tourschism An Englishman’s Travels in America Black and White in the Southern States
tourschism An Englishman’s Travels in America J. Benwell
Black and White in the Southern States Sir George Campbell
BLACK AND WHITE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
During a recent tour in the United States I was particularly anxious to obtain information regarding the relation of the black and white races, not only because the subject is in itself of immense interest to commerce and humanity, but because it is of special interest to ourselves, called on to deal with masses of the black race in South Africa, and the possessors of many lands in which white and coloured races are intermingled. In some of our colonies it has been supposed that
From St. Louis, on the Missouri river, I took passage to New Orleans, in one of those magnificent steamers that crowd the inland waters of the American continent, and which, sumptuously furnished as they are, have not inaptly been termed “floating palaces.” We had a prosperous passage as far as the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi, where the boat struck the branches of a large tree, that had been washed into the bed of the stream, and was there stuck fast, root down-
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the free negro has shown a great indisposition to labour. On the other hand, cotton, the great staple of the Southern States, and formerly almost entirely raised by slave labour, has been produced in larger quantity since emancipation than ever it was before. How, I sought to know, has that been managed, political disturbances and difficulties notwithstanding? As regards political questions, too, I am much impressed with the belief that our management of territories where white and black races are intermixed has not always been successful. An oligarchical system of government generally prevails in our tropical colonies, under which considerable injustice has, I think, sometimes been done to the East Indian labourers imported to take the place of the emancipated negroes. Except in the Cape Colony proper no political representation has been allowed to the coloured races. I was, then, very anxious to see the effect of the political emancipation of the negroes in the Southern States of the Union. In the course of my tour I have had opportunities of conversing with many men of many classes (and quite as much on one side of politics as the other), who have had the greatest experience of the blacks in various aspects--educational, industrial, political, and oth-
wards. This formidable chevaux-de-frise (or snag, as it was termed by the captain) fortunately did not do much damage to the vessel, although at first an alarm was raised that she was sinking, and much confusion ensued. This apprehension was, however, soon dissipated by the report of the carpenter, whose account of the damage was so far favourable, that after extrication by backing the vessel, and a few temporary repairs, she was again got under headway. The pellucid waters of the Ohio, as they enter the turbid rushing current of the Mississippi, which is swollen by the Illinois and other tributaries, has a remarkable effect, the clear current of the former river refusing, for a considerable distance, to mingle with the murky stream of the latter, and forming a visible blue channel in its centre--a phenomenon I thought allegorical of
er. I am indebted to them for information given to me with a freedom, frankness, and liberality for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful; to none more so than to many Southern gentlemen who have gone through all the bitternesses of a great war on the losing side and the social revolution which followed--men whose good temper and fairness of statement, after all that has passed, commanded my admiration. I have visited not only the towns but the rural districts of four of the principal States formerly slaveholding, viz., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; and it so happened that I was in South Carolina (the ne plus ultra of Southernism) on the day of the late
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Our vessel was borne on the rushing waters with great impetuosity, the maddening current of the Mississippi seeming to carry everything before it. As we proceeded we constantly saw trees topple over into the river, the banks of which are continually widening, and which in many parts has the appearance of a lake after a storm, impregnated with debris. The trees, thus washed into the bed of the river, sink root downwards and make the navigation perilous, as I have before described. We met numerous steamers coming up the stream, one of them having a freight of Indians from Florida, removing to the western frontier, under the surveillance of U.S. soldiery and government agents. The compulsory removal of Indians, from one remote state to another, whenever new territory is needed, forms a disgraceful feature in internal
the slave-stained condition of the one state, and the free soil of the other, for while Ohio is free from the curse of slavery, the banks of the Mississippi have for centuries been deep dyed in the life’s blood of the oppressed African. An Englishman’s Travels in America
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general election. I have seen and conversed with the negroes in their homes and in their fields, in factories, in churches, and in political meetings, and I think I have also been able to learn something of a very prominent part of the population--the negresses. I feel that a single tour must still leave much to be learnt, but I have honestly weighed and compared all the information I have obtained from different sources, and submit the general result for what it may be worth. If my conclusions do not in themselves carry much weight, I hope that I may perhaps succeed in indicating some points worthy of inquiry and discussion. ***** The first and most difficult question is the capacity of the negro as compared with other races. In one sense all men are born equal before God; but no one supposes that the capacities of all men are equal, or that the capacities of all races are equal, any more than the capacities of all breeds of
All the steamers we met were more or less crowded with passengers, the visages of many of whom bore traces of fever and ague, and who were, doubtless, removing to a healthier climate. This insidious disease often terminates fatally in the cities and districts skirting the swamps of Louisiana, and, to avoid its baneful effects, the more affluent people migrate south-west or north when the sickly season sets in. The yellow fever is also very fatal in such situations, and annually claims numbers of victims.
American policy. Transported to new hunting grounds, the poor Indians are brought into contact with other tribes, when feuds arise from feelings of jealousy, and the new-comers are often annihilated in a few years. Many tribes have thus become totally extinct, and the remainder are rapidly becoming so. As the steamer passed us with her freight of red men they set up a loud yell, which reverberated through the forests on the river-shores. It sounded to me very much like defiance, and probably was, for they execrate the white men as hereditary enemies, and feel deeply the wrongs inflicted on their people.
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cattle or dogs, which we know differ widely. There is, therefore, no primâ facie improbability of a difference of capacity between the white Aryan and the negro race, though I believe there is no ground for presuming that white races must be better than black. Truly of Man It is unnecessary to try to distinguish between differences due to unassisted nature and those due to domestication and education. No doubt the varieties of wild animals found in different countries differ considerably; but the differences due to cultivation seem to be still more prominent in the animals and plants with which we are best acquainted. It is enough to take the negro as he is, and his history and surroundings need only be briefly glanced at in so far as they afford some key to his present position and immediate prospects.
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while the gorgeous magnolia, in luxuriant bloom, and a thousand other evergreens, on shore, vie with voluptuous
“Strange bright birds on their starry wings, Bear the rich hues of all glorious things;”
former basking in the sun in conscious security. Overhead, pelicans, paroquets, and numberless other
We had by this time reached that latitude where perpetual summer reigns. The banks of the mighty Mississippi, which has for ages rolled on in increasing grandeur, present to the eye a wilderness of sombre scenery, indescribably wild and romantic. The bays, formed by the current, are choked with palmetto and other trees, and teem with alligators, watersnakes, and freshwater turtle, the
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condition. They have all passed two or three generations in slavery to white men, during which period all traces of their various origin have been lost,tionally lost as well as their original languages and habits. And now, though variety of breed, affecting their capacity, may still to some degree be present, if we could trace it, I believe that it is impossible to do so, and that we must deal with them as a single, English-speaking people. They are also now all Christians; and though some African traditions may linger among them, they have for the most part adopted the dress and manners of their white masters, and have been greatly civilised. In this latter respect there is, however, a considerable distinction. One portion of the negroes has lived in parts of the country where the white population was numerous-
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The negro race now in America is derived from an admixture of people of various African tribes, probably differing considerably among themselves, but all, it may be assumed, in a more or less savage and little civilised
ing in the breeze-the doleful night-cry of the death-bird and the whip-poor-will-the distant bugle of the advancing boats-the moan of the turbid current beneath-the silent and queenly moon above, appearing nearer, larger, and brighter than in our cooler latitudesthe sultry atmosphere-and most of all, perhaps, the sense of the near vicinity of death in this infected region-oppressed my spirit with an ominous feeling of solemnity and awe. As we passed the plantations
aquatic flowers to bewilder and delight the astonished traveller, accustomed hitherto only to the more unassuming productions of the sober north. Everything here was new, strange, and solemn. The gigantic trees, encircled by enormous vines, and heavily shrouded in grey funereal moss, mournfully wav-
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er. In this tract, containing much of the most productive country, the whole labouring population was and is negro, the few white men being, in slave times, only the masters and drivers, and in no degree the comrades of the blacks. In these tracts we have a thick population not so completely converted. Their language is still to some degree a sort of pigeon or negro English, and they are still to some extent a peculiar people--perhaps less good workers than those more
-equal to or more numerous than the blacks--and thus, working among and in very intimate contact with white people, has very thoroughly learned their ways, habits, and ideas. But there is a broad belt round the outer portion of the Southern States where the climate is very injurious to the white man, and almost impossible to the ordinary white labour-
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which here and there varied the scene, gangs of negroes could be seen at labour--their sturdy overseers, of ruffianly mien, prowling sulkily about, watching every motion of thebondsmen, whip in hand; which weapon they applied with the most wanton freedom, as if the poor sufferers were as destitute of physical sensation, as they themselves were of moral or humane feeling. Armed with a huge bowie-knife and pistols, these embruted creatures were very cut-throats in appearance; and it is well known there, that their conduct in general towards those they lord over, justifies the appellation I have given them. The steamer halted at intervals to take in wood, which is invariably used, instead of coal as in England. This is piled in parrallelograms on the banks--the logs being split longitudinally. This forms a source of good profit, and is, in many instances, the chief maintenance of the squalid settlers of these plague-stricken and unwholesome places. After the measurement of the pile by the mate or captain, the deck-passengers and boat-hands stow it away in the vicinity of the furnaces--it being part of the terms of passage, that the lower order of passengers shall
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thoroughly educated by contact with whites, but probably as a rule more simple and docile. It should be noticed, however, that considerable migrations have taken place in the troubles consequent on the war, and that there has been some intermixture of the two classes in which the negro had no choice but to accept. At the time of emancipation the negroes were destitute of education to an excessive degree. Not only were means of education wanting to them, but after some local troubles which alarmed the masters most of the Southern States passed laws making it highly
assist in the operation. This is much disliked by the latter, and many of the Germans of this class on board, endeavoured to escape the laborious duty by hiding amongst the packages on deck. A general search was, however, instituted by the officers of the vessel, just before it stopped at a wooding-station--and the skulkers were brought out, amidst the clamorous jeers of their fellows. The class of passengers I have just referred to, consisted chiefly of Germans and Irish, who, although there is no professed distinction, bargain for a deck-passage, the charge being better suited to their means. Amongst the objects that arrested my attention, as our vessel floated majestically down the turbid current, were gibbets standing on the banks, depending from several of which were short chains, doubtless required occasionally in carrying out this kind of discipline. As the horrifying objects occurred at intervals of a few miles, I at first imagined they were cranes used to lower bales of cotton into the holds of vessels, and addressing a passenger whose physiognomy prepossessed me in his favour, and who had several times shown a disposition to impart the knowledge he possessed concerning the objects
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penal to educate a negro. These laws endured to the last, and under them the generation upon whom emancipation came grew up entirely without instruction. The only educated persons of the race were the few free blacks who had obtained instruction in the North, and a very few favourite domestic slaves, whom their mistresses had to some degree educated, the penal laws notwithstanding. Since emancipation a good deal has been done to educate the negro. Many schools in which a superior education is afforded have been maintained by benevolent Northerners, and the State Governments have set up, and continue to maintain, several colleges in which the more ambitious are they all really black and aspiring young blacks are educated. For the education of the masses a public school system has been started in all the States, of which the blacks have a fair share. Owing, however, to financial difficulties these schools are extremely imperfect, being open but a small portion of each year--in some States as little as two months, and in none,
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around, he soon convinced me of my mistake, adding, that such engines were as necessary to the proper discipline of the negroes in that latitude as the overseer himself. He then proceeded to detail several instances of fugitive negroes being dragged in capture to the foot of the gallows, where, with halter-encircled necks, they were made not only to acknowledge the error committed and expose accessories, but “pumped dry,” as he facetiously termed it, as to the intended flight of other negroes on the estate. Sometimes, he said, it was necessary to suspend the culprit for a moment or so, to intimidate, but this was only in cases where the victim (he used the word rascal) was inclined to be sullen, and refused readily to give the required information. I inquired whether it ever occurred that actual execution took place; to this my new acquaintance replied, “Wall, yes, where the nigger had dar’d to strike a white man;” but that it was usual
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During the last dozen years the negroes have had a very large share of political education. Consid-
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I believe, more than about four months on an average. However, this is better than nothing. The negroes show a laudable zeal for education, and upon the whole I think that as much has been done as could be expected under the circumstances.
to go to a magistrate first, in such cases. The appearance of these gibbets, after the information I had received respecting them from my slaveholding acquaintance, made my flesh creep as we steamed onwards, the more so as, in many of the grounds skirting the river, where these sombre murky-looking objects presented J. Benwell
Another education has, I think, greatly affected the character and self-reliance of the negroes. I mean what I may call their religious education. Like most primitive races (the aborigines of India,
level which these negroes have attained in a dozen. Such has been the thoroughness of the measures adopted in America.
ering the troubles and the ups and downs that they have gone through, it is, I think, wonderful how beneficial this education has been to them, and how much these people, so lately in the most debased condition of slavery, have acquired independent ideas, and, far from lapsing into anarchy, have become citizens with ideas of law and property and order. The white serfs of European countries took hundreds of years to rise to the
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themselves to the gaze of the traveller, gangs of negroes were at work, looking up complacently for a moment as the vessel glided by. I was subsequently told by a gentleman who had been long resident in the state of Louisiana, that no punishment so effectually strikes with terror the negro mind, as that of hanging, the very threat being sufficient to subdue (in general) the most hardened offenders. This I do not wonder at, for perhaps there are few field-hands living in the south but have, at some time or other, witnessed the barbarities used at a negro execution, sudden death by pistol or bowie knife being far preferable to the brutal sneers and indignities heaped upon the victim by the cowardly assassins who superintend such operations. The monotony of the scenes which had for a thousand miles rendered the passage irksome, began to break as we approached Natchez. This place takes its name from the
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for instance) they are inclined to take Christianity in a more literal sense than their more civilised fellow-Christians, who have managed to explain most of it away to their own satisfaction. And these negroes are by temperament extremely religious people of an emotional type. They like to go direct to God himself, and are quite unwilling to submit to priests claiming to stand between them and God. Hence it is that the Catholic hierarchy has had no success with them, and probably never will have. Every man and woman likes to be himself or herself an active member of the Church. And though their preachers are in a great degree their leaders, these preachers are chosen by the people from the people, under a system for the most part congregational, and are rather preachers because they are leaders than leaders because they are preachers. In this matter of religion the negroes have utterly emancipated themselves from all white guidance--they have their own churches and their own preachers, all coloured men--and the share they take in the self-government of their churches really is a very important education. The preachers to our eyes may seem peculiar. American orators some-
Natch-i-toches, or Red River, which falls into the Mississippi, the abbreviation being a corruption of the original Indian name, which is as above stated. The town stands on a declivity or bluff, and is of considerable extent. I did not visit it, although the boat halted for a considerable time, to land letter-bags and passengers. I was informed by a fellowpassenger of gentlemanly bearing, who resided in the vicinity, that it was a dissipated place, and gambling the chief occupation of its inhabitants. The locality has been remarkable for landslips, owing to the siliceous nature of the soil; I saw traces of a fearful catastrophe of the kind which had, some time before, buried or destroyed many of the houses and their occupants, the enormous mass having also sunk several steamboats and other vessels which were moored at the foot of the bluff under the town. After leaving Natchez, we steamed away with renewed vigour towards that centre of slavery and dissipation, New Orleans, and were in
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what exaggerate and emphasize our style, and the black preachers somewhat exaggerate the American style; but on the whole I felt considerably edified by them. They come to the point in a way that is refreshing after some sermons that one has heard. I did not witness any of the more active emotions in which I understand congregations sometimes indulge; but the practice of emitting in a hearty way a sort of responses here and there during the sermon seemed to me earnest and not unbecoming. I witnessed a convention of Baptist ministers (the blacks generally are Baptists or Methodists), in a rural church, and it was a pleasant sight. The ministers by no means had it all their own way. The whole country-side seemed to have come in to assist, both men and women--and they seemed to be making a time of it--camped about for the day. The prominent position taken by the negro women is a feature in which they are distinguished from some Oriental races. No doubt this has some advantages, but also I shall have to note some attendant disadvantages--social, industrial, and political. In matters matrimonial the women are somewhat too independent and light-hearted; and the men also being on this subject given to a rather loose philosophy, the marital tie is not so binding and indissoluble as it might
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due course moored to the levee, which extends the whole river-length of the city, and is about a mile in extent. The first news I heard, and which alarmed me not a little, was that the yellow fever was at this time raging in the city. New Orleans is just fifty-four miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, and being built at the time of the Orleans Regency,contains many ancient structures. Its inhabitants, even to this day, are to a great extent either French or of Gaelic origin. It lies exceedingly flat, which causes the locality to be unhealthy and ill-suited to European constitutions; the soil is, however, fertile and rich; this is, perhaps, to be accounted for by the constant irrigation it undergoes from the overflowing of the Mississippi, which, like another Nile, periodically submerges the country around its banks. The town is situated on the east side of the river. The vast quantity of shipping of all classes in the harbour is a very strik-
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be.You may This knowing how often white women of wealthy divorce Those who take an unfavourable view of the negro character are in the habit of speaking of these traits of their character in severe language, and dwelling much on their immorality and want of family affection.The great white may in large cities are for the pleasure of white people not colored are they not immoral? I think, however, that it is scarcely fair to judge them by too high a standard. The truth is that the Aryan family has hardly yet established itself among the negroes, and it is not surprising that this should be so. In Africa we know that nothing of the kind exists; there, no doubt, the progenitors of the American blacks lived under the loose polygamistic system still prevailing there. Under slavery the family could not be introduced--it was impossible that there could be much permanency of marital arrangements when the parties were constantly liable to be, and very frequently were, sold away like cattle; and the relation between parent and child was especially weakened, or rather not created. The parents were not really responsible for the children; on the contrary, the women were sent to work, and the children were carefully tended by persons appointed by the masters for the purpose, like calves or lambs or any other valuable stock.
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posed like cattle in its markets; and this fact operates on the mind of an Englishman to the prejudice of its inhabitants.
ing feature in this extensive and wealthy city. The bad eminence to which New Orleans has attained is painful to contemplate. Its wealth is purchased by the blood and tears of thousands of slaves, who are daily ex-
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Parents had little affection for children thus reared, and children owed no respect and obedience to parents. The family as we know it is, in fact, a novelty to the negro since emancipation, and such institutions are not perfected in a day. Still the evil is a very grave one, especially in regard to the relations between parents and children. I have heard many authentic stories of children
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halt in their work, the unfeeling wretch commenced a furious onslaught with the whip, each crack of which, followed, as it was, by the groans or cries of the sufferer, roused the indig-
I was myself filled with disgust towards the whites, as well as pity towards the blacks, on beholding, immediately on our arrival, a gang of forty or fifty negroes, of both sexes, and nearly all ages, working in shackles on the wharf. These, I was informed, were principally captured fugitives; they looked haggard and care-worn, and as they toiled with their barrows with uncovered heads, under a burning sun, they were mercilessly lashed with a heavy slave-whip, by a tall, athletic negro, who acted as overseer, and who, with refined cruelty, dispensed the punishment alike on stout men, slender youths, and thin attenuated females. Our arrival having attracted the notice of the gang, and induced a momentary
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who have deserted or neglected their parents in a shocking manner, and the more than American liberty of the children threatens to render the next generation less tractable and useful than their fathers bred in slavery. We can only hope that time and religious influences will more completely establish the family system. Though the exceptions are many, there seems already to be much that is good and kind in the relations of the blacks to one another. If in some respects, other than marital, the women are rather troublesome, it seems that
nant feelings of the passengers, many of whom were from the free states, and who simultaneously raised a yell of execration which made the welkin resound, and caused the cruel driver to stand aghast. This demonstration drew a remonstrance from the captain, who represented to the passengers the danger of such conduct, and concluded by observing that if it was repeated, it would probably arouse the indignation of the citizens, who were very bigoted. He should be sorry, he added, to be obliged to put the vessel about again, a proceeding that might be necessary for the safety of all on board, unless they were more cautious. Some of the passengers seemed disposed to dispute this argument, but they were overruled by the majority, who, better acquainted with southern usages, prejudices, and barbarities, thought that discretion under the circumstances would be the better
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in this as in other things they have rather exaggerated American ways than set up ways of their own. Seeing the liberty, equality, and privileges enjoyed by the free white women, the negro women insist that their position among their own race shall not be inferior. One great difficulty in estimating the qualities of the negro race, as tested by education, &c., is, that since under the American system all who have any share of black blood are classed with blacks, a large proportion of those who have received the most education in former days, and who most
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basely betray them, or, what is more usual, keep them under strict surveillance, with a view to their being detected in disseminating abolition doctrines amongst the slaves, when they are immediately made amenable to the laws, and are fined or imprisoned. On landing, I hired a sorry
part of valour. I afterwards found that the captain’s view was a strictly correct one, for so jealous are the citizens of men entertaining hostility to the pro-slavery cause, that spies are often sent on board newly-arrived boats, to ascertain if missionaries are amongst the passengers. These spies, with Jesuitical art, introduce themselves by making apparently casual inquiries on leading topics of those they suspect, and if their end is subserved,
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frequently become known as prominent coloured men, are mulattos of mixed blood; so, in fact, are many of the students in the higher schools. Whatever the qualities of those whose blood is mixed in various degrees, they are evidently no safe index of the negro qualities and capacities, and it is necessary to be constantly on one’s guard on this point when one generalises from experience of individuals. As respects the mulattos there is much disposition to disparage them; but I am inclined to think that this is in great part due to their peculiar position-they are rejected from all the society of the whites, and have not been accepted by the blacks as their natural leaders. The same tone of disparagement has generally been adopted regarding the Eurasians, the people of mixed blood in India; yet I believe their failure is more due to an unfor-
conveyance, driven by a creole and drawn by a mule, and had my luggage taken to a house in the suburbs, where I had been recommended to take up my residence during my stay, which, owing to the presence of the yellow fever, that daily carried off numbers of victims, I had determined, contrary to my original intention, should be short. The crowds of people on the levee, attracted by the constant arrival of steam-boats, had a motley appearance; many of these were rough-looking fellows, fit for any occupation, most of them being armed with bowie knives, the silver hilts of which could often be seen peering suspiciously from under the waistcoat, in the inner lining of which a case or scabbard of leather is sewn for the reception of the weapon. The vast proportion of blacks in the streets soon struck me. I should think they were five to one of the white population. These, for the most part, wore in wretched plight; many of them begged of the passers-
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tunate position than to want of effective qualities. In early days Skinners and Gardeners were men of great mark, and the Eurasian drummer-boys of the old sepoy regiments were physically fine men and good athletes. I understand that in the New Orleans country, under the French practice (which has not our Anglo-Saxon antipathy to intimacy with coloured races), many creoles of mixed blood attained a far higher position than in other parts of the United States. Reverting now to the capacities of the negro proper as we find him in America under the circumstances which I have described, the general opinion of those engaged in the education of the race is, that while the younger children are as quick and bright as white children, they do on the average fall off in some
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by, which practice I found afterwards to be very general, especially in the suburbs of the city. Amongst the passengers on our boat, was a person, apparently of the better class, who was met at the levee by two black servants with a carriage. I noticed particularly, that, although the negroes touched their hats, and inquired how he was (by which I concluded he had been absent for some time), he did not deign to answer their inquiries. From their timidity, it was evident that he was an overbearing man, and the imperial haughtiness manifested in giving them his orders, confirmed this impression. This individual was one of those who condemned the demonstration I have noticed, when the boat first approached the levee. After a day’s rest at my boarding-house, I walked through the city, and afterwards visited the calaboose, which in New Orleans is a mart for produce, as well as a place of detention and punishment for slaves. Here those owners who are averse to correcting their slaves in a rigorous manner at home, send them to be flogged. The brutal way in which this is done at the calaboose, strikes terror into the negro mind, and the threat is often sufficient to tame the most incorrigible. Instances, I was told, have often occurred of negroes expiring under the severity
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degree as they get older. Yet this opinion is not given without some consideration and qualification; the intellectual gulf between the two races does not seem to be very wide and evident. I am told on all hands that some pure negroes show an educational capacity quite equal to that of good whites. Nothing is more difficult than to estimate accurately qualities of this kind, especially when, as in this case, the two classes are not taught together, but separately; and there has not yet been time to see much of the results of educating the blacks on a large scale; but I think that in general terms the direction in which all experience points is that which I have stated, viz., that on the whole they are behind, but not very far behind.
and hordes of negro traders and planters are to be seen flocking round the hotels. These are extensive patrons of the gambling-houses; and the faro, rouge-et-noir, roulette, and other establishments, fitted up with gorgeous saloons, are generally crowded with them. As you pass, you may observe the frequenters of such places in dozens, deeply engaged in play, while the teller of
“ I believe New Orleans to be as vile a place as any under the sun; a perfect Ghetto or cursed place; in fact, it is the rendezvous of renegades of all nations,“
of the discipline here; but it was remarked that the pecuniary loss attendant on such casualties made the keepers careful not to exceed the physical endurance of the sufferer, and that they were so well acquainted with negro constitutions that it was a rare exception for death to ensue. The punishment, however, almost always resulted in the victim being invalided and unfitted for exertion for a considerable time. J. Benwell
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When we look to practical success in life appearances seem at first sight less favourable to the blacks. I constantly asked, ‘Have any individuals among them come to the front and achieved success in industrial pursuits, in commerce, or in the professions?’ and I could not learn that they have. ‘There were,’ I said, ‘before the war a number of free blacks, many of them educated; have none of them distinguished themselves in practical life? And since emancipation the negroes have for years had the upper hand in some of the Southern States; have none of them come to the commendators front among their own race by the process of natural selection which has raised men to greatness in barbarous and Oriental countries?’ Well, as I have already mentioned, they have shown some capacity as
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swampy soil emits a poisonous miasma. This is, without doubt, the cause of virulent epidemics that visit the city annually with direful effect. Thousands fly to the northern states, to escape the contagion; but there are many who, for want of means, are obliged to risk a continued residence at such periods, and it is amongst those that the yellow fever, the ague, or
the establishment sits at a table with a huge heap of Spanish doubloons or Mexican mill dollars before him, which he adds to or takes from with the tact of a banker’s clerk, as the chances of luck may arise. Violence and Woodshed have been indigenous to this city from time immemorial, and feuds are instantly settled by an appeal to the bowie knife, or ever-ready revolver. Highway robberies are very frequent, and I was told it was more than your life was worth to be out after dark, in certain localities, unless armed and on your guard. The police authorities are, nevertheless, vigilant, and the magistrates severe, so that many desperadoes are brought to justice. The suburbs of New Orleans lie low, and the
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For the rest I have not been able to hear of a successful negro merchant--the shopkeeping business in the most negro districts is almost entirely in the hands of whites. I have scarcely found a negro who has risen in the mercantile world higher than an apple-stall in a market.If the author of this
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preachers, and they seem to have some talent for oratory (though I believe that Frederick Douglas and one or two other well-known men are mulattos, not real negroes). As politicians some of them have done fairly well, and are now good and popular representatives of their race; but I don’t think any of them have made a great mark. The politics of the Southern States, while negro majorities prevailed, seem to have been in reality entirely under the guidance of the white ‘Carpet-baggers.’
the flux, plays dreadful havoc. It is the custom for the small store-keepers, as well as the more affluent merchants, to confide their affairs at such seasons to others, and I have frequently seen advertisements in the New Orleans Picayune, and other papers, offering a gratuity to persons to undertake the charge in their absence. The heat, although the summer was not far advanced, was excessive, and the thousands of mosquitoes that filled the air, especially after a fall of rain, when they seemed to burst into life in myriads spontaneously, kept up an increasing annoyance. At night this was ten-fold, for notwithstanding the gauze awnings, or bars, as they are called, which completely enveloped the bedstead, to the floor of the room, they found admittance with pertinacious audacity, and kept up a buzzing and humming about my ears that almost entirely deprived me of rest. This unceasing nuisance in the hot season, makes it difficult to keep one’s equanimity of temper, and has, probably, much to do with that extreme irascibility shown by the southern inhabitants of the American continent. The appearance and situation of hundreds of quadroon females in this city, soon attracted my attention, and deserve notice. I saw numbers of them not only at the bazaars or shops making purchases,
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When I have put these failures to the friends of the negroes they reply that allowance must be made for very great disadvantages--even in the North, they say, the free negroes were subjected to a social ostracism which made their success in commerce and the professions almost impossible. And as regards the South, they say, ‘Since emancipation how short a time has
book is dead I beg of him to turn one in his grace and look above. Certain professions they almost monopolise throughout the Union--waiters and barbers, and in some parts ship-caulkers;then but I found very few negro lawyers, and no doctors. All over the world it is curious to notice how ready people are to entrust the care of their souls to very unsafe home-rulers, and how much less trustful they are of their bodies.
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but riding in splendid carriages through the streets. So prodigal are these poor deluded creatures of their money, that, although slaves and liable to immediate sale at the caprice of their keepers, they have often been known to spend in one afternoon 200 dollars in a shopping excursion. Endowed with natural talents, they are readily instructed in every accomplishment, requisite to constitute them charming companions. Often as a carriage dashes by, the pedestrian is able to catch a glimpse of some jewelled and turbaned sultana, of dazzling beauty, attended by her maid, who does not always possess a sinecure, for the mistress is often haughty, proud, and petulant, very hard to please, and exacts great deference from her inferiors. Many of them live in regal splendour, and everything that wealth and pampered luxury can bestow is theirs, as long as their personal charms remain; but when their beauty has ceased to gratify the passions of their masters, they are, in most instances, cast off, and frequently die in a condition which presents the
An Englishman’s Travels in America
Black and White in the Southern States
many excellent races who show no aptitude that way and permit alien races to usurp the mercantile functions. In the Southern States the white Americans themselves are very much ousted from the business of small storekeepers by the Germans, who are to the manner born. What is more disappointing is the failure of the negroes, so far, as
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elapsed!--people enslaved and denied education cannot rise in a day.’ In all this there is much truth. Still I cannot help thinking that if the race had been a very pushing and capable one, the men educated in the North would ere this have made more way in the South. ‘Do you think,’ I have said, ‘that if they had been Chinamen they would not, in spite of all these disadvantages, have found their way to the front in some directions?’ I think it is admitted that to some extent this is so. The negroes are certainly not a race remarkable for energy and force under difficulties. The only question is whether they are very deficient in these qualities. As respects mercantile qualities, we may remember that there are
Sir George Campbell
Many of such poor outcasts are to be found scattered all over the slave states, some employed as field hands, but in general they are selected as domestics, their former habits of luxury and ease rendering their constitutions too delicate for the exposure of ordinary field labour. It is not, however, as the reader will have observed, commiseration that saves them from that deg-
“Oh that they had earlier died, Sleeping calmly side by side, Where the tyrant’s power is o’er, And the fetter galls no more.”
greatest possible contrast to their former gay but not happy life.
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superior artisans and in all that requires accuracy and care. As it is expressed, they are not responsible--they cannot be depended on. In slavery times some of them were pretty good artisans, and many of them, in the South, are now fairly good carpenters, bricklayers, and blacksmiths. But they seem hardly to have progressed in this respect since emancipation. A man who will do his carpentry so far well enough will not fit the pieces accurately; and in factories which employ black labour they do not rise to the higher posts. In the North the trades unions are so strong, and
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Considering it unsafe to remain longer
radation. As soon as beauty begins to fade, which in southern climes it does prematurely, the unfeeling owners of these unfortunates succeed in ridding themselves of what is now considered a burden, by disposing of the individual to some heartless trader. This is done unknown to the victim, and the news, when it reaches her, drives her almost frantic; she at once seeks her perfidious paramour, and finds to her dismay, that he has been gone some days on a tour to the provinces, and is, perhaps, a thousand miles off. Tears and protestations avail her nothing, the trader is inexorable, she belongs to him by law, and go she must; at length, having vainly expended her entreaties, she becomes calm, and submits in sullen apathy to her wretched fate. This is the ordinary history of such cases.
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Black and White in the Southern States
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the jealousy of the negroes on the part of foreigners, Irish and others, is so great, that they would not have a fair chance; but in the South they labour under no such disadvantage, and employers rather prefer negro labour; yet in practice they don’t seem to be able to trust the blacks beyond a certain point. In mechanical shops the blacks do the manual labour, but are hardly trusted to work engines. ‘Perhaps a negro might learn to work the engine,’ an employer said to me, ‘but I never could be sure that he would not go to sleep on the top of it.’ In tobacco factories the labour is almost exclusively
in this infected city, from the reports that the fever was gaining ground, I now made preparations for leaving New Orleans, and as I had made an engagement to manage the affairs of a gentleman in Florida, during his absence at Washington, I determined to proceed thither with the least possible delay. In furtherance of this object I made inquiries for a conveyance by water to St. Marks, giving the preference to steam. In this object I was, however, disappointed, and was obliged to take a passage on board a brig, about to sail for that obscure port. The vessel was towed down to the balize or mouth of the Mississippi, in company with two others, by a departing steamer, which had on board the mail for Bermuda and St. George’s Island. Arrived at the balize, whose banks for several miles are overflowed by the sea, I saw a small fleet of vessels, some outward
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negro, and many of them are very well paid for labour requiring considerable skill; but I noticed that for certain work, the weighing and making up the packages and such-like, white men were always employed. I was in all these cases assured that no black man could be trusted to be accurate. Yet they make very fair cotton-farmers, and much of their handiwork in various branches of industry is quite good. On the whole, I think it must be considered that at present, whether from natural defects or from want of cultivation, they are to a certain extent inferior to white men in the qualities which lead to the higher grades of employment. On the other hand, they have a very remarkable good nature and good temper, much docility, and great physical power and endurance--qualities that admirably fit them for labourers. Considering from how low and oppressed a condition they have been lately raised, and how infinitely higher their position now is, it is hardly ground for disappointment that they do not immediately rise in large numbers to
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and some inward bound. Amongst these was a United States ship of war, of great beauty, carrying heavy guns. A boat from this vessel, in charge of an officer, boarded us, and delivered to the captain a sealed packet, which I understood to be a dispatch, addressed to General Taylor, the officer in command of the troops operating against the Indians in Florida. The coast about the balize is low and swampy, and everywhere abounds in rush and cane brakes which give its sea-beach a desolate appearance. These morasses harbour thousands of alligators, whose roar had a singular effect as it rose above the breeze. Flocks of aquatic birds were to be seen on every side, the most numerous being the pelican, and a bird of the cotinga species, about the size of an English throstle, the plumage of which,
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Black and White in the Southern States
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the higher grades of society. They have now opportunities of education which will enable them to rise, if they are fitted or when they are fitted for it. For the present we may deal with them in their existing position as the labouring population of the Southern States.
being jet black and flamingo red, had a beautiful effect in the sunshine, as they flew or settled in thousands on the canes. Our passage across the Gulf of Mexico was a favourable one, but when within forty miles of our destination, the vessel struck on a hidden sand-bank. The fog was so dense, that the captain had been mistaken in his reckoning, and had taken a wrong course. For a considerable time we were in great jeopardy, and every attempt to get the ship again afloat was unavailing; and, had not the weather been moderate, there is little doubt but that she would have been lost, and our lives placed in great peril. After some hours’ exertion, during which an anchor was lost, and a quantity of iron thrown overboard, we had the satisfaction to find that the vessel was adrift. This was a great
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relief to us, for had a gale sprung up in the night, which was closing in, we must have taken to the boat, and abandoned the vessel, a perilous undertaking, from which we all felt too happy to have escaped. I was told by the captain that the coast here abounds with hidden sand-banks of the description we had encountered. This, perhaps, together with the poor harbour accommodation in Florida, accounts for the small size of the vessels which generally trade there. The desolate look of the coast from the deck of the vessel, did not convey to my mind a very favourable impression of the country, and the hostile disposition of the Indians tended not a little to excite forebodings of evil, that at one time almost induced me to abandon my intention, and return to the north. These apprehensions were, however, allayed by the representations of the captain of the vessel, who stated that the Indians seldom attempted to molest armed parties, and that an understanding with the government was daily expected, through the recent
An Englishman’s Travels in America
Black and White in the Southern States
capture of some important sachems or chiefs, under whose influence and leadership hostilities had been carried on. This information reassured me, and I determined to proceed, although I found afterwards that it was almost entirely a misrepresentation, which, however, I cannot believe was wilful, as the captain would have had me for a passenger on the return voyage. I soon after landed in a boat from the shore. The bay or harbour of St. Marks is not attractive, neither is the town, which presents a desolate appearance. The houses or stores are chiefly of wood, painted white, the venetian blinds of the houses being green, as in most parts of the United States. The hotel-entrances were crowded with loungers, in snow-white clothing, large Leghorn
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or palmetto hats, and fancy-coloured shirts, who smoked cigars incessantly, and generally discussed with energy the inroads of the Indians, or other leading topics of the day. The houses are low and irregularly built, and the appearance of the whole place and its inhabitants, as far as I could see, wore a forbidding aspect, and was indicative of anything but prosperity. My next stage was to Tallahassee by railroad, through a desolate-looking country, whose soil was sand, and whose vegetation looked stunted, presenting little to cheer the senses, or call forth remark; in fact, everything around told of a country whose centre is flourishing, but whose frontiers are a wilderness. Just before we started, a well-dressed negro, apparently a footman or butler, applied for a seat in the carriage. He was told by the station-keeper, that there was no conveyance for “niggers� this train, and he must wait for the following one. He at first disputed his right to refuse him a passage in the carriage, which roused the ire of the station-keeper, who threatened to kick him if he was not soon
An Englishman’s Travels in America
off. This seemed to awe him, for he quietly left the station, muttering, however, as he went, his intention of reporting the circumstance to Colonel Gambole. This caused me to make some inquiry about the colonel whose name he had mentioned, and who I learned was his master. I was also informed that no negroes in that district were so insolent, owing to the indulgence with which all his hands were treated. I could see, however, that the negro had different men to deal with here, and if he had not taken his departure, he would, without a doubt, have been kicked or felled to the ground, on the least further provocationa course pursued without hesitation in cases where a negro assumes anything like equality in the south.
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