Nor do we feel, from the narratives of captives and of travellers,
that the condition of the white slave was rigorous beyond the ordinary
lot of slavery. "The Captive's Story" in Don Quixote fails to impress
the reader with any peculiar horror of the life from which he escaped.
It is often said that the sufferings of Cervantes were among the
most severe which even Algiers could inflict.[157] But they did not
repress the gayety of his temper; and we learn that in the building
where he was confined there was a chapel or oratory in which mass was
celebrated, the sacrament administered, and sermons regularly preached
by captive priests. Nor was this all. The pleasures of the theatre were
enjoyed by these slaves; and the farces of Lope de Rueda, a favorite
Spanish dramatist of the time, served, in actual representation, to
cheer this house of bondage.[158]
[157] "_De los peores que en Argel auia._"--Haedo, Historia de
Argel, p. 85. Navarrete, Vida de Cervantes, p. 361.
[158] Roscoe, Life of Cervantes, pp. 303, 304. Cervantes, Baños de
Argel.
The experience of the devoted Portuguese ecclesiastic, Father
Thomas, illustrates this lot. A slave in Morocco, he was able to
minister to his fellow-slaves, and to compose a work on the Passion
of Jesus Christ, much admired for its unction, and translated into
various tongues. Liberated at last through the intervention of the
Portuguese government, he chose to remain behind, notwithstanding the
solicitations of relatives at home, that he might continue to instruct
and console the unhappy men, his late companions in bonds.[159]
[159] Biographie Universelle (Michaud): Art. _Thomas de Jesus_.
Digby's Broad Stone of Honor, _Tancredus_, § 9, p. 181.
Even the story of St. Vincent de Paul, so brutally sold in the public
square, is not without gleam of light. He was bought by a fisherman,
who was soon constrained to get rid of him, "having nothing so contrary
except the sea." He then passed into the hands of an old man, whom he
pleasantly describes as a chemical doctor, a sovereign extractor of
quintessences, very humane and kind, who had labored for the space of
fifty years in search of the philosopher's stone. "He loved me very
much," says the fugitive slave, "and pleased himself by discoursing to
me of alchemy, and then of his religion, to which he made every effort
to draw me, promising me abundant riches and all his learning." On
the death of this master he passed to a nephew, by whom he was sold
to still another person, a renegade from Nice, who took him to the
mountains, where the country was extremely hot and desert. The Turkish
wife of the latter, becoming interested in him, and curious to know his
manner of living at home, came to see him every day at his work in the
fields, and listened with delight to the slave, away from his country
and the churches of his religion, as he sang the psalm of the children
of Israel in a foreign land: "By the rivers of Babylon there we sat
down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion."[160] Here is a touch of
romance, which is all the more interesting when we consider the great
life in which it occurs.
[160] Biographie Universelle: Art. _Vincent de Paul_.
The kindness of these slave-masters often appears. The English
merchant, Abraham Brown, whose sale at Sallee has been already
described, confesses, that, after he was carried home, his wounds
were tenderly washed and dressed by his master's wife, and, "indeed,
the whole family gave him comfortable words." He was furnished with
a mat to lie on, "and some three or four days after provided with a
shirt, such a one as it was, a pair of shoes, and an old doublet." His
servile toils troubled him less than "being commanded by a negro man,
who had been a long time in his patron's house a freeman, at whose
beck and command he was obliged to be obedient for the doing of the
least about the house or mill"; and he concludes his lament on this
degradation as follows: "Thus I, who had commanded many men in several
parts of the world, must now be commanded by a negro, who, with his
two country-women in the house, scorned to drink out of the water-pot
I drank of, whereby I was despised of the despised people of the
world."[161] Here the free negro played the part so often played by the
white overseer in our own country.
[161] Memoirs, MS.
At a later day we are instructed by another authentic picture. Captain
Braithwaite, who accompanied the British Legation to Morocco in 1727,
on a generous mission of liberation, after describing their comfortable
condition, adds: "I am sure we saw several captives who lived much
better in Barbary than ever they did in their own country.... Whatever
money in charity was ever sent them by their friends in Europe was
their own, unless they defrauded one another, which has happened much
oftener than by the Moors. In short, the captives have a much greater
property than the Moors in what they get, several of them being rich,
and many have carried considerable sums out of the country, to the
truth of which we are all witnesses. Several captives keep their mules,
and some their servants; and yet this is called insupportable slavery
among Turks and Moors. But we found this, as well as many other things
in this country, strangely misrepresented."[162] Listening to such
words, I seem to hear the apologies for slavery among ourselves.
[162] Braithwaite's Revolutions in Morocco, p. 353.
Candor compels the admission that these authorities--which, with those
who do not place freedom above all price, seem to take the sting
from slavery--are not without support from other sources. Colonel
Keatinge, who, as member of a diplomatic mission from England, visited
Morocco in 1785, says of this evil there, that "it is very slightly
inflicted," and "as to any labor undergone, it does not deserve the
name";[163] while Mr. Lempriere, who was in the same country not long
afterwards, adds: "To the disgrace of Europe, the Moors treat their
slaves with humanity."[164] In Tripoli, we are told, by a person for
ten years resident, that the same gentleness prevailed. "It is a
great alleviation to our feelings on their account," says the writer,
speaking of the slaves, "to see them easy and well-dressed; and so far
from wearing chains, as captives do in most other places, they are
here perfectly at liberty."[165] We have already seen the testimony of
General Eaton with regard to slavery in Tunis; while Mr. Noah, one of
his successors in the consulate of the United States at that place,
says: "In Tunis, from my observation, the slaves are not severely
treated; and many of them have made money."[166] And Mr. Shaler,
speaking of the chief seat of Christian slavery, says: "In short, there
were slaves who left Algiers with regret."[167] How singularly present
apologies for our slavery echo these voices from the Barbary States!
[163] Keatinge's Travels, p. 250. Quarterly Review, Vol. XV. p.
146. See also Chénier's Present State of Morocco, Vol. I. p. 192,
Vol. II. p. 369.
[164] Lempriere's Tour, p. 29O. See also pp.3, 147, 190, 279.
[165] Narrative of a Ten Years' Residence at Tripoli, p. 241.
[166] Travels, p. 368.
[167] Sketches of Algiers, p. 77.
A French writer of more recent date asserts, with some vehemence, and
with the authority of an eye-witness, that the white slaves at Algiers
were not exposed to the miseries which they represented. I do not know
that he vindicates their slavery, but, like Captain Braithwaite, he
evidently regards many of them as better off than they would be at
home. According to him, they were well clad and well fed, _much better
than free Christians there_,--precisely as it is said that our slaves
are much better off than free negroes. The youngest and most comely
were taken as pages by the Dey. Others were employed in the barracks;
others in the galleys: but even here there was a chapel, as in the time
of Cervantes, for the free exercise of the Christian religion. Those
who happened to be artisans, as carpenters, locksmiths, and calkers,
were let to the owners of vessels; others were employed on the public
works; while others still were allowed the privilege of keeping a shop,
where their profits were sometimes so large as to enable them at the
end of a year to purchase their ransom. But these were often known to
become indifferent to freedom, preferring Algiers to their own country.
Slaves of private persons were sometimes employed in the family of
their master, where their treatment necessarily depended much upon his
character. If he was gentle and humane, their lot was fortunate; they
were regarded as children of the house. If he was harsh and selfish,
then the iron of slavery did indeed enter their souls. Many were bought
to be sold again for profit into distant parts of the country, where
they were doomed to exhausting labor; in which event their condition
was most grievous. But special care was bestowed upon those who became
ill,--not so much, it is said, from humanity as through fear of losing
them.[168] This whole story seems to be told of us, rather than of
others.
[168] Histoire d'Alger: Description de ce Royaume, etc., de ses
Forces de Terre et de Mer, Moeurs et Costumes des Habitans, de
Mores, des Arabes, des Juifs, des Chrétiens, de ses Lois, etc.
(Paris, 1830), Chap. XXVII.