Book XV

, Chap. V.

[182] See Clarkson's "History of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade," II, 148, and Vaux's "Memoirs of Anthony Benezet."

[183] See John Greenleaf Whittier's "Introduction to John Woolman's Journal."

[184] This description is by the Marquis de Chastellux, author of "De la Felicite Publique."

[185] For an exhaustive discussion of Benezet, see the "Journal of Negro History," Vol. II, No. 1.

[186] Woolman reports his remarks in substance as follows: "In the difficulties attending us in this life nothing is more precious than the mind of truth inwardly manifested; and it is my earnest desire that in this weighty matter we may be so truly humbled as to be favored with a clear understanding of the mind of truth, and follow it; this would be of more advantage to the Society than any medium not in the clearness of Divine wisdom. The case is difficult to some who have slaves, but it should set aside all self-interest, and come to be weaned from the desire of getting estates, or even from holding them together, when truth requires the contrary, I believe way will so open that they will know how to steer through those difficulties." "Journal," pp. 91-92.

[187] "Journal of John Woolman," 93.

[188] Speaking of his mission, Woolman writes: "I have found an increasing concern on my mind to visit some active members in our Society who have slaves, and having no opportunity of the company of such as were named in the minutes of the Yearly Meeting, I went alone to the houses, and, in fear of the Lord, acquainted them with the exercise I was under; and thus, sometimes by a few words, I found myself discharged from a heavy burden." "Journal," p. 97.

[189] "Journal of John Woolman," 96.

[190] Following are two typical passages taken from the essay: "Through the force of long custom, it appears needful to speak in relation to color. Suppose a white child, born of parents of the meanest sort, who died and left him an infant, falls into the hands of a person, who endeavors to keep him a slave, some men would account him an unjust man in doing so, who yet appear easy while many black people, of honest lives, and good abilities, are enslaved, in a manner more shocking than the case here supposed. This is owing chiefly to the idea of slavery being connected with the black color, and liberty with the white. And where false ideas are twisted into our minds, it is with difficulty we get fairly disentangled." "Slave-Trade Tracts," Vol. 2.

Again, "The color of a man avails nothing, in the matters of right and equity. Consider color in relation to treaties; by such, disputes betwixt nations are sometimes settled. And should the Father of us all so dispose things, that treaties with black men should sometimes be necessary, how then would it appear amongst the princes and ambassadors, to insist upon the prerogative of the white color?" "Slave-Trade Tracts," Vol. 2.

[191] "Journal of John Woolman," p. 126.

[192] _Ibid._, p. 98.

[193] William J. Allinson, editor of the Friends' Review, tells the following story concerning Woolman's first appearance in England: The vessel reached London on the fifth day of the week, and John Woolman, knowing that the meeting was then in session, lost no time in reaching it. Coming in late and unannounced, his peculiar dress and manner excited attention and apprehension that he was an itinerant enthusiast. He presented his certificate from Friends in America, but the dissatisfaction still remained, and some one remarked that perhaps the stranger Friend might feel that his dedication of himself to this apprehended service was accepted, without further labor, and that he might now feel free to return to his home. John Woolman sat silent for a space, seeking the unerring counsel of Divine Wisdom. He was profoundly affected by the unfavorable reception he met with, and his tears flowed freely.

... He rose at last, and stated that he could not feel himself released from his prospect of labor in England. Yet he could not travel in the ministry without the unity of Friends; and while that was withheld he could not feel easy to be of any cost to them. He could not go back as had been suggested; but he was acquainted with a mechanical trade, and while the impediment to his service continued he hoped Friends would be kindly willing to employ him in such business as he was capable of, and that he might not be chargeable to any.

A deep silence prevailed over the assembly, many of whom were touched by the wise simplicity of the stranger's words and manner. After a season of waiting, John Woolman felt that words were given him to utter as a minister of Christ. The spirit of his Master bore witness to them in the hearts of his hearers. When he closed, the Friend who had advised against his further service rose up and humbly confessed his error, and avowed his full unity with the stranger. All doubt was removed; there was a general expression of unity and sympathy, and John Woolman, owned by his brethren, passed on to his work. Whittier, "Journal of John Woolman," 257-258.

THE TARIK É SOUDAN

The sixteenth century was the golden age of science and literature in Timbuctoo. Her scholars with the University of Sankoré as a center had so generously contributed to the world's thought that they had brought to that country no less fame than its statesmen and warriors by their constructive work and daring deeds. The country, however, was finally invaded by the Moors and the scattering of the talented class resulting thereby led to the inevitable decline of culture. "Yet," says Félix DuBois, "the greatest work of all literature of the Sudan was produced in the first days of its twilight, namely, that Tarik é Soudan (the History of the Soudan)"[194] which we shall here briefly consider.

Investigators had for years endeavored to discover this valuable book, which because of certain traces in the Barbary States had been generally considered the work of Ahmed Baba. The explorer Barth, the first to make a study of this document, was of the same opinion. Félix DuBois expresses his surprise that a man so well informed on Arabian subjects as Barth could be so easily misled, when the very extracts themselves quote Ahmed Baba as an authority. This misconception was due to the failure of the German scholar to read anything but the fragments which he discovered at Gando and to his suspicion that the author in quoting Ahmed Baba was following the Arabs' custom of quoting themselves. Félix DuBois found an excellent copy in Jenne and made from it a duplicate which was corrected from a copy of Timbuctoo,[195] so that he now has the work in what he considers as complete a form as possible.[196]

In establishing the authorship of this work, Félix DuBois emphasizes the fact that the book contains the date, year, month and day of Ahmed Baba's death and that elsewhere the author gives a very circumstantial account of himself and his belongings. "His name," according to this authority, "is Abderrahman (ben Abdallah, ben Amran, ben Amar) Sadi el Timbucti, and he was born at Timbuctoo, (the 'object of his affections'), of one of those families in which science and piety are transmitted as a patrimony."[197] It seems that he was trained by a distinguished professor who inspired him with the desire to be intellectual. This book shows, too, that he was a mature man some time between 1625 and 1635, during the period when the star of Timbuctoo was waning. That he should still maintain himself as a scholar and obtain the respect of the destructive invaders was due to the reverence with which they held the learned men of the fallen Empire. Having established a reputation which far transcended the bounds of his native country, Abderrahman Sadi was received with marks of honor and presented with gifts during all of his travels to Massina and the regions of the Upper Niger. He was made iman of a mosque of Jenne in 1631, but was later deprived of that honor. He then returned to Timbuctoo, where he was received with sympathy and consoled by friends.

Abderrahman Sadi spent his remaining years, first at Timbuctoo, then at Jenne. It seems that because of his unusual learning and knowledge of politics and government he was employed by the pashas in diplomatic affairs. Although there was then no longer the same center of culture as flourished at the University of Sankoré in former years, Abderrahman Sadi, still imbued with the desire to impart knowledge, devoted no little of his time to giving lectures and holding conferences. His most important undertaking, however, was his great historical work embracing all the countries of the Niger. For such a stupendous task he had adequate preparation not only by his former training but by his experience as a traveller, his services as a public functionary, his social contact and his access to documents which are no longer extant. The following is the preface:

"Praise be to God whom the weight of a pearl upon the earth does not escape. May prayer and salvation be with the Master of the first and last, our Lord Mohammed. We know that our ancestors took pleasure in mentioning the companions of the Prophet and the saints, the sheiks and eminent kings of their country, with their lives, their edifices, and the great events of their reigns. They have told us all that they have seen, or heard, of the times extending behind us.

"As for the present time, no one is to be found to take an interest in these things or follow the path traced by their ancestors. Witnessing the decline of this science (history), so precious on account of the instruction it offers to mankind, I have implored the assistance of God in writing down all that I have read, seen, or heard concerning the kings of the Sudan and the Songhoi people, and in relating their history and the events connected with their expeditions of war. I shall speak of Timbuctoo and of its foundation, of the princes who have wielded the power of that city, I shall mention the learned and pious men who dwelt therein, and I shall continue this history to the close of the dominion of the sultans of Morocco."[198]

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

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

"The two brothers reached the town in such a terrible state of distress that their appearance was scarcely human; their skins were cracked by the heat and dust of the desert, and they were almost naked. The inhabitants questioned them concerning the country of their origin, and their names have been forgotten in the surname with which their reply provided them, 'Dia min al Jemen'--'Come from Yemen,' And Dialliaman the elder settled in Kokia. Now the god of the Songhoi was a fish who appeared to them from the water at certain periods wearing a golden ring in his nose; and the people gethered together and worshipped the fish, receiving its commands and prohibitions and obeying its oracles.

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

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

Here the author has confused tradition with history.[200] The document itself, however, substantiates the contention that there arose in this region one of the world's greatest empires ruled by an almost unbroken succession of kings who piloted the nation through the trials of its incipiency, enabled it to develop a very advanced civilization, and extended its influence over a large portion of Africa. The empire of the Songhoi lasted about 1,000 years, during which three dynasties ruled over these people. The kings of these lines adopted the names Dia, Sunni, and Askia. The first included thirty kings who ruled from 700 to 1335; the second a line of eighteen kings from 1335 to 1492, and the third and last dynasty from 1494 to 1591.

During the reign of Dia Sobi of the first dynasty the empire passed through a crisis. Unable to conquer its enemies from without, it finally became the vassal of the Mali empire on the west. Jenne, the city of much wealth and culture, was then separated from the Songhoi empire. But finally there came Ali Kolon, of the second dynasty, who freed the Songhoi from the rule of Mali. The country thereafter continued for some time in peace. Later it expanded considerably under Sunni Ali, "the true Negro soldier," who ruled from 1464 to 1493. Although skeptical, violent and oppressive he paved the way for the establishment of the largest empire which had ever existed in that part of the world.

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

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

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

Referring to this turbulent period through which the empire passed, the Tarik says: "All was changed in a moment. Danger took the place of security, destitution of abundance, trouble, calamities, and violence succeeded to tranquillity. Everywhere the populations began to destroy each other. In all places and in every direction rapine became the law, war spared neither life nor property, nor the position of the people. Disorder was general, it spread everywhere till it reached at last the highest degree of intensity." "Things continued thus," adds the historian, "until towards the moment in which the Songhoi dynasty approached its end, and its empire ceased to exist. At this moment faith was exchanged for infidelity; there was nothing forbidden by God which was not openly done. Men drank wine, they gave themselves up to vice.... As to adultery, it became so frequent that indulgence in it was almost accepted as permissible. Without it there was no elegance and no glory. ... Because of these abominations, the Almighty in his vengeance drew down upon the Songhoi the victorious army of the Moors. He brought it through terrible suffering from a distant country. Then the roots of this people were separated from the trunk, and the chastisement they underwent was exemplary."[203]

The Tarik é Soudan, however, continues its story beyond the fall of the empire of the Songhoi. It throws light on Foulbes, Touaregs, Mossi and Ouolofs, mentions Morocco and Massina, sketches the careers of saints and scholars, sets forth the authors _curriculum vitae_, and brings this narrative to a close in 1653. His task as a historian finished, the author appends the annals of the country to the year 1656, saying: "What shall happen hereafter I shall relate in the same manner as that which is past, for as long as I shall be alive."[204] It is highly probable that the author died that year.

Considered from all angles the student must agree with the investigator that the Tarik é Soudan is a masterpiece. Barth, the distinguished German scholar, says that the book forms "one of the most important additions that the present age has made to the history of mankind."[205] Lady Lugard, another writer in this field, believes that it is not merely an authentic narrative but is an unusually valuable document since it throws unconscious light upon the life, manners, politics and literature of that country. "Above all," says she, "it possesses the crowning quality, displayed usually in creative poetry alone, of presenting a vivid picture of the character of the men with whom it deals. It has been called the 'Epic of the Soudan,'" continues the writer. "It lacks the charm of form, but in all else the description is well merited. Its pages are a treasure-house of information for the careful student and the volumes may be read many times without extracting from them more than a small part of all that they contain."[206]

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

A.O. STAFFORD

FOOTNOTES:

[194] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 310.

[195] _Ibid._, 315.

[196] This work has been translated into French by M. Octave Houdas, Professor of the Oriental School of Languages in Paris.

[197] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 312.

[198] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 313-314.

[199] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 90-91.

[200] "Like Homer, Abderrahman sometimes wanders astray," says DuBois, "pen in hand. Side by side with the gravest events he mentions that 'a white crow appeared from the 22nd of Rebia to the 28th of Djoumada, on which day the children caught and killed it.' Elsewhere in the narratives of his voyage to Massina, one of his hosts gave him his daughter in marriage. He was fifty years of age at the time, and in possession of several other wives. Not content with imparting the event to posterity, he adds, 'My union with Fatima was concluded on the twelfth day of Moharrem, 1645, but the marriage was not consummated until Friday the sixteenth.' I believe he would have given us his washing-bills if the use of body linen had been familiar to the Sudanese. In referring to this tendency of the annalist, DuBois does not mean to say anything which might be taken as an undervaluation of this work. He aims to show how the Tarik reminds the reader of works of some of the leading writers of the most civilized countries." See DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," p. 316.

[201] It was said "He made a pilgrimage to the house of God, accompanied by a thousand foot-soldiers and five hundred horse, and carrying with him three hundred thousand mitkals of gold from the treasure of Sunni Ali. He scattered this treasure in the holy places, at the tomb of the Prophet in Medina, and at the sacred mosque at Mecca. In the latter town he bought gardens and established a charitable institute for the people of the Sudan. This place is well known in Mecca, and cost five thousand mitkals.

"He rendered homage to the Khalif Abassid Motewekkel in Egypt, praying to be made his deputy in the Sudan in general and in Songhois in particular. The Abassid consented, requiring the king of Songhois to abdicate for three days and to place the power in his hands. On the fourth day Motewekkel solemnly proclaimed Askia Mohammed the representative of the sultan in Sudan. He accompanied this by placing a green fez and white turban upon his head and returning him his sabre." "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 110.

[202] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 119-120.

[203] Lady Lugard, "A Tropical Dependency," 283-284.

[204] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 314.

[205] Lady Lugard, "A Tropical Dependency," 154.

[206] _Ibid._, 154-155.

[207] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 313.

[208] Félix DuBois, "Timbuctoo the Mysterious," 312.

[209] _Ibid._, 316.

FROM A JAMAICA PORTFOLIO--FRANCIS WILLIAMS[210]

A great dividing line in the history of Jamaica runs across the record between the years 1834 and 1838. On the further side lay slavery; on the hitherward side lies the freedom, partially proclaimed on August 1, 1834, and made complete and absolute on a like date in the year of grace 1838. Amid the noise and gloom of the period from these years back into the past, it is only here and there that the face and figure of a son of Africa stands out with anything like clearness or distinction against the background of historic events. It was in 1494 that the European first came to Jamaica. The island was then discovered by Columbus. Fifteen years later the Spaniards, who had meantime harried and slain the native Indians, set to work seriously to settle in the island. As the Arrowaks withered from the land, before the cruelty of the conqueror, the African was brought in to supply slave labor.[211] It is not our immediate task to enquire into the condition of the slaves during the Spanish occupation, nor does there exist very much material for answering such an enquiry, but it may be noted, as an interesting fact, that a black priest was in the deputation that came forth to negotiate with the British conqueror when, in 1655, the surrender of the capital city, St. Jago de la Vega, became a necessity. The Spanish Governor, Don Arnoldi Gasi, sent as one of his representatives Don Acosta, "a noble Portuguese." Belonging to his establishment and accompanying him as chaplain was a Negro priest. His name has not come down to us but we know his fate. One of the conditions of the surrender was that the Spaniards were not to attempt to remove their belongings.[212] The town, however, contained a party, chiefly of Portuguese, hostile to the surrender. The first article of the capitulation required that all "goods, wares, merchandizes, or what else upon the said island, be delivered up, etc., without any deceit, embezzlement, or concealment whatever." A certain Colonel made bold to drive away into the woodlands all the cattle he could collect. Don Acosta was not only as a man of honor shocked at this breach of a solemnly signed agreement, but he had the painful personal interest in it of being a hostage in the hands of the British for the due performance of the treaty of surrender. He therefore, we are told, sent to the Colonel "his priest, a discreet Negro, to remonstrate."[213] The Colonel put the priest to death, and apparently suffered no worse punishment for this dastardly act than to have the cattle he had gone away with discovered and brought back to the British lines.[214]

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

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

Among the colored element of the population the tendency towards manumission was even more marked and extensive, for there the white fathers often not only bestowed freedom on their offspring but bequeathed to them comfortable, if not ample, means. Our immediate interest is, however, to be found among the blacks, for it is among them that we see a face and figure that holds our attention.

Among the earliest Negroes in Jamaica freed because of services rendered to the state was one John Williams. Under date of 1708, a law stands on record, the first of its kind, forbidding slave testimony being received in evidence against two Negroes, to wit, Manuel Bartholomew and John Williams. This was bestowing on them one of the vital privileges as a rule confined to whites. Eight years later there was passed another act extending the privilege to Dorothy Williams, wife of John, and also to the sons of these two, namely, John, Thomas, and Francis. Exactly what led to such marked discrimination in favor of Williams and his family the records have not so far revealed, but the mere continuation of the concession and its extension suggest that there was something special about the character and worth of John Williams, Senior, as viewed by the ruling authorities. Another fact emphasizes this. John Williams, between 1708 and 1716, had to endure the rather dangerous hostility of a member of the legislature. This legislator applied to Williams the term "a black Negro," as one of contempt. Williams replied with the term, self-contradictory no doubt but effective enough to rile a Jamaican legislator in the early part of the eighteenth century. He styled his would-be traducer a "white Negro." As a result he ran the risk of seeing his valued privileges withdrawn once and for all. Supported by a few of his friends, the irate legislator brought the matter before the House of Assembly, and it was actually proposed that the Act of 1708, the Magna Charta so to speak of the Williams family, should be revoked. The effort, however, failed, and it seems reasonable to view that fact as a testimony to something of worth in John Williams, especially when we find that soon after his privileges were extended to his wife and his three sons.[217]

Francis Williams now replaces John, his father, and Dorothy, his mother, against the background of the past. The Duke of Montague wished to put to the test some of his opinions about the capabilities of the Negro. He desired to see whether a black boy taken and trained at an English school and then at a university would not equal in intellectual attainments a white youth similarly educated.[218] The links that would explain how it was that the choice for this experiment fell on Francis Williams are missing, but there it did fall. He must certainly have been, as Gardner suggests, "a lively, intelligent lad,"[219] but that by itself would not fully explain his being chosen. Someone fairly high up in Jamaica must have been taking a special interest in the Williams family, and that interest, in view of the collateral facts, must have been based on something of note in John Williams, Senior.

Francis received preliminary training in Jamaica, and then was sent to an English grammar school. Thence he went to Cambridge University. Only the bare facts of his story remain, like a skeleton, but we can safely argue that he did not disappoint the expectations of his patron to any serious extent, for, when the time came for Francis to return to Jamaica, the Duke of Montague used his influence with some determination to get his protégé appointed to a seat in the Council, that his abilities might be fully put to the test. The Governor of the island with whom the Duke had to do was Edward Trelawny, and this shows that Williams returned to Jamaica between 1738 and 1748, for it was between those years that Trelawny held sway. They were stormy times, and Trelawny was a man with anything but a placid temper or compliant views. The famous war of "Jenkin's ear," between Britain and Spain, began in 1738. Porto Bello was destroyed by Vernon and Cartagena was attacked with troops whose base was Jamaica. In fact, Trelawny added a Negro detachment to the army employed.[220] In the quarrels that followed the disastrous failure at Cartagena, Trelawny had even more than his fair share of the cursing, and it is hardly surprising to find that a man of such temper, and amid such storms of fate, was anything but malleable to the Duke's request. The Governor knew his mind, and it was that setting a black man in the Council would excite restlessness among the slave population. The Duke's experiment with Williams was, therefore, not completed as the Duke himself intended it should be.[221]

Williams settled down in Spanish Town (St. Jago de la Vega), the then capital of the island, and conducted a school for imparting a classical and mathematical education. He became known also in the island, and to some extent abroad, as a poet and the fragments of his work that have come down to us show that he was at any rate a fair literary craftsman. Of the sort of man he was personally, we have not the material for a fair judgment, for we are practically shut up to surveying the man through the very colored glass that the historian Long inserts in the loophole of observation he has turned on Williams. Long, who published his History of Jamaica in 1774, was of the planter class, and his prejudice on such a matter was probably so complete that he was not even conscious that prejudice existed. He says of Williams: "In regard to the general character of the man, he was haughty, opinionated, looked down with sovereign contempt on his fellow blacks, entertained the highest opinion of his own knowledge, treated his parents with much disdain, and behaved towards his own children and slaves with a severity bordering on cruelty. He was fond of having great deference paid to him, and exacted it with the utmost degree from the negroes about him. He affected a singularity of dress and a particularly grave cast of countenance, to impart an idea of his wisdom and learning; and to second this view, he wore in common a huge wig, which made a very venerable figure."[222] The influence of prejudice on this picture is easily to be detected. There is not a single line of sympathy through the whole presentation, and it is something more than probable that there is actual misrepresentation of facts. Long would repeat what was current in his own circle, without feeling himself at all bound to investigate the assertions before setting them down for future generations to read.[223]

That Williams was set in a most difficult position is obvious. It was one that could only be creditably filled by one highly and exceptionally gifted, both in intellect and spirit. Still more difficult was it so to fill that position that he would appear before an age of wider and sweeter altruistic principles without disfavor in its eyes. Long credits him with the saying: "Show me a negro, and I show you a thief";[224] and Gardner, who enters in his behalf a defence that is in many ways effective, merely says regarding this accusation: "The race to which he belonged was then almost universally despised, and the temptation to curry favor with the whites by denouncing the negroes was too great for him to resist."[225] But it seems to me that something more deserves to be said on the subject. We do not know whether Williams' epigram was a sober opinion or merely one cast off in a fit of irritation, that moment of "haste," which even the Psalmist knew, when he was led to sweep all mankind in under the term of "liar." But, further, if Williams was the deliberate sycophant and racial toady Gardner strives to shelter behind his shield of excuse, how was it that he had not won from the planter party, whose voice reaches us through Long, a more softened if not a more favorable opinion? There must have been some marked independence of spirit about a man who cut himself off thus on the one side and on the other. He was an educated man, placed in a false position; cut off by the narrowmindedness of the educated men around him from the environment for which training and education had fitted him. Had his savage epigram employed the term "slave," instead of "negro," and that was practically what it meant, it could stand as a thought-compelling truth, pointing beyond the slave to the tyrant system that made the slave.

Gardner, whose history was published in 1876, was, by class, of the missionaries, and by disposition a liberal, and a conscientious liberal. His estimate of Williams is thoroughly well-intentioned, and not wholly inadequate. It lacks subtlety, rather than sympathy. I cannot help hoping that time will bring to light material by which something may be attempted regarding the personality and character of Francis Williams, nearer what one feels instinctively is the truth than the outline at present holding the field.

Francis Williams has been mentioned as the author of the song: "Welcome, welcome, fellow debtor," but on what grounds, beyond tradition, it is not clear. We have, however, a Latin poem which is indubitably his work. It was addressed to General George Haldane, who arrived in Jamaica as Governor, April 17, 1758. It is panegyric, after the fashion of the eighteenth century, that is excessively so, but there are lines in it worth remembering. It is thus inscribed:

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

DENIQUE venturum fatis volventibus annum (_e_) Cuncta per extensum læta videnda diem, Excussis adsunt curis, sub inagine (_f_) clara Felices populi, terraque lege virens. (_g_) Te duce, (_h_) quæ fuerant malesuada mente peracta Irrita, conspectu non reditura tuo. Ergo omnis populus, nee non plebecula cernet (_h_) Hæsurum collo te (_i_) _relegasse_ jugum, Et mala, quæ diris quondam cruciatibus, insons Insula passa fuit; condoluisset onus Ni victrix tua Marte manus prius inclyta, nostris Sponte (_k_) ruinosis rebus adesse velit. Optimus es servus _Regi_ servire _Britanno_, Dum gaudet genio (_l_) _Scotica_ terra tuo: Optimus heroum populi (_m_) fulcire ruinam: Insula dum superest ipse (_n_) superstes eris. Victorem agnoscet te _Guadaloupa_, suorum Despiciet (_o_) merito dirutà castra ducum. Aurea vexillis flebit jactantibus (_p_) _Iris_, Cumque suis populis, oppida victa gemet. Crede, (_q_) menum non est, vir _Marti_ chare! (_r_) _Minerva_ Denegat _Æthiopi_ bella sonare ducum. Concilio, caneret te _Buchananus_ et armis, Carmine _Peleidae_ scriberet ille parem. Ille poeta, decus patriæ, tua facta referre Dignior, (_s_) altisono vixque Marone minor. (_t_) Flammiferos agitante suos sub sole _jugales_ (_u_) Vivimus; eloquium deficit omne focis. Hoc demum accipias, multa fuligine fusum Ore sonaturo; non cute, corde valet. Pollenti stabilita manu, [(_w_) Deus almus, eandem Omnigenis animam, nil prohibente dedit] Ipsa coloris egens virtus, prudentia; honesto Nulus inest animo, nullus in arte color. Cur timeas, quamvis, dubitesve, nigerrima celsam _Cæsaris occidui_, candere (_x_) _Musa_ domum? (_y_) Vade salutatum, nec sit tibi causa pudoris, (_z_) _Candida quod nigra corpora pelle geris!_ Integritas morum (_a_) _Maurum_ magis ornat, et ardor Ingenii, et _docto_ (_b_) _dulcis in ore decor_; Hunc, mage, _cor sapines, patriæ_ virtutis amorque, (_c_) Eximit e sociis, conspicuumque facit. (_d_) Insula me genuit, celebres aluere _Britianni_, Insula, te salvo non dolitura (_e_) patre! Hoc precor; o (_f_) nullo videant te fine, regentem Florentes populos, terra, Deique locus! FRANCISCUS WILLIAMS

(_e_) _Aspice venturo lætentur ut omnia Sæclo. Virg. E._ iv. 52.

(_f_) Clara seems to be rather an improper epithet joined to _Imago_.

(_g_) _Te duce_, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri _Irrita_, perpetua solvent formidine terras. _Virg. E._ iv. 13.

(_h_) Alluding perhaps to the contest about removing the seat of government and public offices from _Spanish Town_ to _Kingston_, during the administration of governor Kn----s.

(_i_) Pro _relevasse_.

(_k_) Quem vocet divum populus _ruentis_ Imperi _rebus. Hor. Lib._ I. _Od_. ii.

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

(_m_) Tu Ptolomaee potes magni _fulcire ruinam_. Lucan. _Lib._ viii. 528.

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

(_o_) Egerit _justo domitos_ triumpho. _Hor. Lib._ I. _Od_. xii.

(_p_) _Iris._ Botanic name of the _fleur-de-luce_, alluding to the arms of France.

(_q_) _Phoebus_, volentem prælia me loqui Victas et urbes, increpuit lyra Ne. _Hor_.

(_r_) Invita Minerva. _Hor. de Art. Poet._

(_s_) _Maronis altisoni_ carmina. _Juv. Sat._ xi. _ver._ 178.

(_t_) _Flammiferas_ rotas toto cælo _agitat_.

(_u_) I apprehend Mr. Williams mistook this for _jubara_, fun beams.

(_w_) This is a _petitio principii_, or begging the question, unless with Mr. Pope,

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

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

(_y_) _Vade salutatum_ subito perarata parentem Litera. _Ovid._

(_z_) See his apophthegms before mentioned.

(_a_) _Maurus_ is not in classic strictness proper Latin for a _Negroe_.

(_b_) _Mollis_ in ore decor. Incert.

(_c_) Me _doctarum_ ederæ præmia frontium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Secernunt populo. Hor. Lib. I. Od. 1._

(_d_) Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere. _Virg._

(_e_) Hic ames dici _pater_ atque princeps. _Hor._

(_f_) Serus in coelum redeas, _diuque_ _Lætus intersis populo. Hor._

This is Long's translation:

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

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

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

A Poem in Honour of Sir George Haldane, Knt., A most virtuous and brave man,

Governor of the island of Jamaica, on whom all the endowments of morals and of warlike virtues have been accumulated.

Since the Fates wish the year should come at last, all the joys which are to be seen through a lengthened day are present. The people having shaken off their anxieties, are prosperous under a bright image, and the land flourishing under law. While thou art ruler, the useless things which had been done by an ill-advising mind will not return at thy appearance. Therefore, all the people, even the rabble, will see that thou hast removed the yoke clinging to their necks, and the ills which the guiltless island has formerly endured with dreadful tortures. The burden would have been excessively painful did not thy victorious hand, previously renowned for valour, wish of its own accord to aid our state going to ruin. The British King has no better servant than thou art, whilst Scotland rejoices in thy talent. Thou are the best of heroes to prop up the fall of a nation; while the island survives, the memory of thee will also survive. Quadaloupe will recognise thee as her conqueror, and will deservedly despise the plundered camps of its governors. The golden Iris will weep for her boastful standards, and together with her inhabitants will groan for the conquered towns. Believe me, it is not in my power, O man, dear to Mars! Minerva denies to an Ethiopian to celebrate the wars of generals. Buchanan would sing thee in a poem, he would describe thee as equal to Achilles in counsel and in war. That famous poet, the honour of his country, is more worthy to relate thy exploits, and is scarcely inferior to the majestic Virgil. We live under an Apollo driving his own flame-bringing team. Every kind of eloquence is lacking to slaves. Receive this at any rate. Though poured forth from one very black, it is valuable, coming from a sonorous mouth; not from his skin, but from his heart. The bountiful Deity, with a hand powerfully and firm, has given the same soul to men of all races, nothing standing in his way. Virtue itself, and prudence, are free from colour; there is no colour in an honourable mind, no colour in skill. Why dost thou fear or doubt that the blackest Muse may scale the lofty house of the western Caesar? Go and salute him, and let it not be to thee a cause of shame that thou wearest a white body in a black skin. Integrity of _morals_ more adorns a _Moor_, and ardour of intellect and sweet elegance in a learned mouth. A wise heart and a love of his ancestral virtue the more remove him from his comrades and make him conspicuous. The island (of Jamaica) gave me birth; the renowned Britons brought me up; the island which will not grieve while thou its father art well. This I pray: O may earth and heaven see thee without end, ruling a flourishing people.[227]

Gardner quotes the line

"Candida quod nigra corpora pelle geris,"

giving it an interpretation disparaging to Williams' racial self-respect. With more understanding of the poet's surroundings it may be taken rather to express the poet's desire to be marked as distinct from the then condition of those who represented his race round him, namely slaves.

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

Pollenti stabilita manu, Deus almus, eandem Omnigenis animam, nil prohibente dedit. Ipsa coloris egens virtus, prudentia; honesto Nullus inest animo, nullus in arte color.

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

T. H. MACDERMOT

REDEAM, KINGSTON, JAMAICA, B. W. I.

FOOTNOTES:

[210] The writer of the following article, though not of the race to serve which this JOURNAL specially exists, offers a contribution to its pages because of the deep and sympathetic interest he has long taken in the African race, and because of his belief in its future. He would also interest readers of the JOURNAL in his native island, Jamaica, where, although the creation still bears marks of human imperfection and incompleteness, a community has been brought into being in which the racial elements, in such fierce and embittered antagonism elsewhere, are gradually, but surely, blending into a whole of common citizenship. T.H. MACDERMOT, Editor of the _Jamaica Times_, Ltd.

[211] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 10.

[212] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 31.

[213] Bridges, "Annals of Jamaica," I, 204.

[214] Long, "History of Jamaica," 234; and Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 31-32.

[215] See Dallas's "History of the Maroons," I, 26.

[216] This is the history of gradual emancipation in most slaveholding states.

[217] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.

[218] Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 476.

[219] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.

[220] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 123.

[221] Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 476; and Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 207.

[222] Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 478.

[223] Long says: "He defined himself 'a white man acting under a black skin,' He endeavored to prove logically, that a Negroe was superior in quality to a Mulatto, or other craft, or other cast. His proposition was, that 'a simple white or simple black complexion was respectively perfect: but a Mulatto, being an heterogeneous medley of both, was imperfect, _ergo_ inferior,'" Long, "History of Jamaica," II, 478.

[224] _ibid._, II, 478

[225] Gardner, "History of Jamaica," 208.

[226] Edward Long undertook to analyze this poem in such a way as to show the inferiority of the Negro. These notes are all his. See Long's "History of Jamaica," II, 478-485.

[227] Gardner, _History of Jamaica_, appendix.

NOTES ON THE NOMOLIS OF SHERBROLAND

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

Now, to this air of mystery is added one of interest for students of archæology in general, and particularly for all Negroes who are interested in the study of the history of their race with a view to discover whether it has really made any worthy achievements in the past or, as its traducers love to make us believe, it is indeed a backward race, that is only just emerging from barbarism and beginning to enjoy and assimilate the blessings of Western culture. I refer to certain sculptured finds which are from time to time made in the country and are naturally looked upon by the unsophisticated native mind as nothing short of a mystery.

These images, or _nomolis_, as they are called in the vernacular, are by no means the empirical efforts of some crude artists, but are the products of finished workmanship wrought in steatite or soapstone, which abounds in the Protectorate. They present purely Egyptian and Ethiopian features, and are apparently of great antiquity, possibly thousands of years old. They are dug out from old graves in the course of ploughing, and the finder of one of them considers himself a lucky man indeed. He sees visions of an unprecedentedly rich harvest, or of an extraordinarily brisk trade, if he happens to be in the commercial line, as the _nomoli_ is the presiding deity of crops and commerce. If the good services of the god are required on the farm a small shrine is erected there for it and a great big hamper and a bundle of rods placed in front of it. The demon is then addressed in some such manner as this: "I wish you to protect this farm from injury. Make the crop prosper more than everybody's else, and, to do this, every day you must steal from other people's farms and fill this hamper to the full. If you do this I shall treat you well; but if you fail, this bundle of rods is reserved for your punishment." The god is then heartily treated to a sample of the walloping it should expect in case of default. When its help is needed in the store a similar temple is put up for it in a corner within, and its duty is then to protect the store from burglary, to replenish it by theft and to "draw" custom by a sort of personal magnetism. In either case it must be well cared for. Whatever food or drink its owner partakes every day, a portion must be given to it--and don't forget the whipping. Whether you realize or are disappointed in your expectations of it the guardian angel respects force more than gentleness, and must be whipped soundly every morning.

It will be seen from this that the morality of the _nomoli_ is of a rather naughty order. The controlling principle of its life is theft; in fact it idealizes this vice, since ownership in regard to it cannot be transferred except by stealing. The god argues it this way: "He who is so careless of me that he allows me to be stolen from him, is not worthy to be my master; but he who so much believes in my powers that he risks the consequences of theft for the sake of getting possession of me, is deserving to be my master and I will serve him." In the event of discovery the culprit is taken to the barre or native court and the Chief inflicts a fine on him; and, "whereas, contrary to customary law, Kai Baki, the plaintiff, did harbour a 'big man' stranger (to wit, a _nomoli_) in the chiefdom without intimating the Chief in order that his majesty might pay his homage etc., etc.," the aforesaid plaintiff, who in native law is entitled to receive the amount of defendant's fine as compensation, is not only mulcted in the same amount more or less, but his _nomoli_ becomes forfeited to the crown in the bargain. Obviously, then, it does not pay to prosecute for _nomoli_ stealing, and the robbed native would rather bear his trouble like a philosopher, secretly admiring the cuteness of the other fellow and stealing his property back at the earliest opportunity.

ORIGIN OF THE NOMOLI

If one depends upon the aborigines for a clue as to the origin of the _nomoli_ the enquiry would, like Kipling's "eathen," "end where it began." The whole thing is veiled in mystery; there is not even a legend about it. All that the native would tell you, and it is what he honestly believes to be the truth, is that the image was created by Gehwor (God) and came down directly from heaven. The fact that no sculpturing of the kind is now-a-days prosecuted in the country, although the Sherbros are clever at wood-carving, makes him ridicule the idea that the _nomoli_ is man's handiwork. The enquiring student must for the present, therefore, go upon very scanty basis to formulate his theory. In order to help in the solution of this problem I shall state one or two facts about the natives of these regions. The Sherbros and Mendis, both of whom inhabit the vast territory known as Sherbroland, are, of all primitive Africans, the least given to fetish worship. This fact has always proved a stumbling-block to the spread of Mohammedanism in that part of the world. Arab as well as Negro Moslem missionaries have always found the Sherbro and Mendi man rather hard nuts to crack. Many an emissary of the prophet has invaded Sherbroland, exposing for sale all the tempting superstitious paraphernalia of the faith, but the native has almost invariably beaten him with his cold logic.

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

As this attitude towards charms, which is typical of the Sherbro natives, shows that they are not a fetish worshipping people, it can hardly be supposed that the _nomolis_ are relics of that superstition. If this were the case, it could easily be suggested by those who wish to discredit the race that the images might have been made by members of some foreign race and exported to the "heathen," who are supposed to delight in "bowing down to wood and stone," a sort of execution to order. This should be quite possible, because it was recently discovered that a certain London firm did a thriving business in idols with China; and it has even been suggested that the _nomolis_ were imported into Sherbroland from Phoenicia.

But such a contingency being ruled out of court, in view of the Sherbro native's antipathy to idol worship, we must look for an explanation of the origin of the _nomoli_ to one other feature in the customs of Sherbroland. The Sherbros have a custom almost similar to that of the Timnis, a kindred people. The latter are given to ancestor worship. At the burial of a Timni, a few stones are placed upon the grave, and after three days, when the spirit of the deceased is supposed to have entered into the stones, they are removed to a little shrine in the porch of the family house. The spirit then becomes a guardian angel, and offerings are made at the shrine from day to day. The Sherbros also make use of stones for the reception of the spirits of their departed ones, but not with a view to ancestor worship. If a Sherbro happened to die away from home, which is considered a great calamity, the remains are either exhumed and brought back to the old familiar scenes, or, if the distance be too great, three stones are taken to the last resting place and, after three days in the case of a male, or four days in the case of a female, the spirit is supposed to have entered the stones, and the latter are brought to the old town and _buried_.

Is it not possible, then, that the _nomolis_ are real pictures of some ancient Sherbro men and women, and that these people, dying away from "home, sweet home," their images, after having supposedly received their spirits, were interred in the old homeland? I believe the Rev. Dr. Hayford in his "Ethiopia Unbound" suggests that Ethiopia or Negrodom was once the mistress of the world; that much-talked-of Egypt was but a province of hers, and the pharaohs not real kings, but merely governors sent from the mother country. If this be true, might it not be that some of these _nomolis_ are sculptures of eminent men and women, natives of the region now known as Sherbroland, who went to far-away Egypt as Empire builders, lost their lives in the land of the sphynx; and, since distance prevented the return of their bodies, their busts, after receiving their imperishable parts, were brought back home and buried with due solemnity "under the stately walls of Troy?"

WALTER L. EDWIN

SIERRA LEONE, WEST AFRICA

DOCUMENTS

OBSERVATIONS ON THE NEGROES OF LOUISIANA

To present a broad view of the Negroes concerned in this and the subsequent series of documents we have given below accounts appearing from decade to decade, written by men of different classes and of various countries. Some received one impression and some another, as the situation was viewed from different angles. In the mass of information, however, there is the truth which one may learn for himself.

CONSIDERATIONS SUR L'ESCLAVAGE; NÈGRES LIBRES; MULÂTRES DE LA LOUISIANE, 1801

L'esclavage, le plus grand de tous les maux nécessaires, soit relativement à ceux qui l'endurent, soit par rapport à ceux qui sont contraints d'en employer les victimes, existe dans toute l'étendue des deux Louisianes. Il ne seroit pas facile de determiner pendant combien d'années la partie septentrionale en aura besoin; mais on peut assurer qu'il doit exister bien des siècles encore dans le Midi si le Gouvernement veut y encourager l'agriculture, qui est son unique ressource. Les Nègres seuls peuvent se livrer aux travaux dans ces climats brûlans: le Blanc qui y périt jeune malgré toutes sortes de ménegemens, ne feroit qu s'y montrer s'il étoit obligé d'y cultiver son champ de ses propres mains. Pour tirer parti de cette colonie, l'on doit donc protéger l'importation des Nègres qui y sont en trop petit nombre; mais il est en même temps de l'intérêt du Gouvernement, de veiller a ce que les habitans n'y abusent pas du pouvoir que la loi et droit de propriété leur donnent.

Après la cruelle expérience de Saint-Domingue, qui probablement aura ouvert les yeux de tous ces philantropes qui ne comptent pour rien la prosperité des empires, lorsqu'elle semble être en contradiction avec ces sentimens d'humanité, dont ils feignent souvent d'avoir été doués par la nature; je suis loin d'engager aucun gouvernement à relâcher les liens de l'esclavage: on doit les laisser subsister dans leur intégrité, ou perdre les colonies. Cependant doivent-ils négliger cette branche d'administration et s'en rapporter aveuglément aux proprietaires, qui paroissent avoir un intérêt direct à ménager leurs esclaves? C'est ce que je suis loin de croire. Les passions agissent trop fortement sur le coeur des hommes, pour ne pas en restreindre la vivacité par des règlemens sages; leur intérêt même souvent mal-entendu les aveugle sur leurs propres avantages. L'avarice crie à l'un que ses esclaves mal vêtus et mal nourris, n'en sont pas moins tenus a lui rendre les services qu'l exige; la colère conduit l'autre à faire des exemples terribles, sous prétexte d'effrayer ceux qui seroient tentés de lui manquer; un grand nombre enfin se croit autorisé à s'en servir pour assouvir ses passions et servir ses passions et servir ses gouts, fussent-ils même contraires aux devoirs de la société et opposés aux principes religieux. Aux yeux des gouvernans les hommes ne doivent être que de grands enfans, dont, en sages précepteurs, ils dirigent les caprices de manière à les faire tourner à leur plus grand bien.

Dans la basse Louisiane les Nègres sont très mal nourris: chacun ne reçoit pas par mois audelà, d'un baril de maïs en épis, ce qui ne fait que le tiers d'un baril en grain;[228] encore beaucoup de propriétaries prélèvent-ils quelque chose sur leur ration. Ils doivent se procurer le suplus de leur nourriture, ainsi que leurs vêtemens, avec le produit de leur travail du dimanche. S'ils ne le font pas, ils sont exposés à rester nus pendant la saison rigoureuse. Ceux qui leur fournissent des vêtemens, le contraignent à employer pour eux les jours de repos, jusqu'a ce qu'ils aient été remboursés de leurs avances. Pendant tout l'été, les Nègres ne sont pas vêtus. Les parties naturelles sont uniquement cachées par une pièce d'étoffe, qui s'attache à la ceinture par devant et par derrière, et qui a conservé dans toute l'Amérique septentrionale habitée par les François, le nom de _braguet_. L'hiver ils ont généralement une chemise et une couverture de laine, faite en forme de redingotte. Les enfans restent souvent nus jusqu'à l'age de huit ans, qu'ils commencent à rendre quelques services.

Un maître ne doit-il pas a son esclave le vêtement et une nourriture substantielle, à proportion du travail qu'il en exige? Le jour du repos n'appartient-il pas à tous les hommes, et plus particulièrement à ceux qui sont employés aux penibles travaux de la campagne? Ce sont des questions qui n'en seroient pas, si l'avarice, plus forte que l'humanité, ne dominoit presque tous les hommes, mais sur-tout les habitans des colonies. Que résulte-t-il cependant de cette avarice mal entendue? les Nègres mal nourris et trop fatigués s'épuisent et ne peuplent pas; de l'épuisement nait la foiblesse, de la foiblesse le decouragement, la maladie et la mort. Pour augmenter son revenue le propriétaire perd donc le capital, sans que son expérience le rende ordinairement plus sage. Je n'ignore pas que les Nègres sont loin de ressembler aux autres hommes; qu'ils ne peuvent être conduits ni par la douceur, ni par les sentimens; qu'ils se moquent de ceux qui les traitent avec bonté; qu'ils tiennent par la morale à la brute, autant qu'à l'homme par leur constitution physique; mais ayons au moins pour eux soins que nous avons pour les quadrupèdes, dont nous nous servons: nourrissons-les bien pour qu'ils travaillent bien, et n'exigeons pas au-dela de leurs facultés ou de leurs forces.

Les Nègres sont naturellement fourbes, paresseux, voleurs et cruels; il est inutile d'ajouter qu'ils sont tous dans le coeur ennemis des Blancs: le serpent cherche à mordre celui qui le foule aux pieds; l'esclave doit haïr son maître. Mais ce dontil est difficile de rendre compte, c'est l'aversion et la brutalité des Noirs libres pour ceux de leur espèce. Parviennent-ils à se procurer des esclaves? ils les traitent avec une barbarie dont rien ne peut approcher; ils les nourrissent plus mal encore que ne font les Blancs, et les surchargent de travail: heureusement leur penchant à la fainéantise et a l'ivrognerie, les tient dans un état de mediocrité dont ils sortent rarement.

Quoique les Nègres libres perdent très-peu de leur haine pour les Blancs, ils sont cependant loin d'être aussi dangereux que les Mulâtres. Ces hommes qui semblent participer aux vices des deux espèces, comme ils out participé à leurs couleurs, sont méchans, vindicatifs, traîtres et également ennemis des Noirs qu'ils méprisent, et des Blancs qu'ils ont en horreur. Cruels jus qu'à la barbarie envers les premiers, ils sont toujours prêts à saisir l'occasion de tourner leurs bras contre les seconds. Fruits du libertinage de leurs pères, dont ils recoivent presque tous la liberté et une éducation assez soignée, ils sont loin d'en être reconnaissans; ils voudroient en être traités comme des enfans légitimes, et la différence que l'on met entr'eux les porte à détester même les auteurs de leurs jours. On en a vu un grand nombre, dans le massacre de Saint-Domingue, porter sur eux leurs mains parricides. Les plus délicats se chargeoient mutuellement de cette détestable commission. Vas tuer mon père, se disoient-ils, je tuerai le tien.

Mais, dira-t-on, le premier droit de la nature est de se racheter de l'esclavage, comme c'en est un aussi de faire jouir des bienfaits de la liberté l'être qui tient de nous l'existence. Ces vérités ne peuvent être contestées; mais une troisième qui n'est pas moins évidente, c'est qu'il est du devoir d'un bon gouvernement d'assurer par toutes sortes de moyens la vie et la propriété des peuples qui vivent sous sa domination: or, par-tout où il y aura des Nègres libres ou des Mulâtres, l'une et l'autre seront chaque jour exposées au plus imminent danger. Un esclave fuit-il son maître? c'est chez un Nègre libre qu'il va se réfugier. Un vol a-t-il été commis? si le Nègre libre n'en est point l'auteur, il en est au moins le receleur. Lorsque par la suite de son travail ou de son économie un esclave peut racheter sa liberté, qu'il aille en jouir parmi les nations qui voudront le recevoir, ou qu'il retourne dans son pays, c'est tout ce que le Gouvernement lui doit. Mais je ne crains pas d'assurer que toute colonie où l'on souffrira des Nègres libres, sera le repaire du brigandage et des crimes.

Quant aux hommes de couleur, plus dangereux encore, il seroit probablement très-avantageux d'en former des colonies dans quelques parties inhabitées du continent: cette mesure auroit une suite doublement utile; elle priveroit les colonies de ces êtres par lesquels elles seront tôt ou tard anéanties, et elle diminueroit ce goût crapuleux des Blancs pour leurs esclaves, qui est la ruine de la société et la cause première du pen de population des pays qu'ils habitent.--_Voyage dans Les Deux Louisianes_, 1801, 1802, and 1803, pp. 408-415, par M. Perrin Du Lac.

OBSERVATIONS OF BERQUIN DUVALLON ON THE FREED PEOPLE OF COLOUR IN LOUISIANA IN 1802

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

The mulattoes are in general vain and insolent, perfidious and debauched, much giving to lying, and great cowards. They have an inveterate hatred against the whites, the authors of their existence, and primitive benefactors. It is the policy of the Spanish government to cherish this antipathy; but nothing is to be feared from them. There is a proportion of six whites to one man of colour, which, with their natural pusillanimity, is a sufficient restraint.

The mulatto women have not all the faults of the men. But they are full of vanity, and very libertine; money will always buy their caresses. They are not without personal charms; good shapes, polished and elastic skins. They live in open concubinage with the whites; but to this they are incited more by money than any attachment. After all we love those best, and are most happy in the intercourse of those, with whom we can be the most familiar and unconstrained. These girls, therefore, only affect a fondness for the whites; their hearts are with men of their own colour.

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

OBSERVATIONS ON THE NEGRO SLAVE

We come now to the class of negro slaves, the most numerous but least fortunate of all. The negro Creoles of the country, or born in some other European colony, and sent hither, are the most active, the most intelligent, and the least subject to chronic distempers; but they are also the most indolent, vicious and debauched.

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

Negroes are a species of beings whom nature seems to have intended for slavery; their pliancy of temper, patience under injury, and innate passiveness, all concur to justify this position; unlike the savages or aborigines of America, who could never be brought to servile controul.

This colony of Louisiana, offers a philosophic and instructive spectacle on this subject, from which I shall make a number of deductions. If nature had imparted the same instinct to negroes that she has to savages, it is certain that, instead of subjecting themselves mechanically to the eternal labours of the field, and the discipline of an imperious task-master, they would abandon those places (to which they are not chained), and gaining the woods, encamp themselves in the interior of the country; in this imitating the savages, or aborigines, who sooner than live in the vicinity of the whites, retire at their approach.

Is it the uncertainty of a subsistence in this new mode of life, that deters them from undertaking it? They have never any solicitude for their future support. Is it the fear of being pursued and overtaken that is an obstacle to the project? Ignorant as they are, they cannot but know that, protected by almost impenetrable woods, and formidable in numbers, they might set at defiance a handful of whites. Does the apprehension of being combated by the Indians damp their enterprize? Such a chimera could never affright them, since the Indians roving in detached parties, would be the first to flee; nay, they would probably court their union, there having been instances of negroes finding an asylum among them, but after a lapse of time, unworthy to enjoy freedom, the fugitives have returned to their plantation, like a dog, who, having escaped from his kennel, returns to it by an instinct of submission. To multiply comparisons, as the ox resigns himself to his yoke, so the negro bends to his burden.

Their defect in instinct is apparent. Could the Indians be ever brought to that state of slavery which the negroes bear without repining; every method hitherto practiced to deprive them of their liberty, has been ineffectual.

But it is not so with the negroes. In their own country, or abroad, if they have ever discovered a desire to emerge from slavery this flame as resembled a meteor which appears only for a moment. And even, the scenes, which have been witnessed in the French colonies, and, particularly, the island of Saint Domingo,[229] serve to corroborate and support my theory. It is undeniable that the negroes of that colony have never ceased to be slaves. Before their insurrection they were the slaves of the legitimate masters; in the early part of the revolution they were slaves to the French commissioners and mulattoes; and afterwards they became subject to the nod of negroes like themselves. We do not alter the substance of a thing by changing the name.

Nature may be modified but cannot be essentially changed. It is not possible to impart to the dog the habits of the wolf, nor to the ape those of the sheep. This position cannot be refuted. Sophistry may for a while delude, but the mind reposes upon the stability of truth.

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

The fixed ration of each negro a month is a barrel of maize not pounded; indian corn being the only grain of the colony which can assure an unfailing subsistence to the slaves. The rice, beans and potatoes cultivated here, would not supply a quarter of them with food. Some masters, more humane than others, add to the ration a little salt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Death is not so terrible in aspect to these negroes as to the whites. In fact death itself is not so formidable to any man as the pageantry with which it is set forth. It is not death that is so terrible, but the cries of mothers, wives and children, the visits of astonished and afflicted friends, pale and blubbering servants, a dark room set round with burning tapers, our beds surrounded with physicians and divines. These, and not death itself, affright the minds of the beholders, and make that appear so dreadful with which armies, who have an opportunity of being thoroughly acquainted and often seeing him without any of these black and dismal disguises, converse familiarly, and meet with mirth and gaiety.

The only cloathing of a slave is a simple woollen garment; it is given to them at the beginning of winter. And will it be believed, that the master, to indemnify himself for this expense, retrenches half an hour from his negro's hours of respite, during the short days of the rigorous season!

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

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

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

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

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

I was sensibly affected; it was _le cri de la bonne nature_. And what repairs did the poor creature's roof require? What was wanting to shelter her from the wind and rain of heaven? A few shingles!--"I will think of it," repeated her master, and departed.

The ordinary punishment inflicted on the negroes of the colony is a whipping. What in Europe would condemn a man to the galleys or the gallows incurs here only the chastisement of the whip. But then a king having many subjects does not miss them after their exit from this life, but a planter could not lose a negro without feeling the privation.

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

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

The language of the negro slaves, as well as of a great number of the free mulattoes, is a patois derived from the French, and spoken according to rules of corruption. There are some house-slaves, however, who speak French with not less purity than their masters: their language, it may be presumed, is depraved with many words not to be found in a Voltaire, a Thomas or a Rousseau.--_Travels in Louisiana and The Floridas, in the Year, 1802_, by Berquin Duvallon, pp. 79-94. Trans. by Davis.

JOHN DAVIS, 1806

TIMOTHY FLINT'S RECOLLECTIONS OF CONDITIONS IN LOUISIANA IN 1826

In the region where I live, the masters allow entire liberty to the slaves to attend public worship, and as far as my knowledge extends, it is generally the case in Louisiana. We have regular meetings of the blacks in the building where I attend public worship. I have, in the years past, devoted myself assiduously, every Sabbath morning, to the labour of learning them to read. I find them quick of apprehension. They learn the rudiments of reading quicker than even the whites, but it is with me an undoubting conviction, that having advanced them to a certain point, it is much more difficult to carry them beyond. In other words, they learn easily to read, to sing, and scrape the fiddle. But it would be difficult to teach them arithmetic, or combination of ideas or abstract thinking of any kind. Whether their skull indicates this by the modern principles of craniology, or not, I cannot say. But I am persuaded, that this susceptible and affectionate race have heads poorly adapted to reasoning and algebra.

I had heard, before I visited the slave states in the West, appalling stories of the cruelty and barbarity of masters to slaves. In effect I saw there instances of cruel and brutal masters. But I was astonished to find that the slaves in general had the most cheerful countenances, and were apparently the happiest people that I saw. They appeared to me to be as well fed and clothed, as the labouring poor at the North. Here I was told, that the cruelty and brutality were not here, but among the great planters down the Mississippi. So strongly is this idea inculcated, that it is held up to the slave, as a bugbear over his head to bind him to good behaviour, that if he does not behave well, he will be carried down the river, and be sold. When I descended to this country, I had prepared myself to witness cruelty on the one part, and misery on the other. I found the condition of the slaves in the lower country to be still more tolerable, than in that above; they are more regularly and better clothed, endure less inclemency of the seasons, are more systematically supplied with medical attendance and medicine, when diseased, and what they esteem a great hardship, but what is in fact a most fortunate circumstance in their condition, they cannot, as in the upper country, obtain whiskey at all.

It is a certain fact, and to me it is a delightful one, that a good portion of the lights of reason and humanity, that have been pouring such increasing radiance upon every part of the country, have illumined the huts of the slaves, and have dawned in the hearts of their masters. Certain it is, that in visiting great numbers of plantations, I have generally discovered in the slaves affection for their masters, and sometimes, though not so generally, for the overseers. It appears to be a growing desire among masters, to be popular with their slaves, and they have finally become impressed, that humanity is their best interest, that cheerful, well fed and clothed slaves, perform so much more productive labour, as to unite speculation and kindness in the same calculation. In some plantations they have a jury of negroes to try offences under the eye of the master, as judge, and it generally happens that he is obliged to mitigate the severity of their sentence. The master too has hold of the affection of the slaves, by interposing his authority in certain cases between the slave and the overseer. Where the master is really a considerate and kind man, the patriarchal authority on the one hand, and the simple and affectionate veneration on the other, render this relation of master and slave not altogether so forbidding, as we have been accustomed to consider it.

The negro village that surrounds a planter's house, is, for the most part, the prototype of the village of Owen of Lanark. It is generally oblong rows of uniform huts. In some instances I have seen them of brick, but more generally of cypress timber, and they are made tight and comfortable. In some part of the village is a hospital and medicine chest. Most masters have a physician employed by the job, and the slave, as soon as diseased, is removed there. Provision is also made for the subsistence and comfort of those that are aged and past their labour. In this village by night you hear the hurdy-gurdy, and the joyous and unthinking laugh of people, who have no care nor concern for the morrow. I enter among them, and the first difficulty appears to arise from jealousy, and mutual charges of inconstancy, between the husbands and wives. In fact, the want of any sanction or permanence to their marriage connexions, and the promiscuous intimacies that subsist among them, are not only the sources of most of their quarrels and troubles, but are among the most formidable evils, to a serious mind, in their condition. You now and then see a moody and sullen looking negro, and if you inquire into the cause of his gloom, you will be informed that he has been a fugitive, that he has lived long in the woods upon thieving, that he has been arrested and whipped, and is waiting his opportunity to escape again. Judging of their condition from their countenances, and from their unthinking merriment, I should think them the happiest people here, and in general, far more so than their masters.

It is a most formidable part of the evil of slavery, that the race is far more prolific than that of the whites, and that their population advances in a greater ratio. They are at present in this region more numerous than the whites, and this inequality is increasing every day. Thinking people here, who look to the condition of their posterity, are appalled at this view of things, and admit that something must be done to avert the certain final consequences of such an order of things. I remark, in concluding this subject, that the people here always have under their eye the condition and character of the free blacks. It tends to confirm them in their opinions upon the subject. The slaves are addicted to theft, but the free blacks much more so. They, poor wretches, have had the privilege of getting drunk, and they avail themselves of it. The heaviest scourge of New Orleans is its multitudes of free black and coloured people. They wallow in debauchery, are quarrelsome and saucy, and commit crimes, in proportion to the slaves, as a hundred to one.

The population of Louisiana is supposed to be, at present, between two and three hundred thousand. After New Orleans, the most populous parishes are Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Rapidé, and Natchitoches. Parishes in this region are civil divisions, derived from the former regime. They are often larger than our counties at the North. This country, from the character of its soil, cannot have a dense population, until the swamps are drained. The population, except the sparse inhabitants of the pine woods, is fixed along the margin of the water courses, and the greater part of the planters can convey their produce immediately on board the steam-boats.--_Recollections of the Last Ten Years. Passed in Occasional Residences and Journeyings in the Valley of the Mississippi_, by Timothy Flint, 1826, pp. 345-349.

THE OBSERVATIONS OF BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, IN NEW ORLEANS

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

There were subscription balls given in New Orleans, to which the managers had the politeness to invite us. These balls took place twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, at the French theatre, where the masquerade had been, which I mentioned before. None but good society were admitted to these subscription balls; the first that we attended was not crowded, however, the generality of the ladies present were very pretty, and had a very genteel French air. The dress was extremely elegant, and after the latest Paris fashion. The ladies danced, upon the whole, excellently and did great honour to their French teachers. Dancing, and some instruction in music, is almost the whole education of the female Creoles.

Most of the gentlemen here are far behind the ladies in elegance. They did not remain long at the ball, but hasted away to the quadroon ball, so called, where they amused themselves more, and were more at their ease. This was the reason why there were more ladies than gentlemen present at the ball, and that many were obliged to form "tapestry." When a lady is left sitting, she is said to be "bredouillè." Two cotillions and a waltz, are danced in succession, and there is hardly an interval of two or three minutes between the dances. The music was performed by negroes and coloured people, and was pretty good. The Governor was also at the ball, and introduced me to several gentlemen, among others, a Frenchman, General Garrigues de Flaugeac, who, having emigrated here from St. Domingo, had married, and given the world some very handsome daughters. Several of the French families here settled, and indeed, the most respectable, were emigrants from that island, who wait for the indemnification due to them, but without any great hopes of receiving it.

* * * * *

At the masked balls, each paid a dollar for admission. As I visited it for the second time, I observed, however, many present by free tickets, and I was told that the company was very much mixed. The unmasked ladies belonging to good society, sat in the recesses of the windows, which were higher than the saloon, and furnished with galleries. There were some masks in character, but none worthy of remark. Two quarrels took place, which commenced in the ball-room with blows, and terminated in the vestibule, with pocket-pistols and kicking, without any interruption from the police.

On the same evening, what was called a quadroon ball took place. A quadroon is the child of a mestize mother and a white father, as a mestize is the child of a mulatto mother and a white father. The quadroons are almost entirely white: from their skin no one would detect their origin; nay many of them have as fair a complexion as many of the haughty Creole females. Such of them as frequent these balls are free. Formerly they were known by their black hair and eyes, but at present there are completely fair quadroon males and females. Still, however, the strongest prejudice reigns against them on account of their black blood, and the white ladies maintain, or affect to maintain, the most violent aversion towards them. Marriage between the white and coloured population is forbidden by the law of the state. As the quadroons on their part regard the negroes and mulattoes with contempt, and will not mix with them, so nothing remains for them but to be friends, as it is termed, of the white men. The female quadroon looks upon such an engagement as a matrimonial contract, though it goes no farther than a formal contract by which the "friend" engages to pay the father or mother of the quadroon a specified sum. The quadroons both assume the name of their friends, and as I am assured preserve this engagement with as much fidelity as ladies espoused at the altar. Several of these girls have inherited property from their fathers or friends, and possess handsome fortunes. Notwithstanding this, their situation is always very humiliating. They cannot drive through the streets in a carriage, and their "friends" are forced to bring them in their own conveyances after dark to the ball: they dare not sit in the presence of white ladies, and cannot enter their apartments without special permission. The whites have the privilege to procure these unfortunate creatures a whipping like that inflicted on slaves, upon an accusation, proved by two witnesses. Several of these females have enjoyed the benefits of as careful an education as most of the whites; they conduct themselves ordinarily with more propriety and decorum, and confer more happiness on their "friends," than many of the white ladies to their married lords. Still, the white ladies constantly speak with the greatest contempt, and even with animosity, of these unhappy and oppressed beings. The strongest language of high nobility in the monarchies of the old world, cannot be more haughty, overweening or contemptuous towards their fellow creatures, than the expressions of the creole females with regard to the quadroons, in one of the much vaunted states of the free Union. In fact, such comparison strikes the mind of a thinking being very singularly! Many wealthy fathers, on account of the existing prejudices send daughters of this description to France, where these girls with a good education and property, find no difficulty in forming a legitimate establishment. At the quadroon ball, only coloured ladies are admitted, the men of that caste, be it understood, are shut out by the white gentlemen. To take away all semblance of vulgarity, the price of admission is fixed at two dollars, so that only persons of the better class can appear there.

As a stranger in my situation should see every thing, to acquire a knowledge of the habits, customs, opinions and prejudices of the people he is among, therefore I accepted the offer of some gentlemen who proposed to carry me to this quadroon ball. And I must avow I found it much more decent than the masked ball. The coloured ladies were under the eyes of their mothers, they were well and gracefully dressed, and conducted themselves with much propriety and modesty. Cotillions and waltzes were danced, and several of the ladies performed elegantly. I did not remain long there that I might not utterly destroy my standing in New Orleans, but returned to the masked ball and took great care not to disclose to the white ladies where I had been. I could not however refrain from making comparisons, which in no wise redounded to the advantage of the white assemble. As soon as I entered I found a state of formality.[232]

At the end of January, a contagious disorder prevailed, called the varioloid. It was said to be a species of small-pox, and was described as malignant in the highest degree. Even persons who had undergone vaccination, and those who had passed through the natural small-pox, were attacked by this disorder. The garrison lost six men, of whom two were severely marked. The garrison were placed in the barracks to preserve them from this malady. It was through that it was imported by some negro slaves from the north. Many owners of slaves in the states of Maryland and Virginia have real--(pardon the loathsome expression, I know not how otherwise to designate the beastly idea,) stud nurseries for slaves, whence the planters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern states draw their supplies, which increase every day in price. Such a disease as the varioloid is a fit present, in return for slaves thus obtained![233]

FROM CHARLES GAYARRÉ'S UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT ON THE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN LOUISIANA

"By 1830, some of these _gens de couleur_ had arrived at such a degree of wealth as to own cotton and sugar plantations with numerous slaves. They educated their children, as they had been educated, in France. Those who chose to remain there, attained, many of them, distinction in scientific and literary circles. In New Orleans they became musicians, merchants, and money and real estate brokers. The humbler classes were mechanics; they monopolized the trade of shoemakers, a trade for which, even to this day, they have special vocation; they were barbers, tailors, carpenters, upholsterers. They were notable successful hunters and supplied the city with game. As tailors, they were almost exclusively patronized by the _élite_, so much so that the Legoasters', the Dumas', the Clovis', the Lacroix', acquired individually fortunes of several hundred thousands of dollars. This class was most respectable; they generally married women of their own status, and led lives quiet, dignified and worthy, in homes of ease and comfort. A few who had reached a competency sufficient for it, attempted to settle in France, where there was no prejudice against their origin; but in more than one case the experiment was not satisfactory, and they returned to their former homes in Louisiana. When astonishment was expressed, they would reply, with a smile: 'It is hard for one who has once tasted the Mississippi to keep away from it.'

"In fact, the quadroons of Louisiana have always shown a strong local attachment, although in the state they were subjected to grievances, which seemed to them unjust, if not cruel. It is true, they possessed many of the civil and legal rights enjoyed by the whites, as to the protection of person and property; but they were disqualified from political rights and social equality. But ... it is always to be remembered that in their contact with white men, they did not assume that creeping posture of debasement--nor did the whites expect it--which has more or less been forced upon them in fiction. In fact, their handsome, good-natured faces seem almost incapable of despair. It is true the whites were superior to them, but they, in their turn, were superior, and infinitely superior, to the blacks, and had as much objection to associating with the blacks on terms of equality as any white men could have to associating with them. At the Orleans theatre they attended their mothers, wives, and sisters in the second tier, reserved exclusively for them, and where no white person of either sex would have been permitted to intrude. But they were not admitted to the quadroon balls, and when white gentlemen visited their families it was the accepted etiquette for them never to be present.

"Nevertheless it must not be imagined that the amenities were not observed when the men of the races met, for business or otherwise; many anecdotes are told to illustrate this. The wealthy owner of a large sugar plantation lived in a parish where resided also a rich, highly educated sugar planter of mixed blood, a man who had a reputation in his day for his rare and extensive library. Both planters met on a steamboat. When the hour for dinner struck, the white gentleman observed a small table set aside, at which his companion quietly took his place. Moved by this voluntary exhibition of humble acquiescence in the exigencies of his social position, the white gentleman, escorted by a friend, went over to the small table and addressed the solitary guest: 'We desire you to dine with us.' 'I am very grateful for your kindness, gentlemen,' was the reply, 'and I would cheerfully accept your invitation, but my presence at your table, if acceptable to you, might be displeasing to others. Therefore, permit me to remain where I am.'

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

"He was just in front of a very fine, large plantation belonging to a man of color, whom he knew very well, a polished, educated man, who made frequent visits to Paris. He drove unhesitatingly to the house, and, alighting, said: 'I have come to tax your hospitality.' 'Never shall a tax be paid more willingly,' was the prompt reply. 'I hope I am not too late for dinner.' 'For you, sir, it is never too late at my house for anything that you may desire.' A command was given; cook and butler made their preparations, and dinner was announced. The guest noticed but one seat and one plate at the table. He exclaimed: 'What! Am I to dine alone?' 'I regret, sir, that I cannot join you, but I have already dined.' 'My friend,' answered his guest, with a good-natured smile on his lips, 'Permit me on this occasion to doubt your word, and to assure you that I shall order my carriage immediately and leave, without touching a mouthful of this appetizing menu, unless you share it with me.' The host was too much of a Chesterfield not to dine a second time, if courtesy or a guest required.

"The free quadroon women of middle age were generally in easy circumstances, and comfortable in their mode of living. They owned slaves, skilful hairdressers, fine washerwomen, accomplished seamstresses, who brought them in a handsome revenue. Expert themselves at all kinds of needle-work, and not deficient in taste, some of them rose to the importance of modistes, and fashioned the dresses of the elegantes among the white ladies. Many of them made a specialty of making the fine linen shirts worn at that day by gentlemen and were paid two dollars and a half apiece for them, at which rate of profit a quadroon woman could always earn a honest, comfortable living. Besides, they monopolized the renting, at high prices, of furnished rooms to white gentlemen. This monopoly was easily obtained, for it was difficult to equal them in attention to their tenants, and the tenants indeed could have been hard to please had they not been satisfied. These rooms, with their large post bedsteads, immaculate linen, snowy mosquito bars, were models of cleanliness and comfort. In the morning the nicest cup of hot coffee was brought to the bedside; in the evening, at the foot of the bed, there stood the never failing tub of fresh water with sweet-smelling towels. As landladies they were both menials and friends, and always affable and anxious to please. A cross one would have been a phenomenon. If their tenants fell ill, the old quadroons and, under their direction, the young ones, were the best and kindest of nurses. Many of them, particularly those who came from St. Domingo, were expert in the treatment of yellow fever. Their honesty was proverbial."--GRACE KING, _New Orleans, the Place and People_, pp. 346-349.

CASWALL'S ACCOUNT OF BISHOP POLK'S EFFORTS IN LOUISIANA IN 1854

"Bishop Polk, of Louisiana, was one of the guests. He assured me that he had been all over the country on Red River, the scene of the fictitious sufferings of 'Uncle Tom,' and that he had found the temporal and spiritual welfare of the negroes well cared for. He had confirmed thirty black persons near the situation assigned to Legree's estate. He is himself the owner of four hundred slaves, whom he endeavours to bring up in a religious manner. He tolerates no religion on his estate but that of the Church. He baptizes all the children, and teaches them the Catechism. All, without exception, attend the Church service, and the chanting is creditably performed by them, in the opinion of their owner. Ninety of them are communicants, marriages are celebrated according to the Church ritual, and the state of morals is satisfactory. Twenty infants had been baptized by the bishop just before his departure from home, and he had left his whole estate, his keys, &c., in the sole charge of one of his slaves, without the slightest apprehension of loss or damage. In judging of the position of this Christian prelate as a slave-owner, the English reader must bear in mind that, by the laws of Louisiana, emancipation has been rendered all but impracticable, and, that if practicable, it would not necessarily be, in all cases, an act of mercy or of justice."--_The Western World Revisited_, by the Rev. Henry Caswall, M.A., author of _America and the American Church_, etc. Oxford, John Henry Parker, 1854. See _Journeys and Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom_, by Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. II, pp. 212-213.

OLMSTED'S OBSERVATIONS IN LOUISIANA IN 1860

With regard to the religious instruction of slaves, widely different practices of course prevail. There are some slaveholders, like Bishop Polk of Louisiana, who oblige, and many others who encourage, their slaves to engage in religious exercises, furnishing them certain conveniences for the purpose. Among the wealthier slave owners, however, and in all those parts of the country where the enslaved portion of the population outnumbers the whites, there is generally a visible, and often an avowed distrust of the effect of religious exercises upon slaves, and even the preaching of white clergymen to them is permitted by many with reluctance. The prevailing impression among us, with regard to the important influence of slavery in promoting the spread of religion among the blacks, is an erroneous one in my opinion. I have heard northern clergymen speak as if they supposed a regular daily instruction of slaves in the truths of Christianity to be general. So far is this from being the case, that although family prayers were held in several of the fifty planters' houses in Mississippi and Alabama, in which I passed a night, I never in a single instance saw a field-hand attend or join in the devotion of the family.--See Olmsted's _Cotton Kingdom_, II, 212-213.

FOOTNOTES:

[228] Environ soixante livres.

[229] It is apparent that our author once lived at St. Domingo. I imagine he was a sufferer from the revolt, insurrection and triumph of the Negroes; hence his aversion to them, hence his revilings, hence his outrageous invectives.

[230] The disastrous events proceeding from the late war should be impressed with redoubled force upon the minds of all slave-holders throughout the globe, they should teach them the necessity of keeping them in that state of content and subordination, which will alienate them from the wish of acquiring a freedom, which has cost so much blood to the colonists of St. Domingo. I subjoin for the information of the inhabitants of the United States the directions issued by the Spanish government for the treatment of slaves in Louisiana. They exhibit the internal police of the plantations.

Every slave shall punctually receive the barrel of corn allowed by the usage of the colony, and which quantity is voluntarily augmented by the greater part of their masters.

The Syndics shall take measures to induce the planters of their district to allow their negroes a portion of their waste lands; by which they will not only add to their comforts, but increase the productions of the province, and that time will be usefully employed which would otherwise be devoted to libertinism.

Every slave shall be allowed half an hour for breakfast, and two hours for dinner; their labor shall commence at break of day, and shall cease at the approach of night. Sundays shall be the holiday of the slaves, but their masters may require their labor at harvest, &c. on paying them four escalins per diem.

The slaves who have not a portion of waste lands shall receive punctually from their masters a linen shirt and trowsers for the summer, and a woollen great coat and trowsers for the winter.

No person shall cause to be given, at once, more than thirty lashes to his slave, under penalty of fifty piasters, but the same may be repeated, if necessary, within an interval of one day.

It is permitted to shoot at an armed run-away negro, who shall refuse to stop when required; or who cannot otherwise be taken, even if he be not armed; at a negro who shall dare to defend himself against his master or overseer; and lastly at those who shall secretly enter a plantation with intent to steal.

Whosoever shall kill a slave, unless in one of the cases before mentioned, shall be punished to the extent of the law, and if he shall only wound him, he shall be punished according to the circumstances of the case. Intrigues, plots of escape, &c. arising in general from the negroes of one plantation visiting those of another, the inhabitants are forbidden under the penalty of ten piasters, to allow any intercourse or resort of negroes to their plantations for the purpose of dancing, &c. And the amusements of their own slaves, which shall be allowed only on Sundays, shall terminate always before night.

A slave shall not pass the bounds of his master's land, without his permission in writing, under the penalty of 20 lashes.

A slave shall not ride the horse of his master or any other person, without permission, shall be punished with 30 lashes.

Slaves shall not be permitted to be proprietors of horses, under penalty of the confiscation thereof.

Fire-arms are prohibited to slaves, as also powder, ball and lead, under the penalty of thirty lashes and the confiscation thereof.

An inhabitant may not have more than two hunters, who are to deliver up their arms and ammunition on their return from the chase.

Slaves may not sell any thing without the permission of their master, not even the productions of the waste lands allowed them.

Rum, fire-arms and ammunition shall be seized when in possession of coasters, and sold at public auction for the use of the treasury.

New-Orleans, June 1, 1795.

Le Baron de Carondelet.

[231] Among the slave traders, a Hollander from Amsterdam, disgusted me particularly, his name was Jacobs. He had the most vulgar and sinister countenance imaginable, was constantly drunk, and treated the wretched negroes in the most brutal manner; he was, however, severely beaten by these miserable beings, driven to despair. BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, _Travels through North America during the years 1825 and 1826_, pp. 57-59.

The virtuous indignation of the Duke, at these horrible consequences of slavery, is such as every man, not hardened by long familiarity with such scenes, must feel; those to whom they are daily presented regard them with calm indifference, or even attempt to argue in favour of their continuance and harmlessness. It is not as generally known, as it should be, that the slave trade is carried on, almost as vigorously now, as ever it was, and by citizens of almost every nation; not in the least excepting Americans. The slave vessels sail principally from Havanna and St. Thomas, and land their cargoes on the island of Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, whither purchasers and agents resort, when such an arrival occurs. Two schooners, with large cargoes, arrived in Puerto Rico in February last, and two brigs were daily expected. It is said in the West Indies, that all ships of war, of powers owning West India Colonies, _connive_ at the trade, which is fully supported by facts; as French, Danish, and English cruisers were in the vicinity, when the above mentioned cargoes arrived. The idea of cruising off the coast of Africa, to prevent the trade, is ridiculed by the slave dealers, with one of whom the writer of this note conversed. If the American, or any other government _really wished_ to put an end to this trade, it could be very effectually accomplished, by sending small armed vessels to intercept the slave traders near their places of landing cargoes, which are not very numerous. It is also _said_, in the West Indies, that the Havanna traders still contrive to introduce Africans into the southern part of the United States; of the truth or falsehood of this, we know nothing. The slave vessels are generally Baltimore clipper brigs, and schooners, completely armed and very fast sailers. Two of them sailed on this execrable trade in February last, from a port visited by the writer.--Trans.

[232] If it be known that a stranger, who has pretensions to mix with good society, frequents such balls as these, he may rely upon a cold reception from the white ladies.

[233] A plain, unvarnished history of the _internal slave trade_ carried on in this country, would shock and disgust the reader to a degree that would almost render him ashamed to acknowledge himself a member of the same community. In unmanly and degrading barbarity, wanton cruelty, and horrible indifference to every human emotion, facts could be produced worthy of association with whatever is recorded of the slave trade in any other form. One of these internal slave traders has built, in a neighboring city, a range of _private prisons_, fronting the main road to Washington, in which he collects his _cattle_ previous to sending off a caravan to the south. The voice of lamentation is seldom stilled within these accursed walls. BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, _Travels through North America during the years 1825 and 1826_, pp. 61-63.

THE CONDITIONS AGAINST WHICH WOOLMAN AND ANTHONY BENEZET INVEIGHED

Impressions of Jasper Danckaerts in 1679-1680

Servants and negroes are chiefly employed in the culture of tobacco, who are brought from other places to be sold to the highest bidders, the servants for a term of years only, but the negroes for ever, and may be sold by their masters to other planters as many times as their masters choose, that is, the servants until their term is fulfilled, and the negroes for life. These men, one with another, each make, after they are able to work, from 2,500 pounds to 3,000 pounds and even 3,500 pounds of tobacco a year, and some of the masters and their wives who pass their lives here in wretchedness, do the same. The servants and negroes after they have worn themselves down the whole day, and come home to rest, have yet to grind and pound the grain, which is generally maize, for their masters and all their families as well as themselves, and all the negroes, to eat. Tobacco is the only production in which the planters employ themselves, as if there were nothing else in the world to plant but that, and while the land is capable of yielding all the productions that can be raised any where, so far as the climate of the place allows. As to articles of food, the only bread they have is that made of Turkish wheat or maize, and that is miserable. They plant this grain for that purpose everywhere. It yields well, not a hundred, but five or six hundred for one; but it takes up much space, as it is planted far apart like vines in France. This grain, when it is to be used for men or for similar purposes, has to be first soaked, before it is ground or pounded, because the grains being large and very hard, can not be broken under the small stones of their light hand-mills; and then it is left so coarse it must be sifted. They take the finest for bread, and the other for different kinds of groats, which, when it is cooked is called sapaen or homina. The meal intended for bread is kneaded moist without leaven or yeast, salt or grease, and generally comes out of the oven so that it will hardly hold together, and so blue and moist that it is as heavy as dough; yet the best of it when cut and roasted, tastes almost like warm white bread, at least it then seemed to us so. This corn is also the only provender for all their animals, be it horses, oxen, cows, hogs, or fowls, which generally run in the woods to get their food, but are fed a little of this, mornings and evenings during the winter when there is little to be had in the woods; though they are not fed too much, for the wretchedness, if not cruelty, of such living, affects both man and beast. This is said not without reason, for a master having a sick servant, and there are many so, and observing from his declining condition, he would finally die, and that there was no probability of his enjoying any more service from him, made him, sick and languishing as he was, dig his own grave, in which he was to be laid a few days afterwards, in order not to busy any of the others with it, they having their hands full in attending to the tobacco.--Jasper Danckaerts' _Original Narratives of Early American History_, 1679-1680, p. 133.

Observations of Campbell in 1745-1746

The Negroes live as easily as in any other Part of America, and at set Times have a pretty deal of Liberty in their Quarters, as they are called. The Argument of the Reasonableness and Legality, according to Nature, of the Slave-Trade, has been so well handled on the Negative Side of the Question, that there remains little for an Author to say on that Head; and that Captives taken in War, are the Property of the Captor, as to Life and Person, as was the Custom amongst the Spartans; who, like the Americans, perpetuated a Race of Slaves, by marrying them to one another, I think, has been fully disprov'd: But allowing some Justice in, or, at least, a great deal of Necessity for, making Slaves of this sable Part of the Species; surely, I think, Christianity, Gratitude, or, at least, good Policy, is concerned in using them well, and in abridging them, instead of giving them Encouragement, of several brutal and scandalous Customs, that are too much practised: Such as giving them a Number of Wives, or, in short, setting them up for Stallions to a whole Neighborhood; when it has been prov'd, I think, unexceptionably, that Polygamy rather destroys than multiplies the Species; of which we have also living Proofs under the Eastern Tyrants, and amongst the Natives of America; so that it can in no Manner answere the End; and were these Masters to calculate, they'd find a regular Procreation would make them greater Gainers. A sad Consequence of this Practice is, that their Children's Morals are debauch'd by the Frequency of such Sights, as only fit them to become the Masters of Slaves. This is one bad Custom amongst many others; but as to their general Usage of them, 'tis monstrous, and shocking. To be sure, a new Negro, if he must be broke, either from Obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to suppose, from Greatness of Soul, will require more hard Discipline than a young Spaniel: You would really be surpriz'd at their Perseverance; let an hundred men shew him how to hoe, or drive a Wheelbarrow, he'll still take the one by the Bottom, and the other by the Wheel; and they often die before they can be conquer'd. They are, no Doubt, very great Thieves, but this may flow from their unhappy, indigent Circumstances, and not from a natural Bent; and when they have robb'd, you may lash them Hours before they will confess the Fact; however, were they not to look upon every White Man as their Tormentor; were a slight Fault to be pardon'd now and then; were their Masters, and those adamantine-hearted Overseers, to exercise a little more Persuasion, Complacency, Tenderness and Humanity towards them, it might perhaps, improve their Tempers to a greater Degree of Tractability. Such Masters and such Overseers, Maryland may with Justice Boast; and Mr. Bull, the late Lieutenant-Governor of Carolina, is an Instance, amongst many, of the same, in that Province: But, on the contrary, I remember an Instance of a late Sea Officer, then resident in a neighbouring Colony, that for a mere Peccadillo, order'd his Slave to be ty'd up, and for a whole Hour diverted himself with the Wretched Groans; struck at the Mournful Sound, with a Friend, I hasted to the Noise, where the Brute was beginning a new Scene of Barbarity, and belabour'd the Creature so long with a large Cane, his Overseer being tir'd with the Cowskin, that he remained without Sense and Motion. Happily he recovered, but, alas! deceas'd soon after, and perhaps, may meet him, where the Wicked cease from troubling, and the Weary be at rest: Where as our immortal Pope sings.

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

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

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

--Campbell, _Itinerant Observations in America_, 1745-1746, p. 37.

IMPRESSIONS OF PRISCILLA WAKEFIELD

After one of these handsome entertainments, where we had been attended by negro slaves, I observed a cloud upon the brow of my young friend, for which I could not account, till he confessed, that the sight of men who were the property of their fellow creatures, and subject to every indignity, excited such painful reflections, that he could not banish them from his mind. I endeavoured to soothe him, by representing that their treatment here is gentle, compared with that exercised in the southern states, and in the West Indies; though the efforts that have been made for the abolition of slavery, have improved their conditions every where.

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

The amiable Benezet was warmed with universal philanthropy: he felt a brotherly affection for all men, of all countries, and of all colours. Not contented with persuasion, he composed many books, in which he collected authorities from Scripture and other writings, to discourage and condemn the slave-trade and slavery. The first influence of his works was perceived amongst the Quakers. Many of them determined to emancipate their slaves; and the society since has been very active in promoting the abolition. Benezet knew that instruction was necessary for those blacks whose liberty he had procured; and finding few willing to undertake a task, that prejudice had rendered contemptible, he determined to devote his own time to the glorious occupation of enlightening the ignorant and neglected, and his little fortune to the establishment of a school for the negroes. The influence of a good example is powerful. Those who had not courage to begin, cheerfully assisted the work; and the school now enjoys a revenue of two hundred pounds per annum. This good man died in 1784; honoured by the tears of the blacks, and the regrets of every friend to humanity. John Woolman, also a member of the same society, remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and his opposition to the slave-trade, united with Benezet and others, in application to the British government for the abolition. Their efforts were ineffectual. America after gaining her independence, has listened, more favourably, to the cause of humanity. Most of the northern and middle states have proscribed for ever, the importation of slaves; and in some others, the prohibition is limited to a certain time. Georgia is the only state that continues to receive transported slaves. Rhode Island had a great traffic in slaves, but has totally prohibited it. The abolition, and amendment in the condition of the negroes, certainly advance, though by slow degrees; and it is to be devoutly wished, that in time these improvements will extend to all parts of the world, where slavery prevails. It will be interesting to you, my dear brother, to know the steps that have procured these advantages. In 1780, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania abolished slavery for ever; compelled the owners of slaves to have them registered; declared their children free at the age of twenty-eight; placed them, while under that age, on the footing of hired servants; and assured to them the privilege of trial by jury. But this was not sufficient to secure to them all the intended advantages: by a second act it was ordained, that no negro could be sent into a neighbouring state without his consent; that all vessels and cargoes employed in the slave trade should be confiscated; and that all stealers of the negroes should be condemned to the public works. The little state of Delaware followed this noble example. New York has sanctioned nearly the same regulations in their favour as Pennsylvania. A society, connected with one in London, and others in the American states, formed for the express purpose of promoting the abolition, has greatly ameliorated their condition, in all respects; especially by affording numbers of them a degree of instruction in religion, and the useful arts of reading and writing, which they acquire with as much facility as white men brought up in the same manner. From this information we may encourage the hope, that the time approaches when their shackles shall be removed, and they shall participate with the other races of mankind, in the common benefits of liberty and independence: that instead of the treatment of beasts of burthen, they shall be considered as rational beings, and co-heirs with us of immortality: that a conscientious care of educating their children in the great duties of Christianity, will produce a happy change from the vices in which, from ignorance and a combination of unfavorable circumstances, they now live, to the practice of religion and morality, and entitle them to rank on an equality with their fellow-creatures. Besides these public acts in favour of the negroes, many individuals have generously given liberty to their slaves; amongst others that have fallen under my notice, I shall mention the instance of Messrs. David and John Barclay, respectable merchants in London, who received, as an equivalent for a debt, a plantation in Jamaica, stocked with thirty-two slaves. They immediately resolved to set these negroes free; and that they might effectually enable them afterwards to provide for themselves, the surviving brother, David, sent an agent from England to manage the business, and convey them to Philadelphia, having first supplied them with all necessaries; where, under the fostering hand of his friends in the city, with the assistance of the Abolition Society, they were apprenticed to mechanic trades, and the children sent to school to be properly instructed. This benevolent act was rewarded with extraordinary success. Except two, these liberated slaves prospered, and became useful members of the community.

Many of those who are free, gain a great deal of money; as I conclude, from a ball given among themselves, at which we were present, where, though all of a sooty black, the company was well dressed, came in coaches, and were regaled with a good supper and variety of refreshments.--Priscilla Wakefield, _Excursions in North America_, 1806, p. 16 et seq.

BOOK REVIEWS

_Andrew Johnson, Military Governor of Tennessee._ By CLIFTON R. HALL, Ph.D. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1916. Pp. 234.

This book, according to the author, is an attempt to "trace the personality of Andrew Johnson through the years 1862-1865 when the burden of military government and reconstruction in Tennessee rested principally upon his shoulders." The author has intentionally neglected to give detailed treatment of the military administration in West Tennessee by the generals of the regular army and also of the Federal trade regulations in the State. No effort is here made to trace the career of Johnson after the close of his services in Tennessee. The account is largely based on the papers of Johnson found in the _Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies_ and on the newspapers of that period, especially the _Nashville Union_. The author is conscious of his failure adequately to present the "Confederate side of many controverted points," because of "a most regrettable dearth of material for this purpose."

Dr. Hall aims to answer certain charges, among which are such as the assertion that Johnson purposely delayed the work of reconstruction and that he by rather harsh treatment excluded many unquestionably loyal men from the work of reconstruction. The purpose of the work is to show how the lesson learned by Johnson in reconstructing his own State constituted a training for the higher work to which he was so suddenly and unexpectedly called. With this end in view the writer considers first secession, and then gives a sketch of Andrew Johnson leading up to his inauguration as Military Governor. Then follow such topics as the defense of Nashville, repression under Rosecrans, military and political reverses, the progress of reorganization and the presidential campaign of 1864. Throughout the treatise an effort is made to show the arduousness of the task of the Governor-of-all-work had to do and how he summoned to his aid the constructive element and reestablished order. There is given also an account not only of the opposition of those who looked upon the Governor as a traitor but of that of the militant factions that divided on the question as to how the State should be reconstructed. Lincoln's plan of reconstruction is presented as a factor which figured largely in the problems the Governor had to solve.

How the question of slavery was then treated by the men solving the problem of maintaining the Union is not neglected. Andrew Johnson is referred to as product of the poor white stock that hoped to see the evil of slavery exterminated because it was at variance with the principles of democracy, but on the other hand believed that it was so deeply rooted in the life of the nation that it should not be molested so long as it "remained in strict subordination to and in harmony with the government." The writer shows also how Johnson felt that in case of secession the Federal Government could not coerce a State, yet believing that this government, the best and freest on earth, should be preserved, he undermined his own anti-coercion doctrine by denouncing the right of secession and urging that although the Federal Government could not coerce a State, it had a right to guarantee the loyal citizens representing it a constitutional form of government. Some space is given to the discussion of the exception of Tennessee from the Emancipation Proclamation, the growing tendency of Johnson to ignore slavery to preserve the Union, how the opponents sought to weaken him by saying that he was opposed to the institution and finally how he suffered it to be sacrificed to save the Union. Passing mention is given the working out of the problem of abolition and the proposition as to what relief and what privileges should be given the emancipated Negroes.

J. O. BURKE

* * * * *

_The New Negro._ By WILLIAM PICKENS, Dean of Morgan College, Baltimore. Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 239.

"The New Negro" is a collection of speeches and essays through which this well known orator has endeavored to present his views on the race problem in the United States. Primarily polemic and ex-parte, this work will hardly attract the attention of the investigator. But when an author like this one, a man of reputation and influence among his people, writes on such subjects as the "renaissance" of the Negro, his constitutional status, and discusses Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln, the serious reader might well pause to give this work more than ordinary consideration.

The book does not bear the stamp of research; the aim of the work is to defend the Negro and laud those who have championed his cause. The bold claims which Negroes have been making from time immemorial are set forth in brilliant and forceful style. In this respect the book is a success. It goes over old ground, but it does its work well. Although not historical, some valuable facts of Negro history are given from page to page. It contains, however, a few statements which are not essential to the establishment of the Negro's claim to great achievement. It is very difficult to demonstrate to a thinking man the advantage to the Negro of such a contention as the much mooted connection of Alexander Hamilton and Robert Browning with the black race when those men spent their lives and passed into history as white men. Such argument has just about as much bearing on the present as the efforts now being made by certain enthusiastic race leaders to prove that Christ was a black man rather than a Jew. Fraught then with opinions rather than with organized facts adequate to the development of the subject constituting its title, the book must be classed as controversial literature.

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

* * * * *

_Cotton as a World Power._ By JAMES A. B. SCHERER, LL.D. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 452.

Here we see cotton again not as king but as a world power. It is the new Golden Fleece. The Civil War brought home to the public mind that this vegetable fleece is really golden "and that its golden values are so interwoven with the solidarity of mankind as to depend to a peculiar degree for their stability on the maintenance of an unbroken network of international trade. Cotton is here considered peculiar in that it is the only crop of importance, all of which is sold by those who produce it. It, therefore, gives rise to an enormous commerce and provides a medium of exchange that almost entirely takes the place of gold in the settlement of interstate and international balances." By it countries are bound together "in its globe engirdling web; so that when a modern economist concerns himself with the interdependence of nations he naturally looks to cotton for his most effective illustration."

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

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

A large part of this work, of course, is devoted to tracing the connection of cotton with the early manufacturing in the United States, its impetus to slavery, its influences upon States' rights, its effects on manufacturing in New England and on protection, free trade, secession, the reconstruction of the South and the social problem. On the whole this is an excellent work and will be received by students of economic history as a valuable contribution in its field.

C. B. WALTER

* * * * *

_Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church._ By RICHARD R. WRIGHT, JR., Ph.D., Editor-in-chief, assisted by JOHN R. HAWKINS, LL.B. Book Concern of the A. M. E. Church, Philadelphia, Pa., 1916. Pp. 392.

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

Then follows the Centennial Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. "The purpose of this work," according to the editors, "is to present in some literary form the work of the men and women, both ministers and laymen, who have helped to make the Church what it is and especially those now living who receive the inheritance of the fathers and upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility of passing the work down to a new century." The editors disclaim pretension to scientific historical treatment. The work is rather biographical and autobiographical and was prepared under such a handicap that some of the matter presented could not be verified. Yet when we consider the fact that the editors had access to the files of newspapers, church histories, and other church encyclopedias, we must conclude that they have here compiled information of incalculable value. The reader must be impressed too by the scientific disposition of the editors in that they show no inclination to criticize or eulogize, but endeavor to present facts.

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

The volume as a whole shows much progress. It is the best Negro Church encyclopedia hitherto produced. One may obtain here in succinct form an excellent ready reference work. The book is modestly given to the public as a beginning, but it has accomplished much for the race not only in the information which it contains but in demonstrating what a store of knowledge may be obtained through an effective organization. Just as the African Methodist Episcopal Church has gone to the expense of bringing out this valuable volume to publish to posterity the deeds of its fathers, so should every Negro organization address itself to the task of preserving a record of all of their connection, who have done something for the development of the country and the progress of their people.

NOTES

FATHER UNCLES OF BALTIMORE

The following from the _Brooklyn Tablet_, January 13, 1917, will interest students of the Negro Church:

"Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles, of Baltimore, Maryland, received congratulatory messages from all parts of the country last month, the occasion being the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination. Father Uncles was the first colored man of the United States to be raised to the priesthood, and he has had a brilliant career during the quarter century that has elapsed since Cardinal Gibbons ordained him in the Baltimore Cathedral on December 19, 1891.

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

"Father Uncles was the first negro in this country to be ordained. He reached his goal after years of preliminary study which led to his taking a course in St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Seminaries. He was graduated with honors and went to Epiphany College as teacher as soon as he left St. Mary's. He has done much to put the negro missions on a thorough working basis, and he has the admiration of Cardinal Gibbons. Father Uncles was born in Baltimore November 6, 1859, and his parents and grandparents were free negroes. His father was a machinist and worked for years with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His mother is still living.

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

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

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

"Father Uncles was the first of his race in this country to be raised to the dignity of the priesthood. His was a unique position. The eyes of the American world were upon him. Though one of God's anointed, he was a "colored man," and thus more was demanded of him than of any of his white brothers. At the end of twenty-five years, he can, with his gentle good nature, laugh at the world's scrutiny.

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

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

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

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

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

This elegant plant was erected at the sole expense of the Catholics who, abreast of the times, met at every turn the requirements of an aspiring class of colored boys and girls.

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

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

These Sisters are known as the Sisters of St. Francis of Baltimore. They have the privilege of being the first of all the white sisterhoods in this country to take up the work of teaching colored children exclusively. Today there are many colored citizens who are not backward in their praise of the successful and unselfish efforts of these same good sisters, whose energetic endeavors have led many a colored boy and girl to a happy and prosperous career.

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

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

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

The church adjoining the college, attendance at which is of course optional, affords all the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Affiliated with this church are four flourishing societies, one for the men called the Holy Name Society; one for the women called The Sodality of the Mother of Jesus; one for men and women called The League of the Sacred Thirst--a Temperance Society; and one for the boys and girls called the Knights and Ladies of the Cross. The members of these societies are very faithful in the duties required of them, and hence give great edification to the people of both races.

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

FATHER TOBIN

MORE ABOUT NEGRO SOLDIERS

The following account of the services of Negroes during the American Revolution appeared in the _Washington Post_, January 16, 1917:

"The employment of colored men became a subject of much importance at an early stage of the American war of independence. The British naturally regarded slavery as an element of weakness in the condition of the colonies, in which the slaves were numerous, and laid their plans to gain the colored men and induce them to take up arms against their masters by promising them liberty on this condition.

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

"ONLY FREEMEN WANTED IN ARMY

"In May, 1775, Hancock and Warren's committee of safety introduced the following formal resolution: '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 person as a soldier into the army now raising, but only such as are freemen, will be inconsistent with the principles that are to be supported and reflect dishonor on these colonies, and that no slaves be admitted into this army upon any consideration whatever.'

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

"MANY COLORED MEN ENROLLED

"Notwithstanding all this, the fact remains, according to Bancroft, that 'the roll of the army at Cambridge had, from its first formation, borne the names of men of color.' Free colored men stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginning of the war they had entered the provincial army, and the colored men, like others, were retained in the service after the troops were adopted by the continent.

"A committee on conference, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Lynch, met at Cambridge, October 18, 1775, with the deputy governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island and the committee of the council of Massachusetts Bay, to confer with Gen. Washington, and advise a method for renovating the army. On the 23d of October the negro question was presented and disposed of 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. It was agreed that they be rejected altogether.

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

"PERMITTED THEIR ENLISTMENT

"Washington, however, in the last days of the year, under representations to him that the free colored men who had served in his army were very much dissatisfied at being discarded, and fearing that they might seek employment in the British army, took the responsibility to depart from the resolution respecting them and gave license for their being enlisted.

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

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

"The result was that in all the Southern States the legislatures passed resolutions to enlist the colored men, and the colored patriots of the Revolution are as much entitled as their white brethren for the ardor with which they fought the common enemy, whether they were bondmen or freemen. It has never been possible to give an exact statement as to the number of colored men who served in the Revolution, for the reason that they were generally mixed in regiments and not calculated separately."

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

A GALLANT NEGRO

_How Salem Poor Fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill_

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

The Subscribers begg leave to Report to your Honble. House (Which Wee do in justice to the Caracter of so Brave a Man) that under Our Own observation, Wee declare that A Negro Man Called Salem Poor of Col Fryes Regiment. Capt. Ames. Company in the late Battle at Charleston, behaved like an Experienced Officer, as Well as an Excellent Soldier, to Set forth Particulars of his Conduct Would be Tedious, Wee Would Only begg leave to say in the Person of this sd. Negro Centers a Brave & gallant Soldier. The Reward due to so great and Distinguisht a Caracter, Wee submit to the Congress----

Cambridge Decr. 5th 1775

JONA. BREWER. _Col_ THOMAS NIXON _Lt. Col_ WM PRESCOTT _Colo._ EPHM. COREY _Lieut._ JOSEPH BAKER _Lieut_ JOSHUA REED _Lieut_

To the Honorable General Court of the Massachusetts Bay.

JONAS RICHARDSON _Capt._ ELIPHELET BODWELL _Segt_ JOSIAH FOSTER _Leutn._ EBENR VARNUM _2d Lut._ WM HUDSON BALLARD _Cpt_ WILLIAM SMITH _Capn_ JOHN MARTEN _Surgt: of a Brec_: LIEUT. RICHARD WELSH In Council Decr. 21st. 1775 Read & Sent down PEREZ MORTON _Dpy Secry_

This paper is indorsed

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

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

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

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

The extract below is from a discussion of the questions of pension and bounty for Negro soldiers by James Croggon. It appeared in the _Washington Star_.

"January 21 Gen. Jackson read an address to each of the commands which had taken part in the battles, reviewing the campaign, and saying of the engagement of January 8 that the loss of the enemy was more than 3,000 while the American loss was but thirteen--"a wonderful interposition of heaven! An unexampled event in the history of war!" Gen. Jackson characterizes the event.

"In his general orders of January 21, prior to breaking camp, Gen. Jackson complimented the various regiments and commands, saying of the two bodies of colored volunteers: 'They have not disappointed the hopes that were formed of their courage and perseverence in the performance of their duty. Majs. Lacoste and Daquin, who commanded them, have deserved well of their country.'

"REWARDS HELD UP

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

"When the colored troops enlisted the act of Congress of December 24, 1811, provided a bounty of $16, with three months' pay, and a grant of 160 acres of land to those who had served five years, the same amount of land to the heirs of those killed in battle, and the same amount of land to the heirs of those who had died in the service after having served five years. The act of January 11, 1812, carried like provisions, and the act of December 10, 1814, again carried the provisions, except that the amount of land granted was doubled.

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

"JACKSON PRAISED TROOPS

"This apathy and long delay ensued notwithstanding the fact that under date of December 27, 1814, Gen. Jackson had reviewed the first engagement in a report in which he spoke highly of the men of color attached to Coffee's brigade. He said in this engagement a number of prisoners were taken, and the British loss was about 100. On the night of the 23d of December, in the engagement below New Orleans, the British left 100 killed, and 230 wounded, their loss in prisoners taken making their total loss that night about 400.

"Again, reporting on the battle of January 8, Gen. Jackson said that the enemy advanced in two strong columns, and that 'they were received with a firmness which defeated all their hopes. For upward of an hour the firing was incessant, but the enemy at length fled in confusion from the field, their losses including Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham.' Under date of January 19 Gen. Jackson informed the War Department that the enemy had decamped, leaving eighty of their wounded and fourteen pieces of heavy artillery, and that he believed Louisiana was then 'clear.'

"ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION

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

"'Sir: Had I been called on a priori to give a construction to the several acts of Congress, which are the subject of Mr. Cutting's letters of the 21st of May, 1821, and 30th of January, 1823, of Maj. Charles J. Nourse's of the 20th of January, 1823, and Mr. J. W. Murray's of the 22d of December, 1822, I should have had no hesitation in expressing the opinion that it was not the intention of Congress to incorporate negroes and people of color with the army, any more than with the militia of the United States. But the acts of Congress, under which this body of people of color are understood to have been raised during the late war, uses no other terms of description as to the recruits than that they shall be 'effective, able-bodied men' (act 24th December, 1811), 'for completing the existing military establishment,' and act 11th January, 1812, 'to raise an additional military force,' of 'free, effective, able-bodied men' (act December 10, 1814), 'making further provision for filling the ranks of the army of the United States.'

"ALL REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED

"As either of these descriptions was satisfied by the persons of color in question; as the recruiting officers, who were quoad hoc the agents of the United States, recruited these persons on a contract for the pay and bounty stipulated by law, as the officers of government recognize them as a part of the army, by their regular returns of this corps, who received, till the close of the war, the same pay and rations with other troops, were subject to the same military law and performed the same military services, it seems to me that a practical construction has been given to the law in this particular, from which it is not in the power of the government justly to depart.

"I think, therefore, that they ought to receive the promised land bounty. But, without some further and more explicit declaration of the purpose of Congress, I would not recommend a repetition of such contracts on any future occasion on laws worded like those under consideration; by which I mean, not merely the three laws which I have cited, but the whole military system of the United States, militia included."

* * * * *

Mrs. R. L. Pendleton has published the new edition of the _Life and Works of Phillis Wheatley_ by G. Herbert Renfro. This volume contains a sketch of G. Herbert Renfro and a much more detailed sketch of the life of Phillis Wheatley by this writer. It contains the correspondence of the poetess and a larger number of her poems than we find in some of the other editions of her works. The book is well printed and nicely bound and may be purchased for the small sum of $1.50 from R. L. Pendleton, 1216 You St., Washington, D. C.

* * * * *

Longmans and Company have published A. J. McDonald's _Trade, Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East_. It is a valuable contribution to the British colonial policy.

H. O. Newland's _Sierra Leone; its People, Products and Secret Societies_ has come from the press of Bale, Sons and Donnelson. The author is a student of sociology and knows much about West Africa. To this is appended 44 pages of information on Sierra Leone by H. Hamel Smith.

_In the Hands of Senoussi_ has been published by Mrs. Gwatkin Williams. This book is a collection of facts compiled from the diary of Captain R. Gwatkin Williams, giving an account of nineteen weeks of captivity of the survivors of H. M. S. _Tara_ in the Libyan Desert.

The tales of General Botha's desert march in Southwest Africa have been published as _Sun, Sand and Sin_ by Hodder and Stoughton.

Articles of interest on Africa recently published are _Islam on the Congo_ by W. J. W. Roome in the Moslem World, _L'Islam en Mauritanie et au Senegale_ in the Revue du Monde Musulman and _Observations on the Northern Section of the Tanganyika-Nile Rift Valley_ by Captain C. H. Stigand in the Geographical Journal.

_The Early History of Cuba_, 1492-1586, by I. A. Wright, has been published by MacMillan Company. The book shows evidence of extensive research and scholarly treatment.

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History is making extensive preparation to bring together during the last week in August all persons who are now seriously interested in the study of Negro history. It is hoped that a large number of members may be able to attend and that interest in the work may extend throughout the country. Some of the leading historians of the United States will be invited to address this body.

THE JOURNAL

OF

NEGRO HISTORY

VOL. II--JULY, 1917--NO. 3

THE FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY

What to do with the Negro population has almost always been a question before the American people. Since the early date of 1714 its removal to some territory beyond the limits of the United States or to an unsettled area of our public lands has been advocated. During the century which followed the earliest mention of deportation, its advocates published their plans as individual propaganda, sought the approbation of religious and humanitarian organizations, and in one or two instances tried to secure favorable State or national action on them. But throughout this long period of one hundred years no concerted action was taken: the period is characterized by sporadic origins and isolated efforts; and these early projectors of plans to remove the Negro were the trailmakers in a pioneering movement which culminated in a national organization.[234]

Obviously private enterprise alone could make little headway in the actual colonization of the Negroes in a territory sufficiently distant to be beyond the pale of the white population. The one item of expense was too serious a handicap for individual initiative to overcome. Besides the case of Captain Izard Bacon of Virginia, who temporarily removed his fifty-two freedmen to Pennsylvania to await a favorable time for sending them over sea,[235] and of Mary Matthews of King George's County, Virginia, who by will emancipated her slaves and provided for their removal to a place where they could enjoy their liberty,[236] there is but one significant example of actual colonization under individual auspices. This occurred in 1815 when Paul Cuffe took thirty-eight Negroes to the western coast of Africa.[237] This dramatic event in Negro deportation, owing to the wide publicity given to it, stimulated activity anew in colonization ventures.

We shall now review these new schemes and show how representatives of the transportation movement assembled in Washington city, and having enlisted in their cause men most distinguished in the councils of the nation, formed the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, an organization still in existence but now known as the American Colonization Society and having as a monument to its checkered career, the free Negro republic, Liberia, on the western coast of Africa.

To begin with, it is well to point out that Thomas Jefferson, whose advocacy of Negro colonization dates from 1773, replied in 1811, to a request for his opinion on Ann Mifflin's proposition to make a settlement of colored people on the west coast of Africa under the auspices of the different States, that he considered it "the most desirable measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off" the black population; and he added: "nothing is more to be wished than that the United States should themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa."[238] It requires little effort to appreciate the weight of this Ex-President's opinion, and colonizationists later gave wide publicity to it in order to strengthen their cause.[239]

Additional deportation sentiment is found in the recommendations of the Union Humane Society, an anti-slavery organization founded in 1815, in Ohio, by Benjamin Lundy. Two planks in the program of the Society are noteworthy: first, it emphasized the necessity of common action by all forces interested in the amelioration of the Negro race; and, second, it recommended as a basis for common action the removal of the Negroes beyond the pale of the white man.[240]

While the Union Humane Society was silent on national aid, the Kentucky Colonization Society came out in strong terms for it. Taking advantage of the close of the War of 1812 and of the existence of vast tracts of unappropriated lands in the United States, and realizing that the number of free blacks daily increased, and that the territory open to them for residence was greatly restricted owing to the prohibitory legislation existing in many States, this Society, at its annual meeting, held in Frankfort, October 18 and 19, 1815, petitioned Congress that a suitable territory "be laid off as an asylum for all those negroes and mulattoes who have been, and those who may hereafter be, emancipated within the United States; and that such donations, allowances, encouragements, and assistance be afforded them as may be necessary for carrying them thither and settling them therein; and that they be under such regulations and government in all respects as your wisdom shall direct."[241]

Another manifestation of sentiment for removing the Negroes to a distant territory is found in a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia Assembly on December 21, 1816. These resolutions were introduced and sponsored by Charles Fenton Mercer, a slaveholder. In the spring of 1816, he accidentally discovered the secret action of the Assembly, taken in 1800, just after the Negro insurrection of that year, the upshot of which was two resolutions directing the Governor to correspond with the President of the United States for the purpose of securing somewhere a suitable territory for the colonization of emancipated slaves and free Negroes[242]. It was too near the end of the session when Mercer found these resolutions for him to present a program to the Assembly. In the interim, however, Mercer broke the bar of secrecy, interviewed Francis S. Key, of Georgetown, and Elias B. Caldwell, of Washington city, and with their advice drew up some resolutions to introduce in the Assembly at its next session. Moreover, while in the North that summer for the purpose of the recuperation of his health, having made known his plan, he received "promises of pecuniary aid, and of active cooperation."[243] At the next session of the Virginia Assembly, Mercer introduced his resolutions, the purport of which asked the national government to find a territory on the North Pacific on which to settle free blacks and those afterwards emancipated in Virginia. These resolutions having been amended by the Senate to read on the North Pacific or the African Coast were passed by the Assembly on December 21, 1816, the very day on which the first public meeting of deportationists was held in Washington and out of which grew the American Colonization Society.

A year later, speaking before this organization, Mercer stated his reasons for supporting deportation. "Many thousand individuals in our native State, you well know Mr. President, are restrained from manumitting their slaves, as you and I are, by the melancholy conviction that they cannot yield to the suggestions of humanity without manifest injury to their country." He held that the rapidly increasing free black population endangered the peace of the State and impaired in a large section the value of slave property. What banditti, consisting of the degraded, idle, and vicious free blacks, "sally forth from their coverts, beneath the obscurity of night, and plunder the rich proprietors of the valleys. They infest the suburbs of the towns and cities, where they become the depositories of stolen goods, and, schooled by necessity, elude the vigilance of our defective police."[245] Thus a Virginia slaveholder saw in Negro colonization a means to relieve the State of a dangerous population, to increase the value of slave property and to make possible manumission by that class of slaveholders in which he put himself.

A concurrent expression on Negro deportation, but apparently an independent one, is connected with the name of Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. A graduate of Princeton, a teacher, a Presbyterian pastor, Finley was in 1816 made president of the University of Georgia, at Athens, where he died the following year at the age of forty-five. As early as 1814 he wrote "a very particular friend in Philadelphia" his ideas on Negro colonization.[246] On February 15, 1815, he wrote a letter to John O. Mumford, of New York City, in which he argued for the removal of the free blacks. He said in part: "Everything connected with their condition, including their color, is against them; nor is there much prospect that their state can ever be greatly ameliorated, while they shall continue among us. Could not the rich and benevolent devise means to form a colony on some part of the Coast of Africa, similar to the one at Sierra Leone, which might gradually induce many free blacks to go there and settle, devising for them the means of getting there, and of protection and support till they were established? Ought not Congress to be petitioned to grant them a district in a good climate, say on the shores of the Pacific Ocean? Our fathers brought them here, and we are bound if possible to repair the injuries inflicted by our fathers. Could they be sent to Africa, a three-fold benefit would arise. We should be cleared of them; we should send to Africa a population partially civilized and christianized for its benefits; our blacks themselves would be put in better condition. Think much on this subject, then please write me again when you have leisure."[247]

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

A third concurrent manifestation of colonization activity is connected with the name of Samuel J. Mills, whose indefatigable energy and unselfish devotion to all causes missionary are scarcely paralleled in history. Whether as an undergraduate at Williams College or as a graduate student at Yale or Andover Theological Seminary, he was feverishly active in projecting plans for Christian missionary work. His mother said: "I have consecrated this child to the service of God as a missionary,"[249] and surely he was faithful to death to this dedication. He was the leader of the Society of Inquiry Respecting Missions, founded in 1810, an organization which favored African colonization.[250] As soon as his college work was over he made a missionary tour through the Middle West and South, under the auspices of the Society for Propagating the Gospel,[251] and in 1814-15 he made a second tour.[252] He is credited with having originated the American Bible Society, the United Foreign Missionary Society, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He took a deep interest in the movement which about this time sent men to India, Ceylon, the Sandwich Islands, and to the various tribes of the American Indians. He had a hand in the formation of the Foreign Mission school at Cornwall, Connecticut, and the establishment of the African School at Parsippany, New Jersey, is directly attributed to him.

When Mills made his tour through the West and South he not only preached the Gospel and distributed Bibles, he studied the condition of the Negro as well. "We must save the Negroes or the Negroes will ruin us," he concluded. He was convinced that if some disposition could be made of the free Negroes, many slaveholders would gladly emancipate their slaves. With this in view, he sought to procure a district in Ohio, Indiana, or Illinois where the blacks might be colonized. In this way he could test his principle and develop leaders for a more extended settlement in the far West or in Africa.[253] This plan did not mature, but he continued to recommend emigration both to the blacks and whites and to provide for the training of Negro teachers and preachers. The young missionary established a school under the care of the synod of New York and New Jersey at Parsippany in the latter state, which was to "qualify young men of color for teachers of schools and preachers of the gospel, in hope of exerting an influence in correcting morals and manners of their brethren in cities and large towns; and also to raise up teachers for these people, should an effort be made to settle them by themselves, either in this country or abroad." Some gave to aid the school as an auxiliary to the colonization effort, who would not have given, had not that view been presented. "I am confident," Mills wrote (in 1817), "that the people of color now in this country, that is, many of them, will be settled by themselves, either in this country or abroad. The teachers who may be raised up will promote this object. Whether they remain in this country or not, much must be done to qualify them for living in society by themselves."[254]

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

Other expressions favorable to the deportation of Negroes were made about this time. At a meeting in Greene County, Tennessee, composed of delegates of the Manumission Society, emancipation was recommended "and if thought best, that a colony be laid off for their reception as they become free."[256] Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jr., a physician, writing a few days before the passage of the Virginia resolutions, advocated the transfer of the Negroes to some distant American Territory. He thought, since Congress had done nothing toward such a movement, public subscriptions from beneficent societies and individuals should be solicited with which to purchase a suitable site for a colony and meet the expense of transportation.[257] Hezekiah Niles, the great compiler, said he had thought on colonization from his youth up.[258] An editorial in a Georgia newspaper dated January 1, 1817, said deportation was seriously agitated in different parts of the country. The G