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These (in CAPS) are inside the +<brackets> along with the corresponding page number. + + +Scanned with OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + +MY BONDAGE +and +MY FREEDOM +_By_ +FREDERICK DOUGLASS +_By a principle essential to Christianity, a PERSON is eternally +differenced from a THING; so that the idea of a HUMAN BEING, +necessarily excludes the idea of PROPERTY IN THAT BEING_. +COLERIDGE + + +Entered according to Act of Congress in 1855 by Frederick +Douglass in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the +Northern District of New York + + +TO +HONORABLE GERRIT SMITH, +AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF +ESTEEM FOR HIS CHARACTER, +ADMIRATION FOR HIS GENIUS AND BENEVOLENCE, +AFFECTION FOR HIS PERSON, AND +GRATITUDE FOR HIS FRIENDSHIP, +AND AS +A Small but most Sincere Acknowledgement of +HIS PRE-EMINENT SERVICES IN BEHALF OF THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES +OF AN +AFFLICTED, DESPISED AND DEEPLY OUTRAGED PEOPLE, +BY RANKING SLAVERY WITH PIRACY AND MURDER, +AND BY +DENYING IT EITHER A LEGAL OR CONSTITUTIONAL EXISTENCE, +This Volume is Respectfully Dedicated, +BY HIS FAITHFUL AND FIRMLY ATTACHED FRIEND, +FREDERICK DOUGLAS. +ROCHESTER, N.Y. + + + + + CONTENTS + + EDITORS PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 + INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 + +LIFE AS A SLAVE? + + I--CHILDHOOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 + II--REMOVED FROM MY FIRST HOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 + III--PARENTAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 + IV--A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SLAVE PLANTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 + V--GRADUAL INITIATION INTO THE MYSTERIES OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . 61 + VI--TREATMENT OF SLAVES ON LLOYDS PLANTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 + VII--LIFE IN THE GREAT HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 + VIII--A CHAPTER OF HORRORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 + IX--PERSONAL TREATMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101 + X--LIFE IN BALTIMORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111 + XI--"A CHANGE CAME O'ER THE SPIRIT OF MY DREAM". . . . . . . . . . .118 + XII--RELIGIOUS NATURE AWAKENED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127 + XIII--THE VICISSITUDES OF SLAVE LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 + XIV--EXPERIENCE IN ST. MICHAEL'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144 + XV--COVEY, THE NEGRO BREAKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159 + XVI--ANOTHER PRESSURE OF THE TYRANTS VICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . .172 + + +<xii> CONTENTS + + XVII--THE LAST FLOCCING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180 + XVIII--NEW RELATIONS AND DUTIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194 + XIX--THE RUN-AWAY PLOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 + XX--APPRENTICESHIP LIFE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 + XXI--MY ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248 + +LIFE AS A FREEMAN + XXII--LIBERTY ATTAINED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .261 + XXIII--INTRODUCED TO THE ABOLITIONISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278 + XXIV--TWENTY-ONE MONTHS IN GREAT BRITAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284 + XXV--VARIOUS INCIDENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304 + +APPENDIX + RECEPTION SPEECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318 + LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .330 + THE NATURE OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337 + INHUMANITY OF SLAVERY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343 + WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349 + THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354 + THE SLAVERY PARTY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .358 + THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .363 + +MY BONDAGE +_and_ +MY FREEDOM + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE + + +If the volume now presented to the public were a mere work of +ART, the history of its misfortune might be written in two very +simple words--TOO LATE. The nature and character of slavery have +been subjects of an almost endless variety of artistic +representation; and after the brilliant achievements in that +field, and while those achievements are yet fresh in the memory +of the million, he who would add another to the legion, must +possess the charm of transcendent excellence, or apologize for +something worse than rashness. The reader is, therefore, +assured, with all due promptitude, that his attention is not +invited to a work of ART, but to a work of FACTS--Facts, terrible +and almost incredible, it may be yet FACTS, nevertheless. + +I am authorized to say that there is not a fictitious name nor +place in the whole volume; but that names and places are +literally given, and that every transaction therein described +actually transpired. + +Perhaps the best Preface to this volume is furnished in the +following letter of Mr. Douglass, written in answer to my urgent +solicitation for such a work: + + ROCHESTER, N. Y. _July_ 2, 1855. + +DEAR FRIEND: I have long entertained, as you very well know, a +somewhat positive repugnance to writing or speaking anything for +the public, which could, with any degree of plausibilty, make me +liable to the imputation of seeking personal notoriety, for its +own sake. Entertaining that feeling very sincerely, and +permitting its control, perhaps, quite unreasonably, I have often +<2>refused to narrate my personal experience in public anti- +slavery meetings, and in sympathizing circles, when urged to do +so by friends, with whose views and wishes, ordinarily, it were a +pleasure to comply. In my letters and speeches, I have generally +aimed to discuss the question of Slavery in the light of +fundamental principles, and upon facts, notorious and open to +all; making, I trust, no more of the fact of my own former +enslavement, than circumstances seemed absolutely to require. I +have never placed my opposition to slavery on a basis so narrow +as my own enslavement, but rather upon the indestructible and +unchangeable laws of human nature, every one of which is +perpetually and flagrantly violated by the slave system. I have +also felt that it was best for those having histories worth the +writing--or supposed to be so--to commit such work to hands other +than their own. To write of one's self, in such a manner as not +to incur the imputation of weakness, vanity, and egotism, is a +work within the ability of but few; and I have little reason to +believe that I belong to that fortunate few. + +These considerations caused me to hesitate, when first you kindly +urged me to prepare for publication a full account of my life as +a slave, and my life as a freeman. + +Nevertheless, I see, with you, many reasons for regarding my +autobiography as exceptional in its character, and as being, in +some sense, naturally beyond the reach of those reproaches which +honorable and sensitive minds dislike to incur. It is not to +illustrate any heroic achievements of a man, but to vindicate a +just and beneficent principle, in its application to the whole +human family, by letting in the light of truth upon a system, +esteemed by some as a blessing, and by others as a curse and a +crime. I agree with you, that this system is now at the bar of +public opinion--not only of this country, but of the whole +civilized world--for judgment. Its friends have made for it the +usual plea--"not guilty;" the case must, therefore, proceed. Any +facts, either from slaves, slaveholders, or by-standers, +calculated to enlighten the public mind, by revealing the true +nature, character, and tendency of the slave system, are in +order, and can scarcely be innocently withheld. + +I see, too, that there are special reasons why I should write my +own biography, in preference to employing another to do it. Not +only is slavery on trial, but unfortunately, the enslaved people +are also on trial. It is alleged, that they are, naturally, +inferior; that they are _so low_ in the scale of humanity, and so +utterly stupid, that they are unconscious of their wrongs, and do +not apprehend their rights. Looking, then, at your request, from +this stand-point, and wishing everything of which you think me +capable to go to the benefit of my afflicted people, I part with +my doubts and hesitation, and proceed to furnish you the desired +manuscript; hoping that you may be able to make such arrangements +for its publication as shall be best adapted to accomplish that +good which you so enthusiastically anticipate. + FREDERICK DOUGLASS + +<3> + +There was little necessity for doubt and hesitation on the part +of Mr. Douglass, as to the propriety of his giving to the world a +full account of himself. A man who was born and brought up in +slavery, a living witness of its horrors; who often himself +experienced its cruelties; and who, despite the depressing +influences surrounding his birth, youth and manhood, has risen, +from a dark and almost absolute obscurity, to the distinguished +position which he now occupies, might very well assume the +existence of a commendable curiosity, on the part of the public, +to know the facts of his remarkable history. + EDITOR + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +When a man raises himself from the lowest condition in society to +the highest, mankind pay him the tribute of their admiration; +when he accomplishes this elevation by native energy, guided by +prudence and wisdom, their admiration is increased; but when his +course, onward and upward, excellent in itself, furthermore +proves a possible, what had hitherto been regarded as an +impossible, reform, then he becomes a burning and a shining +light, on which the aged may look with gladness, the young with +hope, and the down-trodden, as a representative of what they may +themselves become. To such a man, dear reader, it is my +privilege to introduce you. + +The life of Frederick Douglass, recorded in the pages which +follow, is not merely an example of self-elevation under the most +adverse circumstances; it is, moreover, a noble vindication of +the highest aims of the American anti-slavery movement. The real +object of that movement is not only to disenthrall, it is, also, +to bestow upon the Negro the exercise of all those rights, from +the possession of which he has been so long debarred. + +But this full recognition of the colored man to the right, and +the entire admission of the same to the full privileges, +political, religious and social, of manhood, requires powerful +effort on the part of the enthralled, as well as on the part of +those who would disenthrall them. The people at large must feel +the conviction, as well as admit the abstract logic, of human +equality; <5>the Negro, for the first time in the world's +history, brought in full contact with high civilization, must +prove his title first to all that is demanded for him; in the +teeth of unequal chances, he must prove himself equal to the mass +of those who oppress him--therefore, absolutely superior to his +apparent fate, and to their relative ability. And it is most +cheering to the friends of freedom, today, that evidence of this +equality is rapidly accumulating, not from the ranks of the half- +freed colored people of the free states, but from the very depths +of slavery itself; the indestructible equality of man to man is +demonstrated by the ease with which black men, scarce one remove +from barbarism--if slavery can be honored with such a +distinction--vault into the high places of the most advanced and +painfully acquired civilization. Ward and Garnett, Wells Brown +and Pennington, Loguen and Douglass, are banners on the outer +wall, under which abolition is fighting its most successful +battles, because they are living exemplars of the practicability +of the most radical abolitionism; for, they were all of them born +to the doom of slavery, some of them remained slaves until adult +age, yet they all have not only won equality to their white +fellow citizens, in civil, religious, political and social rank, +but they have also illustrated and adorned our common country by +their genius, learning and eloquence. + +The characteristics whereby Mr. Douglass has won first rank among +these remarkable men, and is still rising toward highest rank +among living Americans, are abundantly laid bare in the book +before us. Like the autobiography of Hugh Miller, it carries us +so far back into early childhood, as to throw light upon the +question, "when positive and persistent memory begins in the +human being." And, like Hugh Miller, he must have been a shy +old-fashioned child, occasionally oppressed by what he could not +well account for, peering and poking about among the layers of +right and wrong, of tyrant and thrall, and the wonderfulness of +that hopeless tide of things which brought power to one race, and +unrequited toil to another, until, finally, he stumbled upon +<6>his "first-found Ammonite," hidden away down in the depths of +his own nature, and which revealed to him the fact that liberty +and right, for all men, were anterior to slavery and wrong. When +his knowledge of the world was bounded by the visible horizon on +Col. Lloyd's plantation, and while every thing around him bore a +fixed, iron stamp, as if it had always been so, this was, for one +so young, a notable discovery. + +To his uncommon memory, then, we must add a keen and accurate +insight into men and things; an original breadth of common sense +which enabled him to see, and weigh, and compare whatever passed +before him, and which kindled a desire to search out and define +their relations to other things not so patent, but which never +succumbed to the marvelous nor the supernatural; a sacred thirst +for liberty and for learning, first as a means of attaining +liberty, then as an end in itself most desirable; a will; an +unfaltering energy and determination to obtain what his soul +pronounced desirable; a majestic self-hood; determined courage; a +deep and agonizing sympathy with his embruted, crushed and +bleeding fellow slaves, and an extraordinary depth of passion, +together with that rare alliance between passion and intellect, +which enables the former, when deeply roused, to excite, develop +and sustain the latter. + +With these original gifts in view, let us look at his schooling; +the fearful discipline through which it pleased God to prepare +him for the high calling on which he has since entered--the +advocacy of emancipation by the people who are not slaves. And +for this special mission, his plantation education was better +than any he could have acquired in any lettered school. What he +needed, was facts and experiences, welded to acutely wrought up +sympathies, and these he could not elsewhere have obtained, in a +manner so peculiarly adapted to his nature. His physical being +was well trained, also, running wild until advanced into boyhood; +hard work and light diet, thereafter, and a skill in handicraft +in youth. +<7> + +For his special mission, then, this was, considered in connection +with his natural gifts, a good schooling; and, for his special +mission, he doubtless "left school" just at the proper moment. +Had he remained longer in slavery--had he fretted under bonds +until the ripening of manhood and its passions, until the drear +agony of slave-wife and slave-children had been piled upon his +already bitter experiences--then, not only would his own history +have had another termination, but the drama of American slavery +would have been essentially varied; for I cannot resist the +belief, that the boy who learned to read and write as he did, who +taught his fellow slaves these precious acquirements as he did, +who plotted for their mutual escape as he did, would, when a man +at bay, strike a blow which would make slavery reel and stagger. +Furthermore, blows and insults he bore, at the moment, without +resentment; deep but suppressed emotion rendered him insensible +to their sting; but it was afterward, when the memory of them +went seething through his brain, breeding a fiery indignation at +his injured self-hood, that the resolve came to resist, and the +time fixed when to resist, and the plot laid, how to resist; and +he always kept his self-pledged word. In what he undertook, in +this line, he looked fate in the face, and had a cool, keen look +at the relation of means to ends. Henry Bibb, to avoid +chastisement, strewed his master's bed with charmed leaves and +_was whipped_. Frederick Douglass quietly pocketed a like +_fetiche_, compared his muscles with those of Covey--and _whipped +him_. + +In the history of his life in bondage, we find, well developed, +that inherent and continuous energy of character which will ever +render him distinguished. What his hand found to do, he did with +his might; even while conscious that he was wronged out of his +daily earnings, he worked, and worked hard. At his daily labor +he went with a will; with keen, well set eye, brawny chest, lithe +figure, and fair sweep of arm, he would have been king among +calkers, had that been his mission. + +It must not be overlooked, in this glance at his education, that +<8>Mr. Douglass lacked one aid to which so many men of mark have +been deeply indebted--he had neither a mother's care, nor a +mother's culture, save that which slavery grudgingly meted out to +him. Bitter nurse! may not even her features relax with human +feeling, when she gazes at such offspring! How susceptible he +was to the kindly influences of mother-culture, may be gathered +from his own words, on page 57: "It has been a life-long +standing grief to me, that I know so little of my mother, and +that I was so early separated from her. The counsels of her love +must have been beneficial to me. The side view of her face is +imaged on my memory, and I take few steps in life, without +feeling her presence; but the image is mute, and I have no +striking words of hers treasured up." + +From the depths of chattel slavery in Maryland, our author +escaped into the caste-slavery of the north, in New Bedford, +Massachusetts. Here he found oppression assuming another, and +hardly less bitter, form; of that very handicraft which the greed +of slavery had taught him, his half-freedom denied him the +exercise for an honest living; he found himself one of a class-- +free colored men--whose position he has described in the +following words: + +"Aliens are we in our native land. The fundamental principles of +the republic, to which the humblest white man, whether born here +or elsewhere, may appeal with confidence, in the hope of +awakening a favorable response, are held to be inapplicable to +us. The glorious doctrines of your revolutionary fathers, and +the more glorious teachings of the Son of God, are construed and +applied against us. We are literally scourged beyond the +beneficent range of both authorities, human and divine. * * * * +American humanity hates us, scorns us, disowns and denies, in a +thousand ways, our very personality. The outspread wing of +American christianity, apparently broad enough to give shelter to +a perishing world, refuses to cover us. To us, its bones are +brass, and its features iron. In running thither for shelter and +<9>succor, we have only fled from the hungry blood-hound to the +devouring wolf--from a corrupt and selfish world, to a hollow and +hypocritical church."--_Speech before American and Foreign Anti- +Slavery Society, May_, 1854. + +Four years or more, from 1837 to 1841, he struggled on, in New +Bedford, sawing wood, rolling casks, or doing what labor he +might, to support himself and young family; four years he brooded +over the scars which slavery and semi-slavery had inflicted upon +his body and soul; and then, with his wounds yet unhealed, he +fell among the Garrisonians--a glorious waif to those most ardent +reformers. It happened one day, at Nantucket, that he, +diffidently and reluctantly, was led to address an anti-slavery +meeting. He was about the age when the younger Pitt entered the +House of Commons; like Pitt, too, he stood up a born orator. + +William Lloyd Garrison, who was happily present, writes thus of +Mr. Douglass' maiden effort; "I shall never forget his first +speech at the convention--the extraordinary emotion it excited in +my own mind--the powerful impression it created upon a crowded +auditory, completely taken by surprise. * * * I think I never +hated slavery so intensely as at that moment; certainly, my +perception of the enormous outrage which is inflicted by it on +the godlike nature of its victims, was rendered far more clear +than ever. There stood one in physical proportions and stature +commanding and exact--in intellect richly endowed--in natural +eloquence a prodigy."[1] + +It is of interest to compare Mr. Douglass's account of this +meeting with Mr. Garrison's. Of the two, I think the latter the +most correct. It must have been a grand burst of eloquence! The +pent up agony, indignation and pathos of an abused and harrowed +boyhood and youth, bursting out in all their freshness and +overwhelming earnestness! + +This unique introduction to its great leader, led immediately + + +[1] Letter, Introduction to _Life of Frederick Douglass_, Boston, +1841. + + +<10>to the employment of Mr. Douglass as an agent by the American +Anti-Slavery Society. So far as his self-relying and independent +character would permit, he became, after the strictest sect, a +Garrisonian. It is not too much to say, that he formed a +complement which they needed, and they were a complement equally +necessary to his "make-up." With his deep and keen sensitiveness +to wrong, and his wonderful memory, he came from the land of +bondage full of its woes and its evils, and painting them in +characters of living light; and, on his part, he found, told out +in sound Saxon phrase, all those principles of justice and right +and liberty, which had dimly brooded over the dreams of his +youth, seeking definite forms and verbal expression. It must +have been an electric flashing of thought, and a knitting of +soul, granted to but few in this life, and will be a life-long +memory to those who participated in it. In the society, +moreover, of Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, William Lloyd +Garrison, and other men of earnest faith and refined culture, Mr. +Douglass enjoyed the high advantage of their assistance and +counsel in the labor of self-culture, to which he now addressed +himself with wonted energy. Yet, these gentlemen, although proud +of Frederick Douglass, failed to fathom, and bring out to the +light of day, the highest qualities of his mind; the force of +their own education stood in their own way: they did not delve +into the mind of a colored man for capacities which the pride of +race led them to believe to be restricted to their own Saxon +blood. Bitter and vindictive sarcasm, irresistible mimicry, and +a pathetic narrative of his own experiences of slavery, were the +intellectual manifestations which they encouraged him to exhibit +on the platform or in the lecture desk. + +A visit to England, in 1845, threw Mr. Douglass among men and +women of earnest souls and high culture, and who, moreover, had +never drank of the bitter waters of American caste. For the +first time in his life, he breathed an atmosphere congenial to +the longings of his spirit, and felt his manhood free and +<11>unrestricted. The cordial and manly greetings of the British +and Irish audiences in public, and the refinement and elegance of +the social circles in which he mingled, not only as an equal, but +as a recognized man of genius, were, doubtless, genial and +pleasant resting places in his hitherto thorny and troubled +journey through life. There are joys on the earth, and, to the +wayfaring fugitive from American slavery or American caste, this +is one of them. + +But his sojourn in England was more than a joy to Mr. Douglass. +Like the platform at Nantucket, it awakened him to the +consciousness of new powers that lay in him. From the pupilage +of Garrisonism he rose to the dignity of a teacher and a thinker; +his opinions on the broader aspects of the great American +question were earnestly and incessantly sought, from various +points of view, and he must, perforce, bestir himself to give +suitable answer. With that prompt and truthful perception which +has led their sisters in all ages of the world to gather at the +feet and support the hands of reformers, the gentlewomen of +England[2] were foremost to encourage and strengthen him to carve +out for himself a path fitted to his powers and energies, in the +life-battle against slavery and caste to which he was pledged. +And one stirring thought, inseparable from the British idea of +the evangel of freedom, must have smote his ear from every side-- + +_ Hereditary bondmen! know ye not + Who would be free, themselves mast strike the blow?_ + + +The result of this visit was, that on his return to the United +States, he established a newspaper. This proceeding was sorely +against the wishes and the advice of the leaders of the American +Anti-Slavery Society, but our author had fully grown up to the +conviction of a truth which they had once promulged, but now + + + +[2] One of these ladies, impelled by the same noble spirit which +carried Miss Nightingale to Scutari, has devoted her time, her +untiring energies, to a great extent her means, and her high +literary abilities, to the advancement and support of Frederick +Douglass' Paper, the only organ of the downtrodden, edited and +published by one of themselves, in the United States. + +<12>forgotten, to wit: that in their own elevation--self- +elevation--colored men have a blow to strike "on their own hook," +against slavery and caste. Differing from his Boston friends in +this matter, diffident in his own abilities, reluctant at their +dissuadings, how beautiful is the loyalty with which he still +clung to their principles in all things else, and even in this. + +Now came the trial hour. Without cordial support from any large +body of men or party on this side the Atlantic, and too far +distant in space and immediate interest to expect much more, +after the much already done, on the other side, he stood up, +almost alone, to the arduous labor and heavy expenditure of +editor and lecturer. The Garrison party, to which he still +adhered, did not want a _colored_ newspaper--there was an odor of +_caste_ about it; the Liberty party could hardly be expected to +give warm support to a man who smote their principles as with a +hammer; and the wide gulf which separated the free colored people +from the Garrisonians, also separated them from their brother, +Frederick Douglass. + +The arduous nature of his labors, from the date of the +establishment of his paper, may be estimated by the fact, that +anti-slavery papers in the United States, even while organs of, +and when supported by, anti-slavery parties, have, with a single +exception, failed to pay expenses. Mr. Douglass has maintained, +and does maintain, his paper without the support of any party, +and even in the teeth of the opposition of those from whom he had +reason to expect counsel and encouragement. He has been +compelled, at one and the same time, and almost constantly, +during the past seven years, to contribute matter to its columns +as editor, and to raise funds for its support as lecturer. It is +within bounds to say, that he has expended twelve thousand +dollars of his own hard earned money, in publishing this paper, a +larger sum than has been contributed by any one individual for +the general advancement of the colored people. There had been +many other papers published and edited by colored men, beginning +as far back as <13>1827, when the Rev. Samuel E. Cornish and John +B. Russworm (a graduate of Bowdoin college, and afterward +Governor of Cape Palmas) published the _Freedom's Journal_, in +New York City; probably not less than one hundred newspaper +enterprises have been started in the United States, by free +colored men, born free, and some of them of liberal education and +fair talents for this work; but, one after another, they have +fallen through, although, in several instances, anti-slavery +friends contributed to their support.[3] It had almost been +given up, as an impracticable thing, to maintain a colored +newspaper, when Mr. Douglass, with fewest early advantages of all +his competitors, essayed, and has proved the thing perfectly +practicable, and, moreover, of great public benefit. This paper, +in addition to its power in holding up the hands of those to whom +it is especially devoted, also affords irrefutable evidence of +the justice, safety and practicability of Immediate Emancipation; +it further proves the immense loss which slavery inflicts on the +land while it dooms such energies as his to the hereditary +degradation of slavery. + +It has been said in this Introduction, that Mr. Douglass had +raised himself by his own efforts to the highest position in +society. As a successful editor, in our land, he occupies this +position. Our editors rule the land, and he is one of them. As +an orator and thinker, his position is equally high, in the +opinion of his countrymen. If a stranger in the United States +would seek its most distinguished men--the movers of public +opinion--he will find their names mentioned, and their movements +chronicled, under the head of "BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH, in the +daily papers. The keen caterers for the public attention, set +down, in this column, such men only as have won high mark in the +public esteem. During the past winter--1854-5--very frequent +mention of Frederick Douglass was made under this head in the +daily papers; his name glided as often--this week from Chicago, +next + + + +[3] Mr. Stephen Myers, of Albany, deserves mention as one of the +most persevering among the colored editorial fraternity. + + +<14>week from Boston--over the lightning wires, as the name of +any other man, of whatever note. To no man did the people more +widely nor more earnestly say, _"Tell me thy thought!"_ And, +somehow or other, revolution seemed to follow in his wake. His +were not the mere words of eloquence which Kossuth speaks of, +that delight the ear and then pass away. No! They were _work_- +able, _do_-able words, that brought forth fruits in the +revolution in Illinois, and in the passage of the franchise +resolutions by the Assembly of New York. + +And the secret of his power, what is it? He is a Representative +American man--a type of his countrymen. Naturalists tell us that +a full grown man is a resultant or representative of all animated +nature on this globe; beginning with the early embryo state, then +representing the lowest forms of organic life,[4] and passing +through every subordinate grade or type, until he reaches the +last and highest--manhood. In like manner, and to the fullest +extent, has Frederick Douglass passed through every gradation of +rank comprised in our national make-up, and bears upon his person +and upon his soul every thing that is American. And he has not +only full sympathy with every thing American; his proclivity or +bent, to active toil and visible progress, are in the strictly +national direction, delighting to outstrip "all creation." + +Nor have the natural gifts, already named as his, lost anything +by his severe training. When unexcited, his mental processes are +probably slow, but singularly clear in perception, and wide in +vision, the unfailing memory bringing up all the facts in their +every aspect; incongruities he lays hold of incontinently, and +holds up on the edge of his keen and telling wit. But this wit +never descends to frivolity; it is rigidly in the keeping of his +truthful common sense, and always used in illustration or proof +of some point which could not so readily be reached any other +way. "Beware of a Yankee when he is feeding," is a shaft that +strikes home + + + +[4] The German physiologists have even discovered vegetable +matter--starch--in the human body. See _Med. Chirurgical Rev_., +Oct., 1854, p. 339. + + +<15>in a matter never so laid bare by satire before. "The +Garrisonian views of disunion, if carried to a successful issue, +would only place the people of the north in the same relation to +American slavery which they now bear to the slavery of Cuba or +the Brazils," is a statement, in a few words, which contains the +result and the evidence of an argument which might cover pages, +but could not carry stronger conviction, nor be stated in less +pregnable form. In proof of this, I may say, that having been +submitted to the attention of the Garrisonians in print, in +March, it was repeated before them at their business meeting in +May--the platform, _par excellence_, on which they invite free +fight, _a l'outrance_, to all comers. It was given out in the +clear, ringing tones, wherewith the hall of shields was wont to +resound of old, yet neither Garrison, nor Phillips, nor May, nor +Remond, nor Foster, nor Burleigh, with his subtle steel of "the +ice brook's temper," ventured to break a lance upon it! The +doctrine of the dissolution of the Union, as a means for the +abolition of American slavery, was silenced upon the lips that +gave it birth, and in the presence of an array of defenders who +compose the keenest intellects in the land. + +_"The man who is right is a majority"_ is an aphorism struck out +by Mr. Douglass in that great gathering of the friends of +freedom, at Pittsburgh, in 1852, where he towered among the +highest, because, with abilities inferior to none, and moved more +deeply than any, there was neither policy nor party to trammel +the outpourings of his soul. Thus we find, opposed to all +disadvantages which a black man in the United States labors and +struggles under, is this one vantage ground--when the chance +comes, and the audience where he may have a say, he stands forth +the freest, most deeply moved and most earnest of all men. + +It has been said of Mr. Douglass, that his descriptive and +declamatory powers, admitted to be of the very highest order, +take precedence of his logical force. Whilst the schools might +have trained him to the exhibition of the formulas of deductive +<16>logic, nature and circumstances forced him into the exercise +of the higher faculties required by induction. The first ninety +pages of this "Life in Bondage," afford specimens of observing, +comparing, and careful classifying, of such superior character, +that it is difficult to believe them the results of a child's +thinking; he questions the earth, and the children and the slaves +around him again and again, and finally looks to _"God in the +sky"_ for the why and the wherefore of the unnatural thing, +slavery. _"Yes, if indeed thou art, wherefore dost thou suffer +us to be slain?"_ is the only prayer and worship of the God- +forsaken Dodos in the heart of Africa. Almost the same was his +prayer. One of his earliest observations was that white children +should know their ages, while the colored children were ignorant +of theirs; and the songs of the slaves grated on his inmost soul, +because a something told him that harmony in sound, and music of +the spirit, could not consociate with miserable degradation. + +To such a mind, the ordinary processes of logical deduction are +like proving that two and two make four. Mastering the +intermediate steps by an intuitive glance, or recurring to them +as Ferguson resorted to geometry, it goes down to the deeper +relation of things, and brings out what may seem, to some, mere +statements, but which are new and brilliant generalizations, each +resting on a broad and stable basis. Thus, Chief Justice +Marshall gave his decisions, and then told Brother Story to look +up the authorities--and they never differed from him. Thus, +also, in his "Lecture on the Anti-Slavery Movement," delivered +before the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, Mr. Douglass +presents a mass of thought, which, without any showy display of +logic on his part, requires an exercise of the reasoning +faculties of the reader to keep pace with him. And his "Claims +of the Negro Ethnologically Considered," is full of new and fresh +thoughts on the dawning science of race-history. + +If, as has been stated, his intellection is slow, when unexcited, +it is most prompt and rapid when he is thoroughly aroused. +<17>Memory, logic, wit, sarcasm, invective pathos and bold +imagery of rare structural beauty, well up as from a copious +fountain, yet each in its proper place, and contributing to form +a whole, grand in itself, yet complete in the minutest +proportions. It is most difficult to hedge him in a corner, for +his positions are taken so deliberately, that it is rare to find +a point in them undefended aforethought. Professor Reason tells +me the following: "On a recent visit of a public nature, to +Philadelphia, and in a meeting composed mostly of his colored +brethren, Mr. Douglass proposed a comparison of views in the +matters of the relations and duties of `our people;' he holding +that prejudice was the result of condition, and could be +conquered by the efforts of the degraded themselves. A gentleman +present, distinguished for logical acumen and subtlety, and who +had devoted no small portion of the last twenty-five years to the +study and elucidation of this very question, held the opposite +view, that prejudice is innate and unconquerable. He terminated +a series of well dove-tailed, Socratic questions to Mr. Douglass, +with the following: `If the legislature at Harrisburgh should +awaken, to-morrow morning, and find each man's skin turned black +and his hair woolly, what could they do to remove prejudice?' +`Immediately pass laws entitling black men to all civil, +political and social privileges,' was the instant reply--and the +questioning ceased." + +The most remarkable mental phenomenon in Mr. Douglass, is his +style in writing and speaking. In March, 1855, he delivered an +address in the assembly chamber before the members of the +legislature of the state of New York. An eye witness[5] +describes the crowded and most intelligent audience, and their +rapt attention to the speaker, as the grandest scene he ever +witnessed in the capitol. Among those whose eyes were riveted on +the speaker full two hours and a half, were Thurlow Weed and +Lieutenant Governor Raymond; the latter, at the conclusion of the +address, exclaimed to a friend, "I would give twenty thousand +dollars, + + +[5] Mr. Wm. H. Topp, of Albany. + + +<18>if I could deliver that address in that manner." Mr. Raymond +is a first class graduate of Dartmouth, a rising politician, +ranking foremost in the legislature; of course, his ideal of +oratory must be of the most polished and finished description. + +The style of Mr. Douglass in writing, is to me an intellectual +puzzle. The strength, affluence and terseness may easily be +accounted for, because the style of a man is the man; but how are +we to account for that rare polish in his style of writing, +which, most critically examined, seems the result of careful +early culture among the best classics of our language; it equals +if it does not surpass the style of Hugh Miller, which was the +wonder of the British literary public, until he unraveled the +mystery in the most interesting of autobiographies. But +Frederick Douglass was still calking the seams of Baltimore +clippers, and had only written a "pass," at the age when Miller's +style was already formed. + +I asked William Whipper, of Pennsylvania, the gentleman alluded +to above, whether he thought Mr. Douglass's power inherited from +the Negroid, or from what is called the Caucasian side of his +make up? After some reflection, he frankly answered, "I must +admit, although sorry to do so, that the Caucasian predominates." +At that time, I almost agreed with him; but, facts narrated in +the first part of this work, throw a different light on this +interesting question. + +We are left in the dark as to who was the paternal ancestor of +our author; a fact which generally holds good of the Romuluses +and Remuses who are to inaugurate the new birth of our republic. +In the absence of testimony from the Caucasian side, we must see +what evidence is given on the other side of the house. + +"My grandmother, though advanced in years, * * * was yet a woman +of power and spirit. She was marvelously straight in figure, +elastic and muscular." (p. 46.) + +After describing her skill in constructing nets, her perseverance +in using them, and her wide-spread fame in the agricultural way +he adds, "It happened to her--as it will happen to any careful +<19>and thrifty person residing in an ignorant and improvident +neighborhood--to enjoy the reputation of being born to good +luck." And his grandmother was a black woman. + +"My mother was tall, and finely proportioned; of deep black, +glossy complexion; had regular features; and among other slaves +was remarkably sedate in her manners." "Being a field hand, she +was obliged to walk twelve miles and return, between nightfall +and daybreak, to see her children" (p. 54.) "I shall never +forget the indescribable expression of her countenance when I +told her that I had had no food since morning. * * * There was +pity in her glance at me, and a fiery indignation at Aunt Katy at +the same time; * * * * she read Aunt Katy a lecture which she +never forgot." (p. 56.) "I learned after my mother's death, +that she could read, and that she was the _only_ one of all the +slaves and colored people in Tuckahoe who enjoyed that advantage. +How she acquired this knowledge, I know not, for Tuckahoe is the +last place in the world where she would be apt to find facilities +for learning." (p. 57.) "There is, in _Prichard's Natural +History of Man_, the head of a figure--on page 157--the features +of which so resemble those of my mother, that I often recur to it +with something of the feeling which I suppose others experience +when looking upon the pictures of dear departed ones." (p. 52.) + +The head alluded to is copied from the statue of Ramses the +Great, an Egyptian king of the nineteenth dynasty. The authors +of the _Types of Mankind_ give a side view of the same on page +148, remarking that the profile, "like Napoleon's, is superbly +European!" The nearness of its resemblance to Mr. Douglass' +mother rests upon the evidence of his memory, and judging from +his almost marvelous feats of recollection of forms and outlines +recorded in this book, this testimony may be admitted. + +These facts show that for his energy, perseverance, eloquence, +invective, sagacity, and wide sympathy, he is indebted to his +Negro blood. The very marvel of his style would seem to be a +development of that other marvel--how his mother learned to read. +<20>The versatility of talent which he wields, in common with +Dumas, Ira Aldridge, and Miss Greenfield, would seem to be the +result of the grafting of the Anglo-Saxon on good, original, +Negro stock. If the friends of "Caucasus" choose to claim, for +that region, what remains after this analysis--to wit: +combination--they are welcome to it. They will forgive me for +reminding them that the term "Caucasian" is dropped by recent +writers on Ethnology; for the people about Mount Caucasus, are, +and have ever been, Mongols. The great "white race" now seek +paternity, according to Dr. Pickering, in Arabia--"Arida Nutrix" +of the best breed of horses &c. Keep on, gentlemen; you will +find yourselves in Africa, by-and-by. The Egyptians, like the +Americans, were a _mixed race_, with some Negro blood circling +around the throne, as well as in the mud hovels. + +This is the proper place to remark of our author, that the same +strong self-hood, which led him to measure strength with Mr. +Covey, and to wrench himself from the embrace of the +Garrisonians, and which has borne him through many resistances to +the personal indignities offered him as a colored man, sometimes +becomes a hyper-sensitiveness to such assaults as men of his mark +will meet with, on paper. Keen and unscrupulous opponents have +sought, and not unsuccessfully, to pierce him in this direction; +for well they know, that if assailed, he will smite back. + +It is not without a feeling of pride, dear reader, that I present +you with this book. The son of a self-emancipated bond-woman, I +feel joy in introducing to you my brother, who has rent his own +bonds, and who, in his every relation--as a public man, as a +husband and as a father--is such as does honor to the land which +gave him birth. I shall place this book in the hands of the only +child spared me, bidding him to strive and emulate its noble +example. You may do likewise. It is an American book, for +Americans, in the fullest sense of the idea. It shows that the +worst of our institutions, in its worst aspect, cannot keep down +energy, truthfulness, and earnest struggle for the right. It +proves the <21>justice and practicability of Immediate +Emancipation. It shows that any man in our land, "no matter in +what battle his liberty may have been cloven down, * * * * no +matter what complexion an Indian or an African sun may have +burned upon him," not only may "stand forth redeemed and +disenthralled," but may also stand up a candidate for the highest +suffrage of a great people--the tribute of their honest, hearty +admiration. Reader, _Vale! + +New York_ JAMES MCCUNE SMITH + + +CHAPTER I +_Childhood_ + +PLACE OF BIRTH--CHARACTER OF THE DISTRICT--TUCKAHOE--ORIGIN OF +THE NAME--CHOPTANK RIVER--TIME OF BIRTH--GENEALOGICAL TREES--MODE +OF COUNTING TIME--NAMES OF GRANDPARENTS--THEIR POSITION-- +GRANDMOTHER ESPECIALLY ESTEEMED--"BORN TO GOOD LUCK--SWEET +POTATOES--SUPERSTITION--THE LOG CABIN--ITS CHARMS--SEPARATING +CHILDREN--MY AUNTS--THEIR NAMES--FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF BEING A +SLAVE--OLD MASTER--GRIEFS AND JOYS OF CHILDHOOD--COMPARATIVE +HAPPINESS OF THE SLAVE-BOY AND THE SON OF A SLAVEHOLDER. + + +In Talbot county, Eastern Shore, Maryland, near Easton, the +county town of that county, there is a small district of country, +thinly populated, and remarkable for nothing that I know of more +than for the worn-out, sandy, desert-like appearance of its soil, +the general dilapidation of its farms and fences, the indigent +and spiritless character of its inhabitants, and the prevalence +of ague and fever. + +The name of this singularly unpromising and truly famine stricken +district is Tuckahoe, a name well known to all Marylanders, black +and white. It was given to this section of country probably, at +the first, merely in derision; or it may possibly have been +applied to it, as I have heard, because some one of its earlier +inhabitants had been guilty of the petty meanness of stealing a +hoe--or taking a hoe that did not belong to him. Eastern Shore +men usually pronounce the word _took_, as _tuck; Took-a-hoe_, +therefore, is, in Maryland parlance, _Tuckahoe_. But, whatever +may have been its origin--and about this I will not be +<26>positive--that name has stuck to the district in question; +and it is seldom mentioned but with contempt and derision, on +account of the barrenness of its soil, and the ignorance, +indolence, and poverty of its people. Decay and ruin are +everywhere visible, and the thin population of the place would +have quitted it long ago, but for the Choptank river, which runs +through it, from which they take abundance of shad and herring, +and plenty of ague and fever. + +It was in this dull, flat, and unthrifty district, or +neighborhood, surrounded by a white population of the lowest +order, indolent and drunken to a proverb, and among slaves, who +seemed to ask, _"Oh! what's the use?"_ every time they lifted a +hoe, that I--without any fault of mine was born, and spent the +first years of my childhood. + +The reader will pardon so much about the place of my birth, on +the score that it is always a fact of some importance to know +where a man is born, if, indeed, it be important to know anything +about him. In regard to the _time_ of my birth, I cannot be as +definite as I have been respecting the _place_. Nor, indeed, can +I impart much knowledge concerning my parents. Genealogical +trees do not flourish among slaves. A person of some consequence +here in the north, sometimes designated _father_, is literally +abolished in slave law and slave practice. It is only once in a +while that an exception is found to this statement. I never met +with a slave who could tell me how old he was. Few slave-mothers +know anything of the months of the year, nor of the days of the +month. They keep no family records, with marriages, births, and +deaths. They measure the ages of their children by spring time, +winter time, harvest time, planting time, and the like; but these +soon become undistinguishable and forgotten. Like other slaves, +I cannot tell how old I am. This destitution was among my +earliest troubles. I learned when I grew up, that my master--and +this is the case with masters generally--allowed no questions to +be put to him, by which a slave might learn his <27 +GRANDPARENTS>age. Such questions deemed evidence of impatience, +and even of impudent curiosity. From certain events, however, +the dates of which I have since learned, I suppose myself to have +been born about the year 1817. + +The first experience of life with me that I now remember--and I +remember it but hazily--began in the family of my grandmother and +grandfather. Betsey and Isaac Baily. They were quite advanced +in life, and had long lived on the spot where they then resided. +They were considered old settlers in the neighborhood, and, from +certain circumstances, I infer that my grandmother, especially, +was held in high esteem, far higher than is the lot of most +colored persons in the slave states. She was a good nurse, and a +capital hand at making nets for catching shad and herring; and +these nets were in great demand, not only in Tuckahoe, but at +Denton and Hillsboro, neighboring villages. She was not only +good at making the nets, but was also somewhat famous for her +good fortune in taking the fishes referred to. I have known her +to be in the water half the day. Grandmother was likewise more +provident than most of her neighbors in the preservation of +seedling sweet potatoes, and it happened to her--as it will +happen to any careful and thrifty person residing in an ignorant +and improvident community--to enjoy the reputation of having been +born to "good luck." Her "good luck" was owing to the exceeding +care which she took in preventing the succulent root from getting +bruised in the digging, and in placing it beyond the reach of +frost, by actually burying it under the hearth of her cabin +during the winter months. In the time of planting sweet +potatoes, "Grandmother Betty," as she was familiarly called, was +sent for in all directions, simply to place the seedling potatoes +in the hills; for superstition had it, that if "Grandmamma Betty +but touches them at planting, they will be sure to grow and +flourish." This high reputation was full of advantage to her, +and to the children around her. Though Tuckahoe had but few of +the good things of <28>life, yet of such as it did possess +grandmother got a full share, in the way of presents. If good +potato crops came after her planting, she was not forgotten by +those for whom she planted; and as she was remembered by others, +so she remembered the hungry little ones around her. + +The dwelling of my grandmother and grandfather had few +pretensions. It was a log hut, or cabin, built of clay, wood, +and straw. At a distance it resembled--though it was smaller, +less commodious and less substantial--the cabins erected in the +western states by the first settlers. To my child's eye, +however, it was a noble structure, admirably adapted to promote +the comforts and conveniences of its inmates. A few rough, +Virginia fence-rails, flung loosely over the rafters above, +answered the triple purpose of floors, ceilings, and bedsteads. +To be sure, this upper apartment was reached only by a ladder-- +but what in the world for climbing could be better than a ladder? +To me, this ladder was really a high invention, and possessed a +sort of charm as I played with delight upon the rounds of it. In +this little hut there was a large family of children: I dare not +say how many. My grandmother--whether because too old for field +service, or because she had so faithfully discharged the duties +of her station in early life, I know not--enjoyed the high +privilege of living in a cabin, separate from the quarter, with +no other burden than her own support, and the necessary care of +the little children, imposed. She evidently esteemed it a great +fortune to live so. The children were not her own, but her +grandchildren--the children of her daughters. She took delight +in having them around her, and in attending to their few wants. +The practice of separating children from their mother, and hiring +the latter out at distances too great to admit of their meeting, +except at long intervals, is a marked feature of the cruelty and +barbarity of the slave system. But it is in harmony with the +grand aim of slavery, which, always and everywhere, is to reduce +man to a level with the brute. It is a successful method of +obliterating <29 "OLD MASTER">from the mind and heart of the +slave, all just ideas of the sacredness of _the family_, as an +institution. + +Most of the children, however, in this instance, being the +children of my grandmother's daughters, the notions of family, +and the reciprocal duties and benefits of the relation, had a +better chance of being understood than where children are +placed--as they often are in the hands of strangers, who have no +care for them, apart from the wishes of their masters. The +daughters of my grandmother were five in number. Their names +were JENNY, ESTHER, MILLY, PRISCILLA, and HARRIET. The daughter +last named was my mother, of whom the reader shall learn more by- +and-by. + +Living here, with my dear old grandmother and grandfather, it was +a long time before I knew myself to be _a slave_. I knew many +other things before I knew that. Grandmother and grandfather +were the greatest people in the world to me; and being with them +so snugly in their own little cabin--I supposed it be their own-- +knowing no higher authority over me or the other children than +the authority of grandmamma, for a time there was nothing to +disturb me; but, as I grew larger and older, I learned by degrees +the sad fact, that the "little hut," and the lot on which it +stood, belonged not to my dear old grandparents, but to some +person who lived a great distance off, and who was called, by +grandmother, "OLD MASTER." I further learned the sadder fact, +that not only the house and lot, but that grandmother herself, +(grandfather was free,) and all the little children around her, +belonged to this mysterious personage, called by grandmother, +with every mark of reverence, "Old Master." Thus early did +clouds and shadows begin to fall upon my path. Once on the +track--troubles never come singly--I was not long in finding out +another fact, still more grievous to my childish heart. I was +told that this "old master," whose name seemed ever to be +mentioned with fear and shuddering, only allowed the children to +live with grandmother for a limited time, and that in fact as +soon <30>as they were big enough, they were promptly taken away, +to live with the said "old master." These were distressing +revelations indeed; and though I was quite too young to +comprehend the full import of the intelligence, and mostly spent +my childhood days in gleesome sports with the other children, a +shade of disquiet rested upon me. + +The absolute power of this distant "old master" had touched my +young spirit with but the point of its cold, cruel iron, and left +me something to brood over after the play and in moments of +repose. Grandmammy was, indeed, at that time, all the world to +me; and the thought of being separated from her, in any +considerable time, was more than an unwelcome intruder. It was +intolerable. + +Children have their sorrows as well as men and women; and it +would be well to remember this in our dealings with them. SLAVE- +children _are_ children, and prove no exceptions to the general +rule. The liability to be separated from my grandmother, seldom +or never to see her again, haunted me. I dreaded the thought of +going to live with that mysterious "old master," whose name I +never heard mentioned with affection, but always with fear. I +look back to this as among the heaviest of my childhood's +sorrows. My grandmother! my grandmother! and the little hut, and +the joyous circle under her care, but especially _she_, who made +us sorry when she left us but for an hour, and glad on her +return,--how could I leave her and the good old home? + +But the sorrows of childhood, like the pleasures of after life, +are transient. It is not even within the power of slavery to +write _indelible_ sorrow, at a single dash, over the heart of a +child. + + _The tear down childhood's cheek that flows, + Is like the dew-drop on the rose-- + When next the summer breeze comes by, + And waves the bush--the flower is dry_. + + +There is, after all, but little difference in the measure of +contentment felt by the slave-child neglected and the +slaveholder's <31 COMPARATIVE HAPPINESS>child cared for and +petted. The spirit of the All Just mercifully holds the balance +for the young. + +The slaveholder, having nothing to fear from impotent childhood, +easily affords to refrain from cruel inflictions; and if cold and +hunger do not pierce the tender frame, the first seven or eight +years of the slave-boy's life are about as full of sweet content +as those of the most favored and petted _white_ children of the +slaveholder. The slave-boy escapes many troubles which befall +and vex his white brother. He seldom has to listen to lectures +on propriety of behavior, or on anything else. He is never +chided for handling his little knife and fork improperly or +awkwardly, for he uses none. He is never reprimanded for soiling +the table-cloth, for he takes his meals on the clay floor. He +never has the misfortune, in his games or sports, of soiling or +tearing his clothes, for he has almost none to soil or tear. He +is never expected to act like a nice little gentleman, for he is +only a rude little slave. Thus, freed from all restraint, the +slave-boy can be, in his life and conduct, a genuine boy, doing +whatever his boyish nature suggests; enacting, by turns, all the +strange antics and freaks of horses, dogs, pigs, and barn-door +fowls, without in any manner compromising his dignity, or +incurring reproach of any sort. He literally runs wild; has no +pretty little verses to learn in the nursery; no nice little +speeches to make for aunts, uncles, or cousins, to show how smart +he is; and, if he can only manage to keep out of the way of the +heavy feet and fists of the older slave boys, he may trot on, in +his joyous and roguish tricks, as happy as any little heathen +under the palm trees of Africa. To be sure, he is occasionally +reminded, when he stumbles in the path of his master--and this he +early learns to avoid--that he is eating his _"white bread,"_ and +that he will be made to _"see sights"_ by-and-by. The threat is +soon forgotten; the shadow soon passes, and our sable boy +continues to roll in the dust, or play in the mud, as bests suits +him, and in the veriest freedom. If he feels uncomfortable, from +mud or from dust, the coast is clear; he can plunge into <32>the +river or the pond, without the ceremony of undressing, or the +fear of wetting his clothes; his little tow-linen shirt--for that +is all he has on--is easily dried; and it needed ablution as much +as did his skin. His food is of the coarsest kind, consisting +for the most part of cornmeal mush, which often finds it way from +the wooden tray to his mouth in an oyster shell. His days, when +the weather is warm, are spent in the pure, open air, and in the +bright sunshine. He always sleeps in airy apartments; he seldom +has to take powders, or to be paid to swallow pretty little +sugar-coated pills, to cleanse his blood, or to quicken his +appetite. He eats no candies; gets no lumps of loaf sugar; +always relishes his food; cries but little, for nobody cares for +his crying; learns to esteem his bruises but slight, because +others so esteem them. In a word, he is, for the most part of +the first eight years of his life, a spirited, joyous, +uproarious, and happy boy, upon whom troubles fall only like +water on a duck's back. And such a boy, so far as I can now +remember, was the boy whose life in slavery I am now narrating. + + + +CHAPTER II +_Removed from My First Home_ + +THE NAME "OLD MASTER" A TERROR--COLONEL LLOYD'S PLANTATION--WYE +RIVER--WHENCE ITS NAME--POSITION OF THE LLOYDS--HOME ATTRACTION-- +MEET OFFERING--JOURNEY FROM TUCKAHOE TO WYE RIVER--SCENE ON +REACHING OLD MASTER'S--DEPARTURE OF GRANDMOTHER--STRANGE MEETING +OF SISTERS AND BROTHERS--REFUSAL TO BE COMFORTED--SWEET SLEEP. + + +That mysterious individual referred to in the first chapter as an +object of terror among the inhabitants of our little cabin, under +the ominous title of "old master," was really a man of some +consequence. He owned several farms in Tuckahoe; was the chief +clerk and butler on the home plantation of Col. Edward Lloyd; had +overseers on his own farms; and gave directions to overseers on +the farms belonging to Col. Lloyd. This plantation is situated +on Wye river--the river receiving its name, doubtless, from +Wales, where the Lloyds originated. They (the Lloyds) are an old +and honored family in Maryland, exceedingly wealthy. The home +plantation, where they have resided, perhaps for a century or +more, is one of the largest, most fertile, and best appointed, in +the state. + +About this plantation, and about that queer old master--who must +be something more than a man, and something worse than an angel-- +the reader will easily imagine that I was not only curious, but +eager, to know all that could be known. Unhappily for me, +however, all the information I could get concerning him increased +my great dread of being carried thither--of being <34>separated +from and deprived of the protection of my grandmother and +grandfather. It was, evidently, a great thing to go to Col. +Lloyd's; and I was not without a little curiosity to see the +place; but no amount of coaxing could induce in me the wish to +remain there. The fact is, such was my dread of leaving the +little cabin, that I wished to remain little forever, for I knew +the taller I grew the shorter my stay. The old cabin, with its +rail floor and rail bedsteads upstairs, and its clay floor +downstairs, and its dirt chimney, and windowless sides, and that +most curious piece of workmanship dug in front of the fireplace, +beneath which grandmammy placed the sweet potatoes to keep them +from the frost, was MY HOME--the only home I ever had; and I +loved it, and all connected with it. The old fences around it, +and the stumps in the edge of the woods near it, and the +squirrels that ran, skipped, and played upon them, were objects +of interest and affection. There, too, right at the side of the +hut, stood the old well, with its stately and skyward-pointing +beam, so aptly placed between the limbs of what had once been a +tree, and so nicely balanced that I could move it up and down +with only one hand, and could get a drink myself without calling +for help. Where else in the world could such a well be found, +and where could such another home be met with? Nor were these +all the attractions of the place. Down in a little valley, not +far from grandmammy's cabin, stood Mr. Lee's mill, where the +people came often in large numbers to get their corn ground. It +was a watermill; and I never shall be able to tell the many +things thought and felt, while I sat on the bank and watched that +mill, and the turning of that ponderous wheel. The mill-pond, +too, had its charms; and with my pinhook, and thread line, I +could get _nibbles_, if I could catch no fish. But, in all my +sports and plays, and in spite of them, there would, +occasionally, come the painful foreboding that I was not long to +remain there, and that I must soon be called away to the home of +old master. + +I was A SLAVE--born a slave and though the fact was in <35 +DEPARTURE FROM TUCKAHOE>comprehensible to me, it conveyed to my +mind a sense of my entire dependence on the will of _somebody_ I +had never seen; and, from some cause or other, I had been made to +fear this somebody above all else on earth. Born for another's +benefit, as the _firstling_ of the cabin flock I was soon to be +selected as a meet offering to the fearful and inexorable +_demigod_, whose huge image on so many occasions haunted my +childhood's imagination. When the time of my departure was +decided upon, my grandmother, knowing my fears, and in pity for +them, kindly kept me ignorant of the dreaded event about to +transpire. Up to the morning (a beautiful summer morning) when +we were to start, and, indeed, during the whole journey--a +journey which, child as I was, I remember as well as if it were +yesterday--she kept the sad fact hidden from me. This reserve +was necessary; for, could I have known all, I should have given +grandmother some trouble in getting me started. As it was, I was +helpless, and she--dear woman!--led me along by the hand, +resisting, with the reserve and solemnity of a priestess, all my +inquiring looks to the last. + +The distance from Tuckahoe to Wye river--where my old master +lived--was full twelve miles, and the walk was quite a severe +test of the endurance of my young legs. The journey would have +proved too severe for me, but that my dear old grandmother-- +blessings on her memory!--afforded occasional relief by "toting" +me (as Marylanders have it) on her shoulder. My grandmother, +though advanced in years--as was evident from more than one gray +hair, which peeped from between the ample and graceful folds of +her newly-ironed bandana turban--was yet a woman of power and +spirit. She was marvelously straight in figure, elastic, and +muscular. I seemed hardly to be a burden to her. She would have +"toted" me farther, but that I felt myself too much of a man to +allow it, and insisted on walking. Releasing dear grandmamma +from carrying me, did not make me altogether independent of her, +when we happened to pass through portions of the somber woods +which lay between Tuckahoe and <36>Wye river. She often found me +increasing the energy of my grip, and holding her clothing, lest +something should come out of the woods and eat me up. Several +old logs and stumps imposed upon me, and got themselves taken for +wild beasts. I could see their legs, eyes, and ears, or I could +see something like eyes, legs, and ears, till I got close enough +to them to see that the eyes were knots, washed white with rain, +and the legs were broken limbs, and the ears, only ears owing to +the point from which they were seen. Thus early I learned that +the point from which a thing is viewed is of some importance. + +As the day advanced the heat increased; and it was not until the +afternoon that we reached the much dreaded end of the journey. I +found myself in the midst of a group of children of many colors; +black, brown, copper colored, and nearly white. I had not seen +so many children before. Great houses loomed up in different +directions, and a great many men and women were at work in the +fields. All this hurry, noise, and singing was very different +from the stillness of Tuckahoe. As a new comer, I was an object +of special interest; and, after laughing and yelling around me, +and playing all sorts of wild tricks, they (the children) asked +me to go out and play with them. This I refused to do, +preferring to stay with grandmamma. I could not help feeling +that our being there boded no good to me. Grandmamma looked sad. +She was soon to lose another object of affection, as she had lost +many before. I knew she was unhappy, and the shadow fell from +her brow on me, though I knew not the cause. + +All suspense, however, must have an end; and the end of mine, in +this instance, was at hand. Affectionately patting me on the +head, and exhorting me to be a good boy, grandmamma told me to go +and play with the little children. "They are kin to you," said +she; "go and play with them." Among a number of cousins were +Phil, Tom, Steve, and Jerry, Nance and Betty. + +Grandmother pointed out my brother PERRY, my sister SARAH, and my +sister ELIZA, who stood in the group. I had never seen <37 +BROTHERS AND SISTERS>my brother nor my sisters before; and, +though I had sometimes heard of them, and felt a curious interest +in them, I really did not understand what they were to me, or I +to them. We were brothers and sisters, but what of that? Why +should they be attached to me, or I to them? Brothers and +sisters we were by blood; but _slavery_ had made us strangers. I +heard the words brother and sisters, and knew they must mean +something; but slavery had robbed these terms of their true +meaning. The experience through which I was passing, they had +passed through before. They had already been initiated into the +mysteries of old master's domicile, and they seemed to look upon +me with a certain degree of compassion; but my heart clave to my +grandmother. Think it not strange, dear reader, that so little +sympathy of feeling existed between us. The conditions of +brotherly and sisterly feeling were wanting--we had never nestled +and played together. My poor mother, like many other slave- +women, had many _children_, but NO FAMILY! The domestic hearth, +with its holy lessons and precious endearments, is abolished in +the case of a slave-mother and her children. "Little children, +love one another," are words seldom heard in a slave cabin. + +I really wanted to play with my brother and sisters, but they +were strangers to me, and I was full of fear that grandmother +might leave without taking me with her. Entreated to do so, +however, and that, too, by my dear grandmother, I went to the +back part of the house, to play with them and the other children. +_Play_, however, I did not, but stood with my back against the +wall, witnessing the playing of the others. At last, while +standing there, one of the children, who had been in the kitchen, +ran up to me, in a sort of roguish glee, exclaiming, "Fed, Fed! +grandmammy gone! grandmammy gone!" I could not believe it; yet, +fearing the worst, I ran into the kitchen, to see for myself, and +found it even so. Grandmammy had indeed gone, and was now far +away, "clean" out of sight. I need not tell all that happened +now. Almost heart-broken at the discovery, I fell upon the +ground, and <38>wept a boy's bitter tears, refusing to be +comforted. My brother and sisters came around me, and said, +"Don't cry," and gave me peaches and pears, but I flung them +away, and refused all their kindly advances. I had never been +deceived before; and I felt not only grieved at parting--as I +supposed forever--with my grandmother, but indignant that a trick +had been played upon me in a matter so serious. + +It was now late in the afternoon. The day had been an exciting +and wearisome one, and I knew not how or where, but I suppose I +sobbed myself to sleep. There is a healing in the angel wing of +sleep, even for the slave-boy; and its balm was never more +welcome to any wounded soul than it was to mine, the first night +I spent at the domicile of old master. The reader may be +surprised that I narrate so minutely an incident apparently so +trivial, and which must have occurred when I was not more than +seven years old; but as I wish to give a faithful history of my +experience in slavery, I cannot withhold a circumstance which, at +the time, affected me so deeply. Besides, this was, in fact, my +first introduction to the realities of slavery. + + +CHAPTER III +_Parentage_ + +MY FATHER SHROUDED IN MYSTERY--MY MOTHER--HER PERSONAL +APPEARANCE--INTERFERENCE OF SLAVERY WITH THE NATURAL AFFECTIONS +OF MOTHER AND CHILDREN--SITUATION OF MY MOTHER--HER NIGHTLY +VISITS TO HER BOY--STRIKING INCIDENT--HER DEATH--HER PLACE OF +BURIAL. + + +If the reader will now be kind enough to allow me time to grow +bigger, and afford me an opportunity for my experience to become +greater, I will tell him something, by-and-by, of slave life, as +I saw, felt, and heard it, on Col. Edward Lloyd's plantation, and +at the house of old master, where I had now, despite of myself, +most suddenly, but not unexpectedly, been dropped. Meanwhile, I +will redeem my promise to say something more of my dear mother. + +I say nothing of _father_, for he is shrouded in a mystery I have +never been able to penetrate. Slavery does away with fathers, as +it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either +fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their +existence in the social arrangements of the plantation. When +they _do_ exist, they are not the outgrowths of slavery, but are +antagonistic to that system. The order of civilization is +reversed here. The name of the child is not expected to be that +of its father, and his condition does not necessarily affect that +of the child. He may be the slave of Mr. Tilgman; and his child, +when born, may be the slave of Mr. Gross. He may be a _freeman;_ +and yet his child may be a _chattel_. He may be white, glorying +in the purity of his Anglo-<40>Saxon blood; and his child may be +ranked with the blackest slaves. Indeed, he _may_ be, and often +_is_, master and father to the same child. He can be father +without being a husband, and may sell his child without incurring +reproach, if the child be by a woman in whose veins courses one +thirty-second part of African blood. My father was a white man, +or nearly white. It was sometimes whispered that my master was +my father. + +But to return, or rather, to begin. My knowledge of my mother is +very scanty, but very distinct. Her personal appearance and +bearing are ineffaceably stamped upon my memory. She was tall, +and finely proportioned; of deep black, glossy complexion; had +regular features, and, among the other slaves, was remarkably +sedate in her manners. There is in _Prichard's Natural History +of Man_, the head of a figure--on page 157--the features of which +so resemble those of my mother, that I often recur to it with +something of the feeling which I suppose others experience when +looking upon the pictures of dear departed ones. + +Yet I cannot say that I was very deeply attached to my mother; +certainly not so deeply as I should have been had our relations +in childhood been different. We were separated, according to the +common custom, when I was but an infant, and, of course, before I +knew my mother from any one else. + +The germs of affection with which the Almighty, in his wisdom and +mercy, arms the hopeless infant against the ills and vicissitudes +of his lot, had been directed in their growth toward that loving +old grandmother, whose gentle hand and kind deportment it was in +the first effort of my infantile understanding to comprehend and +appreciate. Accordingly, the tenderest affection which a +beneficent Father allows, as a partial compensation to the mother +for the pains and lacerations of her heart, incident to the +maternal relation, was, in my case, diverted from its true and +natural object, by the envious, greedy, and treacherous hand of +slavery. The slave-mother can be spared long enough from <41 MY +MOTHER>the field to endure all the bitterness of a mother's +anguish, when it adds another name to a master's ledger, but +_not_ long enough to receive the joyous reward afforded by the +intelligent smiles of her child. I never think of this terrible +interference of slavery with my infantile affections, and its +diverting them from their natural course, without feelings to +which I can give no adequate expression. + +I do not remember to have seen my mother at my grandmother's at +any time. I remember her only in her visits to me at Col. +Lloyd's plantation, and in the kitchen of my old master. Her +visits to me there were few in number, brief in duration, and +mostly made in the night. The pains she took, and the toil she +endured, to see me, tells me that a true mother's heart was hers, +and that slavery had difficulty in paralyzing it with unmotherly +indifference. + +My mother was hired out to a Mr. Stewart, who lived about twelve +miles from old master's, and, being a field hand, she seldom had +leisure, by day, for the performance of the journey. The nights +and the distance were both obstacles to her visits. She was +obliged to walk, unless chance flung into her way an opportunity +to ride; and the latter was sometimes her good luck. But she +always had to walk one way or the other. It was a greater luxury +than slavery could afford, to allow a black slave-mother a horse +or a mule, upon which to travel twenty-four miles, when she could +walk the distance. Besides, it is deemed a foolish whim for a +slave-mother to manifest concern to see her children, and, in one +point of view, the case is made out--she can do nothing for them. +She has no control over them; the master is even more than the +mother, in all matters touching the fate of her child. Why, +then, should she give herself any concern? She has no +responsibility. Such is the reasoning, and such the practice. +The iron rule of the plantation, always passionately and +violently enforced in that neighborhood, makes flogging the +penalty of <42>failing to be in the field before sunrise in the +morning, unless special permission be given to the absenting +slave. "I went to see my child," is no excuse to the ear or +heart of the overseer. + +One of the visits of my mother to me, while at Col. Lloyd's, I +remember very vividly, as affording a bright gleam of a mother's +love, and the earnestness of a mother's care. + +"I had on that day offended "Aunt Katy," (called "Aunt" by way of +respect,) the cook of old master's establishment. I do not now +remember the nature of my offense in this instance, for my +offenses were numerous in that quarter, greatly depending, +however, upon the mood of Aunt Katy, as to their heinousness; but +she had adopted, that day, her favorite mode of punishing me, +namely, making me go without food all day--that is, from after +breakfast. The first hour or two after dinner, I succeeded +pretty well in keeping up my spirits; but though I made an +excellent stand against the foe, and fought bravely during the +afternoon, I knew I must be conquered at last, unless I got the +accustomed reenforcement of a slice of corn bread, at sundown. +Sundown came, but _no bread_, and, in its stead, their came the +threat, with a scowl well suited to its terrible import, that she +"meant to _starve the life out of me!"_ Brandishing her knife, +she chopped off the heavy slices for the other children, and put +the loaf away, muttering, all the while, her savage designs upon +myself. Against this disappointment, for I was expecting that +her heart would relent at last, I made an extra effort to +maintain my dignity; but when I saw all the other children around +me with merry and satisfied faces, I could stand it no longer. I +went out behind the house, and cried like a fine fellow! When +tired of this, I returned to the kitchen, sat by the fire, and +brooded over my hard lot. I was too hungry to sleep. While I +sat in the corner, I caught sight of an ear of Indian corn on an +upper shelf of the kitchen. I watched my chance, and got it, +and, shelling off a few grains, I put it back again. The grains +in my hand, I quickly put in some ashes, and covered them with +embers, to roast them. All this I <43 "AUNT KATY">did at the +risk of getting a brutual thumping, for Aunt Katy could beat, as +well as starve me. My corn was not long in roasting, and, with +my keen appetite, it did not matter even if the grains were not +exactly done. I eagerly pulled them out, and placed them on my +stool, in a clever little pile. Just as I began to help myself +to my very dry meal, in came my dear mother. And now, dear +reader, a scene occurred which was altogether worth beholding, +and to me it was instructive as well as interesting. The +friendless and hungry boy, in his extremest need--and when he did +not dare to look for succor--found himself in the strong, +protecting arms of a mother; a mother who was, at the moment +(being endowed with high powers of manner as well as matter) more +than a match for all his enemies. I shall never forget the +indescribable expression of her countenance, when I told her that +I had had no food since morning; and that Aunt Katy said she +"meant to starve the life out of me." There was pity in her +glance at me, and a fiery indignation at Aunt Katy at the same +time; and, while she took the corn from me, and gave me a large +ginger cake, in its stead, she read Aunt Katy a lecture which she +never forgot. My mother threatened her with complaining to old +master in my behalf; for the latter, though harsh and cruel +himself, at times, did not sanction the meanness, injustice, +partiality and oppressions enacted by Aunt Katy in the kitchen. +That night I learned the fact, that I was, not only a child, but +_somebody's_ child. The "sweet cake" my mother gave me was in +the shape of a heart, with a rich, dark ring glazed upon the edge +of it. I was victorious, and well off for the moment; prouder, +on my mother's knee, than a king upon his throne. But my triumph +was short. I dropped off to sleep, and waked in the morning only +to find my mother gone, and myself left at the mercy of the sable +virago, dominant in my old master's kitchen, whose fiery wrath +was my constant dread. + +I do not remember to have seen my mother after this occurrence. +Death soon ended the little communication that had <44>existed +between us; and with it, I believe, a life judging from her +weary, sad, down-cast countenance and mute demeanor--full of +heartfelt sorrow. I was not allowed to visit her during any part +of her long illness; nor did I see her for a long time before she +was taken ill and died. The heartless and ghastly form of +_slavery_ rises between mother and child, even at the bed of +death. The mother, at the verge of the grave, may not gather her +children, to impart to them her holy admonitions, and invoke for +them her dying benediction. The bond-woman lives as a slave, and +is left to die as a beast; often with fewer attentions than are +paid to a favorite horse. Scenes of sacred tenderness, around +the death-bed, never forgotten, and which often arrest the +vicious and confirm the virtuous during life, must be looked for +among the free, though they sometimes occur among the slaves. It +has been a life-long, standing grief to me, that I knew so little +of my mother; and that I was so early separated from her. The +counsels of her love must have been beneficial to me. The side +view of her face is imaged on my memory, and I take few steps in +life, without feeling her presence; but the image is mute, and I +have no striking words of her's treasured up. + +I learned, after my mother's death, that she could read, and that +she was the _only_ one of all the slaves and colored people in +Tuckahoe who enjoyed that advantage. How she acquired this +knowledge, I know not, for Tuckahoe is the last place in the +world where she would be apt to find facilities for learning. I +can, therefore, fondly and proudly ascribe to her an earnest love +of knowledge. That a "field hand" should learn to read, in any +slave state, is remarkable; but the achievement of my mother, +considering the place, was very extraordinary; and, in view of +that fact, I am quite willing, and even happy, to attribute any +love of letters I possess, and for which I have got--despite of +prejudices only too much credit, _not_ to my admitted Anglo-Saxon +paternity, but to the native genius of my sable, unprotected, and +uncultivated _mother_--a woman, who belonged to a race <45 +PENALTY FOR HAVING A WHITE FATHER>whose mental endowments it is, +at present, fashionable to hold in disparagement and contempt. + +Summoned away to her account, with the impassable gulf of slavery +between us during her entire illness, my mother died without +leaving me a single intimation of _who_ my father was. There was +a whisper, that my master was my father; yet it was only a +whisper, and I cannot say that I ever gave it credence. Indeed, +I now have reason to think he was not; nevertheless, the fact +remains, in all its glaring odiousness, that, by the laws of +slavery, children, in all cases, are reduced to the condition of +their mothers. This arrangement admits of the greatest license +to brutal slaveholders, and their profligate sons, brothers, +relations and friends, and gives to the pleasure of sin, the +additional attraction of profit. A whole volume might be written +on this single feature of slavery, as I have observed it. + +One might imagine, that the children of such connections, would +fare better, in the hands of their masters, than other slaves. +The rule is quite the other way; and a very little reflection +will satisfy the reader that such is the case. A man who will +enslave his own blood, may not be safely relied on for +magnanimity. Men do not love those who remind them of their sins +unless they have a mind to repent--and the mulatto child's face +is a standing accusation against him who is master and father to +the child. What is still worse, perhaps, such a child is a +constant offense to the wife. She hates its very presence, and +when a slaveholding woman hates, she wants not means to give that +hate telling effect. Women--white women, I mean--are IDOLS at +the south, not WIVES, for the slave women are preferred in many +instances; and if these _idols_ but nod, or lift a finger, woe to +the poor victim: kicks, cuffs and stripes are sure to follow. +Masters are frequently compelled to sell this class of their +slaves, out of deference to the feelings of their white wives; +and shocking and scandalous as it may seem for a man to sell his +own blood to the traffickers in human flesh, it is often an act +of humanity <46>toward the slave-child to be thus removed from +his merciless tormentors. + +It is not within the scope of the design of my simple story, to +comment upon every phase of slavery not within my experience as a +slave. + +But, I may remark, that, if the lineal descendants of Ham are +only to be enslaved, according to the scriptures, slavery in this +country will soon become an unscriptural institution; for +thousands are ushered into the world, annually, who--like +myself--owe their existence to white fathers, and, most +frequently, to their masters, and master's sons. The slave-woman +is at the mercy of the fathers, sons or brothers of her master. +The thoughtful know the rest. + +After what I have now said of the circumstances of my mother, and +my relations to her, the reader will not be surprised, nor be +disposed to censure me, when I tell but the simple truth, viz: +that I received the tidings of her death with no strong emotions +of sorrow for her, and with very little regret for myself on +account of her loss. I had to learn the value of my mother long +after her death, and by witnessing the devotion of other mothers +to their children. + +There is not, beneath the sky, an enemy to filial affection so +destructive as slavery. It had made my brothers and sisters +strangers to me; it converted the mother that bore me, into a +myth; it shrouded my father in mystery, and left me without an +intelligible beginning in the world. + +My mother died when I could not have been more than eight or nine +years old, on one of old master's farms in Tuckahoe, in the +neighborhood of Hillsborough. Her grave is, as the grave of the +dead at sea, unmarked, and without stone or stake. + + + +CHAPTER IV +_A General Survey of the Slave Plantation_ + +ISOLATION OF LLOYD S PLANTATION--PUBLIC OPINION THERE NO +PROTECTION TO THE SLAVE--ABSOLUTE POWER OF THE OVERSEER--NATURAL +AND ARTIFICIAL CHARMS OF THE PLACE--ITS BUSINESS-LIKE +APPEARANCE--SUPERSTITION ABOUT THE BURIAL GROUND--GREAT IDEAS OF +COL. LLOYD--ETIQUETTE AMONG SLAVES--THE COMIC SLAVE DOCTOR-- +PRAYING AND FLOGGING--OLD MASTER LOSING ITS TERRORS--HIS +BUSINESS--CHARACTER OF AUNT KATY--SUFFERINGS FROM HUNGER--OLD +MASTER'S HOME--JARGON OF THE PLANTATION--GUINEA SLAVES--MASTER +DANIEL--FAMILY OF COL. LLOYD--FAMILY OF CAPT. ANTHONY--HIS SOCIAL +POSITION--NOTIONS OF RANK AND STATION. + + +It is generally supposed that slavery, in the state of Maryland, +exists in its mildest form, and that it is totally divested of +those harsh and terrible peculiarities, which mark and +characterize the slave system, in the southern and south-western +states of the American union. The argument in favor of this +opinion, is the contiguity of the free states, and the exposed +condition of slavery in Maryland to the moral, religious and +humane sentiment of the free states. + +I am not about to refute this argument, so far as it relates to +slavery in that state, generally; on the contrary, I am willing +to admit that, to this general point, the arguments is well +grounded. Public opinion is, indeed, an unfailing restraint upon +the cruelty and barbarity of masters, overseers, and slave- +drivers, whenever and wherever it can reach them; but there are +certain secluded and out-of-the-way places, even in the state of +Maryland, seldom visited by a single ray of healthy public +sentiment--<48>where slavery, wrapt in its own congenial, +midnight darkness, _can_, and _does_, develop all its malign and +shocking characteristics; where it can be indecent without shame, +cruel without shuddering, and murderous without apprehension or +fear of exposure. + +Just such a secluded, dark, and out-of-the-way place, is the +"home plantation" of Col. Edward Lloyd, on the Eastern Shore, +Maryland. It is far away from all the great thoroughfares, and +is proximate to no town or village. There is neither school- +house, nor town-house in its neighborhood. The school-house is +unnecessary, for there are no children to go to school. The +children and grand-children of Col. Lloyd were taught in the +house, by a private tutor--a Mr. Page a tall, gaunt sapling of a +man, who did not speak a dozen words to a slave in a whole year. +The overseers' children go off somewhere to school; and they, +therefore, bring no foreign or dangerous influence from abroad, +to embarrass the natural operation of the slave system of the +place. Not even the mechanics--through whom there is an +occasional out-burst of honest and telling indignation, at +cruelty and wrong on other plantations--are white men, on this +plantation. Its whole public is made up of, and divided into, +three classes--SLAVEHOLDERS, SLAVES and OVERSEERS. Its +blacksmiths, wheelwrights, shoemakers, weavers, and coopers, are +slaves. Not even commerce, selfish and iron-hearted at it is, +and ready, as it ever is, to side with the strong against the +weak--the rich against the poor--is trusted or permitted within +its secluded precincts. Whether with a view of guarding against +the escape of its secrets, I know not, but it is a fact, the +every leaf and grain of the produce of this plantation, and those +of the neighboring farms belonging to Col. Lloyd, are transported +to Baltimore in Col. Lloyd's own vessels; every man and boy on +board of which--except the captain--are owned by him. In return, +everything brought to the plantation, comes through the same +channel. Thus, even the glimmering and unsteady light of trade, +which sometimes exerts a civilizing influence, is excluded from +this "tabooed" spot. +<49 SLAVES UNPROTECTED BY PUBLIC OPINION> + +Nearly all the plantations or farms in the vicinity of the "home +plantation" of Col. Lloyd, belong to him; and those which do not, +are owned by personal friends of his, as deeply interested in +maintaining the slave system, in all its rigor, as Col. Lloyd +himself. Some of his neighbors are said to be even more +stringent than he. The Skinners, the Peakers, the Tilgmans, the +Lockermans, and the Gipsons, are in the same boat; being +slaveholding neighbors, they may have strengthened each other in +their iron rule. They are on intimate terms, and their interests +and tastes are identical. + +Public opinion in such a quarter, the reader will see, is not +likely to very efficient in protecting the slave from cruelty. +On the contrary, it must increase and intensify his wrongs. +Public opinion seldom differs very widely from public practice. +To be a restraint upon cruelty and vice, public opinion must +emanate from a humane and virtuous community. To no such humane +and virtuous community, is Col. Lloyd's plantation exposed. That +plantation is a little nation of its own, having its own +language, its own rules, regulations and customs. The laws and +institutions of the state, apparently touch it nowhere. The +troubles arising here, are not settled by the civil power of the +state. The overseer is generally accuser, judge, jury, advocate +and executioner. The criminal is always dumb. The overseer +attends to all sides of a case. + +There are no conflicting rights of property, for all the people +are owned by one man; and they can themselves own no property. +Religion and politics are alike excluded. One class of the +population is too high to be reached by the preacher; and the +other class is too low to be cared for by the preacher. The poor +have the gospel preached to them, in this neighborhood, only when +they are able to pay for it. The slaves, having no money, get no +gospel. The politician keeps away, because the people have no +votes, and the preacher keeps away, because the people have no +money. The rich planter can afford to learn politics in the +parlor, and to dispense with religion altogether. +<50> + +In its isolation, seclusion, and self-reliant independence, Col. +Lloyd's plantation resembles what the baronial domains were +during the middle ages in Europe. Grim, cold, and unapproachable +by all genial influences from communities without, _there it +stands;_ full three hundred years behind the age, in all that +relates to humanity and morals. + +This, however, is not the only view that the place presents. +Civilization is shut out, but nature cannot be. Though separated +from the rest of the world; though public opinion, as I have +said, seldom gets a chance to penetrate its dark domain; though +the whole place is stamped with its own peculiar, ironlike +individuality; and though crimes, high-handed and atrocious, may +there be committed, with almost as much impunity as upon the deck +of a pirate ship--it is, nevertheless, altogether, to outward +seeming, a most strikingly interesting place, full of life, +activity, and spirit; and presents a very favorable contrast to +the indolent monotony and languor of Tuckahoe. Keen as was my +regret and great as was my sorrow at leaving the latter, I was +not long in adapting myself to this, my new home. A man's +troubles are always half disposed of, when he finds endurance his +only remedy. I found myself here; there was no getting away; and +what remained for me, but to make the best of it? Here were +plenty of children to play with, and plenty of places of pleasant +resort for boys of my age, and boys older. The little tendrils +of affection, so rudely and treacherously broken from around the +darling objects of my grandmother's hut, gradually began to +extend, and to entwine about the new objects by which I now found +myself surrounded. + +There was a windmill (always a commanding object to a child's +eye) on Long Point--a tract of land dividing Miles river from the +Wye a mile or more from my old master's house. There was a creek +to swim in, at the bottom of an open flat space, of twenty acres +or more, called "the Long Green"--a very beautiful play-ground +for the children. +<51 CHARMS OF THE PLACE> + + +In the river, a short distance from the shore, lying quietly at +anchor, with her small boat dancing at her stern, was a large +sloop--the Sally Lloyd; called by that name in honor of a +favorite daughter of the colonel. The sloop and the mill were +wondrous things, full of thoughts and ideas. A child cannot well +look at such objects without _thinking_. + +Then here were a great many houses; human habitations, full of +the mysteries of life at every stage of it. There was the little +red house, up the road, occupied by Mr. Sevier, the overseer. A +little nearer to my old master's, stood a very long, rough, low +building, literally alive with slaves, of all ages, conditions +and sizes. This was called "the Longe Quarter." Perched upon a +hill, across the Long Green, was a very tall, dilapidated, old +brick building--the architectural dimensions of which proclaimed +its erection for a different purpose--now occupied by slaves, in +a similar manner to the Long Quarter. Besides these, there were +numerous other slave houses and huts, scattered around in the +neighborhood, every nook and corner of which was completely +occupied. Old master's house, a long, brick building, plain, but +substantial, stood in the center of the plantation life, and +constituted one independent establishment on the premises of Col. +Lloyd. + +Besides these dwellings, there were barns, stables, store-houses, +and tobacco-houses; blacksmiths' shops, wheelwrights' shops, +coopers' shops--all objects of interest; but, above all, there +stood the grandest building my eyes had then ever beheld, called, +by every one on the plantation, the "Great House." This was +occupied by Col. Lloyd and his family. They occupied it; _I_ +enjoyed it. The great house was surrounded by numerous and +variously shaped out-buildings. There were kitchens, wash- +houses, dairies, summer-house, green-houses, hen-houses, turkey- +houses, pigeon-houses, and arbors, of many sizes and devices, all +neatly painted, and altogether interspersed with grand old trees, +ornamental and primitive, which afforded delightful shade in +<52>summer, and imparted to the scene a high degree of stately +beauty. The great house itself was a large, white, wooden +building, with wings on three sides of it. In front, a large +portico, extending the entire length of the building, and +supported by a long range of columns, gave to the whole +establishment an air of solemn grandeur. It was a treat to my +young and gradually opening mind, to behold this elaborate +exhibition of wealth, power, and vanity. The carriage entrance +to the house was a large gate, more than a quarter of a mile +distant from it; the intermediate space was a beautiful lawn, +very neatly trimmed, and watched with the greatest care. It was +dotted thickly over with delightful trees, shrubbery, and +flowers. The road, or lane, from the gate to the great house, +was richly paved with white pebbles from the beach, and, in its +course, formed a complete circle around the beautiful lawn. +Carriages going in and retiring from the great house, made the +circuit of the lawn, and their passengers were permitted to +behold a scene of almost Eden-like beauty. Outside this select +inclosure, were parks, where as about the residences of the +English nobility--rabbits, deer, and other wild game, might be +seen, peering and playing about, with none to molest them or make +them afraid. The tops of the stately poplars were often covered +with the red-winged black-birds, making all nature vocal with the +joyous life and beauty of their wild, warbling notes. These all +belonged to me, as well as to Col. Edward Lloyd, and for a time I +greatly enjoyed them. + +A short distance from the great house, were the stately mansions +of the dead, a place of somber aspect. Vast tombs, embowered +beneath the weeping willow and the fir tree, told of the +antiquities of the Lloyd family, as well as of their wealth. +Superstition was rife among the slaves about this family burying +ground. Strange sights had been seen there by some of the older +slaves. Shrouded ghosts, riding on great black horses, had been +seen to enter; balls of fire had been seen to fly there at +midnight, and horrid sounds had been repeatedly heard. Slaves +know <53 WEALTH OF COLONEL LLOYD>enough of the rudiments of +theology to believe that those go to hell who die slaveholders; +and they often fancy such persons wishing themselves back again, +to wield the lash. Tales of sights and sounds, strange and +terrible, connected with the huge black tombs, were a very great +security to the grounds about them, for few of the slaves felt +like approaching them even in the day time. It was a dark, +gloomy and forbidding place, and it was difficult to feel that +the spirits of the sleeping dust there deposited, reigned with +the blest in the realms of eternal peace. + +The business of twenty or thirty farms was transacted at this, +called, by way of eminence, "great house farm." These farms all +belonged to Col. Lloyd, as did, also, the slaves upon them. Each +farm was under the management of an overseer. As I have said of +the overseer of the home plantation, so I may say of the +overseers on the smaller ones; they stand between the slave and +all civil constitutions--their word is law, and is implicitly +obeyed. + +The colonel, at this time, was reputed to be, and he apparently +was, very rich. His slaves, alone, were an immense fortune. +These, small and great, could not have been fewer than one +thousand in number, and though scarcely a month passed without +the sale of one or more lots to the Georgia traders, there was no +apparent diminution in the number of his human stock: the home +plantation merely groaned at a removal of the young increase, or +human crop, then proceeded as lively as ever. Horse-shoeing, +cart-mending, plow-repairing, coopering, grinding, and weaving, +for all the neighboring farms, were performed here, and slaves +were employed in all these branches. "Uncle Tony" was the +blacksmith; "Uncle Harry" was the cartwright; "Uncle Abel" was +the shoemaker; and all these had hands to assist them in their +several departments. + +These mechanics were called "uncles" by all the younger slaves, +not because they really sustained that relationship to any, but +according to plantation _etiquette_, as a mark of respect, due +<54>from the younger to the older slaves. Strange, and even +ridiculous as it may seem, among a people so uncultivated, and +with so many stern trials to look in the face, there is not to be +found, among any people, a more rigid enforcement of the law of +respect to elders, than they maintain. I set this down as partly +constitutional with my race, and partly conventional. There is +no better material in the world for making a gentleman, than is +furnished in the African. He shows to others, and exacts for +himself, all the tokens of respect which he is compelled to +manifest toward his master. A young slave must approach the +company of the older with hat in hand, and woe betide him, if he +fails to acknowledge a favor, of any sort, with the accustomed +_"tank'ee,"_ &c. So uniformly are good manners enforced among +slaves, I can easily detect a "bogus" fugitive by his manners. + +Among other slave notabilities of the plantation, was one called +by everybody Uncle Isaac Copper. It is seldom that a slave gets +a surname from anybody in Maryland; and so completely has the +south shaped the manners of the north, in this respect, that even +abolitionists make very little of the surname of a Negro. The +only improvement on the "Bills," "Jacks," "Jims," and "Neds" of +the south, observable here is, that "William," "John," "James," +"Edward," are substituted. It goes against the grain to treat +and address a Negro precisely as they would treat and address a +white man. But, once in a while, in slavery as in the free +states, by some extraordinary circumstance, the Negro has a +surname fastened to him, and holds it against all +conventionalities. This was the case with Uncle Isaac Copper. +When the "uncle" was dropped, he generally had the prefix +"doctor," in its stead. He was our doctor of medicine, and +doctor of divinity as well. Where he took his degree I am unable +to say, for he was not very communicative to inferiors, and I was +emphatically such, being but a boy seven or eight years old. He +was too well established in his profession to permit questions as +to his native skill, or his attainments. One qualification he +undoubtedly had--he <55 PRAYING AND FLOGGING>was a confirmed +_cripple;_ and he could neither work, nor would he bring anything +if offered for sale in the market. The old man, though lame, was +no sluggard. He was a man that made his crutches do him good +service. He was always on the alert, looking up the sick, and +all such as were supposed to need his counsel. His remedial +prescriptions embraced four articles. For diseases of the body, +_Epsom salts and castor oil;_ for those of the soul, _the Lord's +Prayer_, and _hickory switches_! + +I was not long at Col. Lloyd's before I was placed under the care +of Doctor Issac Copper. I was sent to him with twenty or thirty +other children, to learn the "Lord's Prayer." I found the old +gentleman seated on a huge three-legged oaken stool, armed with +several large hickory switches; and, from his position, he could +reach--lame as he was--any boy in the room. After standing +awhile to learn what was expected of us, the old gentleman, in +any other than a devotional tone, commanded us to kneel down. +This done, he commenced telling us to say everything he said. +"Our Father"--this was repeated after him with promptness and +uniformity; "Who art in heaven"--was less promptly and uniformly +repeated; and the old gentleman paused in the prayer, to give us +a short lecture upon the consequences of inattention, both +immediate and future, and especially those more immediate. About +these he was absolutely certain, for he held in his right hand +the means of bringing all his predictions and warnings to pass. +On he proceeded with the prayer; and we with our thick tongues +and unskilled ears, followed him to the best of our ability. +This, however, was not sufficient to please the old gentleman. +Everybody, in the south, wants the privilege of whipping somebody +else. Uncle Isaac shared the common passion of his country, and, +therefore, seldom found any means of keeping his disciples in +order short of flogging. "Say everything I say;" and bang would +come the switch on some poor boy's undevotional head. _"What you +looking at there"--"Stop that pushing"_--and down again would +come the lash. +<56> + +The whip is all in all. It is supposed to secure obedience to +the slaveholder, and is held as a sovereign remedy among the +slaves themselves, for every form of disobedience, temporal or +spiritual. Slaves, as well as slaveholders, use it with an +unsparing hand. Our devotions at Uncle Isaac's combined too much +of the tragic and comic, to make them very salutary in a +spiritual point of view; and it is due to truth to say, I was +often a truant when the time for attending the praying and +flogging of Doctor Isaac Copper came on. + +The windmill under the care of Mr. Kinney, a kind hearted old +Englishman, was to me a source of infinite interest and pleasure. +The old man always seemed pleased when he saw a troop of darkey +little urchins, with their tow-linen shirts fluttering in the +breeze, approaching to view and admire the whirling wings of his +wondrous machine. From the mill we could see other objects of +deep interest. These were, the vessels from St. Michael's, on +their way to Baltimore. It was a source of much amusement to +view the flowing sails and complicated rigging, as the little +crafts dashed by, and to speculate upon Baltimore, as to the kind +and quality of the place. With so many sources of interest +around me, the reader may be prepared to learn that I began to +think very highly of Col. L.'s plantation. It was just a place +to my boyish taste. There were fish to be caught in the creek, +if one only had a hook and line; and crabs, clams and oysters +were to be caught by wading, digging and raking for them. Here +was a field for industry and enterprise, strongly inviting; and +the reader may be assured that I entered upon it with spirit. + +Even the much dreaded old master, whose merciless fiat had +brought me from Tuckahoe, gradually, to my mind, parted with his +terrors. Strange enough, his reverence seemed to take no +particular notice of me, nor of my coming. Instead of leaping +out and devouring me, he scarcely seemed conscious of my +presence. The fact is, he was occupied with matters more weighty +and important than either looking after or vexing me. He +probably thought as <57 "OLD MASTER" LOSING ITS TERRORS>little of +my advent, as he would have thought of the addition of a single +pig to his stock! + +As the chief butler on Col. Lloyd's plantation, his duties were +numerous and perplexing. In almost all important matters he +answered in Col. Lloyd's stead. The overseers of all the farms +were in some sort under him, and received the law from his mouth. +The colonel himself seldom addressed an overseer, or allowed an +overseer to address him. Old master carried the keys of all +store houses; measured out the allowance for each slave at the +end of every month; superintended the storing of all goods +brought to the plantation; dealt out the raw material to all the +handicraftsmen; shipped the grain, tobacco, and all saleable +produce of the plantation to market, and had the general +oversight of the coopers' shop, wheelwrights' shop, blacksmiths' +shop, and shoemakers' shop. Besides the care of these, he often +had business for the plantation which required him to be absent +two and three days. + +Thus largely employed, he had little time, and perhaps as little +disposition, to interfere with the children individually. What +he was to Col. Lloyd, he made Aunt Katy to him. When he had +anything to say or do about us, it was said or done in a +wholesale manner; disposing of us in classes or sizes, leaving +all minor details to Aunt Katy, a person of whom the reader has +already received no very favorable impression. Aunt Katy was a +woman who never allowed herself to act greatly within the margin +of power granted to her, no matter how broad that authority might +be. Ambitious, ill-tempered and cruel, she found in her present +position an ample field for the exercise of her ill-omened +qualities. She had a strong hold on old master she was +considered a first rate cook, and she really was very +industrious. She was, therefore, greatly favored by old master, +and as one mark of his favor, she was the only mother who was +permitted to retain her children around her. Even to these +children she was often fiendish in her brutality. She pursued +her son Phil, one day, in <58>my presence, with a huge butcher +knife, and dealt a blow with its edge which left a shocking gash +on his arm, near the wrist. For this, old master did sharply +rebuke her, and threatened that if she ever should do the like +again, he would take the skin off her back. Cruel, however, as +Aunt Katy was to her own children, at times she was not destitute +of maternal feeling, as I often had occasion to know, in the +bitter pinches of hunger I had to endure. Differing from the +practice of Col. Lloyd, old master, instead of allowing so much +for each slave, committed the allowance for all to the care of +Aunt Katy, to be divided after cooking it, amongst us. The +allowance, consisting of coarse corn-meal, was not very +abundant--indeed, it was very slender; and in passing through +Aunt Katy's hands, it was made more slender still, for some of +us. William, Phil and Jerry were her children, and it is not to +accuse her too severely, to allege that she was often guilty of +starving myself and the other children, while she was literally +cramming her own. Want of food was my chief trouble the first +summer at my old master's. Oysters and clams would do very well, +with an occasional supply of bread, but they soon failed in the +absence of bread. I speak but the simple truth, when I say, I +have often been so pinched with hunger, that I have fought with +the dog--"Old Nep"--for the smallest crumbs that fell from the +kitchen table, and have been glad when I won a single crumb in +the combat. Many times have I followed, with eager step, the +waiting-girl when she went out to shake the table cloth, to get +the crumbs and small bones flung out for the cats. The water, in +which meat had been boiled, was as eagerly sought for by me. It +was a great thing to get the privilege of dipping a piece of +bread in such water; and the skin taken from rusty bacon, was a +positive luxury. Nevertheless, I sometimes got full meals and +kind words from sympathizing old slaves, who knew my sufferings, +and received the comforting assurance that I should be a man some +day. "Never mind, honey--better day comin'," was even then a +solace, a cheering consolation to me in my <59 JARGON OF THE +PLANTATION>troubles. Nor were all the kind words I received from +slaves. I had a friend in the parlor, as well, and one to whom I +shall be glad to do justice, before I have finished this part of +my story. + +I was not long at old master's, before I learned that his surname +was Anthony, and that he was generally called "Captain Anthony"-- +a title which he probably acquired by sailing a craft in the +Chesapeake Bay. Col. Lloyd's slaves never called Capt. Anthony +"old master," but always Capt. Anthony; and _me_ they called +"Captain Anthony Fred." There is not, probably, in the whole +south, a plantation where the English language is more +imperfectly spoken than on Col. Lloyd's. It is a mixture of +Guinea and everything else you please. At the time of which I am +now writing, there were slaves there who had been brought from +the coast of Africa. They never used the "s" in indication of +the possessive case. "Cap'n Ant'ney Tom," "Lloyd Bill," "Aunt +Rose Harry," means "Captain Anthony's Tom," "Lloyd's Bill," &c. +_"Oo you dem long to?"_ means, "Whom do you belong to?" _"Oo dem +got any peachy?"_ means, "Have you got any peaches?" I could +scarcely understand them when I first went among them, so broken +was their speech; and I am persuaded that I could not have been +dropped anywhere on the globe, where I could reap less, in the +way of knowledge, from my immediate associates, than on this +plantation. Even "MAS' DANIEL," by his association with his +father's slaves, had measurably adopted their dialect and their +ideas, so far as they had ideas to be adopted. The equality of +nature is strongly asserted in childhood, and childhood requires +children for associates. _Color_ makes no difference with a +child. Are you a child with wants, tastes and pursuits common to +children, not put on, but natural? then, were you black as ebony +you would be welcome to the child of alabaster whiteness. The +law of compensation holds here, as well as elsewhere. Mas' +Daniel could not associate with ignorance without sharing its +shade; and he could not give his black playmates his company, +without giving them his intelligence, as well. Without knowing +<60>this, or caring about it, at the time, I, for some cause or +other, spent much of my time with Mas' Daniel, in preference to +spending it with most of the other boys. + +Mas' Daniel was the youngest son of Col. Lloyd; his older +brothers were Edward and Murray--both grown up, and fine looking +men. Edward was especially esteemed by the children, and by me +among the rest; not that he ever said anything to us or for us, +which could be called especially kind; it was enough for us, that +he never looked nor acted scornfully toward us. There were also +three sisters, all married; one to Edward Winder; a second to +Edward Nicholson; a third to Mr. Lownes. + +The family of old master consisted of two sons, Andrew and +Richard; his daughter, Lucretia, and her newly married husband, +Capt. Auld. This was the house family. The kitchen family +consisted of Aunt Katy, Aunt Esther, and ten or a dozen children, +most of them older than myself. Capt. Anthony was not considered +a rich slaveholder, but was pretty well off in the world. He +owned about thirty _"head"_ of slaves, and three farms in +Tuckahoe. The most valuable part of his property was his slaves, +of whom he could afford to sell one every year. This crop, +therefore, brought him seven or eight hundred dollars a year, +besides his yearly salary, and other revenue from his farms. + +The idea of rank and station was rigidly maintained on Col. +Lloyd's plantation. Our family never visited the great house, +and the Lloyds never came to our home. Equal non-intercourse was +observed between Capt. Anthony's family and that of Mr. Sevier, +the overseer. + +Such, kind reader, was the community, and such the place, in +which my earliest and most lasting impressions of slavery, and of +slave-life, were received; of which impressions you will learn +more in the coming chapters of this book. + + +CHAPTER V +_Gradual Initiation to the Mysteries of Slavery_ + +GROWING ACQUAINTANCE WITH OLD MASTER--HIS CHARACTER--EVILS OF +UNRESTRAINED PASSION--APPARENT TENDERNESS--OLD MASTER A MAN OF +TROUBLE--CUSTOM OF MUTTERING TO HIMSELF--NECESSITY OF BEING AWARE +OF HIS WORDS--THE SUPPOSED OBTUSENESS OF SLAVE-CHILDREN--BRUTAL +OUTRAGE--DRUNKEN OVERSEER--SLAVEHOLDER'S IMPATIENCE--WISDOM OF +APPEALING TO SUPERIORS--THE SLAVEHOLDER S WRATH BAD AS THAT OF +THE OVERSEER--A BASE AND SELFISH ATTEMPT TO BREAK UP A +COURTSHIP--A HARROWING SCENE. + + +Although my old master--Capt. Anthony--gave me at first, (as the +reader will have already seen) very little attention, and +although that little was of a remarkably mild and gentle +description, a few months only were sufficient to convince me +that mildness and gentleness were not the prevailing or governing +traits of his character. These excellent qualities were +displayed only occasionally. He could, when it suited him, +appear to be literally insensible to the claims of humanity, when +appealed to by the helpless against an aggressor, and he could +himself commit outrages, deep, dark and nameless. Yet he was not +by nature worse than other men. Had he been brought up in a free +state, surrounded by the just restraints of free society-- +restraints which are necessary to the freedom of all its members, +alike and equally--Capt. Anthony might have been as humane a man, +and every way as respectable, as many who now oppose the slave +system; certainly as humane and respectable as are members of +society generally. The slaveholder, as well as the slave, is the +victim of the slave <62>system. A man's character greatly takes +its hue and shape from the form and color of things about him. +Under the whole heavens there is no relation more unfavorable to +the development of honorable character, than that sustained by +the slaveholder to the slave. Reason is imprisoned here, and +passions run wild. Like the fires of the prairie, once lighted, +they are at the mercy of every wind, and must burn, till they +have consumed all that is combustible within their remorseless +grasp. Capt. Anthony could be kind, and, at times, he even +showed an affectionate disposition. Could the reader have seen +him gently leading me by the hand--as he sometimes did--patting +me on the head, speaking to me in soft, caressing tones and +calling me his "little Indian boy," he would have deemed him a +kind old man, and really, almost fatherly. But the pleasant +moods of a slaveholder are remarkably brittle; they are easily +snapped; they neither come often, nor remain long. His temper is +subjected to perpetual trials; but, since these trials are never +borne patiently, they add nothing to his natural stock of +patience. + +Old master very early impressed me with the idea that he was an +unhappy man. Even to my child's eye, he wore a troubled, and at +times, a haggard aspect. His strange movements excited my +curiosity, and awakened my compassion. He seldom walked alone +without muttering to himself; and he occasionally stormed about, +as if defying an army of invisible foes. "He would do this, +that, and the other; he'd be d--d if he did not,"--was the usual +form of his threats. Most of his leisure was spent in walking, +cursing and gesticulating, like one possessed by a demon. Most +evidently, he was a wretched man, at war with his own soul, and +with all the world around him. To be overheard by the children, +disturbed him very little. He made no more of our presence, than +of that of the ducks and geese which he met on the green. He +little thought that the little black urchins around him, could +see, through those vocal crevices, the very secrets of his heart. +Slaveholders ever underrate the intelligence with which <63 +SUPPOSED OBTUSENESS OF SLAVE-CHILDREN>they have to grapple. I +really understood the old man's mutterings, attitudes and +gestures, about as well as he did himself. But slaveholders +never encourage that kind of communication, with the slaves, by +which they might learn to measure the depths of his knowledge. +Ignorance is a high virtue in a human chattel; and as the master +studies to keep the slave ignorant, the slave is cunning enough +to make the master think he succeeds. The slave fully +appreciates the saying, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to +be wise." When old master's gestures were violent, ending with a +threatening shake of the head, and a sharp snap of his middle +finger and thumb, I deemed it wise to keep at a respectable +distance from him; for, at such times, trifling faults stood, in +his eyes, as momentous offenses; and, having both the power and +the disposition, the victim had only to be near him to catch the +punishment, deserved or undeserved. + +One of the first circumstances that opened my eyes to the cruelty +and wickedness of slavery, and the heartlessness of my old +master, was the refusal of the latter to interpose his authority, +to protect and shield a young woman, who had been most cruelly +abused and beaten by his overseer in Tuckahoe. This overseer--a +Mr. Plummer--was a man like most of his class, little better than +a human brute; and, in addition to his general profligacy and +repulsive coarseness, the creature was a miserable drunkard. He +was, probably, employed by my old master, less on account of the +excellence of his services, than for the cheap rate at which they +could be obtained. He was not fit to have the management of a +drove of mules. In a fit of drunken madness, he committed the +outrage which brought the young woman in question down to my old +master's for protection. This young woman was the daughter of +Milly, an own aunt of mine. The poor girl, on arriving at our +house, presented a pitiable appearance. She had left in haste, +and without preparation; and, probably, without the knowledge of +Mr. Plummer. She had traveled twelve miles, bare-footed, bare- +necked and bare-headed. Her neck and shoulders <64>were covered +with scars, newly made; and not content with marring her neck and +shoulders, with the cowhide, the cowardly brute had dealt her a +blow on the head with a hickory club, which cut a horrible gash, +and left her face literally covered with blood. In this +condition, the poor young woman came down, to implore protection +at the hands of my old master. I expected to see him boil over +with rage at the revolting deed, and to hear him fill the air +with curses upon the brutual Plummer; but I was disappointed. He +sternly told her, in an angry tone, he "believed she deserved +every bit of it," and, if she did not go home instantly, he would +himself take the remaining skin from her neck and back. Thus was +the poor girl compelled to return, without redress, and perhaps +to receive an additional flogging for daring to appeal to old +master against the overseer. + +Old master seemed furious at the thought of being troubled by +such complaints. I did not, at that time, understand the +philosophy of his treatment of my cousin. It was stern, +unnatural, violent. Had the man no bowels of compassion? Was he +dead to all sense of humanity? No. I think I now understand it. +This treatment is a part of the system, rather than a part of the +man. Were slaveholders to listen to complaints of this sort +against the overseers, the luxury of owning large numbers of +slaves, would be impossible. It would do away with the office of +overseer, entirely; or, in other words, it would convert the +master himself into an overseer. It would occasion great loss of +time and labor, leaving the overseer in fetters, and without the +necessary power to secure obedience to his orders. A privilege +so dangerous as that of appeal, is, therefore, strictly +prohibited; and any one exercising it, runs a fearful hazard. +Nevertheless, when a slave has nerve enough to exercise it, and +boldly approaches his master, with a well-founded complaint +against an overseer, though he may be repulsed, and may even have +that of which he complains repeated at the time, and, though he +may be beaten by his master, as well as by the overseer, for his +temerity, in the end the <65 SLAVEHOLDERS IMPATIENCE>policy of +complaining is, generally, vindicated by the relaxed rigor of the +overseer's treatment. The latter becomes more careful, and less +disposed to use the lash upon such slaves thereafter. It is with +this final result in view, rather than with any expectation of +immediate good, that the outraged slave is induced to meet his +master with a complaint. The overseer very naturally dislikes to +have the ear of the master disturbed by complaints; and, either +upon this consideration, or upon advice and warning privately +given him by his employers, he generally modifies the rigor of +his rule, after an outbreak of the kind to which I have been +referring. + +Howsoever the slaveholder may allow himself to act toward his +slave, and, whatever cruelty he may deem it wise, for example's +sake, or for the gratification of his humor, to inflict, he +cannot, in the absence of all provocation, look with pleasure +upon the bleeding wounds of a defenseless slave-woman. When he +drives her from his presence without redress, or the hope of +redress, he acts, generally, from motives of policy, rather than +from a hardened nature, or from innate brutality. Yet, let but +his own temper be stirred, his own passions get loose, and the +slave-owner will go _far beyond_ the overseer in cruelty. He +will convince the slave that his wrath is far more terrible and +boundless, and vastly more to be dreaded, than that of the +underling overseer. What may have been mechanically and +heartlessly done by the overseer, is now done with a will. The +man who now wields the lash is irresponsible. He may, if he +pleases, cripple or kill, without fear of consequences; except in +so far as it may concern profit or loss. To a man of violent +temper--as my old master was--this was but a very slender and +inefficient restraint. I have seen him in a tempest of passion, +such as I have just described--a passion into which entered all +the bitter ingredients of pride, hatred, envy, jealousy, and the +thrist{sic} for revenge. + +The circumstances which I am about to narrate, and which gave +rise to this fearful tempest of passion, are not singular nor +<66>isolated in slave life, but are common in every slaveholding +community in which I have lived. They are incidental to the +relation of master and slave, and exist in all sections of slave- +holding countries. + +The reader will have noticed that, in enumerating the names of +the slaves who lived with my old master, _Esther_ is mentioned. +This was a young woman who possessed that which is ever a curse +to the slave-girl; namely--personal beauty. She was tall, well +formed, and made a fine appearance. The daughters of Col. Lloyd +could scarcely surpass her in personal charms. Esther was +courted by Ned Roberts, and he was as fine looking a young man, +as she was a woman. He was the son of a favorite slave of Col. +Lloyd. Some slaveholders would have been glad to promote the +marriage of two such persons; but, for some reason or other, my +old master took it upon him to break up the growing intimacy +between Esther and Edward. He strictly ordered her to quit the +company of said Roberts, telling her that he would punish her +severely if he ever found her again in Edward's company. This +unnatural and heartless order was, of course, broken. A woman's +love is not to be annihilated by the peremptory command of any +one, whose breath is in his nostrils. It was impossible to keep +Edward and Esther apart. Meet they would, and meet they did. +Had old master been a man of honor and purity, his motives, in +this matter, might have been viewed more favorably. As it was, +his motives were as abhorrent, as his methods were foolish and +contemptible. It was too evident that he was not concerned for +the girl's welfare. It is one of the damning characteristics of +the slave system, that it robs its victims of every earthly +incentive to a holy life. The fear of God, and the hope of +heaven, are found sufficient to sustain many slave-women, amidst +the snares and dangers of their strange lot; but, this side of +God and heaven, a slave-woman is at the mercy of the power, +caprice and passion of her owner. Slavery provides no means for +the honorable continuance of the race. Marriage as imposing +obligations on the parties to it--has no <67 A HARROWING SCENE> +existence here, except in such hearts as are purer and higher +than the standard morality around them. It is one of the +consolations of my life, that I know of many honorable instances +of persons who maintained their honor, where all around was +corrupt. + +Esther was evidently much attached to Edward, and abhorred--as +she had reason to do--the tyrannical and base behavior of old +master. Edward was young, and fine looking, and he loved and +courted her. He might have been her husband, in the high sense +just alluded to; but WHO and _what_ was this old master? His +attentions were plainly brutal and selfish, and it was as natural +that Esther should loathe him, as that she should love Edward. +Abhorred and circumvented as he was, old master, having the +power, very easily took revenge. I happened to see this +exhibition of his rage and cruelty toward Esther. The time +selected was singular. It was early in the morning, when all +besides was still, and before any of the family, in the house or +kitchen, had left their beds. I saw but few of the shocking +preliminaries, for the cruel work had begun before I awoke. I +was probably awakened by the shrieks and piteous cries of poor +Esther. My sleeping place was on the floor of a little, rough +closet, which opened into the kitchen; and through the cracks of +its unplaned boards, I could distinctly see and hear what was +going on, without being seen by old master. Esther's wrists were +firmly tied, and the twisted rope was fastened to a strong staple +in a heavy wooden joist above, near the fireplace. Here she +stood, on a bench, her arms tightly drawn over her breast. Her +back and shoulders were bare to the waist. Behind her stood old +master, with cowskin in hand, preparing his barbarous work with +all manner of harsh, coarse, and tantalizing epithets. The +screams of his victim were most piercing. He was cruelly +deliberate, and protracted the torture, as one who was delighted +with the scene. Again and again he drew the hateful whip through +his hand, adjusting it with a view of dealing the most pain- +giving blow. Poor Esther had never yet been severely whipped, +and her shoulders <68>were plump and tender. Each blow, +vigorously laid on, brought screams as well as blood. _"Have +mercy; Oh! have mercy"_ she cried; "_I won't do so no more;"_ but +her piercing cries seemed only to increase his fury. His answers +to them are too coarse and blasphemous to be produced here. The +whole scene, with all its attendants, was revolting and shocking, +to the last degree; and when the motives of this brutal +castigation are considered,--language has no power to convey a +just sense of its awful criminality. After laying on some thirty +or forty stripes, old master untied his suffering victim, and let +her get down. She could scarcely stand, when untied. From my +heart I pitied her, and--child though I was--the outrage kindled +in me a feeling far from peaceful; but I was hushed, terrified, +stunned, and could do nothing, and the fate of Esther might be +mine next. The scene here described was often repeated in the +case of poor Esther, and her life, as I knew it, was one of +wretchedness. + + + +CHAPTER VI +_Treatment of Slaves on Lloyd's Plantation_ + +EARLY REFLECTIONS ON SLAVERY--PRESENTIMENT OF ONE DAY BEING A +FREEMAN--COMBAT BETWEEN AN OVERSEER AND A SLAVEWOMAN--THE +ADVANTAGES OF RESISTANCE--ALLOWANCE DAY ON THE HOME PLANTATION-- +THE SINGING OF SLAVES--AN EXPLANATION--THE SLAVES FOOD AND +CLOTHING--NAKED CHILDREN--LIFE IN THE QUARTER--DEPRIVATION OF +SLEEP--NURSING CHILDREN CARRIED TO THE FIELD--DESCRIPTION OF THE +COWSKIN--THE ASH-CAKE--MANNER OF MAKING IT--THE DINNER HOUR--THE +CONTRAST. + + +The heart-rending incidents, related in the foregoing chapter, +led me, thus early, to inquire into the nature and history of +slavery. _Why am I a slave? Why are some people slaves, and +others masters? Was there ever a time this was not so? How did +the relation commence?_ These were the perplexing questions +which began now to claim my thoughts, and to exercise the weak +powers of my mind, for I was still but a child, and knew less +than children of the same age in the free states. As my +questions concerning these things were only put to children a +little older, and little better informed than myself, I was not +rapid in reaching a solid footing. By some means I learned from +these inquiries that _"God, up in the sky,"_ made every body; and +that he made _white_ people to be masters and mistresses, and +_black_ people to be slaves. This did not satisfy me, nor lessen +my interest in the subject. I was told, too, that God was good, +and that He knew what was best for me, and best for everybody. +This was less satisfactory than the first statement; because it +came, point blank, against all my <70>notions of goodness. It +was not good to let old master cut the flesh off Esther, and make +her cry so. Besides, how did people know that God made black +people to be slaves? Did they go up in the sky and learn it? or, +did He come down and tell them so? All was dark here. It was +some relief to my hard notions of the goodness of God, that, +although he made white men to be slaveholders, he did not make +them to be _bad_ slaveholders, and that, in due time, he would +punish the bad slaveholders; that he would, when they died, send +them to the bad place, where they would be "burnt up." +Nevertheless, I could not reconcile the relation of slavery with +my crude notions of goodness. + +Then, too, I found that there were puzzling exceptions to this +theory of slavery on both sides, and in the middle. I knew of +blacks who were _not_ slaves; I knew of whites who were _not_ +slaveholders; and I knew of persons who were _nearly_ white, who +were slaves. _Color_, therefore, was a very unsatisfactory basis +for slavery. + +Once, however, engaged in the inquiry, I was not very long in +finding out the true solution of the matter. It was not _color_, +but _crime_, not _God_, but _man_, that afforded the true +explanation of the existence of slavery; nor was I long in +finding out another important truth, viz: what man can make, man +can unmake. The appalling darkness faded away, and I was master +of the subject. There were slaves here, direct from Guinea; and +there were many who could say that their fathers and mothers were +stolen from Africa--forced from their homes, and compelled to +serve as slaves. This, to me, was knowledge; but it was a kind +of knowledge which filled me with a burning hatred of slavery, +increased my suffering, and left me without the means of breaking +away from my bondage. Yet it was knowledge quite worth +possessing. I could not have been more than seven or eight years +old, when I began to make this subject my study. It was with me +in the woods and fields; along the shore of the river, and +wherever my boyish wanderings led me; and though I was, at that +time, <71 EARLY REFLECTIONS ON SLAVERY>quite ignorant of the +existence of the free states, I distinctly remember being, _even +then_, most strongly impressed with the idea of being a freeman +some day. This cheering assurance was an inborn dream of my +human nature a constant menace to slavery--and one which all the +powers of slavery were unable to silence or extinguish. + +Up to the time of the brutal flogging of my Aunt Esther--for she +was my own aunt--and the horrid plight in which I had seen my +cousin from Tuckahoe, who had been so badly beaten by the cruel +Mr. Plummer, my attention had not been called, especially, to the +gross features of slavery. I had, of course, heard of whippings +and of savage _rencontres_ between overseers and slaves, but I +had always been out of the way at the times and places of their +occurrence. My plays and sports, most of the time, took me from +the corn and tobacco fields, where the great body of the hands +were at work, and where scenes of cruelty were enacted and +witnessed. But, after the whipping of Aunt Esther, I saw many +cases of the same shocking nature, not only in my master's house, +but on Col. Lloyd's plantation. One of the first which I saw, +and which greatly agitated me, was the whipping of a woman +belonging to Col. Lloyd, named Nelly. The offense alleged +against Nelly, was one of the commonest and most indefinite in +the whole catalogue of offenses usually laid to the charge of +slaves, viz: "impudence." This may mean almost anything, or +nothing at all, just according to the caprice of the master or +overseer, at the moment. But, whatever it is, or is not, if it +gets the name of "impudence," the party charged with it is sure +of a flogging. This offense may be committed in various ways; in +the tone of an answer; in answering at all; in not answering; in +the expression of countenance; in the motion of the head; in the +gait, manner and bearing of the slave. In the case under +consideration, I can easily believe that, according to all +slaveholding standards, here was a genuine instance of impudence. +In Nelly there were all the necessary conditions for committing +the offense. She was <72>a bright mulatto, the recognized wife +of a favorite "hand" on board Col. Lloyd's sloop, and the mother +of five sprightly children. She was a vigorous and spirited +woman, and one of the most likely, on the plantation, to be +guilty of impudence. My attention was called to the scene, by +the noise, curses and screams that proceeded from it; and, on +going a little in that direction, I came upon the parties engaged +in the skirmish. Mr. Siever, the overseer, had hold of Nelly, +when I caught sight of them; he was endeavoring to drag her +toward a tree, which endeavor Nelly was sternly resisting; but to +no purpose, except to retard the progress of the overseer's +plans. Nelly--as I have said--was the mother of five children; +three of them were present, and though quite small (from seven to +ten years old, I should think) they gallantly came to their +mother's defense, and gave the overseer an excellent pelting with +stones. One of the little fellows ran up, seized the overseer by +the leg and bit him; but the monster was too busily engaged with +Nelly, to pay any attention to the assaults of the children. +There were numerous bloody marks on Mr. Sevier's face, when I +first saw him, and they increased as the struggle went on. The +imprints of Nelly's fingers were visible, and I was glad to see +them. Amidst the wild screams of the children--"_Let my mammy +go"--"let my mammy go_"--there escaped, from between the teeth of +the bullet-headed overseer, a few bitter curses, mingled with +threats, that "he would teach the d--d b--h how to give a white +man impudence." There is no doubt that Nelly felt herself +superior, in some respects, to the slaves around her. She was a +wife and a mother; her husband was a valued and favorite slave. +Besides, he was one of the first hands on board of the sloop, and +the sloop hands--since they had to represent the plantation +abroad--were generally treated tenderly. The overseer never was +allowed to whip Harry; why then should he be allowed to whip +Harry's wife? Thoughts of this kind, no doubt, influenced her; +but, for whatever reason, she nobly resisted, and, unlike most of +the slaves, <73 COMBAT BETWEEN MR. SEVIER AND NELLY>seemed +determined to make her whipping cost Mr. Sevier as much as +possible. The blood on his (and her) face, attested her skill, +as well as her courage and dexterity in using her nails. +Maddened by her resistance, I expected to see Mr. Sevier level +her to the ground by a stunning blow; but no; like a savage bull- +dog--which he resembled both in temper and appearance--he +maintained his grip, and steadily dragged his victim toward the +tree, disregarding alike her blows, and the cries of the children +for their mother's release. He would, doubtless, have knocked +her down with his hickory stick, but that such act might have +cost him his place. It is often deemed advisable to knock a +_man_ slave down, in order to tie him, but it is considered +cowardly and inexcusable, in an overseer, thus to deal with a +_woman_. He is expected to tie her up, and to give her what is +called, in southern parlance, a "genteel flogging," without any +very great outlay of strength or skill. I watched, with +palpitating interest, the course of the preliminary struggle, and +was saddened by every new advantage gained over her by the +ruffian. There were times when she seemed likely to get the +better of the brute, but he finally overpowered her, and +succeeded in getting his rope around her arms, and in firmly +tying her to the tree, at which he had been aiming. This done, +and Nelly was at the mercy of his merciless lash; and now, what +followed, I have no heart to describe. The cowardly creature +made good his every threat; and wielded the lash with all the hot +zest of furious revenge. The cries of the woman, while +undergoing the terrible infliction, were mingled with those of +the children, sounds which I hope the reader may never be called +upon to hear. When Nelly was untied, her back was covered with +blood. The red stripes were all over her shoulders. She was +whipped--severely whipped; but she was not subdued, for she +continued to denounce the overseer, and to call him every vile +name. He had bruised her flesh, but had left her invincible +spirit undaunted. Such floggings are seldom repeated by the same +overseer. They prefer to whip those <74>who are most easily +whipped. The old doctrine that submission is the very best cure +for outrage and wrong, does not hold good on the slave +plantation. He is whipped oftenest, who is whipped easiest; and +that slave who has the courage to stand up for himself against +the overseer, although he may have many hard stripes at the +first, becomes, in the end, a freeman, even though he sustain the +formal relation of a slave. "You can shoot me but you can't whip +me," said a slave to Rigby Hopkins; and the result was that he +was neither whipped nor shot. If the latter had been his fate, +it would have been less deplorable than the living and lingering +death to which cowardly and slavish souls are subjected. I do +not know that Mr. Sevier ever undertook to whip Nelly again. He +probably never did, for it was not long after his attempt to +subdue her, that he was taken sick, and died. The wretched man +died as he had lived, unrepentant; and it was said--with how much +truth I know not--that in the very last hours of his life, his +ruling passion showed itself, and that when wrestling with death, +he was uttering horrid oaths, and flourishing the cowskin, as +though he was tearing the flesh off some helpless slave. One +thing is certain, that when he was in health, it was enough to +chill the blood, and to stiffen the hair of an ordinary man, to +hear Mr. Sevier talk. Nature, or his cruel habits, had given to +his face an expression of unusual savageness, even for a slave- +driver. Tobacco and rage had worn his teeth short, and nearly +every sentence that escaped their compressed grating, was +commenced or concluded with some outburst of profanity. His +presence made the field alike the field of blood, and of +blasphemy. Hated for his cruelty, despised for his cowardice, +his death was deplored by no one outside his own house--if indeed +it was deplored there; it was regarded by the slaves as a +merciful interposition of Providence. Never went there a man to +the grave loaded with heavier curses. Mr. Sevier's place was +promptly taken by a Mr. Hopkins, and the change was quite a +relief, he being a very different man. He was, in <75 ALLOWANCE +DAY AT THE HOME PLANTATION>all respects, a better man than his +predecessor; as good as any man can be, and yet be an overseer. +His course was characterized by no extraordinary cruelty; and +when he whipped a slave, as he sometimes did, he seemed to take +no especial pleasure in it, but, on the contrary, acted as though +he felt it to be a mean business. Mr. Hopkins stayed but a short +time; his place much to the regret of the slaves generally--was +taken by a Mr. Gore, of whom more will be said hereafter. It is +enough, for the present, to say, that he was no improvement on +Mr. Sevier, except that he was less noisy and less profane. + +I have already referred to the business-like aspect of Col. +Lloyd's plantation. This business-like appearance was much +increased on the two days at the end of each month, when the +slaves from the different farms came to get their monthly +allowance of meal and meat. These were gala days for the slaves, +and there was much rivalry among them as to _who_ should be +elected to go up to the great house farm for the allowance, and, +indeed, to attend to any business at this (for them) the capital. +The beauty and grandeur of the place, its numerous slave +population, and the fact that Harry, Peter and Jake the sailors +of the sloop--almost always kept, privately, little trinkets +which they bought at Baltimore, to sell, made it a privilege to +come to the great house farm. Being selected, too, for this +office, was deemed a high honor. It was taken as a proof of +confidence and favor; but, probably, the chief motive of the +competitors for the place, was, a desire to break the dull +monotony of the field, and to get beyond the overseer's eye and +lash. Once on the road with an ox team, and seated on the tongue +of his cart, with no overseer to look after him, the slave was +comparatively free; and, if thoughtful, he had time to think. +Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work. A +silent slave is not liked by masters or overseers. _"Make a +noise," "make a noise,"_ and _"bear a hand,"_ are the words +usually addressed to the slaves when there is silence amongst +them. This may account for the almost constant singing <76>heard +in the southern states. There was, generally, more or less +singing among the teamsters, as it was one means of letting the +overseer know where they were, and that they were moving on with +the work. But, on allowance day, those who visited the great +house farm were peculiarly excited and noisy. While on their +way, they would make the dense old woods, for miles around, +reverberate with their wild notes. These were not always merry +because they were wild. On the contrary, they were mostly of a +plaintive cast, and told a tale of grief and sorrow. In the most +boisterous outbursts of rapturous sentiment, there was ever a +tinge of deep melancholy. I have never heard any songs like +those anywhere since I left slavery, except when in Ireland. +There I heard the same _wailing notes_, and was much affected by +them. It was during the famine of 1845-6. In all the songs of +the slaves, there was ever some expression in praise of the great +house farm; something which would flatter the pride of the owner, +and, possibly, draw a favorable glance from him. + + _I am going away to the great house farm, + O yea! O yea! O yea! + My old master is a good old master, + O yea! O yea! O yea!_ + + +This they would sing, with other words of their own improvising-- +jargon to others, but full of meaning to themselves. I have +sometimes thought, that the mere hearing of those songs would do +more to impress truly spiritual-minded men and women with the +soul-crushing and death-dealing character of slavery, than the +reading of whole volumes of its mere physical cruelties. They +speak to the heart and to the soul of the thoughtful. I cannot +better express my sense of them now, than ten years ago, when, in +sketching my life, I thus spoke of this feature of my plantation +experience: + + +I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meanings of those +rude, and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the +circle, so that I neither saw or heard as those without might see +and hear. They told a tale which was <77 SINGING OF SLAVES--AN +EXPLANATION>then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they +were tones, loud, long and deep, breathing the prayer and +complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. +Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God +for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes +always depressed my spirits, and filled my heart with ineffable +sadness. The mere recurrence, even now, afflicts my spirit, and +while I am writing these lines, my tears are falling. To those +songs I trace my first glimmering conceptions of the dehumanizing +character of slavery. I can never get rid of that conception. +Those songs still follow me, to deepen my hatred of slavery, and +quicken my sympathies for my brethren in bonds. If any one +wishes to be impressed with a sense of the soul-killing power of +slavery, let him go to Col. Lloyd's plantation, and, on allowance +day, place himself in the deep, pine woods, and there let him, in +silence, thoughtfully analyze the sounds that shall pass through +the chambers of his soul, and if he is not thus impressed, it +will only be because "there is no flesh in his obdurate heart." + + +The remark is not unfrequently made, that slaves are the most +contended and happy laborers in the world. They dance and sing, +and make all manner of joyful noises--so they do; but it is a +great mistake to suppose them happy because they sing. The songs +of the slave represent the sorrows, rather than the joys, of his +heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is +relieved by its tears. Such is the constitution of the human +mind, that, when pressed to extremes, it often avails itself of +the most opposite methods. Extremes meet in mind as in matter. +When the slaves on board of the "Pearl" were overtaken, arrested, +and carried to prison--their hopes for freedom blasted--as they +marched in chains they sang, and found (as Emily Edmunson tells +us) a melancholy relief in singing. The singing of a man cast +away on a desolate island, might be as appropriately considered +an evidence of his contentment and happiness, as the singing of a +slave. Sorrow and desolation have their songs, as well as joy +and peace. Slaves sing more to _make_ themselves happy, than to +express their happiness. + +It is the boast of slaveholders, that their slaves enjoy more of +the physical comforts of life than the peasantry of any country +in the world. My experience contradicts this. The men and the +women slaves on Col. Lloyd's farm, received, as their monthly +<78>allowance of food, eight pounds of pickled pork, or their +equivalent in fish. The pork was often tainted, and the fish was +of the poorest quality--herrings, which would bring very little +if offered for sale in any northern market. With their pork or +fish, they had one bushel of Indian meal--unbolted--of which +quite fifteen per cent was fit only to feed pigs. With this, one +pint of salt was given; and this was the entire monthly allowance +of a full grown slave, working constantly in the open field, from +morning until night, every day in the month except Sunday, and +living on a fraction more than a quarter of a pound of meat per +day, and less than a peck of corn-meal per week. There is no +kind of work that a man can do which requires a better supply of +food to prevent physical exhaustion, than the field-work of a +slave. So much for the slave's allowance of food; now for his +raiment. The yearly allowance of clothing for the slaves on this +plantation, consisted of two tow-linen shirts--such linen as the +coarsest crash towels are made of; one pair of trowsers of the +same material, for summer, and a pair of trowsers and a jacket of +woolen, most slazily put together, for winter; one pair of yarn +stockings, and one pair of shoes of the coarsest description. +The slave's entire apparel could not have cost more than eight +dollars per year. The allowance of food and clothing for the +little children, was committed to their mothers, or to the older +slavewomen having the care of them. Children who were unable to +work in the field, had neither shoes, stockings, jackets nor +trowsers given them. Their clothing consisted of two coarse tow- +linen shirts--already described--per year; and when these failed +them, as they often did, they went naked until the next allowance +day. Flocks of little children from five to ten years old, might +be seen on Col. Lloyd's plantation, as destitute of clothing as +any little heathen on the west coast of Africa; and this, not +merely during the summer months, but during the frosty weather of +March. The little girls were no better off than the boys; all +were nearly in a state of nudity. +<79 THE SLAVES' FOOD AND CLOTHING> + +As to beds to sleep on, they were known to none of the field +hands; nothing but a coarse blanket--not so good as those used in +the north to cover horses--was given them, and this only to the +men and women. The children stuck themselves in holes and +corners, about the quarters; often in the corner of the huge +chimneys, with their feet in the ashes to keep them warm. The +want of beds, however, was not considered a very great privation. +Time to sleep was of far greater importance, for, when the day's +work is done, most of the slaves have their washing, mending and +cooking to do; and, having few or none of the ordinary facilities +for doing such things, very many of their sleeping hours are +consumed in necessary preparations for the duties of the coming +day. + +The sleeping apartments--if they may be called such--have little +regard to comfort or decency. Old and young, male and female, +married and single, drop down upon the common clay floor, each +covering up with his or her blanket,--the only protection they +have from cold or exposure. The night, however, is shortened at +both ends. The slaves work often as long as they can see, and +are late in cooking and mending for the coming day; and, at the +first gray streak of morning, they are summoned to the field by +the driver's horn. + +More slaves are whipped for oversleeping than for any other +fault. Neither age nor sex finds any favor. The overseer stands +at the quarter door, armed with stick and cowskin, ready to whip +any who may be a few minutes behind time. When the horn is +blown, there is a rush for the door, and the hindermost one is +sure to get a blow from the overseer. Young mothers who worked +in the field, were allowed an hour, about ten o'clock in the +morning, to go home to nurse their children. Sometimes they were +compelled to take their children with them, and to leave them in +the corner of the fences, to prevent loss of time in nursing +them. The overseer generally rides about the field on horseback. +A cowskin and a hickory stick are his constant companions. The +<80>cowskin is a kind of whip seldom seen in the northern states. +It is made entirely of untanned, but dried, ox hide, and is about +as hard as a piece of well-seasoned live oak. It is made of +various sizes, but the usual length is about three feet. The +part held in the hand is nearly an inch in thickness; and, from +the extreme end of the butt or handle, the cowskin tapers its +whole length to a point. This makes it quite elastic and +springy. A blow with it, on the hardest back, will gash the +flesh, and make the blood start. Cowskins are painted red, blue +and green, and are the favorite slave whip. I think this whip +worse than the "cat-o'nine-tails." It condenses the whole +strength of the arm to a single point, and comes with a spring +that makes the air whistle. It is a terrible instrument, and is +so handy, that the overseer can always have it on his person, and +ready for use. The temptation to use it is ever strong; and an +overseer can, if disposed, always have cause for using it. With +him, it is literally a word and a blow, and, in most cases, the +blow comes first. + +As a general rule, slaves do not come to the quarters for either +breakfast or dinner, but take their "ash cake" with them, and eat +it in the field. This was so on the home plantation; probably, +because the distance from the quarter to the field, was sometimes +two, and even three miles. + +The dinner of the slaves consisted of a huge piece of ash cake, +and a small piece of pork, or two salt herrings. Not having +ovens, nor any suitable cooking utensils, the slaves mixed their +meal with a little water, to such thickness that a spoon would +stand erect in it; and, after the wood had burned away to coals +and ashes, they would place the dough between oak leaves and lay +it carefully in the ashes, completely covering it; hence, the +bread is called ash cake. The surface of this peculiar bread is +covered with ashes, to the depth of a sixteenth part of an inch, +and the ashes, certainly, do not make it very grateful to the +teeth, nor render it very palatable. The bran, or coarse part of +the meal, is baked with the fine, and bright scales run through +the bread. <81 THE CONTRAST>This bread, with its ashes and bran, +would disgust and choke a northern man, but it is quite liked by +the slaves. They eat it with avidity, and are more concerned +about the quantity than about the quality. They are far too +scantily provided for, and are worked too steadily, to be much +concerned for the quality of their food. The few minutes allowed +them at dinner time, after partaking of their coarse repast, are +variously spent. Some lie down on the "turning row," and go to +sleep; others draw together, and talk; and others are at work +with needle and thread, mending their tattered garments. +Sometimes you may hear a wild, hoarse laugh arise from a circle, +and often a song. Soon, however, the overseer comes dashing +through the field. _"Tumble up! Tumble up_, and to _work, +work,"_ is the cry; and, now, from twelve o'clock (mid-day) till +dark, the human cattle are in motion, wielding their clumsy hoes; +hurried on by no hope of reward, no sense of gratitude, no love +of children, no prospect of bettering their condition; nothing, +save the dread and terror of the slave-driver's lash. So goes +one day, and so comes and goes another. + +But, let us now leave the rough usage of the field, where vulgar +coarseness and brutal cruelty spread themselves and flourish, +rank as weeds in the tropics; where a vile wretch, in the shape +of a man, rides, walks, or struts about, dealing blows, and +leaving gashes on broken-spirited men and helpless women, for +thirty dollars per month--a business so horrible, hardening and +disgraceful, that, rather, than engage in it, a decent man would +blow his own brains out--and let the reader view with me the +equally wicked, but less repulsive aspects of slave life; where +pride and pomp roll luxuriously at ease; where the toil of a +thousand men supports a single family in easy idleness and sin. +This is the great house; it is the home of the LLOYDS! Some idea +of its splendor has already been given--and, it is here that we +shall find that height of luxury which is the opposite of that +depth of poverty and physical wretchedness that we have just now +been contemplating. But, there is this difference in the two +extremes; <82>viz: that in the case of the slave, the miseries +and hardships of his lot are imposed by others, and, in the +master's case, they are imposed by himself. The slave is a +subject, subjected by others; the slaveholder is a subject, but +he is the author of his own subjection. There is more truth in +the saying, that slavery is a greater evil to the master than to +the slave, than many, who utter it, suppose. The self-executing +laws of eternal justice follow close on the heels of the evil- +doer here, as well as elsewhere; making escape from all its +penalties impossible. But, let others philosophize; it is my +province here to relate and describe; only allowing myself a word +or two, occasionally, to assist the reader in the proper +understanding of the facts narrated. + + + +CHAPTER VII +_Life in the Great House_ + +COMFORTS AND LUXURIES--ELABORATE EXPENDITURE--HOUSE SERVANTS--MEN +SERVANTS AND MAID SERVANTS--APPEARANCES--SLAVE ARISTOCRACY-- +STABLE AND CARRIAGE HOUSE--BOUNDLESS HOSPITALITY--FRAGRANCE OF +RICH DISHES--THE DECEPTIVE CHARACTER OF SLAVERY--SLAVES SEEM +HAPPY--SLAVES AND SLAVEHOLDERS ALIKE WRETCHED--FRETFUL DISCONTENT +OF SLAVEHOLDERS--FAULT-FINDING--OLD BARNEY--HIS PROFESSION-- +WHIPPING--HUMILIATING SPECTACLE--CASE EXCEPTIONAL--WILLIAM +WILKS--SUPPOSED SON OF COL. LLOYD--CURIOUS INCIDENT--SLAVES +PREFER RICH MASTERS TO POOR ONES. + + +The close-fisted stinginess that fed the poor slave on coarse +corn-meal and tainted meat; that clothed him in crashy tow-linen, +and hurried him to toil through the field, in all weathers, with +wind and rain beating through his tattered garments; that +scarcely gave even the young slave-mother time to nurse her +hungry infant in the fence corner; wholly vanishes on approaching +the sacred precincts of the great house, the home of the Lloyds. +There the scriptural phrase finds an exact illustration; the +highly favored inmates of this mansion are literally arrayed "in +purple and fine linen," and fare sumptuously every day! The +table groans under the heavy and blood-bought luxuries gathered +with painstaking care, at home and abroad. Fields, forests, +rivers and seas, are made tributary here. Immense wealth, and +its lavish expenditure, fill the great house with all that can +please the eye, or tempt the taste. Here, appetite, not food, is +the great _desideratum_. Fish, flesh and fowl, are here in +profusion. Chickens, of <84>all breeds; ducks, of all kinds, +wild and tame, the common, and the huge Muscovite; Guinea fowls, +turkeys, geese, and pea fowls, are in their several pens, fat and +fatting for the destined vortex. The graceful swan, the +mongrels, the black-necked wild goose; partridges, quails, +pheasants and pigeons; choice water fowl, with all their strange +varieties, are caught in this huge family net. Beef, veal, +mutton and venison, of the most select kinds and quality, roll +bounteously to this grand consumer. The teeming riches of the +Chesapeake bay, its rock, perch, drums, crocus, trout, oysters, +crabs, and terrapin, are drawn hither to adorn the glittering +table of the great house. The dairy, too, probably the finest on +the Eastern Shore of Maryland--supplied by cattle of the best +English stock, imported for the purpose, pours its rich donations +of fragant cheese, golden butter, and delicious cream, to +heighten the attraction of the gorgeous, unending round of +feasting. Nor are the fruits of the earth forgotten or +neglected. The fertile garden, many acres in size, constituting +a separate establishment, distinct from the common farm--with its +scientific gardener, imported from Scotland (a Mr. McDermott) +with four men under his direction, was not behind, either in the +abundance or in the delicacy of its contributions to the same +full board. The tender asparagus, the succulent celery, and the +delicate cauliflower; egg plants, beets, lettuce, parsnips, peas, +and French beans, early and late; radishes, cantelopes, melons of +all kinds; the fruits and flowers of all climes and of all +descriptions, from the hardy apple of the north, to the lemon and +orange of the south, culminated at this point. Baltimore +gathered figs, raisins, almonds and juicy grapes from Spain. +Wines and brandies from France; teas of various flavor, from +China; and rich, aromatic coffee from Java, all conspired to +swell the tide of high life, where pride and indolence rolled and +lounged in magnificence and satiety. + +Behind the tall-backed and elaborately wrought chairs, stand the +servants, men and maidens--fifteen in number--discriminately +selected, not only with a view to their industry and faith<85 +HOUSE SERVANTS>fulness, but with special regard to their personal +appearance, their graceful agility and captivating address. Some +of these are armed with fans, and are fanning reviving breezes +toward the over-heated brows of the alabaster ladies; others +watch with eager eye, and with fawn-like step anticipate and +supply wants before they are sufficiently formed to be announced +by word or sign. + +These servants constituted a sort of black aristocracy on Col. +Lloyd's plantation. They resembled the field hands in nothing, +except in color, and in this they held the advantage of a velvet- +like glossiness, rich and beautiful. The hair, too, showed the +same advantage. The delicate colored maid rustled in the +scarcely worn silk of her young mistress, while the servant men +were equally well attired from the over-flowing wardrobe of their +young masters; so that, in dress, as well as in form and feature, +in manner and speech, in tastes and habits, the distance between +these favored few, and the sorrow and hunger-smitten multitudes +of the quarter and the field, was immense; and this is seldom +passed over. + +Let us now glance at the stables and the carriage house, and we +shall find the same evidences of pride and luxurious +extravagance. Here are three splendid coaches, soft within and +lustrous without. Here, too, are gigs, phaetons, barouches, +sulkeys and sleighs. Here are saddles and harnesses--beautifully +wrought and silver mounted--kept with every care. In the stable +you will find, kept only for pleasure, full thirty-five horses, +of the most approved blood for speed and beauty. There are two +men here constantly employed in taking care of these horses. One +of these men must be always in the stable, to answer every call +from the great house. Over the way from the stable, is a house +built expressly for the hounds--a pack of twenty-five or thirty-- +whose fare would have made glad the heart of a dozen slaves. +Horses and hounds are not the only consumers of the slave's toil. +There was practiced, at the Lloyd's, a hospitality which would +have <86>astonished and charmed any health-seeking northern +divine or merchant, who might have chanced to share it. Viewed +from his own table, and _not_ from the field, the colonel was a +model of generous hospitality. His house was, literally, a +hotel, for weeks during the summer months. At these times, +especially, the air was freighted with the rich fumes of baking, +boiling, roasting and broiling. The odors I shared with the +winds; but the meats were under a more stringent monopoly except +that, occasionally, I got a cake from Mas' Daniel. In Mas' +Daniel I had a friend at court, from whom I learned many things +which my eager curiosity was excited to know. I always knew when +company was expected, and who they were, although I was an +outsider, being the property, not of Col. Lloyd, but of a servant +of the wealthy colonel. On these occasions, all that pride, +taste and money could do, to dazzle and charm, was done. + +Who could say that the servants of Col. Lloyd were not well clad +and cared for, after witnessing one of his magnificent +entertainments? Who could say that they did not seem to glory in +being the slaves of such a master? Who, but a fanatic, could get +up any sympathy for persons whose every movement was agile, easy +and graceful, and who evinced a consciousness of high +superiority? And who would ever venture to suspect that Col. +Lloyd was subject to the troubles of ordinary mortals? Master +and slave seem alike in their glory here? Can it all be seeming? +Alas! it may only be a sham at last! This immense wealth; this +gilded splendor; this profusion of luxury; this exemption from +toil; this life of ease; this sea of plenty; aye, what of it all? +Are the pearly gates of happiness and sweet content flung open to +such suitors? _far from it!_ The poor slave, on his hard, pine +plank, but scantily covered with his thin blanket, sleeps more +soundly than the feverish voluptuary who reclines upon his +feather bed and downy pillow. Food, to the indolent lounger, is +poison, not sustenance. Lurking beneath all their dishes, are +invisible spirits of evil, ready to feed the self-deluded +gormandizers <87 DECEPTIVE CHARACTER OF SLAVERY>which aches, +pains, fierce temper, uncontrolled passions, dyspepsia, +rheumatism, lumbago and gout; and of these the Lloyds got their +full share. To the pampered love of ease, there is no resting +place. What is pleasant today, is repulsive tomorrow; what is +soft now, is hard at another time; what is sweet in the morning, +is bitter in the evening. Neither to the wicked, nor to the +idler, is there any solid peace: _"Troubled, like the restless +sea."_ + +I had excellent opportunities of witnessing the restless +discontent and the capricious irritation of the Lloyds. My +fondness for horses--not peculiar to me more than to other boys +attracted me, much of the time, to the stables. This +establishment was especially under the care of "old" and "young" +Barney--father and son. Old Barney was a fine looking old man, +of a brownish complexion, who was quite portly, and wore a +dignified aspect for a slave. He was, evidently, much devoted to +his profession, and held his office an honorable one. He was a +farrier as well as an ostler; he could bleed, remove lampers from +the mouths of the horses, and was well instructed in horse +medicines. No one on the farm knew, so well as Old Barney, what +to do with a sick horse. But his gifts and acquirements were of +little advantage to him. His office was by no means an enviable +one. He often got presents, but he got stripes as well; for in +nothing was Col. Lloyd more unreasonable and exacting, than in +respect to the management of his pleasure horses. Any supposed +inattention to these animals were sure to be visited with +degrading punishment. His horses and dogs fared better than his +men. Their beds must be softer and cleaner than those of his +human cattle. No excuse could shield Old Barney, if the colonel +only suspected something wrong about his horses; and, +consequently, he was often punished when faultless. It was +absolutely painful to listen to the many unreasonable and fretful +scoldings, poured out at the stable, by Col. Lloyd, his sons and +sons-in-law. Of the latter, he had three--Messrs. Nicholson, +Winder and Lownes. These all <88>lived at the great house a +portion of the year, and enjoyed the luxury of whipping the +servants when they pleased, which was by no means unfrequently. +A horse was seldom brought out of the stable to which no +objection could be raised. "There was dust in his hair;" "there +was a twist in his reins;" "his mane did not lie straight;" "he +had not been properly grained;" "his head did not look well;" +"his fore-top was not combed out;" "his fetlocks had not been +properly trimmed;" something was always wrong. Listening to +complaints, however groundless, Barney must stand, hat in hand, +lips sealed, never answering a word. He must make no reply, no +explanation; the judgment of the master must be deemed +infallible, for his power is absolute and irresponsible. In a +free state, a master, thus complaining without cause, of his +ostler, might be told--"Sir, I am sorry I cannot please you, but, +since I have done the best I can, your remedy is to dismiss me." +Here, however, the ostler must stand, listen and tremble. One of +the most heart-saddening and humiliating scenes I ever witnessed, +was the whipping of Old Barney, by Col. Lloyd himself. Here were +two men, both advanced in years; there were the silvery locks of +Col. L., and there was the bald and toil-worn brow of Old Barney; +master and slave; superior and inferior here, but _equals_ at the +bar of God; and, in the common course of events, they must both +soon meet in another world, in a world where all distinctions, +except those based on obedience and disobedience, are blotted out +forever. "Uncover your head!" said the imperious master; he was +obeyed. "Take off your jacket, you old rascal!" and off came +Barney's jacket. "Down on your knees!" down knelt the old man, +his shoulders bare, his bald head glistening in the sun, and his +aged knees on the cold, damp ground. In his humble and debasing +attitude, the master--that master to whom he had given the best +years and the best strength of his life--came forward, and laid +on thirty lashes, with his horse whip. The old man bore it +patiently, to the last, answering each blow with a slight shrug +of the shoulders, and a groan. I cannot think that <89 A +HUMILIATING SPECTACLE>Col. Lloyd succeeded in marring the flesh +of Old Barney very seriously, for the whip was a light, riding +whip; but the spectacle of an aged man--a husband and a father-- +humbly kneeling before a worm of the dust, surprised and shocked +me at the time; and since I have grown old enough to think on the +wickedness of slavery, few facts have been of more value to me +than this, to which I was a witness. It reveals slavery in its +true color, and in its maturity of repulsive hatefulness. I owe +it to truth, however, to say, that this was the first and the +last time I ever saw Old Barney, or any other slave, compelled to +kneel to receive a whipping. + +I saw, at the stable, another incident, which I will relate, as +it is illustrative of a phase of slavery to which I have already +referred in another connection. Besides two other coachmen, Col. +Lloyd owned one named William, who, strangely enough, was often +called by his surname, Wilks, by white and colored people on the +home plantation. Wilks was a very fine looking man. He was +about as white as anybody on the plantation; and in manliness of +form, and comeliness of features, he bore a very striking +resemblance to Mr. Murray Lloyd. It was whispered, and pretty +generally admitted as a fact, that William Wilks was a son of +Col. Lloyd, by a highly favored slave-woman, who was still on the +plantation. There were many reasons for believing this whisper, +not only in William's appearance, but in the undeniable freedom +which he enjoyed over all others, and his apparent consciousness +of being something more than a slave to his master. It was +notorious, too, that William had a deadly enemy in Murray Lloyd, +whom he so much resembled, and that the latter greatly worried +his father with importunities to sell William. Indeed, he gave +his father no rest until he did sell him, to Austin Woldfolk, the +great slave-trader at that time. Before selling him, however, +Mr. L. tried what giving William a whipping would do, toward +making things smooth; but this was a failure. It was a +compromise, and defeated itself; for, imme<90>diately after the +infliction, the heart-sickened colonel atoned to William for the +abuse, by giving him a gold watch and chain. Another fact, +somewhat curious, is, that though sold to the remorseless +_Woldfolk_, taken in irons to Baltimore and cast into prison, +with a view to being driven to the south, William, by _some_ +means--always a mystery to me--outbid all his purchasers, paid +for himself, _and now resides in Baltimore, a_ FREEMAN. Is there +not room to suspect, that, as the gold watch was presented to +atone for the whipping, a purse of gold was given him by the same +hand, with which to effect his purchase, as an atonement for the +indignity involved in selling his own flesh and blood. All the +circumstances of William, on the great house farm, show him to +have occupied a different position from the other slaves, and, +certainly, there is nothing in the supposed hostility of +slaveholders to amalgamation, to forbid the supposition that +William Wilks was the son of Edward Lloyd. _Practical_ +amalgamation is common in every neighborhood where I have been in +slavery. + +Col. Lloyd was not in the way of knowing much of the real +opinions and feelings of his slaves respecting him. The distance +between him and them was far too great to admit of such +knowledge. His slaves were so numerous, that he did not know +them when he saw them. Nor, indeed, did all his slaves know him. +In this respect, he was inconveniently rich. It is reported of +him, that, while riding along the road one day, he met a colored +man, and addressed him in the usual way of speaking to colored +people on the public highways of the south: "Well, boy, who do +you belong to?" "To Col. Lloyd," replied the slave. "Well, does +the colonel treat you well?" "No, sir," was the ready reply. +"What? does he work you too hard?" "Yes, sir." "Well, don't he +give enough to eat?" "Yes, sir, he gives me enough, such as it +is." The colonel, after ascertaining where the slave belonged, +rode on; the slave also went on about his business, not dreaming +that he had been conversing with his master. He thought, said +and heard nothing more of the matter, until two or three weeks +after<91 PENALTY FOR TELLING THE TRUTH>wards. The poor man was +then informed by his overseer, that, for having found fault with +his master, he was now to be sold to a Georgia trader. He was +immediately chained and handcuffed; and thus, without a moment's +warning he was snatched away, and forever sundered from his +family and friends, by a hand more unrelenting than that of +death. _This_ is the penalty of telling the simple truth, in +answer to a series of plain questions. It is partly in +consequence of such facts, that slaves, when inquired of as to +their condition and the character of their masters, almost +invariably say they are contented, and that their masters are +kind. Slaveholders have been known to send spies among their +slaves, to ascertain, if possible, their views and feelings in +regard to their condition. The frequency of this had the effect +to establish among the slaves the maxim, that a still tongue +makes a wise head. They suppress the truth rather than take the +consequence of telling it, and, in so doing, they prove +themselves a part of the human family. If they have anything to +say of their master, it is, generally, something in his favor, +especially when speaking to strangers. I was frequently asked, +while a slave, if I had a kind master, and I do not remember ever +to have given a negative reply. Nor did I, when pursuing this +course, consider myself as uttering what was utterly false; for I +always measured the kindness of my master by the standard of +kindness set up by slaveholders around us. However, slaves are +like other people, and imbibe similar prejudices. They are apt +to think _their condition_ better than that of others. Many, +under the influence of this prejudice, think their own masters +are better than the masters of other slaves; and this, too, in +some cases, when the very reverse is true. Indeed, it is not +uncommon for slaves even to fall out and quarrel among themselves +about the relative kindness of their masters, contending for the +superior goodness of his own over that of others. At the very +same time, they mutually execrate their masters, when viewed +separately. It was so on our plantation. When Col. Lloyd's +slaves met those of Jacob Jepson, they <92>seldom parted without +a quarrel about their masters; Col. Lloyd's slaves contending +that he was the richest, and Mr. Jepson's slaves that he was the +smartest, man of the two. Col. Lloyd's slaves would boost his +ability to buy and sell Jacob Jepson; Mr. Jepson's slaves would +boast his ability to whip Col. Lloyd. These quarrels would +almost always end in a fight between the parties; those that beat +were supposed to have gained the point at issue. They seemed to +think that the greatness of their masters was transferable to +themselves. To be a SLAVE, was thought to be bad enough; but to +be a _poor man's_ slave, was deemed a disgrace, indeed. + + + +CHAPTER VIII +_A Chapter of Horrors_ + +AUSTIN GORE--A SKETCH OF HIS CHARACTER--OVERSEERS AS A CLASS-- +THEIR PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS--THE MARKED INDIVIDUALITY OF +AUSTIN GORE--HIS SENSE OF DUTY--HOW HE WHIPPED--MURDER OF POOR +DENBY--HOW IT OCCURRED--SENSATION--HOW GORE MADE PEACE WITH COL. +LLOYD--THE MURDER UNPUNISHED--ANOTHER DREADFUL MURDER NARRATED-- +NO LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF SLAVES CAN BE ENFORCED IN THE +SOUTHERN STATES. + + +As I have already intimated elsewhere, the slaves on Col. Lloyd's +plantation, whose hard lot, under Mr. Sevier, the reader has +already noticed and deplored, were not permitted to enjoy the +comparatively moderate rule of Mr. Hopkins. The latter was +succeeded by a very different man. The name of the new overseer +was Austin Gore. Upon this individual I would fix particular +attention; for under his rule there was more suffering from +violence and bloodshed than had--according to the older slaves +ever been experienced before on this plantation. I confess, I +hardly know how to bring this man fitly before the reader. He +was, it is true, an overseer, and possessed, to a large extent, +the peculiar characteristics of his class; yet, to call him +merely an overseer, would not give the reader a fair notion of +the man. I speak of overseers as a class. They are such. They +are as distinct from the slaveholding gentry of the south, as are +the fishwomen of Paris, and the coal-heavers of London, distinct +from other members of society. They constitute a separate +fraternity at the south, not less marked than is the fraternity +of Park Lane bullies in New York. They have been arranged and +classified <94>by that great law of attraction, which determines +the spheres and affinities of men; which ordains, that men, whose +malign and brutal propensities predominate over their moral and +intellectual endowments, shall, naturally, fall into those +employments which promise the largest gratification to those +predominating instincts or propensities. The office of overseer +takes this raw material of vulgarity and brutality, and stamps it +as a distinct class of southern society. But, in this class, as +in all other classes, there are characters of marked +individuality, even while they bear a general resemblance to the +mass. Mr. Gore was one of those, to whom a general +characterization would do no manner of justice. He was an +overseer; but he was something more. With the malign and +tyrannical qualities of an overseer, he combined something of the +lawful master. He had the artfulness and the mean ambition of +his class; but he was wholly free from the disgusting swagger and +noisy bravado of his fraternity. There was an easy air of +independence about him; a calm self-possession, and a sternness +of glance, which might well daunt hearts less timid than those of +poor slaves, accustomed from childhood and through life to cower +before a driver's lash. The home plantation of Col. Lloyd +afforded an ample field for the exercise of the qualifications +for overseership, which he possessed in such an eminent degree. + +Mr. Gore was one of those overseers, who could torture the +slightest word or look into impudence; he had the nerve, not only +to resent, but to punish, promptly and severely. He never +allowed himself to be answered back, by a slave. In this, he was +as lordly and as imperious as Col. Edward Lloyd, himself; acting +always up to the maxim, practically maintained by slaveholders, +that it is better that a dozen slaves suffer under the lash, +without fault, than that the master or the overseer should _seem_ +to have been wrong in the presence of the slave. _Everything +must be absolute here_. Guilty or not guilty, it is enough to be +accused, to be sure of a flogging. The very presence of this man +Gore was <95 AUSTIN GORE>painful, and I shunned him as I would +have shunned a rattlesnake. His piercing, black eyes, and sharp, +shrill voice, ever awakened sensations of terror among the +slaves. For so young a man (I describe him as he was, twenty- +five or thirty years ago) Mr. Gore was singularly reserved and +grave in the presence of slaves. He indulged in no jokes, said +no funny things, and kept his own counsels. Other overseers, how +brutal soever they might be, were, at times, inclined to gain +favor with the slaves, by indulging a little pleasantry; but Gore +was never known to be guilty of any such weakness. He was always +the cold, distant, unapproachable _overseer_ of Col. Edward +Lloyd's plantation, and needed no higher pleasure than was +involved in a faithful discharge of the duties of his office. +When he whipped, he seemed to do so from a sense of duty, and +feared no consequences. What Hopkins did reluctantly, Gore did +with alacrity. There was a stern will, an iron-like reality, +about this Gore, which would have easily made him the chief of a +band of pirates, had his environments been favorable to such a +course of life. All the coolness, savage barbarity and freedom +from moral restraint, which are necessary in the character of a +pirate-chief, centered, I think, in this man Gore. Among many +other deeds of shocking cruelty which he perpetrated, while I was +at Mr. Lloyd's, was the murder of a young colored man, named +Denby. He was sometimes called Bill Denby, or Demby; (I write +from sound, and the sounds on Lloyd's plantation are not very +certain.) I knew him well. He was a powerful young man, full of +animal spirits, and, so far as I know, he was among the most +valuable of Col. Lloyd's slaves. In something--I know not what-- +he offended this Mr. Austin Gore, and, in accordance with the +custom of the latter, he under took to flog him. He gave Denby +but few stripes; the latter broke away from him and plunged into +the creek, and, standing there to the depth of his neck in water, +he refused to come out at the order of the overseer; whereupon, +for this refusal, _Gore shot him dead!_ It is said that Gore +gave Denby three calls, telling him that <96>if he did not obey +the last call, he would shoot him. When the third call was +given, Denby stood his ground firmly; and this raised the +question, in the minds of the by-standing slaves--"Will he dare +to shoot?" Mr. Gore, without further parley, and without making +any further effort to induce Denby to come out of the water, +raised his gun deliberately to his face, took deadly aim at his +standing victim, and, in an instant, poor Denby was numbered with +the dead. His mangled body sank out of sight, and only his warm, +red blood marked the place where he had stood. + +This devilish outrage, this fiendish murder, produced, as it was +well calculated to do, a tremendous sensation. A thrill of +horror flashed through every soul on the plantation, if I may +except the guilty wretch who had committed the hell-black deed. +While the slaves generally were panic-struck, and howling with +alarm, the murderer himself was calm and collected, and appeared +as though nothing unusual had happened. The atrocity roused my +old master, and he spoke out, in reprobation of it; but the whole +thing proved to be less than a nine days' wonder. Both Col. +Lloyd and my old master arraigned Gore for his cruelty in the +matter, but this amounted to nothing. His reply, or +explanation--as I remember to have heard it at the time was, that +the extraordinary expedient was demanded by necessity; that Denby +had become unmanageable; that he had set a dangerous example to +the other slaves; and that, without some such prompt measure as +that to which he had resorted, were adopted, there would be an +end to all rule and order on the plantation. That very +convenient covert for all manner of cruelty and outrage that +cowardly alarm-cry, that the slaves would _"take the place,"_ was +pleaded, in extenuation of this revolting crime, just as it had +been cited in defense of a thousand similar ones. He argued, +that if one slave refused to be corrected, and was allowed to +escape with his life, when he had been told that he should lose +it if he persisted in his course, the other slaves would soon +copy his example; the result of which would be, the freedom of +the slaves, and the enslavement of the <97 HOW GORE MADE PEACE +WITH COL. LLOYD>whites. I have every reason to believe that Mr. +Gore's defense, or explanation, was deemed satisfactory--at least +to Col. Lloyd. He was continued in his office on the plantation. +His fame as an overseer went abroad, and his horrid crime was not +even submitted to judicial investigation. The murder was +committed in the presence of slaves, and they, of course, could +neither institute a suit, nor testify against the murderer. His +bare word would go further in a court of law, than the united +testimony of ten thousand black witnesses. + +All that Mr. Gore had to do, was to make his peace with Col. +Lloyd. This done, and the guilty perpetrator of one of the most +foul murders goes unwhipped of justice, and uncensured by the +community in which he lives. Mr. Gore lived in St. Michael's, +Talbot county, when I left Maryland; if he is still alive he +probably yet resides there; and I have no reason to doubt that he +is now as highly esteemed, and as greatly respected, as though +his guilty soul had never been stained with innocent blood. I am +well aware that what I have now written will by some be branded +as false and malicious. It will be denied, not only that such a +thing ever did transpire, as I have now narrated, but that such a +thing could happen in _Maryland_. I can only say--believe it or +not--that I have said nothing but the literal truth, gainsay it +who may. + +I speak advisedly when I say this,--that killing a slave, or any +colored person, in Talbot county, Maryland, is not treated as a +crime, either by the courts or the community. Mr. Thomas Lanman, +ship carpenter, of St. Michael's, killed two slaves, one of whom +he butchered with a hatchet, by knocking his brains out. He used +to boast of the commission of the awful and bloody deed. I have +heard him do so, laughingly, saying, among other things, that he +was the only benefactor of his country in the company, and that +when "others would do as much as he had done, we should be +relieved of the d--d niggers." + +As an evidence of the reckless disregard of human life where the +life is that of a slave I may state the notorious fact, that the +<98>wife of Mr. Giles Hicks, who lived but a short distance from +Col. Lloyd's, with her own hands murdered my wife's cousin, a +young girl between fifteen and sixteen years of age--mutilating +her person in a most shocking manner. The atrocious woman, in +the paroxysm of her wrath, not content with murdering her victim, +literally mangled her face, and broke her breast bone. Wild, +however, and infuriated as she was, she took the precaution to +cause the slave-girl to be buried; but the facts of the case +coming abroad, very speedily led to the disinterment of the +remains of the murdered slave-girl. A coroner's jury was +assembled, who decided that the girl had come to her death by +severe beating. It was ascertained that the offense for which +this girl was thus hurried out of the world, was this: she had +been set that night, and several preceding nights, to mind Mrs. +Hicks's baby, and having fallen into a sound sleep, the baby +cried, waking Mrs. Hicks, but not the slave-girl. Mrs. Hicks, +becoming infuriated at the girl's tardiness, after calling +several times, jumped from her bed and seized a piece of fire- +wood from the fireplace; and then, as she lay fast asleep, she +deliberately pounded in her skull and breast-bone, and thus ended +her life. I will not say that this most horrid murder produced +no sensation in the community. It _did_ produce a sensation; +but, incredible to tell, the moral sense of the community was +blunted too entirely by the ordinary nature of slavery horrors, +to bring the murderess to punishment. A warrant was issued for +her arrest, but, for some reason or other, that warrant was never +served. Thus did Mrs. Hicks not only escape condign punishment, +but even the pain and mortification of being arraigned before a +court of justice. + +Whilst I am detailing the bloody deeds that took place during my +stay on Col. Lloyd's plantation, I will briefly narrate another +dark transaction, which occurred about the same time as the +murder of Denby by Mr. Gore. + +On the side of the river Wye, opposite from Col. Lloyd's, there +lived a Mr. Beal Bondley, a wealthy slaveholder. In the +direction <99 NO LAW PROTECTS THE SLAVE>of his land, and near the +shore, there was an excellent oyster fishing ground, and to this, +some of the slaves of Col. Lloyd occasionally resorted in their +little canoes, at night, with a view to make up the deficiency of +their scanty allowance of food, by the oysters that they could +easily get there. This, Mr. Bondley took it into his head to +regard as a trespass, and while an old man belonging to Col. +Lloyd was engaged in catching a few of the many millions of +oysters that lined the bottom of that creek, to satisfy his +hunger, the villainous Mr. Bondley, lying in ambush, without the +slightest ceremony, discharged the contents of his musket into +the back and shoulders of the poor old man. As good fortune +would have it, the shot did not prove mortal, and Mr. Bondley +came over, the next day, to see Col. Lloyd--whether to pay him +for his property, or to justify himself for what he had done, I +know not; but this I _can_ say, the cruel and dastardly +transaction was speedily hushed up; there was very little said +about it at all, and nothing was publicly done which looked like +the application of the principle of justice to the man whom +_chance_, only, saved from being an actual murderer. One of the +commonest sayings to which my ears early became accustomed, on +Col. Lloyd's plantation and elsewhere in Maryland, was, that it +was _"worth but half a cent to kill a nigger, and a half a cent +to bury him;"_ and the facts of my experience go far to justify +the practical truth of this strange proverb. Laws for the +protection of the lives of the slaves, are, as they must needs +be, utterly incapable of being enforced, where the very parties +who are nominally protected, are not permitted to give evidence, +in courts of law, against the only class of persons from whom +abuse, outrage and murder might be reasonably apprehended. While +I heard of numerous murders committed by slaveholders on the +Eastern Shores of Maryland, I never knew a solitary instance in +which a slaveholder was either hung or imprisoned for having +murdered a slave. The usual pretext for killing a slave is, that +the slave has offered resistance. Should a slave, when +assaulted, but raise his hand in self defense, the white +assaulting <100>party is fully justified by southern, or +Maryland, public opinion, in shooting the slave down. Sometimes +this is done, simply because it is alleged that the slave has +been saucy. But here I leave this phase of the society of my +early childhood, and will relieve the kind reader of these heart- +sickening details. + + + +CHAPTER IX +_Personal Treatment_ + +MISS LUCRETIA--HER KINDNESS--HOW IT WAS MANIFESTED--"IKE"--A +BATTLE WITH HIM--THE CONSEQUENCES THEREOF--MISS LUCRETIA'S +BALSAM--BREAD--HOW I OBTAINED IT--BEAMS OF SUNLIGHT AMIDST THE +GENERAL DARKNESS--SUFFERING FROM COLD--HOW WE TOOK OUR MEALS-- +ORDERS TO PREPARE FOR BALTIMORE--OVERJOYED AT THE THOUGHT OF +QUITTING THE PLANTATION--EXTRAORDINARY CLEANSING--COUSIN TOM'S +VERSION OF BALTIMORE--ARRIVAL THERE--KIND RECEPTION GIVEN ME BY +MRS. SOPHIA AULD--LITTLE TOMMY--MY NEW POSITION--MY NEW DUTIES--A +TURNING POINT IN MY HISTORY. + + +I have nothing cruel or shocking to relate of my own personal +experience, while I remained on Col. Lloyd's plantation, at the +home of my old master. An occasional cuff from Aunt Katy, and a +regular whipping from old master, such as any heedless and +mischievous boy might get from his father, is all that I can +mention of this sort. I was not old enough to work in the field, +and, there being little else than field work to perform, I had +much leisure. The most I had to do, was, to drive up the cows in +the evening, to keep the front yard clean, and to perform small +errands for my young mistress, Lucretia Auld. I have reasons for +thinking this lady was very kindly disposed toward me, and, +although I was not often the object of her attention, I +constantly regarded her as my friend, and was always glad when it +was my privilege to do her a service. In a family where there +was so much that was harsh, cold and indifferent, the slightest +word or look of kindness passed, with me, for its full value. +Miss Lucretia--<102>as we all continued to call her long after +her marriage--had bestowed upon me such words and looks as taught +me that she pitied me, if she did not love me. In addition to +words and looks, she sometimes gave me a piece of bread and +butter; a thing not set down in the bill of fare, and which must +have been an extra ration, planned aside from either Aunt Katy or +old master, solely out of the tender regard and friendship she +had for me. Then, too, I one day got into the wars with Uncle +Able's son, "Ike," and had got sadly worsted; in fact, the little +rascal had struck me directly in the forehead with a sharp piece +of cinder, fused with iron, from the old blacksmith's forge, +which made a cross in my forehead very plainly to be seen now. +The gash bled very freely, and I roared very loudly and betook +myself home. The coldhearted Aunt Katy paid no attention either +to my wound or my roaring, except to tell me it served me right; +I had no business with Ike; it was good for me; I would now keep +away _"from dem Lloyd niggers."_ Miss Lucretia, in this state of +the case, came forward; and, in quite a different spirit from +that manifested by Aunt Katy, she called me into the parlor (an +extra privilege of itself) and, without using toward me any of +the hard-hearted and reproachful epithets of my kitchen +tormentor, she quietly acted the good Samaritan. With her own +soft hand she washed the blood from my head and face, fetched her +own balsam bottle, and with the balsam wetted a nice piece of +white linen, and bound up my head. The balsam was not more +healing to the wound in my head, than her kindness was healing to +the wounds in my spirit, made by the unfeeling words of Aunt +Katy. After this, Miss Lucretia was my friend. I felt her to be +such; and I have no doubt that the simple act of binding up my +head, did much to awaken in her mind an interest in my welfare. +It is quite true, that this interest was never very marked, and +it seldom showed itself in anything more than in giving me a +piece of bread when I was hungry; but this was a great favor on a +slave plantation, and I was the only one of the children to whom +such attention was paid. <103 REALMS OF SUNLIGHT>When very +hungry, I would go into the back yard and play under Miss +Lucretia's window. When pretty severely pinched by hunger, I had +a habit of singing, which the good lady very soon came to +understand as a petition for a piece of bread. When I sung under +Miss Lucretia's window, I was very apt to get well paid for my +music. The reader will see that I now had two friends, both at +important points--Mas' Daniel at the great house, and Miss +Lucretia at home. From Mas' Daniel I got protection from the +bigger boys; and from Miss Lucretia I got bread, by singing when +I was hungry, and sympathy when I was abused by that termagant, +who had the reins of government in the kitchen. For such +friendship I felt deeply grateful, and bitter as are my +recollections of slavery, I love to recall any instances of +kindness, any sunbeams of humane treatment, which found way to my +soul through the iron grating of my house of bondage. Such beams +seem all the brighter from the general darkness into which they +penetrate, and the impression they make is vividly distinct and +beautiful. + +As I have before intimated, I was seldom whipped--and never +severely--by my old master. I suffered little from the treatment +I received, except from hunger and cold. These were my two great +physical troubles. I could neither get a sufficiency of food nor +of clothing; but I suffered less from hunger than from cold. In +hottest summer and coldest winter, I was kept almost in a state +of nudity; no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trowsers; +nothing but coarse sackcloth or tow-linen, made into a sort of +shirt, reaching down to my knees. This I wore night and day, +changing it once a week. In the day time I could protect myself +pretty well, by keeping on the sunny side of the house; and in +bad weather, in the corner of the kitchen chimney. The great +difficulty was, to keep warm during the night. I had no bed. +The pigs in the pen had leaves, and the horses in the stable had +straw, but the children had no beds. They lodged anywhere in the +ample kitchen. I slept, generally, in a little closet, without +even a blanket to cover me. In very cold weather. I sometimes +got down the bag in which corn<104>meal was usually carried to +the mill, and crawled into that. Sleeping there, with my head in +and feet out, I was partly protected, though not comfortable. My +feet have been so cracked with the frost, that the pen with which +I am writing might be laid in the gashes. The manner of taking +our meals at old master's, indicated but little refinement. Our +corn-meal mush, when sufficiently cooled, was placed in a large +wooden tray, or trough, like those used in making maple sugar +here in the north. This tray was set down, either on the floor +of the kitchen, or out of doors on the ground; and the children +were called, like so many pigs; and like so many pigs they would +come, and literally devour the mush--some with oyster shells, +some with pieces of shingles, and none with spoons. He that eat +fastest got most, and he that was strongest got the best place; +and few left the trough really satisfied. I was the most unlucky +of any, for Aunt Katy had no good feeling for me; and if I pushed +any of the other children, or if they told her anything +unfavorable of me, she always believed the worst, and was sure to +whip me. + +As I grew older and more thoughtful, I was more and more filled +with a sense of my wretchedness. The cruelty of Aunt Katy, the +hunger and cold I suffered, and the terrible reports of wrong and +outrage which came to my ear, together with what I almost daily +witnessed, led me, when yet but eight or nine years old, to wish +I had never been born. I used to contrast my condition with the +black-birds, in whose wild and sweet songs I fancied them so +happy! Their apparent joy only deepened the shades of my sorrow. +There are thoughtful days in the lives of children--at least +there were in mine when they grapple with all the great, primary +subjects of knowledge, and reach, in a moment, conclusions which +no subsequent experience can shake. I was just as well aware of +the unjust, unnatural and murderous character of slavery, when +nine years old, as I am now. Without any appeal to books, to +laws, or to authorities of any kind, it was enough to accept God +as a father, to regard slavery as a crime. +<105 REJOICED AT LEAVING THE PLANTATION> + +I was not ten years old when I left Col. Lloyd's plantation for +Balitmore{sic}. I left that plantation with inexpressible joy. +I never shall forget the ecstacy with which I received the +intelligence from my friend, Miss Lucretia, that my old master +had determined to let me go to Baltimore to live with Mr. Hugh +Auld, a brother to Mr. Thomas Auld, my old master's son-in-law. +I received this information about three days before my departure. +They were three of the happiest days of my childhood. I spent +the largest part of these three days in the creek, washing off +the plantation scurf, and preparing for my new home. Mrs. +Lucretia took a lively interest in getting me ready. She told me +I must get all the dead skin off my feet and knees, before I +could go to Baltimore, for the people there were very cleanly, +and would laugh at me if I looked dirty; and, besides, she was +intending to give me a pair of trowsers, which I should not put +on unless I got all the dirt off. This was a warning to which I +was bound to take heed; for the thought of owning a pair of +trowsers, was great, indeed. It was almost a sufficient motive, +not only to induce me to scrub off the _mange_ (as pig drovers +would call it) but the skin as well. So I went at it in good +earnest, working for the first time in the hope of reward. I was +greatly excited, and could hardly consent to sleep, lest I should +be left. The ties that, ordinarily, bind children to their +homes, were all severed, or they never had any existence in my +case, at least so far as the home plantation of Col. L. was +concerned. I therefore found no severe trail at the moment of my +departure, such as I had experienced when separated from my home +in Tuckahoe. My home at my old master's was charmless to me; it +was not home, but a prison to me; on parting from it, I could not +feel that I was leaving anything which I could have enjoyed by +staying. My mother was now long dead; my grandmother was far +away, so that I seldom saw her; Aunt Katy was my unrelenting +tormentor; and my two sisters and brothers, owing to our early +separation in life, and the family-destroying power of slavery, +were, comparatively, stran<106>gers to me. The fact of our +relationship was almost blotted out. I looked for _home_ +elsewhere, and was confident of finding none which I should +relish less than the one I was leaving. If, however, I found in +my new home to which I was going with such blissful +anticipations--hardship, whipping and nakedness, I had the +questionable consolation that I should not have escaped any one +of these evils by remaining under the management of Aunt Katy. +Then, too, I thought, since I had endured much in this line on +Lloyd's plantation, I could endure as much elsewhere, and +especially at Baltimore; for I had something of the feeling about +that city which is expressed in the saying, that being "hanged in +England, is better than dying a natural death in Ireland." I had +the strongest desire to see Baltimore. My cousin Tom--a boy two +or three years older than I--had been there, and though not +fluent (he stuttered immoderately) in speech, he had inspired me +with that desire, by his eloquent description of the place. Tom +was, sometimes, Capt. Auld's cabin boy; and when he came from +Baltimore, he was always a sort of hero amongst us, at least till +his Baltimore trip was forgotten. I could never tell him of +anything, or point out anything that struck me as beautiful or +powerful, but that he had seen something in Baltimore far +surpassing it. Even the great house itself, with all its +pictures within, and pillars without, he had the hardihood to say +"was nothing to Baltimore." He bought a trumpet (worth six +pence) and brought it home; told what he had seen in the windows +of stores; that he had heard shooting crackers, and seen +soldiers; that he had seen a steamboat; that there were ships in +Baltimore that could carry four such sloops as the "Sally Lloyd." +He said a great deal about the market-house; he spoke of the +bells ringing; and of many other things which roused my curiosity +very much; and, indeed, which heightened my hopes of happiness in +my new home. + +We sailed out of Miles river for Baltimore early on a Saturday +morning. I remember only the day of the week; for, at that time, +<107 ARRIVAL AT BALTIMORE>I had no knowledge of the days of the +month, nor, indeed, of the months of the year. On setting sail, +I walked aft, and gave to Col. Lloyd's plantation what I hoped +would be the last look I should ever give to it, or to any place +like it. My strong aversion to the great farm, was not owing to +my own personal suffering, but the daily suffering of others, and +to the certainty that I must, sooner or later, be placed under +the barbarous rule of an overseer, such as the accomplished Gore, +or the brutal and drunken Plummer. After taking this last view, +I quitted the quarter deck, made my way to the bow of the sloop, +and spent the remainder of the day in looking ahead; interesting +myself in what was in the distance, rather than what was near by +or behind. The vessels, sweeping along the bay, were very +interesting objects. The broad bay opened like a shoreless ocean +on my boyish vision, filling me with wonder and admiration. + +Late in the afternoon, we reached Annapolis, the capital of the +state, stopping there not long enough to admit of my going +ashore. It was the first large town I had ever seen; and though +it was inferior to many a factory village in New England, my +feelings, on seeing it, were excited to a pitch very little below +that reached by travelers at the first view of Rome. The dome of +the state house was especially imposing, and surpassed in +grandeur the appearance of the great house. The great world was +opening upon me very rapidly, and I was eagerly acquainting +myself with its multifarious lessons. + +We arrived in Baltimore on Sunday morning, and landed at Smith's +wharf, not far from Bowly's wharf. We had on board the sloop a +large flock of sheep, for the Baltimore market; and, after +assisting in driving them to the slaughter house of Mr. Curtis, +on Loudon Slater's Hill, I was speedily conducted by Rich--one of +the hands belonging to the sloop--to my new home in Alliciana +street, near Gardiner's ship-yard, on Fell's Point. Mr. and Mrs. +Hugh Auld, my new mistress and master, were both at home, and met +me at the door with their rosy cheeked little son, Thomas, +<108>to take care of whom was to constitute my future occupation. +In fact, it was to "little Tommy," rather than to his parents, +that old master made a present of me; and though there was no +_legal_ form or arrangement entered into, I have no doubt that +Mr. and Mrs. Auld felt that, in due time, I should be the legal +property of their bright-eyed and beloved boy, Tommy. I was +struck with the appearance, especially, of my new mistress. Her +face was lighted with the kindliest emotions; and the reflex +influence of her countenance, as well as the tenderness with +which she seemed to regard me, while asking me sundry little +questions, greatly delighted me, and lit up, to my fancy, the +pathway of my future. Miss Lucretia was kind; but my new +mistress, "Miss Sophy," surpassed her in kindness of manner. +Little Thomas was affectionately told by his mother, that _"there +was his Freddy,"_ and that "Freddy would take care of him;" and I +was told to "be kind to little Tommy"--an injunction I scarcely +needed, for I had already fallen in love with the dear boy; and +with these little ceremonies I was initiated into my new home, +and entered upon my peculiar duties, with not a cloud above the +horizon. + +I may say here, that I regard my removal from Col. Lloyd's +plantation as one of the most interesting and fortunate events of +my life. Viewing it in the light of human likelihoods, it is +quite probable that, but for the mere circumstance of being thus +removed before the rigors of slavery had fastened upon me; before +my young spirit had been crushed under the iron control of the +slave-driver, instead of being, today, a FREEMAN, I might have +been wearing the galling chains of slavery. I have sometimes +felt, however, that there was something more intelligent than +_chance_, and something more certain than _luck_, to be seen in +the circumstance. If I have made any progress in knowledge; if I +have cherished any honorable aspirations, or have, in any manner, +worthily discharged the duties of a member of an oppressed +people; this little circumstance must be allowed its due weight +<109 A TURNING POINT IN MY HISTORY>in giving my life that +direction. I have ever regarded it as the first plain +manifestation of that + + _Divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough hew them as we will_. + + +I was not the only boy on the plantation that might have been +sent to live in Baltimore. There was a wide margin from which to +select. There were boys younger, boys older, and boys of the +same age, belonging to my old master some at his own house, and +some at his farm--but the high privilege fell to my lot. + +I may be deemed superstitious and egotistical, in regarding this +event as a special interposition of Divine Providence in my +favor; but the thought is a part of my history, and I should be +false to the earliest and most cherished sentiments of my soul, +if I suppressed, or hesitated to avow that opinion, although it +may be characterized as irrational by the wise, and ridiculous by +the scoffer. From my earliest recollections of serious matters, +I date the entertainment of something like an ineffaceable +conviction, that slavery would not always be able to hold me +within its foul embrace; and this conviction, like a word of +living faith, strengthened me through the darkest trials of my +lot. This good spirit was from God; and to him I offer +thanksgiving and praise. + + +CHAPTER X +_Life in Baltimore_ + +CITY ANNOYANCES--PLANTATION REGRETS--MY MISTRESS, MISS SOPHA--HER +HISTORY--HER KINDNESS TO ME--MY MASTER, HUGH AULD--HIS SOURNESS-- +MY INCREASED SENSITIVENESS--MY COMFORTS--MY OCCUPATION--THE +BANEFUL EFFECTS OF SLAVEHOLDING ON MY DEAR AND GOOD MISTRESS--HOW +SHE COMMENCED TEACHING ME TO READ--WHY SHE CEASED TEACHING ME-- +CLOUDS GATHERING OVER MY BRIGHT PROSPECTS--MASTER AULD'S +EXPOSITION OF THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY OF SLAVERY--CITY SLAVES-- +PLANTATION SLAVES--THE CONTRAST--EXCEPTIONS--MR. HAMILTON'S TWO +SLAVES, HENRIETTA AND MARY--MRS. HAMILTON'S CRUEL TREATMENT OF +THEM--THE PITEOUS ASPECT THEY PRESENTED--NO POWER MUST COME +BETWEEN THE SLAVE AND THE SLAVEHOLDER. + + +Once in Baltimore, with hard brick pavements under my feet, which +almost raised blisters, by their very heat, for it was in the +height of summer; walled in on all sides by towering brick +buildings; with troops of hostile boys ready to pounce upon me at +every street corner; with new and strange objects glaring upon me +at every step, and with startling sounds reaching my ears from +all directions, I for a time thought that, after all, the home +plantation was a more desirable place of residence than my home +on Alliciana street, in Baltimore. My country eyes and ears were +confused and bewildered here; but the boys were my chief trouble. +They chased me, and called me _"Eastern Shore man,"_ till really +I almost wished myself back on the Eastern Shore. I had to +undergo a sort of moral acclimation, and when that was over, I +did much better. My new mistress happily proved to be all she +_seemed_ to be, when, with her husband, she met me at <111 +KINDNESS OF MY NEW MISTRESS>the door, with a most beaming, +benignant countenance. She was, naturally, of an excellent +disposition, kind, gentle and cheerful. The supercilious +contempt for the rights and feelings of the slave, and the +petulance and bad humor which generally characterize slaveholding +ladies, were all quite absent from kind "Miss" Sophia's manner +and bearing toward me. She had, in truth, never been a +slaveholder, but had--a thing quite unusual in the south-- +depended almost entirely upon her own industry for a living. To +this fact the dear lady, no doubt, owed the excellent +preservation of her natural goodness of heart, for slavery can +change a saint into a sinner, and an angel into a demon. I +hardly knew how to behave toward "Miss Sopha," as I used to call +Mrs. Hugh Auld. I had been treated as a _pig_ on the plantation; +I was treated as a _child_ now. I could not even approach her as +I had formerly approached Mrs. Thomas Auld. How could I hang +down my head, and speak with bated breath, when there was no +pride to scorn me, no coldness to repel me, and no hatred to +inspire me with fear? I therefore soon learned to regard her as +something more akin to a mother, than a slaveholding mistress. +The crouching servility of a slave, usually so acceptable a +quality to the haughty slaveholder, was not understood nor +desired by this gentle woman. So far from deeming it impudent in +a slave to look her straight in the face, as some slaveholding +ladies do, she seemed ever to say, "look up, child; don't be +afraid; see, I am full of kindness and good will toward you." +The hands belonging to Col. Lloyd's sloop, esteemed it a great +privilege to be the bearers of parcels or messages to my new +mistress; for whenever they came, they were sure of a most kind +and pleasant reception. If little Thomas was her son, and her +most dearly beloved child, she, for a time, at least, made me +something like his half-brother in her affections. If dear Tommy +was exalted to a place on his mother's knee, "Feddy" was honored +by a place at his mother's side. Nor did he lack the caressing +strokes of her gentle hand, to convince him that, though +_motherless_, he was not _friendless_. Mrs. Auld <112>was not +only a kind-hearted woman, but she was remarkably pious; frequent +in her attendance of public worship, much given to reading the +bible, and to chanting hymns of praise, when alone. Mr. Hugh +Auld was altogether a different character. He cared very little +about religion, knew more of the world, and was more of the +world, than his wife. He set out, doubtless to be--as the world +goes--a respectable man, and to get on by becoming a successful +ship builder, in that city of ship building. This was his +ambition, and it fully occupied him. I was, of course, of very +little consequence to him, compared with what I was to good Mrs. +Auld; and, when he smiled upon me, as he sometimes did, the smile +was borrowed from his lovely wife, and, like all borrowed light, +was transient, and vanished with the source whence it was +derived. While I must characterize Master Hugh as being a very +sour man, and of forbidding appearance, it is due to him to +acknowledge, that he was never very cruel to me, according to the +notion of cruelty in Maryland. The first year or two which I +spent in his house, he left me almost exclusively to the +management of his wife. She was my law-giver. In hands so +tender as hers, and in the absence of the cruelties of the +plantation, I became, both physically and mentally, much more +sensitive to good and ill treatment; and, perhaps, suffered more +from a frown from my mistress, than I formerly did from a cuff at +the hands of Aunt Katy. Instead of the cold, damp floor of my +old master's kitchen, I found myself on carpets; for the corn bag +in winter, I now had a good straw bed, well furnished with +covers; for the coarse corn-meal in the morning, I now had good +bread, and mush occasionally; for my poor tow-lien shirt, +reaching to my knees, I had good, clean clothes. I was really +well off. My employment was to run errands, and to take care of +Tommy; to prevent his getting in the way of carriages, and to +keep him out of harm's way generally. Tommy, and I, and his +mother, got on swimmingly together, for a time. I say _for a +time_, because the fatal poison of irresponsible power, and the +natural influence <113 LEARNING TO READ>of slavery customs, were +not long in making a suitable impression on the gentle and loving +disposition of my excellent mistress. At first, Mrs. Auld +evidently regarded me simply as a child, like any other child; +she had not come to regard me as _property_. This latter thought +was a thing of conventional growth. The first was natural and +spontaneous. A noble nature, like hers, could not, instantly, be +wholly perverted; and it took several years to change the natural +sweetness of her temper into fretful bitterness. In her worst +estate, however, there were, during the first seven years I lived +with her, occasional returns of her former kindly disposition. + +The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the bible for she +often read aloud when her husband was absent soon awakened my +curiosity in respect to this _mystery_ of reading, and roused in +me the desire to learn. Having no fear of my kind mistress +before my eyes, (she had then given me no reason to fear,) I +frankly asked her to teach me to read; and, without hesitation, +the dear woman began the task, and very soon, by her assistance, +I was master of the alphabet, and could spell words of three or +four letters. My mistress seemed almost as proud of my progress, +as if I had been her own child; and, supposing that her husband +would be as well pleased, she made no secret of what she was +doing for me. Indeed, she exultingly told him of the aptness of +her pupil, of her intention to persevere in teaching me, and of +the duty which she felt it to teach me, at least to read _the +bible_. Here arose the first cloud over my Baltimore prospects, +the precursor of drenching rains and chilling blasts. + +Master Hugh was amazed at the simplicity of his spouse, and, +probably for the first time, he unfolded to her the true +philosophy of slavery, and the peculiar rules necessary to be +observed by masters and mistresses, in the management of their +human chattels. Mr. Auld promptly forbade continuance of her +instruction; telling her, in the first place, that the thing +itself was unlawful; that it was also unsafe, and could only lead +to mischief. To use <114>his own words, further, he said, "if +you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell;" "he should know +nothing but the will of his master, and learn to obey it." "if +you teach that nigger--speaking of myself--how to read the bible, +there will be no keeping him;" "it would forever unfit him for +the duties of a slave;" and "as to himself, learning would do him +no good, but probably, a great deal of harm--making him +disconsolate and unhappy." "If you learn him now to read, he'll +want to know how to write; and, this accomplished, he'll be +running away with himself." Such was the tenor of Master Hugh's +oracular exposition of the true philosophy of training a human +chattel; and it must be confessed that he very clearly +comprehended the nature and the requirements of the relation of +master and slave. His discourse was the first decidedly anti- +slavery lecture to which it had been my lot to listen. Mrs. Auld +evidently felt the force of his remarks; and, like an obedient +wife, began to shape her course in the direction indicated by her +husband. The effect of his words, _on me_, was neither slight +nor transitory. His iron sentences--cold and harsh--sunk deep +into my heart, and stirred up not only my feelings into a sort of +rebellion, but awakened within me a slumbering train of vital +thought. It was a new and special revelation, dispelling a +painful mystery, against which my youthful understanding had +struggled, and struggled in vain, to wit: the _white_ man's power +to perpetuate the enslavement of the _black_ man. "Very well," +thought I; "knowledge unfits a child to be a slave." I +instinctively assented to the proposition; and from that moment I +understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom. This was +just what I needed; and I got it at a time, and from a source, +whence I least expected it. I was saddened at the thought of +losing the assistance of my kind mistress; but the information, +so instantly derived, to some extent compensated me for the loss +I had sustained in this direction. Wise as Mr. Auld was, he +evidently underrated my comprehension, and had little idea of the +use to which I was capable of putting <115 CITY SLAVES AND +COUNTRYSLAVES>the impressive lesson he was giving to his wife. +_He_ wanted me to be _a slave;_ I had already voted against that +on the home plantation of Col. Lloyd. That which he most loved I +most hated; and the very determination which he expressed to keep +me in ignorance, only rendered me the more resolute in seeking +intelligence. In learning to read, therefore, I am not sure that +I do not owe quite as much to the opposition of my master, as to +the kindly assistance of my amiable mistress. I acknowledge the +benefit rendered me by the one, and by the other; believing, that +but for my mistress, I might have grown up in ignorance. + +I had resided but a short time in Baltimore, before I observed a +marked difference in the manner of treating slaves, generally, +from which I had witnessed in that isolated and out-of-the-way +part of the country where I began life. A city slave is almost a +free citizen, in Baltimore, compared with a slave on Col. Lloyd's +plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, is less dejected +in his appearance, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to +the whip-driven slave on the plantation. Slavery dislikes a +dense population, in which there is a majority of non- +slaveholders. The general sense of decency that must pervade +such a population, does much to check and prevent those outbreaks +of atrocious cruelty, and those dark crimes without a name, +almost openly perpetrated on the plantation. He is a desperate +slaveholder who will shock the humanity of his non-slaveholding +neighbors, by the cries of the lacerated slaves; and very few in +the city are willing to incur the odium of being cruel masters. +I found, in Baltimore, that no man was more odious to the white, +as well as to the colored people, than he, who had the reputation +of starving his slaves. Work them, flog them, if need be, but +don't starve them. These are, however, some painful exceptions +to this rule. While it is quite true that most of the +slaveholders in Baltimore feed and clothe their slaves well, +there are others who keep up their country cruelties in the city. + +An instance of this sort is furnished in the case of a family +<116>who lived directly opposite to our house, and were named +Hamilton. Mrs. Hamilton owned two slaves. Their names were +Henrietta and Mary. They had always been house slaves. One was +aged about twenty-two, and the other about fourteen. They were a +fragile couple by nature, and the treatment they received was +enough to break down the constitution of a horse. Of all the +dejected, emaciated, mangled and excoriated creatures I ever saw, +those two girls--in the refined, church going and Christian city +of Baltimore were the most deplorable. Of stone must that heart +be made, that could look upon Henrietta and Mary, without being +sickened to the core with sadness. Especially was Mary a heart- +sickening object. Her head, neck and shoulders, were literally +cut to pieces. I have frequently felt her head, and found it +nearly covered over with festering sores, caused by the lash of +her cruel mistress. I do not know that her master ever whipped +her, but I have often been an eye witness of the revolting and +brutal inflictions by Mrs. Hamilton; and what lends a deeper +shade to this woman's conduct, is the fact, that, almost in the +very moments of her shocking outrages of humanity and decency, +she would charm you by the sweetness of her voice and her seeming +piety. She used to sit in a large rocking chair, near the middle +of the room, with a heavy cowskin, such as I have elsewhere +described; and I speak within the truth when I say, that these +girls seldom passed that chair, during the day, without a blow +from that cowskin, either upon their bare arms, or upon their +shoulders. As they passed her, she would draw her cowskin and +give them a blow, saying, _"move faster, you black jip!"_ and, +again, _"take that, you black jip!"_ continuing, _"if you don't +move faster, I will give you more."_ Then the lady would go on, +singing her sweet hymns, as though her _righteous_ soul were +sighing for the holy realms of paradise. + +Added to the cruel lashings to which these poor slave-girls were +subjected--enough in themselves to crush the spirit of men--they +were, really, kept nearly half starved; they seldom knew <117 +MRS. HAMILTON'S CRUELTY TO HER SLAVES>what it was to eat a full +meal, except when they got it in the kitchens of neighbors, less +mean and stingy than the psalm-singing Mrs. Hamilton. I have +seen poor Mary contending for the offal, with the pigs in the +street. So much was the poor girl pinched, kicked, cut and +pecked to pieces, that the boys in the street knew her only by +the name of _"pecked,"_ a name derived from the scars and +blotches on her neck, head and shoulders. + +It is some relief to this picture of slavery in Baltimore, to +say--what is but the simple truth--that Mrs. Hamilton's treatment +of her slaves was generally condemned, as disgraceful and +shocking; but while I say this, it must also be remembered, that +the very parties who censured the cruelty of Mrs. Hamilton, would +have condemned and promptly punished any attempt to interfere +with Mrs. Hamilton's _right_ to cut and slash her slaves to +pieces. There must be no force between the slave and the +slaveholder, to restrain the power of the one, and protect the +weakness of the other; and the cruelty of Mrs. Hamilton is as +justly chargeable to the upholders of the slave system, as +drunkenness is chargeable on those who, by precept and example, +or by indifference, uphold the drinking system. + + + +CHAPTER XI +_"A Change Came O'er the Spirit of My Dream"_ + +HOW I LEARNED TO READ--MY MISTRESS--HER SLAVEHOLDING DUTIES-- +THEIR DEPLORABLE EFFECTS UPON HER ORIGINALLY NOBLE NATURE--THE +CONFLICT IN HER MIND--HER FINAL OPPOSITION TO MY LEARNING TO +READ--TOO LATE--SHE HAD GIVEN ME THE INCH, I WAS RESOLVED TO TAKE +THE ELL--HOW I PURSUED MY EDUCATION--MY TUTORS--HOW I COMPENSATED +THEM--WHAT PROGRESS I MADE--SLAVERY--WHAT I HEARD SAID ABOUT IT-- +THIRTEEN YEARS OLD--THE _Columbian Orator_--A RICH SCENE--A +DIALOGUE--SPEECHES OF CHATHAM, SHERIDAN, PITT AND FOX--KNOWLEDGE +EVER INCREASING--MY EYES OPENED--LIBERTY--HOW I PINED FOR IT--MY +SADNESS--THE DISSATISFACTION OF MY POOR MISTRESS--MY HATRED OF +SLAVERY--ONE UPAS TREE OVERSHADOWED US BOTH. + + +I lived in the family of Master Hugh, at Baltimore, seven years, +during which time--as the almanac makers say of the weather--my +condition was variable. The most interesting feature of my +history here, was my learning to read and write, under somewhat +marked disadvantages. In attaining this knowledge, I was +compelled to resort to indirections by no means congenial to my +nature, and which were really humiliating to me. My mistress-- +who, as the reader has already seen, had begun to teach me was +suddenly checked in her benevolent design, by the strong advice +of her husband. In faithful compliance with this advice, the +good lady had not only ceased to instruct me, herself, but had +set her face as a flint against my learning to read by any means. +It is due, however, to my mistress to say, that she did not adopt +this course in all its stringency at the first. She either +thought it unnecessary, or she lacked the depravity indispensable +to shutting me up in <119 EFFECTS OF SLAVEHOLDING ON MY +MISTRESS>mental darkness. It was, at least, necessary for her to +have some training, and some hardening, in the exercise of the +slaveholder's prerogative, to make her equal to forgetting my +human nature and character, and to treating me as a thing +destitute of a moral or an intellectual nature. Mrs. Auld--my +mistress--was, as I have said, a most kind and tender-hearted +woman; and, in the humanity of her heart, and the simplicity of +her mind, she set out, when I first went to live with her, to +treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another. + +It is easy to see, that, in entering upon the duties of a +slaveholder, some little experience is needed. Nature has done +almost nothing to prepare men and women to be either slaves or +slaveholders. Nothing but rigid training, long persisted in, can +perfect the character of the one or the other. One cannot easily +forget to love freedom; and it is as hard to cease to respect +that natural love in our fellow creatures. On entering upon the +career of a slaveholding mistress, Mrs. Auld was singularly +deficient; nature, which fits nobody for such an office, had done +less for her than any lady I had known. It was no easy matter to +induce her to think and to feel that the curly-headed boy, who +stood by her side, and even leaned on her lap; who was loved by +little Tommy, and who loved little Tommy in turn; sustained to +her only the relation of a chattel. I was _more_ than that, and +she felt me to be more than that. I could talk and sing; I could +laugh and weep; I could reason and remember; I could love and +hate. I was human, and she, dear lady, knew and felt me to be +so. How could she, then, treat me as a brute, without a mighty +struggle with all the noble powers of her own soul. That +struggle came, and the will and power of the husband was +victorious. Her noble soul was overthrown; but, he that +overthrew it did not, himself, escape the consequences. He, not +less than the other parties, was injured in his domestic peace by +the fall. + +When I went into their family, it was the abode of happiness and +contentment. The mistress of the house was a model of +affec<120>tion and tenderness. Her fervent piety and watchful +uprightness made it impossible to see her without thinking and +feeling--"_that woman is a Christian_." There was no sorrow nor +suffering for which she had not a tear, and there was no innocent +joy for which she did not a smile. She had bread for the hungry, +clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came +within her reach. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her +of these excellent qualities, and her home of its early +happiness. Conscience cannot stand much violence. Once +thoroughly broken down, _who_ is he that can repair the damage? +It may be broken toward the slave, on Sunday, and toward the +master on Monday. It cannot endure such shocks. It must stand +entire, or it does not stand at all. If my condition waxed bad, +that of the family waxed not better. The first step, in the +wrong direction, was the violence done to nature and to +conscience, in arresting the benevolence that would have +enlightened my young mind. In ceasing to instruct me, she must +begin to justify herself _to_ herself; and, once consenting to +take sides in such a debate, she was riveted to her position. +One needs very little knowledge of moral philosophy, to see +_where_ my mistress now landed. She finally became even more +violent in her opposition to my learning to read, than was her +husband himself. She was not satisfied with simply doing as +_well_ as her husband had commanded her, but seemed resolved to +better his instruction. Nothing appeared to make my poor +mistress--after her turning toward the downward path--more angry, +than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner, quietly reading a +book or a newspaper. I have had her rush at me, with the utmost +fury, and snatch from my hand such newspaper or book, with +something of the wrath and consternation which a traitor might be +supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some dangerous +spy. + +Mrs. Auld was an apt woman, and the advice of her husband, and +her own experience, soon demonstrated, to her entire +satisfaction, that education and slavery are incompatible with +each other. When this conviction was thoroughly established, I +was <121 HOW I PURSUED MY EDUCATION>most narrowly watched in all +my movements. If I remained in a separate room from the family +for any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected +of having a book, and was at once called upon to give an account +of myself. All this, however, was entirely _too late_. The +first, and never to be retraced, step had been taken. In +teaching me the alphabet, in the days of her simplicity and +kindness, my mistress had given me the _"inch,"_ and now, no +ordinary precaution could prevent me from taking the _"ell."_ + +Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit +upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea +which I mainly adopted, and the one by which I was most +successful, was that of using my young white playmates, with whom +I met in the streets as teachers. I used to carry, almost +constantly, a copy of Webster's spelling book in my pocket; and, +when sent of errands, or when play time was allowed me, I would +step, with my young friends, aside, and take a lesson in +spelling. I generally paid my _tuition fee_ to the boys, with +bread, which I also carried in my pocket. For a single biscuit, +any of my hungry little comrades would give me a lesson more +valuable to me than bread. Not every one, however, demanded this +consideration, for there were those who took pleasure in teaching +me, whenever I had a chance to be taught by them. I am strongly +tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, +as a slight testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear +them, but prudence forbids; not that it would injure me, but it +might, possibly, embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable +offense to do any thing, directly or indirectly, to promote a +slave's freedom, in a slave state. It is enough to say, of my +warm-hearted little play fellows, that they lived on Philpot +street, very near Durgin & Bailey's shipyard. + +Although slavery was a delicate subject, and very cautiously +talked about among grown up people in Maryland, I frequently +talked about it--and that very freely--with the white boys. I +<122>would, sometimes, say to them, while seated on a curb stone +or a cellar door, "I wish I could be free, as you will be when +you get to be men." "You will be free, you know, as soon as you +are twenty-one, and can go where you like, but I am a slave for +life. Have I not as good a right to be free as you have?" Words +like these, I observed, always troubled them; and I had no small +satisfaction in wringing from the boys, occasionally, that fresh +and bitter condemnation of slavery, that springs from nature, +unseared and unperverted. Of all consciences let me have those +to deal with which have not been bewildered by the cares of life. +I do not remember ever to have met with a _boy_, while I was in +slavery, who defended the slave system; but I have often had boys +to console me, with the hope that something would yet occur, by +which I might be made free. Over and over again, they have told +me, that "they believed I had as good a right to be free as +_they_ had;" and that "they did not believe God ever made any one +to be a slave." The reader will easily see, that such little +conversations with my play fellows, had no tendency to weaken my +love of liberty, nor to render me contented with my condition as +a slave. + +When I was about thirteen years old, and had succeeded in +learning to read, every increase of knowledge, especially +respecting the FREE STATES, added something to the almost +intolerable burden of the thought--I AM A SLAVE FOR LIFE. To my +bondage I saw no end. It was a terrible reality, and I shall +never be able to tell how sadly that thought chafed my young +spirit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, about this time in my +life, I had made enough money to buy what was then a very popular +school book, viz: the _Columbian Orator_. I bought this addition +to my library, of Mr. Knight, on Thames street, Fell's Point, +Baltimore, and paid him fifty cents for it. I was first led to +buy this book, by hearing some little boys say they were going to +learn some little pieces out of it for the Exhibition. This +volume was, indeed, a rich treasure, and every opportunity +afforded me, for <123 _The Columbian Orator_--A DIALOGUE>a time, +was spent in diligently perusing it. Among much other +interesting matter, that which I had perused and reperused with +unflagging satisfaction, was a short dialogue between a master +and his slave. The slave is represented as having been +recaptured, in a second attempt to run away; and the master opens +the dialogue with an upbraiding speech, charging the slave with +ingratitude, and demanding to know what he has to say in his own +defense. Thus upbraided, and thus called upon to reply, the +slave rejoins, that he knows how little anything that he can say +will avail, seeing that he is completely in the hands of his +owner; and with noble resolution, calmly says, "I submit to my +fate." Touched by the slave's answer, the master insists upon +his further speaking, and recapitulates the many acts of kindness +which he has performed toward the slave, and tells him he is +permitted to speak for himself. Thus invited to the debate, the +quondam slave made a spirited defense of himself, and thereafter +the whole argument, for and against slavery, was brought out. +The master was vanquished at every turn in the argument; and +seeing himself to be thus vanquished, he generously and meekly +emancipates the slave, with his best wishes for his prosperity. +It is scarcely neccessary{sic} to say, that a dialogue, with such +an origin, and such an ending--read when the fact of my being a +slave was a constant burden of grief--powerfully affected me; and +I could not help feeling that the day might come, when the well- +directed answers made by the slave to the master, in this +instance, would find their counterpart in myself. + +This, however, was not all the fanaticism which I found in this +_Columbian Orator_. I met there one of Sheridan's mighty +speeches, on the subject of Catholic Emancipation, Lord Chatham's +speech on the American war, and speeches by the great William +Pitt and by Fox. These were all choice documents to me, and I +read them, over and over again, with an interest that was ever +increasing, because it was ever gaining in intelligence; for the +more I read them, the better I understood them. The reading of +<124>these speeches added much to my limited stock of language, +and enabled me to give tongue to many interesting thoughts, which +had frequently flashed through my soul, and died away for want of +utterance. The mighty power and heart-searching directness of +truth, penetrating even the heart of a slaveholder, compelling +him to yield up his earthly interests to the claims of eternal +justice, were finely illustrated in the dialogue, just referred +to; and from the speeches of Sheridan, I got a bold and powerful +denunciation of oppression, and a most brilliant vindication of +the rights of man. Here was, indeed, a noble acquisition. If I +ever wavered under the consideration, that the Almighty, in some +way, ordained slavery, and willed my enslavement for his own +glory, I wavered no longer. I had now penetrated the secret of +all slavery and oppression, and had ascertained their true +foundation to be in the pride, the power and the avarice of man. +The dialogue and the speeches were all redolent of the principles +of liberty, and poured floods of light on the nature and +character of slavery. With a book of this kind in my hand, my +own human nature, and the facts of my experience, to help me, I +was equal to a contest with the religious advocates of slavery, +whether among the whites or among the colored people, for +blindness, in this matter, is not confined to the former. I have +met many religious colored people, at the south, who are under +the delusion that God requires them to submit to slavery, and to +wear their chains with meekness and humility. I could entertain +no such nonsense as this; and I almost lost my patience when I +found any colored man weak enough to believe such stuff. +Nevertheless, the increase of knowledge was attended with bitter, +as well as sweet results. The more I read, the more I was led to +abhor and detest slavery, and my enslavers. "Slaveholders," +thought I, "are only a band of successful robbers, who left their +homes and went into Africa for the purpose of stealing and +reducing my people to slavery." I loathed them as the meanest +and the most wicked of men. As I read, behold! the very +discontent so graphically pre<125 MY EYES OPENED>dicted by Master +Hugh, had already come upon me. I was no longer the light- +hearted, gleesome boy, full of mirth and play, as when I landed +first at Baltimore. Knowledge had come; light had penetrated the +moral dungeon where I dwelt; and, behold! there lay the bloody +whip, for my back, and here was the iron chain; and my good, +_kind master_, he was the author of my situation. The revelation +haunted me, stung me, and made me gloomy and miserable. As I +writhed under the sting and torment of this knowledge, I almost +envied my fellow slaves their stupid contentment. This knowledge +opened my eyes to the horrible pit, and revealed the teeth of the +frightful dragon that was ready to pounce upon me, but it opened +no way for my escape. I have often wished myself a beast, or a +bird--anything, rather than a slave. I was wretched and gloomy, +beyond my ability to describe. I was too thoughtful to be happy. +It was this everlasting thinking which distressed and tormented +me; and yet there was no getting rid of the subject of my +thoughts. All nature was redolent of it. Once awakened by the +silver trump of knowledge, my spirit was roused to eternal +wakefulness. Liberty! the inestimable birthright of every man, +had, for me, converted every object into an asserter of this +great right. It was heard in every sound, and beheld in every +object. It was ever present, to torment me with a sense of my +wretched condition. The more beautiful and charming were the +smiles of nature, the more horrible and desolate was my +condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, and I heard nothing +without hearing it. I do not exaggerate, when I say, that it +looked from every star, smiled in every calm, breathed in every +wind, and moved in every storm. + +I have no doubt that my state of mind had something to do with +the change in the treatment adopted, by my once kind mistress +toward me. I can easily believe, that my leaden, downcast, and +discontented look, was very offensive to her. Poor lady! She +did not know my trouble, and I dared not tell her. Could I have +freely made her acquainted with the real state of my mind, and +<126>given her the reasons therefor, it might have been well for +both of us. Her abuse of me fell upon me like the blows of the +false prophet upon his ass; she did not know that an _angel_ +stood in the way; and--such is the relation of master and slave I +could not tell her. Nature had made us _friends;_ slavery made +us _enemies_. My interests were in a direction opposite to hers, +and we both had our private thoughts and plans. She aimed to +keep me ignorant; and I resolved to know, although knowledge only +increased my discontent. My feelings were not the result of any +marked cruelty in the treatment I received; they sprung from the +consideration of my being a slave at all. It was _slavery_--not +its mere _incidents_--that I hated. I had been cheated. I saw +through the attempt to keep me in ignorance; I saw that +slaveholders would have gladly made me believe that they were +merely acting under the authority of God, in making a slave of +me, and in making slaves of others; and I treated them as robbers +and deceivers. The feeding and clothing me well, could not atone +for taking my liberty from me. The smiles of my mistress could +not remove the deep sorrow that dwelt in my young bosom. Indeed, +these, in time, came only to deepen my sorrow. She had changed; +and the reader will see that I had changed, too. We were both +victims to the same overshadowing evil--_she_, as mistress, I, as +slave. I will not censure her harshly; she cannot censure me, +for she knows I speak but the truth, and have acted in my +opposition to slavery, just as she herself would have acted, in a +reverse of circumstances. + + + +CHAPTER XII +_Religious Nature Awakened_ + +ABOLITIONISTS SPOKEN OF--MY EAGERNESS TO KNOW WHAT THIS WORD +MEANT--MY CONSULTATION OF THE DICTIONARY--INCENDIARY +INFORMATION--HOW AND WHERE DERIVED--THE ENIGMA SOLVED--NATHANIEL +TURNER'S INSURRECTION--THE CHOLERA--RELIGION--FIRST AWAKENED BY A +METHODIST MINISTER NAMED HANSON--MY DEAR AND GOOD OLD COLORED +FRIEND, LAWSON--HIS CHARACTER AND OCCUPATION--HIS INFLUENCE OVER +ME--OUR MUTUAL ATTACHMENT--THE COMFORT I DERIVED FROM HIS +TEACHING--NEW HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS--HEAVENLY LIGHT AMIDST +EARTHLY DARKNESS--THE TWO IRISHMEN ON THE WHARF--THEIR +CONVERSATION--HOW I LEARNED TO WRITE--WHAT WERE MY AIMS. + + +Whilst in the painful state of mind described in the foregoing +chapter, almost regretting my very existence, because doomed to a +life of bondage, so goaded and so wretched, at times, that I was +even tempted to destroy my own life, I was keenly sensitive and +eager to know any, and every thing that transpired, having any +relation to the subject of slavery. I was all ears, all eyes, +whenever the words _slave, slavery_, dropped from the lips of any +white person, and the occasions were not unfrequent when these +words became leading ones, in high, social debate, at our house. +Every little while, I could hear Master Hugh, or some of his +company, speaking with much warmth and excitement about +_"abolitionists."_ Of _who_ or _what_ these were, I was totally +ignorant. I found, however, that whatever they might be, they +were most cordially hated and soundly abused by slaveholders, of +every grade. I very soon discovered, too, that slavery was, in +some <128>sort, under consideration, whenever the abolitionists +were alluded to. This made the term a very interesting one to +me. If a slave, for instance, had made good his escape from +slavery, it was generally alleged, that he had been persuaded and +assisted by the abolitionists. If, also, a slave killed his +master--as was sometimes the case--or struck down his overseer, +or set fire to his master's dwelling, or committed any violence +or crime, out of the common way, it was certain to be said, that +such a crime was the legitimate fruits of the abolition movement. +Hearing such charges often repeated, I, naturally enough, +received the impression that abolition--whatever else it might +be--could not be unfriendly to the slave, nor very friendly to +the slaveholder. I therefore set about finding out, if possible, +_who_ and _what_ the abolitionists were, and _why_ they were so +obnoxious to the slaveholders. The dictionary afforded me very +little help. It taught me that abolition was the "act of +abolishing;" but it left me in ignorance at the very point where +I most wanted information--and that was, as to the _thing_ to be +abolished. A city newspaper, the _Baltimore American_, gave me +the incendiary information denied me by the dictionary. In its +columns I found, that, on a certain day, a vast number of +petitions and memorials had been presented to congress, praying +for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and for +the abolition of the slave trade between the states of the Union. +This was enough. The vindictive bitterness, the marked caution, +the studied reverse, and the cumbrous ambiguity, practiced by our +white folks, when alluding to this subject, was now fully +explained. Ever, after that, when I heard the words "abolition," +or "abolition movement," mentioned, I felt the matter one of a +personal concern; and I drew near to listen, when I could do so, +without seeming too solicitous and prying. There was HOPE in +those words. Ever and anon, too, I could see some terrible +denunciation of slavery, in our papers--copied from abolition +papers at the north--and the injustice of such denunciation +commented on. These I read with avidity. <129 ABOLITIONISM--THE +ENIGMA SOLVED>I had a deep satisfaction in the thought, that the +rascality of slaveholders was not concealed from the eyes of the +world, and that I was not alone in abhorring the cruelty and +brutality of slavery. A still deeper train of thought was +stirred. I saw that there was _fear_, as well as _rage_, in the +manner of speaking of the abolitionists. The latter, therefore, +I was compelled to regard as having some power in the country; +and I felt that they might, possibly, succeed in their designs. +When I met with a slave to whom I deemed it safe to talk on the +subject, I would impart to him so much of the mystery as I had +been able to penetrate. Thus, the light of this grand movement +broke in upon my mind, by degrees; and I must say, that, ignorant +as I then was of the philosophy of that movement, I believe in it +from the first--and I believed in it, partly, because I saw that +it alarmed the consciences of slaveholders. The insurrection of +Nathaniel Turner had been quelled, but the alarm and terror had +not subsided. The cholera was on its way, and the thought was +present, that God was angry with the white people because of +their slaveholding wickedness, and, therefore, his judgments were +abroad in the land. It was impossible for me not to hope much +from the abolition movement, when I saw it supported by the +Almighty, and armed with DEATH! + +Previous to my contemplation of the anti-slavery movement, and +its probable results, my mind had been seriously awakened to the +subject of religion. I was not more than thirteen years old, +when I felt the need of God, as a father and protector. My +religious nature was awakened by the preaching of a white +Methodist minister, named Hanson. He thought that all men, great +and small, bond and free, were sinners in the sight of God; that +they were, by nature, rebels against His government; and that +they must repent of their sins, and be reconciled to God, through +Christ. I cannot say that I had a very distinct notion of what +was required of me; but one thing I knew very well--I was +wretched, and had no means of making myself otherwise. Moreover, +I knew that I could pray for light. I consulted a good colored +man, named <130>Charles Johnson; and, in tones of holy affection, +he told me to pray, and what to pray for. I was, for weeks, a +poor, brokenhearted mourner, traveling through the darkness and +misery of doubts and fears. I finally found that change of heart +which comes by "casting all one's care" upon God, and by having +faith in Jesus Christ, as the Redeemer, Friend, and Savior of +those who diligently seek Him. + +After this, I saw the world in a new light. I seemed to live in +a new world, surrounded by new objects, and to be animated by new +hopes and desires. I loved all mankind--slaveholders not +excepted; though I abhorred slavery more than ever. My great +concern was, now, to have the world converted. The desire for +knowledge increased, and especially did I want a thorough +acquaintance with the contents of the bible. I have gathered +scattered pages from this holy book, from the filthy street +gutters of Baltimore, and washed and dried them, that in the +moments of my leisure, I might get a word or two of wisdom from +them. While thus religiously seeking knowledge, I became +acquainted with a good old colored man, named Lawson. A more +devout man than he, I never saw. He drove a dray for Mr. James +Ramsey, the owner of a rope-walk on Fell's Point, Baltimore. +This man not only prayed three time a day, but he prayed as he +walked through the streets, at his work--on his dray everywhere. +His life was a life of prayer, and his words (when he spoke to +his friends,) were about a better world. Uncle Lawson lived near +Master Hugh's house; and, becoming deeply attached to the old +man, I went often with him to prayer-meeting, and spent much of +my leisure time with him on Sunday. The old man could read a +little, and I was a great help to him, in making out the hard +words, for I was a better reader than he. I could teach him +_"the letter,"_ but he could teach me _"the spirit;"_ and high, +refreshing times we had together, in singing, praying and +glorifying God. These meetings with Uncle Lawson went on for a +long time, without the knowledge of Master Hugh or my mistress. +Both knew, how<131 FATHER LAWSON--OUR ATTACHMENT>ever, that I had +become religious, and they seemed to respect my conscientious +piety. My mistress was still a professor of religion, and +belonged to class. Her leader was no less a person than the Rev. +Beverly Waugh, the presiding elder, and now one of the bishops of +the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Waugh was then stationed +over Wilk street church. I am careful to state these facts, that +the reader may be able to form an idea of the precise influences +which had to do with shaping and directing my mind. + +In view of the cares and anxieties incident to the life she was +then leading, and, especially, in view of the separation from +religious associations to which she was subjected, my mistress +had, as I have before stated, become lukewarm, and needed to be +looked up by her leader. This brought Mr. Waugh to our house, +and gave me an opportunity to hear him exhort and pray. But my +chief instructor, in matters of religion, was Uncle Lawson. He +was my spiritual father; and I loved him intensely, and was at +his house every chance I got. + +This pleasure was not long allowed me. Master Hugh became averse +to my going to Father Lawson's, and threatened to whip me if I +ever went there again. I now felt myself persecuted by a wicked +man; and I _would_ go to Father Lawson's, notwithstanding the +threat. The good old man had told me, that the "Lord had a great +work for me to do;" and I must prepare to do it; and that he had +been shown that I must preach the gospel. His words made a deep +impression on my mind, and I verily felt that some such work was +before me, though I could not see _how_ I should ever engage in +its performance. "The good Lord," he said, "would bring it to +pass in his own good time," and that I must go on reading and +studying the scriptures. The advice and the suggestions of Uncle +Lawson, were not without their influence upon my character and +destiny. He threw my thoughts into a channel from which they +have never entirely diverged. He fanned my already intense love +of knowledge into a flame, by assuring me that I was to be a +useful man in the world. When I would <132>say to him, "How can +these things be and what can _I_ do?" his simple reply was, +_"Trust in the Lord."_ When I told him that "I was a slave, and +a slave FOR LIFE," he said, "the Lord can make you free, my dear. +All things are possible with him, only _have faith in God."_ +"Ask, and it shall be given." "If you want liberty," said the +good old man, "ask the Lord for it, _in faith_, AND HE WILL GIVE +IT TO YOU." + +Thus assured, and cheered on, under the inspiration of hope, I +worked and prayed with a light heart, believing that my life was +under the guidance of a wisdom higher than my own. With all +other blessings sought at the mercy seat, I always prayed that +God would, of His great mercy, and in His own good time, deliver +me from my bondage. + +I went, one day, on the wharf of Mr. Waters; and seeing two +Irishmen unloading a large scow of stone, or ballast I went on +board, unasked, and helped them. When we had finished the work, +one of the men came to me, aside, and asked me a number of +questions, and among them, if I were a slave. I told him "I was +a slave, and a slave for life." The good Irishman gave his +shoulders a shrug, and seemed deeply affected by the statement. +He said, "it was a pity so fine a little fellow as myself should +be a slave for life." They both had much to say about the +matter, and expressed the deepest sympathy with me, and the most +decided hatred of slavery. They went so far as to tell me that I +ought to run away, and go to the north; that I should find +friends there, and that I would be as free as anybody. I, +however, pretended not to be interested in what they said, for I +feared they might be treacherous. White men have been known to +encourage slaves to escape, and then--to get the reward--they +have kidnapped them, and returned them to their masters. And +while I mainly inclined to the notion that these men were honest +and meant me no ill, I feared it might be otherwise. I +nevertheless remembered their words and their advice, and looked +forward to an escape to the north, as a possible means of gaining +the liberty <133 HOW I LEARNED TO WRITE>for which my heart +panted. It was not my enslavement, at the then present time, +that most affected me; the being a slave _for life_, was the +saddest thought. I was too young to think of running away +immediately; besides, I wished to learn how to write, before +going, as I might have occasion to write my own pass. I now not +only had the hope of freedom, but a foreshadowing of the means by +which I might, some day, gain that inestimable boon. Meanwhile, +I resolved to add to my educational attainments the art of +writing. + +After this manner I began to learn to write: I was much in the +ship yard--Master Hugh's, and that of Durgan & Bailey--and I +observed that the carpenters, after hewing and getting a piece of +timber ready for use, wrote on it the initials of the name of +that part of the ship for which it was intended. When, for +instance, a piece of timber was ready for the starboard side, it +was marked with a capital "S." A piece for the larboard side was +marked "L;" larboard forward, "L. F.;" larboard aft, was marked +"L. A.;" starboard aft, "S. A.;" and starboard forward "S. F." I +soon learned these letters, and for what they were placed on the +timbers. + +My work was now, to keep fire under the steam box, and to watch +the ship yard while the carpenters had gone to dinner. This +interval gave me a fine opportunity for copying the letters +named. I soon astonished myself with the ease with which I made +the letters; and the thought was soon present, "if I can make +four, I can make more." But having made these easily, when I met +boys about Bethel church, or any of our play-grounds, I entered +the lists with them in the art of writing, and would make the +letters which I had been so fortunate as to learn, and ask them +to "beat that if they could." With playmates for my teachers, +fences and pavements for my copy books, and chalk for my pen and +ink, I learned the art of writing. I, however, afterward adopted +various methods of improving my hand. The most successful, was +copying the _italics_ in Webster's spelling book, until <134>I +could make them all without looking on the book. By this time, +my little "Master Tommy" had grown to be a big boy, and had +written over a number of copy books, and brought them home. They +had been shown to the neighbors, had elicited due praise, and +were now laid carefully away. Spending my time between the ship +yard and house, I was as often the lone keeper of the latter as +of the former. When my mistress left me in charge of the house, +I had a grand time; I got Master Tommy's copy books and a pen and +ink, and, in the ample spaces between the lines, I wrote other +lines, as nearly like his as possible. The process was a tedious +one, and I ran the risk of getting a flogging for marring the +highly prized copy books of the oldest son. In addition to those +opportunities, sleeping, as I did, in the kitchen loft--a room +seldom visited by any of the family--I got a flour barrel up +there, and a chair; and upon the head of that barrel I have +written (or endeavored to write) copying from the bible and the +Methodist hymn book, and other books which had accumulated on my +hands, till late at night, and when all the family were in bed +and asleep. I was supported in my endeavors by renewed advice, +and by holy promises from the good Father Lawson, with whom I +continued to meet, and pray, and read the scriptures. Although +Master Hugh was aware of my going there, I must say, for his +credit, that he never executed his threat to whip me, for having +thus, innocently, employed-my leisure time. + + + +CHAPTER XIII +_The Vicissitudes of Slave Life_ + +DEATH OF OLD MASTER'S SON RICHARD, SPEEDILY FOLLOWED BY THAT OF +OLD MASTER--VALUATION AND DIVISION OF ALL THE PROPERTY, INCLUDING +THE SLAVES--MY PRESENCE REQUIRED AT HILLSBOROUGH TO BE APPRAISED +AND ALLOTTED TO A NEW OWNER--MY SAD PROSPECTS AND GRIEF-- +PARTING--THE UTTER POWERLESSNESS OF THE SLAVES TO DECIDE THEIR +OWN DESTINY--A GENERAL DREAD OF MASTER ANDREW--HIS WICKEDNESS AND +CRUELTY--MISS LUCRETIA MY NEW OWNER--MY RETURN TO BALTIMORE--JOY +UNDER THE ROOF OF MASTER HUGH--DEATH OF MRS. LUCRETIA--MY POOR +OLD GRANDMOTHER--HER SAD FATE--THE LONE COT IN THE WOODS--MASTER +THOMAS AULD'S SECOND MARRIAGE--AGAIN REMOVED FROM MASTER HUGH'S-- +REASONS FOR REGRETTING THE CHANGE--A PLAN OF ESCAPE ENTERTAINED. + + +I must now ask the reader to go with me a little back in point of +time, in my humble story, and to notice another circumstance that +entered into my slavery experience, and which, doubtless, has had +a share in deepening my horror of slavery, and increasing my +hostility toward those men and measures that practically uphold +the slave system. + +It has already been observed, that though I was, after my removal +from Col. Lloyd's plantation, in _form_ the slave of Master Hugh, +I was, in _fact_, and in _law_, the slave of my old master, Capt. +Anthony. Very well. + +In a very short time after I went to Baltimore, my old master's +youngest son, Richard, died; and, in three years and six months +after his death, my old master himself died, leaving only his +son, Andrew, and his daughter, Lucretia, to share his estate. +The <136>old man died while on a visit to his daughter, in +Hillsborough, where Capt. Auld and Mrs. Lucretia now lived. The +former, having given up the command of Col. Lloyd's sloop, was +now keeping a store in that town. + +Cut off, thus unexpectedly, Capt. Anthony died intestate; and his +property must now be equally divided between his two children, +Andrew and Lucretia. + +The valuation and the division of slaves, among contending heirs, +is an important incident in slave life. The character and +tendencies of the heirs, are generally well understood among the +slaves who are to be divided, and all have their aversions and +preferences. But, neither their aversions nor their preferences +avail them anything. + +On the death of old master, I was immediately sent for, to be +valued and divided with the other property. Personally, my +concern was, mainly, about my possible removal from the home of +Master Hugh, which, after that of my grandmother, was the most +endeared to me. But, the whole thing, as a feature of slavery, +shocked me. It furnished me anew insight into the unnatural +power to which I was subjected. My detestation of slavery, +already great, rose with this new conception of its enormity. + +That was a sad day for me, a sad day for little Tommy, and a sad +day for my dear Baltimore mistress and teacher, when I left for +the Eastern Shore, to be valued and divided. We, all three, wept +bitterly that day; for we might be parting, and we feared we were +parting, forever. No one could tell among which pile of chattels +I should be flung. Thus early, I got a foretaste of that painful +uncertainty which slavery brings to the ordinary lot of mortals. +Sickness, adversity and death may interfere with the plans and +purposes of all; but the slave has the added danger of changing +homes, changing hands, and of having separations unknown to other +men. Then, too, there was the intensified degradation of the +spectacle. What an assemblage! Men and women, young and old, +married and single; moral and intellectual beings, in open +contempt of their humanity, level at a blow with <137 DIVISION OF +OLD MASTER'S PROPERTY>horses, sheep, horned cattle and swine! +Horses and men--cattle and women--pigs and children--all holding +the same rank in the scale of social existence; and all subjected +to the same narrow inspection, to ascertain their value in gold +and silver--the only standard of worth applied by slaveholders to +slaves! How vividly, at that moment, did the brutalizing power +of slavery flash before me! Personality swallowed up in the +sordid idea of property! Manhood lost in chattelhood! + +After the valuation, then came the division. This was an hour of +high excitement and distressing anxiety. Our destiny was now to +be _fixed for life_, and we had no more voice in the decision of +the question, than the oxen and cows that stood chewing at the +haymow. One word from the appraisers, against all preferences or +prayers, was enough to sunder all the ties of friendship and +affection, and even to separate husbands and wives, parents and +children. We were all appalled before that power, which, to +human seeming, could bless or blast us in a moment. Added to the +dread of separation, most painful to the majority of the slaves, +we all had a decided horror of the thought of falling into the +hands of Master Andrew. He was distinguished for cruelty and +intemperance. + +Slaves generally dread to fall into the hands of drunken owners. +Master Andrew was almost a confirmed sot, and had already, by his +reckless mismanagement and profligate dissipation, wasted a large +portion of old master's property. To fall into his hands, was, +therefore, considered merely as the first step toward being sold +away to the far south. He would spend his fortune in a few +years, and his farms and slaves would be sold, we thought, at +public outcry; and we should be hurried away to the cotton +fields, and rice swamps, of the sunny south. This was the cause +of deep consternation. + +The people of the north, and free people generally, I think, have +less attachment to the places where they are born and brought up, +than have the slaves. Their freedom to go and come, <138>to be +here and there, as they list, prevents any extravagant attachment +to any one particular place, in their case. On the other hand, +the slave is a fixture; he has no choice, no goal, no +destination; but is pegged down to a single spot, and must take +root here, or nowhere. The idea of removal elsewhere, comes, +generally, in the shape of a threat, and in punishment of crime. +It is, therefore, attended with fear and dread. A slave seldom +thinks of bettering his condition by being sold, and hence he +looks upon separation from his native place, with none of the +enthusiasm which animates the bosoms of young freemen, when they +contemplate a life in the far west, or in some distant country +where they intend to rise to wealth and distinction. Nor can +those from whom they separate, give them up with that +cheerfulness with which friends and relations yield each other +up, when they feel that it is for the good of the departing one +that he is removed from his native place. Then, too, there is +correspondence, and there is, at least, the hope of reunion, +because reunion is _possible_. But, with the slave, all these +mitigating circumstances are wanting. There is no improvement in +his condition _probable_,--no correspondence _possible_,--no +reunion attainable. His going out into the world, is like a +living man going into the tomb, who, with open eyes, sees himself +buried out of sight and hearing of wife, children and friends of +kindred tie. + +In contemplating the likelihoods and possibilities of our +circumstances, I probably suffered more than most of my fellow +servants. I had known what it was to experience kind, and even +tender treatment; they had known nothing of the sort. Life, to +them, had been rough and thorny, as well as dark. They had--most +of them--lived on my old master's farm in Tuckahoe, and had felt +the reign of Mr. Plummer's rule. The overseer had written his +character on the living parchment of most of their backs, and +left them callous; my back (thanks to my early removal from the +plantation to Baltimore) was yet tender. I had left a kind +mistress <139 MY SAD PROSPECTS AND GRIEF>at Baltimore, who was +almost a mother to me. She was in tears when we parted, and the +probabilities of ever seeing her again, trembling in the balance +as they did, could not be viewed without alarm and agony. The +thought of leaving that kind mistress forever, and, worse still, +of being the slave of Andrew Anthony--a man who, but a few days +before the division of the property, had, in my presence, seized +my brother Perry by the throat, dashed him on the ground, and +with the heel of his boot stamped him on the head, until the +blood gushed from his nose and ears--was terrible! This fiendish +proceeding had no better apology than the fact, that Perry had +gone to play, when Master Andrew wanted him for some trifling +service. This cruelty, too, was of a piece with his general +character. After inflicting his heavy blows on my brother, on +observing me looking at him with intense astonishment, he said, +"_That_ is the way I will serve you, one of these days;" meaning, +no doubt, when I should come into his possession. This threat, +the reader may well suppose, was not very tranquilizing to my +feelings. I could see that he really thirsted to get hold of me. +But I was there only for a few days. I had not received any +orders, and had violated none, and there was, therefore, no +excuse for flogging me. + +At last, the anxiety and suspense were ended; and they ended, +thanks to a kind Providence, in accordance with my wishes. I +fell to the portion of Mrs. Lucretia--the dear lady who bound up +my head, when the savage Aunt Katy was adding to my sufferings +her bitterest maledictions. + +Capt. Thomas Auld and Mrs. Lucretia at once decided on my return +to Baltimore. They knew how sincerely and warmly Mrs. Hugh Auld +was attached to me, and how delighted Mr. Hugh's son would be to +have me back; and, withal, having no immediate use for one so +young, they willingly let me off to Baltimore. + +I need not stop here to narrate my joy on returning to Baltimore, +nor that of little Tommy; nor the tearful joy of his mother; +<140>nor the evident saticfaction{sic} of Master Hugh. I was +just one month absent from Baltimore, before the matter was +decided; and the time really seemed full six months. + +One trouble over, and on comes another. The slave's life is full +of uncertainty. I had returned to Baltimore but a short time, +when the tidings reached me, that my friend, Mrs. Lucretia, who +was only second in my regard to Mrs. Hugh Auld, was dead, leaving +her husband and only one child--a daughter, named Amanda. + +Shortly after the death of Mrs. Lucretia, strange to say, Master +Andrew died, leaving his wife and one child. Thus, the whole +family of Anthonys was swept away; only two children remained. +All this happened within five years of my leaving Col. Lloyd's. + +No alteration took place in the condition of the slaves, in +consequence of these deaths, yet I could not help feeling less +secure, after the death of my friend, Mrs. Lucretia, than I had +done during her life. While she lived, I felt that I had a +strong friend to plead for me in any emergency. Ten years ago, +while speaking of the state of things in our family, after the +events just named, I used this language: + +Now all the property of my old master, slaves included, was in +the hands of strangers--strangers who had nothing to do in +accumulating it. Not a slave was left free. All remained +slaves, from youngest to oldest. If any one thing in my +experience, more than another, served to deepen my conviction of +the infernal character of slavery, and to fill me with +unutterable loathing of slaveholders, it was their base +ingratitude to my poor old grandmother. She had served my old +master faithfully from youth to old age. She had been the source +of all his wealth; she had peopled his plantation with slaves; +she had become a great-grandmother in his service. She had +rocked him in infancy, attended him in childhood, served him +through life, and at his death wiped from his icy brow the cold +death-sweat, and closed his eyes forever. She was nevertheless +left a slave--a slave for life--a slave in the hands of +strangers; and in their hands she saw her children, her +grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, divided, like so many +sheep, without being gratified with the small privilege of a +single word, as to their or her own destiny. And, to cap the +climax of their base ingratitude and fiendish barbarity, my +grandmother, who was now very old, having outlived my old master +and all his children, having seen the beginning and end of all of +them, and her present owners finding she <141 DEATH OF MRS. +LUCRETIA>was of but little value, her frame already racked with +the pains of old age, and complete helplessness fast stealing +over her once active limbs, they took her to the woods, built her +a little hut, put up a little mud-chimney, and then made her +welcome to the privilege of supporting herself there in perfect +loneliness; thus virtually turning her out to die! If my poor +old grandmother now lives, she lives to suffer in utter +loneliness; she lives to remember and mourn over the loss of +children, the loss of grandchildren, and the loss of great- +grandchildren. They are, in the language of the slave's poet, +Whittier-- + + _Gone, gone, sold and gone, + To the rice swamp dank and lone, + Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings, + Where the noisome insect stings, + Where the fever-demon strews + Poison with the falling dews, + Where the sickly sunbeams glare + Through the hot and misty air:-- + Gone, gone, sold and gone + To the rice swamp dank and lone, + From Virginia hills and waters-- + Woe is me, my stolen daughters_! + + +The hearth is desolate. The children, the unconscious children, +who once sang and danced in her presence, are gone. She gropes +her way, in the darkness of age, for a drink of water. Instead +of the voices of her children, she hears by day the moans of the +dove, and by night the screams of the hideous owl. All is gloom. +The grave is at the door. And now, when weighed down by the +pains and aches of old age, when the head inclines to the feet, +when the beginning and ending of human existence meet, and +helpless infancy and painful old age combine together--at this +time, this most needful time, the time for the exercise of that +tenderness and affection which children only can exercise toward +a declining parent--my poor old grandmother, the devoted mother +of twelve children, is left all alone, in yonder little hut, +before a few dim embers. + +Two years after the death of Mrs. Lucretia, Master Thomas married +his second wife. Her name was Rowena Hamilton, the eldest +daughter of Mr. William Hamilton, a rich slaveholder on the +Eastern Shore of Maryland, who lived about five miles from St. +Michael's, the then place of my master's residence. + +Not long after his marriage, Master Thomas had a misunderstanding +with Master Hugh, and, as a means of punishing his brother, he +ordered him to send me home. +<142> + +As the ground of misunderstanding will serve to illustrate the +character of southern chivalry, and humanity, I will relate it. + +Among the children of my Aunt Milly, was a daughter, named Henny. +When quite a child, Henny had fallen into the fire, and burnt her +hands so bad that they were of very little use to her. Her +fingers were drawn almost into the palms of her hands. She could +make out to do something, but she was considered hardly worth the +having--of little more value than a horse with a broken leg. +This unprofitable piece of human property, ill shapen, and +disfigured, Capt. Auld sent off to Baltimore, making his brother +Hugh welcome to her services. + +After giving poor Henny a fair trial, Master Hugh and his wife +came to the conclusion, that they had no use for the crippled +servant, and they sent her back to Master Thomas. Thus, the +latter took as an act of ingratitude, on the part of his brother; +and, as a mark of his displeasure, he required him to send me +immediately to St. Michael's, saying, if he cannot keep _"Hen,"_ +he shall not have _"Fred."_ + +Here was another shock to my nerves, another breaking up of my +plans, and another severance of my religious and social +alliances. I was now a big boy. I had become quite useful to +several young colored men, who had made me their teacher. I had +taught some of them to read, and was accustomed to spend many of +my leisure hours with them. Our attachment was strong, and I +greatly dreaded the separation. But regrets, especially in a +slave, are unavailing. I was only a slave; my wishes were +nothing, and my happiness was the sport of my masters. + +My regrets at now leaving Baltimore, were not for the same +reasons as when I before left that city, to be valued and handed +over to my proper owner. My home was not now the pleasant place +it had formerly been. A change had taken place, both in Master +Hugh, and in his once pious and affectionate wife. The influence +of brandy and bad company on him, and the influence of slavery +and social isolation upon her, had wrought disastrously upon the +<143 REASONS FOR REGRETTING THE CHANGE>characters of both. +Thomas was no longer "little Tommy," but was a big boy, and had +learned to assume the airs of his class toward me. My condition, +therefore, in the house of Master Hugh, was not, by any means, so +comfortable as in former years. My attachments were now outside +of our family. They were felt to those to whom I _imparted_ +instruction, and to those little white boys from whom I +_received_ instruction. There, too, was my dear old father, the +pious Lawson, who was, in christian graces, the very counterpart +of "Uncle" Tom. The resemblance is so perfect, that he might +have been the original of Mrs. Stowe's christian hero. The +thought of leaving these dear friends, greatly troubled me, for I +was going without the hope of ever returning to Baltimore again; +the feud between Master Hugh and his brother being bitter and +irreconcilable, or, at least, supposed to be so. + +In addition to thoughts of friends from whom I was parting, as I +supposed, _forever_, I had the grief of neglected chances of +escape to brood over. I had put off running away, until now I +was to be placed where the opportunities for escaping were much +fewer than in a large city like Baltimore. + +On my way from Baltimore to St. Michael's, down the Chesapeake +bay, our sloop--the "Amanda"--was passed by the steamers plying +between that city and Philadelphia, and I watched the course of +those steamers, and, while going to St. Michael's, I formed a +plan to escape from slavery; of which plan, and matters connected +therewith the kind reader shall learn more hereafter. + + +CHAPTER XIV +_Experience in St. Michael's_ + +THE VILLAGE--ITS INHABITANTS--THEIR OCCUPATION AND LOW +PROPENSITIES CAPTAN{sic} THOMAS AULD--HIS CHARACTER--HIS SECOND +WIFE, ROWENA--WELL MATCHED--SUFFERINGS FROM HUNGER--OBLIGED TO +TAKE FOOD--MODE OF ARGUMENT IN VINDICATION THEREOF--NO MORAL CODE +OF FREE SOCIETY CAN APPLY TO SLAVE SOCIETY--SOUTHERN CAMP +MEETING--WHAT MASTER THOMAS DID THERE--HOPES--SUSPICIONS ABOUT +HIS CONVERSION--THE RESULT--FAITH AND WORKS ENTIRELY AT +VARIANCE--HIS RISE AND PROGRESS IN THE CHURCH--POOR COUSIN +"HENNY"--HIS TREATMENT OF HER--THE METHODIST PREACHERS--THEIR +UTTER DISREGARD OF US--ONE EXCELLENT EXCEPTION--REV. GEORGE +COOKMAN--SABBATH SCHOOL--HOW BROKEN UP AND BY WHOM--A FUNERAL +PALL CAST OVER ALL MY PROSPECTS--COVEY THE NEGRO-BREAKER. + + +St. Michael's, the village in which was now my new home, compared +favorably with villages in slave states, generally. There were a +few comfortable dwellings in it, but the place, as a whole, wore +a dull, slovenly, enterprise-forsaken aspect. The mass of the +buildings were wood; they had never enjoyed the artificial +adornment of paint, and time and storms had worn off the bright +color of the wood, leaving them almost as black as buildings +charred by a conflagration. + +St. Michael's had, in former years, (previous to 1833, for that +was the year I went to reside there,) enjoyed some reputation as +a ship building community, but that business had almost entirely +given place to oyster fishing, for the Baltimore and Philadelphia +markets--a course of life highly unfavorable to morals, industry, +and manners. Miles river was broad, and its oyster fishing <145 +ARRIVAL AT ST. MICHAEL'S>grounds were extensive; and the +fishermen were out, often, all day, and a part of the night, +during autumn, winter and spring. This exposure was an excuse +for carrying with them, in considerable quanties{sic}, spirituous +liquors, the then supposed best antidote for cold. Each canoe +was supplied with its jug of rum; and tippling, among this class +of the citizens of St. Michael's, became general. This drinking +habit, in an ignorant population, fostered coarseness, vulgarity +and an indolent disregard for the social improvement of the +place, so that it was admitted, by the few sober, thinking people +who remained there, that St. Michael's had become a very +_unsaintly_, as well as unsightly place, before I went there to +reside. + +I left Baltimore for St. Michael's in the month of March, 1833. +I know the year, because it was the one succeeding the first +cholera in Baltimore, and was the year, also, of that strange +phenomenon, when the heavens seemed about to part with its starry +train. I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe-struck. +The air seemed filled with bright, descending messengers from the +sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was +not without the suggestion, at the moment, that it might be the +harbinger of the coming of the Son of Man; and, in my then state +of mind, I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. +I had read, that the "stars shall fall from heaven"; and they +were now falling. I was suffering much in my mind. It did seem +that every time the young tendrils of my affection became +attached, they were rudely broken by some unnatural outside +power; and I was beginning to look away to heaven for the rest +denied me on earth. + +But, to my story. It was now more than seven years since I had +lived with Master Thomas Auld, in the family of my old master, on +Col. Lloyd's plantation. We were almost entire strangers to each +other; for, when I knew him at the house of my old master, it was +not as a _master_, but simply as "Captain Auld," who had married +old master's daughter. All my lessons concerning his <146>temper +and disposition, and the best methods of pleasing him, were yet +to be learnt. Slaveholders, however, are not very ceremonious in +approaching a slave; and my ignorance of the new material in +shape of a master was but transient. Nor was my mistress long in +making known her animus. She was not a "Miss Lucretia," traces +of whom I yet remembered, and the more especially, as I saw them +shining in the face of little Amanda, her daughter, now living +under a step-mother's government. I had not forgotten the soft +hand, guided by a tender heart, that bound up with healing balsam +the gash made in my head by Ike, the son of Abel. Thomas and +Rowena, I found to be a well-matched pair. _He_ was stingy, and +_she_ was cruel; and--what was quite natural in such cases--she +possessed the ability to make him as cruel as herself, while she +could easily descend to the level of his meanness. In the house +of Master Thomas, I was made--for the first time in seven years +to feel the pinchings of hunger, and this was not very easy to +bear. + +For, in all the changes of Master Hugh's family, there was no +change in the bountifulness with which they supplied me with +food. Not to give a slave enough to eat, is meanness +intensified, and it is so recognized among slaveholders +generally, in Maryland. The rule is, no matter how coarse the +food, only let there be enough of it. This is the theory, and-- +in the part of Maryland I came from--the general practice accords +with this theory. Lloyd's plantation was an exception, as was, +also, the house of Master Thomas Auld. + +All know the lightness of Indian corn-meal, as an article of +food, and can easily judge from the following facts whether the +statements I have made of the stinginess of Master Thomas, are +borne out. There were four slaves of us in the kitchen, and four +whites in the great house Thomas Auld, Mrs. Auld, Hadaway Auld +(brother of Thomas Auld) and little Amanda. The names of the +slaves in the kitchen, were Eliza, my sister; Priscilla, my aunt; +Henny, my cousin; and myself. There were eight persons <147 +STEALING--MODE OF VINDICATION>in the family. There was, each +week, one half bushel of corn-meal brought from the mill; and in +the kitchen, corn-meal was almost our exclusive food, for very +little else was allowed us. Out of this bushel of corn-meal, the +family in the great house had a small loaf every morning; thus +leaving us, in the kitchen, with not quite a half a peck per +week, apiece. This allowance was less than half the allowance of +food on Lloyd's plantation. It was not enough to subsist upon; +and we were, therefore, reduced to the wretched necessity of +living at the expense of our neighbors. We were compelled either +to beg, or to steal, and we did both. I frankly confess, that +while I hated everything like stealing, _as such_, I nevertheless +did not hesitate to take food, when I was hungry, wherever I +could find it. Nor was this practice the mere result of an +unreasoning instinct; it was, in my case, the result of a clear +apprehension of the claims of morality. I weighed and considered +the matter closely, before I ventured to satisfy my hunger by +such means. Considering that my labor and person were the +property of Master Thomas, and that I was by him deprived of the +necessaries of life necessaries obtained by my own labor--it was +easy to deduce the right to supply myself with what was my own. +It was simply appropriating what was my own to the use of my +master, since the health and strength derived from such food were +exerted in _his_ service. To be sure, this was stealing, +according to the law and gospel I heard from St. Michael's +pulpit; but I had already begun to attach less importance to what +dropped from that quarter, on that point, while, as yet, I +retained my reverence for religion. It was not always convenient +to steal from master, and the same reason why I might, +innocently, steal from him, did not seem to justify me in +stealing from others. In the case of my master, it was only a +question of _removal_--the taking his meat out of one tub, and +putting it into another; the ownership of the meat was not +affected by the transaction. At first, he owned it in the _tub_, +and last, he owned it in _me_. His meat house was not always +open. There was a strict watch kept on that <148>point, and the +key was on a large bunch in Rowena's pocket. A great many times +have we, poor creatures, been severely pinched with hunger, when +meat and bread have been moulding under the lock, while the key +was in the pocket of our mistress. This had been so when she +_knew_ we were nearly half starved; and yet, that mistress, with +saintly air, would kneel with her husband, and pray each morning +that a merciful God would bless them in basket and in store, and +save them, at last, in his kingdom. But I proceed with the +argument. + +It was necessary that right to steal from _others_ should be +established; and this could only rest upon a wider range of +generalization than that which supposed the right to steal from +my master. + +It was sometime before I arrived at this clear right. The reader +will get some idea of my train of reasoning, by a brief statement +of the case. "I am," thought I, "not only the slave of Thomas, +but I am the slave of society at large. Society at large has +bound itself, in form and in fact, to assist Master Thomas in +robbing me of my rightful liberty, and of the just reward of my +labor; therefore, whatever rights I have against Master Thomas, I +have, equally, against those confederated with him in robbing me +of liberty. As society has marked me out as privileged plunder, +on the principle of self-preservation I am justified in +plundering in turn. Since each slave belongs to all; all must, +therefore, belong to each." + +I shall here make a profession of faith which may shock some, +offend others, and be dissented from by all. It is this: Within +the bounds of his just earnings, I hold that the slave is fully +justified in helping himself to the _gold and silver, and the +best apparel of his master, or that of any other slaveholder; and +that such taking is not stealing in any just sense of that word_. + +The morality of _free_ society can have no application to _slave_ +society. Slaveholders have made it almost impossible for the +slave to commit any crime, known either to the laws of God or to +the laws of man. If he steals, he takes his own; if he kills his +master, <149 SELFISHNESS OF MASTER THOMAS>he imitates only the +heroes of the revolution. Slaveholders I hold to be individually +and collectively responsible for all the evils which grow out of +the horrid relation, and I believe they will be so held at the +judgment, in the sight of a just God. Make a man a slave, and +you rob him of moral responsibility. Freedom of choice is the +essence of all accountability. But my kind readers are, +probably, less concerned about my opinions, than about that which +more nearly touches my personal experience; albeit, my opinions +have, in some sort, been formed by that experience. + +Bad as slaveholders are, I have seldom met with one so entirely +destitute of every element of character capable of inspiring +respect, as was my present master, Capt. Thomas Auld. + +When I lived with him, I thought him incapable of a noble action. +The leading trait in his character was intense selfishness. I +think he was fully aware of this fact himself, and often tried to +conceal it. Capt. Auld was not a _born_ slaveholder--not a +birthright member of the slaveholding oligarchy. He was only a +slaveholder by _marriage-right;_ and, of all slaveholders, these +latter are, _by far_, the most exacting. There was in him all +the love of domination, the pride of mastery, and the swagger of +authority, but his rule lacked the vital element of consistency. +He could be cruel; but his methods of showing it were cowardly, +and evinced his meanness rather than his spirit. His commands +were strong, his enforcement weak. + +Slaves are not insensible to the whole-souled characteristics of +a generous, dashing slaveholder, who is fearless of consequences; +and they prefer a master of this bold and daring kind--even with +the risk of being shot down for impudence to the fretful, little +soul, who never uses the lash but at the suggestion of a love of +gain. + +Slaves, too, readily distinguish between the birthright bearing +of the original slaveholder and the assumed attitudes of the +accidental slaveholder; and while they cannot respect either, +they certainly despise the latter more than the former. +<150> + +The luxury of having slaves wait upon him was something new to +Master Thomas; and for it he was wholly unprepared. He was a +slaveholder, without the ability to hold or manage his slaves. +We seldom called him "master," but generally addressed him by his +"bay craft" title--_Capt. Auld_." It is easy to see that such +conduct might do much to make him appear awkward, and, +consequently, fretful. His wife was especially solicitous to +have us call her husband "master." Is your _master_ at the +store?"--"Where is your _master_?"--"Go and tell your _master"_-- +"I will make your _master_ acquainted with your conduct"--she +would say; but we were inapt scholars. Especially were I and my +sister Eliza inapt in this particular. Aunt Priscilla was less +stubborn and defiant in her spirit than Eliza and myself; and, I +think, her road was less rough than ours. + +In the month of August, 1833, when I had almost become desperate +under the treatment of Master Thomas, and when I entertained more +strongly than ever the oft-repeated determination to run away, a +circumstance occurred which seemed to promise brighter and better +days for us all. At a Methodist camp-meeting, held in the Bay +Side (a famous place for campmeetings) about eight miles from St. +Michael's, Master Thomas came out with a profession of religion. +He had long been an object of interest to the church, and to the +ministers, as I had seen by the repeated visits and lengthy +exhortations of the latter. He was a fish quite worth catching, +for he had money and standing. In the community of St. Michael's +he was equal to the best citizen. He was strictly temperate; +_perhaps_, from principle, but most likely, from interest. There +was very little to do for him, to give him the appearance of +piety, and to make him a pillar in the church. Well, the camp- +meeting continued a week; people gathered from all parts of the +county, and two steamboat loads came from Baltimore. The ground +was happily chosen; seats were arranged; a stand erected; a rude +altar fenced in, fronting the preachers' stand, with straw in it +for the accommodation of <151 SOUTHERN CAMP MEETING>mourners. +This latter would hold at least one hundred persons. In front, +and on the sides of the preachers' stand, and outside the long +rows of seats, rose the first class of stately tents, each vieing +with the other in strength, neatness, and capacity for +accommodating its inmates. Behind this first circle of tents was +another, less imposing, which reached round the camp-ground to +the speakers' stand. Outside this second class of tents were +covered wagons, ox carts, and vehicles of every shape and size. +These served as tents to their owners. Outside of these, huge +fires were burning, in all directions, where roasting, and +boiling, and frying, were going on, for the benefit of those who +were attending to their own spiritual welfare within the circle. +_Behind_ the preachers' stand, a narrow space was marked out for +the use of the colored people. There were no seats provided for +this class of persons; the preachers addressed them, _"over the +left,"_ if they addressed them at all. After the preaching was +over, at every service, an invitation was given to mourners to +come into the pen; and, in some cases, ministers went out to +persuade men and women to come in. By one of these ministers, +Master Thomas Auld was persuaded to go inside the pen. I was +deeply interested in that matter, and followed; and, though +colored people were not allowed either in the pen or in front of +the preachers' stand, I ventured to take my stand at a sort of +half-way place between the blacks and whites, where I could +distinctly see the movements of mourners, and especially the +progress of Master Thomas. + +"If he has got religion," thought I, "he will emancipate his +slaves; and if he should not do so much as this, he will, at any +rate, behave toward us more kindly, and feed us more generously +than he has heretofore done." Appealing to my own religious +experience, and judging my master by what was true in my own +case, I could not regard him as soundly converted, unless some +such good results followed his profession of religion. + +But in my expectations I was doubly disappointed; Master Thomas +was _Master Thomas_ still. The fruits of his righteousness +<152>were to show themselves in no such way as I had anticipated. +His conversion was not to change his relation toward men--at any +rate not toward BLACK men--but toward God. My faith, I confess, +was not great. There was something in his appearance that, in my +mind, cast a doubt over his conversion. Standing where I did, I +could see his every movement. I watched narrowly while he +remained in the little pen; and although I saw that his face was +extremely red, and his hair disheveled, and though I heard him +groan, and saw a stray tear halting on his cheek, as if inquiring +"which way shall I go?"--I could not wholly confide in the +genuineness of his conversion. The hesitating behavior of that +tear-drop and its loneliness, distressed me, and cast a doubt +upon the whole transaction, of which it was a part. But people +said, _"Capt. Auld had come through,"_ and it was for me to hope +for the best. I was bound to do this, in charity, for I, too, +was religious, and had been in the church full three years, +although now I was not more than sixteen years old. Slaveholders +may, sometimes, have confidence in the piety of some of their +slaves; but the slaves seldom have confidence in the piety of +their masters. _"He cant go to heaven with our blood in his +skirts_," is a settled point in the creed of every slave; rising +superior to all teaching to the contrary, and standing forever as +a fixed fact. The highest evidence the slaveholder can give the +slave of his acceptance with God, is the emancipation of his +slaves. This is proof that he is willing to give up all to God, +and for the sake of God. Not to do this, was, in my estimation, +and in the opinion of all the slaves, an evidence of half- +heartedness, and wholly inconsistent with the idea of genuine +conversion. I had read, also, somewhere in the Methodist +Discipline, the following question and answer: + +"_Question_. What shall be done for the extirpation of slavery? + +"_Answer_. We declare that we are much as ever convinced of the +great evil of slavery; therefore, no slaveholder shall be +eligible to any official station in our church." + + +These words sounded in my ears for a long time, and en<153 FAITH +AND WORKS AT VARIANCE>couraged me to hope. But, as I have before +said, I was doomed to disappointment. Master Thomas seemed to be +aware of my hopes and expectations concerning him. I have +thought, before now, that he looked at me in answer to my +glances, as much as to say, "I will teach you, young man, that, +though I have parted with my sins, I have not parted with my +sense. I shall hold my slaves, and go to heaven too." + +Possibly, to convince us that we must not presume _too much_ upon +his recent conversion, he became rather more rigid and stringent +in his exactions. There always was a scarcity of good nature +about the man; but now his whole countenance was _soured_ over +with the seemings of piety. His religion, therefore, neither +made him emancipate his slaves, nor caused him to treat them with +greater humanity. If religion had any effect on his character at +all, it made him more cruel and hateful in all his ways. The +natural wickedness of his heart had not been removed, but only +reinforced, by the profession of religion. Do I judge him +harshly? God forbid. Facts _are_ facts. Capt. Auld made the +greatest profession of piety. His house was, literally, a house +of prayer. In the morning, and in the evening, loud prayers and +hymns were heard there, in which both himself and his wife +joined; yet, _no more meal_ was brought from the mill, _no more +attention_ was paid to the moral welfare of the kitchen; and +nothing was done to make us feel that the heart of Master Thomas +was one whit better than it was before he went into the little +pen, opposite to the preachers' stand, on the camp ground. + +Our hopes (founded on the discipline) soon vanished; for the +authorities let him into the church _at once_, and before he was +out of his term of _probation_, I heard of his leading class! He +distinguished himself greatly among the brethren, and was soon an +exhorter. His progress was almost as rapid as the growth of the +fabled vine of Jack's bean. No man was more active than he, in +revivals. He would go many miles to assist in carrying them on, +and in getting outsiders interested in religion. His house being +<154>one of the holiest, if not the happiest in St. Michael's, +became the "preachers' home." These preachers evidently liked to +share Master Thomas's hospitality; for while he _starved us_, he +_stuffed_ them. Three or four of these ambassadors of the +gospel--according to slavery--have been there at a time; all +living on the fat of the land, while we, in the kitchen, were +nearly starving. Not often did we get a smile of recognition +from these holy men. They seemed almost as unconcerned about our +getting to heaven, as they were about our getting out of slavery. +To this general charge there was one exception--the Rev. GEORGE +COOKMAN. Unlike Rev. Messrs. Storks, Ewry, Hickey, Humphrey and +Cooper (all whom were on the St. Michael's circuit) he kindly +took an interest in our temporal and spiritual welfare. Our +souls and our bodies were all alike sacred in his sight; and he +really had a good deal of genuine anti-slavery feeling mingled +with his colonization ideas. There was not a slave in our +neighborhood that did not love, and almost venerate, Mr. Cookman. +It was pretty generally believed that he had been chiefly +instrumental in bringing one of the largest slaveholders--Mr. +Samuel Harrison--in that neighborhood, to emancipate all his +slaves, and, indeed, the general impression was, that Mr. Cookman +had labored faithfully with slaveholders, whenever he met them, +to induce them to emancipate their bondmen, and that he did this +as a religious duty. When this good man was at our house, we +were all sure to be called in to prayers in the morning; and he +was not slow in making inquiries as to the state of our minds, +nor in giving us a word of exhortation and of encouragement. +Great was the sorrow of all the slaves, when this faithful +preacher of the gospel was removed from the Talbot county +circuit. He was an eloquent preacher, and possessed what few +ministers, south of Mason Dixon's line, possess, or _dare_ to +show, viz: a warm and philanthropic heart. The Mr. Cookman, of +whom I speak, was an Englishman by birth, and perished while on +his way to England, on board the ill-fated "President". Could +the thousands of slaves <155 THE SABBATH SCHOOL>in Maryland know +the fate of the good man, to whose words of comfort they were so +largely indebted, they would thank me for dropping a tear on this +page, in memory of their favorite preacher, friend and +benefactor. + +But, let me return to Master Thomas, and to my experience, after +his conversion. In Baltimore, I could, occasionally, get into a +Sabbath school, among the free children, and receive lessons, +with the rest; but, having already learned both to read and to +write, I was more of a teacher than a pupil, even there. When, +however, I went back to the Eastern Shore, and was at the house +of Master Thomas, I was neither allowed to teach, nor to be +taught. The whole community--with but a single exception, among +the whites--frowned upon everything like imparting instruction +either to slaves or to free colored persons. That single +exception, a pious young man, named Wilson, asked me, one day, if +I would like to assist him in teaching a little Sabbath school, +at the house of a free colored man in St. Michael's, named James +Mitchell. The idea was to me a delightful one, and I told him I +would gladly devote as much of my Sabbath as I could command, to +that most laudable work. Mr. Wilson soon mustered up a dozen old +spelling books, and a few testaments; and we commenced +operations, with some twenty scholars, in our Sunday school. +Here, thought I, is something worth living for; here is an +excellent chance for usefulness; and I shall soon have a company +of young friends, lovers of knowledge, like some of my Baltimore +friends, from whom I now felt parted forever. + +Our first Sabbath passed delightfully, and I spent the week after +very joyously. I could not go to Baltimore, but I could make a +little Baltimore here. At our second meeting, I learned that +there was some objection to the existence of the Sabbath school; +and, sure enough, we had scarcely got at work--_good work_, +simply teaching a few colored children how to read the gospel of +the Son of God--when in rushed a mob, headed by Mr. Wright +Fairbanks and Mr. Garrison West--two class-leaders<156>--and +Master Thomas; who, armed with sticks and other missiles, drove +us off, and commanded us never to meet for such a purpose again. +One of this pious crew told me, that as for my part, I wanted to +be another Nat Turner; and if I did not look out, I should get as +many balls into me, as Nat did into him. Thus ended the infant +Sabbath school, in the town of St. Michael's. The reader will +not be surprised when I say, that the breaking up of my Sabbath +school, by these class-leaders, and professedly holy men, did not +serve to strengthen my religious convictions. The cloud over my +St. Michael's home grew heavier and blacker than ever. + +It was not merely the agency of Master Thomas, in breaking up and +destroying my Sabbath school, that shook my confidence in the +power of southern religion to make men wiser or better; but I saw +in him all the cruelty and meanness, _after_ his conversion, +which he had exhibited before he made a profession of religion. +His cruelty and meanness were especially displayed in his +treatment of my unfortunate cousin, Henny, whose lameness made +her a burden to him. I have no extraordinary personal hard usage +toward myself to complain of, against him, but I have seen him +tie up the lame and maimed woman, and whip her in a manner most +brutal, and shocking; and then, with blood-chilling blasphemy, he +would quote the passage of scripture, "That servant which knew +his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according +to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." Master would +keep this lacerated woman tied up by her wrists, to a bolt in the +joist, three, four and five hours at a time. He would tie her up +early in the morning, whip her with a cowskin before breakfast; +leave her tied up; go to his store, and, returning to his dinner, +repeat the castigation; laying on the rugged lash, on flesh +already made raw by repeated blows. He seemed desirous to get +the poor girl out of existence, or, at any rate, off his hands. +In proof of this, he afterwards gave her away to his sister Sarah +(Mrs. Cline) but, as in the case of Master <157 BARBAROUS +TREATMENT OF HENNY>Hugh, Henny was soon returned on his hands. +Finally, upon a pretense that he could do nothing with her (I use +his own words) he "set her adrift, to take care of herself." +Here was a recently converted man, holding, with tight grasp, the +well-framed, and able bodied slaves left him by old master--the +persons, who, in freedom, could have taken care of themselves; +yet, turning loose the only cripple among them, virtually to +starve and die. + +No doubt, had Master Thomas been asked, by some pious northern +brother, _why_ he continued to sustain the relation of a +slaveholder, to those whom he retained, his answer would have +been precisely the same as many other religious slaveholders have +returned to that inquiry, viz: "I hold my slaves for their own +good." + +Bad as my condition was when I lived with Master Thomas, I was +soon to experience a life far more goading and bitter. The many +differences springing up between myself and Master Thomas, owing +to the clear perception I had of his character, and the boldness +with which I defended myself against his capricious complaints, +led him to declare that I was unsuited to his wants; that my city +life had affected me perniciously; that, in fact, it had almost +ruined me for every good purpose, and had fitted me for +everything that was bad. One of my greatest faults, or offenses, +was that of letting his horse get away, and go down to the farm +belonging to his father-in-law. The animal had a liking for that +farm, with which I fully sympathized. Whenever I let it out, it +would go dashing down the road to Mr. Hamilton's, as if going on +a grand frolic. My horse gone, of course I must go after it. +The explanation of our mutual attachment to the place is the +same; the horse found there good pasturage, and I found there +plenty of bread. Mr. Hamilton had his faults, but starving his +slaves was not among them. He gave food, in abundance, and that, +too, of an excellent quality. In Mr. Hamilton's cook--Aunt +Mary--I found a most generous and considerate friend. She never +allowed me to go there without giving me bread enough <158>to +make good the deficiencies of a day or two. Master Thomas at +last resolved to endure my behavior no longer; he could neither +keep me, nor his horse, we liked so well to be at his father-in- +law's farm. I had now lived with him nearly nine months, and he +had given me a number of severe whippings, without any visible +improvement in my character, or my conduct; and now he was +resolved to put me out--as he said--"_to be broken."_ + +There was, in the Bay Side, very near the camp ground, where my +master got his religious impressions, a man named Edward Covey, +who enjoyed the execrated reputation, of being a first rate hand +at breaking young Negroes. This Covey was a poor man, a farm +renter; and this reputation (hateful as it was to the slaves and +to all good men) was, at the same time, of immense advantage to +him. It enabled him to get his farm tilled with very little +expense, compared with what it would have cost him without this +most extraordinary reputation. Some slaveholders thought it an +advantage to let Mr. Covey have the government of their slaves a +year or two, almost free of charge, for the sake of the excellent +training such slaves got under his happy management! Like some +horse breakers, noted for their skill, who ride the best horses +in the country without expense, Mr. Covey could have under him, +the most fiery bloods of the neighborhood, for the simple reward +of returning them to their owners, _well broken_. Added to the +natural fitness of Mr. Covey for the duties of his profession, he +was said to "enjoy religion," and was as strict in the +cultivation of piety, as he was in the cultivation of his farm. +I was made aware of his character by some who had been under his +hand; and while I could not look forward to going to him with any +pleasure, I was glad to get away from St. Michael's. I was sure +of getting enough to eat at Covey's, even if I suffered in other +respects. _This_, to a hungry man, is not a prospect to be +regarded with indifference. + + + +CHAPTER XV +_Covey, the Negro Breaker_ + +JOURNEY TO MY NEW MASTER'S--MEDITATIONS BY THE WAY--VIEW OF +COVEY'S RESIDENCE--THE FAMILY--MY AWKWARDNESS AS A FIELD HAND--A +CRUEL BEATING--WHY IT WAS GIVEN--DESCRIPTION OF COVEY--FIRST +ADVENTURE AT OX DRIVING--HAIR BREADTH ESCAPES--OX AND MAN ALIKE +PROPERTY--COVEY'S MANNER OF PROCEEDING TO WHIP--HARD LABOR BETTER +THAN THE WHIP FOR BREAKING DOWN THE SPIRIT--CUNNING AND TRICKERY +OF COVEY--FAMILY WORSHIP--SHOCKING CONTEMPT FOR CHASTITY--I AM +BROKEN DOWN--GREAT MENTAL AGITATION IN CONTRASTING THE FREEDOM OF +THE SHIPS WITH HIS OWN SLAVERY--ANGUISH BEYOND DESCRIPTION. + + + +The morning of the first of January, 1834, with its chilling wind +and pinching frost, quite in harmony with the winter in my own +mind, found me, with my little bundle of clothing on the end of a +stick, swung across my shoulder, on the main road, bending my way +toward Covey's, whither I had been imperiously ordered by Master +Thomas. The latter had been as good as his word, and had +committed me, without reserve, to the mastery of Mr. Edward +Covey. Eight or ten years had now passed since I had been taken +from my grandmother's cabin, in Tuckahoe; and these years, for +the most part, I had spent in Baltimore, where--as the reader has +already seen--I was treated with comparative tenderness. I was +now about to sound profounder depths in slave life. The rigors +of a field, less tolerable than the field of battle, awaited me. +My new master was notorious for his fierce and savage +disposition, and my only consolation in going to live <160>with +him was, the certainty of finding him precisely as represented by +common fame. There was neither joy in my heart, nor elasticity +in my step, as I started in search of the tyrant's home. +Starvation made me glad to leave Thomas Auld's, and the cruel +lash made me dread to go to Covey's. Escape was impossible; so, +heavy and sad, I paced the seven miles, which separated Covey's +house from St. Michael's--thinking much by the solitary way-- +averse to my condition; but _thinking_ was all I could do. Like +a fish in a net, allowed to play for a time, I was now drawn +rapidly to the shore, secured at all points. "I am," thought I, +"but the sport of a power which makes no account, either of my +welfare or of my happiness. By a law which I can clearly +comprehend, but cannot evade nor resist, I am ruthlessly snatched +from the hearth of a fond grandmother, and hurried away to the +home of a mysterious `old master;' again I am removed from there, +to a master in Baltimore; thence am I snatched away to the +Eastern Shore, to be valued with the beasts of the field, and, +with them, divided and set apart for a possessor; then I am sent +back to Baltimore; and by the time I have formed new attachments, +and have begun to hope that no more rude shocks shall touch me, a +difference arises between brothers, and I am again broken up, and +sent to St. Michael's; and now, from the latter place, I am +footing my way to the home of a new master, where, I am given to +understand, that, like a wild young working animal, I am to be +broken to the yoke of a bitter and life-long bondage." + +With thoughts and reflections like these, I came in sight of a +small wood-colored building, about a mile from the main road, +which, from the description I had received, at starting, I easily +recognized as my new home. The Chesapeake bay--upon the jutting +banks of which the little wood-colored house was standing--white +with foam, raised by the heavy north-west wind; Poplar Island, +covered with a thick, black pine forest, standing out amid this +half ocean; and Kent Point, stretching its sandy, desert-like +shores out into the foam-cested bay--were all in <161 COVEY'S +RESIDENCE--THE FAMILY>sight, and deepened the wild and desolate +aspect of my new home. + +The good clothes I had brought with me from Baltimore were now +worn thin, and had not been replaced; for Master Thomas was as +little careful to provide us against cold, as against hunger. +Met here by a north wind, sweeping through an open space of forty +miles, I was glad to make any port; and, therefore, I speedily +pressed on to the little wood-colored house. The family +consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Covey; Miss Kemp (a broken-backed +woman) a sister of Mrs. Covey; William Hughes, cousin to Edward +Covey; Caroline, the cook; Bill Smith, a hired man; and myself. +Bill Smith, Bill Hughes, and myself, were the working force of +the farm, which consisted of three or four hundred acres. I was +now, for the first time in my life, to be a field hand; and in my +new employment I found myself even more awkward than a green +country boy may be supposed to be, upon his first entrance into +the bewildering scenes of city life; and my awkwardness gave me +much trouble. Strange and unnatural as it may seem, I had been +at my new home but three days, before Mr. Covey (my brother in +the Methodist church) gave me a bitter foretaste of what was in +reserve for me. I presume he thought, that since he had but a +single year in which to complete his work, the sooner he began, +the better. Perhaps he thought that by coming to blows at once, +we should mutually better understand our relations. But to +whatever motive, direct or indirect, the cause may be referred, I +had not been in his possession three whole days, before he +subjected me to a most brutal chastisement. Under his heavy +blows, blood flowed freely, and wales were left on my back as +large as my little finger. The sores on my back, from this +flogging, continued for weeks, for they were kept open by the +rough and coarse cloth which I wore for shirting. The occasion +and details of this first chapter of my experience as a field +hand, must be told, that the reader may see how unreasonable, as +well as how cruel, my new master, Covey, was. <162>The whole +thing I found to be characteristic of the man; and I was probably +treated no worse by him than scores of lads who had previously +been committed to him, for reasons similar to those which induced +my master to place me with him. But, here are the facts +connected with the affair, precisely as they occurred. + +On one of the coldest days of the whole month of January, 1834, I +was ordered, at day break, to get a load of wood, from a forest +about two miles from the house. In order to perform this work, +Mr. Covey gave me a pair of unbroken oxen, for, it seems, his +breaking abilities had not been turned in this direction; and I +may remark, in passing, that working animals in the south, are +seldom so well trained as in the north. In due form, and with +all proper ceremony, I was introduced to this huge yoke of +unbroken oxen, and was carefully told which was "Buck," and which +was "Darby"--which was the "in hand," and which was the "off +hand" ox. The master of this important ceremony was no less a +person than Mr. Covey, himself; and the introduction was the +first of the kind I had ever had. My life, hitherto, had led me +away from horned cattle, and I had no knowledge of the art of +managing them. What was meant by the "in ox," as against the +"off ox," when both were equally fastened to one cart, and under +one yoke, I could not very easily divine; and the difference, +implied by the names, and the peculiar duties of each, were alike +_Greek_ to me. Why was not the "off ox" called the "in ox?" +Where and what is the reason for this distinction in names, when +there is none in the things themselves? After initiating me into +the _"woa," "back" "gee," "hither"_--the entire spoken language +between oxen and driver--Mr. Covey took a rope, about ten feet +long and one inch thick, and placed one end of it around the +horns of the "in hand ox," and gave the other end to me, telling +me that if the oxen started to run away, as the scamp knew they +would, I must hold on to the rope and stop them. I need not tell +any one who is acquainted with either the strength of the +disposition of an untamed ox, that this order <163 FIRST +ADVENTURE AT OX DRIVING>was about as unreasonable as a command to +shoulder a mad bull! I had never driven oxen before, and I was +as awkward, as a driver, as it is possible to conceive. It did +not answer for me to plead ignorance, to Mr. Covey; there was +something in his manner that quite forbade that. He was a man to +whom a slave seldom felt any disposition to speak. Cold, +distant, morose, with a face wearing all the marks of captious +pride and malicious sternness, he repelled all advances. Covey +was not a large man; he was only about five feet ten inches in +height, I should think; short necked, round shoulders; of quick +and wiry motion, of thin and wolfish visage; with a pair of +small, greenish-gray eyes, set well back under a forehead without +dignity, and constantly in motion, and floating his passions, +rather than his thoughts, in sight, but denying them utterance in +words. The creature presented an appearance altogether ferocious +and sinister, disagreeable and forbidding, in the extreme. When +he spoke, it was from the corner of his mouth, and in a sort of +light growl, like a dog, when an attempt is made to take a bone +from him. The fellow had already made me believe him even +_worse_ than he had been presented. With his directions, and +without stopping to question, I started for the woods, quite +anxious to perform my first exploit in driving, in a creditable +manner. The distance from the house to the woods gate a full +mile, I should think--was passed over with very little +difficulty; for although the animals ran, I was fleet enough, in +the open field, to keep pace with them; especially as they pulled +me along at the end of the rope; but, on reaching the woods, I +was speedily thrown into a distressing plight. The animals took +fright, and started off ferociously into the woods, carrying the +cart, full tilt, against trees, over stumps, and dashing from +side to side, in a manner altogether frightful. As I held the +rope, I expected every moment to be crushed between the cart and +the huge trees, among which they were so furiously dashing. +After running thus for several minutes, my oxen were, finally, +brought to a stand, by a tree, against which they dashed +<164>themselves with great violence, upsetting the cart, and +entangling themselves among sundry young saplings. By the shock, +the body of the cart was flung in one direction, and the wheels +and tongue in another, and all in the greatest confusion. There +I was, all alone, in a thick wood, to which I was a stranger; my +cart upset and shattered; my oxen entangled, wild, and enraged; +and I, poor soul! but a green hand, to set all this disorder +right. I knew no more of oxen than the ox driver is supposed to +know of wisdom. After standing a few moments surveying the +damage and disorder, and not without a presentiment that this +trouble would draw after it others, even more distressing, I took +one end of the cart body, and, by an extra outlay of strength, I +lifted it toward the axle-tree, from which it had been violently +flung; and after much pulling and straining, I succeeded in +getting the body of the cart in its place. This was an important +step out of the difficulty, and its performance increased my +courage for the work which remained to be done. The cart was +provided with an ax, a tool with which I had become pretty well +acquainted in the ship yard at Baltimore. With this, I cut down +the saplings by which my oxen were entangled, and again pursued +my journey, with my heart in my mouth, lest the oxen should again +take it into their senseless heads to cut up a caper. My fears +were groundless. Their spree was over for the present, and the +rascals now moved off as soberly as though their behavior had +been natural and exemplary. On reaching the part of the forest +where I had been, the day before, chopping wood, I filled the +cart with a heavy load, as a security against another running +away. But, the neck of an ox is equal in strength to iron. It +defies all ordinary burdens, when excited. Tame and docile to a +proverb, when _well_ trained, the ox is the most sullen and +intractable of animals when but half broken to the yoke. + +I now saw, in my situation, several points of similarity with +that of the oxen. They were property, so was I; they were to be +<165 SENT BACK TO THE WOODS>broken, so was I. Covey was to break +me, I was to break them; break and be broken--such is life. + +Half the day already gone, and my face not yet homeward! It +required only two day's experience and observation to teach me, +that such apparent waste of time would not be lightly overlooked +by Covey. I therefore hurried toward home; but, on reaching the +lane gate, I met with the crowning disaster for the day. This +gate was a fair specimen of southern handicraft. There were two +huge posts, eighteen inches in diameter, rough hewed and square, +and the heavy gate was so hung on one of these, that it opened +only about half the proper distance. On arriving here, it was +necessary for me to let go the end of the rope on the horns of +the "in hand ox;" and now as soon as the gate was open, and I let +go of it to get the rope, again, off went my oxen--making nothing +of their load--full tilt; and in doing so they caught the huge +gate between the wheel and the cart body, literally crushing it +to splinters, and coming only within a few inches of subjecting +me to a similar crushing, for I was just in advance of the wheel +when it struck the left gate post. With these two hair-breadth +escape, I thought I could sucessfully{sic} explain to Mr. Covey +the delay, and avert apprehended punishment. I was not without a +faint hope of being commended for the stern resolution which I +had displayed in accomplishing the difficult task--a task which, +I afterwards learned, even Covey himself would not have +undertaken, without first driving the oxen for some time in the +open field, preparatory to their going into the woods. But, in +this I was disappointed. On coming to him, his countenance +assumed an aspect of rigid displeasure, and, as I gave him a +history of the casualties of my trip, his wolfish face, with his +greenish eyes, became intensely ferocious. "Go back to the woods +again," he said, muttering something else about wasting time. I +hastily obeyed; but I had not gone far on my way, when I saw him +coming after me. My oxen now behaved themselves with singular +<166>propriety, opposing their present conduct to my +representation of their former antics. I almost wished, now that +Covey was coming, they would do something in keeping with the +character I had given them; but no, they had already had their +spree, and they could afford now to be extra good, readily +obeying my orders, and seeming to understand them quite as well +as I did myself. On reaching the woods, my tormentor--who seemed +all the way to be remarking upon the good behavior of his oxen-- +came up to me, and ordered me to stop the cart, accompanying the +same with the threat that he would now teach me how to break +gates, and idle away my time, when he sent me to the woods. +Suiting the action to the word, Covey paced off, in his own wiry +fashion, to a large, black gum tree, the young shoots of which +are generally used for ox _goads_, they being exceedingly tough. +Three of these _goads_, from four to six feet long, he cut off, +and trimmed up, with his large jack-knife. This done, he ordered +me to take off my clothes. To this unreasonable order I made no +reply, but sternly refused to take off my clothing. "If you will +beat me," thought I, "you shall do so over my clothes." After +many threats, which made no impression on me, he rushed at me +with something of the savage fierceness of a wolf, tore off the +few and thinly worn clothes I had on, and proceeded to wear out, +on my back, the heavy goads which he had cut from the gum tree. +This flogging was the first of a series of floggings; and though +very severe, it was less so than many which came after it, and +these, for offenses far lighter than the gate breaking + +I remained with Mr. Covey one year (I cannot say I _lived_ with +him) and during the first six months that I was there, I was +whipped, either with sticks or cowskins, every week. Aching +bones and a sore back were my constant companions. Frequent as +the lash was used, Mr. Covey thought less of it, as a means of +breaking down my spirit, than that of hard and long continued +labor. He worked me steadily, up to the point of my powers of +endurance. From the dawn of day in the morning, till the +dark<167 CUNNING AND TRICKERY OF COVEY>ness was complete in the +evening, I was kept at hard work, in the field or the woods. At +certain seasons of the year, we were all kept in the field till +eleven and twelve o'clock at night. At these times, Covey would +attend us in the field, and urge us on with words or blows, as it +seemed best to him. He had, in his life, been an overseer, and +he well understood the business of slave driving. There was no +deceiving him. He knew just what a man or boy could do, and he +held both to strict account. When he pleased, he would work +himself, like a very Turk, making everything fly before him. It +was, however, scarcely necessary for Mr. Covey to be really +present in the field, to have his work go on industriously. He +had the faculty of making us feel that he was always present. By +a series of adroitly managed surprises, which he practiced, I was +prepared to expect him at any moment. His plan was, never to +approach the spot where his hands were at work, in an open, manly +and direct manner. No thief was ever more artful in his devices +than this man Covey. He would creep and crawl, in ditches and +gullies; hide behind stumps and bushes, and practice so much of +the cunning of the serpent, that Bill Smith and I--between +ourselves--never called him by any other name than _"the snake."_ +We fancied that in his eyes and his gait we could see a snakish +resemblance. One half of his proficiency in the art of Negro +breaking, consisted, I should think, in this species of cunning. +We were never secure. He could see or hear us nearly all the +time. He was, to us, behind every stump, tree, bush and fence on +the plantation. He carried this kind of trickery so far, that he +would sometimes mount his horse, and make believe he was going to +St. Michael's; and, in thirty minutes afterward, you might find +his horse tied in the woods, and the snake-like Covey lying flat +in the ditch, with his head lifted above its edge, or in a fence +corner, watching every movement of the slaves! I have known him +walk up to us and give us special orders, as to our work, in +advance, as if he were leaving home with a view to being absent +several days; and before he got half way to the <168>house, he +would avail himself of our inattention to his movements, to turn +short on his heels, conceal himself behind a fence corner or a +tree, and watch us until the going down of the sun. Mean and +contemptible as is all this, it is in keeping with the character +which the life of a slaveholder is calculated to produce. There +is no earthly inducement, in the slave's condition, to incite him +to labor faithfully. The fear of punishment is the sole motive +for any sort of industry, with him. Knowing this fact, as the +slaveholder does, and judging the slave by himself, he naturally +concludes the slave will be idle whenever the cause for this fear +is absent. Hence, all sorts of petty deceptions are practiced, +to inspire this fear. + +But, with Mr. Covey, trickery was natural. Everything in the +shape of learning or religion, which he possessed, was made to +conform to this semi-lying propensity. He did not seem conscious +that the practice had anything unmanly, base or contemptible +about it. It was a part of an important system, with him, +essential to the relation of master and slave. I thought I saw, +in his very religious devotions, this controlling element of his +character. A long prayer at night made up for the short prayer +in the morning; and few men could seem more devotional than he, +when he had nothing else to do. + +Mr. Covey was not content with the cold style of family worship, +adopted in these cold latitudes, which begin and end with a +simple prayer. No! the voice of praise, as well as of prayer, +must be heard in his house, night and morning. At first, I was +called upon to bear some part in these exercises; but the +repeated flogging given me by Covey, turned the whole thing into +mockery. He was a poor singer, and mainly relied on me for +raising the hymn for the family, and when I failed to do so, he +was thrown into much confusion. I do not think that he ever +abused me on account of these vexations. His religion was a +thing altogether apart from his worldly concerns. He knew +nothing of it as a holy principle, directing and controlling his +daily life, <169 SHOCKING CONTEMPT FOR CHASTITY>making the latter +conform to the requirements of the gospel. One or two facts will +illustrate his character better than a volume of +generalties{sic}. + +I have already said, or implied, that Mr. Edward Covey was a poor +man. He was, in fact, just commencing to lay the foundation of +his fortune, as fortune is regarded in a slave state. The first +condition of wealth and respectability there, being the ownership +of human property, every nerve is strained, by the poor man, to +obtain it, and very little regard is had to the manner of +obtaining it. In pursuit of this object, pious as Mr. Covey was, +he proved himself to be as unscrupulous and base as the worst of +his neighbors. In the beginning, he was only able--as he said-- +"to buy one slave;" and, scandalous and shocking as is the fact, +he boasted that he bought her simply "_as a breeder_." But the +worst is not told in this naked statement. This young woman +(Caroline was her name) was virtually compelled by Mr. Covey to +abandon herself to the object for which he had purchased her; and +the result was, the birth of twins at the end of the year. At +this addition to his human stock, both Edward Covey and his wife, +Susan, were ecstatic with joy. No one dreamed of reproaching the +woman, or of finding fault with the hired man--Bill Smith--the +father of the children, for Mr. Covey himself had locked the two +up together every night, thus inviting the result. + +But I will pursue this revolting subject no further. No better +illustration of the unchaste and demoralizing character of +slavery can be found, than is furnished in the fact that this +professedly Christian slaveholder, amidst all his prayers and +hymns, was shamelessly and boastfully encouraging, and actually +compelling, in his own house, undisguised and unmitigated +fornication, as a means of increasing his human stock. I may +remark here, that, while this fact will be read with disgust and +shame at the north, it will be _laughed at_, as smart and +praiseworthy in Mr. Covey, at the south; for a man is no more +condemned there for buying a woman and devoting her to this life +of dishonor, <170>than for buying a cow, and raising stock from +her. The same rules are observed, with a view to increasing the +number and quality of the former, as of the latter. + +I will here reproduce what I said of my own experience in this +wretched place, more than ten years ago: + + + +If at any one time of my life, more than another, I was made to +drink the bitterest dregs of slavery, that time was during the +first six months of my stay with Mr. Covey. We were worked all +weathers. It was never too hot or too cold; it could never rain, +blow, snow, or hail too hard for us to work in the field. Work, +work, work, was scarcely more the order of the day than the +night. The longest days were too short for him, and the shortest +nights were too long for him. I was somewhat unmanageable when I +first went there; but a few months of his discipline tamed me. +Mr. Covey succeeded in breaking me. I was broken in body, soul +and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed; my intellect +languished; the disposition to read departed; the cheerful spark +that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed +in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute! + +Sunday was my only leisure time. I spent this in a sort of +beast-like stupor, between sleep and wake, under some large tree. +At times, I would rise up, a flash of energetic freedom would +dart through my soul, accompanied with a faint beam of hope, +flickered for a moment, and then vanished. I sank down again, +mourning over my wretched condition. I was sometimes prompted to +take my life, and that of Covey, but was prevented by a +combination of hope and fear. My sufferings on this plantation +seem now like a dream rather than a stern reality. + +Our house stood within a few rods of the Chesapeake bay, whose +broad bosom was ever white with sails from every quarter of the +habitable globe. Those beautiful vessels, robed in purest white, +so delightful to the eye of freemen, were to me so many shrouded +ghosts, to terrify and torment me with thoughts of my wretched +condition. I have often, in the deep stillness of a summer's +Sabbath, stood all alone upon the banks of that noble bay, and +traced, with saddened heart and tearful eye, the countless number +of sails moving off to the mighty ocean. The sight of these +always affected me powerfully. My thoughts would compel +utterance; and there, with no audience but the Almighty, I would +pour out my soul's complaint in my rude way, with an apostrophe +to the moving multitude of ships: + +"You are loosed from your moorings, and free; I am fast in my +chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, +and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedom's swift- +winged angels, that fly around the world; I am confined in bands +of iron! O, that I were free! O, that I were on one of your +gallant decks, and under your protecting wing! Alas! betwixt me +<171 ANGUISH BEYOND DESCRIPTION>and you the turbid waters roll. +Go on, go on. O that I could also go! Could I but swim! If I +could fly! O, why was I born a man, of whom to make a brute! +The glad ship is gone; she hides in the dim distance. I am left +in the hottest hell of unending slavery. O God, save me! God, +deliver me! Let me be free! Is there any God? Why am I a +slave? I will run away. I will not stand it. Get caught, or +get clear, I'll try it. I had as well die with ague as with +fever. I have only one life to lose. I had as well be killed +running as die standing. Only think of it; one hundred miles +straight north, and I am free! Try it? Yes! God helping me, I +will. It cannot be that I shall live and die a slave. I will +take to the water. This very bay shall yet bear me into freedom. +The steamboats steered in a north-east coast from North Point. I +will do the same; and when I get to the head of the bay, I will +turn my canoe adrift, and walk straight through Delaware into +Pennsylvania. When I get there, I shall not be required to have +a pass; I will travel without being disturbed. Let but the first +opportunity offer, and come what will, I am off. Meanwhile, I +will try to bear up under the yoke. I am not the only slave in +the world. Why should I fret? I can bear as much as any of +them. Besides, I am but a boy, and all boys are bound to some +one. It may be that my misery in slavery will only increase my +happiness when I get free. There is a better day coming." + +I shall never be able to narrate the mental experience through +which it was my lot to pass during my stay at Covey's. I was +completely wrecked, changed and bewildered; goaded almost to +madness at one time, and at another reconciling myself to my +wretched condition. Everything in the way of kindness, which I +had experienced at Baltimore; all my former hopes and aspirations +for usefulness in the world, and the happy moments spent in the +exercises of religion, contrasted with my then present lot, but +increased my anguish. + +I suffered bodily as well as mentally. I had neither sufficient +time in which to eat or to sleep, except on Sundays. The +overwork, and the brutal chastisements of which I was the victim, +combined with that ever-gnawing and soul-devouring thought--"_I +am a slave--a slave for life--a slave with no rational ground to +hope for freedom_"--rendered me a living embodiment of mental and +physical wretchedness. + + + +CHAPTER XVI +_Another Pressure of the Tyrant's Vice_ + +EXPERIENCE AT COVEY'S SUMMED UP--FIRST SIX MONTHS SEVERER THAN +THE SECOND--PRELIMINARIES TO THE CHANCE--REASONS FOR NARRATING +THE CIRCUMSTANCES--SCENE IN TREADING YARD--TAKEN ILL--UNUSUAL +BRUTALITY OF COVEY--ESCAPE TO ST. MICHAEL'S--THE PURSUIT-- +SUFFERING IN THE WOODS--DRIVEN BACK AGAIN TO COVEY'S--BEARING OF +MASTER THOMAS--THE SLAVE IS NEVER SICK--NATURAL TO EXPECT SLAVES +TO FEIGN SICKNESS--LAZINESS OF SLAVEHOLDERS. + + +The foregoing chapter, with all its horrid incidents and shocking +features, may be taken as a fair representation of the first six +months of my life at Covey's. The reader has but to repeat, in +his own mind, once a week, the scene in the woods, where Covey +subjected me to his merciless lash, to have a true idea of my +bitter experience there, during the first period of the breaking +process through which Mr. Covey carried me. I have no heart to +repeat each separate transaction, in which I was victim of his +violence and brutality. Such a narration would fill a volume +much larger than the present one. I aim only to give the reader +a truthful impression of my slave life, without unnecessarily +affecting him with harrowing details. + +As I have elsewhere intimated that my hardships were much greater +during the first six months of my stay at Covey's, than during +the remainder of the year, and as the change in my condition was +owing to causes which may help the reader to a better +understanding of human nature, when subjected to the terrible +extremities of slavery, I will narrate the circumstances of this +<173 SCENE IN THE TREADING YARD>change, although I may seem +thereby to applaud my own courage. You have, dear reader, seen +me humbled, degraded, broken down, enslaved, and brutalized, and +you understand how it was done; now let us see the converse of +all this, and how it was brought about; and this will take us +through the year 1834. + +On one of the hottest days of the month of August, of the year +just mentioned, had the reader been passing through Covey's farm, +he might have seen me at work, in what is there called the +"treading yard"--a yard upon which wheat is trodden out from the +straw, by the horses' feet. I was there, at work, feeding the +"fan," or rather bringing wheat to the fan, while Bill Smith was +feeding. Our force consisted of Bill Hughes, Bill Smith, and a +slave by the name of Eli; the latter having been hired for this +occasion. The work was simple, and required strength and +activity, rather than any skill or intelligence, and yet, to one +entirely unused to such work, it came very hard. The heat was +intense and overpowering, and there was much hurry to get the +wheat, trodden out that day, through the fan; since, if that work +was done an hour before sundown, the hands would have, according +to a promise of Covey, that hour added to their night's rest. I +was not behind any of them in the wish to complete the day's work +before sundown, and, hence, I struggled with all my might to get +the work forward. The promise of one hour's repose on a week +day, was sufficient to quicken my pace, and to spur me on to +extra endeavor. Besides, we had all planned to go fishing, and I +certainly wished to have a hand in that. But I was disappointed, +and the day turned out to be one of the bitterest I ever +experienced. About three o'clock, while the sun was pouring down +his burning rays, and not a breeze was stirring, I broke down; my +strength failed me; I was seized with a violent aching of the +head, attended with extreme dizziness, and trembling in every +limb. Finding what was coming, and feeling it would never do to +stop work, I nerved myself up, and staggered on until I fell by +the side of the wheat fan, feeling that the earth had fallen +<174>upon me. This brought the entire work to a dead stand. +There was work for four; each one had his part to perform, and +each part depended on the other, so that when one stopped, all +were compelled to stop. Covey, who had now become my dread, as +well as my tormentor, was at the house, about a hundred yards +from where I was fanning, and instantly, upon hearing the fan +stop, he came down to the treading yard, to inquire into the +cause of our stopping. Bill Smith told him I was sick, and that +I was unable longer to bring wheat to the fan. + +I had, by this time, crawled away, under the side of a post-and- +rail fence, in the shade, and was exceeding ill. The intense +heat of the sun, the heavy dust rising from the fan, the +stooping, to take up the wheat from the yard, together with the +hurrying, to get through, had caused a rush of blood to my head. +In this condition, Covey finding out where I was, came to me; +and, after standing over me a while, he asked me what the matter +was. I told him as well as I could, for it was with difficulty +that I could speak. He then gave me a savage kick in the side, +which jarred my whole frame, and commanded me to get up. The man +had obtained complete control over me; and if he had commanded me +to do any possible thing, I should, in my then state of mind, +have endeavored to comply. I made an effort to rise, but fell +back in the attempt, before gaining my feet. The brute now gave +me another heavy kick, and again told me to rise. I again tried +to rise, and succeeded in gaining my feet; but upon stooping to +get the tub with which I was feeding the fan, I again staggered +and fell to the ground; and I must have so fallen, had I been +sure that a hundred bullets would have pierced me, as the +consequence. While down, in this sad condition, and perfectly +helpless, the merciless Negro breaker took up the hickory slab, +with which Hughes had been striking off the wheat to a level with +the sides of the half bushel measure (a very hard weapon) and +with the sharp edge of it, he dealt me a heavy blow on my head +which made a large gash, and caused the blood to run freely, +saying, <175 ESCAPE TO ST. MICHAEL'S>at the same time, "If _you +have got the headache, I'll cure you_." This done, he ordered me +again to rise, but I made no effort to do so; for I had made up +my mind that it was useless, and that the heartless monster might +now do his worst; he could but kill me, and that might put me out +of my misery. Finding me unable to rise, or rather despairing of +my doing so, Covey left me, with a view to getting on with the +work without me. I was bleeding very freely, and my face was +soon covered with my warm blood. Cruel and merciless as was the +motive that dealt that blow, dear reader, the wound was fortunate +for me. Bleeding was never more efficacious. The pain in my +head speedily abated, and I was soon able to rise. Covey had, as +I have said, now left me to my fate; and the question was, shall +I return to my work, or shall I find my way to St. Michael's, and +make Capt. Auld acquainted with the atrocious cruelty of his +brother Covey, and beseech him to get me another master? +Remembering the object he had in view, in placing me under the +management of Covey, and further, his cruel treatment of my poor +crippled cousin, Henny, and his meanness in the matter of feeding +and clothing his slaves, there was little ground to hope for a +favorable reception at the hands of Capt. Thomas Auld. +Nevertheless, I resolved to go straight to Capt. Auld, thinking +that, if not animated by motives of humanity, he might be induced +to interfere on my behalf from selfish considerations. "He +cannot," thought I, "allow his property to be thus bruised and +battered, marred and defaced; and I will go to him, and tell him +the simple truth about the matter." In order to get to St. +Michael's, by the most favorable and direct road, I must walk +seven miles; and this, in my sad condition, was no easy +performance. I had already lost much blood; I was exhausted by +over exertion; my sides were sore from the heavy blows planted +there by the stout boots of Mr. Covey; and I was, in every way, +in an unfavorable plight for the journey. I however watched my +chance, while the cruel and cunning Covey was looking in an +opposite direction, and started <176>off, across the field, for +St. Michael's. This was a daring step; if it failed, it would +only exasperate Covey, and increase the rigors of my bondage, +during the remainder of my term of service under him; but the +step was taken, and I must go forward. I succeeded in getting +nearly half way across the broad field, toward the woods, before +Mr. Covey observed me. I was still bleeding, and the exertion of +running had started the blood afresh. _"Come back! Come back!"_ +vociferated Covey, with threats of what he would do if I did not +return instantly. But, disregarding his calls and his threats, I +pressed on toward the woods as fast as my feeble state would +allow. Seeing no signs of my stopping, Covey caused his horse to +be brought out and saddled, as if he intended to pursue me. The +race was now to be an unequal one; and, thinking I might be +overhauled by him, if I kept the main road, I walked nearly the +whole distance in the woods, keeping far enough from the road to +avoid detection and pursuit. But, I had not gone far, before my +little strength again failed me, and I laid down. The blood was +still oozing from the wound in my head; and, for a time, I +suffered more than I can describe. There I was, in the deep +woods, sick and emaciated, pursued by a wretch whose character +for revolting cruelty beggars all opprobrious speech--bleeding, +and almost bloodless. I was not without the fear of bleeding to +death. The thought of dying in the woods, all alone, and of +being torn to pieces by the buzzards, had not yet been rendered +tolerable by my many troubles and hardships, and I was glad when +the shade of the trees, and the cool evening breeze, combined +with my matted hair to stop the flow of blood. After lying there +about three quarters of an hour, brooding over the singular and +mournful lot to which I was doomed, my mind passing over the +whole scale or circle of belief and unbelief, from faith in the +overruling providence of God, to the blackest atheism, I again +took up my journey toward St. Michael's, more weary and sad than +in the morning when I left Thomas Auld's for the home of Mr. +Covey. I was bare-footed and bare-headed, and in <177 BEARING OF +MASTER THOMAS>my shirt sleeves. The way was through bogs and +briers, and I tore my feet often during the journey. I was full +five hours in going the seven or eight miles; partly, because of +the difficulties of the way, and partly, because of the +feebleness induced by my illness, bruises and loss of blood. On +gaining my master's store, I presented an appearance of +wretchedness and woe, fitted to move any but a heart of stone. +From the crown of my head to the sole of my feet, there were +marks of blood. My hair was all clotted with dust and blood, and +the back of my shirt was literally stiff with the same. Briers +and thorns had scarred and torn my feet and legs, leaving blood +marks there. Had I escaped from a den of tigers, I could not +have looked worse than I did on reaching St. Michael's. In this +unhappy plight, I appeared before my professedly _Christian_ +master, humbly to invoke the interposition of his power and +authority, to protect me from further abuse and violence. I had +begun to hope, during the latter part of my tedious journey +toward St. Michael's, that Capt. Auld would now show himself in a +nobler light than I had ever before seen him. I was +disappointed. I had jumped from a sinking ship into the sea; I +had fled from the tiger to something worse. I told him all the +circumstances, as well as I could; how I was endeavoring to +please Covey; how hard I was at work in the present instance; how +unwilling I sunk down under the heat, toil and pain; the brutal +manner in which Covey had kicked me in the side; the gash cut in +my head; my hesitation about troubling him (Capt. Auld) with +complaints; but, that now I felt it would not be best longer to +conceal from him the outrages committed on me from time to time +by Covey. At first, master Thomas seemed somewhat affected by +the story of my wrongs, but he soon repressed his feelings and +became cold as iron. It was impossible--as I stood before him at +the first--for him to seem indifferent. I distinctly saw his +human nature asserting its conviction against the slave system, +which made cases like mine _possible;_ but, as I have said, +humanity fell before the systematic tyranny of slavery. He first +walked <178>the floor, apparently much agitated by my story, and +the sad spectacle I presented; but, presently, it was _his_ turn +to talk. He began moderately, by finding excuses for Covey, and +ending with a full justification of him, and a passionate +condemnation of me. "He had no doubt I deserved the flogging. +He did not believe I was sick; I was only endeavoring to get rid +of work. My dizziness was laziness, and Covey did right to flog +me, as he had done." After thus fairly annihilating me, and +rousing himself by his own eloquence, he fiercely demanded what I +wished _him_ to do in the case! + +With such a complete knock-down to all my hopes, as he had given +me, and feeling, as I did, my entire subjection to his power, I +had very little heart to reply. I must not affirm my innocence +of the allegations which he had piled up against me; for that +would be impudence, and would probably call down fresh violence +as well as wrath upon me. The guilt of a slave is always, and +everywhere, presumed; and the innocence of the slaveholder or the +slave employer, is always asserted. The word of the slave, +against this presumption, is generally treated as impudence, +worthy of punishment. "Do you contradict me, you rascal?" is a +final silencer of counter statements from the lips of a slave. + +Calming down a little in view of my silence and hesitation, and, +perhaps, from a rapid glance at the picture of misery I +presented, he inquired again, "what I would have him do?" Thus +invited a second time, I told Master Thomas I wished him to allow +me to get a new home and to find a new master; that, as sure as I +went back to live with Mr. Covey again, I should be killed by +him; that he would never forgive my coming to him (Capt. Auld) +with a complaint against him (Covey); that, since I had lived +with him, he almost crushed my spirit, and I believed that he +would ruin me for future service; that my life was not safe in +his hands. This, Master Thomas _(my brother in the church)_ +regarded as "nonsence{sic}." "There was no danger of Mr. Covey's +killing me; he was a good man, industrious and religious, and he +would not think of <179 THE SLAVE IS NEVER SICK>removing me from +that home; "besides," said he and this I found was the most +distressing thought of all to him--"if you should leave Covey +now, that your year has but half expired, I should lose your +wages for the entire year. You belong to Mr. Covey for one year, +and you _must go back_ to him, come what will. You must not +trouble me with any more stories about Mr. Covey; and if you do +not go immediately home, I will get hold of you myself." This +was just what I expected, when I found he had _prejudged_ the +case against me. "But, Sir," I said, "I am sick and tired, and I +cannot get home to-night." At this, he again relented, and +finally he allowed me to remain all night at St. Michael's; but +said I must be off early in the morning, and concluded his +directions by making me swallow a huge dose of _epsom salts_-- +about the only medicine ever administered to slaves. + +It was quite natural for Master Thomas to presume I was feigning +sickness to escape work, for he probably thought that were _he_ +in the place of a slave with no wages for his work, no praise for +well doing, no motive for toil but the lash--he would try every +possible scheme by which to escape labor. I say I have no doubt +of this; the reason is, that there are not, under the whole +heavens, a set of men who cultivate such an intense dread of +labor as do the slaveholders. The charge of laziness against the +slave is ever on their lips, and is the standing apology for +every species of cruelty and brutality. These men literally +"bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's +shoulders; but they, themselves, will not move them with one of +their fingers." + +My kind readers shall have, in the next chapter--what they were +led, perhaps, to expect to find in this--namely: an account of my +partial disenthrallment from the tyranny of Covey, and the marked +change which it brought about. + + +CHAPTER XVII +_The Last Flogging_ + +A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--RETURN TO COVEY'S--PURSUED BY COVEY--THE CHASE +DEFEATED--VENGEANCE POSTPONED--MUSINGS IN THE WOODS--THE +ALTERNATIVE--DEPLORABLE SPECTACLE--NIGHT IN THE WOODS--EXPECTED +ATTACK--ACCOSTED BY SANDY, A FRIEND, NOT A HUNTER--SANDY'S +HOSPITALITY--THE "ASH CAKE" SUPPER--THE INTERVIEW WITH SANDY--HIS +ADVICE--SANDY A CONJURER AS WELL AS A CHRISTIAN--THE MAGIC ROOT-- +STRANGE MEETING WITH COVEY--HIS MANNER--COVEY'S SUNDAY FACE--MY +DEFENSIVE RESOLVE--THE FIGHT--THE VICTORY, AND ITS RESULTS. + + +Sleep itself does not always come to the relief of the weary in +body, and the broken in spirit; especially when past troubles +only foreshadow coming disasters. The last hope had been +extinguished. My master, who I did not venture to hope would +protect me as _a man_, had even now refused to protect me as _his +property;_ and had cast me back, covered with reproaches and +bruises, into the hands of a stranger to that mercy which was the +soul of the religion he professed. May the reader never spend +such a night as that allotted to me, previous to the morning +which was to herald my return to the den of horrors from which I +had made a temporary escape. + +I remained all night--sleep I did not--at St. Michael's; and in +the morning (Saturday) I started off, according to the order of +Master Thomas, feeling that I had no friend on earth, and +doubting if I had one in heaven. I reached Covey's about nine +o'clock; and just as I stepped into the field, before I had +reached the house, Covey, true to his snakish habits, darted out +at me <181 RETURN TO COVEY'S>from a fence corner, in which he had +secreted himself, for the purpose of securing me. He was amply +provided with a cowskin and a rope; and he evidently intended to +_tie me up_, and to wreak his vengeance on me to the fullest +extent. I should have been an easy prey, had he succeeded in +getting his hands upon me, for I had taken no refreshment since +noon on Friday; and this, together with the pelting, excitement, +and the loss of blood, had reduced my strength. I, however, +darted back into the woods, before the ferocious hound could get +hold of me, and buried myself in a thicket, where he lost sight +of me. The corn-field afforded me cover, in getting to the +woods. But for the tall corn, Covey would have overtaken me, and +made me his captive. He seemed very much chagrined that he did +not catch me, and gave up the chase, very reluctantly; for I +could see his angry movements, toward the house from which he had +sallied, on his foray. + +Well, now I am clear of Covey, and of his wrathful lash, for +present. I am in the wood, buried in its somber gloom, and +hushed in its solemn silence; hid from all human eyes; shut in +with nature and nature's God, and absent from all human +contrivances. Here was a good place to pray; to pray for help +for deliverance--a prayer I had often made before. But how could +I pray? Covey could pray--Capt. Auld could pray--I would fain +pray; but doubts (arising partly from my own neglect of the means +of grace, and partly from the sham religion which everywhere +prevailed, cast in my mind a doubt upon all religion, and led me +to the conviction that prayers were unavailing and delusive) +prevented my embracing the opportunity, as a religious one. +Life, in itself, had almost become burdensome to me. All my +outward relations were against me; I must stay here and starve (I +was already hungry) or go home to Covey's, and have my flesh torn +to pieces, and my spirit humbled under the cruel lash of Covey. +This was the painful alternative presented to me. The day was +long and irksome. My physical condition was deplorable. I was +weak, from the toils of the previous day, and from the want of +<182>food and rest; and had been so little concerned about my +appearance, that I had not yet washed the blood from my garments. +I was an object of horror, even to myself. Life, in Baltimore, +when most oppressive, was a paradise to this. What had I done, +what had my parents done, that such a life as this should be +mine? That day, in the woods, I would have exchanged my manhood +for the brutehood of an ox. + +Night came. I was still in the woods, unresolved what to do. +Hunger had not yet pinched me to the point of going home, and I +laid myself down in the leaves to rest; for I had been watching +for hunters all day, but not being molested during the day, I +expected no disturbance during the night. I had come to the +conclusion that Covey relied upon hunger to drive me home; and in +this I was quite correct--the facts showed that he had made no +effort to catch me, since morning. + +During the night, I heard the step of a man in the woods. He was +coming toward the place where I lay. A person lying still has +the advantage over one walking in the woods, in the day time, and +this advantage is much greater at night. I was not able to +engage in a physical struggle, and I had recourse to the common +resort of the weak. I hid myself in the leaves to prevent +discovery. But, as the night rambler in the woods drew nearer, I +found him to be a _friend_, not an enemy; it was a slave of Mr. +William Groomes, of Easton, a kind hearted fellow, named "Sandy." +Sandy lived with Mr. Kemp that year, about four miles from St. +Michael's. He, like myself had been hired out by the year; but, +unlike myself, had not been hired out to be broken. Sandy was +the husband of a free woman, who lived in the lower part of +_"Potpie Neck,"_ and he was now on his way through the woods, to +see her, and to spend the Sabbath with her. + +As soon as I had ascertained that the disturber of my solitude +was not an enemy, but the good-hearted Sandy--a man as famous +among the slaves of the neighborhood for his good nature, as for +his good sense I came out from my hiding place, and made <183 THE +ASH CAKE SUPPER>myself known to him. I explained the +circumstances of the past two days, which had driven me to the +woods, and he deeply compassionated my distress. It was a bold +thing for him to shelter me, and I could not ask him to do so; +for, had I been found in his hut, he would have suffered the +penalty of thirty-nine lashes on his bare back, if not something +worse. But Sandy was too generous to permit the fear of +punishment to prevent his relieving a brother bondman from hunger +and exposure; and, therefore, on his own motion, I accompanied +him to his home, or rather to the home of his wife--for the house +and lot were hers. His wife was called up--for it was now about +midnight--a fire was made, some Indian meal was soon mixed with +salt and water, and an ash cake was baked in a hurry to relieve +my hunger. Sandy's wife was not behind him in kindness--both +seemed to esteem it a privilege to succor me; for, although I was +hated by Covey and by my master, I was loved by the colored +people, because _they_ thought I was hated for my knowledge, and +persecuted because I was feared. I was the _only_ slave _now_ in +that region who could read and write. There had been one other +man, belonging to Mr. Hugh Hamilton, who could read (his name was +"Jim"), but he, poor fellow, had, shortly after my coming into +the neighborhood, been sold off to the far south. I saw Jim +ironed, in the cart, to be carried to Easton for sale--pinioned +like a yearling for the slaughter. My knowledge was now the +pride of my brother slaves; and, no doubt, Sandy felt something +of the general interest in me on that account. The supper was +soon ready, and though I have feasted since, with honorables, +lord mayors and aldermen, over the sea, my supper on ash cake and +cold water, with Sandy, was the meal, of all my life, most sweet +to my taste, and now most vivid in my memory. + +Supper over, Sandy and I went into a discussion of what was +_possible_ for me, under the perils and hardships which now +overshadowed my path. The question was, must I go back to Covey, +or must I now tempt to run away? Upon a careful survey, the +latter was found to be impossible; for I was on a narrow neck of +land, <184>every avenue from which would bring me in sight of +pursuers. There was the Chesapeake bay to the right, and "Pot- +pie" river to the left, and St. Michael's and its neighborhood +occupying the only space through which there was any retreat. + +I found Sandy an old advisor. He was not only a religious man, +but he professed to believe in a system for which I have no name. +He was a genuine African, and had inherited some of the so-called +magical powers, said to be possessed by African and eastern +nations. He told me that he could help me; that, in those very +woods, there was an herb, which in the morning might be found, +possessing all the powers required for my protection (I put his +thoughts in my own language); and that, if I would take his +advice, he would procure me the root of the herb of which he +spoke. He told me further, that if I would take that root and +wear it on my right side, it would be impossible for Covey to +strike me a blow; that with this root about my person, no white +man could whip me. He said he had carried it for years, and that +he had fully tested its virtues. He had never received a blow +from a slaveholder since he carried it; and he never expected to +receive one, for he always meant to carry that root as a +protection. He knew Covey well, for Mrs. Covey was the daughter +of Mr. Kemp; and he (Sandy) had heard of the barbarous treatment +to which I was subjected, and he wanted to do something for me. + +Now all this talk about the root, was to me, very absurd and +ridiculous, if not positively sinful. I at first rejected the +idea that the simple carrying a root on my right side (a root, by +the way, over which I walked every time I went into the woods) +could possess any such magic power as he ascribed to it, and I +was, therefore, not disposed to cumber my pocket with it. I had +a positive aversion to all pretenders to _"divination."_ It was +beneath one of my intelligence to countenance such dealings with +the devil, as this power implied. But, with all my learning--it +was really precious little--Sandy was more than a match for me. +"My book learning," he said, "had not kept Covey off me" (a +powerful <185 THE MAGIC ROOT>argument just then) and he entreated +me, with flashing eyes, to try this. If it did me no good, it +could do me no harm, and it would cost me nothing, any way. +Sandy was so earnest, and so confident of the good qualities of +this weed, that, to please him, rather than from any conviction +of its excellence, I was induced to take it. He had been to me +the good Samaritan, and had, almost providentially, found me, and +helped me when I could not help myself; how did I know but that +the hand of the Lord was in it? With thoughts of this sort, I +took the roots from Sandy, and put them in my right hand pocket. + +This was, of course, Sunday morning. Sandy now urged me to go +home, with all speed, and to walk up bravely to the house, as +though nothing had happened. I saw in Sandy too deep an insight +into human nature, with all his superstition, not to have some +respect for his advice; and perhaps, too, a slight gleam or +shadow of his superstition had fallen upon me. At any rate, I +started off toward Covey's, as directed by Sandy. Having, the +previous night, poured my griefs into Sandy's ears, and got him +enlisted in my behalf, having made his wife a sharer in my +sorrows, and having, also, become well refreshed by sleep and +food, I moved off, quite courageously, toward the much dreaded +Covey's. Singularly enough, just as I entered his yard gate, I +met him and his wife, dressed in their Sunday best--looking as +smiling as angels--on their way to church. The manner of Covey +astonished me. There was something really benignant in his +countenance. He spoke to me as never before; told me that the +pigs had got into the lot, and he wished me to drive them out; +inquired how I was, and seemed an altered man. This +extraordinary conduct of Covey, really made me begin to think +that Sandy's herb had more virtue in it than I, in my pride, had +been willing to allow; and, had the day been other than Sunday, I +should have attributed Covey's altered manner solely to the magic +power of the root. I suspected, however, that the _Sabbath_, and +not the _root_, was the real explanation of Covey's manner. His +religion hindered him from breaking the <186>Sabbath, but not +from breaking my skin. He had more respect for the _day_ than +for the _man_, for whom the day was mercifully given; for while +he would cut and slash my body during the week, he would not +hesitate, on Sunday, to teach me the value of my soul, or the way +of life and salvation by Jesus Christ. + +All went well with me till Monday morning; and then, whether the +root had lost its virtue, or whether my tormentor had gone deeper +into the black art than myself (as was sometimes said of him), or +whether he had obtained a special indulgence, for his faithful +Sabbath day's worship, it is not necessary for me to know, or to +inform the reader; but, this I _may_ say--the pious and benignant +smile which graced Covey's face on _Sunday_, wholly disappeared +on _Monday_. Long before daylight, I was called up to go and +feed, rub, and curry the horses. I obeyed the call, and would +have so obeyed it, had it been made at an earilier{sic} hour, for +I had brought my mind to a firm resolve, during that Sunday's +reflection, viz: to obey every order, however unreasonable, if it +were possible, and, if Mr. Covey should then undertake to beat +me, to defend and protect myself to the best of my ability. My +religious views on the subject of resisting my master, had +suffered a serious shock, by the savage persecution to which I +had been subjected, and my hands were no longer tied by my +religion. Master Thomas's indifference had served the last link. +I had now to this extent "backslidden" from this point in the +slave's religious creed; and I soon had occasion to make my +fallen state known to my Sunday-pious brother, Covey. + +Whilst I was obeying his order to feed and get the horses ready +for the field, and when in the act of going up the stable loft +for the purpose of throwing down some blades, Covey sneaked into +the stable, in his peculiar snake-like way, and seizing me +suddenly by the leg, he brought me to the stable floor, giving my +newly mended body a fearful jar. I now forgot my roots, and +remembered my pledge to _stand up in my own defense_. The brute +was endeavoring skillfully to get a slip-knot on my legs, before +I could <187 THE FIGHT>draw up my feet. As soon as I found what +he was up to, I gave a sudden spring (my two day's rest had been +of much service to me,) and by that means, no doubt, he was able +to bring me to the floor so heavily. He was defeated in his plan +of tying me. While down, he seemed to think he had me very +securely in his power. He little thought he was--as the rowdies +say--"in" for a "rough and tumble" fight; but such was the fact. +Whence came the daring spirit necessary to grapple with a man +who, eight-and-forty hours before, could, with his slightest word +have made me tremble like a leaf in a storm, I do not know; at +any rate, _I was resolved to fight_, and, what was better still, +I was actually hard at it. The fighting madness had come upon +me, and I found my strong fingers firmly attached to the throat +of my cowardly tormentor; as heedless of consequences, at the +moment, as though we stood as equals before the law. The very +color of the man was forgotten. I felt as supple as a cat, and +was ready for the snakish creature at every turn. Every blow of +his was parried, though I dealt no blows in turn. I was strictly +on the _defensive_, preventing him from injuring me, rather than +trying to injure him. I flung him on the ground several times, +when he meant to have hurled me there. I held him so firmly by +the throat, that his blood followed my nails. He held me, and I +held him. + +All was fair, thus far, and the contest was about equal. My +resistance was entirely unexpected, and Covey was taken all aback +by it, for he trembled in every limb. _"Are you going to +resist_, you scoundrel?" said he. To which, I returned a polite +_"Yes sir;"_ steadily gazing my interrogator in the eye, to meet +the first approach or dawning of the blow, which I expected my +answer would call forth. But, the conflict did not long remain +thus equal. Covey soon cried out lustily for help; not that I +was obtaining any marked advantage over him, or was injuring him, +but because he was gaining none over me, and was not able, single +handed, to conquer me. He called for his cousin Hughs, to come +to his assistance, and now the scene was changed. I was +compelled to <188>give blows, as well as to parry them; and, +since I was, in any case, to suffer for resistance, I felt (as +the musty proverb goes) that "I might as well be hanged for an +old sheep as a lamb." I was still _defensive_ toward Covey, but +_aggressive_ toward Hughs; and, at the first approach of the +latter, I dealt a blow, in my desperation, which fairly sickened +my youthful assailant. He went off, bending over with pain, and +manifesting no disposition to come within my reach again. The +poor fellow was in the act of trying to catch and tie my right +hand, and while flattering himself with success, I gave him the +kick which sent him staggering away in pain, at the same time +that I held Covey with a firm hand. + +Taken completely by surprise, Covey seemed to have lost his usual +strength and coolness. He was frightened, and stood puffing and +blowing, seemingly unable to command words or blows. When he saw +that poor Hughes was standing half bent with pain--his courage +quite gone the cowardly tyrant asked if I "meant to persist in my +resistance." I told him "_I did mean to resist, come what +might_;" that I had been by him treated like a _brute_, during +the last six months; and that I should stand it _no longer_. +With that, he gave me a shake, and attempted to drag me toward a +stick of wood, that was lying just outside the stable door. He +meant to knock me down with it; but, just as he leaned over to +get the stick, I seized him with both hands by the collar, and, +with a vigorous and sudden snatch, I brought my assailant +harmlessly, his full length, on the _not_ overclean ground--for +we were now in the cow yard. He had selected the place for the +fight, and it was but right that he should have all the +advantges{sic} of his own selection. + +By this time, Bill, the hiredman, came home. He had been to Mr. +Hemsley's, to spend the Sunday with his nominal wife, and was +coming home on Monday morning, to go to work. Covey and I had +been skirmishing from before daybreak, till now, that the sun was +almost shooting his beams over the eastern woods, and we were +still at it. I could not see where the matter was to terminate. +He evidently was afraid to let me go, lest I should again <189 +BILL REFUSES TO ASSIST COVEY>make off to the woods; otherwise, he +would probably have obtained arms from the house, to frighten me. +Holding me, Covey called upon Bill for assistance. The scene +here, had something comic about it. "Bill," who knew _precisely_ +what Covey wished him to do, affected ignorance, and pretended he +did not know what to do. "What shall I do, Mr. Covey," said +Bill. "Take hold of him--take hold of him!" said Covey. With a +toss of his head, peculiar to Bill, he said, "indeed, Mr. Covey I +want to go to work." _"This is_ your work," said Covey; "take +hold of him." Bill replied, with spirit, "My master hired me +here, to work, and _not_ to help you whip Frederick." It was now +my turn to speak. "Bill," said I, "don't put your hands on me." +To which he replied, "My GOD! Frederick, I ain't goin' to tech +ye," and Bill walked off, leaving Covey and myself to settle our +matters as best we might. + +But, my present advantage was threatened when I saw Caroline (the +slave-woman of Covey) coming to the cow yard to milk, for she was +a powerful woman, and could have mastered me very easily, +exhausted as I now was. As soon as she came into the yard, Covey +attempted to rally her to his aid. Strangely--and, I may add, +fortunately--Caroline was in no humor to take a hand in any such +sport. We were all in open rebellion, that morning. Caroline +answered the command of her master to _"take hold of me,"_ +precisely as Bill had answered, but in _her_, it was at greater +peril so to answer; she was the slave of Covey, and he could do +what he pleased with her. It was _not_ so with Bill, and Bill +knew it. Samuel Harris, to whom Bill belonged, did not allow his +slaves to be beaten, unless they were guilty of some crime which +the law would punish. But, poor Caroline, like myself, was at +the mercy of the merciless Covey; nor did she escape the dire +effects of her refusal. He gave her several sharp blows. + +Covey at length (two hours had elapsed) gave up the contest. +Letting me go, he said--puffing and blowing at a great rate-- +"Now, you scoundrel, go to your work; I would not have whipped +you half so much as I have had you not resisted." The fact was, +<190>_he had not whipped me at all_. He had not, in all the +scuffle, drawn a single drop of blood from me. I had drawn blood +from him; and, even without this satisfaction, I should have been +victorious, because my aim had not been to injure him, but to +prevent his injuring me. + +During the whole six months that I lived with Covey, after this +transaction, he never laid on me the weight of his finger in +anger. He would, occasionally, say he did not want to have to +get hold of me again--a declaration which I had no difficulty in +believing; and I had a secret feeling, which answered, "You need +not wish to get hold of me again, for you will be likely to come +off worse in a second fight than you did in the first." + +Well, my dear reader, this battle with Mr. Covey--undignified as +it was, and as I fear my narration of it is--was the turning +point in my _"life as a slave_." It rekindled in my breast the +smouldering embers of liberty; it brought up my Baltimore dreams, +and revived a sense of my own manhood. I was a changed being +after that fight. I was _nothing_ before; I WAS A MAN NOW. It +recalled to life my crushed self-respect and my self-confidence, +and inspired me with a renewed determination to be A FREEMAN. A +man, without force, is without the essential dignity of humanity. +Human nature is so constituted, that it cannot _honor_ a helpless +man, although it can _pity_ him; and even this it cannot do long, +if the signs of power do not arise. + +He can only understand the effect of this combat on my spirit, +who has himself incurred something, hazarded something, in +repelling the unjust and cruel aggressions of a tyrant. Covey +was a tyrant, and a cowardly one, withal. After resisting him, I +felt as I had never felt before. It was a resurrection from the +dark and pestiferous tomb of slavery, to the heaven of +comparative freedom. I was no longer a servile coward, trembling +under the frown of a brother worm of the dust, but, my long-cowed +spirit was roused to an attitude of manly independence. I had +reached the point, at which I was _not afraid to die_. This <191 +RESULTS OF THE VICTORY>spirit made me a freeman in _fact_, while +I remained a slave in _form_. When a slave cannot be flogged he +is more than half free. He has a domain as broad as his own +manly heart to defend, and he is really _"a power on earth_." +While slaves prefer their lives, with flogging, to instant death, +they will always find Christians enough, like unto Covey, to +accommodate that preference. From this time, until that of my +escape from slavery, I was never fairly whipped. Several +attempts were made to whip me, but they were always unsuccessful. +Bruises I did get, as I shall hereafter inform the reader; but +the case I have been describing, was the end of the brutification +to which slavery had subjected me. + +The reader will be glad to know why, after I had so grievously +offended Mr. Covey, he did not have me taken in hand by the +authorities; indeed, why the law of Maryland, which assigns +hanging to the slave who resists his master, was not put in force +against me; at any rate, why I was not taken up, as is usual in +such cases, and publicly whipped, for an example to other slaves, +and as a means of deterring me from committing the same offense +again. I confess, that the easy manner in which I got off, for a +long time, a surprise to me, and I cannot, even now, fully +explain the cause. + +The only explanation I can venture to suggest, is the fact, that +Covey was, probably, ashamed to have it known and confessed that +he had been mastered by a boy of sixteen. Mr. Covey enjoyed the +unbounded and very valuable reputation, of being a first rate +overseer and _Negro breaker_. By means of this reputation, he +was able to procure his hands for _very trifling_ compensation, +and with very great ease. His interest and his pride mutually +suggested the wisdom of passing the matter by, in silence. The +story that he had undertaken to whip a lad, and had been +resisted, was, of itself, sufficient to damage him; for his +bearing should, in the estimation of slaveholders, be of that +imperial order that should make such an occurrence _impossible_. +I judge from these circumstances, that Covey deemed it best to +<192>give me the go-by. It is, perhaps, not altogether +creditable to my natural temper, that, after this conflict with +Mr. Covey, I did, at times, purposely aim to provoke him to an +attack, by refusing to keep with the other hands in the field, +but I could never bully him to another battle. I had made up my +mind to do him serious damage, if he ever again attempted to lay +violent hands on me. + +_ Hereditary bondmen, know ye not + Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow? + +_ +CHAPTER XVIII +_New Relations and Duties_ + +CHANGE OF MASTERS--BENEFITS DERIVED BY THE CHANGE--FAME OF THE +FIGHT WITH COVEY--RECKLESS UNCONCERN--MY ABHORRENCE OF SLAVERY-- +ABILITY TO READ A CAUSE OF PREJUDICE--THE HOLIDAYS--HOW SPENT-- +SHARP HIT AT SLAVERY--EFFECTS OF HOLIDAYS--A DEVICE OF SLAVERY-- +DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COVEY AND FREELAND--AN IRRELIGIOUS MASTER +PREFERRED TO A RELIGIOUS ONE--CATALOGUE OF FLOGGABLE OFFENSES-- +HARD LIFE AT COVEY'S USEFUL--IMPROVED CONDITION NOT FOLLOWED BY +CONTENTMENT--CONGENIAL SOCIETY AT FREELAND'S--SABBATH SCHOOL +INSTITUTED--SECRECY NECESSARY--AFFECTIONATE RELATIONS OF TUTOR +AND PUPILS--CONFIDENCE AND FRIENDSHIP AMONG SLAVES--I DECLINE +PUBLISHING PARTICULARS OF CONVERSATIONS WITH MY FRIENDS--SLAVERY +THE INVITER OF VENGEANCE. + + +My term of actual service to Mr. Edward Covey ended on Christmas +day, 1834. I gladly left the snakish Covey, although he was now +as gentle as a lamb. My home for the year 1835 was already +secured--my next master was already selected. There is always +more or less excitement about the matter of changing hands, but I +had become somewhat reckless. I cared very little into whose +hands I fell--I meant to fight my way. Despite of Covey, too, +the report got abroad, that I was hard to whip; that I was guilty +of kicking back; that though generally a good tempered Negro, I +sometimes "_got the devil in me_." These sayings were rife in +Talbot county, and they distinguished me among my servile +brethren. Slaves, generally, will fight each other, and die at +each other's hands; but there are few who are not held in awe by +a white man. Trained from the cradle up, to think and <194>feel +that their masters are superior, and invested with a sort of +sacredness, there are few who can outgrow or rise above the +control which that sentiment exercises. I had now got free from +it, and the thing was known. One bad sheep will spoil a whole +flock. Among the slaves, I was a bad sheep. I hated slavery, +slaveholders, and all pertaining to them; and I did not fail to +inspire others with the same feeling, wherever and whenever +opportunity was presented. This made me a marked lad among the +slaves, and a suspected one among the slaveholders. A knowledge +of my ability to read and write, got pretty widely spread, which +was very much against me. + +The days between Christmas day and New Year's, are allowed the +slaves as holidays. During these days, all regular work was +suspended, and there was nothing to do but to keep fires, and +look after the stock. This time was regarded as our own, by the +grace of our masters, and we, therefore used it, or abused it, as +we pleased. Those who had families at a distance, were now +expected to visit them, and to spend with them the entire week. +The younger slaves, or the unmarried ones, were expected to see +to the cattle, and attend to incidental duties at home. The +holidays were variously spent. The sober, thinking and +industrious ones of our number, would employ themselves in +manufacturing corn brooms, mats, horse collars and baskets, and +some of these were very well made. Another class spent their +time in hunting opossums, coons, rabbits, and other game. But +the majority spent the holidays in sports, ball playing, +wrestling, boxing, running foot races, dancing, and drinking +whisky; and this latter mode of spending the time was generally +most agreeable to their masters. A slave who would work during +the holidays, was thought, by his master, undeserving of +holidays. Such an one had rejected the favor of his master. +There was, in this simple act of continued work, an accusation +against slaves; and a slave could not help thinking, that if he +made three dollars during the holidays, he might make three +hundred during the year. Not to be drunk during the holi<195 +EFFECTS OF HOLIDAYS>days, was disgraceful; and he was esteemed a +lazy and improvident man, who could not afford to drink whisky +during Christmas. + +The fiddling, dancing and _"jubilee beating_," was going on in +all directions. This latter performance is strictly southern. +It supplies the place of a violin, or of other musical +instruments, and is played so easily, that almost every farm has +its "Juba" beater. The performer improvises as he beats, and +sings his merry songs, so ordering the words as to have them fall +pat with the movement of his hands. Among a mass of nonsense and +wild frolic, once in a while a sharp hit is given to the meanness +of slaveholders. Take the following, for an example: + + _We raise de wheat, + Dey gib us de corn; + We bake de bread, + Dey gib us de cruss; + We sif de meal, + Dey gib us de huss; + We peal de meat, + Dey gib us de skin, + And dat's de way + Dey takes us in. + We skim de pot, + Dey gib us the liquor, + And say dat's good enough for nigger. + Walk over! walk over! + Tom butter and de fat; + Poor nigger you can't get over dat; + Walk over_! + + +This is not a bad summary of the palpable injustice and fraud of +slavery, giving--as it does--to the lazy and idle, the comforts +which God designed should be given solely to the honest laborer. +But to the holiday's. + +Judging from my own observation and experience, I believe these +holidays to be among the most effective means, in the hands of +slaveholders, of keeping down the spirit of insurrection among +the slaves. + +To enslave men, successfully and safely, it is necessary to +<196>have their minds occupied with thoughts and aspirations +short of the liberty of which they are deprived. A certain +degree of attainable good must be kept before them. These +holidays serve the purpose of keeping the minds of the slaves +occupied with prospective pleasure, within the limits of slavery. +The young man can go wooing; the married man can visit his wife; +the father and mother can see their children; the industrious and +money loving can make a few dollars; the great wrestler can win +laurels; the young people can meet, and enjoy each other's +society; the drunken man can get plenty of whisky; and the +religious man can hold prayer meetings, preach, pray and exhort +during the holidays. Before the holidays, these are pleasures in +prospect; after the holidays, they become pleasures of memory, +and they serve to keep out thoughts and wishes of a more +dangerous character. Were slaveholders at once to abandon the +practice of allowing their slaves these liberties, periodically, +and to keep them, the year round, closely confined to the narrow +circle of their homes, I doubt not that the south would blaze +with insurrections. These holidays are conductors or safety +valves to carry off the explosive elements inseparable from the +human mind, when reduced to the condition of slavery. But for +these, the rigors of bondage would become too severe for +endurance, and the slave would be forced up to dangerous +desperation. Woe to the slaveholder when he undertakes to hinder +or to prevent the operation of these electric conductors. A +succession of earthquakes would be less destructive, than the +insurrectionary fires which would be sure to burst forth in +different parts of the south, from such interference. + +Thus, the holidays, became part and parcel of the gross fraud, +wrongs and inhumanity of slavery. Ostensibly, they are +institutions of benevolence, designed to mitigate the rigors of +slave life, but, practically, they are a fraud, instituted by +human selfishness, the better to secure the ends of injustice and +oppression. The slave's happiness is not the end sought, but, +rather, the master's <197 A DEVICE OF SLAVERY>safety. It is not +from a generous unconcern for the slave's labor that this +cessation from labor is allowed, but from a prudent regard to the +safety of the slave system. I am strengthened in this opinion, +by the fact, that most slaveholders like to have their slaves +spend the holidays in such a manner as to be of no real benefit +to the slaves. It is plain, that everything like rational +enjoyment among the slaves, is frowned upon; and only those wild +and low sports, peculiar to semi-civilized people, are +encouraged. All the license allowed, appears to have no other +object than to disgust the slaves with their temporary freedom, +and to make them as glad to return to their work, as they were to +leave it. By plunging them into exhausting depths of drunkenness +and dissipation, this effect is almost certain to follow. I have +known slaveholders resort to cunning tricks, with a view of +getting their slaves deplorably drunk. A usual plan is, to make +bets on a slave, that he can drink more whisky than any other; +and so to induce a rivalry among them, for the mastery in this +degradation. The scenes, brought about in this way, were often +scandalous and loathsome in the extreme. Whole multitudes might +be found stretched out in brutal drunkenness, at once helpless +and disgusting. Thus, when the slave asks for a few hours of +virtuous freedom, his cunning master takes advantage of his +ignorance, and cheers him with a dose of vicious and revolting +dissipation, artfully labeled with the name of LIBERTY. We were +induced to drink, I among the rest, and when the holidays were +over, we all staggered up from our filth and wallowing, took a +long breath, and went away to our various fields of work; +feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go from that which our +masters artfully deceived us into the belief was freedom, back +again to the arms of slavery. It was not what we had taken it to +be, nor what it might have been, had it not been abused by us. +It was about as well to be a slave to _master_, as to be a slave +to _rum_ and _whisky._ + +I am the more induced to take this view of the holiday system, +<198>adopted by slaveholders, from what I know of their treatment +of slaves, in regard to other things. It is the commonest thing +for them to try to disgust their slaves with what they do not +want them to have, or to enjoy. A slave, for instance, likes +molasses; he steals some; to cure him of the taste for it, his +master, in many cases, will go away to town, and buy a large +quantity of the _poorest_ quality, and set it before his slave, +and, with whip in hand, compel him to eat it, until the poor +fellow is made to sicken at the very thought of molasses. The +same course is often adopted to cure slaves of the disagreeable +and inconvenient practice of asking for more food, when their +allowance has failed them. The same disgusting process works +well, too, in other things, but I need not cite them. When a +slave is drunk, the slaveholder has no fear that he will plan an +insurrection; no fear that he will escape to the north. It is +the sober, thinking slave who is dangerous, and needs the +vigilance of his master, to keep him a slave. But, to proceed +with my narrative. + +On the first of January, 1835, I proceeded from St. Michael's to +Mr. William Freeland's, my new home. Mr. Freeland lived only +three miles from St. Michael's, on an old worn out farm, which +required much labor to restore it to anything like a self- +supporting establishment. + +I was not long in finding Mr. Freeland to be a very different man +from Mr. Covey. Though not rich, Mr. Freeland was what may be +called a well-bred southern gentleman, as different from Covey, +as a well-trained and hardened Negro breaker is from the best +specimen of the first families of the south. Though Freeland was +a slaveholder, and shared many of the vices of his class, he +seemed alive to the sentiment of honor. He had some sense of +justice, and some feelings of humanity. He was fretful, +impulsive and passionate, but I must do him the justice to say, +he was free from the mean and selfish characteristics which +distinguished the creature from which I had now, happily, +escaped. He was open, frank, imperative, and practiced no +concealments, <199 RELIGIOUS SLAVEHOLDERS>disdaining to play the +spy. In all this, he was the opposite of the crafty Covey. + +Among the many advantages gained in my change from Covey's to +Freeland's--startling as the statement may be--was the fact that +the latter gentleman made no profession of religion. I assert +_most unhesitatingly_, that the religion of the south--as I have +observed it and proved it--is a mere covering for the most horrid +crimes; the justifier of the most appalling barbarity; a +sanctifier of the most hateful frauds; and a secure shelter, +under which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal +abominations fester and flourish. Were I again to be reduced to +the condition of a slave, _next_ to that calamity, I should +regard the fact of being the slave of a religious slaveholder, +the greatest that could befall me. For all slaveholders with +whom I have ever met, religious slaveholders are the worst. I +have found them, almost invariably, the vilest, meanest and +basest of their class. Exceptions there may be, but this is true +of religious slaveholders, _as a class_. It is not for me to +explain the fact. Others may do that; I simply state it as a +fact, and leave the theological, and psychological inquiry, which +it raises, to be decided by others more competent than myself. +Religious slaveholders, like religious persecutors, are ever +extreme in their malice and violence. Very near my new home, on +an adjoining farm, there lived the Rev. Daniel Weeden, who was +both pious and cruel after the real Covey pattern. Mr. Weeden +was a local preacher of the Protestant Methodist persuasion, and +a most zealous supporter of the ordinances of religion, +generally. This Weeden owned a woman called "Ceal," who was a +standing proof of his mercilessness. Poor Ceal's back, always +scantily clothed, was kept literally raw, by the lash of this +religious man and gospel minister. The most notoriously wicked +man--so called in distinction from church members--could hire +hands more easily than this brute. When sent out to find a home, +a slave would never enter the gates of the preacher Weeden, while +a sinful sinner needed a hand. Be<200>have ill, or behave well, +it was the known maxim of Weeden, that it is the duty of a master +to use the lash. If, for no other reason, he contended that this +was essential to remind a slave of his condition, and of his +master's authority. The good slave must be whipped, to be _kept_ +good, and the bad slave must be whipped, to be _made_ good. Such +was Weeden's theory, and such was his practice. The back of his +slave-woman will, in the judgment, be the swiftest witness +against him. + +While I am stating particular cases, I might as well immortalize +another of my neighbors, by calling him by name, and putting him +in print. He did not think that a "chiel" was near, "taking +notes," and will, doubtless, feel quite angry at having his +character touched off in the ragged style of a slave's pen. I +beg to introduce the reader to REV. RIGBY HOPKINS. Mr. Hopkins +resides between Easton and St. Michael's, in Talbot county, +Maryland. The severity of this man made him a perfect terror to +the slaves of his neighborhood. The peculiar feature of his +government, was, his system of whipping slaves, as he said, _in +advance_ of deserving it. He always managed to have one or two +slaves to whip on Monday morning, so as to start his hands to +their work, under the inspiration of a new assurance on Monday, +that his preaching about kindness, mercy, brotherly love, and the +like, on Sunday, did not interfere with, or prevent him from +establishing his authority, by the cowskin. He seemed to wish to +assure them, that his tears over poor, lost and ruined sinners, +and his pity for them, did not reach to the blacks who tilled his +fields. This saintly Hopkins used to boast, that he was the best +hand to manage a Negro in the county. He whipped for the +smallest offenses, by way of preventing the commission of large +ones. + +The reader might imagine a difficulty in finding faults enough +for such frequent whipping. But this is because you have no idea +how easy a matter it is to offend a man who is on the look-out +for offenses. The man, unaccustomed to slaveholding, would be +astonished to observe how many _foggable_ offenses there are in +<201>CATALOGUE OF FLOGGABLE OFFENSES>the slaveholder's catalogue +of crimes; and how easy it is to commit any one of them, even +when the slave least intends it. A slaveholder, bent on finding +fault, will hatch up a dozen a day, if he chooses to do so, and +each one of these shall be of a punishable description. A mere +look, word, or motion, a mistake, accident, or want of power, are +all matters for which a slave may be whipped at any time. Does a +slave look dissatisfied with his condition? It is said, that he +has the devil in him, and it must be whipped out. Does he answer +_loudly_, when spoken to by his master, with an air of self- +consciousness? Then, must he be taken down a button-hole lower, +by the lash, well laid on. Does he forget, and omit to pull off +his hat, when approaching a white person? Then, he must, or may +be, whipped for his bad manners. Does he ever venture to +vindicate his conduct, when harshly and unjustly accused? Then, +he is guilty of impudence, one of the greatest crimes in the +social catalogue of southern society. To allow a slave to escape +punishment, who has impudently attempted to exculpate himself +from unjust charges, preferred against him by some white person, +is to be guilty of great dereliction of duty. Does a slave ever +venture to suggest a better way of doing a thing, no matter what? +He is, altogether, too officious--wise above what is written--and +he deserves, even if he does not get, a flogging for his +presumption. Does he, while plowing, break a plow, or while +hoeing, break a hoe, or while chopping, break an ax? No matter +what were the imperfections of the implement broken, or the +natural liabilities for breaking, the slave can be whipped for +carelessness. The _reverend_ slaveholder could always find +something of this sort, to justify him in using the lash several +times during the week. Hopkins--like Covey and Weeden--were +shunned by slaves who had the privilege (as many had) of finding +their own masters at the end of each year; and yet, there was not +a man in all that section of country, who made a louder +profession of religion, than did MR. RIGBY HOPKINS. +<202> + +But, to continue the thread of my story, through my experience +when at Mr. William Freeland's. + +My poor, weather-beaten bark now reached smoother water, and +gentler breezes. My stormy life at Covey's had been of service +to me. The things that would have seemed very hard, had I gone +direct to Mr. Freeland's, from the home of Master Thomas, were +now (after the hardships at Covey's) "trifles light as air." I +was still a field hand, and had come to prefer the severe labor +of the field, to the enervating duties of a house servant. I had +become large and strong; and had begun to take pride in the fact, +that I could do as much hard work as some of the older men. +There is much rivalry among slaves, at times, as to which can do +the most work, and masters generally seek to promote such +rivalry. But some of us were too wise to race with each other +very long. Such racing, we had the sagacity to see, was not +likely to pay. We had our times for measuring each other's +strength, but we knew too much to keep up the competition so long +as to produce an extraordinary day's work. We knew that if, by +extraordinary exertion, a large quantity of work was done in one +day, the fact, becoming known to the master, might lead him to +require the same amount every day. This thought was enough to +bring us to a dead halt when over so much excited for the race. + +At Mr. Freeland's, my condition was every way improved. I was no +longer the poor scape-goat that I was when at Covey's, where +every wrong thing done was saddled upon me, and where other +slaves were whipped over my shoulders. Mr. Freeland was too just +a man thus to impose upon me, or upon any one else. + +It is quite usual to make one slave the object of especial abuse, +and to beat him often, with a view to its effect upon others, +rather than with any expectation that the slave whipped will be +improved by it, but the man with whom I now was, could descend to +no such meanness and wickedness. Every man here was held +individually responsible for his own conduct. + +This was a vast improvement on the rule at Covey's. There, I +<203 NOT YET CONTENTED>was the general pack horse. Bill Smith +was protected, by a positive prohibition made by his rich master, +and the command of the rich slaveholder is LAW to the poor one; +Hughes was favored, because of his relationship to Covey; and the +hands hired temporarily, escaped flogging, except as they got it +over my poor shoulders. Of course, this comparison refers to the +time when Covey _could_ whip me. + +Mr. Freeland, like Mr. Covey, gave his hands enough to eat, but, +unlike Mr. Covey, he gave them time to take their meals; he +worked us hard during the day, but gave us the night for rest-- +another advantage to be set to the credit of the sinner, as +against that of the saint. We were seldom in the field after +dark in the evening, or before sunrise in the morning. Our +implements of husbandry were of the most improved pattern, and +much superior to those used at Covey's. + +Nothwithstanding the improved condition which was now mine, and +the many advantages I had gained by my new home, and my new +master, I was still restless and discontented. I was about as +hard to please by a master, as a master is by slave. The freedom +from bodily torture and unceasing labor, had given my mind an +increased sensibility, and imparted to it greater activity. I +was not yet exactly in right relations. "How be it, that was not +first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and +afterward that which is spiritual." When entombed at Covey's, +shrouded in darkness and physical wretchedness, temporal +wellbeing was the grand _desideratum;_ but, temporal wants +supplied, the spirit puts in its claims. Beat and cuff your +slave, keep him hungry and spiritless, and he will follow the +chain of his master like a dog; but, feed and clothe him well-- +work him moderately--surround him with physical comfort--and +dreams of freedom intrude. Give him a _bad_ master, and he +aspires to a _good_ master; give him a good master, and he wishes +to become his _own_ master. Such is human nature. You may hurl +a man so low, beneath the level of his kind, that he loses all +just ideas of his natural position; <204>but elevate him a +little, and the clear conception of rights arises to life and +power, and leads him onward. Thus elevated, a little, at +Freeland's, the dreams called into being by that good man, Father +Lawson, when in Baltimore, began to visit me; and shoots from the +tree of liberty began to put forth tender buds, and dim hopes of +the future began to dawn. + +I found myself in congenial society, at Mr. Freeland's. There +were Henry Harris, John Harris, Handy Caldwell, and Sandy +Jenkins.[6] + +Henry and John were brothers, and belonged to Mr. Freeland. They +were both remarkably bright and intelligent, though neither of +them could read. Now for mischief! I had not been long at +Freeland's before I was up to my old tricks. I early began to +address my companions on the subject of education, and the +advantages of intelligence over ignorance, and, as far as I +dared, I tried to show the agency of ignorance in keeping men in +slavery. Webster's spelling book and the _Columbian Orator_ were +looked into again. As summer came on, and the long Sabbath days +stretched themselves over our idleness, I became uneasy, and +wanted a Sabbath school, in which to exercise my gifts, and to +impart the little knowledge of letters which I possessed, to my +brother slaves. A house was hardly necessary in the summer time; +I could hold my school under the shade of an old oak tree, as +well as any where else. The thing was, to get the scholars, and +to have them thoroughly imbued with the desire to learn. Two +such boys were quickly secured, in Henry and John, and from them +the contagion spread. I was not long bringing around me twenty +or thirty young men, who enrolled themselves, gladly, in my +Sabbath school, and were willing to meet me regularly, under the +trees or elsewhere, for the purpose of learning to read. It was + + +[6] This is the same man who gave me the roots to prevent my +being whipped by Mr. Covey. He was "a clever soul." We used +frequently to talk about the fight with Covey, and as often as we +did so, he would claim my success as the result of the roots +which he gave me. This superstition is very common among the +more ignorant slaves. A slave seldom dies, but that his death is +attributed to trickery. + + +<205 SABBATH SCHOOL INSTITUTED>surprising with what ease they +provided themselves with spelling books. These were mostly the +cast off books of their young masters or mistresses. I taught, +at first, on our own farm. All were impressed with the necessity +of keeping the matter as private as possible, for the fate of the +St. Michael's attempt was notorious, and fresh in the minds of +all. Our pious masters, at St. Michael's, must not know that a +few of their dusky brothers were learning to read the word of +God, lest they should come down upon us with the lash and chain. +We might have met to drink whisky, to wrestle, fight, and to do +other unseemly things, with no fear of interruption from the +saints or sinners of St. Michael's. + +But, to meet for the purpose of improving the mind and heart, by +learning to read the sacred scriptures, was esteemed a most +dangerous nuisance, to be instantly stopped. The slaveholders of +St. Michael's, like slaveholders elsewhere, would always prefer +to see the slaves engaged in degrading sports, rather than to see +them acting like moral and accountable beings. + +Had any one asked a religious white man, in St. Michael's, twenty +years ago, the names of three men in that town, whose lives were +most after the pattern of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, the +first three would have been as follows: + +GARRISON WEST, _Class Leader_. +WRIGHT FAIRBANKS, _Class Leader_. +THOMAS AULD, _Class Leader_. + +And yet, these were men who ferociously rushed in upon my Sabbath +school, at St. Michael's, armed with mob-like missiles, and I +must say, I thought him a Christian, until he took part in bloody +by the lash. This same Garrison West was my class leader, and I +must say, I thought him a Christian, until he took part in +breaking up my school. He led me no more after that. The plea +for this outrage was then, as it is now and at all times--the +danger to good order. If the slaves learnt to read, they would +learn something else, and something worse. The peace of slavery +would be disturbed; slave rule would be endangered. I leave the +reader to <206>characterize a system which is endangered by such +causes. I do not dispute the soundness of the reasoning. It is +perfectly sound; and, if slavery be _right_, Sabbath schools for +teaching slaves to read the bible are _wrong_, and ought to be +put down. These Christian class leaders were, to this extent, +consistent. They had settled the question, that slavery is +_right_, and, by that standard, they determined that Sabbath +schools are wrong. To be sure, they were Protestant, and held to +the great Protestant right of every man to _"search the +scriptures"_ for himself; but, then, to all general rules, there +are _exceptions_. How convenient! What crimes may not be +committed under the doctrine of the last remark. But, my dear, +class leading Methodist brethren, did not condescend to give me a +reason for breaking up the Sabbath school at St. Michael's; it +was enough that they had determined upon its destruction. I am, +however, digressing. + +After getting the school cleverly into operation, the second time +holding it in the woods, behind the barn, and in the shade of +trees--I succeeded in inducing a free colored man, who lived +several miles from our house, to permit me to hold my school in a +room at his house. He, very kindly, gave me this liberty; but he +incurred much peril in doing so, for the assemblage was an +unlawful one. I shall not mention, here, the name of this man; +for it might, even now, subject him to persecution, although the +offenses were committed more than twenty years ago. I had, at +one time, more than forty scholars, all of the right sort; and +many of them succeeded in learning to read. I have met several +slaves from Maryland, who were once my scholars; and who obtained +their freedom, I doubt not, partly in consequence of the ideas +imparted to them in that school. I have had various employments +during my short life; but I look back to _none_ with more +satisfaction, than to that afforded by my Sunday school. An +attachment, deep and lasting, sprung up between me and my +persecuted pupils, which made parting from them intensely +grievous; and, <207 FRIENDSHIP AMONG SLAVES>when I think that +most of these dear souls are yet shut up in this abject +thralldom, I am overwhelmed with grief. + +Besides my Sunday school, I devoted three evenings a week to my +fellow slaves, during the winter. Let the reader reflect upon +the fact, that, in this christian country, men and women are +hiding from professors of religion, in barns, in the woods and +fields, in order to learn to read the _holy bible_. Those dear +souls, who came to my Sabbath school, came _not_ because it was +popular or reputable to attend such a place, for they came under +the liability of having forty stripes laid on their naked backs. +Every moment they spend in my school, they were under this +terrible liability; and, in this respect, I was sharer with them. +Their minds had been cramped and starved by their cruel masters; +the light of education had been completely excluded; and their +hard earnings had been taken to educate their master's children. +I felt a delight in circumventing the tyrants, and in blessing +the victims of their curses. + +The year at Mr. Freeland's passed off very smoothly, to outward +seeming. Not a blow was given me during the whole year. To the +credit of Mr. Freeland--irreligious though he was--it must be +stated, that he was the best master I ever had, until I became my +own master, and assumed for myself, as I had a right to do, the +responsibility of my own existence and the exercise of my own +powers. For much of the happiness--or absence of misery--with +which I passed this year with Mr. Freeland, I am indebted to the +genial temper and ardent friendship of my brother slaves. They +were, every one of them, manly, generous and brave, yes; I say +they were brave, and I will add, fine looking. It is seldom the +lot of mortals to have truer and better friends than were the +slaves on this farm. It is not uncommon to charge slaves with +great treachery toward each other, and to believe them incapable +of confiding in each other; but I must say, that I never loved, +esteemed, or confided in men, more than I did in these. They +were as true as steel, and no band of brothers could have been +more <208>loving. There were no mean advantages taken of each +other, as is sometimes the case where slaves are situated as we +were; no tattling; no giving each other bad names to Mr. +Freeland; and no elevating one at the expense of the other. We +never undertook to do any thing, of any importance, which was +likely to affect each other, without mutual consultation. We +were generally a unit, and moved together. Thoughts and +sentiments were exchanged between us, which might well be called +very incendiary, by oppressors and tyrants; and perhaps the time +has not even now come, when it is safe to unfold all the flying +suggestions which arise in the minds of intelligent slaves. +Several of my friends and brothers, if yet alive, are still in +some part of the house of bondage; and though twenty years have +passed away, the suspicious malice of slavery might punish them +for even listening to my thoughts. + +The slaveholder, kind or cruel, is a slaveholder still--the every +hour violator of the just and inalienable rights of man; and he +is, therefore, every hour silently whetting the knife of +vengeance for his own throat. He never lisps a syllable in +commendation of the fathers of this republic, nor denounces any +attempted oppression of himself, without inviting the knife to +his own throat, and asserting the rights of rebellion for his own +slaves. + +The year is ended, and we are now in the midst of the Christmas +holidays, which are kept this year as last, according to the +general description previously given. + + + +CHAPTER XIX +_The Run-Away Plot_ + +NEW YEAR'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATIONS--AGAIN BOUGHT BY FREELAND--NO +AMBITION TO BE A SLAVE--KINDNESS NO COMPENSATION FOR SLAVERY-- +INCIPIENT STEPS TOWARD ESCAPE--CONSIDERATIONS LEADING THERETO-- +IRRECONCILABLE HOSTILITY TO SLAVERY--SOLEMN VOW TAKEN--PLAN +DIVULGED TO THE SLAVES--_Columbian Orator--_SCHEME GAINS FAVOR, +DESPITE PRO-SLAVERY PREACHING--DANGER OF DISCOVERY--SKILL OF +SLAVEHOLDERS IN READING THE MINDS OF THEIR SLAVES--SUSPICION AND +COERCION--HYMNS WITH DOUBLE MEANING--VALUE, IN DOLLARS, OF OUR +COMPANY--PRELIMINARY CONSULTATION--PASS-WORD--CONFLICTS OF HOPE +AND FEAR--DIFFICULTIES TO BE OVERCOME--IGNORANCE OF GEOGRAPHY-- +SURVEY OF IMAGINARY DIFFICULTIES--EFFECT ON OUR MINDS--PATRICK +HENRY--SANDY BECOMES A DREAMER--ROUTE TO THE NORTH LAID OUT-- +OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED--FRAUDS PRACTICED ON FREEMEN--PASSES +WRITTEN--ANXIETIES AS THE TIME DREW NEAR--DREAD OF FAILURE-- +APPEALS TO COMRADES--STRANGE PRESENTIMENT--COINCIDENCE--THE +BETRAYAL DISCOVERED--THE MANNER OF ARRESTING US--RESISTANCE MADE +BY HENRY HARRIS--ITS EFFECT--THE UNIQUE SPEECH OF MRS. FREELAND-- +OUR SAD PROCESSION TO PRISON--BRUTAL JEERS BY THE MULTITUDE ALONG +THE ROAD--PASSES EATEN--THE DENIAL--SANDY TOO WELL LOVED TO BE +SUSPECTED--DRAGGED BEHIND HORSES--THE JAIL A RELIEF--A NEW SET OF +TORMENTORS--SLAVE-TRADERS--JOHN, CHARLES AND HENRY RELEASED-- +ALONE IN PRISON--I AM TAKEN OUT, AND SENT TO BALTIMORE. + + +I am now at the beginning of the year 1836, a time favorable for +serious thoughts. The mind naturally occupies itself with the +mysteries of life in all its phases--the ideal, the real and the +actual. Sober people look both ways at the beginning of the +year, surveying the errors of the past, and providing against +possible errors of the future. I, too, was thus exercised. I +had little pleasure <210>in retrospect, and the prospect was not +very brilliant. "Notwithstanding," thought I, "the many +resolutions and prayers I have made, in behalf of freedom, I am, +this first day of the year 1836, still a slave, still wandering +in the depths of spirit-devouring thralldom. My faculties and +powers of body and soul are not my own, but are the property of a +fellow mortal, in no sense superior to me, except that he has the +physical power to compel me to be owned and controlled by him. +By the combined physical force of the community, I am his slave-- +a slave for life." With thoughts like these, I was perplexed and +chafed; they rendered me gloomy and disconsolate. The anguish of +my mind may not be written. + +At the close of the year 1835, Mr. Freeland, my temporary master, +had bought me of Capt. Thomas Auld, for the year 1836. His +promptness in securing my services, would have been flattering to +my vanity, had I been ambitious to win the reputation of being a +valuable slave. Even as it was, I felt a slight degree of +complacency at the circumstance. It showed he was as well +pleased with me as a slave, as I was with him as a master. I +have already intimated my regard for Mr. Freeland, and I may say +here, in addressing northern readers--where is no selfish motive +for speaking in praise of a slaveholder--that Mr. Freeland was a +man of many excellent qualities, and to me quite preferable to +any master I ever had. + +But the kindness of the slavemaster only gilds the chain of +slavery, and detracts nothing from its weight or power. The +thought that men are made for other and better uses than slavery, +thrives best under the gentle treatment of a kind master. But +the grim visage of slavery can assume no smiles which can +fascinate the partially enlightened slave, into a forgetfulness +of his bondage, nor of the desirableness of liberty. + +I was not through the first month of this, my second year with +the kind and gentlemanly Mr. Freeland, before I was earnestly +considering and advising plans for gaining that freedom, which, +<211 INCIPIENT STEPS TOWARDS ESCAPE>when I was but a mere child, +I had ascertained to be the natural and inborn right of every +member of the human family. The desire for this freedom had been +benumbed, while I was under the brutalizing dominion of Covey; +and it had been postponed, and rendered inoperative, by my truly +pleasant Sunday school engagements with my friends, during the +year 1835, at Mr. Freeland's. It had, however, never entirely +subsided. I hated slavery, always, and the desire for freedom +only needed a favorable breeze, to fan it into a blaze, at any +moment. The thought of only being a creature of the _present_ +and the _past_, troubled me, and I longed to have a _future_--a +future with hope in it. To be shut up entirely to the past and +present, is abhorrent to the human mind; it is to the soul--whose +life and happiness is unceasing progress--what the prison is to +the body; a blight and mildew, a hell of horrors. The dawning of +this, another year, awakened me from my temporary slumber, and +roused into life my latent, but long cherished aspirations for +freedom. I was now not only ashamed to be contented in slavery, +but ashamed to _seem_ to be contented, and in my present +favorable condition, under the mild rule of Mr. F., I am not sure +that some kind reader will not condemn me for being over +ambitious, and greatly wanting in proper humility, when I say the +truth, that I now drove from me all thoughts of making the best +of my lot, and welcomed only such thoughts as led me away from +the house of bondage. The intense desires, now felt, _to be +free_, quickened by my present favorable circumstances, brought +me to the determination to act, as well as to think and speak. +Accordingly, at the beginning of this year 1836, I took upon me a +solemn vow, that the year which had now dawned upon me should not +close, without witnessing an earnest attempt, on my part, to gain +my liberty. This vow only bound me to make my escape +individually; but the year spent with Mr. Freeland had attached +me, as with "hooks of steel," to my brother slaves. The most +affectionate and confiding friendship existed between us; and I +felt it my duty to give them an opportunity to share in my +<212>virtuous determination by frankly disclosing to them my +plans and purposes. Toward Henry and John Harris, I felt a +friendship as strong as one man can feel for another; for I could +have died with and for them. To them, therefore, with a suitable +degree of caution, I began to disclose my sentiments and plans; +sounding them, the while on the subject of running away, provided +a good chance should offer. I scarcely need tell the reader, +that I did my _very best_ to imbue the minds of my dear friends +with my own views and feelings. Thoroughly awakened, now, and +with a definite vow upon me, all my little reading, which had any +bearing on the subject of human rights, was rendered available in +my communications with my friends. That (to me) gem of a book, +the _Columbian Orator_, with its eloquent orations and spicy +dialogues, denouncing oppression and slavery--telling of what had +been dared, done and suffered by men, to obtain the inestimable +boon of liberty--was still fresh in my memory, and whirled into +the ranks of my speech with the aptitude of well trained +soldiers, going through the drill. The fact is, I here began my +public speaking. I canvassed, with Henry and John, the subject +of slavery, and dashed against it the condemning brand of God's +eternal justice, which it every hour violates. My fellow +servants were neither indifferent, dull, nor inapt. Our feelings +were more alike than our opinions. All, however, were ready to +act, when a feasible plan should be proposed. "Show us _how_ the +thing is to be done," said they, "and all is clear." + +We were all, except Sandy, quite free from slaveholding +priestcraft. It was in vain that we had been taught from the +pulpit at St. Michael's, the duty of obedience to our masters; to +recognize God as the author of our enslavement; to regard running +away an offense, alike against God and man; to deem our +enslavement a merciful and beneficial arrangement; to esteem our +condition, in this country, a paradise to that from which we had +been snatched in Africa; to consider our hard hands and dark +color as God's mark of displeasure, and as pointing us out as the +proper <213 FREE FROM PROSLAVERY PRIESTCRAFT>subjects of slavery; +that the relation of master and slave was one of reciprocal +benefits; that our work was not more serviceable to our masters, +than our master's thinking was serviceable to us. I say, it was +in vain that the pulpit of St. Michael's had constantly +inculcated these plausib]e doctrine. Nature laughed them to +scorn. For my own part, I had now become altogether too big for +my chains. Father Lawson's solemn words, of what I ought to be, +and might be, in the providence of God, had not fallen dead on my +soul. I was fast verging toward manhood, and the prophecies of +my childhood were still unfulfilled. The thought, that year +after year had passed away, and my resolutions to run away had +failed and faded--that I was _still a slave_, and a slave, too, +with chances for gaining my freedom diminished and still +diminishing--was not a matter to be slept over easily; nor did I +easily sleep over it. + +But here came a new trouble. Thoughts and purposes so incendiary +as those I now cherished, could not agitate the mind long, +without danger of making themselves manifest to scrutinizing and +unfriendly beholders. I had reason to fear that my sable face +might prove altogether too transparent for the safe concealment +of my hazardous enterprise. Plans of greater moment have leaked +through stone walls, and revealed their projectors. But, here +was no stone wall to hide my purpose. I would have given my +poor, tell tale face for the immoveable countenance of an Indian, +for it was far from being proof against the daily, searching +glances of those with whom I met. + +It is the interest and business of slaveholders to study human +nature, with a view to practical results, and many of them attain +astonishing proficiency in discerning the thoughts and emotions +of slaves. They have to deal not with earth, wood, or stone, but +with _men;_ and, by every regard they have for their safety and +prosperity, they must study to know the material on which they +are at work. So much intellect as the slaveholder has around +him, requires watching. Their safety depends upon their +vigilance. Conscious of the injustice and wrong they are every +hour perpe<214>trating, and knowing what they themselves would do +if made the victims of such wrongs, they are looking out for the +first signs of the dread retribution of justice. They watch, +therefore, with skilled and practiced eyes, and have learned to +read, with great accuracy, the state of mind and heart of the +slaves, through his sable face. These uneasy sinners are quick +to inquire into the matter, where the slave is concerned. +Unusual sobriety, apparent abstraction, sullenness and +indifference--indeed, any mood out of the common way--afford +ground for suspicion and inquiry. Often relying on their +superior position and wisdom, they hector and torture the slave +into a confession, by affecting to know the truth of their +accusations. "You have got the devil in you," say they, "and we +will whip him out of you." I have often been put thus to the +torture, on bare suspicion. This system has its disadvantages as +well as their opposite. The slave is sometimes whipped into the +confession of offenses which he never committed. The reader will +see that the good old rule--"a man is to be held innocent until +proved to be guilty"--does not hold good on the slave plantation. +Suspicion and torture are the approved methods of getting at the +truth, here. It was necessary for me, therefore, to keep a watch +over my deportment, lest the enemy should get the better of me. + +But with all our caution and studied reserve, I am not sure that +Mr. Freeland did not suspect that all was not right with us. It +_did_ seem that he watched us more narrowly, after the plan of +escape had been conceived and discussed amongst us. Men seldom +see themselves as others see them; and while, to ourselves, +everything connected with our contemplated escape appeared +concealed, Mr. Freeland may have, with the peculiar prescience of +a slaveholder, mastered the huge thought which was disturbing our +peace in slavery. + +I am the more inclined to think that he suspected us, because, +prudent as we were, as I now look back, I can see that we did +many silly things, very well calculated to awaken suspicion. We +were, <215 HYMNS WITH A DOUBLE MEANING>at times, remarkably +buoyant, singing hymns and making joyous exclamations, almost as +triumphant in their tone as if we reached a land of freedom and +safety. A keen observer might have detected in our repeated +singing of + + _O Canaan, sweet Canaan, + I am bound for the land of Canaan,_ + +something more than a hope of reaching heaven. We meant to reach +the _north_--and the north was our Canaan. + + _I thought I heard them say, + There were lions in the way, + I don't expect to Star + Much longer here. + + Run to Jesus--shun the danger-- + I don't expect to stay + Much longer here_. + +was a favorite air, and had a double meaning. In the lips of +some, it meant the expectation of a speedy summons to a world of +spirits; but, in the lips of _our_ company, it simply meant, a +speedy pilgrimage toward a free state, and deliverance from all +the evils and dangers of slavery. + +I had succeeded in winning to my (what slaveholders would call +wicked) scheme, a company of five young men, the very flower of +the neighborhood, each one of whom would have commanded one +thousand dollars in the home market. At New Orleans, they would +have brought fifteen hundred dollars a piece, and, perhaps, more. +The names of our party were as follows: Henry Harris; John +Harris, brother to Henry; Sandy Jenkins, of root memory; Charles +Roberts, and Henry Bailey. I was the youngest, but one, of the +party. I had, however, the advantage of them all, in experience, +and in a knowledge of letters. This gave me great influence over +them. Perhaps not one of them, left to himself, would have +dreamed of escape as a possible thing. Not one of them was self- +moved in the matter. They all wanted to be free; but the serious +thought of running away, had not entered into <216>their minds, +until I won them to the undertaking. They all were tolerably +well off--for slaves--and had dim hopes of being set free, some +day, by their masters. If any one is to blame for disturbing the +quiet of the slaves and slave-masters of the neighborhood of St. +Michael's, _I am the man_. I claim to be the instigator of the +high crime (as the slaveholders regard it) and I kept life in it, +until life could be kept in it no longer. + +Pending the time of our contemplated departure out of our Egypt, +we met often by night, and on every Sunday. At these meetings we +talked the matter over; told our hopes and fears, and the +difficulties discovered or imagined; and, like men of sense, we +counted the cost of the enterprise to which we were committing +ourselves. + +These meetings must have resembled, on a small scale, the +meetings of revolutionary conspirators, in their primary +condition. We were plotting against our (so called) lawful +rulers; with this difference that we sought our own good, and not +the harm of our enemies. We did not seek to overthrow them, but +to escape from them. As for Mr. Freeland, we all liked him, and +would have gladly remained with him, _as freeman_. LIBERTY was +our aim; and we had now come to think that we had a right to +liberty, against every obstacle even against the lives of our +enslavers. + +We had several words, expressive of things, important to us, +which we understood, but which, even if distinctly heard by an +outsider, would convey no certain meaning. I have reasons for +suppressing these _pass-words_, which the reader will easily +divine. I hated the secrecy; but where slavery is powerful, and +liberty is weak, the latter is driven to concealment or to +destruction. + +The prospect was not always a bright one. At times, we were +almost tempted to abandon the enterprise, and to get back to that +comparative peace of mind, which even a man under the gallows +might feel, when all hope of escape had vanished. Quiet bondage +was felt to be better than the doubts, fears and uncertainties, +which now so sadly perplexed and disturbed us. +<217 IGNORANCE OF GEOGRAPHY> + +The infirmities of humanity, generally, were represented in our +little band. We were confident, bold and determined, at times; +and, again, doubting, timid and wavering; whistling, like the boy +in the graveyard, to keep away the spirits. + +To look at the map, and observe the proximity of Eastern Shore, +Maryland, to Delaware and Pennsylvania, it may seem to the reader +quite absurd, to regard the proposed escape as a formidable +undertaking. But to _understand_, some one has said a man must +_stand under_. The real distance was great enough, but the +imagined distance was, to our ignorance, even greater. Every +slaveholder seeks to impress his slave with a belief in the +boundlessness of slave territory, and of his own almost +illimitable power. We all had vague and indistinct notions of +the geography of the country. + +The distance, however, is not the chief trouble. The nearer are +the lines of a slave state and the borders of a free one, the +greater the peril. Hired kidnappers infest these borders. Then, +too, we knew that merely reaching a free state did not free us; +that, wherever caught, we could be returned to slavery. We could +see no spot on this side the ocean, where we could be free. We +had heard of Canada, the real Canaan of the American bondmen, +simply as a country to which the wild goose and the swan repaired +at the end of winter, to escape the heat of summer, but not as +the home of man. I knew something of theology, but nothing of +geography. I really did not, at that time, know that there was a +state of New York, or a state of Massachusetts. I had heard of +Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, and all the southern +states, but was ignorant of the free states, generally. New York +city was our northern limit, and to go there, and be forever +harassed with the liability of being hunted down and returned to +slavery--with the certainty of being treated ten times worse than +we had ever been treated before was a prospect far from +delightful, and it might well cause some hesitation about +engaging in the enterprise. The case, sometimes, to our excited +visions, <218>stood thus: At every gate through which we had to +pass, we saw a watchman; at every ferry, a guard; on every +bridge, a sentinel; and in every wood, a patrol or slave-hunter. +We were hemmed in on every side. The good to be sought, and the +evil to be shunned, were flung in the balance, and weighed +against each other. On the one hand, there stood slavery; a +stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us, with the blood of +millions in his polluted skirts--terrible to behold--greedily +devouring our hard earnings and feeding himself upon our flesh. +Here was the evil from which to escape. On the other hand, far +away, back in the hazy distance, where all forms seemed but +shadows, under the flickering light of the north star--behind +some craggy hill or snow-covered mountain--stood a doubtful +freedom, half frozen, beckoning us to her icy domain. This was +the good to be sought. The inequality was as great as that +between certainty and uncertainty. This, in itself, was enough +to stagger us; but when we came to survey the untrodden road, and +conjecture the many possible difficulties, we were appalled, and +at times, as I have said, were upon the point of giving over the +struggle altogether. + +The reader can have little idea of the phantoms of trouble which +flit, in such circumstances, before the uneducated mind of the +slave. Upon either side, we saw grim death assuming a variety of +horrid shapes. Now, it was starvation, causing us, in a strange +and friendless land, to eat our own flesh. Now, we were +contending with the waves (for our journey was in part by water) +and were drowned. Now, we were hunted by dogs, and overtaken and +torn to pieces by their merciless fangs. We were stung by +scorpions--chased by wild beasts--bitten by snakes; and, worst of +all, after having succeeded in swimming rivers--encountering wild +beasts--sleeping in the woods--suffering hunger, cold, heat and +nakedness--we supposed ourselves to be overtaken by hired +kidnappers, who, in the name of the law, and for their thrice +accursed reward, would, perchance, fire upon us--kill some, wound +others, and capture all. This dark pic<219 IMAGINARY +DIFFICULTIES>ture, drawn by ignorance and fear, at times greatly +shook our determination, and not unfrequently caused us to + + _Rather bear those ills we had + Than fly to others which we knew not of_. + + +I am not disposed to magnify this circumstance in my experience, +and yet I think I shall seem to be so disposed, to the reader. +No man can tell the intense agony which is felt by the slave, +when wavering on the point of making his escape. All that he has +is at stake; and even that which he has not, is at stake, also. +The life which he has, may be lost, and the liberty which he +seeks, may not be gained. + +Patrick Henry, to a listening senate, thrilled by his magic +eloquence, and ready to stand by him in his boldest flights, +could say, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH, and this saying was +a sublime one, even for a freeman; but, incomparably more +sublime, is the same sentiment, when _practically_ asserted by +men accustomed to the lash and chain--men whose sensibilities +must have become more or less deadened by their bondage. With us +it was a _doubtful_ liberty, at best, that we sought; and a +certain, lingering death in the rice swamps and sugar fields, if +we failed. Life is not lightly regarded by men of sane minds. +It is precious, alike to the pauper and to the prince--to the +slave, and to his master; and yet, I believe there was not one +among us, who would not rather have been shot down, than pass +away life in hopeless bondage. + +In the progress of our preparations, Sandy, the root man, became +troubled. He began to have dreams, and some of them were very +distressing. One of these, which happened on a Friday night, +was, to him, of great significance; and I am quite ready to +confess, that I felt somewhat damped by it myself. He said, "I +dreamed, last night, that I was roused from sleep, by strange +noises, like the voices of a swarm of angry birds, that caused a +roar as they passed, which fell upon my ear like a coming gale +<220>over the tops of the trees. Looking up to see what it could +mean," said Sandy, "I saw you, Frederick, in the claws of a huge +bird, surrounded by a large number of birds, of all colors and +sizes. These were all picking at you, while you, with your arms, +seemed to be trying to protect your eyes. Passing over me, the +birds flew in a south-westerly direction, and I watched them +until they were clean out of sight. Now, I saw this as plainly +as I now see you; and furder, honey, watch de Friday night dream; +dare is sumpon in it, shose you born; dare is, indeed, honey." + +I confess I did not like this dream; but I threw off concern +about it, by attributing it to the general excitement and +perturbation consequent upon our contemplated plan of escape. I +could not, however, shake off its effect at once. I felt that it +boded me no good. Sandy was unusually emphatic and oracular, and +his manner had much to do with the impression made upon me. + +The plan of escape which I recommended, and to which my comrades +assented, was to take a large canoe, owned by Mr. Hamilton, and, +on the Saturday night previous to the Easter holidays, launch out +into the Chesapeake bay, and paddle for its head--a distance of +seventy miles with all our might. Our course, on reaching this +point, was, to turn the canoe adrift, and bend our steps toward +the north star, till we reached a free state. + +There were several objections to this plan. One was, the danger +from gales on the bay. In rough weather, the waters of the +Chesapeake are much agitated, and there is danger, in a canoe, of +being swamped by the waves. Another objection was, that the +canoe would soon be missed; the absent persons would, at once, be +suspected of having taken it; and we should be pursued by some of +the fast sailing bay craft out of St. Michael's. Then, again, if +we reached the head of the bay, and turned the canoe adrift, she +might prove a guide to our track, and bring the land hunters +after us. + +These and other objections were set aside, by the stronger ones +which could be urged against every other plan that could then be +<221 PASSES WRITTEN>suggested. On the water, we had a chance of +being regarded as fishermen, in the service of a master. On the +other hand, by taking the land route, through the counties +adjoining Delaware, we should be subjected to all manner of +interruptions, and many very disagreeable questions, which might +give us serious trouble. Any white man is authorized to stop a +man of color, on any road, and examine him, and arrest him, if he +so desires. + +By this arrangement, many abuses (considered such even by +slaveholders) occur. Cases have been known, where freemen have +been called upon to show their free papers, by a pack of +ruffians--and, on the presentation of the papers, the ruffians +have torn them up, and seized their victim, and sold him to a +life of endless bondage. + +The week before our intended start, I wrote a pass for each of +our party, giving them permission to visit Baltimore, during the +Easter holidays. The pass ran after this manner: + + +This is to certify, that I, the undersigned, have given the +bearer, my servant, John, full liberty to go to Baltimore, to +spend the Easter holidays. + W.H. + Near St. Michael's, Talbot county, Maryland + + +Although we were not going to Baltimore, and were intending to +land east of North Point, in the direction where I had seen the +Philadelphia steamers go, these passes might be made useful to us +in the lower part of the bay, while steering toward Baltimore. +These were not, however, to be shown by us, until all other +answers failed to satisfy the inquirer. We were all fully alive +to the importance of being calm and self-possessed, when +accosted, if accosted we should be; and we more times than one +rehearsed to each other how we should behave in the hour of +trial. + +These were long, tedious days and nights. The suspense was +painful, in the extreme. To balance probabilities, where life +and liberty hang on the result, requires steady nerves. I panted +for action, and was glad when the day, at the close of which we +were to start, dawned upon us. Sleeping, the night before, was +<222>out of the question. I probably felt more deeply than any +of my companions, because I was the instigator of the movement. +The responsibility of the whole enterprise rested on my +shoulders. The glory of success, and the shame and confusion of +failure, could not be matters of indifference to me. Our food +was prepared; our clothes were packed up; we were all ready to +go, and impatient for Saturday morning--considering that the last +morning of our bondage. + +I cannot describe the tempest and tumult of my brain, that +morning. The reader will please to bear in mind, that, in a +slave state, an unsuccessful runaway is not only subjected to +cruel torture, and sold away to the far south, but he is +frequently execrated by the other slaves. He is charged with +making the condition of the other slaves intolerable, by laying +them all under the suspicion of their masters--subjecting them to +greater vigilance, and imposing greater limitations on their +privileges. I dreaded murmurs from this quarter. It is +difficult, too, for a slavemaster to believe that slaves escaping +have not been aided in their flight by some one of their fellow +slaves. When, therefore, a slave is missing, every slave on the +place is closely examined as to his knowledge of the undertaking; +and they are sometimes even tortured, to make them disclose what +they are suspected of knowing of such escape. + +Our anxiety grew more and more intense, as the time of our +intended departure for the north drew nigh. It was truly felt to +be a matter of life and death with us; and we fully intended to +_fight_ as well as _run_, if necessity should occur for that +extremity. But the trial hour was not yet to come. It was easy +to resolve, but not so easy to act. I expected there might be +some drawing back, at the last. It was natural that there should +be; therefore, during the intervening time, I lost no opportunity +to explain away difficulties, to remove doubts, to dispel fears, +and to inspire all with firmness. It was too late to look back; +and _now_ was the time to go forward. Like most other men, we +had done the talking part of our <223 APPEALS TO COMRADES>work, +long and well; and the time had come to _act_ as if we were in +earnest, and meant to be as true in action as in words. I did +not forget to appeal to the pride of my comrades, by telling them +that, if after having solemnly promised to go, as they had done, +they now failed to make the attempt, they would, in effect, brand +themselves with cowardice, and might as well sit down, fold their +arms, and acknowledge themselves as fit only to be _slaves_. +This detestable character, all were unwilling to assume. Every +man except Sandy (he, much to our regret, withdrew) stood firm; +and at our last meeting we pledged ourselves afresh, and in the +most solemn manner, that, at the time appointed, we _would_ +certainly start on our long journey for a free country. This +meeting was in the middle of the week, at the end of which we +were to start. + +Early that morning we went, as usual, to the field, but with +hearts that beat quickly and anxiously. Any one intimately +acquainted with us, might have seen that all was not well with +us, and that some monster lingered in our thoughts. Our work +that morning was the same as it had been for several days past-- +drawing out and spreading manure. While thus engaged, I had a +sudden presentiment, which flashed upon me like lightning in a +dark night, revealing to the lonely traveler the gulf before, and +the enemy behind. I instantly turned to Sandy Jenkins, who was +near me, and said to him, _"Sandy, we are betrayed;_ something +has just told me so." I felt as sure of it, as if the officers +were there in sight. Sandy said, "Man, dat is strange; but I +feel just as you do." If my mother--then long in her grave--had +appeared before me, and told me that we were betrayed, I could +not, at that moment, have felt more certain of the fact. + +In a few minutes after this, the long, low and distant notes of +the horn summoned us from the field to breakfast. I felt as one +may be supposed to feel before being led forth to be executed for +some great offense. I wanted no breakfast; but I went with the +other slaves toward the house, for form's sake. My feelings were +<224>not disturbed as to the right of running away; on that point +I had no trouble, whatever. My anxiety arose from a sense of the +consequences of failure. + +In thirty minutes after that vivid presentiment came the +apprehended crash. On reaching the house, for breakfast, and +glancing my eye toward the lane gate, the worst was at once made +known. The lane gate off Mr. Freeland's house, is nearly a half +mile from the door, and shaded by the heavy wood which bordered +the main road. I was, however, able to descry four white men, +and two colored men, approaching. The white men were on +horseback, and the colored men were walking behind, and seemed to +be tied. _"It is all over with us,"_ thought I, _"we are surely +betrayed_." I now became composed, or at least comparatively so, +and calmly awaited the result. I watched the ill-omened company, +till I saw them enter the gate. Successful flight was +impossible, and I made up my mind to stand, and meet the evil, +whatever it might be; for I was not without a slight hope that +things might turn differently from what I at first expected. In +a few moments, in came Mr. William Hamilton, riding very rapidly, +and evidently much excited. He was in the habit of riding very +slowly, and was seldom known to gallop his horse. This time, his +horse was nearly at full speed, causing the dust to roll thick +behind him. Mr. Hamilton, though one of the most resolute men in +the whole neighborhood, was, nevertheless, a remarkably mild +spoken man; and, even when greatly excited, his language was cool +and circumspect. He came to the door, and inquired if Mr. +Freeland was in. I told him that Mr. Freeland was at the barn. +Off the old gentleman rode, toward the barn, with unwonted speed. +Mary, the cook, was at a loss to know what was the matter, and I +did not profess any skill in making her understand. I knew she +would have united, as readily as any one, in cursing me for +bringing trouble into the family; so I held my peace, leaving +matters to develop themselves, without my assistance. In a few +moments, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Freeland came down from the barn to +the house; and, just as they <225 THE MANNER OF ARRESTING US>made +their appearance in the front yard, three men (who proved to be +constables) came dashing into the lane, on horseback, as if +summoned by a sign requiring quick work. A few seconds brought +them into the front yard, where they hastily dismounted, and tied +their horses. This done, they joined Mr. Freeland and Mr. +Hamilton, who were standing a short distance from the kitchen. A +few moments were spent, as if in consulting how to proceed, and +then the whole party walked up to the kitchen door. There was +now no one in the kitchen but myself and John Harris. Henry and +Sandy were yet at the barn. Mr. Freeland came inside the kitchen +door, and with an agitated voice, called me by name, and told me +to come forward; that there was some gentlemen who wished to see +me. I stepped toward them, at the door, and asked what they +wanted, when the constables grabbed me, and told me that I had +better not resist; that I had been in a scrape, or was said to +have been in one; that they were merely going to take me where I +could be examined; that they were going to carry me to St. +Michael's, to have me brought before my master. They further +said, that, in case the evidence against me was not true, I +should be acquitted. I was now firmly tied, and completely at +the mercy of my captors. Resistance was idle. They were five in +number, armed to the very teeth. When they had secured me, they +next turned to John Harris, and, in a few moments, succeeded in +tying him as firmly as they had already tied me. They next +turned toward Henry Harris, who had now returned from the barn. +"Cross your hands," said the constables, to Henry. "I won't" +said Henry, in a voice so firm and clear, and in a manner so +determined, as for a moment to arrest all proceedings. "Won't +you cross your hands?" said Tom Graham, the constable. "_No I +won't_," said Henry, with increasing emphasis. Mr. Hamilton, Mr. +Freeland, and the officers, now came near to Henry. Two of the +constables drew out their shining pistols, and swore by the name +of God, that he should cross his hands, or they would shoot him +down. Each of these hired ruffians now cocked their pistols, +<226>and, with fingers apparently on the triggers, presented +their deadly weapons to the breast of the unarmed slave, saying, +at the same time, if he did not cross his hands, they would "blow +his d--d heart out of him." + +_"Shoot! shoot me!"_ said Henry. "_You can't kill me but once_. +Shoot!--shoot! and be d--d. _I won't be tied_." This, the brave +fellow said in a voice as defiant and heroic in its tone, as was +the language itself; and, at the moment of saying this, with the +pistols at his very breast, he quickly raised his arms, and +dashed them from the puny hands of his assassins, the weapons +flying in opposite directions. Now came the struggle. All hands +was now rushed upon the brave fellow, and, after beating him for +some time, they succeeded in overpowering and tying him. Henry +put me to shame; he fought, and fought bravely. John and I had +made no resistance. The fact is, I never see much use in +fighting, unless there is a reasonable probability of whipping +somebody. Yet there was something almost providential in the +resistance made by the gallant Henry. But for that resistance, +every soul of us would have been hurried off to the far south. +Just a moment previous to the trouble with Henry, Mr. Hamilton +_mildly_ said--and this gave me the unmistakable clue to the +cause of our arrest--"Perhaps we had now better make a search for +those protections, which we understand Frederick has written for +himself and the rest." Had these passes been found, they would +have been point blank proof against us, and would have confirmed +all the statements of our betrayer. Thanks to the resistance of +Henry, the excitement produced by the scuffle drew all attention +in that direction, and I succeeded in flinging my pass, +unobserved, into the fire. The confusion attendant upon the +scuffle, and the apprehension of further trouble, perhaps, led +our captors to forego, for the present, any search for _"those +protections" which Frederick was said to have written for his +companions_; so we were not yet convicted of the purpose to run +away; and it was evident that there was some doubt, on the part +of all, whether we had been guilty of such a purpose. +<227 THE UNIQUE SPEECH OF MRS. FREELAND> + +Just as we were all completely tied, and about ready to start +toward St. Michael's, and thence to jail, Mrs. Betsey Freeland +(mother to William, who was very much attached--after the +southern fashion--to Henry and John, they having been reared from +childhood in her house) came to the kitchen door, with her hands +full of biscuits--for we had not had time to take our breakfast +that morning--and divided them between Henry and John. This +done, the lady made the following parting address to me, looking +and pointing her bony finger at me. "You devil! you yellow +devil! It was you that put it into the heads of Henry and John +to run away. But for _you_, you _long legged yellow devil_, +Henry and John would never have thought of running away." I gave +the lady a look, which called forth a scream of mingled wrath and +terror, as she slammed the kitchen door, and went in, leaving me, +with the rest, in hands as harsh as her own broken voice. + +Could the kind reader have been quietly riding along the main +road to or from Easton, that morning, his eye would have met a +painful sight. He would have seen five young men, guilty of no +crime, save that of preferring _liberty_ to a life of _bondage_, +drawn along the public highway--firmly bound together--tramping +through dust and heat, bare-footed and bare-headed--fastened to +three strong horses, whose riders were armed to the teeth, with +pistols and daggers--on their way to prison, like felons, and +suffering every possible insult from the crowds of idle, vulgar +people, who clustered around, and heartlessly made their failure +the occasion for all manner of ribaldry and sport. As I looked +upon this crowd of vile persons, and saw myself and friends thus +assailed and persecuted, I could not help seeing the fulfillment +of Sandy's dream. I was in the hands of moral vultures, and +firmly held in their sharp talons, and was hurried away toward +Easton, in a south-easterly direction, amid the jeers of new +birds of the same feather, through every neighborhood we passed. +It seemed to me (and this shows the good understanding between +the slaveholders and their allies) that every body we met knew +<228>the cause of our arrest, and were out, awaiting our passing +by, to feast their vindictive eyes on our misery and to gloat +over our ruin. Some said, _I ought to be hanged_, and others, _I +ought to be burnt_, others, I ought to have the _"hide"_ taken +from my back; while no one gave us a kind word or sympathizing +look, except the poor slaves, who were lifting their heavy hoes, +and who cautiously glanced at us through the post-and-rail +fences, behind which they were at work. Our sufferings, that +morning, can be more easily imagined than described. Our hopes +were all blasted, at a blow. The cruel injustice, the victorious +crime, and the helplessness of innocence, led me to ask, in my +ignorance and weakness "Where now is the God of justice and +mercy? And why have these wicked men the power thus to trample +upon our rights, and to insult our feelings?" And yet, in the +next moment, came the consoling thought, _"The day of oppressor +will come at last."_ Of one thing I could be glad--not one of my +dear friends, upon whom I had brought this great calamity, either +by word or look, reproached me for having led them into it. We +were a band of brothers, and never dearer to each other than now. +The thought which gave us the most pain, was the probable +separation which would now take place, in case we were sold off +to the far south, as we were likely to be. While the constables +were looking forward, Henry and I, being fastened together, could +occasionally exchange a word, without being observed by the +kidnappers who had us in charge. "What shall I do with my pass?" +said Henry. "Eat it with your biscuit," said I; "it won't do to +tear it up." We were now near St. Michael's. The direction +concerning the passes was passed around, and executed. _"Own +nothing!"_ said I. _"Own nothing!"_ was passed around and +enjoined, and assented to. Our confidence in each other was +unshaken; and we were quite resolved to succeed or fail +together--as much after the calamity which had befallen us, as +before. + +On reaching St. Michael's, we underwent a sort of examination at +my master's store, and it was evident to my mind, that Master +<229 THE DENIAL>Thomas suspected the truthfulness of the evidence +upon which they had acted in arresting us; and that he only +affected, to some extent, the positiveness with which he asserted +our guilt. There was nothing said by any of our company, which +could, in any manner, prejudice our cause; and there was hope, +yet, that we should be able to return to our homes--if for +nothing else, at least to find out the guilty man or woman who +had betrayed us. + +To this end, we all denied that we had been guilty of intended +flight. Master Thomas said that the evidence he had of our +intention to run away, was strong enough to hang us, in a case of +murder. "But," said I, "the cases are not equal. If murder were +committed, some one must have committed it--the thing is done! +In our case, nothing has been done! We have not run away. Where +is the evidence against us? We were quietly at our work." I +talked thus, with unusual freedom, to bring out the evidence +against us, for we all wanted, above all things, to know the +guilty wretch who had betrayed us, that we might have something +tangible upon which to pour the execrations. From something +which dropped, in the course of the talk, it appeared that there +was but one witness against us--and that that witness could not +be produced. Master Thomas would not tell us _who_ his informant +was; but we suspected, and suspected _one_ person _only_. +Several circumstances seemed to point SANDY out, as our betrayer. +His entire knowledge of our plans his participation in them--his +withdrawal from us--his dream, and his simultaneous presentiment +that we were betrayed--the taking us, and the leaving him--were +calculated to turn suspicion toward him; and yet, we could not +suspect him. We all loved him too well to think it _possible_ +that he could have betrayed us. So we rolled the guilt on other +shoulders. + +We were literally dragged, that morning, behind horses, a +distance of fifteen miles, and placed in the Easton jail. We +were glad to reach the end of our journey, for our pathway had +been the scene of insult and mortification. Such is the power of +public <230>opinion, that it is hard, even for the innocent, to +feel the happy consolations of innocence, when they fall under +the maledictions of this power. How could we regard ourselves as +in the right, when all about us denounced us as criminals, and +had the power and the disposition to treat us as such. + +In jail, we were placed under the care of Mr. Joseph Graham, the +sheriff of the county. Henry, and John, and myself, were placed +in one room, and Henry Baily and Charles Roberts, in another, by +themselves. This separation was intended to deprive us of the +advantage of concert, and to prevent trouble in jail. + +Once shut up, a new set of tormentors came upon us. A swarm of +imps, in human shape the slave-traders, deputy slave-traders, and +agents of slave-traders--that gather in every country town of the +state, watching for chances to buy human flesh (as buzzards to +eat carrion) flocked in upon us, to ascertain if our masters had +placed us in jail to be sold. Such a set of debased and +villainous creatures, I never saw before, and hope never to see +again. I felt myself surrounded as by a pack of _fiends_, fresh +from _perdition_. They laughed, leered, and grinned at us; +saying, "Ah! boys, we've got you, havn't we? So you were about +to make your escape? Where were you going to?" After taunting +us, and peering at us, as long as they liked, they one by one +subjected us to an examination, with a view to ascertain our +value; feeling our arms and legs, and shaking us by the shoulders +to see if we were sound and healthy; impudently asking us, "how +we would like to have them for masters?" To such questions, we +were, very much to their annoyance, quite dumb, disdaining to +answer them. For one, I detested the whisky-bloated gamblers in +human flesh; and I believe I was as much detested by them in +turn. One fellow told me, "if he had me, he would cut the devil +out of me pretty quick." + +These Negro buyers are very offensive to the genteel southern +Christian public. They are looked upon, in respectable Maryland +society, as necessary, but detestable characters. As a class, +they <231 SLAVE-TRADERS>are hardened ruffians, made such by +nature and by occupation. Their ears are made quite familiar +with the agonizing cry of outraged and woe-smitted humanity. +Their eyes are forever open to human misery. They walk amid +desecrated affections, insulted virtue, and blasted hopes. They +have grown intimate with vice and blood; they gloat over the +wildest illustrations of their soul-damning and earth-polluting +business, and are moral pests. Yes; they are a legitimate fruit +of slavery; and it is a puzzle to make out a case of greater +villainy for them, than for the slaveholders, who make such a +class _possible_. They are mere hucksters of the surplus slave +produce of Maryland and Virginia coarse, cruel, and swaggering +bullies, whose very breathing is of blasphemy and blood. + +Aside from these slave-buyers, who infested the prison, from time +to time, our quarters were much more comfortable than we had any +right to expect they would be. Our allowance of food was small +and coarse, but our room was the best in the jail--neat and +spacious, and with nothing about it necessarily reminding us of +being in prison, but its heavy locks and bolts and the black, +iron lattice-work at the windows. We were prisoners of state, +compared with most slaves who are put into that Easton jail. But +the place was not one of contentment. Bolts, bars and grated +windows are not acceptable to freedom-loving people of any color. +The suspense, too, was painful. Every step on the stairway was +listened to, in the hope that the comer would cast a ray of light +on our fate. We would have given the hair off our heads for half +a dozen words with one of the waiters in Sol. Lowe's hotel. Such +waiters were in the way of hearing, at the table, the probable +course of things. We could see them flitting about in their +white jackets in front of this hotel, but could speak to none of +them. + +Soon after the holidays were over, contrary to all our +expectations, Messrs. Hamilton and Freeland came up to Easton; +not to make a bargain with the "Georgia traders," nor to send us +up to Austin Woldfolk, as is usual in the case of run-away +salves, <232>but to release Charles, Henry Harris, Henry Baily +and John Harris, from prison, and this, too, without the +infliction of a single blow. I was now left entirely alone in +prison. The innocent had been taken, and the guilty left. My +friends were separated from me, and apparently forever. This +circumstance caused me more pain than any other incident +connected with our capture and imprisonment. Thirty-nine lashes +on my naked and bleeding back, would have been joyfully borne, in +preference to this separation from these, the friends of my +youth. And yet, I could not but feel that I was the victim of +something like justice. Why should these young men, who were led +into this scheme by me, suffer as much as the instigator? I felt +glad that they were leased from prison, and from the dread +prospect of a life (or death I should rather say) in the rice +swamps. It is due to the noble Henry, to say, that he seemed +almost as reluctant to leave the prison with me in it, as he was +to be tied and dragged to prison. But he and the rest knew that +we should, in all the likelihoods of the case, be separated, in +the event of being sold; and since we were now completely in the +hands of our owners, we all concluded it would be best to go +peaceably home. + +Not until this last separation, dear reader, had I touched those +profounder depths of desolation, which it is the lot of slaves +often to reach. I was solitary in the world, and alone within +the walls of a stone prison, left to a fate of life-long misery. +I had hoped and expected much, for months before, but my hopes +and expectations were now withered and blasted. The ever dreaded +slave life in Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama--from which escape +is next to impossible now, in my loneliness, stared me in the +face. The possibility of ever becoming anything but an abject +slave, a mere machine in the hands of an owner, had now fled, and +it seemed to me it had fled forever. A life of living death, +beset with the innumerable horrors of the cotton field, and the +sugar plantation, seemed to be my doom. The fiends, who rushed +into the prison when we were first put there, continued to visit +me, <233 LEFT ALONE IN PRISON>and to ply me with questions and +with their tantalizing remarks. I was insulted, but helpless; +keenly alive to the demands of justice and liberty, but with no +means of asserting them. To talk to those imps about justice and +mercy, would have been as absurd as to reason with bears and +tigers. Lead and steel are the only arguments that they +understand. + +After remaining in this life of misery and despair about a week, +which, by the way, seemed a month, Master Thomas, very much to my +surprise, and greatly to my relief, came to the prison, and took +me out, for the purpose, as he said, of sending me to Alabama, +with a friend of his, who would emancipate me at the end of eight +years. I was glad enough to get out of prison; but I had no +faith in the story that this friend of Capt. Auld would +emancipate me, at the end of the time indicated. Besides, I +never had heard of his having a friend in Alabama, and I took the +announcement, simply as an easy and comfortable method of +shipping me off to the far south. There was a little scandal, +too, connected with the idea of one Christian selling another to +the Georgia traders, while it was deemed every way proper for +them to sell to others. I thought this friend in Alabama was an +invention, to meet this difficulty, for Master Thomas was quite +jealous of his Christian reputation, however unconcerned he might +be about his real Christian character. In these remarks, +however, it is possible that I do Master Thomas Auld injustice. +He certainly did not exhaust his power upon me, in the case, but +acted, upon the whole, very generously, considering the nature of +my offense. He had the power and the provocation to send me, +without reserve, into the very everglades of Florida, beyond the +remotest hope of emancipation; and his refusal to exercise that +power, must be set down to his credit. + +After lingering about St. Michael's a few days, and no friend +from Alabama making his appearance, to take me there, Master +Thomas decided to send me back again to Baltimore, to live with +his brother Hugh, with whom he was now at peace; possibly he +<234>became so by his profession of religion, at the camp-meeting +in the Bay Side. Master Thomas told me that he wished me to go +to Baltimore, and learn a trade; and that, if I behaved myself +properly, he would _emancipate me at twenty-five!_ Thanks for +this one beam of hope in the future. The promise had but one +fault; it seemed too good to be true. + + +CHAPTER XX +_Apprenticeship Life_ + +NOTHING LOST BY THE ATTEMPT TO RUN AWAY--COMRADES IN THEIR OLD +HOMES--REASONS FOR SENDING ME AWAY--RETURN TO BALTIMORE--CONTRAST +BETWEEN TOMMY AND THAT OF HIS COLORED COMPANION--TRIALS IN +GARDINER'S SHIP YARD--DESPERATE FIGHT--ITS CAUSES--CONFLICT +BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK LABOR--DESCRIPTION OF THE OUTRAGE-- +COLORED TESTIMONY NOTHING--CONDUCT OF MASTER HUGH--SPIRIT OF +SLAVERY IN BALTIMORE--MY CONDITION IMPROVES--NEW ASSOCIATIONS-- +SLAVEHOLDER'S RIGHT TO TAKE HIS WAGES--HOW TO MAKE A CONTENTED +SLAVE. + + +Well! dear reader, I am not, as you may have already inferred, a +loser by the general upstir, described in the foregoing chapter. +The little domestic revolution, notwithstanding the sudden snub +it got by the treachery of somebody--I dare not say or think +who--did not, after all, end so disastrously, as when in the iron +cage at Easton, I conceived it would. The prospect, from that +point, did look about as dark as any that ever cast its gloom +over the vision of the anxious, out-looking, human spirit. "All +is well that ends well." My affectionate comrades, Henry and +John Harris, are still with Mr. William Freeland. Charles +Roberts and Henry Baily are safe at their homes. I have not, +therefore, any thing to regret on their account. Their masters +have mercifully forgiven them, probably on the ground suggested +in the spirited little speech of Mrs. Freeland, made to me just +before leaving for the jail--namely: that they had been allured +into the wicked scheme of making their escape, by me; and that, +but for me, they would never have dreamed of a thing so shocking! +My <236>friends had nothing to regret, either; for while they +were watched more closely on account of what had happened, they +were, doubtless, treated more kindly than before, and got new +assurances that they would be legally emancipated, some day, +provided their behavior should make them deserving, from that +time forward. Not a blow, as I learned, was struck any one of +them. As for Master William Freeland, good, unsuspecting soul, +he did not believe that we were intending to run away at all. +Having given--as he thought--no occasion to his boys to leave +him, he could not think it probable that they had entertained a +design so grievous. This, however, was not the view taken of the +matter by "Mas' Billy," as we used to call the soft spoken, but +crafty and resolute Mr. William Hamilton. He had no doubt that +the crime had been meditated; and regarding me as the instigator +of it, he frankly told Master Thomas that he must remove me from +that neighborhood, or he would shoot me down. He would not have +one so dangerous as "Frederick" tampering with his slaves. +William Hamilton was not a man whose threat might be safely +disregarded. I have no doubt that he would have proved as good +as his word, had the warning given not been promptly taken. He +was furious at the thought of such a piece of high-handed +_theft_, as we were about to perpetrate the stealing of our own +bodies and souls! The feasibility of the plan, too, could the +first steps have been taken, was marvelously plain. Besides, +this was a _new_ idea, this use of the bay. Slaves escaping, +until now, had taken to the woods; they had never dreamed of +profaning and abusing the waters of the noble Chesapeake, by +making them the highway from slavery to freedom. Here was a +broad road of destruction to slavery, which, before, had been +looked upon as a wall of security by slaveholders. But Master +Billy could not get Mr. Freeland to see matters precisely as he +did; nor could he get Master Thomas so excited as he was himself. +The latter--I must say it to his credit--showed much humane +feeling in his part of the transaction, and atoned for much that +had been harsh, cruel <237 CHANGE IN LITTLE TOMMY>and +unreasonable in his former treatment of me and others. His +clemency was quite unusual and unlooked for. "Cousin Tom" told +me that while I was in jail, Master Thomas was very unhappy; and +that the night before his going up to release me, he had walked +the floor nearly all night, evincing great distress; that very +tempting offers had been made to him, by the Negro-traders, but +he had rejected them all, saying that _money could not tempt him +to sell me to the far south_. All this I can easily believe, for +he seemed quite reluctant to send me away, at all. He told me +that he only consented to do so, because of the very strong +prejudice against me in the neighborhood, and that he feared for +my safety if I remained there. + +Thus, after three years spent in the country, roughing it in the +field, and experiencing all sorts of hardships, I was again +permitted to return to Baltimore, the very place, of all others, +short of a free state, where I most desired to live. The three +years spent in the country, had made some difference in me, and +in the household of Master Hugh. "Little Tommy" was no longer +_little_ Tommy; and I was not the slender lad who had left for +the Eastern Shore just three years before. The loving relations +between me and Mas' Tommy were broken up. He was no longer +dependent on me for protection, but felt himself a _man_, with +other and more suitable associates. In childhood, he scarcely +considered me inferior to himself certainly, as good as any other +boy with whom he played; but the time had come when his _friend_ +must become his _slave_. So we were cold, and we parted. It was +a sad thing to me, that, loving each other as we had done, we +must now take different roads. To him, a thousand avenues were +open. Education had made him acquainted with all the treasures +of the world, and liberty had flung open the gates thereunto; but +I, who had attended him seven years, and had watched over him +with the care of a big brother, fighting his battles in the +street, and shielding him from harm, to an extent which had +induced his mother to say, "Oh! Tommy is always safe, when he is +with <238>Freddy," must be confined to a single condition. He +could grow, and become a MAN; I could grow, though I could _not_ +become a man, but must remain, all my life, a minor--a mere boy. +Thomas Auld, Junior, obtained a situation on board the brig +"Tweed," and went to sea. I know not what has become of him; he +certainly has my good wishes for his welfare and prosperity. +There were few persons to whom I was more sincerely attached than +to him, and there are few in the world I would be more pleased to +meet. + +Very soon after I went to Baltimore to live, Master Hugh +succeeded in getting me hired to Mr. William Gardiner, an +extensive ship builder on Fell's Point. I was placed here to +learn to calk, a trade of which I already had some knowledge, +gained while in Mr. Hugh Auld's ship-yard, when he was a master +builder. Gardiner's, however, proved a very unfavorable place +for the accomplishment of that object. Mr. Gardiner was, that +season, engaged in building two large man-of-war vessels, +professedly for the Mexican government. These vessels were to be +launched in the month of July, of that year, and, in failure +thereof, Mr. G. would forfeit a very considerable sum of money. +So, when I entered the ship-yard, all was hurry and driving. +There were in the yard about one hundred men; of these about +seventy or eighty were regular carpenters--privileged men. +Speaking of my condition here I wrote, years ago--and I have now +no reason to vary the picture as follows: + + +There was no time to learn any thing. Every man had to do that +which he knew how to do. In entering the ship-yard, my orders +from Mr. Gardiner were, to do whatever the carpenters commanded +me to do. This was placing me at the beck and call of about +seventy-five men. I was to regard all these as masters. Their +word was to be my law. My situation was a most trying one. At +times I needed a dozen pair of hands. I was called a dozen ways +in the space of a single minute. Three or four voices would +strike my ear at the same moment. It was--"Fred., come help me +to cant this timber here." "Fred., come carry this timber +yonder."--"Fred., bring that roller here."--"Fred., go get a +fresh can of water."--"Fred., come help saw off the end of this +timber."--"Fred., go quick and get the crow bar."--"Fred., hold +on the end of this fall."--"Fred., go to the blacksmith's shop, +and get a new punch."--<239 DESPERATE FIGHT> + +"Hurra, Fred.! run and bring me a cold chisel."--"I say, Fred., +bear a hand, and get up a fire as quick as lightning under that +steam-box."--"Halloo, nigger! come, turn this grindstone."-- +"Come, come! move, move! and _bowse_ this timber forward."--"I +say, darkey, blast your eyes, why don't you heat up some +pitch?"--"Halloo! halloo! halloo!" (Three voices at the same +time.) "Come here!--Go there!--Hold on where you are! D--n you, +if you move, I'll knock your brains out!" + + +Such, dear reader, is a glance at the school which was mine, +during, the first eight months of my stay at Baltimore. At the +end of the eight months, Master Hugh refused longer to allow me +to remain with Mr. Gardiner. The circumstance which led to his +taking me away, was a brutal outrage, committed upon me by the +white apprentices of the ship-yard. The fight was a desperate +one, and I came out of it most shockingly mangled. I was cut and +bruised in sundry places, and my left eye was nearly knocked out +of its socket. The facts, leading to this barbarous outrage upon +me, illustrate a phase of slavery destined to become an important +element in the overthrow of the slave system, and I may, +therefore state them with some minuteness. That phase is this: +_the conflict of slavery with the interests of the white +mechanics and laborers of the south_. In the country, this +conflict is not so apparent; but, in cities, such as Baltimore, +Richmond, New Orleans, Mobile, &c., it is seen pretty clearly. +The slaveholders, with a craftiness peculiar to themselves, by +encouraging the enmity of the poor, laboring white man against +the blacks, succeeds in making the said white man almost as much +a slave as the black slave himself. The difference between the +white slave, and the black slave, is this: the latter belongs to +_one_ slaveholder, and the former belongs to _all_ the +slaveholders, collectively. The white slave has taken from him, +by indirection, what the black slave has taken from him, +directly, and without ceremony. Both are plundered, and by the +same plunderers. The slave is robbed, by his master, of all his +earnings, above what is required for his bare physical +necessities; and the white man is robbed by the slave system, of +the just results of his labor, because he is flung into +<240>competition with a class of laborers who work without wages. +The competition, and its injurious consequences, will, one day, +array the nonslaveholding white people of the slave states, +against the slave system, and make them the most effective +workers against the great evil. At present, the slaveholders +blind them to this competition, by keeping alive their prejudice +against the slaves, _as men_--not against them _as slaves_. They +appeal to their pride, often denouncing emancipation, as tending +to place the white man, on an equality with Negroes, and, by this +means, they succeed in drawing off the minds of the poor whites +from the real fact, that, by the rich slave-master, they are +already regarded as but a single remove from equality with the +slave. The impression is cunningly made, that slavery is the +only power that can prevent the laboring white man from falling +to the level of the slave's poverty and degradation. To make +this enmity deep and broad, between the slave and the poor white +man, the latter is allowed to abuse and whip the former, without +hinderance. But--as I have suggested--this state of facts +prevails _mostly_ in the country. In the city of Baltimore, +there are not unfrequent murmurs, that educating the slaves to be +mechanics may, in the end, give slavemasters power to dispense +with the services of the poor white man altogether. But, with +characteristic dread of offending the slaveholders, these poor, +white mechanics in Mr. Gardiner's ship-yard--instead of applying +the natural, honest remedy for the apprehended evil, and +objecting at once to work there by the side of slaves--made a +cowardly attack upon the free colored mechanics, saying _they_ +were eating the bread which should be eaten by American freemen, +and swearing that they would not work with them. The feeling +was, _really_, against having their labor brought into +competition with that of the colored people at all; but it was +too much to strike directly at the interest of the slaveholders; +and, therefore proving their servility and cowardice they dealt +their blows on the poor, colored freeman, and aimed to prevent +_him_ from serving himself, in the evening of life, with the +trade <241 CONFLICT BETWEEN WHITE AND BLACK LABOR>with which he +had served his master, during the more vigorous portion of his +days. Had they succeeded in driving the black freemen out of the +ship-yard, they would have determined also upon the removal of +the black slaves. The feeling was very bitter toward all colored +people in Baltimore, about this time (1836), and they--free and +slave suffered all manner of insult and wrong. + +Until a very little before I went there, white and black ship +carpenters worked side by side, in the ship yards of Mr. +Gardiner, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Walter Price, and Mr. Robb. Nobody +seemed to see any impropriety in it. To outward seeming, all +hands were well satisfied. Some of the blacks were first rate +workmen, and were given jobs requiring highest skill. All at +once, however, the white carpenters knocked off, and swore that +they would no longer work on the same stage with free Negroes. +Taking advantage of the heavy contract resting upon Mr. Gardiner, +to have the war vessels for Mexico ready to launch in July, and +of the difficulty of getting other hands at that season of the +year, they swore they would not strike another blow for him, +unless he would discharge his free colored workmen. + +Now, although this movement did not extend to me, _in form_, it +did reach me, _in fact_. The spirit which it awakened was one of +malice and bitterness, toward colored people _generally_, and I +suffered with the rest, and suffered severely. My fellow +apprentices very soon began to feel it to be degrading to work +with me. They began to put on high looks, and to talk +contemptuously and maliciously of _"the Niggers;"_ saying, that +"they would take the country," that "they ought to be killed." +Encouraged by the cowardly workmen, who, knowing me to be a +slave, made no issue with Mr. Gardiner about my being there, +these young men did their utmost to make it impossible for me to +stay. They seldom called me to do any thing, without coupling +the call with a curse, and Edward North, the biggest in every +thing, rascality included, ventured to strike me, whereupon I +picked him up, and threw <242>him into the dock. Whenever any of +them struck me, I struck back again, regardless of consequences. +I could manage any of them _singly_, and, while I could keep them +from combining, I succeeded very well. In the conflict which +ended my stay at Mr. Gardiner's, I was beset by four of them at +once--Ned North, Ned Hays, Bill Stewart, and Tom Humphreys. Two +of them were as large as myself, and they came near killing me, +in broad day light. The attack was made suddenly, and +simultaneously. One came in front, armed with a brick; there was +one at each side, and one behind, and they closed up around me. +I was struck on all sides; and, while I was attending to those in +front, I received a blow on my head, from behind, dealt with a +heavy hand-spike. I was completely stunned by the blow, and +fell, heavily, on the ground, among the timbers. Taking +advantage of my fall, they rushed upon me, and began to pound me +with their fists. I let them lay on, for a while, after I came +to myself, with a view of gaining strength. They did me little +damage, so far; but, finally, getting tired of that sport, I gave +a sudden surge, and, despite their weight, I rose to my hands and +knees. Just as I did this, one of their number (I know not +which) planted a blow with his boot in my left eye, which, for a +time, seemed to have burst my eyeball. When they saw my eye +completely closed, my face covered with blood, and I staggering +under the stunning blows they had given me, they left me. As +soon as I gathered sufficient strength, I picked up the hand- +spike, and, madly enough, attempted to pursue them; but here the +carpenters interfered, and compelled me to give up my frenzied +pursuit. It was impossible to stand against so many. + +Dear reader, you can hardly believe the statement, but it is +true, and, therefore, I write it down: not fewer than fifty white +men stood by, and saw this brutal and shameless outrage +committed, and not a man of them all interposed a single word of +mercy. There were four against one, and that one's face was +beaten and battered most horribly, and no one said, "that is +enough;" but some cried out, "Kill him--kill him--kill the d--d +<243 CONDUCT OF MASTER HUGH>nigger! knock his brains out--he +struck a white person." I mention this inhuman outcry, to show +the character of the men, and the spirit of the times, at +Gardiner's ship yard, and, indeed, in Baltimore generally, in +1836. As I look back to this period, I am almost amazed that I +was not murdered outright, in that ship yard, so murderous was +the spirit which prevailed there. On two occasions, while there, +I came near losing my life. I was driving bolts in the hold, +through the keelson, with Hays. In its course, the bolt bent. +Hays cursed me, and said that it was my blow which bent the bolt. +I denied this, and charged it upon him. In a fit of rage he +seized an adze, and darted toward me. I met him with a maul, and +parried his blow, or I should have then lost my life. A son of +old Tom Lanman (the latter's double murder I have elsewhere +charged upon him), in the spirit of his miserable father, made an +assault upon me, but the blow with his maul missed me. After the +united assault of North, Stewart, Hays and Humphreys, finding +that the carpenters were as bitter toward me as the apprentices, +and that the latter were probably set on by the former, I found +my only chances for life was in flight. I succeeded in getting +away, without an additional blow. To strike a white man, was +death, by Lynch law, in Gardiner's ship yard; nor was there much +of any other law toward colored people, at that time, in any +other part of Maryland. The whole sentiment of Baltimore was +murderous. + +After making my escape from the ship yard, I went straight home, +and related the story of the outrage to Master Hugh Auld; and it +is due to him to say, that his conduct--though he was not a +religious man--was every way more humane than that of his +brother, Thomas, when I went to the latter in a somewhat similar +plight, from the hands of _"Brother Edward Covey."_ He listened +attentively to my narration of the circumstances leading to the +ruffianly outrage, and gave many proofs of his strong indignation +at what was done. Hugh was a rough, but manly-hearted fellow, +and, at this time, his best nature showed itself. +<244> + +The heart of my once almost over-kind mistress, Sophia, was again +melted in pity toward me. My puffed-out eye, and my scarred and +blood-covered face, moved the dear lady to tears. She kindly +drew a chair by me, and with friendly, consoling words, she took +water, and washed the blood from my face. No mother's hand could +have been more tender than hers. She bound up my head, and +covered my wounded eye with a lean piece of fresh beef. It was +almost compensation for the murderous assault, and my suffering, +that it furnished and occasion for the manifestation, once more, +of the orignally{sic} characteristic kindness of my mistress. +Her affectionate heart was not yet dead, though much hardened by +time and by circumstances. + +As for Master Hugh's part, as I have said, he was furious about +it; and he gave expression to his fury in the usual forms of +speech in that locality. He poured curses on the heads of the +whole ship yard company, and swore that he would have +satisfaction for the outrage. His indignation was really strong +and healthy; but, unfortunately, it resulted from the thought +that his rights of property, in my person, had not been +respected, more than from any sense of the outrage committed on +me _as a man_. I inferred as much as this, from the fact that he +could, himself, beat and mangle when it suited him to do so. +Bent on having satisfaction, as he said, just as soon as I got a +little the better of my bruises, Master Hugh took me to Esquire +Watson's office, on Bond street, Fell's Point, with a view to +procuring the arrest of those who had assaulted me. He related +the outrage to the magistrate, as I had related it to him, and +seemed to expect that a warrant would, at once, be issued for the +arrest of the lawless ruffians. + +Mr. Watson heard it all, and instead of drawing up his warrant, +he inquired.-- + +"Mr. Auld, who saw this assault of which you speak?" + +"It was done, sir, in the presence of a ship yard full of hands." + +"Sir," said Watson, "I am sorry, but I cannot move in this matter +except upon the oath of white witnesses." +<245 COLORED TESTIMONY NOTHING> + +"But here's the boy; look at his head and face," said the excited +Master Hugh; _"they_ show _what_ has been done." + +But Watson insisted that he was not authorized to do anything, +unless _white_ witnesses of the transaction would come forward, +and testify to what had taken place. He could issue no warrant +on my word, against white persons; and, if I had been killed in +the presence of a _thousand blacks_, their testimony, combined +would have been insufficient to arrest a single murderer. Master +Hugh, for once, was compelled to say, that this state of things +was _too bad;_ and he left the office of the magistrate, +disgusted. + +Of course, it was impossible to get any white man to testify +against my assailants. The carpenters saw what was done; but the +actors were but the agents of their malice, and only what the +carpenters sanctioned. They had cried, with one accord, _"Kill +the nigger!" "Kill the nigger!"_ Even those who may have pitied +me, if any such were among them, lacked the moral courage to come +and volunteer their evidence. The slightest manifestation of +sympathy or justice toward a person of color, was denounced as +abolitionism; and the name of abolitionist, subjected its bearer +to frightful liabilities. "D--n _abolitionists,"_ and _"Kill the +niggers,"_ were the watch-words of the foul-mouthed ruffians of +those days. Nothing was done, and probably there would not have +been any thing done, had I been killed in the affray. The laws +and the morals of the Christian city of Baltimore, afforded no +protection to the sable denizens of that city. + +Master Hugh, on finding he could get no redress for the cruel +wrong, withdrew me from the employment of Mr. Gardiner, and took +me into his own family, Mrs. Auld kindly taking care of me, and +dressing my wounds, until they were healed, and I was ready to go +again to work. + +While I was on the Eastern Shore, Master Hugh had met with +reverses, which overthrew his business; and he had given up ship +building in his own yard, on the City Block, and was now acting +as foreman of Mr. Walter Price. The best he could now do for me, +<246>was to take me into Mr. Price's yard, and afford me the +facilities there, for completing the trade which I had began to +learn at Gardiner's. Here I rapidly became expert in the use of +my calking tools; and, in the course of a single year, I was able +to command the highest wages paid to journeymen calkers in +Baltimore. + +The reader will observe that I was now of some pecuniary value to +my master. During the busy season, I was bringing six and seven +dollars per week. I have, sometimes, brought him as much as nine +dollars a week, for the wages were a dollar and a half per day. + +After learning to calk, I sought my own employment, made my own +contracts, and collected my own earnings; giving Master Hugh no +trouble in any part of the transactions to which I was a party. + +Here, then, were better days for the Eastern Shore _slave_. I +was now free from the vexatious assalts{sic} of the apprentices +at Mr. Gardiner's; and free from the perils of plantation life, +and once more in a favorable condition to increase my little +stock of education, which had been at a dead stand since my +removal from Baltimore. I had, on the Eastern Shore, been only a +teacher, when in company with other slaves, but now there were +colored persons who could instruct me. Many of the young calkers +could read, write and cipher. Some of them had high notions +about mental improvement; and the free ones, on Fell's Point, +organized what they called the _"East Baltimore Mental +Improvement Society."_ To this society, notwithstanding it was +intended that only free persons should attach themselves, I was +admitted, and was, several times, assigned a prominent part in +its debates. I owe much to the society of these young men. + +The reader already knows enough of the _ill_ effects of good +treatment on a slave, to anticipate what was now the case in my +improved condition. It was not long before I began to show signs +of disquiet with slavery, and to look around for means to get out +of that condition by the shortest route. I was living among +_free_<247 MY CONDITION IMPROVES>_men;_ and was, in all respects, +equal to them by nature and by attainments. _Why should I be a +slave?_ There was _no_ reason why I should be the thrall of any +man. + +Besides, I was now getting--as I have said--a dollar and fifty +cents per day. I contracted for it, worked for it, earned it, +collected it; it was paid to me, and it was _rightfully_ my own; +and yet, upon every returning Saturday night, this money--my own +hard earnings, every cent of it--was demanded of me, and taken +from me by Master Hugh. He did not earn it; he had no hand in +earning it; why, then, should he have it? I owed him nothing. +He had given me no schooling, and I had received from him only my +food and raiment; and for these, my services were supposed to +pay, from the first. The right to take my earnings, was the +right of the robber. He had the power to compel me to give him +the fruits of my labor, and this power was his only right in the +case. I became more and more dissatisfied with this state of +things; and, in so becoming, I only gave proof of the same human +nature which every reader of this chapter in my life-- +slaveholder, or nonslaveholder--is conscious of possessing. + +To make a contented slave, you must make a thoughtless one. It +is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far +as possible, to annihilate his power of reason. He must be able +to detect no inconsistencies in slavery. The man that takes his +earnings, must be able to convince him that he has a perfect +right to do so. It must not depend upon mere force; the slave +must know no Higher Law than his master's will. The whole +relationship must not only demonstrate, to his mind, its +necessity, but its absolute rightfulness. If there be one +crevice through which a single drop can fall, it will certainly +rust off the slave's chain. + + + +CHAPTER XXI +_My Escape from Slavery_ + +CLOSING INCIDENTS OF "MY LIFE AS A SLAVE"--REASONS WHY FULL +PARTICULARS OF THE MANNER OF MY ESCAPE WILL NOT BE GIVEN-- +CRAFTINESS AND MALICE OF SLAVEHOLDERS--SUSPICION OF AIDING A +SLAVE'S ESCAPE ABOUT AS DANGEROUS AS POSITIVE EVIDENCE--WANT OF +WISDOM SHOWN IN PUBLISHING DETAILS OF THE ESCAPE OF THE +FUGITIVES--PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS REACH THE MASTERS, NOT THE SLAVES-- +SLAVEHOLDERS STIMULATED TO GREATER WATCHFULNESS--MY CONDITION-- +DISCONTENT--SUSPICIONS IMPLIED BY MASTER HUGH'S MANNER, WHEN +RECEIVING MY WAGES--HIS OCCASIONAL GENEROSITY!--DIFFICULTIES IN +THE WAY OF ESCAPE--EVERY AVENUE GUARDED--PLAN TO OBTAIN MONEY--I +AM ALLOWED TO HIRE MY TIME--A GLEAM OF HOPE--ATTENDS CAMP- +MEETING, WITHOUT PERMISSION--ANGER OF MASTER HUGH THEREAT--THE +RESULT--MY PLANS OF ESCAPE ACCELERATED THERBY--THE DAY FOR MY +DEPARTURE FIXED--HARASSED BY DOUBTS AND FEARS--PAINFUL THOUGHTS +OF SEPARATION FROM FRIENDS--THE ATTEMPT MADE--ITS SUCCESS. + + +I will now make the kind reader acquainted with the closing +incidents of my "Life as a Slave," having already trenched upon +the limit allotted to my "Life as a Freeman." Before, however, +proceeding with this narration, it is, perhaps, proper that I +should frankly state, in advance, my intention to withhold a part +of the{sic} connected with my escape from slavery. There are +reasons for this suppression, which I trust the reader will deem +altogether valid. It may be easily conceived, that a full and +complete statement of all facts pertaining to the flight of a +bondman, might implicate and embarrass some who may have, +wittingly or unwittingly, assisted him; and no one can wish me to +involve any man or <249 MANNER OF MY ESCAPE NOT GIVEN>woman who +has befriended me, even in the liability of embarrassment or +trouble. + +Keen is the scent of the slaveholder; like the fangs of the +rattlesnake, his malice retains its poison long; and, although it +is now nearly seventeen years since I made my escape, it is well +to be careful, in dealing with the circumstances relating to it. +Were I to give but a shadowy outline of the process adopted, with +characteristic aptitude, the crafty and malicious among the +slaveholders might, possibly, hit upon the track I pursued, and +involve some one in suspicion which, in a slave state, is about +as bad as positive evidence. The colored man, there, must not +only shun evil, but shun the very _appearance_ of evil, or be +condemned as a criminal. A slaveholding community has a peculiar +taste for ferreting out offenses against the slave system, +justice there being more sensitive in its regard for the peculiar +rights of this system, than for any other interest or +institution. By stringing together a train of events and +circumstances, even if I were not very explicit, the means of +escape might be ascertained, and, possibly, those means be +rendered, thereafter, no longer available to the liberty-seeking +children of bondage I have left behind me. No antislavery man +can wish me to do anything favoring such results, and no +slaveholding reader has any right to expect the impartment of +such information. + +While, therefore, it would afford me pleasure, and perhaps would +materially add to the interest of my story, were I at liberty to +gratify a curiosity which I know to exist in the minds of many, +as to the manner of my escape, I must deprive myself of this +pleasure, and the curious of the gratification, which such a +statement of facts would afford. I would allow myself to suffer +under the greatest imputations that evil minded men might +suggest, rather than exculpate myself by explanation, and thereby +run the hazards of closing the slightest avenue by which a +brother in suffering might clear himself of the chains and +fetters of slavery. + +The practice of publishing every new invention by which a +<250>slave is known to have escaped from slavery, has neither +wisdom nor necessity to sustain it. Had not Henry Box Brown and +his friends attracted slaveholding attention to the manner of his +escape, we might have had a thousand _Box Browns_ per annum. The +singularly original plan adopted by William and Ellen Crafts, +perished with the first using, because every slaveholder in the +land was apprised of it. The _salt water slave_ who hung in the +guards of a steamer, being washed three days and three nights-- +like another Jonah--by the waves of the sea, has, by the +publicity given to the circumstance, set a spy on the guards of +every steamer departing from southern ports. + +I have never approved of the very public manner, in which some of +our western friends have conducted what _they_ call the _"Under- +ground Railroad,"_ but which, I think, by their open +declarations, has been made, most emphatically, the _"Upper_- +ground Railroad." Its stations are far better known to the +slaveholders than to the slaves. I honor those good men and +women for their noble daring, in willingly subjecting themselves +to persecution, by openly avowing their participation in the +escape of slaves; nevertheless, the good resulting from such +avowals, is of a very questionable character. It may kindle an +enthusiasm, very pleasant to inhale; but that is of no practical +benefit to themselves, nor to the slaves escaping. Nothing is +more evident, than that such disclosures are a positive evil to +the slaves remaining, and seeking to escape. In publishing such +accounts, the anti-slavery man addresses the slaveholder, _not +the slave;_ he stimulates the former to greater watchfulness, and +adds to his facilities for capturing his slave. We owe something +to the slaves, south of Mason and Dixon's line, as well as to +those north of it; and, in discharging the duty of aiding the +latter, on their way to freedom, we should be careful to do +nothing which would be likely to hinder the former, in making +their escape from slavery. Such is my detestation of slavery, +that I would keep the merciless slaveholder profoundly ignorant +of the means of flight adopted by the slave. He <251 CRAFTINESS +OF SLAVEHOLDERS>should be left to imagine himself surrounded by +myriads of invisible tormentors, ever ready to snatch, from his +infernal grasp, his trembling prey. In pursuing his victim, let +him be left to feel his way in the dark; let shades of darkness, +commensurate with his crime, shut every ray of light from his +pathway; and let him be made to feel, that, at every step he +takes, with the hellish purpose of reducing a brother man to +slavery, he is running the frightful risk of having his hot +brains dashed out by an invisible hand. + +But, enough of this. I will now proceed to the statement of +those facts, connected with my escape, for which I am alone +responsible, and for which no one can be made to suffer but +myself. + +My condition in the year (1838) of my escape, was, comparatively, +a free and easy one, so far, at least, as the wants of the +physical man were concerned; but the reader will bear in mind, +that my troubles from the beginning, have been less physical than +mental, and he will thus be prepared to find, after what is +narrated in the previous chapters, that slave life was adding +nothing to its charms for me, as I grew older, and became better +acquainted with it. The practice, from week to week, of openly +robbing me of all my earnings, kept the nature and character of +slavery constantly before me. I could be robbed by +_indirection_, but this was _too_ open and barefaced to be +endured. I could see no reason why I should, at the end of each +week, pour the reward of my honest toil into the purse of any +man. The thought itself vexed me, and the manner in which Master +Hugh received my wages, vexed me more than the original wrong. +Carefully counting the money and rolling it out, dollar by +dollar, he would look me in the face, as if he would search my +heart as well as my pocket, and reproachfully ask me, "_Is that +all_?"--implying that I had, perhaps, kept back part of my wages; +or, if not so, the demand was made, possibly, to make me feel, +that, after all, I was an "unprofitable servant." Draining me of +the last cent of my hard earnings, he would, however, +occasionally--when I brought <252>home an extra large sum--dole +out to me a sixpence or a shilling, with a view, perhaps, of +kindling up my gratitude; but this practice had the opposite +effect--it was an admission of _my right to the whole sum_. The +fact, that he gave me any part of my wages, was proof that he +suspected that I had a right _to the whole of them_. I always +felt uncomfortable, after having received anything in this way, +for I feared that the giving me a few cents, might, possibly, +ease his conscience, and make him feel himself a pretty honorable +robber, after all! + +Held to a strict account, and kept under a close watch--the old +suspicion of my running away not having been entirely removed-- +escape from slavery, even in Baltimore, was very difficult. The +railroad from Baltimore to Philadelphia was under regulations so +stringent, that even _free_ colored travelers were almost +excluded. They must have _free_ papers; they must be measured +and carefully examined, before they were allowed to enter the +cars; they only went in the day time, even when so examined. The +steamboats were under regulations equally stringent. All the +great turnpikes, leading northward, were beset with kidnappers, a +class of men who watched the newspapers for advertisements for +runaway slaves, making their living by the accursed reward of +slave hunting. + +My discontent grew upon me, and I was on the look-out for means +of escape. With money, I could easily have managed the matter, +and, therefore, I hit upon the plan of soliciting the privilege +of hiring my time. It is quite common, in Baltimore, to allow +slaves this privilege, and it is the practice, also, in New +Orleans. A slave who is considered trustworthy, can, by paying +his master a definite sum regularly, at the end of each week, +dispose of his time as he likes. It so happened that I was not +in very good odor, and I was far from being a trustworthy slave. +Nevertheless, I watched my opportunity when Master Thomas came to +Baltimore (for I was still his property, Hugh only acted as his +agent) in the spring of 1838, to purchase his spring supply of +goods, <253 ALLOWED TO HIRE MY TIME>and applied to him, directly, +for the much-coveted privilege of hiring my time. This request +Master Thomas unhesitatingly refused to grant; and he charged me, +with some sternness, with inventing this stratagem to make my +escape. He told me, "I could go _nowhere_ but he could catch me; +and, in the event of my running away, I might be assured he +should spare no pains in his efforts to recapture me. He +recounted, with a good deal of eloquence, the many kind offices +he had done me, and exhorted me to be contented and obedient. +"Lay out no plans for the future," said he. "If you behave +yourself properly, I will take care of you." Now, kind and +considerate as this offer was, it failed to soothe me into +repose. In spite of Master Thomas, and, I may say, in spite of +myself, also, I continued to think, and worse still, to think +almost exclusively about the injustice and wickedness of slavery. +No effort of mine or of his could silence this trouble-giving +thought, or change my purpose to run away. + +About two months after applying to Master Thomas for the +privilege of hiring my time, I applied to Master Hugh for the +same liberty, supposing him to be unacquainted with the fact that +I had made a similar application to Master Thomas, and had been +refused. My boldness in making this request, fairly astounded +him at the first. He gazed at me in amazement. But I had many +good reasons for pressing the matter; and, after listening to +them awhile, he did not absolutely refuse, but told me he would +think of it. Here, then, was a gleam of hope. Once master of my +own time, I felt sure that I could make, over and above my +obligation to him, a dollar or two every week. Some slaves have +made enough, in this way, to purchase their freedom. It is a +sharp spur to industry; and some of the most enterprising colored +men in Baltimore hire themselves in this way. After mature +reflection--as I must suppose it was Master Hugh granted me the +privilege in question, on the following terms: I was to be +allowed all my time; to make all bargains for work; to find my +own employment, and to collect my own wages; and, <254>in return +for this liberty, I was required, or obliged, to pay him three +dollars at the end of each week, and to board and clothe myself, +and buy my own calking tools. A failure in any of these +particulars would put an end to my privilege. This was a hard +bargain. The wear and tear of clothing, the losing and breaking +of tools, and the expense of board, made it necessary for me to +earn at least six dollars per week, to keep even with the world. +All who are acquainted with calking, know how uncertain and +irregular that employment is. It can be done to advantage only +in dry weather, for it is useless to put wet oakum into a seam. +Rain or shine, however, work or no work, at the end of each week +the money must be forthcoming. + +Master Hugh seemed to be very much pleased, for a time, with this +arrangement; and well he might be, for it was decidedly in his +favor. It relieved him of all anxiety concerning me. His money +was sure. He had armed my love of liberty with a lash and a +driver, far more efficient than any I had before known; and, +while he derived all the benefits of slaveholding by the +arrangement, without its evils, I endured all the evils of being +a slave, and yet suffered all the care and anxiety of a +responsible freeman. "Nevertheless," thought I, "it is a +valuable privilege another step in my career toward freedom." It +was something even to be permitted to stagger under the +disadvantages of liberty, and I was determined to hold on to the +newly gained footing, by all proper industry. I was ready to +work by night as well as by day; and being in the enjoyment of +excellent health, I was able not only to meet my current +expenses, but also to lay by a small sum at the end of each week. +All went on thus, from the month of May till August; then--for +reasons which will become apparent as I proceed--my much valued +liberty was wrested from me. + +During the week previous to this (to me) calamitous event, I had +made arrangements with a few young friends, to accompany them, on +Saturday night, to a camp-meeting, held about twelve miles from +Baltimore. On the evening of our intended start for <255 I +ATTEND CAMP-MEETING>the camp-ground, something occurred in the +ship yard where I was at work, which detained me unusually late, +and compelled me either to disappoint my young friends, or to +neglect carrying my weekly dues to Master Hugh. Knowing that I +had the money, and could hand it to him on another day, I decided +to go to camp-meeting, and to pay him the three dollars, for the +past week, on my return. Once on the camp-ground, I was induced +to remain one day longer than I had intended, when I left home. +But, as soon as I returned, I went straight to his house on Fell +street, to hand him his (my) money. Unhappily, the fatal mistake +had been committed. I found him exceedingly angry. He exhibited +all the signs of apprehension and wrath, which a slaveholder may +be surmised to exhibit on the supposed escape of a favorite +slave. "You rascal! I have a great mind to give you a severe +whipping. How dare you go out of the city without first asking +and obtaining my permission?" "Sir," said I, "I hired my time and +paid you the price you asked for it. I did not know that it was +any part of the bargain that I should ask you when or where I +should go." + +"You did not know, you rascal! You are bound to show yourself +here every Saturday night." After reflecting, a few moments, he +became somewhat cooled down; but, evidently greatly troubled, he +said, "Now, you scoundrel! you have done for yourself; you shall +hire your time no longer. The next thing I shall hear of, will +be your running away. Bring home your tools and your clothes, at +once. I'll teach you how to go off in this way." + +Thus ended my partial freedom. I could hire my time no longer; +and I obeyed my master's orders at once. The little taste of +liberty which I had had--although as the reader will have seen, +it was far from being unalloyed--by no means enhanced my +contentment with slavery. Punished thus by Master Hugh, it was +now my turn to punish him. "Since," thought I, "you _will_ make +a slave of me, I will await your orders in all things;" and, +instead of going to look for work on Monday morning, as I had +<256>formerly done, I remained at home during the entire week, +without the performance of a single stroke of work. Saturday +night came, and he called upon me, as usual, for my wages. I, of +course, told him I had done no work, and had no wages. Here we +were at the point of coming to blows. His wrath had been +accumulating during the whole week; for he evidently saw that I +was making no effort to get work, but was most aggravatingly +awaiting his orders, in all things. As I look back to this +behavior of mine, I scarcely know what possessed me, thus to +trifle with those who had such unlimited power to bless or to +blast me. Master Hugh raved and swore his determination to _"get +hold of me;"_ but, wisely for _him_, and happily for _me_, his +wrath only employed those very harmless, impalpable missiles, +which roll from a limber tongue. In my desperation, I had fully +made up my mind to measure strength with Master Hugh, in case he +should undertake to execute his threats. I am glad there was no +necessity for this; for resistance to him could not have ended so +happily for me, as it did in the case of Covey. He was not a man +to be safely resisted by a slave; and I freely own, that in my +conduct toward him, in this instance, there was more folly than +wisdom. Master Hugh closed his reproofs, by telling me that, +hereafter, I need give myself no uneasiness about getting work; +that he "would, himself, see to getting work for me, and enough +of it, at that." This threat I confess had some terror in it; +and, on thinking the matter over, during the Sunday, I resolved, +not only to save him the trouble of getting me work, but that, +upon the third day of September, I would attempt to make my +escape from slavery. The refusal to allow me to hire my time, +therefore, hastened the period of flight. I had three weeks, +now, in which to prepare for my journey. + +Once resolved, I felt a certain degree of repose, and on Monday, +instead of waiting for Master Hugh to seek employment for me, I +was up by break of day, and off to the ship yard of Mr. Butler, +on the City Block, near the draw-bridge. I was a favorite <257 +PAINFUL THOUGHTS OF SEPARATION>with Mr. B., and, young as I was, +I had served as his foreman on the float stage, at calking. Of +course, I easily obtained work, and, at the end of the week-- +which by the way was exceedingly fine I brought Master Hugh +nearly nine dollars. The effect of this mark of returning good +sense, on my part, was excellent. He was very much pleased; he +took the money, commended me, and told me I might have done the +same thing the week before. It is a blessed thing that the +tyrant may not always know the thoughts and purposes of his +victim. Master Hugh little knew what my plans were. The going +to camp-meeting without asking his permission--the insolent +answers made to his reproaches--the sulky deportment the week +after being deprived of the privilege of hiring my time--had +awakened in him the suspicion that I might be cherishing disloyal +purposes. My object, therefore, in working steadily, was to +remove suspicion, and in this I succeeded admirably. He probably +thought I was never better satisfied with my condition, than at +the very time I was planning my escape. The second week passed, +and again I carried him my full week's wages--_nine dollars;_ and +so well pleased was he, that he gave me TWENTY-FIVE CENTS! and +"bade me make good use of it!" I told him I would, for one of +the uses to which I meant to put it, was to pay my fare on the +underground railroad. + +Things without went on as usual; but I was passing through the +same internal excitement and anxiety which I had experienced two +years and a half before. The failure, in that instance, was not +calculated to increase my confidence in the success of this, my +second attempt; and I knew that a second failure could not leave +me where my first did--I must either get to the _far north_, or +be sent to the _far south_. Besides the exercise of mind from +this state of facts, I had the painful sensation of being about +to separate from a circle of honest and warm hearted friends, in +Baltimore. The thought of such a separation, where the hope of +ever meeting again is excluded, and where there can be no +correspondence, is very painful. It is my opinion, that +thousands would escape from <258>slavery who now remain there, +but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their +families, relatives and friends. The daughter is hindered from +escaping, by the love she bears her mother, and the father, by +the love he bears his children; and so, to the end of the +chapter. I had no relations in Baltimore, and I saw no +probability of ever living in the neighborhood of sisters and +brothers; but the thought of leaving my friends, was among the +strongest obstacles to my running away. The last two days of the +week--Friday and Saturday--were spent mostly in collecting my +things together, for my journey. Having worked four days that +week, for my master, I handed him six dollars, on Saturday night. +I seldom spent my Sundays at home; and, for fear that something +might be discovered in my conduct, I kept up my custom, and +absented myself all day. On Monday, the third day of September, +1838, in accordance with my resolution, I bade farewell to the +city of Baltimore, and to that slavery which had been my +abhorrence from childhood. + +How I got away--in what direction I traveled--whether by land or +by water; whether with or without assistance--must, for reasons +already mentioned, remain unexplained. + + +LIFE +_as a_ +FREEMAN + +CHAPTER XXII +_Liberty Attained_ + +TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM--A WANDERER IN NEW YORK-- +FEELINGS ON REACHING THAT CITY--AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE MET-- +UNFAVORABLE IMPRESSIONS--LONELINESS AND INSECURITY--APOLOGY FOR +SLAVES WHO RETURN TO THEIR MASTERS--COMPELLED TO TELL MY +CONDITION--SUCCORED BY A SAILOR--DAVID RUGGLES--THE UNDERGROUND +RAILROAD--MARRIAGE--BAGGAGE TAKEN FROM ME--KINDNESS OF NATHAN +JOHNSON--MY CHANGE OF NAME--DARK NOTIONS OF NORTHERN +CIVILIZATION--THE CONTRAST--COLORED PEOPLE IN NEW BEDFORD--AN +INCIDENT ILLUSTRATING THEIR SPIRIT--A COMMON LABORER--DENIED WORK +AT MY TRADE--THE FIRST WINTER AT THE NORTH--REPULSE AT THE DOORS +OF THE CHURCH--SANCTIFIED HATE--THE _Liberator_ AND ITS EDITOR. + + +There is no necessity for any extended notice of the incidents of +this part of my life. There is nothing very striking or peculiar +about my career as a freeman, when viewed apart from my life as a +slave. The relation subsisting between my early experience and +that which I am now about to narrate, is, perhaps, my best +apology for adding another chapter to this book. + +Disappearing from the kind reader, in a flying cloud or balloon +(pardon the figure), driven by the wind, and knowing not where I +should land--whether in slavery or in freedom--it is proper that +I should remove, at once, all anxiety, by frankly making known +where I alighted. The flight was a bold and perilous one; but +here I am, in the great city of New York, safe and sound, without +loss of blood or bone. In less than a week after leaving +Baltimore, I was walking amid the hurrying throng, and gazing +upon the dazzling wonders of Broadway. The dreams <262>of my +childhood and the purposes of my manhood were now fulfilled. A +free state around me, and a free earth under my feet! What a +moment was this to me! A whole year was pressed into a single +day. A new world burst upon my agitated vision. I have often +been asked, by kind friends to whom I have told my story, how I +felt when first I found myself beyond the limits of slavery; and +I must say here, as I have often said to them, there is scarcely +anything about which I could not give a more satisfactory answer. +It was a moment of joyous excitement, which no words can +describe. In a letter to a friend, written soon after reaching +New York. I said I felt as one might be supposed to feel, on +escaping from a den of hungry lions. But, in a moment like that, +sensations are too intense and too rapid for words. Anguish and +grief, like darkness and rain, may be described, but joy and +gladness, like the rainbow of promise, defy alike the pen and +pencil. + +For ten or fifteen years I had been dragging a heavy chain, with +a huge block attached to it, cumbering my every motion. I had +felt myself doomed to drag this chain and this block through +life. All efforts, before, to separate myself from the hateful +encumbrance, had only seemed to rivet me the more firmly to it. +Baffled and discouraged at times, I had asked myself the +question, May not this, after all, be God's work? May He not, +for wise ends, have doomed me to this lot? A contest had been +going on in my mind for years, between the clear consciousness of +right and the plausible errors of superstition; between the +wisdom of manly courage, and the foolish weakness of timidity. +The contest was now ended; the chain was severed; God and right +stood vindicated. I was A FREEMAN, and the voice of peace and +joy thrilled my heart. + +Free and joyous, however, as I was, joy was not the only +sensation I experienced. It was like the quick blaze, beautiful +at the first, but which subsiding, leaves the building charred +and desolate. I was soon taught that I was still in an enemy's +land. A sense of loneliness and insecurity oppressed me sadly. +I had <263 MEET WITH A FUGITIVE SLAVE>been but a few hours in New +York, before I was met in the streets by a fugitive slave, well +known to me, and the information I got from him respecting New +York, did nothing to lessen my apprehension of danger. The +fugitive in question was "Allender's Jake," in Baltimore; but, +said he, I am "WILLIAM DIXON," in New York! I knew Jake well, +and knew when Tolly Allender and Mr. Price (for the latter +employed Master Hugh as his foreman, in his shipyard on Fell's +Point) made an attempt to recapture Jake, and failed. Jake told +me all about his circumstances, and how narrowly he escaped being +taken back to slavery; that the city was now full of southerners, +returning from the springs; that the black people in New York +were not to be trusted; that there were hired men on the lookout +for fugitives from slavery, and who, for a few dollars, would +betray me into the hands of the slave-catchers; that I must trust +no man with my secret; that I must not think of going either on +the wharves to work, or to a boarding-house to board; and, worse +still, this same Jake told me it was not in his power to help me. +He seemed, even while cautioning me, to be fearing lest, after +all, I might be a party to a second attempt to recapture him. +Under the inspiration of this thought, I must suppose it was, he +gave signs of a wish to get rid of me, and soon left me his +whitewash brush in hand--as he said, for his work. He was soon +lost to sight among the throng, and I was alone again, an easy +prey to the kidnappers, if any should happen to be on my track. + +New York, seventeen years ago, was less a place of safety for a +runaway slave than now, and all know how unsafe it now is, under +the new fugitive slave bill. I was much troubled. I had very +little money enough to buy me a few loaves of bread, but not +enough to pay board, outside a lumber yard. I saw the wisdom of +keeping away from the ship yards, for if Master Hugh pursued me, +he would naturally expect to find me looking for work among the +calkers. For a time, every door seemed closed against me. A +sense of my loneliness and helplessness crept over me, <264>and +covered me with something bordering on despair. In the midst of +thousands of my fellowmen, and yet a perfect stranger! In the +midst of human brothers, and yet more fearful of them than of +hungry wolves! I was without home, without friends, without +work, without money, and without any definite knowledge of which +way to go, or where to look for succor. + +Some apology can easily be made for the few slaves who have, +after making good their escape, turned back to slavery, +preferring the actual rule of their masters, to the life of +loneliness, apprehension, hunger, and anxiety, which meets them +on their first arrival in a free state. It is difficult for a +freeman to enter into the feelings of such fugitives. He cannot +see things in the same light with the slave, because he does not, +and cannot, look from the same point from which the slave does. +"Why do you tremble," he says to the slave "you are in a free +state;" but the difficulty is, in realizing that he is in a free +state, the slave might reply. A freeman cannot understand why +the slave-master's shadow is bigger, to the slave, than the might +and majesty of a free state; but when he reflects that the slave +knows more about the slavery of his master than he does of the +might and majesty of the free state, he has the explanation. The +slave has been all his life learning the power of his master-- +being trained to dread his approach--and only a few hours +learning the power of the state. The master is to him a stern +and flinty reality, but the state is little more than a dream. +He has been accustomed to regard every white man as the friend of +his master, and every colored man as more or less under the +control of his master's friends--the white people. It takes +stout nerves to stand up, in such circumstances. A man, +homeless, shelterless, breadless, friendless, and moneyless, is +not in a condition to assume a very proud or joyous tone; and in +just this condition was I, while wandering about the streets of +New York city and lodging, at least one night, among the barrels +on one of its wharves. I was not only free from slavery, but I +was free from home, as well. The reader <265 MARRIAGE>will +easily see that I had something more than the simple fact of +being free to think of, in this extremity. + +I kept my secret as long as I could, and at last was forced to go +in search of an honest man--a man sufficiently _human_ not to +betray me into the hands of slave-catchers. I was not a bad +reader of the human face, nor long in selecting the right man, +when once compelled to disclose the facts of my condition to some +one. + +I found my man in the person of one who said his name was +Stewart. He was a sailor, warm-hearted and generous, and he +listened to my story with a brother's interest. I told him I was +running for my freedom--knew not where to go--money almost gone-- +was hungry--thought it unsafe to go the shipyards for work, and +needed a friend. Stewart promptly put me in the way of getting +out of my trouble. He took me to his house, and went in search +of the late David Ruggles, who was then the secretary of the New +York Vigilance Committee, and a very active man in all anti- +slavery works. Once in the hands of Mr. Ruggles, I was +comparatively safe. I was hidden with Mr. Ruggles several days. +In the meantime, my intended wife, Anna, came on from Baltimore-- +to whom I had written, informing her of my safe arrival at New +York--and, in the presence of Mrs. Mitchell and Mr. Ruggles, we +were married, by Rev. James W. C. Pennington. + +Mr. Ruggles[7] was the first officer on the under-ground railroad +with whom I met after reaching the north, and, indeed, the first +of whom I ever heard anything. Learning that I was a calker by +trade, he promptly decided that New Bedford was the proper + +[7] He was a whole-souled man, fully imbued with a love of his +afflicted and hunted people, and took pleasure in being to me, as +was his wont, "Eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame." This +brave and devoted man suffered much from the persecutions common +to all who have been prominent benefactors. He at last became +blind, and needed a friend to guide him, even as he had been a +guide to others. Even in his blindness, he exhibited his manly +character. In search of health, he became a physician. When +hope of gaining is{sic} own was gone, he had hope for others. +Believing in hydropathy, he established, at Northampton, +Massachusetts, a large _"Water Cure,"_ and became one of the most +successful of all engaged in that mode of treatment. + + +<266>place to send me. "Many ships," said he, "are there fitted +out for the whaling business, and you may there find work at your +trade, and make a good living." Thus, in one fortnight after my +flight from Maryland, I was safe in New Bedford, regularly +entered upon the exercise of the rights, responsibilities, and +duties of a freeman. + +I may mention a little circumstance which annoyed me on reaching +New Bedford. I had not a cent of money, and lacked two dollars +toward paying our fare from Newport, and our baggage not very +costly--was taken by the stage driver, and held until I could +raise the money to redeem it. This difficulty was soon +surmounted. Mr. Nathan Johnson, to whom we had a line from Mr. +Ruggles, not only received us kindly and hospitably, but, on +being informed about our baggage, promptly loaned me two dollars +with which to redeem my little property. I shall ever be deeply +grateful, both to Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Johnson, for the lively +interest they were pleased to take in me, in this hour of my +extremest need. They not only gave myself and wife bread and +shelter, but taught us how to begin to secure those benefits for +ourselves. Long may they live, and may blessings attend them in +this life and in that which is to come! + +Once initiated into the new life of freedom, and assured by Mr. +Johnson that New Bedford was a safe place, the comparatively +unimportant matter, as to what should be my name, came up for +considertion{sic}. It was necessary to have a name in my new +relations. The name given me by my beloved mother was no less +pretentious than "Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey." I had, +however, before leaving Maryland, dispensed with the _Augustus +Washington_, and retained the name _Frederick Bailey_. Between +Baltimore and New Bedford, however, I had several different +names, the better to avoid being overhauled by the hunters, which +I had good reason to believe would be put on my track. Among +honest men an honest man may well be content with one name, and +to acknowledge it at all times and in all <267 CHANGE OF +NAME>places; but toward fugitives, Americans are not honest. +When I arrived at New Bedford, my name was Johnson; and finding +that the Johnson family in New Bedford were already quite +numerous--sufficiently so to produce some confusion in attempts +to distinguish one from another--there was the more reason for +making another change in my name. In fact, "Johnson" had been +assumed by nearly every slave who had arrived in New Bedford from +Maryland, and this, much to the annoyance of the original +"Johnsons" (of whom there were many) in that place. Mine host, +unwilling to have another of his own name added to the community +in this unauthorized way, after I spent a night and a day at his +house, gave me my present name. He had been reading the "Lady of +the Lake," and was pleased to regard me as a suitable person to +wear this, one of Scotland's many famous names. Considering the +noble hospitality and manly character of Nathan Johnson, I have +felt that he, better than I, illustrated the virtues of the great +Scottish chief. Sure I am, that had any slave-catcher entered +his domicile, with a view to molest any one of his household, he +would have shown himself like him of the "stalwart hand." + +The reader will be amused at my ignorance, when I tell the +notions I had of the state of northern wealth, enterprise, and +civilization. Of wealth and refinement, I supposed the north had +none. My _Columbian Orator_, which was almost my only book, had +not done much to enlighten me concerning northern society. The +impressions I had received were all wide of the truth. New +Bedford, especially, took me by surprise, in the solid wealth and +grandeur there exhibited. I had formed my notions respecting the +social condition of the free states, by what I had seen and known +of free, white, non-slaveholding people in the slave states. +Regarding slavery as the basis of wealth, I fancied that no +people could become very wealthy without slavery. A free white +man, holding no slaves, in the country, I had known to be the +most ignorant and poverty-stricken of men, and the laugh<268>ing +stock even of slaves themselves--called generally by them, in +derision, _"poor white trash_." Like the non-slaveholders at the +south, in holding no slaves, I suppose the northern people like +them, also, in poverty and degradation. Judge, then, of my +amazement and joy, when I found--as I did find--the very laboring +population of New Bedford living in better houses, more elegantly +furnished--surrounded by more comfort and refinement--than a +majority of the slaveholders on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. +There was my friend, Mr. Johnson, himself a colored man (who at +the south would have been regarded as a proper marketable +commodity), who lived in a better house--dined at a richer +board--was the owner of more books--the reader of more +newspapers--was more conversant with the political and social +condition of this nation and the world--than nine-tenths of all +the slaveholders of Talbot county, Maryland. Yet Mr. Johnson was +a working man, and his hands were hardened by honest toil. Here, +then, was something for observation and study. Whence the +difference? The explanation was soon furnished, in the +superiority of mind over simple brute force. Many pages might be +given to the contrast, and in explanation of its causes. But an +incident or two will suffice to show the reader as to how the +mystery gradually vanished before me. + +My first afternoon, on reaching New Bedford, was spent in +visiting the wharves and viewing the shipping. The sight of the +broad brim and the plain, Quaker dress, which met me at every +turn, greatly increased my sense of freedom and security. "I am +among the Quakers," thought I, "and am safe." Lying at the +wharves and riding in the stream, were full-rigged ships of +finest model, ready to start on whaling voyages. Upon the right +and the left, I was walled in by large granite-fronted +warehouses, crowded with the good things of this world. On the +wharves, I saw industry without bustle, labor without noise, and +heavy toil without the whip. There was no loud singing, as in +southern ports, where ships are loading or unloading--no loud +cursing or swear<269 THE CONTRAST>ing--but everything went on as +smoothly as the works of a well adjusted machine. How different +was all this from the nosily fierce and clumsily absurd manner of +labor-life in Baltimore and St. Michael's! One of the first +incidents which illustrated the superior mental character of +northern labor over that of the south, was the manner of +unloading a ship's cargo of oil. In a southern port, twenty or +thirty hands would have been employed to do what five or six did +here, with the aid of a single ox attached to the end of a fall. +Main strength, unassisted by skill, is slavery's method of labor. +An old ox, worth eighty dollars, was doing, in New Bedford, what +would have required fifteen thousand dollars worth of human bones +and muscles to have performed in a southern port. I found that +everything was done here with a scrupulous regard to economy, +both in regard to men and things, time and strength. The maid +servant, instead of spending at least a tenth part of her time in +bringing and carrying water, as in Baltimore, had the pump at her +elbow. The wood was dry, and snugly piled away for winter. +Woodhouses, in-door pumps, sinks, drains, self-shutting gates, +washing machines, pounding barrels, were all new things, and told +me that I was among a thoughtful and sensible people. To the +ship-repairing dock I went, and saw the same wise prudence. The +carpenters struck where they aimed, and the calkers wasted no +blows in idle flourishes of the mallet. I learned that men went +from New Bedford to Baltimore, and bought old ships, and brought +them here to repair, and made them better and more valuable than +they ever were before. Men talked here of going whaling on a +four _years'_ voyage with more coolness than sailors where I came +from talked of going a four _months'_ voyage. + +I now find that I could have landed in no part of the United +States, where I should have found a more striking and gratifying +contrast to the condition of the free people of color in +Baltimore, than I found here in New Bedford. No colored man is +really free in a slaveholding state. He wears the badge of +bondage while <270>nominally free, and is often subjected to +hardships to which the slave is a stranger; but here in New +Bedford, it was my good fortune to see a pretty near approach to +freedom on the part of the colored people. I was taken all aback +when Mr. Johnson--who lost no time in making me acquainted with +the fact--told me that there was nothing in the constitution of +Massachusetts to prevent a colored man from holding any office in +the state. There, in New Bedford, the black man's children-- +although anti-slavery was then far from popular--went to school +side by side with the white children, and apparently without +objection from any quarter. To make me at home, Mr. Johnson +assured me that no slaveholder could take a slave from New +Bedford; that there were men there who would lay down their +lives, before such an outrage could be perpetrated. The colored +people themselves were of the best metal, and would fight for +liberty to the death. + +Soon after my arrival in New Bedford, I was told the following +story, which was said to illustrate the spirit of the colored +people in that goodly town: A colored man and a fugitive slave +happened to have a little quarrel, and the former was heard to +threaten the latter with informing his master of his whereabouts. +As soon as this threat became known, a notice was read from the +desk of what was then the only colored church in the place, +stating that business of importance was to be then and there +transacted. Special measures had been taken to secure the +attendance of the would-be Judas, and had proved successful. +Accordingly, at the hour appointed, the people came, and the +betrayer also. All the usual formalities of public meetings were +scrupulously gone through, even to the offering prayer for Divine +direction in the duties of the occasion. The president himself +performed this part of the ceremony, and I was told that he was +unusually fervent. Yet, at the close of his prayer, the old man +(one of the numerous family of Johnsons) rose from his knees, +deliberately surveyed his audience, and then said, in a tone of +solemn resolution, _"Well, friends, we have got him here, and I +would now_ <271 COLORED PEOPLE IN NEW BEDFORD>_recommend that you +young men should just take him outside the door and kill him."_ +With this, a large body of the congregation, who well understood +the business they had come there to transact, made a rush at the +villain, and doubtless would have killed him, had he not availed +himself of an open sash, and made good his escape. He has never +shown his head in New Bedford since that time. This little +incident is perfectly characteristic of the spirit of the colored +people in New Bedford. A slave could not be taken from that town +seventeen years ago, any more than he could be so taken away now. +The reason is, that the colored people in that city are educated +up to the point of fighting for their freedom, as well as +speaking for it. + +Once assured of my safety in New Bedford, I put on the +habiliments of a common laborer, and went on the wharf in search +of work. I had no notion of living on the honest and generous +sympathy of my colored brother, Johnson, or that of the +abolitionists. My cry was like that of Hood's laborer, "Oh! only +give me work." Happily for me, I was not long in searching. I +found employment, the third day after my arrival in New Bedford, +in stowing a sloop with a load of oil for the New York market. +It was new, hard, and dirty work, even for a calker, but I went +at it with a glad heart and a willing hand. I was now my own +master--a tremendous fact--and the rapturous excitement with +which I seized the job, may not easily be understood, except by +some one with an experience like mine. The thoughts--"I can +work! I can work for a living; I am not afraid of work; I have +no Master Hugh to rob me of my earnings"--placed me in a state of +independence, beyond seeking friendship or support of any man. +That day's work I considered the real starting point of something +like a new existence. Having finished this job and got my pay +for the same, I went next in pursuit of a job at calking. It so +happened that Mr. Rodney French, late mayor of the city of New +Bedford, had a ship fitting out for sea, and to which there was a +large job of calking and coppering to be done. I applied to that +<272>noblehearted man for employment, and he promptly told me to +go to work; but going on the float-stage for the purpose, I was +informed that every white man would leave the ship if I struck a +blow upon her. "Well, well," thought I, "this is a hardship, but +yet not a very serious one for me." The difference between the +wages of a calker and that of a common day laborer, was an +hundred per cent in favor of the former; but then I was free, and +free to work, though not at my trade. I now prepared myself to +do anything which came to hand in the way of turning an honest +penny; sawed wood--dug cellars--shoveled coal--swept chimneys +with Uncle Lucas Debuty--rolled oil casks on the wharves--helped +to load and unload vessels--worked in Ricketson's candle works-- +in Richmond's brass foundery, and elsewhere; and thus supported +myself and family for three years. + +The first winter was unusually severe, in consequence of the high +prices of food; but even during that winter we probably suffered +less than many who had been free all their lives. During the +hardest of the winter, I hired out for nine dolars{sic} a month; +and out of this rented two rooms for nine dollars per quarter, +and supplied my wife--who was unable to work--with food and some +necessary articles of furniture. We were closely pinched to +bring our wants within our means; but the jail stood over the +way, and I had a wholesome dread of the consequences of running +in debt. This winter past, and I was up with the times--got +plenty of work--got well paid for it--and felt that I had not +done a foolish thing to leave Master Hugh and Master Thomas. I +was now living in a new world, and was wide awake to its +advantages. I early began to attend the meetings of the colored +people of New Bedford, and to take part in them. I was somewhat +amazed to see colored men drawing up resolutions and offering +them for consideration. Several colored young men of New +Bedford, at that period, gave promise of great usefulness. They +were educated, and possessed what seemed to me, at the time, very +superior talents. Some of them have been cut down by death, and +<273 THE CHURCH>others have removed to different parts of the +world, and some remain there now, and justify, in their present +activities, my early impressions of them. + +Among my first concerns on reaching New Bedford, was to become +united with the church, for I had never given up, in reality, my +religious faith. I had become lukewarm and in a backslidden +state, but I was still convinced that it was my duty to join the +Methodist church. I was not then aware of the powerful influence +of that religious body in favor of the enslavement of my race, +nor did I see how the northern churches could be responsible for +the conduct of southern churches; neither did I fully understand +how it could be my duty to remain separate from the church, +because bad men were connected with it. The slaveholding church, +with its Coveys, Weedens, Aulds, and Hopkins, I could see through +at once, but I could not see how Elm Street church, in New +Bedford, could be regarded as sanctioning the Christianity of +these characters in the church at St. Michael's. I therefore +resolved to join the Methodist church in New Bedford, and to +enjoy the spiritual advantage of public worship. The minister of +the Elm Street Methodist church, was the Rev. Mr. Bonney; and +although I was not allowed a seat in the body of the house, and +was proscribed on account of my color, regarding this +proscription simply as an accommodation of the uncoverted +congregation who had not yet been won to Christ and his +brotherhood, I was willing thus to be proscribed, lest sinners +should be driven away form the saving power of the gospel. Once +converted, I thought they would be sure to treat me as a man and +a brother. "Surely," thought I, "these Christian people have +none of this feeling against color. They, at least, have +renounced this unholy feeling." Judge, then, dear reader, of my +astonishment and mortification, when I found, as soon I did find, +all my charitable assumptions at fault. + +An opportunity was soon afforded me for ascertaining the exact +position of Elm Street church on that subject. I had a chance of +seeing the religious part of the congregation by themselves; and +<274>although they disowned, in effect, their black brothers and +sisters, before the world, I did think that where none but the +saints were assembled, and no offense could be given to the +wicked, and the gospel could not be "blamed," they would +certainly recognize us as children of the same Father, and heirs +of the same salvation, on equal terms with themselves. + +The occasion to which I refer, was the sacrament of the Lord's +Supper, that most sacred and most solemn of all the ordinances of +the Christian church. Mr. Bonney had preached a very solemn and +searching discourse, which really proved him to be acquainted +with the inmost secerts{sic} of the human heart. At the close of +his discourse, the congregation was dismissed, and the church +remained to partake of the sacrament. I remained to see, as I +thought, this holy sacrament celebrated in the spirit of its +great Founder. + +There were only about a half dozen colored members attached to +the Elm Street church, at this time. After the congregation was +dismissed, these descended from the gallery, and took a seat +against the wall most distant from the altar. Brother Bonney was +very animated, and sung very sweetly, "Salvation 'tis a joyful +sound," and soon began to administer the sacrament. I was +anxious to observe the bearing of the colored members, and the +result was most humiliating. During the whole ceremony, they +looked like sheep without a shepherd. The white members went +forward to the altar by the bench full; and when it was evident +that all the whites had been served with the bread and wine, +Brother Bonney--pious Brother Bonney--after a long pause, as if +inquiring whether all the whites members had been served, and +fully assuring himself on that important point, then raised his +voice to an unnatural pitch, and looking to the corner where his +black sheep seemed penned, beckoned with his hand, exclaiming, +"Come forward, colored friends! come forward! You, too, have an +interest in the blood of Christ. God is no respecter of persons. +Come forward, and take this holy sacrament to your <275 THE +SACRAMENT>comfort." The colored members poor, slavish souls went +forward, as invited. I went out, and have never been in that +church since, although I honestly went there with a view to +joining that body. I found it impossible to respect the +religious profession of any who were under the dominion of this +wicked prejudice, and I could not, therefore, feel that in +joining them, I was joining a Christian church, at all. I tried +other churches in New Bedford, with the same result, and finally, +I attached myself to a small body of colored Methodists, known as +the Zion Methodists. Favored with the affection and confidence +of the members of this humble communion, I was soon made a +classleader and a local preacher among them. Many seasons of +peace and joy I experienced among them, the remembrance of which +is still precious, although I could not see it to be my duty to +remain with that body, when I found that it consented to the same +spirit which held my brethren in chains. + +In four or five months after reaching New Bedford, there came a +young man to me, with a copy of the _Liberator_, the paper edited +by WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, and published by ISAAC KNAPP, and +asked me to subscribe for it. I told him I had but just escaped +from slavery, and was of course very poor, and remarked further, +that I was unable to pay for it then; the agent, however, very +willingly took me as a subscriber, and appeared to be much +pleased with securing my name to his list. From this time I was +brought in contact with the mind of William Lloyd Garrison. His +paper took its place with me next to the bible. + +The _Liberator_ was a paper after my own heart. It detested +slavery exposed hypocrisy and wickedness in high places--made no +truce with the traffickers in the bodies and souls of men; it +preached human brotherhood, denounced oppression, and, with all +the solemnity of God's word, demanded the complete emancipation +of my race. I not only liked--I _loved_ this paper, and its +editor. He seemed a match for all the oponents{sic} of +emancipation, whether they spoke in the name of the law, or the +gospel. <276>His words were few, full of holy fire, and straight +to the point. Learning to love him, through his paper, I was +prepared to be pleased with his presence. Something of a hero +worshiper, by nature, here was one, on first sight, to excite my +love and reverence. + +Seventeen years ago, few men possessed a more heavenly +countenance than William Lloyd Garrison, and few men evinced a +more genuine or a more exalted piety. The bible was his text +book--held sacred, as the word of the Eternal Father--sinless +perfection--complete submission to insults and injuries--literal +obedience to the injunction, if smitten on one side to turn the +other also. Not only was Sunday a Sabbath, but all days were +Sabbaths, and to be kept holy. All sectarism false and +mischievous--the regenerated, throughout the world, members of +one body, and the HEAD Christ Jesus. Prejudice against color was +rebellion against God. Of all men beneath the sky, the slaves, +because most neglected and despised, were nearest and dearest to +his great heart. Those ministers who defended slavery from the +bible, were of their "father the devil"; and those churches which +fellowshiped slaveholders as Christians, were synagogues of +Satan, and our nation was a nation of liars. Never loud or +noisy--calm and serene as a summer sky, and as pure. "You are +the man, the Moses, raised up by God, to deliver his modern +Israel from bondage," was the spontaneous feeling of my heart, as +I sat away back in the hall and listened to his mighty words; +mighty in truth--mighty in their simple earnestness. + +I had not long been a reader of the _Liberator_, and listener to +its editor, before I got a clear apprehension of the principles +of the anti-slavery movement. I had already the spirit of the +movement, and only needed to understand its principles and +measures. These I got from the _Liberator_, and from those who +believed in that paper. My acquaintance with the movement +increased my hope for the ultimate freedom of my race, and I +united with it from a sense of delight, as well as duty. +<277 THE _Liberator_> + +Every week the _Liberator_ came, and every week I made myself +master of its contents. All the anti-slavery meetings held in +New Bedford I promptly attended, my heart burning at every true +utterance against the slave system, and every rebuke of its +friends and supporters. Thus passed the first three years of my +residence in New Bedford. I had not then dreamed of the +posibility{sic} of my becoming a public advocate of the cause so +deeply imbedded in my heart. It was enough for me to listen--to +receive and applaud the great words of others, and only whisper +in private, among the white laborers on the wharves, and +elsewhere, the truths which burned in my breast. + + +CHAPTER XXIII +_Introduced to the Abolitionists_ + +FIRST SPEECH AT NANTUCKET--MUCH SENSATION--EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH +OF MR. GARRISON--AUTHOR BECOMES A PUBLIC LECTURER--FOURTEEN YEARS +EXPERIENCE--YOUTHFUL ENTHUSIASM--A BRAND NEW FACT--MATTER OF MY +AUTHOR'S SPEECH--COULD NOT FOLLOW THE PROGRAMME--FUGITIVE +SLAVESHIP DOUBTED--TO SETTLE ALL DOUBT I WRITE MY EXPERIENCE OF +SLAVERY--DANGER OF RECAPTURE INCREASED. + + +In the summer of 1841, a grand anti-slavery convention was held +in Nantucket, under the auspices of Mr. Garrison and his friends. +Until now, I had taken no holiday since my escape from slavery. +Having worked very hard that spring and summer, in Richmond's +brass foundery--sometimes working all night as well as all day-- +and needing a day or two of rest, I attended this convention, +never supposing that I should take part in the proceedings. +Indeed, I was not aware that any one connected with the +convention even so much as knew my name. I was, however, quite +mistaken. Mr. William C. Coffin, a prominent abolitionst{sic} in +those days of trial, had heard me speaking to my colored friends, +in the little school house on Second street, New Bedford, where +we worshiped. He sought me out in the crowd, and invited me to +say a few words to the convention. Thus sought out, and thus +invited, I was induced to speak out the feelings inspired by the +occasion, and the fresh recollection of the scenes through which +I had passed as a slave. My speech on this occasion is about the +only one I ever made, of which I do not remember a single +connected sentence. It was <279 EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH OF MR. +GARRISON>with the utmost difficulty that I could stand erect, or +that I could command and articulate two words without hesitation +and stammering. I trembled in every limb. I am not sure that my +embarrassment was not the most effective part of my speech, if +speech it could be called. At any rate, this is about the only +part of my performance that I now distinctly remember. But +excited and convulsed as I was, the audience, though remarkably +quiet before, became as much excited as myself. Mr. Garrison +followed me, taking me as his text; and now, whether I had made +an eloquent speech in behalf of freedom or not, his was one never +to be forgotten by those who heard it. Those who had heard Mr. +Garrison oftenest, and had known him longest, were astonished. +It was an effort of unequaled power, sweeping down, like a very +tornado, every opposing barrier, whether of sentiment or opinion. +For a moment, he possessed that almost fabulous inspiration, +often referred to but seldom attained, in which a public meeting +is transformed, as it were, into a single individuality--the +orator wielding a thousand heads and hearts at once, and by the +simple majesty of his all controlling thought, converting his +hearers into the express image of his own soul. That night there +were at least one thousand Garrisonians in Nantucket! A{sic} the +close of this great meeting, I was duly waited on by Mr. John A. +Collins--then the general agent of the Massachusetts anti-slavery +society--and urgently solicited by him to become an agent of that +society, and to publicly advocate its anti-slavery principles. I +was reluctant to take the proffered position. I had not been +quite three years from slavery--was honestly distrustful of my +ability--wished to be excused; publicity exposed me to discovery +and arrest by my master; and other objections came up, but Mr. +Collins was not to be put off, and I finally consented to go out +for three months, for I supposed that I should have got to the +end of my story and my usefulness, in that length of time. + +Here opened upon me a new life a life for which I had had no +preparation. I was a "graduate from the peculiar institution," +<280>Mr. Collins used to say, when introducing me, _"with my +diploma written on my back!"_ The three years of my freedom had +been spent in the hard school of adversity. My hands had been +furnished by nature with something like a solid leather coating, +and I had bravely marked out for myself a life of rough labor, +suited to the hardness of my hands, as a means of supporting +myself and rearing my children. + +Now what shall I say of this fourteen years' experience as a +public advocate of the cause of my enslaved brothers and sisters? +The time is but as a speck, yet large enough to justify a pause +for retrospection--and a pause it must only be. + +Young, ardent, and hopeful, I entered upon this new life in the +full gush of unsuspecting enthusiasm. The cause was good; the +men engaged in it were good; the means to attain its triumph, +good; Heaven's blessing must attend all, and freedom must soon be +given to the pining millions under a ruthless bondage. My whole +heart went with the holy cause, and my most fervent prayer to the +Almighty Disposer of the hearts of men, were continually offered +for its early triumph. "Who or what," thought I, "can withstand +a cause so good, so holy, so indescribably glorious. The God of +Israel is with us. The might of the Eternal is on our side. Now +let but the truth be spoken, and a nation will start forth at the +sound!" In this enthusiastic spirit, I dropped into the ranks of +freedom's friends, and went forth to the battle. For a time I +was made to forget that my skin was dark and my hair crisped. +For a time I regretted that I could not have shared the hardships +and dangers endured by the earlier workers for the slave's +release. I soon, however, found that my enthusiasm had been +extravagant; that hardships and dangers were not yet passed; and +that the life now before me, had shadows as well as sunbeams. + +Among the first duties assigned me, on entering the ranks, was to +travel, in company with Mr. George Foster, to secure subscribers +to the _Anti-slavery Standard_ and the _Liberator_. With <281 +MATTER OF THE SPEECH>him I traveled and lectured through the +eastern counties of Massachusetts. Much interest was awakened-- +large meetings assembled. Many came, no doubt, from curiosity to +hear what a Negro could say in his own cause. I was generally +introduced as a _"chattel"--_a_"thing"_--a piece of southern +_"property"_--the chairman assuring the audience that _it_ could +speak. Fugitive slaves, at that time, were not so plentiful as +now; and as a fugitive slave lecturer, I had the advantage of +being a _"brand new fact"_--the first one out. Up to that time, +a colored man was deemed a fool who confessed himself a runaway +slave, not only because of the danger to which he exposed himself +of being retaken, but because it was a confession of a very _low_ +origin! Some of my colored friends in New Bedford thought very +badly of my wisdom for thus exposing and degrading myself. The +only precaution I took, at the beginning, to prevent Master +Thomas from knowing where I was, and what I was about, was the +withholding my former name, my master's name, and the name of the +state and county from which I came. During the first three or +four months, my speeches were almost exclusively made up of +narrations of my own personal experience as a slave. "Let us +have the facts," said the people. So also said Friend George +Foster, who always wished to pin me down to my simple narrative. +"Give us the facts," said Collins, "we will take care of the +philosophy." Just here arose some embarrassment. It was +impossible for me to repeat the same old story month after month, +and to keep up my interest in it. It was new to the people, it +is true, but it was an old story to me; and to go through with it +night after night, was a task altogether too mechanical for my +nature. "Tell your story, Frederick," would whisper my then +revered friend, William Lloyd Garrison, as I stepped upon the +platform. I could not always obey, for I was now reading and +thinking. New views of the subject were presented to my mind. +It did not entirely satisfy me to _narrate_ wrongs; I felt like +_denouncing_ them. I could not always curb my moral indignation +<282>for the perpetrators of slaveholding villainy, long enough +for a circumstantial statement of the facts which I felt almost +everybody must know. Besides, I was growing, and needed room. +"People won't believe you ever was a slave, Frederick, if you +keep on this way," said Friend Foster. "Be yourself," said +Collins, "and tell your story." It was said to me, "Better have +a _little_ of the plantation manner of speech than not; 'tis not +best that you seem too learned." These excellent friends were +actuated by the best of motives, and were not altogether wrong in +their advice; and still I must speak just the word that seemed to +_me_ the word to be spoken _by_ me. + +At last the apprehended trouble came. People doubted if I had +ever been a slave. They said I did not talk like a slave, look +like a slave, nor act like a slave, and that they believed I had +never been south of Mason and Dixon's line. "He don't tell us +where he came from--what his master's name was--how he got away-- +nor the story of his experience. Besides, he is educated, and +is, in this, a contradiction of all the facts we have concerning +the ignorance of the slaves." Thus, I was in a pretty fair way +to be denounced as an impostor. The committee of the +Massachusetts anti-slavery society knew all the facts in my case, +and agreed with me in the prudence of keeping them private. +They, therefore, never doubted my being a genuine fugitive; but +going down the aisles of the churches in which I spoke, and +hearing the free spoken Yankees saying, repeatedly, _"He's never +been a slave, I'll warrant ye_," I resolved to dispel all doubt, +at no distant day, by such a revelation of facts as could not be +made by any other than a genuine fugitive. + +In a little less than four years, therefore, after becoming a +public lecturer, I was induced to write out the leading facts +connected with my experience in slavery, giving names of persons, +places, and dates--thus putting it in the power of any who +doubted, to ascertain the truth or falsehood of my story of being +a fugitive slave. This statement soon became known in Maryland, +<283 DANGER OF RECAPTURE>and I had reason to believe that an +effort would be made to recapture me. + +It is not probable that any open attempt to secure me as a slave +could have succeeded, further than the obtainment, by my master, +of the money value of my bones and sinews. Fortunately for me, +in the four years of my labors in the abolition cause, I had +gained many friends, who would have suffered themselves to be +taxed to almost any extent to save me from slavery. It was felt +that I had committed the double offense of running away, and +exposing the secrets and crimes of slavery and slaveholders. +There was a double motive for seeking my reenslavement--avarice +and vengeance; and while, as I have said, there was little +probability of successful recapture, if attempted openly, I was +constantly in danger of being spirited away, at a moment when my +friends could render me no assistance. In traveling about from +place to place--often alone I was much exposed to this sort of +attack. Any one cherishing the design to betray me, could easily +do so, by simply tracing my whereabouts through the anti-slavery +journals, for my meetings and movements were promptly made known +in advance. My true friends, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Phillips, had +no faith in the power of Massachusetts to protect me in my right +to liberty. Public sentiment and the law, in their opinion, +would hand me over to the tormentors. Mr. Phillips, especially, +considered me in danger, and said, when I showed him the +manuscript of my story, if in my place, he would throw it into +the fire. Thus, the reader will observe, the settling of one +difficulty only opened the way for another; and that though I had +reached a free state, and had attained position for public +usefulness, I ws{sic} still tormented with the liability of +losing my liberty. How this liability was dispelled, will be +related, with other incidents, in the next chapter. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +_Twenty-One Months in Great Britain_ + + +GOOD ARISING OUT OF UNPROPITIOUS EVENTS--DENIED CABIN PASSAGE-- +PROSCRIPTION TURNED TO GOOD ACCOUNT--THE HUTCHINSON FAMILY--THE +MOB ON BOARD THE "CAMBRIA"--HAPPY INTRODUCTION TO THE BRITISH +PUBLIC--LETTER ADDRESSED TO WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON--TIME AND +LABORS WHILE ABROAD--FREEDOM PURCHASED--MRS. HENRY RICHARDSON-- +FREE PAPERS--ABOLITIONISTS DISPLEASED WITH THE RANSOM--HOW MY +ENERGIES WERE DIRECTED--RECEPTION SPEECH IN LONDON--CHARACTER OF +THE SPEECH DEFENDED--CIRCUMSTANCES EXPLAINED--CAUSES CONTRIBUTING +TO THE SUCCESS OF MY MISSION--FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND-- +TESTIMONIAL. + + +The allotments of Providence, when coupled with trouble and +anxiety, often conceal from finite vision the wisdom and goodness +in which they are sent; and, frequently, what seemed a harsh and +invidious dispensation, is converted by after experience into a +happy and beneficial arrangement. Thus, the painful liability to +be returned again to slavery, which haunted me by day, and +troubled my dreams by night, proved to be a necessary step in the +path of knowledge and usefulness. The writing of my pamphlet, in +the spring of 1845, endangered my liberty, and led me to seek a +refuge from republican slavery in monarchical England. A rude, +uncultivated fugitive slave was driven, by stern necessity, to +that country to which young American gentlemen go to increase +their stock of knowledge, to seek pleasure, to have their rough, +democratic manners softened by contact with English aristocratic +refinement. On applying for a passage to England, on board the +"Cambria", of the Cunard line, my friend, James N. Buffum, of +<285 PROSCRIPTION TURNED TO GOOD ACCOUNT>Lynn, Massachusetts, was +informed that I could not be received on board as a cabin +passenger. American prejudice against color triumphed over +British liberality and civilization, and erected a color test and +condition for crossing the sea in the cabin of a British vessel. +The insult was keenly felt by my white friends, but to me, it was +common, expected, and therefore, a thing of no great consequence, +whether I went in the cabin or in the steerage. Moreover, I felt +that if I could not go into the first cabin, first-cabin +passengers could come into the second cabin, and the result +justified my anticipations to the fullest extent. Indeed, I soon +found myself an object of more general interest than I wished to +be; and so far from being degraded by being placed in the second +cabin, that part of the ship became the scene of as much pleasure +and refinement, during the voyage, as the cabin itself. The +Hutchinson Family, celebrated vocalists--fellow-passengers--often +came to my rude forecastle deck, and sung their sweetest songs, +enlivening the place with eloquent music, as well as spirited +conversation, during the voyage. In two days after leaving +Boston, one part of the ship was about as free to me as another. +My fellow-passengers not only visited me, but invited me to visit +them, on the saloon deck. My visits there, however, were but +seldom. I preferred to live within my privileges, and keep upon +my own premises. I found this quite as much in accordance with +good policy, as with my own feelings. The effect was, that with +the majority of the passengers, all color distinctions were flung +to the winds, and I found myself treated with every mark of +respect, from the beginning to the end of the voyage, except in a +single instance; and in that, I came near being mobbed, for +complying with an invitation given me by the passengers, and the +captain of the "Cambria," to deliver a lecture on slavery. Our +New Orleans and Georgia passengers were pleased to regard my +lecture as an insult offered to them, and swore I should not +speak. They went so far as to threaten to throw me overboard, +and but for the firmness of Captain Judkins, prob<286>ably would +have (under the inspiration of _slavery_ and _brandy_) attempted +to put their threats into execution. I have no space to describe +this scene, although its tragic and comic peculiarities are well +worth describing. An end was put to the _melee_, by the +captain's calling the ship's company to put the salt water +mobocrats in irons. At this determined order, the gentlemen of +the lash scampered, and for the rest of the voyage conducted +themselves very decorously. + +This incident of the voyage, in two days after landing at +Liverpool, brought me at once before the British public, and that +by no act of my own. The gentlemen so promptly snubbed in their +meditated violence, flew to the press to justify their conduct, +and to denounce me as a worthless and insolent Negro. This +course was even less wise than the conduct it was intended to +sustain; for, besides awakening something like a national +interest in me, and securing me an audience, it brought out +counter statements, and threw the blame upon themselves, which +they had sought to fasten upon me and the gallant captain of the +ship. + +Some notion may be formed of the difference in my feelings and +circumstances, while abroad, from the following extract from one +of a series of letters addressed by me to Mr. Garrison, and +published in the _Liberator_. It was written on the first day of +January, 1846: + + +MY DEAR FRIEND GARRISON: Up to this time, I have given no direct +expression of the views, feelings, and opinions which I have +formed, respecting the character and condition of the people of +this land. I have refrained thus, purposely. I wish to speak +advisedly, and in order to do this, I have waited till, I trust, +experience has brought my opinions to an intelligent maturity. I +have been thus careful, not because I think what I say will have +much effect in shaping the opinions of the world, but because +whatever of influence I may possess, whether little or much, I +wish it to go in the right direction, and according to truth. I +hardly need say that, in speaking of Ireland, I shall be +influenced by no prejudices in favor of America. I think my +circumstances all forbid that. I have no end to serve, no creed +to uphold, no government to defend; and as to nation, I belong to +none. I have no protection at home, or resting-place abroad. +The land of my birth welcomes me to her shores only as a slave, +and spurns with contempt the idea of treating me differently; so +that I am an outcast from the society of my childhood, and an +outlaw in the <287 LETTER TO GARRISON>land of my birth. "I am a +stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." +That men should be patriotic, is to me perfectly natural; and as +a philosophical fact, I am able to give it an _intellectual_ +recognition. But no further can I go. If ever I had any +patriotism, or any capacity for the feeling, it was whipped out +of me long since, by the lash of the American soul-drivers. + +In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her +bright blue sky, her grand old woods, her fertile fields, her +beautiful rivers, her mighty lakes, and star-crowned mountains. +But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to +mourning. When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal +spirit of slaveholding, robbery, and wrong; when I remember that +with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren +are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her +most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged +sisters; I am filled with unutterable loathing, and led to +reproach myself that anything could fall from my lips in praise +of such a land. America will not allow her children to love her. +She seems bent on compelling those who would be her warmest +friends, to be her worst enemies. May God give her repentance, +before it is too late, is the ardent prayer of my heart. I will +continue to pray, labor, and wait, believing that she cannot +always be insensible to the dictates of justice, or deaf to the +voice of humanity. + +My opportunities for learning the character and condition of the +people of this land have been very great. I have traveled alm@@ +@@om the Hill of Howth to the Giant's Causeway, and from the +Giant's Causway, to Cape Clear. During these travels, I have met +with much in the chara@@ and condition of the people to approve, +and much to condemn; much that @@thrilled me with pleasure, and +very much that has filled me with pain. I @@ @@t, in this +letter, attempt to give any description of those scenes which +have given me pain. This I will do hereafter. I have enough, +and more than your subscribers will be disposed to read at one +time, of the bright side of the picture. I can truly say, I have +spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in +this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live +a new life. The warm and generous cooperation extended to me by +the friends of my despised race; the prompt and liberal manner +with which the press has rendered me its aid; the glorious +enthusiasm with which thousands have flocked to hear the cruel +wrongs of my down-trodden and long-enslaved fellow-countrymen +portrayed; the deep sympathy for the slave, and the strong +abhorrence of the slaveholder, everywhere evinced; the cordiality +with which members and ministers of various religious bodies, and +of various shades of religious opinion, have embraced me, and +lent me their aid; the kind of hospitality constantly proffered +to me by persons of the highest rank in society; the spirit of +freedom that seems to animate all with whom I come in contact, +and the entire absence of everything that looked like prejudice +against me, on account of the color of my skin--contrasted so +strongly with my long and bitter experience in the United States, +that I look with wonder and amazement on the transition. In the +southern part of the United States, I was a slave, thought of +<288>and spoken of as property; in the language of the LAW, +"_held, taken, reputed, and adjudged to be a chattel in the hands +of my owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, +and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes +whatsoever_." (Brev. Digest, 224). In the northern states, a +fugitive slave, liable to be hunted at any moment, like a felon, +and to be hurled into the terrible jaws of slavery--doomed by an +inveterate prejudice against color to insult and outrage on every +hand (Massachusetts out of the question)--denied the privileges +and courtesies common to others in the use of the most humble +means of conveyance--shut out from the cabins on steamboats-- +refused admission to respectable hotels--caricatured, scorned, +scoffed, mocked, and maltreated with impunity by any one (no +matter how black his heart), so he has a white skin. But now +behold the change! Eleven days and a half gone, and I have +crossed three thousand miles of the perilous deep. Instead of a +democratic government, I am under a monarchical government. +Instead of the bright, blue sky of America, I am covered with the +soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and lo! the +chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will +question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an +insult. I employ a cab--I am seated beside white people--I reach +the hotel--I enter the same door--I am shown into the same +parlor--I dine at the same table and no one is offended. No +delicate nose grows deformed in my presence. I find no +difficulty here in obtaining admission into any place of worship, +instruction, or amusement, on equal terms with people as white as +any I ever saw in the United States. I meet nothing to remind me +of my complexion. I find myself regarded and treated at every +turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When +I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip to +tell me, "_We don't allow niggers in here_!" + +I remember, about two years ago, there was in Boston, near the +south-west corner of Boston Common, a menagerie. I had long +desired to see such a collection as I understood was being +exhibited there. Never having had an opportunity while a slave, +I resolved to seize this, my first, since my escape. I went, and +as I approached the entrance to gain admission, I was met and +told by the door-keeper, in a harsh and contemptuous tone, "_We +don't allow niggers in here_." I also remember attending a +revival meeting in the Rev. Henry Jackson's meeting-house, at New +Bedford, and going up the broad aisle to find a seat, I was met +by a good deacon, who told me, in a pious tone, "_We don't allow +niggers in here_!" Soon after my arrival in New Bedford, from +the south, I had a strong desire to attend the Lyceum, but was +told, "_They don't allow niggers in here_!" While passing from +New York to Boston, on the steamer Massachusetts, on the night of +the 9th of December, 1843, when chilled almost through with the +cold, I went into the cabin to get a little warm. I was soon +touched upon the shoulder, and told, "_We don't allow niggers in +here_!" On arriving in Boston, from an anti-slavery tour, hungry +and tired, I went into an eating-house, near my friend, Mr. +Campbell's to get some refreshments. I was met by a lad in a +white apron, "_We don't allow niggers in here_!" <289 TIME AND +LABORS ABROAD>A week or two before leaving the United States, I +had a meeting appointed at Weymouth, the home of that glorious +band of true abolitionists, the Weston family, and others. On +attempting to take a seat in the omnibus to that place, I was +told by the driver (and I never shall forget his fiendish hate). +"_I don't allow niggers in here_!" Thank heaven for the respite +I now enjoy! I had been in Dublin but a few days, when a +gentleman of great respectability kindly offered to conduct me +through all the public buildings of that beautiful city; and a +little afterward, I found myself dining with the lord mayor of +Dublin. What a pity there was not some American democratic +Christian at the door of his splendid mansion, to bark out at my +approach, "_They don't allow niggers in here_!" The truth is, +the people here know nothing of the republican Negro hate +prevalent in our glorious land. They measure and esteem men +according to their moral and intellectual worth, and not +according to the color of their skin. Whatever may be said of +the aristocracies here, there is none based on the color of a +man's skin. This species of aristocracy belongs preeminently to +"the land of the free, and the home of the brave." I have never +found it abroad, in any but Americans. It sticks to them +wherever they go. They find it almost as hard to get rid of, as +to get rid of their skins. + +The second day after my arrival at Liverpool, in company with my +friend, Buffum, and several other friends, I went to Eaton Hall, +the residence of the Marquis of Westminster, one of the most +splendid buildings in England. On approaching the door, I found +several of our American passengers, who came out with us in the +"Cambria," waiting for admission, as but one party was allowed in +the house at a time. We all had to wait till the company within +came out. And of all the faces, expressive of chagrin, those of +the Americans were preeminent. They looked as sour as vinegar, +and as bitter as gall, when they found I was to be admitted on +equal terms with themselves. When the door was opened, I walked +in, on an equal footing with my white fellow-citizens, and from +all I could see, I had as much attention paid me by the servants +that showed us through the house, as any with a paler skin. As I +walked through the building, the statuary did not fall down, the +pictures did not leap from their places, the doors did not refuse +to open, and the servants did not say, "_We don't allow niggers +in here_!" + +A happy new-year to you, and all the friends of freedom. + + +My time and labors, while abroad were divided between England, +Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Upon this experience alone, I +might write a book twice the size of this, _My Bondage and My +Freedom_. I visited and lectured in nearly all the large towns +and cities in the United Kingdom, and enjoyed many favorable +opportunities for observation and information. But books on +England are abundant, and the public may, therefore, dismiss any +fear that I am meditating another infliction in that line; +<290>though, in truth, I should like much to write a book on +those countries, if for nothing else, to make grateful mention of +the many dear friends, whose benevolent actions toward me are +ineffaceably stamped upon my memory, and warmly treasured in my +heart. To these friends I owe my freedom in the United States. +On their own motion, without any solicitation from me (Mrs. Henry +Richardson, a clever lady, remarkable for her devotion to every +good work, taking the lead), they raised a fund sufficient to +purchase my freedom, and actually paid it over, and placed the +papers[8] of my manumission in my hands, before + + +[8] The following is a copy of these curious papers, both of my +transfer from Thomas to Hugh Auld, and from Hugh to myself: + +"Know all men by these Presents, That I, Thomas Auld, of Talbot +county, and state of Maryland, for and in consideration of the +sum of one hundred dollars, current money, to me paid by Hugh +Auld, of the city of Baltimore, in the said state, at and before +the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof, +I, the said Thomas Auld, do hereby acknowledge, have granted, +bargained, and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, and +sell unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, administrators, and +assigns, ONE NEGRO MAN, by the name of FREDERICK BAILY, or +DOUGLASS, as he callls{sic} himself--he is now about twenty-eight +years of age--to have and to hold the said negro man for life. +And I, the said Thomas Auld, for myself my heirs, executors, and +administrators, all and singular, the said FREDERICK BAILY +_alias_ DOUGLASS, unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, +administrators, and assigns against me, the said Thomas Auld, my +executors, and administrators, and against ali and every other +person or persons whatsoever, shall and will warrant and forever +defend by these presents. In witness whereof, I set my hand and +seal, this thirteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and +forty-six. THOMAS +AULD + +"Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Wrightson Jones. + "JOHN C. LEAS. + +The authenticity of this bill of sale is attested by N. +Harrington, a justice of the peace of the state of Maryland, and +for the county of Talbot, dated same day as above. + +"To all whom it may concern: Be it known, that I, Hugh Auld, of +the city of Baltimore, in Baltimore county, in the state of +Maryland, for divers good causes and considerations, me thereunto +moving, have released from slavery, liberated, manumitted, and +set free, and by these presents do hereby release from slavery, +liberate, manumit, and set free, MY NEGRO MAN, named FREDERICK +BAILY, otherwise called DOUGLASS, being of the age of twenty- +eight years, or thereabouts, and able to work and gain a +sufficient livelihood and maintenance; and him the said negro man +named FREDERICK BAILY, otherwise called FREDERICK DOUGLASS, I do +declare to be henceforth free, manumitted, and discharged from +all manner of servitude to me, my executors, and administrators +forever. + +"In witness whereof, I, the said Hugh Auld, have hereunto set my +hand and seal the fifth of December, in the year one thousand +eight hundred and forty-six. + Hugh Auld + +"Sealed and delivered in presence of T. Hanson Belt. + "JAMES N. S. T. WRIGHT" + + +<291 FREEDOM PURCHASED>they would tolerate the idea of my +returning to this, my native country. To this commercial +transaction I owe my exemption from the democratic operation of +the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850. But for this, I might at any +time become a victim of this most cruel and scandalous enactment, +and be doomed to end my life, as I began it, a slave. The sum +paid for my freedom was one hundred and fifty pounds sterling. + +Some of my uncompromising anti-slavery friends in this country +failed to see the wisdom of this arrangement, and were not +pleased that I consented to it, even by my silence. They thought +it a violation of anti-slavery principles--conceding a right of +property in man--and a wasteful expenditure of money. On the +other hand, viewing it simply in the light of a ransom, or as +money extorted by a robber, and my liberty of more value than one +hundred and fifty pounds sterling, I could not see either a +violation of the laws of morality, or those of economy, in the +transaction. + +It is true, I was not in the possession of my claimants, and +could have easily remained in England, for the same friends who +had so generously purchased my freedom, would have assisted me in +establishing myself in that country. To this, however, I could +not consent. I felt that I had a duty to perform--and that was, +to labor and suffer with the oppressed in my native land. +Considering, therefore, all the circumstances--the fugitive slave +bill included--I think the very best thing was done in letting +Master Hugh have the hundred and fifty pounds sterling, and +leaving me free to return to my appropriate field of labor. Had +I been a private person, having no other relations or duties than +those of a personal and family nature, I should never have +consented to the payment of so large a sum for the privilege of +living securely under our glorious republican form of government. +I could have remained in England, or have gone to some other +country; and perhaps I could even have lived unobserved in this. +But to this I could not consent. I had already become +some<292>what notorious, and withal quite as unpopular as +notorious; and I was, therefore, much exposed to arrest and +recapture. + +The main object to which my labors in Great Britain were +directed, was the concentration of the moral and religious +sentiment of its people against American slavery. England is +often charged with having established slavery in the United +States, and if there were no other justification than this, for +appealing to her people to lend their moral aid for the abolition +of slavery, I should be justified. My speeches in Great Britain +were wholly extemporaneous, and I may not always have been so +guarded in my expressions, as I otherwise should have been. I +was ten years younger then than now, and only seven years from +slavery. I cannot give the reader a better idea of the nature of +my discourses, than by republishing one of them, delivered in +Finsbury chapel, London, to an audience of about two thousand +persons, and which was published in the _London Universe_, at the +time.[9] + +Those in the United States who may regard this speech as being +harsh in its spirit and unjust in its statements, because +delivered before an audience supposed to be anti-republican in +their principles and feelings, may view the matter differently, +when they learn that the case supposed did not exist. It so +happened that the great mass of the people in England who +attended and patronized my anti-slavery meetings, were, in truth, +about as good republicans as the mass of Americans, and with this +decided advantage over the latter--they are lovers of +republicanism for all men, for black men as well as for white +men. They are the people who sympathize with Louis Kossuth and +Mazzini, and with the oppressed and enslaved, of every color and +nation, the world over. They constitute the democratic element +in British politics, and are as much opposed to the union of +church and state as we, in America, are to such an union. At the +meeting where this speech was delivered, Joseph Sturge--a world- +wide philan + + +[9] See Appendix to this volume, page 317. + + + +<293 ENGLISH REPUBLICANS>thropist, and a member of the society of +Friends--presided, and addressed the meeting. George William +Alexander, another Friend, who has spent more than an +Ameriacn{sic} fortune in promoting the anti-slavery cause in +different sections of the world, was on the platform; and also +Dr. Campbell (now of the _British Banner_) who combines all the +humane tenderness of Melanchthon, with the directness and +boldness of Luther. He is in the very front ranks of non- +conformists, and looks with no unfriendly eye upon America. +George Thompson, too, was there; and America will yet own that he +did a true man's work in relighting the rapidly dying-out fire of +true republicanism in the American heart, and be ashamed of the +treatment he met at her hands. Coming generations in this +country will applaud the spirit of this much abused republican +friend of freedom. There were others of note seated on the +platform, who would gladly ingraft upon English institutions all +that is purely republican in the institutions of America. +Nothing, therefore, must be set down against this speech on the +score that it was delivered in the presence of those who cannot +appreciate the many excellent things belonging to our system of +government, and with a view to stir up prejudice against +republican institutions. + +Again, let it also be remembered--for it is the simple truth-- +that neither in this speech, nor in any other which I delivered +in England, did I ever allow myself to address Englishmen as +against Americans. I took my stand on the high ground of human +brotherhood, and spoke to Englishmen as men, in behalf of men. +Slavery is a crime, not against Englishmen, but against God, and +all the members of the human family; and it belongs to the whole +human family to seek its suppression. In a letter to Mr. +Greeley, of the New York Tribune, written while abroad, I said: + + +I am, nevertheless aware that the wisdom of exposing the sins of +one nation in the ear of another, has been seriously questioned +by good and clear-sighted people, both on this and on your side +of the Atlantic. And the <294>thought is not without weight on +my own mind. I am satisfied that there are many evils which can +be best removed by confining our efforts to the immediate +locality where such evils exist. This, however, is by no means +the case with the system of slavery. It is such a giant sin-- +such a monstrous aggregation of iniquity--so hardening to the +human heart--so destructive to the moral sense, and so well +calculated to beget a character, in every one around it, +favorable to its own continuance,--that I feel not only at +liberty, but abundantly justified, in appealing to the whole +world to aid in its removal. + + +But, even if I had--as has been often charged--labored to bring +American institutions generally into disrepute, and had not +confined my labors strictly within the limits of humanity and +morality, I should not have been without illustrious examples to +support me. Driven into semi-exile by civil and barbarous laws, +and by a system which cannot be thought of without a shudder, I +was fully justified in turning, if possible, the tide of the +moral universe against the heaven-daring outrage. + +Four circumstances greatly assisted me in getting the question of +American slavery before the British public. First, the mob on +board the "Cambria," already referred to, which was a sort of +national announcement of my arrival in England. Secondly, the +highly reprehensible course pursued by the Free Church of +Scotland, in soliciting, receiving, and retaining money in its +sustentation fund for supporting the gospel in Scotland, which +was evidently the ill-gotten gain of slaveholders and slave- +traders. Third, the great Evangelical Alliance--or rather the +attempt to form such an alliance, which should include +slaveholders of a certain description--added immensely to the +interest felt in the slavery question. About the same time, +there was the World's Temperance Convention, where I had the +misfortune to come in collision with sundry American doctors of +divinity--Dr. Cox among the number--with whom I had a small +controversy. + +It has happened to me--as it has happened to most other men +engaged in a good cause--often to be more indebted to my enemies +than to my own skill or to the assistance of my friends, for +whatever success has attended my labors. Great surprise was <295 +FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND>expressed by American newspapers, north +and south, during my stay in Great Britain, that a person so +illiterate and insignificant as myself could awaken an interest +so marked in England. These papers were not the only parties +surprised. I was myself not far behind them in surprise. But +the very contempt and scorn, the systematic and extravagant +disparagement of which I was the object, served, perhaps, to +magnify my few merits, and to render me of some account, whether +deserving or not. A man is sometimes made great, by the +greatness of the abuse a portion of mankind may think proper to +heap upon him. Whether I was of as much consequence as the +English papers made me out to be, or not, it was easily seen, in +England, that I could not be the ignorant and worthless creature, +some of the American papers would have them believe I was. Men, +in their senses, do not take bowie-knives to kill mosquitoes, nor +pistols to shoot flies; and the American passengers who thought +proper to get up a mob to silence me, on board the "Cambria," +took the most effective method of telling the British public that +I had something to say. + +But to the second circumstance, namely, the position of the Free +Church of Scotland, with the great Doctors Chalmers, Cunningham, +and Candlish at its head. That church, with its leaders, put it +out of the power of the Scotch people to ask the old question, +which we in the north have often most wickedly asked--"_What have +we to do with slavery_?" That church had taken the price of +blood into its treasury, with which to build _free_ churches, and +to pay _free_ church ministers for preaching the gospel; and, +worse still, when honest John Murray, of Bowlien Bay--now gone to +his reward in heaven--with William Smeal, Andrew Paton, Frederick +Card, and other sterling anti-slavery men in Glasgow, denounced +the transaction as disgraceful and shocking to the religious +sentiment of Scotland, this church, through its leading divines, +instead of repenting and seeking to mend the mistake into which +it had fallen, made it a flagrant sin, by undertaking to defend, +in the name of God and the bible, the principle not only <296>of +taking the money of slave-dealers to build churches, but of +holding fellowship with the holders and traffickers in human +flesh. This, the reader will see, brought up the whole question +of slavery, and opened the way to its full discussion, without +any agency of mine. I have never seen a people more deeply moved +than were the people of Scotland, on this very question. Public +meeting succeeded public meeting. Speech after speech, pamphlet +after pamphlet, editorial after editorial, sermon after sermon, +soon lashed the conscientious Scotch people into a perfect +_furore_. "SEND BACK THE MONEY!" was indignantly cried out, from +Greenock to Edinburgh, and from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. George +Thompson, of London, Henry C. Wright, of the United States, James +N. Buffum, of Lynn, Massachusetts, and myself were on the anti- +slavery side; and Doctors Chalmers, Cunningham, and Candlish on +the other. In a conflict where the latter could have had even +the show of right, the truth, in our hands as against them, must +have been driven to the wall; and while I believe we were able to +carry the conscience of the country against the action of the +Free Church, the battle, it must be confessed, was a hard-fought +one. Abler defenders of the doctrine of fellowshiping +slaveholders as christians, have not been met with. In defending +this doctrine, it was necessary to deny that slavery is a sin. +If driven from this position, they were compelled to deny that +slaveholders were responsible for the sin; and if driven from +both these positions, they must deny that it is a sin in such a +sense, and that slaveholders are sinners in such a sense, as to +make it wrong, in the circumstances in which they were placed, to +recognize them as Christians. Dr. Cunningham was the most +powerful debater on the slavery side of the question; Mr. +Thompson was the ablest on the anti-slavery side. A scene +occurred between these two men, a parallel to which I think I +never witnessed before, and I know I never have since. The scene +was caused by a single exclamation on the part of Mr. Thompson. + +The general assembly of the Free Church was in progress at <297 +THE DEBATE>Cannon Mills, Edinburgh. The building would hold +about twenty-five hundred persons; and on this occasion it was +densely packed, notice having been given that Doctors Cunningham +and Candlish would speak, that day, in defense of the relations +of the Free Church of Scotland to slavery in America. Messrs. +Thompson, Buffum, myself, and a few anti-slavery friends, +attended, but sat at such a distance, and in such a position, +that, perhaps we were not observed from the platform. The +excitement was intense, having been greatly increased by a series +of meetings held by Messrs. Thompson, Wright, Buffum, and myself, +in the most splendid hall in that most beautiful city, just +previous to the meetings of the general assembly. "SEND BACK THE +MONEY!" stared at us from every street corner; "SEND BACK THE +MONEY!" in large capitals, adorned the broad flags of the +pavement; "SEND BACK THE MONEY!" was the chorus of the popular +street songs; "SEND BACK THE MONEY!" was the heading of leading +editorials in the daily newspapers. This day, at Cannon Mills, +the great doctors of the church were to give an answer to this +loud and stern demand. Men of all parties and all sects were +most eager to hear. Something great was expected. The occasion +was great, the men great, and great speeches were expected from +them. + +In addition to the outside pressure upon Doctors Cunningham and +Candlish, there was wavering in their own ranks. The conscience +of the church itself was not at ease. A dissatisfaction with the +position of the church touching slavery, was sensibly manifest +among the members, and something must be done to counteract this +untoward influence. The great Dr. Chalmers was in feeble health, +at the time. His most potent eloquence could not now be summoned +to Cannon Mills, as formerly. He whose voice was able to rend +asunder and dash down the granite walls of the established church +of Scotland, and to lead a host in solemn procession from it, as +from a doomed city, was now old and enfeebled. Besides, he had +said his word on this very question; and his word had not +silenced the clamor without, nor stilled <298>the anxious +heavings within. The occasion was momentous, and felt to be so. +The church was in a perilous condition. A change of some sort +must take place in her condition, or she must go to pieces. To +stand where she did, was impossible. The whole weight of the +matter fell on Cunningham and Candlish. No shoulders in the +church were broader than theirs; and I must say, badly as I +detest the principles laid down and defended by them, I was +compelled to acknowledge the vast mental endowments of the men. +Cunningham rose; and his rising was the signal for almost +tumultous applause. You will say this was scarcely in keeping +with the solemnity of the occasion, but to me it served to +increase its grandeur and gravity. The applause, though +tumultuous, was not joyous. It seemed to me, as it thundered up +from the vast audience, like the fall of an immense shaft, flung +from shoulders already galled by its crushing weight. It was +like saying, "Doctor, we have borne this burden long enough, and +willingly fling it upon you. Since it was you who brought it +upon us, take it now, and do what you will with it, for we are +too weary to bear it.{no close "} + +Doctor Cunningham proceeded with his speech, abounding in logic, +learning, and eloquence, and apparently bearing down all +opposition; but at the moment--the fatal moment--when he was just +bringing all his arguments to a point, and that point being, that +neither Jesus Christ nor his holy apostles regarded slaveholding +as a sin, George Thompson, in a clear, sonorous, but rebuking +voice, broke the deep stillness of the audience, exclaiming, +HEAR! HEAR! HEAR! The effect of this simple and common +exclamation is almost incredible. It was as if a granite wall +had been suddenly flung up against the advancing current of a +mighty river. For a moment, speaker and audience were brought to +a dead silence. Both the doctor and his hearers seemed appalled +by the audacity, as well as the fitness of the rebuke. At length +a shout went up to the cry of "_Put him out_!" Happily, no one +attempted to execute this cowardly order, and the doctor +proceeded with his discourse. Not, however, as before, did the +<299 COLLISION WITH DR. COX>learned doctor proceed. The +exclamation of Thompson must have reechoed itself a thousand +times in his memory, during the remainder of his speech, for the +doctor never recovered from the blow. + +The deed was done, however; the pillars of the church--_the +proud, Free Church of Scotland_--were committed and the humility +of repentance was absent. The Free Church held on to the blood- +stained money, and continued to justify itself in its position-- +and of course to apologize for slavery--and does so till this +day. She lost a glorious opportunity for giving her voice, her +vote, and her example to the cause of humanity; and to-day she is +staggering under the curse of the enslaved, whose blood is in her +skirts. The people of Scotland are, to this day, deeply grieved +at the course pursued by the Free Church, and would hail, as a +relief from a deep and blighting shame, the "sending back the +money" to the slaveholders from whom it was gathered. + +One good result followed the conduct of the Free Church; it +furnished an occasion for making the people of Scotland +thoroughly acquainted with the character of slavery, and for +arraying against the system the moral and religious sentiment of +that country. Therefore, while we did not succeed in +accomplishing the specific object of our mission, namely--procure +the sending back of the money--we were amply justified by the +good which really did result from our labors. + +Next comes the Evangelical Alliance. This was an attempt to form +a union of all evangelical Christians throughout the world. +Sixty or seventy American divines attended, and some of them went +there merely to weave a world-wide garment with which to clothe +evangelical slaveholders. Foremost among these divines, was the +Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox, moderator of the New School Presbyterian +General Assembly. He and his friends spared no pains to secure a +platform broad enough to hold American slaveholders, and in this +partly succeeded. But the question of slavery is too large a +question to be finally disposed of, even by the <300>Evangelical +Alliance. We appealed from the judgment of the Alliance, to the +judgment of the people of Great Britain, and with the happiest +effect. This controversy with the Alliance might be made the +subject of extended remark, but I must forbear, except to say, +that this effort to shield the Christian character of +slaveholders greatly served to open a way to the British ear for +anti-slavery discussion, and that it was well improved. + +The fourth and last circumstance that assisted me in getting +before the British public, was an attempt on the part of certain +doctors of divinity to silence me on the platform of the World's +Temperance Convention. Here I was brought into point blank +collison with Rev. Dr. Cox, who made me the subject not only of +bitter remark in the convention, but also of a long denunciatory +letter published in the New York Evangelist and other American +papers. I replied to the doctor as well as I could, and was +successful in getting a respectful hearing before the British +public, who are by nature and practice ardent lovers of fair +play, especially in a conflict between the weak and the strong. + +Thus did circumstances favor me, and favor the cause of which I +strove to be the advocate. After such distinguished notice, the +public in both countries was compelled to attach some importance +to my labors. By the very ill usage I received at the hands of +Dr. Cox and his party, by the mob on board the "Cambria," by the +attacks made upon me in the American newspapers, and by the +aspersions cast upon me through the organs of the Free Church of +Scotland, I became one of that class of men, who, for the moment, +at least, "have greatness forced upon them." People became the +more anxious to hear for themselves, and to judge for themselves, +of the truth which I had to unfold. While, therefore, it is by +no means easy for a stranger to get fairly before the British +public, it was my lot to accomplish it in the easiest manner +possible. + +Having continued in Great Britain and Ireland nearly two years, +and being about to return to America--not as I left it, a <301 +THE PRESS A MEANS OF REMOVING PREJUDICES>slave, but a freeman-- +leading friends of the cause of emancipation in that country +intimated their intention to make me a testimonial, not only on +grounds of personal regard to myself, but also to the cause to +which they were so ardently devoted. How far any such thing +could have succeeded, I do not know; but many reasons led me to +prefer that my friends should simply give me the means of +obtaining a printing press and printing materials, to enable me +to start a paper, devoted to the interests of my enslaved and +oppressed people. I told them that perhaps the greatest +hinderance to the adoption of abolition principles by the people +of the United States, was the low estimate, everywhere in that +country, placed upon the Negro, as a man; that because of his +assumed natural inferiority, people reconciled themselves to his +enslavement and oppression, as things inevitable, if not +desirable. The grand thing to be done, therefore, was to change +the estimation in which the colored people of the United States +were held; to remove the prejudice which depreciated and +depressed them; to prove them worthy of a higher consideration; +to disprove their alleged inferiority, and demonstrate their +capacity for a more exalted civilization than slavery and +prejudice had assigned to them. I further stated, that, in my +judgment, a tolerably well conducted press, in the hands of +persons of the despised race, by calling out the mental energies +of the race itself; by making them acquainted with their own +latent powers; by enkindling among them the hope that for them +there is a future; by developing their moral power; by combining +and reflecting their talents--would prove a most powerful means +of removing prejudice, and of awakening an interest in them. I +further informed them--and at that time the statement was true-- +that there was not, in the United States, a single newspaper +regularly published by the colored people; that many attempts had +been made to establish such papers; but that, up to that time, +they had all failed. These views I laid before my friends. The +result was, nearly two thousand five hundred dollars were +speed<302>ily raised toward starting my paper. For this prompt +and generous assistance, rendered upon my bare suggestion, +without any personal efforts on my part, I shall never cease to +feel deeply grateful; and the thought of fulfilling the noble +expectations of the dear friends who gave me this evidence of +their confidence, will never cease to be a motive for persevering +exertion. + +Proposing to leave England, and turning my face toward America, +in the spring of 1847, I was met, on the threshold, with +something which painfully reminded me of the kind of life which +awaited me in my native land. For the first time in the many +months spent abroad, I was met with proscription on account of my +color. A few weeks before departing from England, while in +London, I was careful to purchase a ticket, and secure a berth +for returning home, in the "Cambria"--the steamer in which I left +the United States--paying therefor the round sum of forty pounds +and nineteen shillings sterling. This was first cabin fare. But +on going aboard the Cambria, I found that the Liverpool agent had +ordered my berth to be given to another, and had forbidden my +entering the saloon! This contemptible conduct met with stern +rebuke from the British press. For, upon the point of leaving +England, I took occasion to expose the disgusting tyranny, in the +columns of the London _Times_. That journal, and other leading +journals throughout the United Kingdom, held up the outrage to +unmitigated condemnation. So good an opportunity for calling out +a full expression of British sentiment on the subject, had not +before occurred, and it was most fully embraced. The result was, +that Mr. Cunard came out in a letter to the public journals, +assuring them of his regret at the outrage, and promising that +the like should never occur again on board his steamers; and the +like, we believe, has never since occurred on board the +steamships of the Cunard line. + +It is not very pleasant to be made the subject of such insults; +but if all such necessarily resulted as this one did, I should be +very happy to bear, patiently, many more than I have borne, of +<303 THE STING OF INSULT>the same sort. Albeit, the lash of +proscription, to a man accustomed to equal social position, even +for a time, as I was, has a sting for the soul hardly less severe +than that which bites the flesh and draws the blood from the back +of the plantation slave. It was rather hard, after having +enjoyed nearly two years of equal social privileges in England, +often dining with gentlemen of great literary, social, political, +and religious eminence never, during the whole time, having met +with a single word, look, or gesture, which gave me the slightest +reason to think my color was an offense to anybody--now to be +cooped up in the stern of the "Cambria," and denied the right to +enter the saloon, lest my dark presence should be deemed an +offense to some of my democratic fellow-passengers. The reader +will easily imagine what must have been my feelings. + + + +CHAPTER XXV +_Various Incidents_ + +NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE--UNEXPECTED OPPOSITION--THE OBJECTIONS TO +IT--THEIR PLAUSIBILITY ADMITTED--MOTIVES FOR COMING TO +ROCHESTER--DISCIPLE OF MR. GARRISON--CHANGE OF OPINION--CAUSES +LEADING TO IT--THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHANGE--PREJUDICE AGAINST +COLOR--AMUSING CONDESCENSION--"JIM CROW CARS"--COLLISIONS WITH +CONDUCTORS AND BRAKEMEN--TRAINS ORDERED NOT TO STOP AT LYNN-- +AMUSING DOMESTIC SCENE--SEPARATE TABLES FOR MASTER AND MAN-- +PREJUDICE UNNATURAL--ILLUSTRATIONS--IN HIGH COMPANY--ELEVATION OF +THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR--PLEDGE FOR THE FUTURE. + + +I have now given the reader an imperfect sketch of nine years' +experience in freedom--three years as a common laborer on the +wharves of New Bedford, four years as a lecturer in New England, +and two years of semi-exile in Great Britain and Ireland. A +single ray of light remains to be flung upon my life during the +last eight years, and my story will be done. + +A trial awaited me on my return from England to the United +States, for which I was but very imperfectly prepared. My plans +for my then future usefulness as an anti-slavery advocate were +all settled. My friends in England had resolved to raise a given +sum to purchase for me a press and printing materials; and I +already saw myself wielding my pen, as well as my voice, in the +great work of renovating the public mind, and building up a +public sentiment which should, at least, send slavery and +oppression to the grave, and restore to "liberty and the pursuit +of happiness" the people with whom I had suffered, both as a <305 +OBJECTIONS TO MY NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE>slave and as a freeman. +Intimation had reached my friends in Boston of what I intended to +do, before my arrival, and I was prepared to find them favorably +disposed toward my much cherished enterprise. In this I was +mistaken. I found them very earnestly opposed to the idea of my +starting a paper, and for several reasons. First, the paper was +not needed; secondly, it would interfere with my usefulness as a +lecturer; thirdly, I was better fitted to speak than to write; +fourthly, the paper could not succeed. This opposition, from a +quarter so highly esteemed, and to which I had been accustomed to +look for advice and direction, caused me not only to hesitate, +but inclined me to abandon the enterprise. All previous attempts +to establish such a journal having failed, I felt that probably I +should but add another to the list of failures, and thus +contribute another proof of the mental and moral deficiencies of +my race. Very much that was said to me in respect to my +imperfect literary acquirements, I felt to be most painfully +true. The unsuccessful projectors of all the previous colored +newspapers were my superiors in point of education, and if they +failed, how could I hope for success? Yet I did hope for +success, and persisted in the undertaking. Some of my English +friends greatly encouraged me to go forward, and I shall never +cease to be grateful for their words of cheer and generous deeds. + +I can easily pardon those who have denounced me as ambitious and +presumptuous, in view of my persistence in this enterprise. I +was but nine years from slavery. In point of mental experience, +I was but nine years old. That one, in such circumstances, +should aspire to establish a printing press, among an educated +people, might well be considered, if not ambitious, quite silly. +My American friends looked at me with astonishment! "A wood- +sawyer" offering himself to the public as an editor! A slave, +brought up in the very depths of ignorance, assuming to instruct +the highly civilized people of the north in the principles of +liberty, justice, and humanity! The thing looked absurd. +Nevertheless, I per<306>severed. I felt that the want of +education, great as it was, could be overcome by study, and that +knowledge would come by experience; and further (which was +perhaps the most controlling consideration). I thought that an +intelligent public, knowing my early history, would easily pardon +a large share of the deficiencies which I was sure that my paper +would exhibit. The most distressing thing, however, was the +offense which I was about to give my Boston friends, by what +seemed to them a reckless disregard of their sage advice. I am +not sure that I was not under the influence of something like a +slavish adoration of my Boston friends, and I labored hard to +convince them of the wisdom of my undertaking, but without +success. Indeed, I never expect to succeed, although time has +answered all their original objections. The paper has been +successful. It is a large sheet, costing eighty dollars per +week--has three thousand subscribers--has been published +regularly nearly eight years--and bids fair to stand eight years +longer. At any rate, the eight years to come are as full of +promise as were the eight that are past. + +It is not to be concealed, however, that the maintenance of such +a journal, under the circumstances, has been a work of much +difficulty; and could all the perplexity, anxiety, and trouble +attending it, have been clearly foreseen, I might have shrunk +from the undertaking. As it is, I rejoice in having engaged in +the enterprise, and count it joy to have been able to suffer, in +many ways, for its success, and for the success of the cause to +which it has been faithfully devoted. I look upon the time, +money, and labor bestowed upon it, as being amply rewarded, in +the development of my own mental and moral energies, and in the +corresponding development of my deeply injured and oppressed +people. + +From motives of peace, instead of issuing my paper in Boston, +among my New England friends, I came to Rochester, western New +York, among strangers, where the circulation of my paper could +not interfere with the local circulation of the _Liberator_ and +the _Standard;_ for at that time I was, on the anti-slavery +question, <307 CHANGE OF VIEWS>a faithful disciple of William +Lloyd Garrison, and fully committed to his doctrine touching the +pro-slavery character of the constitution of the United States, +and the _non-voting principle_, of which he is the known and +distinguished advocate. With Mr. Garrison, I held it to be the +first duty of the non-slaveholding states to dissolve the union +with the slaveholding states; and hence my cry, like his, was, +"No union with slaveholders." With these views, I came into +western New York; and during the first four years of my labor +here, I advocated them with pen and tongue, according to the best +of my ability. + +About four years ago, upon a reconsideration of the whole +subject, I became convinced that there was no necessity for +dissolving the "union between the northern and southern states;" +that to seek this dissolution was no part of my duty as an +abolitionist; that to abstain from voting, was to refuse to +exercise a legitimate and powerful means for abolishing slavery; +and that the constitution of the United States not only contained +no guarantees in favor of slavery, but, on the contrary, it is, +in its letter and spirit, an anti-slavery instrument, demanding +the abolition of slavery as a condition of its own existence, as +the supreme law of the land. + +Here was a radical change in my opinions, and in the action +logically resulting from that change. To those with whom I had +been in agreement and in sympathy, I was now in opposition. What +they held to be a great and important truth, I now looked upon as +a dangerous error. A very painful, and yet a very natural, thing +now happened. Those who could not see any honest reasons for +changing their views, as I had done, could not easily see any +such reasons for my change, and the common punishment of +apostates was mine. + +The opinions first entertained were naturally derived and +honestly entertained, and I trust that my present opinions have +the same claims to respect. Brought directly, when I escaped +from slavery, into contact with a class of abolitionists +regarding the <308>constitution as a slaveholding instrument, and +finding their views supported by the united and entire history of +every department of the government, it is not strange that I +assumed the constitution to be just what their interpretation +made it. I was bound, not only by their superior knowledge, to +take their opinions as the true ones, in respect to the subject, +but also because I had no means of showing their unsoundness. +But for the responsibility of conducting a public journal, and +the necessity imposed upon me of meeting opposite views from +abolitionists in this state, I should in all probability have +remained as firm in my disunion views as any other disciple of +William Lloyd Garrison. + +My new circumstances compelled me to re-think the whole subject, +and to study, with some care, not only the just and proper rules +of legal interpretation, but the origin, design, nature, rights, +powers, and duties of civil government, and also the relations +which human beings sustain to it. By such a course of thought +and reading, I was conducted to the conclusion that the +constitution of the United States--inaugurated "to form a more +perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, +provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and +secure the blessing of liberty"--could not well have been +designed at the same time to maintain and perpetuate a system of +rapine and murder, like slavery; especially, as not one word can +be found in the constitution to authorize such a belief. Then, +again, if the declared purposes of an instrument are to govern +the meaning of all its parts and details, as they clearly should, +the constitution of our country is our warrant for the abolition +of slavery in every state in the American Union. I mean, +however, not to argue, but simply to state my views. It would +require very many pages of a volume like this, to set forth the +arguments demonstrating the unconstitutionality and the complete +illegality of slavery in our land; and as my experience, and not +my arguments, is within the scope and contemplation of this +volume, I omit the latter and proceed with the former. +<309 THE JIM CROW CAR> + +I will now ask the kind reader to go back a little in my story, +while I bring up a thread left behind for convenience sake, but +which, small as it is, cannot be properly omitted altogether; and +that thread is American prejudice against color, and its varied +illustrations in my own experience. + +When I first went among the abolitionists of New England, and +began to travel, I found this prejudice very strong and very +annoying. The abolitionists themselves were not entirely free +from it, and I could see that they were nobly struggling against +it. In their eagerness, sometimes, to show their contempt for +the feeling, they proved that they had not entirely recovered +from it; often illustrating the saying, in their conduct, that a +man may "stand up so straight as to lean backward." When it was +said to me, "Mr. Douglass, I will walk to meeting with you; I am +not afraid of a black man," I could not help thinking--seeing +nothing very frightful in my appearance--"And why should you be?" +The children at the north had all been educated to believe that +if they were bad, the old _black_ man--not the old _devil_--would +get them; and it was evidence of some courage, for any so +educated to get the better of their fears. + +The custom of providing separate cars for the accommodation of +colored travelers, was established on nearly all the railroads of +New England, a dozen years ago. Regarding this custom as +fostering the spirit of caste, I made it a rule to seat myself in +the cars for the accommodation of passengers generally. Thus +seated, I was sure to be called upon to betake myself to the +"_Jim Crow car_." Refusing to obey, I was often dragged out of +my seat, beaten, and severely bruised, by conductors and +brakemen. Attempting to start from Lynn, one day, for +Newburyport, on the Eastern railroad, I went, as my custom was, +into one of the best railroad carriages on the road. The seats +were very luxuriant and beautiful. I was soon waited upon by the +conductor, and ordered out; whereupon I demanded the reason for +my invidious removal. After a good deal of parleying, I was told +that it was because I <310>was black. This I denied, and +appealed to the company to sustain my denial; but they were +evidently unwilling to commit themselves, on a point so delicate, +and requiring such nice powers of discrimination, for they +remained as dumb as death. I was soon waited on by half a dozen +fellows of the baser sort (just such as would volunteer to take a +bull-dog out of a meeting-house in time of public worship), and +told that I must move out of that seat, and if I did not, they +would drag me out. I refused to move, and they clutched me, +head, neck, and shoulders. But, in anticipation of the +stretching to which I was about to be subjected, I had interwoven +myself among the seats. In dragging me out, on this occasion, it +must have cost the company twenty-five or thirty dollars, for I +tore up seats and all. So great was the excitement in Lynn, on +the subject, that the superintendent, Mr. Stephen A. Chase, +ordered the trains to run through Lynn without stopping, while I +remained in that town; and this ridiculous farce was enacted. +For several days the trains went dashing through Lynn without +stopping. At the same time that they excluded a free colored man +from their cars, this same company allowed slaves, in company +with their masters and mistresses, to ride unmolested. + +After many battles with the railroad conductors, and being +roughly handled in not a few instances, proscription was at last +abandoned; and the "Jim Crow car"--set up for the degradation of +colored people--is nowhere found in New England. This result was +not brought about without the intervention of the people, and the +threatened enactment of a law compelling railroad companies to +respect the rights of travelers. Hon. Charles Francis Adams +performed signal service in the Massachusetts legislature, in +bringing this reformation; and to him the colored citizens of +that state are deeply indebted. + +Although often annoyed, and sometimes outraged, by this prejudice +against color, I am indebted to it for many passages of quiet +amusement. A half-cured subject of it is sometimes driven into +awkward straits, especially if he happens to get a genuine +specimen of the race into his house. +<311 AMUSING SCENE> + +In the summer of 1843, I was traveling and lecturing, in company +with William A. White, Esq., through the state of Indiana. Anti- +slavery friends were not very abundant in Indiana, at that time, +and beds were not more plentiful than friends. We often slept +out, in preference to sleeping in the houses, at some points. At +the close of one of our meetings, we were invited home with a +kindly-disposed old farmer, who, in the generous enthusiasm of +the moment, seemed to have forgotten that he had but one spare +bed, and that his guests were an ill-matched pair. All went on +pretty well, till near bed time, when signs of uneasiness began +to show themselves, among the unsophisticated sons and daughters. +White is remarkably fine looking, and very evidently a born +gentleman; the idea of putting us in the same bed was hardly to +be tolerated; and yet, there we were, and but the one bed for us, +and that, by the way, was in the same room occupied by the other +members of the family. White, as well as I, perceived the +difficulty, for yonder slept the old folks, there the sons, and a +little farther along slept the daughters; and but one other bed +remained. Who should have this bed, was the puzzling question. +There was some whispering between the old folks, some confused +looks among the young, as the time for going to bed approached. +After witnessing the confusion as long as I liked, I relieved the +kindly-disposed family by playfully saying, "Friend White, having +got entirely rid of my prejudice against color, I think, as a +proof of it, I must allow you to sleep with me to-night." White +kept up the joke, by seeming to esteem himself the favored party, +and thus the difficulty was removed. If we went to a hotel, and +called for dinner, the landlord was sure to set one table for +White and another for me, always taking him to be master, and me +the servant. Large eyes were generally made when the order was +given to remove the dishes from my table to that of White's. In +those days, it was thought strange that a white man and a colored +man could dine peaceably at the same table, and in some parts the +strangeness of such a sight has not entirely subsided. + +Some people will have it that there is a natural, an inherent, +and <312>an invincible repugnance in the breast of the white race +toward dark-colored people; and some very intelligent colored men +think that their proscription is owing solely to the color which +nature has given them. They hold that they are rated according +to their color, and that it is impossible for white people ever +to look upon dark races of men, or men belonging to the African +race, with other than feelings of aversion. My experience, both +serious and mirthful, combats this conclusion. Leaving out of +sight, for a moment, grave facts, to this point, I will state one +or two, which illustrate a very interesting feature of American +character as well as American prejudice. Riding from Boston to +Albany, a few years ago, I found myself in a large car, well +filled with passengers. The seat next to me was about the only +vacant one. At every stopping place we took in new passengers, +all of whom, on reaching the seat next to me, cast a disdainful +glance upon it, and passed to another car, leaving me in the full +enjoyment of a hole form. For a time, I did not know but that my +riding there was prejudicial to the interest of the railroad +company. A circumstance occurred, however, which gave me an +elevated position at once. Among the passengers on this train +was Gov. George N. Briggs. I was not acquainted with him, and +had no idea that I was known to him, however, I was, for upon +observing me, the governor left his place, and making his way +toward me, respectfully asked the privilege of a seat by my side; +and upon introducing himself, we entered into a conversation very +pleasant and instructive to me. The despised seat now became +honored. His excellency had removed all the prejudice against +sitting by the side of a Negro; and upon his leaving it, as he +did, on reaching Pittsfield, there were at least one dozen +applicants for the place. The governor had, without changing my +skin a single shade, made the place respectable which before was +despicable. + +A similar incident happened to me once on the Boston and New +Bedford railroad, and the leading party to it has since been +governor of the state of Massachusetts. I allude to Col. John +Henry <313 AN INCIDENT>Clifford. Lest the reader may fancy I am +aiming to elevate myself, by claiming too much intimacy with +great men, I must state that my only acquaintance with Col. +Clifford was formed while I was _his hired servant_, during the +first winter of my escape from slavery. I owe it him to say, +that in that relation I found him always kind and gentlemanly. +But to the incident. I entered a car at Boston, for New Bedford, +which, with the exception of a single seat was full, and found I +must occupy this, or stand up, during the journey. Having no +mind to do this, I stepped up to the man having the next seat, +and who had a few parcels on the seat, and gently asked leave to +take a seat by his side. My fellow-passenger gave me a look made +up of reproach and indignation, and asked me why I should come to +that particular seat. I assured him, in the gentlest manner, +that of all others this was the seat for me. Finding that I was +actually about to sit down, he sang out, "O! stop, stop! and let +me get out!" Suiting the action to the word, up the agitated man +got, and sauntered to the other end of the car, and was compelled +to stand for most of the way thereafter. Halfway to New Bedford, +or more, Col. Clifford, recognizing me, left his seat, and not +having seen me before since I had ceased to wait on him (in +everything except hard arguments against his pro-slavery +position), apparently forgetful of his rank, manifested, in +greeting me, something of the feeling of an old friend. This +demonstration was not lost on the gentleman whose dignity I had, +an hour before, most seriously offended. Col. Clifford was known +to be about the most aristocratic gentleman in Bristol county; +and it was evidently thought that I must be somebody, else I +should not have been thus noticed, by a person so distinguished. +Sure enough, after Col. Clifford left me, I found myself +surrounded with friends; and among the number, my offended friend +stood nearest, and with an apology for his rudeness, which I +could not resist, although it was one of the lamest ever offered. +With such facts as these before me--and I have many of them--I am +inclined to think that pride and fashion have much to do with +<314>the treatment commonly extended to colored people in the +United States. I once heard a very plain man say (and he was +cross-eyed, and awkwardly flung together in other respects) that +he should be a handsome man when public opinion shall be changed. + +Since I have been editing and publishing a journal devoted to the +cause of liberty and progress, I have had my mind more directed +to the condition and circumstances of the free colored people +than when I was the agent of an abolition society. The result +has been a corresponding change in the disposition of my time and +labors. I have felt it to be a part of my mission--under a +gracious Providence to impress my sable brothers in this country +with the conviction that, notwithstanding the ten thousand +discouragements and the powerful hinderances, which beset their +existence in this country--notwithstanding the blood-written +history of Africa, and her children, from whom we have descended, +or the clouds and darkness (whose stillness and gloom are made +only more awful by wrathful thunder and lightning) now +overshadowing them--progress is yet possible, and bright skies +shall yet shine upon their pathway; and that "Ethiopia shall yet +reach forth her hand unto God." + +Believing that one of the best means of emancipating the slaves +of the south is to improve and elevate the character of the free +colored people of the north I shall labor in the future, as I +have labored in the past, to promote the moral, social, +religious, and intellectual elevation of the free colored people; +never forgetting my own humble orgin{sic}, nor refusing, while +Heaven lends me ability, to use my voice, my pen, or my vote, to +advocate the great and primary work of the universal and +unconditional emancipation of my entire race. + + +APPENDIX +_Containing Extracts from +Speeches, etc._ + + +RECEPTION SPEECH[10] +_At Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May 12, 1846_ + + +Mr. Douglass rose amid loud cheers, and said: I feel exceedingly +glad of the opportunity now afforded me of presenting the claims +of my brethren in bonds in the United States, to so many in +London and from various parts of Britain, who have assembled here +on the present occasion. I have nothing to commend me to your +consideration in the way of learning, nothing in the way of +education, to entitle me to your attention; and you are aware +that slavery is a very bad school for rearing teachers of +morality and religion. Twenty-one years of my life have been +spent in slavery--personal slavery--surrounded by degrading +influences, such as can exist nowhere beyond the pale of slavery; +and it will not be strange, if under such circumstances, I should +betray, in what I have to say to you, a deficiency of that +refinement which is seldom or ever found, except among persons +that have experienced superior advantages to those which I have +enjoyed. But I will take it for granted that you know something +about the degrading influences of slavery, and that you will not +expect great things from me this evening, but simply such facts +as I may be able to advance immediately in connection with my own +experience of slavery. + +Now, what is this system of slavery? This is the subject of my +lecture this evening--what is the character of this institution? +I am about to answer the inquiry, what is American slavery? I do +this the more readily, since I have found persons in this country +who have identified the term slavery with that which I think it +is not, and in some instances, I have feared, in so doing, have +rather (unwittingly, I know) detracted much from the horror with +which the term slavery is contemplated. It is com- + + +[10] Mr. Douglass' published speeches alone, would fill two +volumes of the size of this. Our space will only permit the +insertion of the extracts which follow; and which, for +originality of thought, beauty and force of expression, and for +impassioned, indignatory eloquence, have seldom been equaled. + + +<318>mon in this country to distinguish every bad thing by the +name of slavery. Intemperance is slavery; to be deprived of the +right to vote is slavery, says one; to have to work hard is +slavery, says another; and I do not know but that if we should +let them go on, they would say that to eat when we are hungry, to +walk when we desire to have exercise, or to minister to our +necessities, or have necessities at all, is slavery. I do not +wish for a moment to detract from the horror with which the evil +of intemperance is contemplated--not at all; nor do I wish to +throw the slightest obstruction in the way of any political +freedom that any class of persons in this country may desire to +obtain. But I am here to say that I think the term slavery is +sometimes abused by identifying it with that which it is not. +Slavery in the United States is the granting of that power by +which one man exercises and enforces a right of property in the +body and soul of another. The condition of a slave is simply +that of the brute beast. He is a piece of property--a marketable +commodity, in the language of the law, to be bought or sold at +the will and caprice of the master who claims him to be his +property; he is spoken of, thought of, and treated as property. +His own good, his conscience, his intellect, his affections, are +all set aside by the master. The will and the wishes of the +master are the law of the slave. He is as much a piece of +property as a horse. If he is fed, he is fed because he is +property. If he is clothed, it is with a view to the increase of +his value as property. Whatever of comfort is necessary to him +for his body or soul that is inconsistent with his being +property, is carefully wrested from him, not only by public +opinion, but by the law of the country. He is carefully deprived +of everything that tends in the slightest degree to detract from +his value as property. He is deprived of education. God has +given him an intellect; the slaveholder declares it shall not be +cultivated. If his moral perception leads him in a course +contrary to his value as property, the slaveholder declares he +shall not exercise it. The marriage institution cannot exist +among slaves, and one-sixth of the population of democratic +America is denied its privileges by the law of the land. What is +to be thought of a nation boasting of its liberty, boasting of +its humanity, boasting of its Christianity, boasting of its love +of justice and purity, and yet having within its own borders +three millions of persons denied by law the right of marriage?-- +what must be the condition of that people? I need not lift up +the veil by giving you any experience of my own. Every one that +can put two ideas together, must see the most fearful results +from such a state of things as I have just mentioned. If any of +these three millions find for themselves companions, and prove +themselves honest, upright, virtuous persons to each other, yet +in these <319>cases--few as I am bound to confess they are--the +virtuous live in constant apprehension of being torn asunder by +the merciless men-stealers that claim them as their property. +This is American slavery; no marriage--no education--the light of +the gospel shut out from the dark mind of the bondman--and he +forbidden by law to learn to read. If a mother shall teach her +children to read, the law in Louisiana proclaims that she may be +hanged by the neck. If the father attempt to give his son a +knowledge of letters, he may be punished by the whip in one +instance, and in another be killed, at the discretion of the +court. Three millions of people shut out from the light of +knowledge! It is easy for you to conceive the evil that must +result from such a state of things. + +I now come to the physical evils of slavery. I do not wish to +dwell at length upon these, but it seems right to speak of them, +not so much to influence your minds on this question, as to let +the slaveholders of America know that the curtain which conceals +their crimes is being lifted abroad; that we are opening the dark +cell, and leading the people into the horrible recesses of what +they are pleased to call their domestic institution. We want +them to know that a knowledge of their whippings, their +scourgings, their brandings, their chainings, is not confined to +their plantations, but that some Negro of theirs has broken loose +from his chains--has burst through the dark incrustation of +slavery, and is now exposing their deeds of deep damnation to the +gaze of the christian people of England. + +The slaveholders resort to all kinds of cruelty. If I were +disposed, I have matter enough to interest you on this question +for five or six evenings, but I will not dwell at length upon +these cruelties. Suffice it to say, that all of the peculiar +modes of torture that were resorted to in the West India islands, +are resorted to, I believe, even more frequently, in the United +States of America. Starvation, the bloody whip, the chain, the +gag, the thumb-screw, cat-hauling, the cat-o'-nine-tails, the +dungeon, the blood-hound, are all in requisition to keep the +slave in his condition as a slave in the United States. If any +one has a doubt upon this point, I would ask him to read the +chapter on slavery in Dickens's _Notes on America_. If any man +has a doubt upon it, I have here the "testimony of a thousand +witnesses," which I can give at any length, all going to prove +the truth of my statement. The blood-hound is regularly trained +in the United States, and advertisements are to be found in the +southern papers of the Union, from persons advertising themselves +as blood-hound trainers, and offering to hunt down slaves at +fifteen dollars a piece, recommending their hounds as the +fleetest in the neighborhood, never known to fail. +Adver<320>tisements are from time to time inserted, stating that +slaves have escaped with iron collars about their necks, with +bands of iron about their feet, marked with the lash, branded +with red-hot irons, the initials of their master's name burned +into their flesh; and the masters advertise the fact of their +being thus branded with their own signature, thereby proving to +the world, that, however damning it may appear to non-slavers, +such practices are not regarded discreditable among the +slaveholders themselves. Why, I believe if a man should brand +his horse in this country--burn the initials of his name into any +of his cattle, and publish the ferocious deed here--that the +united execrations of Christians in Britain would descend upon +him. Yet in the United States, human beings are thus branded. +As Whittier says-- + . . . _Our countrymen in chains, + The whip on woman's shrinking flesh, + Our soil yet reddening with the stains + Caught from her scourgings warm and fresh_. + + +The slave-dealer boldly publishes his infamous acts to the world. +Of all things that have been said of slavery to which exception +has been taken by slaveholders, this, the charge of cruelty, +stands foremost, and yet there is no charge capable of clearer +demonstration, than that of the most barbarous inhumanity on the +part of the slaveholders toward their slaves. And all this is +necessary; it is necessary to resort to these cruelties, in order +to _make the slave a slave_, and to _keep him a slave_. Why, my +experience all goes to prove the truth of what you will call a +marvelous proposition, that the better you treat a slave, the +more you destroy his value _as a slave_, and enhance the +probability of his eluding the grasp of the slaveholder; the more +kindly you treat him, the more wretched you make him, while you +keep him in the condition of a slave. My experience, I say, +confirms the truth of this proposition. When I was treated +exceedingly ill; when my back was being scourged daily; when I +was whipped within an inch of my life--_life_ was all I cared +for. "Spare my life," was my continual prayer. When I was +looking for the blow about to be inflicted upon my head, I was +not thinking of my liberty; it was my life. But, as soon as the +blow was not to be feared, then came the longing for liberty. If +a slave has a bad master, his ambition is to get a better; when +he gets a better, he aspires to have the best; and when he gets +the best, he aspires to be his own master. But the slave must be +brutalized to keep him as a slave. The slaveholder feels this +necessity. I admit this necessity. If it be right to hold +slaves at all, it is right to hold <321>them in the only way in +which they can be held; and this can be done only by shutting out +the light of education from their minds, and brutalizing their +persons. The whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, the +blood-hound, the stocks, and all the other bloody paraphernalia +of the slave system, are indispensably necessary to the relation +of master and slave. The slave must be subjected to these, or he +ceases to be a slave. Let him know that the whip is burned; that +the fetters have been turned to some useful and profitable +employment; that the chain is no longer for his limbs; that the +blood-hound is no longer to be put upon his track; that his +master's authority over him is no longer to be enforced by taking +his life--and immediately he walks out from the house of bondage +and asserts his freedom as a man. The slaveholder finds it +necessary to have these implements to keep the slave in bondage; +finds it necessary to be able to say, "Unless you do so and so; +unless you do as I bid you--I will take away your life!" + +Some of the most awful scenes of cruelty are constantly taking +place in the middle states of the Union. We have in those states +what are called the slave-breeding states. Allow me to speak +plainly. Although it is harrowing to your feelings, it is +necessary that the facts of the case should be stated. We have +in the United States slave-breeding states. The very state from +which the minister from our court to yours comes, is one of these +states--Maryland, where men, women, and children are reared for +the market, just as horses, sheep, and swine are raised for the +market. Slave-rearing is there looked upon as a legitimate +trade; the law sanctions it, public opinion upholds it, the +church does not condemn it. It goes on in all its bloody +horrors, sustained by the auctioneer's block. If you would see +the cruelties of this system, hear the following narrative. Not +long since the following scene occurred. A slave-woman and a +slaveman had united themselves as man and wife in the absence of +any law to protect them as man and wife. They had lived together +by the permission, not by right, of their master, and they had +reared a family. The master found it expedient, and for his +interest, to sell them. He did not ask them their wishes in +regard to the matter at all; they were not consulted. The man +and woman were brought to the auctioneer's block, under the sound +of the hammer. The cry was raised, "Here goes; who bids cash?" +Think of it--a man and wife to be sold! The woman was placed on +the auctioneer's block; her limbs, as is customary, were brutally +exposed to the purchasers, who examined her with all the freedom +with which they would examine a horse. There stood the husband, +powerless; no right to his wife; the master's right preeminent. +She was sold. He was next <322>brought to the auctioneer's +block. His eyes followed his wife in the distance; and he looked +beseechingly, imploringly, to the man that had bought his wife, +to buy him also. But he was at length bid off to another person. +He was about to be separated forever from her he loved. No word +of his, no work of his, could save him from this separation. He +asked permission of his new master to go and take the hand of his +wife at parting. It was denied him. In the agony of his soul he +rushed from the man who had just bought him, that he might take a +farewell of his wife; but his way was obstructed, he was struck +over the head with a loaded whip, and was held for a moment; but +his agony was too great. When he was let go, he fell a corpse at +the feet of his master. His heart was broken. Such scenes are +the everyday fruits of American slavery. Some two years since, +the Hon. Seth. M. Gates, an anti-slavery gentleman of the state +of New York, a representative in the congress of the United +States, told me he saw with his own eyes the following +circumstances. In the national District of Columbia, over which +the star-spangled emblem is constantly waving, where orators are +ever holding forth on the subject of American liberty, American +democracy, American republicanism, there are two slave prisons. +When going across a bridge, leading to one of these prisons, he +saw a young woman run out, bare-footed and bare-headed, and with +very little clothing on. She was running with all speed to the +bridge he was approaching. His eye was fixed upon her, and he +stopped to see what was the matter. He had not paused long +before he saw three men run out after her. He now knew what the +nature of the case was; a slave escaping from her chains--a young +woman, a sister--escaping from the bondage in which she had been +held. She made her way to the bridge, but had not reached, ere +from the Virginia side there came two slaveholders. As soon as +they saw them, her pursuers called out, "Stop her!" True to +their Virginian instincts, they came to the rescue of their +brother kidnappers, across the bridge. The poor girl now saw +that there was no chance for her. It was a trying time. She +knew if she went back, she must be a slave forever--she must be +dragged down to the scenes of pollution which the slaveholders +continually provide for most of the poor, sinking, wretched young +women, whom they call their property. She formed her resolution; +and just as those who were about to take her, were going to put +hands upon her, to drag her back, she leaped over the balustrades +of the bridge, and down she went to rise no more. She chose +death, rather than to go back into the hands of those christian +slaveholders from whom she had escaped. + +Can it be possible that such things as these exist in the United +States? <323>Are not these the exceptions? Are any such scenes +as this general? Are not such deeds condemned by the law and +denounced by public opinion? Let me read to you a few of the +laws of the slaveholding states of America. I think no better +exposure of slavery can be made than is made by the laws of the +states in which slavery exists. I prefer reading the laws to +making any statement in confirmation of what I have said myself; +for the slaveholders cannot object to this testimony, since it is +the calm, the cool, the deliberate enactment of their wisest +heads, of their most clear-sighted, their own constituted +representatives. "If more than seven slaves together are found +in any road without a white person, twenty lashes a piece; for +visiting a plantation without a written pass, ten lashes; for +letting loose a boat from where it is made fast, thirty-nine +lashes for the first offense; and for the second, shall have cut +off from his head one ear; for keeping or carrying a club, +thirty-nine lashes; for having any article for sale, without a +ticket from his master, ten lashes; for traveling in any other +than the most usual and accustomed road, when going alone to any +place, forty lashes; for traveling in the night without a pass, +forty lashes." I am afraid you do not understand the awful +character of these lashes. You must bring it before your mind. +A human being in a perfect state of nudity, tied hand and foot to +a stake, and a strong man standing behind with a heavy whip, +knotted at the end, each blow cutting into the flesh, and leaving +the warm blood dripping to the feet; and for these trifles. "For +being found in another person's negro-quarters, forty lashes; for +hunting with dogs in the woods, thirty lashes; for being on +horseback without the written permission of his master, twenty- +five lashes; for riding or going abroad in the night, or riding +horses in the day time, without leave, a slave may be whipped, +cropped, or branded in the cheek with the letter R. or otherwise +punished, such punishment not extending to life, or so as to +render him unfit for labor." The laws referred to, may be found +by consulting _Brevard's Digest; Haywood's Manual; Virginia +Revised Code; Prince's Digest; Missouri Laws; Mississippi Revised +Code_. A man, for going to visit his brethren, without the +permission of his master--and in many instances he may not have +that permission; his master, from caprice or other reasons, may +not be willing to allow it--may be caught on his way, dragged to +a post, the branding-iron heated, and the name of his master or +the letter R branded into his cheek or on his forehead. They +treat slaves thus, on the principle that they must punish for +light offenses, in order to prevent the commission of larger +ones. I wish you to mark that in the single state of Virginia +there are seventy-one crimes for which a colored man may be +executed; while there are only three of <324>these crimes, which, +when committed by a white man, will subject him to that +punishment. There are many of these crimes which if the white +man did not commit, he would be regarded as a scoundrel and a +coward. In the state of Maryland, there is a law to this effect: +that if a slave shall strike his master, he may be hanged, his +head severed from his body, his body quartered, and his head and +quarters set up in the most prominent places in the neighborhood. +If a colored woman, in the defense of her own virtue, in defense +of her own person, should shield herself from the brutal attacks +of her tyrannical master, or make the slightest resistance, she +may be killed on the spot. No law whatever will bring the guilty +man to justice for the crime. + +But you will ask me, can these things be possible in a land +professing Christianity? Yes, they are so; and this is not the +worst. No; a darker feature is yet to be presented than the mere +existence of these facts. I have to inform you that the religion +of the southern states, at this time, is the great supporter, the +great sanctioner of the bloody atrocities to which I have +referred. While America is printing tracts and bibles; sending +missionaries abroad to convert the heathen; expending her money +in various ways for the promotion of the gospel in foreign +lands--the slave not only lies forgotten, uncared for, but is +trampled under foot by the very churches of the land. What have +we in America? Why, we have slavery made part of the religion of +the land. Yes, the pulpit there stands up as the great defender +of this cursed _institution_, as it is called. Ministers of +religion come forward and torture the hallowed pages of inspired +wisdom to sanction the bloody deed. They stand forth as the +foremost, the strongest defenders of this "institution." As a +proof of this, I need not do more than state the general fact, +that slavery has existed under the droppings of the sanctuary of +the south for the last two hundred years, and there has not been +any war between the _religion_ and the _slavery_ of the south. +Whips, chains, gags, and thumb-screws have all lain under the +droppings of the sanctuary, and instead of rusting from off the +limbs of the bondman, those droppings have served to preserve +them in all their strength. Instead of preaching the gospel +against this tyranny, rebuke, and wrong, ministers of religion +have sought, by all and every means, to throw in the back-ground +whatever in the bible could be construed into opposition to +slavery, and to bring forward that which they could torture into +its support. This I conceive to be the darkest feature of +slavery, and the most difficult to attack, because it is +identified with religion, and exposes those who denounce it to +the charge of infidelity. Yes, those with whom I have been +laboring, namely, the old <325>organization anti-slavery society +of America, have been again and again stigmatized as infidels, +and for what reason? Why, solely in consequence of the +faithfulness of their attacks upon the slaveholding religion of +the southern states, and the northern religion that sympathizes +with it. I have found it difficult to speak on this matter +without persons coming forward and saying, "Douglass, are you not +afraid of injuring the cause of Christ? You do not desire to do +so, we know; but are you not undermining religion?" This has +been said to me again and again, even since I came to this +country, but I cannot be induced to leave off these exposures. I +love the religion of our blessed Savior. I love that religion +that comes from above, in the "wisdom of God, which is first +pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of +mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. +I love that religion that sends its votaries to bind up the +wounds of him that has fallen among thieves. I love that +religion that makes it the duty of its disciples to visit the +father less and the widow in their affliction. I love that +religion that is based upon the glorious principle, of love to +God and love to man; which makes its followers do unto others as +they themselves would be done by. If you demand liberty to +yourself, it says, grant it to your neighbors. If you claim a +right to think for yourself, it says, allow your neighbors the +same right. If you claim to act for yourself, it says, allow +your neighbors the same right. It is because I love this +religion that I hate the slaveholding, the woman-whipping, the +mind-darkening, the soul-destroying religion that exists in the +southern states of America. It is because I regard the one as +good, and pure, and holy, that I cannot but regard the other as +bad, corrupt, and wicked. Loving the one I must hate the other; +holding to the one I must reject the other. + +I may be asked, why I am so anxious to bring this subject before +the British public--why I do not confine my efforts to the United +States? My answer is, first, that slavery is the common enemy of +mankind, and all mankind should be made acquainted with its +abominable character. My next answer is, that the slave is a +man, and, as such, is entitled to your sympathy as a brother. +All the feelings, all the susceptibilities, all the capacities, +which you have, he has. He is a part of the human family. He +has been the prey--the common prey--of Christendom for the last +three hundred years, and it is but right, it is but just, it is +but proper, that his wrongs should be known throughout the world. +I have another reason for bringing this matter before the British +public, and it is this: slavery is a system of wrong, so blinding +to all around, so hardening to the heart, so corrupting to the +morals, so deleterious to religion, so <326>sapping to all the +principles of justice in its immediate vicinity, that the +community surrounding it lack the moral stamina necessary to its +removal. It is a system of such gigantic evil, so strong, so +overwhelming in its power, that no one nation is equal to its +removal. It requires the humanity of Christianity, the morality +of the world to remove it. Hence, I call upon the people of +Britain to look at this matter, and to exert the influence I am +about to show they possess, for the removal of slavery from +America. I can appeal to them, as strongly by their regard for +the slaveholder as for the slave, to labor in this cause. I am +here, because you have an influence on America that no other +nation can have. You have been drawn together by the power of +steam to a marvelous extent; the distance between London and +Boston is now reduced to some twelve or fourteen days, so that +the denunciations against slavery, uttered in London this week, +may be heard in a fortnight in the streets of Boston, and +reverberating amidst the hills of Massachusetts. There is +nothing said here against slavery that will not be recorded in +the United States. I am here, also, because the slaveholders do +not want me to be here; they would rather that I were not here. +I have adopted a maxim laid down by Napoleon, never to occupy +ground which the enemy would like me to occupy. The slaveholders +would much rather have me, if I will denounce slavery, denounce +it in the northern states, where their friends and supporters +are, who will stand by and mob me for denouncing it. They feel +something as the man felt, when he uttered his prayer, in which +he made out a most horrible case for himself, and one of his +neighbors touched him and said, "My friend, I always had the +opinion of you that you have now expressed for yourself--that you +are a very great sinner." Coming from himself, it was all very +well, but coming from a stranger it was rather cutting. The +slaveholders felt that when slavery was denounced among +themselves, it was not so bad; but let one of the slaves get +loose, let him summon the people of Britain, and make known to +them the conduct of the slaveholders toward their slaves, and it +cuts them to the quick, and produces a sensation such as would be +produced by nothing else. The power I exert now is something +like the power that is exerted by the man at the end of the +lever; my influence now is just in proportion to the distance +that I am from the United States. My exposure of slavery abroad +will tell more upon the hearts and consciences of slaveholders, +than if I was attacking them in America; for almost every paper +that I now receive from the United States, comes teeming with +statements about this fugitive Negro, calling him a "glib-tongued +scoundrel," and saying that he is running out against the +institutions and people of America. I deny the charge that I am +saying a word against the institutions of America, <327>or the +people, as such. What I have to say is against slavery and +slaveholders. I feel at liberty to speak on this subject. I +have on my back the marks of the lash; I have four sisters and +one brother now under the galling chain. I feel it my duty to +cry aloud and spare not. I am not averse to having the good +opinion of my fellow creatures. I am not averse to being kindly +regarded by all men; but I am bound, even at the hazard of making +a large class of religionists in this country hate me, oppose me, +and malign me as they have done--I am bound by the prayers, and +tears, and entreaties of three millions of kneeling bondsmen, to +have no compromise with men who are in any shape or form +connected with the slaveholders of America. I expose slavery in +this country, because to expose it is to kill it. Slavery is one +of those monsters of darkness to whom the light of truth is +death. Expose slavery, and it dies. Light is to slavery what +the heat of the sun is to the root of a tree; it must die under +it. All the slaveholder asks of me is silence. He does not ask +me to go abroad and preach _in favor_ of slavery; he does not ask +any one to do that. He would not say that slavery is a good +thing, but the best under the circumstances. The slaveholders +want total darkness on the subject. They want the hatchway shut +down, that the monster may crawl in his den of darkness, crushing +human hopes and happiness, destroying the bondman at will, and +having no one to reprove or rebuke him. Slavery shrinks from the +light; it hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest its +deeds should be reproved. To tear off the mask from this +abominable system, to expose it to the light of heaven, aye, to +the heat of the sun, that it may burn and wither it out of +existence, is my object in coming to this country. I want the +slaveholder surrounded, as by a wall of anti-slavery fire, so +that he may see the condemnation of himself and his system +glaring down in letters of light. I want him to feel that he has +no sympathy in England, Scotland, or Ireland; that he has none in +Canada, none in Mexico, none among the poor wild Indians; that +the voice of the civilized, aye, and savage world is against him. +I would have condemnation blaze down upon him in every direction, +till, stunned and overwhelmed with shame and confusion, he is +compelled to let go the grasp he holds upon the persons of his +victims, and restore them to their long-lost rights. + + +_Dr. Campbell's Reply_ + + +From Rev. Dr. Campbell's brilliant reply we extract the +following: FREDERICK DOUGLASS, the beast of burden," the portion +of "goods and chattels," the representative of three millions of +men, has been raised <328>up! Shall I say the _man?_ If there +is a man on earth, he is a man. My blood boiled within me when I +heard his address tonight, and thought that he had left behind +him three millions of such men. + +We must see more of this man; we must have more of this man. One +would have taken a voyage round the globe some forty years back-- +especially since the introduction of steam--to have heard such an +exposure of slavery from the lips of a slave. It will be an era +in the individual history of the present assembly. Our +children--our boys and girls--I have tonight seen the delightful +sympathy of their hearts evinced by their heaving breasts, while +their eyes sparkled with wonder and admiration, that this black +man--this slave--had so much logic, so much wit, so much fancy, +so much eloquence. He was something more than a man, according +to their little notions. Then, I say, we must hear him again. +We have got a purpose to accomplish. He has appealed to the +pulpit of England. The English pulpit is with him. He has +appealed to the press of England; the press of England is +conducted by English hearts, and that press will do him justice. +About ten days hence, and his second master, who may well prize +"such a piece of goods," will have the pleasure of reading his +burning words, and his first master will bless himself that he +has got quit of him. We have to create public opinion, or +rather, not to create it, for it is created already; but we have +to foster it; and when tonight I heard those magnificent words-- +the words of Curran, by which my heart, from boyhood, has +ofttimes been deeply moved--I rejoice to think that they embody +an instinct of an Englishman's nature. I heard, with +inexpressible delight, how they told on this mighty mass of the +citizens of the metropolis. + +Britain has now no slaves; we can therefore talk to the other +nations now, as we could not have talked a dozen years ago. I +want the whole of the London ministry to meet Douglass. For as +his appeal is to England, and throughout England, I should +rejoice in the idea of churchmen and dissenters merging all +sectional distinctions in this cause. Let us have a public +breakfast. Let the ministers meet him; let them hear him; let +them grasp his hand; and let him enlist their sympathies on +behalf of the slave. Let him inspire them with abhorrence of the +man-stealer--the slaveholder. No slaveholding American shall +ever my cross my door. No slaveholding or slavery-supporting +minister shall ever pollute my pulpit. While I have a tongue to +speak, or a hand to write, I will, to the utmost of my power, +oppose these slaveholding men. We must have Douglass amongst us +to aid in fostering public opinion. + +The great conflict with slavery must now take place in America; +and <329>while they are adding other slave states to the Union, +our business is to step forward and help the abolitionists there. +It is a pleasing circumstance that such a body of men has risen +in America, and whilst we hurl our thunders against her slavers, +let us make a distinction between those who advocate slavery and +those who oppose it. George Thompson has been there. This man, +Frederick Douglass, has been there, and has been compelled to +flee. I wish, when he first set foot on our shores, he had made +a solemn vow, and said, "Now that I am free, and in the sanctuary +of freedom, I will never return till I have seen the emancipation +of my country completed." He wants to surround these men, the +slaveholders, as by a wall of fire; and he himself may do much +toward kindling it. Let him travel over the island--east, west, +north, and south--everywhere diffusing knowledge and awakening +principle, till the whole nation become a body of petitioners to +America. He will, he must, do it. He must for a season make +England his home. He must send for his wife. He must send for +his children. I want to see the sons and daughters of such a +sire. We, too, must do something for him and them worthy of the +English name. I do not like the idea of a man of such mental +dimensions, such moral courage, and all but incomparable talent, +having his own small wants, and the wants of a distant wife and +children, supplied by the poor profits of his publication, the +sketch of his life. Let the pamphlet be bought by tens of +thousands. But we will do something more for him, shall we not? + +It only remains that we pass a resolution of thanks to Frederick +Douglass, the slave that was, the man that is! He that was +covered with chains, and that is now being covered with glory, +and whom we will send back a gentleman. + + + +LETTER TO HIS OLD MASTER.[11] +_To My Old Master, Thomas Auld_ + + + +SIR--The long and intimate, though by no means friendly, relation +which unhappily subsisted between you and myself, leads me to +hope that you will easily account for the great liberty which I +now take in addressing you in this open and public manner. The +same fact may remove any disagreeable surprise which you may +experience on again finding your name coupled with mine, in any +other way than in an advertisement, accurately describing my +person, and offering a large sum for my arrest. In thus dragging +you again before the public, I am aware that I shall subject +myself to no inconsiderable amount of censure. I shall probably +be charged with an unwarrantable, if not a wanton and reckless +disregard of the rights and properties of private life. There +are those north as well as south who entertain a much higher +respect for rights which are merely conventional, than they do +for rights which are personal and essential. Not a few there are +in our country, who, while they have no scruples against robbing +the laborer of the hard earned results of his patient industry, +will be shocked by the extremely indelicate manner of bringing +your name before the public. Believing this to be the case, and +wishing to meet every reasonable or plausible objection to my +conduct, I will frankly state the ground upon which I justfy{sic} +myself in this instance, as well as on former occasions when I +have thought proper to mention your name in public. All will +agree that a man guilty of theft, robbery, or murder, has +forfeited the right to concealment and private life; that the +community have a right to subject such persons to the most +complete exposure. However much they may desire retirement, and +aim to conceal themselves and their movements from the popular +gaze, the public have a right to ferret them out, and bring their +conduct before + + +[11] It is not often that chattels address their owners. The +following letter is unique; and probably the only specimen of the +kind extant. It was written while in England. + + +<331>the proper tribunals of the country for investigation. Sir, +you will undoubtedly make the proper application of these +generally admitted principles, and will easily see the light in +which you are regarded by me; I will not therefore manifest ill +temper, by calling you hard names. I know you to be a man of +some intelligence, and can readily determine the precise estimate +which I entertain of your character. I may therefore indulge in +language which may seem to others indirect and ambiguous, and yet +be quite well understood by yourself. + +I have selected this day on which to address you, because it is +the anniversary of my emancipation; and knowing no better way, I +am led to this as the best mode of celebrating that truly +important events. Just ten years ago this beautiful September +morning, yon bright sun beheld me a slave--a poor degraded +chattel--trembling at the sound of your voice, lamenting that I +was a man, and wishing myself a brute. The hopes which I had +treasured up for weeks of a safe and successful escape from your +grasp, were powerfully confronted at this last hour by dark +clouds of doubt and fear, making my person shake and my bosom to +heave with the heavy contest between hope and fear. I have no +words to describe to you the deep agony of soul which I +experienced on that never-to-be-forgotten morning--for I left by +daylight. I was making a leap in the dark. The probabilities, +so far as I could by reason determine them, were stoutly against +the undertaking. The preliminaries and precautions I had adopted +previously, all worked badly. I was like one going to war +without weapons--ten chances of defeat to one of victory. One in +whom I had confided, and one who had promised me assistance, +appalled by fear at the trial hour, deserted me, thus leaving the +responsibility of success or failure solely with myself. You, +sir, can never know my feelings. As I look back to them, I can +scarcely realize that I have passed through a scene so trying. +Trying, however, as they were, and gloomy as was the prospect, +thanks be to the Most High, who is ever the God of the oppressed, +at the moment which was to determine my whole earthly career, His +grace was sufficient; my mind was made up. I embraced the golden +opportunity, took the morning tide at the flood, and a free man, +young, active, and strong, is the result. + +I have often thought I should like to explain to you the grounds +upon which I have justified myself in running away from you. I +am almost ashamed to do so now, for by this time you may have +discovered them yourself. I will, however, glance at them. When +yet but a child about six years old, I imbibed the determination +to run away. The very first mental <332>effort that I now +remember on my part, was an attempt to solve the mystery--why am +I a slave? and with this question my youthful mind was troubled +for many days, pressing upon me more heavily at times than +others. When I saw the slave-driver whip a slave-woman, cut the +blood out of her neck, and heard her piteous cries, I went away +into the corner of the fence, wept and pondered over the mystery. +I had, through some medium, I know not what, got some idea of +God, the Creator of all mankind, the black and the white, and +that he had made the blacks to serve the whites as slaves. How +he could do this and be _good_, I could not tell. I was not +satisfied with this theory, which made God responsible for +slavery, for it pained me greatly, and I have wept over it long +and often. At one time, your first wife, Mrs. Lucretia, heard me +sighing and saw me shedding tears, and asked of me the matter, +but I was afraid to tell her. I was puzzled with this question, +till one night while sitting in the kitchen, I heard some of the +old slaves talking of their parents having been stolen from +Africa by white men, and were sold here as slaves. The whole +mystery was solved at once. Very soon after this, my Aunt Jinny +and Uncle Noah ran away, and the great noise made about it by +your father-in-law, made me for the first time acquainted with +the fact, that there were free states as well as slave states. +From that time, I resolved that I would some day run away. The +morality of the act I dispose of as follows: I am myself; you +are yourself; we are two distinct persons, equal persons. What +you are, I am. You are a man, and so am I. God created both, +and made us separate beings. I am not by nature bond to you, or +you to me. Nature does not make your existence depend upon me, +or mine to depend upon yours. I cannot walk upon your legs, or +you upon mine. I cannot breathe for you, or you for me; I must +breathe for myself, and you for yourself. We are distinct +persons, and are each equally provided with faculties necessary +to our individual existence. In leaving you, I took nothing but +what belonged to me, and in no way lessened your means for +obtaining an _honest_ living. Your faculties remained yours, and +mine became useful to their rightful owner. I therefore see no +wrong in any part of the transaction. It is true, I went off +secretly; but that was more your fault than mine. Had I let you +into the secret, you would have defeated the enterprise entirely; +but for this, I should have been really glad to have made you +acquainted with my intentions to leave. + +You may perhaps want to know how I like my present condition. I +am free to say, I greatly prefer it to that which I occupied in +Maryland. I am, however, by no means prejudiced against the +state as such. Its geography, climate, fertility, and products, +are such as to make it a very <333>desirable abode for any man; +and but for the existence of slavery there, it is not impossible +that I might again take up my abode in that state. It is not +that I love Maryland less, but freedom more. You will be +surprised to learn that people at the north labor under the +strange delusion that if the slaves were emancipated at the +south, they would flock to the north. So far from this being the +case, in that event, you would see many old and familiar faces +back again to the south. The fact is, there are few here who +would not return to the south in the event of emancipation. We +want to live in the land of our birth, and to lay our bones by +the side of our fathers; and nothing short of an intense love of +personal freedom keeps us from the south. For the sake of this, +most of us would live on a crust of bread and a cup of cold +water. + +Since I left you, I have had a rich experience. I have occupied +stations which I never dreamed of when a slave. Three out of the +ten years since I left you, I spent as a common laborer on the +wharves of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was there I earned my +first free dollar. It was mine. I could spend it as I pleased. +I could buy hams or herring with it, without asking any odds of +anybody. That was a precious dollar to me. You remember when I +used to make seven, or eight, or even nine dollars a week in +Baltimore, you would take every cent of it from me every Saturday +night, saying that I belonged to you, and my earnings also. I +never liked this conduct on your part--to say the best, I thought +it a little mean. I would not have served you so. But let that +pass. I was a little awkward about counting money in New England +fashion when I first landed in New Bedford. I came near +betraying myself several times. I caught myself saying phip, for +fourpence; and at one time a man actually charged me with being a +runaway, whereupon I was silly enough to become one by running +away from him, for I was greatly afraid he might adopt measures +to get me again into slavery, a condition I then dreaded more +than death. + +I soon learned, however, to count money, as well as to make it, +and got on swimmingly. I married soon after leaving you; in +fact, I was engaged to be married before I left you; and instead +of finding my companion a burden, she was truly a helpmate. She +went to live at service, and I to work on the wharf, and though +we toiled hard the first winter, we never lived more happily. +After remaining in New Bedford for three years, I met with +William Lloyd Garrison, a person of whom you have _possibly_ +heard, as he is pretty generally known among slaveholders. He +put it into my head that I might make myself serviceable to the +cause of the slave, by devoting a portion of my time to telling +my own sorrows, and those of other slaves, which had come under +my observation. This <334>was the commencement of a higher state +of existence than any to which I had ever aspired. I was thrown +into society the most pure, enlightened, and benevolent, that the +country affords. Among these I have never forgotten you, but +have invariably made you the topic of conversation--thus giving +you all the notoriety I could do. I need not tell you that the +opinion formed of you in these circles is far from being +favorable. They have little respect for your honesty, and less +for your religion. + +But I was going on to relate to you something of my interesting +experience. I had not long enjoyed the excellent society to +which I have referred, before the light of its excellence exerted +a beneficial influence on my mind and heart. Much of my early +dislike of white persons was removed, and their manners, habits, +and customs, so entirely unlike what I had been used to in the +kitchen-quarters on the plantations of the south, fairly charmed +me, and gave me a strong disrelish for the coarse and degrading +customs of my former condition. I therefore made an effort so to +improve my mind and deportment, as to be somewhat fitted to the +station to which I seemed almost providentially called. The +transition from degradation to respectability was indeed great, +and to get from one to the other without carrying some marks of +one's former condition, is truly a difficult matter. I would not +have you think that I am now entirely clear of all plantation +peculiarities, but my friends here, while they entertain the +strongest dislike to them, regard me with that charity to which +my past life somewhat entitles me, so that my condition in this +respect is exceedingly pleasant. So far as my domestic affairs +are concerned, I can boast of as comfortable a dwelling as your +own. I have an industrious and neat companion, and four dear +children--the oldest a girl of nine years, and three fine boys, +the oldest eight, the next six, and the youngest four years old. +The three oldest are now going regularly to school--two can read +and write, and the other can spell, with tolerable correctness, +words of two syllables. Dear fellows! they are all in +comfortable beds, and are sound asleep, perfectly secure under my +own roof. There are no slaveholders here to rend my heart by +snatching them from my arms, or blast a mother's dearest hopes by +tearing them from her bosom. These dear children are ours--not +to work up into rice, sugar, and tobacco, but to watch over, +regard, and protect, and to rear them up in the nurture and +admonition of the gospel--to train them up in the paths of wisdom +and virtue, and, as far as we can, to make them useful to the +world and to themselves. Oh! sir, a slaveholder never appears to +me so completely an agent of hell, as when I think of and look +upon my dear children. It is then that my feelings rise above my +control. I meant to have said more with respect to my own +prosperity and happiness, but thoughts and feel<335>ings which +this recital has quickened, unfit me to proceed further in that +direction. The grim horrors of slavery rise in all their ghastly +terror before me; the wails of millions pierce my heart and chill +my blood. I remember the chain, the gag, the bloody whip; the +death-like gloom overshadowing the broken spirit of the fettered +bondman; the appalling liability of his being torn away from wife +and children, and sold like a beast in the market. Say not that +this is a picture of fancy. You well know that I wear stripes on +my back, inflicted by your direction; and that you, while we were +brothers in the same church, caused this right hand, with which I +am now penning this letter, to be closely tied to my left, and my +person dragged, at the pistol's mouth, fifteen miles, from the +Bay Side to Easton, to be sold like a beast in the market, for +the alleged crime of intending to escape from your possession. +All this, and more, you remember, and know to be perfectly true, +not only of yourself, but of nearly all of the slaveholders +around you. + +At this moment, you are probably the guilty holder of at least +three of my own dear sisters, and my only brother, in bondage. +These you regard as your property. They are recorded on your +ledger, or perhaps have been sold to human flesh-mongers, with a +view to filling our own ever-hungry purse. Sir, I desire to know +how and where these dear sisters are. Have you sold them? or are +they still in your possession? What has become of them? are they +living or dead? And my dear old grandmother, whom you turned out +like an old horse to die in the woods--is she still alive? Write +and let me know all about them. If my grandmother be still +alive, she is of no service to you, for by this time she must be +nearly eighty years old--too old to be cared for by one to whom +she has ceased to be of service; send her to me at Rochester, or +bring her to Philadelphia, and it shall be the crowning happiness +of my life to take care of her in her old age. Oh! she was to me +a mother and a father, so far as hard toil for my comfort could +make her such. Send me my grandmother! that I may watch over and +take care of her in her old age. And my sisters--let me know all +about them. I would write to them, and learn all I want to know +of them, without disturbing you in any way, but that, through +your unrighteous conduct, they have been entirely deprived of the +power to read and write. You have kept them in utter ignorance, +and have therefore robbed them of the sweet enjoyments of writing +or receiving letters from absent friends and relatives. Your +wickedness and cruelty, committed in this respect on your fellow- +creatures, are greater than all the stripes you have laid upon my +back or theirs. It is an outrage upon the soul, a war upon the +immortal spirit, and one for which you must give account at the +bar of our common Father and Creator. +<336> + +The responsibility which you have assumed in this regard is truly +awful, and how you could stagger under it these many years is +marvelous. Your mind must have become darkened, your heart +hardened, your conscience seared and petrified, or you would have +long since thrown off the accursed load, and sought relief at the +hands of a sin-forgiving God. How, let me ask, would you look +upon me, were I, some dark night, in company with a band of +hardened villains, to enter the precincts of your elegant +dwelling, and seize the person of your own lovely daughter, +Amanda, and carry her off from your family, friends, and all the +loved ones of her youth--make her my slave--compel her to work, +and I take her wages--place her name on my ledger as property-- +disregard her personal rights--fetter the powers of her immortal +soul by denying her the right and privilege of learning to read +and write--feed her coarsely--clothe her scantily, and whip her +on the naked back occasionally; more, and still more horrible, +leave her unprotected--a degraded victim to the brutal lust of +fiendish overseers, who would pollute, blight, and blast her fair +soul--rob her of all dignity--destroy her virtue, and annihilate +in her person all the graces that adorn the character of virtuous +womanhood? I ask, how would you regard me, if such were my +conduct? Oh! the vocabulary of the damned would not afford a +word sufficiently infernal to express your idea of my God- +provoking wickedness. Yet, sir, your treatment of my beloved +sisters is in all essential points precisely like the case I have +now supposed. Damning as would be such a deed on my part, it +would be no more so than that which you have committed against me +and my sisters. + +I will now bring this letter to a close; you shall hear from me +again unless you let me hear from you. I intend to make use of +you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slavery--as a +means of concentrating public attention on the system, and +deepening the horror of trafficking in the souls and bodies of +men. I shall make use of you as a means of exposing the +character of the American church and clergy--and as a means of +bringing this guilty nation, with yourself, to repentance. In +doing this, I entertain no malice toward you personally. There +is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and +there is nothing in my house which you might need for your +comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should +esteem it a privilege to set you an example as to how mankind +ought to treat each other. + + _I am your fellow-man, but not your slave_. + +THE NATURE OF SLAVERY +_Extract from a Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, +December 1, 1850_ + + +More than twenty years of my life were consumed in a state of +slavery. My childhood was environed by the baneful peculiarities +of the slave system. I grew up to manhood in the presence of +this hydra headed monster--not as a master--not as an idle +spectator--not as the guest of the slaveholder--but as A SLAVE, +eating the bread and drinking the cup of slavery with the most +degraded of my brother-bondmen, and sharing with them all the +painful conditions of their wretched lot. In consideration of +these facts, I feel that I have a right to speak, and to speak +_strongly_. Yet, my friends, I feel bound to speak truly. + +Goading as have been the cruelties to which I have been +subjected--bitter as have been the trials through which I have +passed--exasperating as have been, and still are, the indignities +offered to my manhood--I find in them no excuse for the slightest +departure from truth in dealing with any branch of this subject. + +First of all, I will state, as well as I can, the legal and +social relation of master and slave. A master is one--to speak +in the vocabulary of the southern states--who claims and +exercises a right of property in the person of a fellow-man. +This he does with the force of the law and the sanction of +southern religion. The law gives the master absolute power over +the slave. He may work him, flog him, hire him out, sell him, +and, in certain contingencies, _kill_ him, with perfect impunity. +The slave is a human being, divested of all rights--reduced to +the level of a brute--a mere "chattel" in the eye of the law-- +placed beyond the circle of human brotherhood--cut off from his +kind--his name, which the "recording angel" may have enrolled in +heaven, among the blest, is impiously inserted in a _master's +ledger_, with horses, sheep, and swine. In law, the slave has no +wife, no children, no country, and no home. He can own nothing, +possess nothing, acquire nothing, but what must belong to +another. To <338>eat the fruit of his own toil, to clothe his +person with the work of his own hands, is considered stealing. +He toils that another may reap the fruit; he is industrious that +another may live in idleness; he eats unbolted meal that another +may eat the bread of fine flour; he labors in chains at home, +under a burning sun and biting lash, that another may ride in +ease and splendor abroad; he lives in ignorance that another may +be educated; he is abused that another may be exalted; he rests +his toil-worn limbs on the cold, damp ground that another may +repose on the softest pillow; he is clad in coarse and tattered +raiment that another may be arrayed in purple and fine linen; he +is sheltered only by the wretched hovel that a master may dwell +in a magnificent mansion; and to this condition he is bound down +as by an arm of iron. + +From this monstrous relation there springs an unceasing stream of +most revolting cruelties. The very accompaniments of the slave +system stamp it as the offspring of hell itself. To ensure good +behavior, the slaveholder relies on the whip; to induce proper +humility, he relies on the whip; to rebuke what he is pleased to +term insolence, he relies on the whip; to supply the place of +wages as an incentive to toil, he relies on the whip; to bind +down the spirit of the slave, to imbrute and destroy his manhood, +he relies on the whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, the +pillory, the bowie knife the pistol, and the blood-hound. These +are the necessary and unvarying accompaniments of the system. +Wherever slavery is found, these horrid instruments are also +found. Whether on the coast of Africa, among the savage tribes, +or in South Carolina, among the refined and civilized, slavery is +the same, and its accompaniments one and the same. It makes no +difference whether the slaveholder worships the God of the +Christians, or is a follower of Mahomet, he is the minister of +the same cruelty, and the author of the same misery. _Slavery_ +is always _slavery;_ always the same foul, haggard, and damning +scourge, whether found in the eastern or in the western +hemisphere. + +There is a still deeper shade to be given to this picture. The +physical cruelties are indeed sufficiently harassing and +revolting; but they are as a few grains of sand on the sea shore, +or a few drops of water in the great ocean, compared with the +stupendous wrongs which it inflicts upon the mental, moral, and +religious nature of its hapless victims. It is only when we +contemplate the slave as a moral and intellectual being, that we +can adequately comprehend the unparalleled enormity of slavery, +and the intense criminality of the slaveholder. I have said that +the slave was a man. "What a piece of work is man! How noble in +reason! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how +express and admirable! In action <339>how like an angel! In +apprehension how like a God! The beauty of the world! The +paragon of animals!" + +The slave is a man, "the image of God," but "a little lower than +the angels;" possessing a soul, eternal and indestructible; +capable of endless happiness, or immeasurable woe; a creature of +hopes and fears, of affections and passions, of joys and sorrows, +and he is endowed with those mysterious powers by which man soars +above the things of time and sense, and grasps, with undying +tenacity, the elevating and sublimely glorious idea of a God. It +is _such_ a being that is smitten and blasted. The first work of +slavery is to mar and deface those characteristics of its victims +which distinguish _men_ from _things_, and _persons_ from +_property_. Its first aim is to destroy all sense of high moral +and religious responsibility. It reduces man to a mere machine. +It cuts him off from his Maker, it hides from him the laws of +God, and leaves him to grope his way from time to eternity in the +dark, under the arbitrary and despotic control of a frail, +depraved, and sinful fellow-man. As the serpent-charmer of India +is compelled to extract the deadly teeth of his venomous prey +before he is able to handle him with impunity, so the slaveholder +must strike down the conscience of the slave before he can obtain +the entire mastery over his victim. + +It is, then, the first business of the enslaver of men to blunt, +deaden, and destroy the central principle of human +responsibility. Conscience is, to the individual soul, and to +society, what the law of gravitation is to the universe. It +holds society together; it is the basis of all trust and +confidence; it is the pillar of all moral rectitude. Without it, +suspicion would take the place of trust; vice would be more than +a match for virtue; men would prey upon each other, like the wild +beasts of the desert; and earth would become a _hell_. + +Nor is slavery more adverse to the conscience than it is to the +mind. This is shown by the fact, that in every state of the +American Union, where slavery exists, except the state of +Kentucky, there are laws absolutely prohibitory of education +among the slaves. The crime of teaching a slave to read is +punishable with severe fines and imprisonment, and, in some +instances, with _death itself_. + +Nor are the laws respecting this matter a dead letter. Cases may +occur in which they are disregarded, and a few instances may be +found where slaves may have learned to read; but such are +isolated cases, and only prove the rule. The great mass of +slaveholders look upon education among the slaves as utterly +subversive of the slave system. I well remember when my mistress +first announced to my master that she had dis<340>covered that I +could read. His face colored at once with surprise and chagrin. +He said that "I was ruined, and my value as a slave destroyed; +that a slave should know nothing but to obey his master; that to +give a negro an inch would lead him to take an ell; that having +learned how to read, I would soon want to know how to write; and +that by-and-by I would be running away." I think my audience +will bear witness to the correctness of this philosophy, and to +the literal fulfillment of this prophecy. + +It is perfectly well understood at the south, that to educate a +slave is to make him discontened{sic} with slavery, and to invest +him with a power which shall open to him the treasures of +freedom; and since the object of the slaveholder is to maintain +complete authority over his slave, his constant vigilance is +exercised to prevent everything which militates against, or +endangers, the stability of his authority. Education being among +the menacing influences, and, perhaps, the most dangerous, is, +therefore, the most cautiously guarded against. + +It is true that we do not often hear of the enforcement of the +law, punishing as a crime the teaching of slaves to read, but +this is not because of a want of disposition to enforce it. The +true reason or explanation of the matter is this: there is the +greatest unanimity of opinion among the white population in the +south in favor of the policy of keeping the slave in ignorance. +There is, perhaps, another reason why the law against education +is so seldom violated. The slave is too poor to be able to offer +a temptation sufficiently strong to induce a white man to violate +it; and it is not to be supposed that in a community where the +moral and religious sentiment is in favor of slavery, many +martyrs will be found sacrificing their liberty and lives by +violating those prohibitory enactments. + +As a general rule, then, darkness reigns over the abodes of the +enslaved, and "how great is that darkness!" + +We are sometimes told of the contentment of the slaves, and are +entertained with vivid pictures of their happiness. We are told +that they often dance and sing; that their masters frequently +give them wherewith to make merry; in fine, that they have little +of which to complain. I admit that the slave does sometimes +sing, dance, and appear to be merry. But what does this prove? +It only proves to my mind, that though slavery is armed with a +thousand stings, it is not able entirely to kill the elastic +spirit of the bondman. That spirit will rise and walk abroad, +despite of whips and chains, and extract from the cup of nature +occasional drops of joy and gladness. No thanks to the +slaveholder, nor to slavery, that the <341>vivacious captive may +sometimes dance in his chains; his very mirth in such +circumstances stands before God as an accusing angel against his +enslaver. + +It is often said, by the opponents of the anti-slavery cause, +that the condition of the people of Ireland is more deplorable +than that of the American slaves. Far be it from me to underrate +the sufferings of the Irish people. They have been long +oppressed; and the same heart that prompts me to plead the cause +of the American bondman, makes it impossible for me not to +sympathize with the oppressed of all lands. Yet I must say that +there is no analogy between the two cases. The Irishman is poor, +but he is not a slave. He may be in rags, but he is not a slave. +He is still the master of his own body, and can say with the +poet, "The hand of Douglass is his own." "The world is all +before him, where to choose;" and poor as may be my opinion of +the British parliament, I cannot believe that it will ever sink +to such a depth of infamy as to pass a law for the recapture of +fugitive Irishmen! The shame and scandal of kidnapping will long +remain wholly monopolized by the American congress. The Irishman +has not only the liberty to emigrate from his country, but he has +liberty at home. He can write, and speak, and cooperate for the +attainment of his rights and the redress of his wrongs. + +The multitude can assemble upon all the green hills and fertile +plains of the Emerald Isle; they can pour out their grievances, +and proclaim their wants without molestation; and the press, that +"swift-winged messenger," can bear the tidings of their doings to +the extreme bounds of the civilized world. They have their +"Conciliation Hall," on the banks of the Liffey, their reform +clubs, and their newspapers; they pass resolutions, send forth +addresses, and enjoy the right of petition. But how is it with +the American slave? Where may he assemble? Where is his +Conciliation Hall? Where are his newspapers? Where is his right +of petition? Where is his freedom of speech? his liberty of the +press? and his right of locomotion? He is said to be happy; +happy men can speak. But ask the slave what is his condition-- +what his state of mind--what he thinks of enslavement? and you +had as well address your inquiries to the _silent dead_. There +comes no _voice_ from the enslaved. We are left to gather his +feelings by imagining what ours would be, were our souls in his +soul's stead. + +If there were no other fact descriptive of slavery, than that the +slave is dumb, this alone would be sufficient to mark the slave +system as a grand aggregation of human horrors. + +Most who are present, will have observed that leading men in this +<342>country have been putting forth their skill to secure quiet +to the nation. A system of measures to promote this object was +adopted a few months ago in congress. The result of those +measures is known. Instead of quiet, they have produced alarm; +instead of peace, they have brought us war; and so it must ever +be. + +While this nation is guilty of the enslavement of three millions +of innocent men and women, it is as idle to think of having a +sound and lasting peace, as it is to think there is no God to +take cognizance of the affairs of men. There can be no peace to +the wicked while slavery continues in the land. It will be +condemned; and while it is condemned there will be agitation. +Nature must cease to be nature; men must become monsters; +humanity must be transformed; Christianity must be exterminated; +all ideas of justice and the laws of eternal goodness must be +utterly blotted out from the human soul--ere a system so foul and +infernal can escape condemnation, or this guilty republic can +have a sound, enduring peace. + + + +INHUMANITY OF SLAVERY + +_Extract from A Lecture on Slavery, at Rochester, +December 8, 1850_ + + +The relation of master and slave has been called patriarchal, and +only second in benignity and tenderness to that of the parent and +child. This representation is doubtless believed by many +northern people; and this may account, in part, for the lack of +interest which we find among persons whom we are bound to believe +to be honest and humane. What, then, are the facts? Here I will +not quote my own experience in slavery; for this you might call +one-sided testimony. I will not cite the declarations of +abolitionists; for these you might pronounce exaggerations. I +will not rely upon advertisements cut from newspapers; for these +you might call isolated cases. But I will refer you to the laws +adopted by the legislatures of the slave states. I give you such +evidence, because it cannot be invalidated nor denied. I hold in +my hand sundry extracts from the slave codes of our country, from +which I will quote. * * * + +Now, if the foregoing be an indication of kindness, _what is +cruelty_? If this be parental affection, _what is bitter +malignity_? A more atrocious and blood-thirsty string of laws +could not well be conceived of. And yet I am bound to say that +they fall short of indicating the horrible cruelties constantly +practiced in the slave states. + +I admit that there are individual slaveholders less cruel and +barbarous than is allowed by law; but these form the exception. +The majority of slaveholders find it necessary, to insure +obedience, at times, to avail themselves of the utmost extent of +the law, and many go beyond it. If kindness were the rule, we +should not see advertisements filling the columns of almost every +southern newspaper, offering large rewards for fugitive slaves, +and describing them as being branded with irons, loaded with +chains, and scarred by the whip. One of the most telling +testimonies against the pretended kindness of slaveholders, is +the fact that uncounted numbers of fugitives are now inhabiting +the Dismal Swamp, preferring <344>the untamed wilderness to their +cultivated homes--choosing rather to encounter hunger and thirst, +and to roam with the wild beasts of the forest, running the +hazard of being hunted and shot down, than to submit to the +authority of _kind_ masters. + +I tell you, my friends, humanity is never driven to such an +unnatural course of life, without great wrong. The slave finds +more of the milk of human kindness in the bosom of the savage +Indian, than in the heart of his _Christian_ master. He leaves +the man of the _bible_, and takes refuge with the man of the +_tomahawk_. He rushes from the praying slaveholder into the paws +of the bear. He quits the homes of men for the haunts of wolves. +He prefers to encounter a life of trial, however bitter, or +death, however terrible, to dragging out his existence under the +dominion of these _kind_ masters. + +The apologists for slavery often speak of the abuses of slavery; +and they tell us that they are as much opposed to those abuses as +we are; and that they would go as far to correct those abuses and +to ameliorate the condition of the slave as anybody. The answer +to that view is, that slavery is itself an abuse; that it lives +by abuse; and dies by the absence of abuse. Grant that slavery +is right; grant that the relations of master and slave may +innocently exist; and there is not a single outrage which was +ever committed against the slave but what finds an apology in the +very necessity of the case. As we said by a slaveholder (the +Rev. A. G. Few) to the Methodist conference, "If the relation be +right, the means to maintain it are also right;" for without +those means slavery could not exist. Remove the dreadful +scourge--the plaited thong--the galling fetter--the accursed +chain--and let the slaveholder rely solely upon moral and +religious power, by which to secure obedience to his orders, and +how long do you suppose a slave would remain on his plantation? +The case only needs to be stated; it carries its own refutation +with it. + +Absolute and arbitrary power can never be maintained by one man +over the body and soul of another man, without brutal +chastisement and enormous cruelty. + +To talk of _kindness_ entering into a relation in which one party +is robbed of wife, of children, of his hard earnings, of home, of +friends, of society, of knowledge, and of all that makes this +life desirable, is most absurd, wicked, and preposterous. + +I have shown that slavery is wicked--wicked, in that it violates +the great law of liberty, written on every human heart--wicked, +in that it violates the first command of the decalogue--wicked, +in that it fosters the most disgusting licentiousness--wicked, in +that it mars and defaces <345>the image of God by cruel and +barbarous inflictions--wicked, in that it contravenes the laws of +eternal justice, and tramples in the dust all the humane and +heavenly precepts of the New Testament. + +The evils resulting from this huge system of iniquity are not +confined to the states south of Mason and Dixon's line. Its +noxious influence can easily be traced throughout our northern +borders. It comes even as far north as the state of New York. +Traces of it may be seen even in Rochester; and travelers have +told me it casts its gloomy shadows across the lake, approaching +the very shores of Queen Victoria's dominions. + +The presence of slavery may be explained by--as it is the +explanation of--the mobocratic violence which lately disgraced +New York, and which still more recently disgraced the city of +Boston. These violent demonstrations, these outrageous invasions +of human rights, faintly indicate the presence and power of +slavery here. It is a significant fact, that while meetings for +almost any purpose under heaven may be held unmolested in the +city of Boston, that in the same city, a meeting cannot be +peaceably held for the purpose of preaching the doctrine of the +American Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created +equal." The pestiferous breath of slavery taints the whole moral +atmosphere of the north, and enervates the moral energies of the +whole people. + +The moment a foreigner ventures upon our soil, and utters a +natural repugnance to oppression, that moment he is made to feel +that there is little sympathy in this land for him. If he were +greeted with smiles before, he meets with frowns now; and it +shall go well with him if he be not subjected to that peculiarly +fining method of showing fealty to slavery, the assaults of a +mob. + +Now, will any man tell me that such a state of things is natural, +and that such conduct on the part of the people of the north, +springs from a consciousness of rectitude? No! every fibre of +the human heart unites in detestation of tyranny, and it is only +when the human mind has become familiarized with slavery, is +accustomed to its injustice, and corrupted by its selfishness, +that it fails to record its abhorrence of slavery, and does not +exult in the triumphs of liberty. + +The northern people have been long connected with slavery; they +have been linked to a decaying corpse, which has destroyed the +moral health. The union of the government; the union of the +north and south, in the political parties; the union in the +religious organizations of the land, have all served to deaden +the moral sense of the northern people, and to impregnate them +with sentiments and ideas forever in conflict with what as a +nation we call _genius of American institutions_. Rightly +viewed, <346>this is an alarming fact, and ought to rally all +that is pure, just, and holy in one determined effort to crush +the monster of corruption, and to scatter "its guilty profits" to +the winds. In a high moral sense, as well as in a national +sense, the whole American people are responsible for slavery, and +must share, in its guilt and shame, with the most obdurate men- +stealers of the south. + +While slavery exists, and the union of these states endures, +every American citizen must bear the chagrin of hearing his +country branded before the world as a nation of liars and +hypocrites; and behold his cherished flag pointed at with the +utmost scorn and derision. Even now an American _abroad_ is +pointed out in the crowd, as coming from a land where men gain +their fortunes by "the blood of souls," from a land of slave +markets, of blood-hounds, and slave-hunters; and, in some +circles, such a man is shunned altogether, as a moral pest. Is +it not time, then, for every American to awake, and inquire into +his duty with respect to this subject? + +Wendell Phillips--the eloquent New England orator--on his return +from Europe, in 1842, said, "As I stood upon the shores of Genoa, +and saw floating on the placid waters of the Mediterranean, the +beautiful American war ship Ohio, with her masts tapering +proportionately aloft, and an eastern sun reflecting her noble +form upon the sparkling waters, attracting the gaze of the +multitude, my first impulse was of pride, to think myself an +American; but when I thought that the first time that gallant +ship would gird on her gorgeous apparel, and wake from beneath +her sides her dormant thunders, it would be in defense of the +African slave trade, I blushed in utter _shame_ for my country." + +Let me say again, _slavery is alike the sin and the shame of the +American people;_ it is a blot upon the American name, and the +only national reproach which need make an American hang his head +in shame, in the presence of monarchical governments. + +With this gigantic evil in the land, we are constantly told to +look _at home;_ if we say ought against crowned heads, we are +pointed to our enslaved millions; if we talk of sending +missionaries and bibles abroad, we are pointed to three millions +now lying in worse than heathen darkness; if we express a word of +sympathy for Kossuth and his Hungarian fugitive brethren, we are +pointed to that horrible and hell-black enactment, "the fugitive +slave bill." + +Slavery blunts the edge of all our rebukes of tyranny abroad--the +criticisms that we make upon other nations, only call forth +ridicule, contempt, and scorn. In a word, we are made a reproach +and a by-word to a <347>mocking earth, and we must continue to be +so made, so long as slavery continues to pollute our soil. + +We have heard much of late of the virtue of patriotism, the love +of country, &c., and this sentiment, so natural and so strong, +has been impiously appealed to, by all the powers of human +selfishness, to cherish the viper which is stinging our national +life away. In its name, we have been called upon to deepen our +infamy before the world, to rivet the fetter more firmly on the +limbs of the enslaved, and to become utterly insensible to the +voice of human woe that is wafted to us on every southern gale. +We have been called upon, in its name, to desecrate our whole +land by the footprints of slave-hunters, and even to engage +ourselves in the horrible business of kidnapping. + +I, too, would invoke the spirit of patriotism; not in a narrow +and restricted sense, but, I trust, with a broad and manly +signification; not to cover up our national sins, but to inspire +us with sincere repentance; not to hide our shame from the +the{sic} world's gaze, but utterly to abolish the cause of that +shame; not to explain away our gross inconsistencies as a nation, +but to remove the hateful, jarring, and incongruous elements from +the land; not to sustain an egregious wrong, but to unite all our +energies in the grand effort to remedy that wrong. + +I would invoke the spirit of patriotism, in the name of the law +of the living God, natural and revealed, and in the full belief +that "righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to +any people." "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh +uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that +shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, he shall dwell on +high, his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks, bread +shall be given him, his water shall be sure." + +We have not only heard much lately of patriotism, and of its aid +being invoked on the side of slavery and injustice, but the very +prosperity of this people has been called in to deafen them to +the voice of duty, and to lead them onward in the pathway of sin. +Thus has the blessing of God been converted into a curse. In the +spirit of genuine patriotism, I warn the American people, by all +that is just and honorable, to BEWARE! + +I warn them that, strong, proud, and prosperous though we be, +there is a power above us that can "bring down high looks; at the +breath of whose mouth our wealth may take wings; and before whom +every knee shall bow;" and who can tell how soon the avenging +angel may pass over our land, and the sable bondmen now in +chains, may become the instruments of our nation's chastisement! +Without appealing to any higher feeling, I would warn the +American people, and the American govern<348>ment, to be wise in +their day and generation. I exhort them to remember the history +of other nations; and I remind them that America cannot always +sit "as a queen," in peace and repose; that prouder and stronger +governments than this have been shattered by the bolts of a just +God; that the time may come when those they now despise and hate, +may be needed; when those whom they now compel by oppression to +be enemies, may be wanted as friends. What has been, may be +again. There is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go. +The crushed worm may yet turn under the heel of the oppressor. I +warn them, then, with all solemnity, and in the name of +retributive justice, _to look to their ways;_ for in an evil +hour, those sable arms that have, for the last two centuries, +been engaged in cultivating and adorning the fair fields of our +country, may yet become the instruments of terror, desolation, +and death, throughout our borders. + +It was the sage of the Old Dominion that said--while speaking of +the possibility of a conflict between the slaves and the +slaveholders--"God has no attribute that could take sides with +the oppressor in such a contest. I tremble for my country when I +reflect that God _is just_, and that his justice cannot sleep +forever." Such is the warning voice of Thomas Jefferson; and +every day's experience since its utterance until now, confirms +its wisdom, and commends its truth. + + + +WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE +FOURTH OF JULY? + +_Extract from an Oration, at Rochester, July 5, 1852_ + + +Fellow-Citizens--Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called +upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to +do with your national independence? Are the great principles of +political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that +Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, +called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, +and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the +blessings, resulting from your independence to us? + +Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative +answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then +would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For +who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? +Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would +not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so +stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the +hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude +had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like +that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as +an hart." + +But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad +sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the +pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only +reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in +which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich +inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, +bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The +sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought +stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is _yours_, not +mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters +into the grand illuminated <350>temple of liberty, and call upon +him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and +sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking +me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. +And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a +nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by +the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable +ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and +woe-smitten people. + +"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when +we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the +midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, +required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us +mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing +the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O +Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not +remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth." + +Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultous joy, I hear the +mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous +yesterday, are to-day rendered more intolerable by the jubilant +shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully +remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my +right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the +roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their +wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason +most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before +God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is +AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see this day and its popular +characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there, +identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I +do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character +and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on +this Fourth of July. Whether we turn to the declarations of the +past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the +nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to +the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be +false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and +bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity +which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in +the name of the constitution and the bible, which are disregarded +and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with +all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to +perpetuate slavery--the great sin and shame of America! "I will +not equivocate; I will not excuse;" I will use the severest +language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that +any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is +not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and +just. +<351> + +But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in +this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to +make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue +more, and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, +your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, +where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in +the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch +of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I +undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is +conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves +acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. +They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of +the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the state of +Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how +ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while +only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to the +like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgement that the +slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being. The +manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact +that southern statute books are covered with enactments +forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the +slave to read or write. When you can point to any such laws, in +reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue +the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when +the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the +fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to +distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you +that the slave is a man! + +For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the +Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, +planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, +erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in +metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that, while we +are reading, writing, and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants, +and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, +poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that, while we +are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men-- +digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, +feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, +thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and +children, and, above all, confessing and worshiping the +Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality +beyond the grave--we are called upon to prove that we are men! + +Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he +is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared +it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a +question for republicans? <352>Is it to be settled by the rules +of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great +difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of +justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day in the +presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to +show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it +relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do +so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to +your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of +heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for _him_. + +What! am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob +them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them +ignorant of their relations to their fellow-men, to beat them +with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their +limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at +auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to +burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to +their masters? Must I argue that a system, thus marked with +blood and stained with pollution, is wrong? No; I will not. I +have better employment for my time and strength than such +arguments would imply. + +What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not +divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of +divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That +which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a +proposition! They that can, may! I cannot. The time for such +argument is past. + +At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is +needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's +ear, I would to-day pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, +blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it +is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle +shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the +earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the +conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the +nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be +exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed +and denounced. + +What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a +day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, +the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant +victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted +liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling +vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your +denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of +liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, +your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade +and solemnity, <353>are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, +impiety, and hypocrisy--a thin veil to cover up crimes which +would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the +earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody, than are the +people of these United States, at this very hour. + +Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the +monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South +America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the +last, lay your facts by the side of the every-day practices of +this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting +barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a +rival. + + +THE INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE. + +_Extract from an Oration, at Rochester, July 5, 1852_ + + +Take the American slave trade, which, we are told by the papers, +is especially prosperous just now. Ex-senator Benton tells us +that the price of men was never higher than now. He mentions the +fact to show that slavery is in no danger. This trade is one of +the peculiarities of American institutions. It is carried on in +all the large towns and cities in one-half of this confederacy; +and millions are pocketed every year by dealers in this horrid +traffic. In several states this trade is a chief source of +wealth. It is called (in contradistinction to the foreign slave +trade) _"the internal slave trade_." It is, probably, called so, +too, in order to divert from it the horror with which the foreign +slave trade is contemplated. That trade has long since been +denounced by this government as piracy. It has been denounced +with burning words, from the high places of the nation, as an +execrable traffic. To arrest it, to put an end to it, this +nation keeps a squadron, at immense cost, on the coast of Africa. +Everywhere in this country, it is safe to speak of this foreign +slave trade as a most inhuman traffic, opposed alike to the laws +of God and of man. The duty to extirpate and destroy it is +admitted even by our _doctors of divinity_. In order to put an +end to it, some of these last have consented that their colored +brethren (nominally free) should leave this country, and +establish themselves on the western coast of Africa. It is, +however, a notable fact, that, while so much execration is poured +out by Americans, upon those engaged in the foreign slave trade, +the men engaged in the slave trade between the states pass +without condemnation, and their business is deemed honorable. + +Behold the practical operation of this internal slave trade--the +American slave trade sustained by American politics and American +religion! Here you will see men and women reared like swine for +the market. You know what is a swine-drover? I will show you a +man-drover. They inhabit all our southern states. They +perambulate the country, and crowd the <355>highways of the +nation with droves of human stock. You will see one of these +human-flesh-jobbers, armed with pistol, whip, and bowie-knife, +driving a company of a hundred men, women, and children, from the +Potomac to the slave market at New Orleans. These wretched +people are to be sold singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers. +They are food for the cotton-field and the deadly sugar-mill. +Mark the sad procession as it moves wearily along, and the +inhuman wretch who drives them. Hear his savage yells and his +blood-chilling oaths, as he hurries on his affrighted captives. +There, see the old man, with locks thinned and gray. Cast one +glance, if you please, upon that young mother, whose shoulders +are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the +brow of the babe in her arms. See, too, that girl of thirteen, +weeping, yes, weeping, as she thinks of the mother from whom she +has been torn. The drove moves tardily. Heat and sorrow have +nearly consumed their strength. Suddenly you hear a quick snap, +like the discharge of a rifle; the fetters clank, and the chain +rattles simultaneously; your ears are saluted with a scream that +seems to have torn its way to the center of your soul. The crack +you heard was the sound of the slave whip; the scream you heard +was from the woman you saw with the babe. Her speed had faltered +under the weight of her child and her chains; that gash on her +shoulder tells her to move on. Follow this drove to New Orleans. +Attend the auction; see men examined like horses; see the forms +of women rudely and brutally exposed to the shocking gaze of +American slave-buyers. See this drove sold and separated +forever; and never forget the deep, sad sobs that arose from that +scattered multitude. Tell me, citizens, where, under the sun, +can you witness a spectacle more fiendish and shocking. Yet this +is but a glance at the American slave trade, as it exists at this +moment, in the ruling part of the United States. + +I was born amid such sights and scenes. To me the American slave +trade is a terrible reality. When a child, my soul was often +pierced with a sense of its horrors. I lived on Philpot street, +Fell's Point, Baltimore, and have watched from the wharves the +slave ships in the basin, anchored from the shore, with their +cargoes of human flesh, waiting for favorable winds to waft them +down the Chesapeake. There was, at that time, a grand slave mart +kept at the head of Pratt street, by Austin Woldfolk. His agents +were sent into every town and county in Maryland, announcing +their arrival through the papers, and on flaming hand-bills, +headed, "cash for negroes." These men were generally well +dressed, and very captivating in their manners; ever ready to +drink, to treat, and to gamble. The fate <356>of many a slave +has depended upon the turn of a single card; and many a child has +been snatched from the arms of its mothers by bargains arranged +in a state of brutal drunkenness. + +The flesh-mongers gather up their victims by dozens, and drive +them, chained, to the general depot at Baltimore. When a +sufficient number have been collected here, a ship is chartered, +for the purpose of conveying the forlorn crew to Mobile or to New +Orleans. From the slave-prison to the ship, they are usually +driven in the darkness of night; for since the anti-slavery +agitation a certain caution is observed. + +In the deep, still darkness of midnight, I have been often +aroused by the dead, heavy footsteps and the piteous cries of the +chained gangs that passed our door. The anguish of my boyish +heart was intense; and I was often consoled, when speaking to my +mistress in the morning, to hear her say that the custom was very +wicked; that she hated to hear the rattle of the chains, and the +heart-rending cries. I was glad to find one who sympathized with +me in my horror. + +Fellow citizens, this murderous traffic is to-day in active +operation in this boasted republic. In the solitude of my +spirit, I see clouds of dust raised on the highways of the south; +I see the bleeding footsteps; I hear the doleful wail of fettered +humanity, on the way to the slave markets, where the victims are +to be sold like horses, sheep, and swine, knocked off to the +highest bidder. There I see the tenderest ties ruthlessly +broken, to gratify the lust, caprice, and rapacity of the buyers +and sellers of men. My soul sickens at the sight. + + _Is this the land your fathers loved? + The freedom which they toiled to win? + Is this the earth whereon they moved? + Are these the graves they slumber in?_ + + +But a still more inhuman, disgraceful, and scandalous state of +things remains to be presented. By an act of the American +congress, not yet two years old, slavery has been nationalized in +its most horrible and revolting form. By that act, Mason and +Dixon's line has been obliterated; New York has become as +Virginia; and the power to hold, hunt, and sell men, women, and +children as slaves, remains no longer a mere state institution, +but is now an institution of the whole United States. The power +is coextensive with the star-spangled banner and American +christianity. Where these go, may also go the merciless slave- +hunter. Where these are, man is not sacred. He is a bird for +the sportsman's gun. By that most foul and fiendish of all human +decrees, the liberty and person of every man are <357>put in +peril. Your broad republican domain is a hunting-ground for +_men_. Not for thieves and robbers, enemies of society, merely, +but for men guilty of no crime. Your law-makers have commanded +all good citizens to engage in this hellish sport. Your +president, your secretary of state, your lords, nobles, and +ecclesiastics, enforce as a duty you owe to your free and +glorious country and to your God, that you do this accursed +thing. Not fewer than forty Americans have within the past two +years been hunted down, and without a moment's warning, hurried +away in chains, and consigned to slavery and excruciating +torture. Some of these have had wives and children dependent on +them for bread; but of this no account was made. The right of +the hunter to his prey, stands superior to the right of marriage, +and to _all_ rights in this republic, the rights of God included! +For black men there are neither law, justice, humanity, nor +religion. The fugitive slave law makes MERCY TO THEM A CRIME; +and bribes the judge who tries them. An American judge GETS TEN +DOLLARS FOR EVERY VICTIM HE CONSIGNS to slavery, and five, when +he fails to do so. The oath of an{sic} two villains is +sufficient, under this hell-black enactment, to send the most +pious and exemplary black man into the remorseless jaws of +slavery! His own testimony is nothing. He can bring no +witnesses for himself. The minister of American justice is bound +by the law to hear but _one side_, and that side is the side of +the oppressor. Let this damning fact be perpetually told. Let +it be thundered around the world, that, in tyrant-killing, king +hating, people-loving, democratic, Christian America, the seats +of justice are filled with judges, who hold their office under an +open and palpable _bribe_, and are bound, in deciding in the case +of a man's liberty, _to hear only his accusers!_ + +In glaring violation of justice, in shameless disregard of the +forms of administering law, in cunning arrangement to entrap the +defenseless, and in diabolical intent, this fugitive slave law +stands alone in the annals of tyrannical legislation. I doubt if +there be another nation on the globe having the brass and the +baseness to put such a law on the statute-book. If any man in +this assembly thinks differently from me in this matter, and +feels able to disprove my statements, I will gladly confront him +at any suitable time and place he may select. + + + +THE SLAVERY PARTY + +_Extract from a Speech Delivered before the A. A. S. Society, in +New York, May, 1853_ + + +Sir, it is evident that there is in this country a purely slavery +party--a party which exists for no other earthly purpose but to +promote the interests of slavery. The presence of this party is +felt everywhere in the republic. It is known by no particular +name, and has assumed no definite shape; but its branches reach +far and wide in the church and in the state. This shapeless and +nameless party is not intangible in other and more important +respects. That party, sir, has determined upon a fixed, +definite, and comprehensive policy toward the whole colored +population of the United States. What that policy is, it becomes +us as abolitionists, and especially does it become the colored +people themselves, to consider and to understand fully. We ought +to know who our enemies are, where they are, and what are their +objects and measures. Well, sir, here is my version of it--not +original with me--but mine because I hold it to be true. + +I understand this policy to comprehend five cardinal objects. +They are these: 1st. The complete suppression of all anti-slavery +discussion. 2d. The expatriation of the entire free people of +color from the United States. 3d. The unending perpetuation of +slavery in this republic. 4th. The nationalization of slavery to +the extent of making slavery respected in every state of the +Union. 5th. The extension of slavery over Mexico and the entire +South American states. + +Sir, these objects are forcibly presented to us in the stern +logic of passing events; in the facts which are and have been +passing around us during the last three years. The country has +been and is now dividing on these grand issues. In their +magnitude, these issues cast all others into the shade, depriving +them of all life and vitality. Old party ties are broken. Like +is finding its like on either side of these great issues, and the +great battle is at hand. For the present, the best +representative of the slavery party in politics is the democratic +party. Its great head for the <359>present is President Pierce, +whose boast it was, before his election, that his whole life had +been consistent with the interests of slavery, that he is above +reproach on that score. In his inaugural address, he reassures +the south on this point. Well, the head of the slave power being +in power, it is natural that the pro slavery elements should +cluster around the administration, and this is rapidly being +done. A fraternization is going on. The stringent +protectionists and the free-traders strike hands. The supporters +of Fillmore are becoming the supporters of Pierce. The silver- +gray whig shakes hands with the hunker democrat; the former only +differing from the latter in name. They are of one heart, one +mind, and the union is natural and perhaps inevitable. Both hate +Negroes; both hate progress; both hate the "higher law;" both +hate William H. Seward; both hate the free democratic party; and +upon this hateful basis they are forming a union of hatred. +"Pilate and Herod are thus made friends." Even the central organ +of the whig party is extending its beggar hand for a morsel from +the table of slavery democracy, and when spurned from the feast +by the more deserving, it pockets the insult; when kicked on one +side it turns the other, and preseveres in its importunities. +The fact is, that paper comprehends the demands of the times; it +understands the age and its issues; it wisely sees that slavery +and freedom are the great antagonistic forces in the country, and +it goes to its own side. Silver grays and hunkers all understand +this. They are, therefore, rapidly sinking all other questions +to nothing, compared with the increasing demands of slavery. +They are collecting, arranging, and consolidating their forces +for the accomplishment of their appointed work. + +The keystone to the arch of this grand union of the slavery party +of the United States, is the compromise of 1850. In that +compromise we have all the objects of our slaveholding policy +specified. It is, sir, favorable to this view of the designs of +the slave power, that both the whig and the democratic party bent +lower, sunk deeper, and strained harder, in their conventions, +preparatory to the late presidential election, to meet the +demands of the slavery party than at any previous time in their +history. Never did parties come before the northern people with +propositions of such undisguised contempt for the moral sentiment +and the religious ideas of that people. They virtually asked +them to unite in a war upon free speech, and upon conscience, and +to drive the Almighty presence from the councils of the nation. +Resting their platforms upon the fugitive slave bill, they boldly +asked the people for political power to execute the horrible and +hell-black provisions of that bill. The history of that election +reveals, with great clearness, the extent to which <360>slavery +has shot its leprous distillment through the life-blood of the +nation. The party most thoroughly opposed to the cause of +justice and humanity, triumphed; while the party suspected of a +leaning toward liberty, was overwhelmingly defeated, some say +annihilated. + +But here is a still more important fact, illustrating the designs +of the slave power. It is a fact full of meaning, that no sooner +did the democratic slavery party come into power, than a system +of legislation was presented to the legislatures of the northern +states, designed to put the states in harmony with the fugitive +slave law, and the malignant bearing of the national government +toward the colored inhabitants of the country. This whole +movement on the part of the states, bears the evidence of having +one origin, emanating from one head, and urged forward by one +power. It was simultaneous, uniform, and general, and looked to +one end. It was intended to put thorns under feet already +bleeding; to crush a people already bowed down; to enslave a +people already but half free; in a word, it was intended to +discourage, dishearten, and drive the free colored people out of +the country. In looking at the recent black law of Illinois, one +is struck dumb with its enormity. It would seem that the men who +enacted that law, had not only banished from their minds all +sense of justice, but all sense of shame. It coolly proposes to +sell the bodies and souls of the blacks to increase the +intelligence and refinement of the whites; to rob every black +stranger who ventures among them, to increase their literary +fund. + +While this is going on in the states, a pro-slavery, political +board of health is established at Washington. Senators Hale, +Chase, and Sumner are robbed of a part of their senatorial +dignity and consequence as representing sovereign states, because +they have refused to be inoculated with the slavery virus. Among +the services which a senator is expected by his state to perform, +are many that can only be done efficiently on committees; and, in +saying to these honorable senators, you shall not serve on the +committees of this body, the slavery party took the +responsibility of robbing and insulting the states that sent +them. It is an attempt at Washington to decide for the states +who shall be sent to the senate. Sir, it strikes me that this +aggression on the part of the slave power did not meet at the +hands of the proscribed senators the rebuke which we had a right +to expect would be administered. It seems to me that an +opportunity was lost, that the great principle of senatorial +equality was left undefended, at a time when its vindication was +sternly demanded. But it is not to the purpose of my present +statement to criticise the conduct of our friends. I am +persuaded that much ought to be left to the discretion of +<361>anti slavery men in congress, and charges of recreancy +should never be made but on the most sufficient grounds. For, of +all the places in the world where an anti-slavery man needs the +confidence and encouragement of friends, I take Washington to be +that place. + +Let me now call attention to the social influences which are +operating and cooperating with the slavery party of the country, +designed to contribute to one or all of the grand objects aimed +at by that party. We see here the black man attacked in his +vital interests; prejudice and hate are excited against him; +enmity is stirred up between him and other laborers. The Irish +people, warm-hearted, generous, and sympathizing with the +oppressed everywhere, when they stand upon their own green +island, are instantly taught, on arriving in this Christian +country, to hate and despise the colored people. They are taught +to believe that we eat the bread which of right belongs to them. +The cruel lie is told the Irish, that our adversity is essential +to their prosperity. Sir, the Irish-American will find out his +mistake one day. He will find that in assuming our avocation he +also has assumed our degradation. But for the present we are +sufferers. The old employments by which we have heretofore +gained our livelihood, are gradually, and it may be inevitably, +passing into other hands. Every hour sees us elbowed out of some +employment to make room perhaps for some newly-arrived emigrants, +whose hunger and color are thought to give them a title to +especial favor. White men are becoming house-servants, cooks, +and stewards, common laborers, and flunkeys to our gentry, and, +for aught I see, they adjust themselves to their stations with +all becoming obsequiousness. This fact proves that if we cannot +rise to the whites, the whites can fall to us. Now, sir, look +once more. While the colored people are thus elbowed out of +employment; while the enmity of emigrants is being excited +against us; while state after state enacts laws against us; while +we are hunted down, like wild game, and oppressed with a general +feeling of insecurity--the American colonization society--that +old offender against the best interests and slanderer of the +colored people--awakens to new life, and vigorously presses its +scheme upon the consideration of the people and the government. +New papers are started--some for the north and some for the +south--and each in its tone adapting itself to its latitude. +Government, state and national, is called upon for appropriations +to enable the society to send us out of the country by steam! +They want steamers to carry letters and Negroes to Africa. +Evidently, this society looks upon our "extremity as its +opportunity," and we may expect that it will use the occasion +well. They do not deplore, but glory, in our misfortunes. +<362> + +But, sir, I must hasten. I have thus briefly given my view of +one aspect of the present condition and future prospects of the +colored people of the United States. And what I have said is far +from encouraging to my afflicted people. I have seen the cloud +gather upon the sable brows of some who hear me. I confess the +case looks black enough. Sir, I am not a hopeful man. I think I +am apt even to undercalculate the benefits of the future. Yet, +sir, in this seemingly desperate case, I do not despair for my +people. There is a bright side to almost every picture of this +kind; and ours is no exception to the general rule. If the +influences against us are strong, those for us are also strong. +To the inquiry, will our enemies prevail in the execution of +their designs. In my God and in my soul, I believe they _will +not_. Let us look at the first object sought for by the slavery +party of the country, viz: the suppression of anti slavery +discussion. They desire to suppress discussion on this subject, +with a view to the peace of the slaveholder and the security of +slavery. Now, sir, neither the principle nor the subordinate +objects here declared, can be at all gained by the slave power, +and for this reason: It involves the proposition to padlock the +lips of the whites, in order to secure the fetters on the limbs +of the blacks. The right of speech, precious and priceless, +_cannot, will not_, be surrendered to slavery. Its suppression +is asked for, as I have said, to give peace and security to +slaveholders. Sir, that thing cannot be done. God has +interposed an insuperable obstacle to any such result. "There +can be _no peace_, saith my God, to the wicked." Suppose it were +possible to put down this discussion, what would it avail the +guilty slaveholder, pillowed as he is upon heaving bosoms of +ruined souls? He could not have a peaceful spirit. If every +anti-slavery tongue in the nation were silent--every anti-slavery +organization dissolved--every anti-slavery press demolished-- +every anti slavery periodical, paper, book, pamphlet, or what +not, were searched out, gathered, deliberately burned to ashes, +and their ashes given to the four winds of heaven, still, still +the slaveholder could have _"no peace_." In every pulsation of +his heart, in every throb of his life, in every glance of his +eye, in the breeze that soothes, and in the thunder that +startles, would be waked up an accuser, whose cause is, "Thou +art, verily, guilty concerning thy brother." + + +THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT + +_Extracts from a Lecture before Various Anti-Slavery Bodies, in +the Winter of 1855_ + + +A grand movement on the part of mankind, in any direction, or for +any purpose, moral or political, is an interesting fact, fit and +proper to be studied. It is such, not only for those who eagerly +participate in it, but also for those who stand aloof from it-- +even for those by whom it is opposed. I take the anti-slavery +movement to be such an one, and a movement as sublime and +glorious in its character, as it is holy and beneficent in the +ends it aims to accomplish. At this moment, I deem it safe to +say, it is properly engrossing more minds in this country than +any other subject now before the American people. The late John +C. Calhoun--one of the mightiest men that ever stood up in the +American senate--did not deem it beneath him; and he probably +studied it as deeply, though not as honestly, as Gerrit Smith, or +William Lloyd Garrison. He evinced the greatest familiarity with +the subject; and the greatest efforts of his last years in the +senate had direct reference to this movement. His eagle eye +watched every new development connected with it; and he was ever +prompt to inform the south of every important step in its +progress. He never allowed himself to make light of it; but +always spoke of it and treated it as a matter of grave import; +and in this he showed himself a master of the mental, moral, and +religious constitution of human society. Daniel Webster, too, in +the better days of his life, before he gave his assent to the +fugitive slave bill, and trampled upon all his earlier and better +convictions--when his eye was yet single--he clearly comprehended +the nature of the elements involved in this movement; and in his +own majestic eloquence, warned the south, and the country, to +have a care how they attempted to put it down. He is an +illustration that it is easier to give, than to take, good +advice. To these two men--the greatest men to whom the nation +has yet given birth--may be traced the two great facts of the +present--the south triumphant, and the north humbled. <364>Their +names may stand thus--Calhoun and domination--Webster and +degradation. Yet again. If to the enemies of liberty this +subject is one of engrossing interest, vastly more so should it +be such to freedom's friends. The latter, it leads to the gates +of all valuable knowledge--philanthropic, ethical, and religious; +for it brings them to the study of man, wonderfully and fearfully +made--the proper study of man through all time--the open book, in +which are the records of time and eternity. + +Of the existence and power of the anti-slavery movement, as a +fact, you need no evidence. The nation has seen its face, and +felt the controlling pressure of its hand. You have seen it +moving in all directions, and in all weathers, and in all places, +appearing most where desired least, and pressing hardest where +most resisted. No place is exempt. The quiet prayer meeting, +and the stormy halls of national debate, share its presence +alike. It is a common intruder, and of course has the name of +being ungentlemanly. Brethren who had long sung, in the most +affectionate fervor, and with the greatest sense of security, + + _Together let us sweetly live--together let us die,_ + +have been suddenly and violently separated by it, and ranged in +hostile attitude toward each other. The Methodist, one of the +most powerful religious organizations of this country, has been +rent asunder, and its strongest bolts of denominational +brotherhood started at a single surge. It has changed the tone +of the northern pulpit, and modified that of the press. A +celebrated divine, who, four years ago, was for flinging his own +mother, or brother, into the remorseless jaws of the monster +slavery, lest he should swallow up the Union, now recognizes +anti-slavery as a characteristic of future civilization. Signs +and wonders follow this movement; and the fact just stated is one +of them. Party ties are loosened by it; and men are compelled to +take sides for or against it, whether they will or not. Come +from where he may, or come for what he may, he is compelled to +show his hand. What is this mighty force? What is its history? +and what is its destiny? Is it ancient or modern, transient or +permanent? Has it turned aside, like a stranger and a sojourner, +to tarry for a night? or has it come to rest with us forever? +Excellent chances are here for speculation; and some of them are +quite profound. We might, for instance, proceed to inquire not +only into the philosophy of the anti-slavery movement, but into +the philosophy of the law, in obedience to which that movement +started into existence. We might demand to know what is that law +or power, which, at different times, disposes the minds of men to +this or that particular object--now for peace, and now for war-- +now for free<365>dom, and now for slavery; but this profound +question I leave to the abolitionists of the superior class to +answer. The speculations which must precede such answer, would +afford, perhaps, about the same satisfaction as the learned +theories which have rained down upon the world, from time to +time, as to the origin of evil. I shall, therefore, avoid water +in which I cannot swim, and deal with anti-slavery as a fact, +like any other fact in the history of mankind, capable of being +described and understood, both as to its internal forces, and its +external phases and relations. + +[After an eloquent, a full, and highly interesting exposition of +the nature, character, and history of the anti-slavery movement, +from the insertion of which want of space precludes us, he +concluded in the following happy manner.] + +Present organizations may perish, but the cause will go on. That +cause has a life, distinct and independent of the organizations +patched up from time to time to carry it forward. Looked at, +apart from the bones and sinews and body, it is a thing immortal. +It is the very essence of justice, liberty, and love. The moral +life of human society, it cannot die while conscience, honor, and +humanity remain. If but one be filled with it, the cause lives. +Its incarnation in any one individual man, leaves the whole world +a priesthood, occupying the highest moral eminence even that of +disinterested benevolence. Whoso has ascended his height, and +has the grace to stand there, has the world at his feet, and is +the world's teacher, as of divine right. He may set in judgment +on the age, upon the civilization of the age, and upon the +religion of the age; for he has a test, a sure and certain test, +by which to try all institutions, and to measure all men. I say, +he may do this, but this is not the chief business for which he +is qualified. The great work to which he is called is not that +of judgment. Like the Prince of Peace, he may say, if I judge, I +judge righteous judgment; still mainly, like him, he may say, +this is not his work. The man who has thoroughly embraced the +principles of justice, love, and liberty, like the true preacher +of Christianity, is less anxious to reproach the world of its +sins, than to win it to repentance. His great work on earth is +to exemplify, and to illustrate, and to ingraft those principles +upon the living and practical understandings of all men within +the reach of his influence. This is his work; long or short his +years, many or few his adherents, powerful or weak his +instrumentalities, through good report, or through bad report, +this is his work. It is to snatch from the bosom of nature the +latent facts of each individual man's experience, and with steady +hand to hold them up fresh and glowing, enforeing, with all his +power, their acknowledgment and practical adoption. If there be +but _one_ <366>such man in the land, no matter what becomes of +abolition societies and parties, there will be an anti-slavery +cause, and an anti-slavery movement. Fortunately for that cause, +and fortunately for him by whom it is espoused, it requires no +extraordinary amount of talent to preach it or to receive it when +preached. The grand secret of its power is, that each of its +principles is easily rendered appreciable to the faculty of +reason in man, and that the most unenlightened conscience has no +difficulty in deciding on which side to register its testimony. +It can call its preachers from among the fishermen, and raise +them to power. In every human breast, it has an advocate which +can be silent only when the heart is dead. It comes home to +every man's understanding, and appeals directly to every man's +conscience. A man that does not recognize and approve for +himself the rights and privileges contended for, in behalf of the +American slave, has not yet been found. In whatever else men may +differ, they are alike in the apprehension of their natural and +personal rights. The difference between abolitionists and those +by whom they are opposed, is not as to principles. All are +agreed in respect to these. The manner of applying them is the +point of difference. + +The slaveholder himself, the daily robber of his equal brother, +discourses eloquently as to the excellency of justice, and the +man who employs a brutal driver to flay the flesh of his negroes, +is not offended when kindness and humanity are commended. Every +time the abolitionist speaks of justice, the anti-abolitionist +assents says, yes, I wish the world were filled with a +disposition to render to every man what is rightfully due him; I +should then get what is due me. That's right; let us have +justice. By all means, let us have justice. Every time the +abolitionist speaks in honor of human liberty, he touches a chord +in the heart of the anti-abolitionist, which responds in +harmonious vibrations. Liberty--yes, that is evidently my right, +and let him beware who attempts to invade or abridge that right. +Every time he speaks of love, of human brotherhood, and the +reciprocal duties of man and man, the anti-abolitionist assents-- +says, yes, all right--all true--we cannot have such ideas too +often, or too fully expressed. So he says, and so he feels, and +only shows thereby that he is a man as well as an anti- +abolitionist. You have only to keep out of sight the manner of +applying your principles, to get them endorsed every time. +Contemplating himself, he sees truth with absolute clearness and +distinctness. He only blunders when asked to lose sight of +himself. In his own cause he can beat a Boston lawyer, but he is +dumb when asked to plead the cause of others. He knows very well +whatsoever he would have done unto himself, but is quite in doubt +as to having the <367>same thing done unto others. It is just +here, that lions spring up in the path of duty, and the battle +once fought in heaven is refought on the earth. So it is, so +hath it ever been, and so must it ever be, when the claims of +justice and mercy make their demand at the door of human +selfishness. Nevertheless, there is that within which ever +pleads for the right and the just. + +In conclusion, I have taken a sober view of the present anti- +slavery movement. I am sober, but not hopeless. There is no +denying, for it is everywhere admitted, that the anti-slavery +question is the great moral and social question now before the +American people. A state of things has gradually been developed, +by which that question has become the first thing in order. It +must be met. Herein is my hope. The great idea of impartial +liberty is now fairly before the American people. Anti-slavery +is no longer a thing to be prevented. The time for prevention is +past. This is great gain. When the movement was younger and +weaker--when it wrought in a Boston garret to human apprehension, +it might have been silently put out of the way. Things are +different now. It has grown too large--its friends are too +numerous--its facilities too abundant--its ramifications too +extended--its power too omnipotent, to be snuffed out by the +contingencies of infancy. A thousand strong men might be struck +down, and its ranks still be invincible. One flash from the +heart-supplied intellect of Harriet Beecher Stowe could light a +million camp fires in front of the embattled host of slavery, +which not all the waters of the Mississippi, mingled as they are +with blood, could extinguish. The present will be looked to by +after coming generations, as the age of anti-slavery literature-- +when supply on the gallop could not keep pace with the ever +growing demand--when a picture of a Negro on the cover was a help +to the sale of a book--when conservative lyceums and other +American literary associations began first to select their +orators for distinguished occasions from the ranks of the +previously despised abolitionists. If the anti-slavery movement +shall fail now, it will not be from outward opposition, but from +inward decay. Its auxiliaries are everywhere. Scholars, +authors, orators, poets, and statesmen give it their aid. The +most brilliant of American poets volunteer in its service. +Whittier speaks in burning verse to more than thirty thousand, in +the National Era. Your own Longfellow whispers, in every hour of +trial and disappointment, "labor and wait." James Russell Lowell +is reminding us that "men are more than institutions." Pierpont +cheers the heart of the pilgrim in search of liberty, by singing +the praises of "the north star." Bryant, too, is with us; and +though chained to the car of party, and dragged on amidst a whirl +of <368>political excitement, he snatches a moment for letting +drop a smiling verse of sympathy for the man in chains. The +poets are with us. It would seem almost absurd to say it, +considering the use that has been made of them, that we have +allies in the Ethiopian songs; those songs that constitute our +national music, and without which we have no national music. +They are heart songs, and the finest feelings of human nature are +expressed in them. "Lucy Neal," "Old Kentucky Home," and "Uncle +Ned," can make the heart sad as well as merry, and can call forth +a tear as well as a smile. They awaken the sympathies for the +slave, in which antislavery principles take root, grow, and +flourish. In addition to authors, poets, and scholars at home, +the moral sense of the civilized world is with us. England, +France, and Germany, the three great lights of modern +civilization, are with us, and every American traveler learns to +regret the existence of slavery in his country. The growth of +intelligence, the influence of commerce, steam, wind, and +lightning are our allies. It would be easy to amplify this +summary, and to swell the vast conglomeration of our material +forces; but there is a deeper and truer method of measuring the +power of our cause, and of comprehending its vitality. This is +to be found in its accordance with the best elements of human +nature. It is beyond the power of slavery to annihilate +affinities recognized and established by the Almighty. The slave +is bound to mankind by the powerful and inextricable net-work of +human brotherhood. His voice is the voice of a man, and his cry +is the cry of a man in distress, and man must cease to be man +before he can become insensible to that cry. It is the righteous +of the cause--the humanity of the cause--which constitutes its +potency. As one genuine bankbill is worth more than a thousand +counterfeits, so is one man, with right on his side, worth more +than a thousand in the wrong. "One may chase a thousand, and put +ten thousand to flight." It is, therefore, upon the goodness of +our cause, more than upon all other auxiliaries, that we depend +for its final triumph. + +Another source of congratulations is the fact that, amid all the +efforts made by the church, the government, and the people at +large, to stay the onward progress of this movment, its course +has been onward, steady, straight, unshaken, and unchecked from +the beginning. Slavery has gained victories large and numerous; +but never as against this movement--against a temporizing policy, +and against northern timidity, the slave power has been +victorious; but against the spread and prevalence in the country, +of a spirit of resistance to its aggression, and of sentiments +favorable to its entire overthrow, it has yet accomplished +nothing. Every measure, yet devised and executed, having for its +object the suppression <369>of anti-slavery, has been as idle and +fruitless as pouring oil to extinguish fire. A general rejoicing +took place on the passage of "the compromise measures" of 1850. +Those measures were called peace measures, and were afterward +termed by both the great parties of the country, as well as by +leading statesmen, a final settlement of the whole question of +slavery; but experience has laughed to scorn the wisdom of pro- +slavery statesmen; and their final settlement of agitation seems +to be the final revival, on a broader and grander scale than ever +before, of the question which they vainly attempted to suppress +forever. The fugitive slave bill has especially been of positive +service to the anti-slavery movement. It has illustrated before +all the people the horrible character of slavery toward the +slave, in hunting him down in a free state, and tearing him away +from wife and children, thus setting its claims higher than +marriage or parental claims. It has revealed the arrogant and +overbearing spirit of the slave states toward the free states; +despising their principles--shocking their feelings of humanity, +not only by bringing before them the abominations of slavery, but +by attempting to make them parties to the crime. It has called +into exercise among the colored people, the hunted ones, a spirit +of manly resistance well calculated to surround them with a +bulwark of sympathy and respect hitherto unknown. For men are +always disposed to respect and defend rights, when the victims of +oppression stand up manfully for themselves. + +There is another element of power added to the anti-slavery +movement, of great importance; it is the conviction, becoming +every day more general and universal, that slavery must be +abolished at the south, or it will demoralize and destroy liberty +at the north. It is the nature of slavery to beget a state of +things all around it favorable to its own continuance. This +fact, connected with the system of bondage, is beginning to be +more fully realized. The slave-holder is not satisfied to +associate with men in the church or in the state, unless he can +thereby stain them with the blood of his slaves. To be a slave- +holder is to be a propagandist from necessity; for slavery can +only live by keeping down the under-growth morality which nature +supplies. Every new-born white babe comes armed from the Eternal +presence, to make war on slavery. The heart of pity, which would +melt in due time over the brutal chastisements it sees inflicted +on the helpless, must be hardened. And this work goes on every +day in the year, and every hour in the day. + +What is done at home is being done also abroad here in the north. +And even now the question may be asked, have we at this moment a +single free state in the Union? The alarm at this point will +become more general. <370>The slave power must go on in its +career of exactions. Give, give, will be its cry, till the +timidity which concedes shall give place to courage, which shall +resist. Such is the voice of experience, such has been the past, +such is the present, and such will be that future, which, so sure +as man is man, will come. Here I leave the subject; and I leave +off where I began, consoling myself and congratulating the +friends of freedom upon the fact that the anti-slavery cause is +not a new thing under the sun; not some moral delusion which a +few years' experience may dispel. It has appeared among men in +all ages, and summoned its advocates from all ranks. Its +foundations are laid in the deepest and holiest convictions, and +from whatever soul the demon, selfishness, is expelled, there +will this cause take up its abode. Old as the everlasting hills; +immovable as the throne of God; and certain as the purposes of +eternal power, against all hinderances, and against all delays, +and despite all the mutations of human instrumentalities, it is +the faith of my soul, that this anti-slavery cause will triumph. + + +[The end] + |