When shipments of negroes were commenced from the Texan ports heretofore named, and how often, or to what extent they were made, we are unable to say definitely; but the probabilities are that they commenced immediately after President Lincoln issued his proclamation of freedom to the slaves, September 22, 1862, and were made, to a greater or less extent, thereafter as news reached the dealers elevating or depressing their hopes of a permanent Southern Confederacy. After Sherman commenced his march from Chattanooga to Atlanta, in May, 1864, and especially after he resumed his march from Atlanta to Savannah, in November, 1864, and still more especially after he commenced his march from Savannah to Charleston, and thence to Richmond, in January, 1865, the slave-dealers in Texas thought they saw the handwriting on the wall, "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin"—"Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting," and from thenceforth every steamer, schooner, or water-craft of any kind, that could carry ten or more persons, and which they could possibly procure in any way, was secured to run the negroes from Texas to such markets as it were possible to reach. They could not be taken to the principal open ports of either Cuba or Brazil, lest, being seen by an anti-slavery man, the facts might be reported to United States consuls and thence to the United States government; but they were taken to out-of-the-way places along the coast of both countries, where copartners in the business were in waiting to receive and make further disposition of them. The money received from sales was sent back to the copartners in Texas by the partner or agent bringing out the last lot, and thus a flow of negroes in one direction, and a flow of money, with which to buy more, in another direction, was kept up constantly.
But it was not necessary in all cases to make purchases and payments. Indeed, towards the close of the war, actual purchases were seldom made, and after the close of the war, none at all, though the business still remained active. The plan pursued was this: a dealer would go to a planter, to a farmer, or to a man living in town or city, and ask him how many slaves he owned. The answer would be ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, or more, as the case might be; but he would probably add, immediately after, that only one-half, or one-fourth, or less were then with him—the others were hired out, or with the army, helping to dig trenches, or running at large, he did not know where. The dealer, after explaining to the owner the nature of his business, would propose to take from him a written bill of sale of all the negroes he owned take his own chances of catching them when and where he could, send them to a market when and where he could, and divide with the owner whatever might be the net result of sales. The owner, reasoning from the standpoint that "a half loaf is better than no bread," and that if the Confederacy proved a failure he would get nothing at all for his slaves, would enter into such written agreement with the dealer. With this in his pocket, to assure him from interference from pro-slavery men, and to prove to all who might question him that his business was of a "mercantile," rather than of a kidnapping, character, the dealer and his agents would go forth to seize the negroes—men, women, and children—for whom he had bills of sale in his pocket. If resisted by a white man, out would come his bill of sale to prove title; if resisted by a black man, he was shot down or hung on the spot; if resisted by the alleged slave, he was at once handcuffed, gagged, and marched away; if identity was questioned by a white man, the questioner had to prove property, while the bill of sale held by the dealer was regarded as prima facie evidence of his right to the person claimed; if identity was questioned by the person seized, or by any other colored man, he was laughed at, gagged, or shot down. In this way thousands were seized, thousands driven from where seized into Texas, and tens of thousands run from Texas to Brazilian and Cuban ports.
After the close of the war, the fact that they had been made free by proclamation and by law spread rapidly among those who had been slaves, and from thenceforth the business of kidnapping and running them off became much more dangerous. While travelling through Texas, our informant met many negroes on the road with pistols at their sides, or guns upon their shoulders, and, when asked what it meant, they would reply, "Des am dangerous times, sa; we has to protect ourselves, you know."
He saw, too, as before stated, both black men and white men hanging to the limbs of trees by the roadside, some of whom, doubtless, had been hung there because of resistance to kidnappers. All manner of means were devised by these kidnappers to catch the negroes when and where they could make the least resistance and the least noise. Even ten months after the war; as before stated, one of these dealers—the partner, probably, of an extensive firm, made up of both Americans and Mexicans—proposed to William Higgins to get up a fandango, or dance, at his saw-mills, and invite thereto all the negroes in the neighborhood, for the purpose, and only for the purpose, of enabling these kidnappers to seize and run off as many as could be ensnared within the trap, or got hold of; and, as we have seen, it was four months after the war that the drove of from six to eight hundred negroes were seen on the road to Brazos San Diego.
It will be a wonder with some readers how it was possible to continue such a business after Union troops had been stationed at Austin, the capital of the State, under so able a commander as General Sturges; and after they had been stationed at Bastrop, and at other large towns throughout the State. The explanation is simply this: While the sentiment of the Union troops was entirely opposed to any such traffic, and while, in pursuance of law, their duty plainly was to hang any man whom they found engaged in such a business, yet the sentiment of the white people, among whom the troops were located, was largely, if not universally, in favor of the traffic, and hence they would not inform against those who were engaged in it; and had the troops learned of, and attempted to arrest, any of the parties, every white man of the town or neighborhood would have risen in arms and attempted the rescue of the parties. Law, without public sentiment to sustain it, is a dead letter, or nearly so, under all circumstances, and where public sentiment is decidedly opposed to a law, its execution is next to impossible.
Another wonder, scarcely less than the first, will be with some readers, how it could be possible that honorable men—men whose personal characters before the war were above reproach, either from Southern or Northern men; men who had led consistent Christian lives, and who had been regarded as bright and shining lights in their respective church organizations, could permit such things to be done before their very eyes, and look on indifferently, if not approvingly. The explanation is this: Most of this business of running off slaves was done without the knowledge of the Confederate authorities. Indeed, had it come to their ears during the earlier stages of the war they would have done what they could to prevent it, however indifferent they might have been to it during the last year or last few months of the war. But a far weightier reason is, that what seems so heinous, so diabolical, so criminal indeed, to a Northern anti-slavery man, was, in the eyes of a Southern pro-slavery man, only a fair business transaction, based on Bible authority, State law, and the law of self-preservation. They regarded these negroes as much the property of those who had owned them, as horses or cattle would have been. Nor did they regard the proclamation of President Lincoln and the acts of Congress, whereby slaves were declared free, with any more awe or respect than they would have regarded a like proclamation, or like acts of Congress, if issued or made with regard to horses or cattle. Hence, to their consciences it was no more of a sin to seize and run off to a market these negroes during the war, or even after the war, than it would have been to seize or run off from the grasp of an enemy a like number of horses or cattle. That conscience is largely dependent on surroundings, and on education, is no longer a disputable question among mental philosophers. That the cannibal, who kills and eats his fellow-man, is just as conscientious in what he does as the man who kills and eats a lamb, is now a generally admitted fact. With this philosophic truth as a stand-point from which to look at the subject, who can doubt that General Polk, who for so many years had been the universally respected and highly beloved Bishop of the diocese of Louisiana, was just as conscientious in his advocacy of slavery, and in his defence of the Southern Confederacy, as Bishop Simpson was in his opposition to slavery and his advocacy of the Union. Who can doubt that General Pendleton, who had been for so many years a reverend doctor in the Episcopal Church, and the head of a seminary near Alexandria, Va., and who never gave the order to fire without first raising his eyes heavenward and saying, "God have mercy on their souls," was just as conscientious in the belief that slavery was justified by the Bible, and approved of by God, as John Wesley was in the belief that "slavery was the sum of all villanies"? Who can doubt that General Jackson ("Stonewall"), with whom the Bible was a constant companion, who prayed while he marched, who prayed when he encamped, who prayed even while directing the movements of a battle, was just as conscientious in his belief that slavery was right, as Wendell Phillips was that slavery was wrong; just as conscientious in the belief that the Southern Confederacy should succeed, in order to make slavery perpetual in this country, as General Birney was that the Union cause should succeed, if for no other reason than to wipe out slavery once and forever from the United States. This, certainly, is the charitable view to take of the whole subject; nor, with our present knowledge of ethics and mental philosophy, is it any more charitable than true.
Reason about it as we may, however, the fact remains that tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, were driven out and run out of the United States in the manner indicated, and are now, if still alive, toiling as slaves in other lands; and that many a father, many a mother, many a sister, and many a brother, after their loved ones had been thus kidnapped and taken away, without any knowledge upon the part of their friends, have had reason to cry out in the bitterness of their souls, "We neber seed 'em any more!"