make it an imperative article of belief, that every individual
ought to be willing to endure everlasting misery, if by doing so
they could, on the whole, produce a greater amount of general
good in the universe; and the inquiry was sometimes made of
candidates for church-membership, whether they could bring
themselves to this point as a test of their sincerity. The clergy-
man who was to examine this lady, was particularly interested in
these speculations. When he came to inquire of her with regard
to her views as to the obligations of Christianity, she informed
him decidedly that she had brought her mind to the point of
emancipating all her slaves, of whom she had a large number.
The clergyman seemed rather to consider this as an excess of
zeal, and recommended that she should take time to reflect upon
it. He was, however, very urgent to know whether, if it should
appear for the greatest good of the universe, she would be willing
to be damned. Entirely unaccustomed to theological specula-
tions, the good woman answered, with some vehemence, that
“she was sure she was not;” adding, naturally enough, that if
that had been her purpose, she need not have come to join the
church. The good lady, however, was admitted, and proved her
devotion to the general good by the more tangible method of
setting all her slaves at liberty, and carefully watching over their
education and interests after they were liberated.
Mrs. Shelby is a fair type of the very best class of Southern
women; and while the evils of the institution are felt and
deplored, and while the world looks with just indignation on the
national support and patronage which is given to it, and on the
men who, knowing its nature, deliberately make efforts to
perpetuate and extend it, it is but justice that it should bear in
mind the virtues of such persons.
Many of them, surrounded by circumstances over which they
can have no control, perplexed by domestic cares, of which
women in free States can have very little conception, loaded
down by duties and responsibilities which wear upon the very
springs of life, still go on bravely and patiently from day to
day, doing all they can to alleviate what they cannot prevent,
and, as far as the sphere of their own immediate power extends,
rescuing those who are dependent upon them from the evils of
the system.
We read of Him who shall at last come to judgment, that
“His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his
floor, and gather his wheat into the garner.” Out of the great
abyss of national sin he will rescue every grain of good and
honest purpose and intention. His eyes, which are as a flame
of fire, penetrate at once those intricate mazes where human
judgment is lost, and will save and honour at last the truly good
and sincere, however they may have been involved with the evil;
and such souls as have resisted the greatest temptations, and
persisted in good under the most perplexing circumstances, are
those of whom he has written, “And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels;
and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him.”
* The leader of the insurrection in Virginia, in which upwards of a hundred
white persons, principally women and children, were massacred in cold blood.
CHAPTER IV.
GEORGE HARRIS.
The character of George Harris has been represented as
overdrawn, both as respects personal qualities and general
intelligence. It has been said, too, that so many afflictive
incidents happening to a slave are improbable, and present a
distorted view of the institution.
In regard to person, it must be remembered that the half-
breeds often inherit, to a great degree, the traits of their white
ancestors. For this there is abundant evidence in the adver-
tisements of the papers. Witness the following from the
Chattanooga (Tenn.) Gazette, October 5th, 1852.
Run away from the subscriber, on the 25th May, a VERY BRIGHT MU-
LATTO BOY, about 20 or 22 years old, named WASH. Said boy, without
close observation, might pass himself for a white man, as he is very bright--has
sandy hair, blue eyes, and a fine set of teeth. He is an excellent bricklayer; but
I have no idea that he will pursue his trade, for fear of detection. Although he
is like a white man in appearance, he has the disposition of a negro, and delights
in comic songs and witty expressions. He is an excellent house servant, very
handy about a hotel--tall, slender, and has rather a down look, especially when
spoken to, and is sometimes inclined to be sulky. I have no doubt that he has
been decoyed off by some scoundrel, and I will give the above reward for the
apprehension of the boy and thief, if delivered at Chattanooga. Or, I will give
200 dollars for the boy alone; or 100 dollars if confined in any jail in the United
States, so that I can get him.
GEORGE O. RAGLAND.
Chattanooga, June 15, 1852.
From the Capitolian Vis-à-vis, West Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
November 1, 1852:
Run away about the 15th of August last, Joe, a yellow man; small, about
5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, and about twenty years of age. Has a Roman nose, was
raised in New Orleans, and speaks French and English. He was bought last
winter of Mr. Digges, Banks Arcade, New Orleans.
In regard to general intelligence, the reader will recollect that
the writer stated it as a fact which she learned while on a jour-
ney through Kentucky, that a young coloured man invented a
machine for cleaning hemp, like that alluded to in her story.
Advertisements, also, occasionally propose for sale artisans of
different descriptions. Slaves are often employed as pilots for
vessels, and highly valued for their skill and knowledge. The
following are advertisements from recent newspapers.
From the South Carolinian (Columbia), December 4th, 1852.
by j. and l. t. levin.
WILL be Sold, on MONDAY, the 6th Day of December, the following valuable
NEGROES:--
Andrew, 24 years of age, a bricklayer and plasterer, and thorough workman.
George, 22 years of age, one of the best barbers in the State.
James, 19 years of age, an excellent painter.
These boys were raised in Columbia, and are exceptions to most of boys, and
are sold for no fault whatever.
The terms of sale are one-half cash, the balance on a credit of six months,
with interest, for notes payable at bank, with two or more approved endorsers.
Purchasers to pay for necessary papers.
WILLIAM DOUGLASS.
November 27, 36.
From the same paper of November 18th, 1852.
Will be sold at private sale, a LIKELY MAN, boat hand, and good pilot; is
well acquainted with all the inlets between here and Savannah and Georgetown.
With regard to the incidents of George Harris's life, that he
may not be supposed a purely exceptional case, we propose to
offer some parallel facts from
the lives of slaves of our personal
acquaintance.
Lewis Clark is an acquaintance of the writer. Soon after his
escape from slavery, he was received into the family of a sister-
in-law of the author, and there educated. His conduct during
this time was such as to win for him uncommon affection and
respect, and the author has frequently heard him spoken of in
the highest terms by all who knew him.
The gentleman in whose family he so long resided, says of
him, in a recent letter to the writer, “I would trust him, as the
saying is, with untold gold.”
Lewis is a quadroon, a fine-looking man, with European
features, hair slightly wavy, and with an intelligent, agreeable
expression of countenance.
The reader is now desired to compare the following incidents
of his life, part of which he related personally to the author, with
the incidents of the life of George Harris.
His mother was a handsome quadroon woman, the daughter
of her master, and given by him in marriage to a free white man,
a Scotchman, with the express understanding that she and her
children were to be free. This engagement, if made sincerely at
all, was never complied with. His mother had nine children,
and on the death of her husband, came back, with all these chil-
dren, as slaves in her father's house.
A married daughter of the family, who was the dread of the
whole household, on account of the violence of her temper, had
taken from the family, upon her marriage, a young girl. By the
violence of her abuse she soon reduced the child to a state of
idiocy, and then came imperiously back to her father's establish-
ment, declaring that the child was good for nothing, and that
she would have another, and, as poor Lewis' evil star would
have it, fixed her eye upon him.
To avoid one of her terrible outbreaks of temper, the family
offered up this boy as a pacificatory sacrifice. The incident is
thus described by Lewis, in a published narrative:--
Every boy was ordered in, to pass before this female sorceress, that she might
select a victim for her unprovoked malice, on whom to pour the vials of her
wrath for years. I was that unlucky fellow. Mr. Campbell, my grandfather,
objected, because it would divide a family, and offered her Moses; * * *
but objections and claims of every kind were swept away by the wild passion and
shrill-toned voice of Mrs. B. Me she would have, and none else. Mr. Campbell
went out to hunt, and drive away bad thoughts; the old lady became quiet, for
she was sure none of her blood ran in my veins, and if there was any of her hus-
band's there, it was no fault of hers. Slave-holding women are always revengeful
toward the children of slaves that have any of the blood of their husbands in
them. I was too young--only seven years of age--to understand what was going
on. But my poor and affectionate mother understood and appreciated it all.
When she left the kitchen of the mansion-house, where she was employed as cook,
and came home to her own little cottage, the tear of anguish was in her eye, and
the image of sorrow upon every feature of her face. She knew the female Nero
whose rod was now to be over me. That night sleep departed from her eyes.
With the youngest child clasped firmly to her bosom, she spent the night in
walking the floor, coming ever and anon to lift up the clothes and look at me and
my poor brother, who lay sleeping together. Sleeping, I said. Brother slept,
but not I. I saw my mother when she first came to me, and I could not sleep.
The vision of that night--its deep, ineffaceable impression--is now before my
mind with all the distinctness of yesterday. In the morning I was put into the
carriage with Mrs. B. and her children, and my weary pilgrimage of suffering was
fairly begun.
Mrs. Banton is a character that can only exist where the laws
of the land clothe with absolute power the coarsest, most brutal
and violent-tempered, equally with the most generous and
humane.
If irresponsible power is a trial to the virtue of the most
watchful and careful, how fast must it develope cruelty in those
who are naturally violent and brutal!
This woman was united to a drunken husband, of a temper
equally ferocious. A recital of all the physical torture which
this pair contrived to inflict on a hapless child, some of which
have left ineffaceable marks on his person, would be too trying
to humanity, and we gladly draw a veil over it.
Some incidents, however, are presented in the following
extracts:--
A very trivial offence was sufficient to call forth a great burst of indignation
from this woman of ungoverned passions. In my simplicity, I put my lips to the
same vessel, and drank out of it, from which her children were accustomed to
drink. She expressed her utter abhorrence of such an act by throwing my head
violently back, and dashing into my face two dippers of water. The shower of
water was followed by a heavier shower of kicks; but the words, bitter and cut-
ting, that followed, were like a storm of hail upon my young heart. “She would
teach me better manners than that; she would let me know I was to be brought
up to her hand; she would have one slave that knew his place; if I wanted water,
go to the spring, and not drink there in the house.” This was new times for me;
for some days I was completely benumbed with my sorrow.
* * * * *
If there be one so lost to all feeling as even to say that the slaves do not suffer
when families are separated, let such a one go to the ragged quilt which was my
eouch and pillow, and stand there night after night, for long, weary hours, and see
the bitter tears streaming down the face of that more than orphan boy, while with
half-suppressed sighs and sobs he calls again and again upon his absent mother.
“Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?
Hovered thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son?
Wretch even then! life's journey just begun.”
He was employed till late at night in spinning flax or rocking
the baby, and called at a very early hour in the morning; and
if he did not start at the first summons, a cruel chastisement
was sure to follow. He says:--
Such horror has seized me, lest I might not hear the first shrill call, that I have
often in dreams fancied I heard that unwelcome voice, and have leaped from my
couch and walked through the house and out of it before I awoke. I have gone
and called the other slaves, in my sleep, and asked them if they did not hear
master call. Never, while I live, will the remembrance of those long bitter nights
of fear pass from my mind.
He adds to these words which should be deeply pondered
by those who lay the flattering unction to their souls that the
oppressed do not feel the sundering of family ties.
But all my severe labour, and bitter and cruel punishments, for these ten years
of captivity with this worse than Arab family, all these were as nothing to the
sufferings I experienced by being separated from my mother, brothers, and sisters;
th
e same things, with them near to sympathise with me, to hear my story of
sorrow, would have been comparatively tolerable.
They were distant only about thirty miles, and yet, in ten long lonely years of
childhood, I was only permitted to see them three times.
My mother occasionally found an opportunity to send me some token of
remembrance and affection--a sugar-plum or an apple; but I scarcely ever ate
them; they were laid up, and handled, and wept over, till they wasted away in my
hand.
My thoughts continually by day, and my dreams by night, were of mother and
home; and the horror experienced in the morning, when I awoke and behold it
was a dream, is beyond the power of language to describe.
Lewis had a beautiful sister by the name of Delia, who, on
the death of her grandfather, was sold, with all the other
children of his mother, for the purpose of dividing the estate.
She was a pious girl, a member of the Baptist church. She fell
into the hands of a brutal, drunken man, who wished to make
her his mistress. Milton Clark, a brother of Lewis, in the
narrative of his life, describes the scene where he, with his
mother, stood at the door while this girl was brutally whipped
before it for wishing to conform to the principles of her
Christian profession. As her resolution was unconquerable,
she was placed in a coffle and sent down to the New Orleans
market. Here she was sold to a Frenchman named Coval; he
took her to Mexico, emancipated and married her. After
residing some time in France and the West Indies with him, he
died, leaving her a fortune of twenty or thirty thousand dollars.
At her death she endeavoured to leave this by will to purchase
the freedom of her brothers; but, as a slave cannot take pro-
perty, or even have it left in trust for him, they never received
any of it.
The incidents of the recovery of Lewis' freedom are thus
told:--
I had long thought and dreamed of Liberty; I was now determined to make
an effort to gain it. No tongue can tell the doubt, the perplexities, the anxiety,