13. A slave who shall attempt to poison his master, shall be
pinched three times with red-hot iron, and then broken on a
wheel.
14. A free Negro who shall harbor a slave or thief shall lose his
liberty, or be banished.
15. All dances, feasts, and plays, are forbidden unless
permission be obtained from the master or overseer.
16. Slaves shall not sell provisions of any kind, without
permission from their overseers.
17. No estate slave shall be in town after drum-beat, otherwise
he shall be put in the fort and flogged.
18. The king's advocate is ordered to see these regulations
strictly carried out.--See Knox, "St. Thomas, West Indies,"
69-71.
[372] For an interesting sketch of the insurrection see Knox, "St.
Thomas, West Indies," 58 et seq. See also _The Annals of the Am.
Academy of Political and Social Science_, XXII, 101.
[373] The whites referred to Sout as an intelligent man and considered
him "skilful and successful as a botanist in the use of medicinal
plants found in the island." See Taylor, "Leaflets from the Danish
West Indies," 104.
[374] Taylor, "Leaflets from the Danish West Indies," 105.
[375] Knox, "St. Thomas," 84.
[376] _Ibid._, 84-85.
[377] _Ibid._, "St. Thomas, West Indies," 111.
[378] Taylor, "Leaflets from the Danish West Indies," 35.
[379] _Arena_, XXVIII, 242-247.
[380] Guerney, "A Winter in the West Indies," 21.
[381] _Ibid._, 22.
[382] _Ibid._, 23.
[383] This insurrection is well set forth in Knox's "St. Thomas" on
page 110 et seq. and in Taylor's "Leaflets from the Danish West
Indies," page 125 et seq.
[384] Taylor, "Leaflets from the West Indies," pp. 127-128.
[385] _Ibid._, 129.
[386] Before things returned to the former state Oberst V. Oxholm
arrived to displace General v. Scholten as governor. The latter was
tried by a Commission and condemned for dereliction of duty by the
influence of the slave-holding class whom he had angered because of
his favorable attitude towards the Negroes. Upon appealing to the
Supreme Court, however, he was acquitted.
[387] See "Labour Act" in Documents of this number.
[388] See Taylor, "Leaflets from the Danish West Indies," 151 et seq.
[389] Rhodes, "History of the United States," V, 397.
[390] _The Independent_, LXXXIV, 515.
[391] For a detailed account of the efforts to purchase these islands
see W.E. Curtis, "The United States and Foreign Powers," pp. 28-51;
Wm. H. Seward, "The Diplomatic History of the War for the Union," V,
28-29; Francis Wharton, "A Digest of the International Law of the
United States," I, 416-417; James Parton, "The Danish Islands,"
_passim_; United States, Twenty-first Congress, second session, House
of Representatives, Report No. 117. Executive Document 21,
Thirty-seventh Congress, second session, House of Representatives.
Miscellaneous Document No. 80; and Dixon, "The History of the St.
Thomas Treaty," _passim_.
[392] According to Schuyler, "Charles Sumner, then chairman of the
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, who was engaged in a
personal quarrel with the Administration, simply refused to report
back the treaty to the Senate, and he was supported by a sufficient
number of his Committee and of Senators to enable the matter to be
left in this position. It required new negotiations to prolong the
term of ratification and it was with great difficulty that in a
subsequent session the treaty was finally brought before the Senate
and rejected. As may be imagined, our friendly relations with Denmark
were considerably impaired by this method of doing business." See
Schuyler, "The St. Thomas Treaty."
[393] _The Independent_, LXXXIV, 515.
[394] _North American Review_, CLXXV, 501; and 55th Congress, 2d
session, Senate Report No. 816.
[395] 57th Session. First session. Doc. No. 284.
[396] We have here relied to some extent on information obtained from
the United States Consul C.H. Payne and Vice-Consul A.P. Zabriskie
stationed at St. Thomas for a number of years.