James Hambleton Christian is a remarkable specimen of the "well fed,
&c." In talking with him relative to his life as a slave, he said very
promptly, "I have always been treated well; if I only have half as good
times in the North as I have had in the South, I shall be perfectly
satisfied. Any time I desired spending money, five or ten dollars were
no object." At times, James had borrowed of his master, one, two, and
three hundred dollars, to loan out to some of his friends. With regard
to apparel and jewelry, he had worn the best, as an every-day adornment.
With regard to food also, he had fared as well as heart could wish, with
abundance of leisure time at his command. His deportment was certainly
very refined and gentlemanly. About fifty per cent. of Anglo-Saxon blood
was visible in his features and his hair, which gave him no
inconsiderable claim to sympathy and care. He had been to William and
Mary's College in his younger days, to wait on young master James B.C.,
where, through the kindness of some of the students he had picked up a
trifling amount of book learning. To be brief, this man was born the
slave of old Major Christian, on the Glen Plantation, Charles City
county, Va. The Christians were wealthy and owned many slaves, and
belonged in reality to the F.F.V's. On the death of the old Major, James
fell into the hands of his son, Judge Christian, who was executor to his
father's estate. Subsequently he fell into the hands of one of the
Judge's sisters, Mrs. John Tyler (wife of Ex-President Tyler), and then
he became a member of the President's domestic household, was at the
White House, under the President, from 1841 to 1845. Though but very
young at that time, James was only fit for training in the arts,
science, and mystery of waiting, in which profession, much pains were
taken to qualify him completely for his calling.
After a lapse of time; his mistress died. According to her request,
after this event, James and his old mother were handed over to her
nephew, William H. Christian, Esq., a merchant of Richmond. From this
gentleman, James had the folly to flee.
Passing hurriedly over interesting details, received from him respecting
his remarkable history, two or three more incidents too good to omit
must suffice.
"How did you like Mr. Tyler?" said an inquisitive member of the
Vigilance Committee. "I didn't like Mr. Tyler much," was the reply.
"Why?" again inquired the member of the Committee. "Because Mr. Tyler
was a poor man. I never did like poor people. I didn't like his marrying
into our family, who were considered very far Tyler's superiors." "On
the plantation," he said, "Tyler was a very cross man, and treated the
servants very cruelly; but the house servants were treated much better,
owing to their having belonged to his wife, who protected them from
persecution, as they had been favorite servants in her father's family."
James estimated that "Tyler got about thirty-five thousand dollars and
twenty-nine slaves, young and old, by his wife."
What prompted James to leave such pleasant quarters? It was this: He had
become enamored of a young and respectable free girl in Richmond, with
whom he could not be united in marriage solely because he was a slave,
and did not own himself. The frequent sad separations of such married
couples (where one or the other was a slave) could not be overlooked;
consequently, the poor fellow concluded that he would stand a better
chance of gaining his object in Canada than by remaining in Virginia. So
he began to feel that he might himself be sold some day, and thus the
resolution came home to him very forcibly to make tracks for Canada.
In speaking of the good treatment he had always met with, a member of
the Committee remarked, "You must be akin to some one of your master's
family?" To which he replied, "I am Christian's son." Unquestionably
this passenger was one of that happy class so commonly referred to by
apologists for the "Patriarchal Institution." The Committee, feeling a
deep interest in his story, and desiring great success to him in his
Underground efforts to get rid of slavery, and at the same time possess
himself of his affianced, made him heartily welcome, feeling assured
that the struggles and hardships he had submitted to in escaping, as
well as the luxuries he was leaving behind, were nothing to be compared
with the blessings of liberty and a free wife in Canada.
* * * * *