Samboe; or, The African Boy

by Mary Ann Hedge

For Africa’s once-lov’d, benighted shore:

Serving a benefactor, I am free,

At my best home, if not exil’d from thee.”

Samboe, placed with the respectable Mr. Llwellin, made rapid progress in reading and writing, and in the elements of general knowledge. His quickness gained the entire attention of his preceptor; while these was a charm and freshness in all he said, which could only be derived from quick perceptions and a warm heart—a buoyancy of fancy and a fervid feeling, which won the affections of all those who had to instruct him. With the deepest attention he would listen to Mr. Llwellin, as in a simple and impressive manner he explained to him the general principles of religion, the nature and [[142]]duty of worshipping God, the creation of man, his fall from virtue and happiness, and the promised restoration through the merits of the Redeemer. It is a mistake that these subjects are beyond the comprehension, and excite no interest in the hearts of children. Practical devotion and the Christian duties, have a forcible influence on the ductile minds and unsophisticated hearts of the young. Hence the transition of instruction is easy, and perfectly understood by them, from the duty and privilege of prayer and praise, to the truth that we are unable to do either, or even to think what is right, without superior guidance and continual aid. The conviction of this at once gives an object and a fervency to prayer; and he who prays fervently and believing, however young he may be, will not be unheeded when thus imploring the divine aid.

It was the invariable custom of Mr. Llwellin to assemble his family in the evening. He then read a portion of the Holy Scriptures, and explained them with admirable simplicity and pathos to his little auditory. [[143]]It was now that the prayers Samboe had said, as it were mechanically, were now repeated with an earnestness which fully indicated that they were not merely the offering of the lips; and so much did he profit by the pious instructions, example, and care of Mr. Llwellin, that he was admitted into the Christian church by baptism; but, at the request of his young protector, retaining his former name as his usual appellation although he received, at the font, that of Henry.

So anxious was this interesting youth to attain all useful knowledge, that he was always the first at his scholastic duties; and when dismissed from them, after a little recreation, enjoyed with all the zest of health and youth, he would occupy his time in religious reading and study, drawing, and little mechanical works; equally proving his strength of intellect and his active ingenuity. Though his temper was frequently severely tried by the taunts and ridicule of the boys, he never betrayed anger or resentment: he disarmed them by his humility, patience, and [[144]]meekness; so that scoffers he converted into friends. He was lively in his disposition, but taciturn from thought, except when with his teachers; when he seemed to expand every faculty of his mind to receive their instructions, while any accession of knowledge caused his naturally brilliant eyes to beam with added intelligence and delight.

With all these qualities of mind and heart, it is not surprising that Samboe was a universal favourite; and unfeigned, indeed, was his joy, when he was permitted to write to his dear massa Charles, whom he never named without his eyes filling with tears of grateful affection. “Oh!” he would say, “my dear massa, I shall never forget his goodness.” Years passed on in this progressive improvement, during which a regular correspondence was kept up between Charles Roslyn and his protegé, when an incident occurred which opened a field for the exercise of those attainments it had been the laudable and unremitted study of Samboe to acquire.

Colonel Roslyn was entertaining a party [[145]]of gentlemen, among whom were admiral Herbert and his nephew Fitzhugh. Charles Roslyn was the favourite midshipman of the admiral, and the conversation turned upon the topic of the day; namely, the slave-trade, and the probabilities of its abolition, as well as the capacity of the negroes to profit by their freedom. Many were the arguments adduced for and against; and Colonel Roslyn was naturally led to relate the circumstances of Samboe’s becoming Charles’s protegé, and the high reward they had experienced in the sweet disposition, high intellectual capacity, moral worth, and genuine religious principles of the young negro. “I have the sincerest pleasure,” observed Colonel Roslyn, “in stating this individual instance of the moral and intellectual worth of an African, of which, doubtless, there are many similar instances, where instruction and kindness have elicited and fostered the qualities of the mind and heart. But we all remember the period, my friends, when the African’s claim to the character [[146]]and privileges of man was even disputed—when they were considered as somewhat of a superior species of ourang outang[1]. This false and inhuman estimate, succeeding years have disproved. It has been in numberless instances shown that they are not only men, but capable of becoming intelligent and virtuous men; and not only virtuous men, but pious, unaffected, sincere Christians. I am not, however,” continued the colonel, “an advocate for giving personal liberty to numbers of men, unless, at the same time, I impart the principles of religion and the arts of civil life. It is only by giving freedom to the soul, and by encouraging the virtuous energies of man, that we can make him capable of properly appreciating the blessing of liberty, and preserve him from becoming a pest to society, instead of a useful member of it. Without these correcting and restraining principles, liberty would soon degenerate into licentiousness, and the possession [[147]]of power be exercised in deeds of violence.”

“I entirely agree with you, colonel,” observed the admiral; “and therefore be so good as to pledge me in a glass of that excellent claret, when I offer my sentiment: ‘Let the empire of Britain be the empire of mercy; and let no shore re-echo with the thunder of her power, but which shall also smile under the blessing of her beneficence.’ ” This sentiment of the admiral’s was warmly received. During this conversation, a young man at the lower end of the table appeared deeply interested in it. His animated and penetrating countenance drew the attention of Colonel Roslyn, and he expressed his pleasure, in observing to the admiral, that an interest for the enslaved Africans seemed to animate his young relative; for it was Fitzhugh, whose whole soul seemed engaged in the subject.

“Yes, indeed,” observed the admiral, “Fitzhugh is a very enthusiast in the cause, and I love him the better for it: it is honourable to his feelings, and to those generous sentiments [[148]]which ought to pervade the heart, and direct the conduct of a British officer. Have you not heard that he has obtained a very responsible and active appointment in the new settlement of Sierra Leone, and that, in a short time, he will sail for Africa? I doubt not his conscientious attention to the duties devolving upon him, nor do I think the directors could have made a more judicious choice; for, young as he is, his firmness of principle, his rectitude in action, his genuine feeling, and his cultivated mind, render him peculiarly eligible to attend to the duties, and to surmount the difficulties of an infant colony. He will form one of the council, which will be sent from England, for the government of the colony. This council is particularly instructed to secure to all negroes and people of colour, equal rights, and equal treatment, in every respect, as the whites. They are to be tried by jury, as the whites, and every facility given to them to exercise their peculiar talents; employments being allotted them according to their progressive capacity of discharging them. They are [[149]]especially, to be instructed in the principles of religion and morals. Public worship and the reverent observation of the sabbath, the general instruction of the adults and the judicious education of the children, are the means to be used to draw this now wretched race of men from the night of ignorance to the glorious light of divine and temporal knowledge. In fact, the grand object of the Sierra Leone Company is to substitute, for that disgraceful traffic which has too long subsisted, a fair and legitimate commerce with Africa, and all the blessings which may be expected from it.”