THE STORM'S MASTER.
When Bernard ceased speaking and took his seat the house was as silent
as a graveyard. All felt that the time for words had passed and the
next and only thing in order was a deed.
Each man seemed determined to keep his seat and remain silent until he
had some definite plan to suggest. At length one man, somewhat aged,
arose and spoke as follows:
"Fellow citizens, our condition is indeed past enduring and we must
find a remedy. I have spent the major portion of my life in close
study of this subject, searching for a solution. My impression is that
the negro will never leave this country. The day for the wholesale
exodus of nations is past. We must, then, remain here. As long as we
remain here as a separate and distinct race we shall continue to
be oppressed. We must lose our identity. I, therefore, urge that we
abandon the idea of becoming anything noteworthy as a separate and
distinct race and send the word forth that we amalgamate."
When the word "amalgamate" escaped his lips a storm of hisses and
jeers drowned further speech and he quickly crouched down in his
seat. Another arose and advocated emigration to the African Congo
Free State. He pointed out that this State, great in area and rich in
resources, was in the hands of the weak kingdom of Belgium and could
be wrested from Belgium with the greatest ease. In fact, it might
be possible to purchase it, as it was the personal property of King
Leopold.
He further stated that one of his chief reasons for suggesting
emigration was that it would be a terrible blow to the South. The
proud Southerner would then have his own forests to fell and fields to
tend. He pictured the haughty Southern lady at last the queen of her
own kitchen. He then called attention to the loss of influence and
prestige which the South would sustain in the nation. By losing nearly
one half of its population the South's representation in Congress
would be reduced to such a point that the South would have no
appreciable influence on legislation for one half a century to come.
He called attention to the business depression that would ensue when
the southern supply merchant lost such an extensive consumer as the
negro.
He wound up by urging the Imperium to go where they would enjoy all
the rights of free men, and by picturing the demoralization and ruin
of the South when they thus went forth. His suggestion met with much
favor but he did not make clear the practicability of his scheme.
At length a bold speaker arose who was courageous enough to stick a
match to the powder magazine which Bernard had left uncovered in all
their bosoms. His first declaration was: "I am for war!" and it was
cheered to the echo. It was many minutes before the applause died
away. He then began an impassioned invective against the South
and recited in detail horror after horror, for which the South was
answerable. He described hangings, revolting in their brutality; he
drew vivid word pictures of various burnings, mentioning one where a
white woman struck the match and ignited the pile of wood that was
to consume the trembling negro. He told of the Texas horror, when a
colored man named Smith was tortured with a red hot poker, and his
eyes gouged out; after which he was slowly roasted to death. He then
had Mrs. Cook arise and gather her children about her, and tell her
sorrowful story. As she proceeded the entire assembly broke down in
tears, and men fell on each other's necks and wept like babes. And
oh! Their hearts swelled, their bosoms heaved, their breath came quick
with choking passion, and there burst from all their throats the one
hoarse cry: "War! war! war!"
Bernard turned his head away from this affecting sight and in his soul
swore a terrible oath to avenge the wrongs of his people.
When quiet was sufficiently restored, the man with the match arose and
offered the following resolutions:
"WHEREAS, the history of our treatment by the Anglo-Saxon race is but
the history of oppression, and whereas, our patient endurance of evil
has not served to decrease this cruelty, but seems rather to increase
it; and whereas, the ballot box, the means of peaceful revolution is
denied us, therefore;
"_Be it Resolved_: That the hour for wreaking vengeance for our
multiplied wrongs has come.
"_Resolved_ secondly: That we at once proceed to war for the purpose
of accomplishing the end just named, and for the further purpose of
obtaining all our rights due us as men.
"_Resolved_ thirdly: That no soldier of the Imperium leave the field
of battle until the ends for which this war was inaugurated are fully
achieved."
A dozen men were on their feet at once to move the adoption of these
resolutions. The motion was duly seconded and put before the house.
The Chairman asked: "Are you ready to vote?" "Ready!" was the
unanimous, vociferous response.
The chairman, Belton Piedmont, quietly said: "Not ready." All eyes
were then pointed eagerly and inquiringly to him. He called the senior
member of the house to the chair and came down upon the floor to
speak.
We are now about to record one of the most remarkable feats of oratory
known to history. Belton stood with his massive, intellectual head
thrown back and a look of determined defiance shot forth from his
eyes. His power in debate was well known and the members settled
themselves back for a powerful onslaught of some kind; but exactly
what to expect they did not know.
Fortunately for Belton's purpose, surprise, wonder, expectancy,
had, for the time being, pushed into the background the more violent
emotions surging a moment before.
Belton turned his head slowly, letting his eye sweep the entire circle
of faces before him, and there seemed to be a force and an influence
emanating from the look. He began: "I call upon you all to bear me
witness that I have ever in word and deed been zealous in the work of
building up this Imperium, whose holy mission it is to grapple with
our enemy and wrest from him our stolen rights, given to us by nature
and nature's God. If there be one of you that knowest aught against
my patriotism, I challenge him to declare it now; and if there be
anything to even cast a suspicion upon me, I shall gladly court a
traitor's ignoble doom."
He paused here. No one accepted the challenge, for Belton was the
acknowledged guiding star that had led the Imperium to the high point
of efficiency where Bernard found it.
"By your silence," Belton continued, "I judge that my patriotism is
above suspicion; and this question being settled, I shall feel free
to speak all that is within me on the subject now before me. I have a
word to say in defence of the south--"
"No! No! No! No!" burst from a score of throats. Friends crowded
around Belton and begged him to desist. They told him that the current
was so strong that it was death to all future usefulness to try to
breast it.
Belton waved them away and cried out in impassioned tones: "On her
soil I was born; on her bosom I was reared; into her arms I hope
to fall in death; and I shall not from fear of losing popular favor
desist from pointing out the natural sources from which her sins
arise, so that when judgment is pronounced justice will not hesitate
to stamp it with her righteous seal."
"Remember your scars!" shouted one.
"Yes, I am scarred," returned Belton. "I have been in the hands of
an angry mob; I have dangled from a tree at the end of a rope; I have
felt the murderous pistol drive cold lead into my flesh; I have been
accounted dead and placed upon the dissecting table; I have felt the
sharp surgical knife ripping my flesh apart when I was supposed to be
dead; all of these hardships and more besides I have received at the
hands of the South; but she has not and cannot drive truth from my
bosom, and the truth shall I declare this day."
Seeing that it was useless to attempt to deter him, Belton continued
his speech without interruption: "There are many things in the message
of our most worthy President that demand attention. It was indeed an
awful sin for the Anglo-Saxon to enslave the negro. But in judging a
people we must judge them according to the age in which they lived,
and the influence that surrounded them.
"If David were on earth alive to-day and the ruler of an enlightened
kingdom, he would be impeached forthwith, fined for adultery,
imprisoned for bigamy, and hanged for murder. Yet while not measuring
up to the standard of morality of to-day, he was the man after God's
own heart in his day and generation.
"If Abraham were here to-day he would be expelled from any church
that had any regard for decency; and yet, he was the father of the
faithful, for he walked according to the little light that struggled
through the clouds and reached him.
"When slavery was introduced into America, it was the universal
practice of mankind to enslave. Knowing how quick we all are to heed
the universal voice of mankind, we should be lenient toward others who
are thus tempted and fall.
"It has appeared strange to some that the Americans could fight for
their own freedom from England and yet not think of those whom they
then held in slavery. It should be remembered that the two kinds of
slavery were by no means identical. The Americans fought for a theory
and abstract principle. The negro did not even discern the points at
issue; and the Anglo-Saxon naturally did not concern himself at that
time with any one so gross as not to know anything of a principle for
which he, (the Anglo-Saxon) was ready to offer up his life.
"Our President alluded to the fact that the negro was unpaid for all
his years of toil. It is true that he was not paid in coin, but he
received that from the Anglo-Saxons which far outweighs in value
all the gold coin on earth. He received instruction in the arts of
civilization, a knowledge of the English language, and a conception of
the one true God and his Christ.
"While all of the other races of men were behind the ball of progress
rolling it up the steep hill of time, the negro was asleep in the
jungles of Africa. Newton dug for the law of gravitation; Herschel
swept the starry sky in search of other worlds; Columbus stood upon
the prow of the ship and braved the waves of the ocean and the fiercer
ridicule of men; Martin Luther, single handed and alone, fought the
Pope, the religious guide of the world; and all of this was done while
the negro slept. After others had toiled so hard to give the bright
light of civilization to the world, it was hardly to be expected that
a race that slept while others worked could step up and at once enjoy
all the fruits of others' toil.
"Allow me to note this great fact; that by enslavement in America the
negro has come into possession of the great English language. He is
thus made heir to all the richest thoughts of earth. Had he retained
his mother tongue, it would perhaps have been centuries untold before
the masterpieces of earth were given him. As it is we can now enjoy
the companionship of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Bunyan, together with
the favorite sons of other nations adopted into the English language,
such as Dante, Hugo, Goethe, Dumas and hosts of others. Nor must
we ever forget that it was the Anglo-Saxon who snatched from
our idolatrous grasp the deaf images to which we prayed, and the
Anglo-Saxon who pointed us to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins
of the world.
"So, beloved fellow citizens, when we calmly survey the evil and the
good that came to us through American slavery, it is my opinion that
we find more good for which to thank God than we find evil for which
to curse man.
"Our President truly says that Abraham Lincoln was in such a position
that he was forced to set the negro free. But let us remember that it
was Abraham Lincoln and those who labored with him that created this
position, from which he could turn neither to the right nor to the
left.
"If, in his patriotic soul, we see love for the flag of his country
overshadowing every other love, let us not ignorantly deny that other
loves were there, deep, strong, and incapable of eradication; and let
us be grateful for that.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
"Prejudice, pride, self-interest, prompt the whites to oppose our
leaving in too large numbers the lower forms of labor for the higher;
and they resort to any extreme to carry out their purpose. But this
opposition is not an unmixed evil. The prejudice and pride that prompt
them to exclude the Negro from the higher forms of labor, also exclude
themselves from the lower forms, thus leaving the Negro in undisputed
possession of a whole kingdom of labor.
"Furthermore, by denying us clerical positions, and other higher types
of labor we shall be forced into enterprises of our own to furnish
labor for our own talent. Let us accept the lesson so plainly taught
and provide enterprises to supply our own needs and employ our own
talents.
"If there is any one thing, more than another, that will push the
Negro forth to build enterprises of his own, it will be this refusal
of the whites to employ the higher order of labor that the race from
time to time produces. This refusal will prove a blessing if we accept
the lesson that it teaches. And, too, in considering this subject let
us not feel that we are the only people who have a labor problem on
hand to be solved. The Anglo-Saxon race is divided into two hostile
camps--labor and capital. These two forces are gradually drawing
together for a tremendous conflict, a momentous battle. The riots
at Homestead, at Chicago, at Lattimer are but skirmishes between the
picket lines, informing us that a general conflict is imminent. Let us
thank God that we are not in the struggle. Let us thank Him that our
labor problem is no worse than it is.
OUR CIVIL RIGHTS.
"For our civil rights we are struggling and we must secure them. But
if they had all come to us when they first belonged to us, we must
frankly admit that we would have been unprepared for them.
"Our grotesque dress, our broken language, our ignorant curiosity,
and, on the part of many our boorish manners, would have been
nauseating in the extreme to men and women accustomed to refined
association. Of course these failings are passing away: but the
polished among you have often been made ashamed at the uncouth antics
of some ignorant Negroes, courting the attention of the whites in
their presence. Let us see to it, then, that we as a people, not a
small minority of us, are prepared to use and not abuse the privileges
that must come to us.
"Let us reduce the question of our rejection to a question pure and
simple of the color of our skins, and by the help of that God who gave
us that color we shall win.
"On the question of education much might be said in blame of the
South, but far more may be said in her praise.
"The evils of which our president spoke are grave and must be righted,
but let us not fail to see the bright side.
"The Anglo-Saxon child virtually pays for the education of the Negro
child. You might hold that he might do more. It is equally true that
he might do less. When we contrast the Anglo-Saxon, opening his purse
and pouring out his money for the education of the Negro, with the
Anglo-Saxon plaiting a scourge to flog the Negro aspiring to learn,
the progress is marvelous indeed.
"And, let us not complain too bitterly of the school maintained by the
Southerner, for it was there that we learned what true freedom was. It
was in school that our hearts grew warm as we read of Washington, of
Jefferson, of Henry, apostles of human liberty. It was the school of
the Southerner that has builded the Imperium which now lifts its hand
in power and might to strike a last grand blow for liberty.
COURTS OF JUSTICE.
"As for the courts of justice, I have not one word to say in
palliation of the way in which they pander to the prejudices of the
people. If the courts be corrupt; if the arbitrator between man and
man be unjust; if the wretched victim of persecution is to be stabbed
to death in the house of refuge; then, indeed, has mortal man sunk to
the lowest level. Though every other branch of organized society may
reek with filth and slime, let the ermine on the shoulders of the
goddess of justice ever be clean and spotless.
"But remember this, that the Court of last resort has set the example
which the lower courts have followed. The Supreme Court of the United
States, it seems, may be relied upon to sustain any law born of
prejudice against the Negro, and to demolish any law constructed in
his interest. Witness the Dred Scott decision, and, in keeping with
this, the decision on the Civil Rights Bill and Separate Coach Law.
"If this court, commonly accepted as being constituted with our
friends, sets such a terrible example of injustice, it is not
surprising that its filthy waters corrupt the various streams of
justice in all their ramifications.
MOB LAW.
"Of all the curses that have befallen the South, this is the greatest.
It cannot be too vehemently declaimed against. But let us look
well and see if we, as a people, do not bear some share of the
responsibility for the prevalence of this curse.
"Our race has furnished some brutes lower than the beasts of the
field, who have stirred the passions of the Anglo-Saxon as nothing in
all of human history has before stirred them. The shibboleth of the
Anglo-Saxon race is the courage of man and the virtue of woman: and
when, by violence, a member of a despised race assails a defenseless
woman; robs her of her virtue, her crown of glory; and sends her back
to society broken and crushed in spirit, longing, sighing, praying for
the oblivion of the grave, it is not to be wondered at that hell is
scoured by the Southern white man in search of plans to vent his rage.
The lesson for him to learn is that passion is ever a blind guide and
the more violent the more blind. Let him not cease to resent with
all the intensity of his proud soul the accursed crime; but let this
resentment pursue such a channel as will ensure the execution of the
guilty and the escape of the innocent. As for us, let us cease to
furnish the inhuman brutes whose deeds suggest inhuman punishments.
"But, I am aware that in a large majority of cases where lynchings
occur, outrages upon women are not even mentioned. This fact but
serves as an argument against all lynchings; for when lawlessness
breaks forth, no man can set a limit where it will stop. It also warns
us as a race to furnish no crime that provokes lynching; for when
lynching once gets started, guilty and innocent alike will suffer, and
crimes both great and small will be punished alike.
"In regard to the lynching of our Comrade Cook, I have this to
say. Every feature connected with that crime but emphasizes its
heinousness. Cook was a quiet, unassuming, gentlemanly being, enjoying
the respect of all in a remarkable degree. Having wronged no one he
was unconscious of having enemies. His wife and loving little ones had
retired to rest and were enjoying the deep sleep of the innocent. A
band of whites crept to his house under the cover of darkness, and
thought to roast all alive. In endeavoring to make their escape the
family was pursued by a shower of bullets and Cook fell to the ground,
a corpse, leaving his loved ones behind, pursued by a fiendish mob.
And the color of Cook's skin was the only crime laid at his door.
"If ye who speculate and doubt as to the existence of a hell but peer
into the hearts of those vile creatures who slew poor Cook, you will
draw back in terror; for hell, black hell is there. To give birth to
a deed of such infamy, their hearts must be hells in miniature. But
there is one redeeming feature about this crime. Unlike others,
it found no defense anywhere. The condemnation of the crime was
universal. And the entire South cried out in bitter tones against the
demons who had at last succeeded in putting the crown of infamy of all
the ages upon her brow.
POLITICS.
"The South has defrauded us out of the ballot and she must restore
it. But in judging her crime let us take an impartial view of its
occasion. The ballot is supposed to be an expression of opinion. It
is a means employed to record men's ideas. It is not designed as a
vehicle of prejudice or gratitude, but of thought, opinion. When the
Negro was first given the ballot he used it to convey expression of
love and gratitude to the North, while it bore to the South a message
of hate and revenge. No Negro, on pain of being ostracised or probably
murdered, was allowed to exercise the ballot in any other way than
that just mentioned. They voted in a mass, according to the dictates
of love and hate.
"The ballot was never designed for such a purpose. The white man
snatched the ballot from the Negro. His only crime was, in not
snatching it from him also, for he was voting on the same principle.
Neither race was thinking. They were both simply feeling, and ballots
are not meant to convey feelings.
"But happily that day has passed and both races are thinking and are
better prepared to vote. But the white man is still holding on to
the stolen ballot box and he must surrender it. If we can secure
possession of that right again, we shall use it to correct the many
grievous wrongs under which we suffer. That is the one point on which
all of our efforts are focused. Here is the storm center. Let us carry
this point and our flag will soon have all of our rights inscribed
thereon. The struggle is on, and my beloved Congress, let me urge one
thing upon you. Leave out revenge as one of the things at which to
aim.
"In His Holy Word our most high God has said: 'Vengeance is mine.'
Great as is this Imperium, let it not mount God's throne and attempt
by violence to rob Him of his prerogatives. In this battle, we want
Him on our side and let us war as becometh men who fear and reverence
Him. Hitherto, we have seen vengeance terrible in his hands.
"While we, the oppressed, stayed upon the plantation in peace, our
oppressors were upon the field of battle engaged in mortal combat; and
it was the blood of our oppressor, not our own, that was paid as the
price of our freedom. And that same God is alive to-day; and let us
trust Him for vengeance, and if we pray let our prayer be for mercy on
those who have wronged us, for direful shall be their woes.
"And now, I have a substitute proposition. Fellow Comrades, I am not
for internecine war. O! Eternal God, lend unto these, my Comrades, the
departed spirit of Dante, faithful artist of the horrors of hell, for
we feel that he alone can paint the shudder-making, soul-sickening
scenes that follow in the wake of fast moving internecine war.
"Now, hear my solution of the race problem. The Anglo-Saxon does not
yet know that we have caught the fire of liberty. He does not yet
know that we have learned what a glorious thing it is to die for a
principle, and especially when that principle is liberty. He does not
yet know how the genius of his institutions has taken hold of our very
souls. In the days of our enslavement we did not seem to him to be
much disturbed about physical freedom. During the whole period of our
enslavement we made only two slight insurrections.
"When at last the war came to set us free we stayed in the field and
fed the men who were reddening the soil with their blood in a deadly
struggle to keep us in bondage forever. We remained at home and
defended the helpless wives and children of men, who if they had been
at home would have counted it no crime to have ignored all our
family ties and scattered husbands and wives, mothers and children as
ruthlessly as the autumn winds do the falling leaves.
"The Anglo-Saxon has seen the eyes of the Negro following the American
eagle in its glorious flight. The eagle has alighted on some mountain
top and the poor Negro has been seen climbing up the rugged mountain
side, eager to caress the eagle. When he has attempted to do this, the
eagle has clawed at his eyes and dug his beak into his heart and has
flown away in disdain; and yet, so majestic was its flight that the
Negro, with tears in his eyes, and blood dripping from his heart has
smiled and shouted: 'God save the eagle.'
"These things have caused us to be misunderstood. We know that
our patient submission in slavery was due to our consciousness of
weakness; we know that our silence and inaction during the civil war
was due to a belief that God was speaking for us and fighting our
battle; we know that our devotion to the flag will not survive one
moment after our hope is dead; but we must not be content with knowing
these things ourselves. We must change the conception which the
Anglo-Saxon has formed of our character. We should let him know that
patience has a limit; that strength brings confidence; that faith
in God will demand the exercise of our own right arm; that hope and
despair are each equipped with swords, the latter more dreadful than
the former. Before we make a forward move, let us pull the veil from
before the eyes of the Anglo-Saxon that he may see the New Negro
standing before him humbly, but firmly demanding every right granted
him by his maker and wrested from him by man.
"If, however, the revelation of our character and the full
knowledge of our determined attitude does not procure our rights, my
proposition, which I am about to submit, will still offer a solution.
RESOLUTIONS.
"1. Be it _Resolved_: That we no longer conceal from the Anglo-Saxon
the fact that the Imperium exists, so that he may see that the love of
liberty in our bosoms is strong enough to draw us together into this
compact government. He will also see that each individual Negro does
not stand by himself, but is a link in a great chain that must not be
broken with impunity.
"2. _Resolved_: That we earnestly strive to convince the Anglo-Saxon
that we are now thoroughly wedded to the doctrine of Patrick Henry:
'Give me liberty or give me death,' Let us teach the Anglo-Saxon that
we have arrived at the stage of development as a people, where we
prefer to die in honor rather than live in disgrace.
"3. _Resolved_: That we spend four years in endeavors to impress the
Anglo-Saxon that he has a New Negro on his hands and must surrender
what belongs to him. In case we fail by these means to secure our
rights and privileges we shall all, at once, abandon our several homes
in the various other states and emigrate in a body to the State of
Texas, broad in domain, rich in soil and salubrious in climate. Having
an unquestioned majority of votes we shall secure possession of the
State government.
"4. _Resolved_: That when once lawfully in control of that great state
we shall, every man, die in his shoes before we shall allow vicious
frauds or unlawful force to pursue us there and rob us of our
acknowledged right.
"5. _Resolved_: That we sojourn in the state of Texas, working out
our destiny as a separate and distinct race in the United States of
America.
"Such is the proposition which I present. It is primarily pacific: yet
it is firm and unyielding. It courts a peaceable adjustment, yet it
does not shirk war, if war is forced.
"But in concluding, let me emphasize that my aim, my hope, my labors,
my fervent prayer to God is for a peaceable adjustment of all our
differences upon the high plane of the equality of man. Our beloved
President, in his message to this Congress, made a serious mistake
when he stated that there were only two weapons to be used in
accomplishing revolutions. He named the sword (and spear) and ballot.
There is a weapon mightier than either of these. I speak of the pen.
If denied the use of the ballot let us devote our attention to that
mightier weapon, the pen.
"Other races which have obtained their freedom erect monuments over
bloody spots where they slew their fellow men. May God favor us to
obtain our freedom without having to dot our land with these relics of
barbaric ages.
"The Negro is the latest comer upon the scene of modern civilization.
It would be the crowning glory of even this marvelous age; it would
be the grandest contribution ever made to the cause of human
civilization; it would be a worthy theme for the songs of the Holy
Angels, if every Negro, away from the land of his nativity, can by
means of the pen, force an acknowledgment of equality from the proud
lips of the fierce, all conquering Anglo-Saxon, thus eclipsing the
record of all other races of men, who without exception have had to
wade through blood to achieve their freedom.
"Amid all the dense gloom that surrounds us, this transcendent thought
now and then finds its way to my heart and warms it like a glorious
Sun. Center your minds, beloved Congress, on this sublime hope, and
God may grant it to you. But be prepared, if he deems us unfit for so
great a boon, to buckle on our swords and go forth to win our freedom
with the sword just as has been done by all other nations of men.
"My speech is made, my proposition is before you. I have done my duty.
Your destiny is in your own hands."
Belton's speech had, like dynamite, blasted away all opposition. He
was in thorough mastery of the situation. The waves of the sea were
now calm, the fierce winds had abated, there was a great rift in the
dark clouds. The ship of state was sailing placidly on the bosom of
the erstwhile troubled sea, and Belton was at the helm.
His propositions were adopted in their entirety without one dissenting
voice.
When the members left the Congress hall that evening they breathed
freely, feeling that the great race problem was, at last, about to be
definitely settled.
But, alas! how far wrong they were!
As Belton was leaving the chamber Bernard approached him and put his
hands fondly on his shoulders.
Bernard's curly hair was disordered and a strange fire gleamed in his
eye. He said: "Come over to the mansion to-night. I wish much to see
you. Come about nine P.M."
Belton agreed to go.