The enraptured innocent has winged her flight;
On the kind bosom of eternal love
She finds unknown beatitudes above.
This know, ye parents, nor her loss deplore--
She feels the iron hand of pain no more;
The dispensations of unerring grace
Should turn your sorrows into grateful praise;
Let, then, no tears for her henceforward flow
Nor suffer grief in this dark vale below.
Her morning sun, which rose divinely bright,
Was quickly mantled with the gloom of night;
But hear, in heaven's best bowers, your child so fair,
And learn to imitate her language there.
Thou, Lord, whom I behold with glory crowned,
By what sweet name, and in what tuneful sound,
Wilt thou be praised? Seraphic powers are faint
Infinite love and majesty to paint.
To thee let all their grateful voices raise,
And saints and angels join their songs of praise
Perfect in bliss, now from her heavenly home
She looks, and, smiling, beckons you to come;
Why then, fond parents, why these fruitless groans?
Restrain your tears, and cease your plaintive moans.
Freed from a world of sin, and snares, and pain,
Why would ye wish your fair one back again?
Nay, bow resigned; let hope your grief control,
And check the rising tumult of the soul.
Calm in the prosperous and the adverse day,
Adore the God who gives and takes away;
See him in all, his holy name revere,
Upright your actions, and your hearts sincere,
Till, having sailed through life's tempestuous sea,
And from its rocks and boisterous billows free,
Yourselves, safe landed on the blissful shore,
Shall join your happy child to part no more.
DENMARK VESEY.
No class of persons in the world, who have the name of being free, are
more sorely oppressed than the free colored people of the Southern
States. Each state has its code of black laws, which are rigorously
enforced, and the victim made to feel his degradation at all times and
in all places. An undeveloped discontent pervades the entire black
population, bond and free, in all the slave states. Human bondage is
ever fruitful of insurrection, wherever it exists, and under whatever
circumstances it may be found. Every community the other side of
"Dixon's Line" feels that it lives upon a volcano that is liable
to burst out at any moment; and all are watchful, and fearfully in
earnest, in looking after the colored man's affairs, and inventing
sterner enactments to keep him in subjection. The most oppressive of
all the states is South Carolina. In Charleston, free colored ladies
are not allowed to wear veils about their faces in the streets,
or in any public places. A violation of this law is visited with
"_thirty-nine lashes upon the bare back_." The same is inflicted upon
any free colored man who shall be seen upon the streets with a cigar
in his mouth, or a walking stick in his hand. Both, when walking the
streets, are forbidden to take the inside of the pavement. Punishment
of fine and imprisonment is laid upon any found out after the hour
of nine at night. An extra tax is placed upon every member of a free
colored family. While all these odious edicts were silently borne by
the free colored people of Charleston in 1822 there was a suppressed
feeling of indignation, mortification, and discontent, that was only
appreciated by a few. Among the most dissatisfied of the free blacks
was Denmark Vesey, a man who had purchased his freedom in the year
1800, and since that time had earned his living by his trade, being a
carpenter and joiner. Having been employed on shipboard by his master,
Captain Vesey, Denmark had seen a great deal of the world, and had
acquired a large fund of information, and was regarded as a leading
man among the blacks. He had studied the Scriptures, and never lost an
opportunity of showing that they were opposed to chattel-slavery. He
spoke freely with the slaves upon the subject, and often with whites,
where he found he could do so without risk to his own liberty. After
resolving to incite the slaves to rebellion, he began taking into his
confidence such persons as he could trust, and instructing them to
gain adherents from among the more reliable of both bond and free.
Peter Poyas, a slave of more than ordinary foresight and ability, was
selected by Vesey as his lieutenant; and to him was committed the
arduous duty of arranging the mode of attack, and of acting as the
military leader.
"His plans showed some natural generalship; he arranged the night
attack; he planned the enrolment of a mounted troop to scour the
streets; and he had a list of all the shops where arms and ammunition
were kept for sale. He voluntarily undertook the management of the
most difficult part of the enterprise,--the capture of the main
guard-house,--and had pledged himself to advance alone and surprise
the sentinel. He was said to have a magnetism in his eye, of which his
confederates stood in great awe; if he once got his eye upon a man,
there was no resisting it."
Gullah Jack, Tom Russell, and Ned Bennett. The last two were not less
valuable than Peter Poyas; for Tom was an ingenious mechanic, and made
battle-axes, pikes, and other instruments of death, with which to carry
on the war. All of the above were to be generals of brigades, and were
let into all the secrets of the intended rising. It has long been
the custom in Charleston for the country slaves to visit the city in
great numbers on Sunday, and return to their homes in time to commence
work on the following morning. It was therefore determined by Denmark
to have the rising take place on Sunday. The slaves of nearly every
plantation in the vicinity were enlisted, and were to take part.
"The details of the plan, however, were not rashly committed to the
mass of the confederates; they were known only to a few, and were
finally to have been announced after the evening prayer-meeting on
the appointed Sunday. But each leader had his own company enlisted,
and his own work marked out. When the clock struck twelve, all were
to move. Peter Poyas was to lead a party ordered to assemble at South
Bay, and to be joined by a force from James's Island; he was then to
march up and seize the arsenal and guard-house opposite St. Michael's
Church, and detach a sufficient number to cut off all white citizens
who should appear at the alarm posts. A second body of negroes, from
the country and the Neck, headed by Ned Bennett, was to assemble on
the Neck and seize the arsenal there. A third was to meet at Governor
Bennett's Mills, under command of Rolla, another leader, and, after
putting the governor and intendant to death, to march through the
city, or be posted at Cannon's Bridge, thus preventing the inhabitants
of Cannonsborough from entering the city. A fourth, partly from the
country and partly from the neighboring localities in the city, was
to rendezvous on Gadsden's Wharf and attack the upper guard-house.
A fifth, composed of country and Neck negroes, was to assemble at
Bulkley's farm, two miles and a half from the city, seize the upper
powder magazine, and then march down; and a sixth was to assemble
at Denmark Vesey's and obey his orders. A seventh detachment, under
Gullah Jack, was to assemble in Boundary Street, at the head of King
Street, to capture the arms of the Neck company of militia, and to
take an additional supply from Mr. Duquercron's shop. The naval stores
on Mey's Wharf were also to be attacked. Meanwhile a horse company,
consisting of many draymen, hostlers, and butcher boys, was to meet at
Lightwood's Alley, and then scour the streets to prevent the whites
from assembling. Every white man coming out of his own door was to
be killed, and, if necessary, the city was to be fired in several
places--slow match for this purpose having been purloined from the
public arsenal and placed in an accessible position."
The secret and plan of attack, however, were incautiously divulged
to a slave named Devany, belonging to Colonel Prioleau, and he at
once informed his master's family. The mayor, on getting possession
of the facts, called the city council together for consultation. The
investigation elicited nothing new, for the slaves persisted in their
ignorance of the matter, and the authorities began to feel that they
had been imposed upon by Devany and his informant, when another of
the conspirators, being bribed, revealed what he knew. Arrests after
arrests were made, and the Mayor's Court held daily examinations for
weeks. After several weeks of incarceration, the accused, one hundred
and twenty in number, were brought to trial: thirty-four were sentenced
to transportation, twenty-seven acquitted by the court, twenty-five
discharged without trial, and thirty-five condemned to death. With but
two or three exceptions, all of the conspirators went to the gallows
feeling that they had acted right, and died like men giving their lives
for the cause of freedom. A report of the trial, written soon after,
says of Denmark Vesey,--
"For several years before he disclosed his intentions to any one, he
appears to have been constantly and assiduously engaged in endeavoring
to embitter the minds of the colored population against the white.
He rendered himself perfectly familiar with all those parts of the
Scriptures which he thought he could pervert to his purpose, and would
readily quote them to prove that slavery was contrary to the laws of
God,--that slaves were bound to attempt their emancipation, however
shocking and bloody might be the consequences,--and that such efforts
would not only be pleasing to the Almighty, but were absolutely
enjoined, and their success predicted, in the Scriptures. His favorite
texts, when he addressed those of his own color, were Zechariah xiv.
1-3, and Joshua vi. 21; and in all his conversations he identified
their situation with that of the Israelites. The number of inflammatory
pamphlets on slavery brought into Charleston from some of our sister
states within the last four years, (and once from Sierra Leone,) and
distributed amongst the colored population of the city, for which there
was a great facility, in consequence of the unrestricted intercourse
allowed to persons of color between the different states in the Union,
and the speeches in Congress of those opposed to the admission of
Missouri into the Union, perhaps garbled and misrepresented, furnished
him with ample means for inflaming the minds of the colored population
of this state; and by distorting certain parts of those speeches, or
selecting from them particular passages, he persuaded but too many
that Congress had actually declared them free, and that they were
held in bondage contrary to the laws of the land. Even whilst walking
through the streets in company with another, he was not idle; for if
his companion bowed to a white person, he would rebuke him, and observe
that all men were born equal, and that he was surprised that any one
would degrade himself by such conduct,--that he would never cringe
to the whites, nor ought any one who had the feelings of a man. When
answered, 'We are slaves,' he would sarcastically and indignantly
reply, 'You deserve to remain slaves;' and if he were further asked,
'What can we do?' he would remark, 'Go and buy a spelling-book and read
the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner,' which he would then repeat,
and apply it to their situation. He also sought every opportunity
of entering into conversation with white persons, when they could be
overheard by negroes near by, especially in grog shops; during which
conversation, he would artfully introduce some bold remark on slavery;
and sometimes, when, from the character he was conversing with, he
found he might be still bolder, he would go so far, that, had not
his declarations in such situations been clearly proved, they would
scarcely have been credited. He continued this course until some time
after the commencement of the last winter; by which time he had not
only obtained incredible influence amongst persons of color, but many
feared him more than their owners, and, one of them declared, even more
than his God."
The excitement which the revelations of the trial occasioned, and
the continual fanning of the flame by the newspapers, were beyond
description. Double guard in the city, the country patrol on
horseback and on foot, the watchfulness that was observed on all
plantations, showed the deep feeling of fear pervading the hearts of
the slaveholders, not only in South Carolina, but the fever extended
to the other Southern States, and all seemed to feel that a great
crisis had been passed. And indeed, their fears seem not to have been
without ground, for a more complicated plan for an insurrection could
scarcely have been conceived. And many were of opinion that, the rising
once begun, they would have taken the city and held it, and might have
sealed the fate of slavery in the south. The best account of this
whole matter is to be found in an able article in the Atlantic Monthly
for June, 1861, from the pen of that eloquent friend of freedom T. W.
Higginson, and to which I am indebted for the extracts contained in
this memoir of Denmark Vesey.
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNETT.
Though born a slave in the State of Maryland, Henry Highland Garnett
is the son of an African chief, stolen from the coast of his native
land. His father's family were all held as slaves till 1822, when they
escaped to the north. In 1835, he became a member of Canaan Academy,
New Hampshire. Three months after entering the school, it was broken up
by a mob, who destroyed the building. Mr. Garnett afterwards entered
Oneida Institute, New York, under the charge of that noble-hearted
friend of man, Beriah Green, where he was treated with equality by the
professors and his fellow-students. There he gained the reputation
of a courteous and accomplished man, an able and eloquent debater,
and a good writer. His first appearance as a public speaker was in
1837, in the city of New York, where his speech at once secured for
him a standing among first-class orators. Mr. Garnett is in every
sense of the term a progressive man. He is a strenuous advocate of
freedom, temperance, education, and the religious, moral, and social
elevation of his race. He is an acceptable preacher, evangelical in his
profession. His discourses, though showing much thought and careful
study, are delivered extemporaneously, and with good effect. Having
complete command of his voice, he uses it with skill, never failing
to fill the largest hall. One of the most noted addresses ever given
by a colored man in this country was delivered by Mr. Garnett at the
National Convention of Colored Americans, at Buffalo, New York, in
1843. None but those who heard that speech have the slightest idea of
the tremendous influence which he exercised over the assembly. He spent
some years over a church at Troy, and another at Geneva, New York, and
in 1850 visited England, where he remained, lecturing, in different
sections of the United Kingdom, upon American slavery, until 1852, we
believe, when, being joined by his family, he went as a missionary to
Jamaica. After spending three years among the people of that island,
he returned to the United States, and is now settled over Shiloh
Church, New York city. Mr. Garnett is about forty-five years of age,
unadulterated in race, tall and commanding in appearance, has an eye
that looks through you, and a clear, ringing voice. He has written
considerably, and has edited one or two journals at different times,
devoted to the elevation of his race. The following from his pen will
give but a faint idea of Mr. Garnett's powers as a writer:--
"The woful volume of our history, as it now lies open to the world, is
written with tears and bound with blood. As I trace it, my eyes ache
and my heart is filled with grief. No other people have suffered so
much, and none have been more innocent. If I might apostrophize that
bleeding country, I would say, O Africa, thou hast bled, freely bled,
at every pore. Thy sorrow has been mocked, and thy grief has not been
heeded. Thy children are scattered over the whole earth, and the great
nations have been enriched by them. The wild beasts of thy forests are
treated with more mercy than they. The Libyan lion and the fierce tiger
are caged, to gratify the curiosity of men, and the keeper's hands are
not laid heavily upon them. But thy children are tortured, taunted,
and hurried out of life by unprecedented cruelty. Brave men, formed
in the divinest mould, are bartered, sold, and mortgaged. Stripped of
every sacred right, they are scourged if they affirm that they belong
to God. Women, sustaining the dear relation of mothers, are yoked
with the horned cattle to till the soil, and their heart-strings are
torn to pieces by cruel separations from their children. Our sisters,
ever manifesting the purest kindness, whether in the wilderness of
their fatherland, or amid the sorrows of the middle passage, or in
crowded cities, are unprotected from the lust of tyrants. They have a
regard for virtue, and they possess a sense of honor; but there is no
respect paid to these jewels of noble character. Driven into unwilling
concubinage, their offspring are sold by their Anglo-Saxon fathers. To
them the marriage institution is but a name, for their despoilers break
down the hymeneal altar, and scatter its sacred ashes on the winds.
"Our young men are brutalized in intellect, and their manly energies
are chilled by the frosts of slavery. Sometimes they are called to
witness the agonies of the mothers who bore them, writhing under
the lash; and as if to fill to overflowing the already full cup of
demonism, they are sometimes compelled to apply the lash with their
own hands. Hell itself cannot overmatch a deed like this; and dark
damnation shudders as it sinks into its bosom, and seeks to hide itself
from the indignant eye of God."
Mr. Garnett paid a second visit to England a few months since, for
the purpose of creating an interest there in behalf of emigration to
Central Africa.
JAMES M. WHITFIELD.
There has long resided in Buffalo, New York, a barber, noted for his
scholarly attainments and gentlemanly deportment. Men of the most
polished refinement visit his saloon, and, while being shaved, take
pleasure in conversing with him; and all who know him feel that he was
intended by nature for a higher position in life. This is James M.
Whitfield. He is a native of Massachusetts, and removed west some years
since. We give a single extract from one of his poems.
"How long, O gracious God, how long
Shall power lord it over right?
The feeble, trampled by the strong,
Remain in slavery's gloomy night?
In every region of the earth
Oppression rules with iron power;
And every man of sterling worth,
Whose soul disdains to cringe or cower
Beneath a haughty tyrant's nod,
And, supplicating, kiss the rod
That, wielded by oppression's might,
Smites to the earth his dearest right,--
The right to speak, and think, and feel,
And spread his uttered thoughts abroad,
To labor for the common weal,
Responsible to none but God,--
Is threatened with the dungeon's gloom,
The felon's cell, the traitor's doom,
And treacherous politicians league
With hireling priests to crush and ban
All who expose their vain intrigue,
And vindicate the rights of man.
How long shall Afric raise to thee
Her fettered hand, O Lord, in vain,
And plead in fearful agony
For vengeance for her children slain?
I see the Gambia's swelling flood,
And Niger's darkly-rolling wave,
Bear on their bosoms, stained with blood,
The bound and lacerated slave;
While numerous tribes spread near and far
Fierce, devastating, barbarous war,
Earth's fairest scenes in ruin laid,
To furnish victims for that trade
Which breeds on earth such deeds of shame,
As fiends might blush to hear or name."
Mr. Whitfield has written several long poems, all of them in good taste
and excellent language.
ANDRE RIGAUD.
Slavery, in St. Domingo, created three classes--the white planters,
the free mulattoes, and the slaves, the latter being all black. The
revolution brought out several valiant chiefs among the mulattoes,
their first being Vincent Ogé. This man was not calculated for a
leader of rebellion. His mother having been enabled to support him in
France as a gentleman, he had cherished a delicacy of sentiment very
incompatible with the ferocity of revolt. But Andre Rigaud, their next
and greatest chief, was a far different man. A native of Aux Cayes,
educated at Bourdeaux, and afterwards spending some time at Paris,
maturing his mind amid scenes of science and literature, Rigaud's
position among his followers was an exalted one. His father was white
and his mother black. He was tall and slim, with features beautifully
defined. Nature had been profligate in bestowing her gifts upon him.
While at the Military School at Paris, besides being introduced into
good society, he became acquainted with Lafayette, Condorcet, Gregoire,
and other distinguished statesmen, and his manners were polished
and his language elegant. In religion he was the very opposite of
Toussaint. An admirer of Voltaire and Rousseau, he had made their works
his study. A long residence in the French metropolis had enabled him
to become acquainted with the followers of these two distinguished
philosophers. He had seen two hundred thousand persons following the
bones of Voltaire, when removed to the Pantheon, and, in his admiration
for the great author, had confounded liberty with infidelity. In Asia,
he would have governed an empire; in St. Domingo, he was scarcely more
than an outlawed chief; but he had in his soul the elements of a great
man. In military science, horsemanship, and activity, Rigaud was the
first man on the island, of any color. Toussaint bears the following
testimony to the great skill of the mulatto general: "I know Rigaud
well. He leaps from his horse when at full gallop, and he puts all
his force in his arm when he strikes a blow." He was high-tempered,
irritable, and haughty. The charmed power that he held over the men
of his color can scarcely be described. At the breaking out of the
revolution, he headed the mulattoes in his native town, and soon drew
around him a formidable body of men.
After driving the English and Spaniards from the island, and subduing
the French planters, Toussaint and Rigaud made war upon each other.
As the mulattoes were less than fifty thousand in number, and the
blacks more than five hundred thousand, Rigaud was always outnumbered
on the field of battle; but his forces, fighting under the eyes of
the general whom they adored, defended their territory with vigor, if
not with success. Reduced in his means of defence by the loss of so
many brave men in his recent battles, Rigaud had the misfortune to
see his towns fall, one after another, into the power of Toussaint,
until he was driven to the last citadel of his strength--the town of
Aux Cayes. As he thus yielded foot by foot, every thing was given to
desolation before it was abandoned, and the land, which under his
active government had just before been so adorned with cultivation, was
made such a waste of desolation, that, according almost to the very
letter of his orders, "the trees were turned with their roots in the
air." The genius and activity of Toussaint were completely at fault in
his attempt to force the mulatto general from his intrenchments.
The government of France was too much engaged at home with her own
revolution to pay any attention to St. Domingo. The republicans in
Paris, after getting rid of their enemies, turned upon each other. The
revolution, like Saturn, devoured its own children; priest and people
were murdered upon the thresholds of justice. Murat died at the hands
of Charlotte Corday. Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were guillotined,
Robespierre had gone to the scaffold, and Bonaparte was master of
France.
The conqueror of Egypt now turned his attention to St. Domingo. It was
too important an island to be lost to France or destroyed by civil war,
and, through the mediation of Bonaparte, the war between Toussaint and
Rigaud was brought to a close.