The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917

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"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

After one of these handsome entertainments, where we had been
attended by negro slaves, I observed a cloud upon the brow of my
young friend, for which I could not account, till he confessed,
that the sight of men who were the property of their fellow
creatures, and subject to every indignity, excited such painful
reflections, that he could not banish them from his mind. I
endeavoured to soothe him, by representing that their treatment
here is gentle, compared with that exercised in the southern
states, and in the West Indies; though the efforts that have been
made for the abolition of slavery, have improved their conditions
every where.

It is indeed to be regretted, that men, so ardent in the love of
liberty for themselves as the Americans are, should continue, in
any degree, to tolerate the slave trade. Many amongst them,
however, have used every endeavour to abolish it, particularly
Anthony Benezet. He was born at St. Quintin, in Picardy, in 1712.
France, at this time, suffered from religious persecution; which
drove the parents of Benezet to England, where he embraced the
doctrines of the Quakers. He went to America in 1736, and settled
at Philadelphia, in a commercial line of business; but that
employment being unsuitable to his turn of mind, he quitted it
for the instruction of youth, and undertook the management of a
school, belonging to the society whose principles he had adopted.
From that period, he devoted the chief part of his life to public
instruction, to the relief of the poor, and the defense of the
unhappy negroes.

The amiable Benezet was warmed with universal philanthropy: he
felt a brotherly affection for all men, of all countries, and of
all colours. Not contented with persuasion, he composed many
books, in which he collected authorities from Scripture and other
writings, to discourage and condemn the slave-trade and slavery.
The first influence of his works was perceived amongst the
Quakers. Many of them determined to emancipate their slaves; and
the society since has been very active in promoting the
abolition. Benezet knew that instruction was necessary for those
blacks whose liberty he had procured; and finding few willing to
undertake a task, that prejudice had rendered contemptible, he
determined to devote his own time to the glorious occupation of
enlightening the ignorant and neglected, and his little fortune
to the establishment of a school for the negroes. The influence
of a good example is powerful. Those who had not courage to
begin, cheerfully assisted the work; and the school now enjoys a
revenue of two hundred pounds per annum. This good man died in
1784; honoured by the tears of the blacks, and the regrets of
every friend to humanity. John Woolman, also a member of the same
society, remarkable for the simplicity of his manners, and his
opposition to the slave-trade, united with Benezet and others, in
application to the British government for the abolition. Their
efforts were ineffectual. America after gaining her independence,
has listened, more favourably, to the cause of humanity. Most of
the northern and middle states have proscribed for ever, the
importation of slaves; and in some others, the prohibition is
limited to a certain time. Georgia is the only state that
continues to receive transported slaves. Rhode Island had a great
traffic in slaves, but has totally prohibited it. The abolition,
and amendment in the condition of the negroes, certainly advance,
though by slow degrees; and it is to be devoutly wished, that in
time these improvements will extend to all parts of the world,
where slavery prevails. It will be interesting to you, my dear
brother, to know the steps that have procured these advantages.
In 1780, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania abolished slavery
for ever; compelled the owners of slaves to have them registered;
declared their children free at the age of twenty-eight; placed
them, while under that age, on the footing of hired servants; and
assured to them the privilege of trial by jury. But this was not
sufficient to secure to them all the intended advantages: by a
second act it was ordained, that no negro could be sent into a
neighbouring state without his consent; that all vessels and
cargoes employed in the slave trade should be confiscated; and
that all stealers of the negroes should be condemned to the
public works. The little state of Delaware followed this noble
example. New York has sanctioned nearly the same regulations in
their favour as Pennsylvania. A society, connected with one in
London, and others in the American states, formed for the express
purpose of promoting the abolition, has greatly ameliorated their
condition, in all respects; especially by affording numbers of
them a degree of instruction in religion, and the useful arts of
reading and writing, which they acquire with as much facility as
white men brought up in the same manner. From this information we
may encourage the hope, that the time approaches when their
shackles shall be removed, and they shall participate with the
other races of mankind, in the common benefits of liberty and
independence: that instead of the treatment of beasts of burthen,
they shall be considered as rational beings, and co-heirs with us
of immortality: that a conscientious care of educating their
children in the great duties of Christianity, will produce a
happy change from the vices in which, from ignorance and a
combination of unfavorable circumstances, they now live, to the
practice of religion and morality, and entitle them to rank on an
equality with their fellow-creatures. Besides these public acts
in favour of the negroes, many individuals have generously given
liberty to their slaves; amongst others that have fallen under my
notice, I shall mention the instance of Messrs. David and John
Barclay, respectable merchants in London, who received, as an
equivalent for a debt, a plantation in Jamaica, stocked with
thirty-two slaves. They immediately resolved to set these negroes
free; and that they might effectually enable them afterwards to
provide for themselves, the surviving brother, David, sent an
agent from England to manage the business, and convey them to
Philadelphia, having first supplied them with all necessaries;
where, under the fostering hand of his friends in the city, with
the assistance of the Abolition Society, they were apprenticed to
mechanic trades, and the children sent to school to be properly
instructed. This benevolent act was rewarded with extraordinary
success. Except two, these liberated slaves prospered, and became
useful members of the community.

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