"Before us visions come
Of slave-ships on Virginia's coast,
Of mothers in their childless home,
Like Rachel, sorrowing o'er the lost;
The slave-gang scourged upon its way.
The bloodhound and his human prey."--WHITTIER.
Florida produces oranges, peaches, plums, a species of cocoa-nut, and
musk and water-melons in abundance. The more open portions of the
country are dotted over with clumps of gnarled pines, of a very resinous
nature, white and red oak, hiccory, cedar, and cypress, and is in
general scantily clad with thin grass, fit only for deer to browse upon.
The dreary sameness of the interior of this desolate country is
distressing to the traveller; and the journey from one settlement to
another, through pine-forests, seems almost interminable.
One morning, a short time prior to my intended departure for
Tallahassee, I was roused before daybreak by a rifle-shot, which was
instantly followed by the cry of "Guard, turn out!" and much hubbub. As
this was no unusual occurrence, from the constant apprehension we were
in of an attack by the Indians on the stockade, and as it had several
times occurred before during my stay, I resolved to lie and listen
awhile before I rose. The earnest conversation and the noise of horses
soon after satisfied me it was only a friendly arrival. I, however, felt
anxious to obtain intelligence as to the success of a treaty then
pending between the United States Government and the Indians; the
favourable termination of which would not only render my return to
Tallahassee more safe, but put a stop, perhaps for ever, to those
constant scenes of blood and depredation that were by this time become
quite sickening to me. This feeling was much enhanced at the time by the
express between Fort Andrews and Deadman's Bay, being shot by a party of
the common enemy. The body of this poor fellow was never found, but
traces of blood were to be seen near the spot where he had been
attacked; and the saddle and bridle of his horse were found cut into a
thousand pieces; the probability being that he was wounded and taken
prisoner, doubtless to be tortured to death, a practice common with all
Indian tribes in time of war.
On my proceeding to a house used as officers' quarters, outside the
stockade, I found the stir had been caused by the arrival of two
companies of light-horse soldiers from St. Marks, escorting several
couples of bloodhounds, to aid the army, operating in that part of
Florida, to exterminate the Indians. These dogs were very ferocious,
and, on approaching the leashmen, who had them in charge, they opened in
full yell, and attempted to break loose. The dogs had just arrived from
Cuba with their keepers, their importation having been caused by the
supposition, that, like the Maroons in Jamaica, who, for nearly thirty
years, defied the colonists there, the Indians would be terrified into
submission. This, however, turned out to be erroneous; for, on their
first trial, the Indians killed several, and the scheme was very
properly abandoned a short time after.
Such barbarous means were very unjustifiable, although many (to use the
language of the Earl of Chatham, when deprecating a similar course in
the English House of Lords) considered that every means that God and
nature had placed in their hands, were allowable in the endeavour to
bring to a close a war that had cost the Federal Government an immense
amount of blood and treasure. I am of opinion, however, from what I
afterwards heard, that the step was not an altogether popular one in the
eastern and northern states, although it certainly was so in the
southern; it being argued in the public prints there, that as dogs had
been used in hunting down fugitive negroes from time immemorial, the
mere fact of bloodhounds being used instead of mastiffs was a peccadillo
unworthy of name.
The tobacco plant, though growing in many parts of Florida
spontaneously, like the broad-leafed dock in England, is often
cultivated in garden-ground for domestic use, some of the finer kinds
being as aromatic as those of Cuba. The soil in such places is rich;
indeed, the plant will not thrive in many parts where this is not the
case. The method of propagation, generally followed by the large
growers, is that recommended by Loudon, in his incomparable
_Encyclopedia of Agriculture,_ and is as follows:--The soil selected is
in general loamy and deep; this is well broken up before planting, and
frequently stirred to free it from the rich growth of weeds that, in
Florida in particular, choke the growth of all plants if neglected. The
seeds being small, they are lightly covered with earth, and then the
surface is pressed down with a flat instrument used for the purpose. In
two months after, the seedlings are ready to transplant, and are placed
in drills, three feet apart every way. These are frequently watered, if
there happens to be but little rain, which, in that arid climate, is
often the case for weeks together, and the plants regularly looked
over, to destroy a species of worm winch, if not removed, plays great
havoc with the young buds. When four inches high, the plants are moulded
up like potatoes in England; when they have six or seven leaves, and are
just putting out a stalk, the top is nipped off, to make the leaves
stronger and more robust. After this, the buds, which show themselves at
the joints of the leaves, are plucked, and then the plants are daily
examined, to destroy a caterpillar, of a singular form and grey in
colour, which makes its appearance at this stage, and is very
destructive to narcotic plants. When fit for cutting, which is known by
the brittleness of the leaves, the plants are cut close to the ground,
and allowed to lie some time. They are then put in farm-houses, in the
chimney-corner, to dry; or, if the crop is extensive, the plants are
hung upon lines in a drying-house, so managed that they will not touch
each other. In this state, they are left to sweat and dry. When this
takes place, the leaves are stripped off and tied in bundles; these are
put in heaps, and covered with a sort of matting, made from the
cotton-fibre or seaweed, to engender a certain heat to ripen the aroma,
care being taken lest a fermentation should occur, which injures the
value of the article; to avoid which the bundles are exposed and spread
about now and then in the open air. This operation is called
ventilating by the planters, and is continued until there is no apparent
heat in the heaps. The plant is quite ornamental, and its blossoms form
a pleasing feature in a garden of exotic productions.
After a brief stay at Fort Andrews, subsequent to the last sad offices
for my deceased friend, I left that spot on horseback for Tallahassee,
in company with four settlers. We soon reached the more populated
districts, without being molested by the Indians. Here they had
committed sad devastations; we saw many farms without occupants, the
holders having been either murdered by midnight assassins, or having
fled in alarm. Adjoining these habitations, we found line peach
orchards, teeming with fruit of the richest description, which lay in
bushels on the ground, and with which we regaled ourselves. Enclosed
maize fields overgrown with brambles, and cotton fields with the gins
and apparatus for packing the produce in bales for the market, presented
to the eye the very picture of desolation.
Owing to cross roads we were at one time completely at fault, and there
being no house in sight, I volunteered to ride off to the right and
endeavour to obtain the information we were in need of. After riding
about half-a-mile, I heard voices through a road-side coppice, which I
took to be those of field-hands at work; going farther on I dismounted,
and climbing the zigzag rail fence approached a negro at work in the
field. I inquired if he could put me on the road to Tallahassee; he
appeared much frightened at the intrusion, but stated he did not know,
but his mas'r did, at the same time pointing to the plantation-house,
situate the greater part of a mile distant; being averse to going there,
for fear of impudent interrogation, I offered him money to go with me to
the point where I had left my companions, and show us the way to the
next house; he did not even know what it was I offered him, and in
apparent amazement inquired what that was for; I explained, buy tobacco,
buy whiskey; he appeared totally ignorant of its use, and I have no
doubt he had never had money in his possession, or learned its use.
Still, he refused to leave the field, a wise precaution, as I afterwards
found, both for himself and me. The negro being resolute, there was now
no alternative but to go to the house, on arriving at which, I met with
such a reception as I had feared and anticipated. Three fierce dogs of
the mastiff breed, regularly trained to hunting fugitive negroes, rushed
out upon me. I had only a small riding whip with me, having left my
fire-arms with a friend at Fort Andrews, and much dreaded laceration.
Their noise soon brought out a ferocious, lank-visaged-looking man,
about forty years of age, who immediately called off the dogs; but
before I had time to make the inquiry that brought me there, he began in
about the following strain,
"What dye yer waunt up yar, stranger? Arter no good, I guess; you'd
better put it 'bout straight. I see'd yer torking to the hands
yonder--none o' yer 'mancipator doctrines yar."
The fellow's address "struck me all of a heap," as he would himself have
said, had he been in my situation; he spoke so fast, that I could not
edge in a word; at last I stated the cause of my intrusion, but he would
not believe a word, ordered me to quit the plantation or he would set
the dogs on me, and was getting into such an ungovernable rage, that I
thought it would be wise to follow his advice. So I slowly retreated to
the yard entrance by which I had come in. Returning to my companions at
the cross-roads, I found that, in my absence, a passer-by had given them
the wished-for information, and we pushed on to a house of call, a few
miles distant.
As the ride was a long one, we halted at this house for refreshment,
and, after baiting our horses, regaled ourselves upon some choice ham
and eggs. At the table, three little negroes, one girl and two boys,
under fourteen years of age, served as waiters. Their clothing was
supplied by nature, being solely the primitive habiliments worn in Eden
before the fall. This is quite customary in the south, where the rules
of decency are commonly set at defiance, as if the curse of Adam's
transgression applied not in this respect to the African race. The
little creatures did not seem to be in the least aware of their degraded
state; they were as agile as fawns, and their tact in administering to
the wants of the company was quite remarkable.
Just as we were about to proceed on our journey, a party of some
half-a-dozen planters or overseers of neighbouring estates, mounted on
fine mules, who had been searching for fugitive field-hands, rode up. I
could see they were greatly excited, and one of them had a negro lassoed
by the neck, one end of the rope being fastened to his high Spanish
saddle. On coming up to the entrance gate, the one most in advance
dismounted to open it; the mule, eager, perhaps, to get to a crib, or,
what is more likely, to evade a brutal kick or blow, trotted through;
this did not please its owner, who bellowed loudly to it to stop. The
mule, however, still kept on, when the ruffian, in demoniac anger, drew
from his belt a long bowie knife, and darting after the animal, hurled
it at him with all his force. The blade of the weapon, which was six or
seven inches long, entered and stuck fast in the abdomen of the agonized
creature, which, for about twenty yards, ran on furiously, with the
murderous knife in its vitals. It then fell-with a deep groan, while the
fiend who had perpetrated this wanton act of barbarity and his
companions watched its fall, and loudly exulted in it. I noticed that
there was a deep scowl of hatred on the countenance of the negro
prisoner as this drama was being enacted, and when the knife struck the
poor mule he cried out, "Oh, mas'r, mas'r!" Societies for the
suppression of cruelty to animals, are, as might be supposed, unknown in
such remote situations, nor do they exist in any of the slave States and
territories of America; so that redress in such a case was out of the
question. I therefore consoled myself that the outrage had brought its
own punishment in the loss of the mule, which was at least worth from
eighty to one hundred dollars.
Passing onwards, we reached Tallahassee by rather a circuitous route,
_viá_ Mount Pleasant. Although in an indifferent state of health, from
exposure to the poisonous miasma of the country, I, on the whole, felt
pleased with my journey, now that its dangers were over, and grateful to
the great Dispenser of all good, who had safely conducted me through
them. At Tallahassee I saw in the streets, in charge of a
ruffianly-looking fellow, two negroes, with heavy iron collars round
their necks. These were captured run-aways; the collars, which must
have weighed seven or ten pounds, had spikes projecting on either side.
One of the poor creatures had hold of the spikes as he walked along to
ease the load that pressed painfully on his shoulders.
General Murat resided at the time in this neighbourhood; he is the
brother of Jehoiachin, ex-king of Naples, and owns a large plantation,
and, I was told, upwards of two hundred negroes, who were described as
being humanely treated by him. This, however, is a very indefinite term,
where all slave-owners profess to do the same, though the poor wretches
over whom by law they impiously assume God's heritage, in ninety cases
out of every hundred, are scantily clothed, worse fed than horses or
mules, and worked to the utmost extent of human endurance, the humanity
being, in most cases, left to the tender mercies of a brutal overseer,
who exacts all he can. If the poor, tattered, squalid-looking beings I
saw in Tallahassee be a fair specimen of the "humane treatment" I have
referred to, heaven help them.
General Murat, some years ago, married an American lady, who delighted
in being called the "princess," a little piece of vanity quite in
keeping with the aristocratical prejudices of American females in the
south, who are devoted worshippers of lordly institutions and usages. I
did not see the general myself, but was told he was often to be met
lounging about the bars of the principal hotels (being quite
Americanized in this respect). He was described as a very garrulous old
gentleman, extremely fond of recounting his adventures, particularly his
escape when the allied troops entered Paris, about the year of
Bonaparte's subjugation.
After remaining a few days in Tallahassee, I took the conveyance to
Macon in Georgia, intending to pursue my route overland to Charleston in
South Carolina. In the diligence (a clumsy apology for a coach) from
Tallahassee to Macon, were several loquacious passengers. One of these
amused and disgusted us by turns; for, after giving an epitome of his
career, which was a chequered one, he related an incident that had
recently occurred on a plantation he had been visiting, and, as it
presents a novel feature in the asserted rights of slave-holders--how
profane, I will not stop to inquire--I think it worth recording. After a
recital of a drunken debauch, in which he had taken a part, described by
him as a frolic, and which had been kept up for several days, his host,
he said, anxious to show the high sense he entertained of the honour of
the visit by making almost any sacrifice (this was said with great
conceit), proposed to put a negro up with an apple on his head, in
imitation of the ordeal imposed on William Tell, the Swiss patriot,
declaring that he who divided the apple, or perforated it with a
rifle-ball, should own the slave. This proposal, the gentleman very
facetiously observed, the party jumped at, expecting some good sport;
but added, "The fellow spoilt it, for he refused to stand still,
although we 'used up' a cowhide over him for his obstinacy." The
frivolous manner in which this intended outrage was related, filled me
and my fellow-passengers with disgust. I thought it was not safe to
remark on the proceeding, for I could see he was a very strenuous
upholder of that disgraceful system of oppression, which stigmatizes and
degrades the Americans as a people, and will continue to do so, until it
is utterly abrogated, and their characters retrieved.
This would-be patrician was a pedantic, swaggering bully, who, it was
evident, entertained high notions of his importance, and owned, perhaps,
large possessions,--in a word, he was an American aristocrat, and the
description I have given is a fair one of his class in the south.
Pointing to a hill, as we entered a little settlement on our way to
Macon, he exclaimed, "See there, gentlemen, twenty years ago I toiled up
that hill without a cent in my wallet (purse), but now" he continued,
with the air of a potentate, "my niggers are the sleekest in our
country. In those days," he went on, "glass inkstands stood on the
desks of the bank I now am chief proprietor of; we have nothing but gold
ones now." The fellow's bombast lowered him in the esteem of the
passengers, who seemed indisposed to listen to him, and the latter part
of the journey he said little, being in fact regularly sent to Coventry
by us all. He afterwards amused himself much to our annoyance by
whistling airs and singing snatches of songs, which caused one of the
passengers, a lady, to leave the diligence at the next change of horses.
He was quite an adept at whistling the air of "Yankee doodle." This want
of deference to the sex, which I must say is an exception to the general
behaviour of men there and in other parts of the Union I visited, did
not fail to call forth animadversion; the remarks at one time being so
pointed, that I began to feel uneasy lest the pugnacious spirit might be
aroused in him, which leads so often in the south to serious encounters.
Our conveyance, which more resembled a waggon than, a stage-coach,
having by this time stopped at a large hotel at Macon, I alighted with
much pleasure, for the roughness of the road, the disagreeable loquacity
of the passenger I have described, and the recklessness of the driver,
made the journey excessively unpleasant.
The negro population in Georgia is very numerous, and their constant
attempts to escape to the everglades in Florida, make unceasing
vigilance on the part of their owners necessary for the safety of their
property. In many instances where suspicion exists, they are never
allowed on any pretence, to leave the estate or residence of the owner.
At the Greensborough Railway Terminus, I noticed two negroes on their
way to Charleston. Before being allowed to take their seat in an open
carriage in the rear of the train, the clerk at the station stepped up
to them, and with an air of great effrontery demanded to see their
passes; these were instantly shown with an alacrity that plainly
indicated fear; they were then shut in a box in the rear of the train,
in which I could see no sitting accommodation. The way in which these
men were treated presented nothing new, for I had invariably noticed
that coloured people in the south, whether bond or free, were spoken to
with supercilious haughtiness, which I never once saw them openly
resent.
On arriving at the next station a trader got into the carriage. He had
with him two negro men and a boy; these were secured to each other by
hand-cuffs and a slight negro chain.
For the last forty miles of my journey, I had a very pleasant companion
in a gentleman from the state of Alabama. He was a most agreeable and
intelligent young fellow, but invalided like myself through the
poisonous miasma of the south. I entered freely into conversation with
him on general matters, in the course of which I introduced slavery in
several of its bearings. I soon discovered by his bias, that he was
decidedly in favour of "things as they are."
Being anxious to obtain some information as to the observance of the
nuptial tie amongst slaves, I touched upon that subject, when he told me
the ceremony was mostly a burlesque, and that unions were in general but
temporary, although he had known some very devoted couples. But he
proceeded to state that there was much room for reform in this respect.
"I will relate to you an instance," said he, "of the manner in which
this, as we white people consider it, solemn compact, is entered into
amongst field-hands. When a couple wish to live together as man and
wife, the male nigger mentions it to the overseer, and if there are no
impediments, they have a cabin assigned to them." He described a scene
of this kind, which I will endeavour to give verbatim. He said it
occurred on his father's estate, some years before, and that he was
standing by at the time, "although," he continued, "'tis done the same
now in most instances." A negro approached where the overseer was
standing, apparently, by his sidling manner, about to ask some favour,
when the following colloquy ensued.
_Overseer_.--Well, you black rascal, what do you stand grinning there
for?
_Negro_.--Please, mas'r, want Lucy for wife.
_Overseer_.--Wife, you scoundrel, what do you want a wife for; be off
with you, and mind your horses. (He was employed as a teamster on the
estate.)
_Negro_.--Oh, mas'r, I loves Lucy.
_Overseer_.--And she loves you, I suppose. A fine taste she must have,
indeed. Where are you going to live?
_Negro_--Got room in No. 2 cabin, if mas'r please let 'um.
_Overseer_.--Well, now listen; go along, and take her, but, you lazy
dog, if you get into any scrapes, and don't work like live coals, I'll
send her to the other estate (which was situated forty miles distant),
and flay you alive into the bargain.
The poor fellow, after thanking the overseer (not for his politeness,
certainly), darted off to communicate the joyful intelligence to his
affianced, making the welkin ring with his shouts. The gentleman who
described this scene said that it was always the custom on his father's
estate to give a gallon or two of whiskey for the attendant
merry-making.
After numerous stoppages, the train at length reached Charleston. The
journey from Greensborough had been a tedious one; besides the annoyance
of slow travelling, through the inefficient state of the line, which was
so defective that the carriages frequently left the rails, the noisome
effluvia arising from the swamps we had to pass through, which harbour
innumerable alligators and other reptiles, had the most debilitating
effect on the frame, which was increased by the extreme sultriness of
the weather After leaving my ticket at the terminus, I disposed of my
baggage by hiring a negro to carry it to my boarding-house, and slowly
wended my way into the city. A spacious public square at the end of
King-street, through which I had to pass to my _table d'hote_, presented
an animated view, the citizens being assembled to celebrate the
anniversary of the Independence conferred by Washington and his
compatriots by the solemn declaration of the 4th July, 1776. Long
tables, under gay awnings, to shield the company from the burning rays
of the sun, which at the time were intense, groaned with every luxury
the climate afforded; but the banquet was not furnished by this alone,
for Cuba and some of the neighbouring islands, it was stated, had been
ransacked for delicacies. Crowds of elegantly-dressed ladies (in general
of very sallow look and languid air) and spirit-like children, with
swarthy-looking men, many of whose visages bore evident traces of
exposure to the ill effects of the climate and of dissipation, crowded
the festive board. The negro attendants in dozens moved about with
automatic order, as is characteristic of all the race on such occasions,
for the negro is a "model waiter" at a banquet. Their snowy costumes
contrasting strongly with their black visages and the jovial scene
around. The merry peals of laughter, as some unlucky wight upset a dish,
or scattered the sauce in everybody's face within reach, indicated
lightness of heart, and merriment and conviviality seemed the order of
the day.
The imposing scene before me, after a long absence from social meetings
in civilized life, was very cheering, and, had it not been for the
inertia I felt at the time, arising from a fatiguing journey and the
tertian ague, I should have felt disposed to participate in the day's
enjoyment. Other considerations might, however, have prevented this: I
was a stranger to all around, and knew that I should be either subjected
to impertinent interrogations, or become the object of invidious
remark--this, in my debilitated state of health, I felt anxious to
avoid, as calculated to impede my restoration. My joining the assembled
party might also have involved the chance of surveillance during my
stay, which, before my departure for Europe, I intended should be rather
protracted. I may have been mistaken in this view, but, from the
character I had heard of the place, I felt justified in giving way to
the suspicion.
I was beguiled into the erroneous idea that a sense of happiness and
security reigned in the assembled multitude, a notion quite fallacious,
from attendant circumstances, as I shall directly explain. Troops were
stationed at a guard-house in the vicinity, and the sentinels paced in
front of the building, as if in preparation for, or in expectation of, a
foe, affording a great contrast to the apparent security of the
inhabitants assembled in the square. Before reaching Charleston, I had
been apprised of the state of jeopardy the citizens were in from the
possibility of a recurrence of those scenes of anarchy enacted at the
insurrection of the slaves some time before--scenes which had filled
every heart with dismay, and spread ruin and desolation on every side.
From what I could glean of that fearful drama, the slaves in the
surrounding districts, on a concerted signal from their confederates in
Charleston, made a descent upon the city, and, rendered furious by long
oppression, proceeded to fire it and massacre the inhabitants. No
language can convey an accurate idea of the consternation of the white
inhabitants, as it was described to me. The tocsin was sounded, the
citizens assembled, armed _cap-a-pié_, and after much hard fighting,
the rebellion was crushed, and large numbers of the insurgents were
slain or arrested. Then came the bloody hand of what was impiously
termed retributive justice. A court, or sort of drum-head court-martial,
not worthy to be called a trial, condemned numbers of the slaves to
death, and they were led out instantly to execution. My informant told
me that many a brave, noble-hearted fellow was sacrificed, who, under
happier circumstances, though in a cause not half so righteous, would
have been extolled as a hero, and bowed down with honours. Many a humble
hearth was made desolate, and, in the language quoted by my informant,
"as in the days of the curse that descended on the people of the
obdurate Pharaoh, every house mourned its dead." Still, there was a
strong lurking suspicion that the _emeute_ of the negroes had only been
temporarily suppressed, and awful forebodings of fire and of blood
spread a gloom on the minds of all. This was the version given to me by
a friend, of what he described as the most fearful rising amongst the
negroes ever before known in the southern states of America.
As I passed up the long range of tables, the health of the President of
the Republic was responded to by the company. The cheers were deafening,
and, what most surprised me was, that the negro waiters joined
heartily, I may say frantically, in it, and danced about like mad
creatures, waving their napkins, and shouting with energy. Some of the
elder ones, I noticed, looked mournfully on, and were evidently not in a
gay humour, seeming a prey to bitter reflections. Notwithstanding the
curse of slavery, which, like a poisonous upas, taints the very air they
breathe with the murdered remains of its victims, the white citizens of
the south are extremely sensitive of their civil and political rights,
and seem to regard the palladium of independence secured by their
progenitors as an especial benefit conferred by the Deity for their good
in particular. Actuated by this mock patriotism (for it is nothing
less), the citizens of the south omit no opportunity of demonstrating
the blessings they so undeservedly inherit, and which, if I am not
mistaken, will, ere many years elapse, be wrested from them, amidst the
terrible thunders of an oppressed and patient people, whose powers of
endurance are indeed surprising.
Leaving the square, I passed up King-street, at the top of which was my
intended boarding-house. The shops in this fashionable resort are fitted
out in good style, and the goods are of the best description. After
sunset the streets are often lined with carriages. The city lies flat,
like the surrounding country, and, owing to this, is insalubrious;
stagnant water collects in the cellars of the houses, and engenders a
poisonous vapour, which is a fertile source of those destructive
epidemics, that, combined with other causes, are annually decimating the
white population of the south of the American continent in all parts.
At the top of King-street, facing you as you advance, is a large
Protestant episcopal church. I went there to worship on the following
Sunday, but was obliged to leave the building, there being, it was
stated by the apparitor, no accommodation for strangers, a piece of
illiberality that I considered very much in keeping with the
slave-holding opinions of the worshippers who attend it. This want of
politeness I was not, however, surprised at, for it is notorious, as has
been before observed by an able writer, that, excepting the Church of
Rome, "the members of the unestablished Church of England--the
Protestant Episcopalian, are the most bigotted, sectarian, and
illiberal, in the United States of America. Being fully persuaded," to
follow the same writer, "that prelatical ordination and the three orders
are indispensable to their profession, they are, like too many of their
fellow professors in the mother country, deeply dyed with Laudean
principles, or that love of formula in religion and grasping for power
which has so conspicuously shown itself among the Oxford tractarians,
and which, it is to be feared, is gradually undermining Protestant
conformity, by gnawing at its very heart, in the colleges of Great
Britain." Vital piety, or that deep sense of religious duty that impels
men to avoid the devious paths of sin, and to live "near to God," is, I
am inclined to believe (and I regret it, as a painful truth), by no
means common in America. There are, however, many pastors who faithfully
warn their flocks of the dangers of the world, and who strenuously
advise their hearers to take warning lest they be over-captivated with
the "Song of the Syrens." These, however, I must say, are chiefly in the
free states, for I cannot regard southern ministers in any other light
than pharisaical, while they continue openly (as is their constant
practice) to support from their pulpits the institution that is the main
stay of the southern states; I mean slavery. In my intercourse with
serious individuals with whom I came in contact during my stay on the
continent of America, the doctrines of Dr. Pusey and his confederates
were often referred to; and although I believe "the Association for
restoring the ancient powers of the Clergy, and the primary rites and
usages of the Church," does not acknowledge the Protestant Episcopalians
in America (owing, perhaps, chiefly to the invidious position the
latter stand in with the state, and the little chance of their views
being universally embraced by them, but partially, no doubt, to the
evangelical principles of most of the ministers officiating in that
Church), yet the subject has excited much interest there, and the Romish
propensities of many pastors plainly indicate that inherent love of
power that invariably, and, it may be said, necessarily, developes
itself in hierarchical institutions--a propensity that ought to be
closely watched by Protestant lay congregations, as being not only
innovating and dangerous in its tendency, but calculated to foster that
superstition which is at once the fundamental principle of the faith of
the city of the seven hills, and the power of that triple-crowned
monster, Popery.
I afterwards went into a large Independent chapel in another part of the
town, where I was more courteously treated. Here was a very eloquent and
noted preacher, a Dr. Groyard, from Mobile. He was delivering a very
eloquent harangue, interspersed with touches of pro-slavery,
sentimentalism and rhetorical flourish, the former especially directed to
the negroes in the gallery, when, suddenly, a cry of "Fire! fire!" was
raised in the street. The learned Doctor stood as if electrified, and
the instant after his hearers rushed pell-mell out of the chapel,
amidst the shrieks of the females, and the consternation of the men,
caused, without doubt, by a lurking suspicion of impending evil from the
negroes which I have before referred to. On ascertaining that the alarm
was caused by a house being on fire in the vicinity, the service was
abruptly terminated.
The following day I continued my perambulations; to the left of the
episcopal church I have already mentioned, and surrounded by umbrageous
trees in a park-like enclosure, is the Town-hall. I entered this
building, where I found a bench of magistrates, the mayor of the city
being amongst them, adjudicating on the cases brought before them. These
consisted chiefly of negroes apprehended in the streets after nine
o'clock the previous night; they were in all cases, except where their
owners paid the fine, sentenced to receive from ten to twenty lashes,
which were administered at once by the city gaoler, in a yard at the
rear of a building, near which officers were in attendance for the
purpose. I must mention, in explanation, that one of the laws passed
directly after the insurrection, was to prohibit negroes, on any
pretence, to be out after nine, p.m. At that hour, the city guard, armed
with muskets and bayonets, patrolled the streets, and apprehended every
negro, male or female, they found abroad. It was a stirring scene, when
the drums beat at the guard-house in the public square I have before
described, preparatory to the rounds of the soldiers, to witness the
negroes scouring the streets in all directions, to get to their places
of abode, many of them in great trepidation, uttering ejaculations of
terror as they ran. This was an inexorable law, and punishment or fine
was sure to follow its dereliction, no excuse being available, and as
the owners seldom submitted to pay the fine, the slaves were compelled
to take the consequences, which, in the language that consigned them to
the cruel infliction, "consisted of from ten to twenty lashes, well laid
on with a raw-hide," a murderous whip, which draws blood after the first
few strokes, and is as torturing, I should imagine, as the Russian
knout, certainly proving in many instances as fatal as that odious
instrument. The crowning severity of the enactments I have referred to,
remains, however, to be told. So heinous in a negro, is the crime of
lifting his hand in opposition to a white man in South Carolina, that
the law adjudges that the offending member shall be forfeited. This is,
or was, quite as inexorable as the one I have before spoken of, and when
in Charleston, I frequently, amongst the flocks of negroes passing and
repassing, saw individuals with one hand only. Like the administration
of miscalled justice on negroes in all slave-holding states in America,
the process was summary; the offender was arrested, brought before the
bench of sitting magistrates, and on the _ex parte_[A] statement of his
accuser, condemned to mutilation, being at once marched out to the rear
of the building and the hand lopped off on a block fixed there for the
purpose. I noticed a block and axe myself in the yard of a building near
the town-hall, and on looking at them closely, saw they were stained
almost black, with what I have little hesitation in saying was human
blood. My conductor, however, tried to divert my attention from the
object, and knowing I was an Englishman, refused to enter on the
subject.
[FOOTNOTE A: The writer was assured, when in Charleston, that this was
the case in five out of every six cases.]
Another of the many cruel laws put in force after the _emeute_ of the
negroes, was to prohibit any coloured person from walking on the
pavements, and forcing all males to salute every white they met. These
distinctions, although falling into disuse, are not even yet abolished,
but still, with many others equally odious, disgrace the Carolinean
statute book. I saw several negroes from the plantation districts,
walking in the road instead of on the pavement, in accordance with this
law, touching their hats to every white passer-by; they were
consequently obliged to be continually lifting their hands to their
heads, for they passed white people at every step. Although I believe
no punishment is now enforced for the omission of this humiliating
homage to colour, the men I have referred to were doubtless afraid to
disregard the ceremony.
A partiality exists in every part of America for music; indeed, so
strongly is this developed, that in almost all the towns, and even in
some hamlets in the western states, subscription bands are kept
up--these play every evening, when the weather admits, in the centre of
the public square, the citizens the while promenading round with their
wives and families.
But, although a decided penchant prevails for music, the preference is
given by the mass to a few ordinary airs, calculated to inspire that
love of country which every reminiscence of the struggle for
independence calls forth. The favourite air is the so-called national
one of "Hail, Columbia," although this is but second to the fantastic
drollery of "Yankee Doodle;" the latter is vociferously called for at
all places of amusement, and excites in the audience, at such places of
resort, almost frantic sensations. This is the more remarkable, as it
was originally composed by an Englishman, and, as it is so intimately
connected with Americanism, I shall, perhaps, be excused for introducing
here what may be termed its history.
In the attacks made upon the French posts in America, in 1755, those
against Niagara and Frontenac were made by Governor Shirley, of
Massachusetts, and General Jackson, of New York. Their army during the
summer lay on the eastern bank of the Hudson, a little south of Albany.
Early in June, the troops of the eastern provinces began to pour in
company after company, and such an assemblage never before thronged
together on such an occasion. "It would have relaxed the gravity of an
anchorite," says the historian, "to see the descendants of the Puritans
marching through the streets of the ancient city, and taking their
stations on the left of the British army--some with long coats, and
others with no coats at all, and with colours as various as the rainbow;
some with their hair cropped like the army of Cromwell, and others with
wigs, the locks of which floated with grace round their shoulders. Their
march, their accoutrements, and the whole arrangement of the troops,
furnished matter of amusement to the British army. The music played the
airs of two centuries ago; and the _tout ensemble_, upon the whole,
exhibited a sight to the wondering strangers to which they had been
unaccustomed."
Among the club of wits that belonged to the British army, there was a
Doctor Shackburg attached to the staff, who combined with his knowledge
of surgery the skill and talent of a musician. To please the new-comers,
he composed a tune, and, with much gravity, recommended it to the
officers as one of the most celebrated airs of martial music. The joke
took, to the no small amusement of the British. Brother Jonathan
exclaimed, it was "nation fine;" and in a few days, nothing was heard in
the provincial camp but the air of "Yankee Doodle."
Little did the author, in his composition, then suppose, that an air,
made for the purpose of levity and ridicule, should be marked for such
high destinies. In twenty years from that time, the national march--now
universally recognized by the patriots--inspired the heroes of Bunker's
Hill; and, in less than thirty, Lord Cornwallis and his army marched
into the American lines to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."