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IMPERIUM
IN IMPERIO
A STUDY OF
THE NEGRO RACE PROBLEM
A NOVEL
Sutton E. Griggs
1899
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
Berl Trout's Declaration 1
I A Small Beginning 3
II The School 8
III The Parson's Advice 15
IV The Turning of a Worm 24
V Belton Finds a Friend 38
VI A Young Rebel 48
VII A Sermon, a Sock, And a Fight 64
VIII Many Mysteries Cleared Up 83
IX Love and Politics 95
X Cupid Again at Work 111
XI No Befitting Name 125
XII On the Dissecting Board 139
XIII Married and yet not Married 161
XIV " " " " " (Continued) 171
XV Weighty Matters 177
XVI Unwritten History 188
XVII Crossing the Rubicon 200
XVIII The Storm's Master 223
XIX The Parting of Ways 249
XX Personal (Berl Trout) 262
TO THE PUBLIC.
The papers which are herewith submitted to you for your perusal and
consideration, were delivered into my hands by Mr. Berl Trout.
The papers will speak for themselves, but Mr. Trout now being dead I
feel called upon to say a word concerning him.
Mr. Berl Trout was Secretary of State in the Imperium In Imperio, from
the day of its organization until the hour of his sad death. He was,
therefore, thoroughly conversant with all of the details of that great
organization.
He was a warm personal friend of both Bernard and Belton, and learned
from their own lips the stories of their eventful lives.
Mr. Trout was a man noted for his strict veracity and for the absolute
control that his conscience exercised over him.
Though unacquainted with the Imperium In Imperio I was well acquainted
with Berl, as we fondly called him. I will vouch for his truthfulness
anywhere.
Having perfect faith in the truthfulness of his narrative I have not
hesitated to fulfil his dying request by editing his Ms., and giving
it to the public. There are other documents in my possession tending
to confirm the assertions made in his narrative. These documents
were given me by Mr. Trout, so that, in case an attempt is made to
pronounce him a liar, I might defend his name by coming forward with
indisputable proofs of every important statement.
Very respectfully,
Sutton E. Griggs,
March 1, 1899. Berkley, Va.
IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO.
BERL TROUT'S DYING DECLARATION.
I am a traitor. I have violated an oath that was as solemn and
binding as any ever taken by man on earth.
I have trampled under my feet the sacred trust of a loving
people, and have betrayed secrets which were dearer to them
than life itself.
For this offence, regarded the world over as the most
detestable of horrors, I shall be slain.
Those who shall be detailed to escort my foul body to its
grave are required to walk backwards with heads averted.
On to-morrow night, the time of my burial, the clouds should
gather thick about the queenly moon to hide my funeral
procession from her view, for fear that she might refuse to
longer reign over a land capable of producing such a wretch as
I.
In the bottom of some old forsaken well, so reads _our_ law, I
shall be buried, face downward, without a coffin; and my body,
lying thus, will be transfixed with a wooden stave.
Fifty feet from the well into which my body is lowered, a
red flag is to be hoisted and kept floating there for time
unending, to warn all generations of men to come not near the
air polluted by the rotting carcass of a vile traitor.
Such is my fate. I seek not to shun it. I have walked into
odium with every sense alert, fully conscious of every step
taken.
While I acknowledge that I am a traitor, I also pronounce
myself a patriot.
It is true that I have betrayed the immediate plans of the
race to which I belong; but I have done this in the interest
of the whole human family--of which my race is but a part.
My race may, for the time being, shower curses upon me; but
eventually all races, including my own, shall call me blessed.
The earth, in anger, may belch forth my putrid flesh with
volcanic fury, but the out-stretched arms of God will receive
my spirit as a token of approval of what I have done.
With my soul feasting on this happy thought, I send this
revelation to mankind and yield my body to the executioner to
be shot until I am dead.
Though death stands just before me, holding before my eyes my
intended shroud woven of the cloth of infamy itself, I shrink
not back.
Yours, doomed to die,
BERL TROUT.
IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO
CHAPTER I
A SMALL BEGINNING.
"Cum er long hunny an' let yer mammy fix yer 'spectabul, so yer ken go
to skule. Yer mammy is 'tarmined ter gib yer all de book larning dar
is ter be had eben ef she has ter lib on bred an' herrin's, an' die en
de a'ms house."
These words came from the lips of a poor, ignorant negro woman, and
yet the determined course of action which they reveal vitally affected
the destiny of a nation and saved the sun of the Nineteenth Century,
proud and glorious, from passing through, near its setting, the
blackest and thickest and ugliest clouds of all its journey; saved it
from ending the most brilliant of brilliant careers by setting, with a
shudder of horror, in a sea of human blood.
Those who doubt that such power could emanate from such weakness;
or, to change the figure, that such a tiny star could have dimensions
greater than those of earth, may have every vestige of doubt removed
by a perusal of this simple narrative.
Let us now acquaint ourselves with the circumstances under which the
opening words of our story were spoken. To do this, we must need lead
our readers into humble and commonplace surroundings, a fact that
will not come in the nature of a surprise to those who have traced
the proud, rushing, swelling river to the mountain whence it comes
trickling forth, meekly and humbly enough.
The place was Winchester, an antiquated town, located near the
northwestern corner of the State of Virginia.
In October of the year 1867, the year in which our story begins, a
white man by the name of Tiberius Gracchus Leonard had arrived in
Winchester, and was employed as teacher of the school for colored
children.
Mrs. Hannah Piedmont, the colored woman whom we have presented to
our readers as addressing her little boy, was the mother of five
children,--three girls and two boys. In the order of their ages, the
names of her children were: James Henry, aged fifteen, Amanda Ann,
aged thirteen, Eliza Jane, aged eleven, Belton, aged eight, and
Celestine, aged five. Several years previous to the opening of our
history, Mr. Piedmont had abandoned his wife and left her to rear the
children alone.
School opened in October, and as fast as she could get books and
clothing Mrs. Piedmont sent her children to school. James Henry,
Amanda Ann, and Eliza Jane were sent at about a week's interval.
Belton and Celestine were then left--Celestine being regarded as too
young to go. This morning we find Belton's mother preparing him for
school, and we shall stand by and watch the preparations.
The house was low and squatty and was built of rock. It consisted of
one room only, and over this there was a loft, the hole to climb into
which was in plain view of any one in the room. There was only one
window to the house and that one was only four feet square. Two panes
of this were broken out and the holes were stuffed with rags. In one
corner of the room there stood a bed in which Mrs. Piedmont and
Amanda Ann slept. Under this was a trundle bed in which Eliza Jane
and Celestine slept at the head, while Belton slept at the foot. James
Henry climbed into the loft and slept there on a pallet of straw. The
cooking was done in a fireplace which was on the side of the house
opposite the window. Three chairs, two of which had no backs to them,
completed the articles in the room.
In one of these chairs Mrs. Piedmont was sitting, while Belton stood
before her all dressed and ready to go to school, excepting that his
face was not washed.
It might be interesting to note his costume. The white lady for whom
Mrs. Piedmont washed each week had given her two much-torn pairs of
trousers, discarded by her young son. One pair was of linen and the
other of navy blue. A leg from each pair was missing; so Mrs. Piedmont
simply transferred the good leg of the linen pair to the suit of the
navy blue, and dressed the happy Belton in that suit thus amended. His
coat was literally a conglomeration of patches of varying sizes and
colors. If you attempted to describe the coat by calling it by the
name of the color that you thought predominated, at least a half dozen
aspirants could present equal claims to the honor. One of Belton's
feet was encased in a wornout slipper from the dainty foot of some
young woman, while the other wore a turned over boot left in town by
some farmer lad who had gotten himself a new pair. His hat was in
good condition, being the summer straw last worn by a little white
playfellow (when fall came on, this little fellow kindly willed his
hat to Belton, who, in return for this favor, was to black the boy's
shoes each morning during the winter).
Belton's mother now held in her hand a wet cloth with which she wished
to cleanse his face, the bacon skin which he gnawed at the conclusion
of his meal having left a circle of grease around his lips. Belton
did not relish the face washing part of the programme (of course
hair combing was not even considered). Belton had one characteristic
similar to that of oil. He did not like to mix with water, especially
cold water, such as was on that wet cloth in his mother's hand.
However, a hint in reference to a certain well-known leather strap,
combined with the offer of a lump of sugar, brought him to terms.
His face being washed, he and his mother marched forth to school,
where he laid the foundation of the education that served him so well
in after life.
A man of tact, intelligence, and superior education moving in the
midst of a mass of ignorant people, ofttimes has a sway more absolute
than that of monarchs.
Belton now entered the school-room, which in his case proves to be the
royal court, whence he emerges an uncrowned king.