Chapter XX: Part I (4)

Cependant l'obstacle présenté par les citoyens de New-Yorck, est moins difficile à vaincre. En admenttant le principe de la nécessité d'un dédommagement donné aux maîtres pour les nègres à affranchir, et en évaluant chaque nègre à cent trente dollars, la somme totale ne serait que de trois millions de dollars.

Ce prix serait encore susceptible de reduction, par le puissant motif d'intérêt et d'honneur public auquel chaque membre de la société doit faire des sacrifices.

La question de la propriété des enfans à naître ne tiendrait pas à un quart-d'heure de discussion, si elle était agitée devant la legislature; enfin cet affranchissement qui ne devrait être fait que par degrés, coûterait à l'État des sacrifices moins grands encore, et dont la succession les rendrait presqu'imperceptibles aux finances de l'État, qui ne pourraient d'ailleurs avoir un plus saint emploi.

A New-Yorck comme ailleurs, l'affranchissement des nègres doit avoir pour but le bonheur de l'État, son bon ordre, le bonheur même des nègres qu'on veut affranchir. Un affranchissement trop prompt, trop subitement général, manquerait ces differens buts de premiere nécessité. Je ne répéterai pas ici ce que j'ai dit ailleurs à cet égard, et ce que tant d'autres ont dit avant moi. La dépense pour l'État serait donc réduite à de bien petites sommes, en les comparant avec l'utilité et le devoir de cette opération. Mais tant que l'État de New-Yorck, entouré des exemples du Connecticut, du Massachusetts et de Pensylvanie, ne fait rien qui conduise à cette libération, tant qu'il semble approuver par le silence ou les refus de sa legislature, la permanence de l'esclavage, il laisse sa constitution et ses loix flétries d'une tâche que l'on peut, sans exageration, dire deshonorante, puisqu'elle ne peut être excusée, ni palliée, par aucune des circonstances où se trouve cet État.

L'importation dans l'État de New-Yorck d'esclaves étrangers est prohibée par la même loi qui confirme l'esclavage de ceux qui y existaient à l'époque où elle a été rendue; ainsi cette disposition de la loi, et la manière douce dont sont traités les esclaves en général, confirment dans l'opinion que l'intérêt pécuniaire, plus qu'une véritable approbation de l'esclavage empêche la legislature de New-Yorck, de procéder à cet égard avec la justice et les lumières qui dirigent généralement ses délibérations.--"_Voyage dans Les États-Unis D'Amerique." Fait en 1795, 1796 et 1797_. Par La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. Tome Septième, 114-119.

OBSERVATIONS SUR L'ESCLAVAGE PAR LA ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIANCOURT

Il est natural de supposer qu'un nègre esclave, fatigué de travail depuis le commencement de l'année jusqu'à la fin, obligé, sous peine du fouet, d'aller aux champs, qu'il soit où non en état de santé, ne voye dans la liberté que la faculté de ne plus travailler. Tant qu'il était esclave, il était plus ou moins mal nourri, mais il l'était sans aucun soin de sa part, et sans qu'un travail plus assidu, plus actif, lui valut une meilleure nourriture ou un meilleur nourriture ou un meilleur vêtement. Le travail n'était donc pour lui qu'une peine, sans être jamais un moyen de bien être, il est donc, il doit donc être paresseux et imprévoyant. Il jouit des premiers momens de sa liberté, en ne travaillant point, car le fouet ne claque plus à ses oreilles; les besoins se font sentir; aucune éducation ne lui a été donnée que celle de l'esclavage, qui enseigne à tromper, à voler, comme à mentir; il cherche à satisfaire ses besoins, auxquels son travail n'a pas pourvu, en dérobant quelques bleds, quelques provisions à ses voisins; il devient recéleur des nègres esclaves.

Tout cela peut et doit être, mais ne doit dégouter de l'affranchissement progressif des nègres que ceux ne veulent pas penser qu'avec des soins préparatoires, et sur-tout des soins généreux qui auraient pour objet une émancipation générale successive, appropriée au nombre des nègres dans le pays, et à plusieurs autres circonstances, la plus grande quantité de ces inconvéniens serait evitée, et le serait totalement pour la génération future si elle ne pouvait l'être pour la présente. Mais comment espérer une philanthropie si prévoyante de ceux qui ne voyent que leur intérêt du moment, et qui le croyent blessé.

Dans L'État de Maryland les esclaves sont jugés par les mêmes tribunaux que les blancs, et comme eux par l'arbitrage des juris. Les punitions pour les noirs sont plus sévères; mais les moeurs sont douces au moins dans la partie du Maryland où je suis a présent, et elles prévalent sur la rigueur des loix. J'ai été témoin d'un fait qui prouve que l'humanité des juges et le désir de rendre une exacte justice les occupent pour les accusés esclaves, comme pour les blancs. Une négresse est en prison, accusée d'avoir voulu empoisonner sa maîtresse et d'avoir empoisonné un enfant. Sa maîtresse est son accusatrice. C'est une femme d'une bonne reputation dans le pays, appartenant à une famille très-etendue dans le comté, et y ayant d'ailleurs beaucoup d'influence; les juges craignant l'effet de cette influence sur les juris, ont profité de la faculté qu'ils out de renvoyer le jugement à la cour générale du district qui se tient à soixante milles de Chester, pour donner à l'accusée toute la chance possible d'un jugement sain et impartial.

Il n'y a encore aucune mesure prise en Maryland pour l'affranchissement progressif des esclaves. Quelques hommes bien intentionnées espèrent amener la legislature dans peu de temps à une démarche à cet égard, mais l'opinion du pays n'y semble pas dispossée. --"_Voyage dans Les États-Unis D'Amerique." Par La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. Tome Sixième, 69-71_.

Les nègres libres se trouvent assez facilement pour le travail des champs. Us coûtent quatre-vingt dollars par an. Les nègres esclaves se louent à cinquante. Quelques planteurs préfèrent des ouvriers blancs et des nègres libres aux esclaves; ils ont moins d'embarras et plus de profit. Les vaches se vendent ici de quinze à vingt dollars, les boeufs quarante, les chevaux pour le labour cent; ceux pour la voiture coutent souvent six cents dollars la paire. Le comté de Kent, dont Chester est le cheflieu, contient treize mille habitans, dont cinq mille six cents sont nègres esclaves; il fournit peu de betail aux marchés de Baltimore et de Philadelphie. Presque tout ce qu'il produit dans ce genre est consommé dans son enciente.--"_Voyage dans Les États-Unis D'Amerique_." Par La Rouchefoucauld-Liancourt. Tome Sixieme, 79-80.

WHAT ISAAC WELD OBSERVED IN SLAVE STATES

"The principal planters in Virginia have nearly every thing they can want on their estates. Amongst the slaves are found tailors, shoe-makers, carpenters, smiths, turners, wheelwrights, weavers, tanners, etc. I have seen patterns of excellent coarse woolen cloth made in the country by slaves, and a variety of cotton manufacturers, amongst the rest good nankeen. Cotton grows here extremely well; the plants are often killed by frost in winter, but they always produce abundantly the first year in which they are sown. The cotton from which nankeen is made is of a particular kind naturally of a yellowish color.

"The large estates are managed by stewards and overseers, the proprietors just amusing themselves with seeing what is going forward. The work is done wholly by slaves, whose numbers are in this part of the country more than double that of white persons. The slaves on the large plantations are in general very well provided for, and treated with mildness. During three months nearly, that I was in Virginia, but two or three instances of ill treatment towards them came under my observation. Their quarters, the name whereby their habitations are called, are usually situated one or two hundred yards from the dwelling house, which gives appearance of a village to the residence of every plantation in Virginia; when the estate, however, is so large as to be divided into several farms, then separate quarters are attached to the house of the overseer on each farm. Adjoining their little habitations, the slaves commonly have small gardens and yards of poultry, which are all of their property; they have ample time to attend to their own concerns, and their gardens are generally found well stocked, and their flocks of poultry numerous. Besides the food they raise for themselves, they are allowed liberal rations of salted pork and Indian corn. Many of their little huts are comfortably furnished, and they are themselves, in general, extremely well clothed. In short their condition is by no means so wretched as might be imagined. They are forced to work certain hours in the day; but in return they are clothed, dieted, and lodged comfortably, and saved all anxiety about provision for their offspring. Still, however, let the condition of the slave be made ever so comfortable, as long as he is conscious of being the property of another man, who has it in his power to dispose of him according to the dictates of caprice; as long as he hears people around him talking about the blessings of liberty, and considers that he is in a state of bondage, it is not to be supposed that he can feel equally happy with the freeman. It is immaterial under what form slavery presents itself, whenever it appears there is ample cause for humanity to weep at the sight, and to lament that men can be found so forgetful of their own situations, as to live regardless of the blessings of their fellow creatures.

"With respect to the policy of holding slaves in any country, on account of the depravity of morals which it necessarily occasions, besides the many other evil consequences attendant upon it, so much has already been said by others, that it is needless here to make comments on the subject.

"The number of the slaves increases most rapidly, so that there is scarcely any state but what is overstocked. This is a circumstance complained of by every planter as the maintenance of more than are requisite for the culture of the estate is attended with great expense. Motives ... of humanity deter them from selling the poor creatures, or turning them adrift from the spot where they have been born and brought up, in the midst of friends and relations.

"What I have here said, respecting the condition and treatment of slaves, appertains, it must be remembered, to those only who are upon the larger plantations in Virginia; the lot of such as are unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the lower class of white people, and of hard task-masters in towns, is very different. In the Carolinas and Georgia again, slavery presents itself in very different colors from what it does even in its worst form in Virginia. I am told that it is no uncommon thing there, to see gangs of negroes staked at a horse race, and to see these unfortunate beings bandied about from one set of drunken gamblers to another for days together. How much to be deprecated are the laws which suffer such abuses to exist! Yet these are the laws enacted by the people who boast of their love of liberty and independence, and who presume to say, that it is in the breasts of Americans alone that the blessings of freedom are held in just estimation."--_Isaac Weld, Jr., "Travels through the States of North America and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada," 1795, 1796, and 1797._ (London, 1799.)

JOHN DAVIS'S THOUGHTS ON SLAVERY

"The negroes on the plantation, including house-servants and children, amounted to a hundred; of whom the average price being respectively seventy pounds, made them aggregately worth seven thousand to their possessor.

"Two families lived in one hut, and such was their unconquerable propensity to steal, that they pilfered from each other. I have heard masters lament this defect in their negroes. But what else can be expected from man in so degraded a condition, that among the ancients the same word implied both a slave and a thief.

"Since the introduction of the culture of cotton in the State of South Carolina, the race of negroes has increased. Both men and women work in the field, and the labour of the rice plantation formerly prevented the pregnant negroes from bringing forth a long-lived offspring. It may be established as a maxim that on a plantation where there are many children, the work has been moderate. . . .

"Of genius in negroes many instances may be recorded. It is true that Mr. Jefferson has pronounced the Poems of Phillis Wheatley, below the dignity of criticism, and it is seldom safe to differ in judgment from the author of Notes on Virginia. But her conceptions are often lofty, and her versification often surpasses with unexpected refinement. Ladd, the Carolina poet, in enumerating the bards of his country, dwells with encomium on "Wheatley's polished verse"; nor is his praise undeserved, for often it will be found to glide in the stream of melody. Her lines on Imagination have been quoted with rapture by Imley of Kentucky, and Steadman the Guinea Traveler; but I have ever thought her happiest production the Goliath of Gath.

"Of Ignatius Sancho, Mr. Jefferson also speaks neglectingly; and remarks, that he substitutes sentiment for argumentation. But I know not that argumentation is required in a familiar epistle; and Sancho, I believe, has only published his correspondence." --John Davis, "_Travels of four years and a half in the United States of America during 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802_," p. 86.

OBSERVATIONS OF ROBERT SUTCLIFF

"I had the curiosity to look into some of their little habitations; but all that I examined were wretched in the extreme and far inferior to many Indian cottages I have seen.

"I slept at C. A.'s and this morning set out for Fredericksburg, being accompanied by his young man, our road lying through the woods the greater part of the way. At the place where we dined, we were waited on by two mulatto girls, whose only clothing appeared to be loose garments of cotton and woollen cloth, girt round the waist with a small cord. I had observed that this was the common dress of the working female negroes in the fields; but when engaged in business in the house it seemed hardly sufficient to cover them. In the yard, I observed a number of slaves engaged in the management of a still, employed in making spirits from cider. Here again I had the curiosity to look into some of the negro huts, which like those I had seen, presented little else but dirt and rags.

"We came to Fredericksburg and lodged at Fisher's Tavern. The next morning I was waked early by the cries of a poor negro, who was undergoing a severe correction, previously to his going to work. On taking a walk on the banks of the Rappahannock, the river on which the town is seated, I stepped into one of the large tobacco warehouses which are built here, for the reception and inspection of that plant before it is permitted to be exported. On entering into conversation with an inspector, as he was employed in looking over a parcel of tobacco, he lamented the licentiousness which he remarked so generally prevailed in this town. He said that in his remembrance, the principal part of the inhabitants were emigrants from Scotland, and that it was considered so reproachful to the white inhabitants, if they were found to have illicit connection with their female slaves, that their neighbors would shun the company of such, as of persons whom it was a reproach to be acquainted. The case was now so much altered that, he believed, there were but few slave holders in the place who were free from guilt in this respect: and that it was now thought but little of. Such was the brutality and hardness of heart which this evil produced, that many amongst them paid no more regard to selling their own children, by their females slaves, or even their brothers and sisters, in the same line, than they would do to the disposal of a cow or a horse, or any other property in the brute creation. To so low a degree of degradation does the system of negro slavery sink the white inhabitants, who are unhappily engaged in it."--Robert Sutcliff, _Travels in some parts of North America in Years 1804, 1805, 1806_, pp. 37-52.

SOME LETTERS OF RICHARD ALLEN AND ABSALOM JONES TO DOROTHY RIPLEY

Philadelphia, 1st, 5th month, 1803.--Naming my concern to some of my solid friends to have a meeting with the Africans, I influenced them to send for Absalom Jones, the Black Bishop, and Richard Allen, the Methodist Episcopal Preacher, who also was a coloured man, and the principal person of that congregation. A. Jones complied with my request, and appointed a meeting for me on first day evening, which was a solid time where many were deeply affected with the softening power of the Lord, who unloosed my tongue to proclaim of his love and goodness to the children of men, without respect to person or nation. There was a respectable number of coloured people, well dressed and very orderly, who conducted themselves as if they were desirous of knowing the mind of the Lord concerning them. The first and greatest commandment of Jesus Christ, the Law-giver, came before me: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind," which I endeavoured to enforce as their duty to their Creator who alone could make them happy by his blessing through their obedience to his lawful command. My own experience of thus loving him, I thought would illustrate it, therefore, added it to shew the possibility of pleasing him, and obtaining his divine favor, which was our interest and duty, as soon as we were able to distinguish right from wrong. To see them have this good house for worship, I told them rejoiced me much, and encouraged such as were servants present to be faithful in their situation, and seek the blessing of God, that at the last they might be happy in the enjoyment of his love forever. Supplicating the Throne of mercy in their behalf, my spirit was deeply humbled, and I felt power to plead with the Father on the account of the Africans every where, who were captivated by the oppressive power of men. When we had separated, my mind was much relieved from the weight which pressed my spirit while I had contemplated the matter, desiring to move by special direction of God.

A Letter which I received from Bethel Church.

"_Madam_,

"I have proposed to the Board of Trustees of Bethel Church your request
respecting your speaking in our Church; they have candidly considered
the same, and after due investigation, the board unanimously concludes,
that as it is diametrically opposite to the letter and spirit of the
rules of society in particular, and the discipline in general of the
Methodist Episcopalian Church, They therefore are sorry to inform you,
that it is not in their power to comply with your request.

"I am, madam,
"With much respect,
"Yours, &c.
"RICHD. ALLEN."

"May 11, 1803."

After R. Allen had sent me this letter by way of denial, the Lord commanded me to "Stand still for I should most assuredly have his place to testify his goodness there." Putting the letter into my pocket, I silently waited for the answer of promise; and while I was thus watching the fulfilment of God's word, there came into my friend's house J. & P. P. two men who enquired if I could not be satisfied without an appointment with R. Allen's people, I said No: for that I believed it was required of me by God. They enquired if I had not received a letter as a denial, which I marvelled at, having shewn it to no person living. I answered their question by handing the letter to them which when they had read it they returned, and signified they would go themselves to see after an opportunity, and obtained permission after the minister had finished his sermon, he being desired to be concise to accomodate a stranger who was then concerned for them. I went to the meeting, or their church, and heard a short methodist sermon, which I thought very instructive, and added thereunto, respecting the conversion of "A man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship." This pleased them so much when it was opened, that they were willing that I should have another meeting on the second day evening at seven, which I attended, and was brought into great difficulty through an intoxicated soldier pressing by the crowd which stood without. A number of friends being there, were unsettled, fearing lest the house would come down upon us, and for my part, I was actually afraid of satan's malice, lest we should perish in this storm which he raised in a moment. The disquietude of the people made me tremble and shake every limb, not knowing what course to betake myself to for the preservation of us each. I therefore gave up speaking: but this only encouraged the accuser of the brethren, who had come there in the hearts of many, as well as in the poor drunkard, who was taken away and confined. Pouring out my soul to God, I vowed to serve him yet more faithfully, if he would quell the rage of the adversary, and cause us to depart in peace; and I was instantly directed to prostrate myself before him, in faith believing that no harm should befall any of us at that time, which doing commanded the care of Almighty God over us, and the blessing of the Most High to rest upon us, continuing wrestling for some time, knowing this was a powerful weapon against satan, for thus interrupting us in our solemn engagement with God. When I had prayed by the aid of his Holy Spirit, which calmed the minds of the people, I thought I would leave the subject until I came back again,[1] and so come suddenly upon the monster, if it was the will of God: but he pretended that he would do terrible things if I came thither again, so I suppose King Apollyon and I shall have a strong battle to combat, before I enter the house of God: for I mean to war with him on his own ground, and gain the victory before I enter there again. Concluding the meeting sooner than was expected, R. Allen stopped the congregation and told them, "It was no new thing which had happened to us then: for in the days of old, when the sons and daughters of God met together, satan presented himself also, to interrupt their peace." I was much pleased to hear what was advanced, as it shewed the preacher (although a coloured man) to have a knowledge of divine things, and able to attack the enemy of our souls in a suitable degree.

Feeling desirous to follow the Shepherd of my soul, and seeing no further work at this time for me, I leave this city in peace, requesting the Lord to bless the seed sown in great weakness, and to water it with the descending showers of his spiritual rain, that the glory may arise to him alone who is worthy to be praised by every creature, but especially by a worm whom he has preserved thus far from the destructive power of sin, and satan. I trust the Lord will repay each here who have contributed to comfort my soul in the day of distress and heavy travail, and I beseech him of his infinite mercy to forgive such as have blindly persecuted me, by saying unjust things of me, which they have reported merely to gratify the curiosity of others, without considering the waste of their precious moments, or that they will be accountable at the last for "Every idle word" that they may speak while on earth, if not repented of, by a gracious visitation of God's humbling power, which they will find painful, when his judgment, takes place in them to weigh all their words, thoughts, and actions.--Philadelphia, 5th month, 1803.

I have been five weeks and four days in New York, and the neighbouring plains, and have met with sympathizing friends to relieve my mind when full of anxious care concerning the vineyard of the Lord.--Several have told me that I was one of those strangers who should feed the flock of Israel by the appointment of God, which revives me when I consider how significant a creature I am in my own eyes.

The yearly meeting was large, and attended by some precious ministers, whose testimonies will cause them to be written on my heart as living epistles. How do I feel myself united with spiritual worshippers, who desire to ascribe all glory to the Father, through the Son's reigning power in them, by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost which leads them into the depth of self-abasement, and gathers all their powers to centre them in the God of all grace and glory. I rejoice that ever I met with this people, whom I often lament for, because so many live not in the pure principle of Truth, which if they as a body did, the whole earth would soon be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. O that my advantages which I have had up and down among this people, may lead me to honor their God, whom the pure in heart are concerned to worship continually! I have had three large meetings with the Africans in this city, and have great reason to be thankful that the Lord aided me with his Spirit, helping my infirmities in the hour of necessity, when I stood in need of his assistance, standing up to exalt the great Redeemer who died for all nations, that the Lord would bless my little labour of love among this people whom I have secretly mourned for!

I cannot avoid commending the citizens of New York and Philadelphia, for their help to those that have been greatly oppressed, driving slavery out of their States, that they may have the peace of God, and his blessing upon the heads of their children, and children's children. I trust also to see the efforts of individuals crowned with a blessing in the Southern States, where barrenness of the land bespeaks the proverty and wretchedness of thousands of its inhabitants who might enjoy the smile of Heaven, if they would learn to fear God and love their neighbor.

When comparing those States one with the other, what a vast difference there is between them in the outward appearance of things: but I trust the minds of the people to the southward, are not like the barren appearance of many parts I have already travelled, or may yet have to do: for I perceive the Lord intends me to return back to discharge my duty to him, and the people up and down.

I have received the following letters from Philadelphia and think them worthy to make up a page or two in my life. Letter from Absalom Jones, Black Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia, addressed to Dorothy Ripley, at New York, dated Philadelphia, June 3, 1803.

_Dear Friend_,

It is with pleasure that I now sit down to inform you, that your kind and very affectionate letter came safe to hand; and am happy to hear that kind Providence has conducted you so far on your journey in health of body as well as of mind; and I trust that the Lord will continue to be your Guide, and that your labours may prove as great a blessing to the inhabitants of New-York, as they have been to numbers in this city.

Your letter I read with care and attention, as well as many others of my congregation, and I heartily thank you for your friendly advice and godly admonitions; believing them to have been given in that love which purifies the heart. I am very sensible that the charge committed to my care is very great; and am also fully convinced of my own inability for so great an undertaking. And I do assure you, that when I was called to the task, I trembled at the idea, and was ready to say, "Who am I." But when I consider that God can send by whom he will, and as you very justly have observed, he sometimes makes use of the feeblest instruments for the promotion of Truth; I say under these considerations, I was led to believe that the Lord would perfect strength in my weakness; and glory be to his ever-adorable Name for it. I have cause to believe, my labour has not been altogether in vain.

You wish to know the number I consider to be under my care. Our list of members contains about five hundred, although we have a great many more who constantly attend worship in our church, of whom I have a comfortable hope that they will be brought unto the knowledge of the Truth.

My wife joins me in love. I remain, with sentiments of high esteem and respect,

Your esteemed Friend,

Absalom Jones

LETTER FROM AN AFRICAN MINISTER, RESIDENT IN PHILADELPHIA ADDRESSED TO DOROTHY RIPLEY

Philadelphia, 24th, of 6th mo. 1803.

_Friend Ripley_,

I Received thy epistle, dated New-York, 26th of 5th month, with much joy, thanks and satisfaction; and am thankful for thy kind spiritual advice, and grateful for thy concern for me and my people.

With the assistance of the good Spirit, I will attend to thy serious admonitions in the Lord, and listen to the small still voice of Christ within, as thou dost observe in thy epistle, for it is He that must enable me to observe his holy law written on the heart by his Spirit.

I wish to take thy sisterly counsel; but O! my abounding weakness. I wish to be more sensible of it, so that I alone may feel it. I would hide it from my friends, but they are too eagle-eyed not to discover it; yet they have the charity to bear with me.--I often bow at the foot-stool of divine mercy, that I may obtain strength to overcome corrupt nature.--None knows but myself my strivings to walk in the narrow way, in which the poor worm has no desire to rob God of his honor. I see the beauty of nakedness to be far superior than to be clothed with rags of self-righteousness.

Thou enquirest how many communicants there are in our church. The precise number of my communicants is 457. All our members are communicants. There is a communion of saints which exceeds all formality, and which even the Apostles were ignorant of, when they gave an account to their Master, on their return from their mission, and told him, "We saw men casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade them, because they followed not us." Yet I still continue of the same mind, that it would be best for thee to be a member of some religious society.--The teachings of Priscilla and Aquila have been found profitable to the eloquent and wise.

The members of the African Methodist Episcopal church (called Bethel) live in love and harmony with each other.

My fellow laborer, Absalom Jones, joins me in a salutation of love to thee, with desires for thy growth and increase in the favor of God: He says he would have written to thee, had he known of thy continuance at New York.

Praying God to bless and make thee instrumental in promoting his glory and the good of souls, I remain, thine, &c.

Richard Allen

LETTER FROM AN AFRICAN, RESIDENT IN PHILADELPHIA, TO DOROTHY RIPLEY

May 17, 1803. _Respected Friend_,

I am perhaps presumptuous in troubling you to read this. But cannot let slip an opportunity of addressing you with what I wish you to know even when you have arrived at your native country, and may contemplate on a subject which I hope will not displease you, and I will thank Heaven I have it in my power to let one amongst the people called Quakers[2] see, written by the hand of an African, the sentiments of his soul. I mean only to trouble you with the obligations that race of people, myself amongst that great multitude, are to you indebted; and may the unremitting pains which have been taken not fall to the ground. We have been oppressed with cruelty and the heavy task-masters in the West Indies and the southern States of America for many centuries back, with not only the horrible weight of bondage, but have been subject to heavy iron chains, too heavy to bear, had not the Creator of all things framed our constitutions to bear them, and all the deep cuts and lashes the inhuman-hearted drivers please to mangle us with. Had not the all-directing hand of Providence made us come under the notice of the Friends, who formed an abolition society for our relief, many thousands of us would be dragging out our lives in wretchedness, like those of our brethren who have never yet tasted the sweet cup of liberty. Yet while the nations of Europe are contending to catch the draught, the African is forbidden to lift up his head towards it. Every man has a right to his liberty, and we must by the ties of nature come under the title of men: but are dragged from our native land, in our old age or in our infancy, and sold as the brute, to the planters; the infant dragged from its parents, and the husband from wife and children, and hurried into the cane field, to give independence to their owners, and annex abundance to their riches. And how is this, that God created us amongst the rest of human beings, and yet man would level us with the brute? We were not all born Christians, but many have become so; and I pray Heaven many thousands of us may be received at the bar of God amongst the righteous at his right hand, and with you glorify him in Heaven for ever. I pray that the Africans may enjoy his holy privileges, and let their light shine before men.

The cross[3] you met with in your sermon at Bethel African church grieved me much, but it originated with white men. Had it been one of my complexion, it would prey on my feelings to the very heart. But I hope you will forget it. If I was a converted soul in the Lord, I could address you on a more spiritual subject. But alas! I am an unfortunate being not born a second time. Yet weak as I am, the prayers of an unconverted African shall be offered to Heaven for your happiness on earth, and in the world to come life everlasting. And may the vessel in which you may embark for England be attended with a fair and pleasant passage, and land you safe on its shores. And when you shall lay your head on a dying pillow, to leave this troublesome world, may you be surrounded with a blessed convoy of angels to attend you to the Throne of God.

I am, Yours, Of The African Race

--"_The Extraordinary Conversion and Religious Experience of Dorothy Ripley with her First Voyage in America_," 132-144.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] From England.

[2] He expected I was a member of that society, which I never yet have been.

[3] The cross here mentioned has an allusion to an attempt made by an intoxicated soldier, to disturb our peace, who caused great confusion for a few moments; but kneeling in the midst of this tempestuous storm, God instantly caused a calm, so that no one received harm.

BOOK REVIEWS

_The Aftermath of the Civil War, in Arkansas_. By Powell Clayton, Governor of Arkansas, 1868 to 1871. Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1915. Pp. 378.

Looking at the title of this work the student of history would expect that same scientific treatment which is observed in so many of the Reconstruction studies. On the contrary, he finds in this a mere volume of memoirs of a political leader completed in his eighty-second year. The work gives an account of the author's own administration as governor of Arkansas "also of those events that commenced before and extended into it, and those that occurred during that period and continued beyond it."

In view of the fact that he, a man of well-known partisan proclivities, may be charged with criticising his defenceless and dead contemporaries the author says that he endeavored to substantiate "every controvertible and important conclusion." To do this he collected "an immense amount of documentary evidence" from which he selected the most appropriate for that purpose. The writer made use of certain documents in the Library of Congress and had frequent recourse to the _Arkansas Gazette_.

The book as a whole is essentially political history. It is chiefly concerned with "the Murphy Government," the "Organization and Operations of the Klu Klux Klan," "Martial Law," and the peculiar situation in the counties of Crittenden and Conway. The subjects of immigration, education, state aid to railroads, and the funding of the state debt are all mentioned but they suffer because of the preference given to the discussion of political questions. When one has read the book he is still uninformed as to what was the actual working of the economic and social forces in Arkansas during this period.

This work, however, is valuable for several reasons. In the first place, whether the reader agrees with the author or not he gathers from page to page facts which throw light on other conditions. Moreover, consisting mainly of a discussion of extracts from various records it is a good source book for students who have not access to the documents the author has used. Further it is important to get the viewpoint of the distinguished author who lived through what he writes of and is now sufficiently far removed from the struggle to study it somewhat sympathetically.

C. R. WILSON

_Black and White in the Southern States_. By Maurice S. Evans, C.M.G.--Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1915. Pp. 209.

This book cannot be considered an historical work. Yet when the author makes a survey of the slavery and reconstruction periods with a view to estimating what the Negro has been, what has been done for him, and what he himself has accomplished it claims the attention of historians. From this historic retrospect the author approaches such questions as the Negroes' grievances, their political rights and wrongs, blood admixture, race hostility and grounds for hope and the like.

The author has had experiences in South Africa and traveled in the United States with a view to studying the condition of the descendants of the African race in this country. His effort seems to be to write such a work as some of those of Sir H. H. Johnson or W. P. Livingstone. He justifies the writing of this work on the grounds that "the partisan spirit, partial to one race or other, permeates most of the writings on this subject." Feeling that the issues involved are too great, he hoped to avoid this "that no preconceived ideas or partiality should be allowed to cloud clarity of view, or warp the judgment."

Yet although the author speaks well of his good intentions it is apparent that he did not live up to this profession. In the first place, the work is not scientific, facts are not "observed and noted with scrupulous care," and conclusions are drawn without warranted data to support them. On the whole then, one must say that this work fails to unravel some "knots in this tangled skein of human endeavor and error." When after a survey of the history of the Negro during the last fifty years an investigator concludes that the Negro has shown an incapacity for commerce and finance, and that he must not struggle to equip himself in the same way that the white man has, one must believe that the writer has not the situation thoroughly in hand. The great difficulty of the author seems to be that he did not remain in the country long enough to know it, did not give sufficient time to the study of conditions, and based his conclusions largely on information obtained from persons who were either too prejudiced or had neither the scientific point of view nor adequate mental development to describe social conditions.

It is not surprising therefore that the author asserts that the record of the Negro during the last fifty years shows that they are chiefly valuable as laborers in drudgery, or weak in foresight and thrift, and unfit for city life. Yet he believes that there is some hope for the blacks, since they can get work and buy land and thereby become economically independent. He calls attention to such injustices as miscegenation, lynching, unfairness of the courts, and discrimination in traveling.

W. R. WARD

_Samuel Coleridge-Taylor--Musician. His Life and Letters_. By W. C. Berwick Sayers. Cassell and Company, London, 1915. Pp. 328.

In this work we have the first extensive account of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The author of this volume has succeeded in producing a sympathetic and interesting narrative of the life of one of the greatest musicians of his time. Taking up his birth and childhood and then his college days, ending in the romance which attached him to a young Croydon girl, the author does not delay in bringing the reader to a consideration of those fundamentals which made Samuel Coleridge-Taylor famous ...

Much space is devoted to Coleridge-Taylor's achievement of success with his "Ballade in A Minor." How Sir Edward Elgar extended the promising composer a welcoming hand and arranged for him to write for a concert a short orchestral piece which turned out to be the artist's first great success is well described. The author emphasizes the barbaric strain and orchestral coloring, the prominently marked features which made the composer great.

The next task of the author is to show how the "essential beauty, naive simplicity, unaffected expression and unforced idealism," of Longfellow's "Hiawatha" stirred the artist and set him composing an unambitious cantata which resulted in "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast," and the "Song of Hiawatha." The expressions of enthusiasm and the euologies which crowned the musician as one of the greatest artists that Great Britain has produced justly constitute a large portion of the work.

His "Visit to America" is an important chapter of the volume. The manner in which the oppressed of his race received him in their troubled land is treated in detail, and the names of the persons and organizations that arose to welcome him are given honorable mention. The author brings out too that so impressed was Coleridge-Taylor with the frank recognition of pure music in America that he once "contemplated the desirability of emigrating to this land."

The book abounds with letters and extracts from publications, which enable the reader to learn for himself how the artist's work was appreciated. The volume is well illustrated. In it appear the early portraits of Coleridge-Taylor's mother, of himself, and family, and home, and of the Coleridge-Taylor Society in Washington, D.C. Not only persons who appreciate music but all who have an intelligent interest in the achievements of the Negro should read this work.

J. R. DAVIS

_Race Orthodoxy in the South and other Aspects of the Negro Problem_. By Thomas Pearce Bailey, Ph.D. The Neale Publishing Company, New York, 1914.

The author of this volume has a long intellectual pedigree. Pedigrees are important in authors who write on the race problem. This is particularly true when they attempt to tell us what the orthodox opinion of the South is regarding the Negro. Much that passes for Southern opinion on the Negro is too violent to be taken at its face value. Other interpretations of the South have too frequently been the individual views of eminent men of Southern origin who no longer hold orthodox views.

The author discusses some of these interpretations and criticises them. There are four principal types. There is the philosophical view, represented by Edgar Gardiner Murphy's "_The Basis of Ascendancy_." Mr. Murphy "is one of the choicest specimens of noble character that the South has produced," but he came under Northern influences and his book represents a struggle between Northern and Southern points of view. "The first part of his book seems to be, in the main, pro-Southern and defensive of the South, while the latter part becomes largely Northern and critical of the South." He does not succeed, in the opinion of the author, in synthesizing these two divergent views.

The second type is sociological, represented by "_The Southerner_," a novel written in the form of an autobiography or, perhaps, rather an autobiography written in the form of a novel. The author is supposed to be Walter Hines Page, at present American ambassador to Great Britain. Of this book Mr. Bailey says: "The author is not a Southerner of the spirit, whatever he may be of the flesh. There is something of North Carolina and something of Massachusetts in his attitude, but none of the all-inclusive Americanism that alone is able to write about the South with sympathy of the heart yet with balanced discrimination."

To understand the South one must have lived in South Carolina, and understand the "apparent violence" of Ben Tilman, or in Mississippi, the home of Senator Vardaman. The South, the orthodox South, is today as it was before the war, the "far South"; but the sentiments which dominate it are not now, as in slavery days, the sentiments of the "master class" but rather those of the "poor white man."

The third type of interpretation is represented here by "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The criticsm of this book is so subtle that it is difficult to indicate the outlines of it in a single paragraph. The difficulty with Mrs. Stowe's interpretation of the South and the Negro is that she, just as certain Southern humanitarians of the present day, is inclined to treat the Negroes as a class. She does not regard them as a race, a different breed, whose blood is a contamination. "No one," says the writer, "has come within shouting distance of the real Negro problem who does not appreciate this distinction. Indeed, almost everything critical that can be alleged against 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' springs from the failure of its humanitarian author to sympathize with race consciousness as such."

Finally there is the scientific interpretation of Southern sentiment, and the "race instinct" which is back of most Southern opinion in regard to the Negro. This scientific interpretation is represented by Boas, "The Mind of Primitive Man." "Ultimately," according to Professor Boas, "this phenomenon (race instinct) is a repetition of the old instinct and fear of the connubium of the patricians and the plebeians, of the European nobility and the common people, or of the castes of India. The emotions and reasoning are the same in every respect."

To this scientific exposition of the Southern attitude Mr. Bailey replies: "Even if it could be scientifically proved that an infusion of Negro blood would help the white race, the prejudice against a really great branch of the white race like the Jews is sufficient warning to us not to confine our discussion of race problems to the question of equality or inequality of physical and mental endowment."

What then is race orthodoxy? Where shall we look for a true statement of the attitude of the South on the subject of the Negro since none of these attempts at interpretation have done justice to it? The racial creed has been expressed at different times in a number of pithy expressions current in the Southern states. Here they are in order as the author gives them: "Blood will tell"; The white race must dominate; The Teutonic peoples stand for race purity. The Negro is inferior and will remain so. "This is a white man's country." Let there be no social equality; no political equality. In matters of civil rights and legal adjustments give the white man as opposed to the colored man the benefit of the doubt. In educational policy let the Negro have the crumbs that fall from the white man's table. Let there be such industrial education of the Negro as will fit him to serve the white man. Only Southerners understand the Negro question. Let the South settle the Negro question. The status of peasantry is all the Negro may hope for, if the races are to live together in peace. Let the lowest white man count for more than the highest Negro. The above statements indicate the leadings of Providence.

This statement of the Southern creed is practically the common opinion of the South. It is not the only opinion. It is not, perhaps, the "best" opinion. But is it right opinion? Mr. Bailey thinks it is, in its underlying meaning at any rate, but not in its "present shape." His book may be said, on the whole, to be an interpretation and a justification of this "underlying meaning."

Race orthodoxy in the South is, take it all in all, the most candid statement of the race problem; the most searching, suggestive and revealing interpretation of the attitude of the Southern white man that has ever been written. The book is, however, merely a statement of the problem and not a solution. Rather it is intended, as the author suggests again and again, to provoke and stimulate--not discussion, heaven forbid,--but inquiry, investigation. In spite of the fact that the author professes his personal loyalty to the dogma upon which race orthodoxy is founded, still, by stating it in the clear and candid way in which he has, in pointing out with unflinching directness the moral cul-de-sac into which it has forced the Southern people, he has at once enabled and compelled them to put their faith on rational grounds. His is the higher criticism in race creeds, and it is hard to tell where criticism once started will lead.

ROBERT E. PARK

NOTES

Mr. Monroe N. Work has brought out the _Negro Year Book for 1916-1917_. In keeping with the progress hitherto shown this edition surpasses that of last year. Here one finds an unusually large collection of statistical material as to the economic, social and religious progress of the black race; and a brief account of what exceptional Negroes have done to distinguish themselves in various fields. It contains also a brief history of the Negro given in such succinct statements as will please the hurried reader and meet the requirements of those who have not access to reference libraries.

The striking new feature of the work, however, is a brief account of what leading thinkers and the press have said about such perplexing problems as the "Birth of a Nation," "Miscegenation," and "Segregation." The editor has endeavored to present in popular style a brief account of everything of importance with which the Negro has been concerned during the year. He has done his task well. Sold at such a reasonable price as thirty-five cents a copy, this valuable book should find its way to the home of every one who desires to keep himself informed on what the Negro is actually achieving.

The United Brethren Publishing Co., Huntington, Ind., has published M. B. Butler's _My Story of the Civil War and the Underground Railroad_. A native of Vermont, where he had an opportunity to see many a fugitive on his way to freedom, the author naturally makes his narrative interesting and straightforward. He recounts his unusual experiences as a soldier in detail but does not grow tiresome.

In the Mississippi Valley, Historical Review, II, March, 1916, appeared Doctor H. N. Sherwood's _Early Negro Deportation Projects_. This is a selected part of the author's doctorate thesis. It treats of the endeavors to ameliorate the condition of emancipated slaves and the colonization plans which finally led to the establishment of the republic of Liberia.

The _Tennessee Historical Magazine_ for June contains a dissertation by Asa Earl Martin, entitled _Anti-Slavery Activities of the_ _Methodist Episcopal Church in Tennessee_. The article covers the period from 1784 to the time of the great schism of 1844.

Professor Tenny Frank has contributed to the July number of the _American Historical Review_ a valuable article entitled _Race Mixture in the Roman Empire_.

In the same number of this publication appear also twenty-three pages of documents on the _Cane Sugar Industry_ collected by Irene A. Wright. As the Negroes proved to be a great factor in the development of this industry, these documents will be helpful to those who desire to study the bearing of the Negro on its origin and early growth.

Miss Helen Nicolay has turned over to the Library of Congress some important Lincoln Manuscripts, among which are the first and second autograph copies of the Gettysburg Address, the autograph of the Second Inaugural Address, and the President's memorandum of August 23, 1864, pledging support to the next administration.

In _The Case for the Filipino_, Maximo M. Kalaw gives an account of the American occupation of the Archipelago, and in presenting his claims for independence he puts his countrymen in the attitude of an oppressed people.

Dr. C. G. Woodson delivered at the University of Chicago in July a lecture on _The varying Attitude of the White Man toward the Negro in the United States_.

A HAPPY SUGGESTION