Chapter VIII: Part 8

Is it the uncertainty of a subsistence in this new mode of life,
that deters them from undertaking it? They have never any
solicitude for their future support. Is it the fear of being
pursued and overtaken that is an obstacle to the project?
Ignorant as they are, they cannot but know that, protected by
almost impenetrable woods, and formidable in numbers, they might
set at defiance a handful of whites. Does the apprehension of
being combated by the Indians damp their enterprize? Such a
chimera could never affright them, since the Indians roving in
detached parties, would be the first to flee; nay, they would
probably court their union, there having been instances of
negroes finding an asylum among them, but after a lapse of time,
unworthy to enjoy freedom, the fugitives have returned to their
plantation, like a dog, who, having escaped from his kennel,
returns to it by an instinct of submission. To multiply
comparisons, as the ox resigns himself to his yoke, so the negro
bends to his burden.

Their defect in instinct is apparent. Could the Indians be ever
brought to that state of slavery which the negroes bear without
repining; every method hitherto practiced to deprive them of
their liberty, has been ineffectual.

But it is not so with the negroes. In their own country, or
abroad, if they have ever discovered a desire to emerge from
slavery this flame as resembled a meteor which appears only for a
moment. And even, the scenes, which have been witnessed in the
French colonies, and, particularly, the island of Saint
Domingo,[229] serve to corroborate and support my theory. It is
undeniable that the negroes of that colony have never ceased to
be slaves. Before their insurrection they were the slaves of the
legitimate masters; in the early part of the revolution they were
slaves to the French commissioners and mulattoes; and afterwards
they became subject to the nod of negroes like themselves. We do
not alter the substance of a thing by changing the name.

Nature may be modified but cannot be essentially changed. It is
not possible to impart to the dog the habits of the wolf, nor to
the ape those of the sheep. This position cannot be refuted.
Sophistry may for a while delude, but the mind reposes upon the
stability of truth.

From this digression let us return to the examination of the
negro slave of Louisiana. He has the faults of a slave. He is
lazy, libertine, and given to lying, but not incorrigibly wicked.
His labour is not severe, unless it be at the rolling of sugars,
an interval of from two to three months, when the number of
labourers is not proportionate to the labour; then he works both
by day and night. It must be allowed that forty negroes rolling a
hundred and twenty thousand weight of sugar, and as many
hogsheads of syrup, in the short space of two cold, foggy, rainy
months (November and December) under all the difficulties and
embarrassments resulting from the season, the shortness of the
days, and the length of the nights, cannot but labour severely;
abridged of their sleep, they scarce retire to rest during the
whole period. It is true they are then fed more plentifully, but
their toils are nevertheless excessive. [230] In the country
where there are not those resources that distinguished the
Antilles, nor its spontaneous supplies, such as bananas, yams,
sweet potatoes, &c. the food of the negroes is less abundant.

The fixed ration of each negro a month is a barrel of maize not
pounded; indian corn being the only grain of the colony which can
assure an unfailing subsistence to the slaves. The rice, beans
and potatoes cultivated here, would not supply a quarter of them
with food. Some masters, more humane than others, add to the
ration a little salt.

The negro, during his hours of respite from labour, is busied in
pounding his corn; he has afterwards to bake it with what wood he
can procure himself. Both in summer and winter, he must be in the
fields at the first dawn of day. He carries his sorry pittance of
a breakfast with him, which he eats on the spot; he is, however,
scarce allowed time to digest it. His labour is suspended from
noon till two, when he dines, or rather makes a supplement to his
former meal. At two his labour re-commences, and he prosecutes it
till dark, sometimes visited by his master, but always exposed
to the menaces, blows and scourges either of a white overseer, or
a black driver.

The good negro, during the hours of respite allowed him, is not
idle. He is busy cultivating the little lot of ground granted
him, while his wife (if he has one) is preparing food for him and
their children. For it is observable that in this colony, the
children of the slaves are not nourished by their masters, as
they are at the Antilles; their parents are charged with them,
and allowed half a ration more for every child, commencing from
the epoch when it is weaned.

Retired at night to their huts, after having made a frugal meal,
they forget their labors in the arms of their mistresses. But
those who cannot obtain women (for there is a great disproportion
between the numbers of the two sexes) traverse the woods in
search of adventures, and often encounter those of an unpleasant
nature. They frequently meet a patrole of the whites, who tie
them up and flog them, and then send them home.

They are very fond of tobacco; they both smoke and chew it with
great relish.

Nothing can be more simple than the burial of a slave; he is put
into the plainest coffin, knocked together by a carpenter of his
own colour, and carried unattended by mourners to the
neighbouring grave-field. The most absolute democracy, however,
reigns there; the planter and slave, confounded with one another,
rot in conjunction. _Under ground precedency is all a jest!_

"Imperial Caesar dead, and turned to clay,
"May stop some hole to keep the wind away!"--Pope.

Death is not so terrible in aspect to these negroes as to the
whites. In fact death itself is not so formidable to any man as
the pageantry with which it is set forth. It is not death that is
so terrible, but the cries of mothers, wives and children, the
visits of astonished and afflicted friends, pale and blubbering
servants, a dark room set round with burning tapers, our beds
surrounded with physicians and divines. These, and not death
itself, affright the minds of the beholders, and make that appear
so dreadful with which armies, who have an opportunity of being
thoroughly acquainted and often seeing him without any of these
black and dismal disguises, converse familiarly, and meet with
mirth and gaiety.

The only cloathing of a slave is a simple woollen garment; it is
given to them at the beginning of winter. And will it be
believed, that the master, to indemnify himself for this
expense, retrenches half an hour from his negro's hours of
respite, during the short days of the rigorous season!

Their ordinary food is indian corn, or rice and beans, boiled in
water, without fat or salt. To them nothing comes amiss. They
will devour greedily racoon, opossum, squirrels, wood-rats, and
even the crocodile; leaving to the white people the roebuck and
rabbit, which they sell them when they kill those animals.

They raise poultry and hogs, but seldom eat either. They prefer
selling them, and purchasing from their profits, cloathing and
brandy. They love brandy to excess. Promise a negro a dram, and
he will go through fire and water to serve you.

Their smoaky huts admit both wind and rain. An anecdote offers
itself to my pen on this subject, which will exhibit the frigid
indifference of the colonists of Louisiana towards every thing
that interests humanity. Being on a visit at a plantation on the
Mississippi, I walked out one fine evening in winter, with some
ladies and gentlemen, who had accompanied me from the town, and
the planters at whose house we were entertained. We approached
the quarter where the huts of the negroes stood. "Let us visit
the negroes," said one of the party; and we advanced towards the
door of a miserable hut, where an old negro woman came to the
threshold in order to receive us, but so decrepit as well as old,
that it was painful for her to move.

Notwithstanding the winter was advanced, she was partly naked;
her only covering being some old thrown away rags. Her fire was a
few chips, and she was parching a little corn for supper. Thus
she lived abandoned and forlorn; incapable from old age to work
any longer, she was no longer noticed.

But independently of her long services, this negro woman had
formerly suckled and brought up two brothers of her master, who
made one of our party. She perceived him, and accosting him,
said, "My master, when will you send one of your carpenters to
repair the roof of my hut? Whenever it rains, it pours down upon
my head." The master lifting his eyes, directed them to the roof
of the hut, which was within the reach of his hand. "I will think
of it," said he.--"You will think of it," said the poor creature.
"You always say so, but never do it."--"Have you not," rejoined
the master, "two grandsons who can mend it for you?"--"But are
they mine," said the old woman, "do they not work for you, and
are you not my son yourself? who suckled and raised your two
brothers? who was it but Irrouba? Take pity then on me, in my old
age. Mend at least the roof of my hut, and God will reward you
for it."

I was sensibly affected; it was _le cri de la bonne nature_. And
what repairs did the poor creature's roof require? What was
wanting to shelter her from the wind and rain of heaven? A few
shingles!--"I will think of it," repeated her master, and
departed.

The ordinary punishment inflicted on the negroes of the colony is
a whipping. What in Europe would condemn a man to the galleys or
the gallows incurs here only the chastisement of the whip. But
then a king having many subjects does not miss them after their
exit from this life, but a planter could not lose a negro without
feeling the privation.

I do not consider slavery either as contrary to the order of a
well regulated society, or an infringement of the social laws.
Under a different name it exists in every country. Soften then
the word which so mightily offends the ear; call it dependence.

The most common maladies of the negroes are slight fevers in the
spring, more violent ones in the summer, dysenteries in autumn,
and fluxions of the breast in winter. Their bill of mortality,
however, is not very considerable. The births exceed the deaths.

The language of the negro slaves, as well as of a great number of
the free mulattoes, is a patois derived from the French, and
spoken according to rules of corruption. There are some
house-slaves, however, who speak French with not less purity than
their masters: their language, it may be presumed, is depraved
with many words not to be found in a Voltaire, a Thomas or a
Rousseau.--_Travels in Louisiana and The Floridas, in the Year,
1802_, by Berquin Duvallon, pp. 79-94. Trans. by Davis.

JOHN DAVIS, 1806

TIMOTHY FLINT'S RECOLLECTIONS OF CONDITIONS IN LOUISIANA IN 1826

In the region where I live, the masters allow entire liberty to
the slaves to attend public worship, and as far as my knowledge
extends, it is generally the case in Louisiana. We have regular
meetings of the blacks in the building where I attend public
worship. I have, in the years past, devoted myself assiduously,
every Sabbath morning, to the labour of learning them to read. I
find them quick of apprehension. They learn the rudiments of
reading quicker than even the whites, but it is with me an
undoubting conviction, that having advanced them to a certain
point, it is much more difficult to carry them beyond. In other
words, they learn easily to read, to sing, and scrape the fiddle.
But it would be difficult to teach them arithmetic, or
combination of ideas or abstract thinking of any kind. Whether
their skull indicates this by the modern principles of
craniology, or not, I cannot say. But I am persuaded, that this
susceptible and affectionate race have heads poorly adapted to
reasoning and algebra.

I had heard, before I visited the slave states in the West,
appalling stories of the cruelty and barbarity of masters to
slaves. In effect I saw there instances of cruel and brutal
masters. But I was astonished to find that the slaves in general
had the most cheerful countenances, and were apparently the
happiest people that I saw. They appeared to me to be as well fed
and clothed, as the labouring poor at the North. Here I was told,
that the cruelty and brutality were not here, but among the great
planters down the Mississippi. So strongly is this idea
inculcated, that it is held up to the slave, as a bugbear over
his head to bind him to good behaviour, that if he does not
behave well, he will be carried down the river, and be sold. When
I descended to this country, I had prepared myself to witness
cruelty on the one part, and misery on the other. I found the
condition of the slaves in the lower country to be still more
tolerable, than in that above; they are more regularly and better
clothed, endure less inclemency of the seasons, are more
systematically supplied with medical attendance and medicine,
when diseased, and what they esteem a great hardship, but what is
in fact a most fortunate circumstance in their condition, they
cannot, as in the upper country, obtain whiskey at all.

It is a certain fact, and to me it is a delightful one, that a
good portion of the lights of reason and humanity, that have been
pouring such increasing radiance upon every part of the country,
have illumined the huts of the slaves, and have dawned in the
hearts of their masters. Certain it is, that in visiting great
numbers of plantations, I have generally discovered in the slaves
affection for their masters, and sometimes, though not so
generally, for the overseers. It appears to be a growing desire
among masters, to be popular with their slaves, and they have
finally become impressed, that humanity is their best interest,
that cheerful, well fed and clothed slaves, perform so much more
productive labour, as to unite speculation and kindness in the
same calculation. In some plantations they have a jury of negroes
to try offences under the eye of the master, as judge, and it
generally happens that he is obliged to mitigate the severity of
their sentence. The master too has hold of the affection of the
slaves, by interposing his authority in certain cases between the
slave and the overseer. Where the master is really a considerate
and kind man, the patriarchal authority on the one hand, and the
simple and affectionate veneration on the other, render this
relation of master and slave not altogether so forbidding, as we
have been accustomed to consider it.

The negro village that surrounds a planter's house, is, for the
most part, the prototype of the village of Owen of Lanark. It is
generally oblong rows of uniform huts. In some instances I have
seen them of brick, but more generally of cypress timber, and
they are made tight and comfortable. In some part of the village
is a hospital and medicine chest. Most masters have a physician
employed by the job, and the slave, as soon as diseased, is
removed there. Provision is also made for the subsistence and
comfort of those that are aged and past their labour. In this
village by night you hear the hurdy-gurdy, and the joyous and
unthinking laugh of people, who have no care nor concern for the
morrow. I enter among them, and the first difficulty appears to
arise from jealousy, and mutual charges of inconstancy, between
the husbands and wives. In fact, the want of any sanction or
permanence to their marriage connexions, and the promiscuous
intimacies that subsist among them, are not only the sources of
most of their quarrels and troubles, but are among the most
formidable evils, to a serious mind, in their condition. You now
and then see a moody and sullen looking negro, and if you inquire
into the cause of his gloom, you will be informed that he has
been a fugitive, that he has lived long in the woods upon
thieving, that he has been arrested and whipped, and is waiting
his opportunity to escape again. Judging of their condition from
their countenances, and from their unthinking merriment, I should
think them the happiest people here, and in general, far more so
than their masters.

It is a most formidable part of the evil of slavery, that the
race is far more prolific than that of the whites, and that their
population advances in a greater ratio. They are at present in
this region more numerous than the whites, and this inequality is
increasing every day. Thinking people here, who look to the
condition of their posterity, are appalled at this view of
things, and admit that something must be done to avert the
certain final consequences of such an order of things. I remark,
in concluding this subject, that the people here always have
under their eye the condition and character of the free blacks.
It tends to confirm them in their opinions upon the subject. The
slaves are addicted to theft, but the free blacks much more so.
They, poor wretches, have had the privilege of getting drunk, and
they avail themselves of it. The heaviest scourge of New Orleans
is its multitudes of free black and coloured people. They wallow
in debauchery, are quarrelsome and saucy, and commit crimes, in
proportion to the slaves, as a hundred to one.

The population of Louisiana is supposed to be, at present,
between two and three hundred thousand. After New Orleans, the
most populous parishes are Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Rapidé, and
Natchitoches. Parishes in this region are civil divisions,
derived from the former regime. They are often larger than our
counties at the North. This country, from the character of its
soil, cannot have a dense population, until the swamps are
drained. The population, except the sparse inhabitants of the
pine woods, is fixed along the margin of the water courses, and
the greater part of the planters can convey their produce
immediately on board the steam-boats.--_Recollections of the Last
Ten Years. Passed in Occasional Residences and Journeyings in the
Valley of the Mississippi_, by Timothy Flint, 1826, pp. 345-349.

THE OBSERVATIONS OF BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, IN NEW ORLEANS

The garrison consists of two companies of infantry, of the first
and fourth regiments. This has been here since the last
insurrection of Negroes, and has been continued, to overawe them.
In case of a serious alarm, this would prove but of little
service; and what security is there against such an alarm? In
Chartres street, where we dwelt, there were two establishments,
which constantly revolted my feelings, to wit: shops in which
Negroes were purchased and sold. These unfortunate beings, of
both sexes, stood or sat the whole day, in these shops, or in
front of them, to exhibit themselves, and wait for purchasers.
The abomination is shocking, and the barbarity and indifference,
produced by the custom in white men, is indescribable.[231]

There were subscription balls given in New Orleans, to which the
managers had the politeness to invite us. These balls took place
twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, at the French theatre, where
the masquerade had been, which I mentioned before. None but good
society were admitted to these subscription balls; the first that
we attended was not crowded, however, the generality of the
ladies present were very pretty, and had a very genteel French
air. The dress was extremely elegant, and after the latest Paris
fashion. The ladies danced, upon the whole, excellently and did
great honour to their French teachers. Dancing, and some
instruction in music, is almost the whole education of the female
Creoles.

Most of the gentlemen here are far behind the ladies in elegance.
They did not remain long at the ball, but hasted away to the
quadroon ball, so called, where they amused themselves more, and
were more at their ease. This was the reason why there were more
ladies than gentlemen present at the ball, and that many were
obliged to form "tapestry." When a lady is left sitting, she is
said to be "bredouillè." Two cotillions and a waltz, are danced
in succession, and there is hardly an interval of two or three
minutes between the dances. The music was performed by negroes
and coloured people, and was pretty good. The Governor was also
at the ball, and introduced me to several gentlemen, among
others, a Frenchman, General Garrigues de Flaugeac, who, having
emigrated here from St. Domingo, had married, and given the world
some very handsome daughters. Several of the French families here
settled, and indeed, the most respectable, were emigrants from
that island, who wait for the indemnification due to them, but
without any great hopes of receiving it.

* * * * *

At the masked balls, each paid a dollar for admission. As I
visited it for the second time, I observed, however, many present
by free tickets, and I was told that the company was very much
mixed. The unmasked ladies belonging to good society, sat in the
recesses of the windows, which were higher than the saloon, and
furnished with galleries. There were some masks in character, but
none worthy of remark. Two quarrels took place, which commenced
in the ball-room with blows, and terminated in the vestibule,
with pocket-pistols and kicking, without any interruption from
the police.

On the same evening, what was called a quadroon ball took place.
A quadroon is the child of a mestize mother and a white father,
as a mestize is the child of a mulatto mother and a white father.
The quadroons are almost entirely white: from their skin no one
would detect their origin; nay many of them have as fair a
complexion as many of the haughty Creole females. Such of them as
frequent these balls are free. Formerly they were known by their
black hair and eyes, but at present there are completely fair
quadroon males and females. Still, however, the strongest
prejudice reigns against them on account of their black blood,
and the white ladies maintain, or affect to maintain, the most
violent aversion towards them. Marriage between the white and
coloured population is forbidden by the law of the state. As the
quadroons on their part regard the negroes and mulattoes with
contempt, and will not mix with them, so nothing remains for them
but to be friends, as it is termed, of the white men. The female
quadroon looks upon such an engagement as a matrimonial contract,
though it goes no farther than a formal contract by which the
"friend" engages to pay the father or mother of the quadroon a
specified sum. The quadroons both assume the name of their
friends, and as I am assured preserve this engagement with as
much fidelity as ladies espoused at the altar. Several of these
girls have inherited property from their fathers or friends, and
possess handsome fortunes. Notwithstanding this, their situation
is always very humiliating. They cannot drive through the streets
in a carriage, and their "friends" are forced to bring them in
their own conveyances after dark to the ball: they dare not sit
in the presence of white ladies, and cannot enter their
apartments without special permission. The whites have the
privilege to procure these unfortunate creatures a whipping like
that inflicted on slaves, upon an accusation, proved by two
witnesses. Several of these females have enjoyed the benefits of
as careful an education as most of the whites; they conduct
themselves ordinarily with more propriety and decorum, and confer
more happiness on their "friends," than many of the white ladies
to their married lords. Still, the white ladies constantly speak
with the greatest contempt, and even with animosity, of these
unhappy and oppressed beings. The strongest language of high
nobility in the monarchies of the old world, cannot be more
haughty, overweening or contemptuous towards their fellow
creatures, than the expressions of the creole females with regard
to the quadroons, in one of the much vaunted states of the free
Union. In fact, such comparison strikes the mind of a thinking
being very singularly! Many wealthy fathers, on account of the
existing prejudices send daughters of this description to France,
where these girls with a good education and property, find no
difficulty in forming a legitimate establishment. At the quadroon
ball, only coloured ladies are admitted, the men of that caste,
be it understood, are shut out by the white gentlemen. To take
away all semblance of vulgarity, the price of admission is fixed
at two dollars, so that only persons of the better class can
appear there.

As a stranger in my situation should see every thing, to acquire
a knowledge of the habits, customs, opinions and prejudices of
the people he is among, therefore I accepted the offer of some
gentlemen who proposed to carry me to this quadroon ball. And I
must avow I found it much more decent than the masked ball. The
coloured ladies were under the eyes of their mothers, they were
well and gracefully dressed, and conducted themselves with much
propriety and modesty. Cotillions and waltzes were danced, and
several of the ladies performed elegantly. I did not remain long
there that I might not utterly destroy my standing in New
Orleans, but returned to the masked ball and took great care not
to disclose to the white ladies where I had been. I could not
however refrain from making comparisons, which in no wise
redounded to the advantage of the white assemble. As soon as I
entered I found a state of formality.[232]

At the end of January, a contagious disorder prevailed, called
the varioloid. It was said to be a species of small-pox, and was
described as malignant in the highest degree. Even persons who
had undergone vaccination, and those who had passed through the
natural small-pox, were attacked by this disorder. The garrison
lost six men, of whom two were severely marked. The garrison were
placed in the barracks to preserve them from this malady. It was
through that it was imported by some negro slaves from the north.
Many owners of slaves in the states of Maryland and Virginia have
real--(pardon the loathsome expression, I know not how otherwise
to designate the beastly idea,) stud nurseries for slaves, whence
the planters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and other southern states
draw their supplies, which increase every day in price. Such a
disease as the varioloid is a fit present, in return for slaves
thus obtained![233]

FROM CHARLES GAYARRÉ'S UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT ON THE PEOPLE OF COLOR IN LOUISIANA

"By 1830, some of these _gens de couleur_ had arrived at such a
degree of wealth as to own cotton and sugar plantations with
numerous slaves. They educated their children, as they had been
educated, in France. Those who chose to remain there, attained,
many of them, distinction in scientific and literary circles. In
New Orleans they became musicians, merchants, and money and real
estate brokers. The humbler classes were mechanics; they
monopolized the trade of shoemakers, a trade for which, even to
this day, they have special vocation; they were barbers, tailors,
carpenters, upholsterers. They were notable successful hunters
and supplied the city with game. As tailors, they were almost
exclusively patronized by the _élite_, so much so that the
Legoasters', the Dumas', the Clovis', the Lacroix', acquired
individually fortunes of several hundred thousands of dollars.
This class was most respectable; they generally married women of
their own status, and led lives quiet, dignified and worthy, in
homes of ease and comfort. A few who had reached a competency
sufficient for it, attempted to settle in France, where there was
no prejudice against their origin; but in more than one case the
experiment was not satisfactory, and they returned to their
former homes in Louisiana. When astonishment was expressed, they
would reply, with a smile: 'It is hard for one who has once
tasted the Mississippi to keep away from it.'

"In fact, the quadroons of Louisiana have always shown a strong
local attachment, although in the state they were subjected to
grievances, which seemed to them unjust, if not cruel. It is
true, they possessed many of the civil and legal rights enjoyed
by the whites, as to the protection of person and property; but
they were disqualified from political rights and social equality.
But ... it is always to be remembered that in their contact with
white men, they did not assume that creeping posture of
debasement--nor did the whites expect it--which has more or less
been forced upon them in fiction. In fact, their handsome,
good-natured faces seem almost incapable of despair. It is true
the whites were superior to them, but they, in their turn, were
superior, and infinitely superior, to the blacks, and had as much
objection to associating with the blacks on terms of equality as
any white men could have to associating with them. At the Orleans
theatre they attended their mothers, wives, and sisters in the
second tier, reserved exclusively for them, and where no white
person of either sex would have been permitted to intrude. But
they were not admitted to the quadroon balls, and when white
gentlemen visited their families it was the accepted etiquette
for them never to be present.

"Nevertheless it must not be imagined that the amenities were not
observed when the men of the races met, for business or
otherwise; many anecdotes are told to illustrate this. The
wealthy owner of a large sugar plantation lived in a parish where
resided also a rich, highly educated sugar planter of mixed
blood, a man who had a reputation in his day for his rare and
extensive library. Both planters met on a steamboat. When the
hour for dinner struck, the white gentleman observed a small
table set aside, at which his companion quietly took his place.
Moved by this voluntary exhibition of humble acquiescence in the
exigencies of his social position, the white gentleman, escorted
by a friend, went over to the small table and addressed the
solitary guest: 'We desire you to dine with us.' 'I am very
grateful for your kindness, gentlemen,' was the reply, 'and I
would cheerfully accept your invitation, but my presence at your
table, if acceptable to you, might be displeasing to others.
Therefore, permit me to remain where I am.'

"Another citizen, a Creole, and one of the finest representatives
of the old population, occupying the highest social position, was
once travelling in the country. His horses appearing tired, and
he himself feeling the need of refreshment, he began to look
around for some place to stop.

"He was just in front of a very fine, large plantation belonging
to a man of color, whom he knew very well, a polished, educated
man, who made frequent visits to Paris. He drove unhesitatingly
to the house, and, alighting, said: 'I have come to tax your
hospitality.' 'Never shall a tax be paid more willingly,' was the
prompt reply. 'I hope I am not too late for dinner.' 'For you,
sir, it is never too late at my house for anything that you may
desire.' A command was given; cook and butler made their
preparations, and dinner was announced. The guest noticed but one
seat and one plate at the table. He exclaimed: 'What! Am I to
dine alone?' 'I regret, sir, that I cannot join you, but I have
already dined.' 'My friend,' answered his guest, with a
good-natured smile on his lips, 'Permit me on this occasion to
doubt your word, and to assure you that I shall order my carriage
immediately and leave, without touching a mouthful of this
appetizing menu, unless you share it with me.' The host was too
much of a Chesterfield not to dine a second time, if courtesy or
a guest required.

"The free quadroon women of middle age were generally in easy
circumstances, and comfortable in their mode of living. They
owned slaves, skilful hairdressers, fine washerwomen,
accomplished seamstresses, who brought them in a handsome
revenue. Expert themselves at all kinds of needle-work, and not
deficient in taste, some of them rose to the importance of
modistes, and fashioned the dresses of the elegantes among the
white ladies. Many of them made a specialty of making the fine
linen shirts worn at that day by gentlemen and were paid two
dollars and a half apiece for them, at which rate of profit a
quadroon woman could always earn a honest, comfortable living.
Besides, they monopolized the renting, at high prices, of
furnished rooms to white gentlemen. This monopoly was easily
obtained, for it was difficult to equal them in attention to
their tenants, and the tenants indeed could have been hard to
please had they not been satisfied. These rooms, with their large
post bedsteads, immaculate linen, snowy mosquito bars, were
models of cleanliness and comfort. In the morning the nicest cup
of hot coffee was brought to the bedside; in the evening, at the
foot of the bed, there stood the never failing tub of fresh water
with sweet-smelling towels. As landladies they were both menials
and friends, and always affable and anxious to please. A cross
one would have been a phenomenon. If their tenants fell ill, the
old quadroons and, under their direction, the young ones, were
the best and kindest of nurses. Many of them, particularly those
who came from St. Domingo, were expert in the treatment of yellow
fever. Their honesty was proverbial."--GRACE KING, _New Orleans,
the Place and People_, pp. 346-349.

CASWALL'S ACCOUNT OF BISHOP POLK'S EFFORTS IN LOUISIANA IN 1854

"Bishop Polk, of Louisiana, was one of the guests. He assured me
that he had been all over the country on Red River, the scene of
the fictitious sufferings of 'Uncle Tom,' and that he had found
the temporal and spiritual welfare of the negroes well cared for.
He had confirmed thirty black persons near the situation assigned
to Legree's estate. He is himself the owner of four hundred
slaves, whom he endeavours to bring up in a religious manner. He
tolerates no religion on his estate but that of the Church. He
baptizes all the children, and teaches them the Catechism. All,
without exception, attend the Church service, and the chanting is
creditably performed by them, in the opinion of their owner.
Ninety of them are communicants, marriages are celebrated
according to the Church ritual, and the state of morals is
satisfactory. Twenty infants had been baptized by the bishop just
before his departure from home, and he had left his whole estate,
his keys, &c., in the sole charge of one of his slaves, without
the slightest apprehension of loss or damage. In judging of the
position of this Christian prelate as a slave-owner, the English
reader must bear in mind that, by the laws of Louisiana,
emancipation has been rendered all but impracticable, and, that
if practicable, it would not necessarily be, in all cases, an act
of mercy or of justice."--_The Western World Revisited_, by the
Rev. Henry Caswall, M.A., author of _America and the American
Church_, etc. Oxford, John Henry Parker, 1854. See _Journeys and
Explorations in the Cotton Kingdom_, by Frederick Law Olmsted,
Vol. II, pp. 212-213.

OLMSTED'S OBSERVATIONS IN LOUISIANA IN 1860

With regard to the religious instruction of slaves, widely
different practices of course prevail. There are some
slaveholders, like Bishop Polk of Louisiana, who oblige, and many
others who encourage, their slaves to engage in religious
exercises, furnishing them certain conveniences for the purpose.
Among the wealthier slave owners, however, and in all those parts
of the country where the enslaved portion of the population
outnumbers the whites, there is generally a visible, and often an
avowed distrust of the effect of religious exercises upon slaves,
and even the preaching of white clergymen to them is permitted by
many with reluctance. The prevailing impression among us, with
regard to the important influence of slavery in promoting the
spread of religion among the blacks, is an erroneous one in my
opinion. I have heard northern clergymen speak as if they
supposed a regular daily instruction of slaves in the truths of
Christianity to be general. So far is this from being the case,
that although family prayers were held in several of the fifty
planters' houses in Mississippi and Alabama, in which I passed a
night, I never in a single instance saw a field-hand attend or
join in the devotion of the family.--See Olmsted's _Cotton
Kingdom_, II, 212-213.

FOOTNOTES:

[228] Environ soixante livres.

[229] It is apparent that our author once lived at St. Domingo. I imagine he was a sufferer from the revolt, insurrection and triumph of the Negroes; hence his aversion to them, hence his revilings, hence his outrageous invectives.

[230] The disastrous events proceeding from the late war should be impressed with redoubled force upon the minds of all slave-holders throughout the globe, they should teach them the necessity of keeping them in that state of content and subordination, which will alienate them from the wish of acquiring a freedom, which has cost so much blood to the colonists of St. Domingo. I subjoin for the information of the inhabitants of the United States the directions issued by the Spanish government for the treatment of slaves in Louisiana. They exhibit the internal police of the plantations.

Every slave shall punctually receive the barrel of corn allowed by the usage of the colony, and which quantity is voluntarily augmented by the greater part of their masters.

The Syndics shall take measures to induce the planters of their district to allow their negroes a portion of their waste lands; by which they will not only add to their comforts, but increase the productions of the province, and that time will be usefully employed which would otherwise be devoted to libertinism.

Every slave shall be allowed half an hour for breakfast, and two hours for dinner; their labor shall commence at break of day, and shall cease at the approach of night. Sundays shall be the holiday of the slaves, but their masters may require their labor at harvest, &c. on paying them four escalins per diem.

The slaves who have not a portion of waste lands shall receive punctually from their masters a linen shirt and trowsers for the summer, and a woollen great coat and trowsers for the winter.

No person shall cause to be given, at once, more than thirty lashes to his slave, under penalty of fifty piasters, but the same may be repeated, if necessary, within an interval of one day.

It is permitted to shoot at an armed run-away negro, who shall refuse to stop when required; or who cannot otherwise be taken, even if he be not armed; at a negro who shall dare to defend himself against his master or overseer; and lastly at those who shall secretly enter a plantation with intent to steal.

Whosoever shall kill a slave, unless in one of the cases before mentioned, shall be punished to the extent of the law, and if he shall only wound him, he shall be punished according to the circumstances of the case. Intrigues, plots of escape, &c. arising in general from the negroes of one plantation visiting those of another, the inhabitants are forbidden under the penalty of ten piasters, to allow any intercourse or resort of negroes to their plantations for the purpose of dancing, &c. And the amusements of their own slaves, which shall be allowed only on Sundays, shall terminate always before night.

A slave shall not pass the bounds of his master's land, without his permission in writing, under the penalty of 20 lashes.

A slave shall not ride the horse of his master or any other person, without permission, shall be punished with 30 lashes.

Slaves shall not be permitted to be proprietors of horses, under penalty of the confiscation thereof.

Fire-arms are prohibited to slaves, as also powder, ball and lead, under the penalty of thirty lashes and the confiscation thereof.

An inhabitant may not have more than two hunters, who are to deliver up their arms and ammunition on their return from the chase.

Slaves may not sell any thing without the permission of their master, not even the productions of the waste lands allowed them.

Rum, fire-arms and ammunition shall be seized when in possession of coasters, and sold at public auction for the use of the treasury.

New-Orleans, June 1, 1795.

Le Baron de Carondelet.

[231] Among the slave traders, a Hollander from Amsterdam, disgusted me particularly, his name was Jacobs. He had the most vulgar and sinister countenance imaginable, was constantly drunk, and treated the wretched negroes in the most brutal manner; he was, however, severely beaten by these miserable beings, driven to despair. BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, _Travels through North America during the years 1825 and 1826_, pp. 57-59.

The virtuous indignation of the Duke, at these horrible consequences of slavery, is such as every man, not hardened by long familiarity with such scenes, must feel; those to whom they are daily presented regard them with calm indifference, or even attempt to argue in favour of their continuance and harmlessness. It is not as generally known, as it should be, that the slave trade is carried on, almost as vigorously now, as ever it was, and by citizens of almost every nation; not in the least excepting Americans. The slave vessels sail principally from Havanna and St. Thomas, and land their cargoes on the island of Puerto Rico, and elsewhere, whither purchasers and agents resort, when such an arrival occurs. Two schooners, with large cargoes, arrived in Puerto Rico in February last, and two brigs were daily expected. It is said in the West Indies, that all ships of war, of powers owning West India Colonies, _connive_ at the trade, which is fully supported by facts; as French, Danish, and English cruisers were in the vicinity, when the above mentioned cargoes arrived. The idea of cruising off the coast of Africa, to prevent the trade, is ridiculed by the slave dealers, with one of whom the writer of this note conversed. If the American, or any other government _really wished_ to put an end to this trade, it could be very effectually accomplished, by sending small armed vessels to intercept the slave traders near their places of landing cargoes, which are not very numerous. It is also _said_, in the West Indies, that the Havanna traders still contrive to introduce Africans into the southern part of the United States; of the truth or falsehood of this, we know nothing. The slave vessels are generally Baltimore clipper brigs, and schooners, completely armed and very fast sailers. Two of them sailed on this execrable trade in February last, from a port visited by the writer.--Trans.

[232] If it be known that a stranger, who has pretensions to mix with good society, frequents such balls as these, he may rely upon a cold reception from the white ladies.

[233] A plain, unvarnished history of the _internal slave trade_ carried on in this country, would shock and disgust the reader to a degree that would almost render him ashamed to acknowledge himself a member of the same community. In unmanly and degrading barbarity, wanton cruelty, and horrible indifference to every human emotion, facts could be produced worthy of association with whatever is recorded of the slave trade in any other form. One of these internal slave traders has built, in a neighboring city, a range of _private prisons_, fronting the main road to Washington, in which he collects his _cattle_ previous to sending off a caravan to the south. The voice of lamentation is seldom stilled within these accursed walls. BERNARD, DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR EISENACH, _Travels through North America during the years 1825 and 1826_, pp. 61-63.

THE CONDITIONS AGAINST WHICH WOOLMAN AND ANTHONY BENEZET INVEIGHED

Impressions of Jasper Danckaerts in 1679-1680

Servants and negroes are chiefly employed in the culture of
tobacco, who are brought from other places to be sold to the
highest bidders, the servants for a term of years only, but the
negroes for ever, and may be sold by their masters to other
planters as many times as their masters choose, that is, the
servants until their term is fulfilled, and the negroes for life.
These men, one with another, each make, after they are able to
work, from 2,500 pounds to 3,000 pounds and even 3,500 pounds of
tobacco a year, and some of the masters and their wives who pass
their lives here in wretchedness, do the same. The servants and
negroes after they have worn themselves down the whole day, and
come home to rest, have yet to grind and pound the grain, which
is generally maize, for their masters and all their families as
well as themselves, and all the negroes, to eat. Tobacco is the
only production in which the planters employ themselves, as if
there were nothing else in the world to plant but that, and while
the land is capable of yielding all the productions that can be
raised any where, so far as the climate of the place allows. As
to articles of food, the only bread they have is that made of
Turkish wheat or maize, and that is miserable. They plant this
grain for that purpose everywhere. It yields well, not a hundred,
but five or six hundred for one; but it takes up much space, as
it is planted far apart like vines in France. This grain, when it
is to be used for men or for similar purposes, has to be first
soaked, before it is ground or pounded, because the grains being
large and very hard, can not be broken under the small stones of
their light hand-mills; and then it is left so coarse it must be
sifted. They take the finest for bread, and the other for
different kinds of groats, which, when it is cooked is called
sapaen or homina. The meal intended for bread is kneaded moist
without leaven or yeast, salt or grease, and generally comes out
of the oven so that it will hardly hold together, and so blue and
moist that it is as heavy as dough; yet the best of it when cut
and roasted, tastes almost like warm white bread, at least it
then seemed to us so. This corn is also the only provender for
all their animals, be it horses, oxen, cows, hogs, or fowls,
which generally run in the woods to get their food, but are fed
a little of this, mornings and evenings during the winter when
there is little to be had in the woods; though they are not fed
too much, for the wretchedness, if not cruelty, of such living,
affects both man and beast. This is said not without reason, for
a master having a sick servant, and there are many so, and
observing from his declining condition, he would finally die, and
that there was no probability of his enjoying any more service
from him, made him, sick and languishing as he was, dig his own
grave, in which he was to be laid a few days afterwards, in order
not to busy any of the others with it, they having their hands
full in attending to the tobacco.--Jasper Danckaerts' _Original
Narratives of Early American History_, 1679-1680, p. 133.

Observations of Campbell in 1745-1746

The Negroes live as easily as in any other Part of America, and
at set Times have a pretty deal of Liberty in their Quarters, as
they are called. The Argument of the Reasonableness and Legality,
according to Nature, of the Slave-Trade, has been so well handled
on the Negative Side of the Question, that there remains little
for an Author to say on that Head; and that Captives taken in
War, are the Property of the Captor, as to Life and Person, as
was the Custom amongst the Spartans; who, like the Americans,
perpetuated a Race of Slaves, by marrying them to one another, I
think, has been fully disprov'd: But allowing some Justice in,
or, at least, a great deal of Necessity for, making Slaves of
this sable Part of the Species; surely, I think, Christianity,
Gratitude, or, at least, good Policy, is concerned in using them
well, and in abridging them, instead of giving them
Encouragement, of several brutal and scandalous Customs, that are
too much practised: Such as giving them a Number of Wives, or, in
short, setting them up for Stallions to a whole Neighborhood;
when it has been prov'd, I think, unexceptionably, that Polygamy
rather destroys than multiplies the Species; of which we have
also living Proofs under the Eastern Tyrants, and amongst the
Natives of America; so that it can in no Manner answere the End;
and were these Masters to calculate, they'd find a regular
Procreation would make them greater Gainers. A sad Consequence of
this Practice is, that their Children's Morals are debauch'd by
the Frequency of such Sights, as only fit them to become the
Masters of Slaves. This is one bad Custom amongst many others;
but as to their general Usage of them, 'tis monstrous, and
shocking. To be sure, a new Negro, if he must be broke, either
from Obstinacy, or, which I am more apt to suppose, from
Greatness of Soul, will require more hard Discipline than a
young Spaniel: You would really be surpriz'd at their
Perseverance; let an hundred men shew him how to hoe, or drive a
Wheelbarrow, he'll still take the one by the Bottom, and the
other by the Wheel; and they often die before they can be
conquer'd. They are, no Doubt, very great Thieves, but this may
flow from their unhappy, indigent Circumstances, and not from a
natural Bent; and when they have robb'd, you may lash them Hours
before they will confess the Fact; however, were they not to look
upon every White Man as their Tormentor; were a slight Fault to
be pardon'd now and then; were their Masters, and those
adamantine-hearted Overseers, to exercise a little more
Persuasion, Complacency, Tenderness and Humanity towards them, it
might perhaps, improve their Tempers to a greater Degree of
Tractability. Such Masters and such Overseers, Maryland may with
Justice Boast; and Mr. Bull, the late Lieutenant-Governor of
Carolina, is an Instance, amongst many, of the same, in that
Province: But, on the contrary, I remember an Instance of a late
Sea Officer, then resident in a neighbouring Colony, that for a
mere Peccadillo, order'd his Slave to be ty'd up, and for a whole
Hour diverted himself with the Wretched Groans; struck at the
Mournful Sound, with a Friend, I hasted to the Noise, where the
Brute was beginning a new Scene of Barbarity, and belabour'd the
Creature so long with a large Cane, his Overseer being tir'd with
the Cowskin, that he remained without Sense and Motion. Happily
he recovered, but, alas! deceas'd soon after, and perhaps, may
meet him, where the Wicked cease from troubling, and the Weary be
at rest: Where as our immortal Pope sings.

No friends torment, no christians thirst for gold. Another, upon
the same Spot, when a Girl had been lash'd till she confess'd a
Robbery, in mere Wantonness continu'd the Persecution, repeating
every now and then these christian-like, and sensible Expressions
in the Ragings of his Fury, G--dd--mn you, when you go to Hell, I
wish G--d would d--mn me, that I might follow you with the
Cowskin there.

Slavery, thou worst and greatest of Evils! Sometimes thou
appearest to my affrighted Imagination, sweating in the Mines of
Potosi, and wiping the hard-bound Tears from thy exhausted eyes;
sometimes I view thy sable Liberty under the Torture of the Whip,
inflicted by the Hands, the remorseless Hands of an American
Planter: At other Times I view thee in the Semblance of a Wretch
trod upon by ermin'd or turban'd Tyrants, and with poignant,
heart-breaking Sighs, dragging after thee a toilsome Length of
Chain, or bearing African Burdens. Anon I am somewhat comforted,
to see thee attempt to smile under the Grand Monarque; but on the
other Side of the Alpes, thou again resum'st thy Tears, and what,
and how great are thy Iberian Miseries! In Britain, and Britain
only, thy name is not heard; thou hast assum'd a new Form, and
the heaviest Labours are lightsome under those mild Skies!

Oh Liberty, do thou inspire our breasts!
And make our lives in thy possession happy;
Or our deaths glorious, in thy just defence.
Addison.

--Campbell, _Itinerant Observations in America_,
1745-1746, p. 37.

IMPRESSIONS OF PRISCILLA WAKEFIELD