the servant to that of the slave and tended to become mere property.
The servant could be transferred as property from one person to
another, for from the beginning his services were bought and sold. The
custom of purchasing and disposing of apprentices and servants was
early practiced in Virginia and out of this practice grew the more
definite and far-reaching custom of signing the servant's contract.
Begun in 1623, it was resented by servants and deprecated by England;
and yet with no question of its legality, the selling of servants'
time became a common practice.[47] Later on, upon securing the servant
in England, the indenture was often made out to the shipmaster or his
assigns, and the servant was sold by him to the planters in America.
To sell the servants, merchants were sometimes invited on board the
ship, where they could look over the human cargo and select those who
were desirable. Often it happened that the servants were brought over
without indentures. They were made to believe that their lot would
be made easy by the master who would buy them.[48] These, too, were
sold by the captain to the highest bidder.[49] That the servants
were dealt with in this way eventually made the indentures as a rule
negotiable, and this led to further degradation of the servants'
status. The theory that the servant's time was property was tenable
as late as 1756 in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, for during
the war with the French and Indians, when the governments and officers
were recruiting the servants of the masters, the masters protested,
resisted, and won.[50]
The servant, then, gradually became property, not principally because
of a tendency to consider the Negro servant as such, but because
of the incidents necessarily arising from the methods which had to
be used to make white servitude possible in the colonies. These
methods, then, the custom of using them, and finally the tentative
legal sanction of them, were fairly well practiced before the Negro's
arrival and long before he was considered as chattel.[51]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Nieboer, _Slavery as an Industrial Institution_, p. 42.
[2] Doyle, _Hist. of Eng. Col. in Am._, p. 385.
[3] Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, p. 42.
[4] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, pp. 9, 60, 61, 63.
[5] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 15.
[6] _Ibid._, pp. 19, 31, 24.
[7] "We see, then, that the colonist, while in theory only a Virginia
member of the London Company, and entitled to equal rights and
privileges with other members or adventurers, was, from the nature
of the case, practically debarred from exercising these rights....
He was kept by force in the colony, and could have no communication
with his friends in England.... Under the arbitrary administration of
the Company and of its deputy governors he was as absolutely at its
disposal as a servant at his master's. His conduct was regulated by
corporal punishment or more extreme measures. He could be hired out by
the Company to private persons, or by the Governor for his personal
advantage." _Ibid._, p. 26.
[8] _Ibid._, p. 23.
[9] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 23, 24, 25, 43
note.
[10] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, pp. 48, 49.
[11] _Ibid._, pp. 38, 43; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of
Va._, pp. 40, 49.
[12] "Where no contract but a verbal one existed there was always room
for controversy between master and servant, each trying to prove an
agreement that would be to his advantage." _Ibid._, p. 50.
[13] "Where the servants were ignorant, which was usually the case,
it was to the advantage of the master that there should be no written
contract, as there was then a chance of extending the term of
service." McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 44.
"The Palatines and other German races, who, in the later years formed
nearly all of the servant population, knew little of the laws and
language and were an easy prey to the abuses of traders and harsh
masters. They had been used to very little liberty at home and were
slow to assert their rights in America." _Ibid._, p. 61.
[14] Ante, p. 268.
[15] Henning, _Statutes at Large_, I, pp. 127, 130, 192; Ballagh,
_White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 45.
[16] _Ibid._, p. 77.
[17] _Ibid._, pp. 58, 59.
[18] Bassett, _Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N. C._, p. 81.
[19] "In this we have the germ of addition of time, a practice which
later became the occasion of a very serious abuse of the servants
rights by the addition of terms altogether incommensurate with the
offenses for which they were imposed." Ballagh, _White Servitude in
the Col. of Va._, p. 45.
[20] Henning, _Statutes at Large_, I, p. 438, II, p. 114, III, pp. 87,
140, 450; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 57.
[21] Henning, _Statutes at Large_, p. 257; Ballagh, _White Servitude
in the Col. of Va._, pp. 50-51.
[22] Bassett, _Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N. C._, p. 34.
[23] "Instead of preventing such marriages, this law enabled
avaricious and unprincipled masters to convert many of their servants
to slaves. While this act continued in force, it did more to lower
the standard of servitude than any other law passed during the whole
period." McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, pp. 68-69.
[24] Turner, _The Negro in Penn._, p. 30; Bassett, _Slavery and
Servitude in the Col. of N. C._, p. 83; Ballagh, _White Servitude in
the Col. of Va._, p. 57.
[25] _Ibid._, 57; Bassett, _Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N.
C._, pp. 83-84; Turner, _The Negro in Penn._, p. 30; McCormac, _White
Servitude in Md._, p. 70.
[26] "If she should be delivered of a child by her master during this
period she should be sold by the church wardens for the benefit of the
church for one year after the term of service.... Here again there
was no punishment for the seducing master. It is also evident that
the sin of the servant would be an advantage of the master, since he
would thereby secure her service for a longer period. We have not
the least evidence that such a thing did happen, yet it is possible
that a master might for this reason have compassed the sin of his
serving-woman." Bassett, _Slavery and Servitude in the Col. of N. C._,
pp. 83-84.
"By the acts giving the master additions of time for the birth of
a bastard child to his servant a premium was actually put upon
immorality, and there appear to have been masters base enough to take
advantage of it." Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 79.
The master also encouraged marriage between servants and Negroes.
McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 68.
[27] Hurd, _Law of Freedom and Bondage_, I, p. 228 note.
[28] _Ibid._, p. 255.
[29] _Ibid._, pp. 232, 254; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of
Va._, p. 93.
[30] Hurd, _Law of Freedom and Bondage_, I, p. 248.
[31] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 90.
[32] "Thus the liberated servant became an idler, socially corrupt,
and often politically dangerous." Doyle, _Eng. Cols in Am._, I, p. 387.
"By the temporary disfranchisement of the servant during his term,
common after the middle of the 17th century, a serious public danger
was avoided. There could be no guarantee, of the judicious exercise of
the suffrage with this class who, for the most part, had never enjoyed
the privilege before. Their servitude may be regarded as preparing
them for a proper appreciation of suffrage when obtained, and the
duties of citizenship...." Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of
Va._, p. 90 note.
[33] "To facilitate discovery, habitual runaways had their hair cut
'close around their ears' and 'were branded on the cheek with the
letter R.'" Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 55 note.
[34] _Ibid._, pp. 53-54.
[35] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 53.
[36] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 53, 60.
[37] _Ibid._, p. 54; McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 54.
[38] _Ibid._, p. 55.
[39] _Ibid._, p. 50.
[40] _Ibid._, pp. 52-53; Bassett, _Slavery and White Servitude in the
Col. of N. C._, p. 79; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._,
p. 54.
[41] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 54.
[42] "Statute after statute was passed regulating the punishment and
providing for the pursuit and recapture of runaways; but although laws
became severer and finally made no distinction in treatment of runaway
servants and slaves, it was impossible to entirely put a stop to the
habit so long as the system itself lasted." _Ibid._, p. 56; Ballagh,
_White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 52, 57.
[43] _Ibid._, p. 57.
[44] _Ibid._, pp. 57-58; Henning, _Statutes at Large_, II, p. 458.
[45] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, pp. 51-52.
[46] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 59.
[47] "As a result, (my comma) the idea of the contract and of the
legal personality of the servant was gradually lost sight of in the
disposition to regard him as a chattel and a part of the personal
estate of his master, which might be treated and disposed of very much
in the same way as the rest of the estate. He became thus rated in
inventories of estate, and was disposed of both by will and by deed
along with the rest of the property." Ballagh, _White Servitude in the
Col. of Va._, pp. 43, 44.
[48] Eddis, _Letters from Am._, p. 72.
[49] Example of the advertisement of the arrival of a servantship:
"Just Arrived in the Sophia, Alexander Verdeen, Master, from Dublin,
Twenty stout, healthy Indented Men Servents Whose Indentures will
be disposed of on reasonable Terms, by the Captain on board, or the
subscribers ..., etc." McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 42.
[50] _Ibid._, pp. 39, 40, 42, 52, 85-89.
[51] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 31, 33, 68;
Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, pp. 39-40; Russell, _The Free
Negro in Va._, pp. 46-47.
THE GRADUAL TRANSITION OF NEGRO SERVITUDE INTO NEGRO SLAVERY
The status of the Negro in British America was at first that of a
servant. He was not held for life, but set at liberty after a term of
service. It was his service, not himself, that was the property or
chattel of another, and his offspring was not subject to servitude.
Again, he had privileges similar to and in some cases identical with
those of the other servants; in many cases the rules which governed
other servants governed him as well. In short, the Negro was not the
"absolute possession" of another.[1] Moreover, it was some years
before he became a slave. Distinctly during this time, his status
went through a gradual process of transition inevitable in the
development of subjection in the colonies.[2]
"Servant" becomes "servant for life" and "perpetual servant" in
colonial laws. The progress of extending the Negro servant's term
is generally observed in the language of the laws of the colonies.
It appears that as the servants went into slavery, "what is
termed perpetual was substituted for limited service, while all
the predetermined incidents of servitude, except such as referred
to ultimate freedom, continued intact." Later the terms "servant
for life," "perpetual servant" and "bond servant" were used
interchangeably with "slave" and the words "servant" and "slave" and
their liabilities were joined in the same enactments.[3] It was some
time before the word "slave" was clearly and definitely used, and the
servant who became slave lost all the earmarks of a servant.[4]
The practice of holding the servant after the expiration of his term
was more characteristic of black servitude than white. As the Negroes
increased in numbers, this practice increased. As white servitude
declined, the assurance of labor waned. The extension of the Negro's
term, then, for a few years longer and eventually to life service
appeared a logical as well as a necessary step for the masters to
take.[5] Moreover, since the public was often led to believe that
when at liberty the Negroes were an uncontrollable and probably
dangerous element of the population, extension of their terms in
servitude gradually gained public approval.[6] Hence, the Negro
servant was held whenever the occasion demanded and the opportunity
presented itself.
In illustrating the gradual transition into slavery through repeated
holding and attempts at holding the Negro servants for life, court
cases of Virginia may be taken as typical. Brass, a Negro, whose
master, a ship captain, had died, was, upon being threatened with
enslavement, assigned by the General Court in 1625 as servant to the
governor of the colony instead of as slave to the company of his late
master's ship.[7] John Punch, who ran away in company with three white
servants, was adjudged by the court, in 1640, to serve his master the
"time of his natural life" while the white servants were given four
additional years to serve. Anthony Johnson, a Negro to whom attention
has already been called, owned a large tract of land on the Eastern
Shore. In 1640 he became involved in a suit for holding John Castor,
another Negro, seven years overtime. It appears that Castor was set
free. Later, however, Johnson brought suit against Robert Parker, a
white man, for harboring Castor as if he were a free man; and the
court decided that Castor return to his master, Johnson, evidently for
service for life. Sometime before 1644, a mulatto boy named Emanuel,
a servant, was sold "as a slave forever" but later was adjudged by
the Assembly "no slave and but to serve as other Christian servants
do." In 1673, a servant, who had been unlawfully detained beyond his
five-year period, won judgment against his master, George Light; the
Negro servant was set free and received his freedom dues from the
master.[8] In 1674 Philip Cowan petitioned the governor for freedom on
the ground that Charles Lucas kept him three years overtime and then
compelled him by threats to sign an indenture for twenty years.[9]
Other indications of holding the Negro servant may be shown. In
Pennsylvania, Negro servants were invariably given a longer term of
service than the white servants and often held after the expiration of
the term;[10] so extensive was the practice of holding these servants
that, in 1682 and 1693, laws were enacted against it.[11] In Georgia
a road to slavery was paved by extending the servants' terms. Negroes
were brought out of North Carolina into Georgia by white servants
who, becoming tired of servitude, had these blacks serve out their
unexpired terms with the Georgia masters. As this worked well the
masters lengthened the term of the Negro servants to life.[12] In
fact, on account of the reciprocal influence of white servitude and
Negro servitude, wherever white servants were taken advantage of and
held longer, Negro servants were subjected to harsher treatment and
longer extension of term.
The mulatto class in the colonies constituted an element through
which transition of Negro servitude into slavery is apparent. As the
mulattoes were looked upon as the result of an "abominable mixture" of
the races and as representing a troublesome element in society, local
laws and colonial statutes were gradually enacted to check and control
them.[13] The statutes first aimed at serving as a deterrent upon the
women, and hence arose the doctrine of _partus sequitur ventrem_,
which imposed the mother's status upon the offspring. However, the
first statute to this effect, the act of 1662 in Virginia, was largely
enacted because of fornication of Englishmen and Negro women.[14]
Statutes enunciating this doctrine were enacted in the other colonies
as follows: Maryland, 1663; Massachusetts, 1698; Connecticut and New
Jersey, 1704; Pennsylvania and New York, 1706; South Carolina, 1712;
Rhode Island, 1728; and North Carolina, 1741.[15] Thus not only Negro
mulattoes, that is, the offspring of white men and Negro women, were
prevented from becoming servants, but those who were already either
freemen or servants were gradually reduced to slavery. To check the
growth of the mulatto class, particularly through the intermixture
and intermarriage of Negro men and white women, a Virginia law in
1691 provided that the woman be fined, or sold into service for
five years, or given five years of added time, and the mulatto be
bound out for thirty years.[16] In Maryland, Pennsylvania, and North
Carolina, similar laws were passed.[17] The mulatto, then, in one case
was reduced from freeman and servant to slave, and in the other case
made a servant for thirty or more years.[18] Thus the debasing of the
status of the mulatto helped the transition to slavery.
Just as the fugitive white servant repeatedly gave occasion, through
incidents growing out of his capture, return, and deterrence, to lower
the status of the servant until it assumed the character of slavery,
so the fugitive Negro servant made his lot harder and influenced the
extension of his term to perpetuity. The Negro servant, unlike either
the Indian or white servant, obviously had little to tempt him to run
away from his master; his physical characteristics made detection
easy, there was no free Negro population to which he could escape, the
unfamiliar country around him held but poor prospects for his making
a livelihood more easily than under his master, and the strangeness
of his situation undoubtedly had much to do with his acceptance of
it. Yet the Negro as a servant did run away. It is very probable
that the practice of running away to the Indians began when he was
a servant.[19] Again, it appears that he ran away not infrequently
in company with white servants. In Virginia, in 1640, John Punch, a
Negro servant, ran away in company with two white servants. The three
were overtaken in Maryland and brought back to Virginia for trial. The
court ordered that the white servants' terms be lengthened four years,
and that Punch, the Negro servant, "shall serve his master or his
assigns for the time of his natural life."[20]
The transition of servitude to slavery, moreover, is distinctly
noticed in the change in the conception of property in the service
of the Negro to that of property in his person.[21] Like that of the
white and Indian servants, the Negro's service through contract,
implied and expressed, was owned by the master. This ownership,
however, consisted of only the right of the master to the service of
the servant. Gradually, as this service necessarily became involved
in wills, estates, taxation, and business transactions, the person of
the servant instead of his service came more and more to be regarded,
both in custom and in law, as property, so that eventually the
servant, himself, was considered personal estate. Thus he was "rated
in inventories of estates, was transferable both _inter vivos_ and by
will, descended to the executors and administrators, and was taxable."
While he was now a "contractual person," he still retained such
incidents of personality as rights of limited protection, personal
freedom, and possession of property.[22] As the service of the servant
became more and more regarded and treated as a form of property, his
personality was completely lost sight of, and his term was extended
to the time of his natural life.[23] Easily, then, the Negro servant
regarded at first a part of the personal estate came at length to be
regarded as a chattel real.
T. R. DAVIS
WALDEN COLLEGE,
NASHVILLE, TENN.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ante, p. 266.
[2] Local conditions and circumstances dictated and directed the
form of subjection. For this same reason, both servitude and slavery
differed in different sections of the country. Nieboer brings out
the local character of subjection when he holds that slavery does
not exist as formally among fishing and hunting peoples as among
agricultural and that subjection is milder in an open country than in
a closed. Nieboer, _Slavery as an Industrial Institution_, p. 55.
[3] Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, p. 37.
[4] It is not meant that all Negroes became servants and then slaves.
Many Negroes became servants and followed the course of servants while
others became slaves and remained slaves. At any period, however,
during his first three-quarter century at least in the colonies, the
most pronounced status of the Negro consisted of a cross-section of a
transition from servitude to slavery.
[5] On the significance of the expiration of the white servant's
term, Bruce has this to say: "Unless the planter had been careful to
make provision against their departure by the importation of other
laborers, he was left in a helpless position without men to reap
his crops or to widen the area of his new grounds.... Perhaps in a
majority of cases, his object was to obtain laborers whom he might
substitute for those whose term were on the point of expiring. It was
this constantly recurring necessity which must have been the source
of much anxiety and annoyance as well as heavy pecuniary outlay, that
led the planters to prefer youths to adults among the imported English
agricultural servants, for while their physical strength might have
been less, yet the periods for which they were bound extended over a
longer time." Bruce, _Econ. Hist. of Va._, II, pp. 58-59.
[6] Ballagh, _Hist, of Slavery in Va._, pp. 37-38. "Negro servants
were sometimes compelled by threats and browbeating to sign indentures
for longer terms after they had served out their original terms."
(Russell, _The Free Negro in Va._, p. 33.) Indian servants, too, were
held and reduced to slaves whenever possible. Lauber, _Indian Slavery
in Colonial Times_, pp. 196-201.
[7] Ballagh, _Hist, of Slavery in Va._, pp. 29, 30, 31.
[8] Russell, _The Free Negro in Va._, pp. 32, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38-39.
[9] "Petition of a negro for redress To the Rt. Hon'ble Sir William
Berkeley, Knt., Goverr and Cap. Genl of Virga, with the Hon. Councell
of State. The Petiti'on of Phillip Corven, a negro, in all humility
showeth: That yor petr being a servant to Mrs. Annye Beazley, late of
James, City County, widow, deed. The said Mrs. Beazley made her last
will and testament in writing, under her hand and seal, bearing date
of April, An Dom. 1664, ... that yor petr by the then name of negro
boy Philip, should serve her cousin, ... the terme of eight yeares ...
and then should enjoy his freedom and be paid three barrels of corne
and a sute of clothes." Cowen was sold, it appears, to Lucas who kept
him and forced him to sign the long indenture. Palmer, _Calendar of
State Papers_, I, p. 10.
Russell corrects "Corven" to "Cowan," _The Free Negro in Va._, p. 34.
[10] "This practice of holding negroes for a longer term than white
persons, which lasted for a longer time than had originally been
contemplated, since it was allowed to apply to negroes brought into
Pennsylvania from other states, bade fair to perpetuate itself and
last longer still." Turner, _The Negro in Penn._, pp. 93, 95, 99-100.
[11] _Ibid._, 95.
[12] Stevens, _Hist. of Ga._, I, p. 306.
[13] Henning, _Statutes at Large_, pp. 145, 146, 252, 433, 551, 552;
_Ibid._, II, 115; _Ibid._, III, 87, 453; Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery
in Va._, p. 57; Turner, _The Negro in Penn._, pp. 112-113; McCormac,
_White Servitude in Md._, pp. 67-70.
[14] Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, p. 57; McCormac, _White
Servitude in Md._, p. 67.
[15] Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, p. 39.
[16] _Ibid._, pp. 57-58.
[17] Stroud, _Laws Relating to Slavery_, pp. 8-9; Turner, _The Negro
in Penn._, pp. 24-25, 92; Moore, _Notes on the Hist. of Slavery in
Mass._, p. 54.
[18] The transition is exhibited in another case still more
completely. "This position rendered them especially eligible for gross
purposes, both in their intimate contact with the negroes and in their
relations to their employers. The law had unwittingly set a premium
upon immorality, as the female mulatto not only added an additional
term to her period of service, but her offspring was by a law of 1723
in its turn forced to serve the master until the age of thirty-one
years. Such mulatto servants, then, were scarcely better off as to
prospective freedom than the negro slave. Custom tended to reduce them
to a state of slavery. About the middle of the eighteenth century
(circa 1765) the practice arose of actually disposing of their persons
by sale, both in the colony and without, as slaves. So flagrant was
the practice that further legislation was demanded to check the
illegal proceeding by appropriate penalties. It would appear that
the offenders were those who were entitled to the mulattoes only as
servants, but used the power of intimidation or deceit, which could be
easily practiced in the case of minor bastards born in their service."
Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, pp. 59-60.
[19] From the very first, the Indians and Negroes as servants came
in contact. Also, there seems to have been a "common bond of union"
between Indians and Negroes. Again the colony laws concerning runaway
servants generally took care of the Negro and Indian servants in the
same act. Russell, _The Free Negro in Va._, pp. 128-129; Lauber,
_Indian Slavery in Colonial Times_, pp. 218, 220-221.
[20] Russell, _The Free Negro in Va._, pp. 29-30.
[21] "With the change of the status of servitude to the status of
slavery, certain of the attributes of the former condition were
continued and connected with the latter chief of these, and the
fundamental idea on which the change was effected, was the conception
of property right which, from the idea of the ownership of an
individual's service resting upon contract implied or expressed, came
to be that of ownership of an individual's person." Lauber, _Indian
Slavery in Colonial Times_, p. 215.
[22] Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, pp. 39-40.
[23] Lauber, _Indian Slavery in Colonial Times_, pp. 226, 227, 230;
Turner, _The Negro in Penn._, p. 25. "With the loss of the ultimate
right to freedom, the contractual element and the incidents essential
to it were swept away, and as the idea of personality was obscured,
the conception of property gained force, so that it became an easy
matter to add incidents more strictly defining the property right and
insuring its protection."
THREE ELEMENTS OF AFRICAN CULTURE
The passion for self expression is one of the most potent factors
in social development. No problem of social philosophy yields to a
satisfactory solution where the passion for expression is not regarded
as a requisite factor. This principle is operative in the life of
the individual, the race, and the nation. All human achievements
are directly traceable to some inward urge, and evolution, as a
theory, is but the universalization of this principle. Civilization,
whether in its more perfected stages or whether in its manifestations
that are crude and rudimentary, is essentially a measure of human
expression. The inward urge that drives mankind onward has a
variety of manifestations and the difference in the number of
these manifestations is the measure of differences between various
civilizations, and between civilization and barbarism or savagery.
The impulse that moves the saintly worshipper in St. Peter's to kiss
the rosary as he kneels low-bowed and earnest before the high altar
is the same that moves the aborigine in Zululand to dance in frenzied
ecstacies around his devil-bush. That there are various degrees of
self-expression, with a maximum in this nation and age, and a minimum
in that, is a fact that is as undeniable as it is obvious; but that
there are impulses of cultural possibilities which are lavished upon
some races while totally withheld from others is a thesis which finds
no sanction in history or archaeology.
Archaeology is the guiding light in which we grope in our attempt
to explore the life of ancient man. In Europe and in Asia we have
unearthed numerous evidences of prehistoric cultures. There may
have been surprise at the antiquity and variety but certainly not
at the location, for it was highly probable that the present high
civilization of Europe and Asia had risen from the ruins of older
ones; yet it cannot be longer doubted that when archaeology as a
searchlight was turned upon Africa there was occasion of surprise when
that Dark Land yielded evidences of a civilization that antedated the
arrival of the European. It would be just as hard to designate the
African cultures as purely Negro as to designate the European cultures
as purely Teuton. However, a study of African culture promises richer
results when it can be identified with certain Negro tribes or such
Negroid tribes as have a large extraction of Negro blood. The findings
of archaeology have not only a backward look but also a meaning for
the future and especially is this true of African cultures, which not
only throw light upon the past of the black man but may also become
prophetic of his future. It shall be the purpose of this treatise
to analyze the African cultures so as to disclose their essential
elements and to compare these elements with their counterparts in
European cultures.
Once attention had been directed towards Africa, there arose numerous
archaeological expeditions and especially noteworthy were the findings
of those from Germany and England, the two European countries which
had the most ambitious schemes of colonization. In details there is
not always agreement among the various archaeological explorers; but,
in the main, there is a unanimity that is marvelous and especially is
this true when there is evidenced such keen rivalry that is at bottom
doubtless economic.
What are the essential elements of civilization? What are the cultural
manifestations which constitute the _sine qua non_ of human progress?
What is the "irreducible minimum" of civilization? A studied answer
must include ethics, art and government, for without any one of these
no social order can claim for itself an approach to civilization. The
cultures of nations and races must be expressive of these cardinal
elements of social expression. In investigating African cultures and
their essential elements it is deemed best to dwell at greatest length
on the positive aspects of these cultural manifestations. To attempt
a negative exposition of the primitive cultures of any people will not
reveal any worthwhile criterion of its worth especially when the scope
of investigation is limited to three essential elements of culture.
If ethics, art and government constitute the irreducible minimum of
civilization which is manifested in certain cultural aspects, it is
clear at the outset that specialization in ethics, art and government
is the measure of a people's advancement.
I. ETHICS
Of the African peoples let us consider first their ethics. It can
hardly be doubted that it was an important step in man's upward
journey when he reached what anthropologists have called "the dawn
of mind" but it was no less momentous an event when there was within
him the dawn of morality. Morality is the highest defensive weapon
which mankind can wield. So important has it become in the struggle
for existence that, to man, the highest form of greatness is a moral
greatness. That the highest civilizations of history have been
grounded in moral strength has become an historical postulate, but
what of the races and nations that live beyond their pale? Were the
Africans in their crude and primitive surroundings moral beings?
Tillinghast and Beauvais would doubtless answer in the negative.
The former in his _The Negro in Africa and America_ is loud in
his criticism of the ethical standards of the African, in fact he
seriously doubts the advisability of saying that the tribes of Africa
have an awakened moral sense. Frobenius, however, comes forward with
an assertion to the contrary, asserting: "I cannot do otherwise than
say, that these human creatures are the chastest and most ethically
disposed of all the national groups in the world which have become
known to me."[1] In justice to the other "national groups" we may say
that Frobenius here doubtless overdraws the virtues of the Yoruban
tribes, yet his assertions when taken with ever so much reserve would
lead to the conclusion that the Africans have considerable moral
sense. Frobenius leaves no doubt that the Yorubans are a mixed people,
although certain degrees of mixtures of people are found everywhere;
and the fact that they are mixed alone will not vitiate the validity
of Yoruban civilization as a phase of African culture. Roscoe in
writing of the Baganda tribes has been as careful to impress us with
their blackness as Frobenius has been to indicate the Yoruban mixture.
He says: "Sex profligacy is open and thought to be no wrong. They
thought it no moral wrong to indulge the sex desire."[2] Yet Roscoe
further says: "The most stringent care was exercised by the king and
chiefs, but it proved inefficient to keep the sexes apart, while
horrible punishment meted out to the delinquents when caught seemed
to lend zest to the danger incurred."[3] The significant thing in
Roscoe's account is not the open sex profligacy but the "stringent
care exercised by kings and chiefs" and the "horrible punishment meted
out to offenders." After all, there is abundant evidence that even in
Baganda there is some ethical standard.
Roscoe continues: "Theft is not common among the people for they
were deterred from stealing by fear of punishment which was certain
to follow."[4] The very fact that there was fear of punishment is
indicative of some conception of social morality. Fear as a preventive
of crime is not the most commendable incentive to morality, but it
is one that must be employed in all civilizations; for man is first
an animal then a moral being. The fear referred to does not prove
that the Baganda has the highest type of morality, but it proves that
they have a type and this is significant for primitive peoples. The
low standard in anything may be prophetic of higher ones which are
approachable only by means of the lower ones as stepping stones. This
is true in art, science and religion. The fact that the Bagandas were
"hospitable and liberal and that real poverty did not exist"[5] shows
the presence of a social consciousness which in many ways evidences a
standard of ethics. According to Roscoe the thief was killed on the
spot, death for adultery was certain;[6] yet he attempts to maintain
his thesis as to their lack of morality in these words: "The moral
ideas of the people are crude, it was not wrongdoing but detection
that they feared; men were restrained from committing crimes through
fear of the power of the gods."[7] It is obvious that "detection" is
to be feared only where there are detectives and these are present
only when they have been called forth in response to some social
demands.
There is still other light to be turned on the ethical status of
the African tribes. Bent, more sympathetic towards the natives of
Mashonaland, delivers himself thus: "Not only has Khama established
his reputation for honesty; but he is supposed to have inoculated his
people with the same virtue. I must say that I looked forward with
great interest to seeing a man with so wide a reputation for integrity
and enlightenment as Khama in South Africa. Somehow one's spirit of
skepticism is on the alert on such occasions and especially when a
Negro is the case in point; and I candidly admit that I advanced
towards Palapwe fully prepared to find Ba Mangwato a rascal and
hypocrite and I left his capital after a week's stay there one of his
fervent admirers."[8] But Dent adds: "Doubtless on the traversed roads
and large centers where they are brought into contact with traders
and would-be civilizers of the race, these people become thieves and
vagabonds, but in their primitive state the Makalangas are naturally
honest, exceedingly courteous in manner."[9]
It is plain to the impartial critic that judged by our ethical
standards the peoples commended above would fall far short; but this
is no less true with the earliest civilization of historic times.
Standards not only vary from age to age but from people to people.
In arguing to support the thesis that in Africa the lowliest tribes
had some ethical standard, it is not necessary to prove that these
standards compare favorably or unfavorably with those of modern times.
Such is beside the question and with the testimony of the English
and German archaeologists before us we are safe in saying that the
African tribes had an ethical standard and thus the potentials of a
civilization based upon morality. Neither can it be proved that the
ethical standards of the tribes of Baganda, Mashonaland and Yoruba
are without worth because they differ in so many particulars from our
own. Later we shall attempt to show just why there is such disparity
between their ethics and ours. Furthermore, it is not necessary to
prove that ethical contacts with Europeans affords no basis for the
tribesmen but it is reasonable to suppose that the ethics of the
African tribes had possibilities the same as the earliest nations of
Europe and Asia; and if contacts with Europeans be argued against the
proposition that the Africans evolved an ethical standard, the same
argument may be used to bedim the glory of our own civilization.
We, therefore, contend that whatever possibilities lie with the people
who can evolve an ethical standard surely must lie with the African.
It is true that the happy faculty of coordinating ethics with ideals
has made nations great and civilizations splendid, and that such
faculty evidenced itself in the long-dark continent of Africa. The
principle of evolution is just as operative in the world of ethics
as in the world of physical sciences. Ethics must grow and outgrown
ethics is ethics notwithstanding. The most rabid critic does not deny
to Africa ethical origins, but such authorities as Tillinghast and
Beauvais would deny their practical worth. These men criticize the
standard rather than deny that there are ethical manifestations of
culture. Ellwood in his Sociology and Social Problems contends that
the regulation of sex relations has been the greatest achievement of
man. Granting the truth of this statement, we have evidences that the
African made desperate efforts to regulate sex relations both by a
kind of public opinion and by punishment; for Roscoe says: "It was
looked upon as a great disgrace to a family if a girl was with child
prior to marriage."[10] We are certain that there was "marriage" and
this itself is an indication that an attempt had been made to regulate
the all-important matter of sex. Roscoe further held that "the
marriage vow was binding."[11] Both those writers who commended the
ethics of the Africans and those who belittled their standard, then,
are essentially agreed to the fact of their ethics. Although there
were wide variations in the standards of different tribes, we are
abundantly justified in assuming that the ethics of the Africans was
as susceptible to improvement as our own. The more advanced standards
were prophetic of still more advanced ones.
II. ART
What a man admires is an infallible index to his innermost soul.
Whether in the adornment of some temple or the crude markings upon
primitive pottery, man is ever striving to express himself in his
labors. Strange to say that though the passion for self-expression
is dominant in human activities, the art of expression is still in
its infancy. We may divide human artifacts into two classes, namely,
those of utility and those of aestheticism. That the latter has a
form of utility we should in no case deny but as to the utility of
aesthetics we deem it beside the point here to discuss. When we use
the term "art" in this treatise it will have the specific meaning of
the attempt on the part of man to express his emotions; or his attempt
to satisfy the aesthetic cravings in the soul. That there are such
cravings is a fact which is universally conceded. That there are many
evidences of such attempts among all civilized lands none will deny.
That man's attempts at artistic expression is a criterion of his
civilization is an historic fact. There can be no civilization without
its concomitants of aesthetics. Man seeks beauty for beauty's sake,
and he alone of the animals gives evidence of such propensity to a
pronounced degree. In song, upon canvas, and in marble, humanity has
poured forth its innermost soul of sentiments inexpressibly sublime.
There is no passion, no object that has not at some time inflamed the
soul and moved some mortal to the abode of the gods.
What have the explorers in Darkest Africa found to indicate that
the Africans loved the beautiful? What have the Africans to show
as specimens of fine art? The music of Negro peoples has become
proverbial. In so far as song is an expression of aesthetic
propensities the African abundantly qualifies as a lover of art.
Whether the strength of a Wagner or the melody of a Beethoven; whether
the melody of a southern plantation or a concert in Symphony Hall, the
principle of the music is the same. The crude instruments of which
the explorer tells us are mute testimonials of the African's attempts
to express himself in song and music. There were to be found in the
Bagandaland, according to Roscoe, drums for dancing and the "royal"
drum was elaborately decorated, thus showing a combination of sight
and soul appreciation for beauty. He said that the harp and stringed
fife were also found in this same tribe. The pottery found in this
region was glazed and figures painted thereon indicated beyond doubt
artistic design of no mean order. The basketry had various figures
worked through the skillful manipulation of the bark fibres. Roscoe
asserts that polychrome paintings were much in evidence among the
Baganda tribes and their work in ivory corresponded favorably with
the same kind of work found in Europe during the Neolithic Age.
Whether fine art was indigenous is not a pertinent question but
the significant thing is that Roscoe found these tribes actually
giving expression to what seemed to be a well-developed sense of the
beautiful.
When Bent reached the ruined city of Zimbabwe, he found the natives
playing upon one-stringed instruments with gourds as resonators and
he avers that "the sound was plaintive if not sweet."[12] That a mode
of dress is primitive is no proof that it lacks taste and a subtle
refinement. This is amply illustrated by the striking beauty of
Egyptian costumes which now again grace the modern stage. Though four
thousand years have elapsed since Egypt basked in the pristine glory
that was hers, we have many evidences that what was pretty then is not
ugly now. This is no less true of the remnants of those who saw the
sun of glory shine upon Mashonaland. In remarking about their apparel
Roscoe is positive in the assertion that "their dress evidences taste
when not contaminated with a hybrid civilization."[13] Like the
Cretans, they displayed artistic tendencies to the extent the simplest
tool bore evidences of ornamentation. If such tendency in the Cretans
was indicative of the artistic temperament, a similar tendency in the
Africans must be similarly interpreted.
According to Roscoe, definite stages are well defined and can be
definitely traced in their paintings. At first the themes were things
and later they were men and the human body as a design for the artist
is clearly portrayed. There was a "breast and furrow" type of painting
that marked almost every object with which they had to do. The piano
with iron keys was very much like such instruments found in Egypt.
The Jews' harp was found in many quarters. There can be no doubt that
music had its place in the life of the Mashonaland. But music is a
fine art and its value lies largely if not wholly in its appeal to our
aesthetic natures. What can be the meaning of such evidences of love
of music among the African tribes? Can it not be interpreted as their
response to the appeal of the beautiful?
Of the great defensive walls of Zimbabwe Bent says: "The fort is
a marvel with its tortuous and well-guarded approaches; its walls
bristling with monoliths and round towers, its temple decorated with
tall weird-looking birds, its huge decorated bowls. The only parallel
that I have seen were the long avenues of menhirs near Carnac in
Brittany. One cannot fail to recognize the vastness and power of this
ancient race, their greatness of constructive ingenuity and their
strategic skill."[14] Of course, there is evidence that the present
inhabitants of those ruined cities were not the tribes that once ruled
mightily in these regions. Bent himself holds that such high culture
must have come from another people. The very fact that the present
population seems so far below the level of culture that once prevailed
there is the only evidence upon which Bent predicates his argument
that another race than the Negroes were the bearers of this great
culture. However, it is hardly probable that the level of culture
was foreign to the Negroes who lived in the palmy days of Zimbabwe.
There must have been an overlapping of cultures even if we grant
that another race produced the culture of this region. It is hardly
probable that a dominant race would have wholly abdicated in favor of
the natives and it is still less probable that the natives could have
dislodged a race so strongly fortified. It is highly probable that the
same race of people could have produced the peoples who occupied the
level of these two very different cultures. No one supposes that the
inhabitants of Athens today are equal to the Greeks of the days of
Pericles. Yet they are connected with the same great race.
Aside from the ancient walls and temples reputed to be the products
of a genius foreign to the tribes of today, Bent comments favorably
upon the art such as is the product of the modern inhabitant. With
regard to a beautiful bowl he says: "The work displayed in executing
these bowls, the careful rounding of edges, the exact execution of the
circle, the fine pointed tool marks and the subjects they chose to
depict point to a race having been far advanced in artistic skill."
Hunting scenes are numerous and in the processions of men, animals
are often put in to make for relief, sometimes a bird is introduced
for the same effect. It is quite singular that in one of the hunting
scenes the sportsman is a Hottentot. Sculptoring was usually done in
soapstone and the bird upon the post is a subject which is frequently
depicted. The drawings found by Bent in the Mazoe Valley were simple
yet beautifully executed. The magnificent hand-made pottery is
decorated in patterns of red and black which colors are obtained
from hemolite and plumbogo. If we turn with Bent to Mtokoland and
see in the Mtoko's kraal the drawings of the Bushmen, "we can trace
distinctly three different periods of execution. The first is crude
and now faint representation of unknown life; the second is deeper
in color and admirably executed and partly on top of this latter are
animals of the best period of this art in red and yellow. The third is
an inartistic representation of human beings which evidently belongs
to a period of decadence and in the execution of this work the colors
invariably are red, yellow and black."[15]
What significance has this manifestation of art? What coloring does
it give to the cultural development of Africa? It simply means that
the African like other peoples enjoys the finer sentiments that make
life worth living. Among the writers there is as much unanimity on the
question of African art as there is on African ethics. All told, it
goes to show that in the essentials of culture the tribes of Africa
are not entirely wanting and there are many close parallels between
the cultural development in Africa and that in Neolithic Europe. What
difference there is is one of degree and not of kind. While Lady
Lugard's work savored more of politics than of archaeology, it cannot
be doubted that her vote may be cast on the side of those who contend
that the cultural manifestations of the African are pronounced when
their background is considered. Though crude and rudimentary, though
often hidden beneath brutal superstitions, there is always a cultural
norm with brilliant possibilities for social betterment. At best we
can be no more than fundamentally right or fundamentally good, and
this lends color to the claim of the African to real culture.
III. GOVERNMENT
Much has been said about the feeble government which the African sets
up. More has been said of his innate inability in matters of civic
importance. The matter of government is important, for it is doubtful
if there can be any approach to any civilization worthy of the name
without some stable form of government. It is generally conceded that
the democratic form of government is the best developed stage of the
body politic; but this form even at present is far from realization.
While it is a great and inspiring ideal, its presupposition is that
people are capable of self-government and in many cases this is a
supposition that is not based on fact and cannot be corroborated in
practice. If democracy is the highest form, absolute monarchy may be
the lowest form. Yet monarchy is a form of government and despite
the low esteem in which it is held within recent years, it must
be admitted that for ages monarchical government was the guardian
and custodian of civilization. It is more necessary to have some
government than it is to have good government.
Africa is no exception to this rule. Frobenius goes so far as to
say that the government in the Yorubaland was fashioned after a
republic.[16] With superior and subordinate officials the Yorubans
had the semblance of an orderly government. There was the king with
a senate which filled the function of cabinet as well. At the court
were counsellors-at-law and attorneys for the state. Says Frobenius:
"Before the advent of Mohammedanism, forms of civilization of equal
value and significance must have been operative in the Soudan."[17]
"In fact," he continues, "the government was excellent and I was
delighted with the simple administration of the law and official
summary punishment in Makwa."[18] Of the Great Benin tribes Roth says:
"If theft is seldom heard of here, of murder we hear still less.[19]
When the Arabs first visited Negroland by the western route in the
eighth and ninth centuries of our era, they found the black kings
of Ghana in the height of their prosperity. But the black kings of
Ghana had long passed into oblivion when Edris, one of the greatest
kings of Bornu, was making gunpowder for the musketeers of his army
contemporary with Queen Elizabeth."[20]
El Bekri, a Spanish Arab and author of Tarikh-es-Soudan says of Mansa
Musa one of the nobles of Ghana: "He was distinguished by his ability
and holiness of life. The justice of his administration was such that
it still lives."[21] Three hundred years later a Songhay said of him:
"As a pious and equitable prince, he was unequalled for virtue and
uprightness."[22]
The duration of the Soudanese empires, moreover, will bear comparison
with that of others which are better known to fame. Ghana enjoyed an
independent existence of about eleven hundred years--that is, a period
nearly equivalent to the period of existence of the British Empire
from the abolition of the Saxon Heptarchy to the present day. Melle
which succeeded Ghana had a shorter national life of about two hundred
and fifty years. Songhay counted its kings in regular succession from
700 to 1591--a period which almost equals the life of the Roman
Empire from the foundation of the republic before the Christian era to
the downfall of the empire in the second half of the fifth century.
The duration of Bornu was less reputable.
The civilization represented by these empires was no doubt, if judged
by modern standards, exceedingly imperfect. "The principle of freedom,
as we understand it, was probably unknown; authority rested upon force
of arms; industrial life was based upon slavery; social life was
founded on polygamy. Side by side with barbaric splendor there was
primeval simplicity. Luxury for the few took the place of comforts
for the many. Study was devoted to what seems to us unprofitable
ends. Yet the fact that civilization, far in excess of anything which
the nations of northern Europe possessed at the earlier period of
Soudanese history, existed with stability enough to maintain empire
after empire through a known period of about 1500 years in a portion
of the world which mysteriously disappeared in the sixteenth century
from the comity of modern nations."[23]
Bent holds that "three hundred years before the Portuguese came to
this country the natives were ruled over by a chief with the dynastic
name of Nonomapata. From the evidence brought forward we are well
within the range of probability when we say that in various parts
of Africa there has been a very close approach to well-ordered
government dating from ancient days. That these governments are
non-existent today can not be laid to their discredit nor to their
faulty organization. It is a fact that the earth has not produced the
government that could very long defy the ravages of time. A journey
down the wreckstrewn highway of the ages will reveal the dry bones of
a thousand empires and it is not surprising that the humbler states of
Africa can be numbered among them. The fact that there are evidences
of decadent states in tribal Africa has its parallel in various parts
of Europe today."
We have shown that archaeological research has revealed that the
darkness in Africa has not been from time immemorial. We have found
that the "_quod novi ex Africa_" is obsolete in an archaeological
sense. We have brought forward testimony deduced from reliable sources
that Africa is not without an historic past. We have further shown
that in eastern, central and western Africa the natives not only
exhibit now these cultural manifestations, but also there is revealed
abundant evidence of a prehistoric culture that compares favorably
with the earlier cultures of Europe. We are candid enough to admit
that in standard the cultures of Africa are inferior to our own, but
we must also admit that the present high standards in our own ethics,
art and government have not always prevailed and that there is a past
to these standards which is not always assuring.
There is one question that demands an answer before we have concluded.
It is a question that is as reasonable as it is vexatious. Why have
not the nations of Africa kept pace with other mightier countries?
Why is Africa at present suffering political dissection which
would have been impossible had she fully developed the cardinal
elements of ethics, art and government? Why is there no help for her
dismemberment which constitutes the pity of the age? The answer to
these questions is obvious when we shall have considered, first, one
of the fundamental propositions in human psychology. The rise of one
nation may hinder the rise of the other. It is not improbable that an
accentuated civilization in Europe might have retarded civilization
in Africa. We do know that the slave trade had a tremendous effect
on their fortunes. When once a group makes unusual progress and by
its ambition destroys the bridge over which it passed, it cannot
be doubted that its ambitions considerably alter the fortunes of
others at its mercy. Lady Lugard cannot be gainsaid when she asserts
thus with regard to the slave trade: "Through the chaos of these
conflicting interests, the practice of slave-raiding, carried on
alike by the highest and lowest, ran like the poison of a destructive
sore, destroying every possibility of peaceful and prosperous
development."[24]
There may be further asked the question why did not Africa rise as did
the other peoples and make her exploitation impossible. We are forced
to turn from social to natural factors. The geography of Europe is
quite different from that of Africa. When wave after wave of migrants
left the Iranian plains and turned west and east and south, it is
clear that those who turned into Africa had an endless journey before
them ere they had to the margin come. Of great mountain ranges there
were none. On the monotonous plains of Africa the cultural extensions
must have been horizontal. The races that went into Europe were more
quickly stayed in their onward march by the coldness of the north. Not
only this but they were in the midst of a mountainous country where
tribes and peoples could drift into human eddies and there remain
out of the current of human activities for ages. Not only might they
remain aloof from the busy thoroughfare of migrating myriads but
within each eddy there was the possibility of a growth in culture in
its simpler aspects. By and by, the culture of one eddy was crossed
with the culture of other eddies that had developed in other cultural
directions or farther in the same direction. In time there was by
reason of the northern limit of Europe a rebound of the population
and this was also a rebound of cultures. The various crosses and
modification of cultures made it more probable that civilized progress
would be accelerated. The culture of Europe was, by reason of the
physical geography, a heterogeneous culture, while that of Africa was
necessarily homogeneous in view of the geography of that continent.
In support of my contention I refer to Ripley who says: "The
remarkable prehistoric civilization of Italy is due to the union of
cultures, one from Hallstatt region having entered from the west
via the Danube, the other coming from the southeast by sea being
distinctly Mediterranean. From the fusion of these cultures came the
Umbrian and Etruscan civilizations." Ripley further contends that the
ancient high civilization of Mesopotamia was possible because it was
a point of convergence of immigration and invasion. Civilization has
always been accentuated at points where cultures could cross.[25]
There are few or none such points in Africa; hence the retardation
of cultures there. As Lady Lugard said, the slave trade aggravated
the cultural disadvantages which grew out of the physical geography
of Africa, and because of its monotony of environment there has been
little or no cross fertilization of cultures, the indispensable
requisite to cultural development.[26]
GORDON BLAINE HANCOCK
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Frobenius, _The Voice of Africa_, 673.
[2] _Baganda, Their Customs and Beliefs_, 10.
[3] _Ibid._
[4] Roscoe, _Baganda_, 12.
[5] _Ibid._, 120.
[6] _Ibid._, 263.
[7] _Ibid._, 267.
[8] Bent, _Mashonaland_, 22.
[9] _Ibid._, 53.
[10] Roscoe, _The Baganda_, 79.
[11] _Ibid._
[12] Bent, _Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_, 18.
[13] _Ibid._, 37.
[14] Bent, _Ruined Cities of Mashonaland_, 113.
[15] _Ibid._, 292.
[16] Frobenius, _Voice of Africa_, 180.
[17] _Ibid._, 360.
[18] _Ibid._, 388.
[19] Roth, _Great Benin_, 86.
[20] _Ibid._, 82.
[21] Roth, _Great Benin_, 128.
[22] _Ibid._, 129.
[23] _Ibid._, 217.
[24] Lugard, _A Tropical Dependency_.
[25] Ripley, _Races of Europe_.
[26] Lugard, _A Tropical Dependency_.
METHODISM AND THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES
The first converted Negro Methodist was baptized by John Wesley.
November 29, 1758, he wrote in his diary: "I rode to Wandsworth, and
baptized two Negroes belonging to Mr. Gilbert, a gentleman lately
from Antigua. One of these was deeply convinced of sin; the other is
rejoicing in God, her savior, and is the first African Christian I
have known. But shall not God, in his own time, have these heathen
also for his inheritance?"[1] Eight years later (1766) the first
Methodist congregation of five met in the private house of Philip
Embury, in New York. One of that number was Betty, a Negro servant
girl.
In 1816, fifty years after that first service in New York, the
Methodists in the United States numbered 214,235 communicants. Of
these 171,931 were white and 42,304, or nearly one-fourth, were
Negroes. Two interesting facts are, that of these 42,304 Negro
members, 30,000 or nearly three-fourths were in the South, and
gathered principally from the slave population.[2]
These figures indicate the faithfulness of early Methodism to the
Negro, whether bond or free. These words and spirit of Freeborn
Garrettson only illustrate those of Coke, Asbury, and their
associates. Under divine guidance, Garrettson had freed his slaves.
He says: "I often set apart times to preach to the blacks, ... and
precious moments have I had, while many of their sable faces were
bedewed with tears, their withered hands of faith stretched out, and
their precious souls made white in the blood of the Lamb."[3]
In 1786 Asbury organized the first Sunday School in the United States
in the house of David Crenshaw, Maryland.[4] Both Negro and white
youth attended. One of the first converts in that school was a Negro,
John Charleston, who afterwards became a noted preacher.[5] Four years
later the Conference provided for Sunday Schools for white and black
children, with text books and volunteer teachers; and all ministers
were directed to use diligence in gathering the sons and daughters
of Ham into societies, and administer among them full discipline of
the church. In 1800 the ordination of Negroes was authorized. Where
the colored membership was large, and it was desired, especially in
the cities and larger towns, separate services and churches were
provided. The policy of the church, as to the association of the races
in worship, is indicated by the following from the report of the Board
of Missions in South Carolina, in 1832: "As a general rule for our
circuits and stations, we deem it best to include the colored people
in the same pastoral charge with the whites, and to preach to both
classes in one congregation, as our practice has been. The gospel is
the same to all men, and to enjoy its privileges in common promotes
good-will."[6] There were many eminently successful Negro local
preachers, whose services were very acceptable to white congregations.
During these first fifty years all the Negro societies or classes were
under the direct care of white churches and pastors.
At the close of the first half century of Methodism in America what
is known as African Methodism had its beginning. Difficulties arose
as to church seating and pastoral service, and in New York there was
dissatisfaction concerning proposed legislation on church property.
The outcome was a distinct and successful movement in favor of
separate Negro Methodist denominations. At Wilmington, Delaware, in
1813, the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church was organized.
In 1815 the African Methodist Episcopal Church had its beginning in
Philadelphia and five years later the African Methodist Episcopal Zion
Church was organized in New York. The conviction underlying these
separate Negro denominations is, that there is less opportunity for
friction on account of race prejudice, whether among whites or blacks,
and freer and better opportunities for the development of self-help
and racial capabilities.[7]
The organization of African Methodism, independent of white control
or association, in the North, was the most striking event previous
to 1844, when the white Methodist hosts, North and South, were to be
divided. In the South the chief event of interest, outside of faithful
work of itinerants in preaching to the slave population in connection
with regular pastorates, was the successful founding of plantation
missions. Thus far the converts had been chiefly among the more
favored or house-servant class. Beyond these were vast multitudes,
probably four-fifths of the two million slaves of that day, where
intellectual and moral paganism reigned. Philanthropists, both in and
outside of the various churches, saw and recognized the necessity of
some movement beyond the regular church work, to carry the blessings
of Christian civilization into the gloom of this darker Africa in
America. Methodists led in this important work.
The plan adopted was to send missionaries to the plantations, to
be supported by the planters themselves, who were friendly to the
work. Doctor (afterwards Bishop) Capers was the apostle of this
forward movement. The importance of these efforts of this churchman
are attested on a modest stone over the grave of the Bishop, at
Columbia, South Carolina, by these words, "Founder of Missions to the
Slaves." Under his guidance heroic itinerants were found to brave
the dangers of disease and bodily discomfort, and go into the swamps
and plantation cabins on a mission as holy as that which sent Cox to
Africa and Carey to India. Not a few of them died as martyrs, but the
places of those who fell were quickly filled. Volunteers would arise
in the annual conferences and say to the Bishops, "Here are we, send
us." This language is one of a sample of all: "We court no publicity;
we seek no gain; we dread no sickness in going after the souls of
these blacks for whom Christ died. If we may save some of them from
going down to the pit, and succeed in pointing their steps to the
heavenly city, all will be well."[8]
The greatest success was in South Carolina, where, in 1839, at the
end of ten years, seventeen missionaries were employed. There were 97
appointments, embracing 234 plantations and 6,556 church members, to
whom preaching and the sacraments were regularly given. They had also
under regular catechetical instruction 25,025 Negro children.
In 1844, when the division of American Methodism became inevitable,
these plantation missions were in the full tide of success. They were
maintained and rejoiced in by the whole Methodist Episcopal Church.
Their chief support, however, came from Methodists and other friends
in the South. In the year mentioned there were 68 missions in nine
of the Southern States, with 80 missionaries and 22,063 members. In
that year, white southern conferences paid $22,379.25 to this work.
It is estimated that the conferences in the South gave for this cause
$200,000 during fifteen years, up to 1844.[9]
The "Brother in Black," however, brought the republic an irrepressible
conflict, ending in frightful civil war. So, too, it must be said,
that in Methodism, for nearly a century Negro slavery was the occasion
of discussion and legislation, and at last of division, which Calhoun
considered the beginning of the dismemberment of the Union. Methodism
grew with the colonies, and at the close of the American Revolution
had 84 preachers and 15,000 members in its societies. It was the
first organized American church that officially gave its benediction,
through Washington, to the young republic. Its spirit and itinerant
system kept its organizations on the front wave of every movement
of population. Its mission was salvation to rich and poor alike,
regardless of race. Its only test of membership was "a sincere desire
to flee from the wrath to come." Peoples of every station in life,
bond and free, educated and illiterate, rich and poor, political
friends and antagonists, were alike attracted by the impassioned
appeals of her apostolic missionaries. Her form of government brought
into annual and quadrennial conferences all questions of polity or
principle involved in administration. Other churches might relegate
important questions of discipline to individual societies; Methodism
could not. Every important matter must be settled by a majority vote
of representatives of the whole church.
On doctrines there were no divisions. Not so as to questions
relating to African slavery. As to the abstract right and wrong
of that institution, for many years there was but little division
among Methodists. Later some in the South talked of the "divine
institution," and occasionally a Northern man claimed that a Christian
might buy and sell slaves without sin. The legislation of the church,
however, was clear and explicit to this effect: "Slavery is contrary
to the laws of God and man, and wrong and hurtful to society." All
buying and selling of slaves, then, was forbidden.[10] Gradually the
irrepressible conflict began in the church. The Northern section more
and more taught that slavery was wrong, and could in no way be excused
or tolerated by the church of Christ, without partaking of its sin.
The South held that slavery was a civil institution, approved by the
word of God, and that the church was not responsible for its existence
or its abuses. The duty of the church in its relation to slavery was
taught to be loyalty to civil government, as represented by national
and State laws, and to give the gospel as far as possible to both
master and slave.
For more than half a century the largest growth of the church had been
in the Southern States, and Southern views as to slavery modified
legislation in relation to that institution. On the other hand, with
the development of the West and Northwest, the balance of legislative
influence shifted northward until in the historic General Conference
of 1844, Bishop Andrews of Georgia, having become related to slavery
by marriage, was requested by a vote of 111 to 69 "to desist from
the exercise of his episcopal office so long as this impediment
remained."[11] Then followed the inevitable division, and the
organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Only seventeen
years later the Civil War began and Southern Methodist hosts gave
their sympathies, prayers, votes, money and sons to the Army of Gray;
while Methodists in the North, to quote the words of Lincoln, "sent
more prayers to heaven and soldiers to the field" for the Army in
Blue, than any other Christian church. Thus may people of God of like
faith have diverse consciences and differ, first, in sentiment and
policies, then in conviction and duty, and at last prayerfully face
each other at the cannon's mouth in deadly combat.
The years from 1844 to 1846 were indeed momentous in the history of
the American Methodism in its relation to the Negro. That little
company of five in New York in seventy-eight years had in 1845 come to
be a multitude of 1,139,583 communicants, whose presence and spiritual
energy were felt in every community of the republic, North, South,
East and West. Of that membership, 150,120 were Negroes, chiefly
in the South, and mostly gathered from among the slave population.
But now there was to be division, the North to be more and more
anti-slavery and the South to be more and more pro-slavery.
Then followed three Methodist divisions as related to the Negro:
First, the African organizations already mentioned, with their chief
strength in the Eastern States; and second, the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, with a total membership of 447,961 in 1846. Of these
118,904 were Negro slaves with few exceptions. This church occupied
all the territory of the Southern States exclusively, except along the
border. Methodists in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the District
of Columbia, including the Baltimore and part of the Philadelphia
Annual Conferences, and also many members along the border farther
west, did not join in the Southern movement. In the third place, then,
there remained in the Methodist Episcopal Church still (1846) a total
membership of 644,558. Of these 30,516 were Negroes, of whom about
20,000 were slaves.
The following twenty years were crowded with far-reaching events in
church and state, as affecting the Negro. Each of the three divisions
of Methodism had its place according to its convictions during that
twenty years of agitation and war. The distinctly Negro organizations
in the North, while having slaves in their own communions, were, of
course, anti-slavery in principle, and sought in every way to advance
the cause of abolitionism. Outside of Maryland and Delaware they
had no churches in the South, except one in New Orleans and one in
Louisville. A church organized in Charleston was driven out, after an
attempted Negro insurrection. Permission was given by the mayor of St.
Louis to one of its ministers to preach in that city, but the permit
was afterwards recalled on learning the sentiments of his church.[12]
During this period of twenty years the Methodist Episcopal Church had
wonderful growth throughout the North and West in membership, church
buildings, publishing interests, educational institutions, and in
social and moral power. Her entire membership rose from 644,294 to
1,032,184. Her Negro membership, however, steadily declined. In 1846
it numbered, as we have seen, 30,516, while in 1865 at the close of
the Civil War there were only 18,139. Shut away from the large Negro
populations of the South, and confronted with aggressive African
Methodism among the smaller Negro population in the North calling
for separation from the whites in ecclesiastical organization and
government, the field of operation of the Methodist Episcopal Church
was necessarily proscribed among Africa's sons and daughters. She was,
however, faithful to her trust and retained her Negro membership in
church and conference relations, and, as the years went by, became
more and more permeated with sentiments of antagonism to slavery, both
as related to the church and the nation.
To this branch of Methodism, moreover, belongs the honor of
establishing the first Methodist institution of higher learning
for the education of colored people. In 1855 the Cincinnati Annual
Conference appointed the Rev. John F. Wright as agent "to take
incipient steps for a college for colored people." In two years
Wilberforce University, near Xenia, Ohio, was established, with
fifty-two acres of land and large and commodious buildings. The next
year the Visiting Committee of the Conference reported the school in a
flourishing condition, and said: "The examinations showed conclusively
that the minds of the present class of students are capable of a very
high degree of cultivation." Under the presidency of Rev. R. S. Rust
the school was successful until financial embarrassment compelled
suspension in 1863. One reason given was the War, and the consequent
difficulty of obtaining funds from the South. From the beginning, the
friendly co-operation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was
encouraged and received. Fortunately the leaders of that denomination
were able to assume the indebtedness which was a nominal sum as
compared with the value of the property. The lands and buildings
were transferred with the good wishes and prayers of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, ministry, and people, and Wilberforce University
became, and continues to be, the chief educational center of African
Methodism in the United States.[13]
Freed from all embarrassments from connectional relations with
abolition sentiment the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, prospered
in its way. Her territory was rapidly extending westward and
southwestward, population and wealth were increasing, and slavery
being embedded in the national and state constitutions, pro-slavery
sentiment prevailed without question. Her total membership from
1846 to 1861 advanced from 449,654 to 703,295. This was, in fifteen
years, an increase of 162,749. Dividing this increase by races, we
find that among white people the growth was from 330,710 in 1846 to
493,459 in 1861, being an increase of 162,749. During the same period
the Negro membership went from 118,904 to 209,836, being an increase
of 90,932. Efforts to increase the slave membership in connection
with the regular charges were continued with encouraging results,
and the plantation mission work among the slaves was prosecuted
with gratifying success. The largest figures were reached in 1861,
when there were 329 Negro missions throughout the South, with 327
missionaries and 66,559 members. It is estimated that the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, from 1844 to 1864, when freedom came,
expended $1,800,000 in plantation work among the slaves.[14]
The sudden emancipation of almost 4,000,000 Negro slaves meant new and
tremendous responsibilities for the loyal and philanthropic people of
the Northern States. The churches and benevolent organizations of the
South had all shared largely in the demoralization caused by the Civil
War, and were without financial resources. Neither was it reasonable
to expect that the Southern people would do for free Negroes what they
had done for them when slaves, much less enter upon the absolutely
necessary missionary movement, to prepare the newly enfranchised for
the responsibilities incident to freedom.
For more than half a century, outside of what the general and State
governments have done or attempted to do, the tide of philanthropic
and Christian aid for the Negro has gone Southward, and will continue
as long as needed. How many million dollars have been expended by
churches, educational boards and individual philanthropists has not
been computed. Neither has anyone attempted to measure the results
of the work of the many consecrated men and women, who have given
and are still giving their lives for the uplift of the Negro race
since emancipation. The results are manifest. Already the advance of
this people since freedom in morality, intellectual development and
economic success has no parallel, in the same time, in the history of
any other race.
The Methodist Episcopal Church and the two large branches of African
Methodism were in the fore-front of this movement from the beginning.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church had at first its chief increase
in the South along the Atlantic Coast, especially in South Carolina
and Florida. Bishop Arnett, the statistician of that denomination,
estimates that 75,000 of the Negro membership of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, transferred their church relations to that
denomination. The African Zion Church as a factor in the South had its
beginning in North Carolina and Alabama. It is estimated that at least
25,000 of the Southern Negro members united with this branch. Both of
these sections of African Methodism have continued to prosecute their
work of evangelization and education throughout the South, as well as
the North, and continue powerful factors in the evangelistic forces of
American Methodism as related to the Negro. In 1921-22 the membership
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church was 550,776; and that of the
African M. E. Zion Church was 412,328.[15]
The policy of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, toward the Negro
Freedmen took definite form in 1866. At the General Conference held
that year at New Orleans, provision was made for the organization
of its remaining Negro membership into "separate congregations and
districts, and annual conferences." If the colored people should
desire, and two or more Negro annual conferences be formed, a separate
ecclesiastical autonomy would be granted. The reasons for the
organization of this new separate Negro Methodism are given in its
Book of Discipline over the signature of its first four Bishops. They
say that the Southern Methodist Conference "found that, by revolution
and the fortunes of war, a change had taken place in our political and
social relations, which made it necessary that a like change should
also be made in our ecclesiastical relations." The result was that, in
1871, the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of America was organized
to be composed exclusively of Negroes, and officered entirely by
members of this race. Here we have the beginning of a third large
section of African Methodism. The new organization started with 80,000
members made up of nearly all who still remained in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South.
It would be very interesting to speculate as to the probable results,
could the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, have continued its work
among the Freedmen, which it had for years carried forward with such
excellent results among the slaves. But it is no part of this paper to
criticize or philosophize. This branch of Methodism, second in numbers
and influence in the nation, with all but 30,000 of its members in
the South, now has 2,239,151 members, a few of whom are Negroes.
Commencing with 1883, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, took
definite and forward steps for the education of the Negro. A Board
of Trustees was appointed in co-operation with the Colored Methodist
Episcopal Church. In 1884, Paine Institute was founded at Augusta,
Georgia, and contributions of over $90,000 have been contributed to
that school. Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee, has also been aided.
The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church has seven schools with an
enrollment of 2,509 and an annual income of $113,830. Fifty-seven
students of theology are taught in two schools and college courses are
offered in several of their institutions.
We have yet to speak of the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
When freedom came, as we have seen, this church had (1864) 18,139
Negro members principally in Maryland, Delaware and adjacent
territory. The Negro membership in this branch of Methodism now (1923)
in the United States is 385,444.
As the way opened during and following the Civil War to reach the
masses of the South both white and Negro, the Methodist Episcopal
Church extended its work of reorganization southward among both
races. Her Bishops and other church officials organized missions and
conferences and opened up schools. Each benevolent society of the
church aided financially. The support of pastors was supplemented
by the Missionary Society; the Board of Church Extension aided in
building houses of worship; the Sunday School Union and Tract Society
gave their co-operation, and the Freedmen's Aid and the Southern
Educational Society, now the Board of Education for Negroes, and the
Woman's Home Missionary Society developed the educational work. In
1864, the Negro work in Maryland, Delaware and adjacent territories
was organized into the Washington and Delaware Annual Conferences.
In the other border States where the Negro membership was small,
the preachers with their congregations were admitted into white
conferences. With unwavering and magnificent purpose for over half a
century, with fraternity and co-operation for all other churches in
the same field, and impelled by a conviction of duty to needy millions
irrespective of race, this branch of Methodism has gone forward with
its work of education and evangelization irrespective of race. The
results have been very remarkable. The white membership has grown on
what was slave territory from 87,804 in 1860 to 475,641 in 1922; while
the Negro membership in the same territory has increased from 18,139
in 1864 to 370,477 in 1922.
Following the wishes of both races the policy of separate conferences,
churches and schools has been carried out in the South. There are
several strong Negro churches in white conferences in the North. The
New Conference elected Dr. W. H. Brooks, one of its Negro pastors, a
delegate to the General Conference in 1920. The Methodist Episcopal
Church has thirty-seven annual conferences in the Southern States
with properties in parsonages, churches, schools of different grades,
hospitals, and the like valued at $63,495,130.00. In 1856 the property
of this church of all kinds in the same territory was less than
$2,000,000. Seventeen of these conferences include the work among
white people, and nineteen, the work among Negroes; and each group of
conferences covers the Southern States from Delaware to Texas.
The twenty annual conferences in the South among Negroes have
properties in parsonages and churches valued at $19,767,430. There
are also thirty-two Negro institutions of learning in these twenty
conferences with enrollment of 8,868 and lands with buildings and
equipment valued at $6,522,642. The outstanding professional and
collegiate institutions for Negroes are Gammon Theological Seminary,
Atlanta, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, and colleges in several
of the principal cities of the South. The total church properties
named above, in Negro Methodist Conferences of the Methodist
Episcopal Church on former slave territory, is $25,218,230.00. These
conferences raised $1,500,000 during three years from 1870 to 1872 for
general church work at home and in foreign fields outside of pastoral
and other local church expenses.[16]
There is no separation on account of race in annual conferences,
churches or schools in the Methodist Episcopal Church, except as
desired and requested by those interested. As the result of many
petitions and extended discussions the General Conference, which met
in 1876, in Baltimore, passed a law that the annual conferences in the
Southern States which had both Negro and white members could separate,
provided each group voted in favor of it. Under this action with few
exceptions the division was made, where desired. The same law prevails
in reference to churches and schools. The nineteen Negro conferences
have ninety-two delegates in the General Conference, the law-making
body for the whole church. These delegates have representation in all
legislation. One or more Negro ministers or laymen are on each of the
general boards of the church--publication, education, missions--home
and foreign, Epworth League, and the like. Nearly a score of able and
effective Negro men and women are official representatives of the
general church boards in their work among the Negro conferences.
Six Negroes have been elected bishops in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Four were missionary bishops, with full episcopal authority on
the continent of Africa. Of these Bishop Scott remains and is on the
retired list. In their fields these bishops were not subordinate but
coordinate with general superintendents. Their episcopal work was of
the same type as that of William Taylor, James Thoburn, Oldham, Warne,
and Hartzell, white missionary bishops in Africa and India.
The General Conference in 1920 elected Robert E. Jones and Matthew W.
Clair general superintendents. The former has his episcopal residence
in New Orleans and the latter in Liberia. They preside in turn at the
semiannual conferences of the Board of Bishops and will preside at the
General Conference in 1924.
The great mass of Negro Christians in the United States will continue
to prefer churches made up of their own race. This is natural and
on the whole the best for many reasons. On the other hand, the door
of every church of Christ should be open for all. At present in
twenty-nine white Protestant churches in the United States with a
total membership of over 4,000,000, there are 579,690 Negro members.
Nearly three-fourths of that membership are in the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
The total Negro Methodist Church membership in the United States is
1,756,714. Of that number 1,330,409 are in the African Methodist
Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion and the Colored
Methodist Episcopal Churches; 385,444 in the Methodist Episcopal
Church and 41,961 in seven smaller African bodies. If we multiply
the total membership by 2-1/2 we have 4,557,117, which represents,
approximately, the enrolled membership and constituency of Negro
Methodism in the United States.
JOSEPH C. HARTZELL.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The fact that John Wesley organized a Sunday-school in Savannah,
Ga., in 1736, is recorded on a bronze tablet seen near the entrance of
the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral in Savannah.
[2] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference._
[3] Matlack, _Slavery and Methodism_, 29. Coke's _Journal_, 12, 13-14.
[4] One celebrated Negro, known as "Black Harry," was Bishop Asbury's
travelling companion. When for any reason the Bishop could not fill an
appointment the people were pleased to hear him. Matlack, _Methodism_,
29.
[5] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1832._
[6] _Ibid._
[7] Arnett, _Budget_; Woodson, _History of the Negro Church_, chapter
IV.
[8] Wightman, _Life of William Capers_, 295-296.
[9] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1844._
[10] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1784_; McTyeire, _History
of Methodism_, 28.
[11] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1844._
[12] Tanner, _African Methodism_, 72.
[13] _Special Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education_, 1871,
pp. 372-373.
[14] _Minutes of the Methodist Conference._
[15] The A. M. E. Church has Wilberforce University, Xenia, Ohio, with
enrollment of 1,070 and an annual income of $145,000. This church
has ten other schools with an enrollment of 4,448, several of which
have college classes. The total annual income of all these schools is
$309,820.00. There are also theological classes at several centers
with total enrollment of 156.
The A. M. E. Z. Church has seven schools with an attendance of 2,128
and an annual income of $43,331.00. The leading school of this church
is Livingstone College in North Carolina, with an attendance of 504
students and an annual income of $13,633.
[16] Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga., has seven professors,
142 students, buildings and equipment $145,000 and an endowment of
$500,000. Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn., ranks A among
medical colleges in the United States, has 43 teachers, 646 students,
$350,000 in grounds and equipment and $560,000 in endowments and has
graduated two thirds or more of the Negro physicians, dentists and
pharmacists in the United States. Eleven colleges under the Board of
Education for Negroes has 248 teachers; an enrollment of 4,326. Only a
small proportion are below the eighth grade in scholarship.
NOTES ON THE SLAVE IN NOUVELLE-FRANCE
The French Canadian historian, François-Xavier Garneau, in his
_Histoire du Canada_, says: "Nous croyons devoir citer ici une
résolution qui honore le gouvernement français: c'est celle qu'il
avait prise de ne pas encourager l'introduction des esclaves en
Canada, cette colonie que Louis XIV préférait à toutes les autres à
cause du caractère belliqueux de ses habitants; cette colonie qu'il
voulait former à l'image de la France, couvrir d'une brave noblesse
et d'une population vraiment nationale, catholique, française sans
mélange de races. En 1688, il fût proposé d'y avoir des nègres pour
faire la culture. Le ministère répondit qu'il craignait qu'ils n'y
périssent par le changement de climat et que le projet ne fût inutile.
Cela anéantit pour ainsi dire une entreprise qui aurait frappé notre
société d'une grande et terrible plaie. Il est vrai que dans le siècle
suivant, on étendit à la Louisiane le code noir des Antilles; il est
vrai qu'il y eut ici des ordonnances sur la servitude: neanmoins
l'esclavage ne régnait point en Canada: à peine y voyait-on quelques
esclaves lors de la conquête. Cet événement en accrut un peu le nombre
un instant; ils disparurent ensuite tout à fait."[1]
In another place speaking of the proposal of Denonville, the Governor,
and De Champigny, the Intendant, at Quebec, in 1688 to introduce
Negro slaves by reason of the scarcity and dearness of domestic and
agricultural labor, and the refusal in 1689 of the minister to permit,
Garneau says: "C'était assez pour faire échouer une entreprise,
qu'aurait greffé sur notre société grande et terrible plaie paralyse
la force d'une portion considerable de l'Union Americaine,
l'esclavage, cette plaie inconnue sous notre ciel du Nord."[2]
This language has been considered by some--rather heedlessly be it
said--to indicate that Garneau thought that Negro slavery did not
exist in French Canada, but a careful examination of his actual words
will show that he denied only the prevalence "l'esclavage ne régnait
point en Canada," not the existence. Slavery was not so widespread
in Canada as to become a curse, "a great and terrible plague,"
"paralyzing energy."
If there were any doubt as to the existence of Negro (and other)
slavery in Canada before the British Conquest, it would be dispelled
by the document printed in the latest Report of the Archivist of
the Province of Quebec.[3] These are Notarial Acts (Actes notariés)
preserved in the Archives at Quebec and are of undoubted authenticity;
they range from September 13, 1737 to August 15, 1795, the first 14
being before the capture of Quebec in 1759, the last 3 after that
event.
The first document is the sale of a Negro[4] called Nicolas by Joseph
de la Tesserie, S. de la Chevrotière, ship-captain, to François
Vederique of Quebec, ship-captain, for 300 livres.[5] The Negro was
about 30 years of age and the Act was passed before midday, September
13, 1757.
The fourth, September 25, 1743, evidences a sale of five Negro
slaves, two men and three women and girls[6] then in the house of "la
dame Cachelièvre," the vendor being Charles Réaume, merchant of l'Isle
Jésus near Montreal, the purchaser Louis Cureux dit Saint-Germain, for
3000 livres.
The seventh, January 27, 1748, is the sale of a Negro[7] slave called
Robert, 26 to 27 years of age, by Damelle Marie-Anne Guérin, widow
of Nicolas Jacquin Philibert, merchant of Quebec, to Pierre Gautier,
sieur de la Veranderie, for 400 livres in cash or bills payable by the
Treasurer of the Navy having currency in the country as money--the
Negro to be delivered on the first demand "avec seulement les hardes
qu'il se trouvera avoir lors de la livraison et trois chemises."[8]
The eighth, June 6, 1749, evidences the sale by Amable-Jean-Joseph
Came, Esquire, sieur de St. Aigne, officer in the troops in Quebec
(a detachment from the troops of L'Isle Royale), to Claude Pécaudy,
Esquire, sieur de Contrecoeur, Captain of the troops (a detachment of
the Navy) in garrison at Montreal, of a Negro woman, Louison, about 17
years old, for 1000 livres.
The tenth, May 26, 1751, gives us the sale by Jacques Damien of Quebec
to Louis Dunière, Jr., of a Negro, Jean Monsaige "pour le servir en
qualité d'esclave," for 500 livres. But as "le dit nègre paraissant
absent du jour d'hier soir, pour par le dit ... Denière disposer du
dit nègre comme chose à luy appartenant le prenant le dit ... Dunière
sur ses risques, périls et fortune, sans que le dit ... Dunière puisse
tenir à aucune" and it is expressly provided "le dit ... Damiens sic
cède, quitte et transporte au dit ... Dunière sans aucune garantie
le dit nègre pour par le dit ... Dunière en disposer ainsy qu'il
avisera." What a tragedy lies underneath these words![9]
The thirteenth, May 4, 1757, is a sale by Estienne Dassier, formerly
Captain in the Navy, then living "en sa maison, rue de Buade,"
Quebec, to Ignace-François Delzenne, merchant-goldsmith, living "en
sa maison, rue de la Montagne," of a Negro, Pierre, about 18 years
of age, whom the purchaser had had in his house since the previous
November. The Negro is sold for 1192 livres, 600 in cash, 592 in a
fortnight, whatever happens to the Negro who is now to be at the risk
of Delzenne, the purchaser. The purchaser as security hypothecates all
his property movable and immovable. He also expresses his knowledge of
and satisfaction with the condition of the Negro.[10] On July 1, 1757,
Dassier acknowledges payment of the 592 livres.
These are all sales of Negros during the French regime; there are two
instances of sales of Mulattoes in this period, but there are five of
the sale of Indian slaves, Panis (fem. Panise).[11]
The second act, September 14, 1737, is the sale by Hugues Jacques
Péan, Seigneur of Livaudière, Chevalier of the Military Order of St.
Louis, Town Major of Quebec, to Joseph Chavigny de la Chevrotière,
captain and proprietor of the ship _Marie-Anne_ then in the roads
of Quebec, of an Indian girl Thérèse of the Renarde Nation, about
thirteen or fourteen, and not baptized.[12] The purchaser had seen
her, admitted her soundness in life and limb (le connait pour être
same et n'être estropiée en aucune façon) and paid 350 livres for
her. The vendor was to keep the "sauvagesse" until the departure of
the purchaser, not later than the end of the coming month, but not to
guarantee against accident, sickness or death, binding himself only to
treat her humanely and as he had been doing.
The third, October 1, 1737, gives the sale by Augustin Bailly, Cadet
in the troops of the marine residing ordinarily at Saint-Michel in
the Parish of Saint-Anne de Varennes, to Joseph de Chavigny de la
Chevrotiètre, Sieur de la Tesserie,[13] Captain in the Navy, of an
Indian (male) of the Patoqua Nation, age not given, bought by Bailly
on the ninth of May preceding from Jean-Baptiste Normandin dit
Beausoleil according to a contract passed before Loyseau, Notary at
Montreal. The price was 350 livres, 250 in money and 100 paid with
two barrels (barriques) of molasses.[14]
The ninth is the sale, September 27, 1749, by Jean-Baptiste Auger,
merchant of Montreal but then in Quebec, to Joseph Chavigny, Sieur
de la Tesserie, of an Indian girl (une panise) of about 22 years of
age named and called Joseph for baptism, price 400 livres, Island
money,[15] which the purchaser promises and agrees to send to be
invested in pepper (?) and coffee for the account and at the risk of
the vendor, Auger, by the first ship leaving Martinique for Canada,
the pepper (?) and coffee to be addressed by the purchaser, de la
Tesserie, to Voyer, a merchant at Quebec for the account of Auger.
De la Tesserie hypothecates all his goods as security. The eleventh,
November 4, 1751, is the sale by Jacques-François Daguille, merchant,
of Montreal but then in Quebec, to Mathieu-Theodoze de Vitre, Captain
in the Navy, of an Indian girl (une panise) about ten or eleven,
called Fanchon but not yet baptized,[16] price 400 livres cash.
The twelfth, September 8, 1753, sale by Marie-Josephe Morisseaux, wife
and agent of Gilles Strouds of Quebec, then at Nontagamion, to Louis
Philippe Boutton, Captain of the Snow,[17] _Picard_, of an Indian girl
(une sauvagesse panise de nation nommée Catiche) of about twenty years
of age, price 700 livres payable on delivery, "with her clothes and
linen as they all are."
The fifth, December 27, 1744, is a contract by Jean-Baptiste Vallée of
Quebec, rue de Sault-au-Matelot, the owner of a Negro, commonly called
Louis Lepage, whom Vallée certifies as belonging to him, and to be
faithful and well-behaved. Vallée hires him to François de Chalet,
Inspector General of the Compagnie des Indes to serve him as a sailor
for the whole remaining term of de Chalet's tenure of the Ports of
Cataraqui (Katarakouye, _i.e._, now Kingston, Ontario) and Niagara (on
the east side of the river). The Negro is to serve as a sailor on the
boats of the ports. Vallée undertakes to send him from Quebec on the
first demand of de Chalet to serve him and his representative in all
legitimate and proper ways, not to depart without written leave, etc.
The amount to be paid to Vallée was 25 livres per month, de Chalet
in addition to furnish the sailor a jug (pot) of brandy and a pound
of tobacco a month, and for his food, two pounds of bread and half a
pound of pork a day.[18]
The sixth act is a petition, April 27, 1747, to the Lieutenant Civil
and Criminal of Quebec by Louis Parent, merchant of Quebec, asking him
to direct Lamorille, Sr., and Jugon who had by judgment, April 25,
1747, been named as arbitrators, for the valuation of a Negro, named
Neptune, part of the estate of the late Sieur de Beauvais, that they
should proceed with their valuation--Chaussegros de Léry to be present
if he wished, but if not, the two to proceed without him. A direction
was given by Boucault to meet at his place the next day at 2 P. M.
and a certificate by Vallet, the bailiff (huissier) to the Superior
Council at Quebec, is filed that he had served Chaussegros de Léry, La
Morille, Sr., and Jugon.
The first instance here recorded of sale of a slave after the Conquest
by the British was November 14, 1778. This, the fourteenth document
copied, evidences a sale by George Hipps, merchant butcher, living in
his house, rue Sainte-Anne in Upper Town, Quebec, to the Honorable
Hector-Theophile Cramahé, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, of a mulatto
slave called Isabella or Bell about fifteen years old.[19] She had
been already received in Cramahé's house, and he declared himself
satisfied with her. She had been the property of Captain Thomas
Venture who had sold her at auction to Hipps. The price paid by
Cramahé was £50 Quebec money, equal to 200 Spanish piastres; and Hipps
acknowledged payment in gold and silver. Cramahé undertakes to feed,
lodge, entertain, and treat the slave humanely.
The next, the fifteenth, April 20, 1779, is the sale of the same
mulatto girl, Isabella or Bell, by Cramahé to Peter Napier, Captain
in the Navy, then living at Quebec, with her clothes and linen for 45
livres, Quebec or Halifax money. Napier undertakes to treat the slave
humanely.[20]
The sixteenth, August 15, 1795, is the first written in English, all
the preceding being in French. It is dated August 15, 1795 and is sale
by Mr. Dennis Dayly of Quebec, tavern-keeper, to John Young, Esquire,
of the same place, merchant, of "a certain Negroe boy or lad called
Rubin" for £70 Halifax currency. Dayly had bought the boy from John
Cobham, of Quebec, September 6, 1786.[21]
The last, the seventeenth, is the most pleasant of all to record.
John Young appeared, June 8, 1797, before Charles Stewart and A.
Dumas, Notaries Public, in the former's office with the lad Rubin, and
declared that he bought him from Mr. Dennis Dayly, August 15, 1795.
He, as an encouragement to honesty and assiduity in Rubin, declared
in the presence of the Notary, Charles Stewart, that if Rubin would
faithfully serve him for seven years, he would give him his full
and free liberty, and in the meantime would maintain and clothe him
suitably and give him two and sixpence a month pocket money, but if
he got drunk or absented himself from his service or neglected his
master's business, he would forfeit all right to freedom. This was
explained to Rubin, "who accepted with gratitude the generous offer."
All parties, including the Notaries, signed the act, Rubin Young
by his mark, so that the slave by good conduct and refraining from
drunkenness would achieve his freedom, June 8, 1804.
I have discovered certain Court proceedings copied in the Canadian
Archives at Ottawa,[22] which have not been made public in any way and
which are of great interest in this connection. A short historical
note will enable my readers to understand the proceedings more clearly.
After the Conquest of Canada, 1759-60, for a few years the country
was under military rule. The three Districts of French times, Quebec,
Montreal, and Three Rivers, were retained, each with its Governor or
Lieutenant Governor. To administer justice, the officers of militia
in each Parish, generally speaking, were constituted courts of first
instance with an appeal to a council of the superior officers in the
British Army in the city, this court having also original jurisdiction.
On July 20, 1762, a council sat, as of original jurisdiction, composed
of Lieut. Col. Beckwith, Captains Falconer, Suby, Dunbar and Osbourne,
to hear the plea of a poor Negro called André against a prominent
merchant of Montreal, Gershon Levy. The proceedings, recorded in
French, are somewhat hard to decipher after a hundred and sixty years
have elapsed but well repay the labor of examination.
André asked to be accorded his liberty, claiming that Levy had bought
him of one Best, but that Best had the right to his services for only
four years which had now expired. Levy appeared and claimed that André
could not prove his allegation, but that he (Levy) had bought him from
Best in good faith and without any knowledge of the alleged limitation
of the right to his services. Of course, Best could sell only the
right he had and it became a simple question of fact. The court heard
the parties, ordered André to remain with his alleged master until he
had proved by witnesses or by certificate that he "had been bound to
the said Best for four years only, after the expiry of which time he
was to have his liberty."
The following year, April 20, 1763, the council sat again to hear
the case. Lieut. Col. Beckwith again presided, and Captains Fraser,
Dunbar, Suby and Davius sat with him. The parties were again heard and
witnesses were called by André; but they were "not sufficient"--and
"the Council ordered that the Decree of July 20, last, shall be
executed according to its tenor; and in consequence, that the said
Negro André remain in the possession of the said Levy until he has
produced other evidence or has proved by baptismal extract or the
official certificate of a magistrate of the place where he was
born that he was free at the moment of his birth."[23] Although
these courts continued until the coming into force of purely civil
administration of justice, September 17, 1764, I do not find that
André made another attempt to secure his liberation from the service
of Le Sieur Gershon Levy, negotiant.
I am indebted to my friend, Mr. R. W. McLachlan, F. R. S. C., of
the Archives of the District of Montreal, for a memorandum of the
following sales of which a record exists in Montreal:
1784, December 16, James McGill of Montreal for and in the name of
Thomas Curry of L'Assomption in the Province of Quebec, sold to
Solomon Levy of Montreal, merchant, for £100 Quebec currency, a Negro
man Caesar and a Negro woman, Flora.
1785, February 20, Hugh McAdam of Saratoga sends by his friend John
Brown to James Morrison of Montreal, merchant, "a Negro woman named
Sarah" to sell. "She will not drink and so far as I have seen, she is
honest."[24]
1785, March 9, Morrison sells Sarah to Charles Le Pailleur, Clerk of
the Court of Common Pleas, for £36.
1785, January 11, John Hammond of Saratoga, farmer, sold to Paul
l'Archeveque dit La Promenade, gentleman, a mulatto boy called Dick, 6
years old, for £30 Quebec currency.[25]
1785, April 26, sale by William Ward of Newfane, County of Windham,
State of Vermont, to P. William Campbell in open market at Montreal
of three Negroes, Tobi (aged 26), Sarah (aged 21) and child for $425.
These had been bought with another Negro, Joseph, a year older than
Sarah, from Elijah Cady of Kinderhook, County of Albany, State of New
York, for £250.[26]
1789, June 6, James Morrison who had sold Sarah for McAdam to Charles
Le Pailleur, bought her for himself and sold her to Joseph Anderson
of Montreal, gentleman, for £40.[27] The purchase from Le Pailleur is
evidenced in French; it was for £36.
1790, December 23, Guillaume Labart, Seigneur, living at Terrebonne,
sold to Andrew Todd, merchant of Montreal, a young panis called Jack,
about 14 years of age, for £25.
1792, August 10, "Joshuah Stiles, late of Litsfield in the county of
Birkshire, Massachusetts, at present in Montreal," sold to Daniel
Carberry of Montreal, hair-dresser, a Negro boy named Kitts, aged 15
years, for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars each of the value
of five shillings Halifax currency.
1793, July 11, Jean Rigot, master hair-dresser, living on Boulevard
St. Antoine, sold a mulatto slave boy, Pierre, aged 16, to Sir Charles
Chaboille, merchant of the Upper Country (_i.e._, Niagara, Detroit,
Michillimackinac), for $200 Spanish, each worth s.5 Halifax currency.
Rigot had raised the boy from infancy (l'ayant élevé de bas age).
1793, July 27, William Byrne, formerly captain in the King's Royal
Regiment of New York, in a letter of May 29, 1793, having promised his
adopted son, Phillip Byrne, on his marriage to Mary Josephine Chêne,
daughter of Charles Chêne of Detroit, to give him a Negro boy, Tanno,
aged 16, and a Negro woman, Rose, aged 28, carried out his promise by
Deed of Gift, July 27, 1793, but he stipulates for "half the young
ones"!!
1795, December 15, François Dumoulin, merchant of the Parish of
Ste. Anne, Island of Montreal, sells to Meyer Michaels, merchant of
Montreal, a mulatto named Prince, aged about 18, for £50.
1796, November 22, John Turner, Sr., merchant, sold to John Brooks,
a Negro man named Joegho, aged 36, for £100, Quebec currency, and a
Negro woman, Rose, aged 25, for £50.
1797, August 25, Thomas Blaney (attorney for Jervis George Turner, a
soldier in the 2d Batt. Royal Canadian Volunteers) and Mary Blaney,
his wife, sold to Thomas John Sullivan, tavernkeeper, a Negro man
named Manuel, aged about 33, for £36.[28]
1781, August 9, sale per inventory of the estate of the late Naethan
Hume, "one pany boy, Patrick, sold to McCormick for £32."
Perhaps this paper may well close with the following:
1781, October 31, a Negro, named York Thomas, a freeman, indentured
himself for three years to Phillip Peter Nassingh, a Lieutenant in
his Majesty's 2d Battalion, New York, for and in consideration,
the said Nassingh to provide the said servant with meat, drink,
washing, lodging, and apparel, both linen and woolens, and all other
necessaries, in sickness and in health, mete and convenient for such a
servant, during the term of three years and at the expiration of the
said term, shall give the said York Thomas, one new suit of apparel,
above his then clothing, and £6 Halifax currency.
WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL
OSGOODE HALL,
Toronto, Dec. 23, 1922
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Quoted by the Archivist of Quebec in the work cited (infra) at p.
109, from F. X. Garneau, _Histoire du Canada_, 4th Ed., Vol. II, p.
167. See note 2 for translation.
[2] F. X. Garneau, _Histoire du Canada_, 1st Ed., Vol. II, p. 447.
Andrew Bell, _History of Canada_, Montreal, 1862 (translated from
Garneau's work). Vol. I, p. 440, treats the statement of Garneau
somewhat slightingly. His translation reads: "In 1689, it was proposed
to introduce Negroes to the colony. The French ministry thought
the climate unsuitable for such an immigration and the project was
given up. Thus did Canada happily escape the terrible curse of Negro
Slavery." Bell's note, pp. 440, 441, shows that he understood what the
facts actually were.
The translation of the two passages follows:
"We think we should mention here a determination which is honorable
to the French Government. It is the resolve not to encourage the
introduction of slaves into Canada, the colony which Louis XIV
preferred to all the others by reason of the warlike character of
its inhabitants--the colony which he wished to make in the image of
France, to fill with a brave noblesse and a population truly national,
Catholic, French, without an admixture of foreign races. In 1688, it
was proposed to have Negroes there as farm laborers: the minister
replied that he feared that they would die there by the change of
climate, and that the project would be futile. That, so to speak,
destroyed forever an enterprise which would have struck our society
with a great, and terrible plague. It is true that in the succeeding
century, the _Code Noir_ of the Antilles was extended into Louisiana,
it is true that there were ordinances as to slavery there; but,
nevertheless, slavery did not prevail in Canada. There were scarcely
any slaves at the time of the conquest. That event increased the
number of them a little; they later disappeared entirely."
"That was sufficient to wreck a scheme which would have engrafted
in our society that great and terrible plague which paralyzes the
energies of so considerable a part of the American Union, slavery,
that plague unknown under our northern sky."
It will be seen that Garneau does not say or suggest that slavery was
entirely unknown in French Canada, but only that it did not "reign"
(ne régnait point), _i.e._, was not prevalent; that while there were a
few sporadic cases, the disease was not endemic, and it did not become
a plague.
For the proposal of 1688-9, see my _The Slave in Canada_, pp. 1, 2
and notes (JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, Vol. V, No. 3, July 1920, and
published separately by The Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History Washington, 1920).
[3] _Rapport de L'Archiviste de la Province de Quebec pour 1921-1922_
... Ls--A. Proulx Imprimeur de Sa Majeste le Roi /1922: large 8 vo.,
pp. 452. This Report is well printed on good paper, with excellent
arrangement and faultless proof reading; both in form and in matter it
is a credit to the able and learned Archivist, M. Pierre-Georges Roy,
Litt.D., F. R. S. Can., and to the Government of Quebec. To anyone
with a knowledge of French, the publications of this Department are of
inestimable value on the early history of that part of Canada.
[4] "Le nommé Nicolas, neigre de nation" was present with vendor and
purchaser before the Notaries, Boisseau and Barolet, in the office of
the latter at Quebec. The Vendor says that he had acquired the Negro
from Sieur de St. Ignace de Vincelotte.
[5] From the official Report of General James Murray, Governor of
Quebec, to the Home Government June 5, 1762, it appears that he
considered the livre worth 2 shillings sterling, about 48 cents.
General Murray's Report will be found in Drs. Shortt and Doughty's
_Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada,
1759-1791_, Ottawa, 1918 (2d. Edit.), pp. 47-81. It is, however, quite
clear that the evaluation is too high. The livre was the old French
monetary unit which was displaced by the franc. In the first ordinance
passed by the civil government at Quebec, the ordinance of September
14, 1764, the value of a French crown or six livre piece was fixed
at 6/8, making the livre 13-1/3 pence sterling (about 26 cents). The
Ordinance of March 29, 1777, 17 George 3, c. IX, made the "french
crown or piece of six livres _tournois_" worth 5/6; and the same value
was assigned to it in Upper Canada by the Act (1796) 36 George 3, c.
I, s. 1 (U. C.)--the livre was worth not far from 20 cents of our
present money. This was the livre tournois. The livre of Paris was
also in use until 1667 and was worth a quarter more than the livre
tournois.
[6] "Cinq neigres esclaves dont deux hommes et trois femmes et
filles"--names and ages not given; but the slaves are identified
by the statement that the purchaser had seen them "chez la dame
Cachelièvre." The witnesses were Louis Lambert and Nicolas Bellevue
of Quebec and the Notary was Pinguet. The vendor, Réaume, signed but
the purchaser St. Germain did not, "ayant déclaré ne sçavoir écrire ni
signer."
[7] "Negre esclave"--the spelling vacillates between "neigre,"
"negre," and "nègre." I have not found the first form in French
literature; the word comes from the mediaeval "Niger." See Du Cange,
_sub voc._ The word no doubt had the usual variations; modern French
has only the last form, _i.e._, nègre. My French Canadian friends
cannot help me as to the spelling; but they tell me of a French
Canadian saying "Un plan de negre" meaning "Un plan qui n'a ni queue
ni tête," but this is probably only jealousy.
[8] "With only the clothes he stands in at the time of delivery and
three shirts." "Shirt" has no gender in French.
[9] Dunière receives the right to dispose of the Negro, Jean Monsaige,
as his own property, but Damien does not undertake delivery: The slave
being absent since the previous evening (perhaps like Eliza knowing of
a proposed sale), Dunière takes all the risk of obtaining him without
recourse to anyone in case of failure; and Damien sells him without
any warranty. This and the fifth are the only instances, until the
seventeenth, of a Negro having a family name. The notaries are Barolet
and Panet.
[10] The purchaser undertakes all risks, the price remains payable
in any event. "Laquelle somme demeure acquise au d. s. Dassier par
convention expresse quelque événement qui puisse arriver au d. neigre
d'en cy-devant aux risques et perils du d. s. Delzenne."
[11] As to Panis, Panise, see _The Slave in Canada_, p. 2 and note 4.
The name Pani or Panis, anglicized into Pawnee, was used generally
in Canada as synonymous with "Indian Slave" because the slaves were
usually taken from the Pawnee tribe. It is held by some that the Panis
were a tribe wholly distinct from the tribe known among the English as
Pawnees, _e.g._, Drake's _History of the Indians of North America_.
[12] We are told, Littré, _Dictionnaire de la Langue Française_, 4to,
Paris, 1869, _Sub voc._ Nègre: "Louis XIII se fit une peine extrême de
la loi qui rendait esclaves les nègres de ses colonies; mais quand on
lui eut bien mis dans l'esprit que c'était la voie la plus sûre pour
les convertir, il y consentit." (Montesquieu Esp. des Lois, XV, 4)
"Louis XIII was much troubled concerning the law which made slaves of
the Negroes in his Colonies; but when he had become impressed with the
view that that was the surest way to convert them, he consented to the
law,"--the ever recurring excuse for the violation of natural right.
There was much discussion whether it was lawful to hold a fellow
Christian in slavery; and it was a distinct advantage that a slave
was not baptized. In 1781, the Legislature of the Province of Prince
Edward Island passed an Act, 21 George 3, c. 15, expressly declaring
that baptism of slaves should not exempt them from bondage. The
notaries in the present case were Pinguet and Boisseau and the act was
passed in the latter's office.
[13] The purchaser here is the vendor Joseph de la Tesserie, Sieur de
la Chevrotière, of the first transaction--he is also the purchaser in
No. 9 _post._
[14] The notaries were Pinguet and Boisseau and the act was passed in
the latter's office.
[15] "Argent des Iles," West-Indian currency to be invested in
Martinique. The notaries were Barolet and Panet and the act was passed
in the latter's office.
[16] See note 12 supra: The notaries were Barolet and Panet and the
act was passed in the latter's office.
[17] French "senaut," English "snow," a sort of vessel with two masts.
The notaries were Sanguinet and Du Laurent; the act was passed in the
latter's office.
[18] The notary was Barolet who signed the act as did Vallée, De
Chalet, and two witnesses, Charles Prieur, Perruquier, and Jean
Liquart, merchant.
[19] "L'esclave et mulatre nommée Isabella ou Bell, fille, âgée
d'environ quinze ans, avec les hardes et linges à son usage." She is
to obey her new master and render him faithful service. The price is
expressed as "cinquante livres monnaye du cours actuel de Quebec,
égale à deux cents piastres d'Espagne"--Fifty pounds Quebec currency
equal to two hundred Spanish dollars. The word "livre" was in English
times used for "pound." The pound in Quebec or Halifax currency was in
practice about nine-tenths the value of the pound sterling.
The Ordinance of September 14, 1764, made one British shilling equal
to 1s. 4d. Quebec currency, _i.e._, the Quebec shilling was 3/4 of
an English shilling; the Ordinance of May 15, 1765, confirmed their
valuation, making 18 British half-pence and 36 British farthings one
Quebec shilling, but the Ordinance of March 29, 1777, made the British
shilling only 1/1 and the British crown 5/6.
"The Seville, Mexico and Pillar Dollar" was by the Quebec Ordinance
of December 14, 1764, made equal to 6/ of Quebec currency or 4/6
sterling; the Ordinance of March 29, 1777, equates "the Spanish
Dollar" to 5/ Quebec currency (which was then substantially
nine-tenths the value of sterling), _i.e._, 4/6 sterling; the Upper
Canadian Act of 1796 equated "the Spanish milled dollar" to 5/
Provincial currency or 4/6 sterling.
The notaries in the case were Berthelot Dartigny and A. Panet, Jr.;
the act was passed in Cramahé's house, rue St-Louis.
[20] The same notaries appeared and the act was passed in the same
place.
[21] The notaries are A. Dumas and Charles Stewart; the act was passed
in the latter's office.
[22] See the latest Report of the Archives of Canada.
The Ordinance of General James Murray establishing Military Courts in
Quebec and its vicinity will be found printed in Shortt and Doughty's
_Documents relating to the Constitution of Canada_, pp. 42, 44.
General Gage's Ordinance established them in the District of Montreal
will be found in the publication of the Archives of Canada. _Le Règne
Militaire._
[23] It is to be observed that it was considered that _prima facie_
the Negro was a slave. The same rule was applied in many states (Cobb,
_Law of Negro Slavery_, pp. 253 sqq.), unless the alleged slave had
been in the enjoyment of freedom; but Chief Justice Strange of Nova
Scotia and his successor Salter Sampson Blowers by throwing the onus
upon the master did much toward the abolition of slavery in that
province. See _The Slave in Canada_, pp. 105-108.
[24] I here copy the letter, _verbatim et literatum_, a delightful
literary effort.
SARATOGA 20 Feby 1785.
_Dr Sir_,
I send by John Brown a Negro woman Named Sarah my Right &
Lawful property--which you will Pleas Dispose of with the advis
of your friends.--I have Wrote Mr Thomson on the same subjet--she
has no fault to my knolage She will not Drink and so fare as I
have seen she is honest--many many upertunitys she has had to have
shown her Dishonesty had she been so in Clined ... I am sory to
give you the troble--She cost me sixty five pounds should not Lick
to sell her under.--Should you not be able to get Cash you may
sell her for furrs of any Kind you think will sutt our market and
send them down by the Return sladges; any trobl you my be at shall
Pay for these.
I am Dr. Sir. Your
as hurede frind &c:
HUGH MCADAM
Mr. Morrison
mercht. Montreal.
As to a subsequent disposition of Sarah, see sale of June 6, 1789.
[25] It is possibly the same mulatto boy, Dick, the subject of the
following Bill of Sale:
THUSBERRY octrs 19. 1785.
Know all men By these presents that I William Gillchres in the
County of Rutland and State of Vermount, Yoeman for and in
consideration of twenty pound Law Money to you in hand paid by
Joseph Barrey of Richmond in the County of Cheshier in State
of New Hampshier yeoman whereof I acknoledg the receipt and
barggained and sold one molate Boy six years old naimed Dick
to him the said Joseph Barney and his heirs for ever, to have
and to hold the said molater boy, I said William Gillchres who
for myself and my heirs promise for ever to warrant socure and
defend said promise against the lawful claims or demand of any
person or persons in which I have set my hand, hereunto, and seal
this nineteenth day of October one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-six, in the eleventh year of endipendency.
(Signed) WILLIAM GILLCHRES
Signed, sealed
in the presence of us
(Signed) ELISHA FULLAN
LUCY YEOMANS