By natural transition I am now brought to inquire into the _true
character_ of the evil whose history has been traced. Here I shall be
brief.
Slavery in the Barbary States is denounced as an unquestionable outrage
upon humanity and justice. In this judgment nobody hesitates. Our
liveliest sympathies attend these white brethren,--torn from homes,
the ties of family and friendship rudely severed, parent separated
from child and husband from wife, exposed at public sale like cattle,
and dependent, like cattle, upon the uncertain will of an arbitrary
taskmaster. We read of a "gentleman" compelled to be valet of the
barbarian emperor of Morocco;[146] and Calderon, the pride of the
Spanish stage, has depicted the miserable fate of a Portuguese prince,
degraded by the infidel Moor to carry water in a garden. But the lowly
in condition had their unrecorded sorrows, whose sum-total swells to
a fearful amount. Who can tell how many hearts have been wrung by
the pangs of separation, how many crushed by the comfortless despair
of interminable bondage? "Speaking as a Christian," says the good
Catholic father who has chronicled much of this misery, "if on the
earth there can be any condition which in its character and evils may
represent in any manner the dolorous Passion of the Son of God (which
exceeded all evils and torments, because by it the Lord suffered
every kind of evil and affliction), it is, beyond question and doubt,
none other than slavery and captivity in Algiers and Barbary, whose
infinite evils, terrible torments, miseries without number, afflictions
without mitigation, it is impossible to comprehend in a brief span of
time."[147] When we consider the author's character as a father of the
Catholic Church, it will be felt that language can no further go. The
details of the picture may be seen in the report of another Catholic
father at a later day, who furnishes a chapter on the condition of
Christian slaves in Morocco. Their torments are depicted: constrained
to work at all hours, without days of rest, without proper food;
sometimes the diversion of their master, "who makes their labor his
rest and their sufferings his pleasure"; subject at all times to his
capricious will, and the victims of horrid cruelty. One is described
who was cast naked to the dogs, but, amidst the torments he endured,
exhorted his fellow-captives to have patience, "telling them that Jesus
Christ had suffered much more for them and for him";--saying this, he
gathered up his bowels, which he drew from the mouths of the dogs,
till, his strength failing him, he expired, and they devoured him. "I
should never have done," says the father, "did I go about to relate
here all that the merchants and captives told us of cruelties, they are
so excessive."[148]
[146] Braithwaite's Revolutions in Morocco, p. 233.
[147] Haedo, Historia, pp. 139, 140.--Besides illustrations of the
hardships of White Slavery already introduced, I refer briefly to
the following: Edinburgh Review, Vol. XXVI. pp. 452-454; Quarterly
Review, Vol. XV. p. 145; Life of General William Eaton, p. 100;
Noah's Travels, pp. 366, 367.
[148] Busnot, History of the Reign of Muley Ismael, Chap. VI. p.
164.
In nothing are impiety and blasphemy more apparent than in the
auctions of human beings, where men are sold to the highest bidder.
Through the personal experience of a young English merchant, Abraham
Brown, afterwards a settler in Massachusetts, we learn how these
were conducted. In 1655, before the liberating power of Cromwell was
acknowledged, he was captured, together with a whole crew, and carried
into Sallee. His own words, in his memoirs still preserved, will best
tell his story.
"On landing," he says, "an exceeding great company of most dismal
spectators were led to behold us in our captivated condition. There was
liberty for all sorts to come and look on us, that whosoever had a mind
to buy any of us, on the day appointed for our sale together in the
market, might see, as I may say, what they would like to have for their
money; whereby we had too many comfortless visitors, both from the town
and country, one saying he would buy this man, and the other that man.
To comfort us, we were told by the Christian slaves already there, if
we met with such and such patrons, our usage would not be so bad as
we supposed; though, indeed, our men found the usage of the best bad
enough. Fresh victuals and bread were supplied, I suppose to feed us up
for the market, that we might be in some good plight against the day we
were to be sold.
"And now I come to speak of our being sold into this doleful slavery.
It was doleful in respect to the time and manner. As to the time, it
was on our Sabbath day, in the morning, about the time the people of
God were about to enjoy the liberty of God's house: this was the time
our bondage was confirmed. Again, it was sad in respect to the manner
of our selling. Being all of us brought into the market-place, we were
led about, two or three at a time, in the midst of a great concourse
of people, both from the town and country, who had a full sight of us,
and if that did not satisfy, they would come and feel of your hand and
look into your mouth to see whether you are sound in health, or to see
by the hardness of your hand whether you have been a laborer or not.
The manner of buying is this: he that bids the greatest price hath
you,--they bidding one upon another, until the highest has you for a
slave, whoever he is, or wherever he dwells.
"As concerning myself, being brought to the market in the weakest
condition of any of our men, I was led forth among the cruel multitude
to be sold. As yet being undiscovered what I was, I was like to have
been sold at a very low rate, not above fifteen pounds sterling,
whereas our ordinary seamen were sold for thirty pounds and thirty-five
pounds sterling, and two boys were sold for forty pounds apiece; and
being in this sad posture led up and down at least one hour and an
half, during which time a Dutchman, that was our carpenter, discovered
me to some Jews, they increased from fifteen to seventy-five pounds,
which was the price my patron gave for me, being three hundred ducats;
and had I not been so weakened, and in these rags (indeed, I made
myself more so than I was, for sometimes, as they led me, I pretended
I could not go, and did often sit down),--I say, had not these things
been, in all likelihood I had been sold for as much again in the
market, and thus I had been dearer, and the difficulty greater to be
redeemed. During the time of my being led up and down the market, I was
possessed with the greatest fears, not knowing who my patron might be.
I feared it might be one from the country, who would carry me where I
could not return, or it might be one in and about Sallee, of which we
had sad accounts, and many other distracting thoughts I had. And though
I was like to have been sold unto the most cruel man in Sallee, there
being but one piece-of-eight between him and my patron, yet the Lord
was pleased to cause him to buy me, of whom I may speak, to the glory
of God, as the kindest man in the place."[149]
[149] Memoirs of Abraham Brown, MS.
This is the story of a respectable person, little distinguished in
the world. But the slave-dealer applied his inexorable system without
distinction of persons.