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Title: The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919

Author: Various

Release Date: April 15, 2007 [EBook #21093]

Language: English

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The Journal
of
Negro History

Volume IV

1919

Contents

Vol IV—January, 1919—No. 1

Vol IV—April, 1919—No. 2

Vol IV—July, 1919—No. 3

Vol IV—October, 1919—No. 4

[Pg 1]

The Journal
of
Negro History

Vol. IV—January, 1919—No. 1

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,[Pg 2] 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.[Pg 3]

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[Pg 4] 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[Pg 5] 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[Pg 6] 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.

[Pg 7]

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[Pg 8] 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[Pg 9] 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[Pg 10] 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][Pg 11]

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.[Pg 12]

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[Pg 13] 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[Pg 14] 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[Pg 15] 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[Pg 16] 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[Pg 17] 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[Pg 18] 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[Pg 19] 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][Pg 20] 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][Pg 21]

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.

[Pg 22]

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[Pg 23] 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.[Pg 24]

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][Pg 25]

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[Pg 26] 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[Pg 27] 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[Pg 28] 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[Pg 29] 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.'[Pg 30] 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[Pg 31] 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[Pg 32] 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.

[Pg 33]

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[Pg 34] 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[Pg 35] 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[Pg 36] 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[Pg 37] 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[Pg 38] 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.[Pg 39] 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.[Pg 40]

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

[Pg 41]

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[Pg 42] 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[Pg 43] 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[Pg 44] 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[Pg 45] 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,[Pg 46] 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[Pg 47] 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]

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[Pg 48] 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][Pg 49]

"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[Pg 50] 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]

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.[Pg 52]

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.[Pg 53]

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[Pg 54] 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.

[Pg 55]

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.

[Pg 56]

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[Pg 57] 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.

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,[Pg 58] 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[Pg 59] 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[Pg 60] 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[Pg 61] 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[Pg 62] 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[Pg 63] 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[Pg 64] 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[Pg 65] 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[Pg 66] 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[Pg 67] 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,[Pg 68] 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.

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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[Pg 69] 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[Pg 70] 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[Pg 71] 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.[Pg 72]

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[Pg 73] 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[Pg 74] 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[Pg 75] 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;[Pg 76] 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[Pg 77] 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.[Pg 78]

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,[Pg 79] 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:[Pg 80]

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[Pg 81] 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[Pg 82] 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[Pg 83] 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?[Pg 84] 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.[Pg 85]

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:[Pg 86]

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[Pg 87] 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[Pg 88] 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.[Pg 89]

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.[Pg 90]

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:[Pg 91]

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[Pg 92] 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.

[Pg 93]

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[Pg 94] 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.[Pg 95] 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.[Pg 96]

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::

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[Pg 97] 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[Pg 98] 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[Pg 99] 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[Pg 100] 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[Pg 101] 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.

[Pg 102]

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[Pg 103] 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[Pg 104] 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[Pg 105] 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[Pg 106] 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[Pg 107] 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.

[Pg 108]

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."

[Pg 109]

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.[Pg 110]

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.

[Pg 111]

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[Pg 112] 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[Pg 113] 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[Pg 114] 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[Pg 115] 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[Pg 116] 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][Pg 117]

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][Pg 118] 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[Pg 119] 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[Pg 120] 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[Pg 121] 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:

"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[Pg 123] 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[Pg 124] 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.

[Pg 125]

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[Pg 126] 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[Pg 127] 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.[Pg 128]

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[Pg 129] 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[Pg 130] 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.[Pg 131] 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[Pg 132] 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[Pg 133] 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

[Pg 134]

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.[Pg 135]

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.

[Pg 136]

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[Pg 137] 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[Pg 138] 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[Pg 139] 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[Pg 140] 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[Pg 141] 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[Pg 142] 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.

[Pg 143]

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][Pg 144]

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[Pg 145] 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[Pg 146] 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,[Pg 147] £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[Pg 148] 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[Pg 149] 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[Pg 150] 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[Pg 151] 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[Pg 152] 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[Pg 153] 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[Pg 154] 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][Pg 155]

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[Pg 156] 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[Pg 157] 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[Pg 158] 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[Pg 159] 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[Pg 160] 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[Pg 161] 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[Pg 162] 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.

[Pg 163]

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[Pg 164] 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[Pg 165] 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[Pg 166] 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[Pg 167] 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][Pg 168]

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.[Pg 169]

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[Pg 170] 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[Pg 171] 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][Pg 172]

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[Pg 173] 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[Pg 174] 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[Pg 175] 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[Pg 176] 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[Pg 177] 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[Pg 178] 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[Pg 179] 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[Pg 180] 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][Pg 181]

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[Pg 182] 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[Pg 183] 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[Pg 184] 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[Pg 185] 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[Pg 186] 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[Pg 187] 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[Pg 188] 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[Pg 189] 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[Pg 190] 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[Pg 191] 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][Pg 192]

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[Pg 193] 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[Pg 194] 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[Pg 195] 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[Pg 196] 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[Pg 197] 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[Pg 198] 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[Pg 199] 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[Pg 200] 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[Pg 201] 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[Pg 202] 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[Pg 203] 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[Pg 204] 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[Pg 205] 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]

[Pg 206]

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[Pg 207] 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[Pg 208] 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[Pg 209] 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][Pg 210]

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[Pg 211] 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[Pg 212] 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[Pg 213] 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[Pg 214] 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[Pg 215] 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[Pg 216] 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,[Pg 217] 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[Pg 218] 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[Pg 219] 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[Pg 220] 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.[Pg 221]

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[Pg 222] 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[Pg 223] 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[Pg 224] 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[Pg 225] 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[Pg 226] 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.[Pg 227]

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[Pg 228] 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[Pg 229] 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[Pg 230] 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[Pg 231] 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.

[Pg 232]

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.

[Pg 233]

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[Pg 234] 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[Pg 235] 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[Pg 236] 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.

[Pg 237]

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[Pg 238] 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.

[Pg 239]

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][Pg 240]

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[Pg 241] 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[Pg 242] 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[Pg 243] 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[Pg 244] 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[Pg 245] 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,[Pg 246] 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[Pg 247] 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[Pg 248] 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[Pg 249] 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[Pg 250] 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][Pg 251]

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...."[Pg 252] 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[Pg 253] 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.

[Pg 254]

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[Pg 255] 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[Pg 256] 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[Pg 257] 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[Pg 258] 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[Pg 259] 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[Pg 260] 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[Pg 261] 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[Pg 262] 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[Pg 263] 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[Pg 264] 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[Pg 265] 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[Pg 266] 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[Pg 267] 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[Pg 268] 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[Pg 269] 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.[Pg 270] 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][Pg 271]

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[Pg 272] 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.

[Pg 273]

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[Pg 274] 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,[Pg 275] 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[Pg 276] 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[Pg 277] 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[Pg 278] 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[Pg 279] 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[Pg 280] 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.

[Pg 281]

GRÉGOIRE'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[Pg 282] 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[Pg 283] 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[Pg 284] 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[Pg 285] 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[Pg 286] 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[Pg 287] 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[Pg 288] 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[Pg 289] 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.

[Pg 290]

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.

[Pg 291]

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[Pg 292] 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.[Pg 293]

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.

[Pg 294]

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[Pg 295] 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.

[Pg 296]

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[Pg 297] 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.[Pg 298]

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[Pg 299] 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[Pg 300] 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[Pg 301] 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[Pg 302] 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[Pg 303] 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.

[Pg 304]

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.

[Pg 305]

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[Pg 306] 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[Pg 307]

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.

[Pg 308]

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[Pg 309] 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.[Pg 310]

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.

[Pg 311]

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[Pg 312] 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

[Pg 313]

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[Pg 314] 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[Pg 315] 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.

[Pg 316]

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.

[Pg 317]

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[Pg 318] 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[Pg 319] 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[Pg 320] 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[Pg 321] 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.

[Pg 322]

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[Pg 323] 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[Pg 324] 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[Pg 325] 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[Pg 326] 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

[Pg 327]

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

[Pg 328]

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.

[Pg 329]

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.

[Pg 330]

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[Pg 331] 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.

[Pg 332]

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.

[Pg 333]

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[Pg 334] 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[Pg 335] 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[Pg 336] 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.

[Pg 337]

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[Pg 338] 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[Pg 339] 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[Pg 340] 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.

[Pg 341]

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[Pg 342] 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.

[Pg 343]

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[Pg 344] 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.[Pg 345]

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[Pg 346] 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.

[Pg 347]

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[Pg 348] 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.

[Pg 349]

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[Pg 350] 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:

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[Pg 351] 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[Pg 352] 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[Pg 353] 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[Pg 354] 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:

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[Pg 355] 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[Pg 356] 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:[Pg 357]

"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[Pg 358] 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:[Pg 359]

"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[Pg 360] 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.

[Pg 361]

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,[Pg 362] 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[Pg 363] 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[Pg 364] 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[Pg 365] 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[Pg 366] 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][Pg 367]

"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[Pg 368] 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[Pg 369] 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[Pg 370] 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."

[Pg 371]

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