Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.

THE
RISING SON;

OR,

THE ANTECEDENTS AND ADVANCEMENT
OF THE COLORED RACE.

BY

WM. WELLS BROWN, M. D.

AUTHOR OF “SKETCHES OF PLACES AND PEOPLE ABROAD,” “THE
BLACK MAN,” “THE NEGRO IN THE REBELLION,”
“CLOTELLE,” ETC.

Thirteenth Thousand.

BOSTON:
A. G. BROWN & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1882.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873,
By A. G. BROWN
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

After availing himself of all the reliable information obtainable, the author is compelled to acknowledge the scantiness of materials for a history of the African race. He has throughout endeavored to give a faithful account of the people and their customs, without concealing their faults.

Several of the biographical sketches are necessarily brief, owing to the difficulty in getting correct information in regard to the subjects treated upon. Some have been omitted on account of the same cause.

WM. WELLS BROWN.

Cambridgeport, Mass.

Publishers’ Note to the 13th Edition.

Few works written upon the colored race have equaled in circulation “The Rising Son.”

In the past two years the sales have more than doubled in the Southern States, and the demand for the book is greatly on the increase. Twelve thousand copies have already been sold; and if this can be taken as an index to the future, we may look forward with hope that the colored citizens are beginning to appreciate their own authors.

WELCOME TO “THE RISING SON.”

BY ELIJAH W. SMITH.

Come forth, historian of our race,

And with the pen of Truth

Bring to our claim to Manhood’s rights,

The strength of written proof;

Draw back the curtain of the past,

And lift the ages’ pall,

That we may view the portraits grand

That hang on History’s wall!

Tell of a race whose onward tide

Was often swelled with tears;

In whose hearts bondage has not quenched

The fire of former years

When Hannibal’s resistless hosts

Wrought his imperial will,

And brave Toussaint to freedom called,

From Hayti’s vine-clad hill.

Write when, in these, our later days,

Earth’s noble ones are named,

We have a roll of honor, too,

Of which we’re not ashamed;

If, for the errors of the past,

In chains did we atone,

God, from our race’s sepulchre,

Hath rolled away the stone.

And our dear land, that long hath slept

Beneath oppression’s spell,

Welcomes the manly fortitude

That stood the test so well;

Bearing the record, blazoned o’er

With deeds of valor done,

Up to the Future’s golden door

He comes, the “Rising Son.”

The battle’s din hath passed away,

And o’er the furrowed plain

Spring, fresh and green, the tender blades

Of Freedom’s golden grain;

But eagle eyes must watch the field,

Lest the fell foe should dare

To scatter, while the sowers sleep,

Proscription’s noxious snare.

Lo! shadowy ’mid the forest-trees

Their demon forms are seen,

And lurid light of baleful eyes

Flash through the foliage green;

And till completed is the work

So gloriously begun,

A sentry true on Freedom’s walls

Stand thou, O “Rising Son!”

Go forth! the harbinger of days

More glorious than the past;

Hushed is the clash of hostile steel,

The bugle’s battle-blast;

Go, herald of the promised time,

When men of every land

Shall hasten joyfully to grasp

The Ethiope’s outstretched hand!

CONTENTS.

MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.

BY ALONZO D. MOORE.

Thirty years ago, a young colored man came to my father’s house at Aurora, Erie County, New York, to deliver a lecture on the subject of American Slavery, and the following morning I sat upon his knee while he told me the story of his life and escape from the South. Although a boy of eight years, I still remember the main features of the narrative, and the impression it made upon my mind, and the talk the lecture of the previous night created in our little quiet town. That man was William Wells Brown, now so widely-known, both at home and abroad. It is therefore with no little hesitancy that I consent to pen this sketch of one whose name has for many years been a household word in our land.

William Wells Brown was born in Lexington, Ky., in the year 1816. His mother was a slave, his father a slaveholder. The boy was taken to the State of Missouri in infancy, and spent his boyhood in St. Louis. At the age of ten years he was hired out to a captain of a steamboat running between St. Louis and New Orleans, where he remained a year or two, and was then employed as office boy by Elijah P. Lovejoy, who was at that time editor of the St. Louis Times. Here William first began the groundwork of his education. After one year spent in the printing office, the object of our sketch was again let out to a captain of one of the steamboats plying on the river. In the year 1834 William made his escape from the boat, and came North.

He at once obtained a situation on a steamer on Lake Erie, where, in the position of steward, he was of great service to fugitive slaves making their way to Canada. In a single year he gave a free passage across the lake to sixty-five fugitives. Making his home in Buffalo, Mr. Brown organized a vigilance committee whose duties were to protect and aid slaves, while passing through that city on their way to the “Land of the free,” or to the eastern States. As chairman of that committee, Mr. Brown was of great assistance to the fleeing bondmen. The Association kept a fund on hand to employ counsel in case of capture of a fugitive, besides furnishing all with clothing, shoes, and whatever was needed by those who were in want. Escaping from the South without education, the subject of our sketch spent the winter nights in an evening school and availed himself of private instructions to gain what had been denied him in his younger days.

In the autumn of 1843, he accepted an agency to lecture for the Anti-slavery Society, and continued his labors in connection with that movement until 1849; when he accepted an invitation to visit England. As soon as it was understood that the fugitive slave was going abroad, the American Peace Society elected him as a delegate to represent them at the Peace Congress at Paris.

Without any solicitation, the Executive Committee of the American Anti-slavery Society strongly recommended Mr. Brown to the friends of freedom in Great Britain. The President of the above Society gave him private letters to some of the leading men and women in Europe. In addition to these, the colored citizens of Boston held a meeting the evening previous to his departure, and gave Mr. Brown a public farewell, and passed resolutions commending him to the confidence and hospitality of all lovers of liberty in the mother-land.

Such was the auspices under which this self-educated man sailed for England on the 18th of July, 1849.

Mr. Brown arrived in Liverpool, and proceeded at once to Dublin, where warm friends of the cause of freedom greeted him. The land of Burke, Sheridan, and O’Connell would not permit the American to leave without giving him a public welcome. A large and enthusiastic meeting held in the Rotunda, and presided over by James Haughton, Esq., gave Mr. Brown the first reception which he had in the Old World.

After a sojourn of twenty days in the Emerald Isle, the fugitive started for the Peace Congress which was to assemble at Paris. The Peace Congress, and especially the French who were in attendance at the great meeting, most of whom had never seen a colored person, were somewhat taken by surprise on the last day, when Mr. Brown made a speech. “His reception,” said La Presse, “was most flattering. He admirably sustained his reputation as a public speaker. His address produced a profound sensation. At its conclusion, the speaker was warmly greeted by Victor Hugo, President of the Congress, Richard Cobden, Esq., and other distinguished men on the platform. At the soirée given by M. de Tocqueville, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the American slave was received with marked attention.”

Having spent a fortnight in Paris and vicinity, viewing the sights, he returned to London. George Thompson, Esq., was among the first to meet the fugitive on his arrival at the English metropolis. A few days after, a very large meeting, held in the spacious Music Hall, Bedford Square, and presided over by Sir Francis Knowles, Bart., welcomed Mr. Brown to England. Many of Britain’s distinguished public speakers spoke on the occasion. George Thompson made one of his most brilliant efforts. This flattering reception gained for the fugitive pressing invitations from nearly all parts of the United Kingdom.

He narrates in his “Three Years in Europe,” many humorous incidents that occurred in his travels, and of which is the following:

“On a cold winter’s evening, I found myself seated before the fire, and alone, in the principal hotel in the ancient and beautiful town of Ludlow, and within a few minutes’ walk of the famous old castle from which the place derives its name. A long ride by coach had so completely chilled me, that I remained by the fire to a later hour than I otherwise would have.

“‘Did you ring, sir?’ asked the waiter, as the clock struck twelve.

“‘No,’ I replied; ‘but you may give me a light, and I will retire.’

“I was shown to my chamber, and was soon in bed. From the weight of the covering, I felt sure that the extra blanket which I had requested to be put on was there; yet I was shivering with cold. As the sheets began to get warm, I discovered, to my astonishment, that they were damp—indeed, wet. My first thought was to ring the bell for the servant, and have them changed; but, after a moment’s consideration, I resolved to adopt a different course. I got out of bed, pulled the sheets off, rolled them up, raised the window, and threw them into the street. After disposing of the wet sheets, I returned to bed, and got in between the blankets, and lay there trembling with cold till Morpheus came to my relief.

“The next morning I said nothing about the sheets, feeling sure that the discovery of their loss would be made by the chambermaid in due time. Breakfast over, I visited the ruins of the old castle, and then returned to the hotel, to await the coach for Hereford. As the hour drew near for me to leave, I called the waiter, and ordered my bill. ‘Yes, sir, in a moment,’ he replied, and left in haste. Ten or fifteen minutes passed away, and the servant once more came in, walked to the window, pulled up the blinds, and then went out.

“I saw that something was afloat; and it occurred to me that they had discovered the loss of the sheets, at which I was pleased; for the London newspapers were, at that time, discussing the merits and the demerits of the hotel accommodations of the kingdom, and no letters found a more ready reception in their columns than one on that subject. I had, therefore, made up my mind to have the wet sheets put in the bill, pay for them, and send the bill to the Times.

“The waiter soon returned again, and, in rather an agitated manner, said, ‘I beg your pardon, sir, but the landlady is in the hall, and would like to speak to you.’ Out I went, and found the finest specimen of an English landlady that I had seen for many a day. There she stood, nearly as thick as she was tall, with a red face garnished around with curls, that seemed to say, ‘I have just been oiled and brushed.’ A neat apron covered a black alpaca dress that swept the floor with modesty, and a bunch of keys hung at her side. O, that smile! such a smile as none but an adept could put on. However, I had studied human nature too successfully not to know that thunder and lightning were concealed under that smile, and I nerved myself for the occasion.

“‘I am sorry to have to name it, sir,’ said she; ‘but the sheets are missing off your bed.’

“‘O, yes,’ I replied; ‘I took them off last night.’

“‘Indeed!’ exclaimed she; ‘and what did you do with them?’

“‘I threw them out of the window,’ said I.

“‘What! into the street?’

“‘Yes; into the street,’ I said.

“‘What did you do that for?’

“‘They were wet; and I was afraid that if I left them in the room they would be put on at night, and give somebody else a cold.’

“‘Then, sir,’ said she, ‘you’ll have to pay for them.’

“‘Make out your bill, madam,’ I replied, ‘and put the price of the wet sheets in it, and I will send it to the Times, and let the public know how much you charge for wet sheets.’

“I turned upon my heel, and went back to the sitting-room. A moment more, and my bill was brought in; but nothing said about the sheets, and no charge made for them. The coach came to the door; and as I passed through the hall leaving the house, the landlady met me, but with a different smile.

“‘I hope, sir,’ said she, ‘that you will never mention the little incident about the sheets. I am very sorry for it. It would ruin my house if it were known.’ Thinking that she was punished enough in the loss of her property, I promised not to mention the name of the house, if I ever did the incident.

“The following week I returned to the hotel, when I learned the fact from the waiter that they had suspected that I had stolen the sheets, and that a police officer was concealed behind the hall door, on the day that I was talking with the landlady. When I retired to bed that night, I found two jugs of hot water in the bed, and the sheets thoroughly dried and aired.

“I visited the same hotel several times afterwards, and was invariably treated with the greatest deference, which no doubt was the result of my night with the wet sheets.”

In 1852, Mr. Brown gave to the public his “Three Years in Europe,” a work which at once placed him high as an author, as will be seen by the following extracts from some of the English journals. The Eclectic Review, edited by the venerable Dr. Price, one of the best critics in the realm, said,—“Mr. Brown has produced a literary work not unworthy of a highly-cultivated gentleman.”

Rev. Dr. Campbell, in the British Banner, remarked: “We have read Mr. Brown’s book with an unusual measure of interest. Seldom, indeed, have we met with anything more captivating. A work more worthy of perusal has not, for a considerable time, come into our hands.”

“Mr. Brown writes with ease and ability,” said the Times, “and his intelligent observations upon the great question to which he has devoted and is devoting his life will command influence and respect.”

The Literary Gazette, an excellent authority, says of it, “The appearance of this book is too remarkable a literary event, to pass without a notice. At the moment when attention in this country is directed to the state of the colored people in America, the book appears with additional advantage; if nothing else were attained by its publication, it is well to have another proof of the capability of the negro intellect. Altogether, Mr. Brown has written a pleasing and amusing volume, and we are glad to bear this testimony to the literary merit of a work by a negro author.”

The Glasgow Citizen, in its review, remarked,—“W. Wells Brown is no ordinary man, or he could not have so remarkably surmounted the many difficulties and impediments of his training as a slave. By dint of resolution, self-culture, and force of character, he has rendered himself a popular lecturer to a British audience, and a vigorous expositor of the evils and atrocities of that system whose chains he has shaken off so triumphantly and forever. We may safely pronounce William Wells Brown a remarkable man, and a full refutation of the doctrine of the inferiority of the negro.”

The Glasgow Examiner said,—“This is a thrilling book, independent of adventitious circumstances, which will enhance its popularity. The author of it is not a man, in America, but a chattel,—a thing to be bought, and sold, and whipped; but in Europe, he is an author, and a successful one, too. He gives in this book an interesting and graphic description of a three years’ residence in Europe. The book will no doubt obtain, as it well deserves, a rapid and wide popularity.”

In the spring of 1853, the fugitive brought out his work, “Clotelle; or, the President’s Daughter,” a book of nearly three hundred pages, being a narrative of slave life in the Southern States. This work called forth new criticisms on the “Negro Author” and his literary efforts. The London Daily News pronounced it a book that would make a deep impression; while The Leader, edited by the son of Leigh Hunt, thought many parts of it “equal to anything which had appeared on the slavery question.”

The above are only a few of the many encomiums bestowed upon our author. Besides writing his books, Mr. Brown was also a regular contributor to the columns of The London Daily News, The Liberator, Frederick Douglass’ Paper, and The National Anti-slavery Standard. When we add, that in addition to his literary labors, Mr. Brown was busily engaged in the study of the medical profession, it will be admitted that he is one of the most industrious of men. After remaining abroad nearly six years, and travelling extensively through Great Britain and on the continent, he returned to the United States in 1854, landing at Philadelphia, where he was welcomed in a large public meeting presided over by Robert Purvis, Esq.

On reaching Boston, a welcome meeting was held in Tremont Temple, with Francis Jackson, Esq., in the chair, and at which Wendell Phillips said,—“I rejoice that our friend Brown went abroad; I rejoice still more that he has returned. The years any thoughtful man spends abroad must enlarge his mind and store it richly. But such a visit is to a colored man more than merely intellectual education. He lives for the first time free from the blighting chill of prejudice. He sees no society, no institution, no place of resort or means of comfort from which his color debars him.

“We have to thank our friend for the fidelity with which he has, amid many temptations, stood by those whose good name religious prejudice is trying to undermine in Great Britain. That land is not all Paradise to the colored man. Too many of them allow themselves to be made tools of the most subtle of their race. We recognize, to-night, the clear-sightedness and fidelity of Mr. Brown’s course abroad, not only to thank him, but to assure our friends there that this is what the Abolitionists of Boston endorse.”

Mr. Phillips proceeded:—“I still more rejoice that Mr. Brown has returned. Returned to what? Not to what he can call his ‘country.’ The white man comes ‘home.’ When Milton heard, in Italy, the sound of arms from England, he hastened back—young, enthusiastic, and bathed in beautiful art as he was in Florence. ‘I would not be away,’ he said, ‘when a blow was struck for liberty.’ He came to a country where his manhood was recognized, to fight on equal footing.

“The black man comes home to no liberty but the liberty of suffering—to struggle in fetters for the welfare of his race. It is a magnanimous sympathy with his blood that brings such a man back. I honor it. We meet to do it honor. Franklin’s motto was, Ubi Libertas, ibi patria—Where liberty is, there is my country. Had our friend adopted that for his rule, he would have stayed in Europe. Liberty for him is there. The colored man who returns, like our friend, to labor, crushed and despised, for his race, sails under a higher flag. His motto is,—‘Where my country is, there will I bring liberty!’”

Although Dr. Brown could have entered upon the practice of his profession, for which he was so well qualified, he nevertheless, with his accustomed zeal, continued with renewed vigor in the cause of the freedom of his race.

In travelling through the country and facing the prejudice that met the colored man at every step, he saw more plainly the vast difference between this country and Europe.

In giving an account of his passage on the little steamer that plies between Ithica and Cayuga Bridge, he says,—

“When the bell rang for breakfast, I went to the table, where I found some twenty or thirty persons. I had scarcely taken my seat, when a rather snobby-appearing man, of dark complexion, looking as if a South Carolina or Georgia sun had tanned him, began rubbing his hands, and, turning up his nose, called the steward, and said to him, ‘Is it the custom on this boat to put niggers at the table with white people?’

“The servant stood for a moment, as if uncertain what reply to make, when the passenger continued, ‘Go tell the captain that I want him.’ Away went the steward. I had been too often insulted on account of my connection with the slave, not to know for what the captain was wanted. However, as I was hungry, I commenced helping myself to what I saw before me, yet keeping an eye to the door, through which the captain was soon to make his appearance. As the steward returned, and I heard the heavy boots of the commander on the stairs, a happy thought struck me; and I eagerly watched for the coming-in of the officer.

“A moment more, and a strong voice called out, ‘Who wants me?’

“I answered at once, ‘I, sir.’

“‘What do you wish?’ asked the captain.

“‘I want you to take this man from the table,’ said I.

“At this unexpected turn of the affair, the whole cabin broke out into roars of laughter; while my rival on the opposite side of the table seemed bursting with rage. The captain, who had joined in the merriment, said,—

“‘Why do you want him taken from the table?’

“‘Is it your custom, captain,’ said I, ‘to let niggers sit at table with white folks on your boat?’

“This question, together with the fact that the other passenger had sent for the officer, and that I had ‘stolen his thunder,’ appeared to please the company very much, who gave themselves up to laughter; while the Southern-looking man left the cabin with the exclamation, ‘Damn fools!’”

In the autumn of 1854, Dr. Brown published his “Sketches of Places and People Abroad,” that met with a rapid sale, and which the New York Tribune said, was “well-written and intensely interesting.”

His drama, entitled “The Dough Face,” written shortly after, and read by him before lyceums, gave general satisfaction wherever it was heard.

Indeed, in this particular line the doctor seems to excel, and the press was unanimous in its praise of his efforts. The Boston Journal characterized the drama and its reading as “interesting in its composition, and admirably rendered.”

“The Escape; or, Leap for Freedom,” followed the “Dough Face,” and this drama gave an amusing picture of slave life, and was equally as favorably received by the public.

In 1863, Dr. Brown brought out “The Black Man,” a work which ran through ten editions in three years, and which was spoken of by the press in terms of the highest commendation, and of which Frederick Douglass wrote in his own paper,—

“Though Mr. Brown’s book may stand alone upon its own merits, and stand strong, yet while reading its interesting pages,—abounding in fact and argument, replete with eloquence, logic, and learning, clothed with simple yet eloquent language,—it is hard to repress the inquiry, Whence has this man this knowledge? He seems to have read and remembered nearly everything which has been written and said respecting the ability of the negro, and has condensed and arranged the whole into an admirable argument, calculated both to interest and convince.”

William Lloyd Garrison said, in The Liberator, “This work has done good service, and proves its author to be a man of superior mind and cultivated ability.”

Hon. Gerritt Smith, in a letter to Dr. Brown, remarked,—“I thank you for writing such a book. It will greatly benefit the colored race. Send me five copies of it.”

Lewis Tappen, in his Cooper Institute speech, on the 5th of January, 1863, said,—“This is just the book for the hour; it will do more for the colored man’s elevation than any work yet published.”

The space allowed me for this sketch will not admit the many interesting extracts that might be given from the American press in Dr. Brown’s favor as a writer and a polished reader. However, I cannot here omit the valuable testimony of Professor Hollis Read, in his ably-written work, “The Negro Problem Solved.” On page 183, in writing of the intelligent colored men of the country, he says: “As a writer, I should in justice give the first place to Dr. William Wells Brown, author of ‘The Black Man.’”

“Clotelle,” written by Dr. Brown, a romance founded on fact, is one of the most thrilling stories that we remember to have read, and shows the great versatility of the cast of mind of our author.

The temperance cause in Massachusetts, and indeed, throughout New England, finds in Dr. Brown an able advocate.

The Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of Massachusetts did itself the honor of electing him Grand Worthy Associate of that body, and thereby giving him a seat in the National Division of the Sons of Temperance of North America, where, at its meeting in Boston, 1871, his speech in behalf of the admission of the colored delegates from Maryland, will not soon be forgotten by those who were present.

The doctor is also a prominent member of the Good Templars of Massachusetts. His efforts, in connection with his estimable wife, for the spread of temperance among the colored people of Boston, deserve the highest commendation.

Some five years ago, our author, in company with others, organized “The National Association for the Spread of Temperance and Night-schools among the Freed People at the South,” of which he is now president. This society is accomplishing great good among the freedmen.

It was while in the discharge of his duties of visiting the South, in 1871, and during his travels through the State of Kentucky, he became a victim of the Ku-Klux, and of which the following is the narrative:—

“I visited my native State in behalf of The National Association for the Spread of Temperance and Night-schools among the Freedmen, and had spoken to large numbers of them at Louisville, and other places, and was on my way to speak at Pleasureville, a place half-way between Louisville and Lexington. I arrived at Pleasureville dépôt a little after six in the evening, and was met by a colored man, who informed me that the meeting was to take place five miles in the country.

“After waiting some time for a team which was expected, we started on foot, thinking we would meet the vehicle. We walked on until dark overtook us, and seeing no team, I began to feel apprehensive that all was not right. The man with me, however, assured me that there was no danger, and went on. But we shortly after heard the trotting of horses, both in front and in the rear, and before I could determine what to do, we were surrounded by some eight or ten men, three of whom dismounted, bound my arms behind me with a cord, remounted their horses, and started on in the direction I had been travelling. The man who was with me disappeared while I was being tied. The men were not disguised, and talked freely among themselves.

“After going a mile or more they stopped, and consulted a moment or two, the purport of which I could not hear, except one of them saying,—‘Lawrence don’t want a nigger hung so near his place.’ They started again; I was on foot, a rope had been attached to my arms, and the other end to one of the horses. I had to hasten my steps to keep from being dragged along by the animal. Soon they turned to the right, and followed up what appeared to be a cow-path.

“While on this road my hat fell off, and I called out to the man behind and said, ‘I’ve lost my hat.’

“‘You’ll need no hat in half an hour’s time,’ he replied. As we were passing a log house on this road, a man came out and said, in a trembling voice, ‘Jim’s dying!’ All the men now dismounted, and, with the exception of two, they went into the building. I distinctly heard the cries, groans, and ravings of the sick man, which satisfied me at once that it was an extreme case of delirium tremens; and as I treated the malady successfully by the hypodermic remedy, and having with me the little instrument, the thought flashed upon my mind that I might save my life by the trial. Consequently, I said to one of the men,—‘I know what’s the matter with that man, and I can relieve him in ten minutes.’

“One of the men went into the house, related what I had said, and the company came out. The leader, whom they all addressed as ‘Cap,’ began to question me with regard to my skill in such complaints. He soon became satisfied, untied me, and we entered the sick man’s chamber. My hands were so numb from the tightness of the cord which bound my arms, that I walked up and down the room for some minutes, rubbing my hands, and contemplating the situation. The man lay upon a bed of straw, his arms and legs bound to the bedstead to keep him from injuring himself and others. He had, in his agony, bitten his tongue and lips, and his mouth was covered with bloody froth, while the glare of his eyes was fearful. His wife, the only woman in the house, sat near the bed with an infant upon her lap, her countenance pale and anxious, while the company of men seemed to be the most desperate set I had ever seen.

“I determined from the first to try to impress them with the idea that I had derived my power to relieve pain from some supernatural source. While I was thus thinking the matter over, ‘Cap’ was limping up and down the room, breathing an oath at nearly every step, and finally said to me,—‘Come, come, old boy, take hold lively; I want to get home, for this d—d old hip of mine is raising h—l with me.’ I said to them,—‘Now, gentlemen, I’ll give this man complete relief in less than ten minutes from the time I lay my hands on him; but I must be permitted to retire to a room alone, for I confess that I have dealings with the devil, and I must consult with him.’ Nothing so charms an ignorant people as something that has about it the appearance of superstition, and I did not want these men to see the syringe, or to know of its existence. The woman at once lighted a tallow candle, handed it to ‘Cap,’ and pointed to a small room. The man led the way, set the light down, and left me alone. I now took out my case, adjusted the needle to the syringe, filled it with a solution of the acetate of morphia, put the little instrument into my vest pocket, and returned to the room.

“After waving my hands in the air, I said,—‘Gentlemen, I want your aid; give it to me, and I’ll perform a cure that you’ll never forget. All of you look upon that man till I say, “Hold!” Look him right in the eye.’ All eyes were immediately turned upon the invalid. Having already taken my stand at the foot of the bed, I took hold of the right leg near the calf, pinched up the skin, inserted the needle, withdrew it after discharging the contents, slipped the syringe into my pocket, and cried at the top of my voice, ‘Hold!’ The men now turned to me, alternately viewing me and the sick man. From the moment that the injection took place, the ravings began to cease, and in less than ten minutes he was in perfect ease. I continued to wave my hands, and to tell the devils ‘to depart and leave this man in peace.’ ‘Cap’ was the first to break the silence, and he did it in an emphatic manner, for he gazed steadily at me, then at the sick man, and exclaimed,—‘Big thing! big thing, boys, d—d if it ain’t!’

“Another said,—‘A conjurer, by h—ll! you heard him say he deals with the devil.’ I now thought it time to try ‘Cap,’ for, from his limping, groaning, and swearing about his hip, it seemed to me a clear case of sciatica, and I thus informed him, giving him a description of its manner of attack and progress, detailing to him the different stages of suffering.

“I had early learned from the deference paid to the man by his associates, that he was their leader, and I was anxious to get my hands on him, for I had resolved that if ever I got him under the influence of the drug, he should never have an opportunity of putting a rope around my neck. ‘Cap’ was so pleased with my diagnosis of his complaint, that he said,—‘Well, I’ll give you a trial, d—d if I don’t!’ I informed him that I must be with him alone. The woman remarked that we could go in the adjoining room. As we left the company, one of them said: ‘You aint agoin’ to kill “Cap,” is you?’ ‘Oh, no!’ I replied. I said, ‘Now, “Cap,” I’ll cure you, but I need your aid.’ ‘Sir,’ returned he, ‘I’ll do anything you tell me.’ I told him to lay on the bed, shut his eyes, and count one hundred. He obeyed at once, and while he was counting, I was filling the syringe with the morphia.

“When he had finished counting, I informed him that I would have to pinch him on the lame leg, so as to get the devil out of it. ‘Oh!’ replied he, ‘you may pinch as much as you d—d please, for I’ve seen and felt h—ll with this old hip!’ I injected the morphia as I had done in the previous case, and began to sing a noted Methodist hymn as soon as I had finished. As the medicine took effect, the man went rapidly off into a slumber, from which he did not awake while I was there, for I had given him a double dose.

“I will here remark, that while the morphia will give most instant relief in sciatica, it seldom performs a perfect cure. But in both cases I knew it would serve my purpose. As soon as ‘Cap’ was safe, I called in his companions, who appeared still more amazed than at first. They held their faces to his to see that he breathed, and would shake their heads and go out. I told them that I should have to remain with the man five or six hours. At this announcement one of the company got furious, and said, ‘It’s all a trick to save his neck from the halter,’ and concluded by saying at the top of his voice, ‘Come to the tree, to the tree!’ The men all left the room, assembled in the yard, and had a consultation. It was now after eleven o’clock, and as they had a large flask of brandy with them they appeared to keep themselves well-filled, from the manner in which the room kept scented up. At this juncture one of the company, a tall, red-haired man, whose face was completely covered with beard, entered the room, took his seat at the table, drew out of his pocket a revolver, laid it on the table, and began to fill his mouth with tobacco. The men outside mounted their horses and rode away, one of whom distinctly shouted, ‘Remember, four o’clock.’ I continued to visit one and then the other of the invalids, feeling their pulse, and otherwise showing my interest in their recovery.

“The brandy appeared to have as salutary effect on the man at the table as the morphia had on the sick, for he was fast asleep in a few minutes. The only impediment in the way of my escape now was a large dog, which it was difficult to keep from me when I first came to the house, and was now barking, snapping, and growling, as if he had been trained to it.

“Many modes of escape suggested themselves to me while the time was thus passing, the most favored of which was to seize the revolver, rush out of the house, and run my chance with the dog. However, before I could put any of these suggestions into practice, the woman went out, called ‘Lion, Lion,’ and returned, followed by the dog, which she made lie down by her as she reseated herself. In a low whisper, this woman, whose fate deserves to be a better one, said,—‘They are going to hang you at four o’clock; now is your time to go.’ The clock was just striking two when I arose, and with a grateful look, left the house. Taking the road that I had come, and following it down, I found my hat, and after walking some distance out of the way by mistake, I reached the station, and took the morning train for Cincinnati.”

I cannot conclude this sketch of our author’s life without alluding to an incident which occurred at Aurora, my native town, on a visit to that place in the winter of 1844.

Dr. Brown was advertised to speak in the old church, which he found filled to overflowing, with an audience made up mostly of men who had previously determined that the meeting should not be held.

The time for opening the meeting had already arrived, and the speaker was introduced by my father, who acted as chairman.

The coughing, whistling, stamping of feet, and other noises made by the assemblage, showed the prejudice existing against the anti-slavery cause, the doctrines of which the speaker was there to advocate. This tumult lasted for half an hour or more, during which time unsalable eggs, peas, and other missiles were liberally thrown at the speaker.

One of the eggs took effect on the doctor’s face, spattering over his nicely-ironed shirt bosom, and giving him a somewhat ungainly appearance, which kept the audience in roars of laughter at the expense of our fugitive friend.

Becoming tired of this sort of fun, and getting his Southern blood fairly aroused, Dr. Brown, who, driven from the pulpit, was standing in front of the altar, nerved himself up, assumed a highly dramatic air, and said: “I shall not attempt to address you; no, I would not speak to you if you wanted me to. However, let me tell you one thing, and that is, if you had been in the South a slave as I was, none of you would ever have had the courage to escape; none but cowards would do as you have done here to-night.”

Dr. Brown gradually proceeded into a narrative of his own life and escape from the South. The intense interest connected with the various incidents as he related them, chained the audience to their seats, and for an hour and a half he spoke, making one of the most eloquent appeals ever heard in that section in behalf of his race.

I have often heard my father speak of it as an effort worthy of our greatest statesmen. Before the commencement of the meeting, the mob had obtained a bag of flour, taking it up into the belfry of the church, directly over the entrance door, with the intention of throwing it over the speaker as he should pass out.

One of the mob had been sent in with orders to keep as close to the doctor as he could, and who was to give the signal for the throwing of the flour. So great was the influence of the speaker on this man, that his opinions were changed, and instead of giving the word, he warned the doctor of the impending danger, saying,—“When you hear the cry of ‘let it slide,’ look out for the flour.” The fugitive had no sooner learned these facts than he determined to have a little fun at the expense of others.

Pressing his way forward, and getting near a group of the most respectable of the company, including two clergymen, a physician, and a justice of the peace, he moved along with them, and as they passed under the belfry, the doctor cried out at the top of his voice, “Let it slide!” when down came the flour upon the heads of some of our best citizens, which created the wildest excitement, and caused the arrest of those engaged in the disturbance.

Everybody regarded Dr. Brown’s aptness in this matter as a splendid joke; and for many days after, the watchword of the boys was, “Let it Slide!”

Dr. Brown wrote “The Negro in the Rebellion,” in 1866, which had a rapid sale.

THE RISING SON.

CHAPTER I. THE ETHIOPIANS AND EGYPTIANS.

The origin of the African race has provoked more criticism than any other of the various races of man on the globe. Speculation has exhausted itself in trying to account for the Negro’s color, features, and hair, that distinguish him in such a marked manner from the rest of the human family.

All reliable history, and all the facts which I have been able to gather upon this subject, show that the African race descended from the country of the Nile, and principally from Ethiopia.

The early history of Ethiopia is involved in great obscurity. When invaded by the Egyptians, it was found to contain a large population, consisting of savages, hunting and fishing tribes, wandering herdsmen, shepherds, and lastly, a civilized class, dwelling in houses and in large cities, possessing a government and laws, acquainted with the use of hieroglyphics, the fame of whose progress in knowledge and the social arts had, in the remotest ages, spread over a considerable portion of the earth. Even at that early period, when all the nations were in their rude and savage state, Ethiopia was full of historical monuments, erected chiefly on the banks of the Nile.

The earliest reliable information we have of Ethiopia, is (B. C. 971) when the rulers of that country assisted Shishank in his war against Judea, “with very many chariots and horsemen.” Sixteen years later, we have an account of Judea being again invaded by an army of a million Ethiopians, unaccompanied by any Egyptian force.[1] The Ethiopian power gradually increased until its monarchs were enabled to conquer Egypt, where three of them reigned in succession, Sabbackon, Sevechus, and Tarakus, the Tirhakah of Scripture.[2]

Sevechus, called so in Scripture, was so powerful a monarch that Hoshed, king of Israel, revolted against the Assyrians, relying on his assistance,[3] but was not supported by his ally. This indeed, was the immediate cause of the captivity of the Ten Tribes; for “in the ninth year of Hoshed the king, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria,” as a punishment for unsuccessful rebellion.

Tirhakah was a more war-like prince; he led an army against Sennacherib,[4] king of Assyria, then besieging Jerusalem; and the Egyptian traditions, preserved in the age of Herodotus, give an accurate account of the providential interposition by which the pride of the Assyrians was humbled.

It is said that the kings of Ethiopia were always elected from the priestly caste; and there was a strange custom for the electors, when weary of their sovereign, to send him a courier with orders to die. Ergamenes was the first monarch who ventured to resist this absurd custom; he lived in the reign of the second Ptolemy, and was instructed in Grecian philosophy. So far from yielding, he marched against the fortress of the priests, massacred most of them, and instituted a new religion.

Queens frequently ruled in Ethiopia; one named Candace made war on Augustus Cæsar, about twenty years before the birth of Christ, and though not successful, obtained peace on very favorable conditions.

The pyramids of Ethiopia, though inferior in size to those in Egypt, are said to surpass them in architectural beauty, and the sepulchres evince the greatest purity of taste.

But the most important and striking proof of the progress of the Ethiopians in the art of building, is their knowledge and employment of the arch. Hoskins has stated that their pyramids are of superior antiquity to those of Egypt. The Ethiopian vases depicted on the monuments, though not richly ornamented, display a taste and elegance of form that has never been surpassed. In sculpture and coloring, the edifices of Ethiopia, though not so profusely adorned, rival the choicest specimens of Egyptian art.

Meroe was the entrepot of trade between the North and the South, between the East and the West, while its fertile soil enabled the Ethiopians to purchase foreign luxuries with native productions. It does not appear that fabrics were woven in Ethiopia so extensively as in Egypt; but the manufacture of metal must have been at least as flourishing.

But Ethiopia owed its greatness less to the produce of its soil or its factories than to its position on the intersection of the leading caravan routes of ancient commerce.

The Ethiopians were among the first nations that organized a regular army, and thus laid the foundation of the whole system of ancient warfare. A brief account of their military affairs will therefore illustrate not only their history, but that of the great Asiatic monarchies, and of the Greeks during the heroic ages. The most important division of an Ethiopian army was the body of war-chariots, used instead of cavalry. These chariots were mounted on two wheels and made low; open behind, so that the warrior could easily step in and out; and without a seat.

They were drawn by two horses and generally contained two warriors, one of whom managed the steeds while the other fought. Nations were distinguished from each other by the shape and color of their chariots.

Great care was taken in the manufacturing of the chariots and also of the breeding of horses to draw them. Nothing in our time can equal the attention paid by the ancients in the training of horses for the battle-field.

The harness which these animals wore was richly decorated; and a quiver and bow-case, decorated with extraordinary taste and skill, were securely fixed to the side of each chariot. The bow was the national weapon, employed by both cavalry and infantry. No nation of antiquity paid more attention to archery than the Ethiopians; their arrows better aimed than those of any other nation, the Egyptians perhaps excepted. The children of the warrior caste were trained from early infancy to the practice of archery.

The arms of the Ethiopians were a spear, a dagger, a short sword, a helmet, and a shield. Pole-axes and battle-axes were occasionally used. Coats of mail were used only by the principal officers, and some remarkable warriors, like Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. The light troops were armed with swords, battle-axes, maces, and clubs. Some idea of the manly forms, great strength, and military training of the Ethiopians, may be gathered from Herodotus, the father of ancient history.

After describing Arabia as “a land exhaling the most delicious fragrance,” he says,—“Ethiopia, which is the extremity of the habitable world, is contiguous to this country on the south-west. Its inhabitants are very remarkable for their size, their beauty, and their length of life.”[5]

In his third book he has a detailed description of a single tribe of this interesting people, called the Macrobian, or long-lived Ethiopians. Cambyses, the Persian king, had made war upon Egypt, and subdued it. He is then seized with an ambition of extending his conquests still farther, and resolves to make war upon the Ethiopians. But before undertaking his expedition, he sends spies into the country disguised as friendly ambassadors, who carry costly presents from Cambyses. They arrive at the court of the Ethiopian prince, “a man superior to all others in the perfection of size and beauty,” who sees through their disguise, and takes down a bow of such enormous size that no Persian could bend it. “Give your king this bow, and in my name speak to him thus:—

“‘The king of Ethiopia sends this counsel to the king of Persia. When his subjects shall be able to bend this bow with the same ease that I do, then let him venture to attack the long-lived Ethiopians. Meanwhile, let him be thankful to the gods, that the Ethiopians have not been inspired with the same love of conquest as himself.’”[6]

Homer wrote at least eight hundred years before Christ, and his poems are well ascertained to be a most faithful mirror of the manners and customs of his times, and the knowledge of his age.

In the first book of the Iliad, Achilles is represented as imploring his goddess-mother to intercede with Jove in behalf of her aggrieved son. She grants his request, but tells him the intercession must be delayed for twelve days. The gods are absent. They have gone to the distant climes of Ethiopia to join in its festal rites. “Yesterday Jupiter went to the feast with the blameless Ethiopians, away upon the limits of the ocean, and all the gods followed together.”[7] Homer never wastes an epithet. He often alludes to the Ethiopians elsewhere, and always in terms of admiration and praise, as being the most just of men; the favorites of the gods.[8]

The same allusion glimmers through the Greek mythology, and appears in the verses of almost all the Greek poets ere the countries of Italy and Sicily were even discovered. The Jewish Scripture and Jewish literature abound in allusion to this distinct and mysterious people; the annals of the Egyptian priests are full of them, uniformly the Ethiopians are there lauded as among the best, most religious, and most civilized of men.[9]

Let us pause here one moment, and follow the march of civilization into Europe. Wherever its light has once burned clearly, it has been diffused, but not extinguished. Every one knows that Rome got her civilization from Greece; that Greece again borrowed hers from Egypt, that thence she derived her earliest science and the forms of her beautiful mythology.

The mythology of Homer is evidently hieroglyphical in its origin, and has strong marks of family resemblance to the symbolical worship of Egypt.

It descended the Nile; it spread over the delta of that river, as it came down from Thebes, the wonderful city of a hundred gates. Thebes, as every scholar knows, is more ancient than the cities of the delta. The ruins of the colossal architecture are covered over with hieroglyphics, and strewn with the monuments of Egyptian mythology. But whence came Thebes? It was built and settled by colonies from Ethiopia, or from cities which were themselves the settlements of that nation. The higher we ascend the Nile, the more ancient are the ruins on which we tread, till we come to the “hoary Meroe,” which Egypt acknowledged to be the cradle of her institutions.

But Meroe was the queenly city of Ethiopia, into which all Africa poured its caravans laden with ivory, frankincense, and gold. So it is that we trace the light of Ethiopian civilization first into Egypt, thence into Greece, and Rome, whence, gathering new splendor on its way, it hath been diffusing itself all the world over.[10]

We now come to a consideration of the color of the Ethiopians, that distinguish their descendants of the present time in such a marked manner from the rest of the human race.

Adam, the father of the human family, took his name from the color of the earth from which he was made.[11]

The Bible says but little with regard to the color of the various races of man, and absolutely nothing as to the time when or the reasons why these varieties were introduced. There are a few passages in which color is descriptive of the person or the dress. Job said, “My skin is black upon me.” Job had been sick for a long time, and no doubt this brought about a change in his complexion. In Lamentations, it is said, “Their visage is blacker than a coal;” also, “our skin was blacker than an oven.” Both of these writers, in all probability, had reference to the change of color produced by the famine. Another writer says, “I am black, but comely.” This may have been a shepherd, and lying much in the sun might have caused the change.

However, we now have the testimony of one whom we clearly understand, and which is of the utmost importance in settling this question. Jeremiah asks, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” This refers to a people whose color is peculiar, fixed, and unalterable. Indeed, Jeremiah seems to have been as well satisfied that the Ethiopian was colored, as he was that the leopard had spots; and that the one was as indelible as the other. The German translation of Luther has “Negro-land,” for Ethiopia, i. e., the country of the blacks.

All reliable history favors the belief that the Ethiopians descended from Cush, the eldest son of Ham, who settled first in Shina in Asia. Eusebius informs us that a colony of Asiatic Cushites settled in that part of Africa which has since been known as Ethiopia proper. Josephus asserts that these Ethiopians were descended from Cush, and that in his time they were still called Cushites by themselves and by the inhabitants of Asia. Homer divides the Ethiopians into two parts, and Strabo, the geographer, asserts that the dividing line to which he alluded was the Red Sea. The Cushites emigrated in part to the west of the Red Sea; these, remaining unmixed with other races, engrossed the general name of Cushite, or Ethiopian, while the Asiatic Cushites became largely mingled with other nations, and are nearly or quite absorbed, or, as a distinct people well-nigh extinct. Hence, from the allusion of Jeremiah to the skin of the Ethiopian, confirmed and explained by such authorities as Homer, Strabo, Herodotus, Josephus, and Eusebius, we conclude that the Ethiopians were an African branch of the Cushites who settled first in Asia. Ethiop, in the Greek, means “sunburn,” and there is not the slightest doubt but that these people, in and around Meroe, took their color from the climate. This theory does not at all conflict with that of the common origin of man. Although the descendants of Cush were black, it does not follow that all the offspring of Ham were dark-skinned; but only those who settled in a climate that altered their color.

The word of God by his servant Paul has settled forever the question of the equal origin of the human races, and it will stand good against all scientific research. “God hath made of one blood all the nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”

The Ethiopians are not constitutionally different from the rest of the human family, and therefore, we must insist upon unity, although we see and admit the variety.

Some writers have endeavored to account for this difference of color, by connecting it with the curse pronounced upon Cain. This theory, however, has no foundation; for if Cain was the progenitor of Noah, and if Cain’s new peculiarities were perpetuated, then, as Noah was the father of the world’s new population, the question would be, not how to account for any of the human family being black, but how can we account for any being white? All this speculation as to the change of Cain’s color, as a theory for accounting for the variety peculiar to Cush and the Ethiopians, falls to the ground when we trace back the genealogy of Noah, and find that he descended not from Cain, but from Seth.

Of course Cain’s descendants, no matter what their color, became extinct at the flood. No miracle was needed in Ethiopia to bring about a change in the color of its inhabitants. The very fact that the nation derived its name from the climate should be enough to satisfy the most skeptical. What was true of the Ethiopians was also true of the Egyptians, with regard to color; for Herodotus tells us that the latter were colored and had curled hair.

The vast increase of the population of Ethiopia, and a wish of its rulers to possess more territory, induced them to send expeditions down the Nile, and towards the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Some of these adventurers, as early as B. C. 885, took up their abode on the Mediterranean coast, and founded the place which in later years became the great city of Carthage. Necho, king of Egypt, a man distinguished for his spirit of enterprise, sent an expedition (B. C. 616) around the African coast. He employed Phœnecian navigators. This fleet sailed down the Red Sea, passed the straits of Balel-Mandeb, and, coasting the African continent, discovered the passage around the Cape of Good Hope, two thousand years before its re-discovery by Dias and Vasco de Gama. This expedition was three years in its researches, and while gone, got out of food, landed, planted corn, and waited for the crop. After harvesting the grain, they proceeded on their voyage. The fleet returned to Egypt through the Atlantic Ocean, the straits of Gibralter, and the Mediterranean.

The glowing accounts brought back by the returned navigators of the abundance of fruits, vegetables, and the splendor of the climate of the new country, kindled the fire of adventurous enthusiasm in the Ethiopians, and they soon followed the example set them by the Egyptians. Henceforward, streams of emigrants were passing over the Isthmus of Suez, that high road to Africa, who became permanent residents of the promised land.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] 2 Chron. xiv: 8-13.

[2] Hawkins, in his work on Meroe, identifies Tirhakah with the priest Sethos, upon ground, we think, not tenable.

[3] 2 Kings, xvii: 4.

[4] 2 Kings, xix: 9.

[5] Herod. iii: 114.

[6] Herod iii: 21.

[7] Iliad II: 423.

[8] Iliad XXIII.

[9] Chron. xiv: 9; xvi: 8; Isaiah xlv: 14; Jeremiah xlvi: 9; Josephus Aut. II; Heeren, vol I: p. 290.

[10] E. H. Sears, in the “Christian Examiner,” July, 1846.

[11] Josephus Ant., Vol. I: p. 8.

CHAPTER II. THE CARTHAGINIANS.

Although it is claimed in history that Carthage was settled by the Phœnecians, or emigrants from Tyre, it is by no means an established fact; for when Dido fled from her haughty and tyrannical brother, Pygmalion, ruler of Tyre, and sailing down the Nile, seeking a place of protection, she halted at Carthage, then an insignificant settlement on a peninsula in the interior of a large bay, now called the gulf of Tunis, on the northern shore of Africa (this was B. C. 880), the population was made up mainly of poor people, the larger portion of whom were from Ethiopia, and the surrounding country. Many outlaws, murderers, highwaymen, and pirates, had taken refuge in the new settlement. Made up of every conceivable shade of society, with but little character to lose, the Carthaginians gladly welcomed Dido, coming as she did from the royal house of Tyre, and they adopted her as the head of their government. The people became law-abiding, and the constitution which they adopted was considered by the ancients as a pattern of political wisdom. Aristotle highly praises it as a model to other States. He informs us that during the space of five centuries, that is, from the foundation of the republic down to his own time, no tyrant had overturned the liberties of the State, and no demagogue had stirred up the people to rebellion. By the wisdom of its laws, Carthage had been able to avoid the opposite evils of aristocracy on the one hand, and democracy on the other. The nobles did not engross the whole of the power, as was the case in Sparta, Corinth, and Rome, and in more modern times, in Venice; nor did the people exhibit the factious spirit of an Athenian mob, or the ferocious cruelty of a Roman rabble.

After the tragical death of the Princess Dido, the head of the government consisted of the suffetes, two chief magistrates, somewhat resembling the consuls of Rome, who presided in the senate, and whose authority extended to military as well as civil affairs. These officers appeared to be entirely devoted to the good of the State and the welfare of the people.

The second was the senate itself, composed of illustrious men of the State. This body made the laws, declared war, negotiated peace, and appointed to all offices, civil and military. The third estate was still more popular. In the infancy and maturity of the republic, the people had taken no active part in the government; but, at a later period, influenced by wealth and prosperity, they advanced their claims to authority, and, before long, obtained nearly the whole power. They instituted a council, designed as a check upon the nobles and the senate. This council was at first very beneficial to the State, but afterwards became itself tyrannical.

The Carthaginians were an enterprising people, and in the course of time built ships, and with them explored all ports of the Mediterranean Sea, visiting the nations on the coast, purchasing their commodities, and selling them to others. Their navigators went to the coast of Guinea, and even advanced beyond the mouths of the Senegal and the Gambia. The Carthaginians carried their commerce into Spain, seized a portion of that country containing mines rich with gold, and built thereon a city which they called New Carthage, and which to the present day is known as Carthaginia.

The Mediterranean was soon covered with their fleets, and at a time when Rome could not boast of a single vessel, and her citizens were entirely ignorant of the form of a ship. The Carthaginians conquered Sardinia, and a great part of Sicily. Their powerful fleets and extensive conquests gave them the sovereign command of the seas.

While Carthage possessed the dominion of the seas, a rival State was growing up on the opposite side of the Mediterranean, distant about seven hundred miles, under whose arms she was destined to fall. This was Rome, the foundation of which was commenced one hundred years after that of Carthage. These two powerful nations engaged in wars against each other that lasted nearly two hundred years. In these conflicts the Carthaginians showed great bravery.

In the first Punic war, the defeat and capture of Regulus, the Roman general, by the Carthaginians, and their allies, the Greeks, humiliated the Romans, and for a time gave the former great advantage over the latter. The war, however, which lasted twenty-four years, was concluded by some agreement, which after all, was favorable to the Romans. The conclusion of the first Punic war (B. C. 249) was not satisfactory to the more republican portion of the ruling spirits among the Carthaginians, and especially Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal, who, at that time occupied a very prominent position, both on account of his rank, wealth, and high family connections at Carthage; also on account of the great military energy which he displayed in the command of the armies abroad. Hamilcar had carried on the wars which the Carthaginians waged in Africa and Spain after the conclusion of the war with the Romans, and he was anxious to begin hostilities with the Romans again. On Hamilcar’s leaving Carthage the last time to join his army in Spain, he took his son Hannibal, then a boy of nine years, and made him swear on the altar of his country eternal hatred to the Romans, an oath that he kept to the day of his death.

When not yet twenty years of age, Hannibal was placed second in command of the army, then in Spain, where he at once attracted the attention and the admiration of all, by the plainness of his living, his abstinence from strong drink, and the gentlemanly treatment that he meted out to the soldiers, as well as his fellow-officers.

He slept in his military cloak on the ground, in the midst of his soldiers on guard; and in a battle he was always the last to leave the field after a fight, as he was foremost to press forward in every contest with the enemy. The death of Hasdrubal placed Hannibal in supreme command of the army, and inheriting his father’s hatred to Rome, he resolved to take revenge upon his ancient enemy, and at once invaded the Roman possessions in Spain, and laid siege to the city of Saguntum, which, after heroic resistance, yielded to his victorious arms. Thus commenced the second Punic war, in which Hannibal was to show to the world his genius as a general.

Leaving a large force in Africa, and also in Spain, to defend these points, Hannibal set out in the spring of the year B. C. 218, with a large army to fulfill his project against Rome.

His course lay along the Mediterranean; the whole distance to Rome being about one thousand miles by the land route which he contemplated. When he had traversed Spain, he came to the Pyrenees, a range of mountains separating that country from Gaul, now France. He was here attacked by wild tribes of brave barbarians, but he easily drove them back. He crossed the Pyrenees, traversed Gaul, and came at last to the Alps, which threw up their frowning battlements, interposing a formidable obstacle between him and the object of his expedition.

No warrior had then crossed these snowy peaks with such an army; and none but a man of that degree of resolution and self-reliance which could not be baffled, would have hazarded the fearful enterprise. Indeed, we turn with amazement to Hannibal’s passage of the Alps; that great and daring feat surpasses in magnitude anything of the kind ever attempted by man. The pride of the French historians have often led them to compare Napoleon’s passage of the Great St. Bernard to Hannibal’s passage of the Alps; but without detracting from the well-earned fame of the French Emperor, it may safely be affirmed that his achievements will bear no comparison whatever with the Carthaginian hero. When Napoleon began the ascent of the Alps from Martigny, on the shores of the Rhone, and above the Lake of Geneva, he found the passage of the mountains cleared by the incessant transit of two thousand years. The road, impracticable for carriages, was very good for horsemen and foot passengers, and was traversed by great numbers of both at every season of the year.

Comfortable villages on the ascent and descent afforded easy accommodation to the wearied soldiers by day and by night; the ample stores of the monks at the summit, and the provident foresight of the French generals had provided a meal for every man and horse that passed. No hostile troops opposed their passage; the guns were drawn up in sleds made of hollowed firs; and in four days from the time they began the ascent from the banks of the Rhone, the French troops, without losing a man, stood on the Doria Baltea, the increasing waters of which flowed towards the Po, amidst the gardens and vineyards, and under the sun of Italy. But the case was very different when Hannibal crossed from the shores of the Durance to the banks of the Po.

The mountain sides, which had not yet been cleared by centuries of laborious industry, presented a continual forest, furrowed at every hollow by headlong Alpine torrents. There were no bridges to cross the perpetually recurring obstacles; provisions, scanty at all times in those elevated solitudes, were then nowhere to be found, having been hidden away by the natives, and a powerful army of mountaineers occupied the entrance of the defiles, defended with desperate valor the gates of their country, and when dispersed by the superior discipline and arms of Hannibal’s soldiers, still beset the ridges about their line of march, and harassed his troops with continual hostility. When the woody region was passed, and the vanguard emerged in the open mountain pastures, which led to the verge of perpetual snow, fresh difficulties awaited them.

The turf, from the gliding down of the newly-fallen snow on those steep declivities, was so slippery that it was often scarcely possible for the men to keep their feet; the beasts of burden lost their footing at every step, and rolled down in great numbers into the abyss beneath; the elephants became restive amidst privation and a climate to which they were totally unaccustomed; and the strength of the soldiers, worn out by incessant marching and fighting, began to sink before the continued toil of the ascent. Horrors formidable to all, but in an especial manner terrible to African soldiers, awaited them at the summit.

It was the end of October; winter in all its severity had already set in on those lofty solitudes; the mountain sides, silent and melancholy even at the height of summer, when enameled with flowers and dotted with flocks, presented then an unbroken sheet of snow; the lakes which were interspersed over the level valley at their feet, were frozen over and undistinguishable from the rest of the dreary expanse, and a boundless mass of snowy peaks arose at all sides, presenting an apparently impassable barrier to their further progress. But it was then that the genius of Hannibal shone forth in all its lustre.

“The great general,” says Arnold, “who felt that he now stood victorious on the ramparts of Italy, and that the torrent which rolled before him was carrying its waters to the rich plains of cisalpine Gaul, endeavored to kindle his soldiers with his own spirit of hope. He called them together; he pointed out to them the valley beneath, to which the descent seemed but the work of a moment.

“That valley,” said he, “is Italy; it leads to the country of our friends, the Gauls, and yonder is our way to Rome.” His eyes were eagerly fixed on that part of the horizon, and as he gazed, the distance seemed to vanish, till he could almost fancy he was crossing the Tiber, and assailing the capital. Such were the difficulties of the passage and the descent on the other side, that Hannibal lost thirty-three thousand men from the time he entered the Pyrenees till he reached the plains of Northern Italy, and he arrived on the Po with only twelve thousand Africans, eight thousand Spanish infantry, and six thousand horse.

Then followed those splendid battles with the Romans, which carried consternation to their capital, and raised the great general to the highest pinnacle in the niche of military fame.

The defeat of Scipio, at the battle of Ticinus, the utter rout and defeat of Sempronius, the defeat of Flaminius, the defeat of Fabius, and the battle of Cannæ, in the last of which, the Romans had seventy-six thousand foot, eight thousand horse, and many chariots, and where Hannibal had only thirty thousand troops, all told, and where the defeat was so complete that bushels of gold rings were taken from the fingers of the dead Romans, and sent as trophies to Carthage, are matters of history, and will ever give to Hannibal the highest position in the scale of ancient military men. Hannibal crossed the Alps two hundred and seventeen years before the Christian Era, and remained in Italy sixteen years. At last, Scipio, a Roman general of the same name of the one defeated by Hannibal at Ticinus, finished the war in Spain, transported his troops across the Mediterranean; thus “carrying the war into Africa,” and giving rise to an expression still in vogue, and significant of effective retaliation. By the aid of Masinissa, a powerful prince of Numidia, now Morocco, he gained two victories over the Carthaginians, who were obliged to recall Hannibal from Italy, to defend their own soil from the combined attacks of the Romans and Numidians.

He landed at Leptis, and advanced near Zama, five days’ journey to the west of Carthage. Here he met the Roman forces, and here, for the first time, he suffered a total defeat. The loss of the Carthaginians was immense, and they were compelled to sue for peace. This was granted by Scipio, but upon humiliating terms.

Hannibal would still have resisted, but he was compelled by his countrymen to submit. Thus ended the second Punic war (B. C. 200), having continued about eighteen years.

By this war with the Romans, the Carthaginians lost most of their colonies, and became in a measure, a Roman province. Notwithstanding his late reverses, Hannibal entered the Carthaginian senate, and continued at the head of the state, reforming abuses that had crept into the management of the finances, and the administration of justice. But these judicious reforms provoked the enmity of the factious nobles who had hitherto been permitted to fatten on public plunder; they joined with the old rivals of the Barcan family, of which Hannibal was now the acknowledged head, and even degraded themselves so far as to act as spies for the Romans, who still dreaded the abilities of the great general.

In consequence of their machinations, the old hero was forced to fly from the country he had so long labored to serve; and after several vicissitudes, died of poison, to escape the mean and malignant persecution of the Romans whose hatred followed him in his exile, and compelled the king of Bithynia to refuse him protection. The mound which marks his last resting-place is still a remarkable object.

Hannibal, like the rest of the Carthaginians, though not as black as the present African population, was nevertheless, colored; not differing in complexion from the ancient Ethiopians, and with curly hair. We have but little account of this wonderful man except from his enemies, the Romans, and nothing from them but his public career. Prejudiced as are these sources of evidence, they still exhibit him as one of the most extraordinary men that have ever lived.

Many of the events of his life remind us of the career of Napoleon. Like him, he crossed the Alps with a great army; like him, he was repeatedly victorious over disciplined and powerful forces in Italy; like him, he was finally overwhelmed in a great battle; like him, he was a statesman, as well as a general; like him, he was the idol of the army; like him, he was finally driven from his country, and died in exile.[12] Yet, no one of Napoleon’s achievements was equal to that of Hannibal in crossing the Alps, if we consider the difficulties he had to encounter; nor has anything in generalship surpassed the ability he displayed in sustaining himself and his army for sixteen years in Italy, in the face of Rome, and without asking for assistance from his own country.

We now pass to the destruction of Carthage, and the dispersion of its inhabitants. Fifty years had intervened since Hannibal with his victorious legions stood at the gates of Rome; the Carthaginian territory had been greatly reduced, the army had witnessed many changes, Hannibal and his generals were dead, and a Roman army under Scipio, flushed with victory and anxious for booty, were at the gates of Carthage.

For half a century the Carthaginians had faithfully kept all their humiliating treaties with the Romans; borne patiently the insults and arrogance of Masinissa, king of Numidia, whose impositions on Carthage were always upheld by the strong arm of Rome; at last, however, a serious difficulty arose between Carthage and Numidia, for the settlement of which the Roman senate dispatched commissioners to visit the contending parties and report.

Unfortunately for the Carthaginians, one of these commissioners was Cato the elder, who had long entertained a determined hatred to Carthage. Indeed, he had, for the preceding twenty years, scarcely ever made a speech without closing with,—“Delenda est Carthago.”—Carthage must be destroyed. Animated by this spirit, it can easily be imagined that Cato would give the weight of his influence against the Carthaginians in everything touching their interest.

While inspecting the great city, Cato was struck with its magnificence and remaining wealth, which strengthened him in the opinion that the ultimate success of Rome depended upon the destruction of Carthage; and he labored to bring about that result.

Scipio demanded that Carthage should deliver up all its materials of war as a token of submission, which demand was complied with; and the contents of their magazines, consisting of two hundred thousand complete suits of armor, two thousand catapults, and an immense number of spears, swords, bows and arrows. Having disarmed themselves, they waited to hear the final sentence. The next demand was for the delivery of the navy; this too was complied with. It was then announced that the city was to be razed to the ground, the inhabitants sent elsewhere for a residence, and that the Carthaginian name was to be blotted out. Just then the navy, the largest in the world, containing vessels of great strength and beauty, was set on fire, the flames of which lighted up with appalling effect the coast forty miles around.

The destruction of this fleet, the naval accumulation of five centuries, was a severe blow to the pride of the conquered Carthaginians, and taking courage from despair, they closed the gates of the city, and resolved that they would fight to the last.

As in all commonwealths, there were two political parties in Carthage, struggling for the ascendency; one, republican, devoted to the liberty of the people and the welfare of the State; the other, conservative in its character, and in favor of Roman rule. It was this last party that had disarmed the State at the bidding of the Roman invaders; and now that the people had risen, the conservatives who could, fled from the city, to escape the indignation of the masses.

Unarmed and surrounded by an army of one hundred thousand men, resistance seemed to be madness; yet they resisted with a heroism that surprised and won the esteem of their hard-hearted conquerors.

Everything was done to repair the damage already sustained by the surrender of their navy and munitions of war. The pavements of the streets were torn up, houses demolished, and statues broken to pieces to obtain stones for weapons, which were carried upon the ramparts for defence. Everybody that could work at a forge was employed in manufacturing swords, spear-heads, pikes, and such other weapons as could be made with the greatest facility and dispatch. They used all the iron and brass that could be obtained, then melted down vases, statues, and the precious metals, and tipped their spears with an inferior pointing of silver and gold.

When the supply of hemp and twine for cordage for their bows had failed, the young maidens cut off their hair, and twisted and braided it into cords to be used as bow-strings for propelling the arrows which their husbands and brothers made. Nothing in the history of war, either ancient or modern, will bear a comparison with this, the last struggle of the Carthaginians. The siege thus begun was carried on more than two years; the people, driven to the last limit of human endurance, had aroused themselves to a hopeless resistance in a sort of frenzy of despair, and fought with a courage and a desperation that compelled the Romans to send home for more troops.

Think of a walled city, thirty miles in circumference, with a population of seven hundred and fifty thousand souls, men, women, and children, living on limited fare, threatened with starvation, and surrounded by the sick, the dying, and the dead!

Even in this condition, so heroic were the Carthaginians, that they repulsed the Romans, sent fireships against the invaders’ fleet, burned their vessels, and would have destroyed the Roman army, had it not been for the skill of Scipio, who succeeded in covering the retreat of the Roman legions with a body of cavalry.

On the arrival of fresh troops from Rome, the siege was renewed; and after a war of three years, famine reduced the population to a little more than fifty thousand.

The overpowering army of Scipio finally succeeded in breaking through the gates, and gaining admission into the city; the opposing forces fought from street to street, the Carthaginians retreating as the Romans advanced. One band of the enemy’s soldiers mounted to the tops of the houses, the roofs of which were flat, and fought their way there, while another column moved around to cut off retreat to the citadel. No imagination can conceive the uproar and din of such an assault upon a populous city—a horrid mingling of the vociferated commands of the officers, and the shouts of the advancing and victorious enemy, with the screams of terror from affrighted women and children, and the dreadful groans and imprecations from men dying maddened with unsatisfied revenge, and biting the dust in agony of despair.[13]

The more determined of the soldiers with Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general at their head, together with many brave citizens of both sexes, and some Roman deserters, took possession of the citadel, which was in a strongly-fortified section of the city.

The Romans advanced to the walls of this fortification, and set that part of the city on fire that lay nearest to it; the fire burned for six days. When the fire had ceased burning near the citadel, the Roman troops were brought to the area thus left vacant by the flames, and the fight was renewed.

Seeing there was no hope of successfully resisting the enemy, Hasdrubal opened the gates, and surrendered to the Romans. There was, however, a temple in the citadel, capable of holding ten or fifteen thousand persons; in this, many of the brave men and women took refuge; among these were Hasdrubal’s wife and two children. The gates of the temple had scarcely been closed and securely barred, ere some one set the building on fire from within. Half-suffocated with the smoke, and scorched with the flames, these people were soon running to and fro with the wildest screams; many of whom reached the roof, and among them, Hasdrubal’s wife.

Looking down and seeing her husband standing amongst the Roman officers, she loaded him with reproaches for what she conceived to be his cowardice, stabbed her children, threw them into the flames, and leaped in herself. The city was given up to pillage, and set on fire. After burning for seventeen days, this great city, the model of beauty and magnificence, the repository of immense wealth, and one of the chief States of the ancient world, was no more. The destruction of Carthage, previously resolved upon in cold blood, after fifty years of peace, and without any fresh provocation from the defenceless people, who had thrown themselves on the generosity of their rivals, was one of the most hard-hearted and brutal acts of Roman policy. The sequel of the history of Carthage presents a melancholy and affecting picture of the humiliation and decline of a proud and powerful State.

Meroe, the chief city, and fountain-head of the Ethiopians, was already fast declining, when Carthage fell, and from that time forward, the destiny of this people appeared to be downward. With the fall of Carthage, and the absorption of its territory by Rome, and its organization into a Roman province, the Carthaginian State ceased. Of the seven hundred and fifty thousand souls that Carthage contained at the time that the Romans laid siege to the city, only fifty thousand remained alive at its fall. The majority of these, hating Roman rule, bent their way towards the interior of Africa, following the thousands of their countrymen who had gone before.

After Carthage had been destroyed, the Romans did everything in their power to obliterate every vestige of the history of that celebrated people. No relics are to be seen of the grandeur and magnificence of ancient Carthage, except some ruins of aqueducts and cisterns.

In the language of Tasso:—

“Low lie her towers, sole relics of her sway;

Her desert shores a few sad fragments keep;

Shrines, temples, cities, kingdoms, states decay;

O’er urns and arch triumphal, deserts sweep

Their sands, and lions roar, or ivies creep.”

FOOTNOTES:

[12] “Famous Men of Ancient Times,” p. 154.

[13] “Abbott’s History of Hannibal.”

CHAPTER III. EASTERN AFRICA.

In the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, and among that range of mountains running parallel with the coast, are Hadharebe, the Ababdeh, and the Bishari, three very ancient tribes, the modern representatives of the Ethiopians of Meroe. The language of these people, their features, so different from the Arabs, and the Guinea Negro, together with their architecture, prove conclusively that they descended from Ethiopia; the most numerous and powerful of these tribes being the Bishari.

Leaving the shores of the Mediterranean, and passing south of Abyssinia, along the coast of Africa, and extending far into the interior over rich mountain-plains, is found the seat of what are called the “Galla nations.” They are nomadic tribes, vast in numbers, indefinable in their extent of territory, full of fire and energy, wealthy in flocks and herds, dark-skinned, woolly-haired, and thick-lipped.

Passing farther west into that vast region which lies between the Mountains of the Moon and the Great Desert, extending through Central Africa even to the western coast, we come into what may be more appropriately called “Negro-land.”

It is a widely-extended region, which abounds in the arts of civilization. Here are large cities containing from ten thousand to thirty thousand souls. Here is a great family of nations, some but just emerging out of barbarism, some formed into prosperous communities, preserving the forms of social justice and of a more enlightened worship, practicing agriculture, and exhibiting the pleasing results of peaceful and productive industry.

Mungo Park gives a glowing account of Sego, the capital of Bambuwa, a city containing thirty thousand inhabitants, with its two-story houses, its mosques seen in every quarter, its ferries conveying men and horses over the Niger. “The view of this extensive city,” he says, “the numerous canoes upon the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence which I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.”

Farther east he found a large and flourishing town called Kaffa, situated in the midst of a country so beautiful and highly cultivated that it reminds him of England. The people in this place were an admixture of light brown, dark brown, and dingy black, apparently showing the influence of the climate upon their ancestors.

The Mountains of the Moon, as they terminate along the western coast of Africa, spread out into a succession of mountain plains. These present three lofty fronts toward the sea, each surrounded with terraces, declining gradually into the lowlands, each threaded with fertilizing streams, and fanned with ocean breezes.

The most northern of these plateaus, with their declivities and plains, forms the delightful land of one of the most powerful and intelligent of the African tribes, namely, the Mandingoes. They are made up of shrewd merchants and industrious agriculturists; kind, hospitable, enterprising, with generous dispositions, and open and gentle manners. Not far from the Mandingoes, are the people called Solofs, whom Park describes as “the most beautiful, and at the same time the blackest people in Africa.”

But perhaps the most remarkable people among these nations are the “Fulahs,” whose native seat is the southern part of the plateaus above described. Here, in their lofty independence, they cultivate the soil, live in “clean and commodious dwellings,” feed numerous flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of oxen and horses, build mosques for the worship of one God, and open schools for the education of their children.

Timbri, their capital, is a military station, containing nine thousand inhabitants, from which their victorious armies have gone forth and subdued the surrounding country. They practice the mechanic arts with success, forge iron and silver, fabricate cloth, and work skilfully with leather and wood. Like the Anglo-Saxon, their capital has been the hive whence colonies have swarmed forth to form new settlements, and extend the arts of industry; and the “Fellatahs,” an enterprising people who dwell a thousand miles in the interior, are well known to belong to the same stock.

There are many other nations, or rather, tribes, in this vast central region, described by Pritchard more or less minutely, variously advanced in the arts of life, and exhibiting various degrees of enterprise and energy.

Passing along the western shore southward, we next come to the coast of Guinea, where we find the Negro in his worst state of degradation. Hither comes the slave-trader for his wretched cargo, and hence have been exported the victims of that horrible commerce, which supplied the slave-marts of the western world. The demonizing influence of this traffic on the character of the natives defies all description.

In the mountains and ravines of this portion of Africa lurk gangs of robbers, ever on the watch to seize the wives and children of the neighboring clans and sell them to the traders. Every corner of the land has been the scene of rapine and blood. Parents sell their children, and children sell their parents. Such are the passions stimulated by Christian gold, and such the state of society produced by contact with Christian nations. These people, degraded and unhumanized by the slaver, are the progenitors of the black population of the Southern States of the American Union.

Still we are to observe, that though the lowest type of Negro character is to be found on the Guinea coast and the adjacent region, it is not uniformly degraded. Tribes are to be found, considerably advanced in civilization, whose features and characters resemble those of the central region which we have just described.

Passing southward still farther, and crossing the line, we come into southern Africa. This whole region from the equator to the Cape, with the exception of the Hottentots, is, so far as discovered, occupied by what is called the “Great South African Race.” They are a vast family of nations, speaking dialects of the same language, furnishing incontrovertible evidence, so says Pritchard, of “a common origin.”

There is one fact, in reference to them, of absorbing interest; it is that among these nations, and sometimes among the same tribe, are found specimens of the lowest Negro type, and specimens of the same type elevated and transfigured so as to approximate far towards the European form and features. Between these two there is every possible variety, and the variations depend much on moral condition and physical surroundings. Along the coast humanity generally sinks down into its lowest shapes, and puts on its most disgusting visage.

Rising into the interior, and climbing the tablelands, the evidence of decided improvement generally appears. Perhaps the most savage of these tribes is to be found on the coast of Congo. They are cannibals of great ferocity and brutality. But on the eastern coast are found a people called Kafirs, some tribes occupying the coast, and a few the mountain plains. Some of these tribes, “whose fine forms and easy attitudes remind the traveller of ancient statues,” inhabit large towns and cities, have made great progress in the arts of industry, cultivate vast fields of sugar and tobacco, manufacture various kinds of cutlery, and “build their houses with masonry, and ornament them with pillars and mouldings.”

They exhibit fine traits of intellectual and moral character. Mixed up with their superstitions, they have some lofty, religious ideas; believe in the immortality of the soul, in a Supreme Being, whom they call “The Beautiful,” who exercises a providence over mankind. Such are the nations of Central and Southern Africa; and if we can rely on the reports of the best travellers, they furnish some of the best material, out of which to build up prosperous states and empires, that is to be found on the face of the earth.

We come next to the Hottentots, including the Bushmen, who belong to the same race. In the scale of humanity, he probably sinks below the inhabitants of Guinea or Congo.

The Hottentot has long furnished a standard of comparison to moral writers by which to represent the lowest condition of man. He inhabits the desert, lives in caves, subsists on roots or raw flesh, has no religious ideas, and is considered by the European as too wretched a being to be converted into a slave. How came he thus degraded?

That is a question which we do not often see answered, and which must be answered, to the shame of Christian Europe. Before that evil hour when the Christian navigator neared the Cape of Good Hope, the Hottentots were “a numerous people, divided into many tribes under a patriarchal government of chiefs and elders.”

They had numerous flocks and herds, lived in movable villages, were bold in the chase, courageous in warfare, yet mild in their tempers and dispositions; had rude conceptions of religion, and exhibited a scene of pastoral life like that of the ancient Nomads of the Syrian plains. In a word, they were a part of that stream of emigration to which we have referred in a previous chapter, and who evidently were living somewhat as they had in the country of their ancestors.

Kolben, who saw the Hottentots in the day of their prosperity, enumerates eighteen tribes of the race. The European colonists hunted these tribes as they would hunt beasts of prey. Most of them they exterminated, and seized upon their possessions; the rest they robbed and drove into forests and deserts, where their miserable descendants exist as wandering Bushmen, exhibiting to good Christian people material for most edifying studies in “anatomy and ethnology.”

There is an immense region, comprising the greater part of interior Africa, two thousand miles in length, and one thousand in breadth, nearly equal to the whole of the United States, which has seldom been trodden by the foot of the Caucasian. It spreads out beneath the tropics, and is supposed by Humboldt to be one of the most interesting and fertile regions on the face of the earth.

“It must be,” he says, “a high table-land, rising into the cooler strata of the atmosphere, combining therefore the qualities of the tierra caliente of Mexico, with its ‘cloudless ethers,’ the luxuriant slopes of the Andes, and the pastoral plains of Southern Asia. It cannot be a sandy desert, though sometimes put down as such upon the maps, because vast rivers come rolling down from it into the surrounding seas.”

It has long been the land of romance, mystery, and wonder, and of strange and tantalizing rumors. The “blameless Ethiopians” of Homer, the favorites of the gods, and the wonderful Macrobians of Herodotus, are placed by Heeren on the outskirts of this region, where they would be most likely to be offshoots from its parent stock. This country is guarded from the European by forces more potent than standing armies.

Around it stretches a border on which brood malaria, pestilence, and death, and which the English government for half a century have expended lives and treasure to break through. In one expedition after another sent out from the island of Ascension, nine white men out of ten fell victims to the “beautiful, but awful climate.”

Nevertheless, news from the interior more or less distinct has found its way over this belt of danger and death. Being a land of mystery, it should be borne in mind that there is a strong tendency to exaggeration in all that comes from it. The Niger, one of the noblest of rivers, skirts this unknown country for some hundreds of miles, after sweeping away through the middle portion of Central Africa already described.

The “Colonial Magazine,” speaking of the exploration of this river by the English expeditions, says: “They have found that this whole tract of country is one of amazing fertility and beauty, abounding in gold, ivory, and all sorts of tropical vegetation. There are hundreds of woods, invaluable for dyeing and agricultural purposes, not found in other portions of the world.

“Through it for hundreds of miles sweeps a river from three to six miles broad, with clean water and unsurpassable depth, flowing on at the rate of two or three miles an hour, without rock, shoal, or snag to intercept its navigation. Other rivers pour into this tributary waters of such volume as must have required hundreds of miles to be collected, yet they seem scarcely to enlarge it. Upon this river are scattered cities, some of which are estimated to contain a million of inhabitants; and the whole country teems with a dense population. Far in the interior, in the very heart of this continent, is a portion of the African race in an advanced state of civilization.”

In the year 1816, Captain Tuckey, of the English Navy, made a disastrous expedition up the Congo. In 1828, Mr. Owen, from the opposite coast, attempted to penetrate this land of mystery and marvel, with a like result. But they found a manifest improvement in the condition of the people the farther they advanced, and they met with rumors of a powerful and civilized nation still farther inward, whose country they attempted in vain to explore.

In 1818, John Campbell, agent of the London Missionary Society, tried to reach this country by journeying from the Cape northward; and later still, Captain Alexander led an expedition, having the same object in view. They found large and populous cities situated in a fertile and highly-cultivated country, but they did not reach the land of marvel and mystery, though they heard the same rumors respecting its people. A writer in the “Westminster Review,” who lived several years on the western coast, gives an interesting description of the interior of the country. He says:—

“A state of civilization exists among some of the tribes, such as had not been suspected hitherto by those who have judged only from such accounts as have been given of the tribes with which travellers have come in contact. They cannot be regarded as savages, having organized townships, fixed habitations, with regular defences about their cities, engaging in agriculture and the manufacture of cotton cloths for clothing, which they ornament with handsome dyes of native production, exhibit handicraft in their conversion of iron and precious metals into articles of use and ornament.”

But to no traveller is the cause of African civilization more indebted than to Dr. Livingstone. Twenty-six years of his life have been spent in exploring that country and working for the good of its people. In August, 1849, he discovered Lake Ngami, one of the most beautiful sheets of water in that sunny land. His discovery of the source of the Zambesi River and its tributaries, the Victoria Falls, the beds of gold, silver, iron and coal, and his communication with a people who had never beheld a white man before, are matters of congratulation to the friends of humanity, and the elevation of man the world over.

Along the shores of the Zambesi were found pink marble beds, and white marble, its clearness scarcely equaled by anything of the kind ever seen in Europe. In his description of the country through which this splendid river passes, Dr. Livingstone says: “When we came to the top of the outer range of the hills, we had a glorious view. At a short distance below us we saw the Kafue, wending away over a forest-clad plain to the confluence, and on the other side of the Zambesi, beyond that, lay a long range of dark hills.

“A line of fleecy clouds appeared, lying along the course of that river at their base. The plain below us, at the left of the Kafue, had more large game on it than anywhere else I had seen in Africa. Hundreds of buffaloes and zebras grazed on the open spaces, and there stood lordly elephants feeding majestically, nothing moving apparently, but the proboscis. I wish that I had been able to take a photograph of the scene so seldom beheld, and which is destined, as guns increase, to pass away from earth. When we descended, we found all the animals remarkably tame. The elephants stood beneath the trees, fanning themselves with their large ears, as if they did not see us.”

The feathered tribe is abundant and beautiful in this section of Africa. Dr. Livingstone says: “The birds of the tropics have been described as generally wanting in power of song. I was decidedly of the opinion that this was not applicable to many parts of Londa. Here the chorus, or body of song, was not much smaller in volume than it is in England. These African birds are not wanting in song; they have only lacked poets to sing their praises, which ours have had from the time of Aristophanes downward.”

Speaking of the fruits, he says: “There are great numbers of wild grape-vines growing in this quarter; indeed, they abound everywhere along the banks of the Zambesi. They are very fine; and it occurred to me that a country which yields the wild vines so very abundantly might be a fit one for the cultivated species. We found that many elephants had been feeding on the fruit called mokoronga. This is a black-colored plum, having purple juice. We all ate it in large quantities, as we found it delicious.”

While exploring the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone visited the hot spring of Nyamboronda, situated in the bed of a small rivulet called Nyaondo, which shows that igneous action is not yet extinct. The spring emitted water hot enough to cook a fish that might accidentally get into it.

Dr. Livingstone represents the inhabitants, throughout his long journey of more than one thousand miles, as well disposed toward strangers, and a majority of them favorable to civilization and the banishment of the slave-trade, that curse of Africa.

The population of this immense country has been estimated at from fifty to one hundred and fifty millions; but as we have no certain data from which to compute anything like a correct estimate of its inhabitants, it is difficult to arrive at a proper conclusion. Yet from all we can learn, I should judge one hundred and fifty millions is nearest to it.

Recent travellers in Africa have discovered ruins which go far to show that the early settlers built towns, and then abandoned them for more healthy locations. In September, 1871, the South African explorer, Carl Mauch, visited the ruins of an ancient and mysterious city in the highland between the Zambesi and Limpopo Rivers, long known by native report to the Portuguese, and situated in a land, which from its gold and ivory, has long been identified by some authorities, as the Ophir of Scripture. Zimbaoe lies in about lat. 20 degrees 14 seconds S.; long. 31 degrees 48 seconds E.

One portion of the ruins rises upon a granite hill about four hundred feet in relative height; the other, separated by a slight valley, lies upon a somewhat raised terrace. From the curved and zigzag form still apparent in the ruined walls which cover the whole of the western declivity of the hill, these have doubtless formed a once impregnable fortress. The whole space is densely overgrown with nettles and bushes, and some great trees have intertwined their roots with the buildings.

Without exception, the walls, some of which have still a height of thirty feet, are built of cut granite stones, generally of the size of an ordinary brick, but no mortar has been used. The thickness of the walls where they appear above ground is ten feet, tapering to seven or eight feet. In many places monolith pilasters of eight to ten feet in length, ornamented in diamond-shaped lines, stand out of the building. These are generally eight inches wide and three in thickness, cut out of a hard and close stone of greenish-black color, and having a metallic ring.

During the first hurried visit, Mauch was unable to find any traces of inscription, though carvings of unknown characters are mentioned by the early Portuguese writers. Such however, may yet be found, and a clue be thus obtained as to the age of the strange edifice. Zimbaoe is, in all probability, an ancient factory, raised in very remote antiquity by strangers to the land, to overawe the savage inhabitants of the neighboring country, and to serve as a depot for the gold and ivory which it affords. No native tribes dwelling in mud huts could ever have conceived its erection.

CHAPTER IV. CAUSES OF COLOR.

The various colors seen in the natives in Africa, where amalgamation with other races is impossible, has drawn forth much criticism, and puzzled the ethnologist not a little. Yet nothing is more easily accounted for than this difference of color amongst the same people, and even under the same circumstances. Climate, and climate alone, is the sole cause.

And now to the proof. Instances are adduced, in which individuals, transplanted into another climate than that of their birth, are said to have retained their peculiarities of form and color unaltered, and to have transmitted the same to their posterity for generations. But cases of this kind, though often substantiated to a certain extent, appear to have been much exaggerated, both as to the duration of time ascribed, and the absence of any change. It is highly probable, that the original characteristics will be found undergoing gradual modifications, which tend to assimilate them to those of the new country and situation.

The Jews, however slightly their features may have assimilated to those of other nations amongst whom they are scattered, from the causes already stated, certainly form a very striking example as regards the uncertainty of perpetuity in color.

Descended from one stock, and prohibited by the most sacred institutions from intermarrying with the people of other nations, and yet dispersed, according to the divine prediction, into every country on the globe, this one people is marked with the colors of all; fair in Briton and Germany; brown in France and in Turkey; swarthy in Portugal and in Spain; olive in Syria and in Chaldea; tawny or copper-colored in Arabia and in Egypt;[14] whilst they are “black at Congo, in Africa.”[15]

Let us survey the gradations of color on the continent of Africa itself. The inhabitants of the north are whitest; and as we advance southward towards the line, and those countries in which the sun’s rays fall more perpendicularly, the complexion gradually assumes a darker shade. And the same men, whose color has been rendered black by the powerful influence of the sun, if they remove to the north, gradually become whiter (I mean their posterity), and eventually lose their dark color.[16]

The Portuguese who planted themselves on the coast of Africa a few centuries ago, have been succeeded by descendants blacker than many Africans.[17] On the coast of Malabar there are two colonies of Jews, the old colony and the new, separated by color, and known as the “black Jews,” and the “white Jews.” The old colony are the black Jews, and have been longer subjected to the influence of the climate. The hair of the black Jews are curly, showing a resemblance to the Negro. The white Jews are as dark as the Gipsies, and each generation growing darker.

Dr. Livingstone says,—“I was struck with the appearance of the people in Londa, and the neighborhood; they seemed more slender in form, and their color a lighter olive, than any we had hitherto met.”[18]

Lower down the Zambesi, the same writer says: “Most of the men are muscular, and have large, ploughman hands. Their color is the same admixture, from very dark to light olive, that we saw at Londa.”[19]

In the year 1840, the writer was at Havana, and saw on board a vessel just arrived from Africa some five hundred slaves, captured in different parts of the country. Among these captives were colors varying from light brown to black, and their features represented the finest Anglo-Saxon and the most degraded African.

There is a nation called Tuaricks, who inhabit the oases and southern borders of the great desert, whose occupation is commerce, and whose caravans ply between the Negro countries and Fezzan. They are described by the travellers Hornemann and Lyon.

The western tribes of this nation are white, so far as the climate and their habits will allow. Others are of a yellow cast; others again, are swarthy; and in the neighborhood of Soudan, there is said to be a tribe completely black. All speak the same dialect, and it is a dialect of the original African tongue. There is no reasonable doubt of their being aboriginal.

Lyon says they are the finest race of men he ever saw, “tall, straight, and handsome, with a certain air of independence and pride, which is very imposing.”[20] If we observe the gradations of color in different localities in the meridian under which we live, we shall perceive a very close relation to the heat of the sun in each respectively. Under the equator we have the deep black of the Negro, then the copper or olive of the Moors of Northern Africa; then the Spaniard and Italian, swarthy, compared with other Europeans; the French, still darker than the English, while the fair and florid complexion of England and Germany passes more northerly into the bleached Scandinavian white.[21]

It is well-known, that in whatever region travellers ascend mountains, they find the vegetation at every successive level altering its character, and gradually assuming the appearances presented in more northern countries; thus indicating that the atmosphere, temperature, and physical agencies in general, assimilate, as we approach Alpine regions, to the peculiarities locally connected with high latitudes.

If, therefore, complexion and other bodily qualities belonging to races of men, depend upon climate and external conditions, we should expect to find them varying in reference to elevation of surface; and if they should be found actually to undergo such variations, this will be a strong argument that these external characteristics do, in fact, depend upon local conditions.

Now, if we inquire respecting the physical characters of the tribes inhabiting high tracts in warm countries, we shall find that they coincide with those which prevail in the level or low parts of more northern tracts.

The Swiss, in the high mountains above the plains of Lombardy, have sandy or brown hair. What a contrast presents itself to the traveller who descends into the Milanese territory, where the peasants have black hair and eyes, with strongly-marked Italian, and almost Oriental features.

In the higher part of the Biscayan country, instead of the swarthy complexion and black hair of the Castilians, the natives have a fair complexion, with light blue eyes, and flaxen, or auburn hair.[22]

In the intertropical region, high elevations of surface, as they produce a cooler climate, occasion the appearance of light complexions. In the higher parts of Senegambia, which front the Atlantic, and are cooled by winds from the Western Ocean, where, in fact, the temperature is known to be moderate, and even cool at times, the light copper-colored Fulahs are found surrounded on every side by black Negro nations inhabiting lower districts; and nearly in the same parallel, but on the opposite coast of Africa, are the high plains of Enared and Kaffa, where the inhabitants are said to be fairer than the inhabitants of Southern Europe.[23]

Do we need any better evidence of the influence of climate on man, than to witness its effect on beasts and birds? Æolian informs us that the Eubaea was famous for producing white oxen.[24] Blumenbach remarks, that “all the swine of Piedmont are black, those of Normandy white, and those of Bavaria are of a reddish brown. The turkeys of Normandy,” he states, “are all black; those of Hanover almost all white. In Guinea, the dogs and the gallinaceous fowls are as black as the human inhabitants of the same country.”[25]

The lack of color, in the northern regions, of many animals which possess color in more temperate latitudes,—as the bear, the fox, the hare, beasts of burden, the falcon, crow, jackdaw, and chaffinch,—seems to arise entirely from climate. The common bear is differently colored in different regions. The dog loses its coat entirely in Africa, and has a smooth skin.

We all see and admit the change which a few years produces in the complexion of a Caucasian going from our northern latitude into the tropics.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Smith on “The Complexion of the Human Species.”

[15] Pritchard.

[16] “Tribute for the Negro,” p. 59.

[17] Pennington’s Text Book, p. 96.

[18] “Livingstone’s Travels,” p. 296.

[19] Ibid, p. 364.

[20] Heeren, Vol. I., p. 297.

[21] Murray’s “North America.”

[22] Pritchard.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Æolian, lib. xii, cap. 36.

[25] Pritchard.

CHAPTER V. CAUSES OF THE DIFFERENCE IN FEATURES.

We now come to a consideration of the difference in the features of the human family, and especially the great variety to be seen in the African race. From the grim worshippers of Odin in the woods of Germany, down to the present day, all uncivilized nations or tribes have more or less been addicted to the barbarous custom of disfiguring their persons.

Thus, among the North American Indians, the tribe known as the “flat heads,” usually put their children’s heads to press when but a few days old; and consequently, their name fitly represents their personal appearance. While exploring the valley of the Zambesi, Dr. Livingstone met with several tribes whose mode of life will well illustrate this point. He says:—

“The women here are in the habit of piercing the upper lip and gradually enlarging the orifice until they can insert a shell. The lip then appears drawn out beyond the perpendicular of the nose, and gives them a most ungainly aspect. Sekwebu remarked,—‘These women want to make their mouths like those of ducks.’ And indeed, it does appear as if they had the idea that female beauty of lip had been attained by the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus alone. This custom prevails throughout the country of the Maravi, and no one could see it without confessing that fashion had never led women to a freak more mad.”[26]

There is a tribe near the coast of Guinea, who consider a flat nose the paragon of beauty; and at early infancy, the child’s nose is put in press, that it may not appear ugly when it arrives to years of maturity.

Many of the tribes in the interior of Africa mark the face, arms, and breasts; these, in some instances, are considered national identifications. Knocking out the teeth is a common practice, as will be seen by reference to Dr. Livingstone’s travels. Living upon roots, as many of the more degraded tribes do, has its influence in moulding the features.

There is a decided coincidence between the physical characteristics of the varieties of man, and their moral and social condition; and it also appears that their condition in civilized society produces marked modification in the intellectual qualities of the race. Religious superstition and the worship of idols have done much towards changing the features of the Negro from the original Ethiopian of Meroe, to the present inhabitants of the shores of the Zambesi.

The farther the human mind strays from the ever-living God as a spirit, the nearer it approximates to the beasts; and as the mental controls the physical, so ignorance and brutality are depicted upon the countenance.

As the African by his fall has lost those qualities that adorn the visage of man, so the Anglo-Saxon, by his rise in the scale of humanity, has improved his features, enlarged his brain, and brightened in intellect.

Let us see how far history will bear us out in this assertion. We all acknowledge the Anglo-Saxon to be the highest type of civilization. But from whence sprang this refined, proud, haughty, and intellectual race? Go back a few centuries, and we find their ancestors described in the graphic touches of Cæsar and Tacitus. See them in the gloomy forests of Germany, sacrificing to their grim and gory idols; drinking the warm blood of their prisoners, quaffing libations from human skulls; infesting the shores of the Baltic for plunder and robbery; bringing home the reeking scalps of enemies as an offering to their king.

Macaulay says:—“When the Britons first became known to the Tyrian mariners, they were little superior to the Sandwich Islanders.”

Hume says:—“The Britons were a rude and barbarous people, divided into numerous clans, dressed in the skins of wild beasts: druidism was their religion, and they were very superstitious.” Cæsar writing home, said of the Britons,—“They are the most degraded people I ever conquered.” Cicero advised his friend Atticus not to purchase slaves from Briton, “because,” said he, “they cannot be taught music, and are the ugliest people I ever saw.”

An illustration of the influence of circumstances upon the physical appearance of man may be found still nearer our own time. In the Irish rebellion in 1641, and 1689, great multitudes of the native Irish were driven from Armagh and the South down into the mountainous tract extending from the Barony of Flews eastward to the sea; on the other side of the kingdom the same race were expelled into Litrin, Sligo, and Mayo. Here they have been almost ever since, exposed to the worst effects of hunger and ignorance, the two great brutalizers of the human race.

The descendants of these exiles are now distinguished physically, from their kindred in Meath, and other districts, where they are not in a state of personal debasement. These people are remarkable for open, projecting mouths, prominent teeth, and exposed gums; their advancing cheek-bones and depressed noses carry barbarism on their very front.

In Sligo and northern Mayo, the consequences of two centuries of degradation and hardship exhibit themselves in the whole physical condition of the people, affecting not only the features, but the frame, and giving such an example of human degradation as to make it revolting.

They are only five feet two inches, upon an average, bow-legged, bandy-shanked, abortively-featured; the apparitions of Irish ugliness and Irish want.[27]

Slavery is, after all, the great demoralizer of the human race. In addition to the marks of barbarism left upon the features of the African, he has the indelible imprint of the task-master. Want of food, clothing, medical attention when sick, over-work, under the control of drunken and heartless drivers, the hand-cuffs and Negro whip, together with the other paraphernalia of the slave-code, has done much to distinguish the blacks from the rest of the human family. It must also be remembered that in Africa, the people, whether living in houses or in the open air, are oppressed with a hot climate, which causes them to sleep, more or less, with their mouths open. This fact alone is enough to account for the large, wide mouth and flat nose; common sense teaching us that with the open mouth, the features must fall.

As to the hair, which has also puzzled some scientific men, it is easily accounted for. It is well-known that heat is the great crisper of the hair, whether it be on men’s heads or on the backs of animals. I remember well, when a boy, to have witnessed with considerable interest the preparations made on great occasions by the women, with regard to their hair.

The curls which had been carefully laid away for months, were taken out of the drawer, combed, oiled, rolled over the prepared paper, and put in the gently-heated stove, there to remain until the wonted curl should be gained. When removed from the stove, taken off the paper rolls, and shaken out, the hair was fit to adorn the head of any lady in the land.

Now, the African’s hair has been under the influence for many centuries, of the intense heat of his native clime, and in each generation is still more curly, till we find as many grades of hair as we do of color, from the straight silken strands of the Malay, to the wool of the Guinea Negro. Custom, air, food, and the general habits of the people, spread over the great area of the African continent, aid much in producing the varieties of hair so often met with in the descendants of the country of the Nile.

In the recent reports of Dr. Livingstone, he describes the physical appearance of a tribe which he met, and which goes to substantiate what has already been said with regard to the descent of the Africans from the region of the Nile. He says:—

“I happened to be present when all the head men of the great chief Msama who lives west of the south end of Tanganayika, had come together to make peace with certain Arabs who had burned their chief town, and I am certain one could not see more finely-formed, intellectual heads in any assembly in London or Paris, and the faces and forms corresponded with the finely-shaped heads. Msama himself had been a sort of Napoleon for fighting and conquering in his younger days.

“Many of the women are very pretty, and, like all ladies, would be much prettier if they would only let themselves alone. Fortunately, the dears cannot change their darling black eyes, beautiful foreheads, nicely-rounded limbs, well-shaped forms, and small hands and feet; but they must adorn themselves, and this they will do by filing their splendid teeth to points like cats’ teeth. These specimens of the fair sex make shift by adorning their fine, warm brown skins, and tattooing various pretty devices without colors. They are not black, but of a light warm brown color.

“The Cazembe’s queen would be esteemed a real beauty, either in London, Paris, or New York; and yet she had a small hole through the cartilage, near the tip of her fine aquiline nose. But she had only filed one side of two of the front swan-white teeth, and then what a laugh she had! Large sections of the country northwest of Cazembe, but still in the same inland region, are peopled with men very much like those of Msama and Cazembe.”

FOOTNOTES:

[26] “Livingstone’s Travels,” p. 366.

[27] “Dublin University Magazine,” Vol. IV., p. 653.

CHAPTER VI. CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES.

While paganism is embraced by the larger portion of the African races, it is by no means the religion of the land. Missionaries representing nearly every phase of religious belief have made their appearance in the country, and gained more or less converts. Mohammedanism, however, has taken by far the greatest hold upon the people.

Whatever may be said of the followers of Mohammed in other countries, it may truly be averred that the African has been greatly benefited by this religion.

Recent discussions and investigations have brought the subject of Mohammedanism prominently before the reading public, and the writings of Weil, and Noldeke, and Muir, and Sprenger, and Emanuel Deutsch, have taught the world that “Mohammedanism is a thing of vitality, fraught with a thousand fruitful germs;” and have amply illustrated the principle enunciated by St. Augustine, showing that there are elements both of truth and goodness in a system which has had so wide-spread an influence upon mankind, embracing within the scope of its operations more than one hundred millions of the human race; that the exhibition of the germs of truth, even though “suspended in a gallery of counterfeits,” has vast power over the human heart.

Whatever may be the intellectual inferiority of the Negro tribes (if, indeed, such inferiority exists), it is certain that many of these tribes have received the religion of Islam without its being forced upon them by the overpowering arms of victorious invaders. The quiet development and organization of a religious community in the heart of Africa has shown that Negroes, equally with other races, are susceptible of moral and spiritual impressions, and of all the sublime possibilities of religion.

The history of the progress of Islam in the country would present the same instances of real and eager mental conflict of minds in honest transition, of careful comparison and reflection, that have been found in other communities where new aspects of truth and fresh considerations have been brought before them. And we hold that it shows a stronger and more healthy intellectual tendency to be induced by the persuasion and reason of a man of moral nobleness and deep personal convictions to join with him in the introduction of beneficial changes, than to be compelled to follow the lead of an irresponsible character, who forces us into measures by his superior physical might.

Mungo Park, in his travels seventy years ago, everywhere remarked the contrast between the pagan and Mohammedan tribes of interior Africa. One very important improvement noticed by him was abstinence from intoxicating drinks.

“The beverage of the pagan Negroes,” he says, “is beer and mead, of which they often drink to excess; the Mohammedan converts drink nothing but water.”

Thus, throughout Central Africa there has been established a vast total abstinence society; and such is the influence of this society that where there are Moslem inhabitants, even in pagan towns, it is a very rare thing to see a person intoxicated. They thus present an almost impenetrable barrier to the desolating flood of ardent spirits with which the traders from Europe and America inundate the coast at Caboon.

Wherever the Moslem is found on the coast, whether Jalof, Fulah, or Mandingo, he looks upon himself as a separate and distinct being from his pagan neighbor, and immeasurably his superior in intellectual and moral respects. He regards himself as one to whom a revelation has been “sent down” from Heaven. He holds constant intercourse with the “Lord of worlds,” whose servant he is. In his behalf Omnipotence will ever interpose in times of danger. Hence he feels that he cannot indulge in the frivolities and vices which he considers as by no means incompatible with the character and professions of the Kafir, or unbeliever.

There are no caste distinctions among them. They do not look upon the privileges of Islam as confined by tribal barriers or limitations. On the contrary, the life of their religion is aggressiveness. They are constantly making proselytes. As early as the commencement of the present century, the elastic and expansive character of their system was sufficiently marked to attract the notice of Mr. Park.

“In the Negro country,” observes that celebrated traveller, “the Mohammedan religion has made, and continues to make, considerable progress.” “The yearning of the native African,” says Professor Crummell, “for a higher religion, is illustrated by the singular fact that Mohammedanism is rapidly and peaceably spreading all through the tribes of Western Africa, even to the Christian settlements of Liberia.”

From Senegal to Lagos, over two thousand miles, there is scarcely an important town on the seaboard where there is not at least one mosque, and active representatives of Islam often side by side with the Christian teachers. And as soon as a pagan, however obscure or degraded, embraces the Moslem faith, he is at once admitted as an equal to their society. Slavery and slave-trade are laudable institutions, provided the slaves are Kafirs. The slave who embraces Islamism is free, and no office is closed against him on account of servile blood.[28]

Passing over into the southern part, we find the people in a state of civilization, and yet superstitious, as indeed are the natives everywhere.

The town of Noble is a settlement of modern times, sheltering forty thousand souls, close to an ancient city of the same name, the Rome of aboriginal South Africa. The religious ceremonies performed there are of the most puerile character, and would be thought by most equally idolatrous with those formerly held in the same spot by the descendants of Mumbo Jumbo.

On Easter Monday is celebrated the Festa del Señor de los Temblores, or Festival of the Lord of Earthquakes. On this day the public plaza in front of the cathedral is hung with garlands and festoons, and the belfry utters its loudest notes. The images of the saints are borne out from their shrines, covered with fresh and gaudy decorations. The Madonna of Bethlehem, San Cristoval, San Blas, and San José, are borne on in elevated state, receiving as they go the prayers of all the Maries, and Christophers, and Josephs, who respectively regard them as patrons. But the crowning honors are reserved for the miraculous Crucifix, called the Lord of Earthquakes, which is supposed to protect the city from the dreaded terrestrial shocks, the Temblores.

The procession winds around a prescribed route, giving opportunity for public prayers and the devotions of the multitude; the miraculous image, in a new spangled skirt, that gives it the most incongruous resemblance to an opera-dancer, is finally shut up in the church; and then the glad throng, feeling secure from earthquakes another year, dance and sing in the plaza all night long.

The Borers, a hardy, fighting, and superstitious race, have a showy time at weddings and funerals. When the appointed day for marriage has arrived, the friends of the contracting parties assemble and form a circle; into this ring the bridegroom leads his lady-love.

The woman is divested of her clothing, and stands somewhat as mother Eve did in the garden before she thought of the fig-leaf. The man then takes oil from a shell, and anoints the bride from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet; at the close of this ceremony, the bridegroom breaks forth into joyful peals of laughter, in which all the company join, the musicians strike up a lively air, and the dance commences. At the close of this, the oldest woman in the party comes forward, and taking the bride by the right hand, gives her to her future husband.

Two maids standing ready with clothes, jump to the bride, and begin rubbing her off. After this, she is again dressed, and the feast commences, consisting mainly of fruits and wines.

The funeral services of the same people are not less interesting. At the death of one of their number, the body is stripped, laid out upon the ground, and the friends of the deceased assemble, forming a circle around it, and commence howling like so many demons. They then march and counter-march around, with a subdued chant. After this, they hop around first on one foot, then on the other; stopping still, they cry at the top of their voices—“She’s in Heaven, she’s in Heaven!” Here they all fall flat upon the ground, and roll about for a few minutes, after which they simultaneously rise, throw up their hands, and run away yelling and laughing.

Among the Bechuanas, when a chief dies, his burial takes place in his cattle-yard, and all the cattle are driven for an hour over the grave, so that it may be entirely obliterated.[29] In all the Backwain’s pretended dreams and visions of their God, he has always a crooked leg like the Egyptian.[30]

Musical and dancing festivities form a great part of the people’s time. With some of the tribes, instrumental music has been carried to a high point of culture. Bruce gives an account of a concert, the music of which he heard at the distance of a mile or more, on a still night in October. He says: “It was the most enchanting strain I ever listened to.”

It is not my purpose to attempt a detailed account of the ceremonies of the various tribes that inhabit the continent of Africa; indeed, such a thing would be impossible, even if I were inclined to do so.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] Prof. Blyden, in “Methodist Quarterly Review,” June, 1871.

[29] Dr. Livingstone.

[30] Thau.

CHAPTER VII. THE ABYSSINIANS.

According to Bruce, who travelled extensively in Africa, the Abyssinians have among them a tradition, handed down from time immemorial, that Cush was their father. Theodore, late king of Abyssinia, maintained that he descended in a direct line from Moses. As this monarch has given wider fame to his country than any of his predecessors, it will not be amiss to give a short sketch of him and his government.

Theodore was born at Quarel, on the borders of the western Amhara, and was educated in a convent in which he was placed by his mother, his father being dead. He early delighted in military training, and while yet a boy, became proficient as a swordsman and horseman.

Like Robert Clive, Warren Hastings, and many other great warriors, Theodore became uneasy under the restraint of the school-room, and escaped from the convent to his uncle, Dejatch Comfu, a noted rebel, from whom he imbibed a taste for warlike pursuits, and eventually became ruler of a large portion of Abyssinia. Naturally ambitious and politic, he succeeded in enlarging his authority steadily at the expense of the other “Ras,” or chiefs, of Abyssinia. His power especially increased when, in 1853, he defeated his father-in-law, Ras Ali, and took him prisoner. At length in 1855, he felt himself strong enough to formally claim the throne of all Abyssinia, and he was crowned as such by the Abuna Salama, the head of the Abyssinian church.

His reign soon proved to be the most effective Abyssinia had ever had. As soon as he came into power, his attention was directed to the importance of being on terms of friendship with the government which rules India, and which has established itself in the neighboring stronghold of Aden. He therefore resolved to assert the rights assured to him by virtue of the treaty made between Great Britain and Abyssinia in the year 1849, and ratified in 1852, in which it was stipulated that each State should receive embassadors from the other. Mr. Plowden, who had been for many years English consul at Massawah, although not an accredited agent to Abyssinia, went to that country with presents for the people in authority, and remained during the war which broke out at the succession of Theodore.

Unfortunately, Mr. Plowden, who had succeeded in winning the favor of the emperor, to a large extent, was killed; and his successor, Mr. Cameron, was informed, soon after his arrival in 1862, by the King, that he desired to carry out the above-mentioned treaty; he even wrote an autograph letter to Queen Victoria, asking permission to send an embassy to London. Although the letter reached England in February, 1863, it remained unanswered; and the supposition is, that this circumstance, together with a quarrel with Mr. Stern, a missionary, who in a book on Abyssinia, had spoken disrespectfully of the King, and who had remonstrated against the flogging to death of two interpreters, roused the King’s temper, and a year after having dispatched the unanswered letter, he sent an armed force to the missionary station, seized the missionaries, and put them in chains. He also cast Mr. Cameron into prison, and had him chained continually to an Abyssinian soldier.

Great excitement prevailed in England on the arrival of the news of this outrage against British subjects: but in consideration of an armed expedition having to undergo many hardships in such a warm climate, it was deemed best by the English government to use diplomacy in its efforts to have the prisoners released. It was not until the second half of August, 1865, that Mr. Rassam, an Asiatic, by birth, was sent on a special mission to the Abyssinian potentate, and was received on his arrival in February, 1866, in a truly magnificent style, the release of the prisoners being at once ordered by the King. But the hope thus raised was soon to be disappointed, for when Mr. Rassam and the other prisoners were just on the point of taking leave of the Emperor, they were put under arrest, and notified that they would have to remain in the country as State guests until an answer could be obtained to another letter which the King was going to write to the Queen.

After exhausting all diplomatic resources to obtain from Theodore the release of the captives, the English government declared war against Theodore. The war was chiefly to be carried on with the troops, European and native, which in India had become accustomed to the hot climate. The first English troops made their appearance in October, 1867, but it was not until the close of the year that the whole of the army arrived. The expedition was commanded by General Sir Robert Napier, heretofore commanding-general at Bombay. Under him acted as commanders of divisions, Sir Charles Steevely, and Colonel Malcolm, while Colonel Merewether commanded the cavalry. The distance from Massowah, the landing-place of the troops, to Magdala, the capital of Theodore, is about three hundred miles. The English had to overcome great difficulties, but they overcame them with remarkable energy. King Theodore gradually retired before the English without risking a battle until he reached his capital. Then he made a stand, and fought bravely for his crown, but in vain; he was defeated, the capital captured, and the King himself slain.

King Theodore was, on the whole, the greatest ruler Abyssinia has ever had: even, according to English accounts, he excelled in all manly pursuits, and his general manner was polite and engaging. Had he avoided this foolish quarrel with England, and proceeded on the way of reform which he entered upon in the beginning of his reign, he would probably have played an important part in the political regeneration of Eastern Africa.

As a people, the Abyssinians are intelligent, are of a ginger-bread, or coffee color, although a large portion of them are black. Theodore was himself of this latter class. They have fine schools and colleges, and a large and flourishing military academy. Agriculture, that great civilizer of man, is carried on here to an extent unknown in other parts of the country.

CHAPTER VIII. WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA.

The Colony of Sierra Leone, of which Free Town is the capital, is situated in 8 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, and is about 13½ degrees west longitude; was settled by the English, and was for a long time the most important place on the western coast of Africa. The three leading tribes on the coast of Sierra Leone are the Timanis, the Susus, and the Veys. The first of these surround the British Colony of Sierra Leone on all sides. The Susus have their principal settlements near the head-waters of the Rio Pongas, and are at some distance from the sea coast. The Veys occupy all the country about the Gallinas and Cape Mount, and extend back into the country to the distance of fifty or a hundred miles.

The Timanis cultivate the soil to some extent, have small herds of domestic animals, and are engaged to a greater or less extent in barter with the English colonists of Sierra Leone. They may be seen in large numbers about the streets of Free Town, wearing a large square cotton cloth thrown around their persons. They are strong and healthy in appearance, but have a much less intellectual cast of countenance than the Mandingoes or Fulahs, who may also be seen in the same place. Like all the other tribes in Africa, especially the pagans, they are much addicted to fetichism,—worship of evil spirits,—administering the red-wood ordeal, and other ceremonies. They are depraved, licentious, indolent, and avaricious. But this is no more than what may be said of every heathen tribe on the globe.

The Veys, though not a numerous or powerful tribe, are very intellectual, and have recently invented an alphabet for writing their own language, which has been printed, and now they enjoy the blessings of a written system, for which they are entirely indebted to their own ingenuity and enterprise. This is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable achievements of this or any other age, and is itself enough to silence forever the cavils and sneers of those who think so contemptuously of the intellectual endowments of the African race. The characters used in this system are all new, and were invented by the people themselves without the aid of outsiders. The Veys occupy all the country along the sea-board from Gallinas to Cape Mount.

In stature, they are about the ordinary height, of slender, but graceful figures, with very dark complexions, but large and well-formed heads.

As the Veys are within the jurisdiction of Liberia, that government will be of great service to them. The Biassagoes, the Bulloms, the Dego, and the Gola, are also inhabitants of the Sierra Leone coast. Other tribes of lesser note are scattered all along the coast, many of which have come under the good influence of the Liberian government. Cape Coast Castle, the stronghold of the English on the African coast, has, in past years, been a place of great importance. It was from this place that its governor, Sir Charles McCarthy, went forth to the contest with the Ashantees, a warlike tribe, and was defeated, losing his life, together with that of seven others.

Here, at this castle, “L. E. L.,” the gifted poetess and novelist of England, died, and was buried within the walls. This lamented lady married Captain McLean, the governor-general of the castle, and her death caused no little comment at the time, many blaming the husband for the wife’s death.

The Kru people are also on the coast, and have less general intelligence than the Fulahs, Mandingoes, and Degos. They are physically a fine-appearing race, with more real energy of character than either of the others. It would be difficult to find better specimens of muscular development, men of more manly and independent carriage, or more real grace of manner, anywhere in the world. No one ever comes in contact with them, for the first time, without being struck with their open, frank countenances, their robust and well-proportioned forms, and their independent bearing, even when they have but the scantiest covering for their bodies.

Their complexion varies from the darkest shade of the Negro to that of the true mulatto. Their features are comparatively regular; and, though partaking of all the characteristics of the Negro, they are by no means strongly marked in their general outline or development. The most marked deficiency is in the formation of their heads, which are narrow and peaked, and do not indicate a very high order of intellectual endowment. Experience, however, has shown that they are as capable of intellectual improvement as any other race of men.[31]

In the interior of Youeba, some distance back from Cape Coast, lies the large city of Ibaddan, a place with a population of about two hundred thousand souls. Abeokuta has a population of more than one hundred thousand, and is about seventy-five miles from the sea coast, with a history that is not without interest. Some fifty years ago, a few persons of different tribes, who had been constantly threatened and annoyed by the slave-traders of the coast, fled to the back country, hid away in a large cave, coming out occasionally to seek food, and taking in others who sought protection from these inhuman men-hunters.

This cavern is situated on the banks of the Ogun, and in the course of time became the hiding-place of great numbers from the surrounding country. At first, they subsisted on berries, roots, and such other articles of food as they could collect near their place of retreat; but growing in strength by the increase of population, they began to bid defiance to their enemies.

A slave-hunting party from Dahomey, having with them a considerable number of captives, passing the cavern, thought it a good opportunity to add to their wealth, and consequently, made an attack upon the settlers. The latter came forth in large force from their hiding-place, gave battle to the traders, defeated them, capturing their prisoners and putting their enemies to flight. The captives were at once liberated, and joined their deliverers. In the course of time this settlement took the name of Abeokuta. These people early turned their attention to agriculture and manufacturing, and by steady increase in population, it soon became a city of great wealth and importance. About thirty years ago, a number of recaptives from Sierra Leone, who had formerly been taken from this region of country, and who had been recaptured by the English, liberated and educated, visited Lagos for trade. Here they met many of their old friends and relations from Abeokuta, learned of the flourishing town that had grown up, and with larger numbers returned to swell the population of the new city.

The King of Dahomey watched the growing power of Abeokuta with an evil eye, and in 1853, he set in motion a large army, with the view of destroying this growing city, and reducing its inhabitants to slavery. The King made a desperate attack and assault upon the place, but he met with a resistance that he little thought of. The engagement was carried on outside of the walls for several hours, when the Dahomian army was compelled to give way, and the King himself was saved only by the heroism and frantic manner in which he was defended by his Amazons. This success of the people of Abeokuta gave the place a reputation above what it had hitherto enjoyed, and no invading army has since appeared before its walls.

Much of the enterprise and improvement of these people is owing to the good management of Shodeke, their leader. Coming from all sections near the coast, and the line of the slave-traders, representing the remnants of one hundred and thirty towns, these people, in the beginning, were anything but united. Shodeke brought them together and made them feel as one family. This remarkable man had once been captured by the slave-traders, but had escaped, and was the first to suggest the cave as a place of safety. Throughout Sierra Leone, Abeokuta, and the Yoruba country generally the best-known man in connection with the African civilization, is Mr. Samuel Crowther, a native, and who, in the Yoruba language, was called Adgai. He was embarked as a slave on board a slaver at Badagry, in 1822. The vessel was captured by a British man-of-war and taken to Sierra Leone. Here he received a good education, was converted, and became a minister of the Gospel, after which he returned to his native place.

Mr. Crowther is a man of superior ability, and his attainments in learning furnish a happy illustration of the capacity of the Negro for improvements. Dahomey is one of the largest and most powerful of all the governments on the west coast. The King is the most absolute tyrant in the world, owning all the land, the people, and everything that pertains to his domain. The inhabitants are his slaves, and they must come and go at his command. The atrocious cruelties that are constantly perpetrated at the command and bidding of this monarch, has gained for him the hatred of the civilized world; and strange to say, these deeds of horror appear to be sanctioned by the people, who have a superstitious veneration for their sovereign, that is without a parallel. Abomi, the capital of Dahomey, has a large population, a fort, and considerable trade. The King exacts from all the sea-port towns on this part of the coast, and especially from Popo, Porto Novo, and Badagry, where the foreign slave-trade, until within a very short period, was carried on as in no other part of Africa.

The Dahomian soldiery, for the past two hundred years, have done little less than hunt slaves for the supply of the traders.

The English blockading squadron has done great service in breaking up the slave-trade on this part of the coast, and this has turned the attention of the people to agriculture. The country has splendid natural resources, which if properly developed, will make it one of the finest portions of Western Africa. The soil is rich, the seasons are regular, and the climate favorable for agricultural improvements. Indian corn, yams, potatoes, manico, beans, ground-nuts, plantains, and bananas are the chief products of the country. Cotton is raised to a limited extent.

The practice of sacrificing the lives of human beings upon the graves of dead kings every year in Dahomey, and then paving the palace grounds with the skulls of the victims, has done much to decrease the population of this kingdom. As many as two thousand persons have been slaughtered on a single occasion. To obtain the required number, wars have been waged upon the surrounding nations for months previous to the sacrifice. There is no place where there is more intense heathenism; and to mention no other feature in their superstitious practice, the worship of snakes by the Dahomians fully illustrates this remark.

A building in the centre of the town is devoted to the exclusive use of reptiles, and they may be seen here at any time in great numbers. They are fed, and more care taken of them than of the human inhabitants of the place. If they are found straying away they must be brought back; and at the sight of them the people prostrate themselves on the ground, and do them all possible reverence. To kill or injure one of them is to endure the penalty of death. On certain days they are taken out by the priests or doctors, and paraded about the streets, the bearers allowing them to coil themselves around their arms, necks, and bodies, and even to put their heads into the carriers’ bosoms.

They are also employed to detect persons who are suspected of theft, witchcraft, and murder. If in the hands of the priest they bite the suspected person, it is sure evidence of his guilt; and no doubt the serpent is trained to do the will of his keeper in all cases. Images called greegrees, of the most uncouth shape and form, may be seen in all parts of the town, and are worshipped by everybody.

In every part of Africa, polygamy is a favorite institution. In their estimation it lies at the very foundation of all social order, and society would scarcely be worth preserving without it. The highest aspiration that the most eminent African ever rises to, is to have a large number of wives. His happiness, his reputation, his influence, his position in society, and his future welfare, all depend upon it. In this feeling the women heartily concur; for a woman would much rather be the wife of a man who had fifty others, than to be the sole representative of a man who had not force of character to raise himself above the one-woman level.

The consequence is, that the so-called wives are little better than slaves. They have no purpose in life other than to administer to the wants and gratify the passions of their lords, who are masters and owners, rather than husbands.

In nearly every nation or tribe, the wife is purchased; and as this is done in the great majority of cases when she is but a child, her wishes, as a matter of course, are never consulted in this most important affair of her whole life.

As both father and mother hold a claim on the daughter, and as each makes a separate bargain with the future son-in-law, the parent generally makes a good thing out of the sale. The price of a wife ranges all the way from the price of a cow to three cows, a goat or a sheep, and some articles of crockery-ware, beads, and a few other trinkets. Where the girl is bought in infancy, it remains with the parents till of a proper age. There are no widows, the woman being sold for life, and becomes the wife of the husband’s brother, should the former die. A man of respectability is always expected to provide a separate house for each of his wives. Each woman is mistress of her own household, provides for herself and her children, and entertains her husband as often as he favors her with his company.

The wife is never placed on a footing of social equality with her husband. Her position is a menial one, and she seldom aspires to anything higher than merely to gratify the passions of her husband. She never takes a seat at the social board with him.

Men of common standing are never allowed to have as many wives as a sovereign. Both the Kings of Dahomey and Ashantee are permitted by law to have three thousand three hundred and thirty-three. No one is allowed to see the King’s wives except the King’s female relatives, or such messengers as he may send, and even these must communicate with them through their bamboo walls. Sometimes they go forth in a body through the streets, but are always preceded by a company of boys, who warn the people to run out of the way, and avoid the unpardonable offence of seeing the King’s wives. The men especially, no matter what their rank, must get out of the way; and if they have not had sufficient time to do this, they must fall flat on the ground and hide their faces until the procession has passed. To see one of the King’s wives, even accidentally, is a capital offence; and the scene of the confusion which occasionally takes place in the public market in consequence of the unexpected approach of the royal cortege, is said to be ludicrous beyond all description.

At the death of the King, it is not uncommon for his wives to fall upon each other with knives, and lacerate themselves in the most cruel and barbarous manner; and this work of butchery is continued until they are forcibly restrained. Women are amongst the most reliable and brave in the King’s army, and constitute about one-third of the standing army in Ashantee and Dahomey.

One of the most influential and important classes in every African community is the deybo, a set of professional men who combine the medical and priestly office in the same person. They attend the sick and administer medicines, which usually consist of decoctions of herbs or roots, and external applications. A doctor is expected to give his undivided attention to one patient at a time, and is paid only in case of successful treatment. If the case is a serious one, he is expected to deposit with the family, as a security for his good behavior and faithful discharge of duty, a bundle of hair that was shorn from his head at the time he was inaugurated into office, and without which he could have no skill in his profession whatever.

The doctor professes to hold intercourse with, and have great influence over demons. He also claims to have communications from God. No man can be received into the conclave without spending two years or more as a student with some eminent member of the fraternity. During this period he must accompany his preceptor in all his journeyings, perform a variety of menial services, is prohibited from shaving his head, washing his body, or allowing water to be applied to him in any way whatever, unless perchance he falls into a stream, or is overtaken by a shower of rain, when he is permitted to get off as much dirt as possible from his body. The doctor’s badge of office is a monkey’s skin, which he carries in the form of a roll wherever he goes, and of which he is as proud as his white brother of his sheep-skin diploma.

In their capacity as priests, these men profess to be able to raise the dead, cast out devils, and do all manner of things that other people are incapable of doing. The doctor is much feared by the common classes. No innovation in practice is allowed by these men. A rather amusing incident occurred recently, which well illustrates the jealousy, bigotry, and ignorance of these professionals.

Mr. Samuel Crowther, Jr., having returned from England, where he had studied for a physician, began the practice of his profession amongst his native people. The old doctors hearing that Crowther was prescribing, called on him in a large delegation. Mr. Crowther received the committee cordially; heard what they had to say, and expressed his willingness to obey, provided they would give him a trial, and should find him deficient. To this they agreed; and a time was appointed for the test to take place. On the day fixed, the regulars appeared, clothed in their most costly robes, well provided with charms, each holding in his hand his monkey’s skin, with the head most prominent.

Mr. Crowther was prepared to receive them. A table was placed in the middle of the room, and on it a dish, in which were a few drops of sulphuric acid, so placed that a slight motion of the table would cause it to flow into a mixture of chlorate of potassa and white sugar. An English clock was also in the room, from which a cock issued every hour and crowed. It was arranged that the explosion from the dish, and the crowing of the rooster, should take place at the same moment.

The whole thing was to be decided in favor of the party who should perform the greatest wonder. After all were seated, Mr. Crowther made a harangue, and requested them to say who should lead off in the contest.

This privilege they accorded to him. The doors were closed, the curtains drawn, and all waited in breathless silence. Both the hands on the clock were fast approaching the figure twelve. Presently the cock came out and began crowing, to the utter astonishment of the learned visitors. Crowther gave the table a jostle; and suddenly, from the midst of the dish burst forth flame and a terrible explosion. This double wonder was too much for these sages. The scene that followed is indescribable. One fellow rushed through the window and scampered; one fainted and fell upon the floor; another, in his consternation, overturned chairs, tables, and everything in his way, took refuge in the bedroom, under the bed, from which he was with difficulty afterwards removed.

It need not be added that they gave no more trouble, and the practice they sought to break up was the more increased for their pains.[32]

In Southern Guinea, and especially in the Gabun country, the natives are unsurpassed for their cunning and shrewdness in trade; and even in everything in the way of dealing with strangers. The following anecdote will illustrate how easily they can turn matters to their own account.

There is a notable character in the Gabun, of the name of Cringy. No foreigner ever visits the river without making his acquaintance; and all who do so, remember him forever after. He speaks English, French, Portuguese, and at least half a dozen native languages, with wonderful ease. He is, in person, a little, old, grey-headed, hump-backed man, with a remarkably bright, and by no means unpleasant eye. His village is perched on a high bluff on the north side of the Gabun River, near its outlet. He generally catches the first sight of vessels coming in, and puts off in his boat to meet the ship. If the captain has never been on the coast before, Cringy will make a good thing out of him, unless he has been warned by other sailors. The cunning African is a pilot; and after he brings a vessel in and moors her opposite his town by a well-known usage, it is now Cringy’s. He acts as interpreter; advises the captain; helps to make bargains, and puts on airs as if the ship belonged to him. If anybody else infringes on his rights in the slightest degree, he is at once stigmatized as a rude and ill-mannered person. Cringy is sure to cheat everyone he deals with, and has been seized half a dozen times or more by men-of-war, or other vessels, and put in irons. But he is so adroit with his tongue, and so good-natured and humorous, that he always gets clear.

The following trick performed by him, will illustrate the character of the man.

Some years ago, the French had a fight with the natives. After reducing the people near the mouth of the river to obedience by the force of arms, Commodore B— proposed to visit King George’s towns, about thirty miles higher up the river, with the hope of getting them to acknowledge the French authority without further resort to violence. In order to make a favorable impression, he determined to take his squadron with him. His fleet consisted of two large sloops-of-war and a small vessel. As none of the French could speak the native language, and none of King George’s people could speak French, it was a matter of great importance that a good interpreter should be employed. It was determined that Cringy was the most suitable man. He was sent for, accepted the offer at once—for Cringy himself had something of importance at stake—and resolved to profit by this visit.

One of Cringy’s wives was the daughter of King George; and this woman, on account of ill-treatment, had fled and gone back into her father’s country. All his previous efforts to get his wife had failed. And now when the proposition came from the commodore, the thought occurred to Cringy that he could make himself appear to be a man of great influence and power. The party set out with a favoring wind and tide, and were soon anchored at their place of destination. With a corps of armed marines, the commodore landed and proceeded to the King’s palace.

The people had had no intimation of such a visit, and the sudden arrival of this armed body produced a very strong sensation, and all eyes were on Cringy, next to the commodore, for he was the only one that could explain the object of the expedition. King George and his council met the commodore, and Cringy was instructed to say that the latter had come to have a friendly talk with the King, with the view of establishing amicable relations between him and the King of France, and would be glad to have his signature to a paper to that effect. Now was Cringy’s moment; and he acted his part well.

The wily African, with the air of one charged with a very weighty responsibility, said: “King George, the commodore is very sorry that you have not returned my wife. He wishes you to do it now in a prompt and quiet manner, and save him the trouble and pain of bringing his big guns to bear upon your town.”

King George felt the deepest indignation; not so much against the commodore, as Cringy, for resorting to so extraordinary a measure to compel him to give up his daughter. But he concealed the emotions of his heart, and, without the slightest change of countenance, but with a firm and determined tone of voice, he said to his own people, “Go out quietly and get your guns loaded; and if one drop of blood is shed here to-day, be sure that not one of these Frenchmen get back to their vessels. But be sure and”—he said it with great emphasis, “let Cringy be the first man killed.”

This was more than Cringy had bargained for. And how is he to get out of this awkward scrape? The lion has been aroused, and how shall he be pacified? But this is just the position to call out Cringy’s peculiar gift, and he set to work in the most penitent terms. He acknowledged, and begged pardon for his rash, unadvised counsel; reminded his father-in-law that they were all liable to do wrong sometimes, and that this was the most grievous error of his whole life. And as to the threat of the commodore, a single word from him would be sufficient to put a stop to all hostile intentions.

The wrath of the King was assuaged. The commodore, however, by this time had grown impatient to know what was going on, and especially, why the people had left the house so abruptly. With the utmost self-possession, Cringy replied that the people had gone to catch a sheep, which the King had ordered for the commodore’s dinner; and as to signing the paper, that would be done when the commodore was ready to take his departure. And to effect these two objects, Cringy relied wholly upon his own power of persuasion.

True enough the sheep was produced and the paper was signed. King George and the French commodore parted good friends, and neither of them knew for more than a month after, the double game which Cringy had played; and what was more remarkable than all, Cringy was rewarded by the restoration of his wife.[33]

FOOTNOTES:

[31] Wilson’s “Western Africa.”

[32] “A Pilgrimage to my Motherland.” Campbell.

[33] “Western Africa.” Wilson.

CHAPTER IX. THE SLAVE-TRADE.

The slave-trade has been the great obstacle to the civilization of Africa, the development of her resources, and the welfare of the Negro race. The prospect of gain, which this traffic held out to the natives, induced one tribe to make war upon another, burn the villages, murder the old, and kidnap the young. In return, the successful marauders received in payment gunpowder and rum, two of the worst enemies of an ignorant and degraded people.

Fired with ardent spirits, and armed with old muskets, these people would travel from district to district, leaving behind them smouldering ruins, heart-stricken friends, and bearing with them victims whose market value was to inflame the avaricious passions of the inhabitants of the new world.

While the enslavement of one portion of the people of Africa by another has been a custom of many centuries, to the everlasting shame and disgrace of the Portuguese, it must be said they were the first to engage in the foreign slave-trade. As early as the year 1503, a few slaves were sent from a Portuguese settlement in Africa into the Spanish colonies in America. In 1511 Ferdinand, the fifth king of Spain, permitted them to be carried in great numbers.

Ferdinand, however, soon saw the error of this, and ordered the trade to be stopped. At the death of the King, a proposal was made by Bartholomew de las Cassas, the bishop of Chiapa, to Cardinal Ximenes, who held the reins of the government of Spain till Charles V. came to the throne, for the establishment of a regular system of commerce in the persons of the native Africans. The cardinal, however, with a foresight, a benevolence, and a justice which will always do honor to his memory, refused the proposal; not only judging it to be unlawful to consign innocent people to slavery at all, but to be very inconsistent to deliver the inhabitants of one country over for the benefit of another.

Charles soon came to the throne, the cardinal died, and in 1517 the King granted a patent to one of his Flemish favorites, containing an exclusive right of importing four thousand Africans into the islands St. Domingo, Porto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica. In 1562 the English, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, commenced the importation of African slaves, which were taken to Hispaniola by Sir John Hawkins. The trade then became general. The French persuaded Louis XIII., then King of France, that it would be aiding the cause of Christianity to import the Africans into the colonies, where they could be converted to the Christian religion; and the French embarked in the trade.

The Dutch were too sharp-eyed to permit such an opportunity to fill their coffers to pass by, so they followed the example set by the Portuguese, the English, and the French. The trade being considered lawful by all countries, and especially in Africa, the means of obtaining slaves varied according to the wishes of the traders.

Some whites travelled through the country as far as it was practical, and bartered goods for slaves, chaining them together, who followed their masters from town to town until they reached the coast, where they were sold to the owners of ships. Others located themselves on the coast and in the interior, and bought the slaves as they were brought in for sale.

A chief of one of the tribes of the Guinea coast, who had been out on a successful marauding expedition, in which he had captured some two hundred slaves, took them to the coast, sold his chattels to the captain of a vessel, and was invited on board the ship. The chief with his three sons and attendants had scarcely reached the deck of the ship when they were seized, hand-cuffed, and placed with the other Negroes, which enabled the captain to save the purchase money, as well as adding a dozen more slaves to his list.

Had this happened in the nineteenth century, it would have been pronounced a “Yankee trick.”

Some large ships appeared at the slave-trading towns on the coast, ready to convey to the colonies any slaves whose owners might see fit to engage them. Their cargoes would often be made up of the slaves of half a dozen parties, on which occasions the chattels would sometimes become mixed, and cause a dispute as to the ownership. To avoid this, the practice of branding the slaves on the coast before shipping them, was introduced. Branding a human being on the naked body, the hot iron hissing in the quivering flesh, the cries and groans of the helpless creatures, were scenes enacted a few years ago, and which the African slave-trader did not deny.

There on a rude mat, spread upon the ground,

A stalwart Negro lieth firmly bound;

His brawny chest one brutal captor smites,

And notice to the ringing sound invites;

Another opes his mouth the teeth to show,

As cattle-dealers aye are wont to do.

Hark, to that shrill and agonizing cry!

Gaze on that upturned, supplicating eye!

How the flesh quivers, and how shrinks the frame,

As the initials of her owner’s name

Burn on the back of that Mandingo girl;

Yet calmly do the smoke-wreaths upward curl

From his cigar, whose right unfaltering hand

Lights with a match the cauterizing brand,

The while his left doth the round shoulder clasp,

And hold his victim in a vise-like grasp.

As cruel as was the preparation before leaving their native land, it was equalled, if not surpassed, by the passage on shipboard. Two thousand human beings put on a vessel not capable of accommodating half that number; disease breaking out amongst the slaves, when but a few days on the voyage; the dead and the dying thrown overboard, and the cries and groans coming forth from below decks is but a faint picture of the horrid trade.

“All ready?” cried the captain;

“Ay, ay!” the seamen said;

“Heave up the worthless lubbers—

The dying and the dead.”

Up from the slave-ship’s prison

Fierce, bearded heads were thrust;

“Now let the sharks look to it—

Toss up the dead ones first!”

Slave-factories, or trading-pens, were established up and down the coast. And although England for many years kept a fleet in African waters, to watch and break up this abominable traffic, the swiftness of the slavers, and the adroitness of their pilots, enabled them to escape detection by gaining hiding-places in some of the small streams on the coast, or by turning to the ocean until a better opportunity offered itself for landing.

Calabar and Bonny were the two largest slave-markets on the African coast. From these places alone twenty thousand slaves were shipped, in the year 1806. It may therefore be safe to say, that fifty thousand slaves were yearly sent into the colonies at this period; or rather, sent from the coast, for many thousands who were shipped, never reached their place of destination. During the period when this traffic was carried on without any interference on the part of the British government, caravans of slaves were marched down to Loango from the distance of several hundred miles, and each able-bodied man was required to bring down a tooth of ivory. In this way a double traffic was carried on; that in ivory by the English and American vessels, and the slaves by the Portuguese.

All who have investigated the subject, know that the rivers Benin, Bonny, Brass, Kalabar, and Kameruns, were once the chief seats of this trade. It is through these rivers that the Niger discharges itself into the ocean; and as the factories near the mouths of these different branches had great facility of access to the heart of Africa, it is probable that the traffic was carried on more vigorously here than anywhere else on the coast.

But the abolition of the slave-trade by England, and the presence of the British squadron on the coast, has nearly broken up the trade.

The number of vessels now engaged in carrying on a lawful trade in these rivers is between fifty and sixty; and so decided are the advantages reaped by the natives from this change in their commercial affairs, that it is not believed they would ever revert to it again, even if all outward restraints were taken away. So long as the African seas were given up to piracy and the slave-trade, and the aborigines in consequence were kept in constant excitement and warfare, it was almost impossible either to have commenced or continued a missionary station on the coast for the improvement of the natives. And the fact that there was none anywhere between Sierra Leone and the Cape of Good Hope, previous to the year 1832, shows that it was regarded as impracticable.[34]

Christianity does not invoke the aid of the sword; but when she can shield from the violence of lawless men by the intervention of “the powers that be,” or when the providence of God goes before and smoothes down the waves of discord and strife, she accepts it as a grateful boon, and discharges her duty with greater alacrity and cheerfulness.

Throughout all the region where the slave-trade was once carried on, there is great decline in business, except where that traffic has been replaced by legitimate commerce or agriculture. Nor could it well be otherwise. The very measures which were employed in carrying on this detestable traffic at least over three-fourths of the country, were in themselves quite sufficient to undermine any government in the world. For a long term of years the slaves were procured on the part of these larger and more powerful governments by waging war against their feebler neighbors for this express purpose; and in this way they not only cut off all the sources of their own prosperity and wealth, but the people themselves, while waging this ruthless and inhuman warfare, were imbibing notions and principles which would make it impossible for them to cohere long as organized nations.

The bill for the abolition of the British slave-trade received the royal assent on March 25, 1807; and this law came into operation on and after January 1, 1808. That was a deed well done; and glorious was the result for humanity. To William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp, and a few others, is the credit due for this great act.

Although the slave-trade was abolished by the British government, and afterwards by the American and some other nations, the slave-trade still continued, and exists even at the present day, in a more limited form, except, perhaps, in Northern and Central Africa, and on the Nile. In that section the trade is carried on in the most gigantic manner. It begins every year in the month of August, when the traders prepare for a large haul.

All the preparations having been completed, they ascend the Nile in a regular squadron. Every expedition means war; and, according to its magnitude, is provided with one hundred to one thousand armed men. The soldiers employed consist of the miserable Dongolowie, who carry double-barrelled shot-guns and knives, and are chiefly noted for their huge appetites and love of marissa (beer). Each large dealer has his own territory, and he resents promptly any attempt of another trader to trespass thereon.

For instance, Agate, the most famous of all African slave-traders, knew, and his men frequently visited, the Victoria Nyanza, long before Speke ever dreamed of it. Agate’s station is now near the Nyanza, and he keeps up a heavy force there, as indeed he does at all his stations. When the expedition is ready, it moves slowly up to the Neam-Neam country, for instance, and if one tribe is hostile to another, he joins with the strongest and takes his pay in slaves. Active spies are kept in liberal pay to inform him of the number and quality of the young children; and when the chief believes he can steal one hundred he settles down to work, for that figure means four thousand dollars. He makes a landing with his human hounds, after having reconnoitred the position,—generally in the night time. At dawn he moves forward on the village, and the alarm is spread among the Negroes, who herd together behind their aboriginal breastplates, and fire clouds of poisoned arrows. The trader opens with musketry, and then begins a general massacre of men, women, and children. The settlement, surrounded by inflammable grass, is given to the flames, and the entire habitation is laid in ashes. Probably out of the wreck of one thousand charred and slaughtered people, his reserve has caught the one hundred coveted women and children, who are flying from death in wild despair. They are yoked together by a long pole, and marched off from their homes forever. One-third of them may have the small-pox; and then with this infected cargo the trader proceeds to his nearest station.

Thence the Negroes are clandestinely sent across the desert to Kordofan, whence, they are dispersed over Lower Egypt and other markets. It not unfrequently happens that the Negroes succeed in killing their adversaries in these combats. But the blacks here are not brave. They generally fly after a loss of several killed, except with the Neam-Neams, who always fight with a bravery commensurate with their renown as cannibals.

The statistics of the slave-trade are difficult to obtain with absolute accuracy, but an adequate approximation may be reached. It is safe to say that the annual export of slaves from the country lying between the Red Sea and the Great Desert is twenty-five thousand a year, distributed as follows: From Abyssinia, carried to Jaffa or Gallabat, ten thousand; issuing by other routes of Abyssinia, five thousand; by the Blue Nile, three thousand; by the White Nile, seven thousand. To obtain these twenty-five thousand slaves and sell them in market, more than fifteen thousand are annually killed, and often the mortality reaches the terrible figure of fifty thousand. It is a fair estimate that fifty thousand children are stolen from their parents every year. Of the number forced into slavery, fifteen thousand being boys and ten thousand girls, it is found that about six thousand go to Lower Egypt, two thousand are made soldiers, nine thousand concubines, five hundred eunuchs, five thousand cooks or servants, while ten thousand eventually die from the climate, and three thousand obtain their papers of freedom. They are dispersed over three million square miles of territory, and their blood finally mingles with that of the Turk, the Arab, and the European. The best black soldiers are recruited from the Dinkas, who are strong, handsome Negroes, the finest of the White Nile. The other races are thickly built and clumsy, and are never ornamental; the Abyssinians, for whatever service and of whatever class, excel all their rival victims in slavery. They are quiet and subdued, and seldom treacherous or insubordinate. They prefer slavery, many of them, to freedom, because they have no aspirations that are inordinate. The girls are delicate, and not built for severe labor. Though born and bred in a country where concubines are as legitimate and as much honored as wives, they revolt against the terrors of polygamy.

In Abyssinia there is a feature of the slave-commerce which does not seem to exist elsewhere. The natives themselves enslave their own countrymen and countrywomen. Since the death of Theodore, the country has been the scene of complex civil war. Each tribe is in war against its neighbor; and when the issue comes to a decisive battle, the victor despoils his antagonist of all his property, makes merchandise of the children, and forwards them to the Egyptian post of Gallabat, where they find a ready and active market. All along the frontier there is no attempt to prevent slavery. It exists with the sanction of the officials, and by their direct co-operation. Another profession is that of secret kidnappers. The world knows little how much finesse and depravity and duplicity are required in this business. The impression is abroad, that the slave-trade provokes nothing more than murder, theft, arson, and rape. But it is a disgraceful fact that some traders habitually practice the most inhuman deception to accomplish their end. They frequently settle down in communities and households in the guise of benefactors, and while so situated they register each desirable boy and girl, and afterward conspire to kidnap or kill them, as chance may have it. Such is the story of the African slave-trade of to-day.

FOOTNOTE:

[34] Wilson’s “Western Africa.”

CHAPTER X. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA.

The Republic of Liberia lies on the west coast of Africa, and was settled by emigrants from the United States in 1822.

The founders of this government met with many obstacles: First, disease; then opposition from the natives; all of which, however, they heroically overcame.

The territory owned by the Liberian government extends some six hundred miles along the West African coast, and reaches back indefinitely towards the interior, the native title to which has been fairly purchased.

It has brought within its elevating influence at least two hundred thousand of the native inhabitants, who are gradually acquiring the arts, comforts, and conveniences of civilized life. It has a regularly-organized government, modelled after our own, with all the departments in successful operation. Schools, seminaries, a college, and some fifty churches, belonging to seven different denominations, are in a hopeful condition. Towns and cities are being built where once the slave-trade flourished with all its untold cruelty, bloodshed, and carnage. Agriculture is extending, and commerce is increasing. The Republic of Liberia numbers to-day among its civilized inhabitants, about thirty thousand persons, about fifteen thousand of which are American Liberians; that is, those who have emigrated from the United States with their descendants. More than three hundred thousand aborigines reside within the territory of Liberia, and are brought more or less directly under the influence and control of her civilized institutions. There are churches in the Republic, representing different denominations, with their Sunday Schools and Bible classes, and contributing something every week for missionary purposes. The exports in the year 1866, amounted to about three hundred thousand dollars.

The undeveloped capacities for trade, no one can estimate. With a most prolific soil, and a climate capable of producing almost every variety of tropical fruit, the resources of the land are beyond computation. A sea-coast line, six hundred miles in length, and an interior stretching indefinitely into the heart of the country, offer the most splendid facilities for foreign commerce.

For a thousand miles along the coast, and two hundred miles inland, the influence of the government has been brought to bear upon domestic slavery among the natives, and upon the extirpation of the slave-trade, until both have ceased to exist.

The interior presents a country inviting in all its aspects; a fine, rolling country, abounding in streams and rivulets; forests of timber in great variety, abundance, and usefulness; and I have no doubt quite salubrious, being free from the miasmatic influences of the mangrove swamps near the coast.

The commercial resources of Liberia, even at the present time, though scarcely commenced to be developed, are of sufficient importance to induce foreigners, American and European, to locate in the Republic for the purposes of trade; and the agricultural and commercial sources of wealth in Western and Central Africa are far beyond the most carefully-studied speculation of those even who are best acquainted with the nature and capacity of the country. The development of these will continue to progress, and must, in the very nature of things, secure to Liberia great commercial importance; and this will bring her citizens into such business relations with the people of other portions of the world as will insure to them that consideration which wealth, learning, and moral worth never fail to inspire.

From the beginning, the people of Liberia, with a commendable zeal and firmness, pursued a steady purpose towards the fulfilment of the great object of their mission to Africa. They have established on her shores an asylum free from political oppression, and from all the disabilities of an unholy prejudice; they have aided essentially in extirpating the slave-trade from the whole line of her western coast; they have introduced the blessings of civilization and Christianity among her heathen population, and by their entire freedom from all insubordination, or disregard of lawful authority, and by their successful diplomacy with England, France, and Spain, on matters involving very perplexing international questions, they have indicated some ability, at least for self-government and the management of their own public affairs.

The banks of the St. Paul’s, St. John’s, Sinoe, and Farmington Rivers, and of the River Cavalla, now teeming with civilized life and industry, presenting to view comfortable Christian homes, inviting school-houses and imposing church edifices, but for the founding of Liberia would have remained until this day studded with slave-barracoons, the theatres of indescribable suffering, wickedness, and shocking deaths.

Liberia is gradually growing in the elements of national stability. The natural riches of that region are enormous, and are such as, sooner or later, will support a commerce, to which that at present existing on the coast is merely fractional. The Liberians own and run a fleet of “coasters,” collecting palm-oil, cam-wood, ivory, gold-dust, and other commodities. A schooner of eighty tons was built, costing eleven thousand dollars, and loaded in the autumn of 1866, at New York, from money and the proceeds of African produce sent for that purpose by an enterprising merchant of Grand Bassa County.

A firm at Monrovia are having a vessel built in one of the ship-yards of New York to cost fifteen thousand dollars.

An intelligent friend has given us the following as an approximate estimate of the sugar-crop on the St. Paul’s in 1866: “Sharp, one hundred and twenty thousand pounds; Cooper, thirty thousand pounds; Anderson, thirty-five thousand pounds; Howland, forty thousand pounds; Roe, thirty thousand pounds; sundry smaller farmers, one hundred and fifty thousand; total, five hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds. The coffee-crop also is considerable, though we are not able to state how much.”

During the year 1866, not less than six hundred tons of cam-wood, twelve hundred tons of palm-oil, and two hundred tons of palm-kernels, were included in the exports of the Republic. And these articles of commercial enterprise and wealth are capable of being increased to almost any extent.

The Colonization Society, under whose auspices the colony of Liberia was instituted, was, as the writer verily believes, inimical to the freedom of the American slaves, and therefore brought down upon it the just condemnation of the American abolitionists, and consequently placed the people in a critical position; I mean the colonists. But from the moment that the Liberians in 1847 established a Republic, unfurled their national banner to the breeze, and began to manage their own affairs, we then said, “Cursed be the hand of ours that shall throw a stone at our brother.”

Fortunately, for the colony, many of the emigrants were men of more than ordinary ability; men who went out with a double purpose; first, to seek homes for themselves and families out of the reach of the American prejudice; second, to carry the gospel of civilization to their brethren. These men had the needed grit and enthusiasm.

Moles, Teage, and Johnson, are names that we in our boyhood learned to respect and love. Roberts, Benson, Warner, Crummell, and James, men of more recent times, have done much to give Liberia her deservedly high reputation.

With a government modelled after our own constitution and laws, that are an honor to any people, and administered by men of the genius and ability which characterizes the present ruling power, Liberia is destined to hold an influential place in the history of nations. Her splendid resources will yet be developed; her broad rivers will be traversed by the steamship, and her fertile plains will yet resound to the thunder of the locomotive. The telegraph wire will yet catch up African news and deposit it in the Corn Exchange, London, and Wall Street, New York.

That moral wilderness is yet to blossom with the noblest fruits of civilization and the sweetest flowers of religion. She will yet have her literature, her historians and her poets. Splendid cities will rise where now there are nothing but dark jungles.

CHAPTER XI. PROGRESS IN CIVILIZATION.

It is a pleasing fact to relate that the last fifty years have witnessed much advance towards civilization in Africa; and especially on the west coast. This has resulted mainly from the successful efforts made to abolish the slave-trade. To the English first, and to the Liberians next, the praise must be given for the suppression of this inhuman and unchristian traffic. Too much, however, cannot be said in favor of the missionaries, men and women, who, forgetting native land, and home-comforts, have given themselves to the work of teaching these people, and thereby carrying civilization to a country where each went with his life in his hands.

Amongst the natives themselves, in several of the nations, much interest is manifested in their own elevation. The invention of an alphabet for writing their language, by the Veys, and this done too by their own ingenuity, shows remarkable advancement with a race hitherto regarded as unequal to such a task.

This progress in civilization is confined more strictly to the Jalofs, the Mandingoes, and the Fulahs, inhabiting the Senegambia, and the Veys, of whom I have already made mention. Prejudice of race exists among the Africans, as well as with other nations. This is not, however, a prejudice of color, but of clan or tribe. The Jalofs, for instance, are said by travellers to be the handsomest Negroes in Africa. They are proud, haughty, and boast of their superiority over other tribes, and will not intermarry with them; yet they have woolly hair, thick lips, and flat noses, but with tall and graceful forms. In religion they are Mohammedans.

Rev. Samuel Crowther has been one of the most successful missionaries that the country has yet had. He is a native, which no doubt gives him great advantage over others. His two sons, Josiah and Samuel, are following in the footsteps of their illustrious father.

The influences of these gentlemen have been felt more directly in the vicinity of Lagos and Abeokuta. The Senior Crowther is the principal Bishop in Africa, and is doing a good work for his denomination, and humanity.

Native eloquence, and fine specimens of oratory may be heard in many of the African assemblies. Their popular speakers show almost as much skill in the use of happy illustrations, striking analogies, pointed argument, historical details, biting irony, as any set of public speakers in the world; and for ease, grace, and naturalness of manner, they are perhaps unsurpassed. The audiences usually express their assent by a sort of grunt, which rises in tone, and frequently in proportion, as the speaker becomes animated, and not unfrequently swells out into a tremendous shout, and thus terminates the discussion in accordance with the views of the speaker. He has said exactly what was in the heart of the assembly, and they have no more to say or hear on the subject.[35] Civilization is receiving an impetus from the manufacturing of various kinds of goods as carried on by the people through Africa, and especially in the Egba, Yoruba, and Senegambia countries. Iron-smelting villages, towns devoted entirely to the manufacturing of a particular kind of ware, and workers in leather, tailors, weavers, hat, basket, and mat-makers, also workers in silk and worsted may be seen in many of the large places.

Some of these products would compare very favorably with the best workmanship of English and American manufacturers.

Much is done in gold, silver, and brass, and jewelry of a high order is made in the more civilized parts of the country.

The explorations of various travellers through Africa, during the past twenty-five years, have aided civilization materially. A debt of gratitude is due to Dr. Livingstone for his labors in this particular field.

I have already made mention of the musical talent often displayed in African villages, to the great surprise of the traveller.

The following account from the distinguished explorer, will be read with interest. Dr. Livingstone says: “We then inquired of the King relative to his band of music, as we heard he had one. He responded favorably, saying he had a band, and it should meet and play for us at once. Not many minutes elapsed until right in front of our house a large fire was kindled, and the band was on the ground. They began to play; and be assured I was not a little surprised at the harmony of their music. The band was composed of eight members, six of whom had horns, made of elephant tusks, beautifully carved and painted. These all gave forth different sounds, or tones. The bass horn was made of a large tusk; and as they ascended the scale the horns were less. They had a hole cut into the tusk near its thin end, into which they blew the same as into a flute or fife. They had no holes for the fingers, hence the different tones were produced by the lengths of the horns, and by putting the hand into the large, open part of the horn and again removing it. I noticed that one small horn had the large end closed and the small one open. The different tones were produced by the performer opening and closing this end with the palm of his hand. They had also two drums; one had three heads placed on hollow sticks or logs, from one to two feet long; the other had but one head; they beat them with their hands, not sticks. I however saw a large war-drum, about five feet high, made on the principle of the above, which was beaten with sticks. The band serenaded us three times during our stay. They played different tunes, and there was great variety throughout their performance; sometimes only one horn was played, sometimes two or three, and then all would join in; sometimes the drums beat softly, then again loud and full. The horns used in this band are also used for war-horns.

“At about eleven o’clock we were awakened by music,—a human voice and an instrument—right before our door. “What is it?” “A guitar?” “No; but it is fine music.” “Ah! it is a harp. Let us invite him in.” Such conjectures as the above were made as the old man stood before our door and sang and played most beautifully. We invited him in; and true enough, we found it to be a species of harp with twelve strings. He sang and played a long while, and then retired,—having proven to us that even far out in the wild jungles of Africa, that most noble of all human sciences is to a certain degree cultivated. We were serenaded thrice by him. He came from far in the interior.”

One of the greatest obstacles to civilization in Africa, is the traders. These pests are generally of a low order in education, and many of them have fled from their own country, to evade the punishment of some crime committed. Most of them are foul-mouthed, licentious men, who spread immorality wherever they appear. It would be a blessing to the natives if nine-tenths of these leeches were driven from the country.

FOOTNOTE:

[35] Wilson’s “Western Africa.”

CHAPTER XII. HAYTI.

In sketching an account of the people of Hayti, and the struggles through which they were called to pass, we confess it to be a difficult task. Although the writer visited the Island thirty years ago, and has read everything of importance given by the historians, it is still no easy matter to give a true statement of the revolution which placed the colored people in possession of the Island, so conflicting are the accounts.

The beautiful island of St. Domingo, of which Hayti is a part, was pronounced by the great discoverer to be the “Paradise of God.”

The splendor of its valleys, the picturesqueness of its mountains, the tropical luxuriance of its plains, and the unsurpassed salubrity of its climate, confirms the high opinion of the great Spaniard. Columbus found on the Island more than a million of people of the Caribbean race. The warlike appearance of the Spaniards caused the natives to withdraw into the interior. However, the seductive genius of Columbus soon induced the Caribbeans to return to their towns, and they extended their hospitality to the illustrious stranger.

After the great discoverer had been recalled home and left the Island, Dovadillo, his successor, began a system of unmitigated oppression towards the Caribbeans, and eventually reduced the whole of the inhabitants to slavery; and thus commenced that hateful sin in the New World. As fresh adventurers arrived in the Island, the Spanish power became more consolidated and more oppressive. The natives were made to toil in the gold-mines without compensation, and in many instances without any regard whatever to the preservation of human life; so much so, that in 1507, the number of natives had, by hunger, toil, and the sword, been reduced from a million to sixty thousand. Thus, in the short space of fifteen years, more than nine hundred thousand perished under the iron hand of slavery in the island of St. Domingo.

The Island suffered much from the loss of its original inhabitants; and the want of laborers to till the soil and to work in the mines, first suggested the idea of importing slaves from the coast of Africa. The slave-trade was soon commenced and carried on with great rapidity. Before the Africans were shipped, the name of the owner and the plantation on which they were to toil was stamped on their shoulders with a burning iron. For a number of years St. Domingo opened its markets annually to more than twenty thousand newly-imported slaves. With the advance of commerce and agriculture, opulence spread in every direction. The great tide of immigration from France and Spain, and the vast number of Africans imported every year, so increased the population that at the commencement of the French Revolution, in 1789, there were nine hundred thousand souls on the Island. Of these, seven hundred thousand were Africans, sixty thousand mixed blood, and the remainder were whites and Caribbeans. Like the involuntary servitude in our own Southern States, slavery in St. Domingo kept morality at a low stand. Owing to the amalgamation between masters and slaves, there arose the mulatto population, which eventually proved to be the worst enemies of their fathers.

Many of the planters sent their mulatto sons to France to be educated. When these young men returned to the Island, they were greatly dissatisfied at the proscription which met them wherever they appeared. White enough to make them hopeful and aspiring, many of the mulattoes possessed wealth enough to make them influential. Aware, by their education, of the principles of freedom that were being advocated in Europe and the United States, they were ever on the watch to seize opportunities to better their social and political condition. In the French part of the Island alone, twenty thousand whites lived in the midst of thirty thousand free mulattoes and five hundred thousand slaves. In the Spanish portion, the odds were still greater in favor of the slaves. Thus the advantage of numbers and physical strength was on the side of the oppressed. Right is the most dangerous of weapons—woe to him who leaves it to his enemies!

The efforts of Wilberforce, Sharp, Buxton, and Clarkson, to abolish the African slave-trade, and their advocacy of the equality of the races, were well understood by the men of color. They had also learned their own strength in the Island, and that they had the sympathy of all Europe with them. The news of the oath of the Tennis Court, and the taking of the Bastile at Paris, was received with the wildest enthusiasm by the people of St. Domingo.

The announcement of these events was hailed with delight by both the white planters and the mulattoes; the former, because they hoped the revolution in the Mother Country would secure to them the independence of the colony; the latter, because they viewed it as a movement that would give them equal rights with the whites; and even the slaves regarded it as a precursor to their own emancipation. But the excitement which the outbreak at Paris had created amongst the free men of color and the slaves, at once convinced the planters that a separation from France would be the death-knell of slavery in St. Domingo.

Although emancipated by law from the dominion of individuals, the mulattoes had no rights; shut out from society by their color, deprived of religious and political privileges, they felt their degradation even more keenly than the bond slaves. The mulatto son was not allowed to dine at his father’s table, kneel with him in his devotions, bear his name, inherit his property, nor even to lie in his father’s graveyard. Laboring as they were under the sense of their personal social wrongs, the mulattoes tolerated, if they did not encourage, low and vindictive passions. They were haughty and disdainful to the blacks, whom they scorned, and jealous and turbulent to the whites, whom they hated and feared.

The mulattoes at once despatched one of their number to Paris, to lay before the Constitutional Assembly their claim to equal rights with the whites. Vincent Oge, their deputy, was well received at Paris by Lafayette, Brisot, Barnave, and Gregoire, and was admitted to a seat in the Assembly, where he eloquently portrayed the wrongs of his race. In urging his claims, he said if equality was withheld from the mulattoes, they would appeal to force. This was seconded by Lafayette and Barnave, who said: “Perish the Colonies, rather than a principle.”

The Assembly passed a decree, granting the demands of the men of color, and Oge was made bearer of the news to his brethren. The planters armed themselves, met the young deputy on his return to the Island, and a battle ensued. The free colored men rallied around Oge, but they were defeated and taken, with their brave leader; were first tortured, and then broken alive on the wheel.

The prospect of freedom was put down for the time, but the blood of Oge and his companions bubbled silently in the hearts of the African race; they swore to avenge them.

The announcement of the death of Oge in the halls of the Assembly at Paris, created considerable excitement, and became the topic of conversation in the clubs and on the boulevards. Gregoire defended the course of the colored men and said: “If liberty was right in France, it was right in St. Domingo.” He well knew that the crime for which Oge had suffered in the West Indies, had constituted the glory of Mirabeau and Lafayette at Paris, and Washington and Hancock in the United States. The planters in the Island trembled at their own oppressive acts, and terror urged them on to greater violence. The blood of Oge and his accomplices had sown everywhere despair and conspiracy. The French sent an army to St. Domingo to enforce the law.

The planters repelled with force the troops sent out by France, denying its prerogatives, and refusing the civic oath. In the midst of these thickening troubles, the planters who resided in France were invited to return, and to assist in vindicating the civil independence of the Island. Then was it that the mulattoes earnestly appealed to the slaves, and the result was appalling. The slaves awoke as from an ominous dream, and demanded their rights with sword in hand. Gaining immediate success, and finding that their liberty would not be granted by the planters, they rapidly increased in numbers; and in less than a week from its commencement, the storm had swept over the whole plain of the north, from east to west, and from the mountains to the sea. The splendid villas and rich factories yielded to the furies of the devouring flames; so that the mountains, covered with smoke and burning cinders, borne upward by the wind looked like volcanoes; and the atmosphere as if on fire, resembled a furnace.

Such were the outraged feelings of a people whose ancestors had been ruthlessly torn from their native land and sold in the shambles of St. Domingo. To terrify the blacks and convince them that they could never be free, the planters were murdering them on every hand by thousands.

The struggle in St. Domingo was watched with intense interest by the friends of the blacks, both in Paris and in London, and all appeared to look with hope to the rising up of a black chief, who should prove himself adequate to the emergency. Nor did they look in vain. In the midst of the disorder that threatened on all sides, the negro chief made his appearance in the person of a slave named Toussaint. This man was the grandson of the King of Ardra, one of the most powerful and wealthy monarchs on the west coast of Africa. By his own energy and perseverance, Toussaint had learned to read and write, and was held in high consideration by the surrounding planters, as well as their slaves.

In personal appearance he was of middle stature, strongly-marked African features, well-developed forehead, rather straight and neat figure, sharp and bright eye, with an earnestness in conversation that seemed to charm the listener. His dignified, calm, and unaffected demeanor would cause him to be selected in any company of men as one who was born for a leader.

His private virtues were many, and he had a deep and pervading sense of religion; and in the camp carried it even as far as Oliver Cromwell. Toussaint was born on the Island, and was fifty years of age when called into the field. One of his chief characteristics was his humanity.

Before taking any part in the revolution, he aided his master’s family to escape from the impending danger. After seeing them beyond the reach of the revolutionary movement, he entered the army as an inferior officer, but was soon made aid-de-camp to General Bissou. Disorder and bloodshed reigned through the Island, and every day brought fresh intelligence of depredations committed by whites, mulattoes, and blacks.

Hitherto, the blacks had been guided by Jean-François, Bissou, and Jeannot. The first of these was a slave, a young Creole of good exterior; he had long before the revolution obtained his liberty. At the commencement of the difficulties, he fled to the mountains and joined the Maroons, a large clan of fugitive slaves then wandering about in the woods and mountains, that furnished this class a secure retreat. This man was mild, vain, good-tempered, and fond of luxury.

Bissou belonged to the religious body designated “The Fathers of Charity.” He was fiery, wrathful, rash, and vindictive; always in action, always on horseback, with a white sash, and feathers in his hat, or basking in the sunshine of the women, of whom he was very fond. Jeannot, a slave of the plantation of M. Bullet, was small and slender in person, and of boundless activity. Perfidious of soul, his aspect was frightful and revolting. Capable of the greatest crimes, he was inaccessible to regret or remorse.

Having sworn implacable hatred against the whites, he thrilled with rage when he saw them; and his greatest pleasure was to bathe his hands in their blood. These three were the leaders of the blacks till the appearance of Toussaint; and under their rule, the cry was “Blood, blood, blood!” Such was the condition of affairs when a decree was passed by the Colonial Assembly, giving equal rights to the mulattoes, and asking their aid in restoring order and reducing the slaves again to their chains. Overcome by this decree, and having gained all they wished, the free colored men joined the planters in a murderous crusade against the slaves. This union of the whites and mulattoes to prevent the bondman getting his freedom, created an ill-feeling between the two proscribed classes, which seventy years have not been able to efface. The French government sent a second army to St. Domingo to enforce the laws, giving freedom to the slaves, and Toussaint joined it on its arrival in the Island, and fought bravely against the planters.

While the people of St. Domingo were thus fighting amongst themselves, the revolutionary movement in France had fallen into the hands of Robespierre and Danton, and the guillotine was beheading its thousands daily. When the news of the death of Louis XVI. reached St. Domingo, Toussaint and his companions left the French and joined the Spanish army, in the eastern part of the Island, and fought for the King of Spain. Here Toussaint was made brigadier-general, and appeared in the field as the most determined foe of the French planters.

The two armies met; a battle was fought in the streets, and many thousands were slain on both sides; the planters, however, were defeated. During the conflict the city was set on fire, and on every side presented shocking evidence of slaughter, conflagration, and pillage. The strifes of political and religious partisanship, which had raged in the clubs and streets of Paris, were transplanted to St. Domingo, where they raged with all the heat of a tropical clime, and the animosities of a civil war. Truly did the flames of the French revolution at Paris, and the ignorance and self-will of the planters, set the island of St. Domingo on fire. The commissioners with their retinue retired from the burning city into the neighboring highlands, where a camp was formed to protect the ruined town from the opposing party. Having no confidence in the planters, and fearing a reaction, the commissioners proclaimed a general emancipation to the slave population, and invited the blacks who had joined the Spaniards to return. Toussaint and his followers accepted the invitation, returned, and were enrolled in the army under the commissioners. Fresh troops arrived from France, who were no sooner in the Island than they separated—some siding with the planters, and others with the commissioners. The white republicans of the Mother Country were arrayed against the white republicans of St. Domingo, whom they were sent out to assist. The blacks and the mulattoes were at war with each other; old and young of both sexes, and of all colors, were put to the sword, while the fury of the flames swept from plantation to plantation, and from town to town.

CHAPTER XIII. SUCCESS OF TOUSSAINT.

During these sad commotions, Toussaint, by his superior knowledge of the character of his race, his humanity, generosity, and courage, had gained the confidence of all whom he had under his command. The rapidity with which he travelled from post to post astonished every one. By his genius and surpassing activity, Toussaint levied fresh forces, raised the reputation of the army, and drove the English and Spanish from the Island.

The boiling caldron of the revolution during its progress, had thrown upon its surface several new military men, whose names became household words in St. Domingo. First of these, after Toussaint, was Christophe, a man of pure African origin, though a native of New Grenada. On being set free at the age of fifteen, he came to St. Domingo, where he resided until the commencement of the revolution. He had an eye full of fire, and a braver man never lived. Toussaint early discovered his good qualities, and made him his lieutenant, from which he soon rose to be a general of division.

As a military man, Christophe was considered far superior to Toussaint; and his tall, slim figure, dressed in the uniform of a general, was hailed with enthusiasm wherever he appeared.

Next to Christophe was Dessalines. No one who took part in the St. Domingo revolution has been so severely censured as this chief. At the commencement of the difficulties, Dessalines was the slave of a house carpenter, with whom he had learned the trade. He was a small man, of muscular frame, and of a dingy black. He had a haughty and ferocious look. Hunger, thirst, fatigue, and loss of sleep he seemed made to endure, as if by peculiarity of constitution. Dessalines was not a native of either of the West India Islands, for the marks upon his arms and breast, and the deep furrows and incisions on his face, pointed out the coast of Africa as his birth-place. Inured by exposure and toil to a hard life, his frame possessed a wonderful power of endurance. By his activity and singular fierceness on the field of battle, he first attracted the attention of Toussaint, who placed him amongst his guides and attendants, and subsequently advanced him rapidly through several grades, to the dignity of third in command. A more courageous man never appeared upon the battle-field. What is most strange in the history of Dessalines is, that he was a savage, a slave, a soldier, a general, and died when an emperor.

Among the mulattoes were several valiant chiefs. The ablest of these was Rigaud, the son of a wealthy planter. Having been educated at Paris, his manner was polished, and his language elegant. Had he been born in Asia, Rigaud would have governed an empire, for he had all the elements of a great man.

In religion he was the very opposite of Toussaint. An admirer of Voltaire and Rousseau, he had made their works his study. A long residence in Paris had enabled him to become acquainted with many of the followers of these two distinguished philosophers.

He had seen two hundred thousand persons following the bones of Voltaire, when removed to the Pantheon; and, in his admiration for the great writer, had confounded liberty with infidelity.

Rigaud was the first amongst the mulattoes, and had sided with the planters in their warfare against the blacks. But the growing influence of this chief early spread fear in the ranks of the whites, which was seen and felt by the mulattoes everywhere.

In military science, horsemanship, and activity, Rigaud was the first man on the Island, of any color, Toussaint bears the following testimony to the great skill of the mulatto general: “I know Rigaud well. He leaps from his horse when at full gallop, and he puts all his force in his arm when he strikes a blow.” He was boundless in resources as he was brave and daring. High-tempered and irritable, he at times appeared haughty. The charmed power that he held over the men of his color can scarcely be described. At the breaking out of the revolution, he headed the mulattoes in his native town, and soon drew around him a formidable body of men. Rigaud’s legion was considered to be by far the best drilled and most reliable in battle of all the troops raised on the Island.

The mulattoes were now urging their claims to citizenship and political enfranchisement, by arming themselves in defence of their rights; the activity and talent of their great leader, Rigaud, had been the guidance and support of their enterprise. He was hated by the whites in the same degree as they feared his influence with his race.

The unyielding nature of his character, which gave firmness and consistency to his policy while controling the interest of his brethren, made him dear to them.

Intrigue and craftiness could avail nothing against the designs of one who was ever upon the watch, and who had the means of counteracting all secret attempts against him; and open force in the field could not be successful in destroying a chieftain whose power was often felt, but whose person was seldom seen.

Thus to accomplish a design which had long been in contemplation, the whites of Aux Cayes were now secretly preparing a mine for Rigaud,—which, though it was covered with flowers, and to be sprung by the hand of professed friendship,—it was thought would prove a sure and efficacious method of ridding them of such an opponent, and destroying the pretensions of the mulattoes forever.

It was proposed that the anniversary of the destruction of the Bastile should be celebrated in the town by both whites and mulattoes, in union and gratitude. A civic procession marched to the church, where the Te Deum was chanted and an oration pronounced by citizen Delpech. The Place d’Armes was crowded with tables of refreshments, at which both whites and mulattoes seated themselves. But beneath this seeming patriotism and friendship a dark and fatal conspiracy lurked, plotting treachery and death.

It had been resolved that at a preconcerted signal every white at the table should plunge his knife into the bosom of the mulatto who was seated nearest to him. Cannon had been planted around the place of festivity, that no fugitive from the massacre should have the means of escaping; and that Rigaud should not fail to be secured as the first victim to a conspiracy prepared especially against his life, the commander-in-chief of the national guard had been placed at his side, and his murder of the mulatto chieftain was to be the signal for a general onset upon all his followers.

But between the conception and the accomplishment of a guilty deed, man’s native abhorrence of crime often interposes many obstacles to success. The officer to whom had been entrusted the assassination of Rigaud, found it no small matter to screw his courage up to the sticking-place, and the expected signal which he was to display in blood to his associates, was so long delayed that secret messengers began to come to him from all parts of the table, demanding why execution was not done on Rigaud. Urged on by these successive appeals, the white general at last applied himself to the fatal task which had been allotted him. But instead of silently plunging his dagger into the bosom of the mulatto chief, he sprang upon him with a pistol in his hand, and with a loud execration, fired it at his intended victim. But Rigaud remained unharmed, and in the scuffle which ensued the white assassin was disarmed and put to flight.

The astonishment of the mulattoes soon gave way to tumult and indignation, and this produced a drawn battle, in which both whites and mulattoes, exasperated as they were to the utmost, fought man to man.

The struggle continued fiercely, until the whites were driven from the town, having lost one hundred and fifty of their number, and slain many of their opponents. Tidings of this conspiracy flew rapidly in all directions; and such was the indignation of the mulattoes at this attack on their chief, whose death had even been announced in several places as certain, that they seized upon all the whites within their reach, and their immediate massacre was only prevented by the arrival of intelligence that Rigaud was still alive.[36]

The hostile claims of Toussaint and Rigaud, who shared between them the whole power of the Island, soon brought on a bloody struggle between the blacks and mulattoes.

The contest was an unequal one, for the blacks numbered five hundred thousand, while the mulattoes were only thirty thousand. The mulattoes, alarmed by the prospect that the future government of the Island was likely to be engrossed altogether by the blacks, thronged from all parts of the Island to join the ranks of Rigaud. As a people, the mulattoes were endowed with greater intelligence; they were more enterprising, and in all respects their physical superiority was more decided than their rivals, the blacks.

They were equally ferocious, and confident as they were in their superior powers, they saw without a thought of discouragement or fear the enormous disparity of ten to one in the respective numbers of their adversaries and themselves. Rigaud began the war by surprising Leogane, where a multitude of persons of every rank and color were put to death without mercy.

Toussaint, on learning this, hastened together all the troops which he then had in the neighborhood of Port au Prince, and ordered all the mulattoes to assemble at the church of that town, where he mounted the pulpit, and announced to them his intended departure to war against their brethren. He said, “I see into the recesses of your bosoms; you are ready to rise against me; but though my troops are about to leave this province, you cannot succeed, for I shall leave behind me both my eyes and my arms; the one to watch, and the other to reach you.” At the close of this admonition, threatening as it was, the mulattoes were permitted to leave the church, and they retired, awestruck and trembling with solicitude, to their homes.

The forces of Rigaud, fighting under the eyes of the chief whom they adored, defended with vigor the passes leading to their territory; and though they were but a handful, in comparison with the hordes who marched under the banners of Toussaint, their brave exertions were generally crowned with success.

The mulattoes under Rigaud, more skilled in the combinations of military movements, made up for their deficiency in numbers by greater rapidity and effectiveness in their operations. A series of masterly manœuvres and diversions were followed up in quick succession, which kept the black army in full employment. But Toussaint was too strong, and he completely broke up the hopes of the mulattoes in a succession of victories, which gave him entire control of the Island, except, perhaps, a small portion of the South, which still held out. Rigaud, reduced in his means of defence, had the misfortune to see his towns fall one after another into the power of Toussaint, until he was driven to the last citadel of his strength—the town of Aux Cayes. As he thus yielded foot by foot, everything was given to desolation before it was abandoned, and the genius of Toussaint was completely at fault in his efforts to force the mulatto general from his last entrenchments.

He was foiled at every attempt, and his enemy stood immovably at bay, notwithstanding the active assaults and overwhelming numbers of his forces.

The government of France was too much engaged at home with her own revolution, to pay any attention to St. Domingo. The republicans in Paris, after getting rid of their enemies, turned upon each other. The revolution, like Saturn, devoured its own children; priest and people were murdered upon the thresholds of justice. Marat died at the hands of Charlotte Corday; Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were guillotined, Robespierre had gone to the scaffold, and Bonaparte was master of France.

The conqueror of Egypt now turned his attention to St. Domingo. It was too important an island to be lost to France, or be destroyed by civil war; and through the mediation of Bonaparte, the war between Toussaint and Rigaud was brought to a close.

With the termination of this struggle, every vestige of slavery, and all obstacles to freedom, disappeared. Toussaint exerted every nerve to make Hayti what it had formerly been. He did everything in his power to promote agriculture; and in this he succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations of the friends of freedom, both in England and France. Even the planters who had remained on the Island acknowledged the prosperity of Hayti under the governorship of the man whose best days had been spent in slavery.

The peace of Amiens left Bonaparte without a rival on the continent, and with a large and experienced army which he feared to keep idle; and he determined to send a part of it to St. Domingo.

The army for the expedition to St. Domingo was fitted out, and no pains or expense spared to make it an imposing one. Fifty-six ships of war, with twenty-five thousand men, left France for Hayti. It was, indeed, the most valiant fleet that had ever sailed from the French dominions. The Alps, the Nile, the Rhine, and all Italy had resounded with the exploits of the men who were now leaving their country for the purpose of placing the chains again on the limbs of the heroic people of St. Domingo. There were men in that army that had followed Bonaparte from the siege of Toulon to the battle under the shades of the pyramids of Egypt,—men who had grown gray in the camp. Among them were several colored men, who had distinguished themselves on the field of battle.

There was Rigaud, the bravest of the mulatto chiefs, whose valor had disputed the laurels with Toussaint. There, too, was Pétion, the most accomplished scholar of whom St. Domingo could boast; and lastly, there was Boyer, who was destined at a future day to be President of the Republic of Hayti. These last three brave men had become dupes and tools of Bonaparte, and were now on their way to assist in reducing the land of their birth to slavery.

FOOTNOTE:

[36] Brown’s History of Sant. Domingo, Vol. I., p. 257.

CHAPTER XIV. CAPTURE OF TOUSSAINT.

Le Clerc, the brother-in-law of Bonaparte, the man who had married the voluptuous Pauline, was commander-in-chief of the army. Le Clerc was not himself a man of much distinction in military affairs; his close relationship with the ruler of France was all that he had to recommend him to the army of invasion. But he had with him Rochambeau, and other generals, who had few superiors in arms. Before arriving at Hayti the fleet separated, so as to attack the island on different sides.

News of the intended invasion reached St. Domingo some days before the squadron had sailed from Brest; and therefore the blacks had time to prepare to meet their enemies. Toussaint had concentrated his forces at such points as he expected would be first attacked. Christophe was sent to defend Cape City, and Port au Prince was left in the hands of Dessalines.

Le Clerc, with the largest part of the squadron, came to anchor off Cape City, and summoned the place to surrender. The reply which he received from Christophe was such as to teach the captain-general what he had to expect in the subjugation of St. Domingo. “Go tell your general that the French shall march here only over ashes; and that the ground shall burn beneath their feet,” was the answer that Le Clerc obtained in return to his command. The French general sent another messenger to Christophe, urging him to surrender, and promising the black chief a commission of high rank in the French army. But he found he had a man, and not a slave, to deal with. The exasperated Christophe sent back the heroic reply, “The decision of arms can admit you only into a city in ashes; and even on these ashes will I fight still.” The black chief then distributed torches to his principal officers, and awaited the approach of the French.

With no navy, and but little means of defence, the Haytians determined to destroy their towns rather than they should fall into the hands of the enemy. Late in the evening the French ships were seen to change their position, and Christophe, satisfied that they were about to effect a landing, set fire to his own house, which was the signal for the burning of the town. The French general wept as he beheld the ocean of flames rising from the tops of the houses in the finest city in St. Domingo.

Another part of the fleet landed in Samana, where Toussaint, with an experienced wing of the army, was ready to meet them. On seeing the ships enter the harbor, the heroic chief said: “Here come the enslavers of our race. All France is coming to St. Domingo, to try again to put the fetters upon our limbs; but not France with all her troops of the Rhine, the Alps, the Nile, the Tiber, nor all Europe to help her, can extinguish the soul of Africa. That soul, when once the soul of a man, and no longer that of a slave, can overthrow the pyramids, and the Alps themselves, sooner than again be crushed down into slavery.” The French, however, effected a landing, but they found nothing but smouldering ruins where once stood splendid cities. Toussaint and his generals at once abandoned the towns, and betook themselves to the mountains, those citadels of freedom in St. Domingo, where the blacks have always proved too much for the whites.

Toussaint put forth a proclamation to the colored people, in which he said: “You are now to meet and fight enemies who have neither faith, law, nor religion. Let us resolve that these French troops shall never leave our shores alive.” The war commenced, and the blacks were victorious in nearly all the battles. Where the French gained a victory, they put their prisoners to the most excruciating tortures; in many instances burning them in pits, and throwing them into boiling chaldrons. This example of cruelty set by the whites, was followed by the blacks. Then it was that Dessalines, the ferocious chief, satisfied his long pent-up revenge against the white planters and French soldiers that he made prisoners. The French general saw that he could gain nothing from the blacks on the field of battle, and he determined upon a stratagem, in which he succeeded too well.

A correspondence was opened with Toussaint in which the captain-general promised to acknowledge the liberty of the blacks, and the equality of all, if he would yield. Overcome by the persuasions of his generals, and the blacks who surrounded him, and who were sick and tired of the shedding of blood, Toussaint gave in his adhesion to the French authorities. This was the great error of his life.

The loss that the French army had sustained during the war, was great. Fifteen thousand of their best troops, and some of their bravest generals, had fallen before the arms of these Negroes, whom they despised.

Soon after Toussaint gave in his adhesion, the yellow fever broke out in the French army, and carried off nearly all of the remaining great men,—more than seven hundred medical men, besides twenty-two thousand sailors and soldiers. Among these were fifteen hundred officers. It was at this time that Toussaint might have renewed the war with great success. But he was a man of his word, and would not take the advantage of the sad condition of the French army.

Although peace reigned, Le Clerc was still afraid of Toussaint; and by the advice of Napoleon, the black general was arrested, together with his family, and sent to France.

The great chief of St. Domingo had scarcely been conveyed on board the ship Creole, and she out of the harbor, ere Rigaud, the mulatto general who had accompanied Le Clerc to St. Domingo, was arrested, put in chains, and sent to France.

The seizure of Toussaint and Rigaud caused suspicion and alarm among both blacks and mulattoes, and that induced them to raise again the flag of insurrection, in which the two proscribed classes were united.

Twenty thousand fresh troops arrived from France, but they were not destined to see Le Clerc, for the yellow fever had taken him off. In the mountains were many barbarous and wild blacks, who had escaped from slavery soon after being brought from the coast of Africa. One of these bands of savages were commanded by Lamour de Rance, an adroit, stern, savage man, half naked, with epaulettes tied to his bare shoulders for his only token of authority. This man had been brought from the coast of Africa, and sold as a slave in Port au Prince. On being ordered one day to saddle his master’s horse, he did so; then mounted the animal, fled to the mountains, and ever after made these fearful regions his home. Lamour passed from mountain to mountain with something of the ease of the birds of his own native land. Toussaint, Christophe, and Dessalines, had each in their turn pursued him, but in vain. His mode of fighting was in keeping with his dress. This savage, united with others like himself, became complete master of the wilds of St. Domingo. They came forth from their mountain homes, and made war on the whites wherever they found them. Le Clerc was now dead, and Rochambeau, who succeeded him in the government of St. Domingo, sent to Cuba to get bloodhounds, with which to hunt down the blacks in the mountains.

In personal appearance, Rochambeau was short and stout, with a deformed body, but of robust constitution; his manner was hard and severe, though he had a propensity to voluptuousness. He lacked neither ability nor experience in war. In his youth, he had, under the eyes of his illustrious father, served the cause of freedom in the United States; and while on duty in the slave portion of our government, formed a low idea of the blacks, which followed him even to St. Domingo.

The planters therefore hailed with joy Rochambeau as a successor to Le Clerc; and when the bloodhounds which he had sent to Cuba for arrived, cannon were fired, and demonstrations of joy were shown in various ways.

Even the women, wives of the planters, went to the sea-side, met the animals, and put garlands about their necks, and some kissed and caressed the dogs.[37]

Such was the degradation of human nature. While the white women were cheering on the French, who had imported bloodhounds as their auxiliaries, the black women were using all their powers of persuasion to rouse the blacks to the combat. Many of these women walked from camp to camp, and from battalion to battalion, exhibiting their naked bodies, showing their lacerated and scourged persons;—these were the marks of slavery, made many years before, but now used for the cause of human freedom.

Christophe, who had taken command of the insurgents, now gave unmistakable proofs that he was a great general, and scarcely second to Toussaint. Twenty thousand fresh troops arrived from France to the aid of Rochambeau; yet the blacks were victorious wherever they fought. The French blindly thought that cruelty to the blacks would induce their submission, and to this end they bent all their energies. An amphitheatre was erected, and two hundred dogs, sharpened by extreme hunger, put there, and black prisoners thrown in. The raging animals disputed with each other for the limbs of their victims, until the ground was dyed with human blood.

Three hundred brave blacks were put to death in this horrible manner. The blacks, having spread their forces in every quarter of the island, were fast retaking the forts and towns. Christophe commanded in the north, Dessalines in the west, and Clervaux in the south.

Despotism and sensuality have often been companions. In Rochambeau, the one sharpened the appetite for the other, as though greediness of bodily pleasure welcomed the zest arising from the sight of bodily pain.

No small part of his time Rochambeau passed at table, or on sofas, with the Creole females, worshippers of pleasure, as well as most cruel towards their slaves. To satisfy these fascinating courtesans, scaffolds were raised in the cities, which were bathed in the blood of the blacks. They even executed women and children, whose only crime was, that they had brothers, fathers, or husbands among the revolters. These brutal murders by the French filled the blacks with terror. Dessalines started for the Cape, for the purpose of meeting Rochambeau, and avenging the death of the blacks. In his impetuous and terrible march, he surrounded and made prisoners a body of Frenchmen; and with branches of trees, that ferocious chief raised, under the eyes of Rochambeau, five hundred gibbets, on which he hanged as many prisoners.

The numerous executions which began at the Cape soon extended to other places. Port au Prince had its salt waters made bloody, and scaffolds were erected and loaded, within and without the walls. The hand of tyranny spread terror and death over the shores of the north and the west. As the insurrection became more daring, it was thought that the punishments had not been either numerous enough, violent enough, or various enough. The colonists counselled and encouraged more vengeance. Children, women, and old men were confined in sacks, and thrown into the sea; this was the punishment of parricides among the Romans, ten centuries before; and now resorted to by these haters of liberty.

Rochambeau put five hundred blacks, prisoners whom he had taken in battle, to death in one day. Twenty of Toussaint’s old officers were chained to the rocks and starved to death.

But the blacks were gradually getting possession of the strongholds in the islands.

“To arms! to arms!” was the cry all over the island, until every one who could use even the lightest instrument of death, was under arms.

Dessalines, Belair, and Lamartiniere, defeated the French general at Verettes; in no place was the slaughter so terrible as there. At a mere nod of Dessalines, men who had been slaves, and who dreaded the new servitude with which they were threatened, massacred seven hundred of the whites that Dessalines had amongst his prisoners.

The child died in the arms of its sick and terrified mother; the father was unable to save the daughter, the daughter unable to save the father. Mulattoes took the lives of their white fathers, to whom they had been slaves, or whom, allowing them to go free, had disowned them; thus revenging themselves for the mixture of their blood. So frightful was this slaughter, that the banks of the Artibonite were strewn with dead bodies, and the waters dyed with the blood of the slain. Not a grave was dug, for Dessalines had prohibited interment, in order that the eyes of the French might see his vengeance even in the repulsive remains of carnage.

The united enthusiasm and bravery of the blacks and mulattoes was too much for the French. Surrounded on all sides, Rochambeau saw his troops dying for the want of food. For many weeks they lived on horse flesh, and were even driven to subsist on the dogs that they had imported from Cuba.

Reduced to the last extremity by starvation, the French general sued for peace, and promised that he would immediately leave the Island; it was accepted by the blacks, and Rochambeau prepared to return to France. The French embarked in their vessels of war, and the standard of the blacks once more waved over Cape City, the capital of St. Domingo. As the French sailed from the Island, they saw the tops of the mountains lighted up;—it was not a blaze kindled for war, but for freedom. Every heart beat for liberty, and every voice shouted for joy. From the ocean to the mountains, and from town to town, the cry was “Freedom! Freedom!” Thus ended Napoleon’s expedition to St. Domingo. In less than two years the French lost more than fifty thousand persons. After the retirement of the whites, the men of color put forth a Declaration of Independence, in which they said: “We have sworn to show no mercy to those who may dare to speak to us of slavery.”

FOOTNOTE:

[37] Beard’s Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture.

CHAPTER XV. TOUSSAINT A PRISONER IN FRANCE.

While the cause of independence, forced at length on the aspirations of the natives of Hayti, was advancing with rapid strides, amid all the tumult of armies, and all the confusion of despotic cruelties, Toussaint L’Ouverture pined away in the dark, damp, cold prison of Joux.

This castle stands on the brink of the river Daubs; on the land side, the road of Besancon, leading into Switzerland, gives the stronghold the command of the communications between that country and France. This dungeon built by the Romans, has in it a room fifteen feet square, with a stone floor, the same of which the entire castle is constructed. One small window, high up on the side, looking out on the snows of Switzerland, is the only aperture that gives light to the dismal spot. In winter, ice covers the floor; in summer, it is deep with water. In this living tomb, Toussaint was placed, and left to die.

All communication was forbidden him with the outer world. He received no news of his wife and family. He wrote to Bonaparte, demanding a trial, but received no reply. His fare was limited to a sum not sufficient to give him the comforts of life. His servant was taken away, and food reduced to a still smaller quantity; and thus the once ruler of St. Domingo, the man to whom in the darkest day of the insurrection the white planters looked for safety, knowing well his humanity, was little by little brought to the verge of starvation.

Toussaint’s wife and children had been arrested, sent to France, separated from him, and he knew nothing of their whereabouts. He wrote to Napoleon in behalf of them. The document contained these words:

“General Le Clerc employed towards me means which have never been employed towards the greatest enemies. Doubtless I owe that contempt to my color; but has that color prevented me from serving my country with zeal and fidelity? Does the color of my body injure my honor or my courage? Suppose I was a criminal, and that the general-in-chief had orders to arrest me; was it needful to employ carabineers to arrest my wife and children; to tear them from their residence without respect, and without charity? Was it necessary to fire on my plantations, and on my family, or to ransack and pillage my property? No! My wife, my children, my household, were under no responsibility; have no account to render to government. General Le Clerc had not even the right to arrest them. Was that officer afraid of a rival?

“I compare him to the Roman Senate, that pursued Hannibal even into his retirement. I request that he and I may appear before a tribunal, and that the government bring forward the whole of my correspondence with him. By that means, my innocence, and all I have done for the republic, will be seen.”

Toussaint was not even aware of Le Clerc’s death. Finding that the humanity of Colomier, the governor of the castle, would not allow the prisoner to starve fast enough, Napoleon ordered the keeper to a distance; and on his return, Toussaint was dead.

Thus in the beginning of April, in the year 1803, died Toussaint L’Ouverture, a grandson of an African king. He passed the greater number of his days in slavery, and rose to be a soldier, a general, a governor, and to-day lives in the hearts of the people of his native isle. Endowed by nature with high qualities of mind, he owed his elevation to his own energies and his devotion to the welfare and freedom of his race. His habits were thoughtful, and, like most men of energetic temperaments, he crowded much into what he said.

So profound and original were his opinions, that they have been successively drawn upon by all the chiefs of St. Domingo since his era, and still without loss of adaptation to the circumstances of the country. His thoughts were copious and full of vigor; and what he could express well in his native patois, he found tame and unsatisfactory in the French language, which he was obliged to employ in the details of his official business.

He would never sign what he did not fully understand, obliging two or three secretaries to re-word the document, until they had succeeded in furnishing the particular phrase expressive of his meaning. While at the height of his power, and when all around him were furnished with every comfort, and his officers living in splendor, Toussaint himself lived with an austere sobriety, which bordered on abstemiousness.

Clad in a common dress, with a red Madras handkerchief tied around his head, he would move amongst the people as though he were a laborer. On such occasions he would often take a musket, throw it up into the air, and catching it, kiss it; again hold it up, and exclaim to the gazing multitude, “Behold your deliverer; in this lies your liberty!” Toussaint was entirely master of his own appetites and passions.

It was his custom to set off in his carriage with the professed object of going to some particular point of the Island, and when he had passed over several miles of the journey, to quit the carriage, which continued its route under the same escort of guards, while Toussaint mounted on horseback, and followed by his officers, made rapid excursions across the country to places where he was least expected. It was upon one of these occasions that he owed his life to his singular mode of travelling. He had just left his carriage when an ambuscade of mulattoes, concealed in the thickets of Boucassin, fired upon the guard; several balls pierced the carriage, and one of them killed an old servant, who occupied the seat of his master.

No person knew better than he the art of governing the people under his jurisdiction. The greater part of the blacks loved him to idolatry. Veneration for Toussaint was not confined to the boundaries of St. Domingo; it ran through Europe; and in France his name was frequently pronounced in the senate with the eulogy of polished eloquence. No one can look back upon his career without feeling that Toussaint was a remarkable man. Without being bred to the science of arms, he became a valiant soldier, and baffled the skill of the most experienced generals that had followed Napoleon. Without military knowledge, he fought like one born in the camp.

Without means, he carried on a war successfully. He beat his enemies in battle, and turned their weapons against them. He possessed splendid traits of genius, which were developed in the private circle, in the council chamber, and upon the field of battle. His very name became a tower of strength to his friends and a terror to his foes.

CHAPTER XVI. DESSALINES AS EMPEROR OF HAYTI.

Rochambeau, with the remnant of his defeated army, had scarcely retired from St. Domingo before the news of the death of Toussaint reached the Island. The announcement of this, together with the fact that their great general had died by starvation, assured the natives of the essential goodness of their cause, and the genuine vigor of their strength. They had measured swords with the whites, and were conscious of their own superiority. Slavery in St. Domingo was dead, and dead forever. The common enemy was gone, and the victory had been gained by the union of the blacks and mulattoes, and these put forth a Declaration of Rights, in which they said: “The independence of St. Domingo is proclaimed. Restored to our primitive dignity, we have secured our rights; we swear never to cede them to any power in the world. The frightful veil of prejudice is torn in pieces; let it remain so forever. Woe to him who may wish to collect the blood-stained tatters. We have sworn to show no mercy to those who may dare to speak to us of slavery.” This document was signed by Dessalines, Christophe, and Clervaux, the three chiefs who had conducted the war after the capture of Toussaint.

The first of these were black, and represented that class of his race who held sentiments of the most extreme hatred to the whites. The second was also black, but of a feeling more inclined to moderation. The third represented the mulattoes, although he had none of the prejudice against the blacks, so prevalent in those days. Clervaux was a brave man, and had fought under Toussaint before the landing of Le Clerc and Rochambeau.

By the daring manifested on the field of battle, his fierce and sanguinary look, his thirst for blood, Dessalines had become the leader of the blacks in the war for liberty; and now that victory was perched upon their banners, and the civil government of the Island was to fall into their hands, he set his associates aside, and took the State into his own charge. Jean Jacques Dessalines was appointed governor-general for life. He was not only a life officer, but he had the power to establish laws, to declare war, to make peace, and even to appoint his successor.

Having by a show of mildness gained the advantage which he sought,—the acquisition of power,—Dessalines, a few weeks after his appointment as governor for life, threw aside the mask, and raised the cry of “Hayti for the Haytians,” thinking by proscribing foreigners, he should most effectually consolidate his own authority.

From that moment the career of this ferocious man was stained with innocent blood, and with crimes that find no parallel, unless in the dark deeds of Rochambeau, whom he seemed anxious to imitate. The blacks, maddened by the recollection of slavery, and crimes perpetrated under its influence; maddened by the oft-repeated stories of murders committed by the French, and the presence of many of their old masters still on the Island, and whose bloody deeds Dessalines continually kept before them in his proclamations, were easily led into the worst of crimes by this man.

On the 8th of October, 1804, Dessalines was proclaimed Emperor of Hayti, with the title of Jean Jacques the First. A census taken in 1805 showed the population of that part of the Island ruled by Dessalines, to be only four hundred thousand.

The title of majesty was conferred on the new Emperor, as well as on his august consort, the empress; their persons were declared inviolable, and the crown elective; but the Emperor had the right to nominate his successor among a chosen number of candidates. The sons of the sovereign were to pass through all the ranks of the army.

Every emperor who should attach to himself a privileged body, under the name of guard of honor, or any other designation, was, by the fact, to be regarded as at war with the nation, and should be driven from the throne, which then was to be occupied by one of the councillors of state, chosen by the majority of the members of that body.

The emperor had the right to make, and approve and publish the laws; to make peace and war; to conclude treaties; to distribute the armed force at his pleasure; he also possessed the exclusive prerogative of pardon. The generals of brigade and of division were to form part of the council of state. Besides a secretary of state, there was to be a minister of finances, and a minister of war. All persons were encouraged to settle their differences by arbitration.

No dominant religion was admitted; the liberty of worship was proclaimed; the State was not to take on itself the support of any religious institution. Marriage was declared a purely civil act, and in some cases divorce was permitted. State offences were to be tried by a council to be named by the Emperor. All property belonging to white Frenchmen was confiscated to the State. The houses of the citizens were pronounced inviolable.

The Constitution was placed under the safeguard of the magistrates, of fathers, of mothers, of citizens, of soldiers, and recommended to their descendants, to all the friends of liberty, to the philanthropists of all countries, as a striking token of the goodness of God, who, in the order of his immortal decrees, had given the Haytians power to break their bonds, and make themselves a free, civilized, and independent people. This Constitution, which, considering its origin, contains so much that is excellent, and which even the long civilized States of Europe might advantageously study, was accepted by the emperor, and ordered to be forthwith carried into execution.

The condition of the farm-laborer was the same as under the system of Toussaint L’Ouverture; he labored for wages which were fixed at one-fourth of the produce, and that produce was abundant. The whip and all corporal punishments were abolished.

Idleness was regarded as a crime, but was punished only by imprisonment. Two-thirds of the labor extracted under slavery was the amount required under the new system. Thus the laborers gained a diminution of one-third of their toil, while their wants were amply supplied. The mulattoes, or quaterons, children of whites and mulattoes, who were very numerous, if they could show any relationship, whether legitimate or not, with the old white proprietors, were allowed to inherit their property.

Education was not neglected in the midst of these outward and material arrangements. In nearly all the districts, schools were established; and the people, seeing what advantage was to be derived from learning, entered them, and plied themselves vigorously to gain in freedom what they had lost in slavery.

A praiseworthy effort was made by the framers of the constitution, under which Dessalines was inaugurated emperor, to extinguish all distinctions of color among the colored people themselves.

They decreed that the people should be denominated blacks; but such distinctions are far stronger than words on paper. Unfortunately, the distinctions in question, which was deeply rooted, and rested on prejudices and antipathies which will never be erased from human nature, had been aggravated by long and sanguinary contests between the blacks and mulattoes.

Aware of that individual superiority which springs from a share in the influences of civilization, the mulattoes of Hayti despised the uneducated black laborers by whom they were surrounded, and felt that by submitting to their sway, they put themselves under the domination of a majority whose sole authority lay exclusively in their numbers. The mulattoes really believed that their natural position was to fill the places in the government once held by the whites.

They would no doubt have forgotten their party interests, and labored for the diffusion through the great body of the people of the higher influence of civilization, if they could have secured those positions.

The mutual hatred between the mulattoes and the blacks was so deeply rooted, that neither party could see anything good in the other; and therefore, whatever was put forth by one party, no matter how meritorious in itself, was regarded with suspicion by the other.

The regular army of Dessalines was composed of fifteen thousand men, in which there was included a corps of fifteen hundred cavalry. They were a motley assemblage of ragged blacks, kept in the ranks, and performing their limited routine of duty through the awe inspired among them by the rigid severity of the imperial discipline. The uniform of the troops had not been changed when the Island was erected into an independent power, and the red and blue of the French army still continued to distinguish the soldiers of the Haytian army, even when the French were execrated as a race of monsters, with whom the blacks of St. Domingo should have nothing in common. Together with the regular army of the empire, there existed a numerous corps of national guard, composed of all who were capable of bearing arms; though the services of these were not required but in some dangerous emergency of the State. The national guard and regular army were called into the field four times every year; and during these seasons of military movement, the government of Dessalines was over a nation of soldiers in arms, as they remained in their encampment for some days, to be instructed in military knowledge, and to be reviewed by the great officers of the empire.

Dessalines now put forth a proclamation filled with accusations against the white French still on the Island.

This ferocious manifesto was intended as a preliminary measure in the train of horrible events to follow. In the month of February, 1805, orders were issued for the pursuit and arrest of all those Frenchmen who had been accused of being accomplices in the executions ordered by Rochambeau.

Dessalines pretended that more than sixty thousand of his compatriots had been drowned, suffocated, hung, or shot in these massacres. “We adopt this measure,” said he, “to teach the nations of the world that, notwithstanding the protection which we grant to those who are loyal towards us, nothing shall prevent us from punishing the murderers who have taken pleasure in bathing their hands in the blood of the sons of Hayti.”

These instigations were not long in producing their appropriate consequences among a population for so many years trained to cruelty, and that hated the French in their absence in the same degree that they feared them when present. On the 28th of April it was ordered by proclamation that all the French residents in the Island should be put to death; and this inhuman command of Dessalines was eagerly obeyed by his followers, particularly by the mulattoes, who had to manifest a flaming zeal for their new sovereign, in order to save themselves from falling victims to his sanguinary vengeance. Acting under the dread surveillance of Dessalines, all the black chiefs were forced to show themselves equally cruel; and if any French were saved from death, it was due to the mercy of the inferior blacks, who dared not to avoid their generosity. Dessalines made a progress through all the towns where there were any French citizens remaining, and while his soldiers were murdering the unfortunate victims of his ferocity, the monster gloated with secret complacency over the scene of carnage, like some malignant fiend glorying in the pangs of misery suffered by those who had fallen a sacrifice to his wickedness.

The massacre was executed with an attention to order, which proves how minutely it had been prepared. All proper precautions were taken, that no other whites than the French should be included in the proscription. In the town of Cape François, where the massacre took place, on the night of the 20th of April, the precaution was first taken of sending detachments of soldiers to the houses of the American and English merchants, with strict orders to permit no person, not even the black generals, to enter them, without the permission of the master of the house, who had been previously informed of all that was about to happen. This command was obeyed so punctually, that one of these privileged individuals had the good fortune to preserve the lives of a number of Frenchmen whom he had concealed in his house, and who remained in their asylum until the guilty tragedy was over.

The priests, surgeons, and some necessary artisans were preserved from destruction, consisting in all, of one-tenth of the French residents. All the rest were massacred without regard to age or sex. The personal security enjoyed by the foreign whites was no safeguard to the horror inspired in them by the scenes of misery which were being enacted without. At every moment of the night, the noise was heard of axes, which were employed to burst open the doors of the neighboring houses; of piercing cries, followed by a deathlike silence, soon, however, to be changed to a renewal of the same sounds of grief and terror, as the soldiers proceeded from house to house.

When this night of horror and massacre was over, the treacherous cruelty of Dessalines was not yet appeased. An imperial proclamation was issued in the morning, alleging that the blacks were sufficiently avenged upon the French, and inviting all who had escaped the assassination of the previous night to make their appearance upon the Place d’Armes of the town, in order to receive certificates of protection; and it was declared to them that in doing this they might count upon perfect safety to themselves.

Many hundreds of the French had been forewarned of the massacre, and by timely concealment had succeeded in preserving their lives. Completely circumvented by the fiendish cunning of Dessalines, this little remnant of survivors came out of their places of concealment, and formed themselves in a body upon the Place d’Armes. But at the moment when they were anxiously expecting their promised certificates of safety, the order was given for their execution. The stream of water which flowed through the town of Cape François was fairly tinged with their blood.[38]

Many of the great chiefs in the black army were struck with horror and disgust at this fiendish cruelty of their emperor. Christophe was shocked at the atrocity of the measure, though he dared not display any open opposition to the will of the monarch. Dessalines had no troublesome sensibilities of soul to harass his repose for a transaction almost without a parallel in history. He sought not to share the infamy of the action with the subordinate chiefs of his army, but without a pang of remorse he claimed to himself the whole honor of the measure.

In another proclamation, given to the world within a few days after the massacre, he boasts of having shown more than ordinary firmness, and affects to put his system of policy in opposition to the lenity of Toussaint, whom he accuses, if not of want of patriotism, at least of want of firmness in his public conduct. Dessalines was prompted to the share he took in this transaction by an inborn ferociousness of character; but a spirit of personal vengeance doubtless had its effect upon the subordinate agents in the massacre. They hated the French for the cruelties of Rochambeau.

Although the complete evacuation of the Island by the forces of the French, and the ceaseless employment of the armies of Napoleon in the wars of Europe, had left the blacks of St. Domingo in the full possession of that Island, Dessalines lived in continual dread that the first moment of leisure would be seized by the conqueror of Europe to attempt the subjugation of his new empire. The black chief even alleged in excuse for the massacre which he had just accomplished, that the French residents in the Island had been engaged in machinations against the dominion of the blacks, and that several French frigates then lying at St. Jago de Cuba had committed hostilities upon the coast, and seemed threatening a descent upon this land.

Influenced by this perpetual solicitude, Dessalines now turned his attention to measures of defence, in case the French should again undertake the reduction of the country. It was ordered that at the first appearance of a foreign army ready to land upon the shores of the Island, all the towns upon the coast should be burnt to the ground, and the whole population be driven to the fastnesses of the interior.

He also built fortifications in the mountains as places of refuge in the event of foreign invasion. Always violent and sanguinary, when there remained no whites upon whom to employ his ferocity, his cruelty was lavished upon his own subjects. For the slightest causes, both blacks and mulattoes were put to death without mercy and without the forms of trial. The sight of blood awakened within him his desire of slaughter, and his government became at length a fearful despotism, against the devouring vengeance of which none, not even those of his own household, was safe. The generals Clervaux, Geffrard, and Gabart died suddenly and mysteriously; and the aggressions of Dessalines, directed particularly against the mulattoes, soon awakened the vengeance of that jealous class, who were already displeased at their insignificance in the State, and at the exaltation of the black dynasty which seemed about to become permanent in the country. A secret conspiracy was accordingly planned against the black monarch, and when, on the 17th of October, 1806, he commenced a journey from St. Marks to Port au Prince, the occasion was improved to destroy him. A party of mulattoes lying in ambuscade at a place called Pont Rouge, made an attack upon him, and he was killed at the first fire.

Thus closed the career of Dessalines, a man who had commenced life as a slave, and ended as an emperor; a man whose untiring energy, headlong bravery, unsurpassed audacity, and native genius made him to be feared by both blacks and whites, and whose misdeeds have furnished to the moralists more room for criticism than any other man whose life was passed in the West Indies.

Yet this “monster,” with all his faults, did much for the redemption of his race from slavery. Had Dessalines been in the position of Toussaint, he would never have been captured and transported to Europe. He who reads the history of the St. Domingo struggle without prejudice, and will carefully examine the condition of parties, see the efforts made by the expatriated planters to regain possession of the Island, and view impartially the cruel and exterminating war upon the blacks, as carried on by Le Clerc and Rochambeau, cannot feel like throwing the mantle of charity over some of the acts of Jean Jacques Dessalines. After the death of the emperor, the victorious mulattoes followed up their success by attacking the partisans of Dessalines, and four days were expended in destroying them. Upon the 21st there appeared a proclamation, portraying the crimes of the fallen emperor, and announcing that the country had been delivered of a tyrant. A provisional government was then constituted, to continue until time could be afforded for the formation of a new constitution, and General Christophe was proclaimed the provisional head of the State.

FOOTNOTE:

[38] Malo.

CHAPTER XVII. WAR BETWEEN THE BLACKS AND MULATTOES OF HAYTI.

The ambitious and haughty mulattoes had long been dissatisfied with the obscure condition into which they had been thrown by the reign of Dessalines; and at the death of that ruler, they determined to put forward their claim. Therefore, while Christophe was absent from the capital, the mulattoes called a convention, framed a constitution, organized a republic, and elected for their president, Alexandre Pétion.

This man was a quadroon, the successor of Rigaud and Clervaux to the confidence of the mulattoes. He had been educated at the military school at Paris; was of refined manners, and had ever been characterized for his mildness of temper and the insinuating grace of his address. He was a skilful engineer, and at the time of his elevation to power he passed for the most scientific officer and the most erudite individual among the people of Hayti. Attached to the fortunes of Rigaud, Pétion had acted as his lieutenant in the war against Toussaint, and had accompanied that chief to France. Here he remained until the departure of the expedition under Le Clerc, when he embarked in that disastrous enterprise, to employ his talents in restoring his country to the dominion of France. Pétion joined Dessalines, Christophe, and Clervaux when they revolted and turned against the French, and aided in gaining the final independence of the Island. He was commanding a battalion of mulattoes, under the government of Dessalines, at the close of the empire.

Christophe, therefore, as soon as he heard that he had a rival in Pétion, rallied his forces, and started for Port au Prince, to meet his enemy, and obtain by conquest what had been refused him by right of succession; and, as he thought, of merit. Pétion was already in the field; the two armies met, and a battle was fought.

In this contest, the impetuosity of Christophe’s attack was more than a match for the skill and science of Pétion; and the new president was defeated in his first enterprise against the enemy of his government. The ranks of Pétion were soon thrown into irretrievable confusion, and in a few minutes they were driven from the field—Pétion himself being hotly pursued in his flight, finding it necessary, in order for the preservation of his life, to exchange his decorations for the garb of a farmer, whom he encountered on his way, and to bury himself up to the neck in a marsh until his fierce pursuers had disappeared.

After this signal success, Christophe pressed forward to Port au Prince, and laid siege to that town, in the hope of an easy triumph over his rival. But Pétion was now in his appropriate sphere of action, and Christophe discovered that in contending against an experienced engineer in a fortified town, success was of more difficult attainment than while encountering the same enemy in the open field, where his science could not be brought into action. Christophe could make no impression on the town; and feeling ill assured of the steadfastness of his own proper government at Cape François, he withdrew his forces from the investment of Port au Prince, resolved to establish in the North a separate government of his own, and to defer to some more favorable opportunity the attempt to subdue his rival at Port au Prince.

Thus placing themselves in hostile array against each other, the two chiefs of Hayti employed themselves in strengthening and establishing their respective governments, and in attempts to gain over the different parts of the Island to an acknowledgment of their authority. Christophe assumed the title of President of the State, and Pétion, of the Republic; and the inhabitants of the country conferred their allegiance according to the opinions of their chiefs, or the places of their residence.

The successes of Christophe in his late campaign against his rival at Port au Prince, had encouraged him with the hope of obtaining a complete conquest over him when he had strengthened and confirmed his power over the blacks of the North. The greater part of this province had already declared for him, and refused to acknowledge the new president at Port au Prince, who had been taken from among the mulattoes of the South. In this state of public feeling, Christophe proceeded to issue a series of proclamations and addresses to the people and the army, encouraging them to hope for a better era about to arise under his auspices, in which the evils of foreign invasion and the disaster of intestine disturbance were to cease, and the wounds of the country to be healed by the restoration of peace and tranquillity. He manifested a desire to encourage the prosperity of commerce and agriculture; and by thus fostering individual enterprise, to ensure the happiness of the people under his rule. To support the credit of his government among the commercial nations abroad, he dispatched a manifesto to each of them, with a design to remove the distrust which had begun to be entertained in the mercantile world of the new governments of Hayti.

It was announced in these dispatches that the storehouses and magazines of the Island were crowded and overflowing with the rich productions of the Antilles, awaiting the arrival of foreign vessels to exchange for them the produce and fabrics of other lands; that the vexatious regulations and ignorant prohibitions of his predecessor no longer existed to interfere with the commercial prosperity of the Island; and that protection and encouragement would be granted to commercial factors from abroad, who should come to reside in the ports of the country.

Christophe felt that his assumption of power was but a usurpation, and that so long as his government remained in operation without the formal sanction of the people, his rival at Port au Prince possessed immense advantages over him, inasmuch as he had been made the constituted head of the country by an observance of the forms of the constitution. To remedy this palpable defect, which weakened his authority, he resolved to frame another constitution, which would confirm him in the power he had usurped, and furnish him with a legal excuse for maintaining his present attitude. In accordance with this policy he convoked another assembly at Cape François, composed of the generals of his army and the principal citizens of that province, and after a short session these subservient legislators terminated their labors by giving to the world another constitution of the country, dated upon the 17th of February, 1807. This new enactment declared all persons residing upon the territory of Hayti, free citizens, and that the government was to be administered by a supreme magistrate, who was to take the title of President of the State, and General-in-Chief of the land and the naval forces.

The office was not hereditary, but the president had the right to choose his successor from among the generals of the army; and associated with him in the government there was to exist a Council of State, consisting of nine members, selected by the President from among the principal military chiefs. This, like the constitution, which conferred power upon Dessalines, made Christophe an autocrat, though he was nominally but the mere chief magistrate of a republic.

The rival government of Port au Prince differed from that of Christophe, by its possessing more of the forms of a republic. With a president who held his power for life, and who could not directly appoint his successor, there was associated a legislative body, consisting of a chamber of representatives chosen directly by the people, and a senate appointed by the popular branch of the government, to sustain or control the president in the exercise of his authority.

Hostilities between Christophe and Pétion were carried on for a long time, which led to little less than the enfeeblement of both parties. The black chief, however, established his power on solid foundations in the North, while Pétion succeeded in retaining a firm position in the South. Thus was the Island once more unhappily divided between two authorities, each of which watched its opportunity for the overthrow of the other.

The struggle between the two presidents of Hayti had now continued three years, when a new competitor started up, by the arrival of Rigaud from France. He had passed by way of the United States, and arrived at Aux Cayes on the 7th of April, 1810. This was an unexpected event, which awakened deep solicitude in the bosom of Pétion, who could not avoid regarding that distinguished mulatto as a more formidable rival than Christophe. He feared his superior talents, and dreaded the ascendency he held over the mulatto population. Rigaud was welcomed by his old adherents with enthusiastic demonstrations of attachment and respect; and after enjoying for a few days the hospitalities that were so emulously offered to him, he proceeded on his way to Port au Prince. Though Pétion could not feel at his ease while such a rival was journeying in a species of triumph through the country, he dared not, at least in his present condition, to make an open manifestation of his displeasure, or employ force against one who had such devoted partisans at his command. He determined, therefore, to mask his jealous feelings, and wear an exterior of complaisance, until he could discover the designs of Rigaud. The latter was received graciously by the President, whose suspicions were all effectually lulled by the harmless deportment of the great mulatto chieftain; and he was even invested by Pétion with the government of the South. This was to place an idol in the very temple of its worshippers, for Rigaud returned to Aux Cayes to draw all hearts to himself. No one in that province now cast a thought upon Pétion; and within a short period Rigaud was in full possession of his ancient power. Pétion, affrighted at his situation, surrounded as he was by two such rivals as Rigaud and Christophe, began an open rupture with the former before he had fully ascertained whether he could sustain himself against the hostilities of the latter. Some of the mulattoes, who, with a spirit of patriotism or clanship foresaw the triumphs which would be offered to the blacks by civil dissensions among themselves, proposed a compromise between Rigaud and Pétion; but this was rejected by the latter, who began to make preparations to invade Rigaud’s province.

Resolved to profit by this division, Christophe marched against Pétion, but the common danger brought about a union, and Christophe judged it prudent to retire.

When Pétion had been left at peace, by the temporary retirement of Christophe from the war against him, all his former jealousy was awakened within him against Rigaud. The treaty of Miragoane had been wrung from him by the hard necessities of his situation, which were such as to force him to choose between yielding himself a prey to the warlike ambition of Christophe, or complying with the urgent demands pressed upon him by the political importance of Rigaud. A compact thus brought about by the stern compulsion of an impending danger, and not yielded as a voluntary sacrifice for the preservation of peace, was not likely to remain unviolated when the necessity of the moment had passed away and was forgotten. Thus, as has been observed, when Christophe, engaged as he was in renovating the structure of his government, had ceased from his hostilities against Pétion, the latter became immediately infested with all his former dislike of Rigaud. Intrigues were commenced against him, to shake the fidelity of his followers, and to turn the hearts of the Southern blacks against the mulatto who had been placed over them as their chief.

Emissaries were employed in all parts of that province, reminding the people of the obligations which they owed to the constituted authorities of the Republic at Port au Prince, and conjuring them to remember that the preservation of the country against the designs of France could only be assured by the unanimous support given to the chief of the Republic, who alone could perpetuate the institutions of the country, and maintain its independence against its foreign enemies.

An armistice concluded between Pétion and the Maroon chief, Gomar, furnished an opportunity to the former to arm this formidable brigand against the government of the South. Gomar’s followers, eager for new scenes of plunder, commenced their depredations in the plain of Aux Cayes, and the plantations in that quarter were soon subjected to the same ravages as had fallen to the lot of those of Grand Anse. While Rigaud was involved in a perplexing war with these banditti, and had already discovered that the allegiance of his own followers at Aux Cayes was wavering and insecure, he was dismayed at the intelligence that Pétion had already invaded his territory at the head of an army. Thus were the mulattoes committing suicide upon their political hopes, if not upon their very existence, by a mad strife in the cause of their respective chiefs, when their formidable enemy in the North was concentrating his power, and watching a favorable moment to pour destruction upon both.

Rigaud hastened to collect his forces, in order to defend his territory against this invasion of Pétion; and the latter, having already passed the mountains of La Hotte, was met by his antagonist in the plain of Aux Cayes. A furious battle immediately took place; and after a gallant resistance, Rigaud’s troops had already begun to give ground before the overpowering numbers and successive charges of the enemy, when a strong reinforcement of troops under the command of General Borgella, coming in from Aquin, turned the tide of battle in favor of Rigaud, and Pétion was defeated in his turn, and his army almost annihilated in the rout which followed.[39]

The joy of this signal victory over his opponent, which had driven him from the southern territory, did not efface the bitter recollections which had fastened themselves upon the sensitive mind of Rigaud. In that province, where he had once been all-powerful, and Pétion a subservient instrument of his will, he saw that his former glory had so far departed that he could not trust the fidelity of his own personal attendants, while his former lieutenant was now his triumphant rival. The applauses and sworn devotedness with which the multitude had once followed in the march of his power had now with proverbial fickleness, been exchanged for the coldness of indifference, or an open alliance with his foes.

In this desolate state of his fortunes, Rigaud had lost his wonted energies; and instead of following up his late success, and arming himself for the last desperate effort to crush his insinuating but unwarlike opponent, he returned to Aux Cayes, to new solicitudes and new experience of the faithlessness of that mob whose whirlwind-march he had once guided by a single word. Pétion’s partisans had now gained over to their opinions a formidable proportion of the people of Aux Cayes, and Rigaud had scarcely entered his capital when a multitude of blacks and mulattoes were gathered in the streets opposite the government house.

Their cries of vengeance upon Rigaud, and their menacing preparations, struck a panic into the little body of followers, who, faithful among the faithless, still adhered with unshaken constancy to the declining fortunes of their once glorious chief. His friends besought Rigaud not to attempt the hazardous experiment of showing himself in the gallery to persuade the mob to disperse. But not suspecting that the last remnant of his once mighty influence had departed from him, Rigaud persevered in his design, and advancing to the gallery of the house, he demanded in a mild voice of the leaders of the multitude what they intended by a movement so threatening, when he received in answer a volley of musketry aimed at his life.

But he remained unharmed, though he returned into the house heart-sick and desperate. A furious onset was immediately commenced from without, and this was answered by a vigilant and deadly defence from Rigaud’s followers within. The contest continued through the night, but the mob were defeated in every attempt which they made to obtain a lodgment within the walls of the edifice, and no decisive success could be obtained to disperse them. Rigaud, now convinced that the witchery of his power existed no longer, made a formal abdication of his authority, and nominated General Borgella as his successor in the command of the South. Rigaud, worn with chagrin and humiliation, retired to his plantation, Laborde, where he died within a few days after, a victim to the faithlessness of the multitude.

Thus ended the life of André Rigaud, the ablest scholar and most accomplished military man of any color which the St. Domingo revolution had produced. The death of Rigaud had the effect of uniting the mulatto generals, Borgella and Boyer under Pétion, and against Christophe; the latter, however, succeeded in maintaining his authority in the North, and still looked forward to a time when he should be able to govern the whole Island.

Christophe, like Dessalines, had been made a monarch by the constitution which formed a basis to his power; but he had at first only assumed to himself the modest title of President. This moderation in his ambition arose from the desire to supplant Pétion in his government, and become the supreme head of the whole country without any rival or associate. For this purpose it was necessary to surround his power with republican forms; to make it attractive in the estimation of the better class of blacks and mulattoes, with whom republican notions happened to be in vogue.

But the prospect of superseding Pétion in his authority had become less clear with every succeeding attempt, of Christophe against him; and after years of untiring hostility, it was evident that Pétion was more firmly enthroned in the hearts of his people than at the commencement of his administration, and that no solid and durable advantages had been gained over him in the field. Christophe was thus led to change his policy; and, instead of seeking to assimilate the nature of the two governments, in order to supplant his rival in the affections of his countrymen, he now resolved to make his government the very contrast of the other, and leave it to the people of his country to decide which of the two forms of power was the best adapted to the nature and genius of the population over which they maintained their sway.

The one was a republic in direct contact with the people, and governed by a plain engineer officer, who, though clothed with the sovereignty of the state, “bore his faculties so meekly” that he mixed freely with his fellow-citizens, but as a man in high repute for his intelligence and his virtues.

Christophe determined that the other should be a monarchy, surrounded by all the insignia of supreme power, and sustained by an hereditary nobility, who, holding their civil and military privileges from the crown, would be props to the throne, and maintain industry and order among the subjects of the government. The Republic was a government of the mulattoes, and had been placed under the rule of a mulatto president. The monarchy was to be essentially and throughout, a dominion of the pure blacks, between whom and the mulattoes it was alleged there was such diversity of interest and personal feeling that no common sympathy could exist between them.

In pursuance of this new policy, Christophe’s Council of State was convoked, and commenced its labors to modify the constitution of February, 1807, in order to make it conformable to the new ambition of Christophe. With this council there had been associated the principal generals of the army and several private citizens, who were sufficiently in the favor of Christophe to be ranked among those willing to do him honor. The labors of this council were brief, and upon the 20th of March, 1811, the session was closed by the adoption of a new form of government. The imperial constitution of 1805 was modified to form an hereditary monarchy in the North, and to place the crown of Hayti upon Christophe, under the title of Henry the First.

In their announcement to the world of this new organization of the government, the Council declared that the constitution which had been framed in the year 1807, imperfect as it was, had been adapted to the circumstances of the country at that epoch, but that the favorable moment had arrived to perfect their work, and establish a permanent form of government, suited to the nature and condition of the people over which it was to bear rule.

They added that the majority of the nation felt with them the necessity of establishing an hereditary monarchy in the country, inasmuch as a government administered by a single individual was, less than any other, subject to the chances of revolution, as it possessed within itself a higher power to maintain the laws, to protect the rights of citizens, to preserve internal order, and maintain respect abroad; that the title of governor-general, which had been conferred upon Toussaint L’Ouverture, was insufficient to the dignity of a supreme magistrate; that that of emperor, which had been bestowed upon Dessalines, could not in strictness be conferred but upon the sovereign of several states united under one government, while that of president did not, in fact, carry with it the idea of sovereign power at all. In consideration of these grave objections to all other terms to designate the supreme head of the state, the council expressed itself driven at last to adopt the title of king. The council next proceeded by a formal decree to confer the title of King of Hayti upon Henri Christophe and his successors in the male line, and to make such changes and modifications in the constitution of 1807 as were required by the recent alteration in the structure of the government.

On the 4th of April, the Council of State, which, with the additions made to their number from among the chiefs of the army and the leaders among the population, was pompously styled the Council General, in their robes of state, and headed by their president, proceeded to the palace of Christophe, to announce in formal terms the termination of their labors, which had resulted in the formation of a new constitution, making the crown of Hayti hereditary in the family of the reigning prince. After a speech filled with the very essence of adulation, the President of the Council, General Romaine, exclaimed in the presence of the sovereign, “People of Hayti, regard with pride your present situation. Cherish no longer any fears for the future prosperity of your country, and address your gratitude to Heaven; for while there exists a Henry upon the throne, a Sully will ever be found to direct the march of your happiness.”

On the day following, the new constitution was proclaimed by official announcement throughout the kingdom, and Christophe entered upon the exercise of the kingly powers which had been conferred upon him. The first act of his reign was the promulgation of a royal edict, creating an hereditary nobility, as a natural support to his government, and an institution to give éclat and permanence to his sovereignty. These dignitaries of the kingdom were taken mostly from among the chiefs of the army, and consisted of two princes, not of the royal blood, of seven dukes, twenty-two counts, thirty-five barons, and fourteen chevaliers.

Of priority in rank among the princes of the kingdom, were those of the royal blood, consisting of the two sons of Christophe, the eldest of whom, as heir apparent, received the title of Prince Royal.

Having finished these creations of his new monarchy, and received the two royal crowns of Hayti, Christophe appointed the 2d of June, 1811, as the day for his coronation. All the chiefs of the army and other grandees of the realm had orders to repair to the capital, and among them there appeared a deputation from the blacks of the Spanish territory, who had assumed to themselves the pompous appellations of Don Raphael de Villars, chief commandant of Santiago; Don Raymond de Villa, commandant of Vega; Don Vincent de Luna, and Don José Thabanes, who at least represented the Spanish creoles by the grandiloquence of their names. An immense pavilion had been erected upon the Place d’Armes of Cape Henry, furnished with a throne, galleries for the great ladies of the court, chapels, oratories, an orchestra, and all the arrangements necessary for the august ceremony. This was performed in due stateliness by the new archbishop of Hayti, the capuchin Brelle, who consecrated Christophe King of Hayti, under the title of Henry the First.

FOOTNOTE:

[39] Lacroix.

CHAPTER XVIII. CHRISTOPHE AS KING, AND PÉTION AS PRESIDENT OF HAYTI.

Christophe, now enthroned as the sovereign of the North, seized upon the leisure which was afforded him after perfecting the internal details of his new government, to attempt a peaceable union of the blacks of the South with those who were already the loyal subjects of what he considered the legitimate authority of the Island. For this purpose a large deputation was dispatched from his capital, to proceed into the territory of the republic as the envoys of the black king, who proposed the union of the whole population in one undivided government, secured under the form of an hereditary monarchy, both from the revolutions and weakness of one, the structure of which was more popular. These emissaries, sent to declare the clemency and peaceful intentions of the monarch of the North, were taken from among the prisoners who had fallen into the power of Christophe by the capitulation of the Mole St. Nicholas, and who had been adopted into the royal army, and made the sharers of the royal bounty of the black king. To assist in this new measure, a proclamation was issued from the palace at Cape Henry on the 4th of September, 1811, addressed to the inhabitants of the South, who were no longer called the enemies of the royal government, but erring children, misled by the designing; and they were implored to return to their allegiance to the paternal government of that chief who had just been constituted the hereditary prince of the blacks. “A new era,” said this royal document, “has now dawned upon the destinies of Hayti.

“New grades, new employments, new dignities; in fine, an order of hereditary nobility are hereafter to be the rewards of those who devote themselves to the State. You can participate in all these advantages. Come, then, to join the ranks of those who have placed themselves under the banners of the royal authority, which has no other design than the happiness and glory of the country.”

This policy of Christophe was to employ the weapons of Pétion against himself. But the republican chieftain was in better play with the foils than his more unsophisticated rival of the monarchy, and Christophe soon discovered that while he was attacking the government of Pétion by appeals to the blacks, who were to be dazzled with his royal goodness, the arts of his rival were employed in the very heart of his dominions, and had already insinuated the poison of rebellion among his most trusted subjects. His infant navy had hardly been launched and manned with the objects of his clemency and royal favor, when a detachment of the squadron, consisting of the Princess Royal and several brigs of war, abjured his authority, and raised the standard of the republic. This defection was punished by an English frigate under Sir James Lucas Yeo,[40] who captured the rebellious squadron, and restored the agents to Christophe’s vengeance.

Indignant at these attempts of the mulatto government to divert the affections of his subjects from their sworn allegiance to his throne, Christophe resolved on immediate war and the employment of the sword against that race whose pride and hatred made them the enemies of the pure blacks. Conscious of his military superiority, he resolved to make his preparations for the intended enterprise such as to ensure success over his opponent, and all the disposable forces of his army were gathered together for an invasion of the territories of the Republic.

The Artibonite was soon crossed, and Pétion’s forces, under the command of General Boyer, were met and defeated in the gorges of the mountains of St. Marks; and the way thus laid open for an immediate advance on Port au Prince.

The siege of this place was the object of the expedition, and Christophe pressed forward once more to try the fortune of war against his hated enemy. So sudden was the invasion, that Pétion was taken totally unprepared—a considerable portion of his army being absent from the capital, employed in watching the movements of General Borgella in the south.

In this state of weakness the town might have been surprised, and fallen an easy prey to the invading army, but Christophe had not calculated upon such a speedy result, and though his vanguard had seized upon a post a little to the north of the town, while the inhabitants in their exposed condition were panic-struck at the certain prospect of being captured immediately, the arrival of the main body of Christophe’s army being delayed twenty-four hours, time was thus afforded to Pétion to rally and concentrate his means of defence, so as to be prepared for an effectual resistance. Christophe’s whole force came up the next day, and Pétion’s capital was nearly surrounded by a formidable train of artillery, and an army of twenty thousand men.

In this gigantic attempt of their old adversary, the mulattoes felt with terror that defeat and conquest would not be to them a simple change of government, but would involve in its tremendous consequences the total extermination of their race. In so hazardous a situation, they were taught to reflect upon the madness of their ambition, which, by sowing dissensions among themselves, had exposed them, weak and unarmed, to the whole power of their natural enemy. In so fearful a crisis, the resolution was at last taken to repair their former error, and thus avert the disasters which now overhung them by an attenuated thread. Negotiations were hastily commenced with General Borgella, who, sympathizing with his brethren of Port au Prince in their perilous situation, consented to conditions of peace, and even yielded himself to the orders of Pétion. The assistance of the army of the South was thus secured, and General Borgella at the head of his forces marched to the assistance of Pétion, and succeeded, in spite of the efforts of Christophe, in gaining an entrance into the town.

The operations of the siege had already commenced; but the mulattoes, now united, were enabled to make a vigorous defence. Christophe’s formidable train of artillery had been mounted in batteries upon the heights above the town, and kept up a slow but ceaseless fire upon the works of the garrison within.

Pétion conducted the defence with considerable ability, and a succession of vigorous sallies made upon the lines of the besieging army without the town, taught the latter that they had a formidable adversary to overcome before the town would yield itself to their mercy.

Amidst these continued struggles, which daily gave employment to the two forces, and had already begun to inflame Christophe with the rage of vexation that his anticipated success was so likely to be exchanged for defeat, Pétion had, one day, at the head of a reconnoitering party, advanced too far beyond his lines, when he was pursued by a squadron of the enemy’s cavalry.

The President of the Republic had been discovered by the decorations upon his hat; and the enemy kept up a hot pursuit, which hung upon the very footsteps of the mulatto commander-in-chief, whose escape in such circumstances seemed impossible, when one of his officers devoted himself to death to save the life of his chief.

Exchanging hats with the president, he rode swiftly in another direction. The whole party of the enemy were thus drawn after him, and he was soon overtaken and cut down, while Pétion made his escape into the town.

The siege of Port au Prince had now continued two months, and the obstinacy of its defence had already begun to make Christophe despair of final success, when an occurrence took place which determined him to raise it immediately. Indignant at the tyranny of the black king, several chiefs of his army had formed a conspiracy to assassinate him during his attendance at church. Christophe was always punctual at mass, and upon these occasions the church was filled with officers in waiting, and surrounded with soldiers. It had been arranged to stab him while he was kneeling at the altar, and then to proclaim the death of the tyrant to the soldiery, whose attachment to their monarch, it was thought, was not so warm as to render such an enterprise hazardous.

This dangerous undertaking had been prepared in such secrecy, that a great number of the officers and soldiers of the army had been drawn into the ranks of the conspirators, and all things were now in readiness for the final blow. In this stage of the transaction, a mulatto proved faithless to his associates, and informed Christophe minutely of all the plans of the conspiracy, and of all the agents who had devoted themselves to his destruction.

The monarch, thus possessed of a full knowledge of all that had been prepared against him, concealed the vengeful feelings that burned within him under an appearance of the utmost composure. He feared lest a whisper intimating that he had been informed of the intentions of the conspirators might snatch them from his vengeance by urging them to desert to the enemy. At the usual hour the troops paraded at the church, and Christophe, instead of entering to assist at the mass, placed himself at the head of his army, and designated by their names the leaders of the conspiracy, who were ordered to march to the centre. An order was then given to the troops to fire, and the execution was complete.

A black named Etienne Magny, was one of the ablest of Christophe’s generals; and though he had been secretary to the council of state that had raised the latter to the throne of Hayti, he had now become so dissatisfied with his work that nothing retained him to the standard of his king but the reflection that his family, whom he had left at Cape Henry, would be required to pay the forfeit of his defection with their heads. A body of black soldiers, who were upon the point of deserting to the army of Pétion, willing to give éclat to their defection by taking their commander with them, surrounded the tent of Magny by night, and communicated to him their intention. The black general hesitated not to express his willingness to accompany them; but he urged that tenderness for his family forbade an attempt which would doom them all to certain destruction.

The black soldiers refused to yield to these considerations, and seizing upon Magny, they bore him off undressed, and without his arms, into the town. To preserve the lives of Magny’s family, Pétion treated him as a prisoner of war; and he remained at Port au Prince until the death of Christophe, when he was made the commander of the North under Boyer.

Christophe, discouraged at his defeats, and enraged at the sweeping defections which were every day diminishing the numbers of his army, and strengthening the resources of his rival, now commenced his retreat towards the north, whence intelligence had lately reached him of designs in preparation against him among his own subjects. The army of the republic, under General Boyer, commenced a pursuit. The cause of Pétion seemed triumphant. Boyer pressed closely upon the rear of the royal army, and Christophe seemed on the point of losing all, when the cautious policy of Pétion restrained Boyer’s activity, and the republicans turned back from the pursuit. Christophe had been foiled in his great effort by Pétion and Borgella, and he now regarded the mulattoes with a hatred so deep and fiendlike, that nothing would satisfy the direness of his vengeance but the utter extermination of that race. A body of mulatto women of the town of Gonaives, who had sympathized with their brethren of Port au Prince in the struggle which the latter were maintaining against the power of Christophe, and with this communion of feeling had made prayers to the Virgin against the success of their king, became the first victims of the rage of Christophe against their race.

They were marched out of the town, and all subjected to military execution, without a distinction in their punishment or consideration of mercy for their sex. Christophe had long ago resolved to rest the foundation of his power upon the support of the pure blacks, and he now determined to make his administration one of ceaseless hatred and persecution to the mulattoes.

Through the influence of this policy, he hoped to make the number of the blacks prevail over the superior intelligence and bravery of the mulattoes.

FOOTNOTE:

[40] Lacroix.

CHAPTER XIX. PEACE IN HAYTI, AND DEATH OF PÉTION.

Christophe had now discovered the too palpable truth, that so far from his possessing the means to drive his rival from the government of the South, all his cares and precautions were requisite to maintain the sovereignty over his own subjects of the North. A train of perpetual suspicions kept his jealousy ever alive, and vexed by the tortures of eternal solicitude, his despotic temper grew by the cruelty which had become its aliment. Together with this perpetual inquietude for the safety of his power, which made the new throne of Hayti a pillow of thorns and torture, other considerations had their influence to arrest the hostilities between the two chiefs of the country. The giant power of Napoleon had now extended itself over almost all the thrones of Europe, and with such an infinity of means at his disposal, it was yearly expected that another armament, proportioned to the overgrown power of the French Emperor, would be sent to crush the insurgents of St. Domingo, and restore that island once more to the possession of its ancient colonists.

Influenced by the fears inspired by these forebodings, the two governments of Hayti were actuated by a common instinct of self-preservation to cease from their warfare, and instead of spending their resources in a civil strife which threatened to become interminable, to employ themselves in giving permanence to their existing condition, and prosperity to the country under their control. The population, which had been employed in the armies of the two powers, had been taken from their labors upon the soil, and the ravages of war had consumed and destroyed the scanty growth of the plantations.

Amidst this unproductiveness of agriculture, which spread the miseries of want and destitution among the inhabitants of both governments, the occurrence of a maritime war between the United States and England entirely cut off the supplies which had been drawn from those two countries, and the evil condition of the Island was complete. In this sad state of their affairs, both Christophe and Pétion ceased from all military operations against each other, without previous arrangement or military truce; and they directed all their efforts to heal the wounds which had been inflicted by hostile depredation or the neglect of peaceful employments within their respective territories.

The tax laid by Christophe upon his subjects exceeded in despotism anything of the kind ever before known in the Island; and even surpassed the outrageous demands of Dessalines.

Pétion dared not to tax his subjects to supply the wants of his administration; and for this purpose he was driven to embarrass commerce by the imposition of enormous duties upon the trade carried on in his ports. But Christophe had assumed a station which forebade him to fear his subjects, and he furnished yearly millions to his treasury by a territorial tax, which poured one-fourth of all the productions of the kingdom into the royal coffers. Possessed of this revenue, which placed his finances beyond the contingencies of chance, the commercial regulations of Christophe were the very opposites of those enforced within the republic; and the traffic in the ports of the kingdom was annually augmented by a competition sustained at advantages so immense.

The army of the monarchy was in all things better furnished and more respectable than that of the republic. The troops were well clothed and well armed. They were kept under a discipline so strict that it knew no mercy and permitted no relaxation. The smallest delinquency was visited upon the offender with unsparing flagellation or with military execution. The troops received a merely nominal stipend for their services, and each soldier was required to gain his subsistence by the cultivation of a few acres of ground, which were allotted him out of the national domain; and of this scanty resource a fourth was required to be delivered into the hands of the king’s officers, as a part of the royal revenues.

Although Christophe had determined to maintain his power by the bayonets of the soldiery, he condescended to no measures of unusual moderation in his conduct toward these supporters of his authority. The soldiers of the army, as well as the laborers of the plantations, lived in perpetual dread of the rod of authority which was ever brandished over their heads; and of the merciless inflictions of authority the former obtained a more than ordinary share.

Upon common occasions, Christophe assumed little state, showing himself among his subjects but as a private individual of superior rank. Like his model, George III., it was his habit to walk the streets of the capital dressed in plain citizen’s costume, and with no decorations to designate his rank but a golden star upon his breast. In this unostentatious manner he was often seen upon the quay, watching the operations at the custom-house; or in the town, superintending the laborers engaged in the erection of public edifices. His never-failing companion upon these occasions was a huge cane, which he exercised without mercy upon those who were idle in his presence, or whose petty offences of any kind called for extemporary flagellation.

Christophe was without education, but like his predecessor, Dessalines, he found a royal road to learning. His knowledge of books was extensive, as several educated mulattoes retained about his person under the name of secretaries were employed several hours of each day in reading to the monarch. He was particularly delighted with history, of which his knowledge was extensive and accurate; and Frederick the Great of Prussia was a personage with whom above all others he was captivated, the name of Sans Souci, his palace, having been borrowed from Potsdam.

Such sharpness had been communicated to his genius, naturally astute, by having knowledge thus dispensed to him in daily portions, that Christophe became at last a shrewd critic upon the works read before him, and even grew fastidious in the selection of his authors. The events of that stormy period of European history, as detailed in the public journals of the time, were listened to with a greedy ear, and the course of Napoleon’s policy was watched with a keenness which manifested Christophe’s own interest in the affair.

Christophe, though a pure African, was not a jet black, his complexion being rather a dusky brown. His person was commanding, slightly corpulent, and handsome. His address was cold, polished, and graceful. He possessed a certain air of native dignity which corresponded well with his high official station, and he exacted great personal deference from all who approached him. The personal qualities and majestic bearing of the black king impressed his own characteristics upon his court. The most formal ceremony was observed upon public occasions, and no grandee of the realm could safely appear at the court of his sovereign without the costume and decorations of his rank. The ceremonial and observances were modelled after the drawing-rooms at St. James palace, and Christophe was always pleased with the attendance of whites, particularly if they were titled Englishmen. Many distinguished foreigners visited the court of the black monarch, attracted thither by a curiosity to witness the spectacle of an African levée, a scene which, by established regulation, was held at the palace on the Thursday of every week.

The company was collected in an ante-chamber which adjoined the principal hall of the palace, where the novices in courtly life were suitably drilled and instructed in the minute details of the parts they were expected to play in the coming pageantry, by two or three assistants of the grand master of ceremonies, the Baron de Sicard. When all things were in readiness, both within and without, the doors were thrown open, and the monarch of Hayti appeared seated upon the throne in royal costume, with the crown upon his head, and surrounded by a glittering cortege composed of his ministers, grand almoner, grand marshal of the palace, chamberlains, and heralds at arms.

Political offences were never left unpunished by Christophe, and towards delinquents of this kind he never manifested his vengeance by open violence or a display of personal indignation. Those who had excited his mistrust were upon some occasions even favored with a personal visit from the monarch, who studiously concealed his vengeful purposes under a show of kindness, and the utmost graciousness of manner. But the arrival of his vengeance was not retarded by this display of civility. The agents of Christophe generally made their appearance by night, and the suspected offender was secretly hurried off to the fate which awaited him. But though Christophe’s anger for offences not of a political character was violent, it was seldom bloody.

Amidst a torrent of philippics against such persons, his customary expression, “O! diable,” was a signal to those in attendance to fall upon the offender and scourge him with canes; and when the punishment had been made sufficient, the justice of the monarch was satisfied, and the culprit was restored again to his favor. Sometimes, however, his indignation in these cases was aroused to the ferocity of a savage not to be appeased but by the blood of his victim.

We must now turn to the affairs of the republic. Pétion had long been despondent for the permanence of the republic, and this feeling had by degrees grown into a settled despair, when he discovered that his long administration had not succeeded in giving order and civilization to the idle and barbarous hordes composing the dangerous population of his government. While the more despotic sway of Christophe maintained the prosperity of his kingdom, Pétion found that the people of the republic was becoming every day a more ungovernable rabble, indolent, dissolute, and wretched. While the coffers of Christophe were overflowing with millions of treasures wrung by the hard exactions of his tyranny from the blacks who toiled upon the soil, the finances of the republic were already in irretrievable confusion, as the productions of that territory were hardly sufficient for the sustenance of its population.

Amidst these perplexities and embarrassments, Pétion fell sick in the month of March, 1818, and after a malady which continued but eight days, he perished of a mind diseased, declaring to his attendants that he was weary of life.

The announcement that Pétion was no more threw all the foreign merchants of the republic into consternation. They expected that an event like this would be the harbinger of another revolution to overturn all that had been achieved, or of a long and destructive anarchy, which would completely annihilate the little authority there yet remained in the republic. Merchandise to the amount of millions had been sold to the credit of the country, in the doubtful hope that its government would be durable. Both treasures and blood were at stake, but the terror of the moment was soon appeased. At the tidings of Pétion’s illness, the Senate had assembled itself in session, and this body conferred power upon the expiring president to nominate his successor; and Pétion, when he foresaw that his death was inevitable, designated for this purpose General Boyer, then commanding the arrondissement of Port au Prince.

The funeral ceremonies of the deceased president took place upon the first of April, and were performed with the most august solemnity. All the great officers of the army were ordered to their posts, and required to maintain a ceaseless vigilance for the preservation of tranquillity. An embargo was laid until the Sunday following upon all vessels in the harbor of Port au Prince, and several detachments of troops were ordered to march towards different points of the frontier. The observance of every precaution which the most anxious solicitude could suggest for the maintenance of internal peace, and the prevention of invasion from abroad, was evidence that Pétion had bequeathed his power to a successor worthy of his choice.

There was a wide difference between Pétion and Christophe; the former was a republican at heart, the latter, a tyrant by nature. Assuming no pretensions to personal or official dignity, and totally rejecting all the ceremonial of a court, it was Pétion’s ambition to maintain the exterior of a plain republican magistrate. Clad in the white linen undress of the country, and with a Madras handkerchief tied about his head, he mixed freely and promiscuously with his fellow-citizens, or seated himself in the piazza of the government house, accessible to all.

Pétion was subtle, cautious, and designing. He aspired to be the Washington, as Christophe was deemed the Bonaparte, of Hayti. By insinuating the doctrines of equality and republicanism, Pétion succeeded in governing, with but ten thousand mulattoes, a population of more than two hundred thousand blacks.

The administration of Pétion was mild, and he did all that he could for the elevation of the people whom he ruled. He was the patron of education and the arts; and scientific men, for years after his death, spoke his name with reverence. He was highly respected by the representatives of foreign powers, and strangers visiting his republic always mentioned his name in connection with the best cultivated and the most gentlemanly of the people of Hayti. The people of the republic, without distinction of color or sect, regarded Pétion’s death as a great national calamity; and this feeling extended even into Christophe’s dominion, where the republican president had many warm friends amongst the blacks as well as the mulattoes. Pétion was only forty-eight years of age at his death. He was a man of medium size, handsome, as were nearly all of the men of mixed blood, who took part in the Haytian war. His manners were of the Parisian school, and his early military training gave him a carriage of person that added dignity to his general appearance.

CHAPTER XX. BOYER THE SUCCESSOR OF PÉTION IN HAYTI.

Boyer, the new president, was peaceably acknowledged by the people of the republic as their lawful chief, and no other general of the army manifested any disposition to establish an adverse claim to the vacant dignity.

Boyer, finding himself tranquilly seated in power, and placed beyond any danger from the hostile enterprises of the rival dynasty, devoted himself to the encouragement of agriculture and commerce within his territory. He made a tour of inspection through all the different districts, and in each of them the due observance of the laws was enjoined, and the citizens were urged to abandon their idle habits, and for the good of the State, if not for the promotion of their individual interests, to employ themselves in the development of the great resources of the country.

Within a few months after his elevation to power, the new president formed the resolution to disperse the hordes of banditti that infested Grande Anse, and kept the whole South in perpetual alarm. Conscious of the importance there existed of depriving his great competitor of a lodgment within the very heart of the republic, such as to expose its very capital to the danger of an attack both in front and rear, Boyer determined to fit out a sufficient force to sweep the mountains of La Hotte, and if possible, to capture Gomar within the very fastnesses which had been for so many years his natural citadel.

Christophe, on the other hand, determined, if possible, to preserve this important point from which he could so easily gain an entrance to the territory of the republic, made a diversion in favor of the Maroons in this movement against them, by assuming a hostile attitude upon the northern frontier of the republic. A formidable detachment of the royal army was already entering the neutral territory of Boucausin, and threatening another attack upon Port au Prince, when Boyer found it necessary to defer his intended expedition against Gomar, and recall all his forces to repel the danger which was threatening in an opposite quarter. This was the single result which Christophe designed to accomplish by his movement on Port au Prince; and when this had been effected, his army returned to its quarters in the North.

But Boyer was not to be turned aside from his resolution of rescuing the best districts of his territory from continual spoliation, and when the panic had subsided which had been inspired by the threatened invasion of Christophe, he put his troops in motion in the autumn of 1819, for a campaign against the Maroons of Grande Anse. The troops of the republic met, and defeated the brigands.

Having accomplished the objects of his visit, and left peace and tranquillity where those conditions had so long been unknown, Boyer commenced his return to his capital, gratified that his attainment of power had been effected so peaceably, and that the hopes of his administration were already based more solidly than ever upon the wishes of the people.

Boyer had now attained complete success in his design to shut the boundaries of his states against the machinations of Christophe; and until a more favorable moment he contented himself to maintain a policy strictly defensive against an opponent so warlike. The latter, on his side, enraged at the defeat and overthrow of his allies of Grande Anse, began to threaten another invasion of Boyer’s territory, and many months glided away in the daily expectation of the commencement of hostilities between the two governments. In this interval the growing tyranny of Christophe forced a flood of emigration from his realms into the territories of the republic, and the very household troops of the monarch began to desert in large numbers from the service of a sovereign whose cruelty decimated their ranks at the instigation of his caprice. Bold, crafty, and suspicious, Christophe with one breath congratulated his subjects upon the glorious possession which they held of personal liberty and national independence, and with another he doomed them to scourgings, imprisonment, and death.

So unlimited and habitual was his severity, that it was said of him that he would put a man to death with as little hesitation as a sportsman would bring down an article of game. His dungeons were filled with thousands of victims of all colors, and new detachments of prisoners were daily arriving to swell the number. The innocent were confounded with the guilty; for under the promptings of his hatred or jealousy, the despot would not stop to make nice discriminations.

CHAPTER XXI. INSURRECTION, AND DEATH OF CHRISTOPHE.

Christophe, who now might be denominated the Caligula of the blacks, was every day adding to the discontent and terror of his subjects. His soldiers were treated with extreme severity for every real or fancied fault, and they sought for nothing so earnestly as for an occasion to abandon his service, and gain an asylum within the territories of his rival; or to attempt, what they scarcely dared to meditate, the dethronement of a tyrant who caused them to pass their lives in wretchedness. Christophe possessed a knowledge of this disaffection entertained towards him, and instead of seeking to assure and perpetuate the allegiance of his army, to the bayonets of which he was indebted for his power, his vengeance became every day more watchful and more terrible, until his conduct exceeded in cruelty even that which had already spread hatred and misery throughout the nation. Christophe determined to rule through the inspirement of fear alone, and he practised no arts of conciliation to preserve to his interests those even who were necessary to the maintenance of his power.

His despotism was thus carried beyond the limits of endurance. So far from seeking to attach his great officers to his own person, by lavishing upon them the favors of his government, his suspicions had become alarmed at the growing wealth of his nobles, in consequence of the immense incomes drawn by them from the estates placed under their control, within the districts of which they were the titulary lords. To prevent this inordinate increase of wealth among a class of persons who, it was thought, might one day employ it against the throne and dignity of the sovereign, an institution was formed, called the Royal Chamber of Accounts, which, by a sort of star-chamber process, appraised the estates of the nobility, and disburdened them of so much of their wealth as the king deemed a matter of superfluity to them. Several of the black nobles had already been subjected to the jurisdiction of this royal court; and, actuated by secret indignation for this arbitrary spoliation of their property, they sought only for an opportunity to drive Christophe from his power, in the hope to share the same authority among themselves.

In the month of August, 1820, Christophe, while attending mass, was attacked with paralysis, and was immediately carried to his palace at Sans Souci, where he remained an invalid for many months, to the great satisfaction of his subjects.

This event, so favorable to the treacherous designs of the discontented chiefs of his government, furnished an occasion for the formation of a dangerous conspiracy, at the head of which were Paul Romaine, Prince of Limbe, and General Richard, the governor of the royal capital. The conspirators designed to put Christophe to death, and after the performance of a deed so acceptable to the nation, to form a northern republic, similar in its structure to that which existed in the South, at the head of which was to be placed General Romaine, with the title of president.

But before this scheme could be carried out, a division of the royal army, stationed at St. Marks, and consisting of a force of six thousand men, exasperated at the cruelties practiced upon them, seized upon this occasion to revolt. The commanding general was beheaded, and a deputation of the mutineers was dispatched to carry the head of the murdered officer to the president of the republic at Port au Prince.

The intelligence of this revolt was carried quickly to Christophe’s capital, and it produced an explosion of popular feeling that betokened the speedy downfall of the black monarchy. The troops of the capital immediately put themselves under arms, and assumed a threatening attitude. On the evening of the 6th of October, the inhabitants of the capital were startled at the noise of drums beating to arms.

The streets were soon filled with soldiers, obeying or resisting the authority of their officers, as the latter happened to favor or hate the power of the king. The governor of the capital, who did not wish for such a dénouement to his plans, undertook measures to subdue the mutinous spirit of the troops; but though he sought for support on every side, he found no readiness, either on the part of the army or of the people, to assist him in his attempt. The tumult increased every moment, and spread by degrees to every part of the town, until the whole population became united in the rebellion. The army took the lead, and the whole body of the inhabitants followed the example of the soldiers. It was decided by acclamation to march upon Sans Souci, and seize upon Christophe within his own palace, but this movement was deferred until the following day.

Meantime, Christophe had been informed of these proceedings, so ominous to the preservation of his power, if not of his life. He had not yet recovered from his malady, but his unconquerable energy of soul had not been paralyzed by disease, for he leaped immediately from his bed, demanding that his arms should be brought to him, and that his horse should be ordered to the door. But if his bold spirit did not quail before the calamities which were impending over him, his bodily frame proved unequal to the activity of his mind, and he was compelled to rest satisfied with sending forward his guards to subdue the rebellious troops of the capital, while he remained within his palace to await his destiny.

Meantime, General Richard, the governor of the capital, had put himself at the head of the insurgents, the number of whom amounted to ten or twelve thousand, and the column took up its march directly for Sans Souci. On Sunday, the 8th of October, the insurgents encountered on their way the detachment of body guards which the monarch had dispatched against them.

The two forces quickly arranged themselves in order of battle, and a brisk fire commenced between them. It continued, however, but a few minutes. The cry of the insurgents was, “Liberté, liberté,” and the utterance of this magical word soon became contagious in the ranks of the royal guards. The latter had even less predilection for their monarch than the other corps of the army, for their situation and rank bringing them in nearer contact with the royal person, they were frequently exposed to the terrific explosions of the royal vengeance.

Thus the watchword of the mutineers was answered with redoubled enthusiasm by the household troops, and they passed over in a body to join the forces of the insurgents. The whole military power of the kingdom was now united in a vast column of mutineers, burning for vengeance upon Christophe, and pressing onward to the palace of Sans Souci.

The king was soon informed that his guards had declared against him, and that the forces of the insurgents were already in the immediate vicinity of his palace. At this astounding intelligence he exclaimed in despair, “Then all is over with me!” and seizing a pistol, shot himself through the heart.

Thus perished a man who had succeeded in maintaining his authority over the blacks for a longer time than any of the chiefs of the revolution. This he accomplished through the single agency of the extraordinary energy of his character. The unshrinking boldness and decision of his measures made terror the safeguard of his throne, until his excessive cruelty drove his subjects to a point at which fear is changed into desperation. His policy at first was that of Toussaint, but he carried it to an access of rigor which made his government a despotism. Like his great predecessor, he possessed such intimate knowledge of the African character, as enabled him to succeed completely in controlling those placed under his sway, and, in spite of the national propensities, to make his plans effectual for developing the resources of the country. While the territory was still a neglected waste, and its population poor, the lands of Christophe were in a condition of high productiveness, and the monarch died, leaving millions in the royal treasury.

But the salutary restraints imposed upon his disorderly subjects at the commencement of his reign, had been augmented by degrees to correspond to the demands of an evergrowing jealousy, until they had become changed to a rigorous severity of discipline, or vengeance, such as has been practised in few countries upon the globe. The dungeons of the Citadel Henry were almost as fatal to human life as the Black Hole at Calcutta, and it has been asserted, that amidst the pestiferous exhalations and suffocative atmosphere of these abodes of misery, the prisoners were almost sure to perish after a short confinement. With less truth it has been alleged, that fifty thousand persons lost their lives in these living tombs, while thirty thousand others perished of fatigue, hunger, and hardship of those who had been condemned for offences of a lighter nature, to labors upon the public works of the kingdom, all of which were performed under the lash and bayonet of the soldiery.[41]

These estimates are probably beyond the truth, though the number is incredible of those who perished under the severe exactions of Christophe’s tyranny, by hardship, imprisonment, military execution, or the infliction of sudden death, executed amidst a burst of ferocious vengeance in the despot. Christophe failed of giving perpetuity to his government through the mere abuse of his power.

The king was fifty-three years of age at his death, having reigned nine years. With a mind little capable of continuous thought, Christophe possessed a strong and obstinate will. When once he had gained an elevated position, he manifested great energy of character. Anxious to augment by commerce the material strength of his dominions, and to develop its moral power by education, he imposed on the emancipated people a labor not unlike that of the days of their servitude. Many hundreds of lives were sacrificed in erecting the palace of Sans Souci, and grading its grounds. The schools put in operation in his time, surpassed anything of the kind ever introduced in that part of the Island before or since.

FOOTNOTE:

[41] Malo.

CHAPTER XXII. UNION OF HAYTI AND SANTO DOMINGO.

The death of Christophe was hailed with enthusiasm and applause, in his own part of the Island, as well as in the republic; and on the 15th of October, 1821, General Paul Romaine put himself at the head of affairs, and proclaimed a republic. A deputation was at once dispatched to President Boyer, with an offer to unite the two governments under him, as their head. This was accepted, and in a short time the union took place.

From the time of the evacuation of the Island by the French under Rochambeau, Santo Domingo, the Spanish part of the Island, had become a place of refuge for the white colonist, and the persecuted mulattoes; and during the administration of Dessalines and Christophe, Santo Domingo was comparatively quiet, except an occasional visit from the partisans of some of the Haytian chiefs. Santo Domingo was a mulatto government, and it hailed with joy the union under Boyer, and a scheme was set on foot to carry the Spanish part of the Island over to Boyer. Many of their best men thought it would be better for the whole Island to be governed by one legislature, and that its capital should be at Port au Prince.

The authorities of Santo Domingo were clearly of this opinion, for when the new project was laid before them, they yielded a ready assent, and a deputation immediately set forward in the month of December, 1821, to convey the wishes of the Spanish blacks to the mulatto chief of the French part of the Island. Boyer was formally solicited to grant his consent that the Spanish part of the Island should be annexed to the republic. This was a demand so gratifying to Boyer’s personal ambition that any reluctance on his part to comply with it was clearly impossible. Thus the Spanish deputies were received with the utmost graciousness, and dismissed with every favor that gratified hope could bestow.

But a year had elapsed since the rebellion in the North had transferred the realms of Christophe as a precious godsend to the peaceable possession of Boyer, and the army of the republic was now ordered to put itself in readiness for a victorious and bloodless march to Santo Domingo. Boyer placed himself at its head, and a rapid advance was made into the heart of the Spanish territory. Not the least resistance was encountered, and the inhabitants of each of the towns in succession hastened emulously to testify their adherence to the cause of the republic, until the invading column marched at last in a sort of triumph into the city of Santo Domingo.

The principal authorities, and the people generally, made a formal transfer of their allegiance to their new rulers, and were permitted to remain in the enjoyment of their former privileges. The chief command of the lately acquired territory was placed by Boyer in the hands of General Borgella, and the president returned to Port au Prince, gratified by the extraordinary success with which fortune had crowned his administration; which he commenced by governing a distant province in the southwestern part of the Island, and by a succession of unlooked-for incidents, he had been placed at the head of the whole country, without a competitor to annoy him, or any malcontents to disturb the internal repose of his government.

The death of Christophe, and the elevation of Boyer to the government of all St. Domingo, were events which had in the meantime created a strong sensation in the ranks of the old colonists residing in France, as well as at the office of the minister for the colonies. Boyer’s attachment to France was presumed to be stronger than that of his predecessor, Pétion, and under such circumstances, new hope was derived from the event of his exaltation to power. It was now thought that an occurrence so propitious to the claims of France upon her ancient colony would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of the difficulty which had been interposed against the success of former negotiation. The French cabinet immediately formed the resolution to sound the new chief of Hayti as to his sentiments in regard to an arrangement between the two governments. The difficulties in the way of an easy conquest of the country, and the tone of firmness which had been held both by Christophe and Pétion to all former demands made upon them by the agents of France, had by degrees depressed the hopes of the colonists, and diminished the expectations of the French government in relation to the claims upon St. Domingo. The restoration of the Island to its former condition of colonial dependence, and the establishment of the ancient planters in the possession of their estates and negroes, were no longer regarded as events within the bounds of possibility, and the demands of France upon the government of Hayti were now lowered to the mere claim of an indemnity to the colonists for the losses which had reduced them to beggary.

At length, a secret agent of the minister of marine held an audience with Boyer, and informed him that the French government having in former years made repeated attempts to accomplish an arrangement between the two countries, all of which had been fruitless, it was desired that Boyer himself would renew the negotiations in his turn. In consequence of this information, Boyer appointed General Boyé as his plenipotentiary, who was furnished with instructions authorizing him to commence negotiations with the appointed agent of France, either in that or some neutral country, for the purpose of terminating the differences existing between their respective governments. M. Esmangart and the Haytian envoy agreed to hold their conferences at Brussels, but the hopes of the two contracting nations were in this instance also destined to be frustrated. The parties could not agree as to the nature of the indemnity to be made.

At length, in 1825, after the recognition of the independence of Hayti by others, the French, under Charles X., sold to its inhabitants the rights which they had won by their swords for the sum of one hundred and fifty millions of francs, to be paid as an indemnity to the colonists. This was the basis of a treaty of peace and fraternal feeling between France and Hayti, that resulted in great good to the latter. In 1843, a party opposed to president Boyer made its appearance, which formed itself into a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Seeing that he could not make head against it, Boyer, in disgust, took leave of the people in a dignified manner, and retired to the island of Jamaica, where, a few years since, he died.

Jean Pierre Boyer was born at Port au Prince, on the second of February, 1776, received a European education at Paris, fought under Rigaud and Toussaint L’Ouverture; and in consequence of the success which the black leader obtained, quitted the Island. Boyer returned to Hayti in Le Clerc’s expedition; he, however, separated from the French general-in-chief, and joined in the foremost in the great battle for the freedom of his race. He was a brave man, a good soldier, and proved himself a statesman of no ordinary ability. When he came into power, the mountains were filled with Maroons, headed by their celebrated chief, Gomar; Rigaud and Pétion had tried in vain to rid the country of these brigands.

Boyer, however, soon broke up their strongholds, dispersed them, and finally destroyed or brought them all under subjection. By his good judgment, management, and humanity, he succeeded in uniting the whole island under one government, and gained the possession of what Christophe had exhausted himself with efforts to obtain, and what Pétion had sighed for, without daring to cherish a single hope that its attainment could be accomplished. Few men who took part in the St. Domingo drama, did more good, or lived a more blameless life, than Boyer.

CHAPTER XXIII. SOULOUQUE AS EMPEROR OF HAYTI.

General Riche, a griffe, or dark mulatto, was selected to fill the place left vacant by the flight of Boyer; and his ability, together with the universal confidence reposed in him by all classes, seemed to shadow forth a prosperous era for the republic. He had, however, done little more than enter upon his arduous duties, when he was carried off by a sudden malady, universally regretted by the entire population.

The Senate, whose duty it was to elect the president, gave a majority of their votes for Faustin Soulouque, on the first of March, 1847, and he was inaugurated into the position the same day.

Soulouque was a tall, good-natured, full-blooded negro, who, from the year 1804, when he was house-servant for General Lamarre, had passed through all the events of his country without leaving any trace of himself, whether good or bad. With no education, no ability, save that he was a great eater, he was the last man in the republic that would have been thought of for any office, except the one he filled.

True, in 1810, while his master, General Lamarre, was defending the Mole against Christophe, the former was killed, and Soulouque was charged to carry the general’s heart to Pétion, who made the servant a lieutenant in his mounted guard; and on Pétion’s death, he bequeathed him to Boyer, as a piece of furniture belonging to the presidential palace. Boyer made Soulouque first servant, under the title of “captain,” to his housekeeper. Here he grew fat, and was forgotten till 1843, when the revolution brought him into note. After serving a short time as president, his vanity induced Soulouque to aspire to be emperor, and that title was conferred upon him in the year 1849. In this silly step he took for his model Napoleon Bonaparte, according to whose court and camp Soulouque formed his own.

But the people of Hayti soon saw the sad mistake in the election of such a man to power, and his change of base aroused a secret feeling against the empire, which resulted in its overthrow, in 1859.

CHAPTER XXIV. GEFFRARD AS PRESIDENT OF HAYTI.

Fabre Geffrard was born at Cayes September 19, 1806. His father was General Nicholas Geffrard, one of the founders of Haytian independence. He became a soldier at the early age of fifteen, and after serving in the ranks, passed rapidly through several grades of promotion, until he obtained a captaincy. In 1843, when General Herard took up arms against President Boyer, he choose Geffrard for his lieutenant, who, by his skill and bravery, contributed largely to the success of the revolutionary army. As a reward for his valuable services, he received from the new government the brevet rank of general of brigade, and was commandant of Jacmel, and in 1845 he was named general of division. In 1849 he was appointed by Soulouque to take command of his Haytian army sent against the Dominicans, and in 1856 it fell to his lot, by the display of rare military talents, to repair in some measure the disasters attending the invasion of St. Domingo by the Haytian army, led by the emperor himself. Shortly after, Soulouque, moved thereto, doubtless, by jealousy of Geffrard’s well-earned fame, disgraced him; but the emperor paid dearly for this, for in December, 1858, Geffrard declared against him, and in January, 1859, Soulouque was overthrown, with his mock empire, and Geffrard proclaimed President of the Republic, which was restored.

He at once set himself vigorously to work to remedy the numerous evils which had grown up under the administration of his ignorant, narrow-minded, and cruel predecessor, and became exceedingly popular. He established numerous schools in all parts of the Republic, and gave every encouragement to agricultural and industrial enterprise generally. In 1861, he concluded a concordat with the Pope, creating Hayti an Archbishopric. Humane in his disposition, enlightened and liberal in his views, and a steady friend of progress, his rule, at one time, promised to be a long and prosperous one.

Geffrard was in color a griffe, and was fifty-two years of age when called to the presidency of Hayti. He was of middle height, slim in figure, of a pleasing countenance, sparkling eye, gray hair, limbs supple by bodily exercise, a splendid horseman, and liberal to the arts, even to extravagance. Possessing a polished education, he was gentlemanly in his conversation and manners. Soon after assuming the presidency, he resolved to encourage immigration, and issued an address to the colored Americans, which in point of sympathy and patriotic feeling for his race, has never been surpassed by any man living or dead.

It may be set down as a truism, that slavery, proscription, and oppression are poor schools in which to train independent, self-respecting freemen. Individuals so trained are apt to have all their aspirations, aims, ends, and objects in life on a level with the low, grovelling, and servile plane of a slavish and dependent mind; or if by chance that mind has grown restless under its fetters, and sighs for enfranchisement and liberty, it is apt to rush to the other extreme in its desires, and is led to covet those positions for which it has no proper qualifications whatever. The bent of the slavery-disciplined mind is either too low or too high. It cannot remain in equilibrium. It either cringes with all the dastard servility of the slave, or assumes the lordly airs of a cruel and imperious despot.

These things, therefore, being true of the victims of abject servitude, we have herein the key to the failure of the colored emigration to Hayti.

At the invitation of President Geffrard, in 1861, some of the colored citizens of the United States did accept the invitation and went out; but it would have been better for them and for Hayti had they remained at home. The majority of the emigrants ventured on the voyage to Hayti, because a free passage was given them by Geffrard; and the offer of the Haytian government to supply the emigrants with provisions until they could raise a crop, was a bait which these idlers could not withstand.

Men who had been failures in their own country, could scarcely be expected to meet with success by merely a trip across the sea.

What Hayti needed were men with stout hearts and hard hands, fitted for an agricultural life, determined upon developing the resources of the country. Men of the above type are to be found in our land, but they can easily make a living here, and have no cause to emigrate.

The liberal offer of the Haytian president to Americans and other blacks to come to the Island, and his general progressive efforts to elevate his people, were not appreciated by the Haytians, and the spirit of revolution which had so long governed the Island, soon began to manifest itself.

The several rebellions against the authority of President Geffrard, of Hayti, at length culminated in his overthrow and expulsion from the Island, and the elevation of his old enemy, Salnave, to the presidency. The rebellion, which was headed by Salnave, was begun in 1865. The rebels seized and held the town of Cape Haytian for several months, and were only finally driven out on its bombardment by the English man-of-war, Bull Dog, commanded by Captain Wake. Salnave was forced to leave Hayti and take refuge in St. Domingo. Captain Wake was called by the British government, and cashiered for his attack on Cape Haytian.

In his exile Salnave continued his efforts to revolutionize the country, and found many adherents, but few opportunities for an uprising. An attempt was made by his friends at Port au Prince on February 1, 1867; but Geffrard had been forewarned, and this attempt failed, and the ringleaders were captured and shot. The revolutionists did not despair, however, and on the night of February 22d a more successful effort was made; Geffrard was driven to seek safety in flight, and abdicating the presidency, went into exile in Jamaica. A Provisional Government was appointed, and Salnave, whom the people hailed as the “Garibaldi of Hayti,” and the “Deliverer of the People,” was appointed President on April 26, 1867. He however insisted that he would not accept the presidency except at the hands of the people. An election was therefore ordered and held. There were no rival candidates in the field, the other most distinguished participants in the revolution, Generals Nissage and Chevallier, conceding the presidential chair to Salnave with great good-will. He was unanimously elected, and on Sunday, May 12, was sworn into office.

CHAPTER XXV. SALNAVE AS PRESIDENT OF HAYTI.

President Salnave was a native of Cape Haytian, and was forty-one years of age when elevated to power. He was the son of French and Negro parents. He entered the army of Hayti in early youth, and was a major under Geffrard when the empire was overthrown. While holding the same commission under the Republic, Salnave projected the rebellion of 1865, and seized Cape Haytian, from which he was driven, as we have described. He was said to be a man of unusual intelligence, of progressive and liberal ideas, great energy of character, and brilliant results were expected from his administration.

However, obtaining supreme power by force, so common in Hayti, any one could see that Salnave’s government would be of short duration. The same influences as some of the men who aided him in driving out Geffrard, soon began secretly to work against the new president, and on the 18th of December, 1869, Salnave found himself shut up in his capital, and surrounded on all sides by his most bitter enemies. At last, on the 8th of January, 1870, the Haytian president sought safety in flight, but was captured by President Cabral, of Dominica, into whose government Salnave had taken refuge.

Delivered up to his own government by the Dominican president, Salnave was tried for high treason, condemned and shot. In personal appearance the defeated chief was a fine representative of the race. He was brown in complexion, hair black, soft, and wavy, education good, for the West Indies. Salnave was high-tempered, heedless, and even cruel. He was succeeded in the government of Hayti by General Nissage Saget, who seems to have the confidence of the people, and whom, it is hoped, he will have the power to unite.

CHAPTER XXVI. JAMAICA.

Jamaica, the chief of the British West India Islands, was discovered by Columbus on his second voyage, in May, 1494, and was taken from Spain by the English in May, 1655, during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. It thus became an appendage to the British crown, after it had been in the possession of Spain for one hundred and forty-six years. The number of slaves on the Island at this time was about fifteen hundred.

Morgan, a notorious pirate and buccaneer, was knighted and made governor of the Island in 1670. Lord Vaughan succeeded Morgan, and under his administration the African Company was formed, and the slave-trade legalized; Africans were imported in large numbers, and the development of the natural resources of Jamaica greatly increased the wealth of the planters.

The number of slaves annually imported into the Island amounted to sixteen thousand,[42] so that within thirty years the slave population had increased from ninety-nine thousand to upwards of two hundred thousand, whilst the total numerical strength of the whites did not exceed sixteen thousand.

From this time down to the year 1832, it presented a succession of wars, usurpations, crimes, misery, and vice; nor in this desert of human wretchedness is there one green spot on which the mind of a philanthropist would love to dwell; all is one revolting scene of infamy, bloodshed, and unmitigated woe; of insecure peace and open disturbance; of the abuse of power, and of the reaction of misery against oppression. In 1832 an insurrection of the slaves occurred, by which the lives of seven hundred slaves were sacrificed, and an expense, including property destroyed, of one hundred and sixty-two thousand pounds sterling.

The total importation of slaves from the conquest of the Island by the English to 1805, amounted to eight hundred and fifty thousand, and this added to forty thousand brought by the Spaniards, made an aggregate of eight hundred and ninety thousand, exclusive of all births, in three hundred years. The influence which the system of slavery spread over the community in Jamaica and the rest of the British West Indies, was not less demoralizing than in Hayti and the other islands.

Crimes which in European countries would have been considered and treated as a wanton insult to society at large, did not exclude the parties from the pale of respectable society, or generally operate to their disadvantage among the female portion of the community.

The reckless destroyers of female innocence and happiness united in the dance, mingled in public entertainments, and were admitted at the social board, and were on terms of intimacy with the younger branches of families.[43]

The intermediate colors between the whites[44] and pure blacks, were denominated as follows: A Sambo is the offspring of a mulatto woman by a black man; a mulatto is the child of a black woman and white man; a quadroon is the offspring of a mulatto by a white man, and a mestee is that of a quadroon woman by a white man. The offspring of a female mestee by a white man being above the third in lineal descent from the Negro ancestor, was white, in the estimation of the law, and enjoyed all the privileges and immunities of Her Majesty’s white subjects; but all the rest, whether mulattoes, quadroons, or mestees, were considered by the law as mulattoes or persons of color.

Although the people of Jamaica represented to the home government that the slaves were satisfied and happy, and would not accept their freedom were it offered them, a revolt of the blacks took place in 1832. More than fifty thousand were engaged in this effort to obtain the long-wished-for boon.

The man with whom the insurrection originated,—Samuel Sharp,—was a slave, and a member of the Baptist Church in Montego Bay. He was born in slavery, but he had never felt anything of the bitterness of slavery. He was born in a family that treated him indulgently; he was a pet, and was brought up as the playmate of the juvenile members of the family, and had opportunities of learning to read and for mental cultivation, to which very few of his fellow-slaves had access; and Sharp, above all this, was possessed of a mind worthy of any man, and of oratorical powers of no common order.

Sharp determined to free himself and his fellow-slaves. I do not know whether he was himself deceived, or whether he knowingly deceived his fellow-conspirators; but he persuaded a large number of them to believe that the British government had made them free, and that their owners were keeping them in slavery, in opposition to the wishes of the authorities in England. It so happened, that, just at that time, the planters themselves were pursuing a course which favored Sharp’s proceedings directly. They were holding meetings through the length and breadth of the Island, protesting against the interference of the home government with their property, passing very inflammatory resolutions, and threatening that they would transfer their allegiance to the United States, in order that they might perpetuate their interest in their slaves.

The insurrection was suppressed, and about two thousand of the slaves were put to death. This effort of the bondmen to free themselves, gave a new impetus to the agitation of the abolition movement, which had already begun under the auspices of Buxton, Allen, Brougham, and George Thompson, the successors of Clarkson, Wilberforce, Sharp, and Macaulay; and the work went bravely on. Elizabeth Heyrick, feeling that the emancipation of the slave could never be effected by gradual means, raised the cry of “Immediate emancipation.” She wrote: “Immediate emancipation is the object to be aimed at; it is more wise and rational, more politic and safe, as well as more just and humane, than gradual emancipation. The interests, moral and political, temporal and eternal, of all parties concerned, will be best promoted by immediate emancipation.”

The doctrine of immediate emancipation was taken up by the friends of the Negro everywhere, and Brougham, in Parliament, said:—

“Tell me not of rights; talk not of the property of the planter in his slaves. I deny the right; I acknowledge not the property. The principles, the feelings, of our common nature, rise in rebellion against it. Be the appeal made to the understanding or to the heart, the sentence is the same that rejects it. In vain you tell me of laws that sanction such a claim.”

John Philpot Curran followed, in one of the finest speeches ever made in behalf of the rights of man. Said he,—

“I speak in the spirit of the British Law, which makes liberty commensurate with, and inseparable from, the British soil; which proclaims, even to the stranger and the sojourner, the moment he sets his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of Universal Emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexion, incompatible with freedom, an Indian or an African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation.”

The name and labors of Granville Sharp have been overshadowed by those of other men, who reaped in the full, bright sunshine of success the harvest of popular admiration for the results of a philanthropic policy, of which Granville Sharp was the seed-sower. Zachary, Macaulay, Clarkson, Wilberforce, and Buxton are regarded as the leaders of the great movement that emancipated the slaves of Great Britain. Burke and Wilkes are remembered as the enlightened advocates of the Independence of America; and these great names throw a shadow over the Clerk in the Ordnance, who, with high-souled integrity, resigned his place, and gave up a calling that was his only profession and livelihood, rather than serve a government that waged a fratricidal war, and who, in defiance of the opinions of the Solicitor and Attorney-General, and of the Lord Chief-Justice, opposed by all the lawyers, and forsaken even by his own professional advisers, undertook to search the indices of a law library, to wade through an immense mass of dry and repulsive literature, and to make extracts from all the most important Acts of Parliament as he went along; until, at the very time that slaves were being sold by auction in Liverpool and London, and when he could not find a single lawyer who agreed with his opinion, he boldly exclaimed, “God be thanked! there is nothing in any English law or statute that can justify the enslaving of others.”

Granville Sharp, in his boyhood a linen-draper’s apprentice, and afterwards a clerk in the Ordnance Department of England, one day, in the surgery of his brother, saw a negro named Jonathan Strong, lame, unable to work, almost blind, very ill, and turned adrift in the streets of London, by his master, a lawyer in Barbadoes. The assistance of Granville Sharp, and of his brother William, the surgeon, restored Jonathan Strong to health, and obtained for him a situation. Two years afterwards, the Barbadoes lawyer recognized his slave, strong, healthy, and valuable, serving as a footman behind a lady’s carriage, and he arrested the negro, and put him in prison, until there should be an opportunity to ship him for the West Indies.

Mr. Sharp appealed to the Lord Mayor, who, although he decided that he was incompetent to deal with the legal question of the black’s freedom, released Strong, because there was no offence charged against him.

And then—it was in 1767—now more than a hundred years ago—then began the protracted movement in England in favor of the slave. The master of Jonathan Strong immediately commenced an action against Granville Sharp, to recover possession of his negro, of whom he said he had been robbed: and Sharp drew up the result of his study of the question, in a plain, clear, and manly statement, which, after having been circulated some time in manuscript, was printed in 1769, and was headed, “On the injustice of tolerating slavery in England.”

It produced such an effect on the opinion of the public, that the lawyer abandoned his proceedings. Other cases soon tested the earnest philanthropy of the slaves’ friend. The wife of one Styles was seized and sent to Barbadoes. Sharp compelled the aggressor to bring the woman back. In 1776, Thomas Lewis was kidnapped and shipped for Jamaica. Sharp found him chained to the mainmast of a ship at Spithead, and by a writ of habeas corpus brought him before Lord Mansfield, the very judge whose opinion had been most strongly expressed in opposition to that entertained by Granville Sharp on the subject of slavery.

Lord Mansfield discharged the negro, because no evidence was adduced to show that he was ever nominally the property of the man who claimed him; but the great question of liberty or slavery remained as undecided as before. At this time the slave-trade was carried on openly in the streets of London, Bristol, and Liverpool.

Negro slavery was enforced by merchants, supported by lawyers, and upheld by judges; and that a clerk in a public office, without personal influence, and armed, only with integrity and moral courage, should, under such circumstances, assert, and, in the end, should prove, that the slave who sets his foot on British ground becomes at that instant free, is one of the most striking incidents in modern history.

An opportunity for bringing the conflicting opinions to an issue soon occurred. A negro named James Somerset had been taken to England and left there by his master, who afterwards wished to send him back to Jamaica. Sharp found counsel to defend the negro, and Lord Mansfield intimated that the case was one of such general concern, that he should take the opinions of all the judges upon it. The case was adjourned and readjourned, and was carried over from term to term; but at length Lord Mansfield declared the court to be clearly of opinion that “the claim of slavery never can be supported in England; that the power claimed never was in use in England nor acknowledged by law; and that, therefore, the man James Somerset, must be discharged.” By this judgment, the slave-trade in England was effectually abolished.

History affords no nobler picture than that of Granville Sharp. Standing alone, opposed to the opinions of the ablest lawyers, and the most rooted prejudices and customs of the times; fighting unassisted the most memorable battle for the constitution of his country, and for the liberties of British subjects, and by his single exertions gaining a most memorable victory.

On the 1st of August, 1838, eight hundred thousand African bondmen were made fully and unconditionally free; an act of legislation the most magnanimous and sublime in the annals of British history. Although the enemies of emancipation had predicted that murder and pillage would follow such an act, the conduct of the freed people was everything that the most ardent friends of the Negro could wish.

On the evening of the day preceding that which witnessed the actual bestowment of the inestimable boon on the apprentices of Jamaica, the towns and missionary stations throughout the Island were crowded with people especially interested in the event, and who, filling the different places of worship, remained in some instances performing different acts of devotion until the day of liberty dawned, when they saluted it with the most joyous acclamations. Others, before and after similar services, dispersed themselves in different directions throughout the town and villages, singing the national anthem and devotional hymns, occasionally rending the air with their acclamations of “Freedom’s come! We’re free, we’re free; our wives and our children are free!”

The conduct of the newly-emancipated peasantry everywhere, would have done credit to Christians of the most civilized country in the world. Their behavior was modest, unassuming, civil, and obliging to each other as members of one harmonious family.

Many of the original stock of slaves had been imported from amongst the Mandingoes, and Foulahs, from the banks of the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Rio Grande, the most refined and intellectual of the African tribes; and from the Congoes of Upper and Lower Guinea, the most inferior of the African race. The latter class brought with them all the vices and superstitions of their native land, and these had been cultivated in Jamaica.

The worst of these superstitious ideas was obeism, a species of witchcraft employed to revenge injuries, or as a protection against theft and murder, and in favor for gaining the love of the opposite sex. It consisted in placing a spell or charm near the cottage of the individual intended to be brought under its influence, or when designed to prevent the depredations of thieves, in some conspicuous part of the house, or on a tree; it was signified by a calabash or gourd, containing among other ingredients, a combination of different colored rags, cats’ teeth, parrots’ feathers, toads’ feet, egg-shells, fish-bones, snakes’ teeth, and lizards’ tails.[45]

Terror immediately seized upon the individual who beheld it, and either by resigning himself to despair, or by the secret communication of poison, in most cases death was the inevitable consequence. Similar to the influence of this superstition was that of their solemn curses pronounced upon thieves, but which would be too tedious to detail here. All of the Negro physicians of the olden times professed to have the gift of obeism, and were feared far more than they were loved.

Dreams and visions constituted fundamental articles of their religious creed. Some supernatural revelations were regarded as indispensable to qualify for admission to the full privileges of their community. Candidates were required, indeed, to dream a certain number of dreams before they were received to membership, the subjects of which were given them by their teachers.

The meetings of this fraternity were frequently prolonged through nearly half the night. The ministers enjoined on their followers the duty of fasting one or two days in the week, and encouraged a weekly meeting at each other’s houses, alternately, to drink “hot water” out of white tea-cups (the whole of the tea-table paraphernalia corresponding), which they designated by the absurd and inappropriate epithet of “breaking the peace.” To such a deplorable extent did they carry these superstitious practices, and such was the degree of ignorance on the part of both minister and people, that, in the absence of better information as to what was to be sung in their religious assemblies, they were in the habit of singing the childish story of “The house that Jack built.”

The missionaries, and especially the Baptists, who had been laboring against great disadvantages before the abolition of slavery, now that the curse was out of the way, did a noble work for the freed people. The erection of chapels all through the Island soon changed the moral and social condition of the blacks, as well as gave them a right idea of Christian duty.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] “Jamaica, Past and Present.” Phillippo.

[43] Phillippo.

[44] Phillippo.

[45] “Jamaica, Past and Present.” Phillippo.

CHAPTER XXVII. SOUTH AMERICA.

The Portuguese introduced slavery into Brazil about the year 1558, and the increase of that class of the population was as rapid as in any part of the newly discovered country. The treatment of the slaves did not differ from Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Cuba.

Brazil has given the death-blow to the wicked system which has been so long both her grievous burden and her foul disgrace. Henceforth, every child born in the empire is free, and in twenty years the chains will fall from the limbs of her last surviving slave. By this decree, nearly three million blacks are raised up from the dust; and though but few of this generation can hope to see the day of general emancipation, it is much for them to know that the curse which rested on the parents will no longer be transmitted to the children; it is something that the younger of them have a bright although distant future to look toward and to wait for. Very likely, too, the dying institution will not be suffered to linger out the whole of the existence which the new law accords to it; as the benefits of free labor to the whole country become appreciated fresh legislation may hasten the advent of national liberty and justice.

The first colonists enslaved the Indians; and, despite the futile measures of emancipation adopted by the Portuguese crown in 1570, in 1647, and in 1684, these unfortunate natives remained in servitude until 1755, and would perhaps have been held to this day, had they not proved very unprofitable. Negroes were accordingly imported from other Portuguese dominions, and a slave-trade with the African coast naturally sprang up, and is only just ended. Portugal bound herself by treaty with England, in 1815, to abolish the trade. Brazil renewed the obligation in her own name in 1826. Yet in 1839 it was estimated that eighty thousand blacks were imported every year; and, ten years later, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reported that the brutal traffic had only been reduced one-fourth. The energetic action of England, declaring in 1845 that Brazilian slave-ships should be amenable to English authorities, led to a long diplomatic contest, and threats of war; but it bore fruit in 1850 in a statute wherein Brazil assimilated the trade to piracy, and in 1852 the emperor declared it virtually extinct.

In the mean time, an opposition, not to the slave-trade alone, but to slavery, too, gradually strengthened itself within the empire. Manumission became frequent, and the laws made it very easy. A society was organized under the protection of the emperor, which, every year, in open church, solemnly liberated a number of slaves; and in 1856 the English Embassador wrote home that the government had communicated to him their resolution gradually to abolish slavery in every part of the empire. The grand step which they have now taken has no doubt been impelled by the example of our own country. It is one of the many precious fruits which have sprung, and are destined yet to spring, from the soil which we watered so freely with patriot blood.

Information generally, with regard to Brazil, is scanty, especially in connection with the blacks; but in all the walks of life, men of color are found in that country.

In the Brazilian army, many of the officers are mulattoes, and some of a very dark hue. The prejudice of color is not so prominent here, as in some other slaveholding countries.