Voyage up the Mississippi (continued)--Grand Gulph and Big Black
River--Snags--"I belong to myself, Sir"--Vicksburg and Lynch Law--A Man
Overboard--"Drove of Horses, Mules, and Niggers"--Character of
Fellow-Passengers--The Sabbath--Disobedience to Conscience.
We came on the 12th of February to the Grand Gulph and "Big Black
River." The former is situated at the base of a bold and solitary
"bluff." Here, a few years ago, "a negro man was condemned by the _mob_
to be _burned alive over a slow fire_, which was put into execution,
for murdering a black woman and her master Mr. Green, a respectable
citizen of that place, who attempted to save her from the clutches of
this monster." Such is the newspaper version of the affair. Had the
real truth been stated, it would have appeared that this Green was the
"_monster_," who had seduced the wretched negro's wife!
The "Big Black River" is not so very "big" after all. It is extremely
narrow, although navigable for some hundreds of miles.
Besides the danger of explosion--which, I apprehend, arises from
"racing" and carelessness more than from any other cause--steam-boats
on the "father of waters" are exposed to "snags." These snags are
trunks of large trees that have become fastened in the bed of the
river, and are often found lying against the stream at angles of from
30 to 40 degrees. As the river varies much with regard to the quantity
of water in its channel,--frequently rising or falling from 6 to 12
feet in a few hours,--these snags are sometimes so deep in the water
that they can be passed over with safety; at other times, however, they
are but just covered. If a boat coming--especially down the
stream--with high pressure and at full speed, making between twenty and
thirty miles an hour, runs against one of these firmly-fixed,
immoveable snags, it sustains a fearful shock. Not unfrequently a large
hole is thus made in the bottom; and boat, cargo, crew, passengers, and
all, sink in an instant. The danger is greatly increased by fogs, often
so dense that the helmsman, though situated on the hurricane-deck and
over the fore part of the vessel, can see nothing before him. In such a
case, wise and cautious men "lie to," and wait till the mist has
cleared off.
May not these "snags" serve to remind us of certain characters and
circumstances with which we meet on the voyage of life? Who cannot call
to mind many snags--men, rugged, stubborn, and contentious,--snags by
all means to be avoided? D'Israeli was the snag of Peel--Russia was the
snag of Napoleon--Slavery is the snag of the Evangelical Alliance.
On board our steamer was a fine black young man, who acted as barber,
waiter, and man-of-all-work. Curious to know whether he was a slave or
not, I requested my friend from Maine to sound him. "To whom do you
belong?" said the Baptist. "I belong to myself, sir," was the prompt
and dignified reply. "That's right," I involuntarily exclaimed; "he is
free!" In answer to further questions, he told us that he was from New
Orleans, and had bought himself about two years before for 600 dollars.
He could therefore truly say, "I belong to myself, sir!" Oh! that every
slave in America could say the same! But how monstrous, that a man
should have to pay to one of his fellow-men upwards of 120_l._ sterling
in order to "own himself!" Land of liberty, forsooth!
In the evening we reached Vicksburg. This place, like nearly all other
places in this region, is deeply stained with deeds of violence and
blood. A few years ago, a set of thieves and gamblers were here put to
death by Lynch law. "Gentlemen of property and standing laughed the law
(the constitutional law) to scorn, rushed to the gamblers' house, put
ropes round their necks, dragged them through the streets, hanged them
in the public square, and thus saved the sum they had not yet paid.
Thousands witnessed this wholesale murder; yet of the scores of legal
officers present, not a soul raised a finger to prevent it: the whole
city consented to it, and thus aided and abetted it. How many hundreds
of them helped to commit the murders with their own hands does not
appear; but not one of them has been indicted for it, and no one made
the least effort to bring them to trial. Thus, up to the present hour,
the blood of those murdered men rests on that whole city; and it will
continue to be a CITY OF MURDERERS so long as its citizens agree
together to shield those felons from punishment."
Darkness had covered the city of blood when we arrived, and therefore
we could not see it. One of the passengers, in stepping on a plank to
go ashore, fell into the water. It was a frightful sight to see the
dark figure of a fellow-man splattering and holloing in so perilous a
position. Seldom can a person be saved who falls into the Mississippi,
so rapid is the current; and, moreover, the banks are so steep that,
though he be a good swimmer, he cannot get up. The knowledge of these
facts generally destroys in the person who falls in all hope and
self-command. Fortunately, however, in the present instance a rope was
instantly thrown out, and the individual was saved. He assured us,
afterwards, that some one had designedly pushed him from the plank into
the water.
On the 13th of February we breasted a small settlement on our left,
called Providence, in Louisiana. We observed on the river's bank what a
man at my elbow (a professor of religion, who had discovered a great
propensity to talk about his religious experience before gamblers)
coolly designated "a drove of horses, mules, and niggers." Observe the
order of his enumeration! Of the "niggers" there were about 100, small
and great, young and old, and of both sexes. The whole "drove" were
waiting to be shipped for the New Orleans market, and were jealously
guarded by several large dogs. From individual instances like this, one
may form a clearer notion of the internal slave-trade of America.
Thousands every year are thus brought down the Mississippi to supply
the Natchez and New Orleans markets. "Those who are transported down
the Mississippi," says a manual of American slavery, "are stowed away
on the decks of steam-boats, males and females, old and young, usually
chained, subject to the jeers and taunts of the passengers and
navigators, and often by bribes or threats, or by the lash, made
subject to abominations not to be named." On the same deck, you may see
horses and human beings tenants of the same apartments, and going to
supply the same market. The _dumb_ beasts, being less manageable, are
allowed the first place; while the _human_ are forced into spare
corners and vacant places. My informant saw one trader who was taking
down to New Orleans 100 horses, some sheep, and between fifty and sixty
slaves. The sheep and the slaves occupied the same deck. Many
interesting and intelligent women were of the number. I could relate
facts concerning the brutal treatment of these defenceless females,
while on the downward passage, which would kindle the hot indignation
of every mother, and daughter, and sister in Old England. The slaves
are carried down in companies, varying in number from 20 to 500. Men of
considerable capital are engaged in the traffic. Go into the principal
towns on the Mississippi, and you will find these negro traders in the
bar-rooms boasting of their adroitness in driving human flesh, and
describing the process by which they succeed in "_taming down_ the
spirit of a _refractory_ negro." Here, then, were human beings,
children of our common Father, bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh, classed with the brutes that perish,--nay, degraded below them,
and placed under the surveillance of dogs. The horrors of such a system
it is impossible to exaggerate.
The majority of our fellow-passengers did nothing but gamble, eat,
drink, smoke, and spit, from morning till night. In the afternoon a
dispute arose between two of them about ten dollars, which the one
maintained he had won from the other. One of the two quickly drew out
his Bowie knife, and would certainly have stabbed the other but for the
intervention of the boat's officers. When the whites have so little
hesitation in shedding each other's blood, we cannot be surprised at
the indifference with which negro life is put an end to. "A rencontre
took place last week," says the _New Orleans Delta_, "between the
overseer of Mr. A. Collins (a planter in our vicinity) and one of the
negroes. It seems the overseer wished to chastise the negro for some
offence, and the negro resisted and struck the overseer with a spade.
The overseer grappled with him, and called some of the negroes to his
assistance; but, perceiving that the negroes were not willing to assist
him, he drew his knife, and stabbed the negro to the heart. A coroner's
inquest has been held, and a verdict given in accordance with the
circumstances, declaring the overseer justifiable."
The 14th of February was Sunday. My Baptist friend, when engaging his
passage, had given the captain a hint that, when the Sabbath came, he
should like to have divine service on board. Nothing, however, was now
said about it. Not, I think, that the officers of the boat would have
disliked it; but, considering the general character of their
passengers, they perhaps thought it would have been only "casting
pearls before swine." One passenger indeed, who _said_ he was a
Congregationalist, expressed to my friend a wish to have worship; but
he was playing at cards every day, and was in other respects no great
credit to Congregationalism. The Baptist assured me that his countrymen
too generally, when they travel, leave their religion behind!
The Baptist related to me an awful story respecting a captain with whom
he had sailed from New England to Guadaloupe, and thence to New
Orleans. This man belonged to my friend's congregation, and professed
to have been "converted" under his ministry. His pastor had frequent
occasion to reprove him for his disregard of the Sabbath at sea. In New
Orleans he engaged to take a cargo of Government stores to Tampico, for
the supply of the army. He had to sign a bond to take in the cargo, and
sail before a certain day, or forfeit the sum of 500 dollars. The
Sabbath came. The pastor was at that time absent, on his visit to
"Elder Wright" before mentioned, on the Red River. An agent of the
"Bethel Union," who was going round to invite seamen to the "Bethel"
worship, invited the said captain and his men. He excused himself and
his crew on the plea that they had no time--were under contract--had
signed a bond--and might forfeit 500 dollars, &c. "What!" said the
agent, "not afford time to attend the worship of God" on his own day!
"No, I really cannot--very sorry--what I have never done before--should
like to go"--was the faltering reply. "Well," replied the agent with
great solemnity, "God will soon call you to account for this." "I know
He will," rejoined the captain with a downcast eye. The interview
ended. The agent proceeded on his pious mission, and the captain to
take in his cargo. The next morning, as he was looking over the side of
the vessel to see how deep she was in the water, he fell overboard. His
body was never found. His watch, which had been left in the cabin, and
a few other personal articles, the pastor was now taking with him to
the afflicted widow and family.