Narrative of the Life of J.D. Green, a Runaway Slave, from Kentucky eBook
Narrative of the Life of J.D. Green, a Runaway Slave, from Kentucky
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Table of Contents
Page 1
Narrative
of
the life
of
J.D. Green,
A runaway slave,
from Kentucky,
Containing an
account of his three escapes,
In 1839, 1846, and 1848.
Eighth thousand.
Huddersfield:
Printed by Henry Fielding, Pack
horse yard.
1864
[Transcriber’s Note: This project was
transcribed from a contemporary printing of the work,
not from the 1864 edition. Certain spellings may
have been modernized and typographic and printer’s
errors changed from the original.]
TESTIMONIALS.
Jacob Green, a coloured man and an escaped slave,
has lectured in my hearing, on American Slavery, in
Springfield School-room, and I was much pleased with
the propriety with which he was able to express himself,
and with the capabilities which he seemed to possess
to interest an audience.
Gilbert Mc.Callum.
Minister of Springfield
Independent Chapel, Dewsbury.
Sept 2, 1863.
* * * *
*
Hopton House, Sept. 10, 1863.
I have much pleasure in bearing my testimony in favour
of Mr. Jacob Green, as a lecturer on the subject of
American Slavery, having been present when he gave
an able and efficient lecture here about a month ago.
Having himself witnessed and experienced the fearful
effects of that accursed “institution,”
he is well fitted to describe its horrors, and I have
no doubt that amongst certain classes, his labours
in the anti-slavery cause may be more telling and
efficient than those of more highly educated lecturers
who do not profess his peculiar advantages. I
shall be well pleased to hear of him being employed
by any anti-slavery society.
James Cameron,
Minister of Hopton Chapel.
* * * *
*
Eccleshill, Sept. 11, 1863.
Mr. Jacob Green gave a lecture on Slavery, in our
School-room here, about two months ago, which I considered
a very able one; and it was so considered by my people.
John Aston.
* * * *
*
I certify that Mr. Jacob Green has delivered two lectures
in the Foresters’ Hall, Denholm, to a very numerous
audience; and on each occasion has given great satisfaction.
The subjects were, first—Slavery,—second,
the American War. He lectures remarkably well,
and has a powerful voice; and I have not the least
doubt would give satisfaction in lecturing elsewhere.
The chair on each occasion was taken—first,
by myself as incumbent—second, by the Rev.
T. Roberts, Independent Minister.
Page 2
J.F.N. Eyre.
Incumbent of Denholm.
Oct. 18th, 1863.
* * * *
*
I can thoroughly endorse the sentiments of the Rev.
J.F.N. Eyre, herein recorded.
T. Roberts.
* * * *
*
Mr. J.D. Green has lectured four times in our
Schoolrooms, and each time he has given very great
satisfaction to a large assembly. From what I
have seen of him, I believe him to be worthy of public
sympathy and support.
William Inman, Minister.
Ovenden, Nov. 14, 1863.
Narrative, &c.
My father and mother were owned by Judge Charles Earle,
of Queen Anne’s
County, Maryland, and I was born on the 24th of August,
1813.
From eight to eleven years of age I was employed as
an errand boy, carrying water principally for domestic
purposes, for 113 slaves and the family. As I
grew older, in the mornings I was employed looking
after the cows, and waiting in the house, and at twelve
years I remember being in great danger of losing my
life in a singular way. I had seen the relish
with which master and friends took drink from a bottle,
and seeing a similar bottle in the closet, I thought
what was good for them would be good for me, and I
laid hold of the bottle and took a good draught of
(Oh, horror of horrors) oxalic acid, and the doctor
said my safety was occasioned by a habit I had of
putting my head in the milk pail and drinking milk,
as by doing so the milk caused me to vomit and saved
my life. About this time my mother was sold to
a trader named Woodfork, and where she was conveyed
I have not heard up to the present time. This
circumstance caused serious reflections in my mind,
as to the situation of slaves, and caused me to contrast
the condition of a white boy with mine, which the
following occurrence will more vividly pourtray.
One morning after my mother was sold, a white boy
was stealing corn out of my master’s barn, and
I said for this act we black boys will be whipped until
one of us confesses to have done that we are all innocent
of, as such is the case in every instance; and I thought,
Oh, that master was here, or the overseer, I would
then let them see what becomes of the corn. But,
I saw he was off with the corn to the extent of half
a bushel, and I will say nothing about it until they
miss it, and if I tell them they wont believe me if
he denies it, because he is white and I am black.
Oh! how dreadful it is to be black! Why was I
born black? It would have been better had I not
been born at all. Only yesterday, my mother was
sold to go to, not one of us knows were, and I am
left alone, and I have no hope of seeing her again.
At this moment a raven alighted on a tree over my head,
and I cried, “Oh, Raven! if I had wings like
you, I would soon find my mother and be happy again.”
Before parting she advised me to be a good boy, and
she would pray for me, and I must pray for her, and
Page 3
hoped we might meet again in heaven, and I at once
commenced to pray, to the best of my knowledge, “Our
Father art in Heaven, be Thy name, kingdom come.—Amen.”
But, at this time, words of my master obtruded into
my mind that God did not care for black folks, as
he did not make them, but the d—–l
did. Then I thought of the old saying amongst
us, as stated by our master, that, when God was making
man, He made white man out of the best clay, as potters
make china, and the d—–l was watching,
and he immediately took up some black mud and made
a black man, and called him a nigger. My master
was continually impressing upon me the necessity of
being a good boy, and used to say, that if I was good,
and behaved as well to him as my mother had done,
I should go to Heaven without a question being asked.
My mother having often said the same, I determined
from that day to be a good boy, and constantly frequented
the Meeting-house attended by the blacks where I learned
from the minister, Mr. Cobb, how much the Lord had
done for the blacks and for their salvation; and he
was in the habit of reminding us what advantages he
had given us for our benefit, for when we were in our
native country, Africa, we were destitute of Bible
light, worshipping idols of sticks and stones, and
barbarously murdering one another, God put it into
the hearts of these good slaveholders to venture across
the bosom of the hazardous Atlantic to Africa, and
snatch us poor negroes as brands from the eternal
burning, and bring us where we might sit under the
droppings of his sanctuary, and learn the ways of industry
and the way to God. “Oh, niggers! how happy
are your eyes which see this heavenly light; many
millions of niggers desired it long, but died without
the sight. I frequently envy your situations,
because God’s special blessing seems to be ever
over you, as though you were a select people, for how
much happier is your position than that of a free
man, who, if sick, must pay his doctor’s bill;
if hungry, must supply his wants by his own exertions;
if thirsty, must refresh himself by his own aid.
And yet you, oh, niggers! your master has all this
care for you. He supplies your daily wants; your
meat and your drink he provides; and when you are sick
he finds the best skill to bring you to health as
soon as possible, for your sickness is his loss, and
your health his gain; and, above all when you die (if
you are obedient to your masters, and good niggers),
your black faces will shine like black jugs around
the throne of God.” Such was the religious
instruction I was in the habit of receiving until I
was about seventeen years old; and told that when
at any time I happened to be offended, or struck by
a white boy I was not to offend or strike in return,
unless it was another black, then I might fight as
hard as I chose in my own defence. It happened
about this time there was a white boy who was continually
stealing my tops and marbles, and one morning when
doing so I caught him, and we had a battle, and I
Page 4
had him down on the ground when Mr. Burmey came up.
He kicked me away from the white boy, saying if I belonged
to him he would cut off my hands for daring
to strike a white boy; this without asking the cause
of the quarrel, or of ascertaining who was to blame.
The kick was so severe that I was sometime before I
forgot it, and created such a feeling of revenge in
my bosom that I was determined when I became a man
I would pay him back in his own coin. I went out
one day, and measured myself by a tree in the wood,
and cut a notch in the tree to ascertain how fast
I grew. I went at different times for the space
of two months and found I was no taller, and I began
to fear he would die before I should have grown to
man’s estate, and I resolved if he did I would
make his children suffer by punishing them instead
of their father. At this time my master’s
wife had two lovers, this same Burmey and one Rogers,
and they despised each other from feelings of jealousy.
Master’s wife seemed to favour Burmey most,
who was a great smoker, and she provided him with a
large pipe with a German silver bowl, which screwed
on the top; this pipe she usually kept on the mantel
piece, ready filled with tobacco. One morning
I was dusting and sweeping out the dining-room, and
saw the pipe on the mantel-piece. I took it down,
and went to my young master William’s powder
closet and took out his powder horn, and after taking
half of the tobacco out of the pipe filled it nearly
full with powder, and covered it over with tobacco
to make it appear as usual when filled with tobacco,
replaced it, and left. Rogers, came in about eight
o’clock in the morning, and remained until eleven,
when Mr. Burmey came, and in about an hour I saw a
great number running about from all parts of the plantation.
I left the barn where I was thrashing buck-wheat,
and followed the rest to the house, where I saw Mr.
Burmey lying back in the arm chair in a state of insensibility,
his mouth bleeding profusely and from particulars given
it appeared he took the pipe as usual and lighted
it, and had just got it to his mouth when the powder
exploded, and the party suspected was Rogers, who
had been there immediately preceding; and Burmey’s
son went to Rogers and they fought about the matter.
Law ensued, which cost Rogers 800 dollars, Burmey
600 dollars and his face disfigured; and my master’s
wife came in for a deal of scandal, which caused further
proceedings at law, costing the master 1400 hundred
dollars, and I was never once suspected or charged
with the deed.
At this time two or three negroes had escaped, and
I heard so much about the free States of the north
that I was determined to be free. So I began
to study what we call the north star, or astronomy,
to guide me to the free States. I was in the
habit of driving the master; and on one occasion I
had to drive him to Baltimore where two of his sons
were studying law; and while there, I stole some sweet
potatoes to roast when I got home; and how master
Page 5
got to know I had them I never knew; but when I got
home he gave me a note to Mr. Cobb, the overseer,
and told me to tell Dick, (another slave on the plantation)
to come to Baltimore to him on the following evening,
and as soon as I took the note in my hand I was certain
there was a flogging in it for me, though he said nothing
to me. I held the note that night and following
day, afraid to give it to Mr. Cobb, so confident was
I of what would be the result. Towards evening
I began to reason thus—If I give Cobb the
note I shall be whipped; if I withhold the note from
him I shall be whipped, so a whipping appears plain
in either case. Now Dick having arranged to meet
his sweetheart this night assumed sickness, so that
he could have an excuse for not meeting master at
Baltimore, and he wanted me to go instead of him.
I agreed to go, providing he would take the note I
had to Mr. Cobb, as I had forgot to give it him, to
which he consented, and off I went; and I heard that
when he delivered the note to Mr. Cobb, he ordered
him to go to the whipping-post, and when he asked
what he had done he was knocked down, and afterwards
put to the post and thirty-nine lashes were administered,
and failed seeing his sweetheart as well. When
I arrived at Baltimore my master and young master
took their seats and I drove away without any question
until we had gone three miles, when he asked what I
was doing there that night. I very politely said
Dick was not well, and I had come in his place.
He then asked me if Mr. Cobb got his note, I answered,
yes, sir. He then asked me how I felt, and I
said first rate, sir. “The d—–l
you do,” said he. I said, yes sir.
He said “nigger, did Mr. Cobb flog you?”
No sir. I have done nothing wrong. “You
never do,” he answered; and said no more until
he got home. Being a man who could not bear to
have any order of his disobeyed or unfulfilled, he
immediately called for Mr. Cobb, and was told he was
in bed; and when he appeared, the master asked if he
got the note sent by the nigger. Mr. Cobb said
“Yes.” “Then why,” said
master, “did you not perform my orders in the
note?” “I did, sir,” replied Cobb;
when the master said, “I told you to give that
nigger thirty-nine lashes,” Mr. Cobb says, “So
I did, sir;” when master replied, “He says
you never licked him at all.” Upon which
Cobb said, “He is a liar;” when my master
called for me (who had been hearing the whole dialogue
at the door), I turned on my toes and went a short
distance, and I shouted with a loud voice that I was
coming, (to prevent them knowing that I had been listening)
and appeared before them and said “here I am
master, do you want me?” He said “Yes.
Did you not tell me that Mr. Cobb had not flogged
you,” and I said “yes I did; he has not
flogged me to-day, sir.” Mr. Cobb answered,
“I did not flog him. You did not tell me
to flog him. You told me to flog that other nigger.”
“What other nigger,” enquired Master.
Cobb said, “Dick.” Master then said,
“I did not. I told you to flog this nigger
here.” Cobb then produced the letter, and
read it as follows:
Page 6
“Mr. Cobb will give the bearer 39
lashes on delivery.” R.T. Earle.
I then left the room and explanations took place.
When I was again called in. “How came Dick
to have had the letter,” and I then said I had
forgot to deliver it until Dick wanted me to go to
Baltimore in his place, and I agreed providing he
would take the letter. Master then said “you
lie, you infernal villain,” and laid hold of
a pair of tongs and said he would dash my brains out
if I did not tell him the truth. I then said I
thought there was something in the note that boded
no good to me, and I did not intend to give it to
him. He said, “you black vagabond, stay
on this plantation three months longer, and you will
be master and I the slave; no wonder you said you
felt first rate when I asked you, but I will sell you
to go to Georgia the first chance I get.”
Then laying the tongs down he opened the door and
ordered me out. I knew he had on heavy cow-hide
boots, and I knew he would try to assist me in my
outward progress, and though expecting it and went
as quick as I could, I was materially assisted by a
heavy kick from my master’s foot. This
did not end the matter, for when Dick found out I
had caused his being flogged, we had continual fightings
for several months.
When I was fourteen years old my master gave me a
flogging, the marks of which will go with me to my
grave, and this was for a crime of which I was completely
innocent. My master’s son had taken one
of his pistols out, and by some accident it burst.
When enquiry was made about the damaged pistol William
told his father that he had seen me have it; this,
of course, I denied, when master tied me up by my
thumbs and gave me 60 lashes, and also made me confess
the crime before he would release me. From this
flogging my back was raw and sore for three months;
the shirt that I wore was made of rough tow linen,
and when at work in the fields it would so chafe the
sores that they would break and run, and the hot sun
over me would bake the shirt fast to my back, and
for four weeks I wore that shirt, unable to pull it
off, and when I did pull it off it brought with it
much of my flesh, leaving my back perfectly raw.
Some time after this my master found out the truth
about the pistol, and when I saw that he did not offer
me any apology for the beating he had given me, and
the lie he had made me confess, I went to him and
said—now, master, you see that you beat
me unjustly about that pistol, and made me confess
to a lie—but all the consolation I got
was—clear out, you black rascal; I never
struck a blow amiss in my life, except when I struck
at you and happened to miss you; there are plenty
of other crimes you have committed and did not let
me catch you at them, so that flogging will do for
the lot.
Page 7
Master had an old negro in the family called Uncle
Reuben. This good old man and his wife were very
good friends of my mother’s, and before she was
sold they often met and sung and prayed, and talked
about religion together. Uncle Reuben fell sick
in the middle of the harvest, and his sickness was
very severe; but master having a grudge against uncle
Reuben, and his old wife aunt Dinah, respecting a
complaint that aunt Dinah had made to mistress about
his having outraged and violated her youngest daughter,
his spite was carried out by Mr. Cobb, the overseer,
who forced Uncle Reuben into the field amongst the
rest of us, and I was ordered to cradle behind him
to make him keep up with the rest of the gang.
The poor old man worked until he fell, just ahead
of me, upon the cradle. Mr. Cobb came over and
told him to get up, and that he was only playing the
old soldier, and when the old man did not move to
get up Mr. Cobb gave him a few kicks with his heavy
boots and told Reuben, sick as he was, that he would
cure him. He ordered us to take off his shirt,
and the poor old man was stripped, when Mr. Cobb,
with his hickory cane, laid on him till his back bled
freely; but still the old man seemed to take no notice
of what Mr. Cobb was doing. Mr. Cobb then told
us to put on his shirt and carry him in, for he appeared
convinced that Reuben could not walk. The next
morning I went to see him but he did not seem to know
anybody. Master came in along with the Doctor,
and master swore at Reuben, telling him that as soon
as he was well enough he should have a good flogging
for having, by his own folly, caught his sickness.
The doctor here checked his master’s rage by
telling him, as he felt at Reuben by the wrist, he
could not live many minutes longer; at this master
was silent, and a few minutes Reuben was dead.
Poor Aunt Dinah came in out of the kitchen and wept
fit to break her poor heart. She had four sons
and three daughters, and they all joined in mournful
lamentation.
When I was sixteen I was very fond of dancing, and
was invited privately to a negro shindy or dance,
about twelve miles from home, and for this purpose
I got Aunt Dinah to starch the collars for my two linen
shirts, which were the first standing collars I had
ever worn in my life; I had a good pair of trousers,
and a jacket, but no necktie, nor no pocket handkerchief,
so I stole aunt Dinah’s checked apron, and tore
it in two—one part for a necktie, the other
for a pocket handkerchief. I had twenty-four
cents, or pennies which I divided equally with fifty
large brass buttons in my right and left pockets.
Now, thought I to myself, when I get on the floor
and begin to dance—oh! how the niggers will
stare to hear the money jingle. I was combing
my hair to get the knots out of it: I then went
and looked in an old piece of broken looking-glass,
and I thought, without joking, that I was the best
looking negro that I had ever seen in my life.
About ten o’clock I stole out to the stable when
Page 8
all was still; and while I was getting on one of my
master’s horses I said to myself—Master
was in here at six o’clock and saw all these
horses clean, so I must look out and be back time
enough to have you clean when he gets up in the morning.
I thought what a dash I should cut among the pretty
yellow and Sambo gals, and I felt quite confident,
of course, that I should have my pick among the best
looking ones, for my good clothes, and my abundance
of money, and my own good looks—in fact,
I thought no mean things of my self.
When I arrived at the place where the dance was, it
was at an old house in the woods, which had many years
before been a negro meeting-house; there was a large
crowd there, and about one hundred horses tied round
the fence—for some of them were far from
home, and, like myself, they were all runaways, and
their horses, like mine, had to be home and cleaned
before their masters were up in the morning. In
getting my horse close up to the fence a nail caught
my trousers at the thigh, and split them clean up
to the seat; of course my shirt tail fell out behind,
like a woman’s apron before. This dreadful
misfortune almost unmanned me, and curtailed both
my pride and pleasure for the night. I cried until
I could cry no more. However, I was determined
I would not be done out of my sport after being at
the expense of coming, so I went round and borrowed
some pins, and pinned up my shirt tail as well as
I could. I then went into the dance, and told
the fiddler to play me a jig. Che, che, che, went
the fiddle, when the banjo responded with a thrum,
thrum, thrum, with the loud cracking of the bone player.
I seized a little Sambo gal, and round and round the
room we went, my money and my buttons going jingle,
jingle, jingle, seemed to take a lively part with
the music, and to my great satisfaction every eye
seemed to be upon me, and I could not help thinking
about what an impression I should leave behind upon
those pretty yellow and Sambo gals, who were gazing
at me, thinking I was the richest and handsomest nigger
they had ever seen: but unfortunately the pins
in my breeches gave way, and to my great confusion
my shirt tail fell out; and what made my situation
still more disgraceful was the mischievous conduct
of my partner, the gal that I was dancing with, who
instead of trying to conceal my shame caught my shirt
tail behind and held it up. The roar of laughter
that came from both men and gals almost deafened me,
and I would at this moment have sunk through the floor,
so I endeavoured to creep out as slily as I could;
but even this I was not permitted to do until I had
undergone a hauling around the room by my unfortunate
shirt tail: and this part of the programme was
performed by the gals, set on by the boys—every
nigger who could not stand up and laugh, because laughing
made them weak, fell down on the floor and rolled
round and round. When the gals saw their own
turn they let me go and I hurried outside and stood
Page 9
behind the house, beneath a beautiful bright moon,
which saw me that night the most wretched of all negroes
in the land of Dixie; and what made me feel, in my
own opinion, that my humiliation was just as complete
as the triumph of the negroes inside was glorious,
was that the gals had turned my pockets out, and found
that the hundreds of dollars they had thought my pockets
contained, consisted of 24 cents or pennies, and 50
brass buttons. Everything was alive and happy
inside the room, but no one knew or cared how miserable
I was—the joy and life of the dance that
night seemed entirely at my expense, all through my
unfortunate shirt tail. The first thing I thought
of now was revenge. Take your comfort, niggers
now, said I to myself, for sorrow shall be yours in
the morning, so I took out my knife and went round
the fence and cut every horse loose, and they all ran
away. I then got on my horse and set off home.
As I rode on I thought to myself—I only
wish I could be somewhere close enough to see how those
negroes will act when they come out and find all their
horses gone. And then I laughed right out when
I thought of the sport they had had out of my misfortune,
and that some were ten to twelve, and some fifteen
miles away from home. Well, thought I, your masters
will have to reckon with you to-morrow; you have had
glad hearts to-night at my expense, but you will have
sore backs to-morrow at your own. Now, when I
got home, the stable was in a very bad situation,
and I was afraid to bring my horse in until I could
strike a light. When this was done, I took the
saddle and bridle off outside. No sooner had
I done this than my horse reared over the bars and
ran away into the meadow. I chased him till daylight,
and for my life I could not catch him. My feelings
now may be better imagined than described. When
the reader remembers that this horse, with all the
rest, master had seen clean at six o’clock the
night before, and all safe in the stable, and now
to see him in the meadow, with all the marks of having
been driven somewhere and by somebody, what excuse
could I make, or what story could I invent in order
to save my poor back from that awful flogging which
I knew must be the result of the revelation of the
truth. I studied and tried, but could think of
no lie that would stand muster. At last I went
into the stable and turned all the rest out, and left
the stable door open, and creeping into the house,
took off my fine clothes and put on those which I
had been wearing all the week, and laid myself down
on my straw. I had not lain long before I heard
master shouting for me, for all those horses, eight
in number, were under my care; and although he shouted
for me at the top of his voice, I lay still and pretended
not to hear him; but soon after I heard a light step
coming up stairs, and a rap at my door—then
I commenced to snore as loud as possible, still the
knocking continued. At last I pretended to awake,
and called out, who’s there—that
Page 10
you, Lizzy? oh my! what’s up, what time is it,
and so on. Lizzy said master wanted me immediately;
yes, Lizzy, said I, tell master I’m coming.
I bothered about the room long enough to give colour
to the impression that I had just finished dressing
myself; I then came and said, here I am, master, when
he demanded of me, what were my horses doing in the
meadow? Here I put on an expression of such wonder
and surprise—looking first into the meadow
and then at the stable door, and to master’s
satisfaction, I seemed so completely confounded that
my deception took upon him the desired effect.
Then I affected to roar right out, crying, now master,
you saw my horses all clean last night before I went
to bed, and now some of those negroes have turned them
out so that I should have them to clean over again:
well, I declare! it’s too bad, and I roared
and cried as I went towards the meadow to drive them
up; but master believing what I said, called me back
and told me to call Mr. Cobb, and when Mr. Cobb came
master told him to blow the horn; when the horn was
blown, the negroes were to be seen coming from all
parts of the plantation, and forming around in front
of the balcony. Master then came out and said,
now I saw this boy’s horses clean last night
and in the stable, so now tell me which of you turned
them out? Of course they all denied it, then
master ordered them all to go down into the meadow
and drive up the horses and clean them, me excepted;
so they went and drove them up and set to work and
cleaned them. On Monday morning we all turned
out to work until breakfast, when the horn was blown,
and we all repaired to the house. Here master
again demanded to know who turned the horses loose,
and when they all denied it, he tied them all up and
gave them each 39 lashes. Not yet satisfied,
but determined to have a confession, as was always
his custom on such occasions, he came to me and asked
me which one I had reason to suspect. My poor
guilty heart already bleeding for the suffering I
had caused my fellow slaves, was now almost driven
to confession. What must I do, select another
victim for further punishment, or confess the truth
and bear the consequence? My conscience now rebuked
me, like an armed man; but I happened to be one of
those boys who, among all even of my mother’s
children loved myself best, and therefore had no disposition
to satisfy my conscience at the expense of a very sore
back, so I very soon thought of Dick, a negro who,
like Ishmael, had his hand out against every man,
and all our hands were out against him; this negro
was a lickspittle or tell-tale, as little boys call
them—we could not steal a bit of tea or
sugar, or any other kind of nourishment for our sick,
or do anything else we did not want to be known, but
if he got to know it he would run and tell master
or mistress, or the overseer, so we all wanted him
dead; and now I thought of him—he was just
the proper sacrifice for me to lay upon the altar
of confession, so I told master I believed that it
Page 11
was Dick: moreover, I told him that I had seen
him in and out of the stable on Saturday night, so
master tied Dick up and gave him 39 lashes more, and
washed his back down with salt and water, and told
him that at night if he did not confess, he would
give him as much more; so at night, when master went
out to Dick again, he asked if he had made up his
mind to tell him the truth, Dick said, yes, master;—well,
said master, let me hear it. Well master, said
Dick, I did turn the horses out; but will never do
so again. So master, satisfied with this confession,
struck Dick no more, and ordered him to be untied;
but Dick had a sore back for many weeks. And
now to return to the negroes I had left at the dance,
when they discovered that their horses were gone there
was the greatest consternation amongst them, the forebodings
of the awful consequences if they dared to go home
induced many that night to seek salvation in the direction
and guidance of the north star. Several who started
off on that memorable night I have since shook hands
with in Canada. They told me there were sixteen
of them went off together, four of them were shot or
killed by the bloodhounds, and one was captured while
asleep in a barn; the rest of those who were at the
dance either went home and took their floggings, or
strayed into the woods until starved out, and then
surrendered. One of those I saw in Toronto, is
Dan Patterson; he has a house of his own, with a fine
horse and cart, and he has a beautiful Sambo woman
for his wife, and four fine healthy-looking children.
But, like myself, he had left a wife and six children
in slavery. When I was about seventeen, I was
deeply smitten in love with a yellow girl belonging
to Doctor Tillotson. This girl’s name was
Mary, of whose lovliness I dreamt every night.
I certainly thought she was the prettiest girl I had
ever seen in my life. Her colour was very fair,
approaching almost to white; her countenance was frank
and open, and very inviting; her voice was as sweet
as the dulcimer, her smiles to me were like the May
morning sunbeams in the spring, one glance of her
large dark eyes broke my heart in pieces, with a stroke
like that of an earthquake. O, I thought, this
girl would make me a paradise, and to enjoy her love
I thought would be heaven. In spite of either
patrols or dogs, who stood in my way, every night nearly
I was in Mary’s company. I learned from
her that she had already had a child to her master
in Mobile, and that her mistress had sold her down
here for revenge; and she told me also of the sufferings
that she had undergone from her mistress on account
of jealousy—her baby she said her mistress
sold out of her arms, only eleven months old, to a
lady in Marysville, Kentucky. Having never before
felt a passion like this, or of the gentle power,
so peculiar to women, that, hard as I worked all day,
I could not sleep at night for thinking of this almost
angel in human shape. We kept company about six
weeks, during which time I was at sometimes as wretched
Page 12
as I was happy at others. Much to my annoyance
Mary was adored by every negro in the neighbourhood,
and this excited my jealousy and made me miserable.
I was almost crazy when I saw another negro talking
to her. Again and again I tried my best to get
her to give up speaking to them, but she refused to
comply. There was one negro who was in the habit
of calling on Mary whom I dreaded more than all the
rest of them put together, this negro was Dan, he
belonged to Rogers; and notwithstanding I believed
myself to be the best looking negro to be found anywhere
in the neighbourhood, still I was aware that I was
not the best of talkers. Dan was a sweet and
easy talker, and a good bone and banjo player.
I was led to fear that he would displace me in Mary’s
affections, and in this I was not mistaken. One
night I went over to see Mary, and in looking through
the window, saw Mary—my sweet and beloved
Mary—sitting upon Dan’s knee; and
here it is impossible to describe the feeling that
came over me at this unwelcome sight. My teeth
clenched and bit my tongue—my head grew
dizzy, and began to swim round and round, and at last
I found myself getting up from the ground, having
stumbled from the effects of what I had seen.
I wandered towards home, and arriving there threw myself
on the straw and cried all night. My first determination
was to kill Dan; but then I thought they would hang
me and the devil would have us both, and some other
negro will get Mary, then the thought of killing Dan
passed away. Next morning, when the horn blew
for breakfast, I continued my work, my appetite having
left me; at dinner time it was the same. At sun-down
I went to the barn and got a rope and put it under
my jacket, and started off to see Mary, whom I found
sitting in the kitchen, smoking her pipe, for smoking
was as common among the girls as among the men.
Mary, said I, I was over here last night and saw you
through the window sitting on Dan’s knee.
Now, Mary, I want you to tell me at once whose you
mean to be—mine or Dan’s? Dan’s,
she replied, with an important toss of her head, which
went through my very soul, like the shock from a galvanic
battery. I rested for a minute or so on an old
oak table that stood by. Mary’s answer
had unstrung every nerve in me, and left me so weak
that I could scarcely keep from falling. Now
I was not at that time, and don’t think I ever
shall be one of those fools who would cut off his nose
to spite his face, much less kill myself because a
girl refused to love me. Life to me was always
preferable, under any circumstances; but in this case
I played the most dexterous card I had. Mary,
said I sternly, if you don’t give Dan up and
sware to be mine, I will hang myself this night.
To this she replied, hang on if you are fool enough,
and continued smoking her pipe as though not the least
alarmed. I took out the rope from under my jacket,
and got upon a three-legged stool, and putting the
rope first over the beam in the ceiling, then made
Page 13
a slip-knot, and brought it down round my neck, taking
good care to have it short enough that it would not
choke me, and in this way I stood upon the stool for
some considerable time, groaning and struggling, and
making every kind of noise that might make her believe
that I was choking or strangling; but still Mary sat
deliberately smoking her pipe with the utmost coolness,
and seemed to take no notice of me or what I was doing.
I thought my situation worse now than if I had not
commenced this job at all. My object in pretending
to hang myself was to frighten Mary into compliance
with my demand, and her conduct turned out to be everything
but what I had expected. I had thought that the
moment I ascended the stool she would have clung to
me and tried to dissuade me from committing suicide,
and in this case my plan was to persist in carrying
it out, unless she would consent to give Dan up; but
instead of this she sat smoking her pipe apparently
at ease and unmoved. Now I found I had been mistaken—what
was I to do, to hang or kill myself was the last thing
I meant to do—in fact I had not the courage
to do it for five hundred Marys. But now, after
mounting the stool and adjusting the rope round my
neck, I was positively ashamed to come down without
hanging myself, and then I stood like a fool.
At this moment in came the dog carlow, racing after
the cat, right across the kitchen floor, and the dog
coming in contact with the stool, knocked it right
away from under my feet, and brought my neck suddenly
to the full length of the rope, which barely allowed
my toes to touch the floor. Here I seized the
rope with both hands to keep the weight of my whole
body off my neck, and in this situation I soon found
I must hang, and that dead enough, unless I had some
assistance, for the stool had rolled entirely out of
the reach of my feet, and the knot I had tied behind
the beam I could not reach for my life. My arms
began to tremble with holding on to the rope, and still
my mortification and pride for some time refused to
let me call on Mary for assistance. Such a moment
of terror and suspense! heaven forbid that I should
ever see or experience again. Thoughts rushed
into my mind of every bad deed that I had done in
my life; and I thought that old cloven foot, as we
called the devil, was waiting to nab me. The stretch
upon my arms exhausted me, with holding on by the
rope, nothing was left me but despair; my pride and
courage gave up the ghost, and I roared out, Mary!
for God’s sake cut the rope! No, answered
Mary, you went up there to hang yourself, so now hang
on. Oh! Mary, Mary! I did not mean to
hang! I was only doing so to see what you would
say. Well, then, said Mary; you hear what I have
to say—hang on. Oh, Mary! for heaven’s
sake cut this rope, or I shall strangle to death!—oh,
dear, good Mary, save me this time: and I roared
out like a jackass, and must too have fainted, for
when I came round Doctor Tillotson and his wife and
Mary stood over me as I lay on the floor. How
Page 14
I got upon the floor, or who cut the rope I never knew.
Doctor Tillotson had hold of my wrist, feeling my
pulse; while mistress held a camphor bottle in one
hand and a bottle of hartshorn in the other. The
doctor helped me up from the floor and set me in a
chair, when I discovered that I was bleeding very
freely from the nose and mouth. He called for
a basin and bled me in my left arm, and then sent me
over home by two of his men. Next day my neck
was dreadfully swollen, and my throat was so sore
that it was with difficulty that I could swallow meat
for more than a week. At the end of a fortnight,
master having learnt all the particulars respecting
my sickness, called me to account, and gave me seventy-eight
lashes, and this was the end of my crazy love and courtship
with Mary.
Shortly after this, Mary was one Sunday down in her
master’s barn, where she had been sent by her
mistress to look for new nests where a number of the
hens were supposed to have been laying, as the eggs
had not been found elsewhere. While in the barn,
Mary was surprised by William Tillotson, her master’s
son, who ordered her to take her bed among the hay
and submit to his lustful passion. This she strenuously
refused to do, telling him of the punishment she had
already suffered from her former mistress for a similar
act of conduct, and reminding him at the same time
of his wife, whose vengeance she would have to dread;
but William was not to be put off, nor his base passion
to go unsatisfied, by any excuse that Mary could make,
so he at once resorted to force. Mary screamed
at the top of her voice. Now the negro Dan was
just in the act of passing the barn at the time, when
he heard Mary’s voice he rushed into the barn,
and demanded in a loud voice what was the matter?
when, to his horror, he beheld William upon the barn
floor, and Mary struggling but in vain to rise.
William, instead of desisting from his brutal purpose,
with a dreadful oath ordered Dan to clear out; but
the sight of the outrage on her whom, I now firmly
believe he loved better than his own soul, made poor
Dan completely forget himself—and made
him forget too, in that fatal moment what he afterwards
wished he had remembered. Dan seized a pitchfork
and plunged it into young Tillotson’s back;
the prongs went in between his shoulders, and one of
them had penetrated the left lung. Young Tillotson
expired almost immediately, and Dan seeing what he
had done, ran off at once to the woods and swamps,
and was seen no more for about two months. Mrs.
Tillotson, who had heard Mary scream, was on the balcony,
and called out to Dan to know the cause, Dan made
no reply but took to his heels. Mrs. Tillotson
alarmed at this, and suspecting at once that something
was wrong, hastened to the barn, followed by William’s
wife who happened to be there, and when they saw poor
William’s corpse, and Mary standing by, they
both fainted. Poor Mary, frightened to death,
turned into the house and informed her young mistress,
Page 15
Susannah, of what had happened. Miss Susannah
spread the alarm, and called some of the slaves to
her assistance. She went to the barn and found
her mother and sister-in-law lying in a state of insensibility,
and her brother William dead. With the assistance
of old Aunt Hannah and several of the female servants,
the two ladies were somewhat restored to consciousness;
and William was carried into the house by the servants.
The Doctor himself was away from home attending one
of his patients, who was very sick. When Mrs.
Tillotson had somewhat recovered, she sent for Mary
and enquired as to how William came by his death in
the barn. Mary told the whole story as previously
related in the presence of about sixty or seventy
of the neighbours, who had collected together on hearing
of the murder. Of course Mary’s story met
with no credit from her mistress, and poor Mary stood
in the eyes of all as an accomplice in the conspiracy
to murder young Tillotson. When the doctor arrived
it was dark, and after seeing the corpse and hearing
from his wife the story that she had made up for him,
he called for Mary, but she was nowhere to be found.
The house and plantation were searched in all directions,
but no Mary was discovered. At last, when they
had all given over looking for her, towards midnight,
a cart drove up to the door. Doctor, said the
driver, I have a dead negro here, and I’m told
she belongs to you. The Doctor came out with
a lantern, and as I stood by my master’s carriage,
waiting for him to come out and go home, the Doctor
ordered me to mount the cart and look at the corpse;
I did so, and looked full in that face by the light
of the lantern, and saw and knew, notwithstanding
the horrible change that had been effected by the
work of death, upon those once beautiful features,
it was Mary. Poor Mary, driven to distraction
by what had happened, she had sought salvation in
the depths of the Chesapeake Bay that night. Next
day the neighbourhood was searched throughout, and
the country was placarded for Dan; and Doctor Tillotson
and Mr. Burmey, young William’s father-in-law,
offered one thousand dollars for him alive, and five
hundred for him dead; and although every blackleg in
the neighbourhood was on the alert, it was full two
months before he was captured. At length poor
Dan was caught and brought by the captors to Mr. Burmey’s,
where he was tried principally by Burmey’s two
sons, Peter and John, and that night was kept in irons
in Burmey’s cellar. The next day Dan was
led into the field in the presence of about three
thousand of us. A staple was driven into the
stump of a tree, with a chain attached to it, and one
of his handcuffs was taken off and brought through
the chain, and then fastened on his hand again.
A pile of pine wood was built around him. At eight
o’clock the wood was set on fire, and when the
flames blazed round upon the wretched man, he began
to scream and struggle in a most awful manner.
Many of our women fainted, but not one of us was allowed
to leave until the body of poor Dan was consumed.
The unearthly sounds that came from the blazing pile,
as poor Dan writhed in the agonies of death, it is
beyond the power of my pen to describe. After
a while all was silent, except the cracking of the
pine wood as the fire gradually devoured it with the
prize that it contained. Poor Dan had ceased
to struggle—he was at rest.
Page 16
Mr. Burmey’s two sons, Peter and John, were
the ringleaders in this execution, and the pair of
them hardly ever saw a sober day from one month to
another; and at the execution of Dan, Peter was so
drunk that he came nigh sharing the same fate.
It was not a year after the roasting of Dan that the
two brothers were thrashing wheat in the barn, which
stood about a quarter of a mile from the house, and
being in March, and an uncommon windy day, they had
taken their demijohn full of brandy in order to keep
the cold out of their bones, as it was their belief
that a dram or two had that effect; so they were drinking
and thrashing and drinking again until they reeled
over dead drunk upon the floor. That same night
the barn took fire over them. The first thing
that excited the alarm of my master’s negroes
on Tillotson’s plantation was a black smoke issuing
from the barn. Suddenly there was a rush from
all parts of the plantation, but it was all to no
purpose, for scarcely had we got half way before we
saw the flames bursting out on every side of the barn,
still we continued to run as fast as we could.
When we arrived we found the barn door shut and fastened
inside. This Mr. Peter and Mr. John had done to
keep out the wind which was very high. When old
Mr. Burmey arrived with his daughter-in-law, Peter’s
wife, the first thing demanded was, where is your masters?—oh,
my children! my children! while Mrs. Peter screamed,
my husband! my husband! oh, pa! oh, pa! The strength
of the flames inside at length burst open the barn
door, when we beheld through the red flames the figures
of the two wretched brothers lying side by side dead
drunk and helpless upon the floor. The fire rapidly
seized upon everything around. At this moment
Mrs. Peter Burmey rushed into the flames to save her
husband, but just as she attempted to enter, the beam
over the door fell in upon her head, and struck her
back senseless and suffocated to the ground; but,
notwithstanding the most intense hatred to Burmey and
his family, we negroes rushed forward to rescue them—but
all in vain. After getting miserably scorched
we were compelled to retreat and give them over, and
with bleeding hearts to behold the fire consume their
bodies. The barn was rapidly consigned to ashes,
which being speedily swept away by the violence of
the wind, left the victims side by side crisped skeletons
on the ground. This was the dreadful end of the
two chief actors in the roasting of poor Dan.
When I arrived at the age of 20, my master told me
I must marry Jane, one of the slaves. We had
been about five months married when she gave birth
to a child, I then asked who was the father of the
child, and she said the master, and I had every reason
to believe her, as the child was nearly white, had
blue eyes and veins, yet notwithstanding this we lived
happily together, and I felt happy and comfortable,
and I should never have thought of running away if
she had not been sold. We lived together six
Page 17
years and had two children. Shortly after my marriage
my master’s wife died, and when he fixed upon
Tillotson’s daughter as his future wife, she
made a condition that all female slaves whom he had
at any time been intimate with must be sold, and my
wife being one was sold with the children as well
as any other female slaves. My wife was sold while
I was away on an errand at Centreville, and any one
situated as I was may imagine my feelings when I say
that I left them in the morning all well and happy,
in entire ignorance of any evil, and returned to find
them all sold and gone away, and from then until now
I have never seen any of them. I went to my master
and complained to him, when he told me he knew nothing
about it, as it was all done by his wife. I then
went to her and she said she knew nothing about, as
it was all done by my master, and I could obtain no
other satisfaction; I then went to my master to beg
him to sell me to the same master as he had sold my
wife, but he said he could not do that, as she was
sold to a trader.
From 18 to 27 I was considered one of the most devout
Christians among the whole Black population, and under
this impression I firmly believed to run away from
my master would be to sin against the Holy Ghost—for
such we are taught to believe—but from
the time of my wife’s being sent away, I firmly
made up my mind to take the first opportunity to run
away. I had learned that if a Black man wished
to escape he will have no chance to do so unless he
be well supplied with money; to attain this I arranged
with a Dutchman to steal small pigs, chickens, and
any poultry that was possible to lay my hands on,
and thus I proceeded for nine or ten months, when I
found my accumulation to be 124 dollars. Among
the plantations I visited was Mr. Rogers’, and
he had three large bloodhounds let loose about nine
at night, but I had made them acquainted with me by
feeding them at intervals quietly, unknown to him
or his people, and this enabled me to carry on my
depredations on his plantation quietly and unmolested.
Rogers having suspected these depredations, and not
being able to find the thief, set a patrol to watch,
who, armed with a double-barreled gun, fixed himself
under a fence about seven feet high, surrounded with
bushes; but this happened to be my usual way of going
to his plantation, and as I made my usual spring to
go over, I fell right on the top of his head, and he
shouted lustily, and I shouted also, neither of us
knowing what really had occurred, and our fears imagining
the worst and causing him to run one way and me another.
After travelling about a quarter of a mile I thought
of my bag, which had been dropped during my fright,
and knowing that my master’s initials were on
the bag, and the consequences of the bag being found
would be fearful, I determined to return for the bag
and recover it, or die in the attempt. I searched
for and found a club, then I returned to the spot
and found the bag there, and by the side of it lay
Page 18
the gun of the patrol, and I picked the bag up and
went home, and this narrow escape caused me to determine
to give up my thieving expeditions for the obtaining
of money from that time. About one week after
the occurrence with the patrol, I took one of my master’s
horses to go to a negro dance, and on my return the
patrols were so numerous on the road that I was unable
to return home without observation, and it being past
the usual hour for being at home, I was so afraid
that when two of them observed me I left the horse
and took to my feet, and made my way to the woods,
where I remained all day, afraid to go home for fear
of the consequences. But at night I returned
to the barn, where my money was hid in the hay, and
having recovered it, I started for Dr. Tillotson’s
(my master’s father-in-law), and told him my
master had sent for a horse which he had lent him
a few weeks before. After enquiring of the overseer
if the horse had not gone home, and finding it had
not, he ordered it to be given up to me. I mounted
the horse and rode off for Baltimore, a distance of
37 miles, where I arrived early in the morning, when
I abandoned the horse and took to the woods, and remained
there all day. At night I ventured to a farm-house,
and having a club with me, I knocked over two barn
fowl, and took them to my place in the woods; I struck
a light with the tinder, made a fire of brushwood,
roasted them before the fire, and enjoyed a hearty
meal without seasoning or bread.
The following night I went to the city, and meeting
with some blacks I entered into conversation with
them, and I asked if they had heard of any runaways
at Baltimore, they said they had heard of one Jake
having run from Eastern shore, and showed me the bill
at the corner which had been put up that evening.
I knew it was no other than me, so I bid them good
evening, and left them saying I was going to church.
I took a back road for Milford, in Delaware, and travelled
all night; towards morning I met four men, who demanded
to know to whom I belonged, my answer was taking to
my heels, and the chase was hot on my part for about
half-an-hour, when I got into a swamp surrounded by
young saplings, where I remained about two hours,
and as soon as it was sufficiently dark to venture
out, I made my way to a barn where I secreted myself
all day, and in the morning I watched the house to
prevent a surprise. At night I again commenced
travelling, and at one o’clock in the morning
arrived at Milford, where finding no means of crossing
the bridge into the town, without being seen by the
patrol, I was forced to swim across the river.
I passed through Milford, and was ten miles on my
road to Wilmington before daybreak, where I again
made for the woods, and got into a marshy part and
was swamped. I was struggling the whole night
to liberate myself, but in vain, until the light appeared,
when I saw some willows, and by laying hold of them
I succeeded in extricating myself about seven o’clock
Page 19
in the morning. I then made my way to a pond
of water, and pulled my clothes off, and washed the
mud from them, and hung them up to dry; and as soon
as they were dry and night arrived, I put them on,
and continued my journey that night in the woods,
as the moon was so bright; though I did not progress
much on my way, it was more safe. Towards morning
I saw a farm-house, and being hungry I resolved to
venture to ask for something to eat. Waiting my
opportunity, I saw three men leave the house, and judging
there then only remained women, I went up and asked
if they would please to give me something to eat.
They invited me in, and gave me some bread and milk,
pitying my condition greatly, one of them telling me
that her husband was an Abolitionist, and if I would
wait until his return he would place me out of the
reach of my pursuers. I did not then understand
what was an Abolitionist, and said I would rather
not stay. She then saw my feet, which were awful
from what I had undergone, and asked me if I should
not like to have a pair of shoes, and I said I should.
They went in search of a pair up the stairs, and I
heard one say to the other, “He answers the
description of a slave for which 200 dollars are offered.”
When they returned I was sitting still in the position
I was in before they went up stairs. She said
to the other, “I will go and see after the cows;”
and the other answered, “Dont be long.”
But my suspicion was confirmed that going after the
cows was only a pretence; and when I thought the other
had got far enough away, I laid hold of the remaining
one and tied her to the bedstead; went into the closet
and took a leg of mutton, and other articles, such
as bread and butter, and made my way out as quick as
possible; and when I got outside I rubbed my feet in
some cow dung to prevent the scent of the bloodhounds,
and took to the woods, where I found a sand hole,
in which I remained all day. The night was dark,
with a drizzling rain; being very fit for travelling,
I started again on my journey, but being very cautious,
I only managed about 24 miles that night. Towards
morning I met with a black, who told me that to Chester,
in Pennsylvania, was only twenty-six miles. During
the day I again remained in the woods, where I met
a black man of the name of Geordie, whom I knew, belonging
to Rogers, and who had left two months before me, and
he said he had been in those woods five weeks.
His appearance was shocking, and from his long suffering
and hardships he was difficult to know; and, as he
was hungry, I divided with him my leg of mutton and
bread and butter, and I was telling him how unwise
it was to remain so long in one place, when we were
suddenly aroused by the well-known sounds of the hounds.
In my fear and surprise I was attempting for a tree,
but was unable to mount before they were upon me.
In this emergency I called out the name of one of the
dogs, who was more familiar with me than the others,
called Fly, and hit my knee to attract her attention
Page 20
and it had the desired effect. She came fondling
towards me, accompanied by another called Jovial.
I pulled out my knife and cut the throat of Fly, upon
which Jovial made an attempt to lay hold of me and
I caught him by the throat, which caused me to lose
my knife, but I held him fast by the windpipe, forcing
my thumbs with as much force as possible, and anxiously
wishing for my knife to be in hands. I made a
powerful effort to fling him as far away as possible,
and regained my knife; but when I had thrown him there
he lay, throttled to death. Not so, Fly, who
weltered in blood, and rolled about howling terribly,
but not killed. The other two hounds caught Geordie,
and killed him. After this terrible escape I
went to a barn, and was looking through a hole and
saw two men come to where Geordie’s body lay,
when a knot of people gathered round, and about ten
or eleven o’clock he was buried. I shortly
went to sleep among the hay, and slept so soundly
that it was the morning after before I was awoke by
a boy coming to get hay for the horses, and the prong
of the fork caught me by the thigh, which caused me
to jump up and stare at the boy, and he at me, when
he dropped the fork and ran away. As soon as
I recovered, I slipped down the hay-rack, and met six
men and the boy, who demanded who I was and what I
was doing there. Not knowing what to say, I stood
speechless for a long time, and thought my hopes of
freedom were now at an end. They again repeated
their question, but I made no reply. I was then
taken before a magistrate, when I was accused of being
in the barn for some unlawful purpose; and as I made
no answer to any questions put to me, they concluded
I was dumb. When I remembered I had not given
evidence of speech, I determined to act as if I was
dumb; and when the magistrate called to me, I also
thought deafness was often united with dumbness, and
I made my mind up to act both deaf and dumb, and when
he called “Boy, come here,” I took no notice,
and did not appear to hear, until one of the officers
led me from the box nearer to the magistrate, who
demanded my name, where from, and to whom I belonged,
and what I was doing in the barn, which I still appeared
not to hear, and merely looked at him, and at last
acted as if I was deaf and dumb, and so effectually
that he discharged me, convinced I was a valueless
deaf and dumb nigger; and when told by the officer
to go, I dared not move for fear of being found out
in my acting, and would not move until I was forced
out of the door, and for some time (for fear of detection)
I acted deaf and dumb in the streets, to the fear
of women and children, until it was dark, when I made
for the woods, where I remained until eleven o’clock
at night, when I again resumed my journey to Chester
(Pennsylvania), which I had been told was only twenty-six
miles. Shortly after resuming my journey, I saw
four horses in the field, and I determined, if possible
to possess one of them, and I chased them two hours,
Page 21
but did not succeed in catching one; so I was obliged
to go on walking again, but shortly met with a gentleman’s
horse on the road which I mounted, and rode into Chester,
and let the horse go where he liked. In Chester
I met with a quaker, named Sharpies, who took me to
his house, gave me the best accommodation, and called
his friends to see me, never seemed weary of asking
questions of negro life in the different plantations.
I let them see the money I had, which was in notes,
and much damaged by my swimming across the river, but
they kindly passed it for me, and I got other money
for it; and I was presented with two suits of clothes.
He sent in a waggon to Philadelphia and recommended
me to a gentleman (who being alive, I wish not to reveal),
where I remained in his employ about five weeks.
This kind friend persuaded me to make for Canada;
and it was with much reluctance I at last complied.
My reluctance was in consequence of understanding that
Canada was a very cold place, and I did not relish
the idea of going on that account; and as a gentleman
said he could find employment for me at Derby, near
Philadelphia, I went and worked there three years,
during which time I was a regular attendant at the
Methodist Free Church, consisting entirely of colored
people; at which place I heard the scriptures expounded
in a different way by colored ministers—as
I found that God had made colored as well as white
people: as He had made of one blood all the families
of the earth, and that all men were free and equal
in his sight; and that he was no respecter of persons
whatever the color: but whoever worked righteousness
was accepted of Him. Being satisfied that I had
not sinned against the Holy Ghost by obtaining my
freedom, I enlisted in the church, and became one
of the members thereof.
About this time, Mr. Roberts, for whom I worked, failed
in business, and his property was seized for debt
and sold, thereby throwing me out of employment.
I was arrested and taken back to Maryland, where I
was placed in prison, with a collar round my neck
for eleven days.
On the twelfth day my master came to see me, and of
course I begged of him to take me home and let me
go to work. No, nigger, said master—I
have no employment for a vagabond of your stamp; but
I’m going to order that collar off your neck,
not because I think that you are sufficiently punished,
but because there are some gentlemen coming through
the jail to-morrow, and they want to purchase some
negroes, so you had better do your best to get a master
amongst them—and mind you don’t tell
them that ever you ran away, for if you do none of
them will buy you. Now I will give you a good
character, notwithstanding you have done your best
to injure me, a good master, and you have even tried
to rob me by running away—still I’ll
do my best to get you a good master, for my bible teaches
me to do good for evil. The next day I was called
out with forty other slaves, belonging to different
Page 22
owners in the County, and we were marched into the
doctor’s vestry for examination; here the doctor
made us all strip—men and women together
naked, in the presence of each other while the examination
went on. When it was concluded, thirty-eight of
us were pronounced sound, and three unsound; certificates
were made out and given to the auctioneer to that
effect. After dressing ourselves we were all
driven into the slave sty directly under the auction
block, when the jail warder came and gave to every
slave a number, my number was twenty. Here, let
me explain, for the better information of the reader,
that in the inventory of the slaves to be sold all
go by number—one, two, three, and so on;
and if a man and his family are to be sold in one lot,
then one number covers them all; but if separate,
then they have all different numbers. An old
friend of mine, belonging to William Steel, was also
with his wife and six children in the same sty, all
to be sold. The youngest was a babe in arms,
the other five were large enough to walk; his number
was twenty-one, but his wife’s number was thirty-three,
and notwithstanding the mournful idea of parting with
relations and friends on the plantation, up to this
moment they had indulged a hope of being sold as a
family, together; but the numbers revealed the awful
disappointment. Even in this hoped for consolation,
the painful distress into which this poor woman was
thrown, it is beyond my ability to describe. The
anguish of her soul, evinced by the mournful gaze
first at her children and then at her husband, made
me forget for the time being, my own sufferings and
sorrows. Her looks seemed to say to her husband—these
are your children, I am their mother—there
is no other being in this world that I have to look
to for love and protection; cant you help me?
I am very much mistaken if these were not the thoughts
running through that poor broken-hearted mother’s
mind. Reuben, for that was his name, called his
wife and children into one corner of the sty, and
repeated a verse of a hymn which may be found in Watts’
hymn book:—
“Ah, whither shall I
go,
Burthened, or
sick, or faint;
To whom shall I my troubles
show,
And pour out my
complaint.”
Not daring to sing it for fear of disturbing the sale,
they both knelt down with the children, and Reuben
offered up a long and fervent prayer. In the
interval of his prayer nineteen of the slaves were
sold, and he had not concluded when my number being
twenty was called, and my master handed me out under
the hammer; when, after a few preliminary remarks on
the part of the auctioneer, my master mounted the
auction block and recommended me as a good field hand,
a good cook, waiter, hostler, a coachman, gentle and
willing, and above all, free from the disease of running
away. So after a short and spirited bidding I
went at 1,025 dollars. Here the sale policeman,
whose business it was to take charge of the negroes
Page 23
sold until bills were settled and papers made out,
led me from the block outside the crowd, and placing
me by a cart, put on a pair of iron handcuffs; but
being well acquainted with me as a troublesome tricky
negro, he put the handcuff on my right wrist—took
the other cuff through the cart wheel and round the
spoke, and then locked it on my left hand, so that
if I did start to run, I should carry the cart and
all with me. Number twenty-one was now called,
and out came poor Reuben, and was placed under the
hammer; his weight was said to be two hundred pounds,
his age thirty two. Poor Sally, his wife, unable
any longer to control her feelings, made her way out
of the slave pen, with her babe in her arms, followed
by her five small children, and she threw one of her
arms around Reuben’s neck; and now commenced
a scene that beggars all description. Her countenance,
though mild and beautiful, was by the keenest pain
and sorrow distorted and disfigured: her voice
soft and gentle, accompanied with heart rending gestures,
appealed to the slave buyer in tones so very mournful,
that I thought it might have even melted cruelty itself
to some pity—coming as it did from a woman:—Oh!
master, master! buy me and my children with my husband—do,
pray; and this was the only crime the poor woman committed
for which she suffered death on the spot. Her
master stepped up from behind her, and with the butt
end of his carriage whip loaded with lead, struck
her a blow on the side of the head or temples, and
she fell her full length to the ground. Poor
Reuben stooped to raise her up, but was prevented
by the jail policeman, who seized him by the neck and
led him over close to where I stood: and whilst
he was in the act of selecting a pair of handcuffs
for Reuben, voice after voice was heard in the crowd—she
is dead! she is dead! But what was the effect
of these words upon Reuben—one of the most
easy, good-tempered, innocent, inoffensive, and, in
his way, religious slaves that I ever knew—satisfied
apparently that Sally’s death was a fact—he
tore himself loose from the policeman and made his
way through the crowd to where poor Sally lay, and
exclaimed, Oh! Sally! O Lord! By this
time the policeman, who had followed him, undertook
to drag him back out of the crowd, but Reuben, with
one blow of his fist, stretched the policeman on the
ground. Reuben’s pain and sorrow, mingled
with his religious hope, seemed now to terminate in
despair, and transformed the inoffensive man into
a raging demon. He rushed to a cart which supported
a great number of spectators, just opposite the auction
block, and tore out a heavy cart stave, made of red
oak, and before the panic-stricken crowd could arrest
his arm, he struck his master to the ground, and beat
his brains literally out. The crowd then tried
to close upon him, but Reuben, mounted with both feet
upon the dead body of his master, and with his back
against the cart wheel—with the cart stave
kept the whole crowd at bay for the space of two or
Page 24
three minutes, when a gentleman behind the cart climbed
upon the outside wheel and fired the pistol at him,
and shot poor Reuben through the head. He fell
dead about six yards from where the dead body of his
beloved Sally lay, and where his children were screaming
terribly. An indescribable thrill of horror crept
through my whole soul, as I gazed from the cart wheel
to which I was ironed, upon the dead bodies first
of Reuben and then his wife, who but a few moments
before I had seen kneeling in solemn prayer, before
what they considered the Throne of Grace—and
their master, whom I heard that very morning calling
on God not only to damn his negroes, but to damn himself,
now, in less than thirty minutes, all three standing
before the awful Judgment Seat. After witnessing
this dreadful scene I was led into Hagerstown jail,
where I remained until my new master was ready, when
I went with him to Memphis, Tennessee; but the remembrance
of this awful tragedy haunted my mind, and even my
dreams, for many months.
Reuben was the son of old Uncle Reuben and Aunt Dinah,
and had been swopped away when about twelve years
old to William Steele, for a pair of horses and a
splendid carriage. Like his father and mother
he was very religious, and I had often been to his
prayer meetings, where poor Reuben would exhort and
preach. Mr. Cobb had made him a class-leader long
before he died; and, in fact, we all reverenced Reuben
after the death of his father as the most moderate
and gifted man amongst us. I had always loved
Reuben, but never knew how much until that fatal day.
After I went to Memphis I composed some verses on
the life and death of Reuben, which run as follows:—
Poor Reuben he fell at his
post,
He’s
gone;
Like Stephen, full of the
Holy Ghost,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
He’s gone where pleasure
never dies,
He’s
gone,
In the golden chariot to the
skies,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
For many years he faced the
storm,
He’s
gone;
And the cruel lash he suffered
long;
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
But now he’s left the
land of death,
He’s
gone;
And entered heaven’s
happiness;
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
His friends he bid a long
adieu,
He’s
gone;
When heaven opened to his
view,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away;
His pain and sorrow of heart
are passed,
He’s
gone;
He arrived in heaven just
safe at last;
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
Poor Sally, his wife, lays
by his side,
He’s
gone;
For whom poor Reuben so nobly
died;
Poor
Reuben’s gone away;
A mournful look on her he
cast,
He’s
gone,
Five minutes before he breathed
his last,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
Page 25
In Jordan the angel heard
him cry,
He’s
gone;
Elijah’s chariot was
passing by,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away;
His body lays in the earth
quite cold,
He’s
gone,
But now he walks in the streets
of gold,
Poor
Reuben’s gone away.
After working in Tennessee three years and seven months,
my master hired me to Mr. Steele. This gentleman
was going to New Orleans, and I was to act as his
servant, but I contrived to get away from him, and
went to the house of a free black, named Gibson, and
after working four days on the levy (or wharf) I succeeded
in secreting myself in a ship, well supplied by Mr.
Gibson and friends with provisions, and in the middle
hold under the cotton I remained until the ship arrived
at New York; my being there was only known to two
persons on board, the steward and the cook, both colored
persons. When the vessel was docked in the pier
thirty-eight, North river, I managed to make my way
through the booby hatch on to the deck, and was not
seen by the watchman on board who supposed I was a
stranger, or what they call a “River Thief.”
I made a jump to escape over the bow and fell into
the river; but before he could raise an alarm, I had
reached the next dock, got out and made my way off
as fast as possible. I wandered about the streets
until morning, not knowing where to go, during which
time my clothes had dried on my body. About ten
o’clock in the forenoon I met with a colored
man named Grundy, who took me to his house, and gave
me something to eat, and enquired where I came from
and where I belonged; I hesitated about telling my
true situation, but after considerable conversation
with him, I ventured to confide in him, and when I
had given him, all the particulars, he took me to the
underground Railway office and introduced me to the
officials, who having heard my story determined to
send me to Canada, forty dollars being raised to find
me clothes, and pay my fare to Toronto, but I was only
taken to Utica, in the State of New York, where I
agreed to stop with Mr. Cleveland and coachman.
In November I was sent to Post-street on an errand,
where I saw my master, who laid hold of me, and called
to his aid a dozen more, when I was taken before a
magistrate, and that night I was placed in prison,
and next day brought before a court, and ordered to
be given up to my master. I was taken back to
prison that afternoon, and irons placed on my ancles,
and hand-cuffed; but, previous to leaving, Mr. Cleveland
and family came to take a kind leave of me, and gave
me religious advice and encouragement, telling me
to put my trust in the Lord, and I was much affected
at his little girl, who, when I was placed in the
waggon screamed and cried as if she would fall into
fits, telling her father to have me brought back, for
these men intended to murder me. The waggon drove
to the railway depot, and I was placed in the cars,
and at three o’clock we started for Buffalo,
Page 26
where I was placed on the steam boat “Milwaukie,”
for Chicago, Illinois, on Lake Erie. The next
night I arrived in Cleveland, and was taken from the
boat, and placed in prison, until my master was ready
to proceed. While in prison a complaint was made
that a fugitive slave was placed in irons, contrary
to the law of the state of Ohio, and after investigation,
my irons were ordered to be taken off. On the
Monday following I was taken on board the steam boat
“Sultana” bound for Sandusky, Ohio, and
on my way there, the Black people, in large numbers,
made an attempt to rescue me, and so desperate was
the attack, that several officers were wounded, and
the attempt failed. I was placed in the cabin,
and at dinner time the steam boat started, and had
about half a mile to go before she got into the lake,
and, on the way, the captain came down to me, and cautiously
asked me if I could swim—I answered I could,
when he told me to stand close by a window, which
he pointed out, and when the paddle wheels ceased
I must jump out. I stood ready, and as soon as
the wheels ceased I made a spring and jumped into
the water, and after going a short distance, I looked
up and saw the captain standing on the promenade deck,
who, when he saw I was clear of the wheels, waved
a signal for the engineer to start the vessel.
I had much difficulty in preventing myself from being
drawn back by the suction of the wheels, and before
I had gone far I saw my master and heard him shout,
“Here, here, stop captain; yonder goes my nigger,”
which was echoed by shouts from the passengers; but
the boat continued her course, while I made my way
as fast as possible to Cleveland lighthouse, where
I arrived in safety, and received by an innumerable
company of both blacks and whites. I was then
sent to a place called Oberlin, where I remained a
week, and from there I went to Zanesville, Ohio, where
I stopped for four months, when I was taken up on suspicion
of breaking the windows of a store, and while in prison
I was seen by a Mr. Donelson, who declared to the
keeper that I belonged to him. I knew him well
as the father-in-law of Mr. Steel, with whom I travelled
to New Orleans. He was also a methodist minister.
He had me discharged by paying the damage, and making
affidavit that I was his slave, I was placed in prison,
and kept in two weeks, when I was brought before the
court for trial; and Mr. Donelson procured papers
showing that he had purchased me as a runaway.
I therefore saw it was of no use prolonging the matter,
and I acknowledged myself. I was then taken and
put into the stage and taken to Cincinnati, Ohio,
where I was placed upon the steam boat, Pike,
No. 3, to be taken to Louisville, Kentucky, and there
placed in prison a week, and on Thursday brought out
to auction and sold to Mr. Silas Wheelbanks for 1,050
dollars, with whom I remained about twelve months,
and acted as coachman and waiting in the house.
Upon a Saturday evening, my master came and told me
to make my carriage and horses so that he could see
Page 27
his face in them, and be ready to take my young mistress,
Mary, down to Centreville, to see her grandmother.
So I prepared my horses and carriage, and on Monday
was ready. The lady got in, and when about seven
miles I drove into a blind road, distant about two
miles from any house, where I made the horses stand
still, and I ordered Miss Mary to get out: and
when she asked me why, I thundered out at the top
of my voice, “Get out, and ask no questions.”
She commenced crying, and asked if I was going to kill
her. I said “No, if she made no noise,”
I helped her out, and having no rope, I took her shawl
and fastened her to a tree by the roadside; and for
fear she should untie the knot and spread the alarm,
I took off her veil, and with it tied her hands behind
her. I then mounted the box, and drove off in
the direction of Lexington, and at a place called Elton
I stripped the horses of their harness and let them
go. I made my way to Louisville and arrived about
7 o’clock in the evening. I walked about
the dock until Pike No. 3, the same vessel
before spoken of, was nearly ready for starting and
I got a gentleman’s trunk on my shoulder and
went on board, and when I had been paid six cents
for carrying the trunk I watched a chance, and jumped
down the cotton hold and stowed myself away among the
cotton bags and the next day was in Cincinnati, Ohio,
where I arrived about daylight in the morning.
I waited until the passangers had left the boat and
saw neither officer nor engineer about when I ventured
to go on shore. On starting up the hill I met
my master’s nephew, who at once seized hold
of me, and a sharp struggle ensued. He called
for help but I threw him and caught a stone and struck
him on the head, which caused him to let go, when
I ran away as fast my legs could carry me, pursued
by a numerous crowd, crying “stop thief.”
I mounted a fence in the street, and ran though an
alley into an Irishman’s yard, and through his
house, knocking over the Irishman’s wife and
child, and the chair on which she sat, the husband
at the time sat eating at the table, jumped into a
cellar on the opposite side of the street without
being seen by any one, I made my way into the back
cellar and went up the chimney, where I sat till dark,
and at night came down and slept in the cellar.
In the morning the servant girl came down into the
cellar, and when I saw she was black I thought it
would be best to make myself known to her, which I
did, and she told me I had better remain where I was
and keep quiet, and she would go and tell Mr. Nickins,
one of the agents of the underground Railway.
She brought me down a bowl of coffee and some bread
and meat, which I relished very much, and that night
she opened the cellar door gently, and called to me
to come out, and introduced me to Mr. Nickins and two
others, who took me to a house in Sixth street, where
I remained until the next night, when they dressed
me in female’s clothes, and I was taken to the
railway depot in a carriage—was put in
Page 28
the car, and sent to Cleveland, Ohio where I was placed
on board a steam boat called the Indiana, and
carried down Lake Erie to the city of Buffalo, New
York, and the next day placed on the car for the Niagara
Falls, and received by a gentleman named Jones, who
took me in his carriage to a place called Lewiston,
where I was placed on board a steamboat called Chief
Justice Robinson. I was furnished with a ticket
and twelve dollars. Three hours after starting
I was in Toronto, Upper Canada, where I lived for
three years and sang my song of deliverance,—
* * * *
*
WHAT THE “TIMES” SAID OF THE SECESSION IN 1861
(From the Liverpool Daily Post, Feb. 3, 1863.)
The following article appeared as a “Leader”
in the Times on the 7th of January, 1861:—
“The State of South Carolina has seceded from
the Union by a unanimous vote of her legislature,
and it now remains to be seen whether any of the other
Southern States will follow her example, and what course
the Federal authorities will pursue under the circumstances.
While we wait for further information on these points,
it may be well to consider once again the cause of
quarrel which has thus begun to rend asunder the mightiest
confederation which the world has yet beheld.
One of the prevalent delusions of the age in which
we live is to regard democracy as equivalent to liberty,
and the attribution of power to the poorest and worst
educated citizens of the State as a certain way to
promote the purest liberality of thought and the most
beneficial course of action. Let those who hold
this opinion examine the quarrel at present raging
in the United States, and they will be aware that
democracy, like other forms of government, may co-exist
with any course of action or any set of principles.
Between North and South there is at this moment raging
a controversy which goes as deep as any controversy
can into the elementary principles of human nature
and the sympathies and antipathies which in so many
men supply the place of reason and reflection.
The North is for freedom, the South is for slavery.
The North is for freedom of discussion, the South represses
freedom of discussion with the tar-brush and the pine
fagot. Yet the North and South are both democracies—nay,
possess almost exactly similar institutions, with
this enormous divergence in theory and practice.
It is not democracy that has made the North the advocate
of freedom, or the South the advocate of slavery.
Democracy is a quality which appears on both sides,
and may therefore be rejected, as having no influence
over the result. From the sketch of the history
of slavery which was furnished us by our correspondent
in New York last week, we learn that at the time of
the American Revolution slavery existed in every State
in the Union except Massachusetts; but we also learn
that the great men who directed that revolution—Washington,
Page 29
Jefferson, Madison, Patrick Henry, and Hamilton—were
unanimous in execrating the practice of slavery, and
looked forward to the time when it would cease to
contaminate the soil of free America. The abolition
of the slave trade, which subsequently followed, was
regarded by its warmest advocates as not only beneficial
in itself, but as a long step towards the extinction
of slavery altogether, it was not foreseen that certain
free and democratic communities would arise which
would apply themselves to the honourable office of
breeding slaves, to be consumed on the free and democratic
plantations of the South, and of thus replacing the
African slave trade by an internal traffic in human
flesh, carried on under circumstances of almost equal
atrocity through the heart of a free and democratic
nation. Democracy has verily a strong digestion,
and one not to be interfered with by trifles.
“But the most melancholy part of the matter
is, that during the seventy years for which the American
confederacy has existed, the whole tone of sentiment
with regard to slavery has, in the Southern States
at least, undergone a remarkable change. Slavery
used to be treated as a thoroughly exceptional institution—as
an evil legacy of evil times—as a disgrace
to a constitution founded on the natural freedom and
independence of mankind. There was hardly a political
leader of any note who had not some plan for its abolition.
Jefferson himself, the greatest chief of the democracy,
had in the early part of this century speculated deeply
on the subject; but the United States became possessed
of Louisiana and Florida, they have conquered Texas,
they have made Arkansas and Missouri into States; and
these successive acquisitions have altered entirely
the view with which slavery is regarded. Perhaps
as much as anything, from the long license enjoyed
by the editors of the South of writing what they pleased
in favour of slavery, with the absolute certainty
that no one would be found bold enough to write anything
on the other side, and thus make himself a mark for
popular vengeance, the subject has come to be written
on in a tone of ferocious and cynical extravagance,
which is to an European eye absolutely appalling.
The South has become enamoured of her shame. Free
labour is denounced as degrading and disgraceful;
the honest triumphs of the poor man who works his
way to independence are treated with scorn and contempt.
It is asserted that what we are in the habit of regarding
as the honorable pursuits of industry incapacitate
a nation for civilisation and refinement, and that
no institutions can be really free and democratic
which do not rest, like those of Athens and of Rome,
on a broad substratum of slavery. So far from
treating slavery as an exceptional institution, it
is regarded by these Democratic philosophers as the
natural state of a great portion of the human race;
and, so far from admitting that America ought to look
forward to its extinction, it is contended that the
property in human creatures ought to be as universal
as the property in land or in tame animals.
Page 30
“Nor have these principles been merely inert
or speculative. For the last ten or twelve years
slavery has altered her tactics, and from a defensive
she has become an aggressive power. Every compromise
which the moderation of former times had erected to
stem the course of this monster evil has been swept
away, and that not by the encroachments of the North,
but by the aggressive ambition of the South.
With a majority in Congress and in the Supreme Court
of the United States, the advocates of slavery have
entered on a career the object of which would seem
to be to make their favourite institution conterminous
with the limits of the Republic. They have swept
away the Missouri compromise, which limited slavery
to the tract south of 36 degrees of north latitude.
They have forced upon the North, in the Fugitive Slave
Bill, a measure which compels them to lend their assistance
to the South in the recovery of their bondmen.
In the case of Kansas they have sought by force of
arms to assert the right of bringing slaves into a
free territory, and in the Dred Scott case they obtained
an extrajudicial opinion from the Supreme Court, which
would have placed all the territories at their disposal.
All this while the North has been resisting, feebly
and ineffectually, this succession of Southern aggressions.
All that was desired was peace, and that peace could
not be obtained.
“While these things were done the South continued
violently to upbraid the Abolitionists of the North
as the cause of all their troubles, and the ladies
of South Carolina showered presents and caresses on
the brutal assailant of Mr. Sumner. In 1856 the
North endeavoured to elect a President who though
fully recognising the right of the South to its slave
property, was opposed to its extension in the territories.
The North were defeated, and submitted almost without
a murmur to the result. On the present occasion
the South has submitted to the same ordeal, but not
with the same success. They have taken their
chance of electing a President of their own views,
but they have failed. Mr. Lincoln, like Colonel
Freemont, fully recognises the right of the South
to the institution of slavery, but, like him, he is
opposed to its extension. This cannot be endured.
With a majority in both houses of Congress and in the
Supreme Court of the United States, the South cannot
submit to a President who is not their devoted servant.
Unless every power in the constitution is to be strained
in order to promote the progress of slavery, they will
not remain in the Union; they will not wait to see
whether they are injured, but resent the first check
to their onward progress as an intolerable injury.
This, then, is the result of the history of slavery.
It began as a tolerated, it has ended as an aggressive
institution, and if it now threatens to dissolve the
Union, it is not because it has anything to fear for
that which it possesses already, but because it has
received a check to its hopes of future acquisition.”
Page 31
* * * *
*
Secession condemned in A Southern
convention.
SPEECH
Of the Hon. A.H. Stephens, made at the Georgia
State Convention, held January, 1861, for the purpose
of determining whether the State of Georgia was to
secede. Notwithstanding this remarkable speech
of an extraordinary man, the Convention decided on
secession. Mr. Stephens was afterwards elected
Vice President of the so-called Confederacy. This
distinction shows the estimate of his powers, and
adds force to the deliverance, the prophetic declarations
of which are now being fulfilled to the letter.
This step (of secession) once taken, can never be
recalled; and all the baleful and withering consequences
that must follow, will rest on the convention for
all coming time. When we and our posterity shall
see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war,
which this act of yours will inevitably invite and
call forth; when our green fields of waving harvests
shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery and
fiery car of war sweeping over our land; our temples
of justice laid in ashes; all the horrors and desolations
of war upon us; who, but this Convention will be held
responsible for it? and but him who shall have given
his vote for this unwise and ill-timed measure, as
I honestly think and believe, shall be held to strict
account for this suicidal act by the present generation,
and probably cursed and execrated by posterity for
all coming time, for the wide and desolating ruin
that will inevitably follow this act you now propose
to perpetrate? Pause, I entreat you, and consider
for a moment what reason you can give that will even
satisfy yourselves in calmer moments—what
reasons you can give to your fellow-sufferers in this
calamity that it will bring upon us. What reasons
can you give to the nations of the earth to justify
it? They will be the calm and deliberate judges
in the case? and what cause or one overt act can you
name or point, on which to rest the plea of justification?
What right has the North assailed? What interest
of the South has been invaded? What justice has
been denied? and what claim founded in justice and
right has been withheld? Can either of you to-day
name one governmental act of wrong deliberately and
purposely done by the government of Washington, of
which the South has a right to complain? I challenge
the answer. While, on the other hand, let me
show the facts (and believe me, gentlemen, I am not
here the advocate of the North; but I am here the friend,
the firm friend and lover of the South and her institutions;
and for this reason I speak thus plainly and faithfully—for
yours, mine, and every other man’s interest—the
words of truth and soberness), of which I wish you
to judge; and I will only state facts which are clear
and undeniable, and which now stand as records authentic
in the history of our country. When we of the
Page 32
South demanded the slave trade or importation of Africans
for the cultivation of our lands, did they not yield
the right for twenty years? When we asked a three-fifths
representation in congress for our slaves was it not
granted? When we asked and demanded the return
of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery of those
persons owing labor and allegiance, was it not incorporated
in the constitution, and again ratified and strengthened
in the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. But do you
reply that in many instances they have violated this
compact and have not been faithful to their engagements?
As individual and local communities they may have
done so; but not by the sanction of government for
that has always been true to Southern interest.
Again, gentleman, look at another fact, when we have
asked that more territory should be added, that we
might spread the institution of slavery, have they
not yielded to our demands in giving us Louisiana,
Florida, and Texas out of which four States have been
carved and ample territory for four more to be added
in due time, if you by this unwise and impolitic act
do not destroy this hope and perhaps, by it lose all,
and have your last slave wrenched from you by stern
military rule, as South America and Mexico were; or
by the vindictive decree of a universal emancipation,
which may reasonably be expected to follow. But,
again, gentlemen, what have we to gain by this proposed
change of our relation to the general government?
We have always had the control of it, and can yet,
if we remain in it and are as united as we have been.
We have had a majority of the presidents chosen from
the South, as well as the control and management of
most of those chosen from the North. We have had
sixty years of Southern presidents to their twenty-four,
thus controlling the executive department. So
of the judges of the Supreme Court, we have had eighteen
from the South, and but eleven from the North; although
nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has arisen
in the Free States, yet a majority of the court has
always been from the South. This we have required
so as to guard against any interpretation of the constitution
unfavourable to us. In like manner we have been
equally watchful to guard our interests in the legislative
branch of government. In choosing the presiding
president (pro. tem.) of the Senate, we have
had twenty-four to their eleven. Speakers of
the house we have had twenty-three, and they twelve.
While the majority of the representatives, from their
greater population, have always been from the North,
yet we have so generally secured the speaker, because
he, to a greater extent, shapes and controls the legislation
of the country. Nor have we had less control in
every other department of the general government.
Attorney-Generals we have had fourteen, while the
North have had but five. Foreign ministers we
have had eighty-six and they but fifty-four.
While three-fourths of the business which demands
Page 33
diplomatic agents abroard is clearly from the Free
States, from their greater commercial interests, yet
we have had the principal embassies, so as to secure
the world’s markets for our cotton, tobacco,
and sugar on the best possible terms. We have
had a vast majority of the higher offices of both
army and navy, while a larger proportion of the soldiers
and sailors were drawn from the North. Equally
so of clerks, auditors, and comptrollers filling the
executive department, the records show for the last
fifty years that of the three thousand thus employed,
we have had more than two-thirds of the same, while
we have but one-third of the white population of the
republic. Again, look at another item, and one,
be assured, in which we have a great and vital interest;
it is that of revenue, or means of supporting government.
From official documents we learn that a fraction over
three-fourths of the revenue collected for the support
of government has uniformly been raised from the North.
Pause now while you can, gentlemen, and contemplate
carefully and candidly these important items.
Leaving out of view, for the present, the countless
millions of dollars you must expend in a war with the
North; with tens of thousands of your sons and brothers
slain in battle, and offered up as sacrifices upon
the altar of your ambition—and for what?
we ask again. Is it for the overthrow of the
American government, established by our common ancestry,
cemented and built up by their sweat and blood, and
founded on the broad principles of right, justice,
and humanity? And, as such, I must declare here,
as I have often done before, and which has been repeated
by the greatest and wisest of statesmen and patriots
in this and other lands, that it is the best and freest
government—the most equal in its rights,
the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in
its measures, and the most inspiring in its principles
to elevate the race of men, that the sun of heaven
ever shone upon. Now, for you to attempt to overthrow
such a government as this, under which we have lived
for more than three-quarters of a century—in
which we have gained our wealth, our standing as a
nation, our domestic safety while the elements of peril
are around us, with peace and tranquility accompanied
with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed—is
the height of madness, folly, and wickedness,
to which I can neither lend my sanction nor my vote.
* * * *
*
THE CONFEDERATE AND THE SCOTTISH CLERGY ON SLAVERY.
Some three months ago, we published an “Address
to Christians throughout the world,” by “the
clergy of the Confederate States of America;”
and yesterday we published a reply to that address,
signed by nearly a thousand ministers of the various
Churches in Scotland. The Confederate address
begins with a solemn declaration that its scope is
not political but purely religious—that
Page 34
it is sent forth “in the name of our Holy Christianity,”
and in the interests of “the cause of our most
Blessed Master.” Immediately after making
this declaration, however, the Confederate divines
commence a long series of arguments designed to prove
that the war cannot restore the Union; that the Southern
States had a right to secede; that having seceded,
their separation from the North is final; that the
proclamation of PRESIDENT LINCOLN, seeking to free
the slaves is a most horrible and wicked measure,
calling for “solemn protest on the part of the
people of GOD throughout the world;” that the
war against the Confederacy has made no progress;
and there seems no likelihood of the United States
accomplishing any good by its continuance. This
may be esteemed good gospel teaching in the Confederate
States, but in this country it would be thought to
have very little connection with “the cause
of our most Blessed Master.” But the Southern
clergymen reserve for the close of their address the
defence of the grand dogma of their religion—the
doctrine that negro slavery as carried out in the Southern
States of America “is not incompatible with our
holy Christianity.” Stupendous as this
proposition may appear to the British mind, it offers
no difficulty to these learned and pious men.
Nay, they are not only convinced that slavery is “not
incompatible” with Christianity, but they boldly
affirm that it is a divinely established institution,
designed to promote the temporal happiness and eternal
salvation of the negro race, and that all efforts
to bring about the abolition of slavery are sacrilegious
attempts to interfere with the “plans of Divine
Providence.” “We testify in the sight
of GOD,” say the clergy of the Confederate States,
“that the relation of master and slave among
us, however we may deplore abuses in this, as in any
other relations of mankind, is not incompatible with
our holy Christianity, and that the presence of the
Africans in our land is an occasion of gratitude on
their behalf before God; seeing that thereby
Divine Providence has brought them where missionaries
of the cross may freely proclaim to them the word of
salvation, and the work is not interrupted by agitating
fanaticism. * * * We regard Abolitionism as an interference
with the plans of Divine Providence. It has not
the signs of the Lord’s blessing. It is
a fanaticism which puts forth no good fruit; instead
of blessing, it has brought forth cursing; instead
of love, hatred, instead of life, death—bitterness
and sorrow, and pain; and infidelity and moral degeneracy
follow its labours.” There is no shirking
of the question here. Slavery is proclaimed to
be the GOD-appointed means for the regeneration of
the African race, and those who seek to bring about
the emancipation of the slaves are branded as apostles
of infidelity. Upon these grounds, the confederate
clergy appeal to Christians throughout the world to
aid them in creating a sentiment against this war—“against
persecution for conscience’ sake, against the
ravaging of the church of GOD by fanatical invasion.”
Page 35
In their reply to this appeal, the Scottish ministers
do what the Confederate ministers professed their
intention of doing—they avoid every thing
in the shape of political discussion. Among those
gentlemen there is no doubt considerable difference
of opinion respecting the two parties in the civil
war; but they say nothing of that, and address themselves
exclusively to the question of slavery. Happily,
there is no difference of opinion upon that point
among men who take upon themselves the high office
of preaching God’s word in this country.
The Scottish Ministers, in powerful and manly language,
express the “deep grief, alarm, and indignation”
with which they have seen men who profess to be servants
of the Lord Jesus Christ defend slavery as a Christian
institution, worthy of being perpetuated and extended,
not only without regret, but with entire satisfaction
and approval. “Against all this,”
say they, “in the name of that holy faith and
that thrice holy name which they venture to invoke
on the side of a system which treats immortal and
redeemed men as goods and chattels, denies them the
rights of marriage and of home, consigns them to ignorance
of the first rudiments of education, and exposes them
to the outrages of lust and passion—we
must earnestly and emphatically protest.”
We believe that this is the answer of the whole British
community to the appeal of the Confederate clergy.
However much the public sentiment may have been misled
respecting the rights and the wrongs of the two parties
in the war, it cannot but be sound at the core on the
subject of slavery. There are many thousands
of people who have not the slightest sympathy with
slavery, and who yet sympathise with the slave-owners
because they have a vague impression that the Southerners
are brave gentlemen and the Northerners base mechanics.
They have managed by some strange process to separate
the cause of slavery from the cause of the slaveowner,
and while they rejoice at every success which tends
towards the establishment of a confederacy which is
to have slavery as the “head stone of the corner,”
they continue to pray as fervently as ever that the
fetters of the slaves may be broken. All such
people—and they constitute the mass of the
Southern sympathisers in this country—must
be ready to repudiate with the sternest indignation
this attempt to connect the holy religion of Christ
with the most horrible oppression which the cruelty
and cupidity of man ever created.
But it is not enough that the Confederate defence
of slavery should be rejected. It was proper
that the Scottish ministers of religion should deal
only with the religious aspect of the question, but
it is the duty of every man who feels that he has
any influence in the world—and there is
no man who has not some—to study the political
lessons which the address affords. There can
be no doubt that the appeal expresses the genuine
sentiment of the Southern States, softened down by
whatever softening influence there may be in their
Page 36
peculiar kind of Christianity, and shaped to offend
as little as possible the prejudices of British readers.
And what does it show us? Does it show us that
emancipation is more likely to follow from the success
of the Southern society which assumes to be at the
helm of all schemes of religion and philanthropy, not
only has no desire to put an end to slavery, but regards
it in such a light that it will be its duty to
extend it as much as possible. The Southern
clergy say that the relation of master and slave is
“not incompatible with our holy Christianity;”
why, therefore, should they seek to get rid of it?
From a thousand pulpits this language will be sent
forth week after week, and it is clear that the religion
of the Confederate States will be employed only to
convince the slaveowner that he is doing perfectly
right in perpetuating a system which enables him to
buy men and women as chattels, and to obtain command
of human bodies and minds at the prices current of
the market. Then, the Southern clergy think it
a cause for gratitude to God on behalf of the negroes
“that He has brought them where missionaries
of the Cross might freely proclaim to them the word
of salvation.” Will it not, therefore,
be the duty of the Southern clergy to extend those
blessings to new millions of Africans, and thus carry
out the “plans of Divine Providence?”
Is the whole tendency of this argument not to elevate
the horrible trade of the slave-catcher to the same
high level with the noble office of the missionary?
Proclaiming as they do that the capture of Africans
and their removal into slavery in the Southern States
is God’s own missionary plan, the Confederate
clergy and people will consider it as much their duty
to equip slave-ships with cargoes of manacles and send
them forth accompanied by the prayers of the churches,
as it is now our duty to send forth missionary-ships
laden with Bibles and preachers of the gospel.
Then the heathen world will know what missionary Christianity
really is. Thousand of Africans, caught on the
west coast, will be torn from their families and taken
chained on board ship; should they survive the horrors
of the passage, they will be set to hard work under
laws which permit of almost any degree of corporeal
punishment and which deprive them of all the rights
of men; and they will be told to thank GOD who has
brought them into the blessed light of the Gospel!
Let not the man who cannot reconcile his sympathies
in the American struggle with his convictions on the
question of slavery pooh-pooh this as an extravagant
fancy picture of something that never can occur.
It is exactly the missionary scheme which the Confederate
clergy call “the plan of Divine Providence;”
and supposing a powerful Southern Confederacy to be
established, what is to prevent its being accomplished?
Not the religious and philanthropic feelings of the
Confederates; for the religious and philanthropic
feelings of the confederates are all for a revival
Page 37
of the slave trade. Not treaties concluded with
foreign nations; for a people holding such sentiments
could never make a treaty shutting themselves out
from the most promising field of missionary labour;
or if forced by circumstances to conclude it, their
religious convictions would urge them to break it
at any moment. In fact, were a powerful nationality
once established, with interests and religious convictions
all pointing in the way of reviving the slave trade,
it would be utterly impossible to prevent a resumption
of that abominable traffic.
We have dealt with the professed convictions of the
Southern ministers as sincere convictions. We
should be sorry to accuse any body of men professing
to be teachers of the Christian religion of intentional
insincerity, and although we can hardly conceive the
possibility of men who base their religion upon the
same Bible upon which we rest ours, attempting sincerely
to justify slavery upon religious grounds, we would
rather attribute the extraordinary moral obliquity
which the attempt exhibits to the demoralising influence
of the slave system than to actual hypocrisy.
The spectacle of a crowd of learned and no doubt pious
men standing forth as the avowed apologists of a system
which deprives their fellow-men of all the rights
of humanity is, perhaps, the most distressing evidence
of its blighting and blinding influence which has yet
been exhibited to the world. It ought to have
its effect. As we have said, it is the duty of
every man to study the lessons which this address of
the Confederate clergy has for him. If his sympathy
and influence be given to the Confederates, let him
understand the nature of the cause he is aiding.
Let him learn from the statement of the Confederates
themselves that their cause is the cause of slavery,
and that they look forward to the perpetuation and
extension of slavery as the prize of success.
* * * *
*
SLAVERY AND LIBERTY.
I’m on my way to Canada,
That dark and
dreary land;
Oh! the dread effects of slavery
I can no longer
stand.
My soul is vexed within me
so
To think I am
a slave,
Resolved I am to strike the
blow,
For freedom or
the grave.
CHORUS
Oh,
Righteous Father!
Wilt
thou not pity me,
And
help me on to Canada,
Where
coloured men are free.
I’ve served my master
all my days,
Without one dimes’
reward,
And now I’m forced to
run away,
To flee the lash
and rod.
The hounds are baying on my
track,
And master just
behind,
Resolved that he will bring
me back
Before I cross
the line.
Page 38
Old master went to preach
one day,
Next day he looked
for me;
I greased my heels and ran
away,
For the land of
liberty.
I dreamt I saw the British
Queen
Majestic on the
shore;
If e’er I reach old
Canada,
I will come back
no more.
I heard that Queen Victoria
said,
If we would all
forsake
Our native land of Slavery,
And come across
the lake:
That she was standing on the
shore
With arms extended
wide,
To give us all a peaceful
home
Beyond the swelling
tide.
I heard old master pray one
night,
That night he
prayed for me,
That God would come with all
his might,
From Satan set
me free.
So I from Satan would escape
And flee the wrath
to come,
If there’s a fiend in
human shape,
Old master must
be one.