Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

More and more as the Civil War approached was Mrs. Browning depressed by the thought of the impending conflict. Between June 7, 1860, and July 25, 1861, she contributed to the recently established _Independent_ eleven poems, chiefly on subjects of Italian liberty. Sometimes, however, especially in the letters accompanying her poems, she touched on themes somewhat closer to the American people. For the issue of March 21, 1861, she wrote to the editor as follows:

My partiality for frenzies is not so absorbing, believe me, as to
exclude very painful consideration on the dissolution of your
great Union. But my serious fear has been, and is, not for the
dissolution of the body but the death of the soul--not of a
rupture of states and civil war, but at reconciliation and peace
at the expense of a deadly compromise of principle. Nothing will
destroy the Republic but what corrupts its conscience and
disturbs its fame--for the stain upon the honor must come off
upon the flag. _If, on the other hand, the North stands fast on
the moral ground, no glory will be like your glory_.... What
surprises me is that the slaves don't rise.

On this great subject Mrs. Browning found her husband in full sympathy with her. Browning himself declared in a letter to an American, September 11, 1861:

I have lost the explanation of American affairs, but I assure you
of my belief in the justice and my confidence in the triumph of
the great cause. For the righteousness of the principle I want no
information. God prosper it and its defenders.[14]

Two poems by Mrs. Browning at least have to do directly with the Negro and American affairs. One was _A Curse for a Nation_ contributed to the _Poems before Congress_ volume. The poet begins somewhat self-consciously:

I heard an angel speak last night,
And he said "Write!
Write a Nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western Sea."

She protests her unwillingness to execute such a commission, for, she says,

I am bound by gratitude
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine across the sea,
Who stretch out kindly hands to me.

The angel, however, beats down this unwillingness and the curse follows, the second stanza reading:

Because yourselves are standing straight
In the state
Of Freedom's foremost acolyte,
Yet keep calm footing all the time
On writhing bond-slaves,--for this crime
This is the curse. Write.

At best, however, _A Curse for a Nation_ can hardly help impressing one as a little forced. In rather higher poetic vein is the other poem, _The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point_. This was contributed to _The Liberty Bell_, a publication issued by the Boston Anti-Slavery Bazar in 1848. Mrs. Browning feared that the poem might be "too ferocious for the Americans to publish." The composition is undoubtedly a strong one. It undertakes to give the story of a young Negro woman who was bound in slavery, whose lover was crushed before her face, who was forced to submit to personal violation, who killed her child that so much reminded her of her white master's face, and who at last at Pilgrim's Point defied her pursuers. With unusual earnestness the poet has entered sympathetically into the subject. The following stanzas are typical:

But _we_ who are dark, we are dark
Ah God, we have no stars!
About our souls in care and cark
Our blackness shuts like prison-bars;
The poor souls crouch so far behind
That never a comfort can they find
By reaching through the prison-bars.

* * * * *

Why, in that single glance I had
Of my child's face, ... I tell you all,
I saw a look that made me mad
The _master's_ look, that used to fall
On my soul like his lash ... or worse
And so, to save it from my curse,
I twisted it round in my shawl.

* * * * *

From the white man's house, and the black man's hut,
I carried the little body on;
The forest's arm did round us shut,
And silence through the trees did run:
They asked no question as I went,
They stood too high for astonishment,
They could see God sit on his throne.

* * * * *

(Man, drop that stone you dared to lift!--)
I wish you who stand there five abreast,
Each, for his own wife's joy and gift,
A little corpse as safely at rest
As mine in the mangoes: Yes, but _she_
My keep live babies on her knee,
And sing the song she likes the best.

In such a review as this of the connections between Mrs. Browning and the Negro one can not help coming face to face with the question whether her famous husband was not himself connected by blood with the Negro race. The strain is hardly so pronounced as in men like Alexandre Dumas or Leigh Hunt, and as in the case of Alexander Hamilton, the point still seems to be waiting for final proof. The assertion is persistent, however, and there can be little doubt that such is the case. The standard life of Browning,[15] after wrestling in vain with the problem, dismisses it as follows:

Dr. Furnivall has originated a theory, and maintains it as a
conviction, that Mr. Browning's grandmother was more than a
Creole in the strict sense of the term, that of a person born of
white parents in the West Indies, and that an unmistakable dash
of dark blood passed from her to her son and grandson. Such an
occurrence was, on the face of it, not impossible, and would be
absolutely unimportant to my mind, and, I think I may add, to
that of Mr. Browning's sister and son. The poet and his father
were what we know them, and if Negro blood had any part in their
composition, it was no worse for them, and so much the better for
the Negro.

Aside from this last point, from the evidence that has been given, while this of course has its limitations, we may safely assert that with her large humanity and her enthusiasm for liberty, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the sturdiest defenders in England of the cause of the American Negro at the time of the beginning of the Civil War. It is to be regretted that she did not live to read the Emancipation Proclamation and to see the Negro started on an era of self-reliance and progress.

BENJAMIN BRAWLEY

FOOTNOTES:

[8] For the inscription we are indebted to the Cambridge edition of the poems of Mrs. Browning, edited by Harriet Waters Preston, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, p. xii. Translation: Here wrote and died Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who united to a woman's heart the learning of a savant and the inspiration of a poet, and made her verse a golden link between Italy and England. This tablet was set by grateful Florence in 1861.

[9] _The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning_, edited by Frederic G. Kenton, 2 vols., Macmillan, New York and London, 1898. Vol. I, p. 21.

[10] _Letters_, I, 23.

[11] _I. e._, Franklin Pierce.

[12] _Letters_, II, 110.

[13] _Letters_, II, 183.

[14] Quoted from _Browning Society Papers_, Part XII, by Elizabeth Porter Gould in _The Brownings and America_, p. 55.

[15] Mrs. Sutherland Orr, _Life and Letters of Robert Browning_. 2 vols. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1891. Vol. I, p. 8.

PALMARES: THE NEGRO NUMANTIA

One of the most glorious achievements in the history of the Iberian Peninsula was the long and desperate defence of Numantia against the Roman legionaries sent to effect the destruction of the city. When the beleaguered inhabitants could no longer maintain themselves, owing to the shortage of food supplies, they burned the city, and those who were not killed in battle with the Romans committed suicide. Scipio Æmilianus, the Roman leader, entered Numantia to find nothing but burning embers and piles of corpses.

This incident has an almost exact parallel in the history of Brazil--only this time the heroes were Negroes, defending the capital of one of the earliest and one of the strangest Negro republics in the history of the world. The Portuguese, who were the first to introduce Negro slavery into Europe, did not long delay in carrying the institution to their colony of Brazil. It was in 1574 that the first slave ship reached there. Thereafter, great numbers of Negroes were brought, especially to northern Brazil, in the equatorial belt, to work in the profitable sugar fields. No region of the Americas was so accessible to the slave trade, for the Brazilian coast juts out into the Atlantic Ocean directly opposite the Gulf of Guinea in Africa, whence most of the slaves were procured. It is profitless here to go into the question of the treatment of the slaves by their Portuguese masters. Some were badly treated, and took the chance of flight to the interior forest lands, rather than submit any longer. Various causes prompted yet others to escape from the colonial plantations. Thus many a _quilombo_, or Negro village of the forest, was formed. By far the most famous of these was the _quilombo_ of Palmares, whose history is the subject of this article.

In 1650, forty determined Negroes of the province of Pernambuco, all of them natives of Guinea, rose against their masters, taking as much as they could in the way of arms and provisions, and fled to the neighboring forest. There they founded a _quilombo_ on the site of a well-known Negro village of earlier days, which the Dutch had destroyed. The tale of their escape was told throughout the province, with the result that it was not long before the population of the new _quilombo_ was greatly increased. Slaves and freemen were eager to join their brethren in the forest. It seemed prudent, however, to go farther away from the white settlements, lest the very strength of the Negro town should invite annihilation or re-enslavement by the planters. Thus it was that the inland site of Palmares, not far from present-day Anadia, was chosen. A town was founded, and all seemed well except for one thing--an essential to permanence was lacking, for there were no women. A detachment of Negroes was sent on the romantic mission of procuring wives for the colony. This party marched to the nearest plantations, and, without stopping to discriminate, took all the women it could find, black, mulatto, and white. Palmares was now on a secure footing indeed.

At first, the inhabitants lived by a species of banditry, robbing the whites whenever they could. Gradually, a more settled type of life developed. The Negroes began to engage in agriculture, and at length entered into something approximating peaceful relations with the Portuguese settlements. Trade took the place of warfare, although fear of the overgrown _quilombo_ was perhaps as much the motive on the part of the whites as the desire for profits. A rustic republic of an admirable type was formed for the maintenance of internal order and external safety. Combining republican and monarchical features, they elected a chief, or king, called the _Zombe_, who ruled with absolute authority during the term of his life. The right of candidacy was restricted to a group recognized as composing the bravest men of the community. Any man in the state might aspire to this dignity, provided he had Negro blood in his veins. There were other officials, both of a military and of a civil character. In the interests of good order, the _Zombes_ made laws imposing the death penalty for murder, adultery, and robbery. Slavery existed, and in this respect there was a curious custom. Every Negro who had won his freedom from the white man, by whatever method, as for example by a successful flight to Palmares, remained a free man. Those who were captured while in a state of slavery, however, became slaves in Palmares. Thus the reward of freedom was offered to those who should escape from the planters, and a punishment was held out to those who would not, or could not, do so. In course of time, the Negro republic expanded until it included a number of towns. Palmares alone is said to have had a population of 20,000, and the number of fighting men in the whole republic was some 10,000. The capital city, Palmares, was surrounded by wooden walls, made of the trunks of large trees. The city was entered by means of three huge gates, on the tops of which were great platforms, always well guarded.

For nearly half a century the little republic prospered. It was perhaps only natural that the Portuguese settlers should wish to destroy it, for it represented an alien force and an ever present danger, certainly so far as their profits from the use of slave labor went. At any rate, in the year 1696, Governor Caetano de Mello of Pernambuco decided upon an expedition against Palmares. A strong force was sent, but it was met by the Negroes and totally defeated. A veritable army of some 7,000 men was now gathered, and placed under the command of a competent soldier named Bernardo Vieira. This time, the Portuguese troops were well provided with artillery, with which the Negro republic could not be expected to cope. Palmares was reached, but it was in no mood for surrender, and it was necessary to begin a regular siege of the city. The defence was desperate. After the Portuguese artillery had breached the walls in three places, their infantry attacked in force. They entered the city, but had to take it, foot by foot. At last, the defenders came to the center of Palmares, where a high cliff impeded further retreat. Death or surrender were now the only alternatives. Seeing that his cause was lost beyond repair, the _Zombe_ hurled himself over the cliff, and his action was followed by the most distinguished of his fighting men. Some prisoners were indeed taken, but it is perhaps a tribute to Palmares, though a gruesome one, that they were all put to death; it was not safe to enslave these men, despite the value of their labor. Thus passed Palmares, the Negro Numantia, most famous and greatest of the Brazilian _qui-lombos_.

CHARLES E. CHAPMAN

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

SLAVERY IN CALIFORNIA

Slavery in California prior to the Mexican War was slavery in the Spanish possessions. The Spaniards began with the enslavement of Indians and later at the advice of De las Casas changed to that of Negroes.[16] This system was first used in the West Indies and later extended to other colonies. It is said that about the year 1537, Cortes fitted out at the port of Tehuantepec, several small vessels, provided with everything required for planting a colony and sailed north to the head of the Gulf of California, transporting four hundred Spaniards and three hundred Negro slaves, that he had assembled for that purpose.[17] This is the first mention of Negro slavery in California. After the founding of the Mission of San Carlos by the president, Father Junipero Serra, with a community of twenty-three friars, we read that the first interment in the cemetery was that of Ignacio Ramirez, a former mulatto slave from San Antonio, who had money to purchase his freedom.[18] There were too a number of Negro slaves brought to California between these periods. They came on trading ships and with various expeditions, which they usually deserted after reaching the State. Hittell is wrong, therefore, in saying that the first slave in California was brought there in 1825 when the wife of Antonio José de Cot, a Spaniard, brought with her a slave girl named Juana, fourteen years of age, from Lima to San Francisco. He doubted even that this was the first slave in California for the lady expressed her intention to avail herself of the first opportunity to leave.[19]

Spain did not especially bother about Negro slavery in her Pacific coast territory for nearly two hundred years before the coming of the Americans. She promised by the treaty of September 30, 1817, to abolish the slave trade October 31, 1820, in all Spanish territory. In 1821, however, certain of the northern colonies of Spain in America established their independence as the United States of Mexico.[5] Three years later the importation of slaves from foreign countries was prohibited and children of slave parents were declared free. Notwithstanding this there set in considerable emigration from the Southern States followed by an agitation for the acquisition of Texas. In 1827, therefore, Coahuila and Texas were organized as a State with a law prohibiting slavery. As this, however, did not check the immigration, President Guerro issued a decree[20] in 1829 abolishing slavery in Mexico on the occasion of the celebration of the independence of Mexico and in 1830 ordered a military occupation of the State to enforce the anti-slavery measure.[4] But the aggressive southerner ever endeavoring to extend the territory of slavery had all but won the day in Texas. In 1836 Texas declared itself a republic with a constitution permitting the introduction of slavery and forbidding the residence of free Negroes without the consent of its Congress. Then came the Mexican War resulting in the defeat of Mexico and the cession to the United States of a vast territory of which California was the most valuable part.

It is clear, therefore, that at the time the United States government acquired the territory of California from Mexico, slavery had been abolished there nearly twenty years. The pro-slavery party, however, did not consider this action of Mexico a finality in the settlement of the slavery question in the new possessions. When a bill providing for the purchase of this territory was laid before the house, David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, after consultation with other northern democrats, offered the following amendment:

"Provided that an express and fundamental condition to the
acquisition of any territory from the republic of Mexico by the
United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated
between them, and to the use by the executive of the moneys
herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude
shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime
whereof the party shall first be duly convicted."[21]

This proviso was adopted by a vote of 83 to 64. The bill carrying this proviso was then reported to the Senate where followed a heated debate which lasted until adjournment, the proviso being killed in the midst of stormy scenes in Congress.[22] This discussion showed that few statesmen believed that slavery would be profitable in California. They were not unlike Daniel Webster who, while speaking on the admission of the State of Texas, said that slavery was effectually excluded from California and New Mexico by a law even superior to that which admits and sanctions it in Texas. He meant the law of nature. The physiographic conditions of the country would forever exclude African slavery there; and it needed not the application of a proviso. If the question was then before the Senate he would not vote "to add a prohibition--to reaffirm an ordinance of nature, nor reenact the will of God."[23]

The coming and going of the Negro in California did not especially interest any one until the beginning of the immigration of the forties. The subject of slavery in California was officially called to the attention of the inhabitants through the issuance of a proclamation by the Commander in Chief of the District in regard to the unlawful enslaving of the Indians. He was endeavoring to protect them, but they were enslaved[24] in spite of his efforts. The legislature undertook to perpetuate this system by enacting a law permitting the enslavement of Indians, the only condition upon the master being a bond of a small sum, that he would not abuse or cruelly treat the slaves. Under the provision of the same law, Indians could be arrested as vagrants and sold to the highest bidder within twenty-four hours after the arrest, and the buyer had the privilege of the labor for a period not exceeding four months.[25] An Indian arrested for a violation of a law could demand a jury trial, but could not testify in his own behalf against a white person. If found guilty of any crime, he could either be imprisoned or whipped, the whipping not to exceed twenty-four lashes.[26]

Later there was a steady influx of southerners and their Negro slaves into the territory of California, after the country was taken over by the United States. Then came the question as to the enslavement of the Negro. The situation became serious after the Congress of the United States appropriated three millions of dollars for the purchase of the new territory, and still more so after gold was discovered there. Mexican rule ended with the cession of the territory to the United States; and yet session after session of Congress adjourned without giving California a territorial form of government. The question of slavery in the newly acquired territory divided Congress so that they could not decide the issue. Southern newspapers were advertising for slave-owners to send names and the number of slaves they were taking to California to found a _New Colony_.[27]

The settlers were divided. Some came because they either disliked slavery, or were too poor to own slaves. They recognized the possibilities for making California a free State and did not care to be designated _Poor White Trash_ by masters who were being allowed to fill the State with Negro slaves to constitute the basis of an aristocracy like that in the South. There were other inhabitants in California at the time who, being slave-owners, were southern sympathizers. They were determined either to have slavery in California or make a desperate effort before seeing the territory given up as a free State.[28] It did not require very much investigation, however, to show that the pro-slavery party was in the minority. The editor of the _Californian_ said in May, 1848, that he voiced the sentiments of the people in California in saying that slavery was neither needed nor desired there. A correspondent of this paper hoping to hold that section for free labor said: "If white labor is too high for agriculture, laborers on contract may be brought from China." Referring to the proposal to make the commonwealth a slave State Buckelew said: "We have not heard one of our acquaintance in this country advocate this measure and we are almost certain that 97-100 of the present population are opposed to it." Again it is remarked in this paper: "We left the slave states because we did not like to bring up a family in a miserable, can't-help-one's-self condition," and dearly as he loved the union, he would prefer California independent to seeing her a slave State.[29]

The lack of law and order and fear of the southern slave-owners with their herds of Negro slaves finally led to the call of the Constitutional Convention. The question of slavery there was not so much debated in that body as was expected. Some excited pro-slavery leaders were talking of an independent _Pacific Republic_. The southern faction in the convention was led by a Mr. Gwyn, who afterwards became a United States Senator from California, and the northern element was ably represented by a Mr. Broderick, who later was chosen State Senator.[30] The convention finally drafted their constitution with a section which provided that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude unless for the punishment of crime shall ever be tolerated in this state."

The pro-slavery faction in the convention was determined to have slavery somewhere and had managed to have the eastern boundary of California so designated that it extended as far as the Rocky Mountains. This would have resulted in rejection by Congress, or a division of the territory into a Northern and a Southern California, giving the pro-slavery element a new State. The unwieldy boundary, however, was discovered in time to have it changed, but not until after much debate, which almost wrecked the constitution. The California representatives elected by the convention left for Washington, where they presented to Congress the constitution and the petition of the California settlers asking for admission as a State. There had never been a precedent for their act. Yet the settlers in California felt perfectly justified, since it was their only safeguard against the pro-slavery leaders who were bringing their slaves into the territory.

Leaders at the national capital naturally hesitated, not knowing whether or not the admission of California under the conditions thus obtaining would aggravate or improve the national situation. California, however, cared little about the national situation, as is attested by the resolutions of 1850 to the effect: "That any attempts by congress to interfere with the institution of slavery in any of the territories of the United States would create just grounds of alarm in many of the States of the union; and that such interference is unnecessary, inexpedient, and in violation of good faith; since, when any such territory applies for admission into the union as a state, the people thereof alone have the right, and should be left free and unrestrained, to decide such question for themselves." Broderick moved the insertion of the following: "That opposition to the admission of a state into the union with a constitution prohibiting slavery, on account of such prohibition, is a policy wholly unjustifiable and unstatesmanlike, and in violation of that spirit of concession and compromise by which alone the federal constitution was adopted, and by which alone it can be perpetuated." This amendment was adopted.[31]

After a debate of four months Congress admitted California as a free State as one of five compromises. Jefferson Davis, however, repudiated the idea of advantage to his section. He said: "Where is the concession to the South? Is it in the admission, as a state, of California, from which we have been excluded by congressional agitation? Is it in the announcement that slavery does not and is not to exist in the remaining territories of New Mexico and California? Is it in denying the title of Texas to one half of her territory?" He held that gold washing and mining was particularly adapted to slave labor, as was agriculture that depended on irrigation.[32] The day after the admission certain southern senators sent to that body a _Protest_ against the injustice of the act of Congress, admitting California as a free State. The Senate refused the clerk permission either to read or record it. Whereupon the newspapers began publishing articles of severe criticism and talked of dividing the Union. Jefferson Davis went before the United States Senate and, addressing it, called attention to these comments, adding that so much outside criticism was doing more to divide the Union than the _Protest_ would possibly do. Congress finally voted that the _Protest_ be recorded.[33]

Was this to be a free State in every sense of the word? This was the day when the slave power "was covertly grasping at the Spanish-speaking countries beyond the Rio Grande, as it had at the lands beyond the Sabine."[34] At first, it was not, for a good many slaves were brought into the State. On April 1, 1850, an advertisement appeared in the _Jackson Mississippian_ referring to _California, the Southern Slave Colony_ and inviting citizens of slave-holding States, wishing to go to California, to send their names, number of slaves, time of contemplated departure, etc., to the _Southern Slave Colony_, of Jackson, Mississippi. The design was to settle in the richest parts of the State and to secure an uninterrupted enjoyment of slave property. The colony was to comprise about 5,000 white persons and 10,000 slaves.

Another effort to extend slavery in this section came in the unsuccessful filibustering expedition of the Tennessee lawyer, William Walker, who undertook to establish to the south in Sonora, a State with a constitution like that of Louisiana, basing his advocacy of slavery on the lofty grounds of civilizing the blacks and liberating the whites from manual labor. To explain the meaning of this expedition Bancroft considers it sufficient to point out that Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War at that time and that the Gadsden purchase was then under consideration.[35] In 1852 Peachy of San Joaquin introduced a resolution to allow fifty southern families to immigrate into California with their slaves. Some of them came without permission but on finding that they could not legally hold their slaves, they sent a part of them back while others became free.

In 1852 the Legislature passed a rigid Fugitive Slave Law intending to bar slavery from the State. The mischievous clause of this measure was that all slaves who had escaped into or were brought to California previous to the admission of the State to the Union were held to be fugitives, and were liable to arrest under the law, although many of them had been in the State several years, during which they had accumulated considerable property. The pro-slavery element not only profited by this, but the interpretation of this law by many of the Judges enabled them to bring their slaves into the State, work them in the mines, and return to the south and back to slavery with their Negroes.[36]

If they did not wish the trouble of their return passage they auctioned them off to the highest bidder. It also enabled them to make fortunes by selling to the slaves their freedom, charging them twice and often thrice the price he could have possibly brought on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.[37] In certain southern counties of the State it was unpopular to speak in behalf of the slaves. In 1855 Chase and Day, two Abolitionists of Alameda County, were ridden on a rail, ducked and otherwise maltreated.[38] That same year expired the Fugitive Slave Law which had been renewed from year to year to enable slave-owners to reclaim fugitives who had sought refuge in that State prior to its admission to the Union. Fearing that this might be followed by other legislation hostile to their class, the Negroes held a convention in San Francisco that year to discuss their rights, their treatment by the white people, politics, principles and necessity of education. The Fugitive Slave Law was not reenacted.

Many slaves, however, asserted their rights. Such was the case of Archy, a slave brought by one Charles A. Stoval from Mississippi to California in 1857. After hiring Archy out for some time Stoval undertook to return him to Mississippi. Archy escaped and was arrested as a fugitive. Stoval sued out a writ of habeas corpus for his possession and the case came before the Supreme Court for adjudication. Peter Burnett, formerly Governor, who had been appointed justice of that court by Governor Johnson in 1857 and filled the office until 1858, presided. As Burnett was a southern man, his decision was foreshadowed. He decided that although Stoval could not sustain the character of either a transient traveler or a visitor and under the general law was not entitled to Archy, but he yet held that there were circumstances connected with the particular case that might exempt him from the operation of the rules laid down. One of the circumstances was that Stoval was traveling for his health; another, that he was short of means upon arrival in California; and still another, that this was the first case of the kind. He, therefore, ordered Archy to be turned over to Stoval. Joseph G. Baldwin, who succeeded Burnett, characterized the decision as "giving the law to the North and the Negro to the South."[39] After being delivered to Stoval, Archy was taken to San Francisco, but his friends there sued out a writ of habeas corpus for his liberation before Judge Thomas W. Freelon, of the County of San Francisco. While this case was pending, however, Stoval swore to a new affidavit that Archy escaped from him in Mississippi and procured a warrant from George Pen Johnston, United States Commissioner, for his arrest as a fugitive slave from Mississippi. Archy was then discharged by Judge Freelon. He was immediately rearrested and taken before George Pen Johnston, who decided that Archy was in no sense a fugitive from Mississippi and discharged him.[40]

The tendency to free the Negroes brought there checked the importation of that class. The rights of the master to his slave, however, were not easily relinquished and the institution of slavery in California did not come to an end until 1872. Freedom, however, had to win and the pro-slavery element had to change its policy. In 1856 and 1857 efforts were made to call a convention to change the constitution so as to permit the importation of slaves, for with the expiration of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1855, slave-owners who held minors had to return them to slave States or let them go free. Since the Negroes brought into the State could in most cases become free the pro-slavery party then sought to get rid of the free Negro.

In his message to the legislature in 1850, Governor Burnett recommended the exclusion of free Negroes. This was always Burnett's hobby. He incorporated this into the laws of Oregon when he revised them in 1844. Burnett had been brought up in the South and although he had ceased to be a slaveholder, he could not think of living with Negroes as freemen. The exclusion of the blacks too had a sort of popular appeal in it. The legislature, however, was divided on the question as to what should be done with the free Negro. A bill in compliance with the wishes of the Governor was introduced but defeated. Undaunted by this, however, the enemy of the free Negroes won a victory in another quarter in enacting a law that no black or mulatto person or Indian should be permitted to give evidence in any action to which a white person was a party. The leaders of the Negroes held another convention in 1856 to protest against this law. Another bill providing for the prohibition of the immigration of free persons of color into the State was introduced in 1858 and after much debate put through both houses, but it never became a law. The black code, of course, was abrogated after the Civil War.

DELILAH L. BEASLEY

FOOTNOTES:

[16] Bourne, "_Spain in America_," 271.

[17] _California Miscellany_, I, 9.

[18] Bancroft, "_History of California_," I, 175; _Place Notices_, I, 151.

[19] Hittell, "_History of California_," II, 115.

[20] Garrison, "_Westward Extension_," 26.

[21] _Cong. Globe_, 29 Cong., 2 Sess., 509.

[22] Garrison, "_Westward Extension_," 254-268, 284-314. _Cong. Globe_, 29 Cong., 2d Sess., 178, 453, 455; 30 Cong., 1st Sess., 875, 989, 910, 1002-1005, 1062, 1081; 2d Sess., 216, 381.

[23] Tuthill, "_Hist. of California_," 312, 316.

[24] PROCLAMATION TO THE INHABITANTS OF CALIFORNIA.

It having come to the knowledge of the Commander in Chief of the District that certain persons have been and still are imprisoning and holding to service Indians against their will and without any legal contract for service. It is thereby ordered that all persons so holding or detaining Indians shall release them, and permit them to return to their own homes. Unless they can make a contract with them which shall be binding upon both parties. The Indian population must not be regarded in the light of slaves, but it is deemed necessary that the Indians within the settlement shall have employment, with the right of choosing their own master and employment. Having made such a choice they must abide by it, unless they can obtain permission in writing to leave, or the Justice in their complaint shall consider they have just cause to annull the contract and permit them to obtain another employee. All Indians must be required to obtain service and not be permitted to wander about the country in idleness in a dissolute manner. If found doing so they will be liable to arrest and punishment by labor on the public works at the direction of the Magistrate. All officers, Civil or Military under my command are required to execute the terms of this order and take notice of every violation thereof.--Given at headquarters in Yerba Buena.--Signed, John Montgomery. Sept. 15, 1846. Published for the Government of all concerned. Washington A. Bartlett, Magistrate of San Francisco, Sept. 15, 1846.--_California Star_, Sept. 15, 1846.

[25] California Laws, 1849-50, p. 408.

[26] _Ibid._, p. 408.

[27] Bancroft, "_History of California_," VI, p. 313.

[28] _Ibid._, p. 313.

[29] _The Californian_, March 16 and Nov. 4, 1848.

[30] Bancroft, "_History of California_," p. 287.

[31] _Jour. Cal. Leg._, 1850, 372-373.

[32] _Cong. Globe_, 1849-50, App., pt. I, 149-157.

[33] Tuthill, "_History of California_," p. 320.

[34] Bancroft, "_History of California_," VI, pp. 252-253.

[35] _Ibid._, p. 595.

[36] Many Negroes were returned to slavery by the Courts. An owner of slaves in Mississippi brought them voluntarily into California before the adoption of the Constitution by the State. The slaves asserted their freedom and for some months were engaged in business for themselves. The owner under the provision of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1852 brought them before the Justice of Peace, who allowed the claim of the owners and ordered them into his custody. The slaves then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus which came before the Supreme. Court and after hearing the case the Court ordered that the writ be dismissed and the slaves remanded to their owners.--_California Reports_, II, 424-426.

The case of Alvin Coffey is equally as interesting. This account was given by a lifelong friend of the subject.

Alvin Coffey was born in 1822, in Saint Louis, Missouri. He came to California with his sick master, a Mr. Duvall, who landed in San Francisco, September 1, 1849. They went to Sacramento, October 13, 1849. During the next eight months the slave earned for his master $5,000, working in the mines, and by washing for the miners and mining for himself after night, he earned $700 of his own. As the master continued in poor health he decided to return with Alvin to Missouri at the expiration of two years. When they reached Kansas City, Missouri, the master sold Alvin to Nelson Tindle, first taking from him the $5,000, earned for the master, and also the $700 earned for himself.

Nelson Tindle took a great liking to Alvin and in a short time made him overseer over a number of slaves. Alvin, however, longed to return to California and, in order to earn his freedom, bought his time from his master and took contracts to build railroads. One day Nelson Tindle said to Alvin that he was too smart a man to be a slave and ought to try and purchase his freedom. Whereupon Alvin told him if he would let him return to California, he could easily earn enough money to effect the purchase. Alvin was permitted to return to California, and in a short time sent his master the $1,500 to pay for his freedom. Alvin then undertook to earn the money to pay for the freedom of his wife and daughters, who were slaves of Doctor Bassett, of Missouri. He earned the required sum and returned for his family. After paying for their freedom, he went with them to Canada, where he left his daughters to be educated. He and his wife Mahalia came to California. It cost him for the freedom of himself and family together with the trips to and from California about $7000. See Bancroft, "_History of California_," VI, p. 382.

[37] Some of these cases are more than interesting. Daniel Rodgers came across the plains with his master from Little Rock, Arkansas, worked in the mines in Sonora, California, during the day for his master and at night for himself, earning and paying his master $1,100 for his freedom. Soon afterward the master returned with him to Little Rock and sold him. A number of the leading white gentlemen of Little Rock raised a sum of money, paid for his freedom and set him free. William Pollock and wife from North Carolina came to California with their master who located at Cold Springs, Coloma, California. He paid $1,000 for himself and $800 for his wife. The money was earned by washing for the miners at night and making doughnuts. They removed to Placerville, California, and afterward earned their living as caterers. In 1849, a slaveholder brought his slave to California. Not wishing to take the Negro back to his native State, Alabama, he concluded to sell him by auction. An advertisement was put in the papers, the boy was purchased for $1,000, by Caleb T. Fay, a strong abolitionist, who gave the boy his freedom.

A Mississippi slaveholder brought several slaves from that State and promised to give them their freedom in two years. They all ran away save one, Charles Bates, when they learned that they were already free. The owner, finding mining did not pay, started east, taking Charles with him. On the Isthmus of Panama, Charles was persuaded to leave his master. He returned to California and to Stockton with his true friend. On the street one day he was recognized by a party who had lent money to Charles's master. The debtor got out an attachment for the former slave as chattel property, and according to the State law, the Negro was put up and sold at auction. A number of anti-slavery men bought the boy for $750 and gave him his freedom.--_California Reports_, I, 424-426.

[38] Bancroft, "_History of California_," VI, p. 716.

[39] Bancroft, "_History of California_," VI, p. 716.

[40] _Ibid._, VI, p. 716.

DOCUMENTS

CALIFORNIA FREEDOM PAPERS[41]

To determine the sources of the Negroes first brought into California their treatment by the whites and the methods employed to obtain their freedom no documents are more valuable than the manumission papers found in the archives of that State. These throw much light also on the personal history of Negroes, many of whom later became useful citizens of that State.

E. H. TAYLOR
to
DENNIS AVIERY SLAVE RELEASE

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN; This is to certify that Dennis Aviery
has been my Slave in the State of Georgia for about the term of
eight years but by virtue of money to me in hand paid he is free
and Liberated from all allegiance to my authority. Coloma
Eldorado county California Feb. 8, 1851

Witness GEORGE SOALL

STATE OF CALIFORNIA S.S.
ELDORADO CO.

On this eight day of February, A.D. 1851 personally appeared
before me the recorder of said County. E. H. Taylor, satisfactory
proved to me to be the person discribed in and who executed the
foregoing instrument of liberating his negro slave by the oath of
George Scall, a competent witness for that purpose by me duly
sworn and the said E. H. Taylor acknowledged that he executed the
same freely and voluntarily for the use and purposes therein
mentioned. In testimony the thereof, I, John A. Reichart;
Recorder for the said county have hereunto signed my name, and
affixed the seal of said office at Coloma this day of year first
above written

JOHN A. REICHART _Recorder of Eldorado county_

Filed for Recording February, 8, 1851 at 9, oclock A.M.
J. A. REICHART Recorder's office Record Book[42]

DEED OF MANUMISSION

SAMUEL GRANTHAN
to
ALECK LONG
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
ELDORADO COUNTY

Know all men by these presents that I Samuel Grantham of the
county and state aforesaid, acting by power of Attorney vested in
me by S. Oliver Grantham of St Louis, State of Missouri, acting
for and in behalf of said S. Oliver Granthan, and in
consideration of the sum of four hundred dollars to me in hand
paid the same to receive to the benefit of the said Oliver
Grantham have this day liberated, set free and fully and
effectually manumitted, Aleck Long. Heretofore a slave for
life--the lawful property of the said Thomas Granthan. The
description of said Aleck Long, being as follows to wit: about
fifty-seven years old; five feet, ten inches in height, gray hair
dark complexion with a scar on the inside of the left leg above
the ankle.--The said Aleck Long to enjoy and possess now and from
hence forth the full exercise of all rights, benefits and
privileges of a free man of color free of all or any claim to
servitude, slavery or service of the said S. A. Granthan, his
heirs, Executors, and assigns and all other persons claiming or
to claim forever.

In Testimony of this seal of Manumission, I have this day signed
my name and affixed my seal this 2nd day of March 1852.

SAMUEL A. GRANTHAN
_Attorney for State of California_

COUNTY OF ELDORADO.

Personally appeared before me William Palmer who makes oath and
says that Samuel Granthan, whose name appears in the accompanying
Seal of Manumission as a party thereto did freely voluntarily
and of his own will execute to and subscribe the same for the
uses and purpose therein contained.

Witness my hand and seal this day of March, 1852. A.D. at 4. P.M.

J. A. REICHART
_Recorder of Eldorado County California_

GAVEN D. HALL (S.S.)
_Judge of Eldorado county_

Eldorado county Recorder's office, Record Book.[43]

A. J. HOUSTIS
_County Judge of Humboldt County_[44]

FREE PAPERS OF THE SLAVE

WASHINGTON,-->from FRANKLIN STEWART
STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF BUTTE--

Know all men by these presents that Franklin Stewart of the
County and State aforesaid do, for and in consideration of
seventeen years of faithful service of my slave Washington,
rendered by him in the State of Arkansas and Missouri, hereby set
free and emancipate him the said slave, his age about
thirty-three years, color slight copper and relinquish all rights
in the said slave Washington which I might be entitled to in law
or equity.

Given under my hand and seal this day 4th of May A.D. 1852
Eldorado county Recorder's office

Record Book, "A"

EMANCIPATION

TAYLOR BARTON
to
NEGRO BOB
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
ELDORADO COUNTY S.S.

Know all men to whom these presents shall come; That I, Taylor
Barton lately a citizen of the State of Missouri and owner of
slaves, do here by this instrument under my hand and seal given
this ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and fifty one set free from bondage to me and all men my
slave Bob, and do declare him forever hereafter his own man
wherever he may go. Nevertheless I make this condition that the
said Bob shall remain with me as my slave faithful and obedient
unto me until the twenty-fifth day of December next, commonly
known as Christmas.

Witness my hand and seal on the day and date aforesaid this date.
TAYLOR BARTON (S.S.)

WILLIAM F. EMERSON December, 25th 1851

I do hereby, declare My Slave Bob, to be forever free from and
after this date. TAYLOR BARTON (S.S.)

In the presence of I. G. Canfield, _Justice of the Peace_.

Filed for Record

January 5th 1852, at 4.p.m.

JOHN A. REICHART, _Recorder of Eldorado County California_.[45]

ELDORADO

STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF MARIPOSA.

Know all men to whom these presents shall come that, I Thomas
Thorn of the State and County aforesaid being the rightful owner
of the Negro man Peter Green and entitled to his service as a
slave during his life have this day released and do by these
presents release him from any further service as a slave. And I
do by these presents from myself, my heirs, Executors and
Administrators declare him, the said Peter Green to be free to
act for himself and no longer under bonds as a slave. Provided
however that the said Peter Green, shall pay to me the sum of one
thousand dollars, good lawful money or work for and serve me from
the present time until one year from and after the first day of
April next being until the first day of April A.D. 1854

In Testimony whereof, I have here unto affixed my hand and Scroll
for Seal at Quartzburge this day 5th of February A.D. one
thousand eight hundred and fifty three.

THOMAS THORN (Seal)

In the presence of Benjamine F. Ropp. P. Cadell, jr. Joseph A.
Tiry I hereby notify that the above obligation has been complied
with and that Peter Green was legally discharged.

Given under my hand at Quarzburge this 7th day of August, A.D.
1855.

JAMES GIVENS
_Justice of the Peace._[46]

This indenture made and entered into this 14th day August, A.D.
1860 between A. J. Houstis as county Judge of Humboldt County for
and in behalf of a certain Indian boy called and known by the
name of "Smoky" of the first part and Austin Wiley, of the said
county of the second part. That Whereas the said Austin Wiley had
in his possession and under his control a certain Indian boy
named "Smoky" And whereas the said Austin Wiley avers that he
with the assistance of James Frint obtained said Indian of their
parents in Mattole valley of this county, by and with their
consent. And whereas the said Austin Wiley does now apply to me
as County Judge to bond and apprentice the said boy "Smoky" to
him according to law to learn the art of household duties about
his premises and in this respect to hold the relation of an
apprentice until he shall arrive at the lawful majority, the age
of twenty-five years, or for the term of seventeen years next
following this indenture, the boy being now considered eight
years of age. And whereas it appears to me that the second party
in this agreement has obtained this boy in a lawful manner
without fraud or oppression and that the boy "Smoky" therefore
comes justly under the first provision of the law providing for
apprenticeship approved April, 8th A.D. 1860.

Now therefore I, A. J. Houstis, County Judge Aforesaid, in
consideration of the premises and acting for and on behalf of the
said Indian boy "Smoky" do by these presents bind and apprentice
as above stated the said boy "Smoky" to Austin Wiley for and
during the term of seventeen years next following this indenture
entitling him according to law to have the care custody, control
and earnings of said boy during said period and all other
advantages and responsibilities growing out of this indenture and
apprenticeship, that the law contemplates. And the said Austin
Wiley, the second part in his agreement doth hereby agree,
obligate and bind himself that he will truly and faithfully
discharge all obligations on his part growing out of this
indenture according to law. That he will suitably clothe and
provide the necessaries of life for the said boy during his term
of indenture. That he will in all respects treat him in a human
manner. That he will not take him out of this state nor transfer
him to any party not known in this agreement without the consent
of legal authorities endorsed thereon and that in all respects
she will carry out every provision of law that contemplates the
safety, protection and well being of said boy.

In witness whereof the parties of this indenture hereunto set
their hand and seal this date first above written.

A.J.HOUSTIS
_County Judge_
First party
AUSTIN WILEY,
Second party

STATE OF CALIFORNIA
HUMBOLDT COUNTY

And now comes Austin Wiley and deposes as follows:

The statement made by me in the preamble to this indenture
refering to the age of the Indian boy "Smoky" and the manner in
which I obtained him are true to the best of my knowledge and
belief

AUSTIN WILEY

Sworn to and subscribed before me on this 14th day of August A.D.
1860

A. J. HOUSTIS
_County Judge of Humboldt County_.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, } ss.
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES. }

Before the Hon. Benjamin Hayes,
Judge of the District Court of
the 1st Judicial District, State
of California, County of Los Angeles.[47]

In the matter of Hannah and her children, Ann (and Mary, child of
Ann), Lawrence, Nathaniel, Jane, Charles, Marion, Martha and an
infant boy two weeks old, and of Biddy and her children Ellen,
Ann and Harriet, on petition for Habeas Corpus.