LYNCH LAW AGAIN.
The reader next beholds Clayton at Magnolia Grove, whither he had fled
to recruit his exhausted health and spirits. He had been accompanied
there by Frank Russel.
Our readers may often have observed how long habits of intimacy may
survive between two persons who have embarked in moral courses, which,
if pursued, must eventually separate them forever.
For such is the force of moral elements, that the ambitious and
self-seeking cannot _always_ walk with those who love good for its own
sake. In this world, however, where all these things are imperfectly
developed, habits of intimacy often subsist a long time between the most
opposing affinities.
The fact was that Russel would not give up the society of Clayton. He
admired the very thing in him which he wanted himself; and he comforted
himself for not listening to his admonitions by the tolerance and
good-nature with which he had always heard them. When he heard that he
was ill, he came to him and insisted upon travelling with him, attending
him with the utmost fidelity and kindness.
Clayton had not seen Anne before since his affliction--both because his
time had been very much engaged, and because they who cannot speak of
their sorrows often shrink from the society of those whose habits of
intimacy and affection might lead them to desire such confidence. But he
was not destined in his new retreat to find the peace he desired. Our
readers may remember that there were intimations conveyed through his
sister some time since of discontent arising in the neighborhood.
The presence of Tom Gordon soon began to make itself felt. As a
conductor introduced into an electric atmosphere will draw to itself
the fluid, so he became an organizing point for the prevailing
dissatisfaction.
He went to dinner-parties and talked; he wrote in the nearest paper; he
excited the inflammable and inconsiderate; and, before he had been there
many weeks, a vigilance association was formed among the younger and
more hot-headed of his associates, to search out and extirpate covert
abolitionism. Anne and her brother first became sensible of an entire
cessation of all those neighborly acts of kindness and hospitality, in
which southern people, when in a good humor, are so abundant.
At last, one day Clayton was informed that three or four gentlemen of
his acquaintance were wishing to see him in the parlor below.
On descending, he was received first by his nearest neighbor, Judge
Oliver, a fine-looking elderly gentleman, of influential family
connection.
He was attended by Mr. Bradshaw, whom we have already introduced to our
readers, and by a Mr. Knapp, who was a very wealthy planter, a man of
great energy and ability, who had for some years figured as the
representative of his native state in Congress.
It was evident, by the embarrassed air of the party, that they had come
on business of no pleasing character.
It is not easy for persons, however much excited they may be, to enter
at once upon offensive communications to persons who receive them with
calm and gentlemanly civility; therefore, after being seated, and having
discussed the ordinary topics of the weather and the crops, the party
looked one upon another, in a little uncertainty which should begin the
real business of the interview.
"Mr. Clayton," at length said Judge Oliver, "we are really sorry to be
obliged to make disagreeable communications to you. We have all of us
had the sincerest respect for your family and for yourself. I have known
and honored your father many years, Mr. Clayton; and, for my own part, I
must say I anticipated much pleasure from your residence in our
neighborhood. I am really concerned to be obliged to say anything
unpleasant; but I am under the necessity of telling you that the course
you have been pursuing with regard to your servants, being contrary to
the laws and usages of our social institutions, can no longer be
permitted among us. You are aware that the teaching of slaves to read
and write is forbidden by the law, under severe penalties. We have
always been liberal in the interpretation of this law. Exceptional
violations, conducted with privacy and discretion, in the case of
favored servants, whose general good conduct seems to merit such
confidence, have from time to time existed, and passed among us without
notice or opposition; but the institution of a regular system of
instruction, to the extent and degree which exists upon your plantation,
is a thing so directly in the face of the law, that we can no longer
tolerate it; and we have determined, unless this course is dropped, to
take measures to put the law into execution."
"I had paid my adopted state the compliment," said Clayton, "to suppose
such laws to be a mere relic of barbarous ages, which the practical
Christianity of our times would treat as a dead letter. I began my
arrangements in all good faith, not dreaming that there could be found
those who would oppose a course so evidently called for by the spirit of
the Gospel, and the spirit of the age."
"You are entirely mistaken, sir," said Mr. Knapp, in a tone of great
decision, "if you suppose these laws are, or can ever be, a matter of
indifference to us, or can be suffered to become a dead letter. Sir,
they are founded in the very nature of our institutions. They are
indispensable to the preservation of our property, and the safety of our
families. Once educate the negro population, and the whole system of our
domestic institutions is at an end. Our negroes have acquired already,
by living among us, a degree of sagacity and intelligence which makes it
difficult to hold an even rein over them; and, once open the flood-gates
of education, and there is no saying where they and we might be carried.
I, for my part, do not approve of these exceptional instances Judge
Oliver mentioned. Generally speaking, those negroes whose intelligence
and good conduct would make them the natural recipients of such favors
are precisely the ones who ought not to be trusted with them. It ruins
them. Why, just look at the history of the insurrection that very nearly
cut off the whole city of Charleston: what sort of men were those who
got it up? They were just your steady, thoughtful, well-conducted
men,--just the kind of men that people are teaching to read, because
they think they are so good it can do no harm. Sir, my father was one of
the magistrates on the trial of those men, and I have heard him say
often there was not one man of bad character among them. They had all
been _remarkable_ for their good character. Why, there was that Denmark
Vesey, who was the head of it: for twenty years he served his master,
and was the most faithful creature that ever breathed; and after he got
his liberty, everybody respected him, and liked him. Why, at first, my
father said the magistrates could not be brought to arrest him, they
were so sure that he could not have been engaged in such an affair. Now,
all the leaders in that affair could read and write. They kept their
lists of names; and nobody knows, or ever will know, how many were down
on them, for those fellows were deep as the grave, and you could not get
a word out of them. Sir, they died and made no sign; but all this is a
warning to us."
"And do you think," said Clayton, "that if men of that degree of energy
and intelligence are refused instruction, they will not find means to
get knowledge for themselves? And if they do get it themselves, in spite
of your precautions, they will assuredly use it against you.
"The fact is, gentlemen, it is inevitable that a certain degree of
culture must come from their intercourse with us, and minds of a certain
class _will_ be stimulated to desire more; and all the barriers we put
up will only serve to inflame curiosity, and will make them feel a
perfect liberty to use the knowledge they conquer from us against us. In
my opinion, the only sure defence against insurrection is systematic
education, by which we shall acquire that influence over their minds
which our superior cultivation will enable us to hold. Then, as fast as
they become fitted to enjoy rights, we must grant them."
"Not we, indeed!" said Mr. Knapp, striking his cane upon the floor. "We
are not going to lay down our power in that way. We will not allow any
such beginning. We must hold them down firmly and consistently. For my
part, I dislike even the system of oral religious instruction. It starts
their minds, and leads them to want something more. It's indiscreet,
and I always said so. As for teaching them out of the Bible,--why, the
Bible is the most exciting book that ever was put together! It always
starts up the mind, and it's unsafe."
"Don't you see," said Clayton, "what an admission you are making? What
sort of a system must this be, that requires such a course to sustain
it?"
"I can't help that," said Mr. Knapp. "There's millions and millions
invested in it, and we can't afford to risk such an amount of property
for mere abstract speculation. The system is as good as forty other
systems that have prevailed, and will prevail. We can't take the
frame-work of society to pieces. We must proceed with things as they
are. And now, Mr. Clayton, another thing I have to say to you," said he,
looking excited, and getting up and walking the floor. "It has been
discovered that you receive incendiary documents through the
post-office; and this cannot be permitted, sir."
The color flushed into Clayton's face, and his eye kindled as he braced
himself in his chair. "By what right," he said, "does any one pry into
what I receive through the post-office? Am I not a free man?"
"No, sir, you are not," said Mr. Knapp,--"not free to receive that which
may imperil a whole neighborhood. You are not free to store barrels of
gunpowder on your premises, when they may blow up ours. Sir, we are
obliged to hold the mail under supervision in this state; and suspected
persons will not be allowed to receive communications without oversight.
Don't you remember that the general post-office was broken open in
Charleston, and all the abolition documents taken out of the mail-bags
and consumed, and a general meeting of all the most respectable
citizens, headed by the clergy in their robes of office, solemnly
confirmed the deed?"
"I think, Mr. Knapp," said Judge Oliver, interposing in a milder tone,
"that your excitement is carrying you further than you are aware. I
should rather hope that Mr. Clayton would perceive the reasonableness of
our demand, and of himself forego the taking of these incendiary
documents."
"I take no incendiary documents," said Clayton, warmly. "It is true I
take an anti-slavery paper, edited at Washington, in which the subject
is fairly and coolly discussed. I hold it no more than every man's duty
to see both sides of a question."
"Well, there, now," said Mr. Knapp, "you see the disadvantage of having
your slaves taught to read. If they could not read your papers, it would
be no matter what you took; but to have them get to reasoning on these
subjects, and spread their reasonings through our plantations,--why,
there'll be the devil to pay, at once."
"You must be sensible," said Judge Oliver, "that there must be some
individual rights which we resign for the public good. I have looked
over the paper you speak of, and I acknowledge it seems to me very fair;
but, then, in our peculiar and critical position, it might prove
dangerous to have such reading about my house, and I never have it."
"In that case," said Clayton, "I wonder you don't suppress your own
newspapers; for as long as there is a congressional discussion, or a
Fourth of July oration, or senatorial speech in them, so long they are
full of incendiary excitement. Our history is full of it, our state
bills of rights are full of it, the lives of our fathers are full of it;
we must suppress our whole literature, if we would avoid it."
"Now, don't you see," said Mr. Knapp, "you have stated just so many
reasons why slaves must not learn to read?"
"To be sure I do," said Clayton, "if they are always to remain slaves,
if we are never to have any views of emancipation for them."
"Well, they _are_ to remain slaves," said Mr. Knapp, speaking with
excitement. "Their condition is a finality; we will not allow the
subject of emancipation to be discussed, even."
"Then, God have mercy on you!" said Clayton, solemnly; "for it is my
firm belief that, in resisting the progress of human freedom, you will
be found fighting against God."
"It isn't the cause of human freedom," said Mr. Knapp, hastily. "They
are not human; they are an inferior race, made expressly for subjection
and servitude. The Bible teaches this plainly."
"Why don't you teach them to read it, then?" said Clayton, coolly.
"The long and the short of the matter is, Mr. Clayton," said Mr. Knapp,
walking nervously up and down the room, "you'll find this is not a
matter to be trifled with. We come, as your friends, to warn you; and,
if you don't listen to our warnings, we shall not hold ourselves
responsible for what may follow. You ought to have some consideration
for your sister, if not for yourself."
"I confess," said Clayton, "I had done the chivalry of South Carolina
the honor to think that a lady could have nothing to fear."
"It is so generally," said Judge Oliver, "but on this subject there is
such a dreadful excitability in the public mind, that we cannot control
it. You remember, when the commissioner was sent by the Legislature of
Massachusetts to Charleston, he came with his daughter, a very
cultivated and elegant young lady; but the mob was rising, and we could
not control it, and we had to go and beg them to leave the city. I, for
one, wouldn't have been at all answerable for the consequences, if they
had remained."
"I must confess, Judge Oliver," said Clayton, "that I have been
surprised, this morning, to hear South Carolinians palliating two such
events in your history, resulting from mob violence, as the breaking
open of the post-office, and the insult to the representative of a
sister state, who came in the most peaceable and friendly spirit, and to
womanhood in the person of an accomplished lady. Is this hydra-headed
monster, the mob, to be our governor?"
"Oh, it is only upon this subject," said all three of the gentlemen, at
once; "this subject is exceptional."
"And do you think," said Clayton, "that
'you can set the land on fire,
To burn just so high, and no higher?'
"You may depend upon it you will find that you cannot. The mob that you
smile on and encourage when it does work that suits you, will one day
prove itself your master in a manner that you will not like."
"Well, now, Mr. Clayton," said Mr. Bradshaw, who had not hitherto
spoken, "you see this is a very disagreeable subject; but the fact is,
we came in a friendly way to you. We all appreciate, personally, the
merits of your character, and the excellence of your motives; but,
really sir, there is an excitement rising, there is a state of the
public mind which is getting every day more and more inflammable. I
talked with Miss Anne on this subject, some months ago, and expressed my
feelings very fully; and now, if you will only give us a pledge that you
will pursue a different course, we shall have something to take hold of
to quiet the popular mind. If you will just write and stop your paper
for the present, and let it be understood that your plantation system is
to be stopped, the thing will gradually cool itself off."
"Gentlemen," said Clayton, "you are asking a very serious thing from me,
and one which requires reflection. If I am violating the direct laws of
the state, and these laws are to be considered as still in vital force,
there is certainly some question with regard to my course; but still I
have responsibilities for the moral and religious improvement of those
under my care, which are equally binding. I see no course but removal
from the state."
"Of course, we should be sorry," said Judge Oliver, "you should be
obliged to do that; still we trust you will see the necessity, and our
motives."
"Necessity is the tyrant's plea, I believe," said Clayton, smiling.
"At all events, it is a strong one," replied Judge Oliver, smiling also.
"But I am glad we have had this conversation; I think it will enable me
to pacify the minds of some of our hot-headed young neighbors, and
prevent threatened mischief."
After a little general conversation, the party separated on apparently
friendly terms, and Clayton went to seek counsel with his sister and
Frank Russel.
Anne was indignant with that straight-out and generous indignation which
belongs to women, who, generally speaking, are ready to follow their
principles to any result with more inconsiderate fearlessness than men.
She had none of the anxieties for herself which Clayton had for her.
Having once been witness of the brutalities of a slave-mob, Clayton
could not, without a shudder, connect any such possibilities with his
sister.
"I think," said Anne, "we had better give up this miserable sham of a
free government, of freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and all
that, if things must go on in this way."
"Oh," said Frank Russel, "the fact is that our republic, in these
states, is, like that of Venice; it's not a democracy, but an oligarchy,
and the mob is its standing army. We are, all of us, under the 'Council
of Ten', which has its eyes everywhere. We are free enough as long as
our actions please them; when they don't, we shall find their noose
around our necks. It's very edifying, certainly, to have these gentlemen
call on you to tell you that they will not be answerable for
consequences of excitement which they are all the time stirring up; for,
after all, who cares what you do, if they don't? The large proprietors
are the ones interested. The rabble are their hands, and this warning
about popular excitement just means, 'Sir, if you don't take care, I
shall let out my dogs, and then I won't be answerable for
consequences.'"
"And you call this liberty!" said Anne, indignantly.
"Oh, well," said Russel, "this is a world of humbugs. We call it liberty
because it's an agreeable name. After all, what is liberty, that people
make such a breeze about? We are all slaves to one thing or another.
Nobody is absolutely free except Robinson Crusoe, in the desolate
island; and he tears all his shirts to pieces and hangs them up as
signals of distress, that he may get back into slavery again."
"For all that," said Anne, warming, "I know there is such a thing as
liberty. All that nobleness and enthusiasm which has animated people in
all ages for liberty cannot be in vain. Who does not thrill at those
words of the Marsellaise:--
'O Liberty, can men resign thee,
Once having felt thy generous flame?
Can dungeons, bolts, or bars, confine thee,
Or whips thy noble spirit tame?'"
"These are certainly agreeable myths," said Russel, "but these things
will not bear any close looking into. Liberty has generally meant the
liberty of me and my nation and my class to do what we please; which is
a very pleasant thing, certainly, to those who are on the upper side of
the wheel, and probably involving much that's disagreeable to those who
are under."
"That is a heartless, unbelieving way of talking," said Anne, with
tears in her eyes. "I know there have been some right true, noble souls,
in whom the love of liberty has meant the love of right, and the desire
that every human brother should have what rightly belongs to him. It is
not _my_ liberty, nor _our_ liberty, but the _principle_ of liberty
itself, that they strove for."
"Such a principle, carried out logically, would make smashing work in
this world," said Russell. "In this sense, where is there a free
government on earth? What nation ever does or ever did respect the right
of the weaker, or ever will, till the millennium comes?--and that's too
far off to be of much use in practical calculations; so don't let's
break our hearts about a name. For my part, I am more concerned about
these implied threats. As I said before, 'the hand of Joab is in this
thing.' Tom Gordon is visiting in this neighborhood, and you may depend
upon it that this, in some way, comes from him. He is a perfectly
reckless fellow, and I am afraid of some act of violence. If he should
bring up a mob, whatever they do, there will be no redress for you.
These respectable gentlemen, your best friends, will fold their hands,
and say, 'Ah, poor fellow! we told him so!' while others will put their
hands complacently in their pockets, and say, 'Served him right!'"
"I think," said Clayton, "there will be no immediate violence. I
understood that they pledged as much when they departed."
"If Tom Gordon is in the camp," said Russel, "they may find that they
have reckoned without their host in promising that. There are two or
three young fellows in this vicinity, who, with his energy to direct
them, are reckless enough for anything; and there is always an abundance
of excitable rabble to be got for a drink of whiskey."
The event proved that Russel was right. Anne's bedroom was in the back
part of the cottage, opposite the little grove where stood her
school-room.
She was awakened, about one o'clock that night, by a broad, ruddy glare
of light, which caused her at first to start from her bed, with the
impression that the house was on fire.
At the same instant she perceived that the air was full of barbarous and
dissonant sounds, such as the beating of tin pans, the braying of
horns, and shouts of savage merriment, intermingled with slang oaths and
curses.
In a moment, recovering herself, she perceived that it was her
school-house which was in a blaze, crisping and shrivelling the foliage
of the beautiful trees by which it was surrounded, and filling the air
with a lurid light.
She hastily dressed, and in a few moments Clayton and Russel knocked at
the door. Both were looking very pale.
"Don't be alarmed," said Clayton, putting his arm around her with that
manner which shows that there is everything to fear; "I am going out to
speak to them."
"Indeed you are going to do no such thing," said Frank Russel,
decidedly. "This is no time for any extra displays of heroism. These men
are insane with whiskey and excitement. They have probably been
especially inflamed against you, and your presence would irritate them
still more. Let me go out: I understand the _ignobile vulgus_ better
than you do; besides which, providentially, I haven't any conscience to
prevent my saying and doing what is necessary for an emergency. You
shall see me lead off this whole yelling pack at my heels in triumph.
And now, Clayton, you take care of Anne, like a good fellow, till I come
back, which may be about four or five o'clock to-morrow morning. I shall
toll all these fellows down to Muggins', and leave them so drunk they
cannot stand for one three hours."
So saying, Frank proceeded hastily to disguise himself in a shaggy old
great-coat, and to tie around his throat a red bandanna silk
handkerchief, with a very fiery and dashing tie, and surmounting these
equipments by an old hat which had belonged to one of the servants, he
stole out of the front door, and, passing around through the shrubbery,
was very soon lost in the throng who surrounded the burning building. He
soon satisfied himself that Tom Gordon was not personally among
them,--that they consisted entirely of the lower class of whites.
"So far, so good," he said to himself, and, springing on to the stump of
a tree, he commenced a speech in that peculiar slang dialect which was
vernacular with them, and of which he perfectly well understood the use.
With his quick and ready talent for drollery, he soon had them around
him in paroxysms of laughter; and, complimenting their bravery,
flattering and cajoling their vanity, he soon got them completely in his
power, and they assented, with a triumphant shout, to the proposition
that they should go down and celebrate their victory at Muggins'
grocery, a low haunt about a mile distant, whither, as he predicted,
they all followed him. And he was as good as his word in not leaving
them till all were so completely under the power of liquor as to be
incapable of mischief for the time being.
About nine o'clock the next day he returned, finding Clayton and Anne
seated together at breakfast.
"Now, Clayton," he said, seating himself, "I am going to talk to you in
good, solemn earnest, for once. The fact is, you are checkmated. Your
plans for gradual emancipation, or reform, or anything tending in that
direction, are utterly hopeless; and, if you want to pursue them with
your own people, you must either send them to Liberia, or to the
Northern States. There was a time, fifty years ago, when such things
were contemplated with some degree of sincerity by all the leading minds
at the south. That time is over. From the very day that they began to
open new territories to slavery, the value of this kind of property
mounted up, so as to make emancipation a moral impossibility. It _is_,
as they told you, a _finality_; and don't you see how they make
everything in the Union bend to it? Why these men are only about three
tenths of the population of our Southern States, and yet the other seven
tenths virtually have no existence. All they do is to vote as they are
told--as they know they must, being too ignorant to know any better.
"The mouth of the north is stuffed with cotton, and will be kept full as
long as it suits us. Good, easy gentlemen, they are so satisfied with
their pillows, and other accommodations inside of the car, that they
don't trouble themselves to reflect that we are the engineers, nor to
ask where we are going. And, when any one does wake up and pipe out in
melancholy inquiry, we slam the door in his face, and tell him 'Mind
your own business, sir,' and he leans back on his cotton pillow, and
goes to sleep again, only whimpering a little, that 'we might be more
polite.'
"They have their fanatics up there. We don't trouble ourselves to put
them down; we make them do it. They get up mobs on our account, to hoot
troublesome ministers and editors out of their cities; and their men
that they send to Congress invariably do all our dirty work. There's now
and then an exception, it is true; but they only prove the rule.
"If there was any public sentiment at the north for you reformers to
fall back upon, you might, in spite of your difficulties, do something;
but there is not. They are all implicated with us, except the class of
born fanatics, like you, who are walking in that very unfashionable
narrow way we've heard of."
"Well," said Anne, "let us go out of the state, then. I will go
anywhere; but I will not stop the work that I have begun."