Project Gutenberg's The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919, by Various
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919
Author: Various
Release Date: April 15, 2007 [EBook #21093]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO HISTORY ***
Produced by Curtis Weyant, Richard J. Shiffer and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this
text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant
spellings and other inconsistencies. Text that has been changed to
correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. Also, the
transcriber added the Table of Contents.]
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
Volume IV
1919
Table of Contents
Vol IV--January, 1919--No. 1
Primitive Law and the Negro ROLAND G. USHER
Lincoln's Plan for Colonizing Negroes CHARLES H. WESLEY
Lemuel Haynes W. H. MORSE
The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada FRED LANDON
Documents
Benjamin Franklin and Freedom
Proceedings of a Mississippi Migration Convention in 1879
How the Negroes were Duped
Remarks on this Exodus by Federick Douglass
The Senate Report on the Exodus of 1879
Some Undistinguished Negroes
Book Reviews
Notes
Vol IV--April, 1919--No. 2
The Conflict and Fusion of Cultures ROBERT E. PARK
The Company of Royal Adventurers GEORGE F. ZOOK
Book Reviews
Notes
Vol IV--July, 1919--No. 3
Negroes in the Confederate Army CHARLES H. WESLEY
Legal Status of Negroes in Tennessee WILLIAM LLOYD IMES
Negro Life and History in our Schools C. G. WOODSON
Grégoire's Sketch of Angelo Solimann F. HARRISON HOUGH
Documents
Letters of Negro Migrants of 1916-1918
Book Reviews
Notes
Vol IV--October, 1919--No. 4
Labor Conditions in Jamaica Prior to 1917 E. ETHELRED BROWN
The Life of Charles B. Ray M. N. WORK
The Slave in Upper Canada W. R. RIDDELL
Documents
Notes on Slavery in Canada
Additional Letters of Negro Migrants of 1916-1918
Book Reviews
Notes
Biennial Meeting of Association
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
VOL. IV--JANUARY, 1919--No. I
PRIMITIVE LAW AND THE NEGRO
The psychology of large bodies of men is a surprisingly difficult
topic and it is often true that we are inclined to seek the
explanation of phenomena in too recent a period of human development.
The truth seems to be that ideas prevail longer than customs, habits
of dress or the ordinary economic processes of the community, and the
ideas are the controlling factors. The attitude of the white man in
this country toward the Negro is the fact perhaps of most consequence
in the Negro problem. Why is it that still there lingers a certain
unwillingness, one can hardly say more, in the minds of the best
people to accept literally the platform of the Civil War? Why were the
East St. Louis riots possible? I am afraid that a good many of the
Negro race feel that there is a distinct personal prejudice or
antipathy which can be reached or ought to be reached by logic, by
reason, by an appeal to the principles of Christianity and of
democracy. For myself I have always felt that if the premises of
Christianity were valid at all, they placed the Negro upon precisely
the same plane as the white man; that if the premises of democracy
were true for the white man, they were true for the black. There
should be no artificial distinction created by law, and what is much
more to the purpose, by custom simply because the one man has a skin
different in hue than the other. Nor should the law, once having been
made equal, be nullified by a lack of observance on the part of the
whites nor be abrogated by tacit agreements or by further legislation
subtly worded so as to avoid constitutional requirements. Each man and
woman should be tested by his qualities and achievements and valued
for what he is. I am sure no Negro asks for more, and yet I am afraid
it is true, as many have complained, that in considerable sections of
this country he receives far less.
I have long believed that we are concerned in this case with no
reasoned choice and with no explainable act, but with an unconscious
impulse, a subconscious impulse possibly, with an illogical,
unreasonable but powerful and in-explainable reaction of which the
white man himself is scarcely conscious and yet which he feels to be
stronger than all the impulses created in him by reason and logic.
What is its origin? Is there such a force? I think most will agree
there is such an instinctive aversion or dislike.
I am inclined to carry it back into the beginnings of the race, back
to the period of pre-historic law and to that psychological origin
which antedates the records of history, in the strict sense, to that
part of racial history indeed where men commonly act rather than
write. The idea of prehistoric law is that obligation exists only
between people of the same blood. Originally, charitable and decent
conduct was expected only of people of the same family. Even though
the family was by fact or fiction extended to include some hundreds or
even thousands of people, the fact was still true. The law which bound
a man limited his good conduct to a relatively few people. Outside the
blood kin he was not bound. He must not steal from his relatives, but
if he stole from another clan, his relatives deemed it virtue. If he
committed murder, he should be punished within his clan, but
protected, if possible, by his clan, if he murdered someone outside
it. The blood kin became the definite limitation of the ideas of right
and responsibility. This was true between whites. All whites were not
members of any one man's blood kin.
Palpably more true was this distinction between the Negro and the
white man. The Negro could not by any fiction be represented as one of
the blood kin. The Romans extended the legal citizenship to cover all
white men in their dominions. It was the fictitious tie of the blood
kin, but its plausibility was due to the fact that they were all
white. I do not remember to have seen any proof that the Negro
inhabitants of the Roman African colonies were considered Roman
citizens. This is one of the oldest psychological lines in human
history; the rights which a man must concede to another are limited by
the relationship of blood. _Prima facie_ there could be no blood
relationship between the Negro and the white man. There could
therefore be no obligation on the white man's part to the Negro in
prehistoric law. This notion has, I think, endured in many ways down
to the present day as a subconscious, unconscious factor behind many
very vital notions and ideas. Is it not true that international law
has been, more often than not, a law between white men?
The next point I hesitate somewhat to make because it is difficult to
state without over-emphasis and without saying more than one means. I
think it probable that in one way or another the idea of Christianity
became connected with the notion of the blood kin and in that sense
limited to the blood kin of those to whom Jesus came. Everyone is
familiar with the Jewish notion that Jesus was their own particular
Messiah, and that the Gentiles were foreclosed claims upon him. As
Christianity grew, it grew still among the white nations, and the
notion of it was not, I think, extended for a good many centuries to
any except white people. The premises of Christianity unquestionably
included the Negro, but the notion of the blood kin excluded him, and
Christianity, like other religious ideas, was limited to the people
who first created it and to those who were actually or by some
plausible fiction their kin in blood. The idea of the expansion of the
blood kin by adoption either of an individual or of a community of
individuals was very old and thoroughly well established, but I think
the idea never was applied to Negroes, Indians, or Chinamen except in
unfrequent cases of individuals. A volume would be required to bring
forward all the available evidence regarding this idea, and another
perhaps to examine and develop it, to consider and weigh the _pros_
and meet the _cons_. But it will perhaps suffice for present purposes
to throw out the idea for consideration without an attempt at more
considerable defense.
Another fact which has been most difficult to explain has been the
continued lynchings of Negroes not merely for crimes against women,
but for all sorts of other crimes, large and small. Here the traces of
primitive law are very much clearer. Lynching is after all nothing
more nor less than the old self-help. The original notion was that the
individual should execute the law himself when he could, and that he
was entitled in case of crime to assistance from the community in the
execution of the law upon the offender. Murder, arson, rape and the
theft of cattle were the particular crimes for which self-help by the
individual and by the community in his assistance were authorized by
primitive law. The preliminaries and formularies were very definite,
but they do not look to us of the present day like procedure. It is
true, however, that there are very few lynchings in which these
formulas have not been unconsciously followed. There must be a hue and
cry and pursuit along the trail. The murderer must be immediately
pursued. The person against whom the crime is committed or his next of
kin must raise an immediate outcry, and they and the neighbors must
proceed at once in pursuit. If they caught the criminal within a
reasonable distance or within a reasonable time, they then were
endowed by primitive law with the right to execute justice upon him
themselves. Commonly the criminal was hanged (even for theft) when
caught in the act, but barbarous punishments were not uncommon. That
was legal procedure, provided the cry was raised, the pursuit
undertaken, and the criminal caught within a reasonable number of
hours or days as the case might be. The mob had the right to execute
the law, and it is not often that lynchings take place long periods
after the commission of the crime. Such for many centuries was the law
in Europe for whites. Self-help applied in particular to men of
different tribes or communities who were not of the same blood kin.
If self-help applied under certain conditions within the blood kin as
it unquestionably did, that is to say, within the law, it applied with
greater force to all classes and offenders who were outside the blood
kin and were outside the law. If a stranger or an alien came within
the community bounds and did not sound his horn, community law
sanctioned his instant killing by anyone who met him. Men could not
peaceably enter the precincts of the German tribes as late as the year
500 or 600 A.D. without being liable to instant death unless they
complied with certain definite formularies. Until within five hundred
years, the stranger was practically without rights in any country but
his own, and might be dealt with violently by individuals or bodies of
citizens. One has but to remember the tortures visited upon the Jews
in all European countries with impunity to realize the truth of the
doctrine of self-help when applied to strangers. There was literally
no law to govern the situation. The courts did not deal with it, no
penalties were provided for the restraining of individuals or of the
community at large, dealing with strangers until a relatively recent
time.
Is it not true that the difference in blood between the Negro and the
white man has caused a survival of this notion of self-help, today
illogical, unreasonable, absurd, but powerful none the less despite
its technical infraction of the law of the land? Is not the lynching
of a Negro or of a white man simply the old primitive self-help with
the hue and cry and the execution of the victim when caught by the mob
or by the sheriff's posse? There is perhaps no field of speculation so
fascinating as this of the survival of bygone customs, traditions, and
notions, in present society. At the same time he will be a poor and
uncritical student who will not recognize the ease of erecting vast
structures upon slender foundations. My purpose in this article is
not to allege the necessary truth of this proposition, but, if
possible, to stimulate along different lines than has been common the
researches of those who are interested in the psychological attitude
of the white man toward the Negro.
There will be no doubt those who will exclaim that if I am right in
this analysis of the problem--indeed, if there be any reasonable
modicum of truth in what I say--then the solution of the problem will
be difficult in the extreme. The whole method of attack upon it will
be altered. A long educational campaign will become the main feature,
intended to expose the true basis of the white man's denial of real
equality to the Negro race. It will look like a battle too long to be
waged with courage because the victory will be far in the future. I do
not agree. The attack, if properly directed, and vigorously followed
up, will, like the assault of the woman suffragists upon equally
ancient instinctive promptings, be unexpectedly successful. The walls
of the fortress are thin and the defenders the wraiths of a dim past.
ROLAND G. USHER.
LINCOLN'S PLAN FOR COLONIZING THE EMANCIPATED NEGROES[1]
The colonization of the emancipated slaves had been one of the
remedies for the difficulties created by the presence of freedmen in
the midst of slave conditions. The American Colonization Society was
founded in 1816 with the object of promoting emancipation by sending
the freedmen to Africa. Some of the slave States, moreover, had laws
compelling the freedmen to leave the State in which they had formerly
resided as slaves. With an increasingly large number securing legal
manumission, the problem caused by their presence became to the
slaveholding group a most serious one. The Colonization Society,
therefore, sought to colonize the freedmen on the west coast of
Africa, thus definitely removing the problem which was of such concern
to the planters in slaveholding States.
The colony of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, was chosen as a
favorable one to receive the group of freed slaves. Branches of the
Colonization Society were organized in many States and a large
membership was secured throughout the country. James Madison and Henry
Clay were among its Presidents. Many States made grants of money and
the United States Government encouraged the plan by sending to the
colony slaves illegally imported. But to the year 1830 only 1,162
Negroes had been sent to Liberia. The full development of the cotton
gin, the expansion of the cotton plantation and the consequent rise in
the price of slaves forced many supporters of both emancipation and
colonization to lose their former ardor.
As the antebellum period of the fifties came on these questions loomed
larger in the public view. The proposition for colonizing free Negroes
grew in favor as the slavery question grew more acute between the
sections. Reformers favored it, public men of note urged its adoption
and finally, as the forensic strife between the representatives of the
two sections of the country developed in intensity, even distinguished
statesmen began to propose and consider the adoption of colonization
schemes.[2]
Abraham Lincoln, as early as 1852, gave a clear demonstration of his
interest in colonization by quoting favorably in one of his public
utterances an oft-repeated statement of Henry Clay,--"There is a moral
fitness in the idea of returning to Africa her children, whose
ancestors have been torn from her by the ruthless hand of fraud and
violence."[3] In popular parlance, however, Lincoln is not a
colonizationist. He has become not only the Great Emancipator but the
Great Lover of the Negro and promoter of his welfare. He is thought
of, popularly always, as the champion of the race's equality. A visit
to some of our emancipation celebrations or Lincoln's birthday
observances is sufficient to convince one of the prevalence of this
sentiment. Yet, although Lincoln believed in the destruction of
slavery, he desired the complete separation of the whites and blacks.
Throughout his political career Lincoln persisted in believing in the
colonization of the Negro.[4] In the Lincoln-Douglas debates the
beginning of this idea may be seen. Lincoln said: "If all earthly
power were given me, I should not know what to do as to the existing
institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves and send
them to Liberia--to their own native land. But a moment's reflection
would convince me that, whatever of high hope (as I think there is)
there may be in this, in the long run its sudden execution is
impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all
perish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus shipping and
surplus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times
ten days. What then? Free them all and keep them among us as
underlings? Is it quite certain that this betters their condition? I
think that I would not hold one in slavery at any rate, yet the point
is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon. What next? Free
them and make them politically and socially our equals? My own
feelings will not admit of this, and if mine would, we well know that
those of the great mass of whites will not. Whether this feeling
accords with sound judgment is not the sole judgment, if indeed it is
any part of it."[5]
A few years later in a speech in Springfield, Lincoln said:[6] "The
enterprise is a difficult one, but where there is a will there is a
way, and what colonization needs most is a hearty will. Will springs
from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest. Let us be
brought to believe it is morally right, and at the same time favorable
to, or at least not against our interests to transfer the African to
his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the
task may be."[7] It is apparent, therefore, that before coming to the
presidency, Lincoln had quite definite views on the matter of
colonization. His interest arose not only with the good of the
freedmen in view, but with the welfare of the white race in mind, as
he is frank enough to state.
After being made President, the question of colonization arose again.
Large numbers of slaves in the Confederate States not only became
actually free by escape and capture but also legally free through the
operation of the confiscation acts. In this new condition, their
protection and care was to a considerable extent thrown upon the
government. To solve this problem Lincoln decided upon a plan of
compensated emancipation which would affect the liberation of slaves
in the border States, and he further considered the future of the
recently emancipated slaves and those to be freed.[8]
Taking up this question in his first annual message, he said: "It
might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people
already in the United States could not so far as individuals may
desire be included in such colonization," (meaning the colonization of
certain persons who were held by legal claims to the labor and service
of certain other persons, and by the act of confiscating property used
for insurrectory purposes had become free, their claims being
forfeited). "To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the
acquiring of territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond
that to be expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practiced
the acquisition of territory for nearly sixty years, the question of
constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one to us.... On
this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the
acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute
necessity--that without which the government itself cannot be
perpetuated?"[9]
Congress responded to this recommendation in separate acts, providing
in an act, April 16, 1862, for the release of certain persons held to
service or labor in the District of Columbia, including those to be
liberated by this act, as may desire to emigrate to the Republic of
Hayti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the
United States, as the President may determine, provided the
expenditure does not exceed one hundred dollars for each
immigrant.[10] The act provided that the sum of $100,000 out of any
money in the Treasury should be expended under the direction of the
President to aid the colonization and settlement of such persons of
African descent now residing in the District of Columbia.[11] It
further provided that later, on July 16, an additional appropriation
of $500,000 should be used in securing the colonization of free
persons.[12] A resolution directly authorizing the President's
participation provided "that the President is hereby authorized to
make provision for the transportation, colonization and settlement in
some tropical country beyond the limits of the United States, of such
persons of the African race, made free by the provisions of this act,
as may be willing to emigrate, having first obtained the consent of
the government of said country to their protection and settlement
within the same, with all the rights and privileges of freemen."[13]
The consent of Congress was given under protest and opposition from
some individual members. Charles Sumner in and out of Congress
attacked the plan with vigor,[14] but in spite of this opposition the
recommendation was carried.
On several occasions Lincoln seized the opportunity to present his
views and plans to visiting groups and committees. On July 16, 1862,
when the President was desirous of securing the interest of the border
State representatives in favor of compensated emancipation the plan
for colonization came to light. His appeal to these representatives
was: "I do not speak of emancipation at once but of a decision to
emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization can be
obtained cheaply and in abundance, and when numbers shall be large
enough to be company and encouragement to one another the freed people
will not be so reluctant to go."[15]
Again on the afternoon of August 14, 1862, the President gave an
audience to a committee of men of color at the White House. They were
introduced by Rev. J. Mitchell, Commissioner of Emigration. E. M.
Thomas, the chairman, remarked that they were there by invitation to
hear what the executive had to say to them. Having all been seated the
President informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by
Congress and placed at his disposal for the purpose of aiding
colonization in some country, of the people, or a portion of those of
African descent, thereby making it his duty as it had been for a long
time his inclination to favor that cause. "And why," he asked, "should
the people of your race be colonized and where? Why should they leave
this country? You and we are different races. We have between us a
broader difference than exists between almost any other two races.
Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical
difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think. Your race
suffer very greatly, many of them, by living among us, while ours
suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this
is admitted it affords a reason why we should be separated. If we deal
with those who are not free at the beginning and whose intellects are
clouded by slavery we have very poor material to start with. If
intelligent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this
matter much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we
have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men and not
those who have been systematically opposed."
The place the President proposed at this time was a colony in Central
America, seven days' run from one of the important Atlantic ports by
steamer. He stated that there was great evidence of rich coal mines,
excellent harbors, and that the new colony was situated on the
highways from the Atlantic or Caribbean to the Pacific Oceans. He told
this delegation of men to take their full time in making a reply to
him. The delegation withdrew, and we are unable to discover any
information regarding the reply. Evidently the group of men never
returned to make reply to the appeal of the President.[16]
In the Second Annual Message December 1, 1862, more practical
suggestions were made to Congress by the President. Says he:
"Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African
descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as
was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties at home and
abroad--some upon interested motives, others upon patriotic
considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic
sentiments have suggested similar measures; while on the other hand
several of the Spanish American Republics have protested against the
sending of such colonies to their respective territories. Under these
circumstances I have declined to move any such colony to any State
without first obtaining the consent of the government, with an
agreement on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the
rights of freemen. I have at the same time offered to several States
situated within the tropics, or having colonies there to negotiate
with them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor
the voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective
territories upon conditions which shall be equal, just and humane.
Liberia and Hayti are as yet the only countries to which colonies of
African descent from here could go with certainty of being received
and adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons
contemplating colonization do not seem so willing to go to those
countries as to some others, nor so willing as I think their interest
demands. I believe, however, opinion among them in this respect is
improving; and that ere long there will be an augmented and
considerable migration to both countries from the United States."
Later in the same message Congress is requested to appropriate money
and prepare otherwise for colonizing free colored persons with their
own consent at some place without the United States. The President
continues: "I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I
strongly favor colonization and yet I wish to say there is an
objection urged against free colored persons remaining in the country,
which is largely imaginary, if not sometimes malicious. It is insisted
that their presence would injure and displace white labor and white
laborers. Is it true then that colored people can displace any more
white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If they stay in
their old places they jostle no white laborers; if they leave their
old places they leave them open to white laborers. Logically then
there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation even without
deportation would probably enhance the wages of white labor and very
surely would not reduce them. Reduce the supply of black labor by
colonizing the black laborer out of the country and by precisely so
much you increase the demand for and wages of white labor."[17]
Pursuant to the power given the President, negotiations were begun
with the foreign powers having territory or colonies within the
tropics, through the Secretary of State, W. H. Seward, mainly to
ascertain if there was any desire on the part of these governments for
entering into negotiation on the subject of colonization. Negotiations
were to be begun only with those powers which might desire the benefit
of such emigration. It was suggested that a ten years' treaty should
be signed between the United States and the countries desiring
immigration. The latter were required to give specific guarantees for
"the perpetual freedom, protection and equal rights of the colonies
and their descendants." Before and after the transmission of the
proposals to foreign countries, propositions came from the Danish
Island of St. Croix in the West Indies, the Netherland Colony of St.
Swinam, the British Colony of Guiana, the British Colony of Honduras,
the Republic of Hayti, the Republic of Liberia, New Granada and
Ecuador. The Republics of Central America, Guatemala, Salvador, Costa
Rica, and Nicaragua, objected to such emigration as undesirable.[20]
Great Britain rejected the proposal as a governmental proposition on
the ground that it might involve the government in some difficulty
with the United States government because of fugitives, and therefore
expressed her disagreement with such a convention. Seward had asserted
that there was no objection to voluntary emigration; the government of
British Honduras and Guiana then appointed immigration agents who were
to promote the immigration of laborers by using Boston, New York and
Philadelphia as emigration ports.
The President came to be of the firm opinion that emigration must be
voluntary and without expense to those who went. This was repeatedly
asserted according to reports of the Cabinet meeting by Gideon
Wells.[21] The Netherlands sought to secure a labor supply for the
colony of Swinan for a term of years, using the freedmen as hired
laborers. Seward objected to the acceptance of such a proposal.
Of all the propositions offered President Lincoln seemed satisfied
with two--one was for the establishment of a colony in the harbor of
Chiriqui in the northeastern section of the State of Panama,[22] near
the republics of New Granada and Costa Rica. The situation seemed
favorable not only because of the ordinary advantages of soil and
climate but also because of its proximity to a proposed canal across
the Isthmus of Darien and because of its reputedly rich coal fields.
There were two objections to this plan. One was the existence of a
dispute over territory between the republics of Costa Rica and
Granada. The other grew out of a specific examination of the coal
fields by Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institute.[23] His report
doubted the value of the coal bed and advised a more thorough
examination before closing the purchase. Before the project could be
examined a more acceptable proposition appeared. In addition it also
developed that there was opposition to Negro emigration from several
of the States of Central America.[24]
An effort was then made to establish a colony on the island of A'Vache
in the West Indies. This colony was described in a letter to the
President by Bernard Kock, represented to be a business man. This site
was described as the most beautiful, healthy and fertile of all the
islands belonging to the Republic of Hayti, and in size of about one
hundred square miles. "As would be expected," writes Kock, "in a
country like this, soil and climate are adapted for all tropical
production, particularly sugar, coffee, indigo, and more especially
cotton which is indigenous. Attracted by its beauty, the value of its
timber, its extreme fertility and its adaptation for cultivation, I
prevailed on President Geffrard of Hayti to concede to me the island,
the documentary evidence of which has been lodged with the Secretary
of the Interior."[25]
On December 31, 1862, there was signed a contract by which, for a
compensation of $50 per head, Kock agreed to colonize 5,000 Negroes,
binding himself to furnish the colonies with comfortable homes, garden
lots, churches, schools and employ them four years at varying rates.
He further agreed to obtain from the Haytian government a guarantee
that all such emigrants and their posterity should forever remain
free, and in no case be reduced to bondage, slavery or involuntary
servitude except for crimes; and they should specially acquire, hold
and transmit property and all other privileges of persons common to
inhabitants of a country in which they reside. It would be further
stipulated that in case of indigence resulting from injury, sickness
or age, any such emigrants who should become pauperous should not
thereupon be suffered to perish or come to want, but should be
supported and cared for as is customary with similar inhabitants of
the country in which they should be residents.[26]
Kock also proposed a scheme to certain capitalists in New York and
Boston. This had nothing to do with the contract with the President.
He proposed to transport 500 of these emigrants at once, begin work on
the plantations, and by the end of the following September--a period
of eight or nine months--he estimated that this group could raise a
crop of 1,000 bales of cotton. It was planned that the colonists
should secure from the island a profit of more than 600 per cent in
nine months. Kock estimated his necessary expenses as $70,000, and all
expense incurred by freighting ships and collecting immigrants was to
be borne by the government. It soon became known to the government
that Kock had sought the aid of capitalists and money makers.
Suspicion as to the honesty of his purposes was then aroused. It was
finally discovered also that he was in league with certain
confederates to hand over slaves to him as captured runaways on the
condition of receiving a price for their return. Lincoln investigated
the matter and discovered that Kock was a mere adventurer and the
agreement with him was cancelled.[27]
A certain group of capitalists, whose names are not mentioned, then
secured the lease from Kock and entered into contract with the
government through the Secretary of the Interior, April 6, 1863.[28]
Under this agreement a shipload of colonists from the contrabands at
Fortress Monroe, said to number 411-435, were embarked.[29] An
infectious disease broke out through the presence on board of patients
from the military hospital on Craney Island and from twenty to thirty
died. On the arrival in the colony no hospitals were ready, no houses
were provided, and the resulting conditions were appalling. Kock was
sent along as Governor, and he is said to have put on the air of a
despot and by his neglect of the sick and needy to have made himself
obnoxious.
Rumors of the situation came to the President and he sent a special
agent, D. C. Donnohue, who investigated the matter and made a report.
Donnohue elaborately described the deplorable situation of the
inhabitants, the wretched condition of the small houses and the
prevalence of sickness. He further reported that the Haytian
government was unwilling that emigrants should remain upon the island
and that the emigrants themselves desired to return to the United
States. Acting upon the report, the President ordered the Secretary of
War to dispatch a vessel to bring home the colonists desiring to
return.[30] On the fourth of March the vessel set sail and landed at
the Potomac River opposite Alexandria on the twentieth of the same
month. On the twelfth of March, 1864, a report was submitted to the
Senate showing what portion of the appropriation for colonization had
been expended and the several steps which had been taken for the
execution of the acts of Congress.[31] On July 2, 1864, Congress
repealed its appropriation and no further effort was made at
colonization.[32]
The failure of this project did not dim the vision of the successful
colonization of the freed slaves in the mind of President Lincoln. As
late as April, 1865, according to report, the following conversation
is said to have ensued between the President and General Benjamin F.
Butler: "But what shall we do with the Negroes after they are free?"
inquired Lincoln. "I can hardly believe that the South and North can
live in peace unless we get rid of the Negroes. Certainly they cannot,
if we don't get rid of the Negroes whom we have armed and disciplined
and who have fought with us, to the amount, I believe, of some 150,000
men. I believe that it would be better to export them all to some
fertile country with a good climate, which they could have to
themselves. You have been a staunch friend of the race from the time
you first advised me to enlist them at New Orleans. You have had a
great deal of experience in moving bodies of men by water--your
movement up the James was a magnificent one. Now we shall have no use
for our very large navy. What then are our difficulties in sending the
blacks away?... I wish you would examine the question and give me your
views upon it and go into the figures as you did before in some degree
as to show whether the Negroes can be exported." Butler replied: "I
will go over this matter with all diligence and tell you my
conclusions as soon as I can." The second day after that Butler called
early in the morning and said: "Mr. President, I have gone very
carefully over my calculations as to the power of the country to
export the Negroes of the South and I assure you that, using all your
naval vessels and all the merchant marines fit to cross the seas with
safety, it will be impossible for you to transport to the nearest
place that can be found fit for them--and that is the Island of San
Domingo, half as fast as Negro children will be born here."[33]
This completes all of the evidence obtainable concerning Lincoln's
thought and plan for the colonization of the slaves freed by his
proclamation. From the earliest period of his public life it is easily
discernable that Abraham Lincoln was an ardent believer and supporter
of the colonization idea. It was his plan not only to emancipate the
Negro, but to colonize him in some foreign land. His views were
presented not only to interested men of the white race, but to persons
of color as well. As may have been expected, the plan for colonization
failed, both because in principle such a plan would have been a great
injustice to the newly emancipated race, and in practice it would have
proved an impracticable and unsuccessful solution of the so-called
race problem.
CHARLES H. WESLEY.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Cf. Chapter XVII, Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln, a History_.
[2] President Fillmore in his last message to Congress proposed a plan
for Negro colonization and advocated its adoption. This part of his
message was suppressed on the advice of his cabinet; but even had this
not been done, there is no reason to suppose that the plan would have
been adopted. President Buchanan made arrangements with the American
Colonization Society for the transportation of a number of slaves
captured on the slaver, Echo, in 1858.
[3] Eulogy on Henry Clay, delivered in the State House at Springfield,
Illinois, July 16, 1852. The quotation here noted is taken from a
speech by Henry Clay before the American Colonization Society, 1827.
Lincoln continued: "If as friends of colonization hope, the present
and coming generations of our countrymen shall by any means succeed in
freeing our land from the dangerous presence of slavery, and at the
same time in restoring a captive people to their long lost fatherland
with bright prospects for the future, and this too so gradually that
neither races nor individuals shall have suffered by the change, it
will be a glorious consummation." _The Works of Abraham Lincoln_,
Federal Edition, edited by A.B. Lapsley, VIII, pp. 173-174.
[4] "The political creed of Abraham Lincoln embraced among other
tenets, a belief in the value and promise of colonization as one means
of solving the great race problem involved in the existence of slavery
in the United States.... Without being an enthusiast, Lincoln was a
firm believer in Colonization." Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln--A
History_, VI, p. 354.
[5] Speech at Peoria, Ill., in reply to Douglas. _Life and Works of
Abraham Lincoln_, II, Early Speeches. Centenary Edition, edited by
M.M. Miller. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, October 16, 1854; p. 74.
[6] In the same speech, Lincoln said: "I have said that the separation
of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation.... Such
separation, if ever effected at all, must be effected by
Colonization." _The Works of Abraham Lincoln_, Federal Edition, edited
by A. B. Lapsley, II, p. 306.
[7] Nicolay and Hay, _Speeches, Letters and State Papers, Abraham
Lincoln_, I, p. 235. Lincoln's Springfield Speech, June 26, 1857.
[8] _Ibid._, VI, p. 356.
[9] Richardson, _Messages and Papers of the Presidents_, VI, p. 54.
First Annual Message, December 3, 1861.
[10] Section XI of Act approved April 16, 1862.
[11] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, VI, p. 356. Act approved July
16, 1862.
[12] Raymond, _Life, Public Services and State Papers_, p. 504.
[13] Nicolay and Hay, _Abraham Lincoln_, VI, p. 357.
[14] Charles Sumner in a speech before a State Committee in
Massachusetts, said: "A voice from the west--God save the
west--revives the exploded theory of colonization, perhaps to divert
attention from the great question of equal rights. To that voice, I
reply, first, you ought not to do it, and secondly, you cannot do it.
You ought not to do it, because besides its intrinsic and fatal
injustice, you will deprive the country of what it most needs, which
is labor. Those freedmen on the spot are better than mineral wealth.
Each is a mine, out of which riches can be drawn, provided you let him
share the product, and through him that general industry will be
established which is better than anything but virtue, and is, indeed,
a form of virtue. It is vain to say that this is a white man's
country. It is the country of man. Whoever disowns any member of the
human family as brother disowns God as father, and thus becomes
impious as well as inhuman. It is the glory of republican institutions
that they give practical form to this irresistible principle. If
anybody is to be sent away, let it be the guilty and not the
innocent."--_Charles Sumner's Complete Works_, XII, Section 3, p. 334.
[15] Nicolay and Hay, _Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln_, II, p. 205.
Nicolay and Hay, _A History of Abraham Lincoln_, VI, p. 356.
[16] Raymond, _Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham
Lincoln_, p. 504. Nicolay and Hay, _Complete Works of Abraham
Lincoln_, VIII, p. 1.
[17] Richardson, _The Messages and Papers of the President,
1789-1897_, p. 127. _Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln_, VIII, p. 97.
[18] A section of the emancipation proclamation states that it is the
President's purpose upon the next meeting of Congress to recommend the
adoption of a practical measure so that the effort to "colonize
persons of African decent with their consent, upon this continent or
elsewhere with the previously obtained consent of the governments
existing there," will be continued. Nicolay and Hay, _A History_, VI,
p. 168.
[19] It is interesting to note that the colored population seemed very
little in favor of colonization. "It is something singular that the
colored race--those in reality most interested in the future destinies
of Africa--should be so lightly affected by the evidences continually
being presented in favor of colonization." _The National
Intelligencer_, October 23, 1850. But an address issued by the
National Emigration Convention of Colored people held at Cleveland,
Ohio, urged the colored inhabitants of the United States seriously to
consider the question of migrating to some foreign clime. See also
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, "Attitude of Free Negro on African
Colonization," I.
[20] _Diplomatic Correspondence_, Part I, p. 202. Nicolay and Hay.
_Complete Works_, p. 357.
[21] "Mr. Bates was for compulsory deportation. The Negro would not,"
he said, "go voluntary." "He had great local attachment but no
enterprise or persistency. The President objected unequivocally to
compulsion. The emigration must be voluntary and without expense to
themselves. Great Britain, Denmark and perhaps other powers would take
them. I remarked there was no necessity for a treaty which had been
suggested. Any person who desired to leave the country could do so
now, whether white or black, and it was best to have it so--a
voluntary system; the emigrant who chose to leave our shores could and
would go where there were the best inducements." _Diary of Gideon
Wells_, I, p. 152.
[22] Cf. Account by Charles K. Tuckerman, _Magazine of American
History_, October, 1886.
[23] Joseph Henry said to Assistant Secretary of State, September 5,
1862: "I hope the government will not make any contracts in regard to
the purchase of the Chiriqui District until it has been thoroughly
examined by persons of known capacity and integrity. A critical
examination of all that has been reported on the existence of valuable
beds of coal in that region has failed to convince me of the fact."
Chiriqui is described in report Number 148, House of Representatives,
37th Congress, Second Session, July 16, 1862, by John Evans,
geologist.
[24] "There was an indisposition to press the subject of Negro
Emigration to Chiriqui at the meeting of the Cabinet against the
wishes and remonstrances of the states of Central America." _Diary of
Gideon Wells_, I, p. 162.
[25] Manuscript Archives of the Department of the Interior.
[26] Nicolay and Hay, _A History_, VI, p. 361.
[27] Richardson, _Message and Papers of the President_, I, p. 167.
[28] Nicolay and Hay, _A History_, VI, p. 362.
[29] Complete records to substantiate this statement have not been
discovered.
[30] Lincoln addressed thus the Secretary of War, February 1, 1864:
"Sir; You are directed to have a transport ... sent to the colored
colony of San Domingo to bring back to this country such of the
colonists there as desire to return. You will have a transport
furnished with suitable supplies for that purpose and detail an
officer of the quartermaster department, who under special
instructions to be given shall have charge of the business. The
colonists will be brought to Washington unless otherwise hereafter
directed to be employed and provided for at the camps for colored
persons around that city. Those only will be brought from the island
who desire to return and their effects will be brought with them."
[31] Nicolay and Hay, _Complete Works_, II, p. 477.
[32] _Statutes at Large_, XIII, p. 352.
[33] Butler's _Reminiscences_, pp. 903-904.
LEMUEL HAYNES
Lemuel Haynes was born July 18, 1753, at West Hartford, Conn. He was a
man of color, his father being of "unmingled African extraction, and
his mother a white woman of respectable ancestry in New England." She
was then a hired girl in the employ of a farmer who had a neighbor to
whom belonged the Negro to whom the woman became attached. Haynes took
neither the name of his father nor of his mother, but probably that of
the man in whose home he was born. It is said that his mother, in a
fit of displeasure with her host for some supposed neglect, called her
child by the farmer's name. Mr. Haynes took the young mother to task,
and while yet the baby was but a few days old, she disappeared. As she
was the daughter of a Tolland County farmer, Mr. Haynes shielded the
family from disgrace by having the child take his name with that of
Lemuel which in Hebrew signifies "consecrated to God." The mother
never had anything to do with her child, and it is said she married a
white man, and lived a respectable life. Lemuel providentially met his
mother once in an adjoining town, at the house of a relative, fondly
expecting that he would receive some kind attentions from her. He was
sadly disappointed, however, for she eluded the interview. Catching a
glimpse of her at length when she was attempting to escape from him he
accosted her in the language of severe but merited rebuke.
Mr. Haynes kept Lemuel till he was five months old, and then had him
"bound out" to Deacon David Rose, of Granville, Massachusetts, a man
of singular piety. There Lemuel grew up, and lived for thirty-two
years. One condition of his indenture was that, in common with other
children, he should enjoy the usual advantage of a district school
education. Yet, as schools of that section were decidedly backward,
his early opportunities for instruction were very limited. Like other
farmer boys, however, he was instructed in the fundamentals of
education and the principles of religion. His duties often kept him
from school, or caused him to arrive at a late hour. Yet he said, "As
I had the advantage of attending a common school equal with other
children, I was early taught to read, to which I was greatly attached
and could vie with almost any of my age."[1] He soon formed the habit
of studying the Bible and early made a profession of faith in the
Christian religion. While young he was baptized by the Reverend
Jonathan Huntington.
He quickly mastered the studies of the district school but he
struggled forward, becoming his own teacher and subjecting his mind to
unremitting and severe discipline. The scarcity of books was one of
the severest difficulties which he had to encounter. There was no
public library in the place. The Bible, Psalter, spelling-book, and
perhaps a volume or two of sermons, comprised the library of the
intellectual people of those towns. But says he: "I was constantly
inquiring after books, especially in theology. I was greatly pleased
with the writings of Watts and Doddridge, and with Young's _Night
Thoughts_. My good master encouraged me in the matter."[2]
There came a turning point in Haynes's life when in 1775 the excellent
and pious Mrs. Rose died. She had been more to him than an employer.
Adopting him as her own son in early infancy, she tenderly trained him
up to intellectual and Christian manhood. Speaking of this, Haynes
said: "Soon after I came of age, God was pleased to take my mistress
away, to my inexpressible sorrow. It caused me bitter mourning and
lamentation."[3] Prostrated thus, he sought relief from his affliction
in the service of the continental army.
Lemuel Haynes was a patriot of the Revolution. He early imbibed those
great principles respecting "the rights of man," in defense of which
the colonies fought Great Britain. In 1774 he enlisted as a minute
man. Under the regulations of this enlistment he was required to spend
one day in the week in manual exercises, and to hold himself in
readiness for actual service, but soon after the battle at Lexington
the following year he joined the regular army at Roxbury. The next
year he volunteered to join the expedition to Ticonderoga to expel the
enemy. Referring to this service in an address some years later Haynes
said: "Perhaps it is not ostentatious in the speaker to observe that
in early life he devoted all for the sake of freedom and independence,
and endured frequent campaigns in their defense, and has never viewed
the sacrifice too great. And should an attack be made on this sacred
ark, the poor remains of life would be devoted to its defense."
After the close of his northern campaign he returned to his former
home to engage in agricultural pursuits. But while thus engaged he
little anticipated the designs of Providence concerning him. Improving
his leisure hours, he had made considerable progress in the study of
theology. At length he selected his text, and composed a sermon,
without education or teacher. It happened thus: In the family of
Deacon Rose, the evening preceding the Sabbath was customarily devoted
to family instruction and religious worship. Haynes was occasionally
asked to read from the sermons of Watts, Whitefield, Doddridge or
Davies. Called upon to read as usual one evening, he slipped into the
book his own sermon which he had written, and read it to the family.
Greatly delighted and edified by this sermon read with unusual
vivacity and feeling, Deacon Rose, who was then blind, inquired:
"Lemuel, whose work is that which you have been reading? Is it
Davies's sermon, or Watts's, or Whitefield's?" Haynes blushed and
hesitated, but at last was obliged to confess the truth--"It's
Lemuel's sermon."[4]
It was then discovered that in this young man was the promise of
usefulness. The community encouraged him to look forward to the
Christian ministry. Referring to this, he said: "I was solicited by
some to obtain a collegiate education, with a view to the gospel
ministry. A door was opened for it at Dartmouth College, but I shrunk
at the thought. Reverend Mr. Smith encouraged me with many others. I
was at last persuaded to attend to studying the learned languages. I
was invited (1779) by the Reverend Daniel Farrand, of Canaan,
Connecticut, to visit him. I accordingly did. With him I resided some
time, studying the Latin language."[5]
How long he studied under Mr. Farrand is not known. He devoted a part
of his time to belles lettres and the writing of sermons. While with
Mr. Farrand, Haynes composed a poem which was surreptitiously taken
from his desk and afterward delivered by a plagiarist at a certain
college on the day of commencement. During these years he labored in
the field to defray the expense of board and tuition, but the mind of
this student underwent unusual development for which Mr. Haynes
retained to the end of life a grateful remembrance of his friend and
patron.
After making an extensive study of the Latin language, he felt a
desire to study Greek that he might read the New Testament in the
original, but he had no means to prosecute this study. While in doubt
as to how he could attain so desirable an end the Reverend William
Bradford, of Wintonbury, a small parish composed, as its name imports,
of a part of three towns, Winsor, Farmington and Symsbury, offered to
instruct him in the Greek language. This benefactor promised also to
secure there for Mr. Haynes a school paying him sufficient money to
defray his expenses. Mr. Haynes said: "I exerted myself to the utmost
to instruct the children of my school, and found I gave general
satisfaction. The proficiency I made in studying the Greek language I
found greatly exceeded the expectations of my preceptor."[6] He was
thus serving as a "spiritual teacher in a respectable and enlightened
congregation in New England, where he had been known from infancy only
as a servant boy, and under all the disabilities of his humble
extraction." "That reverence which it was the custom of the age to
accord to ministers of the gospel," says his biographer, "was
cheerfully rendered to Mr. Haynes."[7] All classes and ages were
delighted with the sweet, animated eloquence of the man. In
consideration of his talents Middlebury College later conferred upon
him the degree of master of arts.[8]
This led friends to advise that he should be licensed to preach, and
on November 29, 1780, after "an examination in the languages,
sciences, doctrines and experimental religion," he was licensed and
preached intelligently from Psalm 96:1. He was ordained soon
thereafter. Then came an early call to begin his ministry at the
Congregational meeting house at Middle Granville, where he labored
five years, preaching eloquently with zeal. The time was one of moral
darkness with intemperance, profanity and infidelity rife. Strange
doctrines intruded. Vice came boldly forward, but, like a rock, the
young minister stood by his Lord and faith.
Among the pious in the church was Bessie Babbitt. She was a woman of
considerable education and was engaged as a teacher in her town.
Looking to Heaven for guidance, she was led, with consistent delicacy,
to offer her heart to her pastor. He commended the proposal to God in
prayer, and consulted other ministers. Knowing his birth and race, he
sought their counsel. They advised in favor, and on September 22,
1773, they were married. There began then their happy married life
which was blessed with nine children.[9]
From his small retired parish, among the companions of his childhood,
he was called to Torrington, Connecticut, where he continued preaching
two years to large audiences.[10] It is said that at Torrington a
leading citizen was much displeased that the church should have "a
nigger minister," and, to show his disrespect, this man went to church
and sat with his hat on his head. "He hadn't preached far," said he,
"when I thought I saw the whitest man I ever knew in that pulpit, and
I tossed my hat under the pew."
The number of communicants increased during the term of his residence
in Torrington. Some of the most respectable families from adjoining
towns, particularly from Goshen, became his warmest friends, who
constantly attended on his ministry. His biographer says: "The aged
refer to his ministry with many delightful recollections. He was held
in high estimation, especially by the church, and was esteemed by all
classes as "an apt and very ready man in the pulpit." The mere mention
of his name even now, after the lapse of half a century, seems to
renew in their minds interesting associations. The church and society
were strengthened by his labors, and many wished to retain him as
their permanent pastor. The sensibility of a few individuals
prevented, it is said, the accomplishment of their desires.
His eloquence and Christian nobility won him much attention and led to
his being called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church in West
Rutland, Vermont. The town was a country seat, and the church was one
of importance. Then in the meridian of life, rich with the spirit and
devoted to his calling, he was singularly successful; and while there
were those who saw in him "that colored minister," all knew his pure
white soul. The first year of his pastorate he received forty-two
members by profession. In 1803 there came a great revival, and there
were one hundred and three conversions, together with one hundred and
fifty in the adjoining town of Pittsfield. Five years later there was
another revival and Haynes received one hundred and nine. Naturally he
was in demand by other churches as a revival preacher.
At this time New England was in a very backward state. The genial
influence of science and religion had not been generally felt. There
was no college in Vermont and its only academy was the one at Norwich,
near Dartmouth College. There were not more than four or five
Congregational ministers on the west side of the Green Mountains. A
religious revival of considerable extent, under the preaching of
Reverend Jacob Wood and others, had resulted in the formation of small
churches. Certain parts of Connecticut were not much more advanced. In
1804 the Connecticut Missionary Society, therefore, appointed Mr.
Haynes to labor in the destitute sections of Vermont. In 1809 he was
appointed to a similar service by the Vermont Missionary Society. In
this capacity Haynes became a great factor in the religious awakening
throughout New England at that time.
In 1814 he was fraternal delegate from the Vermont to the Connecticut
Ministers' Association at Fairfield. On his way thither he stopped on
Sunday at New Haven, where, at the Blue Church (formerly Dr.
Edwards'), he preached a sermon to a crowded house, having in the
audience President Dwight of Yale and many distinguished people. At
Fairfield the association insisted on his preaching the annual sermon.
Haynes soon exhibited evidences of being no ordinary man. He readily
engaged in the heated theological discussion of his time, taking first
rank as a theologian.[11] His most interesting debate was that with
the famous Hosea Ballou, whom Haynes vanquished in his famous sermon
based on the text, _Ye shall not surely die_. Many strange doctrines
were then abroad. A writer says: "The Stoddardian principle of
admitting moral persons, without credible evidence of grace, to the
Lord's Supper, and the half-way covenant by which parents, though not
admitted to the Lord's Supper, were encouraged to offer their children
in baptism, prevailed in many of the churches. Great apathy was
prevalent among professing Christians, and the ruinous vices of
profaneness, Sabbath-breaking and intemperance were affectingly
prevalent among all classes. The spark of evangelical piety seemed to
be nearly extinct in the churches. Revivals of religion were scarcely
known except in the recollections of a former age. Some of the
essential doctrines of grace were not received even by many in the
churches.[12] Respecting the operations of the Holy Spirit, Mr. Haynes
adopted the same principles as Edwards and Whitefield. He became
effective in dispelling some of these clouds of doubt, bringing the
people back to a more righteous conduct. Out of it he emerged a man of
fame.
Happy as was this apostle in his work at Rutland the violent political
controversy of his time was divided between two militant parties with
one of which every freeman felt that he should be allied. Imbued with
the spirit of the American Revolution, Haynes could not be neutral.
"In principle," says his biographer, "he was a disciple of Washington
and, therefore, favored those measures conducive of national
government."[13] As party spirit rapidly developed into deeply rooted
rancor, sharp differences of opinion led to controversy in his parish.
Invited to preach on political occasions and in some cases to the
public through the press, he discussed political affairs with such
keenness and sarcasm that unprincipled parasites in his community were
much disturbed. In one of his discourses he used the following
expression: "A dissembler is one proud of applause--will advertise
himself for office--dazzling the public man with high pretext, like
aspiring Absolom, 'Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every
man might come unto me and I would do him justice.' Such subjects to
applause and hypocrisy will, even when the destinies of their country
are at stake, be to a commonwealth what Arnold was to American freedom
or Robespierre to a French Republic."[14]
It was not long before political excitement disturbed the harmony
between the pastor and the people in West Rutland. On certain
occasions Haynes was treated with unkindness and even with abuse by
unprincipled men. Scandalous reports concerning him were circulated
and he was denounced with profane language. But he gloried in
tribulations, knowing that "tribulations worketh patience and patience
experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed." Observing
the signs of the times, therefore, and governed by prayerful
deliberation he felt that he should sever his connection with his
church in Rutland. Accordingly, on the 27th of April, 1818, at a
council convened to consider the serious question the pastoral
relation was by mutual consent dissolved.
Haynes was then invited to preach in Manchester, Vermont, a desirable
town west of the Green Mountains. Because of his reputation as a
preacher here Haynes had the helpful contact of the Honorable Richard
Skinner, who in early life was elected a member of Congress and
afterwards served as a judge of the Supreme Court and finally as
Governor of Vermont. He associated also with Joseph Burr, the liberal
benefactor of several literary and religious institutions.
In 1822 Haynes removed from Manchester to Granville, New York. He had
enjoyed the support of the best people in that New England community
and had usually found them a generous and enlightened people. Under
his ministration at Manchester the church was much enlarged, but he
was now declining in intellectual vivacity and realized that, although
there was entire harmony between him and the people in Manchester,
they should have a younger man. His church accordingly yielded to the
desire of the Congregational Church in Granville, New York, and he
took leave of Vermont to preach in another State.
In going to Granville, Haynes connected with the renowned Deacon Elihu
Atkins, of Granville, with whom he had corresponded for more than
thirty years. There had been a cherished intimacy between them from
their youth. Atkins had for years relied upon the convincing
instruction which he endeavored to obtain through correspondence with
Haynes. These letters show the tenderness and the watchfulness of a
pastor over a flock, which reminds one of the relation existing
between Paul and the aged Philemon. During the eleven years which he
spent at Granville, his congregation was decidedly edified. Thousands
of persons giving evidence of their piety, joined the church and lived
above reproach. While laboring among these people he died in the year
1833.
Thus passed away the man who was regarded by those who knew him as a
worker of unusual ability and a preacher of power. Says his
biographer: "Although the tincture of his skin, and all his features
bore strong indications of his paternal original, yet in his early
life there was a peculiar expression which indicated the finest
qualities of mind. Many, on seeing him in the pulpit, have been
reminded of the inspired expression, 'I am black, but comely.' In his
case the remarkable assemblage of grace which was thrown around his
semi-African complexion, especially his eye, could not fail to
prepossess the stranger in his favor."[15]
He was a man of a feeling heart, always sensibly affected at the sight
of human suffering. His sensibility knew no bounds. He exhibited
quickness of perception and had the advantage of a never-failing
memory. The confidence generally reposed in him by both ministers and
the people credit him with having mature judgment. Although lacking in
what is commonly known as classical education, as he never penetrated
very far into the Greek and Latin classics, his mind was decidedly
literary. He read the Latin language fairly well but had never read
more than the Greek testament and Septuagint. He was well read,
however, in the English classics and his discourses show taste for the
beauties of poetry and elegant composition.
Haynes was always industrious, his early habits having been formed in
the rigid pursuits of business. At home he was a man of the highest
domestic virtue. His family government was strictly parental, based on
reason and principle, not on passion or blind indulgence. He was
always strict, ever adhering to a standard of the most Puritanic
order. Having early formed the high ideals of uprightness, no man
could ever bring against him the charge of dishonesty. Above all he
was a man of consistent piety and resignation to the will of God.
His dying testimony was: "I love my wife, I love my children, but I
love my Saviour better than all." A plain marble marks his grave. On
it is this inscription, prepared by himself:
"Here lies the dust of a poor hell-deserving sinner, who ventured
into eternity trusting wholly on the merits of Christ for
salvation. In the full belief of the great doctrines he preached
while on earth, he invites his children and all who read this, to
trust their eternal interest on the same foundation."
So lived and died one of the noblest of the New England Congregational
ministers of a century ago. Of illegitimate birth, and of no
advantageous circumstances of family, rank or station, he became one
of the choicest instruments of Christ. His face betrayed his race and
blood, and his life revealed his Lord.
W. H. MORSE.
HARTFORD, CONN.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 36.
[2] _Ibid._, p. 38.
[3] The pious Deacon Rose lived some years thereafter and had the
pleasure of seeing Lemuel a distinguished man. See Cooley, _Sketches
of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel Haynes_, p. 40.
[4] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 48.
[5] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 60.
[6] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 63.
[7] _Ibid._, p. 66.
[8] Simmons, _Men of Mark_, p. 677.
[9] _Ibid._, p. 678.
[10] Special Report of the United States Commissioner of Education,
1871, p. 342.
[11] Woodson, _The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 280.
[12] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 67.
[13] _Ibid._, p. 169; _Annals of the American Academy of Political and
Social Science_, XLIX, p. 234.
[14] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, p. 170.
[15] Cooley, _Sketches of the Life and Character of the Rev. Lemuel
Haynes_, pp. 372-373.
THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY OF CANADA
The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was one of the forms in which the
abolition sentiment of the province of Upper Canada made its
contribution to the final settlement of the great issue in the
neighboring country. Though founded comparatively late in the
struggle, it was, after all, rather the union of forces long active
than the creation of some new weapon to aid the battle. The men and
women who composed its membership were abolitionists long before the
society was founded. Its purpose was solely to bring united effort to
bear upon the great task and the great responsibility that fell upon
Canada when the passing of the Fugitive Slave Bill drove the Negroes
from the North into Canada by the hundreds, if not by the thousands.
With newcomers arriving every day, destitute, friendless and more or
less dazed by the experiences through which they had passed, it was no
small task that these Canadian abolitionists had undertaken to care
for the fugitives, give them opportunities for education and social
advancement and enable them to show by their own efforts that they
were capable of becoming useful citizens.
The society had its birth in Toronto in February, 1851. There had been
attempts before this to found such an organization but they had come
to nothing. By 1851, however, the situation in the United States had
changed and the effect had at once shown itself in Canada, so that the
time was ripe for the bringing into one body of the various
individuals who had been showing themselves the friends of the slave.
The Society of Canada continued active right through the fifties and
early sixties, not resting until the aim for which it had been founded
had been accomplished. With the close of the Civil War there was a
large emigration of Negroes back to their own land where their freedom
had been bought in blood, and the need of any large organization to
look after their welfare as a race gradually ceased. During its period
of active work, however, the society spread out from Toronto to all
the larger cities and towns where there was a Negro population, and in
both educational and relief work showed itself an energetic body.
Included in its active membership were some of the best-known men in
the province and as its organ it had an outstanding newspaper, _The
Globe_, of Toronto.
The meeting held in Toronto was large and enthusiastic. _The Globe_ of
Toronto of March 1, gives almost five columns to the report of the
proceedings. The mayor of the city acted as chairman and the opening
prayer was made by Rev. Dr. Michael Willis, the principal of Knox
Presbyterian Theological College. A series of four resolutions were
proposed and endorsed. The first of these declared as a platform of
the society that "slavery is an outrage on the laws of humanity" and
that "its continued practice demands the best exertions for its
extinction." A second resolution, proposed by Dr. Willis, declared the
United States slave laws "at open variance with the best interests of
man, as endowed by our great creator with the privilege of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness." A third resolution expressed
sympathy with the abolitionists in the United States, while the fourth
and concluding resolution proposed the formation of the Anti-Slavery
Society of Canada. "The object," it declared, "shall be to aid in the
extinction of slavery all over the world by means exclusively lawful
and peaceable, moral and religious, such as by the diffusing of useful
information and argument, by tracts, newspapers, lectures and
correspondence, and by manifesting sympathy with the houseless and
homeless victims of slavery flying to our soil."
Rev. Dr. Willis was chosen as the first president, an office which he
filled during the whole of the period of the struggle. Rev. William
McClure, a Methodist clergyman of the New Connection branch, was named
as secretary, with Andrew Hamilton as treasurer and Captain Charles
Stuart, corresponding secretary. A large committee was also named
including, among others, George Brown, editor of _The Globe_, and
Oliver Mowat, later a premier of the province of Ontario.
The aims of the society, as set forth in the resolution of
organization, called for both educational and relief work. No time was
lost in beginning each of these. Within a month after the founding of
the society it was holding public meetings, both in Toronto and
elsewhere throughout the province. The speakers included George
Thompson, the noted English abolitionist; Fred Douglass, the Negro
orator, and Rev. S. J. May, of Syracuse. Some hostility developed,
_The Patriot_ charging George Thompson with being an abolitionist for
sordid motives, while _The Leader_ called him a "hireling." Thompson,
defending himself, declared that if he had sold his talents, as
charged, he would not be found fighting the slaves' battle but would
be sitting by the side of bloated prostitution in Washington." There
were even some clerical critics of the society and its work. _The
Church_, a denominational publication, took the ground that Canada was
not bound in any way to denounce "compulsory labor." It was quite
sufficient to welcome the slave when he came to Canada. To this _The
Globe_ replied that it was "truly melancholy to find men in the
nineteenth century teaching doctrines which are only fit for the
darkest ages."[1]
All through these earlier years of the society's history the public
meetings were continued, much use being made of men like Rev. S. R.
Ward and Rev. J. W. Loguen, who had known at first hand what slavery
meant to their race. Rev. S. R. Ward was appointed an agent of the
society in 1851 and traveled the province over, giving the facts with
regard to slavery to awaken Canadian sentiment against it and asking
aid and kindness for the fugitives then coming to the country in large
numbers. Mr. Ward was instrumental in forming branches and auxiliaries
of the society at a number of places and has left on record his own
impressions of the efforts that were put forth on behalf of the
refugees.[2]
_The Globe_, under Brown as editor, was a stout ally. Brown's personal
interest in the fugitives was marked. His private generosity to the
needy has been recorded by one of his biographers but greater service
was rendered through the columns of his paper. He was outspoken in
denunciation of anything that savored of an alliance with slavery.
Canada, he believed, should stand four square against the whole system
of human bondage. "We, too, are Americans," he declared on one
occasion. "On us, as well as on them, lies the duty of preserving the
honor of the continent. On us, as on them, rests the noble trust of
shielding free institutions."[3]
Relief work in Toronto was looked after by a Ladies' Auxiliary, this
being the general practice wherever branches were organized. The wives
of the officers of the general or parent society figured largely in
the work at Toronto. During the first year of the work in that city
more than $900 was raised by the Ladies' Auxiliary. The report for
1853-5 says: "During the past inclement winter much suffering was
alleviated and many cases of extreme hardship prevented. Throughout
the year the committee continued to observe the practice of appointing
weekly visitors to examine into the truth of every statement made by
applicants for aid. In this way between 200 and 300 cases have been
attended to, each receiving more or less according to their
circumstances."[4] A night school opened in Toronto gave to the
younger men and women an opportunity to get a little education.
The Canadian Society, at an early date in its history, entered into
working relations with the anti-slavery societies of Great Britain and
the United States. At the first anniversary meeting, held in March,
1852, a letter was presented from Lewis Tappan, secretary of the
American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, enclosing a resolution of
the executive of the American society to the effect that the committee
had heard of the formation of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada at
Toronto with much satisfaction, and that they would be pleased to
maintain correspondence with this society and unite their efforts for
the promotion of the great cause of human freedom on this continent
and throughout the world. At the same meeting there were read messages
of greeting from S. H. Gay, secretary of the American Anti-Slavery
Society, and from John Scoble, secretary of the British and Foreign
Anti-Slavery Society.[5] At this first anniversary meeting the society
was able to report a change in public sentiment toward its aims. At
the start there had been coldness and some prejudice but this had
largely disappeared and some who had formerly been hostile were now
supporters.
The colonization question was before the society in its early period.
In August, 1851, Toronto was visited by Rev. S. Oughten, a Jamaican,
and later by William Wemyss Anderson, also of Jamaica. The question
was also brought to the attention of the government of the province
and the Governor-General asked the executive of the society to tender
its opinion of the plan. Their decision was altogether unfavorable to
colonization whether in Trinidad or Jamaica. With regard to Trinidad
their opinion was that slavery in a modified form still existed there.
Jamaica, they thought, had nothing to attract the refugee more than
Canada, and the society was placed on record as approving the findings
of the Great North American convention of colored people, which had
met in Toronto the preceding September, to the effect that western
Canada was the most desirable place of resort for colored people on
the American continent, and that colored people in the United States
should emigrate to Canada rather than to the West Indies or Africa,
since in Canada they would be better able to assist their brethren
flying from slavery. With regard to the American Colonization Society
the finding of the Canadian Anti-Slavery Society was that its
professions of promoting the abolition of slavery were "altogether
delusive." It had originated with slaveholders and was protected by
them to rid the country of free Negroes. "A colonization and a bitter,
pro-slavery man are almost convertible terms," it was stated.[6]
The attitude taken by the church bodies in Canada towards this new
movement is of interest. In general there was not much active support.
George Brown brought forward a resolution at the 1852 meeting,
deploring the indifference of some church bodies. Dr. Willis had been
instrumental in getting the Presbyterians in line, a strong stand
having been taken by the synod which declared by resolution that
slavery was "inhuman, unjust and dishonoring to the common creator as
it is replete with wrong to the subjects of such oppression." A second
resolution called upon churches everywhere to testify against
legislation which violated the commands of God and declared that the
synod must condemn any alliance between religion and oppression, no
matter how the latter might be bolstered up by the use of Scripture.
At the 1857 meeting the attitude of the churches was again to the
front. Dr. Willis thought it was time that every church synod and
conference in Canada should give up one day of its sessions to prayer
and humiliation over the presence of human slavery so nearby. It was
the duty of all the churches to remonstrate on this question. Rev. Dr.
Dick, who followed, declared that the church was "the bulwark of the
system." There were churches in Canada which fraternized with those in
the United States that patronized slavery. He was equally outspoken on
the attitude of the Sons of Temperance in deciding, against his
protest, to shut out Negroes from its membership. There were several
protests at this 1857 meeting against some slight evidences of race
prejudice. Rev. Mr. Barrass said that, as the Negroes in Toronto set
an example to the whites in morality, there was the less reason for
any prejudice. Thomas Henning, the secretary of the society, probably
put the matter right when he pointed out that talk of prejudice must
not be understood as general. Negroes were not excluded from the
schools, and the laws were administered to white and black alike. He
drew attention to the dismissal of a magistrate who had been suspected
of conniving at the return of a fugitive, as also to the case of a
member of Parliament who had sought to have Negro immigration stopped
and had been simply laughed at.
Necessity for action along industrial lines to provide suitable
employment for the fugitives was emphasized by the Canadian
Anti-Slavery Society and efforts were made to give the black man a
fair chance in his new home. The question of cheap land for the
immigrants was also kept to the front with the idea of making the
refugees more self-dependent and preventing them from congregating in
the cities and towns. Some idea of the extent of the relief work being
carried on at this time may be gained from the statement presented at
the 1857 meeting which showed disbursements of more than $2,200, a
total of over 400 having been relieved.
Reference has been made to the support given the society by _The
Globe_, of Toronto. For this George Brown was given the credit but it
must be said in justice that no small share of the credit for _The
Globe's_ attitude should go to the lesser known brother, Gordon Brown,
who was regarded by many as really more zealous for abolition than
George Brown. This was tested during the Civil War period when the
turn of sentiment against the North in Canada brought much criticism
upon _The Globe_. There was a disposition on the part of George Brown
to grow lukewarm in his support of the North, but Gordon Brown never
wavered and is said to have threatened on one occasion to leave the
paper if there were any more signs of hauling down the colors. When
the war was over American citizens in Toronto presented Gordon Brown
with a gold watch suitably inscribed, an indication possibly of the
opinion of that day with regard to his services.
One duty of the American anti-slavery societies which fell but lightly
on the Canadian society was the watching of legislation and the courts
to see that the Negro obtained his rights. It was rare indeed that
anything of this kind called for action in Canada, the only case of
any importance that arose being that of the Negro, Anderson, whose
return to Missouri was sought on a charge of killing his master in
1853. A slave catcher from Missouri recognized him in Canada in 1860
and had him arrested. The case was fought out in the courts, twice
going against the Negro and then being appealed to the English Court
of Queen's Bench, which granted a writ of habeas corpus. Anderson was
defended by Gerrit Smith and the case attracted great attention
throughout Canada. The executive of the Canadian Anti-Slavery Society
kept the case well under observation and made its position quite clear
by a resolution declaring that principles of right and humanity should
prevail. In the end Anderson was acquitted.
The sentiment that was created in Canada by the friends of the
fugitive in the decade before the Civil War had its effect when that
struggle began. Sir John Macdonald, premier of Canada, made careful
investigation to find out how many Canadians were in the northern
armies and placed the number at 40,000.[7] The spirit that animated
the youth of the North in this moral struggle was powerful in the
minds of many of these young Canadians. There was present in Canada
not a little of the feeling of responsibility for the honor of the
continent that George Brown voiced and both by peaceful means and by
the sword the people of the British-American province to the North had
their part in striking off the shackles from the slave in the South.
FRED LANDON.
PUBLIC LIBRARIAN,
LONDON, CANADA
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _The Globe_, April 1, 1851.
[2] Ward, _Autobiography of a Fugitive Slave_.
[3] Lewis, _George Brown_, p. 114.
[4] Drew, _North Side View of Slavery_, p. 328.
[5] Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, First Annual Report, p. 10.
[6] First Annual Report, pp. 12-13.
[7] _Letters of Goldwin Smith_, p. 377.
DOCUMENTS
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND FREEDOM
Of the fathers of the republic who first saw the evils of slavery,
none made a more forceful argument against the institution than
Benjamin Franklin. A man of lowly estate himself, he could not
sympathize with the man who felt that his bread should be wrung from
the sweat of another's brow. Desiring to see the institution
abolished, Franklin early connected himself with the anti-slavery
forces of Pennsylvania and maintained this attitude of antagonism
toward it until his death. His printing press was placed at the
disposal of the pamphleteers who by their method endeavored to
influence public opinion, and as a means of effecting the liberation
of the blacks he cooperated with others in educating them as a
preparation for citizenship.
His first effort to promote the education of the Negroes was the
assistance he gave the work established by Dr. Thomas Bray, who passed
a large part of his life in performing deeds of benevolence and
charity. This philanthropist became acquainted at the Hague with M.
D'Allone, who approved and promoted his schemes. M. D'Allone, during
his lifetime, gave to Dr. Bray a considerable sum of money, which was
to be applied to the conversion of Negroes in America. At his death he
left an additional sum of nine hundred pounds for the same object. Dr.
Bray formed an association for the management and proper disposal of
these funds. He died in 1730, and the same trust continued to be
executed by a company of gentlemen, called "Dr. Bray's Associates."
Franklin was for several years one of these workers.
Writing about this work, he said to a friend:
I have not yet seen Mr. Beatty, nor do I know where to write to
him. He forwarded your letter to me from Ireland. The paragraph
of your letter, inserted in the papers, related to the negro
school. I gave it to the gentlemen concerned, as it was a
testimony in favor of their pious design. But I did not expect
they would print it with your name. They have since chosen me one
of the Society, and I am at present chairman for the current
year. I enclose you an account of their proceedings.[1]
Franklin's argument against slavery was economic as well as moral. He
said:
It is an ill-grounded opinion that, by the labor of slaves,
America may possibly vie in cheapness of manufactures with
Britain. The labor of slaves can never be so cheap here as the
labor of working men is in Britain. Any one may compute it.
Interest of money is in the colonies from six to ten per cent.
Slaves, one with another, cost thirty pounds sterling per head.
Reckon then the interest of the first purchase of a slave, the
insurance or risk on his life, his clothing and diet, expenses in
his sickness and loss of time, loss by his neglect of business
(neglect is natural to the man who is not to be benefited by his
own care or diligence), expense of a driver to keep him at work,
and his pilfering from time to time, almost every slave being by
nature a thief, and compare the whole amount with the wages of a
manufacturer of iron or wool in England, you will see that labor
is much cheaper there than it ever can be by Negroes here. Why
then will Americans purchase slaves? Because slaves may be kept
as long as a man pleases, or has occasion for their labor; while
hired men are continually leaving their masters (often in the
midst of his business and setting up for themselves).[2]
The Negroes brought into the English sugar islands have greatly
diminished the whites there; the poor are, by this means,
deprived of employment, while a few families acquire vast
estates, which they spend on foreign luxuries, and educating
their children in the habit of those luxuries; the same income is
needed for the support of one that might have maintained one
hundred. The whites who have slaves, not laboring, are enfeebled,
and therefore not so generally prolific; the slaves being worked
too hard, and ill fed, their constitutions are broken and the
deaths among them are more than the births; so that a continual
supply is needed from Africa. The northern colonies, having few
slaves, increase in whites. Slaves also pejorate the families
that use them; the white children become proud, disgusted with
labor, and, being educated in idleness, are rendered unfit to get
a living by industry.[3]
As the following letter indicates, Franklin was in close touch with
one of the most ardent anti-slavery men of his day, Anthony Benezet,
whose pamphlets he often published:
LONDON, 22 August, 1772.
_Dear Friend_,
I made a little extract from yours of April 27th, of the number
of slaves imported and perishing, with some close remarks on the
hypocrisy of this country, which encourages such a detestable
commerce by laws for promoting the Guinea trade; while it piqued
itself on its virtue, love of liberty, and the equity of its
courts, in setting free a single Negro. This was inserted in the
_London Chronicle_, of the 20th of June last.
I thank you for the Virginia address, which I shall also publish
with some remarks. I am glad to hear that the disposition against
keeping Negroes grows more general in North America. Several
pieces have been lately printed here against the practice, and I
hope in time it will be taken into consideration and suppressed
by the legislature. Your labors have already been attended with
great effects. I hope, therefore, you and your friends will be
encouraged to proceed. My hearty wishes of success attend you,
being ever, my dear friend, yours affectionately,
B. FRANKLIN.[4]
The same sentiments of Franklin are expressed in the following letter
to Dean Woodward in 1773:
LONDON, 10 April, 1773.
_Reverend Sir_,
Desirous of being revived in your memory, I take this
opportunity, by my good friend Mrs. Blacker, of sending you a
printed piece, and a manuscript, both on a subject you and I
frequently conversed upon with concurring sentiments, when I had
the pleasure of seeing you in Dublin. I have since had the
satisfaction to learn, that a disposition to abolish slavery
prevails in North America, that many of the Pennsylvanians have
set their slaves at liberty, and that even the Virginia Assembly
have petitioned the King for permission to make a law for
preventing the importation of more into that colony. This
request, however, will probably not be granted, as their former
laws of that kind have always been repealed, and as the interest
of a few merchants here has more weight with government than that
of thousands at a distance.[5]
The following letter from Richard Price attests Franklin's interest
and efforts in behalf of the slaves:
HACKNEY, 26 September, 1787.
_My dear Friend_,
I am very happy when I think of the encouragement which you have
given me to address you under this appellation. Your _friendship_
I reckon indeed one of the distinctions of my life. I frequently
receive great pleasure from the accounts of you, which Dr. Rush
and Mr. Vaughan send me. But I receive much greater pleasure from
seeing your own hand.
I have lately been favored with two letters, which have given me
this pleasure, the last of which acquaints me, that my name has
been added to the number of the corresponding members of the
Pennsylvania Society for Abolishing Negro Slavery, of which you
are president, and also brought me a pamphlet containing the
constitution and the laws of Pennsylvania, which relate to the
object of the Society. I hope that you and the Society will
accept my thanks, and believe that I am truly sensible of the
honor done me. As for any services I can do, they are indeed but
small; for I find, that, far from possessing, in the decline of
life, your vigor of body and mind, every kind of business is
becoming more and more an incumbrance to me. At the same time,
the calls of business increase upon me, as you will learn in some
measure from the Report at the end of the Discourse, which you
will receive with this letter.
A similar institution to yours, for abolishing Negro slavery, is
just formed in London, and I have been desired to make one of the
acting committee, but I have begged to be excused. I have sent
you some of their papers. I need not say how earnestly I wish
success to such institutions. Something, perhaps, will be done
with this view by the convention of delegates. This convention,
consisting of many of the first men, in respect of wisdom and
influence, in the United States, must be a most august and
venerable assembly. May God guide their deliberations. The
happiness of the world depends, in some degree, on the result. I
am waiting with patience for an account of it.[6]
At the instigation of Franklin, the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting
the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully
held in Bondage[7] published this address:
It is with peculiar satisfaction we assure the friends of
humanity, that, in prosecuting the design of our association, our
endeavours have proved successful, far beyond our most sanguine
expectations.
Encouraged by this success, and by the daily progress of that
luminous and benign spirit of liberty, which is diffusing itself
throughout the world, and humbly hoping for the continuance of
the divine blessing on our labors, we have ventured to make an
important addition to our original plan, and do therefore
earnestly solicit the support and assistance of all who can feel
the tender emotions of sympathy and compassion or relish the
exalted pleasure of beneficence.
Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its
very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may
sometimes open a source of serious evils.
The unhappy man, who has long been treated as a brute animal, too
frequently sinks beneath the common standard of the human
species. The galling chains, that bind his body, do also fetter
his intellectual faculties, and impair the social affections of
his heart. Accustomed to move like a mere machine, by the will of
a master, reflection is suspended; he has not the power of
choice; and reason and conscience have but little influence over
his conduct, because he is chiefly governed by the passion of
fear. He is poor and friendless; perhaps worn out by extreme
labor, age, and disease.
Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove a misfortune to
himself, and prejudicial to society.
Attention to emancipated black people, it is therefore to be
hoped, will become a branch of our national policy; but, as far
as we contribute to promote this emancipation, so far that
attention is evidently a serious duty incumbent on us, and which
we mean to discharge to the best of our judgment and abilities.
To instruct, to advise, to qualify those, who have been restored
to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty, to
promote in them habits of industry, to furnish them with
employments suited to their age, sex, talents, and other
circumstances, and to procure their children an education
calculated for their future situation in life; these are the
great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted, and
which we conceive will essentially promote the public good, and
the happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected
fellow-creatures.
A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution without
considerable pecuniary resources, beyond the present ordinary
funds of the Society. We hope much from the generosity of
enlightened and benevolent freemen, and will gratefully receive
any donations or subscriptions for this purpose, which may be
made to our treasurer, James Starr, or to James Pemberton,
chairman of our committee of correspondence.
Signed, by order of the Society,
B. FRANKLIN, _President_.
Philadelphia, 9th of November, 1789.
Writing to John Wright in London in 1789, Franklin showed that he
never neglected the movement to abolish the slave trade:
PHILADELPHIA, 4 November, 1789.
I wish success to your endeavours for obtaining an abolition of
the Slave Trade. The epistle from your Yearly Meeting, for the
year 1768, was not the _first sowing_ of the good seed you
mention; for I find by an old pamphlet in my possession, that
George Keith, near a hundred years since, wrote a paper against
the practice, said to be "given forth by the appointment of the
meeting held by him, at Phillip James's house, in the city of
Philadelphia, about the year 1693"; wherein a strict charge was
given to Friends, "that they should set their Negroes at liberty,
after some reasonable time of service, &c., &c." And about the
year 1728, or 1729, I myself printed a book for Ralph Sandyford,
another of your Friends in this city, against keeping Negroes in
slavery, two editions of which he distributed gratis. And about
the year 1736 I printed another book on the same subject for
Benjamin Lay, who also professed being one of your Friends, and
he distributed the books chiefly among them. By these instances
it appears, that the seed was indeed sown in the good ground of
your profession, though much earlier than the time you mention,
and its springing up to effect at last, though so late, is some
confirmation of Lord Bacon's observation, that _a good motion
never dies_; and it may encourage us in making such, though
hopeless of their taking immediate effect.[8]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Correspondence_, VII, pp.
201-202.
[2] _Ibid._, II, p. 314.
[3] _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, p. 316.
[4] _Ibid._, VIII, pp. 16-17.
[5] _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, VIII, p. 42.
[6] _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, X, p. 320.
[7] _Ibid._, II, p. 515.
[8] _Works of Benjamin Franklin_, X, p. 403.
ON THE SLAVE TRADE
"Dr. Franklin's name, as President of the Abolition Society, was
signed to the memorial presented to the House of Representatives of
the United States, on the 12th of February, 1789, praying them to
exert the full extent of power vested in them by the Constitution, in
discouraging the traffic of the human species. This was his last
public act. In the debates to which this memorial gave rise, several
attempts were made to justify the trade. In the _Federal Gazette_ of
March 25th, 1790, there appeared an essay, signed Historicus, written
by Dr. Franklin, in which he communicated a Speech, said to have been
delivered in the Divan of Algiers, in 1687, in opposition to the
prayer of the petition of a sect called _Erika_, or Purists, for the
abolition of piracy and slavery. This pretended African speech was an
excellent parody of one delivered by Mr. Jackson, of Georgia. All the
arguments urged in favor of Negro slavery are applied with equal force
to justify the plundering and enslaving of Europeans. It affords, at
the same time, a demonstration of the futility of the arguments in
defense of the slave-trade, and of the strength of mind and ingenuity
of the author, at his advanced period of life. It furnishes, too, a no
less convincing proof of his power of imitating the style of other
times and nations, than his celebrated _Parable against Persecution_.
And as the latter led many persons to search the Scriptures with a
view to find it, so the former caused many persons to search the
bookstores and libraries for the work from which it was said to be
extracted."--Dr. Stuber.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FEDERAL GAZETTE.[1]
March 23d, 1790.
_Sir_,
Reading last night in your excellent paper the speech of Mr.
Jackson in Congress against their meddling with the affair of
slavery, or attempting to mend the condition of the slaves, it
put me in mind of a similar one made about one hundred years
since by Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, a member of the Divan of Algiers,
which may be seen in Martin's Account of his Consulship, anno
1687. It was against granting the petition of the sect called
_Erika_, or Purists, who prayed for the abolition of piracy and
slavery as being unjust. Mr. Jackson does not quote it; perhaps
he has not seen it. If, therefore, some of its reasonings are to
be found in his eloquent speech, it may only show that men's
interests and intellects operate and are operated on with
surprising similarity in all countries and climates, whenever
they are under similar circumstances. The African's speech, as
translated, is as follows:
"Allah Bismillah, &c. God is great, and Mahomet is his Prophet.
"Have these _Erika_ considered the consequences of granting their
petition? If we cease our cruises against the Christians, how
shall we be furnished with the commodities their countries
produce, and which are so necessary for us? If we forbear to make
slaves of their people, who in this hot climate are to cultivate
our lands? Who are to perform the common labors of our city, and
in our families? Must we not then be our own slaves? And is there
not more compassion and more favor due to us as Mussulmen, than
to these Christian dogs? We have now above fifty thousand slaves
in and near Algiers. This number, if not kept up by fresh
supplies, will soon diminish, and be gradually annihilated. If we
then cease taking and plundering the infidel ships, and making
slaves of the seamen and passengers, our lands will become of no
value for want of cultivation; the rents of houses in the city
will sink one half; and the revenue of government arising from
its share of prizes be totally destroyed! And for what? To
gratify the whims of a whimsical sect, who would have us, not
only forbear making more slaves, but even manumit those we
have.[2]
"But who is to indemnify their masters for the loss! Will the
state do it? Is our treasury sufficient? Will the Erika do it?
Can they do it? Or would they, to do what they think justice to
the slaves, do a greater injustice to the owners? And if we set
our slaves free, what is to be done with them? Few of them will
return to their countries; they know too well the greater
hardships they must there be subject to; they will not embrace
our holy religion; they will not adopt our manners; our people
will not pollute themselves by intermarrying with them. Must we
maintain them as beggars in our streets, or suffer our properties
to be the prey of their pillage? For men accustomed to slavery
will not work for a livelihood when not compelled. And what is
there so pitiable in their present condition? Were they not
slaves in their own countries?
"Are not Spain, Portugal, France, and the Italian states governed
by despots, who hold all their subjects in slavery, without
exception? Even England treats its sailors as slaves; for they
are, whenever the government pleases, seized, and confined in
ships of war, condemned not only to work, but to fight, for small
wages, or a mere subsistence, not better than our slaves are
allowed by us. Is their condition then made worse by their
falling into our hands? No; they have only exchanged one slavery
for another and I may say a better; for here they are brought
into a land where the sun of Islamism gives forth its light, and
shines in full splendor, and they have an opportunity of making
themselves acquainted with the true doctrine, and thereby saving
their immortal souls. Those who remain at home have not that
happiness. Sending the slaves home then would be sending them out
of light into darkness.[3]
"I repeat the question, What is to be done with them? I have
heard it suggested, that they may be planted in the wilderness,
where there is plenty of land for them to subsist on, and where
they may flourish as a free state; but they are, I doubt, too
little disposed to labor without compulsion, as well as too
ignorant to establish a good government, and the wild Arabs would
soon molest and destroy or again enslave them. While serving us,
we take care to provide them with everything, and they are
treated with humanity. The laborers in their own country are, as
I am well informed, worse fed, lodged, and clothed. The condition
of most of them is therefore already mended, and requires no
further improvement. Here their lives are in safety. They are not
liable to be impressed for soldiers, and forced to cut one
another's Christian throats, as in the wars of their own
countries. If some of the religious mad bigots, who now tease us
with their silly petitions, have in a fit of blind zeal freed
their slaves, it was not generosity, it was not humanity, that
moved them to the action; it was from the conscious burthen of a
load of sins, and a hope, from the supposed merits of so good a
work, to be excused from damnation.[4]
"How grossly are they mistaken to suppose slavery to be
disallowed by the Alcoran! Are not the two precepts, to quote no
more, '_Masters, treat your slaves with kindness; Slaves, serve
your masters with cheerfulness and fidelity_,' clear proofs to
the contrary? Nor can the plundering of infidels be in that
sacred book forbidden, since it is well known from it, that God
has given the world, and all that it contains, to his faithful
Mussulmen, who are to enjoy it of right as fast as they conquer
it. Let us then hear no more of this detestable proposition, the
manumission of Christian slaves, the adoption of which would, by
depreciating our lands, and houses, and thereby depriving so many
good citizens of their properties, create universal discontent,
and provoke insurrections, to the endangering of government and
producing general confusion. I have therefore no doubt, but this
wise council will prefer the comfort and happiness of a whole
nation of true believers to the whim of a few _Erika_, and
dismiss their petition."
The result was, as Martin tells us, that the Divan came to this
resolution: "The doctrine, that plundering and enslaving the
Christians is unjust, is at best _problematical_; but that it is
the interest of this state to continue the practice, is clear;
therefore let the petition be rejected."
And it was rejected accordingly.
And since like motives are apt to produce in the minds of men
like opinions and resolutions, may we not, Mr. Brown, venture to
predict, from this account, that the petitions to the Parliament
of England for abolishing the slave-trade, to say nothing of
other legislatures, and the debates upon them, will have a
similar conclusion? I am, Sir, your constant reader and humble
servant,
HISTORICUS.[5]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, p. 517.
[2] _Ibid._, II, pp. 518-519.
[3] _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, pp. 519-520.
[4] _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_, II, pp. 520-521.
[5] _Ibid._, II, p. 521.
THE PROCEEDINGS OF A MISSISSIPPI MIGRATION CONVENTION IN 1879[1]
The convention of the planters of the Mississippi Valley, which
has attracted the attention of the entire county, ever since the
call for its assembly was published, met in this city, this
morning. Delegates from all sections of the country are present
and more are expected. The original intention was to hold the
meeting of the convention in the Operahouse, but owing to the
large crowd present, and the warm weather, the place of meeting
was changed to the Concert Garden.
At half past twelve Judge Farrar called the meeting to order, and
requested Gen. W. R. Miles to act as temporary chairman. On
taking the chair the General delivered a short address and then
announced that the convention would proceed to permanent
organization.
A committee of twenty on permanent organization was appointed.
While the committee was out the convention was addressed by Judge
H. Simrall, of Mississippi, and Hon. Henry S. Foote, of
Louisiana.
The following gentlemen were elected permanent officers of the
convention:
President--Gen. W. R. Miles, of Yazoo county.
Vice-presidents--T. F. Cassell, of Tennessee; James Hill, of
Jackson, Mississippi; H. B. Robinson, of Arkansas; David Young,
of Louisiana.
Secretary--A. W. Crandall, Louisiana.
Assistant Secretaries--Jno. A. Galbreth, Jackson; J. D. Webster,
Washington county.
Sergeant at Arms--J. B. Pegram, Vicksburg.
Assistant sergeant at Arms--J. W. Crichloy, Vicksburg; George
Volker, Vicksburg; G. W. Walton, Vicksburg; Wesley Crayton,
Vicksburg.
After appointing a committee on credentials, the convention took
a recess until three o'clock.
SECOND DAY
The convention was called to order by the president at half past
nine.
Col. W. L. Nugent, chairman of the committee, presented the
following preamble and resolutions:
_Mr. President._ Your committee on resolutions beg leave
respectfully to report that they have inquired into the causes
which have given rise to the recent exodus of our colored
population, as far as possible within the limited time allowed,
and while these causes are difficult to ascertain, owing to the
exceptional cases of all kinds brought to their attention, they
believe the following to include those which may be considered
prominent:
1st. The low price of cotton and the partial failure of the crop
of the past year.
2d. The irrational system of planting adopted in some sections,
whereby labor was deprived of intelligence to direct it, and the
presence of economy to make it profitable.
3d. The vicious system of credit fostered by laws permitting
laborers and tenants to mortgage crops before they were grown or
even planted.
4th. The apprehension on the part of many colored people,
produced by insidious reports circulated among them, that their
civil and political rights are endangered, or are likely to be.
5th. The hurtful and false rumors, diligently disseminated, that
by emigrating to Kansas, the colored people would obtain lands,
mules and money from the government without cost to themselves,
and become independent forever.
It is a matter of astonishment to your committees that the
colored people could be induced to credit the idle stories
circulated of a promised land, where their wants would be
supplied, and their independence secured, without exertion on
their part. It was going to the extent of ignorance and credulity
to credit them; and yet evidences of an undoubted character was
furnished your committee as to this matter. It is one of the
factors in a movement the end of which we cannot now forecaste.
There are in the State of Mississippi alone five million five
hundred thousand acres of land belonging to the United States now
subject to homestead entries. Any thrifty colored man in the
South can pre-empt one hundred and sixty acres of this land at
the moderate cost of about eighteen dollars. Lands in Kansas
cannot be acquired for less. In no part of the civilized world
can unskilled labor secure a larger return, by honest toil, than
among us, but idleness accompanied by extravagance produces
suffering and want here as elsewhere.
Your committee believes that the legislation of our States should
be shaped so as to foster habits of industry among the colored
people, elevate the standard of social morals, and improve and
preserve our common school system.
Diverse views have been expressed by parties equally desirous of
reaching the same conclusion: To ascertain grievances and apply
as far as it can be done by us, the proper redress. If the single
purpose of all was to accomplish this result, without the
influences which our past experiences have engendered to expect
it, this might be done; but it can only be done with full
knowledge of all the facts. That errors have been committed by
the whites and blacks alike as each in turn have controlled the
government of the States here represented, may be safely
admitted. Disregarding the past, burying its dead with it,
standing upon the living present, and looking hopefully to the
future which is before us, your committee think their duty
accomplished when they have adopted and reported these
resolutions:
Resolved, That the interests of planters and laborers, landlords
and tenants are identical; and that they must prosper or suffer
together; and that it is the duty of the planters and landlords
of the States here represented to devise and adopt some contract
system with laborers and tenants by which both parties will
receive the full benefit of labor governed by intelligence and
economy.
Resolved, That this convention does affirm that the colored race
has been placed by the constitution of the United States and the
States here represented, of the laws thereof, on a plane of
absolute legal equality with the white race; and does declare
that the colored race shall be accorded the practical enjoyment
of all rights, civil and political, guaranteed by the said
constitution and laws.
Resolved, That, to this end, the members of this convention
pledge themselves to use whatever of power and influence they
possess, to protect the colored race against all dangers in
respect to the fair expression of their wills at the polls, which
they may apprehend may result from fraud, intimidation or "bull
dozing," on the part of the whites. And as there can be no
liberty of action without freedom of thought, they demand that
all elections shall be fair and free and that no repressive
measure shall be employed by the colored people to deprive their
own race of any part of the fullest freedom in the exercise of
the highest right of citizenship.
Resolved, That the unrestricted credit system pervading the
States here represented, based upon liens and mortgages on stock
and crops to be grown in the future, followed by a failure of
that crop, has provoked distrust, created unrest, and disturbed
their entire laboring population. All laws authorizing liens on
crops for advances constituted on articles other than those of
prime necessity at moderate profits, where such advances are made
by landlords, planters or merchants, should be discontinued and
repealed.
Resolved, That this convention call upon the colored people here
represented to contradict the false reports circulated among and
impressed upon the more ignorant and credulous; to instruct them
that no lands nor mules nor money await them in Kansas or
elsewhere without labor or price and to report to the civil
authorities all persons engaging in disseminating any such
reports.
Resolved, That it is the constitutional right of the colored
people to migrate where they please, and to whatever State they
may select for their residence; but this convention urges them to
proceed on their movement towards migration as reasonable human
beings, providing in advance, by economy and effective labor, the
means for transportation and settlement, and sustain their
reputation for honesty and fair dealing, by preserving intact
until completion the contracts for labor and leasing, which they
have made. If, when they have done this, they still desire to
leave, all obstacles to their departure be removed; all
practicable assistance will be afforded to them, and their places
will be supplied with other and contented labor.
Your committee believe that if the views employed in the
foregoing resolutions are practically carried out by the people
of both races, in good faith, the disquiet of our people will
subside. We appeal to the people of both races, in the States
here represented, to aid us in carrying these resolutions into
effect, and to report to the authorities all violations of the
laws and all interference with private rights.
W. L. NUGENT,
_Chairman_.
Gov. Foote moved to amend by substituting other resolutions, and
addressed the convention in support of his motion.
Speeches were made in favor of the original resolutions by Judge
Simrall, Hon. James Hill, Capt. W. B. Pittman, Mr. Robinson, of
Arkansas, and Col. Nugent.
At the conclusion of Col. Nugent's address the resolutions were
adopted unanimously and the convention adjourned sine die.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] These proceedings appeared in _The Vicksburg Commercial Daily
Advertiser_, May 5, 1879.
HOW THE NEGROES WERE DUPED[1]
WASHINGTON LETTER TO _New York Herald_.
Gorgeously illuminated chromo-lithographs of Kansas scenes have
been distributed among the blacks. The gentleman who has seen
some of these chromos writes that the most ravishing presentment
of rural life in Kansas is depicted. The Negroes look on the
State as a second paradise, compared with which old Canaan is a
Florida swamp. One of these pictures, entitled "A Freedman's
Home," represents a fine landscape, with fields of ripening grain
stretching away to the setting sun.
In the foreground, illuminated by a marvelous sunset, stood the
freedman's home. It was a picturesque cottage with gables, dormer
windows and wide verandas. French windows reached down to the
floor, and through the open casements appeared a seductive scene
in the family sitting room. The colored father, who had just
returned from his harvest fields, sat in an easy chair reading a
newspaper, while the children and babies rollicked on the floor
of the piazza. Through the open door of the kitchen the colored
wife could be seen directing the servants and cooks who were
preparing the evening meal. In the parlor, however, was the most
enchanting feature, for at a grand piano was poised the belle of
the household, and beside the piano where she was playing stood
her colored lover, devouring her with his eyes while he
abstractedly turned the leaves of her music. Just to one side of
the dwelling appeared a commodious barn and carriage house and
workmen busily engaged in putting in order their reapers and
mowers for the following day.
In one of these pictures, "Old Auntie" sits on the veranda
knitting stockings while she gazes on herds of buffalo and
antelope, which are feeding on the prairies beyond the wheat
fields. Approaching the gate a handsome colored man is seen
coming in from the hunt, with a dead buck and a string of wild
turkeys slung over his shoulders. These agricultural cartoons, in
vivid coloring, the writer reports are doing much to influence
the minds of the more ignorant Negroes.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This appeared in _The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser_, May
6, 1879.
REMARKS ON THIS EXODUS BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS[1]
WASHINGTON, May 6.
Fred. Douglass, marshal of the District, is out in a very strong
letter, published in the _National View_, the new Greenback organ
here, vigorously opposing the emigration of Negroes from the
South. He earnestly advises the colored men to remain at home.
The letter has caused a good deal of annoyance among the leading
Republicans, who have been vigorously working up this movement,
believing that it was a godsend to them and would be a strong
issue in future campaigns.
Fred. Douglass winds up his letter as follows:
"I am opposed to this exodus, because it is an untimely
concession to the idea that white people and colored people
cannot live together in peace and prosperity unless the whites
are a majority and control the legislation and hold the offices
of the State. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will pour
upon the people of Kansas and other Northern States a multitude
of deluded, hungry, homeless people to be supported in a large
measure by alms. I am opposed to this exodus, because it will
enable our political adversaries to make successful appeals to
popular prejudice (as in the case of the Chinese) on the ground
that these people, so ignorant and helpless, have been imported
for the purpose of making the North solid by outvoting
intelligent white Northern citizens. I am opposed to this exodus,
because 'rolling stones gather no moss;' and I agree with Emerson
that the men who made Rome or any other locality worth going to
see stayed there. There is, in my judgment, no part of the United
States where an industrious and intelligent man can serve his
race more wisely and efficiently than upon the soil where he was
born and reared and is known. I am opposed to this exodus because
I see in it a tendency to convert colored laboring men into
traveling tramps, first going North because they are persecuted,
and then returning South because they have been deceived in their
expectations, which will excite against themselves and against
our whole race an increasing measure of popular contempt and
scorn. I am opposed to this exodus because I believe that the
conditions of existence in the Southern States are steadily
improving, and that the colored man there will ultimately realize
the fullest measure of liberty and equality accorded and secured
in any section of our common country.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This appeared in _The Vicksburg Commercial Daily Advertiser_, May
7, 1879.
THE SENATE REPORT ON THE EXODUS OF 1879
Hearing of the commotion among the Negroes in Louisiana and
Mississippi in 1879, Senator D. W. Voorhees, of Indiana, offered the
following resolution which was accepted:
Whereas, large numbers of Negroes from the Southern States, and
especially from the State of North Carolina, are migrating to the
Northern States, and especially to the State of Indiana; and,
Whereas, it is currently alleged that they are induced to do so
by the unjust and cruel conduct of their white fellow citizens
toward them in the South; therefore,
_Be it Resolved_, That a committee of five members of this body
be appointed by its presiding officer, whose duty it shall be to
investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid migration,
and to report the same to the Senate; and said committee shall
have power to send for persons and papers, compelling the defense
of witnesses, and to sit at any time.[1]
Thereupon Senator William Windom, of Minnesota, offered the following
amendment which led to the discussion of all sorts of phases of the
race problem and finally to a majority and minority report on the
exodus:[2]
_And Be it Therefore Resolved_, That in case said committee shall
find that said migration of colored people from the South has
been caused by cruel and unjust treatment or by the denial or
abridgement of personal or political rights, have so far inquired
and reported to the Senate, first; what, if any, action of
Congress may be necessary to secure to every citizen of the
United States the full and free enjoyment of all rights
guaranteed by the constitution; second; where the peaceful
adjustment of the colored race of all sectional issues may not be
best secured by the distribution of the colored race through
their partial migration from those States and congressional
districts where, by reason of their numerical majority, they are
not allowed to freely and peacefully exercise the rights of
citizenship; and third; that said committee shall inquire and
report as to the expediency and practicability of providing such
territory or territories as may be necessary for the use and
occupation of persons who may desire to migrate from their
present homes in order to secure the free, full, and peaceful
enjoyment of their constitutional rights and privileges.[2a]
REPORT
_The Select Committee, appointed by the Senate to investigate the
causes which have led to the migration of the Negroes from the
Southern States to the Northern States, having duly considered
the same, beg leave to submit the following report_:[3]
On the 18th day of December, 1879, the Senate passed the
following resolution:
Whereas, large numbers of Negroes from the Southern States are
emigrating to the Northern States; and,
Whereas, it is currently alleged that they are induced to do so
by the unjust and cruel conduct of their white fellow-citizens
towards them in the South, and by the denial or abridgement of
their personal and political rights and privileges; therefore,
_Be it Resolved_, That a committee of five members of this body
be appointed by its presiding officer, whose duty it shall be to
investigate the causes which have led to the aforesaid
emigration, and to report the same to the Senate; and said
committee shall have power to send for persons and papers, and to
sit at any time.
In obedience to this resolution the committee proceeded to take
testimony on the 19th day of January, and continuing from time to
time until 153 witnesses had been examined, embracing persons
from the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Indiana. Much of this
testimony is of such a character as would not be received in a
court of justice, being hearsay, the opinions of witnesses, &c.,
but we received it with a view to ascertaining, if possible, the
real state of facts in regard to the condition of the Southern
colored people, their opinions and feelings, and the feelings and
opinions of their white neighbors. We think it clearly
established from the testimony that the following may be said to
be the causes which have induced this migration of the colored
people from various portions of the South to Northern States,
chiefly to Kansas, and Indiana: That from North Carolina, the
State to which we first directed our attention, was undoubtedly
induced in a great degree by Northern politicians, and by Negro
leaders in their employ, and in the employ of railroad lines.
Examining particularly into the condition of the colored men in
that State, it was disclosed by the testimony of whites and
blacks, Republicans and Democrats, that the causes of discontent
among those people could not have arisen from any deprivation of
their political rights or any hardship in their condition. A
minute examination into their situation shows that the average
rate of wages, according to the age and strength of the hand for
field labor, was from eight to fifteen dollars per month,
including board and house to live in, garden and truck patches,
around the house, fire-wood, and certain other privileges, all
rent free.
These, added to the extra labor which could be earned by hands
during the season of gathering turpentine and resin, or of
picking cotton made the general average of compensation for labor
in that State quite equal to if not better than in any Northern
State to which these people were going, to say nothing of the
climate of North Carolina, which was infinitely better adapted to
them.
The closest scrutiny could detect no outrage or violence
inflicted upon their political rights in North Carolina for many
years past. They all testified that they voted freely; that their
votes were counted fairly; that no improper influence whatsoever
was exerted over them; and many were acquiring real estate, and
were enjoying the same privileges of education for their
children, precisely, that the whites were enjoying.
It was also disclosed by the testimony that there existed aid
societies in the city of Washington, in the city of Topeka,
Kans., Indianapolis, and elsewhere throughout the West, whose
avowed object was to furnish aid to colored men migrating to the
West and North; and notwithstanding that the agents and members
of these societies generally disclaimed that it was their
intention to induce any colored men to leave their homes, but
only to aid in taking care of them after they had arrived, yet it
was established undeniably, not only that the effect of these
societies and of the aid extended by them operated to cause the
exodus originally, but that they stimulated it directly by
publishing and distributing among the colored men circulars
artfully designed and calculated to stir up discontent. Every
single member, agent, friend, or sympathizer with these societies
and their purposes were ascertained to belong to the Republican
party, and generally to be active members thereof. Some of the
circulars contained the grossest misrepresentation of facts, and
in almost all cases the immigrants expected large aid from the
government of clothes, or land, or money or free transportation,
or something of that kind. Hundreds of them, on given days at
various points in the South, crowded to the depots or to the
steamboat landings upon a rumor that free transportation was to
be furnished to all who would go. It was also disclosed by the
testimony on the part of some very candid and intelligent
witnesses that their object in promoting this exodus of the
colored people was purely political. They thought it would be
well to remove a sufficient number of blacks from the South,
where their votes could not be made to tell, into close States in
the North, and thus turn the scale in favor of the Republican
party.
Wages, rents, method of cropping on shares, &c., were inquired
into in all of the Southern States mentioned, and the fact
ascertained that the aggregate was about the same as in North
Carolina. In most of the Southern States, where wages were higher
than in North Carolina, expenses were also higher, so that the
aggregate, as before stated, was about the same.
One cause of complaint alleged as a reason for this exodus of the
colored people from the South was their mistreatment in the
courts of justice. Directing our attention to this the committee
have ascertained that in many of the districts of the South the
courts were under entire Republican control--judges, prosecuting
attorneys, sheriffs, &c., and that there were generally as many
complaints from districts thus controlled as there were from
districts which were under the control of the Democratic
officials; and that the whole of the complaints taken together
might be said to be such as are generally made by the ignorant
who fail to receive in courts what they think is justice.
Your committee found no State or county in the South, into which
this investigation extended, where colored men were excluded from
juries either in theory or in practice; they found no county or
district in the South where they were excluded, either in theory
or practice, from their share in the management of county affairs
and of the control of county government. On the contrary,
whenever their votes were in a majority we found that the
officers were most generally divided among the black people, or
among white people of their choice. Frequently we found the
schools to be controlled by them, especially that portion of the
school fund which was allotted to their race, and the complaints
which had been so often made of excessive punishment of the
blacks by the courts as compared with the whites upon
investigation in nearly all cases, proved to be either unfounded
in fact or that if there was an apparent excess of punishment of
a black man the cause was ascertained to be in the nature of the
crime with which he was charged, or the attendant circumstances.
The educational advantages in the South, the committee regret to
say, were found to be insufficient, and far inferior to those of
most of the States of the North, but such as they were we found
in every case that the blacks had precisely the same advantages
that the whites enjoyed; that the school fund was divided among
them according to numbers; that their teachers were quite as
good, and chosen with as much care; that their schools existed as
many months in the year; in short, the same facilities were
afforded to the blacks as were to the whites in this respect; and
that these schools were generally supported by the voluntary
taxation imposed by the legislatures composed of white men,
levied upon their own property for the common benefit.
With regard to political outrages which have formed the staple of
complaint for many years against the people of the South, your
committee diligently inquired, and have to report that they found
nothing or almost nothing new. Many old stories were revived and
dwelt upon by zealous witnesses, but very few indeed ventured to
say that any considerable violence or outrage had been exhibited
toward the colored people of the South within the last few years,
and still fewer of all those who testified upon this subject, and
who were evidently anxious to make the most of it, testified to
anything as within their own knowledge. It was all hearsay, and
nothing but hearsay, with rare exceptions.
Many of the witnesses before us were colored politicians, men who
make their living by politics, and whose business it was to stir
up feeling between the whites and blacks; keep alive the embers
of political hatred; and were men of considerable intelligence,
so that what they failed to set forth of outrages perpetrated
against their race may be safely assumed not to exist. Many, on
the contrary, were intelligent, sober, industrious, and
respectable men, who testified to their own condition, the amount
of property that they had accumulated since their emancipation,
the comfort in which they lived, the respect with which they
were regarded by their white neighbors. These universally
expressed the opinion that all colored men who would practice
equal industry and sobriety could have fared equally well; and in
fact their own condition was ample proof of the treatment of the
colored people by the whites of the South, and of their
opportunities to thrive, if they were so determined. Some of
these men owned so much as a thousand acres of real estate in the
best portions of the South; many of them had tenants of their
own, white men, occupying their premises and paying them rent;
and your committee naturally arrived at the conclusion that if
one black man could attain to this degree of prosperity and
respectable citizenship, others could, having the same capacity
for business and practicing the same sobriety and industry.
Your committee also directed their attention to the complaints
frequently made with regard to the laws passed in various States
of the South relating to landlord and tenant, and to the system
adopted by many planters for furnishing their tenants and
laborers with supplies. We found, upon investigation of these
laws, and of the witnesses in relation to their operation, that
as a general rule they were urgently called for by the
circumstances in which the South found itself after the war. The
universal adoption of homestead and personal property exemption
laws deprived poor men of credit, and the landlord class, for its
own protection, procured the passage of these laws giving them a
lien upon the crop made by the tenant until his rents and his
supplies furnished for the subsistence of the tenant and his
family had been paid and discharged; and while upon the surface
these laws appeared to be hard and in favor of the landlord, they
were, as was actually testified by many intelligent witnesses,
quite as much or more in favor of the tenant, as it enabled him
to obtain credit, to subsist himself and his family, and to make
a crop without any means whatsoever but his own labor. It was
alleged also that in many instances landlords, or if not
landlords then merchants, would establish country stores for
furnishing supplies to laborers and tenants, and the laborer,
having no money to go elsewhere or take the natural advantages of
competition, was forced to buy at these stores at exorbitant
prices.
Your committee regret to say that they found it to be frequently
the case that designing men, or bad and dishonest men, would take
advantage of the ignorance or necessity of the Negroes to obtain
these exorbitant prices; but at the same time your committee is
not aware of a spot on earth where the cunning and unscrupulous
do not take advantage of the ignorant; and cannot regard it as a
sufficient cause for these black people leaving their homes and
going into distant States and among strangers unless they had a
proper assurance that the State to which they were going
contained no dishonest men, or men who would take such advantage
of them. Your committee feel bound to say, however, in justice to
the planters of the South, that this abuse is not at all general
nor frequent; and that as a general rule while exorbitant prices
are exacted sometimes from men in the situation of the blacks,
yet the excuse for it is the risk which planter and merchant run.
Should a bad crop year come, should the Army worm devour the
cotton, or any other calamity come upon the crop, the landlord is
without his rent, the storekeeper is without his pay, and worse
than all the laborer is without a means of subsistence for the
next year. It is hoped and believed that when the heretofore
disturbed condition of the people of the South settles down into
regularity and order, the natural laws of trade and competition
will assert themselves and this evil will be to a great extent
remedied, whilst the diffusion of education among the colored
people will enable them to keep their own accounts and hold a
check upon those who would act dishonestly towards them.
On the whole, your committee express the positive opinion that
the condition of the colored people of the South is not only as
good as could have been reasonably expected, but is better than
if large communities were transferred to a colder and more
inhospitable climate, thrust into competition with a different
system of labor, among strangers who are not accustomed to them,
their ways, habits of thought and action, their idiosyncrasies,
and their feelings. While a gradual migration, such as
circumstances dictate among the white races, might benefit the
individual black man and his family as it does those of the white
race, we cannot but regard this wholesale attempt to transfer a
people without means and without intelligence, from the homes of
their nativity in this manner, as injurious to the people of the
South, injurious to the people and the labor system of the State
where they go, and, more than all, injurious to the last degree
to the black people themselves. That there is much in their
condition to be deplored in the South no one will deny; that that
condition is gradually and steadily improving in every respect is
equally true. That there have been clashings of the races in the
South, socially and politically, is never to be denied nor to be
wondered at; but when we come to consider the method in which the
people were freed, as the result of a bitter and desolating civil
war; and that for purposes of party politics these incompetent,
ignorant, landless, homeless people, without any qualifications
of citizenship, without any of the ties of property or the
obligations of education, were suddenly thrown into political
power, and the effort was made not only to place them upon an
equality with their late masters, but to absolutely place them in
front and hold them there by legislation, by military violence,
and by every other means that could possibly be resorted to; when
we consider these things no philosophical mind can behold their
present condition, and the present comparative state of peace and
amity between the two races, without wonder that their condition
is as good as it is.
No man can behold this extraordinary spectacle of two people
attempting to reconcile themselves in spite of the interference
of outsiders, and to live in harmony, to promote each other's
prosperity in spite of the bitter animosities which the sudden
elevation of the one has engendered, without the liveliest hope
that if left to themselves, the condition of the former subject
race will still more rapidly improve, and that the best results
may be reasonably and fairly expected.
Your committee is further of the opinion that all the attempts of
legislation; that all the inflammatory appeals of politicians
upon the stump and through the newspapers; that the wild and
misdirected philanthropy of certain classes of our citizens; that
these aid societies, and all other of the influences which are so
industriously brought to bear to disturb the equanimity of the
colored people of the South and to make them discontented with
their position, are doing them a positive and almost incalculable
injury, to say nothing of pecuniary losses which have thus been
inflicted upon Southern communities.
Your committee is further of opinion that Congress having enacted
all the legislation for the benefit of the colored people of the
South which under the Constitution it can enact, and having seen
that all the States of the South have done the same; that by the
Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the
various States these people are placed upon a footing of perfect
equality before the law, and given the chance to work out their
own civilization and improvements, any further attempts at
legislation or agitation of the subject will but excite in them
hopes of exterior aid that will be disappointing to them, and
will prevent them from working out diligently and with care their
own salvation; that the sooner they are taught to depend upon
themselves, the sooner they will learn to take care of
themselves; the sooner they are taught to know that their true
interest is promoted by cultivating the friendship of their white
neighbors instead of their enmity, the sooner they will gain that
friendship; and that friendship and harmony once fully attained,
there is nothing to bar the way to their speedy civilization and
advancement in wealth and prosperity, except such as hinder all
people in that great work.
D. W. VOORHEES.
Z. B. VANCE.
GEO. II. PENDLETON.
REPORT OF THE MINORITY
_The undersigned, a minority of the committee appointed under
resolution of the Senate of December 15, 1879, to investigate the
causes which have led to the emigration of Negroes from the
Southern to the Northern States, submit the following report:_[4]
In the month of December last a few hundred colored men, women,
and children, discontented with their condition in North
Carolina, and hoping to improve it, were emigrating to Indiana.
This movement, though utterly insignificant in comparison with
the vastly greater numbers which were moving from other Southern
States into Kansas, seemed to be considered of very much more
importance, in certain quarters, on account of its alleged
political purposes and bearing. The theory upon which the
investigation was asked was that the emigration into the State of
Indiana was the result of a conspiracy on the part of Northern
leaders of the Republican party to colonize that State with
Negroes for political purposes. The utter absurdity of this
theory should have been apparent to everybody, for if the
Republican party, or its leaders, proposed to import Negroes into
Indiana for political purposes, why take them from North
Carolina? Why import them from a State where the Republicans hope
and expect to carry the election, when there were thousands upon
thousands ready and anxious to come from States certainly
Democratic. Why transport them by rail at heavy expense half way
across the continent when they could have taken them from
Kentucky without any expense, or brought them up the Mississippi
River by steamers at merely nominal cost? Why send twenty-five
thousand to Kansas to swell her 40,000 Republican majority, and
only seven or eight hundred to Indiana? These considerations
brand with falsehood and folly the charge that the exodus was a
political movement induced by Northern partisan leaders? And yet
to prove this absurd proposition the committee devoted six months
of hard and fruitless labor, during which they examined one
hundred and fifty-nine witnesses, selected from all parts of the
country, mainly with reference to their supposed readiness to
prove said theory, expended over $30,000 and filled three large
volumes of testimony.
The undersigned feel themselves authorized to say that there is
no evidence whatever even tending to sustain the charge that the
Republican party, or any of its leaders, have been instrumental,
either directly or indirectly, in aiding or encouraging these
people to come from their homes in the South to any of the
Northern States. A good deal of complaint was made that certain
"aid societies" in the North had encouraged and aided this
migration, and a futile attempt was made to prove that these
societies were acting in the interest of the Republican party.
Upon inquiry, however, it was ascertained that their purposes
were purely charitable and had no connection whatever with any
political motive or movement. They were composed almost wholly of
colored people, and were brought into existence solely to afford
temporary relief to the destitute and suffering emigrants who had
already come into the Northern and Western States.
In the spring of 1879 thousands of colored people, unable longer
to endure the intolerable hardships, injustice, and suffering
inflicted upon them by a class of Democrats in the South, had, in
utter despair, fled panic-stricken from their homes and sought
protection among strangers in a strange land. Homeless,
penniless, and in rags, these poor people were thronging the
wharves of Saint Louis, crowding the steamers on the Mississippi
River, and in pitiable destitution throwing themselves upon the
charity of Kansas. Thousands more were congregating along the
banks of the Mississippi River, hailing the passing steamers, and
imploring them for a passage to the land of freedom, where their
rights of citizens were respected and honest toil rewarded by
honest compensation. The newspapers were filled with accounts of
their destitution, and the very air was burdened with the cry of
distress from a class of American citizens flying from
persecutions which they could not longer endure. Their piteous
tales of outrage, suffering and wrong touched the hearts of the
more fortunate members of their race in the North and West, and
aid societies, designed to afford temporary relief, and composed
largely, almost wholly, of colored people, were organized in
Washington, Saint Louis, Topeka, and in various other places.
That they were organized to induce migration for political
purposes, or to aid or to encourage these people to leave their
homes for any purpose, or that they ever contributed one dollar
to that end, is utterly untrue, and there is absolutely nothing
in the testimony to sustain such a charge. Their purposes and
objects were purely charitable. They found a race of wretched
miserable people flying from oppression and wrong, and they
sought to relieve their distress. The refugees were hungry, and
they fed them: in rags, and they clothed them; homeless, and they
sheltered them; destitute, and they found employment for
them--only this and nothing more.
The real origin of the exodus movement and the organizations at
the South which have promoted it are very clearly stated by the
witnesses who have been most active in regard to it.
Henry Adams, of Shreveport, Louisiana, an uneducated colored
laborer, but a man of very unusual natural abilities, and, so far
as the committee could learn, entirely reliable and truthful,
states that he entered the United States Army in 1866 and
remained in it until 1869; that when he left the Army he returned
to his former home at Shreveport, and, finding the condition of
his race intolerable, he and a number of other men who had also
been in the Army set themselves to work to better the condition
of their people.
In 1870--
He says--
a parcel of us got together and said we would organize ourselves
into a committee and look into affairs and see the true condition
of our race, to see whether it was possible we could stay under a
people who held us in bondage or not.
That committee increased until it numbered about five hundred and
Mr. Adams says:
Some of the members of the committee was ordered by the committee
to go into every State in the South where we had been slaves,
and post one another from time to time about the true condition
of our race, and nothing but the truth.
In answer to the question whether they traveled over various
States he said:
"Yes, sir; and we worked, some of us, worked our way from place
to place, and went from State to State and worked--some of them
did--amongst our people, in the fields, everywhere, to see what
sort of a living our people lived--whether we could live in the
South amongst the people that held us as slaves or not. We
continued that on till 1874. Every one paid his own expenses,
except the one we sent to Louisiana and Mississippi. We took
money out of our pockets and sent him, and said to him you must
now go to work. You can't find out anything till you get amongst
them. You can talk as much as you please, but you got to go right
into the field and work with them and sleep with them to know all
about them."
I think about one hundred or one hundred and fifty went from one
place or another.
Q. What was the character of the information that they gave you?
A. Well, the character of the information they brought to us was
very bad, sir.
* * * * *
Q. Do you remember any of these reports that you got from members
of your committee?--A. Yes, sir; they said in several parts where
they was that the land rent was still higher there in that part
of the country than it was where we first organized it, and the
people was still being whipped, some of them, by the old owners,
the men that had owned them as slaves, and some of them was being
cheated out of their crops just the same as they was there.
Q. Was anything said about their personal and political rights in
these reports as to how they were treated?--A. Yes; some of them
stated that in some parts of the country where they voted they
would be shot. Some of them stated that if they voted the
Democratic ticket they would not be injured.
Q. Now let us understand more distinctly, before we go any
further, the kind of people who composed that association. The
committee, as I understand you, was composed entirely of laboring
people?--A. Yes, sir.
Q Did it include any politicians of either color, white or
black?--A. No politicianers didn't belong to it, because we
didn't allow them to know nothing about it, because we was
afraid that if we allowed the colored politicianers to belong to
it he would tell it to the Republican politicianers, and from
that the men that was doing all this to us would get hold of it
too, and then get after us.
* * * * *
Q. About what time did you lose all hope and confidence that your
condition could be tolerable in the Southern States?--A. Well we
never lost all hopes in the world till 1877.
Q. Why did you lose all hope in that year?--A. Well, we found
ourselves in such condition that we looked around and we seed
that there was no way on earth, it seemed, that we could better
our condition there, and we discussed that thoroughly in our
organization in May. We said that the whole South--every State in
the South--had got into the hands of the very men that held us
slaves--from one thing to another--and we thought that the men
that held us slaves was holding the reins of government over our
heads in every respect almost, even the constable up to the
governor. We felt we had almost as well be slaves under these
men. In regard to the whole matter that was discussed it came up
in every council. Then we said there was no hope for us and we
had better go.
Q. You say, then, that in 1877 you lost all hope of being able to
remain in the South, and you began to think of moving somewhere
else?--A. Yes; we said we was going if we had to run away and go
into the woods.
Q. About how many did this committee consist of before you
organized your council? Give us the number as near as you can
tell.--A. As many as five hundred in all.
Q. The committee, do you mean? A. Yes; the committee has been
that large.
Q. What was the largest number reached by your colonization
council, in your best judgment?--A. Well, it is not exactly five
hundred men belonging to the council that we have in our council,
but they all agreed to go with us and enroll their names with us
from time to time, so that they have now got at this time
ninety-eight thousand names enrolled.
Q. Then through that council, as sort of subscribers to its
purpose and acts and for carrying out its objects, there were
ninety-eight thousand names?--A. Yes; ninety-eight thousand names
enrolled.
Q. In what parts of the country were these ninety-eight thousand
people scattered?--A. Well some in Louisiana--the majority of
them in Louisiana--and some in Texas, and some in Arkansas. We
joins Arkansas.
Q. Were there any in Mississippi?--A. Yes, sir; a few in
Mississippi.
Q. And a few in Alabama?--A. Yes, sir; a few in Alabama, too.
Q. Did the organization extend at all into other States farther
away?--A. O, yes, sir.
Q. Have you members in all the Southern States?--A. Not in every
one, but in a great many of the others.
Q. Are these members of that colonization council in
communication as to the condition of your race, and as to the
best thing to be done to alleviate their troubles?--A. O, yes.
Q. What do you know about inducements being held out from
politicians of the North, or from politicians anywhere else, to
induce these people to leave their section of country and go into
the Northern or Western States?--A. There is nobody has written
letters of that kind, individually--not no white persons, I know,
not to me, to induce anybody to come.
Q. Well, to any of the other members of your council?--A. No, I
don't think to any of the members. If they have, they haven't
said nothing to me about it.
It appears also from the evidence of Samuel L. Perry, of North
Carolina, a colored man, who accompanied most of the emigrants
from that State to Indiana, and who had more to do with the
exodus from that quarter than any other man, that the movement
had its origin as far back as 1872, as the following questions
and answers will show:
Q. You have heard a good deal of this testimony with reference to
this exodus from North Carolina. Now begin at the beginning and
tell us all you know about it.--A. Well, the beginning, I
suppose, was in this way: The first idea or the first thing was,
we used to have little meetings to talk over these matters. In
1872 we first received some circulars or pamphlets from O. F.
Davis, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Q. In 1872?--A. Yes, sir; in 1872--giving a description of
government lands and railroads that could be got cheap; and we
held little meetings then; that is, we would meet and talk about
it Sunday evenings--that is, the laboring class of our
people--the only ones I knew anything about; I had not much to do
with the big professional Negroes, the rich men. I did not
associate with them much, but I got among the workingmen, and
they would take these pamphlets and read them over.
Mr. Perry says that the feeling in favor of migrating subsided
somewhat, but sprung up again in 1876. From that time down to
1879 there were frequent consultations upon the subject, much
dissatisfaction expressed respecting their condition, and a
desire to emigrate to some part of the West. He says about "that
time I was a subscriber to the New York Herald, and from an
article in that paper the report was that the people were going
to Kansas, and we thought we could go to Kansas, too; that we
could get a colony to go West. That was last spring. We came back
and formed ourselves into a colony of some hundred men." They did
not, however, begin their westward movements until the fall of
1879, when it being ascertained by the railroad companies that a
considerable number of people were proposing to migrate from
North Carolina to the West, several railroad companies, notably
the Baltimore and Ohio, offered to certain active and influential
colored men $1 per head for all the passengers they could procure
for the respective competing lines.
By reference to this evidence, part 3, page 136, it will be seen
that the emigration movement in Alabama originated as far back as
the year 1871, when an organization of colored people, called the
State Labor Union, delegated Hon. George F. Marlow to visit
Kansas, and other parts of the West, for the purpose of examining
that country and reporting back to a future convention his views
as to the expediency of removing thereto. A convention of colored
people was held again in 1872, at which Mr. Marlow made the
following glowing report of the condition of things in Kansas and
the inducements that State offered to the colored people. He
said:
In August, 1871, being delegated by your president for the
purpose, I visited the State of Kansas, and here give the results
of my observations, briefly stated.
It is a new State, and as such possesses many advantages over the
old.
It is much more productive than most other States.
What is raised yields more profit than elsewhere, as it is raised
at less expense.
The weather and roads enable you to do more work here than
elsewhere.
The climate is mild and pleasant.
Winters short and require little food for stock.
Fine grazing country; stock can be grazed all winter.
The population is enterprising, towns and villages spring up
rapidly and great profits arise from all investments.
Climate dry, and land free from swamps.
The money paid to doctors in less healthy regions can here be
used to build up a house.
People quiet and orderly, schools and churches to be found in
every neighborhood, and ample provision for free schools is made
by the State.
Money, plenty, and what you raise commands a good price.
Fruits of all kinds easily grown and sold at large profits.
Railroads are being built in every direction.
The country is well watered.
Salt and coal are plentiful.
It is within the reach of every man, no matter how poor, to have
a home in Kansas. The best lands are to be had at from $2 to $10
an acre, _on time_. The different railroads own large tracts of
land, and offer liberal inducements to emigrants. You can get
good land in some places for $1.25 an acre. The country is mostly
open prairie, and level, with deep, rich soil, producing from
forty to one hundred bushels of corn and wheat to the acre. The
corn grows about eight or nine feet high, and I never saw better
fruit anywhere than there.
The report was adopted.
The feeling of the colored people in that State in 1872 was well
expressed by Hon. Robert H. Knox, of Montgomery, a prominent
colored citizen, who, in addressing the convention, spoke as
follows:
I have listened with great attention to the report of the
commissioner appointed by authority of the State Labor Union to
visit Kansas, and while I own the inducements held out to the
laboring man in that far-off State are much greater than those
enjoyed by our State, I yet would say let us rest here awhile
longer; let us trust in God, the President, and Congress to give
us what is most needed here, personal security to the laboring
masses, the suppression of violence, disorder, and kukluxism, the
protection which the Constitution and laws of the United States
guarantee, and to which as citizens and men we are entitled.
Failing in these, it is time then, I repeat, to desert the State
and seek homes elsewhere where there may be the fruition of hopes
inaugurated when by the hand of Providence the shackles were
stricken from the limbs of four million men, where there may be
enjoyed in peace and happiness by your own fireside the earnings
of your daily toil.
Benjamin Singleton, an aged colored man, now residing in Kansas,
swears that he began the work inducing his race to migrate to
that State as early as 1869, and that he has brought mainly from
Tennessee, and located in two colonies--one in Cherokee County,
and another in Lyons County, Kansas--a total of 7,432 colored
people. The old man spoke in the most touching manner of the
sufferings and wrongs of his people in the South, and in the most
glowing terms of their condition in their new homes; and when
asked as to who originated the movement, he proudly asserted, "I
am the father of the exodus." He said that during these years
since he began the movement he has paid from his own pocket over
$600 for circulars, which he has caused to be printed and
circulated all over the Southern States, advising all who can pay
their way to come to Kansas. In these circulars he advised the
colored people of the advantages of living in a free State, and
told them how well the emigrants whom he had taken there were
getting on. He says that the emigrants whom he has taken to
Kansas are happy and doing well. The old man insists with great
enthusiasm that he is the "Whole cause of the Kansas
immigration," and is very proud of his achievement.
Here, then, we have conclusive proof from the Negroes themselves
that they have been preparing for this movement for many years.
Organizations to this end have existed in many States, and the
agents of such organizations have traveled throughout the South.
One of these organizations alone kept one hundred and fifty men
in the field for years, traveling among their brethren and
secretly discussing this among other means of relief. As stated
by Adams and Perry, politicians were excluded, and the movement
was confined wholly to the working classes.
The movement has doubtless been somewhat stimulated by circulars
from railroad companies and State emigration societies which have
found their way into the South, but these have had comparatively
little effect. The following specimen of these emigration
documents, which was gotten up and circulated by Indiana
Democrats, printed at a Democratic printing office, and written
by a Democrat, in our judgment appeals more strongly to the
imagination and wants of the Negro than any we have been able to
find:
_In every county of the State there is an asylum where those who
are unable to work and have no means of support are cared for at
the public expense._
Laborers who work by the month or by the year make their own
contract with the employer, and all disputes subsequently arising
are settled by legal processes in the proper courts, _everybody
being equal before the law in Indiana_. The price of farm labor
has varied considerably in the last twenty years. _About $16 per
month may be assumed as about the average per month, and this is
understood to include board and lodging at the farm-house._ This
amount is _paid in current money at the end of each month_,
unless otherwise stipulated in the contract. Occasionally a
tenement house is found on the larger farms, where a laborer
lives with his family, and either rents a portion of the farm or
cultivates it on special contract with the landlord. _With us
there is no class of laborers as such. The young man who today
may be hired as a laborer at monthly wages, may in five years
from now be himself a proprietor, owning the soil he cultivates
and paying wages to laborers. The upward road is open to all_,
and its highest elevation is attainable by industry, economy, and
perseverance.
Sixteen dollars per month, with board! Everybody equal before the
law! No class of laborers as such! The hired man of today himself
the owner of a farm in five years! No cheating of tenants, but
everything paid in current money. And if all this will not
attract the Negro he is told there is an "asylum in every county"
to which he can go when unable to support himself. The document
also promises to everybody "free schools" in "brick or stone
school-houses," and says they have "2,000,000 greater school fund
than any State in the Union." These Democratic documents have
been circulated by the thousand, and doubtless many of them have
found their way into the Negro cabins of North Carolina. It is
not surprising that the Negro looks with longing eyes to that
great and noble State.
CAUSES OF THE EXODUS
There is surely some adequate cause for such a movement. The
majority of the committee have utterly failed to find it, or, if
found, to recognize it. When it was found that any of their own
witnesses were ready to state causes which did not accord with
their theory they were dismissed without examination, as in the
cases of Ruby and Stafford, and a half dozen others who were
brought from Kansas, but who on their arrival here were found to
entertain views not agreeable to the majority.
We regret that a faithful and honest discussion of this subject
compels a reference to the darkest, bloodiest, and most shameful
chapter of our political history. Gladly would we avoid it, but
candor compels us to say that the volume which shall faithfully
record the crimes which, in the name of Democracy, have been
committed against the citizenship, the lives, and the personal
rights of these people, and which have finally driven them in
utter despair from their homes, will stand forever without a
parallel in the annals of Christian civilization. In discussing
these sad and shameful events, we wish it distinctly understood
that we do not arraign the whole people nor even the entire
Democratic party of the States in which they have occurred. The
colored and other witnesses all declare that the lawlessness from
which they have suffered does not meet the approval of the better
class of Democrats at the South. They are generally committed by
the reckless, dissolute classes who unfortunately too often
control and dominate the Democratic party and dictate its policy.
We have no doubt there are many Democrats in the South who deeply
regret this condition of things, and who would gladly welcome a
change, but they are in a helpless, and we fear a hopeless,
minority in many sections of that country.
The unfortunate and inexcusable feature of the case is that,
however much they may deplore such lawlessness, they have never,
so far as we can learn, declined to accept its fruits. They may
regret the violence and crimes by which American citizens are
prevented from voting, but they rejoice in the Democratic
victories which result therefrom. So long as they shall continue
thus to accept the fruits of crime, the criminals will have but
little fear of punishment or restraint, and the lawless conduct
which is depopulating some sections of their laboring classes
will go on. There is another unfortunate feature of this matter.
So long as crimes against American citizenship shall continue to
suppress Republican majorities, and to give a "solid South" to
the Democracy, there will be found enough Democrats at the North
who will shut their eyes to the means by which it is
accomplished, and seek to cover up and excuse the conduct of
their political partisans at the South.
This is well illustrated by the report of the majority of the
committee. In the presence of most diabolic outrages clearly
proven; in the face of the declaration of thousands of refugees
that they had fled because of the insecurity of their lives and
property at the South, and because the Democratic party of that
section had, by means too shocking and shameful to relate,
deprived them of their rights as American citizens; in the face
of the fact that it has been clearly shown by the evidence that
organizations of colored laborers, one of which numbered
ninety-eight thousand, have existed for many years and extending
into many States of the South, designed to improve their
condition by emigration--in the face of all these facts the
majority of the committee can see no cause for the exodus growing
out of such wrongs, but endeavor to charge it to the Republicans
of the North.
In view of this fact, it is our painful duty to point out some of
the real causes of this movement. It is, however, quite
impossible to enumerate all or any considerable part of the
causes of discontent and utter despair which have finally
culminated in this movement. To do so would be to repeat a
history of violence and crime which for fifteen years have
reddened with the blood of innocent victims many of the fairest
portions of our country; to do so would be to read the numberless
volumes of sworn testimony which have been carefully corded away
in the crypt and basement of this Capitol, reciting shocking
instances of crime, crying from the ground against the
perpetrators of the deeds which they record. The most which we
can hope to do within the limits of this report is to present a
very few facts which shall be merely illustrative of the
conditions which have driven from their homes, and the graves of
their fathers an industrious, patient, and law-abiding people,
whom we are bound by every obligation of honor and patriotism to
protect in their personal and political rights and privileges.
We begin with the State of North Carolina because the migration
from that State has been comparatively insignificant, and also
because the conditions there are more favorable to the colored
race than in any of the other cotton States of the South. Owing
to the lack of funds, and to the time employed in the examination
of witnesses called by the majority the Republican members of the
committee summoned no witnesses from the State of North Carolina,
and were obliged to content themselves with such facts as could
be obtained from one or two persons who happened to be in this
city, and such other facts as were brought out upon
cross-examination of the witnesses called by the other side. By
the careful selection of a few well-to-do and more fortunate
colored men from that State, the majority of the committee
secured some evidence tending to show that a portion of the
Negroes of North Carolina are exceptionally well treated and
contented, and yet upon cross-examination of their own witnesses
facts were disclosed which showed that, even there, conditions
exist which are ample to account for the migration of the entire
colored population.
There are three things in that State which create great
discontent among the colored people: First, the abridgment of
their rights of self-government; second, their disadvantages as
to common schools; third, discriminations against them in the
courts; and, fourth, the memory of Democratic outrages. Prior to
Democratic rule the people of each county elected five
commissioners, who had supervision over the whole county, and who
chose the judges of elections. The Democrats changed the
constitution so as to take this power from the people, and gave
to the general assembly authority to appoint these officers. This
they regard not only as practically depriving them of
self-government, but, as stated by one of the witnesses, Hon. R.
C. Badger, as placing the elections, even in Republican
townships, wholly under the control of the Democrats, who thereby
"have the power to count up the returns and throw out the balance
for any technicality, exactly as Garcelon & Co. did in Maine."
This creates much dissatisfaction, because they believe they are
cheated out of their votes. The Negro values the ballot more than
anything else, because he knows that it is his only means of
defense and protection. A law which places all the returning
boards in the hands of his political opponents necessarily and
justly produces discontent.
Next to the ballot the Negro values the privileges of common
schools, for in them he sees the future elevation of his race.
The prejudice even in North Carolina against white teachers of
colored schools seems to have abated but little since the war.
Mr. Badger, when cross-examined on this point, said:
Q. Is there any prejudice still remaining there against white
teachers of colored schools?--A. I think there is.
Q. Will you explain it?--A. I cannot explain it, except by the
prejudices between the races.
Q. You mean, white persons teaching a colored school lose social
status?--A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, a white lady who comes from the North and teaches a
colored school, to what extent is she tabooed?--A. I don't think
she would have any acquaintances in white society.
Q. Would she be any quicker invited into white society than a
colored woman?--A. Just about the same.
This fact contains within itself a volume of testimony. It shows
that the Negro is still regarded as a sort of social and
political pariah, whom no white person may teach without
incurring social ostracism and being degraded to the level of the
social outcast he or she would elevate in the scale of being. Is
it surprising that the Negro is dissatisfied with his condition
and desires to emigrate to some country where his children may
hope for better things?
The most serious complaints, however, which are made against the
treatment of colored citizens of North Carolina is that justice
is not fairly administered in the courts as between themselves
and the whites. On this point the evidence of Mr. R. C. Badger
reveals a condition of things to which no people can long submit.
Here is his illustration of the manner in which justice is
usually meted out as between the Negroes and the whites:
Q. How about the discrimination in the courts as between the
whites and blacks?--A. That is principally in matters of larceny.
In such cases the presumption is reversed as to the Negro. A
white man can't be convicted without the fullest proof, and with
the Negroes, in matters between themselves, such as assault and
battery, they get as fair a trial as the whites. At the January
term of our court Judge Avery presided. A white man and a colored
woman were indicted for an affray. The woman was in her husband's
barn getting out corn; they were going to move, and the white man
came down there and said, "You seem to have a good time laughing
here this morning," and she said, yes, she had a right to laugh.
He said, "You are getting that corn out, and you would have made
more if you had stuck to your husband." She seemed to be a sort
of termagant, and she said nobody said that about her unless you
told them. He made some insulting remark, and she made something
in return to him, and he took a billet of wood and struck her on
the shoulder, and he pulled a pistol and beat her with it, and
she went for him to kill him. _They found the man not guilty and
they found her guilty_, but Judge Avery set the verdict aside and
ordered the case _nolle prossed_ against her.
Q. Do you think that is a fair sample of the justice they
get?--A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you think they will convict a colored woman in order to get
a chance to turn loose a white man?--A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Badger was not our witness. He was called by the majority,
but he is a gentleman of high character, the son of an ex-member
of this body, and thoroughly acquainted with the condition of
things in his State. He puts the case just mentioned as a "fair
sample" of North Carolina justice toward the Negro. It is true
the judge set aside the verdict, but this does not change the
fact that before a North Carolina jury the Negro has but little
hope of justice.
Back of all these things lies the distrust of Democracy which was
inspired during the days when the "Kuklux," the "White
Brotherhood," the Universal Empire, and the "Stonewall Guard"
spread terror and desolation over the State in order to wrest it
from Republicanism to Democracy. The memory of those dark days
and bloody deeds, the prejudice which still forbids white ladies
to teach colored schools, and denies "even-handed" justice in the
courts, and the usurpations which place the returning boards all
in the hands of Democrats, have inspired a feeling of discontent
which has found expression in the efforts of a few to leave the
State. These facts, taken in connection with the bonus of one
dollar per head offered by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company (a Democratic corporation represented by a Democratic
agent) to leading colored men who would secure passengers for
their road, has led to the emigration of some seven or eight
hundred colored people from that State, and the only wonder is
that thousands instead of hundreds have not gone.
LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI
The States of Louisiana and Mississippi have furnished the larger
portion of the migration to Kansas, and as the conditions which
caused the exodus are the same in both of these States, we may
speak of them together. No single act of wrong has inspired this
movement, but a long series of oppression, injustice, and
violence, extending over a period of fifteen years. These people
have been long-suffering and wonderfully patient, but the time
came when they could endure it no longer and they resolved to go.
We can convey no adequate idea of what they endured before
adopting this desperate resolve, but will mention a few facts
drawn from well authenticated history, from sworn public
documents, and from the evidence taken by the Exodus
Investigating Committee. Writing under date of January 10, 1875,
General P. H. Sheridan, then in command at New Orleans, says:
Since the year 1866 nearly thirty-five hundred persons, a great
majority of whom were colored men, have been killed and wounded
in this State. In 1868 the official records show that eighteen
hundred and eighty-five were killed and wounded. From 1868 to the
present time no official investigation has been made, and the
civil authorities in all but a few cases have been unable to
arrest, convict or punish the perpetrators. Consequently there
are no correct records to be consulted for information. There is
ample evidence, however, to show that more than twelve hundred
persons have been killed and wounded during this time on account
of their political sentiments. Frightful massacres have occurred
in the parishes of Bossier, Caddo, Catahoula, Saint Bernard,
Saint Landry, Grant, and Orleans.
He then proceeds to enumerate the political murders of colored
men in the various parishes, and says:
"Human life in this State is held so cheaply that when men are
killed on account of political opinions, the murderers are
regarded rather as heroes than criminals in the localities where
they reside."
This brief summary is not by a politician, but by a distinguished
soldier, who recounts the events which have occurred within his
own military jurisdiction. Volumes of testimony have since been
taken confirming, in all respects, General Sheridan's statement,
and giving in detail the facts relating to such murders, and the
times and circumstances of their occurrence. The results of the
elections which immediately followed them disclose the motives
and purposes of their perpetrators. These reports show that in
the year 1868 a reign of terror prevailed over almost the entire
State. In the parish of Saint Landry there was a massacre from
three to six days, during which between two and three hundred
colored men were killed. "Thirteen captives were taken from the
jail and shot, and a pile of twenty-five dead bodies were found
burned in the woods." The result of this Democratic campaign in
the parish was that the registered Republican majority of 1,071
was wholly obliterated, and at the election which followed a few
weeks later not a vote was cast for General Grant, while Seymour
and Blair received 4,787.
In the parish of Bossier a similar massacre occurred between the
20th and 30th of September, 1868, which lasted from three to four
days, during which two hundred colored people were killed. By the
official registry of that year the Republican voters in Bossier
parish numbered 1,938, but at the ensuing election only _one_
Republican vote was cast.
In the parish of Caddo during the month of October, 1868, over
forty colored people were killed. The result of that massacre was
that out of a Republican registered vote of 2,894 only one was
cast for General Grant. Similar scenes were enacted throughout
the State, varying in extent and atrocity according to the
magnitude of the Republican majority to be overcome.
The total summing-up of murders, maimings, and whippings which
took place for political reasons in the months of September,
October and November, 1868, as shown by official sources, is over
one thousand. The net political results achieved thereby may be
succinctly stated as follows: The official registration for that
year in twenty-eight parishes contained 47,923 names of
Republican voters, but at the Presidential election, held a few
weeks after the occurrence of these events but 5,360 Republican
votes were cast, making the net Democratic gain from said
transactions 42,563.
In nine of these parishes where the reign of terror was most
prevalent out of 11,604 registered Republican votes only 19 were
cast for General Grant. In seven of said parishes there were
7,253 registered Republican votes, but not one was cast at the
ensuing election for the Republican ticket.
In the years succeeding 1868, when some restraint was imposed
upon political lawlessness and a comparatively peaceful election
was held, these same Republican parishes cast from 33,000 to
37,000 Republican votes, thus demonstrating the purpose and the
effects of the reign of murder in 1868. In 1876 the spirit of
violence and persecution, which in parts of the State had been
partially restrained for a time, broke forth again with renewed
fury. It was deemed necessary to carry that State for Tilden and
Hendricks, and the policy which had proved so successful in 1868
was again invoked and with like results. On the day of general
election in 1876 there were in the State of Louisiana 92,996
registered white voters and 115,310 colored, making a Republican
majority of the latter of 22,314. The number of white Republicans
was far in excess of the number of colored Democrats. It was,
therefore, well known that if a fair election should be made the
State would go Republican by from twenty-five to forty thousand
majority. The policy adopted this time was to select a few of the
largest Republican parishes and by terrorism and violence not
only obliterate their Republican majorities, but also intimidate
the Negroes in the other parishes. The testimony found in our
public documents, and records shows that the same system of
assassinations, whippings, burnings, and other acts of political
persecution of colored citizens which had occurred in 1868 was
again repeated in 1876 and with like results.
In fifteen parishes where 17,726 Republicans were registered in
1876 only 5,758 votes were cast for Hayes and Wheeler, and in one
of them (East Feliciana), where there were 2,127 Republicans
registered, but one Republican vote was cast. By such methods the
Republican majority of the State was supposed to have been
effectually suppressed and a Democratic victory assured. And
because the legally constituted authorities of Louisiana, acting
in conformity with law and justice, declined to count some of the
parishes thus carried by violence and blood, the Democratic
party, both North and South, has ever since complained that it
was fraudulently deprived of the fruits of victory, and it now
proposes to make this grievance the principal plank in the party
platform.
On the 6th of December, 1876, President Grant in a message to
Congress transmitted the evidence of these horrible crimes
against the colored race, committed in the name and in the
interest of the Democracy. They are not mere estimates nor
conjectures, but the names of the persons murdered, maimed and
whipped, and of the perpetrators of the crimes, the places where
they occurred, and the revolting circumstances under which they
were committed, are all set forth in detail. This shocking record
embraces a period of eight years, from 1868 to 1876, inclusive,
and covers ninety-eight pages of fine type, giving an average of
about one victim to each line. We have not counted the list, but
it is safe to say that it numbers over four thousand.
These crimes did not end in 1876 with the accession of the
Democracy to control of the State administration. The witnesses
examined by your committee gave numerous instances of like
character which occurred in 1878. Madison Parish may serve as an
illustration. This parish, which furnished perhaps the largest
number of refugees to Kansas, had been exceptionally free from
bull-dozing in former years. William Murrell, one of the
witnesses called by the committee, states the reasons for the
exodus from that parish as follows:
You have not read of any exodus yet as there will be from that
section this summer, and the reason for it is that, for the first
time since the war in Madison Parish last December, we had
bull-dozing there. Armed bodies of men came into the parish--not
people who lived in the parish, but men from Ouachita Parish and
Richland Parish; and I can name the leader who commanded them. He
was a gentleman by the name of Captain Tibbals, of Ouachita
Parish, who lives in Monroe, who was noted in the celebrated
massacre there in other times. His very name among the colored
people is sufficient to intimidate them almost. He came with a
crowd of men on the 28th of December into Madison Parish, when
all was quiet and peaceable. There was no quarrel, no excitement.
We had always elected our tickets in the parish, and we had put
Democrats on the ticket in many cases to satisfy them. There were
only 238 white voters and about 2,700 colored registered voters.
Mr. Murrell says that David Armstrong, who was president of third
ward Republican club, a man who stood high in the community, and
against whom no charge was made except that of being a
Republican, made the remark:
"What right have these white men to come here from Morehouse
Parish, and Richland Parish, and Franklin Parish to interfere
with our election?" And some white men heard of it and got a
squad by themselves and said, "We'll go down and give that nigger
a whipping." So Sunday night, about ten o'clock, they went to his
house to take him out and whip him. They saw him run out the back
way and fired on him. One in the crowd cried out, "Don't kill
him!" "It is too late, now," they said, "he's dead." The Carroll
Conservative, a Democratic newspaper, published the whole thing;
but the reason they did it was because we had one of their men on
our ticket as judge, and they got sore about it, and we beat him.
They killed Armstrong and took him three hundred yards to the
river, in a sheet, threw him in the river, and left the sheet in
the bushes.
Proceeding with the account of that transaction, Mr. Murrell
swears that the colored people had heard that the bulldozers were
coming from the surrounding parishes, and that he and others
called on some of the leading Democrats in order to prevent it,
but all in vain. He says:
We waited on Mr. Holmes, the clerk of the court, and we said to
him, "Mr. Holmes, it is not necessary to do any bulldozing here;
you have the counting machinery all in your hands, and we would
rather be counted out than bulldozed; can't we arrange this
thing? I made a proposition to him and said, "You know I am
renominated on the Republican ticket, but I will get out of the
way for any moderate Democrat you may name to save the State and
district ticket. We will not vote for your State ticket; you
cannot make the colored people vote the State ticket; but if you
will let us have our State ticket we will give you the local
offices." We offered them the clerk of the court, not the
sheriff, and the two representatives. We told him we would not
give them the senator, but the district judge and attorney. After
this interview Holmes sent us to Dr. Askew, ex-chairman of the
Democratic committee, and he said to me, "Now, Murrell, there is
no use talking, I advise you to stand from under. When these men
get in here we can't control them. We like you well enough and
would not like to see you hurt. I will see you to-night at Mr.
Holmes." We had an interview with Mr. Holmes and made this
proposition, and Holmes asked me this question: "Murrell, you
know damned well the niggers in this parish won't vote the
Democratic ticket--there is no use to tell me you will give us
the clerk of the court, you know the niggers won't do it. You
can't trust the niggers in politics; all your eloquence and all
the speeches you can make won't make these niggers vote this
ticket or what you suggest, even if we was to accept it. _No, by
God, we are going to carry it._ Why," said he, "_there is more
eloquence in double-barreled shot-guns to convince niggers than
there is in forty Ciceros_." I said to him, "Well, do you suppose
the merchants and planters will back you up," and he said, "O, by
God, they have got nothing to do with it. We have charge of it.
_We three men, the Democratic committee, have full power to
work._"
The result of this "work" was, as stated by the witness, and not
disputed by any one before the committee, that in this parish,
containing 2,700 registered Republican voters, and only 238
Democrats, the Democrats returned a majority of 2,300. The
witness, who was a candidate on the Republican ticket, swears
that not more than 360 votes were cast. Democratic shot-gun
eloquence did its "work," as prophesied by Mr. Askew, ex-chairman
of the Democratic committee, but it also served as a wonderful
stimulus to migration from Madison Parish.
We cite this case for two reasons: First, because it has been
said that the Negroes have not emigrated from bulldozed parishes;
and, secondly, because it serves as an illustration of the many
similar cases which were given to the committee.
We desire also to invite attention to the evidence of Henry
Adams, a colored witness from Shreveport, La. Adams is a man of
very remarkable energy and native ability. Scores of witnesses
were summoned by the majority of the committee from Shreveport
but none of them ventured to question his integrity or
truthfulness. Though a common laborer, he has devoted much of his
time in traveling through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas,
working his way and taking notes of the crimes committed against
his race. His notes, written in terse and simple language,
embraced the names of six hundred and eighty-three colored men
who have been whipped, maimed or murdered within the last eight
years, and his statement of these crimes covers thirty-five pages
of closely printed matter in the report. We are sure no one can
read it without a conviction of its truthfulness, and a feeling
of horror at the barbarous details he relates. Adams is the man
who has organized a colonization council, composed of laboring
colored people, and rigidly excluding politicians, which numbers
ninety-eight thousand who have enrolled themselves with a view to
emigration from that country as early as possible. He details the
character and the purpose of the organization and the efforts it
has made to obtain relief and protection for its members.
"First," he says, "we appealed to the President of the United
States to help us out of our distress, to protect us in our
rights and privileges. Next, we appealed to Congress for a
territory to which we might go and live with our families.
Failing in that," says he, "our other object was to ask for help
to ship us all to Liberia, Africa, somewhere where we could live
in peace and quiet. If that could not be done," he adds, "_our
idea was to appeal to other governments outside of the United
States to help us to get away from the United States and go and
live there under their flag_." What a commentary upon our own
boasted equality and freedom! Finding no relief in any direction,
they finally resolved to emigrate to some of the Northern States.
He says they had some hope of securing better treatment at home
until 1877, when "we lost all hopes and determined to go anywhere
on God's earth, we didn't care where; we said we was going if we
had to run away and go into the woods." Perhaps we can best
summarize the condition of affairs in Louisiana and the causes of
the exodus from that State, as the Negroes themselves regarded
them, by quoting a brief extract from the report of the business
committee to the colored State convention held in New Orleans on
the 21st of April, 1879:
NEW ORLEANS, April 21, 1879.
_Mr. President_: Your committee on business have the honor to
submit this their final report. Discussing the general and
widespread alarm among the colored people of Louisiana, including
so potent a fear that in many parishes, and in others perhaps
largely to follow, there is an exodus of agricultural labor which
indicates the prostration and destruction of the productive, and
therefore essentially vital, interests of the State. _The
Committee find that the primary cause of this lies in the absence
of a republican form of government to the people of Louisiana.
Crime and lawlessness existing to an extent that laughs at all
restraint, and the misgovernment naturally induced from a State
administration itself the product of violence, have created an
absorbing and constantly increasing distrust and alarm among our
people throughout the State. All rights of freemen denied and all
claims to a just recompense for labor rendered or honorable
dealings between planter and laborer disallowed, justice a
mockery, and the laws a cheat, the very officers of the courts
being themselves the mobocrats and violators of the law, the only
remedy left the colored citizens in many of parishes of our State
today is to emigrate. The fiat to go forth is irresistible. The
constantly recurring, nay, ever-present, fear which haunts the
minds of these our people in the turbulent parishes of the State
is that slavery in the horrible form of peonage is approaching;
that the avowed disposition of men in power to reduce the laborer
and his interest to the minimum of advantages as freemen and to
absolutely none as citizens has produced so absolute a feat that
in many cases it has become a panic. It is flight from present
sufferings and from wrongs to come._
Here are the reasons for the exodus as stated by the colored
people themselves. In view of the facts which we have stated, and
of the terrible history which we cannot here repeat, does any one
believe their statement of grievances is overdrawn? Is there any
other race of freemen on the face of the earth who would have
endured and patiently suffered as they have? Is there any other
government among civilized nations which would have permitted
such acts to be perpetrated against its citizens?
We will not dwell upon the conditions which have driven these
people from Mississippi. It would be but a repetition of the
intolerance, persecutions, and violence which have prevailed in
Louisiana. The same Democratic "shot-gun eloquence" which was so
potent for the conversion of colored Republicans in the one has
proven equally powerful in the other. The same "eloquence" which
wrested Louisiana from Republicans also converted Mississippi.
And in both the same results are visible in the determination of
the colored people to get away.
Nearly all the witnesses who were asked as to the causes of the
exodus answered that it was because of a feeling of insecurity
for life and property; a denial of their political rights as
citizens; long-continued persecutions for political reasons; a
system of cheating by landlords and storekeepers which rendered
it impossible for them to make a living no matter how hard they
might work; the inadequacy of school advantages, and a fear that
they would be eventually reduced to a system of peonage even
worse than slavery itself.
On the latter point they quoted the laws of Mississippi, which
authorize the sheriff to hire the convicts to planters and others
for twenty-five cents a day to work out the fine and cost, and
which provide that for every day lost from sickness he shall work
another to pay for his board while sick. Under these laws they
allege that a colored man may be fined $500 for some trifling
misdemeanor, and be compelled to work five or six years to pay
the fine; and that it is not uncommon for colored men thus hired
out to be worked in a chain gang upon the plantations under
overseers, with whip in hand, precisely as in the days of
slavery. And some of the witnesses declared that if an attempt be
made to escape they are pursued by blood-hounds, as before the
war.
Henry Ruby, a witness summoned by the majority of the committee,
swore that in Texas, under a law similar to that in Mississippi,
a colored man had been arrested for carrying a "six-shooter" and
fined $65, including costs, and that he had been at work nearly
three years to pay it. The laws of that State do not fix the rate
for hiring, but "county convicts" may be hired at any price the
county judge may determine. He mentioned the case of a colored
woman who was hired out for a quarter of a cent a day. Describing
this process of hiring, he says:
They call these people county convicts, and if you have got a
farm you can hire them out of the jail. They have got that
system, and the colored men object to it. I know some of these
men who have State convicts that they hire and they work them
under shotguns. A farmer hires so many of the State, and they are
under the supervision of a sergeant with a gun and nigger-hounds
to run them with if they get away. They hire them and put them in
the same gang with the striped suit on, and, if they want, the
guard can bring them down with his shotgun! Then they have these
nigger-hounds, and if one of them gets off and they can't find
him they take the hounds, and from a shoe or anything of the kind
belonging to the convict they trail him down.
Q. Are these the same sort of blood-hounds they used to have to
run the Negroes with?--A. Yes, sir.
These things need no comment. To the Negro they are painfully
suggestive of slavery. Is it a wonder that he has resolved to go
where peonage and blood-hounds are unknown?
Several witnesses were called from Saint Louis and Kansas, who
had conversed with thousands of the refugees, and who swore that
they all told the same story of injustice, oppression and wrong.
Upon the arrival of the first boat-loads at Saint Louis, in the
early spring of 1879, the people of that city were deeply moved
by the evident destitution and distress which they presented, and
thousands of them were interviewed as to the causes which
impelled them to leave their homes at that inclement season of
the year. In the presence of these people, and with a full
knowledge of their condition and of the flight, a memorial to
Congress was prepared, and signed by a large number of the most
prominent and most respectable citizens of Saint Louis, embracing
such names as Mayor Overholtz (a Democrat), Hon. John F. Dillon,
judge of the United States circuit court, ex-United States
Senator J.B. Henderson and nearly a hundred other leading
citizens, in which the condition and grievances of the refugees
are stated as follows:
The undersigned, your memorialists, respectfully represent that
within the last two weeks there have come by steamboats up the
Mississippi River, from chiefly the States of Louisiana and
Mississippi, and landed at Saint Louis, Mo., a great number of
colored citizens of the United States, not less than twenty
hundred and composed of men and women, old and young, and with
them many of their children.
This multitude is eager to proceed to Kansas, and without
exception, so far as we have learned, refuse all overtures or
inducements to return South, even if their passage back is paid
for them.
The condition of the great majority is absolute poverty; they are
clothed in thin and ragged garments for the most part, and while
here have been supported to some extent by public, but mostly by
private charity.
The older ones are the former slaves of the South; all now
entitled to life and liberty.
The weather from the first advent of these people in this
Northern city has been unusually cold, attended with ice and
snow, so that their sufferings have been greatly increased, and
if there was in their hearts a single kind remembrance of their
sunny Southern homes they would naturally give it expression now.
We have taken occasion to examine into the causes they themselves
assign for their extraordinary and unexpected transit, and beg
leave to submit herewith the written statements of a number of
individuals of the refugees, which were taken without any effort
to have one thing said more than another, and to express the
sense of the witness in his own language as nearly as possible.
The story is about the same in each instance: a great privation
and want from excessive rent exacted for land, connected with
murder of colored neighbors and threats of personal violence to
themselves. The tone of each statement is that of suffering and
terror. Election days and Christmas, by the concurrent testimony,
seem to have been appropriated to killing the smart men, while
robbery and personal violence in one form and another seem to
have run the year round.
* * * * *
We submit that the great migration of Negroes from the South is
itself a fact that overbears all contradiction and proves
conclusively that great causes must exist at the South to account
for it.
Here they are in multitudes, not men alone, but women and
children, old, middle-aged, and young, with common consent
leaving their old homes in a natural climate and facing storms
and unknown dangers to go to Northern Kansas. Why? Among them all
there is little said of hope in the future; it is all of fear in
the past. They are not drawn by the attractions of Kansas; they
are driven by the terrors of Mississippi and Louisiana. Whatever
becomes of them, they are unanimous in their unalterable
determination not to return.
There are others coming. Those who have come and gone on to
Kansas must suffer even unto death, we fear; at all events more
than any body of people entitled to liberty and law, the
possession of property, the right to vote, and the pursuit of
happiness, should be compelled to suffer under a free government
from terror inspired by robbery, threats, assaults, and murders.
We protest against the dire necessities that have impelled this
exodus, and against the violation of common right, natural and
constitutional, proven to be of most frequent occurrences in
places named; and we ask such action at the hands of our
representatives and our government as shall investigate the full
extent of the causes leading to this unnatural state of affairs
and protect the people from its continuance, and not only protect
liberty and life, but enforce law and order.
It is intolerable to believe that with the increased
representation of the Southern States in Congress those shall not
be allowed freely to cast their ballots upon whose right to vote
that representation has been enlarged. We believe no government
can prosper that will allow such a state of injustice to the body
of its people to exist, any more than society can endure where
robbery and murder go unchallenged.
The occasion is, we think, a fit one for us to protest against a
state of affairs thus exhibited in those parts of the Union from
which these Negroes come, which is not only most barbarous toward
the Negro, but is destructive to the constitutional rights of all
citizens of our common country.
Accompanying this memorial are numerous affidavits of the
refugees fully confirming all its statements.
As to the future of the exodus we can only say that every
witness, whose opinion was asked upon this point, declared that
it has only begun, and that what we have seen in the past is
nothing compared to what is to come, unless there shall be a
radical change on the part of Democrats in the South. They say
that the Negro has no confidence in the Democratic party, and
that if a Democratic President shall be elected there will be a
general stampede of the colored race.
There is but one remedy for the exodus--fair treatment of the
Negro. If the better class of white men in the South would retain
the colored labor, they must recognize his manhood and his
citizenship, and restrain the vicious and lawless elements in
their midst. If Northern Democrats would check the threatened
inundation of black labor into their States, they must recognize
the facts which have produced the exodus and unite with us in
removing its causes.
We present in conclusion the following brief summary of the
results of the investigation:
First: This movement was not instigated, aided or encouraged by
Republican leaders at the North. The only aid they have ever
given was purely as a matter of charity, to relieve the distress
of the destitute and suffering emigrants who had already come to
the North.
Second. Not one dollar has ever been contributed by anybody at
the North to bring these people from their homes. On the
contrary, the only contributions shown to have been made for such
purpose were made by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, a
Democratic corporation which employed agents to work up the
emigration from North Carolina, paying $1 per head therefor.
Third. It is _not_ proven that the emigrants are dissatisfied in
their new homes and wish to return to the South. On the contrary,
a standing offer to pay their expenses back to the South has not
induced more than about three hundred out of thirty thousand to
return.
Fourth. It is _not_ proven that there is no demand for their
labor at the North, for nearly all those who have come have found
employment, and even in Indiana hundreds of applications for them
were presented to the committee.
Fifth. It is _not_ proven that there is any sufficient reason for
the grave political apprehensions entertained in some quarters,
for it was shown by Mr. Dukehart, who sold all the tickets to
those who came from North Carolina, that not more than _two
hundred voters had gone to Indiana_.
Sixth. The exodus movement originated entirely with the colored
people themselves, who for many years have been organizing for
the purpose of finding relief in that way, and the colored agents
of such organizations have traveled all over the South consulting
with their race on this subject.
Seventh. A long series of political persecutions, whippings,
maimings and murders committed by Democrats and in the interest
of the Democratic party, extending over a period of fifteen
years, has finally driven the Negro to despair, and compelled him
to seek peace and safety by flight.
Eighth. In some States a system of convict hiring is authorized
by law, which reinstates the chain-gang, the overseer, and the
bloodhound substantially as in the days of slavery.
Ninth. A system of labor and renting has been adopted in some
parts of the South which reduces a Negro to a condition but
little better than that of peonage and which renders it
impossible for him to make a comfortable living, no matter how
hard he may work.
Tenth. The only remedy for the exodus is in the hands of Southern
Democrats themselves, and if they do not change their treatment
of the Negro and recognize his rights as a man and a citizen, the
movement will go on, greatly to the injury of the labor interests
of the South, if not the whole country.
WILLIAM WINDOM.
HENRY W. BLAIR.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 2d Session, X, p. 155.
[2] _Ibid._, pp. 155-170.
[2a] Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 2d Session, X, p. 170.
[3] Reports of Committees of Senate of the United States for the First
and Second Sessions of the Forty-Sixth Congress, 1879-80, VII, pp.
iii-xiii.
[4] Report of the Committee of the Senate of the United States for the
First and Second Sessions of the Forty-Sixth Congress, 1879-80, VII,
pp. viii-xxv.
SOME UNDISTINGUISHED NEGROES
MR. J. H. LATROBE, corresponding secretary of the Maryland
Colonization Society and later President of the American Colonization
Society, has left the following story:
"It was while I was reading in the same room with General Harper that
there entered one day a tall, gaunt, square-shouldered, spare, light
mulatto, who announced himself as Abel Hurd. He was a Bostonian by
birth, and a seaman by profession. In a voyage to the East his vessel
had been captured by the Malays, and he alone, if I recollect rightly,
escaped death, owing to his complexion. He had a varied fortune; had
at one time been in Cochin-China, again in Tibet, and, after passing
some twenty years in the East, had returned to America, and was
looking out for employment. Some one had heard how deeply interested
General Harper was in Africa and African colonization, and had sent
Hurd to him. About this time there was a great doubt as to the mouth
of the Niger; whether it was to be found at the bottom of the Bight of
Benin, and whether it was not identical with the Congo, or Zaire,
south of the line. This was a question in which General Harper was
interested, and he determined to fit out Hurd and send him northward
from Liberia until he struck the river, which he was then to follow to
its mouth, and I was deputed to superintend the outfit.
"Hurd's idea was to take as little baggage with him as possible, and
to rely upon the resources of his wit and ingenuity in making his way
among the interior tribes. He had had a vast experience, and he
directed his own equipment. I do not recollect all that he was
furnished with, but I recollect having devised a hollow cane, in the
top of which was a compass and the tube of which contained papers and
pencils. These were to be resorted to when the compass and materials
openly were lost. I think I wrote, at General Harper's dictation, a
letter of instructions. Had Hurd lived and succeeded, he would have
anticipated the Landers, Richard and John, who explored the Niger in
1832-34. He arrived safely in Liberia, and made several short
excursions into the interior, but he had a theory that it was
necessary to train himself for the great journey. Abstinence was a
part of his training. It was a mistake. He took the acclimating
fever, and, although he recovered from the first attack, he had a
relapse brought on by some imprudence and died."[1]
* * * * *
CHARLES H. WEBB.--During the years when the American Colonization
Society was preparing to establish a colony of freedmen in Africa, it
early became evident that the mere transportation of the blacks to
their native home would mean little in establishing them in life. It
was, therefore, necessary to organize schools in which Negroes
desiring to be colonized could be trained in agriculture, mechanical
arts and even in the professions. Among the first to qualify in the
field of medicine was Charles H. Webb. In his examinations he
exhibited evidences of ripe scholarship and much proficiency in his
chosen field. He set sail for Liberia in 1834, after having completed
his medical studies, which he had pursued under the direction of the
American Colonization Society for a number of years. In the following
autumn, however, he fell a victim to the local fever aggravated by
some imprudence on his part and died before he could render his people
much service.[2]
* * * * *
A SHREWD NEGRO.--A Kentucky slave, named Jim, with the humiliation of
slavery rankling in his breast, resolved to make an effort to gain
freedom. At last the opportunity came and he started for the Ohio
River. There he told his story to a sympathetic member of his race,
offering him a part of his money, if he would row him across to the
Indiana shore. He was directed to George De Baptist, a free man of
color, who was then living in Madison but removed soon afterwards to
Detroit, Michigan. The master of the slave arrived in town with a
posse and diligently searched it for the Negro. His sympathizers
contrived, however, to avoid the slave hunters and the fugitive was
conducted through the corn fields and byways to a depot of the
Underground Railroad. He rested a few days at the station kept by
William Byrd, of Union County, Indiana. From that point he was
speedily forwarded northward until he reached Canada.
Appreciating as he had never done before the real value of freedom, he
longed to do something to confer this great boon upon his wife and
children whom he left behind him in Kentucky. He soon found a way to
solve this problem. He said to himself, "I'll go to old Massa's
plantation, and I'll make believe I am tired of freedom. I'll tell
old Massa a story that will please him; then I will go to work hard
and watch for a chance to slip away my wife and children."
His master was greatly surprised one morning to see Jim return home.
In answer to the many questions propounded to him, he gave the
explanation which he had planned. He told his master that he found
that Canada was no place for Negroes, and that it was too cold and
that they could not earn any money there. He spoke of how the Negroes
were cheated by the whites and subjected to other humiliations, which
made him tired of his freedom. His master was very much pleased with
the story, spoke pleasantly to him and permitted him to work among his
slaves and those of his neighbors as a missionary to convince the
blacks of the folly of escaping to Canada.
The slave resumed his usual labor, working during that fall and winter
but planning at the same time a second flight. In the spring he
succeeded in bringing together his wife and children and a few of his
slave friends on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. He reached the
first station of the Underground Railway with his party numbering
fourteen and hurried them from point to point until they reached the
home of Levi Coffin in Indiana. They were hotly pursued and had narrow
escapes, but by wise management they made their way through
Spartansburg, Greenville and Mercer County, Ohio, to Sandusky, from
which they crossed over to Canada.[3]
* * * * *
B. F. GRANT.[4]--I was born in the State of Pennsylvania, Little
Britain Township, Lancaster County, Sunday morning, August 12, 1838. I
am the son of the late Henry and Charlotte Grant.
My father was born a slave in the State of Maryland in Cecil County.
He was freed at the age of nineteen, upon the death of his master. My
mother was born of free parents in Harford County, Maryland. Both came
in their youth to Pennsylvania, where they were married. Of that union
there were born twelve children, eight boys and four girls. The
subject of this sketch was the fifth son of the family.
In 1844 my father moved with his family from Lancaster to York County,
across the Susquehanna River. I was then between five and six years
old.
The first political event that I remember was the Presidential
campaign of Henry Clay and James K. Polk in 1844. In the fall of that
year each party had a pole raising at Peach Bottom, York County,
Pennsylvania. Mother took us to see the pole raising and then the
people were all shouting for Henry Clay, but soon after that I
remember hearing them singing a song::
"Oh poor cooney Clay,
The white house was never made for you
And home you better stay."
Polk was elected, and soon after the inauguration of President Polk in
1845 the great controversy over the Mexican War and Negro slavery
arose. The Negro question was the topic of the day, both in and out of
Congress and among all classes. This continued until in 1846, when the
war broke out between the United States and Mexico, and lasted two
years.
When it was over the United States had the victory. Then the
slaveholders of the South, with the copperheads of the North, tried to
force their slaves or their slave influence into every State and
territory of the United States. So great became the agitation and
excitement that the poor slaves became restless and uneasy over their
condition, and they commenced to run away by the thousands from the
Southern States. They made for the free States and Canada. This gave
rise to what was known as the Underground Railroad.
This brings me to consider what I call my boyhood days. Having passed
my childhood, I now began to think, feel and consider that I was a
human being as well as the white boys who surrounded me, living on
farms just as I lived. Therefore I began to believe that I had the
same God-given rights that they had, and was not born to be kicked
around like a dog any more than they were.
About this time I began to attend the so-called public school. I well
remember those school days, for they made a lasting impression upon my
mind. If God had not had mercy on the poor little Negro who attended
the public school of Pennsylvania in those days, I know not what would
have become of me; for the poor white trash from the teacher down had
no mercy upon him. They were upon him like vultures upon their prey,
ready to devour him at any time for any cause.
I will mention only a few things which the little Negro had to endure,
simply because he was a Negro. He was not permitted to drink from the
same bucket or cup as the white children. He was compelled to sit back
in the corner from the fire no matter how cold the weather might be.
There he must wait until the white children had recited. If the cold
became _too_ intense to endure, he must ask permission of the teacher,
stand by the fire a few minutes to warm and then return to the same
cold corner. I have sat in an old log school house with no chinking
between the logs until my heels were frost-bitten and cracked open.
Sometimes we had a poor white trashy skunk that would sit in the
school room and call us "niggers" or "darkeys." If the little Negro
got his lesson at all, he got it; if not, it was all the same.
For seven long years, 1844 to 1851, my father lived about five miles
from the Maryland line and about one mile from the Susquehanna River.
That is where I saw some of the evils of the institution called
slavery. Sometimes I wondered whether there was any God for the Negro.
My father was one of the members of the Underground Railroad. I well
remember some of the members of that club which used to meet at our
house. They were Robert Fisher, Lige Sarkey, Isaac Waters, Henry W.
Grant, Isaac Fields, Thomas Clarke and others who used to meet and
make their arrangements to convey the fugitives across the Susquehanna
River. The night was never too dark or the storm never too severe for
those brave, noble-hearted, courageous men to do their work. They did
not fear death. Although they were uneducated men ignorant of the
letter, they were directed by a Higher Power. The hand of God led
them, and so they succeeded in carrying off hundreds, nay I might
truthfully say thousands from the counties of Cecil, Harford and
Baltimore. All lived to be old men.
After the Mexican War the Southern slaveholders and copperheads of the
North got it into their heads to extend slavery throughout the borders
of the United States. Robt. Toombs, one of the noted fire-eaters of
the South, said he would call the roll of his slaves at the foot of
Bunker Hill Monument. In 1848 came the crisis of the Presidential
election. The Mexican War was over and the country had a vast amount
of territory added to her southern borders. The cotton gin had been
invented, and cotton had come into great demand. It was as good as
gold. The Negro, therefore, was in great demand.
Presidential nominations were made. The Whigs nominated Gen. Taylor,
and the Democrats nominated Lewis Cass. The Whig candidate was
successful. While Gen. Taylor was a Southern man, he was somewhat
opposed to the extension of slavery, and, therefore, not a favorite of
the nullifiers of the South. He did not live long. Then they got their
dupe, the Vice-President, Millard Fillmore, a northern man, but a
red-hot copperhead who stood in with the South. I can well remember
those times when all the fire-eating leaders of the South and the poor
dirty trash of the North got their desire when that poor dupe of a
President allowed the mischievous fugitive slave act to become a law
of the land. This law was a curse to the nation, an outrage upon the
poor Negro and suffering humanity. This bill gave the poor Negro no
protection in the land of his birth, a country boasting of being the
land of the brave and the home of the free. These terms, however, were
nothing but bombast; they would just come and take a freeman and carry
him into absolute slavery without judge or jury.
I can well remember the Christiana riot. I was not living far from
there at that time. Those were the days that tried the poor Negro's
soul, and were a disgrace to the white man. I was then about fifteen
years old and we had to suffer everything but death, and sometimes
that; for the slave hunters were like their bloodhounds, always upon
the Negro's track. There were daily riots between the slaves and Negro
hunters.
While quite young, and claiming to be a Christian, too, I was almost
ready to say with Job, "Cursed was the night wherein I was born, and
the night in which it was said, there is a man child conceived." My
disgust at the treatment given my people made me resolve to leave the
country and to go to Liberia, Africa, because the fugitive slave law
was too obnoxious for me both in principle and practice. Because of
the outbreak of the Civil War, however, I failed to carry out this
plan.
Now I recall my third Presidential election. The candidates were Gen.
Winfield Scott and Franklin Pierce. Pierce was the Democratic
candidate and he overwhelmingly defeated Gen. Scott, which placed the
Democrats in absolute power. All the fire-eaters of the South with the
copperheads of the North held full sway, arrayed against the
anti-slavery party of the North and East, and backed by the President,
the Supreme Court and Congress. The world knows the condition of the
country at that time. The Negro's condition during all of that
administration recalls to my memory a picture too dark to attempt to
describe.
During this administration there was a man by the name of Dred Scott,
owned by an army officer named Emerson. He took Scott into a free
territory; this slave, Scott, sued for his freedom; the case was
carried from court to court until it reached the Supreme Court, which
handed down that opinion known throughout the world as the Dred Scott
decision. It meant that a Negro had no rights that a white man was
bound to respect; that he was of an inferior order, and altogether
unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political
relation; and so far inferior that they need not be respected, but
might be reduced to slavery for the white man's benefit. This decision
placed the damnation seal on the poor Negro in the United States. It
left him absolutely without help.
In 1856 opened the great political drama. The candidates were James
Buchanan, the Democrat, John C. Fremont, Republican, and
ex-Vice-President Millard Fillmore, of the Know Nothing Party. James
Buchanan, the Democrat, was elected; the world knows the consequences
of the next four years in and out of Congress. Death and destruction
were in the path. We had John Brown's insurrection, the Christiana
riot, the tragic death of Lovejoy, and hundreds of other events which
I cannot mention at this time.
In 1860 the Presidential campaign came off. The candidates were
Abraham Lincoln, Republican, John C. Breckenridge, Southern Democrat,
and S. A. Douglass, Northern Democrat, with John Bell, Union Democrat.
This was a hot contest. Lincoln was elected.
Then came the Great Rebellion. On April 12, 1862, in company with my
brother, John H. Grant, we left our home in York Co., Pa., for
Washington, D. C., then the center of war activities. Both of us found
employment as teamsters in the Quartermaster's Department. On June 15
we were transferred into Gen. Pope's Army in Virginia. We were
relieved of our teams and put to herding horses and mules throughout
Gen. Pope's campaign. After Pope was defeated at the second battle of
Bull Run, I returned to Washington and went back to driving my team.
In 1863 I was transferred to the woodcutter department as an outside
clerk and put to measuring wood which was cut every two weeks. I also
looked after the commissary. I was there until the Confederates ran us
out in June.
I returned to Washington, D. C., and began my Christian and literary
work. I was converted sixty-five years ago, and joined the A. M. E. Z.
Church, then called Wesley Church. Rev. Abner Bishop was the pastor.
The church was in Peach Bottom Township, York County, Pennsylvania.
I have been always a lover of the Sunday School work. My interest
continues to this day. There is one little incident in my Sunday
School work which I will relate. When I was a boy, with another young
boy like myself, we found that our Sunday School needed some
literature. We succeeded in collecting some money, and Moses Jones and
I found that the nearest place to get the books was Lancaster City,
about twenty-five miles from the church. Undaunted, we took the money
and walked to Lancaster, and back again with the books. Some of those
books remained a great many years in the library of that school.
I am the man who opened the first free school to colored boys in the
District of Columbia. This was in the basement of the old Mt. Zion
Church in 1863 under the Friends' Association of Philadelphia, of
which Mr. H. M. Laing, of that city, was president. I also opened a
school to freedmen in Fairfax County, Virginia, at Bull Run. After
being there about three months, one of the Freedmen's Bureau Officers
came over from Manassas and placed me and my school back under the
direction of the Friends' Association and the same Mr. Laing was still
its president. I remained there two years.
When I opened the school it was a little log cabin built as a
headquarters by the Confederates. They were encamped there in the
spring or rather the winter of 1861-62. While I was teaching at Bull
Run, Prof. John M. Langston was appointed to a position in the
Freedmen's Bureau. I became acquainted with him, interested him in my
work and he secured me one hundred and fifty dollars to assist in
building there a house for two purposes, a church and a school. In
this school I gave the founder of the Manasses Industrial School, Miss
Jennie Dean, her first lessons. Now after the lapse of fifty years,
the Bull Run School is still standing as one of the public schools of
Fairfax County, Virginia.
While teaching in the Bull Run School I was elected a delegate to the
first National Negro Convention after the Civil War. This met in the
Israel Church, Washington, D. C., in 1868. This church was then A. M.
E. Zion, but now C. M. E. There I met some of the leading Negroes of
the world. Among them were Hon. Frederick Douglass, Prof. John M.
Langston, Rev. Henry H. Garnett, C. L. Remond, Robert Purvis, Geo. T.
Downing, Geo. B. Vashon, Rev. Wm. Howard Day, Prof. Bassett, Robt. W.
Elliot, Bishop Henry M. Turner, Prof. Isaac C. Weaver, Richard
Clarke, John Jones, Prof. O. M. Green, Geo. W. White, P. H. Martin,
John R. Lynch, and A. R. Green. These were some of the lights in that
convention. Hon. Fred. Douglass was elected president, with Rev. H. L.
Garnett as vice-president.
After two years at Bull Run, I returned to the District of Columbia,
where I became acquainted with a white gentleman named Edmond Tewney,
from the State of Maine, who came to the District as one of the
founders of Wayland Seminary. As there was some misunderstanding
between him and some of the other members of the faculty, he left the
school, and organized another, known as the National Theological
Institution for the Instruction of Young Colored Men and Women for
preachers and teachers.
I became associated with that school, and was an assistant teacher and
a pupil at the same time. It was a Baptist institution, and some of
those who afterward became the most able Baptist preachers in the city
attended that school. Some of them were Rev. John D. Brooks, Rev.
James Jefferson, Rev. Edward Willis, Rev. M. J. Laws, Rev. J. M.
Johnson, Rev. Henry Lee, and many others who did great good for God's
church and for suffering humanity.
I will return to my church and Sunday School work in the District of
Columbia and its vicinity. I was the Church Clerk for Union Wesley A.
M. E. Z. Church for twenty-five years, and the superintendent of its
Sunday School for thirty years.
I have been acquainted with all the bishops of that Church and a great
many of its leading elders since I joined the church in 1853,
sixty-five years ago. Some of the worthy prelates and leaders who have
been my warm personal friends are: Bishops J. J. Clinton, J. J. Moore,
C. C. Petty, C. R. Harris, J. W. Hood, J. W. Smith, J. Logan, J. W.
Small, and Elders J. Harvey Anderson, Geo. W. Adams, Thos. Betters, R.
J. Daniels, R. S. G. Dyson, and many others who have gone from my mind
at this writing. I have had much of joy and happiness in my church
life.
I am still in the Master's service. I am at present District Sunday
School Superintendent of the Washington District of the Philadelphia
and Baltimore Conference of the A. M. E. Z. Church. On August 12,
1918, I was eighty years old.
MARY L. MASON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe, pp. 140-142.
[2] _The African Repository_, X, 104, and XII, 18.
[3] Coffin, _Reminiscences_, pp. 139-144.
[4] This personal narrative was secured from B.F. Grant, of
Washington, D. C., by Miss Mary L. Mason.
BOOK REVIEWS
_American Negro Slavery._ By ULRICH BONNELL PHILLIPS. A Survey of the
Supply, Employment and Control of Negro Labor as determined by the
Plantation Regime. D. Appleton and Company, New York and London, 1918.
Pp. 529.
This book is both more and less than a history of slavery in America.
It transcends the limit of the average treatise in this field in that
it shows how the institution influenced the economic history of
America in all its ramifications. It falls far short of being a
complete history of slavery for the reason of the neglect of many
aspects by the author. The book is successful as a compilation or
digest of the sources of the history of slavery cast in the mind of a
man of southern birth and northern environment in manhood.
The author furnishes adequate background for this work in tracing the
slave trade, beginning with the exploitation of Guinea and proceeding
to a detailed consideration of the maritime traffic. Slavery as it
existed in the West Indies is portrayed in his account of the sugar
industry. In the continental colonies it appears in his treatment of
the tobacco industry, rice culture and the interests of the northern
colonies. He shows how the struggle for the rights of man resulted in
a sort of reaction against slavery in the North and the so-called
prohibition of the African slave trade.
In his discussion of the introduction of cotton and the domestic slave
trade, there are few facts which cannot be obtained from several
standard works. His treatment of types of plantations, with reference
to their management, labor, social aspects and tendencies, is more
informing. The contrast between town and country slaves, the
discussion of free Negroes, slave crime and the force of the law, do
not give us very much that is new. On the whole, however, the book is
a valuable piece of research giving a more intensive treatment of
economic slavery than any other single volume hitherto published.
On the other hand, the book falls far short of giving a complete
history of the institution of slavery. In the first place, the book is
too much of a commercial account. The slaves are mentioned as
representing both persons and property, but this treatise lacks
proportion in that it deals primarily with the slaves as property in
the cold-blooded fashion that the southerners usually bartered them
away. Very little is said about the blacks themselves, seemingly to
give more space to the history of the whites, who profited by their
labor, just as one would in writing a history of the New England
fisheries say very little about the species figuring in the industry,
but more about the life of the people participating in it. It is
evident that although a southerner, Mr. Phillips has lived so far from
the Negroes that he knows less about them than those who have
periodically come into contact with them but on certain occasions have
given the blacks serious study. This is evidenced by Mr. Phillips' own
statement when he says in his preface, that "a generation of freedom
has wrought less transformation in the bulk of the blacks than might
casually be supposed." This failure to understand what the Negroes
have thought and felt and done, in other words, the failure to fathom
the Negro mind, constitutes a defect of the work.
Another neglected aspect of the book is the failure of the author to
treat adequately the anti-slavery movement. It was not necessary for
him to give an extensive treatment of abolition but it is impossible
to set forth exactly what the institution was without giving
sufficient space to this attitude of a militant minority toward it. It
was certainly proper for the author to say more about the northerners
and southerners who arrayed themselves in opposition to the
institution. In his chapter on the economic views of slavery this
aspect was mentioned but not properly amplified. Some references to it
elsewhere, of course, appear in parts of the book but, considering the
importance of this phase of the history of slavery in America, one can
say it has been decidedly neglected. The author, as he says in his
preface, avoided "polemic writings, for their fuel went so much to
heat that their light upon the living conditions is faint." It was not
necessary also to avoid the controversy in which these writers
participated. No one will gainsay the fact that persons who engage in
controversy cannot be depended upon to tell the truth, but if the
slavery dispute largely influenced the history of the country, it
should have adequate treatment in a history of this kind.
* * * * *
_John H. B. Latrobe and His Times._ By JOHN E. SEMMES. The Norman,
Remington Company, Baltimore, Maryland. Pp. 595. Price $6.00.
This is an extensive biography of a man born in Philadelphia and,
after some adventures elsewhere, transplanted to Baltimore, where he
became one of the first citizens of the land. His career as a cadet at
West Point, his study and practice of law, his business interests, his
travels and connections with learned and humanitarian societies all
bespeak the many-sidedness of a useful citizen. The work contains a
Latrobe genealogy and a topical index. It is well illustrated and
exhibits evidences of much effort on the part of the author.
The part of the book most interesting to students of Negro history,
however, is the chapter on African colonization, a subject which
engaged the attention of Latrobe for many years and for which he
became an influential promoter in serving as corresponding secretary
of the Maryland Colonization Society and as president of the American
Colonization Society. Although only one chapter of the book is devoted
to this aspect of Mr. Latrobe's biography, it figured as largely in
his life as any other public interest. He said: "I cannot now recall
in order all that I did for it. It was the one thing then, and has
ever been the one thing outside of my lawyer's calling, to which I
have devoted myself." His biographer says that he spent about one
quarter of his working hours during ten years of his life in
advocating colonization. Dr. Daniel C. Gilman, President of Johns
Hopkins University, said at a meeting of the Maryland Historical
Society held in Latrobe's memory that "probably his greatest
distinction outside of his professional life was acquired in promoting
the cause of African colonization in ante-bellum days."
The author, however, instead of informing the reader as to what
Latrobe did for colonization, laments the failure of this enterprise
and endeavors to show that colonization or segregation in some form
must be the solution of the Negro problem. In the chapter mentioned
above he refers to this important work of Latrobe, not to set forth
what he actually accomplished in this field, but to give the author's
views. He proceeds to quote Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay and Abraham
Lincoln, and finally Horace Grady and Bishop H. M. Turner on
colonization, with a view to convincing the reader that although Mr.
Latrobe's effort at colonizing the Negroes in Africa failed, it must
eventually be brought about since the two races will not happily live
together and then the great work of Latrobe will stand out as an
achievement rather than as a failure. This branching off into opinion
rather than into a scientific treatment of facts renders the biography
incomplete so far as it concerns one of the larger aspects of
Latrobe's life. The reader must, therefore, go to the papers of
Latrobe to trace his connection with colonization with a view to
determining exactly how largely this interest figured in the life of a
successful lawyer and business man and the extent to which he
interested the people throughout the country. The public will,
therefore, welcome a more scholarly biography of J. H. B. Latrobe.
* * * * *
_The Mulatto in The United States._ By EDWARD BYRON REUTER. Richard G.
Badger, The Gorham Press, Boston, 1918. Pp. 417. Price $2.50 net.
This is the first work to deal especially with the people of color and
will, therefore, attract some attention. It is chiefly valuable for
the discussion which it will arouse rather than for the information
given. It is an unscientific compilation of facts collected from a few
sources by a man who has devoted some time to the study of the Negro
but just about enough to misunderstand the race. His chief shortcoming
consists in his misinformation. For scientific purposes the book has
no value.
In the beginning of the work there is a discussion of mixed blood
races in the old world, concluding with a treatment of the same in the
West Indies and America. Considering the mulatto the key to the race
problem in America, Mr. Reuter undertakes to show the extent of race
mixture, its nature and growth. He discusses the intermarriage of the
races, unlawful polygamy, intermarriage with Indians, intermixture
during slavery and concubinage of black women with white men. He seems
to know nothing of the numerous facts easily accessible in various
works, which show that during slavery there was also a concubinage of
white women with black men. In the next place, the author treats the
Negro of today, depending mainly on a few unreliable sources of
information such as the proceedings of certain Negro conventions, a
Negro newspaper and the few books specially devoted to Negro history.
In this it appears that he does not know that the chief sources of
Negro history are not books bearing such titles, for the history of
the race has not yet been written.
Mr. Reuter's conclusions are fundamentally wrong for the two reasons
that he does not know who the mulattoes are and, although taking
cognizance of the fact that science has uprooted the idea of racial
inferiority, he is loath to abandon the contention that the mulatto
is superior to the Negro. For example, in his chapter on leading men
of the Negro race, in which he specifies whether they are blacks or
mulattoes, he has classified as mulattoes a large number of Negroes
who have practically no evidences of white blood and are commonly
referred to throughout the country as the blacks of the Negro race.
The title of the book, therefore, should not be _The Mulatto_ but _The
Negro_. It would then establish nothing as it does. Upon the careers
of these black persons he has supported his theories as to the
superiority of the mulatto. This encourages him, therefore, to
intimate that because of their proximity to the racial characteristics
of the white race they are in some respects superior to the blacks.
Here we have the return of the ante-bellum proslavery philosopher
disguised as a scientific investigator.
* * * * *
_The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky._ By ASA EARL MARTIN, Assistant
Professor of American History, The Pennsylvania State College. The
Standard Printing Company of Louisville, Kentucky, 1918. Pp. 165.
In this volume there is an effort to bring out something new in the
history of slavery. The author is mindful of the tendency of most
writers of the history of slavery to direct their attention to the
radical movements associated with the names of the leading
abolitionists. His effort is to treat that neglected aspect of slavery
having to do with the work of the gradual emancipationists. "These
men, unlike the followers of Garrison, who were restricted to the free
States," said he, "were found in all parts of the Union. They embraced
great numbers of leaders in politics, business and education, and
while far more numerous in the free than in the slave States, they
nevertheless included a large and respectable element in Maryland,
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri." He has in mind here, of
course, the conservative slaveholders of the border States who had for
a number of years felt that slavery was an economic evil of which the
country should rid itself gradually by systematic efforts. Feeling
that they contributed in the end a great deal to the downfall of the
regime and in some respects exercised as much influence as the
abolitionists, he has undertaken to set their story before the world.
The author begins with the first attack upon slavery, the early
anti-slavery movement in Kentucky, the colonizationist idea, the work
of the anti-slavery societies, and the efforts of the church to
exterminate the evil. In the eighth and ninth chapters he treats more
seriously the main question at issue, namely, exactly how men of that
slave-holding commonwealth persistently endeavored to find a more
rational means of escaping the baneful effects of the institution. His
important contribution, therefore, is that abolition found little
favor in Kentucky while gradual emancipation moved the hearts of men
of both parties and even of slave-holders. How the struggle between
these pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties culminated in 1849 in the
defeat of the latter, is the concluding portion of the book. He shows
that Kentucky exceeded most of the border slave States in permitting
the freer and more extensive discussion of that question than any of
the other commonwealths similarly situated.
Professor Martin's work, therefore, is a complement of Dr. I. E.
McDougle's _Slavery in Kentucky_. Whereas Professor Martin deals
primarily with the work of the gradual emancipationists, Dr. I. E.
McDougle directs his attention largely to some other aspects of the
question. Both of these works may be read with profit. In them the
whole question has been adequately discussed and there will not soon
be a need for further investigation in this field.
NOTES
Within a few years from the time the United States army will be
reduced to a peace status, the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History will publish a scientific history of the Negro soldiers in
the great war. As this effort will require a large outlay, it is
earnestly desired that persons interested in the propagation of the
truth will give this movement their support. A campaign for funds has
begun and the encouragement hitherto received indicates that the
amount necessary to finance this enterprise will be secured.
At present it is impossible to indicate exactly the extent of this
work. It will be first necessary to make an extensive research into
all of the sources of information as to the Negroes' participation in
the war and when the data thus collected will have been properly
digested, a more detailed description of the work may be forecasted.
It is safe to say, however, that the work will consist of several
volumes written by the Director of Research.
* * * * *
This same interest is set forth, as follows, in an item appearing in
the December number of the _Crisis_:
"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
has appropriated funds and commissioned the Director of
Publications and Research to collect the data and compile a
history of the Negro in the Great War.
"Dr. DuBois has invited a number of Negro scholars, soldiers and
officials to form an Editorial Board, which will be able to issue
an authentic, scientific and definitive history of our part in
this war.
"The personnel of this board will be announced later. Meantime,
we want the active coöperation of every person who can and will
help. We want facts, letters and documents, narratives and
clippings. Let us all unite to make the record complete.
Correspondence may be directed to this office."
The following important announcement appeared in the December number
of the _Crisis_:
TERCENTENARY
The husband of Pocahontas wrote in 1619: "_About the last of August
came a Dutch man of warre that sold us twenty Negars_." From this
beginning sprang the present twelve million Americans of Negro
descent.
Next August will mark the Three Hundredth Anniversary of this vast
transplantation of a race, which ranks easily as one of the most
significant movements of mankind. Such an event can hardly be
"celebrated," for it connoted too much of misery and human sorrow. On
the other hand, it is too stern and meaningful a happening to be
forgotten. For this reason, a group of thirty-three colored men met in
New York, October 19, 1918, at the invitation of a committee appointed
by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
They determined to inaugurate "A Solemn Memorial of the Tercentenary
of the Transplanting of the Negro race to the United States." In
order, however, to give all sections and interests of the Negro race
adequate voice and representation in these plans, this committee set
about choosing a Committee of "Three Hundred and More," in whose hands
the Memorial will take final shape. This Committee is now being chosen
and will meet in New York early in January, 1919.
* * * * *
The _Linchoten Vereeniging_ has published for Mr. E. C. Godee
Mossbergen two volumes of _Reizen in Zuid-Afrika in de Hollandse
Tijd_.
* * * * *
From the press of Longsman two volumes bearing on Africa have been
published. One is by Sir Hugh Clifford, entitled the _German
Colonies_, with special relation to the native population of Africa.
The other, by H. C. O'Neill, is the _War in Africa and the Far East_,
dealing largely with the conquest of the German colonies.
* * * * *
Houghton, Mifflin and Company have published a study entitled _Lincoln
in Illinois_ by Miss Octavia Roberts. This work is largely a
compilation of the recollections of his contemporaries.
* * * * *
To extend the work of the Association the Director of Research is now
making an effort to secure the cooperation of five persons who, like
Mr. Julius Rosenwald, will contribute $400 annually to the support of
this cause. Mr. Moorfield Storey and Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge have each
pledged themselves to give this amount. It is earnestly hoped that
other philanthropists will subscribe.
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
VOL. IV--APRIL, 1919--NO. 2
THE CONFLICT AND FUSION OF CULTURES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE
NEGRO[1]
Under ordinary circumstances the transmission of the social tradition
is from the parents to the children. Children are born into society
and take over its customs, habits, and standards of life simply,
naturally, and without conflict. But it will at once occur to any one
that the life of society is not always continued and maintained in
this natural way, by the succession of parents and children. New
societies are formed by conquest and by the imposition of one people
upon another. In such cases there arises a conflict of cultures and as
a result the process of fusion takes place slowly and is frequently
not complete. New societies are frequently formed by colonization, in
which case new cultures are grafted on to older ones. The work of
missionary societies is essentially one of colonization in this sense.
Finally we have societies growing up, as in the United States, by
immigration. These immigrants, coming as they do from all parts of the
world, bring with them fragments of divergent cultures. Here again the
process of assimilation is slow, often painful, not always complete.
In the case where societies are formed and maintained by adoption,
that is by immigration, the question arises: How far is it possible
for a people of a different race and a different culture to take over
the traditions and social inheritance of another and an alien people?
What are the conditions which facilitate this transmission and, in
general, what happens when people of different races and cultures are
brought together in the intimate relations of community life?
These questions have already arisen in connection with the education
of the Negro in America and with the work of foreign missions. If the
schools are to extend and rationalize the work they are already doing
in the Americanization of the immigrant peoples, questions of this
sort may become actual in the field of pedagogy. This paper is mainly
concerned with the Negro, not because the case of the Negro is more
urgent than or essentially different from that of the immigrant, but
because the materials for investigation are more accessible.
Admitting, as the anthropologists now seem disposed to do, that the
average native intelligence in the races is about the same, we may
still expect to find in different races certain special traits and
tendencies which rest on biological rather than cultural differences.
For example, over and above all differences of language, custom or
historic tradition, it is to be presumed that Teuton and Latin, the
Negro and the Jew--to compare the most primitive with the most
sophisticated of peoples--have certain racial aptitudes, certain
innate and characteristic differences of temperament which manifest
themselves especially in the objects of attention, in tastes and in
talents. Is the Jewish intellectual, for example, a manifestation of
an original and peculiar endowment of the Jewish race or is he rather
a product of traditional interest and emphasis characteristic of
Jewish people--a characteristic which may be explained as an
accommodation to the long-continued urban environment of the race?[2]
Is the Negro's undoubted interest in music and taste for bright
colors, commonly attributed to the race, to be regarded as an inherent
and racial trait or is it merely the characteristic of primitive
people? Is Catholicism to be regarded as the natural manifestation of
the Latin temperament as it has been said that Protestantism is of the
Teutonic?
Here are differences in the character of the cultural life which can
scarcely be measured quantitatively in terms of gross intellectual
capacity. Historical causes do not, it seems, adequately account for
them. So far as this is true we are perhaps warranted in regarding
them as modifications of transmitted tradition due to innate traits of
the people who have produced them. Granted that civilization, as we
find it, is due to the development of communication and the
possibility of mutual exchange of cultural materials, still every
special culture is the result of a selection and every people borrows
from the whole fund of cultural materials not merely that which it can
use but which, because of certain organic characteristics, it finds
stimulating and interesting.
The question then resolves itself into this: How far do racial
characteristics and innate biological interests determine the extent
to which one racial group can and will take over and assimilate the
characteristic features of an alien civilization? How far will it
merely take over the cultural forms, giving them a different content
or a different inflection? This problem, so far as it is related to
the lives of primitive peoples, has already been studied by the
ethnologists. Rivers, in his analysis of the cultures of Australian
people, has found that what we have hitherto regarded as primitive
cultures are really fusions of other and earlier forms of culture.[3]
The evidence of this is the fact that the fusion has not been
complete. In the process of interchange it frequently happens that
what Rivers calls the "fundamental structure" of a primitive society
has remained unchanged while the relatively formal and external
elements of alien culture only have been taken over and incorporated
with it.
There are indications also that, where cultural borrowings have taken
place, the borrowed elements have for the people who have taken them
over a meaning different from what they had for the people from whom
they were borrowed. W.J. McGee, in an article entitled "Piratical
Acculturation," has given an interesting illustration of this fact.[4]
McGee's observations of the Beri Indians go to show that they imitated
the weapons of their enemies, but that they regarded them as magical
instruments and the common people did not even know their names. There
are numerous other illustrations of this so-called "piratical
acculturation" among the observations of ethnologists. It is said that
the Negroes in Africa, when they first came into possession of the
white man's guns, regarded them as magical instruments for making a
noise and used them, as the Germans used the Zeppelins and the
newspapers, merely to destroy the enemy's morale.
No doubt the disposition of primitive peoples is to conceive
everything mystically, or animistically, to use the language of
ethnology, particularly where it concerns something strange. On the
other hand, when the primitive man has encountered among the cultural
objects to which civilization has introduced him, something which he
has been able to make immediately intelligible to himself, he has at
once formed a perfectly rational conception of it. Some years ago at
Lovedale, South Africa, the seat of one of the first successful
industrial mission schools, there was an important ceremony to which
all the native African chiefs in the vicinity were formally invited.
It was the introduction and demonstration of the use of the plow, the
first one that had ever been seen in those parts. The proceedings were
followed with great interest by a large gathering of natives. When the
demonstration was finished one old chief turned to his followers and
said with great conviction: "This is a great thing which the white man
has brought us. One hoe like that is worth as much as ten wives." An
African chief could hardly have expressed appreciation of this one
fundamental device of our civilization in more pragmatic or less
mystical terms. The wise old chief grasped the meaning of the plow at
once, but this was because he had been pre-adapted by earlier
experience to do so.
It is the subjective, historic and ultimately, perhaps, racial and
temperamental factor in the lives of peoples which makes it difficult,
though not impossible, perhaps, to transmit political and religious
institutions to people of a different racial type and a different
social tradition. William James' essay, "On a Certain Blindness in
Human Beings," in which he points out how completely we are likely to
miss the point and mistake the inner significance of the lives of
those about us, unless we share their expedience, emphasizes this
fact. If then the transmission and fusion of cultures is slow,
incomplete and sometimes impossible, it is because the external forms,
the formulas, technical devices of every social tradition can be more
easily transmitted than the aims, the attitudes, sentiments and ideals
which attach to them are embodied in them. The former can be copied
and used; the latter must be appreciated and understood.
For a study of the acculturation process, there are probably no
materials more complete and accessible than those offered by the
history of the American Negro. No other representatives of a primitive
race have had so prolonged and so intimate an association with
European civilization, and still preserved their racial identity.
Among no other people is it possible to find so many stages of culture
existing contemporaneously. It has been generally taken for granted
that the Negro brought a considerable fund of African tradition and
African superstition from Africa to America. One not infrequently
finds in the current literature and even in standard books upon the
Negro, references to voodoo practices among the Negroes in the
Southern States. As a matter-of-fact the last authentic account which
we have of anything approaching a Negro nature worship in the United
States took place in Louisiana in 1884. It is described by George W.
Cable in an article on "Creole Slave Songs" which appeared in the
_Century Magazine_ in 1886. In this case it seems to have been an
importation from the West Indies. I have never found an account of a
genuine instance of voodoo worship elsewhere in the United States,
although it seems to have been common enough in the West Indies at one
time.
My own impression is that the amount of African tradition which the
Negro brought to the United States was very small. In fact, there is
every reason to believe, it seems to me, that the Negro, when he
landed in the United States, left behind him almost everything but his
dark complexion and his tropical temperament. It is very difficult to
find in the South today anything that can be traced directly back to
Africa. This does not mean that there is not a great deal of
superstition, conjuring, "root doctoring" and magic generally among
the Negroes of the United States. What it does mean is that the
superstitions we do find are those which we might expect to grow up
anywhere among an imaginative people, living in an intellectual
twilight such as exists on the isolated plantations of the Southern
States. Furthermore, this superstition is in no way associated, as it
is in some of the countries of Europe, southern Italy for example,
with religious beliefs and practices. It is not part of Negro
Christianity. It is with him, as it is with us, folk-lore pure and
simple. It is said that there are but two African words that have been
retained in the English language. One of these is the word Buckra,
from which comes Buckra Beach in Virginia. This seems remarkable when
we consider that slaves were still brought into the United States
clandestinely up to 1862.[5]
The explanation is to be found in the manner in which the Negro slaves
were collected in Africa and the manner in which they were disposed of
after they arrived in this country. The great markets for slaves in
Africa were on the West Coast, but the old slave trails ran back from
the coast far into the interior of the continent, and all the peoples
of Central Africa contributed to the stream of enforced emigration to
the New World. In the West Indies a good deal was known among
slave-traders and plantation owners about the character and relative
value of slaves from different parts of Africa, but in the United
States there was less knowledge and less discrimination. Coming from
all parts of Africa and having no common language and common
tradition, the memories of Africa which they brought with them were
soon lost.
There was less opportunity in the United States also than in the West
Indies for a slave to meet one of his own people, because the
plantations were considerably smaller, more widely scattered and,
especially, because as soon as they were landed in this country,
slaves were immediately divided and shipped in small numbers,
frequently no more than one or two at a time, to different
plantations. This was the procedure with the very first Negroes
brought to this country. It was found easier to deal with the slaves,
if they were separated from their kinsmen.
On the plantation they were thrown together with slaves who had
already forgotten or only dimly remembered their life in Africa.
English was the only language of the plantation. The attitude of the
slave plantation to each fresh arrival seems to have been much like
that of the older immigrant towards the greenhorn. Everything that
marked him as an alien was regarded as ridiculous and barbaric.[6]
Furthermore, the slave had in fact very little desire to return to his
native land. I once had an opportunity to talk with an old man living
just outside of Mobile, who was a member of what was known as the
African colony. This African colony represented the cargo of one of
the last slave ships successful in landing in this country just at the
opening of the war. The old man remembered Africa and gave me a very
interesting account of the way in which he was captured and brought to
America. I asked him if he had ever wished to return. He said that a
missionary who had been in their country and spoke their language had
visited them at one time. This missionary offered to send them back to
Africa and even urged them to go. "I told him," said the old man, "I
crossed the ocean once, but I made up my mind then never to trust
myself in a boat with a white man again."
The fact that the Negro brought with him from Africa so little
tradition which he was able to transmit and perpetuate on American
soil, makes that race unique among all peoples of our cosmopolitan
population. Other peoples have lost, under the disintegrating
influence of the American environment, much of their cultural
heritage. None have been so utterly cut off and estranged from their
ancestral land, traditions and people. It is just because of this that
the history of the Negro offers exceptional materials for determining
the relative influence of temperamental and historical conditions upon
the process by which cultural materials from one racial group are
transmitted to another; for, in spite of the fact that the Negro
brought so little intellectual baggage with him, he has exhibited a
rather marked ethnical individuality in the use and interpretation of
the cultural materials to which he has had access.
The first, and perhaps the only distinctive institution which the
Negro has developed in this country is the Negro church, and it is in
connection with his religion that we may expect to find, if anywhere,
the indications of a distinctive Afro-American culture. The actual
conditions under which the African slaves were converted to
Christianity have never been adequately investigated. We know, in a
general way, that there was at first considerable opposition to
admitting the Negro into the church because it was feared that it
would impair the master's title to his slaves. History records too
that the house servants were very early admitted to churches and that
in many cases masters went to considerable pains to instruct those
servants who shared with them the intimacy of the household.[7] It was
not, however, until the coming of the new, free and evangelistic types
of Christianity, the Baptists and the Methodists, that the masses of
the black people, that is, the plantation Negroes, found a form of
Christianity that they could make their own.
How eagerly and completely the Negro did take over the religion of
these liberal denominations may be gathered from some of the
contemporary writings, which record the founding of the first Negro
churches in America. The first Negro church in Jamaica was founded by
George Liele, shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War. George
Liele had been a slave in Savannah, but his master, who was a Tory,
emigrated to Jamaica upon the evacuation of that city. Andrew Bryan in
Savannah was one of Liele's congregation. He was converted, according
to the contemporary record, by Liele's exposition of the text "You
must be born again!" About eight months after Liele's departure,
Andrew began to preach to a Negro congregation, "with a few white."
The colored people had been permitted to erect a building at Yamacraw,
but white people in the vicinity objected to the meetings and Bryan
and some of his associates were arrested and whipped. But he "rejoiced
in his whippings" and holding up his hand declared "he would freely
suffer death for the cause of Jesus Christ." Bryan's master interceded
for him and "was most affected and grieved" at his punishment. He gave
Bryan and his followers a barn to worship in, after Chief Justice
Osbourne had given them their liberty. This was the origin of what was
probably the first Negro church in America.
George Liele and Andrew Bryan were probably not exceptional men even
for their day. The Rev. James Cook wrote of Bryan: "His gifts are
small but he is clear in the grand doctrines of the Gospel. I believe
him truly pious and he has been the instrument of doing more good
among the poor slaves than all the learned doctors in America."[8] The
significant thing is that, with the appearance of these men, the
Negroes in America ceased to be a mission people. At least, from this
time on, the movement went on of its own momentum, more and more
largely under the direction of Negro leaders. Little Negro
congregations, under the leadership of Negro preachers, sprang up
wherever they Were tolerated. Often they were suppressed, more often
they were privately encouraged. Not infrequently they met in secret.
In 1787 Richard Allen and Absolom Jones had formed in Philadelphia the
Free African Society, out of which four years later, in 1790, arose
the first separate denominational organization of Negroes, the African
Methodist-Episcopal Church. George Liele, Andrew Bryan, Richard Allen,
and the other founders of the Negro church were men of some education,
as their letters and other writings show. They had had the advantage
of life in a city environment and the churches which they founded were
in all essentials faithful copies of the denominational forms as they
found them in the churches of that period.
The religion of the Negroes on the plantation was then, as it is
today, of a much more primitive sort. Furthermore, there were
considerable differences in the cultural status of different regions
of the South and these differences were reflected in the Negro
churches. There was at that time, as there is today, a marked contrast
between the Upland and the Sea Island Negroes. Back from the coast the
plantations were smaller, the contact of the master and slave were
more intimate. On the Sea Island, however, where the slaves were and
still are more completely isolated than elsewhere in the South, the
Negro population approached more closely to the cultural status of the
native African. The Sea Islands were taken possession of in the first
years of the war by the Federal forces and it was here that people
from the North first came in contact with the plantation Negro of the
lower South. They immediately became interested in the manners and
customs of the Island Negroes, and from them we have the first
accurate accounts of their folk-lore and sayings.
The Sea Island Negroes speak a distinct dialect and retain certain
customs which are supposed to be of African origin. It is, however, in
their religious practices that we have the nearest approach to
anything positively African. This has undoubtedly the characteristics
of primitive ritual. But this does not mean that it is African in
origin. It seems to me more likely that it is to be interpreted as a
very simple and natural expression of group emotion, which is just
beginning to crystallize and assume a formal character. The general
tone of these meetings is that of a religious revival in which we
expect a free and uncontrolled expression of religious emotion, the
difference being that in this case the expression of the excitement is
beginning to assume a formal and ritualistic character.
In the voodoo practices, of which we have not any accurate records,
the incantations that were pronounced by the priests, contain strange,
magic words, scraps of ancient ritual, the meanings of which are
forgotten. Lafcadio Hearne, who knew the Negro life of Louisiana and
Martinique intimately and was keen on the subject of Negro folk-lore,
has preserved for us this scrap from an old Negro folk song in which
some of these magic words have been preserved. Writing to his friend
Edward Krehbiel he says:
"Your friend is right, no doubt about the
'Tig, tig, malaborn
La Chelerna che tango
Redjoum!'
"I asked my black nurse what it meant. She only laughed and shook
her head. 'Mais c'est voodoo, ca; je n'en sais rien!' 'Well,'
said I, 'don't you know anything about Voodoo songs?' 'Yes,' she
answered, 'I know Voodoo songs; but I can't tell you what they
mean.' And she broke out into the wildest, weirdest ditty I ever
heard. I tried to write down the words; but as I did not know
what they meant I had to write by sound alone, spelling the words
according to the French pronunciation."[9]
So far as I know there are, among the plantation hymns, no such
remains of ancient ritual, mystical words whose meanings are unknown,
no traces whatever of African tradition. If there is anything that is
African about the Negroes' Christianity, it is not African tradition
but the African temperament which has contributed it. I assume,
therefore, that what we find in the most primitive form of Negro
Christianity is not the revival of an older and more barbaric religion
but the inception of a new and original form of Christianity.
An interesting fact in regard to the religious practices of the
Negroes of the Sea Islands, which has not, so far as I know, been
recorded in any of the descriptions of that people, is the existence
among them of two distinct religious institutions; namely, the church
and the "praise house." The praise house is the earlier institution
and represents apparently a more primitive and more characteristically
Negro or African type. In slavery days, the church was the white man's
place of worship. Negroes were permitted to attend the services and
there was usually a gallery reserved for their use. Churches, however,
were relatively few and not all the slaves on the plantation could
attend at any one time. Those who did attend were usually the house
servants. On every large plantation, however, there was likely to be,
and this was characteristic of the Sea Island plantations, a "praise
house" where the slaves were permitted to worship in their own
peculiar way. It was here that the "shout" took place. After the Civil
War, churches were erected and regular congregations of the Negro
denominations were formed. The Negro churches, however, never wholly
displaced the praise houses on Port Royal and some of the other
islands. It is a singular fact that today, among the Negroes of Port
Royal, at any rate, no one is converted in church. It is only in the
praise houses that Negroes get religion. It is only through the praise
house that one enters the church. The whole process involves, as I
have been informed, not merely an "experience," the precise nature of
which is not clear, but also an examination by the elders to determine
whether the experience is genuine, before candidates are admitted in
good standing as members of the congregation.
On the whole the plantation Negro's religion was a faithful copy of
the white man's. It was content rather than the form which suffered
sea change in the process of transmission from the white man to the
black. What this content was, what new inflection and color the Negro
slave imparted to the religious forms which he borrowed from his
master we may, perhaps, gather from a study of the plantation hymns.
These folksongs represent, at any rate, the naive and spontaneous
utterance of hopes and aspirations for which the Negro slave had no
other adequate means of expression. The first and most interesting
account we have of these Negro spirituals is that of Col. Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, in his _Army Life in a Black Regiment_.[10] He
collected them from the lips of his own black soldiers as they sang
them about the campfire at night. He was almost the first to recognize
that these rude plantation hymns represented a real literature, the
only literature the American Negro has produced, until very recent
times.
Col. Higginson has compared the Negro spirituals to the Scotch
ballads and to the folk songs of other races. It is, however, not so
much their similarities as their differences which are interesting and
significant. Negro folk songs are ruder and more primitive. The
verses, often but not always rhymed, are, as in the case of the
example given below, composed almost entirely of single phrases,
followed by a refrain, which is repeated again with slight
modifications, ending, not infrequently, in an exclamation.
An' I couldn't hear nobody pray,
O Lord!
Couldn't hear nobody pray.
O--way down yonder
By myself,
I couldn't hear nobody pray.
In the valley,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
On my knees,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
With my burden,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
An' my Saviour,
Couldn't hear nobody pray.
O Lord!
I couldn't hear nobody pray,
O Lord!
Couldn't hear nobody pray.
O--way down yonder
By myself,
I couldn't hear nobody pray.
Chilly waters,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
In the Jordan,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
Crossing over,
Couldn't hear nobody pray,
Into Canaan,
Couldn't hear nobody pray.
In Negro folk songs the music and expression are everything. The
words, often striking and suggestive, to be sure, represent broken
fragments of ideas, thrown up from the depths of the Negroes'
consciousness and swept along upon a torrent of wild, weird and often
beautiful melody. One reason the verses of the Negro folk songs are so
broken and fragmentary is that the Negroes were not yet in secure
possession of the English language. Another explanation is the
conditions under which they were produced. The very structure of these
verses indicate their origin in the communal excitement of a religious
assembly. A happy phrase, a striking bit of imagery, flung out by some
individual was taken up and repeated by the whole congregation.
Naturally the most expressive phrases, the lines that most adequately
voiced the deep unconscious desires of the whole people, were
remembered longest and repeated most frequently. New lines and
variations were introduced from time to time. There was, therefore, a
process of natural selection by which the best, the most
representative verses, those which most adequately expressed the
profounder and more permanent moods and sentiments of the Negro were
preserved and became part of the permanent tradition of the race.
Negro melodies still spring up on the plantations of the South as they
did in the days of slavery. The Negro is, like the Italian, an
improviser, but the songs he produces today have not, so far as my
knowledge goes, the quality of those he sang in slavery. The schools
have introduced reading, and this, with the reflection which writing
enforces, is destroying the folk songs of the Negro, as it has those
of other races.
Not only are the Negro folk songs more primitive--in the sense I have
indicated--than the folk songs of other peoples with which we are
familiar but the themes are different. The themes of the Scotch
ballads are love and battles, the adventures and tragedies of a wild,
free life. The Negro songs, those that he has remembered best, are
religious and other worldly. "It is a singular fact," says Krehbiel,
"that very few secular songs--those which are referred to as 'reel
tunes,' 'fiddle songs,' 'corn songs' and 'devil songs,' for which
slaves generally expressed a deep abhorrence, though many of them no
doubt were used to stimulate them while in the fields--have been
preserved while 'shout songs' and other 'speritchils' have been kept
alive by the hundred."[11]
If it is the plantation melodies that, by a process of natural
selection, have been preserved in the traditions of the Negro people,
it is probably because in these songs they found a free and natural
expression of their unfulfilled desires. In the imagery of these
songs, in the visions which they conjure up, in the themes which they
again and again renew, we may discern the reflection of dawning racial
consciousness, a common racial ideal.
The content of the Negro folk songs has been made the subject of a
careful investigation by Howard Odum in his _Study of the Social and
Mental Traits of the Negro_. He says: "The Negro's fancies of
'Heaven's bright home' are scarcely exceeded by our fairy tales. There
are silver and golden slippers, crowns of stars, jewels and belts of
gold. There are robes of spotless white and wings all bejeweled with
heavenly gems. Beyond the Jordan the Negro will outshine the sun, moon
and stars. He will slip and slide the golden street and eat the fruit
of the trees of paradise.... With rest and ease, with a golden band
about him and with palms of victory in his hands and beautiful robes,
the Negro will indeed be a happy being.... To find a happy home, to
see all the loved ones and especially the Biblical characters, to see
Jesus and the angels, to walk and talk with them, to wear robes and
slippers as they do, and to _rest forever_, constitute the chief
images of the Negro's heaven. He is tired of the world which has been
a hell to him. Now on his knees, now shouting, now sorrowful and glad,
the Negro comes from 'hanging over hell' to die and sit by the
Father's side."[12]
In the imagery which the Negro chooses to clothe his hopes and dreams,
we have, as in the musical idiom in which he expresses them,
reflections of the imagination and the temperament of Africa and the
African. On the other hand, in the themes of this rude rhapsodical
poetry--the House of Bondage, Moses, the Promised Land, Heaven, the
apocalyptic visions of Freedom--but freedom confined miraculously and
to another world--these are the reflections of the Negro's experience
in slavery.
The Negro's songs of slavery have been referred to by Du Bois in his
_Soul of Black-Folk_ as sorrow songs, and other writers have made the
assertion that all the songs of the slaves were in a plaintive minor
key. As a matter of fact, investigation has shown that actually less
than twelve per cent of Negro songs are in a minor.[13] There are no
other folk songs, with the exception of those of Finland, of which so
large a percentage are in the major mood. And this is interesting as
indicating the racial temperament of the Negro. It tends to justify
the general impression that the Negro is temperamentally sunny,
cheerful, optimistic. It is true that the slave songs express longing,
that they refer to "hard trials and great tribulations," but the
dominant mood is one of jubilation, "Going to sing, going to shout,
going to play all over God's heaven."
Other worldliness is not peculiar to the religion of the slave. It is
a trait which the slave encountered in the religion of his master. But
in the Negro's conception of religion it received a peculiar emphasis.
In fact, these ecstatic visions of the next world, which the Negro
slave songs portrayed with a directness and simplicity that is at once
quaint and pathetic, are the most significant features of the Negro's
songs of slavery.
It is interesting to note in this connection that nowhere in these
songs do we discover the slightest references to Africa. They reflect
no memories of a far off happier land. Before the Negro gained his
emancipation Africa had, so far as he was concerned, almost ceased to
exist. Furthermore, the whole tone and emphasis of these songs and of
all other religious expressions of the American Negro are in marked
contrast with the tone and emphasis of African religious ideas. The
African knew of the existence of another world, but he was not
interested in it. The world, as the African understood it, was full of
malignant spirits, diseases and forces with which he was in constant
mortal struggle. His religious practices were intended to gain for him
immunity in this world, rather than assurance of the next. But the
Negro in America was in a different situation. He was not living in
his own world. He was a slave and that, aside from the physical
inconvenience, implied a vast deal of _inhibition_. He was, moreover,
a constant spectator of life in which he could not participate;
excited to actions and enterprises that were forbidden to him because
he was a slave. The restlessness which this situation provoked found
expression, not in insurrection and rebellion--although, of course,
there were Negro insurrections--but in his religion and in his dreams
of another and freer world. I assume, therefore, that the reason the
Negro so readily and eagerly took over from the white man his heaven
and apocalyptic visions was because these materials met the demands of
his peculiar racial temperament and furnished relief to the emotional
strains that were provoked in him by the conditions of slavery.
So far as slavery was responsible for the peculiar individuality of
the Negro's religion we should expect that the racial ideals and
racial religion would take on another and a different character under
the influence of freedom. This, indeed, is what seems to me is taking
place. New ideals of life are expressed in recent Negro literature and
slowly and imperceptibly those ideas are becoming institutionalized
in the Negro church and more particularly in the cultural ideals of
the Negro school. But this makes another chapter in the history of
Negro culture in America.
I have sought in this brief sketch to indicate the modifications,
changes and fortune which a distinctive racial temperament has
undergone as a result of encounters with an alien life and culture.
This temperament, as I conceive it, consists in a few elementary but
distinctive characteristics, determined by physical organization and
transmitted biologically. These characteristics manifest themselves in
a genial, sunny and social disposition, in an interest and attachment
to external, physical things rather than to subjective states and
objects of introspection; in a disposition for expression rather than
enterprise and action. The changes which have taken place in the
manifestations of this temperament have been actuated by an inherent
and natural impulse, characteristic of all living things, to persist
and maintain themselves in a changed environment. Such changes have
occurred as are likely to take place in any organism in its struggle
to live and to use its environment to further and complete its own
existence.
The general principle which the Negro material illustrates is that the
racial temperament selects out of the masses of cultural materials, to
which it had access, such technical, mechanical and intellectual
devices as meet its needs at a particular period of its existence. It
clothes and enriches itself with such new customs, habits, and
cultural forms as it is able, or permitted to use. It puts into these
relatively external things, moreover, such concrete meanings as its
changing experience and its unchanging racial individuality demand.
Everywhere and always the Negro has been interested rather in
expression than in action; interested in life itself rather than in
its reconstruction or reformation. The Negro is, by natural
disposition, neither an intellectual nor an idealist like the Jew, nor
a brooding introspective like the East Indian, nor a pioneer and
frontiersman like the Anglo-Saxon. He is primarily an artist, loving
life for its own sake. His metier is expression rather than action.
The Negro is, so to speak, the lady among the races.
In reviewing the fortunes of the Negro's temperament as it is
manifested in the external events of the Negro's life in America, our
analysis suggests that this racial character of the Negro has
exhibited itself everywhere in something like the rôle of the _wish_
in the Freudian analysis of dream life. The external cultural forms
which he found here, like the memories of the individual, have
furnished the materials in which the racial wish, that is, the Negro
temperament, has clothed itself. The inner meaning, the sentiment, the
emphasis, the emotional color which these forms assumed as the result
of their transference from the white man to the Negro, these have been
the Negro's own. They have represented his temperament--his
temperament modified, however, by his experience and the tradition
which he has accumulated in this country. The temperament is African,
but the tradition is American.
I present this thesis merely as a hypothesis. As such its value
consists in its suggestion of a point of view and program for
investigation. I may, however, suggest some of the obvious practical
consequences. If racial temperament--particularly when it gets itself
embodied in institutions and in _nationalities_, that is, social
groups based upon race--is so real and obdurate a thing that education
can only enrich and develop it but not dispose of it, then we must be
concerned to take account of it in all our schemes for promoting
naturalization, assimilation, Americanization, Christianization, and
acculturation generally.
If it is true that the Jew, as has been suggested, just because of his
intellectuality is a natural born idealist, internationalist,
doctrinaire, and revolutionist, while the Negro, because of his
natural attachment to known, familiar objects, places and persons, is
preadapted to conservatism and to local and personal loyalties: if
these things are true, we shall eventually have to take account of
them practically. It is certain that the Negro has uniformly shown a
disposition to loyalty, during slavery to his master, and during
freedom to the South and the country as a whole. He has maintained
this attitude of loyalty, too, under very discouraging circumstances.
I once heard Kelly Miller, the most philosophical of the leaders and
teachers of his race, say in a public speech that one of the greatest
hardships the Negro suffered in this country was due to the fact that
he was not permitted to be patriotic.
Of course, all these alleged racial characteristics have a positive as
well as a negative significance. Every race, like every individual,
has the vices of its virtues. The question remains still to what
extent so-called racial characteristics are actually racial, that is,
biological, and to what extent they are the effect of environmental
conditions. The thesis of this paper, to state it again, is: (1) That
fundamental temperamental qualities, which are the basis of interest
and attention, act as selective agencies and as such determine what
elements in the cultural environment each race will select, in what
region it will seek and find its vocation, in the larger social
organization; (2) that, on the other hand, technique, science,
machinery, tools, habits, discipline and all the intellectual and
mechanical devices with which the civilized man lives and works,
remain relatively external to the inner core of significant attitudes
and values which constitute what many call the will of the group. This
racial will is, to be sure, largely social, that is modified by social
experience, but it rests ultimately upon a complex of inherited
characteristics, which are racial.
It follows from what has been said that the individual man is the
bearer of a double inheritance. As a member of a race, he transmits by
interbreeding a biological inheritance. As a member of society or a
social group, on the other hand, he transmits by communication a
social inheritance. The particular complex of inheritable characters,
which characterizes the individuals of a racial group constitutes the
racial temperament. The particular group of habits, accommodations,
sentiments, attitudes and ideals transmitted by communication and
education constitute a social tradition. Between this temperament and
this tradition there is, as has been generally recognized, a very
intimate relationship. My assumption is that temperament is the basis
of the _interests_; that as such it determines in the long run the
general run of attention, and this, eventually, determines the
selection in the case of an individual of his vocation, in the case of
the racial group of its culture. That is to say, temperament
determines what things the individual and the groups will be
interested in; what elements of the general culture, to which they
have access, they will assimilate; what, to state it in pedagogical
terms, they will learn.
It will be evident at once that where individuals of the same race and
hence the same temperament are associated, the temperamental interests
will tend to reinforce one another, and the attention of members of
the group will be more completely focused upon the specific objects
and values that correspond to the racial temperament. In this way
racial qualities become the basis for nationalities, a nationalistic
group being merely a cultural and eventually a political society
founded on the basis of racial inheritances. On the other hand, when
racial segregation is broken up and members of a racial group are
dispersed and isolated, the opposite effect will take place. This
explains the phenomena which have frequently been the subject of
comment and observation, that the racial characteristics manifest
themselves in an extraordinary way in large homogeneous gatherings.
The contrast between a mass meeting of one race and a similar meeting
of another is particularly striking. Under such circumstances
characteristic racial and temperamental differences appear that would
otherwise pass entirely unnoticed.
When the physical unity of a group is perpetuated by the succession of
parents and children, the racial temperament, including fundamental
attitudes and values which rest on it, are preserved intact. When
however, society grows and is perpetuated by immigration and
adaptation, there ensues, as a result of miscegenation, a breaking up
of the complex of the biologically inherited qualities which
constitute the temperament of the race. This again initiates changes
in the mores, traditions and eventually in the institutions of the
community. The changes which proceed from modification in the racial
temperament will, however, modify but slightly the external forms of
the social traditions but they will be likely to change profoundly
their content and meaning. Of course, other factors, individual
competition, the formation of classes, and especially the increase of
communication, all coöperate to complicate the whole situation and to
modify the effects which would be produced by racial factors working
in isolation. All these factors must be eventually taken account of,
however, in any satisfactory scheme of dealing with the problem of
Americanization by education. This is, however, a matter for more
complete analysis and further investigation.
ROBERT E. PARK
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This address was delivered before the American Sociological
Society convened in annual session at Richmond in 1918.
[2] "The City: Suggestions for the Investigation of Human Behavior in
the City Environment," _American Journal of Sociology_, V, 44, March,
1915, p. 589.
[3] Rivers, "Ethnological Analysis of Cultures," _Nature_, Vol. I, 87,
1911.
[4] W. J. McGee, _Piratical Acculturation_.
[5] There is or was a few years ago near Mobile a colony of Africans
who were brought to the United States as late as 1860. It is true,
also, that Major R. R. Moton, who has succeeded Booker T. Washington
as head of Tuskegee Institute, still preserves the story that was told
him by his grandmother of the way in which his great-grandfather was
brought from Africa in a slave ship.
[6] _Domestic Manners and Social Condition of the White, Coloured and
Negro Population of the West Indies_, by Mrs. Carmichael, Vol. I.
(London, Wittaker, Treacher and Co.), p. 251.
"Native Africans do not at all like it to be supposed that they retain
the customs of their country and consider themselves wonderfully
civilized by being transplanted from Africa to the West Indies. Creole
Negroes invariably consider themselves superior people, and lord it
over the native Africans."
[7] The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was
founded in 1701 and the efforts to Christianize the Negro were carried
on with a great deal of zeal and with some success.
[8] JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, Vol. I, 1916, p. 70.
[9] _Afro-American Folksongs: A Study in Racial and National Music_,
by Henry Edward Krehbiel. (New York and London, G. Schirmer), p. 37.
From a letter of Lafcadio Hearne.
[10] _Army Life in a Black Regiment_, by Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
Boston, Fields, Osgood and Co., 1870.
[11] Krehbiel, _Afro-American Folksongs_, p. 16.
[12] Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, edited by The
Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University, Vol. 37, New
York, 1910, No. 3--_Social and Mental Traits of the Negro_, by Howard
W. Odum, Ph.D., p. 91.
[13] Krehbiel, _Afro-American Folksongs_.
THE COMPANY OF ROYAL ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND TRADING INTO AFRICA,
1660-1672
INTRODUCTION
The English commercial companies trading to the west coast of Africa
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have practically
escaped the attention of historical students. Doubtless this neglect
is the result of the little importance which has until recently been
attached to African territory since the abolition of the slave trade.
Previous to that time the west coast of Africa vied with the East
Indies for popular attention, and the English African companies often
appeared to be but little less important than the great East India
Company.
The cause for the popular esteem of the African coast during the
earlier centuries was the intimate connection which the slave trade
had with the development of the English plantations in the West
Indies. About the middle of the seventeenth century the growing of
sugar cane and other products in the West Indies began to open up
enormous possibilities which, it was universally agreed, could be
realized only by the extensive use of Negro slaves. At the restoration
of Charles II in 1660 the English commercial class directly supported
and assisted by the king's courtiers determined to secure as large a
portion of the West African coast as possible. To reach this end they
organized that year The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa.
This decision at once brought the company into conflict with the Dutch
West India Company, which, during the twenty years of domestic trouble
in England, had all but monopolized the desirable portion of the West
African coast.
It happened therefore that the Company of Royal Adventurers played a
very important part in the events which led up to the Anglo-Dutch war
of 1665-67. The war resulted in the financial ruin of the company
which was in existence only about eleven years, at the end of which
time it was succeeded by the much larger and better organized Royal
African Company.
It has seemed to the author as if the English African companies were a
very profitable field of historical investigation. Therefore, the
present dissertation on the Company of Royal Adventurers will be
followed shortly by a history of the Royal African Company, 1672-1752.
For assistance in writing the history of the Royal Adventurers Trading
into Africa I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the librarians,
and officials of the British Record Office, the British Museum, the
Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Rijks Archief at The Hague, and the
Cornell University Library. To Professor R. C. H. Catterall, now
deceased, I am greatly indebted for reading the manuscript of this
book, and for many valuable suggestions. Above all, I wish to express
my deep appreciation to my wife, Susie Zook, for her unfailing
inspiration and her constant assistance in the writing of this book.
CHAPTER I
EARLY DUTCH AND ENGLISH TRADE TO WEST AFRICA
In 1581 the seven United Provinces of the Netherlands declared their
independence of Spain. As the intrepid Dutch sailors ventured out from
their homeland they met not only the ships of their old master, Philip
II, but those of the Portuguese as well. Since the government of
Portugal had just fallen into the hands of Philip II the Dutch ships
could expect no more consideration from Portuguese than from Spanish
vessels. Notwithstanding the manifest dangers the prospects of
obtaining the coveted products of the Portuguese colonies inspired the
Dutch to such a great extent that in 1595 Bernard Ereckson sailed to
the west coast of Africa, at that time usually called Guinea. There he
and the Dutch who followed him discovered that the Portuguese had long
occupied the trading points along the coast, and had erected forts and
factories wherever it seemed advisable for the purpose of defense and
trade. The Dutch merchants and sailors turned their dangerous
situation into an opportunity to despoil the weakened Portuguese of
their forts and settlements in Africa.
On August 25, 1611, the Dutch made a treaty with a native prince by
which a place called Maurée was ceded to them. In the following year
they erected a fort at that place which they named Fort Nassau.[1]
Shortly after this, in 1617, they bought the island of Goree at Cape
Verde from the natives in that region. Four years later the West India
Company was formed, its charter including not only the West Indies and
New Amsterdam but also the west coast of Africa. This new organization
found much in the new world to occupy its attention but it did not
neglect the Guinea coast. The Dutch realized that the African trade
was indispensable to their West India colonies as a means of supplying
slave labor. Hostilities, therefore, were continued against the
Portuguese who still had possession of the principal part of the
African trade. In 1625 the Dutch made a vigorous attempt to capture
the main Portuguese stronghold at St. George d'Elmina which had been
founded on the Gold Coast in 1481.[2] They were unsuccessful at that
time but in 1637 Prince Maurice of Nassau with 1,200 men succeeded in
capturing this base of the Portuguese trade.[3] In 1641 a ten years'
truce was signed between Portugal and the United Provinces, but before
the news of the truce had reached the coast of Guinea the Dutch had
taken another of the Portuguese strongholds at Axim which, according
to the terms of the treaty, they were permitted to retain. From these
various places factories were settled along the coast, and treaties
made with the native rulers. Furthermore, in the treaty of peace,
August 6, 1661, the Dutch retained the forts and factories which they
had conquered from the Portuguese on the African coast.[4] After the
truce of 1641 and the peace of 1661, therefore, the Dutch regarded
themselves as having succeeded to the exclusive claims of the
Portuguese to a large portion of the west coast of Africa including a
monopoly of the trade to the Gold Coast.[5]
Although it was the Dutch who succeeded in depriving the Portuguese of
the most important part of the West African coast, the interest shown
by the English in this region can be traced back to a much earlier
date. In 1481, when two Englishmen were preparing an expedition to the
Guinea coast, John II, king of Portugal, despatched an ambassador to
the English king, to announce the overlordship of Guinea which he had
recently assumed, and to request that the two Englishmen should
refrain from visiting the Guinea coast. Edward IV complied with this
request.[6] Thereafter no English expedition to Guinea was attempted
until 1536 when William Hawkins, father of the famous John Hawkins,
made the first of three voyages to Africa during which he also traded
to Brazil. Again in 1553 Hawkins sent an expedition to the Gold Coast.
Near Elmina the adventurers sold some of their goods for gold, and
then proceeded to Benin where they obtained pepper, or "Guinea
graines," and elephants' teeth. After losing two-thirds of the crew
from sickness the expedition returned to England.[7] In the following
year another expedition under Hawkins' direction secured several
slaves in addition to a large amount of gold and other products.[8]
Also, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557, William Towrson made three
voyages to the Guinea coast in which his ships were harassed by the
Portuguese, who attempted to prevent them from trading. English cloth
and iron wares were in such demand, however, that notwithstanding this
opposition a lucrative trade was obtained.[9]
Beginning with 1561 Queen Elizabeth lent her influence and assistance
to a series of voyages to the African coast. Not only did she permit
the use of four royal vessels for the first expedition but she spent
five hundred pounds in provisioning them for the voyage. The value of
the goods sent to Africa in these vessels was five thousand pounds.
According to the arrangement Queen Elizabeth received one-third of the
profits, which amounted to one thousand pounds.[10] In the year 1563
similar arrangements were made with the queen for another voyage to
the Gold Coast, during which there was considerable trouble with the
Portuguese. Notwithstanding this opposition the ships succeeded in
returning to England with a quantity of elephants' teeth and Guinea
grains.[11] In 1564, an expedition composed of three ships, one of
which belonged to Queen Elizabeth, was particularly unfortunate. One
of these ships was blown up, while the other two were attacked by the
Portuguese and probably had to return without obtaining any African
products.[12]
In these voyages to Guinea the English trade had been in exchange for
gold, elephants' teeth and pepper. Trading for slaves had scarcely
occurred to these early adventurers. Nevertheless, as early as 1562,
John Hawkins sailed for Sierra Leone with three vessels, and there
captured three hundred Negroes whom he sold to the Spaniards in
Hispaniola.[13] The success of this voyage was so great that in 1564
there was fitted out a second slave raiding expedition in which one of
the queen's ships, the Jesus, was employed. As before, Hawkins sold
his slaves in the West Indies, this time with some difficulty, because
the Spanish officials, who were forbidden to have any trade with
foreigners, regarded the Englishmen as pirates.[14]
Again, in 1567, Hawkins was on his way to Guinea. By playing off one
set of natives against another he procured about 450 slaves and once
more set out for the Spanish Indies. Although at first the voyage
promised to be successful, he was later set upon by a number of
Spanish ships and barely escaped with his life and one badly wrecked
vessel.[15]
Hawkins' voyages to Africa are worthy of note because he was the first
Englishman to engage in the slave trade. To be sure, his piratical
seizure of free Negroes broke all the rules of honorable dealing long
recognized on the African coast. As a result of his actions the
natives held all Englishmen in great distrust for a number of
years.[16] The unregulated method of carrying on the African trade,
pursued up to this time, ceased to a certain extent when Queen
Elizabeth granted the first patent of monopoly to the west coast of
Africa, May 3, 1588.
The charter of 1588 gave to certain merchants of Exeter, London and
other places in England for ten years an exclusive trade to that
portion of West Africa lying between the Senegal and Gambia rivers.
The great slave and gold producing country of the Gold Coast remained
open to all traders. It was therefore evident that, instead of
continuing the slave raiding projects of Hawkins, the company intended
to resume the exchange of English manufactures for African products.
According to its charter the company was not required to pay duties in
England either on imports or exports.[17] Although nothing is known of
the success of this company, the patent was regarded as of sufficient
importance for the earl of Nottingham and others to obtain a
continuation of the monopoly.[18]
Since the charter of these Senegal adventurers did not prevent anyone
from resorting to the Gold Coast and the regions to the east thereof,
two voyages were made to Benin, one in 1588 and another in 1590.[19]
In 1592 certain English merchants received a patent from the queen
authorizing them to trade to certain specified portions of Africa.[20]
The trade to Africa continued in this desultory fashion until 1618. At
that time a patent comprising the whole explored western coast of
Africa south of the territory of the Barbary Company was granted to
some thirty persons, among whom the most important was Sir William
St. John, who was said to have built the first English fort in
Africa.[21] The early years of their trade, which consisted in the
exchange of English for African products, was especially unfortunate.
Vessels were either lost or brought back small returns. After 1621 it
was difficult to procure fresh additions of capital. To add to this
trying situation, the House of Commons attacked the company's monopoly
and, later, voted it to be a grievance. Thereafter, although the
company sometimes issued licenses for the African trade, the
interlopers who resorted to Africa quite freely, usually did not deem
it necessary to obtain them.[22]
The moving spirit of the next company, which received a patent in
1631, was Sir Nicholas Crispe, who had been a successful interloper
during the life of the previous company. In 1624 he had built the
first permanent English settlement at Kormentine. Although not
incorporated, this company enjoyed for thirty-one years a monopoly of
trade to all the region lying between Cape Blanco and the Cape of Good
Hope. Just previous to the Civil War Charles I confirmed the charter
for twenty years. The company's monopoly was looked on with disfavor
by the leaders of the Puritan party, however, and in 1649 the company
was summoned before the Council of State, where it was accused of
having procured its charter by undue influences. Later, the company's
case was considered by the committee of trade, and finally, on April
9, 1651, the Council of State recommended that the company's monopoly
to that part of West Africa extending from a point twenty miles north
of Kormentine to within twenty miles of the Sierra Leone River be
continued for fourteen years.[23]
This company also suffered numerous misfortunes on the African coast.
A factory which the English had set up at Cape Corse in April, 1650,
was seized the following year by some Swedes who for several years
thereafter made it the seat of their trade in Guinea.[24]
Notwithstanding this fact the Swedes permitted the English to retain a
lodge at Cape Corse with which the agents at Kormentine sometimes
traded.[25] Even after the place was seized by Hendrik Carloff, a
Danish adventurer, in 1658, the English seem to have been allowed to
remain at Cape Corse. By this time, however, the English African
Company had become unable to support its factories on the coast of
Guinea. Therefore they were turned over to the English East India
Company, and became occasional stopping places for its vessels on
their way to and from the East Indies.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Jonge, Johan Karel Jakob de, _De Oorsprong van Neerland's
Bezittingen op de Kust van Guinea_, p. 16.
[2] Gramberg, J. S. G., _Schetsen van Afrika's Westcust_, p. 12.
[3] Jonge, _Oorsprong van Neerland's Bezittingen_, pp. 18, 19, 20.
[4] In return for this concession the Dutch evacuated Brazil. Dumont,
J., _Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens_, VI, part 2, p.
367.
[5] De Gids, "Derde Serie," _Zesde Jaargang_, IV, 385.
[6] Hakluyt, Richard, _The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques,
& Discourses of the English Nation_, VI, 123, 124.
[7] _Ibid._, VI, 145-162.
[8] _Ibid._, VI, 154-177.
[9] _Ibid._, VI, 177-252.
[10] Queen Elizabeth's profit may have been only five hundred pounds,
as it seems likely that the five hundred pounds which she spent in
provisioning the ships should be subtracted from the one thousand
pounds which she received. Scott, W.R., _The Constitution and Finance
of English, Scottish and Irish Joint Stock Companies to 1720_, II, 6.
[11] Hayluyt, _Principal Navigations_, VI, 258-261.
[12] _Ibid._, VI, 262.
[13] _Ibid._, X, 7, 8.
[14] _Ibid._, X, 9-63.
[15] _Ibid._, X, 64-74.
[16] For example, the expedition of George Fenner to Africa in 1566.
He had a great deal of trouble with the natives. Hakluyt, _Principal
Navigations_, VI, 266-284.
[17] Hakluyt, _Principal Navigations_, VI, 443-450, patent of Queen
Elizabeth, May 3, 1588.
[18] Scott, _Joint Stock Companies_, II, 10.
[19] Hakluyt, _Principal Navigations_, VI, 450-458, 461-467.
[20] _Ibid._, VII, 102.
[21] Scott, _Joint Stock Companies_, II, 11.
[22] _Ibid._, II, 12, 13.
[23] _Ibid._, II, 14-16.
[24] S. P. (State Papers), Holland, 178, f. 123, undated paper
concerning the title of the English to Cape Corse; A. C. R. (Records
of the African Companies), 169: 69, deposition of Thomas Crispe,
February 5, 1685/6; Dammaert, Journal (Journal gehouden bij Louijs
Dammaert ungewaren met 't schip Prins Willem), September 19, 1652 (N.
S.).
[25] Remonstrantie, _aen de Ho. Mo. Heeren de Staten Generael der
Vereenighde Nederlanden_, p. 18; Dammaert, _Journal_, September 19,
1652, May 18, 1653, December 7, 19, 1655, April 22 1656 (N. S.).
CHAPTER II
THE ROYAL ADVENTURERS IN ENGLAND
On account of the collapse of the king's cause at the death of Charles
I, Prince Rupert, with his small fleet of royal vessels, was driven
about from one part of the world to another. In 1562 he sought refuge
in the Gambia River,[1] where he listened to stories told by natives
of rich gold mines in that region. For a number of years the Negroes
had brought gold from the inland of Africa to the Dutch on the Gold
Coast. There seemed every reason to believe that the source of this
gold supply was none other than that described by the natives of the
Gambia River, and that it might be discovered somewhere in that
region. Prince Rupert was so much impressed with the possibility of
finding these mines that his voyage to Guinea was still vivid in his
memory when Charles II assumed the throne in 1660. In the duke of York
and other royal courtiers he found a group of willing listeners who
determined to form a company for the purpose of sending an expedition
to the Gambia to dig for gold. As early as October 3, 1660, the plans
were formulated. Each member was required to invest at least £250 in
the undertaking[2]. On December 18, 1660, the king, who was pleased
with the adventurers for having "undertaken so hopeful an enterprise,"
granted them a charter[3] under the name of "The Company of the Royal
Adventurers into Africa."[4]
By this charter the Royal Adventurers received the land and the
adjacent islands on the west coast of Africa from Cape Blanco to the
Cape of Good Hope, for a period of one thousand years beginning with
"the making of these our Letters Patents if the ... grant (made to
Crispe's company in 1631) be void and determined." If, however, the
former charter was still regarded as in force, the grant to the Royal
Adventurers was to be effective upon the surrender or the expiration
of the former company's privileges.[5] A committee of six men, the
earl of Pembroke, Lord Craven, Sir George Carteret, William Coventry,
Sir Ellis Leighton and Cornelius Vermuyden, was named to have charge
of the company's affairs. No mention was made of the office of
governor or of any court of directors. Apparently it was thought that
the committee of six could direct all of the company's affairs. In
Africa, this committee was empowered to appoint the necessary agents
and officials and to raise and maintain whatever soldiers were
necessary to execute martial law. The company had the right to admit
new members if it desired. The king himself reserved the privilege of
becoming an adventurer at any time and to invest an amount of money
not exceeding one-sixteenth of the company's stock.
Furthermore, it was provided that the king "shall have, take and
receive two third parts of all the gold mines which shall be seized
possesed and wrought in the parts and places aforesaid, we ... paying
and bearing two third parts of all the charges incident to the working
and transporting of the said gold." The company was to have the other
third and bear the remainder of the expense. That this provision was
not a matter of mere form, as in so many of the royal charters, is
evident from the stimulus which had led to the formation of the
company. Indeed in one part of the charter the purpose of the company
is presented as "the setting forward and furthering of the trade
intended (redwood, hides, elephants' teeth) in the parts aforesaid and
the encouragement of the undertakers in discovering the golden mines
and setting of plantations there." The trade in slaves was not
mentioned in the charter.
Even before they had obtained this charter the organizers of the new
company induced the king to lend them five of his Majesty's ships.
These vessels, the "Henrietta," "Sophia," "Amity," "Griffin" and
"Kingsale," were loaded with goods, tools and chemicals necessary for
the working of the projected gold mines. Captain Robert Holmes, who
had been with Prince Rupert in 1652, was given charge of the
expedition; but the goods and necessities were consigned to William
Usticke and two other factors of the company.[6] In December, 1660,
the five vessels set out on their voyage to the Gambia River, where
they arrived in the following March. There Holmes seized the island of
St. André, then occupied by a feeble number of the subjects of the
duke of Courland. Since the latter place was protected by a small fort
the English began preparations to make it the seat of their operations
in that region. Not long after they arrived, however, a fire destroyed
the fortification and a large part of the goods which had been brought
from England. Under these circumstances they chose to abandon that
island, and to settle on two others which were better situated for
defense and trade. These they named Charles Island and James Island in
honor of their royal patrons. The latter was by far the most
advantageously situated, and became the main stronghold of the English
in the northern part of Africa during all the history of the African
companies. Holmes probably remained on the Gambia until about the
first of May when he departed with one or two of the ships for
England. In July as much of a cargo as possible was loaded on the
"Amity" which finally arrived in England, after its crew had been
depleted by disease.[7]
Information regarding the success of the mining project of this
expedition is almost totally lacking, but it seems certain that
nothing was done to discover the hoped-for gold mines. The climate
affected the men so adversely, that it is altogether unlikely that
they even attempted to look for the mines. The small cargo carried
back by the various ships, most of which seems to have been on the
"Amity," probably represents the only tangible results of the
expedition. These goods, consisting of elephants' teeth, wax and hides
sold for £1,567.8s.,[8] whereas the outlay for the expedition was
probably between £4,000 and £4,500.[9]
This sum does not include £2,640.8s.8d. expense which was incurred to
send another of the king's ships, the "Blackamoor," to the Gold Coast,
in June, 1661.[10] The "Blackamoor" was followed in April, 1662, by
the "Swallow" which, together with its cargo, cost the Royal
Adventurers £1,l01.2s.ld.[11] Later in the year the three ships,
"Charles," "James" and "Mary," were sent to the Gold Coast at an
expense of about £5,000.[12] By September, 1662, £17,400 had been
subscribed by various persons to obtain the cargoes for the ships
which had been dispatched to the coast of Guinea. Of this amount £800
had been promised by the king; £3,600 by the duke of York; £400 by the
queen Mother; £400 by the duchess of Orleans; £800 by Prince Rupert;
and £800 by the duke of Buckingham. Of the £17,400 subscribed all but
about £1,000 had been paid by October 20, 1662. From this investment
the company had received no returns except the £1,567.8s. from the
first expedition, while the three last vessels, the "Charles," "James"
and "Mary" had not yet arrived at the Gold Coast on their ill-fated
voyage.[13]
Up to this time there had been no uniformity about the amounts
invested, and no definite times at which the several amounts
subscribed, were due. It was assumed that money would be forthcoming
from the members whenever it was needed to dispatch ships to the
coast. About the middle of September, 1662, it was decided to pursue a
more businesslike policy. A list of subscribers for shares at four
hundred pounds each was opened, and by the 15th of January, 1663, the
amount of this second subscription was £17,000.[14] The stimulus for
obtaining this added subscription was the fact that, at the same time,
the company was agitating for a new charter, which was granted by the
king, January 10, 1663.[15]
Experience had shown that the previous charter was inadequate, not
only respecting the means of raising funds to carry on the company's
business, but also on account of the lack of any other officers to
direct its affairs than the committee of six. By general consent of
the patentees, and those who had later subscribed to the stock, it had
been decided to surrender the charter of 1660 for one conferring more
extensive privileges on the corporation. The charter obtained January
10, 1663, answered these requirements. The name was changed to "The
Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa." The
territory included in the charter reached to the Cape of Good Hope as
in the previous patent, but the northern limit was extended from Cape
Blanco to Cape Sallee on the coast of Morocco.
The new charter contained the same provisions in regard to the
discovery of gold mines as the charter of 1660. By this time, however,
the adventurers had discovered that the Negro trade could be made very
lucrative. In this charter, therefore, they obtained "the whole,
entire and only trade for the buying and selling bartering and
exchanging of for or with any Negroes, slaves, goods, wares and
merchandises whatsoever to be vented or found at or within any of the
Cities" on the west coast of Africa. The charter provided that there
should be no trading on the African coast except by the company in its
corporate capacity, and that any one guilty of transgressing these
rules should be liable to forfeiture of his ship and goods.[16]
The charter also required the shareholders to elect a governor,
subgovernor, deputy governor and a court of assistants; but that the
routine business of the company should be conducted by a smaller
committee corresponding to the committee of six of the previous
company. The duke of York was elected governor, in which capacity he
continued to serve during the company's entire existence. Thirty-six
men were chosen annually to compose the court of assistants. There
was also an executive committee of seven which was responsible to the
court of assistants.[17]
While the company was endeavoring to obtain this new charter an
unsuspected difficulty arose. It will be remembered that in 1631 Sir
Nicholas Crispe and others had received a patent to a portion of the
west coast of Africa for thirty-one years. The first charter of
Charles II to the Royal Adventurers in December, 1660, had been
granted a year and a half previous to the expiration of Crispe's
patent. In recognition of this fact the charter of the Royal
Adventurers provided that if the former patent was not void, the new
charter was not to be effective until its surrender or expiration. At
first Crispe made no complaint about the transgression of his rights,
probably because the first expedition under Captain Holmes had gone to
the Gambia region in which place Crispe had no interests. When it
became apparent that the company intended to carry its activities
further south, however, he appeared before the Privy Council on
November 22, 1661, and asked to have his interest confirmed in the
trade and settlements at Kormentine and in the region of the Sierra
Leone and Sherbro rivers.[18] On December 20, 1661, his case was heard
before the Privy Council, at which time the case was referred to the
Lord High Treasurer.[19] The matter was neglected and finally dropped.
Crispe found it impossible to prevent the ships of the Royal Company
from transgressing the regions mentioned in his charter. About the
time at which his charter expired (June 25, 1662), he agreed to
transfer all his interests in the fortifications at Kormentine and
elsewhere to the Royal Adventurers. Although this agreement has not
been found, there was apparently nothing in it which bound the company
to remunerate Crispe and his associates, because later, August, 1662,
he petitioned the king for compensation for the forts and lodges which
had been transferred to the Royal Adventurers. At first the king was
favorable to Crispe's request in view of the service which he had
rendered in building up the Guinea trade.[20] Later, neither the king
nor the Royal Adventurers seem to have paid any attention to Crispe's
plea for compensation.[21]
In later years the report was persistently spread that at the time
when the agreement was made with Crispe the Privy Council had ordered
the Royal Adventurers to pay him £20,000 in lieu of all his interests
on the coast, and that the company had "seemed to acquiesce" in the
order.[22] It does not seem possible that this assertion can be true
in view of the foregoing facts, and of the absolute lack of mention of
any such thing in the books of the company. Over a year later, August
15, 1664, Crispe presented a paper of an unknown character to which
the court of assistants refused to give any notice.[23] It seems
likely that this paper had nothing to do with the African forts, but
that it was submitted in connection with a controversy over some
African goods, which were said to belong to the members of Crispe's
company[24]. The entire lack of any other evidence of trouble between
Crispe and the company leads one to think that no contract for such
compensation was ever made[25]. Moreover, that he was not averse to
the success of the Royal Adventurers is shown by the fact that he
himself subscribed £2,000 in 1663 to the stock of the company[26].
It is unnecessary to follow in detail the number of ships which were
fitted out for the company's trade after it received its second
charter in January, 1663. Suffice it to say that very active measures
were undertaken, especially by the duke of York, who faithfully
attended the weekly meetings of the court of assistants which were
held in his apartments at Whitehall. The earl of Clarendon voiced the
sentiments of these enthusiastic courtier-merchants when he said that,
providing all went well, the Company of Royal Adventurers would "be
found a Model equally to advance the Trade of England with that of any
other company, even that of the East-Indies[27]."
If this prediction was to be realized it was necessary to have a
greater stock than the first and second subscriptions had provided.
Therefore a public declaration was issued inviting any of the king's
subjects in England to subscribe for shares of not less than four
hundred pounds each, one-half of each share to be paid by December 1,
1663, and the other one-half by March 1, following. The conditions of
subscription provided that seven years after the first date, a
committee from the adventurers should be chosen to make a fair
valuation of the stock of the company. Each shareholder was then to be
allowed to receive the value of his stock in money if he so desired.
Thereafter this action was to be repeated every three years with the
same privileges of withdrawal from the company.[28] Later, as a means
of inducing those with smaller means to subscribe for stock, the
company permitted subscriptions as small as fifty pounds, providing
they were paid within eight days. Whenever any person subscribed more
than four hundred pounds, he was allowed to pay the excess in eight
quarterly payments beginning with the 24th of June, 1663.[29] By
offering these inducements the third subscription amounted to £34,000
divided among about forty-five shareholders.[30]
On the 25th of August of the same year, however, it was necessary to
seek for a fourth subscription which amounted to £29,000,[31] payment
of which could be made in eight quarterly sums if desired. For all
those who would pay the third and fourth subscriptions promptly, a
discount of ten per cent, was offered. By these four subscriptions the
stock of the company appeared on September 4, 1663, to be
£102,000.[32] Of this amount it is probable that about £57,425 had
been paid, which left unpaid subscriptions amounting to £44,775.[33]
In addition to the money obtained by the sale of shares the company
had borrowed about £21,000. With the money obtained from these two
sources approximately twenty-five ships were sent to the coast of
Africa from December, 1662, to September, 1663.[34] From these voyages
there were very unsatisfactory returns, and the company again found
itself in a critical financial condition.
This unfortunate situation was largely the result of opposition, which
its ships and factors had encountered from the Dutch West India
Company on the coast of Guinea. For a long time this opposition bade
fair to prevent the company from obtaining a share in the African
trade. In view of this situation the king dispatched Sir Robert Holmes
upon a second expedition to Africa in 1663 with orders to protect the
company's rights. As a further means of encouragement Charles II
ordered all gold imported from Africa by the Royal Company to be
coined with an elephant on one side, as a mark of distinction from the
coins then prevalent in England.[35] These coins were called
"Guineas"; they served to increase the reputation and prestige of the
company. Moreover, the king with many of his courtiers made important
additions to their stock in the third and fourth subscriptions.[36]
From September 4, 1663, to the following March there are no records
of the company, but a petition of the adventurers to the king in
March, 1664,[37] shows that notwithstanding its financial difficulties
the company had during the previous year sent to Africa forty ships
and goods to the value of £160,000.[38] To follow the company's
financial history from this time on is a difficult task in view of
inadequate sources. In the balance sheet of September 4, 1663, the
company's stock was entered as £102,000 and its debts as about
£21,000. When the news of Holmes' great success on the Gold Coast
began to arrive in England, the company increased its preparations to
open an extensive African trade. Therefore on May 10, 1664, an attempt
was made to collect the unpaid stock subscriptions, and an invitation
was extended to all members to lend one hundred pounds to the company
for each share of four hundred pounds which they held. Notwithstanding
the bright prospects which the company had at this time, its strenuous
attempt to raise the loan produced only £15,650.[39]
In September, 1664, an attempt was made to increase the stock of the
company by £30,000. Although the duke of York and many others added to
their shares on this occasion,[40] only £18,200 was subscribed.[41] By
this addition the stock of the Royal Adventurers amounted to £120,200
at about which sum it remained during the remainder of the company's
history.[42]
Although the company had not obtained as much money as had been hoped
for in the last subscription, it anticipated great success in its
trade, until vague rumors began to circulate that Admiral DeRuyter had
been sent to Africa to undo the conquest made by Captain Holmes. In
the last part of December, 1664, these rumors were confirmed. In a
petition to the king of January 2, 1665[43], the company declared that
its trade had already increased to such an extent that over one
hundred ships were employed, and that a yearly return of from two to
three hundred thousand pounds might reasonably be expected[44].
On account of the injuries inflicted by DeRuyter on the African coast
much of the anticipated loss of goods and vessels was realized. In
all, the company lost the cargoes of eight ships; of the forts only
Cape Corse remained. Under these ruinous circumstances it was not
thought advisable to dispatch at once the goods which had been
accumulated at Portsmouth[45]. Accordingly the company's vessels were
unloaded and several of them were taken into the King's service.[46]
The duke of York used what little money was on hand to apply on the
company's debt in order that the company's expenses from interest
might be reduced.[47] Because of the Anglo-Dutch war and the fact that
the company had no money, it could do nothing but send an occasional
ship to Africa loaded with some of the goods left at Portsmouth. From
this time on the company's trading activity was confined to such
scattered voyages.[48]
On January 11, 1666,[49] the court of assistants discussed the
proposition of granting trading licenses to private individuals. While
no action seems to have been taken at that time, it ultimately became
the practise of the company to grant such a freedom of trade. On April
9, 1667, a resolution was adopted empowering the committee of seven to
issue trading licenses in return for a payment of three pounds per
ton.[50] These licenses were obtained by those who desired to carry on
trade in their own ships, and also by officers of the company's ships
who wished to engage in private adventures. During the course of the
war one hears of many such grants to various individuals, among whom
was Prince Rupert.[51]
The practise of issuing licenses was interrupted for a short time at
the conclusion of the Anglo-Dutch war by a feeble attempt to revive
the company's activities. An effort was made to collect arrears on the
subscriptions,[52] and on August 21, 1667, the general court ordered
that an additional subscription should be opened, and that no more
trading licenses should be granted.[53] The only result of this effort
was that the duke of York and several others accepted stock of the
company in lieu of the bonds which they held.[54] In view of this fact
it was decided, January 20, 1668, to resume the policy of granting
licenses.[55]
In comparison with the trade conducted by the private adventurers that
of the company became quite insignificant. Since the company had much
difficulty in supporting its agents on the African coast it ordered,
August 28, 1668, that in the future those who received licenses should
agree to carry one-tenth of their cargo for the company's account.[56]
It was difficult for the company to raise the small sum of money
necessary to buy this quota of goods. No one was willing to invest
money in the stock of a bankrupt company, and certainly few were
desirous of making loans to it when there seemed practically no chance
of repayment. In the latter part of 1668 and in the year 1669, several
attempts were made to collect the early subscriptions which remained
unpaid.[57] This effort was attended with very little success, because
the company had ceased to be of importance.[58]
One of the reasons why the company's business was practically
neglected during these last years was because many of its members
began to trade to Africa as private individuals. A number of men even
went so far as to project an organization entirely separate from the
company. Finally, in 1667, several members offered to raise a stock of
£15,000 to carry on trade to the region of the Gambia River.[59] This
proposal was debated by the general court and finally referred to a
committee with the stipulation that if adopted the company should be
concerned in the stock of the new organization to the extent of
£3,000.[60] This arrangement could not be consummated in 1667,[61] but
on November 27, 1668, a similar proposition was adopted.[62]
An organization to be known as the Gambia Adventurers was to have the
sole trade to northern Africa for a period of seven years, beginning
with January 1, 1669. For this privilege they were to pay the Company
of Royal Adventurers £1,000 annually, and to be responsible for the
expense of the forts and settlements in that region. These places were
to be kept in good repair by the Gambia Adventurers, who were to
receive compensation from the Royal Company for any settlements.[63] A
suggestion for carrying on the trade to the Gold Coast in a similar
way received no attention from the general court. The Gambia
Adventurers occupied the same house in London with the company, and
there seems little doubt but that its members consisted largely of
those stockholders of the Royal Adventurers who belonged primarily to
the merchant class.[64] It is extremely difficult to estimate the
success of the Gambia Adventurers, since their records, if any were
kept, have not been preserved. In all probability their trade was
largely confined to the important products of the Gambia region,
namely elephants' teeth, hides and wax, although several of their
ships are known to have gone to the West Indies with slaves.
Since many of the company's stockholders were interested in the Gambia
venture the company's business on the Gold Coast was greatly
neglected. During the year 1669 the company's trade became so
insignificant that, at the suggestion of the king, Secretary Arlington
asked the company if it intended to continue the African trade.[65] In
answer the company recounted the losses incurred in the Anglo-Dutch
war which, it declared, had made it necessary to grant licenses to
private traders in order to maintain the forts and factories in
Africa. It asked the king to assist the company by paying his
subscription, by helping to recover its debts in Barbados, and by
granting royal vessels for the protection of the African coast. With
such encouragement the company declared that it would endeavor to
raise a new stock to carry on the African trade.[66] Receiving no
answer to their appeal the members of the company considered various
expedients, one of which was to lease the right of trade on the Gold
Coast;[67] another was to endeavor to obtain new subscriptions to the
company's stock, which seemed impossible because of the fear that the
money would be used toward paying the company's debts, and not for the
purpose of trade.[68] In fact, it had been only too evident for
several years that no additions could be made to the present worthless
stock of the company. If the company desired to continue its
activities, it would be necessary to have an entirely new stock
unencumbered with the claims of old creditors. The main problem
confronting the company therefor e was to make an agreement with its
clamorous creditors.
On May 18, 1671, a general court of the adventurers approved of a
proposition to form a new joint stock under the old charter.[69] The
stock of the shareholders, which at this time amounted to £120,200,
was to be valued at ten per cent and so reduced to £12,020; this was
to form the first item in the new stock. In regard to the company's
debts, which amounted to about £57,000, rather severe measures were
attempted. Two-thirds of the debts, or £38,000, was, as in the case of
the stock, reduced to one-tenth, or £3,800, which was to form the
second item in the new stock. The other one-third of the debts, or
£19,000, was to be paid to the creditors in full out of the money
subscribed by the new shareholders.[70] Adding the cash payment of
£19,000 and estimating at par the £3,800 which they were to have in
the new stock, the creditors were to receive a little less than
thirty-five per cent, of their debts. If they did not accept this
arrangement it was proposed to turn over the company's effects to
them, and to secure an entirely new charter from the king. As
anticipated the plan was unsatisfactory to many of the creditors,
because the company proposed to pay the £19,000 in six monthly
installments after the subscription for the new joint stock was
begun.[71] On October 28, 1671, the preamble and articles under which
the new subscription was to be made were approved by the general
court, and notice was given to the refractory creditors that they must
accept the arrangement within ten days or the king would revoke the
company's patent.[72] Although the trouble with the creditors had not
been adjusted, subscriptions on the new stock began November 10, 1671.
A few weeks later there was held a general court of the new
subscribers, at which Sir Richard Ford, one of the most important
members of the company and also of the new subscribers, declared that
"they should not differ for small matters."[73] Thereupon it was
resolved to grant the creditors forty per cent on their debts and the
shareholders, as in the previous plan, ten per cent, on their
stock.[74] This made a total payment of £34,000 divided as follows:
£22,800, forty per cent of the company's debts, which amounted to
£57,000; and £11,200, ten per cent of the paid subscriptions, which
amounted to about £112,000.[75] In lieu of this payment the
stockholders were to cede to the new subscribers the forts and other
property in Africa and all the payments due from the Gambia
Adventurers during the four remaining years of their contract.
As has been said the articles of subscription were adopted October 28,
1671. They provided for a stock of £100,000 under the old charter,
which should be paid to the treasurer of the company in ten monthly
payments ending September 25, 1672. As a matter of fact the
subscription reached the sum of £110,100. It was also provided that
every new subscriber should have one vote in the general court for
each one hundred pound share, but that no one should be an officer of
the company, unless he had subscribed for four hundred pounds in
shares. The subgovernor and the deputy governor were to be aided by a
court of assistants, reduced to twenty-four in number, and by a select
committee of five instead of the committee of seven as formerly. On
January 10, 1672, there was held a general court of the new
subscribers, at which the duke of York was elected governor; Lord
Ashley, subgovernor; and John Buckworth, deputy governor.[76] The duke
of York and Lord Ashley were well known for their interest in colonial
affairs. According to the terms of the subscription the deputy
governor was to be a merchant and a member of the committee of five,
which provision indicated plainly that the company expected Buckworth
to manage its business affairs.
Although the new subscription had been made to replace the stock of
the old adventurers, there is little evidence that it was regarded as
necessary to obtain a new charter. Since the creditors still refused
to be satisfied with the concession of forty per cent on their debts,
however, the new subscribers hesitated to pay their money which might
be used to pay off the old debts.[77] It therefore became necessary to
carry out the previous threat against the creditors to induce the king
to grant a new charter to the present subscribers, which was done
September 27, 1672.[78] This action finally convinced the creditors
that they could obtain no better terms than had been offered, and
therefore they agreed to accept them and also to surrender all their
rights to the patentees of the new charter which was being issued.
That the attitude of the creditors was not the only moving force
toward a new charter is probable, because the old charter was not
adequate to meet the needs of the Royal African Company which was to
follow.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] At one time Prince Rupert had been governor of the African company
founded in 1631. Jenkinson, Hilary, "The Records of the English
African Companies." _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_,
Third Series, VI, 195.
[2] Pepys, Diary (_The Diary of Samuel Pepys_, edited by Henry B.
Wheatley), I, 253.
[3] That some expense attached to the procuring of such charters
appears from an item of £133.10s.3d. which the company incurred for
this charter. A. C. R., 1221, April 12, 1661. Wherever possible the
volume and page of the company's books will be given, but since they
have not all been paged the only other method of reference is by
dates.
[4] Carr, Cecil T., "Select Charters of Trading Companies, 1530-1707,"
_Publications of the Selden Society_, XXVIII, 172-177.
[5] According to the charter of 1660 the former patent had been
granted June 25, 1631. It would therefore expire June 25, 1662, if it
was not surrendered before that time.
[6] A. C. R., 309, 1221. The records of the first few ventures are to
be found in these two volumes of the company's books. Number 309 is
the original book, the other being practically a copy of it. In some
cases, however, the latter is more complete. These two books have been
practically overlooked in the cataloging of the company's records, one
of them being labelled, "Ship's Journal." They contain the only
information we have of the financial condition of the first company as
kept by Thomas Holder, treasurer of the company. The greater part of
the two books is taken up with lists and costs of various goods which
were sent to Africa.
[7] Admiralty Papers, Navy Board, In-Letters, 6, loose leaf order of
the factors of the Royal Adventurers on the Gambia River, July 19,
1661. With this order there is a certificate dated January 3, 1661/2,
to the effect that thirty-eight of the crew of the "Amity" had died on
the way to Guinea and during the time they were on the Gambia River.
[8] A. C. R., 1221, October 20, 1662.
[9] It is impossible to determine the exact amount which was invested
in goods, etc.
[10] A. C. R., 1221, June 20, 1661.
[11] _Ibid._, April 30, 1662.
[12] _Ibid._, 309, September 26, 1662
[13] A. C. R., 309, September 26, October 20, 1662. Only £560 of the
king's subscription of £800 was paid, according to the list found
under the first of the above dates. This may be a slight error, as
warrants were issued for the payment of £580 at various times in 1661
and 1662. C.S.P., Treas. Bks. (Calendar of State Papers, Treasury
Books), 1660-1667, pp. 312, 314, 383. This does not include a warrant
for £300, which was probably used in the first expedition under
Captain Holmes, but which for some reason is omitted in the company's
books. C. S. P., Treas. Bks., 1660-1667, p. 107.
[14] A. C. R., 309, October 20, 1662, January 15, 1663. Afterward
£3,200 was added to this, making £20,800 in all in the second
subscription. A. C. R., 309, August 25, 1663.
[15] Carr, _Select Charters of Trading Companies_, pp. 178-181.
[16] There were also provisions similar to those contained in the
first charter for the government of the company's "plantations"
(factories) in Africa. The clause allowing the king to subscribe
one-sixteenth of the stock was omitted, but he could become a
shareholder at any time.
[17] The charter had provided that the executive committee should be
composed of seven men if twenty-four assistants were elected and
thirteen if thirty-six were chosen. A.C.R., 75: 29, 31, 41, 44, 49,
51, 68, 72, 93.
[18] P.C.R. (Register of the Privy Council), _Charles II_, 2: 451.
[19] _Ibid._, 2: 502.
[20] Egerton MSS., 2538, f. 109, C. C. to Secretary Nicholas, August
11, 1662. Folio 110 contains a note without date or signature saying
that the matter was referred to the Lord High Treasurer and others.
[21] The earl of Clarendon declares in his History of Charles II that,
upon the return of the ships from the first expedition, the company
"compounded" with Sir Nicholas Crispe for his "propriety" in the fort
at Kormentine. This is untrue, since it has just been shown that it
was not until the middle of 1662 that he agreed to transfer his
property to the Royal Adventurers and that it was afterward that
Crispe endeavored to get the king's approval to grant him
compensation. Clarendon may have remembered that the king was
favorable to the proposition and therefore assumed that such a
contract had been made. Hyde, Edward, First Earl of Clarendon. _The
History of the Reign of King Charles the Second, from the Restoration
to the end of the year 1667_ (edited by J. Shebbeare), p. 197.
[22] This charge was put forward in a pamphlet, probably published in
1709, called _Sir John Crispe's Case in Relation to the Forts in
Africa_. In this pamphlet the assertion is made that the Privy Council
had a full hearing of the matter on July 29, 1662, and ordered the
Royal Adventurers to pay Crispe £20,000 by an export duty of 2-1/2 per
cent on goods sent to Africa. An examination of the Privy Council
Register shows no order of that kind on that date or at any subsequent
time.
[23] A.C.R., 75, August, 15, 1664.
[24] In January, 1663, the Royal Adventurers made an agreement with
several members of Crispe's company providing for the transfer to
England of their merchandise and personal effects which were still on
the coast of Africa. Whether this second contract contained anything
about compensation for the forts it is impossible to say, since this
agreement also has not been preserved. Admiralty High Court,
Examinations 134. Answers of Edward M. Mitchell and Ellis Leighton,
May 10, 20, 1664.
[25] That Sir Nicholas Crispe felt the losses he had incurred in
Guinea appears from his will of 1666, in which he directed the
following inscription to be erected to his memory: "first discovered
and settled the Trade of Gold in Africa and built there the Castle of
Cormentine," and thus "lost out of purse" more than £100,000. Crisp,
Frederick A., _Family of Crispe_, I, 32.
[26] A. C. R., 309, June 25, September 4, 1663. Upon the latter date
it appears that only £1300 of his subscription was paid.
[27] Clarendon, _History of the Reign of Charles II_, p. 198.
[28] _The Several Declarations of the Company of Royal Adventurers of
England trading into Africa_, January 12, 1662 (O. S.).
[29] _Ibid._
[30] A. C. R., 309, June 25, August 25, 1663.
[31] _Ibid._, 309, August 25, 1663.
[32] _Ibid._, 309, the balance of the company's books on September 4,
1663.
[33] These figures are arrived at by a careful examination of the
various sums paid to Thomas Holder, the treasurer. As it is not always
possible to be sure that the payments were made for stock, too much
dependence cannot be put in the figures, especially when the sum
arrived at by adding the items which appear to be owing the company
for stock in the balance of September 4, 1663, amount to £52,000. This
is of course several thousand pounds more than the sum arrived at by
the former computation, but here again it is not possible to estimate
exactly the money owing the company for stock and for other things.
[34] This number is arrived at by a careful perusal of the first book
kept by the company, number 309. Sometime in 1664 the company
submitted a petition to the king in which it speaks of having sent
over forty ships to the coast during the previous year and of
supplying them with cargoes amounting to more than £160,000. C.O.
(Colonial Office) 1: 17, f. 255, petition of the Royal Adventurers to
(the king, 1664).
[35] C. S. P., Col. (Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, America and
West Indies), 1661-1668, p. 175, warrant to officers of the king's
mint, December 24, 1663. Another evidence of special favor was a grant
made by the king in 1664 giving the Royal Company the sole privilege
of holding lotteries in the king's dominions for three years. The
company does not seem to have used it. C. S. P., Dom. (Calendar of
State Papers, Domestic), 1666-1667, pp. 531, 532, Blanquefort and
Hamilton to the king, February 25, 1667.
[36] In the third subscription the king's share was £5,200; in the
fourth, £2,000. A. C. R., 309, June 25, August 25, 1663. The king's
subscription with that of the queen for £400 seem never to have been
paid, although a warrant was issued to the Lord High Treasurer, June
27, 1663, to pay the amount from the customs receipts.
[37] Upon this date, book number 309 was balanced and the items
carried to another volume, which has been lost. In March, 1664, the
resolutions of the general court and the court of assistants begin in
number 75 of the company's books. While it is fortunate that these
resolutions for the remaining history of this company have been
preserved, they do not furnish adequate information regarding the
company's financial condition at various times.
[38] C. O. 1: 17, f. 255, petition of the Royal Adventurers to (the
king, March, 1664).
[39] A. C. R., 75: 7, 8, orders of the general court, May 10, 20,
1664.
[40] C. S. P., Dom., 1664-1665, p. 7, Robert Lye to Williamson,
September 13, 1664.
[41] A. C. R., 75: 21, 22.
[42] The total of the stock is shown by adding the five subscriptions:
October, 1660, to September, 1662, first subscription £17,400
October, 1662, to January, 1663, second subscription 20,800
June, 1663, to August, 1663, third subscription 34,600
August, 1663, fourth subscription 29,200
September, 1664, fifth subscription 18,200
Total £120,200
[43] S. P., Dom. (State Papers, Domestic), Charles II, 110, f. 18; C.
O. 1: 19, ff. 7, 8.
[44] The financial status of the company at this time was as follows:
Assets:
£ s d
Ships and factories in Africa 125,962.6.2
Debts owing to the company in the colonies 49,895.0.0
Goods, ammunition, etc., at Portsmouth 48,000.0.0
Total 223,857.6.2
Stock of the company:
Amount subscribed 120,200.0.0
Amount paid (about) 103,000.0.0
Amount unpaid (about) 17,200.0.0
Debts, owing on bonds, etc. (about) 100,000.0.0
Losses:
From DeRuyter at Cape Verde 50,000.0.0
Anticipated from DeRuyter at other places 125,912.6.2
Total 175,912.6.2
[45] A. C. R., 75: 37, John Berkley and others to ----, November 4,
1665.
[46] S. P., Dom., _Charles II_, 186: 1.
[47] A. C. R., 75: 37, Berkley and others to ----, November 4, 1665.
[48] On April 6, 1666, the king, in response to a petition from the
Royal Adventurers, granted to the company a ship called the "Golden
Lyon" which had been captured from the Dutch by Sir Robert Holmes in
1664. C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 370, the king to duke of York,
March 28, 1666.
[49] A. C. R., 75: 40.
[50] _Ibid._, 75: 52.
[51] _Ibid._, 75: 57. A part of the debts had been incurred on the
common seal of the company and part on the personal security of the
committee of seven.
[52] A. C. R., 75: 56, 58. An attempt was made to induce the king to
pay his subscription. On the other hand, the company owed the king a
considerable sum for the ships which it had used from time to time. S.
P., Dom., _Charles II_, 199: 14.
[53] A. C. R., 75: 58.
[54] _Ibid._, 75: 59.
[55] _Ibid._, 75: 70.
[56] _Ibid._, 75: 77.
[57] _Ibid._, 75: 85, 88.
[58] The duke of Buckingham, however, paid his arrears, which led the
duke of York to remark, "I will give the Devil his due, as they say
the Duke of Buckingham hath paid in his money to the Company." Pepys,
_Diary_, VIII, 142.
[59] A. C. R., 75: 61.
[60] _Ibid._, 75: 62, 63.
[61] It seems certain, however, that these men who were interested in
the Gambia trade made some other arrangements at that time by means of
which a certain amount of goods was sent to that place. A. C. R., 75:
82, 83.
[62] A. C. R., 75: 83.
[63] _Ibid._, 75: 82.
[64] As opposed to those who were from the king's court.
[65] A. C. R., 75:90, 91.
[66] O. S. P., Dom., 1668-1669, p. 459, August 25, 1669.
[67] A. C. R., 75: 94.
[68] C. O. 268: I, charter of the Royal African Company, September 27,
1672.
[69] In the previous April a bill had been introduced into the House
of Lords to incorporate the company by act of Parliament. On account
of the various plans under consideration there was no procedure with
the bill. L. J. (Journal of the House of Lords), XII: 480; H. M. C.
(Historical Manuscripts Commission), report 9, pt. 2, p. 9b; H. L.
MSS. (House of Lords, Manuscripts), draft act to incorporate the
Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa, April 6,
1671.
[70] A. C. R., 75: 101, 102. See also the proposals for a resettlement
of the company's affairs in S.P., Dom., _Charles II_, 67, ff. 341,
342.
[71] A. C. R., 75: 106, 107.
[72] _Ibid._, 75: 108.
[73] _British Husbandry and Trade_, II, 14.
[74] A. C. R., 76: 52, the preamble under which the subscriptions were
made as amended December 19, 1671, article 4; _ibid._, 75: 111.
[75] _Ibid._, 76, October 22, 1674. A report of a committee says that
there was about £22,000 of the old subscriptions which had not been
paid.
[76] _Ibid._, 100: 50.
[77] C. O. 268: 1, charter of the Royal African Company, September 27,
1672.
[78] _Ibid._
CHAPTER III
ON THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA
In 1660 all the colonial powers of Europe held the west coast of
Africa in great esteem, not only because it produced gold, but also
because it was regarded as a necessary adjunct to the colonies in the
West Indies for the supply of Negro slaves. During their long war with
Spain and Portugal the Dutch acquired a large portion of the West
African coast, including the main fortress of St. George d'Elmina.
This fact led them to regard themselves as having succeeded to the
exclusive claims of the Portuguese on the Guinea coast[1]. With this
end in view the Dutch agreed in the treaty of August 6, 1661, to
return Brazil to the Portuguese as compensation for the forts and
settlements which they had seized on the coast of Guinea[2]. Although
the Dutch played the most prominent part in depriving the Portuguese
of the trade to Guinea, the English, French, Swedes, Danes, and
Courlanders, all obtained a minor commerce to Africa which they very
jealously guarded. In a country so remote from the laws and
civilization of Europe personal quarrels often arose among the
subjects of these different nations, who were inclined to obtain what
they could by fair means or foul. They magnified these petty
quarrels[3] to such an extent that they continually led to
international complication.
The European trade in Africa was confined mainly to the regions of the
Gold Coast and the Gambia Iver. Near the mouth of the Gambia River the
subjects of the duke of Courland had bought an island from the natives
in 1651. On this island they built a small fort, called St. André,
from which they traded to several factories up the river[4]. Besides
the Courlanders, the French and the Dutch carried on a very precarious
trade on the river. In the early part of 1659, as a result of the war
in the northern part of Europe, the duke of Courland became a prisoner
of the king of Sweden. Under these circumstances the Amsterdam chamber
of the Dutch West India Company[5] induced the Duke's commissioner,
Henry Momber, to enter into a contract turning over to it all the
duke's possessions in the Gambia River. The Dutch were to maintain the
factories and to enjoy the trade until the duke was able to resume
possession. The contract was of very doubtful value, since Momber
himself admitted that he had no power to make it, but notwithstanding
this fact he undertook to carry out its terms[6]. Shortly after the
Dutch took possession of the island belonging to the duke of Courland
it was surprised and plundered by a French pirate who, in return for a
consideration, handed it over to a Gröningen merchant of the Dutch
West India Company. The Gröningen chamber of this company was not
anxious to retain the island and therefore signified to Momber its
willingness to return it to Courland. Momber, who feared to have
caused the displeasure of the duke by his contract, was glad to
regain the island in June, 1660. Notwithstanding this fact, several
ships belonging to the Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company
entered the Gambia River and took possession of the island, keeping
the Courlanders prisoners for a month. The natives, however,
interfered in behalf of the Courlanders and the Dutch were finally
compelled to retire to Cape Verde, leaving Otto Steele, the duke's
commander, in possession[7].
It was during this state of affairs on the African coast that the
Company of Royal Adventurers was organized in England. It received its
charter December 18, 1660. In the same month, Captain Robert Holmes
sailed from England in command of the five royal ships which composed
the first expedition. In March, 1661, he arrived at Cape Verde where
he at once informed the Dutch commander that he had orders from
Charles II to warn all persons of whatsoever nation that the right of
trade and navigation from Cape Verde to the Cape of Good Hope belonged
exclusively to the king of England. Holmes ordered the Dutch to vacate
their forts and to abandon the coast within six or seven months[8].
Thereupon he seized the island of Boa Vista, one of the Cape Verde
group claimed by the Dutch since 1621. Later he sent a frigate into
the mouth of the Gambia. Otto Steele, the Courland commander of Fort
St. André, unable to discern whether friend or foe was approaching,
fired upon the frigate. Holmes considered this an insult[9], and two
days later sent a note to Steele requiring him to surrender the island
to the English within ten days. At first Steele refused to obey,
maintaining that the fort was the rightful possession of the duke of
Courland. Thereupon Holmes threatened to level the fort to the
ground. Steele realized that with so few men and supplies resistance
was useless, and therefore he complied with Holmes' demands.[10] The
English assumed possession of the island, but after a fire had
destroyed nearly all the fort and its magazine,[11] they chose to
abandon it, and to settle on two other islands which they named
Charles Island and James Island respectively in honor of their royal
patrons. In this way the English gained their first possessions in the
Gambia River.
When Captain Holmes left England the Dutch ambassadors in London
informed the States General that he had gone to the "reviere Guijana"
where he would build a fort, establish a trade and search for gold
mines. This announcement was immediately sent to the West India
Company which had received the more authentic advice that the English
ships were on the way to the Gambia River. The West India Company
urged that the Dutch ambassadors in London be instructed to inquire
more fully as to the purposes of the expedition, and to prevent if
possible anything being done to the prejudice of the company.[12] The
ambassadors learned that the English maintained that all nations had a
right to trade on the Gambia River, and that other nations than the
Dutch had forts there.[13] On the other hand, the West India Company
maintained that it had traded on the Gambia River ever since its
formation and that, since the contract with the duke of Courland, it
had been in complete possession of the river.[14] After receiving this
statement the States General requested their ambassadors in London to
see that the company's forts and lodges in the Gambia River were not
disturbed.[15] When the news of Holmes' exploit and his reported
warning to the Dutch commander to evacuate the entire African coast
reached the United Netherlands, the West India Company at once lodged
a complaint with the States General.[16] At their suggestion the Dutch
ambassadors obtained an audience with Charles II, who assured them
that neither he nor his officers had given any order for the injury
which had been done to the subjects of the United Netherlands, much
less to possess any of their forts. The king also assured them that,
if Holmes had committed any unjust action, he and his officers should
be exemplarily punished.[17] Sir George Downing, the English envoy
extraordinary at The Hague, further declared that Holmes had very
strict instructions not to disturb the subjects of the United
Netherlands or those of any other nation, and that, if anything to the
contrary had been done, it was without the least authority.[18]
Finally on August 14, 1661, Charles II declared to the States General
that their friendship was very dear to him and that he would under no
circumstances violate the "Droit de Gens."[19] With all this
extravagant profession of good will no definite assurance was given
the Dutch that the islands of St. André and Boa Vista would be
restored to them. On August 16, Downing wrote to the earl of Clarendon
that the island of St. André did not belong to the Dutch at all, but
to the duke of Courland, and that an answer to this effect could be
returned to the Dutch ambassadors if they objected to Holmes' actions.
Furthermore, Downing intimated that the duke could probably be induced
to resign his claims to the English.[20]
Meanwhile, Captain Holmes, who was responsible for this unpleasant
international complication, had returned from Guinea. Since he
suffered no punishment for his violent actions on the African coast
except the loss of his salary,[21] the Dutch ambassadors in London
reminded the king that on August 14, 1661, he had absolutely
disclaimed the proceedings of Holmes.[22] They requested, therefore,
that Holmes be called to account for his actions, that Fort St. André
be restored, that reparation for damages be made, and that in the
future the king's subjects observe the laws of nations more
regularly.[23] Holmes was ordered before the Privy Council to answer
to the charges of the ambassadors,[24] but no effort was made to force
him to respond. The duke of York kept him busy with the fleet where he
incurred some official displeasure, by failing to require a Swedish
ship to strike colors to his Majesty's ships in English seas, and was
therefore required to be detained until further order.[25] Having
extricated himself from this trouble Holmes finally appeared before
the Privy Council in January, 1662,[26] where he offered "many
reasons" in justification of his actions in Guinea.[27] He easily
satisfied the king and the members of the Privy Council, which is not
surprising since many of these men had helped to organize and finance
the expedition.
By this time it had become apparent that Charles II did not intend to
make immediate restitution of St. André to the Dutch. This was in
accordance with Downing's advice "to be 6 or 8 months in examining the
matter" before making a decision.[28] The longer the English retained
possession of the island the less likely the Dutch were to regain it.
Finally, the duke of Courland sent a representative, Adolph Wolfratt,
to London to insist upon the restitution of his possessions.
Originally the English had apparently supported the claims of the duke
of Courland, but it developed that they were no more inclined to
return St. André to the duke of Courland than to the Dutch. The matter
dragged on until November 17, 1664, when a contract was made between
Charles II and the duke whereby the latter surrendered all his rights
on the Gambia River. In return he received certain trading privileges
there and the island of Tobago in the West Indies.[29]
When one proceeds from the Cape Verde region to the Gold Coast one
finds that Dutch influence was especially strong. From Elmina and
other forts the Dutch commanded the largest portion of the trade along
this coast. However, the Danes, Swedes and English had long maintained
a commerce on the Gold Coast where they also had established a number
of factories. In 1658, Hendrik Carloff, an adventurer carrying a
Danish commission, attacked and made himself master of Cape Corse
which had been in the possession of the Swedes since 1651. After
entering into friendly relations with the Dutch at Elmina,[30] Carloff
returned to Europe, leaving his lieutenant, Samuel Smits, in charge of
the fort. Fearing that the Swedes and the English, who had entered
into an alliance, might endeavor to regain Cape Corse, Carloff advised
Smits to surrender the fort to Jasper van Heusden, director general of
the West India Company on the Gold Coast. The instructions were
unnecessary, as Smits had surrendered Cape Corse to the Dutch on April
15, 1659. In return for this fort Smits and one of his compatriots
received 5,000 and 4,000 gulden respectively.[31]
At the time when Hendrik Carloff seized Cape Corse the English had
there[32] a factory to which they traded from their main fort at
Kormentine.[33] On May 1, 1659, very soon after the Dutch obtained
possession of the place, the English factory with all its goods was
burned by the natives, perhaps at the instigation of the Dutch. The
Hollanders, however, were not without misfortunes of their own, for
after disavowing Smits' contract, the Danes sent a new expedition to
Guinea which seized a hill commanding Cape Corse, on which they built
the fort of Fredericksburg. Furthermore, the Swedes who had been
dispossessed of Cape Corse by the Danes with the assistance of
natives, toward the end of 1660, drove the Dutch out of Cape Corse.
Since the Swedes were insignificant in number the fort very shortly
fell into the control of the vacillating Negro inhabitants.
As soon as the natives obtained possession of Cape Corse they
permitted the English to rebuild their factory at that place. An
agreement was also made by which, upon the payment of a certain sum of
money, the fort was to be surrendered to the English.[34] Since the
Dutch maintained that Cape Corse belonged exclusively to them by
reason of their contract with the Danes, they determined to prevent
the English from obtaining possession of it. Furthermore, in order to
exclude other Europeans from trading to any part of the Gold Coast,
the Dutch declared a blockade on the whole coast, in which Komenda and
other villages as well as Cape Corse were situated. To carry out this
policy they kept several ships plying up and down the coast.
The Dutch then proceeded to capture the following English ships for
endeavoring to trade on the Gold Coast: the "Blackboy," April, 1661;
the "Daniel," May, 1661; the "Merchant's Delight,"[35] August, 1661;
the "Charles," August, 1661; the "Paragon," October, 1661; the
"Ethiopian," January, 1662. In addition to these injuries the Dutch
forbade the English at Kormentine to trade with the factory at Cape
Corse, which warning was no sooner given than the factory was
mysteriously destroyed by fire a second time, May 22, 1661. The
English bitterly complained that this misfortune was due to the
instigation of the Dutch.[36]
In like manner the Dutch captured a Swedish ship and interfered with
the trade of the Danes to their fort of Fredericksburg,[37] which
action greatly incensed the Danish African Company. Since voluntary
satisfaction for these injuries could not be expected, Simon de
Petkum, the Danish resident in London, caused the arrest of a Dutch
West India ship, the "Graf Enno," which was one of the main offenders
in seizing Danish as well as English ships on the Guinea coast.[38]
The case was brought before the Admiralty Court, and judgment of
condemnation was rendered in favor of the Danes.[39]
At The Hague, Sir George Downing now had a great opportunity to vent
his remarkable store of epithets on the Dutch for their violent
actions against English vessels in Guinea. He complained to the States
General "that the people of this contry doe everywhere as oppertunity
offers sett upon, rob and spoyle" the English subjects; and that these
things were being done not only by the West India Company but even by
ships of war belonging to the Dutch government. Downing threatened
that the king would "give order for the seizing of a proportionable
number and value of ships and merchandises belonginge to this contrey
and distribute them amongst them accordinge ... to their respective
losses, and will take care that noe ships bee seized but such as
belong to those provinces, and to such townes in those provinces, to
which the ships belonged that did commit these violences and
robberies."[40] In this way Downing hoped to set the non-maritime
towns and provinces of the Netherlands against those which were
interested in commerce, and thus to secure a cessation of the
seizures. Upon one occasion in the time of Cromwell he had used this
method successfully. Downing declared too that, to obtain justice in
the United Provinces, it was necessary for the Dutch to realize that
his Majesty would have satisfaction for injuries done "if not by faire
means, by force."[41]
The Dutch ignored Downing's demands, even though on June 6, 1662, he
reminded them of their unjust actions on the Gold Coast.[42] In all
probability they were trusting to obviate all difficulties in the
commercial treaty then being negotiated at London. In August, a new
complaint was made to the States General[43] concerning the seizure of
the English ship, "Content," off the Cape Verde Islands.[44] Shortly
thereafter, the States General declared with respect to the English
ship, "Daniel," seized in 1661, that it was a gross misrepresentation
for the owner to maintain that the master and crew of the ship were
English. Furthermore, the Dutch advanced proof that the ship had been
fitted out with a cargo in Amsterdam, and had afterwards attempted to
pass as an English ship, in order to escape being seized as an
interloper by the West India Company.[45]
Further consideration regarding these seizures was postponed
indefinitely by the 15th article of the commercial treaty entered into
between the United Provinces and England in September, 1662.[46] In
accordance with its provisions the ships which the Dutch had seized on
the African coast were included in the lists of damages which the
English submitted against the United Provinces. Thereafter the ships
formed no important part in the negotiations between the two nations.
Thus far the Company of Royal Adventurers which had sent out the
expedition under Captain Robert Holmes had not been more active on the
Gold Coast than numerous private traders of England. The seizure of
ships by the Dutch had been a matter of much apprehension to all the
traders on the coast, but from now on it mainly concerned the Royal
Adventurers. The company was anxious to establish new forts and
factories in Africa in order to build up a lucrative trade. Its agents
therefore began to erect a lodge at Tacorary, a village not far from
Cape Corse. The Dutch, although they had not succeeded in recovering
Cape Corse from the natives, considered that the fort and the
surrounding territory belonged to them. On May 24, 1662, they bade the
English to desist from further invasion of their rights at Tacorary or
any other place under Dutch obedience.[47] The English, however,
disregarded the Dutch protest and notwithstanding their opposition the
factory was completed.[48] In less than a month from this time the
natives drove the Dutch out of their factory in Comany.[49] Thereupon
the Dutch determined to continue even more vigorously their policy of
blockading the whole coast and, by cutting off the trade of the
natives with the English, to force the Negroes into subjection and to
recover Comany and the fort at Cape Corse.
In October, 1662, two ships of the Royal Adventurers, the "Charles"
and the "James," were prevented from trading to Komenda by the "Golden
Lyon" and two other Dutch men-of-war.[50] When asked as to the reason
for this interruption of trade the Dutch general, Dirck Wilree,
replied that he had caused the ports of Comany and Cape Corse to be
blockaded until the natives rendered satisfaction for the injuries
which they had committed against the Dutch.[51] When the two English
ships continued their effort to trade at Cape Corse and other
villages, the "Golden Lyon" followed them from place to place, and on
one occasion seized a small skiff which was attempting to land some
goods. Discouraged at the treatment accorded to them the English
officers finally gave up the attempt to trade on the Gold Coast, and
returned home with their ships, after delivering to the Dutch a solemn
protest against the injuries which they had suffered.[52]
When Secretary Williamson informed Sir George Downing of the
misfortunes of the two ships, "Charles" and "James," and asked him to
interfere in behalf of the Royal Company at The Hague, Downing
promised to do what he could, but since he was so well acquainted with
the Dutch method of treating such complaints he did not anticipate
favorable results. "God help them," he declared, "if they (the Royal
Company) depend upon paper relief." With the duke of York at the head
of the Company and the king as well as many of his courtiers greatly
concerned in its welfare, he considered that it would be well cared
for. "Whatever injuries the Dutch do them," he exclaimed, "let them be
sure to do the Dutch greater, & then let me alone to mediate between
them, but without this all other wayes will signify not a rush."[53]
Downing demanded of the States General whether Dirck Wilree had been
given any authority to blockade the entire coasts of Comany and to
forbid all English trade with the natives.[54] In this way he hoped
either to have the States General disavow Wilree's action or to raise
the question whether the West India Company had a right to institute
such a blockade. In letters to Clarendon and Bennet, Downing
maintained that the Dutch were accustomed both in West Africa and in
the East Indies, to declare war on the natives and to cut them off
from all trade with foreigners until they agreed to sell their goods
only to the Dutch. Downing declared that the English had already lost
a great deal of trade on account of such impositions, and that if they
were continued the East India and African companies would be ruined.
"Pay them in their own kind & sett their subjects a crying as well as
his Majties, & you will have a very faire correspondence, & they will
take heed what they doe, and his Majtie shall be as much honored &
loved here as he hath been dispised, for they love nor honor none but
them that they thinck both can & dare bite them."[54a] After urging
the king to take immediate action concerning their ships the members
of the Royal Company requested Downing "to drive the States to the
most positive reply." They declared that any answer would, at least,
expedite matters, and "if those states will owne that Wilrey had their
orders to warrant his action, wee will hope, it may begett some
parelel resolution of state here. If they disclaim it, and leave
their West India Company to be responcible, they will send us to a
towne where there is noe house, unlesse wee pay ourselves, per legem
talionis."[55]
In answer to Downing's memorial concerning the "Charles" and the
"James" the West India Company confined itself to a justification of
Wilree's actions, and omitted to say anything about the authority by
which they had been committed.[56] Although Downing insisted that a
definite answer be given him on this point, the States General also
evaded the issue by maintaining that nothing had been done by the
company but what justice and necessity required. They supported the
company in its contention that Cape Corse and Comany were effectually
blockaded, and therefore the ships "Charles" and "James" had no right
to trade there.[57]
Such a justification of the West India Company's actions could
scarcely be satisfactory to Downing or to those in charge of foreign
affairs in England. The Royal Company was very much concerned also
lest the Dutch would continue to interrupt the ships which it sent to
the Gold Coast. To add to this adverse condition news arrived that,
about the first of June, 1663,[58] the Dutch had at last succeeded in
regaining possession of Cape Corse. At this there was much
satisfaction in Holland. Downing wrote that since the Dutch now had
the two important castles of Elmina and Cape Corse, commanding the
most important trade in all Guinea, they intended to prohibit all
other nations from trading to that region.[59] Over this turn of
events there was great disappointment among the members of the Royal
Company, who had confidently expected to obtain Cape Corse from the
natives. In fact, they had intended to make Cape Corse their main
stronghold and at that place establish their principal trade.[60]
Charles II decided that it was time to come to the assistance of the
Royal Company, and on September 5, 1663, he lent three of his ships to
it for a voyage to Africa.[61] Later, he also ordered several
additional royal vessels commanded by Sir Robert Holmes to accompany
these ships. The preparation and departure of the fleet was short and
remained a close secret with the officials immediately concerned.
The king instructed Holmes to protect the company's agents, ships,
goods, and factories from all injury; and to secure a free trade with
the natives. Also, he declared, "If (upon consultacon with such
commandrs as are there present) you judge yourself strong enough to
maintaine the right of his Matie's subjects by force, you are to do
it, and to kill, sink, take, or destroy such as oppose you, & to send
home such ships as you shall so take." If the two ships "Golden Lyon"
and "Christiana," the first of which was the chief assailant of the
company's ships "Charles" and "James" in November, 1662, were
encountered. Holmes was instructed to seize them. All other ships
which had committed such injuries on the vessels of the Royal
Company[62] were likewise to be seized and taken to England. On his
arrival at the mouth of the Gambia River in January, 1664, Holmes
discovered that since his visit in 1661 the relations of the Dutch and
English had been anything but friendly. The English commander on
Charles Island had given Petro Justobaque and other Dutch factors from
Cape Verde permission to trade up and down the river. Holmes heard
that they had endeavored to stir up the native king of Barra against
the English in December, 1661.[63] On the 21st of June, 1662,
Justobaque with a ship again appeared on the Gambia. In order to
compel him to recognize the English rights on the river, the English
commander at James Island fired at the ship. The Dutch ship paid no
heed to the demand of the English and returned the fire until it was a
safe distance away. A few days later when returning to Cape Verde the
English shot away the main mast of the Dutch ship, but Justobaque
managed to escape.[64]
Although these incidents had happened more than a year and a half
before Holmes' arrival at James Island, he was incensed at the actions
of the Dutch. When it was reported to him that a large Dutch vessel
had arrived at Cape Verde, he assumed that it was the "Golden Lyon"
which had sailed from Holland about the same time as he had departed
from England. Several English ships were expected on the Gambia and
for fear of their capture by the "Golden Lyon," Holmes sailed at once
for Cape Verde where, according to his statement, without any
provocation he was fired upon by the Dutch. Holmes returned the fire,
and after suffering some damage withdrew from the attack. On the
following morning he was surprised, he declared, to see that the Dutch
had hung out a white flag and were sending a boat to him offering to
surrender the fort. He called a council which, after considering the
former hazards of the English trade on the Gambia, decided "that the
better to protect our trade for a tyme and sooner to bring in
Hollander's West India Compa to adjust our nation's damages sustained
by them, and to that end we accepted the surrender of that place."[65]
Holmes' explanation of the taking of Cape Verde, although simple and
direct, is probably incomplete. His whole career shows him to have
been a man who was likely to take the initiative, so that it is not
surprising to learn from the depositions of various Dutchmen that,
previous to the battle of Cape Verde, Holmes had seized two Dutch
vessels, and that after receiving an unfavorable reply to his demand
to surrender, Holmes attacked the fort at Cape Verde, which
capitulated together with several Dutch vessels.[66]
From the conflicting statements made by the Dutch and the English it
is difficult to ascertain the truth regarding the events immediately
preceding the attack on Cape Verde, but the fact remains that Holmes
had obtained a number of Dutch vessels and was master of one of their
most important forts on the west coast of Africa. Since he had
discovered the ease with which the Dutch possessions could be seized,
Holmes next set out down the coast toward Elmina. On the way he
despoiled the Dutch factory at Sestos, on the pretext that at that
place the Dutch had stirred up the natives against the English.[67]
Shortly afterwards, he encountered and captured the "Golden Lyon"
which had added to its notorious career by preventing the "Mary," a
ship belonging to the Royal Adventurers, from trading on the Gold
Coast in March, 1663.[68] Finally he seized the Dutch factory at Anta,
on the ground that it was commanded by the former captain of the
"Christiana," one of the Dutch ships designated for seizure in the
king's instructions.[69]
Before leaving the Gambia, Holmes had been apprised of what had taken
place on the Gold Coast since the Dutch had captured Cape Corse in
June, 1663. After the Dutch had taken possession of this fortress
General Valckenburg despatched a very strong protest to the chief
English factory at Kormentine, in which he maintained that the Dutch
had a right to the exclusive possession of the whole Gold Coast by
reason of their conquest of the Portuguese. He required the English to
leave the lodge which they had recently built at Tacorary and demanded
that they refrain from all trade on the Gold Coast. He even had the
temerity to claim that the English had injured the Dutch trade at Cape
Corse and Tacorary to the extent of sixty marks of gold per month, and
that the Dutch had lost one thousand marks on account of the
interference of English ships such as the "Charles" and the
"James."[70]
In answer to Valckenburg's sweeping assertions Francis Selwin, the
English chief at Kormentine, and John Stoakes, commander of one of the
English ships, replied that the English had more right to Cape Corse
and other places on the Gold Coast than the Dutch, because they had
first settled and fortified Cape Corse with the consent of the natives
in 1649.[71] As a further indication that they were not intimidated by
the hostile attitude of Valckenburg the English commenced to build
another factory at Anashan in the Fantin region. In September, 1663,
this brought forth another vigorous protest from Valckenburg, who
declared that he would not tolerate the continuance of this
factory.[72] By way of enforcing these threats the Dutch prevented the
"Sampson," another ship belonging to the Royal Adventurers, from
engaging in any trade at the factory of Komenda.[73] Thereupon Stoakes
declared that, although the English greatly desired to live in peace
with the Dutch, they would not under any circumstances abandon their
factory at Anashan.[74]
At this time the English had factories and settlements at Kormentine,
Komenda, Tacorary, Anto, Anashan, Ardra, and Wiamba. The forts and
lodges of the two companies were all located within a few miles of one
another and for either company to increase the number of its
settlements only made the instances of friction between them more
numerous.[75] It seemed that whichever company was able to overcome
the other would be sure to do so. It was under these circumstances
that Sir Robert Holmes made his appearance on the Gold Coast. The fact
that the Dutch had laid claim to the whole Gold Coast was sufficient
excuse for his interference, although, if we may believe the Dutch
version, Holmes exceeded their claims by reasserting the English right
to the whole of the west coast of Africa, as he had done at Cape Verde
in 1661.[76]
Be this as it may, according to Holmes' account, Captain Cubitt of the
Royal Company endeavored to induce Valckenburg to come to an amicable
adjustment of the troubles on the Gold Coast. Holmes expected that his
previous seizures would induce such a settlement, but Valckenburg
obstinately refused Holmes' demand to evacuate Cape Corse.[77] Since
he had failed to intimidate the Dutch, Holmes sailed to Cape Corse
where he visited the Danish fort of Fredericksburg. The Dutch fired at
him from Cape Corse, an act which Holmes regarded as the beginning of
war.[78] He called a council of officers and factors of the Royal
Company on May 7, 1664, where, after considering "theire (the Dutch)
unjust possessing of that very castle of Cape Coast indubitably ours,
... wee then resolved att that councell ... for the better securitye
of that trade, our interest in that countrye, and to regaine our
nacion's rights, to reduce that castle of Cape Coast wch accordingly
succeeded."[79] On pretexts of much the same character Holmes seized
the Dutch factories of Agga and Anamabo, together with several ships.
By this time the Dutch were stripped of all their settlements on the
African coast except the main fortress of Elmina. In finishing his
account of the expedition Holmes blandly remarked, "I hope I have nott
exceeded my instructions, they being to concerve our comerce."
Since it is not essential to follow Holmes across the Atlantic to New
Amsterdam one may return to the negotiations which were proceeding in
Europe subsequent to his departure from England. So closely had the
secret of Holmes' expedition to Africa been guarded that it is even
doubtful if Sir George Downing at The Hague was aware of it.[80] As
far as the purpose of the voyage was concerned nothing could have been
nearer the advice which he had been urging for months. Moreover,
Downing was not alone in his opinion that negotiation regarding
affairs in Africa would be fruitless. The Danish resident at The
Hague, Carisius, who was pressing the Danish claims for the possession
of Cape Corse, confessed to Downing that nothing could be obtained
from the Dutch unless it was "attended with some thing that was reall
& did bite."[81] Since this was the case Downing pointed out that the
Danish fort at Fredericksburg would probably fall into the hands of
the Dutch. To avoid this misfortune he advised the Royal Company to
induce the Danes to transfer Fredericksburg to it, granting them in
return a free commerce at that place. As the Royal Company did not see
fit to follow this suggestion[82] Downing began to form other plans.
In order that Carisius might continue to worry the Dutch with his
claims Downing submitted a memorial to the States General protesting
against the Dutch treatment of the Danes in Guinea.[83] Indeed he was
so friendly toward the Danish pretensions that the king of Denmark
sent him a special letter thanking him for his services.[84]
In the main, however, Downing was persistently urging the Dutch to
make a settlement of the cases of the Royal Company's two ships, the
"Charles" and the "James," and of the right of the Dutch to blockade
the Gold Coast on the pretext of war with the natives. In December,
1663, at the instigation of the West India Company, the States General
maintained that only a few ships were necessary to blockade the small
native states on the Gold Coast, since in each case there were but one
or two outlets to the sea.[85] On February 1, 1664, Downing obtained a
conference with DeWitt and the representatives of the States General
and the West India Company. The company's representatives boldly
admitted that they had hindered the English ships from trading at
Komenda and Cape Corse, because the natives had burned their factory
at the former place and had seized their fortress at Cape Corse. This
irritating assumption of their ownership of Cape Corse aroused
Downing. So far, he had contented himself in supporting the Danish and
even the Swedish claims to Cape Corse. Now, notwithstanding the
inconsistency of his position, he remarked that, if it was a question
of the ownership of Cape Corse, the English could show more rights to
the place than any one, since they had been the first to settle it
and to trade there; and that even if the Dutch were in possession of
it, the English still had a right to trade to the Danish fort of
Fredericksburg which was located in the same harbor.[86]
When the discussion turned on the requirements of an effective
blockade the Dutch advocate stoutly maintained that "it is nott for
any other to prescribe how and in what manner the company shall
proceed to retake their places, that if they think that the riding
with a few shipps before a place and that att certaine times onely
whereby to hinder other nations from trading with it, be a sufficient
meanes for the retaking thereof, they have no reason to be att further
charge or trouble." He further declared that a certain sickness in
that region, known as "Serenes," caused by the falling dew, made it
impossible for Europeans to engage in a blockade by land, and
therefore "in this case itt was to be counted sufficient and to be
called a besieging, though the place were onely blocked up by
sea."[87] Downing scoffed at this as an unheard of theory and asked
what would happen if the Royal Company instituted blockades of this
character and pretended "Serenes" whenever it seemed convenient. With
such a display of feeling it is no wonder little could be done toward
adjusting the difficulties. DeWitt suggested a new treaty for the
regulation of such affairs both in Europe and abroad. Downing flatly
refused to consider such a proposition if it was meant thereby to
dispose of the cases of the "Charles" and the "James." He remained
firm in his demand for reparation for these two ships.[88] A few days
after this conference Downing learned of the misfortunes which had
befallen the Royal Company's ship, the "Mary," during the previous
year. On February 16, he apprised the States General of this
additional cause for complaint and demanded satisfaction as in the
case of the other two vessels[89].
If Downing was becoming exasperated, the people in England were
scarcely less so when they heard of the troubles of the "Mary" and
other similar occurrences. Secretary Cunaeus declared that the
animosity in England towards Holland was growing exceedingly among the
common people. Led by the duke of York, governor of the Royal Company,
the courtiers had also become exceedingly indignant at the treatment
accorded the company's ships and factories in Africa[90]. One of
Valckenburg's statements regarding the Dutch ownership of the Gold
Coast had been circulated on the Royal Exchange, where it became the
chief topic of conversation. Indeed so great was the sensation it
stirred up that Samuel Pepys declared on April 7, 1664, that everybody
was expecting a war[91]. On the 21st of April the members of the House
of Commons resolved that the damages inflicted by the Dutch in India,
Africa, and elsewhere constituted a very great obstruction to English
trade. They, therefore, petitioned the king for redress for these
various injuries, and promised to support any action he took with
their lives and fortunes.
At last the Dutch realized that the African situation was becoming
serious, and Downing therefore found it somewhat easier to bring them
to a discussion of the subject. DeWitt proposed that the case of the
three Royal Company's ships as well as that of two East India ships,
the "Bona Esperanza" and the "Henry Bonaventure," should be included
in the list of damages provided for by the treaty of September, 1662.
Downing absolutely refused to consider such a makeshift on the ground
that the ships of the Royal Company had been injured after the treaty
had been signed, and therefore in accordance with its provisions
these losses should be submitted to the Netherlands for
compensation.[92]
Since he had failed to induce Downing to permit the three ships to be
included in the list of damages, DeWitt had exhausted the last means
of delay. On May 6, 1664, Downing announced in letters to Bennet and
Clarendon that DeWitt had at last consented to accommodate the matter
of the three ships. He was willing, moreover, to enter into an
agreement, for the prevention of all such future troubles, along the
lines which Downing had laid down. Regarding the two East India ships,
however, whose case was quite different from those of the Royal
Company, DeWitt would not alter his stubborn refusal of compensation.
Downing was intent on gaining a complete victory and at once rejoined
that no new commercial regulations could be considered until entire
satisfaction had been rendered for the damages which the Dutch had
committed.[93]
Although an attempt was made to suppress the first tidings of Holmes'
actions on the Gambia, the rumor of them soon spread. It was not long
until it was well known in London and Amsterdam that he had taken Cape
Verde and captured several Dutch vessels.[94] The West India Company
bitterly accused the English of having covered their designs in Africa
with a cloak of complaints regarding the Royal Company's ships. The
company reminded the States General that this was the same Holmes who,
in 1661, had set up a claim to the whole coast and who was to have
been exemplarily punished on his return by the king of England. Since
it was evident that all the Dutch factories and forts in Guinea were
in danger of capture from Holmes, the company asked the States General
for some vessels of war which should be sent to the African coast for
the protection of its property[95].
It was now the turn of the Dutch to seek compensation and restitution
of their property. Since Downing was a very exasperating man with whom
to deal they were undoubtedly pleased when toward the end of May,
1664, he suddenly returned to England[96]. The Dutch, therefore,
decided to send VanGogh to London, with the hope that he could obtain
more satisfactory results there than had ever been possible with
Downing at The Hague. VanGogh was instructed to seek for the
restitution of the West India Company's property; to remind the king
of the unfulfilled promises which he had made regarding Holmes and the
voyage of 1661;[97] and to seek for new commercial regulations which
would prevent future trouble on the African coast[98].
Very soon after his arrival in England VanGogh gained an audience with
the king who, in reply to his demands, answered that as yet his
knowledge of the Holmes' affair was very imperfect; that he had not
given Holmes orders to seize Cape Verde; and that in case he had
exceeded his instructions he would be punished upon his return,
according to the exigency of the case[99]. Such a reply sounded too
much like the king's former promise of August 14, 1661, to satisfy
DeWitt. He instructed VanGogh to insist that his Majesty make these
promises in writing[100]. VanGogh answered DeWitt that it was hopeless
to think of inducing the English to return Cape Verde, in view of the
preparations then in progress for carrying on trade to the west coast
of Africa. He declared that already they were boasting in London that
a contract was to be made with the Spanish for the delivery of 4,000
slaves per annum[101]. As early as the middle of June the Royal
Company had eight ships loading in London with goods worth 50,000
pounds destined for the Guinea coast[102].
In midsummer, 1664, Andries C. Vertholen and other Dutchmen, whom
Holmes had carried from Cape Verde to the Gold Coast, returned to
Holland, where they reported at length Holmes' actions at Cape Verde
and on the way to the Gold Coast[103]. These details did not tend to
DeWitt's peace of mind. Hence it is no wonder, upon Downing's return
to Holland, that the two men "fell very hard upon the busines of Cabo
Verde" in their very first conversation. As he had instructed VanGogh
to do, so DeWitt demanded of Downing that the English king make a
written promise that no more hostilities would be committed on the
Guinea Coast, or the Dutch would be in duty bound to assist their
company. Downing, who now felt the advantage which the success of
Holmes' expedition gave him, replied to DeWitt as follows: "I must
say," that the West India Company has "ever since his Majtye's return
played the devills & pirats, worse thn Argiers, taken 20 English
ships, hindered others, putt out a declaration whereby they claymed al
the coast to thmselves; & was it lawfull for thm so to demean
thmselves & only lawfull for the English to suffer, tht yet his Majty
did not intermeddle, but only the one company against the other, & no
wonder if at last the English did stirr a little; & tht Holms was the
companye's servt & tht should his Majty have given or lent thm an old
ship or two, yet he had nothing to doe in the ordering their designe."
Furthermore, he declared that if the Dutch took it upon themselves to
assist the West India Company "his Majty would find himself equally
obliged to assist his company."[104]
To every one it now seemed as if an open conflict must come. Toward
the last of July, Pepys declared that all the talk was of a Dutch
war,[105] although even Coventry, a director of the Royal Company,
admitted that there was little real cause for it and that the damage
done to the company, which had brought on Holmes' expedition, did not
exceed the paltry sum of two or three hundred pounds.[106] In Holland,
also, the disposition toward war was increased by the realization that
the next report from Holmes might bring news of the total loss of the
Gold Coast, including the main fortress of Elmina. Under these
circumstances the king's promise to punish Holmes according to the
exigency of the case meant little or nothing. The maritime provinces,
especially Holland, were determined to assist the West India Company
against English aggression in Africa.
When Downing discussed the situation with DeWitt, however, he was
surprised to hear him still express the possibility of giving
satisfaction for the seizure of the Royal Company's ships, and not "so
hott" for sending a fleet immediately to Guinea as he had been at
first.[107] Even Downing was for the time being deceived. His spy, who
was well within DeWitt's immediate circle, for once was not on duty to
give his usual faithful report to his benefactor. DeWitt was
accustomed to resort to the same trickery and deceitful diplomacy that
was so characteristic of Downing. Indeed it would be difficult to
decide which of these two men was the greater master of this
questionable art. The English had sent Holmes to Africa totally
unknown to the Dutch and had taken half the coast from them before
they were even aware of the expedition. It is little wonder then that
the idea occurred to DeWitt to retaliate in kind on the English and to
keep his plans a profound secret.
In 1661 the Dutch had sent a fleet under Admiral DeRuyter to the
Mediterranean Sea in conjunction with an English squadron commanded by
Sir John Lawson, for the purpose of punishing the Algerian and other
pirates who had been infesting Dutch and English commerce. DeRuyter
and Lawson had succeeded in making a number of favorable treaties with
the pirates, though the task of quelling them was by no means
complete. DeWitt realized that a fleet could scarcely be dispatched to
Guinea from Holland without being discovered. Therefore, he together
with six of his councillors decided to send secret orders to DeRuyter
to sail at once for the coast of Guinea. On account of a peculiarity
of the Dutch government, however, it was impossible to dispatch these
orders without first securing a resolution of the States General.
DeWitt was well aware that somehow these resolutions of the States
General usually became known to Downing and the English. He therefore
determined that, while the States General should pass the order, he
would arrange the matter so that no one would know of it, except those
who were already in the plan. On August 11, 1664, the secretary of the
States General read the resolution very quickly, during which time
DeWitt and his six cohorts raised so much disturbance by loud
conversation that no one in the room heard what was being read.[108]
The trick succeeded admirably. DeWitt was now in possession of the
necessary authority, and orders were dispatched at once to DeRuyter to
leave his post in the Mediterranean and to sail for the west coast of
Africa without revealing his destination to Lawson, the English
commander. He was instructed to recover for the West India Company
those places which Holmes had seized and to deliver to Valckenburg,
the Dutch general on the Gold Coast, all the effects of the English
which were not necessary for the different factories of the
company.[109]
In order not to arouse Downing's suspicions by apparent apathy, the
Dutch began to prepare several ships ostensibly for Africa. For the
purpose of misleading Downing still further the Dutch agreed to accept
an offer made by the French for mediation of the difficulties. DeWitt
still insisted, however, that a written promise be given him that the
forts and factories which Holmes had seized on the African coast would
be restored to the West India Company.[110] Later, in the same month
of August, 1664, Downing submitted to the States General the draft of
a proposed agreement for the settling of future disputes in the East
Indies and in Africa.[111] Downing was of the opinion that, although
the Dutch could never be depended on to keep such an agreement, it
would be a good thing in the East Indies because "ye (the English) are
the weaker ther." In Africa the situation appeared different to
Downing, for there the English had the advantage. "I hope in the
meantime," he declared, "while we are (negotiating) Holmes will doe
the work ther," because there "never will be such a opportunity as
this to make clear work in Affrica."[112] A few days later he advised
that everything on the African coast should be done "so as (the) king
of England may not appeare in it, but only (the) Rll Company, & they
takeing occasion from our affront."[113] Still later he asserted that
even in Holland everyone believed that since the king and the Royal
Company had gone so far, they would seize the entire African coast so
that the whole affair might be worth while.[114]
Although DeWitt had been successful in sending the secret orders to
DeRuyter concerning his voyage to Guinea, he could not long hope to
deceive the ever-watchful Downing. Indeed with all due respect to his
crafty rival one is almost surprised that Downing's suspicions were
not aroused for more than a month after the commands were despatched.
When the possibility of DeRuyter's having been ordered to Africa
dawned on Downing, he at once demanded of DeWitt where DeRuyter was
going when he left Cadiz. Without hesitation DeWitt replied that he
had returned to Algiers and Tunis to ransom some Dutch people.[115]
The bald falsehood disarmed Downing's suspicions and, although he
advised that Sir John Lawson keep a watchful eye on DeRuyter, he
assured Bennet that the report that the latter had gone to Guinea was
without foundation.[116] The report continued to be whispered
about,[117] however, and although two weeks later DeWitt repeated his
falsehood, Downing began to fear that he was being deceived. He
declared that although he was certain that the States General had
given no orders in the usual way for DeRuyter's departure to Guinea,
he was very well aware that the Dutch could find means to do those
things which they deemed necessary. The more he considered the matter,
the likelihood of secret orders having been given to DeRuyter seemed
to him more and more probable. "I am sure if I were in their case, I
would do it," he finally declared, and therefore he again advised
Bennet to have Sir John Lawson watch DeRuyter closely.[118]
The news of Holmes' success at Cape Verde had stirred up extraordinary
activity in the Royal Company. In September, 1664, the company was
busily enlisting factors and soldiers for the Guinea coast. A number
of ships, several of which belonged to the king, and some of which the
company hired, were being prepared for the voyage to Guinea.[119] To
add to the company's bright prospects, a vessel from the Gold Coast
arrived in England at the end of September,[120] bringing the account
of Holmes' capture of Cape Corse and other factories on the African
coast. The Royal Company now saw itself master of West Africa. Pepys
declared that the news from Holmes would certainly make the Dutch
quite "mad."[121] It did indeed create a very great impression in
Holland, where many had believed that Cape Corse was impregnable.
Downing, of course, rejoiced exceedingly. Oftentimes in the past he
had supported the Danish and Swedish claims to Cape Corse, but now he
found no difficulty in showing Carisius and Appleborne, the Danish and
Swedish representatives at The Hague, that their claims were as
before, against the Dutch. Omitting to say anything of the English
claim to Cape Corse, Downing explained to them that since the Dutch
had been in possession of Cape Corse, Holmes had seized it together
with other places on account of the numerous injuries done to the
Royal Company. "They both replied that they took it so."[122]
In London, VanGogh lost no time in obtaining an interview with Charles
II concerning Holmes' latest activities. Again the king asserted that
Holmes' violent actions on the African coast were without his
knowledge, especially the affair at Cape Verde, which place he
declared was of no importance and not worth one hundred pounds.[123]
Regarding his responsibility for the capture of Cape Corse he
refrained from committing himself so definitely, but he assured the
Dutch ambassador that Cape Corse belonged to the English; that their
claim to it would be satisfactorily established; and that he intended
to preserve these new acquisitions by sending Prince Rupert with a
fleet to the coast of Africa.[124] On the 28th of October, after
learning of Holmes' capture of New Amsterdam, Charles II boldly threw
aside his reserve and declared that the taking of Cape Corse, as well
as of New Amsterdam, "was done with his knowledge & by his order as
being a business wch properly belonged to the English, that the ground
was theirs & that they had also built upon the same, that the same was
afterwards taken from the English by the Netherlands West India Compa,
& ... that the English will justify & demonstrate their right to all
this."[125] If Holmes' actions in Guinea have so far seemed very
extraordinary, they can hardly be so regarded any longer in view of
the light which the king himself threw over the whole situation in
this remarkable statement. To be sure he had not as yet assumed
responsibility for the capture of Cape Verde. However, his direct
responsibility for the other actions of Holmes, which were much more
important, makes it a matter of little consequence whether the capture
of Cape Verde is to be attributed to him or not.
It may have seemed to Downing that there was less excuse for the
seizure of Cape Verde than for the other places. At any rate he held
out some hope to DeWitt that it would be restored to the Dutch. This
must have been a bitter sop to DeWitt, who was well aware that as for
Cape Corse he need entertain no such hope.[126] There was one feature
of the situation, however, which somewhat pleased DeWitt,[127] Downing
could no longer maintain that the troubles in Guinea were merely
quarrels between two commercial companies in which the king had no
direct interest or connection. DeWitt would not therefore be at a loss
to find numerous reasons why DeRuyter had been sent to Africa when the
time came for defending that action.
By this time every one in London and Amsterdam was in a state of
extreme suspense as to whether or not DeRuyter was on the Guinea
coast. On the 14th of October, 1664, news was received both in Holland
and in England from Cadiz to the effect that DeRuyter intended to sail
to Guinea upon his departure from that port.[128] In Amsterdam,
encouraged by this vigorous rumor, the stocks of the West India
Company began to rise from the low point where they had been for some
time.[129] When Downing chided DeWitt about DeRuyter, the latter
replied in a bantering fashion that if he believed the report,
notwithstanding what had been said to the contrary, to continue in the
belief; it could do no harm.[130] In London, the apprehension of
DeRuyter's expedition greatly checked the enthusiasm of the Royal
Company, and caused the king to postpone Prince Rupert's departure to
the African coast. VanGogh reported the cry that was heard everywhere
in London, "Guinea is lost. What now is it possible to do with the
Dutch."[131] The Dutch ambassador, who did not cease to haunt the
king's chambers over Holmes' seizures, found Charles II irritable and
greatly displeased with affairs. When questioned as to whether he
would punish Holmes, the king declared that Holmes did not need to
fear punishment at home since the Dutch had evidently sent forces to
do it themselves.[132]
The news concerning DeRuyter's successful expedition to the African
coast, which arrived in England just before Christmas, 1664, showed,
as Pepys expressed it, that the English had been "beaten to dirt at
Guinea."[133] Indeed DeRuyter's conquest of the coast in the end was
as complete as that of Holmes.[134] With one exception DeRuyter
captured all the English factories and forts, including Kormentine,
which he delivered with their goods to the agents of the West India
Company. The English retained only Cape Corse, which, because of its
strong position and the loyalty of the natives, DeRuyter decided would
offer a successful resistance.[135]
Up to the time that DeRuyter departed for the African coast it is
conceivable that by mutual concessions the troublesome questions
existing between England and the United Provinces might have been
amicably settled. The Dutch, however, had decided that this could not
be done with honor and advantage to themselves, and therefore they
chose to answer the warlike actions of Holmes in kind. When the
English learned of DeRuyter's activities on the African coast the
growing animosity between the two countries was so greatly intensified
that war was inevitable. The members of the Royal Company who realized
the gravity of the situation begged the king to come to the company's
assistance.[136] The king, who considered the company to be of great
importance to the colonial trade, and who realized his own intimate
connection with its formation, declared on January 2, 1665, that he
was resolved "to assist, protect & preserve the said company in the
prosecution of their said trade,"[137] a declaration which was
tantamount to war.
The Anglo-Dutch war of 1665-7 was, therefore, as has long been known,
a war over trade privileges. Furthermore, in the popular mind, it was
the dispute over trading privileges on the West African coast which
"became the Occasion, at least the Popular Pretence of the war with
Holland."[138] In international disputes some facts, although of minor
importance, are often seized upon with great vigor by the contending
parties. It is very probable that both England and the United
Provinces greatly overestimated the value of the African forts and
factories, but, at that time, the possession of them seemed very
important. To many of these places plausible claims were advanced by
both the English and the Dutch. There was plenty of opportunity
therefore for disputes, and the representatives of the two great
commercial companies did not fail to utilize it.
If the factors of the two companies in Guinea found it impossible to
reconcile their differences, the same observation may be made
concerning Downing and DeWitt at The Hague. One is not inclined to
excuse the deceit of the latter nor to sympathize with the apathetic
neglect with which he met all English claims. On the other hand,
Downing was perhaps the match for DeWitt in cunning and his master in
argument. His contempt for the Dutch made it impossible for him to
deal with them without gaining a complete victory. Compromise is the
basis of most diplomacy, but such a word was scarcely in Downing's
vocabulary. There were men in England who realized that Downing was
slowly but surely leading the two countries into war. Clarendon
reproved him for overzealousness; and Lord Hollis, the English
ambassador in France, informed him that he saw no "causam belli, onely
litigandi," and asked him if he could not temper his speech "by
pouring in oyle & not vinegar," and thus prevent a war if
possible.[139] In Downing's behalf it may be said, however, that his
attitude was the same as that of the mercantile interests in England
which he so well represented. The increasing importance of the
mercantile element, both in England and Holland, and their desire to
encroach on the trade of one another in all parts of the world,
especially in Guinea, was responsible for the war.[140] When the war
was inevitable, representatives of the English commercial interests
assured the government of their loyal support and assistance.[141] As
for the Dutch they, too, entered the conflict with high hopes for they
did not fear Charles II as they had feared Cromwell.
Sir Robert Holmes who had been so largely responsible for the
difficulties which resulted in the Anglo-Dutch war arrived in England
early in January, 1665. He was ordered to surrender the ships which he
had taken from the Dutch in Guinea to the Royal Company.[142] On the
9th of January, by way of appeasing VanGogh, he was thrown into the
Tower of London,[143] where he was to remain, the king declared, until
he gave a satisfactory account of his actions at Cape Verde. Once more
it appeared as if proceedings were to be taken against him "according
to the exigency of the case."[144] It is interesting to note that his
imprisonment resulted from the capture of the one place, mention of
which was omitted in his instructions. However, Holmes was not long
detained in confinement. Probably on account of the influence of the
duke of York and of Prince Rupert he was again set at liberty toward
the last of January,[145] and VanGogh reported that he was even
enjoying royal favor.[146] Apparently Holmes was unable to render a
satisfactory account of his prizes to the Royal Company, however, and
he was therefore reconfined in the Tower about the 24th of
February.[147] On the third of March he was examined before the Privy
Council in regard to his expedition. His explanation of the various
events was found satisfactory and he was forthwith ordered to be
discharged from the Tower.[148] This order was not executed at once
because he had not even yet rendered a satisfactory account to the
Company.[149] Royal clemency was invoked and a warrant was issued
March 23, 1665, releasing him from all criminal and pecuniary charges
which might be brought against him.[150] The king's intervention in
his behalf brought to an end the connection of Sir Robert Holmes with
the company's affairs on the African coast.
By concluding the account of the diplomatic relations of England and
the United Provinces with the early part of 1665, it is not intended
to convey the idea that all diplomatic intercourse between the two
countries ceased at that time. Downing remained in The Hague until
August of that year, but neither side thought seriously of attempting
to prevent the struggle in which they were already engaged on the
African coast. DeRuyter arrived at Cape Verde on October 11, 1664,
where he found nine English vessels most of which were in the service
of the Royal Company and had only recently arrived on the Guinea
coast. In response to an inquiry made by the English as to his
intentions DeRuyter replied that he had come to punish the Royal
Company for Holmes' hostile actions. He demanded the surrender of the
company's factors and goods on shore and on the several ships. Since
the English were unable to resist they surrendered the goods of the
Royal Company after which the vessels were permitted to depart. In
this way DeRuyter attempted to show plainly that he was not carrying
on hostilities against the English nation, but was only aiding the
West India Company to recover its property and goods, and to punish
the Royal Company for the actions of Sir Robert Holmes.
DeRuyter left a Dutch garrison at Cape Verde and started with his
plunder for Elmina. On the way he despoiled the English factory on the
Sierra Leone River. On December 25 he arrived on the Gold Coast and
made an attack on Tacorary where he was temporarily repulsed, but
later he succeeded in blowing up this English factory. He then
proceeded to unload at Elmina the effects which he had taken from the
English. While doing so he received orders from the States General,
dated October 21, 1664, commanding him to seize all English goods and
vessels, whether they belonged to the Royal Company or not. In
accordance with these instructions DeRuyter captured several English
vessels, but he considered his chief duty to be the taking of the
English fort at Kormentine. An agreement was made with the natives of
the neighboring region of Fetu, who acted in conjunction with the
Dutch ships and with the forces which DeRuyter landed. Although many
of the natives remained loyal to the English, Kormentine fell an easy
prey to the attacking party about the first of February, 1665. The
other English factories, with the exception of Cape Corse, were also
occupied without much difficulty. Although DeRuyter had received
special orders to reduce Cape Corse, he considered this impossible, on
account of the ease with which it could be defended and the loyalty of
the Negroes to the English cause in that territory. DeRuyter was
therefore compelled to depart from the Gold Coast on his voyage to
Barbadoes without having taken possession of Cape Corse[151].
On April 18, 1667, Lord Hollis and Sir William Coventry, who were
selected as the English envoys to treat for peace between England and
the United Provinces, were instructed to propose that each country
retain whatever places were in its possession on the 25th of the
previous December. On the other hand, the English were also directed
to induce the Dutch to give back Kormentine if possible[152]. How
vigorously the envoys urged the return of Kormentine cannot be
ascertained, but at any rate they were unsuccessful in obtaining it.
When the treaty was concluded at Breda, July 21, 1667, it provided
that each country should retain the territories which it held on the
tenth of the previous May[153]. Thus ended the war which had in so
large a measure been caused by the troubles between the Royal
Adventurers and the West India Company.
At the conclusion of peace between the two countries, the English
cannot be said to have been in a better position on the Guinea coast
than they were before the war. On the other hand, it would not be
difficult to rebuild new factories at the places which they had lost
during the war. Indeed at the time peace was made factories had
already been settled in several places occupied before DeRuyter's
expedition. Nicolas Villaut, a Frenchman who made a voyage down the
coast of Guinea in the years 1666 and 1667 mentioned an English
factory on one of the islands in the Sierra Leone River, another at
Madra Bomba just north of Cape Mount, and still another just below
Cape Miserado[154]. He also mentioned the strength of the English
fortress at Cape Corse, and declared that, although there was war in
Europe between England and Denmark, the English factors at Cape Corse
and those of the Danes at the neighboring fort of Fredericksburg made
an amicable agreement to commit no acts of hostility against one
another; and that this agreement was so punctually observed that the
soldiers of the two nations mingled freely at all times[155]. Villaut
failed to describe the condition of the company's fort in the Gambia
River, but on October 30, 1667, an attack on it by the natives was
reported to the general court of the company[156]. The Negroes
succeeded in obtaining possession of the island but were presently
dislodged by the company's factors after the loss of a number of white
men[157].
Inasmuch as there remain very scanty records of the company's trading
activities and the manner of government instituted at its forts and
factories on the African coast, it is impossible to describe fully
these aspects of the company's history. When the company first sent
agents to the head factory at Kormentine seven men each served a
month's turn as chief factor. As might have been expected trouble
resulted concerning the succession.[158] The company therefore
withdrew this order and directed that one of the factors be given
charge of affairs with the title of chief agent and with a salary of
one hundred pounds per year.[159] After the Dutch captured Kormentine
in 1665, Cape Corse became the chief English factory, under the
direction of Gilbert Beavis, who was replaced by Thomas Pearson in
1667. At the end of the Anglo-Dutch war the company's affairs on the
African coast were at a low ebb, and the uncertainties of the Guinea
trade were at once demonstrated when the former agent, Beavis, in
conjunction with the natives, assaulted Cape Corse, carrying off
Pearson and much of the company's goods. With the assistance of one of
the Royal Company's ships the factors recovered the fort and replaced
Pearson in charge of affairs, where he remained to the year 1671.[160]
In addition to these difficulties there was also a repetition of the
petty quarrels between the agents of the Royal Company and those of
the West India Company, which had so characterized the years previous
to the war. When the English began to build lodges at Komenda and
Agga, the Dutch general, Dirck Wilree, at once objected, claiming that
the possession of the adjacent fort of Kormentine gave them exclusive
rights to those places.[161] The English denied this claim[162] and
sent home for more supplies to fortify Komenda. At the same time they
advised the company that the licensed private traders who had appeared
on the coast had very greatly injured the trade of the company's
factories, because they sold their goods very much cheaper than the
company's agents could afford to.[163] The renewal of the trouble
between the two companies moved the general court on June 30, 1668, to
ask for the king's assistance.[164] The information lately received
from the company's agents was read in the Privy Council and referred
to the committee for trade.[165] This committee recommended the
appointment of some persons to treat with the Dutch regarding the
possession of the disputed places, and Secretary Morice was therefore
instructed to sound the Dutch ambassadors in London about the matter.
Instructions of a similar nature were to be given to Sir William
Temple, who was about to depart for the United Netherlands as the
English ambassador.[166]At this point the matter seems to have been
dropped without further discussion, and Komenda remained a subject of
possible contention between the English and the Dutch for many years
to come.
During the latter years of the history of the Company of Royal
Adventurers the factories including Cape Corse fell into great decay,
on account of the failure of the company to send out ships and
supplies. Nearly all the English trade was carried on in the vessels
of private traders, who in return for their licenses, agreed to take
one-tenth of their cargoes free of all freight charges, which goods
were to be used for the maintenance of the company's factories,
especially Cape Corse.[167] Even this provision was not sufficient,
and in the latter part of November, 1670, it was found necessary to
send some additional supplies for the immediate relief of Cape
Corse.[168] The king, who was still indebted to the company for his
subscription to the stock, was induced to pay a part of it, with which
money two ships were despatched for the relief of Cape Corse[169]
which had been in great distress.[170]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] John II of Portugal had assumed the title of Lord of Guinea in
1485.
[2] Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique_, VI, part 2, p. 367.
[3] As for instance, in 1659, the seizure of a Dutch ship called the
Vrede by a French captain under the pretense of a Swedish commission.
Lias, West Indien, 1658 tot 1665, Zeeland chamber to the Amsterdam
chamber of W. I. C. (West India Company), March 1, 1660 (N. S.). Also,
in the same year, the Dutch confiscated a Courland ship called the
Pietas for trespassing on Dutch territory. _Ibid._, Amsterdam chamber
of W. I. C. to S. G. (States General), June 23, 1661 (N. S.). Louis
XIV also complained about the disturbance of French commerce on the
Gambia by the Dutch. _Lettres, Mémoires et Négociations de Monsieur le
Compte d'Estrades_, I, 185, Louis XIV to d'Estrades, August 13, 1661
(N. S.).
[4] Diederichs, pp. 20, 21. (Diederichs, H., _Herzog Jacobs von
Kurland Kolonien an der Westkuste von Afrika_.)
[5] The West India Company was subdivided into the chambers of
Amsterdam, Gröningen, Zeeland, North Holland and Friesland, and the
Maas. The Amsterdam chamber was much the most important; it was known
therefore as the "presidiale" chamber.
[6] C. O. 1: 16, f. 191, February 4, 1659 (N. S.). At the same time
Momber advised Steele, the Courland commander at Fort St. André, to
pay no attention to the contract if he was in a position to defend
himself, but Steele was unable to resist. Diederichs, pp. 45, 46.
[7] Diederichs, pp. 46-8; C. O. 1: 16, ff. 193, 195-7.
[8] Resolution of S. G., July 28, 1661 (N. S.); Aitzema, X, 76.
(Aitzema, Lieuwe van, _Historie of Verhael van Saken van Staet en
Oorlogh_.)
[9] See the oath taken by Holmes' men dated March 7, 1660/1, enclosed
in the letter of Nassau and others to the estates of H. and W. F.
(Holland and West Friesland), January 17/27, 1662.
[10] C. O. 1: 16, f. 193, relation of Otto Steele; Diederichs, p. 49.
Holmes afterward admitted that there were but two men and a boy in the
fort when it was taken. C. O. 1: 30, f. 74, Holmes to Sir Edward
Walker, May 20, 1673.
[11] VanGogh and others to S. G., September 6/16, 1661.
[12] Lias, West Indien, 1658 tot 1665, Amsterdam chamber of W. I. C.
to S. G., January 10, 1661 (N. S.).
[13] Resolution of S. G., January 13, 1661 (N. S.).
[14] Lias, West Indien, 1658 tot 1665, Amsterdam chamber of W. I. C.
to S. G., January 31, 1661 (N. S.).
[15] Resolution of S. G., February 5, 1661 (N. S.).
[16] _Ibid._, July 28, 1661 (N. S.).
[17] Clar. St. Paps. (Clarendon State Papers), 104, f. 211, the Dutch
ambassadors to Ruysch, August 5, 1661 (N. S.).
[18] _Ibid._, 104, f. 217, Downing to S. G., August 8, 1661.
[19] Aitzema, X, 78, Charles II to S. G., August 14, 1661.
[20] Clar. St. Paps., 104: 237, Downing to Clarendon, August 19, 1661
(N. S.). In another letter Downing declared, "it would be very well to
accept of the Duke his transferring his interest to his Matie, and for
the Dutch ambrs you will do well to be 6 or 8 moneths in examining the
matter and then let them know his Maties mind." Egerton MSS., 2538, f.
12, Downing to Nicholas, January 27, 1661/2.
[21] He suffered this punishment only because he had taken to Guinea a
number of extra men whose wages the king felt obliged to pay.
Admiralty Papers, Navy Board, In-Letters, 5, James to the Navy Board,
September 10, 1661.
[22] This seems to be a little too much to say of the king's letter.
[23] C. O. 1: 15, f. 168, VanGogh and others to S. G., October 19/29,
1661.
[24] P. C. R., Charles II, 2: 417, October 25, 1661.
[25] _Ibid._, p. 459, November 27, 1661.
[26] _Ibid._, pp. 510, 514, January 8, 10, 1662. He may also have been
before the Council in December, as an order was made on December 21,
1661, rescinding the former order to stop his pay. Admiralty Papers,
Navy Board, In-Letters, 6, James to the Navy Board, December 21, 1661.
[27] Nassau and Hoorn to the estates of H. and W. F., January 17/27,
1662.
[28] Egerton MSS., 2538, f. 12, Downing to Nicholas, January 27,
1661/2.
[29] C. O. 1: 18, ff. 310, 311.
[30] Papieren van Johan de Witt betreffende de Oost en West Indische
compagnie, Carloff to Valckenburg, February 15, 16, 1658 (N. S.).
[31] Loketkas, Staten Generaal, Sweden, no. 38.
[32] _Remonstrantie, aen de Ho. Mo. Heeren de Staten Generael der
Veereenighde Nederlanden_, p. 18.
[33] Dammaert, _Journal_, September 19, 1652, May 18, 1653, December
7, 19, 1655, April 22, 1656 (N. S.).
[34] S. P., Holland, 178, f. 123, undated paper dealing with the
English title to Cape Corse.
[35] Afterwards retaken by the English in the West Indies, toward the
last of 1663. Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten
Generaal, Downing to S. G., February 3, 1663/4. O. S.
[36] Admiralty High Court, Libels, 114, no. 231.
[37] Aitzema, X, 277.
[38] Admiralty High Court, Libels, 115, no. 124; _ibid._,
Examinations, 74, deposition of Edward Paulstagge, March 7, 1662/3.
[39] Nassau and Hoorn to the estates of H. and W. F., January
24/February 3, 1662. In March, 1663, Bernard Sparke, owner of the
Paragon which the Dutch had seized on the Gold Coast, arrested a West
India Company ship at Ilfracombe. Sparke asked for the condemnation of
the ship, but on account of a treaty entered into between the English
and the Dutch in September, 1662, the Privy Council refused to detain
the Dutch ship. Cunaeus to the estates of H. and W. F., March 27/April
6, 1663; P. C. R., Charles II, 3: 357, 380.
[40] Egerton MSS., 2538, ff. 68, 69, Downing to S. G., May 3/13, 1662.
[41] Clar. St. Paps., 76, ff. 217, 218, Downing to Clarendon, May 9,
1662. O. S.
[42] Egerton MSS., 2538, f. 73, Downing to S. G., June 6/16, 1662.
[43] _Ibid._, f. 106, Downing to S. G., August 6/16, 1662.
[44] Add. MSS. (Additional Manuscripts), 22,919, f. 270.
[45] Resolution of S. G., August 28, 1662 (N. S.).
[46] Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique_, VI, part 2, pp. 424, 425.
[47] Index op het Register en Accorden met de Naturellen, Wilree to
Edmund Young, May 24, 1662 (N. S.).
[48] S. P., Holland, 176, f. 119.
[49] Add. MSS., 22,919, f. 262.
[50] _Ibid._, 22,920, f. 24, affidavit of William Crawford and others,
before the Admiralty High Court, February 13, 1663/4.
[51] _Ibid._, 22,919, f. 262, Wilree to the officers of the ship
James, November 9, 1662 (N. S.).
[52] _Ibid._, 22,920, f. 24, affidavit of Crawford and others,
February 13, 1663/4.
[53] S. P., Holland, 167, f. 251, Downing to Williamson, September 11,
1663. O.S.
[54] Add. MSS., 22,920, ff. 13, 14, Downing to S. G., September 17/27,
1663.
[54a] Clar. St. Paps., 106, f. 192, Downing to Clarendon, September
18, 1663. O. S.; S. P., Holland, 167, ff. 271, 272, Downing to Bennet.
[55] Add. MSS., 22,920, f. 22, Royal Company to Downing, September 25,
1663.
[56] Clar. St. Paps., 106, f. 223, Downing to Clarendon, October 2,
1663 O. S.
[57] S. P., Holland, 168, ff. 41, 42.
[58] _Ibid._, 176, f. 121.
[59] _Ibid._, 167, f. 284, Downing to Bennet, September 25, 1664 (O.
S.).
[60] Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan den Raadpensionaris,
Cunaeus to DeWitt, November 2, 1663 (N. S.).
[61] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 159, warrant to duke of York, Sept.
5, 1663.
[62] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, f. 53. These instructions are not
preserved in their complete form.
[63] C. O. 1: 16, f. 157, oath of William Quick and others at Charles
Island, June 1, 1662.
[64] C. O. 1: 18, f. 154, deposition of Stephen Ustick, June 7, 1664;
S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, ff. 147, 148.
[65] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, f. 148, Holmes' narrative. After
taking the island Holmes sent for as many men as could be spared by
the Royal Company's factors on the Gambia. Accordingly they took
possession of it in the name of the company. C. O. 1: 18, f. 24.
[66] Aitzema, XI, 294, deposition of Andries C. Vertholen, June 9,
1664 (N. S.); Lias, West Indien, 1658 tot 1665, depositions, June 19
and July 19, 1664 (N. S.).
[67] C. O. 1: 18, f. 90, resolution of the council of war on board the
Jersey, April 9, 1664.
[68] Loketkas, Staten Generaal, Engeland, deposition of John Denn,
commander of the ship Mary, December 3, 1663 (O. S.).
[69] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, f. 149, Holmes' narrative.
[70] S. P., Holland, 176, ff. 118-123, June 7, 1663 (N. S.). A mark of
gold was supposed to be worth about £28. 16s.
[71] Index op het Register der Contracten, letters dated June 13, 14,
1663. 1663.
[72] S. P., Holland, 167, ff. 258-260, September 12, 1663. This
protest with that of Valckenburg of June 7, 1663, was sent to England,
where both were regarded as very important.
[73] C. O. 1: 17, ff. 153, 154, Mr. Brett to the Royal Company, August
31, 1663; Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten
Generaal, Downing to S. G., September 15, 1664 (O. S.).
[74] Index op het Register der Contracten, September 17, 1663.
[75] C. O. 1: 17, ff. 153, 154, contains a number of extracts of
letters from factors of the Royal Company to the company dated from
June to September, 1663. They mention many other conflicts with the
Dutch, including the charge that the Dutch had hired the natives to
attack the fort at Kormentine.
[76] Aitzema, XI, 295, deposition of Andries C. Vertholen, June 9,
1664 (N. S.).
[77] C. O. 1: 18, f. 39, order of the council of war held on board the
Jersey, May 7, 1664.
[78] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, ff. 51, 52, Holmes' examination. In
his examination before the Privy Council Holmes asserted that in one
of the ships captured from the Dutch, orders had been found from the
States General commanding the Dutch factors to seize the English fort
at Kormentine. There is no evidence to support this assertion and the
States General afterwards characterized the statement as "an errand
invention & a fowle lye." S. P., Holland, 181, f. 10.
[79] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 114, ff. 150, 151, Holmes' account; C.
O. 1: 18, f. 39, order of the council of war held on board the Jersey,
May 7, 1664.
[80] S. P., Holland, 174, f. 32, Downing to Bennet, January 10, 1664/5
(O. S.). This letter, written over a year later, shows that Downing
was not acquainted with Holmes' instructions.
[81] Lister, Thomas Henry, _Life and Administration of Edward, first
Earl of Clarendon_, III, 259, Downing to Clarendon, November 6, 1663
(O. S.).
[82] S. P., Holland, 168, f. 230, Downing to Bennet, December 18,
1663.
[83] Clar. St. Paps., 107, f. 101, Downing to S. G., February 8,
1663/4 (O. S.).
[84] Add. MSS., 22,920, f. 26, Schested to Downing, February 10, 1664;
S. P., Denmark, 17, f. 150, Frederick III to Schested, December 15,
1663.
[85] Loketkas, Staten Generaal, Engeland, W. I. C. to S. G., read
December 1, 1663 (N. S.); _ibid._, S. G. to Downing, December, 1663.
[86] S. P., Holland, 169, ff. 120, 121, Downing to (Bennet), February
12, 1663/4 (O. S.).
[87] _Ibid._, f. 121.
[88] _Ibid._, ff. 122, 124.
[89] S. P. Holland, 169, f. 132, Downing to S. G., February 16, 1663/4
(O. S.).
[90] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten van H. en
W. F._, Cunaeus to DeWitt, March 11/21, 1664.
[91] Pepys, _Diary_, IV, 103; Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland
aan de Staten van H. en W. F., Cunaeus to DeWitt, (April 8/18, 1664,
N. S.).
[92] Clar. St. Paps., 107, f. 147, Downing to Clarendon, April 1, 1664
(O. S.); Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique_, VI, part 2, p. 424,
article XIV.
[93] S. P., Holland, 170, ff. 16-18, Downing to Bennet, May 6, 1664
(O. S.); Clar. St. Paps., 107, ff. 195, 196, Downing to Clarendon, May
6, 1664 (O. S.).
[94] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten van H. en
W. F._, Cunaeus to DeWitt, May 6/16, 1664; Secretekas, Engeland, no.
123, Cunaeus to the directors of W.I.C., May 6/16, 1664.
[95] Secretekas, Engeland, no. 123, W. I. C. to S. G., May 23, 1664
(N. S.).
[96] S. P., Holland, 173, f. 129, Downing to Bennet, December 30, 1664
(O. S.).
[97] Resolution of S. G., June 13, 1664 (N. S.).
[98] _Ibid._, June 5, 1664 (N. S.).
[99] S. P., Holland, 171, f. 174, VanGogh to S. G., June 24/July 4,
1664.
[100] DeWitt, _Brieven_ (DeWitt, Johan, _Brieven, geschreven ende
gewisselt tusschen den Heer Johan de Witt_), IV, 311, DeWitt to
VanGogh, July 11, 1664 (N. S.).
[101] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten van H. en
W. F._, VanGogh to DeWitt, July 15/25, 1664.
[102] P. C. R., Charles II, 4: 122; S.P., Dom., Charles II, 99, f.
170, petition of the Royal Company for a convoy for its ships. It was
also reported that the duke of York was fitting out a frigate at his
own expense to send to Guinea. C. S. P., Dom., 1663-1664, p. 264,
newsletter, September 2, 1663.
[103] S. P., Holland, 171, f. 238, W. I. C. to S. G., July 21, 1664
(N. S.).
[104] Clar. St. Paps., 108, ff. 39-41, Downing to Clarendon, July 22,
1664 (O. S.).
[105] Pepys, _Diary_, IV, 202.
[106] _Ibid._, 42, 143.
[107] Clar. St. Paps., 108, ff. 48, 49, Downing to Clarendon, July 29,
1664 (O. S.).
[108] Brandt, Gerard, _La Vie de Michel de Ruiter_, pp. 212-213.
[109] Brandt, _Vie de Ruiter_, pp. 213, 214, 217.
[110] S. P., Holland, 171, ff. 23, 24, Downing to Bennet, August 4,
1664 (O. S.); _ibid._, ff. 124, 125, Downing to Bennet, August 26,
1664 (O. S.).
[111] S. P., Holland, 171, ff. 119, 120, Downing to S. G., August 25,
1664 (O. S.).
[112] _Ibid._, f. 25, Downing to Bennet, August 4, 1664 (O. S.).
[113] _Ibid._, f. 56, Downing to Bennet, August 12, 1664 (O. S.).
[114] Clar. St. Paps., 108, ff. 75, 76, Downing to Clarendon, August
26, 1664 (O. S.).
[115] Lister, _Life of Clarendon_, III, 344, Downing to Clarendon,
September 9, 1664 (O. S.).
[116] S. P., Holland, 172, f. 171, Downing to Bennet, September 9,
1664 (O. S.).
[117] Clar. St. Paps., 108, f. 82, Downing to Clarendon, September 16,
1664 (O. S.).
[118] S. P., Holland, 172, f. 241, Downing to Bennet, September 23,
1664 (O. S.).
[119] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten Generaal_,
VanGogh to S. G., September 23/October 3, 1664.
[120] Pepys, _Diary_, IV, 254; _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland
aan de Staten Generaal_, VanGogh to S. G., September 30/October 10,
1664.
[121] Pepys, _Diary_, IV, 254.
[122] S. P., Holland, 172, f. 35, Downing to Bennet, October 7, 1664
(O. S.).
[123] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten van H. en
W. F._, VanGogh to DeWitt, October 3/13, 1664. A few days after this
VanGogh very much annoyed the king by bringing up the Cape Verde
incident again. The king burst out, "And pray, what is Cape Verde? A
stinking place (using these very words): Is this of such importance to
make so much adoe about! As much as I could ever yet learne of it, it
is of noe use at all." S. P., Holland, 172, f. 158, VanGogh to Ruysch,
October 24, 1664 (N. S.).
[124] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten van H. en
W. F._, VanGogh to DeWitt, October 3/13, 1664.
[125] S. P., Holland, 173, f. 178, VanGogh to Ruysch, November 7, 1664
(N. S.); DeWitt, _Brieven_, IV, 387, 390, VanGogh to DeWitt, October
28/November 7, October 31/November 10, 1664.
[126] DeWitt, _Brieven_, IV, 390, DeWitt to VanGogh, November 14, 1664
(N. S.).
[127] Clar. St. Paps., 108, f. 126, Downing to Clarendon, November 11,
1664 (O. S.).
[128] _Ibid._, f. 100, Downing to Clarendon, October 14, 1664 (O. S.);
Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan de Staten Generaal, October
14/24, 1664.
[129] Clar. St. Paps., 108, f. 108, Downing to Clarendon, October 28,
1664 (O. S.); _ibid._, f. 120, Downing to Clarendon, November 4, 1664
(O. S.).
[130] _Ibid._, f. 117, Downing to Clarendon, November 4, 1664 (O. S.).
[131] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan der
Raadpensionaris_, VanGogh to DeWitt, October 17/27, 1664.
[132] S. P., Holland, 173, f. 19, VanGogh to Ruysch, December 5, 1654
(N. S.). The duke of York was known to be very favorable to Holmes at
the same time. S. P., Dom., Charles II, 105, f. 176, Coventry to
Bennet, November 27, 1664.
[133] Pepys, _Diary_, IV, 312.
[134] He arrived at Cape Verde October 22, 1664, and left the Gold
Coast February 27, 1665.
[135] In this account it seems unnecessary to give the details of the
capture of these places. They may be found at length in Brandt, _Vie
de Ruiter_, pp. 223 to 265.
[136] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 110, f. 19; Condition of Co., Jan. 2
(1664/5).
[137] P. C. R., Charles II, 5: 4.
[138] _The Case of the Royal African Company of England and their
Creditors_, p. 6.
[139] Add. MSS., 22,920, f. 46, Lord Hollis to (Downing), September
2/12, 1664.
[140] On October 30, 1664 (N. S.), d'Estrades declared to the king of
France that the real cause of the war then about to begin was the
desire of the king of England to become master of Guinea. _Mémoires
d'Estrades_, II, 517.
[141] See the paper of Sir Richard Ford, one of the prominent members
of the Royal Company. Clar. St. Paps., 83, f. 374.
[142] C. S. P., Dom., 1664-5, p. 154, warrant to Holmes, January 7,
1654.
[143] S. P., Holland, 174, f. 138, VanGogh to Ruysch, January 9/19,
1665.
[144] S. P., Holland, 174, f. 138, VanGogh to Ruysch, January 13/23,
1665.
[145] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan den Raadpensionaris,
VanGogh to Ruysch_, January 27/February 6, 1665.
[146] _Ibid._, VanGogh to Ruysch, January 30/February 9, 1665.
[147] _Ibid._, Cunaeus to ----, February 24/March 6, 1665.
[148] P. C. R., Charles II, 5:69.
[149] _Brieven van de Ambassadors in Engeland aan den
Raadpensionaris_, (VanGogh) to Ruysch, February 27/March 9, 1665.
[150] C. S. P., Dom., 1664-5, p. 268, order to release Holmes, March
23, 1664/5.
[151] The account of DeRuyter's voyage given here is a digest of what
appears at much greater length in Brandt, _Vie de Ruiter_, pp.
223-265. A short contemporary English account may be found in C.O. 1:
19, ff. 88, 89.
[152] S. P., Holland, 182, ff. 246, 247. The Dutch had entertained
some hopes of inducing the English to surrender Cape Corse, as is
evident from negotiations which they carried on with the Swedes and
the Danes. In March, 1665, a treaty was drawn up between Sweden and
the United Provinces in which the former country agreed to renounce
her claims of damage against the West India Company and all her rights
to any places on the African coast, for which renunciation the States
General was to pay 140,000 rix dollars. The treaty failed of
approbation on account of the reluctance of the king of Sweden to
withdraw his interests from the coast of Africa. Aitzema, XI, 1102,
1103; S. P., Holland, 174, f. 148, Downing to Bennet, February 17,
1664/5 (O.S.); S. P., Holland, 179, f. 86, Downing to Bennet, March
10, 1665 (March 10, 1664/5. O. S.).
With the Danes the Dutch had more success. On February 11, 1667, a
treaty was entered into between Frederick III, of Denmark and the
United Provinces, in which it was agreed that the Danes should
surrender all their claims to Cape Corse, retaining, however, the
adjacent fort of Fredericksburg. Dumont, _Corps Universel
Diplomatique_, VI, part 3, p. 74.
[153] Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique_, VI, part I, pp. 44, 45,
article 3.
[154] Villaut, _A Relation of the Coasts of Africa called Guinee_, pp.
49, 56, 75.
[155] _Ibid._, pp. 126, 131, 135. Villaut also speaks of an English
fort at Eniacham (Anashan).
[156] A. C. R., 75: 60.
[157] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 217, f. 76, John Lysle to Williamson,
September 16, 1667.
[158] C. O. 1: 17, f. 243, John Allen to (the Royal Adventurers),
December 18, 1663.
[159] A. C. R., 75: 3.
[160] S. P., Dom., Charles II, 380, f. 57; _ibid._, 381, ff. 138, 139.
[161] C. O. 1: 23, ff. 3, 4, 6, 7, Wilree to Pearson, January
23/February 2, and February 14/24, 1668.
[162] _Ibid._, 23, f. 5, Pearson to Wilree, n. d.
[163] C. O. 1: 23, f. 2, Pearson and others to the Royal Adventurers,
February 18, 1667/8.
[164] A. C. R., 75: 75.
[165] C. O. 1: 23, f. 1, petition of the Royal Adventurers (July 3),
1668; P. C. R., Charles II, 7: 374, July 3, 1668.
[166] P. C. R., 7: 378, July 8, 1668. The minutes of the general court
for November 14, 1668, mention a letter intended to be dispatched to
Sir William Temple. A. C. R., 75: 81.
[167] A. C. R., 100: 47, 48.
[168] _ibid._, 75: 96.
[169] C. O. 1: 25, f. 227, estimate of charges for supplies at Cape
Corse, December 19, 1670; A. C. R., 75: 106, 107.
[170] Foreign Entry Book, 176, minutes of the foreign committee,
January 22, 1671/2.
CHAPTER IV
THE ROYAL ADVENTURERS AND THE PLANTATIONS
The early trade of the English to the coast of Africa was very largely
in exchange for products which could be sold in England. Among these
may be mentioned elephants' teeth, wax, malaguetta and gold. As has
been shown, the hope of discovering gold mines was the principal cause
of the first expedition sent to Africa by the Royal Adventurers in
December, 1660. When this scheme to mine gold was abandoned the
company's agents traded for gold which was brought down from the
interior or washed out by the slow and laborious toil of the natives.
The other African products, especially elephants' teeth, were brought
to London where they sold quite readily for very good prices.
Although this direct trade between England and Africa was never
neglected, the slave trade with the English colonies in the West
Indies was destined to absorb the company's attention because the
supply of indentured servants[1] was never great enough to meet the
needs of the rapidly growing sugar and indigo plantations. From the
planters point of view, moreover, slaves had numerous advantages over
white servants as plantation laborers. Slaves and their children after
them were chattel property for life. The danger of rebellion was very
small because often the slaves could not even converse with one
another, since they were likely to be from different parts of Africa
and therefore to speak a different dialect. Finally, neither the
original outlay for slaves nor the cost of feeding and clothing them
was great, and therefore slaves were regarded as more economical than
indentured servants. Moreover, there was much to be said against
encouraging the lower classes of England to come to the plantations,
where they often engaged engaged in disturbances of one kind and
another. Also, after a service of a few years, it was necessary to
allow them to go where they pleased. Nevertheless, with all their
disadvantages, it may be truly said that the planters preferred the
white servants to any others. It was, however, impossible to obtain
the needed supply of labor from this source and therefore it was
always necessary to import slaves from Africa.
Previous to the accession of Charles II not many slaves were imported
into the English possessions in the West Indies. Of this small number
all but a few had been brought by the ships of the Dutch West India
Company. The Dutch centered their West India trade at the island of
Curaçao, whence they could supply not only their own colonies with
slaves but those of the French, English and even the Spanish when
opportunity offered. So great was the demand for slaves and other
necessities procured from the Dutch that the English planters in the
West Indies regarded this trade as highly desirable. For instance,
when the island of Barbadoes surrendered to the Parliamentary forces,
January 11, 1652, it stipulated that it should retain its freedom of
trade and that no company should be formed which would monopolize its
commodities.[2] Nevertheless, by the Navigation Act of 1660 colonial
exports, part of which had to be carried only to England, were
confined to English ships. This was a sufficient limitation of their
former freedom of trade to incense the planters in the West Indies
but, as a matter of greater importance to them, the king granted to
the Company of Royal Adventurers the exclusive trade to the western
coast of Africa, thus limiting their supply of Negro slaves to this
organization. The company therefore undertook this task, realizing
that in the Negro trade it would find by far its most lucrative
returns. Not only did the company supply the planters with slaves,
their greatest necessity, but in exchange for these it took sugar and
other plantation products which it carried to England. It was natural
that the company should endeavor to make a success of its business,
but, on the other hand, it was to be expected that the planters would
regard the company as a monopoly and a nuisance to be outwitted if
possible.
In 1660 Barbadoes was in much the same condition as is true of every
rapidly expanding new country. The settlers occupied as much land as
they could obtain and directed every effort toward its cultivation and
improvement. The growing of sugar had proved to be very profitable and
every planter saw his gains limited only by the lack of labor to
cultivate his lands. Every possible effort was therefore made to
obtain laborers and machinery. Although the planters had little ready
capital, they made purchases with a free hand, depending upon the
returns from their next year's crop to pay off their debts. As a
result, the planters were continually in debt to the merchants. The
merchants greatly desired that Barbadoes should be made as dependent
on England as possible in order that the constantly increasing amount
of money which the planters owed them might be better secured.
Moreover, they wished to prevent the planters from manipulating the
laws of the island in such a way as to hinder the effective collection
of debts.[3] The planters, on the other hand, appreciated very keenly
the ill effects upon themselves of the laws which were passed in
England for the regulation of commerce. They bitterly complained of
the enumerated article clause of the Navigation Act of 1660, which
provided that all sugars, indigo and cotton-wool should be carried
only to England. Already the planters were very greatly in debt to the
merchants and they saw in this new law the beginning of the
restrictions by which the merchants intended to throttle their trade.
Indeed it seemed to the planters as if they were completely at the
mercy of the merchants, who paid what they pleased for sugar, and
charged excessive prices for Negroes, cattle and supplies.[4] Among
those who were regarded as oppressors were the factors of the Royal
Company, which controlled the Negro supply upon which the prosperity
of the plantations depended.
Sir Thomas Modyford, speaker of the assembly, also became the agent
for the Royal Adventurers in Barbadoes. Modyford was very enthusiastic
about the company's prospects for a profitable trade in Negroes with
the Spanish colonies. The people of Barbadoes neither shared
Modyford's enthusiasm for this trade nor for the company's monopoly
because they believed that thereby the price of slaves was
considerably increased. On December 18, 1662, the council and assembly
of Barbadoes resolved to ask the king for a free trade to Africa or to
be assured that the factors of the Royal Company would sell their
slaves for the same price as other merchants.[5] Very shortly, the
duke of York, the company's governor, informed Governor Willoughby
that the company had made arrangements to provide Barbadoes and the
Caribbee Islands with 3,000 slaves per annum and that the needs of the
islands would be attended to as conditions changed. Moreover, the
company pledged itself to see that all Negroes imported into the
island should be sold by lots, as had been the custom, at the average
rate of seventeen pounds per head or for commodities of the island
rated at that price.[6] The duke of York also requested Governor
Willoughby to ascertain if possible how many Negroes were desired by
the planters at that rate, and to see that any planters who wished to
become members of the company should be given an opportunity to do
so.[7]
When the company's factors, Sir Thomas Modyford and Sir Peter
Colleton, began to sell Negroes to the planters they encountered
endless trouble and litigation in the collection of debts. In a vivid
description of their difficulties to the company they declared that
Governor Willoughby did nothing to assist them until he received
several admonitions from the king. To be sure the governor's power in
judicial matters was limited by the council, which in large part was
made up of landholders who naturally attempted to shield the planters
from their creditors. In case an execution on a debt was obtained from
a local court the property remained in the hands of the debtor for
eighty days. During this time the debtor often made away with the
property, if it was in the form of chattel goods. If the judgment was
against real estate the land also remained in the hands of the debtor
for eighty days, during which time a committee, usually neighbors of
the debtor, appraised the land, often above its real value. If this
sum exceeded the debt, the creditor was compelled to pay the
difference. As the factors declared, therefore, it was a miracle if
the creditors got their money.[8]
In 1664, Sir Thomas Modyford was called from Barbadoes to become
governor of Jamaica.[9] In his place the Royal Adventurers selected
John Reid, who had resided for several years in Spain and was
therefore conversant with the needs of the Spanish colonies concerning
slaves. Reid also obtained the office of sub-commissioner of prizes in
Barbadoes.[10]
After Modyford's departure from Barbadoes the factors still
experienced great difficulty in collecting the company's debts. Since
Willoughby had not exerted himself in its behalf the company informed
the king that it had supplied the planters liberally with slaves, but
that the planters owed the company £40,000,[11] and that by reason of
the intolerable delays in the courts it was impossible to collect this
sum. Thereupon the earl of Clarendon wrote to Governor Willoughby
admonishing him to take such measures as would make a renewal of the
company's complaints unnecessary. In this letter Clarendon also
declared that while the king had shown great care for the planters by
restraining the company from charging excessive prices for slaves, he
should also protect the interests of the merchants. Willoughby,
therefore, was recommended to see speedy justice given to the company,
and to use his influence in obtaining a better law for the collection
of debts.[12]
To add to the company's difficulties private traders began to infringe
upon the territory included in the company's charter. As an instance
of this Captain Pepperell, in charge of one of the company's ships,
seized an interloper called the "William" and "Jane" off the coast of
New Callabar in Guinea. When Pepperell appeared at Barbadoes with his
prize, one of the owners of the captured ship brought suit in a common
law court against the company's commander for damages to the extent of
500,000 pounds of sugar. The company's factors at once went bail for
Pepperell. Ordinarily the case would have been tried by a jury of
planters from whom the company's agents could expect no consideration.
The factors, therefore, petitioned to have the case removed from the
common law courts to the admiralty court where the governor was the
presiding officer. A jury of sympathetic islanders would thus be
dispensed with and, if necessary, the case could be appealed to a
higher court in England with greater ease. When Willoughby called the
admiralty court on June 17, 1665, the factors cited the company's
royal charter which justified the seizure of interlopers.
Notwithstanding the clear case which the company's agents seemed to
have the case was adjourned for a week. Fearing that the governor
might take action adverse to the company's interests the factors
succeeded in sending the ship in question to Jamaica where it was not
under the jurisdiction of Lord Willoughby.[13] The bail bonds against
Pepperell were not withdrawn, and therefore he stood in as great
danger of prosecution as ever. When the company learned of this
situation it immediately petitioned Secretary Arlington that
Willoughby be commanded not to permit any further procedures against
Pepperell and to transmit the whole case to the Privy Council. It also
requested that those who had transgressed the company's charter should
be punished.[14] The Privy Council issued an order in accordance with
the company's desires.[15] Willoughby accused the factors of having
reported the case falsely and of having affronted him grossly by
taking the vessel in question away from the island by stealth.
Moreover, he declared that he would have made them understand his
point of view "if they had not been employed by soe Royall a
Compagnie."[16]
Since Willoughby persistently neglected to send Pepperell's bail bonds
to England, the Royal Company finally reported the matter again to the
king.[17] Once more the case was heard in the Privy Council where it
was referred to the committee on trade and plantations.[18] On January
31, 1668, the Privy Council issued an order to Governor Willoughby,
brother of the former incumbent, commanding him to stop all
proceedings against the Royal Company and commanding him to send
everything in regard to the case to England without delay.[19] Lord
Willoughby replied that so far as he could ascertain all the records
had been sent to England and that if any others were found he would
also despatch them.[20] Thus ended this contest in regard to the
maintenance of the company's privileges. The king had not allowed his
royal prerogative to be interfered with and the company's charter was
regarded as intact. Theoretically the victory was all in favor of the
company, but on account of the losses which it was incurring in the
Anglo-Dutch war, it was impossible for the company to furnish a
sufficient supply of Negroes to Barbadoes, that is, if Lord
Willoughby's heated protests can be trusted.
Speaking of the general prohibitions on their trade, the governor
exclaimed, May 12, 1666, that he had "come to where itt pinches, and
if yor Maty gives not an ample & speedy redress, you have not onely
lost St. Christophers but you will lose the rest, I (aye) & famous
Barbadoes, too, I feare." In bitter terms he spoke of the poverty of
the island, protesting that anyone who had recommended the various
restraints on the colony's trade was "more a merchant than a good
subject." The restriction on the trade to Guinea, he declared, was one
of the things that had brought Barbadoes to its present condition; and
the favoritism displayed toward the Royal Company in carrying on the
Negro trade with the Spaniards had entirely deprived the colonial
government of an export duty on slaves.[21]
The decision of the company to issue licenses to private traders did
not allay the storm of criticism that continued to descend on the
company from Barbadoes. The new governor, as his brother had done,
urged a free trade to Guinea for Negroes, maintaining that slaves had
become so scarce and expensive that the poor planters would be forced
to go to foreign plantations for a livelihood.[22] He complained that
the Colletons, father and son, the latter of whom was one of the
company's factors, had helped to bring about this critical
condition.[23] On September 5, 1667, representatives of the whole
colony petitioned the king to throw open the Guinea trade or to force
the company to supply them with slaves at the prices promised in the
early declaration, although even those prices seemed like a canker of
usury to the much abused planters.[24]
Following these complaints Sir Paul Painter and others submitted a
petition to the House of Commons in which they asserted that an open
trade to Africa was much better than one carried on by a company. They
maintained that previous to the establishment of the Royal Adventurers
Negroes had been sold for twelve, fourteen and sixteen pounds per
head, or 1,600 to 1,800 pounds of sugar, whereas now the company was
selling the best slaves to the Spaniards at eighteen pounds per head,
while the planters paid as high as thirty pounds for those of inferior
grade. This, they declared, had so exasperated the planters that they
often refused to ship their sugar and other products to England in the
company's ships no matter what freight rates the factors offered.
In reply to the petition of Sir Paul Painter, Ellis Leighton, the
company's secretary, admitted that as a natural result of the
Anglo-Dutch war the price of slaves like all other products in
Barbadoes, had increased considerably. He denied that this increase
could be attributed to the sale of Negroes to the Spaniards since the
company had not disposed of more than 1,200 slaves to them. He
contended that the company had been thrown into a critical financial
condition, partly as the result of the losses incurred from DeRuyter
in Africa, but mostly by the constantly increasing debts which the
planters owed to the company. Notwithstanding these difficulties
Secretary Leighton maintained that since the formation of the company
Barbadoes had been supplied more adequately with slaves than at any
previous time. As for the planters' having refused to ship their goods
on the company's ships, he declared that this was nothing more than
they had consistently done since the formation of the company.[25]
In answer to the planters' representation of September 5, 1667, Sir
Ellis Leighton admitted that if Barbadoes alone was being considered,
a free trade to Guinea was preferable to any other, but since the
trade of the whole nation had to be given first consideration the idea
was pernicious. He asserted that the company was willing to furnish
the planters with all the Negroes they desired at the rates already
published, seventeen pounds per head, provided security was given for
payment in money or sugar; that instead of a lack of Negroes in
Barbadoes there had been so large a number left on the hands of the
factors that many had died; and that if the planters were sincere in
their complaints they would be willing to agree with the company on a
definite number of slaves which they would take annually.[26]
Since the importance of the Royal Company was by this time definitely
on the wane Sir Paul Painter succeeded in presenting his petition
regarding affairs in Barbadoes to the House of Commons, in September,
1667. Although the Royal Company was ordered to produce its charter no
further action was taken. The planters were by no means discouraged
and again requested the Privy Council to consider the matter of
granting a free trade to Guinea.[27] Later the people of Barbadoes
once more represented to the king the inconceivable poverty caused by
the lack of free trade to Guinea and other places.[28] Some of the
Barbadoes assemblymen even suggested that all the merchants be
excluded from the island, and that an act be passed forbidding any one
to sue for a debt within four years.[29]
Finally, on May 12, 1669, in answer to the numerous complaints of
Barbadoes, the Privy Council informed the islanders that the king
would not infringe upon the charter granted to the African Company;
and that sufficient Negroes would be furnished to the planters at
reasonable prices providing the company was assured of payment.[30]
The company was pleased at the king's favorable decision and at once
represented to him its critical financial condition because the
planters refused to pay their just debts.[31] The complaint of the
company was considered in the Council September 28, 1669, at which
time an order was issued requiring that henceforth land as well as
chattel property in Barbadoes might be sold at public auction for the
satisfaction of debts. The governor was directed to see that this
order not only became a law in Barbadoes, but that after it had been
passed it was to be executed.[32]
Thus it became clear that the planters of Barbadoes could hope for no
relief from the king and, therefore, during the few remaining years in
which the company was in existence they made no other consistent
effort to convince the king of their point of view. On the other hand,
if the company expected the king's instructions to be of great
assistance it was sorely disappointed. On August 2, 1671, John Reid
reported that they had been unable to recover the company's debts,[33]
and further appeals to the king for relief were of no avail.[34]
It is difficult to ascertain whether Barbadoes was in as great need of
slaves as the planters often asserted. The records kept by the factors
in the island have nearly all disappeared. From an early ledger kept
by the Barbadoes factors it appears that from August 11, 1663, to
March 17, 1664, the usual time for the chief importation of the year,
3,075 Negroes were received by the company's factors. These slaves,
1,051 men, 1,018 women, 136 boys and 56 girls, were sold in return
partly for sugar and partly for money. Estimating 2,400 pounds of
sugar as equal to seventeen pounds it appears that the average price
for these Negroes was a little over sixteen pounds per head.[35] This
comparatively low price is to be accounted for by the fact that the
women and children are averaged with the men, who sold for a higher
price. These figures show therefore that the company's factors were
selling adult slaves at about seventeen pounds each, as the company
had publicly declared that it would do.
In 1667 the company asserted that it had furnished the plantations
with about 6,000 slaves each year. This statement is to be doubted
since the Anglo-Dutch war had practically disrupted the company's
entire trade on the African coast. On the other hand, there is reason
to think that the need for slaves in Barbadoes was not so pressing as
might be inferred from the statements of the planters.[36] They
naturally insisted on a large supply of slaves in order to keep the
prices as low as possible. There seems no doubt, however, that the
islanders were able to obtain more Negroes than they could pay for and
were therefore hopelessly in debt to the company. On July 9, 1668,
Governor Willoughby estimated the total population of Barbadoes at
60,000, of which 40,000 were slaves.[37] Indeed some merchants
declared that the slaves outnumbered the white men twenty to one.[38]
As compared to its trade with Barbadoes and Jamaica the company's
trade in slaves to the Leeward Islands was insignificant. The company
located at Nevis a factor who reported to the agents in Barbadoes[39]
and also at Antigua and Surinam where Governor Byam acted as
agent.[40] In Surinam, the lack of slaves was attributed to the
prominent men of Barbadoes who were supposed to be influential with
the Royal Company.[41] Later, during the Anglo-Dutch war, one of the
company's ships in attempting to go to Surinam with Negroes, was
captured by the Dutch.[42]
After the war the company seems to have neglected the islands
altogether. Upon one occasion the planters of Antigua pleaded
unsuccessfully to have Negroes furnished to them on credit.[43] At
another time they asserted that the company treated them much worse
than it did the planters of Barbadoes because the latter were able to
use their influence with the company to divert the supply of slaves to
Barbadoes. Their condition, they declared, seemed all the more bitter
when they considered the thriving trade in Negroes which the Dutch
carried on from the island of Curaçao.[44]
The history of the slave trade to Jamaica from 1660 to 1672 does not
present the varied number of problems which arose during the same time
in Barbadoes. Jamaica was as yet more sparsely settled than Barbadoes
and therefore unable to take as large a number of Negroes.
Nevertheless, even before 1660, there was a need for servants in
Jamaica,[45] and there, as in Barbadoes, the Dutch had furnished the
planters with Negroes. When a Dutch ship laden with 180 slaves
appeared at the island in June, 1661, Colonel d'Oyley, the governor,
who was desirous of making a personal profit out of the sales, was
strongly in favor of permitting the vessel to land its Negroes. The
Jamaica council, however, realized that the Navigation Act made the
Negro trade with the Dutch illegal, and therefore it refused to accede
to the governor's desire. This action so enraged the governor that on
his own responsibility he purchased the whole cargo of slaves, some of
which he sold to a Quaker in the island, while the others he disposed
of at considerable profit to a Spaniard.[46] Again, in February, 1662,
d'Oyley bought a number of Negroes from another Dutchman. When one of
the king's ships attempted to seize the Dutch vessel for infringing
the Navigation Act, the governor even contrived to get it safely away
from the island.[47]
When Colonel Modyford became governor of Jamaica in 1664, he was
instructed to do all that he possibly could to encourage the trade
which the Royal Company was endeavoring to set on foot in the West
Indies.[48] In the instructions mention was also made of Modyford's
previous interest in managing the affairs of the Royal Company in
Barbadoes for which company, it was said, he undoubtedly retained
great affection. Shortly thereafter he issued a proclamation
promising extensive freedom of commerce except in the Negro trade
which was in the hands of the Royal Company.[49]
Although Modyford's proclamation indicated a continued interest in the
company's trade, he gave his first consideration to the welfare of the
colony. This appears from a list of the island's needs which he
submitted to the king, May 10, 1664, in which he asked among other
things that the Royal Company be obliged to furnish annually whatever
Negroes were necessary, and that the poorer planters be accorded easy
terms in paying for them. Furthermore he requested that indentured
servants be sent from England and that the island might have freedom
of trade except in Negroes.[50] His desires for a free trade were
denied, but the Privy Council agreed to consult with the Royal Company
and to recommend that it be obliged to furnish Jamaica with a
sufficient supply of Negroes.[51]
There is no evidence that the Privy Council called the company's
attention to Modyford's request, nor is there any indication that it
endeavored to send very many Negroes to Jamaica. Modyford attended to
a plantation which the company had bought in Jamaica[52] and he sold a
few slaves to the Spaniards,[53] but all the company's affairs in the
aggregate really amounted to little in that island. There was a
continual call for a greater supply of Negroes than the company
sent.[54] Two ledgers used by the factors show that 690 Negroes were
sold in 1666 and in the following year,[55] 170. Although this number
was inadequate to meet the colony's needs, it is doubtful whether the
company sent any slaves to Jamaica after 1667.
Under these circumstances Modyford lost interest in the company's
affairs and therefore it resolved, April 6, 1669, to dispense with his
services. Modyford had received a pension of three hundred pounds per
year up to Michaelmas, 1666, but after that time the company's
financial condition no longer warranted this expense. The company does
not seem to have been displeased with Modyford because it requested
that he use his good offices as governor to assist it in every
possible way. At the same time the services of the other factor, Mr.
Molesworth, were discontinued and he was requested to send an
inventory of the company's affairs.[56]
Modyford thus free from his connection with the company probably
represented the desires of the Jamaica people in a more unbiased
manner. On September 20, 1670, he enumerated a number of needs of the
island and asked Secretary Arlington that licenses to trade to Africa
for Negroes be granted free of charge or at least at more moderate
rates. For this privilege he declared that security could be given
that the slaves would be carried only to Jamaica. The Royal Company
itself could not complain when it realized how much this freedom of
trade would mean toward the prosperity of Jamaica, and thus ultimately
to the entire kingdom.[57] Modyford admitted that the Anglo-Dutch war
had been a great hindrance to Jamaica's prosperity but that the lack
of Negroes since 1665 had been a much greater obstruction.[58]
The more insistent demands which Governor Modyford made in 1670 for
freedom of trade to Africa show that the company's failure to send
Negroes to Jamaica after 1667 was beginning to be resented. Although
there had been a constant demand for Negroes in Jamaica there was up
to 1670 less need for slaves there than in Barbadoes. At least the
demands made by the planters of Jamaica were not so frequent and so
insistent as they were in Barbadoes. To a certain extent the planters
of Jamaica may have been deterred from representing the lack of labor
supply while Governor Modyford was one of the company's factors.
Modyford had been very much interested in the company's trade,
especially with the Spanish colonies. As soon as it became clear,
however, that the losses incurred in the Anglo-Dutch war, would make
it impossible for the company to continue the slave trade to the West
Indies, Modyford undoubtedly voiced a genuine demand on the part of
the planters for more slaves. By the year 1670 the island was better
developed than it had been ten years before and the need for slaves
was beginning to be acute.[59]
About the first of March, 1662, two Spaniards made their appearance at
Barbadoes to make overtures for a supply of slaves, which they
intended to transport to Peru. If they received encouragement, the
Spaniards asserted that they would come every fortnight with large
supplies of bullion to pay for the slaves which they exported. Sir
Thomas Modyford, the company's factor and the speaker of the Barbadoes
assembly, was enthusiastic about this proposition and pointed out that
the trade with the Spanish colonies would increase the king's revenue
and at the same time would deprive the Dutch of a lucrative trade.[60]
Since they were well treated on their first visit to Barbadoes the
Spaniards returned in April, 1662, at which time they bought four
hundred Negroes for which they paid from 125 to 140 pieces of
eight.[61] When the Spaniards came to export their Negroes, however,
they found that Governor Willoughby had levied a duty of eleven pieces
of eight on each Negro. The assembly under Modyford's leadership at
once declared the imposition of such a tax illegal. This resolution
was carried to the council where, against the opposition of the
governor, it was also passed. Governor Willoughby, nevertheless, had
the temerity to collect the tax on some of the Negroes then in port,
and a little later when one of the ships of the Royal Adventurers sold
its Negroes to the Spaniards, he again enforced the payment of the
export tax.[62] Notwithstanding the governor's actions, Modyford
despatched one of his own ships with slaves to Cartagena where it
arrived safely and was well treated by the Spaniards.[63] Modyford was
now more than ever convinced of the possibilities of the trade with
the Spanish colonies, but believing that it could not be conducted
successfully by private individuals, he recommended that it be settled
on the Royal Company.[64]
When the Royal Company learned that the trade in Negroes to the
Spanish colonies offered many possibilities it was very much
interested. A petition was immediately submitted to the king
requesting that, if the Spaniards were allowed to come to Barbadoes
for slaves, the whole trade be conferred on the Royal Company. The
company declared that the planters in the colonies had no reason to
object to this arrangement because they had not engaged in this trade,
and moreover an opportunity was being offered to them to become
members of the company.[65]
The Privy Council was favorable to the company's proposition, and on
March 13, 1663, the king instructed Lord Willoughby to permit the
Spaniards to trade at Barbadoes for slaves notwithstanding any letters
of marque that had been issued against them, or any provisions of the
Navigation Act. He declared that the Spaniards were to be allowed to
import into Barbadoes only the products of their own colonies, and
were not to be permitted to carry away the produce of the English
colonies. The effect of this provision was that in addition to slaves
the Spaniards might obtain any products imported into Barbadoes from
England.[66] The king settled the question of duties on slaves by
ordering that ten pieces of eight on each Negro should be paid by all
persons who exported slaves from Barbadoes or Jamaica to the Spanish
colonies, except the agents of the Royal Company. The company was to
pay no export duties on Negroes especially when the Spaniards had made
previous contracts for them in England.[67]
Probably on account of the export duty on slaves which Willoughby had
levied in 1662, the Spaniards were not anxious to return to Barbadoes.
The company's factors therefore sent one of their ships with slaves to
Terra Firma in order to convince the Spaniards that their desire for a
Negro trade was genuine. On this occasion Lord Willoughby and the
council of the island exacted £320 in customs from the factors. When
the company heard of this procedure it immediately asked the king to
enforce the order allowing it to export Negroes free of duty.[68]
Thereupon the king ordered Willoughby to make immediate restitution of
the £320 and to give the company's factors as much encouragement as
possible.[69] Willoughby finally obeyed in a sullen manner. On May 20,
1665 he declared that the company had finally monopolized the Spanish
trade for Negroes and that, because the king refused to permit an
export duty to be levied on them, there was no revenue from that
source.[70] The king's concessions to the Royal Company were of little
avail, however, because the Anglo-Dutch war effectually stopped most
of the company's trade in Negroes including that from Barbadoes to the
Spanish colonies.
In considering the trade in slaves from Jamaica to the Spanish
colonies it is well to keep in mind that this island lay far to the
west of all other English possessions in the West Indies. It was
located in the very midst of the Spanish possessions from which it had
been wrested in 1655 by the expedition of Sir William Penn and Admiral
Venables. The people of the island realized their isolation and
occasionally attempted to break down the decrees of the Spanish
government, which forbade its colonies to have any intercourse with
foreigners. Although the English government began a somewhat similar
policy with respect to its colonies in the Navigation Act of 1660, it
was generally agreed that some exception should be made for the island
of Jamaica in connection with the Spanish trade.
When Lord Windsor became governor of Jamaica in 1662 he was instructed
to endeavor to secure a free commerce with the Spanish colonies. If
the governors of the Spanish colonies refused to grant this trade
voluntarily, Lord Windsor and the council of the island were given
permission to compel the Spanish authorities to acquiesce by the use
of force or any other means at their disposal.[71] Accordingly a
letter embodying this request was written to the governors of Porto
Rico and Santo Domingo, but unfavorable replies were received. In
accordance with the king's instructions the Jamaica council determined
to obtain a trade by force.[72] This was done by issuing letters of
marque to privateers for the purpose of preying upon Spanish
ships.[73]
In the following year, 1663, as has already been mentioned, Charles II
commanded the governors of Barbadoes and Jamaica to permit the
Spaniards to buy goods and Negroes in their respective islands, and to
refrain from charging duties on these Negroes in case they were
reexported by the agents of the Royal Adventurers.[74] This was
followed by a royal order of April 29, 1663, commanding the governor
to stop all hostile measures against the Spaniards. Sir Charles
Lyttleton, the deputy governor, replied that he hoped the attempt to
begin a trade with the Spaniards would be successful, especially in
Negroes, which the Spaniards could not obtain more easily than in
Jamaica.[75]
When Sir Charles Modyford became governor of Jamaica in 1664, the king
repeated his desire to promote trade and correspondence with the
Spanish plantations. Indeed Modyford's previous success in selling
Negroes to the Spaniards probably influenced his appointment to this
office. As soon as Modyford reached Jamaica he wrote a letter to the
governor of Santo Domingo informing him that the king had ordered a
cessation of hostilities and desired a peaceful commerce with the
Spanish colonies.[76] Modyford instructed the two commissioners by
whom the letter was sent to emphasize the trade in Negroes and to
induce the Spaniards, if possible, to negotiate with him in regard to
this matter.[77] Again the answer of the governor of Santo Domingo was
unfavorable. He pointed out that it was not within his power to order
a commerce with Jamaica, but that this was the province of the
government in Spain. The governor, moreover, complained that the
people of Jamaica had acted in the same hostile manner toward the
Spaniards since the Restoration as they had in Cromwell's time, and
therefore his people were little inclined to begin a trade with
Jamaica.
The refusal of the Spanish governor to consider Modyford's proposition
seemed all the more bitter since it was well known at that time that
the Spaniards were obtaining many Negroes from the Dutch West India
Company. The Genoese also had a contract with the Spaniards to deliver
24,500 Negroes in seven years nearly all of whom they expected to
obtain from the Dutch at that "cursed little barren island" of
Curaçao, as Sir Thomas Lynch called it. Lynch also observed that if
the Royal Company desired to participate in the Spanish trade it would
either have to sell to the Genoese or drive the Dutch out of Africa,
because he did not believe it was possible to call in the privateers
without the assistance of several men-of-war.[78] Just how much weight
should be attached to this opinion is doubtful since Lynch was
probably so much interested in continuing privateering against the
Spaniards, that he cared little how much this would interfere with the
company's attempt to develop the Negro trade.
Lynch's opinion was not shared by the king, who had heard that the
privateers were continuing their hostilities against the Spaniards. He
therefore informed Modyford that he could not adequately express his
dissatisfaction at the daily complaints made by the Spaniards about
the violence of ships said to belong to Jamaica. Modyford was strictly
commanded to secure and punish any such offenders.[79] The governor
issued a proclamation in accordance with the king's instructions,[80]
and also notified the governor of Havana that offenders against
Spanish commerce would hereafter be punished as pirates.[81]
After the Anglo-Dutch war began the company imported very few Negroes
to Jamaica for the Spanish trade or for any other purpose. The king's
stringent orders regarding privateers were gradually allowed to go
unnoticed. Modyford again began to issue letters of marque, a
procedure which naturally destroyed all possibility of commerce
between the Spanish colonies and the Royal Company.
At the time the desultory trade in Negroes was being started with the
Spaniards at Barbadoes, Richard White, of Spain, came to England as an
agent for two Spaniards, Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomoline.[82]
These two men had been granted the assiento in Spain, that is, the
privilege of furnishing the Spanish colonies with Negro slaves. In
order to wrest some of this trade from the Dutch West India Company
the Royal Company entered into a contract with White, in the year
1663, to furnish the Spanish assientists with 3,500 Negroes per year
for a definite number of years. According to this contract the slaves
were to be delivered to the vessels of the assientists in Barbadoes
and Jamaica; one of the company's factors was to be placed on board
such ships; and the necessary safe conducts were to be procured for
their voyage to and from the port of Cadiz.[83] Sir Ellis Leighton,
secretary of the Royal Adventurers, obtained permission for Grillo's
agents to reside in Jamaica and Barbadoes.[84] Sir Martin Noell, one
of the most important West Indian merchants, as well as a prominent
member of the African Company, seems to have been intrusted with the
collection of the money due on this contract.[85]
Not long after this agreement was made the possibility of a war with
the Dutch began to appear. The company considered ways by which Grillo
might be induced to mitigate the contract.[86] Complications
concerning the security to be given arose, and Grillo complained that
the required number of Negroes was not being furnished to him. Under
the circumstances this was almost impossible because the outbreak of
the Anglo-Dutch war made it very difficult to obtain slaves.
Nevertheless, on May 26, 1665, the company resolved to procure as many
Negroes as possible to fill the contract, providing Grillo made prompt
payments.[87]
As may be surmised no great number of slaves was exported from
Barbadoes or Jamaica on this contract. Only one ship arrived at
Barbadoes from Cadiz desiring to secure one thousand slaves, but the
company's factors could obtain only eight hundred. Lord Willoughby
carefully reported that he had complied with his Majesty's command not
to exact any export duty for these slaves.[88] In Jamaica fewer
Negroes are known to have been sold on this contract to Spanish ships
which came from Cartagena.[89] There may have been other instances of
sales not recorded, but it is certain that the war interfered to such
an extent that the number of Negroes sold to Grillo fell far short of
what the contract called for. In order to keep the agreement intact
the company resolved, March 23, 1666, to lay the situation before the
king, and to ask him to permit Grillo's agents to buy sufficient
Negroes in the plantations to make up the required number, and that no
export duties be charged on them.[90] The king complied with the
company's request, and the desired orders were sent to the governors
of Jamaica and Barbadoes.[91] Some trouble had arisen in Jamaica,
however, between Grillo's agents and Governor Modyford. Since the
company believed that Grillo's agents were primarily to blame for
this, it resolved in the future to deliver Negroes only at Barbadoes
in return for ready money.[92]
This was virtually the end of the contract. In 1667 the company spoke
of the agreement as having been broken by the Grillos, and that it was
under no further obligation to carry out its terms. Altogether, it
declared, that no more than 1,200 Negroes had been delivered to
Grillo's agents.[93] Thus this project which the company at first
asserted would bring into the English kingdom 86,000 pounds of Spanish
silver per year[94] ended in this insignificant fashion.
Although the Grillo contract and the other attempts to begin a slave
trade with the Spanish colonies had proved much less successful than
the Company of Royal Adventurers had hoped, a great deal had been
accomplished toward bringing to light the fundamental difficulties of
this trade. In the first place not much could be accomplished in the
way of developing this trade so long as the Spanish government
maintained its attitude of uncompromising hostility toward all
foreigners notwithstanding the fact that the Spanish colonists would
gladly have welcomed the slave traders. Furthermore, although the
English government had signified its willingness to disregard the
restrictions of the Navigation Acts in this instance, the hostile
attitude assumed by the planters toward the trade in slaves to the
Spanish colonies also had to be taken into consideration. Whenever the
planters were able to do so they endeavored to prevent the exportation
to the Spanish colonies of slaves which they maintained were very much
needed on their own plantations.
This opposition to the trade in Negroes to the Spanish colonies was
only one of the several ways in which the colonists manifested their
hostility toward the mercantile element in general and the Company of
Royal Adventurers in particular. Freedom of trade with all the world
seemed very desirable to the planters who regarded the restrictions of
the Navigation Acts as gross favoritism and partiality to the rising
mercantile class. The monopoly of supplying the colonies with slaves,
conferred upon the Company of Royal Adventurers, was most cordially
hated on account of the great degree of dependence placed upon slave
labor in the plantations. As a result of this conflict of interests
the planters early resorted to numerous devices such as the laws for
the protection of debtors, to embarrass the company in the exercise of
its monopoly. Since the company had received its exclusive privileges
by a charter from the crown the English planters in the West Indies
soon found that their trouble with the Company of Royal Adventurers
brought them also into direct conflict with the king. In this way the
planters enjoyed the distinction of being among the first to begin the
opposition which later, in the Great Revolution, resulted in the
overthrow of James II and the royal prerogative.
GEORGE F. ZOOK.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] These were people of the rougher and even criminal classes of the
parent country who, in return for their ocean passage, agreed to work
for some planter during a specified number of years, usually seven.
[2] C. S. P., Col., 1674-1675, Addenda, p. 86, articles agreed on by
Lord Willoughby and Sir George Ayscue and others, January 11, 1652.
[3] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 14, petitions of merchants and
planters, March 1, 1661.
[4] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, pp. 29, 30, 45, 46, 47, petitions from
Barbadoes, May 11, July 10, 12, 1661.
[5] _Ibid._, p. 117, minutes of the council and assembly of Barbadoes,
December 18, 1662.
[6] The pieces of eight were to be accepted at four shillings each,
and 2,400 pounds of muscovado sugar were to be accepted in exchange
for a slave.
[7] Answer of the Company of Royal Adventurers of England ... to the
Petition ... exhibited ... by Sir Paul Painter, His Royal Highness
(the duke of York) and others to Lord Willoughby, January 10, 1662/3.
[8] C. O. 1: 18, ff. 85, 86, Modyford and Colleton to the Royal
Adventurers, March 20, 1664.
[9] A. C. R., 75: 13, 14, J5.
[10] _Ibid._, 75: 20.
[11] On January 2, 1665, the company estimated the entire debt which
was owing to it in all the plantations at £49,895. S. P., Dom.,
Charles II, 110, f. 18, petition of the Royal Adventurers to the king.
[12] P. C. R., Charles II, 4: 177, 190-192, August 3, 24, 1664.
[13] C. O. 1: 19, ff. 234-238, proceedings of the court of admiralty
in Barbadoes, June 17, 24, 1665.
[14] _Ibid._, f. 232, petition of the Royal Adventurers to Arlington,
September 14, 1665.
[15] P. C. R., Charles II, 5: 402, Privy Council to Willoughby, April
6, 1666.
[16] C. O. 1: 20, f. 209, Willoughby to Privy Council, July 16, 1666.
[17] _Ibid._, f. 335, petition of the Royal Adventurers to the king,
December 7, 1666.
[18] P. C. R., Charles II, 6: 231, December 7, 1666.
[19] _Ibid._, 7: 162, 163, Privy Council to Willoughby, January 31,
1668.
[20] C. O. 1: 22, f. 191, Willoughby to Privy Council, May 30, 1668.
[21] _Ibid._, 20, f. 149, Willoughby to the king, May 32, 1666.
[22] _Ibid._, 21, f. 170, Willoughby to the king, July, 1667.
[23] C. O. 1: 21, f. 222, Willoughby to Williamson, September 17,
1667.
[24] _Ibid._, f. 209, petition of the representatives of Barbadoes to
the king, September 5, 1667. This document and Willoughby's letter of
September 17, 1667, also urge very strongly that the bars of the
Navigation Acts be let down in order to permit servants to be imported
from Scotland.
[25] The petition and these answers are printed in a pamphlet
entitled, "Answer of the Company of Royal Adventurers of England
trading into Africa, to the Petition and Paper of certain Heads and
Particulars thereunto relating exhibited to the Honourable House of
Commons by Sir Paul Painter." As to the assertion that the planters
refused to ship their products in the company's ships there seems to
be no very good evidence on either side. Sometimes the company's
vessels were sent home from Barbadoes empty. Upon such occasions the
agents always said that there were no goods with which to load them.
[26] C. O. 1: 22, f. 42, answer of Sir Ellis Leighton, secretary of
the Royal Adventurers, to the petition from Barbadoes of September 5,
1667; C. O. 1: 22, f. 43, proposal of the Royal Adventurers concerning
the sale of Negroes in Barbadoes, January, 1668
[27] C. O. 1: 22, f. 204, address of the merchants and planters of
Barbadoes now in London, read at the committee of trade, June 16,
1668.
[28] _Ibid._, 23, f. 69, address of the representative of Barbadoes to
the king, August 3, 1668.
[29] _Ibid._, f. 42, account of affairs in Barbadoes by Lord
Willoughby, July 22, 1668.
[30] P. C. R., Charles II, 8: 294, May 12, 1669.
[31] _Ibid._, 8: 402, August 27, 1669.
[32] _Ibid._, 8: 424, September 28, 1669.
[33] C. O. 1: 27, f. 24, John Reid to Arlington, August 2, 1671.
[34] A. C. R., 75: 106, 108, 109, September 11, November 10, 1671.
[35] These numbers and prices are gleaned from page three of the
Barbadoes ledger. A. C. R., 646.
[36] Answer of the Company of Royal Adventurers ... to the Petition
... exhibited ... by Sir Paul Painter.
[37] C. O. 29: 1, f. 116, Willoughby to the Lords of the Council, July
9, 1668.
[38] _Ibid._, 1: 25, f. 62, memorial of some principal merchants
trading to the plantations, 1670.
[39] _Ibid._, 18, f. 86, Modyford and Colleton to (the Royal
Adventurers); C. O. 1: 20, f. 168, Michael Smith to Richard Chaundler,
June 11, 1666.
[40] _Ibid._, 22, f. 89, Willoughby to Arlington, March 2, 1668.
[41] _Ibid._, 17, f. 219, Renatus Enys to Bennet, November 1, 1663.
[42] _Ibid._, 29: 1, f. 116, Willoughby to the Lords of the Council,
July 9, 1668.
[43] _Ibid._, 1: 22, f. 53, proposals of the inhabitants of Antigua to
Governor Willoughby, January 31, 1668.
[44] C. S. P., Col. 1669-1674, p, 204, William Byam to Willoughby,
1670?; C. O. 1: 25, f. 138, Byam to Willoughby, n. d.
[45] C. S. P., Col., 1675-1676, Addenda, p. 125, Cornelius Burough to
the Admiralty Commissioners, November 28, 1658.
[46] _Ibid._, 1661-1668, p. 36, narrative of the buying of a shipload
of Negroes, June 14, 1661.
[47] C. O. 1: 16, f. 77, Captain Richard Whiting to the officers of
his Majesty's navy, March 10, 1662; C. O. 1: 17, f. 236, petition of
Colonel Godfrey Ashbey and others to the king, 1663.
[48] _Ibid._, 18, f. 58, instructions to Colonel Modyford, governor of
Jamaica, February 18, 1664.
[49] C. O. 1: 18, f. 81, declaration of Sir Thomas Modyford, March 2,
1664.
[50] _Ibid._, f. 135, Modyford to Bennet, May 10, 1664.
[51] _Ibid._, f. 208, report of the Privy Council on Jamaica affairs,
August 10, 1664.
[52] A. C. R., 75: 89.
[53] Add. MSS., 12,430, f. 31, Beeston, Journal, February 1, 1664/5.
[54] C. O. 1: 19, f. 31, Lynch to Bennet, February 12, 1665; _ibid._,
f. 189, John Style to (Bennet), July 24, 1665.
[55] A. C. R., 869, entries from January 1, 1665/6 to December 31,
1666; _ibid._, 870: 62.
[56] A. C. R., 75: 14, 89.
[57] C. O. 1: 25, f. 127, Modyford to Arlington, (September 20, 1670).
[58] C. S. P., Col., 1669-1674, p. 107, additional propositions made
to the Privy Council about Jamaica by Charles Modyford by order of Sir
Thomas Modyford, (September 28, 1670).
[59] C. O. 1: 14, f. 56, proposal by Lord Marlborough, 1663.
[60] _Ibid._, 17, f. 28, Thomas Modyford? to his brother, March 30,
1662.
[61] _Ibid._, f. 29, Thomas Modyford? to his brother, April 30, 1662.
[62] C. O. 1: 17, ff. 29, 30, Thomas Modyford to his brother, May 26,
1662.
[63] _Ibid._, f. 32, Thomas Modyford to his brother, September 3, 13,
1662.
[64] _Ibid._, f 32, Thomas Modyford to his brother, September 13,
1662.
[65] _Ibid._, f. 20, petition of the Royal Adventurers to the king,
January, 1663.
[66] C. O. 1: 17, f. 136, instructions to Lord Willoughby, June 16,
1663.
[67] _Ibid._, f. 227 (the king to the governors of Barbadoes and
Jamaica). March 30, 1663. That there was some trouble in deciding just
what provisions to make regarding the Spanish trade appears from
several unsigned and undated letters to Willoughby with conflicting
provisions, but they nearly all mention the exception made in favor of
the Royal Company in the letter of March 13, 1663. C. O. 1: 17, f. 22;
C. O. 1: 17, ff. 24, 25; C. O. 1: 17, ff. 26, 27; P. C. R., Charles
II, 3: 336-338.
[68] C. O. 1: 17, ff. 225, 226, petition of the Royal Adventurers to
the king, November, 1663.
[69] Willoughby made a restitution of the £320 in March, 1664. C. O.
1: 18, f. 86, Modyford and Colleton to (the Royal Adventurers), March
31, 1664.
[70] C. O. 1: 19, f. 124, Willoughby to the king, May 20, 1665.
[71] C. O. 1: 16, f. 112, additional instructions to Lord Windsor,
governor of Jamaica, April 8, 1662.
[72] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 106, minutes of the council of
Jamaica, August 20, 1662.
[73] A full description of privateering by the English against the
Spaniards from the year 1660 to 1670 may be found in an article by
Miss Violet Barbour in the American Historical Review, XVI: 529-566.
[74] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 125 (the king to the governors of
Barbadoes and Jamaica), March 13, 1663.
[75] C. O. 1: 17, f. 199, Sir Charles Lyttleton, deputy governor, to
Bennet, October 15, 1663.
[76] _Ibid._, 18, f. 137, Modyford to the governor of Santo Domingo,
April 30, 1664.
[77] _Ibid._, f. 139, Modyford's instructions to Colonel Cary and
Captain Perrott, May 2, 1664.
[78] C. O. 1: 18, ff. 152, 153, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lynch to
Bennet. May 25, 1664.
[79] C. S. P., Col., 1661-1668, p. 215, the king to Modyford, June 15,
1664.
[80] _Ibid._, p. 220, proclamation by Sir Thomas Modyford, governor of
Jamaica, June 15, 1664.
[81] _Ibid._, p. 228, minutes of the council of Jamaica, August 19-22,
1664.
[82] C. S. P., Dom., 1663-1664, p. 168, Richard White to Captain Weld,
June 11, 1663.
[83] As this contract cannot be discovered it is difficult to say just
when it was made or what were its conditions. Georges Scelle in his
book, La Traité Nègriere aux Indes de Castille, 1: 524, gives the date
of this contract as February 28, 1663, and says it was for 35,000
Negroes which were to be delivered at the rate of 5,000 per year. This
may be true, but on the other hand the company distinctly declares in
one place that the contract was for the annual delivery of 3,500
Negroes per year. C. O. 1: 19, ff. 7, 8, brief narrative of the trade
and present condition of the Royal Adventurers, 1664/5.
[84] C. O. 1: 17, f. 189, memorial of Sir Ellis Leighton to the duke
of York, 1663.
[85] _Ibid._, ff. 244, 247; A. C. R., 75: 48.
[86] A. C. R., 75: 15, August 5, 1664.
[87] _Ibid._, 75: 34, May 26, 1665.
[88] C. O. 1: 18, f. 165, Willoughby to the king, June 17, 1664.
[89] Add. MSS., 12,430, f. 31, Beeston, Journal, April 8, 1665.
[90] A. C. R., 75: 43, March 23, 1665/6.
[91] P. C. R., Charles II, 5: 396, March 30, 1666.
[92] A. C. R., 75: 46; Add. MSS., 12,430, f. 31, Beeston, Journal,
February 7, 1664/5.
[93] Answer of the Company of Royal Adventurers ... to the Petition
... exhibited ... by Sir Paul Painter.
[94] C. O. 1: 19, ff. 7, 8, brief narrative of the trade and present
condition of the Royal Adventurers, 1664/5.
BOOK REVIEWS
_Below the James. A Plantation Sketch._ By WILLIAM CABELL BRUCE. The
Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1918. Pp. 157.
This book is, as its title imports, a plantation sketch dealing with
that sort of life in Virginia just after the Civil War. While it is a
mere story and hardly a dramatic one, it throws light on the Negro as
a constituent part of the southern society of that day. As a student
at Harvard before the War a southerner comes into contact with a
fellow student from Massachusetts, to whom he becomes bound by such
strong ties that the four years of bloody conflict between the
sections are not sufficient to sever this connection. Some years after
this upheaval friend thinks of friend and soon the northerner finds
himself on his way to visit the southern friend.
Coming to the South at the time when the Negroes as a new class in
their different situation were endeavoring to readjust themselves
under difficult circumstances, the observations of the traveler are of
much value to the historian. He not only saw much to admire in the
colonial seats of prominent southerners like Patrick Henry and John
Randolph, but showed an appreciation of the simple life of the
Negroes. Their new position as freemen taking a part in the
government, the rôle of the carpetbagger, and the undesirable
conditions of that régime play some part in the story.
As to the Negroes themselves, however, the most interesting
revelations are those dealing with the inner life of the blacks. In
the language used to impersonate the blacks the reader sees a
philosophy of life; in their mode of living appears the virtue of a
noble peasantry; and in their worship of divinity there is the
striving of a righteous people willing to labor and to wait. In this
respect the book is valuable. We have known too little of the
plantation, too little of the life of the Negro before the Civil War,
too little of how he during the Reconstruction developed into
something above and beyond the hewer of wood and drawer of water.
While not primarily historical then and falling far short of being an
historical novel, this book is unconsciously informing and therefore
interesting and valuable to the student of Negro life and history.
* * * * *
_The Emancipated and Freed in American Sculpture. A Study in
Interpretation._ By FREEMAN HENRY MORRIS MURRAY. Murray Brothers,
incorporated, Washington, D. C., 1916. Pp. 228.
This work is to some extent a compilation of matter which on former
occasions have been used by the author in lectures and addresses
bearing on the Negroes in art. There is in it, however, much that is
new, for even in this formerly used material the author has
incorporated additional facts and more extensive comment. This work is
not given out as the last word. It is one of a series to appear under
the caption of the "Black Folk in Art" or an effort to set forth the
contributions of the blacks to art in ancient and modern times. This
work itself is, as the author calls it, "A Study in Interpretation."
His purpose, he says, is to indicate as well as he can, what he thinks
are the criteria for the formation of judgment in these matters. Yet
his interpretation is to be different from technical criticism, as his
effort is primarily directed toward intention, meaning and effect.
This thought is the keynote to the comments on the various sculptures
illustrated in the work. While one may not agree with the author in
his arrangement and may differ from his interpretation, it must be
admitted that the book contains interesting information and is a bold
step in the right direction. It is a portraiture of freedom as a
motive for artistic expression and an effort to symbolize this desire
for liberation to animate the citizenry in making. It brings to light
numerous facts as to how the thought of the Negro has been dominant in
the minds of certain artists and how in the course of time race
prejudice has caused the pendulum to swing the other way in the
interest of those who would forget what the blacks have thought and
felt and done.
The many illustrations constitute the chief value of the work. There
appears _The Greek Slave_ by Hiram Powers, _Freedom_ on the dome of
the Capitol, _The Libyan Sibyl_ by W. W. Story, _The Freedman_ by J.
I. A. Ward, _The Freedwoman_ by Edmonia Lewis, _Emancipation_ in
Washington by Thomas Ball, _Emancipation_ in Edinburgh, Scotland, by
George E. Bissell, _Emancipation_ panel on the Military Monument in
Cleveland by Levi T. Scofield, _Emancipation_ by Meta Warrick Fuller,
_The Beecher Monument_ in Brooklyn by J. I. A. Ward, _Africa_ by
Randolph Rogers, _Africa_ by Daniel C. French, _The Harriet Tubman
Tablet, The Frederick Douglass Monument_ in Rochester, _The Attucks
Monument_ in Boston by Robert Kraus, _The Faithful Slaves Monument_ in
Fort Mill, South Carolina, _l'Africane_ by E. Caroni, _l'Abolizione_
by R. Vincenzo, _Ethiopia_ and _Toussaint L'Ouverture_ by Anne
Whitney, _The Slave Auction_, _The Fugitive's Story_, _Taking the Oath
and Drawing Rations_, _The Wounded Scout_, and _Uncle Ned's School_ by
John Rogers, _The Slave Memorial_ by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and _The
Death of Major Montgomery_.
* * * * *
_The Question Before Congress. A consideration of the Debates and
final action by Congress upon various Phases of the Race Question in
the United States._ By GEORGE W. MITCHELL. The A. M. E. Book Concern,
Philadelphia, 1918. Pp. 237.
This book contains little which has not been extensively treated in
various other works of standard authors. It goes over the ground
covered in books easily accessible in most local libraries. Yet there
is in it something which the historian does not find in these other
works. It is this same drama of history as it appears to an
intelligent man of color well read in the history of this country
although lacking the attitude of a scientific investigator. Whether he
has written an accurate book is of little value here. These facts are
already known. He has enabled the public to know the Negro's reaction
on these things and that in itself is a contribution to history.
As to exactly what the author has treated little needs to be said. He
begins with the slavery question in the Federal Convention of 1787
which framed the Constitution of the United States. Then comes the
treatment of the slave trade, the debate on the Missouri Compromise,
the exclusion of abolition literature from the mails, the attack on
the right of petition, the exodus of antislavery men from the South,
the murder of Lovejoy, the coming of Giddings to Congress, the Wilmot
Proviso, the formation of the Free Soil party, antislavery men in
Congress, the effort to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia,
the slavery question in California, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas
Nebraska trouble, the organization of the Republican Party, the Dred
Scott Decision, John Brown's Raid and the election of Abraham Lincoln.
Then follows a discussion of facts still more familiar. The author
takes up the upheaval of the Civil War and the difficulty with which
the Negroes effected a readjustment because of the large number of
refugees. He next discusses the rôle of the Negro in politics during
the Reconstruction period, the outrages which followed and the failure
of the carpetbagger régime. The remaining portion of the book is
devoted to the treatment of the Negroes in freedom and the problem of
social justice. In fact, almost every phase of Negro political history
from the formation of the Union to the present time has been treated
by the author.
* * * * *
_Negro Population: 1790-1915._ By JOHN CUMMINGS, Ph.D., Expert Special
Agent, Bureau of Census. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1918.
Pp. 844.
This volume is unique in that never before in the history of the
Bureau of the Census has it devoted a whole volume to statistics
bearing on the Negro. This work, moreover, is more important than the
average census report in that it covers a period of 125 years. The
compiler has used not only previously published documents but various
unpublished schedules, tables and manuscripts which give this work a
decidedly historical value. Never before has the public been given so
many new figures concerning the development and progress of the
Negroes in this country. It is a cause of much satisfaction then that
these facts are available so that many questions which have hitherto
been puzzling because of the lack of such statistics may now be easily
cleared up.
What the work comprehends is interesting. It is a statistical account
of the "growth of the Negro population from decade to decade; its
geographical distribution at each decennial enumeration; its migratory
drift westward in the early decades of the last century, when Negroes
and whites were moving forward into the East and West South Central
States as cultivators of virgin soil; its drift northward and
cityward, and in more recent decades southward out of the "black
belt," in response to the universal gravity pull of complex economic
and social forces; its widespread dispersion on the one hand, and on
the other its segregation with reference to the white population; its
sex and age composition and marital condition; its fertility, as
indicated by the proportion of children to women of child-bearing age
in different periods--again, under social conditions varying from the
irresponsible relations of slavery to the more exacting institutions
of freedom; its intermixture with other races, as shown by the
increase in the proportion mulatto; its annual mortality in the
registration area; its educational progress since emancipation, in so
far as it can be measured by elementary schooling and by increasing
literacy; its criminality, dependency, and physical and mental
defectiveness--those characteristics of individual degeneracy which
Negroes manifest in common with other racial classes in all civilized
communities; finally, its economic progress, as indicated by
increasing ownership of homes, by entrance into skilled trades and
professions, and primarily and fundamentally by the rapid development
of Negro agriculture."
Although this report goes as far back as 1790 most of the facts herein
assembled bear on the life of the Negro since emancipation. This is
not due, however, to the tendency to neglect the early period, but to
the fact that earlier in our history statistics concerning Negroes
were not considered valuable. It is only recently that public
officials have directed attention to the importance of keeping these
records and in many parts of the South certain statistics regarding
Negroes are not yet considered worth while. The United States
Government, however, as this volume indicates, has taken this matter
seriously and from such volumes as this the public will expect more
valuable information.
NOTES
To increase our circulation and the membership of the Association the
management has employed as Field Agent Mr. J. E. Ormes, formerly
connected with the business department of Wilberforce University. Mr.
Ormes will appoint agents to sell books and solicit subscriptions to
the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY. He will also organize clubs for the
study of Negro life and history.
Any five persons desiring to prosecute studies in this field
intensively may organize a club and upon the payment of two dollars
each will be entitled not only to receive free of further charge the
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, but may call on the Director for such
instruction as can be given by mail. Members will be supplied with a
quarterly outline study of the current numbers of the JOURNAL OF NEGRO
HISTORY and with a topical outline of the contents of the back
numbers.
Clubs will be left free to work out their own organization and plans.
The management, however, follows the plan of a group working under the
simplest restrictions. There should be elected a president, a
secretary, a treasurer, and an instructor. The last named official
should be the most intelligent and the best informed member of the
group.
* * * * *
E. Payen's _Belgique et Congo_ and P. Daye's _Les Conquetes
Africaniques des Belge_ have been published by Berger-Levrault in
Paris.
The Cornhill Publishing Company has brought out _Twenty-five Years in
the Black Belt_ by W. J. Edwards.
P. A. Means has published through Marshall Jones _Racial Factors in a
Democracy_.
The following significant articles have appeared in recent numbers of
periodicals: _The Worth of an African_, by R. Keable in the July
number of the International Review of Missions; _How Germany treats
the Natives_ by Evans Lewis and M. Montgomery-Campbell; _Germany and
Africa_ by Ethel Jollie in the June number of the United Empire;
_International Interference in African Affairs_ by Sir. H. H. Johnson
in the April number of the Journal of Comparative Legislation and
International Law; _The Native Question in British East Africa_ in the
April number of the Contemporary Review; and _The Christian Occupation
of Africa_ in the Proceedings of the African Conference.
THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY
VOL. IV--JULY, 1919--NO. 3
THE EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY
The problem of arming the slaves was of far greater concern to the
South, than to the North. It was fraught with momentous consequences
to both sections, but pregnant with an influence, subtle yet powerful,
which would affect directly the ultimate future of the Confederate
Government. The very existence of the Confederacy depended upon the
ability of the South to control the slave population. At the outbreak
of the Civil War great fear as to servile insurrection was aroused in
the South and more restrictive measures were enacted.[1]
Most of the Negro population was living in the area under rebellion,
and in many cases the slaves outnumbered the whites. To arm these
slaves would mean the lighting of a torch which, in the burning, might
spread a flame throughout the slave kingdom. If the Negro in the midst
of oppression had been in possession of the facts regarding the war,
whether the slaves would have remained consciously faithful would have
been a perplexing question.[2]
The South had been aware of its imminent danger and with its
traditional methods strove to prevent the arming of the Negroes. With
the memories of Negro insurrections ever fresh in the public mind,
quite a change of front would be required to bring the South to view
with favor such a radical measure. The South, however, was not alone
in its unwillingness to employ Negroes as soldiers. For the first two
years of the war, the North represented by President Lincoln and
Congress refused to consider the same proposal. In the face of
stubborn opposition loyal Negroes had been admitted into the Engineer
and Quartermaster Departments of the Union armies, but their
employment as soldiers under arms was discountenanced during the first
years of the war.
In the North this discrimination caused much discontent among the
Negroes but those living in the States in rebellion did not understand
the issues in the war, and of necessity could not understand until the
Union forces had invaded the hostile sections and spread the
information which had gradually developed the point of view that the
war was for the extermination of the institution of slavery. It may be
recalled that during the opening days of the war, slaves captured by
the Union forces were returned to their disloyal masters. Here there
is sufficient evidence in the concrete that slavery was not the avowed
cause of the conflict.[3] If there was this uncertain notion of the
cause of the war among northern sympathizers, how much more befogged
must have been the minds of the southern slaves in the hands of men
who imagined that they were fighting for the same principles involved
in our earlier struggle with Great Britain! To the majority of the
Negroes, as to all the South, the invading armies of the Union seemed
to be ruthlessly attacking independent States, invading the beloved
homeland and trampling upon all that these men held dear[4].
The loyalty of the slave while the master was away with the fighting
forces of the Confederacy has been the making of many orators of an
earlier day, echoes of which we often hear in the present[5]. The
Negroes were not only loyal in remaining at home and doing their duty
but also in offering themselves for actual service in the Confederate
army. Believing their land invaded by hostile foes, they were more
than willing under the guidance of misguided southerners to offer
themselves for the service of actual warfare. So that during the early
days of the war, Negroes who volunteered were received into the
fighting forces by the rebelling States, and particularly during those
years in which the North was academically debating the advisability
of arming the Negro.[6]
In the first year of the war large numbers were received into the
service of the Confederate laboring units. In January, a dispatch from
Mr. Riordan at Charleston to Hon. Percy Walker at Mobile stated that
large numbers of Negroes from the plantations of Alabama were at work
on the redoubts. These were described as very substantially made,
strengthened by sand-bags and sheet-iron.[7] Negroes were employed in
building fortifications, as teamsters and helpers in army service
throughout the South.[8] In 1862, the Florida Legislature conferred
authority upon the Governor to impress slaves for military purposes,
if so authorized by the Confederate Government. The owners of the
slaves were to be compensated for this labor, and in turn they were to
furnish one good suit of clothes for each of the slaves impressed. The
wages were not to exceed twenty-five dollars a month.[9] The
Confederate Congress provided by law in February, 1864, for the
impressment of 20,000 slaves for menial service in the Confederate
army.[10] President Davis was so satisfied with their labor that he
suggested, in his annual message, November, 1864, that this number
should be increased to 40,000[11] with the promise of emancipation at
the end of their service.
Before the outbreak of the war and the beginning of actual
hostilities, the local authorities throughout the South had permitted
the enrollment for military service of organizations formed of free
Negroes, although no action had been taken or suggested by the
Confederate Government. It is said that some of these troops remained
in the service of the Confederacy during the period of the war, but
that they did not take part in any important engagements.[12] There
may be noted typical instances of the presence of Negroes in the State
Militia. In Louisiana, the Adjutant-General's Office of the Louisiana
Militia issued an order stating that "the Governor and the
Commander-in-Chief relying implicitly upon the loyalty of the free
colored population of the city and State, for the protection of their
homes, their property and for southern rights, from the pollution of a
ruthless invader, and believing that the military organization which
existed prior to February 15, 1862, and elicited praise and respect
for the patriotic motives which prompted it, should exist for and
during the war, calls upon them to maintain their organization and
hold themselves prepared for such orders as may be transmitted to
them."[13]
These "Native Guards" joined the Confederate forces but they did not
leave the city with these troops, when they retreated before General
Butler, commanding the invading Union army. When General Butler
learned of this organization after his arrival in New Orleans, he sent
for several of the most prominent colored men of the city and asked
why they had accepted service "under the Confederate Government which
was set up for the purpose of holding their brethren and kindred in
eternal slavery." The reply was that they dared not to refuse; that
they had hoped, by serving the Confederates, to advance nearer to
equality with the whites; and concluded by stating that they had
longed to throw the weight of their class with the Union forces and
with the cause in which their own dearest hopes were identified[14].
An observer in Charleston at the outbreak of the war noted the
preparation for war, and called particular attention to "the thousand
Negroes who, so far from inclining to insurrections, were grinning
from ear to ear at the prospect of shooting the Yankees[15]." In the
same city, one of the daily papers stated that on January 2, 150 free
colored men had gratuitously offered their services to hasten the work
of throwing up redoubts along the coast[16]. At Nashville, Tennessee,
April, 1861, a company of free Negroes offered their services to the
Confederate Government and at Memphis a recruiting office was
opened[17]. The Legislature of Tennessee authorized Governor Harris,
on June 28, 1861, to receive into the State military service all male
persons of color between the ages of fifteen and fifty. These soldiers
would receive eight dollars a month with clothing and rations. The
sheriff of each county was required to report the names of these
persons and in case the number of persons tendering their services was
not sufficient to meet the needs of the county, the sheriff was
empowered to impress as many persons as were needed[18]. In the same
State, a procession of several hundred colored men marching through
the streets attracted attention. They marched under the command of
Confederate officers and carried shovels, axes, and blankets. The
observer adds, "they were brimful of patriotism, shouting for Jeff
Davis and singing war songs."[19] A paper in Lynchburg, Virginia,
commenting on the enlistment of 70 free Negroes to fight for the
defense of the State, concluded with "three cheers for the patriotic
Negroes of Lynchburg."[20]
Two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, several companies of
volunteers of color passed through Augusta on their way to Virginia to
engage in actual war. Sixteen well-drilled companies of volunteers and
one Negro company from Nashville composed this group.[21] In November
of the same year, a military review was held in New Orleans.
Twenty-eight thousand troops passed before Governor Moore, General
Lowell and General Ruggles. The line of march covered over seven miles
in length. It is said that one regiment comprised 1,400 free colored
men.[22] _The Baltimore Traveler_ commenting on arming Negroes at
Richmond, said: "Contrabands who have recently come within the Federal
lines at Williamsport, report that all the able-bodied men in that
vicinity are being taken to Richmond, formed into regiments, and armed
for the defense of that city."[23]
During February, 1862, the Confederate Legislature of Virginia was
considering a bill to enroll all free Negroes in the State for service
with the Confederate forces.[24] The Legislatures of other States
seriously considered the measure. Military and civil leaders, the
Confederate Congress and its perplexed War Department debated among
themselves the relative value of employing the Negroes as soldiers.
Slowly the ranks of those at home were made to grow thin by the calls
to the front. In April, 1862, President Davis was authorized to call
out and place in service all white men between the ages of eighteen
and thirty-five; in September the ages were raised to include the
years of thirty-five and forty-five; and finally in February, 1864,
all male whites between the years of seventeen and fifty were made
liable to military service. The Negroes were liable for impressment in
the work of building fortifications, producing war materials, and the
like.[25]
The demand became so urgent for men that quite a controversy arose
over the advisability of employing the Negroes as soldiers. Some said
that the Negro belonged to an inferior race and, therefore, could not
be a good soldier; that the Negro could do menial work in the army,
but that fighting was the white man's task. Those who supported the
idea in its incipiency always urged the necessity of employing Negroes
in the army. A native Georgian supported the employment of these
troops in a letter to the Secretary of War, recommending freedom after
the war was over to those who fought, compensation to the owners and
the retention of the institution of slavery by continuing as slaves
"boys and women, and exempted or detailed men." The statement
concludes with "our country requires a quick and stringent remedy.
Don't stop for reforms."[26]
In November, 1864, Jefferson Davis in his message to the Confederate
Congress recognized that the time might come when slaves would be
needed in the Confederate army: "The subject," said he, "is to be
viewed by us, therefore, solely in the light of policy and our social
economy. When so regarded, I must dissent from those who advise a
general levy and arming of slaves for the duty of soldiers. Until our
white population shall prove insufficient for the armies we require
and can afford to keep the field, to employ as a soldier the Negro,
who has merely been trained to labor, and as a laborer under the white
man, accustomed from his youth to the use of firearms, would scarcely
be deemed wise or advantageous by any; and this is the question before
us. But should the alternative ever be presented of subjugation or of
the employment of the slave as a soldier, there seems no reason to
doubt what should be our decision."[27] In the same month, J. A.
Seddon, Secretary of War, refused permission to Major E. B. Briggs of
Columbus, Georgia, to raise a regiment of Negro troops, stating that
it was not probable that any such policy would be adopted by
Congress.[28]
In response to an inquiry from Seddon, the Secretary of War, as to the
advisability of arming slaves, General Howell Cobb presented the point
of view of one group of the Confederates, when he opposed the measure
to arm the Negroes. "I think," said he "that the proposition to make
soldiers of our slaves is the most pernicious idea that has been
suggested since the war began ... you cannot make soldiers of slaves
or slaves of soldiers. The moment you resort to Negro soldiers, your
white soldiers will be lost to you, and one secret of the favor with
which the proposition is received in portions of the army is the hope
when Negroes go into the army, they (the whites) will be permitted to
retire. It is simply a proposition to fight the balance of the war
with Negro troops. You can't keep white and black troops together and
you can't trust Negroes by themselves.... Use all the Negroes you can
get for all purposes for which you need them but don't arm them. The
day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the
revolution. If slaves make good soldiers, our whole theory of slavery
is wrong."[29] General Beauregard, Commander of the Department of
Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, wrote to a friend in July, 1863,
that the arming of the slaves would lead to the atrocious consequences
which have ever resulted from the employment of "a merciless servile
race as soldiers."[30] General Patton Anderson declared that the idea
of arming the slaves was a "monstrous proposition revolting to
southern sentiment, southern pride and southern honor."[31]
The opposite point of view was expressed by the group of southerners
led by General Pat Cleburne who in a petition presented to General
Joseph E. Johnson by several Confederate Officers wrote: "Will the
slaves fight?--the experience of this war has been so far, that
half-trained Negroes have fought as bravely as many half-trained
Yankees."[32] J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, urged that the slave
would be certainly made to fight against them, if southerners failed
to arm them for southern defense. He advocated also the emancipation
of those who would fight; if they should fight for southern freedom.
According to Benjamin, they were entitled to their own. In keeping
with the necessity of increasing the army, the editor of a popular
newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, was besought to commence a
discussion on this point in his paper so that "the people might learn
the lesson which experience was sternly teaching."[33]
In a letter to President Davis, another argued that since the Negro
had been used from the outset of the war to defend the South by
raising provisions for the army, that the sword and musket be put in
his hands, and concluding the correspondent added: "I would not make a
soldier of the Negro if it could be helped, but we are reduced to this
last resort."[34] Sam Clayton of Georgia wrote: "The recruits should
come from our Negroes, nowhere else. We should away with pride of
opinion, away with false pride, and promptly take hold of all the
means God has placed within our reach to help us through this
struggle--a war for the right of self-government. Some people say that
Negroes will not fight. I say they will fight. They fought at Ocean
Pond (Olustee, Fla.), Honey Hill and other places. The enemy fights us
with Negroes, and they will do very well to fight the Yankees."[35]
The pressure to fill the depleted ranks of the Confederate forces
became greater as the war continued. It was noted above that Congress
and the State legislatures had called into service all able-bodied
whites between the ages of seventeen and fifty years; later the ages
were extended both ways to sixteen and sixty years. Grant remarked
that the Confederates had robbed "the cradle and the grave" in order
to fill the armies[36]. Jefferson Davis began to see the futility of a
hypothetical discussion as to the advisability or values in the use of
Negroes as soldiers and in a letter to John Forsythe, February, 1865,
stated "that all arguments as to the positive advantage or
disadvantage of employing them are beside the question, which is
simply one of relative advantage between having their fighting element
in our ranks or in those of the enemy."[37]
A strong recommendation for the use of Negroes as soldiers was sent to
Senator Andrew Hunter at Richmond by General Robert E. Lee, in
January, 1865. "I think, therefore," said he, "we must decide whether
slavery shall be extinguished by our enemies and the slaves be used
against us, or use them ourselves at the risk of the effects which may
be produced upon our social institutions. My own opinion is that we
should employ them without delay. I believe that with proper
regulations they may be made efficient soldiers. They possess the
physical qualifications in a marked degree. Long habits of obedience
and subordination coupled with the moral influence which in our
country the white man possesses over the black, furnish an excellent
foundation for that discipline which is the best guaranty of military
efficiency. Our chief aim should be to secure their fidelity. There
have been formidable armies composed of men having no interest in the
cause for which they fought beyond their pay or the hope of plunder.
But it is certain that the surest foundation upon which the fidelity
of an army can rest, especially in a service which imposes hardships
and privations, is the personal interest of the soldier in the issue
of the contest. Such an interest we can give our Negroes by giving
immediate freedom to all who enlist, and freedom at the end of the war
to the families of those who discharge their duties faithfully
(whether they survive or not), together with the privilege of residing
at the South. To this might be added a bounty for faithful
service."[38] This was an influential word, coming as it did from the
Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate forces. The Confederate Congress
did not act immediately upon this suggestion, but even if this had
been done, the measure would have been enacted too late to be of any
avail.[39]
The Confederate Senate refused on February 7, 1865, to pass a
resolution calling on the committee on military affairs to report a
bill to enroll Negro soldiers. Later in the same month the Senate
indefinitely postponed the measure.[40] As the House and Senate met in
secret session much of the debate can not be found. General Lee wrote
Representative Barksdale of Mississippi another letter in which the
employment of Negro soldiers was declared not only expedient but
necessary. He reiterated his opinion that they would make good
soldiers as had been shown in their employment in the Union
armies.[41] With recommendations from General Lee and Governor Smith
of Virginia, and with the approval of President Davis an act was
passed by the Congress, March 13, 1865, enrolling slaves in the
Confederate army.[42] Each State was to furnish a quota of the total
300,000.[43] The Preamble of the act reads as follows:
"An Act to increase the Military Force of the Confederate States: The
Congress of the Confederate States of America so enact, that, in order
to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful
possession of the Confederate States, secure their independence and
preserve their institution, the President be, and he is hereby
authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves, the
services of such number of able-bodied Negro men as he may deem
expedient, for and during the war, to perform military service in
whatever capacity he may direct...." The language used in other
sections of the act seems to imply also that volunteering made one a
freedman.[44]
After the passage of the measure by the Confederate Congress, General
Lee coöperated in every way with the War Department in facilitating
the recruiting of Negro troops.[45] Recruiting officers were appointed
in each State. Lieutenant John L. Cowardin, Adjutant, 19th Batallion,
Virginia Artillery was ordered to proceed on April 1, 1865, to
recruiting Negro troops according to the act. On March 30, 1865,
Captain Edward Bostick was ordered to raise four companies in South
Carolina. Others were ordered to raise companies in Alabama, Florida,
and Virginia.[46] Lee and Johnson, however, surrendered before this
plan could be carried out. If the Confederate Congress could have
accepted the recommendation in the fall of 1864, the war might have
been prolonged a few months, to say the least, by the use of the Negro
troops. It was the opinion of President Davis, on learning of the
passage of the act, that not so much was accomplished as would have
been, if the act had been passed earlier so that during the winter the
slaves could have been drilled and made ready for the spring campaign
of 1865.
Under the guidance of the local authorities, thousands of Negroes were
enlisted in the State Militias and in the Confederate Army. They
served with satisfaction, but there is no evidence that they took part
in any important battles. The Confederate Government at first could
not bring itself to acknowledge the right or the ability of the man
who had been a slave to serve with the white man as a soldier.
Necessity forced the acceptance of the Negro as a soldier. In spite of
the long years of controversy with its arguments of racial
inferiority,[47] out of the muddle of fact and fancy came the
deliberate decision to employ Negro troops. This act, in itself, as a
historical fact, refuted the former theories of southern statesmen.
The Negro was thus a factor in both the Union and Confederate armies
in the War of the Rebellion. These facts lead to the conclusion that
the Negro is an American not only because he lives in America, but
because his life is closely connected with every important movement in
American history.
CHARLES H. WESLEY.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Davis, _The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida_, p. 220.
[2] For summary of such, legislation to prevent this, see J.C. Kurd,
_The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States_, Vol. II. In
Florida, 1827, a law was enacted to prevent trading with Negroes. In
1828, death was declared the penalty for inciting insurrection among
the slaves and in 1840 there was passed an act prohibiting the use of
firearms by Negroes. In Virginia as early as 1748 there was enacted a
measure declaring that even the free Negroes and Indians enlisted in
the militia should appear without arms; but in 1806 the law was
modified to provide that free Negroes should not carry arms without
first obtaining a license from the county or corporation court. One
who was caught with firearms in spite of this act was to forfeit the
weapon to the informer and receive thirty-nine lashes at the
whipping-post. Hening, _Statutes-at-Large_, Vol. V, p. 17; Vol. XVI,
p. 274.
[3] General W. S. Harney, commanding in Missouri, responded to the
claims of slaveholders for the return of runaway slaves with the
words: "Already, since the commencement of these unhappy disturbances,
slaves have escaped from their owners and have sought refuge in the
camps of the United States troops from the Northern States, and
commanded by a Northern General. They were carefully sent back to
their owners." General D. C. Buell, commanding in Tennessee, in reply
to the same demands stated: "Several applications have been made to me
by persons whose servants have been found in our camps; and in every
instance that I know of, the master has removed his servant and taken
him away." William Wells Brown, _The Negro in the Rebellion_, pp.
57-58.
[4] Secretary Seddon, War Department, wrote: "They [the Negroes] have,
besides, the homes they value, the families they love, and the masters
they respect and depend on to defend and protect against the savagery
and devastation of the enemy."--_Official Rebellion Records_, Series
IV, Vol. Ill, pp. 761-762.
[5] Governor Walker of Florida, himself a former slaveholder, said
before the State legislature in 1865 that "the world had never seen
such a body of slaves, for not only in peace but in war they had been
faithful to us. During much of the time of the late unhappy
difficulties, Florida had a greater number of men in her army than
constituted her entire voting population. This, of course, stripped
many districts of their arms-bearing inhabitants and left our females
and infant children almost exclusively to the protection of our
slaves. They proved true to their trust. Not one instance of insult,
outrage, or indignity has ever come to my knowledge. They remained at
home and made provisions for the army." John Wallace, _Carpet-Bag Rule
in Florida_, p. 23.
[6] "For more than two years, Negroes had been extensively employed in
belligerent operations by the Confederacy. They had been embodied and
drilled as rebel soldiers and had paraded with white troops at a time
when this would not have been tolerated in the armies of the
Union."--Greely, _The American Conflict_, Vol. II, p. 524.
"It was a notorious fact that the enemy were using Negroes to build
fortifications, drive teams and raise food for the army. Black hands
piled up the sand-bags and raised the batteries which drove Anderson
out of Sumter. At Montgomery, the Capital of the Confederacy, Negroes
were being drilled and armed for military duty."--W. W. Brown, _The
Negro in the Rebellion_, p. 59.
[7] _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 521.
[8] Jones, _A Rebel War Clerk's Diary_, Vol. I, p. 237; Schwab, _The
Confederate States of America_, p. 194.
[9] _Laws of Florida, 12th Session, 1862_, Chap. 1378.
[10] _Confederate War Department, Bureau of Conscription_, Circular
No. 36, December 12, 1864. _Off. Reds. Reb._, Series IV, Vol. III, p.
933.
[11] _Off. Reds. Reb._, Series IV, Vol. Ill, p. 780. Journals of
Congress, IV, 260.
[12] Washington, _The Story of the Negro_, Vol. II, p. 321.
[13] _Order No. 426. Adjutant-General's Office, Headquarters Louisiana
Militia, March 24, 1862._ _Cf._ Brown, _The Negro in the Rebellion_,
pp. 84-85.
[14] Parton, _History of the Administration of the Gulf_, 1862-1864;
_General Butler in New Orleans_, p. 517.
[15] Greely, _The American Conflict_, p. 521.
[16] _The Charleston Mercury_, January 3, 1861.
[17] The announcement of the recruiting read: "Attention, volunteers:
Resolved by the Committee of Safety that C. Deloach, D. R. Cook and
William B. Greenlaw be authorized to organize a volunteer company
composed of our patriotic free men of color, of the city of Memphis,
for the service of our common defense. All who have not enrolled their
names will call at the office of W. B. Greenlaw & Co." F. W. Forsythe,
Secretary. F. Titus, President. Williams, _History of the Negro_, Vol.
II, p. 277.
[18] Greely, _The American Conflict_, Vol. II, p. 521.
[19] _Memphis Avalanche_, September 3, 1861.
[20] Greely, _The American Conflict_, Vol. II, p. 522.
[21] _Ibid._, p. 277.
[22] _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 522.
[23] _The Baltimore Traveler_, February 4, 1862.
[24] Greely, _The American Conflict_, Vol. II, p. 522.
[25] Schwab, _The Confederate States of America_, p. 193. Moore,
_Rebellion Records_, Vol. VII, p. 210. Jones, _Diary_, Vol. I, p. 381.
[26] An indorsement from the Secretary of War reads: "If all white men
capable of bearing arms are put in the field, it would be as large a
draft as a community could continuously sustain, and whites are better
soldiers than Negroes. For war, when existence is staked, the best
material should be used."--_Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. III,
pp. 693-694.
[27] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. III, p. 799.
[28] _Ibid._, Series IV, Vol. III, p. 846. J. A. Seddon to Maj. E. B.
Briggs, Nov. 24, 1864.
[29] _Ibid._, Series IV, Vol. III, p. 1009.
[30] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series I, Vol. XXVIII, Pt. 2, p. 13.
[31] _Ibid._, Series I, Vol. LII, Pt. 2, p. 598.
[32] Davis, _Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida_, p. 226.
[33] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. III, pp. 959-960.
[34] _Ibid._, p. 227.
[35] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. III, pp. 1010-1011.
[36] Rhodes, _History of the United States since the Compromise of
1850_, Vol. IV, p. 525.
[37] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. VIII, p. 1110.
[38] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. VIII, p. 1013.
[39] Williams, _Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion_, Journals of
Congress, Vol. IV, pp. 572-573.
In the _American Historical Review_, January, 1913, N.W. Stephenson
has an article upon "The Question of Arming the Slaves." The article
is concerned particularly with the debate in the Confederate Congress
upon this perplexing question and with the psychology of the
statements made by President Davis, Secretary Benjamin, General Lee
and by various Congressmen. The author has searched the Journals of
the Confederate Congress, newspaper files and personal recollections
and gives conclusions which show that "the subject was discussed
during the last winter of the Confederate regime," and by inference
the dissertation shows that the fear of the consequences of arming the
slaves was alike in the minds of all southern people. The treatise is
a study in historical psychology; and, as in similar works by men of
the type of the author, the point of view of the South and of the
Confederacy is presented and the Negro and his actual employment as a
soldier is neglected. The author contends that a few southern leaders
attempted to force the arming of the blacks upon an unwilling southern
public. He neglects the evidence contained in the action of local
authorities in arming the Negroes who were free and their attitude
concerning those who were slaves. He neglects also the sentiment of
southern leaders who favored the measure. The Journals of the
Confederate Congress, therefore, will be more valuable to those
desiring information concerning the debates on this question.
[40] _Journal of Congress of Confederate States_, Vol. IV, p. 528 and
Vol. VII, p. 595; Jones, _Diary_, Vol. II, p. 431.
[41] _Richmond Dispatch_, February 24, 1865; Jones _Diary_, Vol. II,
p. 432.
[42] _Journal of Congress of Confederate States_, Vol. VII, p. 748.
[43] _Richmond Examiner_, December 9, 1864--Gov. Smith's Message.
Jones, _Diary_, Vol. II, p. 43; pp. 432-433. Schwab, _The Confederate
States of America_, p. 194.
[44] _Off. Reds. Rebell., Series_ IV, Vol. III, p. 1161.
_Ibid._, Series III, Vol. V, pp. 711-712; Davis, _Confederate
Government_, Vol. II, p. 660.
[45] Rhodes, _History of U. S._, Vol. V, 1864-1865, p. 81.
[46] _Off. Reds. Rebell._, Series IV, Vol. III, pp. 1193-1194 and
Appendix.
[47] _Cf. Southern Correspondence throughout the Rebellion Records._
THE LEGAL STATUS OF FREE NEGROES AND SLAVES IN TENNESSEE
In 1790, the free colored population of Tennessee was 361, while the
slave numbered 3,417.[1] In 1787, three years previous, Davidson
County, which then, as now, comprised the most important and thickly
settled part of the Cumberland Valley, had a population of 105 Negroes
between the ages of 1 and 60.[2] Nashville was just a rough community
in the wilderness with a few settlers from the older districts of the
East, living in several hewed and framed log-houses and twenty or more
rough cabins. The census of 1790 gives Davidson County 677 Negroes, a
figure which compared with the 3,778 Negroes in the entire State at
that enumeration, means that this frontier region had already grown
important enough to draw to it nearly one-fifth of the Negro
population of the commonwealth. In 1800, there were in the State
13,893 Negroes, of whom 3,104, or nearly one fourth, were in Davidson
County. Thereafter, although the ratio between the county and State
did not increase in favor of the county, still it kept up so that by
1850 Davidson had the largest Negro population of any county in the
State. During the decade 1850-60 Shelby County, containing the
important center, Memphis, gained the ascendency in number of Negro
inhabitants, which it has since that time maintained. The likely cause
of this shifting was the steady growth of cotton-raising districts and
their rapid expansion toward the West and South. A general
intimidation of the Negroes of Nashville and vicinity occurred in
1856, probably having some influence on the decline of population for
that period in question. This cause, however, is not sufficient to
explain the constant superiority of numbers in the Southwestern
Tennessee region thereafter.
As slavery expanded from this small territory into all parts of the
State, the attitude of the people of the Commonwealth with respect to
the nation and slavery at various times may be shown. After Tennessee
had been ceded to the United States in 1790 by North Carolina, she had
a most unusual method of throwing off her territorial government for
nearly three months in 1796, and existed in absolute independence for
that period before being admitted into statehood by the Federal
Government.[3] Nevertheless in the period of the Civil War this State
was the last to secede and the first to comply with the terms of
readmission. With respect to slavery the early attitude of Tennessee
toward the national government was peculiar. The cession act of North
Carolina provided: "That no regulation made or to be made by Congress
shall tend to emancipate slaves."[4] Probably because of this fact
Lincoln did not mention Tennessee in the Emancipation Proclamation.
Yet Tennessee did have a strong anti-slavery sentiment, beginning with
the outspoken protest of some of the King's Mountain heroes, also
expressing itself in the work of many petitioners to the State
legislature in the period 1800-1820. Then in 1834, in the State
constitutional convention of that year, the anti-slavery feeling
developed to proportions little appreciable at the present day, since
we know the general opposition to such feeling and sentiment. Any
antagonism to a so strongly fixed social convention then meant unusual
courage in the midst of a majority of persons of adverse opinion.
The burning question of human rights for the black inhabitants of the
State still became more ardent as the years passed, and the signs of
its greater intensity were clearly seen in the Anti-Slavery Convention
which met in London in 1843. The chronicle of proceedings contains a
speech of Joshua Leavitt of Boston, who made the interesting
statement that "The people of East Tennessee, a race of hardy
mountaineers, find their interests so little regarded by the dominant
slave-holders of other parts of the state that they are taking
measures to become a separate state. They are holding anti-slavery
meetings, and meetings of political associations with great freedom,
discussing their questions, rousing up the people and showing how
slavery curses them, in order to bring them to the point of
action."[5] At this time it was well known that both Tennessee and
Kentucky were "exporting slaves largely."[6]
In 1820, Elihu Embree,[7] at Jonesboro, Tennessee, the county seat of
Washington County, in the far eastern section, began to publish _The
Emancipator_, an abolition journal. Later, there came from this same
county a man who easily became the leader of anti-slavery sentiment in
the Constitutional Convention of 1834 at Nashville, Matthew
Stephenson. It may have been that as a young man Stephenson was fired
with the zeal of Embree. The period of Embree's activity was also one
of large interest in the North and South in behalf of emancipation. In
this same year the Missouri Compromise was passed in the national
legislature. The concessions made both by pro-slavery and anti-slavery
adherents at this time show the relative strength of the two forces
and the remarkable fact is that there could be such near-equality of
fighting strength on both sides.[8] Tennessee seems to have had an
epitome of this national situation within her borders. Not only the
zealous work of Embree indicates this, but the general feeling of the
people of eastern Tennessee toward slavery. It is interesting here to
point out that _The Emancipator_ was the first abolition journal in
the United States.[9]
The outcome of this anti-slavery feeling in Tennessee was that when
the State Constitutional Convention met at Nashville in 1834 to
consider important changes in the Constitution of 1796, there was such
an outburst of sentiment against slavery that it was only with
considerable resistance of the pro-slavery convention delegates that
the State did not abolish it by providing for the gradual emancipation
of slaves over a period of twenty years, when all should have been
emancipated.[10] So significant is the public opinion of that time in
Tennessee history, and so well calculated to give large insight into
the Negro's condition then in the State, that it will hardly be amiss
in this paper to enter into a somewhat detailed discussion of the work
of the convention, and the sentiments there displayed.
The legal enactments of the slave code of Tennessee prior to 1834 will
give us the right perspective here. One of the earliest enactments of
the commonwealth was the absolute denial to slaves of the right to own
property. Property held by them, such as horses, cattle, or anything
of personal value was to be sold and one half of the proceeds given to
the informer, the other half to the county.[11] Another law forbade
the slave to go about armed unless he was the huntsman of the
plantation. Small penalties were provided.[12] Still another made it
unlawful for slaves to sell "any article whatever without permission
from owner or overseer." The penalty for breaking this law was a
maximum of "39 lashes on his, her, or their bare backs."[13] Many
other matters were rigidly prescribed in the early statutes, chiefly
concerning the slave's right to go or not to go from place to place,
and to conduct himself under certain circumstances. Among slaves
perjury was punished by mutilation and whipping. The brutality of the
former was all the more disgusting because defended by law.[14] The
slaying of a black or mulatto slave, however, was actually deemed
murder and made punishable with death. It has not yet been
ascertained, as far as the writer knows, whether any white citizen of
Tennessee was ever indicted under the provision of this law. We do
have a case of a famous old slave-holder in a community not far from
Nashville being tied to his gate post and severely whipped by his
neighbors, because of his brutal murder of one of his slaves.[15]
In the early laws the "hiring of one's own time," for a slave, was
expressly forbidden. This practice was that of the master's allowing a
slave to purchase his time for a certain amount of money, usually paid
per annum. The law forbidding it was later rather generally evaded,
although we cannot be sure of the evasion during the years 1796-1834.
But during the later decades of the period under discussion,
especially from 1840-60, there is absolute agreement among the
testimonies of ex-slaves that evasion was the rule and not the
exception. Various forms of this law were later enacted, but the
penalties were usually light, and it may have been this fact together
with the case of evasion that caused the disregard of it to become
general. An ex-slave of Wilson County explains that the usual method
of evasion was the declaration of the employer of the slave that he
had hired the slave from the slave's master. Sometimes the owner would
pretend to keep the wages of the slave, but really was holding them at
the slave's disposal. In this way numbers of slaves bought themselves.
There were other laws affecting masters in regard to their treatment
of their slaves and privileges of the latter. One provided that if the
slave should steal food or clothing because ill-fed or destitute of
apparel, the master should pay for the stolen property.[16] By the
provisions of another, slaves were allowed to give testimony in trials
of other slaves; the jurors, however, had to be "housekeepers" and
"owners of slaves."[17] The beating or abuse of a slave without
sufficient cause (no indication given as to what were the limits of
"sufficient cause") was an indictable offence, and the person
committing a crime of this sort was liable to the same penalties as
for the commission of a similar offense on the body of a white
person.[18]
Various laws of the early codes, 1813, 1819, 1829, restricting the
slave from selling or vending articles under conditions apart from
desire or knowledge of his owner are all evidence of his complete
subjection by law to the will of his master, even in the smallest
things and affairs of personal life, and disposal of belongings. Great
care was taken to state specifically in these early laws that there
should be no sale of liquor or any intoxicant to slaves.[19]
The provisions concerning larger questions of a slave's activity and
privilege are all interesting, and it will be of value to regard,
first of all, that for bringing slaves into the State. Slaves were not
to be brought into Tennessee unless for use, or procured by descent,
devise, or marriage.[20] This enactment was made in 1826, and prepared
the way for far more severe measures later. The idea of all
legislation of this nature argues clearly the discouragement of
slavery as a prevailing institution, by means of preventing fresh
importations for sale. Tennessee was not to be, if it could be
prevented, a slave market, like Mississippi.
A citizen holding slaves might petition the county court and
emancipate a slave. Bond and security were required of the owner, and
the slave thus set at liberty became free to go where he chose
provided that, if he became a pauper, he should be brought to the
county in which he had been set free, and there taken care of at
public expense.[21] But occasionally there would arise a situation
which required special enactment of the legislature as in the
instance of one, Pompey Daniels, a slave, who died before the
emancipation of his two children, Jeremiah and Julius, whom he had
purchased. This required a special act of the legislature, as there
seems to have been no law covering such a case.[22] Years before, in
1801, there was enacted a law, giving power of emancipation to the
owner, as we have just seen before, but not to any slave who might
essay to deliver another from bondage.[23]
Once free, the Negro's status was rather precarious in some respects.
He was required to have papers filled out by the clerk of the county
in which he lived, specifying personal details and information
intended to identify the person thoroughly. He must without fail have
these emancipation records with him at any time and place in order to
prove his freedom. In 1831 a law was passed which made it obligatory
for the slave to leave upon his emancipation, and persons intending to
emancipate their slaves were then compelled to give bond for their
speedy removal.[24] Another clause of the same law stipulates that
free Negroes should not be allowed to enter the State.[25] Fine and
imprisonment were specified as penalties for remaining in the State as
long as twenty days. This was a reaction from the provisions of State
laws of 1825 when free colored persons immigrating into the State
might have papers of freedom registered there, when proof of their
absolute freedom had been made. Before the enactment of 1831, the
increase of free Negroes was not so actively discouraged by the State,
and many having their residence there, the laws concerning this class
were quite as important and nearly as well detailed as the provisions
of the slave code.
Among the early laws is one exacting a penalty of $500 fine for
selling a "free person of color."[26] A free person imported and sold
as a slave under the law might recover double the price of his sale
from the seller, who might be held until he should give bond.[27] This
marks a high degree of feeling of justice toward the freeman, and yet
it is worthy of notice that this was not always adequate to obtaining
actual justice. Record is given of three young colored men, seamen and
free, "carried to Mobile and New Orleans in the steamer _New Castle_
and taken ashore by the captain to the city prison on pretext of
getting hemp for the vessel, but really taken by the captain to the
city prison as his slaves and sold by the jailor to three persons who
carried them into Tennessee."[28] It is further stated that these
unfortunates remained in slavery. One, however, was freed by the
diligent work of the Friends, who had agents in the South busy
gathering information concerning slavery, and planning means of
combating it.
The free person of color was exempted from military duty and from the
payment of a poll-tax. In accordance with an amendment to the Public
Works act of 1804, he was expected to give service on public roads and
highways just as other citizens.[29] It is doubtful whether any
freeman of color voted under the constitution of 1796, but it seems to
have been possible. The new constitution of 1834 restricted the right
of voting to "free men who should be competent witnesses against a
white man in a court of justice." In the courts free Negroes were
legal witnesses in certain cases among their own people, but might
themselves be testified against by slaves, even, if the defendants
were only freedmen.[30] Otherwise slaves were not allowed to be
witnesses against free men of color. Writs of error were granted to
both freemen and slaves.
There were numerous small observances regarding the personal conduct
of freemen. Life was at best for them a strange and circumscribed
affair. They were "neither bond nor free," and probably suffered more
from the provisions of the law and their ambiguous position than did
their slave brothers. The freeman was not to entertain any slave over
night in his home, or on the Sabbath. A small fine was the
penalty.[31] Intermarriage of free persons and slaves without consent
of the master of the slave was strictly forbidden. Breach of this law,
also, was punishable by fine. There were penalties for whites and free
Negroes alike for being in "unlawful assembly" with slaves. The word
"unlawful" here seems to have had a special judicial meaning,
signifying primarily for the purpose of instigating rebellion or
insurrection. A law providing for voluntary enslavement of a free
person of color, to any person whom he might choose, introduces a most
interesting situation which probably indicates that there were more
than a few free Negroes who preferred slavery to the condition of a
creature living in a sort of limbo between freedom and bondage.
By an act of the legislature in 1819, encouragement was given to
European immigrants to come into the State, with the idea that they
would become home builders and land-tillers, and make good citizens.
The colored population already had a general reputation for thrift,
but the sentiment of racial sympathy in the white population just then
favored more the immigrant. For a period the tide of public opinion
was on this side, and it was considered best for the Negro to be taken
in charge by the Tennessee Colonization Society. The State
appropriated $10 for every black man removed from the State, an
expense finally sanctioned by a law of 1833.[32]
Two years prior to the year of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention
of 1834, Virginia in her State Legislature, had witnessed an exciting
scene of debate on the question of slavery. In the District of
Columbia, also, there was sent to Congress in the session of 1827-28 a
petition requesting the "prospective abolition" of slavery in that
district, and the repeal of certain laws authorizing the sale of
runaways. Similarly in Tennessee the outbreak of antislavery
sentiment, long fostered in the eastern part of the State, came into
the Convention of 1834. The few details presented here concerning the
convention show conclusively that there was a strong, even violent
opposition to human slavery in the State. Certain representatives of
counties from East Tennessee were conspicuous for their protest
against the system, and maintained their convictions despite the
failure to win their point at that time.
Many memorialists in the State had addressed the legislature on the
question of emancipation both pro and con prior to the convention, and
finally, in the convention, on June 18, Wm. Blount of Montgomery
County, Northern Tennessee, offered a memorial that on the subject of
slavery the General Assembly should have no power or authority to pass
laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their
owners or without paying their owners.[33] The memorial further prayed
that, the legislature should not discourage the foreign immigration
into the State and that certain laws providing for the owners of
slaves to emancipate them should be made with the restriction that
beforehand such manumitted persons should be assuredly prevented from
becoming a charge to any county.
There were presented other memorials respecting the slave population
at this time. Hess, of Gibson and Dyer counties, wanted no
emancipation of slaves except by individual disposition of their
masters as the latter saw fit, or at least never unless the price of
the slave was paid, provided the master did not freely give
manumission, and the good of the State seemed to demand the liberation
of the slave. But memorials of a different sentiment also were coming
in. On May 26, McNeal presented a memorial of sundry citizens of
McMinn County, asking for the emancipation of slaves in Tennessee, and
on the same date, Senter of Rhea County also brought a petition from
"sundry citizens" of his district asking for emancipation.[34] On the
28th, a memorial was given by Stephenson of Washington County from
citizens unhesitatingly favoring emancipation. It was read and tabled.
On May 30, Stephenson introduced a resolution to have a committee of
thirteen, one from each congressional district "appointed to take in
consideration the propriety of designating some period from which
slavery shall not be tolerated in this state, and that all memorials
on that subject that have or may be presented to the convention be
referred to said committee to consider and report thereon."[35] This
resolution passed without trouble.
Stephenson was conspicuous for adherence to emancipation principles.
It will be observed that he came from Washington County, in the far
eastern portion of the State, the region already famous for its
declaration of enmity toward slavery within Tennessee borders
especially. An article in the _Knoxville Register_ of the year 1831,
just a few years prior to this Nashville Convention, denounces slavery
in no uncertain terms, but also grows bitter at the thought of free
men of color even remaining in the State. "Shall Tennessee" it asks,
"be made the receptacle of the vicious and desperate slave as well as
the depraved and corrupting free man of color?"[36]
But while a great number of those of East Tennessee probably wanted
the abolition of slavery in order to rid the State of all people of
color, there were those who through their delegates expressed their
opinions otherwise in this convention, as has been intimated in the
three memorials from "sundry citizens" of Washington and McMinn and
Rhea Counties. Finally, the report of the Committee of Thirteen was
given by John A. McKinney, of Hawkins County. It will be noted as an
exception to the rule that this representative of an eastern county
did not vigorously stand for the emancipation of the slave, but in his
report spoke at length to attempt the justification of the system
prevailing at that time in the State. Some of the most interesting
points of his argument are: that slavery is an evil, but hard to
remove, that the physiognomy of the slave is the great barrier to
successful adjustment socially as far as white citizens think and
feel, that the condition of the free man of color is tragic, that
beset with temptations, and denied his oath in a court of justice, he
is unable to have wrongs of whites against him redressed, that any
interference with slavery at this time would cause a speedy removal of
Tennessee population since slave-owners would seek other States with
their slaves, and that if Tennessee should free all her slaves, there
would be a greater concentration of all the slaves of the United
States, giving slaves more advantage in case of uprising.
Since the slave population in 1830 was 142,530, a fair estimate for
1834 would be 150,000, and this host of newly-made freedmen, thought
he, would jeopardize the social safety of the white population of
Tennessee, and incite the slave inhabitants of adjoining States to
sedition. Slavery would not always exist, he believed, but Tennessee
could abolish it then without dire results. Colonization was
difficult, but possible and practicable.
This report was given on June 19. A few days later a motion was made
by a Bedford County delegate to strike out that part of the report
referring to the condition of the free man of color as "tragic." This
did not prevail. Still later Stephenson in a set speech protested
vigorously against the acceptance of the report of the Committee of
Thirteen. He declared that the report was "an apology for slavery,"
and did not show the convention willing to discharge its duty to the
memorialists, and to the people whose protests could not there be
heard. His principal argument was that the principles guiding this
committee in its decision were subversive of the principles of true
republicanism; that they were also against the principles of the
Bible. Since the committee had admitted the evil of slavery, he
contended, the failure to find a remedy is unworthy of the
representatives of the people of the State. He maintained that there
is no soundness in the argument that because of the physical
differences, the black man should be deprived of the "common rights of
man," and that it is not better to have slavery distributed over a
large area of country than to concentrate it, if slavery is an evil,
since the spread of any evil cannot be better than its limitation.[37]
As an indirect blow at any possible suffrage right of any persons of
color under the new constitution, Marr, delegate from Weakley and
Obion, introduced a resolution at this time intended to restrict
suffrage permanently and definitely to white males, specifically
prohibiting all "mulattoes, negroes, and Indians." This was referred
to the committee of the whole, but, oddly enough, failed of
adoption.[38] The intermittent debate on the subject of emancipation,
led on the one side by Stephenson, and on the other by McKinney, was
resumed a few days later when the latter gave an additional report. He
stated that the memorials with their signatures had been examined and
the names attached to them had numbered 1804 in all. 105 purported to
be slave-holders, said he, but by inquiry the committee had
ascertained that the aggregate number of slaves in their possession
was not greater than 500. He admitted that there were several counties
from which memorials had come, but charged that there had been a
signing of more than one memorial in some counties by the same
persons, so that there was a doubling of names without a proportional
increase of individual signers. He depreciated Stephenson's statement
that these memorials had come from almost every part of the State as
ill-founded; for the sixteen counties of Tennessee which had sent
representatives with memorials favorable to the idea of emancipation
were not from widely scattered portions of the State. Only five
extended westward beyond the longitude of Chattanooga, and there were
none of the more western counties represented. The two sections of the
State seemed to bear no hostility toward each other, but decidedly
disagreed on the slavery question. The question was largely an
economic one with the Tennesseans of the Mississippi Valley. Cotton
was coming into greater and greater importance every year. It could,
they thought, be most profitably raised by large groups of workmen
whose labor was cheap. The slave was the logical person, and they
fastened on him the burden.
Lest the impression has been made that the only portion of the State
from which the sentiment of an anti-slavery nature came was East
Tennessee, it will be well to refer to the vigorous speech of Kincaid,
a delegate from Bedford County, who flung a parting reply to the
friends and sympathizers of the Committee of Thirteen which had
succeeded in thwarting any official action upon the matter proposed by
the memorialists.[39] Bedford County, in the central portion of the
State, represented both economically and socially a type of citizen
different from that of the mountaineer stock. Yet Kincaid fearlessly
defended the plain human rights of the colored population in his
speech as much as Stephenson had done, and scathingly denounced the
Committee of Thirteen for its attitude toward slavery.
The pro-slavery faction, however, successfully contended that the
emancipation party had no definite plan for emancipation, as those in
Washington County and other districts were divided in their ideas on
this subject. There were about thirty memorials besides the one from
this county, one half of them asking that all children born in the
State after 1835 should be free and that all slaves should be freed in
1855 and sent out of the State. The other half of the memorials
favored making the slaves free in 1866 and having them colonized. As
a matter of fact, Tennessee did emancipate its slaves three years
earlier than this date. By the Committee of Thirteen these statements
were given to show that there could be no virtue in acting in accord
with the wishes of the memorialists, as they were hopelessly divided
in their recommendations. The report of the committee was tabled, but
the debate was by no means ended. Further detail is not of use to us
here save to point out that there was no vote in the matter and that
Stephenson bitterly upbraided the convention as a whole, stating that
it had not made an effort to answer the prayer of the memorialists.
The survey of this prolonged and unprofitable struggle shows how
divided were the people of Tennessee on the question of abolishing
slavery.[40]
Later in the convention there occurred some incidents which throw
light on the situation of the Negro. The Bill of Rights in the amended
constitution, sec. 26, provided: "That free white men of this state
have a right to keep and bear arms in their own defence."[41] A
delegate from Sevier County objected to the word "white" and moved
that it be stricken from the record. Another member from Green County
moved that the word "citizens" be inserted instead of "free white
men," but this was rejected by a vote of 19 to 30, Stephenson and and
others from East Tennessee voting with the ayes, and the Committee of
Thirteen with others defeating the motion. A resolution was then
brought forward by a delegate from Dyer County intended to prohibit
the general assembly from having power to pass laws for the
emancipation of slaves without consent of owners.[42] Immediately a
memorialist sympathizer moved to lay this on the table until January,
1835. His effort was lost, and the resolution passed. Thus was the day
completely won for the anti-emancipation faction.
There had been considerable discussion as to the status of free men of
color, and although one provision of the constitution seemed to give
the right of suffrage to all free men, yet there was a restriction
limiting the privilege of voting to those who were "competent
witnesses in a court of justice against a white person."[43] One
commentator upon his unusual provision observes that one cannot tell
how many Negroes were entitled to vote under this provision.[44] But
whatever present-day students may make of this, it was recognized by
the members of this convention that the free Negro had no suffrage
right, for near the close of the convention there was submitted a
resolution providing that since "free men of color were denied
suffrage by the constitution," the apportionment of senators and
representatives from their respective districts should be based on the
white population alone.[45] The revised constitution contains this
provision, but with different wording.
The general tendency of the whole body of legal enactments in the
period 1834-65 was toward restricting the slave more and more, and at
the same time, eliminating the element known as free Negroes. Probably
this had an effect upon the percentage of free Negroes in the total
population as seen in the years 1820 and 1850. The national percentage
for these years in question was in each case six tenths of one per
cent.[46] But as the total Negro population increased despite the
migration southward from Tennessee, the ratio for Tennessee in 1820
was 3 per cent, and for 1850, 2.4 per cent, a period of greater
repression, showing decrease, although very slight.
A general law of 1839 forbade the slave to act as a free person, that
is, to hire his own time from his master, or to have merchandisable
property and trade therewith.[47] Runaways were to be punished by
being made to labor on the streets or alleys of towns, as well as by
imprisonment. Several laws show the tendency to class free Negroes
with slaves by stating that all capital offences for slaves were also
capital offences for free Negroes.[48] Another plainly provides that
all offences made capital in the code of that time for slaves, should
also be capital for "free persons of color."[49] Further, "no free
person of color might keep a grocery or tippling house" under pain of
a heavy fine. It will be seen that the attitude thus was plainly more
and more adverse to the free Negro. An act of 1842 had made it
possible to amend all laws relating to "free persons of color," and
this was freely done.[50]
Free Negroes of "good character," either resident in the State prior
to 1836 or having removed to the State before that year, and
preferring, in their respective county courts, petitions to remain in
the same, might do so, but otherwise must leave the State under severe
penalties of imprisonment and hard labor, as provided under the law of
1831, prior to the new constitution. The subjects of this legal
provision were to renew this court proceeding every three years, under
the same penalty for failing to perform the renewal.[51] The laws of
registry of free Negroes were kept in force and made, if anything,
more rigid. One provision of these enactments was that there should be
in the registration papers specification of any "peculiar physical
marks on the person" so registered.[52] This practice, defended by
law, is exceedingly interesting to the student who compares it with
what has long been common knowledge regarding the practices of
slave-buyers in the markets. And here we have a measure of the
complete humiliation of the "free person of color," for every free
Negro or mulatto residing in any county of the State was compelled to
undergo this examination before officers of the county court and be
duly registered thereafter as a free person.[53]
As might be expected, the law of 1831 was followed up by enactments
strictly requiring the emancipation of slaves, when allowed by the
State, to be followed closely by the removal of the freedmen from the
State. Also instructions for the transportation of certain Negroes to
Africa were given in the same code. Those who had acquired freedom
after 1836, or who should do so, together with slaves successfully
suing for freedom, also free Negroes unable to give bond for good
behavior although having right to reside in the State, were all to be
transported to Africa, unless they went elsewhere out of the State,
according to provision by law.[54]
The word "mulatto" is found often in the laws of this period, showing
that this type was becoming an important factor in the race relations
of white and black. As far as is known, there is no way of obtaining
even the approximate proportion of white mothers to white fathers, but
because of the overwhelming evidence by personal testimony of
ex-slaves as to the relations of the masters and overseers of
plantations to the slave women, and the corresponding power of the
dominant race to prevent, at least in large degree, similar physical
marriages between Negroes and the women of their race, we may be said
rightly to infer that the proportion of white mothers of colored
offspring to white fathers was then, as it has always been, very
small. In Maryland, according to Brackett, the child of a white father
and a mulatto slave could not give testimony in court against a white
person, whereas the child of a white mother and a black man would be
disqualified in this regard only during his term of service.[55] "A
free mulatto was good evidence," says he, "against a white
person."[56] The mulatto of Tennessee had no such social or legal
position as either of these cases indicate, although here again
personal testimony brings to light notable exceptions of the social
behavior of individuals in certain localities, where this type, that
is, the colored offspring of white motherhood, was regarded as a
separate class, above the ordinary person of color.[57]
It is likely that in East Tennessee there was considerable prevalence
of such amalgamation of African and Scotch-Irish race stocks, with
white motherhood.[58] The reasons were largely economic. Many of the
whites who came to live in the lower farm lands down from their first
holdings on the rocky slopes and unfertile soil, were driven from
these more productive lowlands by the rich white land owners who
preferred to have large plantations with great numbers of blacks to
raise the crops, rather than to rent or sell to small farmers. For
these poorer white neighbors there was no recourse but to take to the
mountains and to cultivate there the less desirable lands. The life
they had to live was necessarily very rough and hard; their principal
diet was corn, and often the rocky soil only yielded them that
grudgingly and scantily. They frequently came in contact with the
slaves, and the latter were known to steal provisions from their
masters' storehouses and bring to these hill-country people appetizing
additions to their meager provisions. And the slaves were also known
to mingle with them in the quilting, husking, barn-raisings, and other
rural festivities, being undoubtedly made welcome. It requires no
immoderate imagination to state here the likelihood of much racial
intermixure, as we know, from testimony, of more than a few specific
cases, and we have, in this rather strange way, the account of social
intermingling and the secret gifts of the black men who visited these
mountain homes.
WILLIAM LLOYD IMES.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Compendium, U. S. Census (1870), pp. 13-15.
[2] The _Nashville American_, "City of Nashville" booklet, p. 20.
[3] Garrett and Goodpasture, _History of Tennessee_, pp. 249 sqq.
[4] _Ibid._, pp. 245-246.
[5] _Proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Convention_, London, 1843.
[6] _Ibid._, p. 300.
[7] See paper of E. E. Hoss, Tenn. Hist. Soc., Nashville.
[8] Greely, Horace, _The American Conflict_, p. 79, New York, 1864.
[9] _Journal of The Constitutional Convention_, State of Tennessee,
1834.
[10] _Journal of Constitutional Convention_, 1834.
[11] Haywood and Cobb, _Statute Laws of Tenn._, 1779, Ch. 5.
[12] _Ibid._, 1741, Ch. 21.
[13] _Ibid._, 1788, Ch. 7.
[14] _Ibid._, 1799, Ch. 9.
[15] R. T. Q., Jr., State Archives, Capitol Library, Tennessee.
[16] This is most natural, of course, but is inserted to emphasize the
absolute quality of ownership, for the master was held responsible for
the deed just as if he himself had committed it, and the slaves were
morally irresponsible. But for other breaches of social good conduct
the slave was the direct victim of the penalty, thus at once being
slave and man, property and human being.
[17] _Statute Laws of Tenn._, 1819, Chap. 35.
[18] Acts, 2d Session Gen. Assembly (Knoxville), 1809.
[19] _Statute Laws_, 1813, Chap. 135.
[20] _Ibid._, 1826, Ch. 22, Sec. 1.
[21] _Ibid._, 1801, Ch. 27, Sec. 1.
[22] _Acts of Gen. Assembly_ (Tenn.), 1822, Ch. 102.
[23] Cf. 1 and 2.
[24] _Statute Laws_, 1831, Ch. 102, Sec. 2.
[25] _Ibid._, Sec. 2.
[26] _Statute Laws_, 1826, Ch. 22, Sec. 6.
[27] _Ibid._, 1741, Ch. 24, Sec. 23.
[28] _Proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Convention_, London, 1843.
[29] _Acts of the Gen. Assembly, Tennessee_, 1821, Chap. 26.
[30] _Statute Laws, Tenn._, Chap. 6, Sec. 2. Laws of 1787.
[31] _Statute Laws, Tenn._, Chap. 6, Sec. 2, Laws of 1787.
[32] _Ibid._, 1833, Chap. 4, Sec. 1.
[33] _Tenn. Constitutional Convention Journal_, 1834.
[34] _Tenn. Constitutional Convention Journal_, pp. 31-40.
[35] _Ibid._, p. 53.
[36] _Southern Statesman_ (clipping from _Knoxville Register_, Oct.,
1831).
[37] _Tenn. Constitutional Convention Journal_, 1834, pp. 102-104.
[38] _Ibid._, pp. 125-126.
[39] Journal Const. Conv., _op. cit._, pp. 214 et seq.
[40] _Tennessee Constitutional Journal_, 1834, pp. 126 et seq.
[41] _Ibid._, pp. 184 et seq.
[42] _Ibid._, p. 200, p. 209.
[43] Constitution of Tenn., 1834, Art. 3, Sec. 1.
[44] Code of Tenn. '57, '58, Sec. 3809.
[45] Stephenson, _Race Distinctions in American Law_, p. 284. _Tenn.
Const. Conv. Journal_, 1834, _op. cit._, p. 209.
[46] Bureau of the Census, "A Century of Pop. Growth," p. 82.
Washington, 1909.
[47] _Acts of Tenn._, 1846, Chap. 47 (Nicholson).
[48] Code of 1858, Tenn., Art. IV, See. 2725.
[49] _Ibid._, Sec. 2725.
[50] _Ibid._, Sec. 2728.
[51] Nicholson, _Acts of Tenn._, 1846, Chap. 191, Sec. 1.
[52] Code of Tenn., _op. cit._, Sec. 2714.
[53] _Ibid._, Sec. 2793-2794. Cf. Statute Laws here.
[54] _Statute Laws, Tenn._, 1846, Ch. 191.
[55] Brackett, "The Negro in Maryland," _Johns Hopkins Studies_, Ch.
V, p. 191.
[56] _Ibid._, pp. 191-192.
[57] Personal Testimony, B. S.; J. P. Q. E.; E. S. M. Nashville, 1912.
[58] {Transcriber's Note: Missing footnote text in original.}
NEGRO LIFE AND HISTORY IN OUR SCHOOLS
The study of the ethnology and the history of the Negro has not yet
extended far beyond the limit of cold-blooded investigation. Prior to
the Civil War few Americans thought seriously of studying the Negro in
the sense of directing their efforts toward an acquisition of
knowledge of the race as one of the human family; and this field was
not more inviting to Europeans, for the reduction of the Negro to the
status of a tool for exploitation began in Europe. The race did
receive attention from pseudo-scientists, a few historians pointed out
the possibilities of research in this field, and others brought
forward certain interesting sketches of distinguished Negroes
exhibiting evidences of the desirable qualities manifested by other
races.
There was a new day for the Negro in history after the Civil War. This
rending of the nation was such an upheaval that American historians
eagerly applied themselves to the study of the ante-bellum period to
account for the economic, social, and political causes leading up to
this struggle. In their treatment of slavery and abolition, they had
to give the Negro some attention. In some cases, therefore, the
historians of that day occasionally departed from the scientific
standard to give personal sketches of Negroes indicating to some
extent the feeling, thought and the aspiration of the whole race.
Writers deeply interested in the Negroes at that time wrote eulogistic
biographies of distinguished Negroes and of white persons who had
devoted their lives to the uplift of the despised race. The attitude
in most cases was that the Negroes had been a very much oppressed
people and that their enslavement was a disgrace of which the whole
country should be made to feel ashamed. As it was the people of the
South who had to bear the onus of this criticism and they were not at
that time sufficiently enlightened to produce historians like
Hildreth, Bancroft, Prescott, Redpath and Parkman, the world largely
accepted the opinions of those historians who sympathized with the
formerly persecuted Negroes.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, however, there came
about a change in the attitude of American scholarship effected
largely by political movements. Because of the unpopularity and the
blunders of the southern States reconstructed on the basis of
universal suffrage and mainly under the dictation of white adventurers
from the North, the majority of the influential men of the country
reached the conclusion that the southern white man, in spite of his
faults as a slaveholder, had not been properly treated. This
unsatisfactory régime, therefore, was speedily overthrown and the
freedman was gradually reduced to the status of the free Negro prior
to the Civil War on the grounds that it had been proved that he was
not a white man with a black skin.
Following immediately thereupon came a new day for education in the
South. Many of its ambitious young men went North to study in the
leading universities then devoting much attention to the preparation
of scholars for scientific investigation. The investigators from the
South directed their attention primarily toward the vindication of the
slavery régime and the overthrow of the Reconstruction governments. As
a result there have appeared a number of studies on slavery and the
Reconstruction. All of this task was not done by southerners and was
not altogether confined to the universities, but resulted no doubt
largely from the impetus given it in these centers, especially at
Johns Hopkins and Columbia. It was influenced to a great extent by the
attitude of southern scholars. Ingle, Weeks, Bassett, Cooley, Steiner,
Munford, Trexler, Bracket, Ballagh, Tremain, McCrady, Henry, and
Russell directed their attention to the study of slavery. With the
works of Deane, Moore, Needles, Harris, Washburn, Dunn, Bettle,
Davidson, Hickok, Pelzer, Morgan, Northrop, Smith, Wright, and Turner
dealing with slavery in the North, the study of the institution by
States has been considered all but complete. In a general way the
subject of slavery has been treated by A. B. Hart, H. E. von Holst,
John W. Burgess, James Ford Rhodes, and U. B. Phillips.
The study of the Reconstruction has proceeded with renewed impetus and
has finally been seemingly exhausted in a way peculiar to the recent
investigators. Among these studies are those of Matthews, Garner,
Ficklen, Eckenrode, Hollis, Flack, Woolley, Ramsdell, Davis, Hamilton,
Thompson, Reynolds, Burgess, Pearson, and Hall, most of whom received
their inspiration at Johns Hopkins University or Columbia. The same
period has been treated in a general way by W. A. Dunning, John W.
Burgess, James Schouler, J. B. MacMaster, James Ford Rhodes and W. L.
Fleming. Most of these studies deal with social and economic causes as
well as with the political and some of them are in their own way well
done. Because of the bias in several of them, however, John R. Lynch
and W.E.B. DuBois have endeavored to answer certain adverse criticisms
on the record of the Negroes during the Reconstruction period.
Speaking generally, however, one does not find in most of these works
anything more than the records of scientific investigators as to facts
which in themselves do not give the general reader much insight as to
what the Negro was, how the Negro developed from period to period, and
the reaction of the race on what was going on around it. There is
little effort to set forth what the race has thought and felt and done
as a contribution to the world's accumulation of knowledge and the
welfare of mankind. While what most of these writers say may, in many
respects, be true, they are interested in emphasizing primarily the
effect of this movement on the white man, whose attitude toward the
Negro was that of a merchant or manufacturer toward the materials he
handled and unfortunately whose attitude is that of many of these
gentlemen writing the history in which the Negroes played a part as
men rather than as coal and iron.
The multiplication of these works adversely critical of the Negro race
soon had the desired result. Since one white man easily influences
another to change his attitude toward the Negro, northern teachers of
history and correlated subjects have during the last generation
accepted the southern white man's opinion of the Negro and endeavor to
instill the same into the minds of their students. Their position
seems to be that because the American Negro has not in fifty years
accomplished what the master class achieved in fifty centuries the
race cannot be expected to perform satisfactorily the functions of
citizenship and must, therefore, be treated exceptionally in some such
manner as devised by the commonwealths of the South. This change of
sentiment has been accelerated too by southern teachers, who have
established themselves in northern schools and who have gained partial
control of the northern press. Coming at the time when many Negroes
have been rushing to the North, this heresy has had the general effect
of promoting the increase of race prejudice to the extent that the
North has become about as lawless as the South in its treatment of the
Negro.
Following the multiplication of Reconstruction studies, there appeared
a number of others of a controversial nature. Among these may be
mentioned the works of A. H. Stone and Thomas Pierce Bailey adversely
criticizing the Negro and those of a milder form produced by Edgar
Gardner Murphy, and Walter Hines Page. Then there are the writings of
William Pickens, and W. E. B. DuBois. These works are generally
included among those for reference in classes studying Negro life, but
they throw very little light on the Negro in the United States or
abroad. In fact, instead of clearing up the situation they deeply
muddle it. The chief value of such literature is to furnish facts as
to sentiment of the people, which in years to come will be of use to
an investigator when the country will have sufficiently removed itself
from race prejudice to seek after the truth as to all phases of the
situation.
The Negro, therefore, has unfortunately been for some time a
negligible factor in the thought of most historians, except to be
mentioned only to be condemned. So far as the history of the Negro is
concerned, moreover, the field has been for some time left largely to
those sympathetically inclined and lacking scientific training. Not
only have historians of our day failed to write books on the Negro,
but this history has not been generally dignified with certain brief
sketches as constitute the articles appearing in the historical
magazines. For example, the _American Historical Review_, the leading
magazine of its kind in the United States, published quarterly since
1895, has had very little material in this field. Running over the
files one finds Jernagan's _Slavery and Conversion in the American
Colonies_, Siebert's _Underground Railway_, Stevenson's _The Question
of Arming the Slaves_, DuBois's _Reconstruction and its Benefits_, and
several economic studies of the plantation and the black belt by A. H.
Stone and U.B. Phillips. It has been announced, however, that the
Carnegie Institution for Historical Research will in the future direct
attention to this neglected field.
In schools of today the same condition unfortunately obtains. The
higher institutions of the Southern States, proceeding doubtless on
the basis that they know too much about the Negro already, have not
heretofore done much to convert the whites to the belief that the one
race should know more about the other. Their curricula, therefore, as
a general thing carry no courses bearing on Negro life and history.
In the North, however, the situation is not so discouraging. Some
years ago classes in history in northern colleges and universities
made a detailed study of slavery and abolition in connection with the
regular courses in American history. There has been much neglect in
this field during the last generation, since many teachers of history
in the North have been converted to the belief in the justice of the
oppression of the Negro, but there are still some sporadic efforts to
arrive at a better understanding of the Negro's contribution to
history in the United States. This is evidenced by the fact that Ohio
State University offers in its history department a course on the
_Slavery Struggles in the United States_, and the University of
Nebraska one on the _Negro Problem under Slavery and Freedom_.
This study in the northern universities receives some attention in the
department of sociology. Leland Stanford University offers a course on
_Immigration and the Race Problems_, the University of Oklahoma
another known as _Modern Race Problems_. The University of Missouri
and the University of Chicago offer _The Negro in America_; the
University of Minnesota, _The American Negro_; and Harvard University,
_American Population Problems: Immigration and the Negro_. This study
of the race problem, however, has in many cases been unproductive of
desirable results for the reason that instead of trying to arrive at
some understanding as to how the Negro may be improved, the work has
often degenerated into a discussion of the race as a menace and the
justification of preventative measures inaugurated by the whites.
A few Negro schools sufficiently advanced to prosecute seriously the
study of social sciences have had courses in sociology and history
bearing on the Negro. Tuskegee, Atlanta, Fiske, Wilberforce and Howard
have undertaken serious work in this field. They have been
handicapped, however, by the lack of teachers trained to do advanced
work and by the dearth of unbiased literature adequate to the desired
illumination. The work under these circumstances, therefore, has been
in danger of becoming such a discussion of the race problem as would
be expected of laymen expressing opinions without data to support
them. In the reconstruction which these schools are now undergoing,
history and sociology are given a conspicuous place and the tendency
is to assign this work to well-informed and scientifically trained
instructors. These schools, moreover, are now not only studying what
has been written but have undertaken the preparation of scholars to
carry on research in this neglected field.
The need for this work is likewise a concern to the enlightened class
of southern whites. Seeing that a better understanding of the races is
now necessary to maintain that conservatism to prevent this country
from being torn asunder by Socialism and Bolshevism, they are now
making an effort to effect a closer relation between the blacks and
whites by making an intensive study of the Negro. Fortunately too this
is earnestly urged by the group of rising scholars of the new South.
To carry out this work a number of professors from various southern
universities have organized what is called the University Commission
on Southern Race Questions. They are calling the attention of the
South to the world-wide reconstruction following in the wake of the
World War, which will necessarily affect the country in a peculiar
way. They point to the fact that almost 400,000 Negroes were called
into the military service and thousands of others to industrial
centers of the North. Knowing too that the demobilization of the
Negroes and whites in the army will bring home a large number of
remade men who must be adapted anew to life, they are asking for a
general coöperation of the whites throughout the South in the interest
of the Negro and the welfare of the land.
These gentlemen are directing this study toward the need of making the
South realize the value of the Negro to the community, to inculcate a
sympathy for the Negro and to enable the whites to understand that the
race cannot be judged by the shortcomings of a few of the group. They
are appealing to the country and especially to the scholarly men of
the South for more justice and fair play for the Negroes in view of
the fact that, in spite of the radical aliens who set to work among
the Negroes to undermine their loyalty, the Negroes maintained their
morale and supported the war. Men of thought then are boldly urged to
engage in this movement for a large measure of thoughtfulness and
consideration, for the control of "careless habits of speech which
give needless offense and for the practice of just relations. To seek
by all practicable means to cultivate a more tolerant spirit, a more
generous sympathy, and a wider degree of coöperation between the best
elements of both races, to emphasize the best rather than the worst
features of interracial relations, to secure greater publicity for
those whose views are based on reason rather than prejudice--these,
they believe are essential parts of the Reconstruction program by
which it is hoped to bring into the world a new era of peace and
democracy. Because college men are rightly expected to be molders of
opinion, the Commission earnestly appeals to them to contribute of
their talents and energy in bringing this program to its
consummation."
Among these are James J. Doster, Professor of Education, University of
Alabama; David Y. Thomas, Professor of Political Science and History,
University of Arkansas; James M. Farr, Professor of English,
University of Florida; R. P. Brooks, Professor of History, University
of Georgia; William O. Scroggs, Professor of Economics and Sociology,
Louisiana State University; William L. Kennon, Professor of Physics,
University of Mississippi; E. C. Branson, Professor of Rural
Economics, University of North Carolina; Josiah Morse, Professor of
Philosophy, University of South Carolina; James D. Hoskins, Dean of
the University of Tennessee; William S. Sutton, Professor of
Education, University of Texas; and William M. Hunley, Professor of
Economics and Political Science, Virginia Military Institute.
C. G. WOODSON.
GREGOIRE'S SKETCH OF ANGELO SOLIMANN
The historical setting of this sketch is the life of the author
himself. Abbé Grégoire was born in 1750 and died in 1831. He was
educated at the Jesuit College at Nancy. He then became Curé and
teacher at the Jesuit school at Pont-a-Mousson. In this position he
had the opportunity to apply himself to study and soon attained some
distinction as a scholar. In 1783 he was crowned by the Academy of
Nancy for his _Éloge de La poésie_ and in 1788 by that of Metz for an
_Essai sur la Régénération physique et morale des Juifs_. Throughout
his career he exhibited evidences of a breadth of mind and interest in
the man far down. When the French Revolution broke out, therefore, he
easily became a factor in the upheaval, but endeavored always to
restrain the people from fury and vandalism. In 1789, he was elected
by the clergy of the bailliage of Nancy to the States-General, where
he coöperated with the group of deputies of Jansenist or Gallican
sympathies.
He was among the first of the clergy to join the third estate and
contributed largely to the union of the three orders. He took an
active part in the abolition of the privileges of the nobles of the
church and under the new constitution he was one of the first to take
oath. In taking this stand, however, he lost the support of most of
his fellow churchmen, who, unlike Abbé Grégoire, did not think that
the Catholic religion is reconcilable with modern conceptions of
political liberty. Because of the changing fortunes of the
revolutionists, therefore, Abbé Grégoire finally found himself often
deserted and sometimes almost reduced to poverty.
To the end of his career, however, he maintained his attitude of
benevolence toward the oppressed. Differing widely from most white
men, who although willing to take radical measures to make democracy
safe for themselves, are reluctant to extend its benefits to those of
color, Abbé Grégoire earnestly labored in the Constituent Assembly to
bring about the emancipation of the Negroes in the French colonies.
His interest in persons of African blood, moreover, was not restricted
to the mere abolition of slavery because it was a stain on the
character of the whites but he endeavored also to elevate the slaves
to the full status of citizenship. It was largely through his efforts
that men of color in the French colonies were soon after their
emancipation admitted to the same civil and political rights as the
whites in those dependencies.
He made an effort, moreover, to influence public opinion in behalf of
the Negroes in other lands. Having read in Jefferson's _Notes on
Virginia_ his references to the so-called inferiority of the Negroes,
Grégoire sent him a copy of his _De la Litterature des Nègres_.
Replying to the communication transmitting this publication Jefferson
expressed himself in diplomatic and flattering terms, apparently
indicating that he had expressed the opinion of inferiority with much
hesitation and that the argument to establish the doctrine was after
all rather weak. Writing a few days later to Joel Barlow, Jefferson no
doubt expressed his real opinion as to what he thought of the
inferiority of the Negro and Grégoire's evidences to the contrary. The
pamphlet no doubt had some effect for, "As to Bishop Grégoire," says
he, "I wrote him a very soft answer. It was impossible for doubt to
have been more tenderly or hesitatingly expressed than there was in
the _Notes on Virginia_ and nothing was or is further from my
intentions than to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion
where I have only expressed a doubt."
In later years, however, Abbé Grégoire's _De la Litterature des
Nègres_ fell into the hands of a more sympathetic man. This was D. B.
Walden of Brooklyn, New York, then secretary to the legation at Paris.
Interested in the abolition of the slave trade and the welfare of the
blacks, Walden translated Grégoire's _De la Litterature des Nègres_,
that friends of the race unacquainted with the French language might
have additional information as to what the Negro had done to
demonstrate that the race is not intellectually inferior to others.
This translation, however, is unfortunate because of the numerous
faults throughout the work and largely on account of its omissions.
Exactly why the translator did not desire to bring before the American
public all of the facts set forth in this book has never been exactly
cleared up. It has been said, however, that the facts omitted were too
favorable to the Negro race to be received by the American public at
that time. The whole work should be translated as soon as some scholar
can direct his attention to it, but, in the absence of such an effort,
I am submitting herewith a translation of the most striking omission,
chapter five, which gives an interesting sketch of the career of
Angelo Solimann.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE NEGRO ANGELO SOLIMANN
Although Angelo Solimann has published nothing[1] he deserves,
because of his extensive learning and still more by the morality
and excellence of his character, one of the first places among
the Negroes who have distinguished themselves by a high degree of
culture.
He was the son of an African prince. The country subject to the
latter's domination was called Gangusilang; the family,
Magni-Famori. Besides the little Mmadi-Make (this was Angelo's
name in his native country) his parents had another younger
child, a daughter. He remembered with what respect his father,
surrounded by a large number of servants, was treated; he had,
like every prince's child of that country, certain marks
imprinted on his two legs, and for a long time he hoped that he
would be sought for, and recognized by these marks.
Even in his old age, the memories of his childhood, of his first
practice in shooting arrows, in which he surpassed his comrades,
the memory of the simple customs and the beautiful blue sky of
his native country, often recurred to his mind with a pleasure
not unmixed with sorrow. He could not sing, without being
profoundly affected, those songs of his native land which his
good memory had very well conserved.
It appears, from Angelo's reminiscences, that his tribe already
had some civilization. His father possessed many elephants, and
even some horses which were rare in those countries; money was
unknown, but trade by barter was carried on regularly and by
auction. Stars were worshipped; circumcision was usual. Two white
families lived in the country.
Some writers who have published accounts of their voyages, speak
of the perpetual wars between some tribes of Africa, of which the
purpose was sometimes vengeance or robbery, sometimes the most
ignominious kind of avarice, because the victor took the
prisoners to the nearest slave market in order to sell them to
the whites. One day as the boy, then seven years old, was
standing at the side of his mother who was nursing his sister, a
war of this kind of a danger that his father did not suspect
broke out against the tribe of Mmadi-Makeé. Suddenly there were
heard the frightful clashing of arms and howlings of the wounded.
Mmadi-Maké's grandfather, struck by fear, ran into the cabin
crying: "There is the enemy." Fatuma, frightened, arose. The
father hastily sought his weapon; and the little boy, terrified,
ran away as quickly as an arrow. His mother called loudly: "Where
are you going Mmadi-Maké?" The child answered: "Wherever God
wishes me to go." In his old age he often reflected upon the
great significance of these words. When he was out of the cabin,
he looked back and saw his mother and many of his father's men
fall under the blows of the enemy. He cowered down with another
boy under a tree. Struck with fear, he covered his eyes with his
hands. The fight continued. The enemy, believing themselves
already victorious, seized him, and held him aloft as a sign of
joy. At this sight, the fellow-countrymen of Mmadi-Maké cheered
their forces and rallied to save the son of their king. The
fighting began again, and while it lasted the boy was still
raised aloft. Finally the enemies were conquerors and he was
positively their prize. His master exchanged him for a fine black
horse, which another Negro gave him, and the child was taken to
the place of embarkation. There he found many of his
fellow-countrymen, all like himself, prisoners, all condemned to
slavery. With sorrow they recognized him, but they could do
nothing for him. They were even forbidden to speak to him.
When the prisoners, being taken on small boats, reached the
seashore, Mmadi-Maké saw with surprise several large vessels, on
one of which he was received with his third master. He supposed
that it was a Spanish vessel. After suffering a storm, they
landed on a coast, and the master promised the child that he
would take him to his mother. The latter, delighted, quickly saw
his hope disappear, finding instead of his mother, his master's
wife, who, moreover, received him very well, kissed him and
treated him with much kindness. Her husband named him Andrew, and
directed him to take the camels to the pasture, and watch them.
It is impossible to say of what nationality this man was, or how
long Angelo, who has now been dead twelve years, lived at his
home. This short memoir has been written down recently from the
story of his friends. But it is known that after a reasonably
long stay, his master announced to him his intention of
transporting him to a country where he would be better off.
Mmadi-Maké was greatly pleased with this. His mistress parted
from him with regret. They embarked and arrived at Messina, where
he was conducted to the home of a wealthy lady, who, it appeared,
was expecting to receive him. She treated him kindly, gave him an
instructor to teach him the language of the country, which he
learned with ease. His good nature won for him the friendship of
the numerous servants, among whom he singled out a Negress, named
Angelina, because of her gentleness, and her kindly attitude
towards him. He became dangerously ill; the Marchioness, his
mistress, gave him all the care of a mother, even to the point of
sitting up with him part of the night. The most skillful
physicians were called in and his bed was surrounded by a crowd
of persons who awaited his orders. The Marchioness had long
wished that he would be baptized. After repeated refusals, one
day, during his convalescence, he himself asked for baptism. His
mistress, very much delighted, ordered the most elaborate
preparations. In a parlor there was erected over a stately bed a
canopy richly embroidered. The entire family and all the friends
of the house were present. Mmadi-Maké, lying on this bed, was
asked concerning the name he desired to have. Because of
gratitude and his friendship for the Negress Angelina, he wished
to be named Angelo. His desire was granted, and as a family name
he was given that of Solimann. He was accustomed to celebrate
piously the day of his entrance into Christianity, the eleventh
of September, as though it were his birthday.
His goodness, his kindness, and his sense of justice made him
dear to every one. The Prince Lobkowitz, then in Sicily in the
capacity of imperial general, frequented the house where this
child lived. He experienced for him such an affection that he
made the most earnest entreaties that he be given to him. Because
of her affection for Angelo, the Marchioness could not easily
grant his request. She finally yielded to the considerations of
advantage and prudence which impelled her to make this gift to
the general. How she wept when she parted with the little Negro
who entered with repugnance the service of a new master.
The duties of the prince did not permit a long stay in this
country. He loved Angelo, but his manner of life and perhaps the
spirit of the time caused him to give very little attention to
his education. Angelo became wild and ill-tempered. He passed his
days in idleness, and children's sports. An old steward of the
prince, realizing his good heart and excellent qualities, in
spite of his thoughtlessness, procured for him a teacher, under
whom Angelo learned in seventeen days to write German. The tender
affection of the child, and his rapid progress in all the
branches of instruction, repaid the good old man for his trouble.
Thus Angelo grew up in the house of the prince. He accompanied
him on all his tours, and shared with him the perils of war. He
fought side by side with his master, whom one day he carried
wounded, on his shoulders, from the field of battle. Angelo
distinguished himself on these occasions, not only as a servant
and faithful friend, but also as an intrepid warrior, as an
experienced officer, especially in tactics, although he never had
military rank. The field marshall Lascy, who esteemed him highly,
gave, before a group of officers, a most creditable eulogy upon
his bravery, presented him with a splendid Turkish sabre, and
offered him the command of a company, which he refused.
His master died. By his will he left Angelo to the Prince
Wenceslas de Lichtenstein, who for a long time, had desired to
have him. This man asked Angelo if he were satisfied with this
arrangement and if he were willing to come to his home. To this
Angelo agreed, and made the preparations for the change necessary
in his manner of living. In the meanwhile, Emperor Francis I
called him to him, and made the same offer, with very flattering
terms. But the word of Angelo was sacred. He remained at the home
of Prince Lichtenstein. Here, as at the home of General
Lobkowitz, the tutelar genius of unhappy persons, he was
accustomed to convey to the prince the requests of those who
wished to obtain some favor. His pockets were always filled with
notes and petitions. Never being able or willing to ask favors
for himself, he fulfilled with equal zeal and success this duty
in favor of others.
Angelo followed his master on his journeys, and to Frankfort, at
the time of the coronation of Emperor Joseph, as king of the
Romans. One day, at the instigation of his prince, he tried his
luck at chance and won twenty thousand florins. He played another
game with his opponents, who again lost twenty-four thousand
florins; in playing the second game, Angelo knew how to arrange
the play so finely that the loser regained the last amount. This
fine trait of Angelo won for him admiration, and gained for him
numerous congratulations. The transient favor of chance did not
dazzle him; on the contrary, apprehending his fickleness, he
never again ventured any big sum. He amused himself with chess
and had the reputation of being one of the best players of this
game of his time.
At the age of ---- he married a widow, Madame de Christiani, née
Kellerman, of Belgium origin. The prince did not know of this
marriage. Perhaps Angelo had reasons for concealing it. A later
event has justified his silence. The Emperor Joseph II, who had a
lively interest in everything concerning Angelo and who, as a
mark of distinction, even walked arm in arm with him, made known
to Prince Lichtenstein one day, without foreseeing the
consequences, Angelo's secret. The latter called Angelo, and
questioned him. Angelo admitted his marriage. The prince
announced that he would banish him from his house, and erase his
name from his will. He had intended to give him some diamonds of
considerable value, with which Angelo was accustomed to being
decked when he followed his master on festive days.
Angelo, who had asked favors so often for others, did not say one
word for himself. He left the palace to live in a distant suburb,
in a small house bought a long time before, and transferred to
his wife. He lived with her in this retreat, enjoying domestic
happiness. The most careful education of his only daughter,
Madame the Baroness of Hoüchters-leöen, who is no longer living,
the cultivation of his garden, the social intercourse of several
learned and estimable men, were his occupations and his
pleasures.
About two years after the death of Prince Wenceslas of
Lichtenstein, his nephew and heir, the Prince Francis, saw Angelo
in the street. He ordered his carriage to be stopped, had him
enter it, and told him that, being convinced of his innocence, he
was resolved to make amends for the injustice of his uncle.
Consequently he assigned to Angelo an income revertible after his
death to Madam Solimann. The only thing which the prince asked of
Angelo was to supervise the education of his son, Louis of
Lichtenstein.
Angelo fulfilled punctiliously the duties of his new vocation,
and he went daily to the prince's home, in order to watch over
the pupil recommended to his care. The Prince, seeing that the
long walk might be difficult for Angelo, especially in inclement
weather, offered him a residence. There again was Angelo settled,
for the second time, in the Lichtenstein palace; but he took with
him his family. He lived there in retreat as before in the
company of some friends, in that of scholars, and devoted to
"belles lettres" which he constantly cultivated with zeal. His
favorite study was history. His excellent memory aided him
greatly. He could cite the names, dates, year of birth of all
illustrious persons, and noteworthy events.
His wife, who for a long time had been declining, was kept alive
several years longer, through the tender care of a husband who
lavished upon her all the aid of science; but finally she died.
From that time on Angelo made several changes in his household.
He no longer invited friends to dine with him. He never drank
anything except water as an example for his daughter, whose
education, then finished, was entirely his work. Perhaps, also,
he wished, by a strict economy to make sure the fortune of this
only daughter.
Angelo, esteemed and loved everywhere, still did much traveling
at an advanced age, sometimes in the interests of others,
sometimes to attend to his own affairs. People have recalled his
acts of kindness, and the favors that he had shown. Circumstances
having taken him to Milan, the late Archduke Ferdinand, who was
governor there, overwhelmed him with demonstrations of
friendship.
He enjoyed, to the end of his career, a robust constitution; his
appearance showed hardly any signs of old age, which caused
several mistakes and friendly disputes; for often people who had
not seen him for twenty or thirty years, mistook him for his son,
and treated him according to this error.
Suffering a stroke of apoplexy in the street, at the age of
seventy-five, people hastened to give him succor which was
useless. He died, November 21, 1796, mourned by all his friends,
who cannot think of him without emotion, and without tears. The
esteem of all men of consequence has followed him to the tomb.
Angelo was of medium stature, slender and well proportioned. The
regularity of his features and the nobleness of his carriage,
form, by their beauty, a contrast with the unfavorable opinion
generally held concerning the Negro physiognomy. An unusual
suppleness in all bodily exercises gave to his carriage and to
his movements grace and ease. Combining with all the fineness of
virtue a good judgment, ennobled by extensive and thorough
knowledge, he knew six languages, Italian, French, German, Latin,
Bohemian, and English, and besides spoke especially the first
three fluently.
Like all his fellow countrymen, he was born with an impetuous
temper. His unchangeable calmness and good nature were
consequently so much the more admirable, as they were the result
of hard fighting and many victories won over himself. He never
allowed, even when someone had irritated him, an improper
expression to escape his lips. Angelo was pious without being
superstitious. He carefully observed all religious rites, not
believing that it was beneath him to give in this way an example
to his family. His word and decisions, to which he had come after
careful consideration, were unchangeable, and nothing could
swerve him from his intention. He always wore the costume of his
country. This was a kind of very simple garment in Turkish
fashion almost always of dazzling whiteness, which accentuated to
advantage the black and shining color of his skin. His picture,
engraved at Augsburg, is found in the art gallery of
Lichtenstein.
F. HARRISON HOUGH.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I discharge a duty in disclosing to the public the names of the
persons to whom I am indebted for the biography of this estimable
African, concerning whom Dr. Gall was the first to speak to me. Upon
the request of my fellow-citizens, D'Hautefort, attaché to the
embassy, and Dudon, First Secretary to the French legation in Austria,
they hastened to satisfy my curiosity. Two estimable ladies of Vienna,
Mme. Stief and Mme. Picler, worked at it with great zeal. All the
details furnished by the defunct Angelo's friends were carefully
collected. From this material has been written the interesting account
which follows. In the French translation it loses in delicacy of
style, for Mme. Picler, who wrote it down in German, possesses the
rare talent of writing equally well in prose and in poetry. I take
great pleasure in expressing to these kind persons my just gratitude.
DOCUMENTS
LETTERS OF NEGRO MIGRANTS OF 1916-1918[1]
The exodus of the Negroes during the World War, the most significant
event in our recent internal history, may be profitably studied by
reading the letters of the various migrants. The investigator has been
fortunate in finding letters from Negroes of all conditions in almost
all parts of the South and these letters are based on almost every
topic of concern to humanity. These documents will serve as a guide in
getting at the motive dominant in the minds of these refugees and at
the real situation during the upheaval. As a whole, these letters
throw much light on all phases of Negro life and, in setting forth the
causes of unrest in the South, portray the character of the whites
with whom the blacks have had to do.
These letters are of further value for information concerning the
Negroes in the North. From these reliable sources the student can
learn where the Negroes settled, what they engaged in, and how they
have readjusted themselves in a new situation. Here may be seen the
effects of the loss resulting from the absence of immigrants from
Europe, the conflict of the laboring elements, the evidences of racial
troubles and the menace of mob rule.
LETTERS ASKING FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE NORTH
GALVESTON, TEXAS,
this 24th day of May, 1917.
_Sir_: Please inform me of a situation, please ans. if fill out
or not so I will no. answer at once.
DALLAS, TEX.,
April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Having been informed through the Chicago Defender
paper that I can secure information from you. I am a constant
reader of the Defender and am contemplating on leaving here for
some point north. Having your city in view I thought to inquire
of you about conditions for work, housing, wages and everything
necessary. I am now employed as a laborer in a structural shop,
have worked for the firm five years.
I stored cars for Armour packing co. 3 years, I also claims to
know something about candy making, am handy at most anything for
an honest living. I am 31 yrs. old have a very industrious wife,
no children. If chances are available for work of any kind let me
know. Any information you can give me will be highly appreciated.
SAVANNAH, GA., April 24, 1917.
_Sir_: I saw an advertisement in the Chicago Ledger where you
would send tickets to any one desireing to come up there. I am a
married man with a wife only, and I am 38 years of age, and both
of us have so far splendid health, and would like very much to
come out there provided we could get good employment regarding
the advertisement.
WINSTON-SALEM, N. N., April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Colored people of this place who know you by note of
your great paper the Age and otherwise desire to get information
from you of jobs of better opportunities for them and better
advantages.
You will do us a great favor to answer us in advance.
MOBILE, ALA., June 11, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Will you please send me the name of the society in
Chicago that cares for colored emigrants who come north
seeking-employment sometime ago I saw the name of this society in
the defender but of late it does not appear in the paper so I
kindly as you please try and get the name of this society and
send the same to me at this city.
MOBILE, ALA., April 27, 1917.
_Sir_: Your advertisement appearing in the Chicago Defender have
influenced me to write to you with no delay. For seven previous
years I bore the reputation of a first class laundress in Selma.
I have much experience with all of the machines in this laundry.
This laundry is noted for its skillful work of neatness and ect.
We do sample work for different laundries of neighboring cities,
viz. Montgomery, Birmingham and Mobile once or twice a year. At
preseant I do house work but would like to get in touch with the
Chicago ----. I have an eager desire of a clear information how
to get a good position. I have a written recommendation from the
foreman of which I largely depend upon as a relief. You will do
me a noble favor with an answer in the earliest possible moment
with a description all about the work.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., 4-25-17.
_Dear Sir_: in reading a copy of the Chicago defender note that
if i get in touch with you you would assist me in getting
imployment. i am now imployed in Florida East coast R R service
road way department any thing in working line myself and friends
would be very glad to get in touch with as labors. We would be
more than glad to do so and would highly appreciate it the very
best we can advise where we can get work to do, fairly good wages
also is it possible that we could get transportation to the
destination. We are working men with familys. Please answer at
once, i am your of esteem. We are not particular about the
electric lights and all i want is fairly good wages and steady
work.
Pensacola, Fla., April 28, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I seen in the Chicago Defender where men was wanted
in small towns near Chicago at fair wages. As i want to lokate in
the north i thought it very nessary to consult you in the
direction of this work, hoping to receive from you full
pertikulars i a wate a reply.
ATLANTA, GA., April 30, 1917.
_Sir_: I would thank you kindly to explain to me how you get work
and what term I am comeing to Chicago this spring and would like
to know jest what to do would thank and appreciate a letter from
you soon telling me the thing that I wont to know.
VICKSBURG, MISS., May the 5th, 1917.
_Sir_: Just wants you to give me a few words of enfermation of
labor situations in your city or south Dakota grain farms what is
their offers and their adress. Will thank you for any enfermation
given of same.
FULLERTON, LA., April 28, 1917.
_Dear sir_: I was reading about you was neading labor ninety
miles of Chicago what is the name of the place and what R R
extends ther i wants to come north and i wants a stedy employment
ther what doe you pay per day i dont no anything about molding
works but have been working around machinery for 10 years. Let me
no what doe you pay for such work and can you give me a job of
that kind or a job at common labor and let me no your prices and
how many hours for a day.
MARCEL, MISS., 10/4/17.
_Dear Sir_: Although I am a stranger to you but I am a man of the
so called colored race and can give you the very best or
reference as to my character and ability by prominent citizens of
my community by both white and colored people that knows me
although am native of Ohio whiles I am a northern desent were
reared in this state of Mississippi. Now I am a reader of your
paper the Chicago Defender. After reading your writing ever wek I
am compell & persuade to say that I know you are a real man of my
color you have I know heard of the south land & I need not tell
you any thing about it. I am going to ask you a favor and at the
same time beg you for your kind and best advice. I wants to come
to Chicago to live. I am a man of a family wife and 1 child I can
do just any kind of work in the line of common labor & I have for
the present sufficient means to support us till I can obtain a
position. Now should I come to your town, would you please to
assist me in getting a position I am willing to pay whatever you
charge I dont want you to loan me not 1 cent but _help_ me to
find an occupation there in your town now I has a present
position that will keep me employed till the first of Dec. 1917.
now please give me your best advice on this subject. I enclose
stamp for reply.
BEAUMONT, TEX., May 14, 1917.
_My dear Sir_: Please write me particulars concerning emigration
to the north. I am a skilled machinist and longshoreman.
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA., May 31, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: pleas inform me of the best place in the north for
the colored people of the South, I am coming north and I want to
know of a good town to stop in. I enclose stamp for reply.
SANFORD, FLA., April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I have seen through the Chicago Defender that you and
the people of Chicago are helping newcomers. I am asking you for
some information about conditions in some small town near
Chicago.
There are some families here thinking of moving up, and are
desirous of knowing what to expect before leaving. Please state
about treatment, work, rent and schools. Please answer at some
spare time.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Seeing you ad in the defender I am writing you to
please give me some information concerning positions--unskilled
labor or hotel work, waiter, porter, bell boy, clothes cleaning
and pressing. I am experienced in those things, especially in the
hotel line. am 27 years of age, _good health_--have a wife--wish
you could give me information as I am not ready to come up at
present. would be thankful if you could arrange with some one who
would forward transportation for me and wife. would be very glad
to hear from you as soon as convenient. Thanking you in advance
for interest shown me.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Reading a article in the 21st issue of the Chicago
Defender about the trouble you had to obtain men for work out of
Chicago and also seeing a advertisement for men in Detroit saying
to apply to you I beg to state to you that if your could secure
me a position in or around Chicago or any northern section with
fairly good wages & good living conditions for myself and family
I will gladly take same and if ther could be any ways of sending
me transportation I will gladly let you or the firm you get me
position with deduct transportation fee out of my salary. as I
said before I will gladly take position in northern city or
county where a mans a man here are a few positions which I am
capable of holding down. Laborer, expirance porter, butler or
driver of Ford car. Thaking you in advance for your kindness, beg
to remain.
CEDAR GROVE, LA., April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: to day I was advise by the defendent offices in your
city to communicate with you in regards to the labor for the
colored of the south as I was lead to beleave that you was in
position of firms of your city & your near by surrounding towns
of Chicago. Please state me how is the times in & around Chicago
for the colored laboring man of the south & the average salary of
the labor man & the rates of room & ordanary board. Kindly state
to me just in every prticly that you no of that I have asked. I
will be in your city on or before six weeks from date above and
desire to becom a citizen of same. Please reply me at wonce. i
enclos stamp for quick action. When i arive you city i will be
more than glad to apply at your place as i wish to thank you in
advance for any asistance that you will do for me or tell me.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 5-5-17.
_Dear Sir_: Am applying for a position in your city if there be
any work of my trade. I am a water pipe corker and has worked
foreman on subservice drainage and sewer in this city for ten
(10) years. I am now out of work and want to leave this city. I
am a man of family therefore I am very anxious for an immediate
reply. Please find enclosed self addressed envelop for return
answer.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 5-5-17.
_Dear Sirs_: I was advised by the Chicago Defender to get in
touch with you if I desired to locate in or around Chicago. I
write this to find out what kind of work that you have on slate.
I expect to locate in or around Chicago by the first of June.
ANNISTON, ALA., April 29, 1918.
_Dear sir_: I read a peas in the defender about the member com
north I shall be vary glad to com in touch with you, as am
planing on coming north and I riting you that you mite no of som
good town in that secson I am a carpenter by traid and I would
like for you to locate in me as I should not like to com in that
secson with out no enfremation.
CHARLESTON, S. C., Feb. 10, 1917.
_Gentlemen_: Upon reading the N. Y. age, have seen where there
are need of employees in some sugar concern in New York. Kindly
answer this letter, and tell me the nature of the work.
As I am from the south and it is an average difficulty for a
southerner to endure the cold without being climatize. If it is
possiable for you to get any other job for me regardless to its
nature just since the work is indoor I'll appreciate the same.
As it is understood the times in the south is very hard and one
can scarcely live. Kindly take the matters into consideration,
and reply to my request at your earliest convenience.
CHARLESTON, S. C., May 25, 1917.
_Sir_: Having been informed that you can secure jobs for people
who desire to leave the south, I would like to get information
about the conditions and wages either in Niagra or Detroit. I
would prefer work in a factory in either town. Also advise as to
climate.
_Dear Sirs_: Having heard of you through a friend of mine, I
thought that I would write asking you to please send me full
information as to conditions and chances for the advancement of
the negro in the north.
I am seeking for the opportunity and chance of advancement as far
as my ability is capable as I am a negro my self.
I would like very much to get in touch with you if think that you
can give me some assistance along the line which I have spoken.
MIAMI, FLA., May 4, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Some time ago down this side it was a rumour about
the great work going on in the north. But at the present time
every thing is quite there, people saying that all we have been
hearing was false until I caught hold of the Chicago Defender I
see where its more positions are still open. Now I am very
anxious to get up there. I follows up cooking. I also was a
stevedor. I used to have from 150 to 200 men under my charge.
They thought I was capable in doing the work and at the meantime
I am willing to do anything. I have a wife and she is a very good
cook. She has lots of references from the north and south. Now
dear sir if you can send me a ticket so I can come up there and
after I get straightened out I will send for my wife. You will
oblige me by doing so at as early date as possible.
_Dear Sirs_: I am now looking for a location and am a man hunting
work and there is so many has left the South for the north and
Seemes as they are all gone to one place now please send the
names of some firms that wants labor i am a Man who Beleave in
right and Beleave in work and has worked all of my days and mean
to work till i die and Never been No kind of trouble and never
has to be made work.
Now i will Cloes, hoping to here from you Soon Yours Very Truly,
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 4/24/17
_Dear Sirs_: Being desirous of leaving the South for the
beterment of my condition generaly and seeking a Home Somewhere
in Ill' Chicago or some other prosperious Town I am at sea about
the best place to locate having a family dependent on me for
support. I am informed by the Chicago Defender a very valuable
paper which has for its purpose the Uplifting of my race, and of
which I am a constant reader and real lover, that you were in
position to show some light to one in my condition.
Seeking a Northern Home. If this is true Kindly inform me by next
mail the next best thing to do Being a poor man with a family to
care for, I am not coming to live on flowry Beds of ease for I am
a man who works and wish to make the best I can out of life I do
not wish to come there hoodwinked not knowing where to go or what
to do so I Solicite your help in this matter and thanking you in
advance for what advice you may be pleased to Give I am yours for
success.
P.S. I am presently imployed in the I C RR. Mail Department at
Union Station this city.
PALESTINE, TEX., Mar. 11th, 1917.
_Sirs_: this is somewhat a letter of information I am a colored
Boy aged 15 years old and I am talented for an artist and I am in
search of some one will Cultivate my talent I have studied
Cartooning therefore I am a Cartoonist and I intend to visit
Chicago this summer and I want to keep in touch with your
association and too from you knowledge can a Colored boy be an
artist and make a white man's salary up there I will tell you
more and also send a fiew samples of my work when I rec an answer
from you.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, May 1st, 1917.
_The Editor of The Chicago Defender._
_My Dear Sir_: Being a regular reader of your most valuable paper
(The Defender) I am impressed with the seeming unlimited interest
that paper is taking in the welfare of the army of emigrants
comeing from the south.
This alone without the knowledge of its incomparable service as a
link in the chain that should bind our people together more
closely through out the country, should demand its presence in
every negro home of this country. In keeping in touch with the
doings of our people in the east and northern states through the
Defender. To the Majority of the Middle western race people it
seem quite improbable that opportunities for good wage earning
positions such as factory work and too a chance for advancement
would be given to the workers of our race.
Such conditions in this part of the country to my knowledge is
rare. Noteing in the issue of last weeks paper through the
investigation into certain matter concerning our people some
appearantly well organized league found openings for negro
workmen in some parts of Wis. and Ill. that could not be filled.
As I for one that am not satisfied to content myself with little
and to remain in the same old rut for the sake of lengthy
assiation and fair treatment I am making My appeal to you in your
wide aquaintence with conditions to help me to take advangage of
an oppertunity that I might other wise miss.
I am mechanically inclined also with the advantage of a course
with the International Correspondance School in Automobile work
and with several years experience. I am not afraid of any kind of
work that pays.
Will kindly ask you to help me all you can at my expense and I
will be very grateful to you.
GONZALES, TEXAS, May 28, 1917.
NEW YORK AGE, New York, N. Y.
_Gentlemen_: I wish to know if a man from the south come north,
such as common laborer, stationery engineer, gasoline engineer,
fireman or janitor able to care for heating plants ets. and able
to pay his own way there, is there a likelihood of finding
lucrative employment?
I would be plased to have you advise me on the same as myself and
several other men of good morals and sober habits and who are
able to bear our own expenses would like to better our conditions
by coming North.
If you can advise us or Know of any one or place that we can get
the desired information please give us the benefit of the same.
Find stamp enclosed for answer.
HOUSTON, TEXAS, April 20, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: wanted to leave the South and Go and Place where a
man will Be any thing Except A Ker I thought would write you for
Advise As where would be a Good Place for a Comporedly young man
That want to Better his Standing who has a very Promising young
Family.
I am 30 years old and have Good Experence in Freight Handler and
Can fill Position from Truck to Agt.
would like Chicago or Philadelphia But I dont Care where so long
as I Go where a man is a man Hopeing hear of you soon as I want
to leave on or about 15 day of May I am yours as Ever.
TEMPLE, TEXAS, April 29, 1917.
MR. T. ARNOLD HILL, 3719 State St., Chicago, Ill.
_Dear Sir_: Being a reader of the Defender and young man seeking
to better my conditions in the business world, I have decided to
leave this State for North or West. I would like to get in touch
with a person or firm that I might know where I can secure steady
work. I would certainly appericate any information you might be
able to give. I finished the course in Blacksmithing and
horseshoeing at Prairie View College this State and took special
wood working in Hampton Institute Hampton Va. Have been in
practical business for several years also I am specializing auto
work. I am a married man a member of the church. Thanking you in
advance for any favors Am very truly
ROME, GA., 5/16/17
_Dear Sir_: "Ive" just read your ad in the Chicago Definder on
getting employment. So I will now ask you to do the best you can
for me. Now, Mr. ----, I am not a tramp by any means, I am a high
class churchman and business man.
I am the Daddy of the Transfer Business in this city. And carried
it on for teen years. Seven years ago I sold out to a white
Concern.
I prefer a job in a Retail furniture store if I can be placed
"Ill' now name a few things that I do. Viz I can repair and
Finish furniture, I am an Exspert packer & Crater of furniture, I
pack China, Cut Glass & Silver ware.
I can Enamel, Grain & paint furniture. I can repair Violins,
Guitars, & Mandolins, I am a first-class Umbrella Man, I can do
any thing that can be do to Umbrella & parasol, I can manage a
Transfer Business, I understand all about Shipping H. H. Goods &
gurniture, I can make out Bills of Lading & write tags for the
same.
Now if you can place me on any of these Trades it will be all
O.K.
HOUSTON TEX April., 30, 1917.
_Sir_: I read in the Chicago Defender April the 28 inst that you
wonted men to labor in mills sir Eff you Cand Get me a joB to doo
it will be Hiley orpresheAted I am A masster firman I cand handle
oil or I cand Burn Cole Keep up my pumps in Good order and i is
A no. 1 masheane helper I cand doo moste eny thange around the
mill and if you cand Get me a joB I Will hiley orpresheate it
And I Will Ask you to send me a pass for self and wife and when I
Come take out my fare out off my work so pleas let me here from
You at once I wonter com at once Cand Come recker-mended pleaS
oBlige
ATLANTA, GA., May 1/1917.
MR. ARNOLD HILL.
_Dear Sire_: I am a glazer and want information on My line of
work. I am a cutter and can do anything in a glazing room.
I reads the Defender and like it so much, hoping to hear from you
soon
BROOK HAVEN, MISS., 4/24/1917.
CHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE.
_Sirs_: I was reading in the defender that theare was good
openings for Men in Smalle towns near Chicago would like to know
if they are seeking loborers or mechanics I am going to come
north in a few days and would rather try to have me a position in
view would you kindly advise me along this line as I am not
particular about locateing in the city all I desire is a good
position where I can earn a good liveing I am experienced in
plumbing and all kinds of metal roofing and compositeon roofing
an ans from you on this subject would certainly be appreciated
find enclosed addressed envelop for reply I wait your early reply
as I want to leave here not later than May 8th I remain
respectfully yours,
P. S. will say that I am a Man of family dont think that I am
picking my Job as any position in any kind of shop would be
appreciated have had 12 years experience in pipe fitting.
PINE BLUFF, ARK., 4/23-17.
MR. R. S. ABBOTT
_Kine frind_: I am riting you asting you to see if you can get me
a job with some of the ship bilders I am a carpenter & can Do
most iny thing so if you can get me a job pleas rite me at once.
PENSACOLA, FLA., 4-29/17.
_Dear Sir_: I was looking over The Chicago Defender & I saw where
you wanting mins to work & the meantime was advanceing
transportation if it is so i would thank you kindly if you will
aid me with a Transportation that i may come and get some of
thoes jobs thae i am a painter by traid but i will & can do eny
kind of worke i am a sober and hard working Man my weight is 179
Lbs heigth 6 ft 2 in i see where you can use sum moulders i am
not a Moulder but I am a moulder son I can do that worke till the
Moulder Come very skilful at eny kind of work Hoping to here from
you Soon for more rezult.
PATTERSON, LA., May 1, 1917.
_Kind Sir_: I saw your ad in the Defender for Laborers I am
anxious to get north to do something I am a Cleaner and Presser
by Trade exprence Hoffman Pressing mashine oppreator of this
Trade is Not in your line. I would be very glad if you could get
me a Transportation Advanced from Chicago to woek with the
Molders I am anxious to lean That Trade I hope you with them and
I would like to learn the Trade.
I hope you will attend to the above matter as I am in Eanest
about this matter.
ATLANTA, GA.
TO THE URBAN COMMITTY--
_Dear Sir_: I am comming north and have read advice in the
Chicago Defender and I would be very much obliged to you if you
would direct me to some firm that is in need of brick layers for
that is my Professical trade and can do any class of work and if
I can't get Brick Work now I will consider any other good Job as
I want to come right away I have 3 in fambly and I have no
objection to work in other small towns I will be very glad to
hear from you right away as I have never been north and advice
will be excepted yours truly and friend of the race.
HATTIESBURG, MISS., 12/4/16.
HON. JOHN T. CLARK, _Sec. National League on Urban Conditions_,
New York City, N.Y.
_Sir_: I am writing you on matters pertaining to work and
desirable locations for industrous and trust worthy laborers. Me
for myself and a good number of Friends especially thousand of
our people are moving out from this section of whom all can be
largely depended upon for good service, for the past 15 years I
have been engaged in insurance work of which I am at the head of
one now, And have a large host of people at my command. I have
had a deal of experience in the lumbering business, Hotel, Agency
of most any kind. Any information as to employment and desirable
locations especially for good School Conditions Church Etc., will
be appreciated.
FAYETTE, GA., January 17, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I have learned of the splendid work which you are
doing in placing colored men in touch with industrial
opportunities. I therefore write you to ask if you have an
opening anywhere for me. I am a college graduate and understand
Bookkeeping. But I am not above doing hard labor in a foundry or
other industrial establishment. Please let me know if you can
place me.
NATCHEZ, MISS., Sept. 22-17.
MR. R. S. ABBOTT, _Editor_.
_Dear Sir_: I thought that you might help me in Some way either
personally or through your influence, is why I am worrying you
for which I beg pardon.
I am a married man having wife and mother to support, (I mention
this in order to properly convey my plight) conditions here are
not altogether good and living expenses growing while wages are
small. My greatest desire is to leave for a better place but am
unable to raise the money.
I can write short stories all of which potray negro characters
but no burlesque can also write poems, have a gift for cartooning
but have never learned the technicalities of comic drawing, these
things will never profit me anything here in Natchez. Would like
to know if you could use one or two of my short stories in serial
form in your great paper they are very interesting and would
furnish good reading matter. By this means I could probably leave
here in short and thus come in possession of better employment
enabling me to take up my drawing which I like best.
Kindly let me hear from you and if you cannot favor me could you
refer me to any Negro publication buying fiction from their race.
BATON ROUGE, LA., 4/26/17.
_Dear Sir_: I saw your advertisement in the Chicago Defender. I
am planning to move North this summer. I am one of the R. F. D.
Mail Carriers of Baton Rouge. As you are in the business of
securing Jobs for the newcomers, I thought possibly you could
give some information concerning a transfer or a vacancy, in the
government service, such, as city carrier, Janitor, or something
similar that requires an ordinary common school education.
Possibly you could give me information about some good firm, that
pays from, $3.50 upwards. If I could get a Job with a good
reliable firm I would not mind quitting the government service, I
have been a Mail carrier for 11 years.
I want to buy property and locate in Chicago permently with my
family.
Please let me know what are your charges for securing positions.
DECATUR, ALA., 4/25/17.
THE CHICAGO URBAN LEAGUE
_Gentlemen_: Gentlemens desious of Settling in some Small
Northern Town With a modrate Population & also Where a Colored
man may open a business Also where one may receive fairly good
wedges for a While ontill well enough, azainted with Place to do
a buiseness in other words Wonts to locate in Some Coming town
Were agoodly no, of colard People is. Wonts to Work At Some
occupation ontill I can arrange for other buiseness Just Give Me
information As to the best placers for a young buiseness Negro to
locate & make good. in. Any Northern State
Thanking you inavance any information you may give in regards to
Laber & buiseness Location Also when good Schools or in opration
Please adress
P. S. answer this at once as I plain to leave the South by May
the 3rd. I can furnish best reffreces.
DYERSBURG, TENNESSEE, 5/20, 1917.
THE DEFENDER, NEGRO NEWS JOURNAL,
_My dear Sir_: Please hand this letter to the Agency of the negro
Employment Bureau--connected with your department--that I may
receive a reply from the same--I am a practical fireman--, or
stoker as the yankee people call it--have a good knowledge of
operating machinery--have been engaged in such work for some 20
yrs--will be ready to call--or come on demand--I am a married
man--just one child, a boy about 15 yrs--of--age--a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church--and aspire to better my condition in
life--Do me the kindness to hand this to the agent.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA.
I seen your advertisement in the Chicago defender where you would
direct men with families where to go in order to find good work.
I am a Southern cook, butler or Janitor I have two boys age 15
yrs & 13 yrs, and wife that does maid work now I would like for
you to help me locate myself & family some where up there for
work I can furnish reference to thirteen years of service at one
place I am anxious to come right away.
LEXINGTON, MISS., May 12-17.
_My dear Mr. H----:_--I am writing to you for some information
and assistance if you can give it.
I am a young man and am disable, in a very great degree, to do
hard manual labor. I was educated at Alcorn College and have been
teaching a few years: but ah: me the Superintendent under whom we
poor colored teachers have to teach cares less for a colored man
than he does for the vilest beast. I am compelled to teach 150
children without any assistance and receives only $27.00 a month,
the white with 30 get $100.
I am so sick I am so tired of such conditions that I sometime
think that life for me is not worth while and most eminently
believe with Patrick Henry "Give me liberty or give me death." If
I was a strong able bodied man I would have gone from here long
ago, but this handicaps me and, I must make inquiries before I
leap.
Mr. H----, do you think you can assist me to a position I am good
at stenography typewriting and bookkeeping or any kind of work
not to rough or heavy. I am 4 feet 6 in high and weigh 105
pounds.
I will gladly give any other information you may desire and will
greatly appreciate any assistance you may render me.
PASCA GOULA, MISS., May the 8, 1917.
_Dear Sir & frend:_ as understand that you ar the man for me to
con for to & i want to Com to you & my frend & i has not got the
money to Com Will you pleas Sir send me & my frend a ticket to
Com an if you will I will glad La Com at onC & will worK et out
will Be glad to do so I will not ask you to send the redey Casch
for you dont nae me & if you Will Send me 2 tickets i will gladly
take the, & i will Com Jest now hoping to hear from you by re
torn male Yors Evor.
MEMPHIS, TENN., May 5, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I saw your add in the Chicago Defender papa and me
being a firman and a all around man I thought I would write you.
prehaps You might could do me lots of good, and if you can use me
any way write me and let me No. in my trade or in foundry work.
all so I got a boy 19 years old he is pretty apt in Learning I
would Like to get him up there and Learn him a trade and I have
several others would come previding if there be an opening for
them. So this is all ans. soon
ALGIERS, LA., May 16-17.
_Sir_: I saw sometime ago in the Chicago Defender, that you
needed me for different work, would like to state that I can
bring you all the men that you need, to do anything of work. or
send them, would like to Come my self Con recomend all the men I
bring to do any kind of work, and will give satisfaction; I have
bin foreman for 20 yrs over some of these men in different work
from R. R. work to Boiler Shop machine shop Blacksmith shop
Concreet finishing or puting down pipe or any work to be did.
they are all hard working men and will work at any kind of work
also plastering anything in the labor line, from Clerical work
down, I will not bring a man that is looking for a easy time only
hard working men, that want good wages for there work, let me
here from you at once,
ELLISVILLE, MISS., 5/1/17.
_Kind Sir_: I have been takeing the Defender 4 months I injoy
reading it very much I dont think that there could be a grander
paper printed for the race, then the defender. Dear Editor I am
thinking of leaving for Some good place in the North or West one
I dont Know just which I learn that Nebraska was a very good
climate for the people of the South. I wont you to give me some
ideas on it, Or Some good farming country. I have been public
working for 10 year. I am tired of that, And want to get out on a
good farm. I have a wife and 5 children and we all wont to get
our from town a place an try to buy a good home near good Schools
good Churchs. I am going to leave here as soon as I get able to
work. Some are talking of a free train May 15 But I dont no
anything of that. So I will go to work an then I will be sure, of
my leaving Of course if it run I will go but I am not depending
on it Wages here are so low can scarcely live We can buy enough
to eat we only buy enough to Keep up alive I mean the greater
part of the Race. Women wages are from $1.25 Some time as high
as $2.50. just some time for a whole week.
Hoping Dear Editor that I will get a hearing from you through
return mail, giving me Some ideas and Some Sketches on the
different Climate suitable for our health.
P. S. You can place my letter in Some of the Defender Colums but
done use my name in print, for it might get back down here.
TALLADEGA, ALA., Apri 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I am a subscriber for the Chicago Defender and have
been reading in your paper of occupations waiting to be filled.
And as I understand you want the person writting to state just
what kind of work they can do. I can car petter work and have
been off and own for some years. I am not a finished up
carpenter, I can do ware-house work, I can work in a wholesale, I
have not sufficient money to come on will you be obliging to send
me my transportation. I am near thirty eight (38) years old and
weighs about one hundred and ninety five (195) pounds. If you
will send a transportation please write me at once at Talladega.
MOBILE, ALA., April 21. 17.
_Dear Sirs_: I am a man that would like to get work in some place
where I can elevate my self & family & I think some where in the
north is the place for me & I would like to get you gentlemen to
advise me in getting a location my trade is cook rail Road camp
cars pre fered but will do enything els that I can do. so if you
all can help me out in eny way I will Sure take it as a favor.
PALESTINE, TEX., Mar. 24, 17.
MR. EDITOR--
_My dear Sir_: I have been reading your paper for some time my
farther is a subscriber for the New York age I have read a few
letters in your paper asking for help of securing a position in
the North I am trying to make a man of myself I can get any work
down here in the South and owing to prejudice I cant get a start
I am 18 yrs. of age weighs 152 lbs. and any position that you can
get me will work at any job--untill I can get better I am asking
how can I get transportation from here it can be deducted from
salary and I will certainly appreciate any thing you do for me
toward helping me leave the south a gol any where in the
north--please help me if you possible can
I am hoping to hear from you some time soon Your agent of
Palestine Mr. ---- is a cousin to me my farther is principle of
D---- School but refuses to help me any I havent any special
trade a little expierence in stage work and drawing.
BESSEMER, ALA., 5/14/17.
_Sirs_: Noticing an ad in Chicago Defender of your assitance to
those desiring employment there I thought mayhaps you could help
me secure work in your Windy City I'm a married man have one
child. I have common school education this is my hand write. I am
presently employed as a miner has been for 14 years but would
like a Change I'm apt to learn would like to get where I could go
on up and support myself and family. You know more about it than
I but in your opinion could I make anything as pullman porter
being inexsperienced? I'd be so grateful to U. to place me in
something Ive worked myself too hard for nothing. I'm sober and
can adjust my life with any kind and am a quiet Christian man.
NEW ORLEANS, 4/25/17.
_Kind Sir_: I noticed in last weeks Defender an issieu relating
to ocupations in your territory I am a Laborer of N.O. and desire
to get information concerning Best ways and means of securing a
Position I am absolutely willing to do manual Labor any-where
will you--Kindly inform me as to what step can be taken for
further reference if necessary apply to ---- Hoping this will
meet with your generous approval I remain
NEW ORLEANS, April 22, 1917.
under the head lines in the Chicage Defender of Saturday April
22-17 I red how some of us that goes up north are being treated.
there is a few that have gone from this city north, and came back
a few weeks. some say they came back on account of being to cold
"The others Say they ware to pay so much to get work etc" I would
like to go north. and would rather be in some place. other then
Chicago. or near Chicago. I am a union man" but dont exspect to
work at union only" there is a few of us union men that are
planing to go north and Kindly please write me" all so I mail you
one of my union cards hoping to heare from you soon I am
respectfully, Yours.
MEMPHIS, TENN., May 12 8 17.
_Dear Sir_: I am a constant reader of your paper which can be
purchased here at the Panama Cafe news stand. Mr. ---- at present
I am employed as agent for the Interstate Life and acc'd ins. Co.
but on account of the race people leaving here so very fast my
present job is no longer a profitable one. I have a number of
young friends in your city who are advising me to come to Chicago
and I have just about made up my mind to come. but before leaving
here I wanted to ask Some advice from you along certain lines. I
am buying property here and taking up notes each month on Same
these notes now are aroun $14 per month. and with my present
Salary and the unusual high price on everything I can't possibly
protect myself very long against a foreclosure on above mentioned
property on account of my Salary being less than $50.00 per
month. Mr. ---- do you think I could come to your city with
myself and wife rent this place out here and better my condition
financially? I am strong and able to do anything kind of work so
long as the Salary is O. K. I have a fair experience as a meat
cutter and can furnish the best of reference from business houses
one of them is Swift & Co of this city. I hope you can understand
me clearly, it is my aim to make an honest living and would not
dream of any other method. I am prepared to leave here at any
time and must go Some place but Chicago is the place that impress
me most. and having the confidence in you as a great race man I
am writing you for your honest opinion concerning the facts in
the matter. Many thanks for the information in today's paper
under the Caption ("Know thyself") hoping this will meet with
your hearty Cooperation.
P. S. What is about the average salaries paid there for unskilled
laborers and what is board and room rent? if I come would it be
advisable to come alone and Secure location and everything and
then have my wife come later?
JACKSON, MISS., May 10-17.
_Kind Sir_: I saw your ad., in the Chicago Defender. Where you
wonted 15 or 20 good men. So I am Writing you asking you do you
still wont them. Also you said that you would send transportation
for them. If you still wont them I can get good steady working
men that wount to work and not gambling no rounders but working
men. I am working man can work at anything not a left hand man
but work both right and left. So please let me hear from you at
once. For I wont to work and wont to work now. So if you Can not
send transportation for all send me one. Please Oblige me.
P.S. Please let me hear from you at once.
MEMPHIS, TENN., May 22nd, 1917.
_Sir:_ As you will see from the above that I am working in an
office somewhat similar to the one I am addressing, but that is
not the purpose with which I sat out to write.
What I would like best to know is can you secure me a position
there? I will not say that I am capable of doing any kind of
labor as I am not. Have had an accidental injury to my right
foot; hence I am incapable of running up and down stairs, but can
go up and down by taking my time. I can perform janitors duties,
tend bar, or grocery store, as clerk. I am also a graduate of the
Law Department, Howard University, Washington, D. C. Class of '85
but this fact has not swelled my head. I am willing to do almost
any thing that I can do that there is a dollar to it. I am a man
of 63 years of age. Lived here all of my life, barring 5 or 6
years spent in Washington and the East. Am a christian, Bapitst
by affiliation.
Have been a teacher, clerk in the government department, Law and
Pension offices, for 5 years, also a watchman in the War Dept.
also collector and rental agent for the late R. R. Church, Esq.
Member of Canaan Baptist Church, Covington, Tenn. Now this is the
indictment I plead to.
_Sir_, If you can place me I will be willing to pay anything in
reason for the service. I have selected a place to stop with a
friend of earlier days at ----, whenever I can get placed there.
An early reply will be appreciated by yours respectfully.
PASCOQOULA, MISS., April 8 17,
_Dear Sir:_ As you have charge of the Urban League, I want to
know if the League can locate work for about 8 or 10 men. We are
all middle-aged men and would like to have our faires paid and
deducted from our wages.
We will work in any small town in Illinois. All of these men are
property owners and have large families. We'll _leave_ families
'till later on.
Any good you can do for us Will be highly appreciated.
P.S. Some of these men have trades and are capable of working in
railroad shops.
HAMLET, N. C., May 29, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I am very desirous of changing my location and am
writing to know whether or not you can find a lucrative opening
for me somewhere in the North.
I am 42 years old, married, wife and four children and a public
school teacher and printer by profession and trade. Will accept
any kind of work with living wages, on tobacco farm or factory. I
am a sober, steady worker and shall endeavor to render
satisfaction in any position in which I am placed.
BEAUMONT, TEXAS, July 16, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a colored, am desiring work in New York or some
of the adjoining states. I am not a skilled workman but I can do
most any kind of common labor. I have spent several years in the
plaining mills of the south. I know all about feeding planers and
I can also keep them up very well. I have checked lumber and in
fact, I can do a number of different things.
Will you be kind enough to put me in correspondence with some one
who would like to employ a good conscientious steady laborer.
I have a family and I would be glad to come north to live. So
please be so kind as to do me the favor above asked. I have a
little education too if it could be used to any advantage.
Hoping an early reply.
COLLINS, MISS., May 1st, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ By being a Subscriber and reader of the Chicago
Defender, I read an advertisement where they are wanting and
needing help. Needing Moulders and Machinist of course I do not
know anything about the trade. But they Said they would pay men
$2.25 begin with and Learn the trade And transportation forworded
and they would deduct it Out of their wages.
I am Very Anxious to Come Up North. And I would put all of my
energy and mind on my work. And try in every way to please the
One for whom I am working for. They could get about five men from
here. One that is a Pretty good Machinist I am Writting you as
they Gave two branches for Colored and that you is the head of
the ---- So Any favors extended towards Me will be highly
Appreciated hoping to hear from you at an early Date I remain
yours truly.
MCDONOGHVILL, LA., May 1--1917.
_dear Mr. ----:_ it afford me With pleasur to right to you on
Some infermashian how to get me a transportation to Some town in
the North as i Would like to Come out there to Live and better my
condition as i am A young Man and desire to get With the good
Clase of Laboring people i have not got a trade but i have Work
all My time around oil Mill and Coopper Shop for the Last 8 years
and i cand work at Moust enj thing if i get A Little experence.
My age is--24--years good healt good behaver goof record in the
south this is all to tell now but if you would Like to no My
record i caNd give it to you from my Lodge--are from my
church--good by
HATTIESBURG, MISS., May 27th, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ by reading in the defender of the position you are
in for securing jobs. I thought I would write, and see if you
could place me. Now my job pay me well, but as my wife and
Children are anxious to come north I would try and get a job now
I am a yellow Pine Lumber inspector and checker can furnish
recomdation from some reliable Saw Mill Firms as there is in
South Miss. As Gradeing Triming & Checking yellow pine lumber.
P. S. I know I can make good in any Lumber Yard such as checking
& stowing Lumber if you Will place me write on what terms to--
WINONA, MISS., 4/13/17.
In reading the defender I saw your advertising for more men I
would like very much to come up their I wants to leave the South
and go whear I can make a support for myself and Family. I have a
wife and six children to take cair of and I would like to bee
whair I could cair for Them my occupation is Carpenter but I can
do most any kind of work will you furnish me a Transportation to
com up thair on
GREENWOOD, MISS., Apr. 22nd, 17.
_Sir:_ I noticed in the Defender about receiving some information
from you about positions up there or rather work and I am very
anxious to know what the chances are for business men. I am very
anxious to leave the South on account of my children but mu
husband doesn't seem to think that he can succeed there in
business, he is a merchant and also knows the barber trade what
are the chances for either? Some of our folks down here have the
idea that this Northern movement means nothing to any body but
those who go out and labor by the day. I am willing to work
myself to get a start. Tell me what we could really do. I will do
most anything to get our family out of _Bam_. Please let this be
confidential.
WININA, MISS., Mar the 19 1917.
_My dear driend:_ it is With murch pleaser that i rite to You to
let You no i reed Your letter & Was glad to hear from you all so
i excepts all you Said that you wood do for me so i am a Painter
and Carter to So i am willing to learn in neything in works kind
So mr. ---- i thank You for Your kindes for all of Your aid so i
am a Barber to so i am a good farmer to al all kind So i am not
Set do Wn at all so if You Can healp pleas do So So i hay niCe
famely so i will tell you i am a Curch member for 38 years i and
all of my famely but 3 children so i am not a de Sever So mr.
---- i wood ask you for if the monney So i Was so glad to get
your letter dear Sit When I com up thire look for me at your
offes Pleas so mr ---- i all waYs hold gob When i get wone So in
god name pleas healp me up there and i will pay you When i com up
thire mr ---- i Cant raise my famely hear i wanter to So this all
Your friend
KNOXVILLE, TENN., Apr. 30, '17.
_Dear Sir:_ I am anxious to come to Chicago. I have thirteen
years experiance as janitor in large residence apartment house,
am also handy with tools.
I have a wife and four children. If you can place me where I can
earn a decent living for my family will appreciate it.
MONTGOMERY, ALA., Dec. 3rd, 1916.
_Dear Sir:_ in Reading The Defender I See Where you are Disirious
of Communicating With a better class of working men To supply the
different trades. Please advise Some place by which I could
better my condition North or East.
I would be glad To come in to a better Knowing by writting you
before Starting
JAZOO CITY, MISS., 4/3/17.
_dear sir:_ I owe in Con sist to write you a few lines as in the
regards of my ability as I am anxus to get some work to do I have
a famely to work for and I habe bin workin as helper and bon do
most any Kind of work. Has been in the Bixness as MoChinest
helper for 7 years and Have fally good ExpernCe in it and would
like for you to Help me out if possibl to do so I Would like to
work in some Shop or Millplant and I Would lik for you to send me
a transpotation and I will pay out of my salry so answer soon and
let me no what yo Can do for me I Will Close.
MOBILE, ALA., May the 4, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I write you a few line to find out about the Work and
if I could get you to Send me and Wife and Son a transportation I
am not a loafer and can send references that I will work.
P. S. Please rite me at once I am anxious to here from you.
PENSACOLA, FLA., 30th, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ in answer to your advertisment for labors I am a man
want to work am noes a opertunity Please notiefie me at ane as I
Want to get Job with you I Will Ask a Transportation an will leve
when its reaches me Please take my letter in canceration ans me
at once as I very anxious to from I am stiedy drink no whiskey or
eny thing that is intosicating an can give fot the infomation
Right soon
MACON, GA., 4/30/17.
_Mr. ----:_ i War took and Read the Chicago Defender and i read
for the Wanted laborers and i am rinten to you to let you here
from we all that Wold liKe to taKe a laborers part with this
Manufacturing and We or Willing to do ennery kind of Work and We
or men Will Work and or Glad that me seet With this canne and We
will gladly come if you will Send us transportation fore 9 Mens
and We Will Come at once and these Mens is Men With Famly and We
all or hard work men and i Will Say A Gin that Me Will do enny
Kind of Work dut Me thave a tirde Some us
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 29-1917.
_Sir:_ While sitting reading the Chicago defender I found that
you are in need labering mens that will work sir I am a labering
man and I womts to came but are able to pay my way so I ask you
to send me a transportation and I will come Just as soon as I get
it I am a married man have a wife and six childrens and I wonte
to take car of them but con not here in the south so let me here
from you in return mail.
PENSACOLA, FLA., 4-25-17.
_Dear Sir:_ Having read in the "Chicago Defender" are helping the
negroes of the South to secure employment I am writing you this
note asking you to please put me & my friend in touch with some
firm that are employing men.
Please do what you can for us.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., June 12, 1917.
_dear sir:_ I am writing to you for information concerning a Job
I have a wife and 2 children and who so ever my employer may Be I
would ask that they may send trancipertation for me and my family
and I will pay as i work I am a come laber man my wife is a good
launders all So my daughter and My Son is a laber all so I am a
railroad mon By trade please aBlige mr ----
Port Arthur, Texas.
_Kind sir:_ inclose you will find Just a word to you in reading
the News I found your address and was very glad to see it Kind
sir I write you with my hole heart and I do not mean Just to pass
off time my brothers and I are now writing you to please send 2
tickets one for ---- and one for ----
we are Very Well Experence long many lines so long as publice
work I am now employed in the largest Company in the south it is
the Gulf Refining Co. I have ben Working for them for a number of
years Write soon I remain yours very truly.
BEAUMONT, TEXAS, May 7, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I see in one of your recent issue of collored men
woanted in the North I wish you would help me to get a position
in the North I have no trade I have been working for one company
eight years and there is no advancement here for me and I would
like to come where I can better my condition I woant work and not
affraid to work all I wish is a chance to make good. I believe I
would like machinist helper or Molder helper. If you can help me
in any way it will be highly appreciate hoping to hear from you
soon
BEAUMONT, TEXAS, May 8th, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I wrote you some time ago, and never received any
answer. I learn you can assist me in bettering my condition. I
would like very much to come North. I have no trade but Im a
willing worker, and the Job I have now I have had it for eight
years and there is no advancement here for me. I can give eight
year refference I would like mechinist helper or some thing where
I could learn a trade I have a fair education and I wish is a
chance I need no transportation Im very well fix financial Im
single and 29 years old if you can help me in any way it will be
highly appreciate. hoping to hear from you soon.
HOUSTON, TEXAS, April 21, 17.
_Dear Sir:_ As I was looking over your great news paper I would
like very mutch to get Some information from you about Comeing to
your great City, I have a famile and Can give you good Referns
about my Self. I am a Working man and will Prove up to what I say
and would be very glad to Know from you, about a Job Allthough I
am at work But, If I Could get Something to do I would be very
glad to leave the South, as I Read in the Chicago Defender about
Some of my Race going north and makeing good.--well I would like
to be on the List not with Standing my reputation is all O.K.
I thank you.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 22, 1917.
_Chicago Defender:_ I wish to go North haven got money enuff to
come I can do any kind of housework laundress nurse good cook has
cook for northen people I am 27 years of age just my self would
you kindly inderseed for me a job with some rich white people who
would send me a ticket and I pay them back please help me. I am
brown skin just meaden size.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., August 27, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ i am wrighting you for help i haird of you by telling
my troble i was told to right you. I wont to come there and work
i have ben looking for work here for three month and cand find
any i once found a place $1 a week for a 15 year old girl and i
did not take that, now you may say how can that be but New
Orleans is so haird tell some have to work for food and the only
help i have is my mother and she have work 2 week now and she
have four children young then me and i am 15teen and she have
such a hard time tell she is willing for me to go and if you will
sin me a pass you will not be sorry i am not no lazy girl i am
smart i have got very much learning but i can do any work that
come to my hand to do i am set here to day worry i could explane
it to you i have ben out three time to day and it only 12 oclock.
and if you please sire sine me a pass, it more thin i am able to
tell you how i will thank you i have clothes to bring wenter
dress to ware, my grand mama dress me but now she is dead and all
i have is my mother now please sire sin me a pass and you wont be
sorry of it and if you right and speake mean please ancer i will
be glad of that but if you would sin a pass i would be so much
glader i will work and pay for my pass if you sin it i am so
sorry tell i cant talk like i wont to and if you and your famely
dont wont to be worry with me I will stay where i work and will
come and see you all and do any think i can for you all from
little A---- V---- excuse bad righting.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., April 29, 1917.
_My dear Sir:_ I take grate pleazer in writing you. as I found in
your Chicago Defender this morning where you are secur job for
men as I realey diden no if you can get a good job for me as am a
woman and a widowe with two girls and would like to no if you can
get one for me and the girls. We will do any kind of work and I
would like to hear from you at once not any of us has any
husbands.
MOSS POINT, MISS., May 5, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ Will you please send me in formation towards a first
class cookeing job or washing job I want a job as soom as you can
find one for me also I want a job for three young girls ages 13
to 16 years. Pease oblidge.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 7, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I read Defender every week and see so much good
youre doing for the southern people & would like to know if you
do the same for me as I am thinking of coming to Chicago about
the first of June, and wants a position. I have very fine
references if needed. I am a widow of 28. No children, not a
relative living and I can do first class work as house maid and
dining room or care for invalid ladies. I am honest and neat and
refined with a fairly good education. I would like a position
where I could live on places because its very trying for a good
girl to be out in a large city by self among strangers is why I
would like a good home with good people. Trusting to hear from
you.
SELMA, ALA., May 19, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a reader of the Chicago Defender I think it is
one of the Most Wonderful Papers of our race printed. Sirs I am
writeing to see if You all will please get me a job. And Sir I
can wash dishes, wash iron nursing work in groceries and dry good
stores. Just any of these I can do. Sir, who so ever you get the
job from please tell them to send me a ticket and I will pay
them. When I get their as I have not got enough money to pay my
way. I am a girl of 17 years old and in the 8 grade at Knox
Academy School. But on account of not having money enough I had
to stop school. Sir I will thank you all with all my heart. May
God Bless you all. Please answer in return mail.
NATCHEZ, MISS., Oct. 5, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Now I am writing you to oblige me to put my
application in the papers for me please. I am a body servant or
nice house maid. My hair is black and my eyes are black and
smooth skin and clear and brown, good teeth and strong and good
health and my weight is 136 lb.
CORINTH, MISS., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a good cook age 35 years. I can bring my
recermendation with me my name is ---- ----. I am in good health
so I would like for you to send me a transportation I have got a
daughter and baby six months old so she can nurse so I would like
to come up there and get a job of some kind I can wait table
cook housegirl nurse or do any work I am ready to come just as
soon as you send the passes to us I want to bring a box of quilts
and a trunk of clothes so you please send us the passes for me
and daughter. Write me at once I am a negro woman. We will leave
her Sat. if you send the passes if you are not the man please
give me some infamation to whom to write to a negro friend.
BILOXI, MISS., April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I would like to get in touch with you a pece of
advise I am unable to under go hard work as I have a fracture
ancle but in the mene time I am able to help my selft a great
dele. I am a good cook and can give good recmendation can serve
in small famly that has light work, if I could get something in
that line I could work my daughters a long with me. She is 21
years and I have a husban all so and he is a fireman and want a
positions and too small boy need to be in school now if you all
see where there is some open for me that I may be able too better
my condission anser at once and we will com as we are in a land
of starvaten.
From a willen workin woman. I hope that you will healp me as I
want to get out of this land of sufring I no there is som thing
that I can do here there is nothing for me to do I may be able to
get in some furm where I dont have to stand on my feet all day I
dont no just whah but I hope the Lord will find a place now let
me here from you all at once.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., April 28, 1917.
_Kind sir:_ I seen your name in the Chicago Defender I am real
anxious to go north I and my family I am a married womon with
family my husbon and 3 children my olders boy 15 younger 13 baby
4 my sister 20. I can wash chamber mad dish washer nurse or wash
and my boy can work my sister can cook or wash or nurse my
husband is a good work and swift to lern we are collored pepel a
good family wonts a job with good pepel pleas anser soon
_Kind Sir:_ We have several times read your noted paper and we
are delighted with the same because it is a thorough Negro paper.
There is a storm of our people toward the North and especially to
your city. We have watched your want ad regularly and we are
anxious for location with good families (white) where we can be
cared for and do domestic work. We want to engage as cook, nurse
and maid. We have had some educational advantages, as we have
taught in rural schools for few years but our pay so poor we
could not continue. We can furnish testimonial of our honesty and
integrity and moral standing. Will you please assist us in
securing places as we are anxious to come but want jobs before we
leave. We want to do any kind of honest labor. Our chance here is
so poor.
MOBILE, ALA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I after seeing your jobs advertised in the Defender
was moved to write to you for clear information of the ---- ----.
I am a laundress wanting a position in some place where I can get
pay for what I do, work here are too scarce to support me
necessarily so I humbly wish you to favor me with an early answer
stateing the entire nature of the great colored society. Your
answer are daily and impatiently expected by your humble servant.
VICKSBURG, MISS., May 7, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ This comes to say to you will you please inform us of
some place of employment. We are working here at starvation wages
and some of us are virtually without employment willing to accept
any kind of work such as cooking, laundering or as domestics no
objection to living in a small town, suburb or country. There are
fifteen wants work. You can just write me and I will notify them
please let me hear from you at your earliest convenience.
LETTERS ABOUT CLUBS AND GROUPS FOR THE NORTH
SAUK, GA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ There are about 15 or 20 of us hard working mans
seeking employment an we would be more than glad if you assis us
in finding work i see here in the Chicago Defender laborers
wanted i am a skill labor at most anything except molder but i am
willing to learn the trade we are hard working mans no lofers
neather crap shooters work is what we want and can not get it
without you assistant, if you will assis us with transportation
please rite and let us no what way to came to you these white
folks here having meeting trying to stop us from going off to
seek work an noing they haven got work nor wagers for us here.
We have had jobs but loose it and have not the money to get away
if you except my letter please give us some assistant to leave
because is send you a letter Monday but i see afterward that it
was send rong so i send you this one. have you got employment up
there for female if so let us no please if you send me a speciel
please dont put 15 or 20 men and i will under stand if you say 15
or 20 mans they will put me in jail. please answer just as soon
can as i want to get away as soon as i can there nothing here to
do. some industrious female want employment answer at once
please.
MOBILE, ALA., April 21, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ We have a club of 108 good men wants work we are
willing to go north or west but we are not abel to pay rail road
fare now if you can help us get work and get to it please answer
at once. Hope to hear from you.
MOBILE, ALA., May 11, 1917.
_Dear sir and brother:_ on last Sunday I addressed you a letter
asking you for information and I have received no answer, but we
would like to know could 300 or 500 men and women get employment?
and will the company or thoes that needs help send them a ticket
or a pass and let them pay it back in weekly payments? We have
men and women here in all lines of work we have organized a
association to help them through you.
We are anxiously awaiting your reply.
ATLANTA, GA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I was reading you advertisement in the Chicago
Defender and it come intresting to me and I thought I would rite
you to get information about it. There are 5 or six families of
us wants to know would you send us a ticket if you would we would
like to heare from you at once and we will explain our statement
in my next letter. I am looking for reply soon.
JACKSON, MISS., May the first, 1917.
_sir:_ I was looking over the Chicago Defender and seen ad for
labers both woman an men it is a great lots of us woud come at
once if we was only abel but we is not abel to come but if you
will send me a pas for 25 women and men I will send them north at
once men an women
MOBILE, ALA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ In reading the defender I seen where you are acting
as agent for some big concerns and that you are in need of men.
I am a married man and would like to get up there to work but it
seems a hard proposition to get enough money to pay my fare and
there are a lots more men around here that follow the very work
that you want men for but cant get away upon that reason. but if
you could plan to get us up there and let us pay after we got
there we will be very thankful. At present I am employed as a
boiler makers helper and all the men I speak of are boiler makers
and machinists helpers and all are hard working men and have
families but we want to come north. Let me hear from you please
and I can get (12) twelve men at least that have reputation.
Looking for an early reply, I am, Your friend for betterment.
CHARLESTON, S. C., April 2, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw your want in the paper and I thought i would
right you and find out about it and if you have work for me and
my wife I will be glad to come and if you have no work for her
you can send for me and I will be glad to come and bring along
manny more if you want them. You can let me know at once and i
will be glad to do so. so you can write me at once and I will
know just what to do.
MOBILE, ALA., April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ You will find my full name and address from which
please give infermation about jobs and also tell me will you pay
my fare up there and take it out of my work after geting to work
and i can get a great many men and family if you want them. they
wants to come but they cant get no work to do so they can get the
money to come on. I can get men women and families so please
answer and let me me no what you will do if you need them.
PASCAGOULA, MISS., May 3, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ Whilse reading over the want adv. of the Defender I
find where you wants bench molders 20 not saying I am one but I
am a labering man and verry apt to lern anything in a short while
and desires to come and give it a trile or something else I can
do eny thing in common labor hoping you will send me a
transportation and give me a trile and I can all so bring you as
meny men as you want if you dont want me to bring eny men send me
a transportation for my self. hopeing to hear from you by return
mail.
HATTIESBURG, MISS., April 13, 1917.
_Sir:_ Please oblige me in getting me a pass to Chicago to some
firm that are in need of labors I have three in family besides
myself I have four or five other men with me now want to know if
you can secure that pass we will come at once this would be about
eight passes, my self and two in family and five men which will
be eight passes. these are able and good work man if you can
arrange this & let the list of passes bear each name so as to
form a club. let hear from you soon.
DE RIDDER, LA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ there is lots of us southern mens wants
transportation and we want to leave ratway as soon as you let us
here from you some of us is married mens who need work we would
like to bring our wife with us there is 20 head of good mens want
transportation and if you need us let us no by return mail we all
are redy only wants here from you there may be more all of our
peoples wont to leave here and I want you to send as much as 20
tickets any way I will get you up plenty hands to do most any
kind of work all you have to do is to send for them. looking to
here from you. This is among us collerd.
PLAQUEMINE, LA., April 288, 1917.
_Der sir:_ only a few lines in regards you advertismen this week
Chicago Defender and it verry intresting to me and other that why
Im wrighten you because it my benifit me in the futur I know
about twenty five young men would like to go north but accorden
to present conditions in the south wont allow them to save enough
to go if their a possible chance of you doing enything we all
good worker and think if you will give us a chance will proof to
you that we can work and if you give us transportation we will
work and pay it back from the start. I will close hope you will
kindly except our offer and give it your persinel intrest.
NEW ORLEANS, April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ I have been engaged in the hotel business for
eighteen years. And I am personally acquainted with at least
fifty of our leading citizens of your city. And in my home I
would refer you to Mr. ----, asst. Depot Ticket agent of the ----
R. R. He told me that any corporation that was in need of Labor
and placed passes with them for the same, that they would haul
the people. I could furnish you at least one thousand in the
next sixty days. And you will not have sixty dead beats. I will
furnish the names, and each pass should have the name of the user
on it before leaving Chicago. The greater number that I know have
families and do not wish to leave without them. Let me hear from
you at once. I can give you the business and my people will go
any where sent and do any kind of work, if the wages are right.
PATTERSON, LA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I was reading one of the Chicago Defender papers and
I seen a splendid opportunity to grasp a good job. Now if you
could fowerd me a pass from New Orleans I would be very glad
because I am a willing worker, write me a letter as soon as
possible and let me know just what job you will put me to, of
cours I dont know any trade but will be willing to learn a good
trade. this aid I seen reads like this:
Laborers wanted for foundry, warehouse and yard work. Excellent
opportunity for learning trades, paying good money start
$2.50-$2.75 so I would like to learn a trade. I might can get you
some more from here. I will close hope I will hear from you at
once. Before sending the transportation write me a letter.
CHATTANOOGA, TENN., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sur:_ will you send me a transportation i am a foundry man
i want to come where i can get same pay for my work and you plese
send me a transportation for 4 good hard labore man please send
and i can get you some good mens here i am down here working hard
and gett nothing for it so i hop you will ancer soon and let me
here from you i have had 7 years exprense in foundry works i noes
my jobe well i will expet to here from you rat way so good by.
MOBILE, ALA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ In answer to your Ad. which apeared in the Chicago
Defender for laborer wanted to work in Foundry warehouse and yard
work I can recruit 15 good honest men whom I believe would make
good and can leave as soon as transportation for same is
provided. Hopeing to hear from you soon I remain Yours truly.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 4/30/17.
_Kind sir:_ only a few lines wanting to get some information
concerning of work i want to find out when could you send
transportations for fifteen men eight of them is molders and the
balance of them is experienced warehouse men and experienced
firemen if required i saw your ad in the CHicago Defender.
This is all at present hopeing to get an early reply.
CHATTANOGGA, TENN., 5-2-17.
_Dear sir:_ i only had the chance to see your ad to day at noon.
i was to glad to see it and hop that i am not to lat to full it i
am fuly sattisfied i can get as many as 10 or 15 reddy by the 7
or 8 and we will be reddy by that time if you will tret us rite
we will stand by you to the las
CHATTANOOGA, TENN., May 2, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I beg to call you tension of some employment in your
country. I has been inform that you will give instruction an get
work any wher in the northern stats. I have some of the best
labor that is in south an some of the best molders if we can get
employment in north we wil go.
a waiting your reply.
SAVANNAH, GA., March 16, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ Having learned that you ar short of laborers, I
respectfully offer myself as an applicant for a situation, and
would be glad to get a hearing from you as soon as it would be
convenient for you to reply. There are also many of my friends
that would be glad to get a situation. I am willing to do most
eny kind of earnest work. I am 36 years of age and can read and
wright the english language. and have good experance in busness.
Any communication whitch you may be pleased to make addressed as
above will receive prompt attention.
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ I am in receipt of your letter of the 16th of April
in reply to a letter I written to you. I will say at this
junction that there are more than 250 men desire to come north
but is not able to come if your manufacture men would like to
have 75 men labores from the south why he can get them for the
fair from here to New York is only 19.00 nineteen dollars and I
do not think that is a high transportation cost to get good
labor. Now there are men here that will work that can and have
10.00 ten dollars on there fair and for a little assistance they
will come at once for the condishion there is terrible the low
wage and high cost of living and bad treatment is causing all to
want to come north. Now I have a family of 8 only, one boy that
can work in the north for he is 18 years the others is school
children and I would like to get them up there with me for I was
raise in the eastern state Massachusett Cambridge and pass as a
master workman in Denver Colorader making brick. Now if there is
any way to assist why do so now if you can only assist me why
just do it as a brother & friend I have 5 to pay for but I have a
little moeny but not enough to pay all way 3 full and 2 half fair
so you can readily see just where Im at but I got my fare but
rather bring my family with me.
ASHFORD, ALA., Dec. 8, 1916.
_Dear sir_: I take great pleasure in writing you and replying to
your advertiser that you all wanted colored laborers and I want
to come up north and could get you 75 more responsible hands if
you want them so if you please send me 3 passes are as manny as
you like and I garontee you that I will fill them out with
responsible hands and good ones so please let me here from you at
once.
ORANGEBURG, S. C., June 14, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: your addess was gave to me this after noon by a young
man by the name of Mr. ---- who is now in Conn. and I write him
to see if he could get me a good job so he said to me on his card
that he was listening for a vacan place to apply for but hesen
found any thing not as yet but he said he wood do his very best
for me. This time of the year most people are now goeing north so
much I thought I wood come two so he told me to write you and see
if I could get you to get me a good job and have the people to
write me and advance me a transportation from Orangeburg to New
York. He said you are the best man in New York to assist good
fellow in to good paying jobs. I will look two here from you very
soon.
GRAHAM, LA., May 18, 1917.
_Dear sir_: a word of infermation and a ancer from you please
there are about 12 or 15 of us with our famlys leaving the south
and we can hear of collored peples leaving the south but we are
not luckey enough to leave hear. Dr. ---- clame to be an agent to
sind peples off and we has bin to him so minnie times and has
fail to get off untill we dont no what to do so if you will place
us about 15 tickets or get some one else to do so we are honest
enough to come at once and labor for you or the one that sind
them untill we pay you if so requir. If we war able we wood sur
leave this torminting place but the job we as got and what we get
it we do well to feed our family so please let me here from you
at once giveing full detale of my requess.
SAVANNAH, GA., May 3, 1917.
_Dare sier:_ I understand that you wont some mens and if you wood
sen me transportation for ten mens wood bee turly glad and please
write to me at wonce and lete me hir form you.
MEMPHIS, TENN., May 3, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Seeing you add in the Chicago definder that you are
in need of labor I write you for full information at once hope
you will please give me. I am willing to come & if you kneed any
more labor I am sufficient to bring them.
Now my dear sir if you can give me a steady job please send me a
pass hope you will write me at once.
SAVANNAH, GA., 4-30-17.
_Dear sir:_ in reply to the labor wanted I write you let you know
I am a poor afflicted man can not do anything come to hand but am
willing to work and do need something to make a support now will
you please look up a job for me I could sweep or do any thing
light like that could watch act as janitor if you will send me a
transportation when I get there you see my willingness you would
make me a job now if you will except I will get you some men and
bring with me because I know numbers of men want to come and can
get as many as you want. Just give me a trial.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 2, 1917.
_Deer sir:_ i reed in the Chicago Defender that you wanted some
molder in your city i dont no wheather you mene lumber are iron
moulder but i am 4 years experence in lumber but if you mene iron
molder i dont think i will be many days learning the trade if it
is any chance that i can get a good job eith you i would like to
hear from you at once i am maried and would like to get 2
transportation if i can and if you want some hard working mens
let me no and i will do all that i can for you and bring them on
with me if you will make same range ment to get them there i mean
that i will get you some good men hard working mens like myself
so let me here from you at once Please
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., 5/21/17.
_Dear sir_: i am today righting you a few lines asking you to
please give me some information and that is this if you know of
any one that wants help of any kind men or women and one that
would send a few tickets would you please give me they address i
was told to right to you for information please lead me in the
light as i could get five familys and 8 or 9 good men for any
firm that wanted help, so I am awaiting your promp reply.
PORT ARTHUR, TEXAS, 5/5th/17.
_Dear Sir_: Permitt me to inform you that I have had the pleasure
of reading the Defender for the first time in my life as I never
dreamed that there was such a race paper published and I must say
that its _some_ paper.
However I can unhesitatingly say that it is extraordinarily
interesting and had I know that there was such a paper in my town
or such being handled in my vicinity I would have been a
subscriber years ago.
Nevertheless I read every space of the paper dated April 28th
which is my first and only paper at present. Although I am
greatfully anticipating the pleasure of receiving my next
Defender as I now consider myself a full fledged defender fan and
I have also requested the representative of said paper to deliver
my Defender weekly.
In reading the Defenders want ad I notice that there is lots of
work to be had and if I havent miscomprehended I think I also
understand that the transportation is advanced to able bodied
working men who is out of work and desire work. Am I not right?
with the understanding that those who have been advanced
transportation same will be deducted from their salary after they
have begun work. Now then if this is they proposition I have
about 10 or 15 good working men who is out of work and are dying
to leave the south and I assure you that they are working men and
will be too glad to come north east or west, any where but the
south.
Now then if this is the proposition kindly let me know by return
mail. However I assure you that it shall be my pleasure to
furnish you with further or all information that you may
undertake to ask or all information necessary concerning this
communication.
Thanking you in advance for the courtesy of a prompt reply with
much interest, I am
COLUMBUS, GA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear sir_: I seen your adds in the paper & after reading I saw
where I could do some business for you & if you will write & let
me know promply what you will allow me for heads & let me know
right away I can get you as many as thirty at once & I know that
you do not want nothing but able bodied men if you will as soon
as you get this mail let me know by wireing me & I can get the
men ready by Thursday wire me as soon as your early convenence.
will also send you my recamendation that I am a true and reliable
negro if you take the notion to send the ticket send me money
emough to feed them until we get there you can estamate about how
much it will take to feed thirty all of them is anxious to go &
will go at the word from you please return the recamendation
back.
MOBILE, ALA., April 21, 1917.
_Gentlemen_: Please have the kindness to let me know if you can
handle any labor as I wish to come north but would like to know
just who I am going to work for before starting so as to not be
there on expences and in the main time I have other friends that
would like to have a steady imployment while they are unable to
raise the money for transportation. Let me know what disposition
you could make in regards to the same.
MOBILE, ALA., May 15, 1917.
_Dear Sir and Brother_: I am in the information of your labores
league and while in this city I have been asked about the
conditions of work in the north and at the same time we have
about 300 men here in this city of different trades. Some are
farmers, mail men iron and stell workers, mechanics and of all
classes of work. They ask me in their union to find out just the
conditions of the afair. They wants to know if they can go to
work in one or two days after they get there? if so some of them
can pay all of their fair some half and some wants to come on
conditions. will the company send them a pass and let them pay
them back weekly? if so I can send 500 more or less in order that
you may know who I am I will send you some of my papers that you
may know what I stand for and what I have been taking along,
please let me hear from you at once and what you think about it.
LETTERS ABOUT LABOR AGENTS
MOBILE, ALA., 4-26-17.
_Dear Sir Bro._: I take great pane in droping you a few lines
hopeing that this will find you enjoying the best of health as it
leave me at this time present. Dear sir I seen in the Defender
where you was helping us a long in securing a posission as
brickmason plaster cementers stone mason. I am writing to you for
advice about comeing north. I am a brickmason an I can do cement
work an stone work. I written to a firm in Birmingham an they
sent me a blank stateing $2.00 would get me a ticket an pay 10
per ct of my salary for the 1st month and $24.92c would be paid
after I reach Detorit and went to work where they sent me to
work. I had to stay there until I pay them the sum of $24.92c so
I want to leave Mobile for there, if there nothing there for me
to make a support for my self and family. My wife is seamstress.
We want to get away the 15 or 20 of May so please give this
matter your earnest consideration an let me hear from you by
return mail as my bro. in law want to get away to. He is a
carpenter by trade. so please help us as we are in need of your
help as we wanted to go to Detroit but if you says no we go where
ever you sends us until we can get to Detroit. We expect to do
whatever you says. There is nothing here for the colored man but
a hard time wich these southern crackers gives us. We has not had
any work to do in 4 wks. and every thing is high to the colored
man so please let me hear from you by return mail. Please do this
for your brother.
ANNINSTON, ALA., April 26, 1917.
_Dear sir_: Seeing in the Chicago Defender that you wanted men to
work and that you are not to rob them of their half loaf;
interested me very much. So much that I am inquiring for a job;
one for my wife, auntie and myself. My wife is a seamster, my
auntie a cook I do janitor work or comon labor. We all will do
the work you give us. Please reply early.
SHREVEPORT, LA., May 22, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I want to get some infirmation about getting out up
there I did learn that they had a man here agent for to send
people up there I have never seen him yet and I want you to tell
me how to get up there. they are passing people out up there that
are unable to come I would like to hear from you at once from
your unknown friend.
DERIDDER, LA., April 18, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: in regards of helth and all so in need that I am
riting you these fue lines to day to you. this few lines leves
famly and I well at the present an doe trus by the help of God
these will find you the same. Now what I want you to doe for me
is this will you please give this letter to the Chicago Defender
printers and I will bee oblige to you. I wood of back this letter
to the Chicago defenders but they never wood of receve it from
here.
I am to day riting you jus a fue lines for infermasion I wil
state my complant is this. now her is 18 hundred of the colored
race have paid to a man $2.00 to be transfered to Chicago to
work, he tel us that thire is great demand in the north for labor
and wee no it is true bee cors ther is thousands of them going
from Alabama and fla. and Gergia and all so other states and this
white man was to send us to Chicago on the 15 of march and eavery
time we ask him about it he tell us that the companys is not redy
for us and we all wants to get out of the south, wee herd that
this man have fould wee people out of this money, wee has a
duplicate shorn that wee have paid him this money and if ther is
iny compnys that wants these men and will furnis transpertashion
for us wil you please notifie me at once bee cors I am tired of
bene dog as I was a beast and wee will come at wonce. So I will
bee oblige to you if you will help us out of the south.
LIVE OAK, FLA., 4-25-17.
_Dear sir_: I wish to become in touch with you. I have been
thinking of leaving the south and have had several ofers
presented to me if only would say I would go and pay down so
mutch money until a certain date but dont aprove of sutch. Know
would be glad to have you relate to me weather I can get a job in
or near the city.
I am now working at a commission house. Listen there have been
several crooks out saying they are getting men for difrent works
in the north, all you had to do pay them $2 or $3 dollars and
meet him on a certain day and that would be the last. Will you
relate to me some of the difrent kinds of works & prices.
Nothing more, I remain.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 22, 1917.
_Dear sir_: with the greatest of pleasure for me to address you a
few lines, concerning of labor as I was reading and advertisement
of yours in the Chicago Defender stateing that those who wish to
locate in smaller towns with fairly good wages and to bring their
children up with the best of education will kindly get in touch
with you. However if you are in a business of that kind it just
fitted me. While I am a man with a very large family most all are
boys and it is my desires to get in touch with some good firms to
works. Kind sir if you are in that kind of position please let me
hear from you at once I've get no confidence in some of these so
called agents. Ill be to glad to hear from you at once.
MOBILE, ALA., 12-4-16.
_Dear Sir_: While reading Sunday's Defender I read where you was
coming south looking for labor I see you want intelligent
industrious men to work in factories so I thought I would write
and get a little information about it. there are a lot of idle
men here that are very anxious to come north. every day they are
fooled about go and see the man. pleanty of men have quit thier
jobs with the expectation of going but when they go the man that
is to take them cant be found. last week there was a preacher
giving lecturers on going. took up collection and when the men
got to the depot he could not be found, so if you will allow me
the privaledge I can get you as many men as you need that are
hard working honest men that will be glad to come. I will send
you these names and address if you will send for them to come.
there is not work here every thing is so high what little money
you make we have to eat it up. so if what I say to you is
agreeable please answer.
LETTERS ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHERN DRIVE OF 1917
PENSACOLA, FLA., 4-21-17.
_Sir_: You will please give us the names of firms where we can
secure employment. Also please explain the Great Northern Drive
for May 15th. We will come by the thousands. Some of us like farm
work. The colored people will leave if you will assist them.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 25, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Would you kindely advise me of a good place where I
can get a good job out in some of the small places from Chicago
about 50 or 60 miles. I am expecting to leave the south about the
15th of May and will bring my family later on. Answer soon.
PASS CHRISTIAN, MISS., April 30, 1917.
_Sir_: I want to come north on 15th of May, & I would like to get
a job at once. & if you will please locate one for me & let me
know in return mail & oblige. Will except a job on farm or in
town. I have a little education & I am aquainted with work all
right. Hope to here from you soon.
MOBILE, ALA., April 25, 1917.
_Sir_: I was reading in theat paper atoout the Colored race and
while reading it I seen in it where cars would be here for the 15
of May which is one month from to day. Will you be so kind as to
let me know where they are coming to and I will be glad to know
because I am a poor woman and have a husband and five children
living and three dead one single and two twin girls six months
old today and my husband can hardly make bread for them in
Mobile. This is my native home but it is not fit to live in just
as the Chicago Defender say it says the truth and my husband only
get $1.50 a day and pays $7.50 a month for house rent and can
hardly feed me and his self and children. I am the mother of 8
children 25 years old and I want to get out of this dog hold
because I dont know what I am raising them up for in this place
and I want to get to Chicago where I know they will be raised and
my husband crazy to get there because he know he can get more to
raise his children and will you please let me know where the cars
is going to stop to so that he can come where he can take care of
me and my children. He get there a while and then he can send for
me. I heard they wasnt coming here so I sent to find out and he
can go and meet them at the place they are going and go from
there to Chicago. No more at present. hoping to hear from you
soon from your needed and worried friend.
MONTGOMERY, ALA., May 7, 1917.
_My dear Sir_: I am writing to solicit your aid and advice as to
how I may best obtain employment at my trade in your city. I
shall be coming that way on the 15th of May and I wish to find
immediate employment if possible.
I have varied experience as a compositor and printer. Job
composition is my hobby. I have not experience as linotype
operator, but can fill any other place in a printing office.
Please communicate with me at the above address at once. Thanking
you in advance for any assistance and information in the matter.
ROME, GA., May 13, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I am writing you in regards to present conditions in
Chicago in getting employment. I am an experienced hotel man--in
all departments, such as bellman, waiter, buss boy, or any other
work pertaining to hotel and would like to know in return could
you furnish me transportation to Chicago as you advertise in the
Chicago Defender. Am good honest and sober worker, can furnish
recermendations if necessary. Have worked at the Palmer House
during year 1911 as bus boy in Cafe. But returned South for
awhile and since the Northern Drive has begun I have decided to
return to Chicago as I am well acquainted with the city. Hope to
hear from you soon on this matter as it is of great importance to
me.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 4-23-17.
_Dear Editor_: I am a reader of the Defender and I am askeso much
about the great Northern drive on the 15th of May. We want more
understanding about it for there is a great many wants to get
ready for that day & the depot agents never gives us any
satisfaction when we ask for they dont want us to leave here, I
want to ask you to please publish in your next Saturdays paper
just what the fair will be on that day so we all will know & can
be ready. So many women here are wanting to go that day. They are
all working women and we cant get work here so much now, the
white women tell us we just want to make money to go North and we
do so please kindly ans. this in your next paper if you do I will
read it every word in the Defender, had rather read it then to
eat when Saturday comes, it is my hearts delight & hope your
paper will continue on in the south until every one reads it for
it is a God sent blessing to the Race. Will close with best
wishes.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 2, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Please Sir will you kindly tell me what is meant by
the great Northern Drive to take place May the 15th on tuesday.
It is a rumor all over town to be ready for the 15th of May to go
in the drive. the Defender first spoke of the drive the 10th of
February. My husband is in the north already preparing for our
family but hearing that the excursion will be $6.00 from here
north on the 15 and having a large family, I could profit by it
if it is really true. Do please write me at once and say is there
an excursion to leave the south. Nearly the whole of the south is
getting ready for the drive or excursion as it is termed. Please
write at once. We are sick to get out of the solid south.
LETTERS CONCERNING WHICH SECRECY WAS ENJOINED
ORANGE CITY, FLA., May 4, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Being a reader of the Chicago Defender, I finds a
add, stateing laborers wanted. I would like to ask if the add is
refering to persons of that state only. Could a person secure a
position until he could reach said state?
Now if you would answer this letter of information I would highly
appreciate it. During your letter please give information about
advanced transportation, etc. This is not as a testimony--don't
publish.
MEMPHIS, TENN., June 1, 1917.
_Sir_: as I being one of the readers of your great News paper and
if I am not to imposeing I want to ask you this information as to
what steps I should take to secure a good position as a first
class automobeal blacksmith or any kind pretaining to such and to
say that I have been opporating a first class white shop here for
quite a number of years one of the largest in the south and if I
must say the only colored man in the city that does.
now I never knew any other way to find out as I want to leave the
south and I feel very much confidential that you would give
information if in your power. So if you know of such why please
inform me at your leasure time. Any charges why notify me in
return but do not publish.
VICKSBURG, MISS., May 2, 1917.
_Sir_: I am a reader of the Chicago Defender I am asking you a
little information. So many people are leaving south for north
and it is too big families and we want to come north or middle
west for better wages. We all have trade and if you think we all
can get position just as we get north if not the middle west.
Better please dont publish this is no paper. here is a stamp
envelop for reply.
LAUREL, MISS., 4-30-17.
_Dear Sir_: In reading your defender paper every week find every
thing so true makes me want to come more every day. so i am
thinking of coming in a few days decided to write you in regards
to getting a job that will suit my age. I am 48 years old am in
very good helth and likes to work just like the days come. Have
farm the biggest position of my life untill seven years ago. i
follow publick work untill now would not like for my name to be
publish in the paper.
FULLERTON, LA., May 7, 1917.
_Dear sir_: This comes to inform you that I would like very much
to come up and locate in your town, but would like to have a
little advise before I leave the sunny south. I am a railroad man
by trade. Of course I am a Colored man but I have been Conductor
for the G. & S. R. Ry. of the past eight years. I have acted as
yard master, and manager of the switch engine and had charge of
the local freight department. Please advise if you think I can
secure a fairly good paying position up there and I am ready to
come up and take hold. I can furnish good reference, and have my
own typewriter and equipment.
I am not particular about working for the rail-road, but I would
like to get something respectable if possible.
I think my reference will satisfy the most interogator. Kindly
advise privately and do not publish.
GREENVILLE, MISS., May 12, 1917.
_Dear sir_: Please inform me as to wether there is imployment for
col. insurance agents by Company as industrial writers sick and
acc. and deth if thair is such co. handling coolored agents in
Chicago or suburban towns, please see suptender as to wether he
could youse a good relible live agent. I am contemplating moving
to Ill. This is confidential.
My experience as ins. agent 15 year industrial and ord. life and
prefered.
LETTERS EMPHASIZING RACE WELFARE
AUGUST, GA., May 12, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Just for a little infermation from you i would like
to know wheather or not i could get in tuch with some good people
to work for with a firm because things is afful hear in the south
let me here from you soon as poseble what ever you do dont
publish my name in your paper but i think peple as a race oguht
to look out for one another as Christians friends i am a
schuffur and i cant make a living for my family with small pay
and the people is getting so bad with us black peple down south
hear. now if you ever help your race now is the time to help me
to get my family away. food stuf is so high. i will look for
answer by return mail, dont publish my name if your paper but let
me hear from you at once.
DELAND, FLA., 5/1. 17.
_Dear sir_: I being onknon to you in personnal but by reading the
Chicago Defender I notice in its ad that there is chance for all
kind of imployment that a men that will work can get and as I am
one of the negro race that dont mind working study so it is
understand that you will please let me no as to wheather you can
place me in some of those positions for I sopose to be in this
town about 5 more weeks. after leving her stopping in Savannah my
home city to see my too bro. and mother I will then leve for the
northern states I will thank you for some information.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear sir_: i am a reader of the Chicago defender and i seen in
the defender that you are interrested in the well fair of the
colored people those of the classe that is interested in
themselves and coming to the north for a better chance so i take
pleashure in riting to you that i may get some under standing
about conditions of getting work as i see that you are in turch
with the foundrys warehouses and the manufacturing concerns that
is in need of laborers and i thought it was best to rite you and
get some understanding as it is 4 of us expecting to leave here
in a few days to come north but we are not coming for pleasure we
are looking for wirk and better treatment and more money and i
ask your aid in helping us to secure a good position of work as
we are men of familys and we canot aford to loaf and i will be
very glad to hear from you and an my arival i will call at your
place to see you.
COLUMBIA, S. C., May 7, 1917.
_Dir sur_: i saw in one of our colord papers your ad i now seat
my selft to seak work thru your ade of which i beleve is ernest
devotion to our betterment i am a brick layer and plastrer i rite
to no if i can get or you can get work for me please let me know
detales plese.
MEMPHIS, TENN., 4-23-17.
_Gentlemen_: I want to get in tuch with you in regard of a good
location & a job I am for race elevation every way. I want a job
in a small town some where in the north where I can receive verry
good wages and where I can educate my 3 little girls and demand
respect of intelegence. I prefer a job as cabinet maker or any
kind of furniture mfg. if possible.
Let me hear from you all at once please. State minimum wages and
kind of work.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 2, 1917.
_Dear sir_: I am writing you a few lines seacking information
about some work as i was read a Chicago Defender i saw where
labarers wanted very much I am a labarer now have not no work
here to do i am married man have one child and would like for yo
to give me work to do anything I am well expereinced in ware
house and foundry and if there any way for you to fearnish me a
transportation to come at once do i can go so i can make my
family a desen living you will please let me know and if you
would help a poor need man i am willing to come any time if I had
the money i would pay my own way but i realy ain got it so i am
asking you to please do this for me i am realy in need if you can
do a poor negro any good please do this for me.
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 25, 1917.
_My dear Sir_: I noticed an anticle in the Chicago Defender that
officers and members of your organization officer to assist any
member of the race to secure steady employment in small cities
near Chicago. I am verry anxious to secure a job the year round
at any kind of honest work, trusting that I may hear from you at
an early date, I beg to remain.
ATLANTA, GA., April 11, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I am a reader of you paper and we are all crazy about
it and take it every Saturday and we raise a great howl when we
dont get it. Now since I see and feel that you are for the race
and are willing to assist any one so I will ask you to please
assist me in getting imployment and some place to stop with some
good quiet people or with a family that would take some one to
live with them. I will do any kind of work. I am a hair dresser
but I will do any kind of work I can get to do I am a widow and
have one child a little girl 6 years years old I dont know any
body there so if you can assist me in any way will be greatly
appreciated now this letter is personal please dont print it in
your paper. I hope to hear from you soon.
ROME, GA., April 28, 1917.
_My dear Northern friend_: I saw in the Chicago Defender where
llabors are wanted I am sure a man that wants to get out of the
south and would do most any kind of work I has a wife she works
all the time We has a boy age 13 years he has been working with
me 5 years I has been working at the pipe shop 11 year but I can
do other work you said you will sind a transportation after
labores please send after me I can get 10 more mens if you want
them. ans. soon so that I will no what to do but I hope you will
say yes. hope you will say get the mens and let us sind for you
all I am a man woks all the time I has a wife and 4 childrens.
HOUSTON, TEX., April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sirs_: I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and I seen
where you are in need of men and are also in the position for
firms to seek you. I see where you are in the lines of work for
the betterment of the race.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 22, 1917.
_Dear sir_: in reading the defender I seen where this was an
oportunity for work, for the betterment of the race. Just out of
the city and i thought to get in touch with you to see if their
would be a chance for me an my brother, i dident no if you meant
any one this far from Chicago or not but i rite to find out. but
i hope you will except me please and let me no your wages, i hope
to hear from you and if you will except me i can pick you up some
responseful families mens but if you dont want them take me
because i wants work, so good by.
SHERMAN, GA., Nov. 28, 1916.
_Dear sir_: This letter comes to ask for all infirmations concern
emplyoment in your conection in the warmest climate. Now I am in
a family of (11) eleven more or less boys and girls (men and
women) mixed sizes who want to go north as soon as arrangements
can be made and employment given places for shelter an so en
(etc) now this are farming people they were raised on the farm
and are good farm hands I of course have some experence and
qualefication as a coman school teacher and hotel waiter and
along few other lines.
I wish you would write me at your first chance and tell me if you
can give us employment at what time and about what wages will you
pay and what kind of arrangement can be made for our shelter.
Tell me when can you best use us now or later.
Will you send us tickets if so on what terms and at what price
what is the cost per head and by what route should we come. We
are Negroes and try to show ourselves worthy of all we may get
from any friendly source we endeavor to be true to all good
causes, if you can we thank you to help up to come north as soon
as you can.
SAVANNAH, GA., 4/21/17/
_Dear Sir_: I was very much impressed when I read the Defender
where you are taking so much interest securing jobs for the race
from the south. Please secure a job for man & wife in some small
town and write me all information at once.
KISSIMMEE, FLA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I am a subscriber for the Chicago Defender have read
of the good work you are doing in employing help for your large
factories and how you are striving to help get the better class
of people to the north. I am a teacher and have been teaching
five years successful, and as our school here has closed my
cousin and I have decided to go north for the summer who is also
a teacher of this county. I am writing you to secure for us a
position that we could fit and one that would fit us, if there be
any that is vacant.
We can furnish you with the best of reference. We would not like
to advertise through a paper. Hoping to hear from you at an early
date, I am
SANFORD, FLA., 4-29-17.
_Dear sir_: as a member of the Race who desire to join in and
with and be among the better side of our Race I ask that you
surcue me a job and have me a ticket sent or please send
transportation fees at once. Write soon as I will watch for
answer from you.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., 4/29/17.
_Dear sir_: i was reading the Chicago Defender to day and i find
that you is mutch enterrested in our negro race i have sevrul
years in laundry business as a wash man and stationery boilers
fireing at this time i have charge of wash room, i am a fire man
and all so a laundry wash man too. hopeing that you will do all
you can for me in getting a plase of theas persisons please giv
this your attenson estateing salery per week pleas let me heare
from you soon i remain yours truly
PENSACOLA, FLA., May 1, 1917.
_dear sirs_: I sene in Defender wher more positions open then men
for them I am colord an do woork hard for my living an dont mind
it is not no bad habits I work but dont get but small wedges I am
up bilder of my colord race an love to help one when he dezirs to
better his condishon I want to ast you for a favor of helping me
to get to you an your office to get me a woork to do I want to
learn a trade and I will pay you to look out for me an get me a
job if you kindly will. Please an send me 3 tickets as we three
good woorking mens make the time you can corleck ever weeak pay
for yo at once be cause we meanse buisness now.
MONTGOMERY, ALA., May 19, 1917.
_Dear sir_: I notice in the Chicago defender that you are working
to better the condiction of the colored people of the south. I am
a member of the race & want too come north for to better the
condiction of my famely I have five children my self and a wife &
I want you to seek for me a job please. I will send you the trade
I follows while here in the south. I works in the packing houses
& also wholesale grocers houses. Either one I can do but I rather
the packing the best. you can get a half of dozen womens from
here that want work & wants information about jobs such as
cooking, nurseing & cleaning up or anything else they can do.
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 13, 1917.
_Dear sur_: I ritting to you in order to get in touch with you
about the work for the betterment of the race I shure want to
better my condeshon in the Chicago Defender I seen whear that you
say those wishing to locate in smaller towns with fairly good
wages that what I want to suner the better for me. Answer at
wonce.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Collected under the direction of Emmett J. Scott.
BOOK REVIEWS
_A Century of Negro Migration._ By CARTER G. WOODSON. The Association
for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, D. C. Pp. 221.
The increasingly numerous articles, inquiries and investigations into
the nature, extent, causes and results of the recent migratory
movement among the Negroes in America demonstrate the great interest
which has been manifested in this subject. At a period when so much
personal opinion, ill-digested information and controversial
literature, on racial problems are being flung at the public, it is a
real pleasure for the sincere student of human affairs to welcome such
an instructive work as this both because of its point of view and its
valuable research. This volume is an unusual contribution in this
field. It is an historical treatise, a study in economic progress and
a survey of contemporary movements. As suggested by its title, the
book examines with scholarly comprehension the continued migrations of
the nineteenth century. The point of view which the volume presents is
that of the new historical school, which holds that movements of the
present have their roots in the past; and the present may not be
properly understood without comprehending the foundations of the past.
The book is replete with facts organized and interpreted with a
scientific spirit, and the discussions are modern and scholarly.
After reading the book one ceases to speak of "a" migration, or of
"the" migration, for Negro migration ceases to be a new development.
It becomes an old movement, begun a century ago, but now heightened
and intensified by the factors growing out of the World War. The
author in his preface especially disclaims any distinctly new
contribution of fact. The specific value of the volume rests then in
its collection of isolated historical data culled from many known
sources, and its presentation of a new vantage ground from which the
whole subject may be regarded. An introductory section on the
migrations at the close of the eighteenth century and in the opening
years of the nineteenth century leads to the main chapters which
follow under the headings: A Transplantation to the North; Fighting it
out on Free Soil; Colonization as a Remedy for Migration; The
Successful Migrant; Confusing Movements; The Exodus to the West; The
Migration of the Talented Tenth, and The Exodus during the World War.
In the discussion of the Successful Migrant much information is given
us of individuals who succeeded by sheer grit in making their way to
freedom, and in some cases in building neat fortunes for themselves
and their families. The charge that the Negro appears to be naturally
migratory, an assertion which comes to light in recent studies in
economic progress, is declared untrue. Dr. Woodson asserts that "this
impression is often received by persons who hear of the thousands of
Negroes who move from one place to another from year to year because
of the desire to improve their unhappy condition. In this there is no
tendency to migrate but an urgent need to escape undesirable
conditions. In fact, one of the American Negroes' greatest
shortcomings is that they are not sufficiently pioneering." To the
reviewer, this statement, typical of others, seems to be the more
reasonable conclusion from the facts, which others regard as only
facts and by inference as racial tendencies. In the majority of
instances the author finds, as other investigators have found, that
the migrants belonged to the intelligent laboring class.
The best discussion is given in the closing chapter on The Exodus
during the World War. This is made to differ from other migrations on
the ground that the Negro has opportunity awaiting him, whereas
formerly he had "to make a place for himself upon arriving among
enemies." The effects upon the whites and the Negroes, North and
South, are noted with unbiased attitude. The perspective of the
trained historian appears to have its influence in this section. The
earlier chapters are concerned primarily with the Negro in the
Northwest, and so completely does the information center in this
section of the country that it appears easily possible to expand this
part into a larger work treating this phase in particular. The
author's comment and criticism are suggestive to both races and
particularly to the Negroes who furnish the subject-matter of the
book. The book will have not only historical interest, but it will
serve to point out the paramount unsettled condition of the race
problem during the past century and the disturbing future which must
face America. The volume is heartily commended to all readers and
students, and it cannot fail to be informing upon this unsettled
aspect of Negro life and history. No serious student should be without
it.
CHARLES H. WESLEY.
* * * * *
_Negro Migration in 1916-17._ By R. H. LEAVELL, T.R. SNAVELY, T. J.
WOOFTER, JR., W. T. B. WILLIAMS, and FRANCIS D. TYSON, with an
introduction by J. H. DILLARD. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D. C., 1919. Pp. 158.
This is a report of the Department of Labor issued from the office of
the Secretary through the Division of Negro Economics, under the
direction of Dr. George E. Haynes. The task was divided among a number
of investigators. Mr. Leavell directed his attention to the migration
from Mississippi, Mr. Snavely to that from Alabama and North Carolina,
and Mr. Woofter to that from Georgia. Mr. Williams sketches in general
the Exodus from the South and Mr. Tyson gives a survey of the Negro
Migrant in the North. Submitted in this condition the report is much
less valuable than it would have been, had the investigation been
directed by a single man to work out of these individual reports a
scientific presentation of the whole movement. As this was not the
case, there is found throughout the report numerous duplications of
discussions of causes and effects which might have given place to more
valuable information.
The conclusion of Mr. Leavell, himself a Mississippian, as to measures
for the rehabilitation of Mississippi labor conditions, are very
interesting. He believes that a permanent surplus of Negro laborers
outside of the upper delta can be created by reorganizing agriculture
with emphasis on live stock and forage, that this surplus could then
be directed to the delta and to Arkansas so far as needed for
producing cotton and food stuffs, that the balance of this surplus
labor should be drawn permanently to northern industries, and that the
older communities along the Mississippi could attract the necessary
additional labor from the surplus created in the hills. He believes
also that there should be schools emphasizing education toward the
farm, fair dealing in all business transactions, equal treatment in
the distribution of public utilities, equal treatment in the courts
and the encouragement of Negro farm ownership, the abolition of the
fee system in courts of justice, the insistence of white public
opinion on full settlement with Negroes on plantations, and, above all
else, that the fundamental need is for frequent and confidential
conferences upon community problems and for active cooperation between
the local leaders of the two races.
Mr. Snavely counts among the causes of the migration from Alabama and
North Carolina, the changed conditions incident to the transition from
the old system of cotton planting to stock raising and the
diversification of crops. Mr. Williams undertakes to estimate the size
of the exodus, some of its effects and the initial remedies for
keeping the Negroes in the South. Some of these are better pay,
greater care for the employees, better educational facilities, the
opportunity to rent and purchase sanitary homes, justice in the
courts, the abolition of "jim crowism" and segregation.
One of the most interesting parts of the report is that which deals
with the Negro migrant in the North. It is doubtful, however, that the
author has done his task so well as Mr. Epstein did in treating
intensively the same situation in Pittsburgh. This part of the report
is too brief to cover the field adequately. There are few statistics
taken from the censuses of 1900 and 1910 to show the increase of Negro
population in the North during this period. Then comes a rapid survey
of the districts receiving large numbers of Negroes during the
migration. Attention is directed also to the adjustment of the Negroes
to northern industry, race friction and the bearing of the Negro
migration on the labor movement culminating in the riot of East St.
Louis. Delinquency in the migrant population and the reports on the
crime, health and housing conditions of the Negroes in the North are
also discussed. That part of the report on constructive efforts toward
adjustment of the migrant population in the North gives much
information as to how the leading citizens of both races have
coöperated in trying to solve the problems resulting from this sudden
shifting of large groups of people.
* * * * *
_Twenty-Five Years in the Black Belt._ By WILLIAM J. EDWARDS. The
Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918. Pp. 143.
This is a valuable biographical work in that the reader gets a view of
conditions in the South as experienced and viewed by a Negro educated
at Tuskegee and inspired thereby to spend his life in another part of
the State of Alabama, doing what he learned at this institution. The
author mentions his growth, the founding of the Snow Hill School, the
assistance of the Jeannes Fund, and the ultimate solutions of his more
difficult problems. The book becomes more interesting when he
discusses the Negro problem, the exodus of the blacks and the World
War.
The aim of the author, however, is to acquaint the public with the
problems and difficulties confronting those who labor for the future
of the Negro race. He complains of the land tenure, the credit system
by which the Negroes become indebted to their landlords, the lack of
educational facilities, and the consequent ignorance of the masses of
the race. To enlist support to remedy these evils wherever this
condition obtains, the life of the author who for twenty-five years
has had to struggle against hardships is hereby presented as typical
of the thousands of teachers white and black now suffering all but
martyrdom in the South that the Negroes may after all have a chance to
toil upward.
The book is not highly literary. The style is generally rough.
Interesting facts appear here and there, but they did not reach the
stage of organization in passing through the author's mind. The value
of the book, however, is not materially diminished by its style. It
certainly reflects the feelings and chronicles the deeds of a large
group of the American people during one of the most critical periods
of our history and must therefore be read with profit by those
interested in the strivings of the people of low estate. Persons
primarily concerned with industrial education will find this sketch
unusually valuable. To throw further light on this systematic effort
to elevate the Negroes of Alabama the author has given numerous
illustrations. Among these are _Uncle Charles Lee and His Home in the
Black Belt_, _Partial View of the Snow Hill Institute_, _A New Type of
Home in the Black Belt_, _Typical Log Cabin in the Black Belt_, the
_Home of a Snow Hill Graduate_, _Graduates of Snow Hill Institute_ and
_Teachers of Snow Hill Institute_.
* * * * *
_Women of Achievement._ By BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Woman's American Baptist
Home Mission Society, Chicago, 1919. Pp. 92.
Glancing at the title of this volume one would expect to find therein
the sketches of a number of women of color known to be useful in the
uplift of the Negro race. Instead of this, however, there is the
disappointment in tho restriction of these sketches to Harriet Tubman,
Nora Gordon, Meta Warrick Fuller, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Mary Church
Terrell. No one will question the claims of some of these women to
honorable mention, but when Nora Gordon, an unknown but successful
missionary to Africa, is given precedence to the hundreds of women of
color who have influenced thought and contributed to the common good
of the race and country the historian must call for an explanation.
It is equally clear that in choosing the other four of these women as
representative of the achievements of their race the biographer has
done other distinguished women of the Negro race considerable
injustice, if his book is to be taken seriously. Harriet Tubman was
truly a great character and her life is an interesting chapter in the
history of this country. Whether Meta Warrick Fuller, Mary McLeod
Bethune and Mary Church Terrell deserve special consideration to the
exclusion of others, however, is debatable. Meta Warrick Fuller has
distinguished herself in art and so have several other women of color.
Mary McLeod Bethune is generally considered an enterprising educator
and public spirited woman, but one can here raise the question as to
whether she leads her companions. Mary Church Terrell has very well
established herself as an acceptable speaker on the race problem and
so have many others.
In giving the facts which entitle these characters to honorable
mention the author did not do his task well. He mentioned too few
incidents in the lives of these persons to make them interesting. In
other words, instead of presenting facts to speak for themselves the
author too easily yielded to the temptation to indulge in mere eulogy.
These mistakes cannot be excused, even if the book is intended for
children. On the whole, however, the work indicates effort in the
right direction and it is hoped that more extensive and numerous
sketches of women of achievement of the Negro race may be found in the
literature of our day.
NOTES
At the close of this the fourth year of its existence the Association
for the Study of Negro Life and History convened in biennial session
in Washington, D. C., on the 17th and 18th of June at the 12th Street
Branch Y. M. C. A. The reports for the year were heard, new officers
were elected, and the plans for the coming year were formulated. The
proceedings in full will appear in the October number.
The chief interest of the meeting centered around the informing
addresses on the _Negro in the World War_. Every phase of the war
history which the Negro helped to make was treated.
The Association worked out also the plans by which it will collect
data to write a scientific _History of the Negro in the World War_
just as soon as the treaty of peace is signed and documents now
inaccessible because of the proximity to the conflict become
available. The coöperation of all seekers after the truth is earnestly
solicited.
During the past two years the Association has been able to move
steadily forward in spite of the difficulties incident to the war. The
subscriptions to the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY have gradually increased
and a number of philanthropists have liberally contributed to the fund
now being used to extend the work into all parts of the country. This
work is being done by a Field Agent who organizes clubs for the study
of Negro life and history and, through local agents, sells the
publications of the Association and solicits subscriptions to the
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY.
In addition to publishing for four years the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY,
a repository of truth now available in bound form, the association has
brought out also _Slavery in Kentucky_, an interesting portraiture of
the institution in that State; _The Royal Adventurers Trading into
Africa_, one of the best studies of the early slave trade; and _A
Century of Negro Migration_, the only scientific treatment of this
movement hitherto published.
The circulation of these publications has been extensive. They are
read in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa; they
reach more than three hundred college and public libraries; they are
found in all Negro homes where learning is an objective; they are used
by most social workers to get light on the solution of the problems of
humanity; they are referred to by students and professors conducting
classes carrying on research; and they reach members of the cabinet
and the President of the United States.
* * * * *
Carter G. Woodson is not a contributor to the _Official History of the
Negro in the World War_ by Mr. Emmett J. Scott as has been reported
throughout the country. He has given the author several suggestions,
however, and such editorial assistance as the many tasks and
obligations of the Director permitted.
THE JOURNAL
OF
NEGRO HISTORY
VOL. IV--OCTOBER, 1919--NO. 4
LABOR CONDITIONS IN JAMAICA PRIOR TO 1917
To show the lack of progress in Jamaica since the abolition of slavery
by the gradual process inaugurated in 1833 and its final extermination
in 1838, nothing will better serve the purpose than the review of the
system of apprenticeship established as a substitute for that
institution. According to the portraiture given by Sturge and Harvey
in their work entitled _The West Indies in 1837_ and the conditions
now obtaining in the island, very little progress in the condition of
the laboring man has been made since that time.
For scarcely any remuneration the Negroes were required by a
compulsory arrangement between their overseers and the Special
Magistrates to give during the crop the time granted them under the
law for their own use and they were on many estates obliged to work a
greater number of hours than was required by law. The apprentices were
compelled to work by spells of eight hours in the field on one day,
and for sixteen hours in and about the boiling house on the next day,
giving up their half Friday, for which amount of extra labor they
received two shillings and one penny or 50 cents a week. On one estate
the wages paid for extra labor during crop was two pence or 4 cents an
hour. The working hours were generally from four to eleven and from
one to five, and it is interesting to note that while it was expected
that on each half Friday given to the apprentices, sufficient food
should be provided by them to last for the succeeding week, yet when
that half day was taken from them five or six herrings were the only
compensation.
The following case is taken from an agreement made in 1836 by certain
cane hole diggers. Every laborer agreed to dig 405 cane holes in four
and one half days due his master, and to receive ten pounds of salt
fish and a daily allowance of sugar and rum, the salt fish to be
diminished in the ratio of one pound for every forty holes short of
405. In the one day and a half of his own time he was paid three
shillings and four pence or 80 cents for every ninety cane holes.
Under this agreement the maximum work performed was that of an
apprentice who in three weeks of thirteen and one half days dug in his
own time 1,017 holes, for which he received 28 pounds of fish, and in
cash one pound and fifteen shillings or $8.40. By this means it was
possible for the master to have 58 acres of land worked at a total
cost of £147 10s 0d or $708. The cost to him, if the work had been
given out to jobbers, would have been £8 an acre or £464, $2,227.20.
His apprentices were therefore the means of saving for him the sum of
£316 l0d or $1,519.20.
The following was the scale of wages for transient labor:
Prime headman 3 pence or 6 cents.
Inferior headman 2 pence or 4 cents.
First gang--able-bodied 1-1/2 pence or 3 cents.
First gang--weakly 1-1/4 pence or 2-1/2 cents.
Second gang--able-bodied 1-1/4 pence or 2-1/2 cents.
Second gang--weakly 1 penny or 2 cents.
Third gang--active 3/4 penny or 1-1/2 cents.
Third gang--lazy 1/2 penny or 1 cent.
The apprentices were permitted under the law to make application to be
valued, and on the basis of the valuation were entitled to purchase
their freedom. Here again was the system grossly abused. The slaves or
apprentices, as they were at that time called, became at the hour of
valuation very desirable assets; and, in many instances, so valuable
did they suddenly become that it was quite out of their power to carry
out their intention. The system became for this reason a premium on
all the bad qualities of the Negroes and a tax upon all the good. In
spite of this, however, so great was the desire for freedom that
within a period of twenty-eight months, from 1st August, 1834, to 30th
November, 1836, 1,580 apprentices purchased their freedom by valuation
at a cost of £52,215 or $250,632, an average of £33 or $158.40 a head.
Although seventy-eight years have passed since the total abolition of
slavery, however, the condition of the laborers of Jamaica remains
practically the same as it was then. There has been beyond doubt much
improvement in the island, but the unfortunate fact is this, that the
laborer living in a country much improved in many respects, is himself
no better or very little better off than his forefathers in slavery.
In truth, he is still an economic slave. The conditions under which he
lives and works are such as destroy whatever ambition he may possess,
and reduce his life to a mere drudgery, to a mere animal existence.
Some progress has been made and there are signs of improvement, but
the majority of laborers, the men and women and children who till the
banana fields and work on the sugar plantations, are no better off
than previously. These are still beasts of burden, still the victims
of an economic system under which they labor not as human beings with
bodies to be fed or clothed, with minds to be cultivated and aspiring
souls to be ministered unto, but as living machines designed only to
plant so many banana suckers in an hour, or to carry so many loads of
canes in a day. After seventy-eight years in this fair island, side by
side, with the progress and improvements above referred to, there are
still hundreds and hundreds of men and women who live like savages in
unfloored huts, huddled together like beasts of the field, without
regard to health or comfort. And they live thus, not because they are
worthless or because they are wholly without ambition or desire to
live otherwise, but because they must thus continue as economic
slaves receiving still the miserable pittance of a wage of eighteen
pence or 36 cents a day that was paid to their forefathers at the dawn
of emancipation. The system is now so well established that the
employers apparently regard it as their sacred right and privilege to
exploit the laborers, and the laborers themselves have been led by
long submission and faulty teaching to believe that the system is a
part of the natural order, a result of divine ordainment.
This attitude of the poor down-trodden laborers is one of the most
effective blocks in the way of his improvement. But the despair of
every one who dares to tackle this problem of improving the economic
and therefore the social and moral condition of the laborers of this
island is based on the inertness which almost amounts to callous
indifference of the local Government.
The following letters addressed to me by the Colonial Secretary of
Jamaica deserves to be put on record as evidence of the mind of the
government, in 1913,--of its inability or unwillingness to take the
first step. Letter A was written at the direction of Sir Sydney
Olivier, K.C.M.G., then Governor of Jamaica, who recently expressed
the opinion that the laborers in this island should receive one dollar
a day. That letter is valuable in that it is an official statement of
the maximum wages paid by the government of Jamaica to its own
laborers. Letter B was written at the direction of the then Colonial
Secretary, Mr. P. Cork, and is even more valuable as an official
pronouncement on the important question of a living wage.
LETTER A.
"17th January, 1913.
No. 787/15568
With reference to the letter from this office No. 13099/15568
dated the 6th November last and to previous correspondence in
connection with your suggestion that the Government should raise
the wages of their laborers, I am directed by the Governor to
inform you that it appears from enquiries made by His
Excellency's direction that the average wage now earned by
laborers under the Public Works Department is approximately one
shilling and eight pence half penny (41 cents) for an average day
of ten hours, so that in an average day of ten hours the laborers
would at the same rate of pay earn two shillings and one penny
half penny" (51 cents).
LETTER B.
"8th March, 1913.
No. 2926/3268
The Acting Governor directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of the 26th ultimo on the subject of the amount of wages
paid to native laborers in the employment of the Government, and
in reply to say that no acknowledgement of the correctness of
your contention that one shilling and sixpence per diem is not a
fair living wage for any laborer to receive, and that the minimum
he ought reasonably to expect to enable him to meet the ordinary
demands of existence is two shillings per diem (48 cents), is to
be inferred from the letter from this office, No. 737/15568 dated
the 17th of January, 1913.
"2. I am to add that His Excellency is not in a position to
comply with your request that steps should be taken to ensure to
all laborers working under the Public Works Department a minimum
wage of two shillings per diem (48 cents) as from 1st April
next."
The problem becomes real and serious when the ruling authorities are
unwilling to admit what is absolutely clear to every one who is not
hopelessly prejudiced, namely, that eighteen pence or thirty-six cents
a day, the amount which was paid to the emancipated slaves in 1838, is
not a living wage for his descendants in the year 1913, and when they
are either unable or unwilling to set the pace for other employers of
labor by paying their own laborers a minimum wage of two shillings or
forty-eight cents a day.
With the labor problem of Jamaica the question of East Indian
Immigration is intimately connected. While, on the one hand, we have
the able-bodied native laborers miserably and cruelly underpaid, and
having in consequence to emigrate in large numbers to other countries,
on the other hand, we have the importation into the island of
indentured immigrants under the conditions which make the economic
improvement of the native laborers an impossibility. On the one side,
the available records inform us that from April 1, 1905, to March 31,
1908, laborers numbering 39,060 emigrated from this island and
deposited with the local Government the sum of £22,217 or $106,641.60
as required by law. The exodus to Cuba is at present a very serious
comment upon the existing labor conditions. During the month of
December, 1916, 761 persons emigrated from the island, 580 to Cuba and
181 to other places.
The figures, on the other side, reveal the fact that since the
introduction of East Indian Immigration in 1845 to the present time
35,933 East Indians have been brought into the island; and it is
estimated that there are to-day resident in the island over 20,000
East Indians, 3,000 of whom are indentured and 17,000 have completed
their term of indenture. These immigrants are distributed to the
several estates by the government at a cost of £20.10.0, or $90.42,
paid in installments: £2 or $9.60, paid on allottment, £2.2.0 or
$10.08 at the end of the first year, and £4.2.0 or $19.68 at the end
of each of the succeeding four years.
For the years 1891-1908 the cost of this system to the colony is
officially reported as follows:
Cost of importation £129,692.2.2 $622,522.12
Administrative expenses £ 37,377.0.2 179,409.64
Return passages 1901-8 £ 27,254.5.11 130,820.62
Gross cost £194,323.83 $932,752.38
Receipts in hand £143,171.1.1 $687,221.06
Net cost to colony £ 51,152.7.2 $245,531.32
or an average of over £3,000 or $14,400 per annum.
The immigrants are indentured for five years, and are entitled after a
continuous residence of ten years in the colony to one half of the
value of their passage money in the case of men and of one third in
the case of women. For a working day of nine hours the men are paid
one shilling or 24 cents and the women nine pence or 18 cents. A
deduction of two shillings and sixpence or 60 cents a week is made
for rations supplied. They receive free hospital treatment which cost
the Government on the average of two pounds or $9.60 each per annum.
The system of immigration is a factor contributing to the present
unsatisfactory condition of the labor market in this island. The
immigrants are unfair competitors of the natives. They accept lower
wages, and they lower the standard of life. They are practically
modern slaves. It is not then reasonable with such competitors for the
native laborer to expect a favorable response to his appeal for fairer
treatment. It is asserted that the importation of East Indians is
necessary because the native laborers will not give that reliable and
continuous service which is necessary for the profitable working of
the estates. The answer to this is that these same laborers emigrate
and give their foreign employers the reliable and continuous service
which they consistently withhold from the employer at home because
they are paid more and treated better abroad.
The solution of the problem in so far as the first steps are concerned
is then two fold. First, the government must at once determine that
this systematic immigration of cheap labor must cease, and must set
about without delay to make the necessary arrangements and adjustments
which will be preparatory to an early discontinuance of the system.
Next, the employers of labor must either by persuasion or legal
coercion be led to induce the native laborers by the offer of better
wages to remain at home.
With reference to the first it has been discovered that the government
supports the fiction that the importation of East Indians is
necessary. In a report dated October 1, 1908, the Acting Protector of
Immigrants, with the apparent approval of the Governor, wrote: "As a
result of having a nucleus of reliable labor in the shape of
indentured coolies owners of estates have felt themselves justified in
spending large sums of money in extending their cultivations, and in
installing expensive machinery. This has had the effect of providing
employment for a much larger number of creole laborers than formerly,
and of putting a great deal more money in circulation. I think that
instead of the coolie being cursed by the native laborer for taking
away his work he should be blessed for having been the means of
providing employment for him."
The substance of the statement given above is incorporated by Sir
Sydney Olivier, K.C.M.G., in a chapter of his book entitled _White
Capital and Colored Labor_, in which there occurs this remarkable
assertion: "In Jamaica wages are higher in those districts where
indentured coolies are employed on banana plantations." Coolies who
receive a maximum wage of one shilling or 24 cents a day are
introduced to the world as the wage-raising factor in Jamaica!
Just prior to the World War the labor question was a very live one in
Jamaica. The weekly exodus of hundreds of laborers to the neighboring
island of Cuba, the murmuring of dissatisfaction among the immigrants,
friction in the working of the Immigration Department,--all have
served to bring this labor problem prominently to public notice. At a
meeting held in the interest of the sugar industry in January, 1917,
there was adopted a suggestive resolution moved by Mr. A. W.
Farquharson, a prominent and successful legal practitioner, and a man
who, though the descendant of an old family of planters, is deeply
interested in the improvement of the laborers. The resolution was:
"That this committee is convinced that the continuous and increasing
exodus of laborers from the colony to seek work in foreign countries
is impeding the development of the resources of the island, and that
it is of urgent importance that early measures should be adopted to
arrest such exodus, by the creation of conditions which will induce an
improvement in the status of the laboring population."
The _Daily Chronicle_ of that date comments thus on the question:
"The Sugar Committee has pointed out clearly the precise measures
that are certain to produce better remuneration for the laborer,
and this, as we have been insisting from the start, is the very
essence of the scheme. According to the recommendations forwarded
to the Government and turned down by the Privy Council--some of
whose members have evidently made up their minds that something
akin to the feudal system must, in the interest of a few, be
forever maintained in Jamaica--the Government would go into the
business for the protection of the community against the avidity
of the private capitalist; in other words, to insure a fair
distribution in this island, of the profits derived from the
rehabilitated industry. Under this arrangement the Government
factories would be in a position to set the pace in the matter of
payment of wages to the laborer. Think of what this would mean! A
higher standard of living, better health, more happiness--the
very things which the peasant is being forced to go abroad to
obtain. But the mandamus will have none of this socialism; it is
too broad, too comprehensive, too human for minds unaccustomed to
look beyond self. So they have rejected the Sugar Committee's
proposals, compelling Mr. Farquharson and his friends to appeal
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. His Excellency the
Governor and his advisors have thus shown their utter inability
to understand the economic needs of the island. Deliberately--we
do not say with malice aforethought--have they decided to
perpetuate conditions which in the past have served to
disintegrate the population of this colony, and will in the
future continue to do this with even more harmful effects than
hitherto unless some well-considered attempt is made to produce
more wealth from our soil for the benefit, not of a few
capitalists, but of the nine hundred thousand inhabitants of
Jamaica."
One might not wholly endorse this criticism, but it should be
represented that the inaction of the government, whether due to
inability or indifference or to whatever cause, has been the prime
preventing cause of an earlier solution of a long standing problem. It
seemed, however, as if an attempt was at last to be made to do
something. A news article in _The Daily Gleaner_, February, 1917,
announced that the Government had at last realized the urgent need of
improved barrack accommodation on the estates, and of proper medical
supervision of the laborers. It desired to stem the exodus of
laborers, but from its own statement given out to the press in the
article referred to, not so much for the benefit of the ill-paid
laborers, but in consideration for the employers who would soon have
to face a labor market relieved of imported coolies. And so, for the
sake of the employers, it was proposed to ask the native laborer to
agree to be indentured for twelve months at the same miserable wages
of eighteen pence or 36 cents a day, with the addition of a tempting
(?) bonus of two pounds or $9.60 at the end of the term. And this
paternal suggestion was made in order "to improve the local sources of
labor supply that were available" at a time when Cuba was offering
from one dollar to one dollar and a half a day!
The Labor Problem of Jamaica may then be briefly stated thus: After
seventy-eight years of freedom the laboring population was
economically no better off in 1916 than their forefathers who lived in
the early days of emancipation. The laborers received a daily wage
which was but a small pittance, and they worked under conditions that
were appalling, and that were a disgrace to any community pretending
to be civilized. The government instead of taking steps to improve
these conditions and thus to induce the laborer to give in Jamaica
that reliable and continuous service which hundreds so willingly and
efficiently gave abroad, promoted the perpetuation of those conditions
by spending each year over £3,000 or $14,400 of the taxpayers' money
in establishing and maintaining a system of immigration which
demoralized the best labor market by providing the employers with an
undesirable class of laborers whose standard of life is abnormally
low, and to whom twenty-four cents a day is a considerable sum, and
thereby compelled the native laborer either to accept the
unsatisfactory conditions or to emigrate.
The following extract from an article entitled, "What Feeding Him
Means," which appeared in _The Daily Gleaner_ of February 7, 1917,
throws more light on the problem:
"Captain Fist tells us that what the peasant needs to make him a
better worker is better feeding. He also suggests that decent
dwelling places should be put up on the estates and plantations
for the people, and that a small lot of land should be allowed
each family for the cultivation of ground provisions. All this
and more is being done for the Jamaican in Panama. But when we
hear of living places here, it is always 'barracks' that are
spoken of,--a long range of wretched structures where comfort and
privacy are out of the question, and where, as a rule, only
single men can live. But men are not going to work and live as
bachelors to oblige other people. We do not want laborers merely,
we want decent families of men and women and children, and if the
economic situation in this country cannot provide us with these,
so much the worse for the situation and for the whole country.
The fact is that the Jamaica peasant, if he has been decently fed
and is free from disease, is a good worker. Our Government,
therefore, if it is to justify any claim to being intelligent,
progressive and far seeing must take up the question of disease
with a degree of thoroughness never shown before; while the
employer of labor must provide decent living places for his
workers and pay a sufficient wage to enable them to eat enough
nutritious food and become better workers and improved human
beings. Unless something of the sort is done, Jamaica will
continue to lose her best able bodied population. There can be no
restriction of emigration here unless the Government fixes that
minimum at an amount not less than two shillings a day (48 cents)
and then the Government would have to see that the worker got his
money, and also obtained sufficient work to do. Nothing is to be
expected from any scheme of local indenture: the laborer who
indentured himself to work for a year at one shilling and
sixpence a day, (36 cents) even with a bonus of less than a
shilling a week thrown in at the end of a year would be an
exceptional person, a man with no intention of keeping the
contract and what would you do if he did not keep the contract?
No; these schemes are merely moonshine: we might as well dismiss
them from our minds at once. The only way in which the Government
can directly help the laborer is for the Government to start
industries and pay a decent daily or weekly wage. But the
intelligent employer can do a great deal to help himself where
labor is concerned, if he will but understand that better pay and
better conditions are what his workers want and must have; and
he will find that so long as his undertakings pay him well--that
so long as sugar, coconuts and other things bring him a large
profit (as they are doing today) it will be profitable to him to
make the lot of the worker a better one than it is. Now is the
time for employers to set to work on these necessary reforms.
They can afford to do so, and they decidedly ought to do so.
E. ETHELRED BROWN.
THE LIFE OF CHARLES B. RAY
Charles Bennett Ray was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, December 25,
1807, and died August 15, 1886. He first attended the school and
academy of his native town and then studied theology at the Wesleyan
Academy of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and later at Wesleyan University,
Middletown, Connecticut. He became a Congregational minister. His
chief work, however, was in connection with the anti-slavery movement,
the Underground Railroad and as editor of _The Colored American_ from
1839 to 1842. As a national character he did not measure up to the
stature of Ward, Remond and Douglass, and for that reason he is too
often neglected in the study of the history of the Negro prior to the
Civil War. But he was one of the useful workers in behalf of the
Negroes and accomplished much worthy of mention.[1]
Ray became connected with the anti-slavery movement in 1833, in the
early winter of which the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed. He
proved his fidelity to the sacred cause of liberty by lending
practical aid which men in high places often had neither the time nor
the patience to give and contributed much to the final overthrow of
slavery. "Many a midnight hour," said he, "have I with others walked
the streets, their leader and guide and my home was an almost daily
receptacle for numbers of them at a time."[2] In those days when so
many matters of importance touching the subject of slavery had to be
adjusted, the advocates of freedom often met for an interchange of
views; and Mr. Ray's home became, on several occasions, the scene of
such gatherings where Lewis Tappan, Simeon S. Jocelyn, Joseph Sturge,
the celebrated English philanthropist, and others discussed with
great earnestness the inner workings of that grand moral conflict.
In coöperation with wealthy abolitionists whose purse strings were
wont to be loosed at the call of humanity, he assisted in enabling
many a slave to see the light of freedom. Several were taken by him to
the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, which under the inspiration of Henry
Ward Beecher, the fearless champion of the cause, contributed
liberally toward the succor of the oppressed. In 1850, fifteen years
after the formation of the Vigilance Committee of the city of New
York, of which Theodore S. Wright was president, the New York State
Committee was formed with a plan and object similar to those of the
more local organizations. Of this new association Gerrit Smith was
president and Ray, a member of the executive board as well as
corresponding secretary, an office he held also in the older society.
While Ray was not every time the moving spirit of these organizations,
he figured largely in carrying out the plans agreed upon by these
bodies. In the discharge of the trust committed to his hands he
usually acquitted himself with an honorable record.[3]
In advancing the anti-slavery cause, Ray was among the first to work
with the circle of radical free Negroes who, through the conventions
of the free people of color meeting in Philadelphia and in other
cities of the North from 1830 until the Civil War,[4] did much to make
the freedman stand out as worthy objects of the philanthropy of the
anti-slavery societies. During this period the American Colonization
Society was doing its best to convince free Negroes of their lack of
opportunity in this country to induce them to try their fortunes in
Africa and because of the rapidity with which some free Negroes
yielded to this heresy, there was a strong probability that the
anti-slavery movement might be weakened by such adherence to faith in
colonization to the extent that the ardor of the militant
abolitionists would be considerably dampened. While not among the
first to start the convention movement among Negroes, Ray in the
course of time became one of its most ardent supporters and no
convention of the free people of color was considered complete without
him.
His career as a journalist in connection with _The Colored American_
was highly creditable. This paper was established in 1837 as the
_Weekly Advocate_ with Samuel E. Cornish as editor and Phillip A. Bell
as proprietor. After two months it was decided to change the name of
the publication to _The Colored American_, under the caption of which
it appeared March 4, 1837. Bell then called to his assistance Charles
B. Ray who served him as general agent. Traveling as such he went
through all parts of the North, East, and West writing letters to
present to the public his observations and experiences and lecturing
while speaking of the claims of his paper as the champion of the slave
and the organ of thought for the free Negro.[5]
Ray rose to the position of one of the proprietors of _The Colored
American_ in 1838 and upon the withdrawal of Bell from the enterprise
the following year, he became the sole editor and continued in that
capacity until 1842 when he suspended publication. He was regarded by
his contemporary, William Wells Brown, as a terse and vigorous writer
and an able and eloquent speaker well informed upon all subjects of
the day. "Blameless in his family relations, guided by the highest
moral rectitude, a true friend to everything that tends to better the
moral, social, religious and political condition of man. Dr. Ray,"
says Brown, "may be looked upon as one of the foremost of the leading
men of his race."[6]
That the paper ceased to be was no reflection on Ray's ability to
conduct the journal, for he manifested evidences of unusual editorial
ability and his writings were always strong in the advocacy of liberty
and justice. The failure of the enterprise was due to the fact that
there were not quite 400,000 free Negroes in the United States at that
time and the small number of readers among them were so unhappily
dispersed throughout the country that it was difficult to secure
enough support for such an enterprise. At this time _The Colored
American_ was the only paper in the United States devoted to the
interest of the Negro published by a man of color. Its objects were
the "more directly moral, social, and political elevation and
improvement of the free colored people; and the peaceful emancipation
of the enslaved." It, therefore, advocated "all lawful as well as
moral measures to accomplish those objects."[7] Feeling that this
journal should not be narrow in restricting its efforts to better the
condition of the people of color in this country, the editor
proclaimed his interest in behalf of such people of all countries of
the universe and his concern in the reforms of the age and whatever
related to common humanity.
Concerning this paper the _Herald of Freedom_ said the following:
"_The Colored American_, we are glad to see, has reappeared in
the field, under the conduct of our enterprising and talented
Brother Ray. It will maintain a very handsome rank among the
antislavery periodicals, and we hope will be well sustained and
kept up by both, colored and uncolored patronage.
"It must be a matter of pride to our colored friends, as it is to
us, that they are already able to vindicate the claims our
enterprise has always made in their behalf,--to an equal
intellectual rank in this heterogeneous (but 'homogeneous')
community.
"It is no longer necessary for abolitionists to contend against
the blunder of pro-slavery,--that the colored people are inferior
to the whites; for these people are practically demonstrating its
falseness. They have men enough in action now, to maintain the
anti-slavery enterprise, and to win their liberty, and that of
their enslaved brethren,--if every white abolitionist were drawn
from the field: McCune Smith, and Cornish, and Wright and Ray and
a host of others,--not to mention our eloquent brother, Remond,
of Maine, and Brother Lewis who is the stay and staff of field
antislavery in New Hampshire.
"The people of such men as these cannot be held in slavery. They
have got their pens drawn and tried their voices, and they are
seen to be the pens and voices of human genius; and they will
neither lay down the one, nor will they hush the other, till
their brethren are free.
"The Calhouns and Clays may display their vain oratory and
metaphysics, but they tremble when they behold the colored man is
in the intellectual field. The time is at hand, when this
terrible denunciation shall thunder in their own race."[8]
_The Christian Witness_ said the following:
"_The Colored American._ Returning from the country, we are glad
to find upon our table several copies of this excellent paper,
which has waked up with renewed strength and beauty. It is now
under the exclusive control of Charles B. Ray, a gentleman in
every manner competent to the duties devolving upon him in the
station he occupies. Our colored friends generally, and all those
who can do so, would bestow their patronage worthily by giving it
to _The Colored American_."[9]
As to the sort of editor Charles B. Ray was, we can best observe by
reading two of his striking editorials on _Prejudice_ and _This
Country, our only Home_.
PREJUDICE
"'Prejudice,' said a noble man, 'is an aristocratic hatred of
humble life.'
"Prejudice, of every character, and existing against whom it may,
is hatred. It is a fruit of our corrupt nature, and has its being
in the depravity of the human heart. It is sin.
"To hate a man, for any consideration whatever, is murderous; and
to hate him, in any degree, is, in the same degree murderous; and
to hate a man for no cause whatever, magnifies the evil.
'Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer,' says Holy Writ.
"There is a kind of aristocracy in our country, as in nearly all
others, a looking down with disdain upon humble life and a
disregard of it. Still, we hear little about prejudice against
any class among us, excepting against color, or against the
colored population of this Union, which so monopolizes this state
of feeling in our country that we hear less of it in its
operations upon others, than in other countries. It is the only
sense in which there is equality; here, the democratic principle
is adopted and all come together as equals, and unite the rich
and the poor, the high and the low, in an equal right to hate the
colored man; and its operations upon the mind and character are
cruel and disastrous, as it is murderous and wicked in itself.
One needs to feel it, and to wither under its effects, to know
it: and the colored men of the United States, wherever found, and
in whatever circumstances, are living epistles, which may be read
by all men in proof of all that is paralyzing to enterprise,
destructive to ambition, ruinous to character, crushing to mind,
and painful to the soul, in the monster, Prejudice. For it is
found equally malignant, active, and strong--associated with the
mechanical arts, in the work-shop, in the mercantile houses, in
the commercial affairs of the country, in the halls of learning,
in the temple of God; and in the highways and hedges. It almost
possesses ubiquity; it is every where, doing its deleterious work
wherever one of the proscribed class lives and moves.
"Yet prejudice against color, prevalent as it is in the minds of
one class of our community against another, is unnatural, though
habitual. If it were natural, children would manifest it with the
first signs of consciousness; but with them, all are alike
affectionate and beloved. They have not the feeling, because it
is a creature of education and habit.
"While we write, there are now playing at our right, a few steps
away, a colored and white child, with all the affection and
harmony of feeling, as though prejudice had always been unknown.
"Prejudice overlooks all that is noble and grand in man's being.
It forgets that, housed in a dark complexion is, equally alike
with the whites, all that is lofty in mind and noble in soul,
that there lies an equal immortality. It reaches to grade mind
and soul, either by the texture of the hair, or the form of the
features, or the color of the skin. This is an education fostered
by prejudice; consequently, an education almost universally
prevalent in our country; an education, too, subverting the
principles of our humanity, and turning away the dictates of our
noble being from what is important, to meaner things.[10]
"THIS COUNTRY, OUR ONLY HOME.
"When we say, 'our home,' we refer to the colored community. When
we say, 'our only home,' we speak in a general sense, and do not
suppose but in individual cases some may, and will take up a
residence under another government, and perhaps in some other
quarter of the globe. We are disposed to say something upon this
subject now, in refutation of certain positions that have been
assumed by a class of men, as the American people are too well
aware, and to the reproach of the Christian church and the
Christian religion, too, viz.: that we never can rise here, and
that no power whatsoever is sufficient to correct the American
spirit, and equalize the laws in reference to our people, so as
to give them power and influence in this country.
"If we cannot be an elevated people here, in a country the resort
of almost all nations to improve their condition; a country of
which we are native, constituent members; our native home, (as we
shall attempt to show) and where there are more means available
to bring the people into power and influence, and more territory
to extend to them than in any other country; also the spirit and
genius of whose institution we so well understand, being
completely Americanized, as it will be found most of our people
are,--we say, if we can not be raised up in this country, we are
at great loss to know where, all things considered, we can be.
"If the Colored Americans are citizens of this country, it
follows, of course, that, in the broadest sense, this country is
our home. If we are not citizens of this country, then we cannot
see of what country we are, or can be, citizens; for Blackstone
who is quoted, we believe, as the standard of civil law, tells us
that the strongest claim to citizenship is birthplace. We
understand him to say, that in whatever country or place you may
be born of that country or place you are, in the highest sense, a
citizen; in fine, this appears to us to be too self-evident to
require argument to prove it.
"Now, probably three-fourths of the present colored people are
American born, and therefore American citizens. Suppose we should
remove to some other country, and claim a foothold there, could
we not be rejected on the ground that we were not of them,
because not born among them? Even in Africa, identity of
complexion would be nothing, neither would it weigh anything
because our ancestry was of that country; the fact of our not
having been born there would be sufficient ground for any civil
power to refuse us citizenship. If this principle were carried
out, it would be seen that we could not be even a cosmopolite,
but must be of nowhere, and of no section of the globe. This is
so absurd that it is as clear as day that we must revert to the
country which gave us birth, as being, in the highest sense,
citizens of it.
"These points, it appears to us, are true, indisputably true. We
are satisfied as to our claims as citizens here, and as to this
being the virtual and destined home of colored Americans.
"We reflect upon this subject now, on account of the frequent
agitations, introduced among us, in reference to our emigrating
to some other country, each of which, embodies more or less of
the colonizing principle, and all of which are of bad tendency,
throwing our people into an unsettled state; and turning away our
attention in this country, to uncertain things under another
government, and evidently putting us back. All such agitations
introduced among us, with a view to our emigrating, ought to be
frowned upon by us, and we ought to teach the people that they
may as well come here and agitate the emigration of the Jays, the
Rings, the Adamses, the Otises, the Hancocks, et al., as to
agitate our removal. We are all alike constituents of the same
government, and members of the same rising family. Although we
come up much more slowly, our rise is to be none the less sure.
This subject is pressed upon us, because we not infrequently meet
some of our brethren in this unsettled state of mind, who, though
by no means colonizationists yet adopt the colonization motto,
and say they can not see how or when we are going to rise here.
Perhaps, if we looked only to the selfishness of man, and to him
as absolute, we should think so, too. But while we know that God
lives and governs, and always will; that He is just, and has
declared that righteousness shall prevail; and that one day with
Him is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; we
believe that, despite all corruption and caste, we shall yet be
elevated with the American people here.
"It appears to us most conclusive, that our destinies in this
country are for the better, not for the worse, in view of the
many schemes introduced to our notice for emigrating to other
countries having failed; thus teaching us that our rights, hopes,
and prospects, are in this country; and it is a waste of time and
of power to look for them under another government; and also,
that God, in His providence, is instructing us to remain at home,
where are all our interests and claims and to adopt proper
measures and pursue them, and we yet shall participate in all the
immunities and privileges the American nation holds out to her
citizens, and be happy. We are also strongly American in our
character and disposition.
"We believe, therefore, in view of all the facts, that it is our
duty and privilege to claim an equal place among the American
people; to identify ourselves with American interests, and to
exert all the power and influence we have, to break down all the
disabilities under which we labor, and thus look to become a
happy people in this extensive country."[11]
Ray rendered equally as valuable services to the Negroes as a promoter
of the Underground Railroad. In fact he was approaching the climax of
his career when the Underground Railroad became an efficient agency in
offering relief to the large number of Negro slaves who found
themselves reduced to the plane of beasts in the rapidly growing
cotton kingdom. One of the striking cases in which he figured was that
of the escape of the Weims family, so well known for the almost
unparalleled deliverance from bondage of the entire family with one
exception.
Exactly how the freedom of these slaves was obtained appears to better
effect in the language of Ray himself. "But I must say a word about
the younger girl, the price of whom they held as high as we gave for
Catherine. We proposed another method for her freedom and carried it
out, in which the mother acted a good part, as she could; we proposed
to run her off. I was written to, to know whether a draft for three
hundred dollars would be forwarded, conditioned upon the appearance of
Ann Maria in my house or hands--the sum being appropriated to
compensate the one who should deliver her safely in the North. I
answered, of course, in the affirmative."[12]
The escape of Ann Maria, as proposed by this new plan, can best be
explained by the correspondence between Mr. Ray and Mr. Bigelow in
Washington, who, writing according to a method often adopted in those
days in order the more effectually to secure concealment, designates
Ann Maria as the parcel sent.[13] The letter reads thus:
"WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 17, 1855.
"REV. CHAS. B. RAY,
"_Dear Sir:_ I have a friend passing through the city on his way
to New York, and I mean to avail myself of his kindness to send
to your lady the little parcel she has been so long expecting.
You can name it to her, and I now suggest that as soon as you
find it convenient, you send me by express the wrapper and
covering in which the valuables are packed, for I have another
similar parcel to send and shall find these things exactly
convenient for that purpose. My friend intends to leave here on
Monday morning, with his own conveyance, taking it leisurely, and
may not reach New York before about Thursday, but of this I speak
more exactly before I close. I need not suggest to you how
anxious I shall be to get the earliest news of the arrival of the
package without breakage or injury."
Also he adds as follows:
"WASHINGTON, D. C., November 22, 1855.
"REV. CHAS. B. RAY,
"_Dear Sir:_
"My last letter will lead you to expect to see the boy Joe to-day
but it was afterwards calculated that he will not arrive till
sometime to-morrow. I am requested for the gratification of Joe's
mother that you will be pleased on his arrival and before he
changes his sex, to have his daguerrotype taken for her use. It
will make up a part of the Record."
Mr. Ray's narration continues thus:
"Accordingly, one afternoon upon arriving home I found, sitting
on the sofa at my home, a little boy about ten years old in
appearance and looking rather feminine. I knew at once who it
was, that it was Ann Maria. Upon her arrival I was to take her to
Mr. Tappan, in whose hands the balance of the money was placed.
This I did, and the little boy Joe was taken to her uncle or to
where he could obtain her and finally reached Canada."
The following incident has often been told in Mr. Ray's family. "One
summer morning, a loud rap with the knocker at the front door arrested
the attention and the door being opened, a man entered, who after
asking, 'Does the Rev. Mr. Ray live here?' and receiving an
affirmative answer, whistled as a signal to attract the notice of his
comrades, then cried out, 'Come on, boys!' and forthwith fourteen men
in all entered, quite alarming the inmates of the house on seeing such
a train of fugitives."
In the midst of these busy days Mr. Ray also served as a minister. For
twenty years he was the pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church
in New York City where many learned to wait upon his ministry. He
lived until 1886, long enough to enjoy some of that liberty for which
he so patiently toiled. His more valuable services to his race,
however, were rendered during the period prior to the Civil War.
Although in the midst of this struggle of the subsequent period there
came forward men who towered higher in the public opinion than he did,
the valuable work which he did as an abolitionist, and an editor,
should not be neglected.
M. N. WORK
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A very good account of C. B. Ray's literary efforts is given in I.
Garland Penn's _The Afro-American Press_, pp. 32-47.
[2] Papers in the possession of Ray's family.
[3] For further information see manuscripts in the possession of Ray's
family.
[4] This convention movement is well treated in J. W. Cromwell's _The
Negro in American History_, pp. 27-46.
[5] Penn, _The Afro-American Press_, p. 35.
[6] Brown, _The Rising Son_, p. 473.
[7] Penn, _The Afro-American Press_, p. 38.
[8] Penn, _The Afro-American Press_, pp. 39-40.
[9] _Ibid._, p. 41.
[10] Penn, _The Afro-American Press_, pp. 42-43.
[11] Penn, _The Afro-American Press_, pp. 43-46.
[12] From papers in the possession of Ray's family.
[13] These letters are in the possession of the author.
THE SLAVE IN UPPER CANADA[A]
The dictum of Lord Chief Justice Holt: "As soon as a slave enters
England he becomes free"[1] was succeeded by the decision of the Court
of King's Bench to the same effect in the celebrated case of Somerset
_v._ Stewart[2] where Lord Mansfield is reported to have said: "The
air of England has long been too pure for a slave and every man is
free who breathes it."[3]
James Somerest,[4] a Negro slave of Charles Stewart in Jamaica, had
been brought by his master to England "to attend and abide with him
and to carry him back as soon as his business should be transacted."
The Negro refused to go back, whereupon he was put in irons and taken
on board the ship _Ann and Mary_ lying in the Thames and bound for
Jamaica. Lord Mansfield granted a writ of habeas corpus requiring
Captain Knowles to produce Somerset before him with the cause of the
detainer. On the motion, the cause being stated as above indicated,
Lord Mansfield referred the matter to the Full Court of King's Bench;
whereupon, on June 22, 1772, judgment was given for the Negro. The
basis of the decision, the theme of the argument, was that the only
kind of slavery known to English law was villeinage, that the Statute
of Tenures (1660) (12 Car. 11, c. 24) expressly abolished villeins
regardant to a manor and by implication villeins in gross. The reasons
for the decision would hardly stand fire at the present day. The
investigation of Paul Vinogradoff and others have conclusively
established that there was not a real difference in status between the
so-called villein regardant and villein in gross, and that in any case
the villein was not properly a slave but rather a serf.[5] Moreover,
the Statute of Tenures deals solely with tenure and not with status.
But what seems to have been taken for granted, namely that slavery,
personal slavery, had never existed in England and that the only
unfree person was the villein, who, by the way was real property, is
certainly not correct. Slaves were known in England as mere personal
goods and chattels, bought and sold, at least as late as the middle of
the twelfth century.[6] However weak the reasons given for the
decision, its authority has never been questioned and it is good law.
But it is good law for England, for even in the Somerset case it was
admitted that a concurrence of unhappy circumstances had rendered
slavery necessary[7] in the American colonies: and Parliament had
recognized the right of property in slaves there.[8]
When Canada was conquered in 1760, slavery existed in that country.
There were not only Panis[9] or Indian Slaves, but also Negro slaves.
These were not enfranchised by the conqueror, but retained their
servile status. When the united empire loyalists came to this northern
land after the acknowledgment by Britain of the independence of the
revolted colonies, some of them brought their slaves with them: and
the Parliament of Great Britain in 1790 passed an Act authorizing any
"subject of ... the United States of America" to bring into Canada
"any negroes" free of duty having first obtained a license from the
Lieutenant Governor.[10]
An immense territory formerly Canada was erected into a Government or
Province of Quebec by Royal Proclamation in 1763 and the limits of the
province were extended by the Quebec Act in 1774.[11] This province
was divided into two provinces, Upper Canada and Lower Canada in
1791.[12] At this time the whole country was under the French
Canadian law in civil matters. The law of England had been introduced
into the old Government of the Province of Quebec by the Royal
Proclamation of 1763; but the former French Canadian law had been
reintroduced in 1774 by the Quebec Act in matters of property and
civil rights, leaving the English criminal law in full force. The law,
civil and criminal, had been modified in certain details (not of
importance here) by Ordinances of the Governor and Council of Quebec.
The very first act of the first Parliament of Upper Canada
reintroduced the English civil law.[13] This did not destroy slavery,
nor did it ameliorate the condition of the slave. Rather the reverse,
for as the English law did not, like the civil law of Rome and the
systems founded on it, recognize the status of the slave at all, when
it was forced by grim fact to acknowledge slavery it had no room for
the slave except as a mere piece of property. Instead of giving him
rights like those of the "servus," he was deprived of all rights,
marital, parental, proprietary, even the right to live. In the English
law and systems founded on it, the slave had no rights which the
master was bound to respect.[14]
The first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada was Col. John Graves
Simcoe. He hated slavery and had spoken against it in the House of
Commons in England. Arriving in Upper Canada in the summer of 1792, he
was soon made fully aware that the horrors of slavery were not unknown
in his new Province. The following is a report of a meeting of his
Executive Council:
"At the Council Chamber, Navy Hall, in the County of Lincoln,
Wednesday, March 21st, 1793.
"PRESENT
"His Excellency, J. G. Simcoe, Esq., Lieut.-Governor, &c., &c.,
The Honble Wm. Osgoode, Chief Justice
The Honble Peter Russell.
"Peter Martin (a negro in the service of Col. Butler) attended
the Board for the purpose of informing them of a violent outrage
committed by one ---- Fromand, an Inhabitant of this Province,
residing near Queens Town, or the West Landing, on the person of
Chloe Cooley a Negro girl in his service, by binding her, and
violently and forcibly transporting her across the River, and
delivering her against her will to certain persons unknown; to
prove the truth of his Allegation he produced Wm. Grisley (or
Crisley).
"William Grisley an Inhabitant near Mississague Point in this
Province says: that on Wednesday evening last he was at work at
Mr. Froomans near Queens Town, who in conversation told him, he
was going to sell his Negro Wench to some persons in the States,
that in the Evening he saw the said Negro girl, tied with a rope,
that afterwards a Boat was brought, and the said Frooman with his
Brother and one _Vanevery_, forced the said Negro Girl into it,
that he was desired to come into the boat, which he did, but did
not assist or was otherwise concerned in carrying off the said
Negro Girl, but that all the others were, and carried the Boat
across the River; that the said Negro Girl was then taken and
delivered to a man upon the Bank of the River by ---- Froomand,
that she screamed violently and made resistance, but was tied in
the same manner as when the said William Grisley first saw her,
and in that situation delivered to the man.... Wm. Grisley
farther says that he saw a negro at a distance, he believes to be
tied in the same manner, and has heard that many other People
mean to do the same by their Negroes
"_Resolved._--That it is necessary to take immediate steps to
prevent the continuance of such violent breaches of the Public
Peace, and for that purpose, that His Majesty's Attorney-General,
be forthwith directed to prosecute the said Fromond.
"Adjourned."[15]
The Attorney-General was John White[16] an accomplished English
lawyer. He knew that the brutal master was well within his rights in
acting as he did. He had the same right to bind, export, and sell his
slave as to bind, export, and sell his cow. Chloe Cooley had no rights
which Vrooman was bound to respect: and it was no more a breach of the
peace than if he had been dealing with his heifer. Nothing came of the
direction to prosecute and nothing could be done.
It is probable that it was this circumstance which brought about
legislation. At the Second Session of the First Parliament which met
at Newark, May 31, 1793, a bill was introduced and unanimously passed
the House of Assembly. The trifling amendments introduced by the
Legislative Council were speedily concurred in, the royal assent was
given July 9, 1793, and the bill became law.[17] It recited that it
was unjust that a people who enjoy freedom by law should encourage the
introduction of slaves, and that it was highly expedient to abolish
slavery in the Province so far as it could be done gradually without
violating private property; and proceeded to repeal the Imperial
Statute of 1790 so far as it related to Upper Canada, and to enact
that from and after the passing of the Act, "No Negro or other person
who shall come or be brought into this Province ... shall be subject
to the condition of a slave or to" bounden involuntary service for
life. With that regard for property characteristic of the
English-speaking peoples, the act contained an important proviso which
continued the slavery of every "negroe or other person subjected to
such service" who has been lawfully brought into the Province. It then
enacted that every child born after the passing of the act, of a Negro
mother or other woman subjected to such service should become
absolutely free on attaining the age of twenty-five, the master in the
meantime to provide "proper nourishment and cloathing" for the child,
but to be entitled to put him to work, all issue of such children to
be free whenever born. It further declared any voluntary contract of
service or indenture should not be binding longer than nine years.
Upper Canada was the first British possession to provide for the
abolition of slavery.[18]
It will be seen that the Statute did not put an end to slavery at
once. Those who were lawfully slaves remained slaves for life unless
manumitted and the statute rather discouraged manumission, as it
provided that the master on liberating a slave must give good and
sufficient security that the freed man would not become a public
charge. But, defective as it was, it was not long without attack. In
1798, Simcoe had left the province never to return,[19] and while the
government was being administered by the time-serving Peter Russell, a
bill was introduced into the Lower House to enable persons "migrating
into the province to bring their negro slaves with them." The bill was
contested at every stage but finally passed on a vote of eight to
four. In the Legislative Council it received the three months' hoist
and was never heard of again.[20] The argument in favor of the bill
was based on the scarcity of labor which all contemporary writers
speak of, the inducement to intending settlers to come to Upper Canada
where they would have the same privileges in respect of slavery as in
New York and elsewhere; in other words the inevitable appeals to
greed.
After this bill became law, slavery gradually disappeared. Public
opinion favored manumission and while there were not many manumissions
_inter vivos_,[21] in some measure owing to the provisions of the act
requiring security to be given in such case against the freed man
becoming a public charge, there were not a few liberations by
will.[22]
The number of slaves in Upper Canada was also diminished by what seems
at first sight paradoxical, that is, their flight across the Detroit
River into American territory. So long as Detroit and its vicinity
were British in fact and even for some years later, Section 6 of the
Ordinance of 1787 "that there shall be neither slavery not involuntary
servitude in the said territory otherwise than as the punishment of
crime" was in great measure a dead letter: but when Michigan was
incorporated as a territory in 1805, the ordinance became effective.
Many slaves made their way from Canada to Detroit, a real land of the
free; so many, indeed, that we find that a company of Negro militia
was formed in Detroit in 1806 to assist in the general defence of the
territory, composed entirely of escaped slaves from Canada.[23]
Almost from the passing of the Canada Act, however, runaway Negroes
began to come to Upper Canada, fleeing from slavery; this influx
increased and never ceased until the American Civil War gave its death
blow to slavery in the United States. Hundreds of blacks thus obtained
their freedom, some having been brought by their masters near to the
international boundary and then clandestinely or by force effecting a
passage; some coming from far to the South, guided by the North Star;
many assisted by friends more or less secretly. The Underground
Railroad was kept constantly running.[24] These refugees joined
settlements with other people of color freeborn or freed in the
western part of the Peninsula, in the counties of Essex and Kent and
elsewhere.[25] Some of them settled in other parts of the province,
either together or more usually sporadically.
At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War there were many thousands
of black refugees in the province.[26] More than half of these were
manumitted slaves who in consequence of unjust laws had been forced to
leave their State. While some of such freedmen went to the Northern
States, most came to Canada, some returning to the Northern States.
The Negro refugees were superior to most of their race, for none but
those with more than ordinary qualities could reach Canada.[27]
The masters of runaway slaves did not always remain quiet when their
slave reached this province. Sometimes they followed him in an attempt
to take him back. There are said to have been a few instances of
actual kidnapping, a few of attempted kidnapping.[28] There have been
cases in which criminal charges have been laid against escaped slaves,
and their extradition sought, ostensibly to answer the criminal
charges. It has always been the theory in this province that the
governor has the power independently of statute or treaty to deliver
up alien refugees charged with crime.[29] To make it clear, the
Parliament of Upper Canada in 1833 passed an Act for the apprehension
of fugitive offenders from foreign countries, and delivering them up
to justice.[30] This provides that on the requisition of the executive
of any foreign country the governor of the province on the advice of
his executive council may deliver up any person in the province
charged with "Murder, Forgery, Larceny or other crime which if
committed within the Province would have been punishable with death,
corporal punishment, the Pillory, whipping or confinement at hard
labour." The person charged might be arrested and detained for
inquiry. The Act was permissive only and the delivery up was at the
discretion of the governor.
When this act was in force Solomon Mosely or Moseby, a Negro slave,
came to the Province across the Niagara River from Buffalo which he
had reached after many days' travel from Louisville, Kentucky. His
master followed him and charged him with the larceny of a horse which
the slave took to assist him in his flight. That he had taken the
horse there was no doubt, and as little that after days of hard riding
he had sold it. The Negro was arrested and placed in Niagara jail; a
_prima facie_ case was made out and an order sent for his extradition.
The people of color of the Niagara region made Mosely's case their own
and determined to prevent his delivery up to the American authorities
to be taken to the land of the free and the home of the brave, knowing
that there for him to be brave meant torture and death, and that death
alone could set him free. Under the leadership of Herbert Holmes, a
yellow man,[31] a teacher and preacher, they lay around the jail night
and day to the number of from two to four hundred to prevent the
prisoner's delivery up. At length the deputy sheriff with a military
guard brought out the unfortunate man shackled in a wagon from the
jail yard, to go to the ferry across the Niagara River. Holmes and a
man of color named Green grabbed the lines. Deputy Sheriff McLeod from
his horse gave the order to fire and charge. One soldier shot Holmes
dead and another bayoneted Green, so that he died almost at once.
Mosely, who was very athletic, leaped from the wagon and made his
escape. He went to Montreal and afterwards to England, finally
returning to Niagara, where he was joined by his wife, who also
escaped from slavery.
An inquest was held on the bodies of Holmes and Green. The jury found
"justifiable homicide" in the case of Holmes; "whether justifiable or
unjustifiable there was not sufficient evidence before the jury to
decide" in the case of Green. The verdict in the case of Holmes was
the only possible verdict on the admitted facts. Holmes was forcibly
resisting an officer of the law in executing a legal order of the
proper authority. In the case of Green the doubt arose from the
uncertainty whether he was bayoneted while resisting the officers or
after Mosely had made his escape. The evidence was conflicting and the
fact has never been made quite clear. No proceedings were taken
against the deputy sheriff; but a score or more of the people of color
were arrested and placed in prison for a time. The troublous times of
the Mackenzie Rebellion came on, the men of color were released, many
of them joining a Negro militia company which took part in protecting
the border.
The affair attracted much attention in the province and opinions
differed. While there were exceptions on both sides, it may fairly be
said that the conservative and government element reprobated the
conduct of the blacks in the strongest terms, being as little fond of
mob law as of slavery, and that the radicals, including the followers
of Mackenzie, looked upon Holmes and Green as martyrs in the cause of
liberty. That Holmes and Green and their fellows violated the law
there is no doubt, but so did Oliver Cromwell, George Washington and
John Brown. Every one must decide for himself whether the occasion
justified in the courts of Heaven an act which must needs be condemned
in the courts of earth.[32]
In 1842 the well-known Ashburton Treaty was concluded[33] between
Britain and the United States. This by Article X provides that "the
United States and Her Britannic Majesty shall, upon mutual
requisitions ... deliver up to justice all persons ... charged with
murder or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy or arson or
robbery or forgery or the utterance of forged paper.... Power was
given to judges and other magistrates to issue warrants of arrest, to
hear evidence and if "the evidence be deemed sufficient ... it shall
be the duty of the ... judge or magistrate to certify the same to the
proper executive authority that a warrant may issue for the surrender
of such fugitive."
It will be seen that this treaty made two important changes so far as
the United States was concerned: (1) It made it the duty of the
executive to order extradition in a proper case and took away the
discretion, (2) it gave the courts jurisdiction to determine whether a
case was made out for extradition.[34] These changes made it more
difficult in many instances for a refugee to escape: but as ever the
courts were astute in finding reasons against the return of slaves.
The case of John Anderson is well known. He was born a slave in
Missouri. As his master was Moses Burton, he was known as Jack Burton.
He married a slave woman in Howard County, the property of one Brown.
In 1853 Burton sold him to one McDonald living some thirty miles away
and his new master took him to his plantation. In September, 1853, he
was seen near the farm of Brown, when apparently he was visiting his
wife. A neighbor, Seneca T. P. Diggs, became suspicious of him and
questioned him. As his answers were not satisfactory he ordered his
four Negro slaves to seize him, according to the law in the State of
Missouri. The Negro fled, pursued by Diggs and his slaves. In his
attempt to escape the fugitive stabbed Diggs in the breast and Diggs
died in a few hours. Effecting his escape to this province, he was in
1860 apprehended in Brant County, where he had been living under the
name of John Anderson, and three local justices of the peace committed
him under the Ashburton Treaty. A writ of habeas corpus was granted by
the Court of Queen's Bench at Toronto, under which the prisoner was
brought before the Court of Michaelmas Term of 1860.
The motion was heard by the Full Court.[35] Much of the argument was
on the facts and on the law apart from the form of the papers, but
that was hopeless from the beginning. The law and the facts were too
clear, although Mr. Justice McLean thought the evidence defective. The
case turned on the form of the information and warrant, a somewhat
technical and refined point. The Chief Justice, Sir John Beverley
Robinson, and Mr. Justice Burns agreed that the warrant was not
strictly correct, but that it could be amended: Mr. Justice McLean
thought it could not and should not be amended.
The case attracted great attention throughout the province, especially
among the Negro population. On the day on which judgment was to be
delivered, a large number of people of color with some whites
assembled in front of Osgoode Hall.[36] While the adverse decision was
announced, there were some mutterings of violence but counsel for the
prisoner[37] addressed them seriously and impressively, reminding them
"It is the law and we must obey it." The melancholy gathering melted
away one by one in sadness and despair. Anderson was recommitted to
the Brantford jail.[38] The case came to the knowledge of many in
England. It was taken up by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society and many persons of more or less note. An application was made
to the Court of Queen's Bench of England for a writ of habeas corpus,
notwithstanding the Upper Canadian decision, and while Anderson was in
the jail at Toronto, the court after anxious deliberation granted the
writ,[39] but it became unnecessary, owing to further proceedings in
Upper Canada.
In those days the decision of any court or of any judge in habeas
corpus proceedings was not final. An applicant might go from judge to
judge, court to court[40] and the last applied to might grant the
relief refused by all those previously applied to. A writ of habeas
corpus was taken out from the other Common Law Court in Upper Canada,
the Court of Common Pleas. This was argued in Hilary Term, 1861, and
the court unanimously decided that the warrant of commitment was bad
and that the court could not remand the prisoner to have it
amended.[41] The prisoner was discharged. No other attempts were made
to extradite him or any other escaped slave and Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation put an end to any chance of such an attempt being ever
repeated.
W. R. RIDDELL.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] This paper has appeared in _Transactions of the Royal Society of
Canada_, May, 1919.
[1] Per Hargrave _arguendo_, Somerset _v._ Stewart (1772), Lofft 1, at
p. 4; the speech in the State Trials Report was never actually
delivered.
[2] (1772) Lofft 1; (1772) 20 St. Trials 1.
[3] These words are not in Lofft or in the State Trials but will be
found in Campbell's _Lives of the Chief Justices_, Vol. II, p. 419,
where the words are added: "Every man who comes into England is
entitled to the protection of the English law, whatever oppression he
may heretofore have suffered and whatever may be the colour of his
skin. 'Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses'" and certainly
Vergil's verse was never used on a nobler occasion or to nobler
purpose. Verg. E. 2, 19.
William Cowper in _The Task_, written 1783-1785, imitated this in his
well-known lines:
"Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free.
They touch our country and their shackles fall."
[4] I use the spelling in Lofft; the State Trials and Lord Campbell
have "Somersett" and "Steuart."
[5] See, _e. g._, Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, passim;
Hallam's _Middle Ages_ (ed. 1827), Vol. 3, p. 256; Pollock & Maitland,
_History of English Law_, Vol. 1, pp. 395 sqq. Holdsworth's _History
of English Law_, Vol. 2, pp. 33, 63, 131; Vol. 3, pp. 167, 377-393.
[6] See Pollock & Maitland's _History Eng. Law_, Vol. 1, pp. 1-13,
395, 415; Holdworth's _Hist. Eng. Law_, Vol. 2, pp. 17, 27, 30-33,
131, 160, 216.
[7] "So spake the fiend and with necessity,
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds."
Paradise Lost, Bk. 4, ll. 393, 394.
Milton a true lover of freedom well knew the peril of an argument
based upon supposed necessity. Necessity is generally but another name
for greed or worse.
[8] _E. g._, the Statute of (1732) 5 Geo. II, C. 7, enacted, sec. 4,
"that from and after the said 29th. September, 1732, the Houses,
Lands, Negroes and other Hereditaments and real Estates situate or
being within any of the said (British) Plantations (in America) shall
be liable" to be sold under execution. Note that the Negroes are
"Hereditaments and Real Estate."
[9] The name _Pani_ or _Panis_, Anglicized into _Pawnee_, was used
generally in Canada as synonymous with "Indian Slave" because these
slaves were usually taken from the Pawnee tribe. Those who would
further pursue this matter will find material in the _Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, Vol. XVIII, p. 103 (note); Lafontaine,
_L'Esclavage in Canada_ cited in the above; _Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collections_, Vol. XXVII, p. 613 (n); Vol. XXX, pp. 402,
596. Vol. XXXV, p. 548; Vol. XXXVII, p. 541. From Vol. XXX, p. 546, we
learn that Dr. Anthon, father of Prof. Anthon of Classical Text-book
fame, had a "Panie Wench" who when the family had the smallpox "had
them very severe" along with Dr. Anthon's little girl and his "aeltest
boy" "whoever they got all safe over it and are not disfigured."
Dr. Kingsford in his _History of Canada_, Vol. V, p. 30 (n), cites
from the _Documents of the Montreal Historical Society_, Vol. I, p. 5,
an "ordonnance au sujet des Nègres et des sauvages appelés panis, du
15 avril 1709" by "Jacques Raudot, Intendant." "Nous sous le bon
plaisir de Sa Majesté ordonnons, que tous les Panis et Nègres qui ont
été achetés et qui le seront dans la suite, appartiendront en pleine
proprieté a ceux qui les ont achetés comme étant leurs esclaves." "We
with the consent of His Majesty enact that all the Panis and Negroes
who heretofore have been or who hereafter shall be bought shall be the
absolute property as their slaves of those who bought them." This
ordinance is quoted (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, XII, p. 511), and its
language ascribed to a (nonexistent) "wise and humane statute of Upper
Canada of May 31, 1798"--a curious mistake, perhaps in copying or
printing.
There does not seem to have been any distinction in status or rights
or anything but race between the Panis and the other slaves. I do not
know of an account of the numbers of slaves in Canada at the time; in
Detroit, March 31, 1779, there were 60 male and 78 female slaves in a
population of about 2,550 (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, X, p. 326); Nov. 1,
1780, 79 male and 96 female slaves in a somewhat smaller population
(_Mich. Hist. Coll._, XIII, p. 53); in 1778, 127 in a population of
2,144 (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, IX, p. 469); 85 in 1773, 179 in 1782
(_Mich. Hist. Coll._, VII, p. 524); 78 male and 101 female (_Mich.
Hist. Coll._, XIII, p. 54). The Ordinance of Congress July 13, 1787,
forbidding slavery "northwest of the Ohio River" (passed with but one
dissenting voice, that of a Delegate from New York) was quite
disregarded in Detroit (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, I, 415); and indeed
Detroit and the neighboring country remained British (de facto) until
August, 1796, and part of Upper Canada from 1791 till that date.
[10] This Act (1790) 30 Geo. III, c. 27, was intended to encourage
"new settlers in His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America"
and applied to all "subjects of the United States." It allowed an
importation into any of the Bahama, Bermuda or Somers Islands, the
Province of Quebec (then including all Canada), Nova Scotia and every
other British territory in North America. It allowed the importation
by such American subjects of "negros, household furniture, utensils of
husbandry or cloathing free of duty," the "household furniture,
utensils of husbandry and cloathing" not to exceed in value £50 for
every white person in the family and £2 for each negro, any sale of
negro or goods within a year of the importation to be void.
[11] The Royal Proclamation is dated 7th October, 1763; it will be
found in Shortt & Doughty, _Documents relating to the Constitutional
History of Canada_ published by the _Archives of Canada_, Ottawa,
1907, pp. 119 sqq. The Proclamation fixes the western boundary of the
(Province or) Government at a line drawn from the south end of Lake
Nipissing to where the present international boundary crosses the
River St. Lawrence.
The Quebec Act is (1774) 14 Geo. III, C. 83. It extends Quebec south
to the Ohio and west to the Mississippi; Shortt & Doughty, pp. 401
sqq.
[12] The division of the Province of Quebec into two provinces, _i.
e._, Upper Canada and Lower Canada, was effected by the Royal
Prerogative, Sec. 31 George III, c. 31, the celebrated Canada of
Constitutional Act. The Message sent to Parliament expressing the
Royal intention is to be found copied in the Ont. Arch. Reports for
1906, p. 158. After the passing of the Canada Act, an Order in Council
was passed August 24, 1791 (Ont. Arch. Rep., 1906, pp. 158 et seq.),
dividing the Province of Quebec into two provinces and under the
provisions of sec. 48 of the act directing a royal warrant to
authorize the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of
Quebec or the person administering the government there, to fix and
declare such day as he shall judge most advisable for the commencement
of the effect of the legislation in the new provinces not later than
December 31, 1791. Lord Dorchester (Sir Guy Carleton) was appointed,
September 12, 1791, Captain General and Governor-in-Chief of both
provinces and he received a Royal warrant empowering him to fix a day
for the legislation becoming effective in the new provinces (Ont.
Arch. Rep., 1906, p. 168). In the absence of Dorchester, General
Alured Clarke, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Quebec, issued
November 18, 1791, a proclamation fixing Monday, December 26, 1791, as
the day for the commencement of the said legislation (Ont. Arch. Rep.,
1906, pp. 169-171). Accordingly technically and in law, the new
province was formed by Order in Council, August 24, 1791, but there
was no change in administration until December 26, 1791.
[13] The first session of the First Parliament of Upper Canada was
held at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake) September 17 to October 15,
1792; the statute referred to is (1792) 32 Geo. III, c. 1 (U. C.).
[14] Everyone will remember the words of the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States in the celebrated Dred Scott case.
In Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1856 (19 How. 354, pp. 404, 405), Chief
Justice Roger B. Taney, speaking of the view taken of the Negro when
the Constitution was framed, says: "They were at that time considered
as a subordinate and inferior class of beings who had been subjugated
by the dominant race and whether emancipated or not, yet remained
subject to their authority and had no rights or privileges but such as
those who held the power and the Government might choose to grant
them" (p. 407). "They had no more than a century before been regarded
as beings of an inferior order ... and so far inferior that they had
no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro
might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He
was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise
and traffic" (p. 411). "All of them had been brought here as articles
of merchandise."
This repulsive subject now chiefly of historical interest is treated
at large in such works as Cobb's _Law of Slavery_, Philadelphia, 1858;
Hurd's _Law of Freedom and Bondage_, Boston, 1858; Von Holst's _Const.
Hist. U. S._ (1750-1833), Chicago, 1877; the judgments of all the
Judges in the Dred Scott case are well worth reading, especially that
of Mr. Justice Curtis.
[15] This is copied from the _Canadian Archives Collection_, Q. 282,
pt. I, pp. 212 sqq.; taken from the official report sent to
Westminster by Simcoe. There is the usual amount of uncertainty in
spelling names Grisley or Crisly, Fromand, Frooman, Froomond or
Fromond (in reality Vrooman).
Osgoode was an Englishman, the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada.
Arriving in this Province in the summer of 1792, he left to become
Chief Justice of Lower Canada in the summer of 1794. Resigning in
1801, he returned to England on a pension which he enjoyed until his
death in 1824. He left no mark on our jurisprudence and never sat in
any but trial courts of criminal jurisdiction. Osgoode Hall, our
Ontario Palais de Justice, is called after him.
Russell came to Upper Canada also in 1792 as Receiver-General and
Legislative Councillor; he was an Executive Councillor and when Simcoe
left Canada in 1796, he acted as Administrator until the coming of the
new Lieutenant Governor Peter Hunter in 1799. Russell was not noted
for anything but his acquisitiveness but he was a faithful servant of
the Crown in his own way.
Col. John Butler, born in Connecticut in 1728, became a noted leader
of Indians. He took the Loyalist side, raising the celebrated Butler's
Rangers; he settled at Niagara after the Revolutionary war and proved
himself a useful citizen; he died in 1796. See Cruikshanks' _Butler's
Rangers_, Lundy's Lane Historical Society's publication; Robertson's
_Free Masonry in Canada_, Vol. I, p. 470; Riddell's edition of _La
Rochefoucauld's Travels in Canada_, 1795, published by the Ontario
Archives, 1917, p. 177.
Navy Hall was in the little town which Simcoe named "Newark," which
before this had been called Niagara, West Niagara, Nassau, Lenox and
Butlersburg, now called Niagara or Niagara-on-the-lake. Navy Hall was
the seat of government from 1792 to 1797. Queens Town is the present
Queenston; Mississagua Point is at the embouchure of the Niagara
River; it is still known by the same name, spelled generally however
with a final "a." Nothing seems to be known of the subsequent fate of
Chloe Cooley.
The Vroomans and Cryslers (or Chrystlers or Chryslers) the same family
as Chrystler of Chrystler's Farm, the scene of an American defeat,
November 11, 1813, were well-known residents. I am indebted to General
E.A. Cruikshank for the following note:
"The Vrooman Farm is situated on the west bank of the Niagara, in the
township of Niagara, about a mile below the village of Queenston, and
includes that feature of the river bank generally known as Vrooman's
Point; it was still in the possession of the Vrooman family when I
last visited the place about twelve years ago. The remains of a small
half-moon or redan battery on the point which had been constructed in
the War of 1812, and played a considerable part in the battle of
Queenston were then quite well marked. One of the Vrooraans of that
time was in the militia artillery, and assisted to serve the gun
mounted on the battery. The possessor of the farm was then, I think,
more than eighty years of age, but he was active and in possession of
his memory and other faculties. He stated to me the exact number of
shots which he had been informed by his father, or the Vrooman engaged
in the action, had been fired from this gun, which of course, may or
may not be correct. An Adam Chrysler, who was a lieutenant in the
Indian Department in the Revolutionary War, and before that, a
resident in the Scoharie district, of the Mohawk country, received
lands either in the township of Niagara or the township of Stamford,
near the village of Queenston. His grandson, John Chrysler, some
twenty years ago, then being quite an old man, who is now dead, loaned
me some very interesting documents which had been preserved in the
family, and belonged to this Adam Chrysler. One of them, I remember,
was the original instructions issued to him, and signed by
Lieut.-Colonel John Butler, the deputy superintendent general,
strictly enjoining him to restrain the Indians, with whom he was
acting, from all acts of cruelty upon prisoners and non-combatants.
Some members of his family, ladies, were residing at Niagara Falls,
Ontario, ten years ago, and I presume still are there. I have no doubt
that it was some member of Adam Crysler's family who took part in the
abduction of the Cooley girl. The original spelling of this name was
Kreisler, which is a fairly common German name in the Rhine
Palatinate, from which this family came."
In the report by Col. John Butler of the Survey of the Settlement at
Niagara, August 25, 1782 (_Can. Arch._, Series B, 169, p. 1), McGregor
Van-Every is named as the head of a family. He was married, without
children, hired men or slaves, had 3 horses, no cows, sheep or hogs, 8
acres of "clear land" and raised 4 bushels of Indian corn and 40 of
potatoes but no wheat or oats. His neighbor, Thomas McMicken, was
married, had two young sons, one hired man and one male slave. He had
two horses, 1 cow and 20 hogs, and raised ten bushels of Indian corn,
10 of oats and 10 of potatoes (no wheat) on his 8 acres of "clear
land."
[16] John White called to the Bar in 1785 at the Inner Temple
(probably); he practised for a time but unsuccessfully in Jamaica and
through the influence of his brother-in-law, Samuel Shepherd and of
Chief Justice Osgoode was appointed the first Attorney General of
Upper Canada. He arrived in the Province in the summer of 1792 and was
elected a member of the first House of Assembly for Leeds and
Frontenac. He was an active and useful member. It is probable, but the
existing records do not make it certain, that it was he who introduced
and had charge in the House of Assembly of the Bill for the abolition
of slavery passed in 1793, shortly to be mentioned. In January, 1800,
he was killed in a duel at York, later Toronto, by Major John Small,
Clerk of the Executive Council. His will, drawn by himself after his
fatal wound, is still extant in the Court of Probate records at
Toronto. One clause reads: "I desire to be rolled up in a sheet and
not buried fantastically, and that I may be buried at the back of my
own house." Buried in his garden at his direction, his bones were
accidentally uncovered in 1871 and reverently buried in Toronto. His
manuscript diary is still extant, a copy being in the possession of
the writer.
[17] The statute is (1793) 33 Geo. III, c. 7, (U. C.). The Parliament
of Upper Canada had two Houses, the Legislative Council, an Upper
House, appointed by the Crown and the Legislative Assembly, a Lower
House or House of Commons, as it was sometimes called, elected by the
people. The Lieutenant Governor gave the royal assent. The bill was
introduced in the Lower House, probably by Attorney General White, as
stated in last note, and read the first time, June 19. It went to the
committee of the whole June 25, and was the same day reported out. On
June 26 it was read the third time, passed and sent up for
concurrence. The Legislative Council read it the same day for the
first time, went into Committee over it the next day, June 28, and
July I, when it was reported out with amendments, passed and sent down
to the Commons July 2. That House promptly concurred and sent the bill
back the same day. See the official reports; _Ont. Arch. Reports_ for
1910 (Toronto, 1911), pp. 25, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, _Ont. Arch. Rep._
for 1909 (Toronto, 1911), pp. 33, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42.
The first Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States in 1793.
Three years afterwards occurred an episode, little known and less
commented upon, showing very clearly the views of George Washington on
the subject of fugitive slaves, at least, of those slaves who were his
own.
A slave girl of his escaped and made her way to Portsmouth, N. H.
Washington, on discovering her place of refuge, wrote concerning her
to Joseph Whipple, the Collector at Portsmouth, November 28, 1796. The
letter is still extant. It is of three full pages and was sold in
London in 1877 for ten guineas (_Magazine of American History_, Vol.
1, December, 1877, p. 759). Charles Sumner had it in his hands when he
made the speech reported in Charles Summer's _Works_, Vol. III, p.
177. Washington in the letter described the fugitive and particularly
expressed the desire of "her mistress," Mrs. Washington, for her
return to Alexandria. He feared public opinion in New Hampshire, for
he added
"I do not mean however, by this request that such violent measures
should be used as would excite a mob or riot which might be the case
if she has adherents; or even uneasy sensations in the minds of
well-disposed citizens. Rather than either of these should happen, I
would forgo her services altogether and the example also which is of
infinite more importance."
In other words, "if the slave girl has no friends or 'adherents'" send
her back to slavery--if she has and they would actively oppose her
return, let her go--and even if it only be that "well-disposed
citizens" disapprove of her capture and return, let her remain free.
There may be some difficulty in justifying Washington's course by the
opinion of Thomas Aquinas (_Summa Theologics_, 1 ma., 2 dae., Quaest.
XCVI, Art. 4), who says that an unjust law is not binding in
conscience "_nisi forte propter vitandum scandalum vel turbationem_."
Aquinas is speaking of an unjust law which may be resisted unless
scandal or tumult would result from resistance. Washington is speaking
of a law which he considers right, but which he would not enforce if
it should occasion such evils. The analogy does not hold as the editor
of Charles Sumner's _Works_ seems to think (Vol. III, p. 178, note).
Whipple answered from Portsmouth, December 22, 1796:
"I will now, Sir, agreeably to your desire, send her to Alexandria if
it be practicable without the consequences which you except--that of
exciting a riot or a mob or creating uneasy sensations in the minds of
well disposed persons. The first cannot be calculated beforehand; it
will be governed by the popular opinion of the moment or the
circumstances that may arise in the transaction. The latter may be
sought into and judged of by conversing with such persons without
discovering the occasion. So far as I have had opportunity, I perceive
that different sentiments are entertained on the subject."
Whipple made enquiry. Public opinion in Portsmouth was adverse to the
return of the fugitive. She was unmolested and lived out a long life
in Portsmouth and Kittery.
Nothing more clearly and impressively shows the veneration felt by his
countrymen for George Washington than the praise the fearless,
outspoken, uncompromising hater of slavery, Charles Sumner, of the
conduct of the President in this transaction. Sumner considered the
poor slave girl "a monument of the just forbearance of him whom we
aptly call Father of his Country.... While a slaveholder and seeking
the return of a fugitive, he has left in permanent record a rule of
conduct which if adopted by his country will make slave hunting
impossible." With almost any other man, Sumner would have no praise or
reverence for a desire to force a fugitive back into slavery unless
prevented by fear of mob or riot or adverse public opinion.
In the same letter Washington gives what may be considered a reason or
excuse for his demand. "However well disposed I might be to a gradual
abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that description of
people, if the latter was itself practicable at this moment, it would
neither be expedient nor just to reward unfaithfulness with a
premature preference and thereby discontent beforehand the minds of
all her fellow servants who by their steady attachment are far more
deserving than herself of favour."
This is the familiar pretext of the master, private or state. Those
who rebel against oppression and wrong are not to be given any
relief--that would be unjust to those who tamely submit. That very
argument was advanced by the ruler across the sea against the
proposition to come to terms with Washington and his party who had
ventured to oppose the would-be master.
And it is to be noted that Washington did not free those "who by their
steady attachment are far more deserving ... of favour" till he had
had all the advantage he could from their services--he did indeed free
them by his will, but only after the death of his wife.
Sumner cannot be said to minimize his merits when he says "He was at
the time a slaveholder--often expressing himself with various degrees
of force against slavery, and promising his suffrage for its
abolition, he did not see this wrong as he saw it at the close of
life." (Sumner's _Works_, Vol. III, pp. 759 sq.)
[18] Vermont excluded slavery by her Bill of Rights (1777),
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts passed legislation somewhat similar to
that of Upper Canada in 1780; Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784,
New Hampshire by her Constitution in 1792, Vermont in the same way in
1793: New York began in 1799 and completed the work in 1827, New
Jersey 1829; Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa were
organized as a Territory in 1787 and slavery forbidden by the
Ordinance, July 13, 1787, but it was in fact known in part of the
Territory for a score of years. A few slaves were held in Michigan by
tolerance until far into the nineteenth century notwithstanding the
prohibition of the fundamental law (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, VII, p. 524).
Maine as such, never had slavery having separated from Massachusetts
in 1820 after the Act of 1780, although it would seem that as late as
1833 the Supreme Court of Massachusetts left it open when slavery was
abolished in that State (Commonwealth _v._ Aves, 18 Pick. 193, 209).
(See Cobb's _Slavery_, pp. clxxi, clxxii, 209; Sir Harry H. Johnston's
_The Negro in the New World_, an exceedingly valuable and interesting
work but not wholly reliable in minutiæ, pp. 355 et seq.)
[19] Simcoe was almost certainly the prime mover in the legislation of
1793. When giving the royal assent to the bill he said: "The Act for
the gradual abolition of Slavery in this Colony, which it has been
thought expedient to frame, in no respect meets from me a more
cheerful concurrence than in that provision which repeals the power
heretofore held by the Executive Branch of the Constitution and
precludes it from giving sanction to the importation of slaves, and I
cannot but anticipate with singular pleasure that such persons as may
be in that unhappy condition which sound policy and humanity unite to
condemn, added to their own protection from all undue severity by the
law of the land may henceforth look forward with certainty to the
emancipation of their offspring." (See _Ont. Arch. Rep._ for 1909, pp.
42-43.) I do not understand the allusion to "protection from undue
severity by the Law of the land." There had been no change in the law,
and undue severity to slaves was prevented only by public opinion. It
is practically certain that no such bill as that of 1798 would have
been promoted with Simcoe at the head of the government as his
sentiments were too well known.
[20] _Ont. Arch. Rep._ for 1909, pp. 64, 69, 70, 71, 74; _ibid._ for
1910, pp. 67, 68, 69, 70.
The bill was introduced in the Lower House by Christopher Robinson,
member for Addington and Ontario, Ontario being then comprised of the
St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario Islands, and having nothing in common
with the present County of Ontario. He was a Virginian loyalist, who
in 1784 emigrated to New Brunswick, and in 1788 to that part of Canada
later Lower Canada and in 1792 to Upper Canada. He lived in Kingston
till 1798 and then came to York, later Toronto, but died three weeks
afterwards. He was one of the lawyers who took part in the
inauguration of the Law Society of Upper Canada at Wilson's Tavern,
Newark, in July, 1797, and was an active and successful practitioner.
His ability was great, but his fame is swallowed up by that of his
more famous son, Sir John Beverley Robinson, the first Canadian Chief
Justice of Upper Canada, and of his grandson, the much loved and much
admired Christopher Robinson, Q.C., of our own time. Accustomed from
infancy to slavery, he saw no great harm in it--no doubt he saw it in
its best form.
The chief opponent of the bill was Robert Isaac Dey Gray, the young
solicitor general. John White was not in this the second house. The
son of Major James Gray, a half-pay British Officer, he studied law in
Canada. He was elected member of the House of Assembly for Stormont in
the election of 1796 and again in 1804. He was appointed the first
Solicitor General in 1797 and was drowned in 1804 in the _Speedy_
disaster. An Indian, Ogetonicut, accused of a murder in the Newcastle
District, was captured on the York Peninsula, now Toronto or Hiawatha
Island, in the Home District, and had to be sent to Newcastle, now
Presqu' Isle Point near Brighton, in the Newcastle District, for
trial. The Government Schooner _Speedy_ sailed for Newcastle with the
Assize Judge Gray; Macdonell, who was to defend the Indian; the Indian
prisoner, Indian interpreters, witnesses, the High Constable of York
and certain inhabitants of York. It was lost, captain, crew and
passengers--_spurlos versenkt_.
The motion for the three months' hoist in the Upper House was made by
the Honorable Richard Cartwright seconded by the Honorable Robert
Hamilton. These men, who had been partners, generally agreed on public
measures and both incurred the enmity of Simcoe. He called Hamilton a
Republican, then a term of reproach distinctly worse than Pro-German
would be now, and Cartwright was, if anything, worse. But both were
men of considerable public spirit and personal integrity. For
Cartwright see _The Life and Letters of Hon Richard Cartright_,
Toronto, 1876. For Hamilton see Riddell's edition of La
Rochefoucault's _Travels in Canada in 1795_, Toronto, 1817, in _Ont.
Arch. Rep._ for 1916; Miss Carnochan's _Queenstown in Early Years,
Niagara Hist. Soc. Pub._, No. 25; _Buffalo Hist. Soc. Pub._, Vol. 6,
pp. 73-95.
There was apparently no division in the Upper House although there
were five other Councillors in addition to Cartwright and Hamilton in
attendance that session viz.: McGill, Shaw, Duncan, Baby and Grant;
and the bill passed committee of the whole.
[21] Slaves were valuable even in those days. A sale is recorded in
Detroit of a "certain Negro man Pompey by name" for £45 New York
Currency ($112.50) in October, 1794; and the purchaser sold him again
January, 1795, for £50 New York Currency ($125.00). (_Mich. Hist.
Coll._, XIV, p. 417.) But it would seem that from 1770 to 1780 the
price ranged to $300 for a man and $250 for a woman (_Mich. Hist.
Coll._, XIV, p. 659). The number of slaves in Detroit is said to have
been 85 in 1773 and 179 in 1782 (_Mich. Hist. Coll._, VII, p. 524).
The best people in the province continued to hold slaves. On February
19, 1806, the Honourable Peter Russell, who had been administrator of
the government, and therefore head of the State for three years,
advertised for sale at York "A Black woman named Peggy, aged 40 years,
and a Black Boy, her son, named Jupiter, aged about 15 years," both
"his property," "each being servants for life"--the woman for $150 and
the boy for $200, 25 per cent off for cash. William Jarvis, the
secretary, two years later, March 1, 1811, had two of his slaves
brought into court for stealing gold and silver out of his desk. The
boy "Henry commonly called prince" was committed for trial and the
girl ordered back to her master. Other instances will be found in Dr.
Scadding's very interesting work, _Toronto of Old_, Toronto, 1873, at
pp. 292 sqq.
[22] A number of interesting wills are in the Court of Probate files
at Osgoode Hall, Toronto. One of them only I shall mention, viz.: that
of Robert I.D. Gray, the first solicitor general of the province,
whose tragic death is related above. In this will, dated August 27,
1803, a little more than a year before his death, he releases and
manumits "Dorinda my black woman servant ... and all her children from
the State of Slavery," in consequence of her long and faithful
services to his family. He directs a fund to be formed of £1,200 or
$4,800 the interest to be paid to "the said Dorinda her heirs and
Assigns for ever." To John Davis, Dorinda's son, he gave 200 acres of
land, Lot 17 in the Second Concession of the Township of Whitby and
also £50 or $200. John, after the death of his master whose body
servant and valet he was, entered the employ of Mr., afterwards Chief,
Justice Powell; but he had the evil habit of drinking too much and
when he was drunk he would enlist in the Army. Powell got tired of
begging him off and after a final warning left him with the regiment
in which he had once more enlisted. Davis is said to have been in the
battle of Waterloo. He certainly crossed the ocean and returned later
on to Canada. He survived till 1871, living at Cornwall, Ontario, a
well-known character. With him died the last of all those who had been
slaves in the old Province of Quebec or the Province of Upper Canada.
[23] _Mich. Hist. Coll._, XIV, p. 659.
[24] A fairly good account of the Underground Railroad will be found
in William Still's _Underground Railroad_, Philadelphia, 1872, in W.M.
Mitchell's _Underground Railway_, London, 1860; in W.H. Siebert's
_Underground Railway_, New York, 1899; and in a number of other works
on Slavery. Considerable space is given the subject in most works on
slavery.
One branch of it ran from a point on the Ohio River, through Ohio and
Michigan to Detroit; but there were many divagations, many termini,
many stations: Oberlin was one of these. See Dr. A. M. Ross' _Memoirs
of a Reformer_, Toronto, 1893, and _Mich. Hist. Coll._, XVII, p. 248.
[25] The Buxton Mission in the County of Kent is well known. The
Wilberforce Colony in the County of Middlesex was founded by free
Negroes; but they had in mind to furnish homes for future refugees.
See Mr. Fred Landon's account of this settlement in the recent (1918)
_Transactions of the London and Middlesex Hist. Soc._, pp. 30-44. For
an earlier account see A. Steward's _Twenty Years a Slave_, Rochester,
N. Y., 1857.
[26] Ross in his _Memoirs_ gives, on page 111, 40,000, but he may be
speaking for all Canada. The number is rather high for Upper Canada
alone.
[27] "The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it
by force." There can be no doubt that the Southern Negro looked upon
Canada as a paradise. I have heard a colored clergyman of high
standing say that of his own personal knowledge, dying slaves in the
South not infrequently expressed a hope to meet their friends in
Canada.
[28] These being merely traditional and not supported by contemporary
documents are more or less mythical and I do not attempt to collect
the various and varying stories.
There are several stories more or less well authenticated of masters
bringing slaves into Canada with the intention of taking them back
again as Charles Stewart intended with his slave James Somerset and
the slaves successfully asserting their freedom, resisting removal
with the assistance of Canadians. Of one of the most shocking cases of
wrong, if not quite kidnapping, a citizen of Toronto was the subject.
John Mink, a respectable man with some Negro blood, had a livery
stable on King Street, Toronto. He was also the proprietor of
stage-coach lines and a man of considerable wealth. He had an only
daughter of great personal beauty, and showing little trace of Negro
origin. It was understood that she would marry no one but a white man,
and that the father was willing to give her a handsome dowry on such a
marriage. A person of pure Caucasian stock from the Southern States
came to Toronto, wooed and won her. They were married and the husband
took his bride to his home in the South. Not long afterwards the
father was horrified to learn that the plausible scoundrel had sold
his wife as a slave. He at once went South and after great exertion
and much expense, he succeeded in bringing back to his house the
unhappy woman, the victim of brutal treachery.
There have been told other stories of the same kind, equally
harrowing, and unfortunately not ending so well, but I have not been
able to verify them. The one mentioned here I owe to the late Sir
Charles Moss, Chief Justice of Ontario.
[29] The same rule obtained in Lower Canada; (1827) re Joseph Fisher,
1 Stuart's L. C. Rep. 245.
[30] This is the Act (1833), 3 Will IV, c. 7 (U. C.). This came
forward as cap. 96 in the Consolidated Statutes of Upper Canada 1859,
but was repealed by an Act of (United) Canada (1860), 23 Vic., c. 91
(Can.).
[31] To his people he seems to have been known as Hubbard Holmes; he
is always called a yellow man, whether mulatto, quadroon, octoroon or
other does not appear.
[32] The contemporary accounts of this transaction, _e. g._, in the
_Christian Guardian_ of Toronto, and the _Niagara Chronicle_, are not
wholly consistent. The main facts, however, are clear. Although there
was some doubt as to the time, the military guard were ordered to
fire. Miss Janet Carnochan has given a good account of this in _Slave
Rescue in Niagara, Sixty Years Ago, Niag. Hist. Soc._, Pub. No. 2. It
is said that "the Judge said he must go back," the fact being that the
direction was by the executive and not the courts. The _Reminiscences_
of Mrs. J. G. Currie, born at Niagara in 1829 and living there at the
time of the trouble, are printed in the _Niagara Hist. Soc._, Pub. No.
20. Mrs. Currie gives a brief account (p. 331) and says that one of
the party, one MacIntyre, had a bullet or bayonet wound in his cheek.
In Miss Carnochan's account, her informant, who was the daughter of a
slave who had escaped in 1802 and was herself born in Niagara in 1824,
says that "the sheriff went up and down slashing with his sword and
keeping the people back. Many of our people had sword cuts in their
necks. They were armed with all kinds of weapons, pitchforks, flails,
sticks, stones. One woman had a large stone in a stocking and many had
their aprons full of stones and threw them too." Mrs. Anna Jameson, in
her _Sketches in Canada_, ed. of 1852, London, on pp. 55-58, gives
another account. She rightly makes the extradition order the
governor's act, but errs in saying that "the law was too expressly and
distinctly laid down and his duty as Governor was clear and imperative
to give up the felon" as "by an international compact between the
United States and our province, all felons are mutually surrendered."
There was nothing in the common law, or in the statute of 1833 which
made it the duty of the governor to order extradition, and there was
no binding compact between the United States and Upper Canada such as
Mrs. Jameson speaks of. No doubt the reason given by her for the order
was that in vogue among the official set with whom she associated, her
husband being vice-chancellor and head (treasurer) of the Law Society.
The _Christian Guardian_, _Niagara Reporter_ and _Niagara Chronicle_
and _St. Catharines Journal_ of September, October and November, 1837,
contain accounts of and comments upon the occurrences, and sometimes
attacks upon each other.
Deputy Sheriff Alexander McLeod was a man of some note if not
notoriety. During the rebellion of 1837 and 1838 he was in the Militia
of Upper Canada. He took a creditable part in the defence of Toronto
against the followers of Mackenzie in December, 1837, and was
afterwards stationed on the Niagara frontier. There he claimed to have
taken part in the cutting out of the Steamer _Caroline_ in which
exploit a Buffalo citizen, Amos Durfee, was killed. McLeod, visiting
Lewiston in New York State, in November, 1840, was arrested on the
charge of murder and committed for trial. This arrest was the cause of
a great deal of communication and discussion between the governments
of the United States and of Great Britain, the latter claiming that
what had been done by the Canadian militia was a proper public act and
they demanded the surrender of McLeod. This was refused. McLeod was
tried for murder at Utica, October, 1841, and acquitted, it being
conclusively proved that he was not in the expedition at all.
[33] Concluded at Washington, August 9, 1842, ratification exchanged
at London, October 13, 1842, proclaimed November 10, 1842; this treaty
put an end to many troublesome questions, amongst them the Maine
boundary which it was found impracticable to settle by Joint
Commissions or by reference to a European crowned head, William, King
of the Netherlands. It will be found in all the collections of
treaties of Great Britain or the United States, and in most of the
treaties on extradition, amongst them the useful work by John G.
Hawley, Chicago, 1893 (see pp. 119 sqq.).
[34] It was held in this province that the Act of 1883 was superseded
by the Ashburton Treaty in respect to the United States, but that it
remained in force with respect to other countries (Reg. _v._ Tubber,
1854, 1, P. R., 98). Since the treaty, our government has refused to
extradite where the offense charged is not included in the treaty. In
re Laverne Beebe (1863), 3, P. R., 273--a case of burglary.
The provisions of the treaty were brought into full effect in Canada
(Upper and Lower) by the Canadian Statute of 1849, 12, Vic., c. 19, C.
S. C. (1859), c. 89.
[35] Chief Justice Sir John Beverley Robinson, Mr. Justice McLean
(afterwards Chief Justice of Upper Canada) and Mr. Justice Burns.
[36] The seat of the Superior Courts in Toronto, the Palais de Justice
of the Province.
[37] Mr. Samuel B. Freeman, Q.C., of Hamilton, a man of much natural
eloquence, considerable knowledge of law and more of human nature; he
was always ready and willing to take up the cause of one unjustly
accused and was singularly successful in his defences.
I have heard it said that it was Mr. M. C. Cameron, Q.C., who so
addressed the gathering, but he does not seem to have been concerned
in the case in the Queen's Bench.
[38] The case is reported in (1860), 20 Up. Can., Q. B., pp. 124-193.
The warrant is given at pp. 192, 193.
[39] The case is reported in (1861), 3, Ellis & Ellis Reports, Queen's
Bench, p. 487; 30, _Law Jour._, Q. B., p. 129; 7, _Jurist_, N. S., p.
122; 3, _Law Times_, N. S., p. 622; 9, _Weekly Rep._, p. 255.
It was owing to this decision that the statute was passed at
Westminster (1862) 25, 26, Vic., c. 20, which by sec. 1 forbids the
courts in England to issue a writ of habeas corpus into any British
possession which has a court with the power to issue such writ. The
court was Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, and Justices Crompton, Hill and
Blackburn, a very strong court. The Counsel for Anderson was the
celebrated but ill-fated Edwin James. The writ was specially directed
to the sheriff at Toronto, the sheriff at Brantford and the
jail-keeper at Brantford. Judgment was given January 15, 1861.
[40] Common law, of course, not chancery.
[41] The court was composed of Chief Justice William Henry Draper,
C.B., Mr. Justice Richards, afterwards Chief Justice successively of
the Court of Common Pleas, of the Court of Queen's Bench, and, as Sir
William Buell Richards, of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Mr.
Justice Hagarty, afterwards Chief Justice successively of the Court of
Common Pleas, of the Court of King's Bench, and, as Sir John Hawkins
Hagarty, of Ontario.
Mr. Freeman was assisted in this argument by Mr. M. C. Cameron, a
lawyer of the highest standing professionally and otherwise,
afterwards Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, and afterwards, as
Sir Matthew Cameron, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
Counsel for the crown on both arguments were Mr. Eccles, Q.C., a man
of deservedly high reputation, and Robert Alexander Harrison,
afterwards Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, an exceedingly
learned and accurate lawyer.
The case in the Court of Common Pleas is reported in Vol. 11, Upper
Can., C. P., pp. 1 sqq.
DOCUMENTS
NOTES ON SLAVERY IN CANADA[1]
The following Notes received from the Canadian Archives Department,
Ottawa, have more or less bearing upon the question of slavery in
Upper Canada:
1. General James Murray, the first Governor of the new Government of
Quebec, writing to John Watts, of New York, from Quebec, November 2,
1763, and speaking of the promoting of the improvement of agriculture,
says:
"I must most earnestly entreat your assistance, without servants
nothing can be done, had I the inclination to employ soldiers
which is not the case, they would disappoint me, and Canadians
will work for nobody but themselves. Black Slaves are certainly
the only people to be depended upon, but it is necessary, I
imagine they should be born in one or other of our Northern
Colonies, the Winters here will not agree with a Native of the
torrid zone, pray therefore if possible procure for me two Stout
Young fellows, who have been accustomed to Country Business, and
as I shall wish to see them happy, I am of opinion there is
little felicity without a Communication with the Ladys, you may
buy for each a clean young wife, who can wash and do the female
offices about a farm, I shall begrudge no price, so hope we may,
by your goodness succeed," (_Can. Arch._, Murray Papers, Vol. II,
p. 15.)
2. D. M. Erskine, writing from New York, May 26, 1807, to Francis
Gore, Lt. Governor of Upper Canada, says:
"I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 24th ult enclosing a Memorial presented to you by the
Proprietors of Slaves in the Western District of the Province of
Upper Canada.
"I regret equally with yourself the Inconvenience which His
Majesty's subjects in Upper Canada experience from the Desertions
of their slaves into the Territory of the United States, and of
Persons bound to them for a term of years, as also of His
Majesty's soldiers and sailors; but I fear no Representation to
the Government of the United States will at the present avail in
checking the evils complained of, as I have frequently of late
had occasion to apply to them for the Surrender of various
Deserters under different circumstances, and always without
success--
"The answer that has been usually given, has been. 'That the
Treaty between Great Britain & the United States which _alone_
gave them the Power to surrender Deserters having expired, it was
impossible for them to exercise such an authority without the
Sanction of the Laws--'
"I will however forward to His Majesty's Minister for Foreign
Affairs, the Memorial above mentioned in the Hope that some
arrangements may be entered into to obviate in future the great
Losses which are therein described." (_Can. Arch._, Sundries,
Upper Canada, 1807.)
3. John Beverley Robinson, Attorney General, Upper Canada, giving an
opinion to the Lt. Governor, York, July 8, 1819, says the following:
"May it please Your Excellency
"In obedience to Your Excellency's commands I have perused the
accompanying letter from C. C. Antrobus Esquire, His Majesty's
Chargé d'affaires at the Court of Washington and have attentively
considered the question referred to me by Your Excellency
therein--namely--'Whether the owners of several Negro slaves from
the United States of America and are now resident in this
Province' and I beg to express most respectfully my opinion to
Your Excellency that the Legislature of this Province having
adopted the Law of England as the rule of decision in all
questions relative to property and civil rights, and freedom of
the person being the most important civil right protected by
those laws, it follows that whatever may have been the condition
of these Negroes in the Country to which they formerly belonged,
here they are free--For the enjoyment of all civil rights
consequent to a mere residence in the country and among them the
right to personal freedom as acknowledged and protected by the
Laws of England in Cases similar to that under consideration,
must notwithstanding any legislative enactment that may be
thought to affect it, with which I am acquainted, be extended to
these Negroes as well as to all others under His Majesty's
Government in this Province--
"The consequence is that should any attempt be made by any person
to infringe upon this right in the persons of these Negroes, they
would most probably call for, and could compel the interference
of those to whom the administration of our Laws is committed and
I submit with the greatest deference to Your Excellency that it
would not be in the power of the Executive Government in any
manner to restrain or direct the Courts or Judges in the exercise
of their duty upon such an application." (_Can. Arch._, Sundries,
Upper Canada, 1819.)
4. At a meeting of the Executive Council of the Province of Lower
Canada held at the Council Chamber in the Castle of St. Lewis, on
Thursday, June 18, 1829, under Sir James Kempt, the Administrator of
the Government, the following proceedings were had:
"Report of a Committee of the whole Council Present The Honble.
the Chief Justice in the Chair, Mr. Smith, Mr. DeLery, Mr.
Stewart, and Mr. Cochran on Your Excellency's Reference of a
Letter from the American Secretary of State requesting that Paul
Vallard accused of having stolen a Mulatto Slave from the State
of Illinois may be delivered up to the Government of the United
States of America together with the Slave.
"May it please Your Excellency
"The Committee have proceeded to the consideration of the subject
matter of this reference with every wish and disposition to aid
the Officers of the Government of the United States of America in
the execution of the Laws of that Dominion and they regret
therefore the more that the present application cannot in their
opinion be acceded to.
"In the former Cases the Committee have acted upon the Principle
which now seems to be generally understood that whenever a Crime
has been committed and the Perpetrator is punishable according to
the Lex Loci of the Country in which it is committed, the country
in which he is found may rightfully aid the Police of the Country
against which the Crime was committed in bringing the Criminal
to Justice--and upon this ground have recommended that Fugitives
from the United States should be delivered up.
"But the Committee conceive that the _Crimes_ for which they are
authorized to recommend the arrest of Individuals who have fled
from other Countries must be such as are _mala in se_, and are
universally admitted to be _Crimes_ in every Nation, and that the
offence of the _Individual_ whose person is demanded must be such
as to render him liable to arrest by the Law of Canada as well as
by the Law of the United States.
"The state of slavery is not recognized by the Law of Canada nor
does the Law admit that any Man can be the proprietor of another.
"Every Slave therefore who comes into the Province is immediately
free whether he has been brought in by violence or has entered it
of his own accord; and his liberty cannot from thenceforth be
lawfully infringed without some Cause for which the Law of Canada
has directed an arrest.
"On the other hand, the Individual from whom he has been taken
cannot pretend that the Slave has been stolen from him in as much
as the Law of Canada does not admit a Slave to be a subject of
property.
"All of which is respectfully submitted to Your Excellency's,
Wisdom." (_Can. Arch._, State K, p. 406.)
5. At a meeting of the Executive Council for Upper Canada, held at
York, on Thursday, September 12, 1833, under Sir John Colborne,
Lieutenant Governor, the following proceedings were had:
"Received a Letter from the Governor of the State of Michigan
dated Detroit August 12th 1833 with a new requisition for the
delivery up of Thornton Blackburn and other fugitives from
Justice which was read in Council on 27th August 1833 with the
following opinion of the Attorney General, as referred to him
13th July 1833.
"'ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE
"'12th July 1833
"'_Sir_
"'I have the Honour to return the various papers relating to the
subject of the requisition from the acting Governor of Michigan
demanding that Thornton Blackburn and others who are stated to
have fled from the justice of that country and taken refuge
within this Province and now in custody at Sandwich should be
given up, upon which His Excellency required my opinion whether
the Law of this Province authorized him in complying with such
demand or not. Had His Excellency been confined to the official
requisition and the deposition that accompanied it he might I
think have been warranted in delivering up those persons inasmuch
as there is thereupon evidence on which according to the terms of
our act (3 Wm 4th, C. 8) a magistrate would have been "warranted
in apprehending and committing for trial" persons so charged who
is convicted of the offence alleged viz: riot and forcible rescue
and assault and battery would, if convicted, have been subject
according to the Laws of this Province to one of the several
punishments enumerated in the act as applicable to felonies and
misdemeanors.
"'That the Governor and Council are not confined to such evidence
is clear since though limited in their authority to enforce the
provisions of the act against fugitives from foreign States by
the condition above mentioned viz: being satisfied that the
evidence would warrant commitment for trial etc. yet in coming to
that conclusion they are I think bound to hear no ex parte
evidence alone but matter explanatory to guide their judgment;
for even tho' satisfied with their authority so to do, they are
not required "to deliver up any person so charged if for any
reason they shall deem it inexpedient so to do.'
"In the present case I think the evidence on oath as to facts not
alluded to in the official Communication and as to the law of the
United States upon the subject becomes extremely important; I
mean that of Mr Cleland and Mr Alexander Fraser the Attorney for
the City of Detroit. The case appears to be this--Two coloured
persons named Thornton a man and his wife were claimed as slaves
on behalf of some person in the State of Kentucky; that they were
arrested and examined before a magistrate in Detroit and he in
accordance with the law of the United States made his certificate
and directed them to be delivered over as the personal property
of the claimant in Kentucky; that the Sheriff took them into
custody in consequence and that when one of them, (the man) was
on the point of being removed from prison in order to be restored
to his owner he was with circumstances of considerable violence
rescued and escaped to this Province. There appears to be an
error in the deposition accompanying the requisition, the wife
of Thornton is there charged with being one of the persons
assisting in the riot and rescue, whereas it appears that
previous to the day of her husband's rescue she had eluded the
Gaoler in disguise and she was then within this Province; she
therefore does not appear to come within the class of offenders
which the Act contemplates--viz: 'Malefactors who having
committed crimes in foreign Countries have sought an asylum in
this Province.'
"With regard to Thornton himself, the Attorney of Detroit who has
favoured His Excellency with a certified Copy of the Law of the
United States upon the subject, declares,--that the commitment to
the custody of the Sheriff was illegal--and this is urged
strongly as an equitable consideration against His Excellency's
interference that the Sheriff detained Thornton in custody not as
Sheriff but as agent for the Slave owner and that the law does
not authorize _commitments_ under such circumstances to the
Sheriff, but merely that 'the owner, agent, or attorney may seize
and arrest the fugitive (slave) and take him before the Judge
etc: who upon proof that the person seized owes service to the
claimant &c shall give a certificate thereof to such claimant,
his agent or Attorney which shall be sufficient Warrant for
removing the said fugitive from labour &c.'
"To this argument as to the illegality of the custody I do not
attach much weight, for admitting that Thornton was not committed
to the custody of Mr. Wilson as Sheriff of Wayne County, still as
we may presume that the Judge's Certificate was properly given,
he might not be the less legally in the custody of Mr Wilson _as
agent to the claimant_ in Kentucky; for the next section of the
act of congress enacts that anyone who '_shall rescue such
fugitive from such claimant or his agent &c shall forfeit and pay
the sum of five hundred dollars &c._' That the custody was legal
according to the law of the United States I have little doubt;
the legality there is officially recognized by the requisition
and it is not a subject for His Excellency's enquiry. Upon this
view of the case and considering that His Excellency in Council
can only restore fugitives charged upon evidence of crimes which
if proved to have been committed in this Province would subject
the offender to 'Death, Corporal punishment by Pillory or
whipping or by confinement at hard labour' and considering this
as a Penal Act which must not be strained beyond the literal
import towards those against whom it is intended to operate; the
result is that our law recognizes no such custody as that of an
agent acting under a warrant for removing a fugitive slave to the
Territory from which he fled, this is an offence which could not
be committed within this Province in any case and therefore that
His Excellency in Council is not by the Act of this Province
either required or authorized to deliver up the persons demanded.
"I have the Honor to be, Sir, &c.,
"(Signed) ROBERT S. JAMESON, _Attorney General_."
"The Council having again had before them the requisition of the
Governor of the State of Michigan relative to the escape of
certain offenders into this Province deem it mainly important to
their full consideration of the question that besides his opinion
upon the propriety of giving up the persons alluded to the
Attorney General should be requested explicitly to state whether
if a similar outrage had been committed in this Province the
offender or offenders would be liable to undergo any of the
punishments in the act passed last Session.
"(Signed) JOHN STRACHAN, P.C."
(_Can. Arch._, State J, p. 137.)
6. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at York, Tuesday,
September 17, 1833, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Strachan, the
following proceedings were had:
"The Council assembled agreeably to the desire of His Excellency
the Lieutenant Governor to take into consideration the
requisition of his Excellency the Governor of Michigan.
"Read the following letter.
"'ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE
"'14th September, 1833
"_'Sir_
"'To the question which the Executive Council have done me the
honor to submit to me in relation to the requisition from the
Governor of Michigan dated 12th August, 1833, whether if a
similar outrage had been committed in this Province the offender
would be liable to undergo any of the punishments stated in the
Act (3 Wm 4, Cap 7) passed at the last Session I have the honor
to answer that a forcible rescue from the custody of the Sheriff
of this Province attended with the aggravated circumstances
detailed in the affidavit of John M. Wilson and Alexander
McArthur accompanying the requisition would undoubtedly subject
the offender and those actively aiding and abetting him to the
gravest punishment in the act, death alone excepted.
"'I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.,
"'(Signed) ROBERT S JAMESON,
"'_Attorney General_.
"'To John Beikie, Esquire,
"'Clerk, Executive Council,'"
"'The Council took the same into consideration and were pleased
to make the following minute thereon.
"'The Council having had under consideration the requisition of
His Excellency the Governor of Michigan together with the various
papers relative thereto beg leave respectfully to state that as
the question involves matters of great importance in our
relations with a neighbouring state it would be satisfactory to
them if the opinion of the Judges were obtained for their
information,'" (_Can. Arch._, State J. p. 148.)
7. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at York, September
27, 1833, under the presidency of Peter Robinson, the following
proceedings were had:
"Resumed the consideration of His Excellency G.B. Porter,
Esquire, Governor of Michigan's Letter of the 12th Ultimo which
was read in Council on the 27th and again on the 12th and 17th
Instant.
"Read also the Attorney General's opinion of the 20th Instant and
the Judges' Report of this date as follows:
"'ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE
"'20th September, 1833
"'_Sir_
"'To the question which the Executive Council have done me the
Honor to submit to me in relation to the requisition from the
Governor of Michigan dated 12th August, 1833, whether if a
similar outrage had been committed in this Province, the offender
or offenders would be liable to undergo any of the punishments
stated in the Act (3 Wm. 4 c. 7) passed last Session: my opinion
is that a forcible rescue from the custody of the sheriff in this
Province attended with the aggravated circumstances detailed in
the Affidavits of John M. Wilson and Alexander MacArthur though
by the law of England it would subject the offender and those
actively aiding and abetting him to severe corporal punishment,
by the law of the Province as it now stands could not be visited
by a graver punishment than fine and imprisonment which is not
one of those enumerated in the act.
"'I have the Honor to be, Sir, &c.,
"'(Signed) ROBERT S. JAMESON,
"'_Attorney General._
"'To
"'John Beikie, Esq.,
"'Clerk, Executive Council.'
"'JUDGES' REPORT.
"'York, 27th September, 1833.
"'May it please Your Excellency
"'We have the Honor to report to Your Excellency that we have
deliberated upon the reference made to us by Your Excellency's
Command on the 17th September Instant in respect to an
application addressed to Your Excellency by the Government of the
Territory of Michigan requesting that certain persons now
inhabiting this Province may be apprehended and sent to that
country to answer to a charge preferred against them for
assaulting and beating the Sheriff of the County of Wayne and
rescuing a prisoner from his custody. We observe that the recent
act of the Legislature of this Province intituled "An Act to
provide for the apprehending of fugitive offenders from foreign
countries and delivering them up to Justice" (a copy of which we
annex to this report) gives a discretion to the Governor and
Council in carrying into effect its provisions declaring in
express terms that it shall not be incumbent upon them to deliver
up any person charged if for any reason they shall deem is
inexpedient so to do." We take it for granted however
notwithstanding the general terms in which the reference is made
to us, that we are not expected to express our opinion upon what
would or would not be a proper exercise of this discretion. It
does not, indeed, occur to us than any question of political
expediency is presented by the case and if any were, we should
abstain from offering an opinion upon it.
"'It is to the legal considerations connected with the case that
we have confined ourselves; and in this view of it we beg
respectfully to state that these prisoners having been once
already apprehended and in custody in this Province upon this
same charge and liberated by the decision of the Governor and
Council after a consideration of the case upon an application
made by the Government of Michigan, we should not think fit that
the Governor and Council should authorize a second apprehension
of the parties and exercise a second time the power and
discretion given by the Act--This course we think could not be
approved of unless, in the case of some atrocious offender, new
and strong evidence should be discovered which it was not in the
power of the foreign Government to produce upon a previous
application and for the want of which the prisoners were upon
such first application discharged, or perhaps in a case where
some official or legal formality had by mere accident been
overlooked on the first occasion.
"'Independently of the consideration that this case has been
already acted upon by the Government, the documents before us
place it in this light: the prisoners with the exception of
Blackburn and his wife are charged with assaulting and beating
the sheriff of Wayne and rescuing a prisoner from his custody,
Blackburn being the prisoner alluded to is charged with joining
in the riot and battery of the Sheriff and with unlawfully
rescuing himself--The wife of Blackburn we cannot find to be
sufficiently charged with any offence known to our laws which do
not acknowledge a state of slavery; for the imputation of
conspiring with the rioters and contriving the rescue is
supported by no evidence and seems to rest on conjecture--The
prisoner Blackburn it appears from the Documents before us was
not committed for felony nor for any crime nor imprisoned for any
cause which by our laws could be recognized as a justification of
imprisonment. We mention this not from any doubt that the
prisoner was in legal custody according to the laws of Michigan
but because the rescue of a prisoner constitutes by our law a
greater or less offence according to the degree of the crime for
which he was committed and this prisoner being committed for no
crime and certainly not for any felony his rescue would according
to our law be a misdemeanor only and a misdemeanor of that kind
that the persons convicted of it would be punished by fine and
imprisonment or either of them and not by any other description
of punishment--The Statute referred to provides in explicit
terms that the persons subject to be delivered up under it to the
justice of a foreign country are those only who shall be charged
"with murder, forgery, larceny or other crime committed without
the jurisdiction of this Province which crimes if committed
within this Province would _by the laws thereof_ be punishable by
_death corporal punishment_ by _pillory_ or _whipping_ or by
confinement at _hard labour_." We are not aware whether the laws
of the Territory of Michigan do or do not authorize the giving up
of offenders charged with crimes not embraced in the above very
comprehensive description; but however that may be, it is evident
that the conduct of this and of other Governments in respect to
the delivery up of offenders can be no further reciprocal towards
each other than the laws of each will allow. We express no
opinion except in reference to the statute recently passed here
for regulating this particular matter--We consider the
Legislature to have declared in that Statute their will in what
cases fugitives from foreign countries should be surrendered; and
we have therefore considered whether the persons in question as
they are not charged with murder forgery or larceny could upon
the facts before us be convicted of any other offence punishable
at hard labour--We apprehend they could not be but that the
offence of which they might be convicted would be punishable by
fine and imprisonment merely without adding "hard labour" to the
sentence. Riot, a Battery of the Sheriff in the execution of his
duty, and the rescue of a person legally in his custody but not
charged with felony or other crime are the offences with which
upon the statements before us they are liable to be charged:--and
all these are offences which in the known and ordinary
administration of the law in this Province would be punished in
no other manner than by fine and mere imprisonment. Instances we
doubt not may be brought from distant times, in which one or
other of the above offences has been punished in England by
Pillory or whipping or by other unusual or disgraceful
punishments and we do not say that these cases altho' they may be
old are so decidedly void of all authority that a judgment which
should now be passed in conformity to them would certainly be
held to be erroneous and bad. But we conceive that in England
such punishments have long ceased to be assigned to the offences
in question; that in this Province they have never been assigned
to them and that recent Statutes which have been passed in
England tend strongly to show that Parliament did not regard them
as punishments which in later times could be properly attached
to such offences without express Legislative sanction. We observe
that there is evidence of one of the persons charged having
pointed a loaded pistol at the Sheriff. If it had been further
stated that he had pulled the trigger or otherwise attempted to
discharge the pistol the act would have been one which in England
is felony, having been first made so by Lord Ellenborough's Act
passed in 1803; but that Act does not extend to this Province and
was never adopted or in force here and if it were otherwise,
still this case upon the facts stated is not within it. Looking
upon the act of pointing or presenting the pistol as one for
which all the rioters were equally responsible it forms an
aggravation of their riot and assault but it does not change the
legal character of their crime it would probably lead to a higher
fine or a longer imprisonment but not to a punishment of another
kind. The riot as it is described was an outrageous one and the
battery of the sheriff appears to have been violent and
cruel--the direct object and intent however seems to have been
the rescue of the Prisoner rather than to take the life of the
sheriff; and even supposing the facts would well support a
conviction for an assault on the Sheriff with an intent _to
murder him_ still by our law such intent would be merely an
aggravation of the riot and assault; it would not alter the
technical character of the crime or the description of punishment
however much it might enhance the fine or lead to increasing the
term of Imprisonment.
"'The conclusion therefore which we have come to is that these
parties are not charged with any of the offences enumerated in
the statute annexed and consequently that the Lieutenant Governor
and council are not authorized by its provisions to send them out
of the Province. It has not escaped our attention as a peculiar
feature in this case that two of the persons whom the Government
of this Province is requested to deliver up are persons
recognized by the Government of Michigan as slaves and that it
appears upon these documents that if they should be delivered up
they would by the laws of the United States be exposed to be
forced into a state of Slavery from which they had escaped two
years ago when they fled from Kentucky to Detroit; that if they
should be sent to Michigan and upon trial be convicted of the
Riot and punished they would after undergoing their punishment be
subject to be taken by their masters and continued in a state of
Slavery for life, and that on the other hand if they should never
be prosecuted or if they should be tried and acquitted this
consequence would equally follow. Among the Documents before us
we perceive there are papers which have been delivered to the
Government in behalf of the alleged rioters in which this
inevitable consequence is urged as a reason against their being
sent back to Michigan and in which it is intimated that to place
the slaves again within the power of their masters is the
principal object and that the Government of Michigan in making
application for them is rather influenced by the interest and
wishes of the slave owners than by any desire to bring the
parties to trial for the alleged riot. No consideration of this
kind has had any weight with us, for in the first place as
regards the insinuation against the motives of the Government of
Michigan if we had any thing to do with them we should consider
(as no doubt this Government would consider in any similar case)
that courtesy towards the Government of a foreign country
requires always to assume that it has no motive or design on
these occasions which is not just and fair and in short none but
such as is openly avowed. And in the next place as to the
consequence spoken of--If it would follow in course from the laws
of the United States it is not probable that the Executive
Government there would prevent the slave masters from asserting
their rights under those laws and it is therefore reasonable to
suppose that the consequence may really follow which the parties
concerned have represented. Still if in this case the black
people whose arrest is applied for had been shown to have fled
from a charge for any such offence as would clearly come within
our Statute, we do not conceive that we could on that account
have advised a course to be pursued in regard to them different
from that which should be pursued with respect to free white
persons under the same circumstances. When we say this we should
desire it to be understood that we are so clearly of opinion on
the other hand, that the withdrawing from a state of Slavery in a
foreign Country could not here be treated as an offence with
reference to our statute already alluded to so that any person
could be surrendered up under that statute upon such a ground
merely. We beg leave to express to Your Excellency our regret for
the delay that has occurred in answering the reference which Your
Excellency and the Honorable the Executive Council have thought
fit to make to us. Among other causes which have led to it was a
doubt at first entertained among us whether we could properly
give an opinion upon a matter which under possible circumstances
might give rise to a judicial proceeding in which the same
question would come before us or some one of us for decision. An
examination of this subject has removed this doubt and we now
submit our opinion to Your Excellency with such explanations as
seemed to us to be material.
"'We have the Honor to be
"'Your Excellency's Most obedient
"and humble Servants
"'(Signed) "'JOHN B. ROBINSON, C. J.
"'L. P. SHERWOOD--J.
"'J. B. MACAULEY--J.'"
"Upon which the council were pleased to make the following
Report.
"'_To His Excellency_, Sir John Colborne, K.C.B., Lieutenant
Governor of the Province of Upper Canada and Major General
Commanding His Majesty's Forces therein--&c----&c &c
"'May it please Your Excellency
"'The Council have had under consideration the papers relating to
the requisition of the acting Governor of Michigan, together with
evidence furnished by His Excellency the Governor of that
Territory accompanied by a further requisition for the delivery
of the fugitives--they have also had before them the opinions of
the three Judges and of the Attorney General with which they
concur and have been led to the conclusion that the fugitive
Slaves named in the requisitions are not charged with an offence
which would have rendered them liable to any of the punishments
enumerated in the Provincial Statute and consequently that the
Lieutenant Governor and Council are not authorized by its
provisions to send them out of the Province.'" (_Can. Arch._,
State J, p. 155.)
8. At an Executive Council for Upper Canada held at Toronto, Saturday,
September 9, 1837, under the presidency of the Honourable William
Allen, the following proceedings were had:
"Read the Attorney General's Report of the 8th instant on
Documents for the surrender of Jesse Happy, a fugitive from
Justice in the United States charged with horse stealing--upon
which the Council made the following Report
"'The Council have taken into serious consideration the Documents
with the Reports of the Attorney General
"'A similar application referred for the Report of the Council on
the 7th Instant--In that case as in the present it was suggested
that the fugitive was a slave, and that the real object of the
application was not so much to bring him to trial for the alleged
Felony as to reduce him again to a state of Slavery--In that case
however it appeared that the Offence had been recently committed
viz: in May last--That an early occasion, probably the first, was
taken to have him indicted--that process for his apprehension
immediately issued and that shortly after the return of the
Sheriff to that process the requisition from His Excellency the
Governor of the State of Kentucky was obtained and promptly
brought to this Province. Under these circumstances the Council
were of opinion that in the exercise of a sound discretion they
were called upon to recommend to Your Excellency to comply with
the requisition--The facts appearing upon the Official Documents
in this case are widely different--The Alleged Offence purports
to have been committed more than four years ago. When the
Indictment was preferred is not shown (as it was in the former
case) but the earliest date which shows its existence is 1st June
1835 when the certificate of the Clerk of the Court is given. No
process seems to have been issued in the State of Kentucky nor is
any other step shown to have been taken until the middle of last
month. There also it is suggested that the fugitive is a slave
that the real object of his apprehension is to give him up to his
former owners and so to deprive him of that personal liberty
which the laws of this country secure him. If this be conceded in
the present instance after a lapse of four years, no argument
could be consistently urged against the delivery up (on the usual
application) of persons who have been still longer resident in
this Province.
"'The delivery of a Slave under these circumstances to the
authorities claiming him would it is clear subject him to a
double penalty, the one of punishment for a crime, the other of a
return to a state of Slavery, even if he should be acquitted. The
former in strict accordance with our Statute, the other in direct
opposition to the genius of our institutions and the spirit of
our Laws. For this cause the Council feel great difficulty in the
course which they would advise Your Excellency to adopt, were
there any law by which, after taking his trial and if convicted
undergoing his sentence he would be restored to a state of
freedom, the Council would not hesitate to advise his being given
up but there is no such provision in the Statute.
"'On the other hand the Council feel that it cannot be permitted
that because a man may happen to be a fugitive slave he should
escape those consequences of crime committed in a foreign country
to which a free man would be amenable. This would be equally
contrary to the Law and to the spirit of mutual justice which
gave origin to it, in this Province as well as in the United
States. Considering however the circumstances of this case and
also the difficulty that might arise from it as a precedent the
Council respectfully recommend that time should be given to the
accused to furnish affidavits of the facts set forth in the
Petition presented on his behalf in order to a full understanding
of the whole matter.
"'The Council would further respectfully submit to Your
Excellency the propriety of drawing the attention of Her
Majesty's Government to this question with a view of ascertaining
their views upon it as a matter of general policy.'" (_Can.
Arch._, State J, p. 597.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] For these documents Mr. Justice Riddell is indebted to Mr. William
Smith of the Department of Archives, Ottawa, Canada.
ADDITIONAL LETTERS OF NEGRO MIGRANTS OF 1916-1918[1]
LETTERS STATING THAT WAGES RECEIVED ARE NOT SATISFACTORY
BROOKHAVEN, MISS., April 24, 1917.
_Gents:_ The cane growers of Louisiana have stopped the exodus
from New Orleans, claiming shortage of labor which will result in
a sugar famine.
Now these laborers thus employed receive only 85 cents a day and
the high cost of living makes it a serious question to live.
There is a great many race people around here who desires to come
north but have waited rather late to avoid car fare, which they
have not got. isnt there some way to get the concerns who wants
labor, to send passes here or elsewhere so they can come even if
they have to pay out of the first months wages? Please dont
publish this letter but do what you can towards helping them to
get away. If the R. R. Co. would run a low rate excursion they
could leave that way. Please ans.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., April 4, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I have been taking defender for sevel months and I
have seen that there is lots good work in that section and I want
to say as you are the editor of that paper I wish that you would
let me know if there is any wheare up there that I can get in
with an intucion that I may get my wife and my silf from down
hear and can bring just as miney more as he want we are suffing
hear all the work is giveing to poor white peples and we can not
get anything to doe at all I will go to pennsylvania or n y state
or N J or Ill. or any wheare that I can surport my wife I am past
master of son of light in Mass. large Royal arch and is in good
standing all so the good Sancer large no. 18. I need helpe my
wife cant get any thing to due eather can I so please if you can
see any body up there that want hands let me no at once I can get
all they need and it will alow me to get my wife away from down
hear so please remember and ans. I will apreshate it.
Looking for ans at once. Please let me no some thing thease
crackers is birds in south
NASHVILLE, TENN., April 22, 1917.
_Sir:_ I am in Nashville and I have a job but is not satisfied
with the money that I am getting for my work and I ask of you to
please give me a good job working any place I am a expirence fire
man and all so some expirence in engineer and please answer soon
and let me know what you can find for me to do.
ALEXANDRIA, LA., June 6, 1917.
_Dear Sirs:_ I am writeing to you all asking a favor of you all.
I am a girl of seventeen. School has just closed I have been
going to school for nine months and I now feel like I aught to go
to work. And I would like very very well for you all to please
forward me to a good job. but there isnt a thing here for me to
do, the wages here is from a dollar and a half a week. What could
I earn Nothing. I have a mother and father my father do all he
can for me but it is so hard. A child with any respect about her
self or his self wouldnt like to see there mother and father work
so hard and earn nothing I feel it my duty to help. I would like
for you all to get me a good job and as I havent any money to
come on please send me a pass and I would work and pay every cent
of it back and get me a good quite place to stay. My father have
been getting the defender for three or four months but for the
last two weeks we have failed to get it. I dont know why. I am
tired of down hear in this ---- / I am afraid to say. Father seem
to care and then again dont seem to but Mother and I am tired
tired of all of this I wrote to you all because I believe you
will help I need your help hopeing to here from you all very
soon.
ATLANTA, GA., April 29, 1917.
SIR: I am a young man 25 years of age. I desire to get in some
place where I can earn more for my labor than I do now, which is
$1.25 per day. I do not master no trade but I have finished a
correspondence course with the practical auto school of New York
City and with a little experience I would make a competent
automobile man, but I do not ask for your assistance on this
line of business only. I am willing to do anything for better
wages.
P.S. I would like if you knows if there is an auto school any
where where colored men can go to and learn the automobile
industry to give me their address.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., April 30, 1917.
_Kind sir:_ In reading the Chicago Defender I saw where laborers
are wanted and of course not knowing whether you would send
transportation this far or not I would like a good job in the
north where I can earn more for my labor and would like for you
to help me out if you would. I am now working at the Clyde Line
and they are cutting off help every day of course I dont know
about this moulding work but am very quick to learn any thing
most any kind of work for a laboring man, dont play on the job.
all I ask of you is a trial, willing and ready to go to work any
time I hear from you. Please ans soon. willing to Detroit
Michigan or any part of the north.
_Sirs:_ I am writing to find out if there is any way that you
could find me a job. I would be very glad for you to do so and I
will see that you wont loose nothing if I can get the job. work
no good here for a black man. And I want to leave this place. But
I cannot make the money to leave on and I hope you will do all
you can in the way of helping me to secure a job and I hope you
will let me here from you in short.
WILMINGTON, N. C., May 4, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Wright a fiew words for work i ask to hand this
editor to read we are work mens wont to work but wages is so
little we cant get out we wont to leave the south and work. Pleas
wright let me know 10 mens able body men will stick to work we
well come.
DALLAS, TEX., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I read your advertisement in the Chicago Defender and
having been unable to find work here I want a chance of this kind
also a friend of mine, we are both willing to work. Tell me how
soon you can send and how many you are willing to send for.
AUGUSTA, GA., 5-28-17.
_Gentlemens:_ In reading the defender the paper of our race the
numerous wanted of labor in your state I would like make some of
the good pay for God knows we need it in Augusta. Gentlemens I
made very effort to come out in Illinois or some other place
where I can live deason. I have payed as much as too dollars &
that I cant get away from here, we can scarcely live in Augusta
not say anything about debt. I wish you gentlemens would asist me
in getting away from here not only my self but some friends or
send an agent threw here I mean agent not some so call agent--or
if you gentlemens see I get a transportation I am real in what I
am saying any kind that a living in. I am twenty years
exspierince in yellow pine lumber willing to do any thing else
that pays gentlemens answer at once. I like to come now to get
settled by winter.
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw your advice in the Chicago Defender I thought
to wright for farther in fennashion I would be glad to now how I
can get ther I am a laborn man want to get where work is
plentiful & good wedges i want to get in a Christian nise place i
have a good family and car for them I want to come up there to
see the place & then latter on send for family can u send for me
or describe me to some one who will send for me.
ST. LOUIS, April 28, 1917.
_Dear Gentlemens:_ I have been advise through the columns of the
Chicago Defender to get in connection with you as they claim that
you are in position to look after colored labor and help I am
anxious to get a study position in some small villiage or town
near Chicago. I am from Alabama and dont believe in loafing I am
now employed at a firm as porter, packer, asst. shipping clerk
but I cant live on the pay. I am to go to Detroit next Saturday
but if I can hear from you I would rother take your advise.
Please let me hear from you. I was intending to go by Chicago and
call on you but I thought it wise to write because here in St.
Louis they dont like to see a man idle.
_Dear sir:_ I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and enjoy it
very much. I saw in todays defender where labor was wanter
transportation advanced from Chicago. Now I have a good steady
position where I have been working for three years with the
American Sugar refinery but I would like to make a change I know
that I can better my condition where I work it 12 hours.
Therefore I would welcome the 8 hours with pleasure. Please send
me full information. I would like to get a transportation for my
self and son 16 years of age. I will enclose self address
envelope for a reply at once.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 4/30/17.
_Sir:_ In reading the Chicago paper we find advertisement asking
for labor men. I am a man of family and would like very much to
come to this kind of job but having a wife and five children to
support couldnt very well leave on a railroad pass as I hate to
leave my family behind without support for at one dollar and
seventy five cents per day I couldnt do very much in a short
while. Now will you please inform me of this transportation that
is advertised. I am a colored man weighs about 160 pounds and
forty nine years old. Please write me full particulars at this
address.
COLLINS, MISS., April 7, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw where you needed labor and I am a hard working
man but I cant make above a living here and hardly that and so if
you can assist me your kindness will never be forgotten. I shall
look to hear from you by return mail.
GREENVILLE, S. C., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I would like for you to write me and tell me how is
time up there and jobs is to get. I would like for you to get me
a job and my wife. She is a no. 1 good cook, maid, nurse job I am
a fireing boiler, steame fitter and experiences mechencs helpe
and will do laboring work if you can not get me one off those
jobs above that i can do. I have work in a foundry as a molder
helper and has lots of experense at that. I am 27 yrs of age. If
you can get me job I would like for you to do so please and let
me no and will pay for trouble. looking to hear from you wright
away please if you new off any firm that needs a man give them my
address please I wont to get out of the south where I can demand
something for my work. I will close.
LUTCHER, LA., May 13, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I have been reading the Chicago defender and seeing
so many advertisements about the work in the north I thought to
write you concerning my condition. I am working hard in the south
and can hardly earn a living. I have a wife and one child and can
hardly feed them. I thought to write and ask you for some
information concerning how to get a pass for myself and family. I
dont want to leave my family behind as I cant hardly make a
living for them right here with them and I know they would fare
hard if I would leave them. If there are any agents in the south
there havent been any of them to Lutcher if they would come here
they would get at least fifty men. Please sir let me hear from
you as quick as possible. Now this is all. Please dont publish my
letter, I was out in town today talking to some of the men and
they say if they could get passes that 30 or 40 of them would
come. But they havent got the money and they dont know how to
come. But they are good strong and able working men. If you will
instruct me I will instruct the other men how to come as they all
want to work. Please dont publish this because we have to whisper
this around among our selves because the white folks are angry
now because the negroes are going north.
WINSTON, N. C., May 17, 1917.
_Dear Friend:_ a little information i am asking concerning work i
am a stranger to you and you is one to me but i saw your optunity
to the colorred people of the south as i am a reader of the
Defender and all so the new York age to i seen Sunday that you is
wanting labers i wants to come up there i am working eavery day
but wedges is cheap don her i am a firman and cannot make a
living hardly and am married man too. if you can secure me a job
and send me past for me and a nother friend he is married no
children i would like to lern how to do molding as the colorred
man is bared of from that kind of work in the south.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 18, 1917.
_Sir:_ this is John ----. will you please get me a job as I have
had bad luck an it left me in pour shape I am a molder and
machinists but I will work as helpe a while jest I an wife sen
transpertation for two I an wife.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 5, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Kindly inform me by return mail are there any
factories or concerns employing colored laborers, skilled or
unskilled, the south is ringing with news from Chicago telling of
the wonderful openings for colored people, and I am asking you to
find the correct information whether I could get employment there
or not. Please find postage enclosed for immediate reply.
CHARLESTON, S. C., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw your add in the Chicago Defender where you
wanted laborers and I taught that this would be a grand
oppotunity for me to better my present conditions so I taught I
would write you and ask you would you be kind enough as to give
me a job dear sir. I am a single man and would be willing to do
any kind of work, dear sir would you be kind enough as to forward
me a transportation and I would come write away so please do the
best you can for me. There is but little down here to be gotten
dear sir will you kindly grant me that favor. Hopeing to receive
a favorable answer.
GREENWOOD, S. C., May 8, 1917.
_Dear Friend:_ I saw in the Chicago Defender where you waned
labor. pleas send pass for as many men as you can are let me know
what I must do to get one by return mail because I wont to leave
the south and go north where you get a better chance. So please
answer at once.
SUMTER, S. C., May 12, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Could you get me a job in the ---- Tin Plate Factory
at ----, Pa. a job for (3) three also a pass from here for (3) I
am a comon laborer and the other are the same. If you could we
will be ever so much ablige and will comply with your
advertisement. If you cant get a job just where we wish to go we
will thank you for a good job any where in the state of Pa. or
Ohio. I am in my 50 the others are my sons just in the bloom of
life and I would wish that you could find a place where we can
make a living and I also wish that you could find a place where
we all three can be together. If you will send us a pass we will
come just as soon as I receive it. If you find a place that you
can send us please let us hear what the job will pay. Nothing
more. I am yours respectfully.
CARRIER, MISS., May, 1917.
Please sir will you please send me transportation for me and my
wife I am willing to work anywhere you put me at the rate I am
going it would take me from now until Cristmas to feed myself and
get money enough to come with. Wages is so low and grocery is so
high untill all I can do is to live. Please answer soon to.
NEWBERN, ALA., 5-21-1917.
_My dear Sir:_ Your letter of the 11th inst. to hand and contents
noted. In reply I wish to thank you for the kind offer relative
to the laides. We shall leave for New York on or before June
20th; I desire to know if it be possible to secure our
transportation fare from the parties to whom they shall work?
Owing to conditions (here) in the south one is hardly able to eke
out an existence on the paltry salaries allowed by our white
friends; therefore we need help. If you can comply with our
request, we shall be very grateful to you; & I wish to say in
advance that you will not have cause to regret for whatever the
charges may be we shall pay them willingly. I shall furnish the
best references as to character.
Now, if it be possible for us to secure our transportation, we
could leave here on or before the 5th of June. We prefer coming
by water as it is cheaper. I trust that I have made myself plain
and that you will see your way clear to serve us.
NEWBERN, ALA., 4/7/1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am in receipt of a letter from ---- of ----, ----,
in regards to placing two young women of our community in
positions in the North or West, as he was unable to give the
above assistance he enclosed your address. We desire to know if
you are in a position to put us in touch with any reliable firm
or private family that desire to employ two young women; one is a
teacher in the public school of this county, and has been for the
past six years having duties of a mother and sister to care for
she is forced to seek employment else where as labor is very
cheap here. The other is a high school pupil, is capable of
during the work of a private family with much credit.
Doubtless you have learned of the great exodus of our people to
the north and west from this and other southern states. I wish to
say that we are forced to go when one things of a grown man wages
is only fifty to seventy five cents per day for all grades of
work. He is compelled to go where there is better wages and
sociable conditions, believe me. When I say that many places here
in this state the only thing that the black man gets is a peck of
meal and from three to four lbs. of bacon per week, and he is
treated as a slave. As leaders we are powerless for we dare not
resent such or to show even the slightest disapproval. Only a few
days ago more than 1000 people left here for the north and west.
They cannot stay here. The white man is saying that you must not
go but they are not doing anything by way of assisting the black
man to stay. As a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church
(north) I am on the verge of starvation simply because of the
above conditions. I shall be glad to know if there is any
possible way by which I could be of real service to you as
director of your society. Thanking you in advance for an early
reply, and for any suggestions that you may be able to offer.
With best wishes for your success, I remain,
very sincerely yours.
BREWSTER, ALA., Jan. 6, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am writing you enregards if work in the north I
would like to came in turch with some of the leading men that
wants colerd laborer and what about transportation there is a
good deal of peple here wanting jobs.
TROY, ALA., 3-24-17.
_Dear Sir:_ I received you of Feb. 17 and was very delighted to
hear from you in regards of the matter in which I writen you
about. I am very anxious to get to Chicago and realy believe that
if I was there I would very soom be working on the position in
which I writen you about. Now you can just imagine how it is with
the colored man in the south. I am more than anxious to go to
Chicago but have not got the necessary fund in which to pay my
way and these southern white peoples are not paying a man enough
for his work down here to save up enough money to leave here
with. Now I am asking you for a helping hand in which to assist
me in getting to Chicago. I know you can do so if you only will.
Hoping to hear from you at an early date and looking for a
helping hand and also any information you choose to inform me of,
I remain as ever yours truly.
COLUMBIA, S. C., Dec. 1, 1917.
_Dear Ser:_ I am out of work and was inform to write you all
about work in the north I am a labor and is willing to work any
where. I am in need of work very bad let me here from you at
once.
CHARLESTON, S. C., April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ i was told by Mr. ---- ---- to rite you for one of
cards as he say you got a lot of work to do in a brick yard and i
am a hard working man i want to work and will work at any thing
that pays so i rite to you for one of your blank so i can fill it
out i dont care how soon i can get there and go to work there is
no work here that pays a man to stay here so please send blank as
soon as you can. Hoping to here from you soon.
SAVANNAH, GA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ I receive your letter and glad to hear from you, the
reason why i wanted to come up there is for more wages, i am a
man with family and works hard, but dont get sufficient wages to
support my family. i does any kind of ordinary hard work such as
farming or teamster or most anything, i would like to no what
kind of work you got up there to do as i fell satisfied that i
could please you, and also state your price that you pay, and if
this application is satisfactory why ans and i am willing to come
right way.
_Dear Sir:_ After reading a very interesting letter of Miss--, it
affords me great interest to ask you for some information in
regards to employment in Connecticut and to eliminate some
writing and get the right understanding. I will ask you to please
furnish me with an application form and in the mean time I may
receive all information that you may give. Also please if you
cannot get me employment in Connecticut, write me if there are
any openings in New Jersey or New York. I am very anxious to
leave the south as there are no chances of jobs here worth while.
I have a recommendation as machine helper which I can send if
required.
Hoping to have an interview as early as possible.
SAVANNAH, GA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ In seeing your advertisement in reference to securing
a position for those desiring, I decided to take advantage of
this opportunity as I desire better wages to meet the present
high cost of living.
Hoping to hear from you at once in reference to the above
request.
FORT GAINES, GA., Oct. 9, 1916.
_Dear Sir:_ Replying to your letter dates Oct. 6th the situation
here is this: Heavy rains and Boll weavel has caused a loss of
about 9,000 bales of cotton which together with seed at the
prevailing high prices would have brought $900,000.00 the average
crop here being 11,000 bales, but this years' crop was
exceptionally fine and abundant and promised good yeald until the
two calamities hit us.
Now the farmer is going to see that his personal losses are
minimised as far as possible and this has left the average farm
laborer with nothing to start out with to make a crop for next
year, nobody wants to carry him till next fall, he might make
peanuts and might not, so taking it alround, he wants to migrate
to where he can see a chance to get work.
I have carpenters, one brick mason, blacksmith, etc., wanting to
leave here, can send you their names if definate proposition is
held out.
HOUSTON, TEX., 2-25-17.
_Dear Sir:_ Would you please to be so kind to advise us on what
condition to get in tuch with some club on micration movement we
have 1000 of idle people here and good working people would be
trully glad to except of that good oppertunity of coming north
and work. Now please give us the full detales of the movingment
so we can get to gether now please advise right away of the main
headquarters of the club for we are ready for business just as
soon as we can get a understanding from the main club for we have
lots of people in Tex. want to no direct about it and want to go.
We take your paper in this citey and your paper was all we had to
go by so we are depending on you for farther advise. Dear editor
you muss excuse our bad letter for we rote it in a hurry.
KEATCHIE, LA., 12/8/16.
_Dear Sir:_ I have been reading in the Union-Review and other
papers about the work of your department and I am writing to you
for some information. I would like to know about general
conditions, as to wages, cost of living, living conditions etc.
Also as to persons of color adopting themselves to the northern
climate, having been reared in the south. This information would
be much appreciated and would be also of much interest to not
only the writer of this letter but to many more. Many books would
be written dealing with conditions here in regard to the Negro.
Compared with other things to which we have almost become
resigned, the high cost of living coupled with unreasonably low
wages is of greatest concern. We have learned to combat with more
or less success other conditions, but thousands of us can bearly
keep body and soul together with wages 60, 75 and $1.00 and meat
at 19, flour $10 and $12 per bbl and everything else according.
LIVE OAK, FLA., Feb. 12, 1917.
_Dare Sire:_ Replying to youse some times ago were reseav an was
glad to here from you so please let me no how is bisness up
nourth and cod I get a job as I wont to go nourth as we dont get
half pay for our wourk down here so please let me here from you
an can I get a persistion in youre city.
SAVANNAH, GA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I write you to let you know that I am out of
employment as jobs are very hard to find down here and I would
like to have a job in your firm in N.Y. as I have relatives there
I can pack tobacco and I would like very much to work in your
firm in N.Y. or Conn. and I would like for you to send me a
ticket as soon as possible.
LITTLE ROCK, ARK., 5/2/17.
_Der Sir:_ It affordes me much pleasure to write to you a few
lines in regardes of a posision sir i were reared in the state of
ill. your home state, but have been here for eight years working
as a helper in a blacksmith shop and have been taking the
Defender regular for a long time so i have decided to come back
to my home state once more where i can get better pay so o will
ask you to please help me in getting a good job. i wont to learn
the molders trade or some good trade that i can make more than i
am making here. i am a Christian and have been for 20 years. am a
member of the first Baptist Church here an a member of the United
Brethren of Odd Fellows and is in good standing. now please
assist me just as soon as possible i am ready to come up just as
soon as i get a hearing from you. Please look after it for me at
once if you can not get me a job in your town, I will go anny
place you send me.
JACKSON, MISS., April 20, 1917.
_Sir:_ i wants to know do yo want somme famlis to move up their
if you do rite and let me no at once and i will get yo some at
once to come up their to work for you if you do rite an let me no
at once and i will get them. now write an let me no at once send
me work an i will try to bill your wont if you will aide me to
get them up their i can get all that yo wont here to come up
their and will come if they had any way to comt i wont to come
but the times is so harde that i cant make the money to come on i
want to move up their at once if i hade some way to come i wod
come at once.
CHARLESTON, S.C., April 29, 1917.
_dear sir:_ I found your address by Mr. ---- ---- kindness. I
wrote him a letter concerning of a just a half of chance and any
kind of a job will do just so I am out of this part of the
country. Now here is my lines of work. I am a first class clothes
cleaner and presser, can operate any kind of clothes pressing
machine. I have got reference to show that I am good in that line
from Mr. ----, a member of our city. I am a waiter european or
american, alicout or short order, and I am bell hop and knows the
rules of a hotel. I am lawfully married and has no children. My
wife and myself are both from Augusta, Ga. but I am working down
here but I dont like it, I am just barely making a living and
thats all. Now my wife can work too. She can cook, nurse and do
house work, I simply make a distintion about my home being in
Augusta Ga for this reason, some Charlestonians speaks such bad
language. Now please do the best you can for me and let me hear
from you as soon, as possible and let me know your terms. I am
ready. Good-by.
HAWKINSVILLE, GA., Apr. 16, 1917.
_My dear friends:_ I writen you some time ago and never received
any answer at all. I just was thinking why that I have not. I
writen you for employ on a farm or any kind of work that you can
give me to do I am willing to do most any thing that you want me
to so dear friends if you just pleas send ticket for me I will
come up thear just as soon as I receives it I want to come to the
north so bad tell I really dont no what to do. I am a good worker
a young boy age of 23. The reason why I want to come north is why
that the people dont pay enough for the labor that a man can do
down here so please let me no what can you do for me just as
soon as you can I will pay you for the ticket and all so enything
on your money that you put in the ticket for me, and send any
kind of contrak that you send me.
HOUSTON, TEX., 4-29-17.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a constant reader of the "Chicago Defender" and
in your last issue I saw a want ad that appealed to me. I am a
Negro, age 37, and am an all round foundry man. I am a cone maker
by trade having had about 10 years experience at the buisness,
and hold good references from several shops, in which I have been
employed. I have worked at various shops and I have always been
able to make good. It is hard for a black man to hold a job here,
as prejudice is very strong. I have never been discharged on
account of dissatisfaction with my work, but I have been "let
out" on account of my color. I am a good brassmelter but i prefer
core making as it is my trade. I have a family and am anxious to
leave here, but have not the means, and as wages are not much
here, it is very hard to save enough to get away with. If you
know of any firms that are in need of a core maker and whom you
think would send me transportation, I would be pleased to be put
in touch with them and I assure you that effort would be
appreciated. I am a core maker but I am willing to do any honest
work. All I want is to get away from here. I am writing you and I
believe you can and will help me. If any one will send
transportation, I will arrange or agree to have it taken out of
my salary untill full amount of fare is paid. I also know of
several good fdry. men here who would leave in a minute, if there
only was a way arranged for them to leave, and they are men whom
I know personally to be experienced men. I hope that you will
give this your immediate attention as I am anxious to get busy
and be on my way. I am ready to start at any time, and would be
pleased to hear something favorable.
CHARLESTON, S. C., April 29, 1917.
_Kind Sir:_ Read your adv. in the Chicago Defender. I would like
very much to have you take me in consideration. I am strong and
ambitious. Would work under any conditions to get away from this
place for I am working and throwing away my valuable time for
nothing. Kindly let me hear from you at your earliest.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., June 10, 1917.
_Kind Sir:_ I read and hear daly of the great chance that a
colored parson has in Chicago of making a living with all the
priveleg that the whites have and it mak me the most ankious to
want to go where I may be able to make a liveing for my self.
When you read this you will think it bery strange that being only
my self to support that it is so hard, but it is so. everything
is gone up but the poor colerd peple wages. I have made sevle
afford to leave and come to Chicago where I hear that times is
good for us but owing to femail wekness has made it a perfect
failure. I am a widow for 9 years. I have very pore learning
altho it would not make much diffrent if I would be throughly
edacated for I could not get any better work to do, such as house
work, washing and ironing and all such work that are injering to
a woman with femail wekness and they pay so little for so hard
work that it is just enough to pay room rent and a little some
thing to eat. I have found a very good remady that I really
feeling to belive would cure me if I only could make enough money
to keep up my madison and I dont think that I will ever be able
to do that down hear for the time is getting worse evry day. I am
going to ask if you peple hear could aid me in geting over her in
Chicago and seeking out a position of some kind. I can also do
plain sewing. Please good peple dont refuse to help me out in my
trouble for I am in gret need of help God will bless you. I am
going to do my very best after I get over here if God spair me to
get work I will pay the expance back. Do try to do the best you
can for me, with many thanks for so doing I will remain as ever,
Yours truly.
MCCOY, LA., April 16, 1917.
_Dear Editor:_ I have been takeing your wonderful paper and I
have saved from the first I have received and my heart is upset
night and day. I am praying every day to see some one that I may
get a pass for me, my child and husband I have a daughter 17 who
can work well and myself. please sir direct me to the place where
I may be able to see the parties that I and my family whom have
read the defender so much until they are anxious to come dear
editor we are working people but we cant hardly live here I would
say more but we are back in the jungles and we have to lie low
but please sir answer and I pray you give me a homeward
consilation as we havent money enough to pay our fairs.
HERNANDO, MISS., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I have heard so much about the demand for negro labor
and the high price paid for it in the northern part of this
country (the U. S.). I've decided to investigate the rumor from
the most reliable source. And as it generally known that
newspaper men are the best informed, therefore have thought to
request of you for the particulars of the matter. Will you
furnish me the desired information or point out such party, or
parties that can and will do so. (Personal.)
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Please send me at once a transportation at once I
will sure come if I live send it as soon as possible because
these white people are getting so they put every one in prison
who are not working I can not get any I can do any kind of common
labor. I am a brick layer also a painter I want to go to
Cleveland and I have good health and will do my best to improve.
They are two family my mother want to come she is a good cook
house clean, so all she want is information. I am not going to
bring my family when I come I am gong to send back for it. Dont
fail to send my Fla. transportation by return mail if you want I
can get them as many as you want.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ reading the Chicago Defender seeing thair are still
plenty work in the north I am an automobile repaire and wishes
position at once as I am out of employmen and are a man of family
and a working man indeed. Hoping to receive ticket by Return Mail
or anser
FULLERTON, LA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I was looking over a news paper and seen your address
and has been wanting to go some where in you country where i can
get better wedges and i would like to come up there of corse i
dont know anything about that work but i can learn it in a short
while. and if you can give me a job i would like to know and i
want to know weather you will send me a pass or not i has a wife
an i would like to know will you send me a pass for i and my wife
if you will i want you to write me and let me know as soon as you
can and tell we what you can do about the matter so this all
HOUSTON, TEX., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I thought I would write you a few lines of importance
I ask you to help me that much the lord will help you I am a
christians I try to make a honest living a man ought to help
another when he try to help his self. this is only one I will do
any kind of work if any company pass in up their I can pay half
of my fare. I am motherless and fatherless I dont care when I go
I am gone trust in the lord if you yill help me the Lord will pay
you I am with donfident I am not a loafer If my fare is advance
up their it a written contract that I will work it out.
May God bless you. Answer soon
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I write you a few lines asking you if there is a
chance please let me know I can do most any kind of work labor or
helper packer willing to learn a trade I see where they sends
transportation well I would be willing if one of the firms would
send me a pass then when I start to work for them they could take
it out of my wages every week untill it was paid for. All I ask
is give me a chance and I will make good. Hopeing that my letter
will meet with your Apporval and if there is a firm that is
willing to send me a pass to come to work up there Please show
them my letter and they can deduck out of my wages for the pass.
Hopeing that you will hear of one of the firms that wants
laborers and Helpers and that they will let me know when writing
adress is to
G---- A----, ---- ---- Ave. New Orleans, La.
Please write and let me know if theres a chance. I remain yours
PENSACOLA, FLA., 4/29/17.
_Dear Sir:_ in reading the Chicago Defender I saw yore wants add
for foundry ware house and yard men I do truly ask you to pleas
give me some instruction How I can get there I am a working man I
am not sport or a gamble or class with them if I kno it But I am
study evry day working man of family wife and one child 9 years
old but this is hard time in the south now and I have not the
means to come. But if you can get me up there I will give you
good service in yore ware house and yard work. My daily work has
been in a ware house for the past 6 years and i kno one more good
man that want to come too with family and would be glad to get
up there as soon as I can. I will garntee you good and reglar
service from Both of us.
Hopeing to here from you soon
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: Im a reader of the Defender, and I saw in this weeks
issue where you stated that three cities were in need of moulders
and helpers. And as I have once worked in a foundry, as a helper
I have some experience of the work and would like very much to
know under what conditions could you put me in touch with a firm
in a small size town, where it would send me a transportation.
I would leave tomorrow, if I had such opportunity. I am married,
have a wife and two small children, and cant support them in this
place properly.
Hoping to receive some kind of reply.
SAVANNAH, GA., April 29, 1918.
_Dear Sir_: I were reading your advertisement in the Chicago
Defender where you were in need for men at the ---- ----. I am a
hard working man in the south and get nothing for it I would like
to recive a hearing from you in return mail in rgard of seeking a
transportation for me and my nephew if you will send for me and
my nephew I will come at once and I garantee you that you wont
regret it. We are hard workers of the south please oblige.
Answer at once return mail I will be at your call.
MOBILE, ALA., April 30, 1917
_Dear Sir_: I was reading in the Chicago defender where They
wanted so many men to work. I am very anxious to work. I can do
most any kind of work I have been out of a job ever since
January. will you please try and get me in Chicago, so that I can
be able to get one of those jobs. please get me a job. I have a
wife and we can hardly live in this place. I am a machinist by
trade. I am a Schauffer also. I can repair an auto to. please
send for me at once, as I am in need of work.
My age is 25 years and my wife is 21 years. My name is ----
SAVANNAH, GA., April 24, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ As I my self intend to go north or some place where
I can get good wages so as to better my condition and aim to go
in a few days if I can get off right. I would have been gone
before now but I could not save enough money out of small wages
and high cost of living to get away, since I saw a piece in the
Chicago Defender about you I am eager to get in touch with you at
once as I understand you are in the employment business if so
please let me hear from you by return mail as I must leave in a
few days if can get away the right way. So if you have some good
jobs open in some small towns or cities that will pay good wages
please let me hear from you this week if can do so. Write me the
kind of work and wages paid and where at so I can choose the kind
I like, also let me know if I can get a ticket sent me to come on
with a garntee to pay for it out of my first wages a part each
pay day until paid. Please let me hear from you at once.
ATLANTA, GA., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ In reading the Chicago Defender I find that there are
many jobs open for workmen, I wish that you would or can secure
me a position in some of the northern cities; as a workman and
not as a loafer. One who is willing to do any kind of hard in
side or public work, have had broad experience in machinery and
other work of the kind. A some what alround man can also cook,
well trained devuloped man; have travel extensively through the
western and southern states; A good strong _morial religious_ man
no habits. I will accept transportation on advance and deducted
from my wages later. It does not matter where, that is; as to
city, country, town or state since you secure the positions. I am
quite sure you will be delighted in securing a position for a man
of this description. I'll assure you will not regret of so doing.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
SHREVEPORT, LA., April 26-17.
_Dear Sirs:_ I am writing you as to how and where I can go to
obtain better freedom and better pay for the balence of my life
as being a contance reader of the Chicago defender the add in
front cover first colum refered me to you. If you can put me in
touch of some one that I ma communicate with as to the position I
will be verry grateful to you. I am a cook & barber also
thorughly acquainted with steam works hoping to hear from you
will full particular
I am yours for better success.
P S I has a fair education.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 7, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am earnestly in need of work and would be very glad
if you could recomend me to some of the firms that you are
securing labor for. I saw your add in the Defender.
CRICHTON, MOBILE, ALA., April 30, 1917.
_Sirs and Gentelmen:_ I am poor man and honest working man and I
am here in the south this hard country seeking for labor that I
can make an onest living I can do most any kind of commond work
and I will do so please put me next. Give me an early reply years
to please
PENSACOLA, FLA., May 7, 1917.
_Gentelmen:_ I wants to ask you to look out for a job for me in
that section as I am a good tailors helper good sewer and as
cleaning presing and dyeing I have had nine years experance in
that line but I will do other work if I can get it as factory
work in or out of the city will do I am man of a family and have
no time to piack work. Thanks
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 9, 1917.
_My dear Sir:_ In looking over the Chicago Defender why I come
across your name in connections with ---- ---- of Chicago and
thinking that you could do me a lots of good why I thought that I
would write you asking of you to locate me with transportation
with some one who are looking for a hard working honest and sober
colored man.
Will do any kind of work. Am a farmer, saw mill man, a good cook.
Also I have worked for quite awhile for express company here.
I am unable to pay my way to your city at present and any help
extended me along that line will be more than appreciated by me.
Am married, and my wife is a first class cook and house woman.
Now if I am not taking too much of your time why please let me
hear from you at once as I would like very much to get out of the
south as quick as possible for there is nothing here for a
colored man, any more.
Please give my name to some one that needs a good man, who is
willing to send transportation for me and wife, or my self. I
probably can make some arrangements to get there in a few days.
Hoping to hear from you in a few days and thanking you for same
before hand.
LETTERS ABOUT BETTER EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES
ANNISTON, ALA., April 23, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ Please gave me some infamation about coming north i
can do any kind of work from a truck gardin to farming i would
like to leave here and i cant make no money to leave I ust make
enought to live one please let me here from you at once i want to
get where i can put my children in schol.
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA., April 25, 1917.
_My dear Sir:_ While reading the Chicago Defender of april 21st I
saw that you was the man to write to four a job as say the paper
I have some children I lost my wife just a year ago and I would
like to get a place where I could proply educate them I am a
bober by trade I been in the work for 20 years study, I dont
drink al all any thing like whiskey I am a church man and all the
children belong to the church too your trully
PITTSBURG, PA., April 26, 1917.
_dear sir:_ your letter was all write this one leaves me all
write i means what is write this is a matter of buisness and no
folishness and joaking in this Please dont think i set down and
write something just because i seen it in your paper for i am a
working man i work for my living dont i am saying just to get a
jobe i no i am south rais man i want some places to send my
children to school my means is that i am to old to old.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw your add in the Chicago Defender for laborers.
I am a young man and want to finish school. I want you to look
out for me a job on the place working morning and evening. I
would like to get a job in some private family so I could
continue taking my piano lesson I can do anything around the
house but drive and can even learn that. Send me the name of the
best High school in Chicago. How is the Wendell Phillips College.
I have finish the grammer school. I cannot come before the middle
of June.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 5/5x17
_My dear sir:_ I have you reply stating all the information to
me. I thank you very much for same I must say I think you are a
real friend. now the best classes of colored men in the south are
still here but are making preparation to come north and are not
particular about coming to Chicago. All we want is to know just
what youve told me here in this letter. I have been living here
in New Orleans only seven years. I formerly live in the country
but owing to bad conditions of schools for my children I sold my
property and moved here. I didnt think there was any justice in
my paying school taxes and had no fit school to send by children
to. I have been employed here as night eatchman for the last four
years and are still working at it but my wajes are so small the
high cost of living leaves very little for traveling expenses but
never the less I have a boy sixteen years old as soon as school
closes I will take him north with me hoping to find work for him
and I during vacation. You will see me soon. Thanking you kindly.
GRABOW, LOUISIANA, 5/9/17
_My dear Sir:_ your letter to me togeather with information was
recieved and noted carefully from the same I find that work in
and about Chicago is not plentiful as agents are makeing out as I
know for myself that I have been talked to hard to leave at once
for Chicago. I am a carpenter by trade tho I have 10 years
experience in the shop. I were under the empression that one
would have to join the carpenter's union or machinist union on
order to obtain work. Tho I know joining a union would put a
stress om me as my straight life policy exemps me from such. Your
letter being wrote in paragraphs I Parag 5) you are advising men
who knows the molders trade or wanting to learn the machinist
trade which are those 4 or 5 cities? Should chances in the same
better I would not get as far as Chicago. I am a man of family
and contemplated that with my Hudson could drive to Chicago by
land in 8 days, but as you advise leaving my family I consider
you knows best, tho at present I dont see any enducements at all.
$3.00 per day is carpenter wedge in this part of Louisiana for
10 hours and $4.00 machinest. But our chances are so slim. Causes
me to be disgusted at the south. Our poll tax paid, state and
parish taxes yet with donations we cannot get schools. What do
you think of conditions here? Thanking you for your past and in
advance for your future information I am verry truly yours.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 17, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: I received your letter and was indeed glad to hear
from you I am expecting to arrive in Chicago abou the 14th of
June as I want to get my wife and children place until I can send
for them. I am going to place them with my father over in Pass
Christian Miss and my expense will be very cheap. Of course I am
very anxious to get work because I have been working and
supporting my family for the last 15 years and my wife never had
to work out yet and I keep my children in school all the time. I
will wire you just before I arrive so you will expect me in the
office. I will be very glad for any service are information that
you will be able to give me as I am coming. I think I would like
to work in Detroit Mich. I am not so much on Chicago on account
of my children. I am glad you can help me and place me in a job
right away.
ALEXANDRIA, LA., 4/23/11.
_Gentlemens_: Just a word of information I am planning to leave
this place on about May 11th for Chicago and wants ask you
assistence in getting a job. My job for the past 8 years has been
in the Armour Packing Co. of this place and I cand do anything to
be done in a branch house and are now doing the smoking here I am
36 years old have a wife and 2 children. I has been here all my
life but would be glad to go wher I can educate my children where
they can be of service to themselves, and this will never be
here.
Now if you can get a job with eny of the packers I will just as
soon as I arrive in your city come to your pace and pay you for
your troubel. And if I cant get on with packers I will try
enything that you have to effer.
CRESCENT, OKLA., April 30, 1917.
_Sir_: I am looking for a place to locate this fall as a farmer.
Do you think you could place me on a farm to work on shares. I am
a poor farmer and have not the money to buy but would be glad to
work a mans farm for him. I am desirous of leaving here because
of the school accommodations for children as I have five and want
to educate them the best I can. Prehaps you can find me a
position of some kind if so kindly let me know I will be ready to
leave here this fall after the harvest is layed by. I am planting
cotton.
GRANVILLE, MISS., May 16, 1917.
_Dear Sir_: This letter is a letter of information of which you
will find stamp envelop for reply. I want to come north some time
soon but I do not want to leve here looking for a job wher I
would be in dorse all winter. Now the work I am doing here is
running a gauge edger in a saw mill. I know all about the grading
of lumber. I have abeen working in lumber about 25 or 27 years My
wedges here is $3.00 a day 11 hours a day. I want to come north
where I can educate my 3 little children also my wife. Now if you
cannot fit me up at what I am doing down here I can learn
anything any one els can. also there is a great deal of good
women cooks here would leave any time all they want is to know
where to go and some way to go. please write me at once just how
I can get my people where they can get something for their work.
there are women here cookeing for $1.50 and $2.00 a week. I would
like to live in Chicago or Ohio or Philadelphia. Tell Mr Abbott
that our pepel are tole that they can not get anything to do up
there and they are being snatched off the trains here in
Greenville and a rested but in spite of all this, they are
leaving every day and every night 100 or more is expecting to
leave this week. Let me here from you at once.
PELAHATCHEE, MISS., April 27, 1917.
_Dear Sirs_: I see through the Chicago Defender that you have a
reputation of furnishing employment to men. Kindly give me the
particulars. What class of work do you get men? I am writing you
to know that I may obtain an; employment through you. I want a
good paying job that I may be able to educate my children. Kindly
let me hear from you.
DEO VOLENTE, MISS., April 30, 1917.
_Dear Sirs_: I am expecting to come with my family to your town,
or some smaller town near you, in the near future. Would like to
farm near Chicago or some small town near Chicago where my
children can have good educational advantages. Seeing the Chicago
Defender that your organization was in position to give me the
proper infermation therefore I write asking you to please give me
the above infermation. By so doing you will greatly oblige me.
-------------------- (colored)
STARKVILLE, MISS., May 28, 1917.
_Sir:_ Your name have bin given me as a Relibal furm putting
people in toutch with good locations for education there children
Now I am a man of 40 years old by traid I am a barber of 20 years
experence I am now in the business for white but I can barber for
either white or colord I have a wife and seven children 5 girls
and 2 boys allso I am a preacher I dont care for the large city
life I rather live in a town of 15 or 20 thousand I want to raise
by family nice and I would like for my children to have the
advantage of good schools and churches Now if you are in a
persison to help me a long this line I would be glad to here from
you.
GREENVILLE, S. C., 5/2/1917.
_Sir:_ I have been impressed to the extent of writing you by
having noted an article in the Chicago Defender regarding the
good work your organization is accomplishing.
I am a Negro mechanic, having served the paint trade since 1896,
30 years years of age, married, no booster, a graduate of N. Y.
trade school, first honor, class of 1906, wish to change location
for better educational advantages for my children consequently
will be glad to have you endeavor to place me. Hoping to hear
from you at earliest convenience. Willing to accept position in
any good north western city, with white or colored firm.
ATLANTA, GA., April 22, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I now rite to inquier of the works in the north as I
saw your ad in the Chicago Defender I wants to come north if
thair is any work up their I wants to get in a good place whear I
can educate my children I am a natif of Charleston West Va but
come off down here in this hard luck countary and married &
raised a fanily and wants to get in a good location to raise them
sence you are in the busness I wants some information I would
like to hear from you pearsonaly if I can I am not pertickley
about Chicago just since I get a good place in the north whear I
can educate my children how is groceries in the countary let me
hear from you at & early date.
AUGUSTA, GA., April 27, 1917.
_Sir:_ Being a constant reader of your paper, I thought of no one
better than you to write for information.
I'm desirous of leaving the south but before so doing I want to
be sure of a job before pulling out. I'm a member of the race, a
normal and colloege school graduate, a man of a family and can
give reference. Confidentially this communication between you and
me is to be kept a secret.
My children I wished to be educated in a different community than
here. Where the school facilities are better and less prejudice
shown and in fact where advantages are better for our people in
all respect. At present I have a good position but I desire to
leave the south. A good position even tho' its a laborer's job
paying $4.50 or $5.00 a day will suit me till I can do better.
Let it be a job there or any where else in the country, just is
it is east or west. I'm quite sure you can put me in touch with
some one. I'm a letter carrier now and am also a druggist by
profession. Perhaps I may through your influence get a transfer
to some eastern or western city.
Nevada or California as western states, I prefer, and I must say
that I have nothing against Detroit, Mich.
I shall expect an early reply. Remember keep this a secret please
until I can perfect some arrangements.
GLEBDON, ALA., April 22, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I seen it in the Chicago Defender that if any one
dezire to locate in a small town where they can get fairly good
wages and educate there children address you who neads men and
stop paying men 50 cts & $1.00 for Job well i wont to come there
where i can get work & fairly good wages & educate my children &
i am not able to bear my expences i have a wife & 7 chrildren &
if you can make any preparation for me to come & bring them let
me here from you i have too boys big enough to work one 12 years
old the other 10 and i have been trying to get away from here for
some time & i cant get ot without your aid i seen it on a small
paper a littler strip where Mr. ---- ---- at the state of Neb at
omaha he advise any one that wont to go north or west rite him &
send a too sent stamp withen your letter that i may not be
slighte and then when her and your he send a blank with the
letter to be fill an send him $1.50 one dollar an half which he
say it is all is required no more money i will hafter pay i wrote
hem for a pass & that what he told me to do & when i arrive i
would have a job all ready now when i seem what the Chicago
defender says about men get money that way it cause me to stop &
study would it a safe plan of me to go out on such terms an so i
ask you Gentlemen for all infermation that you can give me in the
regards of leaving the south let me here from you at once we
colored people havin a hard time down here now i have paper here
but I aint sind it yet
LETTERS ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF NEGROES IN THE SOUTH
MACON, GA., April 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am writing you for information I want to come north
east but I have not sufficient funds and I am writing you to see
if there is any way that you can help me by giving me the names
of some of the firms that will send me a transportation as we are
down here where we have to be shot down here like rabbits for
every little orfence as I seen an orcurince hapen down here this
after noon when three depties from the shrief office an one Negro
spotter come out and found some of our raice mens in a crap game
and it makes me want to leave the south worse than I ever did
when such things hapen right at my door, hopeing to have a reply
soon and will in close a stamp from the same.
SAVANNAH, GA., May 5, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ I rite you these few lines seeking information how
could I get up north and if you could do me any good I an five
more men would like to come but we have no money we would come to
any reasonable terms that you makes, and if you cannot do the
five no good please sir try and do some thing for me. I rite you
this mostly for my self I am in a bad shape. I am willing to do
most any kind of work labaring excuiseing hotel. You was
recomended to me by Bro -- -- ---- of Savannah Tribune, now in
plain words plese send for me or get some of the contractors to
send and I will willingly come to terms. I am willing await you
ans. In short.
SPARTA, GA., Jan. 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Information reaches me that you can give information
as to places that colored men can get employment in the north and
east as quite a number of we colored men in this vicinity
contemplates leaving the south providing we can get employment at
reasonable wages. I would like to know where to locate, what kind
of work and what wages paid skilled and unskilled laborer, &
whether transportation can be furnished. Hoing to hear from you
by return mail.
CHARLESTON, S.C., 4/4/17.
_Dear Sir:_ I have heard about you as being an employment beura
so I would like very mutch for you to get me a job, and if you
will please send ticket by rail because we are not allowed to
leave by boat any mour. so I will take a job as
porter--butler--hosler bellman can furnish reference an 27 years
old married. Please notify right away.
SANFORD, FLA., 5/12/17.
_Dear Sir:_ The winter is about over and I still have a desire to
seek for myself a section of this country where I can poserably
better my condishion in as much as beaing asshured some
protection as a good citizen under the Stars and Stripes so kind
sir I am here asking you agin if you know directly or indirectly
of any opening that you could direct me to where I can make a
reasonable livelyhood kindly inform me. Why I write you agin is
because it appears to me from your headings that your concern ar
making some opening for the (col) from the south and agin I do
not cear to live here in a simple way if poserable I would like
to be shure of an imployment before I leave Kindley do what ever
good you can for me.
PENSACOLA, FLA., April 30, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I perchanced to run across your address. The which I
am proud of. I like my fellow southerner am looking northward.
But before leaving the South Id like to know just wher I am goin
and what Im to do if posible. I see from your card that you can
help me and I believe you will. I want to say that I dont hope to
travil north to loaf. I will be seeking better employment and
better wa es mainly. I might state just here what Im best fitted
for. 1st Im a christain man a man of sober habits. Ive had
several years experience in business for 20 years Ive been a
salesman & collector or business mgr thirteen years of said time
I were engaged in the industrial insurance work. worked from a
green agent to dist mgr ship at present am engaged as a salesman
and collector. But would accept position as jarnitor of general
utility man ordainary cook the which I ve served in a short order
house for whites only. And also in a house run for both races. In
fact will serve in any honest capacity That I'm capeble of that
pays well. Please excuse these persional reference but Im
striveing to make the acquaintance, can furnish reference as to
integrity and ability any information given me in my efort will
be gratefully received. Thanking you in advance.
TROY, ALA., Oct. 17, 1916.
_Dear Sirs_ I am enclosing a clipping of a lynching again which
speaks for itself. I do wish there could be sufficient presure
brought about to have federal investigation of such work. I wrote
you a few days ago if you could furnish me with the addresses of
some firms or co-opporations that needed common labor. So many of
our people here are almost starving. The government is feeding
quite a number here would go any where to better their
conditions. If you can do any thing for us write me as early as
posible.
BHAM, ALA., May 13, 1917.
_Sir:_ the edeater of the paper i am in the darkness of the south
and i am trying my best to get out do you no where about i can
get a job in new york. i wood be so glad if cood get a good job
hear in this beautifull city o please help me to get out of this
low down county i am counted no more thin a dog help me please
help me o how glad i wood be if some company wood send me a
ticket to come and work for them no joking i mean business i work
if i can get a good job.
ANNE MANTL, ALA., April 24, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I read in the Chicago Defender of last week that you
were in the employment buisness now sire we want to leave the
south and settle in some small town in Illinoise or any other
good northern state where we can get fairely good wagges and be
protected we are disgusted with the south since we hear that we
can do better we want to get up a club to get north. Please tell
us how to go about it all of us dont have a lot of money but we
are able and willing to work and just want a chance. Thanking you
in advance for any thing you may do for us we are
BRYAN, TEX., Sept. 13, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am writing you as I would like to no if you no of
any R. R. Co and Mfg. that are in need for colored labors. I want
to bring a bunch of race men out of the south we want work some
whear north will come if we can git passe any whear across the
Mason & Dickson. please let me hear from you at once if you can
git passes for 10 or 12 men. send at once. I beg to remain.
OAKDALE, LA., April 21, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I saw in the Defender something concerning the
employment up there. I would like mighty well to come if I could
get a job I would be ready to come about the 15th of May. I will
take a job in town or out of town either one. There are 3 or 4
more business men that are interested and would come, write me at
once and let me know about the situation. Some hasn't the fund to
come with and if the employer would furnish them transportation
they would readily come at once.
So far as me I couldn't come until I could arrange to sell out as
I am in business for God knows I want to leave the South land.
Let me hear from you at once.
SAVANNAH, GA., 4/21/17.
_Dear Sir:_ Through the Chicago Definder I am writing your
company to get in touch with you. as I am seeking employment in
the north part of the country for the betterment of my condition.
& friends wishes to follow after me. if there is any advice or
assistant you can give to us please let me know at once, we are
not choice about locating in the city as we will be satisfied
with a small town as well as any part of the north.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 17, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I am a race man and aire inquireing Dear Sir from
some one that I know is in position to give me the proper
information truthfully enclosed please find stamps for return
mail. Dear sir I have a wife & a son also that has a wofe and one
child we desire to come north to live if we could only get a pass
to that end. The passes that are being issued in New Orleans to
members of the race are verry limited and it is a little dificult
for me to get a pass out I am no railroad man but I can work also
my son if my son and I could get a pass to Illinois we would come
at once and leave our wives at home untill we could work and
send for them ourselves. Dear sirs if you know of any firm that
desires any one of the race that wants to come north with their
families please inform them and me as I would like verry much to
come north but have not the money to pay my fare with please
answer by return mail. Please help me as I wants to get from the
south so bad. Thanking you in advance I am yours in the Lord. I
am 40 years old. Please help me to get away from the south.
Please keep this letter and not put it in public print. Dear sir
I further ask that the firm or firms in which I am offered
employment desire a recommendation as a work or laborer I can
furnish them with same for honesty and etc. Please answer. Please
answer as there are others of the race that wants to come north
in great numbers and would like to be informed how to come north.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 5/20/17.
_Dear Sirs:_ My silfe and a friend is after hearing from you
contemplating the idea of coming north we have been told that
yours is the business of informing those who are coming there of
what is the very best way and about work, etc. Wish to say we
need your information and are very anxious of being advised by
you. We will want work as soon as were there and we are not
perticular about Chiago. Anywhere north will do us and I suppose
the worst place there is better than the best place here. Please
inform us by return mail where we can get work and how in doing
so you will be helping us wonderfully and we will more than
appreciate your efforts, wishing you much success and hoping to
hear from you this week, I am, Yours with best wishes.
PALESTINE, TEX., 1/2/17.
_Dear Sir:_ I hereby enclose you a few lines to find out some few
things if you will be so kind to word them to me. I am a
southerner lad and has never ben in the north no further than
Texas and I has heard so much talk about the north and how much
better the colard people are treated up there than they are down
here and I has ben striveing so hard in my coming up and now I
see that I cannot get up there without the ade of some one and I
wants to ask you Dear Sir to please direct me in your best manner
the stept that I shall take to get there and if there are any way
that you can help me to get there I am kindly asking you for your
ade. And if you will ade me please notify me by return mail
because I am sure ancious to make it in the north because these
southern white people are so mean and they seems to be getting
worse and I wants to get away and they wont pay enough for work
for a man to save up enough to get away and live to. If you will
not ade me in getting up there please give me some information
how I can get there I would like to get there in the early
spring, if I can get there if posible. Our southern white people
are so cruel we collord people are almost afraid to walke the
streets after night. So please let me hear from you by return
mail. I will not say very much in this letter I will tell you
more about it when I hear from you please ans. soon to Yours
truly.
SAVANNAH, GA., May 16, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I written you a special letter on last week
containing stamped envelope for early reply asking a favor of
you, as I am in the south and are trying all that I can to get
away as I told you in my letter that I have been here all my
life, which is about 40 years and trying with all of my might all
of that time to make an honest living and all of it seems to be a
failure and now as I heard of better wages and better treatment
you can receive acording to character and behavior. I am seeking
to get there by the help of the good Lord and if it is any
possible way of you securing work I and 2 daughters I will gladly
try all I can to repay you for your trouble. I wont say any thing
of my children as they are very honorable to me they have never
slept one night from under my roof. Now dear friend I write you
this as I have heard that you all are a friend to the needy and
if there is any hope for me please let me know by return mail.
ATLANTA, GA., April 29, 1917.
_Kind friend:_ While reading the Chicago Definder i saw and
advertisement for laborers wanted i am down in the south with my
familey and wishes to become a northern citysin i have onley
worked for two firms in my life and i am 35 years old. Worked in
Augusta Ga for more than 20 years and only made 10 dolars a week
fore years ago i moved to Atlanta went to weark for the ----
Cleaning Co of Atlanta, only making 10 a weak the wages is so
small i cant harly feed by familey and i cant save enough money
to get away i would like to get to Cleavland ohio i have some
friends thear saying that the wages is good if it is eney way you
can help me get up thear i will assure you i will be a wearthy
citysin wishing to hear from you soon. i am a man that wants to
weark and by gods help i beleive i will concur some old day.
ATLANTA, GA., April 22, 1917.
_Gentlemen:_ I am an experienced packer having been regularly
employed for quite a number of years for such work and I am now
employed by one of Atlanta's largest firms as a packer. I desire
to leave the south and would like for you to secure me a position
or put me in touch with some firm that needs a colored packer,
kindly advise me what your terms are for such work. I am not
particular about living in Chicago. Thanking you in advance.
MOBILE, ALA., Jan. 8, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am writing you to see if you can furnish me with
any information in regards to colored men securing employment. I
would like to know if you could put me in touch with some
manufacturing company either some corporation that is employing
or in of colored men. My reason is there are a number of young
men in this city of good moral and can furnish good
reference--that is anxious to leave this section of the country
and go where conditions are better. I taken this matter up with
Mr. ---- of Boston and he referred me to you. I myself is anxious
to leave this part of the country and be where a negro man can
appreshate beaing a man at the present time I am working as
office man for a large corporation which position I have had for
the past 11 years, having a very smart boy in his studies I wish
to locate where he could recive a good education. I could at a
few days notice place 200 good able bodied young men that is
anxious to leave this city, these men I refer to is men of good
morals and would prove a credit to the community. If you can
furnish me with the desired information it will be gladly
received, it makes little or no difference as to what state they
can go to just so they cross the Mason and Dixie line, trusting
you will furnish me with any information you have at hand at an
early date, I await your reply.
HOUSTON, TEX., April 3, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I have read the Defender and I have put my mine on it
and I wood lik to know mor abot it and if yo pleas send me a
letter abot the noth I will thenk uo becaus we have so miney
members of the race wont to come and live up thear and all they
is waitin on is a chanch and that is all and they will say fair
wel to this old world and thay all will come, some is rail road
some is shop and anny thang thay can gets to do. With hold the
name.
HOUSTON, TEX., May 16, 1917.
_Sir:_ I sincerely ask of you this very important favor I and my
family consists of 4--husband, wife boy 14 years boy of 4 months
also three others male of healthy and ambitious character also
dependable to our race asking at any time, are you able to
communicate with any firm or person needing such as are stated
thereon. I sincerely ask you to refer such to said adress as we
are only here asking the Lord to aid us out of this terrible
state we are now in. We do any kind of work for an honest
liveing.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., July 1, 1917.
_Kind Sir:_ in reading your paper I see where you could get me
and my family a job so if can I would be verry glad as it is my
wish to leave the south, any kind of a job all rite with me. I
will remane, Yours truly.
PENSACOLA, FLA., 5-19-17.
_Dear Editor:_ Would you please let me no what is the price of
boarding and rooming of Chicago and where is the best place to
get a job before the draft will work. I would rather join the
army 1000 times up there than to join it once down here.
WARRINGTON, FLA., 4-24-17.
_Sir:_ i red the Chgo Deffedeer and i seen where yo was in the
need of good men that wanted worke Sir I would like very much to
leave the South and come north if I could get a imployment my
trade is carpenter or seament finisher and I am willan to do any
kind of worke that come before me I can do which I am not working
at my trade now I am working in a store now and I can bring yo
some good men all so bring my recommendashon with me Hopin yo
will rite me at wonce and let me here from yo. My addres.
JACKSONVILLE, FLA., May 11, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ given me. Although i am badly disapointed because i
realy want to be among the northern folk and i have got the means
to leave here with and by the way you have explain matter to me
it would pay me best to have a transportation so I can be sure of
having a job when I gets there.
PENSACOLA, FLA., 5-18-17.
_Dear Sir:_ Just a few lines to ask your ade en getting a job as
waiter. I am a waiter of 10 or 12 years exsperience in the city
of New Orleans, 4 years here in this city also. I can cook and
serve as butler, I am verry anxious to get up there becaus I have
a family and I desire a study job en a more better city than
this. If you know of any one will send a transportation for a
good man please send for me. I am willing to pay my
transportation back in monthly payments. I will appreciate any
favor you can do for me along these lines as I am in need of a
good job just now. Can furnish best of refrience.
MOBILE, ALA., May 3, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ Alowe me to congralate you on your wonderful paper it
is a help to a lot of the people of our race it shows us the
difference between north and south. We are doing fine in our way
but would like to do better a lots of us would like to come up
there but are not able and dare not ask some one to help us to go
for the law will have us. I like your paper and would like to see
more of Mobile news in it. Who is your agent in Mobile. There is
lots of idle men in Mobile lots have trades but they are not
supplied with work and can't get anything to go off with. Several
men were arrested on being labor agents. Would like to correspond
with you if you could help our pepel eny. You may let me no threw
your paper.
NEW BERN, N.C., May 5, 1917.
_Dear sire:_ I seen you ade in the Chicago Defender for different
occpatisions and I in close you for and transportation for ten
men as I has them menny reddy now and wood be glad to leave at
the earliest date and I can get as menny as you wont and all so I
wont a job for my self because we ar in a bad condition in this
country and wish to in press a pon your mind the condition of we
poor colored people how we are geting a long in the south and I
want to show you how we ar treated by the white of the south by
sending you this strip to read for you self so I will close I
wish to here from you in the return mail at wonce. Please
ALEXANDRIA, LA., May 5, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I read your ad in the Chicago Defender paper where
are in need of 20 bench molder witch mean machinery men who under
stand the manufacture work and I am one who will be willing to
learn the trade at small wage about $2.25 a day and I also have
five more here who will come with me if you only send me six of
your transportation soon as can and I also wish that you will not
turn me down. I am looking for your letter promptly and will be
deeply glad to get it as I trust in the Lord that you will send
me six of your transportation as I am willing to come in work. we
will come at once when you send them to me send me a special
delivery letters with them in it and I will pay you when we are
there.
ATLANTA, GA., May 2, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and is verry
proud of it and by reading the Chicago Defender I saw your adv.
and I want to consult with about a position in a Chicago firm. I
would like verry much to get a position there or eny where above
the Mason Dixon line. I am a competet chauffer or butler. I am
married no children. My wife is a cook nearse or maid, and if you
cannot supply me with some position within about 10 days will you
please put me in tutch with some other employment and if you can
supply me with eather of those posetins please write me. I am
also a first class laundry man. I hold reference as good shirt
ironer, coller ironer or extractor man in the wash room. Please
let me here from you. the peoples is leaving here by the
thousands.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 1, 1917.
_Sur:_ in reding the defender i saw they advurtise that you sen
transportation at advanced from Chicago now dear sur please let
me know i am a maride man an hav a famly off 5 now if you cant
sen for all send 2 one for me and my brother he live with me he
is 18 yers old then i can arang for the rest after i get out
there now pleas tri and do sumthing for me i am working her for
nothing i will bee to glad to get a way from here so pleas sen me
a pas for me an my brother and we will sen for the res of the
famly after i get there ancer this letter soon as you get it try
to get us work in the ware house or yard work i am a cook an utly
man have to cook serv drink and short ordes an work al nite.
MEMPHIS, TENN., April 29, 1917.
_Sir:_ Seeing the wonderful opportunity that is being offered the
colored man of the south by the northern industries and the aid
in which your organization is giveing them it aroused within me
the ambition that prompts every man to long for liberty. What I
want to say is I am coming north and seeing your call for me
thought I would write you and list a few things I can do and see
if you can find a place for me any where north of the Mason and
Dixon line and I will present myself in person at your office as
soon as I hear from you. I am now employed in the R. R. shop in
Memphis. I am a engine watchman, hostler, red cup man, pipe
fitter, oil house man, shipping clerk, telephone lineman, freight
caller, an expert soaking vat man that is one who make dope for
packing hot boxes on engines. I am a capable of giving
satisfaction in either of the above name positions. I bought a
Chicago Defender and after reading it and seeing the golden
opportunity I have decided to leave this place at once.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am writeing you the third time because i am anxious
to leave the south and come north but up to this writeing i have
fail to hear from you i notice in the defender that you are still
calling for men i am engineer and all round machine man i am and
would be very glad if you could locate me a position in the
Molders Manufacturing or any thing pertaining to machine work. I
am not in a position to pay my way out there and would like to
get transportation for my self wife and nephew he all so can do
machine work. So please let me hear from you.
MONROE, LA., April 30, 1918.
_Dear Sirs:_ I was reading in the Defender one of your recent
advertising about laborers wanted for foundry warehouse and yard
work. I would like to respond to the advertising but I aint
fiancel able also my brother we are both very poor boys and would
like to get where we would be able to have a chanse in the world
and get out from among all of the prejudice of the southern white
man. please send me and my brother transportation tickets so we
can come right away. I belong to church but my brother does not
but you would not tell the difference by his actions. Please send
tickets by the 15th of May. I am now working at public work I owe
a few debts I want to act honest I want to pay all of my
responsible debts so I can face my debtors anywhere in the world.
LITTLE ROCK, ARK., May 7, 1917.
_Sir:_ I am a reader of the Defender and i found in it on last
Saturday April 28th why that you could place mens in iny job or
trade they follows. I am riten you this letter an in it i am
leting you know my condition so that if you ever did help a man
in this way pleas help me the help is this. help me to get a job
in yor city as blacksmith helper bareler maker helper or molder
helper. i kin furnish references for those jobs. i has a wife and
a 11 yr old girl who are now in the 7 grade and i wants to bringe
them with me when I come i am now employed as black smith helper
my pay is 26-1/2 per hour but the white comes so hard onus in
these departments so that we are frade to speak what is right
becase they dont want us in those departments they has been
trying to put us out for 4 years. before they begen to work a
ginst ys we had all colord help but now they has 75 per cent
white help and it is hard for this 25 per sent colord to stay
hear and i found in the Defender just what i has ben looking for
is a little help and if you will only do as i has said God will
bless you. now remember i dont ask you to send me a
transportation to come on if you will just get me a job for me i
will be please at that and i will pay you charges when i come i
will be ther in 4 or 5 days from the date i reseave yor ancer so
pleas ancer as soon as you kin.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 23, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ As a constant reader of your most valuable paper the
Defender and after viewing from time to time the services that
you are rendering not only to the race of which you are one of
its honored leaders but one who are doing services to the sacred
cause of humanity, and your admireable editorials has impressed
me so much until I feal that I know you personaly. now sire I
note with pleasure that you are manifesting a very great interest
in our people from the south and as I am a man of family and are
always willing and ready to grasp any opertunity that will tent
to better my condition I raise my head and I am now looking to
the North of this benighted land for hope there I feal that if
once there that I may be granted the opertunities of peacefully
working out my mission on earth. without fear of molestation. Now
sir I am a painter by trade. I am also a first class creol cook
and as I above said that you seams very much interested in your
newcomers well fare to the extent of trying to place them in some
lucrative position. I ask you one favor and that is this will
you please advise me as to if I come up there will you try and
get me work.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 21, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ As it is my desire to leave the south for some
portion of the north to make my future home I desided to write to
you as one who is able to furnish proper information for such a
move. I am a cook of plain meals and I have knowledge of
industrial training. I recieved such training at Tuskegee Inst.
some years ago and I have a letter from Mrs. Booker T. Washington
bearing out such statement and letters from other responsible
corporations and individuals and since I know that I can come up
to such recommendations, I want to come north where it is said
such individuals are wanted. Therefore will you please furnish me
with names and addresses of railroad officials to whom I might
write for such employment as it is my desire to work only for
railroads, if possible. I have reference to officials who are
over extra gangs, bridge gangs, paint gangs and pile drivers over
any boarding department which takes in plain meals. I have 25
years experience in this line of work and understand the method
of saving the company money.
You will please dig into this in every way that is necessary and
whatever charges you want for your trouble make your bill to me,
and I will mail same to you.
Wishing you much success in your papers throughout the country,
especially in the south as it is the greatest help to the
southern negro that has ever been read.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., 5-20-17.
_Dear Sir:_ I am sure your time is precious, for being as you an
editor of a newspaper such as the race has never owned and for
which it must proudly bost of as being the peer in the
pereoidical world. am confident that yours is a force of busy
men. I also feel sure that you will spare a small amount of your
time to give some needed information to one who wishes to relieve
himselfe of the burden of the south. I indeed wish very much to
come north anywhere in Ill. will do since I am away from the
Lynchman's noose and torchman's fire. Myself and a friend wish to
come but not without information regarding work and general
suroundings. Now hon sir if for any reason you are not in
position to furnish us with the information desired. please do
the act of kindness of placing us in tuch with the organization
who's business it is I am told to furnish said information, we
are firemen machinist helpers practical painters and general
laborers. And most of all, ministers of the gospel who are not
afraid of labor for it put us where we are. Please let me hear
from you.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., May 1, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and while
reading I seen where you are aiding those in search of work and I
thought that I would drop you a few lines though I am far away
but if there is any way that you could get a pass please try and
do that much for us as we are a party of four good working men
the southern white are trying very hard to keep us from the north
but still they wont give us no work to do they dont pay us any
thing and still dont want us to go. now please answer at your
very earliest I am
DAPNE, ALA., 4/20/17.
_Sir:_ I am writing you to let you know that there is 15 or 20
familys wants to come up there at once but cant come on account
of money to come with and we cant phone you here we will be
killed they dont want us to leave here & say if we dont go to war
and fight for our country they are going to kill us and wants to
get away if we can if you send 20 passes there is no doubt that
every one of us will com at once, we are not doing any thing here
we cant get a living out of what we do now some of these people
are farmers and som are cooks barbers and black smiths but the
greater part are farmers & good worker & honest people & up to
date the trash pile dont want to go no where. These are nice
people and respectable find a place like that & send passes & we
all will come at once we all wants to leave here out of this hard
luck place if you cant use us find some place that does need this
kind of people we are called Negroes here. I am a reader of the
Defender and am delighted to know how times are there & was to
glad to, know if we could get some one to pass us away from here
to a better land. We work but cant get scarcely any thing for it
& they dont want us to go away & there is not much of anything
here to do & nothing for it. Please find some one that need this
kind of a people & send at once for us. We dont want anything but
our wareing and bed clothes & have not got no money to get away
from here with & beging to get away before we are killed and
hope to here from you at once. We cant talk to you over the phone
here we are afraid to they dont want to hear one say that he or
she wants to leave here if we do we are apt to be killed. They
say if we dont go to war they are not going to let us stay here
with their folks and it is not any thing that we have done to
them. We are law abiding people want to treat every bordy right,
these people wants to leave here but we cant we are here and have
nothing to go with if you will send us some way to get away from
here we will work till we pay it all if it takes that for us to
go or get away. Now get busy for the south race. The conditions
are horrible here with us. they wont give us anyhing to do & say
that we wont need anything but something to eat & wont give us
anything for what we do & wants us to stay here. Write me at once
that you will do for us we want & opertunity that all we wants is
to show you what we can do and will do if we can find some place,
we wants to leave here for a north drive somewhere. We see
starvation ahead of us here. We want to imigrate to the farmers
who need our labor. We have not had no chance to have anything
here thats why we plead to you for help to leave here to the
North. We are humane but we are not treated such we are treated
like brute by our whites here we dont have no privilige no where
in the south. We must take anything they put on us. Its hard if
its fair. We have not got no cotegous diseases here. We are
looking to here from you soon.
GREENVILLE, MISS., May 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ this letter is from one of the defenders greatest
frends. You will find stamp envelope for reply. Will you put me
in tuch with some good firm so I can get a good job in your city
or in Cleveland, Ohio or in Philadelphia, Pa. or in Detroyet,
Michian in any of the above name states I would be glad to live
in. I want to get my famely out of this cursed south land down
here a negro man is not good as a white man's dog. I can learn
anything any other man can. Not only I want to get out of the
south but there are numbers of good hard working men here and do
not know where they are going and what they are going to. Also I
could get a good deal of men from here if I could get in tuch
with some firms that would furnish me the money as passes. Now in
conlution, I want to know what is the trouble? I cannot get
anything more through the Defender. I have written to the
Defender some 3 or 4 times and eather articel was never
published. I recieves a free copy of the Defender every week and
the people here are all ways after me to write some doings to the
Defender and if I write anything it is never published.
GREENVILLE, MISS., 5-20-17.
_Dear Sir:_ I write you asking you some information as I am a
reader of your paper I have been buying a paper every Sunday for
5 months I want to come to your city to live and every thing is
so hard down here everything is so high and wages is low until we
just can live I want to know what will it cost from St. Louis to
Chicago. I can get from Greenville to St. Louis cheap by boat. I
want to come up there the last of June. I ask you to assist me in
getting a job I can do most any kind of hard work and have a
common education. If you will look me up a good job it will be
highly appreciated and your kindness will never be forgotten.
SELMA, ALA., 4-15-17.
_Dear Sir:_ If you no of any firm or corporation who need a good
reliable man please notify me I want get out of the south. I cant
live on the salary I am getting I am not so bent on coming to
Chicago. But anywhere up that way where there is an opening for
labor please attend to this matter at once. I can do any kind of
common labor please let me hear from you at your earliest
convenience. I take the Defender every week I see where southern
people are being put on jobs when they reach the North please
look for me a job or hand this to some one that will be
inturested in it.
MOSS POINT, MISS., April 29, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I read your advt in the Chicago Defender wanting
laborers for foundry, ware house, and yard work with
transportation paid. I'll come at once and lots of others here
would also come if you will transport us there for we are anxs to
get of southen soil.
LAUREL, MISS., May 10, 1917.
_Dear sir:_ i rite you i seen in Chicago paper that you aftiese
for laborer ninety miles from Chicago and i am a experienced
molder and i do truly hope you will give me a job for i am sick
of the south and please send me a transportation i have a family
and wife and three children my oldes child is 8 years old and i
wont to bring my famiely with me so please send me a
transportation at once for i am redy to come at once me and my
family i will pay you for your trubel with all pleasure if i can
get up there please send after us at once for i am redy to come
at once and i have not got money to pay our train fair and if you
will send after us i will sure pay you your money back so i will
close from your truly ansure soon
LETTERS FROM SOUTH TO FRIENDS NORTH AND FROM NORTH TO FRIENDS SOUTH
MACON, GA., May 27, 1917.
_Dear Mary:_--I just got in from B. Y. P. U. eat a little bite
and got my writing together. Now May dear you mus pardon me for
not answering promp I no you will when I tell you the cause We
had a souls stiring revival this year I mis you so much We
baptised 14 and after the Revival had closed up come George B----
confesing Christ so we baptized the first sunday in May and the
third Sunday in May George were baptise May I cant tell you how I
feel I wrote Ella J---- A---- Ella said she cried as far as she
is from here so she no I cut up but I diden I am just as quite as
I can be Sam H---- joined to. B os Jones Hattie J---- boy Geo
L---- Mr. B---- two boys Walice P---- I dont know the others.
Dear May I got a card from Mrs. Addie S---- yesterday she is well
and say Washington D.C. is a pretty place but wages is not good
say it better forther on Cliford B---- an his wife is back an
give the North a bad name Old lady C---- is in Cleavon an wonte
to come home mighty bad so Cliford say. I got a hering from Vick
C---- tell me to come on she living better than she ever did in
her life Charlie J---- is in Detroit he got there last weak
Hattie J---- lef Friday Oh I can call all has left here Leala
J---- is speaking of leaving soon There were more people left
last week then ever 2 hundred left at once the whites an colored
people had a meeting Thursday an Friday telling the people if
they stay here they will treat them better an pay better. Huney
they are hurted but the haven stop yet. The colored people say
they are too late now George B---- is on his head to go to
Detroit Mrs. Anna W---- is just like you left her she is urgin
everybody to go on an she not getting ready May you dont no how I
mis you I hate to pass your house Everybody is well as far as I
no Will J---- is on the gang for that same thing hapen about the
eggs on Houston road. His wife tried to get him to leave here but
he woulden Isiah j---- is going to send for Hattie. In short
Charles S---- wife quit him last week he aint doin no better May
it is lonesome her it fills my heart with sadiness to write to my
friends that gone we dont no weather we will ever see one or
nother any more or not May if I dont come to Chgo I will go to
Detroit I dont think we will be so far apart an we will get
chance to see each other agin I got a heap to tell you but I feal
so sad in hart my definder diden come yesterday I dont no why it
company to me to read it May I received the paper you sent me an
I see there or pleanty of work I can do I will let you no in my
next lettr what I am going to do but I cant get my mind settle to
save my life. Love to Mr. A----. May now is the time to leave
here. The weather is getting better I wont to live out from town
I would not like to live rite in town My health woulden be good
75 blocks burned in Atlanta. they had fire department from Macon,
Augusta, in Savanah--well all of the largest cities in Georgia to
help put out that fire the whites believe the Gurmons drop that
fire down Now may I hope we will meet again so we can talk face
to face just lik I once have. I will write to Mrs. V---- soon we
hurd Mr. L---- is there I didn't tell the nabors, I was writing
to you M. W---- will write next weak to you
Now we no that we or to pray for each other by by.
From
MARY B----
P. S. I will tell you this Ida gone out to about a farm and wants
me to take one but I feal like I make more up there than I will
fooling with a farm May if I stay here I will go crazy I am told
there is no meeting up there like we have here now May tell me
about the houses you can write me on a pos card of some of the
building. May tell me about the place. Lilian D---- come here
last night an tore my mind al to peaces I got your paper an note
so I will keep up corespond with you.
NASHVILLE, TENN., Aug. 14, 1917.
_Dear Mrs. T----.:_ I received your card and was glad to hear
from you pleas excsue me for not writing before now I have been
sick and have got a tubl headacke write back to me and let me
know how times is--I know you are getting fat of good boes--I
wish it was here--T---- sent love to you and said to get her a
boe. You ought to send me a apron or waist one--J---- said hody
and write to him and tell him about the browns up there and tell
R---- I said hody. I see T---- down to Mrs. S---- G---- and to
tell Mrs. N---- I said hody--how is the weigh up there--we can
get all the beerret we want--You think of me in your prays and I
will think of you in my prays
By By
From your
FRIEND.
ATLANTA, GA., July 4, '17.
_Hello Mr. M----:_ How are you at this time--I arrived here safe
and all O. K. and I am well and hope you are the same. Mrs. M----
told me that she reecived the money you sent to her and everybody
sends love to you. I found my baby very sick when I come home but
he is better now and I am going to try to come back up there in
short time. How are times there now since my leaving there. I
stopped in Cincinnati Ohio for 4 days then I left for G. but I
will be with you some days I hope. Ask J---- W---- did he get my
letter I wrote to him. Plenty work here but no money to it $1.50
to $2.00 a day that all I am telling you truly. Have you seen
anything of W---- W---- he is there in Chicago If you do tell him
to send me his address. I want to here from him I learn he is
making $23.00 a week he lives on Federal St., in the 40 block
some where. If I were there I would locate him.
Tell all the boys Hello. Tell them to write to me and tell me all
the news.
Good Bye
YOUR FRIEND.
NASHVILLE, TENN., Oct. 25th, 1917.
_Mrs. L---- t----:_ my dear friend I receuve your card and was
truly glad to hear from you--it found me not so well at this time
present and when these few lines come to you I hope they will
find you all well and doing well--I want you to write to me and
tell me what ar you doing and what ar you making and where is
your son w---- and how do you think it would soot me up there.
All of your friends said howdy and they would be glad to see
you--I would love to see you and Mrs. B---- I miss you so much.
Say T---- do you think that I could get a job up there if I
would come up there where you are--if so write me word and let me
no are you keeping house now to your self--if so write to me and
let me no--write soon tu me
Yours truley.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
_My dear Sister:_ I was agreeably surprised to hear from you and
to hear from home. I am well and thankful to say I am doing well.
The weather and everything else was a surprise to me when I came.
I got here in time to attend one of the greatest revivals in the
history of my life--over 500 people joined the church. We had a
Holy Ghost shower. You know I like to have run wild. It was
snowing some nights and if you didn't hurry you could not get
standing room. Please remember me kindly to any who ask of me.
The people are rushing here by the thousands and I know if you
come and rent a big house you can get all the roomers you want.
You write me exactly when you are coming. I am not keeping house
yet I am living with my brother and his wife. My sone is in
California but will be home soon. He spends his winter in
California. I can get a nice place for you to stop until you can
look around and see what you want. I am quite busy. I work in
Swifts packing Co. in the sausage department. My daughter and I
work for the same company--We get $1.50 a day and we pack so many
sausages we dont have much time to play but it is a matter of a
dollar with me and I feel that God made the path and I am walking
therein.
Tell your husband work is plentiful here and he wont have to loaf
if he want to work. I know unless old man A---- changed it was
awful with his sould and G---- also.
Well I am always glad to hear from my friends and if I can do
anything to assist any of them to better their condition, please
remember me to Mr. C---- and his family I will write them all as
soon as I can. Well I guess I have said about enough. I will be
delighted to look into your face once more in life. Pray for me
for I am heaven bound. I have made too many rounds to slip now. I
know you will pray for prayer is the life of any sensible man or
woman. Well goodbye from your sister in Christ
P. S. My brother moved the week after I came. When you fully
decide to come write me and let me know what day you expect to
leave and over what road and if I dont meet you I will have some
one ther to meet you and look after you. I will send you a paper
as soon as one come along they send out extras two and three
times a day.
CHICAGO, ILL.
_Dear Partner:_ You received a few days ago and I was indeed glad
to hear from you and know that you was well. How is the old burg
and all of the boys. Say partner is it true that T---- M---- was
shot by a Negro Mon. It is all over the city among the people of
H'burg if so let know at once so I tell the boys it true. Well so
much for that. I wish you could have been here to have been here
to those games. I saw them and beleve me they was worth the money
I pay to see them. T. S. and I went out to see Sunday game witch
was 7 to 2 White Sox and I saw Satday game 2 to 1 White Sox.
Please tell J---- write that he will never see nothing as long as
he stay down there behind the sun there some thing to see up here
all the time, (tell old E---- B---- to go to (H----) Tell B----
he dont hafter answer my cards. How is friend Wilson Wrote him a
letter in August. Tell him that all right I will see him in the
funny paper. Well Partner I guess you hear a meny funey thing
about Chicago. Half you hear is not true. I know B---- C---- hav
tole a meny lie Whenever you here see them Pardie tell them to
write to this a dress Say Pardie old H---- is moping up in his
Barber shop. Guess I will come to you Boy Xmas. I must go to bed.
Just in from a hard days work.
Your life long friend.
DIXON, ILL., Sept.-25-17.
_Dear Sir:_ Time affords of writting you people now as we have
raised to wages to three dollars a day for ten hours--eleven hrs.
a day $3.19 We work two wks day and two wks night--for night work
$3.90 This is steady work a year round We have been running ten
years without stopping only for ten days repair. I wish you would
write me at once.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 11/13/17.
MR. H----
Hattiesburg, Miss.
_Dear M----:_ Yours received sometime ago and found all well and
doing well, hope you and family are well.
I got my things alright the other day and they were in good
condition. I am all fixed now and living well. I certainly
appreciate what you done for us and I will remember you in the
near future.
M----, old boy, I was promoted on the first of the month I was
made first assistant to the head carpenter when he is out of the
place I take everything in charge and was raised to $95. a month.
You know I know my stuff.
Whats the news generally around H'burg? I should have been here
20 years ago. I just begin to feel like a man. It's a great deal
of pleasure in knowing that you have got some privilege My
children are going to the same school with the whites and I dont
have to umble to no one. I have registered--Will vote the next
election and there isnt any 'yes sir' and 'no sir'--its all yes
and no and Sam and Bill.
Florine says hello and would like very much to see you.
All joins me in sending love to you and family. How is times
there now? Answer soon, from your friend and bro.
PITTSBURG, PA., May 11, 1917.
_My dear Pastor and wife:_ It affords me great pleasure to write
you this leave me well & O. K. I hope you & sis Hayes are well &
no you think I have forgotten you all but I never will how is
ever body & how is the church getting along well I am in this
great city & you no it cool here right now the trees are just
peeping out. fruit trees are now in full bloom but its cool yet
we set by big fire over night. I like the money O. K. but I like
the South betterm for my Pleasure this city is too fast for me
they give you big money for what you do but they charge you big
things for what you get and the people are coming by cal Loads
every day its just pack out the people are Begging for some
whears to sta If you have a family of children & come here you
can buy a house easier than you cant rent one if you rent one you
have to sign up for 6 months or 12 month so you see if you dont
like it you have to stay you no they pass that law becaus the
People move about so much I am at a real nice place and stay
right in the house of a Rve.---- and family his wife is a state
worker I mean a missionary she is some class own a plenty rel
estate & personal Property they has a 4 story home on the
mountain, Piano in the parlor, organ in the sewing room, 1
daughter and 2 sons but you no I have to pay $2.00 per week just
to sleep and pay it in advance & get meals whear I work so I
think I shall get me a place whear I work next week the lady said
she would rather we stay in the house with them & give me a room
up stairs than to pay so much for sleeping so she pays me eight
Dols per week to feed now she says she will room me so if I dont
take that offer I cant save very much I go to church some time
plenty churches in this plase all kinds they have some real
colored churches I have been on the Allegany Mts twice seem like
I was on Baal Tower. Lisen Hayes I am here & I am going to stay
ontell fall if I dont get sick its largest city I ever saw 45
miles long & equal in breath & a smoky city so many mines of all
kind some places look like torment or how they say it look & some
places look like Paradise in this great city my sister in law
goes too far I stop here I will visit her this summer if I get a
pass I cant spend no more money going further from Home I am 26
miles from my son Be sweet Excuse me for writeing on both sides I
have so much to say I want to save ever line with a word and that
aint the half but I have told you real facts what I have said I
keps well so far & I am praying to contenure & I hope you & your
dear sweet wife will pray for me & all of my sisters & Bros &
give Mrs. C. my love & sis Jennie & all the rest & except a
barrel ful for you and Hayes Pleas send me a letter of
recommendation tell Dr., to sign & Mr. Oliver. I remain your
friend.
CLEVELAND, OHIO, Aug. 28, 1917.
hollow Dr. my old friend how are you to day i am well and is
doing fine plenty to eat and drink and is making good money in
fact i am not in the best of health i have not had good health
sence i ben here, i thought once i would hefter be operrated on
But i dont no. i were indeed glad to recieve that paper from
Union Springs, i saw in this a peas swhare I wrote to ellesfore a
2 horse farm, i have seval nochants of coming back, yet i am
doing well no trouble what ever except i can not raise my
children here like they should be this is one of the worst places
in principle you ever look on in your life but it is a fine place
to make money all nattions is here, and let me tell you this
place is crowded with the lowest negroes you ever meet, when i
first come here i cold hardly ever see a Negro but no this is as
meny here is they is thir all kinds of loffers. gamblers pockit
pickers you are not safe here to walk on the streets at night you
are libble to get kill at eny time thir have ben men kill her
jest because he want allow stragglers in his family, yet i have
not had no trouble no way. and we are making good money here, i
have made as hight at 7.50 per day and my wife $4 Sundays my sun
7.50 and my 2 oldes girls 1.25 but my regler wegers is 3.60 fore
8 hours work. me and my family makes one hundred three darlers
and 60 cents every ten days. it don cost no more to live here
than it do thir, except house rent i pay 12 a month fore rent
sence i have rote you everything look closely and tell me what
you think is best. i am able to farm without asking any man fore
enything on a credit i can not in joy this place let me tell you
this is a large place Say Jef thornton, and William Penn taken
dinner with us last Sunday and we taken a car ride over the city
in the evening we taken the town in and all so the great Jake
era. they left Sunday night for Akron. Allso Juf griear spent the
day with me few days ago give my love to all the Surounding
friends
By By
PHILADELPHIA, PA., Oct. 7, 1917.
_Dear Sir:_ I take this method of thanking you for yours early
responding and the glorious effect of the treatment. Oh. I do
feel so fine. Dr. the treatment reach me almost ready to move I
am now housekeeping again I like it so much better than rooming.
Well Dr. with the aid of God I am making very good I make $75 per
month. I am carrying enough insurance to pay me $20 per week if I
am not able to be on duty. I don't have to work hard, dont have
to mister every little white boy comes along I havent heard a
white man call a colored a nigger you no now--since I been in the
state of Pa. I can ride in the electric street and steam cars any
where I get a seat. I dont care to mix with white what I mean I
am not crazy about being with white folks, but if I have to pay
the same fare I have learn to want the same acomidation. and if
you are first in a place here shoping you dont have to wait until
the white folks get thro tradeing yet amid all this I shall ever
love the good old South and I am praying that God may give every
well wisher a chance to be a man regardless of his color, and if
my going to the front would bring about such conditions I am
ready any day--well Dr. I dont want to worry you but read between
lines; and maybe you can see a little sense in my weak statement
the kids are in school every day I have only two and I guess that
all. Dr. when you find time I would be delighted to have a word
from the good old home state. Wife join me in sending love you
and yours.
I am your friend and patient.
DAYTON, OHIO, 7/22/17.
_My dear pastor and wife:_ I reed your letter was Glad to hear
from you I am do find hope the same for you I am send you some
money for my back salary I will send you some more the 5 of Sept
next month Give love to all of the member of church I will be
home on a visit in Oct are early so pray for me write to me I
would have wrote to you but I didnot no just what to say all of
the people leaves Go to place up East that I did not no weather
are not you care to hear from me are not so I am glad you think
of me. Mr. O---- write me was going to take out life insurance
with him but he would not send me the paper so I just let it Go
as I guess he did not class me with himself I am mak $70 month at
this hotel and then not work hard.
PARIS, ILL., 11/7/17.
REV. ----,
Union Springs, Ala.
_My dear old friend:_ Yours of a few days ago has been received
and in reply I can only say that I was only too glad to hear from
you and to know that you are having such great success in your
farming as well as church work since I dont farm I know that my
Kmza joys will be made from a box fresh from your farm.
We are still well and happy glad to say and doing about as well
as can be expected. We have had some heavy snows this fall, but
the last four days have been like summer.
How is the conscription, high cost of living and now high cost of
postage serving you? It is giving me more trouble than I want.
One hundred of my men are gone to Texas and we feel that if Uncle
Sam doesn't come down they will have to go to France and from the
battle fields to the grave yards as the Germans are still on the
job and playing havoc.
I am to preach the Thanksgiving Sermon for the Union Services
this year. At this service all of the churches of the city come
together, both white and colored. I also recd. a notice of being
elected to preach the Annual Sermon for the Dist. Grand Lodge K
of P. in May of next year. Son pray for me for these are no
small gatherings, no little honors. How would you like for me to
play off and get you to fill my place? speak out, son.
The madam joins me in asking to be remembered to dear sister
Hayes and extending you all an invitation to come to see you
soon.
HOLDEN, W. VA.
DR. ----,
Union Springs, Ala.
How are you Dr. I am OK and family I make $80 to $90 per mo. with
ease and wish you all much success Hello to all the people of my
old home Town. I am saving my money and spending some of it. Have
Joined the K. P. Lodge up here in the mountain. Sen me 5 galls of
country syrup will pay you your price.
Yours in F. C. & B.
CHICAGO, IND., July 15, 1917.
DR. ----,
Union Springs, Ala.
_My dear Pastor:_ I find it my Duty to write you my whereabouts
also family, I am glad to say Family and myself are enjoying fine
health, wish the same of you and your dear wife. Well I can say
the people in my section are very much torn up about East St.
Louis. Representive col men of Chicago was in conference with
Governor he promise them that he would begin investigation at
once tell Sister Hayes my wife Says She will write her in a few
days. Dear Pastor I shall send my church some money in a few
days. I am trying to influence our members here to do the same. I
recd. notice printed in a R.R. car (Get straight with God) O I
had nothing so striking to me as the above mottoe. Let me know
how is our church I am to anxious to no. My wife always talking
about her seat in the church want to know who accupying it.
Yours in Christ.
DAYTON, OHIO, Oct. 17, 1917.
_Dear Pastor:_ I have join the church up here and I authorize the
church to write for my letter of dismission but they say they
have not heard enything from the church at all. Sister ---- ----
wrote to you she ask for my letter so I can join here in full and
if the church hold me for enything on why say to them I will know
what to do. I have never herd eny thing from my credental from
old man Bonnett. I sent him a letter and also credencil for him
to sign and sent stamps for him send them and he fail to let me
here fum him at all, so I thought you would here fum him befour
know & got him to tend to it for me so dear pastor let me here
from you and be shure to send me my letter of dismission By
Return mail my famil send they regaurd to you and wife they
planning to send some on they salary love to who may ask about
me.
EAST CHICAGO, IND., June 10, 1917.
DR. ----,
Union Springs, Ala.
_Dear Old Friend:_ These moments I thought I would write you a
few true facts of the present condition of the north. Certainly I
am trying to take a close observation--now it is tru the (col)
men are making good. Never pay less than $3.00 per day or (10)
hours--this is not promise. I do not see how they pay such wages
the way they work labors. they do not hurry or drive you.
Remember this is the very lowest wages. Piece work men can make
from $6 to $8 per day. They receive their pay every two weeks.
this city I am living in, the population 30,000 (20) miles from
Big Chicago, Ill. Doctor I am some what impress. My family also.
They are doing nicely. I have no right to complain what ever. I
rec. the papers you mail me some few days ago and you no I
enjoyed them reading about the news down in Dixie. I often think
of so much of the conversation we engage in concerning this part
of the worl. I wish many time that you could see our People up
hese as they are entirely in a different light. I witness
Decoration Day on May 30th, the line of march was 4 miles. (8)
brass band. All business houses was close. I tell you the people
here are patriotic. I enclose you the cut of the white press. the
chief of police drop dead Friday. Burried him today. The
procession about (3) miles long. Over (400) auto in the
parade--five dpt--police Force, Mayor and alderman and secret
societies; we are having some cold weather--we are still wearing
over coats--Let me know what is my little city doing. People are
coming here every day and are finding employment. Nothing here
but money and it is not hard to get. Remember me to your dear
Family. Oh, I have children in school every day with the white
children. I will write you more next time. how is the lodge.
Yours friend,
AKRON, OHIO, May 21, 1917.
_Dear Friend_: I am well and hop you are well. I am getting along
fine I have not been sick since I left home I have not lost but
2-1/2 day I work like a man. I am making good. I never liked a
place like I do here except home. Their is no place like home How
is the church getting along. You cant hardly get a house to live
in I am wide awake on my financial plans. I have rent me a place
for boarders I have 15 sleprs I began one week ago and be shure
to send me my letter of dismission By Return mail. I am going
into some kind of business here by the first of Sept. Are you
farming. Rasion is mighty high up here. the people are coming
from the south every week the colored people are making good they
are the best workers. I have made a great many white friends. The
Baptist Church is over crowded with Baptist from Ala & Ga. 10 and
12 join every Sunday. He is planning to build a fine brick
church. He takes up 50 and 60 dollars each Sunday he is a wel to
do preacher. I am going to send you a check for my salary in a
few weeks. It cose me $100 to buy furniture. Write me.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] These letters were collected under the direction of Mr. Emmett J.
Scott.
BOOK REVIEWS
_The American Negro in the World War._ By EMMETT J. SCOTT, Special
Assistant to the Secretary of War. The Negro Historical Publishing
Company, Washington, D.C., 1919.
Mr. Scott's account of the _Negro in the World War_ is one of a number
of works presenting the achievements of the Negroes during the great
upheaval. Kelly Miller, W. Allison Sweeney and others have preceded
him in publishing volumes in this same field. The account written by
Kelly Miller is apparently of dubious authorship. It is but a
common-place popular sketch of the war supplemented by one or two
essays bearing the stamp of controversial writing peculiar to Kelly
Miller. W. Allison Sweeney's work undertakes to make a more continuous
historical sketch of the achievements from year to year while at the
same time guided by the topical plan. At times the author is lofty in
his treatment and equally as often trivial. To say that Miller's and
Sweeney's works are not scientific does not exactly cover the ground.
They do not well measure up to the standard of the average popular
history.
Mr. Scott's history is far from being a definitive one, as the purpose
of the author was rather to popularize the achievements of the Negro
soldiers. In addition to giving the current historical comment
accessible in newspapers and magazines, Mr. Scott has incorporated
into his work a large number of official documents accessible only to
some one, who like himself, was connected with the War Department
during the conflict. It has another value, moreover, in that it well
sets forth the reaction of an intelligent federal official of color on
the thousands of events daily transpiring around him.
The author undertakes to connect the Negro with the fundamental cause
of the war in that race prejudice was its source. He shows how
fortunate it was to have Negro troops as the first of the national
guard to be adequately equipped for immediate service and to occupy
the post of honor in guarding the White House and the national
capital, by order of the President of the United States. His own
appointment and his work as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of
War as an official recognition of the Negroes' interest in the war are
made the nucleus around which the facts of the work are organized.
How the Negroes figured in the national army, how Negro soldiers and
officers were trained, and how they were treated in the camps all
bring to light information for which the public has long been waiting.
After giving passing mention to the black soldiers in the armies of
the European nations the author directs his attention to the Negro
regiments overseas. Special chapters are devoted to the achievements
of the 367th, 368th, 370th, 371st and 372d regiments. The behavior of
the Negroes in battle is sketched in the chapter entitled the Negro as
a Fighter.
While dealing primarily with actual war, the author has been careful
to give adequate space to agencies which helped to make the war
possible. The valuable service rendered by the Negroes in the Service
of Supply constitutes one of the most interesting chapters of the
book. Whereas these Negroes were actually conscripted to labor in
spite of the declaration of the War Department to the contrary, they
accepted their lot with the spirit of loyalty and performed one of the
great tasks of the war in getting supplies to Europe and furnishing
the army with them in France. Negro labor in war times, Negro women in
war work, the loyalty of the Negro civilians, and the social welfare
agencies are also treated. Finally the author takes up an important
question: _Did the Negro get a square deal?_ In a position to know the
many problems confronting the Negroes drawn into the army, Mr. Scott
has brought forward in this final chapter adequate evidence to prove
that the Negro did not get a square deal.
* * * * *
_The Heart of a Woman._ By GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON, with an
introduction by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE. The Cornhill Co., Boston,
1918. Pp. 62.
In these days of _vers libre_ and the deliberate straining for poetic
effect these lyrics of Mrs. Johnson bring with them a certain sense of
relief and freshness. Also the utter absence of the material theme
makes an appeal. We are all weary of the war note and are glad to
return to the softer pipings of old time themes--love, friendship,
longing, despair--all of which are set forth in _The Heart of a
Woman_.
The book has artistry, but it is its sincerity which gives it its
value. Here are the little sharp experiences of life mirrored
poignantly, sometimes feverishly, always truly. Each lyric is an
instantaneous photograph of one of the many moments in existence
which affect one briefly perhaps, but indelibly. Mr. Braithwaite says
in his introduction that this author engages "life at its most
reserved sources whether the form or substance through which it
articulates be nature, or the seasons, touch of hands or lips, love,
desire or any of the emotional abstractions which sweep like fire or
wind or cooling water through the blood." The ability to give a
faithful and recognizable portrayal of these sources, is Mrs.
Johnson's distinction.
In this work, Mrs. Johnson, although a woman of color, is dealing with
life as it is regardless of the part that she may play in the great
drama. Here she is a woman of that imagination that characterizes any
literary person choosing this field as a means of directing the
thought of the world. Several of her poems bearing on the Negro race
have appeared in the _Crisis_. In these efforts she manifests the
radical tendencies characteristic of every thinking Negro of a
developed mind and sings beautifully not in the tone of the
lamentations of the prophets of old but, while portraying the trials
and tribulations besetting a despised and rejected people, she sings
the song of hope. In reading her works the inevitable impression is
that it does not yet appear what she will be. Adhering to her task
with the devotion hitherto manifested, there is no reason why she
should not in the near future take rank among the best writers of the
world.
J. R. FAUSET
* * * * *
_A History of Suffrage in the United States._ By KIRK and PORTER,
Ph.D. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill. Pp. 265. Price
$1.25.
Knowing that few citizens realize the restrictions on suffrage during
the early years of the republic and the difficulty with which the
right of franchise has been extended during the last half century, the
author has undertaken a scientific study in this field. How the
franchise was at first limited to persons owning considerable
property, and how some of the most popular statesmen of that day
endeavored to keep it thus restricted, and how this aristocratic test
gradually ceased, constitute the interesting portion of the book. The
author's aim, however, is to "present a panoramic picture of the whole
United States and to carry the reader rapidly on from decade to decade
without getting lost in the detailed history."
The author himself raises the question as to whether he has placed
undue stress on the Civil War and the Reconstruction periods; "but
the intention," says he, "was to pick out of Civil War history the
events and circumstances that had to do directly with suffrage and to
lay them before the reader who is not necessarily familiar with that
history. This decision to emphasize these two periods was determined
to some extent by the fact that the study of suffrage during the
colonial period has been covered by C. F. Bishop's _History of
Elections in the American Colonies_ and A. V. McKinley's _Suffrage
Franchise in the Colonies_. One of the aims of the book is to clear up
the problems of suffrage so far as the Negro is concerned.
Taking up the question of the extension of suffrage to Negroes upon
the passing of the property qualifications, the author gives some
valuable information, showing the restriction of Negro suffrage
culminating with their disfranchisement in Pennsylvania but falls into
the attitude of a biased writer in making such remarks as "New York
was not a State that suffered greatly from the presence of the Negro"
to account for its action on the question. Again on page 87 he says:
"Up to about this time the Negroes had not been a serious problem." No
large group of Negroes have ever made a State suffer, but communities
living up to the expensive requirements of race prejudice have paid
high costs for which the Negroes have not been responsible. Because of
this bias the writer betrays throughout his treatment his feeling that
Negro suffrage was justly restricted, when white persons not better
qualified were permitted to vote.
After briefly discussing the extension of the franchise to aliens and
the beginnings of woman suffrage the author directs his attention to
the question as it developed during the Civil War and the
Reconstruction. Into this he brings so many impertinent matters
concerning reconstruction that he almost wanders afield. In the
discussion, however, he makes clear his position that Congress in its
plan for reconstruction had no right to require the seceded States to
make provision for Negro suffrage. As these States, moreover, were not
qualified for representation in Congress they could not be for
ratification of an amendment. It is not surprising then that the
author blamed the Negro for his own recent disfranchisement. He says:
"The Negro must have failed to make himself an intelligent dominant
political factor in the South or such constitutions as have been
renewed here would be utterly impossible." The author has evidently
ignored the forces making history.
* * * * *
_A Social History of the American Family._ By ARTHUR W. CALHOUN, Ph.D.
Volumes II and III. The Arthur A. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio.
This work, the first volume of which with these two completes the
treatise, appeared in 1917 when it was reviewed in this publication.
The second volume covers the period from our independence through the
Civil War. Carrying forward this treatment the author considers
marriage and fecundity in the new nation, the unsettling of
foundations, the emancipation of childhood, the social subordination
of woman, the emergence of woman, the family and the home, sex morals
in the opening continent, the struggle for the west, the new
industrial order, the reign of self indulgence, Negro sex and family
relations in the ante-bellum South, racial associations in the old
South, the white family in the old South, and the effects of the Civil
War.
Discussing Negro sex the author says (II, 243): "If the blacks were
gross and bestial, so would our race be under a like bondage; so it is
now when driven by capitalism to the lower levels of misery. The
allegedly superior morality of the master race or class is not an
inherent trait but merely a function of economic ease and ethical
tradition." He then discusses slave breeding, which was so degrading
as to force sexual relations between healthy Negroes and even that of
orphan white girls with Negroes to produce desirable looking offspring
for purposes of concubinage. Such a case happened in Virginia near the
end of the eighteenth century. After long litigation she and her
children were declared free. Under these conditions sexual relations
among Negroes became loose. The attachment of husband to wife was not
strong and ties of blood were often ignored in sexual relations. There
appears, on the other hand, much evidence that a high sense of
morality obtained among the Negroes. Women of color would not yield to
the lust of their masters, and the forced separation by sale of the
wife from the husband caused heartaches and sometimes suicide.
Racial associations of the slaves with their masters' children, the
author contends, was generally harmful in that white children learned
from the most degraded class of the population. Yet the fact that the
whites often admitted the blacks to great intimacy indicates that
there must have been many whites who did not believe it. Slaves thus
associated soon learned the ways of their master's family, but white
children remaining and even sleeping promiscuously among slaves early
formed the habit of fornication. The extent to which this custom
prevailed is well established by numerous instances of the concubinage
of white men with women of color, the offspring of which served for
the same purpose as an article of commerce for similar use throughout
the South. In this respect the author has not brought out anything
new.
Continuing the discussion further he says (II, 305): "Southerners
maintained heatedly that at all events the virtue of the southern
woman was unspotted." "Doubtless," says he, "their contention was
largely warranted but it could not be maintained absolutely." To prove
the assertion he quotes Neilson, who during the six years he spent in
the United States prior to 1830 found in Virginia a case of a Negro
with whom a planter's daughter had not only fallen in love but had
actually seduced him. In North Carolina a white woman drank some of
her Negro's blood that she might swear that she had Negro blood in her
and marry him. They reared a family. The author quotes also from
Reverend Mr. Rankin, who "could refer you to several instances of
slaves actually seducing the daughters of their masters! Such
seductions sometimes happened even in the most respectable
slaveholding families." The author agrees with Pickett, however, that
most white women in the South were pure, and questions Bennett's
remark that perhaps ladies are not immaculate, as may be inferred from
the occasional quadroon aspect of their progeny. He gives some weight,
however, to this remark of a southerner (II, 305-306): "It is
impossible that we should not always have a class of free colored
people, because of the fundamental law _partris sequitur ventrum_.
There must always be women among the lower class of whites, so poor
that their favors can be purchased by slaves. "The _Richmond Enquirer_
of 1855," says the author, "contains the news of a woman's winning
freedom for herself and five children by proving that her mother was a
white woman." While Lyell found scarcely any instances of mulattoes
born of a black father and a white mother, Olmsted, another traveler
who observed that white men sometimes married rich colored girls,
heard of a case of a colored man who married a white girl.
In the third and last volume, covering the period since 1865, the
author treats the white family in the new South, miscegenation, the
Negro family since emancipation, the new basis of American life, the
revolution in the woman's world, the woman in the modern American
family, the career of the child, the passing of patriarchism and
familiarism, the precarious hour, the trend as to marriage, race
sterility and race suicide, divorce, the attitude of the church, the
family, and the social revolution. The author finds that during the
past half century the American family possesses unity, due to the fact
that the period itself is marked by intrinsic oneness as the
expression of an economic epoch, the transition to urban
industrialism. If any exception to this statement be made it would
insist on a subdivision with the line falling within the decade of the
eighties when the country was passing beyond the direct influences of
the war and modern industrialism was well under way.
Taking up the Negro family since the Civil War, the author shows how
difficult it was to uproot the immorality implanted by slavery but
notes the steady progress of the _mores_ of the freedmen despite their
poverty. Colored women continued the prey of white men and it was
difficult to raise a higher standard. There appeared few cases of the
miscegenation of the white women with black men but here and there it
would recur. "Stephen Powers, who passed through the South shortly
after the War, tells of applying for lodging at a lordly mansion in
South Carolina and being repelled by the mistress. At the next house
he learned the cause of her irritation--her only daughter had just
given birth to a Negro babe. After making diligent inquiry he failed
to find another such instance in high life, but in South Carolina
districts where the black population was densest and the poor whites
most degraded 'these unnatural unions were more frequent than anywhere
else' (III, 29). In every case, however, he says it was a woman of the
lowest class, generally a sand-hiller, who, deprived of her support by
the war, took up with a likely 'nigger' in order to save her children
from famine." "He found six such marriages in South Carolina," says
Calhoun, "but never more than one in any other State." The author has
not exhausted this phase of the family, for the reviewer might add
that he knew of four cases of concubinage of white women and black men
in Buckingham County, Virginia, during the eighties.
On the whole progress toward the elimination of miscegenation by
interracial respect and good will to furnish a barrier is seen as in
the cases of Oberlin and Berea, where coeducation of the races did not
lead to intermarriage. The author refers to the efforts of some
States outside of the South attempting to check miscegenation by
statute, but shows the folly of such legislation in proving that in
general where intermarriage of the races is still permitted very
little occurs. Referring to the statutes of the States prohibiting
marriage between the whites and the blacks (III, 38), he says: "The
necessity for such legislation calls in question the supposed
antipathy between the races, unless the intention is merely to guard
against the aberrancy of atypical individuals." "The laws," says he,
"are of dubious justice and clearly work hardships in certain cases."
The work on the whole is interesting and valuable although the author
sometimes goes astray in paying too much attention to biased writers
like W. H. Thomas and H. W. Odum who have taken it upon themselves to
vilify and slander the Negro race.
NOTES
To facilitate the study of Negro history in clubs and schools, Dr. C.
G. Woodson has prepared an illustrated text-book entitled _The Negro
in our History_. It has been sent to the publishers and is expected
from the press the first of the year. The book has a topical
arrangement but the matter is so organized as to show the evolution of
the Negro in America from the introduction of slavery in 1619 to the
present day. The topics are: _The Negro in Africa_, _The Enslavement
of the Negro_, _Slavery in its Mild Form_, _The Negro and the Rights
of Man_, _The Reaction_, _Economic Slavery_, _The Free Negro_,
_Abolition_, _Colonization_, _Slavery and the Constitution_, _The
Negro in the Civil War_, _The Reconstruction_, _Finding a way of
Escape_, _Achievements in Freedom_, _The Negro in the World War_, and
_The Negro and Social Justice_.
The aim of the author is to meet the long felt need of a book of
fundamental facts with references and suggestions for more intensive
study. While it is adapted for use in the senior high school and
freshman college classes, it will serve as a guide for persons
prosecuting the study more seriously.
Just as soon as this book has come from the press the Association will
send to all Negro schools of secondary and college grade a field agent
to interest them in the effort to inculcate in the mind of the youth
of African blood an appreciation of what their race has thought and
felt and done. The cooperation of all persons taking seriously the
effort to publish the records of the Negro that the race may not
become a negligible factor in the thought of the world, is earnestly
solicited. Any suggestions as to how this work may be more
successfully prosecuted and as to extending it into inviting fields,
will be appreciated.
Dr. W. E. B. DuBois and his coworkers are preparing a History of the
Negro in the World War to be published about October.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND BIENNIAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE
STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE AND HISTORY
The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History held its
second biennial meeting in Washington, D. C., on the 17th and 18th of
June. An effort was made to bring together for a conference all
persons interested in the study of Negro life and history and
especially to reach those who are giving instruction in these fields.
Accordingly there were present persons from all walks of life, some
coming even from distant points. The Association was honored by the
presence of Dr. J. Stanley Durkee and Dr. H. B. Learned.
In the absence of Dr. Robert E. Park, President of the Association,
Dr. J. E. Moorland, Secretary-Treasurer, presided. The first session
was an interesting one. Mr. C. H. Tobias delivered an instructive
address on "Negro Welfare Work during the World War." The address
covered in outline the efforts and achievements of all such agencies
as the Knights of Columbus, Red Cross, Young Women's Christian
Association, Young Men's Christian Association, and the Salvation
Army, with reference to their special bearing on the comfort of the
Negroes during the war. The speaker undertook to give the merits and
demerits in each case to enlighten the public as to what was done for
and what against the Negro soldiers by these social welfare agencies.
Mr. Monroe N. Work then read an interesting and valuable paper on the
"Negro and Public Opinion in the South since the Civil War." The
purpose of the paper was to set forth the varying attitude of the
whites toward the Negro as evidenced by the thought of the community
expressed in the records from decade to decade. Exactly why these
changes in public opinion were brought about constituted the most
interesting part of this address, for it treated not necessarily of
present day conditions but undertook to account for them in the past.
Dr. H. B. Learned, a member of the Board of Education of the District
of Columbia, was then introduced to the Association. He confined his
remarks to a discussion of the thoughts of the preceding speakers
impressing him most and especially to that of illiteracy. He gave
some valuable information as to the intellectual development of
soldiers drafted during the recent war and said much to throw light on
the conditions of those sections from which they came. He made an
appeal for an increasing interest in the illiterates of both races and
emphasized how difficult it is for men to live for the greatest good
of themselves and their fellows without adequate enlightenment in
things fundamental. His address was scholarly and timely and deeply
impressed his hearers.
The meeting of the Executive Council of the Association was held at
two o'clock of the same day. Matters of much importance were
considered. Among these may be mentioned the decision to employ a
field agent for the extension of the work, the change of the meeting
from biennial to annual, and the plans for increasing the income of
the Association. It was decided to recommend Mr. William G. Willcox
and Mr. Emmett J. Scott for membership in the Executive Council.
The evening session of the first day was held at the Fifteenth Street
Presbyterian Church. A large and respectable audience was present. The
speakers of the occasion were Mr. Archibald H. Grimke and Emmett J.
Scott. Mr. Grimke delivered an address on "The Negro and Social
Justice," Beginning with the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Grimke
founded the rights of the Negro in the doctrines advanced by the
statesmen and philosophers of that time and then supported these
claims by the liberal provisions in the Constitution and its
amendments. How the United States Government has failed to live up to
the standard of the real democracy, although professing to promote the
cause of the same, was the main feature of this address. It was on the
whole an interesting discourse and it was well received.
Mr. Emmett J. Scott, the second speaker of the evening, undertook to
answer the question: "Did the Negro get a Square Deal?" In this
discussion he briefly reviewed the working of the War Department and
other branches of the government having to do with the war, bringing
out in each case exactly what the attitude of the respective branch of
the government was toward the Negro as evidenced by the disposition of
complaints of discrimination set before the heads of those
departments. The address brought out the two important points: that
Mr. Scott, as Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, had been
untiring in his efforts to secure for the Negro the proper recognition
of his rights, but because of rampant race prejudice these rights
were generally disregarded by the public functionaries with exception
of the War Department, where the Secretary did do so much to eliminate
such discrimination that they were decidedly reduced in that
department. It showed also that after all and in spite of the various
explanations made for delay and grievances which were not redressed
that the Negro soldiers did not get a square deal.
Dr. C. V. Roman, Field Secretary attached to the surgeon general's
office to lecture in the cantonments on social hygiene, discussed full
American citizenship as an ultimate goal of the Negro. To explain his
attitude he made his remarks strictly historical, contrasting the
discouraging aspect of things in 1857 with the much more encouraging
situation eight years later in 1865 when the Negro emerged as a free
man. He too brought forth facts to show that while the attitude of the
majority of the people of this country toward the Negro has been
unfavorable, it has on the whole been hopeful in that the condition of
the Negro has grown better rather than worse.
The morning session of Wednesday, the second day of the meeting, was
to be opened by an address by Mr. Charles H. Wesley, but owing to the
unavoidable absence of Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, it was decided to have
Mr. Wesley address the evening session at the Fifteenth Street
Presbyterian Church. Dr. J. E. Moorland then spoke of "What the Negro
Got out of the War." He did not take the attitude of those desiring to
criticize the government because of its shortcomings nor did he
express disappointment over the fact that the Negro's participation in
the war was not considered sufficient to remove all discrimination on
their return home. He referred rather to the lessons of thrift,
economy, coöperation, and social uplift, which given renewed impetus
by our experiences during this war, will set to work among the Negro
people forces which augur for success.
The Association was then addressed by Mr. Ezra Roberts, head of the
academic department of Tuskegee Institute, Dr. James H. Dillard and
Dr. J. Stanley Durkee. Mr. Roberts spoke briefly of his systematic
effort to teach Negro history at Tuskegee, discussing the plans,
purposes and means to the end. He referred to the dearth of text-book
material adequately to cover the field and gave the books which he
used for source material. His address was very illuminating and
tended to open to the seeker of truth a neglected field. He was
followed by Mr. James H. Dillard, who discussed the same subject,
emphasizing the necessity to study Africa also as a background. Mr.
Dillard spoke of his interest in the work of the Association and
pledged his support of the effort to extend the work. Dr. J. Stanley
Durkee, President of Harvard University, mentioned also the need for a
study of the Negro in antiquity to bring to light the beautiful
romances of African history which does so much credit to the Negro
race. He believed also that more attention should be given to the
study of social problems and an equipment of the youth for social
service and spoke briefly of his plans to take up such work in the
reconstruction of Howard University.
At the close of the morning session the business meeting set for two
o'clock was immediately held to avoid the intensive heat which the
members would have to endure to return at that hour of the day. The
new business coming before the Association was presented. After
hearing the reports the following new officers were reëlected:
Dr. R. E. Park, _President_,
Dr. J. E. Moorland, _Secretary-Treasurer_,
Dr. C. G. Woodson, Director.
The following were chosen members of the Executive Council:
Robert E. Park, William G. Willcox,
Jesse E. Moorland, L. Hollingsworth Wood,
Carter G. Woodson, Irving Metcalf,
Julius Rosenwald, Thomas J. Jones,
George Foster Peabody, A. L. Jackson,
James H. Dillard, Moorfield Storey,
John R. Hawkins, R. E. Jones.
Emmett J. Scott,
Dr. R. E. Park, Dr. J. E. Moorland and Dr. C. G. Woodson were chosen
as trustees of the Association. Dr. John R. Hawkins, Dr. J. E.
Moorland and Mr. L. Hollingsworth Wood were appointed members of the
Business Committee.
The reports of the Director and Secretary-Treasurer follow.
THE REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR
The period covered by the last two years has been the most
successful in the history of the Association. It has not yet
solved all of its difficult problems and is far from being above
want, but the progress it has made during the last two years
indicates that the ultimate accomplishment of its purposes is
assured. The edition of the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY has reached
4,000. The current circulation, however, is a little less, but
the numbers remaining on hand are gradually absorbed by the book
trade. Our subscription list shows 1648 subscribers. About 600
copies are sold at news stands and 500 are brought out at the end
of the year in bound form. Because of the value of the JOURNAL OF
NEGRO HISTORY in this form as a source book, the demand has
recently been so great that it is necessary to reprint all
numbers hitherto published.
The achievements of the Association have been various. There has
been among the people an increasing interest in the study of
Negro life and history as a result of the extension of the
circulation of the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY and the Negro reading
public has been considerably enlarged. This publication is now
read by serious thinkers throughout the world and research
students find it a valuable aid. The people as a whole are now
ready to hear the facts in the case of the Negro. They desire to
know exactly what the race has done to be entitled to the
consideration given other elements of our population.
To supply this need the Director has supplemented the work of the
JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY by reprinting and circulating a number
of valuable dissertations and by publishing several books among
which are _Slavery in Kentucky_, _The Royal Adventurers into
Africa_, and _A Century of Negro Migration_. In the near future
the Association will publish for Mr. Justice Riddell, of the
Ontario Supreme Court, a monograph on _The Slave in Upper
Canada_. The Director has written an illustrated text-book on
Negro History which will be published within a few months. These
efforts indicate that the Association will soon develop into a
nucleus of workers known throughout the world as publishers of
authoritative and scientific books bearing on Negro life and
history.
It is highly gratifying that it is becoming less difficult to
find funds to support the work of the Association. A number of
persons who made contributions from the very beginning have
recently increased their donations. Among these are Mr. Moorfield
Storey and the Phelps Stokes Fund. From other sources there have
been obtained several substantial contributions such as $100 from
Mr. Frank Trumbull, $100 from Mr. William G. Willcox, $200 from
Mr. Morton D. Hull, $250 from Mr. Jams J. Storrow, and $400 from
Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, the amount which Mr. Julius Rosenwald has
from the beginning annually contributed.
The Director has endeavored so to increase these contributions as
to secure an endowment making the Association a foundation for a
serious scientific study of Negro life and history.
Unfortunately, however, philanthropists have not seemed disposed
to invest large sums in such an enterprise. The reply to such an
appeal is, that while this work is of great value, they have no
assurance that should the present promoters find it necessary to
retire therefrom, that the work would go on in the way it has
been established and maintained. These philanthropists have in
mind the dearth of scholarship in this field. When our colleges
and universities, therefore, will have developed a serious
student body primarily interested in applying science to the
solution of the race problem, these gentlemen will consider this
appeal more sympathetically.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 16, 1919.
_The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History,
Incorporated._
_Gentlemen:_ I hereby submit to you a report of the amount of
money received and expended by the Association for the Study of
Negro Life and History, Incorporated, from June 30, 1917, to June
16, 1919, inclusive:
RECEIPTS EXPENDITURES
Subscriptions $1,532.14 Printing and stationery $5,283.65
Memberships 483.17 Petty cash expenses 955.18
Contributions 4,989.29 Rent and light 314.03
News agents 357.94 Stenographic services 844.49
Advertisement 202.66 Refunds 12.20
Books 22.40 Advertising 128.00
--------- Bond 10.00
Total receipts June, 1917, to ---------
June, 1919 $7,587.60 Total expenditures $7,547.55
Balance, June 30, 1917 58.40 Balance, June 16, 1919 98.45
--------- ---------
$7,646.00 $7,646.00
--------- ---------
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) J. E. MOORLAND,
_Secretary-Treasurer_.
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 16, 1919.
DR. C. G. WOODSON, Director, Association for the study of Negro
Life and History, 1216 You Street, N.W., City.
_Dear Sir_:
In accordance with your request, I have audited the books of the
Secretary-Treasurer of the Association for the Study of Negro
Life and History and find them correct for the period from July
6, 1917, to June 16, 1919.
Respectfully,
(Signed) C. E. LUCAS,
_Auditor._
The constitution as amended at the business session follows.
CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF NEGRO LIFE AND
HISTORY
I. The name of this body shall be the Association for the Study
of Negro Life and History.
II. Its object shall be the collection of sociological and
historical documents and the promotion of studies bearing on the
Negro.
III. Any person approved by the Executive Council may become a
member by paying $1.00 and after the first year may continue a
member by paying an annual fee of one dollar. Persons paying
$2.00 annually become both members of the Association and
subscribers to the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY. On the payment of
$30.00 any person may become a life member, exempt from
assessments. Persons not resident in the United States may be
elected honorary members and shall be exempt from any payment of
assessments. Members organized as clubs for the study of the
Negro shall gratuitously receive from the Director such
instruction in this field as may be given by mail.
IV. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, a
Secretary-Treasurer, a Director of Research and Editor, and an
Executive Council, consisting of the free foregoing officers and
twelve other members elected by the Association. The Association
shall elect three members of the Executive Council as trustees.
It shall also appoint a business committee to certify bills and
to advise the Director in matters of administrative nature. These
officers shall be elected by ballot through the mail or at each
annual meeting of the Association.
V. The President and Secretary-Treasurer shall perform the duties
usually devolving on such officers. The Director of Research and
Editor shall devise plans for the collection of documents, direct
the studies of members and determine what matter shall be
published in the JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY. The Executive Council
shall have charge of the general interests of the Association;
including the election of members, the calling of meetings, the
collection, and disposition of funds.
VI. This Constitution may be amended at any biennial meeting,
notice of such amendment having been given at the previous
biennial meeting or the proposed amendment having received the
approval of the Executive Council.
The last session of the Association was held Wednesday evening at the
Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church. In the absence of Dr. J. E.
Moorland, Professor John R. Hawkins presided. The first address was
delivered by Mr. Charles H. Wesley on "The Negro Soldier in the
Confederate Army." Mr. Wesley's address was scholarly and
illuminating. He showed that he had made extensive research in this
field in that he was well acquainted with his subject and he had it
well outlined. It was presented in topical form and made so clear that
it was almost impossible not to understand the extent to which the
Negro figured as a soldier in the Confederate Army. He took occasion
to show the difference between the Negro's loyalty to his country and
that to the master class and explained how an attachment to the soil
on which one lives is inevitable. The whole address tended to bring
forth the thought that the Negro is so closely connected with all the
great movements of this country that it is impossible to treat him as
an alien.
Dr. George E. Haynes, the next speaker, discussed "Some Economic
Problems of the Negro." As the Director of the Bureau of Negro
Economics in the Department of Labor, Dr. Haynes has done considerable
investigation which enables him to speak with authority in this field.
His discussion was largely statistical, treating the Negro laborer as
compared with the white laborer with respect to absenteeism, turn-over
and general efficiency. On some points his investigation had not gone
sufficiently far to reach definite conclusions. In most cases,
however, he had facts to warrant conclusions as to the main deficiency
from which the Negro laborer suffers and the respects in which he
excels the white laborer.
Mr. John W. Davis, Executive Secretary of the local Young Men's
Christian Association, undertook to explain "How to Promote the Study
of Negro Life and History." In the first place, he answered the
questions whether or not the Negro had any history, whether this
history is worth saving, and how the movement should be promoted.
Basing his remarks on the achievements of Africa to show that the
Negro has a history worth while, Mr. Davis supported the contention
that the race has a tradition which should be passed on to generations
unborn. He then endeavored to show briefly exactly how there can be
constructed the machinery adequate to interesting every individual
having pride in the achievements of this large fraction of the
population of the country.
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other
inconsistencies. The transcriber made the following changes to the
text to correct obvious errors:
1. p. 15, No footnote marker for footnote #18 in original text.
2. p. 15, No footnote marker for footnote #19 in original text.
3. p. 15, Footnote #19, "Attiude" --> "Attitude"
4. p. 18, "thereupon he suffered" --> "thereupon be suffered"
5. p. 30, Footnote #12, "skteches" --> "sketches"
6. p. 61, "intellignce" --> "intelligence"
7. p. 69, "about what time" --> "About what time"
8. p. 103, "depneded" --> "depended"
9. p. 109, "Ilinois" --> "Illinois"
10. p. 115, "expeience" --> "experience"
11. p. 273, No footnote text for footnote #58.
12. p. 288, "daugther" --> "daughter"
13. p. 291, "Apirl" --> "April"
14. p. 306, "Apri" --> "April"
15. p. 380, Footnote #16, "salvery" --> "slavery"
16. p. 410, "uusal" --> "usual"
17. p. 421, "supoprt" --> "support"
18. p. 429, "Apirl" --> "April"
Also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain
as published.
End of Transcriber's Notes]
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal of Negro History, Volume
4, 1919, by Various
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO HISTORY ***
***** This file should be named 21093-8.txt or 21093-8.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/9/21093/
Produced by Curtis Weyant, Richard J. Shiffer and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
http://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
