiting Committee, General Casey sent the fol lowing letter : "WASHINGTON, D. C., March 7, 1864. " DEAR SIR : Yours of the 4th instant is received, and I have directed the Secretary of the Board to attend to your request. " It gives me great pleasure to learn that your School is prospering, and I am also pleased to inform you that the Board of which I am President has not as yet rejected one of your candidates. I am grati- 296 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. fied to see that the necessity of procuring competent officers for the armies of the Republic is beginning to be better appreciated by the public. " I trust I shall never have occasion to regret my agency in sug gesting the formation of your School, and I am sure the country owes your Committee much for the energy and judgment with which it has carried it out. The liberality which opens its doors to the young men of all the States is noble, and does honor to those citizens of Philadelphia from whom its support is principally derived. " Truly yours, "SILAS CASEY, ' 'Major- General. " To THOMAS WEBSTER, ESQ., Chairman, " 1 2 10 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia." In reference to applicants the following letter was written by the Adjutant-General : " GENERAL ORDERS, ) "No. 125." J "WAR DEPARTMENT, " ADJUTANT-GEN. 's OFFICE, "WASHINGTON, March 29, 1864. " Furloughs, not to exceed thirty days in each case, to the non commissioned officers and privates of the army who may desire to enter the Free Military School at Philadelphia, may be granted by the Commanders of Armies and Departments, when the character, conduct, and capacity of the applicants are such as to warrant their immediate and superior commanders in recommending them for commissioned ap pointments in the regiments of colored troops. " By order of the Secretary of War. ^ "E. D. TOWNSEND, 4 ' A ssistant A djutant- General. ' ' The organization of the school was as follows : Chief Preceptor. JOHN H. TAGGART (Late Colonel i2th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations. EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 297 Assistant Professors. MILITARY STAFF. ALBERT L. MAGILTON {Graduate of West Point Military Academy, and late Colonel 4th Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations. LEVI FETTERS (Late Captain i75th Pennsylvania Regiment), Professor of Infantry Tactics and Army Regulations. STUDENT DANL. W. HERR {Late ist Lieutenant Co. E., i22d Pennsylvania Regiment), Post Adjutant. STUDENT J. HALE SYPHER, OF PENNSYLVANIA, Field Adjutant. STUDENT LOUIS M. TAFT. M.D. (Graduate of University of Penn.), Surgeon. ACADEMIC STAFF. JOHN P. BIRCH, A.M., A. E. ROGERSON, A.M., Professors of Mathematics, Geography, and History WM. L. WILSON, Librarian and Phonographic Clerk. STUDENT CHARLES BENTRICK, SR., Postmaster. JAMES BUCHANAN (COLORED), Messenger. Within less than six months 1,051 applicants had been exam ined ; 560 passed, and 491 were rejected. Four regular classes were formed, and in addition to daily recitations the students were required to drill twice every day. The school performed excellent work ; and furnished for the ser vice many brave and efficient officers. By December, 1863, 100,000 Colored Troops were in the ser vice. About 50,000 were armed by that time and in the field. 298 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Everywhere they were winning golden laurels by their apti tude in drill, their patient performance of the duties of the camp, and by their matchless courage in the deadly field. The young white officers who so cheerfully bore the odium of commanding Colored Troops, and who so heroically faced the dangers of capt ure and cruel death, had no superiors in the army. They had the supreme satisfaction of commanding brave men to whom they soon found themselves deeply attached. It was a school in which the noblest and purest patriot might feel himself honored and inspired to the performance of deathless deeds of valor. The following tables indicate the manner in which the work was done. Analysis of Examination of Applicants for Command of Colored Troops^ before the Board at Washington, of which Major-General Silas Casey is President, from the organization of the Board to March 1864, inclusive. Number accepted and for rd what rank recommended. o d a t/2 c/i M ^ Rank. ' c C cj C rs o CD x O C C S . 'o C/!3 QJ i! i) jS O NJ c ^3 3 r o S o.S 3 -3!^^ S u^l ^^ S r "^ oT S 6 ^ g 'B ^ . ^ SD8 ^-|- S 1 CJ o g m g g M |-g 'S o . |ii fisii s-i i ClJ ,. * ^^- ^ ,^^^_ ^^CJ LOOO co ONOO ON COOO MO OO NO MD ONOO t^- H UQTYT VO l>- t* O "- N to t^ CO M oj M N >H M 00 ON O CO NO *O 00 i-O ^t" Tt* M 00 H SJ30iyO CO bi) U3H O ON to M ON CO H? en S s*3Jd M N P-I t^W IO^-ONMXOOO l> ^- vo o nd . 5 Td fl rf CO <* lO CO ^4" M " 00 M 4J * a '. ^--33333 g . S fi o* r " J2 ^"2 .g ^ ^05 O c^ P S ' ill T3 O HH ^S ^^ ^^^-5 II I-H 1 -a Oj JH u -g l| ||gl| ? ) G -u 1 g f ^||-| Pn f^ w H c/3 H H O S c P^H 344 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. At the battle of Appomattox a division of picked Colored Troops (Gen. Birney 1 ) accomplished some most desperate and brilliant fighting, and received the praise of the white troops who acted as their support. From the day the Government put arms into the hands of Negro soldiers to the last hour of the Slave-holders' Rebellion they rendered effective aid in surpressing the rebellion and in saving the Union. They fought a twofold battle conquered the prejudices and fears of the white people of the North and the swaggering insolence and lofty confidence of the South. As to the efficiency of Negroes as soldiers abundant testi mony awaits the hand of the historian. The following letter speaks for itself. ADJ.-GEN. THOMAS ON NEGRO SOLDIERS. "WAR DEP'T, ADJ.-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ) "WASHINGTON, May 30, 1864. ) "Hon. H.WILSON: " DEAR SIR : On several occasions when on the Mississippi River, I contemplated writing to you respecting the colored troops and to sug gest that, as they have been fully tested as soldiers, their pay should be raised to that of white troops, and I desire now to give my testimony in their behalf. You are aware that I have been engaged in the organiza tion of freedmen for over a year, and have necessarily been thrown in constant contact with them. " The negro in a state of slavery is brought up by the master, from early childhood, to strict obedience and to obey implicitly the dictates of the white man, and they are thus led to believe that they are an in ferior race. Now, when organized into troops, they carry this habit of obedience with them, and their officers being entirely white men, the ne groes promptly obey their orders. " A regiment is thus rapidly brought into a state of discipline. They are a religious people another high quality for making good soldiers. They are a musical people, and thus readily learn to march and accu rately perform their manoeuvres. They take pride in being elevated as soldiers, and keep themselves, as their camp grounds, neat and clean. This I know from special inspection, two of my staff-officers being con stantly on inspecting duty. They have proved a most important addi- 1 I remember now, as I was in the battle of Appomattox Court House, that Gen. Birney was relieved just after the battle of Farmville, because he refused to march his division in the rear of all the white troops. It was doubtless Gen. Foster who led the Colored Troops in the action at Appomattox. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 345 tion to our forces, enabling the Generals in active operations to take a large force of white troops into the field ; and now brigades of blacks are placed with the whites. The forts erected at the important points on the river are nearly all garrisoned by blacks artillery regiments raised for the purpose, say at Paducah and Columbus, Kentucky, Memphis, Tennessee, Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi and most of the works around New Orleans. " Experience proves that they manage "heavy guns very well. Their fighting qualities have also been fully tested a number of times, and I am yet to hear of the first case where they did not fully stand up to their work. I passed over the ground where the ist Louisiana made the gallant charge at Port Hudson, by far the stronger part of the rebel works. The wonder is that so many have made their escape. At Mil- liken's Bend where I had three incomplete regiments, one without arms until the day previous to the attack, greatly superior numbers of the rebels charged furiously up to the very breastworks. The negroes met the enemy on the ramparts, and both sides freely used the bayonet a most rare occurrence in warfare, as one of the other party gives way before coming in contact with the steel. The rebels were defeated with heavy loss. The bridge at Moscow, on the line of railroad from Memphis to Corinth, was defended by one small regiment of blacks. A cavalry attack of three times their number was made, the blacks de feating them in three charges made by the Rebels. " They fought them hours till our cavalry came up, when the defeat was made complete, many of the dead being left on the field. " A cavalry force of three hundred and fifty attacked three hundred rebel cavalry near the Big Black with signal success, a number of pris oners being taken and marched to Vicksburg. Forrest attacked Padu cah with 7,500 men. The garrison was between 500 and 600, nearly 400 being colored troops recently raised. What troops could have done better ? So, too, they fought well at Fort Pillow till overpowered by greatly superior numbers. " The above enumerated cases seem to me sufficient to demonstrate the value of the colored troops. " I have the honor to be, very respectfully, "Your obedient servant, " L. THOMAS, Adj.- General. In regard to the conduct of the Colored Troops at Peters burg, a correspondent to the " Boston Journal" gave the follow ing account from the lips of Gen. Smith : " A few days ago I sat in the tent of Gen. W. F. Smith, commander of the 1 8th Corps, and heard his narration of the manner in which 34 6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Gen. Kinks' division of colored troops stood the fire and charged upon the Rebel works east of Petersburg on the i6th of June. There were thirteen guns pouring a constant fire of shot and shell upon those troops, enfilading the line, cutting it lengthwise and crosswise, * Yet they stood unmoved for six hours. Not a man flinched. [These are the words of the General.] It was as severe a test as I ever saw. But they stood it, and when my arrangements were completed for charging the works, they moved with the steadiness of veterans to the attack. I expected that they would fall back, or be cut to pieces ; but when I saw them move over the field, gain the works and capture the guns, I was astounded. They lost between 500 and 600 in doing it. There is material in the negroes to make the best troops in the world, if they are properly trained.' " These are the words of one of the ablest commanders and engi neers in the service. A graduate of West Point, who, earlier in the war, had the prejudices which were held by many other men against the negro. He has changed his views. He is convinced, and honorably follows his convictions, as do all men who are not stone blind or per versely wilful." 1 Gen. Blunt in a letter to a friend speaks of the valor of Col ored Troops at the battle of Honey Springs. He says: "The negroes (ist colored regiment) were too much for the enemy,, and let me here say that I never saw such fighting as was done by that negro regiment. They fought like veterans, with a coolness and valor that is unsurpassed. They preserved their line perfect throughout the whole engagement, and although in the hottest of the fight, they never once faltered. Too much praise cannot be awarded them for their gal lantry. The question that negroes will fight is settled, besides they make better soldiers in every respect, than any troops I have ever had. under my command." 3 The following from the Washington correspondent of the " New York Tribune " is of particular value : " In speaking of the soldierly qualities of our colored troops, I da not refer specially to their noble action in the perilous edge of battle ; that is settled, but to their docility and their patience of labor and suf fering in the camp and on the march. " I have before me a private letter from a friend, now Major in one of the Pennsylvania colored regiments, a portion of which I think the tribune, July 26, 1864. 2 Tribune, August 19, 1863. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 347 public should find in your columns. He says in speaking of service in his regiment : ' I am delighted with it. I find that these colored men learn every thing that pertains to the duties of a soldier much faster than any white soldiers I have ever seen. The reason is apparent, not that they are smarter than white men, but they feel promoted ; they feel as though their whole sphere of life was advanced and enlarged. They are willing, obedient, and cheerful ; move with agility, and are full of music, which is almost a sine qua non to soldierly bearing.' " Soon after the letter of which the above is an extract was written, the regiment was ordered to the field from which the Major writes again : * The more I know and see of these negro regiments, the more I am delighted with the whole enterprise. It is truly delightful to command a regiment officered as these are. In all my experience I have never known a better class of officers. ... I have charge of the school of non-commissioned officers here. I drill them once a day and have them recite from the oral instructions given them the day before. I find them more anxious to learn their duties and more ready to perform them when they know them than any set of non-commis sioned officers I ever saw. . . . There is no discount on these fellows at all. Give me a thousand such men as compose this regiment and I desire no stronger battalion to lead against an enemy that is at once their oppressors and traitors to my, and my soldiers' country.' " This testimony is worth a chapter of speculation. The Major al ludes to one fact above, moreover, to which the public attention has not been often directed the excellent and able men who are in com mand of our colored troops. They are generally men of heart men of opinions men whose generous impulses have not been chilled in * the cold shade of West Point.' " The officer from whose letter I have quoted was a volunteer in the ranks of a Pennsylvania regiment from the day of the attack on Sumter until August, 1862. His bravery, his devotion to the principles of free dom, his zeal in the holy cause of his country through all the campaigns of the calamitous McClellan, won the regard and attention of our loyal Governor Curtin, who, with rare good sense and discrimination, took him from the ranks and made him first, Lieut-Colonel, and then Colonel of a regiment in the nine months' service. He carried himself through all in such a manner as fully justified the Governor's confidence, and has stepped now into a position where his patriotic zeal can con centrate the valor of these untutored free men in defense of our imper- rilled country. So long as these brave colored men are officered by gallant, high-hearted, slave-hating men, we can never despair of the Republic." a 1 New York Tribune, Nov. 14, 1863. 348 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Mr. D. Aden in a letter to Col. Darling, dated Norfolk, Va., Feb. 22, 1864, said : " During the expedition last October to Charles City Court House, on the Peninsula, the colored troops marched steadily through storm and mud ; and on coming up with the enemy, behaved as bravely under fire as veterans. An officer of the ist N. Y. Mounted Rifles a most bitter opponent and reviler of colored troops who was engaged in this affair, volunteered the statement that they had fought bravely, and, in his own language, more expressive than elegant, were * bully boys ' which coming from such a source, might be regarded as the highest praise. " During the recent advance toward Richmond to liberate the Union prisoners, the 4th, 5th, and gih regiments formed part of the expedition and behaved splendidly. They marched thirty miles in ten hours, and an unusually small number straggled on the route." Col. John A. Foster of the i/Sth New York, in January, 1864, wrote to Col. Darling as follows : "While before Port Hudson, during the siege of that place, I was acting on Col. Gooding's staff, prior to the arrival of my regiment at that place. On the assault of May 27, 1863, Col. Gooding was ordered to proceed to the extreme right of our lines and oversee the charge of the two regiments constituting the negro-brigade, and I accompanied him. " We witnessed them in line of battle, under a very heavy fire of musketry, and siege and field pieces. There was a deep gully or bayou before them, which they could not cross nor ford in the presence of the enemy, and hence an assault was wholly impracticable. Yet they made five several attempts to swim and cross it, preparatory to an assault on the enemy's works ; and in this, too, in fair view of the enemy, and at short musket range. Added to this, the nature of the enemy's works was such that it allowed an enfilading fire. Success was impossible ; yet they behaved as cool as if veterans, and when ordered to retire, marched off as if on parade. I feel satisfied that, if the position of the bayou had been known and the assault made a quarter of a mile to the left of where it was, the place would have been taken by this negro brigade on that day. " On that day I witnessed the attack made by the divisions of Gen erals Grover and Paine, and can truly say I saw no steadier fighting by those daring men than did the negroes in this their first fight. " On the second assault, June i4th, in the assault made by Gen. Paine's division, our loss was very great in wounded, and, as there was NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. 349 a want of ambulance men, I ordered about a hundred negroes, who were standing idle and unharmed, to take the stretchers and carry the wounded from the field. Under a most severe fire of musketry, grape, and canister, they performed this duty with unflinching courage and nonchalance. They suffered severely in this duty both in killed and wounded ; yet not a man faltered. These men had just been recruited, and were not even partially disciplined. But I next saw the negroes (engineers) working in these trenches, under a heavy fire of the enemy. They worked faithfully, and wholly regardless of exposure to the ene my's fire." Mr. Cadwallader in his despatch concerning the battle of Spottsylvania, dated May i8th, says: " It is a subject of considerable merriment in camp that a charge of the famous Hampton Legion, the flower of Southern chivalry, was re pulsed by the Colored Troops of General Ferrero's command." : These are but a few of the tributes that brave and true white men cheerfully gave to the valor and loyalty of Colored Troops during the war. No officer, whose privilege it was to command or observe the conduct of these troops, has ever hesitated to give a full and cheerful endorsement of their worth as men, their loyalty as Americans, and their eminent qualifications for the duties and dangers of military life. No history of the war has ever been written, no history of the war ever can be written, with out mentioning the patience, endurance, fortitude, and heroism of the Negro soldiers who prayed, wept, fought, bled, and died for the preservation of the Union of the United States of America ! 1 New York Herald, May 20, 1864. 350 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XX. CAPTURE AND TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. THE MILITARY EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES DISTASTEFUL TO THE REBEL AUTHORITIES. THE CON FEDERATES THE FIRST TO EMPLOY NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. JEFFERSON DAVIS REFERS TO THE SUBJECT IN HIS MESSAGE, AND THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS ORDERS ALL NEGROES CAPTURED TO BE TURNED OVER TO THE STATE AUTHORITIES, AND RAISES THE " BLACK FLAG" UPON WHITE OFFICERS COMMANDING NEGRO SOLDIERS. THE NEW YORK PRESS CALLS UPON THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT ITS NEGRO SOLDIERS. SECRETARY STANTON'S ACTION. THE PRESIDENT'S ORDER. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GEN. PECK AND GEN. PICKETT IN REGARD TO THE KILLING OF A COLORED MAN AFTER HE HAD SURRENDERED AT THE BATTLE OF NEW- BERN. SOUTHERN PRESS ON THE CAPTURE AND TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. THE REBELS REFUSE TO EXCHANGE NEGRO SOLDIERS CAPTURED ON MORRIS AND JAMES ISLANDS ON ACCOUNT OF THE ORDER OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS WHICH REQUIRED THEM TO BB TURNED OVER TO THE AUTHORITIES OF THE SEVERAL STATES. JEFFERSON DAVIS ISSUES A PROCLAMATION OUTLAWING GEN. B. F. BUTLER. HE is TO BE HUNG WITHOUT TRIAL BY ANY CONFEDERATE OFFICER WHO MAY CAPTURE HIM. THE BATTLE OF FORT PILLOW. THE GALLANT DEFENCE BY THE LITTLE BAND OF UNION TROOPS. IT REFUSES TO CAPITULATE AND IS ASSAULTED AND CAPTURED BY AN OVERWHELMING FORCE. THE UNION TROOPS BUTCHERED IN COLD BLOOD. THE WOUNDED ARE CARRIED INTO HOUSES WHICH ARE FIRED AND BURNED WITH THEIR HELPLESS VICTIMS. MEN ARE NAILED TO THE OUTSIDE OF BuiLD- INGS THROUGH THEIR HANDS AND FEET AND BURNT ALIVE. THE WOUNDED AND DYING ARE BRAINED WHERE THEY LAY IN THEIR EBBING BLOOD. THE OUTRAGES ARE RENEWED IN THE MORNING. DEAD AND LIVING FIND A COMMON SEPULCHRE IN THE TRENCH. GENERAL CHALMERS ORDERS THE KILLING OF A NEGRO CHILD. TESTIMONY OF THE FEW UNION SOLDIERS WHO WERE ENABLED TO CRAWL OUT OF THE GILT EDGE, FIRE PROOF HELL AT PILLOW. THEY GIVE A SICKENING ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. GEN. FORREST'S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO DE STROY THE RECORD OF HIS FOUL CRIME. FORT PILLOW MASSACRE WITHOUT A PARALLEL IN HISTORY. THE appearance of Negroes as soldiers in the armies of the United States seriously offended the Southern view of " the eternal fitness of things." No action on the part of the Federal Government was so abhorrent to the rebel army. It called forth a bitter wail from Jefferson Davis, on the I2th of January, 1863, and soon after the Confederate Congress elevated its olfactory organ and handled the subject with a pair of tongs. After a long discussion the following was passed : " Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of America, In response to the message of the President, transmitted to Congress at the commencement of the present session, That, in the opinion of Congress, the commissioned officers of the enemy ought not to be de- CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 35 1 livered to the authorities of the respective States, as suggested in the said message, but all captives taken by the Confederate forces ought to be dealt with and disposed of by the Confederate Government. " SEC. 2. That, in the judgment of Congress, the proclamations of the President of the United States, dated respectively September 22, 1862, and January i, 1863, and the other measures of the Government of the United States and of its authorities, commanders, and forces, designed or tending to emancipate slaves in the Confederate States, or to abduct such slaves, or to incite them to insurrection, or to em ploy negroes in war against the Confederate States, or to overthrow the institution of African Slavery, and bring on a servile war in these States, would, if successful, produce atrocious consequences, and they are inconsistent with the spirit of those usages which, in modern war fare, prevail among civilized nations ; they may, therefore, be properly and lawfully repressed by retaliation. " SEC. 3. That in every case wherein, during the present war, any violation of the laws or usages of war among civilized nations shall be, or has been, done and- perpetrated by those acting under the authority of the Government of the United States, on the persons or property of citizens of the Confederate States, or of those under the protection or in the land or naval service of the Confederate States, or of any State of the Confederacy, the President of the Confederate States is hereby authorized to cause full and ample retaliation to be made for every such violation, in such manner and to such extent as he may think proper. " SEC. 4. That every white person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such, who, during the present war, shall command negroes or mulattoes in arms against the Confederate States, or who shall arm, train, organize, or prepare negroes or mulattoes for military service against the Confederate States, or who shall voluntarily aid negroes or mulattoes in any military enterprise, attack, or conflict in such service, shall be deemed as inciting servile insurrection, and shall, if capt ured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at the discretion of the court. " SEC. 5. Every person, being a commissioned officer, or acting as such in* the service of the enemy, who shall, during the present war, excite, attempt to excite, or cause to be excited, a servile insur rection, or who shall incite, or cause to be incited, a slave or rebel, shall, if captured, be put to death, or be otherwise punished at the dis cretion of the court. " SEC. 6. Every person charged with an offence punishable un der the preceding resolutions shall, during the present war, be tried before the military court attached to the army or corps by the troops of which he shall have been captured, or by such other military court as the 35^ HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. President may direct, and in such manner and under such regulations as the President shall prescribe ; and, after conviction, the President may commute the punishment in such manner and on such terms as he may deem proper. " SEC. 7. All negroes and mulattoes who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the Confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States, shall, when captured in the Confederate States, be delivered to the au thorities of the State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to the present or future laws of such State or States." This document stands alone among the resolves of the civil ized governments of all Christendom. White persons acting as commissioned officers in organizations of Colored Troops were to " be put to death ! " And all Negroes and Mulattoes taken in arms against the Confederate Government were to be turned over to the authorities civil, of course of. the States in which they should be captured, to be dealt with according to the present or future laws of such States ! Now, what were the laws of the Southern States respecting Negroes in arms against white people ? The most cruel death. And fearing some of those States had modified their cruel slave Code, the States were granted the right to 'pass ex post facto laws in order to give the cold-blooded mur der of captured Negro soldiers the semblance of law, and by a civil law too. Colored soldiers and their officers had been butch ered before this in South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, notwithstanding the rebels were the first to arm Negroes, as has been already shown. If the Confederates had a right to arm Negroes and include them in their armies, why could not the Federal Government pursue the same policy ? But the Rebel Government had determined upon a barbarous policy in dealing with captured Negro soldiers, and barbarous as that policy was, the rebel soldiers exceeded its cruel provisions tenfold. Their treatment of Negroes was perfectly fiendish. But what was the attitude of the Federal Government ? Si lence, until the butcheries of its gallant defenders had sickened the civilized world, and until the Christian governments of Europe frowned upon the inhuman indifference of the Government that would force its slaves to fight its battles and then allow them to be tortured to death in the name of " State laws ! " Even the most conservative papers of the North began to feel that some CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 353 policy ought to be adopted whereby the lives of Colored soldiers could be protected against the inhuman treatment bestowed upon them when captured by the rebels. In the spring of 1863, the " Tribune," referring to this subject, said, editorially : " The Government has sent Adj. -General Thomas to the West with full authority to arm and organize the negroes for service against the Rebels. They are to be employed to protect the navigation of the Mississippi and other rivers against guerrillas, and as garrisons at forti fied posts, and are evidently destined for all varieties of military duty. Seven thousand soldiers who listened to this announcement at Fort Curtis received it with satisfaction and applause. Gen. Thomas, here tofore known as opposed to this and all similar measures, urged in his address that the Blacks should be treated with kindness ; declared his belief in their capacity, and informed the officers of the army that no one would be permitted to oppose or in any way interfere with this policy of the Government. " It is not directly stated, but may be inferred from the Despatch, that the negroes are not to be encouraged to enlist, but are to be drafted. At all events, the policy of the Government to employ Black Troops in active service is definitely established, and it becomes as indeed it has been for months a very serious question what steps are to be taken for their protection. The Proclamation of Jefferson Davis re mains unrevoked. By it he threatened death or slavery to every negro taken in arms, and to their white officers the same fate. What is the response of our Government? Hitherto, silence. The number of negroes in its service has already increased ; in South Carolina they have already been mustered into regiments by a sweepingpconscription, and now in the West apparently the same policy is adopted and rigor ously enforced. Does the Government mean that the men are to be exposed not merely to the chances of battle, but to the doom which the unanswered Proclamation of the Rebel President threatens ? " Every black soldier now marches to battle with a halter about his neck. The simple question is : Shall we protect and insure the ordi nary treatment of a prisoner of war ? Under it, every negro yet capt ured has suffered death or been sent back to the hell of slavery from which he had escaped. The bloody massacre of black prisoners at Murfreesboro, brooked, so far as the public knows, no retaliation at Washington. The black servants captured at Galveston free men and citizens of Massachusetts were sold into slavery and remained there. In every instance in which they have had the opportunity, the rebels have enforced their barbarous proclamation. How much longer are they to be suffered to do it without remonstrance ? 354 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " Gen. Hunter at this moment in the field, General Butler, and hundreds of other white officers are included in this Proclamation, or were previously outlawed and adjudged a felon's death. Delay re monstrance much longer, and retaliation must supersede it. If the Government wishes to be spared the necessity of retaliating, it has only to say that it will retaliate to declare by proclamation or general order that all its soldiers who may be captured must receive from the Rebels the treatment to which, as prisoners of war, they are, by the usages of war, entitled. The Government can know no distinction of color under its flag. The moment a soldier shoulders a musket he is invested with every military right which belongs to a white soldier. He is at least and above all things entitled to the safeguards which surround his white comrades. " It is not possible to suppose the Government means to withhold them ; we only urge that the wisest, safest, and humanest, as well as the most honorable policy, is at once to announce its purpose." 1 The able article just quoted had a wholesome effect upon many thoughtful men at the South, and brought the blush to the cheek of the nation. A few of the Southern journals agreed with Mr. Greeley that the resolves of the Confederate Congress were unjustifiable ; that the Congress had no right to say what color the Union soldiers should be ; and that such action would damage their cause in the calm and humane judgment of all Europe. But the Confederate Congress was unmoved and un- movable upon this subject. Three Colored men had been captured in Stone River on the gun-boat " Isaac Smith." They were free men ; but, notwith standing this, they were placed in close confinement and treated like felons. Upon the facts reaching the ear of the Government, Secretary Stanton took three South Carolina prisoners and had them subjected to the same treatment, and the facts telegraphed to the Rebel authorities. Commenting upon the question of the treatment of captured Colored soldiers the " Richmond Exam iner" said: " It is not merely the pretension of a regular Government affecting to deal with ' Rebels,' but it is a deadly stab which they are aiming at our institutions themselves because they know that, it we were in sane enough to yield this point, to treat Black men as the equals of White, and insurgent slaves as equivalent to our brave soldiers, the very foundation of Slavery would be fatally wounded." 1 New York Tribune, April 14, 1863. CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 355 Shortly after this occurrence an exchange of prisoners took place in front of Charleston. The rebels returned only white prisoners. When upbraided by the Union officers for not ex changing Negroes the reply came that under the resolutions of the Confederate Congress they could not deliver up. any Negro soldiers. This fact stirred the heart of the North, and caused the Government to act. The following order was issued by the President : " EXECUTIVE MANSION, ) "WASHINGTON, July 30, 1863. j " It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citi zens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations, and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offense against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism, and a crime against the civilization of the age. "The Government of the United States will give the same protec tion to all its soldiers ; and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offense shall be 'punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession. " It is therefore ordered that, for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a Rebel soldier shall be executed ; and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into Slavery, a Rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on public works, and continued at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. " ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " By order of the Secretary of War. "E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant- General" In the early spring of 1864, there was a great deal said in the Southern journals and much action had in the rebel army re specting the capture and treatment of Negro soldiers. The " Richmond Examiner " contained an account of the battle of Newbern, North Carolina, in which the writer seemed to gloat over the fact that a captured Negro had been hung after he had surrendered. It came to the knowledge of Gen. Peck, command ing the army of the District of North Carolina, when the follow ing correspondence took place : HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 11 HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY AND DISTRICT OF V " NORTH CAROUNA, NEWBERN, NORTH "CAROLINA, Feb. n. 1864. ) " Major-General PICKETT, Department of Virginia and North Carolina, " Confederate Army, Petersburg. " GENERAL : I have the honor to inclose a slip cut from the Rich mond 'Examiner,' February eighth, 1864. It is styled 'The Advance on Newbern,' and appears to have been extracted from the Petersburg * Register,' a paper published in the city where your headquarters are located. "Your attention is particularly invited to that paragraph which states * that Colonel Shaw was shot dead by a negro soldier from the other side of the river, which he was spanning with a pontoon bridge, and that ' the negro was watched, followed, taken, and hanged after the action at Thomasville.' " ' THE ADVANCE ON NEWBERN. The Petersburg " Register gives the following additional facts of the advance on Newbern : Our army, according to the report of passengers arriving from Weldon, has fallen back to a point sixteen miles west of Newbern. The reason assigned for this retrograde movement was that Newbern could not be taken by us without a loss on our part which would find no equivalent in its capt ure, as the place was stronger than we had anticipated. Yet, in spite of this, we are sure that the expedition will result in good to our cause. Our forces are in a situation to get large supplies from a country still abundant, to prevent raids on points westward, and keep tories in check, and hang them when caught. " ' From a private, who was one of the guard that brought the batch of prisoners through, we learn that Colonel Shaw was shot dead by a negro soldier from the other side of the river, which he was spanning with a pontoon bridge. The negro was watched, followed, taken, and hanged after the action at Thomasville. It is stated that when our troops entered Thomasville, a number of the enemy took shelter in the. houses and fired upon them. The Yankees were ordered to surrender, but refused, whereupon our men set fire to the houses, and their occu pants got, bodily, a taste in this world of the flames eternal.' " The Government of the United States has wisely seen fit to enlist many thousand colored citizens to aid in putting down the rebellion, and has placed them on the same footing in all respects as her white troops. " Believing that this atrocity has been perpetrated without your knowledge, and that you will take prompt steps to disavow this violation CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 357 of the usages of war, and to bring the offenders to justice, I shall re frain from executing a rebel soldier until I learn your action in the premises. " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "JOHN J. PECK, " Major- General. ' ' REPLY OF GENERAL PICKETT. "HEADQUARTERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NORTH ) "CAROLINA, PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA, February 16, 1864. j " Major-General JOHN J. PECK, U. S. A., Commanding at Newbern : " GENERAL : Your communication of the eleventh of February is received. I have the honor to state in reply, that the paragraph from a newspaper inclosed therein, is not only without foundation in fact, but so ridiculous that I should scarcely have supposed it worthy of consid eration ; but I would respectfully inform you that had I caught any negro, who had killed either officer, soldier, or citizen of the Confederate States, I should have caused him to be immediately executed. " To your threat expressed in the following extract from your com munication, namely : ' Believing that this atrocity has been perpetrated without your knowledge, and that you will take prompt steps to disavow this violation of the usages of war, and to bring the offenders to justice, I shall refrain from executing a rebel soldier until I learn of your action in the premises,' I have merely to say that I have in my hands and subject to my orders, captured in the recent operations in this depart ment, some four hundred and fifty officers and men of the United States army, and for every man you hang I will hang ten of the United States army. " I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " J. E. PICKETT, " Major-General Commanding" * As already indicated, some of the Southern journals did not endorse the extreme hardships and cruelties to which the rebels subjected the captured Colored men. During the month of July, 1863, quite a number of Colored soldiers had fallen into the hands of the enemy on Morris and James islands. The rebels did not only refuse to exchange them as prisoners of war, but treated them most cruelly. On this very important subject, in reply to some strictures of 1 Rebellion Recs., vol. viii. Doc. pp. 418, 419. 358 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the Charleston " Mercury " (made under misapprehension), the Chief of Staff of General Beauregard addressed to that journal the following letter: " HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF S. C, GA., AND FLA., , "CHARLESTON, S. C., August 12, 1863. J " Colonel R. B. RHETT, Jr., Editor of ' Mercury ': " In the ' Mercury of this date you appear to have written under a misapprehension of the facts connected with the present status of the negroes captured in arms on Morris and James Islands, which permit me to state as follows : " The Proclamation of the President, dated December twenty-fourth, 1862, directed that all negro slaves captured in arms should be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States. " An informal application was made by the State authorities for the negroes captured in this vicinity ; but as none of them, it appeared, had been slaves of citizens of South Carolina, they were not turned over to the civil authority, for at the moment there was no official information at these headquarters of the Act of Congress by which * all negroes and mulattoes, who shall be engaged in war, or be taken in arms against the confederate States, or shall give aid or comfort to the enemies of the confederate States/ were directed to be turned over to the authorities of ' State or States in which they shall be captured, to be dealt with according to the present or future laws of such State or States.' " On the twenty-first of July, however, the Commanding General telegraphed to the Secretary of War for instructions as to the disposition to be made of the negroes captured on Morris and James Islands, and on the twenty-second received a reply that they must be turned over to the State authorities, by virtue of the joint resolutions of Congress in question. " Accordingly, on the twenty-ninth July, as soon as a copy of the resolution or act was received, his Excellency Governor Bonham was informed that the negroes captured were held subject to his orders, to be dealt with according to the laws of South Carolina. " On the same day (twenty-ninth July) Governor Bonham requested that they should be retained in military custody until he could make .arrangements to dispose of them ; and in that custody they still remain, awaiting the orders of the State authorities. " Respectfully, your obedient servant, "THOMAS JORDAN, " Chief of Staff." CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 359 The Proclamation of Jefferson Davis, referred to in the second paragraph of Mr. Jordan's letter, had declared Gen. Butler " a felon, an outlaw, and an enemy of mankind." It recited his hanging of Mumford ; the neglect of the Federal Government to explain or disapprove the act ; the imprisonment of non-comba tants ; Butler s woman order ; his sequestration of estates in Western Louisiana ; and the inciting to insurrection and arming of slaves. Mr. Davis directed any Confederate officer who should capture Gen. Butler to hang him immediately and without trial. Mr. Davis's proclamation is given here, as history is bound to hold him personally responsible for the cruelties practised upon Negro soldiers captured by the rebels from that time till the close of the war. " First. That all commissioned officers in the command of said Benjamin F. Butler be declared not entitled to be considered as soldiers engaged in honorable warfare, but as robbers and criminals, deserving death ; and that they and each of them be, whenever captured, reserved for execution. m " Second. That the private soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the army of said Butler be considered as only the instruments used for the commission of crimes perpetrated by his orders, and not as free agents ; that they, therefore, be treated, when captured as prisoners of war, with kindness and humanity, and be sent home on the usual parole that they will in no manner aid or serve the United States in any ca pacity during the continuance of this war, unless duly exchanged. " Third. That all negro slaves captured in arms be at once deliv ered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the laws of said States. " Fourth. That the like orders be executed in all cases with respect to all commissioned officers of the United States, when found serving in company with said slaves in insurrection against the authorities of the different States of this Confederacy. " [Signed and sealed at Richmond, Dec. 23, 1862.] "JEFFERSON DAVIS." The ghastly horrors of Fort Pillow stand alone in the wide field of war cruelties. The affair demands great fortitude in the historian who would truthfully give a narrative of such bloody, sickening detail. On the 1 8th of April, 1864, Gen. N. B. Forrest, commanding a corps of Confederate cavalry, appeared before Fort Pillow, situ- 360 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. ated about forty miles above Memphis, Tennessee, and de manded its surrender. It was held by Major L. F. Booth, with a garrison of 557 men, 262 of whom were Colored soldiers of the 6th U. S. Heavy Artillery ; the other troops were white, under Major Bradford of the I3th Tennessee Cavalry. The garrison was mounted with six guns. From before sunrise^intil nine A.M. the Union troops had held an outer line of intrenchments ; but upon the death of Major Booth Major Bradford retired his force into the fort. It was situated upon a high bluff on the Missis sippi River, flanked by two ravines with sheer declivities and par tially timbered. The gun-boat " New Era " was to have cooper ated with the fort, but on account of the extreme height of the bluff, was unable to do much. The fighting continued until about two o'clock in the afternoon, when the firing slackened on both sides to allow the guns to cool off. The " New Era," nearly out of shell, backed into the river to clean her guns. During this lull Gen. Forrest sent a flag of truce demanding the unconditional surrender of the fort. A consultation of the Fed eral officers was held, and a request made for twenty minutes to consult the officers of the gun-boat. Gen. Forrest refused to grant this, saying that he only demanded the surrender of the fort and not the gun-boat. He demanded an immediate surren der, which was promptly declined by Major Bradford. During the time these negotiations were going on, Forrest's men were stealing horses, plundering the buildings in front of the fort, and closing in upon the fort through the ravines, which was unsol- dierly and cowardly to say the least. Upon receiving the refusal of Major Booth to capitulate, Forrest gave a signal and his troops made a frantic charge upon the fort. It was received gallantly and resisted stubbornly, but there was no use of fighting. In ten minutes the enemy, assaulting the fort in the centre, and striking it on the flanks, swept in. The Federal troops surrendered ; but an indiscriminate massacre followed. Men were shot down in their tracks ; pinioned to the ground with bayonet and sa bre. Some were clubbed to death while dying of wounds ; others were made to get down upon their knees, in which con dition they were shot to death. Some were burned alive, hav ing been fastened into the buildings, while still others were nailed against the houses, tortured, and then burned to a crisp, A little Colored boy only eight years old was lifted to the horse of a rebel who intended taking him along with him, when CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 361 Gen. Forrest meeting the soldier ordered him to put the child down and shoot him. The soldier remonstrated, but the stern and cruel order was repeated, emphasized with an oath, and backed with a threat that endangered the soldier's life, so he put the child on the ground and shot him dead ! From three o'clock in the afternoon until the merciful darkness came and threw the sable wings of night over the carnival of death, the slaughter continued. The stars looked down in pity upon the dead ah ! they were beyond the barbarous touch of the rebel fiends and the dying ; .and the angels found a spectacle worthy of their tears. And when the morning looked down upon the battle-field, it was not to find it peaceful in death and the human hyenas gone. Alas ! those who had survived the wounds of the day before were set upon again and brained or shot to death. The Committee on the Conduct and Expenditures of the War gave this " Horrible Massacre " an investigation. They examined such of the Union soldiers as escaped from death at Fort Pillow and were sent to the Mound City Hospital, Illinois. The follow ing extracts from the testimony given before the Committee, the Hons. Ben. F. Wade and D. W. Gooch, give something of an idea of this the most cruel and inhuman affair in the history of the civilized world. Manuel Nichols (Colored), private, Company B, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch : Question. Were you in the late fight at Fort Pillow ? Answer. Yes, sir. Q. Were you wounded there ? A. Yes, sir. Q. When ? A. I was wounded once about a half an hour before we gave up. Q. Did they do any thing to you after you surrendered ? A. Yes, sir ; they shot me in the head under my left ear, and the morning after the fight they shot me again in the right arm. When they came up and killed the wounded ones, I saw some four or five coming down the hill. I said to one of our boys : " Anderson, I ex pect if those fellows come here they will kill us." I was lying on my right side, leaning on my elbow. One of the black soldiers went into the house where the white soldiers were. I asked him if there was any water in there, and he said yes ; I wanted some, and took a stick and tried to get to the house. I did not get to the house. Some of them 362 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. came along, and saw a little boy belonging to Company D. One of them had his musket on his shoulder, and shot the boy down. He said : " All you damned niggers come out of the house ; I am going to shoot you." Some of the white soldiers said: " Boys, it is only death anyhow ; if you don't go out they will come in and carry you out." My strength seemed to come to me as if I had never been shot, and I jumped up and ran down the hill. I met one of them coming up the hill ; he said : " Stop ! " but I kept on running. As I jumped over the hill, he shot me through the right arm. Q. How many did you see them kill after they had surrendered ? A. After I surrendered I did not go down the hill. A man shot me under the ear, and I fell down and said to myself : " If he don't shoot me any more this won't hurt me." One of their officers came along and hallooed : " Forrest says no quarter ! no quarter ! " and the next one hallooed : " Black flag ! black flag ! " Q. What did they do then ? A. They kept on shooting. I could hear them down the hill. Q. Did you see them bury any body ? A. Yes, sir ; they carried me around right to the corner of the Fort, and I saw them pitch men in there. Q. Was there any alive ? A. I did not see them bury any body alive. Q. How near to you was the man who shot you under the ear ? A. Right close to my head. When I was shot in the side, a man turned me over, and took my pocket-knife and pocket-book. I had some of these brass things that looked like cents. They said : " Here 's some money; here's some money." I said to myself: "You got fooled that time." Major Williams (Colored), private, Company B, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, sworn and examined. By the Chairman : Q. Where were you raised ? A. In Tennessee and North Mississippi. Q. Where did you enlist ? A. In Memphis. Q. Who was your captain ? A. Captain Lamburg. Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow? A. Yes, sir. Q. Was your captain with you ? A. No, sir ; I think he was at Memphis. CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 363 Q. Who commanded your company ? A. Lieutenant Hunter and Sergeant Fox were all the officers we had. Q. What did you see done there ? A. We fought them right hard during the battle, and killed some of them. After a time they sent in a flag of truce. They said after ward that they did it to make us stop firing until their reinforcements could come up. They said that they never could have got in if they had not done that ; that we had whipped them ; that they had never seen such a fight. Q. Did you see the flag of truce ? A. Yes, sir. Q. What did they do when the flag of truce was in ? A. They kept coming up nearer, so that they could charge quick.. A heap of them came up after we stopped firing. Q. When did you surrender ? A. I did not surrender until they all ran. Q. Were you wounded then ? A. Yes, sir ; after the surrender. Q. At what time of day was that ? A. They told me it was about half after one o'clock, I was wounded. Immediately we retreated. Q. Did you have any arms in your hands when they shot you ? A. No, sir ; I was an artillery man, and had no arms. Q. Did you see the man who shot you ? A. No, sir.' Q. Did you hear him say any thing ? A. No, sir ; I heard nothing. He shot me, and I was bleeding pretty free, and I thought to myself : " I will make out it was a dead shot, and maybe I will not get another." Q. Did you see any others shot ? A. No, sir. Q. Was there any thing said about giving quarter ? A. Major Bradford brought in a black flag, which meant no quar ter. I heard some of the rebel officers say : " You damned rascals, if you had not fought us so hard, but had stopped when we sent in a flag of truce, we would not have done any thing to you." I heard one of the officers say: "Kill all the niggers"; another one said: "No; Forrest says take them and carry them with him to wait upon him and cook for him, and put them in jail and send them to their masters." Still they kept on shooting. They shot at me after that, but did not hit me ; a rebel officer shot at me. He took aim at my side ; at the crack of his pistol I fell. He went on and said : " There 's another dead nigger." 364 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Q. Was there any one shot in the hospital that day ? A. Not that I know of. I think they all came away and made a raft and floated across the mouth of the creek and got into a flat bottom. Q. Did you see any buildings burned ? A. I stayed in the woods all day Wednesday. I was there Thurs day and looked at the buildings. I saw a great deal left that they did not have a chance to burn up. I saw a white man burned up who was nailed up against the house. Q. A private or an officer ? A. An officer ; I think it was a lieutenant in the Tennessee cav alry. Q. How was he nailed ? A. Through his hands and feet right against the house. Q. Was his body burned ? A. Yes, sir ; burned all over I looked at him good. Q. When did you see that ? A. On the Thursday after the battle. Q. Where was the man ? A. Right in front of the Fort. Jacob Thompson (Colored), sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch : Q. Were you a soldier at Fort Pillow ? A. No, sir ; I was not a soldier ; but I went up in the Fort and fought with the rest. I was shot in the hand and the head. Q. When were you shot ? A. After I surrendered. Q. How many times were you shot ? A. I was shot but once ; but I threw my hand up, and the shot went through my hand and my head. Q. Who shot you ? A. A private. Q. What did he say ? A. He said : " God damn you, I will shoot you, old friend." Q. Did you see anybody else shot ? A. Yes, sir ; they just called them out like dogs, and shot them down. I reckon they shot about fifty, white and black, right there. They nailed some black sergeants to the logs, and set the logs on fire. Q. When did you see that ? A. When I went there in the morning I saw them ; they were burn ing all together. CAPTURE OF NEORO SOLDIERS. 365 Q. Did they kill them before they burned them ? A. No, sir ; they nailed them to the logs ; drove the nails right through their hands. Q. How many did you see in that condition ? A. Some four or five ; I saw two white men burned. Q. Was there any one else there who saw that ? A. I reckon there was ; I could not tell who. Q. When was it that you saw them ? A. I saw them in the morning after the fight ; some of them were burned almost in two. I could tell they were white men, because they were whiter than the colored men. Q. Did you notice how they were nailed ? A. I saw one nailed to the side of a house ; he looked like he was nailed right through his wrist. I was trying then to get to the boat when I saw it. Q. Did you see them kill any white men ? " A. They killed some eight or nine there. I reckon they killed more than twenty after it was all over ; called them out from under the hill, and shot them down. They would call out a white man and shoot him down, and call out a colored man and shoot him down ; do it just as fast as they could make their guns go off. Q. Did you see any rebel officers about there when this was going on ? A. Yes, sir ; old Forrest was one. Q. Did you know Forrest ? A: Yes, sir ; he was a little bit of a man. I had seen him before at Jackson. Ransom Anderson (Colored), Company B, Sixth United States Heavy Artillery, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch: Q. Where were you raised ? A. In Mississippi. Q. Were you a slave ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Where did you enlist ? A. At Corinth. Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow t A. Yes, sir. Q. Describe what you saw done there. A. Most all the men that were killed on our side were killed after the fight was over. They called them out and shot them down. Then 366 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. they put some in the houses and shut them up, and then burned the houses. Q. Did you see them burn ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Were any of them alive ? A. Yes, sir ; they were woun4ed, and could not walk. They put them in the houses, and then burned the houses down. Q. Do you know they were in there ? A. Yes, sir ; I went and looked in there. Q. Do you know they were in there when the house was burned ? A. Yes, sir ; I heard them hallooing there when the houses were burning. Q. Are you sure they were wounded men, and not dead men, when they were put in there ? A. Yes, sir ; they told them they were going to have the doctor see them, and then put them in there and shut them up, and burned them. Q. Who set the house on fire ? A. I saw a rebel soldier take some grass and lay it by the door, and set it on fire. The door was pine plank, and it caught easy. Q. Was the door fastened up ? A. Yes, sir ; it was barred with one of those wide bolts. James Walls, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch : Q. To what company did you belong ? A. To Company E, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. Q. Under what officers did you serve ? A. I was under Major Bradford and Captain Potter. Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow ? A. Yes, sir. Q. State what you saw there of the fight, and what was done after the place was captured. A. We fought them for some six or eight hours in the Fort, and when they charged our men scattered and ran under the hill ; some turned back and surrendered, and were shot. After the flag of truce came in I went down to get some water. As I was coming back I turned sick, and laid down behind a log. The secesh charged, and after they came over I saw one go a good ways ahead of the others. One of our men made to him and threw down his arms. The bullets were flying so thick there I thought I could not live there, so I threw down my arms and surrendered. He did not shoot me then, but as I turned around he or some other one shot me in the back CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 367 Q. Did they say any thing while they were shooting? A. All I heard was : " Shoot him, shoot him ! " " Yonder he goes ! " " Kill him, kill him ! " That is about all I heard. Q. How many do you suppose you saw shot after they sur rendered ? A. I did not see but two or three shot around me. One of the boys of our company, named Taylor, ran up there, and I saw him shot and fall. Then another was shot just before me, like shot down after he threw down his arms. Q. Those were white men ? A. Yes, sir. I saw them make lots of niggers stand up, and then they shot them down like hogs. The next morning I was lying around there waiting for the boat to come up. The secesh would be prying around there, and would come to a nigger, and say : " You ain't dead, are you ? " They would not say any thing ; and then the secesh would get down off their horses, prick them in their sides, and say : " Damn you, you ain't dead ; get up." Then they would make them get up on their knees, when they would shoot them down like hogs. Q. Did you see any rebel officers about while this shooting was going on ? A. I do not know as I saw any officers about when they were shoot ing the negroes. A captain came to me a few minutes after I was shot ; he was close by me when I was shot. Q Did he try to stop the shooting ? A. I did not hear a word of their trying to stop it. After they were shot down, he told them not to shoot them any more. I begged him not to let them shoot me again, and he said they would not. One man, after he was shot down, was shot again. After I was shot down, the man I surrendered to went around the tree I was against and shot a man, and then came around to me again and wanted my pocket-book. I handed it up to him, and he saw my watch-chain and made a grasp at it, and got the watch and about half the chain. He took an old Barlow knife I had in my pocket. It was not worth five cents ; was of no ac count at all, only to cut tobacco with. Lieutenant McJ. Leming, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch-. Q. Were you in the fight at Fort Pillow ? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is your rank and position ? A. I am a First Lieutenant and Adjutant of the Thirteenth Tennes see Cavalry. A short time previous to the fight I was Post-Adjutant at 368 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Fort Pillow, and during most of the engagement I was acting as Post- Adjutant. After Major Booth was killed, Major Bradford was in com mand. The pickets were driven in just before sunrise, which was the first intimation we had that the enemy were approaching. I repaired to the Fort, and found that Major Booth was shelling the rebels as they came up toward the outer intrenchments. They kept up a steady fire by sharp-shooters behind trees and logs and high knolls. The Major thought at one time they were planting some artillery, or looking for places to plant it. They began to draw nearer and nearer, up to the time our men were all drawn into the Fort. Two companies of the Thirteenth, Tennessee Cavalry were ordered out as sharp-shooters, but were finally or dered in. We were pressed on all sides. I think Major Booth fell not later than nine o'clock. His Adjutant, who was then acting Post-Adjutant, fell near the same time. Major Bradford then took the command, and I acted as Post-Adjutant. Pre vious to this, Major Booth had ordered some buildings in front of the Fort to be destroyed, as the enemy's sharp- shootejs were endeavoring to get possession of them. There were four rows of buildings, but only the row nearest the fort was destroyed ; the sharp-shooters gained pos session of the others before they could be destroyed. The fight con tinued, one almost unceasing fire all the time, until about three o'clock. They threw some shells, but they did not do much damage with their shells. I think it was about three o'clock that a flag of truce approached. I went out, accompanied by Captain Young, the Provost-Marshal of the post. There was another officer, I think, but I do not recollect now par ticularly who it was, and some four mounted men. The rebels announced that they had a communication from General Forrest. One of their officers there, I think, from his dress, was a colonel. I received the communication, and they said they would wait for an answer. As near as I remember, the communication was as follows : " HEADQUARTERS CONFEDERATE CAVALRY, \ "NEAR FORT PILLOW, April 12, 1864. j " As your gallant defence of the Fort has entitled you to the treat ment of brave men [or something to that effect], I now demand an unconditional surrender of your force, at the same time assuring you that they will be treated as prisoners of war. I have received a fresh supply of ammunition, and can easily take your position. "N. B. FORREST. " Major L. F. BOOTH, " Commanding United States Forces" I took this message back to the Fort. Major Bradford replied that he desired an hour for consultation and consideration with his CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 369 officers and the officers of the gun-boat. I took out this communication to them, and they carried it back to General Forrest. In a few minutes another flag of truce appeared, and I went out to meet it. Some one said, when they handed the communication to me : " That gives you twenty minutes to surrender ; I am General Forrest." I took it back. The substance of it was : " Twenty minutes will be given you to take your men outside of the Fort. If in that time they are not out, I will, immediately proceed to assault your works," or something of that kind. To this Major Bradford replied : " I will not surrender." I took it out in a sealed envelope, and gave it to him. The general opened it and read it. Nothing was said ; we simply saluted, and they went their way, and I returned back into the Fort. Almost instantly the firing began again. We mistrusted, while this flag of truce was going on, that they were taking horses out at a. camp we had. It was mentioned to them, the last time that this and other movements excited our suspicion, that they were moving their troops. They said that they had noticed it themselves, and had it stopped ; that it was unintentional on their part, and that it should not be repeated. It was not long after the last flag of truce had retired, that they made their grand charge. We kept them back for several minutes. What was called brigade or battalion attacked the centre of the Fort where several companies of colored troops were stationed. They finally gave way, and, before we could fill up the breach, the enemy got inside the Fort, and then they came in on the other two sides, and had complete possession of the Fort. In the mean time nearly all the officers had been killed, especially of the colored troops, and there was no one hardly to guide the men. They fought bravely indeed until that time. I do not think the men who broke had a commissioned officer over them. They fought with the most determined bravery, until the enemy gained possession of the Fort. They kept shooting all the time. The negroes ran down the hill toward the river, but the rebels kept shooting them as they were running ; shot some again after they had fallen ; robbed and plundered them. After every thing was all gone, after we had given up the Fort entirely, the guns thrown away and the firing on our part stopped, they still kept up their murderous fire, more especially on the colored troops, I thought, although the white troops suffered a great deal. I know the colored troops had a great deal the worst of it. I saw several shot after they were wounded ; as they were crawling around, the secesh would step out and blow their brains out. About this time they shot me. It must have been four or half-past four o'clock. I saw there was no chance at all, and threw down my sabre. A man took deliberate aim at me, but a short distance from me, certainly not more than fifteen paces, and shot me. 370 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Q. With a musket or pistol ? A. I think it was a carbine ; it may have been a musket, but my im pression is, that it was a carbine. Soon after I was shot I was robbed. A secesh soldier came along, and wanted to know if I had any greenbacks. I gave him my pocket-book. I had about a hundred dollars, I think, more or less, and a gold watch and gold chain. They took every thing in the way of valuables that I had. I saw them robbing others. That seemed to be the general way they served the wounded, so far as regards those who fell in my vicinity. Some of the colored troops jumped into the river, but were shot as fast as they were seen. One poor fellow was shot as he reached the bank of the river. They ran down and hauled him out. He got on his hands and knees, and was crawling along, when a secesh soldier put his revolver to his head, and blew his brains out. It was about the same thing all along, until dark that night. I was very weak, but I finally found a rebel who belonged to a society that I am a member of (the Masons), and he got two of our colored soldiers to assist me up the hill, and he brought me some water. At that time it was about dusk. He carried me up just to the edge of the Fort, and laid me down. There seemed to be quite a num ber of dead collected there. They were throwing them into the out side trench, and I heard them talking about burying them there. I heard one of them say : " There is a man who is not quite dead yet." They buried a number there ; I do not know how many. I was carried that night to a sort of little shanty that the rebels had occupied during the day with their sharp-shooters. I received no med ical attention that night at all. The next morning early I heard the report of cannon down the river. It was the gun-boat 28 coming up from Memphis ; she was shelling the rebels along the shore as she came up. The rebels immediately ordered the burning of all the buildings, and ordered the two buildings where the wounded were to be fired. Some one called to the officer who gave the order, and said there were wounded in them. The building I was in began to catch fire. I prevailed upon one of our soldiers who had not been hurt much to draw me out, and I think others got the rest out. They drew us down a little way, in a sort of gully, and we lay there in the hot sun without water or any thing. About this time a squad of rebels came around, it would seem for the purpose of murdering what negroes they could find. They began to shoot the wounded negroes all around there, interspersed with the whites. I was lying a little way from a wounded negro, when a secesh soldier came up to him, and said : " What in hell are you doing here ? " The colored soldier said he wanted to get on the gun-boat. The secesh soldier said : " You want to fight us again, do you ? Damn you, I '11 teach you," and drew up his gun and shot him dead. CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 371 Another negro was standing'up -.erect a little way from me he did not seem to be hurt much. The rebel loaded his gun again immediately. The negro begged of him not to shoot him, but he drew up his gun and took deliberate aim at his head. The gun snapped, but he fixed it again, and then killed him. I saw this. I heard them shooting all around there I suppose killing them By the Chairman : Q. Do you know of any rebel officers going on board our gun-boat after she came up ? A. I don't know about the gun-boat, but I saw some of them on board the-" Platte Valley," after I had been carried on her. They came on board, and I think went into drink with some of our officers. I think one of the rebel officers was General Chalmers. Q. Do you know what officers of ours drank with them ? A. I do not. Q. You know that they did go on board the " Platte Valley " and drink with some of our officers ? A. I did not see them drinking at the time, but I have no doubt they did ; that was my impression from all I saw, and I thought our officers might have been in better business. Q. Were our officers treating these rebel officers with attention ? A. They seemed to be ; I did not see much of it, as they passed along by me. Q. Do you know whether or not the conduct of the privates, in murdering our soldiers after they had surrendered, seemed to have the approval of their officers ? A. I did not see much of their officers, especially during the worst of those outrages ; they seemed to be back. Q. Did you observe any effort on the part of their officers to sup press the murders ? A. No, sir ; I did not see any where I was first carried ; just about dusk, all at once several shots were fired just outside. The cry was : "They are shooting the darkey soldiers." I heard an officer ride up and say : " Stop that firing ; arrest that man." I suppose it was a rebel officer, but I -do not know. It was reported to me, at the time, that several darkeys were shot then. An officer who stood by me, a prisoner, said that they had been shooting them, but that the general had had it stopped. Q. Do you know of any of our men in the hospital being murdered ? A. I do not. Q. Do you know any thing of the fate of your Quartermaster, Lieutenant Akerstrom ? 372 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. A. He was one of the officers who went with me to meet the flag of truce the last time. I do not know what became of him ; that was about the last I saw of him. I heard that he was nailed to a board and burned, and I have very good reason for believing that was the case, although I did not see it. The First Lieutenant of Company D of my regiment says that he has an affidavit to that effect of a man who saw it. Francis A. Alexander, sworn and examined. By the Chairman : Q. To what company and regiment do you belong? A. Company C, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. Q. Were you at Fort Pillow at the fight there ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who commanded your regiment ? A. Major Bradford commanded the regiment, and Lieutenant Logan commanded our company. Q. By what troops was the Fort attacked ? A. Forrest was in command. I saw him. Q. Did you know Forrest ? A. I saw him there, and they all said it was Forrest. Their own men said so. Q. By what troops was the charge made A. They are Alabamians and Texans. Q. Did you see any thing of a flag of truce ? A. Yes, sir. Q. State what was done while the flag of truce was in. A. When the flag of truce came up our officers went out and held a consultation, and it went back. They came in again with a flag of truce ; and while they were consulting the second time, their troops were coming up a gap or hollow, where we could have cut them to pieces. They tried it before, but could not do it. I saw them come up there while the flag of truce was in the second time. Q. That gave them an advantage ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Were you wounded there ? A. Not in the Fort. I was wounded after I left the Fort, and was going down the hill. Q. Was that before or after the Fort was taken ? A. It was afterward. Q. Did you have any arms in your hand at the time they shot you? A. No, sir ; I threw my gun away, and started down the hill, and got about twenty yards, when I was shot through the calf of the leg. CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 373 Q. Did they shoot you more than once ? A. No, sir ; they shot at me, but did not hit me more than once. Q. Did they say why they shot you after you had surrendered ? A. They said afterward they intended to kill us all for being there with their niggers. Q. Were any rebel officers there at the time this shooting was going on ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did they try to stop it ? A. One or two of them did. Q. What did the rest of them do ? A. They kept shouting and hallooing at the men to give no quar ter. I heard that cry very frequent. Q. Was it the officers that said that ? A. I think it was. I think it was them, the way they were going on. When our boys were taken prisoners, if anybody came up who knew them, they shot them down. As soon as ever they recognized them, wherever it was, they shot them. Q. After they had taken them prisoners ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you know any thing about their shooting men in the hos pitals ? A. I know of their shooting negroes in there. I don't know about white men. Q. Wounded negro men ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who did that ? A. Some of their troops. I don't know which of them. The next morning I saw several black people shot that were wounded, and some that were not wounded. One was going down the hill before me, and: the officer made him come back up the hill ; and after I got in the boat I heard them shooting them. Q. You say you saw them shoot negroes in the hospital the next morning ? A. Yes, sir ; wounded negroes who could not get along ; one with his leg broke. They came there the next day and shot him. John F. Ray, sworn and examined. By Mr. Gooch : Q. To what company and regiment do you belong? A. Company B, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. Q. Were you at Fort Pillow when it was attacked ? A. Yes, sir. 374 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Q. At what time were you wounded ? A. I was wounded about two o'clock, after the rebels got in the breastworks. Q. Was it before or after you had surrendered t A. It was after I threw down my gun, as they all started to run. Q. Will you state what you saw there ? A. After I surrendered they shot down a great many white fellows right close to me ten or twelve, I suppose and a great many negroes, too. Q. How long did they keep shooting our men after they surren dered ? A. I heard guns away after dark shooting all that evening, some where ; they kept up a regular fire for a long time, and then I heard the guns once in a while. Q. Did you see any one shot the next day ? A. I did not ; I was in a house, and could not get up at all. Q. Do you know what became of the Quartermaster of your regi ment, Lieutenant Akerstrom ? A. He was shot by the side of me. Q. Was he killed ? A. I thought so at the time ; he fell on his 'face. He was shot in the forehead, and I thought he was killed. I heard afterward he was not. Q. Did you notice any thing that took place while the flag of truce was in ? A. I saw the rebels slipping up and getting in the ditch along our breastworks. Q. How near did they come up ? A. They were right at us ; right across from the breastworks. I asked them what they were slipping up there for. They made answer that they knew their business. Q. Are you sure this was done while the flag of truce was in ? A. Yes, sir. There was no firing ; we could see all around ; we could see them moving up all around in large force. Q. Was any thing said about it except what you said to the rebels ? A I heard all our boys talking about it. I heard some of our officers remark, as they saw it coming, that the white flag was a bad thing ; that they were slipping on us. I believe it was Lieutenant Akerstrom that I heard say it was against the rules of war for them to come up in that way. Q. To whom did he say that ? A. To those fellows coming up ; they had officers with them. Q. Was Lieutenant Akerstrom shot before or after he had surren dered ? CAPTURE OF NEGRO SOLDIERS. 375 A. About two minutes after the flag of truce went back, during the action. Q. Do you think of any thing else to state ? If so, go on and state it. A. I saw a rebel lieutenant take a little negro 1 boy up on the horse behind him ; and then I heard General Chalmers I think it must have been tell him to " Take that negro" down and shoot him," or "Take him and shoot him," and he passed him down and shot him. Q. How large was the boy ? A. He was not more than eight years old. I heard the lieutenant tell the other that the negro was not in the service ; that he was noth ing but a child ; that he was pressed and brought in there. The other one said : " Damn the difference ; take him down and shoot him, or I will shoot him." I think it must have been General Chalmers. He was a smallish man ; he had on a long gray coat, with a star on his coat. 8 The country and the world stood aghast. The first account of this human butchery was too much for credence : after a while the truth began to dawn upon the country ; and at last the people admitted that in a Christian land like America a deed so foul blacker than hell itself! had actually been perpetrated. The patience of the North and the Union army gave way to bitterest imprecations ; the exultation and applause of the South and Confederate army were succeeded by serious thoughts and sad reflections. But it is the duty of impartial history to .record that this bloody, sickening affair was not endorsed by all the rebels. In a letter dated Okalona, Mississippi, June 14, 1864, to the "Atlanta Appeal," a rebel gives this endorsement of Forrest's conduct at Fort Pillow : " You have heard that our soldiers buried negroes alive at Fort Pil low. This is true. At the first fire after Forrest's men scaled the walls, many of the negroes threw down their arms and fell as if they were dead. They perished in the pretence, and could only be restored at 1 Gen. Chalmers has denied, with vehemence, that he ever did any cruel act at Fort Pillow, but the record is against him. Soldiers under brave, intelligent, and humane officers could never be guilty of such cruel and unchristian conduct as these rebels at Pillow. Gen. Chalmers is responsible. As an illustration of the gentle and forgiving spirit of the Negro, it should be recorded here that many supported the candidacy of Gen. Chalmers for Congress, and voted for him at the recent election in Mississippi. 8 See Report of Committee on Conduct of War. HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the point of the bayonet. To resuscitate some of them, more terrified than the rest, they were rolled into the trenches made as receptacles for the fallen. Vitality was not restored till breathing was obstructed, and then the resurrection began. On these facts is based the pretext for the crimes committed by Sturgis, Grierson, and their followers. You must remember, too, that in the extremity of their terror, or for other reasons, the Yankees and negroes in Fort Pillow neglected to haul down their flag. In truth, relying upon their gun-boats, the officers expected to annihilate our forces after we had entered the fortifications. They did not intend to surrender. " A terrible retribution, in any event, has befallen the ignorant, de luded Africans." Gen. Forrest was a cold-blooded murderer ; a fiend in human form. But as the grave has opened long since to receive him ; and as the cause he represented has perished from the earth, it is enough to let the record stand without comment, and God grant without malice ! It is the duty of history to record that there is to be found no apologist for cruelties that rebels inflicted upon brave but helpless Black soldiers during the war for the extirpation of slavery. The Confederate conduct at Pillow must remain a foul stain upon the name of the men who fought to perpetuate human slavery in North America, but failed. RECONS TR UCTIONMISCONSTR UCTION. 377 THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM. CHAPTER XXI. RECONSTRUCTION 1 MISCONSTRUCTION. 1865-1875. THE WAR OVER, PEACE RESTORED, AND THE NATION CLEANSED OF A PLAGUE. SLAVERY GIVES PLACE TO A LONG TRAIN OF EVENTS. UNSETTLED CONDITION OF AFFAIRS AT THE SOUTH. THE ABSENCE OF LEGAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT NECESSITATES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PRO VISIONAL MILITARY GOVERNMENT. AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BUREAU FOR REFUGEES AND ABANDONED LANDS. CONGRESSIONAL METHODS FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH. GEN. U. S. GRANT CARRIES THESE STATES IN 1868 AND 1872. BOTH BRANCHES OF THE LEGIS LATURES IN ALL THE SOUTHERN STATES CONTAIN NEGRO MEMBERS. THE ERRORS OF RECON STRUCTION CHARGEABLE TO BOTH SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. A PPQMATTOX had taken her place in history; and the j[\^ echo of the triumph of Federal arms was heard in the palaces of Europe. The United States Government had survived the shock of the embattled arms of a gigantic Rebellion; had melted the manacles of four million slaves in the fires of civil war ; had made four million bondmen freemen ; had wiped slavery from the map of North America ; had demonstrated the truth that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land ; and that the United States is a NATION, not a league. The brazen-mouthed, shotted cannon were voiceless ; a mill ion muskets and swords hung upon the dusty walls of silent arsenals ; and war ceased from the proud altitudes of the moun tains of Virginia to where the majestic Atlantic washes the shores of the Carolinas. A million soldiers in blue melted 1 I am preparing a History of the Reconstruction of the Late Confederate States, 1865-1880. Hence I shall not enter into a thorough treatment of the subject in this work. It will follow this work, and comprise two volumes. 3/8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. quietly into the modest garb of citizens. The myriad hum of busy shuttles, clanking machinery, and whirling wheels pro claimed the day of peace. Families and communities were re stored and bound together by the indissoluble, golden ties of domestic charities. The war was over ; peace had been restored ; and the nation was cleansed of a plague. But what was to be done with the millions of Negroes at the South ? The war had made them free. That was all. They could leave the plantation. They had the right of locomotion ; were property no longer. But what a spectacle ! Here were four million human beings without clothing, shelter, homes, and,, alas ! most of them without names. The galling harness of slavery had been cut off of their weary bodies, and like a worn- out beast of burden they stood in their tracks scarcely able to go anywhere. Like men coming from long confinement in a dark dungeon, the first rays of freedom blinded their expectant eyes.. They were almost delirious with joy. The hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows, the pain and waiting, the prayers and tears of the cruel years of slavery gave place to a long train of events that swept them out into the rapid current of a life totally different from the checkered career whence they had just emerged. It required time, patience, and extraordinary wisdom on the part of the Government to solve the problem of this people's existence of this " Nation born in a day." Their joy was too full, their peace too profound, and their thanksgiving too sincere to attract their attention at once to the vulgar affairs of daily life. One fervent, beautiful psalm of praise rose from every Negro hut in the South, and swelled in majestic sweetness until the nation became one mighty temple canopied by the stars and stripes, and the Constitution as the common altar before whose undimmed lights a ransomed race humbly bowed. The emancipated Negroes had no ability, certainly no dis position, to reason concerning the changes and disasters which had overtaken their former masters. The white people of the South were divided into three classes. First, those who felt that defeat was intolerable, and a residence in this country incon- genial. They sought the service of the Imperial cause in war- begrimed Mexico ; they went to Cuba, Australia, Egypt, and to Europe. Second, those who returned to their homes after the "affair at Appomattox," and sitting down under the portentous clouds of defeat, refused to take any part in the rehabilitation of RECONSTR UCTIONMISCONSTR UCTION. 379 their States. Third, those who accepted the situation and stood ready to aid in the work of reconstruction. In the unsettled condition of affairs at the close of hostilities, as there was no legal State governments at the South, necessity and prudence suggested the temporary policy of dividing the South into military districts. A provisional military government in the conquered States was to pursue a pacific, protective, helpful policy. The people of both races were to be fed and clothed. Schools were to be established ; agriculture and in dustry encouraged. Courts were to be established of competent jurisdiction to hear and decide cases among the people. Such a government while military in name was patriarchal in spirit. As early as the spring of 1865, before the war was over, an act was passed by Congress providing for the destitute of the South. "AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BUREAU FOR THE RELIEF OF FREEDMEN AND REFUGEES. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby established in the War Department, to continue during the present war of rebellion, and for one year thereafter, a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Aban doned Lands, to which shall be committed, as hereinafter provided, the supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, or from any district of country within the territory embraced in the operations of the army, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the head of the bureau and approved by the President. The said bureau shall be under the management and control of a commissioner, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, whose compensation shall be three thousand dollars per annum, and such number of clerks as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of War, not exceeding one chief clerk, two of the fourth class, two of the third class, three of the second class, and five of the first class. And the commissioner and all persons appointed under this act shall, before entering upon their duties, take the oath of office prescribed in an act entitled, ' An act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes,' approved July 2, 1862. And the commissioners and the chief clerk shall, before entering upon their duties, give bonds to the Treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, and the latter in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties respectively, with securities to be approved as sufficient by the attorney general, which bonds shall be 380 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. filed in the office of the First Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him put in suit for the benefit of any injured party, upon any] breach of the conditions thereof. " SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War may direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of des titute and suffering refugees and freedmen, and their wives and chil dren, under such rules and regulations as he may direct. "SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President may, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint an assistant commissioner for each of the States declared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number, who shall, under the direction of the commissioner, aid in the execution of the provisions of this act, and he shall give a bond to the Treasurer of the United States in the sum of twenty thousand dollars, in the form and manner prescribed in the first section of this act. Each of said assistant commissioners shall receive an annual salary of two thousand and five hundred dollars, in full compensation for all his services. And any military officer may be detailed and assigned to duty under this act without increase of pay or allowances. The commissioner shall, before the commencement of each regular session of Congress, make full report of his proceedings, with exhibits of the state of his accounts, to the President, who shall communicate the same to Congress, and shall also make special reports whenever required to do so by the President, or either house of Congress. And the assistant commissioners shall make quarterly reports of their proceedings to the commissioner, and also such other special reports as from time to time may be required. " SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner, under the direction of the President, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land, within the in surrectionary States, as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation, or sale, or other wise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freedman, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be protected in the iuse and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per centum upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the State authorities in the year 1860, for the purpose of taxation, and in case no such appraisal can be found, then the rental shall be based upon the estimated value of the land in said year, to be ascertained in such manner as the commissioner may, by regulation, prescribe. At the end of said term, or at any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey, upon paying RECONSTR UCTIONMISCONSTR UCTION. 381 therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent as aforesaid. " SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. " ROBERT C. SCHENCK, HENRY WILSON, " GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, JAMES HARLAN, " JAMES S. ROLLINS, W. T. WILLEY, " Managers on part of House. Managers on part of Senate" To have subjected the late rebellious States to military rule for a stated term of years, say a decade or a generation, would have given force to the hasty statement of rebels and their sym pathizers in the courts of Europe. It was charged that the United States Government fought to subjugate the Confederate States. The United States did not " begin it," and did not in tend, at any time, to lay the mailed hand of military power against the throat of the rights of loyal citizens or loyal States. The sine qua non of reconstruction was loyalty to the Federal Government. But while this idea was next to the heart of the Government, the sudden and horrible taking off of Abraham Lincoln discovered many master-builders, who built not well or wisely. The early education of Andrew Johnson was not in line with the work of reconstruction. His sympathies were with the South in spite of his position and circumstances. The friends of his early political life were more potent than the friends of a sound, sensible, and loyal policy upon which to build the shat tered governments of the South. And by indicating and advo cating a policy at variance with the logical events of the war, he was guilty of a political crime, and did the entire nation an irrep arable injury. Congress seemed to be unequal to the task of perfecting a proper plan for reconstructing the Southern States. To couple general amnesty to the rebels with suffrage to the Negroes was a most fatal policy. It has been shown that there was but one class of white men in the South friendly to reconstruction, numeri cally, small ; and mentally, weak. But it was thought best to do this. To a triple element Congress committed the work of recon struction. The " Scalawag" the " Carpet-bagger" and the Negro. Who were this trio ? The scalawag was the native white man who made up the middle class of the South ; the planter above, the Negro below. And between this upper and nether mill- 382 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. stone he was destined to be ground to powder, under the old regime. A " nigger-driver," without schools, social position, or money, he was "the poor white trash" of the South. He was loyal during the war, because in the triumph of the Confederacy, with slavery as its corner-stone, he saw no hope for his condition. Those of them who fought under the rebel flag were unwilling; conscripts. They had no qualifications for governing except that they were loyal ; and this was of no more use to them in this great work, than piety in the pulpit when the preacher can not repeat the Lord's prayer without biting his tongue. The carpet-baggers ran all the way from " good to middling." Some went South with fair ability and good morals, where they lost the latter article and never found it ; while many more went South, to get all they could and keep all they got. The Negro could boast of numerical strength only. The scalawag managed the Negro, the latter did the voting, while the carpet-bagger held the offices. And when there were " more stalls than horses " the Negroes and scalawags occasionally got an office. The rebels were still in a swoon. The States wete reconstructed, after a manner, and the gov ernments went forward. In 1868 Gen. U. S. Grant carried these States. It was like the handle on a jug, all on one side. The rebels took no part; but after a while a gigantic Ku Klux conspiracy was discovered. This organization sought to obstruct the courts, harass the Ne groes, and cripple local governments. It spread terror through the South and made a political graveyard of startling dimensions. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended ; arrests made, trials and convictions secured, and the penitentiary at Albany, New York,, crowded with the enemies of law and order. A subsidence fol lowed, and the scalawag-carpetbag-Negro governments began a fresh existence. In 1872 Gen. Grant carried the Southern States again, meet ing with but little resistance. In Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina there were Negro lieutenant-governors. The Negroes were learning rapidly the lesson of rotation in office, and demanded recognition. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louis iana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, were represented, in part, by Negroes in the National House of Representatives, and Mis sissippi in the Senate as well. Both branches of the Legisla tures of all the Southern States contained Negro members ; while RECONSTR UCTIONMISCONSTR UCTION. 383 many of the most important and lucrative offices in the States were held by Negroes. The wine cup, the gaming-table, and the parlors of strange women charmed many of these men to the neglect of important public duties. The bonded indebtedness of these States began to increase, the State paper to depreciate, the burden of taxation to grow intolerable, bad laws to find their way into the statute- books, interest in education and industry to decline, the farm Negroes to grow idle and gravitate to the infectious skirts of large cities, and the whole South went from bad to worse. The hand of revenge reached for the shot-gun, and before its deadly presence white leaders were intimidated, drfVen out, or destroyed. Before 1875 came, the white element in the Repub lican party at the South was reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Thus abandoned, the Negro needed the presence of the United States army while he voted, held office, and drew his salary. But even the army lacked the power to inject life into the collapsed governments at the South. The mistake of reconstruction was twofold : on the part of the Federal Government, in committing the destinies of the Southern States to hands so feeble ; and on the part of the South, in that its best men, instead of taking a lively interest in rebuild ing the governments they had torn down, allowed them to be constructed with untempered mortar. Neither the South nor the Government could say: " Thou canst not say I did it: shake not thy gory locks at me." Both were culpable, and both have suffered the pangs of remorse. 384 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.. CHAPTER XXII. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. THE APPARENT IDLENESS OF THE NEGRO SPORADIC RATHER THAN GENERIC. HE QUIETLY SETTLES DOWN TO WORK. THE GOVERNMENT MAKES AMPLE PROVISIONS FOR HIS EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT. THE MARVELLOUS PROGRESS MADE BY THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH IN EDUCATION. EARLIEST SCHOOL FOR FREEDMEN AT FORTRESS MONROE IN 1861. THB RICHMOND INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH. THE UNLIMITED DESIRE OF THE NEGROES TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. GENERAL ORDER ORGANIZING A " BUREAU OF REFUGEES, FREEDMEN^ AND ABANDONED LANDS." GEN. O. O. HOWARD APPOINTED COMMISSIONER OF THE BUREAU. REPORT OF ALL THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU FROM 1865- $867. AN ACT INCORPORATING THE FREEDMAN*S BANK AND TRUST COMPANY. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY AS SHOWN FROM 1866-1871. FINANCIAL STATEMENT BY THE TRUSTEES FOR 1872. FAILURE OF THE BANK. THE SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH. THE NEGRO RARELY RECEIVES JUSTICE IN SOUTHERN COURTS. TREATMENT OF NEGROES AS CONVICTS IN SOUTHERN PRISONS. INCREASE OF THE COLORED PEOPLE FROM 1790-1880. NEGROES SUSCEPTIBLE OF THE HIGHEST CIVILIZATION. SURELY some good did come out of Nazareth. The poor, deluded,, misguided, confiding Negro finished his long holiday at last, and turning from the dream of " forty acres and a mule," settled down to the stubborn realities of his new life of duties, responsibilities, and privileges. His idleness was sporadic, not generic, it was simply reaction. He had worked faithfully, incessantly for two centuries and a half ; had enriched the South with the sweat of his brow; and in two wars had baptized the soil with his patriotic blood. And when the year of jubilee came he enjoyed himself right royally. This disposition to frolic on the part of the Negro gave rise to grave concern among his friends, and was promptly ac cepted as conclusive proof of his unfitness for the duties of a freeman by his enemies. But he soon dispelled the fears of his friends and disarmed the prejudices of his foes. As already shown there was no provision made for the edu cation of the Negro before the war ; every thing had been done to keep him in ignorance. To emancipate 4,000,000 of slaves and absorb them into the political life of the government with out detriment to both was indeed a formidable undertaking. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 38$ Republics gain their strength and perpetuity from the self- governing force in the people ; and in order to be self-governing a people must be educated. Moreover, all good laws that are cheerfully obeyed are but the emphatic expression of public sentiment. Where the great majority of the people are kept in ignorance the tendency is toward the production of two other classes, aristocrats and political " Herders." The former seek to get as far from " the common herd " as possible, while the latter bid off the rights of the poor and ignorant to the highest bidder. It -was quite appropriate for the Government to make speedy provision for plying the mass of ignorant Negroes with school influences. And the liberality of the provision was equalled by the eagerness of the Negroes to learn. Nor should history fail to record that the establishment of schools for freedmen by the Government was the noblest, most sensible act it could have done. What the Negroes have accomplished through these schools is the marvel of the age. On the 2Oth of May, 1865, Major-Gen. O. O. Howard was appointed Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. He gave great attention to the subject of education ; and after planting schools for the freedmen throughout a great portion of the South, in 1870 five years after the work was begun he made a report. It was full of interest. In five years there were 4,239 schools es tablished, 9,307 teachers employed, and 247,333 pupils instructed. In 1868 the average attendance was 89,396; but in 1870 it was 91,398, or 79f per cent, of the total number enrolled. The eman cipated people sustained 1,324 schools themselves, and owned 592 school buildings. The Freedmen's Bureau furnished 654 build ings for school purposes. The wonderful progress they made from year to year, in scholarship, may be fairly judged by the following, corresponding with the half year in 1869 : JULY, 1869. JULY, 1870. Advanced readers 43,746 43,540' Geography .... . 36,992 39,321 Arithmetic . S 1 ^ 2 5 2 >4*7 Writing . 53,606 5 8 >34 Higher branches , 7,627 9,690 There were 74 high and normal schools, with 8,147 stu dents ; and 61 industrial schools, with 1,750 students in attendance. In doing this great work for buildings, repairs, 386 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. teachers, etc., $1,002,896.07 was expended. Of this sum the freedmen raised $200,000.00 ! This was conclusive proof that emancipation was no mistake. Slavery was a twofold cross of woe to the land. It did not only degrade the slave, but it blunted the sensibilities, and, by its terrible weight, carried down under the slimy rocks of society some of the best white people in the South. Like a cankerous malady its venom has touched almost every side of American life. The white race is in a constant and almost overpowering re lation to the other races upon this continent. It is the duty of this great totality of intellectual life and force, to supply adequate facilities for the education of the less intelligent and less fortu nate. Of every ten thousand (10,000) inhabitants there are: WHITE. COLORED. CHINESE. INDIANS. In the States . , 8,711 1,269 J 5 5 In the Territories . 8,711 1,017 *S8 114 In the whole Union 8,711 1,266 16 7 When we turn our attention to the Southern States, we shal? find that the white people are in excess of the Colored as follows* MAJORITY. Alabama 45,874 Arkansas ........ 239,946 Delaware 79,4 2 7 Florida 4,368 Georgia 93,774 Kentucky 876,442 Maryland ....... 430,106 Missouri 1,485,075 North Carolina 286,820 Tennessee 613,788 Texas 311,225 Virginia 199,248 West Virginia 406,043 while the Colored people are in excess in only three States, hav ing over the whites the following majorities : MAJORITY. . Louisiana ....... 2,145 South Carolina 126,147 Mississippi 61,305 THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 387 This leaves the whites in these sixteen States in a majority of 4,882,539, over the Colored people. There are more than two whites to every Colored in the entire population in these States. Group the States and territories into three geographical classes, and designate them as Northern, Pacific, and Southern. The first may comprise all the " free States," where slavery never existed ; put in the second the three Pacific States and all the territories, except the District of Columbia; and in the third gather all -the "slave States " and the District. Now then, in the Northern class, out of every 14 persons who can neither read nor write, 13 are white. In the Pacific class, out of every 23 who can neither read nor write, 20 are white. In the Southern class, out of every 42 who can neither read nor write, 15 are white. Thus it can be seen that the white illiterates of the United States outnumber those of all the other races together. It might be profitable to the gentlemen who, upon every con venient occasion, rail about " the deplorable ignorance of the blacks," to look up this question a little ! 1 The Colored people have made wonderful progress in educa tional matters since the war. Take a few States for examples of what they are doing. In Georgia, in 1860, there were 458,540 slaves. In 1870 there were 87 private schools, 79 teachers with 3,021 pupils. Of other schools, more public in character, there were 221, with an attendance of 11,443 pupils. In 1876 the Col ored school population of this State was 48,643, with 879 schools ; and with 55,268 pupils in public and private schools in 1877. In South Carolina, in 1874, there were 63,415 Colored children attending the public schools ; in 1876 there were 70,802, or an in crease of 7,387. In Virginia, in 1870, there were 39,000 Colored pupils in the schools, which were few in number. In 1874 there were 54,941 pupils; in 1876 there were 62,178, or again of 7,237. In 1874 there were 539 teachers; in 1876 there were 636, or an increase of 97. In 1874 there were 1,064 schools for Colored youth ; in 1876 there were 1,181, or an increase of 117. In the District of Columbia, in 1871, there were 4,986 Colored children in 69 schools, with 71 teachers. In 1876, of Colored schools in the District, 62 were primary, 13 grammar, and I high, with an enrolment of 5,454. 1 For an account of this problem, see the Appendix to this volume. 388 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The following statistics exhibit the wonderful progress the. Colored people of the South have made during the brief period of their freedom in the department of education. These tables come as near showing the extent, the miraculous magnitude of the work, as is possible. COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF EDUCATION AT THE SOUTH. Table showing comparative population and enrolment of the White and Colored races in the public schools of the recent slave States, with total annual expenditure for the same in 1879. White. Colored. States. School population. Enrolment. Percentage of the school population enrolled. School population. Enrolment. Percentage of the school population enrolled. Total expenditure both races, a Alabama ..... 214,098 106,9150 Arkansas .... * 5i74,253 31,849 39,063 23 830 22 75 62,348 3,8OO 13,986 2 842 22 205,449 Florida 399 The amount raised from freedmen was in the form of smalt tuition fees of from ten to fifty cents a month a system ap proved by Mr. Manly. In the final report to the Freedmen's Bureau, made July I, 1870, the Virginia statistics are: Schools, 344; teachers, 412; pupils, 18,234; the average attendance, 78 percent. This year the freedmen paid $12,286.50 for tuition. Mr. C. S. Schaeffer and Mr. Samuel H. Jones, who remained in Virginia as teachers the former still at Christiansburg, and the latter, until very lately, at Danville both acted as assistants to Mr. Manly. A considerable number of school-houses were built in Virginia THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 39$ by the Bureau, including the splendid normal and high school building in Richmond, erected and equipped at a cost of $25,000, and afterward turned over to the city. After the conclusion of his superintendency, Mr. Manly continued for several years to do valuable service as principal of this school. " The Freedmen's Bureau ceased its educational operations in the summer of 1870, and in the autumn of that year our State public schools were opened. So that, counting from the beginning of the mis sion school at Hampton in 1861, there has been an unbroken succession of schools for freedmen in one region for nineteen years ; and at a number of leading points in the State such as Norfolk, Richmond, Petersburg, Danville, Charlottesville, Christiansburg, etc. an unbroken line of schools for fourteen years and upwards. These efforts, however, of the Federal Government toward educating the rising generation of Colored people, could not have been designed as any thing more than an experiment, intended first to test and then to stimulate the appetite of those people for learning. And in this view they were entirely success ful in both particulars ; for the children flocked to the schools, attended well, made good progress in knowledge, and paid a surprising amount of money for tuition. " But, considered as a serious attempt to educate the children of the freedmen, the movement was wholly inadequate, even when contrasted with the operations of our imperfect State system. The largest number enrolled in the schools supported by the combined efforts of the Bureau, the charitable societies, and the tuition fees, was 18,234, in 1870. The next year we had in our public schools considerably over double this number, and an annual increase ever since, always excepting those two- dark years (tenebricosus and tenebricosissimus), 1878 and 1879." l " Two institutions for the education of the Colored race, founded before the beginning of our school system, are still in successful opera tion, but remain independent of our school system. One of them has some connection with the State by reason of the receipt of one-third of the proceeds of the Congressional land-grant for education. I refer to the well-known Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, and the Richmond Colored Institute. Nothing need be said in reference to the Hampton School, except that its numbers and usefulness are constantly increasing under the continued superintendence of the indomitable Gen. Armstrong. Its reports, which are published every year as State documents in connection with the Report of this department, are so accessible to all, that I will only repeat here the testimony often given, 1 See the annual reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for Virginia, There were more than 18,234 Colored children in the schools of this State in 1870. 396 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. that in my opinion this is the most valuable of all the schools opened on this Continent for Colored people. Its most direct benefit is in furnishing to our State schools a much-needed annual contribution of teachers ; and teachers so good and acceptable that the demand for them is always much greater than the supply. "The Richmond Institute has more of a theological intent, but it also sends out many good teachers. As a school it has prospered steadily under the excellent management of the Rev. C. H. Corey, D.D.; and it will soon be accommodated in a large new and handsome building. Both these institutions receive their support chiefly from the North." * It will be seen that the tables we give refer only to the work done in educating the Negro in the Southern States. Much has been done in the Northern States, but in quite a different man ner. The work of education for the Negro at the South had to begin at the bottom. There were no schools at all for this people ; and hence the work began with the alphabet. And there could be no classification of the scholars. All the way from six to sixty the pupils ranged in age ; and even some who had given slavery a century of their existence mothers and fathers in Israel crowded the schools established for their race. Some ministers of the Gospel after a half century of preaching entered school to learn how to spell out the names of the twelve Apostles. Old women who had lived out their threescore years and ten prayed that they might live to spell out the Lord's prayer, while the modest request of many departing patriarchs was that they might recognize the Lord's name in print. The sacrifices they made for themselves and children challenged the admiration of even their former owners. The unlettered Negroes of the South carried into the school room an inborn love of music, an excellent memory, and a good taste for the elegant almost grandiloquent in speech, gorgeous in imagery, and energetic in narration ; their apostrophe and simile were wonderful. Geography and history furnished great at tractions, and they developed ability to master them. In mathe matics they did not do so well, on account of the lack of training to think consecutively and methodically. It is a mistake to be lieve this a mental infirmity of the race ; for a very large num ber of the students in college at the present time do as well in mathematics, geometry,, trigonometry, mensuration, and conic 1 Annual Report of the Hon. W. H. Ruffner, for 1874. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 397 sections as the white students of the same age ; and. some of them excel in mathematics. The majority of the Colored students in the Southern schools qualify themselves to teach and preach ; while the remainder go to law and medicine. Few educated Colored men ever return to agricultural life. There are two reasons for this : First, reaction. There is an erroneous idea among some of these young men that labor is dishonorable ; that an educated man should never work with his hands. Second, some of them believe that a profession gives a man consequence. Such silly ideas should be abandoned they must be abandoned ! There is a great demand for edu cated farmers and laborers. It requires an intelligent man to conduct a farm successfully, to sell the products of his labor, and to buy the necessaries of life. No profession can furnish a man with brains, or provide him a garment of respectability. Every man must furnish brains and tact to make his calling and election sure in this world, as well as by faith in the world to come. Un fortunately there has been but little?*pportunity for Colored men or boys to get employment at the 'trades : but prejudice is grad ually givfng way to reason and common-sense ; and the day is not distant when the Negro will have a free field in this country, and will then be responsible for what he is not that is good. The need of the hour is a varied employment for the Negro race on this continent. There is more need of educated mechanics, civil engineers, surveyors, printers, artificers, inventors, architects, builders, merchants, and bankers than there is demand for law yers, physicians, or clergymen. Waiters, barbers, porters, boot blacks, hack-drivers, grooms, and private valets find but little time for the expansion of their intellects. These places are not dishonorable ; but what we say is, there is room at the top / An in dustrial school, something like Cooper Institute, situated between New York and Philadelphia, where Colored boys and girls could learn the trades that race prejudice denies them now, would be the grandest institution of modern times. It matters not how many million dollars are given toward the education of the Negro ; so long as he is deprived of the privilege of learning and plying the trades and mechanic arts his education will injure rather than help him. 1 We would rather see a Negro boy build an engine than take the highest prize in Yale or Harvard. 1 For an account of the John F. Slater Bequest of $1,000.000 for the education of the freedmen, see the Appendix to this volume. 398 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. It is quite difficult to get at a clear idea of what has been done in the Northern States toward the education of the Colored people. In nearly all the States on the borders of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers " Colored schools " still exist ; and in many in stances are kept alive through the spirit of the self-seeking of a few Colored persons who draw salaries in lieu of their continu ance. They should be abolished, and will be, as surely as heat follows light and the rising of the sun. In the New England, Middle, and extreme Western States, with the exception of Kansas, separate schools do not exist. The doors of all colleges, founded and conducted by the white people in the North, are open to the Colored people who desire to avail themselves of an aca demic education. At the present time there are one hundred and sixty-nine Colored students in seventy white colleges in the Northern States ; and the presidents say they are doing well. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and A bandoned Lands was established in the spring of 1865 to meet the state of affairs inci dent upon the closing scenesT of the great civil war. The Act creating the Bureau was approved and became a law on the 3d of March, 1865. The Bureau was to be under the management of the War Department, and its officers were liable for the prop erty placed in their hands under the revised regulations of the army. In May, 1865, the following order was issued from the War Department appointing Major-Gen. O. O. Howard Commis sioner of the Bureau : " [GENERAL ORDERS No. 91.] "WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, \ "WASHINGTON, May 12, 1865. ) " Order Organizing Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned "Lands. " I. By the direction of the President, Major General O. O. Howard is assigned to duty in the War Department as Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, under the act of Congress entitled 'An act to establish a bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees,' to perform the duties and exercise all the rights, authority, and jurisdiction vested by the act of Congress in such Commissioner. General Howard will enter at once upon the duties of Commissionei specified in said act. " II. The Quartermaster General will, without delay, assign and furnish suitable quarters and apartments for the said bureau. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 399 " III. The Adjutant General will assign to the said bureau the -number of competent clerks authorized by the act of Congress. " By order of the President of the United States : " E. D. Townsend, "Assistant Adjutant General" Gen. Howard entered upon the discharge of the vast, varied, and complicated duties of his office with his characteristic zeal, intelligence, and high Christian integrity. Hospitals were founded for the care of the sick, infirm, blind, deaf, and dumb. Rations were issued, clothing distributed, and lands apportioned to the needy and worthy. From May 30, 1865, to November 20, 1865, inclusive, this Bureau furnished transportation for 1,946 freedmen, and issued to this class of persons in ten States, 1,030,100 rations. " Congress, when it created the bureau, made no appropriation to defray its expenses ; it has, however, received funds from miscellaneous sources, as the following report will show : " In several of the States, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mis souri, and the District of Columbia, the interests of the freedmen were under the control of military officers assigned by the War Department previous to the organization of this bureau. Their accounts became naturally absorbed in the accounts of the bureau, and the following re port embraces all the receipts and expenditures in all States now under control of the bureau since January i, 1865 : " RECEIPTS. Amount on hand January i, 1865, and received since, to October .31. l86 5 : From freedmen's fund .... $466,028 35 From retained bounties .... 115,236 49 For clothing, fuel, and subsistence . . 7,704 21 Farms 76,709 12 From rents of buildings .... 56,012 42 From rents of lands . . . . 125,521 oo From Quartermaster's department . . 12,200 oo From conscript fund .... 13,498 n -From schools (tax and tuition) . . . 34,486 58 Total received ..... 907,396 28 400 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. EXPENDITURES. Freedmen's fund $8,009 *4 Clothing, fuel, and subsistence . . . 75,504 05- Farms 40,069 71 Household furniture ..... 2,904 90 Rents of buildings 11,470 88 Labor (by freedmen and other employe's) . 237,097 62 Repairs of buildings ..... 19,518 46 Contingent expenses ..... 46,328 07 Rents of lands ...... 300 oo Internal revenue 1,379 86 Conscript fund 6,515 37 Transportation . . . . i445 5* Schools 27,819 60 Total expended 478,363 17 RECAPITULATION. Total amount received . . . $907,396 28 Total amount expended .... 478,363 17 Balance on hand October 31, 1865 . . 429,033 n Deduct the amount held as retained bounties. 115,236 49 Balance on hand October 31, 1865, available to meet liabilities ..... 313,796 62.* It was the policy of the Government to help the freedmen on to their feet ; to give them a start in the race of self-support and manhood. They received such assistance as was given them with thankful hearts, and were not long in placing themselves upon a safe foundation for their new existence. Out of a popu lation of 350,000 in North Carolina only 5,000 were receiving aid from the Government in the fall of 1865. Each month witnessed a wonderful reduction of the rations issued to the freedmen. In the month of August, 1865, Gen. C. B. Fisk had reduced the number of freedmen receiving rations from 3,785 to 2,984, in Kentucky. In the same month, in Mississippi, Gen. Samuel Thomas, of the 6^th U. S. C. I., had reduced the number of persons receiving rations to 669. In his report for 1865, Gen. Thomas said : 1 See report of the Commissioner. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 401 " The freedmen working land assigned them at Davis's Bend, Camp Hawley, near Vicksburg, De Soto Point, opposite, and at Washington, near Natchez, arc all doing well. These crops are maturing fast ; as. harvest time approaches, I reduce the number of rations issued and compel them to rely on their own resources. At least 10,000 bales of cotton will be raised by these people, who are conducting cotton crops on their own account. Besides this cotton, they have gardens and corn enough to furnish bread for their families and food for their stock till harvest time returns. * * * A more industrious, energetic body of citizens does not exist than can be seen at the colonies now." Speaking of the industry of the freed people Gen. Thomas added : " I have lately visited a large portion of the State, and find it in much better condition than I expected. In the eastern part fine crops of grain are growing ; the negroes are at home working quietly ; they have contracted with their old masters at fair wages ; all seem to accept the change without a shock." From June I, 1865, to September I, 1866, the Freedmen's Bureau issued to the freed people of the South 8,904,4513^ rations, and was able to make the following financial showing of the Refugees' and Freedmen's fund. From November I, 1865, to October i, 1866, the receipts and expenditures were as follows:: Amount on hand November i, 1865 . . $313,796 62 Received from various sources, as follows : Freedmen's fund $367,659 93. Clothing, fuel, and subsistence . . 2,074 55 Farms (sales of crops) ..... 109,709 98 Rent of buildings . . . . . 48,560 87 Rent of lands 113,641 78 Conscript funds . . . . . 140 95 Transportation ...... i,53 50 Schools (taxes) . . . . , 64,145 86 Total on hand and received . . $1,020,784 04 EXPENDITURES, Freedmen's fund ...... $7,411 32 Clothing, fuel, and subsistence . . 13,870 93 Farms (fencing, seeds, tools, etc.) . . 7,210 66 Labor (by freedmen and other employe's) 426,918 12 Rent of buildings (offices, etc.) . . . 50,186 61 Repairs of buildings .... J >957 4f 402 HISTORY OP THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, EXPENDITURES. (Continued?) Contingent expenses 74 2 95 77 Rent of lands (restored) .... 9,260 58 Quartermaster's department . . . n 26 Internal revenue (tax on salaries) . . 7,9^5 22 Conscript fund ...... 1,664 OI Transportation ..... 22,387 or .Schools . . . . . . . 115,261 56 Total expended .... $738,400 52 Balance on hand October i, 1866 . $282,383 52 In September, 1866, the Bureau had on hand : RECAPITULATION. Balance on hand of freedmen's fund . $282,383 52 Balance of District destitute fund . 18,328 67 Balance of appropriation . . . 6,856,259 30 Total $7, 1 5 6 >97i 49 Estimated amount due subsistence depart ment $297,000 oo Transportation reported unpaid . . 26,015 94 Transportation estimated due . . . 20,000 oo Estimated amount due medical department 100,000 oo Estimated amount due quartermaster's department 200,000 oo $643,015 94 Total balance for all purposes of expenditures .... $6,513,955 55 But the estimate of Gen.- Howard for funds to run the Bureau for the fiscal year commencing July I, 1867, only called for the sum of three million eight hundred and thirty-six thousand and three hundred dollars, as follows : Salaries of assistant commissioners, sub- assistants, and agents .... $147,500 Salaries of clerks 82,800 Stationery and printing .... 63,000 Quarters and fuel ..... 200,000 THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 403 Subsistence stores 1,500,000 Medical department .... 500,000 Transportation ...... 800,000 School superintendents .... 25,000 Buildings for schools and asylums, including construction, rental, an4 repairs . 500,000 Telegraphing and postage '. . . . 18,000 $3,836,300 This showed that the freed people were rapidly becoming self-sustaining, and that the aid rendered by the Government was used to a good purpose. Soon after Colored Troops Were mustered into the "service of the Government a question arose as to some safe method by which these troops might save their pay against the days of peace and personal effort. The noble and wise Gen. Saxton answered the question and met the need of the hour by estab lishing a Military Savings Bank at Beaufort, South Carolina. Soldiers under his command were thus enabled to husband their funds. Gen. Butler followed in this good work, and established a similar one at Norfolk, Virginia. These banks did an excel lent work, and so favorably impressed many of the friends of the Negro that a plan for a Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company was at once projected. Before the spring campaign of 1865 opened up, the plan was presented to Congress; a bill introduced creating such a bank, was passed and signed by Presi dent Lincoln on the 3d of March. The following is the Act : 4t AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FREEPMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST " COMPANY. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Coiigress assembled : That Peter Cooper, WilliamC. Bryant, A. A. Low, S. B. Chittenden, Charles H. Marshall, William A. Booth, Gerrit Smith, William A. Hall, William Allen, John Jay, Abra ham Baldwin, A. S. Barnes, Hiram Barney, Seth B. Hunt, Samuel Holmes, Charles Collins, R. R. Graves, Walter S. Griffith, A. H. Wallis, D. S. Gregory, J. W. Alvord, George Whipple, A. S. Hatch, Walter T. Hatch, E. A. Lambert, W. G. Lambert, Roe Lockwood, R. H. Man ning, R. W. Ropes, Albert Woodruff, and Thomas Denny, of New York ; John M. Forbes, William Claflin, S. G. Howe, George L. Stearns, Edward Atkinson, A. A. Lawrence, and John M. S. Williams, of Massa- 404 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. chusetts ; Edward Harris and Thomas Davis, of Rhode Island ; Stephen: Colwell, J. Wheaton Smith, Francis E. Cope, Thomas Webster, B. S.- Hunt, and Henry Samuel, of Pennsylvania ; Edward Harwood, Adam Poe, Levi Coffin, J. M. Walden, of Ohio, and their successors, are constituted a body corporate in the City of Washington, in the District of Columbia, by the name of the FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY, and by that name may sue and be sued in any court of the United States. " SEC. 2. And be it further enacted. That the persons named in the first section of this act shall be the first Trustees of the Corporation^ and all vacancies by death, resignation, or otherwise, in the office of Trustee shall be filled by the Board, by ballot, without unnecessary de lay, and at least ten votes shall be necessary for the election of any Trustee. The Trustees shall hold a regular meeting, at least once in each month, to receive reports of their officers on the affairs of the Cor poration, and to transact such business as may be necessary ; and any Trustee omitting to attend the regular meetings of the Board for six months in succession, may thereupon be considered as having vacated his place, and a successor may be elected to fill the same. " SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the business of the Cor poration shall be managed and directed by the Board of Trustees, who shall elect from their number a President and two Vice-Presidents, and may appoint such other officers as they may see fit ; nine of the Trus tees, of whom the President or one of the Vice-Presidents shall be one, shall form a quorum for the transaction of business at any regular or adjourned meeting of the Board of Trustees ; and the affirmative vote of at least seven members of the Board shall be requisite in making any order for, or authorizing the investment of, any moneys, or the sale or transfer of any stock or securities belonging to the Cor poration, or the appointment of any officer receiving any salary there from. " SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Board of Trustees of the Corporation shall have power, from time to time, to make and establish such By-Laws and regulations as they shall judge proper with, regard to the elections of officers and their respective functions, and generally for the management of the affairs of the Corporation, pro vided such By-Laws and regulations are not repugnant to this act, or to the Constitution or laws of the United States. " SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the general business and object of the Corporation hereby created shall be, to receive on deposit such sums of money as may, from time to time, be offered therefor, by or on behalf of persons heretofore held in slavery in the United States,. or their descendants, and investing the same in the stocks, bonds, Treasury notes, or other securities of the United States. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION 405 " SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Trustees of the Corporation to invest, as soon as practicable, in the securities named in the next preceding section, all sums received by them beyond an available fund, not exceeding one third of the total amount of deposits with the Corporation, at the discretion of the Trus tees, which available funds may be kept by the Trustees, to meet cur rent payments of the Corporation, and may by them be left on deposit, at interest or otherwise, or in such available form as the Trustees may direct. " SEC. 7. And be it further enacted. That the Corporation may, under such regulations as the Board of Trustees shall, from time to time, prescribe, receive any deposit hereby authorized to be received, upon such trusts and for such purposes, not contrary to the laws of the United States, as may be indicated in writing by the depositor, such writing to be subscribed by the depositor and acknowledged or proved before any officer in the civil or military service of the United States, the certificate of which acknowledgment or proof shall be endorsed on the writing ; and the writing, so acknowledged or proved, shall ac company such deposit and be filed among the papers of the Corpora tion, and be carefully preserved therein, and may be read in evidence in any court or before any judicial officer of the United States, without further proof ; and the certificate of acknowledgment or proof shall \& prima faeit evidence only of the due execution of such writing. " SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That all sums received on deposit shall be repaid to such depositor when required, at such time, with such interest, not exceeding seven per centum per annum, and under such regulations as the Board of Trustees shall, from time to time, prescribe, which regulations shall be posted up in some conspicuous place in the room where the business of the Corporation shall be trans acted, but shall not be altered so as to affect any deposit previously made. . * " SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all trusts upon which, and all purposes for which any deposit shall be made, and which shall be indicated in the writing to accompany such deposit, shall- be faith fully performed by the Corporation, unless the performing of the same is rendered impossible. " SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any depositor shall die, the funds remaining on deposit with the Corporation to his credit, and all accumulations thereof, shall belong and be paid to the personal representatives of such depositor, in case he shall have left a last will and testament, and in default of a last will and testament, or of any person qualifying under a last will and testament, competent to act as executor, the Corporation shall be entitled, in respect to the funds so remaining on deposit to the credit of any such depositor, to adminis- 406 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA tration thereon in preference to all other persons, and letters 01 ad ministration shall be granted to the Corporation accordingly in the manner prescribed by law in respect to granting of letters of adminis tration, with the will annexed, and in cases of intestacy. "SEC. ii. And be it further enacted, That in the case of the death of any depositor, whose deposit shall not be held upon any trust created pursuant to the provisions hereinbefore contained, or where it may prove impossible to execute such trust, it shall be the duty of the Cor poration to make diligent efforts to ascertain and discover whether such deceased depositor has left a husband, wife, or children, surviving, and the Corporation shall keep a record of the efforts so made, and of the results thereof ; and in case no person lawfully entitled thereto shall be discovered, or shall appear, or claim the funds remaining to the credit of such depositor before the expiration of two years from the death of such depositor, it shall be lawful for the Corporation to hold and invest such funds as a separate trust fund, to be applied, with the accumulations thereof, to the education and improvement of persons heretofore held in slavery, or their descendants, being inhabitants of the United States, in such manner and through such agencies as the Board of Trustees shall deem best calculated to effect that object ; Provided, That if any depositor be not heard from within five years from the date of his last deposit, the Trustees shall advertise the same in some paper of general circulation in the State where the principal office of the Company is established, and also in the State where the depositor was last heard from ; and if, within two years thereafter, such depositor shall not appear, nor a husband, wife, or child of such deposi tor, to claim his deposits, they shall be used by the Board of Trustees as hereinbefore provided for in this section. "SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That no President, Vice- President, Trustee, officer, or servant of the Corporation shall, directly or indirectly, borrow the funds of the Corporation or its deposits, or in any manner use the same, or any part thereof, except to pay necessary expenses, under the direction of the Board of Trustees. All certificates or other evidences of deposit made by the proper officers shall be as binding on the Corporation as if they were made under their common seal. It shall be the duty of the Trustees to regulate the rate of interest allowed to the depositors, so that they shall receive, as nearly as may be, a rateable proportion of all the profits of the Corporation, after deduc ting all necessary expenses ; Provided, however, That the Trustees may allow to depositors to the amount of five hundred dollars or upward one per centum less than the amount allowed others ; And provided, also, Whenever it shall appear that, after the payment of the usual interest to depositors, there is in the possession of the Corporation an excess of profits over the liabilities amounting to ten per centum upon the de- THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 407 posits, such excess shall be invested for the security of the depositors in the Corporation ; and thereafter, at each annual examination of the affairs of the Corporation, any surplus over and above such ten per centum shall, in addition to the usual interest, be divided rateably among the depositors, in such manner as the Board of Trustees shall direct. "SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That whenever any deposits shall be made by any minor, the Trustees of the Corporation may, at their discretion, pay to such depositor such sum as may be due to him, although no guardian shall have been appointed for such minor, or the guardian of such minor shall not have authorized the drawing of the same ; and the check, receipt, or acquittance of such minor shall be as valid as if the same were executed by a guardian of such minor, or the minor were of full age, if such deposit was made personally by such minor. And whenever any deposits shall have been made by married women, the Trustees may repay the same on their own receipts. "SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the Trustees shall not directly or indirectly receive any payment or emolument for their ser vices as such, except the President and Vice-President. "SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That the President, Vice- President, and subordinate officers and agents of the Corporation, shall respectively give such security for their fidelity and good conduct as the Board of Trustees may, from time to time, require, and the Board shall fix the salaries of such officers and agents. " SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That the books of the Cor poration shall, at all times during the hours of business, be open for inspection and examination to such persons as Congress shall designate or appoint. "Approved March 3, 1865." Eleven of these banks were established in 1865, nine in 1866, three in 1868, one in 1869, and the remainder in 1870, after the charter had been amended as follows : "AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED 'AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY,' APPROVED MARCH THIRD, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE. "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the fifth section of the Act entitled 'An Act to Incorporate the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company,' approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty- five, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end 408 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA thereof the words following : ' and to the extent of one half in bonds or notes, secured by mortgage on real estate in double the value of the loan ; and the corporation is also authorized hereby to hold and im prove the real estate now owned by it in the city of Washington, to wit : the west half of lot number three ; all of lots four, five, six, seven, and the south half of lot number eight, in square number two hundred and twenty-one, as laid out and recorded in the original plats or plan of said city : Provided, That said corporation shall not use the principal of any deposits made with it for the purpose of such improvement.' " SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That Congress shall have the right to alter or repeal this amendment at any time. " Approved May 6, 1870." The company was organized on the i6th of May, 1865, and the trustees made their first report on the 8th of June, 1865. Deposits up to this date were $700, besides $7,956.38 trans ferred from the Military Savings Bank at Norfolk, Virginia, on the 3d of June. On the 1st of August the first branch office was opened at Washington, D. C., and on the 1st of September it had a balance due its depositors of $843.84 Other branches were opened during the year at Louisville, Richmond, Nashville, Wilmington, Huntsville, Memphis, Mobile, and Vicksburg. December 14, 1865, the Military Bank at Beau fort, organized October 16, 1865, was, by order of General Saxton, transferred to this company, with its balance of $170,000. At the end of the first year, March I, 1866, fourteen branch offices had been opened, and the balance due depositors was $199,- 283.42. The total deposits made by freedmen in them, from their es tablishment up to July i, 1870, was $16,960,336, of which over $2,000,000 still remained on deposit. The total amount of de posits in the Richmond branch up to that date was $318,913, and the balance undrawn $84,537. The average amount deposited by the various depositors was nearly $284. So far as the facts were obtained, it appeared that about seventy per cent, of the money drawn from these banks was invested in real estate and in business. By the financial statement of the banking company, for August, 1871, it appears that in the thirty-four banks then in op eration the deposits made during that month, which was con sidered " dull," amounted to $882,806.67, and that the total amount to the credit of the depositors was $3,058,232.81. In the THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 409 Richmond branch, the deposits for that month were $17,790.60, and the total amount due depositors was $123,733.75 ', a ll of which was to the credit of Colored people, except $6,929.19. A branch shortly before had been established in Lynchburg, which showed a balance due depositors of $7,382.83. The following table shows the business of the company for -the years 1866-1871 : Table Showing the Relative Business of the Company for Each Fiscal Year. For year ending March i. Total amount of deposits. Total amount of drafts. Balance due depositors. 1866 . 1867 1868 . 1869 1870 . 1871 $305,167 oo 1,624,853 33 3,582,378 3 6 7,257,79 8 63 12,605,781 95 i9,95 2 >647 3 6 $105,883 58 1,258,515 oo 2,944,079 36 6,i84,333 32 10,948,775 20 i7,497,i 11 25 $199,283 42 366,338 33 638,299 oo 1,073,465 3 1 1,657,006 75 2,455,836 ii For year ending March i. Deposits each year. Drafts each year. Gain each year. 1866 . 1867 1868 . 1869 1870 . 1871 $305,167 oo 1,319,686 33 i,957,5 2 5 03 3,675,420 27 5,347,983 3 2 7,347,^5 41 $105,883 58 1,152,631 42 1,685,564 36 3,240,253 96 4,764,441 88 6,548,336 05 $199,283 42 167,054 91 271,960 67 435,i66 31 583,341 44 798,829 36 The total amount of deposits received from the organiza tion of the company to October i, 1871 six years from the opening of the first branch was . . $25,977,435 48 Total diafts during the same period were. . . 22,850,92647 Leaving due depositors October i, 1871 .... 3,126,509 01 The total assets of company on same day amounted to . 3,157,206 17 The interest paid during this time amounted to . . 180,565 35 In 1872 the trustees made the following interesting state ment : 410 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. THE FREEDMAN S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY. FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1872. $4 1 f| ~G k> 3 en *t3 i-i BRANCHES. Jl !-' |l 1 it Q* 1 Q go 0*0 h Q Atlanta, Georgia . $9,419 68 $11,242 30 $245,200 27 $223,020 17 $22,180 10 Augusta, Georgia Baltimore, Maryland . Beaufort, South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 10,771 99 29-755 52 189,600 74 67,668 83 9,217 94 18,644 57 184,924 40 84,464 53 367,653 l6 1,278,042 32 2,993,873 30 3,100,641 65 284,406 14 996,371 98 2,944,441 88 2,795^76 24 83,247 02 281,670 34 49,431 42 305,465 41 Columbus, Mississippi 2,426 15 4,364 34 132,036 46 121,776 67 10,259 79 Columbia, Tennessee . 2,55 2 55 2,086 05 34,088 97 15,738 76 18,350 21 Huntsville, Alabama 7,343 50 10,127 61 416,617 72 364.382 51 52,235 21 Jacksonville, Florida . 67,292 09 57,37 54 3,312,424 55 3,234,445 72 77,978 8 3 Lexington, Kentucky 14,383 85 11,221 13 238,680 22 188,308 76 50,371 46 Little Rock, Arkansas. 7,871 27 9,56 37 172,392 10 154,914 42 17,477 6 8 Louisville, Kentucky 18,311 01 1 7,535 74 1,057.587 71 914,504 61 143,083 10 Lynchburg, Virginia . Macon, Georgia 3,104 48 6,808 98 1,242 56 7,06 1 52 36,880 98 197,050 ci 18,354 87 156,308 75 18,526 ii 40,741 26 Memphis, Tennessee . 20,045 40 27,197 06 970,096 09 840,218 91 129,877 18 Mobile, Alabama 11,136 05 18,645 62 1,039,097 05 933,424 30 105,672 75 Montgomery, Alabama Natchez, Mississippi 8,522 90 25-548 53 8,679 6o 15.005 17 238,106 08 649,256 70 213,861 71 612,985 74 24,244 37 36,270 96 Nashville, Tennessee . 15,731 46 17,098 58 739,691 88 625,166 40 114,525 48 New Berne, North Carolina, 38,113 83 37-775 73 1,057,688 32 1,001,645 74 56,042 58 New Orleans, Louisiana New York. New York . 193,145 48 1 33 ,209 58 207.878 53 74,461 61 2,393-584 8 1,673,249 36 2,171,056 95 1,227,449 57 222,527 13 445-799 79 Norfolk, Virginia . 16,771 88 17,757 38 1,048,762 05 916,047 59 132,714 46 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 11,451 12 9,887 49 357.924 89 278,641 10 79,283 79 Raleigh, North Carolina 5,< 63 28 4,660 18 231,685 82 202,032 44 29,653 38 Richmond, Virginia . 64,112 51 53,900 72 1,082,152 71 9 I2 ,933 45 169,219 26 Savannah, Georgia 30,951 23 27,066 33 1,031,173 38 893,321 30 137,852 02 Shreveport, Louisiana 20,688 72 21,105 59 299.428 39 264,707 78 34,720 61 St. Louis, Missouri 26,323 93 20,599 2 615.876 74 526,490 86 89,385 88 Tallahassee, Florida 4,589 45 4-526 75 361,614 57 329,618 33 31,996 24 Vicksburg, Mississippi Washington, Dist. Colum'a, Wilmington, N'th Carolina, 61,691 73 323.555 79 10,714 10 60,068 28 296.321 26 12,632 65 2,962,235 58 7,438,918 17 457.36o 75 2,823,700 87 6,406,092 39 407,512 51 138,534 7i 1,032,825 78 49,848 24 Alexandria, Virginia 1,929 91 685 80 14,091 77 1,626 35 12,465 42 $1,461,207 52 $1.364,899 95 $38,245,163 80 $34,000,685 77 $4,244,478 03 Total amount of deposits for the month . Total amount of drafts for the month Gain for the month $1,461,207 56 1,364,899 95 96,307 61 Total amount of deposits Total amount of drafts , $38,245,163 80 . 34,000,685 77 Total amount due depositors $4,244,478 03 This first experiment of the new citizen in saving his funds was working admirably. Each report was more cheering than the preceding one. The deposits were generally made by day laborers, house servants, farmers, mechanics, and washerwomen. Two facts were established, viz.: that the Negroes of the South, were working; and that they were saving their earnings. North^ ern as well as Southern whites were agreeably surprised. THE RES UL TS OF EM A NCI PA TION. 4 1 1 But bad management doomed the institution to irreparable ruin. The charter was violated in the establishment of branch banks ; " persons who were never held in bondage and their de scendants " were allowed to deposit funds in the bank ; money was loaned upon valueless securities and meaningless collaterals, and in the fall of 1873, having been kept open ,for a long time on money borrowed on collateral securities belonging to its cus tomers, the bank failed ! During the brief period of its existence about $57,000,000 had been deposited. The liabilities of the institution at the time of the failure, as corrected to date, were $3,037,483, of which $73,774.34 were special deposits and preferred claims. The number of open accounts at the time of the failure were 62,000. The nominal assets at the time of the failure were $2,693,095.20. And in the almost interminable list of over-drafts amounting to $55,567.63, there appeared but one solitary surety ! On the 2Oth of June, 1874, Congress passed an act permit ting the very men who had destroyed the bank to nominate three Commissioners, who, upon the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, should wind up the affairs of this insolvent institution. Section 7 of the Act reads as follows : " SEC. 7. That whenever it shall be deemed advisable by the trustees of said corporation to close up its entire business, then they shall select three competent men, not connected with the previous management of the institution and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, to be known and styled commissioners, whose duty it shall be to take charge of all the property and effects of said Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, close up the principal and subordinate branches, collect from the branches all the deposits they have on hand, and proceed to collect all sums due said company, and dispose of all the property owned by said company, as speedily as the interests of the corporation require, and to distribute the proceeds among the creditors pro rata, according, to their respective amounts ; they shall make a pro rata dividend when ever they have funds enough to pay twenty per centum of the claims of depositors. Said commissioners, before they proceed to act, shall execute a joint bond to the United States, with good sureties, in the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars, conditioned for the faith ful discharge of their duties as commissioners aforesaid, and shall take an oath to faithfully and honestly perform their duties as such, which bonds shall be executed in presence of the Secretary of the Treasury, be approved by him, and by him safely kept ; and whenever said trus,- 412 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tees shall file with the Secretary of the Treasury a certified copy of the order appointing said commissioners, and they shall have executed the bonds and taken the oath aforesaid, then said commisioners shall be in vested with the legal title to all of said property of said company, for the purposes of this act, and shall have full power and authority to sell the same, and make deeds of conveyance to any and all of the real estate sold by them to the purchasers. Said commissioners may employ such agents as are necessary to assist them in closing up said company, and pay them a reasonable compensation for their services out of the funds of said company ; and the said commissioners shall retain out of said funds a reasonable compensation for their trouble, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency, and not exceeding three thousand dollars each per annum. Said com missioners shall deposit all sums collected by them in the Treasury of the United States until they make a pro rata distribution of the same." There are several legal questions that history would like to ask. i. Did not the trustees of the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company violate their charter in establishing branch banks ? 2. Were not the trustees personally liable for receiving deposits from persons who were neither " heretofore held in slavery " nor the descendants of such persons ? 3. Were not persons " heretofore held in slavery" and " their descendants" preferred creditors? 4. Had Congress the authority to go out side of the Federal bankruptcy laws and create such special machinery for the settlement of a collapsed bank? This matter may come before Congress in a new shape some time in the future. The three commissioners, at a salary of $3,000 per annum, were charged with the settlement of the affairs of the bank. They were Jno. A. J. Creswell, Robert Purvis, and R. H. T. Lei- pold. Mr. Creswell was retained by the United States before the Alabama Claims Commission at a salary of $10,000 per an num ; while Mr. Leipold was a lawyer with considerable practice. But neither one of these gentlemen ever entered a court on be half of the company. In a little more than five years they used up out of the assets of the company, $40,000 for their salaries ; paid for salaries to agents, $64,000, and $31,000 for attorneys' fees, aggregating $135,000 nearly one half of the amount dis tributed among depositors for the same length of time. The more the commissioners examined, the greater the liabili ties of the company grew. On the 1st of October, 1875, a divi- THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 413 dend of 20 per cent, was declared ; on the 1st of February, 1878, a dividend of 10 per cent, was declared; on the 2 1st of August, 1880, they declared another dividend of loper cent. ; and on the I4th of April, 1881, a circular was sent out as a crumb of comfort to the anxious, defrauded, and outraged depositors. It is not enough for history to pronounce the failure of this bank an irrep arable calamity to the Colored people of the South; it should be branded as a crime ! There was no more necessity for the fail ure of this bank than for the failure of the United States Treas ury. Its management was criminal ; and Congress should yet seek out and punish the guilty ; and the depositors should be in demnified out of the United States Treasury. Justice and equity demand it. The failure of the Freedman's Bank worked great mischief among the Colored people in the South. But hardy, persistent, earnest, and hopeful, they turned again to the work of making and saving money. They have been more prudent than their circumstances, in some instances, would seem to warrant. Ir Georgia the Colored people have made wonderful progress if business matters. Polls. No. of Acres of Land. Value of Land. City or Town Property. Amount of Money and Solvent Debts of all Kinds. Household and Kitchen Furniture. 88,522 541,199 $1,348,758 $1,094,435 $73,253 $448,713 Horses, Mules, Hogs, Sheep, and Cattle. Plantation and Mechanical Tools. Value of all other Prop erty, not be fore Enumer ated, except Annual Crops, Provisions, etc. Aggregate Value of Whole Prop erty. Total Amount of Tax As sessed on Polls and Property. $1,704,230 $143,258 $369,751 $5,182,398 $106,660.39 Increase in number of acres since return of 1878 .... 39,309 Increase in wealth since return of 1878 $57,523 In Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and in Maryland, Colored men have possessed themselves of 4H HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. excellent farms and moderate fortunes. In Baltimore a com pany of Colored men own a ship dock, and transact a large business. Some of the largest orange plantations in Florida are owned by Colored men. On most of the plantations, and in many of the large towns and cities Colored mechanics are quite numerous. The Montgomeries who own the plantation, once the property of Jefferson Davis, extending for miles along the Mississippi, are probably the best business men in the South. In Louisiana, P. P. Deslonde, A. Dubuclet, Hon. T. T. Allain, and State Senator Young are men who, although taking a lively interest in politics, have accumulated property and saved it. There is nothing vicious in the character of the Southern Negro. He is gentle, affectionate, and faithful. If it has appeared, through false figures, that he is a criminal, there is room for satisfactory explanation. In 1870, out of a population, of persons of color, in all the States and Territories, of 4,880,009, there were only 9,400 who were receiving aid on the 1st of June, 1870 ; and only 8,056 in all the prisons of America. Nine tenths of these were South, and could neither read nor write. During the Rebellion, when every white male from fifteen to seventy was out fighting to sustain the Confederacy when the Southern Government was robbing the cradle and the grave for soldiers the wives and children of the Confederates were com mitted to the care and keeping of their slaves. And what is the verdict of history ? That these women were outraged and their children brained ? No ! But that during all those years of painful anxiety, of hope and fear, of fiery trial and severe priva tion, those faithful Negroes toiled, not only to support the wives and children of the men who were fighting to make slavery national and perpetual, but fed the entire rebel ; army, and never laid the weight of a finger upon the head of any of the women or children entrusted to their care ! To this virtue of fidelity to their worst enemies they added still another, loyalty to the Union flag and escaping Union soldiers. All night long they would direct the lonely, famishing, fainting, and almost delirious Union soldier in a safe way, and then when the night and morn ing met they would point their pilgrim friends to the North Star, hide them and feed them during the day, and then return to the plantation to care for the loved ones of the men who starved Union soldiers and hunted them down with blood hounds ! This is the brightest gem that history can place upon. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 415 the brow of the Negro; and in conferring it there is no one found to object. Since the war the crime among Colored people is to be ac counted for upon two grounds, viz.: ignorance, and a combination of circumstances over which they had no control. It was one thing for the Negro to understand the cruel laws of slavery, but when he found himself a freeman he was not able to know what was an infraction of the law. They did not know what in law constituted a tort, or a civil action from a sled. The violent pas sions pampered in slavery, the destruction of the home, the promiscuous mingling of the sexes, a conscience enfeebled by disuse, made them easy transgressors. The Negro is not a crim inal generically ; he is an accidental criminal. The judiciary and juries of the South are responsible for the alarming prison statis tics which stand against the Negro. It takes generations for men to overcome their prejudices. With a white judge and a white jury a Negro is guilty the moment he makes his appear ance in court. It is seldom that a Negro can get judgment against a white person under the most favorable circumstances. The Negroes who appear in courts are of the poorer and more ignorant class. They have no funds with which to employ coun sel, and have but few intelligent lawyers to come to their rescue. In cases of theft, especially of poultry, pigs, sheep, fruit, etc., it is next to impossible to convince a white judge or jury that the defendant is not guilty. They reason that because the half-fed, overworked slave appropriated articles of food, as a freeman the Negro was not changed. They ascribed a general habit, growing out of trying circumstances, to the Negro as a slave that he soon learned to regard as morally wrong when a freeman. But the most effective agency in filling Southern prisons with Negroes has been, and is, the chain-gang system the farming out of convict labor. Just as great railway, oil, and telegraph com panies in the North have been capable of controlling legislation, so the corporations at the South which take the prisoners of the State off of the hands of the Government, and then speculate upon the labor of the prisoners, are able to control both court and jury. It has been the practice, and is now, in some of the Southern States, to pronounce long sentences upon able-bodied young Colored men, whose offences, in a Northern court, could not be visited with more than a few months' confinement and a trifling fine. The object in giving Negro men a long term of 416 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. years, is to make sure the tenure of the soulless corporations upon the convicts whose unhappy lot it is to fall into their iron grasp. In some of the Southern States a strong and healthy Negro convict brings thirty-seven cents a day to the State, while he earns a dollar for the corporations above his expenses. The convict? are cruelly treated especially in Georgia and Kentucky ; theh food is poor, their quarters miserable, and their morals next to the brute creation. In many of these camps men and women are compelled to sleep in the same bunks together, with chains upon their limbs, in a promiscuous manner too sickening and disgusting to mention. When a prisoner escapes he is hunted down by fiery dogs and cruel guards ; and often the poor prisoner is torn to pieces by the dogs or beaten to death by the guards. No system of slavery was ever equal in its cruel and dehuman izing details to this convict system, which, taking advantage of race prejudice on the one hand and race ignorance on the other, with cupidity and avarice as its chief characteristics, has done more to curse the South than all things else since the war. It was predicted by persons hostile to the rights and citizen ship of the Negro, that a condition of freedom would not be in harmony with his character ; that it would destroy him, and that he would destroy the country and party which tried to make him agree to a state of independent life ; that having been used to the "kind treatment "(?) of his master he would find himself un equal to the responsibilities of freedom ; and that his migratory disposition would lead him into a climate too cold for him, where he would be welcomed to an inhospiitable grave. It is true that a great many Negroes died during the first years of their new life. The joy of emancipation and the excite ment that disturbed business swept the Negroes into the large cities. Like the shepherds who left their flocks on the plains and went into Bethlehem to see the promised redemption, these people sought the centres of excitement. The large cities were overrun with them. The demand for unskilled labor was not great. From mere spectators they became idlers, helpless and offensive to industrious society. Ignorant of sanitary laws, im prudent in their daily living, changing from the pure air and plain diet of farm life to the poisonous atmosphere and rich, fate ful food of the city, many fell victims to the sudden change from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, and from the flesh- pots, garlic, and onions of their Egyptian bondage to the milk and honey of the Canaan of their deliverance. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. 417 But this was in accordance with an immutable law of nature. Every year a large number of birds perish in an attempt to change their home ; every spring-time many flowers die at their birth. The law of the survival of the fittest is impartial and inexorable. The Creator said centuries ago " the soul that sinneth shall surely die," and the law has remained until the present time. Those who sinned ignorantly or knowingly died the death ; but those who obeyed the laws of health, of man, and of God, lived to be useful members of society. But this was the exception to the rule. The Negro race in America is not dying out. The charge is false. The wish was father to the thought, while no doubt many honest people have been misled by false figures. Nearly all white communities at the South had more than enough of physicians ; and science and culture were summoned to the aid of the white mother in the hour of childbirth. The record of births was preserved with pride and official accuracy; and thus there was a record upon which to calculate the increase. But, on the contary, among the Negroes there were no physicians and no record of births. The venerable system of midwifery prevailed. In burying their dead, however, this people were compelled to obtain a burial permit from the Board of Health. Thus the statistics were all on one side all deaths and no births. Looking at these statistics it did seem that the race was dying out. But the Government steps in and takes the census every decade, and, thereby, the world is enabled, upon reliable figures, to estimate the increase or de crease of the Colored race. The subjoined table exhibits the in, crease of the Colored people for nine decades. Year. Colored. Colored gain per cent. ist census. 1790 757,208 2d 1800 1,002,037 3 2 -3 ist decade. 3d 1810 i,377,8o8 37-5 2d 4th " 1820 1,771,656 28.6 3d 5 th ;; 1830 2,328,642 3i-5 4 th " 6th " 1840 2,873,648 23-4 5th " 7 th " 1850 3,638,808 26.6 6th 8th " 1860 4,441,830 22.1 7 th 9th " 1870 4,880,009 9-9 1 8th icth " 1880 6,580,793 34-8 9 th " 1 There is no disguising the fact that the ninth census was incorrect. it was the worst we have ever had. No doubt 4 1 8 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. So here is a remarkable fact, that from 757,208 in 1790 the Negro race has grown to be 6,580,793 in 1880 ! The theory that the race was dying out under the influences of civilization at a greater ratio than under the annihilating influences of slavery was at war with common-sense and the efficient laws of Christian society. Emancipation has taken the mother from field-work to house-work. The slave hut has been supplanted by a pleasant house ; the mud floor is done away with ; and now, with carpets on the floor, pictures on the wall, a better quality of food prop erly prepared, the influence of books and papers, and the bless ings of a preached Gospel, the Negro mother is more prolific, and the mortality of her children reduced to a minimum. The Negro is not dying out. On the contrary he has shown the greatest recuperative powers, and against the white population of the United States as it stands to-day if it were not fed by European immigrants, within the next hundred years the Negroes would outnumber the whites 12,000,000! Or at an in crease of 33^ per cent, the Negro population in 1980 would be 117,000,000! providing the ratio of increase continues the same between the races. And in addition to the fact that the Negro, like the Irishman, is prolific, is able to reproduce his species, it should be recorded that the Negro intellect is growing and expanding at a wonder ful rate. The children of ten and twelve years of age are more apt to-day than those of the same age ten years ago. And the children of the next generation will have no superiors in any of the schools of the country. REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN. 419 CHAPTER XXIII. REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN. THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. THE LEGAL DESTRUCTION OF SLAVERY AND A CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION. FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT GRANTING MANHOOD SUFFRAGE TO THK AMERICAN NEGRO. PRESIDENT GRANT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE UPON THE SUBJECT. UNIVERSAL REJOICING AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE. THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. THE NEGRO IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE OF THE COUNTRY. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. His BIRTH, ENSLAVEMENT, ESCAPE TO THE NORTH, AND LIFE AS A FREEMAN. BF.COMES AN ANTI-SLAVERY ORATOR. GOES TO GREAT BRITAIN. RETURNS TO AMERICA. ESTABLISHES THE " NORTH STAR." His ELOQUENCE, INFLUENCE, AND BRILLIANT CAREER. RICHARD THEODORE GREENER. His EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION, AND SUCCESSFUL LITERARY CAREER. JOHN P. GREEN. His EARLY STRUGGLES TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION. A SUCCESSFUL ORATOR, LAWYER, AND USEFUL LEGISLATOR. OTHER REPRESEN TATIVE COLORED MEN. REPRESENTATIVE COLORED WOMEN. *" "HE Government could not escape the logic of the position it took when it made the Negro a soldier, and invoked his aid in putting down the slave-holders' Rebellion. As a. soldier he stood in line of promotion : the Government de stroyed the Confederacy when it placed muskets in the hands of the slaves ; and at the close of the war had to legally render slavery forever impossible in the United States. The bloody de duction of the great struggle had to be made a living, legal verity in the Constitution, and hence the Thirteenth Amendment. " ARTICLE XIII. " SECTION i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. " SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." This was the consummation of the ordinance of 1787, carried to its last analysis, applied in its broadest sense. It drove the last nail in the coffin of slavery, and blighted the fondest hope o the friends of secession. 420 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. But there was need for another amendment to the Constitu tion conferring upon the Colored people manhood suffrage. On the 2/th of February, 1869, the Congress passed a resolution recommending the Fifteenth Amendment for ratification by the Legislatures of the several States. On the 35 2 5 Total number of members and probationers 206,331 SUMMARY OF MEMBERS. Total number of ministers .... Total number of members and probationers . Grand total membership . . . 213,469 CHURCH PROPERTY. Number of churches 1*833 " parsonages . . . . 218 VALUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY. Value of churches $3,064,911 oo " *' parsonages .... 138,800 oo Total value of church property . $3,203,711 oo ANNUAL CONFERENCES. Number of annual conferences . . . 25 SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. Number of Sunday-schools .... 2,309 " superintendents .... 2,458 " teachers and officers . . . 8,085 " pupils 87,453 " volumes in libraries . . . 129,066 MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. Number of parent home and foreign societies . 1 1 " annual conference societies . . 24. " local societies 250 WlLBERFORCE UNIVERSITY IN 1876. Number of students enrolled males . . . 375 females . . 225 " professors males ..... 3 females .... 7 The total receipts of Wilberf orce University for the year was 456 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. The assets of Wilberforce University in 1876 were as follows Endowment notes $18,000 oo College property ..... 39,000 oo Bequest of Chief-Justice Chase . . . 10,000 oo Nine semi-annual and annual notes . . 900 oo Bills receivable . . . . . . 125 oo Horse, wagon, etc. . . . . . 200 oo Cash in bank 1,000 oo Total assets .... . $69,225 oo The liabilities were only $2,973.42, leaving the handsome amount of $66,251.58 of assets over the liabilities of the institu tion. The General Conference of 1880 met in St. Louis, Mo., on the third day of May. The following are some of the facts, as we glean from the reports : The Financial Secretary, Rev. J. C. Embry, reported that for the fiscal year ending April 24, 1880, he had received $32,336.31 for general purposes alone, and in the four years from April 24, 1876, to April 24, 1880, he had received $99,999.42 for the general expenses of the Church. The General Business Manager, Dr. H. M. Turner, reported the receipts in the Book Concern to be $50,133.76. This was the largest amount of business ever reported by the Concern. The receipts of the two departments were $150,133.18. The total amount raised in 1826 was $1,151.75. The gain since that time has been $148,981.43. RECEIPTS. . Amount of contingent money . . . $27,897 36 " dollar money . . . 33,400 oo " missionary money . . . 25,248 08 " ladies' mite missionary money 2,296 06 for Sunday-school purposes . 115,694 40 " pastors' support . . . 1,282,465 16 " pastors' travelling expenses . 36,608 16 " presiding elders' travelling exps. 7, 338 20 " presiding elders' support . 106,817 20 $1,637,764 62 AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 457 RECEIPTS. (Continued?) Amount brought up .... $1,637,764 62 Amount for educational purposes . . 6,125 46 " " building and repairing churches 596,82448 " " charitable and benevolent pur poses .... 2 j937 2 Total annual collection . . . $2,261,651 58 The amount for four years . . . 9,046,606 24 The General Business Manager's report . 51,00000 Grand total for four years . . $9,097,606 24 STATISTICS OF MEMBERS. Travelling Preachers. Number of bishops . . . . . . 9 " general officers ..... 4 " travelling licentiates .... 434 " " travelling elders .... 445 " " travelling deacons 940 Total number of travelling preachers . . 1,832 Local Preachers. Number of superannuated preachers . . .21 " " local preachers and exhorters . . 7,719 " " elders 42 " " deacons 146 Total number of local preachers . . 7,928 Members and Probationers. Number of members 306,044 " probationers .... 85,000 Total number of members and probationers, 391,044 SUMMARY OF MEMBERS. Total number of travelling preachers . . 1,832 " " " local preachers . . . 7,928 " members and probationers . 391,044 Grand total membership . . . 400,804 453 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA.. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. Number of Sunday-schools .... 2,345 " " teachers and officers . . . 15,454 " " pupils . . . 154,549 ' volumes in library . . . * 93, 35 8 CHURCH PROPERTY. Number of school-houses . . ... 88 " churches ..... 2,051 " " parsonages 395 VALUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY. Value of school-houses .... $26,400 oo> " " churches .... 2,884,251 oo '* parsonages .... 162,603 20 Total value of church property . $3,073,254 20 PAPER. Number of subscriptions to " Christian Recorder " 5,380 In 1818 a publishing department was added to the work of the Church. But its efficiency was impaired on account of the great mass of its members being in slave States or the District of Columbia, where the laws prohibited them from attending school,, and deprived them of reading books or papers. In 1817 the Rev* Richard Allen published a book of discipline; and shortly after this a Church hymn-book was published also. Beyond this there was but little done in this department until 1841, when the New York Conference passed a resolution providing for the publica tion of a monthly magazine. But the lack of funds compelled the projectors to issue it as a quarterly. For nearly eight years this magazine exerted an excellent influence upon the ministers and members of the Church. Its coming was looked forward to with a strange interest. It contained the news in each of the conferences ; its editorials breathed a spirit of love and fellow ship ; and thus the members were brought to a knowledge of the character of the work being accomplished. At length the prosperity of the magazine seemed to justify the publication of a weekly paper. Accordingly a weekly jour nal, named the '* Christian Herald," made its appearance and ran its course for the space of four years. In 1852, by order of the Gen- AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 459 eral Conference, the paper was enlarged and issued as the "Christian Recorder," which has continued to be published up to the present time In addition to this a " Child's Recorder" is pub lished as a monthly. About 50,000 copies of both are issued every month. The managers and editors in this department have been : From 1818 to 1826 Right-Reverened Richard Allen, First Bishop of the A. M. E. Church, served in the capacity of Bishop and General Book Steward. From 1826 to 1835 Rev. Jos. M. Corr. He was the first regularly appointed General Book Steward, and served until Oc tober, 1836, at which time he died. From 1835 to 1848 Rev. Geo. Hogarth. From 1848 to 1852 Rev. Augustus R. Green. From 1852 to 1854 Rev. M. M. Clark, Editor; Rev. W. T. Catto, General Book Steward, and Rev. W. H. Jones, Travelling Agent. From 1854 to 1860 Rev. J. P. Campbell (now Bishop) served in the- capacity of General Book Steward and Editor. From 1860 to 1868 Rev. Elisha Weaver served the most of the time as both Manager and Editor. From 1868 to 1869 Rev. Joshua Woodlin, Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner, Editor. During the year 1869 Rev. Joshua Wood lin resigned. From 1869 to 1871 Rev. A. L. Stanford served until above date, when he also resigned, and Dr. B. T. Tanner was left to act in the capacity of Editor and Manager until May, 1872. From 1872 to 1876 Rev. W. H. Hunter, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner reappointed Editor. From 1876 to 1880 Rev. H. M. Turner, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner again reappointed Editor. 1880 Rev. Theo. Gould, Business Manager, and Rev. B. T. Tanner was for the fourth term appointed Editor. In addition to the work done here on the field, this Church has been blessed with a true missionary spirit. It has pushed its work into " the regions beyond." In 1844 The Parent Home and Foreign Missionary Society was organized by the General Confer ence. Its first corresponding secretary was appointed in 1864, John M. Brown, Washington, D.C. ; 1865 to 1868, John M. Brown; 1868 to 1872, James A. Handay, Baltimore, Maryland; 1872, Rev. W. J. Gaines, Macon, Georgia; 1873, Rev. T. G. 460 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Stewart, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 1874 to 1876, Rev. G. W. Brodie; 1876 to 1878, Rev. Richard H. Cain, Columbia, S. C.; 1878 to 1881, Rev. James M. Townsend, Richmond, Indiana. The following is the last report of the present missionary secretary : RECAPITULATION. Receipts. Collected for general work (including $300 from the W. M. M Society) .... $2,630 35 Collected on the field in Hayti . . . 1,221 54 Women's Mite Society (in addition to the above $30) 364 3i Collected for domestic missions . . . 3,743 87 Total receipts ..... $7,960 07 Expenditures. Total expended on salaries, travelling expenses, printing, etc. ... . $7>773 I0 Balance in Women's M. M. treasury . . 48 97 Balance in general treasury . . . . 138 oo $7,9^0 07 Respectfully submitted, JAMES M. TOWNSEND. The work of education has been fostered and pushed forward fay this Church. Wilberforce University is owned and managed by the Church, and is doing a noble work for both sexes. More than one thousand students have received instruction in this in stitution, and some of the ablest preachers in the denomination are proud of Wilberforce as their Alma Mater. The following gentlemen constitute the faculty : WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY. FACULTY. REV. B. F. LEE, B.D., President, Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Systematic Theology. Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Homiletics, and Pastoral Theology. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 461 J. P. SHORTER, A.B., Professor of Mathematics and Secretary of the Faculty. W. S. SCARBOROUGH, A.M., Professor of Latin and Greek. ROSWELL F. HOWARD, A.B., B.L., Professor of Law. HON. JOHN LITTLE, Professor of Law. MRS. S. C. BIERC&, Principal of Normal Department, Instructor in French y and Natural Sciences. MRS. ALICE M. ADAMS, Lady Principal, Matron, and Instructor in Academic Department. Miss GUSSIE E. CLARK, Teacher of Instrumental Music. ASSISTANT TEACHERS. CARRIE E. FERGUSON, Teacher of Penmanship. D. M. ASHBY, G. S. LEWIS, Teachers of Arithmetic. ANNA H. JONES, Teacher of Reading. REV. T. H. JACKSON, D.D., General Agent. In the summer of 1856 the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church decided to establish in that place a university for the education of Colored youth. Its Board of Trustees consisted of twenty white and four Colored men. Mr. Alfred J. Anderson, Rev. Lewis Woodson, Mr. Ishmael Keith, and Bishop Payne were the Colored members. Among the for mer were State Senator M. D. Gatch and the late Salmon P. Chase. It was dedicated in October, 1856, when the Rev. M. P. Gaddis took charge. He held the position of Principal for one year, when he was succeeded by Professor J. R. Parker, who worked faithfully and successfully until 1859. Rev. R. T. Rust, D.D., became President upon the retirement of Mr. Parker, and 462 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. accomplished a noble work. He raised the educational standard of the school, attracted to its support and halls friends and pu pils, and gained the confidence of educators and laymen within the outside of his denomination. Unfortunately, his faithful labors were most abruptly terminated by the war of the Rebel lion. The college doors were closed in 1862 for want of funds ; the main friends of the institution having cast their lot with the Confederate States. It should be remembered that up to this time this college was in v the hands of the white Methodist Church. The Colored Methodists bought the land and buildings on the loth of March, 1863, for the sum of $10,000. The land consisted of fifty-two acres, with an abundance of timber, fine springs, and a commodious college building with a dozen beautiful cottages. And the growth of the institution under the management of Colored men is a credit to their Church and race. Bishop D. H. Payne, D.D., was elected to the presidency of the university, which position he has filled with rare fidelity and ability for the last thirteen years. In 1876 Rev. B. F. Lee, a former graduate of the college, was elected to occupy the presi dential chair. It was not a position to be sought after since it had been filled for thirteen years by the senior bishop of the Church, but Mr. Lee was the choice of his official brethren and so was elected. President Lee is a native of New Jersey. He is about the medium height, well knit, of light complexion, dark hair and beard of the same color that covers a face handsomely moulded. He is plainly a man of excellent traits of character; he is somewhat bald and has a finely-cut head, broad and mas sive. He moves quickly, and impresses one as a man who is armed with a large amount of executive tact. His face is of a thoughtful cast, and does not change much when he laughs. There were many difficulties to hinder his administration when he took charge, but he surmounted them all. Under his adminis tration the institution has grown financially and numerically. The following report shows the financial condition of the col lege at the present time. RECEIPTS. June 20, 1880. Balance in Treasury, Avery Fund . . $10,000 oo " " Rust Prize Fund . 100 oo cash . . 63 82 Total balance $10,163 82 AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 463 RECEIPTS. (Continued?) Balance . . . . . $10,163 82 Received from Financial Secretary 200 oo " " tuition . . 1,604 49 " " dormitories . .. 525 80 " " Unitarian Associa tion 600 oo Received from loans . . 100 oo Received from interest from Avery Fund ..... 800 oo Received from interest from Rust Fund 8 oo Received from General Agent . 150 oo " contributions . 232 oo " Philadelphia Con ference . . . . . 5 2 95 Received from Illinois Conference 30 oo " bequest of John Pfaff .... . 602 08 Received from miscellaneous . 407 64 $5.3i2 96 Total receipts $15,476 78 EXPENDITURES. To salaries . $3,166 15 " building and grounds .... 243 25 " furnishing building . . . . . 17 7 37 " notes paid with interest .... 285 86 " lectures 600 oo " fuel 116 64 " Powers' Fund interest . . . . 11490 " incidental 296 17 " insurance . . . . . . . 219 oo " miscellaneous ... ... 144 21 Total expenditures $5>3 6 3 55 Balance in bank Avery Fund se curities $10,000 oo Balance in bank Rust Fund se curities .... 100 oo Balance in bank cash . . 13 23 $10,113 23 78 464 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. STATEMENT OF CASH RECEIPTS, FROM 1865 TO l88l. 1865 to 1866 ..... $ 10,677 82 1866 to 1867 6,717 88 1867 to 1868 9,000 oo 1868 to 1869 . . . ... . 5,403 83 1869 to 1870 9,498 24 1870 tO 1871 28,672 22 1871 to 1872 7,270 31 1872 to 1873 4,452 30 1873 to 1874 6,129 77 1874 to 1875 4,962 50 1875 to 1876 7,805 36 1876 to 1877 i3757 66 1877 to 1878 14,429 15 1878 to 1879 4,944 37 1879 to 1880 6,942 98 1880 to 1881 5,312 96 Total . . . $145,977 35 The following-named persons are the bishops of the Church : James A. Shorter, Daniel A. Payne, A. W. Wayman, J. P. Camp bell, John M. Brown, T. M. D. Ward, H. M. Turner, William F. Dickerson, and R. H. Cain. The African Methodist Episcopal Church will remain through the years to come as the best proof of the Negro's ability to- maintain himself in an advanced state of civilization. Com mencing with nothing save an unfaltering faith in God, this Church has grown to magnificent proportions. Her name has gone to the ends of the earth. In the Ecumenical Council of the Methodists in London, 1881, its representatives made a splendid impression ; and their addresses and papers took high rank. This Church has taught the Negro how to govern and how to submit to government. It has kept its membership under the influence of wholesome discipline, and for its beneficent influ ence upon the morals of the race, it deserves the praise and thanks of mankind. 1 'We have to thank the Rev. B. W. Arnett, B.D., the Financial Secretary, for the valuable statistics used in this chapter. He is an intelligent, energetic, and faithful minister of the Gospel, and a credit to his Church and race. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 46^ CHAPTER XXV. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. FOUNDING OF THE M. E. CHURCH OF AMERICA IN 1768. NEGRO SERVANTS AND SLAVES AMONG THE FIRST CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ERECTION OF THE FIRST CHAPEL IN NEW YORK. THE REV. HARRY HOSIER THE FIRST NEGRO PREACHER IN THE M. E. CHURCH IN AMERICA. His REMARKABLE ELOQUENCE AS A PULPIT ORATOR. EARLY PROHIBITION AGAINST SLAVE- HOLDING IN THE M. E. CHURCH. STRENGTH OF THE CHURCHES AND SUNDAY-SCHOOLS OF THE COLORED MEMBERS IN THE M. E. CHURCH. THE REV. MARSHALL W. TAYLOR, D.D. His AN CESTORS. His EARLY LIFE AND STRUGGLES FOR AN EDUCATION. HE TEACHES SCHOOL IN KENTUCKY. His EXPERIENCES AS A TEACHER. Is ORDAINED TO THE GOSPEL MINISTRY AND BECOMES A PREACHER AND MISSIONARY TEACHER. His SETTLEMENT AS PASTOR IN INDIANA AND OHIO. Is GIVEN THE TlTLE OF DOCTOR OF DlVINITY BY THE TENNESSEE COLLEGE. HlS INFLUENCE AS A LEADER, AND HIS STANDING AS A PREACHER. PHILLIP EMBURY, Barbara Heck, and Capt. Thomas Webb were the germ from which, in the good providence of God, has sprung the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The first chapel was erected upon leased ground on John Street, New York City, in 1768. The ground was purchased in 1770. Subscriptions were asked and received from all classes of people for the building, from the mayor of the city down to African female servants known only by their Christian names. Here the Colored people became first identified with American Methodism. From this stock have sprung all who have been subsequently connected with it. Meet ings were held, prior to the erection of John Street Church, in the private residence of Mrs. Heck, and in a rigging-loft, sixty by eighteen feet, in William Street, which was rented in 1767. Here Capt. Webb and Mr. Embury preached thrice a week to large audiences. The original design to erect a chapel must be credited to Mrs. Heck, the foundress of American Methodism. Mr. Richard Owen, a convert of Robert Strawbridge, the founder of Methodism in Baltimore, was the first native Methodist preacher on the continent. The first American Annual Confer ence was held in Philadelphia, Pa., twenty-nine years after Mr. Wesley held his first conference in England, with ten members > 466 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. precisely the same number there were in his. They were Thos. Rankin, President ; Richard Boardman, Joseph Pilmoor, Francis Asbury, Richard Wright, George Shadford, Thomas Webb, John King, Abraham Whiteworth, and Joseph Yearbry. It began Wednesday the I4th and closed Friday the i6th of July, 1773. All the members were foreigners, and in the Revolution many of them were subject to unjust suspicions of sympathy with Eng land, in consequence of this fact alone. The aggregate statisti cal returns for this conference showed 1,160, which was much less than Mr. Rankin supposed to be the strength of Methodism in America. On the 2d of September, 1784, Rev. Thomas Coke, D.D., LL.D., a presbyter in the Church of England, was ordained by John Wesley, A.M., Superintendent or Bishop of the Methodist Societies in America. He was charged with a commission to organize them into an Episcopal Church, and to ordain Mr. 'Francis Asbury an Associate Bishop. He sailed for America at 10 o'clock A.M., September i8th, and landed at New York, Wednesday, November 3, 1784. Mr. Coke at once set out on a tour of observation, accompanied by Harry Hosier, Mr. Asbury's travelling servant, a Colored minister. Hosier was one of the notable characters of that day. He was the first American Negro preacher of the M. E. Church in the United States. In 1780 Mr. Asbury alludjed to him as a companion, suitable to preach to the Colored people. Dr. Rush, allowing for his il literacy for he could not read pronounced him the greatest orator in America. He was small in stature and very black; but he had eyes of remarkable brilliancy and keenness ; and sihgular readiness and aptness of speech. He travelled extensively with Asbury, Coke, and Whiteworth. He afterward travelled through New England, He excelled all the whites in popularity as a preacher ; sharing with them in their public services, not only in Colored but also in white congregations. When they were sick or otherwise disabled they could trust the pulpit to Harry with out fear of unfavorably disappointing the people. Mr. Asbury acknowledges that the best way to obtain a large congregation was to announce that Harry would preach. The multitude pre ferred him to the Bishop himself. Though he withstood for years the temptations of extraordinary popularity, he fell, never theless, by the indulgent hospitalities which were lavished upon him. He became temporarily the victim of wine ; but possessed THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 467 moral strength enough to recover himself. Self-abased and con trite, he started one evening down the neck below Southwark, Philadelphia, determined to remain till his backslidings were healed. Under a tree he wrestled in prayer into the watches of the night. Before the morning God restored to him the joys of His salvation. Thenceforward he continued faithful. He re sumed his public labors. In the year 1810 he died in Philadel phia. " Making a good end," he was borne to the grave by a great procession of both Colored and white admirers, who buried him as a hero one overcome, but finally victorious. It is said that on one occasion, in Wilmington, Del., where Methodism was long unpopular, a number of the citizens, who did not ordinarily attend Methodist preaching, came together to hear Bishop Asbury. Old Asbury Chapel was, at that time, so full that they could not get in. They stood outside to hear the Bishop, as they supposed ; but in reality they heard Harry. Before they left the place, they complimented the speaker by saying : " If all Methodist preachers could preach like the Bishop we should like to be constant hearers." Some one present replied : " That was not the Bishop, but his servant." This only raised the Bishop higher in their estimation, as their conclusion was, if such be the servant what must the master be? The truth was, that Harry was a more popular speaker than Asbury, or almost any one else in his day. 1 So we find in the very inception of Methodism in the United States the Colored people were conspicuously represented in its membership, contributing both money, labor, and eloquence to its grand success. The great founder of Methodism was an inveterate foe of human slavery, which he pronounced " the sum of all villainies," and in this particular the Methodist societies in their earliest times reflected his sentiments. The early preachers were espe cially hostile to slavery. In 1784 it was considered and declared to be contrary to the Golden Law of God, as well as every prin ciple of the Revolution. They required every Methodist to execute and record, within twelve months after notice by the preacher, a legal instrument emancipating all slaves in his pos session at specified ages. Any person who should not concur in this requirement had liberty to leave the Church within one year; otherwise the preacher was to exclude him. No person holding 1 Stevens's Hist, of M. E. Church, pp. 174, 175 ; also Lednum, p. 282. 468 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. slaves could be admitted to membership, or to the Lord's Supper, until he complied with this law. But it was to be applied only where the law of the State permitted. 1 These rules provoked great hostility, and were suspended within six months. The Church had, however, put the stamp of condemnation upon it. And ever in a more or less active but always consistent manner opposed it, until its final extirpation was accomplished, though not until the Church had been several times divided in favor of and against it. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America was organized in what is historically known as the Christmas Conference, which convened in Baltimore at ten o'clock Friday morning, December 24, 1784, Bishop Thomas Coke, presiding. Rev. Francis Asbury was there consecrated a bishop. In 1786 a resolution emphatically enjoining it upon the preachers to leave nothing undone for the spiritual benefit and salvation of the Colored people was adopted. The Church is a limited Episcopacy. The bishops are elected by the General Conference. They fix the appointments of all the preachers, but the conference arranges their duration. The bishops hold office during good behavior. The General Conference is the Legisla tive, and the bishops, presiding elders, pastors, annual, district, and quarterly conferences, with the leaders' and stewards' meet ings, and the general and local trustees, are the Executive Depart ment. The ministerial orders are two : elder and deacon. The offices of the ministry and rank are in the order named, bishop, sub-bishop, pastor, and sub-pastors. The ministry are classified as Effective, Supernumerary, Superannuate, and Local. The property of each congregation is deeded in trust for them to a Board of Local Trustees, who may sell, buy, or improve it for the use of said congregation. The stewards are officers whose labors are partly temporal and partly spiritual. They are en trusted with the raising of supplies, benevolence, and the support of the ministry. Exhorters are prayer-meeting leaders and gen eral helpers in the work of the circuits. Methodism began in a college and has been a great patron of education. It has been largely devoted to the educational and religious culture of the Colored people in the South and in 1 And there was not a single State where this rule could be applied. Slavery ruled the land. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 469 Africa. There are sixteen conferences of Colored members in the M. E. Church fifteen in the United States and one in Li beria. For the Liberian Conference two Colored bishops have been consecrated, viz. : Francis Burns and ex-President Thomas Wright Roberts, both deceased. The present bishops are all white, one of whom annually visits Africa. The same is true of conferences in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Nor way, India, China, and Japan. The agency by which the Church prosecutes this work is the Missionary, Church Extension, F reed- men's Aid, Education, and Sunday-school Union societies. Books and periodicals are amply supplied by its own publishing house, which is the largest religious publishing house in the world. In the sixteen conferences there are 225,000 members, 200,000 Sunday-school scholars, 3,500 day scholars, one medical, three law, and seven theological colleges, and twelve seminaries. There is $500,000 in school and $2,000,000 in church and parsonage property owned by the Colored membership ! The Colored members elect their own representatives to the General Confer ence, and are fully represented in all the work of the Church. At the present time the Rev. Marshall W. Taylor, D. D., and the Rev. Wm. M. Butler are the most prominent men in the Church. Marshall William Boyd (alias) Taylor was born July I, 1846, at Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, of poor, unedu cated, but respectable parents. He was the fourth in a family of five children, three of whom were boys, viz.: George Summers, Francis Asbury, and himself ; and two girls, Mary Ellen and Mary Cathrine. He is of Scotch-Irish and Indian descent on his father's side. Hon. Samuel Boyd, of New York; Joseph Boyd, of Virginia ; and Lieut. -Gov. Boyd, of Kentucky, were blood-rela tions of his,ind all descended from the " Clan Boyd " of Scotland. His mother was of African and Arabian stock. His grandmother, on his mother's side, Phillis Ann, was brought from Madagascar when a little girl, and became the slave of Mr. Alexander Black, a Kentucky farmer, who at his death willed his slaves free. His mother, Nancy Ann, thus obtained her freedom, and by the terms of the will she was put to the millinery trade, which she fully mastered, and meantime obtained an elementary knowl edge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. She married Albert Summers, and bore to him two children, viz., George Summers and Mary Catharine. He ran away to prevent being sold, and she afterward married Samuel Boyd, to whom she bore three, 4/0 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. children, viz., Francis Asbury, Marshall William, and Mary Ellen. His father, Samuel, was the son of Hon. Samuel Boyd, of New York. He was noted for his independence of character ; was a valuable but unruly slave. He was allowed an opportunity to purchase his freedom, and this he began to do, and had paid $250, three fourths of the price, when his master sold him to Tennessee. He promptly ran away from his new master, but unwilling to forsake his family, went back to Kentucky. His master pursued and overtook him at Lexington, where he had stopped. He refused to go back to Tennessee, and once more was permitted to select a master, and finally to again contract for his freedom, which he this time succeeded in obtaining. In con sequence of his mother's emancipation, Marshall was free when he first saw the light of day. By occupation his father was a hemp-breaker, rope-maker, and farmer. The last he elected to follow after he was free. He employed his boys as farmers, but his mother strenuously opposed it, wishing better opportunities than could be thus afforded for their education. She at length succeeded in carrying her point. In religion his father at first inclined to the Baptists, of which Church he became a deacon in the congregation of Rev. Mr. Fer- rill, of Pleasant Green Church, Lexington. Later he became dissatisfied with the Baptists, and united with the African Methodists at Frankfort, Ky. He finally went back to the Bap tist Church and died in that faith. Marshall's mother, and all her people, so far as known, were Methodists, His early training and first and only religious im pressions were Methodistic, which Church, after his conversion, he joined. His father had no knowledge of letters, so that all Jiis home instruction came from his mother. Her text-books were the Bible, Methodist Catechism, and Webster's Elementary Spelling Book. And in these young Marshall became very pro ficient. He afterward attended school daily to Rev. John Tibbs, an African Methodist preacher, who came from Cincinnati to Lex ington to teach free children and such of the slaves as would be permitted to attend. Some masters granted this permission, but the greater number refused it. Finally, some "poor white" fel lows, unable to own slaves themselves, mobbed the teacher, rode him on a rail, tarred, feathered, and drove him from town. They were called black Indians. It was impossible to secure another teacher in Lexington for a day school, but Mr. George Perry, an THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 471 intelligent free Colored man, had the courage to teach Sunday- school, in the Branch Methodist Church. It is now called As- bury M. E. Church. Marshall attended, as did his mother and brothers. In 1854 the family moved to Louisville, looking for a school. Finding none there, they continued their journey about fifty miles above there on the Ohio River, and landed at Ghent, a little village in Carroll County, Ky., opposite Vevey, Indiana. They indulged a hope that the children would be allowed to attend the public schools at Vevey, but they were doomed in this expectation. They spent two years at Ghent. Marshall and his brother obtained instruction during this period from the little white children who attended school, after hours, using " an old hay loft back of a Mr. Sanders's Tavern " for a recitation- room, and paying their teachers with cakes and candies bought with odd pennies gathered here and there. On the 1st of August, 1856, there was an Emancipation cele bration at Dayton, Ohio. Frederick Douglass was advertised to speak, and other eminent Abolitionists were expected to partici pate. Marshall's mother attended it. Soon after her return several slaves mysteriously disappeared from the vicinity of Ghent. Among them was a very valuable family belonging to Esquire Craig, of the village. Suspicion fastened on the old lady who had been off among the " Abolitionists." She was in dicted by the Grand Jury, and thirty-six men filed into her cabin, and while she lay sick in bed, read the indictment to her. They ordered her to leave the place. She refused to go, claimed her innocence, but to no purpose. "They chased Francis with guns and dogs on the public streets in daylight ; shaddowed the cabin and gave unmistakable evidence of a diabolical purpose." She soon after returned to Louisville. Young Marshall became a messenger in the law firm of J. B. Kincaid and John W. Barr. Here his chances were good, both of these gentlemen aiding him in his studies. He did his work after school hours at the office, and attended a school which was kept in the " Centre Street Colored Methodist Church," until it closed. Rev. Henry Henderson, a Colored Methodist preacher, now opened a school in Centre Street, and Marshall was duly enrolled among his pupils. On his retirement, Mrs. Elizabeth Cumings, a highly cultured and pious lady, taught a private school on Grayson, between Sixth and Seventh streets. He now went to 472 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. her. She died soon after, when he was sent to a Mr. William H. Gibson, who had already opened a school on Seventh, between Jefferson and Green streets, in an old carpenter shop. Here he continued until 1861. In 1866 Mr. Taylor opened a Freedmen's School at Hardins- burg, Breckenridge Co., Ky. This was in an old church, the property of the M. E. Church South. It had been donated for church purposes by George Blanford. If used otherwise it was to revert to the donor. A Negro school was obnoxious to the community. His was the first there had ever been in the village, and notwithstanding the white people had long since abandoned the property to the Colored people this question was now raised in order to break up the school. It did not succeed, as they easily proved that the original intent of the donor was not vio lated, since Colored people still used the property as a church. Failing in this the school was tormented by ruffians. Pepper was rolled up in cotton, set on fire, and hurled into the room to set every one coughing. Finally threats of personal violence were made if he did not leave, but Mr. Taylor armed himself, defied the enemies of freedom, and stayed. At last, on Christmas evening, Dec. 25, 1867, the house was blown up with powder. The arrangement was to set off the blast with a slow match so as to catch the house full of people, there being a school exhibition that night. The explosion took place at 1 1:30 P.M., but owing to the excitement occasioned by the novelty of such a thing as a " Negro School Exhibition," the crowd had gathered much ear lier than announced. The programme was completed before II P.M., and by this accident the school and teacher were saved. The old wreck still remains a monument to color prejudice. By the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau another school-house was soon built, and the school proceeded. This was followed by a meeting-house. The white people, whose sentiments were now rapidly turning, subscribed liberally toward it. In 1868 an educational convention was held at Owensboro, in Davies Co., Ky., of which Mr. Taylor was elected president. He soon after wrote a manual for Colored schools, which was generally used in that section. In 1869 he attended the first Colored political convention ever held in Kentucky, at Major Hall in Frankfort. He was one of the Educational Committee, and submitted a report. This year he was also a member of a convention at Jackson Street Church, Louisville, which inaugu- THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 473 rated the movement for the Lexington M. E. Conference. He was licensed as a local preacher this year by Rev. Hanson Tolbert at Hardinsburg, and was assisted in the study of theology by Rev. R. G. Gardiner, J. H. Lennin, and Dr. R. S. Rust. He went to Arkansas as a missionary teacher and preacher at the call of Rev. W. J. Gladwin, and remained there one year. He organized several societies of the Church, taught school at Midway, Forrest City, and Wittsburg; took part in the political campaign of that year ; and was nominated, but declined to run, for Representative from Saint Frances County. He preached in Texas, Indian Territory, and Missouri ; was put in peril by the Ku Klux at Hot Springs ; took the chills and returned to Ky., in 1871. He was then appointed to the Litch- field Circuit, Southwestern Kentucky. In 1872 he united with the Lexington Conference of M. E. Church on trial. He was ordained a deacon by Bishop Levi Scott at Maysville, Ky., and sent to Coke Chapel, Louisville, Ky., and Wesley Chapel, Jeffer- sonville, Indiana. He remained in this charge three years, dur ing which time he published the monthly " Kentucky Methodist," and wrote extensively for the press. He was elected assistant secretary, editor of the printed minutes of the conference, and finally secretary. In 1875 he was sent as pastor to Indianapolis, Ind. He was ordained elder by Bishop Wiley at Lexington in 1876, and returned to Indianapolis. He took an active part in the political campaign of 1876, and was sent to Union Chapel, Cincinnati, 1877-8. In 1879 the faculty of Central Tennessee College, at Nashville, Tennessee, conferred upon him the title and credentials of a Doctor of Divinity. He wrote the life of Rev. Geo. W. Downing. In 1879 Dr. Taylor was appointed Presiding Elder of the Ohio District, Lexington Conference. In 1880 he was sent as frater nal delegate from the M. E. to the A. M. E. General Conference at St. Louis ; he having been previously elected lay delegate to the General Conference of the M. E. Church in Brooklyn, New York, in 1879. He was the youngest member of that body. Upon his motion fraternal representatives were sent to the various Colored denominations of Methodists. He was appointed in 1881 as a dele gate from the M. E. Church to the Ecumenical Conference at London, England. He was the caucus nominee of the Colored delegates to the General Conference in Cincinnati in 1880 for bishop. He was always opposed to caste discriminations in 474 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Church, State, or society. He has opposed Colored conferences and a Colored bishop as tending to perpetuate discriminations. He does not oppose the election of Colored men, but wishes that every honor may fall upon them because of merit and not on ac count of their color. He has become famous as an eloquent preacher, safe teacher, ready speaker, and earnest worker ; always aiming to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Certainly the Methodist Episcopal Church has reason to be proud of Marshall W. Taylor. In this Church there are many other worthy and able Colored preachers. The relations they sustain to the eloquent, scholarly, and pious white clergymen of the denomination are pleasant and beneficial. It is an education. And the fact that the best pul pits of white men are opened to the Colored preachers is a prophecy that race antagonisms in the Christian Church, so tenacious and harmful, are to perish speedily. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OJF AMERICA. 475 CHAPTER XXVI. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. THE COLORED BAPTISTS AN INTELLIGENT AND USEFUL PEOPLE. THEIR LEADING MINISTERS m MISSOURI, OHIO, AND IN NEW ENGLAND. THE BIRTH, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION OF DUKB WILLIAM ANDERSON. As FARMER, TEACHER, PREACHER, AND MISSIONARY. His INFLUENCE IN THE WEST. GOES SOUTH AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. TEACHES IN A THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. CALLED TO WASHINGTON. PASTOR OF igTH STREET BAPTIST CHURCH. HE OCCUPIES VARIOUS POSITIONS OF TRUST. BUILDS A NEW CHURCH. His LAST REVIVAL. His SICKNESS AND DEATH. His FUNERAL AND THE GENERAL SORROW AT HIS Loss. LEONARD ANDREW GRIMES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. His PIETY, FAITH FULNESS AND PUBLIC INFLUENCE FOR GOOD, THE COMPLETION OF HIS CHURCH. His LAST DAYS AND SUDDEN DEATH. GENERAL SORROW, RESOLUTIONS BY THE BAPTIST MINISTERS op BOSTON. A GREAT AND GOOD MAN GONE. THE Baptist Church has always been a purely democratic institution. With no bishops or head-men, except such as derive their authority from the consent of the governed, this Church has been truly independent and self-governing in its spirit. Its only Head is Christ, and its teachers such as are will ing to take " the Word of God as the Man of their Counsel." From the time of the introduction of the Baptist Church into North America down to the present time, the Colored people have formed a considerable part of its membership. The gen erous, impartial, and genuine Christian spirit of Roger Williams had a tendency, at the beginning, to keep out of the Church the spirit of race prejudice. But the growth of slavery carried with it, as a logical result, the idea that the slave's presence in the Christian Church was a rebuke to the system. For conscience' sake the slave was excluded, and to oblige the feelings of those who transferred the spirit of social caste from gilded drawing- rooms to cushioned pews, even the free Negro was conducted to the organ-loft. The simplicity of the Negro led him to the faith of the Bap tist Church ; but being denied fellowship in the white congrega tions, he was compelled to provide churches for himself. In Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi the HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Colored Baptists were numerous. In the other States the Meth odists and Catholics were numerous. There were few ministers of note at the South ; but New England, the Middle States, and the West produced some very able Baptist preachers. The Rev. Richard Anderson, of St. Louis, Missouri, was a man of exalted piety, consummate ability, and of almost boundless influence in the West. He was the pastor of a large church, and did much to mould and direct the interests of his people throughout Mis souri. He was deeply revered by his own people, and highly re spected by the whites. When he died, the entire city of St. Louis was plunged into profound mourning, and over three hun dred carriages many belonging to the wealthiest families in the city followed his body to the place of interment. In Ohio the Rev. Charles Satchell, the Rev. David Nickens, the Rev. W. P. Newman, the Rev. James Poindexter, and the Rev. H. L. Simpson were the leading clergymen in the Colored Baptist churches. Cincinnati has had for the last half century excellent Baptist churches, and an intelligent and able ministry. There are several associations embracing many live churches. In Kentucky the Colored Baptists are very numerous, and own much valuable property ; but Virginia seems to have more Baptists among its great population of Colored, people than any other State in the South. There are a dozen or more in Rich mond, including the one presided over by the famous John Jas per. One of them has, it is said, three thousand members (?). But the District of Columbia has more Colored churches for its area and population than any other place in the United States. There are at least twenty-five Baptist churches in the Dis trict, and some of them have interesting histories. The Nineteenth Street Baptist Church is as an intelligent a society of Christian people of color as there is to be found in any city in the country. Its pulpit has always been occupied by the ablest ministers in the country. The Revs. Sampson White, Samuel W. Madden, and Duke W. Anderson were men of education and marked ability. And there is little doubt but what Duke W. Anderson was the ablest, most distinguished clergyman of color in the United States. And for his work's sake he deserves well of history. Duke William Anderson was born April 10, 1812, in the vicinity of Lawrenceville, Lawrence County, in the State of Illinois, of a Negro mother by a white father. His father, lately from North THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. 477 Carolina, fell under Gen. Harrison fighting the Indians. Like so many other great men he was born in an obscure place a wigwam. At the time of his father's death he was quite a young baby. He was now left to the care of a mother who, in many respects, was like her husband, bold and courageous for the truth, and yet as gentle as a child. It is peculiarly trying and difficult for a mother who has all the comforts of modern city life, to train and edu cate her boys for the duties of life ; and if so, how much more trying and difficult must it have been for a mother on the North western frontiers, seventy years ago, to train her boys? Destitute of home and its comforts, without friends or money; no farm, school, or church, Mrs. Anderson began to train her two boys, John Anderson and D. W. Anderson. Of the former, little or nothing is known, save that he was the only brother of D. W. Anderson. True to the instincts of her motherly heart, Mrs. Anderson was determined to remain upon the spot purchased and conse crated by the blood of her lamented husband. She could not divorce herself from the approximate idea and object of her hus band's life and death. He had turned from the comforts of a happy home ; had chosen hardships rather than ease that he might realize the dream of his youth, and the object of his manly endeavors the right of suffrage to all. Her children could not build their play-house of Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, or Southey. All the instruction Duke William obtained came from his mother. She was very large and healthy. Her com plexion was of perfect black. She was possessed of excellent judgment, patience, and industry. She stored the young mind of her boy with useful agricultural knowledge, of which she pos sessed a large amount. An education does not consist in acquiring lessons, obtaining a simple, abstract, objective knowledge of certain sciences. It is more than this. It consists, also, in being able to apply and use rightly a given amount of knowledge. And though D. W. Anderson was never permitted to enter college, yet, what he got he got thoroughly, and used at the proper time to the best advantage. Nature was his best teacher. While yet a very young boy he was awed by her splendors, and attracted by the complicated workings of her manifold laws. He began to study the innu merable mysteries which met him in every direction. He heard 478 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. God in the rippling water, in the angry tempest, in the sighing wind, and in the troops of stars which God marshals upon the plains of heaven. In the study of nature he exulted. He sat in her velvet lap, sported by her limpid waters, acquainted him self perfectly with her seasons, and knew the coming and going of every star. God was training this man for the great mission which he afterward so faithfully performed. No soul that was ever filled with such grand and humane ideas as was that of Duke William Anderson can be crushed. He knew no boundaries for his soul r except God on one side and the whole universe on the other. He was as free in thought and feeling as the air he inhaled, or the birds in the bright sky over his head. His soul had for many years communed with the God of nature ; had been taught by the mighty workings of truth, feeling, and genius within, and by the world without, that he was not to be confined to earth forever, but that beyond the deep blue sky, into which he so- much longed to peer, there dwelt the Creator of all things, and there the home of the good ! Like the " wise men of the East," knowing no other Gob! but the God of nature, his primitive ideas of religion were naturally based upon nature. In that wild and barren territory nature was impressive, desolate, and awful. The earth, air, and sky incited him to thought and stimulated his imagination. Every appearance, every phenomenon the storm, the thunder, speak the prophecies of God. He was filled with great thoughts and driven by grand ideas. It is difficult to compute the value of the mother to the child. It is the mother who loves, because she has suffered. And this seems to be the great law of love. Not a triumph in art, litera ture, or jurisprudence from the story of Homer to the odes of Horace, from the times of Bacon and Leibnitz to the days of Tyndall and Morse that has not been obtained by, toil and suffering ! The mother of Anderson, having suffered so much in her loneliness and want, knew how to train her boy, the joy of her life. And he in return knew how to appreciate a mother's love. He remembered that to her he owed every thing, his life, his health, and his early training. He remembered that in childhood she had often, around their little camp-fire, enchanted his youthful mind by the romance of the sufferings and trials of herself and husband. And now finding himself a young man he was determined to change the course of their life. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA, 479 No work so thoroughly develops the body and mind, and is so conducive to health, as farming ; and, perhaps, none so inde pendent. Anderson was naturally healthy and strong, so that farming agreed with him. By this he made a comfortable living, and soon demonstrated to his aged mother that she had not la bored in vain, nor spent her strength for naught. For a number of years he farmed. His motto was " excel sior " in whatever he engaged, and in farming he realized success. As the father of Duke William Anderson had fallen under the U. S. flag, it became the duty of the Government to care for his widow and orphans. Accordingly, Duke William was sent to an Illinois school where he received the rudiments of a Western education. A Western education did not consist in reading poe try, or in examining Hebrew roots, but in reading, writing, spell ing, arithmetic, geography, and history. There were no soft seats, no beautifully frescoed walls, dotted with costly maps, or studded with beautiful pictures ; not a school with a dozen beautiful rooms, heated by hot air. In those days a Western school-house was erected by the side of some public highway, remote from the town. It was constructed of logs, not of the logs that have lost their roughness by going through the saw-mill, but logs cut by the axe of the hardy frontiersman. The axe was the only tool needed to fit the timber for the building. The building was about twelve feet in height, and about sixteen by twenty. The cracks were often left open, and sometimes closed by chips and mud. The floor was made of split logs with the flat side up. At one end of the building was a fireplace and chimney occupying the whole end of the house. At each end of the fireplace were laid two large stones upon which to rest the ends of the logs of wood, under all of which were laid closely large pieces of flat stones covered with an inch or two of mud. At the other end of the building was a door. It was constructed of thinly split pieces of logs held together by pieces of^hickory withes which crossed each end of the door. This door was hung upon wooden hinges, one part of which, instead of being fastened to the door by screws, was fastened by little wooden pegs. The step at the door was a short piece of log flattened a little on the top and braced on the under side by small stones and pieces of chips. The roof was made of long pieces of split timber, the flat side out and the edges smoothed by the axe in order to make them lie snugly. 480 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Such was the school-house in which D. W. Anderson was edu cated. And it may be that the plain'school in which he was edu cated loaned him that modesty, plainness, and unostentatious air, which were among the many remarkable traits in his charac ter. The circumstances and society by which boys are sur rounded help to mould their character and determine their fut ure. To a healthy and vigorous body was coupled a clear and active mind. He loved knowledge, and was willing to buy it at any price willing to make any sacrifice. He was an industrious student, and possessed great power of penetration and acquisi tion. And every thing he read he remembered. The greatest difficulty with students is that they fail to apply themselves. A man may have the ability to accomplish a given amount of work and yet that work can never be accomplished except by the se verest effort. It is one thing to possess a negative power, but it is quite another thing to possess a positive power. In this world we are set over against all external laws and forces. We are to assume the offensive. We are to climb up to the stars by micro scopes. We are to measure this earth by our mathematics. We are to penetrate its depths and lift to the sun its costly treasures. We are to acquaint ourselves with the workings of the manifold laws which lie about us. If we would know ourselves, under stand our relation to God, we must see after the requisite knowl edge. Suppose that Duke William Anderson had despaired of ever receiving an education ; sat down by the way in life and said : " There is no use of troubling myself, I cannot get what I desire. I am destined to be ignorant and weak all the days of my life ; and if there is any good thing for me it will come to me. I will sit here and wait." Would the world ever have known of Anderson? His life would have shed no perfume; his name would have been unknown and his grave would have been for gotten. But it was that courage which never knows defeat, it was that devotion that never wavers, it was that assiduity, and it was that patience that is certain to triumph, which bore him on to a glori ous end, as a summer wind bears up a silver cloud. At the age of seventeen he began to teach school. What Colored man would have essayed to teach school on the frontiers fifty years ago? But D. W. Anderson was born to rule. He was of commanding presence, full of confidence and earnestness. He entered upon his new duties full of hope and joy. This was something new* THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. 481 There was a great deal of difference between handling the hoe and the pen. He found that there was a great difference be tween the farm and the school-house. But he was one of those boys who do every thing with all their might, and he was at once at home, and soon became master of his new situation. Three laborious years were occupied in teaching. And they were years of profit to teacher as well as to pupil. He labored hard to be thorough ; and he greatly improved and finished his own education during his teaching. About this time young Anderson met, courted, and married Miss Ruth Ann Lucas. Anderson soon made all necessary arrangements, and the nuptial ceremony was solemnized by the village parson on the 3 the world the "Twelfth Baptist Church," and sent upon a mission of love and mercy, Leonard Andrew Grimes ! It was an occasion that has brought great strength to the Colored people of Boston, yea, of the country! It was the opening of a door; it was the loosening of chains, the beginning of a ministry that was ta stretch over a period of twenty-five years, carrying peace and blessing to men in every station. And may we not, with pro priety, halt upon the threshold of our gratitude, and thank that wise Being who gave him, a blessing to the church a friend to humanity ? Happy, thrice happy, was the little church that had wedded itself for life to one who had laid himself upon the altar of their common cause. These relations and manifold responsibilities THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. 507 were not hastily or rashly assumed. The little church felt keenly its poverty and weakness, while its new pastor knew that the road to prosperity lay through fields of toil and up heights of difficulty. Before him was no dark future, for the light of an extraordinary faith scattered the darkness as he advanced to duty. What man of intelligence, without capital or social influ ence, would have undertaken so discouraging a project as that to Leonard A. Grimes unconditionally brought the sanctified of a loving heart ? To him it was purely a matter of duty, it was this thought that urged him on with his almost super- .human burdens. But to return to the " upper chamber," and take one more look at the happy little church. It was not the pastor's object to begin at once to perfect plans to secure a place more desirable to worship in than their present little room. His heart longed for that enlargement of soul secured by a nearness to the divine Master. His heart yearned after those who were enemies to the "cross of Christ." His first prayer was: "O Lord, revive thy work ! " and it was not offered in vain. A season of prayer was instituted for the outpouring of the Spirit. The pastor led the way to the throne of grace in a fervent and all-embracing prayer. A spirit of prayer fell upon his people. Every heart trembled in tenderest sympathy for those who were strangers to the " cove nant of mercy " ; every eye was dampened with tears of gratitude and love ; every tongue was ready to exclaim with Watts : " 'T was the same lo.ve that spread the feast, That sweetly forced us in ; Else we had still refused to taste, And perished in our sin.'* The church had reached that point in feeling where the bless ing is sure. They heard the coming of the chariot, and felt the saving power of the Lord in their midst. It was a glorious re vival. There were more converted than there were members in the church. Oh, what joy, what peace, what comfort in the Holy Ghost was there in that " upper chamber " ! What tongue or pen can describe the scene in that room when over thirty souls were gathered into the fold ! A pastor's first revival ! What rejoicing ! The gathering of his first children in the Lord ! Ask Paul what conscious pride he took in those who were his " epistles," his " fruit in the Gospel," his " children " in Christ 508 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Jesus. It lifted Brother Grimes up to the heights of Pisgah in his rejoicing, and laid him low at the cross in his humility. " The Lord had done great things for him, whereof he was glad " ; And they " did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." The rooms in which they began now proved too small for their rapidly increasing membership. They agreed to have a building of their own. It was now the latter part of 1848. The business eye of the pastor fell upon a lot on Southac Street ; and in the early part of 1849 the trustees purchased it. Prepa rations for building were at once begun. It seemed a large un dertaking for a body of Christians so humble in circumstances, so weak in numbers. But faith and works were the genii that turned the tide of prosperity in their favor. They decided that the ground and edifice should not exceed in cost the sum of $10,000. The society proposed to raise two or three thousand within its own membership ; three thousand by loan, and solicit the remainder from the Christian public. Previous to this period the public knew little or nothing of this society. Brother Grimes had come to Boston almost an entire stranger, and had now to undertake the severe task of presenting the interests of a society so obscure and of so recent date. But he believed in his cause, and knew that success would come. He had known Dr. Neale in Washington City, during his early ministry ; they were boys together. They met. It was a pleasant meeting. The Rev. Mr. Neale vouched for him before the public. It was not particularly necessary, for Brother Grimes carried a recommendation in his face : it was written all over with veracity and benevolence. Joyfully and successfully he hurried on his mission. He made friends of the enemies of evangelical religion, and gathered a host of admirers around him. The public saw in him not only the zealous pastor of an humble little church, but the true friend of humanity. The public ear was secured ; his prayer was an swered in the munificent gifts that came in from every direction. Every person seemed anxious to contribute something to this noble object. It was a beautiful morning ! The sun never shone brighter, nor the air smelled sweeter or purer than on that memorable first day of August, 1850 The first persons to usher themselves into the street that morning were the happy members of the "Twelfth THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. 509 Baptist Church." Every face told of the inward joy and peace of thankful hearts. Those who had toiled long through the days of the church's " small things," felt that their long-cherished hopes were beginning to bud. Long before the appointed hour the members and friends of the church began to gather to participate in the " laying of the corner-stone of the Twelfth Baptist Church." It was a sweet, solemn occasion. " Rev. Drs. Sharp, Neale and Colver, together with the pastor of the church, officiated on the occasion. The usual documents were deposited with the stone, and the customary proceedings gone through with, in a solemn and impressive manner." The occasion lent an enthusiasm for the work hitherto un known. They were emboldened. The future looked bright, and on every hand the times were propitious. Gradually the walls of the edifice grew heavenward, and the building began to take on a pleasing phase. At length the walls had reached their proper height, and the roof crowned all. Their sky was never brighter. It is true a " little speck of cloud " was seen in the distance ; but they were as unsuspicious as children. The cloud approached gradually, and, as it approached, took on its terrible characteristics. It paused a while ; it trembled. Then there was a death-like silence in the air, and in a moment it vomited forth its forked lightning, and rolled its thunder along the sky. It was the explosion of a Southern shell over a Northern camp, that was lighted by the torch of ambition in the hands of fallen Webster. It was the culmination of slave-holding Virginia's wrath. It was invading the virgin territory of liberty-loving Massachusetts. It was hunting the fugitive on free soil, and tearing him from the very embrace of sweet freedom. When the time came to enlist Colored soldiers, Leonard A. Grimes was as untiring in his vigilance as any friend of the Fifty- fourth Regiment of Massachusetts volunteers, while the members of his church were either joining or aiding the regiment. So highly were the services of Brother Grimes prized that the chap laincy of the regiment was not only tendered him, but urged upon him ; but the multifarious duties of his calling forbade his going with the regiment he loved and revered. The ladies of his congregation were busy with their needles, thus aiding the cause of the Union ; and no church threw its doors open more readily to patriotic meetings than the Twelfth 510 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. Baptist Church. And during those dark days of the Union, when all seemed hopeless, when our armies were weak and small, the prayers of a faithful pastor and pious people ascended day and night, and did much to strengthen the doubting. The fugitive-slave law and civil war had done much to weaken the church financially and numerically. Many who fled from the fugitive-slave law had not returned ; the young men had entered the service of the country, while many others were absent from the city under various circumstances. But notwith standing all these facts, God blessed the church even in war times, and many were converted. The struggle was now ended. "The Boys in Blue" came home in triumph. The father separated from child, the husband from wife, could now meet again. Those who were driven before the wrath of an impious and cruel edict could now return to the fold without fear. What a happy occasion it was for the whole church ! The reunion of a family long separated ; the gathering of dispersed disciples. The occasion brought such an undistin- guishable throng of fancies such joy, such hope, such blessed fellowship as no pen can describe. At the commencement of the Rebellion the church numbered about 246 ; and at the close of the Rebellion it numbered about 300, notwithstanding the discouraging circumstances under which she labored. The revivals that followed brought many into the church, and the heart of the pastor was greatly encouraged. At first it was thought that the entire cost of the land and building would not exceed $10,000 ; but the whole cost, from the time they began to build until the close of the war, was $14,044.09. In 1861 the indebtedness of the church was $2,967.62; at the close of the war it was about $2,000. During all these years of financial struggle the church had ever paid her notes with promptness and without difficulty. And now that the war was over, freedom granted to the en slaved, and the public again breathing easy, the little church, not weary of well-doing, again began the work of removing the remaining debt. The public was sought only in the most ex treme necessity. The ladies held sewing circles, and made with the needle fancy articles to be sold in a festival, while the mem bers of the church were contributing articles of wearing apparel, or offering their services at the sale tables. The proceeds were given to the society to pay its debts ; and it was no mean gift. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA, 511 From 1865 to 1871 the church grew rapidly. Revivals were of frequent occurrence ; and many from the South, learning of the good name of Rev. Mr. Grimes, sought his church when coming to Boston. But it was apparent that their once commodious home was now too small. The pastor saw this need, and began to take the proper steps to meet it. It was at length decided that the church should undergo repairs ; and the pastor was armed with the proper papers to carry forward this work. The gallery that was situated in the east end of the church was used chiefly by the choir and an instrument. In making repairs it was thought wise to remove the organ from the gallery, and put in seats, and thereby accommodate a larger number of people. Then, the old pulpit took up a great deal of room, and by putting in a new pulpit of less dimensions, more room could be secured for pews. This was done, with the addition of a baptistry, the lack of which for nearly twenty-five years had driven them, in all kinds of weather, to Charles River. Every thing, from the basement up, underwent repairs. The pews were painted and furnished with book-racks. The floors were repaired, and covered with beautiful carpet ; while the walls and ceilings were richly clothed 'with fresco, by the hands of skilful workmen. In the centre of the ceiling was an excellent ventilator, from which was suspended a very unique chandelier, with twelve beautiful globes, that were calculated to dispense their mellow light upon the worshippers below. But to crown all this expensive work and exceeding beauty thus be stowed upon the house, was the beautiful organ that adorned the southwest corner of the church, just to the pastor's right when in the pulpit. It was secured for the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars. All was accomplished. The old house of wor ship was now entirely refitted. No heart was happier than the pastor's the day the church was reopened. 1 The new and elegant organ sent forth its loud peals of music in obedience to the masterly touch of the " faithful one" who for more than twelve years was never absent from her post of duty, and whom none knew but to love and honor. What supreme satisfaction there is in the accomplishment of a work that comprehends, not the interests of an individual, but the interests of the greatest number of human beings ! The 1 It was our good fortune to be present. We remember distinctly his happy face, his words of gratitude and thanks. And as we looked around every face wore an ex pression of complete satisfaction. 512 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. labors of Rev. Mr. Grimes were bestowed upon those whom he loved. He had toiled for his church as a father does to support his family. And no pastor, perhaps, was ever more paternal to his flock than Leonard A. Grimes. He was a man wondrously full of loving-kindness, a lover of mankind. It has been the rule rather than the exception, for a long time, for churches to carry heavy debts ; and when a church is free from debt, it certainly furnishes a cause for great rejoicing. It was so with the Twelfth Baptist Church. For a long time more than twenty years the church had been before the public as an object of charity. For more than twenty years the people had struggled heroically amid all of the storms that gathered around them. Sometimes they expected to see " the red flag " upon their house of worship, but the flag was never raised. The debts of the church had all been removed. The house was absolutely free from every encumbrance ; the people owned their church. But the little church of twenty-three had become the large church of six hundred. The once commodious house was now too 'small for the communicants of the church. The pastor began to look around for a place to build, and considered the matter of enlarging the present house of worship. He had expended the strength of his manhood in the service of his church ; he had built one house, and had never denied the public his service. It would seem natural that a man whose life had been so stormy, yea, so full of toil and care, would seek in advanced age the rest and quiet so much desired at that stage of life. But it was not so with Brother Grimes. He was willing to begin another life time work, and with all the freshness of desire and energy of young manhood. It was now the latter part of the winter of 1873. A revival had been for a long time, and was still, in progress. Converts were coming into the church rapidly. The heart of the pastor was never fuller of love than during the revival. He seemed to be in 1 agony for sinners to be saved. He impatiently paced the aisles, and held private and personal interviews with the impenitent. He disliked to leave the church at the close of the services. He remained often in the vestibule, watching for an opportunity to say a word for the Saviour. Brother C. G, Swan, who preached for him once, said : " I never beheld a more heavenly face ; it seemed as if his soul were ripe for heaven." THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA. 513 Those w.ho saw him in the pulpit the last Sabbath he spent on earth March 9, 1874 will not soon forget the earnestness and impressiveness of his manner. On Wednesday, March I2th, he left the scene of his labors to discharge a duty nearest to his heart. He took $100 from his poor church, as a gift to the Home Mission Society, that was to be used in the Freedmari s. Fund. On Friday evening, March I4th, he reached home just in time to breathe his last in the arms of his faithful, though anxious wife. Thus he fell asleep in the path of duty, in the midst of a mighty work. The news of his death spread rapidly, and cast a shadow of grief over the entire community. The people mourned him. The morning papers gave full account and notice of his death. The following is one of the many notices that were given : "DEATH OF AN ESTEEMED CLERGYMAN. " The Rev. L. A. Grimes, the well-known and universally esteemed colored clergyman, died very suddenly last evening, at his residence on Everett Avenue, East Somerville. He had just returned from New York, where he had been to attend the meeting of the Baptist Board of Home Missions, of which he was a member. He had walked to his home from the cars, and died within fifteen minutes after his arrival. The physicians pronounce it a case of apoplexy. Mr. Grimes was pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church, on Phillips Street, in this city. During the twenty-six years of his ministry in Boston he had won the confidence and regard, not only of his own sect, but of the entire com munity. His labors for the good of his oppressed race attracted public attention to him more than twenty years ago, and this interest mani fested itself in the generous contributions of Unitarians, Episcopalians, and Universalists in aid of his church. During the thirty-four dark days of the infamous Fugitive-Slave Law, and the excitements occa sioned by slave hunts in Boston, Mr. Grimes had a ' level head,' and did much to keep down riotous outbreaks from those who then were told that they had no rights that white men were bound to respect. Fortunate, indeed, will be the church of the deceased, if his successor, like him, shall be able to keep them together, and lead them in right eous ways for a quarter of a century." On the following Monday morning, at the ministers' meeting, appropriate remarks were made, and resolutions drawn up. The following appeared in the daily papers : 5 H HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. " BAPTIST MINISTERS' MEETING. "The Monday morning meeting of the Baptist ministers of Boston and vicinity was held at ten o'clock, Monday, as is the weekly custom. After the devotional exercises, the committee to prepare resolutions on the death of the late Rev. Leonard Andrew Grimes made their report to the meeting. Pending the acceptance of the report remarks eulogiz ing the deceased were made by Rev. R. H. Neale, D.D., and others. The resolutions, which were thereupon given a place upon the records of the meeting, are as follows : In the death of Leonard Andrew Grimes, for twenty-seven years the pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston, the city in which he lived, the race for which he labored have sustained an irreparable loss. The confrere of Daniel Sharp, Baron Stow, Phineas Stow, Nathaniel Colver, Rev. Mr. Graves of the 'Deflector/ he was one whose coming might always be welcomed with the exclamation of our Saviour concerning Nathaniel : * Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.' His last efforts were put forth for his race. He carried to the Board of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, of which he had been for many years an hon ored member, a large contribution from his church, to help on Christ's work among the Freedmen, and, on returning from New York, stopped .at New Bedford to comfort a broken-hearted mother, whose little child was dying, and then came to the city, and in fifteen minutes after cross ing the threshold of his home passed on to God. " His death affected the ministry and churches as when ' a standard- bearer fainteth.' His familiar face was ever welcome. His resolute bearing, his unswerving fidelity to Christ, to truth, to the church at large, and his own denomination in particular, and his life-long service as a philanthropist, his devotion to the interests of the negro, to whom he was linked by ties of consanguinity and of sympathy, made him a felt power for good in our State and in our entire country. No man among us was more sincerely respected or more truly loved. His de parture, while it came none too soon for the tired warrior, impoverishes us with the withdrawal of an all-embracing love, and leaves God's poor to suffer to an extent it is impossible to describe. " Resolved, That the death of this good minister of Jesus Christ im poses heavy responsibilities upon his surviving brethren. The interests of the race of which he was an honored representative are imperilled. Their noble champion has gone up higher ; but no waiting Elisha saw the ascent, and cried, ' My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof ' ; so who can hope to wear his mantle and con tinue his work ? " Resolved, That we tender to his afflicted widow, and to the church he had so long and faithfully served, this poor expression of our sym pathy, and this truthful evidence of our love. THE COLORED BAPTISTS OF AMERICA, 51$ " Resolved, That the good of his race, just passing from the morning of emancipation into the noonday radiance of a liberty of which they have dreamed, and for which they have prayed, demands that a per manent record be made of this noble man of God." The ministers' meeting adjourned after the reading of the foregoing resolutions, to attend the funeral services, which were to take place in Charles Street Church. At an early hour in the morning the body was placed in front of the altar in the church of the deceased, where it lay in state all the forenoon, and where .appropriate services were conducted by Drs. Cheney, Fulton, and others. Thousands, of every grade and hue, thronged the church to have a last fond look at the face so full of sunlight in life, and so peaceful in death. At one o'clock the remains were removed to Charles Street Church, where the funeral services were conducted with a feeling of solemnity and impressiveness worthy of the sad occasion. The addresses of Drs. Neale and Fulton were full of tenderness and grief. Both of these gentlemen were, for many years, the intimate friends of the deceased. They were all associated together in a noble work for a number of years, and there were no hearts so sad as those of Brothers Neale and Fulton. Clergy men of every denomination were present, and the congregation contained men and women from all the walks of life. The funeral was considered one of the largest that ever took place in Boston. On the following Sabbath quite a number of the Boston pulpits gave appropriate discourses upon the " Life and Char acter of the late L. A. Grimes." The most noticeable were those delivered by Rev. R. N. Neale, D.D., Rev. Justin D. Fulton, D.D., and Rev. Henry A. Cook. Within the last decade quite a number of educated Colored Baptist clergymen have come into active work in the denomina tion. The old-time preaching is becoming distasteful to the people. The increasing intelligence of the congregations is an unmistakable warning to the preachers that a higher standard of preaching is demanded ; that the pew is becoming as intelligent as the pulpit. The outlook is very encouraging. However, the danger of the hour is, that too many Negro churches may be organized. We have the quantity ; let us have the quality now. 516 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. 9. THE DECLINE OF NEGRO GOVERNMENTS. CHAPTER XXVII. REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. 1875-1880. THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENTS AT THE SOUTH. SOUTHERN ELEC TION METHODS AND NORTHERN SYMPATHY. GEN. GRANT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DECLINE AND LOSS OF THE REPUBLICAN STATE GOVERNMENTS AT THE SOUTH. A PARTY WITHOUT A LIVE ISSUE. SOUTHERN WAR CLAIMS. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1876. REPUBLICAN LETHARGY AND DEMOCRATIC ACTIVITY. DOUBTFUL RESULTS. THE ELECTORAL COUNT IN CONGRESS. GEN. GARFIELD AND CONGRESSMEN FOSTER AND HALE TO THE FRONT AS LEADERS. PEACE FUL RESULTS. PRESIDENT HAYES'S SOUTHERN POLICY. ITS FAILURE. THE IDEAS OF THE HON. CHARLES FOSTER ON THE TREATMENT OF THE SOUTHERN PROBLEM. lt NOTHING BUT LEAVES" FROM CONCILIATION. A NEW POLICY DEMANDED BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. A REMARKABLE SPEECH BY THE HON. CHARLES FOSTER AT UPPER SANDUSKY, OHIO. HE CALLS FOR A SOLID NORTH AGAINST A SOLID SOUTH. HE SOUNDS THE KEY-NOTE FOR THE NORTH AND THE NATION RESPONDS. THE DECAY AND DEATH OF THE NEGRO GOVERN MENTS AT THE SOUTH INEVITABLE. THE NEGRO MUST TURN HIS ATTENTION TO EDUCATION, THE ACCUMULATION OF PROPERTY AND EXPERIENCE. HE WILL RETURN TO POLITICS WHEN HE SHALL BE EQUAL TO THE DIFFICULT DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP. FROM 1868 to 1872 the Southern States had been held by the Republican party, with but a few exceptions, without much effort. The friends of the Negro began to con gratulate themselves that the Southern problem had been solved. Every Legislature in the South had among its members quite a fair representation of Colored men. Among the State officers there was a good sprinkling of them ; and in some of the States there were Negroes as Lieut.-Governors. Congress had opened its doors to a dozen Negroes ; and the consular and diplo matic service had employed a number of them in foreign parts. And so with such evidences of political prosperity before their eyes the friends of the Negro at the North regarded his " calling: and election sure." REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. 517 In 1873 a great financial panic came to the business and monetary affairs of the country. It was the logic of an inflated currency, wild and visionary enterprises, bad investments, and prodigal living. Banks tottered and fell, large business houses suspended, and financial ruin ran riot. Northern attention was diverted from Southern politics to the " destruction that seemed to waste at noon-day." Taking advantage of this the South seized the shot-gun and wrote on her banners : " We must carry these States, peaceably if we can ; forcibly if ^ve must" An or ganized, deliberate policy of political intimidation assumed the task of ridding the South of Negro government. The first step was in the direction of intimidating the white leaders of the Re publican organizations ; and the next was to deny employment to all intelligent and influential Colored Republicans. Thus from time to time the leaders of the Republican party were reduced to a very small number. Without leaders the rank and file of the party were harmless and helpless in State and National campaigns. This state of affairs seemed to justify the presence of troops at the polls on election days. Under an Act of Con gress " the President was empowered to use the army to suppress domestic violence, prevent bloodshed," and to protect the Ne groes in the constitutional exercise of the rights conferred upon them by the Constitution. This movement was met by the most determined opposition from the South, aided by the sympathy of the Northern press, Democratic platforms, and a considerable element in the Republican party. j In 1874 the condition of affairs in the South was such as to alarm the friends of stable, constitutional government every where. The city of New Orleans was in a state of siege. Streets were blockaded with State troops and White Line leagues, and an open battle was fought. The Republican State govern ment fell before the insurgents, and a new government was es tablished vi et armis. Troops were sent to New Orleans by the President, and the lawful government was restored. The Liberal movement in the North, which had resulted in the defeat of the Republican tickets in Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and even in Massachusetts, greatly encouraged the Bourbon Democrats of the South, and excited them to the verge of the most open and cruel conduct toward the white and black Republicans in their midst. A large number of Northern Legislatures passed resolutions 518 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE ftf AMERICA. condemning the action of the President in sending troops into the South, although he did it in accordance with law. Many active and influential Republicans, displeased with the action of the Republican governments at the South, and the conduct of the Forty-third Congress, demanded the destruction of the Republican party. The Liberal movement had started in 1872. Its leaders thought the time had come for a new party, and counselled the country accordingly. The Forty-fourth Congress was organized by the Democrats.. The Cabinet Ministers were divided on the policy pursued toward the South. In the autumn of 1875 the shot-gun policy carried Mississippi; and from the 6th of July till the Republican government in that State went down into a bloody grave, there was an unbroken series of political murders. President Grant was met by a Democratic Congress ; a divided Cabinet : Zachariah Chandler and Edwards Pierrepont were in sympathy with him ; Bristow and Jewell represented the Liberal sentiment. Then, the Republican party of the North, and many leading journals, were urging a change of policy toward the South. The great majority of Republicans wanted a change, not because they did not sympathize with the Negro governments, but because they saw some of the best men in the party withdrawing their support from the administration of Gen. Grant. There were other men who charged that the busi ness failures in the country were occasioned by the financial policy of the Republican party, and in a spirit of desperation were ready to give their support to the Democracy. It was charged by the enemies of Gen. Grant that when he was elected President he had a solid Republican South behind him ; that under his administration every thing had been lost ; and that he was responsible for the political ruin which had overtaken the Republican party at the South. The charge was false. The errors of reconstruction under the administration of President Andrew Johnson, and the mistakes of the men who had striven to run the State governments at the South had to be counteracted by the administration of President Grant. This indeed was a difficult task. He did all he could under the Constitution ; and when Congress endeavored to pass the Force Bill, the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine, made a speech against it in caucus. Mr. Blaine had a presidential ambition to serve, and esteemed his own promotion of greater moment than the REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. 519 protection of the Colored voters of the South. And Mr. Elaine never allowed an opportunity to pass in which he did not throw every obstacle in the way of the success of the Grant adminis tration. Mr. Elaine has never seen fit to explain his opposi tion to the Force Bill, which was intended to strengthen the hands of the President in his efforts to protect the Negro voter at the South. When the National Republican Convention met at Cincin nati, Ohio, in the summer of 1876, there was still lacking a definite policy for the South. Presidential candidates were numerous, and the contest bitter. Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes, at that time Governor of Ohio, was nominated as a compromise i candidate. There was no issue left the Republican party, as the " bloody shirt " had been rejected by the Liberals, and was generally distasteful at the North. But the initial success of the Democratic party South, and the loss of many Northern States to the Republicans, had emboldened the South to expect national success. But a too precipitous preparation for a raid upon the United States Treasury for the payment of rebel war claims threw the Republicans upon their guard, and, for the time being, every other question was sunk into insignificance. So the inso lence of the " Rebel Brigadier Congress/' and the letter of Samuel Jones Tilden, the Democratic candidate for the Pres idency, on the question of the Southern war claims, gave the Republican party a fighting chance. But there were a desperate South and a splendid campaign organizer in Mr. Tilden to meet. And with a shot-gun policy, tissue ballets, and intimidation at the South, while a gigantic, bold, and matchless system of fraudulent voting was pushed with vigor in the North, there was little show of success for the Republican ticket. The con test on the part of the Republicans was spiritless. It was diffi cult to raise funds or excite enthusiasm. The Republican can didate had only a local reputation. He had been to Con gress, but even those who had known that had forgotten it. A modest, retiring man, Gov. Hayes was not widely known. The old and tried leaders were not enthusiastic. Mr. Elaine had no second choice. He was for himself or nobody. The Democrats prosecuted their campaign with vigor, intelligence, and enthu siasm. They went " into the school districts," and their organ ization has never been equalled in America. The result was doubtful. One thing, however, was sure: 520 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. the Negro governments of the South were now a thing of the past. Not a single State was left to the Republican party. Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina were hanging by the slender thread of doubt, with the provisions of a returning board in favor of the Republican party. The returning boards were the creation of local law ; their necessity having grown out of the peculiar methods employed by Democrats in carrying elections. These boards were empowered to receive and count the votes cast for presidential electors ; and wherever it could be proven that intimidation and fraud had been used, the votes of such precincts, counties, etc., were to be thrown out. The three doubtful States named above were counted for the Republican presidential electors. Their work was carried before Congress. A high joint electoral commission was created by law, composed of the ablest men of the two parties in Congress, with the salt of judicial judgment thrown in. This commission examined the returns of the three doubtful States, and decided not to go be hind the returns ; and, according to a previous agreement, one branch of Congress ratifying, the candidate having the more votes was to be declared duly elected. The country was in an unprecedented state of excitement ; and even European governments felt the shock. The enemies of Republican government laughed their little laugh, and said that the end of the republic had come. British bankers brought out into the light Confederate bonds; while stocks in the United States went through an experience as variable as the weather in the Mississippi valley. The public press was intemperate in its utterances, and the political passions of the people were inflamed every hour. The national House of Representatives was a vast whirlpool of excitement, or, rather it was an angry sea stirred to its depths, and lashing itself into aimless fury by day and by night. When the vote of a State was called, some Democrat would object, and the Senate, which was always present, would retire, and the House would then open a war of words running through hours and sometimes days. When the debate ended, or rather when the House had reached the end of its parliamentary halter, the Senate would again enter, the vote of the State would be counted, and the next one called. Thus the count proceeded through anxious days and weary nights. Business was sus pended ; and the bulletin boards of commercial 'changes were valueless so long as the bulletin boards of the newspapers con tained "the latest news from Washington." REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. 5 21 In this state of affairs there was need of statesmen at the head of the Republican minority in Congress. There were orators ; but the demand was for men of judgment, energy, execu tive ability, men in whom the Democrats had confidence, who could put a stop to filibustering, and secure a peaceful solution of a unique and dangerous problem. These were forthcoming; the late President Garfield and Gov. Foster, then a member of Congress, with Kasson, Hale, and other members of Congress, were among those most active and effective in securing a peaceful result. When the electoral fight was on, and the end seemed uncer tain, these gentlemen stepped to the front and fairly won the repu tation of statesmen. They saw that if the filibustering of the Democrats were brought to a close, it would have to be accom plished by the leaders in that party and on that side of the House. Accordingly they secured Fernando Wood, of New York, as the leader in opposition to filibustering, and John Young Brown, of Kentucky, as his lieutenant. The Republican policy was to allow the Democrats to lead and do the talking, while they should fall into line and vote when the proper time came. But Fernando Wood at the head of the Republicans as a leader, was a spectacle as strange and startling as Satan leading a prayer-meeting. It was too much for an orthodox, close-com munion, hard-shell Republican like Martin I. Townsend ! On Thursday afternoon, the last day of the alarming scenes in Congress, nearly everybody had lost hope. There was no telling at what moment the government would be in anarchy. In the midst of the confusion, excitement, and threatening danger, the Hon. Charles Foster was the most imperturbable man in Congress. On Thursday afternoon Senator Hoar, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, saw Mr. Foster seated at his desk writing as quietly and composedly as if in his private of fice ; he seemed perfectly oblivious to the angry storm which was raging about him. The cold-blooded, conservative New England Senator was as greatly amazed at the serenity of the clear-headed Western Congressman as he was distressed at the impending disaster. He went to Mr. Foster and talked very discouragingly respecting the situation. He said that the Senate was growing impatient at the dilatory conduct of the House, and would probably, at the earliest convenience, send a message to the House demanding that the latter open their doors and 522 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. admit the Senate to complete the count. Congressman Foster stated to the Senator that the House was not in a temper to be driven ; that a resolution of the character of the one proposed would hinder rather than help a peaceful solution of the vexa tious count ; and that if he would only possess his soul in pa tience, before the rising of another sun R. B. Hayes would be peaceably and constitutionally declared the President of the United States. And it was even as he said ; for before four o'clock the next morning the count was completed, and Hayes declared the President of the United States for the Constitu tional term of four years. This is given as one of the many unwritten incidents that occurred during this angry, and, proba bly, most perilous controversy that ever threatened the life of the American Republic. A new policy for the South was now inevitable. From Octo ber 1876 till March 1877, President Grant had refused to recog nize Chamberlain as Governor of South Carolina, or Packard as. Governor of Louisiana. He had simply preserved those govern ments in stat2t quo. He had heard all that could be said in favor of the Republican side of the question, and seemed to believe that it was now beyond his power to hold up the last of the Negro governments with bayonets. He was right. It would have been as vain to have attempted to galvanize those gov ernments into existence as to have attempted the resuscitation of a dead man by applying a galvanic battery. Governments must have, not only the subjective elements of life, but the powers of self-preservation. The Negro governments at the South died for the want of these elements. It was a pity, too, after the noble fight the Republican party of Louisiana and South Carolina had made, and after they had secured their electoral votes for Hayes, that their State officers who had been chosen at the same time should have been abandoned to their own frail governmental resources. But this was unavoidable. Their governments could not have existed twenty-four hours without the presence and aid of the United States army. And this could not have been done in the face of the sentiment against such use of the army which had grown to be nearly unanimous throughout the country. If the Republicans could have inaugurated their officers and administered their govern ments they would have received the applause of the adminis tration at Washington and the God-speed of the Republican REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION, 523 party of the North ; but the moment the United States troops were withdrawn the Negro governments melted into nothing ness. Every thing had been tried but pacification. The men who best understood the temper of that section knew it was incapa ble, as a whole, of receiving the olive branch in the spirit in which the North would tender it. But a policy of conciliation was demanded ; the Northern journals asked it. An ex-Major- General of the Confederate Army was called to the Cabinet of President Hayes, and was given a portfolio where he could do more for the South than in any other place. Gen. Longstreet, a gallant Confederate soldier during the late war, was made Postmaster at Gainesville, Georgia, and afterward sent as Min ister to Turkey. Col. Mosby, another Confederate soldier, or guerilla, was sent to China, and Col. Fitzsimmons was made Marshal of Georgia. It was the policy of the Hon. Charles Foster to have the President recognize young men at the South who had the pluck and ability to divide the Bourbon Democratic party of that section, and hasten the day of better feeling be tween the sections. But the President, either incapable of com prehending this idea, or jealous of the credit that the country had already bestowed upon him, blundered on in selecting men to represent his policy in the South who had no following, and were, therefore, valueless to his cause. His heart was right, but he put too much confidence in Southern statesmen. The South showed no signs of improvement. White Repub licans were intimidated, persecuted, and driven out. The black Republicans were allowed to vote, but the Democrats counted the votes and secured all the offices. The President was under the influence of Alex. H. Stephens, of Georgia, and Wade Hampton^ of South Carolina. He expected much ; but he received noth ing. Instead of gratitude he received arrogance. The Southern leaders in Congress sought to deprive the Executive of his con stitutional veto ; to starve the army ; and to protract the session of Congress. The North had invited its " erring brethren " back, and had killed the fatted calf, but were unwilling to allow the fellow to eat all the veal ! The conduct of the South was grow ing more intolerable every day ; and the President's barren policy was losing him supporters. He had not tied to any safe advisers. Hon. Charles Foster, Senator Stanley Matthews, and Gen. James A. Garfield could have piloted him through many 524 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. dangerous places. But he shut himself up in his own abilities, and left his friends on the outside. The South had gulped down every thing that had been given it, and was asking for more. Every thing had been given except the honor of the cause that the Union army had fought for. To complete the task of con ciliation it was only required that the nation destroy the monu ments to its hero dead, and open the treasury to the payment of rebel war claims, and pension the men who were maimed in an attempt to shoot the government to death. To the credit of President Hayes let history record that he did not surrender his veto power to arrogant and disloyal Southern Congressmen. He became convinced at last that the South was incapable of appreciating his kindness, and was willing to change front. His policy was inevitable. It did great good. It united the Repub lican party against the South ; and a splendid cabinet, a clean administration, and the resumption of specie payments wrought wonders for the Republican party. There was a ripe sentiment in the North in favor of " a change " of policy. The very men who had advocated pacifica tion ; who had " flowers and tears for the Gray, and tears and flowers for the Blue " ; who wanted the grave of Judas equally honored with the grave of Jesus the destroyer and the Saviour of the country placed in the same calendar, were the first men to grow sick of the policy of pacification. But what policy to inaugurate was not clear to them. In the summer of 1878 the Hon. Charles Foster returned to Ohio from Washington City. He had seen State governments in the North slip from the control of Republicans, because of the folly of the Hayes' policy of pacification toward the South. He had the good-sense to take in the situation. He saw that it was madness to attempt any longer to conciliate the South. He saw that the lamb and lion had lain down together, but that the lamb was on the inside of the lion. Brave, intelligent, and far- seeing, on the 1st of August, 1878, he gave the Republican party of the North a battle-cry that died away only amid the shouts of Republican State and National victories in 1880. This was all the North needed. A leader was demanded, and the Hon. Charles Foster sounded the key-note that met with a response in every loyal heart in the country. His idea was that as the South had not kept the faith ; had not accorded protection to the Negro voter ; had not broken up old Bourbon Democratic REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. $2$ organizations, it was the imperative duty of the North to meet that section with a solid front. Hence his battle-cry : "A Solid North against a Solid South." The following is his famous speech pure gold : " I happened to be one who thought and believed that the President's Southern policy, as far as it related to the use of troops for the support of State governments, was right. I sustained it upon the ground of high principle, nevertheless it could have been sustained on the ground of necessity. The President has extended to the people of the South the hand of conciliation and friendship. He has shown a desire, prob ably contrary to the wishes of the great mass of his party, to bring about, by the means of conciliation, better relations between the North and South. In doing this he has alienated from him the great mass of the leading and influential Republicans of the country. He had lost their sympathy, and to a great degree their support. What has he re ceived in return for these measures of conciliation and kindness ? How have these measures been received by the South ? What advance can we discover in them, of the recognition of the guarantees of the rights of the Colored men under the Constitutional Amendments ? We see Jeff. Davis making speeches as treasonable as those of 1861, and these speeches endorsed and applauded by a great portion of their press and people. We see also the declaration of Mr. Singleton, of Mississippi, in answer to a question of mine on the floor of the House, declaring that his paramount allegiance in peace and war was due to his State. " No gentleman from the South, or even of the Democratic party, has taken issue with him. We see also, all over the South, a disposition to resist the execution of the United States laws, especially in the matter of the collection of internal revenue. To-day there are four U. S. officers under arrest by the authorities of the State of South Carolina, in jail and bail refused, for an alleged crime in their State, while in fact these officers were discharging their duty in executing the laws of the United States in that State. Their State courts and their officers re fused to obey the writs of the United States courts in the surrender of these men to the United States authorities. No former act of this treasonable State shows a more defiant attitude toward the U. S. Gov ernment, or a greater disposition to trample upon its authority. I trust the Administration will, in this case, assert in the most vigorous manner possible the authority of the United States Government for the rescue and protection of these officers. I have no bloody shirt to wave. If there is one man in this country, more than another, who desires peace and quiet between the sections, I believe I am that man. Gentlemen may philosophize over this question until they are gray, but you cannot 526 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. escape the discussion of this question so long as a Solid South menaces the peace of the country. A Solid Democratic South means the control of the country by the spirit and the men who sought its destruction. " My own opinion is that there can be no peace this question will not down, until the menace of the Solid South is withdrawn. I had hoped that the policy of President Hayes would lead to the assertion, by a very considerable portion of the South, of their antagonism to Bourbon Democracy. " I confess to a degree of disappointment in this, though I think I see signs of a breaking up of the Solid South in the independent move ment that seemed to be gaining a foothold in all sections of that country. But the effective way to aid these independent movements, this breaking up of the Solid South, is for the North to present itself united against the Solid South. A Solid South under the control of the Democratic party means the control of the party by this element. It means the repeal of the Constitutional Amendments, if not in form, in spirit. It means the payment of hundreds of rebel claims. It means the payment of pensions to rebel soldiers. It means the payment for slaves lost in the Rebellion. It means the abrogation of that pro vision of the Constitution which declares, that the citizens of one State shall have all the rights, privileges, and immunities of the citizens of other States. " If my Democratic friends who seem to be anxious to bring about peace and quiet between the sections are sincere and desire to make their expressions effective, they should act with that party that presents a solid front, a United North, so long as we are menaced with the Solid South. " If it could be understood in the South that they are to be met with a Solid North, I do not believe that the Solid South would exist in that condition a single year. They retain this position because they believe that they can have the support of a fragment of the North ; and thus with this fragment rule and control the country. I would have no fear of the control of the country by the Democratic party if it were made up of something like equal proportion from all sections of the country. I discuss this question, first, because I believe it the most important question at issue in the pending canvass. I repeat that it is the imperative duty of the North to meet the Solid South with a united front" l This speech was delivered at Upper Sandusky, Wyandotte Co., Ohio. It thrilled the North, and put new life into the Re publican party. It gave him the nomination for governor, and 1 Cincinnati Commercial, Aug. I, 1878. REACTION, PERIL, AND PACIFICATION. $2? from 23,000 Democratic majority he redeemed the State by a Re publican majority of 17,000. A wave of enthusiasm swept the country. His battle-cry became the editorial of a thousand jour nals, and hundreds of orators found ammunition enough in his little speech of a hundred lines to keep up a campaign of two years' duration. It is a fact that history should not omit to re cord, that from the 1st of August, 1878, until the election of James A. Garfield to the presidency, there was no cessation to the campaign in the North. But the securing of a Solid North did not restore the Negro governments at the South. The North had rallied to rebuke an insolent South ; to show the Democrats of that section tnat the United States Treasury should be protected, and that the honor of the nation would be maintained unsullied. If the South would not pay its honest debts there was every reason for believing that it would not pay the national debt. It was to be regretted that the Negro had been so unceremoniously removed from Southern politics. But such a result was inevitable. The Government gave him the statute-book when he ought to have had the spelling-book ; placed him in the Legislature when he ought to have been in the school-house. In the great revolution that followed the war, the heels were put where the brains ought to have been. An ignorant majority, without competent leaders, could not rule an intelligent Caucasian minority. Ignorance, vice, poverty, and superstition could not rule intelligence, experi ence, wealth, and organization. It was here that the " one could chase a thousand, and the two could put ten thousand to flight." The Negro governments were built on the shifting sands of the opinions of the men who reconstructed the South, and when the storm and rains of political contest came they fell because they were not built upon the granite foundation of intelligence and statesmanship. It was an immutable and inexorable law which demanded the destruction of those governments. It was a law that knows no country, no nationality. Spain, Mexico, France, Turkey, Russia, and Egypt have felt its cruel touch to a greater or less degree. But a lesson was taught the Colored people that is invaluable. Let them rejoice that they are out of politics. Let white men rule. Let them enjoy a political life to the exclusion of business and education, and they too will sooner or later be driven out of their places by the same law that sent the Negro to the planta- 528 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tions and to the schools. And if the Negro is industrious, frugal, saving, diligent in labor, and laborious in study, there is another law that will quietly and peaceably, without a social or political shock, restore him to his normal relations in politics. He will be able to build his governments on a solid foundation, with the tempered mortar of experience and knowl edge. This is inevitable. The Negro will return to politics in the South when he is qualified to govern ; will return to stay. He will be respected, courted and protected then. Then as a tax-payer, as well as a tax-gatherer, reading his own ballot, and choosing his own candidates, he will be equal to all the exigen cies of American citizenship. THE EXOD USCA USE AND EFFECT. $29 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. THE NEGROES OF THE SOUTH DELIGHT IN THEIR HOME so LONG AS IT is POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO REMAIN. THE POLICY OF ABRIDGING THEIR RIGHTS DESTRUCTIVE TO THEIR USEFULNESS AS. MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. POLITICAL INTIMIDATION, MURDER, AND OUTRAGE DISTURB THE NEGROES. THE PLANTATION CREDIT SYSTEM THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY. THE EXODUS NOT INSPIRED BY POLITICIANS, BUT THE NATURAL OUTCOME OF THE BARBAROUS TREATMENT BESTOWED UPON THE NEGROES BY THE WHITES. THE UNPRECEDENTED SUFFERINGS OF 60,000 NEGROES FLEEING FROM SOUTHERN DEMOCRATIC OPPRESSION. THEIR PATIENT, CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE. THEIR INDUSTRY, MORALS, AND FRUGALITY. THE CORRESPONDENT OF THE u CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN " SENDS INFORMATION TO SENATOR VOORHEES RESPECTING THE REFUGEES IN KANSAS. THE POSITION OF Gov. ST. JOHN AND THE FAITHFUL LABORS OF MRS. COMSTOCK. THE RESULTS OF THE EXODUS BENEFICENT. THE SOUTH MUST TREAT THE NEGRO BETTER OR LOSE HIS LABOR. THE exodus of the Negroes from Southern States forms one of the most interesting pages of the almost romantic history of the race. It required more than ordinary causes to drive the Negro from his home in the sunny South to a dif ferent climate and strange country. It was no caprice of his nature, nor even a nomadic feeling. During the entire period of the existence of the Republican governments at the South the Negroes remained there in a state of blissful contentment. And even after the fall of those governments they continued in a state of quiet industry. But there followed the decline of those governments a policy as hurtful to the South as it was cruel to the Negroes. During the early years of reconstruction quite a number of Negroes began to invest in real estate and secure for themselves pleasant homes. Their possessions increased yearly, as can be seen by a reference to statistical reports. Some of the estates and homesteads of the oldest and most reputable white families, who had put every thing into the scales of Confederate rebellion, fell into the possession of ex-slaves. Such a spectacle was not only unpleasant, it was exasperating, to the whites. But so long as the Republican governments gave promise of success there was but little or no manifestation of displeasure on the part of the 530 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. whites. Just as soon, however, as they became the masters of the situation, the property of many Negroes was seized, and sold upon the specious plea " for delinquent taxes "; and the Negroes were driven from eligible places to the outskirts of the larger towns and cities. No Negro was allowed to live in the vicinity of white persons as tenants ; and it became a social crime to sell property to Negroes in close proximity to the whites. In the rural districts, where Negroes had begun to secure small farms, this same cruel spirit was " the lion in their way." The spirit that sought to keep the Negro ignorant as a slave, now that he was at least nominally free, endeavored to deprive him of one of the necessary conditions of happy and useful citizenship : the possession of property, the aggregations of the results of honest labor. Nothing could have been more fatal to the growth of the Negro toward the perfect stature of free, intelligent, independent, and self-sustaining manhood and citizenship. The object and result of such a system can easily be judged. It was intended to keep the Negroes the laboring element after as well as before the war. The accomplishment of such a result would have been an argument in favor of the assertion of the South that the nor mal condition of the Negro was that of a serf ; and that he did not possess the elements necessary to the life of a freeman. Thus would have perished the hopes, prayers, arguments and claims of the friends of the cause of universal, manhood suffrage. Among the masses of laboring men the iniquitous, outra geous, thieving " Plantation Credit System " was a plague and a crime. Deprived of homes and property the Negroes were com pelled to " work the crops on the shares." A plantation store was kept where the Negroes' credit was good for any article it contained. He got salt meat, corn meal, sugar, coffee, molasses, vinegar, tobacco, and coarse clothing for himself and family. An account was kept by " a young white man," and at the end of the season " a reckoning " was had. Unable to- read or cipher, the poor, credulous, unsuspecting Negroes always found them selves in debt from $50 to $200 ! This necessitated another year's engagement ; and so on for an indefinite period. There was nothing to encourage the Negroes ; nothing to inspire them with hope for the future ; nothing for their families but a lan guid, dead-eyed expectation that somehow a change might come. But the crime went on unrebuked by the men who were growing rich from this system of petty robbery of the poor. For the THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 531 cheapest qualities of brown sugar, for which the laboring classes of the North pay 8 cents, the Negroes on the plantations were charged 1 1 and 13 cents a pound. Corn meal purchased at the North for 4 cents a quart, brought 9 and 10 cents at the planta tion store. And thus for every article the Negroes purchased they were charged the most exorbitant prices. There were two results which flowed from this system, viz. : robbing the families of these Negroes of the barest comforts of life, and destroying the confidence of the Negro in the blessings -and benefits of freedom. No man no race of men could en dure such blighting influences for any length of time. Moreover the experiences of the Negroes in voting had not been extensive, and a sudden curtailing and abridgment of their rights was a shock to their confidence in the government under which they lived, and in the people by which they were surrounded. It was thought expedient to intimidate or destroy the more intelligent and determined Negroes ; while the farm laborers were directed to refrain from voting the Republican ticket, or commanded to vote the Democratic ticket, or starve. There never was a more cruel system of slavery than this. Writing under date of January 10, 1875, General P. H. Sheridan, then in command at New Orleans, says : " Since the year 1866 nearly thirty-five hundred persons, a great majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded in this State. In 1868 the official record shows that eighteen hundred and eighty-four were killed and wounded. From 1868 to the present time no official investigation had been made, and the civil authorities in all but a few cases have been unable to arrest, convict, or punish the per petrators. Consequently there are no correct records to be consulted for information. There is ample evidence, however, to show that more than twelve hundred persons have been killed and wounded during this time on account of their political sentiments. Frightful massacres have occurred in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, Saint Bernard, Grant, and Orleans." He then proceeded to enumerate the political murders of Colored men in various parishes, and says : " Human life in this State is held so cheaply that when men are killed on account of political opinions, the murderers are regarded rather as heroes than as criminals in the localities where they reside." 532 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. This brief summary is not by a politician, but by a distin guished soldier, who recounts the events which had occurred within his own military jurisdiction. Volumes of testimony have since been taken confirming in all respects General Sheri dan's statement, and giving in detail the facts relating to such murders, and the times and circumstances of their occurrence. The results of the elections which immediately followed them disclose the motives and purposes of their perpetrators. These reports show that in the year 1867 a reign of terror prevailed over almost the entire State. In the parish of St. Landry there was a massacre of Colored people which began on the 28th of September, 1868, and lasted from three to six days, during which time between three and four hundred of them were killed. " Thirteen captives were taken from the jail and shot, and a pile of twenty-five dead bodies were found burned in the woods.'* The result of this Democratic campaign in the parish was that the registered Republican majority of 1,071 was wholly obliter ated, and at the election which followed a few weeks later, not a vote was cast for General Grant, while Seymour and Blair received 4,787. In the parish of Bossier a similar massacre occurred between the 2Oth and 3 over forty Negroes were killed. The result of that massacre was that out of a Republican registered vote of 2,894 only one was cast for General Grant. Similar scenes were enacted throughout the State, varying in extent and atrocity according to the mag nitude of the Republican majority to be overcome. The total summing up of murders, maimings, and whippings which took place for political reasons in the months of Septem ber, October, and November, 1868, as shown by official sources, is over one thousand. The net political results achieved thereby may be succinctly stated as follows : The official registration for that year in twenty-eight parishes contained 47,923 names of Re publican voters, but at the presidential election held a few weeks after the occurrence of these events but 5,360 Republican votes were cast, making the net Democratic gain from said transac tions 42,563. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT 533 In nine of these parishes where the reign of terror was most prevalent, out of 11,604 registered Republican votes only nine teen were cast for General Grant. In seven of said parishes there were 7,253 registered Republican votes, but not one was cast at the ensuing election- for the Republican ticket. In the years succeeding 1868, when some restraint was im posed upon political lawlessness and a comparatively peaceful election was held, these same Republican parishes cast from 33,000 to 37,000 Republican votes, thus demonstrating the pur pose and the effects of the reign of murder in 1868. In 1876 the spirit of violence and persecution which, in parts of the State, had been partially restrained for a time, broke forth again with renewed fury. It was deemed necessary to carry that State for Tilden and Hendricks, and the policy which had proved so successful in 1868 was again invoked, and with like results. On the day of general election in 1876 there were in the State of Louisiana 92,996 registered white voters, and 115,310 Colored, making a Republican majority of the latter of 22,314. The num ber of white Republicans was far in excess of the number of Col ored Democrats. It was, therefore, well known that if a fair election should be held the State would go Republican by from twenty-five to forty thousand majority. The policy adopted this time was to select a few of the largest Republican parishes and by terrorism and violence not only obliterate their Republican majorities, but also intimidate the Negroes in the other parishes. The sworn testimony found in our public documents and rec ords at Washington shows that the same system of assassina tions, whippings, burnings, and other acts of political persecu tion of Colored citizens, which had occurred in 1868, was again repeated in 1876, and with like results. In fifteen parishes where 17,726 Republicans were registered in 1876 only 5,758 votes were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and in one of them (East Feliciana) where there were 2,127 Republi cans registered, but one Republican vote was cast. By some methods the Republican majority of the State was supposed to have been effectually suppressed and a Democratic victory as sured. And because the legally constituted authorities of Lou isiana, acting in conformity with law and justice, declined to count some of the parishes thus carried by violence and blood, the Democratic party, both North and South, has ever since com plained that it was fraudulently deprived of -the fruits of the vie- 534 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. tory thus achieved, and it now proposes to make this grievance the principal plank in the party platform 1 for the future. The worm trampled upon so persistently at length turned over. There was nothing left to the Negro but to go out from the land of his oppression and task-masters. The Exodus was not a political movement. It was not in spired from without. It was but the natural operation of a divine law that moved whole communities of Negroes to turn their faces toward the setting sun. When the Israelites went out of Egypt God commanded their women to borrow the finger-rings and ear-rings of the Egyptians. All had sandals on their feet, staves in their hand, and headed by a matchless leader. God went be fore them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But when the Negroes began their exodus from the Egypt of their bondage they went out empty ; without clothing, money, or leaders. They were willing to endure any hardships short of death to reach a land where, under their own vine and fig-tree^ they could enjoy free speech, free schools, the privilege of an honest vote, and receive honest pay for honest work. And how forcibly they told why they left the South. " Now, old Uncle Joe, what did you come for ? " " Oh, law ! Missus, I rollers my two boys an' the ole woman an* then 'pears like I wants a taste of votin' afore I dies, an' the ole man done wants no swamps to wade in afore he votes, 'kase he must be Repub lican, ye see." " Well, old Aunty, give us the sympathetic side of the story ; or, tell us what you think of leaving your old home." " I done have no home nohow, if they shoots my ole man an' the boys, an' gives me no money for de washin." ' A bright woman of twenty-five years is asked her condition, when she answers : " I had n't much real trouble yet, like some of my neighbors who lost every thing. We had a lot an' a little house, an' some stock on the place. We sold all out 'kase we did n't dare to stay when votin' time came again. Some neigh bors better off than we had been all broken up by a pack of " night-riders" all in white, who scared everybody to death, run the men off to the swamps before elections, run the stock off, an' 1 See Senator Windom's speech on the Exodus, Monday, June 14, 1880 ; also the report of the Senate Committee having under consideration the investigation of the causes of the migration of the Colored people from the Southern to the Northern States. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 535 set fire to their places. A poor woman might as well be killed and done with it." In the early spring of 1879, the now famous Exodus of the Negroes from the South set in toward the Northern States. " Many already have fled to the forest and lurk on its outskirts, Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of the morrow. Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons of all kinds ; Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the scythe of the mower." The story of the emigration of a people has been often re peated since the world began. The Israelites of old, with their wanderings of forty years, furnish the theme of an inspired poem as old as history itself. The dreadful tale of the Kalmuck Tartars, in 1770, fleeing from their enemies, the Russians, over the deso late steppes of Asia in mid-winter; starting out six hundred thousand strong, men, women, and children, with their flocks and herds, and reaching the confines of China with only two hundred thousand left, formed an era in oriental annals, and made a com bination from which new races of men have sprung. But still more appropriate to this occasion is the history of the Hugue nots of France, driven by religious persecution to England and Ireland, where, under their influence, industries sprang up as the flowers of the field, and what was England's gain was irreparable loss to France. 1 The expulsion of the Acadians, a harmless and inoffensive people, from Nova Scotia, is another instance of the revenge that natural laws inflict upon tyranny and injustice. Next to the persecuted Pilgrims crossing a dreary ocean in mid winter to the sterile coasts of a land of savages for freedom's sake, history hardly furnishes a more touching picture than that of forty thousand homeless, friendless, starving Negroes going to a land already consecrated with the blood of the martyrs to the cause of free soil and unrestricted liberty. It was grandly strange that these poor people, persecuted, beaten with many stripes, hungry, friendless, and without clothing or shelter, should instinctively seek a home in Kansas where John Brown had fought the first battle for liberty and the restriction of slavery ! Some journeyed all the way from Texas to Kansas in teams, with great horned oxen, and little steers in front no larger than calves, bowing eagerly to the weary load. Worn and weary with a nine weeks' journey, the travellers strained their eyes toward the land 1 Pamphlet on Exodus. Anonymous. 536 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of hope, blindly yet beautifully " trustin' de good Lord." Often they buried their dead as soon as they arrived, many dying on the hard floor of the hastily-built wooden barracks before beds could be provided, but praying all night long and saying touch- ingly : " Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Come with dyin' grace in one hand and savin' love in the other." l A relief association was organized at once. A dear, good, old Quaker lady, in her sixty-fourth year, a quarter of a century of which had been spent in relieving suffering humanity, came for ward and offered her services free of charge. The association was organized as The Kansas Freedmeris Relief Association. Mrs. Comstock was just the person to manage the matter of raising funds and securing clothing. In Gov. J. P. St. John, Mrs. Com stock and the association found a warm-hearted Christian friend. Notwithstanding the plain, world-known causes, the Hon. D. W. Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana, introduced a resolution providing for the investigation of " the causes of the migration of the Colored people from the Southern to the Northern States." It cost the Government thousands of dollars, but de veloped nothing save what the country had known for years, that the political cruelties and systematic robbery practised upon the Colored people in the South had forced them into a free country. In one year those who had taken up a residence in Kansas had become self-sustaining. They took hold of the work with enthusiasm ; they proved themselves industrious and frugal. The Relief Association at first supplied them with stoves, teams, and seed. In round numbers, in a little more than a year, $40,000 was used, and 500,000 pounds of clothing, bedding, etc. England contributed 50,000 pounds of goods and $8,000 in money ; the chief givers being Mrs. Comstock's friends who knew her in her good work abroad. Much of the remainder had come in small sums, and from the Christian women of America. One third was furnished by the Society of Friends. Ohio gave more than any other State. The State and municipal funds of Kansas were not drawn upon at all, though much had come from private sources. During the first year in Kansas the freedmen entered upon 20,000 acres of land, and plowed and fitted for grain-growing 3,000 acres. They built 300 cabins and dugouts, and accumu lated $30,000. In 1878 Henry Carter, of Tennessee, set out 1 The Congregationalist, Aug. n, 1880. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 537 from Topeka on foot for Dunlap, sixty-five miles away ; he carry, ing his tools, and his wife their bedclothes. In 1880 he had forty acres of land cleared and the first payment made, having earned his money on sheep ranches and elsewhere by daily labor. He has built a good stone cottage sixteen feet by ten, owns two cows, a horse, etc. In Topeka, where there were about 3,000 refu gees, nearly all paupers when they came, all have found means in some way to make a living. These people have shown them selves worthy of aid. Mrs. Comstock has heard of only five or six cases of intoxication in nine months, and of no arrests for stealing. They do not want to settle where there is no church, and are all eager to have a Bible and to learn. Schools have been opened for the adults the public schools of Kansas wisely making no distinction on account of color, and also industrial schools, especially for women, who are quite ignorant of the or dinary duties of home life. In the month of February, 1880, John M. Brown, .Esq., Gen eral Superintendent of the Freedmen's Relief Association read an interesting report before the Association, from which the follow ing extract is taken : " The great exodus of Colored people from the South began about the ist of February, 1879. By the ist of April 1,300 refugees had gathered around Wyandotte, Ks. Many of them were in a suffering condition. It was then that the Kansas Relief Association came into existence for the purpose of helping the most needy among the refugees from the Southern States. Up to date about 60,000 refu gees have come to the State of Kansas to live. Nearly 40,000 of them were in a destitute condition when they arrived, and have been helped by our association. We have received to date $68,000 for the relief of the refugees. About 5,000 of those who have come to Kansas have gone to other States to live, leaving about 55,000 yet in Kansas. About 30,000 of that number have settled in the country, some of them on lands of their own or rented lands ; others have hired out to the farmers, leaving about 25,000 in and around the different cities and towns of Kansas. There has been great suffering among those remaining in and near the cities and towns this winter. It has been so cold that they could not find employment, and, if they did, they had to work for very low wages, because so many of them are looking for work that they .are in each other's way. "Most of those about, the cities and towns are men with large families, widows, and very old people. The farmers want only able- bodied men and women for their work, and it is very hard for men 538 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. with large families to get homes among the farmers. Kansas is a new State, and most farmers have small houses, and they cannot take large families to live with them. So, when the farmers call for help, they usually call for a man and his wife only, or for a single man or woman. " Now, in order that men with large families may become owners of land, and be able to support their families, the K. F. R, Association, if they can secure the means, will purchase cheap lands, which can be bought at from $3 to $5 per acre, on long time, by making a small pay ment in cash. They will settle the refugees on those lands, letting each family have from twenty to forty acres, and not settling more than six teen families in any one neighborhood, so that they can easily obtain work from the farmers in that section or near by. I do not think it best to settle too many of them in any one place, because it will make it hard for them to find employment. " If our association can help them to build a small house, and have five acres of their land broken, the women and children can cultivate the five acres, and make enough to support their families, while the men are out at work by the day to earn money to meet the payments on their land as they come due. In this way many families can be helped to homes of their own, where they can become self-sustaining, educate their children, and be useful citizens to the State of Kansas. " Money spent in this way will be much more profitable to them than so much old clothing and provisions. Then they will no longer be ob jects of charity or a burden to benevolent people." The sad stories of this persecuted people had touched the hearts of the friends of humanity everywhere. Money and cloth ing came on every train, and as fast as the association could se cure homes for the refugees they were distributed throughout the State. 1 A special correspondent of the " Chicago Inter-Ocean " was despatched to Topeka to report the condition of things there,, and to throw some light upon the great intellect of Senator Voorhees. He reported as follows: " TOPEKA, KAN., April 9. During the last few days I have, in obe dience to your request, been taking notice of the exodus, as it may be 1 We visited Kansas twice in 1880, and again in 1881. We conversed with Gov. St. John, Mr. John M. Brown, and other gentlemen related to and familiar with the- matter of the Exodus, and found that those who at the first so violently opposed the com ing of the Negroes had been pleased with their simplicity, patience, industry, and- character. They were all doing well. The association had discontinued its work, and- the people were settled in quiet homes. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 539 studied here at the headquarters for relief among the refugees in Kan sas. This is the third visit your correspondent has made to the ' prom ised land ' of the dusky hosts who, fleeing from persecution and wrongs, have swarmed within its borders to the number of 25,000. In a letter written while here in December last the number then within the State was estimated at about 15,000, and since that date at least 12,000 more have come. In the ' barracks ' to-day I found what seemed to be the same one hundred * * * who crowded about the stove that cold De cember day ; but they were not the same, of course, for their places have been filled many times with other hundreds, who have found their first welcome to Kansas in the rest, food, and warmth which the charity of the North has provided here. So efficient have the plan of relief and the machinery of distribution been made, that of the thousands who have passed through here, none have remained as a burden of expense to the association more than four or five days before places were found where their own labor could furnish them support. " If that pure statesman of Indiana whose great heart was so filled with solicitude for the welfare of his colored brethren, that he asked Congress to appropriate thousands of dollars to ascertain why they moved from one State to another, will come here he will be rewarded by such a flood of light on the question as can never penetrate the re cesses of his committee room in Washington. He need hardly pro pound an inquiry ; he had, indeed, best not let his great presence be known, for in the presence of Democracy the negro has learned to keep silence. But in search of the truth let him go to the file of over 3,000 letters in the Governor's office from negroes in the South, and read in them the homely but truthful tales of suffering, oppression, and wrongs.. Let him note how real is their complaint, but how modest the boon they seek ; for in different words, sometimes in quaint and often in awkward phrases, the questions are always the same : Can we be free ? Can we have work, and can we have our rights in Kansas ? Let him go next to the barracks and watch the tired, ragged, hungry, scared-looking negroes as they come by the dozens on every train. If he is not prompted by shame, then from caution necessary to the success of his errand, let him here conceal the fact that he is a Democrat, for these half-famished and terrified negroes have been fleeing from Demo crats in the South, and in their ignorance they may not be able to com prehend the nice distinction between a Northern and Southern Demo crat. If he will be content simply to listen as they talk among themselves,, he will soon learn much that the laborious cross-examination of wit nesses has failed to teach him. He may take note of the fact that fleeing from robbery, oppression, and murder, they come only with the plea for work and justice while they work. He may see reason to criticise what generally has been deemed by Southern Democrats at least, the un- 540 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. reasonable folly in a negro which prompts husband and wife to go only where they can go together, but he will find nothing to cause him to doubt the sincerity and good faith with which the negro grapples with the problem of his new life here. If he would learn more of this strength of resolution and the patience which they have brought to the search for a home in a free land, let him inquire concerning the lives of these refugees in Kansas. It may seem of significance and worthy of approving note to him, that as laborers they have been faithful and in dustrious ; that in no single case have they come back asking aid of the relief association nor become burdens in any way upon corporate or public charities ; that as citizens they are sober and law-abiding to such a degree that he would hardly be able to discover a single case of crime so far among them ; and, finally, that in those instances where they were able to purchase a little land and stock, they have made as good prog ress toward the acquirement of homes and property as have the aver age poor white immigrants to the State. He will first learn, then> from the refugees themselves something of the desperate nature of the causes that drove them from the South, and secondly, from their lives here, with what thrift, patience, and determination they have met the difficulties which they have encountered in their efforts to gain a foothold, and as men among men, in the land of equal rights. From the Hon. Milton Reynolds, President of the Auxiliary Relief .Associ ation at Parsons, I learn that the negroes who have come into the southern part of the State, mostly from Texas, are all either settled on small tracts of land or employed as laborers at from $8 to $12 per month, and are all doing well. Mr. Reynolds's testimony to this effect was positive and unqualified. To assist these refugees in Southern Kansas over 3,000 in all only $575 has been expended. From Judge R. W. Daw- son, who was the Secretary of the association under the old management and during the early months of the movement, one year ago, when 6,000 refugees were distributed throughout the State and provided with homes at a cost of $5,000, I learned much of interest concerning the welfare and progress of this advance guard of the great exodus. Judge Dawson, although not connected now with the relief work, feels of course a great interest in the welfare of those to whose assistance he contributed much, and loses no opportunity for observation of their condition while travelling over the State. He says he knows of no case where one has come back to the association for aid, and that, as labor ers and citizens, their conduct has been such as to win the approval of all classes. Four colonies have been established. State lands were bought by the association and given to the colonies with the under standing that, to secure their title, they must make the second and third payments on the land purchased on the one-third cash and two-thirds time payment plan. Two of the newest of these colonies are still re- THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 541 reiving aid from the association, but the others are self-sustaining and will be able, it is thought, to make the small purchase payments on the land as they become due. " If our inquiring Statesman is interested in observing in what spirit these refugees receive the aid which has made existence possible here during the cold winter months, he may be profited toy spending a few -days in looking about the city of Topeka. There are in Topeka alone over 3,000 refugees, and nearly all of them, paupers when they came, have found means in some way to make a living. In many cases it is a precarious subsistence that is gained, and in not a few -cases among late arrivals he would find evidences of want and des titution, but, compared with this, he cannot but be struck with the small number of applicants to the Relief Association for aid. Only 213 rations were issued outside the barracks last week to the 3,000 refugees who came here only a few months since without money, and frequently without clothing, to undertake what seemed under the circumstances the desperate purpose of making a living. " The dangers and difficulties which beset the refugees' departure from a land where even the right to emigrate is denied him are great. * * * He may learn (Mr. Voorhees), however, from copies of over 1,000 letters in the Governor's office, that Gov. St. John has never, in reply to their appeals, failed to warn them of the difficulties that would beset their way here, and has never extended them promise of other assistance than that implied in the equal rights which are guaranteed to every citizen of Kansas. Further than this, however surprising it may be to Mr. Voorhees' theory of the causes of the exo dus, it is nevertheless a fact that this very association, which is charged with encouraging the exodus, has sent the Rev. W. O. Lynch, a colored man, to the South to warn the colored people that they must not come here expecting to be fed or to find homes already prepared, and to do all in his power to dissuade them from coming at all. Stilt they come, and why they come the country has determined long in advance of Mr. Voorhees' report. * * * " While we have Mr. Voorhees here we would be glad to have him glance at a State document to be found upon Governor St. John's table, which bears the Great Seal and signature of Gov. O. M. Roberts, of the State of Texas. It is a requisition by the Governor of Texas upon the Governor of Kansas for the body of one Peter Womack, a colored man, who was indicted by the Grand Jury of Grimes County at the last November term for the felony of fraudulently disposing of ten bushels of corn. From further particulars we learn that this Peter Womack gave a mortgage early in the spring of 1879 upon his crop just planted to cover a debt of twenty dollars due the firm of Wilson and Howel. When Womack came to gather his crop, he yields to the importunities 542 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. of another white creditor ten bushels of corn to be applied upon the debt. About this time this Peter Womack becomes influential in inducing a number of his colored neighbors in Grimes County to emigrate to Kan sas. Undeterred by threats and despite the bull-dozing methods em ployed to cause him to remain a ' citizen ' of Texas, Womack, with others, sick of a condition of citizenship which is nothing less than hopeless peonage, leaves stock and crops behind to seek a home in Kansas. His acts in inciting the movement of these black serfs are not forgotten, however, by the white chivalry of Grimes County. The evi dence of this surrender on a debt of ten bushels of corn, mortgaged for another debt, is hunted up, presented to the Grand Jury of Grimes County, he is promptly indicted for a felony, and the great State of Texas rises in her majesty and demands a surrender of his body. The demand is in accordance with law, undoubtedly, Texas law, but if Texas would occasionally punish one of the white murderers who do not think it necessary to leave her borders, this pursuit of a negro for selling ten bushels of corn from a mortgaged crop would seem a more imposing exhibition of the power of the commonwealth to enforce its laws." The effect, or rather the results of the Exodus have been two fold. It taught the Southern people that there was need of some effort to regain the confidence of the Negroes ; that the Negro is the only laborer who can cultivate that section of the country ;. that the Negro can get on without the Southern people a great deal better than they can get on without Negro labor ; that the severe political treatment and systematic robbery of the Negroes had not only driven them out, but had discouraged white people from settling or investing money at the South ; that dissatisfied labor was against their interests; that it was the duty of business men in the South to take a firm stand for the protection of the Negroes, because every stroke of violence administered to the Negroes shocked and injured the business of that section; and that kind treatment of and protection for the Negroes would insure better work and greater financial prosperity. On the other hand, the Exodus benefited the Negroes who sought and found new homes in a new country ; and it secured better treatment for those who remained behind. The Exodus was in line with a great law that governs nations. The Negro race must win by contact with the white race ; by absorbing all that is good ; by the inspiration of example. He must come in contact now not 1 Chicago Inter-Ocean, April 15, 1880. THE EXODUS CAUSE AND EFFECT. 543 with a people who hate him, but with a people of industrious, sober, and honest habits ; a people willing to encourage and in struct him in the duties of life. Race lines must be obliterated at the South, and the old theory of the natural inferiority of the Negro must give way to the demonstrations of Negro capacity. A new doctrine must supplant the old theories of pro-slavery days, and every man in the Republic must enjoy a citizenship as wide as the continent, and, like the coin of the Government, pass for his intrinsic value, and no more. 544 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. CHAPTER XXIX. RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. THE THREE GRAND DIVISIONS OF THE TRIBES OF AFRICA. SLAVE MARKETS OF AMERICA SUP PLIED FROM THE DISEASED AND CRIMINAL CLASSES OF AFRICAN SOCIETY. AMERICA ROBS AFRICA OF 15,000,000 SOULS IN 360 YEARS. NEGRO POWER OF ENDURANCE. His WONDERFUL. ACHIEVEMENTS AS A LABORER, SOLDIER, AND STUDENT. FIRST IN WAR, AND FIRST IN DEVOTION TO THE COUNTRY. His IDIOSYNCRASIES. MRS. STOWE'S ERRORS. His GROWING LOVE FOR SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. His GENERAL IMPROVEMENT. THE NEGRO WILL ENDURB TO THE END. HE is CAPABLE FOR ALL THE DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP. AMALGAMATION WILL NOT OBLITERATE THE RACE. THE AMERICAN NEGRO WILL CIVILIZE AFRICA. AMERICA WILL ESTABLISH STEAMSHIP COMMUNICATION WITH THE DARK CONTINENT. AFRICA WILL YET BB COMPOSED OF STATES, AND " ETHIOPIA SHALL SOON STRETCH OUT HER HANDS UNTO GOD." IT has been shown that the tribes of Africa are divisible into three classes: The tribes of the mountain districts, the tribes of the sandstone districts, and the tribes of the al luvial districts ; those of the mountain districts most powerful, those of the sandstone districts less powerful, and those of the alluvial districts least powerful. The slave markets of America were supplied, 1 very largely, from two classes of Africans, viz. : 1 From the year 1500 to 1860 the number of slaves imported from Africa were as follows : Number of Negroes imported Total, into America per annum. From 1500 to 1525 . . . . 500 12,500 From 1525 to 1550 .... 5,000 125,000 From 1550 to 1600 . . . . 15,000 750,000 From 1600 to 1650 .... 20,000 1,000,000 From 1650 to 1700 . . . . 35,ooo 1,750,000 From 1700 to 1750 .... 60,000 3,000,000 From 1750 to 1800 . 80,000 4,000,000 From 1800 to 1850 .... 65,000 3,250,000 Total, 350 years 13,887,500 From 1850 to 1860, increase for decade . . 749,931 Total importation of Negro slaves into America during a period of 360 years 14,637,431 or about 15,000,000 in round numbers. The above figures are taken from Mr. Dunbar's Mexican Papers. The process by which he reaches his conclusions and secures his figures is rather remarkable. RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. 54$ the criminal class, and the refuse of African society, which has been preyed upon by local disease, decimated by wars waged by the more powerful tribes which have pushed down from the abundant supply that has poured over the terraces of the moun tains for centuries. Nevertheless, some of the better class have found their way to this country. About 137 Negro tribes are represented in the United States. For every slave landed safely in North America, there was one lost in procuring and bringing down to the coast, and in transportation. Thus in the period of 360 years, Africa was robbed of about 30,000,000 of souls ! When it is remembered that the Negroes in America sprang from the criminal, diseased, and inferior classes of Africa, it is nothing short of a phenom enon that they were able to endure such a rigorous state of bondage. Under-fed and over-worked ; poorly clad and miser ably housed ; with the family altar cast down, and intelligent men allowed to run over it as swine ; and with the fountains of knowledge sealed by law against the thirstings of human souls for knowledge, the Negroes of America, nevertheless, have shown the most wonderful signs of recuperation, and the ability to rise,, against every cruel act of man and the very forces of nature, to a manhood and intelligent citizenship that converts the cautious, impartial, and conservative spirit of history into eulogy ! They have overcome the obstacles in the path of the physical civiliza tion of North America ; they have earned billions of dollars for a profligate people ; they have made good laborers, efficient sailors, and peerless soldiers. In three wars they won the crown of heroes by steady, intrepid valor ; and in peace have shown themselves the friends of stable government. During the war for the Union, 186,017* Colored men enlisted in the service of the nation, and participated in 249 battles. From 1866 to 1873, be sides the money saved in other banking houses, they deposited in the Freedmen's Banks at the South $53,000,000! From 1866 to 1875 there were seven Negroes as Lieutenant-Governors of Southern States ; two served in the United States Senate, and thirteen in the United States House of Representatives. There have been five Negroes appointed as Foreign Ministers. There have been ten Negro members of Northern Legislatures ; and in the Government Departments at Washington there are 620 Negroes 1 This includes the officers, moet of whom were white men. 54 6 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, employed. Starting without schools this remarkable people have now 14,889 schools, with an attendance of 720,853 pupils! And this does not include the children of color who attend the white schools of the Northern States ; and as far as it is possi ble to get the statistics, there are at present 169 Colored students attending white colleges in the Northern States. The first blood shed in the Revolution was that of a Ne gro, Crispus Attucks, on the 5th of March, 1770. The first blood shed in the war for the Union was that of a Negro, Nicholas Biddle, a member of the very first company that passed through Baltimore in April, 1861 ; while the first Negro killed in the war was named John Brown ! The first Union regiment of Negro troops raised during the Rebellion, was raise'd in the State that was first to secede from the Union, South Carolina. Its colonel was a Massachusetts man, and a graduate of Harvard College. The first action in which Negro troops participated was in South Carolina. The first regiment of Northern Negro troops fought its first battle in South Carolina, at Fort Wagner, where it immortalized itself. The first Negro troops recruited in the Mississippi Valley were recruited by a Massachusetts officer, Gen. B. F. Butler ; while their first fighting here was directed by another Massachusetts officer, Gen. N. P. Banks. The first recog nition of Negro troops by the Confederate army was in December, 1863, when Major John C. Calhoun, a grandson of the South Caro lina statesman of that name, bore a flag of truce, which was re ceived by Major Trowbridge of the First South Carolina Colored Regiment. The first regiment to enter Petersburg was com posed of Negroes; while the first troops to enter the Confederate capital at Richmond were Gen. Godfry Weitzel's two divisions of Negroes. The last guns fired at Lee's army at Appomattox were in the hands of Negro soldiers. And when the last expiring effort of treason had, through foul conspiracy, laid our beloved President low in death, a Negro regiment guarded his remains, and marched in the stately procession which bore the illustrious dead from the White House. And on the 1 5th of May, 1865, at Palmetto Ranch, Texas, the 62d Regiment of Colored Troops fired the last volley of the war ! Several attempts have been made to define the racial char acteristics of the Negro, but they have not been attended with success. Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has written more and written RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. 547 better about the American Negro than any other person during the present century. She has given laboriously and minutely wrought pictures of plantation life. She has held up to the gaze of the world portraitures comic and serio-comic, which for the gorgeousness and awfulness of their drapery will perish only with the language in which they are painted. But Mrs. Stowe's great characters are marred by some glaring imperfections. " Uncle Tom " is too goodish, too lamb-like, too obsequious. He is a child of full growth, yet lacks the elements of an enlarged manhood. His mind is feeble, body strong too strong for the conspicuous absence of spirit and passion. " Dred " is the divinest character of the times is prophet, preacher, and saint. He is so grand. He is eloquent beyond compare, and as familiar with the Bible as if he were its author. And every hero Mrs. Stowe takes in charge must make up his mind to get religion, lots of it too, and then prepare to die. There is a terrible fatality among her leading characters. Mrs. Stowe has given but one side of Negro character, and that side is terribly exaggerated. But all strong natures like hers are given to exaggeration. Wendell Phillips never tells the truth, and yet he always tells the truth. He is a man of strong convic tions, and always pronounces his conviction strongly. He has a poetical nature, is a word-painter, and, therefore, indulges in the license of the poet and painter. Mrs. Stowe belongs to this school of writers. The lamb and lion are united in the Negro character. Mrs. Stowe's mistake consists in ascribing to the Ne gro a peculiarly religious character and disposition. Here is detected the mistake. The Negro is not, as she supposes, the most religious being in the world. He has more religion and has less religion than any other of the races, in one sense. And yet, divorced from the circumstances by which he has been sur rounded in this country, he is not so very religious. Mrs. Stowe seizes upon a characteristic that belongs to mankind wherever mankind is enslaved, and gently binds it about the neck of the Negro. All races of men become religious when oppressed. Frederick the Great was an infidel when with his friend Voltaire, but when suffering the reverses of war in Silesia he could write very pious letters to his " favorite sister." This is true in national character when traced to its last analysis. Men pray while they are down in life, but curse when up. And of neces sity the religion of a bond people is not always healthy. There 548 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. is an involuntary turning to a divine helper; a sort of religious superstition, that believes all things, hopes all things, and is pa tient. The soul of such a people is surcharged with an almost incredulous amount of poetry, song, and rude but grand elo quence. And when the songs that cheered and lighted many a heavy heart in the starless night of bondage shall have been res cued and purified by the art of music, the hymnology of this century will be greatly indebted to this much-abused people. So, under this religious garb, woven by the cruel experiences conse quent upon slavery, the lion slumbers in the Negro. Every year since the close of the Rebellion the Negro has been taking on better and purer traits of character. Possessed of an impressible nature, a discriminating sense of the beautiful, and a deep, pure taste for music, his progress has been phenome nal. Strong in his attachments, gentle in manners, confiding, hopeful, enduring in affection, and benevolent to a fault, there is no limit to the outcome of his character. Like the oscillations of the pendulum of a clock the Negro is swinging from an extreme religious fanaticism to an extreme rationalism. But he will finally take his position upon a solid religious basis ; and to his " faith " will add virtue, knowledge, and good works. Everywhere under good influences he has made a good citizen. No issue in the State has been foreign to him. He has proven his patriotism and his fondness for this land to which he was dragged in chains, and in his obedience to its laws and devotion to its principles has stood second to none. His home promises much good. His whole life seems to have under gone a radical change. He has shown a disposition and delight in the education of his children ; and the constantly growing de mand for competent teachers and educated preachers shows that he has outgrown his old ideas concerning education and religion. From an insatiable desire for gewgaws he has turned to a practice of the precepts of economy. From the state of semi-civilization in which he cared only for the comforts of the present, his desires and wants have swept outward and upward into the years to come and toward the Mysterious Future. He has learned the difficult lesson that " man shall not live by bread alone," and has shown himself delighted with a keen sense of intellectual hunger. One hundred weekly newspapers, conducted by Negroes, are feeding the mind of the race, binding communities together by the cords of common interests and racial sympathy ; while the RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. 549 works of twenty Negro authors \ lend inspiration and purpose to every honest effort at self-improvement. The fiery trials of the young Colored men who gained admis sion to West Point, and the noble conduct of the four regiments of black troops in the severe service of the frontiers have strengthened the hopes of a nation in the final outcome of the American Negro. But what of the future ? Can the Negro endure the sharp competition of American civilization ? Can he keep his position against the tendencies to amalgamation? Since it has been proven that the Negro is not dying out, but on the contrary pos sesses the powers of reproduction to a remarkable degree, a new source of danger has been discovered. It is said that the Negro will perish, will be absorbed by the dominant race ere long ; that where races are crossed the inferior race suffers; and 'that mixed races lack the power to reproduce their species ; and that hence the disappearance of the Negro is but a question of time. Mr. Joseph C. G. Kennedy, superintendent of the Federal Census dur ing the war, took the following view of this question : " That an unfavorable moral condition has existed and continues among the free Colored, be the cause what it may, notwithstanding the great number of excellent people included in that population, no one can for a moment doubt who will consider that with them an element exists which is to some extent positive, and that is the fact of there be ing more than half as many mulattoes as blacks, forming, as they do, 36^ per cent, of the whole Colored population, and they are maternally descendants of the Colored race, as it is well known that no appreciable amount of this admixture is the result of marriage between white and black, or the progeny of white mothers a fact showing that whatever deterioration may be the consequence of this alloyage, is incurred by the Colored race. Where such a proportion of the mixed race exists, it may reasonably be inferred that the barriers ta license are not more insuperable among those of the same color. That corruption of morals progresses with greater admixture of races, and that the product of vice stimulates the propensity to immorality, is as evident to observation as it is natural to circumstances. These develop ments of the census, to a good degree, explain the slow progress of the free Colored population in the Northern States, and indicate, with unerr ing certainty, the gradual extinction of that people the more rapidly as, 1 Thus far the Negro has not gone, as an author, beyond mere narration. But we may soon expect a poet, a novelist, a composer, and a philosophical writer. 550 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. whether free or slave, they become diffused among the dominant race. There are, however, other causes, although in themselves not sufficient to account for the great excess of deaths over births, as is found to oc cur in some Northern cities, and these are such as are incident to incon- genial climate and a condition involving all the exposures and hardships which accompany a people of lower caste. As but two censuses have been taken which discriminate between the blacks and mulattoes, it is not yet so easy to determine how far the admixture of the races affects their vital power ; but the developments already made would indicate that the mingling of the races is more unfavorable to vitality, than a condition of slavery, which practically ignores marriage to the exclusion of the admixture of races, has proved, for among the slaves the natural increase has been as high as three per cent, per annum, and ever more than two per cent., while the proportion of mulattoes at the present period reaches but 10.41 per cent, in the slave population. Among the free Colored, in the Southern States, the admixture of races appears to have progressed at a somewhat less ratio than at the North, and we can only account for the greater proportionate number of mulattoes in the North by the longer period of their freedom in the midst of the domi nant and more numerous race, and the supposition of more mulattoes than blacks having escaped or been manumitted from slavery." Whatever merit this view possessed before the war of the Re- bellion, it is obsolete under the present organization of society. The environments of the Negro, the downward tendencies of his social life, and the exposed state in which slave laws left him, have all perished. In addition to his aptitude for study and ca pacity for improvement, he is now under the protecting and re straining influences of congenial climate ; and pure sociological laws will impart to his offspring the power of reproduction and the ability to maintain an excellent social footing with the other races of the world. The learned M. A. DeQuatrefages says, con cerning this question : None of the eminent men with whom I regret to differ take any account of the influence of the action of the surroundings. I believe that the conditions of the surroundings play as important a part in the crossing of races as they do in other matters. They may sometimes favor, sometimes restrict, sometimes prevent, the establishment of a mixed race. This simple consideration accounts for many apparently contradictory facts. Etwick and Long have affirmed that in Jamaica the mulattoes hold out only because they are constantly recruited by the marriage of whites with negresses. But in San Domingo, in the RETROSPECTION AND PROSPECTION. 551 Dominican Republic, there are, we may say, no whites, and the popula tion consists of two thirds mulattoes and one third negroes. The num bers of the mulattoes are there well kept up by themselves without the introduction of fresh blood. In respect to fertility, different instances of crossing between individuals of the two same races may give different results, according to the place where they are effected. I believe it is unnecessary to insist and show that the physical and physiological faculties of children born of mixed unions ought to present analogous facts. " In my view the aggregation of physical conditions does not in itself alone constitute the environment. Social and moral conditions have an equal part in it. Here, again, it is easy to establish, in the re sults of crossings, differences which have no other cause than differences in these conditions. It is true that mongrels, born and grown up in the midst of the hatred of the inferior race and the contempt of the supe rior race, are liable to merit the reproaches which are commonly at tached to them. On the other hand, if real marriages take place between the races, and their offspring are placed upon a footing of equality with the mass of the population, they are quite able to reach the general level, and sometimes to display superior qualities. " All of my studies on this question have brought me to the conclu sion that the mixture of races has in the past had a great part in the constitution of a large number of actual populations. It is also clear to me that its part in the future will not be less considerable. -The movement of expansion, to which I have just called attention, has not slackened since the days of Cortez and Pizarro, but has become more extended and general. The perfection of the means of communication has given it new activity. The people of mixed blood already consti tute a considerable part of the population of certain states, and their number is large enough to entitle them to be taken notice of in the population of the whole world. " These facts show that man is everywhere the same, and that his passions and instincts are independent of the differences that distin guish the human groups. The reason of it is that these differences, however accentuated they may seem to us, are essentially morphological, but do not in any way touch the wholly physiological power of repro duction." 1 Race prejudice is bound to give way before the potent influ ences of character, education, and wealth. And these are neces sary to the growth of the race. Without wealth there can be no 1 Revue Scientifique, Paris. 552 HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA. leisure, without leisure there can be no thought, and without thought there can be no progress. The future work of the Ne gro is twofold : subjective and objective. Years will be devoted to his own education and improvement here in America. He will sound the depths of education, accumulate wealth, and then turn his attention to the civilization of Africa. The United States will yet establish a line of steamships between this coun try and the Dark Continent. Touching at the Grain Coast, the Ivory Coast, and the Gold Coast, America will carry the Afri can missionaries, Bibles, papers, improved machinery, instead of rum and chains. And Africa, in return, will send America indigo, palm-oil, ivory, gold, diamonds, costly wood, and her richest treasures, instead of slaves. Tribes will be converted to Chris tianity; cities will rise, states will be founded; geography and science will enrich and enlarge their discoveries ; and a telegraph cable binding the heart of Africa to the ear of the civilized world, every throb of joy or sorrow will pulsate again in millions of souls. In the interpretation of History the plans of God must be dis cerned, "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday zuhen it is passed, and as a watch in the night" THE END. APPENDIX. *> - gart 5. ANTI-SLA VER Y A GIT A TION. CHAPTER VI. WALKER'S APPEAL. One of the most remarkable papers written by a Negro during the Anti-Slavery Agitation Movement was the Appeal of David Walker, of Boston, Massachusetts. He was a shopkeeper and dealer in second-hand clothes. He was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, September 28, 1785, of a free mother by a slave father. When quite young he said : " If I remain in this bloody land, I will not live long. As true as God reigns, I will be avenged for the sorrow which my people have suffered. This is not the place for me no, no. I must leave this part of the country. It will be a great trial for me to live on the same soil where so many men are in slavery ; cer tainly I cannot remain where I must hear their chains continually, and where I must encounter the insults of their hypocritical enslavers. Go, I must ! " He went to Boston, Massachusetts, where he took up his residence. He applied himself to study, and in 1827, capable of reading and writing, he began business in Brattle Street. He was possessed of a rather reflective and penetrating mind. And before Mr. William Lloyd Garrison unfurled his flag, for the Agitation Movement, David Walker wrote and published his Appeal in 1829. I-t was circulated widely, and touched and stirred the South as no other pamphlet had ever done. Three editions were published. The feeling at the South was intense. The following correspond ence shows how deeply agitated the South was by Walker's Appeal. The editor of the Boston Courier observed : "It will be recollected that some time in December last [1829] Gov. Giles sent a message to the Legislature of Virginia complaining of an attempt to circulate in the city of Richmond a seditious pamphlet, said to have been sent there from Boston. We find in the Richmond Enquirer of the i8th inst. [Febru ary, 1830] the following Message from the Governor, enclosing a correspondence which unravels all the mystery which has hitherto enveloped the transaction." EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Feb. i6th, 1830. SIR : In compliance with the advice of the Executive Council, I do myself the honor of transmitting herewith the copy of a letter from the Honorable Harrison Gray Otis, Mayor of Bos ton, conveying the copy of a letter from him addressed to the Mayor of Savannah, in answer to one received by him from that gentleman respecting a seditious pamphlet written by a person of color in Boston, and circulated by him in other parts of the United States. Very respectfully, your obd't serv't, WM. B. GILES. The Hon. LINN BANKS, Speaker of the House of Delegates. To his Excellency , the Governor of Virginia : SIR : Perceiving that a pamphlet published in this city has been a subject of animadversion and uneasiness in Virginia as well as in Georgia, I have presumed that it might not be amiss to apprize you of the sentiments and feelings of the city authorities in this place respecting it, and for that purpose I beg leave to send you a copy of my answer to a letter from the Mayor of Savan nah, addressed to me on that subject. You may be assured that your good people cannot hold in more absolute detestation the sentiments of the writer than do the people of this city, and, as I verily believe, the mass of the New England population. The only difference is. that the insignifi cance of the writer, the extravagance of his sanguinary fanaticism tending to disgust all persons of common humanity with his object, and the very partial circulation of this book, prevent the af fair from being a subject of excitement and hardly of serious attention. 553 554 APPENDIX. I have reason to believe that the book is disapproved of by the decent portion even of the free. colored population in this place, and it would be a cause of deep regret to me, and I believe to all my well-disposed fellow-citizens, if a publication of this character, and emanating from such a source, should be thought to be countenanced by any of their number. I have the honor to be respectfully, your obedient servant, BOSTON, Feb. 10, 1830. H. G. OTIS, Mayor of the City of Boston. To the Mayor of Savannah : SIR : Indisposition has prevented an earlier reply to your favor of the i2th December. A few days before the receipt of it, the pamphlet had been put into my hands by one of the Board of Aldermen of this city, who received it from an individual, it not having been circulated here. I perused it carefully, in order to ascertain whether the writer had made himself amenable to our laws ; but notwithstanding the extremely bad and inflammatory tendency of the publication, he does not seem to have violated any of these laws. It is written by a free black man, whose true name it bears. He is a shopkeeper and dealer m old clothes, and in a conversation which 1 authorized a young friend of mine to hold with him, he openly avows the sentiments of the book and authorship. I also hear that he declares his intention to be, to circulate his pamphlets by mail, at his own expense, if he cannot otherwise effect his object. You may be assured, sir, that a disposition would not be wanting on the part of the city authorities here, to avail themselves of any lawful means for preventing this attempt to throw firebrands into your country. We regard it with deep disapprobation and abhorrence. But, we have no power to control the purpose of the author, and without it we think that any public notice of him or his book, would make matters worse. We have been determined, however, to publish a general caution to Captains and others, against exposing themselves to the consequences of transporting incendiary writings into your and the other Southern States. I have the honor to be your obedient servant. ' H. G. OTIS. 6. THE PERIOD OF PREPARA TION. CHAPTER XI. LIST OF WORKS BY NEGRO AUTHORS. " Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa." Autobiography. Boston, 1837. " Light and Truth." Lewis (R. B.). Boston, 1844. ' Volume of Poems." Whitfield, (James M.). 1846. 'Volume of Poems." Payne, (Daniel A., D.D.). 1850. " The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered." Delaney (Martin R.j. Philadelphia, 1852. " Principia of Ethnology : The Origin of Races and Color." Delaney (Martin R.). " Narrative of the Life of an American Slave." London, 1847. " My Bondage and My Freedom." New York, 1855. " Life and Times." Hartford, Conn., 1882. Douglass (Frederick). "Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," etc. Ward (Rev. Samuel Ringgold). London, 1855. " The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution." Nell (Wm. C). Boston, 1855- " Narrative of Solomon Northup." New York, 1859. " Twenty-two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman." Rochester, 1861. Stewart (Rev. Austin). " The Black Man." Boston, Mass., 1863. " The Negro in the Rebellion." Boston, 1867. " Clotelle." Boston, 1867. "The Rising Sun." Boston, 1874. " Sketches of Places and People Abroad." 1854. Brown (Wm. Wells, M.D.). " An Apology for African Methodism." Tanner (Benj. T.). Baltimore, 1867. " The Underground Railroad. " Still (William). Philadelphia, 1872. "The Colored Cadet at West Point." Flipper (H. O.), U. S. A. New York, 1877. " Music and Some Highly Musical People."' Trotter (James M.). Boston, 1878. " My Recollections of African Methodism." Wayman (Bishop A. W.). Phila delphia, Pa., 1 88 1. " First Lessons in Greek." Scarborough (W. S.. A.M.). New York, 1882. " History of the Black Brigade." Clark (Peter H.) APPENDIX. 555. " Uncle Tom's Story of His Life." From 1789 to 1879. Henson (Rev. Josiah). Boston. " The Future of Africa." New York, 1862, Charles Scribner & Co. " The Greatness of Christ," and other Sermons. Crummell (Rev. Alexander, D.D.). T. Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible House, New York, 1882. " Not a Man and Yet a Man." Whitman (A. A.). * " Mixed Races." Sampson (John P.). Hampton, Va., 1881. *' Poems." Wheatley (Phillis). London, England, 1773. "As a Slave and as a Freeman." Loguen (Bishop, J. W.). CHAPTER XIII. THE JOHN BROWN MEN. The subjoined correspondence was published in the Republican, J. K. Rukenbrod, editor, at Salem, Ohio, Wednesday, December 28, 1859. The beautiful spirit of self- sacrifice, the lofty devotion to the sublime principles of universal liberty, and the heroic welcome to the hour of martyrdom, invest these letters with intrinsic historic value. LETTER -FROM EDWIN COPPOCK TO HIS UNCLE JOSHUA COPPOCK. CHARLESTON, VA., December 13, 1859. MY DEAR UNCLE : I seat myself by the stand to write for the last time, to thee and thy family. Though far from home, and overtaken by misfortune, I have not forgotten you. Your generous- hospitality toward me during my short stay with you last Spring is stamped indelibly upon my heart ; and also the generosity bestowed upon my poor brother, at the same time, who now wanders an outcast from his native land. But thank God he is free, and I am thankful it is I who have to suffer instead of him. The time may come when he will remember me. And the time may come when he will still further remember the cause in "which I die. Thank God the principles of the cause in which we were engaged will not die with me and my brave comrades. They will spread wider and wider, and gather strength with each hour that passes. The voice of truth will echo through our land, bringing conviction to the erring, and adding numbers to that glorious Army who "will enlist under its banner. The cause of everlasting truth and justice will go on kk conquering and to conquer," until onr broad and beautiful land shall rest beneath the banner of freedom. I had hoped to live to see the dawn of that glorious day. I had hoped to live to see the principles of the Declaration of our Independence fully realized. I had hoped to see the dark stain of slavery blotted from our land, and the libel of our boasted freedom erased ; when we can say in truth that our beloved country is u the land of the free, and the home of the brave." But this cannot be. I have heard my sentence passed, my doom is sealed. But two brief days between me and eternity. At the expiration of those two days, I shall stand upon the scaffold to take my last look at earthly scenes. But that scaffold has but little dread for me But by the ta glorious day, and am groaning no more under the yoke of oppression. But I must now close. Accept this short scrawl as a remembrance of me. Remember me to my relatives and friends. And now Farewell. From thy nephew, EDWIN COPPOCK. P. S. I will say for I know it will be a satisfaction to all of you, that we are all kindly treated, and I hope the North will not fail to give Sheriff Campbell and Captain Avis due acknowledg ment for their kind and noble actions. E. LETTER FROM EDWIN COPPOCK TO THOMAS WINN. MY DEAR FRIEND THOMAS WINN: For thy love and sympathy, and for thy unwearied ex ertion in my behalf, accept my warmest thanks. I have no words to tell the gratitude and love I have for thee. And may God bless thee and thy family, for the love and kindness thee has always shown towards my family and me. And when life with thee is over, may we meet on that shore where there is no parting, is the farewell prayer of thy true Friend. EDWIN COPPOCK. THAT LETTER. The following is the letter from Edwin Coppock, seized upon by the Virginia authorities as a pretence for not commuting his sentence. The offensive remark con sisted alone wherein he spoke of the chivalry as " the enemy." There certainly is- nothing in this communication that could justify a Government in taking the life of a man whom it otherwise considered not guilty of a capital crime, but whose greatest offence was that of being found, as Wise claimed, in bad company. We give the letter entire : ipon tne scanom to taKe my last look at eartniy scenes, but mat scartold nas but for me ; for I honestly believe I am innocent of any crime justifying such punishment, .he taking of my life, and the lives of my comrades, Virginia is but hastening on that T, when the slave will rejoice in his freedom ; when he can say that I too am a tnan^ 556 APPENDIX. EDWIN COPPOCK TO MRS. BROWN. CHARLESTON JAIL, VIRGINIA, November , 1859. MRS. JOHN BROWN Dear Madam: I was very sorry that your request to see the rest of the prisoners was not complied with. Mrs Avis brought me a book whose pages are full of truth and beauty, entitled " Voice of the True- Hear ted," which she told me was a present from you. For this dear token of remembrance, please accept my thanks. My comrade, J. E. Cook, and*myself, deeply sympathize with you in your sad bereavement. We were both acquainted with Anna and Martha. They were to us as sisters, and as brothers we sympathize with them in the dark hour of trial and affliction. I was with your sons when they fell. Oliver lived but a few moments after he was shot. He spoke no word, but yielded calmly to his fate. Watson was shot at 10 o'clock on Monday morning, and died about 3 o'clock on Wednesday morning. He suffered much. Though mortally wounded at 10 o'clock, yet at 3 o'clock Monday afternoon he fought bravely against the men who charged on us. When the enemy were repulsed, and the excitement of the charge was over, he began to sink rapidly. After we were taken prisoners, he was placed in the guard-house with me. He complained of the hardness of the bench on which he was lying. I begged hard for a bed for him, or even a blanket, but could obtain none for him. I took off my coat and placed it under him, and held his head in my lap, in which position he died without a groan or a struggle. I have stated these facts thinking that they may afford to you, and to the bereaved widows they have left, a mournful consolation. Give my love to Anna and Martha, with our last farewell. Yours truly, EDWIN COPPOCK. COOK'S LAST LETTER TO HIS WIFE. CHARLESTOWN JAIL, Dec. 16, 1859. MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILD : For the last time I take my pen to address you for the last time to speak to you through the tongue of the absent. 1 am about to leave you and this world for ever. But do not give way to your grief. Look with the eyes of hope beyond the vale of life, and see the dawning of that brighter morrow that shall know no clouds or shadows in its sunny sky that shall know no sunset. To that eternal day I trust, beloved, I am going now. For me there waits no far-off or uncertain future. I am only going from my camp on earth to a home in heaven ; from the dark clouds of sin and grief, to the clear blue skies, the flowing fountains, and the eternal joys of that better and brighter land, whose only entrance is through the vale of death whose only gateway is the tomb. Oh, yes ! think that 1 am only going home ; going to meet my Saviour and my God ; going to meet my comrades, and wait and watch for you. Each hour that passes, every tolling bell, pro claims this world is not our home. We are but pilgrims here, journeying to our Father's house. Some have a long and weary road to wander ; shadowed o'er with doubts and fears, they often tire and faint upon life's roadside ; yet, still all wearied, they must move along. Some make a more rapid journey, and complete their pilgrimage in the bright morn of life ; they know no weari ness upon their journey, no ills or cares of toil-worn age. I and my comrades here are among that number. Our pilgrimage is nearly ended ; we can almost see our homes. A few more hours and we shall be there. True, it is hard for me to leave my loving partner and my little one, lingering on the rugged road on which life's storms are bursting. But cheer up, my beloved ones ; those storms will soon be over ; through their last lingering shadows you will see the promised rainbow. It will whisper of a happy land where all storms are over. Will you not strive to meet me in that clime of unend ing sunshine ? Oh ! yes, I know you will ; that you will also try to lead our child along that path of glory ; that you will claim for him an entrance to that celestial city whose maker and builder is God. Teach him the way of truth and virtue. Tell him for what and how his father left him ere his lips could lisp my name. Pray for him. Remember that there is no golden gate way to the realms of pleasure here, but there is one for the redeemed in the land that lies star- ward. There I hope we may meet, when you have completed your pilgrimage on the road of life. Years will pass on and your journey will soon be ended. Live so that when from the verge of life you look back you may feel no vain regrets, no bitter anguish for mis-spent years. Look to Godfin all your troubles ; cast yourself on Him when your heart is dark with the night of sorrow and heavy with the weight of woe. He will shed over you the bright sunshine of His love, and take away the burden from your heart. And now farewell. May that all-wise and eternal God, who governs all things, be with you to guide and protect you through life, and bring us together in eternal joy beyond the grave. Farewell, fond partner of my heart and soul. Farewell, dear babe of our love. A last, long fare well, till we meet in heaven. I remain, in life and death, your devoted husband, __ JOHN E. COOK. FUNERAL OF JOHN E. COOK. The funeral of Capt. Cook took place at Brooklyn on the 2Oth, from the residence of Mrs. S. L. Harris. The services were conducted by the Rev. Mr. Caldicott, of the Lee Avenue Dutch Reformed Church, and at the Cypress Hills Cemetery by the Rev. "Wm. H. Johnson. Of the body the day previous, the Tribune says : Owing to the length of time that elapsed between the decease and the time the body was de livered into the charge of Dr. Holmes, the process of embalming has been somewhat difficult, and consequently the appearance of the remains is not so natural as it otherwise would have been. APPENDIX. 557 Last evening the body was placed in an erect position, in order to allow the injected fluid to settle in the veins and arteries, so as to give to the face a more natural appearance. The swelling has en tirely disappeared from the neck and face, and the decomposition which had set in had been checked. The remains will not be enshrouded until this morning, when they will be placed in the coffin, enclosed in a white merino robe with a satin collar, satin cord about the waist, and a black neckerchief about the neck. Yesterday afternoon the father, sisters, and wife of the deceased were permitted to view the remains. His wife removed the breast-pin and a miniature of their child from about his neck, which she had placed there but a few days previous to his execution. She is but eighteen years of age, and has an infant four months old. She is from Harper's Ferry, Va., where she was mar ried about seventeen months since. She, as well as the other relatives, was overwhelmed with sorrow, and it was some moments before they were sufficiently recovered to be enabled to leave the body. The refusal of the Consistories of the Lee Avenue and Fourth Reformed Dutch Churches to permit the services to be held in their edifices has given rise to the expression of much feeling, and many of the friends of the deceased infer that this refusal is made from a fear of censure on the part of some of the members of their congregations, in allowing a Christian burial to the remains. In the little burial-ground at Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio, there is a monument dedicated to the memory of three of the John Brown Men, as follows : L. S. Leary, died at Harper's Ferry, Oct. 20, 1859, aged 24 years. S. Green, died at Charlestown, Virginia, Dec. 2, 1850, aged 28 years. J. A. Copeland, died at Charlestown, Virginia, Dec. 2, 1859, aged 25 years. The monument bears the following inscription : These Colored citizens of Oberlin, the heroic associates of the Immortal John Brown, gave their lives for the Slave. THE NEGRO ARTIST OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY ON THE CAPITOL. When the bronze castings were being completed at the foundry of Mr. Mills, near Bladensburg, his foreman, who had superintended the work from the beginning, and who was receiving eight dollars per day, struck, and demanded ten dollars, assur ing Mr. M. that the advance must be granted him, as nobody in America, except him self, could complete the work. Mr. M. felt that the demand was exorbitant, and ap pealed in his dilemma to the slaves who were assisting in the moulding. " I can do that well," said one of them, an intelligent and ingenious servant, who had been inti mately engaged in the various processes. The striker was dismissed, and the negro, assisted occasionally by the finer skill of his master, took the striker's place as super intendent, and the work went on. The black master-builder lifted the ponderous, uncouth masses, and bolted them together, joint by joint, piece by piece, till they blended into the majestic " Freedom," who to-day lifts her head in the blue clouds above Washington, invoking a benediction upon the imperilled Republic ! Was there a prophecy in that moment when the slave became the artist, and with rare poetic justice, reconstructed the beautiful symbol of freedom for America ? l fart 7. THE NEGRO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. CHAPTER XIX. NEGROES AS SOLDIERS. Gen. Benj. F. Butler commanded a number of Negro Troops at Fort Harrison, on the 29th Sept., 1864. After white troops had been driven back by the enemy, Gen. Butler ordered his Negro troops to storm the fortified position of the enemy at the point of the bayonet. The troops had to charge down a hill, ford a creek, and pre ceded by axemen who had to cut away two lines of abatis then carry the works held by infantry and artillery. They made one of the most brilliant charges of the war, 1 Washington Correspondent of the New York Tribune, December =, 1863. 558 APPENDIX. with " Remember Fort Pillow " as their battle-cry, and carried the works in an in. credibly short time. Nearly a decade after this battle, Gen. Butler, then a member of Congress from Massachusetts, said, in a speech on the Civil Rights Bill of this affair : " It became my painful duty to follow in the track of that charging column, and there, in a space not wider than the clerk's desk, and three hundred yards long, lay the dead bodies of five hundred and forty-three of my colored comrades, fallen in defence of their country, who had offered up their lives to uphold its flag and its honor, as a willing sacrifice ; and as I rode along among them, guiding my horse this way and that way, lest he should profane with his hoofs what seemed to me the sacred dead, and as I looked on their bronze faces upturned in the shining sun, as if in mute appeal against the wrongs of the country for which they had given their lives, whose flag had only been to them a flag of stripes, on which no star of glory had ever shone for them feeling 1 had wronged them in the past, and believing what was the future of my country to them among. my dead comrades there, I swore to myself a solemn oath 'May my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,' if I ever fail to defend the rights of those men who have given their blood for me and my country that day and for their race forever, and God helping me, I will keep that oath." BATTLES IN WHICH COLORED TROOPS PARTICIPATED. " Alliance," Steamer, Fla. March 8, 1865. U. S. C. T. 99 th Inf. Amite River, La. March 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. 77 th Inf. Appomattox Court House, Va. April 9, 1865. U. S. C. T. 4 ist Inf. Arkansas River, Ark. Dec. 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 54 th Inf. Ash Bayou, La. Nov. 19, 1864. U. S. C. T. 93 dlnf. Ashepoo River, S. C. May 16, 1864. U. S. C. T. 34 thlnf. Ashwood, Miss. June 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 3 d Inf. Ashwood Landing, La. May i and 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 4 thlnf. Athens, Ala. Sept. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. io6th, iioth, and mth Inf. Barrancas, Fla. July 22, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 2 d Inf. Baxter's Springs, Kan. Oct. 6, i86 3 . U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Bayou Bidell, La. Oct. 15, 1864. U. S. C. T. 52 d Inf. Bayou Boeuf, Ark. Dec. i 3 , 1865. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. Bayou Mason, Miss. July , 1864. U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. Bayou St. Louis, Miss. Nov. 17, i86 3 . U. S. C. T. gist Inf. Bayou Tensas, La. Aug. 10, i86 3 . U. S. C. T. 4 8th Inf. Bayou Tensas, La. July 3 o and Aug. 26, 1864. U.S. C. T. 66th Inf. Bayou Tunica, La. Nov. 9, 1865. U. S. C. T. 73 d Inf. Bermuda Hundred, Va. May 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4 th Inf. Bermuda Hundred, Va. May 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. ist Cav. Bermuda Hundred, Va. Au|. 24 and 25.1864 25, 1864. 7 th Inf. Bermuda Hundred, Va. Nov. 3 o and Dec. 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. igth Inf. Bermuda Hundred, Va. Dec. i, 1864. U. S. C. T. 39 th Inf. Bermuda Hundred, Va. Dec. i 3 , 1864. U. S. C. T. 23 d Inf. Berwick, La. April 26, 1864. U. S. C. T. 9 8th Inf. Big Creek, Ark. July 26, 1864. U. S. C. T. Batt'ry E, 2 d Lt. Art.; 6oth Inf Big Springs, Ky. Jan. , 1865. U. S. C. T. i2th Hy. Art. Black Creek. Fla. July 27, 1864. U. S. C. T. 35 th Inf. Black River, La. Nov. i, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6th Hy. Art. Bogg's Mills, Ark. Jan. 24, 1864. U.S. C. T. nth (old) Inf. Boyd's Station, Ala. March 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. ioist Inf. Boykin's Mill, S. C. April 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. 54 th (Mass.) Inf. Bradford's Springs, S. C. April 18, 1865. U. S. C.T. io 2 dlnf. Brawley Fork, Tenn. March 25, 1865. U. S. C. T. i 7 th Inf. Brice's Cross Roads, Miss, June 10, 1864. U.S.C.T. Batt'yF, 2 dLt. Art.; ssth and sgth Inf. Briggin Creek, S. C. Feb. 25, 1865. U. S. C. T. 55 th (Mass.) Inf. APPENDIX. 559 Bryant's Plantation, Fla. Oct. 21, 1864. U. S.C. T. 3 dlnf. Cabin Creek, Caddo Nation. July i and 2, 1863. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Cabin Creek, Caddo Nation. Nov. 4, 1865. U. S. C. T. 54 th Inf. Cabin Point, Va. Aug. 5, 1864. U. S. C. T. ist Cav. Camden, Ark. April 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. 57 th Inf. Camp Marengo, La. Sept. 14. 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 3 d Inf. Cedar Keys, Fla. Feb. 16, 1865. U. S. C. T. 2 d Inf. Chapin's Farm,Va, Sept. 29 and 30, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 d Cav. ; ist, 4 th, 5 th, 6th, yth. 8th 9th, 22d, 29th (Conn.), 36th, 37th, and s8th Inf. Chapin's Farm, Va, Nov. 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 22d Inf. Chattanooga, Tenn. Feb. , 1865. U. S. C. T. i8th Inf. " Chippewia," Steamer, Ark. Feb. 17, 1865. U. S.C.T. 8 3 d(new)Inf. " City Belle," Steamer, La. May 3, 1864. U. S. C. T. 73 d Inf. City Point, Va. May 6, 1864. U. S. C. T. 5 th Inf. City Point, Va. June , 1864. U. S. C. T. Batt'y B, 2 d Lt. Art. Clarksville, Ark. Jan. 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Clinton, La. Aug. 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4 th Cav. Coleman's Plantation, Miss. July 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 5 2d Inf. Columbia, La. Feb. 4, 1864. U. S.C. T. 66th Inf. Concordia Bayou, La. Aug. 5, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6th Hy. Art Cow Creek, Kan. Nov. 14, 1864. U. S. C. T. 54 th Inf. Cox's Bridge, N. C. March 24, 1865. U. S. C. T. 3 oth Inf. Dallas, Ga. May 31, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4oth Inf. Dalton, Ga. Aug. 15 and 16, 1864. U. S. C. T. i 4 th Inf. ' Darbytown Road, Va. Oct. 13, 1864. U. S. C. T. 7th, 8th, gth, and 2gth (Conn.) Inf. Davis's Bend, La. June 2 and 29, 1864. U.S. C. T. 6 4 thlnf. Decatur, Tenn. Aug. 18, 1864. U. S.C.T. ist Hy. Art. Decatur, Ala. Oct. 28 and 29, 1864. U. S.C.T. i 4 thlnf. Decatur, Ala. Dec. 27 and 28, 1864. U. S. C. T. i 7 th Inf. Deep Bottom, Va. Aug. 14 to 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 7 th and 9 th Inf. Deep Bottom, Va. Sept. 2 and 6, 1864. U.S. C. T. 2 dCav. Deep Bottom, Va. Oct. i, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 8th'Inf. Deep Bottom, Va. Oct. 31, 1864. U. S. C. T. i2 7 th Inf. Deveaux Neck, S. C. Dec. 7, 8, and 9, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 2d, 34 th, 55 th (Mass.), and i<*d Inf. Drury's Bluff, Va. May 10, 16, and 20, 1864. U.S. C. T. 2 dCav. Dutch Gap, Va. Aug. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. 22 d Inf. Dutch Gap, Va. Sept. 7, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4 th Inf. Dutch Gap, Va. Nov. 17, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 6th Inf. East Pascagoula, Miss. April 9, 1863. U. S. C. T. Cos. B. and C., 74 th Inf, Eastport, Miss. Oct. 10, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6ist Inf. Fair Oaks, Va. Oct. 27 and 28, 1864. TJ. S. C. T. ist, sth, gth, 22d, 29th (Conn.), and 37th Inf. Federal Point, N. C. Feb. ii, 1865. U. S. C. T. 39 th Inf. Fillmore, Va. Oct. 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. ist Inf. Floyd, La. July , 1864. U. S.C.T. 5 ist Inf. Fort Adams, La. Oct. 5, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. Fort Anderson, Ky. March 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. Sth Hy. Art. Fort Blakely, Ala. March 31 to April 9, 1865. U. S. C. T. 47th, 48th, soth, sist, 68th, j^d, 76th, 8 2 d, and 86th Inf. Fort Brady, Va. Jan. 24, 1865. U. S. C. T. n8th Inf. Fort Burnham, Va. Dec. 10, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4 ist Inf. Fort Burnham, Va. Jan. 24, 1865. U. S. C. T. 7 th Inf. 56o APPENDIX. Fort Donelson Tenn. Henderson, Ky. Oct. ii, 1864. U.S. C.T. 4 th Hy. Art. Sept. 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. n8th Inf. Fort Gaines, Ala. Holly Springs, Miss. Aug. 2 to 8, 1864. U. S. C. T. 9 6th Inf. Aug. 28, 1864. U. S. C. T: nth (new) Inf. Fort Gibson, Caddo Nation. Honey Hill, S. C. Sept. 16, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Nov. 30, 1864. U. S. C. T. 32 d, 35 th, 54 th, and ssth (Mass.X Fort Gibson, Caddo Nation. and io2d Inf. Sept., 1865. Honey Springs, Kan. U. S. C. T. 54 th Inf. Fort Jones, Ky. July 17, 1863. U.S. C.T. 79 th (new) Inf. Feb. 18, 1865. Hopkinsville, Va. U. S. C. T. i2th Hy. Art. Dec. 12, 1864. Fort Pillow, Tenn. U. S. C. T. 5 th Cav. April 12, 1864. Horse-Head Creek, Ark. U.S. C.T. Batt'y F, 2d Lt. Art.; nth (new) Feb. 17, 1864. Inf. U.S. C.T. 79 th (new) Inf. Fort Pocahontas, Va. Indian Bay, Ark. Aug., 1864. April i 3 , 1864. U. S. C. T. ist Cav. U. S. C. T. 5 6th Inf. Fort Smith, Ark. Indiantown, N. C. Aug. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. nth (old) Inf. Dec. 18, 1863. U. S. C. T. 3 6th Inf. Fort Smith, Ark. Indian Village, La. Dec. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Aug. 6, 1864. U.S. C.T. nthHy. Art. Fort Taylor, Fla. Island Mound, Mo. Aug. 21, 1864. Oct. 27 and 29, 1862. U. S. C. T. 2 d Inf. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Fort Wagner, S. C. July 18 and Sept. 6, 1863. U. S. C. T. 54 th (Mass.) Inf. Island No. 76, Miss. Jan. 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. Batt'y E, 2 d Lt. Art. Fort Wagner, S. C. Issaquena County, Miss. Aug. 26, 1863. U. S. C. T. 3 d Inf. July 10 and Aug. 17, 1864. U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. Franklin,. Miss. Jackson, La. Jan. 2, 1865. Aug. 3, 1863. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. U. S. C. T. 73 d, 75 th,'and 7 8th Inf*. Ghent, Ky. Jackson, Miss. Aug. 29 1864. U.S. C.T. ii 7 thlnf. July s, 1864. U.S. C.T. 3 d Cav. Glasgow, Mo. Jacksonville, Fla. Oct. 15, 1864. March 29, 1865. U. S. C. T. 6 2 d Inf U. S. C. T. 33 d Inf. Glasgow, Ky. March 25, 1865. U.S. C.T. iigthlnf. Jacksonville, Fla. May i and 28, 1864. U. S. C. T. 7 th Inf. Goodrich's Landing, La. Jacksonville, Fla. March 24 and July 16, 1864. U. S. C. T. 66th Inf. April 4, 1865. U.S. C.T. 3 dlnf. Grand Gulf, Miss. James Island, S. C. July 16, 1864. U.S. C.T. 53 dlnf. July 16, 1863. U. S. C. T. 54 th (Mass.) Inf. Gregory's Farm, S. C. James Island, S. C. Dec. 5 and 9, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 6th Inf. May 21, 1864. U. S. C. T. 55 th (Mass.) Inf. Hall Island, S. C. James Island, S. C. Nov. 24, 1863. U. S. C. T. 33 d Inf. July i and 2, 1864. U. S. C. T. 33 d and 5 5 th (Mass.) Infc Harrodsburg, Ky. James Island, S. C. Oct. 21, 1864. U.S. C.T. 5 thCav. July s and 7, 1864. U. S. C. T. 7 th Inf. Hatcher's Run, Va. Oct. 27 and 28, 1864. CJ. S. C. T. 27th, 39th, 4ist, 4 3 d, and 45th Inf. James Island, S. C. Feb. 10, 1865. U. S. C. T. 55 th (Mass.) Inf. Haynes Bluff. Miss. Jenkins's Ferry, Ark. Feb. 3 , 1864. U. S. C. T. 53 d Inf. April 30, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) and 8 3 d (new) JaU Haynes Bluff, Miss. Jenkins's Ferry, Ark. April, 1864. May 4, 1864. U.S. C.T. 3 dCav. U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Helena, Ark. John's Island, S. C. Aug. 2, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 4 th Inf. July s and 7, 1864. U.S. C.T. 2 6th Inf. APPENDIX. 5 6r John's Island, S. C. and 3 4 th Inf. Johnsonville, Tenn. Sept. 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. i 3 th Inf. Jones's Bridge, Va. June 23, i86 4 . U. S. C. T. 2 8th Inf. Joy's Ford, Ark. Jan. 8, 1865. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Lake Providence, La. May 27, 1863. Lawrence, Kan. July 27, 1863. U. S. C. T. 7 oth (new) Inf. Little Rock, Ark. April 26 and May 28, 1864. U. S. C. T. 57 th Inf. Liverpool Heights, Miss. Feb. i, 1864. U. S. C. T. 47 th Inf. Lotus," Steamer, Kan. Jan. 17, 1865. U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Madison Station, Ala. Nov. 26, 1864. U. S. C. T. loistlnf. Magnolia, Tenn. Jan. 7, 1865 U. S. C. T. i 5 th Inf. Mariana, Fla. Sept. 27, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 2 d Inf. Marion, Va. Dec. 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6th Cav. Marion County, Fla. March 10, 1865. U. S. C. T. 3 d Inf. McKay's Point, S. C. Dec. 22, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 6th Inf. Meffleton Lodge, Ark. June 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. 5 6th Inf. Memphis, Tenn. Aug. 21, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6ist Inf. Milliken's Bend, La. June 5. 6, and 7, 1863. U. S. C. T. 5 th Hy. Art. ; 49 th and Inf. Milltown Bluff, S. C. July 10, 1863. U. S. C. T. 33 d Inf. Mitchell's Creek, Fla. Dec. 17, 1864. U. S. C. T. 82d Inf. Morganzia, La. May 18, 1864. U.S. C.T. 73 dlnf. Morganzia, La. Nov. 23, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 4 th Inf. Moscow, Tenn. June 15, 1864. U. S. C. T. 55 th Inf. Moscow Station, Tenn. Dec. 4, 1863. U. S. C. T. 6ist Inf. Mound Plantation, La. June 20, 1863. U. S. C. T. 4 6th Inf. Mount Pleasant Landing, La. May 15, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 7 th Inf. Mud Creek, Ala. Jan. 5, 1865. U.S. C.T. io6thlnf. Murfreesboro', Tenn. Dec. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. i2th Inf. N. and N. W. R. R., Tenn. Sept. 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. looth Inf. Nashville, Tenn. May 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. i 5 th Inf. Nashville, Tenn. Lee. 2 and 21, 1864. U. S. C. T. 44 th Inf. Nashville, Tenn. Dec. 7, 1864. U.S. C.T. iSthlnf. Nashville, Tenn. Dec. 15 and 16, 1864. U. S. C. T. i2th, i3th, 1 4th, i7th, i8th, and xootb Inf. Natchez, Miss. Nov. ii, 1863. U. S. C. T. 5 8th Inf. Natchez, Miss. April 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. 9 8th Inf. Natural Bridge, Fla. March 6, 1865. U. S. C. T. 2 d and 99 th Inf. New Kent Court House, Va. March 2, 1864. U. S. C. T. 5 th Inf. New Market Heights, Va. June 24, i86 4 . U. S. C. T. 22d Inf. Olustee, Fla. Feb. 20, i86 4 . U.S. C. T. 8th, 35 th, and 54 th (Mass.) Infc Owensboro', Ky. Aug. 27, 1864. U. S. C. T. io8th Inf. Palmetto Ranch, Texas, May 15, 1865. U. S. C. T. 6 2 d Inf. Pass Manchas, La. March 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. ioth Hy. Art. Petersburg, Va. June 15, 1864, to April 2, 1865. U. S. C. T. 5 th (Mass.) Cav. ; ist, 4 th, sth, 6th, 7th, ioth, i 9 th, 22d, 23d, 27th, 28th, 2 9 th, 2 9 th (Conn.), soth, 3ist, 36th, 3 9 th, 4131, 43d, 45th, and n6th Inf. Pierson's Farm, Va. June iG, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 6th Inf. Pine Barren Creek, Ala. Dec. 17, 18, and ig, 1864. U. S. C. T. 97 th Inf. Pine Barren Ford, Fla. Dec. 17 and 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 2 d Inf. Pine Bluff, Ark. July 2, 1864. U. S. C.'T. 6 4 th Inf. Pleasant Hill, La. April 9 , i86 4 . U. S. C. T. 75 th Inf. Plymouth, N. C. Nov. 26, 1863, and April 18, 1964. U. S. C. T. ioth Inf. APPENDIX. Plymouth, N. C. April i, 1864. U. S. C. T. 37 th Inf. Point Lookout, Va. May 13, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 6th Inf. Point of Rocks, Md. June 9, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 d Cav. Point Pleasant, La. June 25, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 4 th Inf. Poison Springs, Ark. April 18, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Port Hudson, La. May 22 to July 8, 1863. U. S. C. T. 73 d, 75 th, 7 8th, 7 oth (old), 8oth 8ist, 82d, and 9 5 th Inf. Powhatan, Va. Jan. 25, 1865. U. S. C. T. ist Cav. Prairie D'ann, Ark. April 13, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) and 8 3 d (new) Inf. Pulaski, Tenn. May 13, 1864. U. S. C. T. iiith Inf. Raleigh, N. C April 7 , 1865. U. S. C. T. 5 th Inf. Rector's Farm, Ark. Dec. 19, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Red River Expedition, La. May , 1864. U.S. C.T. 92 dlnf. Richland, Tenn. Sept. 26, 1864. U.S. C.T. i nth Inf. Richmond, Va. Oct. 28 and 29, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 d Cav. ; 7 th Inf. Ripley, Miss. June 7 , 1864. U. S. C. T. 55 th Inf. Roache's Plantation, Miss. March 31. 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. Rolling Fork, Miss. NOV. 22, 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. Roseville Creek, Ark. March 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf. Ross's Landing, Ark. Feb. 14, 1864. U. S. C. T. 5 ist Inf. St. John's River, S. C. May 23, 1864. U. S. C. T. 35 th Inf. St. Stephen's, S. C. March i, 1865. U. S. C. T. 55 th (Mass.) Inf. Saline River, Ark. May 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 8 3 d (new) Inf. Saline River, Ark. May , 1865. U. S. C. T. S4 th Inf. Salkehatchie, S. C. Feb. 9, 1865. U. S. C. T. io2d Inf. Saltville, Va. Oct. 2, 1864. U.S. C.T, 5 th and 6th Cav. Saltville, Va. Dec. 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. sth Cav. Sand Mountain, Tenn. Jan. 2 7 , 1865. U. S. C. T. i8th Inf. Sandy Swamp, N. C. Dec. 18, 1863. U.S. C.T. 5 thlnf. Scottsboro', Ala. Jan. 8, 1865. U. S. C. T. ioist Inf. Section 37 , N. and N. W. R. R., Tenn. Nov. 24, 1864. U. S. C. T. i2th Inf. Sherwood, Mo. May 18, 1863. U. S. C. T, 79 th (new) Inf. Simpsonville, Ky. Jan. 25, 1865. U.S. C.T 5 th Cav. Smithfield, Va. Aug. 30, 1864. U.S. C.T. ist Cav. Smithfield, Ky. Jan. 5, 1865. U. S. C. T. 6th Cav. South Tunnel, Tenn. Oct. 10, 1864. U. S. C. T. 4 oth Inf. Spanish Fort, Ala. March 2 7 to April 8, 1865. U. S. C. T. 68th Inf. Suffolk, Va. March 9, 1864. U. S. C. T. 2 d Cav. Sugar Loaf Hill, N. C. Jan. 19, 1865. u. s. c. TV 6th Inf. Sugar Loaf Hill, N. C. Feb. ii, 1865. U. S. C. T. 4 th, 6th, and 3 oth Inf. Sulphur Branch Trestle, Ala. Sept. 25, 1864. U.S. C.T. mthlnf. Swift's Creek, S. C. April 19, 1865. U. S. C. T. io2d Inf. Taylorsville, Ky. April 18, 1865. U. S. C. T. noth Inf. Timber Hill, Caddo Nation. Nov. 19, 1864. U. S. C. T. 79 th (new) Inf, Town Creek, N. C. Feb. 20, 1865. U. S. C. T. ist Inf. Township, Fla. Jan. 26, 1863. U.S. C.T. 3/d Inf. Tupelo, Miss. July 13, 14, and 15, 1864. U.S. C.T. 5 9 th, 6 ist, and 68th Inf. Vicksburg, Miss, Aug. 2 7 , 1863. U.S. C.T. 5 th Hy. Art. Vicksburg, Miss. Feb. 13, 1864. U. S. C. T. 52 d Inf. Vicksburg, Miss. June 4, 1864. U.S. C.T. 3 dCav. Vicksburg, Miss. July 4, 1864. U.S. C.T. 4 8thlaf. APPENDIX. 563 Vidalia, La. Williamsburg, Va. July 22, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6th Hy. Art. March 4, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6th Inf. Wallace's Ferry, Ark. July 26, 1864, Wilmington, N. C. Feb. 22, 1865. U. S. C. T. 5 6thln. U. S. C. T. ist. Inf. Warsaw, N. C. April 6, 1865. U, S. C. T. ist Inf. Waterford, Miss. Wilson's Landing, Va. June ii, 1864. U. S. C. T. ist Cav. Aug. 16 and 17, 1864. Wilson's Wharf, Va. U. S. C. T, 55 th and 6ist Inf. Waterloo, La. May 24, 1864. U, S. C. T. Batt'y B, 2 d Lt. Art.; ist and xoth Oct. 20, 1864. Inf. U. S. C.T. 75 th Inf. Yazoo City, Miss. Waterproof, La. March 5, 1864. Feb. 14. 1864. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav.; 47 th Inf. U. S. C. T. 49 th Inf. Waterproof, La. April 20, 1864. U. S. C. T. 6 3 d Inf. Yazoo City, Miss. May 13, 1864. U.S. C.T. 3 dCav. White Oak Road, Va. Yazoo City, Miss. March 31, 1865, U.S. C.T. 2 9 thlnf. March 15, 1865. U. S. C.T. 3 dCav. White River, Ark. Yazoo Expedition, Miss. Oct. 22, 1864. Feb. 28, 1864. U.S. C.T. 53 Inf. U. S. C. T. 3 d Cav. CHAPTER XX. HOISTING THE BLACK FLAG. OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS. GENERAL S. D. LEE TO GENERAL COOPER. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND ) EAST LOUISIANA, MERIDIAN, June 30, 1864. \ GENERAL : I have the honor to transmit copies of correspondence between General Washburn, U. S. A., General Forrest, and myself, which I consider very important, and should belaid before the Department. It will be my endeavor to avoid, as far as is consistent with my idea of the dig nity of my position, resorting to such an extremity as the black flag; and the onus shall be with the Federal commander. I would like that the onus be put where it properly belongs, before the public, should the ex tremity arise. The correspondence is not complete yet, and the Department will be informed of the result at the earliest practicable moment. I am, General, yours respectfully, S. D. LEE, Lieutenant-General. General S. COOPER, A. and I. G., Richmond, Va. GENERAL FORREST TO GENERAL WASHBURN. HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY, ) IN THE FIELD, June 14, 1864. j Major-General WASHBURN, Commanding United States Forces, Memphis : GENERAL: I have the honor herewith to enclose copy of letter received from Brigadier-General Buford, commanding United States forces at Helena, Arkansas, addressed to Colonel E. W. Rucker, commanding Sixth Regiment of this command ; also a letter from myself to General Buford, which 1 respectfully request you will read and forward to him. There is a matter also to which I desire to call your attention, which, until now, I have not thought proper to make the subject of a communication. Recent events render it necessary, in fact, demand it. It has been reported to me that all the negro troops stationed in Memphis took an oath on their knees, in the presence of Major-General Hurlbut and other officers of your army, to avenge Fort Pillow, and that they would show my troops no quarter. Again, I have it from indisputable authority that the troops under Brigadier-General Sturgis, on their recent march from Memphis, publicly and in various places proclaimed that no quarter would be shown my men. As his troops were moved into action on the eleventh, the officers com manding exhorted their men to remember Fort Pillow, and a large majority of the prisoners we have captured from that command have voluntarily stated that they expected us to murder them, otherwise they would have surrendered in a body rather than taken to the bushes after being run down and exhausted. The recent battle of Tishemingo Creek was far more bloody than it other wise would have been but for the fact that your men evidently expected to be slaughtered when captured, and both sides acted as though neither felt safe in surrendering even when further re sistance was useless. The prisoners captured by us say they felt condemned by the announce ments, etc., of their own commanders, and expected no quarter. In all my operations since the war began, I have conducted the war on civilized principles, and desire still to dp so, but it is due to my command that they should know the position you occupy and the policy you intend to 564 APPENDIX. pursue. I therefore respectfully ask whether my men in your hands are treated as other Confeder ate prisoners, also the course intended to be pursued in regard to those who may hereafter fall into your hands. I have in my possession quite a number of wounded officers and men of General Sturgis's com mand, all of whom have been treated as well as we have been able to treat them, and are mo'tly in charge of a surgeon left at Ripley by General Sturgis to look after the wounded. Some of them are too severely wounded to be removed at present. I am willing to exchange them for any men of my command you may have, and as soon as they are able to be removed will give them safe escort through my lines in charge of the surgeon left with them. I made such an arrangement with Major-Generaj Hurlbut when he was in command of Memphis, and am willing to renew it, provided it is desired, as it would be better than to subject them to the long and fatiguing delay necessary to a regular exchange at City Point, Virginia. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, N. B. FORREST, Major-General. GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL LEE. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, | MEMPHIS, TENN., June 17, 1864. J Major-General S. D. LEE, Commanding Confederate Forces near Tupelo, Miss. : GENERAL : When I heard that the forces of Brigadier-General Sturgis had been driven back, and a portion of them probably captured, I felt considerable solicitude for the fate of the two colored regiments that formed a part of the command, until I was informed that the Confederate forces were commanded by you. When I learned that, I became satisfied that no atrocities would be committed upon those troops, but that they would receive the treatment which humanity as well as their gallant conduct demanded. I regret to say that the hope that I entertained has been dispelled by facts which have recently come to my knowledge. From statements that have been made to me by colored soldiers who were eye-witnesses, it would seem that the massacre at Fort Pillow had been reproduced at the late affair at Bryce's Cross-roads. The detail of the atrocities there committed I will not trouble you with. If true, and not disavowed, they must lead to consequences too fearful to contemplate. It is best that we should now have a fair understanding upon this question, of the treatment of this class of soldiers. If it is contemplated by the Confederate government to murder all colored troops that may by chance of war fall into their hands, as was the case at Fort Pillow, it is but fair that it shoul'd be freely and frankly avowed. Within the last six weeks I have, on two occasions, sent colored troops into the field from this point. In the expectation that the Confederate government would disavow the action of their commanding general at the Fort Pillow massacre, 1 have forborne to issue any instructions to the colored troops as to the course they should pursue toward Con federate soldiers. No disavowal on the part of the Confederate government having been made, but, on the contrary, laudations from the entire Southern press of the perpetrators of the mas sacre, I may safely presume that indiscriminate slaughter is to be the fate of colored troops that fall into your hands. But I am not willing to leave a matter of such grave import, and involving consequences so fearful, to inference, and I have therefore thought it proper to address you this, believing that you would be able to indicate the policy that the Confederate government intend to pursue hereafter on this question. If it is intended to raise the black flag against that unfortunate race, they will cheerfully accept the issue. Up to this time no troops have fought more gallantly, and none have conducted them selves with greater propriety. They have fully vindicated their right (so long denied) to be treated as men. I hope that I have been misinformed in regard to the treatment they have received at the battle of Bryce's Cross-roads, and that the accounts received result rather from the excited imagi nations of the fugitives than from actual fact. For the government of the colored troops under my command, I would thank you to inform me, with as little delay as possible, if it is your intention, or the intention of the Confederate government, to murder colored soldiers that may fall into your hands, or treat them as prisoners of war, and subject to be exchanged as other prfsoners. I am, General, respectfully, your obedient servant, C C. WASHBURN, Major-General, Commanding. GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL FORREST. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, { MEMPHIS, TENN., June 19, 1864. ) Major-General N. B. FORREST, Commanding Confederate Forces : GENERAL : Your communication of the fourteenth instant is received. The letter to Brigadier- General Buford will be forwarded to him. In regard to that part of your letter which relates to colored troops, I beg to say that I have already sent a communication on the subject to the officer in command of the Confederate forces at Tupelo. Having understood that Major-General S. D. Lee was in command there, I directed my letter to him a copy of it I enclose. You say in your letter that it has been reported to you that all the negro troops stationed in Memphis took an oath on their knees, in the presence of Major-General Hurlbut, and other officers of our army, to avenge Fort Pillow, and that they would show your troops no quarter. I believe it is true that the colored troops did take such an oath, but not in the presence of Geneial Hurlbut. From what I can learn, this act of theirs was not influenced by any white officer, but was the result of their own sense of what was due to themselves and their fellows who had been mercilessly slaughtered. I have no doubt that they went into the field, as you allege, in the full belief that they would be murdered in case they fell into your hands. The affair at Fort Pillow fully justified that belief. I am not aware as to what they proclaimed on their late march, and it may be, as you say, that, they declared that no quarter would be given to any of your men that might fall into their hands. APPENDIX. 565 Your declaration that you have conducted the war, on all occasions, on civilized principles, cannot be accepted ; but I receive with satisfaction the intimation in your letter that the recent slaughter of colored troops at the battle of Tishemingo Creek resulted rather from the desperation with which they fought than a predetermined intention to give them no quarter. You must have learned by this time that the attempt to intimidate the colored troops by indis criminate slaughter has signally failed, and that, instead of a feeling of terror, you have aroused a spirit of courage and desperation that will not down at your bidding. I am left in doubt, by your letter, as to the course you and the Confederate government intend to pursue hereafter in regard to colored troops, and I beg you to advise me, with as little delay as possible, as to your intentions. If you intend to treat such of them as fall into your hands as prisoners of war, please so state ; if you do not so intend, but contemplate either their slaughter or their return to slavery, please state that, so that we may have no misunderstanding hereafter. If the former is your intention, I shall receive the announcement with pleasure, and shall explain the fact to the colored troops at once, and desire that they recall the oath they have taken ; if the latter is the case, then let the oath stand, and upon those who have aroused this spirit by their atrocities, and upon the govern ment and people who sanction it, be the consequences. In regard to your inquiry relating to prisoners of your command in our hands, I have to state that they have always received the treatment which a great and humane Government extends to its prisoners. What course will be pursued hereafter toward them must, of course, depend on circumstances that may arise. If your command, hereafter, does nothing which should properly exclude them from being treated as prisoners of war, they will be so treated. I thank you for your offer to exchange wounded officers and men in your hands. If you will send them in, I will exchange man for man, so far as I have the ability to do so. Before closing this letter, I wish to call your attention to one case of unparalleled outrage and murder that has been brought to my notice, and in regard to which the evidence is overwhelming. Among the prisoners captured at Fort Pillow was Major Bradford, who had charge of the defence of the fort after the fall of Major Booth. After being taken prisoner, he was started with other prisoners of war, in charge of Colonel Duckworth, for Jackson. At Brownsville they rested over night. The following morning two companies were detailed by Colonel Duckworth to proceed to Jackson with the prisoners. After they had started, and proceeded a very short distance, five soldiers were recalled by Colonel Duckworth, and were conferred with by him ; they then rejoined the column, and after proceeding about five miles from Brownsville the column was halted, and Major Bradford taken about fifty yards from the roadside and deliberately shot by the five men who had been recalled by Colonel Duckworth, and his body left unburied upon the ground where he fell, He now lies buried near the spot, and, if you desire, you can easily satisfy yourself of the truth of what I assert. I beg leave to say to you that this transaction hardly justifies your remark, that your operations have been conducted on civilized principles ; and until you take some steps to bring the perpetrators of this outrage to justice, the world will not fail to believe that it had your sanction. I am, General, your obedient servant, C. C. WASHBURN, Major-General, Commanding. GENERAL FORREST TO GENERAL WASHBURN. HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY, I TUPELO, Miss., June 20, 1864. j Major-General C. C. WASHBURN, Commanding U. S. Forces, Memphis, Tenn. GENERAL : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt (per flag of truce) of your letter of the seventeenth instant, addressed to Major-General S. D. Lee, or officer commanding Confederate forces near Tupelo. I have forwarded it to General Lee, with a copy of this letter. I regard your letter as discourteous to the commanding officer of this department, and grossly insulting to myself. You seek by implied threats to intimidate him, and assume the privilege of denouncing me as a murderer, and as guilty of the wholesale slaughter of the garrison at Fort Pillow, and found your assertion upon the ex_ parte testimony of (your friends) the enemies of myself and country. I shall not enter into the discussion, therefore, of any of the questions involved, nor undertake any refutation of the charges made by you against myself ; nevertheless, as a matter of personal priv ilege alone, I unhesitatingly say that they are unfounded and unwarranted by the facts. But whether those charges are true or false, they, with the question you ask, as to whether negro troops, when captured, will be recognized and treated as prisoners of war, subject to exchange, etc., are matters which the governments of .the United States and Confederate States are to decide and adjus , not their subordinate officers. I regard captured negroes as I do other captured prop erty, and not as captured soldiers ; but as to how regarded by my government, and the disposi tion which has-been and will hereafter be made of them, I respectfully refer you, through the proper channel, to the authorities at Richmond. It is not the policy or the interest of the South to destroy the negro ; on the contrary to preserve and protect him. and all who have surrendered to us have received kind and humane treatment. Since the war began I have captured many thousand Federal prisoners, and they, including the survivors of the " Fort Pillow Massacre," " black and white," are living witnesses of the fact that with my knowledge or consent, or by my order, not one of them has ever been insulted, or in any way maltreated. You speak of your forbearance in not giving your negro troops instructions and orders as to. the course they should pursue in regard to Confederate soldiers that might fall into their (your> hands, which clearly conveys to my mind two very distinct impressions. The first is, that in not giving them instructions and orders, you have left the matter entirely to the discretion of the negroes as to how they should dispose of prisoners. Second, an implied threat to give such orders as will lead to " consequences too fearful " for contemplation. In confirmation of the cor rectness of the first impression (which your language now fully develops^, I refer most respect fully to my letter from the battle-field, Tishemingo Creek, and forwarded you by flag of truce on the fourteenth instant. As to the second impression, you seem disposed to take into your own nands the settlements which belong to, and can only be settled by, your government j but if you 566 APPENDIX are prepared to take upon yourself the responsibility of inaugurating a system of warfare con trary to civilized usages, the onus as well as the consequences will be chargeable to yourself. Deprecating, as I should do, such a state of affairs ; determined, as I am, not to be instru mental in bringing it about ; feeling and knowing, as I do, that I have the approval of my govern ment, my people, and my conscience as to the past, and with the firm belief that I will be sus tained by them in my future policy, it is left with you to determine what that policy shall be whether in accordance with the laws of civilized nations, or in violation of them. I am, General, yours, very respectfully, N. B. FORREST, Major-General. GENERAL FORREST TO GENERAL WASHBURN. HEADQUARTERS FORREST'S CAVALRY, | IN THE FIELD, June 23, 1864. j Major-General C. C. WASHBURN, Commanding District of West Tennessee^ Memphis, Tenn. : Your communication of the nineteenth inst. is received, in which you say " you are left in doubt as to the course the Confederate government intends to pursue hereafter in regard to colored troops." Allow me to say that this is a subject upon which I did not and do not propose to enlighten you. It is a matter to be settled by our governments through their proper officers, and I respect fully refer you to them for a solution of your doubts. You ask me to state whether " I contemplate either their slaughter or their return to slavery." I answer that I slaughter no man except in open warfare, and that my prisoners, both white and black, are turned over to my government to be dealt with as it may direct. My government is in possession of all the facts as regards my official conduct, and the operations of my command since I entered the service, and if you desire a proper discussion and decision, I refer you again to the President of the Confederate States. I would not have you understand, however, that in a matter of so much importance I am indisposed to place at your command and disposal any facts desired, when applied for in a manner becoming an officer holding your rank and position, for it is cer tainly desirable to every one occupying a public position to be placed right before the world, and there has been no time, since the capture of Fort Pillow, that I would not have furnished all the facts connected with its capture, had they been applied for properly, but now the matter rests with the two governments. I have, however, for your information, enclosed you copies of the official correspondence between the commanding officers at Fort Pillow and myself; also copies of a statement of Captain Young, the senior officer of that garrison, together with (sufficient) ex tracts from a report of the affair by my A. D. C., Captain Chas. W. Anderson, which I approve and endorse as correct. As to the death of Major Bradford, I knew nothing of it until eight or ten days after it is said to have occurred. On the thirteenth (the day after the capture of Fort Pillow) I went to Jackson, and the report I had of the affair was this : Major Bradford was, with other officers, sent to the headquarters of Colonel McCulloch, and all the prisoners were in charge of one of McCulloch's regiments. Brad ford requested the privilege of attending the burial of his brother, which was granted, he giving his parole of honor to return. Instead of returning, he changed his clothing and started for Mem phis. Some of my men were hunting deserters, and came on Bradford just as he had landed on the south bank of the Hatchie, and arrested him. When arrested, he claimed to be a Confederate soldier belonging to Bragg's army ; that he had been on furlough, and was then on his way to join his command. As he could show no papers he was believed to be a deserter, and was taken to Covington, and not until he was recognized and spoken to by citizens did the guards know that he was Brad ford. He was sent by Colonel Duckworth, or taken by him, to Brownsville. All of Chalmers's command went from Brownsville, via La Grange, and as all the other prison ers had been gone some time, and there was no chance for them to catch up and place Bradford with them, he was ordered by Colonel Duckworth or General Chalmers to be sent south to me at Jackson. I knew nothing of the matter until eight or ten days afterwards I heard that his body was found near Brownsville. I understand that he attempted to escape and was shot. If he was im properly killed, nothing would afford me more pleasure than to punish the perpetrators to the full extent of the law, and to show you how I regard such transactions. I can refer you to my demand on Major-General Hurlbut (no doubt upon file in j^our office) for the delivery to Confederate authorities of one Colonel Fielding Hurst and others of his regi ment, who deliberately took out and killed seven Confederate soldiers, one of whom they left to die after cutting off his tongue, punching out his eyes, splitting his mouth on each side to his ears, and cutting off his privates. I have mentioned and given you these facts in order that you may have no further excuse or apology for referring to these matters in connection with myself, and to evince to you my determination to do all in my power to avoid the responsibility of causing the adoption of the policy which you have determined to press. In your letter you acknowledge the fact that the negro troops did take an oath on bended knees to show no quarters to my men, and you say further "you have no doubt they went to the battle-field expecting to be slaugh tered," and admit, also, the probability of their having proclaimed on their march that no quar ter would be shown us. Such being the case, why do you ask for the disavowal on the part of the commanding general of this department of the government, in regard to the loss of life at Tishemingo Creek ? That your troops expected to be slaughtered, appears to me, after the oath they took, to be a very reasonable and natural expectation. Yet you who sent them out, know ing and now admitting that they had sworn to such a policy, are complaining of atrocities, and demanding acknowledgments and disavowals on the part of the very men you sent forth sworn to slay whenever in your power. I will, in all candor and truth, say to you that I nad only neard these things, but did not be lieve them ; indeed, did not attach to them the importance they deserved, nor did I know of the threatened vengeance as proclaimed along the line of march until the contest was over. Had I and my men known it, as you admit it, the battle of Tishemingo Creek would have been noted as the bloodiest battle of the war. That you sanctioned this policy is plain, for you say now '' that APPENDIX. 567 if the negro is treated as a prisoner of war, you will receive with pleasure the announcement, and will explain the facts to your colored troops, and desire (not order) that they recall the oath ; but if they are to be either slaughtered or returned to slavery, let the oath stand. Your rank forbids a doubt as to the fact that you and every officer and man of your department are identified with the policy and responsible for it, and I shall not permit you, notwithstanding by your studied lan guage in both your communications you seek to limit the operations of your unholy scheme, and visit its terrible consequences alone upon that ignorant, deluded, but unfortunate people, the negroes, whose destruction you are planning in order to accomplish ours. The negroes have our sympathy, and, so tar as consistent with safety, we will spare them at the expense of those who are alone responsible for the inauguration of a worse than savage warfare. Now, in conclusion, I demand a plain and unqualified answer to two questions, and then I have done with further correspondence with you on this subject. This matter must be settled. In battle and on the battle-field do you intend to slaughter my men who fall into your hands ? If you do not intend so to do, will they be treated as prisoners of war ? I have over two thousand of Sturgis's -command prisoners, and will hold every officer and pri vate hostage until I receive your declarations, and am satisfied that you carry out in good faith the answers you make, and until 1 am assured that no Confederate soldier has been foully dealt with from the clay of the battle of Tishemingo Creek to this time. It is not yet too late tor you to retrace your steps and arrest the storm. Relying, as I do, upon that Divine power which in wisdom disposes of all things ; relying also upon the support and approval of my government and countrymen, and the unflinching bravery :md endurance of my troops; and with a consciousness that I have done nothing to produce, but all in my power, consistent with honor and the personal safety of myself and command, to pre vent it, I leave with you the responsibility of bringing about, to use your own language, 4l a state of affairs too fearful to contemplate." I am, General, yours, very respectfully, N. B. FORREST, Major-General. OFFICIAL MEMORANDAk Hc_ May IT, 1864. CAHABA HOSPITAL, CAHABA, ALABAMA, ) Colonel H. C. DAVIS, Commanding Post Cahaba : COLONEL : I herewith transmit you, as near as my memory serves me, according to promise, the demand made by Major-General Forrest, C. S. A., for the surrender of Fort Pillow, Ten nessee. Major BOOTH, Commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Pillow, Tennessee : I have force sufficient to take your works by assault. I therefore demand an unconditional surrender of all your forces. Your heroic defence will entitle you to be treated as prisoners of war, but the surrender must be unconditional. I await your answer. FORREST, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES FORCES, FORT PILLOW, TENNESSEE, April 12, 1864. f Major-Gneral FORREST, Commanding Confederate Forces : GENERAL : Your demand for the surrender of United States forces under my command re ceived. I ask one hour for consultation with my officers and the commander of gunboat No. 7, at this place. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant, L. F. BOOTH, Major, Commanding U. S. Forces^ Fort Pillow. Major L. F. BOOTH, Commanding United States Forces : I do not demand the surrender of the gunboat No. 7. I ask only for the surrender of Fort Pillow, with men and munitions of war. You have twenty minutes for consideration. At the expiration of that time, if you do not capitulate, I will assault your works. Your obedient servant, FORREST, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES FORCES, I FORT PILLOW, TENNESSEE, April 12, 1864. f Major-General FORREST, Commanding Confederate Forces : GENERAL: Your second demand for the surrender of my forces is received. Your demand will not be complied with. Your obedient servant, L. F. BOOTH, Major, Commanding U. S. Forces, Fort Pillow. I give you the above for your own satisfaction from memory. I think it is true in substance My present condition would preclude the idea of this being an official statement. I am, Colonel, your obedient servant, JOHN T. YOUNG, Captain, Company A, Twenty-fourth Mo. Inf. Vols. CAPTAIN J. T. YOUNG TO MAJOR-GENERAL FORREST. CAHABA, ALABAMA, May 19, 1864. Major-General FORREST, C. S. A. : GENERAL : Your request, made through Judge P. T. Scroggs, that I should make a statement of the treatment of the Federal dead and wounded at Fort Pillow, has been made known to me. Details from Federal prisoners were made to collect the dead and wounded. The dead were buried by their surviving comrades. I saw no ill treatment of their wounded on the evening of the battle, or next morning. My friend, Lieutenant Learning, Adjutant Thirteenth Tennessee 568 APPENDIX. Cavalry, was left wounded in the sutler's store near the fort, also a lieutenant Sixth U. S. Artil^ lery ; both were alive next morning, and sent on board U. S. transport, among many other wounded. Among the wounded were some colored troops I don't know how many. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JNO. T. YOUNG, Captain Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteers. P. S. I have examined a report said to be made by Captain Anderson (of) A. D. C. to Major- General Forrest, appendix to General Forrest's report, in regard to making disposition of Federal wounded left on the field at Fort Pillow, and think it is correct. I accompanied Captain Anderson, on the day succeeding the battle, to Fort Pillow, for the purpose above mentioned. JOHN T. YOUNG, Captain, Twenty-fourth. Missouri Volunteers. A true copy. SAMUEL DONALSON, Lieutenant and A . D. C. Official, HENRY B. LEE, A.D.C. GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL FORREST. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, \ MEMPHIS, TENN., July 2, 1864. {" Major-General N. B. FORREST, Commanding Confederate Forces, near Tupelo: GENERAL: Your communications of the twentieth and twenty-third ult. are received. Of the tone and temper of both I do not complain. The desperate fortunes of a bad cause excuse much irritation of temper, and I pass it by, Indeed, I received it as a favorable augury, and as evidence that you are not indifferent to the opinions of the civilized world. , In regard to the Fort Pillow affair, it is useless to prolong the discussion I shall forward your report, which you did me the favor to enclose, to my government, and you will receive the full benefit of it. The record is now made up, and a candid world will judge of it. I beg leave to send you herewith a copy of the report of the Investigating Committee from the United States Congress on the affair. In regard to the treatment of Major Bradford, I refer you to the testimony contained in that report, from which you will see that he was not attempting to escape when shot. It will be easy to bring the perpetrators of the outrage to justice if you so desire. I will add to what I have heretofore said, that I have it from responsible and truthful citizens of Brownsville, that when Major Bradford was started under an escort from your headquarters at Jackson, General Chalmers remarked that " he would never reach there." You call attention, apparently as an offset to this affair of Major Bradford, to outrages said to have been committed by Colonel Fielding Hurst and others of his regiment (Sixth Tennessee Cavalry). The outrages, if committed as stated by you, are disgraceful and abhorrent to every brave and sensitive mind. On receiving your letter I sent at once for Colonel Hurst, and read him the extract pertaining to him. He indignantly denies the charge against him, and until you furnish me the names of the parties murdered, and the time when, and the place where, the offence was committed, with the names of witnesses, it is impossible for me to act. When you do that, you may rest assured that 1 shall use every effort in my power to have the parties accused tried, and if found guilty, properly punished. In regard to the treatment of colored soldiers, it is evidently useless to discuss the question further. Your attempt to shift from yourself upon me the responsibility of the inauguration of a " worse than savage warfare," is top strained and far-fetched to require any response. The full and cumulative evidence contained in the Congressional Report I herewith forward, points to you as the person responsible for the barbarisms already committed. It was your soldiers who, at Fort Pillow, raised the black flag, and while shooting, bayonet ing, and otherwise maltreating the Federal prisoners in their hands, shouted to each other in the hearing of their victims that it was done by " Forrest's orders." Thus far I cannot iearn that you have made any disavowal of these barbarities. Your letters to me inform me confidently that you have always treated our prisoners according to the rules of civilized warfare, but your disavowal of the Fort Pillow barbarities, if you intend to make any, should be full, clear, explicit, and published to the world. The United States Government is, as it always has been, lenient and forbearing, and it is not yet too late for you to secure for yourself and your soldiers a continuance of the treatment due to honorable warriors, by a public disclaimer of barbarities already committed, and a vigorous effort to punish the wretches who committed them. But I say to you now, clearly and unequivocally, that such measure of treatment as you mete out to Federal soldiers will be measured to you again. If you give no quarter, you need expect none. If you observe the rules of civilized warfare, and treat our prisoners in accordance with the laws of war, your prisoners will be treated, as they ever have been, with kindness. If you depart from these principles, you may expect such retaliation as the laws of war justify. That you may know what the laws of war are, as understood by my Government, I beg leave ioo from the War Department Adjutant-General's Offi e, sir, Very respectfully yours, C. C. WASHBURN, Major- General. to enclose a copy of General Orders No. ioo from the War Department Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, April twenty-four, 1863. I have the honor to be, sir, GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL WASHBURN. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND \ EAST LOUISIANA, MERIDIAN, June 28, 1864. Major-General C. C. WASHBURN, Commanding Federal Forces at Memphis, Tennessee: GENERAL: I am in receipt of your letter of the seventeenth inst., and have also before me the reply of Major-General Forrest thereto. Though that reply is full, and approved by me, yet I deem it proper to communicate with you upon a subject so seriously aifecting our future conduct and that of the troops under our respective commands. APPENDIX. 569 Your communication is by no means respectful to me, and is by implication insulting to Major- General Forrest. This, however, is overlooked in consideration of the important character of its contents. You assume as correct an exaggerated statement of the circumstances attending the capture of Fort Pillow, relying solely upon the evidence of those who would naturally give a distorted history of the affair. No demand for an explanation has ever been made either by yourself or your government, a course which would certainly recommend itself to every one desirous of hearing truth; but, on the contrary, you seem to have been perfectly willing to allow your soldiers to labor under false impressions upon a subject involving such terrible consequences. Even the formality of parades and oaths have been resorted to for the purpose of inciting your colored troops to the perpetra tion of deeds which, you say, " will lead to consequences too fearful to contemplate." As commanding officer of this Department I desire to make the following statement concern ing the capture of Fort Pillow a statement supported in a great measure by the evidence of one of your own officers captured at that place. The version given by you and your government is untrue, and not sustained by the facts to the extent that you indicate. The garrison was summoned in the usual manner, and its commanding officer assumed the responsibility of refusing to surrender after having been informed by General Forrest of his ability to take the fort, and of his fears as to what the result would be in case the demand was not com plied with. The assault was made under a heavy fire, and with considerable loss to the attacking party. Your colors were never lowered, but retreated from the fort to the cover of the gunboats, with arms in their hands, and constantly using them. This was true, particularly of your colored troops, who had been firmly convinced by your teachings of the certainty of their slaughter in case of capture. Even under these circumstances many of your men white and black were taken prisoners. I respectfully refer you to history for numerous cases of indiscriminate slaughter, even under less aggravated circumstances. It is generally conceded by all military precedents that where the issue has been fairly presented, and the ability displayed, fearful results are expected to follow a refusal to sur render. The case under consideration is almost an extreme one. You had a servile race armed against their masters, and in a country which had been deso lated by almost unprecedented outrages. I assert that our officers, with all these circumstances against them, endeavored to prevent the effusion of blood ; and, as evidence of this, I refer you to the fact that both white and colored prisoners were taken, and are now in our hands. As regards the battle of Tishemingo Creek, the statements of your negro witnesses are not to be relied on. In this panic they acted as might have been expected from their previous impres sions. I do not think many of them were killed they are yet wandering over the country, at tempting to return to their masters. With reference to the status of those captured at Tishemingo Creek and Fort Pillow, I will state that, unless otherwise ordered by my government, they will not be regarded as prisoners of war, but will be retained and humanely treated, subject to such future instructions as may be in dicated. Your letter contains many implied threats ; these you can of course make, and you are fully entitled to any satisfaction that you may feel from having made them It is my intention, and that also of my subordinates, to conduct this war upon civilized princi ples, provided you permit us to do so ; and I take this occasion to state that we will not shrink from any responsibilities that your actions may force upon us. We are engaged in a struggle for the protection of our homes and firesides, for the mainten ance of our national existence and liberty ; we have counted the cost and are prepared to go to any extremes ; and although it is far from our wish to fight under the " black flag," still, if you drive us to it, we will accept the issue. Your troops virtually fought under it at the battle of Tishemingo Creek, and the prisoners taken there state that they went into battle with the impression that they were to receive no quar ter, and I suppose with the determination to give none. I wijl further remark that if it is raised, so far as your soldiers are concerned, there can be no distinction, for the unfortunate people whom you pretend to be aiding are not considered entirely responsible for their acts, influenced as they are by the superior intellect of their white brothers. I enclose for your consideration certain papers touching the Fort Pillow affair, which were procured from the writer after the exaggerated statements of your press were seen. I am, General, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, S. D. LEE, Lieutenant-General, Commanding. ENCLOSURE IN THE FOREGOING. CAHABA, ALABAMA, May 16, 1864. I was one of the bearers of the flag of truce, on the part of the United States authorities, at "Fort Pillow. A majority of the officers of the garrison doubted whether General Forrest was present, and had the impression that it was a ruse to induce the surrender of the fort. At the second meeting of the flag of truce, General Forrest announced himself as being General Forrest ; but the officers who accompanied the flag, being unacquainted with the General, doubted his word, and it was the opinion of the garrison, at the time of the assault, that General Forrest was not in the vicinity of the fort. The commanding officer refused to surrender. When the final assault was made, I was captured at my post, inside the works, and have been treated as a prisoner of war. JOHN T. YOUNG, Captain, Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteers. F. W. UNDERBILL, First Lieutenant, Cavalry. 57 APPENDIX. GENERAL WASHBURN TO GENERAL LEE. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, ) MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, July 3, 1864. \ Lieutenant-General S D. LEE, Conmanding Department Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisi ana^ C. S. A., Meridian, Miss. : GENERAL: Your letter of the twenty-eighth ult., in reply to mine of the seventeenth ult., is received. The discourtesy which you profess to discover in my letter I utterly disclaim. Having al ready discussed at length, in a correspondence with Major-General Forrest, the Fort Pillow massacre, as well as the policy to be pursued in regard to colored troops, I do not regard it necessary to say more oh those subjects. As you state that you fully approve of the letter sent by General Forrest to me, in answer to mine of the seventeenth ult., I am forced to presume that you fully approve of his action at Fort Pillow. Your arguments in support of that action confirm such presumption. You state that the "ver sion given by me and my government is not true, and not sustained by the facts to the extent I indicate." You furnish a statement of a certain Captain Young, who was captured at Fort Pil low, and is now a prisoner in your hands. How far the statement of a prisoner under duress and in the position of Captain Young should go to disprove the sworn testimony of the hundred eye witnesses who had ample opportunity of seeing and knowing, I am willing that others shall judge; In relying, as you do, upon this certificate of Captain Young, you confess that all better re sources are at an end. You are welcome to all the relief that that certificate" is calculated to give you. Does he say that our soldiers were not inhumanly treated ? No. Does he say that he was'in a position to see in case they had been mistreated ? No. He simply says that " he saw no ill-treatment of their wounded." If he was in a position to see and know what took place, it was easy for him to say so. I yesterday sent to Major-General Forrest a copy of the report of the Congressional Investi gating Committee, and I hope it may fall into your hands. You will find there the record of inhuman atrocities, to find a parallel for which you will search the page of history in vain. Men white men and black men were crucified and burned ; others were hunted "by bloodhounds ; while others, in their anguish, were made the sport of men more cruel than the dogs by which they were hunted. I have also sent to my government copies of General Forrest's reports, together with the cer tificate of Captain Young. The record in the case is plainly made up, and i leave it. You justify and approve it, and ap peal to history for precedents. As I have said, history furnishes no parallel. True, there are instances where, after along and protracted resistance, resulting in heavy loss to the assailing party, the garrison has been put to the sword, but 1 know of no such instance that did not bring dishonor upon the commander that ordered or suffered it. There is no Englishman that would not gladly forget Badajos, nor a Frenchman that exults when Jaffa or the Caves of Dahra and Shelas are spoken of. The massacre of Glencoe, which the world has read of with horror, for nearly two hundred years, pales into insignificance before the truthful recital of Fort Pillow. The desperate defence of the Alamo was the excuse for the slaughter of its brave survivors, after its surrender, yet that act was received with just execration, and we are told by the historian that it led more than anything else to the independence of Texas. At the battle of San Jacinto the Texans rushed into action with the war-cry, " Remember the Alamo," and curried all before them. You \\ill seek in vain for consultation in history, pursue the inquiry as far as you may. Your desire to shift the responsibility of the Fort Pillow massacre, or to find excuses for it, is not strange. But the responsibility still remains where it belongs, and there it will remain. In my last letter to General Forrest I stated that the treatment which Federal soldiers received would be their guide hereafter, and that if you give no quarter you need expect none. If you observe the rules of civilized warfare I shall rejoice at it, as no one can regret more than myself a resort to such measures as the laws of war justify towards an enemy that gives no quarter. Your remark that our colored soldiers " will not be regarded as prisoners of war, but will be retained and humanely treated," indicating that you consider them as of more worth and impor tance than your own soldiers who are now in our hands, is certainly very complimentary to the colored troops, though but a tardy acknowledgment of their bravery and devotion as soldiers ; but such fair words can neither do justice to the colored soldiers who were butchered at Fort Pillow after they had surrendered to their victors, nor relieve yourself, General Forrest, and the troops serving under you, from the fearful responsibility now resting upon you for those wanton and unparalleled barbarities. I concur in your remarks that if the black flag is once raised, there can be no distinction so far as our soldiers are concerned. No distinction in this regard as to color is known to the laws of war, and you may rest assured that the outrages we complain of are felt by our white soldiers, no less than by our black ones, as insults to their common banner, the flag of the United States. I will close by a reference to your statement that many of our colored soldiers " are yet wandering over the country attempting to return to their masters." If this remark is intended for a joke, it is acknowledged as a good one ; but, if stated as a fact, permit me to correct your misapprehensions by informing you that most of them have returned to their respective com mands, their search for their late "masters " having proved bootless ; and I think I do not exag gerate in assuring you that there is not a colored soldier here who does not prefer the fate of his comrades at Fort Pillow to being returned to his "'master." I remain, General, Yours, very respectfully, C. C. WASHBURN, Major-General. APPENDIX. CAPTAIN J. T. YOUNG TO GENERAL WASHBURN. MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, September 13, 1864. Major-General C. C. WASHBURN, Commanding District West Tennessee : GENERAL : I have the honor to address you in regard to certain papers forwarded you by Major-General Forrest, of the so-called Confederate army, signed by me under protest, whilst a prisoner of war at Cahaba, Alabama. I would first call your attention to the manner by which these papers were procured. About twenty-seventh April last, all Federal prisoners (except colored soldiers) were sent to Andersonville and Macon, Georgia, myself among the number. About ten days after my arrival at Macon prison, a Confederate captain, with two men as guard, came to that prison with an order for me to return to Cahaba. I appealed to the officer in com mand to know why I was taken from the other officers, but received no explanation. Many of my friends among the Federal officers who had been prisoners longer than myself felt uneasy at the proceedings, and advised me to make my escape going back, as it was likely a subject of retaliation. Consequently I felt considerable uneasiness of mind. On returning to Cahaba, being quite unwell, I was placed in hospital, under guard, with still no explanation from the military authorities. On the day following, I was informed by a sick Federal officer, also in hospital, that he had learned that I had been recognized by some Confederate as a deserter from the Confeder ate army, and that I was to be court-martialed and shot. The colored waiters about the hospital told me the same thing, and although I knew that the muster-rolls of my country would show that I had been in the volunteer service since first May, 1861, I still felt uneasy, having fresh in my mind Fort Pillow, and the summary manner the Confederate officers have of disposing of men on some occasions. With the above impressions on my mind, about three days after my return to Cahaba I was sent for by the Provost Marshal, and certain papers handed me, made out by General Forrest for my signature. Looking over the papers, I found that signing them would bean endorsement of General Forrest's official report of the Fort Pillow affair. I of course re turned the papers, positively refusing to have anything to do with them. I was sent for again the same day, with request to sign other papers of the same tendency, but modified. I again re fused to sign the papers, but sent General Forrest a statement, that although I considered some of the versions of the Fort Pillow affair, which I had read in their own papers, said to be copied from Federal papers, exaggerated, I also thought that his own official report was equally so in some particulars. Here the matter rested about one week, when I was sent for by Colonel H. C. Davis, com mander of post at Cahaba, who informed me that General Forrest had sent P. T. Scroggs to see me, and have a talk with me about the Fort Pillow fight. I found the judge very affable and rather disposed to flatter me ; he said that General Forrest thought that I was a gentleman and a soldier, and that the General had sent him (the judge) down to see me and talk to me about the Fort Pillow fight; he then went on to tell over a great many things that were testified to before the Military Commission, which 1 was perfectly ignorant of, never having seen the testimony. He then produced papers which General Forrest wished me to sign. Upon examination, I found them about the same as those previously shown me, and refused again to sign them, but the Judge was very importunate, and finally prevailed on me to sign the papers you have in your possession, pledging himself that if I wished it they should only be seen by General Forrest him self, that they were not intended to be used by him as testimony, but merely for his own satisfac tion. I hope. General, that these papers signed by me, or rather extorted from me while under duress, will not be used by my government to my disparagement, for my only wish is now, after three years' service and over, to recruit my health, which has suffered badly by imprisonment, and go in for the war. I have the honor to be, General, Your obedient servant, JOHN T. YOUNG, Captain, Company A, Twenty-fourth Mo. Inf.* It should not be forgotten that the material part of Gen. Forrest's defence was extorted from Capt. John T. Young, an officer in the Union forces at Fort Pillow. He was sick and a prisoner in the hands of the rebels ; and while in this condition he was compelled to sign the papers given above, which had been made out by Forrest himself. The last letter of the correspondence shows that Capt. Young did not want the papers used by the United States Government, because they were not true. More over, the despatches of Forrest to Major Bradford make no mention of retaliation. The despatches above are not true copies. For instance, he demanded the surrender of Paducah en the 25th of March, 1864, just before he took Fort Pillow, and this was his despatch : H'DQU'RS FORREST'S CAVALRY CORPS, I PADUCAH, March 25, 1864 To Col. HICKS, Commanding Federal Forces at Paducah : Having a force amply sufficient to carry your works and reduce the place, in order to avoid the unnecessary effusion of blood, I demand the surrender of the fort and troops, with all the pub lic stores. If you surrender, you shall be treated as prisoners of war ; but, if I have to storm your "works, you may expect no quarter. N. B. FORREST, Maj.-Gen. Com' ding. 1 Rebellion Records, vol. x. pp. 721-730. APPENDIX. And on the iqth of April, 1864, the next day after the massacre at Fort Pillow, den. Abe Buford demanded the surrender of Columbus, Kentucky, in the following despatch : To the Commander of the United States Forces ^ Columbus, Ky.\ Fully capable of taking Columbus and its garrison by force, I desire to avoid shedding blood. I therefore demand the unconditional surrender of the forces under your command. Should you surrender, the negroes now in arms will be returned to their masters. Should I be compelled to take the place by force, no quarter will be shown negro troops whatever ; white troops will be treated as prisoners of war. I am, sir, yours, A. BUFORD, Brig.-Gen. Now, as both Bradford and Booth were dead, it was impossible to learn just what language was used by Forrest in the despatches he sent them. But from the testimony given above, the explanation of Capt. Young and the language of the two despatches just quoted, addressed to the commander of the Union forces at Paducah and Colum bus, Kentucky, history has made out a case against Gen. Forrest that no human being would covet. fart 8. THE FIRST DECADE OF FREEDOM. CHAPTER XXII. AN EDUCATED AFRICAN. Daniel Flickinger Wilberforce, a native African, and educated in America, pre sents a striking illustration of the capabilities of the Negro. He was born a pagan, and when brought in contact with the institutions of civilization he outstripped those whose earlier life had been impressed with the advantages of such surroundings. There was nothing in his blood, or in his early rearing, to develop him. He came from darkness himself as well as by his ancestry. Rev. Daniel K. Flickinger, D.D., has been secretary of the Home Frontier and Foreign Missionary Society for the past twenty-five years. He was the companion in Africa of George Thompson, and on one of his trips had a short association with Livingstone. Dr. Flickinger aided in es tablishing the United Brethren Mission on the Western Coast of Africa, and has had his heart in it for a quarter of a century. During that time he has made six trips to Africa to look after this mission ; returning from his last voyage in May, 1881. He has studied those people and found them apt in the schools as well as in the acquiring of American customs in tilling the soil and in the trades. During Dr. Flickinger's first visit to Africa in 1855, while at Good Hope Station, Mendi Mission, located on the eastern banks of Sherbro Island, latitude 7 north, and longitude 18 west, he employed a native to watch over him at night as he slept in his hammock, there being wild and dangerous tribes in the vicinity. To that man in that time was born a child. The father came to the missionaries the next day to tell them that his wife "done born picin"and wanted them to give it a name. Mr. Burton, the missionary in charge, suggested that of Daniel Flickinger, and it was taken. The missionaries had performed the usual marriage ceremony for as many as came within their reach, and broken up the former heathen customs in their immediate vicinity as far as possible, and this man was duly married. He took as his last name that of Wilberforce after the English philanthropist, who was dear to all Colored people, and from that time on this native and his family became attached to the mission, and were known by the name of Wilberforce. This man had children born in heathendom and under quite different circumstances. APPENDIX. 573 Dr. Flickinger soon afterward sailed for America, and soon forgot that he had a namesake on the distant shore. He made other trips across the water, but failed to come in contact with the Wilberforce family. Sixteen years afterward, in 1871, he was in New York City shipping goods to the African missionaries. The boxes, labelled " Daniel K. Flickinger," were being loaded and unloaded at the American Mission Rooms in that city, and the doctor noticed that the colored porter boy was about half wild over something. He asked him if there was any thing wrong, but got no reply. The young porter kept rolling his eyes and acting half scared at the name on those boxes, and finally the doctor asked him his name, to which there came the prompt re ply, Daniel Flickinger Wilberforce ! In his travels of a lifetime the missionary had often been surprised, but this bewildered him. A thunder-bolt could not have shocked him more. Then the two stood gazing at each other in perfect amazement, and neither able to tell how their names came to be so near alike. The boxes were forgotten. The boy soon had his relief and began laughing as few others could laugh, while the doctor was still unable to see through the mystery. He gave the young fellow two shillings and told him to proceed with the boxes. The doctor then began an investi gation about the Mission Rooms, and found that this boy, just a short time before that, had been brought over on a merchant vessel to care for an invalid missionary lady during the voyage, that he had served a short time as bell-boy at a hotel, and that they had employed him in the Mission Rooms, but had promised to send him back on the next sail vessel. The doctor got his location in Africa and a complete chain of cir cumstances such as to convince him that this was the boy that was named after him in 1855. He told the authorities at the American Mission Rooms, to write to Africa and say that Dan. was well cared for over here, and for them to keep him till further ad vised. As soon as the doctor made his shipments to the missionaries he returned to Dayton and asked the Executive Committee of his Board if they would assist him in educating this African who had turned up in such a romantic manner. Consent was given, and young Wilberforce was shipped to Dayton. He was brought into Dr. Flickinger's office with the tag of an express company attached to his clothes young, green, and, in fact, a raw recruit to the ranks of civilization. Seven years after that he bid adieu to his friends in that same office, to return to his people in Africa as a teacher, preacher, and physician. He was then one of the finest scholars of his age in this country. When he arrived at Dayton he of course had to have a private tutor. He was sixteen years old and had to start with the rudiments, but he was, at the be ginning of the next school year, able to join classes on which he doubled right along. It requires a course of eight years to reach the High School, but in less than four years after his arrival in Dayton he passed the examination for admission to the High School of Dayton, Ohio, and was the first Colored pupil ever admitted to that school. Since then, other Colored pupils have annually been following his example. The course in the High School was four years, and the Board and teachers were very particularly averse to gaining time. Owing to Wilberforce's great aptness, that allowed him to go ahead of his class, he gained one year then and there, and took the honors of the class that started one year ahead of him. There were twenty-three members of that class. The Commencement was in the Opera-house at Dayton in 1878, and on that occa sion the President of the Board said, without discredit to any others, he felt called upon to make special mention of young Wilberforce, which he did in a handsome manner. This was not all ; the Missionary Society wanted to send Wilberforce to Africa in September of that year, and as he went along they had him at other studies. He had become an excellent musician, both vocal and instrumental. He had been studying theology and read Hebrew well. He had also taken a course of reading in medicine, so that he might be of service to the bodies as well as the souls of his 574 APPENDIX. brethren. Marvellous as it may seem, all of this was done in so short a time, and from a state of savage life up to civilized life ; still it is true. And, besides, Wilber- force had been a reader of history and general literature, and was a writer of unusual merit. His progress has always and always will seem incredible, even to those who had personal knowledge of him during the time that he had this experience of seven years. He had a remarkable mind, was born a heathen, had no youthful advantages, and is to-day one of the best-informed and most thoroughly cultivated thinkers of his age. When he left Dayton in the summer of 1878, he was greatly missed. At the Colored United Brethren Church he was janitor, leader of a choir, organist, superin tendent of the Sunday-school, and class leader, and when the pastor failed, Wilber- force also did the preaching. He was never proud. In the humble capacity of jani tor he took excellent care of Dr. Flickinger's office, and was willing and ready to do anything. He was modest socially, but a favorite among his classmates, and not only respected but admired by all. He married a Dayton girl before he left for Africa, and has remained abroad since 1878, but he expects at no distant time to return to Ameri ca to complete his professional studies. He belonged to the Sherbro tribe or people, and with them he is now laboring. LAFAYETTE S PLAN OF COLONIZATION. Now, my dear General, that you are about to enjoy some repose, permit me to propose to you a scheme which may prove of great benefit to the black part of the human race. Let us unite in the purchase of a small estate, where we can attempt to free the negroes and employ them simply as farm laborers. Such an example set by you might be generally followed, and should we succeed in America I shall gladly consecrate a part of my time to intro'ducing the custom into the Antilles. If this be a crude idea I prefer to be considered a fool in this way rather than be thought wise by an opposite conduct. 1 5th February, 1783. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. As an evidence of the growing confidence in the eagerness for and capacity of the Negro to become an educated citizen, the handsome bequest of John F. Slater, Esq., for the education of the race stands forth as a conspicuous example. The Negroes of the South have acknowledged this munificent gift with that graceful gratitude so strik ingly characteristic of them. DRAFT OF AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TRUSTEES OF THE JOHN F. SLATER FUND. Whereas^ Messrs. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, of Ohio ; MORRISON R. WAITE, of the District of Columbia; WILLIAM E. DODGE, of New York ; PHILLIPS BROOKS, of Massachusetts; DANIEL C. GILMAN, of Maryland; JOHN A.STEWART, of New York; ALFRED H. COLQUITT, of Georgia* MORRIS K. JESUP, of New York; JAMES P. BOYCE, of Kentucky; and WILLIAM A. SLATER, of Connecticut, have, by their memorial, represented to the Senate and Assembly of this State that a letter has been received by them from JOHN F. SLATER, of Norwich, in the State of Connecticut of which the following is a copy : To Messrs. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, of Ohio ; MORRISON R. WAITE, of the District of Colum bia ; WILLIAM E. DODGE, of New York PHILLIPS BROOKS, of Massachusetts; DANIEL C. GIL- MAN, of Maryland ; JOHN A. STEWART, of New York ; ALFRED H. COLQUITT, of Georgia ; MORRIS K. JESUP, of New York ; JAMES P. BOYCE, of Kentucky ; and WILLIAM A. SLATER, of Con necticut: GENTLEMEN. It has pleased God to grant me prosperity in my business, and to put it into my power to apply to charitable uses a sum of money so considerable as to require the counsel of wise men for the administration of it. It is my desire at this time to appropriate to such uses the sum of one million of dollars ($1,000,000 oo) ; and I hereby invite you to procure a charter of incorporation under which a chari table fund may be held exempt from taxation, and under which you shall organize ; and I intend that the corporation, as soon as formed, shall receive this sum in trust to apply the income of it according to the instructions contained in this letter. The general object which I desire to have exclusively pursued, is the uplifting of the lately emancipated population of the Southern States, and their posterity, by conferring on them the blessings of Christian education. The disabilities formerly suffered by these people, and their singular patience and fidelity in the great crisis of the nation, establish a just claim on the sym pathy and good will of humane and patriotic men. I cannot but feel the compassion that is due in. view of their prevailing ignorance which exists by no fault of their own. 1 Correspondence of American Revolution, vol. iii. p. 547. APPENDIX. S7S But it is not only for their own sake, but also for the safety of our common country, in which they have been invested with equal political rights, that I am desirous to aid in providing them with the means of such education as shall tend to make them good men and good citizens educa tion in which the instruction of the mind in the common branches of secular learning shall be as sociated with training in just notions of duty toward God and man, in the light of the Holy Scriptures. The means to be used in the prosecution of the general object above described, I leave to the discretion of the corporation ; only indicating, as lines of operation adapted to the present condi tion of things, the training of teachers from among the people requiring to be taught, if, in the opinion of the corporation, by such limited selection the purposes of the trust can be best accom plished ; and the encouragement of such institutions as are most effectually useful in promoting this training of teachers. I am well aware that the work herein proposed is nothing new or untried. And it is no small part of my satisfaction in taking this share in it, that I hereby associate myself with some of the noblest enterprises of charity and humanity, and may hope to encourage the prayers and toils of faithful men and women who have labored and are still laboring in this cause. I wish the corporation which you are invited to constitute, to consist at no time of more than twelve members, nor of less than nine members for a longer time than may be required for the convenient filling of vacancies, which I desire to be filled by the corporation, and, when found practicable, :it its next meeting after the vacancy may occur. I designate as the first President of the corporation the Honorable RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, of Ohio. I desire that it may have power to provide from the income of the fund, among other things, for expenses incurred by members in the fulfilment of this trust, and for the expenses of such officers and agents as it may appoint, and generally to do all such acts as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this trust. I desire, if it may be, that the corporation may have full liberty' to invest its funds according to its own best discretion, without reference to, or re striction by, any laws or rules, legal or equitable, of any nature, regulating the mode of invest ment of trust funds ; only I wish that neither principal nor income be expended in land or buildings, for any other purpose than that of safe and productive investment for income. And I hereby discharge the corporation, and its individual members, so far as it is in my power so to do, of all responsibility, except for the faithful administration of this trust, according to their own honest understanding and best judgment. In particular, also, I wish to relieve them of any pre tended claim on the part of any person, party, sect, institution, or locality, to benefactions from this fund, that may be put forward on any ground whatever ; as I wish every expenditure to be deter mined solely by the convictions of the corporation itself as to the most useful disposition of its gifts. I desire that the doings of the corporation each year be printed and sent to each of the State Libraries in the United States, and to the Library of Congress. In case the capital of the Fund should become impaired, 1 desire that a part of the income, not greater than one half, be invested, from year to year, until the capital be restored to its origi nal amount. I purposely leave to the corporation the largest liberty of making such changes in the meth ods of applying the income of the Fund as shall seem from time to time best adapted to accom plish the general object herein defined. But being warned by the history of such endowments that they sometimes tend to discourage rather than promote effort and self-reliance on the part of beneficiaries . or to inure to the advancement of learning instead of the dissemination of it ; or to become a convenience to the rich instead of a help to those who need help, I solemnly charge my Trustees to use their best wisdom in preventing any such defeat of the spirit of this trust ; so that my gift may continue to future generations to be a blessing to the poor. If at any time after tne lapse of thirty-three years from the date of this foundation it shall ap pear to the judgment of three fourths of the members of this corporation that, by reason of a change in social conditions, or by reason of adequate and equitable public provision for education, or by any other sufficient reason, there is no further serious need of this Fund in the form in which it is at first instituted, 1 authorize the corporation to apply the capital of the Fund to the establishment of foundations subsidiary to then already existing institutions of higher education, in such wise as to make the educational advantages of such institutions moie freely accessible to poor students of the colored race. It is my wish that this trust be administered in no partisan, sectional, or sectarian spirit, but in the interest of a generous patriotism and an enlightened Christian faith ; and that the corporation about to be formed, may continue to be constituted of men distinguished either by honorable success in business, or by services to literature, education, religion, or the State. 1 am encouraged to the execution in this charitable foundation of a long-cherished purpose, by the eminent wisdom and success that has marked the conduct of the Peabody Education Fund in a field of operation not remote from that contemplated by this trust. I shall commit it to your hands, deeply conscious how insufficient is our best forecast to provide for the future that is known only to God ; but humbly hoping that the administration of it may be so guided by divine wisdom, as to be, in its turn, an encouragement to philanthropic enterprise on the part of others, and an enduring means of good to our beloved country and to our fellow-men. I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your friend and fellow-citizen, JOHN F. SLATER. NORWICH, CONN., March 4, 1882. And whereas, said memorialists have further represented that they are ready to accept said trust and receive and administer said Fund, provided a charter of incorporation is granted by this State, as indicated in said letter ; Now, therefore, for the purpose of giving full effect to the charitable intentions declared in said letter ; The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : SKC i. Rutherford B. Hayes, Morrison R. Waite, William E. Dodge, Phillips Brooks Daniel C. Oilman, John A. Stewart, Alfred H. Colquitt, Morris K. Jesup, James P. Bovce, and William A. Slater, are hereby created a body politic and corporate by the name of THE TRUSTEES OF THE JOHN F. SLATER FUND, and by that name shall have perpetual succession ; said original corporators electing their associates and successors, from time to time, so that the whole number of corpora tors may be kept at not less than nine nor more than twelve. APPENDIX. Said corporation may hold and manage, invest and re-invest all property which may be given or transferred to it for the charitable purposes indicated in said letter, and shall, in so doing, and in appropriating the income accruing therefrom, conform to and be governed by the directions in said letter contained ; and such property and all investments and re-investments thereof, excepting real estate, shall, while owned by said corporation and held for the purposes of said trust, be exempt from taxation of any and every nature. SEC. 2. Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, shall be the first President of the corporation, and it may elect such other officers and hold such meetings, whether within or without this State, from time to time, as its by-laws may authorize or prescribe. SEC. 3. Said corporation shall annually file with the Librarian of this State a printed report of its doings during the preceding year. SEC. 4. This act shall take effect immediately. COLORED EMPLOYES IN WASHINGTON. There are six hundred and twenty persons of color employed in the different de partments of the Government at Washington, D. C., distributed as follows : War Department .......... 44 Treasury Department ......... 342 Department of Justice ......... 7 Department of State ......... 20 Navy Department . . . . . . . . . .40 Department of the Interior ...... 106 men, 7 women Post-Office Department ......... 54 Total 620 NEWSPAPERS CONDUCTED BY COLORED MEN. ALABAMA. MOBILE. The Mobile Gazette ; Phillip Joseph, Editor ; $2.00 per year ; office. No. 36 Conti Street. HUNTSVILLE. Huntsville Gazette ; , Editor ; $1.50 per year ; Saturdays. ARKANSAS. HELENA. The Golden Epoch ; H. W. Stewart. LITTLE ROCK. Arkansas Mansion ; Henry Simkens, Editor ; $1.50 a year. CALIFORNIA. SAN FRANCISCO. The Elevator; Phillip A. Bell, Editor. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. WASHINGTON CITY. People's Advocate, established in 1876 ; J. W. Cromwell,. Editor ; C. A. Lemar, Manager ; $1.50 a year. WASHINGTON CITY. The Bee ; W. C. Chase, Editor ; C. C. Stewart, Business Manager; $2.00 per year ; Saturdays; office, No. 1107 I Street, N. W. FLORIDA. PENSACOLA. The Journal of Progress ; Matthews & Davidson, Editors and Proprietors ; $2.00 ; Saturdays. KEY WEST. Key West News ; J. Willis Menard, Editor ; weekly ; five columns ; price, $1.50 per annum. GEORGIA. ATLANTA. Weekly Defiance ; W. H. Burnett, Editor AUGUSTA. The People 's Defense ; Smith, Nelson, & Co., Proprietors. AUGUSTA. Georgia Baptist; Wm. J. White, Editor; $2.00 per year; office,. No. 633 Ellis Street. SAVANNAH. Savannah Echo ; Hardin Bros. & Griffin, Proprietors ; $2.00 ; Sat urdays. ILLINOIS. CHICAGO. The Conservator; Barnett, Clark, & Co., Editors and Proprietors; $2.00 per year ; Saturdays ; 194 Clark Street. CAIRO. The Three States ; M. Gladding, Publisher ; Saturdays ; $1.50 per year; 190 Commercial Avenue. CAIRO. The Cairo Gazette; J. J. Bird, Editor; Wednesdays and Saturdays; $2.50 per year. APPENDIX 577 KANSAS. TOPEKA Topeka Tribune; E. H. White. KENTUCKY. LOUISVILLE. 7 ^he Bulletin ; Adams Brothers; $2.00 per year ; Saturdays; 562 West Jefferson Street. LOUISVILLE. The American Baptist; Wm. H. Stewart. LOUISVILLE. Ohio Falls Express ; Dr. H. Fitzbutler, Editor; $1.50 per year*, Saturdays. BOWLING GREEN. Bowling Green Watchman ; C. C. Strumm, Editor ; C. R. McDowell, Manager; Saturdays; $1.50 per year. LOUISIANA. NEW ORLEANS. Observer ; Saturdays ; republican ; four pages ; si/e, 22 x 32 ; subscription, $2.00; established, 1878 ; G. T. Ruby, Editor and Publisher. MASSACHUSETTS. BOSTON. The Boston Leader Howard L. Smith, Editor ; $1.50 per year; office,. No. 8 Boylston Street. Room q. MISSISSIPPI. VERONA. The Banner of Liberty ; J. B, Wilkins, Editor; $1.50 per year. GREENVILLE. The Baptist Signal; Rev. G. W. Gayles, Editor; $1.00 per year. JACKSON. People's Adviser. JACKSON. Mississippi Republican; Preston Hay, Editor; $1.00 ; Saturdays. MAYERSVILLE. Mayersville Spectator ; W. E. Mollison, Editor ; D. T. William son, Publisher ; $1.50 per year ; Saturdays. MISSOURI. ST. Louis. Tribune ; Sundays ; republican ; eight pages ; size, 26x40 ; subscrip tion, $2 oo : established, 1876 ; J. W. Wilson, Editor and Publisher; circulation, I. KANSAS CITY. The Kansas City Enterprise ; D. V. A. Nero; published every Wednesday and Saturday ; $2.00 per year ; office, No. 537 Main Street, Room No. 2. NEW JERSEY. TRENTON. The Sentinel; R. Henri- Herbert, Editor; Saturdays; $1.25 per year ; No. 4 North Green Street. NEW YORK. NEW YORK CITY. Progressive American ; Thursdays ; four pages ; size, 22 x 31 ; subscription, $2.00; established, 1871 ; John J. Freeman, Editor ; George A. Washing ton, Publisher; circulation, J.; office, 125 W. 25th Street. NEW YORK CITY. New York Globe ; Geo. Parker & Co. ; T. Thos. Fortune, Editor ; office, No. 4 Cedar Street, Room 15. BROOKLYN. The National Monitor ; R. Rufus L. Perry, D.D- NORTH CAROLINA. GOLDSBOROUGH. The Carolina Enterprise; E. E. Smith, Editor; $1.00 per year ; Saturday. CHARLOTTE. Charlotte Messenger ; W. H. Smith, Editor; $1.50 per year. WILSON. 7'he Wilson News ; Ward, Moore, & Hill, Editors ; $i 50 a year. RALEIGH. Raleigh Banner ; J. H. Williams. WILMINGTON. Africa-American Presbyterian ; D. J. Sanders. OHIO. CINCINNATI. The Afro-American ; Clark, Johnson, and Jackson, Editors and Proprietors ; $1.50 per year ; Saturdays ; office, 172 Central Avenue. CINCINNATI. The Weekly Review ; Review Publishing Co. ; Chas. W. Bell,. Editor ; $1.50 per year. 5/8 APPENDIX. PENNSYLVANIA. PHILADELPHIA. Christian Recorder ; Thursdays ; Methodist ; four pages ; size, 28 X42 ; subscription, $2.00 ; established, 1862 ; Rev. Benj. T. Tanner, D.D., Editor ; Rev. Theo. Gould, Publisher ; circulation, G ; office, 631 Pine Street. SOUTH CAROLINA. CHARLESTON. The New Era; Wm. Holloway, Business Manager; $1.50 per year ; Saturdays ; democratic ; 196 Meeting Street. CHARLESTON. The Palmetto Press ; Robert L. Smith, Editor ; $1.50 per year ; Saturdays. TENNESSEE. NASHVILLE. Knights of Wise Men ; J. L. Brown, Editor ; office, No. 5 Cherry Street. CHATTANOOGA. The Enterprise ; Rev. D. W. Hays. TEXAS. AUSTIN. The Austin Citizen ; J. J. Hamilton & Co. DALLAS. The Baptist Journal ; S. H. Smothers, Editor; A. R. Greggs, Pub lisher. DALLAS. Christian Preacher ; C. M. Wilmeth. MARSHALL. The Christian Advocate ; M. F. Jamison. GALVESTON. Spectator; Richard Nelson, Editor; $1.50 per year. PALESTINE. Colored American Journal; monthly; C. W. Porter, Editor. VIRGINIA. RICHMOND. Virginia Star; Saturdays; four pages ; size, 20x26; subscription, $2.00; established, 1876; R. M. Green, M.D., O. M. Stewart, and P. H. Woolfolk, Editors and Publishers ; circulation, K. RICHMOND. Industrial Herald ; John Oliver,. Editor ; $1.00 per year. PETERSBURGH. The Lancet; Geo. F. Bragg, Jr., Manager; $1.50 per year; Saturdays. WEST VIRGINIA. WHEELING. The Weekly Times Welcome, Buckner, & Co., Publishers; Geo. W. Welcome, Editor ; 8 pages ; $1.00 per annum. NEGROES IN NORTHERN COLLEGES. In response to a circular sent out, seventy Northern Colleges sent information ; and in them are at present one hundred and sixty-nine Colored students. The exact number of graduates cannot be ascertained, as these colleges do not keep a record of the nationality of their students. CHAPTER XXIII. HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET, D.D. The career of this man, who died at Monrovia, Liberia, Feb. 14, 1882, where he was the Minister of the United States, was extraordinary. Grandson of a native African, brought over in a slave-trader, himself born a slave, he was brought to Penn sylvania by his father, when he fled from slavery in 1824. Next we find him, at the age of seventeen, ridiculed for studying Greek and Latin ; then mobbed in a New Hampshire seminary ; then dragged from a street car in Utica ; then studying the ology with Dr. Beman in Troy, N. Y. Soon he was settled as a minister ; afterward he travelled in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe, and was sent by a Scottish Society as Presbyterian missionary to Jamaica, West Indies. He returned to New York, and was long the pastor of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church ; his house escaping the riots in 1863 "by the foresight of his daughter, who wrenched off the door plate." He was the first Colored man who ever spoke in public in the Capitol at APPENDIX. 579 Washington, having preached there Sunday, Feb. 12, 1865. In 1881 he was appointed Minister to Liberia. Dr. Garnet was equal in ability to Frederick Douglass, and greatly his superior in learning, especially excelling in logic and terse statement. We heard him make a speech in 1865, which in force of reasoning, purity of language, and propriety of utterance, was not unworthy of comparison with a sermon of Bishop Thomson, or an address of George William Curtis. As he was " a full-blooded Negro, "he was a standing and unanswerable proof that the race is capable of all that has distinguished MAN. How much of history and progress could be crowded in a memorial inscription for him ! It might be something like this : Born a slave in the country to which his grandfather was stolen away, he competed, under the greatest disadvantages, with white men for the prizes of life ; attaining the highest intellectual culture, and a corresponding moral elevation, his career commanded universal respect in Europe and America, wherever he was known. He died the Minister of the United States to a civilized nation in the land whence his barbaric ancestors were stolen. To God, who "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation " (Acts xvii : 26), be the glory. " How unsearchable are His judg ments, and His ways past finding out ! " EBENEZER D. BASSETT. One of the ablest diplomats the Negro race has produced is the Honorable Ebenezer D. Bassett, for nearly nine years the Resident Minister and Consul-General from the United States to Hayti. He was born and educated in the State of Con necticut, and for many years was the successful Principal of the Institute for Colored Youth at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a classical scholar and for proficiency in the use of modern languages he has few equals among his race. Returning to this country, after years of honorable service abroad, he was pro moted by the Haytian Government to the position of Consul at New York City, and at present is serving the Republic of Hayti. As an evidence of the high esteem in which he was held as an officer the following documents attest : (COPY.) DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, October 5, 1877. j EBENEZER D. BASSETT, Esquire, etc., etc., etc. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 529, of the 2^d August last, tendering your resignation of the office of Minister Resident and Consul-General of the United States to Hayti, and to inform you that it is accepted. I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without expressing to you the appreciation of the De partment of the very satisfactory manner in which you have discharged the duties of the mission at Port au Prince during your term of office. This commendation of your services is the more especially merited, because at various times your duties have been of such a delicate nature as to have required the exercise of much tact and discretion. I enclose herewith a letter addressed by the President of the United States to the President of Hayti, announcing your retirement from the mission at Port au Prince, together with an office copy of the same. You will transmit the latter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and make arrangements for the delivery of the original to the President when your successor shall present his credentials. I am, sir, your obedient servant, (Signed.) F. W. SEWARD, Acting Secretary. (TRANSLATION.) BOISROND CANAL, President of the Republic of Hayti, To His Excellency the President of the United States of A merica. GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND : Mr. Ebenezer D. Bassett, who has resided here in the capacity of Minister of the United States, has placed in my hands the letter by which your Excellency has brought his mission to an end. In taking leave of me in conformity with the wishes of your Excellency, he has renewed the assurance ofthe friendly sentiments'which so happily exist on the part of the Government and the people of the United States toward the Government and the people of the Republic of Hayti. I have not failed to request him to transmit to your Excellency, the expression of my great desire to maintain always the relations of the two Countries upon the footing of that cordial un derstanding. 580 APPENDIX. It is for me a pleasing duty to acknowledge fully to your Excellency, the zeal and the intelli gence with which Mr. Bassett has fulfilled here the high and delicate functions that had been entrusted to him. I have, therefore, been happy to be able to testify to him publicly before his departure, in the name of my fellow-citizens, the esteem and sincere affection which his talents, his character, his private and public conduct have won for him, as well as the particular sentiments of friendship and gratitude I personally entertain for him. I pray God that He may have your Excellency always in His Holy keeping. Given at the National Palace of Port au Prince, the 2gth day of November, 1877. Your Good Friend, (Signed) BOISROND CANAL. Countersigned. (Signed.) F. CARRIE, Secretary of Statt. COLORED SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN. UNITED STATES SENATORS. HIRAM R. REVELS, United States Senator from Mississippi, was born in Fayette- ville, North Carolina, September i, 1822 ; desiring to obtain an education, which was denied in his native State to those of African descent, he removed to Indiana ; spent some time at the Quaker Seminary in Union County ; entered the Methodist ministry ; afterward received further instructions at the Clarke County Seminary, when he became preacher, teacher, and lecturer among his people in the States of In diana, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri ; at the breaking out of the war, he was ministering at Baltimore ; he assisted in the organization of the first two Colored regiments in Maryland and Missouri ; during a portion of 1863 and 1864 he taught school in St. Louis, then went to Vicksburg, and assisted the provost marshal in managing the freedmen affairs ; followed on the heels of the army to Jackson ; organized churches, and lectured ; spent the next two years in Kansas and Missouri in preaching and lect uring on moral and religious subjects ; returned to Mississippi, and settled at Natchez ; was chosen presiding elder of the Methodist Church, and a member of the city council ; was elected a United States Senator from Mississippi as a Republican, serving from February 25, 1870, to March 3, 1871 ; was pastor of a Methodist Episcopal church at Holly Springs, Mississippi ; removed to Indiana, where he was pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at Richmond. BLANCHE K. BRUCE, United States Senator from Mississippi, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, March I, 1841 ; as his parents were slaves, he re ceived a limited education ; became a planter in Mississippi in 1869 ; was a mem ber of the Mississippi Levee Board, and sheriff and tax-collector of Bolivar County from 1872 until his election to the United States Senate from Mississippi, February 3, 1875, as a Republican, to succeed Henry R. Pease, Republican, and took his seat March 4, 1875. His term of service expired March 3, 1881. UNITED STATES CONGRESSMEN. RICHARD H. CAIN was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, April 12, 1825. His father removed to Ohio in 1831, and settled in Gallipolis. He had no education, ex cept such as was afforded in Sabbath-school, until after his marriage ; entered the min istry at an early age ; became a student at Wilberforce University at Xenia, Ohio, in 1860, and remained there for one year ; removed, at the breaking out of the war, to Brooklyn, New York, where he was a pastor for four years ; was sent by his Church as a missionary to the freedmen in South Carolina ; was chosen a member of the Consti tutional Convention of South Carolina ; was elected a member of the State Senate from Charleston, and served two years ; took charge of a republican newspaper in 1868 ; was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 66,825 votes against 26,394 for Lewis E. Johnson, and was. APPENDIX. 581 again elected to the Forty-fifth Congress as a Republican, receiving 21,385 votes against 16,074 votes for M. P. O'Connor, Democrat. ROBERT C. DE LARGE was born at Aiken, South Carolina, March 15, 1842 ; re ceived such an education as was then attainable ; was a farmer ; was an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau from May, 1867, to April, 1868, when he was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention ; was a member of the House of Representa tives of the State Legislature in 1868, 1869, and 1870; was one of the State Commis sioners of the Sinking Fund ; was elected in 1870 State Land Commissioner, and served until he was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, receiving 16,686 votes, against 15, 700 votes forC. C. Bowen, Independent Republican ; was appointed a trial justice, which office he held when he died at Charlestown, South Carolina, February 15, 1874. ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT was born at Boston, Massachusetts, August n, 1842 ; received his primary ediication at private schools ; in 1853 entered High Holborn Academy in London, England ; in 1855 entered Eton College, England, and gradu ated in 1859 ; studied law, and practises his profession ; was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of South Carolina in 1868 ; was a member of the House of Representatives of South Carolina from July 6, 1868, to October 23, 1870 ; was appointed on the 25th of March, 1869, assistant adjutant-general, which position he held until he was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, receiving 20,564 votes against 13,997 votes for J. E. Bacon, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1871, to 1873, when he resigned ; and was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 21,627 votes against 1,094 votes for W. H. McCan, Democrat, serving from December I, 1873, to May, 1874, when he resigned, having been elected sheriff. JERE HARALSON was born in Muscogee County, Georgia, April i, 1846, the slave property of John Walker ; after Walker's death, was sold on the auction-block in the city of Columbus, and bought by J. W. Thompson, after whose death he became the property of J. Haralson, of Selma, and so remained until emancipated in 1865 ; received no education until after he was free, when he instructed himself ; was elected to the State House of Representatives of Alabama in 1870 ; was elected to the State Senate of Alabama in 1872 ; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty- fourth Congress as a Republican, receiving 19,551 votes against 16,953 votes for F. G. Bromberg, Democrat, serving from December 6, 1875, to .March 3, 1877; was defeated by the Republican candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 8,675 votes against 9,685 votes for Charles L. Shelley, Democrat, and 7,236 votes for James T. Rapier, Republican. JOHN R. LYNCH was born in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, September 10, 1847,. a slave ; and he remained in slavery until emancipated by the results of the Rebellion, receiving no early education ; a purchaser of his mother carried her with her children to Natchez, where, when the Union troops took posession, he attended evening school for a few months, and he has since by private study acquired a good English educa tion; he engaged in the business of photography at Natchez until 1869, when Governor Ames appointed him a justice of the peace ; he was elected a member of the State Legislature from Adams County, and re-elected in 1871, serving the last term as Speaker of the House ; was elected a representative from Mississippi in the Forty- third Congress as a Republican, receiving 15,391 votes against 8,430 votes for H. Cassidy, Sr., Democrat ; and was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican (defeating Roderick Seals, Democrat), serving from December I, 1873, to March 3, 1877. 582 APPENDIX. CHARLES E. NASH was born at Opelousas, Louisiana ; received a common, school education at New Orleans ; was a bricklayer by trade ; enlisted as private in the Eighty-third Regiment, United States Chasseurs d'Afrique, April 20, 1863, and was promoted until he became acting sergeant-major of the regiment ; lost a leg at the storming of Fort Blakely, and was honorably discharged from the army May 30, 1865 ; was elected a representative from Louisiana in the Forty- fourth Congress as a Republican, receiving 13,156 votes against 12,085 votes for Joseph M. Moore, Demo crat, serving from December 6, 1875, to March 3, 1877 ; was defeated as the Repub lican candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 11,147 votes against 15,520 votes for Edward White Robertson, Democrat. JOSEPH H. RAINEY was born at Georgetown, South Carolina (where both of his parents were slaves, but, by their industry, obtained their freedom), June 21, 1832; although debarred by law from attending school he acquired a good education, and further improved his mind by observation and travel ; his father was a barber, and he followed that occupation at Charlestown till 1862, when, having been forced to work on the fortifications of the Confederates, he escaped to the West Indies, where he remained until the close of the war, when he returned to his native town ; he was elected a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1868, and was a member of the State Senate of South Carolina in 1870, resigning when elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-first Congress as a Republican (to fill the vacancy caused by the non-reception of B. F. Whittemore), by a majority of 17,193 votes over Dudley, Conservative ; was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, receiving 20,221 votes against 11,628 votes for C. W. Dudley, Democrat ; was re-elected to the Forty- third Congress, receiving 19,765 votes, being all that were cast ; was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 14,370 votes against 13,563 votes for Samuel Lee, Republican ; was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 18,180 votes against 16,661 votes for J. S. Richardson, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1869. ALONZO J. RANSIER was born at Charlestown, South Carolina, in January, 1834 ; was self-educated ; was employed as shipping-clerk in 1850 by a leading merchant, who was tried for violation of law in " hiring a Colored clerk," and fined one cent with costs ; was one of the foremost in the works of reconstruction in 1865 ; was a member of a convention of the friends of equal rights in October, 1865, at Charlestown, and was deputed to present the memorial there framed to Congress ; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1868 ; was elected a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature in 1869 ; was chosen chairman of the State Republican Central Committee, which position he held until 1872 ; was elected a presidential elector on the Grant and Colfax ticket in 1868 ; was elected lieutenant- governor of South Carolina in 1870 by a large majority; was president of the Southern States Convention at Columbia in 1871 ; was chosen a delegate to, and was a vice- president of, the Philadelphia Convention which nominated Grant and Wilson in 1872; and was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 20,061 votes against 6,549 votes f r W. Gurney, Independent .Republican, serving from December I, 1873, to March 3, 1875. JAMES T. RAPIER was born in Florence, Alabama, in 1840 ; was educated in Canada ; is a planter ; was appointed a notary public by the governor of Alabama in 1866 ; was a member of the first Republican Convention held in Alabama, and was one of the committee that framed the platform of the party ; represented Lauderdale County in the Constitutional Convention held at Montgomery in 1867 ; was nominated for secretary of State in 1870, but defeated with the rest of the ticket ; was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the second collection-district of Alabama in 1871 ; was APPENDIX. 583 appointed State commissioner to the Vienna Exposition in 1873 by the governor of Alabama ; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 19,100 votes against 16,000 votes for C. W. Gates, Democrat, serving from December I, 1873, to March 3, 1875 > an d was defeated as the Repub lican candidate for the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 19,124 votes against 20,180 votes for Jeremiah N. Williams, Democrat. ROBERT SMALLS was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, April 5, 1839 ; being a slave, was debarred by statute from attending school, but educated himself with such limited advantages as he could secure ; removed to Charlestown in 1851 ; worked as a rigger, and led a seafaring life ; became connected in 1861 with "The Planter," a steamer plying in Charlestown harbor as a transport, which he took over Charlestown Bar in May, 1862, and delivered her and his services to the commander of the United States blockading squadron ; was appointed pilot in the United States navy, and served in that capacity on the monitor " Keokuk " in the attack on Fort Sumter ; served as pilot in the quartermaster's department, and was promoted as captain for gallant and meritorious conduct December I, 1863, and placed in command of " The Planter," serving until she was put out of commission in 1866 ; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1868 ; was elected a member of the State House of Representatives in 1868, and of the State Senate (to fill a vacancy) in 1870, and re- elected in 1872 ; and was ejected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty- fourth Congress as a Rf publican, receiving 17,752 votes against 4,461 votes for J. P. M. Epping, Republican ; and was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 19,954 votes against 18,516 votes for G. D. Tillman, Democrat, serving from Decem ber, 6, 1875, to March 3, 1877 ; and is now a member. JOSIAH T. WALLS was born at Winchester, Virginia, December 30, 1842 ; received a common-school education ; was a planter ; was elected a member of the State Con stitutional Convention in 1868 ; was elected a member of the State House of Repre sentatives in 1868 ; was elected to the State Senate 1869-1872 ; claimed to have been elected a representative from the State-at-large to the Forty-second Congress as a Re publican, but the election was contested by his competitor, Silas L. Niblack, who took the seat January 29, 1873 ; was re-elected for the State-at-large, receiving 17,503 votes against 15,881 votes for Niblack, Democrat ; and was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 8,549 votes against 8,178 votes for Jesse J. Finley, Democrat. BENJ. STERLING TURNER was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, March 17, 1825 ; was raised as a slave, and received no early education, because the laws of that State made it criminal to educate slaves ; removed to Alabama in 1830, and, by clandestine study, obtained a fair education ; became a dealer in general merchandise ; was elected tax-collector of Dallas County in 1867, and councilman of the city of Selma in 1869 ; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty-second Con- gress as a Republican, receiving 18,226 votes against 13,466 votes for S. J. Gumming, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873 ; was defeated as the Re publican candidate for the Forty-third Congress, receiving 13,174 votes against 15,607 votes for F. G. Bromberg, Democrat and Liberal, and 7,024 votes for P. Joseph, Republican. JEFFERSON F. LONG, Macon, Georgia. Took his seat Feb. 24, 1871. BUREAU OFFICER. Honorable BLANCHE K. BRUCE, Register of the United States Treasury ; ap pointed by President James A. Garfield, 1881. 584 APPENDIX. NEGROES IN THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. Hayti. E. D. BASSETT, Pennsylvania, 1869-77. Hayti. JOHN M. LANGSTON, District of Columbia, Minister Resident and Consul- General to Hayti, 1877. Liberia. J. MILTON TURNER, Missouri. Liberia. JOHN H. SMYTH, North Carolina. Reappointed in 1882. Liberia. HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET, New York, Minister Resident and Consul- General to Liberia. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS. The following Colored men were Lieutenant-Governors during the years of recon struction. At the head of them all for bravery, intelligence, and executive ability stands Governor Pinchback. One of the first men of his race to enter the army in 1862 as captain, when the conflict was over and his race free, he was the first Colored man in Louisiana to enter into the work of reconstruction. He has been and is a power in his State. He is true to his friends, but a terror to his enemies. A sketch of his life would read like a romance Louisiana. South Carolina. Mississippi. OSCAR J. DUNN, ALONZO J. RANSIER, ALEX. DAVIS. P. B. S. PINCHBACK, RICHARD H. CLEAVES, C. C. ANTOINE. INDEX. Acvis, CAPT., his opinion of John Brown, 225. Adams, C. F., advocates the education of Negroes, 158. Adams, John, first Colored teacher in the D. C., 183. Adams, John Quincy, remarks on the death of William Costin, 192. Adams, Rufus, opposes school for Col ored children in Conn., 150. Aden, D., letter on the bravery of Negro troops, 348. Africa, imported slaves ordered to be re turned to, 12 ; agents appointed by the United States for that purpose, 13 ; proposed colony of free Negroes on the coast, 51 ; a line of war steamers to be established, to suppress the slave- trade, promote commerce, and colo nize the coast, 53-55 ; colonization of, by Negroes, opposed, 70; the " Ami- stad " captives returned to, 93-96 ; number of slaves imported from, 544. African Methodist Episcopal Church, origin, growth, organization, and in fluence, 135, 452 ; numerical and finan cial strength, missionary and educa tional spirit, 455-458 ; publishing house, periodicals, and papers, 458, 459 ; report of Wilberforce University for 1876, 455, 456 ; list of the faculty, 460 ; report and general statement, 462-464 ; list of bishops, 464. African School Association established, 157. Aggressive Anti-Slavery Party, the, 50. Alabama, formation of the territory of, the most cruel of slave States, 3 ; slave population, 1820, 22; 1830, 1840,99; 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes pro hibited, 148 ; recedes from the Union, 232 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; represented in Congress by Negroes, 382 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institution for the in struction of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Albany Atlas and Argus (The) de nounces the Rev. Justin D. Fulton for his views on slavery, 243. Alexander, Francis A., his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 372. Allegheny City, Pa., Avery College founded, 177. Allen, Rev. Richard, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, 452 ; mentioned, 458 ; first bishop of the Church, 459. Alton, 111., mob destroy printing-press, Si- Ambush, James Enoch, founds the Wes- leyan Seminary, 194. American Anti-Slavery Society, organized, 43 ; influence of, 79, 80. American Colonization Society, organized, list of officers, 52 ; commended, 68 ; protest against the colonization of Negroes in Liberia, 69, 70, 73, 76. American Missionary Association estab lish the first school for freedmen, at Fortress Monroe, 393. " Amistad " captives, natives of Africa, sail from Havana on the Spanish slaver "Amistad," cruelly treated, take posses- 585 586 INDEX. sion of the ship, alter her course for Africa, 93 ; captured by a United States vessel and carried to New Lon don, Conn., their trial and release, tour through the United States, 94 ; return to Africa, 96. Anderson, Rev. Duke William, Colored Baptist minister, birth, early life, and education, 476478 ; farmer, teacher, preacher, and missionary, 479-492 ; his influence in the West, 493-496 ; pastor of the igth Street Baptist Church at Washington, occupies various posi tions of trust, 497 ; builds a new church, 498 ; death and funeral, 499, 500 ; resolutions on his death, 500- 503. Anderson, Ransom, testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 365. Andrew, Gov. John A., authorizes the raising of Negro regiments, 289. Andrew, William, representative of Attle- borough, Pa., in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Anti-slavery, societies formed, 20 ; senti ment at the North, 22 ; agitation, 1825- 1850, 31-36 ; speeches in the Legisla ture of Virginia, 33-35 ; methods, 37- 60 ; antiquity of, sentiment, 38 ; news papers established, 38, 39, 41 ; Garri son, leader of the, movement, 39 ; Na tional Convention, number of societies in the United States, 1836, 44 ; Sum- ner's speech before the Whig party, 45; heterodox party, 48 ; economic party, 49 ; aggressive party, 50 ; colonization society, 51 ; American colonization society, 52 ; underground railroad or ganization, 58 ; literature, 59, 60 ; efforts of free Negroes, 61-81 ; New England, Society, dissolution of Negro societies, 79 ; convention of the women of America, So ; prejudice against ad mitting Negroes into white societies, 81 ; friends of, instruct the " Amistad " captives, 94 ; the cause benefited by their stay in the United States, 96 ; violent treatment of, orators, 97 ; op posed, 98 ; John C. Calhoun opposed to, 104. Appleton, John W. M., superintends the enlistment of Negro regiment in Mass. 289. Appomattox, Va., bravery of Negro troops at the battle of, 344. Arkansas, territory organized, 15 ; slave population, 1820, 22 ; 1830, 1840, 99 ; 1850, 100 ; opposed to the education of Negroes, 149 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Asbury, Francis, member of the first American Methodist Conference, 446 ; and bishop of the Church, 468. Ashley, James M., opposes the return of fugitive slaves, 246. Ashum Institute, founded, list of trustees, 178. Attucks Guards, a Colored militia com pany, organized, 145. Auchmuty, Rev. Samuel, teaches Negro- slaves in New York, 165. Auld, Hugh, master of Frederick Doug lass, 431, 432. Austin, James T., signs memorial against the increase of slavery, 16. Avery, Rev. Charles, founder of the Avery College, 177. BAILY, FREDERICK, see Douglass, Fred erick. Ball, Flamen, counsel for the Colored people in Cincinnati, 172. Baltimore, Md., anti-slavery newspaper published, 38 ; cargo of slaves sent to Ne\\ Orleans, to be sold, 40 ; Demo cratic and Whig conventions held at, 1852, 1853, 106 ; St. Frances Academy founded, 160 ; the Wells school estab lished, 161. Bancroft, George, views on the Declara tion of Independence, 32. Banks, Maj.-Gen. N. P., orders the en listment of Negro troops, 290 ; official report on the battle of Port Hudson, 322 ; commends the Negro troops for their bravery, 323. Baptist Church, Colored, organized, 135 ; the members an intelligent and useful INDEX. people, 475 ; their leading ministers, 476 ; sketch of Duke William Ander son, 476-503 ; Leonard Andrew Grimes, 504-515- Barclay, David, donates money tb the Quakers, 174. Barclay, Rev. Henry, advocates the edu cation of Negro slaves, 165. Bartram, Col. Nelson B. , description of Colored regiment commanded by, 292. Bassett, Lieut.-Col. Chauncey J., com mands the ist La. regiment of Colored troops at the battle of Port Hudson, 320. Bassett, E. D., appointed U. S. minister to Hayti, 423. Beams, Charlotte, establishes a school for Colored children, 213. Beaufort, S. C., military savings bank for Negroes established, 403. Beauregard, Gen. G. T., urges passage of the bill for the execution of prisoners, 270. Bell, George, former slave, founds a Col ored school, 182. Becraft, Maria, sketch of, 195, 196. Benezet, Anthony, establishes Colored school in Philadelphia, 1750, 172 ; his will, donating money for education of the Colored people, 173 ; death, 174. Bennington, Vt., anti-slavery newspaper published, 39. Billing, Mary, establishes school for Col ored children, 183. Birney, Maj.-Gen. David B., bravery of Negro troops under his command, re fuses to march his troops in the rear of the whites, 344. Birney, James G., member of the hetero dox and aggressive anti-slavery party, 48, 50 ; his newspaper destroyed by a mob, 51. Black Regiment, the, a poem by George H. Boker, 324. Blake, George, signs memorial against the increase of slavery, 16. Bleecker, John, mentioned, 166. Blunt, Maj.-Gen. James G., letter on the bravery of Negro troops, 346, Boardman, Richard, member of the first American Methodist Conference, 466. Boker, George H, The Black Regiment, a poem by, 324. Boiling, P. A., speech against slavery in the Legislature of Virginia, 34. Boon vs. Juliet, case of, mentioned, 120. Booth, Maj. L. F., in command of Fort Pillow, his death, 360; Gen. Forrest commends his bravery for the defence of the fort, 368. Border States, number of troops furnish ed by, 300. Boston, Mass., meeting in opposition ta the increase of slavery, held in, 1819, 16 ; William Lloyd Garrison mobbed, 97 ; first school for Colored children, 1798, Colored schools, Baptist Church,, 162 ; meeting for the relief of Kansas, 216 ; amount of money and arms sup plied, 216, 218. Boyd, Henry, sketch of, 138, 140. Boyd, Marshall William, see Taylor* Rev. Marshall M. Boyle, Brig. -Gen. Jeremiah T., orders the return of fugitive slaves, 245. Bradford, Major W. F., in command at Fort Pillow, surrenders, 360. Briscoe, Isabella, establishes school for Colored children, 212. Brooke, Samuel, member of the hetero dox anti-slavery party, 48. Brown, Daniel, principal of Catholic Col ored school, 213. Brown, John, member of the aggressive anti-slavery party, 50 ; mentioned, 82 ; hero and martyr, his birth, personal description of, 214 ; arrives in Kansas, denounces slavery in a political meeting at Osawatomie, 215 ; at Boston, 216 ; urges aid for the fugitive slaves, secures arms for the defence of Kansas, 218 ; his plan for freeing the slaves, 219 ; ex tract of a letter while in prison in re gard to the attack on Harper's Ferry, plan for the rescue of, 220 ; instructions of, before the attack on Harper's Ferry, denies the charges of murder, treason, or rebellion, desires only the freedom of slaves, 222 ; descendant of a revolu tionary officer, 223 ; in Ohio and Canada, matures his plans for the at tack, purchases farm near Harper's INDEX. Ferry, amount of arms under his con trol, attack on Harper's Ferry, 224 ; defeat, capture, and execution, 225 ; last letter to Mrs. George Stearns, 226 ; his influence upon the slavery question at the North, place in history, 227 ; held his first convention, list of the members, 495. Brown, John M., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Brown, Robert, establishes school for Colored children, 207. Bruce, Blanche K., his birth, enslave ment, secures his freedom, education, 444 ; removes to Miss., appointed ser- geant-at-arms of the State Senate, sheriff of Bolivar Co., chosen U. S. Senator, 445 ; candidate for Vice-Presi dency, appointed Register of the U. S. Treasury, 446. Bryan, Joseph, petitions Congress for a line of mail steam-ships to the Western Coast of Africa, 53. Buchanan, George, oration on the moral and political evil of slavery, 1791, men tioned, 38. Buchanan, James, in sympathy with the South,- refuses military support to Gov. Geary, 1 10. Buell, Brig. -Gen. D. C., letter to J. R. Underwood on the return of fugitive slaves to their masters, 248. Bulkley, I., counsel for the prosecution in the trial of Prudence Crandall, 156. Bureau of refugees, freedmen, and aban doned lands, established, 398 ; report, 399- Burling, Thomas, mentioned, 166. Burns, Francis, bishop of the M. E. Church, 469. Burnside, Maj.-Gen., Ambrose E., orders the arrest of two free Negroes, 244 ; proclamation protecting slave property, 248 ; services of Negro troops at the siege of Petersburg, commanded by, 341, 342. Butler, Maj.-Gen., Benjamin F., letter to Gen. Scott, declaring slaves contra band of war, 250 ; orders the employ ment of Negroes for fatigue duty, calls for the enlistment of free Negroes, 287 ; outlawed by Jefferson Davis, 354, 359 ; establishes military savings-bank for Negroes, 403. CAIN, R. H., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Calhoun, John C., his followers favor a demolition of the Union, 98 ; speech in the United States Senate in favor of slavery, 103-105 ; in favor of State rights, 230. California, resolution in regard to the ad mission into the Union, 100, 101. Callioux, Capt. Andre, bravery at the battle of Port Hudson, 318, 321 ; his death, 319, 321. Cameron, Simon, letter to Gen. Butler approving his action of declaring slaves contraband of war, 251 ; order in regard to enlistment of troops, 278. Campbell, H. G., commanding naval officer at Charleston, S. C., circular letter to, in regard to the importation of slaves, 10. Campbell, Jabez P., delivers address on the ratification of the fifteenth amend ment, 422 ; bishop of the African M. E. Church, 459, 464. Canada, Negroes settle in, 66, 70, 71 ; Negro colonization of, opposed, 72. Cannon, Gov. William, requests the en listment of Negroes in Delaware, 291. Canterbury, Conn., protest of the citizens against admitting Colored pupils to school, 150, 151 ; school abolished by act of the Legislature, 152, 153 ; school- house mobbed, 156. Carey, Mary Ann Shadd, lecturer, writer, and school-teacher, 419. Carney, William H., sergeant in the 54th Mass. Regiment Colored Troops, his bravery at the assault on Fort Wagner, plants the colors of the regiment on the fort, 329-33L Carrollton, La., fugitive slaves offer their services to the army, 285. Casey, Maj.-Gen. Silas, letter endorsing the free military school for Negroes, 296. Cass, Lewis, speech in reply to Calhoun, in the United States Senate, on slavery, 105. INDEX. 589 Chalmers, Brig. -Gen. James R., his con nection with the Fort Pillow massacre, 375- Champion, James, representative of Phila. in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Chapin's Farm, Va., Negro troops engage in the battle of, 335. Chapman, Maria Weston, her opinion of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 79. Charleston, S. C., the Negro plot of 1822, S3- " Charleston Mercury " (The) on the ex change of captured Negro soldiers, 358. Charlton, Rev. Richard, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. Chase, Salmon P., speech against the re peal of the Missouri compromise, 109. Chcouncey, Isaac, letter to Captain Perry defending the enlistment of Negroes in the U. S. Navy, 29. Child, Adventur, free Negro, petitions for relief from taxation in Mass., 1780, 126. " Choctaw," gun-boat, at the battle of Milliken's Bend, 326. Cincinnati, Ohio, mob destroys news paper, 51 ; report on the condition of the Colored people, 1835, 136-138 ; prominent Colored men of, 138-143 ; home for Colored orphans established, 144 ; the Attucks Guards organized, 145 ; Colored schools established, 170- 172. Cinquez, Joseph, son of an African prince, one of the " Amistad" captives, leads in the capture of the ship, 93 ; tour -through the United States, de scribes his capture, 94 ; returns to Af rica, 96. Qarkson, Mathew, mentioned, 166. Clay, Cascius M., member of the ag gressive anti-slavery party, 50 ; men tioned, 51. Clay, Henry, mentioned, 20 ; favors col onization of free Negroes at Liberia, 52 ; resolutions in Congress for the ad justment of the slavery question, 101. Cleaveland, C. F., counsel for the prose cution in the trial of Prudence Cran- dall, 156. Coggeshall, Pero, free Negro, petitions for relief from taxation in Mass., 1780, 126. Cogswell, James, mentioned, 166. Coke, Rev. Thomas, ordained bishop of the Methodist societies in America, 465. Coker, Daniel, representative of Balti more in the first conference of the Afri can M. E. Church, 452. Colgan, Rev. Thomas, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. Colonization Anti-Slavery Society, ob jects of the, 51. Colorado, number of Negro troops fur nished by, 300. Columbian Institute, Washington, D. C., 186. Columbus, Ky., fort at, garrisoned by Negro troops, 345. Confederate States, organized, 232 ; list of delegates to the convention, 232, 233 ; Jefferson Davis chosen President, Alex ander H. Stephens, Vice-President, Constitution adopted, 233 ; impress Negroes to build fortifications, 261 ; effect of President Lincoln's emancipa tion proclamation, 271 ; Negroes in the service of the, 277 ; resolutions of their Congress against the military em ployment of Negroes by the U. S., 35> 35 * > white officers commanding Negro troops against the, and Negroes captured in arms against the, to be ex ecuted, the first to employ Negro sol diers, 352 ; refuse to exchange Negro prisoners, 355-357 ; proclamation of Jefferson Davis outlawing Gen. Butler, 358 ; reconstruction of the, 377-383 ; provisional military government estab lished, 379. Connecticut, slave population, 1800, 2J 1810, 9 ; 1820, 22 ; prejudice against Colored schools, 149 ; school abolished by act of Legislature, 152, 153 ; school- house mobbed, 157 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Consti tution of the U.S., 422. Convention of the people of color, 1831, report on the condition of free Negroes in the United States, 62 ; on the estab- 590 INDEX. lishment of a college, 63 ; provisional committee appointed in each city, 64 ; conventional address, 65-68 ; second convention, 1832, 68 ; resolutions on colonization, 70 ; conventional address, 75-78. Cook, D. R., organizes company of Ne gro troops, 277. Cook, Eliza Anne, establishes school for Colored children, 211. Cook, Major John B., Negro troops com manded by, capture redoubt at Peters burg, Va., 339. Cook, Rev. John F., sketch of, 187-191 ; mentioned, 206, 21 1, 212. Coppin, Mrs. Fanny M. See Jackson, Fanny M. Cornish, Alexander, establishes school for Colored children, 209. Costin, Louisa Parke, establishes school for Colored children, 192, 193. Costin, William, his death, 192 ; sketch of, 193. Coxe, R. S., emancipates slave, 210. Crandall, Prudence, establishes a school in Conn., admits Colored pupil, 149 ; protest of the citizens, 150, 151 ; re ceives additional Colored pupils, 152 ; school abolished by act of the Legisla ture, 152, 153 ; her arrest and trial, 153-156 ; school-house mobbed, 156. Cuff, Peter, representative of Salem, N. J. , in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Cuffe, John and Paul, free Negroes, peti tion for relief from taxation in Mass., 1780, 126, 127. Cumberland, Department of the, Negro troops recruited for, 294. Cumings, Mrs. Elizabeth, school of, men tioned, 471. DANDRIDGE, ANN, family of, 193. Darnes, Mary A., address to the Attucks Guards of Cincinnati, 145. Davis, Jefferson, speech in the U. S. Senate, on the right to hold slaves, 102 ; chosen president of the Confeder ate States, 233 ; his message to the Confederate Government, 234 ; views on President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, 271, 350 ; proclamation outlawing Gen. Butler, 359 ; plantation of, owned by Negroes, 414 ; succeeded in the U. S. Senate by a Negro, 423. Davis, John, Negro sailor, his bravery and death, 30. Deep Bottom, Va., Negro troops -engage in the battle of, 335. De Grasse, John T., first Colored mem ber of the Mass. Medical Society, 133 ; sketch of, 134. Delaware, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9; in favor of restriction of slavery, 16 ; slave population, 1820, 22; Quakers emancipate their slaves* 35 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; tax on slaves, added to the school fund for the education of white children, 157 ; order for the enlistment of Negroes, 291 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392. Deloach, C., organizes company of Negro troops, 277. Democratic Party, convention of, 1853, nominates Franklin Pierce for the Presidency, defines its position on the slavery question, 106. De Mortie, Louis, her birth, education, public reader, secures funds for *the erection of an asylum for Colored orphans, her death, 449. De Peyster, Maj.-Gen. J. Watts, advo cates the employment of Negroes as soldiers, 276. Dickerson, William F., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. . District of Columbia, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; petition of Garrison for the abolition of slavery in, 39 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; schools for the educa tion of the Negro population, 182-213 Lincoln in favor of the abolishing of slavery in the, 237 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; Negro school population, 1871, 1876, 387 ; compara tive statistics of education, 388 ; insti tutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392, 393- INDEX, 591 Dix, Maj.-Gen. John A., proclamation protecting slave property, 246. Dixon, Archibald, introduces bill in Congress for the repeal of the Missouri compromise, 108. Dodge, Henry, introduces bill in Con gress to organize the territory of Ne braska, 107. Douglass, Frederick, his book " My Bondage and My Freedom," 59 ; men tioned, 79, 8 1 ; delivers address on the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, 422 ; birth, enslavement, 424 ; escapes to the North, marries, life as a freeman, 425 ; becomes an anti-slavery orator, 426 ; publishes the experiences of a " fugitive slave," leaves for Great Brit ain, 427 ; letter to William Lloyd Garrison, 428 ; his freedom purchased, copy of freedom papers, 431 ; his former name when a slave, how he re ceived his present one, 431, 432 ; re turns to America, 432 ; reasons for leaving the Garrisonian party, estab lishes the newspaper " North Star," 433 ; his eloquence, 434, 437 ; in fluence and career, 437, 438 ; death of his wife, 437 ; mentioned, 471. Douglass, Margaret, arrested for instruct- p Negroes, 181. ing- Doud iglass, Stephen A. , speech in favor of ^ the repeal of the Missouri compromise, '1 08 ; questions to Lincoln, on slavery, ' 237, 238. Douty, Lieut. Jacob, fires the mine at the siege of Petersburg, Va., 341. Dow, Jesse E., urges the establishment of a free Colored public school in the D. C., 209. Dunlap, George W., resolution in Con gress, opposing the enlistment of Ne groes, 282. Durham, Rev. Clayton, representative of Phila., in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Dutch Gap, Va. , excavated by Negroes, 262. Dwight, Brig.-Gen. William, orders the Negro troops to capture a battery at the battle of Port Hudson, 318. EARLY, PETER, introduces bill in Con gress for the forfeiture of slaves illegally imported, 8. Economic Anti-Slavery Party, 49. Edwards, G. G., describes the bravery of Negro troops, 327. Edwards, Samuel, his connection with the Negro insurrection in Southampton County, Va., 87. Elsworth, W. W., counsel for Prudence Crandall, 156. Embree, Lawrence, mentioned, 166. Embury, Phillip, one of the founders of M. E. Church in New York, 465. Emerson, Dr., owner of the Negro slave Dred Scott, 114. Emerson, R. W., his opinion of John Brown, 217. Emancipation proclamations, 255, 257, 263-275 ; the results of, 384-418. Fair Oaks, Va. , Negro troops engage in the battle of, 335 Faneuil Hall, Boston, meeting for the re lief of Kansas, 216. Farmville, Va., Negro troops engaged in the battle of, 335. Faulkner, C. J., speech against slavery in the Legislature of Virginia, 35. Ferrer, Capt. Ramon, commander of the Spanish slaver " Amistad, " 93. Ferrero, Brig.-Gen. Edward, Negro troops under the command of, defeat the Hampton Legion, 349, Finnegas, Lieut. -Col. Henry, commands the 3d La. Regiment of Colored Troops at the battle of Port Hudson, 320. Fish, Hamilton, certifies the ratification of the fifteenth amendment to the Con stitution of the U. S., 421. Fleet, John H., establishes a school for Colored children, 207, 208. Florida, slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100; proceeds of the sale of slaves added to the school-fund, 158 ; secedes from the Union, 232 ; Gen. Hunter's proclamation emancipating slaves, 257 ; rescinded, 258 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; represented in Congress by Negroes, 382 ; compar ative statistics of education, 388 ; in stitutions for the instruction of Negroes. INDEX, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Follen, Rev. Mr., speech in support of resolution on anti-slavery, 80. Ford, Mrs. George, establishes a school for Colored children. 207. Forrest, Maj.-Gen., N. B., attacks Fort Pillow, demands its surrender, orders the massacre of Negro soldiers, 360, 361 ; testimony against his inhuman treatment of Negroes, 361-375 ; com mends the bravery of the U. S. sol diers, 368 ; his conduct endorsed, 375. Fort Gibson, Ark., bravery of the Ne gro troops at the battle of, 313. Fort Mackinac,Mich., Negro sailors at, 28. Fort Pillow, Tenn., defended by Union troops, refuse to capitulate, 360 ; mas sacre of the Negro soldiers, 360, 361 ; testimony in regard to the massacre, 361-375 ; Gen. Forrest commends the bravery of the U. S. soldiers, 368. Fort Wagner, S. C., assault on, Negro regiment leads the charge, 308, 313, 328, 329- Forte, Sarah, verses on the Negro, 81. Forten, James, his subscription to the "Liberator," 43. Fortress Monroe, Va., first school for freedmen established at, 393, Fortune, Charlotte L., her education, literary abilities, 450. Foster, Gov. Charles, appoints Negro to office, 447 ; one of the leaders of the Republican Party in the contest over the electoral count of 1876, 521; his speech on "a solid North against a solid South," 525, 526. Foster, Col. John A., letter on the bravery of the Negro troops, 348. Franklin, Jesse, his report against the modification of the ordinance of 1787, in Indian Territory, 7. Franklin, Nicholas, former slave, estab lishes a Colored school, 182. Free Mission Institute, 111., destroyed by a mob, 159. Free Soil Party, organized, 46. Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Com pany, incorporated, list of the trustees, 403, 404 ; act incorporating, amended, 407 ; organized, 408 ; reports, 408-410 ; total amount deposited, failure, com missioners appointed to settle the affairs of the, 411, 412 ; dividends, 413. Freedmen's Bureau, established, 379 ; number of schools in charge of the, 385, 394 ; amount expended, 386, 394, 395 ; report, 401, 402, 403. Friends, see Quakers. Fry, Brig.-Gen., orders the return of fugitive slaves, 246. Fugitive-Slave Law, of 1793, condemned, 2 ; amended, 10 ; of 1850, 106 ; recog nized in Ohio, 112 ; passed in Kansas, 215 ; Lincoln opposed to the repeal of the, 237. Fulton, Rev. Justin D., preaches the funeral sermon of Col. Elsworth, views on slavery, 242, 243. GABRIEL, GENERAL, leader of the Negro plot in Virginia, 1800, 83. Gaillard, Nicholas, representative of Bal timore, in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Gaines, John L, urges the claims of the Colored people to school-fund in Cin cinnati, 171. Galveston, Texas, captured Negro soldiers- sold into slavery, 353. Garnet, Henry Highland, mentioned, 79, 134- Garnett, James M., reports in favor of the modification of the ordinance of 1787, in Indiana Territory, 5. Garrison, William Lloyd, leader of the anti-slavery movement, edits news papers, petitions Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 39 ; favors immediate eman cipation, imprisoned for libel, 40 ; re leased, establishes the " Liberator," 41 ; extract from his article on the abolition of slavery, 41, 42 ; organizes the Ameri can Anti-Slavery Society, 43 ; men tioned, 63 ; opposed to the colonization of Negroes in Liberia, 7> 75 ! mobbed at Boston, 97 ; address at the Framing- ham celebration, 98 ; mentioned, 425, 426 ; Frederick Douglass's letter to, 428; his views on slavery, 433. INDEX, 595 Garrisonian Party, mentioned, 44 ; in favor of the dissolution of the Union, 98. Gedney, Lieut., Thomas R., captures the Spanish slaver " Amistad," 94. Georgetown, D. C., Colored schools, 206, 207. Georgia, slave population, 1800, 2 ; cedes territory for the formation of Alabama and Mississippi, 3 ; slave population, 1810, 9, 1820, 22, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes pro hibited, 158, advocated, 159 ; secedes from the Union, 232 ; Gen. Hunter's proclamation emancipating slaves, 257, rescinded, 258 ; expedition of Negro regiment into, 314 ; represented in Congress by Negroes, 382 ; number of slaves, 1860, Negro school population. 1876, 387 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392 ; elects Negro representative to Congress, 423. Gilmore, Rev. Hiram S., founder of the Cincinnati High School, 171. Goddard, Calvin, counsel for Prudence Crandall, 156. Gooch, D. W., one of the committee of investigation of the Fort Pillow mas sacre, 361. Gordon, Charlotte, establishes a school for Colored children, 213. "Governor Tompkins," armed schooner, bravery of Negro sailors on board of the, 30. Grant, Gen. Ulysses S., orders the attack on Petersburg, 336, 337 ; carries the Southern States in the presidential elec tions of 1868 and 1872, 382 ; special message to Congress on ratification of the fifteenth amendment, 420 ; appoints Negroes in the diplomatic service, 423 ; not responsible for the decline and loss of the republican State governments at the South, 518. Grant, Nancy, establishes a school for Colored children, 206. Gray, Samuel, free Negro, petititions for relief from taxation, in Mass., 1780, 125. Greeley, Horace, leader of the economic anti-slavery party, 49 ; letter to Presi dent Lincoln on slavery, 253 ; Lincoln's reply, 254 ; newspaper editorials on Ne gro troops, 303-307 ; opposed to the resolutions of the Confederate Congress in regard to Negro troops, 356. Green, John P, his struggles to obtain an education, successful orator, lawyer, and statesman, 447, 448. Greener, Richard Theodore, his early life, 438 ; education, first Colored graduate of Harvard University, 439 ; principal of the Institute for Colored Youth, and Sumner High School, accepts the Chair of Metaphysics and Logic in the Uni versity of S. C., Dean of the Law De partment of Howard University, gradu ates from the Law School of the Univer sity of S. C., literary career, 440 ; the intellectual position of the Negro, a reply to James Parton's article on the antipathy to the Negro, 441 ; speech at. the dinner of the Harvard Club, 442. Greenlaw, William B., organizes company of Negro troops, 277. Grimes, Rev. Leonard Andrew, Colored Baptist minister, sketch of his life, 505- 512 ; death, 513 ; resolutions on his death, 513-515. Grow, G. A., Stanton's letters to, 279. Guinea, memorial against the slave-trade on the coast of, 2. Gurley, Rev. R. R., favors the coloniza tion of free Negroes at Liberia, 52, 70, '75 V HALL, ANNE MARIA, establishes school for Colored children, 183. Hall, Primus, first school for Colored children, held in the house of, 1798, 162. Hallock, Maj. -Gen., Henry W., forbids fugitive slaves entering the army, 247, 248. Hamilton, Paul, circular letter to H. G. Campbell, in regard to the importation of slaves, 10. Hammond, Eliza Ann, *rrested for at tending school in Conn., 152. Hampton, Va., school for the education of Negroes, 394 ; normal and agricultu ral institute, 395. "594 INDEX. Hampton, Fanny, establishes school for Colored children, 207. Hampton Legion, defeated by Negro troops, 349. Harden, Henry, representative of Balti more in the first conference of the Af rican M. E. Church, 452. Harper, Frances Ellen, essayist and lect urer, 419. Harper's Ferry, Va., operations of John Brown at, 222, 224. Harris, Sarah, protests of the citizens of Canterbury, Conn., against her attend ing school, 150. Hartford, Conn., establishes a separate school for Colored children, 149. Harvard University, first Colored gradu ate, 439. Hatcher's Run, Va., Negro troops en gaged in the battle of, 335. Havana, Cuba, Spanish slaver "Ami- stad " sails from, with slaves, 93. Hayard, Elisha, mentioned, 187 ; school- house destroyed by a mob, 189. Hayes, Alexander, establishes school for Colored children, 209 ; emancipated, his marriage, 210. Hayes, Rutherford B. , failure of his Southern policy, 522-524. Hayti, opposition to the colonization of, by free Negroes, 70 ; E. D. Bassett ap pointed Minister to, 423. Heck, Barbara, foundress of American Methodism, 465. Helena, Ark., bravery of Negro troops at battle of, 313. Helper, Hinton R., influence of his book the " Impending Crisis," 60. Henderson, Rev. Henry, school of, men tioned, 471. Henry, Patrick, opposed to slavery, 33. Heterodox Anti-Slavery Party, the plat form of the, 48. Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, description of regiment of Colored Troops commanded by, 304 ; expedi tion into Georgia, 314. Hildreth, Joseph, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. Hill, Margaret, establishes school for Colored children, 209. Hill, Stephen, representative of Balti more in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Hinks, Brig.-Gen. Edward W., com mands brigade of Negro troops at the battle of Petersburg, Va., 336, 339, 346. Holt, Joseph, letter to the Secretary of War on the enlistment of slaves, 307. Honey Springs, Ark, bravery of Negro troops at the battle of, 346. Hooker, Maj.-Gen. Joseph, order in re gard to harboring fugitive slaves in the army, 249. Hosier, Rev. Harry, first Negro preacher in the M. E. Church in America, 466 ; his eloquence as a pulpit orator, 466, 467. Houston, Gen. Samuel, proposition to Congress on the admission of California and New Mexico, 100, 101 ; maintains Congress has no authority to prohibit or interfere with slavery, 101. Howard, Maj.-Gen. O.O., appointed Com missioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, his report on schools established by the bureau, 385 ; in charge of Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 398 ; report, 399, 400. Howland, Pero, free Negro, petitions for relief from taxation in Mass., 1780, 126. Huddlestone, William, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. Humphreys, Richard, founder of the In stitute for Colored Youth, 176. Hunter, Maj.-Gen. David, proclamation emancipating slaves, 257 ; rescinded by President Lincoln, 258 ; organizes Ne gro regiment, 278 ; official correspond ence with the Secretary of War, re specting the enlistment of Negroes, 279, 280 ; asks to be relieved of his command, 284 ; outlawed by Jefferson Davis, 354. Hunter, Rev. William H., establishes school for Colored people, 212. ILLINOIS, slave population in the territory of, 1810, 9, 1820, 22, 1830, 1840, 99; first constitution, Negroes, Mulat- toes, and Indians exempted from mili tia service, free Negroes required to INDEX. 595 produce certificate of freedom, persons bringing slaves into, for the purpose of emancipating, to give bonds, 122 ; criminal code enacted, Negroes, Mu- lattoes, and Indians declared incom petent to be witnesses, Act to prevent the immigration of free Negroes into, 123 ; separate schools for Colored chil dren established, the Free Mission In stitute destroyed by mob, 159 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422; Negro elected to the Legislature, 447, Indiana, slave population in the territory of, 1800, 2 ; William Henry Harrison, appointed governor, 3 ; memorial to Congress for the modification of the ordinance of 1787, 4-8 ; slave popula tion, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; law in regard to executions against the time of service of slaves, 119, 121 ; Act for the intro duction of Negroes, 120 ; first consti tution, Negroes excluded from giving testimony, Act regulating free Negroes, 121 ; Negroes denied the right of suf frage, 159 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Indians, list of, ordered to leave Mass., 130. Institute for Colored Youth, established, 176. Iowa, number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amend ment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. '" Isaac Smith," gun-boat, free Negroes captured from, 354. JACKSON, ALFRED, fugitive slave, claimed by his master, 245 ; leaves for Michi gan, 246. Jackson, Andrew, proclamation of, calling for Negro troops, War of 1812, 25 ; orders the suppression of the Snow riot at Washington, D. C., 189. Jackson, Edward, representative of Attle- borough, Pa., in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Jackson, Fanny M., her birth, education, 448 ; school-teacher, 449. Jackson, Rev. Henry, Negroes excluded from the church of, 430. Jarrot vs. Jarrot, case of, mentioned, 120. Jay, John, president of the N. Y. Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, 167. Jefferson, Thomas, recommends the abol ishing of the slave-trade, 8 ; predicts the abolition of slavery, 33 ; condemns slavery, 35. Jerusalem Court-House, Va., Negro in surrection at, 1831, 88. Johnson, John, Negro sailor, his bravery and death, 30. Jordan, Thomas, letter to Col. B. R. Rhett, Jr., relative to the refusal of the Confederate army to exchange captured Negro soldiers, 358. Jordan vs. Smith, case of, mentioned, 113; " Journal of the Times" (The), anti-slavery newspaper, advocates the claims of John Quincy Adams, 39. Judah, Brig.-Gen., H. M., orders the re turn of fugitive slaves, 245. Judge, Philadelphia, former slave to Martha Washington, 193. Judson, Andrew T., decision in the case of the " Amistad " captives, 94 ; advo cates resolutions against school for Col ored children in Conn., 150; secures enactment of a law abolishing the same, 152 ; counsel for the prosecution in the trial of Prudence Crandall, 156. KANSAS, fugitive-slave bill passed, speech of John Brown against slavery, 215 ; infested by border ruffians, aid for the relief of, 216 ; arms purchased for the defence of, 218 ; plan of John Brown for the freedom of slaves in, 219 ; num ber of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422 ; freed- men's relief association, ganized, 536. Kentucky, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9 ; opposed to the restriction of slavery, 16 ; slave population', 1820, 22, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 } slave laws retard the education of the Negroes, 159; INDEX. number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; comparative statistics of educa tion, 388 ; institutions for the instruc tion of Negroes, 392. King, John, member of the first American Methodist Conference, 466. Ku Klux, a secret organization, objects of, 382. LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE, address to the scholars of the N. Y. African free school, 168. Langston, John Mercer, born a slave, education, services, Resident Minister and Consul-General to Hayti, 446. Lake Erie, N. Y., Negro sailor repre sented in the picture of Perry's victory on, 28 ; bravery of the Negro sailors at the battle of, 30. Lancaster County, Pa., free public Colored school, 206. Lawrence, John, mentioned, 166. Lawrence, Kansas, sacked and burned by a mob, 215. Lawrence, Nathaniel, mentioned, 166. Leaman, Jacob, mentioned, 166. Leaman, Willett, mentioned, 166. Ledlie, Brig.-Gen., James H., attempts to fire the mine at the siege of Peters burg, Va., 341. Lee, General Fitz-Hugh, defeated by Negro troops at the battle of Wilson's Wharf, 335. Lee, William Thomas, his school for Col ored children burned, 205 ; threatened by mob, 206. Leming, Lieut., Me J., his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 367. Lenox, Walter, opposed to the education of Colored people, 201. Leonard, Rev. Chauncey, his school for. Colored children destroyed by mob, 192. Lewis, Edmonia, Negro sculptress, sketch of, 450. " Lexington," gun-boat, at the battle of Milliken's^end, 326. " Liberator " (The), anti-slavery news paper, established, 41. Liberia, proposed*colony of free Negroes at, 51, 54, 5$ ; protest against the col onization, 70*. Lincoln, Abraham, in favor of the Union of the States, 230 ; speech against slavery, 232 ; his answers to Stephen A. Douglass' questions on slavery, 237-239 ; in favor of gradual emancipation, elected President of the United States, 239 ; his inaugural ad dress regarding slavery, 240 ; letter in reply to Horace Greeley, on slavery, 254 ; to Gen. Fremont, disproving his proclamation emancipating slaves in Missouri, 256 ; rescinds proclamation of Gen. Hunter, 258 ; conservative policy of, 259 ; his reasons for not issuing emancipation proclamation, 264-266; issues emancipation proclamation, 267 269 ; second proclamation, 272 ; op posed to the enlistment of Negroes, 278 ; authorizes the enlistment of Negro troops, 285 ; second call for troops, 287; his order in regard to prisoners of war, 355- Lincoln University, see Ashum Insti tute. Littlefield, Col. M. S. , letter describing the bravery of Sergeant William H. Carney at the assault on Fort Wagner, 33L Liverpool, Moses, former slave, erects Colored school, 182. Livingston, Edward, address to the Negro troops before the battle of New Or leans, 26. Loguen, Bishop, his book, " As a Slave and as a Freeman," mentioned, 59. Longworth, Nicholas, builds the first school-house for Colored people in Cin cinnati, 172. Louisiana, slave population in, and terri tory of, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; bravery of the Negro troops of, at the battle of New Orleans, 27 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes prohibited, 160 ; secedes- from the Union, 232 ; fugitive slaves offer their services in the army, 285 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; bravery of the ist regiment, Ne groes, at the battle of Port Hudson, 317-324, 345 ; the gth and nth regi ments, Negroes, at the battle of Milli' INDEX. 597 Teen's Bend, 326, 327 ; represented in Congress by Negroes, 382 ; Negro population in excess of the white, 386 ; comparative statistics of education, 388; institutions for the instruction of Ne groes, 392, 393 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Lovejoy, E. P. , member of the aggressive anti-slavery party, 50 ; killed by a mob, 51- Lundy, Benjamin, earliest advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States, establishes anti-slavery newspaper, 1821, 38 ; his sacrifices and work in the cause of emancipation, 38, 39 ; visits William Lloyd Garrison, favors gradual emancipation, 40 ; colonization of man umitted slaves, 51 ; mentioned, 63, 73. MCCLELLAN, MAJ.-GEN, GEORGE B., views on slavery, 249 ; Secretary Seward's letter to, in regard to fugitive slaves, 263. McCoy, Benjamin M., one of the found ers of Colored Sunday-school at Wash ington, D. C., 187 ; takes charge of public Colored school in Pa., 189 ; school for Colored children, 206. McCrady, John, chief engineer of Georgia, ordered to impress Negroes to build for tifications, 261. McLeod, John, in favor of the education of the Colored people, 186. Madden, Rev. Samuel, a Colored Baptist minister, 476. Madison, James, opposed to slavery, 33 ; president of the American Colonization Society, 52. Maine, bill for the admission of, into the Union, 16, admitted, 18 ; equal school privileges granted to Negroes, 160 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Malcom, Rev. Howard, favors the coloni zation of free Negroes at Liberia, 52. Mallory, Col., fugitive slaves of, declared contraband of war, 250, Mann, Horace, favors the colonization of free Negroes at Liberia, 52. Marechal, Rev. Ambrose, in favor of the education of the Negroes, 161. Marsh, Jacob, representative of Attle- borough, Pa., in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Maryland, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; Quakers emanci pate their slaves, 35 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; Negroes excluded from the schools, St. Frances Academy founded, 160; the Wells school established, 161 ; order for the enlist ment of Negroes, 290 ; number of Ne gro troops furnished by, 299 ; compara tive statistics of education, 388 ; insti tutions for the instruction of Negroes, 39 2 . 393- Massachusetts, petition of the free Ne groes for relief from taxation, 1780, 126, 127; law preventing Negroes from other States from settling in, 127 ; notice to Negroes, Indians, and Mulattoes warn ing them to leave, 128 ; list of the same, 128, 129 ; first school for Colored chil dren, 162 ; number of Negro troops, furnished, 299 ; captured Negro sol diers from, sold into slavery, 353. Massachusetts General Colored Associa tion, 78 ; letter to New England Anti- Slavery Society desiring to become aux- liary to the latter, 79. Massachusetts Medical Society, first Col ored member admitted to the, 133. Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, amount of money furnished for the re lief of Kansas, 216, 218. Massachusetts Volunteers, 54th regiment, first Colored troops raised at the North, 289 ; at James Island, 328, 335 ; march to Morris Island, 328, 329, 332 ; assault Fort Wagner, and plant the colors of the regiment on the fort, 329 ; Edward L. Pierce's letter describing the valor and losses of the regiment, 331 ; Gen. Strong commends the bravery of the regiment, 334. 4 Mattock, White, mentioned, 166. May, Rev. Samuel J., in favor of educa tion of Colored children in Conn., 150, 151, 153, 157. Memphis, Tenn., Negro troops raised 59 3 INDEX. for the Confederate States, 277 ; fort garrisoned by Negroes, 345. Mercer, Brig. -Gen. Hugh W., order to impress Negroes to build fortifications, 261. Methodist Episcopal Church founded, Negro servants and slaves contributors to the erection of the first chapel in New York, 1768, 465 ; first American annual conference, 465, 466 ; first Ne gro preacher in the, 466 ; opposed to slavery, 467 ; organized, interested in the welfare of the Negro, 468 ; strength of the churches and Sunday-schools of the Colored members in the, 469. Michigan, slave population in the terri tory of, 1810, 9 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitu tion of the U. S., 422. Middleton, Charles H., establishes school for Colored children, 207, 208. Milliken's Bend., La., bravery of the Negro troops at the battle of, 308, 313, 326, 345- Miner, Myrtilla, establishes seminary for Colored girls, 196 ; sketch of, 197-205. Minnesota, number of Negro troops fur nished by, 300 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Minot, William, address at the dedica tion of the Smith school-house, 162. Mississippi, slave population in territory of, 1800, 2 ; one of the most cruel of slave States, 3 ; formation of the terri tory of, 3 ; slave population, 1810, 9 ; applies for admission into the Union with a slave constitution, 9; slave popu lation, 1820, 22, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes prohibited, conduct of slaves regulated, preaching the Gospel by slaves declared unlawful, 163 ; secedes from the Union, 232 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; ist regiment of Negroes at the battle of Milliken's Bend, 326 ; repre sented in Congress by Negroes, 382 ; Negro population in excess of the white, 386 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institutions for the in struction of Negroes, 392, 393 ; rati, fies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Missouri, applies for admission into the Union, 14 ; Arkansas formed from, 15; controversy, 16-20 ; admitted into the Union, 20 ; slave population, 1820, 22, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; Negroes ordered to leave the State, education prohibited, 163 ; order for the enlist ment of Negroes, 290 ; number of Ne gro troops furnished by, 300 ; compara tive statistics of education, 388 ; insti tutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Mitchell, Charles L., member of the Legislature of Mass., 446. Mobile, Ala., educational privileges granted to the free Creoles, 148. Monroe, James, message to Congress in regard to the slave-trade, 12. Monies, Don Pedro, passenger on the Spanish slaver "Amistad," compelled by the slaves to navigate the ship, 93 ; charged with piracy, 94. Montgomery, Ala., Confederate States or ganized, 232. Morgan, Rev. J. V. B., establishes school for Colored children, 209. Morris, Catharine, contributes money for the education of Colored people, 199. Morris Island, S. C., battle on, Negro regiment leads the assault, 313, 328, 329. Morsell, Judge James, interested in the education of Colored people, 207. Mott, Lydia P., establishes a home for Colored orphans, 144. Murf reesboro, Tenn. , captured Negro sol diers massacred at, 353. Murray, John, Jr., mentioned, 166. Muse, Lindsay, one of the founders of Colored Sunday-school at Washington, D. C., 186. Mussey, Captain R. D., superintends the recruiting of Negro troops, 294. NANTUCKET, MASS., anti-slavery conven tion at, 425. Nashville, Tenn., Negroes in the Confed erate service, 277 ; Negro troops re- INDEX. 599 cruited, 294 ; engaged in the battle of, 342. Natchez, Miss., fort at, garrisoned by Negro troops, 345. National anti-slavery convention, held in Phila., 1833, 44. Neau, Elias, establishes a school for Negro slaves, in New York, 1704 ; pupils accused of being concerned in the Negro plot, his life threatened, 164 ; his death, 165. Nebraska, bill introduced in Congress, to organize the territory of, 107, no ; number of troops furnished by, 300 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Negroes, free, sold as slaves, 2; premium to informer of illegally imported, seized in the United States, 10 ; imported to St. Mary's, 10 ; to be returned to Africa, 12 ; serve in the War of 1812, 23-27 ; Gen. Jackson's proclamation calling for Negro troops, 25 ; Gen. Livingston's address, 26 ; rated as chattel property, their ' valor in war secures them immunity in peace, at the battle of New Orleans, 27 ; in the United States Navy, 28-30 ; at Fort Mackinac, 1814, 28 ; their treatment as sailors, Captain Perry's letter to Com modore Chauncey, complaining of the men sent him, 28 ; Commodore Chaun- cey's reply, 29 ; at the battle of Lake Erie, represented in the picture of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, letter of Nathaniel Shaler commending the bravery of the sailors under his com mand, 30; military services, 32 ; pro posed colony of free, at Liberia, 51, 54, 56 ; authors of anti-slavery litera ture, 59 ; anti-slavery efforts of free, 61-81 ; conventions of the people of color, 61-79 condition of free, in United States, 62, 67 ; proposed col lege for, 63 ; settle in Canada, 66, 71, 73 ; opposed to colonization in Liberia and Hayti, 70 ; leave Ohio, for Can ada, 71, 76 ; colonization of Upper Canada, opposed, 72 ; dissolution of anti-slavery societies composed of, 79 ; prejudice against admitting, into white societies, eloquence of the, as orators, 81 ; insurrections of, 82-92 ; why they were kept in bondage, 82 ; plot of the, in Virginia, 1800, 83 ; in Charleston, S. C., 1822, 84 ; insurrection in South ampton County, Va., 1831, 87-89 ; the " Amistad " captives, 93-96 ; Northern sympathy and Southern subterfuges, 1850-1860, 97-100 ; schools broken up, pupils maltreated, 97 ; the " Black Laws" of "Border States," 111-124; Ohio laws against free, in, 112 ; com pelled to show certificate of freedom, 112 ; laws against kidnapping, 113 ; not citizens, 114, 118 ; denied the right to vote, 119, 122 ; excluded from the militia service, schools established for free, 119 ; Act for the introduction of, into Indiana, 120 ; excluded from giv ing testimony, 121, 123 ; exempted from militia service, 122 ; Act to pre vent the immigration of free, into Illi nois, 123; restrictions and proscriptions in the Northern States, 124 ; the Northern, 125-146 ; number of free, in the slave and Northern States, 125 ; petition for relief from taxation of free, in Mass., 1780, 126 ; law preventing, from other States settling in Mass., 127; notice to, warning them to leave Mass., 128 ; list of, ordered to leave Mass., 128, 129 ; rights and privileges restrict ed, 130-132 ; educated by their own race, admitted to the bar, practice of medicine, pulpit, authors, orators, 133 ; prominent, 134, 135 ; amount paid for their freedom, 134 ; distinguished in the pulpit, 135 ; report on the condi tion of, in Cincinnati, 1835, 136-138 ; militia company of, 145 ; emigrate to Liberia, overcome prejudice against the race, 146 ; school laws, 1619-1860, 147-213 ; education of, prohibited, 148, 149, 157, 158, 160, 163, 170, 178-181 ; prejudice against the schools for, in Conn., 149 ; resolutions against the establishing of schools for, in Conn., 150 ; school abolished, 152, 153 ; school-house mobbed, 156, 159 ; Afri can School Association established, 157 ; education of advocated, 158,, 000 INDEX. 159 ; denied the right of suffrage, 159 ; elective franchise and school privileges in Maine, 160 ; schools established, 161, 162, 164, 168-178, 182-213 I fi rst school established by, 162 ; ordered to leave Missouri, 163 ; plot for burning New York, 164 ; prohibited the use of the streets, kidnapped, 165 ; school trustees, 171, 172 ; admitted to Ober- lin College, 172 ; the employment of, as clerks forbidden, 1 80 ; stringent laws of Va., 180, 181 ; attacked by a mob, 188 ; population in United States, 229 ; their services in the War of 1861 declined, not the cause of the War of 1861, 242 ; arrest of free, by the army, 244 ; ordered from the Union army, 250 ; on fatigue duty, 260-262 ; em ployed as teamsters and 'in the quarter master's department, 260 ; number at Port Royal, cultivate land, self-support ing, 261 ; order to impress, to build fortifications for Confederate States, 261, 262 ; fortifications and earthworks built by, industrious and earn promo tion, 262 ; emancipation proclamations, 263-275 ; President Lincoln's emanci pation proclamation imparts new hope to the, 274 ; as soldiers in the War of 1861 276-309 ; in the Confederate service, 277, 278 ; presented with war flag, 277 ; President Lincoln opposed to the enlistment of, first regiment of loyal, organized, 278 ; official corre spondence of the Secretary of War, con cerning the enlistment of, 279, 280 ; their abilities as soldiers, 282 ; Presi dent Lincoln authorizes the raising of five regiments of, 285 ; regiments of free, at New Orleans, 287 ; bill in Con gress for the employment of, as soldiers, 287 ; action of Congress, on the pro posed amendment to the army appro priation bill, to prohibit the enlistment of v 288 ; Mass, furnishes regiment of, 289 ; official order for the enlistment of, 290 ; New York furnishes regiments of, 292 ; Pennsylvania regiments of, 293 ; prejudice against, as soldiers, free military school established, 293 ; number of, in the army, 297, 299-301 ; use of, as soldiers, 301 ; the character of, 303; -as soldiers, 306, 310-349; bravery of, in battle, 308, 313, 323, 329, 336, 338, 342, 345-349 I legally and constitutionally soldiers, 309 ; per secuted in the army, 311 ; expedition of the First S. C. Volunteers into Ga., and Fla., 314 ; at the battle of Port Hudson, 316-323 ; commended for their bravery, 323, 338, 346 ; Boker's poem on "The Black Regiment," 324 ; at the battle of Milliken's Bend, 326 ; draft riot at N. Y., mob destroy orphan asylum, hang several, and destroy property of, 328 ; lead the assault on Fort Wagner, 329, 331-335 ; number of battles fought by, in the Army of the Potomac, 335 ; defeat Gen. Fitz-Hugh Lee at Wilson's Wharf, 335, 336 ; at the battle of Petersburg, Va., 336-342 ; Nashville, Tenn., 342 ; list of the losses, 343 ; at Appomattox, Va., their efficiency as soldiers, 344 ; forts garri soned by, 345 ; soldierly qualities, 346, 347; history records their deeds of valor, in the preservation of the Union, 349 ; capture and treatment of, 350376 ; Confederate States opposed to the mili tary employment of, by the *U. S. Government, 350, 351 ; captured in arms against the Confederate States to be executed, 352 ; captured, sold into slavery, the government urged to protect enlisted, massacre of prisoners, 353 ; ill-treatment of free, captured on gun-boat, 354 ; Confederate States re fuse to exchange captured, as prisoners of war, 355, 357 ; defend Fort Pillow, and are massacred, 360, 361 ; testi mony in regard to the massacre, 361 375 ; the first decade of freedom, 377- 383 ; condition of, at the close of the \var, 378, 381, 382 ; bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees es tablished, 379 ; in Congress, members of Legislature in the Southern States, 382 ; the results of emancipation, 384- 418 ; advance in education, 382, 387, 388, 396 ; number of schools attended, 382 ; amount of money raised by, for the support of schools, 386, 394 ; popu- INDEX, Ooi lation in excess of the whites, in La., S. C., and Miss., 386 ; comparative statistics of education at the South, 388 ; statistics of institutions for the instruction of, 389-393 ; Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands established, 398 ; military sav ings-banks, Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company established, 403, 407 ;' failure of the bank, 41 1,412 ; social and financial condition of the, in the South, 413, 414 ; character of the Southern, 414 ; rarely receive justice in Southern courts, 415 ; their treat ment as convicts, 416 ; increase, from 1790-1880, 417 ; susceptible of the highest civilization, 418 ; representative men, 419-448 ; ratification of the fif teenth amendment, granting manhood suffrage to American, 420-422 ; in the U. S. Senate and House of Representa tives, in the diplomatic service, 423 ; representative women, 448451 ; Afri can M. E. Church, 452-464 ; contribu tors to the erection of the first M. E. chapel in New York, 1768, 465 ; Bap tists of Americv, 475-515 ; the decline of Negro governments, 516-528 ; the exodus cause and effect, 529 ; abridg ment of their rights, the plantation credit system, 530 ; political intimida tion, murder, and outrage against the, 53 I- 533 I settle in Kansas, 536 ; retro spection and prospection, 544 ; power of endurance, number of tribes of, rep resented in U. S., achievements as la borers, soldiers, and students, 545 ; first blood shed by, in the Revolution and the War for the Union, 546. Nelson, Col. John A., commands Negro troops at the battle of Port Hudson, 3i8. Nevada, ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. New Bedford, Mass., Negroes excluded from the Lyceum, 430. Newburyport, Mass., anti-slavery news paper published, 39; ship "Francis Todd " from, engaged in the slave- trade, 40. -New England Anti-slavery Society, ap points Mass. General Colored Associa tion its auxiliary, 79 ; resolution in regard to anti-slavery, 80. " New Era," gun-boat, at the attack on Port Pillow, 360. New Hampshire, slave population, 1800, 2 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amend ment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. New Haven, Conn., proposed college for young men of color, 63 ; citizens of, oppose the erection of the college, 76. New Jersey, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9 ; resolutions against the exten sion of slavery, 16 ; anti-slavery so ciety formed, Act for the gradual abolition of slavery, 20 ; slave popula tion, 1820, -22 ; Quakers emancipate their slaves, 38 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299. New London, Conn., the Spanish slaver "Amistad" captured and taken to, trial of the slaves, 94. Newman, Rev. W. P., Colored Baptist minister, 476. New Mexico, resolution in regard to the admission into the Union, 100, 101 ; number of troops furnished by, 300. New Orleans, La., bravery of the Negro troops at the battle of, 27 ; slaves from Baltimore to, to be sold, 40 ; Negro troops in the Confederate army at, 277 ; regiments of free Negroes organized, 287 ; forts at, garrisoned by Negro troops, 345. New York, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9 ; Legislature passes resolutions against the extension of slavery, 16 ; slave population, 1820, 22 ; authorizes the enlistment of Negro troops in the War of 1812, 23 ; convention of the Anti-Slavery Women of America, 80 ; slave population, 1840, 99 ; right of suffrage granted to every male inhabi tant, 163, amended, 163, 164 ; rights of Negroes denied, 164 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. 6O2 INDEX. New York African Free School, organ ized, 165 ; list of the trustees, sketch of, school destroyed by fire, 166 ; La fayette's address to the scholars, 168. New York City, prominent Colored men of, 134 ; school for Negro slaves, 1704, 164, 165 ; Negro plot, 164 ; Negroes prohibited the use of the streets, kid napped, N. Y. African Free School or ganized, 165 ; school-house destroyed by fire, 166 ; public schools for Colored children, 168-170 ; Union League Club raise Colored troops, 292 ; draft riot, Colored Orphan Asylum burned by mob, 328 ; first Methodist Episcopal chapel erected, 465. New York Public School Society, assumes control of the Colored schools, 168. New York Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves, organized, 165. " New York Times " (The), articles on Negro troops, 284, 301, 313, 314, 320. " New York Tribune" (The), articles on Negro troops, 303-307, 353. Nichols, Manuel, his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 361. Nickens, Rev. David, Colored Baptist minister, 476. Norfolk, Va., military savings-bank for Negroes established, 403. North Carolina, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22, 1830, 99, 1840, 1850, loo ; Colored schools abolished, education of Negroes prohibited, 170 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; comparative statistics of educa tion, 388 ; institutions for the instruc tion of Negroes, 392, 393 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitu tion of the U. S., 422. Northup, Solomon, narrative of, men tioned, 59. Noxon, Thomas, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. OBERLIN COLLEGE, Colored students ad mitted to, 172. O'Connell, Daniel, extract of speech against slavery, 43. Ohio, constitution adopted, 3 ; Negroes leave for Canada, 71 ; laws against free Negroes and Mulattoes, "in, 112; fu gitive-slave law recognized, 112 ; law to prevent kidnapping of free Negroes, 113 ; first constitution, 113, 114 ; free Negroes denied the right to vote, ex cluded from the militia "Service, sepa rate schools, 119 ; Colored schools es tablished, 170-172 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the: Constitution of the U. S., 422 ; Ne groes, members of the Legislature, 447- Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, report on the condition of the people of color, 1835, 136-138. Owen, Richard, first native Methodist preacher in America, 465. PADUCAH, KY., fort at, garrisoned by Negro troops, 345. Park, Benjamin, report in favor of the modification of the ordinance of 1787,. in Indiana Territory, 6. Parker, Mary S., President of the Anti- Slavery Women of America, 80. Parker, Theodore, favors the extinction of slavery, 48. Paul, William, his connection with the Negro plot in Charleston, S. C., 1822, 85. Payne, Daniel A., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Peck, Maj. -Gen. John J., letter to Gen. Pickett, relative to killing of Negro soldier after surrendering, 356. Pemberton, John, bequest for the educa tion of Colored people, 175. Pennsylvania, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810,9; resolutions against the exten sion of slavery, 16 ; anti-slavery soci ety, 20 ; slave population, 1820, 22 ; Quakers emancipate their slaves, 38 ; slave population, 1840, 100 ; Colored schools established, 172-178 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 299 ; institutions for the instruction of Ne groes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amend ment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. INDEX. 603 Pennsylvania Abolition Society, establish Colored schools, 175, 176. Perry, Capt. Oliver Hazard, letter to Commodore Chauncey, complaining of the Negro sailors sent him, 28 ; com mends bravery of the Negro sailors at Lake Erie, 29. Petersburg, Va., Negro troops engaged in the siege of, 335-337 ; lead the charge on the advance works, 338, 339. Phelps, Brig. -Gen. J. W., report in favor of enlisting Negroes, 285 ; applies for arms and clothing for Negro regiments, his policy in regard to the employment of Negroes as soldiers, 286 ; resigns from the army, 287. Philadelphia, Colored citizens of, send memorial to Congress, against the slave- trade, 2 ; anti-slavery newspaper pub lished, 38 ; national anti-slavery con vention, 44 ; conventions of the people of color, 61, 68 ; prominent Colored men, 134 ; amount paid for their free dom, 134 ; churches, 135 ; first Colored school established, 172; Quakers estab lish school, 174 ; number of public schools, condition and population of the Colored people, 175 ; Negro troops re cruited, 293 ; free military school for Negroes established, 295-298 ; first American Methodist conference, 465. " Philanthropist " (The), office destroyed by a mob, 51. Phoebe vs. Jay, case of, mentioned, 120. Pickett, Maj.-Gen. J. E., letter to Gen. Peck, relative to killing of Negro sol dier after surrender, 357. Pierce, Rev. Charles, minister of the African M. E. Church, 452. Pierce, Franklin, nominated for President of the United States, 106 ; elected, in favor of slavery, 107. Pillsbury, Parker, member of the hetero dox anti-slavery party, 48. Pilmoor, Joseph, member of the first American Methodist conference, 466. Planciancois, Anselmas, color-sergeant of the First Louisiana Regiment of Colored Troops, his reply on receiving the colors of the regiment, 316, 319 ; bravery and death, 319. Poindexter, Rev. James, Colored Baptist minister, 476, 503. Port Hudson, La., bravery of the Negro troops at the battle of, 308, 313, 317, 318, 322, 345. Port Royal, S. C., first regiment of loyal Negroes, organized, 278. Porter, Henry, his connection with the Negro insurrection in Southampton Co., Va., 87. Potter, Henry, establishes school for Col ored children, 183. Poyas, Peter, his connection with the Negro plot in Charleston, S.C., 1822, 22. Presbyterian church, the first Colored* Washington, D. C., organized, 189. Prout, John W., establishes school for Colored children, 185, 186 ; opposed to the emigration of Negroes to Liberia, 185. Providence, R. I., Colored school abol ished, 178. QUAKERS, emancipate their slaves, 35, 38 ; establish school for Negroes, 174 ; contribute money for the education of the latter, 198, 199. Quincy, 111., the Free Mission Institute destroyed by a mob, 159. Quincy, Josiah, signs memorial against the increase of slavery, 16. Quinn, Rev. William Paul, minister of the African M. E. Church, 452. RANDOLPH, JOHN, report in Congress, against the modification of the ordi nance of 1787, in Indiana Territory, 4. Randolph, Thomas Jefferson, speech against slavery in the Legislature of Virginia, 33. Rankin, Thomas, president of the first American Methodist conference, 466. Rankin vs. Lydia, case of, mentioned, 1 20. Ray, John F., his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 373. Reconstruction, 1865-1875, 377-383. Reeder, Gov. Andrew H., threatened by mob, leaves Kansas, 216. Rees, Sergt. Henry, fires the mine at the siege of Petersburg, Va. , 341. 604 INDEX. Republican party, decline of the, 518 ; the . presidential campaign of 1876, 519, 520. Revels, Hiram R., succeeds Jefferson Davis in the U. S. Senate, 423. Rhode Island, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; grants equal privi leges to Negroes, 178 ; number of Ne gro troops furnished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Consti tution of the 1J. S., 422. Richardson, Mrs. Henry, raises money for the purchase of the freedom of Fred erick Douglass, 431. Richmond, Va., Negro plot, 1800, 83 ; Negroes armed for the defence of, 278; schools for the education of Negroes, 394-396. " Richmond Enquirer" (The), mentioned, 89 ; on the Negro insurrection of 1831, 90, 92. " Richmond Examiner " (The), on the treatment of captured Negro soldiers, 354, 355- Roberts, Thomas Wright, bishop of the M. E. Church, 469. Rodney, Caesar, report in favor of the modification of the ordinance of 1787 in Indiana Territory, 4, Roman Catholic school for Colored peo ple, 194, 212. Ruffner, W. H., superintendent of public instruction, commended, 393 ; his re port, 395. Ruiz, Jose, passenger on the Spanish slaver "Amistad," 93; charged with piracy, 94. Russell, Pero, free Negro, petitions for relief from taxation in Mass., 1780, 126. Russworm, John B., teacher in the Afri can school, Boston, Governor of Cape Palmas, Liberia, 162. ST. FRANCES ACADEMY for Colored girls, founded, 160. St. Mary's, Md., slaves imported to, lo. Satchell, Rev. Charles, Colored Baptist minister, 476. Saunders, George Nicholas, his connec tion with the proposed steam-ship line to Africa, 53. Savannah, Ga., education of Negroes pro hibited, 158. Saxton, Brig. -Gen. Rufus, authorized to enlist Negroes, 283 ; establishes mili tary savings-bank for Negroes, 403. Scott, Dred, Negro slave, 114 ; his mar riage, children of, 115 ; sues for his freedom, 114-118. Scott, Lieut.-Gen. Winfield, Gen. Butler's letter to, declaring slaves contraband of war, 250 ; nominated for President, 106 ; defeated, 107. Seward, William H., in favor of Union of the States, 230 ; speeches against slavery, 230, 231 ; letter to Gen. Mc- Clellan relative to fugitive slaves, 263. Seymour, Horatio, opinion in regard to raising Negro troops, 292 ; addresses the draft rioters at New York, 328. Shadford, George, member of the first American Methodist conference, 466. Shaler, Capt. Nathaniel, letter commend ing the bravery of Negro sailors under his command, 30. Shaw, Col. Robert Gould, commander of the 54th Mass. Regiment of Colored Troops, leads the assault on Fort Wag ner, 329, 333 ; his death, 330, 333. Shelton, Rev. Wallace, Colored Baptist minister, 503. Sherman, Brig.-Gen. T. W., procla mation protecting slave property, 246 ; ordered to accept the services of all loyal persons to suppress the war, 278, 281. Sherwood, Gen. Isaac R., his account of an attempt to secure a fugitive slave in his charge, 245, 246. Shirley, Thomas, donates money for Col ored school-house, 174. Shorter, Rev. James, establishes Colored school, 213. Shorter, James A., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Shurtleff, Capt. G. W., refuses to arrest fugitive slaves, 245. Simpson, Rev. H. L., Colored Baptist minister, 476. Slave-trade, on the coast of Guinea, se cretly carried on in the United States, 2 ; American ships prohibited from sup- INDEX. 60S plying slaves from United States to foreign markets, 3 ; Jefferson recom mends the abolishing of the, 8 : Act of Congress in regard to persons engaged in the, 9 ; memorials against the, 10 ; illegal at St. Mary's, 10 ; vessels en gaged in the, to be seized, 13 ; ship "Francis Tocld," from Newburyport, Mass, engaged in the, 40 ; bill for the suppression of the, 53 ; Spanish slaver "Amistad," 93 ; number of slaves im ported for the, from the year 1500 to 1860, 544. avery, restriction and extension, 1800- 1825, 1-22 ; increase of, 1800, I ; slave population in United States, 1800, I, 2; the fugitive-slave law of 1793, source of persecution to the free Colored people, 2 ; growth of, in United States, 1810, 9; President Monroe's message to Con gress on the question of, 12 ; resolu tions in favor of restriction of, in the new States, 16 ; anti-slavery societies formed, Act for the gradual abolition of, in New Jersey, 20 ; attitude of the Northern press on the question of, 21 ; anti-slavery sentiments of the North, 22 ; retrospection and reflection, 1825- 1850, 31-36 ; secured at the South, 31 ; Jefferson predicts the abolition of, 33 ; increase of, 33 ; speeches against, in the Legislature of Virginia, 33- 35 ; evil effect upon society, 35 ; the South in favor of, 36 ; anti-slavery methods, 37-60 ; anti-slavery newspa pers established, 38, 39 ; Buchanan's oration against, 1791, 38 ; first anti- slavery society established in United States, 43; O'Connell's speech against, 43 ; Sumner's speech, 46 ; the South entertains hope that, will become na tional, 98 ; increase in the United States, 99, TOO ; Congress has no au thority to prohibit, Henry Clay's reso lutions in Congress for the adjustment of, does not exist by law in the United States, 101; Senator Bell's resolutions, Jefferson Davis's speech in favor of, 102 ; Calhoun's speech, 103-105 ; President Pierce in favor of, 107 ; ignorance favorable to, 148; John Brown's speech against, 215 ; speeches of William H. Seward against, 230, 231 ; Lincoln's speech against, 230 ; Alexander H. Stephens's speech in favor of, 235 ; the extension of, the issue between the North and South, 236, 240 ; Lincoln's views on, 237-239 ; Rev. Justin D. Fulton's views on, 242, 243 ; Gen. Mc- Clellan's views on, 249 ; Greeley's let ter to Lincoln, 253 ; Lincoln's reply, 254 ; struggle for the supremacy be tween the Union and, 259 ; Lincoln's views on, 264266 ; resolutions of the Confederate Congress, 350, 351 ; abol ished in the U. S., 377; the legal destruc tion of, and a constitutional prohibition, 419. Slaves, number of, in the United States, 1800, 1,2; free Colored men sold as, fugitive-slave law of 1793, cause of per secution to the Colored people, 2 ; American ships prohibited from supply ing, from United States to foreign mar kets, 3 ; importation of, prohibited, 8 ; illegally imported to be forfeited, 8 ; number of, in United States, 1810, 9 J circular - letter of the United States Navy Department in regard to the im portation of, premium to informer for imported, seized in United States, 10 ; number of, in United States, 1820, 22 ; the right to hold, questioned, 32 ; in crease of, 33 ; Quakers of Maryland and Delaware, emancipate their, 35 ; in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 38 ; from Baltimore, sent to New Orleans to be sold, 40 ; Washington emancipates, 43 ; insurrections of, 82-92 ; why kept in bondage, 82 ; plot of the, in Vir ginia, 1800, 83 ; insurrection in South ampton County, Va., 1831, 87-89; the "Amistad " captives, 93-96 ; num ber of, in United States, 1830, 1840, 99; Jefferson Davis's speech on the right to hold, 102 ; the " Dred Scott " case, 114-119 ; law in regard to executions against the time of service of, 119, 121; Act for the introduction of, into In diana, 120; persons emancipating, in 111. required to give bonds, 122 ; fugitive, seek refuge in Canada, 125 ; rendition 6o6 INDEX. of fugitive, by the army, 244 ; failure of attempts to secure fugitive, from the army, 245, 246 ; orders in regard to harboring fugitive, in the army, 248, 249 ; contraband of war, 250 ; Gen. Fremont's proclamation emancipating, in Missouri, 255 ; disapproved by Presi dent Lincoln, 256 ; Gen. Hunter's proclamation, 257 ; rescinded, 258 ; or der to impress, to build fortifications for Confederate States, 261 ; emancipa tion proclamations, 261-275 J Secretary Seward's letter in regard to, 263; Presi dent Lincoln's proclamation, 267-269 ; second proclamation, 272 ; enlist in the service of the Union, 281 ; fugitive, offer their services in the army, 285, 287 ; Judge Advocate Holt's letter on the enlistment of, 307 ; the U. S. Gov ernment justified in the employment of, as soldiers, 310 ; at the battle of Port Hudson, 316, Milliken's Bend, 326 ; bravery at battle of Nashville, Tenn., 342 ; resolutions of the Confed erate Congress against the military em ployment of, by the U. S. Government, 35> 35 r '> Confederate army refuse to exchange captured, 357, 358 ; results of emancipation, 384-418 ; character of the Southern, 414 ; contributors to the erection of the first M. E. chapel in N. Y., 465 ; number of, imported from Africa, from the year 1500 to 1860, 544; number of fugitive and manumitted, in United States, 1850, 146 ; education of prohibited, 148, 158, 178-181 ; the tax on, in Delaware, added to the school fund for the education of white chil dren only, 157; proceeds of the sale of, in Florida, added to the school fund, 158 ; conduct regulated, and preaching of the Gospel by, declared unlawful in Miss., 163 ; school for, at N. Y., 1704, 164 ; Society for Promoting the Manumission of, organized, 165 ; meet ings of, forbidden, 1 80 ; fugitive-slave bill passed, 215 ; aid for the relief of, in Kansas, 216 ; John Brown's plan for freeing, 219; increase of, 228; number in the United States, 1860, 229 ; value of labor products of, 1850, 229; number of owners of, 230 ; Constitution of the Confederate States, 233 ; Lincoln favors the gradual emancipation of, 239- Smith, Abiel, founds school-house for Colored children, 162. Smith, Elizabeth, establishes school for Colored children, 212. Smith, James M., pupil of the N. Y. African free school, his address to Gen. Lafayette, 167. Smith, Rev., John C., organizes the First Colored Presbyterian Church of Wash ington, D. C., 190. Smith, Melancthon, mentioned, 166. Smith, Maj.-Gen., W. F., marches on Petersburg, 336; commends the bravery of the Negro troops, 338, 340, 346 Smothers, Henry, establishes school for Colored children, 185. Snow, Benjamin, cause of the Snow riot at Washington, D. C., leaves for Can ada, 1 88. South Carolina, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; Negro plot, 1822, 83 ; slave population, 1830, 99, 1840, 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes pro hibited, 178-180 ; secedes from the Union, 232 ; Gen. Hunter's proclama tion emancipating slaves, 257, re scinded, 258 ; regiment of loyal Ne groes organized, 278 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; exploits of the first volunteers, Negro regiment, 314 ; represented in Congress by Ne groes, 382 ; Negro population in excess of the white, 386 ; school population, 387 ; comparative statistics of educa tion, 388 ; institutions for the instruc tion of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitu tion of the U. S., 422. South Carolina Volunteers, First Regiment of Colored Troops, 304, 306. Southampton County, Va., Negro in surrection, 1831, 87-89 ; militia ordered out, 89 ; number of killed, 91. Southern States, churches, libraries, and newspapers in the, 230 ; number of troops furnished by, 300. Spencer, Peter, representative of Wil- INDEX. 607 mington, in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Stafford, Col., Spencer H., speech to the 1st La. Regiment of Colored Troops be fore the battle of Port Hudson, 316. Stanton, Edwin M., Secretary of War, re vokes order for the return of fugitive slaves, 246 ; correspondence with Gen. Hunter relative to Negro troops, 279, 280 ; endorses the free military school for Negroes, 295 ; commends the bra very of the Negro troops, 338 ; his treatment of prisoners, in retaliation for cruel treatment of captured Negroes, 354- Stearns, Maj. George L., secures aid for the relief of Kansas, 216 ; his connec tion with John Brown to free the slaves, 216-219 > superintends the recruiting of Negro troops, 294. Stearns, Mrs. George L., personal recol lections of John Brown, 215-221. Steedman, Col. James B., refuses to have his camp searched for fugitive slaves, 246 ; employs Negroes as teamsters, 260 ; commends the bravery of Negro troops, 342. Stephens, Alexander H., delegate from Georgia, to the convention of the Con federate States, 232 ; chosen Vice- President of the Confederate States, 233 ; in favor of State rights, 230 ; speech in favor of slavery, 235. Stewart, Rev. Austin, his book " Twenty- two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman," mentioned, 59. Still, William, founder of the underground railroad organization, 58. Stokes, Richard, establishes school for Colored children, 209. Stowe, Harriet Beecher, her book "Uncle Tom's Cabin," published in different languages, 60 ; errors in her book, 546, 547- Strawbridge, Robert, founder of Metho dism in Baltimore, 465. Strong, Brig. -Gen. George C., com mands brigade at the assault on Fort Wagner, 329, 330 ; character of, 334. -Strong, Henry, counsel for Prudence Crandall, 156. Summer, Charles, speech on " The Anti- Slavery Duties of the Whig Party," 44 ; leader of the political abolition party, 45 ; his reasons for not supporting Robert C. Winthrop, for Congress, organizes the Free Soil party, speech in Congress on " Freedom National, Slavery Sectional," 46 ; views on slavery, 433. Sylvester, Elisha, teacher of the first school for Colored children, 162. Syphax, William, establishes school for Colored children, 206. TABBS, MICHAEL, establishes school for Colored children, 210. Tallmadge, James, Jr., introduces bill in Congress against the introduction of slavery in Missouri, 14. Talmadge, Capt. Grier, first to decide slaves contraband of war, 252. Taney, Roger B. , decides that the Negro is not a citizen, 114 ; opinion in the Dred Scott case, 116. Tanner, Alethia, purchases freedom of John F. Cook, 187. Tapsico, Jacob, representative of Phila., in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Tappan, Arthur, secures the release of William Lloyd Garrison, 41 ; mention ed, 63, 64. Tappan, Lewis, takes charge of the " Amistad " captives, 94. Taylor, John W. , introduces bill in Con gress prohibiting slavery in Arkansas, 1 8 ; in favor of the admission of Mis souri, 20. Taylor, Rev. Marshall W., his ancestors, early life and struggles for an educa tion, 469-471 ; teaches school in Ken tucky, his experiences as a teacher, 472 ; ordained, becomes a preacher and missionary teacher in Indiana and Ohio, receives the title of Doctor of Divinity, his influence and standing, 473, 474 ; opposed to Colored confer ences, 474. Tennessee, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810,9, 1820,22, 1830, 99, 1840, 1850, 100 ; no discrimination in school law 6o8 INDEX. against color, 1 80 ; order for the en listment of Negroes, 290 ; Negro troops recruited, 294 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; comparative statis tics of education, 388 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392, 393. Texas, slave population, 1850, 100 ; ex iles free Negroes, treatment of slaves, no legislation in regard to educating the Negro, 1 80 ; number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; comparative statis tics of education, 388 ; institutions for the instruction of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Consti tution of the U. S., 422. Thomas, Alexander S., sketch of, 141- *43- Thomas, Maj.-Gen. George H., approves the employment of Negroes as team sters in the army, 260. Thomas, Jesse B., in favor of excluding slavery north and west of Missouri, 17. Thomas, Lorenzo, Adjt.-Gen., U. S. Army, speech in favor of enlisting Negroes, 289 ; order for the enlistment of Negro troops, 290 ; letter to Henry Wilson on the efficiency of Negro soldiers, 344. Thomas, Brig.-Gen. Samuel, report on the freedmen, 400, 401. Thompson, Jacob, his testimony in re gard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 364. Thompson, Margaret, establishes school for Colored children, 206, 207. Townsend, E. D., Assistant Adj. -Gen., U. S. Army, order for the enlistment of Negro troops, 291 ; in reference to ap plicants for admission to the free mili tary school, 296. Travis, Hark, his connection with the Negro insurrection in Southampton County, Va., 87, 88. Trenton, N. J., opposed to the increase of slavery, 16 ; anti-slavery society formed, 20. Trinity Church, New York City, Negro slaves, communicants of, 164. Turner, Benjamin, mentioned, 85 ; killed by Negro mob, 88, 89. Turner, H. M., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Turner, Nathaniel, Negro prophet, his- birth and parentage, becomes preacher, description of his person, 85 ; mode of life, believes he is a prophet, his super stition, denounces conjuring and fort une-telling, regarded with reverence by the Negroes, acknowledged leader among the slaves, hired out as a slave, 86 ; claims to have seen visions, organ izes plot for the uprising of the slaves, address to his fellow-conspirators, 87 ; leads the attack in Southampton County,. Va., his confession of the plot, 88 ; trial and execution, remarkable proph ecy of, 90 ; his character, 91. Tyler, Col. Erastus B., address to the people of Virginia, promising the re turn of fugitive slaves, 244. UNDERGROUND RAILROAD ORGANIZA TION, the, 58 ; its efficiency in freeing slaves, 59 ; mentioned, 82. Underwood, J. R., Gen. Buell's letter to, on the return of fugitive slaves to their masters, 248. Union League Club, N. Y. City, raise Negro regiments, 292. Union Seminary, Washington, D. C., 189. United States, slave population, 1800, I, 2 ; increase of slavery, i ; slave-trade secretly carried on, 2 ; American ships prohibited from supplying slaves from, to foreign markets, 3 ; importation of slaves prohibited, 8 ; slaves illegally imported to be forfeited, 8 ; slave pop ulation, 1810, 9 ; premium offered to informers of illegally imported Africans seized within the, circular-letter of the Navy Department to naval officers in regard to the importation of slaves, 10 ; President Monroe's message to Con gress on the question of slavery, 12 ; appoint agents to direct the return of slaves to Africa, 13 ; resolutions in favor of restriction of slavery in the new States, 16 ; slave population, 1820, 22 ; Negroes serve in the War of 1812, 23-27 ; Gen. Jackson's proclamation calling for Negro troops, 25 ; terms of peace by the Commissioners of Ghent, INDEX. 609 27 ; increase of the slave population, 33 ; first anti-slavery society established, 43 ; number of anti-slavery societies in, 1836, 44 ; Free Soil party organized, 46 ; comments of the press on the pro posed steam -ship line between Africa and, 55-58 ; condition of the free Ne groes in, 62, 67 ; slave population, 1830, 1840, 99, 1850, 100 ; Franklin Pierce elected President, 107 ; number of fugitive and manumitted slaves, 1850. 146 ; increase of slaves, 228 ; slave population, 1860, value of slave labor products, 229 ; six States secede from, 232 ; Abraham Lincoln elected Presi dent, 239 ; slavery abolished, 377 ; Ne gro population, 1790-1880, 417 ; the thirteenth amendment to the Constitu tion, 419 ; ratification of the fifteenth amendment, 420-422 ; Southern elec tion methods and Northern sympathy, 517 ; decline of the Republican party, 518 ; Southern war claims, 519 ; the presidential campaign of 1876, 519, 520 ; the electoral count in Congress, 521 ; President Hayes's Southern policy, a failure, 522-524, United States Army, Negro troops serve in the War of 1812, 23-27 ; Negroes arrested, 244 ; orders in regard to fugi tive slaves in, 245, 248, 249 ; Negroes ordered from, 250 ; Gen. Fremont's proclamation emancipating slaves, 255 ; Gen. Hunter's proclamation, 257 ; for tifications and earthworks built by Ne groes, 262 ; condition of, 1862, 264 ; opposed to President Lincoln's procla mation, 269 ; Negroes as soldiers, 276- 309 ; first regiment of Negroes organ ized, 278 ; Negro troops organized, fugitive slaves offer their services, 285, 287 ; order for the enlistment of Negro troops, 290 ; number of Negroes in, 297, 299-301 ; services of Negroes in the Army of the Potomac, 335. United States Congress, proceedings on the memorial of Colored citizens of Philadelphia, against the slave-trade on the coast of Guinea, 2 ; American ships prohibited from supplying slaves from the United States to foreign markets, 3 ; action on the memorial of Indiana Territory for a modification of the or dinance of 1787, 4-8 ; importation of slaves prohibited, 8 ; slaves illegally imported, to be forfeited, 8 ; Act in regard to persons engaged in the slave- trade, 9 ; memorials against the slave- trade, fugitive-slave act amended, pre mium to informer for imported slaves seized within the United States, 10 ; President Monroe's message to, on the question of slavery, 12 ; debate on the bill to admit Missouri, 14 ; the Mis souri controversy, 16-20 ; Garrison petitions, for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 39 ; Sumner's speech on slavery, 46 ; bill establishing a line of war-steamers to the coast of Africa, suppression of the slave-trade, promotion of commerce, and the coloni zation of free Negroes, 53-55 ; organi zation of the 3ist, 100 ; motion for the admission of California and New Mexico, 100, 101 ; has no authority to prohibit slavery, resolutions of Henry Clay for the adjustment of slavery, 101, of Senator Bell, 102 ; speech of Jefferson Davis in favor of slavery, 102 ; John C. Calhoun's speech, 103 105 ; fugitive-slave law, 1850, 106 ; bill to organize Nebraska Territory, 107 ; to repeal the Missouri compro-- mise, speech of Stephen A. Douglass, 108 ; reply of Salmon P. Chase, 109 ; Act to organize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, no ; opposed to civil and military interference with slaves, 244 ; conservative policy of, 252 ; passes Act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes, 263 ; Act to make an additional Article of War, 267 ; of 1860, 1862, 269 ; resolution in regard to the enlistment of Negroes, 279 ; action on the pro posed amendment of the army appro priation bill to prohibit the enlistment of Negroes, 288 ; investigates the Fort Pillow massacre, 361-375 ; Act to es tablish a bureau for the relief of freed- men and refugees, 379 ; methods of, for reconstructing the South, 381 ; 6io INDEX. Negroes in, 382 ; Act to incorporate the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company, 403, amended, 407 ; ap point commissioners to close up the affairs of the bank, 411 ; authorized to enforce the thirteenth amendment, 419 ; recommends the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, 420 ; action on the electoral count of 1876, 521. United States Navy, Negroes serve in the, 28-30 ; captures the Spanish slaver " Amistad," 64. Utah, slave population in the territory of, 100. VALLANDINGHAM, C. C., speech on the character of John Brown, 225. Vanlomen, Rev. Father, preceptor of Catholic seminary for Colored girls, 194. Vermont, number of Negro troops fur nished by, 299 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, 422. 'Vesey, Denmark, leader of the Negro plot in Charleston, S. C., 1822, 84. Vesey, Rev. William, rector of Trinity Church, New York, 164 ; his death, 165. Vicksburg, Miss., fortifications built by Negroes, 262 ; fort at, garrisoned by Negro troops, 345. Virginia, slave population, 1800, 2, 1810, 9, 1820, 22 ; increased, anti-slavery speeches in the Legislature, 33-35 ; Negro plot, 1800, 83 ; insurrection, 1831, 87-89 ; slave population, 1830, 99, 1840, 1850, 100 ; education of Negroes prohibited, 1 80, 181 ; Negro school population, 387 ; comparative statistics of education, 388 ; institutions for instruction of Negroes, 392, 394, 395 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. WADE. BENJAMIN F., one of the commit tee of investigation of the Fort Pillow massacre, 361. Walls, James, his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 366. War of 1812, Negro troops serve in the, 23-27. War of 1861, definition of the war issue. 228 ; States secede from the Union, 232 ; organization and Constitution of the Confederate States, 232, 233 ; ex tension of slavery the issue, 240 ; a white man's war, first call for troops, 241 ; rendition of fugitive slaves by the army, 244 ; order for the return of fugi tive slaves revoked, proclamations pro tecting slave property, 246-248 ; orders in regard to harboring fugitive slaves in the army, 248, '249 ; slaves contra band of war, 2 50; Gen. Fremont's procla mation emancipating slaves in Missouri, 255 ; President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, 267269 ; called the war for the Negro, 269 ; President Lin coln's second emancipation proclama tion, 272 ; employment of Negroes as soldiers, 276-309 ; President Lincoln's call for more troops, 287 ; order for the enlistment of Negro troops, 290 ; num ber of Negroes in the army, 297, 299- 301 ; expedition of the First S. C. Vol unteers, Negro Regiment, into Ga. and Fla., 314 ; battle of Port Hudson, 320- 323, Milliken's Bend, 326, 327 ; memorable events of July, 1863, 328 ; attack on Fort Wagner, 329 ; battles fought by Negroes, in the Army of the Potomac, 335 ; their services at the siege of Petersburg, Va. , 336342 ; number of, engaged in the battles around Nashville, Tenn., 342 ; capture and treatment of Negro soldiers, 350- 376 ; the Fort Pillow massacre, 360- 376 ; reconstruction of the Confederate States, 377-383 ; end of the war, 377 ; provisional military government estab lished, bureau for the relief of freedmen and refugees, 379. Ward, Rev. Samuel Ringgold, his book, " Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro," 59 ; mentioned, 79 ; anti-slavery orator, 434- Ward, T. M. D., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Washington, D. C., first Colored school established, 1807 ; population of free persons, 182 ; Colored schools, 182- INDEX. 611 213 ; the Snow riot, 188 ; Colored church organized, 190. Washington, Annie E., school for the ed ucation of Colored people, 209. Washington, George, emancipates his slaves, 43 ; called the illustrious South erner, 105. Waugh, Nannie, establishes school for Colored children, destroyed by mob, 192. Wayman, A. W., bishop of the African M. E. Church, 464. Wears, I. C., delivers address on the rati fication of the fifteenth amendment, 422. Webb, Capt., Thomas, one of the founders of the M. E. Church in New York, 465, 466. Webster, Daniel, author of memorial against the increase of slavery, 16. Webster, Thomas, representative of Phila. in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Welch, Jonathan A., counsel for the pros ecution in the trial of Prudence Cran- dall, 156. Wells, Nelson, establishes school for free children of color, 161. Wesley, John, founder of Methodism, 465, 466 ; opposed to slavery, 467. Wesleyan Seminary, Washington, D. C., 194. West Virginia, number of Negro troops furnished by, 300 ; comparative statis tics of education, 388 ; institutions for the education of Negroes, 392 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Con stitution of the U. S., 422. Wetmore, Rev. James, teaches Negro slaves in New York, 165. Whig party, opposed to slavery, 44 ; Sumner's speech before the, 44 ; con vention of 1852, nominates Gen. Scott for the Presidency, 106 ; defines its po sition on the slavery question, 107. White, Rev. Sampson, Colored Baptist minister, 476. Whiteworth, Abraham, member of the first American Methodist conference, 466. Whitfield, Rev. James, favors the edu cation of Negroes, 160. Wilberforce University, report for 1876, 45 5 45 > list f the faculty, 460 ; re port and general statement, 462464. Wilcox, Samuel T., sketch of , 140. Williams, Major, his testimony in regard to the Fort Pillow massacre, 362. Williams, Nelson, his connection with the Negro insurrection in Southampton County, Va., 87. Williams, Richard, representative of Bal timore in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Williams, Brig. -Gen. Thomas, order in regard to harboring fugitive slaves in the army, 249. Wilmington, Del., African School Asso ciation established, 157. Wilson, Henry, introduces bill in Con gress for the employment of Negroes as soldiers, 287 ; Gen. Thomas's letter to, on the efficiency of Negro soldiers, 344- Wilson's Wharf, Negro troops defeat Gen. Fitz-Hugh Lee at the battle of, 335. Williamson, Edward, representative of Baltimore in the first conference of the African M. E. Church, 452. Wisconsin, number of Negro troops fur nished by, 300 ; ratifies the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the U. S., 422. Wool, Maj.-Gen. John E., orders the employment of Negroes in the army, 260 ; in command of troops during the draft riot at N. Y., 328. Wormley, Mary, establishes school for Colored children, 205. Wormley, William, erects school-house for Colored children, 205 ; threatened by mob, his death, 206. Wright, Richard, member of the first American Methodist conference, 466. YEARBRY, JOSEPH, member of the first American Methodist conference, 466. ZANE, JONATHAN, bequest for the educa tion of Colored people, 177. , iT^- -'