THE INDENTED SLAVE.
Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate,
All but the page prescribed, their present state:
From brutes what men, from men what spirits know;
Or who could suffer being here below?
The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.
--Pope.
That which was most dreaded in New England and all the American colonies
came to pass. Charles II. died, and his brother James, Duke of York, was
crowned King of England. On ascending the throne, the very first act of
James II. was one of honest but imprudent bigotry. Incapable of reading
the signs of the times, or fully prepared to dare the worst that those
signs could portend, James immediately sent his agent Caryl to Rome, to
apologize to the pope for the long and flagrant heresy of England, and
to endeavor to procure the re-admission of the English people into the
communion of the Catholic Church. The pope was more politic than the
king and returned him a very cool answer, implying that before he
ventured upon so arduous an enterprise as that of changing the professed
faith of nearly his entire people, he would do well to sit down and
calculate the cost.
The foolish king, who stopped at nothing, not even the mild rebuke of
the holy father, would not open his eyes, and as a natural result he was
soon cordially hated by nearly all his subjects. His brother had left an
illegitimate son called the Duke of Monmouth, who was encouraged to
attempt to seize the throne of his uncle. At first the cause of the duke
seemed prosperous. His army swelled from hundreds to thousands; but,
owing to his lack of energy and fondness for pleasure, he delayed and
gave the royal armies time to recruit. He was attacked at Sedgemore,
near Bridgewater, and, owing to the perfidity or cowardice of Gray, his
cavalry general, the rebels were defeated. Monmouth was captured, and
his uncle ordered him beheaded, which was done.
Then commenced the most barbarous punishment of rebels ever known. An
officer named Kirk was sent by the king to hunt down the Monmouth
rebels, or those sympathizing with them. His atrocious deeds would fill
a volume, and are so revolting as to seem incredible. Another brutal
ruffian of the time was Judge Jeffries. The judicial ermine has often
been disgraced by prejudiced judges; but Jeffries was the worst monster
that ever sat on the bench. He hung men with as much relish as did
Berkeley of Virginia. His term was called the "bloody assizes," and to
this day the name of Judge Jeffries is applied in reproach to the
scandalous ruling of a partial judiciary.
The accession of James II. made fewer changes in the American colonies
than was anticipated. Perhaps, had his reign been longer, the changes
would have been greater. The suppression of Monmouth's rebellion gave to
the colonies many useful citizens. Men connect themselves, in the eyes
of posterity, with the objects in which they take delight. James II. was
inexorable toward his brother's favorites. Monmouth was beheaded, and
the triumph of legitimacy was commemorated by a medal, representing the
heads of Monmouth and Argyle on an altar, their bleeding bodies beneath,
with the following: "Sic aras et sceptra tuemur." ("Thus we defend our
altars and our throne.")
"Lord chief justice is making his campaign in the west," wrote James II.
to one in Europe, referring to Jeffries' circuit for punishing the
insurgents. "He has already condemned several hundreds, some of whom we
are already executed, more are to be, and the others sent to the
plantations." The prisoners condemned to transportation were a salable
commodity. Such was the demand for labor in America that convicts and
laborers were regularly purchased and shipped to the colonies where they
were sold as indented servants. The courtiers round James II. exulted in
the rich harvest which the rebellion promised, and begged of the monarch
frequent gifts of their condemned countrymen. Jeffries heard of the
scramble, and indignantly addressed the king:
"I beseech your majesty, that I inform you, that each prisoner will be
worth ten pound, if not fifteen pound, apiece, and, sir, if your majesty
orders these as you have already designed, persons that have not
suffered in the service will run away with the booty." Under this appeal
of the lord chief justice the spoils were divided and his honor was in
part gratified. Many of the convicts were persons of family and
education, and were accustomed to ease and elegance.
"Take all care," wrote the monarch, under the countersign of Sunderland,
to the government in Virginia, "take all care that they continue to
serve for ten years at least, and that they be not permitted in any
manner to redeem themselves by money or otherwise, until that term be
fully expired. Prepare a bill for the assembly of our colony, with such
clauses as shall be requisite for this purpose."
No legislature in any of the American colonies seconded such malice, for
the colonies were never in full accord with James II. Tyranny and
injustice peopled America with men nurtured to suffering and adversity.
The history of our colonization is the history of the crimes of Europe,
and some of the best families in America are descended from the indented
servants of the Old World.
In Bristol, kidnapping had become common, and not only felons, but young
persons of birth and education were hurried across the Atlantic and sold
for money.
Never did a king prove a greater tyrant or more inhuman and cruel than
James II. After the insurrection of Monmouth had been suppressed, all
the sanguinary excesses of despotic revenge were revived. Gibbets were
erected in villages to intimidate the people, and soldiers were
intrusted with the execution of the laws. Scarce a Presbyterian family
in Scotland, but was involved in proscription or penalties. The jails
were overflowed, and their tenants were sent as slaves to the colonies.
Maddened by the succession of murders; driven from their homes to caves,
from caves to morasses and mountains; death brought to the inmates of a
house that should shelter them; death to the benefactor that should
throw them food; death to the friend that listened to their complaint;
death to the wife or parent that still dared to solace husband or son;
ferreted out by spies; hunted with dogs;--the fanatics turned upon their
pursuers, and threatened to retaliate on the men who should still
continue to imbrue their hands in blood. The council retorted by
ordering a massacre. He that would not take the oath should be executed,
though unarmed, and the recusants were shot on the roads, or as they
labored in the field, or stood at prayer. To fly was admission of guilt;
to excite suspicion was sentence of death; to own the covenant was
treason.
Sometimes the lot of an indented slave was a happy one. Hundreds and
thousands of fugitives flying from persecution came to the New World,
while thousands of others were sent as convicts.
Virginia received her share of the latter.
One bright spring morning a ship from England entered the James River
with a number of these indented slaves to be sold to the planters.
Notice had been given of the intended sale and many planters came to
look at the poor wretches huddled together like so many beasts in an old
shed, and guarded by soldiers. Mr. Thomas Hull, a planter of
considerable means, and a man noted for his iron will, was among those
who came to make purchases.
"Well, Thomas, have you looked over the lot?" asked another planter.
"No, Bradley, have you?"
"Yes, though I am shortened in money, and unable to purchase to-day."
"Well, Bradley, what have you seen among them?"
"There are many fine, lusty fellows; but I was most interested and
grieved in one."
"Why?"
"He is a man who has known refinement and ease, is perchance thirty-five
and has with him a child."
"A child?"
"Yes, a maid not to exceed ten years, but very beautiful with her golden
hair and soft blue eyes."
"Is the child a slave?"
"No."
"Then wherefore is it here?" asked Hull.
"His is truly a pathetic story as I have heard it. It seems he was a
widower with his child wandering about the country, when he fell in with
some of the Duke of Monmouth's people and enlisted. He was captured at
Sedgemore, and condemned by Jeffries. The child was left to wander at
will; but by some means she accompanied her father, managed to smuggle
herself on shipboard, and was not discovered until the vessel was well
out to sea. Then the captain, who was a humane man, permitted them to
remain together to the end of the voyage. She is with her father now,
and a prettier little maid I never saw."
"By the mass! I will go and see her," cried Hull. "If she be all you
say, I will buy them both."
"But she is not for sale."
"Wherefore not?"
"She was not adjudged by the court."
With the cold, heartless laugh of a natural tyrant, Hull answered:
"It will be all the same. He who purchases the father will have the maid
also."
He went to the place where the slaves were confined and gazed on the
lot, very much as a cattle dealer might look upon a herd he contemplated
purchasing. His gaze soon fastened on a fine, manly person in whose
proud eye the sullen fires were but half subdued. He stood with his arms
folded across his broad chest and his eye fixed upon a beautiful girl at
his side.
The captive spoke not. A pair of handcuffs were on his wrists, and the
chains came almost to the ground; but slavery and chains could not
subdue the proud captive.
Hull delighted in punishing those whom he disliked. He was a papist at
heart and consequently in sympathy with James II., so for this indented
slave he incurred from the very first a most bitter dislike. When the
slave was brought forth to be sold, he bid twelve pounds for him. This
was two pounds more than the required price, and he became the
purchaser.
"You are mine," cried Hull to the servant. "Come with me." The father
turned his great brown eyes dim with moisture upon his child, and Hull,
interpreting the look, added, "Hold, I will buy the maid also."
"She cannot be sold," the officer in charge of the slaves answered,
"unless the master of the ship sees fit to sell her for passage money."
The master of the ship was present and declared he would do nothing of
the kind.
"I will take her back to England, if she wishes to return," he added.
The child was speechless, her great blue eyes fixed on her father.
"What will you do with the maid?" asked Hull, who, having the father,
felt sure the child would follow.
"I will return her to England free of charge, if she wills it."
"Who will care for her there?" asked Hull. "Do you know her relatives?"
"No; all are strangers to me."
The father, with his proud breast heaving with tumultuous emotion, stood
silently gazing on the scene. He was a slave and he remembered that a
slave must not speak unless permission be granted him by his master; but
it was his child, the only link that bound him to earth, whose fate they
were to decide, and, had he been unfettered, he might have clasped her
to his bosom.
"Speak with the maid," suggested a by-stander, "and see if she has a
friend in England who will care for her."
The master of the ship went to the bewildered child and, taking her
little hand in his broad palm, said:
"Sweet little maid, you are not afraid to trust me?"
She turned her great blue eyes up to him and, in a whisper, answered:
"I am not."
"Have you a mother?"
"No."
"Have you any friends in England?"
"None, since my father came away."
"Where did you live before your father enlisted in the army of
Monmouth?"
"We travelled; we lived at no one place."
"Have you no friends or relatives in England?"
"None."
The captain then asked permission to talk with the father. The
permission was given by Hull, for he saw that his slave had the sympathy
of all present, and it would not be safe to refuse him some privileges.
The master of the vessel and the magistrate who had superintended the
selling of the slaves for the crown found the slave a very intelligent
gentleman. He said he had but one relative living so far as he knew. He
had a brother who had come to America two or three years before; but he
had not heard from him, and he might be dead.
"Do you know any one in England to whom your child could be sent?"
"I do not."
"What were you doing before you entered the duke's army?"
"I was a strolling player," the man answered, his fine tragic eyes fixed
firmly on the officers. "My company had reached a town one day, in which
we were to play at night, and just as I was getting ready to go to the
theatre, the Duke of Monmouth entered. He was on his way to Sedgemore,
and I was forced to join him. My child followed on foot and watched the
battle as it raged. When it was over I could have escaped, had I not
come upon Cora, who was seeking me. I took her up in my arms and was
hurrying away, when the cavalry of the enemy overtook me and I was made
a prisoner."
The simple story made an impression on all who heard it save the
obdurate master. The magistrate asked the slave what he would have done
with his child.
"Let her stay in the colony until my term of service is ended, then I
will labor to remunerate any who would keep her."
At this Hull said he would take the maid, and she might always be near
the father. All who knew Hull looked with suspicion on the proposition.
A new-comer had arrived on the scene. This was a young man of about the
same age as the prisoner. He was a wealthy Virginian named Robert
Stevens, noted for his kindness of heart and charity. He did not arrive
on the scene until after the indented slave had been sold; but he soon
heard the story of the captive from Sedgemore and his child. Robert
Stevens' heart at once went out to these unfortunates, and he resolved
on a scheme to make the father practically free.
"Has the slave been sold?" he asked.
"He has, and I am the purchaser," answered Hull.
"How much did you give for him?"
"Twelve pounds."
"I will give fifty."
"He is already sold," repeated Hull exultingly. He despised Robert
Stevens for his wealth and popularity. To have purchased a slave whom
Robert Stevens wanted, was great glory for Hull.
"Fear not, good man," said Robert to the unfortunate slave. "I have
money enough to purchase your freedom."
Unfortunately those words fell on the ears of Thomas Hull, and he
answered:
"It is the order of the king that all serve their term out, and none be
allowed to purchase their freedom."
"I will give you one hundred pounds for the slave," cried Robert.
"No."
"A thousand!"
"Robert Stevens, for some reason you want this slave restored to
liberty."
"No. Sell him to me, and he shall serve out his term."
"I understand your plan. You would make his servitude a luxury. You
cannot have the slave for a hundred times the sum you offer. By law, the
convict is fairly mine until he hath fully served his term. I am not so
heartless as you deem me. His child can go to my house, where she will
be cared for."
"No, no, no!" cried the captive, his eyes turned appealingly to Robert
Stevens. "You take her; you take her. Go with him, Cora."
The child sprang to the side of Robert Stevens, for already she had come
to dread the man who was her father's master. Hull's face was black with
rage. He bit his lips, but said nothing. With his slave, he hurried
home.
The name of the slave was George Waters, and he was soon to learn the
weight of a master's hand.
Thomas Hull was the owner of negro slaves, as well as white indented
servants, and he made no distinction between them. George Waters, proud,
noble as he was, was set to work with the filthy negroes in the tobacco
fields. The half-savage barbarians, with their ignorance and naturally
low instincts, were intended to humiliate the refined gentleman.
"You is one of us," said a negro. "What am your name?"
"George Waters."
"George--George, dat am my name, too," said the negro, leaning on his
hoe. "D'ye suppose we is brudders?"
"No."
"Well, why is we bofe called George?"
"I don't know."
The overseer came along at this moment and threatened them with the
lash, if they did not cease talking and attend to their work. Again and
again was the proud George Waters subjected to indignities, until he
could scarcely restrain himself from knocking Martin, his overseer,
down, and selling his life in the defence of his liberty; but he
remembered Cora, and resolved to bear taunts and indignities for her
sake, until his term of service was ended. His only comfort was that his
child was well cared for.
He had been a year and a half on the upper plantation of Thomas Hull,
and though he had demeaned himself well, and had done the labor of two
ordinary men--though he had never uttered a word of complaint, no matter
what burdens were laid upon him, his natural pride and nobility of
character won the hatred of the overseer. The fellow had a violent
temper and hated George Waters.
One day, from no provocation at all, he threatened to beat Waters. The
servant snatched the whip from his hand and said:
"I would do you no harm, sir. I have always performed my tasks to the
best of my ability, and never have I complained; but if you so much as
give me one stroke, I will kill you."
There was fire in his eye and an earnestness in his voice, which awed
the cowardly overseer; but at the same time they increased his hatred.
He resolved to be revenged, and reported to Hull that the slave was
rebellious. Hull permitted George Waters to be tied to a tree by four
stout negroes, whose barbarous natures delighted in such work, and the
overseer laid a whip a dozen times about his bare shoulders. No groan
escaped his lips. For three days he lay about his miserable lodge
waiting for his wounds to heal, and meanwhile made up his mind to fly
from the colony.
He had heard that a society of Friends, or Quakers, had formed a colony
to the north, which was called Pennsylvania; and he knew that they would
succor a slave. As soon as he was well enough, he stole from a cabin a
gun, a knife and some ammunition, and set out in the night to find the
plantation of Robert Stevens, where Cora was. His escape was discovered
and the overseer, with Thomas Hull, set out in hot pursuit of the
fugitive. At dawn of day they came in sight of him in the forest on the
Lower James River and, being on horseback, gave chase.
"Keep away! keep back!" cried the fugitive, "or I will not answer for
the consequences," and he brandished his gun in the air. The overseer
was armed with pistols and, drawing one, galloped up to within a hundred
paces of the fugitive and fired, but missed. Quick as thought, George
Waters raised his gun and, taking aim at the breast of his would-be
slayer, shot him dead from the saddle.
The body fell to the ground, and the frightened horse wheeled about and
ran away. Thomas Hull, who was a coward, awed by the fate of his
overseer, turned and fled as rapidly as his horse could go.
Horrified at what he had done, and knowing that death, sure and swift,
would follow his capture, George Waters turned and fled down the James
River. Some guardian angel guided his footsteps, for he found himself
one night, almost starved, faint and weak, at the plantation of Robert
Stevens. George was driven to desperate straits when he accosted the
wealthy planter and asked for food. Robert recognized him as the father
of the little maid whom he had taken to his home as one of his family.
"I have heard all; you must not be seen," said Robert. Then he conducted
him to an apartment of his large manor house. "Are you hungry?"
"I am starving."
Robert brought him food with his own hands and, as he ate, asked:
"Do you want to see Cora?"
"May I?"
"Yes."
"I am a slave and a--a----"
"I know what you would say. Do not say it, for you slew only in
self-defence."
"But I will be hanged if found."
"You shall not be found. Heaven help me, if I shield a real criminal
from justice; but he who strikes a blow for liberty is worthy of aid."
After the fugitive had in a measure satisfied his hunger, Robert said:
"You will need sleep and rest, after which you must prepare for a long
journey."
"Whither shall I go?"
"To Massachusetts. I have relatives in Salem, where you will be safe."
"Safe!"
He repeated the word as if it were a glorious dream--a vision never to
be realized.
"Yes, you will be safe; but as you must make the journey through a vast
forest, you will need to be refreshed by rest and food."
The wild-eyed fugitive, with his face haggard as death, seized the arm
of his benefactor and said:
"They will come and slay me as I sleep."
"Fear not, my unfortunate brother, for I will put you in a chamber where
none save myself shall know of you."
"And my child?"
"She shall accompany you to Salem."
The fugitive said no more. He entrusted everything to the man who had
promised to save him. He was led up two flights of stairs, when they
came to a ladder reaching to an attic, and they went up this attic
ladder to a chamber, where there was a narrow bed, with soft, clean
sheets and pillows, the first the prisoner had seen in the New World.
"You can sleep here in perfect security," said Robert. "I will see that
you are not molested by any one."
The wayworn traveller threw himself on the bed and fell asleep.
Stevens went below and told his wife of the fugitive. Ester Stevens was
the daughter of General Goffe, the regicide, who had been hunted for
years by Charles II. for signing the death warrant of the king's father
and serving in the army of Oliver Cromwell, and Mrs. Stevens could
sympathize with a political fugitive. They ran some risk in keeping him
in their house; but as a majority of the colonists had been in sympathy
with the Duke of Monmouth, for James II. had few friends in Virginia and
Thomas Hull none, their risk was not as great as it might seem.
The fugitive late next day awoke, and Robert carried his breakfast to
him. The colony was wild with excitement over the escape of an indented
slave and the killing of the overseer. Thomas Hull represented the
crime to be as heinous as possible, to arouse a sympathy for himself and
a hatred for the escaped slave. Some people were outspoken in the belief
that the escaped slave should be killed; others were in sympathy with
him. They reasoned that Hull had been a hard master, and that this poor
fellow was no criminal, but a patriot, for which he had been adjudged to
ten years' penal servitude.
Many of the searchers came to the mansion house of Stevens; but he
managed to put them off the track.
For five days and nights George Waters remained in the attic. On the
sixth night Robert Stevens came to him and said:
"You must now set out on your journey."
"But Cora--can I see her?"
"She will accompany you. Here is a suit of clothes more befitting one of
your rank and station, than the garb of an indented slave." He placed a
riding suit with top boots and hat in the apartment. When he had attired
himself, Robert next brought him some arms, a splendid gun and a brace
of pistols of the best make.
"You may have need of these," said the planter. "You will also find
holsters in the saddle."
"And does Cora know of this?"
"I have told her all."
The father shuddered. In the pride of his soul, he remembered that he
was a slave, had felt the lash, and was humiliated.
Under a wide-spreading chestnut near the planter's mansion, stood three
horses ready saddled. A faithful negro slave was holding them, and the
little maid, clothed for a long journey, awaited her father's arrival. A
fourth horse was near on which were a pack of provisions and a small
camping outfit.
The father and child met and embraced in silence, and, had she not felt
a tear on her face, she would hardly have known that he was so greatly
agitated.
"We will mount and be far on the journey before the day dawns," said
Robert.
"Do you go with us?" asked George Waters.
"Certainly. I know the country and will guide you beyond danger."
They mounted and travelled all night long. At early dawn, they halted
only to refresh themselves with a cold breakfast, and pushed on.
Three days Robert journeyed with them, and then, on the border of
Maryland, he halted and told them of a land now within their reach,
where the Quakers dwelt. There they might rest until they were able to
go to Massachusetts. He gave a purse of gold to the father, saying:
"Take it, and may God be as good to you as he has been to me."
The fugitive murmured out some words of thanks; but his benefactor
wheeled his steed about and galloped away, lest the words of gratitude
might fall on his ears.
"Let us go on, father," said Cora.
For days, Cora Waters could never tell how long, they journeyed, until
at last, on the banks of the Delaware, they came upon a small town where
dwelt a people at peace with all the world--the Quakers, and the tired
child and her father were taken in, given food and shelter, Christian
sympathy, and assured of safety.