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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28183-h.zip b/28183-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ef1039 --- /dev/null +++ b/28183-h.zip diff --git a/28183-h/28183-h.htm b/28183-h/28183-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83bc2ef --- /dev/null +++ b/28183-h/28183-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9972 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Shadow and Light, by Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, et al</title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .tocnum {position: absolute; top: auto; right: 15%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .right {text-align: right;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i1 {display: block; margin-left: .5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i13 {display: block; margin-left: 6.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i16 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i19 {display: block; margin-left: 9.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i20 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i22 {display: block; margin-left: 11em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i32 {display: block; margin-left: 16em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Shadow and Light, by Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, +et al</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Shadow and Light</p> +<p> An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century</p> +<p>Author: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs</p> +<p>Release Date: February 25, 2009 [eBook #28183]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW AND LIGHT***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1><span class="smcap">SHADOW and LIGHT</span></h1> + +<p><a name="front" id="front"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><span class="smcap">SHADOW<br /> and<br /> LIGHT</span></h1> + +<h2>AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h2> + +<h4>WITH REMINISCENCES OF THE LAST AND PRESENT CENTURY.</h4> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MIFFLIN WISTAR GIBBS</h2> + +<h4>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h4> + +<h2>BOOKER T. WASHINGTON</h2> + +<p class="center">A Fatherless Boy, Carpenter and Contractor, Anti-Slavery Lecturer, +Merchant, Railroad Builder, Superintendent of Mine, Attorney-at-Law, +County Attorney, Municipal Judge Register of United States Lands, +Receiver of Public Monies for U. S., United States Consul to +Madagascar—Prominent Race Leaders, etc.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + + +<span class="smcap">Washington, D. C.</span><br /> +1902.<br /><br /> + +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1902.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>During the late years abroad, while reading the biographies of +distinguished men who had been benefactors, the thought occurred that I +had had a varied career, though not as fruitful or as deserving of +renown as these characters, and differing as to status and aim. Yet the +portrayal might be of benefit to those who, eager for advancement, are +willing to be laborious students to attain worthy ends.</p> + +<p>I have aimed to give an added interest to the narrative by embellishing +its pages with portraits of men who have gained distinction in various +fields, who need only to be seen to present the career of those now +living as worthy models, and the record of the dead, who left the world +the better for having lived. To enjoy a life prominent and prolonged is +a desire as natural as worthy, and there have been those who sought to +extend its duration by nostrums and drinking-waters said to bestow the +virtue of "perpetual life." But if "to live in hearts we leave behind is +not to die," to be worthy of such memorial we must have done or said +something that blessed the living or benefited coming generations. Hence +autobiography is the record, for "books are as tombstones made by the +living,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> but destined soon to remind us of the dead."</p> + +<p>Trusting that any absence of literary merit will not impair the author's +cherished design to "impart a moral," should he fail to "adorn a tale."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Little Rock, Ark., January, 1902.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<h3>By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.</h3> + + +<p>It is seldom that one man, even if he has lived as long as Judge M. W. +Gibbs is able to record his impressions of so many widely separated +parts of the earth's surface as Judge Gibbs can, or to recall personal +experiences in so many important occurrences.</p> + +<p>Born in Philadelphia, and living there when that city—almost on the +border line between slavery and freedom—was the scene of some of the +most stirring incidents in the abolition agitation, he was able as a +free colored youth, going to Maryland to work, to see and judge of the +condition of the slaves in that State. Some of the most dramatic +operations of the famous "Underground Railroad" came under his personal +observation. He enjoyed the rare privilege of being associated in labor +for the race with that man of sainted memory, the Hon. Frederick +Douglass. He met and heard many of the most notable men and women who +labored to secure the freedom of the Negro. As a resident of California +in the exciting years which immediately followed the discovery of gold, +he watched the development of lawlessness there and its results. A few +years later he went to British Columbia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> to live, when that colony was +practically an unknown country. Returning to the United States, he was a +witness to the exciting events connected with the years of +Reconstruction in Florida, and an active participant in the events of +that period in the State of Arkansas. At one time and another he has met +many of the men who have been prominent in the direction of the affairs +of both the great political parties of the country. In more recent years +he has been able to see something of life in Europe, and in his official +capacity as United States Consul to Tamatave, Madagascar, adjoining +Africa, has resided for some time in that far-off and strange land.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult for any man who has had all these experiences not +to be entertaining when he tells of them. Judge Gibbs has written an +interesting book.</p> + +<p>Interspersed with the author's recollections and descriptions are +various conclusions, as when he says: "Labor to make yourself as +indispensable as possible in all your relations with the dominant race, +and color will cut less figure in your upward grade."</p> + +<p>"Vice is ever destructive; ignorance ever a victim, and poverty ever +defenseless."</p> + +<p>"Only as we increase in property will our political barometer rise."</p> + +<p>It is significant to find one who has seen so much of the world as Judge +Gibbs has, saying, as he does: "With travel somewhat extensive and +diversified, and with residence in tropical latitudes of Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> origin, +I have a decided conviction, despite the crucial test to which he has +been subjected in the past, and the present disadvantages under which he +labors, that nowhere is the promise along all the lines of opportunity +brighter for the American Negro than here in the land of his nativity."</p> + +<p>I bespeak for the book a careful reading by those who are interested in +the history of the Negro in America, and in his present and future.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<p><span class="tocnum">PAGE</span><br /></p> + +<p>CHAPTER I <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_3'>3</a></span></p> + +<p>Parents, School and Teacher—Foundation of +the Negroes' Mechanical Knowledge—First +Brick A. M. E. Church—Bishop Allen—Olive +Cemetery—Harriet Smith Home—"Underground +Railroad"—Incidents on the Road—William +and Ellen Craft—William Box Brown.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER II <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></span></p> + +<p>Nat Turner's Insurrection—Experience on a +Maryland Plantation—First Street Cars in +Philadelphia—Anti-Slavery Meetings—Amusing +Incidents—Opposition of Negro Churches—Kossuth +Celebration, and the Unwelcome +Guest.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER III <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></span></p> + +<p>Cinguez, the Hero of Armistead Captives—The +Threshold of Man's Estate—My First Lecturing +Tour with Frederic Douglass—His "Life +and Times"—Pen Picture of George William +Curtis of Ante-Bellum Conditions—Harriet +Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott, and Frances E. +Harper, a Noble Band of Women—"Go Do +Some Great Thing"—Journey to California—Incidents +at Panama.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER IV <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></span></p> + +<p>Arrival at San Francisco—Getting Domiciled +and Seeking Work—Strike of White Employees—Lester +& Gibbs, Importers—Assaulted +in Our Store—First Protest from the +Colored Men of California—Poll Tax.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER V <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></span></p> + +<p>"Vigilance Committee" and Lynch Law at +"Fort Gunny"—Murder of James King, of William—A +Paradox to Present Conditions.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER VI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></span></p> + +<p>Gold Discovery in British Columbia—Incidents +on Shipboard and Arrival at Victoria—National +Unrest in 1859—"Irrepressible Conflict"—Garrison +and Douglass—Harriet Beecher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> +Stowe and Frances Ellen Harper—John Brown +of Harper's Ferry—"Fugitive Slave Law"—Flight +to Canada.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER VII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></span></p> + +<p>Abraham Lincoln President—Rebellion Inaugurated—Success +of the Union Army—Re-Election +of Lincoln—Bravery and Endurance of +Negro Soldiers—Assassination of Lincoln—Lynching +Denounced by Southern Governors +and Statesmen—Words of Wisdom from +St. Pierre de Couberton.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER VIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_85'>85</a></span></p> + +<p>My First Entry Into Political Life—Intricacies +of the Ballot—Number of Negro Schools, +Pupils and Amount of School Property in 1898—Amendment +to Constitution and Interview +with Vice-President Schuyler Colfax at Victoria, +B. C.—William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., and +James Russell Lowell on the Right to Vote.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER IX <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_93'>93</a></span></p> + +<p>Philip A. Bell, a Veteran Editor of the "Negro +Press"—British Columbia, Its Early History, +Efforts for Annexation to the United States—Meeting +with Lady Franklin, Widow of Sir +John Franklin, the Arctic Explorer, in 1859—Union +of British Columbia with the Dominion +of Canada in 1868, the Political Issue—Queen +Charlotte Island—Anthracite Coal Company—Director, +Contractor and Shipper of First +Cargo of Anthracite Coal on the Pacific +Coast—Indians and Their Peculiarities.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER X <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></span></p> + +<p>An Incident of Peril—My Return to the United +States in 1869—Thoughts and Feelings En +Route—Entered Oberlin Law College and +Graduated—Visit to my Brother, J. C. Gibbs, +Secretary of State of Florida—A Delegate to +the National Convention of Colored Men at +Charleston, S. C.—"Gratitude Expensive"—The +Trend of Republican Leaders—Contribution of +Southern White People for Negro Education—Views +of a Leading Democrat.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></span></p> + +<p>President of National Convention at Nashville, +Tenn., in 1876—Pen and Ink Sketch by H. V. +Redfield of "Cincinnati Commercial"—Colored +Leaders Desire to Fraternize for Race Protection—William<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> +H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, and +J. H. Johnson, of Arkansas, Leaders and +Planters—My Arrival at Little Rock, May, +1871—Reading of Local Statutes in the Law +Office of Benjamin & Barnes—"Wheeler & +Gibbs," Attorneys-at-Law.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></span></p> + +<p>Politics and Politicians—Disruption of the Republicans +in Arkansas—"Minstrels and Brindle +Tails"—Early Canvassing in the South, +with Its Peculiarities—Ku Klux Visits—My +Appointment as County Attorney and Election +as Municipal Judge—Hon. John Allen, of Mississippi, +His Descriptive Anecdote.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_145'>145</a></span></p> + +<p>Lowering Cloud on Righteous Rule—Comparison +of Negro Progress—Sir Walter Scott in His +Notes on English History—George C. Lorimer, +a Noted Divine—Educational Solution of the +Race Problem—Baron Russell, Lord Chief Justice +of England—Civil War in Arkansas—Expulsion +of Governor Baxter and Instalment +of Governor Brooks at the State Houses—Stirring +Episodes—"Who Shall Bell the +Cat?"—Extraordinary Session of the Legislature—My +Issue of a Search Warrant for the +Seal of the State—Recognition of Baxter by +the President.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XIV <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></span></p> + +<p>Arkansas Constitutional Convention and New +Constitution Adopted—Augustus H. Garland +Elected Governor—My Letter from Madagascar +on Learning of His Demise—General +Grant's Nomination in 1872 at the Academy of +Music, Philadelphia—Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana—William +H. Gray, of Arkansas—R. B. +Elliot, of South Carolina—"Henry at Ajincourt"—Study +of Obsolete Languages Versus +Industrial Education—Views of Lord Rosebery, +ex-Premier of England—Also of Washington +Post—United States Have Supreme +Advantages for the Negro.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XV <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_173'>173</a></span></p> + +<p>Presidential Elector in 1876, Receiving the +Highest Vote—President Hayes, His Yearnings +and Accomplishments—Protest Against +Lawlessness by the Negroes in State Conventions—Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> +Exodus from the Southern to the +Western States in 1878—Secretary William +Windom's Letter—Hon J. C. Rapier, of Alabama, +and Myself Appointed by Secretary +Windom to Visit Western States and Report.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XVI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></span></p> + +<p>Appointed by the President in 1877 Register +of U. S. Lands—Robert J. Ingersoll on the +Benignity of Homestead Law—General +Grant's Tour Around the World and His +Arrival at Little Rock, 1879—A Guest at the +Banquet Given Him—Response to the Toast, +"The Possibilities of American Citizenship"—Roscoe +Conkling's Speech Nominating General +Grant for Third Term—Bronze Medal as one of +the Historic "306" at the National Convention +of 1880—The Manner of General Grant's Defeat +for Nomination and Garfield's Success—Character +Sketches of Hon. James G. Blaine, +Ingersoll's Mailed Warrior and Plumed Knight—Hon +Grover Cleveland.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XVII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></span></p> + +<p>Honorary Commissioner for the Colored Exhibits +of the World's Exposition at New Orleans, +La.—Neglected Opportunities—Important +Factors Necessary to Recognition.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XVIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_201'>201</a></span></p> + +<p>Effort of Henry Brown, of Oberlin, Ohio, to +Establish "Schools of Trade"—Call for a Conference +of Leading Colored Men in 1885—Industrial +Fair at Pine Bluff, Ark.—Captain +Thompson, of the "Capital Guards," a Colored +Military Company—Meeting of Prominent +Leaders at New Orleans—The Late N. W. +Cuney, of Texas—Contented Benefactions +from Christian Churches.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XIX <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_215'>215</a></span></p> + +<p>The Reunion of General Grant's "306"—Ferdinand +Havis, of Pine Bluff—Compromise and +Disfranchisement—Progress of the Negro—"Decoration +Day"—My Letter to the "Gazette"—Commission +to Sell Lots of the Hot +Springs Reservation—Twelve Years in the +Land Service of the United States.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XX <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></span></p> + +<p>My Appointment as U. S. Consul to Tamatave, +Madagascar—My Arrival in France En Route<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +to Paris—Called on Ambassador Porter and +Consul Gowdy Relative to My "Exequator"—Visited +the Louvre, the Famous Gallery of +Paintings—"Follies Bergere," or Variety +Theater—The "Dome des Invalids" or the +Tomb of the Great Napoleon—Mrs. Mason, of +Arkansas and Washington, in Paris—Marseilles +and "Hotel du Louvre"—Embarkation +on French Ship "Pie Ho" for Madagascar—Scenes +and Incidents En Route—"Port Said"—Visit +to the "Mosque," Mohammedan Place of +Worship.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_236'>236</a></span></p> + +<p>Suez Canal—The Red Sea—Pharaoh and His +Hosts—Their Waterloo—Children of Israel—Travel +by Sea—Arrival and Landing at Madagascar—Bubonic +Plague—My Letter From +Madagascar.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_250'>250</a></span></p> + +<p>Island of Madagascar—Origin and Character +of the Inhabitants—Their Religion and Superstitions—Physical +Appearance of Madagascar—A +Word Painting of Antananarivo, the +Capital, by Cameron—Forms of Government—Queens +of Madagascar—Slavery and Forced +Labor.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></span></p> + +<p>Introduction of the Christian Religion—Printing +the Bible, Edict by Queen Ranavalona +Against It—The New Religion "a Cloth of a +Pattern She Did Not Like"—Asked the Missionaries, +"Can You Make Soap?"—"Dark +Days"—Persecutions and Executions for a +Quarter of a Century—Examples of Christian +Martyrs—Death of Queen Ranavalona—Permanent +Establishment of the Christian Religion—Self-denial +and Heroic Service of the Roman +Catholics—Native Race Protection Committee—Forced +Labor Abolished.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXIV <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_282'>282</a></span></p> + +<p>Cuba and the Philippines—Their Acquisition +Under the Plea of Relief From Spanish Misrule—Aguinaldo, +Leader of the Filipinos—The +Fidelity and Bravery of the American Negro +in the Spanish War—Attestation by Many Witnesses—Industrial +Education—Othello's Occupation +Gone When Polls are Closed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXV <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_298'>298</a></span></p> + +<p>Opposition Possibly Beneficent—President McKinley's +Order for Enlistment of Colored Soldiers—General +Grosvenor's Tribute—Fifteen +Thousand in the Spanish War—U. S. Supreme +Court vs. The Negro—The Basis of Congressional +Representation.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXVI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_306'>306</a></span></p> + +<p>Departure from Madagascar—Memories—Governor +General's Farewell Letter—Madagascar +Branch of the Smithsonian Institute—Wild +Animals, a Consul's Burden—Descriptive Letter +to State Department.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXVII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_312'>312</a></span></p> + +<p>Leave-taking, its Jollity and Sadness—Arrival +at Camp Aden, Arabia—An Elysium for the +Toper—Whisky Was Plenty, But the Water +Was Out—Pleasant Visit to U. S. Consul Cunningham, +of Knoxville, Tenn.—Arrival at +Suez—My Visit to the U. S. Cruiser "New +York"—The Urbanity of Captain Rogers—Suez +Canal—Port Said—"Mal de Mer"—Marseilles +to Paris—Across the English Channel to +London.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXVIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_320'>320</a></span></p> + +<p>My First Visit to the Land of Wilberforce +and Clarkson—Excursion on the Thames—Bank +of England—Visited Towers of London—Beauchamp +Tower With Its Sad Inscriptions—Arrival +at New York—National Negro Business +Men's League Convention at Chicago—Booker +T. Washington President—Many Talented +Business Men in Attendance.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXIX <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_327'>327</a></span></p> + +<p>Visit to President McKinley at Canton, Ohio—His +Assassination at Buffalo—The Assassin +Struck Down by James Parker—President's +Death—The Nation in Tears—A Christian +Statesman—A Lover of Justice—Crucial +Epochs of Our Country's History, the Negro +at the Fore.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXX <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_336'>336</a></span></p> + +<p>President Roosevelt—His Imperial Honesty—Ex-Governor +Jones, of Alabama—Advance of +Justice in Our Country—Status a Half-Century +Ago—Theodore Parker's Arraignment—Eulogy +by Ralph Waldo Emerson.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXXI <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_343'>343</a></span></p> + +<p>Booker T. Washington a Guest at the White +House—Northern and Southern Press Comments—The +Latter Not Typical of the Best +Element of Southern Opinion.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXXII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_361'>361</a></span></p> + +<p>Washington City, the American Mecca—Ante-room +at the White House—The Diary of +an Office Seeker—William, the Innocent—William, +the Croker—Colored People of the +District of Columbia—Colored Press of the District.</p> + +<p>CHAPTER XXXIII <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_269'>269</a></span></p> + +<p>Howard University—Public Schools—R. H. +Terrell Appointed to a Judgship of the District—Unlettered +Pioneers—Conclusions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + + +<p> +<span class="tocnum">PAGE</span><br /> +<br /> +1. M. W. Gibbs <span class="tocnum"><a href="#front">Frontispiece</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +2. Richard Allen <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_8'>8</a></span><br /> +<br /> +3. Wm. Lloyd Garrison <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></span><br /> +<br /> +4. Frederick Douglass <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></span><br /> +<br /> +5. Booker T. Washington <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span><br /> +<br /> +6. H. M. Turner <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></span><br /> +<br /> +7. Geo. H. White <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></span><br /> +<br /> +8. J. M. Langston <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></span><br /> +<br /> +9. Abraham Lincoln <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></span><br /> +<br /> +10. W. B. Derrick <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></span><br /> +<br /> +11. Alexander Walters <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></span><br /> +<br /> +12. H. P. Cheatham <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></span><br /> +<br /> +13. Edward E. Cooper <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></span><br /> +<br /> +14. Judson Lyons <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></span><br /> +<br /> +15. Powell Clayton <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></span><br /> +<br /> +16. P. B. S. Pinchback <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></span><br /> +<br /> +17. A. H. Garland <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></span><br /> +<br /> +18. J. A. Booker <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></span><br /> +<br /> +19. I. G Ish <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></span><br /> +<br /> +20. J. P. Green <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></span><br /> +<br /> +21. P. L. Dunbar <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_199'>199</a></span><br /> +<br /> +22. B. K. Bruce <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_204'>204</a></span><br /> +<br /> +23. T. T. Fortune <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></span><br /> +<br /> +24. W. A. Pledger <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></span><br /> +<br /> +25. John C. Dancy <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></span><br /> +<br /> +26. Abram Grant <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></span><br /> +<br /> +27. J. E. Bush <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_263'>263</a></span><br /> +<br /> +28. J. P. Robinson <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_272'>272</a></span><br /> +<br /> +29. Martyrs <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_274'>274</a></span><br /> +<br /> +30. Chester W. Keatts <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_284'>284</a></span><br /> +<br /> +31. J. T. Settle <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_294'>294</a></span><br /> +<br /> +32. Justice Harlan <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_302'>302</a></span><br /> +<br /> +33. Charles W. Chestnut <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_312'>312</a></span><br /> +<br /> +34. William McKinley <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_327'>327</a></span><br /> +<br /> +35. James B. Parker <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_331'>331</a></span><br /> +<br /> +36. President Roosevelt <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_336'>336</a></span><br /> +<br /> +37. Secretary Cortelyou <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_341'>341</a></span><br /> +<br /> +38. W. Calvin Chase <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_367'>367</a></span><br /> +<br /> +39. R. H. Terrill <span class="tocnum"><a href='#Page_370'>370</a></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>In the old family Bible I see it recorded that I was born April 17, +1823, in Philadelphia, Pa., the son of Jonathan C. Gibbs and Maria, his +wife. My father was a minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, my +mother a "hard-shell" Baptist. But no difference of religious views +interrupted the even tenor of their domestic life. At seven years of age +I was sent to what was known as the Free School, those schools at that +time invaluable for colored youth, had not graded studies, systematized, +and with such accessories for a fruitful development of the youthful +mind as now exist. The teacher of the school, Mr. Kennedy, was an +Irishman by birth, and herculean in proportions; erudite and severely +positive in enunciation. The motto "Spare the rod and spoil the child" +had no place in his curriculum. Alike with the tutors of the deaf and +the blind, he was earnest in the belief that learning could be +impressively imparted through the sense of feeling. That his manner and +means were impressive you may well believe, when I say that I yet have a +vivid recollection of a bucket with an inch or two of water in it near +his desk. In it stood an assortment of rattan rods, their size when +selected for use ranging in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the ratio of the enormity, of the offence +or the age of the offender.</p> + +<p>Among the many sterling traits of character possessed by Mr. Kennedy was +economy; the frequent use of the rods as he raised himself on tiptoe to +make his protest the more emphatic—split and frizzled them—the +immersion of the tips in water would prevent this, and add to the +severity of the castigation, while diminishing the expense. A policy +wiser and less drastic has taken the place of corporal punishment in +schools. But Mr. Kennedy was competent, faithful and impartial. I was +not destined to remain long at school. At eight years of age two events +occurred which gave direction to my after life. On a Sunday in April, +1831, my father desired that the family attend his church; we did so and +heard him preach, taking as his text the 16th verse of Chapter 37 in +Genesis: "I seek my brethren; tell me, I pray thee, where they feed +their flocks."</p> + +<p>On the following Sunday he lay before the pulpit from whence he had +preached, cold in death, leaving my mother, who had poor health, with +four small children, and little laid by "for a rainy day." Unable to +remain long at school, I was "put out" to hold and drive a doctor's +horse at three dollars a month, and was engaged in similar employment +until I reached sixteen years of age. Of the loving devotion and +self-sacrifice of an invalid mother I have not words to express, but +certain it is, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> should it ever appear that I have done anything to +revere, or aught to emulate, it should be laid on the altar of her +Christian character, her ardent love of liberty and intense aspiration +for the upbuilding of the race. For her voice and example was an +educator along all the lines of racial progress.</p> + +<p>Needing our assistance in her enfeebled condition, she nevertheless +insisted that my brother and myself should learn the carpenter trade. At +this period in the career of youth, the financial condition of whose +parents or sponsors is unequal to their further pursuit of scholastic +studies, it is not without an anxious solicitude they depart from the +parental roof. For the correct example and prudent advice may not be +invulnerable to the temptation for illicit pleasures or ruinous conduct. +Happy will he be who listens to the admonitions of age. Unfortunately by +the action of response, sad in its humor, too often is: I like the +advice but prefer the experience.</p> + +<p>The foundation of the mechanical knowledge possessed by the Negro was +laid in the Southern States. During slavery the master selecting those +with natural ability, the most apt, with white foremen, had them taught +carpentering, blacksmithing, painting, boot and shoe making, coopering, +and other trades to utilize on the plantations, or add to their value as +property. Many of these would hire themselves by the year from their +owners, contract on their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> account, and by thrift purchase their +freedom, emigrate and teach colored youths of Northern States, where +prejudice continues to exclude them from the workshops, while at the +South the substantial warehouse and palatial dwelling from base to dome, +is often the creation of his brain and the product of his handiwork.</p> + +<p>James Gibbons, of the class above referred to, and to whom we were +apprenticed, was fat, and that is to say, he was jolly. He had ever a +word of kind encouragement, wise counsel or assistance to give his +employees. Harshness, want of sympathy or interest is often the +precursor and stimulator to the many troubles with organized labor that +continue to paralyze so many of our great industrial concerns at the +present time, resulting in distress to the one and great material loss +to the other. Mr. Gibbons had but a limited education, but he possessed +that aptitude, energy, and efficiency which accomplishes great objects, +that men call genius, and which is oftimes nothing more than untiring +mental activity harnessed to intensity of purpose. These constituted his +grasp of much of the intricacies of mechanical knowledge. His example +was ever in evidence, by word and action, that only by assidious effort +could young men hope to succeed in the battle of life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gibbons was competent and had large patronage. We remained with him +until we reached our majority. During a religious revival we both became +converted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> and joined the Presbyterian Church. My brother entered +Dartmouth College, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Assembly, +graduated and ministered in the church at Philadelphia. After a brief +period as a journeyman, I became a contractor and builder on my own +account. It is ever a source of strength for a young person to have +faith in his or her possibilities, and as soon as may be, assume +mastership.</p> + +<p>While remaining subject to orders, the stimulus is lacking for that +aggressive energy, indispensable to bring to the front. Temporary +failure you may have, for failure lies in wait for all human effort, but +sneaks from a wise and unconquerable determination. We read of the +military prisoner, alone, dejected, and despairing, looking to the walls +of his cell; he watches a score of attempts and failure of a spider to +scale the wall, only to renew an attempt crowned with success. The +lesson was fruitful for the prisoner.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gibbons built several of the colored churches in Philadelphia, and +in the early forties, during my apprenticeship, he was a bidder for the +contract to build the first African Methodist Episcopal brick church of +the connection on the present site at Sixth and Lombard streets in +Philadelphia. A wooden structure which had been transformed from a +blacksmith shop to a meeting house was torn down to give place to the +new structure. When a boy I had often been in the old shop, and have +heard the founder, Bishop Allen, preach in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> wooden building. He was +much reverenced. I remember his appearance, and his feeble, shambling +gait as he approached the close of an illustrious life.</p> + +<p>The A. M. E. Church was distinctively the pioneer in the career of +colored churches; its founders the first to typify and unflinchingly +assert the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. Dragged from +their knees in the white churches of their faith, they met exclusion by +cohesion; ignorance by effort for culture, and poverty by unflinching +self-denial; justice and right harnessed to such a movement, who shall +declare its ultimatum.</p> + +<p>Out from that blacksmith shop went an inspiration lifting its votaries +to a self-reliance founded on God, a harbinger of hope to the enslaved.</p> + +<p>From Allen to Payne, and on and on along lines of Christian fame, its +missionaries going from triumph to triumph in America, and finally +planting its standard on the isles of the sea.</p> + +<p>A distinct line is ever observable between civilization and barbarism, +in the regard and reverence for the dead, the increase of solicitude is +evidence of a people's advancement. Until the year 1848 the colored +people of Philadelphia used the grounds, always limited, in the rear of +their churches for burial. They necessarily became crowded, with +sanitary conditions threatening, without opportunity to fittingly mark +and adorn the last resting place of their dead.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/gs02.jpg" width="469" height="600" alt="RIGHT REV. RICHARD ALLEN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">RIGHT REV. RICHARD ALLEN.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">First Bishop of the A. M. E. Church.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p><p class="center">Founder of that Faith That Once Nestled in a Blacksmith Shop, +But Now Encircles the World.</p></div> + +<p>In the above year G. W. Gaines, J. P. Humphries, and the writer +purchased a tract of land on the north side of Lancaster turnpike, in +West Philadelphia, and were incorporated under the following act by the +Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania: "An Act to incorporate the +Olive Cemetery Company," followed by the usual reservations and +conditions in such cases provided. Among reasons inducing me to refer to +this are, first, to give an idea of the propriety and progress of the +race fifty years ago, and secondly, for the further and greater reasons, +as the following will show, that the result of the project was not only +a palladium for blessed memory of the dead, but was the nucleus of a +benefaction that still blesses the living.</p> + +<p>The land was surveyed and laid out in lots and avenues, plans of gothic +design were made for chapel and superintendent's residence, and contract +for construction was awarded the writer. The project was not entirely an +unselfish one, but profit was not the dominating incentive. After +promptly completing the contract with the shareholders as to buildings +and improvements of the ground, the directors found themselves in debt, +and welcomed the advent of Stephen Smith, a wealthy colored man and +lumber merchant, to assist in liquidating liabilities. To him an +unoccupied portion of the ground was sold, and in his wife's heart the +conception of a bounteous charity was formed. The "Old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> Folks' Home," so +beneficent to the aged poor of Philadelphia, demands more than a passing +notice.</p> + +<p>"The Harriet Smith Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons" is a +continuation of a charity organized September, 1864, and the first board +of managers (a noble band of humanitarians) elected. The preamble was as +follows: "For the relief of that worthy class of colored persons who +have endeavored through life to maintain themselves, but who, from +various causes, are finally dependent on the charity of others, an +association is hereby organized." The work of this home was conducted in +a large dwelling house on South Front street until the year 1871, when, +through the munificence of Stephen Smith and his wife, the land on the +corner of Belmont and Girard avenues, previously purchased from the +Olive Cemetery Company, together with a large four-story building, +valued at $40,000, was given to the Board. In 1871 it was opened as the +"Harriet Smith Home," where it still stands as an enduring monument to +the original donors, and other blessed friends of the race, who have +continued to assist with generous endowments. Edward T. Parker, who died +in 1887, gave $85,000 for an annex to the building. Colored people since +its incipiency have given $200,000. The board is composed of white and +colored persons. On a recent visit I found the home complete, +convenient, and cleanly in all its appurtenances,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> with an air of +comfort and contentment pervading the place. From many with bent and +decrepit bodies, from wrinkled and withered faces, the sparkling eye of +gratitude could be seen, and prayer of thankfulness read; for this +product of a benign clemency that had blessed both the giver and +receiver. There can be no one with filial affection happy in the thought +that it is in their power to assuage the pain or assist the tottering +steps of their own father or mother, but will recognize the humanity, +Christian character, and unselfishness of the men and women organized +for giving the helping hand to the "unfortunate aged, made dependent by +blameless conditions."</p> + +<p>During my apprenticeship, aware of my educational deficiencies, having +been unable to pursue a consecutive course of study in earlier life, I +spent much of the night and odd times in an endeavor to make up the +loss. In joining the Philadelphia Library Company, a literary society of +colored men, containing men of such mental caliber as Isaiah C. Wear, +Frederick Hinton, Robert Purvis, J. C. Bowers, and others, where +questions of moment touching the condition of the race were often +discussed with acumen and eloquence, I was both benefited and +stimulated. It was a needed help, for man is much the creature of his +environments, and what widens his horizon as to the inseparable +relations of man to man and the mutuality of obligation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> strengthens +his manhood in the ratio he embraces opportunity.</p> + +<p>Pennsylvania being a border State, and Philadelphia situated so near the +line separating the free and slave States, that city was utilized as the +most important adjunct or way-station of the "underground railroad," an +organization to assist runaway slaves to the English colony of Canada. +Say what you will against old England, for, like all human polity, there +is much for censure and criticism, but this we know, that when there +were but few friends responsive, and but few arms that offered to succor +when hunted at home, old England threw open her doors, reached out her +hand, and bid the wandering fugitive slave to come in and "be of good +cheer."</p> + +<p>As one of the railroad company mentioned, many cases came under my +observation, and some under my guidance to safety in Canada. One of the +most peculiar and interesting ones that came under by notice and +attention, was that of William and Ellen Craft, fugitives from the State +of Georgia. Summoned one day to a colored boarding house, I was +presented to a person dressed in immaculate black broadcloth and silk +beaver hat, whom I supposed to be a young white man. By his side stood a +young colored man with good features and rather commanding presence. The +first was introduced to me as Mrs. Craft and the other as her husband, +two escaped slaves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> They had traveled through on car and boat, paying +and receiving first-class accommodations. Mrs. Craft, being fair, +assumed the habit of young master coming north as an invalid, and as she +had never learned to write, her arm was in a sling, thereby avoiding the +usual signing of register on boat or at hotel, while her servant-husband +was as obsequious in his attentions as the most humble of slaves. They +settled in Boston, living very happily, until the passage of the +fugitive slave law in 1850, when they were compelled to flee to England.</p> + +<p>The civil war of 1861 and proclamation of freedom followed. In 1870, +arriving in Savannah, Georgia, seeking accommodation, I was directed to +a hotel, and surprised to find the host and hostess my whilom friends of +underground railroad fame. They had returned to their old home after +emancipation. The surprise was pleasant and recognition mutual.</p> + +<p>One other, and I shall pass this feature of reminiscence. It was that of +William Brown, distinguished afterward as William Box Brown, the +intervening "Box" being a synonym of the manner of his escape. An agent +of the underground railroad at Richmond, Virginia, had placed him in a +box two feet wide and four feet long, ends hooped, with holes for air, +and bread and water, and sent him through the express company to +Philadelphia. On the arrival of the steamboat the box was roughly +tumbled off as so much dead freight on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> wharf, but, unfortunately +for Brown, on the end, with his feet up and head down. After remaining +in such position for a time which seemed to him hours, he heard a man +say to another, "Let's turn that box down and sit on it." It was done, +and Brown found himself "right side up," if not "with care." I was +called to the anti-slavery office, where the box was taken. It had been +arranged that when he arrived at his destination, three slow and +distinct knocks should be given, to which he was to respond. Fear that +he was crippled or dead was depicted in the faces of Miller McKim, +William Still and a few others that stood around the box in the office. +Hence it was not without trepidation the agreed signal was given, and +the response waited for. An "all right" was cheerily given; the lifting +of suspense and the top of the box was almost simultaneous. Out sprang a +man weighing near 200 pounds. Brown, though uneducated, it is needless +to say, was imbued with the spirit of liberty, and with much natural +ability, with his box he traveled and spoke of his experience in +slavery, the novelty of his escape adding interest to his description. +Many similar cases of heroism in manner of escape of men and women are +recorded in William Still's "Underground Railroad."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>The immortal bard has sung that "there's a destiny that shapes our +ends." At eight years of age, as already stated, two events occurred +which had much to do in giving direction to my after life. The one the +death of my father, as formerly mentioned; the other the insurrection of +Nat Turner, of South Hampton, Virginia, in August, 1831, which fell upon +the startled sense of the slaveholding South like a meteor from a dear +sky, causing widespread commotion. Nat Turner was a Baptist preacher, +who with four others, in a lonely place in the woods, concocted plans +for an uprising of the slaves to secure their liberty. Employed in the +woods during the week, a prey to his broodings over the wrongs and +cruelties, the branding and whipping to death of neighboring slaves, he +would come out to meetings of his people on Sunday and preach, +impressing much of his spirit of unrest. Finally he selected a large +number of confederates, who were to secretly acquire arms of their +masters. The attack concocted in February was not made until August 20, +when the assault, dealing death and destruction, was made.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>All that night they marched, carrying consternation and dread on account +of the suddenness, determination and boldness of the attack. The whole +State was aroused, and soldiers sent from every part. The blacks fought +hand to hand with the whites, but were soon overpowered by numbers and +superior implements of warfare. Turner and a few of his followers took +refuge in the "Dismal Swamp," almost impenetrable, where they remained +two or three months, till hunger or despair compelled them to surrender. +Chained together, they were taken to the South Hampton Court House and +arraigned. Turner, it is recorded, without a tremor, pleaded not guilty, +believing that he was justified in the attempt to liberate his people, +however drastic the means. His act, which would have been heralded as +the noblest heroism if perpetrated by a white man, was called religious +fanaticism and fiendish brutality.</p> + +<p>Turner called but few into his confidence, and foolhardy and unpromising +as the attempt may have been, it had the ring of an heroic purpose that +gave a Bossarius to Greece, and a Washington to America. A purpose "not +born to die," but to live on in every age and clime, stimulating +endeavors to attain the blessings of civil liberty.</p> + +<p>It was an incident as unexpected in its advent as startling in its +terrors. Slavery, ever the preponderance of force, had hitherto reveled +in a luxury heightened by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> sense of security. Now, in the moaning of +the wind, the rustling of the leaves or the shadows of the moon, was +heard or seen a liberator. Nor was this uneasiness confined to the +South, for in the border free States there were many that in whole or in +part owned plantations stocked with slaves.</p> + +<p>In Philadelphia, so near the line, excitement ran high. The intense +interest depicted in the face of my mother and her colored neighbors; +the guarded whisperings, the denunciations of slavery, the hope defeated +of a successful revolution keenly affected my juvenile mind, and stamped +my soul with hatred to slavery.</p> + +<p>At 12 years of age I was employed at the residence of Sydney Fisher, a +prominent Philadelphia lawyer, who was one of the class above mentioned, +living north and owning a plantation in the State of Maryland. Over a +good road of 30 miles one summer's day, he took me to his plantation. I +had never before been that distance from home and had anticipated my +long ride with childish interest and pleasure. After crossing the line +and entering "the land of cotton and the corn," a new and strange +panorama began to open, and continued to enfold the vast fields bedecked +in the snowy whiteness of their fruitage. While over gangs of slaves in +row and furrough were drivers with their scourging whip in hand. I +looked upon the scene with curious wonder. Three score of years and more +have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> passed, but I still see that sad and humbled throng, working close +to the roadway, no head daring to uplift, no eye to enquiringly gaze. +During all those miles of drive that bordered on plantations, as +machines they acted, as machines they looked. My curiosity and youthful +impulse ignoring that reticence becoming a servant, I said: "Mr. Fisher, +who are these people?" He said, "They are slaves." I was startled but +made no reply. I had not associated the exhilaration of the drive with a +depressing view of slavery, but his reply caused a tumult of feeling in +my youthful breast. The Turner episode of which I had heard so much, the +narratives of whippings received by fugitives, slaves that had come to +my mother's house, the sundering of family ties on the auction block, +were vividly presented to my mind. I remained silent as to speech, as to +feelings belligerent. A few moments elapsed and Mr. Fisher broke the +silence by saying, "Mifflin, how would you like to be a slave?" My +answer was quick and conformed to feeling. "I would not be a slave! I +would kill anybody that would make me a slave!" Fitly spoken. No grander +declaration I have ever made. But from whom did it come—from almost +childish lips with no power to execute. I little thought of or knew the +magnitude of that utterance, nor did I notice then the effect of its +force. Quickly and quite sternly came the reply: "You must not talk that +way down here." I was kept during our stay in what was known during +slavery as the "great house," the master's residence, and my meals were +eaten at the table he had quit, slept in the same house, and had, if +desired, little or no opportunity to talk or mingle with the slaves +during the week's visit. I did not understand at that time the +philosophy of espionage, but in after years it became quite apparent +that from my youthful lips had came the "open sesame to the door of +liberty," "resistance to oppression," the slogan that has ever heralded +the advent of freedom.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 474px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.jpg" width="474" height="600" alt="WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON." title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">"The Great Liberator."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p class="center">"I Will not Excuse, I Will Not Retreat a Single Inch; I Will Be +Heard" "Emancipation the Right of the Slave and Duty of the +Master"—"He Made Every Single Home, Press, Pulpit, and Senate +Chamber a Debating Society with His Right and Wrong for the +Subject."</p></div> + +<p>As I passed to manhood the object lesson encountered on the Maryland +plantation did much to intensify my hatred of slavery and to strengthen +my resolution to ally myself with any effort for its abolition. The +burning of Pennsylvania Hall by a mob in Philadelphia, in 1838, built +and used by anti-slavery people, the ravages of what was known as the +"Moyamensing Killers," who burned down the churches and residences of +the colored people and murdered their occupants, did much to increase +the anti-slavery feeling.</p> + +<p>Old Bethel Church, then the nursery of the present great A. M. E. +Church, was guarded day and night by its devoted men and women +worshipers. The cobble street pavement in front was dug up and the +stones carried up and placed at the windows in the galley to hurl at the +mob. This defense was sustained for several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> weeks at a time. Every +American should be happy in the thought that a higher civilization is +making such acts less and less frequent. It is not strange that our +present generation enjoying a large measure of civil and political +liberty can but faintly comprehend the condition fifty years ago, when +they were persistently denied. The justice of participation seems so +apparent, it is not easy to fully conceive, when all were refused, in +quite all that were denominated free States.</p> + +<p>When street cars were first established in Philadelphia "the brother in +black" was refused accommodations. He nevertheless persisted in entering +the cars. Sometimes he would be thrown out, at others, after being +"sized up" the driver with his horses would leave his car standing on +switch, while its objectionable occupant was "monarch of all he +surveyed."</p> + +<p>The "man and brother" finding his enemy impervious to direct attack, +commenced a flank movement. As he was not allowed to ride inside, he +resolved to ride alongside; bought omnibuses and stock and established a +line on the car route at reduced rates. The cars were not always on +time, and many whites would avail themselves of its service. I remember +one of this class accosting a driver: "What 'Bus is this?" The simple +driver answered, "It is the colored peoples!" "I don't care whose in the +---- it is, does it go to the bridge? I am in a hurry to get there," and +in he got. I thought then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and still think what a useful moral the +incident conveyed to my race. Labor to make yourself as indispensable as +possible in all your relations with the dominant race and color will cut +less and less figure in your upward grade. The line was kept up for some +time, often holding what was called "omnibus meetings" in our halls, +always largely attended, make reports, hear spirited speeches, and have +a deal of fun narrating incidents of the line, receiving generous +contributions when the horses or busses needed replenishing. But the +most exciting times were those when there had been interference with the +running of the "underground railroad," and the attempt to capture +passengers in transit, or at the different way-stations, of which as +previously stated, Philadelphia was the most prominent in forwarding its +patrons to Canada.</p> + +<p>Before the passage of the fugitive slave law, in 1850, if the fugitive +was taken back it was done by stealth—kidnapped and spirited away by +clandestine means. Sometimes by the treachery of his own color, but this +was seldom and unhealthy. The agent of the owner was often caught in the +act, and by argument more emphatic than gentle, was soon conspicuous by +his absence. At others local anti-slavery friends would appeal to the +courts, and the agent would be arrested. Slavery in law being local +before the passage of the "Act of 1850," making it national, we were +generally successful in having the fugitives released.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> We were +extremely fortunate in having for our chief counsel David Paul Brown, a +leader of the Philadelphia bar, who, with other white friends, never +failed to respond to our call; learned in Constitutional law, eloquent +in expression, he did a yeoman's service in behalf of liberty.</p> + +<p>The colored men of Pennsylvania, like their brethren in other Northern +States, were not content in being disfranchised. As early as 1845 a +committee of seven, consisting of Isaiah C. Wear, J. C. Bowers, and +others, including the writer, were sent to the capitol at Harrisburg to +lay a petition before the Legislature asking for enfranchisement and all +rights granted to others of the commonwealth. The grant was tardy, but +it came with the cannon's boom and musketry's iron hail, when the +imperiled status of the nation made it imperative. Thus, as ever, with +the immutable decrees of God, while battling for the freedom of the +slave, we broadened our consciousness, not only as to the inalienable +rights of human nature, but received larger conceptions of civil +liberty, coupled with a spirit of determination to defend our homes and +churches from infuriated mobs, and to contend for civil and political +justice.</p> + +<p>They were truly a spartan band, the colored men and women. The naming of +a few would be invidious to the many who were ever keenly alive to the +proscription to which they were subject, and ever on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> alert for +measures to awaken the moral sense of the border States.</p> + +<p>Meetings were nightly held for counsel, protests and assistance to the +fugitive, who would sometimes be present to narrate the woes of slavery. +Sometimes our meetings would be attended by pro-slavery lookers-on, +usually unknown, until excoriation of the Northern abettors of slavery +was too severe to allow them to remain incognito, when they would reply: +It is a sad commentary on a phase of human nature that the oppressed +often, when vaulted into authority or greater equality of condition, +become the most vicious of oppressors. It has been said that Negro +drivers were most cruel and unsparing to their race. The Irish, having +fled from oppression in the land of their birth, for notoriety, gain, or +elevation by comparison, were nearly all pro-slavery. At one of our +meetings during the narration of incidents of his life by a fugitive, +one of the latter class interrupted by saying, "Aren't you lying, my +man? I have been on plantations. I guess your master did not lose much +when you left." Now, it is a peculiarity of the uneducated, when, +puzzled for the moment, by the tardiness of an idea, to scratch the +head. Jacobs, the fugitive, did so, and out it came. "I dunno how much +he lost, only what master said. I was the house boy, one day, and at +dinner time he sent me to the well to get a cool pitcher of water. I let +the silver pitcher drop in the well. Well, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> knowed that pitcher had to +be got out, so I straddled down and fished it up. Master was mad, 'cause +I staid so long, so I up and tells him. He fairly jumped and said "Did +you go down that well? Why didn't you come and tell me and I would made +Irish Mike, the ditcher, go down. If you had drowned I'd lost $800. +Don't you do that agin.""</p> + +<p>It is needless to say that this "brought down the house," and shortly +the exit of the son of the Emerald Isle. At another time the interrupter +said: "Will you answer me a question or two? Did you not get enough to +eat?" "Yes." "A place to sleep?" "Yes." "Was your master good or bad to +you?" "Marster was pretty good, I must say." "Well, what else did you +want? That is a good deal more than a good many white men get up here." +The man stood for a moment busy with his fingers in a fruitless attempt +to find the fugitive ends of a curl of his hair, temporarily nonplussed +at his palliating concessions, half apologetically said: "Well, I think +it a heap best to be free." Then suddenly and gallantly strengthening +his defense; "but, look here, Mister, if you think it so nice down +there, my place is still open." The questioner good naturedly joined in +the general merriment.</p> + +<p>Very frequently we were enthused and inspired by Frederick Douglass, +Henry Highland Garnett, Marten R. Delaney, and Charles L. Remond, an +illustrious quartet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> of the hallowed band in the anti-slavery crusade, +whose eloquence, devotion, and effectiveness stood unsurpassed.</p> + +<p>There were few, if any, available halls for these meetings. The only +resort was the colored churches. Those under the auspices of white +denominations had members who objected to their use for such a purpose. +Craven and fawning, content with the crumbs that fell from these +peace-loving Christians, who deprecated the discussion of slavery while +they ignored the claim of outraged humanity, these churches were more +interested in the physical excitement of a "revival" than in listening +to appeals in behalf of God's poor and lonely. Their prototypes that +"passed by on the other side" have been perpetuated in many climes, in +those who believe that it is the formalities of contact with the +building that blesses a people and not the Godliness and humanity of the +worshippers that give glory and efficacy to the church. An antagonism +thus created resulted in a crusade against such churches styled +"Come-Outerism," and many left them on account of such apathy to carry +on the warfare amid congenial association.</p> + +<p>It has been said that citizenship was precipitated upon the Negro before +he was fit for its exercise. Without discussing the incongruity of this, +when applied to the ignorant native Negro and not to the ignorant alien +emigrant, it may be conceded that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> keeping them in abject bondage with +no opportunity to protest, made slavery anything but a preparatory +school for the exercises of civic virtues, or the assumption of their +responsibilities. It was not true, however, with the mass in the free, +or many in the slave States. Always akin and adjunct are the yearnings +indestructible in human nature for equal rights. And in every age and +people the ratio of persistency and sacrifice have been the measure of +their fitness for its enjoyment. During 25 years preceding the abolition +of slavery the colored people of the free States, though much +proscribed, were active in their protests against enslavement, seizing +every chance through press and forum "to pour the living coals of truth +upon the nation's naked heart," setting forth in earnest contrast the +theory upon which the government was founded with its administration as +practiced.</p> + +<p>In 1848 Philadelphia Square, whereon the old State House of historic +fame still stands, was made resonant by the bell upon whose surface the +fathers had inscribed "Proclaim liberty throughout the world and to all +the inhabitants thereof," and was bedecked with garlands and every +insignia of a joyful people in honor of the Hungarian patriot, Louis +Kossuth. Distinctive platforms had been erected for speakers whose +fatherland was in many foreign lands. Upon each was an orator receiving +the appreciation and plaudits of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> audience whose hearts beat as one +for success to the "Great Liberator." The "unwelcome guests," the +colored men present, quickly embraced the opportunity, utilizing for a +platform a dry goods box, upon which I was placed to give the Negro +version of this climax of inconsistency and quintessence of hypocrisy. +This was the unexpected. All the people, both native and foreign, had +been invited and special places provided for all except the Negro, and +on the native platform he was not allowed space. The novelty of the +incident and curiosity to hear what the colored man had to say quickly +drew a crowd equal to others of the occasion. Then, as now, and perhaps +forever, there was that incalculable number of non-committals whose +moral sense is disturbed by popular wrong, but who are without courage +of conviction, inert, waiting for a leader that they may be one of the +two that take place behind him, or one of three or four, or ten, who +follow in serried ranks, that constitute the wedge-like motor that +splits asunder hoary wrong, proximity to the leader being in ratio to +their moral fibre. Most of the audience listened to the utterance of +sentiments that the allurements of trade, or the exactions of society, +forbade them to disseminate.</p> + +<p>The occasion was an excellent one to demonstrate the heartlessness of +the projectors, who, while pretending to glorify liberty in the +distance, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> treating it with contumely at home, where 3,000,000 +slaves were held in bondage, and feeling keenly the ostracism of the +slave as beyond the pole of popular sympathy or national compassion, +with words struggling for utterance, I spoke as best I could, receiving +toleration, and a quiet measure of approbation, possibly on the +supposition, realized in the fruition of time, that such discussion +might eventuate in the liberation of white men from the octopus of +subserviency to the dictum of slavery which permeated every ramification +of American society. I heard Hon. Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, sometime +in the forties, while making a speech in Philadelphia, say: "Gentlemen, +the question is not alone whether the Negroes are to remain slaves, but +whether we white men are to continue free." So bitter was the onslaught +on all, and especially on white men, politically and socially, who dared +denounce slavery.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>An event that came under my notice of startling character, attracting +national attention, was the arrival of the schooner "Amistad" at +Philadelphia in 1840. This vessel had been engaged in the slave trade. +With a cargo of slaves from Africa was destined for one of the West +India Islands. Cinguez, one of, and at the head of the captives, +rebelled while at sea, killing a number of the crew and taking +possession of the ship.</p> + +<p>In the concluding scene of the foregoing drama, Mr. Douglass was an +actor, I an observer. After the decision giving them their liberty, the +anti-slavery society, who had been vigilant in its endeavors to have +them liberated ever since their advent on American shores, held a +monster meeting to receive them.</p> + +<p>Frederick Douglass introduced "Cinguez" to the meeting. I cannot forget +or fail to feel the inspiration of that scene. The two giants locked in +each others embrace, looked the incarnation of heroism and dauntless +purpose, equal to the achievement of great results. The one by +indomitable will had shaken off his own shackles and was making slavery +odius by his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> matchless and eloquent arraignment; the other, "a leader +of men," had now written his protest with the blood of his captors. +Cinguez, with unintelligible utterance in African dialect with emphatic +gesture, his liberty loving soul on fire, while burning words strove for +expression, described his action on the memorable night of his +emancipation, with such vividness, power, and pathos that the audience +seemed to see every act of the drama and feel the pulsation of his great +heart. Through an interpreter he afterwards narrated his manner of +taking the vessel, and how it happened to reach American shores. How, +after taking the ship, he stood by the tiller with drawn weapon and +commanded the mate to steer back to Africa. During the day he complied, +but at night took the opposite course. After sometime of circuitous +wandering the vessel ran into Long Island Sound and was taken possession +of by the United States authorities. Cinguez, as hero and patriot, +ennobled African character.</p> + +<p>When majority and the threshold of man's estate is attained, the +transition from advanced youth to the entry of manhood is liable to +casualties; not unlike a bark serenely leaving its home harbor to enter +unfrequented waters, the crew exhilarated by fresh and invigorating +breezes, charmed by a genial sky, it moves on "like a thing of beauty" +with the hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> of "joy forever." The chart and log of many predecessors +may unheeded lie at hand, but the glorious present, cloudless and +fascinating, rich in expectation, it sails on, fortunate if it escapes +the rocks and shoals that ever lie in wait. It is unreasonable to expect +a proper conception, and the happiest performance of life's duties at +such a period, especially from those with easy and favorable +environments, or who have been heedless of parental restraint, for even +at an advanced stage in life, there have been many to exclaim with a +poet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ne'er tell me of evening serenely adorning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The close of a life richly mellowed by time,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of morning<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Her smiles and her tears are worth evening's best light."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Twenty-one years of age found me the possessor of a trade, an +attainment, and a capital invaluable for a poor young man beginning the +race of life. For whether seen smutted by the soot of the blacksmith +shop, or whitened by the lime of the plasterer or bricklayer; whether +bending beneath tool box of the carpenter or ensconced on the bench of +the shoemaker, he has a moral strength, a consciousness of acquirement, +giving him a dignity of manhood unpossessed by the menial and those +engaged in unskilled labor. Let it never be forgotten that as high over +in importance as the best interest of the race is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> to that of the +individual, will be the uplifting influence of assiduously cultivating a +desire to obtain trades. The crying want with us is a middle class. The +chief component of our race today is laborers unskilled. We will not and +cannot compete with other races who have a large and influential class +of artisans and mechanics, and having received higher remuneration for +labor, have paved the way for themselves or offsprings from the mechanic +to the merchant or to the professional. These three factors, linked and +interlinked, an ascending chain will be strong in its relation, as +consistent in construction.</p> + +<p>In 1849 Frederick Douglass, Charles Lenox Remond and Julia Griffith, an +English lady prominent in reform circles in England, attended the +National Anti-slavery Convention held in Philadelphia, and presided over +by that apostle of liberty, Wm. Lloyd Garrison. At its close Mr. +Douglass invited me to accompany him to his home at Rochester, and then +to join him in lecturing in the "Western Reserve."</p> + +<p>Without salary, poor in purse, doubtful of useful ability, dependent for +sustenance on a sentiment then prevailing, that for anti-slavery +expression was as reserved as the "Reserve" was Western. I have often +thought of my feelings of doubt and fear to go with Mr. Douglass, as an +epoch in my life's history. The parting of the ways, the embarkation to +a wider field of action, the close connection between obedience to an +impulse of duty (however uninviting or uncertain the outcome), and the +ever moral and often material benefit.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"> +<img src="images/gs04.jpg" width="468" height="600" alt="HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">"Sage of Anacostia."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p><p class="center">The Most Distinguished Negro of the Race—As Statesman, Editor, +Orator, Philanthropist He Left an Indelible Mark on the Page of +His Country's History—Born in 1817 at Tuckahoe, Maryland—Died +February, 1895—He was Author of "My Bondage and My Freedom," +"Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," and Others.</p></div> + +<p>Rochester proved to be my pathway to California. Western New York, 50 +years ago, then known as the "Western Reserve," was very unlike the +present as to population, means of travel, material developments, +schools of learning, and humanizing influences. Mr. Douglass, in the +Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., a short time before his death, told +how, in 1849, we there traveled together; that where now are stately +cities and villages a sparsely settled wilderness existed; that while we +there proclaimed abolition as the right of the slave, the chilling +effect of those December days were not more cold and heartless than the +reception we met when our mission as advocates for the slave became +known; churches and halls were closed against us. Stables and blacksmith +shops would sometimes hold audiences more generous with epithets and +elderly eggs than with manly decorum. God be thanked, Douglass, the +grandest of "our grand old men," lived to see "the seeds of mighty truth +have their silent undergrowth, and in the earth be wrought." A family, +however poor, striving as best they may to give the rudiments of +knowledge to their children, should have, if but few, books descriptive +of the hopes and struggles of those no better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> situated, who have made +impress on the age in which they lived. We seldom remember from whence +we first received the idea which gave impulse to an honorable action; we +received it, however, most probably from tongue or pen. For impressible +youth such biography should be as easy of access as possible.</p> + +<p>It has been said that "a man's noblest mistake is to be born before his +time." This will not apply to Frederick Douglass. His "Life and Times" +should be in the front rank of selection for blessing and inspiration. A +blessing for the high moral of its teaching; an inspiration for the +poorest boy; that he need not "beg the world's pardon for having been +born," but by fostering courage and consecration of purpose "he may rank +the peer of any man."</p> + +<p>Frederick Douglass, born a slave, hampered by all the depressing +influences of that institution; by indomitable energy and devotion; +seizing with an avidity that knew no obstacle every opportunity, +cultivated a mind and developed a character that will be a bright page +in the history of noble and beneficent achievements.</p> + +<p>For the conditions that confronted him and the anti-slavery crusade, +have been well and eloquently portrayed by the late George William +Curtis. That how terribly earnest was the anti-slavery agitation this +generation little knows. To understand is to recall the situation of the +country. Slavery sat supreme in the White<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> House and made laws at the +capitol. Courts of Justice were its ministers, and legislators its +lackeys. It silenced the preacher in the pulpit; it muzzled the editor +at his desk, and the professor in his lecture-room. It sat a price on +the heads of peaceful citizens; robbed the mails, and denounced the +vital principles of the declaration of independence as treason. In the +States where the law did not tolerate slavery, slavery ruled the club +and drawing room, the factory and the office, swaggered at the dinner +table, and scourged with scorn a cowardly society. It tore the golden +rule from the school books, and from the prayer books the pictured +benignity of Christ. It prohibited schools in the free States for the +hated race; hunted women who taught children to read, and forbade a free +people to communicate with their representatives.</p> + +<p>It was under such conditions so pungently and truthfully stated that +Douglass appeared as a small star on the horizon of a clouded firmament; +rose in intellectual brilliancy, mental power and a noble generosity. +For his devotion was not only to the freedom of the slave with which he +was identified, but for liberty and the betterment of humanity +everywhere, regardless of sex or color. His page already luminous in +history will continue to brighten, and when statuary, now and hereafter, +erected to his memory, shall have crumbled "neath the beatings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +time;" the good fame of his name, high purpose and unflinching integrity +to the highest needs of humanity, will remain hallowed "foot prints in +the sands of time." Eminently fit was the naming of an institution in +Philadelphia "The Frederick Douglass Hospital and Freedman's School;" +the assuaging of suffering and the giving of larger opportunity for +technical instruction were cherished ideals with the sage of Anacostia; +also the lives of Harriet Beacher Stowe, Lucretia Mott and Francis E. +Harper, and the noble band of women of which they were the type, who +bravely met social ostracism and insult for devotion to the slave, will +ever have a proud place in our country's history. Of this illustrious +band was Julia Griffith, hitherto referred to, a grand representative of +those renowned women, who at home or abroad, did so much to hasten the +downfall of slavery and encourage the weak and lowly to hope and effort. +Thackery has said that, "Could you see every man's career, you would +find a woman clogging him, or cheering him, or beckoning him on."</p> + +<p>Having finished my intended tour with Mr. Douglass, and returned to +Rochester, the outlook for my future, to me, was not promising. The +opportunities for advancement were much, very much less than now. With +me ambition and dejection contended for the mastery, the latter often in +the ascendant. To her friendly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> inquiry I gave reasons for my +depression. I shall never forget the response; almost imperious in +manner, you could already anticipate the magnitude of an idea that +seemed to struggle for utterance. "What! discouraged? Go do some great +thing." It was an inspiration, the result of which she may never have +known. We are assured, however, that a kind act or helpful word is +inseparably connected with a blessing for the giver. To earnest youth I +would bequeath the excelsior of the "youth mid snow and ice," and the +above injunction, "upward and onward;" "go do some great thing."</p> + +<p>The war with Mexico, discovery of gold in California in 1848, the +acquisition of new territory, and the developments of our hitherto +undeveloped Western possessions, stimulated the financial pulse, and +permeated every avenue of industry and speculative life. While in New +York State I met several going and returning gold seekers, many giving +dazzling accounts of immense deposits of gold in the new Eldorado; and +others, as ever the case with adventurers, gave gloomy statements of +peril and disaster. A judicious temperament, untiring energy, a lexicon +of endeavor, in which there is no such word as "fail," is the only open +sesame to hidden opportunities in a new country. Fortune, in precarious +mood, may sometime smile on the inert, but she seldom fails to surrender +to pluck, tenacity and perseverance. As the Oxford men say it is the one +pull<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> more of the oar that proves the "beefiness of the fellow;" it is +the one march more that wins the campaign; the five minutes more +persistent courage that wins the fight.</p> + +<p>I returned to Philadelphia, and with some friendly assistance, sailed, +in 1850, from New York, as a steerage passenger for San Francisco. +Arriving at Aspinwall, the point of debarkation, on the Atlantic side, +boats and boatsmen were engaged to transport passengers and baggage up +the "Chagress," a small and shallow river. Crossing the Isthmus to +Panama, on the Pacific side, I found Panama very cosmopolitan in +appearance, for mingled with the sombrero-attired South American, could +be seen denizens from every foreign clime. Its make up was a combination +of peculiar attributes. It was dirty, but happy in having crows for its +scavengers; sickly, but cheery; old, but with an youthful infusion. The +virtues and vices were both shy and unblushing. A rich, dark foliage, +ever blooming, and ever decaying; a humid atmosphere; a rotting +vegetation under a tropical sun, while fever stalked on from conquest to +conquest.</p> + +<p>The sudden influx, the great travel from ocean to ocean, had given much +impetus to business as well as to local amusements. For the latter, +Sunday was the ideal day, when bull and cock fights secured the +attendance of the elite, and the humble, the priest and the laity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>The church, preaching gentleness and peace in the morning, in the +afternoon her minister, with sword spurred "bolosed" bantams under their +arms, would appear on the scene eager for the fray.</p> + +<p>After recovering from the Panama fever I took passage on the steamship +"Golden Gate" for San Francisco. Science, experience, and a greatly +increased demand have done much during the intervening fifty years to +lessen risk and increase the comfort of ocean travel. Yet it is not +without a degree of restless anticipation that one finds himself and +baggage finally domiciled on an ocean-going steamer. Curiosity and +criticism, selfishness and graciousness each in turn assert themselves. +Curiosity in espionage, criticism in observation, while selfishness and +graciousness alternate. You find yourself in the midst of a miniature +world, environed, but isolated from activities of the greater, an +epitome of human proclivities. A possible peril, real, imaginary or +remote; a common brotherhood tightens the chain of fellowship and +gradually widens the exchange of amenities.</p> + +<p>We had a stormy passage, making San Diego with the top of smoke stack +encrusted with the salt of the waves, paddle wheel broken and otherwise +disabled, finally arriving at San Francisco in September.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Having made myself somewhat presentable upon leaving the steerage of the +steamer, my trunk on a dray, I proceeded to an unprepossessing hotel +kept by a colored man on Kearny street. The cursory view from the +outside, and the further inspection on the inside, reminded me of the +old lady's description of her watch, for she said, "it might look pretty +hard on the outside, but the inside works were all right." And so +thought its jolly patrons. Seated at tables, well supplied with piles of +gold and silver, where numerous disciples of that ancient trickster +Pharaoh, being dubious perhaps of the propriety of adopting the literal +orthography of his name, and abbreviated it to Faro.</p> + +<p>Getting something for nothing, or risking the smaller in hope of +obtaining the greater, seems a passion inherent in human nature, +requiring a calm survey of the probabilities, and oftimes the baneful +effects to attain a moral resistance. It is the "ignis fatuus" that has +lured many promising ones and wrecked the future of many lives.</p> + +<p>The effervescent happiness of some of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> the worshipers at this shrine was +conspicuous. The future to them seemed cloudless. It was not so with me. +I had a secret not at all complacent, for it seemed anxious to get out, +and while unhappy from its presence, I thought it wise to retain it.</p> + +<p>When I approached the bar I asked for accommodation, and my trunk was +brought in. While awaiting this preparatory step to domicile, and gazing +at the prints and pictures more or less "blaser" that adorned the bar, +my eye caught a notice, prominently placed, in gilt letters. I see it +now, "Board twelve dollars a week in advance." It was not the price, but +the stipulation demanded that appalled me. Had I looked through a +magnifying glass the letters could not have appeared larger. With the +brilliancy of a search light they seemed to ask "Who are you and how are +you fixed?" I responded by "staring fate in the face," and going up to +the bar asked for a cigar. How much? Ten cents. I had sixty cents when I +landed; had paid fifty for trunk drayage, and I was now a moneyless +man—hence my secret.</p> + +<p>Would there be strict enforcement of conditions mentioned in that +ominous card. I was unacquainted with the Bohemian "song and dance" +parlance in such extremities, and wondered would letting my secret come +out let a dinner come in. Possibly, I may have often been deceived when +appealed to, but that experience has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> often been fruitful to friendless +hunger.</p> + +<p>Finally the bell rang, and a polite invitation from the landlord placed +me at the table. There is nothing so helpful to a disconsolate man as a +good dinner. It dissipates melancholy and stimulates persistency. Never +preach high moral rectitude or the possibilities of industry to a hungry +man. First give him something to eat, then should there be a vulnerable +spot to such admonition you will succeed. If not, he is an incorrigible.</p> + +<p>After dinner I immediately went out, and after many attempts to seek +employment of any kind, I approached a house in course of construction +and applied to the contractor for work. He replied he did not need help. +I asked the price of wages. Ten dollars a day. I said you would much +oblige me by giving me, if only a few days' work, as I have just +arrived. After a few moments thought, during which mayhap charity and +gain held conference, which succumbed, it is needless to premise, for we +sometimes ascribe selfish motives to kindly acts, he said that if I +choose to come for nine dollars a day I might. It is unnecessary for me +to add that I chose to come.</p> + +<p>When I got outside the building an appalling thought presented itself; +whoever heard of a carpenter announcing himself ready for work without +his tools. A minister may be without piety, a lawyer without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> clients, a +politician impolitic, but a carpenter without tools, never! It would be +prima facia evidence of an imposter. I went back and asked what tools I +must bring upon the morrow; he told me and I left. But the tools, the +tools, how was I to get them. My only acquaintance in the city was my +landlord. But prospects were too bright to reveal to him my secret. I +wended my way to a large tent having an assortment of hardware and was +shown the tools needed. I then told the merchant that I had no money, +and of the place I had to work the next morning. He said nothing for a +moment, looked me over, and then said: "All right take them." I felt +great relief when I paid the merchant and my landlord on the following +Saturday.</p> + +<p>Why do I detail to such length these items of endeavor; experiences +which have had similarity in many lives? For the reason that they seem +to contain data for a moral, which if observed may be useful. Never +disclose your poverty until the last gleam of hope has sunk beneath the +horizon of your best effort, remembering that invincible determination +holds the key to success, while advice and assistance hitherto laggard, +now with hasty steps greets you within the door.</p> + +<p>I was not allowed to long pursue carpentering. White employees finding +me at work on the same building would "strike." On one occasion the +contractor came to me and said, "I expect you will have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> stop, for +this house must be finished in the time specified; but, if you can get +six or eight equally good workmen, I will let these fellows go. Not that +I have any special liking for your people. I am giving these men all the +wages they demand, and I am not willing to submit to the tyranny of +their dictation if I can help it." This episode, the moral of which is +as pertinent today as then, and more apparent, intensifies the necessity +of greater desire upon the part of our young men and women to acquire +knowledge in skilled handicraft, reference to which I have hitherto +made. But my convictions are so pronounced that I cannot forbear the +reiteration. For while it is ennobling to the individual, giving +independence of character and more financial ability, the reflex +influence is so helpful in giving the race a higher status in the +industrial activities of a commonwealth. Ignorance of such activities +compel our people mostly to engage in the lower and less remunerative +pursuits. I could not find the men he wanted or subsequent employment of +that kind.</p> + +<p>All classes of labor were highly remunerative, blacking boots not +excepted.</p> + +<p>I after engaged in this, and other like humble employments, part of +which was for Hon. John C. Fremont, "the pathfinder overland to +California."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 472px;"> +<img src="images/gs05.jpg" width="472" height="600" alt="BOOKER T. WASHINGTON." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">"The Sage of Tuskegee."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p class="center">The Leader of Leaders For Negro Advancement.</p></div> + +<p>Saving my earnings, I joined a firm already established in the clothing +business. After a year or more so engaged, I became a partner in the +firm of Lester & Gibbs, importers of fine boots and shoes. Just here a +thought occurs which may be of advantage to ambitious but impecunious +young men. Do not hesitate when you are without choice to accept the +most humble and menial employment. It will be a source of pleasure, if +by self-denial, saving your earnings, you keep a fixed intent to make it +the stepping stone to something higher.</p> + +<p>The genius of our institutions, and the noblest of mankind will estimate +you by the ratio of distance from the humblest beginning to your present +attainment; the greater the distance the greater the luster; the more +fitting the meed of praise.</p> + +<p>Our establishment on Clay street, known as the "Emporium for fine boots +and shoes, imported from Philadelphia, London and Paris," having a +reputation for keeping the best and finest in the State, was well +patronized, our patrons extending to Oregon and lower California. The +business, wholesale and retail, was profitable and maintained for a +number of years. Mr. Lester, my partner, being a practical bootmaker, +his step to a merchant in that line was easy and lucrative.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the evolution of events and march of liberal ideas the colored +men in California have now a recognized citizenship, and equality before +the law. It was not so at the period of which I write. With<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> thrift and +a wise circumspection financially, their opportunities were good; from +every other point of view they were ostracised, assaulted without +redress, disfranchised and denied their oath in a court of justice.</p> + +<p>One occasion will be typical of the condition. One of two mutual friends +(both our customers) came in looking over and admiring a display of +newly arrived stock, tried on a pair of boots, was pleased with them, +but said he did not think he needed them then; lay them aside and he +would think about it. A short time after his friend came in, was shown +the pair the former had admired; would he like such a pair? He tried on +several and then asked to try on his friend's selection; they only +suited, and he insisted on taking them; we objected, but he had them on, +and said we need not have fear, he would clear us of blame, and walked +out. Knowing they were close friends we were content. Possibly, in a +humorous mood, he went straight to his friend, for shortly they both +came back, the first asking for his boots; he would receive no +explanation (while the cause of the trouble stood mute), and with vile +epithets, using a heavy cane, again and again assaulted my partner, who +was compelled tamely to submit, for had he raised his hand he would have +been shot, and no redress. I would not have been allowed to attest to +"the deep damnation of his taking off."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Magna Charter, granted by King John, at Runney Mead, to the Barons +of England, in the twelfth century, followed by the Petition of Right by +Charles I, has been rigidly preserved and consecrated as foundation for +civil liberty. The Continental Congress led the van for the United +States, who oftimes tardy in its conservatism, is disposed to give +audience to merit and finally justice to pertinacity of purpose.</p> + +<p>In 1851, Jonas P. Townsend, W. H. Newby, and other colored men with +myself, drew up and published in the "Alto California," the leading +paper of the State, a preamble and resolutions protesting against being +disfranchised and denied the right of oath, and our determination to use +all moral means to secure legal claim to all the rights and privileges +of American citizens.</p> + +<p>It being the first pronouncement from the colored people of the State, +who were supposed to be content with their status, the announcement +caused much comment and discussion among the dominant class. For down +deep in the heart of every man is a conception of right. He cannot +extinguish it, or separate it from its comparative. What would I have +others do to me? Pride, interest, adverse contact, all with specious +argument may strive to dissipate the comparison, but the pulsations of a +common humanity, keeping time with the verities of God never ceased to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +trouble, and thus the moral pebble thrown on the bosom of the hitherto +placid sea of public opinion, like its physical prototype, creating +undulations which go on and on to beat against the rock and make sandy +shores, so this our earnest but feeble protest contributed its humble +share in the rebuilding of a commonwealth where "a man's a man for all +that."</p> + +<p>The committee above named, with G. W. Dennis and James Brown, the same +year formed a company, established and published the "Mirror of the +Times," the first periodical issued in the State for the advocacy of +equal rights for all Americans. It has been followed by a score of +kindred that have assiduously maintained and ably contended for the +rights and privileges claimed by their zealous leader.</p> + +<p>State conventions were held in 1854, '55 and '57, resolutions and +petitions passed and presented to the Legislature of Sacramento. We had +friends to offer them and foes to move they be thrown out the window. It +is ever thus, "that men go to fierce extremes rather than rest upon the +quiet flow of truths that soften hatred and temper strife." There was +that unknown quantity, present in all legislative bodies, composed of +good "little men" without courage of conviction, others of the Dickens' +"devilish sly" type, who put out their plant-like tendrils for support; +others "who bent the pliant servile knee that thrift may follow +fawning"—all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> these the make-weight of a necessary constituent in +representative government conservatism. The conservative majority laid +our petition on the table, most likely with the tacit understanding that +it was to be "taken up" by the janitor, and as such action on his part +is not matter for record, we will in this happier day with "charity to +all," over this episode on memory's leaf, simply wrote "lost or stolen."</p> + +<p>Among the occasions continually occurring demanding protests against +injustice was the imposition of the "poll tax." It was demanded of our +firm, and we refused to pay. A sufficient quantity of our goods to pay +tax and costs were levied upon, and published for sale, and on what +account.</p> + +<p>I wrote with a fervor as cool as the circumstances would permit, and +published a card from a disfranchised oath-denied standpoint, closing +with the avowal that the great State of California might annually +confiscate our goods, but we would never pay the voters tax. The card +attracted attention, the injustice seemed glaring, the goods were +offered. We learned that we had several friends at the sale, one in +particular a Southern man. Now there was this peculiarity about the +Southern white man, he would work a Negro for fifty years for his +victuals and clothes, and shoot a white man for cheating the same Negro, +as he considered the latter the height of meanness. This friend quietly +and persistently moved through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> crowd, telling them why our goods +were there, and advising to give them a "terrible letting alone." The +auctioneer stated on what account they were there, to be sold, asked for +bidders, winked his eye and said "no bidders." Our goods were sent back +to our store. This law, in the words of a distinguished Statesman, was +then allowed to relapse "into innocuous desuetude." No further attempts +to enforce it upon colored men were made.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"> +<img src="images/gs06.jpg" width="473" height="600" alt="BISHOP HENRY M. TURNER" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BISHOP HENRY M. TURNER</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Newberry, S. C.—Ordained Bishop in 1880—President of +Bishop Council. Home and Foreign Missionary Society and Sunday +School Union of the A. M. E. Church.—From Slave to +Statesman—As Soldier, Editor, Author, Legislator, Orator, and +African Explorer—For Vitality and Ability, Courage and +Fidelity, Along so Many Lines, He Stands Without a Peer.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>A rush to newly discovered gold fields bring in view every trait of +human character. The more vicious standing out in bold relief, and +stamping their impress upon the locality. This phase and most primitive +situation can be accounted for partly by the cupidity of mankind, but +mainly that the first arrivals are chiefly adventurers. Single men, +untrammeled by family cares, traders, saloonists, gamblers, and that +unknown quantity of indefinite quality, ever present, content to allow +others to fix a status of society, provided they do not touch on their +own special interests, and that other, the unscrupulous but active +professional politician, having been dishonored at home, still astute +and determined, seeks new fields for booty, obtain positions of trust +and then consummate peculation and outrage under the forms of law. But +the necessity for the honest administration of the law eventually +asserts itself for the enforcement of order.</p> + +<p>It was quaintly said by a governor of Arkansas, that he believed that a +public official should be "reasonably honest." Even should that limited +standard of official integrity be invaded the people with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> an honest +ballot need not be long in rectifying the evil by legal means. But +cannot something be said in palliation of summary punishment by illegal +means, when it is notorious and indisputable that all machinery for the +execution of the law and the maintenance of order, the judges, +prosecuting attorneys, sheriff and drawers of jurors, and every other of +court of law are in the hands of a despotic cabal who excessively tax, +and whose courts convict all those who oppose them, and exonerate by +trial the most farcical, the vilest criminal, rob and murder in broad +day light, often at the bidding of their protectors. Such a status for a +people claiming to be civilized seems difficult to conceive, yet the +above was not an hypothesis of condition, but the actual one that +existed in California and San Francisco, especially from 1849 to 1855. +Gamblers and dishonest politicians from other States held the +government, and there was no legal redress. Every attempt of the friends +of law and order to elect honest men to office was met at the polls by +vituperation and assault.</p> + +<p>One of the means for thinning out the ranks of their opponents at the +polls they found very efficient. It was to scatter their "thugs" along +the line of waiting voters and known opposers, and quickly and covertly +inject the metal part of a shoemaker's awl in the rear but most fleshy +part of his adversary's anatomy, making sitting unpleasant for a time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +There was usually uncertainty as to the point of compass from which the +hint came to leave, but none as to the fact of its arrival. Hence the +reformer did not stand on the order of his going, but generally left the +line. These votes, of course, were not thrown out, for the reason they +never got in. It diminished, but did not abolish the necessity of +stuffing ballot boxes. In the West I once knew an old magistrate named +Scott, noted for his impartiality, but only called Judge Scott by +non-patrons of his court, who had never came within the purview of his +administration, to others he was known as "old Necessity," for it was +said he knew no law. Revolutions, the beneficial results of which will +ever live in the history of mankind, founded as they were on the rights +of human nature and desire for the establishment and conservation of +just government, have ever been the outgrowth of necessity.</p> + +<p>Patient in protest of misgovernment, men are prone to "bear the ill they +have" until, like the accumulation of rills on mountain side, +indignation leaps the bounds of legal form and prostrate law to find +their essence and purpose in reconstruction. At the time of which I +write, there seemed nothing left for the friends of law, bereft as they +were of all statutary means for its enforcement, but making a virtue of +this necessity by organizing a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> "vigilance committee" to wrench by +physical strength that unobtainable by moral right. There had been no +flourish of trumpets, no herald of the impending storm, but the pent up +forces of revolution in inertion, now fierce for action, discarded +restraint. Stern, but quiet had been the preparation for a revolution +which had come, as come it ever will, with such inviting environments. +It was not that normal status, the usual frailties of human nature +described by Hooker as "stains and blemishes that will remain till the +end of the world, what form of government, soever, may take place, they +grow out of man's nature." But in this event the stains and blemishes +were effaced by a common atrocity.</p> + +<p>Sitting at the back of my store on Clay street a beautiful Sunday +morning, one of those mornings peculiar to San Francisco, with its balmy +breezes and Italian skies, there seemed an unusual stillness, such a +quiet as precedes the cyclone in tropical climes, only broken +occasionally by silvery peals of the church bells. When suddenly I heard +the plank street resound with the tramp of a multitude. No voice or +other sound was heard but the tramp of soldiery, whose rhythm of sound +and motion is ever a proclamation that thrills by its intensity, whether +conquest or conservation be its mission. I hastened to the door and was +appalled at the sight. In marching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> column, six or eight abreast, five +thousand men carrying arms with head erect, a resolute determination +born of conviction depicted in linament of feature and expression.</p> + +<p>Hastily improvised barracks in large storehouses east of Montgomery +street, fortified by hundreds of gunny sacks filled with sand, +designated "Fort Gunney," was the quarters for committee and soldiers. +The committee immediately dispatched deputies to arrest and bring to the +Fort the leaders of this cabal of misgovernment. The effort to do so +gave striking evidence of the cowardice of assassins. Men whose very +name had inspired terror, and whose appearance in the corridors of +hotels or barrooms hushed into silence the free or merry expression of +their patrons, now fled and hid away "like damned ghosts at the smell of +day" from the popular uprising of the people. The event which +precipitated the movement—the last and crowning act of this +oligarchy—was the shooting of James King, of William, a banker and +publisher of a paper dedicated to the exposure and denunciation of this +ring of dishonest officials and assassins. It was done in broad daylight +on Montgomery Street, the main thoroughfare of the city. Mr. King, of +William County, Maryland, was a terse writer, a gentleman highly +esteemed for integrity and devotion to the best interests of his adopted +State.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> Many of the gang who had time and opportunity hid on steamers +and sailing vessels to facilitate escape, but quite a number were +arrested and taken to Fort Gunny for trial. One or two of the most +prominent took refuge in the jail—a strong and well-appointed brick +building—where, under the protection of their own hirelings in fancied +security considered themselves safe. A deputation of the committee from +the fort placed a cannon at proper distance from the entrance to the +jail. With a watch in his hand, the captain of the squad gave the +keepers ten minutes to open the doors and deliver the culprits. I well +remember the excitement that increased in intensity as the allotted +period diminished; the fuse lighted, and two minutes to spare; the door +opened; the delivery was made, and the march to Fort Gunny began. A +trial court had been organized at which the testimony was taken, verdict +rendered, and judgment passed. From a beam projecting over an upper +story window, used for hoisting merchandise, the convicted criminals +were executed.</p> + +<p>The means resorted to for the purification of the municipality were +drastic, but the ensuing feeling of personal safety and confidence in a +new administration appeared to be ample justification. Much has been +said and written in defense and in condemnation of revolutionary methods +for the reformation of government. It cannot but be apparent that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> when +it is impossible to execute the virtuous purposes of government, the +machinery having passed to notorious violators, who use it solely for +vicious purpose, there seems nothing left for the votaries of order than +to seize the reins with strong right arm and restore a status of justice +that should be the pride and glory of all civilized people.</p> + +<p>But what a paradox is presented in the disregard for law and life today +in our common country, including much in our Southland! It is a sad +commentary on the weakness and inconsistencies of human nature and often +starts the inquiry in many honest minds, as a remedial agency, is a +republican form of government the most conducive in securing the +blessings of liberty of which protection to human life is the chief?</p> + +<p>For the actual reverse of conditions that existed in California in those +early days are present in others of our States today. All the machinery +and ability for the just administration of the law are in the hands of +those appointed mainly by the ballot of the intelligence and virtue of +these States, who, if not participants, are quite as censurable for +their "masterly inactivity" in having allowed thousands of the most +defenceless to be lynched by hanging or burning at the stake. That there +have been cases of assault on women by Negroes for which they have been +lynched, it is needless to deny. That they have been lynched for +threatening to do bodily harm to white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> men for actual assaults on the +Negro wife and daughter is equally true. The first should be denounced +and arrested (escape being impossible) and by forms of law suffer its +extreme penalty. The other for the cause they were murdered should have +the highest admiration and the most sincere plaudits from every honest +man. Is it true that "he is a slave most base whose love of right is for +himself and not for all the race," and that the measure you mete out to +others—the same shall be your portion. All human history verifies these +aphorisms; and that the perpetrators and silent abettors of this +barbarism have sowed to the winds a dire penalty, already being reaped, +is evidenced by disregard of race or color of the victim when mob law is +in the ascendant. And further, as a salvo for their own acts, white men +are allowing bad Negroes to lynch others of their kind without enforcing +the law.</p> + +<p>The Negro, apish in his affinity to his prototype in a "lynching bee," +is beneath contempt.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 462px;"> +<img src="images/gs07.jpg" width="462" height="600" alt="HON. GEORGE H. WHITE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. GEORGE H. WHITE.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born at Rosedale, North Carolina—Graduate from Howard +University in 1877—Practiced Law in all the Courts of his +State—Member of House of Representatives in 1880 and of Senate +in 1884—Eight Years Prosecuting Attorney—Elected Member of the +Fifty-fifth Congress as a Republican. With a Record +Unimpeachable.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Early in the year 1858 gold was discovered on Fraser River, in the +Hudson Bay Company's territory in the Northwest. This territory a few +months later was organized as the Colony of British Columbia and +absorbed; is now the western outlook of the Dominion of Canada. The +discovery caused an immense rush of gold seekers, traders, and +speculators from all parts of the world. In June of that year, with a +large invoice of miners' outfits, consisting of flour, bacon, blankets, +pick, shovels, etc., I took passage on steamship Republic for Victoria. +The social atmosphere on steamers whose patrons are chiefly gold seekers +is unlike that on its fellow, where many have jollity moderated by +business cares, others reserved in lofty consciousness that they are on +foreign pleasure bent. With the gold seeker, especially the +"tenderfoot," there is an incessant social hilarity, a communion of +feeling, an ardent anticipation that cannot be dormant, continually +bubbling over. We had on board upward of seven hundred, comprising a +variety of tongues and nations. The bustle and turmoil incident to +getting off and being properly domiciled; the confusion of tongues<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> and +peculiarity of temperament resembled the Babel of old. Here the +mercurial Son of France in search of a case of red wine, hot and +impulsive, belching forth "sacres" with a velocity well sustained. The +phlegmatic German stirred to excitability in quest of a "small cask of +lager and large box of cheese;" John Chinaman "Hi yah'd" for one "bag +lice all samee hab one Melican man," while a chivalric but seedy-looking +Southerner, who seemed to have "seen better days," wished he "might +be—if he didn't lay a pe-yor of boots thar whar that blanket whar." Not +to be lost in the shuffle was a tall canting specimen of Yankee-dom +perched on a water cask that "reckoned ther is right smart chance of +folks on this 'ere ship," and "kalkerlate that that boat swinging thar +war a good place to stow my fixin's in." The next day thorough system +and efficiency was brought out of chaos and good humor prevailed.</p> + +<p>Victoria, then the capital of British Columbia, is situated on the +southern point of Vancouver's Island. On account of the salubrity of its +climate and proximity to the spacious land-locked harbor of Esquimault +it is delightful as a place of residence and well adapted to great +mercantile and industrial possibilities. It was the headquarters of the +Hudson Bay Company, a very old, wealthy, and influential English trading +company. Outside the company's fort, enclosing immense storehouses, +there were but few houses. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> nucleus of a town in the shape of a few +blocks laid out, and chiefly on paper maps, was most that gave promise +of the populous city of Victoria of the present. On my arrival my goods +were sold at great advance on cost, an order for more sent by returning +steamer. I had learned prior to starting that city lots could be bought +for one hundred dollars each, and had come prepared to buy two or three +at that price. A few days before my arrival what the authorities had +designated as the "land office" had been subjected to a "Yankee rush," +which had not only taken, and paid for all the lots mapped out, but came +near appropriating books, benches, and window sashes; hence the office +had to close down and haul off for repairs, and surveyed lots, and would +not be open for business for ten days. Meanwhile those that were in at +the first sale were still in, having real estate matters their own way. +Steamers and sailing craft were constantly arriving, discharging their +human freight, that needed food, houses, and outfits for the mines, +giving an impetus to property of all kinds that was amazing for its +rapidity. The next afternoon after the day of my arrival I had signed an +agreement and paid one hundred dollars on account for a lot and +one-story house for $3,000—$1,400 more in fifteen days, and the balance +in six months. Upon the arrival of my goods ten days later I paid the +second installment and took possession. Well, how came I to take a +responsibility so far beyond my first intended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> investment? Just here I +rise to remark: For effective purposes one must not be unduly sensitive +or overmodest in writing autobiography—for, being the events and +memoirs of his life, written by himself, the ever-present pronoun "I" +dances in such lively attendance and in such profusion on the pages that +whatever pride he may have in the events they chronicle is somewhat +abashed at its repetition.</p> + +<p>Addison truly says: "There is no passion which steals into the heart +more imperceptible and covers itself under more disguises than pride." +Still, if in such memoirs there be found landmarks of precept or example +that will smooth the ruggedness of Youth's pathway, the success of its +mission should disarm invidious criticism. For the great merit of +history or biography is not alone the events they chronicle, but the +value of the thought they inspire. Previous to purchasing the property I +had calculated the costs of alteration and estimated the income. In +twenty days, after an expenditure of $200 for improvements, I found +myself receiving a rental of $500 per month from the property, besides a +store for the firm. Anyone without mechanical knowledge with time and +opportunity to seek information from others may have done the same, but +in this case there was neither time nor opportunity; it required quick +perception and prompt action. The trade my mother insisted I should +learn enabled me to do this. Get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> a trade, boys, if you have to live on +bread and apples while attaining it. It is a good foundation to build +higher. Don't crowd the waiters. If they are content, give them a +chance. We received a warm welcome from the Governor and other officials +of the colony, which was cheering. We had no complaint as to business +patronage in the State of California, but there was ever present that +spectre of oath denial and disfranchisement; the disheartening +consciousness that while our existence was tolerated, we were powerless +to appeal to law for the protection of life or property when assailed. +British Columbia offered and gave protection to both, and equality of +political privileges. I cannot describe with what joy we hailed the +opportunity to enjoy that liberty under the "British lion" denied us +beneath the pinions of the American Eagle. Three or four hundred colored +men from California and other States, with their families, settled in +Victoria, drawn thither by the two-fold inducement—gold discovery and +the assurance of enjoying impartially the benefits of constitutional +liberty. They built or bought homes and other property, and by industry +and character vastly improved their condition and were the recipients of +respect and esteem from the community.</p> + +<p>An important step in a man's life is his marriage. It being the merging +of dual lives, it is only by mutual self-abnegation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> that it can be made +a source of contentment and happiness. In 1859, in consummation of +promise and purpose, I returned to the United States and was married to +Miss Maria A. Alexander, of Kentucky, educated at Oberlin College, Ohio. +After visits to friends in Buffalo and my friend Frederick Douglass at +Rochester, N. Y., thence to Philadelphia and New York City, where we +took steamship for our long journey of 4,000 miles to our intended home +at Victoria, Vancouver Island. I have had a model wife in all that the +term implies, and she has had a husband migratory and uncertain. We have +been blessed with five children, four of whom are living—Donald F., +Horace E., Ida A., and Hattie A. Gibbs; Donald a machinist, Horace a +printer by trade. Ida graduated as an A. B. from Oberlin College and is +now teacher of English in the High School at Washington, D. C.; Hattie a +graduate from the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin, Ohio, and was +professor of music at the Eckstein-Norton University at Cave Springs, +Ky., and now musical director of public schools of Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p>In passing through the States in 1859 an unrest was everywhere +observable. The pulse-beat of the great national heart quickened at +impending danger. The Supreme Court had made public the Dred Scott +decision; John Brown had organized an insurrection; Stephen A. Douglass +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> Abraham Lincoln at the time were in exciting debate; William H. +Seward was proclaiming the "irrepressible conflict." With other signs +portentous, culminating in secession and events re-enacting history—for +that the causes and events of which history is the record are being +continuously re-enacted from a moral standpoint is of easy observation. +History, as the narration of the actions of men, with attendant results, +is but a repetition. Different minds and other hands may be the +instruments, but the effects from any given course involving fundamental +principles are the same. This was taught by philosophers 2,000 years +ago, some insisting that not only was this repetition observable in the +moral world, but that the physical world was repeated in detail—that +every person, every blade of grass, all nature, animate and inanimate, +reappeared upon the earth, engaged in the same pursuits, and fulfilling +the same ends formerly accomplished.</p> + +<p>However skeptical we may be as to this theory of the ancients, the +student of modern history has accomplished little if he fails to be +impressed with the important truth standing out on every page in letters +of living light—that this great world of ours is governed by a system +of moral and physical laws that are as unerring in the bestowal of +rewards as certain in the infliction of penalties. The history of our +own country is one that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> will ever be an exemplification of this +pre-eminent truth. The protests of the victims of oppression in the old +world resulted in a moral upheaval and the establishment by force of +arms of a Republic in America. The Revolutionary Congress, of which, in +adopting the Federal Constitution, closed with this solemn injunction: +"Let it be remembered that it has been the pride and boast of America +that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human +nature." And it was reserved for the founders of this nation to +establish in the words of an illustrious benefactor, "a Government of +the people, for the people, and by the people"—a Government deriving +all its powers from the consent of the governed, where freedom of +opinion, whether relating to Church or State, was to have the widest +scope and fullest expression consistent with private rights and public +good—-where the largest individuality could be developed and the +patrician and plebeian meet on a common level and aspire to the highest +honor within the gift of the people.</p> + +<p>This was its character, this its mission. How it has sustained the +character, how fulfilled the mission upon which it entered, the +impartial historian has indited, every page of which is redolent with +precept and example that point a moral.</p> + +<p>With the inauguration of republican government in America the angel of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +freedom and the demon of slavery wrestled for the mastery. Tallyrand has +beautifully and forcibly said: "The Lily and Thistle may grow together +in harmonious proximity, but liberty and slavery delight in the +separation." The pronounced policy of the best minds at the adoption of +the Federal Constitution was to repress it as an institution inhuman in +its character and fraught with mischief. Foretelling with accuracy of +divine inspiration, Jefferson "trembled for his country" when he +remembered that God was just and that "His justice would not sleep +forever." Patrick Henry said "that a serious view of this subject gives +a gloomy prospect to future times." So Mason and other patriots wrote +and felt, fully impressed that the high, solid ground of right and +justice had been left for the bogs and mire of expediency.</p> + +<p>They died, leaving this heritage growing stronger and bolder in its +assumption of power and permeating every artery of society. The cotton +gin was invented and the demand for cotton vaulted into the van of the +commerce of the country. Men, lured by the gains of slavery and +corrupted by its contact, sought by infamous reasoning and vicious +legislation to avert the criticism of men and the judgment of God. In +the words of our immortal Douglass, "To bolster up and make tolerable +what was intolerable; to make human what was inhuman; to make divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +what was infernal." To make this giant wrong acceptable to the moral +sense it was averred and enacted that slavery was right; that God +himself had so predetermined in His wisdom; that the slave could be +branded and sold on the auction block; that the babe could be ruthlessly +taken from its mother and given away; that a family could be scattered +by sale, to meet no more; that to teach a slave to read was punishable +with death to the teacher. But why rehearse this dead past—this +terrible night of suffering and gloom? Why not let its remembrance be +effaced and forgotten in the glorious light of a happier day? I answer, +Why?</p> + +<p>All measure of value, all estimates of greatness, of joy or sorrow, of +health or suffering, are relative; we judge by comparison, and if in +recalling these former depths we temper unreasonable criticism of waning +friendships, accelerate effort as we pass the mile-stones of +achievement, and stimulate appreciation of liberty in the younger +generation, the mention will not be fruitless.</p> + +<p>But to the resume of this rapid statement of momentous events: +Meanwhile, the slave, patient in his longings, prayed for deliverance. +Truly has it been said by Elihu Burrit that "you may take a man and yoke +him to your labor as you yoke the ox that worketh to live, and liveth to +work; you may surround him with ignorance and cloud him over with +artificial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> night. You may do this and all else that will degrade him as +a man, without injuring his value as a slave; yet the idea that he was +born to be free will survive it all. 'Tis allied to his hope of +immortality—the ethereal part of his nature which oppression cannot +reach. 'Tis the torch lit up in his soul by the omnipotent hand of Deity +Himself." The true and tried hosts of freedom, represented and led by +Garrison, Douglass, Lovejoy, Phillips, Garnet, Harriet Beecher Stowe, +and Frances Ellen Harper, and others—few compared to the indifferent +and avowed defenders of slavery, welcoming outrage and ostracism, by pen +and on forum, from hilltop and valley, proclaimed emancipation as the +right of the slave and the duty of the master. The many heroic efforts +of the anti-slavery phalanx were not without effect, and determined +resistance was made to the admission of more slave territory which was +in accordance with the "Proviso" prohibiting slavery in the Northwest. +Slavery controlled the Government from its commencement, hence its +supporters looked with alarm upon an increasing determination to stay +its progress.</p> + +<p>California had been admitted as a free State, after a struggle the most +severe. Its admission John C. Calhoun, the very able leader of the slave +power, regarded as the death-knell of slavery, if the institution +remained within the union and counseled secession. Washington, +Jefferson, and Madison,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> in despair at the growth of slavery; Calhoun at +that of freedom. But how could this march of moral progress and national +greatness be arrested? Congress had, in 1787, enacted that all the +territory not then States should forever be reserved to freedom. The +slave power saw the "handwriting on the wall" surround it with a cordon +of free States; increase their representatives in Congress advocating +freedom, and slavery is doomed. The line cherished by the founders, the +Gibraltar against which slavery had dashed its angry billows, must be +blotted out, and over every rod of virgin soil it was to be admitted +without let or hindrance.</p> + +<p>Then came the dark days of compromise, the era of Northern fear of +secession, and, finally, opinion crystallizing into legislation +non-committal, viz: That States applying for admission should be +admitted as free or slave States, as a majority of their inhabitants +might determine. Then came the struggle for Kansas. Emigration societies +were fitted out in the New England and Northern States to send free +State men to locate who would vote to bring in Kansas as a free State. +Similar organizations existed in the slave States for the opposite +purpose.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 458px;"> +<img src="images/gs08.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt="HON. JOHN M. LANGSTON." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JOHN M. LANGSTON.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Louisa Country, Va.—Educated at Oberlin, Ohio—Member +Board of Health, District of Columbia in 1871—Minister Resident +and Consul-General to Port-au-Prince, Hayti, 1877—Elected to +Congress from Fourth Congressional District of Virginia in +1890—Author of "Freedom and Citizenship" and "From the Virginia +Plantation to the National Capitol."</p></div> + +<p>It is not pleasant to dwell nor fitly portray the terrible ordeal +through which the friends of freedom passed. In 1859 they succeeded; +right and justice were triumphant, the beneficial results of which will +reach remotest time. It was in this conflict that the heroism of John +Brown developed. It was there he saw his kindred and his friends +murdered, and there registered his vow to avenge their blood in the +disenthralment of the slave. The compeers of this "grand old man" or +people of the nation could have scarcely supposed that this man, +hitherto obscure, was to be the instrument of retributive justice, to +inaugurate a rebellion which was to culminate in the freedom of +4,000,000 slaves. John Brown, at the head of a few devoted men, at +Harper's Ferry, struck the blow that echoed and re-echoed in booming gun +and flashing sabre until, dying away in whispered cadence, was hushed in +the joyousness of a free nation. John Brown was great because he was +good, and good because he was great, with the bravery of a warrior and +the tenderness of a child, loving liberty as a mother her first born, he +scorned to compromise with slavery. Virginia demanded his blood and he +gave it, making the spot on which he fell sacred for all time, upon +which posterity will see a monument in commemoration of an effort, grand +in its magnanimity, to which the devotees of liberty from every clime +can repair to breathe anew an inspiration from its shrine—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For whether on the gallows high<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or in the battle's van,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The noblest place for man to die<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is where he dies for man."<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></div></div> + +<p>The slave power, defeated in Kansas, fearful of the result of the vote +in other territories to determine their future status, found aid and +comfort from Judge Taney, a Supreme Judge of the United States. +Bancroft, the historian, has said: "In a great Republic an attempt to +overthrow a State owes its strength to and from some branch of the +Government." 'Tis said that this Chief Justice, without necessity or +occasion, volunteered to come to the rescue of slavery, and, being the +highest court known to the law, the edict was final, and no appeal could +lie, save to the bar of humanity and history. Against the memory of the +nation, against decisions and enactments, he announced that, slaves +being property, owners could claim constitutional protection in the +territories; that the Constitution upheld slavery against any act of a +State Legislature, and even against Congress. Slavery, previous to 1850, +was regulated by municipal law; the slave was held by virtue of the laws +of the State of his location or of kindred slave States. When he escaped +that jurisdiction he was free. By the decision of Judge Taney, instead +of slavery being local, it was national and freedom outlawed; the slave +could not only be reclaimed in any State, but slavery could be +established wherever it sought habitation.</p> + +<p>Black laws had been passed in Northern States and United States +Commissioners appointed in these States searched for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> fugitives, where +they had, in fancied security, resided for years, built homes, and +reared families, seizing and remanding them back into slavery, causing +an era of terror, family dismemberment, and flight, only to be +remembered with sadness and horror. For had not the heartless dictum +come from a Chief Justice of the United States—the "Jeffry of American +jurisprudence," that it had been ruled that black men had no rights a +white man was bound to respect?</p> + +<p>The slave power, fortified with this declaration, resolved that if at +the approaching election they did not <i>succeed</i> they would <i>secede</i>. +Lincoln was elected, and the South, true to its resolve, prepared for +the secession of its States. Pennsylvania is credited with having then +made the last and meanest gift to the Presidency in the person of James +Buchanan. History tells of a Nero who fiddled while Rome burned. The +valedictory of this public functionary breathing aid and comfort to +secession, was immediately followed by South Carolina firing on Fort +Sumter, and Southern Senators advised their constituents to seize the +arsenals and ports of the nation. Rebellion was a fact.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect, was the legitimate outgrowth of +American institutions; in him was presented choice fruit, the product of +republican government. Born in a log cabin, of poor, uneducated parents, +his only aids untiring industry, determination, and lofty purpose. +Hewing out his steps on the rugged rocks of poverty, climbing the +mountains of difficulty, and attaining the highest honor within the gift +of the nation—"truly a self-made man, the Declaration of Independence," +says a writer, "being his daily compendium of wisdom, the life of +Washington his daily study, with something of Jefferson, Madison, and +Clay." For the rest, from day to day, he lived the life of the American +people; "walked in its light; reasoned with its reason; thought with its +powers of thought, and felt the beatings of its mighty heart." In 1858 +he came prominently forward as the rival of Stephen A. Douglass, and, +with wealth of argument, terseness of logic, and enunciation of just +principles, took front rank among sturdy Republicans, battling against +the extension of human slavery, declaring that "the nation could not +endure half free and half slave."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 403px;"> +<img src="images/gs09.jpg" width="403" height="450" alt="ABRAHAM LINCOLN, + +The Emancipator." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ABRAHAM LINCOLN,<br /> + +The Emancipator.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">The Embodiment of Patriotism and Justice. "I hope peace will +come to stay, and then there will be some colored men who can +remember that they helped mankind to this great consummation."</p></div> + +<p>On the 4th of March, 1861, he took the oath of office and commenced his +Administration. With confidence and doubt alternating, our interest as a +race became intensified. We knew the South had rebelled; we were +familiar with the pagan proverb "Those whom the gods would destroy they +first made mad." We had watched the steady growth of Republicanism, when +a tinge on the political horizon "no bigger than a man's hand," increase +in magnitude and power and place its standard-bearer in the White House. +But former Presidents had professed to hate slavery. President Fillmore +had, yet signed the fugitive slave law; Pierce and Buchanan had both +wielded the administrative arm in favor of slavery. We had seen Daniel +Webster, Massachusetts' ablest jurist, and the most learned +constitutional expounder—the man of whom it was said that "when he +speaks God's own thunder can be seen pent up in his brow and God's own +lightning flash from his eye"—a man sent by the best cultured of New +England to represent the most advanced civilization of the century—we +had seen this brilliant star of anti-slavery Massachusetts "pale his +ineffectual fires" before the steady glare, the intolerance, +blandishment, and corrupting influences of the slave power—and tell the +nation they must compromise with slavery.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's statesman and philanthropist, was +approached in Parliament by West India planters with promises of support +for measures for the relief of Ireland if he would vote in the interest +of slavery in British colonies, he said: "'Tis true, gentlemen, that I +represent a poor constituency—God only knows how poor; but may calamity +and affliction overtake me if ever I, to help Ireland, vote to enslave +the Negro." A noble utterance! Unlike the Northern representatives sent +to Congress, who "bent the pliant, servile knee that thrift might follow +fawning." What wonder our race was keenly alive to the situation? The +hour had arrived—was the man there?</p> + +<p>For Abraham Lincoln impartial history will answer "Nor memory lose, nor +time impair" his nobility of character for humanity and patriotism that +will ever ennoble and inspire. Mr. Lincoln was slow to believe that the +rebellion would assume the proportions that it did, but he placed +himself squarely on the issue in his inaugural address: "That he should, +to the extent of his ability, take care that the laws of the nation be +faithfully executed in all the States; that in doing it there would be +no bloodshed unless it was forced upon the national authority." His +patriotism and goodness welling up as he said: "We are not enemies, but +friends, though we may have strained, it must not break our bonds of +affection. The mystic chords of memory,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> stretching from every +battlefield and hearthstone, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when +again touched by the better angels of our nature."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But the die was cast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ruthless rapine righteous hope defied."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The necessity for calling the nation to arms was imminent on the 15th of +April, 1861; the call for 75,000 men rang like a trumpet blast, +startling the most apathetic. The response from the Northern and +portions of the Southern States was hearty and prompt. The battle at +Bull Run dispelled the President's idea that the war was to be of short +duration. Defeat followed defeat of the national forces; weeping and +wailing went up from many firesides for husbands and sons who had laid +down on Southern battlefields to rest. The great North, looking up for +succor, saw the "national banner drooping from the flagstaff, heavy with +blood," and typical of the stripes of the slave. For 200 years the +incense of his prayers and tears had ascended. Now from every booming +gun there seemed the voice of God, "Let my people go"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"They see Him in watch fires<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of a hundred circling camps;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They read His righteous sentence<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By the dim and flaring lamps."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The nation had come slowly but firmly up to the duty and necessity of +emancipation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Mr. Lincoln, who was now in accord with Garrison, +Phillips, Douglass, and their adherents, had counseled them to continue +urging the people to this demand, now pressing as a military necessity. +The 1st of January, 1863, being the maturity of the proclamation, lifted +4,000,000 of human beings from chattels to freemen, a grateful, praying +people. Throughout the North and wherever possible in the South the +colored people, on the night of December 31, assembled in their churches +for thanksgiving. On their knees in silence—a silence intense with +suppressed emotion—they awaited the stroke of the clock. It came, the +thrice-welcomed harbinger of freedom, and as it tolled on, and on, the +knell of slavery, pent-up joy could no longer be restrained. "Praise +God, from whom all blessings flow," from a million voices, floated +upward on midnight air. While some shouted "Hallelujah," others, with +folded arms, stood mute and fixed as statuary, while "Tears of joy like +summer raindrops pierced by sunbeams" fell.</p> + +<p>When Robespierre and Danton disenthralled France, we learn that the +guillotine bathed in blood was the emblem of their transition state, +from serfs to freemen. With the Negro were the antithesis of anger, +revenge, or despair, that of joy, gratitude, and hope, has been memory's +most choice trio.</p> + +<p>This master stroke of policy and justice came with telling effect upon +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> consciousness of the people. It was now in deed and in truth a war +for the Union coeval with freedom; every patriot heart beat a responsive +echo, and was stirred by a new inspiration to deeds of heroism. Now +success followed success; Port Hudson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, +Gettysburg, and the Mississippi bowed in submission to the national +power. The record of history affirms subsequent events that during the +ensuing twelve months war measures more gigantic than had been witnessed +in modern times were inaugurated; how the will of the people to subdue +the rebellion crystallized as iron; that General Grant, planting himself +before Richmond, said he would "fight it out on that line if it took all +summer," and General Sherman's memorable march fifty thousand strong +from Atlanta to the sea. General Grant's campaign ended in the surrender +of General Lee, and Peace, with its golden pinions, alighted on our +national staff.</p> + +<p>Abraham Lincoln was again elected President, the people seeming +impressed with the wisdom of his quaint phrase that "it was best not to +swap horses while crossing a stream." Through all the vicissitudes of +his first term he justified the unbounded confidence of the nation, +supporting with no laggard hand, cheering and inspiring the citizen +soldier with noble example and kindly word. The reconstruction acts, +legislation for the enrollment of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> the colored soldier, and every other +measure of enfranchisement received his hearty approval, remarking at +one time, with much feeling, that "I hope peace will come to stay, and +there will be some black men that can remember that they helped mankind +to this great consummation."</p> + +<p>Did the colored troops redeem the promise made by their friends when +their enlistment was determined? History records exhibitions of bravery +and endurance which gave their survivors and descendants a claim as +imperishable as eternal justice. Go back to the swamps of the Carolinas, +the Savannahs of Florida, the jungles of Arkansas; or on the dark bosom +of the Mississippi. Look where you may, the record of their rugged +pathway still blossoms with deeds of noble daring, self-abnegation and a +holy devotion to the central ideas of the war—the freedom of the slave, +a necessity for the salvation of free government.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;"> +<img src="images/gs10.jpg" width="387" height="450" alt="BISHOP W. B. DERRICK." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BISHOP W. B. DERRICK.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born July, 1843, Antique, Bristol, West Indies—Educated at +Graceville, W. I.—Ordained Deacon in 1868, and now one of the +Foremost Bishops of the A. M. E. Church—Noted for Wisdom of +Counsel and Great Ability.</p></div> + +<p>The reading of commanders' reports bring no blush of shame. At the +terrific assault on Fort Hudson, General Banks reported they answered +"every expectation; no troops could have been more daring." General +Butler tells of his transformation from a war Democrat to a radical. +Riding out at early morn to view the battlefield, where a few hours +before shot and shell flew thick and fast, skillfully guiding his horse, +that hoofs should not profane the sacred dead, he there saw in sad +confusion where lay the white and black soldier, who had gone down +together. The appeal, though mute, was irresistible. Stopping his horse +and raising his hand in the cold, grey light to heaven, said: "May my +tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand forget its +cunning if I ever cease to insist upon equal justice to the colored +man." It was at the unequal fight at Milliken's Bend; it was at Forts +Wagner and Pillow, at Petersburg and Richmond, the colored troops asked +to be assigned the posts of danger, and there before the iron hail of +the enemy's musketry "they fell forward as fits a man." In our memory +and affections they deserve a fitting place "as those long loved, and +but for a season gone."</p> + +<p>Slavery, shorn of its power, nurtured revenge. On the 14th day of April, +1865, while sitting with his family at a public exhibition, Abraham +Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was in tears. Never was +lamentation so widespread, nor grief so deep; the cabin of the lowly, +the lordly mansion of wealth, the byways and highways, gave evidence of +a people's sorrow. "Men moved about with clinched teeth and bowed-down +heads; women bathed in tears and found relief, while little children +asked their mothers why all the people looked so mournful," and we, as +we came up out of Egypt, lifted up our voices and wept. Our friend was +no more, but intrenched in the hearts of his countrymen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> as one who did +much "to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of nations."</p> + +<p>Since that eventful period the Negro has had a checkered career, passing +through the reconstruction period, with its many lights and shadows, +despite the assaults of prejudice and prescription by exclusion from +most of the remunerative callings and avocations, partiality in +sentencing him to the horrors of the chain-gang, lynching, and burning +at the stake. Despite all these he has made progress—a progress often +unfairly judged by the dominant race. Douglass has pithily said: "Judge +us not from the heights on which you stand, but from the depths from +whence we sprung." So, with a faith and hope undaunted, we scan our +country horizon for the silver lining propitious of a happier day.</p> + +<p>Regarding that crime of crimes, lynching by hanging and burning human +beings, a barbarity unknown in the civilized world save in our country, +it is cheering to observe an awakening of the moral sense evidenced by +noble and manly utterance of leading journals, notably those of +Arkansas; the Governor of Georgia, and other Southern Governors and +statesmen, have spoken in derogation of this giant crime.</p> + +<p>When others of like standing and State influence shall so pronounce, +this hideous blot upon the national escutcheon will disappear. It is +manly and necessary to protest when wronged. But a subject class or race +does but little for their amelioration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> when content with its +denouncement. Injustice can be more effectually arraigned by others than +the victim; his mere proclamation, however distinct and unanswerable, +will be slow of fruition. A measure of relief comes from the humane +sympathies of the philanthropist, but the inherent attraction of forces +(less sympathetic, perhaps, though indispensable) for his real uplifting +and protection will be in the ratio of his morality, learning, and +wealth. For vice is ever destructive; ignorance ever a victim, and +poverty ever defenceless. Morality should be ever in the foreground of +all effort, for mere learning or even wealth will not make a class of +brave, honest men and useful citizens; there must be ever an intensity +of purpose based upon convictions of truth, and "the inevitable oneness +of physical and moral strength." St. Pierre de Couberton, an eminent +French writer on education and training, has pertinently said: "Remember +that from the cradle to the grave struggle is the essence of life, as it +is the unavoidable aim, the real life bringer of all the sons of men. +Existence is a fight, and has to be fought out; self-defence is a noble +art, and must be practiced. Never seek a quarrel, but never shun one, +and if it seeks you, be sure and fight to the last, as long as strength +is given you to stand, guard your honesty of purpose, your good faith; +beware of all false seeming, of all pretence, cultivate arduous tasks, +aspire to what is difficult, and do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> persistently what is uncomfortable +and unpleasant; love effort passionately, for without effort there can +be no manliness; therefore acquire the habit of self-restraint, the +habit of painful effort, physical pain, is a useful one." With such +purpose the Negro should have neither servility, bitterness, nor regret, +but "instinct with the life of the present rise with the impulse of the +age."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>My election to the Common Council of the City of Victoria, Vancouver +Island, in 1866, was my first entry to political life, followed by +re-election for succeeding term.</p> + +<p>The exercise of the franchise at the polls was by "viva voce," the voter +proclaiming his vote by stating the name of the candidate for whom he +voted in a distinct voice, which was audited on the rolls by clerks of +both parties.</p> + +<p>Alike all human contrivances, this mode of obtaining the popular will +has its merits and demerits. For the former it has the impossibility of +ballot-stuffing, for the by-stander can keep accurate tally; also the +opportunity for the voter to display the courage of his conviction, +which is ever manly and the purpose of a representative Commonwealth. On +the other hand, it may fail to register the desire of the voter whose +financial or other obligation may make it impolitic to thus openly +antagonize the candidate he otherwise would with a secret ballot, "that +falls as silently as snow-flakes fall upon the sod" and (should) +"execute a freeman's will as lightning doth the will of God." This is +its mission, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> faithful execution of its fiat, the palladium of +liberty for all the people. Opposition to the exercise of this right in +a representative government is disintegrating by contention and suicidal +in success. It has been, and still is, the cause of bitter struggle in +our own country. Disregard of the ultimatum of constitutional +majorities, the foundation of our system of government, as the cause of +the civil war, the past and ever-occurring political corruption in the +Northern and the chief factor in the race troubles in the Southern +States, where the leaders in this disregard and unlawful action allow +the honors and emoluments of office to shut out from their view the +constitutional rights of others; and by the criminality of their conduct +and subterfuge strive to make selfish might honest right.</p> + +<p>That slavery was a poor school to fit men to assume the obligations and +duties of an enlightened citizenship should be readily admitted; that +its subjects in the Elysium of their joy and thankfulness to their +deliverers from servitude to freedom, and in ignorance of the polity of +government, should have been easy prey to the unscrupulous is within +reason. Still the impartial historian will indite that, for all that +dark and bloody night of reconstruction through which they passed, the +record of their crime and peculation will "pale its ineffectual rays" +before the blistering blasts of official corruption, murder,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> and +lynching that has appalled Christendom since the government of these +Southern States has been assumed by their wealth and intelligence. The +abnormal conditions that prevailed during reconstruction naturally +produced hostility to all who supported Federal authority, among whom +the Negro, through force of circumstances, was prominent and most +vulnerable for attack, suffered the most physically, and subsequently +became easy prey for those who would profit by his disfranchisement.</p> + +<p>The attempt to justify this and condone this refusal to allow the +colored American exercise of civil and constitutional rights is based on +caste, hatred, and alleged ignorance—conditions that are +world-wide—and the measure of a people's Christianity and the +efficiency of republican institutions can be accurately determined by +the humanity and zeal displayed in their amelioration, not in the denial +of the right, but zealous tuition for its proper exercise.</p> + +<p>During the civil war the national conscience, hitherto sluggish, was +awakened and great desire prevailed to award the race the full meed of +civil and political rights, both as a measure of justice and recognition +of their fealty and bravery in support of the national arm.</p> + +<p>The Freedman's Bureau, Christian and other benevolent agencies were +inaugurated to fit the freedman for the new obligations. Handicapped as +he has been in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> many endeavors, his record has been inspiring. +Four-fifths of the race for generations legally and persistently +forbidden to learn to read or write; with labor unrequited, a +conservative estimate, in 1898, little more than three decades from +slavery, finds 340,000 of their children attending 26,300 schools and +their property valuation $750,000,000, while in learned professions, +journalism, and mercantile pursuits their ability and efficiency command +the respect and praise of the potential race.</p> + +<p>When the amendments were being considered, opinion differed as to the +bestowal of the franchise; many favored only those who could read and +write. The popularity of this phase of opinion was voiced in the +following interview with Hon. Schuyler Colfax, afterward Vice President, +who was at that time Speaker of the lower house of Congress, and was +said to have the "Presidential bee in his bonnet." While "swinging +around the circle" he touched at Victoria, and the British Colonist of +July 29, 1865, made the following mention: "A committee consisting of +Abner Francis and M. W. Gibbs called on Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of +the House of Representatives of the United States, yesterday morning. On +being introduced by the American Consul, Mr. Gibbs proceeded to say that +they were happy to meet him and tender him on behalf of the colored +residents of Victoria<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> their esteem and regard. They were not +unacquainted with the noble course he had pursued during the great +struggle in behalf of human liberty in the land of their nativity. They +had watched with intense interest the progress of the rebellion and +rejoiced in the Federal success and sorrowed in its adversity. Now that +victory had perched on the national standard—a standard we believe +henceforth and forever consecrated to impartial liberty—they were +filled with joy unspeakable. And he would allow them to say that it had +afforded them the greatest pleasure to observe the alacrity with which +the colored men of the nation offered and embraced the opportunity to +manifest their devotion and bravery in support of the national cause.</p> + +<p>"They had full confidence in the magnanimity of the American people that +in the reconstruction of the seceded States they would grant the race +who had proved their claim by the most indisputable heroism and +fidelity, equality before the law, upon the ground of immutable justice +and importance of national safety. Without trespassing further on his +valuable time they would only tender him, as the distinguished Speaker +of the popular house of Congress, as well as the sterling friend of +freedom, their sincere respect and esteem.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Colfax, in reply, said he was truly glad to see and meet the +committee and felt honored by the interview.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"For himself he had ever been an enemy of slavery. From his earliest +recollections he had ever used his influence against it to the extent of +his power; but its abolition was environed by so many difficulties that +it seemed to require the overruling hand of God to consummate its +destruction. And he did not see how it could have been brought about so +speedily but for those who desired to perpetuate it by raising +rebellious hands against the nation. Now, with regard to the last +sentiment expressed, concerning reconstruction, he would say that it was +occupying the earnest attention of the best and purest minds of the +nation. Most men were in favor of giving the ballot to colored men; the +question was to what extent it should be granted. Very many good men +were disposed to grant it indiscriminately to the ignorant as well as +the more intelligent. For himself he was not, but among the other class. +If colored men generally were as intelligent as the gentleman who had +honored him with this interview—for he considered the speech he had +just listened to among the best he had heard on the coast—there would +be no trouble; but slavery had made that impossible. He knew that the +President—decidedly an anti-slavery man—was not in favor of bestowing +the franchise on all alike, while Charles Sumner and others favored it.</p> + +<p>"The honorable gentleman closed his remarks by desiring the colored +people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> not to consider the Administration inimical to their welfare, if +in the adjustment the right of suffrage was not bestowed on all, for it +was probable that reading and writing would be the qualification +demanded. He paid a high tribute to the colored people of Washington, D. +C., for their intelligence, moral worth, and industry, and said that it +was probable that the problem of suffrage would be solved in the +District of Columbia. After a desultory conversation on phases of +national status succeeding the rebellion, both parties seeming well +pleased with the meeting, the committee retired."</p> + +<p>I did not then, nor do I now, agree with the views of that distinguished +statesman. The benignity of the ballot lies in this: It was never +devised for the protection of the strong, but as a guardian for the +weak. It is not true that a sane man, although unlettered, has not a +proper conception of his own interests and what will conserve them—what +will protect them and give the best results for his labor. You may fool +him some of the time, as you do the most astute, but he will be oftener +found among those of whom Lincoln said "You could not fool all the +time." William Lloyd Garrison, jr., "a worthy son of a noble sire," +pointedly says: "Whoever laments the scope of suffrage and talks of +disfranchising men on account of ignorance or poverty has as little +comprehension of the meaning of self-government as a blind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> man has of +the colors of the rainbow. I declare my belief that we are suffering not +from a too extended ballot, but from one too limited and +unrepresentative. We enunciate a principle of government, and then deny +its practice. If experience has established anything, it is that the +interest of one class is never safe in the hands of another. There is no +class so poor or ignorant in a Republic that it does not know its own +suffering and needs better than the wealthy and educated classes. By the +rule of justice it has the same right precisely to give them legal +expression. That expression is bound to come, and it is wisest for it to +come through the ballot box than through mobs and violence born of a +feeling of misery and despair."</p> + +<p>James Russell Lowell has said: "The right to vote makes a safety valve +of every voter, and the best way to teach a man to vote is to give him a +chance to practice. It is cheaper, too, in the long run to lift men up +than to hold them down. The ballot in their hands is less dangerous than +a sense of wrong in their heads."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 481px;"> +<img src="images/gs11.jpg" width="481" height="600" alt="BISHOP ALEXANDER WALTERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BISHOP ALEXANDER WALTERS.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Kentucky, August, 1858—Educated In the Common Schools +of that State—At Thirty-five Elected Bishop of the A. M. E. +Zion Church, Taking High Rank as a Theologian, Originator and +First President of the National Afro American Council—Thinker, +Orator and Leader.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>Among the estimable friendships I made on the Pacific Coast forty years +ago was Philip A. Bell, formerly of New York City, one of nature's +noblemen, broad in his humanity and intellectually great as a +journalist. As editor of The Elevator, a weekly newspaper still +published in San Francisco, he made its pages brilliant with +scintillations of elegance, wealth of learning, and vigor of advocacy. +To his request for a correspondent I responded in a series of letters. I +forbear to insert them here, as they describe the material and political +status of British Columbia thirty-five years ago—being well aware that +ancient history is not the most entertaining. But, as I read them I +cannot but note, in the jollity of their introduction, the immature +criticism, consciousness of human fallability, broadening of +conclusions, mellowed by hope for the future that seemed typical of a +life career. Like the horse in "Sheridan's Ride," their beginning "was +gay, with Sheridan fifty miles away;" but if they were helpful with a +truth-axiom or a moiety of inspiration—as a view of colonial conduct of +a nation, with which we were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> then and are now growing in affinity—the +purpose was attained.</p> + +<p>At first the affairs of British Columbia and Vancouver were administered +by one Governor, the connection was but nominal; Vancouver Island had +control by a representative Parliament of its own; the future seemed +auspicious. Later they, feeling it "in fra dig" to divide the prestige +of government, severed the connection. But Vancouver finding it a rather +expensive luxury, and that the separation engendered strife and rivalry, +terminating in hostile legislation, determined to permanently unite with +British Columbia.</p> + +<p>But alas, for political happiness. Many afterward sighed for former +times, when Vancouver Island, proud beauty of the North, sat laving her +feet in the genial waters of the Pacific, her lap verdant with beautiful +foliage and delicious fruits; her head raised with peerless majesty to +brilliant skies, while sunbeams playing upon a brow encircled by eternal +snows reflected a sheen of glorious splendor; when, conscious of her +immense wealth in coal, minerals, and fisheries, her delightful climate +and geographical position, she bid for commercial supremacy. It is said +of States, as of women, they are "fickle, coy and hard to please." For, +changed and governed from England's Downing Street, "with all its +red tape circumlocution," "Tile Barncal," incapacity, and +"how-not-to-do-it"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> ability that attached to that venerable institution, +its people were sorely perplexed.</p> + +<p>During the discussion which the nature and inefficiency of the +Government evoked several modes of relief from these embarrassments were +warmly espoused, among them none more prominent than annexation to the +United States. It was urged with much force that the great want of the +country, immigration and responsible government, would find their +fulfillment in such an alliance. All that seemed wanted was the "hour +and the man." The man was considered present in Leonard McClure, editor +of a local, and afterward on the editorial staff of the San Francisco +Times. He was a man of rare ability, a terse writer, and with force of +logic labored assiduously to promote annexation. But the "hour" was "non +est." For while it was quite popular and freely discussed upon the forum +and street, influential classes declined to commit themselves to the +scheme, the primary step necessary before presentation to the respective +Governments. Among the opposition to annexation, naturally, were the +official class. These gentry being in no way responsible to the people, +an element ever of influence, and believing that by such an alliance +they would find their "occupation gone," gave it no quarter. Added to +these was another possessed of the prestige and power that wealth +confers—very conservative, timid, cautious, self-satisfied, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +dreading innovations of popular rule, but especially republicanism. Amid +these two classes, and sprinkled among the rank and file, was found a +sentiment extremely patriotic, with those who saw nothing worth living +for outside of the purview of the "tight little island."</p> + +<p>There seems a destiny in the propriety of territory changing dominion. +God seems to have given this beautiful earth, with its lands, to be +utilized and a source of blessing, not to be locked by the promptings of +avarice nor the clog of incapacity; that it should be occupied by those +who, either by the accident of locality or superior ability, can make it +the most efficient in development. There should be, and usually is, +regard for acquired rights, save in the case of Africans, Indians, or +other weak peoples, when cupidity and power hold sweet converse. Nor +should we slightly estimate the feeling of loyalty to the land of birth +and the hearths of our fathers, the impulse that nerves the arm to +strike, and the soul to dare; that brings to our country's altar all +that we have of life to repel the invader of our homes or the usurper of +our liberties. That has given to the world a Washington, a Toussant, a +Bozzaris—a loyalty that will ever stand with cloven helmet and crimson +battle-ax in the van of civilization and progress. But, like other +ennobling sentiments, it can be perverted, allowing it to permeate every +view of government,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> finding its ultimatum in the conclusion that, if +government is despotic or inefficient, it is to be endured and not +removed. Such patriots are impressed with the conviction that the people +were made for governments, and not governments for the people. A +celebrated poet has said—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Our country's claim is fealty,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">I grant you so; but then<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Before man made us citizens<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Great Nature made us men."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Men with essential wonts and laudable aspirations, the attainment of +which can be accelerated by the fostering love and enlightened zeal of a +progressive government.</p> + +<p>In 1859 at Esquimault, the naval station for British Columbia, I had a +pleasant meeting with Lady Franklin, widow of Sir John Franklin, the +Arctic explorer, who sailed in 1845 and was supposed to have perished in +1847. With a woman's devotion, after many years of absence, she was +still in quest, hoping, from ship officer or seaman of her Majesty's +service, some ray of light would yet penetrate the gloom which +surrounded his "taking off" in that terra incognito of the North pole, +whose attraction for the adventurer in search of scientific and +geographical data in the mental world is akin to its magnetic attraction +in the physical. To her no tidings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> came, but still lingered "hope, the +balm and life-blood of the soul."</p> + +<p>In 1868 the union of British Columbia with the Dominion of Canada was +the political issue, absorbing all others. But the allurements of its +grandeur and the magnitude of promised results were insufficient to +allay opposition, ever encountered on proposal to change a +constitutional polity by those at the time enjoying official honors or +those who benefit through contracts or trade, and are emphatic in their +protest; these, however, constitute an element that is unwittingly the +safety valve of constitutional government. Wherever the people rule the +public welfare is ever endangered whenever radical changes are to be +introduced, unaccompanied with a vigorous opposition. A healthy +opposition is the winnowing fan that separates the politician's chaff +from the patriot's wheat, presenting the most desirable of the +substantial element needed. At the convention in 1868 at Fort Yale, +called by A. Decosmos, editor of The British Colonist, and others, for +the purpose of getting an expression of the people of British Columbia +regarding union with the Dominion of Canada (and of which the writer was +a delegate), the reduction of liabilities, the lessening of taxation, +increase of revenue, restriction of expenditure, and the enlargement of +the people's liberties were the goal, all of which have been attained +since entrance to the Dominion, which has become a bright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> jewel in his +Majesty's Crown, reflecting a civilization, liberal and progressive, of +a loyal, happy people.</p> + +<p>The "British American Act," which created the Dominion of Canada, +differs from the Constitution of the United States in important +particulars. It grants to the Dominional, as well as the provincial +Legislatures the "want of confidence principle," by which an +objectionable ministry can be immediately removed; at the same time +centralizing the national authority as a guard against the heresy of +"State rights" superiority. Among the terms stipulated, the Dominion was +to assume the colonial debt of British Columbia, amounting to over two +million dollars; the building of a road from the Atlantic to the Pacific +within a stipulated time. The alliance, however, contained more +advantage than the ephemeral assistance of making a road or the +assumption of a debt, for with confederation came the abolition of the +"one-man system of government" and in its place a responsible one, with +freedom of action for enterprise, legislation to encourage development, +and assist budding industries; the permanent establishment of schools, +and the disbursement of revenue in accordance with popular will.</p> + +<p>It is ever and ever true that "right is of no sex, and truth of no +color." The liberal ideas, ever struggling for utterance and ascendancy +under every form of government,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> are not the exclusive property of any +community or nation, but the heritage of mankind, and their victories +are ever inspiring. For, as the traveler sometimes ascends the hill to +determine his bearings, refresh his vision, and invigorate himself for +greater endeavors, so we, by sometimes looking beyond the sphere of our +own local activities, obtain higher views of the breadth and magnitude +of the principles we cherish, and perceive that freedom's battle is +identical wherever waged, whether her sons fight to abolish the relics +of feudalism or to possess the ballot, the reflex influence of their +example is mutually beneficial.</p> + +<p>But of the Dominion of Canada, who shall write its "rise, decline, and +fall?" Springing into existence in a day, with a population of 4,000,000 +people—a number larger than that possessed by the United States when +they commenced their great career—its promise is pregnant with benign +probabilities. May it be the fruition of hope that the banner of the +Dominion and the flag of our Republic, locked and interlocked, may go +forward in generous rivalry to bless mankind.</p> + +<p>The most rapid instrumentalities in the development of a new country are +the finding and prospecting for mineral deposits. The discovery of large +deposits of gold in the quartz and alluvial area of British Columbia in +1858 was the incipiency of the growth and prosperity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> it now enjoys. But +although the search for the precious is alluring, the mining of the +grosser metals and minerals, such as iron, lead, coal, and others, are +much more reliable for substantial results.</p> + +<p>The only mine of importance in British Columbia previous to 1867 was at +Naniamo, where there was a large output of bituminous coal. In that year +anthracite was discovered by Indians building fire on a broken vein that +ran from Mt. Seymour, on Queen Charlotte Island, in the North Pacific. +It was a high grade of coal, and on account of its density and burning +without flame, was the most valuable for smelting and domestic purposes. +A company had been formed at Victoria which had spent $60,000 +prospecting for an enduring and paying vein, and thereafter prepared for +development by advertising for tenders to build railroad and wharfs for +shipping. Being a large shareholder in the company, I resigned as a +director and bid. It was not the lowest, but I was awarded the contract. +The Hudson Bay Co. steamship Otter, having been chartered January, 1869, +with fifty men, comprising surveyor, carpenters, blacksmiths, and +laborers, with timber, rails, provisions, and other necessaries for the +work I embarked at Victoria. Queen Charlotte Island was at that time +almost a "terra incognito," sparsely inhabited solely by scattered +tribes of Indians on the coast lines, which were only occasionally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +visited by her Majesty's ships for discovery and capture of small craft +engaged in the whisky trade.</p> + +<p>Passing through the Straits of Georgia, stopping at Fort Simpson, and +then to Queen Charlotte Island, entering the mouth of Skidegate River, a +few miles up, we reached the company's quarters, consisting of several +wooden buildings for residence, stores, shops, etc. At the mouth and +along the river were several Indian settlements, comprising huts, the +sides of which were of rough riven planks, with roof of leaves of a +tough, fibrous nature. At the crest was an opening for the escape of +smoke from fires built on the ground in the center of the enclosure. As +the ship passed slowly up the river we were hailed by the shouting of +the Indians, who ran to the river side, got into their canoes and +followed in great numbers until we anchored. They then swarmed around +and over the ship, saluting the ship's company as "King George's men," +for such the English are known and called by them. They were peaceful +and docile, lending ready hands to our landing and afterward to the +cargo. I was surprised, while standing on the ship, to hear my name +called by an Indian in a canoe at the side, coupled with encomiums of +the native variety, quite flattering. It proved to be one who had been a +domestic in my family at Victoria. He gave me kind welcome, not to be +ignored, remembering that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> I was in "the enemy's country," so to speak. +Besides, such a reception was so much the more desirable, as I was +dependent upon native labor for excavating and transportation of heavy +material along the line of the road. While their work was not despatched +with celerity of trained labor, still, as is general with labor, they +earned all they got. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." I +found many apt, some stupid; honesty and dishonesty in usual quantities, +with craft peculiar to savage life.</p> + +<p>Their mode of stealing by stages was peculiar. The thing coveted was +first hid nearby; if no inquiry was made for a period deemed +sufficiently long the change of ownership became complete and its +removal to their own hut followed, to be disposed of when opportunity +offered. If you had a particle of evidence and made a positive +accusation, with the threat of "King George's man-of-war," it was likely +to be forthcoming by being placed secretly nearby its proper place. But +through it we see the oneness of human frailty, whether in the watered +stock of the corporation or that of its humble servitor the milkman, +there is kinship. To get something for nothing is the "ignis fatuus" +ever in the lead. My experience during a year's stay on the island, and +constant intercourse with the natives, impressed me more and more with +the conviction that we are all mainly the creatures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> of environments; +yet through all the strata and fiber of human nature there is a chord +that beats responsive to kindness—a "language that the dumb can speak, +and that the deaf can understand."</p> + +<p>The English mode of dealing with semi-civilized dependents is vastly +different from ours. While vigorously administering the law for proper +government, protection of life, and suppression of debauchery by +unscrupulous traders, they inspired respect for the laws and the love of +their patrons. Uprisings and massacres among Indians in her Majesty's +dominions are seldom, if ever, to be chronicled. Many of our Indian wars +will remain a blot on the page of impartial history, superinduced, as +they were, by wanton murder or the covet of lands held by them by sacred +treaties, which should have been as sacredly inviolate. Followed by +decimation of tribes by toleration of the whisky trade and the +conveyance of loathsome disease. The climate of the island was much more +pleasant than expected. The warm ocean currents on the Pacific temper +the atmosphere, rendering it more genial than the same degree of +latitude on the Atlantic. A few inches of snow, a thin coat of ice on +the river, were the usual attendants of winter. But more frequently our +camp was overhung by heavy clouds, broken by Mt. Seymour, precipitating +much rain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 455px;"> +<img src="images/gs12.jpg" width="455" height="600" alt="HON. HENRY P. CHEATHAM," title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. HENRY P. CHEATHAM,</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Late Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. Born in +North Carolina Forty Odd Years Ago—Educated in Public Schools +and "Shaw University"—Register of Deeds for his County—Elected +to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congress—Able and +Progressive.</p></div> + +<p>After being domiciled we proceeded with the resident superintendent to +view the company's property, comprising several thousand acres. Rising +in altitude, and on different levels, as we approached Mt. Seymour, +croppings of coal were quite frequent, the broken and scattered veins +evidencing volcanic disturbance. The vein most promising was several +hundred feet above the level of the sea, and our intended wharf survey +was made, which showed heavy cuttings and blasting to obtain grade for +the road. The work was pushed with all the vigor the isolated locality +and climatic conditions allowed. Rain almost incessant was a great +impediment, as well as were the occasional strikes of the Indian labor, +which was never for more wages, but for more time. The coal from the +croppings which had been at first obtained for testing, had been carried +by them in bags, giving them in the "coin of the realm" so many pieces +of tobacco for each bag delivered on the ship. There was plenty of time +lying around on those trips, and they took it. On the advent of the new +era they complained that "King George men" took all the time and gave +them none, so they frequently quit to go in quest. The nativity of my +skilled labor was a piece of national patchwork—a composite of the +canny Scotch, the persistent and witty Irish, the conservative but +indomitable English, the effervescent French, the phlegmatic German, and +the irascible Italian. I found this variety beneficial, for the usual +national and race bias<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> was sufficiently in evidence to preclude a +combination to retard the work. I had three Americans, that were neither +white nor colored; they were born black; one of them—Tambry, the +cook—will ever have my grateful remembrance for his fatherly kindness +and attention during an illness.</p> + +<p>The conditions there were such that threw many of my men off their feet. +Women and liquor had much the "right of way." I was more than ever +impressed with the belief that there was nothing so conclusive to a +worthy manhood as self-restraint, both morally and physically, and the +more vicious and unrestraining the environment the greater the +achievement. Miners had been at work placing many tons of coal at the +mouth of the mine during the making of the road, the grade of which was +of two elevations, one from the mine a third of the distance, +terminating at a chute, from which the coal fell to cars on the lower +level, and from thence to the wharf. After the completion of the road +and its acceptance by the superintendent and the storage of a cargo of +coal on the wharf, the steamer Otter arrived, was loaded, and despatched +to San Francisco, being the first cargo of anthracite coal ever +unearthed on the Pacific seaboard. The superintendent, having notified +the directors at Victoria of his intention to return, they had appointed +me to assume the office. I was so engaged, preparing for the next +shipment on the steamer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>My sojourn on the island was not without its vicissitudes and dangers, +and one of the latter I shall ever remember—one mingled, as it was, +with antics of Neptune, that capricious god of the ocean, and +resignation to what seemed to promise my end with all sublime things. +The stock of oil brought for lubricating cars and machinery having been +exhausted, I started a beautiful morning in a canoe with three Indians +for their settlement at the mouth of Skidegate River for a temporary +supply. After a few hours' paddling, gliding down the river serenely, +the wind suddenly arose, increasing in force as we approached the mouth +in the gulf. The high walls of the river sides afforded no opportunity +to land. The storm continued to increase in violence, bringing billows +of rough sea from the ocean, our canoe dancing like a feather, one +moment on a high crest by its skyward leap, and in the next to an abyss +deep, with walls of sea on either side, shutting out a view of the +horizon, while I, breathless with anxious hope, waited for the +succeeding wave to again lift the frail bark. The better to preserve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +the equilibrium of the canoe—a conveyance treacherous at the +best—wrapped in a blanket in the bottom of the canoe I laid, looking +into the faces of the Indians, contorted by fright, and listened to +their peculiar and mournful death wail, "while the gale whistled aloft +his tempest tune."</p> + +<p>I afterward learned that they had a superstition based upon the loss of +many of their tribe under like conditions, that escape was impossible. +The alarm and distrust in men, aquatic from birth, in their own waters +was to me appalling. I seemed to have "looked death in the face"—and +what a rush of recollections that had been long forgotten, of actions +good and bad, the latter seeming the most, hurried, serried, but +distinct through my excited brain; then a thought, bringing a calm +content, that "To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late;" +and with a fervent resignation of myself to God and to what I believed +to be inevitable; then a lull in the wind, and, after many attempts, we +were able to cross the mouth of the river to the other side—the place +of destination.</p> + +<p>In 1869 I left Queen Charlotte Island and returned to Victoria; settled +my business preparatory to joining my family, then at Oberlin, Ohio. It +was not without a measure of regret that I anticipated my departure. +There I had lived more than a decade; where the geniality of the climate +was excelled only by the graciousness of the people; there unreservedly +the fraternal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> grasp of brotherhood; there I had received social and +political recognition; there my domestic ties had been intensified by +the birth of my children, a warp and woof of consciousness that time +cannot obliterate. Then regret modified, as love of home and country +asserted itself.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Breathes there a man with soul so dead<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Who never to himself hath said:<br /></span> +<span class="i3">'This is my native land'—<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Whose heart has not within him burned<br /></span> +<span class="i1">As homeward footsteps he has turned<br /></span> +<span class="i3">From wandering on a foreign strand?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>En route my feelings were peculiar. A decade had passed, fraught with +momentous results in the history of the nation. I had left California +disfranchised and my oath denied in a "court of justice" (?); left my +country to all appearances enveloped in a moral gloom so dense as to +shut out the light of promise for a better civil and political status. +The star of hope glimmered but feebly above the horizon of contumely and +oppression, prophetic of the destruction of slavery and the +enfranchisement of the freedman. I was returning, and on touch of my +country's soil to have a new baptism through the all-pervading genius of +universal liberty. I had left politically ignoble; I was returning +panoplied with the nobility of an American citizen. Hitherto regarded as +a pariah, I had neither rejoiced at its achievement nor sorrowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> for +its adversity; now every patriotic pulse beat quicker and heart throb +warmer, on realization that my country gave constitutional guarantee for +the common enjoyment of political and civil liberty, equality before the +law—inspiring a dignity of manhood, of self-reliance and opportunity +for elevation hitherto unknown.</p> + +<p>Then doubt, alternating, would present the immense problems awaiting +popular solution. Born in the seething cauldron of civil war, they had +been met in the arena of fervid Congressional debate and political +conflict. The amendments to the Constitution had been passed, but was +their inscription a record of the crystallization of public sentiment? +Subsequent events have fully shown that only to the magnanimity and +justice of the American people and the fruition of time can they be +commended. Not to believe that these problems will be rightfully solved +is to doubt not only the efficacy of the basic principles of our +Government, but the divinity of truth and justice. To these rounds of +hope's ladder, while eager in obtaining wisdom, the Negro should cling +with tenacity, with faith "a higher faculty than reason" unconquerable.</p> + +<p>Having resolved to locate in some part of the South for the purpose of +practicing law, I had while in Victoria read the English Common Law, the +basis of our country's jurisprudence, under Mr. Ring, an English +barrister. Soon after my arrival<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> in Oberlin, Ohio, where my family, +four years before, had preceded me, I entered the law department of an +Oberlin business college, and after graduation proceeded South, the +first time since emancipation. In an early chapter I described my first +contact with and impressions of slavery, when a lad; then the +hopelessness of abject servitude and consciousness of unrequited toil +had its impress on the brow of the laborer. Now cheerfulness, a spirit +of industry, enterprise, and fraternal feeling replaced the stagnant +humdrum of slavery. Nor was progress observable only among the freedmen. +Many evidences of kindness and sympathy were shown and expressed by +former owners for the moral and mental advancement of their former +bondsmen, which, to a great degree, unfortunately, was counterbalanced +by violence and persecution.</p> + +<p>My brother, Jonathan C. Gibbs, was then Secretary of State of Florida, +with Governor Hart as executive. He had had the benefit of a collegiate +education, having graduated at Dartmouth, New Haven, and had for some +years filled the pulpit as a Presbyterian minister. The stress of +reconstruction and obvious necessity for ability in secular matters +induced him to enter official life. Naturally indomitable, he more than +fulfilled the expectations of his friends and supporters by rare ability +as a thinker and speaker, with unflinching fidelity to his party +principles. I found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> him at Tallahassee, the capital, in a +well-appointed residence, but his sleeping place in the attic +contracted, and, as I perceived, considerable of an arsenal. He said +that for better vantage it had been his resting place for several +months, as his life had been threatened by the "Ku Klux," that band of +midnight assassins whose deeds of blood and carnage darken so many pages +of our national history, and was the constant terror of white and black +adherents to the national Government's policy of enfranchisement. He was +hopeful of better conditions in Florida, and introduced me to Governor +Hart. Both urged me to locate in the State, promising me their support. +I highly appreciated the affection of the one and the proffered +friendship of the other. But the feeling paramount was that my brother +had "won his spurs" by assiduity and fidelity through the scathing and +fiery ordeal of those troublesome times; that it would ill become me to +profit or serenely rest beneath the laurels he had won. It was the last +interview or sight of my brother. Subsequently after a three hours' +speech, he went to his office and suddenly died of apoplexy.</p> + +<p>I continued my tour of observation, and, having been appointed a +delegate from Ohio to a national convention to be held in Charleston, +South Carolina, I attended. It was the first assembly of the kind at +which I had been present since emancipation. I had hitherto met many +conventions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> of colored men having for their object the amelioration of +oppressive conditions. This gathering was unlike any similar meeting. +The deliberations of the convention presented a combination of a strong +intellectual grasp of present needs and their solution, with much +uninformed groping and strife for prominence, features of procedure I +have observed not confined to Negro assemblies.</p> + +<p>The majority were unlettered, but earnest in their mental toiling for +protection to life and equality before the law. Hitherto the purpose had +been to make earnest appeals to the law-making power for such +legislation as would abolish slavery and award equal justice—the first +supported by the national conscience, but mainly as a military +necessity, was a "fait accompli;" the other had been legislatively +awarded, but for its realization much more was necessary than its simple +identification on the statute books of a nation, when public sentiment +is law. More than a third of a century has now passed, enabling a view +more dispassionate and accurate of the conditions surrounding the +freedmen directly after emancipation and the instrumentalities designed +for fitting him for citizenship.</p> + +<p>It is not surprising, neither is he blameworthy, if in the incipiency of +joy for freedom bestowed he could not properly estimate the factors +necessary to form an homogenous citizenship. The ways for two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> centuries +had been divergent paths. The dominant claiming and exercising, as an +heirloom, every civil and political right; the subordinate, with +knowledge the most meager of their application or limits, by compulsion +was made to concede the claim. Neither is it singular that participation +in the exercise of these rights by the freedman should have created a +determined opposition in a majority of the former, who claimed their +fitness to rule as the embodiment of the wealth and intelligence (which +are generally the ruling factors world-wide), and would have at an early +date derived a just "power from the consent of the governed," did not +history record the unnecessary and inhuman means resorted to to extort +it, the obliquity of which can be erased only by according him the +rights of an American citizen. Mutual hostility, opposition on the one +hand to the assumption and exercise of these rights, and consequent +distrust by the freedman, often fostered by unscrupulous leaders, have +been alike detrimental to both classes, but especially so to the Negro, +for his constant need in the Southland is the cordial friendship and +helping hand of "his brother in white." He deserves it for his century +of unrequited labor in peace and in war for fidelity to the tender ties +committed to his care. Anti-revolutionist in his nature, he will +continue to merit it and possibly save the industrial life in the South +in the coming conflict of capital and labor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>That, as a class, they are in antagonism to the prevailing political +sentiment is the legitimate result of the manner of their emancipation +and a commendable gratitude and kinship for the party through which they +obtained their freedom. But Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of Rome," +has said that "gratitude is expensive," and so the Negro has found it, +and is beginning to echo the sentiment and would gladly hail conditions +and opportunity where he could, after thirty-five years of blood and +fidelity, be less partisan and more fraternal politically, conscious his +united affiliation with his early alliance, and consequent ostracism of +the opposition has given him a "hard road to travel." Commendable as has +been his devotion, he finds commendation a limited currency and not +negotiable for the protection and benefits that should accompany the +paladium of citizenship. While his treatment by the Democratic party has +made a continuous political relation compulsory, it is unfortunate; for +the political affinity of no other class of American citizens is judged +by the accident of birth. It is detrimental to the voter whose +proclivity is thereby determined. Wherever the Negro vote, in the +estimation of any party, is an uncertain quantity, its value as a factor +will have increased, consolidated, and in numbers controlling, it has +been considered a menace and vigorously eliminated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>This view has to an extent an auxiliary in certain Republican circles, +where it is avowed that the party could get in the South a large +accession of hitherto Democratic voters, giving it a commanding +influence, but for its colored contingent, which is averred to be +repellant. There may be difference of opinion as to the merit of such +conclusions and the fitness of their rehearsal "to the marines;" but +none as to the measure of welcome of those that hold them. However, +given that they are correct. Self-respect and a desire to help the old +party can go hand in hand, and when possible in a manly way, room should +be made for such anticipated accession.</p> + +<p>There is another phase of present conditions that deserves, and I have +no doubt has claimed, attention. It is the emphatic trend of the +national leaders of the party to conciliate the hitherto discordant +elements in the South in the interest of national harmony, an object +lesson of which was presented by the late President on his Southern +tour. But few years have elapsed since no man seeking a renomination on +the Republican ticket would have put on and worn a Confederate badge. +This President McKinley did, receiving the indiscriminate applause and +the concurrence of his own party. Such an act, which is not only +allowable, but commendable, would formerly have been political suicide. +This being a movement in the house of his political alliance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> it is up +to the Negro to consider which is his best interest, should the olive +branch of political friendship be extended by those from whom he +receives his chief support. Under like conditions, his white brother +would have no hesitancy.</p> + +<p>There is yet another phase which indicates the Negro in jeopardy on +industrial lines. A few years hence the South will have ceased to be +chiefly agricultural. Mills for cotton, iron, and other factories will +have dotted hilltop and valley, and with them will come the Northern +operative with his exclusive "unions" and trade prejudice, shutting the +doors of mills and foundries against him. To meet this scramble for +favor from the wealth and intelligence of the Southland—the ruling +factors—he should avail himself of every appliance for fostering +harmony and co-operation along all the lines of contact. In slavery and +in his subsequent journey in freedom he has suffered much. But what +nation or people have escaped that ordeal who have made mark in the +world's history? There is now prospective unfriendly legislation in +several Southern States; also the lowest of the whites, as they deem +occasion may require, go, often undisturbed, on shooting and lynching +expeditions.</p> + +<p>The problem that continues to force itself for solution is, How the +innocent are to receive immunity from these outrages or a fair trial, +when accused of crime.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> These being under the purview of State +sovereignty, the Federal arm is not only powerless, but there exists no +Northern sentiment favoring drastic means for their correction. Hence it +is evident that relief can only come from those who fashion the +sentiment that crystallizes into law. But with the bitter is mingled the +sweet; much of his advancement along educational and material lines is +due to the liberality of the white people of the South, who, it has been +computed, have contributed one hundred millions of dollars since +emancipation by taxes and donations for his education, and there are +many evidences that the best thought of the South is in line with Negro +employment and his educational advancement in the belief that the more +general the intelligence the greater the State's progress, morally and +materially. This conviction was emphatically expressed by an +overwhelming negative vote in the Arkansas Legislature recently, where a +measure was introduced to abandon him to his own taxable resources for +education. The ratio of his moral and material product will be the +measure of his gratitude for this great boon. For, after all, many of +"our great dangers are not from without."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"> +<img src="images/gs13.jpg" width="479" height="600" alt="EDWARD E. COOPER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">EDWARD E. COOPER.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Editor and Publisher of "Colored American," Washington, D. C.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p><p class="center">Founder of "Colored World" and "Indianapolis Freeman" +Conspicuous as a Leader and Enterprising as a Journalist.</p></div> + +<p>General ——, a leading Democrat of this State, and an unmistakable +friend of the negro, referring to the above evidence of good feeling, +said he did not see why I, and other reputed leaders, in view of such +evidences of friendship, did not induce our people to be fraternal +politically. I replied that the effort had once been made, but that the +Democratic party, intrenched as it was in large majorities in the South, +"by ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," its leaders say they +"do not need, neither do they solicit, the colored vote; but if they +choose, they may so vote." He said that certainly had a ringing sound of +independence and was uninviting as an announcement—an independence, +however, that will not forever outlive the vagaries of sound, for it is +not unlikely that he will not only vote the ticket, but be earnestly +solicited to do so. "For it will happen, during the whirligig of time +and action, in my party as well as others, that there will be a change +of policies, new issues, local dissatisfaction, friction, contemplated +antagonism and the political arithmetic sounded. But I cannot but +believe that the clannishness of the Negro has been the boomerang that +has knocked him out of much sympathy, being impractical as a political +factor and out of harmony with the material policies of the Southern +people."</p> + +<p>I replied I had thought the highest ideal of patriotism was adherence to +measures materially as well as politically that were for the benefit of +the whole people.</p> + +<p>He said: "I know your party preach that they have a monopoly of wisdom; +but the fact is the wisest statesmen of the world are divided in opinion +as to the benefits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> claimed for the leading policies of your party. But +how do they benefit you, as a dependent class? Your immediate need is +employment and good educational facilities. You should be less +sentimental and more practical. You may honestly believe in a protective +tariff, having for its object the protection of the American +working-man, but does it help you when you know that the doors of mills, +foundries, and manufactories are shut against you? As to the currency, +you are at a disadvantage when you attempt to antagonize the financial +views of your employers.</p> + +<p>"It reminds me of an incident," he continued, "in my native town in +Virginia, not long after reconstruction. There had been a drought and +short crop, succeeded by a pretty hard winter. My father, whose +politics, you may well judge, I being 'a chip of the old block,' without +soliciting money or favor, threw open his cellar, wherein was stowed +many bushels of sweet potatoes; invited all the destitute to come. It is +needless to say they came. In the spring Tobey, the Negro minister of +the Baptist Church—a man illiterate, but with much native sense—after +morning service, said: 'Brethren, there's gwine to be a 'lection here +next week, and I wants you all to vote in de light dat God has gin you +to see de light, but I spects to vote wid de taters.' Now, this may seem +ludicrous, but Tobey, in that act, was a fit representative of the white +man in politics—for every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> class of American citizens except the Negro +divide their vote and put it where to them personally it will do the +most good."</p> + +<p>"Much," I replied, "that you have said is undoubtedly true. But can you +wonder at the Negro's cohesion? Is it not a fact that his is the only +class of citizens that your party deny equal participation in the +franchise, and unjustly discriminate against in the application of the +laws? Where better could a change of conduct which you would admire and +he so happily embrace, be inaugurated than within your own political +household; where could nobility of character be more grandly displayed +than by the abolition of these vicious hindrances to the uplifting of +the weak and lowly?"</p> + +<p>"Be that as it may," he replied, "your race is not in a condition to +make friends by opposing the prevailing local policies of their +environments."</p> + +<p>I have narrated this interview for the reason that it is a fitting type +of the views of friends of the Negro of the South who somehow fail to +see the difficulty in his fraternizing with them in the midst of so much +political persecution and bodily outrage. I referred in the above +interview to an effort of colored leaders to assimilate with Southern +politics.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>In 1876 (twenty-five years ago) I was President of a National Convention +held at Nashville, Tenn, and of which H. V. Redfield, an able +correspondent of the "Cincinnati Commercial," made the following unduly +flattering mention: "Mifflin W. Gibbs, of Arkansas, was selected as +President. It may be interesting to know that Gibbs is strongly in favor +of Bristoe, now an aspirant for the Presidency. He will likely be a +delegate from Arkansas to the National Republican Convention at +Cincinnati. He is a lawyer, one of the foremost of his race in Arkansas. +He is rather slender and a genteel-looking man, with something in his +features that denotes superiority" ("Though poor in thanks," Redfield, +yet I thank thee.) "His speech upon taking the chair, was another event. +It was the third good speech of the day and calculated to leave the +believers of internal inferiority in something of a muddle.</p> + +<p>"He made a manly plea for equal rights for his race. All they wanted was +an equal chance in the battle of life. They did not desire to hinder any +man for exercising his political rights as he saw fit, and all they +claimed was liberty of thought and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> action for themselves. He was sorry +there was occasion for a convention of black men to consider black men's +status. The fact alone was evidence that the race had not been accorded +right and justice. Of the treatment of his race in Arkansas he had +little to complain of, but spoke bitterly of the murders at Vicksburg, +Miss. He gave the Republican party, as administered at Washington, +several blows under the chin. He complained of bad treatment of colored +men by that party, notwithstanding all its professions. He made the bold +declaration that all the whites of the South need do to get their votes +was to promise equal and exact justice and stand to it. All they wanted +was their rights as American citizens and would go into the party that +would secure them. He said the question primarily demanding the +attention of the convention were educational and political, and he hoped +the proceedings would be so orderly as to convince the whites present +that we were capable of self-control. His speech had a highly +independent flavor and the particular independent passages were +applauded by whites and blacks alike."</p> + +<p>While the call for the convention was not distinctly political, that +feature of the proceedings was the most pronounced. For at that early +day, through an experience the most bitter, the lesson had been learned +that politics was not the panacea, but that our affiliation with the +Republican<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> party was the main offence. Hence a disposition to +fraternize with Southern politicians for race protection and opportunity +had many adherents, and voiced by Governor Pinchback and other prominent +leaders in the South, who, while preferring to maintain their fealty to +the Republican party, were willing to sacrifice that allegiance if they +could secure protection and improve conditions for the race. Had the +leaders of Southern opinion met these overtures, even part of the way, +much of the friction and turbulence of subsequent years would have been +avoided. But that there will be a breaking up of the political +solidarity of the South, not on sentimental but on material lines, at no +distant day all signs promise, and be its status what it may, the Negro +will benefit by commingling with the respective parties in political +fellowship. Laying down the "old grudge" at the door of opportunity and +entering, should the premises be habitable, he could "report progress +and ask leave to sit again."</p> + +<p>It has been alleged to the discredit of the Negro that he too soon +forgets an injury. Nevertheless as a virtue it should redound to his +credit. He is swift to forgive and, if necessary, apologize for the +shortcomings of his adversary. But human nature seldom appreciates +forgiveness, preceded as it is by censure, the subject of which usually +repels, and another melancholy phase is often apparent, for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> pricks +of conscience for those we have wronged, we seek solace by hating. There +are in both parties a fraction of saints, who, notwithstanding his +immense contribution by unrequited labor to the wealth of the nation +whilst a slave; his fidelity and bravery in every war of the Republic, +have for him neither care nor regard; denounce him as an incapable and a +bad legacy. He should, nevertheless, be patient, diligent, and hopeful, +with appreciation for his friends and for his enemies a consciousness +expressed in the Irishman's toast to the Englishman—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Here's to you, as good as you are;<br /></span> +<span class="i3">And here's to me, as bad as I am;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">But as good as you are,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">And as bad as I am,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">I'm as good as you are,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">As bad as I am."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Very ill considered is the opinion held and advocated by some, that he +should defer or eschew politics—who say: "Let the Negro be deprived of +this right of citizenship until he learns how to exercise it with wisdom +and discretion." As well say to the boy, Do not go into the water until +you learn to swim! The highest type of civilization is the evolution of +mistakes. While education, business, and skilled labor should have the +right of way and be primarily cherished, his right to vote and +persistent desire to exercise it should never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> be abandoned, for he will +yet enjoy its fullest fruition all over this, our God-blessed land.</p> + +<p>Among the delegates I met at the South Carolina convention in 1871 were +the Hon. William H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, and J. H. Johnson, of +Arkansas, prominent planters and leaders in that State. I was much +impressed with the eloquence of Grey, and the practical ideas advanced +by Robinson, the one charmed, the other convinced. Learning that I +sought a desirable place to locate in the South, they were enthusiastic +in describing the advantages held out by the State of Arkansas. The +comparative infancy of its development, its golden prospects, and +fraternal amenities. Crossing the Arkansas River in a ferry-boat, in +May, 1871, I arrived in Little Rock a stranger to every inhabitant. It +was on a Sunday morning. The air refreshing, the sun not yet fervent, a +cloudless sky canopied the city; the carol of the canary and mocking +bird from treetop and cage was all that entered a peaceful, restful +quiet that bespoke a well-governed city. The chiming church bells that +soon after summoned worshipers seemed to bid me welcome. The high and +humble, in their best attire, wended their way to the respective places +of worship.</p> + +<p>Little Rock at that date, not unlike most Western cities in their +infancy, and bid for immigration, was extensively laid out, but thinly +populated,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> having less than 12,000 inhabitants. From river front to +Twelfth Street, on the south, and to Chester on the west, it was but +sparsely settled. The streets were unimproved, but the gradual rise from +river front gave a natural drainage. Residences and gardens of the more +prominent, on the outskirts, gave token of culture and refinement. The +nom de plume "City of Roses" seemed fittingly bestowed, for with trellis +or encircling with shady bower, the stately doorway of the wealthy, or +the cabin of the lowly could be seen the rose, the honeysuckle, or other +verdure of perfume and beauty, imparting a grateful fragrance, while +"every prospect pleases." My first impressions have not been lessened by +lapse of time; generous nature has enabled human appliance to make +Little Rock an ideal city.</p> + +<p>As knowledge of the local status of a State, as well as common law, must +precede admission to the bar, I applied and was kindly permitted to +enter the law office of Benjamin & Barnes, at that time the only +building on the square now occupied by the post office and the Allis +Block. In this for preparatory reading I was very fortunate. I not only +found an extensive law library, but the kindness and special interest +shown by Sidney M. Barnes was of incalculable benefit. Mr. Barnes was an +able jurist, one of nature's noblemen, genial, generous, and patriotic. +A wealthy slaveholder in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Kentucky, when the note of civil war was +sounded, called together his slaves, gave them their freedom, and at an +early date had them enrolled in the Federal army, and went forth himself +to fight for the Union. James K. Barnes, his son, now a prominent +citizen of Fort Smith, and the able United States Attorney for the +Western district of Arkansas, and whose fellowship and kindness has +extended through all my political career in Arkansas, is "a worthy son +of a noble sire," having courage of conviction and eloquence in their +enunciation. Among the young men then practicing law was Lloyd G. +Wheeler, a graduate from a law school in Chicago, popular and an able +lawyer, with considerable practice. In 1872 we joined, under the firm +name of Wheeler & Gibbs, opening an office in the Old Bank Building, +corner Center and Markam Streets.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;"> +<img src="images/gs14.jpg" width="469" height="600" alt="HON. JUDSON W. LYONS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JUDSON W. LYONS.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Present Register of the Treasury. Born in Georgia—A Graduate of +Howard University—Appointed by President McKinley to the Above +Position.</p></div> + +<p>It is not without considerable trepidation that an infant limb of the +law shies his castor into the ring, puts up his shingle announcing that +A, B, or C is an "Attorney and Counsellor at Law." His cerebral column +stiffens as, from day to day, he meets members of the bar, who +congratulate him upon his advent, and feels his importance as he waits +from day to day for the visit of his first client, but collapses when he +arrives and with ghostly dread salutes him and prepares to listen with a +disturbed sense of an awful responsibility he is about to undertake. +For, side by side with his client's statements there seem to appear in +stately majesty all the adjuncts of the law: First, the inquisitive +glance of the judge, like a judicial searchlight, scans him as he rises +to defend Mr. Only Borrow, charged with larceny. Will he be able to +think on his feet at the bar as he did in his chair in his office? Will +he succeed or fail in stating his case, with eye and ear of every +veteran of the bar intent on his first utterance? How about the jury, +that unknown quantity of capricious predilections? Will they give him +attention, or will their eyes find a more congenial resting place? +Unbidden, the panorama insists on prominence. He attempts the most +nonchalant air, tells Mr. B. to proceed and state his case. This was not +the first time that he had been requested to perform this incipient step +of the law's demand, and he does it with such astuteness and flippancy, +and how he had been wronged and persecuted by the plaintiff, that tears, +unbidden, are ready to glisten in your eyes. Injured innocence and your +sworn duty to your profession inspire courage and induce you to take his +case. Later on the tyro will have learned that it was highly probable +that Mr. B. would not have called on him but for the fact that he was +not only out of cash, but out of credit with able and experienced +practitioners.</p> + +<p>At the time of my examination for entry to the bar by the committee,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> of +which William G. Whipple was one, I was instructed that the most +important acquisition for a member of the bar was ability to secure his +fee. Having noted all the points of defence for his honesty, the last, +but not the least matter to be considered was the fee, resulting in an +exchange of promises and his departure. When the case was called, for +reasons not divulged, the plaintiff failed to appear. Mr. Borrow was +acquitted; I won my case and am still wooing my fee. The study of the +law is not solely of advantage to those who intend adopting it as a +profession, for its fundamental principles are interwoven with the best +needs of mankind in all his undertakings, making it of value to the +preacher or laymen, the merchant or politician. For the young man +intending the pursuit of the latter it is quite indispensable. The +condition in the South for a quarter of a century giving opportunity for +colored men to engage in the professions has not been neglected. In each +of the States there are physicians and lawyers practicing with more or +less success. With equality of standing as to culture, ability and +devotion, the doctor has had the advantage for a growing and lucrative +practice. This can be accounted for partly on account of the private +administrations of the one and the public career of the other. The +physicians has seldom contact with his professional brother in white and +escapes much of the difficulty that lies in wait for the colored +disciple of Blackstone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>During my practice I found the judges eminently fair in summing up the +evidence produced, noting the points and impartially charging the +jurors, who were also fair when plaintiff and defendant were of the same +race, but who, alas, too often, when the case had been argued by, or the +issue was between the representatives of the two races, bowed to the +prevailing bias in their verdict. Bishop, in his introduction to his +"Criminal Law," has fittingly said: "The responsibilities which devolve +on judicial tribunals are admitted. But a judge sitting in court is +under no higher obligation to cast aside personal motives and his likes +and dislikes of the parties litigant, and to spurn the bribe if +proffered than any other official person acting under a jurisdiction to +enforce laws not judicial. Happy will be the day when public virtue +exists otherwise than in name." It often happens with cases commanding +liberal fees and where the litigant has high regard for the legal +learning and ability of the colored lawyer, yet conscious of this +hindrance to a successful issue of his case, very naturally goes +elsewhere for legal assistance. Hence, as an advocate not having +inducement for continued research and opportunity for application of the +more intricate elements of the law, confined to petty cases with +corresponding fee, he is handicapped in his effort to attain eminence as +a jurist. It has been said that great men create circumstances. But +circumstances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> unavoidably produce great men. Henry Drummond is quoted +as saying: "No matter what its possibilities may be, no matter what +seeds of thought or virtue lie latent in its breast, until the +appropriate environment presents itself, the correspondence is denied, +the development discouraged, the most splendid possibilities of life +remain unrealized, and thought and virtue, genius and art, are dead."</p> + +<p>It should be the solemn and persistent duty of the race to contend for +every right the Magna Charta of the Republic has granted them, but it +might assuage the pang of deprivation and stimulate opportunity did he +fully know the stages of savagery, slavery, and oceans of blood through +which the Anglo-Saxon passed to attain the exalted position he now +occupies. Much of the jurisprudence we now have responding to and +crystallizing the best needs of humanity were garnered in this sanguine +and checkered career. It is said that the law is a jealous mistress, +demanding intense and entire devotion and unceasing wooing to succeed in +winning her favor, or profiting by her decrees. Yet, for student or +layman, the study is instructive and ennobling. It is an epitome of ages +of human conduct, the products, the yearnings, and strivings of the +human heart, as higher conceptions of man's relation to his fellow found +echo or inscription in either the common or written law. Locality, +nationality, race, sex, religion, or social manner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> may differ, but the +accord of desire for civil liberty—the "torch lit up in the soul by the +omnipotent hand of Deity itself"—is ever the same. Constitutional law +"was not attained by sudden flight," but it is the product of reform, +with success and restraint alternating through generations. It is the +ripeness of a thousand years of ever-recurring tillage, blushing its +scarlet rays of blood and conquest ante-dating historic "Runny Meade."</p> + +<p>It is well to occasionally have such reminiscent thought; it makes us +less pessimistic and gives life to strive and spirit and hope. We cannot +unmake human nature, but can certainly improve conditions by +self-denial, earnest thought, and wise action.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>Previous to my resolve to settle in the South I had read and learned +much of politics and politicians; the first as being environed by +abnormal conditions unstable and disquieting—the class that had +established and controlled the economy of the Southern States; had been +deposed in the wage of sanguinary battle on many well contested +fields—deposed by an opponent equally brave, and of unlimited +resources; defeated, but unsubdued in the strength of conviction in the +rightfulness of their cause. A submission of the hand but not of the +heart. New constitutions granting all born beneath the flag equality of +citizenship and laws in unison adopted, and new officers alien to local +feeling were the executors.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary here to remark that if a succession of love feasts had +been anticipated, they had been indefinitely postponed.</p> + +<p>For the officers of the new system were by their whilom predecessors +ordered to go "nor stand upon the order of their going," the bullet at +times conveying the order. Assassinations, lynchings, and reprisals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> by +both parties to the feud were of daily occurrence. The future for life, +liberty, and pursuit of happiness in busy city or sylvan grove, was not +alluring. My subsequent career makes it necessary for me to arise to +explain. Taking at the time a calm survey of the situation, an addition +to the column of martyrs seemed to me unnecessary. I believed in the +principles of the Republican party and as a private I was willing to +vote, work, and be slightly crippled; but had not reached the bleeding +and dying point. With such conclusions I resolved to come, and confine +myself to the pursuit of my profession and give politics a "terrible +letting alone." Oh, if abandoned resolutions were a marketable +commodity, what emporium sufficiently capacious and who competent to +classify!</p> + +<p>The organization of the Republican party of Arkansas was on the eve of +disruption. Its headquarters were in the building and over the law +office of Benjamin & Barnes, with whom I was reading. Violent disputes +as to party policy, leadership, and the distribution of the plums of +office were of frequent occurrence. I very distinctly remember the day +when the climax was reached and "the parting of the ways" determined. +The adherents of Senator Clayton and the State administration on the one +part, and Joseph Brooks and his followers on the other, coming down the +stairs—some with compressed lip and flashing eye, others as petulant as +the children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> who say: "I don't want to play in your yard; I don't like +you any more." It was the beginning of the overt act that extinguished +Republican rule in Arkansas. The factions led by Powell Clayton and +Joseph Brooks, respectively, were known as the "Minstrels" and "Brindle +Tails."</p> + +<p>Incongruity, being the prevailing force, possibly accounted for the +contrary character of the names, for there was little euphony in the +minstrelsy of the one or a monopoly of brindle appearance in the other, +for each faction's contingent, were about equally spotted with the sons +of Ham. My friends, Benjamin & Barnes, were prominent as Brindles, and +I, being to an extent a novice in the politics of the State, in a +position to hear much of the wickedness of the Minstrels and but little +of the "piper's lay" in his own behalf, fidelity to my friends, appalled +at the alleged infamy of the other fellows, susceptible to encomiums +which flattered ambition, I became a Brindle, and an active politician +minus a lawyer.</p> + +<p>In 1873 I was appointed County Attorney for Pulaski, and after a few +months' service resigned to assume the office of Municipal Judge of the +City of Little Rock, to which I had been elected. I highly appreciated +this, as exceedingly complimentary from a population of 16,000, a large +majority of which were not of my race. I entered upon and performed the +duties of the office until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> some time after the culmination of the +Brooks and Baxter war in the State. It having been announced that I was +the first of my race elected to such an office in the United States, it +was not without trepidation that I assumed the duties that the +confidence of my fellow citizens had imposed upon me for the novelty of +such an administration attracted attention.</p> + +<p>A judge who has to deal with and inflict penalties for violation of law +consequent upon the frailties and vices of mankind encounters much to +soften or harden his humanity, which may have remained normal but for +such contact. His sworn duty to administer the law as he finds it often +conflicts with a sense of justice implanted in the human soul, of which +the law, imperfect man has devised is often the imperfect vehicle for +his guidance; but nevertheless to which his allegiance must be +paramount, even when attempting to temper justice with mercy.</p> + +<p>Nowhere is so plainly presented as many of the various lights and +shadows of human character. Love and faithlessness, sincerity and +deceit, nobility and dishonor, kindness and ingratitude, morality and +vice—all the virtues and their antitheses take their place at the bar +of the court of justice and await the verdict, while truth and deception +strive for conquest; an honest son of toil arrested in a den of infamy +whither he has been decoyed and his week's earnings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> filched; his wife +in tears before you; the clash of prejudice when the parties litigant +were of opposite races; the favorable expectation of the rich, +prominent, and influential when confronted by the poor and lowly; humble +and conscientious innocence appalled when rigid law would mulct them in +fine and imprisonment; the high and the haughty incensed at discharge of +the obscure and indigent. In cases slight, where the justice of leniency +was apparent and yet the mandates of the law had to be enforced, I would +pronounce the penalty and suspend the fine during good behavior. But if +the culprit returned, mercy was absent.</p> + +<p>An incident in relation to the suspension of the fine will show that I +did to others as I would have others do to me: A member of the court was +at times irritable and vexatious. During a session there was a +misunderstanding, which, upon adjournment, growing in intensity, +resulted in my committing an assault. The chasm, however, was soon +bridged with mutual pledges. Nevertheless I requested the chief of +police to have charge entered upon docket, to come up at next session of +court, whereupon the judge, after expressing regret that the law had +been violated, fined Citizen Gibbs and suspended the fine during good +behavior, and, as the citizen was not again arraigned, it may be +presumed that his conduct was reasonably good, however doubtful may be +the presumption.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was fortunate in having the confidence of the community, always an +important adjunct to the bench, for it is not always that the executor +of the law has to deal with the humble of no repute. An old resident, +wealthy and prominent, was arrested and was to appear before me for +trial. During the interim it was several times suggested to me in a +friendly way that I had better give the case a letting alone by +dismissal, as it would probably be personally dangerous to enforce the +law, as he was known to be impulsive and at times violent. I heard the +case, which had aggravated features, together with resisting and +assaulting an officer, and imposed the highest penalty provided by law. +Those who had thought that such action would give offence little knew +the man. It being the last case on the docket for the day, descending +from the bench and passing, I saluted him, which he pleasantly returned, +without a murmur as to the justice of the fine. Subsequently, on several +occasions, he placed me under obligations to him for favors. Personally, +insignificant as I may have been to him, he recognized in me for the +time being a custodian of the majesty of the law, which he knew he had +violated. When it shall happen as a rule and not as the exception that +men will esteem, applaud and sustain the honest administration of the +law, irrespective of the administrator, a great step will have been +taken toward a better conservation of constitutional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> liberty. In +Arkansas the political cauldron continued to boil. In Powell Clayton +were strongly marked the elements of leadership, fidelity to friends, +oratorical power, honesty of purpose, courage of conviction, with +unflinching determination to enforce them. The late Joseph Brooks, an +ex-minister of the Methodist Church, and who secularized as a +politician, was an orator to be reckoned with. Sincere, scathing, and +impressive, his following was large and devoted. Senator Clayton, the +present Ambassador to Mexico, has outlived the political bitterness that +so long assailed him, and was lately guest of reception and banquet +given him and largely attended by Democrats, chiefly his political +opponents.</p> + +<p>The divided Republicans held their State convention in 1872. The Clayton +faction (the Minstrels) had for their nominee Elisha Baxter, a North +Carolinian by birth, and hence to the Southern manor born. This, is was +premised, would bring strength to the ticket. Joseph Brooks was the +nominee of the Brindle wing of the party, and a battle royal was on. +Although a minority of Democrats respectable in number joined the Brooks +faction, the majority stood off with wish for "plague on both your +houses," and awaited the issue. It was in my first of twenty-eight years +of recurrent canvassing. Many districts of the State at that time being +destitute of contact by railroads, made wagon and buggy travel a +necessity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"> +<img src="images/gs15.jpg" width="473" height="600" alt="HON. POWELL CLAYTON." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. POWELL CLAYTON.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Embassador to Mexico.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p><p class="center">Governor of Arkansas—United States Senator—Honest and +Fearless, with a Public and Private Life Beyond Reproach.</p></div> + +<p>After nominations were made for the various State officers in +convention, appointments were made and printed notices posted and read +at church and schoolhouse neighborhoods, that there would be "speaking" +at stated points.</p> + +<p>The speakers, with teams and literature and other ammunition of +political warfare known and "spiritually" relished by the faithful, +would start at early morn from their respective headquarters on a tour +of one or two hundred miles, filling ten or twenty appointments. Good +judgment was necessary in the personal and peculiar fitness of the +advocate. For he that could by historic illustration and gems of logic +carry conviction in a cultured city would be "wasting his sweetness on +the desert air" in the rural surroundings of the cabins of the lowly. I +have heard a point most crudely stated, followed by an apposite +illustrative anecdote, by a plantation orator silence the more profuse +cultured and eloquent opponent.</p> + +<p>As he was still at his lesson on the duties and responsibilities of +citizenship, it was a study worthy the pencil of a Hogarth to watch the +play of lineament of feature, while gleaning high ideals of citizenship +and civil liberty amid the clash of debate of political opponents; +cheerful acquiescence, cloudy doubt, hilarious belief, intricate +perplexity, and want of comprehension by turns impressed the +countenance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> But trustful in the sheet anchor of liberty, they were +worthy students, who strove to merit the great benignity. Canvassing was +not without its humorous phases during the perilous times of +reconstruction. The meetings, often in the woods adjoining church or +schoolhouse, were generally at a late hour, the men having to care for +their stock, get supper, and come often several miles; hence it was not +unusual for proceedings to be at their height at midnight. I was at such +a gathering in the lower part of the State, where Jack Agery, a noted +plantation orator, was holding forth, denouncing the Democracy and +rallying the faithful. He was a man of great natural ability and +bristling with pithy anecdote. From a rude platform half a dozen candles +flickered a weird and unsteady glare. Agery as a spellbinder was at his +best, when a hushed whisper, growing into a general alarm, announced +that members of the Ku Klux, an organization noted for the assassination +of Republicans, were coming. Agery, a born leader, in commanding tones, +told the meeting to be seated and do as he bid them. The Ku Klux, +disguised and pistol belted, very soon appeared, but not before Agery +had given out, and they were singing with fervor that good old hymn +"Amazing Grace, How Sweet It Sounds to Save a Wretch Like Me." The +visitors stood till the verse was ended, when Agery, self-controlled, +called on Brother Primus to next lead in prayer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<p>Brother P. was soon hammering the bench and calling on the Lord to come +on His "white horse, and to come this very minute." "Oh," said the chief +of the night riders, "this is only a nigger prayer meeting. Come, let us +go." Scouts were sent out and kept out to see that "distance lent +enchantment to the view," and the political feature of the meeting was +resumed.</p> + +<p>The Negro is not without many of the prominent characteristics of the +successful politician. He is aggressive, conservative, and astute, as +occasion demands. Of the latter trait Hon. John Allen, ex-member of +Congress from Mississippi, and said to have been the prince of story +tellers, at his own expense gives this amusing incident. It was on the +occasion of the Carmack-Patterson contested election case. In beginning +his speech he called attention to Mr. Patterson's remarks. "Did any of +you," he said, "ever hear anyone pronounce a more beautiful eulogy on +himself than that just pronounced by Josiah Patterson? In listening to +it I was reminded of what my friend Jake Cummings once said about me. It +was in the great campaign of 1884. The Cleveland-Hendricks-Allen Club at +Tupelo had a meeting, and Mr. Taylor and Mr. Anderson spoke to the club +that night. As I chanced to be at home from my campaigning, I attended +the club meeting. After the regular speakers I was called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> for and +submitted some remarks about myself and my campaign. After I had spoken +the crowd called for Jake Cummings, a long, black, slick old Negro +carpenter, who lives in Tupelo. Jake's speech ran about this way: "Well, +gentlemen, it's gettin' kinder late now. I don't know as it's necessary +for me to say anything. You's heerd Mister Taylor and Mister Allen on +the general politics of the day. They's dun told you what sort of man +Blaine is, and what sort of a man Cleveland is. It don't look to me like +no honest man ought to have trouble in picking out the fittinest man of +them two. And then you's heerd Mister Allen on hisself, and he has +ricommended hisself so much higher than any the rest of us kin ricommend +him it ain't worth while for me to say nuthin' about him.""</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>There is at present a lowering cloud on prospect of righteous rule in +many of the Southern States, but the relative rights and +responsibilities of equitable government, enunciated from desk in +church, schoolhouse, or from stump in grove by the Republicans during +and since reconstruction, have been an education to the poor whites, +hitherto ignorant and in complete political thraldom to the landed +class, and to the freedman a new gospel, whose conception was +necessarily limited to his rights as a newly-fledged citizen. +Nevertheless, they were the live kernels of equality before the law, +that still "have their silent undergrowth," inducing a manhood and +patriotism that is now and will more and more blossom with national +blessing. Friends regretfully and foes despairingly sometimes speak of +the tardiness of his progress. He will compare favorably, however, for +all history records that it is slowly, through the crucible of physical +and mental toiling, that races pass to an elevated status. For of serfs +he was not the least in his appreciation of liberty.</p> + +<p>Sir Walter Scott, in his note on English history during the reign of +George III, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> the "colliers and salters, who were not Negroes," says: +"The persons engaged in these occupations were at the time bondsmen, and +in case they left the ground of the farms to which they belonged, and as +pertaining to which their services were bought and sold, they were +liable to be brought back by a summary process. The existence of this +species of slavery being thought irreconcilable with the spirit of +liberty, the colliers and salters were declared free, and put on the +same footing with other servants by the act of George III. But they were +so far from desiring or prizing the blessing conferred on them that they +esteemed the interest taken in their freedom to be a mere decree on the +part of the proprietors to get rid of what they called "head or harigold +money" payable to them when a female of their number, by bearing a +child, made an addition to the live stock of their master's property."</p> + +<p>If the fitness for liberty is the measure of persecution sustained in an +effort for its enjoyment, of that disciplinary process the freedmen have +not been deprived, for ever since his maiden attempt to exercise the +right of an American citizen he has encountered intense opposition and +physical outrage, all of which has been met by non-resistance and manly +appeal to the American conscience for protection; first from the "Ku +Klux band" of murderers, and subsequently against the vicious practices<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +to deprive him of his political rights, should establish his claim. +Nevertheless, after a third of a century of successful endeavor, +educationally and materially, efforts are being made in Southern States +for his disfranchisement and the curtailment of his education. On this +attempt George C. Lorimer, a noted divine and writer, in a late article +in "The Watchman," under the head of "The Educational Solution of Race +Problems," has this to say:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"But may it not be that this reactionary movement rather +expresses a fear of education than a serious doubt of its +power? We must remember that conditions are peculiar in the +South, and, in some quarters, there exists a not unnatural +apprehension that Negro supremacy may prevail. To avert this +political catastrophe, extraordinary measures have been +adopted. To the difficulties that beset the Southern people we +cannot be indifferent, and neither should we assume that we +would act very differently, were we similarly situated. But we +think, in view of all the circumstances, that their position on +this subject exposes them to the suspicion that it is the +success of education they fear, and not its failure. This +apparent misgiving reasonably awakens distrust in the soundness +of their contention."</p></div> + +<p>It is assumed by many who oppose the educational solution that inferior +races are unassimilable in their nature to the higher civilization. +Proof is sought for in the alleged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> decadence or disappearance of the +Turanian people of Europe, the natives of South America, and the West +India Islands. But what is this civilization that is so fatal in its +operation? What do we mean by the term? What is that exalted something +before which African and Asiatic must perish? Does it consist in armies, +machinery, saloons, breweries, railways, steamboats, and certain +commercial methods that are fatal to truth and honesty. Baron Russell, +Lord Chief Justice of England, included none of these in his conception +of its character. He is recorded as saying: "It's true, signs are +thoughts for the poor and suffering, chivalrous regard and respect for +women, the frank recognition of human brotherhood, irrespective of race +or color, or nation or religion; the narrowing of the domain of mere +force as a governing factor in the world, the love of ordered freedom, +abhorrence of what is mean and cruel and vile, ceaseless devotion to the +claims of justice. Civilization in its true, its highest sense, must +make for peace."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"> +<img src="images/gs16.jpg" width="473" height="600" alt="HON. PINCKNEY B. S. PINCHBACK, + +United States Senator." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. PINCKNEY B. S. PINCHBACK,<br /> + +United States Senator.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born May, 1837—Educated at Gilmon High School, Cincinnati, +Ohio—Captain Co. A, 2d Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers—Member +of Constitutional Convention of Louisiana—State +Senator—Lieutenant-Governor—Editor and Lawyer—Able as a +Statesman, Eloquent as an Advocate, and Unflinching in Defense +of Equal Justice.</p></div> + +<p>Previous to the National Convention which nominated General Grant for a +second term, there had been held a conference of colored leaders, who +assembled at New Orleans to elicit opinion and divine the probable +course of the colored delegates at that convention. It was there I first +met that faithful, able, and invincible champion of the race, Governor +P. B. S. Pinchback and Captain James Lewis, my fellow-member of the "Old +Guard," who, true in peace as war, never surrendered. The conference, +though not great numerically, was strong in its mental calibre and +representative character, with Douglas, Langston, Cuney, and others who +have since passed to the great beyond. The colored office holders at +Washington under Grant were much in evidence and naturally eager for his +endorsement.</p> + +<p>There was much discussion, and while an ardent advocate for Brooks, I +could not follow his supporters—the Brindle wing of the party in my +State—in their choice of Horace Greely for President. My slogan in the +State canvass had been Grant for President and Brooks for Governor. The +wisdom of the conference determined upon a non-committal policy. It was +thought unwise, in our peculiar condition, to hasten to proclaim in +advance of the gathered wisdom of such an august body as a National +Convention. Hence, the conference concluded by setting forth by +resolutions, grievances, and a reaffirmation of fealty to the Republican +party.</p> + +<p>The result of the State election in Arkansas in 1872 was that Brooks got +the votes and Baxter the office, whereupon a contest was inaugurated, +terminating in civil war. The Baxter, or Minstrel, wing of the party, +with the view of spiking the guns of the Brindles, had, in their +overtures to the Democrats during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> the campaign and in their platform at +the nominating convention declared in favor of enfranchising the +Confederates that took part in the war against the Union. Baxter's +movement in that direction and his appointment of Democrats to office +created discontent in both wings of the Republican party, leading to +their union and determined steps for his removal and the seating of +Brooks, who, both factions now declared, was elected. The doctrine of +estoppel "cutting no figure" with the Baxter contingent. A writ of +ouster was obtained from Judge Vicoff, of the Circuit Court, which +Sheriff Oliver, accompanied by Joseph Brooks, J. L. Hodges, General +Catterson, and one or two others, including the writer, proceeding to +the State House and made service.</p> + +<p>No notice of such action having preceded, Governor Baxter was +ill-prepared for the announcement. After a short parley with his private +secretary, General McCanany, escorted by the Sheriff and General +Catterson down the stairway, they were met by Hon. J. N. Smithea, the +able editor of the "Arkansas Gazette." Leaving the building, they went +direct to the Antony House, on East Markam Street. Word was sent to A. +H. Garland, U. B. Rose, R. C. Newton, and other prominent Democrats, who +soon joined him in consultation. Governor Baxter immediately notified +President Grant of the situation and sent instructions to the custodian +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> State arms at the U. S. Arsenal to honor none but his order for +delivery. Joseph Brooks was sworn in, and the two Governors made +immediate preparations for siege and defence. Main Street south from the +river to the boundary line of the city was the dividing line of the two +factions. Governor Baxter to the east on Markam Street, and Governor +Brooks, at the Antony House, to west; at the State House established +their respective quarters.</p> + +<p>A condition of unrest had pervaded the State for several months +preceding this event, and when the slogan of war was sounded the +respective adherents by hundreds from all over the State hastened to the +capital. On the morning following the "coup d'etat" a report reached the +State House that a company of colored men, commanded by Gen. King White, +from Pine Bluff, had arrived and was quartered on Rock Street. On the +assumption that the men were misinformed as to the merits of the +quarrel, it was proposed that they be interviewed. To do that was to +cross the line and enter the enemy's territory. It was not unlike the +query of the rats in the fable, Who shall bell the cat? I was solicited, +and, learning I had friends in the company, consented to go. Going south +on Center Street to cross the line by a circuitous route, I reached Rock +Street, and nearly the rendezvous. But the "best laid plans of men and +mice oft gang a glee." The emissary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> had been discovered and reported. +Approaching me at a rapid rate, mounted on a charger which seemed to me +the largest, with an artillery of pistols peeping from holsters, rode +General George L. Bashman, of the Baxter forces. Reining up his steed he +said, not unkindly: "Judge Gibbs, I am instructed to order you to leave +the lines immediately, or subject yourself to arrest." As formerly +intimated, and not unlike Artemus Ward, I was willing that all my wife's +relatives might participate in the glories and mishaps of war. Hence I +bowed a submissive acquiescence and returned. I appreciated the amity +expressed in the manner and delivery of the order—an amity of which I +have been the recipient from my political opponents during the thirty +years of my domicile in Arkansas.</p> + +<p>General Rose, who held command at the Arsenal, and had received +instructions from Washington to keep peace pending a settlement of the +controversy, with a detail of soldiers, had erected a barricade opposite +the City Hall on Markam Street and placed a piece of artillery on +Louisiana Street, pointing to the river. In the afternoon of their +arrival, General White's troops, headed by a brass band, marched on +Markam Street to the Antony House. While so doing a report became +current that they were preparing to attack the State House. General Rose +attempted to investigate and, with his orderly, rode rapidly on Markam +Street, across Main, toward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> the Antony House. At the moment a shot, +increasing into volleys, from combatants on either side, who primarily +were the aggressors was never known. It resulted in several casualties. +Colonel Shall was killed in the Antony House, and others within the +precincts of the City Hall and Metropolitan Hotel. Markam Street +suddenly assumed a Sunday-like appearance, the Brooksites seeking safety +in the State House and the Baxterites in the Antony. The feet of General +White's troops fought bravely. Three hours later it was announced that +they had made the fifty miles to Pine Bluff without a break, windless, +but happy. Each faction was deficient in arms to equip their adherents. +A company of cadets from St. John's College had been placed at the +service of Baxter.</p> + +<p>At the State University at Fayettville were stored rifles and +ammunition, the property of the State. Thither Col. A. S. Fowler, of the +Brooks forces, proceeded, and, with courage and diplomacy, succeeded in +obtaining and placing a supply on a flat boat, and commenced his trip +down the river. Information of this movement having reached the Antony +House, the river steamer Hallie, with a detachment of Baxter forces, was +dispatched up the river to intercept, and succeeded in passing the State +House without interference. The circuitous character of the river +enabled a company from the State House, by quick march, to overhaul it +at a bend of the river,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> a fusillade of whose rifle shots killed the +captain, wounded several others, and disabled the steamer, which was +captured and brought back to the State House. A restless quiet then +ensued, occasionally broken by random shots.</p> + +<p>In the meantime Governor Baxter had called an extraordinary session of +his legislative adherents, vacancies of recalcitrant Republicans filled, +the Brooks government denounced, and an appeal to the President for +support. All the records and appurtenances of the Secretary of State's +office, including the great seal of the State, were in possession of +Brooks at the State House. Information that a duplicate had been made in +St. Louis and was en route to the Antony House was received, whereupon +General D. P. Upham made application for a search warrant to intercept +it, a copy of which is as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I, D. P. Upham, do solemnly swear that one Elisha Baxter and +his co-conspirators have ordered and caused to be made, as I am +informed, a counterfeit of the great seal of the State of +Arkansas, and that the same is now or soon will be in the +express office of the city of Little Rock, as I am informed, +and that the same is intended for the purpose of defrauding, +counterfeiting, and forging the great seal of the State of +Arkansas by the paid Elisha Baxter and his co-conspirators, and +to use the same for illegal and fraudulent purposes, against +the peace and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> dignity of the State of Arkansas, and I ask that +a search warrant may issue forthwith, according to law, to +search for and seize said counterfeit seal, wherever or in +whomsoever possession it may be found.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"(Signed.) D. P. UPHAM.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of May, 1874.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">M. W. GIBBS,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"City Judge."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The warrant was duly served and return made, with the seal. Baxter, +having now ignored the men who placed him in power, called around him as +supporters and advisers the brain and strength of the Democratic party. +Meanwhile each party had representatives in Washington, urging their +claims for recognition. As a party, the Republicans were at a +disadvantage. When Brooks, being elected, was contesting Baxter's right +to the Governorship, Baxter was supported by the leading and most +prominent republicans of the State, who swore "by all the gods at once" +that he and not Brooks was elected; but now they swore at once at all +opposing gods, who said that Baxter was.</p> + +<p>A committee of Brooks men, of whom the writer was one, was sent to +Washington to present the claims and conditions to the President. When +the train, en route, stopped at Alexandria a gentleman came hurriedly in +and, accosting another, said: "What do you think? Grant has recognized +Baxter." I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> did not learn the thought or hear the response, being +possessed immediately by a feeling not unlike the boy whose "piece of +bread and butter falls with the butter side down." We pursued our way to +Washington to find the report true. We called at the White House several +times, but the engagements of the President prevented an interview. Late +of an afternoon, sitting in my room on I Street, I saw the President +approaching slowly and alone. I put on my hat, and was soon with him, +and, with becoming salute, addressed him. General Grant, who was ever +accessible to the most humble, attentively listened, as we walked, to my +brief statement of our case. He replied that his sympathies were with +us, for he believed that Brooks was elected; but that his Attorney +General had given an opinion that the people, through the expression of +their last Legislature, had endorsed Baxter, and that he must acquiesce.</p> + +<p>That this avowal was sincere was shown by a subsequent message to +Congress on the subject, condemning the process by which the Democracy +had vaulted into power. When the dispatch from Washington recognizing +Baxter was received at the Antony House the faithful, while making the +welkin ring, made immediate preparations to take undisturbed possession +of the State House. The march of Governor Baxter and his adherents to +the capital was made, as imposing as had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> his former exclusion been +humiliating. A band playing inspiring music not unlike "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and stepping to the air came an array, led by +General King White, on horseback, with flags flying, animated and +exhilarated with all the pomp and circumstance of a victorious legion, +entered and occupied the building which Brooks and his following, +defeated and depressed, had vacated, in obedience to the President's +mandate. The prospect for their rehabilitation seemed shadowy, but, with +that hope said "to spring eternal in the human breast," they had +resolved to carry their contest to Congress.</p> + +<p>It may be properly said of Joseph Brooks, as of Charles II, "His +fault—and no statesman can have a worse one—was that he never saw +things as they really were. He had imagination and logic, but he was an +idealist, and a theorizer, in which there might have been good if only +his theories and ideals had not been out of relation with the hard +duties of a day of storm."</p> + +<p>There was opportunity for him to have secured the approval of the Poland +Committee. But the tenacity of his ideal of no concession allowed it to +pass.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>In 1874 a constitutional convention was called and a new constitution +adopted. At the State convention of the Democratic party for the +nomination of State officers Baxter was the favorite for re-election as +Governor, and probably would have been the choice, had not the more +astute politicians put the United States senatorial "bee in his bonnet," +which induced a letter, fervid and patriotic, declining the nomination. +Baxter was confiding and honest, but not an adept in the wily ways of +the politician. Augustus H. Garland was elected Governor, and in the +United States senatorial race Baxter was "left at the stand." It was +then, as it oft happens, that—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"God and the soldier all men adore,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In time of war, and not before.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When the war is over and all things righted,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God is forgot, and the soldier slighted."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 453px;"> +<img src="images/gs17.jpg" width="453" height="600" alt="HON. AUGUSTUS H. GARLAND" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. AUGUSTUS H. GARLAND</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">A learned jurist, broad and humane. A member of the Confederate +Congress—Governor of and United States Senator for Arkansas—A +member of President Cleveland's Cabinet—Evidencing in every +position, that it was a selection "fit to be made."</p></div> + +<p>Augustus H. Garland was a Senator in the Confederate Congress in 1861, +succeeding Baxter as Governor, then United States Senator from Arkansas, +and subsequently a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet, evidencing +in every position that it was a selection "fit to be made" not only for +his ability and attainments as a statesman, but for rugged honesty of +purpose and broad humanity as a man. Taking the reins of government at +the zenith of a successful revolution, when violence sought +gratification, desire rampant for prosecution and persecution, Governor +Garland, by a conservative policy, soothed the one and discouraged the +other—a policy early announced in his first proclamation, an extract of +which is as follows: "Should there be any indictments in the courts for +past political offences, I would suggest and advise their dismissal. Let +people of all parties, races and colors come and be welcomed to our +State and encouraged to bring her up to a position of true greatness." +His friendship I highly esteemed, and, learning of his demise, could not +but submit the following token:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">"Tamatave, Madagascar,<br /></span> +<span class="i22">"April 17, 1899.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Editor Little Rock Gazette:</p> + +<p>"Sitting in the Consulate, way down on the banks of the Indian +Ocean, the Gazette comes to me laden with expressions of sorrow +on the passing of my friend, ex-United States Attorney General +A. H. Garland. Truly, 'a great man has fallen.' In him the +nation has lost an eminent statesman and Arkansas a most +distinguished citizen, celebrated for his intellectuality<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> and +valued services to the Commonwealth. I said 'my friend,' and I +reiterate, in no platform sense of that term. Twenty-five year +ago I was municipal judge of the city, at the time when the +conflict for party ascendancy was most intense. When passion +struggled for the mastery, as Governor, he was in reality to me +a friend. During his residence at the capital I have never +visited Washington without seeking and as promptly receiving +his kindly greeting. On several occasions his services, eagerly +given, were most helpful. He was not only mentally eminent, but +morally great.</p> + +<p>"Ever approachable, he was a manly man, with courage of +conviction, and, while urging them with a zeal born of honest +belief, had the inestimable faculty of winning adherents by +strength of presentation, blended with suavity of manner. He +was conspicuous in this, that his broad soul expanded with +tender and affectionate regard for the poor and humble. +Reserved in manner, magnanimous and catholic in a spirit that +embraced the 'world as his country, and all mankind as his +countrymen.' So in the archives of memory I make haste to lay +this small tribute to a departed friend, who still seems as +'one long loved and but for a season gone.'"</p></div> + +<p>I was present, but not a delegate, at the convention that nominated +General Grant for a second term, at the Academy of Music, in +Philadelphia, in 1872.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>The proceedings, reported and published, of a National Convention are +always interesting, but lose much of the impression and force of +actuality with which an auditor and spectator is affected. The gayety +and magnetism of numbers, the scintillations of brain in special +advocacy, followed by tumultuous accord. The intensity, the anxiety +depicted, while results far-reaching and momentous are pending, furnish +a scene vivid and striking that cannot be pictured. Here is being formed +the policy of a party which is to be subjected to the winnowing fan of +acute and honest criticism, and by denunciation by opposite parties, +striving to obtain the administration of the Government, the fiat of +which and the selection of the standard-bearer constitute the claim for +the suffrage of the people. They are the preparatory cornerstones of +self-government, fashioned and waiting for the verdict of the nation.</p> + +<p>Committees on platform and resolutions are generally composed of the +radical and conservative elements of a party, so that, while the canvass +is up and on, it shall have steered between "the rocks of too much +danger and pale fear" and reached the port of victory. Experience during +the period since last it met may have had much to do with silence or +brief mention of the heretofore darling shibboleth with which they were +wont to inspire the faithful, rally the laggards, or capture converts. +"Consistency, thou art a jewel" that dazzles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> confuses, but doth not +bewilder the ordinary politician, who can allow a former policy +noiseless and forsaken to sink into the maelstrom of neglected and +unrequited love. Prolific in schemes is the procedure of a minority +party, not the least is the selection of a standard-bearer, who has been +the most sparse and reticent in utterance, hence a record the least +assailable, that extracts from his opponents the exclamation of one in +Holy Writ, "Oh, that mine enemy had written a book."</p> + +<p>Among the men who made mark at the convention above referred to was +Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, styled the "War Governor," for the +patriotism and alacrity which he summoned his State in response to the +national call, caught up and followed by every loyal State during the +Civil War. A confirmed invalid, with lower limbs paralyzed, with massive +head and inspired brain, assisted by two servants to a chair to the +front of the platform, he made the speech of the convention. Another +novel incident was the occupation of the platform of a National +Convention by Afro-Americans. The Late Hon. William H. Gray, the +faithful and eloquent leader of the colored Republicans of Arkansas, and +the late Hon. R. B. Elliott, Congressman from South Carolina, were +invited to speak.</p> + +<p>A few of their well-chosen words in exordium were as follows:</p> + +<p>Mr. Gray said: "Gentlemen of the Convention:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> For the first time, +perhaps, in the history of the American people, there stands before you +in a National Convention assembled, a representative of that oppressed +race that has lived among you for two hundred and fifty years; who, by +the magnanimity of this great nation, lifted by the power of God and the +hands of man from the degradation of slavery to the proud position of an +American citizen."</p> + +<p>Mr. Elliott said: "Gentlemen of the Convention: It is with great +appreciation of the compliment paid my State that I rise to respond to +your invitation to address you. I stand here, gentlemen of the +convention, together with my colleagues from the several States, as an +illustration of an accomplished fact of American emancipation, not only +as an illustration of the management of the American people, but as a +living example of the justice of the American people."</p> + +<p>The speeches of which the foregoing are but a part of their +introduction, expressive of gratitude and fidelity, a conception of the +needs of the hour, delivered with an eloquence that charmed, elicited +hearty response, the Academy echoing and re-echoing with the plaudits of +the vast assembly. At each National Convention of the Republican party +representatives of the race have shown not alone oratorical power, but +an intelligent grasp of the political situation. At this period of +General Grant's nomination, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> nation's heart still jubilant with the +success of the Federal arms; its conscience awakened by the dread +penalty paid by contributions from every loyal hearthstone for the +subjugation of slavery, was now eager and active in providing that the +Negro who had been faithful in peace and heroic in war, should enjoy the +rights of an American citizen. It was history repeating itself, for in +England's history we read that it was Henry at Ajincourt who said: "Who +this day sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother; were he +ne'er so vile, today shall gentle his condition." For the Civil War, as +it matured, became no ordinary case of political contention; the soul of +its suppression sprang from the most sacred impulses in the mind of man. +It was response to the self-retort of Cain that came echoing down the +ages, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Answer came in shot and shell.</p> + +<p>But as time receded from these historic epochs, engrossed more and more +in national development, mercantile aspirations, internal improvements, +rivalry of parties, self-aggrandizement—in short, all the agencies and +factors inseparable from human nature that influence on material lines, +have effaced much of the general solicitude that formerly existed. This +decadence of purpose is not unnatural; a wardship is a duty, and should +not be a continuous necessity, its greatest blessing a consciousness +that its ideals and purposes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> have been assimilated by its wards, and +lifted higher in humanity's scale. Too much dependence is as hurtful as +entire neglect. The more persistent the call for the forces within the +greater the response from the assistants without. The lethargy or +neglect to give the Negro protection in the exercise of his +constitutional rights is developing a spirit of self-help and intensity +of purpose, to find and adopt a course and measures remedial that may be +practical and efficient; to ignore the sentimentality of politics and +subordinate them to conditions irrespective of party. He has found that +"the mills of the gods grind slowly;" that the political lever needs for +its fulcrum a foundation as solidly material as equitably sentimental.</p> + +<p>Proclaim brotherhood, justice, and equal rights ever so much, men will +nod acquiescence with a mental reservation of "but," significant of "Who +are you? What can you do, or what have you done?" It is your current +life's answer to these interrogatives that most interest people in this +material world in your behalf. Only as we increase in commercial +pursuits, ownership of property, and the higher elements of production +through skilled labor will our political barometer rise. Upon these we +should anchor our hopes, assured that higher education, with its +"classic graces, will follow in their proper places."</p> + +<p>Of the latter a humorous writer, in answer to the question from the +president<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> of an Eastern college, "Is there any good reason why our sons +should not study the dead languages?" said: "While our sons are not on +speaking terms with many live languages, it ill becomes them to go +fooling around the dead and dying. I do not think it necessary that our +sons should study these defunct tongues. A language that did not have +strength enough to pull through and crawled off somewhere and died, +doesn't seem worth studying. I will go further, and say I do not see why +our sons should spend valuable time over invalid languages that aren't +feeling very well. Let us not, professor, either one of us, send our +sons into the hospital to lug out languages on a stretcher just to study +them. No; let us bring up our sons to shun all diseased and disabled +languages, even if it can't be proved that a language comes under either +of those heads; if it has been missing since the last engagement, it is +just as well not to have our sons chasing around after it with a +detective, trying to catch and pore over it. You may look at it +differently, professor. Our paths in the great realm of education of +youth may lie far apart; but it is my heartfelt wish that I may never +live to see a son of mine ride right past healthy athletic languages and +then stand up in the stirrups and begin to whoop and try to lariat some +poor old language going around on a crutch, carrying half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of its +alphabet in a sling. If two-thirds of the words of a language are flat +on their back, taking quinine, trying to get up an appetite, let us +teach our sons that they cannot hope to derive benefit from its study."</p> + +<p>But Lord Rosebery, ex-Premier of England, in a late address before the +University of Glasgow on "Questions of Empire," in the following, on +action and learning, takes a serious view:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There was a time, long years ago, when the spheres of action +and learning were separate and distinct; when laymen dealt hard +blows and left letters to the priesthood. That was to some +extent the case when our oldest universities were founded. But +the separation daily narrows. It has been said that the true +university of our days is a collection of books. What if a +future philosopher shall say that the best university is a +workshop? And yet the latter definition bids fair to be the +sounder of the two. The training of our schools and colleges +must daily become more and more the training for action, for +practical purpose. The question will be asked of the product of +our educational system: Here is a young fellow of twenty; he +has passed the best years of acquisition and impression; he has +cost so much; what is his value? For what, in all the manifold +activities of the world, is he fit? And if the answer be not +satisfactory, if the product be only a sort of learned mummy, +the system<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> will be condemned. Are there not thousands of lads +today plodding away at the ancient classics, and who, at the +first possible moment, will cast them into space, never to +reopen them? Think of the wasted time that that implies; not +all wasted, perhaps, for something may be gained in power of +application; but entirely wasted so far as available knowledge +is concerned."</p></div> + +<p>And in keeping with this line of thought, the "Washington Post," of +Washington, D. C., in a recent issue, makes the following pertinent and +truthful mention:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Almost without exception, the colleges and universities are +beginning another year with unusually large classes. Many of +these institutions report the largest number of matriculates in +their history. The aggregate attendance is unquestionably +greater by thousands than that of any previous year. This is +due in part to the prevalence of business prosperity and in +part to the steadily increasing approbation of higher education +for women, while the natural increase of population is also +something of a factor. The 'Cleveland Leader,' speaking of the +reports of large classes of freshmen all over the country, +says:</p> + +<p>"'That appears to be the best and most conclusive reply which +the American people can make to those gentlemen of wealth and +prominence who, like Mr. Schwab, of the Steel Trust, discourage +higher education<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> as preparation for the life of the business +world. It is the solidest kind of evidence that the old love of +knowledge for its own sake and the old faith in the beneficial +effects of college training upon the youth of a country having +such a government and social organization as this Republic has +developed remain as strong as ever.'"</p></div> + +<p>To which the Post replies:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"That is somewhat hasty and a probably erroneous conclusion. +The "higher education" which Mr. Schwab discourages, the +old-time classical course, has not grown in popular favor. The +reverse is true. The demand for a more practical education in +this utilitarian age has compelled the colleges and +universities to make radical changes in their curriculum. The +number of students who elect to take the old-time course is +smaller in proportion to the population and wealth of this +country than it ever was. Science, both pure and applied, takes +a far more prominent place in collegiate studies than it +formerly occupied. Many of the leading institutions of learning +have introduced a commercial department. Everywhere the +practical, the business idea is becoming dominant.</p> + +<p>"While no intelligent man questions the value of classical +studies or disputes the proposition that a knowledge of the +classics is indispensable to a thorough understanding of our +own language, the area of practical study has become so vast,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +by reason of new discoveries in science and the arts, that a +choice between the two is compulsory to young persons who have +their own fortunes to make. The old-time course of mathematics +and classics furnishes splendid mental discipline, with much +knowledge that may or may not put its possessor on the road to +success in business. But the time required for that course, if +followed by a three or four years' term of practical study, +sets a young man so far along in life that he has a hopeless +race with younger men who dispensed with the classical and went +in zealously for the practical.</p> + +<p>"The change from the old to the new lines of education is even +more marked in the common schools than in the colleges and +universities. The practical begins in the free kindergarten and +runs with more or less directness through all the grades. +Millions are expended upon industrial training. The business +high schools are a great feature of the free school system. All +this is comparatively new. It has come because of the +necessities of an industrial age.</p> + +<p>"'Knowledge for its own sake' is becoming more and more a +luxury, in which the sons and daughters of the rich indulge, +while the representatives of families that are merely well to +do feel that they must acquire knowledge for practical uses. +And this tendency is likely to continue, for, as we have said, +the field of the practical is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> expanding. Take, for example, +electricity and its uses. All that was known of this subject in +the time of our grandfathers could be learned in a few days or +weeks. To be an up-to-date electrical scientist and practical +electrician in 1901 means that years have been devoted to hard +work."</p></div> + +<p>The crude notion held by some, that in far-off climes, to the American +Negro unknown, who, with small capital and limited education; with an +inherited mental inertia that is being dispelled and can only be +eradicated by contact with superior environment, that there awaits him +peace, plenty, and equality, is an ignis fatuus the most delusive. Peace +is the exhaustion of strife, and is only secure in her triumphs in being +in instant readiness for war; equality a myth, and plenty the +accumulation of weary toil.</p> + +<p>With travel somewhat extensive and diversified; residence in tropical +latitudes of Negro origin, I have a decided conviction, despite the +crucial test to which he has been subjected in the past and the present +disadvantages under which he labors, nowhere is the promise along all +the lines of opportunity brighter for the American Negro than here in +the land of his nativity. For he needs the inspiriting dash, push, and +invincible determination of the Anglo-Saxon (having sufficient of his +deviltry) to make him a factor acknowledged and respected. But the fruit +of advantage will not drop as ripe fruit from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> the tree; it can be +gotten only by watchful, patient tillage, and frugal garnering. +Ignorance and wastefulness among the industrious but uneducated poor +render them incapable to cope with the shrewd and unprincipled. The +rivalry to excel in outward appearance and social amenities beyond the +usual moderate means on the part of the educated is a drawback to any +people, but one disastrous to the Negro in his march through arduous +toil and restricted conditions to financial independence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 477px;"> +<img src="images/gs18.jpg" width="477" height="600" alt="REV. JOSEPH A. BOOKER," title="" /> +<span class="caption">REV. JOSEPH A. BOOKER,</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">President of Arkansas Baptist College, and Editor of the +"Vanguard." Born 1859, at Portland, Arkansas—Studied at Branch +Normal College—Graduated At Roger Williams' University, +Tennessee, Mainly by His Efforts this College Only on Paper in +1887, has now Grounds and Buildings Worth over $50,000 and +Several Hundred Students.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>At the Arkansas State election in 1876 I was selected as Presidential +elector, receiving the highest vote on the Republican ticket. The +national election of that year was followed by the memorable canvass of +the contested vote for Rutherford B. Hayes, which was ultimately settled +by a commission appointed under the Compromise Bill, which was passed by +Congress in January, 1877, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina +declaring for Hayes. That the compromise was the result of an agreement +that the United States troops should by withdrawn from Southern soil +cannot be doubted, and for so doing he was bitterly criticised and +denounced by many of his party, resulting, as it did, in the transfer of +those States in the South from Republican, by continuous and unblushing +disfranchisement, to Democratic rule.</p> + +<p>President Hayes, not unlike many of historic fame, may have been "born +before his time;" that his action in removing U. S. troops was immature, +a continuation and increase of intimidation and violence abundantly +proved. At what period of their remaining on Southern soil would have +been a fitting time for removal, is an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> enigma hard to elucidate. Their +retention ultimately rested with the sentiment and judgment of the +nation. In the South the menace of their presence was galling and +increasing in intensity. The North was daily growing averse to the +bivouac of troops over a people who swore that they were on terms of +"peace with all the world and the rest of mankind." Would compulsion +soften animosity? Hayes was undoubtedly honest and sincere, but not of +that class of epoch-making men who anchor on the right, await and buffet +the advancing storm. Conciliation coyed as gently as loving dove his +mate, while within easy reach glistened the jewel "President" of a +fraternized Republic.</p> + +<p>There are possibly men who would have spurned the enchantress. But an +array of figures and ability to enumerate would not be sorely taxed in +finding the number. I was among those at that period who saw the +inutility of depending on physical force to extract justice and lawful +methods from an unwilling constituency; that the reaction from a forced +compulsion in the moral world was as evident and unfailing under the +conditions as from compression in the physical. I was hopeful of good +results, and so expressed myself in an interview with the President. He +replied that he was "sincere in his policy, and should adhere to it +unless it seemed impracticable that the policy of force and musket had +been tried in the South and had failed and public sentiment now demanded +a change." We had and have the change, and it would have been a bright +jewel in the autonomy of many of the Southern States had it been more +liberal and righteous.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 471px;"> +<img src="images/gs19.jpg" width="471" height="600" alt="PROF. I. G. ISH." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PROF. I. G. ISH.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Principal of High School, Little Rock, Arkansas. An Erudite +Scholar and Zealous Tutor.</p></div> + +<p>History, as a record of the lower to a higher status of civilization +increases in intensity and value as it records superior conditions, and +the degree of unrest and earnestness of appeal for the abrogation of +oppression is indicative of the appreciation and fitness for the rights +of citizenship.</p> + +<p>It should be remembered that as it became men dowered with the proud +title of American Citizen, the Negro has not been remiss in stating his +grievances and appealing for justice. To have done less would have +banished sympathy and invited contempt. In Arkansas and some other +Southern States there is a growing demand for the forms of law and the +maintenance of order, and, while not attaining the zenith of +accomplishment, it will be observable when contrasted with the +lawlessness depicted in the following resolutions of a convention of +colored men held in Little Rock August 29, 1883. They contain views and +convictions I there presented, the equity of which 'tis fondly hoped +have not been lost by lapse of time:</p> + +<p>"Be it resolved, That this convention of colored men of the State of +Arkansas have still to complain that violence and injustice to their +race still exists to an alarming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> extent. In most cases the perpetrators +go unwhipped of justice. That when they are arraigned the law is +administered with such laxity and partiality that the escape of the +criminal is both easy and possible. In no instance is the penalty of the +law enforced against a white man for the murder of a Negro, however +palpable the case may be; whilst in most instances the bare accusation +of a Negro committing a homicide upon a white man is sufficient for law, +with all its forms, to be ruthlessly set aside and the doctrine of +lynch, swift and certain to be enforced.</p> + +<p>"Case after case is chronicled by the press of Negroes hung by +infuriated mobs without trial to determine their guilt or innocence. The +farcical proceedings at law in their inefficiency of prosecution, the +selection and manipulation of jurors, and the character of public +sentiment have had painful illustration in several cases, and but +recently of Johnson, the colored man murdered in this, the capital +county of the State. The homicide of this man, a servant at a picnic, of +a Christian society of white people, and in their presence, without +provocation, was universally admitted. Notwithstanding, a jury of twelve +men, with almost indecent haste, finds the murderer not guilty. A +verdict fit to shock the sense of every friend of right and justice. +Robinson, a white man, for killing a colored man because his victim +asked for the return of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> money loaned, received but two years in the +penitentiary. Burril Lindsey, a colored farmer, who had homesteaded land +in Van Buren County and had commenced cultivation, was waited upon and +told he must leave; that they would have no "niggers" in the settlement. +They came back at midnight and broke down his door. One of the mob, +lying dead on the threshold was Burril Lindsey's response. The press of +our city—to their honor be it noted—said he did the proper thing. +Respectable men in the neighborhood who knew Lindsey said the same. But +yet, after being harrassed by threats and legal persecution for months, +a jury found him guilty of an assault with intent to kill, and six years +in the penitentiary at hard labor is the penalty for defending his home.</p> + +<p>"Homicide has no local habitation; it is the accident of every +community, in every nation, and the justice and impartiality with which +the law is administered is the measure of their humanity and +civilization. But here we have the spectacle of the press, pulpit, and +rostrum of the State, with exceptions scarcely to be noted, either +entirely dumb or a mere passing allusion, more often in commendation +than censure. We are positive in our confidence that those, and only +those who expose and denounce and lay bare this conduct, and thereby +create a sentiment that will lessen this evil, are the only true friends +to the State's moral as well as its material progress.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> That the attempt +to deny and evade responsibility does not meet the issue in the minds of +thoughtful men, who believe that no life is safe where the humblest is +unprotected.</p> + +<p>"We insist that value of the colored brother as a tiller of the soil, +the increasing thrift and economy conceded in securing homes and taxable +property, their favorable comparison (by fair judgment) with any other +classes as to their moral and law-abiding character, should at least +merit justice in the courts, and we ask for him consideration and fair +settlement for labor. For where could superiority and nobility of +character be better displayed than by generous treatment to the former +bondsmen. That the better element of the Democratic party do not favor +this lawlessness we are continually assured. But the ugly fact stands +out in bold relief that they are unable or unwilling, with forces of +wealth and intelligence, to create a healthier sentiment. To them, and +just men everywhere, we appeal to assist in bringing the moral power of +denunciation against this great wrong, that impartial justice shall be +the law for every citizen of the Commonwealth; and that the president +and secretary be empowered to sign a petition in behalf and as the +earnest request of this convention for presentation to his Excellency +the Governor, asking executive clemency in the pardon of Burril Lindsey, +now incarcerated in the penitentiary, under a sentence of six years."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Governor was graciously pleased to pardon him, but for personal +safety he was compelled to abandon his homestead and leave the State.</p> + +<p>For some time a general unrest among the colored people on account of +violence had permeated the South, and thousands of the most substantial +planters had already settled in Kansas, Indiana, and other Western +States to enjoy legal protection hitherto denied them. Upon the question +of Negro emigration the white South were divided. The planters and +leading politicians were adverse. The planter for the reason that he +could not supplant him by more efficient and tractable labor; the +politician for fear of reducing Congressional representation, each +regardless of the conditions creating his discontent. A minority +respectable in numbers and prominent for standing, approved of his +removal, alleging that the movement would be mutually beneficial, that +it would induce white immigration, relieve the congested overproduction +of the staples of the Southern States, introduce a higher class of +industries, and simplify the so-called problem by removing the bugbear +of Negro domination by means unobjectionable.</p> + +<p>Of this class of opinion the "Nashville American," of the State of +Tennessee, was a fair exponent. In its issue of May 9, 1879, it had this +to say: "We rather rejoiced at a movement which will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> bring about a +better understanding and teach both races a lesson they ought to learn. +To the Negro it is simply a question as to whether he will be better off +there or here. If there, he ought to go; if here, he ought to stay; and +this simple economic proposition will settle it."</p> + +<p>This, the sentiment of the best Southern thought, encountered an adverse +which, while unwilling to grant the Negro the right of an American +citizen, maltreated and imprisoned immigrant agents; desiring his +retention in a specious of serfdom. Such being the conditions existing +at the time of the meeting of the Nashville Conference in 1879, induced +it by resolution to request Senator Windom, Chairman of the National +Executive Committee, to appoint a committee to visit the Western States +to ascertain what inducement they offered for immigration.</p> + +<p>In pursuance whereof I received the following, containing words of +wisdom warranting their insertion here:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"United States Senate,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">"Washington, D. C., Jan. 10, 1879.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My Dear Sir: In compliance with the resolution of the +Nashville Convention requesting me, as Chairman of the National +Executive Committee, to appoint a committee of three to visit +Western States and Territories and report, not later than the +1st of November, upon the health, climate, and productions of +said States and Territories,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> I have the honor to designate you +as one of the number of said committee. In doing so I may add +that the duty involves great labor and responsibility on your +part and requires the exercise of that sound discretion for +which you are noted among your friends. The exodus of the +colored people involves the greatest consequences to themselves +and should only be undertaken after the most careful inquiry +and preparation. If judiciously guided and regulated, I am +thoroughly convinced that it will result in great good. If not +so regulated, it may cause incalculable suffering to the +colored race, and work great injury to the industrial interest +of the South. If the Negro can have fair treatment as a citizen +and a man in his present home, he will probably not care to +remove. If he cannot obtain such treatment there, it is his +right and duty to secure it by every means in his power, and no +one has the right to say he may not change his residence at his +own will and pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Your proposed inquiry will contribute much to inform and +control the action of those who may desire to emigrate and your +discretion gives the best assurance that no rash action will be +advisable. I regret the committee has no funds at command to +pay your necessary traveling expenses.</p> + +<p>"Hon. James P. Rapier, Member of Congress, of Montgomery, +Alabama, I have also designated as a member of said committee,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +but I am not sufficiently advised to name the third member.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Very respectfully yours,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">(Signed.) "WM. WINDOM,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"Chairman.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Mifflin W. Gibbs, Little Rock, Ark."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It often happens that distance lends enchantment to the view; that while +contending with hardship, disappointment, and earnest toil, we are apt +to imagine that at some far locality, amid new surroundings, there +abides a reign of contentment and happiness, where labor has its highest +rewards and where there is a minimum of those trials inseparable from +human existence. The gratification of this migratory impulse has in many +instances proved disastrous, the yielding to which should be only +indulged after every possible effort has been made to remove local +obstacles by uprightness, softening animosities, and by industry +accumulate wealth. But emigrants have been illustrious as nation +builders, their indomitable spirit blessing mankind and leaving impress +on the scroll of time. The bump on the head of the Negro that the +phrenologists call "inhabitiveness" is very prominent; he is not +naturally migratory—"content to bear the ills he has, than fly to those +he knows not of." Hence there appeared reason, if not entire "method in +his madness."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 476px;"> +<img src="images/gs20.jpg" width="476" height="600" alt="HON. JOHN P. GREEN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JOHN P. GREEN.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">United States Stamp Agent.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p class="center">Educated at Cleveland, Ohio—A Leading Member of the Bar—Twice +Elected to the Senate of the Ohio Legislature.</p></div> + +<p>In all movements of like character there are always conflicting rumors +and reports as to success or failure of the benefit or loss of the +venture, and this was no exception. Colored immigrants to the number of +10,000 had left the South during a brief period, and the wildest rumors +circulated as to reception and success of these forerunners, and, as bad +news is ever alert, much was heard that was discouraging and demanded +investigation; hence the action of the Nashville Conference referred to. +In pursuance of our appointment, J. T. Rapier and myself, in August, +1879, went to Topeka, Kan., and from there, chiefly by wagon travel, +visited different colonies of the immigrants. Kansas had received seven +or eight thousand. At Topeka we found nearly 100 at immigrant camp +receiving rations, some sick, others looking for work; the balance had +settled on lands or had found work as laborers. At Dunlop we found a +colony of 300 families settled upon 20,000 acres of land. In Wabunsee +County 230 families had settled on their land, while in Lawrence and +other counties hundreds had found work. Mechanics receiving $2 to $2.25 +per day and farm hands $13 to $15 per month and board. We found women in +great demand for house servants from $6 to $8 per month.</p> + +<p>In our interviews with the colonists we found the list and nature of +their grievances were the same as have impelled men in all ages to +endeavor to better their condition, and should five or ten thousand, +for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> a period, annually leave the South and settle in Western States and +Territories, the effect would be mutually beneficial to whites and +blacks alike. In Emporia we found the colony in a very prosperous state. +Out of 120 families one-half owned their houses and land on which they +lived. We remained twenty days in Kansas and had not opportunity to +visit Indiana and other States that had received immigrants. But the +information we received, with few exceptions, was similar to that of +those visited. There had been suffering and destitution in some +localities during the past winter; that was to be expected, as many had +come wholly unprepared and without that push and ready adaptation to the +status of a new country.</p> + +<p>We made an extended report to Senator Windom, which contained data as to +the success and prosperity of the many and advice to the moneyless to +avoid the suffering which might lie in wait.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>In 1877 I was appointed by the President Register of the United States +Land Office for the Little Rock District of Arkansas. The State was +blessed with a valuable patrimony, by having at the time of its +admission into the Union an extensive area of agricultural, besides +thousands of acres of swamp, school and other lands, under State control +and disposition. The United States Government had reserved many millions +of acres, which under its homestead law became available for applicants +for 40, 80, or 160 acres. No economy of the Government has been more +fruitful in substantial blessing upon the industrious poor than throwing +open these lands for entrance and ownership of homes by the payment of a +nominal fee for recording and proof of actual settlement thereon.</p> + +<p>The renowned and lamented Robert J. Ingersoll, once, while extolling the +benignity and patriotic effect of the homestead law, said: "Who do you +suppose would take up arms to defend a boarding house?" The opportunity +to enjoy the ownership of a home strongly appeals, not alone to our +avarice, but to the instincts of our nature. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> here is located the +citadel of our hopes and fears, our joys and griefs; here congregated +are ties the most sacred, and a love devoted. It is the ever-burning +light, the steady heat-giving impulse, and inspiration to deeds of +domestic utility or of noble daring. For its protection the heart leaps +and the arm strikes. Hence, for domestic felicity, or national autonomy, +the home is an experience, and for liberty a conservator. Having these +convictions during my 12 years' service in the Land Office as Register +and afterwards as Receiver of Public Moneys, I was earnest in my +endeavor to have the poor of all classes enter these lands. On the +political stump at every election, while having as my mission the +political ascendancy of my party, I always felt it a duty to dwell +impressively upon that theme. Upon asking all those living on their own +lands to hold up their hands, the gleam of pride on the countenances of +many of my colored auditors as, standing tiptoe, with hands at arms' +length, was shared by me, and a stimulus to the luke-warm, for on +subsequent visits I would find an increase of holdings.</p> + +<p>For the Negro ownership of land and home is not only an important +factor, in his domestic life, for as taxpayer, there is a mutuality of +interest between himself and other members of the body politic, business +and trade seek him, it impels reverence for the law, and protection of +the public peace. His own liability to outrage becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> small. His +character for credit increases in the ratio of his holdings, and while +manhood suffrage is the professed but often disavowed legacy for all +born beneath the flag, his rights of citizenship are more often +accorded.</p> + +<p>While in the Land Service of the United States there were many examples +of heroic conduct by colored settlers worthy of the highest praise. Many +of them, emigrants from other Southern States, seeking better +conditions, and arriving with barely sufficient to pay entrance fee, and +nothing to sustain them in their fight with nature to clear their +heavily-wooded land and fit it for cultivation. Hiring to others for +brief spells, as necessity compelled them, to obtain small stocks of +food and tools, five years after entrance, when they proved up their +holdings and got their deeds, found them in comfortable log or frame +houses of two or more rooms; sheds, with a cow, calves, swine, and +poultry, and ten or more acres under cultivation, according to the +number and availability of labor in their families. And, best of all, +better than the mere knowledge of success, themselves crowned with that +pride of great achievement ever and only the result of rigid self-denial +and incessant toil.</p> + +<p>In the National Republican Convention held at Chicago, June, 1880, was a +contest that will be ever memorable as pertaining to a third term for +the Presidency.</p> + +<p>Landing at San Francisco, September, 1879, from his tour of two years +around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> the world, and the honored guest of the crowned heads of Europe, +General Grant's travel through the States was a continued ovation. On +his arrival at Little Rock, Ark., citizens from all over the State +hastened to do him honor, culminating with a banquet at the Capitol +Hotel. The gathering was democratic in the best sense of that word, +political lines were erased, Republicans and Democrats vieing with each +other in giving the distinguished man a fitting reception. Nor were +social lines adhered to, the writer being a guest and responding to the +toast "The Possibilities of American Citizenship."</p> + +<p>At the Arkansas Republican State Convention in 1880 I was elected a +delegate to the National Convention of June 2 of that year. As a memento +I highly prize my bronze medal proclaiming me as one of the historic +"306" that never surrendered—compact and erect, "with every gun shotted +and every banner flying," went down with General Grant in an +unsuccessful effort to nominate him for a third term. It was there that +Roscoe Conkling made the nominating speech in behalf of the General that +will live in history, stirring the hearts of the immense audience to a +climax of patriotic fervor. When he said, "Should you ask from whence he +comes, the answer it shall be, He comes from Appomattox and the famous +apple tree."</p> + +<p>The fiat of the Convention was an illustration of the ephemeral +character of cotemporary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> popular acclaim. Ambitious rivalry, the +anticipations of envy, the bitterness of disappointed office seekers +during two former Administrations, the honest belief of the timid that a +third term for one soever trustworthy presaged and paved the way to an +imperial monarchy; the mistakes unavoidable from misplaced confidence, +happening in the career of all men and inseparable in the administration +of government—all these elements, although incongruous in their nature +and make-up, when they conspire are a formidable factor, and as such +accomplished his defeat. Though dead, Ulysses Grant still lives on; the +attributes of his personal nobility as a man, his patriotism as a +citizen of the Republic, his ability and clear perspective as a +statesman, his genius as a warrior, his magnanimity and kindness to a +chivalrous, heroic but fallen foe, will ever typify his greatness in +civic virtues and valiant deeds.</p> + +<p>The manner of General Grant's defeat was peculiar. The name of James A. +Garfield, the successful nominee, and in political parlance the "dark +horse" (undoubtedly foreplanned but kept in the shade), was suddenly +sprung upon the Convention and amid a whirlwind of excitement quickly +received adherents from the opposition which increased in volume at each +successive balloting, until the climax was reached that gave General +Garfield the coveted prize. For some time there was much bitterness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +and interchange of compliments more emphatic than polite. Within the +party charges of infidelity to promises were rife. But the second sober +thought of a wise conservatism, which is ever evidence and measure of a +people's civilization, tempered strife and assuaged the pangs of +disappointment. He was handsomely supported and elected, and on the 4th +of March, 1881, was inaugurated as President, amid acclaim, with promise +of a successful Administration. But upon what a slender thread do human +plans rely! Scarcely had five months elapsed when President Garfield was +assassinated by Charles Guiteau, a man of no repute, and emblems of +sorrow drooped throughout the nation. This national calamity +necessitated the second inauguration of a President during the year +1881. The then Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur, was duly installed +September 30 of that year. His execution of the duties of that high +office, assumed under conditions intricate and most trying, disarmed +criticism by its wisdom and ability.</p> + +<p>When a prospective candidate for re-election in 1884 the press of New +York, having solicited expressions of fitness from delegates to the last +National Convention, I was pleased with the opportunity to make this +small contribution.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i20">Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 1, 1884.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dear Sir:<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I but voice the sentiment of the country when I say that I consider the +Administration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> of President Arthur has been signalized by its justice, +eminent statesmanship and wise discretion."</p> + +<p>Such was the tenor of mention, but much more pronounced, by men of the +party, and Mr. Arthur's nomination previous to the assembling of the +next Presidential Convention seemed a foregone conclusion.</p> + +<p>Nothing I can write will fittingly describe the personnel of James G. +Blaine, who was to be the prime feature of the Convention on nomination +day. As a man in the field of statesmanship and in intensity of +devotion, he was more idolized than any since his prototype, Henry Clay. +With political erudition was blended an eloquence inspiring and +fascinating; a nobility of character often displayed as the champion of +the weak; a disputant adept in all the mazes of analysis, denunciation, +or sarcasm, he had created antipathy as bitter as his affections were +unyielding. While Speaker of the House, with his counterpart in +eloquence, Roscoe Conkling, he had many tilts. One of the most noted and +probably far-reaching in impeding his Presidential aspirations, was his +defense of General Fry, whom Conkling sought to have impeached, but who +was successfully vindicated and afterwards promoted by the War +Department. During the struggle Conkling hurled a javelin of taunt and +invective, incisive, but thought to be unjust, inducing a response said +to have been terrific in its onslaught, confounding the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> speaker and +raising excitement in the House to the highest pitch. I transcribe an +epitome of the speech, which will be seen to have bristled with galling +ridicule: "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm, I hope he will not be +too severe. The contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting, +his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic supereminent, +overpowering turkey-gobbler strut, has been so crushing to myself and +all the members of this House that I know it was an act of the greatest +temerity for me to enter upon a controversy with him." Then, quoting +ironically a newspaper comparison of Mr. Conkling and Henry Winter +Davis, ascribing qualities held by them in common, he proceeded: "The +resemblance is great, and it has given his strut additional pomposity. +The resemblance is great, it is striking—Hyperion to a satyr; Thersites +to Hercules; mud to marble; dunghill to diamond; a singed cat to a +Bengal tiger; a whining puppy to a roaring lion. Shade of the mighty +Davis, forgive the almost profanation of that jocose satire!"</p> + +<p>But James G. Blaine, that master of diplomacy and magnetic fame, with an +astute following inspired and wild with gilded promises; the nominating +speech of Robert J. Ingersoll, prince of orators, lauding the nominee as +"like a mailed warrior, like a plumed knight"—all these forces +contributed to turn the tide from Arthur and give him the nomination. I +was one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> of a lonely three of the Arkansas delegation that stood by the +State's instructions and voted for Arthur, nine of the delegation voting +for Blaine. For obeying the State and not the after conclusion of the +delegation, in my next race for a delegate I was "left at the stand."</p> + +<p>My failure reminded me of the boy—a humble imitator of the great George +Washington—who hacked to death a choice tree. When asked who did it, +jolly, gushing and truthful, said, "I did it, pap." The old man seized +and gathered him, stopping the whipping occasionally to get breath and +wipe off the perspiration, would remark: "And had der imperdence to +confess it." The boy, when finally released, between sobs sought solace +by saying, "I will never tell the truth again as long as I live." I did +not conclude that one should be false to an implied promise with +instructions received, but I was impressed with the conviction that it +is unwise to trammel a delegation with decisive instructions. A general +expression of the feeling or bias of the State Convention is proper, but +so much can happen during the interim to change conditions that ultimate +action should be largely left to the judgment and integrity of the +delegation.</p> + +<p>The manner of choosing a President is entirely different from that +designed by the founders of the republic. The selection of candidates by +an organized party was not anticipated. It was intended that men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> of +high character should be chosen by the citizens of each State as +electors, and they should select the men they deemed most fit to be +President, and the selection thereafter ratified by the vote of the +people. An elector now is but the mouthpiece of his party; no matter +what may be his individual judgment, he dare not disregard its fiat. The +result of the national election was the defeat of Mr. Blaine and the +election of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland +had an independent personality and the courage of his convictions. +Affable and cordial in his intercourse with Afro-Americans, and to those +of his political household was prodigal in the bestowal of appointments. +The effect of this was that many colored men, leaders of thought and +race action, not seeing an increase of oppression, so freely predicted +in the event of a Democratic President, advocated a division of the +colored vote, with a view of harmonizing feeling and mutual benefit. A +welcoming of that approach in the South may be deferred, but will yet be +solicited, despite its present disloyalty to the fourteenth and +fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>The closing decade of the past century was conspicuous for exhibitions +of products of nature and skill intended to stimulate a country's +consumption, but mainly to increase exportation; for a nation, not +unlike an individual, that buys more than its resources warrant, +bankruptcy is inevitable. Hence the industrial struggle of all +progressive nations to produce more than they consume, export the +residue and thereby add to the national wealth.</p> + +<p>The United States not only excels in the magnitude of natural +productions, but in skill in manufacturing articles. The vast stretch of +agricultural lands for natural products, superiority of mechanical +appliance, and the expertness of American workmen herald the supremacy +of the United States for quantity, quality and celerity. For Yankee +ingenuity has not only invented a needed article, but has invented a +"thing to make the thing."</p> + +<p>National and State expositions for the extension of American commerce +and development of State undertakings have been marked features of +American enterprise, creating a national fraternity, and stimulating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +domestic industries. While the financial motive is ever in the forefront +and the impetus that gives it "a habitation and a name," the moral +effect is the reflex influence of contact, the interchange of fraternal +amenities that ripen and become helpful for the world's peace, progress +and civilization. At the present time Consuls of our Government inform +the State Department that agents of American manufacturers of steel, +electric apparatus, city railroads and improvements in machinery are in +evidence in Europe to an extent hitherto unknown. The directors of the +World's Exposition held at New Orleans, La., in 1884, gave a pressing +invitation to Afro-Americans to furnish exhibits of their production +from farm, shop and home. The late B. K. Bruce, having been created +Chief Director, appointed commissioners for the various States to +solicit and obtain the best specimens of handicraft in their respective +localities for "The Department of Colored Exhibits," and to which the +following refers:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Washington, D. C., Aug. 13, 1884.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Hon. M. W. Gibbs,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i12">Little Rock, Ark.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dear Sir:<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>By virtue of authority vested in me as Chief Director of the Department +of Colored Exhibits of the World's Exposition, I have nominated you for +Honorary Commissioner for the State of Arkansas. It is unnecessary for +me at this time to make any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> suggestions relative to the importance of +managing this business in a manner that will reflect credit on all +immediately concerned and our people in general further than to say that +my heart is thoroughly in the work. I will communicate with you from +time to time, after being advised of your acceptance, giving necessary +information and instructions.</p> + +<p>Hoping that you will undertake the fulfillment of the trust, I am,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Very respectfully and truly yours,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i22">B. K. BRUCE,<br /></span> +<span class="i19">Chief Director.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I therefore accepted, and proceeded to canvass my State urging the great +opportunity offered to show our progress in industry and culture, on the +fields of nature or within the realms of art. The movement was a novel +one, and the leading colored men and women in the different sections of +the State had much to do to awaken the interest that resulted in a very +commendable showing.</p> + +<p>One of the specialties of these expositions was what was designated as +"Emancipation Day," or colored people's day, for the two-fold purpose of +directing the attention of the general public to race advancement, and +inducing a larger attendance of the class directly concerned, and +thereby stimulate race pride for greater achievements. With some of our +brethren this appointment of a particular day seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> derogatory to +their claim of recognition and equality of citizenship, and evoked +considerable discussion. In this I thought some of us were unduly +sensitive. Where intention can be ascertained it should largely govern +our estimate of human action. This exposition was not only open each and +every day to our people, but we were constantly invited, and the few who +attended were most cordially treated and our exhibits were properly +placed without distinction.</p> + +<p>The directors of the exposition were gentlemen known to be most liberal +in their dealings with us, and regretted the small attendance, remarking +that aside from our patronage, the exhibits would be beneficial as +object lessons, educating and inspiring, and proposed a +day—"Colored-People's Day." It was not unlike in design and effect +"Emancipation Day" at the Minneapolis Exposition, where noted colored +leaders from various States attended and spoke, and were not impressed +that it was derogatory to the race.</p> + +<p>We have a deal of "gush" about recognition. A demand for +recognition presupposes a rightful claim based upon an inherent +interest—deportment, special fitness, or legal right. In politics we +rightfully claim recognition in the ratio of our numerical contribution +to the body politic, and from public carriers, for the reason of +performance of our part of the contract.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 470px;"> +<img src="images/gs21.jpg" width="470" height="600" alt="PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in 1872 at Dayton, Ohio—Author and Poet—The Foremost of +his Race for Versatility in the Field of Literature—His Poetry +and Prose are Read in Every Clime Where Men Love Truth and +Nature the More For Being Clothed in Beauty of Diction, or +Quaintness of Dialect—He has Published a Number of Books.</p></div> + +<p>In our demand for a more extended recognition on these material lines, +we should first remember that our contributions are generally meager, +and that these exhibitions are quite the product of the business +ventures and expenditure of our "brother in white," and then brace up +and thank Providence that excessive modesty will never "strike in" and +kill the Negro. We have the men, the money and the ability to do much, +very much more, on many business lines that are now almost exclusively +followed by our more prosperous fellow-citizens. No man in our country +need beg for recognition; he can compel it if he labors assiduously and +takes advantage of opportunity. It can be truly said of Little Rock that +the press and leading citizens have been more just and liberal to her +colored citizens than any other Southern city. I well remember when her +institutions relating to commerce, literature, professions, Board of +Trade, Real Estate Exchange, bar and lyceum were open to us, whilst +two-thirds of their members were our political opponents. These required +but a moderate yearly outlay, repaying, largely, in the amount of +information received. Scarcely any availed themselves of these +opportunities. If for any reason we do not wish to profit by these +overtures, when these trees bear let us not insist upon receiving the +choicest of the fruit.</p> + +<p>At an indignation mass meeting some time ago a good brother reached the +climax of the grievance and then exclaimed:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How long, O Lord, are we to bear these discriminations?"</p> + +<p>"For some time longer," I answered, and then said: "All things +considered, we are making progress, and will continue in the ratio we +obtain education and wealth, and come forward in the incipiency of +public enterprises with our money and practical knowledge from the best +possible sources; and, although race identity still exists, the +antagonisms and much of the prejudice of which we now complain will be +buried under higher activities and greater enterprises—when we have +more bank and railroad stock, fewer high-sounding societies, such as +"The Seventeen Stars of the Consolidation," "The Rising, Persevering +Free Sons of Joshua"; more landlords and fewer tenants, more owners of +plantations and fewer share-workers, more merchants and fewer dudes, +more piety and less religion, more economy and less wastefulness, more +confidence and less envy. I simply rise to submit these as irresistible +claims to a higher recognition." I succeeded in making my escape, for +which I was thankful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>Previous to the exposition at New Orleans in 1885, Mr. Henry Brown, of +Oberlin, Ohio, visited the Southern States to obtain information as to +the views and desire of leading colored men regarding the establishment +of "Schools of Trade" in the South where the race could become +proficient in all the mechanical arts. He came at the suggestion of +philanthropic men of capital in Northern States, who thought by such +special means colored men and women could have an opportunity to equip +themselves with handicraft, denied them by the trades unions and other +influences in the country.</p> + +<p>On his presentation of the project in Little Rock, it being so +completely in line with my view of a factor so important for the +uplifting of the race to a higher manhood and financial standing, I +eagerly co-operated. It was determined to take advantage of the +attraction of the exposition at New Orleans, issue a call for a +conference at that point, and thereby have a representative gathering to +obtain their views. I therefore proposed, had printed and issued the +following:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>CALL FOR A CONFERENCE ON "SCHOOLS OF TRADE."</h4> + +<p>"Emancipated, turned loose, poor, ignorant and houseless, continually +surrounded by difficulties and embarrassments sufficient to appall and +retard, by commendable effort on their part, sustained by the generous +aid of philanthropists friendly to education, our race in the South has +made gratifying advance, mentally and morally. But with this progress of +mind and morals, we are confronted with the need of opportunity to +qualify ourselves for those activities and industries necessary to make +a people prosperous and happy. Our great want now is 'cunning hands' to +accompany cultured brains. After obtaining the benefit of our public +schools our boys should be fitted for some useful and profitable means +of livelihood. The restrictions engendered by trades unions, and the +obstacles of race prejudice concur to make it impossible for them to +obtain trades in the workshops of the country. Therefore, we need +industrial schools where our youth can qualify in the various mechanical +pursuits and thereby ennoble themselves, and add value to the State. For +the establishment of these "schools of trade" we require a united effort +and should make earnest appeal to the philanthropy of the nation.</p> + +<p>"In view of this vital necessity the undersigned do hereby call a +conference, without distinction, of delegates appointed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> mass +meetings in cities and counties; presiding officers of colleges, +principals of schools, bishops, and leading ministers; editors and +publishers friendly to the movement are also invited to meet at New +Orleans, La., January 15, 1885, for expression on this subject. Signed,</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"M. W. Gibbs, Little Rock, Ark.; Hon. J. C. Napier, Nashville, +Tenn.; A. De Pose, New Orleans, La.; Hon. J. C. Clousen, +Charleston, S. C.; Rev. B. F. Tanner, Philadelphia, Pa.; Joseph +Carey, Galveston, Tex.; H. C. Smith, Cleveland, Ohio; W. G. +Simmons, Louisville, Ky.; Peter H. Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio; +Hon. B. K. Bruce, Washington, D. C.; P. A. Bell, San Francisco, +Cal.; J. W. Cromwell, Washington, D. C.; J. Henri Herbert, +Trenton, N. J.; Hon. Henry Demas, New Orleans, La.; Rev. E. +Lee, Jacksonville, Fla.; W. H. Russell, Indianapolis, Ind.; F. +L. Barnett, Chicago, Ill.; A. H. Grimke, Boston, Mass.; E. N. +Overall, Omaha, Neb.; H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.; Hon. James +Lewis, New Orleans, La.; John S. Leary, Fayettville, N. C.; +Hon. Fred Douglass, Washington, D. C.; T. Thomas Fortune, New +York; Rev. M. Van Horn, Newport, R. I.; Lloyd G. Wheeler, +Chicago, Ill.; J. W. Birney, La Crosse, Wis.; M. M. McLeod, +Jackson, Miss.; George T. Downing, Newport, R. I.; D. Augustus +Straker, Columbia, S. C.; Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, New Orleans, +La.; Peter Joseph, Mobile, Ala.; H. O.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Wagner, Denver, Colo.; +Hon. W. A. Pledger, Atlanta, Ga.; H. Fitzbutler, Louisville, +Ky.; J. L. Walker, Atchison, Kan.; E. P. Wade, St. Paul, Minn.; +F. G. Barbadoes, Washington, D. C."</p></div> + +<p>As a duty, mingled with pleasure, by this humble means I reproduce a +record of the names of men who in the last century were intent upon +every occasion to promote the welfare of the race, many of whom were +conspicuous in their battle for justice and the betterment of their +fellow man, thus fitting themselves for harmonies of a higher clime, +have now "quiet sleep within the grave," while with the residue "life's +shadows are meeting" and will ere long "be lost to sight," with, let us +hope, their memory only dimmed by greater activity and deeper +consecration by their successors for the ideals they cherished. Ever +loyal, we should not—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Rob the dead of their sweet heritage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Their myrrh, their wine, their sheet of lead and trophies buried"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>but—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Go get them where they got them, when alive,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And as resolutely dig or dive."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 479px;"> +<img src="images/gs22.jpg" width="479" height="600" alt="BLANCHE K. BRUCE, + +Late United States Senator, Register of the United States Treasury." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BLANCHE K. BRUCE, + +Late United States Senator, Register of the United States Treasury.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born a Slave in 1841 in Virginia—Studied at +Oberlin—Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate of Mississippi—Elected +United States Senator in 1874—President Garfield Appointed Him +Register of the Treasury May, 1881—A Record Honorable and +Inspiring.</p></div> + +<p>With the departed was Hon. B. K. Bruce, who, living to manhood under the +blighting influences of slavery, by honesty, native ability and +persevering study, placed his name in the forefront, leaving his career +as a model. With an astuteness of perception for the retention of +friends, he had suavity of manner for the palliation of foes; with +diligence and faithfulness winning a constituency that honored him with +a seat in the United States Senate.</p> + +<p>The conference called at New Orleans, La., to promote industrial +education, above referred to, failed to be fruitful. Members of +different religious organizations, without suggestion that their +particular sect would furnish a modicum of the large expenditure +necessary to the establishment of such "schools of trade," strove to +have the movement inaugurated, and launched under some particular +denominational control.</p> + +<p>Mr. Brown, whose only object in desiring to have a conference, was to +elicit an expression from leading colored men, an earnest desire for +such "schools of trade," and helpful suggestions, looked on the needless +strife with amazement and regret, and finally determined, as unity of +purpose and a proper conception of what was needed were so sadly +lacking, to abandon such an instrumentality to favor his purpose.</p> + +<p>It can be properly noted here that among the many helpful signs of race +advancement not the least is a broader fraternalization of our religious +bodies, an increasing tolerance, indicative of greater intelligence, the +product of a more widely discriminated educated ministry. Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> churches, +being our largest organizations numerically (and greatest of moral +educators), having the ear of the masses, their opportunity and growing +disposition to unite for the material as well as the spiritual progress +of our people, cannot be too highly commended.</p> + +<p>Industrial fairs, promulgated and held by the colored people in +different Southern States, have been exceedingly beneficial and cannot +be too often repeated. Several have occurred at Pine Bluff, Ark., on the +extensive race and fair grounds owned by Mr. Wiley Jones, who, with Dr. +J. H. Smith, Ferdinand Havis and other prominent colored men of the +State, by executive ability, tact and judgment made them a success.</p> + +<p>The following notice is from a correspondent of the Arkansas Gazette:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">"Pine Bluff, Ark., Oct. 21, 1886.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This, the third day, of the fair was sunny and bright, and the +hearts of the management were correspondingly light. Even +before the gates were open a long array of teams were seeking +admission. The executive officers were early at their posts and +no time was lost in beginning the exercises of the day. +President J. H. Smith won golden opinions by the pleasant yet +firm manner he performed his duties. This morning the Capital +Guards were formally received by the Colored Industrial +Association.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Judge Gibbs, of Little Rock, delivered the welcome address, +which was a very eloquent and scholarly effort.</p> + +<p>"He first praised the directors of the fair for their wonderful +success, and said it argues well for the future of the colored +people in that they have had extended such cordial support; +that nations were influential in the ratio of their +agricultural and mechanical development, and that the array of +production here made proclaimed in hopeful tones that 'we are +coming.'</p> + +<p>"He recognized in the formation of the Capital Guards a hopeful +omen. Drill develops precision and accuracy, aside from +physical development; discipline is invaluable in inculcating +the idea of subordination, without which no constitutional +government can long exist. Even if they never come within the +reach of fiery shot and shell, they would be benefited, and if +war's stern summons swept over the land, he felt confident that +no more ready response would be made by any class than by the +Negro."</p></div> + +<p>Captain Thompson responded in behalf of his company, and alluded to the +whole-souled hospitality that had been bestowed upon them by the +authorities of the fair and the citizens generally. The Press +Association had by their speeches proclaimed that the "pen was mightier +than the sword," which he denied; "that the independence of this country +from the thraldom of England was won by Washington's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> sword, and that +Lincoln's pen only became effective after the sword had paved the way. +It was a recognized arbiter in the disputes of nations, although the pen +could render secure what the sword had won." The Captain put his company +through several evolutions that were very creditably performed.</p> + +<p>In affairs of this character the comingling of the substantial and best +element of the white race, their liberal subscriptions and fraternal +endeavor, give impetus and valuable assistance, emphasizing the fact +along the lines of a higher industrial advancement that they are in +hearty sympathy. We cannot too often have these object evidences of our +progress. They speak loud and convincing far beyond oral announcement +the most eloquent. It stimulates the farmer to extra exertion and more +careful measures for increase of quality and quantity of his crop; it +inspires the artisan and mechanic for his best handiwork, and welcomes +articles the product of our cultured and refined women from the realms +of the home. We need this continued stimulus, shut out as we are from +most of the higher industries, the incentive born of contact, and which +promotes rivalry, to us is denied; hence our inspiration must be inborn +and unceasing.</p> + +<p>In the economy of God and nature, His handiwork, prominent is "the +survival of the fittest." The fittest survive because they excel. +Whether within the student's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> study or the mechanic's bench, it is +excellence that counts and heralds its own superiority. If we desire not +only the best personal success, but to be helpful to the race, it is not +enough for one to be known as doctor, lawyer, mechanic, or planter; but +it is upon what round of the ladder of science mechanics or agriculture +he stands. Is he above mediocrity; does he excel? The affirmative answer +to this is the heroic offspring of self-denial and unceasing mental +toil.</p> + +<p>A feature of attraction at these fairs has been the drill and martial +bearing of our military companies, for while jubilant in the "pride and +pomp and circumstance of glorious war," the measure of praise for +precision of manouver of the soldier is only excelled by commendation +for his bravery in action. The colored citizen took quiet pride and much +interest in these companies and were saddened when many were commanded +by the State authorities to disband. The motives which conspired and +demanded their dissolution were not commendable, but ungrateful, for the +Negro soldier in every war of the Republic has been valorous, loyal, and +self-denying, and has abundantly earned a reputation for discipline and +obedience to every military requirement.</p> + +<p>The organization of these companies, furnished with State arms, +authorized and under the patronage of the government of many of the +Southern States, created an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> "esprit d'corps," a fellowship and worthy +ambition conducive to harmony and the general welfare.</p> + +<p>Political friction, no doubt, had much to do with their displacement. +But now the Democracy, so long in power, with majorities in many of +these States almost cumbersome, could well afford to allow and patronize +these conservators for peace and efficient protectors in war, who are +ever ready to say, as Jehu to Jonahab, "Is thy heart right, as my heart +is with thine heart? If it be, give me thine hand."</p> + +<p>Previous to a Presidential campaign I attended a meeting of leading +colored Republicans at New Orleans, La. It was not called as a strictly +political conference in the interest of any particular candidate, but to +exchange views and hear suggestions relating to pending legislation in +Mississippi and South Carolina for curtailing, if not abolishing Negro +suffrage in those States. Although the political condition of the Negro +was then and continues to be of such moment that at no intelligent +gathering will it fail to "bob up" and demand a hearing, and this was no +exception. While the claims of Reed, Morton, Allison, Harrison, and +McKinley were freely discussed, the suffrage was the leading topic.</p> + +<p>Prominent among the attendants were T. T. Fortune, of New York; N. W. +Cuney and E. J. Scott, of Texas; W. A. Pledger and H. E. Johnson, of +Georgia; P. B. S. Pinchback, James Lewis, and J. Madison Vance, of +Louisiana; Stevens, of Alabama; Stevens, of Louisville, Ky.; E. Fortune, +of Florida; C. W. Anderson, of New York, and others.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 471px;"> +<img src="images/gs23.jpg" width="471" height="594" alt="TIMOTHY T FORTUNE. + +Editor and Publisher of "New York Age."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TIMOTHY T FORTUNE.<br /> + +Editor and Publisher of "New York Age."</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Jackson County, Florida, October 6, 1856—Polished and +Able—On the Staff of the White Press at Metropolitan +Centers—The Most Aggressive and Trenchant Writer of the Negro +Press.</p></div> + +<p>The late N. W. Cuney, of Texas, was a man of commanding presence, +forceful and emphatic as a speaker; honest, tireless and +self-sacrificing. His sterling qualities as a leader of men grows +brighter as time recedes from his demise.</p> + +<p>Fearless in enunciation, the timid thought him impractical. But there is +ever this concerning unpopular truth: When it induces honest thought +that burns to be spoken, you can depend it is not confined to a single +possessor; it has habitation in many hearts. But he alone is the "leader +of leaders," who, with Eolian harp or trumpet call summons its +worshipers. Among matters discussed was the charge that Negro +delegations were a marketable commodity, with no convictions as to +national policy, no regard for manly probity, and were ever at the beck +of the highest purchaser in the political market. Such a sweeping charge +is most unjust; but, if granted, the admission cuts deeply in the +opposite direction, requiring no analysis to discover the preponderance +of venality. It may happen between the receiver of stolen goods and the +thief that impulse to steal is sometimes weakened by uncertainty of +market. The Negro delegate has no market to seek; the market is jammed +under his nose at every turn by immaculate white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> men, often entrusted +with large sums to be placed "where it will do the most good," report to +those interested the purchase of Negro votes, when such was not the +fact. Satisfied they had placed it where it would do them the most good, +by allowing it to rest in their pockets, this was not only hard on the +Negro, but mean to charge him up with it, then not let him have it. To +say there were no colored men susceptible to such advances would be as +idle as to say there were no white men thereby influenced; but in either +case let us hope it was the exception and not the rule.</p> + +<p>Conferences for statement and appeal for removing harsh conditions are +historic, ante-dating and creating constitutional government; for, +implanted in the hearts is a consciousness of right, however much +selfish hate may shut out recognition, or avarice stifle its egress, and +the measure of accord granted just claims of the petitioner is the moral +and Christian status of a commonwealth.</p> + +<p>It may be noted here that the character of accord given the Negro in his +now severe battle for justice and equality before the law by the +Christian churches and other organizations is of a peculiar kind. While +the benefactions for moral and Christian education is to him +indispensable, it is not the kind most prominent and effectually +practiced by the Divine Master to dissipate wrong. He forbids the cry of +peace when there is no peace. He was aggressive and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> distinct. The +peculiarity of accord can be accounted for in this, that it is so much +easier for the well-to-do Christian to donate to the Negro than by word +or pen to denounce the wrongs to which he is subject. Wrong smiles +complacently at any mode save direct attack. It is not in silent +acquiescence, but on the forum of agitation and denouncement, that +reform finds lodgment, so sadly needed in many of the States where he is +the victim of lawlessness and murder, his ballot suppressed, and denied +representation. The partiality and indecent haste with which he is tried +and almost invariably sent to the penitentiary, where as convict he +receives the most barbarous treatment. As a people no one denies that +they are law-abiding; as laborers in all the avenues of industry in +which they are capable they are faithful and honest: as patriots at the +incipiency and duration of the Government they have been faithful and +brave. If, then, in the roll of patriots, citizens and producers, they +have maintained character for fidelity, deportment and industry, surely +they can rightly claim and demand as citizens of the Republic protection +from outrage, justice in the courts and in every way equality before the +law. They ask for nothing more, and would be unworthy to be content with +any less.</p> + +<p>The cry of "Negro domination," like the "baseless fabric of a vision," +has as little foundation. The problem to be solved is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> not what is or +shall be the status of the colored man born beneath the flag, but +whether the forces of Christian civilization, the genius and spirit of +our Government, impartiality in the execution of law, without let or +hindrance, are equal to the performance of their missions, or are only +"sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." That is the problem for our white +fellow-citizens to solve. That which most troubles the Negro is has the +nation sufficient Christianity and regard for justice to allow these +forces to prevail? The assumption that citizens of a common country +cannot live together in amity is false, denying as it does that lawful +citizenship is the panoply and bulwark of him who attains it, that +should vindicate and shield him, whether he be high or low, at home or +abroad, whenever or wherever his civil rights are invaded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<p>Never in the history of conventions was there recorded such evidence of +unswerving fidelity by an equal number to the nominee of their choice as +that shown at the National Convention in 1880, when General Grant's name +was before the assembly. Ordinarily when a leader is nominated for +ballot his supporter's are faithful as long as his prospects are +inviting, but at the first evidence of decadence no flock of partridges +scamper more readily to find cover. For years his birthday has been +celebrated by a reunion of the 306 who, from the first to the last of +sounding of the 36th ballot, stood with ranks solidly closed and courage +undaunted. At such a reunion at Philadelphia, in 1893, eighty were +present, and with speech, reminiscence and good cheer "a feast of reason +and a flow of soul," time sped "till the wee sma' hours." Of the colored +delegates, Mr. Ferdinand Havis and the writer were present.</p> + +<p>Mr. Havis, of Arkansas, "to the manor born," deserves more than mere +mention as the representative of a class in the South.</p> + +<p>He is a gentleman of fine qualities of head and heart. As a member of +the Arkansas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Legislature in 1873 and Clerk of Jefferson County for many +years, he has by honesty as an official and courtesy of manner made an +unimpeachable record, and was only dethroned "by fraud and force and +iron will." During his leadership of Jefferson County, where +three-quarters of all voters are colored, he was ever conservative and +regardful of the views and business interests of the numerically weak +but financially strong minority of Democrats, and by supporting a +compromise ticket that gave most prominence to the minority sought to +preserve harmony. But the efforts of such men have proved unavailing to +stem the tide of political usurpation, now rampant at many places in the +South.</p> + +<p>The greatest menace to representative government is not solely the +disfranchisement of the Negro, for according with the eternal verities +there cannot be a continued disregard for the ballot in his hand and +protection for his life, and respect for them in the person of the white +man. Under the genius of our Government the rights of claim and exercise +are linked and interlinked.</p> + +<p>This truth stands out in bold relief on historic page, and should the +future historian record the dismemberment of the Republic, he will +indite its decay from the commencement of the violation of this basic +principle of civil government, his being but another link in the +evidence that rapidity of material, without equality of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> moral, +advancement is ever attended with national decline.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, it is the duty (which is ever the highest policy) of the +Negro to be patriotic in his devotion to his country, manly in his +appeals for justice, and wise by discarding, by word or action, the +fomenting of strife; ever on the alert to close the breach by increase +of intelligence, moral worth and financial progress, and thus in great +measure dissipate ignorance, vice and poverty, the abolition of which +can be assisted, but not dispelled, save by a spirit of self-sacrifice +on his part, subjecting his lower nature to the control of the higher. +With such effort, united to a faith in God and the American conscience, +he will yet soften ascerbities, dispel hindrance, and stem the tide.</p> + +<p>Philanthropy may assist a man to his feet, but cannot keep him there +unaided by self-effort and an unconquerable will power to stand; while +relinquishing no part of his claim upon his white brother as recompense +for more than a century of unrequited labor, if with an equal chance for +work, education and legal protection, he cannot not only stand, but +advance, exertion in his behalf is "love's labor lost," he having no +rights worthy of respect.</p> + +<p>But in no fair mind can there exist doubt as to his advancement. A +people nine-tenths of whom 40 years ago did not legally own themselves +or property, now having 140,000 farms, homes and industries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> worth +$800,000,000; a people who, for a century previous to emancipation, were +by law forbidden to learn to read or write, now have 3,000,000 children +in 27,000 schools, and have reduced their illiteracy 45 per cent., have +school and church property to the amount of $50,000,000, contributing +themselves thereto $20,000,000; have written 300 books; have over 250 +newspapers issued each week. His comparative success as merchant, +mechanic or other line of industry which he is permitted to enter, +speaks for itself, and finally, with per capita valuation of $75. Yet, +in face of such statistical evidence, there are not wanting the +Tillmans, Morgans, Burke Cockrans and other seers of a Montgomery +convention, who, because the Negro, trammeled, as he is, does not keep +step with the immense strides of the dominant class in their wondrous +achievement, the product of a thousand years of struggle and culture, +unblushingly allege that he is relapsing into barbarism, and with an +ingratitude akin to crime, are oblivious to the fact that a large +measure of the intellectual and material status of the nation and the +cultured ability they so balefully use to retard him, are the product of +a century of his unrequited labor.</p> + +<p>The feeling that the results of the civil war have been beneficent, +harmonizing theory and practice in the autonomy of the nation is +manifest and conceded. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> growing unity of the people of our country +who 40 years ago were engaged in fraternal strife, should be a source of +pleasure and welcomed by every patriotic heart; for, while bitterness +can be assuaged, and laudable effort made to conform to new conditions, +still convictions formed and baptized in the fiery ordeal of war, blood +and material loss require fortitude, generosity and patriotism to soften +their asperity, and much kindly intercourse to promote the general +welfare. The increased desire in this direction is evidenced at each +recurring "Decoration Day," when the Blue and the Gray harmoniously +intermingle, recalling memories and incidents of the internal strife. +The soldiers of each vieing in reciprocity, as with "a union of hearts +and a union of hands" with fragrant flowers they bedeck historic sod.</p> + +<p>But will the nation remember that after all that can be said or written, +of heroic circumstance of war, or in praise of its participants, all +these bereft of humanity and justice to the weak, fail to constitute an +enduring State, for eternal and immutable is the decree that +"righteousness exalteth a nation." Relative to this intermingling of +former foes, whatever our estimate of the results of human action may +be, we cannot unerringly divine impurity of motive; hence respect for +honest conviction must be the prelude to that unity of patriotism which +is ever the safeguard to the integrity of a nation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>The spirit that impelled contributions for the erection of the +Confederate monuments in different sections of our country from donors, +irrespective of former affiliation, has been benign in its influence. In +1897 the Hon J. N. Smithea instituted a movement for such a memorial in +Little Rock, Ark., stipulating that responses should be limited to one +dollar. Impressed that our race should not be indifferent to such an +appeal, I transmitted the following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">J. N. Smithea, Editor "Gazette,"<br /></span> +<span class="i13">Little Rock, Ark.:<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I notice your effort to erect a monument to the Confederate dead. A +third of a century has elapsed since the civil war. Conviction in the +minds of the participants on either side as to who was right and who was +wrong is as firmly fixed as the eternal hills. Given, that a view of +events leading up to that fraternal strife, the bravery of the one or +heroic conduct of the other from standpoints necessarily different will +never find mutual ground for justification, it seems the mission of +patriotism and national unity to give the hand of welcome to every +effort that will unite us in all that will promote the common glory of +the Republic. As one of the representatives of a race, especially in +this southland, I cheerfully subscribe my dollar to the fund, feeling +that the Negro should joyfully hail every effort to soften animosities +which are the outgrowth of a struggle in which, unwittingly, he was so +important a factor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;"> +<img src="images/gs24.jpg" width="393" height="450" alt="WILLIAM A. PLEDGER, + +Chairman Republican State Central Committee of Georgia." title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM A. PLEDGER,<br /> + +Chairman Republican State Central Committee of Georgia.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born near Athens forty-five years ago—Has been a delegate to +every National Republican Convention for the last twenty-five +years—A leader trusted and tried.</p></div> + +<p>No one should be more anxious to cement the friendly and good offices of +our more-favored fellow-citizens, from whom we are receiving the largest +share of our educational and material assistance, so greatly needed to +bring us up to the full measure of a noble citizenship. By the +providence of God we are here, and are here to stay. We are producers of +wealth and the conservators of peace. Therefore, encourage us by the +exercise of justice and magnanimity, that we can say to you, as Ruth to +Naomi in Holy Writ: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from +following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou +lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; +where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so +to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Very truly yours, etc.,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Monuments are the mute mile stones, the connecting links between a +finished effort, and an inspiration for continued struggle. But +monuments are not created after the death of those they commemorate, +although they may seem to be; they are but memorials of the structure +already built, the solidity of whose base and symmetry of whose lines +were projected and fashioned by intensity of conviction and the +unswerving courage of their prototypes in ameliorating conditions while +they lived. Bereft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> of this, "monuments themselves memorials need."</p> + +<p>Having administered the office of Register of United States land by +appointments from Presidents Hayes and Arthur, my last service in the +Interior Department was under an appointment from President Harrison, +who, in 1889, placed me as Receiver of Public Moneys at Little Rock, +Ark., Land District. It was during this term that the Department ordered +and appointed Special Commissioners to conduct the sale of unsold lots +on the Hot Springs Reservation at auction. As one of the Commissioners +and Receiver of Public Moneys, I was required and gave a qualified bond +for $100,000 for the faithful performance of the trust, and with +Register Raleigh proceeded and discharged the duties thereto. Harrison's +term ended a career of twelve years in the land office. If in +retrospective moments amid the many beneficent things you might have +done, but left undone, you catch here and there glimpses of unselfish +ambition or benefit you have conferred, it does much to abate regret, +for the recollection to me is a source of pleasure that during those +terms by personal convass and unofficial publication I contributed in +inducing thousands of immigrants and others to homestead the virgin soil +of Arkansas, who have now good homes, comprising 40, 80 or 160 acres of +land, besides assisting them in establishing schools for their +children.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<p>In October, 1897, by telegrams from my friends, Nathaniel McKay and Dr. +Purvis, of Washington, D. C., I was informed that I had been appointed +United States Consul for the island of Madagascar.</p> + +<p>It was a surprise; for, while truth compels the admission that I was not +averse to "being taken in and done for," Madagascar had not come within +my purview; its distance had not "lent enchantment to the view." I gave +it some thought, but could not perceive that I had been so annoyingly +persistent to merit a response from the President, not unlike that given +by Mr. Blaine to one Mr. Tite Barnacle, who was willing to compromise on +a foreign appointment. "Certainly," was the reply; the "foreigner the +better." I concluded, however, that the bard may have been right when he +wrote "There is a destiny that shapes our ends," for it often happens +that what a man desires is just what he ought not to have; and whether +what he gets is to be beneficial depends largely upon its use.</p> + +<p>I was summoned to Washington, and after a conference received my +commission, returned to Little Rock to prepare for departure to my post, +"10,000 miles away."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> + +<p>I received a warm greeting and a "jolly send-off" at a banquet given me +on Christmas eve by many friends. To name a few of the devoted would be +invidious to the many. It will suffice to say I felt grateful and +touched by the many expressions, which added testimony to their valued +appreciation. Arriving at New York I was met by Mr. W. H. Hunt, who had +applied and been highly commended for the position of clerk to the +consulate, and who, after a year's faithful service, in pursuance of my +recommendation, was appointed Vice-Consul, and is now Consul.</p> + +<p>This, my appointment as Consul to Tamatave, severs a decade's connection +as "Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee," and especially +with its Chairman, Mr. Henry Cooper, who, indefatigable as a worker, +genial, but positive in his convictions, has managed the machinery of +the party with but little friction. The remembrance of the partiality, +honors and kindness of which I have been a recipient from members of the +party, irrespective of "race or previous condition," will be ever bright +and cheery.</p> + +<p>On January, 1, 1898, we embarked on the French steamship Champagne, and +arrived at Havre on the 9th, and took train for Paris. The cars either +for comfort or retirement in no way equal ours, eight in a compartment, +sitting omnibus fashion, face to face. We rolled on to the Capital, +passing many fine villas, the product of French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> architecture. +Everywhere one is impressed with the national peculiarities—the houses, +the streets, modes of conveyance and transportation. Compactness, +neatness, order and precision pervades their every undertaking; but for +celerity and despatch of business they were painful to encounter or +behold, for it ill accords with the American mode. A ride of four hours +and we reach Paris. At the depot the baggage is placed on long tables +awaiting examination by custom-house officers. Mine was passed without. +Took cab for "Hotel de Binda," exquisitely furnished and centrally +located, having easy access to places of note.</p> + +<p>This being the most disagreeable time of year, a fire in the rooms was +necessary, for outside everywhere was a damp, penetrating air, remaining +here 15 days with the sight of the sun but once.</p> + +<p>The next day after my arrival I called on the American Ambassador, Mr. +Porter, in relation to my exequator, to be issued by the French +Government. It is a recognition of status, and a formal permit from one +nation to another to allow their respective Consuls to exercise the +duties appertaining thereto and a guarantee of protection in their +performance. Had a very cordial reception from Mr. J. R. Gowdy, our +Consul at Paris. Visited the Paris office of the New York Herald, where +many files of American and European papers can be perused. A visit to +the "Louvre" is a joy for the layman, as for the connoisseur, galleries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +a mile or more in length hung with paintings grand in imagery and beauty +of old masters, French and Italian, centuries old. Many showed the +silent, slow and impressive steps of age. But "you may break, you may +scatter the vase if you will, the scent of the roses will linger there +still," for on shrunken canvas or from luster dimmed was imperial tone +of materialized conception "not born to die."</p> + +<p>Among the guests of the hotel were two gentlemen, one an American +capitalist, the other a German merchant from Berlin, the latter speaking +French like a native. We became pleasant companions, and concluded on +Sunday evening to go to the "Follies Bergere"—in American parlance a +variety theater.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes' drive brought us to a very large building, lighted as if by +sunlight, where a hundred finely-dressed men and women crowded for +entrance. Outside of what we term pit and dress circle is a partition, +three or four feet high, dividing them from a promenade ten or fifteen +feet wide. You can stand or sit in this promenade, and see the +performance. Our friends suggested this plan, as we could see and hear +more of Parisian peculiarities. Here many very beautiful women +promenaded. They had evidently been touched by artists, for their +make-up was superb. But I could not but think of the refrain of a song +we have all heard, "Oh, but what a difference in the morning." They had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +sweet, pretty sayings, clothed in all the softness of modulation and +earnestness of gesture of the French people. My American friend, like +myself, was Frenchless, and as a consequence invulnerable. The +appearance of the occupants of the front row of seats very forcibly +reminded me of a similar locality at the Capital Theater in the City of +Roses, on similar occasions, where many of my old friends with gaze +intent loved to congregate. The performance was spectacular and +acrobatic, with usual evolutions, with more "abandon" and very artistic. +Passing through the cafe, where hundreds of finely-dressed men and women +were sitting at tables quietly talking, smoking and drinking wine or +coffee, we passed to the street.</p> + +<p>There is much to delight in a walk through the Tulleries and "Palace de +la Concord." These public squares have an acreage of several hundred, +and are adorned with flowing fountains and marvelous statuary. Passing +through the Tulleries brings you to the "Dome de Invalids," in which is +Napoleon's tomb. The building and dome is of the most exquisite +architecture. Upon entry everywhere your gaze is confronted by stately +columns of Italian marble arches, statuary, flags of many varieties, +captured by Napoleon from his enemies on many battlefields, besides +other trophies of war.</p> + +<p>As you look down a circular pit twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, +enclosed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> a balustrade of Italian marble, you see the sarcophagus, in +which is inclosed all that was mortal of the great Napoleon. The mosaic +pavement at the bottom of the pit represents a wreath of laurels; on it +rests the sarcophagus, consisting of a single block, highly polished, of +reddish brown granite, fourteen feet high, thirteen long and seven wide, +brought from Finland at a cost of $25,000. Above rises a lofty dome 160 +feet high, divided into two sections, one of twelve compartments, each +containing a figure of one of the twelve apostles; the other +representing St. Louis offering to Christ the sword with which to +vanquish his enemies.</p> + +<p>While in Paris I visited Mrs. Mason, widow of James Mason, deceased. Mr. +Mason was formerly a member of the Arkansas Senate and Sheriff of Chicot +County. It will be remembered by old residents that the death of Mason's +father, an old bachelor and rich planter, who died intestate, caused a +suit at law of great interest and importance. It was an exciting trial, +as many thousands of dollars were at stake in the issue. The fatherly +care he had ever evinced for the education of his children (James having +been educated in France and Martha at a Northern college); the +solicitude and unfailing recognition, the many instances of which he had +designated them as direct heirs, and other evidence, collateral and +convincing, were availing. They received a jury award.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> +<img src="images/gs25.jpg" width="475" height="600" alt="HON. JOHN C. DANCY, + +Recorder of Deeds for District of Columbia." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JOHN C. DANCY,<br /> + +Recorder of Deeds for District of Columbia.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born at Torboro, S. C., May, 1857—Entered Howard +University—Elected Recorder of Deeds of Edgecombe County, S. +C., in 1880 and 1882—Late Collector of the Port at Willmington, +S. C.—Christian and Progressive in the Church—Eminent and +Eloquent in the State.</p></div> + +<p>An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was taken, which +dragged its weary way for a number of years, but resulted in confirming +the decision of the lower court. Mrs. Mason was for many years, through +the patronage and kindness of Senator Garland and other members of +Congress from Arkansas, a clerk in the Land Office at Washington. I +found Mrs. Mason living in well-appointed apartments with her daughter, +an artistic painter of some note, with studio adjoining, where I was +shown many beautiful productions of her brush. I was conversant with +many instances in the North where Southern planters had brought their +colored families to be educated, purchasing and giving them property for +settlement and sustenance, especially that their girls might escape the +environments which undoubtedly awaited them at the South. These were in +fine and valuable contradistinction to many cases similarly related, +where they were sold on the auction block to the highest bidder. But in +all candor it cannot but be supposed that in many instances the sale of +the planter's own flesh and blood was involuntary. High living, neglect +of the comparative relation of resource and expenditure, gambling for +big stakes on steamboat and at Northern watering places, brought the +evil day with attending results to the "chattel" subject to the baneful +caprice of unrestrained liberty.</p> + +<p>On the 23d of January, 1898, I was taking my leave of Paris to meet my +steamer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> at Marseilles for a 20-day voyage for Madagascar. My stay at +the hotel had been pleasant, and I supposed had received all necessary +attention from the servants that occasion demanded; but in character it +had been individual. Now it was united, for in doorway and on staircase +they were (like Tennyson's cannon) servants "to the right of me and +servants to the left of me," smiling and gracious. One, of whom I had no +recollection of having previously seen, approached me with an obeisance +decidedly French to remind me that he was the "baggage man" and attended +to it when I arrived. I replied, "You are not the man who took up my +baggage." "No," he said; "I am the man who looked after the man who +watched the man who did take it up." "Oh!" I said; and then remembering +that he and I had much in common, his English and my French being twins, +I conceded his claim, "tipped" others that impeded my exit, and made +hasty retreat.</p> + +<p>Leaving Paris at 2:30 P. M., at 2 in the morning we reached Lyons, +stopping 25 minutes for coffee and refreshments, which reached a +long-felt want, arriving at Hotel de Louvre et de la Paix, at +Marseilles, three hours later. Paris is prolific in names of its hotels, +but this was commensurate in luxury and first class in every particular, +very large, the finest in Marseilles and said to be unsurpassed in +France. It is approached by a hall-way fifty feet long from Rue +Canebrian (the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> street), which leads you into an oval-shaped court 100 +by 200 feet. Around this court in niches are finely-sculptured statuary, +paintings and choice flowers in porcelain vases. Out of this court you +are conducted into the hotel proper. Spacious stairways of Italian +marble, the tread of which covered with Turkish carpets, leads you to +the interior. The court in the inner center of the hotel rises to a +height of five or six stories, and is covered by parti-colored glass, +which emits a soft and pleasing tint on all below. The dining room was +"a thing of beauty," and the menu "a joy forever." The adornments of the +room would well befit a palace. Oh, that I had the tongue of an orator +or the pen of a ready writer, to fitly describe! Took breakfast and then +a stroll along the principal streets of the city and the wharves of the +Mediterranean. The city resembled a bee hive; the houses and streets are +literally crowded with men and women of all nationalities and costumes.</p> + +<p>Wending our way to "Notre Dame," a magnificent church on a hill, one +thousand feet above the level of the city, entirely overlooking it, +while the Mediterranean lies sparkling in the distance directly below. +On the top of the dome of this edifice is a figure encased in gold, +representing "Holy Mary" with the Christ in her arms. A gallery +surrounds the church, from which the view is grand and imposing. Ascent +and descent can be made by an elevator.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 25th of January we embarked on board our ship, the "Pie Ho," and +found state room comfortable for the longest voyage of our travel. The +view as we pass out of the harbor of Marseilles is quite picturesque, +with its quaint old buildings, mountainous surroundings, its medley of +ships, soldiers and sailors of every nation, differing in uniform and +costume. Here, as I suppose it is everywhere where love and friendship +dwell, hundreds had assembled at docks and quays and other points of +vantage to waive hands and handkerchiefs of a loving farewell. I thought +of my dear daughter on the wharf at New York and her anxious gaze until +we were lost in the distance. This ship, the "Pie Ho," of a French line, +is said to be old, but staunch, comfortable and giving good service; but +a failure in that particular the want of which retards the success of +many people of whom it could be truthfully said by Christian and +moralist that they were good and reliable. The "Pie Ho" is not swift, +but if she retains the commendation that oft accompanies slowness, that +of being sure, we should be content. But age has its limits, and happy +should all be who safely and honorably round up the voyage of life.</p> + +<p>We are now in full view of Mount Strombol in the Mediterranean, a +volcano in full blast, emitting fire and clouds of smoke. Yesterday we +entered the Ionian Sea; today we have land on either side, Sicily on our +right and Italy on our left, with a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> view of its coast lines; +cities, towns, cultivated fields and trains in motion. At 2 P. M. +January 30 we see Dermot Lighthouse, and at 3 reach Port Said. The +Khedive's dominion, a Government and business point, with many consular +residences. It was the first sight of the "old flag" since leaving +Marseilles. It is a new baptism of patriotism for one to see the +national banner so far from home, and impromptu he sings, "long may it +wave," for "with all thy faults I love thee still."</p> + +<p>We anchored out in the bay, and with small boats went ashore. Port Said +is quite cosmopolitan both in its business and residence features. +Nearly every nationality has its representative in trade, but +numerically the unspeakable Turk is very much in evidence. On landing +one of the guards, numerous and whose charges are fixed by law, took us +in charge to show us the city. The streets generally were unimproved and +irregular, both in architecture and location. Through several dingy and +untidy streets he led us to the public park, which made considerable +pretension to order and neatness. The turban, the wrap, the sandals and +other Oriental costumes, which made up the dress, were not more varied +than the complexion of the people, but their features were generally +fine-cut. A marble bust of De Lesseps, the contractor of the Suez Canal, +which we shall soon enter, has a prominent place.</p> + +<p>Through several streets, monotonous for disorder and uncleanliness, we +reached the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> "Mosque," the Mahomedan place of worship. In the minaret +high up on the tower stood an officer awaiting the hour to lower the +flag as a signal to all Musselmen that they could eat, the day being one +of their fast days. In all the streets through which we passed could be +seen groups of the faithful with anxious look toward the minaret to +catch the first downward movement of the flag. It came at last, and with +it the shouting and running of the crowds to booths and stands for +eating purposes that lined the sidewalks. We approached the "Mosque" +with all the solemnity possible for hypocritical heretics to assume, and +were met at the door by a grave and reverent sire, who interviewed the +guide.</p> + +<p>We had been told that we would have to take off our shoes (just here we +noted the same pliancy observable in many of our own denomination when +there is prospect of getting the almighty dollar). In some way the +matter was compromised by putting on over our shoes large sandals made +of straw. After paying 50 centimes each (equal to 10 cents in our +currency), we entered a large room without furniture or other adornment, +with stone floor, some matting, upon which a number of worshipers were +kneeling and supplicating "Allah," their supreme being. There was an +earnestness that bespoke sincerity, and an all-abiding faith. I could +but think how few of us who would criticise are true to the creed we +profess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a kind of lavatory adjoining could be seen men washing their feet and +doing oddities unmentionable preparatory to worship.</p> + +<p>After wandering about the building for some time I was accosted by one +of the attendants, and was made to understand that one of my feet was +uncovered. I had lost one of my sandals. I was rather uneasy for a +while, not knowing what they might do with that unholy foot that had +desecrated the temple. The guide found it, however, and "Richard was +himself again." After leaving the "Mosque" the guide escorted us +shipward through the business portion of the city, neat and cleanly, +with hotels and stores creditable to a metropolis. But for beggars of +unrivaled persistency I commend you to Port Said, for with a +pitiableness, sincere or assumed, they dog your every footstep.</p> + +<p>At the southern part of the city is a large cemetery, having stones with +many hieroglyphics and inscriptions denoting the former locality, +character and virtues of the dead. With the scholar are interred copies +of his literary productions; with the soldier, his sword; with the +statesman, a roll of his achievements for the good of the state, for +presentation to "Allah."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<p>The passage through the Suez Canal was somewhat monotonous, but a +continued reminder of bible history. On either side as far as the eye +could reach the desert spread out its sandy atoms glistening in the sun.</p> + +<p>Out of the canal we are in the Gulf of Suez, and in a few hours in the +Red Sea, an interesting locality in ancient history. It is there we +learn that Pharaoh and his hosts met their Waterloo (with the accent on +the water) in the pursuit of the children of Israel. But here we find +conflicting opinions. Some say that Pharaoh, arriving at the bank and +seeing the impossibility of overtaking them, turned and retired; others, +that there were shoal places in those far-away days where any one could +cross; others, that they crossed on flats very like the ordinary modern +mortal. But I do not accept this attempt to question the orthodox +version, but will verify it as far as my observation will admit. The sea +was likely red in those days, and has very properly retained its name on +account of the locality being red-hot at times, or, perhaps, chameleon +like, changes its color. This morning, however, it is a deep blue. As to +Pharaoh and his hosts getting drowned, there cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> be doubt, if it was +in its present condition and they attempted to cross on foot.</p> + +<p>But this we do know, that the success of the "Children of Israel" in not +being "overtaken" has been the prototype of father to son in every +effort to do so from that day to the present. There is a serious view, +however. Here the sea, sky and neighborhood of Jerusalem, pyramids, +monuments and sacred traditions all conspire to have a solemn and +awe-inspiring effect. Thousands of generations of men have lived and +moved in the activities that engage modern humanity, but have passed +like fleeting shadows, leaving only these sentinels as perpetual +reminders. While the "Red Sea" sings in murmuring cadence that "men may +come, and men may go, but I go on forever," doubly impressing us that</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"So the multitude goes, like the flower or weed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That wither away to let others succeed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So the multitude comes, even those we behold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To repeat every tale that has often been told."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But a truce to moralizing on the past. The children of Israel seem to +have made and kept their record as "passengers." I was interested in the +passage of a child of Ham. I am somewhat deficient in Bible history, and +am without knowledge of the whereabouts of Ham's children at that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> time, +or whether they had "crossing" to do; but if they possessed the +proverbial character imputed to some of their offspring, antipathy to +water, especially for lavatory purposes, I am of the opinion they took +no desperate chances, "content to bear the ills they had than fly to +those they knew not of."</p> + +<p>Passing Hurich Island, a British possession, and having had a very +pleasant passage on the Red Sea, we arrive at Djiboute, Abyssinia, the +terminus of King Menelik's domain, the scenes of recent conflict between +Italy and the King's forces, the "unpleasantness" resulting unprofitably +to the Italians. There were landed from the ship many boxes of rifles +and ammunition for the King's governor, who resides here. During the few +hours we remained there, we were interested in and enjoyed the gathering +of ten or fifteen native boys around the ship diving for centimes or +francs thrown by the passengers, their dexterity as divers, securing +every penny, was as clever as grotesque. They remained in the water six +or eight hours during the ship's stay. A few hours brought us to Aden, a +very strongly fortified appendage to the British Empire at the south end +of the Red Sea. For armament and strategical locality it is the +Gibraltar of the southern seas.</p> + +<p>The rivalry of native boatmen for passengers and luggage to take ashore +was appalling. When I say it surpassed a third ward political meeting in +"ye olden times"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> in Little Rock I faintly describe it. Sunday morning; +once more on the way; one more stop, and then to Tamatave, our +destination.</p> + +<p>Looking this beautiful morning on the foam-crest waves as they roll in +sportive emulation, with a cloudless sky coming down on every side to +kiss the horizon, shutting out human vision of all else beyond, one +could not fail to be impressed with the greatness, the omnipotence of +the Creator. This being but a speck of that vast whole, comprising the +celestial and terrestrial aggregation, he, indeed, who regards this +sublime workmanship as the product of chance and not that of a +super-human architect and law-giver, by Whom every atom of nature is +controlled, is more to be pitied than condemned.</p> + +<p>To conclude our voyage, we have six or seven days of "innocuous +desuetude." That is what I believe President Cleveland designated a +monotonous and unprofitable period. I am not certain, however, and one +should be careful in quoting great authors.</p> + +<p>We pass the Gulf of Aden and enter the Indian Ocean, Rem Huffien Island +to the right, and now appears the eastern coast lines of the continent +of Africa. On that continent, I learn, lies the ashes of my forefathers. +Peace abide with them, and may peace crowned with justice come to such +of their descendants as are still the victims of dishonesty and +inhumanity by enlightened and professedly Christian nations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>Travel by sea loses in interest as you recede or are midway between +distant points. You somehow feel yourself located in the neighborhood of +"Mahomet's coffin," and have a sort of a "don't-care-a-continental" +atmosphere surrounding you, with nothing to arrest attention save the +usual incidents of ocean voyage, with no land in sight. The +constitutional promenade on deck before and after meals, with the French +etiquette of raising your hat or cap as you pass; reading or lounging on +sofas or reclining chairs; relating individual experiences of life or +travel; criticising the conduct of others than yourselves; the welcome +sound of the bell that calls you to meals; the last view of the sun as +it bids you "good-bye," with its ineffectual rays, and gently sinks +beneath the horizon; the rising of the moon, shedding its sheen of +sparkling light on the dancing waves; retirement to your couch to listen +awhile to the heavy breathing, and feel the pulse-beat of the iron +monitor as it speeds you onward; finally to sleep, to dream of loved +ones at home.</p> + +<p>The suavity of the French is in notable contrast with the more taciturn +deportment of the English; amiable contact has much to do with softening +the asperities of life.</p> + +<p>We are now crossing the heretofore much-dreaded equator—weather +splendid, light, cloth suit not uncomfortable, but we are at sea and not +on land. The forward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> deck is today given up to the sports of the +sailors (the custom when crossing the line), and is now the center of +attraction—running "obstacle races," the two competitors getting under, +and from under a canvas-sheet held to the deck by a number of their +fellows, and then running for the goal, picking up potatoes as they ran. +Afterwards, with bucket of paste and paintbrush, lathering head and +face, shaving with a large wooden razor the unlucky competitor—were a +part of the amusements they imposed on "Old Father Time."</p> + +<p>Arrived at Diego Suarez, on the northern port of Madagascar, a French +naval station, having a land-locked harbor, providing good shelter and +anchorage. The town is located on a plateau overlooking the bay. Many +officers disembarked and a large amount of freight discharged. The +resident population consisted of a medley from all eastern nations. +Anchored a mile off and in small boats, and after 20 minutes' rowing we +were landed. A dozen stores, barracks and the hospital on the opposite +side of the bay were the only objects of interest. The large amount of +freight discharged indicated it to be a prominent distributing point for +the interior. Leaving Diego and running down the eastern coast with land +in view, mountainous and apparently sterile, we reach Tamatave and +anchor in the bay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ship was soon boarded by a messenger from Mr. Wetter, the outgoing +American Consul at Madagascar, and I was piloted ashore. The view of +Tamatave from the ship was not prepossessing, and my walk through the +city to the hotel was not inspiring. The attempt to dignify the six or +eight feet wide alleys (which were the main arteries for travel) as +avenues or streets, seemed ludicrous, and the filthy condition, the +absence of all sanitary regulations in a province pretending a civilized +administration, was to me a revelation. The natural sequence of such +neglect was the visitation of the "Bubonic plague" a few months after my +arrival and an immense death-rate. The alarm proved a conservator for +the living, for the burning of the effected districts, widening the +streets and enforcement of sanitary rules have tended to lessen its +virulence, although it has been yearly in its visitations; for while +foul surroundings are recognized as hot-beds for the propagation of the +germs of this pest, recent experience has demonstrated that while +cleanliness and rigid sanitary measures are less inviting, they are not +positive barriers to its approach and dire effect. The "terror" +originally supposed to be indigenous only to India, Egypt, and China, +and so domestic in its habits as to confine its ravages to few +precincts, now stalks forth as on a world mission—to Mauritius in +Indian Ocean, to Japan, Brazil, Australia,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> Honolulu, and last and not +least, interesting from an American point of view, are the stealthy +footsteps of the unwelcome guest in the city of San Francisco, Cal. +"While medical information relating to the plague is still less definite +and extensive than it should be," says an eminent physician, "it is now +well demonstrated that the disease depends upon a specific microbe."</p> + +<p>It may be communicated from one person to another through expectoration, +oozings from the mouth of dying persons, or through the excretions of +the body. "The fears it inspires are well grounded, for the recoveries +in a case of severe epidemics are only ten per cent. Of 126 cases +reported from Manila from January 20 to March 30, 1900, 112 cases +resulted fatally." In India, where the plague has been the most severe, +the deaths from this cause have averaged 5,000 a week of recent years, a +considerable amount of study has been devoted to the various phases of +the plague, by physicians in Europe and the East especially, and a +number have given their lives to the cause of medical science in +attempts to find some method of successfully combating it. It is +needless to say that no specific has as yet been discovered in its +treatment, and ordinary curative measures have but little effect on its +course.</p> + +<p>In Chinatown, San Francisco, where it made its appearance, a rigid +"cordon sanitaire" was established, and all outer intercourse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +prohibited. It is not believed that conditions are inviting in North +America, although "the wish may be father to the thought."</p> + +<p>The following brief expression relative to Madagascar and comment on +Negro status in the following letter to the "Colored American," +published in Washington City, may be in place:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">Tamatave, Madagascar, Aug. 5, 1900.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Dear Friend Cooper: I have your favor June 14th last, in which +you say you would like to have a line from me, that you "may +let the friends over here know what you are doing." Well, here +it is, line upon line, if not precept, etc. I am "still doing +business at the same old stand," and doubt if I have anything +to say regarding this "far-away post" that would particularly +interest your readers, engrossed as I perceive they are in +domestic phases and in the alignment of our recent +acquisitions.</p> + +<p>Regarding the physical development or moral progress of +Madagascar, as you know it is now a French province, with a +Governor General and staff, all appointees from France. The +Government is doing considerable to open up the country by +means of telegraphs, railroads, turnpikes and canals. At Paris +they recently voted sixty millions francs (12 million dollars) +for a railroad from here to Tananarivo, the capital, 200 miles +from here, over a mountainous and broken country. The capital<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +is situated on a plateau 5,000 feet above sea level, with a +climate cool and bracing. Here at Tamatave a fireplace or +heating stove in a house are unknown appendages. The Hovas for +a long period were the rulers previous to the conquest and +occupation by the French, who by diplomacy—"force and iron +will"—the means usually adopted by the strong when a coveted +prize looms in the distance, added an immense territory to +their colonial possessions. But perhaps in the interest of +civilization the change is not to be deplored. The Hovas were a +superior class of Madagascan people the rulers being men of +education and ability, but not equal in quality or quantity to +cope with the energy, wealth and military prowess of a power +like France.</p> + +<p>The mental and physical conditions of the great bulk of the +natives were not, and are not, inviting; they were held by a +mild system of slavery, a system that in substance still exists +under French rule as to forced labor on public works. The +severity of tasks and bad rum are said by a friendly society at +Paris in its protest "to be fast decimating their number." The +French Government, however, are establishing an extension of +schools for the natives, where industrial training will be the +marked feature, and which on yesterday, the occasion being an +official visit the Governor was pleased to pay me, I took pains +to extol; as you know industrial training<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> is my pet. The +General wisely remarking, "we wish first to place the present +generation in a position to earn more money, so they will be +able to give their offspring a higher education if they wish." +The English, Norwegians from America, the Friends and other +missions, are doing something for their educational and moral +progress, but the appliances are meager compared with the +herculean task that awaits them.</p> + +<p>There is, however, this difference in the problem here. There +are colored men occupying places of prominence as officials, as +tellers in banks, clerks in counting-houses and merchant +stores. Here it is condition, and not color, wealth and +position, the "open sesame." On social occasions the brother in +black is in evidence, without special notice of the fact, and, +strangest of it all, on the following day the sun and other +heavenly bodies seem to stand or revolve in their accustomed +orbits. My health has been good, although the bubonic pest, +periodical in its visitations, has been alarming in the +suddenness of its destruction of life. In the spring it is +again expected to alight without "healing in its wings." But I +will not longer dwell on Madagascan peculiarities, many of +which, as elsewhere, are not chastening. What I am interested +in, and want to know about is, how you are getting on with the +"old grudge?" If I judge correctly from the journals that reach +me, that during my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> near three years' absence, its status, +unlike renowned grape-juice, has neither dissipated or improved +by lapse of time, and that lynching and disfranchisement still +have the right of way.</p> + +<p>The expansion of our sovereignty is fraught with complications, +and onerous duties from the statesman, the zeal of the +humanitarian, and of reformers and friends of equitable +government, unflinching determination are required, that +kindness and justice shall be ceded to the people thereof. But +is the prospect for the dissemination or ascendancy of these +virtues either bright or promising? If the exercise and +enjoyments of these attributes are not granted to millions of +the American household, is it reasonable to expect they will +dominate abroad? There is reason for apprehension that our +cousins in the East will find little change of despotic +tendencies amid the rank and file of American adventurers. The +philosophy of our system of government seems out of balance. +Cicero wrote "that excessive liberty leads both nations and +individuals into excessive slavery."</p> + +<p>But amid the lights and shadows that environ the Negro, he is +neither undeserving of the assistance rendered, and +indispensable for educational development, which has been +generous, and for which he is grateful, although handicapped by +a prejudice confronting on so many avenues of industry, and +forbidding his entry. Not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> undeserving for patient and +non-anarchist in the realms of labor, his right to possess and +enjoying equality of citizenship is written with blood and +bravery on the battlefield of every war of the Republic where +he "fell forward as fits a man." Munificent contributions of +Christians and philanthropists, for missionary work abroad, are +greatly in evidence, given with a self-complacency of duty +done; but, however, fail to vivify the declining pulse-beat for +equality before the law and justice at home. Manifestly there +is an absence of that arraignment and condemnation of wrong +done the weak, that contributed so largely to abolish the "corn +laws of England" and slavery in the United States. History is +the record that it is the men of moral courage and heroism who +by pen and voice, that sociality and gain cannot intimidate and +combat evil in their very midst that "leave footprints in the +sands of time."</p> + +<p>I must close this letter, already too long. Don't regard me as +a pessimist. I know that Bacon wrote that "men of age object +too much," but the fact is, Cooper, it has been so long since I +heard a Fourth of July hallelujah chorus that I am getting out +of tune.</p> + +<p>McKinley has been again nominated, I see, and doubtless will be +elected, with a Congress in harmony, thus giving the party +another lease of power, which, God grant, let us hope, may +redound to the welfare<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> of all the people. Say to my many +friends that they are, "though lost to sight to memory dear." +Truly your friend,</p></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">M. W. GIBBS.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + + +<p>The Island of Madagascar was discovered in 1506 by Lawrence Almeyda, a +Portuguese; but the Persians and Arabs are said to have known it from +time immemorial. The island is divided into 28 provinces and is said to +contain two hundred millions acres of excellent land, watered on all +sides by streams and large rivers. Its two highest mountains are +Vigagora in the north and Batistmene in the south, said to contain in +their bowels abundance of fossils and valuable minerals. This island, +situated near the eastern coast of Africa, with 300 miles of the +Mozambique Channel intervening, is 1,000 miles in length and varying +from 200 to 400 miles in width, and is supposed to have been in remote +ages a portion of the continent of Africa and that the progenitors of +its people were to that "manor born;" others that the channel was +crossed in canoes and Madagascar populated.</p> + +<p>Rev. W. E. Cousins, an English missionary, in a late edition of +"Madagascar of Today," says that "its people are not on the whole an +African people, and much of its flora and fauna indicate a very long +separation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> from the neighboring continent. Particularly notable is the +fact that Madagascar has no lions, deer, elephants or antelopes, which +are abundant in Africa; the people generally are not Africans, but +belong to the same family as Malays and Malayo Polynesians." How the +Malayon came to be the predominant language has exercised the thoughts +of many, Africa being not more than 300 miles from the west coast of +Madagascar, whereas the nearest point, Malayon Peninsula, is 3,000 miles +away. That the distinct type of African presents itself in large numbers +of native population is beyond question.</p> + +<p>For much of the following as to the religion, morals and customs of the +Madagascar people, I am indebted to Rev. Cousins, the missionary above +referred to, and a work entitled "Madagascar, or Drury's Journal," +edited by Pasfield Oliver and published in 1729. Robert Drury was an +English lad that ran away from home, was shipwrecked, and held in +captivity by the natives for 15 years, and redeemed by Captain Mackett, +commanding the "Prince of Wales" in the East India Company's service. +Also to the "Island of Madagascar," by Abbe Alexis Rochon, a learned +Frenchman, who visited the island in 1767 and made an extensive report.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver mentions that there are authors who say that the religion of +these people is Mahometanism, but he is at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> loss to know from what +they drew their conclusions, since their sacrifices and their antipathy +to revelation; and, besides, at the only place where a Moorish ship +(Mahometan) came, swines' flesh is eaten. These obviously show that +there can be nothing in more direct opposition to it. There is no one +circumstance like it, except circumcision, and that is well known to +those learned in ancient history to have been common to some Eastern +nations, even before the Jews had it, and where there is no reason to +think the name of the Jews was ever heard, and we have more reason to +think that the Jews derived a great deal from them instead of they from +the Jews; that their religion is more ancient is evident for several +obvious reasons.</p> + +<p>First, by their regarding dreams and divining by them, which so early as +the Mosaic law the Children of Israel were warned against.</p> + +<p>Secondly, these people shave their hair all off in mourning for the +dead. This Moses expressly commands the Israelites not to do, and the +Jews do superstitiously observe this last and suffer their hair to grow +in their mourning.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Moses commanded none but males to be sacrificed. On the +contrary, these sacrifice cows for the most part. They have no burnt +offerings but near their sepulchers, which with gum, burnt likewise, may +only arise from a defense of cadaverous scents.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 472px;"> +<img src="images/gs26.jpg" width="472" height="600" alt="BISHOP ABRAHAM GRANT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BISHOP ABRAHAM GRANT.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Joined Church at an Early Age—Advanced Until he Was Elected +Bishop of the A. M. E. Church—An Able Pulpit Orator, and Among +the Bishops He is Known as the Politician of his Church—Having +a Competency, He is Devoting His Closing Years to Benevolence +and the Promotion of His Race.</p></div> + +<p>Fourthly, but the most remarkable instance of all is, that the "owley," +which these Madagascar people divine by and procure most extraordinary +dreams, is evidently the Ephod and Teraphin which the Levites used who +lived in Micah's house (see Judges 17) and which the Israelites could +never be wholly brought off from, though contrary to their law. Some +have taken these Teraphin for images like a man, and there seems a show +of reason in it from Micah, Saul's daughter putting one in David's bed +to deceive her father's messenger, while he escaped. This, it is +possible, alludes to some divination by the Teraphin which she used in +his behalf, for Teraphin is the plural number; therefore, could not +signify only one image; neither could the gods which Rachel stole from +her father, Labon, be one god as big as a man, for she sat on them and +hid them. The word is here in the original "Teraphin," although +translated gods. Then, in Hosea, chapter 3, verse 4, "an image, an Ephod +and Teraphin," are all mentioned in one verse, plainly showing that they +are distinct things. It is further to be remarked that by this Teraphin +they invoked the dead, which is exactly the same as these people do by +the "Owley" always invoking the spirits of their forefathers, which is +expressly forbidden to Israelites, and often sharply inveighed against +by the prophets.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<p>That these people had not their religion from any polite or learned +nation is by their retaining no notion or meaning of letters, nor their +having a horse among them, either for carriage or other use, which could +never have been forgotten had they ever had it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Oliver positively asserts that these Madagascar people came from +Africa, and is certain on account of their color, while other writers +think most of them to be descendants of Malays.</p> + +<p>Captain Mackett, previously mentioned as the redeemer of Robert Drury +from his 15 years' captivity, states that Devon (King) Toak, often told +him they had a tradition of their coming to the island many years ago in +large canoes; "but," says Captain Oliver, "let them come from where they +will, it is evident that their religion is the most ancient in the known +world and not much removed from natural religion, and whether the +Egyptians and Canaanites had their religion from them, or that they are +Egyptians originally, it had its rise long before the Children of Israel +were in bondage, for Egypt was then a very polite country, and although +idolators, they were not any more so than their neighbors before +Abraham's time.</p> + +<p>"The respect due from children to parents is taught them early by those +parents and grows with them, besides the gratitude naturally arising to +those who have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> fed and protected them when they were helpless infants. +So it is no wonder to find a law there against cursing parents. The +notion of the Being of one Supreme Author of nature arises from natural +reflection on the visible harmony and uniformity of the universe and +seeing that men and things did not produce themselves. The reverence due +to this stupendous Being is only of a pious and rightly amazement, dread +and respect. The testimony was everywhere uniform that where Europeans +or Mahometans had not corrupted them they were innocent, moral and +humane.</p> + +<p>"Physically the island has lost none of its picturesque character, so +vividly portrayed by Abbe Rochon more than a century ago, who wrote 'The +Traveler,' who in pursuit of knowledge traverses for the first time wild +and mountainous countries, intersected by ridges and valleys, where +nature, abandoned to its own fertility, presents the most singular and +varied productions, cannot help being struck with terror and surprise on +viewing those awful precipices, the summits of which are covered with +trees as ancient perhaps as the world. His astonishment is increased +when he hears the noise of immense cascades which are so inaccessible +that it is impossible for him to approach them. But these scenes, truly +picturesque, are always succeeded by rural views, delightful hills and +plains, where vegetation is never interrupted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> by the severity and +vicissitudes of the seasons. The eye with pleasure beholds those +extensive savannas which afford nourishment to numerous herds of cattle +and flocks of sheep. Fields of rice and potatoes present also a new and +highly interesting spectacle. One sees agriculture flourishing, while +nature alone defrays almost all the expense. The fortunate inhabitants +of Madagascar need not moisten the earth with their sweat; they turn it +up slightly with a pick-axe, and this labor alone is sufficient. They +make holes in the ground at a little distance from each other and throw +into them a few grains of rice, over which they spread the mold with +their feet. And what proves the great fertility of the soil is that a +field thus sown produces an hundred-fold. The forests contain a +prodigious variety of the most beautiful trees, such as palms of every +kind, ebony, wood for dyeing, bamboos of an enormous size, and orange +and lemon trees." The Abbe's picture is quite enchanting, for it seems +that "every prospect pleases."</p> + +<p>A view of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, in the word-painting +of Cameron, a war correspondent of the London Standard, is interesting. +"Antananarivo was in sight and we could plainly see the glass windows of +the palace glistening in the morning sun, on the top of the long hill +upon which the city is built. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> Sunday, and the people were +clustering along the foot-paths on their way to church or sitting in the +grass outside waiting for the services to begin, as they do in villages +at home. The women, who appeared to be in the majority, wore white +cotton gowns, often neatly embroidered, and white or black and white +striped lambas, thrown gracefully over their shoulders. The men were +clad also in cotton, white cotton pantaloons, cotton lambas, and straw +hats, with large black silk band. In the morning sun the play of colors +over the landscape was lovely. The dark green hills, studded with the +brilliant red brick houses of the inhabitants, whose white garments +dotted the lanes and foot-paths, contrasted with the brighter emerald of +the rice fields in the hollows. The soil everywhere is deep red, almost +magenta, in color, and where the roads or pathways cross the hills they +shine out as if so many paint-brushes had streaked the country in broad +red stripes. Above all, the spires of the strange city, set on top of +its mountain with a deep blue sky for a background, added to the beauty +of the scene.</p> + +<p>"It was difficult to imagine that this peaceful country, with its pretty +cottages, its innumerable chapels, whose bells were then calling its +people to worship, and its troops of white-robed men and women answering +the summons, was the barbarous Madagascar of twenty years ago."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mention of the form of government had by the Madagascar people and which +is now being superseded by occupancy of the French and the introduction +of laws of a civilized nation, may not be out of place. As far back as +tradition will carry, there existed in Madagascar a kind of feudalism. +Villages were usually built on the hilltops, and each hilltop had its +own chieftain, and these petty feudal chiefs were constantly waging war +with each other. The people living on these feudal estates paid taxes +and rendered certain services to their feudal lords. Each chief enjoyed +a semi-independence, for no strong over-lord existed. Attempts were made +from time to time to unite these petty chieftains into one Kingdom, but +no one tribe succeeded in making itself supreme till the days of Radam +I, who succeeded in bringing the whole of Imerina under his government, +and to his son, Radama, he left the task of subduing the rest of the +island. By allying himself closely with England, Radama obtained +military instruction and carried war into distant provinces. He +ultimately succeeded in conquering many of the tribes and his reign +marked the beginning of a new era in Madagascar. Indeed, only from his +days could Madagascar in any sense be regarded as a political unit.</p> + +<p>In one direction, however, the results of Radama's policy must be +regarded as retrogressive. Before his reign no chief or king was +powerful enough to impose his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> rule upon the people without their +consent.</p> + +<p>Opposition to rule, without the consent of the governed, has been the +shibboleth with which liberty has rallied the votaries of constitutional +government in all its reforms. It was the magna charter extorted from +King John at Runnymead—the trumpet call echoing and re-echoing by hill +and through valley in our Declaration of Independence. Before Radama, +although rude and primitive in form, it was the basic principle +cherished by the people of Madagascar. The principal men of each +district had to be constantly consulted and Kabary, or public assemblies +like the Greek or the Swiss Communal assemblies, were called for the +discussion of all important affairs, and public opinion had a fair +opportunity of making itself effective.</p> + +<p>"A single tree does not make a forest, but the thoughts of many +constitute a government," is handed down by tradition as one of the +farewell sayings of their early kings, and is often quoted by the +people. This was the spirit that existed in "ye olden time," but after +Radama I. formed a large army and a military caste was created there was +a strong tendency to repress and minimize the influence of civilians in +public affairs, and men holding military rank have wielded the chief +authority.</p> + +<p>It was ever thus; for while the chiefs of victorious legions are +received with strains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> of "conquering hero," have roses for a pathway +canopied with waving flag and triumphant banner, there is not wanting a +latent, reserved concern for the legitimate use of the franchise granted +and whether vaulting ambition may not destroy the sacred inheritance +they were commissioned to preserve. Military rank in Madagascar was +strangely reckoned by numbers. The highest officers being called men of +"sixteen honors," the men of twelve honors would be equal in rank to a +field marshal, the men of nine honors to a colonel, and the man of three +honors to a sergeant, and so on, through the whole series.</p> + +<p>When any important government business had to be made known the men from +12 honors upward were summoned to the palace. Above all these officers +stood the Prime Minister. His Excellency Ramiloiarivony. The supreme +head of the state was the Mpanjaka, or sovereign, and every proclamation +was issued in her name and was generally countersigned and confirmed as +a genuine royal message by the Prime Minister. For three reigns, namely, +from the accession of Rasaherina in 1863, Mpanjaka had been a woman and +the wife of the Prime Minister. A general impression exists in England +that this is an old Madagascar custom, but such is not the case. The +arrangement is of quite recent date. The last Prime Minister (not being +of royal blood) was content to be Mpanjaka, or ruler, and while all +public honor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> was shown to the Queen, and her authority fully +acknowledged, those behind the scenes would have us believe that the +Queen was supreme only in name.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister, and even his supposed wishes +and preferences, were the most potent forces in Madagascar. No one +seemed able to exercise any independent influence, and time after time +the men who showed any special ability or gained popularity have been +removed, swept away as it were, out of the path of the man who had +assumed and by his ability and astuteness maintained for thirty years +the highest position in the country. There was, no doubt, a large amount +of latent rebellion against this "one-man government," but those who +were the most ready to grumble in private were in public, perhaps, the +most servile of any. It is conceded that in many ways the Prime Minister +was an able ruler, and compared with those who went before him was +deserving of great praise.</p> + +<p>He made many attempts to prevent the corruption of justice, and +strenuously endeavored to improve the administration, and for many years +had managed to hold in check the ambitious projects of French statesmen, +and had shown at many times his interest in the cause of education.</p> + +<p>But his monopoly as a ruler, the idea of omnipotent control, refusal to +allow his subordinates to take their share of responsibility, like many +similar instances which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> history records, loosened the bond of patriotic +interest, love and integrity for country, and made easy the ingress of +the French in subduing and appropriating the Island of Madagascar.</p> + +<p>It has been stated that no account of Madagascar government would be +complete that did not include a description of their system of +"fanompoana," or forced service, which answers very nearly to the old +feudal service, and to the system known in Egypt as "corvee." The +tax-gatherer is not the ubiquitous person in Madagascar he is generally +supposed to have been.</p> + +<p>There were a few taxes paid by the people, such, for example, as a small +tax in kind on the rice crop, and occasionally a small poll-tax, and +money paid the sovereigns as a token of allegiance on many occasions.</p> + +<p>Taxes of this kind were not burdensome. The one burden that galled and +irritated the people was the liability to be called upon at any moment +to render unrequited service to the government.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 343px;"> +<img src="images/gs27.jpg" width="343" height="450" alt="HON. JOHN E. BUSH, + +Receiver of United States Lands at Little Rock, Arkansas." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JOHN E. BUSH,<br /> + +Receiver of United States Lands at Little Rock, Arkansas.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Former Principal of Public Schools of Little Rock—Clerk in +Railway Mail Service—Grand Scribe of "Mosaic Templars of +America"—An Able and Leading Republican of Arkansas.</p></div> + +<p>Every man had something that was regarded as "fanompoana." The people of +one district might be required to make mats for the government, in +another pots, the article required. From one district certain men were +required to bring crayfish to the capital, charcoal from another, iron +from another, and so on through all the series of wants. The jeweler +must make such articles as the Queen would desire, the tailor use his +needle and the writer his pen, as the government might need. The system +had in it some show of rough-and-ready justice, and was based on the +idea that each must contribute to the needs of the state according to +his several abilities; but in the actual working it had a most injurious +influence on the wellbeing of the country. Each man tried to avoid the +demands made upon him, and the art "how not to do it" was cultivated to +a very high degree of perfection. Many of the head men made this +"fanompoana" system a means of enriching themselves, compelling the +subordinates to serve them as well as the government. History does but +repeat itself, as there are not wanting instances in our own country +where certain heads of department "fanomponed" subordinates for private +service.</p> + +<p>In many ways are recorded the product of the fertile brain of these head +men. For instance, the centurion, or head man of a certain district, +gave out a notice in the church yard, on Sunday morning, or at a +week-day market, that a hundred men would be required next morning to +carry charcoal for the government. As a matter of fact, he required only +twenty, but he knew that many would come to him to beg off, and as none +would come empty-handed, his profit on the transaction was considerable. +Another illustration was given Mr. Cousins by the British Consul. It was +customary to send up mails from the coast by government runners, but +English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> ideas being adverse to demanding unrequited service, the Consul +had always sent the usual wages for the runners to the Governor, who +pocketed the dollars and "fanomponed" the mail. But enough of this, as +it has a flavor of our "Star Route Mail" disclosures, which startled the +country some years ago, and conclude with a tribute to Tammany, as:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">We arise to remark, and our language is plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the Tweeds and the Crokers are of Malagash fame.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + + +<p>The introduction and perpetuation of the Christian religion in +Madagascar has been attended with vicissitudes, hopeful, discouraging, +and finally permanent. The Catholics were the first to attempt to gain a +footing on the southeast corner of the island. A French mission settled +and commenced to instruct the natives in the Roman Catholic faith, and +maintained a mission in spite of many discouragements for twenty years, +and then came to an end. Protestants who a century and a half later +carried the Gospel to Madagascar found it virgin soil. They found a +people without a written language or knowledge of the Christian faith. +Both in their literary and evangelical labors they had to revive a work +that was not dying out, but to start de novo, and the London Missionary +Society had to seek its own way to carry out its objects.</p> + +<p>The men to whom it appears that the Madagascar people are indebted for +their written languages and the first translation of the Scriptures were +two Welshmen.</p> + +<p>David Jones and David Griffiths—these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> two men were the pioneers of +Protestant missions in Madagascar—the first in 1820, the second a year +later. The main strength of these early missionaries was devoted to +educational work, in which they were vigorously supported by King Radama +I, and Mr. Hastie, the British agent. Besides this they began very early +to make a translation of the Scriptures, and in ten years after the +arrival of Mr. Jones in Antananarivo the first edition of 3,000 copies +of the New Testament was completed, in March, 1830. At this time much +progress had been made in the translation of the Old Testament. The +account of the completion of it is interesting. Soon after the death of +King Radama I, in 1828, the missionaries saw clear indications of the +uncertainty of their positions; ominous clouds began to gather until the +storm burst.</p> + +<p>The edict of Queen Ranavalona I against the Christian Church was +published March 1, 1835. A portion of the Old Testament translation was +uncompleted. The missions were deserted by their converts, and they +could procure no workman to assist; so with trembling haste they +proceeded with their task, and at the end of June they had joy in seeing +the first bound copies of the completed Bible. Most of these were +secretly distributed, and seventy remaining copies were buried for +safety in the earth—precious seed over which God watched and which in +due season produced a glorious harvest. The translators were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> driven +away, but the book remained. Studied in secret, and at the risk of life, +it served during more than a quarter of a century of persecution to keep +alive faith in the newly received religion; for, during all this time, +to use the familiar native phrase, "the land was dark." At its +commencement Queen Ranavalona (the Queen Mary of Madagascar), with all +the force of her strong will, set herself to destroy the new religion. +"It was cloth," she said, "of a pattern she did not like, and she was +determined none of her people should use it."</p> + +<p>The victims of her fury form a noble army of martyrs, of whom Madagascar +is justly proud. The causes that led to the persecution are not far to +seek. On the one hand, they were intensely conservative, clinging to +ancestral customs; and on the other hand, a suspicious and jealous fear +of foreign influence. The zealous work of the missionaries was believed +by many of the Queen's advisers to be only a cloak to conceal political +designs. The teachings of the foreigners were proving so attractive that +their chapels were crowded, and the influence of this new religion was +making itself felt in many families. Whither would all this lead? Was it +to pave the way to annex the island to the English Government? The word +"society" to a native ignorant of English would suggest a phrase of +their own which sounds alike, viz: "sosoy-oty"—"push the canoe over +this way." This to the ingenuous or suspicious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> mind of the hearers +suggested the idea of pushing over the Government of Madagascar to those +across the ocean who were supposed to be greedily seeking to seize it. +This is seemingly absurd, but not too ridiculous to obtain credence with +a people excited and suspicious.</p> + +<p>The former King Radama showed his shrewdness in giving permission to the +missionaries to reside in his country, for he expressly stipulated that +some of them should be skilled artisans, so that his people might be +instructed in weaving, smith-work, carpentry, etc. To this the society +wisely assented, and a number of Christian artisans were sent out. The +influence of these were of immense value, and to them is to be +attributed much of the skill of the Madagascar workman of today.</p> + +<p>There is no doubt that the manifest utility of their work did much to +win for the mission a measure of tolerance from the heathen rulers of +the country. One of the missionaries with great mechanical skill, in his +"Recollections," states that Queen Ranavalona in 1830 was beginning to +feel uneasy about the growing influence of foreign ideas and wished to +get rid of the missionaries. She sent officers to carry her message, and +the missionaries were gathered together to meet the messengers, and were +told that they had been a long time in the country and had taught much, +and that it was time for them to think of returning to their native +land. The missionaries,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> alarmed at this message, answered that they had +only begun to teach some of the elements of knowledge, and that very +many more remained to be imported, mentioning sundry branches of +education, among which were Greek and Hebrew languages, which had +already been taught to some. The messengers returned to the Queen, and +soon came back with the answer: "The Queen does not care much for Greek +and Hebrew. Can you teach how to make soap?" (And if cleanliness is akin +to godliness she was evidently groping in the right direction.) This was +an awkward question to address theologians; almost as much so as "Do you +know enough to come in out of the rain?" to some college graduates; but +after a moment's pause Mr. Griffith turned to Mr. Cameron and asked him +if he could answer it. "Give me a week," and it was given, and when the +messengers again met at the close of the week a bar of tolerable good +white soap, made from materials found in the country, was presented. +This was entirely satisfactory, and the manufacture of soap was +forthwith introduced, and is still continued to the present day. This +bar of soap gained the missionaries a respite of five years, the Queen +tolerating their presence on account of material advantage derived from +the work of the artisans. In believing that industrial training, the +knowledge to make things in demand, was the first necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> step for +the elevation of her people, the Queen was eminently correct.</p> + +<p>During the fifteen years (from 1820 to 1835) the mission was allowed to +exist it was estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 children passed through +school, so that when the missionaries were compelled to leave the island +there were thousands who had learned to read, and thereby raised far +above the mass of their heathen fellow-countrymen.</p> + +<p>Dark Days—January, 1835, a formal complaint was presented to the +missionaries by one of the Queen's officers against the Christian +religion under six different heads. Excitement increased and opposition +to the new teaching grew bolder. The Queen, in passing a native chapel +and hearing singing, was heard to say: "They will not stop till some of +them lose their heads."</p> + +<p>On the first of March, 1835, the edict publicly prohibiting the +Christian religion was delivered in the presence of thousands of people +who had been summoned to hear it. The place of meeting was a large open +space lying to the west of the long hill on which the city of +Antananarivo is built, and large enough to contain two or more thousand +people. In the middle of the plain crops up a large mass of granite +rock, on which only royal persons were allowed to stand; hence probably +the name "Imohamosine," which means "having power to make sacred." There +from time to time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> large public assemblies have been held, but never one +of greater significance or of more far-reaching issues than that. Of +this great "kabary," or meeting, notices had been sent far and wide. All +possible measures had been taken to inspire the people with awe and to +make them feel that a proclamation of unusual importance was about to be +published. Queen Ranavalona seemed anxious to make her people feel that +her anger was burning with an unwonted fury. It is stated that morning +had scarcely dawned when the report of the cannon intended to strike +terror and awe into the hearts of the people ushered in the day on which +the will and power of the sovereign of Madagascar to punish the +defenseless followers of Christ was to be declared. Fifteen thousand +troops were drawn up, part of them on the plain and the rest in two +lines a mile in length along the road leading to the place. The booming +of artillery from the high ground overlooking the plain and the reports +of musketry of the troops, which was continued during the preparatory +arrangements, produced among the multitude the most intense and anxious +feelings. At length the Chief Justice, attended by his companions in +office, advanced and delivered the message of the Sovereign, which was +enforced by Ramiharo, the chief officer of the Government. After +expressing the Queen's confidence in the idols, and her determination to +treat as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> criminals all who refused to do them homage, the message +proceeded:</p> + +<p>"As to baptism, societies, places of worship, and the observance of the +Sabbath—how many rulers are there in the land? Is it not I, alone, that +rule? These things are not to be done. They are unlawful in my country," +said the Queen, "for they are not the customs of our ancestors."</p> + +<p>As a result of this "kabary" 400 officers were reduced in rank and fines +were paid for 2,000 others, and thus was ushered in a persecution which +lasted a quarter of a century.</p> + +<p>The Rev. William Ellis, on English missionaries, in his book entitled +"Madagascar Revisited," states that the first martyr for Christ who +suffered there in 1836 was "Rosolama." She was a Christian woman, +between twenty and thirty years of age, bearing no common name, for +Rosolama signifies peace and happiness. She was imprisoned at +Ambotonakonga, the site of the first house built exclusively for +Christian worship in the country. A memorial church has been erected on +the spot. When brought to the place she knelt down and asked a few +minutes to pray. This was granted, and then her body fell, pierced with +the spears of her executioners.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 481px;"> +<img src="images/gs28.jpg" width="481" height="600" alt="REV. J. P. ROBINSON, + +Pastor of First Baptist Church, Little Rock, Arkansas." title="" /> +<span class="caption">REV. J. P. ROBINSON,<br /> + +Pastor of First Baptist Church, Little Rock, Arkansas.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Eminent as a Successful Preacher, with Much Originality of +Thought and Strength of Convictions.</p></div> + +<p>The second martyr, Rayfarolahy, a young man, suffered on the same place +some time after. At the request of Rosolama when she was taken forth to +death he had walked by her side to the place of execution and offered +words of encouragement to her to the last. When brought to the place +himself the executioners seized him and were about, as was their custom, +to forcibly throw him down, he said to them calmly, "There is no need to +do that; I will not cause any trouble." He also asked to be allowed to +pray, and then gently laid himself down and received the executioners' +spears. The measures taken to destroy Christianity were not at all times +equally severe. The years that stand out with special prominence are +1835, 1837, 1840, 1849 and 1857. Of what took place in 1840 was depicted +at the time in a letter written by Rev. D. Griffiths, who was then +residing at Antananarivo. The nine condemned Christians were taken past +Mr. Griffiths' house. "Ramonisa," he says, "looked at me and smiled; +others also looked at me, and their faces shone like those of angels in +the posture of prayer and wrestling with God. They were too weak to +walk, having been without rice or water for a long time. The people on +the wall and in the yard before our house were cleared off by the swords +and spears of those leading them to execution. That we might have a +clear, full and last sight of them, they were presented opposite the +balcony on the road and at the entrance of the yard for about ten +minutes, carried on poles by the executioners, with merely a hand +breadth of cloth to cover them, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> were then led away to execution. +The cannon fired to announce their death was shattered to pieces, and +the gunners' clothes burnt, which was considered ominous, many +whispering 'Thus will the kingdom of Ranavalona Manjaka be shattered to +pieces.'"</p> + +<p>In 1849 what may be called the great persecution took place; not less +than 1,900 persons suffered persecution of various kinds—fines, +imprisonment, chains, or forced labor in the quarries. Of this number 18 +suffered death, four, of noble birth, by being burned, and 14 by being +thrown over the great precipice of Ampomarinona. It is not easy to +estimate exactly the number of those who suffered the punishment of +death in these successive outbursts of persecution. It is most probable +the victims were between seventy or eighty. But these form only a small +portion of the total number of sufferers. Probably hundreds of others +died from their heavy irons, chains, or from fevers, severe forced +labor, or privations during the time they were compelled to hide in +caves or in the depths of the forests.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the severe persecution much quiet Christian work was +carried on in the lulls between storms—sometimes on hilltops, sometimes +in caves, or even in unfinished tombs. Thus the story of the Covenanters +was repeated, and the impossibility of destroying the Christian faith by +persecution again shown. Through these long years of persecution the +Christians were constantly receiving accessions to their ranks, and the +more they were opposed "the more they multiplied and grew."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 470px;"> +<img src="images/gs29.jpg" width="470" height="600" alt="CHRISTIAN MARTYR, + +In Madagascar in chains—Receiving consolation." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHRISTIAN MARTYR,<br /> + +In Madagascar in chains—Receiving consolation.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>The year 1861 will ever be a period from which date results momentous in +behalf of civil and religious liberty for the Negro. It was the +beginning of the end of Negro slavery in the United States and the +permanent establishment of religious freedom in Madagascar. Queen +Ranavalona had a long reign of thirty-three years, but in that year it +became evident she could not reign much longer. Natives give details of +her last days. The aged Queen had for some time been suffering in +health; diviners had been urgently consulted, charms and potent herbs +had been employed, with no avail. Late in the summer of 1861 it became +generally known that the fatal moment could not long be delayed. +Mysterious fires were said to be seen on the tops of mountains +surrounding the capital, and a sound like music was rising from Iatry to +Andohalo. The Queen eagerly questioned those around her as to the +meaning of these portents. But while the dying Queen was anxiously +praying to the idol in which she placed her trust, there were those who +whispered to the prince that the fire was the sign of jubilee to bring +together the dispersed, and to redeem the lost, and so the event +proved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<p>The aged Queen passed away during the night of August 15, 1861, and +early on the morning of August 16 the news spread rapidly through the +capital, and her son was proclaimed as Radama II. One of the first acts +of the new sovereign was to proclaim religious liberty. The chains were +struck off from the persecuted Christians and the banished were +recalled. Many came back who had long been in banishment or in hiding, +and their return seemed to friends who had supposed them to be dead like +a veritable resurrection.</p> + +<p>The joy of the Christian was intense. The long season of repression had +at last come to an end. Now it was no longer a crime to meet for +Christian worship, or to possess Christian books. On that first Friday +evening some of the older Christians met and spent the night in prayer, +and Sunday services were begun in eleven private houses; but these were +soon consolidated into three large congregations. Radama II eagerly +welcomed intercourse with foreigners and gave Christians permission to +write at once, urging that missionaries be sent out, himself writing to +the London Missionary Society making the same request. The society +responded promptly with a large band of men and women missionaries, +twenty or thirty thousand copies of the Bible, New Testament and tracts.</p> + +<p>The result of three-quarters of a century of Christian work in +Madagascar has been that the Christian religion has taken firm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> hold on +the people. Manifest and noticeable are the number and prominence of +church buildings in and around the capital. There are four stone +memorial churches, built by the friends of the London Missionary Society +to remind coming generations of the fidelity of the martyrs, and a very +fine and well situated Roman Catholic cathedral in Ambodin Andaholo. +Prominent as Christian agencies in Madagascar are "The Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel," who sent out Bishop Kestel Cornish and James +Coles; "The Norwegian Missionary Society," "The Roman Catholic +Missionary Society," and "The Society of Friends in England."</p> + +<p>To summarize, approximately there are now 110 foreign missionaries on +the island; over 2,000 congregations, with a total of 400,000 adherents, +which include 100,000 church members; while the Protestant schools +contain 150,000 children. No statement of the Christianizing agencies +and influences would be just or correct that did not include that of the +Roman Catholic Church. "No one," it has been truly said, "can be long in +Madagascar without learning to admire the self-denial, patience and +heroic fortitude with which its work is carried on." It has been thus +fittingly described, a few years ago, by an English visitor: "In 1861, +when Catholic missionaries landed on the shores of Tamatave there was +not a Catholic on the island; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> little by little, by dint of +unwearied labor, suffering and preaching, they won over not hundreds but +thousands of pagans to the love and knowledge of our Lord and His truth, +so that their pagan converts number over 130,000. They have built a +magnificent cathedral, which is the glory and pride of Antananarivo. +They have also 300 churches and 400 or more Catholic stations scattered +over the island, where 18,000 children are taught and trained by a large +and elevated staff of Christian brothers and sisters of St. Joseph, and +641 native teachers. They have also created industrial schools, where +various trades are taught by two devoted brothers, Benjamin and Arnoad, +and at Ambohipo they have a flourishing college for young Malagash. They +have also on the island four large dispensaries, where thousands of +prescriptions are distributed gratis to all who seek to relieve their +sufferings. They have also established a leper hospital at Ambohivoraka, +where the temporal and spiritual wants of 150 poor lepers are freely +administered to, and have already opened another such establishment, in +Betsilio land. Prison visitation, dispensing rice, clothing, and +spiritual instruction to half-starved and naked prisoners under the +Madagascar rule; their catalogue of books devotional, literary and +scientific; a dictionary, all of which have been edited and published in +the Madagascan language, are among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> golden contributions for +civilization by the Catholics in this far-off island continent in the +Indian seas."</p> + +<p>In referring to their labors, and to which, comparatively, I have made +but brief reference, Mr. Cousins says: "To much in the Roman Catholic +system we may be strenuously opposed; but to their zeal, their skill, +their patience, their self-denial, we render the homage of an ungrudging +admiration."</p> + +<p>The foregoing were the labors and results of missionary effort up to the +date of the French taking absolute possession of the island. It is to be +hoped there will be no retrograde movement lessening the efficiency of +these civilizing agencies. Although it is alleged that French control +and influence in Tahiti and other South Sea islands have been averse to +both morality and evangelical Christianity, and hence there are not +wanting those who predict incumbrances in missionary work, now French +authority is established. But in this age of progress along all the +lines of human endeavor the French Government will undoubtedly see the +justice and utility of governing with a regard to the advancement of +these wards that the prowess of its arms have committed to its care. It +is not unreasonable to expect, and the promise should be flattering, +that with the European ideas of the proper functions of government, the +incipient steps for the mental culture of the natives, present evidence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +of large expenditure and introduction of the most modern applications +for the physical development of the island, the Madagascan people will +attain in the future a higher degree of human advancement from contact +with the civilization of the French than it was possible they could have +under "Hova rule." And in this connection it is gratifying to note that +"The Native Race Protection Committee," headed by Mr. Paul Viollet, of +the Paris Institute, in June, 1899, addressed an appeal to the Colonial +Minister in behalf of the Malagash, entreating him to shorten the forced +labor, to reduce the taxes, and to annul decrees, which greatly +re-established slavery.</p> + +<p>The appeal dwelt on the fearful mortality occasioned by forced labor on +the roads, which threatened to reduce the most robust population of the +highlands as to de-bar colonists from commercial and agricultural +enterprises, and very pertinently asks "Is it not better to be without +roads than without a healthy population?" The appeal also denounced +arbitrary acts. "The native," it is said, "is arrested and imprisoned +for months without a trial, and this with all the less forbearance, as +the prisoner is always utilized as an economic laborer." The justice of +this appeal and prompt reception and accord with the French conscience +was evidenced in the public announcement to the natives by Gen. +Gallieni, the Governor of Madagascar, a few months later, that forced +labor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> would be discontinued after January 1, 1900, and thereafter they +could work for whom they pleased, and if for government they would be +paid wages agreed to.</p> + +<p>It is needless to say that this proclamation was received by the natives +with tumultuous rejoicing. Forced labor is now abolished, and the +natives rejoice in a jubilee from a servitude the most galling.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + + +<p>The adaptability of the Negro to conditions that are at the time +inevitable has been the paladium that has sustained and multiplied him +amid the determined prejudice that has ever assailed him. The Indian, +unassimilating, combatted the prejudice of caste by physical force, and +has been well nigh extinguished, while the Negro has bowed to the +inevitable with the mental reservation to rise to a higher recognition +by a persistent assimilation of the forces that disenthralled and +exalted the Saxon.</p> + +<p>The foregoing chapter, indicating the policy of the French in their +occupation and dealing with Madagascar, the planting of a nation's +authority and establishing a colony on the ruins of a weaker power, or +of subject races, under the plea of humanity, or through the chicanery +of diplomacy, has ever been the rule when territory has been desired by +a stronger power. The proximity of Cuba to the States, and Spanish +misrule of that island, and also of the Philippines, were the "open +sesame," it is alleged, that beckoned the armed force of the United +States to take possession. But in truth the Spanish jewel, Cuba, shone +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> the distance, "so near, and yet so far"—so near for mischievous +complication, and so far for material and diplomatic control. With a +vicious administration by a nation of decaying prestige were all +elements promising success to the invader. The covert and dastardly +destruction of the U. S. warship "Maine" in Cuban waters, the offspring +of Spanish suspicion of American designs, was all, and more than +required, to inaugurate a "causi belli" and complete the conquest of the +island. To claim that these movements had their incipiency in a +consensus of desire of the American people for justice to subject races, +and was solely, or even mainly, on account of Spanish tyranny, is a +statement that will not bear investigation for moral consistency. It +being the very antipodes of their current behavior to a large class of +citizens born beneath the pinions of their eagle of freedom at home.</p> + +<p>For how does it happen that the alien Cuban and Filipino colored +brothers are so much more entitled to protection and the enjoyment of +civil and political rights than the colored American brother, that +thousands of lives and millions of treasure must be expended to +establish that humanity and justice abroad denied by these "world +reformers" to millions of their citizens at home? Really, it would seem +that to duty and the bestowal of justice 'tis "distance that lends +enchantment to the view." "Wherever you see a head, hit it," was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +slogan of Pat, at Donnybrook Fair, and wherever there has been a +territorial plum ripe in its loneliness, and tempting in its +lusciousness, there has not been wanting a "grabber." It was the French +in Madagascar, the English in Africa, and the Americans in the Antilles. +"O! civilization; what crimes are committed in thy name!" The record of +our stewardship is in the tomb of the future for the coming historian to +"point a moral or adorn a tale."</p> + +<p>The acquisition of new territory, when honorably acquired, is ever +attended with peculiar conditions and vicissitudes. The transformation +of the population of which into a desirable element of the body politic +depends much upon the wisdom of the statesman, and the insistence of +moral rectitude on the part of the Christian and philanthropist whether +it shall be a blessing or an evil to both parties in interest.</p> + +<p>It is no secret that in many minds the motive and manner of acquiring +the Philippines are open to much disparaging comment. We are charged +with wresting by superior force that independence that a weak but heroic +people were and had been for ten years struggling to attain from the +Spanish yoke; that we, whom they hailed as an assistant and in good +faith co-operated with in turn, became their hostile enemies and +destroyed that identity as an independent entity for which they fought.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 471px;"> +<img src="images/gs30.jpg" width="471" height="600" alt="CHESTER W. KEATTS, + +Grand Master "Mosaic Templars of America."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHESTER W. KEATTS,<br /> + +Grand Master "Mosaic Templars of America."</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born In Pulaski County, Arkansas, in 1860—For Many Years +Prominent in the Mail Service of that State—Broad in His +Sympathies, and Strong as an Advocate for the Beneficent +Principles of the Institution of which He is the Head.</p></div> + +<p>The conditions which confronted Aguinaldo as the leader of the +Philippine revolution have been vividly described by a writer of English +history: "With the statesman in revolutionary times, it is not through +decisive moments that seemed only trivial, and by important turns that +seemed indifferent; for he explores dark and untried paths; groping his +way through a jungle of vicissitudes, ambush and strategem; expedient, a +match for fortune in all her moods. Regardless of what has been called +'history's severe and scathing touch,' we cannot forget the torrid air +of revolutionary times, the blinding sand storms of faction, the +suspicions, jealousies and hatreds, the distinctions of mood and aim, +the fierce play of passions that put an hourly strain of untold +intensity on the constancy, the prudence, and the valor of a leader."</p> + +<p>No one can read the state papers and proclamations of Aguinaldo without +being impressed with his ability as a leader, the intensity of his +patriotism and honesty of purpose depicted for the independence of his +country from Spanish rule. The statesmanship he displayed, the +intelligent and liberal conception of constitutional government, and the +needs and aspirations of his people, are at variance with the allegation +that the Filipinos were unfit for self-government.</p> + +<p>Hence it is that men ask, "Would it not have been national nobility of a +high order if as a protector we should have given them a protectorate +instead of the ignoble action<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> of shooting them down in their patriotic +attempt?" Indeed, it remains to be seen whether absolute authority +obtained by such means, together with current American usage of colored +races, will not evolve the fact that they have but changed masters. For +here in our own hemisphere our country's history continues to be rife +with lawlessness at the bidding of a vicious sentiment, and in some +sections it is the rule and not the exception. Free from the restraint +of law-abiding localities in the States, the American adventurer of +lawless propensity will have free reign in bullying and oppressing, and +probable partiality in the administration of the law.</p> + +<p>George E. Horr, the able editor of the "Watchman," under "Treatment to +Subject Races," is pointed and timely when he says: "The Englishman who +emigrates to an English colony finds that he comes under the same laws +that apply to the natives; he is not a privileged personage, by virtue +of the fact that he is an Englishman. Law is enacted and executed with +absolute impartiality. In India a native and an Englishman stand exactly +on the same plane before the law. Indeed, in many cases, an Englishman +will be tried by an Indian judge. The British have not succeeded in +winning the affections of the natives, but the natives are thoroughly +convinced the Englishman will act justly. There will not be (in +practice) one law for European and another for the native, as in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> too +many cases in our own country there is one law for the white man and +another for the black man."</p> + +<p>But let us all work, hope and trust that the best of American +Christianity and civilization may be equal to the emergency, giving the +Filipinos a larger measure of liberty and civil rights than they had +under the erstwhile rule of Spain.</p> + +<p>Under a constitutional government it is premised that sustenance and +valor for "amor patria" proceeds from the fact that its institutions are +designed as bulwarks for the citizen's liberty, and that its political +and economic features are such as guarantee equality before the law and +promote an equal chance in the race of life.</p> + +<p>That there is a degree of selfishness in his patriotism, and that +government is revered only as a means to an end, is evidenced by +revolutionary tendencies ever uppermost when there are reasons to +believe that these benign purposes are being thwarted. But if for +wrongs, the return be fidelity, for obloquy patience, for maltreatment +loyalty, be a high type of Christian ethics, the reflex influence of +which, we read, are God-like; surely the Negro has virtues "not born to +die," presaging an endurance that must evolve out of this nettle +discomfort, justice and contentment. For, as heretofore, in the last war +with Spain, putting behind him his century of oppression in slavery, and +the vicious discrimination since his emancipation, forgetful of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +else save the honor and glory of the flag, there, as, always, he wrote +his name high up on the roll of his country's heroes. "Our's not to ask +the reason why; our's to do or die." To read the reports of commanders +and other officers, and the narratives of bystanders, all attesting to a +bravery invincible, causes the blood to tingle and the patriot heart to +leap. We are making history replete with self-abnegation as we continue +to bring to our country's altar an unstinted devotion and brilliant +achievement. These take their places fittingly, and we should keep them +in the forefront of our claim for equality of citizenship.</p> + +<p>For it is declared that "not the least valuable lesson taught by the war +with Spain is the excellence of the Negro soldiery". In the battle of +San Juan, near Santiago, a Negro regiment is said to have borne the +brunt of the battle. Three companies suffered nearly as seriously, yet +they remained steady under fire without an officer. The war has not +shown greater heroism. In the battle of Guasimas it is said by some of +the "Rough Riders" themselves that it was the brilliant supporting +charge of the Tenth Cavalry that saved them from destruction. George +Rennon writes: "I do not hesitate to call attention to the splendid +behavior of the colored troops." It is the testimony of all who saw them +under fire that they fought with the utmost courage, coolness and +determination; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> Colonel Roosevelt said to a squad of them in the +trenches in my presence that he never expected to have and could not ask +to have better men beside him in a hard fight. If soldiers come up to +Colonel Roosevelt's standard of courage, their friends have no reason to +be ashamed of them. His commendation is equivalent to a medal of honor +for conspicuous gallantry, because, in the slang of the camp, he is +himself a fighter "from way back." I can testify, furthermore, from my +own personal observation in the hospital of the Fifth Army Corps, +Saturday and Sunday night, that the colored regulars who were brought in +there displayed extraordinary fortitude and self-control. There were a +great many of them, but I cannot remember to have heard a groan or +complaint from a single man.</p> + +<p>General Miles is quoted as favoring an increased number of colored +soldiers in the United States service. He said that "in no instance had +they failed to do their full duty in this war, or in the campaigns in +the West; in short, they were model soldiers in every respect; not only +in courage have they done themselves credit, but in their conduct as +well."</p> + +<p>When the Second Volunteer regiment of Immunes (white) became so +disorderly in Santiago that they had to be sent outside to the hills for +better discipline, General Shafter ordered into the city the Eighth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +Illinois regiment of colored troops, who had an unsullied name for +sobriety and discipline, and enjoyed the thorough confidence of those in +command. And the following brief compendium of Spanish war mention from +a few of the leading press of the country is good reading. A soldier +writing home to friends in Springfield said: "You want to see the +Negroes; they let out a yell and charge, and the fight is over." Arthur +Partridge, of Co. B, writes: "At first we got the worst of it, but we +received reinforcements from the two regiments of colored infantry, who +walked right up to the block house, against their whole fire; they lost +heavily, but it put heart into everybody, and the way we drove those +Spaniards was a caution. A colored man can have anything of mine he +wants. When storming they yelled like fiends." Corporal Keating of Co. B +writes: "The Negroes are fighters from their toes up. They saved +Roosevelt at the first battle, and took one of the forts in the battle a +few days ago."</p> + +<p>Thomas Holmes, a Rough Rider, who hails from Newkirk, Oklahoma, was the +magnet of attraction at St. Paul's Hospital, says a writer in the New +York Tribune. "He is a handsome, stalwart fellow, full of anecdote and +good humor, and popular all around. He was sitting next to Corporal +Johnson, of the Tenth Cavalry, a Negro who still carries a Mauser bullet +somewhere 'inside of me inside,' as he expressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> it. 'The colored +cavalry fought well, eh?' interjected the clergyman. 'Indeed they did,' +said Holmes, fervently. 'That old idea about a "yellow streak" being in +a Negro is all wrong. No men could have fought more bravely, and I want +to tell you that but for the coming up of the Tenth Cavalry the Rough +Riders might have been cut to pieces.' 'Oh, he is just talking,' said +the colored man, who smiled like a happy child nevertheless."</p> + +<p>Says the "Philadelphia Daily Press:" "At every forward movement in our +national life the Negro comes to the front and shares in the advance +with each national expansion. He does his part of the work, and deserves +equal recognition. At Santiago two Negro regiments—the Ninth, in +General Sumner's Brigade, and the Tenth, in General Bates'—were at the +front in the center of the line. With the rest they crested the heights +of San Juan; with the rest they left their men thickly scattered on the +slope, and since they shared in death every member of the race has a +right to ask that in life no rights be denied and no privileges +curtailed. The white regiments that connected them in that thin blue +line, that slender hoop of steel which hemmed in more than its opposing +number, may have held men who hesitate about this and that, contact with +color; but on that Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, when risk and +peril hung heavy over the line, there was no hesitation in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> closing up +on the Ninth and Tenth Regiments, because the men in them were colored. +All honor to the black troops of the gallant Tenth."</p> + +<p>Says the "New York Mail and Express:" "No more striking example of +bravery and coolness has been shown since the destruction of the Maine +than by the colored veterans of the Tenth Cavalry during the attack on +Fort Caney of Saturday. By the side of the intrepid 'Rough Riders' they +followed their leader up the terrible hill from whose crest the +desperate Spaniards poured down a deathly fire of shell and musketry. +They never faltered; the rents in their ranks were filled as soon as +made. Firing as they marched, their aim was splendid, their coolness +superb, and their courage aroused the admiration of their comrades. +Their advance was greeted with wild cheers from the white regiments, and +with an answering shout they pressed onward over the trenches they had +taken close in pursuit of the retreating enemy. The war has not shown +greater heroism. The men whose freedom was baptised in blood have proven +themselves capable of giving their lives that others may be free. Today +is a glorious 'Fourth' for all races of people in this great land."</p> + +<p>The "New Orleans Item" gives its contemporary, the "States," the +following spanking (with the usual interrogation, "Now will you be +good?"): "The 'States'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> has evidently failed to profit by the beneficial +lesson taught since the opening of the Santiago campaign. Had our +esteemed contemporary been present in Richmond a few days since; when +the form of a Negro soldier pierced by nine Mauser bullets was tenderly +borne through the streets by four stalwart white infantry men, he would +have heard the lustiest cheers that ever went up from the throats of the +residents of the former capital of the Confederacy. Perhaps our +anti-Negro friend would have learned wisdom from the statement of a +member of Roosevelt's regiment, who declared in an interview with a +press representative, that had it not been for the valiant conduct of +the Negro cavalry at Baguiri the Rough Riders would have found the +routing of the Spaniards almost a hopeless task. The attack of the +'States' on the Negro soldier is vicious and unpardonable. There is no +more intrepid or hardy fighter to be found anywhere than the much-abused +descendant of Ham. He has dogged persistence and a determination to +conquer which triumphs over all obstacles. He is aware of his social +inferiority and never seeks to attain positions of eminence to which his +valor and his spirit of daring do not entitle him. The 'States' presents +one of the most rabid cases of negrophobia extant. It should seek an +immediate cure."</p> + +<p>Such indorsements from the white press of the country is not only +timely, but for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> all time. History of his endurance and endeavor in +peace, and his valor in war, stimulates his demand and strengthens his +claim for equal justice. Such and kindred books as "Johnson's School +History of the Race in America" should be prominent as household gods in +every Afro-American home, that along the realm of time the vista of +heroic effort "bequeathed from sire to son" may gladden hearts in "the +good time coming;" for it is display in endurance, a vigorous courage, a +gladsome self-control, a triumphant self-sacrifice, that mankind applaud +as supreme for exaltation, and the highest types of self-abnegation for +human advancement; for "before man made us citizens, Great Nature made +us men."</p> + +<p>Equally as in the realm of war has the race produced its noblemen in the +arena of peace and mental development. For, if it be true that "the +greatest names in history are those who in the full career and amid the +turbid extremities of political action, have yet touched the closest and +at most points the ever-standing problems of the world and the things in +which the interests of men never die," our industrial educators are +fittingly placed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 481px;"> +<img src="images/gs31.jpg" width="481" height="600" alt="HON. JOSIAH T. SETTLE, A. B. A. M." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. JOSIAH T. SETTLE, A. B. A. M.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Tennessee September, 1850—Entered Oberlin College in +1868—Graduated From Howard University, 1872—A Leading Member +of the Bar—Member of State Legislature of 1883—Assistant +Attorney-General—For Integrity as a Man, Learning as a Jurist, +and Eloquence of Appeal, He Has Made an Honorable Record.</p></div> + +<p>Of the ever-standing problem of the world, and in which mankind is ever +alert, is the struggle for survival, and he that by inspiring word and +untiring deeds leads the deserving poor and destitute to prosperity and +contentment, is entitled to unstinted praise as a great human force +directed to a high moral purpose. While an advocate for the higher +education of as many of the race who have the will or means to obtain +it, for the majority, after obtaining a good English education, it +should be immediately supplemented by a trade, to labor skillfully, is +its great want today.</p> + +<p>The question has been asked: "Can any race safely exist in any country +composed only of unskilled laborers and professional men? Must not the +future leaders of our people come from the middle classes, from those +who work and think?" Education to be of practical advantage must not +only sharpen the intellect, but it must be of that sort that will enable +them to engage in pursuits and avocations above those of mere drudgery; +those that are more lucrative, and from which accumulate wealth. The +school room must be the stepping stone to a good trade. The statement +has been made (which may be problematical) that we have fewer, +comparatively, very many fewer, mechanics of all kinds now than we had +in the days of slavery. The master knew that the money value of the +slave was increased in the ratio of his efficiency as a skilled laborer.</p> + +<p>To the credit of Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and other Southern States, +they have made generous provisions for industrial education by supplying +machinery and the most modern appliances to teach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> skilled labor to +those who prefer them to the white apron of the waiter or the grubbing +hoe of the plantation. Of the students that graduate from our high +schools and colleges there are those who have not the qualities of head +and heart essential for teaching and preaching, including a love and +devotion to those callings, and possibly would have been shining marks +had their studies fitted them to grapple with the mercantile or +industrial factors that promise a future more independent and lucrative.</p> + +<p>The advancement of any race in morals and culture is retarded when poor +and dependent. It is indispensable to progress that it has the benefit +of earnings laid by. It is therefore to these industrial features that +we must look for the foundation of advancement for the race. It will not +be found at either extreme of our present avocations; neither the +attainment of the professions, nor devotion to menial labor will solve +the problem of the "better way." A greater number must be fitted to +obtain work more lucrative in character and more ennobling in effect. +Institutions of applied science and business pursuits seem to me the +great doorway to ultimate success. Economy and industries of this kind +will more rapidly produce the means to achieve that higher education for +the race so desirable. Morality, learning and wealth are a trio +invincible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<p>To content ourselves with denouncing injustice is to fail to enlist the +economic features so necessary as assistants. For amid all our +disadvantages we are to a large extent arbiters of our fortunes, for we +can by an indomitable will dispel many, many seeming mountains that +encumber our way. But we have much to unlearn, and especially that the +road to financial prosperity is not chiefly the dictum of the facile +mouth, but through the manifestation of skilled hands and routine of +business methods, however much the mouth may attempt to compete, +conscious of its wealth of assertion and extent of capacity. While it is +eminently proper we should strive for the administration of equitable +laws for our protection, it should be ever remembered that while local +laws under our constitutional government are supposed to be the equity +of public opinion, for us they are not sustained unless in harmony with +feelings and sentiments of their environments. Our work as a dependent +element is plainly to use such, and only such, methods as will sustain +or create the sentiment desired by a fraternization of business and +material interests. This we cannot do either in the arena of politics or +the status of the menial laborer. For in the one, when the polls are +closed, we are continuously reminded of "Othello's occupation gone." In +the other, the abundance of raw and uncouth labor robs it of its +vitality as a force to compel conditions.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + + +<p>The spirit in which these "schools of trade" have been conceived, and +the success of their conduct, indicate they have struck a responsive +chord in the communities where local approval is a necessity. +Constituting an agreeable counterpoise to the fixed determination of the +white people of the South that within its purview the Negro, however +worthy, shall not occupy political prominence. This, while diametrically +opposed to the genius and spirit of republican government, may yet be +the boomerang, beneficent in its return, redounding to his advantage by +turning the current of his aspirations to trades and business activities +rich with promise of material and ennobling fame. From this point of +view history records the Jew as a shining example. The Negro, +constitutionally buoyant, should be energetic and hopeful, for "there is +a destiny that shapes our ends," blunt them however much by "damning +with faint praise" or apology for oppression from whilom friends. In the +darkest hour of slavery and ignorance came freedom and education. When +lynchings became prevalent, lynching of whites made it unpopular; when +disfranchisement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> came, debasing him in localities as a factor in civil +government, came elevation and high honor ungrudgingly bestowed for +heroic deeds by commanders of the national armies.</p> + +<p>President McKinley, in his order for the enlistment and promotion of the +colored soldier in the Spanish war, added additional luster to his page +in history, it being an act the result of which has been of inestimable +value to the race. Just and inspiring is the speech of Hon. Charles H. +Grosvenor, of Ohio, delivered at the close of the 56th Congress, +entitled "The Colored Citizen; His Share in the Affairs of the Nation in +the Years of 1897 to 1900. Fifteen thousand participated in the war. The +President's generous treatment of colored men in the military and civil +service of the Government."</p> + +<p>General Grosvenor commences with an exordium eloquent in succinctness +and noble in generosity. "I cannot let pass this opportunity at the +close of a long session of Congress, and at the end of three years of +this Administration, without putting on record to enlighten future +generations the history of the part which the colored citizen has had in +the stirring events of this remarkable period. It is a period in the +history of the country of which future generations will be proud, as are +those of today, and as the colored citizens of the United States have +participated nobly in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> it, it is but just to them that the facts be put +on record.</p> + +<p>"I want to speak of his part in the war in Cuba, in Porto Rico, in the +Philippines. Would a war with Spain benefit the Negro? was a popular +question for debate. Some thought it would benefit, others thought not. +In many respects it has been a Godsend and beyond dispute a great +benefit. If in no other way, 15,048 privates have shown their patriotism +and their valor by offering their bared breasts as shields for the +country's honor; 4,114 regulars did actual, noble and heroic service at +El Caney, San Juan and Santiago, while 266 officers (261 volunteers and +five regulars) did similar service and demonstrated the ability of the +American Negro to properly command ever so well, as he does readily +obey."</p> + +<p>General Grosvenor then pertinently adds: "When we learn to appreciate +the fact that three years ago the Negro had in the army only five +officers and 4,114 privates, and that one year ago he had 266 officers +and 15,048 privates, we must know that inestimable benefit has come to +the race. Among the officers are to be found many of the brightest minds +of the race. Fully 80 per cent of those in authority come from the best +known and most influential families in the land. Their contact with and +influence upon their superior officers will be sure to raise the Negro +in the popular esteem and do an incalculable good."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + +<p>Reference is made to disbursements to Negro officers and soldiers during +the Spanish war, which he colates to be $5,000,000; adding the salaries +of those employed in the civil service brings up to a sum exceeding +$6,000,000 paid the Negro citizen. This, coupled with the high honor +attached to such military designations as colonels, lieutenants and +captains conferred upon him, shed a halo of generosity over President +McKinley's Administration.</p> + +<p>General Grosvenor is richly entitled to and received a just meed of +praise for the great service he has done by putting this grand array of +fact and heroic deed in popular form, and thereby strengthening the +Negro appeal for justice and opportunity, while its pages are a noble +contribution to a valor that will illumine Negro history for all time. +It was most opportune, for the then pressing need to strengthen the weak +and recall the recalcitrants who indiscriminately charge the party with +being remiss in requiting and acknowledging the Negro's devotion. The +well-earned plaudits for his bravery on the battlefield should widen the +area of his consciousness, intensify conviction that mediocrity is a +drug in every human activity, for whether in the professions, +literature, agriculture or trades, it is excellence alone that counts +and will bring recognition, despite the frowning battlements of caste. +As we become more and more valued factors in the common cause of the +general welfare,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> that the flexibility of American sentiment on +conviction of merit will be more apparent we cannot but believe; for +conditions seem to have surmounted law and seek their own solution, +since the supreme law of the land seems ineffectual and local sentiment +the arbiter, when the Negro is plaintiff.</p> + +<p>In the first section of Article 14 of the Constitution we have: "All +persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the +jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the +several States wherein they reside. No State shall enforce any law which +shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United +States." To neutralize this pronounced and unequivocal legislation we +have the dictum of the Supreme Court of the United States that this +constitutional right, so plainly set forth, can be legally abrogated by +a State convention or legislature. While from the premises stated the +conclusion may be evident to a jurist, to the layman it is perplexing; +and while bowing in obeyance to this court of last resort, he cannot but +admire the judicial agility in escaping the problem. He is reminded of a +final response touching the character and standing of a church member of +whom the inquirer wishes to know. The reply was: "Brother B. is quite +prominent and well known here." "Well, what is his standing?" "Oh, very +high; he is the elder of our church and superintendent of the Sunday +school." "Yes, but as I am thinking of having some business dealings +with him, what I want to know is, how does he stand for credit and +promptness?" "Well, stranger, if you put it that way, I must say that +heavenward Bro. B. is all right, but earthward he is rather twistical." +Ordinaryward, the Supreme Court is all right; but Negroward, twistical.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 466px;"> +<img src="images/gs32.jpg" width="466" height="600" alt="JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN, + +Chief Justice of the United States." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN,<br /> + +Chief Justice of the United States.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Kentucky—A Colonel in the Union Army—Candidate for +Vice-President of the United States—One of the Foremost +Authorities on Constitutional Law—Learned and Impartial.</p></div> + +<p>For the law-abiding citizens of these Commonwealths we have this other, +the second section of the same article: "When the right to vote at any +election for the choice of electors for President or Vice-President of +the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive or +judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, +is denied to any one of the male inhabitants of such State being +twenty-one years of age and a citizen of the United States, or in any +way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the +basis of representation thereon shall be reduced in the proportion which +the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male +citizens twenty-one years of age in such State."</p> + +<p>If, as avowed, that it is for the welfare of such Southern States that +they desire to banish the Negro from politics, can welfare be promoted +or national integrity sustained by such rank injustice, as their Members +of Congress occupying seats therein, or having representation in the +electoral college<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> based upon an apportionment in which the Negro +numerically is so prominent a factor, and in the exercise of rights +pertaining thereto, he is a nonentity.</p> + +<p>"The Baptist Watchman" takes this unassailable position of this misrule: +"Ex-Governor Northen, of Georgia, in his address before the +Congregational Club the other evening, declared that the status of the +black race in the South was that of permanent dependence upon the white +race. The central point of his contention is that capacity to rule +confers the right to rule. The white man can give the black man a better +government that he can give himself; therefore, the black man should be +glad to receive the blessing at the hands of the white man. For our +part, we believe that, whatever specious defense on the ground of +philanthropy, civilization and religion may be made for this position, +it is radically repugnant to the genius of American institutions. If the +men of the nation who are best qualified to rule have a right to rule, +they themselves being the judge of their qualifications, England or +Russia would be justified in attempting to impose their sovereignty on +the United States, if they thought they could give us a better +government than we are apt to give ourselves. Unless the doctrine is +vigorously maintained that governments 'derive their just powers from +the consent of the governed,' and not from the conceit of an aristocracy +as to its own capacity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> then we of the North will not find it easy to +protest effectively against the disfranchisement of the Southern +Negroes."</p> + +<p>But the issue will not be made in opposition to a great national party +that draws a large measure of its strength from the South till disaster +from material issues compel. With the Republican party (as of a +Christmas morning) "everything is lovely and the goose hangs high;" but +discomfiture, sometimes laggard, is ever attendant on dereliction of +duty. This usurpation, which should have been throttled when a babe, has +now become a giant seated in its castle, compelling deference and +acquiescence to an anomaly, reaching beyond the Negro in its menace to +representative government.</p> + +<p>And now, while from inertia the Republican party has been privy to this +misrepresentation, prominent Northern leaders are trying to take +advantage of their own neglect in an attempt to reduce representation in +national conventions from Southern States, irregularly Democratic. But +the friends of just government need not despond, for the political and +industrial revolution which the war for the perpetuation of the Union +and the basic principle of equity it evolved will continue to demand and +eventually secure equal rights for all beneath the flag.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + + +<p>Now, on the eve of my departure from Madagascar, and approaching four +years of consular intercourse, I have only pleasant memories. My +relations with General Gallieni, Governor-General of the Island, and his +official family, have ever been most cordial. On learning of my intended +departure, he very graciously wrote me, as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Madagascar and Dependencies.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">Governeur-General.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Tananarivo, 19th Mch., 1901.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>My Dear Consul:</p> + +<p>I learn with much displeasure of your early departure from Madagascar, +and would have been very glad to have met you again at the beginning of +May, when going down to the coast. But I always intend to take a trip to +America, and perhaps may find an opportunity to see you again in your +powerful and flourishing country, which I wish so much to know. I thank +you very much for your kind letter, and reciprocate. I had always with +you the best relations, and I could appreciate your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> friendly and highly +estimable character, and regret your departure. I have read with great +pleasure your biographical sketch, and I see that you have already +rendered many valuable services to your country, where your name is +known very honorably. Yours faithfully,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">GALLIENI.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Socially, as a member of the "Circle Francais", a club of the elite of +the French residents, a constant recipient of its sociability, the +urbanity and kindness of Messrs. Proctor Brothers, Messrs. Dadabhoy & +Co., and Messrs. Oswold & Co., representing, respectively, the leading +English and German mercantile firms in the island, contributed much in +making life enjoyable at that far-away post. My official life in +Madagascar was not without its lights and shadows, and the latter +sometimes "paled the ineffectual rays" of belated instructions. Of an +instance I may make mention. I was in receipt of a cablegram from the +Department of State advising me that the flagship "Chicago," with +Admiral Howison, would at an early date stop at Tamatave and instructing +me to obtain what wild animals I could indigenous to Madagascar and have +them ready to ship thereby for the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, +D. C. How I responded, and the result of the response, is attempted to +be set forth in the following dispatch to the Department of State:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Consulate of the United States,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tamatave, Madagascar; July 3, 1899.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mr. Gibbs to the Department of State.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i19">Subject:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Madagascar Branch of Smithsonian Institute.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i14">A Consul's "Burden."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +<span class="i14">Abstract of Contents:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Procuration of Live Animals, as per Order of the Department, and<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Declination of the Admiral to Receive Them on Board.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Honorable Assistant Secretary of State,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i32">Washington, D. C.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Sir:—Referring to your cablegram under date of May 22d last, directing +me to secure live animals for the Smithsonian Institute, to be sent home +on the flagship "Chicago" on its arrival at this port, I have to report +that I proceeded with more or less trepidation to accomplish the same, +the wild animals of Madagascar being exceedingly alive. With assistance +of natives I succeeded, after much trouble and expense, in obtaining +twelve, had them caged and brought to the consulate weeks before the +arrival of the ship. This, I regret to say, was a misadventure. I should +have located them in the woods and pointed them out to the Admiral on +his arrival. At first they seemed to agree, and were tractable until a +patriotic but unlucky impulse induced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> me to give them the names of a +few prominent Generals in the late war. After that, oh, my!</p> + +<p>The twelve consist of different varieties. One of the twelve seems a +cross of panther and wild cat, and rejoices in the appelation of "Aye +Aye."</p> + +<p>On the arrival of the "Chicago," forthwith I reported to Admiral Howison +my success in capturing "these things of beauty," and eternal terrors, +and my desire that they change domicile. He received me with such +charming suavity, and my report with so many tender expressions of +sympathy for the monkeys that I got a little mixed as to his preference. +Still joy-smitten, I was ill-prepared for the announcement "that it was +unwise to take them, as it was impossible to procure food to keep them +alive until the termination of the voyage."</p> + +<p>It was then, Mr. Secretary, that I sadly realized that I was confronted +by a condition. Over seventy years of age, 10,000 miles from home, a +beggarly salary, with a menagerie on my hands, while bankruptcy and a +humbled flag threatened to stare me in the face. There remained nothing +for me, but to "bow to the inevitable," transpose myself into a +committee of ways and means for the purpose of securing sleep for my +eyelids and a saving to the United States Treasury. For while ever loyal +to "the old flag and an appropriation," a sense of duty compels me to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +advise that this branch of the Smithsonian Institute is of doubtful +utility.</p> + +<p>With a desire to avoid, if possible, "the deep damnation of their +taking-off," by starvation, several plans promising relief suggested +themselves, viz: Sell them, turn them loose, or keep them at Government +expense. I very much regret that the latter course I shall be compelled +to adopt. My many offers to sell seemed not understood, as the only +response I have yet received has been: "I get you more like him, I can." +As to turning them loose, I have been warned by the local authorities +that if I did so I would do so at my peril. A necessary part of diet for +these animals is condensed milk, meat, bread, jam, and bananas, but they +are not content. Having been a member of the bar, and retaining much +veneration for the Quixotic capers of judicial twelve, on their desire +to leave I "polled" them and found a hung jury, swinging by their tails; +eleven indicated "aye," but the twelfth, with his double affirmative cry +of "Aye, Aye," being equal to negative, hung them up. Meanwhile, they +bid fair to be a permanent exhibit.</p> + +<p>Under cover of even date I enclose account for animals' food and +attention to June 30, and beg to say regarding the item of food, that I +anticipate a monthly increase of cost, as the appetite of the animals +seem to improve in captivity. I conclude, Mr. Secretary, with but a +single solace:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> They may possibly eat off their heads, but their tails +give abundant promise of remaining in evidence. Patiently awaiting +instructions as the future disposition of these wild and wayward wards +of the Government, I have the honor to be,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">Your obedient servant,<br /></span> +<span class="i14">M. W. GIBBS,<br /></span> +<span class="i16">U. S. Consul.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>How and when "I got rid of my burden" and the joyous expressions of a +long-suffering Government on the event, will (or will not) "be continued +in our next."</p> + +<p>Having asked for leave of absence, and leaving Mr. William H. Hunt, the +Vice-Consul, in charge of the consulate, on the 3d of April, 1891, I +took passage on the French steamer, "Yantse," for Marseilles, France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + + +<p>April 3, 1901.—It was not without regret, that found expression at a +banquet given me on the eve preceding my departure, by Mr. Erlington, +the German Consul at Tamatave, that I took my leave of Madagascar, when +the flags of the officials of the French Residency and flags of all the +foreign consuls were flying, honoring me with a kindly farewell. A jolly +French friend of mine, who came out to the steamer to see me off, said: +"Judge, don't you be too sure of the meaning of the flags flying at your +departure from Tamatave, for we demonstrate here for gladness, as well +as for regret." "Well," I replied, "in either event I am in unison with +the sentiment intended to be expressed; for I have both gladness and +regret—gladness with anticipations of home, and with regret that, in +all human probability, I am taking leave of a community from whom for +nearly four years I have been the recipient, officially, of the highest +respect; and socially of unstinted friendliness."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 464px;"> +<img src="images/gs33.jpg" width="464" height="600" alt="CHARLES W. CHESNUTT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">CHARLES W. CHESNUTT.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">A Distinguished Colored Writer—Author of "The House Behind the +Cedars," "The Wife of My Youth," "The Conjure Woman," "The +Morrow of Tradition"—All Sparkling with Justice, Wisdom, and +Wit.</p></div> + +<p>I found Vice-Consul Hunt had secured and had had my baggage placed in a +desirable state room. The ringing of the bell notified all +non-passengers ashore. After hearty handshakes from the Vice-Consul, +German, French, and other friends, taking with them a bottle or two of +wine that had been previously placed where it would do the most good, +they took the consular boat, and with the Stars and Stripes flying, and +handkerchiefs waving a final farewell, they were pulled ashore. The +anchor weighs, and the good ship "Yantse" inhales a long, moist, and +heated breath and commences to walk with stately strides and quickened +pace—weather charming and the sea as quiet as a tired child. The next +day a stop at the Island of St. Maria, a French possession, and on the +fifth day at Diego Suarez, on the north end of Madagascar.</p> + +<p>On the ninth day from Tamatave we entered the Gulf of Aden, and after +some hours dropped anchor at Camp Aden, in Arabia. Mr. Byramzie, a +Tamatave friend of mine, and of the London firm of Dadabhoy & Co., with +a branch at Aden, came off to meet me and accompany me ashore. Camp Aden +is a British fortification I cannot readily describe with reference to +its topography or the heterogenous character and pursuits of its +inhabitants. Nature was certainly in no passive mood when last it flung +its constituents together; for, with the exception of a few circling +acres forming a rim around the harbor, high, broken, and frowning +battlements of rock, ungainly and sterile, look down upon you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> as far as +the eye can reach. No sprig, or tree, or blade of grass takes root in +its parched soil or stony bed, or survives the blasting heat. Scattered +and dotted on crag, hilltop or slope, in glaring white, are the many +offices and residence buildings of the camp. While in hidden crevices +and forbidden paths are planted the most approved armament, with its +"dogs of war" to dispute a passage from the Gulf.</p> + +<p>In a dilapidated four-wheeler, drawn by one horse, after considerable +time spent by my friend in agreeing on terms (concerning which I pause +to remark that these benighted Jehus can give a Bowery cabman points on +"how not to do it"), over a macadam road of five miles we reach Aden +proper—the site of hotels, stores and residences with little +pretensions to architectural beauty; the buildings are quite all +constructed of stone, that material being in superabundance on every +intended site; their massive walls contributing to a cool interior +indispensable as a refuge from the blistering heat. Pure water for +drinking is a luxury, spasmodic in its supply. I once heard an hilarious +Irish song that stated:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We are jolly and happy, for we know without doubt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That the whisky is plenty, and the water is out."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This, I learn is the normal condition at Aden as to the relative status +of whisky and water—a very elysium for the toper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> who could not +understand why whisky should be spoiled by mixing it with water.</p> + +<p>Rains are infrequent and well water unpalatable. Sea water is distilled, +but the mineral and health-giving qualities are said to be absent. The +water highly prized and sold is the rainwater caught in tanks. Hollowed +out at the foot of the rock hills, there are numbers of peculiar +construction, connected and on different elevations. But for the last +three years the non-rainfall has kept them without a tenant. As I looked +in them not a drop sparkled within their capacious confines; they are +seldom filled, and the supply is ever deficient. The population is from +6,000 to 8,000, amid which the Parsee, the Mohammedan, Jew, Portuguese, +and other nationalities compete for the commerce of the interior. The +natives are of varied castes, the Samiles the most energetic and +prevailing type. The inferior classes go about almost naked and live in +long, unprepossessing structures, one story high, divided into single +rooms, rude and uncleanly.</p> + +<p>While at Aden I availed myself of the honor and pleasure of a visit to +the American Consulate, and received a warm, jolly, and spiritual +welcome from the incumbent, the Hon. E. T. Cunningham, of Knoxville, +Tenn. Mr. Cunningham intended to stay at Aden for six months. Like +"linked sweetness long drawn out," that period has extended to three +years, and is now "losing its sweetness on the desert air." He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> stated +that he was not infatuated with those "scarlet days" and "Arabian +nights," and is seeking relief or placement amid more congenial +surroundings, where distance (does not) "lend enchantment to the view." +But I assured him the Department was as astute as selfish. It knows when +it has a good thing, and endeavors to keep it. Mr. Cunningham has proved +himself to be an efficient and trusted official. We parted with mutual +hope of again meeting in "the land of the cotton and the corn."</p> + +<p>On my way to the landing I passed many convoys of camels and asses, +laden with coffee, it being one of the main articles of export. Arriving +at the steamer and bidding my Parsee friend a last, long farewell, +shortly we weighed anchor and away for a five days sail to Suez.</p> + +<p>On the 17th of April, eventful to me, being my birthday, we arrived at +Suez for a short stay, without time or inclination to go ashore. But, +seeing the Stars and Stripes flying from a ship lying in the distance, I +could not withstand the temptation. Jumping into a native sailboat that +described every point of the compass with oars and adverse wind, I +reached the United States cruiser, "New York." Capt. Rodgers and his +gentlemanly officers gave me a very cordial reception, ensuring an +enjoyable visit. Capt. Rodgers informed me that Lieutenant Poundstone +was aboard, who knew me as a "promoter" for the Smithsonian Institute at +Washington,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> he having been aboard the "Chicago" when it visited +Tamatave, and when Admiral Howison declined to convey my "gay and +festive" collection of wild animals to America. I would be most happy to +see him. He soon appeared with pleasant greetings and recollections of +Tamatave incidents. My stay from ship being limited, after a chat, +mingled with sherry and cigars and an expression of regret from Capt. +Rodgers that, not being in our "bailiwick," he could not give me a +consular salute from his guns, he ordered the ship's steam launch, and, +escorted by the Lieutenant, under our national banner, I soon boarded my +ship. I was much indebted to Capt. Rodgers and officers for their +charming courtesy.</p> + +<p>Leaving Suez at mid-day, we shortly enter the Suez Canal—85 miles, with +numerous tie-ups to allow other ships the right of way.</p> + +<p>At 8 o'clock the following morning we dropped anchor at Port Said, a +populous city of Arabia with 30,000 inhabitants, much diversified as to +nativities, Turks, Assyrians, Jews, and Greeks being largely +represented. The city is quite prepossessing, and seems to have improved +its sanitary features since my visit four years ago. There are many +charming views; an interesting place for the tourist, alike for the +virtuous and the vicious, for those so inclined can see human nature +"unadorned." Wide streets pierce the city, the stores on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> which are a +continuous bazaar, lined with many exquisite productions of necessity +and Eastern art. But I have previously dwelt on Port Said peculiarities.</p> + +<p>Leaving Port Said on the 18th, our good ship soon enters the +Mediterranean, and with smooth seas passes through the Straits of +Messina, with a fine view of Mt. Etna, as of yore, belching forth flames +and smoke, with Sicily on our left and Italy and her cities on our +right. Again entering the Mediterranean, we encounter our first rough +seas and diminution of guests at the table. Neptune, who had been +lenient for 17 days, now demanded settlement before digestion should +again be allowed to resume its sway. For myself, I was like and unlike +the impecunious boarder, who "never missed a meal nor paid a cent," but +like him only in constant attendance, for I could ill-afford to miss any +part of the pleasure of transit or menu costing $10 a day—happy, +however, that I was minus "mal de mer," seasickness. But this temporary +ailment of the passengers was soon banished by another phase of ocean +travel, that of being enveloped in a fog so dense that the ship's length +could not be seen ahead from the bow—every officer of the ship alert, +the fog horn blowing its warnings at short intervals, answered by the +"ships that pass in the night" of fogs. The anxiety of the passengers +that the fog would lift was relieved after 36 hours, and our ship hied +away and reached Marseilles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> on the 23d. From there by rail to Paris. +Ensconced again at the "Hotel Binda," the next day I visited the site of +the great Paris Exposition. Few of the buildings were in their entirety, +but what remained of the classic beauty of their construction shone the +more vivid amid the debris of demolition that surrounded them. The +French were not enthusiastic in relation to the financial benefit of the +exposition.</p> + +<p>A few days in Paris, and thence to Cherbourg to cross the English +Channel to Southampton, London. This channel, which has a well-merited +reputation for being gay and frolicsome, was extremely gracious, +allowing us to glide over its placid bosom with scarce a tremor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + + +<p>This was my first visit to the land of Wilberforces and Clarksons of the +seventeenth century, whose devotion and fidelity to liberty abolished +African slavery in Britain's dominion and created the sentiment that +found expression in the immortal utterance of Judge Mansfield's +decision: "Slaves cannot breathe in England; upon touch of its soil they +stand forth redeemed and regenerated by the genius of universal +liberty." With my English friend, C. B. Hurwitz, as an escort, I enjoyed +an excursion on the Thames, and visited many places of note, including +England's veteran bank, designated as the "Old Lady of Threadneedle +Street," and the Towers of London. One of these, the Beauchamp Tower, is +supposed to have been built in the twelfth or thirteenth century, the +architecture corresponding with that in use at that period, and lately +restored to its original state. Herein are many inscriptions, some very +rude, others quite artistic. It was during the restoration that these +inscriptions were partially discovered and carefully preserved. They +were cut in the stone walls and partitions by the unhappy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> occupants, +confined for life or execution for their religion or rebellion in the +thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Many are adorned with rude devices +and inscriptions denoting the undying faith of the martyr; others the +wailing of distress and despair. Five hundred years have elapsed, yet +the sadness of the crushed hearts of the unhappy occupants still lingers +like a funeral pall to point a moral that should strengthen tolerance +and cherish liberty.</p> + +<p>Leaving Southampton, London, on the steamship St. Louis, after an +uneventful passage I arrived in New York, and from thence to Washington, +D. C. After my leave of absence had expired, I decided not to return to +Madagascar. For after nearly four years' dalliance with the Malagash +fever in the spring and dodging the bubonic plague in the fall, I +concluded that Madagascar was a good place to <i>come from</i>.</p> + +<p>W. H. Hunt, the Vice-Consul, who had filed application for the +Consulship, conditioned upon my resignation, was appointed. An admirable +appointment, for the duties pertaining thereto, I have no doubt, will be +performed with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the +Government.</p> + +<p>I was honored as a delegate to a very interesting assembly of colored +men from 32 States, designated the "National Negro Business Men's +League," which met in Chicago, Ill., Aug. 27, 1901. Of its object and +labors my conclusions were: That no better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> evidence can be produced +that the negro has a good hold on the lever which will not only give a +self-consciousness of latent powers, but will surely elevate him in the +estimation of his fellow-citizens, than the increasing interest he is +taking and engaging in many of the business ventures of the country, and +the popular acquiescence manifested by the crowded attendance at every +session of the meeting.</p> + +<p>The President of the League, Booker T. Washington, expressed the +following golden thoughts in his opening speech:</p> + +<p>"As a race we must learn more and more that the opinion of the world +regarding us is not much influenced by what we may say of ourselves, or +by what others say of us, but it is permanently influenced by actual, +tangible, visible results. The object-lesson of one honest Negro +succeeding magnificently in each community in some business or industry +is worth a hundred abstract speeches in securing opportunity for the +race.</p> + +<p>"In the South, as in most parts of the world, the Negro who does +something and possesses something is respected by both races. Usefulness +in the community where we live will constitute our most lasting and +potent protection.</p> + +<p>"We want to learn the lesson of small things and small beginnings. We +must not feel ourselves above the most humble occupation or the simple, +humble beginning. If our vision is clear, our will strong, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> will use +the very obstacles that often seem to beset us as stepping-stones to a +higher and more useful life."</p> + +<p>The enrollment of the members present was not completed at the first +session, but the hall was crowded and 200 of those present were visitors +in Chicago. Pictures and some of the product of Negro concerns decorated +the walls, as evidence that the black man is rising above the cotton +plantation, his first field of labor in this country. Pictures of brick +blocks, factories, livery stables, farms and shops of every description +owned by Negroes in many different States of the Union were in the +collection, but the greater evidence of the Negro's development were the +men taking part in the deliberations of the sessions. They are clean +cut, well-dressed, intelligent, and have put a business method into the +organization.</p> + +<p>The Governor of the State and Mayor of Chicago were represented with +stirring addresses of welcome. The convention was singular and peculiar +in this: The central idea of the meeting was scrupulously adhered to; +there was present no disposition to refer to grievances or deprivations. +A feeling seemed to permeate the participants of confidence and surety +that they had fathomed the depths of much that stood in the way of a +just recognition of Negro worth and a just appreciation and resolution +to "fight it out on that line if it took all summer," or many summers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> + +<p>There were so many expressions so full of wisdom; so many suggestions +practical and adaptable, I would, had I space, record them all here.</p> + +<p>Theodore Jones, of Chicago, a successful business man, in concluding an +able paper, "Can a Negro Succeed as a Business Man," said:</p> + +<p>"The tone of this convention clearly indicates that the Negro will +succeed as a business man in proportion as he learns that manhood and +womanhood are qualities of his own making, and that no external forces +can either give or take them away. It demonstrates that intelligence, +punctuality, industry, and integrity are the conquering forces in the +business and commercial world, as well as in all the affairs of human +life."</p> + +<p>Giles B. Jackson, Secretary of the Business League of Virginia, read a +paper on "Negro Industries," showing what had been done toward the +solution of the so-called "Negro problem." The Negroes, he stated, had +$14,000,000 invested in business enterprises in Virginia.</p> + +<p>William L. Taylor, President of the "True Reformers' Bank," of Richmond, +Va., gave interesting details in an able and intelligent effort, of the +aims and accomplishments of that successful institution, presenting many +phases of the enterprise—its branch stores, different farms, hotel and +printing department, giving employment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> to more than 100 officers, +clerks, and employees. Dr. R. H. Boyd, of Nashville, Tenn., the head of +the "Colored Publishing Company, of Nashville," employing 123 +assistants, delivered an able address on the "Negro in the Publishing +Business," which was discussed with marked ability by the Rev. Dr. +Morris, of Helena, Ark.</p> + +<p>All the participants are worthy of a meed of praise for their many +helpful utterances and manly deportment. Prominent among them were +Charles Banks, merchant and a large property owner of Clarkesdale, +Miss., who spoke on "Merchandizing"; William O. Murphy, of Atlanta, Ga., +on the "Grocery Business"; Harris Barrett, of Hampton, Va., on "The +Building and Loan Association of Hampton, Va."; A. N. Johnson, publisher +and editor, of Mobile, on "The Negro Business Enterprises of Mobile"; F. +D. Patterson, of Greenfield, Ohio, on "Carriage Manufacturing"; Martin +Ferguson on "Livery Business," small in stature, light in weight, but +herculean in size and heavy in force of persistency, told how by +self-denial he had gained a fair competency; L. G. Wheeler, of Chicago, +Ill., on "Merchant Tailoring"; Willis S. Stearns, a druggist, of +Decatur, Ala., in his address stated that 14 years ago there was not a +Negro druggist in that State; now there are over 200 such stores owned +by colored men in various cities of that State, with an invested capital +of $500,000. Walter P. Hall, of Philadelphia, Pa., an extensive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> dealer +in game and poultry, spoke on that subject.</p> + +<p>And possibly as a fitting wind-up, as all sublunary things must come to +an end, George E. Jones, of Little Rock, Ark., and G. E. Russel, of St. +Louis, Mo., undertakers, spoke pathetically to their fellow-members of +the League (I trust not expectantly) of the advance in the science of +embalming and other facilities for conveying them to that "bourne from +which no traveller returns." The session was "a feast of reason and a +flow of soul" from its commencement until its close. And, as ever has +been the case on our upward journey, there were women lighting the +pathway and stimulating effort; for during the sessions Mrs. Albreta +Smith read a very interesting paper on "The Success of the Negro Women's +Business Club of Chicago"; a delightful one was read by Mrs. Dora +Miller, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; "Dressmaking and Millinery" was +entertainingly presented by Mrs. Emma L. Pitts, of Macon, Ga., the +ladies dwelling on the great good that was being done by their +establishments by teaching and giving employment to scores of poor but +worthy girls, and thereby helping them to lead pure and useful lives.</p> + +<p>I have given this exhibition of what the Negro is doing the foregoing +space for encouragement and precept, because I believe it to be the key +to unlock many doors to honorable and useful lives heretofore barred +against us.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 477px;"> +<img src="images/gs34.jpg" width="477" height="600" alt="WILLIAM McKINLEY, + +Late Martyred President of the United States." title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM McKINLEY,<br /> + +Late Martyred President of the United States.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">With a Record for Statesmanship, Patriotism, and Justice +Imperishable—"His Life Was Gentle and the Elements so Mixed in +Him, that Nature Might Stand Up and Say to all the World, 'This +is a Man.'"</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + + +<p>Leaving Chicago, and having business with the President, I visited him +at Canton, was kindly received, and accomplished the object of my visit, +little thinking that, in common with my countrymen I was so soon to be +horrified and appalled by an atrocity which bathed the country in tears +and startled the world in the taking-off of one of the purest patriots +that had ever trod his native soil.</p> + +<p>The tragedy occurred at 4 o'clock p. m., on the 6th of September, 1901, +in the Temple of Music on the grounds of and during the Exposition at +Buffalo, N. Y. Surrounded by a body-guard, among whom was Secret Service +Detective Samuel R. Ireland, of Washington, who was directly in front of +the President, the latter engaged in the usual manner of handshaking at +a public reception at the White House. Not many minutes had expired; a +hundred or more of the line had passed the President, when a +young-looking man named Leon Czolgosz, said to be of Polish, extraction, +approached, offering his left hand, while his right hand contained a +pistol concealed under a handkerchief, fired two shots at the +President.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + +<p>James Parker, a colored man, a very hercules in height, who was next to +have greeted the President, struck the assassin a terrific blow that +felled him to the floor, preventing him (as Czolgosz himself avers in +the following interview) from firing the third shot:</p> + +<p>"Yesterday morning I went again to the Exposition grounds. Emma +Goldman's speech was still burning me up. I waited near the central +entrance for the President, who was to board his special train from that +gate, but the police allowed nobody but the President's party to pass +where the train waited. So I stayed at the grounds all day waiting.</p> + +<p>"During yesterday I first thought of hiding my pistol under my +handkerchief. I was afraid if I had to draw it from my pocket I would be +seen and seized by the guards. I got to the Temple of Music the first +one, and waited at the spot where the reception was to be held.</p> + +<p>"Then he came, the President—the ruler—and I got in line and trembled +and trembled until I got right up to him, and then I shot him twice +through my white handkerchief. I would have fired more, but I was +stunned by a blow in the face—a frightful blow that knocked me +down—and then everybody jumped on me. I thought I would be killed, and +was surprised the way they treated me."</p> + +<p>Czolgosz ended his story in utter exhaustion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> When he had about +concluded he was asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you really mean to kill the President?"</p> + +<p>"I did," was the cold-blooded reply.</p> + +<p>"What was your motive; what good could it do?"</p> + +<p>"I am an anarchist. I am a disciple of Emma Goldman. Her words set me on +fire," he replied, with not the slightest tremor.</p> + +<p>During the first few days after he was shot there were cheering +bulletins issued by the medical fraternity in attendance, all typical of +his early recovery, and the heart of the nation was elated, to be, a +week later, depressed with sadness at the announcement that a change had +come and that the President was dying. Never was grief more sincere for +a ruler. He was buried encased with the homage and love of his people. +William McKinley will live in history, not only as a man whose private +life was stainless, and whose Administration of the Government was +beyond reproach, but as one brilliant, progressive, wise, and humane.</p> + +<p>Pre-eminent as an arbiter and director, developing the nation as a world +power, and bringing to the effete and semi-civilized peoples of the +Orient the blessings of civilized Government; as a leader and protector +of the industrial forces of the country, William McKinley was +conspicuous. With strength of conviction, leading at one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> time an almost +forlorn hope, by his statesmanship and intensity of purpose, he had +grafted on the statute books of the Nation a policy that has turned the +wheels of a thousand idle mills, employed a hundred thousand idle hands, +and stimulated every manufacturing industry.</p> + +<p>This accomplished, in his last speech, memorable not only as his last +public utterance, but doubly so as to wise statesmanship in its advocacy +of a less restrictive tariff, increased reciprocity, and interchange +with the world's commodities. His love of justice was imperial. He was +noted in this, that he was not only mentally eminent, but morally great. +During his last tour in the South, while endeavoring to heal animosities +engendered by the civil war and banish estrangement, he was positive in +the display of heartfelt interest in the Negro, visiting Tuskegee and +other like institutions of learning, and by his presence and words of +good cheer stimulating us to noble deeds.</p> + +<p>Nor was his interest manifest alone in words; his appointments in the +bureaus of the Government of colored men exceeded that of any previous +Executive—a representation which should increase in accordance with +parity of numbers and fitness for place.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 480px;"> +<img src="images/gs35.jpg" width="480" height="600" alt="JAMES B. PARKER. + +Who, Inspired by Patriotism and Fidelity, Struck Down the Assassin of +President McKinley." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JAMES B. PARKER.<br /> + +Who, Inspired by Patriotism and Fidelity, Struck Down the Assassin of +President McKinley.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p> + +<p>The following excerpts from the Washington Post, the verity of which was +echoed in the account of the crime by the New York and other +metropolitan journals on the day following the sad occurrence, gives a +sketch of the manner and expressions of the criminal, and throws light +on a peculiar phase of the catastrophe, that for the truth of history +and in the interest of justice should not be so rudely and covertly +buried 'neath the immature "beatings of time."</p> + +<p>Washington Post: In an interview Secret Service Detective Ireland, who, +with Officers Foster and Gallagher, was near the President when the +shots were fired, said:</p> + +<p>"A few moments before Czolgosz approached a man came along with three +fingers of his right hand tied up in a bandage, and he had shaken hands +with his left. When Czolgosz came up I noticed he was a boyish-looking +fellow, with an innocent face, perfectly calm, and I also noticed that +his right hand was wrapped in what appeared to be a bandage. I watched +him closely, but was interrupted by the man in front of him, who held on +to the President's hand an unusually long time. This man appeared to be +an Italian, and wore a short, heavy, black mustache. He was persistent, +and it was necessary for me to push him along so that the others could +reach the President. Just as he released the President's hand, and as +the President was reaching for the hand of the assassin, there were two +quick shots. Startled for a moment, I looked and saw the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> President draw +his right hand up under his coat, straighten up, and, pressing his lips +together, give Czolgosz the most scorn and contemptuous look possible to +imagine.</p> + +<p>"At the same time I reached for the young man, and caught his left arm. +The big Negro standing just back of him, and who would have been next to +take the President's hand, struck the young man in the neck with one +hand, and with the other reached for the revolver, which had been +discharged through the handkerchief, and the shots from which had set +fire to the linen.</p> + +<p>"Immediately a dozen men fell upon the assassin and bore him to the +floor. While on the floor Czolgosz again tried to discharge the +revolver, but before he could point it at the President, it was knocked +from his hand by the Negro. It flew across the floor, and one of the +artillerymen picked it up and put it in his pocket."</p> + +<p>Another account: "Mr. McKinley straightened himself, paled slightly, and +riveted his eyes upon the assassin. He did not fall or make an outcry. A +Negro, named Parker, employed in the stadium, seized the wretch and +threw him to the floor, striking him in the mouth. As he fell he +struggled to use the weapon again, but was quickly overpowered. Guard +Foster sprang to the side of Mr. McKinley, who walked to a chair a few +feet away."</p> + +<p>Washington Post, Oct. 9: James Parker,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> the six-foot Georgia Negro, who +knocked down the assassin of President McKinley on the fatal day in the +Temple of Music, after the two shots were fired, gave a talk to an +audience in the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church last night. He was +introduced by Hon. George H. White. Parker arose, and after a few +preliminary remarks, in which he thanked the crowd for its presence, he +said he was glad to see so many colored people believed he did what he +claimed he did at Buffalo.</p> + +<p>"When the assassin dealt his blow," said Parker, "I felt it was time to +act. It is no great honor I am trying to get, but simply what the +American people think I am entitled to. If Mr. McKinley had lived there +would have been no question as to this matter. President McKinley was +looking right at me; in fact, his eyes were riveted upon me when I +felled the assassin to the floor.</p> + +<p>"The assassin was in front of me, and as the President went to shake his +hand, he looked hard at one hand which the fellow held across his breast +bandaged. I looked over the man's shoulder to see what the President was +looking at. Just then there were two flashes and a report, and I saw the +flame leap from the supposed bandage. I seized the man by the shoulder +and dealt him a blow. I tried to catch hold of the gun, but he had +lowered that arm. Quick as a flash I grasped his throat and choked him +as hard as I could. As this happened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> he raised the hand with the gun in +it again as if to fire, the burning handkerchief hanging to the weapon. +I helped carry the assassin into a side room, and helped to search him."</p> + +<p>Parker told of certain things he was about to do to the assassin when +one of the officers asked him to step outside. Parker refused. He +declared the officers wanted to get him out of the way. He said he +helped to carry the assassin to the carriage in which the wretch was +taken to jail.</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I wasn't summoned to the trial," he said.</p> + +<p>Parker said Attorney Penney took his testimony after the shooting.</p> + +<p>"I was not at the trial, though," concluded Parker in an injured tone. +"I don't say this was done with any intent to defraud me, but it looks +mighty funny, that's all."</p> + +<p>The above interviews with officers present agree with Parker's version +of the affair, and whether the afterthought that further recognition of +his decisive action would detract from the reputation for vigilance +which they were expected to observe is a fitting subject for +presumption.</p> + +<p>At the time of the occurrence Parker was the cynosure for all eyes. +Pieces of the clothing that he wore were solicited and given to his +enthusiastic witnesses of the deed, to be preserved as trophies of his +action in preventing the third shot. No one present at that perilous +hour and witnessing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> doubted or questioned that Parker was the hero of +the occasion. This, the better impulse, indicating a just appreciation +was destined soon to be stifled and ignored. At the sittings of the +coroner's jury to investigate the shooting of the President, he was +neither solicited nor allowed to be present, or testimony adduced in +proof of his bravery in attempting to save the life of the Chief +Magistrate of the Republic. Therefore, Parker, bereft of the well-earned +plaudits of his countrymen, must content himself with duty done.</p> + +<p>Remarkable are the coincidences at every startling episode in the life +of the Nation. Beginning at our country's history, the Negro is always +found at the fore. He was there when Crispus Attacks received the first +of English bullets in the struggle of American patriots for +Independence; there in the civil war, when he asked to be assigned to +posts of greatest danger. He was there quite recently at El Caney; and +now Parker bravely bares his breast between the intended third shot of +the assassin and that of President McKinley.</p> + +<p>If this dispensation shall awaken the Nation to the peril of admitting +the refuse of nations within our borders, and clothing them with the +panoply of American citizenship; if it shall engender a higher +appreciation of the loyalty and devotion of the Negro citizens of the +Republic by the extension of justice to all beneath the flag, William +McKinley will not have died in vain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + + +<p>Taking up the reins of the Administration of the Government, with its +complex statesmanship, where a master had laid them down, President +Roosevelt, heretofore known for his sterling worth as an administrator, +and his imperial honesty as a man, has put forth no uncertain sound as +to his intended course. The announcement that the foreign policy of his +illustrious predecessor would be chiefly adhered to has struck a +responsive chord in every patriotic heart. The appointment of ex-Gov. +Jones, of Alabama, to a Federal judgeship was an appointment in unison +with the best of popular accord. The nobility of the Governor in his +utterances on the subject of lynching should endear him to every lover +of justice and the faithful execution of law. For he so grandly evinced +what is so sadly wanting in many humane and law-abiding men—the courage +of his convictions.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For when a free thought sought expression,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He spoke it boldly, spoke it all."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is only to the fruition of such expressions, the molding of an +adverse sentiment to such lawlessness that we can look for the +abolishment of that crime of crimes which, to the disgrace of our +country, is solely ours.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 462px;"> +<img src="images/gs36.jpg" width="462" height="600" alt="THEODORE ROOSEVELT, + +President of the United States." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEODORE ROOSEVELT,<br /> + +President of the United States.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Civil Service Commissioner—Police Commissioner of New +York—Assistant Secretary of War and Vice-President of the +United States—A Hero in War, a Statesman in Peace.</p></div> + +<p>This appointment is considered eminently wise, not only for the superior +ability of the appointee as a jurist, but for his broad humanity as a +man, fully recognizing the inviolability of human life and its +subjection to law. For the Negro, his primal needs are protection and +the common liberty vouchsafed to his fellow-countrymen. To enjoy them it +is necessary that he be in harmony with his environments. A bulwark he +must have, of a friendship not the product of coercion, but a concession +from the pulse-beat of justice. Such appointments pass the word down the +line that President Roosevelt, in his endeavor to be the exponent of the +genius of American citizenship, will recognize the sterling advocates of +the basic elements of constitutional Government, those of law and order, +irrespective of party affiliation.</p> + +<p>This appointment will probably cause dissent in Republican circles, but +it may be doubted if the Negro advances his political fortunes by +invidious criticism of the efforts of a Republican Administration to +harmonize ante-bellum issues. For while he in all honesty may be +strenuous for the inviolability of franchises of the Republican +household, and widens the gap between friendly surroundings, each of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> political litigants meet with their knees under each other's +mahogany, and jocularly discuss Negro idiosyncrasies, and tacitly agree +to give his political aspirations a "letting alone." For, with character +and ability unquestioned for the discharge of duties, the vote polled +for him usually falls far short of the average of that polled by his +party for other candidates on the ticket.</p> + +<p>The summary killing of human beings by mobs without the form of law is +not of late origin. Ever since the first note of reconstruction was +sounded, each Administration has denounced lynching. All history is the +record that it is only through discussion and the ventilation of wrong +that right becomes a valued factor. But regard for justice is not +diminishing in our country. The judiciary, although weak and amenable to +prevailing local prejudices in localities, as a whole is far in advance +on the sustenance of righteous rule than in the middle of the last +century, when slavery ruled the Nation and its edicts were law, and its +baleful influence permeated every branch of the Government.</p> + +<p>Of the judiciary at that period Theodore Parker, an eminent +Congregational divine and most noted leader of Christian thought, during +a sermon in 1854, said:</p> + +<p>"Slavery corrupts the judicial class. In America, especially in New +England, no class of men has been so much respected as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> the judges, and +for this reason: We have had wise, learned, and excellent men for our +judges, men who reverenced the higher law of God, and sought by human +statutes to execute justice. You all know their venerable names and how +reverentially we have looked up to them. Many of them are dead, and some +are still living, and their hoary hairs are a crown of glory on a +judicial life without judicial blot. But of late slavery has put a +different class of men on the benches of the Federal Courts—mere tools +of the Government creatures who get their appointments as pay for past +political service, and as pay in advance for iniquity not yet +accomplished. You see the consequences. Note the zeal of the Federal +judges to execute iniquity by statute and destroy liberty. See how ready +they are to support the Fugitive Slave Bill, which tramples on the +spirit of the Constitution and its letter, too; which outrages justice +and violates the most sacred principles and precepts of Christianity. +Not a United States Judge, Circuit or District, has uttered one word +against that bill of abominations. Nay, how greedy they are to get +victims under it. No wolf loves better to rend a lamb into fragments +than these judges to kidnap a fugitive slave and punish any man who +desires to speak against it. You know what has happened in Fugitive +Slave Bill courts. You remember the 'miraculous' rescue of a Shadrach; +the peaceable snatching of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> man from the hands of a cowardly kidnapper +was 'high treason;' it was 'levying war.' You remember the trial of the +rescuers! Judge Sprague's charge to the jury that if they thought the +question was which they ought to obey, the laws of man or the laws of +God, then they must 'obey both,' serve God and Mammon, Christ and the +devil in the same act. You remember the trial, the ruling of the bench, +the swearing on the stand, the witness coming back to alter and enlarge +his testimony and have another gird at the prisoner. You have not +forgotten the trials before Judge Kane at Philadelphia and Judge Greer +at Christiana and Wilkesbarre.</p> + +<p>"These are natural results from causes well known. You cannot escape a +principle. Enslave a negro, will you? You doom to bondage your own sons +and daughters by your own act."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 482px;"> +<img src="images/gs37.jpg" width="482" height="600" alt="HON. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU. + +Secretary to the President." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU.<br /> + +Secretary to the President.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born July, 1862, in State of New York—Has Made Mark in +Literature and Art—His Promotion Has Been Rapid, From +Stenographer to Executive Clerk, Thence to Secretary to +Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, an Office Now Grown to the +Dignity of a Cabinet Position.</p></div> + +<p>At the death of Theodore Parker, among the many eulogies on his life was +one by Ralph Waldo Emerson, highly noted for his humanity, his learning +and his philosophy. It contains apples of gold, and richly deserves +immortality; for in the worldly strife for effervescent wealth and +prominence, a benign consciousness that our posthumous fame as unselfish +benefactors to our fellow-men is to live on through the ages, would be a +solace for much misrepresentation. Emerson said: "It is plain to me that +Theodore Parker has achieved a historic immortality here. It will not be +in the acts of City Councils nor of obsequious Mayors nor in the State +House; the proclamations of Governors, with their failing virtue failing +them at critical moments, that generations will study what really befel; +but in the plain lessons of Theodore Parker in this hall, in Faneuil +Hall and in legislative committee rooms, that the true temper and +authentic record of these days will be read. The next generation will +care little for the chances of election that govern Governors now; it +will care little for fine gentlemen who behaved shabbily; but it will +read very intelligently in his rough story, fortified with exact +anecdotes, precise with names and dates, what part was taken by each +actor who threw himself into the cause of humanity and came to the +rescue of civilization at a hard pinch; and those who blocked its +course.</p> + +<p>"The vice charged against America is the want of sincerity in leading +men. It does not lie at his door. He never kept back the truth for fear +of making an enemy. But, on the other hand, it was complained that he +was bitter and harsh; that his zeal burned with too hot a flame. It is +so hard in evil times to escape this charge for the faithful preacher. +Most of all, it was his merit, like Luther, Knox, and Latimer and John +the Baptist, to speak tart truth when that was peremptory and when there +were few to say it. His commanding merit as a reformer is this, that he +insisted beyond all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> men in pulpit—I cannot think of one rival—that +the essence of Christianity is its practical morals; it is there for +use, or it is nothing: If you combine it with sharp trading, or with +ordinary city ambitions to glaze over municipal corruptions or private +intemperance, or successful frauds, or immoral politics, or unjust wars, +or the cheating of Indians, or the robbing of frontier natives, it is +hypocrisy and the truth is not in you, and no love of religious music, +or dreams of Swedenborg, or praise of John Wesley or of Jeremy Taylor, +can save you from the Satan which you are."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + + +<p>The accord so generally given to the appointment of ex-Governor Jones, +of Alabama—a Gold Democrat, having views on domestic order in harmony +with the Administration—to a Federal judgeship was destined to be +followed by a bitter arraignment of President Roosevelt for having +invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House. As a +passing event not without interest, in this era of the times, indicative +of "shadow and light," I append a few extracts from Southern and +Northern Journals:</p> + + +<h4>SHADOW.</h4> + +<p>In all parts of the country comment has been provoked by the fact that +President Roosevelt, on Wednesday night last, entertained at dinner in +the White House, Booker T. Washington, who is generally regarded as the +representative of the colored race in America. Especially in the South +has the incident aroused indignation, according to the numerous news +dispatches. The following comments from the editorial columns of +newspapers and from prominent men are given:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> + +<p>New Orleans, Oct. 19.—The Times-Democrat says:</p> + +<p>"It is strange news that comes from Washington. The President of the +United States, for the first time in the history of the nation, has +entertained a Negro at dinner in the White House. White men of the +South, how do you like it? White women of the South, how do you like it?</p> + +<p>"Everyone knows that when Mr. Roosevelt sits down to dinner in the White +House with a Negro he that moment declares to all the world that in the +judgment of the President of the United States the Negro is the social +equal of the white man. The Negro is not the social equal of the white +man. Mr. Roosevelt might as well attempt to rub the stars out of the +firmament as to try to erase that conviction from the heart and brain of +the American people."</p> + +<p>The Daily States: "In the face of the facts it can but appear that the +President's action was little less than a studied insult to the South +adopted at the outset of his Administration for the purpose of showing +his contempt for the sentiments and prejudices of this section."</p> + +<p>Richmond, Va., Oct. 19.—The Dispatch says:</p> + +<p>"With many qualities that are good—with some, possibly, that are +great—Mr. Roosevelt is a negrophilist. While Governor of New York he +invited a Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> (who, on account of race prejudice, could not obtain +accommodation at any hotel) to be his guest at the Executive Mansion, +and, it is said, gave him the best room in the house.</p> + +<p>"Night before last the President had Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine +with him at the White House. That was a deliberate act, taken under no +alleged pressure of necessity, as in the Albany case, and may be taken +as outlining his policy toward the Negro as a factor in Washington +society. We say 'Washington society,' rather than 'American society,' +because the former, on account of its political atmosphere, is much more +'advanced' in such matters than that of any other American city of which +we know anything. The President, having invited Booker T. Washington to +his table, residents of Washington of less conspicuous standing may be +expected to do likewise. And if they invite him they may invite lesser +lights—colored lights.</p> + +<p>"When Mr. Cleveland was President he received Fred Douglass at some of +his public entertainments—'functions,' so-called—but we do not +remember that Fred was singled out for the distinguished honor of dining +with the President, as Booker Washington has been.</p> + +<p>"We do not like Mr. Roosevelt's negrophilism at all, and are sorry to +see him seeking opportunities to indulge in it. He is reported to have +rejoiced that Negro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> children were going to school with his children at +Oyster Bay. But then, it may be said, too, that he has more reasons than +the average white man to be fond of Negroes, since it was a Negro +regiment that saved the Rough Riders from decimation at San Juan Hill. +And but for San Juan Hill it is quite unlikely that Mr. Roosevelt would +be President today.</p> + +<p>"Booker Washington is said to have been very influential with the +President in having Judge Jones put upon the Federal bench in Alabama, +and we are now fully prepared to believe that statement.</p> + +<p>"With our long-matured views on the subject of social intercourse +between blacks and whites, the least we can say now is that we deplore +the President's taste, and we distrust his wisdom."</p> + +<p>Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 19.—The Enterprise says:</p> + +<p>"It remained for Mr. Roosevelt to establish a precedent humiliating to +the South and a disgrace to the nation. Judge Jones owes a duty to the +South, to his friends and to common decency to promptly resign and hurl +the appointment back into the very teeth of the white man who would +invite a nigger to eat with his family."</p> + +<p>Augusta, Ga., Oct. 19.—The Augusta Chronicle says, in its leading +editorial, today:</p> + +<p>"The news from Washington that President Booker T. Washington, of +Tuskegee<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> Institute, was a guest at the White House at a dinner with +President and Mrs. Roosevelt and family, and that after dinner there was +the usual social hour over cigars, is a distinct shock to the favorable +sentiment that was crystallizing in the South for the new President.</p> + +<p>"While encouraging the people in the hope that the Negro is to be +largely eliminated from office in the South, President Roosevelt throws +the fat in the fire by giving countenance to the Negro's claims for +social equality by having one to dine in the White House.</p> + +<p>"President Roosevelt has made a mistake, one that will not only efface +the good impression he had begun to create in the South, but one that +will actively antagonize Southern people and meet the disapproval of +good Anglo-Saxon sentiment in all latitudes.</p> + +<p>"The South does not relish the Negro in office, but that is a small +matter compared with its unalterable opposition to social equality +between the races. President Roosevelt has flown in the face of public +sentiment and precipitated an issue that has long since been fought out, +and which should have been left in the list of settled questions."</p> + +<p>Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 19.—The Evening Banner says:</p> + +<p>"Whatever justification may be attempted of the President's action in +this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> instance, it goes without saying that it will tend to chill the +favor with which he is regarded in the South, and will embarrass him in +his reputed purpose to build up his party in this section."</p> + +<p>Louisville, Ky., Oct. 19.—The Times of yesterday afternoon says:</p> + +<p>"The President has eliminated the color line from his private and +official residences and with public office is hiring white Democrats to +whitewash it down South."</p> + +<p>Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 19.—Governor Candler says:</p> + +<p>"No self-respecting white man can ally himself with the President after +what has occurred. The step has done the Republican party no earthly +good, and it will materially injure its chances in the South. The effect +of the Jones appointment is largely neutralized. Still, I guess it's +like the old woman when she kissed the cow. As a matter of fact, +Northern people do not understand the Negro. They see the best types and +judge of the remainder by them."</p> + + +<h4>LIGHT.</h4> + +<p>Philadelphia, Oct. 19.—The Ledger this morning says:</p> + +<p>"Because President Roosevelt saw fit, in his good judgment, to invite +Booker T. Washington to dinner, strong words of disapproval are heard in +the South. Mr. Washington is a colored man who enjoys<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> the universal +respect of all people in this country, black and white, on account of +attainments, character and deeds. As the President invited him to be his +private guest, and did not attempt to enforce the companionship of a +colored man upon any one to whom the association could possibly be +distasteful, any criticism of the President's act savors of very great +impertinence. But, considered in any light, the invitation is not a +subject for criticism. Booker T. Washington is one of the most notable +citizens of the country, just because he has done noteworthy things. He +is the founder and the successful executive of one of the most +remarkable institutions in the United States, the Tuskegee (Alabama) +Institute, which not only aims, but in fact does, educate and train the +youth of the negro race to become useful, industrious and +self-supporting citizens.</p> + +<p>"Booker T. Washington is the embodiment of common sense and, instead of +inciting the members of his race to dwell upon their wrongs, to waste +their time upon politics and to try to get something for nothing in this +life, in order to live without work, he has constantly preached the +gospel of honest work, and has founded a great industrial school, which +fits the young Negroes for useful lives as workers and teachers of +industry to others. This is the man who was justly called by President +McKinley, after he had inspected Tuskegee, the "leader of his race," and +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> the South no intelligent man denies that he is doing a great service +to the whole population of both colors in this land. It is evident that +the only objection that could be brought against association with such a +man as that is color alone, and President Roosevelt will not recognize +that prejudice."</p> + +<p>The Evening Bulletin says:</p> + +<p>"President Roosevelt night before last had Booker T. Washington, the +worthy and much-respected colored man who is at the head of the Tuskegee +Institute, as a guest at his private table in the White House. This has +caused some indignation among Southerners and in Southern newspapers.</p> + +<p>"Yet all the President really seems to have done was an act of courtesy +in asking Mr. Washington to sit down with him to dinner and have a talk +with him. As Booker T. Washington is an entirely reputable man, as well +as an interesting one, the President doubtless enjoyed his company. Many +Presidents in the past have had far less reputable and agreeable men at +their table. If Mr. Roosevelt shall have no worse ones among his private +guests, the country will have no cause for complaint.</p> + +<p>"The right of the President to dine with anyone he may please to have +with him is entirely his own affair, and Theodore Roosevelt is not a +likely man to pick out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> bad company, black or white, for his personal or +social companionship. The rumpus which some indiscreet Southerners are +trying to raise because he has been hospitable to a colored man is a +foolish display of both manners and temper."</p> + +<p>Boston, Oct. 19.—Commenting on President Roosevelt's action in +extending hospitality to Booker T. Washington, President Charles Eliot, +of Harvard, said:</p> + +<p>"Harvard dined Booker Washington at her tables at the last commencement. +Harvard conferred an honorary degree on him. This ought to show what +Harvard thinks about the matter."</p> + +<p>William Lloyd Garrison: "It was a fine object lesson, and most +encouraging. It was the act of a gentleman—an act of unconscious +natural simplicity."</p> + +<p>Charles Eliot Norton: "I uphold the President in the bold stand that he +has taken."</p> + + +<h4>NO SYMPATHY WITH PREJUDICE.</h4> + +<p>New York Herald: The President has absolutely no sympathy with the +prejudice against color. He has shown this on two occasions. Once he +invited to his house at Oyster Bay, Harris, the Negro half-back of Yale, +and entertained him over night. The other occasion was when he took in +at the Executive Mansion at Albany, Brigham, the Negro baritone of St. +George's Church, who was giving a concert<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> in Albany and had been +refused food and shelter by all the hotels.</p> + + +<h4>WASTING THEIR BREATH.</h4> + +<p>Philadelphia Press: President Roosevelt's critics are wasting breath and +spilling ink. There is an obstinate man in the White House. The cry of +"nigger" will neither prevent him from continuing to appoint to any +office in the Southern States the best men, under whatever color of +politics, who can be found under current conditions, or recognizing in +the hospitalities of the White House the best type of American manhood, +under whatever color of skin it can be found.</p> + + +<h4>THAT DINNER.</h4> + +<p>New York Tribune: The Southern politician who criticises President +Roosevelt's action in inviting Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine at the +White House is likely to raise the query whether the manager of the +Tuskegee Institute or himself is really the more deserving and genuine +friend of the South.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span></p> + + +<h4>DEMOCRATS HAVE CHANGED ATTITUDE.</h4> + +<h5>Glad of Booker T. Washington's Help in Securing Office.</h5> + +<h4>NOW JEER ROOSEVELT.</h4> + +<h4>Berate President for Dining With a Negro.</h4> + +<h5>Some Noted Occasions When the Alabama Educator Has Received the Plaudits +of the South.</h5> + +<p>Washington, D. C., Oct. 19.—President Roosevelt has a fine sense of +humor, and while he regrets that he has without malice stirred up a +tempest in a teapot for the Southern editors by entertaining Professor +Booker T. Washington at dinner, he cannot put aside the humorous side of +the situation. It is only a few weeks since a number of white Democrats +co-operated with Booker Washington in regard to the appointment of +ex-Governor Jones to the vacancy on the Federal bench in Alabama, and +Washington spoke for these white Democrats when he came to the capital +and assured President Roosevelt that Jones would accept the appointment +and that it would be satisfactory to all classes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> + +<p>Washington had seen the President and had acted as his agent in +interviewing Governor Jones and others as to the appointment. The +Southern Democrats applauded the appointment of Jones, and they praised +Washington for using his influence at the White House to secure such an +appointment for a Democrat. Then they all spoke of Washington as a +gentleman of culture, who had the refined sense to cut loose from the +Republican leaders of the Negro party in the South and work in harmony +with the best class of whites. Now they are abusing the President for +dining with a "nigger."</p> + +<p>Washington has entertained more distinguished Northern men and more +distinguished Southern men at the Tuskegee Institute than any other man +in the State, if not in the South. President McKinley and his Cabinet, +accompanied by many other distinguished gentlemen, were the guests of +Washington at Tuskegee two years ago, and they lunched at his table. +Washington was the guest of honor at a banquet in Paris three years ago, +when Ambassador Porter presided and ex-President Harrison and Archbishop +Ireland were among the guests. This same "nigger" was received by Queen +Victoria and took tea in Buckingham Palace the same year.</p> + + +<h4>INVITATION FROM WHITE HOUSE.</h4> + +<p>When he returned to this country Washington received invitations from +all parts of the South to deliver addresses and attend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> receptions given +by white people. He was received by the Governors of Georgia, Virginia, +West Virginia and Louisiana. He spoke to many mixed audiences in the +South, where whites and blacks united to do him honor. When the people +of Atlanta wanted an appropriation from Congress for their Exposition in +1895 they sent a large committee of the most distinguished men in the +South to the National Capital to plead their cause. Booker T. Washington +was one of these distinguished Southern men. Congressman Joseph E. +Cannon, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in the House, says +that Washington by his force and eloquence secured that appropriation of +$250,000 for the Atlanta Exposition.</p> + +<p>The Southern people had only praise for him when he was arranging to +take Vice-President Roosevelt to Tuskegee and Montgomery and Atlanta +this fall, and they were eager to co-operate with him in entertaining +such a distinguished visitor. They still hope to have President +Roosevelt visit the South, and if he goes he will go as the guest of +Booker T. Washington.</p> + +<p>The President knows, too, that the real leaders of the South, white +Democrats, do not sympathize with this hue and cry of Southern editors +because Washington was a guest at the White House. Today the President +has received many messages from Southern men, urging him to pay no +attention to the yawp of the bourbon editors,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> who have not been able to +get over the old habit of historical discussion of "social equality." +Southern men called at the White House today as usual to ask for favors +at the hands of the President, and they are not afraid of contamination +by meeting the man who "ate with a nigger."</p> + + +<h4>AMUSES THE PRESIDENT.</h4> + +<p>President Roosevelt cannot help seeing the humorous side of the +situation he has created by asking his friend to dinner, and he is +pursuing the even tenor of his way as President without worrying over +the outcome. He has, in the last two weeks, given cause for much +excitement in the South. The first was when he appointed a Democrat to +office and ignored the professional Republican politicians, who claimed +to carry the "nigger" vote in their pocket. He was not disturbed by the +threats of the Southern Republican politicians over that incident, and +he is not disturbed by the threats of the Southern Democratic editors +over this incident.</p> + +<p>As to the Southern objection to dining, with a Negro, Opie Read, of +Chicago, tells a story about M. W. Gibbs, who has just resigned his +position as United States Consul at Tamatave, Madagascar. Gibbs is now +in Washington on his way home to Little Rock. He resigned to give a +younger man a chance to serve his country as a Consul. Here is the story +Opie Read told about Gibbs dining with white men at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> banquet in honor +of General Grant in Little Rock:</p> + +<p>In the reconstruction days a Negro by the name of Mifflin Wistar Gibbs +located in Little Rock, Ark. He showed the community that he was keener +than a whole lot of its leading citizens, who had kept the offices in +their families for generations. Under the new order of things he was +appointed Attorney of Pulaski County. His ability and the considerate +manner in which he conducted his relationship with the whites gave him a +greater popularity than any other colored man had ever before enjoyed in +that place. His influence increased, until General Grant, then +President, appointed him Register of the United States Land Office at +Little Rock.</p> + + +<h4>GIBBS' SPEECH THE BEST.</h4> + +<p>"When General Grant visited our city a banquet was prepared, and it was +finally decided that for the first time in the history of the 'Bear +State' a Negro would be welcomed at a social function on terms of +absolute equality. I was then editor of the Gazette, and my seat was +next to that of Gibbs. The speaker who had been selected to respond to +the toast, 'The Possibilities of American Citizenship' was absent. I +asked Gibbs if he would not talk on that subject. He consented, and I +arranged the matter with the toastmaster. The novelty and the +picturesqueness of the thing appealed to me. Every guest was +spellbound,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> and General Grant was astonished. Not only was the speech +of the Negro the best one delivered on that occasion, but it was one of +the most remarkable to which I have ever listened.</p> + +<p>"The owner of the Gazette was a Democrat of the Democrats, and a strict +keeper of the traditions of the South. Moreover, his paper was the +official organ of the Democratic party, and we were in the heat of a +bitter campaign. In spite of all this, however, I came out with the +editorial statement that Gibbs had scored the greatest oratorical +triumph of the affair. Perhaps this didn't stir things up a little. But +the gratitude of Gibbs was touching. He is now United States Consul at +Tamatave, Madagascar. In my opinion he is the greatest living +representative of the colored race. We have been close friends ever +since that banquet."</p> + + +<h4>BOOKER WASHINGTON THE VICTIM.</h4> + +<h5>(From the Washington (D. C.) Post, October 23, 1901.)</h5> + +<p>Quite the most deplorable feature of the Booker Washington incident is, +in our opinion, the effect it is likely to have on Washington himself; +yet this is an aspect of the case which does not seem to have occurred +thus far to any of the multitudinous and more or less enlightened +commentators who have bestowed their views upon the country. Criticisms +of the President<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> are matters of taste. For our part, we hold, and have +always held, that a President's private and domestic affairs are not +proper subjects of public discussion. A man does not surrender all of +his personal liberties in becoming the Chief Executive of the Nation. At +least, his purely family arrangements are not the legitimate concern of +outsiders. The Presidency would hardly be worth the having otherwise. +The country, however, has a right to consider the incident in the light +of its probable injury to Washington and to the great and useful work in +which he is engaged.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In closing this page of "Shadow and Light" I am loath to believe that +this extreme display of adverse feeling regarding the President's action +in inviting Mr. Washington to dine with him, as shown in some +localities, is fully shared by the best element of Southern opinion. Few +Southern gentlemen of the class who so cheerfully pay the largest amount +of taxation for the tuition of the Negro, give him employment and do +much to advance him along educational and industrial lines, fear that +the President's action will cause the obtrusion of his bronze pedals +beneath their mahogany. Trusting that he will be inspired to foster +those elements of character so conspicuous in Mr. Washington and that +have endeared him to his broad-minded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> countrymen both North and South. +The best intelligence, the acknowledged leaders of the race, are not +only conservative along political lines, but are in accord with those +who claim that social equality is not the creature of law, or the +product of coercion, for, in a generic sense, there is no such thing as +social equality. The gentlemen who are so disturbed hesitate, or refuse +such equality with many of their own race; the same can be truthfully +said of the Negro. Many ante-bellum theories and usages have already +vanished under the advance of a higher civilization, but the "old +grudge" is still utilized when truth and justice refuse their service.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + + +<p>Washington, the American "Mecca" for political worshipers, is a +beautiful city, but well deserving its "nom de plume" as "the city of +magnificent distances;" for any one with whom you have business seems to +live five miles from every imaginable point of the compass; and should +you be on stern business bent, distance will not "lend enchantment to +the view." It is here that the patriot, and the mercenary, the ambitious +and the envious gather, and where unity and divergence hold high +carnival.</p> + +<p>Dramatists have found no better field for portraying the vicissitudes +and uncertainties, the successes and triumphs of human endeavor. The +ante-room to the President's office presents a vivid picture, as they +wait for, or emerge from, executive presence, delineating the varied +phases of impressible human nature—the despondent air of ill success; +the pomp of place secured; the expectant, but hope deferred; the +bitterness depicted in waiting delegations on a mission of opposition +bent; the gleam of gladness on success; homage to the influential—all +these figure, strut or bemoan in the ratio of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> self-importance or a +dejected mien. There is no more humorous reading, or more typical, than +the ups and downs of office-seekers. Sometimes it is that of William the +"Innocent," and often that of William the "Croker." The trials of "an +unsuccessful," a prototype of "Orpheus C. Kerr," the nom de plume of +that prince of writers, on this subject, is in place:</p> + +<p>Diary of an office-seeker, William the "Innocent":</p> + +<p>March 2d—Just arrived. Washington a nice town. Wonder if it would not +be as well to stay here as go abroad.</p> + +<p>March 4th—Saw McKinley inaugurated. We folks who nominated him will be +all right now. Think I had better take an assistant secretaryship. The +Administration wants good men, who know something about politics; +besides, I am getting to like Washington.</p> + +<p>March 8th—Big crowd at the White House. They ought to give the +President time to settle himself. Have sold my excursion ticket and will +stay awhile. Too many people make a hotel uncomfortable. Have found a +good boarding house.</p> + +<p>March 11th—Shook hands with the President in the East Room and told him +I would call on a matter of business in a few days. He seemed pleased.</p> + +<p>March 15th—Went to the Capitol and found Senator X. He was sour. Said +the whole State was there chasing him. Asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> me what I wanted, and +said, "Better go for something in reach." Maybe an auditorship would be +the thing.</p> + +<p>March 23d—Took my papers to the White House. Thought I'd wait and have +a private talk with the President, but Sergeant Porter said I'd have to +go along with the rest. What an ill-natured set they were. Elbowed me +right along just because they saw the President wanted to talk with me. +Will have to go back and finish our conversation.</p> + +<p>March 27—Got some money from home.</p> + +<p>March 29th—Went to the White House, but the chap at Porter's door +wouldn't let me in. Said it was after hours. He ought to be fired.</p> + +<p>April 3d—Saw Mark Hanna, after waiting five hours. Asked him why my +letter had not been answered. He said he was getting 400 a day and his +secretaries would catch up some time next year. I always thought Hanna +overestimated. Now I know it.</p> + +<p>April 5th—Had an interview with the President. Was last in the line, so +they could not push me along. When I told him of my services to the +party, he replied: "Oh, yes;" and for me to file my papers in the State +Department. Said he had many good friends in Indiana and hoped they +would be patient. Can he have forgotten I am not from Indiana? Probably +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> tariff is worrying him. Shameful the way the Senate is acting.</p> + +<p>April 7th—Borrowed a little more money. Washington is an expensive town +to live in.</p> + +<p>April 11th—Senator X. says all the auditorships were mortgaged before +the election, but he will indorse me for a special agency or a chief +clerkship, if I can find one that is not under the civil service law.</p> + +<p>April 12th—D—n the civil service law.</p> + +<p>April 17th—Didn't know there were so many good positions abroad. Ought +to have gone for one of them in the first place. That State Department +is a great thing. Think I'll start with Antwerp and check off a few +which will suit me. Wonder where I can negotiate a small loan?</p> + +<p>April 19th—Got in to see the President and told him I could best serve +the Administration and the party abroad. He said, "Oh, yes," and to file +my papers in the Post-office Department, and he hoped his friends in +Massachusetts would be patient. What made him think I was from +Massachusetts? I suppose he gets mixed sometimes.</p> + +<p>April 20th—Senator X. says there is one chance in a million of getting +a Consulate; but if I will concentrate on Z town he and the delegation +will do what they can. Salary, $1,000; fees, $87.</p> + +<p>April 21st—-Have concentrated on Z town. Got in line today just for a +moment to tell the President it would suit me. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> said, "Oh, yes," and +to file my papers in the Treasury Department, and he hoped his friends +in Minnesota would be patient till he could get around to them. Queer he +should think I was from Minnesota.</p> + +<p>April 26th—The ingratitude of that man McKinley! He has nominated Jones +for Z town, when he knew I had concentrated on it. After my services to +the party, too! Who is Jones, anyhow?</p> + +<p>April 27th—I am going home. Senator X has got me a pass. Will send for +my trunk later. It is base ingratitude.</p> + +<p>William the "Croker," the other applicant for official favor, wanted +"Ambassador to Russia," and while not attaining the full measure of his +ambition, was nevertheless rewarded for his pertinacity. His sojourn in +Washington had been long, and was becoming irksome, particularly so to +the Senators and Members of Congress from his State, who had from time +to time ministered to his pecuniary wants. But Seth Orton was noted at +home and abroad for his staying qualities. He came from an outlying +district in his State that was politically pivotal, and Seth had been +known on several occasions by his fox-horn contributions to rally the +"unwashed" and save the day when hope but faintly glimmered above the +political horizon. For his Congressional delegation Seth was both useful +at home and expensive abroad. That the mission for which he aspired was +beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> his reach they were fully aware; that he must be disposed of +they were equally agreed. After having adroitly removed the props to his +aspirations for Ambassador, Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul, they +told him they had succeeded in getting him an Indian agency, paying +$1,000 a year. He was disgusted, and proclaimed rebellion. They appeased +him by telling him that the appropriation for supplies and other +necessaries the last year was ten thousand dollars, and they were of the +opinion that the former agent had saved half of it. A gleam of joy and +quick consent were prompt! Walking up and down his Congressman's room, +pleased, then thoughtful, then morose, he finally exclaimed to his +patron, "Look here, Mr. Harris; don't you think that $5,000 of the +$10,000 too much to give them d—n nigger Indians?"</p> + +<p>On the official side of colored Washington life, we see much that is +gratifying recognition. The receipt by us of over a million dollars +annually, on the one side, and the rendering of a creditable service on +the other, while our professional and business status in the District is +equally commendable, and much more prolific in the bestowal of +substantial and lasting benefit. And on the domestic side we have much +that is cheering, comprising a large representation of wealth and +intelligence, living in homes indicating refinement and culture, and +with a social contact the most desirable.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 463px;"> +<img src="images/gs38.jpg" width="463" height="600" alt="WILLIAM CALVIN CHASE, + +Lawyer, and Editor of "Washington Bee."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">WILLIAM CALVIN CHASE,<br /> + +Lawyer, and Editor of "Washington Bee."</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born in Washington, D. C., February, 1854—Leaving the Public School +entered Howard University and there Graduated—As Editor or Lawyer He is +Tireless in His Adherence to well-formed Convictions—The "Bee" Hums no +Uncertain Sound.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>Mr. Andrew F. Hilyer, editor and compiler of "The Twentieth Century +Union League Directory," in his introduction to that able and useful +publication, says: "This being the close of the nineteenth century, +after a generation of freedom, it was thought to be a good point at +which to stop and take an account of stock, and see just what is the +actual status of the colored population of Washington, the Capital of +the Nation, where the colored population is large, and where the +conditions are the most favorable, to see what is their actual status as +skilled workmen, in business, in the professions, and in their +organizations; in short, to make a study, at first hand, of their +efforts for social betterment."</p> + +<p>This publication contains the names, character and location of 500 +business men and women. It is creditable to the compiler and encouraging +for the subjects of its reference.</p> + +<p>The colored newspapers of the District, several in number, are of high +order, and maintain a reputation for intelligent journalism, and for +energy and devotion to the cause they espouse are abreast with those of +sister communities. The growth of Negro journals in our country has been +marked. We have now three hundred or more newspapers and magazines, +edited and published by colored men and women. The publisher of a race +paper early finds that it is not a sinecure nor a bed of roses. If he is +zealous and uncompromising in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> defense of his race, exposing +outrages and injustice; advertisements are withdrawn by those who have +the most patronage to bestow. Should he "crook the pregnant hinges of +the knee, that thrift may follow fawning," and fail to denounce the +wrong, the paper loses influence and subscriptions of those in whose +interest it is professedly established, and hence, as an advertising +medium, it is deserted.</p> + +<p>So, as for the publisher (in the words of that eccentric Puritan, +Lorenzo Dow), "He'll be damned if he does, and be damned if he don't." +He is between "Scilla and Carribdes," requiring versatility of ability, +courage of conviction and a wise discretion, that he may steer "between +the rocks of too much danger and pale fear," and reach the port of +success. The mission of the Negro press is a noble one, for "Right is of +no sex, and Wrong of no color," and God, the Father of us all, with +these as its standard, to be effectual it must give a "plain, +unvarnished tale, nor set down aught in malice." The white journals of +the country often quote the Negro press as to Negro wants and Negro +aspirations, and as time and conditions shall justify it will +necessarily become more metropolitan and less exclusive, dealing more +with economic and industrial subjects on broader lines and from more +material standpoints.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 472px;"> +<img src="images/gs39.jpg" width="472" height="600" alt="HON. WILLIAM H. HUNT. + +United States Consul to Madagascar." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HON. WILLIAM H. HUNT.<br /> + +United States Consul to Madagascar.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Born May, 1860, in Louisiana—Graduated at Groton Academy, +Massachusetts, and Studied at Williams' College—Secretary and +Vice-Consul to the Consulate—Appointed Consul by President McKinley +August 27, 1901—Competent and Worthy.</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOWARD UNIVERSITY.</h3> + + +<p>Howard University was established by a special act of Congress in 1867. +It takes its name from that of the great philanthropist and soldier, +Gen. O. O. Howard, who may be called its founder and greatest patron. It +was through the untiring efforts of General Howard that this special act +passed Congress to establish a university on such broad and liberal +lines as those that characterize Howard University.</p> + +<p>This University admits students of both sexes and any color to all of +its departments. The great majority of its students, however, are +colored, and some of its graduates are the most distinguished men of the +Negro race in America. It has splendid departments of law, medicine, +theology and the arts and sciences.</p> + +<p>Howard University is situated on one of the most beautiful sites of the +Capital of the Nation.</p> + +<p>Having two members of my family as teachers in the public schools of +Washington City, I have learned considerable about them. They are said +to rank among our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> best public schools, and are constantly improving, +under the careful supervision of a highly competent superintendent, and +a paid board of trustees. There are 112 school buildings in the city—75 +for white and 37 for colored, the number being regulated according to +population, about one-third being colored. New manual training schools +have just been erected, for both races, and a growing disposition exists +to provide equal (though separate) accommodation and opportunity. The +colored schools are taught exclusively by colored teachers, the grade +schools being conducted by the graduates of the Washington Normal School +almost entirely. The M Street High School, a leading sample of the best +public schools of the country, has a teaching faculty of twenty +teachers, most of them graduates of our best colleges, such as Howard, +Yale, Oberlin, University of Michigan, Amherst, Brown and Cornell.</p> + +<p>R. H. Terrill, the present principal, is a graduate of Howard, with the +degree of "Cum laude," and, after having won golden opinions from the +board and attaches of the school for his scholarship and supervising +ability, has been appointed by President Roosevelt to a judgeship of the +District, and will assume the duties thereof in January, 1902.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 449px;"> +<img src="images/gs40.jpg" width="449" height="600" alt="JUDGE ROBERT H. TERRILL." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JUDGE ROBERT H. TERRILL.</span> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">Was born in Virginia in 1837—A Graduate of Harvard College—A Chief of +Division in the United States Treasury and Principal of the Colored High +School—Appointed one of the Judges of the District of Columbia +November, 1901.</p></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>All such appointments are helpful, coming from the highest ruler, and +for place, at the fountain head of the Government, have a reflex +influence upon much which is unjust. With each success we should beware +of envy, the offspring of selfishness, which is apt to creep insidiously +into our lives. We should crown the man who has achieved distinction and +advise him as to pitfalls. "No sadder proof," Carlisle has said, "can be +given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men." There +is no royal road to a lasting eminence but the toilsome pathway of +diligence, self-denial and high moral rectitude; surely not by turning +sharp corners to follow that "will-o'-the wisp" transient success, at +the expense of upright conduct. Neither suavity of manner nor the +gilding of education will atone for disregarding the sanctity of +obligation, the violation of which continues to wreck the lives and +blast the promise of many. By sowing the seed of uprighteousness, by +unceasing effort and rigid frugality, the harvest, though sometimes +tardy, will be sure to produce an hundred fold in Christian virtues and +material prosperity. The latter is a necessity for our progress; for, +say what you will about being "just as good as anybody," the world of +mankind has little use for a penniless man. The ratio of its attention +to you is largely commensurate with your bank account and your ability +to further ends involving expenditure. Whether this estimate is in +accord with the highest principle, the Negro has not time to +investigate, for he is up against the hard fact that confronts the great +majority of mankind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> and one with which each for himself must grapple. +Opportunity may be late, but it comes to him who watches and waits while +diligent in what his hands may find to do. For, with all that may be +said, gracious or malicious, of the "Negro problem," we are unmistakably +on the upward grade, educationally and financially, while these bitter +criticisms and animadversions will be the moral weights to steady our +footsteps and give surety to progress.</p> + +<p>Granting no excuse for ignorance or unfitness in a political aspirant, +or for a religious ministry at the present day, we cannot but remember +that our present lines in more pleasant places, both in Church and +State, had impetus through the trying ordeal of toil, suffering and +massacre during the era of reconstruction. Many, though unlettered, with +a nobility of soul that oppression could not humble, were martyrs to +their Christian zeal for the right and finger boards and beacon lights +on the dark and perilous road to our present advanced position.</p> + +<p>In concluding this imperfect autobiography, containing mention of "men I +have met" in the nineteenth century, absence of many co-laborers, both +white and colored, will be observable, whose ability, devotion and +sacrifice should be treasured as heirlooms by a grateful people.</p> + +<p>And now, kind reader, who has followed me in my wanderings—</p> + +<p>"Say not 'Good night,' but in some brighter clime bid me 'Good +morning.'"</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW AND LIGHT***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 28183-h.txt or 28183-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/1/8/28183">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/1/8/28183</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Shadow and Light + An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century + + +Author: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs + + + +Release Date: February 25, 2009 [eBook #28183] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW AND LIGHT*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 28183-h.htm or 28183-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/1/8/28183/28183-h/28183-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/1/8/28183/28183-h.zip) + + + + + +SHADOW AND LIGHT + +[Illustration: Very truly yours, M. W. Gibbs] + +SHADOW AND LIGHT + +An Autobiography + +With Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century. + +by + +MIFFLIN WISTAR GIBBS + +With an Introduction by Booker T. Washington + +A Fatherless Boy, Carpenter and Contractor, Anti-Slavery Lecturer, +Merchant, Railroad Builder, Superintendent of Mine, Attorney-at-Law, +County Attorney, Municipal Judge Register of United States Lands, +Receiver of Public Monies for U. S., United States Consul to +Madagascar--Prominent Race Leaders, etc. + + + + + + + +Washington, D. C. +1902. + +Copyright, 1902. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +During the late years abroad, while reading the biographies of +distinguished men who had been benefactors, the thought occurred that I +had had a varied career, though not as fruitful or as deserving of +renown as these characters, and differing as to status and aim. Yet the +portrayal might be of benefit to those who, eager for advancement, are +willing to be laborious students to attain worthy ends. + +I have aimed to give an added interest to the narrative by embellishing +its pages with portraits of men who have gained distinction in various +fields, who need only to be seen to present the career of those now +living as worthy models, and the record of the dead, who left the world +the better for having lived. To enjoy a life prominent and prolonged is +a desire as natural as worthy, and there have been those who sought to +extend its duration by nostrums and drinking-waters said to bestow the +virtue of "perpetual life." But if "to live in hearts we leave behind is +not to die," to be worthy of such memorial we must have done or said +something that blessed the living or benefited coming generations. Hence +autobiography is the record, for "books are as tombstones made by the +living, but destined soon to remind us of the dead." + +Trusting that any absence of literary merit will not impair the author's +cherished design to "impart a moral," should he fail to "adorn a tale." + + Little Rock, Ark., January, 1902. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + +It is seldom that one man, even if he has lived as long as Judge M. W. +Gibbs is able to record his impressions of so many widely separated +parts of the earth's surface as Judge Gibbs can, or to recall personal +experiences in so many important occurrences. + +Born in Philadelphia, and living there when that city--almost on the +border line between slavery and freedom--was the scene of some of the +most stirring incidents in the abolition agitation, he was able as a +free colored youth, going to Maryland to work, to see and judge of the +condition of the slaves in that State. Some of the most dramatic +operations of the famous "Underground Railroad" came under his personal +observation. He enjoyed the rare privilege of being associated in labor +for the race with that man of sainted memory, the Hon. Frederick +Douglass. He met and heard many of the most notable men and women who +labored to secure the freedom of the Negro. As a resident of California +in the exciting years which immediately followed the discovery of gold, +he watched the development of lawlessness there and its results. A few +years later he went to British Columbia to live, when that colony was +practically an unknown country. Returning to the United States, he was a +witness to the exciting events connected with the years of +Reconstruction in Florida, and an active participant in the events of +that period in the State of Arkansas. At one time and another he has met +many of the men who have been prominent in the direction of the affairs +of both the great political parties of the country. In more recent years +he has been able to see something of life in Europe, and in his official +capacity as United States Consul to Tamatave, Madagascar, adjoining +Africa, has resided for some time in that far-off and strange land. + +It would be difficult for any man who has had all these experiences not +to be entertaining when he tells of them. Judge Gibbs has written an +interesting book. + +Interspersed with the author's recollections and descriptions are +various conclusions, as when he says: "Labor to make yourself as +indispensable as possible in all your relations with the dominant race, +and color will cut less figure in your upward grade." + +"Vice is ever destructive; ignorance ever a victim, and poverty ever +defenseless." + +"Only as we increase in property will our political barometer rise." + +It is significant to find one who has seen so much of the world as Judge +Gibbs has, saying, as he does: "With travel somewhat extensive and +diversified, and with residence in tropical latitudes of Negro origin, +I have a decided conviction, despite the crucial test to which he has +been subjected in the past, and the present disadvantages under which he +labors, that nowhere is the promise along all the lines of opportunity +brighter for the American Negro than here in the land of his nativity." + +I bespeak for the book a careful reading by those who are interested in +the history of the Negro in America, and in his present and future. + + BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I 3 + +Parents, School and Teacher--Foundation of +the Negroes' Mechanical Knowledge--First +Brick A. M. E. Church--Bishop Allen--Olive +Cemetery--Harriet Smith Home--"Underground +Railroad"--Incidents on the Road--William +and Ellen Craft--William Box Brown. + +CHAPTER II 15 + +Nat Turner's Insurrection--Experience on a +Maryland Plantation--First Street Cars in +Philadelphia--Anti-Slavery Meetings--Amusing +Incidents--Opposition of Negro Churches--Kossuth +Celebration, and the Unwelcome +Guest. + +CHAPTER III 29 + +Cinguez, the Hero of Armistead Captives--The +Threshold of Man's Estate--My First Lecturing +Tour with Frederic Douglass--His "Life +and Times"--Pen Picture of George William +Curtis of Ante-Bellum Conditions--Harriet +Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott, and Frances E. +Harper, a Noble Band of Women--"Go Do +Some Great Thing"--Journey to California--Incidents +at Panama. + +CHAPTER IV 40 + +Arrival at San Francisco--Getting Domiciled +and Seeking Work--Strike of White Employees--Lester +& Gibbs, Importers--Assaulted +in Our Store--First Protest from the +Colored Men of California--Poll Tax. + +CHAPTER V 51 + +"Vigilance Committee" and Lynch Law at +"Fort Gunny"--Murder of James King, of William--A +Paradox to Present Conditions. + +CHAPTER VI 59 + +Gold Discovery in British Columbia--Incidents +on Shipboard and Arrival at Victoria--National +Unrest in 1859--"Irrepressible Conflict"--Garrison +and Douglass--Harriet Beecher +Stowe and Frances Ellen Harper--John Brown +of Harper's Ferry--"Fugitive Slave Law"--Flight +to Canada. + +CHAPTER VII 74 + +Abraham Lincoln President--Rebellion Inaugurated--Success +of the Union Army--Re-Election +of Lincoln--Bravery and Endurance of +Negro Soldiers--Assassination of Lincoln--Lynching +Denounced by Southern Governors +and Statesmen--Words of Wisdom from +St. Pierre de Couberton. + +CHAPTER VIII 85 + +My First Entry Into Political Life--Intricacies +of the Ballot--Number of Negro Schools, +Pupils and Amount of School Property in 1898--Amendment +to Constitution and Interview +with Vice-President Schuyler Colfax at Victoria, +B. C.--William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., and +James Russell Lowell on the Right to Vote. + +CHAPTER IX 93 + +Philip A. Bell, a Veteran Editor of the "Negro +Press"--British Columbia, Its Early History, +Efforts for Annexation to the United States--Meeting +with Lady Franklin, Widow of Sir +John Franklin, the Arctic Explorer, in 1859--Union +of British Columbia with the Dominion +of Canada in 1868, the Political Issue--Queen +Charlotte Island--Anthracite Coal Company--Director, +Contractor and Shipper of First +Cargo of Anthracite Coal on the Pacific +Coast--Indians and Their Peculiarities. + +CHAPTER X 107 + +An Incident of Peril--My Return to the United +States in 1869--Thoughts and Feelings En +Route--Entered Oberlin Law College and +Graduated--Visit to my Brother, J. C. Gibbs, +Secretary of State of Florida--A Delegate to +the National Convention of Colored Men at +Charleston, S. C.--"Gratitude Expensive"--The +Trend of Republican Leaders--Contribution of +Southern White People for Negro Education--Views +of a Leading Democrat. + +CHAPTER XI 122 + +President of National Convention at Nashville, +Tenn., in 1876--Pen and Ink Sketch by H. V. +Redfield of "Cincinnati Commercial"--Colored +Leaders Desire to Fraternize for Race Protection--William +H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, and +J. H. Johnson, of Arkansas, Leaders and +Planters--My Arrival at Little Rock, May, +1871--Reading of Local Statutes in the Law +Office of Benjamin & Barnes--"Wheeler & +Gibbs," Attorneys-at-Law. + +CHAPTER XII 134 + +Politics and Politicians--Disruption of the Republicans +in Arkansas--"Minstrels and Brindle +Tails"--Early Canvassing in the South, +with Its Peculiarities--Ku Klux Visits--My +Appointment as County Attorney and Election +as Municipal Judge--Hon. John Allen, of Mississippi, +His Descriptive Anecdote. + +CHAPTER XIII 145 + +Lowering Cloud on Righteous Rule--Comparison +of Negro Progress--Sir Walter Scott in His +Notes on English History--George C. Lorimer, +a Noted Divine--Educational Solution of the +Race Problem--Baron Russell, Lord Chief Justice +of England--Civil War in Arkansas--Expulsion +of Governor Baxter and Instalment +of Governor Brooks at the State Houses--Stirring +Episodes--"Who Shall Bell the +Cat?"--Extraordinary Session of the Legislature--My +Issue of a Search Warrant for the +Seal of the State--Recognition of Baxter by +the President. + +CHAPTER XIV 158 + +Arkansas Constitutional Convention and New +Constitution Adopted--Augustus H. Garland +Elected Governor--My Letter from Madagascar +on Learning of His Demise--General +Grant's Nomination in 1872 at the Academy of +Music, Philadelphia--Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana--William +H. Gray, of Arkansas--R. B. +Elliot, of South Carolina--"Henry at Ajincourt"--Study +of Obsolete Languages Versus +Industrial Education--Views of Lord Rosebery, +ex-Premier of England--Also of Washington +Post--United States Have Supreme +Advantages for the Negro. + +CHAPTER XV 173 + +Presidential Elector in 1876, Receiving the +Highest Vote--President Hayes, His Yearnings +and Accomplishments--Protest Against +Lawlessness by the Negroes in State Conventions--Negro +Exodus from the Southern to the +Western States in 1878--Secretary William +Windom's Letter--Hon J. C. Rapier, of Alabama, +and Myself Appointed by Secretary +Windom to Visit Western States and Report. + +CHAPTER XVI 185 + +Appointed by the President in 1877 Register +of U. S. Lands--Robert J. Ingersoll on the +Benignity of Homestead Law--General +Grant's Tour Around the World and His +Arrival at Little Rock, 1879--A Guest at the +Banquet Given Him--Response to the Toast, +"The Possibilities of American Citizenship"--Roscoe +Conkling's Speech Nominating General +Grant for Third Term--Bronze Medal as one of +the Historic "306" at the National Convention +of 1880--The Manner of General Grant's Defeat +for Nomination and Garfield's Success--Character +Sketches of Hon. James G. Blaine, +Ingersoll's Mailed Warrior and Plumed Knight--Hon +Grover Cleveland. + +CHAPTER XVII 195 + +Honorary Commissioner for the Colored Exhibits +of the World's Exposition at New Orleans, +La.--Neglected Opportunities--Important +Factors Necessary to Recognition. + +CHAPTER XVIII 201 + +Effort of Henry Brown, of Oberlin, Ohio, to +Establish "Schools of Trade"--Call for a Conference +of Leading Colored Men in 1885--Industrial +Fair at Pine Bluff, Ark.--Captain +Thompson, of the "Capital Guards," a Colored +Military Company--Meeting of Prominent +Leaders at New Orleans--The Late N. W. +Cuney, of Texas--Contented Benefactions +from Christian Churches. + +CHAPTER XIX 215 + +The Reunion of General Grant's "306"--Ferdinand +Havis, of Pine Bluff--Compromise and +Disfranchisement--Progress of the Negro--"Decoration +Day"--My Letter to the "Gazette"--Commission +to Sell Lots of the Hot +Springs Reservation--Twelve Years in the +Land Service of the United States. + +CHAPTER XX 223 + +My Appointment as U. S. Consul to Tamatave, +Madagascar--My Arrival in France En Route +to Paris--Called on Ambassador Porter and +Consul Gowdy Relative to My "Exequator"--Visited +the Louvre, the Famous Gallery of +Paintings--"Follies Bergere," or Variety +Theater--The "Dome des Invalids" or the +Tomb of the Great Napoleon--Mrs. Mason, of +Arkansas and Washington, in Paris--Marseilles +and "Hotel du Louvre"--Embarkation +on French Ship "Pie Ho" for Madagascar--Scenes +and Incidents En Route--"Port Said"--Visit +to the "Mosque," Mohammedan Place of +Worship. + +CHAPTER XXI 236 + +Suez Canal--The Red Sea--Pharaoh and His +Hosts--Their Waterloo--Children of Israel--Travel +by Sea--Arrival and Landing at Madagascar--Bubonic +Plague--My Letter From +Madagascar. + +CHAPTER XXII 250 + +Island of Madagascar--Origin and Character +of the Inhabitants--Their Religion and Superstitions--Physical +Appearance of Madagascar--A +Word Painting of Antananarivo, the +Capital, by Cameron--Forms of Government--Queens +of Madagascar--Slavery and Forced +Labor. + +CHAPTER XXIII 265 + +Introduction of the Christian Religion--Printing +the Bible, Edict by Queen Ranavalona +Against It--The New Religion "a Cloth of a +Pattern She Did Not Like"--Asked the Missionaries, +"Can You Make Soap?"--"Dark +Days"--Persecutions and Executions for a +Quarter of a Century--Examples of Christian +Martyrs--Death of Queen Ranavalona--Permanent +Establishment of the Christian Religion--Self-denial +and Heroic Service of the Roman +Catholics--Native Race Protection Committee--Forced +Labor Abolished. + +CHAPTER XXIV 282 + +Cuba and the Philippines--Their Acquisition +Under the Plea of Relief From Spanish Misrule--Aguinaldo, +Leader of the Filipinos--The +Fidelity and Bravery of the American Negro +in the Spanish War--Attestation by Many Witnesses--Industrial +Education--Othello's Occupation +Gone When Polls are Closed. + +CHAPTER XXV 298 + +Opposition Possibly Beneficent--President McKinley's +Order for Enlistment of Colored Soldiers--General +Grosvenor's Tribute--Fifteen +Thousand in the Spanish War--U. S. Supreme +Court vs. The Negro--The Basis of Congressional +Representation. + +CHAPTER XXVI 306 + +Departure from Madagascar--Memories--Governor +General's Farewell Letter--Madagascar +Branch of the Smithsonian Institute--Wild +Animals, a Consul's Burden--Descriptive Letter +to State Department. + +CHAPTER XXVII 312 + +Leave-taking, its Jollity and Sadness--Arrival +at Camp Aden, Arabia--An Elysium for the +Toper--Whisky Was Plenty, But the Water +Was Out--Pleasant Visit to U. S. Consul Cunningham, +of Knoxville, Tenn.--Arrival at +Suez--My Visit to the U. S. Cruiser "New +York"--The Urbanity of Captain Rogers--Suez +Canal--Port Said--"Mal de Mer"--Marseilles +to Paris--Across the English Channel to +London. + +CHAPTER XXVIII 320 + +My First Visit to the Land of Wilberforce +and Clarkson--Excursion on the Thames--Bank +of England--Visited Towers of London--Beauchamp +Tower With Its Sad Inscriptions--Arrival +at New York--National Negro Business +Men's League Convention at Chicago--Booker +T. Washington President--Many Talented +Business Men in Attendance. + +CHAPTER XXIX 327 + +Visit to President McKinley at Canton, Ohio--His +Assassination at Buffalo--The Assassin +Struck Down by James Parker--President's +Death--The Nation in Tears--A Christian +Statesman--A Lover of Justice--Crucial +Epochs of Our Country's History, the Negro +at the Fore. + +CHAPTER XXX 336 + +President Roosevelt--His Imperial Honesty--Ex-Governor +Jones, of Alabama--Advance of +Justice in Our Country--Status a Half-Century +Ago--Theodore Parker's Arraignment--Eulogy +by Ralph Waldo Emerson. + +CHAPTER XXXI 343 + +Booker T. Washington a Guest at the White +House--Northern and Southern Press Comments--The +Latter Not Typical of the Best +Element of Southern Opinion. + +CHAPTER XXXII 361 + +Washington City, the American Mecca--Ante-room +at the White House--The Diary of +an Office Seeker--William, the Innocent--William, +the Croker--Colored People of the +District of Columbia--Colored Press of the District. + +CHAPTER XXXIII 269 + +Howard University--Public Schools--R. H. +Terrell Appointed to a Judgship of the District--Unlettered +Pioneers--Conclusions. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + +1. M. W. Gibbs Frontispiece. + +2. Richard Allen 8 + +3. Wm. Lloyd Garrison 18 + +4. Frederick Douglass 32 + +5. Booker T. Washington 44 + +6. H. M. Turner 50 + +7. Geo. H. White 58 + +8. J. M. Langston 70 + +9. Abraham Lincoln 74 + +10. W. B. Derrick 80 + +11. Alexander Walters 92 + +12. H. P. Cheatham 104 + +13. Edward E. Cooper 118 + +14. Judson Lyons 128 + +15. Powell Clayton 140 + +16. P. B. S. Pinchback 149 + +17. A. H. Garland 158 + +18. J. A. Booker 172 + +19. I. G Ish 175 + +20. J. P. Green 183 + +21. P. L. Dunbar 199 + +22. B. K. Bruce 204 + +23. T. T. Fortune 210 + +24. W. A. Pledger 220 + +25. John C. Dancy 228 + +26. Abram Grant 253 + +27. J. E. Bush 263 + +28. J. P. Robinson 272 + +29. Martyrs 274 + +30. Chester W. Keatts 284 + +31. J. T. Settle 294 + +32. Justice Harlan 302 + +33. Charles W. Chestnut 312 + +34. William McKinley 327 + +35. James B. Parker 331 + +36. President Roosevelt 336 + +37. Secretary Cortelyou 341 + +38. W. Calvin Chase 367 + +39. R. H. Terrill 370 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the old family Bible I see it recorded that I was born April 17, +1823, in Philadelphia, Pa., the son of Jonathan C. Gibbs and Maria, his +wife. My father was a minister in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, my +mother a "hard-shell" Baptist. But no difference of religious views +interrupted the even tenor of their domestic life. At seven years of age +I was sent to what was known as the Free School, those schools at that +time invaluable for colored youth, had not graded studies, systematized, +and with such accessories for a fruitful development of the youthful +mind as now exist. The teacher of the school, Mr. Kennedy, was an +Irishman by birth, and herculean in proportions; erudite and severely +positive in enunciation. The motto "Spare the rod and spoil the child" +had no place in his curriculum. Alike with the tutors of the deaf and +the blind, he was earnest in the belief that learning could be +impressively imparted through the sense of feeling. That his manner and +means were impressive you may well believe, when I say that I yet have a +vivid recollection of a bucket with an inch or two of water in it near +his desk. In it stood an assortment of rattan rods, their size when +selected for use ranging in the ratio of the enormity, of the offence +or the age of the offender. + +Among the many sterling traits of character possessed by Mr. Kennedy was +economy; the frequent use of the rods as he raised himself on tiptoe to +make his protest the more emphatic--split and frizzled them--the +immersion of the tips in water would prevent this, and add to the +severity of the castigation, while diminishing the expense. A policy +wiser and less drastic has taken the place of corporal punishment in +schools. But Mr. Kennedy was competent, faithful and impartial. I was +not destined to remain long at school. At eight years of age two events +occurred which gave direction to my after life. On a Sunday in April, +1831, my father desired that the family attend his church; we did so and +heard him preach, taking as his text the 16th verse of Chapter 37 in +Genesis: "I seek my brethren; tell me, I pray thee, where they feed +their flocks." + +On the following Sunday he lay before the pulpit from whence he had +preached, cold in death, leaving my mother, who had poor health, with +four small children, and little laid by "for a rainy day." Unable to +remain long at school, I was "put out" to hold and drive a doctor's +horse at three dollars a month, and was engaged in similar employment +until I reached sixteen years of age. Of the loving devotion and +self-sacrifice of an invalid mother I have not words to express, but +certain it is, that should it ever appear that I have done anything to +revere, or aught to emulate, it should be laid on the altar of her +Christian character, her ardent love of liberty and intense aspiration +for the upbuilding of the race. For her voice and example was an +educator along all the lines of racial progress. + +Needing our assistance in her enfeebled condition, she nevertheless +insisted that my brother and myself should learn the carpenter trade. At +this period in the career of youth, the financial condition of whose +parents or sponsors is unequal to their further pursuit of scholastic +studies, it is not without an anxious solicitude they depart from the +parental roof. For the correct example and prudent advice may not be +invulnerable to the temptation for illicit pleasures or ruinous conduct. +Happy will he be who listens to the admonitions of age. Unfortunately by +the action of response, sad in its humor, too often is: I like the +advice but prefer the experience. + +The foundation of the mechanical knowledge possessed by the Negro was +laid in the Southern States. During slavery the master selecting those +with natural ability, the most apt, with white foremen, had them taught +carpentering, blacksmithing, painting, boot and shoe making, coopering, +and other trades to utilize on the plantations, or add to their value as +property. Many of these would hire themselves by the year from their +owners, contract on their own account, and by thrift purchase their +freedom, emigrate and teach colored youths of Northern States, where +prejudice continues to exclude them from the workshops, while at the +South the substantial warehouse and palatial dwelling from base to dome, +is often the creation of his brain and the product of his handiwork. + +James Gibbons, of the class above referred to, and to whom we were +apprenticed, was fat, and that is to say, he was jolly. He had ever a +word of kind encouragement, wise counsel or assistance to give his +employees. Harshness, want of sympathy or interest is often the +precursor and stimulator to the many troubles with organized labor that +continue to paralyze so many of our great industrial concerns at the +present time, resulting in distress to the one and great material loss +to the other. Mr. Gibbons had but a limited education, but he possessed +that aptitude, energy, and efficiency which accomplishes great objects, +that men call genius, and which is oftimes nothing more than untiring +mental activity harnessed to intensity of purpose. These constituted his +grasp of much of the intricacies of mechanical knowledge. His example +was ever in evidence, by word and action, that only by assidious effort +could young men hope to succeed in the battle of life. + +Mr. Gibbons was competent and had large patronage. We remained with him +until we reached our majority. During a religious revival we both became +converted and joined the Presbyterian Church. My brother entered +Dartmouth College, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Assembly, +graduated and ministered in the church at Philadelphia. After a brief +period as a journeyman, I became a contractor and builder on my own +account. It is ever a source of strength for a young person to have +faith in his or her possibilities, and as soon as may be, assume +mastership. + +While remaining subject to orders, the stimulus is lacking for that +aggressive energy, indispensable to bring to the front. Temporary +failure you may have, for failure lies in wait for all human effort, but +sneaks from a wise and unconquerable determination. We read of the +military prisoner, alone, dejected, and despairing, looking to the walls +of his cell; he watches a score of attempts and failure of a spider to +scale the wall, only to renew an attempt crowned with success. The +lesson was fruitful for the prisoner. + +Mr. Gibbons built several of the colored churches in Philadelphia, and +in the early forties, during my apprenticeship, he was a bidder for the +contract to build the first African Methodist Episcopal brick church of +the connection on the present site at Sixth and Lombard streets in +Philadelphia. A wooden structure which had been transformed from a +blacksmith shop to a meeting house was torn down to give place to the +new structure. When a boy I had often been in the old shop, and have +heard the founder, Bishop Allen, preach in the wooden building. He was +much reverenced. I remember his appearance, and his feeble, shambling +gait as he approached the close of an illustrious life. + +The A. M. E. Church was distinctively the pioneer in the career of +colored churches; its founders the first to typify and unflinchingly +assert the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. Dragged from +their knees in the white churches of their faith, they met exclusion by +cohesion; ignorance by effort for culture, and poverty by unflinching +self-denial; justice and right harnessed to such a movement, who shall +declare its ultimatum. + +Out from that blacksmith shop went an inspiration lifting its votaries +to a self-reliance founded on God, a harbinger of hope to the enslaved. + +From Allen to Payne, and on and on along lines of Christian fame, its +missionaries going from triumph to triumph in America, and finally +planting its standard on the isles of the sea. + +A distinct line is ever observable between civilization and barbarism, +in the regard and reverence for the dead, the increase of solicitude is +evidence of a people's advancement. Until the year 1848 the colored +people of Philadelphia used the grounds, always limited, in the rear of +their churches for burial. They necessarily became crowded, with +sanitary conditions threatening, without opportunity to fittingly mark +and adorn the last resting place of their dead. + +[Illustration: RIGHT REV. RICHARD ALLEN. + +First Bishop of the A. M. E. Church. + +Founder of that Faith That Once Nestled in a Blacksmith Shop, But Now +Encircles the World.] + +In the above year G. W. Gaines, J. P. Humphries, and the writer +purchased a tract of land on the north side of Lancaster turnpike, in +West Philadelphia, and were incorporated under the following act by the +Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania: "An Act to incorporate the +Olive Cemetery Company," followed by the usual reservations and +conditions in such cases provided. Among reasons inducing me to refer to +this are, first, to give an idea of the propriety and progress of the +race fifty years ago, and secondly, for the further and greater reasons, +as the following will show, that the result of the project was not only +a palladium for blessed memory of the dead, but was the nucleus of a +benefaction that still blesses the living. + +The land was surveyed and laid out in lots and avenues, plans of gothic +design were made for chapel and superintendent's residence, and contract +for construction was awarded the writer. The project was not entirely an +unselfish one, but profit was not the dominating incentive. After +promptly completing the contract with the shareholders as to buildings +and improvements of the ground, the directors found themselves in debt, +and welcomed the advent of Stephen Smith, a wealthy colored man and +lumber merchant, to assist in liquidating liabilities. To him an +unoccupied portion of the ground was sold, and in his wife's heart the +conception of a bounteous charity was formed. The "Old Folks' Home," so +beneficent to the aged poor of Philadelphia, demands more than a passing +notice. + +"The Harriet Smith Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons" is a +continuation of a charity organized September, 1864, and the first board +of managers (a noble band of humanitarians) elected. The preamble was as +follows: "For the relief of that worthy class of colored persons who +have endeavored through life to maintain themselves, but who, from +various causes, are finally dependent on the charity of others, an +association is hereby organized." The work of this home was conducted in +a large dwelling house on South Front street until the year 1871, when, +through the munificence of Stephen Smith and his wife, the land on the +corner of Belmont and Girard avenues, previously purchased from the +Olive Cemetery Company, together with a large four-story building, +valued at $40,000, was given to the Board. In 1871 it was opened as the +"Harriet Smith Home," where it still stands as an enduring monument to +the original donors, and other blessed friends of the race, who have +continued to assist with generous endowments. Edward T. Parker, who died +in 1887, gave $85,000 for an annex to the building. Colored people since +its incipiency have given $200,000. The board is composed of white and +colored persons. On a recent visit I found the home complete, +convenient, and cleanly in all its appurtenances, with an air of +comfort and contentment pervading the place. From many with bent and +decrepit bodies, from wrinkled and withered faces, the sparkling eye of +gratitude could be seen, and prayer of thankfulness read; for this +product of a benign clemency that had blessed both the giver and +receiver. There can be no one with filial affection happy in the thought +that it is in their power to assuage the pain or assist the tottering +steps of their own father or mother, but will recognize the humanity, +Christian character, and unselfishness of the men and women organized +for giving the helping hand to the "unfortunate aged, made dependent by +blameless conditions." + +During my apprenticeship, aware of my educational deficiencies, having +been unable to pursue a consecutive course of study in earlier life, I +spent much of the night and odd times in an endeavor to make up the +loss. In joining the Philadelphia Library Company, a literary society of +colored men, containing men of such mental caliber as Isaiah C. Wear, +Frederick Hinton, Robert Purvis, J. C. Bowers, and others, where +questions of moment touching the condition of the race were often +discussed with acumen and eloquence, I was both benefited and +stimulated. It was a needed help, for man is much the creature of his +environments, and what widens his horizon as to the inseparable +relations of man to man and the mutuality of obligation, strengthens +his manhood in the ratio he embraces opportunity. + +Pennsylvania being a border State, and Philadelphia situated so near the +line separating the free and slave States, that city was utilized as the +most important adjunct or way-station of the "underground railroad," an +organization to assist runaway slaves to the English colony of Canada. +Say what you will against old England, for, like all human polity, there +is much for censure and criticism, but this we know, that when there +were but few friends responsive, and but few arms that offered to succor +when hunted at home, old England threw open her doors, reached out her +hand, and bid the wandering fugitive slave to come in and "be of good +cheer." + +As one of the railroad company mentioned, many cases came under my +observation, and some under my guidance to safety in Canada. One of the +most peculiar and interesting ones that came under by notice and +attention, was that of William and Ellen Craft, fugitives from the State +of Georgia. Summoned one day to a colored boarding house, I was +presented to a person dressed in immaculate black broadcloth and silk +beaver hat, whom I supposed to be a young white man. By his side stood a +young colored man with good features and rather commanding presence. The +first was introduced to me as Mrs. Craft and the other as her husband, +two escaped slaves. They had traveled through on car and boat, paying +and receiving first-class accommodations. Mrs. Craft, being fair, +assumed the habit of young master coming north as an invalid, and as she +had never learned to write, her arm was in a sling, thereby avoiding the +usual signing of register on boat or at hotel, while her servant-husband +was as obsequious in his attentions as the most humble of slaves. They +settled in Boston, living very happily, until the passage of the +fugitive slave law in 1850, when they were compelled to flee to England. + +The civil war of 1861 and proclamation of freedom followed. In 1870, +arriving in Savannah, Georgia, seeking accommodation, I was directed to +a hotel, and surprised to find the host and hostess my whilom friends of +underground railroad fame. They had returned to their old home after +emancipation. The surprise was pleasant and recognition mutual. + +One other, and I shall pass this feature of reminiscence. It was that of +William Brown, distinguished afterward as William Box Brown, the +intervening "Box" being a synonym of the manner of his escape. An agent +of the underground railroad at Richmond, Virginia, had placed him in a +box two feet wide and four feet long, ends hooped, with holes for air, +and bread and water, and sent him through the express company to +Philadelphia. On the arrival of the steamboat the box was roughly +tumbled off as so much dead freight on the wharf, but, unfortunately +for Brown, on the end, with his feet up and head down. After remaining +in such position for a time which seemed to him hours, he heard a man +say to another, "Let's turn that box down and sit on it." It was done, +and Brown found himself "right side up," if not "with care." I was +called to the anti-slavery office, where the box was taken. It had been +arranged that when he arrived at his destination, three slow and +distinct knocks should be given, to which he was to respond. Fear that +he was crippled or dead was depicted in the faces of Miller McKim, +William Still and a few others that stood around the box in the office. +Hence it was not without trepidation the agreed signal was given, and +the response waited for. An "all right" was cheerily given; the lifting +of suspense and the top of the box was almost simultaneous. Out sprang a +man weighing near 200 pounds. Brown, though uneducated, it is needless +to say, was imbued with the spirit of liberty, and with much natural +ability, with his box he traveled and spoke of his experience in +slavery, the novelty of his escape adding interest to his description. +Many similar cases of heroism in manner of escape of men and women are +recorded in William Still's "Underground Railroad." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The immortal bard has sung that "there's a destiny that shapes our +ends." At eight years of age, as already stated, two events occurred +which had much to do in giving direction to my after life. The one the +death of my father, as formerly mentioned; the other the insurrection of +Nat Turner, of South Hampton, Virginia, in August, 1831, which fell upon +the startled sense of the slaveholding South like a meteor from a dear +sky, causing widespread commotion. Nat Turner was a Baptist preacher, +who with four others, in a lonely place in the woods, concocted plans +for an uprising of the slaves to secure their liberty. Employed in the +woods during the week, a prey to his broodings over the wrongs and +cruelties, the branding and whipping to death of neighboring slaves, he +would come out to meetings of his people on Sunday and preach, +impressing much of his spirit of unrest. Finally he selected a large +number of confederates, who were to secretly acquire arms of their +masters. The attack concocted in February was not made until August 20, +when the assault, dealing death and destruction, was made. + +All that night they marched, carrying consternation and dread on account +of the suddenness, determination and boldness of the attack. The whole +State was aroused, and soldiers sent from every part. The blacks fought +hand to hand with the whites, but were soon overpowered by numbers and +superior implements of warfare. Turner and a few of his followers took +refuge in the "Dismal Swamp," almost impenetrable, where they remained +two or three months, till hunger or despair compelled them to surrender. +Chained together, they were taken to the South Hampton Court House and +arraigned. Turner, it is recorded, without a tremor, pleaded not guilty, +believing that he was justified in the attempt to liberate his people, +however drastic the means. His act, which would have been heralded as +the noblest heroism if perpetrated by a white man, was called religious +fanaticism and fiendish brutality. + +Turner called but few into his confidence, and foolhardy and unpromising +as the attempt may have been, it had the ring of an heroic purpose that +gave a Bossarius to Greece, and a Washington to America. A purpose "not +born to die," but to live on in every age and clime, stimulating +endeavors to attain the blessings of civil liberty. + +It was an incident as unexpected in its advent as startling in its +terrors. Slavery, ever the preponderance of force, had hitherto reveled +in a luxury heightened by a sense of security. Now, in the moaning of +the wind, the rustling of the leaves or the shadows of the moon, was +heard or seen a liberator. Nor was this uneasiness confined to the +South, for in the border free States there were many that in whole or in +part owned plantations stocked with slaves. + +In Philadelphia, so near the line, excitement ran high. The intense +interest depicted in the face of my mother and her colored neighbors; +the guarded whisperings, the denunciations of slavery, the hope defeated +of a successful revolution keenly affected my juvenile mind, and stamped +my soul with hatred to slavery. + +At 12 years of age I was employed at the residence of Sydney Fisher, a +prominent Philadelphia lawyer, who was one of the class above mentioned, +living north and owning a plantation in the State of Maryland. Over a +good road of 30 miles one summer's day, he took me to his plantation. I +had never before been that distance from home and had anticipated my +long ride with childish interest and pleasure. After crossing the line +and entering "the land of cotton and the corn," a new and strange +panorama began to open, and continued to enfold the vast fields bedecked +in the snowy whiteness of their fruitage. While over gangs of slaves in +row and furrough were drivers with their scourging whip in hand. I +looked upon the scene with curious wonder. Three score of years and more +have passed, but I still see that sad and humbled throng, working close +to the roadway, no head daring to uplift, no eye to enquiringly gaze. +During all those miles of drive that bordered on plantations, as +machines they acted, as machines they looked. My curiosity and youthful +impulse ignoring that reticence becoming a servant, I said: "Mr. Fisher, +who are these people?" He said, "They are slaves." I was startled but +made no reply. I had not associated the exhilaration of the drive with a +depressing view of slavery, but his reply caused a tumult of feeling in +my youthful breast. The Turner episode of which I had heard so much, the +narratives of whippings received by fugitives, slaves that had come to +my mother's house, the sundering of family ties on the auction block, +were vividly presented to my mind. I remained silent as to speech, as to +feelings belligerent. A few moments elapsed and Mr. Fisher broke the +silence by saying, "Mifflin, how would you like to be a slave?" My +answer was quick and conformed to feeling. "I would not be a slave! I +would kill anybody that would make me a slave!" Fitly spoken. No grander +declaration I have ever made. But from whom did it come--from almost +childish lips with no power to execute. I little thought of or knew the +magnitude of that utterance, nor did I notice then the effect of its +force. Quickly and quite sternly came the reply: "You must not talk that +way down here." I was kept during our stay in what was known during +slavery as the "great house," the master's residence, and my meals were +eaten at the table he had quit, slept in the same house, and had, if +desired, little or no opportunity to talk or mingle with the slaves +during the week's visit. I did not understand at that time the +philosophy of espionage, but in after years it became quite apparent +that from my youthful lips had came the "open sesame to the door of +liberty," "resistance to oppression," the slogan that has ever heralded +the advent of freedom. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. + +"The Great Liberator." + +"I Will not Excuse, I Will Not Retreat a Single Inch; I Will Be Heard" +"Emancipation the Right of the Slave and Duty of the Master"--"He Made +Every Single Home, Press, Pulpit, and Senate Chamber a Debating Society +with His Right and Wrong for the Subject."] + +As I passed to manhood the object lesson encountered on the Maryland +plantation did much to intensify my hatred of slavery and to strengthen +my resolution to ally myself with any effort for its abolition. The +burning of Pennsylvania Hall by a mob in Philadelphia, in 1838, built +and used by anti-slavery people, the ravages of what was known as the +"Moyamensing Killers," who burned down the churches and residences of +the colored people and murdered their occupants, did much to increase +the anti-slavery feeling. + +Old Bethel Church, then the nursery of the present great A. M. E. +Church, was guarded day and night by its devoted men and women +worshipers. The cobble street pavement in front was dug up and the +stones carried up and placed at the windows in the galley to hurl at the +mob. This defense was sustained for several weeks at a time. Every +American should be happy in the thought that a higher civilization is +making such acts less and less frequent. It is not strange that our +present generation enjoying a large measure of civil and political +liberty can but faintly comprehend the condition fifty years ago, when +they were persistently denied. The justice of participation seems so +apparent, it is not easy to fully conceive, when all were refused, in +quite all that were denominated free States. + +When street cars were first established in Philadelphia "the brother in +black" was refused accommodations. He nevertheless persisted in entering +the cars. Sometimes he would be thrown out, at others, after being +"sized up" the driver with his horses would leave his car standing on +switch, while its objectionable occupant was "monarch of all he +surveyed." + +The "man and brother" finding his enemy impervious to direct attack, +commenced a flank movement. As he was not allowed to ride inside, he +resolved to ride alongside; bought omnibuses and stock and established a +line on the car route at reduced rates. The cars were not always on +time, and many whites would avail themselves of its service. I remember +one of this class accosting a driver: "What 'Bus is this?" The simple +driver answered, "It is the colored peoples!" "I don't care whose in the +---- it is, does it go to the bridge? I am in a hurry to get there," and +in he got. I thought then and still think what a useful moral the +incident conveyed to my race. Labor to make yourself as indispensable as +possible in all your relations with the dominant race and color will cut +less and less figure in your upward grade. The line was kept up for some +time, often holding what was called "omnibus meetings" in our halls, +always largely attended, make reports, hear spirited speeches, and have +a deal of fun narrating incidents of the line, receiving generous +contributions when the horses or busses needed replenishing. But the +most exciting times were those when there had been interference with the +running of the "underground railroad," and the attempt to capture +passengers in transit, or at the different way-stations, of which as +previously stated, Philadelphia was the most prominent in forwarding its +patrons to Canada. + +Before the passage of the fugitive slave law, in 1850, if the fugitive +was taken back it was done by stealth--kidnapped and spirited away by +clandestine means. Sometimes by the treachery of his own color, but this +was seldom and unhealthy. The agent of the owner was often caught in the +act, and by argument more emphatic than gentle, was soon conspicuous by +his absence. At others local anti-slavery friends would appeal to the +courts, and the agent would be arrested. Slavery in law being local +before the passage of the "Act of 1850," making it national, we were +generally successful in having the fugitives released. We were +extremely fortunate in having for our chief counsel David Paul Brown, a +leader of the Philadelphia bar, who, with other white friends, never +failed to respond to our call; learned in Constitutional law, eloquent +in expression, he did a yeoman's service in behalf of liberty. + +The colored men of Pennsylvania, like their brethren in other Northern +States, were not content in being disfranchised. As early as 1845 a +committee of seven, consisting of Isaiah C. Wear, J. C. Bowers, and +others, including the writer, were sent to the capitol at Harrisburg to +lay a petition before the Legislature asking for enfranchisement and all +rights granted to others of the commonwealth. The grant was tardy, but +it came with the cannon's boom and musketry's iron hail, when the +imperiled status of the nation made it imperative. Thus, as ever, with +the immutable decrees of God, while battling for the freedom of the +slave, we broadened our consciousness, not only as to the inalienable +rights of human nature, but received larger conceptions of civil +liberty, coupled with a spirit of determination to defend our homes and +churches from infuriated mobs, and to contend for civil and political +justice. + +They were truly a spartan band, the colored men and women. The naming of +a few would be invidious to the many who were ever keenly alive to the +proscription to which they were subject, and ever on the alert for +measures to awaken the moral sense of the border States. + +Meetings were nightly held for counsel, protests and assistance to the +fugitive, who would sometimes be present to narrate the woes of slavery. +Sometimes our meetings would be attended by pro-slavery lookers-on, +usually unknown, until excoriation of the Northern abettors of slavery +was too severe to allow them to remain incognito, when they would reply: +It is a sad commentary on a phase of human nature that the oppressed +often, when vaulted into authority or greater equality of condition, +become the most vicious of oppressors. It has been said that Negro +drivers were most cruel and unsparing to their race. The Irish, having +fled from oppression in the land of their birth, for notoriety, gain, or +elevation by comparison, were nearly all pro-slavery. At one of our +meetings during the narration of incidents of his life by a fugitive, +one of the latter class interrupted by saying, "Aren't you lying, my +man? I have been on plantations. I guess your master did not lose much +when you left." Now, it is a peculiarity of the uneducated, when, +puzzled for the moment, by the tardiness of an idea, to scratch the +head. Jacobs, the fugitive, did so, and out it came. "I dunno how much +he lost, only what master said. I was the house boy, one day, and at +dinner time he sent me to the well to get a cool pitcher of water. I let +the silver pitcher drop in the well. Well, I knowed that pitcher had to +be got out, so I straddled down and fished it up. Master was mad, 'cause +I staid so long, so I up and tells him. He fairly jumped and said "Did +you go down that well? Why didn't you come and tell me and I would made +Irish Mike, the ditcher, go down. If you had drowned I'd lost $800. +Don't you do that agin."" + +It is needless to say that this "brought down the house," and shortly +the exit of the son of the Emerald Isle. At another time the interrupter +said: "Will you answer me a question or two? Did you not get enough to +eat?" "Yes." "A place to sleep?" "Yes." "Was your master good or bad to +you?" "Marster was pretty good, I must say." "Well, what else did you +want? That is a good deal more than a good many white men get up here." +The man stood for a moment busy with his fingers in a fruitless attempt +to find the fugitive ends of a curl of his hair, temporarily nonplussed +at his palliating concessions, half apologetically said: "Well, I think +it a heap best to be free." Then suddenly and gallantly strengthening +his defense; "but, look here, Mister, if you think it so nice down +there, my place is still open." The questioner good naturedly joined in +the general merriment. + +Very frequently we were enthused and inspired by Frederick Douglass, +Henry Highland Garnett, Marten R. Delaney, and Charles L. Remond, an +illustrious quartet of the hallowed band in the anti-slavery crusade, +whose eloquence, devotion, and effectiveness stood unsurpassed. + +There were few, if any, available halls for these meetings. The only +resort was the colored churches. Those under the auspices of white +denominations had members who objected to their use for such a purpose. +Craven and fawning, content with the crumbs that fell from these +peace-loving Christians, who deprecated the discussion of slavery while +they ignored the claim of outraged humanity, these churches were more +interested in the physical excitement of a "revival" than in listening +to appeals in behalf of God's poor and lonely. Their prototypes that +"passed by on the other side" have been perpetuated in many climes, in +those who believe that it is the formalities of contact with the +building that blesses a people and not the Godliness and humanity of the +worshippers that give glory and efficacy to the church. An antagonism +thus created resulted in a crusade against such churches styled +"Come-Outerism," and many left them on account of such apathy to carry +on the warfare amid congenial association. + +It has been said that citizenship was precipitated upon the Negro before +he was fit for its exercise. Without discussing the incongruity of this, +when applied to the ignorant native Negro and not to the ignorant alien +emigrant, it may be conceded that keeping them in abject bondage with +no opportunity to protest, made slavery anything but a preparatory +school for the exercises of civic virtues, or the assumption of their +responsibilities. It was not true, however, with the mass in the free, +or many in the slave States. Always akin and adjunct are the yearnings +indestructible in human nature for equal rights. And in every age and +people the ratio of persistency and sacrifice have been the measure of +their fitness for its enjoyment. During 25 years preceding the abolition +of slavery the colored people of the free States, though much +proscribed, were active in their protests against enslavement, seizing +every chance through press and forum "to pour the living coals of truth +upon the nation's naked heart," setting forth in earnest contrast the +theory upon which the government was founded with its administration as +practiced. + +In 1848 Philadelphia Square, whereon the old State House of historic +fame still stands, was made resonant by the bell upon whose surface the +fathers had inscribed "Proclaim liberty throughout the world and to all +the inhabitants thereof," and was bedecked with garlands and every +insignia of a joyful people in honor of the Hungarian patriot, Louis +Kossuth. Distinctive platforms had been erected for speakers whose +fatherland was in many foreign lands. Upon each was an orator receiving +the appreciation and plaudits of an audience whose hearts beat as one +for success to the "Great Liberator." The "unwelcome guests," the +colored men present, quickly embraced the opportunity, utilizing for a +platform a dry goods box, upon which I was placed to give the Negro +version of this climax of inconsistency and quintessence of hypocrisy. +This was the unexpected. All the people, both native and foreign, had +been invited and special places provided for all except the Negro, and +on the native platform he was not allowed space. The novelty of the +incident and curiosity to hear what the colored man had to say quickly +drew a crowd equal to others of the occasion. Then, as now, and perhaps +forever, there was that incalculable number of non-committals whose +moral sense is disturbed by popular wrong, but who are without courage +of conviction, inert, waiting for a leader that they may be one of the +two that take place behind him, or one of three or four, or ten, who +follow in serried ranks, that constitute the wedge-like motor that +splits asunder hoary wrong, proximity to the leader being in ratio to +their moral fibre. Most of the audience listened to the utterance of +sentiments that the allurements of trade, or the exactions of society, +forbade them to disseminate. + +The occasion was an excellent one to demonstrate the heartlessness of +the projectors, who, while pretending to glorify liberty in the +distance, were treating it with contumely at home, where 3,000,000 +slaves were held in bondage, and feeling keenly the ostracism of the +slave as beyond the pole of popular sympathy or national compassion, +with words struggling for utterance, I spoke as best I could, receiving +toleration, and a quiet measure of approbation, possibly on the +supposition, realized in the fruition of time, that such discussion +might eventuate in the liberation of white men from the octopus of +subserviency to the dictum of slavery which permeated every ramification +of American society. I heard Hon. Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, sometime +in the forties, while making a speech in Philadelphia, say: "Gentlemen, +the question is not alone whether the Negroes are to remain slaves, but +whether we white men are to continue free." So bitter was the onslaught +on all, and especially on white men, politically and socially, who dared +denounce slavery. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +An event that came under my notice of startling character, attracting +national attention, was the arrival of the schooner "Amistad" at +Philadelphia in 1840. This vessel had been engaged in the slave trade. +With a cargo of slaves from Africa was destined for one of the West +India Islands. Cinguez, one of, and at the head of the captives, +rebelled while at sea, killing a number of the crew and taking +possession of the ship. + +In the concluding scene of the foregoing drama, Mr. Douglass was an +actor, I an observer. After the decision giving them their liberty, the +anti-slavery society, who had been vigilant in its endeavors to have +them liberated ever since their advent on American shores, held a +monster meeting to receive them. + +Frederick Douglass introduced "Cinguez" to the meeting. I cannot forget +or fail to feel the inspiration of that scene. The two giants locked in +each others embrace, looked the incarnation of heroism and dauntless +purpose, equal to the achievement of great results. The one by +indomitable will had shaken off his own shackles and was making slavery +odius by his matchless and eloquent arraignment; the other, "a leader +of men," had now written his protest with the blood of his captors. +Cinguez, with unintelligible utterance in African dialect with emphatic +gesture, his liberty loving soul on fire, while burning words strove for +expression, described his action on the memorable night of his +emancipation, with such vividness, power, and pathos that the audience +seemed to see every act of the drama and feel the pulsation of his great +heart. Through an interpreter he afterwards narrated his manner of +taking the vessel, and how it happened to reach American shores. How, +after taking the ship, he stood by the tiller with drawn weapon and +commanded the mate to steer back to Africa. During the day he complied, +but at night took the opposite course. After sometime of circuitous +wandering the vessel ran into Long Island Sound and was taken possession +of by the United States authorities. Cinguez, as hero and patriot, +ennobled African character. + +When majority and the threshold of man's estate is attained, the +transition from advanced youth to the entry of manhood is liable to +casualties; not unlike a bark serenely leaving its home harbor to enter +unfrequented waters, the crew exhilarated by fresh and invigorating +breezes, charmed by a genial sky, it moves on "like a thing of beauty" +with the hope of "joy forever." The chart and log of many predecessors +may unheeded lie at hand, but the glorious present, cloudless and +fascinating, rich in expectation, it sails on, fortunate if it escapes +the rocks and shoals that ever lie in wait. It is unreasonable to expect +a proper conception, and the happiest performance of life's duties at +such a period, especially from those with easy and favorable +environments, or who have been heedless of parental restraint, for even +at an advanced stage in life, there have been many to exclaim with a +poet: + + "Ne'er tell me of evening serenely adorning + The close of a life richly mellowed by time, + Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of morning + Her smiles and her tears are worth evening's best light." + +Twenty-one years of age found me the possessor of a trade, an +attainment, and a capital invaluable for a poor young man beginning the +race of life. For whether seen smutted by the soot of the blacksmith +shop, or whitened by the lime of the plasterer or bricklayer; whether +bending beneath tool box of the carpenter or ensconced on the bench of +the shoemaker, he has a moral strength, a consciousness of acquirement, +giving him a dignity of manhood unpossessed by the menial and those +engaged in unskilled labor. Let it never be forgotten that as high over +in importance as the best interest of the race is to that of the +individual, will be the uplifting influence of assiduously cultivating a +desire to obtain trades. The crying want with us is a middle class. The +chief component of our race today is laborers unskilled. We will not and +cannot compete with other races who have a large and influential class +of artisans and mechanics, and having received higher remuneration for +labor, have paved the way for themselves or offsprings from the mechanic +to the merchant or to the professional. These three factors, linked and +interlinked, an ascending chain will be strong in its relation, as +consistent in construction. + +In 1849 Frederick Douglass, Charles Lenox Remond and Julia Griffith, an +English lady prominent in reform circles in England, attended the +National Anti-slavery Convention held in Philadelphia, and presided over +by that apostle of liberty, Wm. Lloyd Garrison. At its close Mr. +Douglass invited me to accompany him to his home at Rochester, and then +to join him in lecturing in the "Western Reserve." + +Without salary, poor in purse, doubtful of useful ability, dependent for +sustenance on a sentiment then prevailing, that for anti-slavery +expression was as reserved as the "Reserve" was Western. I have often +thought of my feelings of doubt and fear to go with Mr. Douglass, as an +epoch in my life's history. The parting of the ways, the embarkation to +a wider field of action, the close connection between obedience to an +impulse of duty (however uninviting or uncertain the outcome), and the +ever moral and often material benefit. + +[Illustration: HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. + +"Sage of Anacostia." + +The Most Distinguished Negro of the Race--As Statesman, Editor, Orator, +Philanthropist He Left an Indelible Mark on the Page of His Country's +History--Born in 1817 at Tuckahoe, Maryland--Died February, 1895--He was +Author of "My Bondage and My Freedom," "Life and Times of Frederick +Douglass," and Others.] + +Rochester proved to be my pathway to California. Western New York, 50 +years ago, then known as the "Western Reserve," was very unlike the +present as to population, means of travel, material developments, +schools of learning, and humanizing influences. Mr. Douglass, in the +Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., a short time before his death, told +how, in 1849, we there traveled together; that where now are stately +cities and villages a sparsely settled wilderness existed; that while we +there proclaimed abolition as the right of the slave, the chilling +effect of those December days were not more cold and heartless than the +reception we met when our mission as advocates for the slave became +known; churches and halls were closed against us. Stables and blacksmith +shops would sometimes hold audiences more generous with epithets and +elderly eggs than with manly decorum. God be thanked, Douglass, the +grandest of "our grand old men," lived to see "the seeds of mighty truth +have their silent undergrowth, and in the earth be wrought." A family, +however poor, striving as best they may to give the rudiments of +knowledge to their children, should have, if but few, books descriptive +of the hopes and struggles of those no better situated, who have made +impress on the age in which they lived. We seldom remember from whence +we first received the idea which gave impulse to an honorable action; we +received it, however, most probably from tongue or pen. For impressible +youth such biography should be as easy of access as possible. + +It has been said that "a man's noblest mistake is to be born before his +time." This will not apply to Frederick Douglass. His "Life and Times" +should be in the front rank of selection for blessing and inspiration. A +blessing for the high moral of its teaching; an inspiration for the +poorest boy; that he need not "beg the world's pardon for having been +born," but by fostering courage and consecration of purpose "he may rank +the peer of any man." + +Frederick Douglass, born a slave, hampered by all the depressing +influences of that institution; by indomitable energy and devotion; +seizing with an avidity that knew no obstacle every opportunity, +cultivated a mind and developed a character that will be a bright page +in the history of noble and beneficent achievements. + +For the conditions that confronted him and the anti-slavery crusade, +have been well and eloquently portrayed by the late George William +Curtis. That how terribly earnest was the anti-slavery agitation this +generation little knows. To understand is to recall the situation of the +country. Slavery sat supreme in the White House and made laws at the +capitol. Courts of Justice were its ministers, and legislators its +lackeys. It silenced the preacher in the pulpit; it muzzled the editor +at his desk, and the professor in his lecture-room. It sat a price on +the heads of peaceful citizens; robbed the mails, and denounced the +vital principles of the declaration of independence as treason. In the +States where the law did not tolerate slavery, slavery ruled the club +and drawing room, the factory and the office, swaggered at the dinner +table, and scourged with scorn a cowardly society. It tore the golden +rule from the school books, and from the prayer books the pictured +benignity of Christ. It prohibited schools in the free States for the +hated race; hunted women who taught children to read, and forbade a free +people to communicate with their representatives. + +It was under such conditions so pungently and truthfully stated that +Douglass appeared as a small star on the horizon of a clouded firmament; +rose in intellectual brilliancy, mental power and a noble generosity. +For his devotion was not only to the freedom of the slave with which he +was identified, but for liberty and the betterment of humanity +everywhere, regardless of sex or color. His page already luminous in +history will continue to brighten, and when statuary, now and hereafter, +erected to his memory, shall have crumbled "neath the beatings of +time;" the good fame of his name, high purpose and unflinching integrity +to the highest needs of humanity, will remain hallowed "foot prints in +the sands of time." Eminently fit was the naming of an institution in +Philadelphia "The Frederick Douglass Hospital and Freedman's School;" +the assuaging of suffering and the giving of larger opportunity for +technical instruction were cherished ideals with the sage of Anacostia; +also the lives of Harriet Beacher Stowe, Lucretia Mott and Francis E. +Harper, and the noble band of women of which they were the type, who +bravely met social ostracism and insult for devotion to the slave, will +ever have a proud place in our country's history. Of this illustrious +band was Julia Griffith, hitherto referred to, a grand representative of +those renowned women, who at home or abroad, did so much to hasten the +downfall of slavery and encourage the weak and lowly to hope and effort. +Thackery has said that, "Could you see every man's career, you would +find a woman clogging him, or cheering him, or beckoning him on." + +Having finished my intended tour with Mr. Douglass, and returned to +Rochester, the outlook for my future, to me, was not promising. The +opportunities for advancement were much, very much less than now. With +me ambition and dejection contended for the mastery, the latter often in +the ascendant. To her friendly inquiry I gave reasons for my +depression. I shall never forget the response; almost imperious in +manner, you could already anticipate the magnitude of an idea that +seemed to struggle for utterance. "What! discouraged? Go do some great +thing." It was an inspiration, the result of which she may never have +known. We are assured, however, that a kind act or helpful word is +inseparably connected with a blessing for the giver. To earnest youth I +would bequeath the excelsior of the "youth mid snow and ice," and the +above injunction, "upward and onward;" "go do some great thing." + +The war with Mexico, discovery of gold in California in 1848, the +acquisition of new territory, and the developments of our hitherto +undeveloped Western possessions, stimulated the financial pulse, and +permeated every avenue of industry and speculative life. While in New +York State I met several going and returning gold seekers, many giving +dazzling accounts of immense deposits of gold in the new Eldorado; and +others, as ever the case with adventurers, gave gloomy statements of +peril and disaster. A judicious temperament, untiring energy, a lexicon +of endeavor, in which there is no such word as "fail," is the only open +sesame to hidden opportunities in a new country. Fortune, in precarious +mood, may sometime smile on the inert, but she seldom fails to surrender +to pluck, tenacity and perseverance. As the Oxford men say it is the one +pull more of the oar that proves the "beefiness of the fellow;" it is +the one march more that wins the campaign; the five minutes more +persistent courage that wins the fight. + +I returned to Philadelphia, and with some friendly assistance, sailed, +in 1850, from New York, as a steerage passenger for San Francisco. +Arriving at Aspinwall, the point of debarkation, on the Atlantic side, +boats and boatsmen were engaged to transport passengers and baggage up +the "Chagress," a small and shallow river. Crossing the Isthmus to +Panama, on the Pacific side, I found Panama very cosmopolitan in +appearance, for mingled with the sombrero-attired South American, could +be seen denizens from every foreign clime. Its make up was a combination +of peculiar attributes. It was dirty, but happy in having crows for its +scavengers; sickly, but cheery; old, but with an youthful infusion. The +virtues and vices were both shy and unblushing. A rich, dark foliage, +ever blooming, and ever decaying; a humid atmosphere; a rotting +vegetation under a tropical sun, while fever stalked on from conquest to +conquest. + +The sudden influx, the great travel from ocean to ocean, had given much +impetus to business as well as to local amusements. For the latter, +Sunday was the ideal day, when bull and cock fights secured the +attendance of the elite, and the humble, the priest and the laity. + +The church, preaching gentleness and peace in the morning, in the +afternoon her minister, with sword spurred "bolosed" bantams under their +arms, would appear on the scene eager for the fray. + +After recovering from the Panama fever I took passage on the steamship +"Golden Gate" for San Francisco. Science, experience, and a greatly +increased demand have done much during the intervening fifty years to +lessen risk and increase the comfort of ocean travel. Yet it is not +without a degree of restless anticipation that one finds himself and +baggage finally domiciled on an ocean-going steamer. Curiosity and +criticism, selfishness and graciousness each in turn assert themselves. +Curiosity in espionage, criticism in observation, while selfishness and +graciousness alternate. You find yourself in the midst of a miniature +world, environed, but isolated from activities of the greater, an +epitome of human proclivities. A possible peril, real, imaginary or +remote; a common brotherhood tightens the chain of fellowship and +gradually widens the exchange of amenities. + +We had a stormy passage, making San Diego with the top of smoke stack +encrusted with the salt of the waves, paddle wheel broken and otherwise +disabled, finally arriving at San Francisco in September. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Having made myself somewhat presentable upon leaving the steerage of the +steamer, my trunk on a dray, I proceeded to an unprepossessing hotel +kept by a colored man on Kearny street. The cursory view from the +outside, and the further inspection on the inside, reminded me of the +old lady's description of her watch, for she said, "it might look pretty +hard on the outside, but the inside works were all right." And so +thought its jolly patrons. Seated at tables, well supplied with piles of +gold and silver, where numerous disciples of that ancient trickster +Pharaoh, being dubious perhaps of the propriety of adopting the literal +orthography of his name, and abbreviated it to Faro. + +Getting something for nothing, or risking the smaller in hope of +obtaining the greater, seems a passion inherent in human nature, +requiring a calm survey of the probabilities, and oftimes the baneful +effects to attain a moral resistance. It is the "ignis fatuus" that has +lured many promising ones and wrecked the future of many lives. + +The effervescent happiness of some of the worshipers at this shrine was +conspicuous. The future to them seemed cloudless. It was not so with me. +I had a secret not at all complacent, for it seemed anxious to get out, +and while unhappy from its presence, I thought it wise to retain it. + +When I approached the bar I asked for accommodation, and my trunk was +brought in. While awaiting this preparatory step to domicile, and gazing +at the prints and pictures more or less "blaser" that adorned the bar, +my eye caught a notice, prominently placed, in gilt letters. I see it +now, "Board twelve dollars a week in advance." It was not the price, but +the stipulation demanded that appalled me. Had I looked through a +magnifying glass the letters could not have appeared larger. With the +brilliancy of a search light they seemed to ask "Who are you and how are +you fixed?" I responded by "staring fate in the face," and going up to +the bar asked for a cigar. How much? Ten cents. I had sixty cents when I +landed; had paid fifty for trunk drayage, and I was now a moneyless +man--hence my secret. + +Would there be strict enforcement of conditions mentioned in that +ominous card. I was unacquainted with the Bohemian "song and dance" +parlance in such extremities, and wondered would letting my secret come +out let a dinner come in. Possibly, I may have often been deceived when +appealed to, but that experience has often been fruitful to friendless +hunger. + +Finally the bell rang, and a polite invitation from the landlord placed +me at the table. There is nothing so helpful to a disconsolate man as a +good dinner. It dissipates melancholy and stimulates persistency. Never +preach high moral rectitude or the possibilities of industry to a hungry +man. First give him something to eat, then should there be a vulnerable +spot to such admonition you will succeed. If not, he is an incorrigible. + +After dinner I immediately went out, and after many attempts to seek +employment of any kind, I approached a house in course of construction +and applied to the contractor for work. He replied he did not need help. +I asked the price of wages. Ten dollars a day. I said you would much +oblige me by giving me, if only a few days' work, as I have just +arrived. After a few moments thought, during which mayhap charity and +gain held conference, which succumbed, it is needless to premise, for we +sometimes ascribe selfish motives to kindly acts, he said that if I +choose to come for nine dollars a day I might. It is unnecessary for me +to add that I chose to come. + +When I got outside the building an appalling thought presented itself; +whoever heard of a carpenter announcing himself ready for work without +his tools. A minister may be without piety, a lawyer without clients, a +politician impolitic, but a carpenter without tools, never! It would be +prima facia evidence of an imposter. I went back and asked what tools I +must bring upon the morrow; he told me and I left. But the tools, the +tools, how was I to get them. My only acquaintance in the city was my +landlord. But prospects were too bright to reveal to him my secret. I +wended my way to a large tent having an assortment of hardware and was +shown the tools needed. I then told the merchant that I had no money, +and of the place I had to work the next morning. He said nothing for a +moment, looked me over, and then said: "All right take them." I felt +great relief when I paid the merchant and my landlord on the following +Saturday. + +Why do I detail to such length these items of endeavor; experiences +which have had similarity in many lives? For the reason that they seem +to contain data for a moral, which if observed may be useful. Never +disclose your poverty until the last gleam of hope has sunk beneath the +horizon of your best effort, remembering that invincible determination +holds the key to success, while advice and assistance hitherto laggard, +now with hasty steps greets you within the door. + +I was not allowed to long pursue carpentering. White employees finding +me at work on the same building would "strike." On one occasion the +contractor came to me and said, "I expect you will have to stop, for +this house must be finished in the time specified; but, if you can get +six or eight equally good workmen, I will let these fellows go. Not that +I have any special liking for your people. I am giving these men all the +wages they demand, and I am not willing to submit to the tyranny of +their dictation if I can help it." This episode, the moral of which is +as pertinent today as then, and more apparent, intensifies the necessity +of greater desire upon the part of our young men and women to acquire +knowledge in skilled handicraft, reference to which I have hitherto +made. But my convictions are so pronounced that I cannot forbear the +reiteration. For while it is ennobling to the individual, giving +independence of character and more financial ability, the reflex +influence is so helpful in giving the race a higher status in the +industrial activities of a commonwealth. Ignorance of such activities +compel our people mostly to engage in the lower and less remunerative +pursuits. I could not find the men he wanted or subsequent employment of +that kind. + +All classes of labor were highly remunerative, blacking boots not +excepted. + +I after engaged in this, and other like humble employments, part of +which was for Hon. John C. Fremont, "the pathfinder overland to +California." + +[Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. + +"The Sage of Tuskegee." + +The Leader of Leaders For Negro Advancement.] + +Saving my earnings, I joined a firm already established in the clothing +business. After a year or more so engaged, I became a partner in the +firm of Lester & Gibbs, importers of fine boots and shoes. Just here a +thought occurs which may be of advantage to ambitious but impecunious +young men. Do not hesitate when you are without choice to accept the +most humble and menial employment. It will be a source of pleasure, if +by self-denial, saving your earnings, you keep a fixed intent to make it +the stepping stone to something higher. + +The genius of our institutions, and the noblest of mankind will estimate +you by the ratio of distance from the humblest beginning to your present +attainment; the greater the distance the greater the luster; the more +fitting the meed of praise. + +Our establishment on Clay street, known as the "Emporium for fine boots +and shoes, imported from Philadelphia, London and Paris," having a +reputation for keeping the best and finest in the State, was well +patronized, our patrons extending to Oregon and lower California. The +business, wholesale and retail, was profitable and maintained for a +number of years. Mr. Lester, my partner, being a practical bootmaker, +his step to a merchant in that line was easy and lucrative. + +Thanks to the evolution of events and march of liberal ideas the colored +men in California have now a recognized citizenship, and equality before +the law. It was not so at the period of which I write. With thrift and +a wise circumspection financially, their opportunities were good; from +every other point of view they were ostracised, assaulted without +redress, disfranchised and denied their oath in a court of justice. + +One occasion will be typical of the condition. One of two mutual friends +(both our customers) came in looking over and admiring a display of +newly arrived stock, tried on a pair of boots, was pleased with them, +but said he did not think he needed them then; lay them aside and he +would think about it. A short time after his friend came in, was shown +the pair the former had admired; would he like such a pair? He tried on +several and then asked to try on his friend's selection; they only +suited, and he insisted on taking them; we objected, but he had them on, +and said we need not have fear, he would clear us of blame, and walked +out. Knowing they were close friends we were content. Possibly, in a +humorous mood, he went straight to his friend, for shortly they both +came back, the first asking for his boots; he would receive no +explanation (while the cause of the trouble stood mute), and with vile +epithets, using a heavy cane, again and again assaulted my partner, who +was compelled tamely to submit, for had he raised his hand he would have +been shot, and no redress. I would not have been allowed to attest to +"the deep damnation of his taking off." + +The Magna Charter, granted by King John, at Runney Mead, to the Barons +of England, in the twelfth century, followed by the Petition of Right by +Charles I, has been rigidly preserved and consecrated as foundation for +civil liberty. The Continental Congress led the van for the United +States, who oftimes tardy in its conservatism, is disposed to give +audience to merit and finally justice to pertinacity of purpose. + +In 1851, Jonas P. Townsend, W. H. Newby, and other colored men with +myself, drew up and published in the "Alto California," the leading +paper of the State, a preamble and resolutions protesting against being +disfranchised and denied the right of oath, and our determination to use +all moral means to secure legal claim to all the rights and privileges +of American citizens. + +It being the first pronouncement from the colored people of the State, +who were supposed to be content with their status, the announcement +caused much comment and discussion among the dominant class. For down +deep in the heart of every man is a conception of right. He cannot +extinguish it, or separate it from its comparative. What would I have +others do to me? Pride, interest, adverse contact, all with specious +argument may strive to dissipate the comparison, but the pulsations of a +common humanity, keeping time with the verities of God never ceased to +trouble, and thus the moral pebble thrown on the bosom of the hitherto +placid sea of public opinion, like its physical prototype, creating +undulations which go on and on to beat against the rock and make sandy +shores, so this our earnest but feeble protest contributed its humble +share in the rebuilding of a commonwealth where "a man's a man for all +that." + +The committee above named, with G. W. Dennis and James Brown, the same +year formed a company, established and published the "Mirror of the +Times," the first periodical issued in the State for the advocacy of +equal rights for all Americans. It has been followed by a score of +kindred that have assiduously maintained and ably contended for the +rights and privileges claimed by their zealous leader. + +State conventions were held in 1854, '55 and '57, resolutions and +petitions passed and presented to the Legislature of Sacramento. We had +friends to offer them and foes to move they be thrown out the window. It +is ever thus, "that men go to fierce extremes rather than rest upon the +quiet flow of truths that soften hatred and temper strife." There was +that unknown quantity, present in all legislative bodies, composed of +good "little men" without courage of conviction, others of the Dickens' +"devilish sly" type, who put out their plant-like tendrils for support; +others "who bent the pliant servile knee that thrift may follow +fawning"--all these the make-weight of a necessary constituent in +representative government conservatism. The conservative majority laid +our petition on the table, most likely with the tacit understanding that +it was to be "taken up" by the janitor, and as such action on his part +is not matter for record, we will in this happier day with "charity to +all," over this episode on memory's leaf, simply wrote "lost or stolen." + +Among the occasions continually occurring demanding protests against +injustice was the imposition of the "poll tax." It was demanded of our +firm, and we refused to pay. A sufficient quantity of our goods to pay +tax and costs were levied upon, and published for sale, and on what +account. + +I wrote with a fervor as cool as the circumstances would permit, and +published a card from a disfranchised oath-denied standpoint, closing +with the avowal that the great State of California might annually +confiscate our goods, but we would never pay the voters tax. The card +attracted attention, the injustice seemed glaring, the goods were +offered. We learned that we had several friends at the sale, one in +particular a Southern man. Now there was this peculiarity about the +Southern white man, he would work a Negro for fifty years for his +victuals and clothes, and shoot a white man for cheating the same Negro, +as he considered the latter the height of meanness. This friend quietly +and persistently moved through the crowd, telling them why our goods +were there, and advising to give them a "terrible letting alone." The +auctioneer stated on what account they were there, to be sold, asked for +bidders, winked his eye and said "no bidders." Our goods were sent back +to our store. This law, in the words of a distinguished Statesman, was +then allowed to relapse "into innocuous desuetude." No further attempts +to enforce it upon colored men were made. + +[Illustration: BISHOP HENRY M. TURNER + +Born in Newberry, S. C.--Ordained Bishop in 1880--President of Bishop +Council. Home and Foreign Missionary Society and Sunday School Union of +the A. M. E. Church.--From Slave to Statesman--As Soldier, Editor, +Author, Legislator, Orator, and African Explorer--For Vitality and +Ability, Courage and Fidelity, Along so Many Lines, He Stands Without a +Peer.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +A rush to newly discovered gold fields bring in view every trait of +human character. The more vicious standing out in bold relief, and +stamping their impress upon the locality. This phase and most primitive +situation can be accounted for partly by the cupidity of mankind, but +mainly that the first arrivals are chiefly adventurers. Single men, +untrammeled by family cares, traders, saloonists, gamblers, and that +unknown quantity of indefinite quality, ever present, content to allow +others to fix a status of society, provided they do not touch on their +own special interests, and that other, the unscrupulous but active +professional politician, having been dishonored at home, still astute +and determined, seeks new fields for booty, obtain positions of trust +and then consummate peculation and outrage under the forms of law. But +the necessity for the honest administration of the law eventually +asserts itself for the enforcement of order. + +It was quaintly said by a governor of Arkansas, that he believed that a +public official should be "reasonably honest." Even should that limited +standard of official integrity be invaded the people with an honest +ballot need not be long in rectifying the evil by legal means. But +cannot something be said in palliation of summary punishment by illegal +means, when it is notorious and indisputable that all machinery for the +execution of the law and the maintenance of order, the judges, +prosecuting attorneys, sheriff and drawers of jurors, and every other of +court of law are in the hands of a despotic cabal who excessively tax, +and whose courts convict all those who oppose them, and exonerate by +trial the most farcical, the vilest criminal, rob and murder in broad +day light, often at the bidding of their protectors. Such a status for a +people claiming to be civilized seems difficult to conceive, yet the +above was not an hypothesis of condition, but the actual one that +existed in California and San Francisco, especially from 1849 to 1855. +Gamblers and dishonest politicians from other States held the +government, and there was no legal redress. Every attempt of the friends +of law and order to elect honest men to office was met at the polls by +vituperation and assault. + +One of the means for thinning out the ranks of their opponents at the +polls they found very efficient. It was to scatter their "thugs" along +the line of waiting voters and known opposers, and quickly and covertly +inject the metal part of a shoemaker's awl in the rear but most fleshy +part of his adversary's anatomy, making sitting unpleasant for a time. +There was usually uncertainty as to the point of compass from which the +hint came to leave, but none as to the fact of its arrival. Hence the +reformer did not stand on the order of his going, but generally left the +line. These votes, of course, were not thrown out, for the reason they +never got in. It diminished, but did not abolish the necessity of +stuffing ballot boxes. In the West I once knew an old magistrate named +Scott, noted for his impartiality, but only called Judge Scott by +non-patrons of his court, who had never came within the purview of his +administration, to others he was known as "old Necessity," for it was +said he knew no law. Revolutions, the beneficial results of which will +ever live in the history of mankind, founded as they were on the rights +of human nature and desire for the establishment and conservation of +just government, have ever been the outgrowth of necessity. + +Patient in protest of misgovernment, men are prone to "bear the ill they +have" until, like the accumulation of rills on mountain side, +indignation leaps the bounds of legal form and prostrate law to find +their essence and purpose in reconstruction. At the time of which I +write, there seemed nothing left for the friends of law, bereft as they +were of all statutary means for its enforcement, but making a virtue of +this necessity by organizing a "vigilance committee" to wrench by +physical strength that unobtainable by moral right. There had been no +flourish of trumpets, no herald of the impending storm, but the pent up +forces of revolution in inertion, now fierce for action, discarded +restraint. Stern, but quiet had been the preparation for a revolution +which had come, as come it ever will, with such inviting environments. +It was not that normal status, the usual frailties of human nature +described by Hooker as "stains and blemishes that will remain till the +end of the world, what form of government, soever, may take place, they +grow out of man's nature." But in this event the stains and blemishes +were effaced by a common atrocity. + +Sitting at the back of my store on Clay street a beautiful Sunday +morning, one of those mornings peculiar to San Francisco, with its balmy +breezes and Italian skies, there seemed an unusual stillness, such a +quiet as precedes the cyclone in tropical climes, only broken +occasionally by silvery peals of the church bells. When suddenly I heard +the plank street resound with the tramp of a multitude. No voice or +other sound was heard but the tramp of soldiery, whose rhythm of sound +and motion is ever a proclamation that thrills by its intensity, whether +conquest or conservation be its mission. I hastened to the door and was +appalled at the sight. In marching column, six or eight abreast, five +thousand men carrying arms with head erect, a resolute determination +born of conviction depicted in linament of feature and expression. + +Hastily improvised barracks in large storehouses east of Montgomery +street, fortified by hundreds of gunny sacks filled with sand, +designated "Fort Gunney," was the quarters for committee and soldiers. +The committee immediately dispatched deputies to arrest and bring to the +Fort the leaders of this cabal of misgovernment. The effort to do so +gave striking evidence of the cowardice of assassins. Men whose very +name had inspired terror, and whose appearance in the corridors of +hotels or barrooms hushed into silence the free or merry expression of +their patrons, now fled and hid away "like damned ghosts at the smell of +day" from the popular uprising of the people. The event which +precipitated the movement--the last and crowning act of this +oligarchy--was the shooting of James King, of William, a banker and +publisher of a paper dedicated to the exposure and denunciation of this +ring of dishonest officials and assassins. It was done in broad daylight +on Montgomery Street, the main thoroughfare of the city. Mr. King, of +William County, Maryland, was a terse writer, a gentleman highly +esteemed for integrity and devotion to the best interests of his adopted +State. Many of the gang who had time and opportunity hid on steamers +and sailing vessels to facilitate escape, but quite a number were +arrested and taken to Fort Gunny for trial. One or two of the most +prominent took refuge in the jail--a strong and well-appointed brick +building--where, under the protection of their own hirelings in fancied +security considered themselves safe. A deputation of the committee from +the fort placed a cannon at proper distance from the entrance to the +jail. With a watch in his hand, the captain of the squad gave the +keepers ten minutes to open the doors and deliver the culprits. I well +remember the excitement that increased in intensity as the allotted +period diminished; the fuse lighted, and two minutes to spare; the door +opened; the delivery was made, and the march to Fort Gunny began. A +trial court had been organized at which the testimony was taken, verdict +rendered, and judgment passed. From a beam projecting over an upper +story window, used for hoisting merchandise, the convicted criminals +were executed. + +The means resorted to for the purification of the municipality were +drastic, but the ensuing feeling of personal safety and confidence in a +new administration appeared to be ample justification. Much has been +said and written in defense and in condemnation of revolutionary methods +for the reformation of government. It cannot but be apparent that when +it is impossible to execute the virtuous purposes of government, the +machinery having passed to notorious violators, who use it solely for +vicious purpose, there seems nothing left for the votaries of order than +to seize the reins with strong right arm and restore a status of justice +that should be the pride and glory of all civilized people. + +But what a paradox is presented in the disregard for law and life today +in our common country, including much in our Southland! It is a sad +commentary on the weakness and inconsistencies of human nature and often +starts the inquiry in many honest minds, as a remedial agency, is a +republican form of government the most conducive in securing the +blessings of liberty of which protection to human life is the chief? + +For the actual reverse of conditions that existed in California in those +early days are present in others of our States today. All the machinery +and ability for the just administration of the law are in the hands of +those appointed mainly by the ballot of the intelligence and virtue of +these States, who, if not participants, are quite as censurable for +their "masterly inactivity" in having allowed thousands of the most +defenceless to be lynched by hanging or burning at the stake. That there +have been cases of assault on women by Negroes for which they have been +lynched, it is needless to deny. That they have been lynched for +threatening to do bodily harm to white men for actual assaults on the +Negro wife and daughter is equally true. The first should be denounced +and arrested (escape being impossible) and by forms of law suffer its +extreme penalty. The other for the cause they were murdered should have +the highest admiration and the most sincere plaudits from every honest +man. Is it true that "he is a slave most base whose love of right is for +himself and not for all the race," and that the measure you mete out to +others--the same shall be your portion. All human history verifies these +aphorisms; and that the perpetrators and silent abettors of this +barbarism have sowed to the winds a dire penalty, already being reaped, +is evidenced by disregard of race or color of the victim when mob law is +in the ascendant. And further, as a salvo for their own acts, white men +are allowing bad Negroes to lynch others of their kind without enforcing +the law. + +The Negro, apish in his affinity to his prototype in a "lynching bee," +is beneath contempt. + +[Illustration: HON. GEORGE H. WHITE. + +Born at Rosedale, North Carolina--Graduate from Howard University in +1877--Practiced Law in all the Courts of his State--Member of House of +Representatives in 1880 and of Senate in 1884--Eight Years Prosecuting +Attorney--Elected Member of the Fifty-fifth Congress as a Republican. +With a Record Unimpeachable.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Early in the year 1858 gold was discovered on Fraser River, in the +Hudson Bay Company's territory in the Northwest. This territory a few +months later was organized as the Colony of British Columbia and +absorbed; is now the western outlook of the Dominion of Canada. The +discovery caused an immense rush of gold seekers, traders, and +speculators from all parts of the world. In June of that year, with a +large invoice of miners' outfits, consisting of flour, bacon, blankets, +pick, shovels, etc., I took passage on steamship Republic for Victoria. +The social atmosphere on steamers whose patrons are chiefly gold seekers +is unlike that on its fellow, where many have jollity moderated by +business cares, others reserved in lofty consciousness that they are on +foreign pleasure bent. With the gold seeker, especially the +"tenderfoot," there is an incessant social hilarity, a communion of +feeling, an ardent anticipation that cannot be dormant, continually +bubbling over. We had on board upward of seven hundred, comprising a +variety of tongues and nations. The bustle and turmoil incident to +getting off and being properly domiciled; the confusion of tongues and +peculiarity of temperament resembled the Babel of old. Here the +mercurial Son of France in search of a case of red wine, hot and +impulsive, belching forth "sacres" with a velocity well sustained. The +phlegmatic German stirred to excitability in quest of a "small cask of +lager and large box of cheese;" John Chinaman "Hi yah'd" for one "bag +lice all samee hab one Melican man," while a chivalric but seedy-looking +Southerner, who seemed to have "seen better days," wished he "might +be--if he didn't lay a pe-yor of boots thar whar that blanket whar." Not +to be lost in the shuffle was a tall canting specimen of Yankee-dom +perched on a water cask that "reckoned ther is right smart chance of +folks on this 'ere ship," and "kalkerlate that that boat swinging thar +war a good place to stow my fixin's in." The next day thorough system +and efficiency was brought out of chaos and good humor prevailed. + +Victoria, then the capital of British Columbia, is situated on the +southern point of Vancouver's Island. On account of the salubrity of its +climate and proximity to the spacious land-locked harbor of Esquimault +it is delightful as a place of residence and well adapted to great +mercantile and industrial possibilities. It was the headquarters of the +Hudson Bay Company, a very old, wealthy, and influential English trading +company. Outside the company's fort, enclosing immense storehouses, +there were but few houses. The nucleus of a town in the shape of a few +blocks laid out, and chiefly on paper maps, was most that gave promise +of the populous city of Victoria of the present. On my arrival my goods +were sold at great advance on cost, an order for more sent by returning +steamer. I had learned prior to starting that city lots could be bought +for one hundred dollars each, and had come prepared to buy two or three +at that price. A few days before my arrival what the authorities had +designated as the "land office" had been subjected to a "Yankee rush," +which had not only taken, and paid for all the lots mapped out, but came +near appropriating books, benches, and window sashes; hence the office +had to close down and haul off for repairs, and surveyed lots, and would +not be open for business for ten days. Meanwhile those that were in at +the first sale were still in, having real estate matters their own way. +Steamers and sailing craft were constantly arriving, discharging their +human freight, that needed food, houses, and outfits for the mines, +giving an impetus to property of all kinds that was amazing for its +rapidity. The next afternoon after the day of my arrival I had signed an +agreement and paid one hundred dollars on account for a lot and +one-story house for $3,000--$1,400 more in fifteen days, and the balance +in six months. Upon the arrival of my goods ten days later I paid the +second installment and took possession. Well, how came I to take a +responsibility so far beyond my first intended investment? Just here I +rise to remark: For effective purposes one must not be unduly sensitive +or overmodest in writing autobiography--for, being the events and +memoirs of his life, written by himself, the ever-present pronoun "I" +dances in such lively attendance and in such profusion on the pages that +whatever pride he may have in the events they chronicle is somewhat +abashed at its repetition. + +Addison truly says: "There is no passion which steals into the heart +more imperceptible and covers itself under more disguises than pride." +Still, if in such memoirs there be found landmarks of precept or example +that will smooth the ruggedness of Youth's pathway, the success of its +mission should disarm invidious criticism. For the great merit of +history or biography is not alone the events they chronicle, but the +value of the thought they inspire. Previous to purchasing the property I +had calculated the costs of alteration and estimated the income. In +twenty days, after an expenditure of $200 for improvements, I found +myself receiving a rental of $500 per month from the property, besides a +store for the firm. Anyone without mechanical knowledge with time and +opportunity to seek information from others may have done the same, but +in this case there was neither time nor opportunity; it required quick +perception and prompt action. The trade my mother insisted I should +learn enabled me to do this. Get a trade, boys, if you have to live on +bread and apples while attaining it. It is a good foundation to build +higher. Don't crowd the waiters. If they are content, give them a +chance. We received a warm welcome from the Governor and other officials +of the colony, which was cheering. We had no complaint as to business +patronage in the State of California, but there was ever present that +spectre of oath denial and disfranchisement; the disheartening +consciousness that while our existence was tolerated, we were powerless +to appeal to law for the protection of life or property when assailed. +British Columbia offered and gave protection to both, and equality of +political privileges. I cannot describe with what joy we hailed the +opportunity to enjoy that liberty under the "British lion" denied us +beneath the pinions of the American Eagle. Three or four hundred colored +men from California and other States, with their families, settled in +Victoria, drawn thither by the two-fold inducement--gold discovery and +the assurance of enjoying impartially the benefits of constitutional +liberty. They built or bought homes and other property, and by industry +and character vastly improved their condition and were the recipients of +respect and esteem from the community. + +An important step in a man's life is his marriage. It being the merging +of dual lives, it is only by mutual self-abnegation that it can be made +a source of contentment and happiness. In 1859, in consummation of +promise and purpose, I returned to the United States and was married to +Miss Maria A. Alexander, of Kentucky, educated at Oberlin College, Ohio. +After visits to friends in Buffalo and my friend Frederick Douglass at +Rochester, N. Y., thence to Philadelphia and New York City, where we +took steamship for our long journey of 4,000 miles to our intended home +at Victoria, Vancouver Island. I have had a model wife in all that the +term implies, and she has had a husband migratory and uncertain. We have +been blessed with five children, four of whom are living--Donald F., +Horace E., Ida A., and Hattie A. Gibbs; Donald a machinist, Horace a +printer by trade. Ida graduated as an A. B. from Oberlin College and is +now teacher of English in the High School at Washington, D. C.; Hattie a +graduate from the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin, Ohio, and was +professor of music at the Eckstein-Norton University at Cave Springs, +Ky., and now musical director of public schools of Washington, D. C. + +In passing through the States in 1859 an unrest was everywhere +observable. The pulse-beat of the great national heart quickened at +impending danger. The Supreme Court had made public the Dred Scott +decision; John Brown had organized an insurrection; Stephen A. Douglass +and Abraham Lincoln at the time were in exciting debate; William H. +Seward was proclaiming the "irrepressible conflict." With other signs +portentous, culminating in secession and events re-enacting history--for +that the causes and events of which history is the record are being +continuously re-enacted from a moral standpoint is of easy observation. +History, as the narration of the actions of men, with attendant results, +is but a repetition. Different minds and other hands may be the +instruments, but the effects from any given course involving fundamental +principles are the same. This was taught by philosophers 2,000 years +ago, some insisting that not only was this repetition observable in the +moral world, but that the physical world was repeated in detail--that +every person, every blade of grass, all nature, animate and inanimate, +reappeared upon the earth, engaged in the same pursuits, and fulfilling +the same ends formerly accomplished. + +However skeptical we may be as to this theory of the ancients, the +student of modern history has accomplished little if he fails to be +impressed with the important truth standing out on every page in letters +of living light--that this great world of ours is governed by a system +of moral and physical laws that are as unerring in the bestowal of +rewards as certain in the infliction of penalties. The history of our +own country is one that will ever be an exemplification of this +pre-eminent truth. The protests of the victims of oppression in the old +world resulted in a moral upheaval and the establishment by force of +arms of a Republic in America. The Revolutionary Congress, of which, in +adopting the Federal Constitution, closed with this solemn injunction: +"Let it be remembered that it has been the pride and boast of America +that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human +nature." And it was reserved for the founders of this nation to +establish in the words of an illustrious benefactor, "a Government of +the people, for the people, and by the people"--a Government deriving +all its powers from the consent of the governed, where freedom of +opinion, whether relating to Church or State, was to have the widest +scope and fullest expression consistent with private rights and public +good---where the largest individuality could be developed and the +patrician and plebeian meet on a common level and aspire to the highest +honor within the gift of the people. + +This was its character, this its mission. How it has sustained the +character, how fulfilled the mission upon which it entered, the +impartial historian has indited, every page of which is redolent with +precept and example that point a moral. + +With the inauguration of republican government in America the angel of +freedom and the demon of slavery wrestled for the mastery. Tallyrand has +beautifully and forcibly said: "The Lily and Thistle may grow together +in harmonious proximity, but liberty and slavery delight in the +separation." The pronounced policy of the best minds at the adoption of +the Federal Constitution was to repress it as an institution inhuman in +its character and fraught with mischief. Foretelling with accuracy of +divine inspiration, Jefferson "trembled for his country" when he +remembered that God was just and that "His justice would not sleep +forever." Patrick Henry said "that a serious view of this subject gives +a gloomy prospect to future times." So Mason and other patriots wrote +and felt, fully impressed that the high, solid ground of right and +justice had been left for the bogs and mire of expediency. + +They died, leaving this heritage growing stronger and bolder in its +assumption of power and permeating every artery of society. The cotton +gin was invented and the demand for cotton vaulted into the van of the +commerce of the country. Men, lured by the gains of slavery and +corrupted by its contact, sought by infamous reasoning and vicious +legislation to avert the criticism of men and the judgment of God. In +the words of our immortal Douglass, "To bolster up and make tolerable +what was intolerable; to make human what was inhuman; to make divine +what was infernal." To make this giant wrong acceptable to the moral +sense it was averred and enacted that slavery was right; that God +himself had so predetermined in His wisdom; that the slave could be +branded and sold on the auction block; that the babe could be ruthlessly +taken from its mother and given away; that a family could be scattered +by sale, to meet no more; that to teach a slave to read was punishable +with death to the teacher. But why rehearse this dead past--this +terrible night of suffering and gloom? Why not let its remembrance be +effaced and forgotten in the glorious light of a happier day? I answer, +Why? + +All measure of value, all estimates of greatness, of joy or sorrow, of +health or suffering, are relative; we judge by comparison, and if in +recalling these former depths we temper unreasonable criticism of waning +friendships, accelerate effort as we pass the mile-stones of +achievement, and stimulate appreciation of liberty in the younger +generation, the mention will not be fruitless. + +But to the resume of this rapid statement of momentous events: +Meanwhile, the slave, patient in his longings, prayed for deliverance. +Truly has it been said by Elihu Burrit that "you may take a man and yoke +him to your labor as you yoke the ox that worketh to live, and liveth to +work; you may surround him with ignorance and cloud him over with +artificial night. You may do this and all else that will degrade him as +a man, without injuring his value as a slave; yet the idea that he was +born to be free will survive it all. 'Tis allied to his hope of +immortality--the ethereal part of his nature which oppression cannot +reach. 'Tis the torch lit up in his soul by the omnipotent hand of Deity +Himself." The true and tried hosts of freedom, represented and led by +Garrison, Douglass, Lovejoy, Phillips, Garnet, Harriet Beecher Stowe, +and Frances Ellen Harper, and others--few compared to the indifferent +and avowed defenders of slavery, welcoming outrage and ostracism, by pen +and on forum, from hilltop and valley, proclaimed emancipation as the +right of the slave and the duty of the master. The many heroic efforts +of the anti-slavery phalanx were not without effect, and determined +resistance was made to the admission of more slave territory which was +in accordance with the "Proviso" prohibiting slavery in the Northwest. +Slavery controlled the Government from its commencement, hence its +supporters looked with alarm upon an increasing determination to stay +its progress. + +California had been admitted as a free State, after a struggle the most +severe. Its admission John C. Calhoun, the very able leader of the slave +power, regarded as the death-knell of slavery, if the institution +remained within the union and counseled secession. Washington, +Jefferson, and Madison, in despair at the growth of slavery; Calhoun at +that of freedom. But how could this march of moral progress and national +greatness be arrested? Congress had, in 1787, enacted that all the +territory not then States should forever be reserved to freedom. The +slave power saw the "handwriting on the wall" surround it with a cordon +of free States; increase their representatives in Congress advocating +freedom, and slavery is doomed. The line cherished by the founders, the +Gibraltar against which slavery had dashed its angry billows, must be +blotted out, and over every rod of virgin soil it was to be admitted +without let or hindrance. + +Then came the dark days of compromise, the era of Northern fear of +secession, and, finally, opinion crystallizing into legislation +non-committal, viz: That States applying for admission should be +admitted as free or slave States, as a majority of their inhabitants +might determine. Then came the struggle for Kansas. Emigration societies +were fitted out in the New England and Northern States to send free +State men to locate who would vote to bring in Kansas as a free State. +Similar organizations existed in the slave States for the opposite +purpose. + +[Illustration: HON. JOHN M. LANGSTON. + +Born in Louisa Country, Va.--Educated at Oberlin, Ohio--Member Board of +Health, District of Columbia in 1871--Minister Resident and +Consul-General to Port-au-Prince, Hayti, 1877--Elected to Congress from +Fourth Congressional District of Virginia in 1890--Author of "Freedom +and Citizenship" and "From the Virginia Plantation to the National +Capitol."] + +It is not pleasant to dwell nor fitly portray the terrible ordeal +through which the friends of freedom passed. In 1859 they succeeded; +right and justice were triumphant, the beneficial results of which will +reach remotest time. It was in this conflict that the heroism of John +Brown developed. It was there he saw his kindred and his friends +murdered, and there registered his vow to avenge their blood in the +disenthralment of the slave. The compeers of this "grand old man" or +people of the nation could have scarcely supposed that this man, +hitherto obscure, was to be the instrument of retributive justice, to +inaugurate a rebellion which was to culminate in the freedom of +4,000,000 slaves. John Brown, at the head of a few devoted men, at +Harper's Ferry, struck the blow that echoed and re-echoed in booming gun +and flashing sabre until, dying away in whispered cadence, was hushed in +the joyousness of a free nation. John Brown was great because he was +good, and good because he was great, with the bravery of a warrior and +the tenderness of a child, loving liberty as a mother her first born, he +scorned to compromise with slavery. Virginia demanded his blood and he +gave it, making the spot on which he fell sacred for all time, upon +which posterity will see a monument in commemoration of an effort, grand +in its magnanimity, to which the devotees of liberty from every clime +can repair to breathe anew an inspiration from its shrine-- + + "For whether on the gallows high + Or in the battle's van, + The noblest place for man to die + Is where he dies for man." + +The slave power, defeated in Kansas, fearful of the result of the vote +in other territories to determine their future status, found aid and +comfort from Judge Taney, a Supreme Judge of the United States. +Bancroft, the historian, has said: "In a great Republic an attempt to +overthrow a State owes its strength to and from some branch of the +Government." 'Tis said that this Chief Justice, without necessity or +occasion, volunteered to come to the rescue of slavery, and, being the +highest court known to the law, the edict was final, and no appeal could +lie, save to the bar of humanity and history. Against the memory of the +nation, against decisions and enactments, he announced that, slaves +being property, owners could claim constitutional protection in the +territories; that the Constitution upheld slavery against any act of a +State Legislature, and even against Congress. Slavery, previous to 1850, +was regulated by municipal law; the slave was held by virtue of the laws +of the State of his location or of kindred slave States. When he escaped +that jurisdiction he was free. By the decision of Judge Taney, instead +of slavery being local, it was national and freedom outlawed; the slave +could not only be reclaimed in any State, but slavery could be +established wherever it sought habitation. + +Black laws had been passed in Northern States and United States +Commissioners appointed in these States searched for fugitives, where +they had, in fancied security, resided for years, built homes, and +reared families, seizing and remanding them back into slavery, causing +an era of terror, family dismemberment, and flight, only to be +remembered with sadness and horror. For had not the heartless dictum +come from a Chief Justice of the United States--the "Jeffry of American +jurisprudence," that it had been ruled that black men had no rights a +white man was bound to respect? + +The slave power, fortified with this declaration, resolved that if at +the approaching election they did not _succeed_ they would _secede_. +Lincoln was elected, and the South, true to its resolve, prepared for +the secession of its States. Pennsylvania is credited with having then +made the last and meanest gift to the Presidency in the person of James +Buchanan. History tells of a Nero who fiddled while Rome burned. The +valedictory of this public functionary breathing aid and comfort to +secession, was immediately followed by South Carolina firing on Fort +Sumter, and Southern Senators advised their constituents to seize the +arsenals and ports of the nation. Rebellion was a fact. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Abraham Lincoln, the President-elect, was the legitimate outgrowth of +American institutions; in him was presented choice fruit, the product of +republican government. Born in a log cabin, of poor, uneducated parents, +his only aids untiring industry, determination, and lofty purpose. +Hewing out his steps on the rugged rocks of poverty, climbing the +mountains of difficulty, and attaining the highest honor within the gift +of the nation--"truly a self-made man, the Declaration of Independence," +says a writer, "being his daily compendium of wisdom, the life of +Washington his daily study, with something of Jefferson, Madison, and +Clay." For the rest, from day to day, he lived the life of the American +people; "walked in its light; reasoned with its reason; thought with its +powers of thought, and felt the beatings of its mighty heart." In 1858 +he came prominently forward as the rival of Stephen A. Douglass, and, +with wealth of argument, terseness of logic, and enunciation of just +principles, took front rank among sturdy Republicans, battling against +the extension of human slavery, declaring that "the nation could not +endure half free and half slave." + +[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, + +The Emancipator. + +The Embodiment of Patriotism and Justice. "I hope peace will come to +stay, and then there will be some colored men who can remember that they +helped mankind to this great consummation."] + +On the 4th of March, 1861, he took the oath of office and commenced his +Administration. With confidence and doubt alternating, our interest as a +race became intensified. We knew the South had rebelled; we were +familiar with the pagan proverb "Those whom the gods would destroy they +first made mad." We had watched the steady growth of Republicanism, when +a tinge on the political horizon "no bigger than a man's hand," increase +in magnitude and power and place its standard-bearer in the White House. +But former Presidents had professed to hate slavery. President Fillmore +had, yet signed the fugitive slave law; Pierce and Buchanan had both +wielded the administrative arm in favor of slavery. We had seen Daniel +Webster, Massachusetts' ablest jurist, and the most learned +constitutional expounder--the man of whom it was said that "when he +speaks God's own thunder can be seen pent up in his brow and God's own +lightning flash from his eye"--a man sent by the best cultured of New +England to represent the most advanced civilization of the century--we +had seen this brilliant star of anti-slavery Massachusetts "pale his +ineffectual fires" before the steady glare, the intolerance, +blandishment, and corrupting influences of the slave power--and tell the +nation they must compromise with slavery. + +When Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's statesman and philanthropist, was +approached in Parliament by West India planters with promises of support +for measures for the relief of Ireland if he would vote in the interest +of slavery in British colonies, he said: "'Tis true, gentlemen, that I +represent a poor constituency--God only knows how poor; but may calamity +and affliction overtake me if ever I, to help Ireland, vote to enslave +the Negro." A noble utterance! Unlike the Northern representatives sent +to Congress, who "bent the pliant, servile knee that thrift might follow +fawning." What wonder our race was keenly alive to the situation? The +hour had arrived--was the man there? + +For Abraham Lincoln impartial history will answer "Nor memory lose, nor +time impair" his nobility of character for humanity and patriotism that +will ever ennoble and inspire. Mr. Lincoln was slow to believe that the +rebellion would assume the proportions that it did, but he placed +himself squarely on the issue in his inaugural address: "That he should, +to the extent of his ability, take care that the laws of the nation be +faithfully executed in all the States; that in doing it there would be +no bloodshed unless it was forced upon the national authority." His +patriotism and goodness welling up as he said: "We are not enemies, but +friends, though we may have strained, it must not break our bonds of +affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every +battlefield and hearthstone, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when +again touched by the better angels of our nature." + + "But the die was cast; + Ruthless rapine righteous hope defied." + +The necessity for calling the nation to arms was imminent on the 15th of +April, 1861; the call for 75,000 men rang like a trumpet blast, +startling the most apathetic. The response from the Northern and +portions of the Southern States was hearty and prompt. The battle at +Bull Run dispelled the President's idea that the war was to be of short +duration. Defeat followed defeat of the national forces; weeping and +wailing went up from many firesides for husbands and sons who had laid +down on Southern battlefields to rest. The great North, looking up for +succor, saw the "national banner drooping from the flagstaff, heavy with +blood," and typical of the stripes of the slave. For 200 years the +incense of his prayers and tears had ascended. Now from every booming +gun there seemed the voice of God, "Let my people go"-- + + "They see Him in watch fires + Of a hundred circling camps; + They read His righteous sentence + By the dim and flaring lamps." + +The nation had come slowly but firmly up to the duty and necessity of +emancipation. Mr. Lincoln, who was now in accord with Garrison, +Phillips, Douglass, and their adherents, had counseled them to continue +urging the people to this demand, now pressing as a military necessity. +The 1st of January, 1863, being the maturity of the proclamation, lifted +4,000,000 of human beings from chattels to freemen, a grateful, praying +people. Throughout the North and wherever possible in the South the +colored people, on the night of December 31, assembled in their churches +for thanksgiving. On their knees in silence--a silence intense with +suppressed emotion--they awaited the stroke of the clock. It came, the +thrice-welcomed harbinger of freedom, and as it tolled on, and on, the +knell of slavery, pent-up joy could no longer be restrained. "Praise +God, from whom all blessings flow," from a million voices, floated +upward on midnight air. While some shouted "Hallelujah," others, with +folded arms, stood mute and fixed as statuary, while "Tears of joy like +summer raindrops pierced by sunbeams" fell. + +When Robespierre and Danton disenthralled France, we learn that the +guillotine bathed in blood was the emblem of their transition state, +from serfs to freemen. With the Negro were the antithesis of anger, +revenge, or despair, that of joy, gratitude, and hope, has been memory's +most choice trio. + +This master stroke of policy and justice came with telling effect upon +the consciousness of the people. It was now in deed and in truth a war +for the Union coeval with freedom; every patriot heart beat a responsive +echo, and was stirred by a new inspiration to deeds of heroism. Now +success followed success; Port Hudson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, +Gettysburg, and the Mississippi bowed in submission to the national +power. The record of history affirms subsequent events that during the +ensuing twelve months war measures more gigantic than had been witnessed +in modern times were inaugurated; how the will of the people to subdue +the rebellion crystallized as iron; that General Grant, planting himself +before Richmond, said he would "fight it out on that line if it took all +summer," and General Sherman's memorable march fifty thousand strong +from Atlanta to the sea. General Grant's campaign ended in the surrender +of General Lee, and Peace, with its golden pinions, alighted on our +national staff. + +Abraham Lincoln was again elected President, the people seeming +impressed with the wisdom of his quaint phrase that "it was best not to +swap horses while crossing a stream." Through all the vicissitudes of +his first term he justified the unbounded confidence of the nation, +supporting with no laggard hand, cheering and inspiring the citizen +soldier with noble example and kindly word. The reconstruction acts, +legislation for the enrollment of the colored soldier, and every other +measure of enfranchisement received his hearty approval, remarking at +one time, with much feeling, that "I hope peace will come to stay, and +there will be some black men that can remember that they helped mankind +to this great consummation." + +Did the colored troops redeem the promise made by their friends when +their enlistment was determined? History records exhibitions of bravery +and endurance which gave their survivors and descendants a claim as +imperishable as eternal justice. Go back to the swamps of the Carolinas, +the Savannahs of Florida, the jungles of Arkansas; or on the dark bosom +of the Mississippi. Look where you may, the record of their rugged +pathway still blossoms with deeds of noble daring, self-abnegation and a +holy devotion to the central ideas of the war--the freedom of the slave, +a necessity for the salvation of free government. + +[Illustration: BISHOP W. B. DERRICK. + +Born July, 1843, Antique, Bristol, West Indies--Educated at Graceville, +W. I.--Ordained Deacon in 1868, and now one of the Foremost Bishops of +the A. M. E. Church--Noted for Wisdom of Counsel and Great Ability.] + +The reading of commanders' reports bring no blush of shame. At the +terrific assault on Fort Hudson, General Banks reported they answered +"every expectation; no troops could have been more daring." General +Butler tells of his transformation from a war Democrat to a radical. +Riding out at early morn to view the battlefield, where a few hours +before shot and shell flew thick and fast, skillfully guiding his horse, +that hoofs should not profane the sacred dead, he there saw in sad +confusion where lay the white and black soldier, who had gone down +together. The appeal, though mute, was irresistible. Stopping his horse +and raising his hand in the cold, grey light to heaven, said: "May my +tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand forget its +cunning if I ever cease to insist upon equal justice to the colored +man." It was at the unequal fight at Milliken's Bend; it was at Forts +Wagner and Pillow, at Petersburg and Richmond, the colored troops asked +to be assigned the posts of danger, and there before the iron hail of +the enemy's musketry "they fell forward as fits a man." In our memory +and affections they deserve a fitting place "as those long loved, and +but for a season gone." + +Slavery, shorn of its power, nurtured revenge. On the 14th day of April, +1865, while sitting with his family at a public exhibition, Abraham +Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was in tears. Never was +lamentation so widespread, nor grief so deep; the cabin of the lowly, +the lordly mansion of wealth, the byways and highways, gave evidence of +a people's sorrow. "Men moved about with clinched teeth and bowed-down +heads; women bathed in tears and found relief, while little children +asked their mothers why all the people looked so mournful," and we, as +we came up out of Egypt, lifted up our voices and wept. Our friend was +no more, but intrenched in the hearts of his countrymen as one who did +much "to keep the jewel of liberty in the family of nations." + +Since that eventful period the Negro has had a checkered career, passing +through the reconstruction period, with its many lights and shadows, +despite the assaults of prejudice and prescription by exclusion from +most of the remunerative callings and avocations, partiality in +sentencing him to the horrors of the chain-gang, lynching, and burning +at the stake. Despite all these he has made progress--a progress often +unfairly judged by the dominant race. Douglass has pithily said: "Judge +us not from the heights on which you stand, but from the depths from +whence we sprung." So, with a faith and hope undaunted, we scan our +country horizon for the silver lining propitious of a happier day. + +Regarding that crime of crimes, lynching by hanging and burning human +beings, a barbarity unknown in the civilized world save in our country, +it is cheering to observe an awakening of the moral sense evidenced by +noble and manly utterance of leading journals, notably those of +Arkansas; the Governor of Georgia, and other Southern Governors and +statesmen, have spoken in derogation of this giant crime. + +When others of like standing and State influence shall so pronounce, +this hideous blot upon the national escutcheon will disappear. It is +manly and necessary to protest when wronged. But a subject class or race +does but little for their amelioration when content with its +denouncement. Injustice can be more effectually arraigned by others than +the victim; his mere proclamation, however distinct and unanswerable, +will be slow of fruition. A measure of relief comes from the humane +sympathies of the philanthropist, but the inherent attraction of forces +(less sympathetic, perhaps, though indispensable) for his real uplifting +and protection will be in the ratio of his morality, learning, and +wealth. For vice is ever destructive; ignorance ever a victim, and +poverty ever defenceless. Morality should be ever in the foreground of +all effort, for mere learning or even wealth will not make a class of +brave, honest men and useful citizens; there must be ever an intensity +of purpose based upon convictions of truth, and "the inevitable oneness +of physical and moral strength." St. Pierre de Couberton, an eminent +French writer on education and training, has pertinently said: "Remember +that from the cradle to the grave struggle is the essence of life, as it +is the unavoidable aim, the real life bringer of all the sons of men. +Existence is a fight, and has to be fought out; self-defence is a noble +art, and must be practiced. Never seek a quarrel, but never shun one, +and if it seeks you, be sure and fight to the last, as long as strength +is given you to stand, guard your honesty of purpose, your good faith; +beware of all false seeming, of all pretence, cultivate arduous tasks, +aspire to what is difficult, and do persistently what is uncomfortable +and unpleasant; love effort passionately, for without effort there can +be no manliness; therefore acquire the habit of self-restraint, the +habit of painful effort, physical pain, is a useful one." With such +purpose the Negro should have neither servility, bitterness, nor regret, +but "instinct with the life of the present rise with the impulse of the +age." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +My election to the Common Council of the City of Victoria, Vancouver +Island, in 1866, was my first entry to political life, followed by +re-election for succeeding term. + +The exercise of the franchise at the polls was by "viva voce," the voter +proclaiming his vote by stating the name of the candidate for whom he +voted in a distinct voice, which was audited on the rolls by clerks of +both parties. + +Alike all human contrivances, this mode of obtaining the popular will +has its merits and demerits. For the former it has the impossibility of +ballot-stuffing, for the by-stander can keep accurate tally; also the +opportunity for the voter to display the courage of his conviction, +which is ever manly and the purpose of a representative Commonwealth. On +the other hand, it may fail to register the desire of the voter whose +financial or other obligation may make it impolitic to thus openly +antagonize the candidate he otherwise would with a secret ballot, "that +falls as silently as snow-flakes fall upon the sod" and (should) +"execute a freeman's will as lightning doth the will of God." This is +its mission, the faithful execution of its fiat, the palladium of +liberty for all the people. Opposition to the exercise of this right in +a representative government is disintegrating by contention and suicidal +in success. It has been, and still is, the cause of bitter struggle in +our own country. Disregard of the ultimatum of constitutional +majorities, the foundation of our system of government, as the cause of +the civil war, the past and ever-occurring political corruption in the +Northern and the chief factor in the race troubles in the Southern +States, where the leaders in this disregard and unlawful action allow +the honors and emoluments of office to shut out from their view the +constitutional rights of others; and by the criminality of their conduct +and subterfuge strive to make selfish might honest right. + +That slavery was a poor school to fit men to assume the obligations and +duties of an enlightened citizenship should be readily admitted; that +its subjects in the Elysium of their joy and thankfulness to their +deliverers from servitude to freedom, and in ignorance of the polity of +government, should have been easy prey to the unscrupulous is within +reason. Still the impartial historian will indite that, for all that +dark and bloody night of reconstruction through which they passed, the +record of their crime and peculation will "pale its ineffectual rays" +before the blistering blasts of official corruption, murder, and +lynching that has appalled Christendom since the government of these +Southern States has been assumed by their wealth and intelligence. The +abnormal conditions that prevailed during reconstruction naturally +produced hostility to all who supported Federal authority, among whom +the Negro, through force of circumstances, was prominent and most +vulnerable for attack, suffered the most physically, and subsequently +became easy prey for those who would profit by his disfranchisement. + +The attempt to justify this and condone this refusal to allow the +colored American exercise of civil and constitutional rights is based on +caste, hatred, and alleged ignorance--conditions that are +world-wide--and the measure of a people's Christianity and the +efficiency of republican institutions can be accurately determined by +the humanity and zeal displayed in their amelioration, not in the denial +of the right, but zealous tuition for its proper exercise. + +During the civil war the national conscience, hitherto sluggish, was +awakened and great desire prevailed to award the race the full meed of +civil and political rights, both as a measure of justice and recognition +of their fealty and bravery in support of the national arm. + +The Freedman's Bureau, Christian and other benevolent agencies were +inaugurated to fit the freedman for the new obligations. Handicapped as +he has been in many endeavors, his record has been inspiring. +Four-fifths of the race for generations legally and persistently +forbidden to learn to read or write; with labor unrequited, a +conservative estimate, in 1898, little more than three decades from +slavery, finds 340,000 of their children attending 26,300 schools and +their property valuation $750,000,000, while in learned professions, +journalism, and mercantile pursuits their ability and efficiency command +the respect and praise of the potential race. + +When the amendments were being considered, opinion differed as to the +bestowal of the franchise; many favored only those who could read and +write. The popularity of this phase of opinion was voiced in the +following interview with Hon. Schuyler Colfax, afterward Vice President, +who was at that time Speaker of the lower house of Congress, and was +said to have the "Presidential bee in his bonnet." While "swinging +around the circle" he touched at Victoria, and the British Colonist of +July 29, 1865, made the following mention: "A committee consisting of +Abner Francis and M. W. Gibbs called on Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of +the House of Representatives of the United States, yesterday morning. On +being introduced by the American Consul, Mr. Gibbs proceeded to say that +they were happy to meet him and tender him on behalf of the colored +residents of Victoria their esteem and regard. They were not +unacquainted with the noble course he had pursued during the great +struggle in behalf of human liberty in the land of their nativity. They +had watched with intense interest the progress of the rebellion and +rejoiced in the Federal success and sorrowed in its adversity. Now that +victory had perched on the national standard--a standard we believe +henceforth and forever consecrated to impartial liberty--they were +filled with joy unspeakable. And he would allow them to say that it had +afforded them the greatest pleasure to observe the alacrity with which +the colored men of the nation offered and embraced the opportunity to +manifest their devotion and bravery in support of the national cause. + +"They had full confidence in the magnanimity of the American people that +in the reconstruction of the seceded States they would grant the race +who had proved their claim by the most indisputable heroism and +fidelity, equality before the law, upon the ground of immutable justice +and importance of national safety. Without trespassing further on his +valuable time they would only tender him, as the distinguished Speaker +of the popular house of Congress, as well as the sterling friend of +freedom, their sincere respect and esteem. + +"Mr. Colfax, in reply, said he was truly glad to see and meet the +committee and felt honored by the interview. + +"For himself he had ever been an enemy of slavery. From his earliest +recollections he had ever used his influence against it to the extent of +his power; but its abolition was environed by so many difficulties that +it seemed to require the overruling hand of God to consummate its +destruction. And he did not see how it could have been brought about so +speedily but for those who desired to perpetuate it by raising +rebellious hands against the nation. Now, with regard to the last +sentiment expressed, concerning reconstruction, he would say that it was +occupying the earnest attention of the best and purest minds of the +nation. Most men were in favor of giving the ballot to colored men; the +question was to what extent it should be granted. Very many good men +were disposed to grant it indiscriminately to the ignorant as well as +the more intelligent. For himself he was not, but among the other class. +If colored men generally were as intelligent as the gentleman who had +honored him with this interview--for he considered the speech he had +just listened to among the best he had heard on the coast--there would +be no trouble; but slavery had made that impossible. He knew that the +President--decidedly an anti-slavery man--was not in favor of bestowing +the franchise on all alike, while Charles Sumner and others favored it. + +"The honorable gentleman closed his remarks by desiring the colored +people not to consider the Administration inimical to their welfare, if +in the adjustment the right of suffrage was not bestowed on all, for it +was probable that reading and writing would be the qualification +demanded. He paid a high tribute to the colored people of Washington, D. +C., for their intelligence, moral worth, and industry, and said that it +was probable that the problem of suffrage would be solved in the +District of Columbia. After a desultory conversation on phases of +national status succeeding the rebellion, both parties seeming well +pleased with the meeting, the committee retired." + +I did not then, nor do I now, agree with the views of that distinguished +statesman. The benignity of the ballot lies in this: It was never +devised for the protection of the strong, but as a guardian for the +weak. It is not true that a sane man, although unlettered, has not a +proper conception of his own interests and what will conserve them--what +will protect them and give the best results for his labor. You may fool +him some of the time, as you do the most astute, but he will be oftener +found among those of whom Lincoln said "You could not fool all the +time." William Lloyd Garrison, jr., "a worthy son of a noble sire," +pointedly says: "Whoever laments the scope of suffrage and talks of +disfranchising men on account of ignorance or poverty has as little +comprehension of the meaning of self-government as a blind man has of +the colors of the rainbow. I declare my belief that we are suffering not +from a too extended ballot, but from one too limited and +unrepresentative. We enunciate a principle of government, and then deny +its practice. If experience has established anything, it is that the +interest of one class is never safe in the hands of another. There is no +class so poor or ignorant in a Republic that it does not know its own +suffering and needs better than the wealthy and educated classes. By the +rule of justice it has the same right precisely to give them legal +expression. That expression is bound to come, and it is wisest for it to +come through the ballot box than through mobs and violence born of a +feeling of misery and despair." + +James Russell Lowell has said: "The right to vote makes a safety valve +of every voter, and the best way to teach a man to vote is to give him a +chance to practice. It is cheaper, too, in the long run to lift men up +than to hold them down. The ballot in their hands is less dangerous than +a sense of wrong in their heads." + +[Illustration: BISHOP ALEXANDER WALTERS. + +Born in Kentucky, August, 1858--Educated In the Common Schools of that +State--At Thirty-five Elected Bishop of the A. M. E. Zion Church, Taking +High Rank as a Theologian, Originator and First President of the +National Afro American Council--Thinker, Orator and Leader.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Among the estimable friendships I made on the Pacific Coast forty years +ago was Philip A. Bell, formerly of New York City, one of nature's +noblemen, broad in his humanity and intellectually great as a +journalist. As editor of The Elevator, a weekly newspaper still +published in San Francisco, he made its pages brilliant with +scintillations of elegance, wealth of learning, and vigor of advocacy. +To his request for a correspondent I responded in a series of letters. I +forbear to insert them here, as they describe the material and political +status of British Columbia thirty-five years ago--being well aware that +ancient history is not the most entertaining. But, as I read them I +cannot but note, in the jollity of their introduction, the immature +criticism, consciousness of human fallability, broadening of +conclusions, mellowed by hope for the future that seemed typical of a +life career. Like the horse in "Sheridan's Ride," their beginning "was +gay, with Sheridan fifty miles away;" but if they were helpful with a +truth-axiom or a moiety of inspiration--as a view of colonial conduct of +a nation, with which we were then and are now growing in affinity--the +purpose was attained. + +At first the affairs of British Columbia and Vancouver were administered +by one Governor, the connection was but nominal; Vancouver Island had +control by a representative Parliament of its own; the future seemed +auspicious. Later they, feeling it "in fra dig" to divide the prestige +of government, severed the connection. But Vancouver finding it a rather +expensive luxury, and that the separation engendered strife and rivalry, +terminating in hostile legislation, determined to permanently unite with +British Columbia. + +But alas, for political happiness. Many afterward sighed for former +times, when Vancouver Island, proud beauty of the North, sat laving her +feet in the genial waters of the Pacific, her lap verdant with beautiful +foliage and delicious fruits; her head raised with peerless majesty to +brilliant skies, while sunbeams playing upon a brow encircled by eternal +snows reflected a sheen of glorious splendor; when, conscious of her +immense wealth in coal, minerals, and fisheries, her delightful climate +and geographical position, she bid for commercial supremacy. It is said +of States, as of women, they are "fickle, coy and hard to please." For, +changed and governed from England's Downing Street, "with all its +red tape circumlocution," "Tile Barncal," incapacity, and +"how-not-to-do-it" ability that attached to that venerable institution, +its people were sorely perplexed. + +During the discussion which the nature and inefficiency of the +Government evoked several modes of relief from these embarrassments were +warmly espoused, among them none more prominent than annexation to the +United States. It was urged with much force that the great want of the +country, immigration and responsible government, would find their +fulfillment in such an alliance. All that seemed wanted was the "hour +and the man." The man was considered present in Leonard McClure, editor +of a local, and afterward on the editorial staff of the San Francisco +Times. He was a man of rare ability, a terse writer, and with force of +logic labored assiduously to promote annexation. But the "hour" was "non +est." For while it was quite popular and freely discussed upon the forum +and street, influential classes declined to commit themselves to the +scheme, the primary step necessary before presentation to the respective +Governments. Among the opposition to annexation, naturally, were the +official class. These gentry being in no way responsible to the people, +an element ever of influence, and believing that by such an alliance +they would find their "occupation gone," gave it no quarter. Added to +these was another possessed of the prestige and power that wealth +confers--very conservative, timid, cautious, self-satisfied, and +dreading innovations of popular rule, but especially republicanism. Amid +these two classes, and sprinkled among the rank and file, was found a +sentiment extremely patriotic, with those who saw nothing worth living +for outside of the purview of the "tight little island." + +There seems a destiny in the propriety of territory changing dominion. +God seems to have given this beautiful earth, with its lands, to be +utilized and a source of blessing, not to be locked by the promptings of +avarice nor the clog of incapacity; that it should be occupied by those +who, either by the accident of locality or superior ability, can make it +the most efficient in development. There should be, and usually is, +regard for acquired rights, save in the case of Africans, Indians, or +other weak peoples, when cupidity and power hold sweet converse. Nor +should we slightly estimate the feeling of loyalty to the land of birth +and the hearths of our fathers, the impulse that nerves the arm to +strike, and the soul to dare; that brings to our country's altar all +that we have of life to repel the invader of our homes or the usurper of +our liberties. That has given to the world a Washington, a Toussant, a +Bozzaris--a loyalty that will ever stand with cloven helmet and crimson +battle-ax in the van of civilization and progress. But, like other +ennobling sentiments, it can be perverted, allowing it to permeate every +view of government, finding its ultimatum in the conclusion that, if +government is despotic or inefficient, it is to be endured and not +removed. Such patriots are impressed with the conviction that the people +were made for governments, and not governments for the people. A +celebrated poet has said-- + + "Our country's claim is fealty, + I grant you so; but then + Before man made us citizens + Great Nature made us men." + +Men with essential wonts and laudable aspirations, the attainment of +which can be accelerated by the fostering love and enlightened zeal of a +progressive government. + +In 1859 at Esquimault, the naval station for British Columbia, I had a +pleasant meeting with Lady Franklin, widow of Sir John Franklin, the +Arctic explorer, who sailed in 1845 and was supposed to have perished in +1847. With a woman's devotion, after many years of absence, she was +still in quest, hoping, from ship officer or seaman of her Majesty's +service, some ray of light would yet penetrate the gloom which +surrounded his "taking off" in that terra incognito of the North pole, +whose attraction for the adventurer in search of scientific and +geographical data in the mental world is akin to its magnetic attraction +in the physical. To her no tidings came, but still lingered "hope, the +balm and life-blood of the soul." + +In 1868 the union of British Columbia with the Dominion of Canada was +the political issue, absorbing all others. But the allurements of its +grandeur and the magnitude of promised results were insufficient to +allay opposition, ever encountered on proposal to change a +constitutional polity by those at the time enjoying official honors or +those who benefit through contracts or trade, and are emphatic in their +protest; these, however, constitute an element that is unwittingly the +safety valve of constitutional government. Wherever the people rule the +public welfare is ever endangered whenever radical changes are to be +introduced, unaccompanied with a vigorous opposition. A healthy +opposition is the winnowing fan that separates the politician's chaff +from the patriot's wheat, presenting the most desirable of the +substantial element needed. At the convention in 1868 at Fort Yale, +called by A. Decosmos, editor of The British Colonist, and others, for +the purpose of getting an expression of the people of British Columbia +regarding union with the Dominion of Canada (and of which the writer was +a delegate), the reduction of liabilities, the lessening of taxation, +increase of revenue, restriction of expenditure, and the enlargement of +the people's liberties were the goal, all of which have been attained +since entrance to the Dominion, which has become a bright jewel in his +Majesty's Crown, reflecting a civilization, liberal and progressive, of +a loyal, happy people. + +The "British American Act," which created the Dominion of Canada, +differs from the Constitution of the United States in important +particulars. It grants to the Dominional, as well as the provincial +Legislatures the "want of confidence principle," by which an +objectionable ministry can be immediately removed; at the same time +centralizing the national authority as a guard against the heresy of +"State rights" superiority. Among the terms stipulated, the Dominion was +to assume the colonial debt of British Columbia, amounting to over two +million dollars; the building of a road from the Atlantic to the Pacific +within a stipulated time. The alliance, however, contained more +advantage than the ephemeral assistance of making a road or the +assumption of a debt, for with confederation came the abolition of the +"one-man system of government" and in its place a responsible one, with +freedom of action for enterprise, legislation to encourage development, +and assist budding industries; the permanent establishment of schools, +and the disbursement of revenue in accordance with popular will. + +It is ever and ever true that "right is of no sex, and truth of no +color." The liberal ideas, ever struggling for utterance and ascendancy +under every form of government, are not the exclusive property of any +community or nation, but the heritage of mankind, and their victories +are ever inspiring. For, as the traveler sometimes ascends the hill to +determine his bearings, refresh his vision, and invigorate himself for +greater endeavors, so we, by sometimes looking beyond the sphere of our +own local activities, obtain higher views of the breadth and magnitude +of the principles we cherish, and perceive that freedom's battle is +identical wherever waged, whether her sons fight to abolish the relics +of feudalism or to possess the ballot, the reflex influence of their +example is mutually beneficial. + +But of the Dominion of Canada, who shall write its "rise, decline, and +fall?" Springing into existence in a day, with a population of 4,000,000 +people--a number larger than that possessed by the United States when +they commenced their great career--its promise is pregnant with benign +probabilities. May it be the fruition of hope that the banner of the +Dominion and the flag of our Republic, locked and interlocked, may go +forward in generous rivalry to bless mankind. + +The most rapid instrumentalities in the development of a new country are +the finding and prospecting for mineral deposits. The discovery of large +deposits of gold in the quartz and alluvial area of British Columbia in +1858 was the incipiency of the growth and prosperity it now enjoys. But +although the search for the precious is alluring, the mining of the +grosser metals and minerals, such as iron, lead, coal, and others, are +much more reliable for substantial results. + +The only mine of importance in British Columbia previous to 1867 was at +Naniamo, where there was a large output of bituminous coal. In that year +anthracite was discovered by Indians building fire on a broken vein that +ran from Mt. Seymour, on Queen Charlotte Island, in the North Pacific. +It was a high grade of coal, and on account of its density and burning +without flame, was the most valuable for smelting and domestic purposes. +A company had been formed at Victoria which had spent $60,000 +prospecting for an enduring and paying vein, and thereafter prepared for +development by advertising for tenders to build railroad and wharfs for +shipping. Being a large shareholder in the company, I resigned as a +director and bid. It was not the lowest, but I was awarded the contract. +The Hudson Bay Co. steamship Otter, having been chartered January, 1869, +with fifty men, comprising surveyor, carpenters, blacksmiths, and +laborers, with timber, rails, provisions, and other necessaries for the +work I embarked at Victoria. Queen Charlotte Island was at that time +almost a "terra incognito," sparsely inhabited solely by scattered +tribes of Indians on the coast lines, which were only occasionally +visited by her Majesty's ships for discovery and capture of small craft +engaged in the whisky trade. + +Passing through the Straits of Georgia, stopping at Fort Simpson, and +then to Queen Charlotte Island, entering the mouth of Skidegate River, a +few miles up, we reached the company's quarters, consisting of several +wooden buildings for residence, stores, shops, etc. At the mouth and +along the river were several Indian settlements, comprising huts, the +sides of which were of rough riven planks, with roof of leaves of a +tough, fibrous nature. At the crest was an opening for the escape of +smoke from fires built on the ground in the center of the enclosure. As +the ship passed slowly up the river we were hailed by the shouting of +the Indians, who ran to the river side, got into their canoes and +followed in great numbers until we anchored. They then swarmed around +and over the ship, saluting the ship's company as "King George's men," +for such the English are known and called by them. They were peaceful +and docile, lending ready hands to our landing and afterward to the +cargo. I was surprised, while standing on the ship, to hear my name +called by an Indian in a canoe at the side, coupled with encomiums of +the native variety, quite flattering. It proved to be one who had been a +domestic in my family at Victoria. He gave me kind welcome, not to be +ignored, remembering that I was in "the enemy's country," so to speak. +Besides, such a reception was so much the more desirable, as I was +dependent upon native labor for excavating and transportation of heavy +material along the line of the road. While their work was not despatched +with celerity of trained labor, still, as is general with labor, they +earned all they got. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." I +found many apt, some stupid; honesty and dishonesty in usual quantities, +with craft peculiar to savage life. + +Their mode of stealing by stages was peculiar. The thing coveted was +first hid nearby; if no inquiry was made for a period deemed +sufficiently long the change of ownership became complete and its +removal to their own hut followed, to be disposed of when opportunity +offered. If you had a particle of evidence and made a positive +accusation, with the threat of "King George's man-of-war," it was likely +to be forthcoming by being placed secretly nearby its proper place. But +through it we see the oneness of human frailty, whether in the watered +stock of the corporation or that of its humble servitor the milkman, +there is kinship. To get something for nothing is the "ignis fatuus" +ever in the lead. My experience during a year's stay on the island, and +constant intercourse with the natives, impressed me more and more with +the conviction that we are all mainly the creatures of environments; +yet through all the strata and fiber of human nature there is a chord +that beats responsive to kindness--a "language that the dumb can speak, +and that the deaf can understand." + +The English mode of dealing with semi-civilized dependents is vastly +different from ours. While vigorously administering the law for proper +government, protection of life, and suppression of debauchery by +unscrupulous traders, they inspired respect for the laws and the love of +their patrons. Uprisings and massacres among Indians in her Majesty's +dominions are seldom, if ever, to be chronicled. Many of our Indian wars +will remain a blot on the page of impartial history, superinduced, as +they were, by wanton murder or the covet of lands held by them by sacred +treaties, which should have been as sacredly inviolate. Followed by +decimation of tribes by toleration of the whisky trade and the +conveyance of loathsome disease. The climate of the island was much more +pleasant than expected. The warm ocean currents on the Pacific temper +the atmosphere, rendering it more genial than the same degree of +latitude on the Atlantic. A few inches of snow, a thin coat of ice on +the river, were the usual attendants of winter. But more frequently our +camp was overhung by heavy clouds, broken by Mt. Seymour, precipitating +much rain. + +[Illustration: HON. HENRY P. CHEATHAM, + +Late Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia. Born in North +Carolina Forty Odd Years Ago--Educated in Public Schools and "Shaw +University"--Register of Deeds for his County--Elected to the +Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congress--Able and Progressive.] + +After being domiciled we proceeded with the resident superintendent to +view the company's property, comprising several thousand acres. Rising +in altitude, and on different levels, as we approached Mt. Seymour, +croppings of coal were quite frequent, the broken and scattered veins +evidencing volcanic disturbance. The vein most promising was several +hundred feet above the level of the sea, and our intended wharf survey +was made, which showed heavy cuttings and blasting to obtain grade for +the road. The work was pushed with all the vigor the isolated locality +and climatic conditions allowed. Rain almost incessant was a great +impediment, as well as were the occasional strikes of the Indian labor, +which was never for more wages, but for more time. The coal from the +croppings which had been at first obtained for testing, had been carried +by them in bags, giving them in the "coin of the realm" so many pieces +of tobacco for each bag delivered on the ship. There was plenty of time +lying around on those trips, and they took it. On the advent of the new +era they complained that "King George men" took all the time and gave +them none, so they frequently quit to go in quest. The nativity of my +skilled labor was a piece of national patchwork--a composite of the +canny Scotch, the persistent and witty Irish, the conservative but +indomitable English, the effervescent French, the phlegmatic German, and +the irascible Italian. I found this variety beneficial, for the usual +national and race bias was sufficiently in evidence to preclude a +combination to retard the work. I had three Americans, that were neither +white nor colored; they were born black; one of them--Tambry, the +cook--will ever have my grateful remembrance for his fatherly kindness +and attention during an illness. + +The conditions there were such that threw many of my men off their feet. +Women and liquor had much the "right of way." I was more than ever +impressed with the belief that there was nothing so conclusive to a +worthy manhood as self-restraint, both morally and physically, and the +more vicious and unrestraining the environment the greater the +achievement. Miners had been at work placing many tons of coal at the +mouth of the mine during the making of the road, the grade of which was +of two elevations, one from the mine a third of the distance, +terminating at a chute, from which the coal fell to cars on the lower +level, and from thence to the wharf. After the completion of the road +and its acceptance by the superintendent and the storage of a cargo of +coal on the wharf, the steamer Otter arrived, was loaded, and despatched +to San Francisco, being the first cargo of anthracite coal ever +unearthed on the Pacific seaboard. The superintendent, having notified +the directors at Victoria of his intention to return, they had appointed +me to assume the office. I was so engaged, preparing for the next +shipment on the steamer. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +My sojourn on the island was not without its vicissitudes and dangers, +and one of the latter I shall ever remember--one mingled, as it was, +with antics of Neptune, that capricious god of the ocean, and +resignation to what seemed to promise my end with all sublime things. +The stock of oil brought for lubricating cars and machinery having been +exhausted, I started a beautiful morning in a canoe with three Indians +for their settlement at the mouth of Skidegate River for a temporary +supply. After a few hours' paddling, gliding down the river serenely, +the wind suddenly arose, increasing in force as we approached the mouth +in the gulf. The high walls of the river sides afforded no opportunity +to land. The storm continued to increase in violence, bringing billows +of rough sea from the ocean, our canoe dancing like a feather, one +moment on a high crest by its skyward leap, and in the next to an abyss +deep, with walls of sea on either side, shutting out a view of the +horizon, while I, breathless with anxious hope, waited for the +succeeding wave to again lift the frail bark. The better to preserve +the equilibrium of the canoe--a conveyance treacherous at the +best--wrapped in a blanket in the bottom of the canoe I laid, looking +into the faces of the Indians, contorted by fright, and listened to +their peculiar and mournful death wail, "while the gale whistled aloft +his tempest tune." + +I afterward learned that they had a superstition based upon the loss of +many of their tribe under like conditions, that escape was impossible. +The alarm and distrust in men, aquatic from birth, in their own waters +was to me appalling. I seemed to have "looked death in the face"--and +what a rush of recollections that had been long forgotten, of actions +good and bad, the latter seeming the most, hurried, serried, but +distinct through my excited brain; then a thought, bringing a calm +content, that "To every man upon this earth death cometh soon or late;" +and with a fervent resignation of myself to God and to what I believed +to be inevitable; then a lull in the wind, and, after many attempts, we +were able to cross the mouth of the river to the other side--the place +of destination. + +In 1869 I left Queen Charlotte Island and returned to Victoria; settled +my business preparatory to joining my family, then at Oberlin, Ohio. It +was not without a measure of regret that I anticipated my departure. +There I had lived more than a decade; where the geniality of the climate +was excelled only by the graciousness of the people; there unreservedly +the fraternal grasp of brotherhood; there I had received social and +political recognition; there my domestic ties had been intensified by +the birth of my children, a warp and woof of consciousness that time +cannot obliterate. Then regret modified, as love of home and country +asserted itself. + + "Breathes there a man with soul so dead + Who never to himself hath said: + 'This is my native land'-- + Whose heart has not within him burned + As homeward footsteps he has turned + From wandering on a foreign strand?" + +En route my feelings were peculiar. A decade had passed, fraught with +momentous results in the history of the nation. I had left California +disfranchised and my oath denied in a "court of justice" (?); left my +country to all appearances enveloped in a moral gloom so dense as to +shut out the light of promise for a better civil and political status. +The star of hope glimmered but feebly above the horizon of contumely and +oppression, prophetic of the destruction of slavery and the +enfranchisement of the freedman. I was returning, and on touch of my +country's soil to have a new baptism through the all-pervading genius of +universal liberty. I had left politically ignoble; I was returning +panoplied with the nobility of an American citizen. Hitherto regarded as +a pariah, I had neither rejoiced at its achievement nor sorrowed for +its adversity; now every patriotic pulse beat quicker and heart throb +warmer, on realization that my country gave constitutional guarantee for +the common enjoyment of political and civil liberty, equality before the +law--inspiring a dignity of manhood, of self-reliance and opportunity +for elevation hitherto unknown. + +Then doubt, alternating, would present the immense problems awaiting +popular solution. Born in the seething cauldron of civil war, they had +been met in the arena of fervid Congressional debate and political +conflict. The amendments to the Constitution had been passed, but was +their inscription a record of the crystallization of public sentiment? +Subsequent events have fully shown that only to the magnanimity and +justice of the American people and the fruition of time can they be +commended. Not to believe that these problems will be rightfully solved +is to doubt not only the efficacy of the basic principles of our +Government, but the divinity of truth and justice. To these rounds of +hope's ladder, while eager in obtaining wisdom, the Negro should cling +with tenacity, with faith "a higher faculty than reason" unconquerable. + +Having resolved to locate in some part of the South for the purpose of +practicing law, I had while in Victoria read the English Common Law, the +basis of our country's jurisprudence, under Mr. Ring, an English +barrister. Soon after my arrival in Oberlin, Ohio, where my family, +four years before, had preceded me, I entered the law department of an +Oberlin business college, and after graduation proceeded South, the +first time since emancipation. In an early chapter I described my first +contact with and impressions of slavery, when a lad; then the +hopelessness of abject servitude and consciousness of unrequited toil +had its impress on the brow of the laborer. Now cheerfulness, a spirit +of industry, enterprise, and fraternal feeling replaced the stagnant +humdrum of slavery. Nor was progress observable only among the freedmen. +Many evidences of kindness and sympathy were shown and expressed by +former owners for the moral and mental advancement of their former +bondsmen, which, to a great degree, unfortunately, was counterbalanced +by violence and persecution. + +My brother, Jonathan C. Gibbs, was then Secretary of State of Florida, +with Governor Hart as executive. He had had the benefit of a collegiate +education, having graduated at Dartmouth, New Haven, and had for some +years filled the pulpit as a Presbyterian minister. The stress of +reconstruction and obvious necessity for ability in secular matters +induced him to enter official life. Naturally indomitable, he more than +fulfilled the expectations of his friends and supporters by rare ability +as a thinker and speaker, with unflinching fidelity to his party +principles. I found him at Tallahassee, the capital, in a +well-appointed residence, but his sleeping place in the attic +contracted, and, as I perceived, considerable of an arsenal. He said +that for better vantage it had been his resting place for several +months, as his life had been threatened by the "Ku Klux," that band of +midnight assassins whose deeds of blood and carnage darken so many pages +of our national history, and was the constant terror of white and black +adherents to the national Government's policy of enfranchisement. He was +hopeful of better conditions in Florida, and introduced me to Governor +Hart. Both urged me to locate in the State, promising me their support. +I highly appreciated the affection of the one and the proffered +friendship of the other. But the feeling paramount was that my brother +had "won his spurs" by assiduity and fidelity through the scathing and +fiery ordeal of those troublesome times; that it would ill become me to +profit or serenely rest beneath the laurels he had won. It was the last +interview or sight of my brother. Subsequently after a three hours' +speech, he went to his office and suddenly died of apoplexy. + +I continued my tour of observation, and, having been appointed a +delegate from Ohio to a national convention to be held in Charleston, +South Carolina, I attended. It was the first assembly of the kind at +which I had been present since emancipation. I had hitherto met many +conventions of colored men having for their object the amelioration of +oppressive conditions. This gathering was unlike any similar meeting. +The deliberations of the convention presented a combination of a strong +intellectual grasp of present needs and their solution, with much +uninformed groping and strife for prominence, features of procedure I +have observed not confined to Negro assemblies. + +The majority were unlettered, but earnest in their mental toiling for +protection to life and equality before the law. Hitherto the purpose had +been to make earnest appeals to the law-making power for such +legislation as would abolish slavery and award equal justice--the first +supported by the national conscience, but mainly as a military +necessity, was a "fait accompli;" the other had been legislatively +awarded, but for its realization much more was necessary than its simple +identification on the statute books of a nation, when public sentiment +is law. More than a third of a century has now passed, enabling a view +more dispassionate and accurate of the conditions surrounding the +freedmen directly after emancipation and the instrumentalities designed +for fitting him for citizenship. + +It is not surprising, neither is he blameworthy, if in the incipiency of +joy for freedom bestowed he could not properly estimate the factors +necessary to form an homogenous citizenship. The ways for two centuries +had been divergent paths. The dominant claiming and exercising, as an +heirloom, every civil and political right; the subordinate, with +knowledge the most meager of their application or limits, by compulsion +was made to concede the claim. Neither is it singular that participation +in the exercise of these rights by the freedman should have created a +determined opposition in a majority of the former, who claimed their +fitness to rule as the embodiment of the wealth and intelligence (which +are generally the ruling factors world-wide), and would have at an early +date derived a just "power from the consent of the governed," did not +history record the unnecessary and inhuman means resorted to to extort +it, the obliquity of which can be erased only by according him the +rights of an American citizen. Mutual hostility, opposition on the one +hand to the assumption and exercise of these rights, and consequent +distrust by the freedman, often fostered by unscrupulous leaders, have +been alike detrimental to both classes, but especially so to the Negro, +for his constant need in the Southland is the cordial friendship and +helping hand of "his brother in white." He deserves it for his century +of unrequited labor in peace and in war for fidelity to the tender ties +committed to his care. Anti-revolutionist in his nature, he will +continue to merit it and possibly save the industrial life in the South +in the coming conflict of capital and labor. + +That, as a class, they are in antagonism to the prevailing political +sentiment is the legitimate result of the manner of their emancipation +and a commendable gratitude and kinship for the party through which they +obtained their freedom. But Gibbon, in his "Decline and Fall of Rome," +has said that "gratitude is expensive," and so the Negro has found it, +and is beginning to echo the sentiment and would gladly hail conditions +and opportunity where he could, after thirty-five years of blood and +fidelity, be less partisan and more fraternal politically, conscious his +united affiliation with his early alliance, and consequent ostracism of +the opposition has given him a "hard road to travel." Commendable as has +been his devotion, he finds commendation a limited currency and not +negotiable for the protection and benefits that should accompany the +paladium of citizenship. While his treatment by the Democratic party has +made a continuous political relation compulsory, it is unfortunate; for +the political affinity of no other class of American citizens is judged +by the accident of birth. It is detrimental to the voter whose +proclivity is thereby determined. Wherever the Negro vote, in the +estimation of any party, is an uncertain quantity, its value as a factor +will have increased, consolidated, and in numbers controlling, it has +been considered a menace and vigorously eliminated. + +This view has to an extent an auxiliary in certain Republican circles, +where it is avowed that the party could get in the South a large +accession of hitherto Democratic voters, giving it a commanding +influence, but for its colored contingent, which is averred to be +repellant. There may be difference of opinion as to the merit of such +conclusions and the fitness of their rehearsal "to the marines;" but +none as to the measure of welcome of those that hold them. However, +given that they are correct. Self-respect and a desire to help the old +party can go hand in hand, and when possible in a manly way, room should +be made for such anticipated accession. + +There is another phase of present conditions that deserves, and I have +no doubt has claimed, attention. It is the emphatic trend of the +national leaders of the party to conciliate the hitherto discordant +elements in the South in the interest of national harmony, an object +lesson of which was presented by the late President on his Southern +tour. But few years have elapsed since no man seeking a renomination on +the Republican ticket would have put on and worn a Confederate badge. +This President McKinley did, receiving the indiscriminate applause and +the concurrence of his own party. Such an act, which is not only +allowable, but commendable, would formerly have been political suicide. +This being a movement in the house of his political alliance, it is up +to the Negro to consider which is his best interest, should the olive +branch of political friendship be extended by those from whom he +receives his chief support. Under like conditions, his white brother +would have no hesitancy. + +There is yet another phase which indicates the Negro in jeopardy on +industrial lines. A few years hence the South will have ceased to be +chiefly agricultural. Mills for cotton, iron, and other factories will +have dotted hilltop and valley, and with them will come the Northern +operative with his exclusive "unions" and trade prejudice, shutting the +doors of mills and foundries against him. To meet this scramble for +favor from the wealth and intelligence of the Southland--the ruling +factors--he should avail himself of every appliance for fostering +harmony and co-operation along all the lines of contact. In slavery and +in his subsequent journey in freedom he has suffered much. But what +nation or people have escaped that ordeal who have made mark in the +world's history? There is now prospective unfriendly legislation in +several Southern States; also the lowest of the whites, as they deem +occasion may require, go, often undisturbed, on shooting and lynching +expeditions. + +The problem that continues to force itself for solution is, How the +innocent are to receive immunity from these outrages or a fair trial, +when accused of crime. These being under the purview of State +sovereignty, the Federal arm is not only powerless, but there exists no +Northern sentiment favoring drastic means for their correction. Hence it +is evident that relief can only come from those who fashion the +sentiment that crystallizes into law. But with the bitter is mingled the +sweet; much of his advancement along educational and material lines is +due to the liberality of the white people of the South, who, it has been +computed, have contributed one hundred millions of dollars since +emancipation by taxes and donations for his education, and there are +many evidences that the best thought of the South is in line with Negro +employment and his educational advancement in the belief that the more +general the intelligence the greater the State's progress, morally and +materially. This conviction was emphatically expressed by an +overwhelming negative vote in the Arkansas Legislature recently, where a +measure was introduced to abandon him to his own taxable resources for +education. The ratio of his moral and material product will be the +measure of his gratitude for this great boon. For, after all, many of +"our great dangers are not from without." + +[Illustration: EDWARD E. COOPER. + +Editor and Publisher of "Colored American," Washington, D. C. + +Founder of "Colored World" and "Indianapolis Freeman" Conspicuous as a +Leader and Enterprising as a Journalist.] + +General ----, a leading Democrat of this State, and an unmistakable +friend of the negro, referring to the above evidence of good feeling, +said he did not see why I, and other reputed leaders, in view of such +evidences of friendship, did not induce our people to be fraternal +politically. I replied that the effort had once been made, but that the +Democratic party, intrenched as it was in large majorities in the South, +"by ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," its leaders say they +"do not need, neither do they solicit, the colored vote; but if they +choose, they may so vote." He said that certainly had a ringing sound of +independence and was uninviting as an announcement--an independence, +however, that will not forever outlive the vagaries of sound, for it is +not unlikely that he will not only vote the ticket, but be earnestly +solicited to do so. "For it will happen, during the whirligig of time +and action, in my party as well as others, that there will be a change +of policies, new issues, local dissatisfaction, friction, contemplated +antagonism and the political arithmetic sounded. But I cannot but +believe that the clannishness of the Negro has been the boomerang that +has knocked him out of much sympathy, being impractical as a political +factor and out of harmony with the material policies of the Southern +people." + +I replied I had thought the highest ideal of patriotism was adherence to +measures materially as well as politically that were for the benefit of +the whole people. + +He said: "I know your party preach that they have a monopoly of wisdom; +but the fact is the wisest statesmen of the world are divided in opinion +as to the benefits claimed for the leading policies of your party. But +how do they benefit you, as a dependent class? Your immediate need is +employment and good educational facilities. You should be less +sentimental and more practical. You may honestly believe in a protective +tariff, having for its object the protection of the American +working-man, but does it help you when you know that the doors of mills, +foundries, and manufactories are shut against you? As to the currency, +you are at a disadvantage when you attempt to antagonize the financial +views of your employers. + +"It reminds me of an incident," he continued, "in my native town in +Virginia, not long after reconstruction. There had been a drought and +short crop, succeeded by a pretty hard winter. My father, whose +politics, you may well judge, I being 'a chip of the old block,' without +soliciting money or favor, threw open his cellar, wherein was stowed +many bushels of sweet potatoes; invited all the destitute to come. It is +needless to say they came. In the spring Tobey, the Negro minister of +the Baptist Church--a man illiterate, but with much native sense--after +morning service, said: 'Brethren, there's gwine to be a 'lection here +next week, and I wants you all to vote in de light dat God has gin you +to see de light, but I spects to vote wid de taters.' Now, this may seem +ludicrous, but Tobey, in that act, was a fit representative of the white +man in politics--for every class of American citizens except the Negro +divide their vote and put it where to them personally it will do the +most good." + +"Much," I replied, "that you have said is undoubtedly true. But can you +wonder at the Negro's cohesion? Is it not a fact that his is the only +class of citizens that your party deny equal participation in the +franchise, and unjustly discriminate against in the application of the +laws? Where better could a change of conduct which you would admire and +he so happily embrace, be inaugurated than within your own political +household; where could nobility of character be more grandly displayed +than by the abolition of these vicious hindrances to the uplifting of +the weak and lowly?" + +"Be that as it may," he replied, "your race is not in a condition to +make friends by opposing the prevailing local policies of their +environments." + +I have narrated this interview for the reason that it is a fitting type +of the views of friends of the Negro of the South who somehow fail to +see the difficulty in his fraternizing with them in the midst of so much +political persecution and bodily outrage. I referred in the above +interview to an effort of colored leaders to assimilate with Southern +politics. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In 1876 (twenty-five years ago) I was President of a National Convention +held at Nashville, Tenn, and of which H. V. Redfield, an able +correspondent of the "Cincinnati Commercial," made the following unduly +flattering mention: "Mifflin W. Gibbs, of Arkansas, was selected as +President. It may be interesting to know that Gibbs is strongly in favor +of Bristoe, now an aspirant for the Presidency. He will likely be a +delegate from Arkansas to the National Republican Convention at +Cincinnati. He is a lawyer, one of the foremost of his race in Arkansas. +He is rather slender and a genteel-looking man, with something in his +features that denotes superiority" ("Though poor in thanks," Redfield, +yet I thank thee.) "His speech upon taking the chair, was another event. +It was the third good speech of the day and calculated to leave the +believers of internal inferiority in something of a muddle. + +"He made a manly plea for equal rights for his race. All they wanted was +an equal chance in the battle of life. They did not desire to hinder any +man for exercising his political rights as he saw fit, and all they +claimed was liberty of thought and action for themselves. He was sorry +there was occasion for a convention of black men to consider black men's +status. The fact alone was evidence that the race had not been accorded +right and justice. Of the treatment of his race in Arkansas he had +little to complain of, but spoke bitterly of the murders at Vicksburg, +Miss. He gave the Republican party, as administered at Washington, +several blows under the chin. He complained of bad treatment of colored +men by that party, notwithstanding all its professions. He made the bold +declaration that all the whites of the South need do to get their votes +was to promise equal and exact justice and stand to it. All they wanted +was their rights as American citizens and would go into the party that +would secure them. He said the question primarily demanding the +attention of the convention were educational and political, and he hoped +the proceedings would be so orderly as to convince the whites present +that we were capable of self-control. His speech had a highly +independent flavor and the particular independent passages were +applauded by whites and blacks alike." + +While the call for the convention was not distinctly political, that +feature of the proceedings was the most pronounced. For at that early +day, through an experience the most bitter, the lesson had been learned +that politics was not the panacea, but that our affiliation with the +Republican party was the main offence. Hence a disposition to +fraternize with Southern politicians for race protection and opportunity +had many adherents, and voiced by Governor Pinchback and other prominent +leaders in the South, who, while preferring to maintain their fealty to +the Republican party, were willing to sacrifice that allegiance if they +could secure protection and improve conditions for the race. Had the +leaders of Southern opinion met these overtures, even part of the way, +much of the friction and turbulence of subsequent years would have been +avoided. But that there will be a breaking up of the political +solidarity of the South, not on sentimental but on material lines, at no +distant day all signs promise, and be its status what it may, the Negro +will benefit by commingling with the respective parties in political +fellowship. Laying down the "old grudge" at the door of opportunity and +entering, should the premises be habitable, he could "report progress +and ask leave to sit again." + +It has been alleged to the discredit of the Negro that he too soon +forgets an injury. Nevertheless as a virtue it should redound to his +credit. He is swift to forgive and, if necessary, apologize for the +shortcomings of his adversary. But human nature seldom appreciates +forgiveness, preceded as it is by censure, the subject of which usually +repels, and another melancholy phase is often apparent, for the pricks +of conscience for those we have wronged, we seek solace by hating. There +are in both parties a fraction of saints, who, notwithstanding his +immense contribution by unrequited labor to the wealth of the nation +whilst a slave; his fidelity and bravery in every war of the Republic, +have for him neither care nor regard; denounce him as an incapable and a +bad legacy. He should, nevertheless, be patient, diligent, and hopeful, +with appreciation for his friends and for his enemies a consciousness +expressed in the Irishman's toast to the Englishman-- + + "Here's to you, as good as you are; + And here's to me, as bad as I am; + But as good as you are, + And as bad as I am, + I'm as good as you are, + As bad as I am." + +Very ill considered is the opinion held and advocated by some, that he +should defer or eschew politics--who say: "Let the Negro be deprived of +this right of citizenship until he learns how to exercise it with wisdom +and discretion." As well say to the boy, Do not go into the water until +you learn to swim! The highest type of civilization is the evolution of +mistakes. While education, business, and skilled labor should have the +right of way and be primarily cherished, his right to vote and +persistent desire to exercise it should never be abandoned, for he will +yet enjoy its fullest fruition all over this, our God-blessed land. + +Among the delegates I met at the South Carolina convention in 1871 were +the Hon. William H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, and J. H. Johnson, of +Arkansas, prominent planters and leaders in that State. I was much +impressed with the eloquence of Grey, and the practical ideas advanced +by Robinson, the one charmed, the other convinced. Learning that I +sought a desirable place to locate in the South, they were enthusiastic +in describing the advantages held out by the State of Arkansas. The +comparative infancy of its development, its golden prospects, and +fraternal amenities. Crossing the Arkansas River in a ferry-boat, in +May, 1871, I arrived in Little Rock a stranger to every inhabitant. It +was on a Sunday morning. The air refreshing, the sun not yet fervent, a +cloudless sky canopied the city; the carol of the canary and mocking +bird from treetop and cage was all that entered a peaceful, restful +quiet that bespoke a well-governed city. The chiming church bells that +soon after summoned worshipers seemed to bid me welcome. The high and +humble, in their best attire, wended their way to the respective places +of worship. + +Little Rock at that date, not unlike most Western cities in their +infancy, and bid for immigration, was extensively laid out, but thinly +populated, having less than 12,000 inhabitants. From river front to +Twelfth Street, on the south, and to Chester on the west, it was but +sparsely settled. The streets were unimproved, but the gradual rise from +river front gave a natural drainage. Residences and gardens of the more +prominent, on the outskirts, gave token of culture and refinement. The +nom de plume "City of Roses" seemed fittingly bestowed, for with trellis +or encircling with shady bower, the stately doorway of the wealthy, or +the cabin of the lowly could be seen the rose, the honeysuckle, or other +verdure of perfume and beauty, imparting a grateful fragrance, while +"every prospect pleases." My first impressions have not been lessened by +lapse of time; generous nature has enabled human appliance to make +Little Rock an ideal city. + +As knowledge of the local status of a State, as well as common law, must +precede admission to the bar, I applied and was kindly permitted to +enter the law office of Benjamin & Barnes, at that time the only +building on the square now occupied by the post office and the Allis +Block. In this for preparatory reading I was very fortunate. I not only +found an extensive law library, but the kindness and special interest +shown by Sidney M. Barnes was of incalculable benefit. Mr. Barnes was an +able jurist, one of nature's noblemen, genial, generous, and patriotic. +A wealthy slaveholder in Kentucky, when the note of civil war was +sounded, called together his slaves, gave them their freedom, and at an +early date had them enrolled in the Federal army, and went forth himself +to fight for the Union. James K. Barnes, his son, now a prominent +citizen of Fort Smith, and the able United States Attorney for the +Western district of Arkansas, and whose fellowship and kindness has +extended through all my political career in Arkansas, is "a worthy son +of a noble sire," having courage of conviction and eloquence in their +enunciation. Among the young men then practicing law was Lloyd G. +Wheeler, a graduate from a law school in Chicago, popular and an able +lawyer, with considerable practice. In 1872 we joined, under the firm +name of Wheeler & Gibbs, opening an office in the Old Bank Building, +corner Center and Markam Streets. + +[Illustration: HON. JUDSON W. LYONS. + +Present Register of the Treasury. Born in Georgia--A Graduate of Howard +University--Appointed by President McKinley to the Above Position.] + +It is not without considerable trepidation that an infant limb of the +law shies his castor into the ring, puts up his shingle announcing that +A, B, or C is an "Attorney and Counsellor at Law." His cerebral column +stiffens as, from day to day, he meets members of the bar, who +congratulate him upon his advent, and feels his importance as he waits +from day to day for the visit of his first client, but collapses when he +arrives and with ghostly dread salutes him and prepares to listen with a +disturbed sense of an awful responsibility he is about to undertake. +For, side by side with his client's statements there seem to appear in +stately majesty all the adjuncts of the law: First, the inquisitive +glance of the judge, like a judicial searchlight, scans him as he rises +to defend Mr. Only Borrow, charged with larceny. Will he be able to +think on his feet at the bar as he did in his chair in his office? Will +he succeed or fail in stating his case, with eye and ear of every +veteran of the bar intent on his first utterance? How about the jury, +that unknown quantity of capricious predilections? Will they give him +attention, or will their eyes find a more congenial resting place? +Unbidden, the panorama insists on prominence. He attempts the most +nonchalant air, tells Mr. B. to proceed and state his case. This was not +the first time that he had been requested to perform this incipient step +of the law's demand, and he does it with such astuteness and flippancy, +and how he had been wronged and persecuted by the plaintiff, that tears, +unbidden, are ready to glisten in your eyes. Injured innocence and your +sworn duty to your profession inspire courage and induce you to take his +case. Later on the tyro will have learned that it was highly probable +that Mr. B. would not have called on him but for the fact that he was +not only out of cash, but out of credit with able and experienced +practitioners. + +At the time of my examination for entry to the bar by the committee, of +which William G. Whipple was one, I was instructed that the most +important acquisition for a member of the bar was ability to secure his +fee. Having noted all the points of defence for his honesty, the last, +but not the least matter to be considered was the fee, resulting in an +exchange of promises and his departure. When the case was called, for +reasons not divulged, the plaintiff failed to appear. Mr. Borrow was +acquitted; I won my case and am still wooing my fee. The study of the +law is not solely of advantage to those who intend adopting it as a +profession, for its fundamental principles are interwoven with the best +needs of mankind in all his undertakings, making it of value to the +preacher or laymen, the merchant or politician. For the young man +intending the pursuit of the latter it is quite indispensable. The +condition in the South for a quarter of a century giving opportunity for +colored men to engage in the professions has not been neglected. In each +of the States there are physicians and lawyers practicing with more or +less success. With equality of standing as to culture, ability and +devotion, the doctor has had the advantage for a growing and lucrative +practice. This can be accounted for partly on account of the private +administrations of the one and the public career of the other. The +physicians has seldom contact with his professional brother in white and +escapes much of the difficulty that lies in wait for the colored +disciple of Blackstone. + +During my practice I found the judges eminently fair in summing up the +evidence produced, noting the points and impartially charging the +jurors, who were also fair when plaintiff and defendant were of the same +race, but who, alas, too often, when the case had been argued by, or the +issue was between the representatives of the two races, bowed to the +prevailing bias in their verdict. Bishop, in his introduction to his +"Criminal Law," has fittingly said: "The responsibilities which devolve +on judicial tribunals are admitted. But a judge sitting in court is +under no higher obligation to cast aside personal motives and his likes +and dislikes of the parties litigant, and to spurn the bribe if +proffered than any other official person acting under a jurisdiction to +enforce laws not judicial. Happy will be the day when public virtue +exists otherwise than in name." It often happens with cases commanding +liberal fees and where the litigant has high regard for the legal +learning and ability of the colored lawyer, yet conscious of this +hindrance to a successful issue of his case, very naturally goes +elsewhere for legal assistance. Hence, as an advocate not having +inducement for continued research and opportunity for application of the +more intricate elements of the law, confined to petty cases with +corresponding fee, he is handicapped in his effort to attain eminence as +a jurist. It has been said that great men create circumstances. But +circumstances unavoidably produce great men. Henry Drummond is quoted +as saying: "No matter what its possibilities may be, no matter what +seeds of thought or virtue lie latent in its breast, until the +appropriate environment presents itself, the correspondence is denied, +the development discouraged, the most splendid possibilities of life +remain unrealized, and thought and virtue, genius and art, are dead." + +It should be the solemn and persistent duty of the race to contend for +every right the Magna Charta of the Republic has granted them, but it +might assuage the pang of deprivation and stimulate opportunity did he +fully know the stages of savagery, slavery, and oceans of blood through +which the Anglo-Saxon passed to attain the exalted position he now +occupies. Much of the jurisprudence we now have responding to and +crystallizing the best needs of humanity were garnered in this sanguine +and checkered career. It is said that the law is a jealous mistress, +demanding intense and entire devotion and unceasing wooing to succeed in +winning her favor, or profiting by her decrees. Yet, for student or +layman, the study is instructive and ennobling. It is an epitome of ages +of human conduct, the products, the yearnings, and strivings of the +human heart, as higher conceptions of man's relation to his fellow found +echo or inscription in either the common or written law. Locality, +nationality, race, sex, religion, or social manner may differ, but the +accord of desire for civil liberty--the "torch lit up in the soul by the +omnipotent hand of Deity itself"--is ever the same. Constitutional law +"was not attained by sudden flight," but it is the product of reform, +with success and restraint alternating through generations. It is the +ripeness of a thousand years of ever-recurring tillage, blushing its +scarlet rays of blood and conquest ante-dating historic "Runny Meade." + +It is well to occasionally have such reminiscent thought; it makes us +less pessimistic and gives life to strive and spirit and hope. We cannot +unmake human nature, but can certainly improve conditions by +self-denial, earnest thought, and wise action. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Previous to my resolve to settle in the South I had read and learned +much of politics and politicians; the first as being environed by +abnormal conditions unstable and disquieting--the class that had +established and controlled the economy of the Southern States; had been +deposed in the wage of sanguinary battle on many well contested +fields--deposed by an opponent equally brave, and of unlimited +resources; defeated, but unsubdued in the strength of conviction in the +rightfulness of their cause. A submission of the hand but not of the +heart. New constitutions granting all born beneath the flag equality of +citizenship and laws in unison adopted, and new officers alien to local +feeling were the executors. + +It is unnecessary here to remark that if a succession of love feasts had +been anticipated, they had been indefinitely postponed. + +For the officers of the new system were by their whilom predecessors +ordered to go "nor stand upon the order of their going," the bullet at +times conveying the order. Assassinations, lynchings, and reprisals by +both parties to the feud were of daily occurrence. The future for life, +liberty, and pursuit of happiness in busy city or sylvan grove, was not +alluring. My subsequent career makes it necessary for me to arise to +explain. Taking at the time a calm survey of the situation, an addition +to the column of martyrs seemed to me unnecessary. I believed in the +principles of the Republican party and as a private I was willing to +vote, work, and be slightly crippled; but had not reached the bleeding +and dying point. With such conclusions I resolved to come, and confine +myself to the pursuit of my profession and give politics a "terrible +letting alone." Oh, if abandoned resolutions were a marketable +commodity, what emporium sufficiently capacious and who competent to +classify! + +The organization of the Republican party of Arkansas was on the eve of +disruption. Its headquarters were in the building and over the law +office of Benjamin & Barnes, with whom I was reading. Violent disputes +as to party policy, leadership, and the distribution of the plums of +office were of frequent occurrence. I very distinctly remember the day +when the climax was reached and "the parting of the ways" determined. +The adherents of Senator Clayton and the State administration on the one +part, and Joseph Brooks and his followers on the other, coming down the +stairs--some with compressed lip and flashing eye, others as petulant as +the children who say: "I don't want to play in your yard; I don't like +you any more." It was the beginning of the overt act that extinguished +Republican rule in Arkansas. The factions led by Powell Clayton and +Joseph Brooks, respectively, were known as the "Minstrels" and "Brindle +Tails." + +Incongruity, being the prevailing force, possibly accounted for the +contrary character of the names, for there was little euphony in the +minstrelsy of the one or a monopoly of brindle appearance in the other, +for each faction's contingent, were about equally spotted with the sons +of Ham. My friends, Benjamin & Barnes, were prominent as Brindles, and +I, being to an extent a novice in the politics of the State, in a +position to hear much of the wickedness of the Minstrels and but little +of the "piper's lay" in his own behalf, fidelity to my friends, appalled +at the alleged infamy of the other fellows, susceptible to encomiums +which flattered ambition, I became a Brindle, and an active politician +minus a lawyer. + +In 1873 I was appointed County Attorney for Pulaski, and after a few +months' service resigned to assume the office of Municipal Judge of the +City of Little Rock, to which I had been elected. I highly appreciated +this, as exceedingly complimentary from a population of 16,000, a large +majority of which were not of my race. I entered upon and performed the +duties of the office until some time after the culmination of the +Brooks and Baxter war in the State. It having been announced that I was +the first of my race elected to such an office in the United States, it +was not without trepidation that I assumed the duties that the +confidence of my fellow citizens had imposed upon me for the novelty of +such an administration attracted attention. + +A judge who has to deal with and inflict penalties for violation of law +consequent upon the frailties and vices of mankind encounters much to +soften or harden his humanity, which may have remained normal but for +such contact. His sworn duty to administer the law as he finds it often +conflicts with a sense of justice implanted in the human soul, of which +the law, imperfect man has devised is often the imperfect vehicle for +his guidance; but nevertheless to which his allegiance must be +paramount, even when attempting to temper justice with mercy. + +Nowhere is so plainly presented as many of the various lights and +shadows of human character. Love and faithlessness, sincerity and +deceit, nobility and dishonor, kindness and ingratitude, morality and +vice--all the virtues and their antitheses take their place at the bar +of the court of justice and await the verdict, while truth and deception +strive for conquest; an honest son of toil arrested in a den of infamy +whither he has been decoyed and his week's earnings filched; his wife +in tears before you; the clash of prejudice when the parties litigant +were of opposite races; the favorable expectation of the rich, +prominent, and influential when confronted by the poor and lowly; humble +and conscientious innocence appalled when rigid law would mulct them in +fine and imprisonment; the high and the haughty incensed at discharge of +the obscure and indigent. In cases slight, where the justice of leniency +was apparent and yet the mandates of the law had to be enforced, I would +pronounce the penalty and suspend the fine during good behavior. But if +the culprit returned, mercy was absent. + +An incident in relation to the suspension of the fine will show that I +did to others as I would have others do to me: A member of the court was +at times irritable and vexatious. During a session there was a +misunderstanding, which, upon adjournment, growing in intensity, +resulted in my committing an assault. The chasm, however, was soon +bridged with mutual pledges. Nevertheless I requested the chief of +police to have charge entered upon docket, to come up at next session of +court, whereupon the judge, after expressing regret that the law had +been violated, fined Citizen Gibbs and suspended the fine during good +behavior, and, as the citizen was not again arraigned, it may be +presumed that his conduct was reasonably good, however doubtful may be +the presumption. + +I was fortunate in having the confidence of the community, always an +important adjunct to the bench, for it is not always that the executor +of the law has to deal with the humble of no repute. An old resident, +wealthy and prominent, was arrested and was to appear before me for +trial. During the interim it was several times suggested to me in a +friendly way that I had better give the case a letting alone by +dismissal, as it would probably be personally dangerous to enforce the +law, as he was known to be impulsive and at times violent. I heard the +case, which had aggravated features, together with resisting and +assaulting an officer, and imposed the highest penalty provided by law. +Those who had thought that such action would give offence little knew +the man. It being the last case on the docket for the day, descending +from the bench and passing, I saluted him, which he pleasantly returned, +without a murmur as to the justice of the fine. Subsequently, on several +occasions, he placed me under obligations to him for favors. Personally, +insignificant as I may have been to him, he recognized in me for the +time being a custodian of the majesty of the law, which he knew he had +violated. When it shall happen as a rule and not as the exception that +men will esteem, applaud and sustain the honest administration of the +law, irrespective of the administrator, a great step will have been +taken toward a better conservation of constitutional liberty. In +Arkansas the political cauldron continued to boil. In Powell Clayton +were strongly marked the elements of leadership, fidelity to friends, +oratorical power, honesty of purpose, courage of conviction, with +unflinching determination to enforce them. The late Joseph Brooks, an +ex-minister of the Methodist Church, and who secularized as a +politician, was an orator to be reckoned with. Sincere, scathing, and +impressive, his following was large and devoted. Senator Clayton, the +present Ambassador to Mexico, has outlived the political bitterness that +so long assailed him, and was lately guest of reception and banquet +given him and largely attended by Democrats, chiefly his political +opponents. + +The divided Republicans held their State convention in 1872. The Clayton +faction (the Minstrels) had for their nominee Elisha Baxter, a North +Carolinian by birth, and hence to the Southern manor born. This, is was +premised, would bring strength to the ticket. Joseph Brooks was the +nominee of the Brindle wing of the party, and a battle royal was on. +Although a minority of Democrats respectable in number joined the Brooks +faction, the majority stood off with wish for "plague on both your +houses," and awaited the issue. It was in my first of twenty-eight years +of recurrent canvassing. Many districts of the State at that time being +destitute of contact by railroads, made wagon and buggy travel a +necessity. + +[Illustration: HON. POWELL CLAYTON. + +Embassador to Mexico. + +Governor of Arkansas--United States Senator--Honest and Fearless, with a +Public and Private Life Beyond Reproach.] + +After nominations were made for the various State officers in +convention, appointments were made and printed notices posted and read +at church and schoolhouse neighborhoods, that there would be "speaking" +at stated points. + +The speakers, with teams and literature and other ammunition of +political warfare known and "spiritually" relished by the faithful, +would start at early morn from their respective headquarters on a tour +of one or two hundred miles, filling ten or twenty appointments. Good +judgment was necessary in the personal and peculiar fitness of the +advocate. For he that could by historic illustration and gems of logic +carry conviction in a cultured city would be "wasting his sweetness on +the desert air" in the rural surroundings of the cabins of the lowly. I +have heard a point most crudely stated, followed by an apposite +illustrative anecdote, by a plantation orator silence the more profuse +cultured and eloquent opponent. + +As he was still at his lesson on the duties and responsibilities of +citizenship, it was a study worthy the pencil of a Hogarth to watch the +play of lineament of feature, while gleaning high ideals of citizenship +and civil liberty amid the clash of debate of political opponents; +cheerful acquiescence, cloudy doubt, hilarious belief, intricate +perplexity, and want of comprehension by turns impressed the +countenance. But trustful in the sheet anchor of liberty, they were +worthy students, who strove to merit the great benignity. Canvassing was +not without its humorous phases during the perilous times of +reconstruction. The meetings, often in the woods adjoining church or +schoolhouse, were generally at a late hour, the men having to care for +their stock, get supper, and come often several miles; hence it was not +unusual for proceedings to be at their height at midnight. I was at such +a gathering in the lower part of the State, where Jack Agery, a noted +plantation orator, was holding forth, denouncing the Democracy and +rallying the faithful. He was a man of great natural ability and +bristling with pithy anecdote. From a rude platform half a dozen candles +flickered a weird and unsteady glare. Agery as a spellbinder was at his +best, when a hushed whisper, growing into a general alarm, announced +that members of the Ku Klux, an organization noted for the assassination +of Republicans, were coming. Agery, a born leader, in commanding tones, +told the meeting to be seated and do as he bid them. The Ku Klux, +disguised and pistol belted, very soon appeared, but not before Agery +had given out, and they were singing with fervor that good old hymn +"Amazing Grace, How Sweet It Sounds to Save a Wretch Like Me." The +visitors stood till the verse was ended, when Agery, self-controlled, +called on Brother Primus to next lead in prayer. + +Brother P. was soon hammering the bench and calling on the Lord to come +on His "white horse, and to come this very minute." "Oh," said the chief +of the night riders, "this is only a nigger prayer meeting. Come, let us +go." Scouts were sent out and kept out to see that "distance lent +enchantment to the view," and the political feature of the meeting was +resumed. + +The Negro is not without many of the prominent characteristics of the +successful politician. He is aggressive, conservative, and astute, as +occasion demands. Of the latter trait Hon. John Allen, ex-member of +Congress from Mississippi, and said to have been the prince of story +tellers, at his own expense gives this amusing incident. It was on the +occasion of the Carmack-Patterson contested election case. In beginning +his speech he called attention to Mr. Patterson's remarks. "Did any of +you," he said, "ever hear anyone pronounce a more beautiful eulogy on +himself than that just pronounced by Josiah Patterson? In listening to +it I was reminded of what my friend Jake Cummings once said about me. It +was in the great campaign of 1884. The Cleveland-Hendricks-Allen Club at +Tupelo had a meeting, and Mr. Taylor and Mr. Anderson spoke to the club +that night. As I chanced to be at home from my campaigning, I attended +the club meeting. After the regular speakers I was called for and +submitted some remarks about myself and my campaign. After I had spoken +the crowd called for Jake Cummings, a long, black, slick old Negro +carpenter, who lives in Tupelo. Jake's speech ran about this way: "Well, +gentlemen, it's gettin' kinder late now. I don't know as it's necessary +for me to say anything. You's heerd Mister Taylor and Mister Allen on +the general politics of the day. They's dun told you what sort of man +Blaine is, and what sort of a man Cleveland is. It don't look to me like +no honest man ought to have trouble in picking out the fittinest man of +them two. And then you's heerd Mister Allen on hisself, and he has +ricommended hisself so much higher than any the rest of us kin ricommend +him it ain't worth while for me to say nuthin' about him."" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +There is at present a lowering cloud on prospect of righteous rule in +many of the Southern States, but the relative rights and +responsibilities of equitable government, enunciated from desk in +church, schoolhouse, or from stump in grove by the Republicans during +and since reconstruction, have been an education to the poor whites, +hitherto ignorant and in complete political thraldom to the landed +class, and to the freedman a new gospel, whose conception was +necessarily limited to his rights as a newly-fledged citizen. +Nevertheless, they were the live kernels of equality before the law, +that still "have their silent undergrowth," inducing a manhood and +patriotism that is now and will more and more blossom with national +blessing. Friends regretfully and foes despairingly sometimes speak of +the tardiness of his progress. He will compare favorably, however, for +all history records that it is slowly, through the crucible of physical +and mental toiling, that races pass to an elevated status. For of serfs +he was not the least in his appreciation of liberty. + +Sir Walter Scott, in his note on English history during the reign of +George III, of the "colliers and salters, who were not Negroes," says: +"The persons engaged in these occupations were at the time bondsmen, and +in case they left the ground of the farms to which they belonged, and as +pertaining to which their services were bought and sold, they were +liable to be brought back by a summary process. The existence of this +species of slavery being thought irreconcilable with the spirit of +liberty, the colliers and salters were declared free, and put on the +same footing with other servants by the act of George III. But they were +so far from desiring or prizing the blessing conferred on them that they +esteemed the interest taken in their freedom to be a mere decree on the +part of the proprietors to get rid of what they called "head or harigold +money" payable to them when a female of their number, by bearing a +child, made an addition to the live stock of their master's property." + +If the fitness for liberty is the measure of persecution sustained in an +effort for its enjoyment, of that disciplinary process the freedmen have +not been deprived, for ever since his maiden attempt to exercise the +right of an American citizen he has encountered intense opposition and +physical outrage, all of which has been met by non-resistance and manly +appeal to the American conscience for protection; first from the "Ku +Klux band" of murderers, and subsequently against the vicious practices +to deprive him of his political rights, should establish his claim. +Nevertheless, after a third of a century of successful endeavor, +educationally and materially, efforts are being made in Southern States +for his disfranchisement and the curtailment of his education. On this +attempt George C. Lorimer, a noted divine and writer, in a late article +in "The Watchman," under the head of "The Educational Solution of Race +Problems," has this to say: + + "But may it not be that this reactionary movement rather + expresses a fear of education than a serious doubt of its + power? We must remember that conditions are peculiar in the + South, and, in some quarters, there exists a not unnatural + apprehension that Negro supremacy may prevail. To avert this + political catastrophe, extraordinary measures have been + adopted. To the difficulties that beset the Southern people we + cannot be indifferent, and neither should we assume that we + would act very differently, were we similarly situated. But we + think, in view of all the circumstances, that their position on + this subject exposes them to the suspicion that it is the + success of education they fear, and not its failure. This + apparent misgiving reasonably awakens distrust in the soundness + of their contention." + +It is assumed by many who oppose the educational solution that inferior +races are unassimilable in their nature to the higher civilization. +Proof is sought for in the alleged decadence or disappearance of the +Turanian people of Europe, the natives of South America, and the West +India Islands. But what is this civilization that is so fatal in its +operation? What do we mean by the term? What is that exalted something +before which African and Asiatic must perish? Does it consist in armies, +machinery, saloons, breweries, railways, steamboats, and certain +commercial methods that are fatal to truth and honesty. Baron Russell, +Lord Chief Justice of England, included none of these in his conception +of its character. He is recorded as saying: "It's true, signs are +thoughts for the poor and suffering, chivalrous regard and respect for +women, the frank recognition of human brotherhood, irrespective of race +or color, or nation or religion; the narrowing of the domain of mere +force as a governing factor in the world, the love of ordered freedom, +abhorrence of what is mean and cruel and vile, ceaseless devotion to the +claims of justice. Civilization in its true, its highest sense, must +make for peace." + +[Illustration: HON. PINCKNEY B. S. PINCHBACK, + +United States Senator. + +Born May, 1837--Educated at Gilmon High School, Cincinnati, +Ohio--Captain Co. A, 2d Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers--Member +of Constitutional Convention of Louisiana--State +Senator--Lieutenant-Governor--Editor and Lawyer--Able as a Statesman, +Eloquent as an Advocate, and Unflinching in Defense of Equal Justice.] + +Previous to the National Convention which nominated General Grant for a +second term, there had been held a conference of colored leaders, who +assembled at New Orleans to elicit opinion and divine the probable +course of the colored delegates at that convention. It was there I first +met that faithful, able, and invincible champion of the race, Governor +P. B. S. Pinchback and Captain James Lewis, my fellow-member of the "Old +Guard," who, true in peace as war, never surrendered. The conference, +though not great numerically, was strong in its mental calibre and +representative character, with Douglas, Langston, Cuney, and others who +have since passed to the great beyond. The colored office holders at +Washington under Grant were much in evidence and naturally eager for his +endorsement. + +There was much discussion, and while an ardent advocate for Brooks, I +could not follow his supporters--the Brindle wing of the party in my +State--in their choice of Horace Greely for President. My slogan in the +State canvass had been Grant for President and Brooks for Governor. The +wisdom of the conference determined upon a non-committal policy. It was +thought unwise, in our peculiar condition, to hasten to proclaim in +advance of the gathered wisdom of such an august body as a National +Convention. Hence, the conference concluded by setting forth by +resolutions, grievances, and a reaffirmation of fealty to the Republican +party. + +The result of the State election in Arkansas in 1872 was that Brooks got +the votes and Baxter the office, whereupon a contest was inaugurated, +terminating in civil war. The Baxter, or Minstrel, wing of the party, +with the view of spiking the guns of the Brindles, had, in their +overtures to the Democrats during the campaign and in their platform at +the nominating convention declared in favor of enfranchising the +Confederates that took part in the war against the Union. Baxter's +movement in that direction and his appointment of Democrats to office +created discontent in both wings of the Republican party, leading to +their union and determined steps for his removal and the seating of +Brooks, who, both factions now declared, was elected. The doctrine of +estoppel "cutting no figure" with the Baxter contingent. A writ of +ouster was obtained from Judge Vicoff, of the Circuit Court, which +Sheriff Oliver, accompanied by Joseph Brooks, J. L. Hodges, General +Catterson, and one or two others, including the writer, proceeding to +the State House and made service. + +No notice of such action having preceded, Governor Baxter was +ill-prepared for the announcement. After a short parley with his private +secretary, General McCanany, escorted by the Sheriff and General +Catterson down the stairway, they were met by Hon. J. N. Smithea, the +able editor of the "Arkansas Gazette." Leaving the building, they went +direct to the Antony House, on East Markam Street. Word was sent to A. +H. Garland, U. B. Rose, R. C. Newton, and other prominent Democrats, who +soon joined him in consultation. Governor Baxter immediately notified +President Grant of the situation and sent instructions to the custodian +of State arms at the U. S. Arsenal to honor none but his order for +delivery. Joseph Brooks was sworn in, and the two Governors made +immediate preparations for siege and defence. Main Street south from the +river to the boundary line of the city was the dividing line of the two +factions. Governor Baxter to the east on Markam Street, and Governor +Brooks, at the Antony House, to west; at the State House established +their respective quarters. + +A condition of unrest had pervaded the State for several months +preceding this event, and when the slogan of war was sounded the +respective adherents by hundreds from all over the State hastened to the +capital. On the morning following the "coup d'etat" a report reached the +State House that a company of colored men, commanded by Gen. King White, +from Pine Bluff, had arrived and was quartered on Rock Street. On the +assumption that the men were misinformed as to the merits of the +quarrel, it was proposed that they be interviewed. To do that was to +cross the line and enter the enemy's territory. It was not unlike the +query of the rats in the fable, Who shall bell the cat? I was solicited, +and, learning I had friends in the company, consented to go. Going south +on Center Street to cross the line by a circuitous route, I reached Rock +Street, and nearly the rendezvous. But the "best laid plans of men and +mice oft gang a glee." The emissary had been discovered and reported. +Approaching me at a rapid rate, mounted on a charger which seemed to me +the largest, with an artillery of pistols peeping from holsters, rode +General George L. Bashman, of the Baxter forces. Reining up his steed he +said, not unkindly: "Judge Gibbs, I am instructed to order you to leave +the lines immediately, or subject yourself to arrest." As formerly +intimated, and not unlike Artemus Ward, I was willing that all my wife's +relatives might participate in the glories and mishaps of war. Hence I +bowed a submissive acquiescence and returned. I appreciated the amity +expressed in the manner and delivery of the order--an amity of which I +have been the recipient from my political opponents during the thirty +years of my domicile in Arkansas. + +General Rose, who held command at the Arsenal, and had received +instructions from Washington to keep peace pending a settlement of the +controversy, with a detail of soldiers, had erected a barricade opposite +the City Hall on Markam Street and placed a piece of artillery on +Louisiana Street, pointing to the river. In the afternoon of their +arrival, General White's troops, headed by a brass band, marched on +Markam Street to the Antony House. While so doing a report became +current that they were preparing to attack the State House. General Rose +attempted to investigate and, with his orderly, rode rapidly on Markam +Street, across Main, toward the Antony House. At the moment a shot, +increasing into volleys, from combatants on either side, who primarily +were the aggressors was never known. It resulted in several casualties. +Colonel Shall was killed in the Antony House, and others within the +precincts of the City Hall and Metropolitan Hotel. Markam Street +suddenly assumed a Sunday-like appearance, the Brooksites seeking safety +in the State House and the Baxterites in the Antony. The feet of General +White's troops fought bravely. Three hours later it was announced that +they had made the fifty miles to Pine Bluff without a break, windless, +but happy. Each faction was deficient in arms to equip their adherents. +A company of cadets from St. John's College had been placed at the +service of Baxter. + +At the State University at Fayettville were stored rifles and +ammunition, the property of the State. Thither Col. A. S. Fowler, of the +Brooks forces, proceeded, and, with courage and diplomacy, succeeded in +obtaining and placing a supply on a flat boat, and commenced his trip +down the river. Information of this movement having reached the Antony +House, the river steamer Hallie, with a detachment of Baxter forces, was +dispatched up the river to intercept, and succeeded in passing the State +House without interference. The circuitous character of the river +enabled a company from the State House, by quick march, to overhaul it +at a bend of the river, a fusillade of whose rifle shots killed the +captain, wounded several others, and disabled the steamer, which was +captured and brought back to the State House. A restless quiet then +ensued, occasionally broken by random shots. + +In the meantime Governor Baxter had called an extraordinary session of +his legislative adherents, vacancies of recalcitrant Republicans filled, +the Brooks government denounced, and an appeal to the President for +support. All the records and appurtenances of the Secretary of State's +office, including the great seal of the State, were in possession of +Brooks at the State House. Information that a duplicate had been made in +St. Louis and was en route to the Antony House was received, whereupon +General D. P. Upham made application for a search warrant to intercept +it, a copy of which is as follows: + + "I, D. P. Upham, do solemnly swear that one Elisha Baxter and + his co-conspirators have ordered and caused to be made, as I am + informed, a counterfeit of the great seal of the State of + Arkansas, and that the same is now or soon will be in the + express office of the city of Little Rock, as I am informed, + and that the same is intended for the purpose of defrauding, + counterfeiting, and forging the great seal of the State of + Arkansas by the paid Elisha Baxter and his co-conspirators, and + to use the same for illegal and fraudulent purposes, against + the peace and dignity of the State of Arkansas, and I ask that + a search warrant may issue forthwith, according to law, to + search for and seize said counterfeit seal, wherever or in + whomsoever possession it may be found. + + "(Signed.) D. P. UPHAM. + + "Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of May, 1874. + M. W. GIBBS, + + "City Judge." + +The warrant was duly served and return made, with the seal. Baxter, +having now ignored the men who placed him in power, called around him as +supporters and advisers the brain and strength of the Democratic party. +Meanwhile each party had representatives in Washington, urging their +claims for recognition. As a party, the Republicans were at a +disadvantage. When Brooks, being elected, was contesting Baxter's right +to the Governorship, Baxter was supported by the leading and most +prominent republicans of the State, who swore "by all the gods at once" +that he and not Brooks was elected; but now they swore at once at all +opposing gods, who said that Baxter was. + +A committee of Brooks men, of whom the writer was one, was sent to +Washington to present the claims and conditions to the President. When +the train, en route, stopped at Alexandria a gentleman came hurriedly in +and, accosting another, said: "What do you think? Grant has recognized +Baxter." I did not learn the thought or hear the response, being +possessed immediately by a feeling not unlike the boy whose "piece of +bread and butter falls with the butter side down." We pursued our way to +Washington to find the report true. We called at the White House several +times, but the engagements of the President prevented an interview. Late +of an afternoon, sitting in my room on I Street, I saw the President +approaching slowly and alone. I put on my hat, and was soon with him, +and, with becoming salute, addressed him. General Grant, who was ever +accessible to the most humble, attentively listened, as we walked, to my +brief statement of our case. He replied that his sympathies were with +us, for he believed that Brooks was elected; but that his Attorney +General had given an opinion that the people, through the expression of +their last Legislature, had endorsed Baxter, and that he must acquiesce. + +That this avowal was sincere was shown by a subsequent message to +Congress on the subject, condemning the process by which the Democracy +had vaulted into power. When the dispatch from Washington recognizing +Baxter was received at the Antony House the faithful, while making the +welkin ring, made immediate preparations to take undisturbed possession +of the State House. The march of Governor Baxter and his adherents to +the capital was made, as imposing as had his former exclusion been +humiliating. A band playing inspiring music not unlike "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes," and stepping to the air came an array, led by +General King White, on horseback, with flags flying, animated and +exhilarated with all the pomp and circumstance of a victorious legion, +entered and occupied the building which Brooks and his following, +defeated and depressed, had vacated, in obedience to the President's +mandate. The prospect for their rehabilitation seemed shadowy, but, with +that hope said "to spring eternal in the human breast," they had +resolved to carry their contest to Congress. + +It may be properly said of Joseph Brooks, as of Charles II, "His +fault--and no statesman can have a worse one--was that he never saw +things as they really were. He had imagination and logic, but he was an +idealist, and a theorizer, in which there might have been good if only +his theories and ideals had not been out of relation with the hard +duties of a day of storm." + +There was opportunity for him to have secured the approval of the Poland +Committee. But the tenacity of his ideal of no concession allowed it to +pass. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +In 1874 a constitutional convention was called and a new constitution +adopted. At the State convention of the Democratic party for the +nomination of State officers Baxter was the favorite for re-election as +Governor, and probably would have been the choice, had not the more +astute politicians put the United States senatorial "bee in his bonnet," +which induced a letter, fervid and patriotic, declining the nomination. +Baxter was confiding and honest, but not an adept in the wily ways of +the politician. Augustus H. Garland was elected Governor, and in the +United States senatorial race Baxter was "left at the stand." It was +then, as it oft happens, that-- + + "God and the soldier all men adore, + In time of war, and not before. + When the war is over and all things righted, + God is forgot, and the soldier slighted." + +[Illustration: HON. AUGUSTUS H. GARLAND + +A learned jurist, broad and humane. A member of the Confederate +Congress--Governor of and United States Senator for Arkansas--A member +of President Cleveland's Cabinet--Evidencing in every position, that it +was a selection "fit to be made."] + +Augustus H. Garland was a Senator in the Confederate Congress in 1861, +succeeding Baxter as Governor, then United States Senator from Arkansas, +and subsequently a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet, evidencing +in every position that it was a selection "fit to be made" not only for +his ability and attainments as a statesman, but for rugged honesty of +purpose and broad humanity as a man. Taking the reins of government at +the zenith of a successful revolution, when violence sought +gratification, desire rampant for prosecution and persecution, Governor +Garland, by a conservative policy, soothed the one and discouraged the +other--a policy early announced in his first proclamation, an extract of +which is as follows: "Should there be any indictments in the courts for +past political offences, I would suggest and advise their dismissal. Let +people of all parties, races and colors come and be welcomed to our +State and encouraged to bring her up to a position of true greatness." +His friendship I highly esteemed, and, learning of his demise, could not +but submit the following token: + + "Tamatave, Madagascar, + "April 17, 1899. + + "Editor Little Rock Gazette: + + "Sitting in the Consulate, way down on the banks of the Indian + Ocean, the Gazette comes to me laden with expressions of sorrow + on the passing of my friend, ex-United States Attorney General + A. H. Garland. Truly, 'a great man has fallen.' In him the + nation has lost an eminent statesman and Arkansas a most + distinguished citizen, celebrated for his intellectuality and + valued services to the Commonwealth. I said 'my friend,' and I + reiterate, in no platform sense of that term. Twenty-five year + ago I was municipal judge of the city, at the time when the + conflict for party ascendancy was most intense. When passion + struggled for the mastery, as Governor, he was in reality to me + a friend. During his residence at the capital I have never + visited Washington without seeking and as promptly receiving + his kindly greeting. On several occasions his services, eagerly + given, were most helpful. He was not only mentally eminent, but + morally great. + + "Ever approachable, he was a manly man, with courage of + conviction, and, while urging them with a zeal born of honest + belief, had the inestimable faculty of winning adherents by + strength of presentation, blended with suavity of manner. He + was conspicuous in this, that his broad soul expanded with + tender and affectionate regard for the poor and humble. + Reserved in manner, magnanimous and catholic in a spirit that + embraced the 'world as his country, and all mankind as his + countrymen.' So in the archives of memory I make haste to lay + this small tribute to a departed friend, who still seems as + 'one long loved and but for a season gone.'" + +I was present, but not a delegate, at the convention that nominated +General Grant for a second term, at the Academy of Music, in +Philadelphia, in 1872. + +The proceedings, reported and published, of a National Convention are +always interesting, but lose much of the impression and force of +actuality with which an auditor and spectator is affected. The gayety +and magnetism of numbers, the scintillations of brain in special +advocacy, followed by tumultuous accord. The intensity, the anxiety +depicted, while results far-reaching and momentous are pending, furnish +a scene vivid and striking that cannot be pictured. Here is being formed +the policy of a party which is to be subjected to the winnowing fan of +acute and honest criticism, and by denunciation by opposite parties, +striving to obtain the administration of the Government, the fiat of +which and the selection of the standard-bearer constitute the claim for +the suffrage of the people. They are the preparatory cornerstones of +self-government, fashioned and waiting for the verdict of the nation. + +Committees on platform and resolutions are generally composed of the +radical and conservative elements of a party, so that, while the canvass +is up and on, it shall have steered between "the rocks of too much +danger and pale fear" and reached the port of victory. Experience during +the period since last it met may have had much to do with silence or +brief mention of the heretofore darling shibboleth with which they were +wont to inspire the faithful, rally the laggards, or capture converts. +"Consistency, thou art a jewel" that dazzles, confuses, but doth not +bewilder the ordinary politician, who can allow a former policy +noiseless and forsaken to sink into the maelstrom of neglected and +unrequited love. Prolific in schemes is the procedure of a minority +party, not the least is the selection of a standard-bearer, who has been +the most sparse and reticent in utterance, hence a record the least +assailable, that extracts from his opponents the exclamation of one in +Holy Writ, "Oh, that mine enemy had written a book." + +Among the men who made mark at the convention above referred to was +Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, styled the "War Governor," for the +patriotism and alacrity which he summoned his State in response to the +national call, caught up and followed by every loyal State during the +Civil War. A confirmed invalid, with lower limbs paralyzed, with massive +head and inspired brain, assisted by two servants to a chair to the +front of the platform, he made the speech of the convention. Another +novel incident was the occupation of the platform of a National +Convention by Afro-Americans. The Late Hon. William H. Gray, the +faithful and eloquent leader of the colored Republicans of Arkansas, and +the late Hon. R. B. Elliott, Congressman from South Carolina, were +invited to speak. + +A few of their well-chosen words in exordium were as follows: + +Mr. Gray said: "Gentlemen of the Convention: For the first time, +perhaps, in the history of the American people, there stands before you +in a National Convention assembled, a representative of that oppressed +race that has lived among you for two hundred and fifty years; who, by +the magnanimity of this great nation, lifted by the power of God and the +hands of man from the degradation of slavery to the proud position of an +American citizen." + +Mr. Elliott said: "Gentlemen of the Convention: It is with great +appreciation of the compliment paid my State that I rise to respond to +your invitation to address you. I stand here, gentlemen of the +convention, together with my colleagues from the several States, as an +illustration of an accomplished fact of American emancipation, not only +as an illustration of the management of the American people, but as a +living example of the justice of the American people." + +The speeches of which the foregoing are but a part of their +introduction, expressive of gratitude and fidelity, a conception of the +needs of the hour, delivered with an eloquence that charmed, elicited +hearty response, the Academy echoing and re-echoing with the plaudits of +the vast assembly. At each National Convention of the Republican party +representatives of the race have shown not alone oratorical power, but +an intelligent grasp of the political situation. At this period of +General Grant's nomination, the nation's heart still jubilant with the +success of the Federal arms; its conscience awakened by the dread +penalty paid by contributions from every loyal hearthstone for the +subjugation of slavery, was now eager and active in providing that the +Negro who had been faithful in peace and heroic in war, should enjoy the +rights of an American citizen. It was history repeating itself, for in +England's history we read that it was Henry at Ajincourt who said: "Who +this day sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother; were he +ne'er so vile, today shall gentle his condition." For the Civil War, as +it matured, became no ordinary case of political contention; the soul of +its suppression sprang from the most sacred impulses in the mind of man. +It was response to the self-retort of Cain that came echoing down the +ages, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Answer came in shot and shell. + +But as time receded from these historic epochs, engrossed more and more +in national development, mercantile aspirations, internal improvements, +rivalry of parties, self-aggrandizement--in short, all the agencies and +factors inseparable from human nature that influence on material lines, +have effaced much of the general solicitude that formerly existed. This +decadence of purpose is not unnatural; a wardship is a duty, and should +not be a continuous necessity, its greatest blessing a consciousness +that its ideals and purposes have been assimilated by its wards, and +lifted higher in humanity's scale. Too much dependence is as hurtful as +entire neglect. The more persistent the call for the forces within the +greater the response from the assistants without. The lethargy or +neglect to give the Negro protection in the exercise of his +constitutional rights is developing a spirit of self-help and intensity +of purpose, to find and adopt a course and measures remedial that may be +practical and efficient; to ignore the sentimentality of politics and +subordinate them to conditions irrespective of party. He has found that +"the mills of the gods grind slowly;" that the political lever needs for +its fulcrum a foundation as solidly material as equitably sentimental. + +Proclaim brotherhood, justice, and equal rights ever so much, men will +nod acquiescence with a mental reservation of "but," significant of "Who +are you? What can you do, or what have you done?" It is your current +life's answer to these interrogatives that most interest people in this +material world in your behalf. Only as we increase in commercial +pursuits, ownership of property, and the higher elements of production +through skilled labor will our political barometer rise. Upon these we +should anchor our hopes, assured that higher education, with its +"classic graces, will follow in their proper places." + +Of the latter a humorous writer, in answer to the question from the +president of an Eastern college, "Is there any good reason why our sons +should not study the dead languages?" said: "While our sons are not on +speaking terms with many live languages, it ill becomes them to go +fooling around the dead and dying. I do not think it necessary that our +sons should study these defunct tongues. A language that did not have +strength enough to pull through and crawled off somewhere and died, +doesn't seem worth studying. I will go further, and say I do not see why +our sons should spend valuable time over invalid languages that aren't +feeling very well. Let us not, professor, either one of us, send our +sons into the hospital to lug out languages on a stretcher just to study +them. No; let us bring up our sons to shun all diseased and disabled +languages, even if it can't be proved that a language comes under either +of those heads; if it has been missing since the last engagement, it is +just as well not to have our sons chasing around after it with a +detective, trying to catch and pore over it. You may look at it +differently, professor. Our paths in the great realm of education of +youth may lie far apart; but it is my heartfelt wish that I may never +live to see a son of mine ride right past healthy athletic languages and +then stand up in the stirrups and begin to whoop and try to lariat some +poor old language going around on a crutch, carrying half of its +alphabet in a sling. If two-thirds of the words of a language are flat +on their back, taking quinine, trying to get up an appetite, let us +teach our sons that they cannot hope to derive benefit from its study." + +But Lord Rosebery, ex-Premier of England, in a late address before the +University of Glasgow on "Questions of Empire," in the following, on +action and learning, takes a serious view: + + "There was a time, long years ago, when the spheres of action + and learning were separate and distinct; when laymen dealt hard + blows and left letters to the priesthood. That was to some + extent the case when our oldest universities were founded. But + the separation daily narrows. It has been said that the true + university of our days is a collection of books. What if a + future philosopher shall say that the best university is a + workshop? And yet the latter definition bids fair to be the + sounder of the two. The training of our schools and colleges + must daily become more and more the training for action, for + practical purpose. The question will be asked of the product of + our educational system: Here is a young fellow of twenty; he + has passed the best years of acquisition and impression; he has + cost so much; what is his value? For what, in all the manifold + activities of the world, is he fit? And if the answer be not + satisfactory, if the product be only a sort of learned mummy, + the system will be condemned. Are there not thousands of lads + today plodding away at the ancient classics, and who, at the + first possible moment, will cast them into space, never to + reopen them? Think of the wasted time that that implies; not + all wasted, perhaps, for something may be gained in power of + application; but entirely wasted so far as available knowledge + is concerned." + +And in keeping with this line of thought, the "Washington Post," of +Washington, D. C., in a recent issue, makes the following pertinent and +truthful mention: + + "Almost without exception, the colleges and universities are + beginning another year with unusually large classes. Many of + these institutions report the largest number of matriculates in + their history. The aggregate attendance is unquestionably + greater by thousands than that of any previous year. This is + due in part to the prevalence of business prosperity and in + part to the steadily increasing approbation of higher education + for women, while the natural increase of population is also + something of a factor. The 'Cleveland Leader,' speaking of the + reports of large classes of freshmen all over the country, + says: + + "'That appears to be the best and most conclusive reply which + the American people can make to those gentlemen of wealth and + prominence who, like Mr. Schwab, of the Steel Trust, discourage + higher education as preparation for the life of the business + world. It is the solidest kind of evidence that the old love of + knowledge for its own sake and the old faith in the beneficial + effects of college training upon the youth of a country having + such a government and social organization as this Republic has + developed remain as strong as ever.'" + +To which the Post replies: + + "That is somewhat hasty and a probably erroneous conclusion. + The "higher education" which Mr. Schwab discourages, the + old-time classical course, has not grown in popular favor. The + reverse is true. The demand for a more practical education in + this utilitarian age has compelled the colleges and + universities to make radical changes in their curriculum. The + number of students who elect to take the old-time course is + smaller in proportion to the population and wealth of this + country than it ever was. Science, both pure and applied, takes + a far more prominent place in collegiate studies than it + formerly occupied. Many of the leading institutions of learning + have introduced a commercial department. Everywhere the + practical, the business idea is becoming dominant. + + "While no intelligent man questions the value of classical + studies or disputes the proposition that a knowledge of the + classics is indispensable to a thorough understanding of our + own language, the area of practical study has become so vast, + by reason of new discoveries in science and the arts, that a + choice between the two is compulsory to young persons who have + their own fortunes to make. The old-time course of mathematics + and classics furnishes splendid mental discipline, with much + knowledge that may or may not put its possessor on the road to + success in business. But the time required for that course, if + followed by a three or four years' term of practical study, + sets a young man so far along in life that he has a hopeless + race with younger men who dispensed with the classical and went + in zealously for the practical. + + "The change from the old to the new lines of education is even + more marked in the common schools than in the colleges and + universities. The practical begins in the free kindergarten and + runs with more or less directness through all the grades. + Millions are expended upon industrial training. The business + high schools are a great feature of the free school system. All + this is comparatively new. It has come because of the + necessities of an industrial age. + + "'Knowledge for its own sake' is becoming more and more a + luxury, in which the sons and daughters of the rich indulge, + while the representatives of families that are merely well to + do feel that they must acquire knowledge for practical uses. + And this tendency is likely to continue, for, as we have said, + the field of the practical is expanding. Take, for example, + electricity and its uses. All that was known of this subject in + the time of our grandfathers could be learned in a few days or + weeks. To be an up-to-date electrical scientist and practical + electrician in 1901 means that years have been devoted to hard + work." + +The crude notion held by some, that in far-off climes, to the American +Negro unknown, who, with small capital and limited education; with an +inherited mental inertia that is being dispelled and can only be +eradicated by contact with superior environment, that there awaits him +peace, plenty, and equality, is an ignis fatuus the most delusive. Peace +is the exhaustion of strife, and is only secure in her triumphs in being +in instant readiness for war; equality a myth, and plenty the +accumulation of weary toil. + +With travel somewhat extensive and diversified; residence in tropical +latitudes of Negro origin, I have a decided conviction, despite the +crucial test to which he has been subjected in the past and the present +disadvantages under which he labors, nowhere is the promise along all +the lines of opportunity brighter for the American Negro than here in +the land of his nativity. For he needs the inspiriting dash, push, and +invincible determination of the Anglo-Saxon (having sufficient of his +deviltry) to make him a factor acknowledged and respected. But the fruit +of advantage will not drop as ripe fruit from the tree; it can be +gotten only by watchful, patient tillage, and frugal garnering. +Ignorance and wastefulness among the industrious but uneducated poor +render them incapable to cope with the shrewd and unprincipled. The +rivalry to excel in outward appearance and social amenities beyond the +usual moderate means on the part of the educated is a drawback to any +people, but one disastrous to the Negro in his march through arduous +toil and restricted conditions to financial independence. + +[Illustration: REV. JOSEPH A. BOOKER, + +President of Arkansas Baptist College, and Editor of the "Vanguard." +Born 1859, at Portland, Arkansas--Studied at Branch Normal +College--Graduated At Roger Williams' University, Tennessee, Mainly by +His Efforts this College Only on Paper in 1887, has now Grounds and +Buildings Worth over $50,000 and Several Hundred Students.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +At the Arkansas State election in 1876 I was selected as Presidential +elector, receiving the highest vote on the Republican ticket. The +national election of that year was followed by the memorable canvass of +the contested vote for Rutherford B. Hayes, which was ultimately settled +by a commission appointed under the Compromise Bill, which was passed by +Congress in January, 1877, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina +declaring for Hayes. That the compromise was the result of an agreement +that the United States troops should by withdrawn from Southern soil +cannot be doubted, and for so doing he was bitterly criticised and +denounced by many of his party, resulting, as it did, in the transfer of +those States in the South from Republican, by continuous and unblushing +disfranchisement, to Democratic rule. + +President Hayes, not unlike many of historic fame, may have been "born +before his time;" that his action in removing U. S. troops was immature, +a continuation and increase of intimidation and violence abundantly +proved. At what period of their remaining on Southern soil would have +been a fitting time for removal, is an enigma hard to elucidate. Their +retention ultimately rested with the sentiment and judgment of the +nation. In the South the menace of their presence was galling and +increasing in intensity. The North was daily growing averse to the +bivouac of troops over a people who swore that they were on terms of +"peace with all the world and the rest of mankind." Would compulsion +soften animosity? Hayes was undoubtedly honest and sincere, but not of +that class of epoch-making men who anchor on the right, await and buffet +the advancing storm. Conciliation coyed as gently as loving dove his +mate, while within easy reach glistened the jewel "President" of a +fraternized Republic. + +There are possibly men who would have spurned the enchantress. But an +array of figures and ability to enumerate would not be sorely taxed in +finding the number. I was among those at that period who saw the +inutility of depending on physical force to extract justice and lawful +methods from an unwilling constituency; that the reaction from a forced +compulsion in the moral world was as evident and unfailing under the +conditions as from compression in the physical. I was hopeful of good +results, and so expressed myself in an interview with the President. He +replied that he was "sincere in his policy, and should adhere to it +unless it seemed impracticable that the policy of force and musket had +been tried in the South and had failed and public sentiment now demanded +a change." We had and have the change, and it would have been a bright +jewel in the autonomy of many of the Southern States had it been more +liberal and righteous. + +[Illustration: PROF. I. G. ISH. + +Principal of High School, Little Rock, Arkansas. An Erudite Scholar and +Zealous Tutor.] + +History, as a record of the lower to a higher status of civilization +increases in intensity and value as it records superior conditions, and +the degree of unrest and earnestness of appeal for the abrogation of +oppression is indicative of the appreciation and fitness for the rights +of citizenship. + +It should be remembered that as it became men dowered with the proud +title of American Citizen, the Negro has not been remiss in stating his +grievances and appealing for justice. To have done less would have +banished sympathy and invited contempt. In Arkansas and some other +Southern States there is a growing demand for the forms of law and the +maintenance of order, and, while not attaining the zenith of +accomplishment, it will be observable when contrasted with the +lawlessness depicted in the following resolutions of a convention of +colored men held in Little Rock August 29, 1883. They contain views and +convictions I there presented, the equity of which 'tis fondly hoped +have not been lost by lapse of time: + +"Be it resolved, That this convention of colored men of the State of +Arkansas have still to complain that violence and injustice to their +race still exists to an alarming extent. In most cases the perpetrators +go unwhipped of justice. That when they are arraigned the law is +administered with such laxity and partiality that the escape of the +criminal is both easy and possible. In no instance is the penalty of the +law enforced against a white man for the murder of a Negro, however +palpable the case may be; whilst in most instances the bare accusation +of a Negro committing a homicide upon a white man is sufficient for law, +with all its forms, to be ruthlessly set aside and the doctrine of +lynch, swift and certain to be enforced. + +"Case after case is chronicled by the press of Negroes hung by +infuriated mobs without trial to determine their guilt or innocence. The +farcical proceedings at law in their inefficiency of prosecution, the +selection and manipulation of jurors, and the character of public +sentiment have had painful illustration in several cases, and but +recently of Johnson, the colored man murdered in this, the capital +county of the State. The homicide of this man, a servant at a picnic, of +a Christian society of white people, and in their presence, without +provocation, was universally admitted. Notwithstanding, a jury of twelve +men, with almost indecent haste, finds the murderer not guilty. A +verdict fit to shock the sense of every friend of right and justice. +Robinson, a white man, for killing a colored man because his victim +asked for the return of money loaned, received but two years in the +penitentiary. Burril Lindsey, a colored farmer, who had homesteaded land +in Van Buren County and had commenced cultivation, was waited upon and +told he must leave; that they would have no "niggers" in the settlement. +They came back at midnight and broke down his door. One of the mob, +lying dead on the threshold was Burril Lindsey's response. The press of +our city--to their honor be it noted--said he did the proper thing. +Respectable men in the neighborhood who knew Lindsey said the same. But +yet, after being harrassed by threats and legal persecution for months, +a jury found him guilty of an assault with intent to kill, and six years +in the penitentiary at hard labor is the penalty for defending his home. + +"Homicide has no local habitation; it is the accident of every +community, in every nation, and the justice and impartiality with which +the law is administered is the measure of their humanity and +civilization. But here we have the spectacle of the press, pulpit, and +rostrum of the State, with exceptions scarcely to be noted, either +entirely dumb or a mere passing allusion, more often in commendation +than censure. We are positive in our confidence that those, and only +those who expose and denounce and lay bare this conduct, and thereby +create a sentiment that will lessen this evil, are the only true friends +to the State's moral as well as its material progress. That the attempt +to deny and evade responsibility does not meet the issue in the minds of +thoughtful men, who believe that no life is safe where the humblest is +unprotected. + +"We insist that value of the colored brother as a tiller of the soil, +the increasing thrift and economy conceded in securing homes and taxable +property, their favorable comparison (by fair judgment) with any other +classes as to their moral and law-abiding character, should at least +merit justice in the courts, and we ask for him consideration and fair +settlement for labor. For where could superiority and nobility of +character be better displayed than by generous treatment to the former +bondsmen. That the better element of the Democratic party do not favor +this lawlessness we are continually assured. But the ugly fact stands +out in bold relief that they are unable or unwilling, with forces of +wealth and intelligence, to create a healthier sentiment. To them, and +just men everywhere, we appeal to assist in bringing the moral power of +denunciation against this great wrong, that impartial justice shall be +the law for every citizen of the Commonwealth; and that the president +and secretary be empowered to sign a petition in behalf and as the +earnest request of this convention for presentation to his Excellency +the Governor, asking executive clemency in the pardon of Burril Lindsey, +now incarcerated in the penitentiary, under a sentence of six years." + +The Governor was graciously pleased to pardon him, but for personal +safety he was compelled to abandon his homestead and leave the State. + +For some time a general unrest among the colored people on account of +violence had permeated the South, and thousands of the most substantial +planters had already settled in Kansas, Indiana, and other Western +States to enjoy legal protection hitherto denied them. Upon the question +of Negro emigration the white South were divided. The planters and +leading politicians were adverse. The planter for the reason that he +could not supplant him by more efficient and tractable labor; the +politician for fear of reducing Congressional representation, each +regardless of the conditions creating his discontent. A minority +respectable in numbers and prominent for standing, approved of his +removal, alleging that the movement would be mutually beneficial, that +it would induce white immigration, relieve the congested overproduction +of the staples of the Southern States, introduce a higher class of +industries, and simplify the so-called problem by removing the bugbear +of Negro domination by means unobjectionable. + +Of this class of opinion the "Nashville American," of the State of +Tennessee, was a fair exponent. In its issue of May 9, 1879, it had this +to say: "We rather rejoiced at a movement which will bring about a +better understanding and teach both races a lesson they ought to learn. +To the Negro it is simply a question as to whether he will be better off +there or here. If there, he ought to go; if here, he ought to stay; and +this simple economic proposition will settle it." + +This, the sentiment of the best Southern thought, encountered an adverse +which, while unwilling to grant the Negro the right of an American +citizen, maltreated and imprisoned immigrant agents; desiring his +retention in a specious of serfdom. Such being the conditions existing +at the time of the meeting of the Nashville Conference in 1879, induced +it by resolution to request Senator Windom, Chairman of the National +Executive Committee, to appoint a committee to visit the Western States +to ascertain what inducement they offered for immigration. + +In pursuance whereof I received the following, containing words of +wisdom warranting their insertion here: + + "United States Senate, + "Washington, D. C., Jan. 10, 1879. + + "My Dear Sir: In compliance with the resolution of the + Nashville Convention requesting me, as Chairman of the National + Executive Committee, to appoint a committee of three to visit + Western States and Territories and report, not later than the + 1st of November, upon the health, climate, and productions of + said States and Territories, I have the honor to designate you + as one of the number of said committee. In doing so I may add + that the duty involves great labor and responsibility on your + part and requires the exercise of that sound discretion for + which you are noted among your friends. The exodus of the + colored people involves the greatest consequences to themselves + and should only be undertaken after the most careful inquiry + and preparation. If judiciously guided and regulated, I am + thoroughly convinced that it will result in great good. If not + so regulated, it may cause incalculable suffering to the + colored race, and work great injury to the industrial interest + of the South. If the Negro can have fair treatment as a citizen + and a man in his present home, he will probably not care to + remove. If he cannot obtain such treatment there, it is his + right and duty to secure it by every means in his power, and no + one has the right to say he may not change his residence at his + own will and pleasure. + + "Your proposed inquiry will contribute much to inform and + control the action of those who may desire to emigrate and your + discretion gives the best assurance that no rash action will be + advisable. I regret the committee has no funds at command to + pay your necessary traveling expenses. + + "Hon. James P. Rapier, Member of Congress, of Montgomery, + Alabama, I have also designated as a member of said committee, + but I am not sufficiently advised to name the third member. + + "Very respectfully yours, + + (Signed.) "WM. WINDOM, + + "Chairman. + + "Mifflin W. Gibbs, Little Rock, Ark." + +It often happens that distance lends enchantment to the view; that while +contending with hardship, disappointment, and earnest toil, we are apt +to imagine that at some far locality, amid new surroundings, there +abides a reign of contentment and happiness, where labor has its highest +rewards and where there is a minimum of those trials inseparable from +human existence. The gratification of this migratory impulse has in many +instances proved disastrous, the yielding to which should be only +indulged after every possible effort has been made to remove local +obstacles by uprightness, softening animosities, and by industry +accumulate wealth. But emigrants have been illustrious as nation +builders, their indomitable spirit blessing mankind and leaving impress +on the scroll of time. The bump on the head of the Negro that the +phrenologists call "inhabitiveness" is very prominent; he is not +naturally migratory--"content to bear the ills he has, than fly to those +he knows not of." Hence there appeared reason, if not entire "method in +his madness." + +[Illustration: HON. JOHN P. GREEN. + +United States Stamp Agent. + +Educated at Cleveland, Ohio--A Leading Member of the Bar--Twice Elected +to the Senate of the Ohio Legislature.] + +In all movements of like character there are always conflicting rumors +and reports as to success or failure of the benefit or loss of the +venture, and this was no exception. Colored immigrants to the number of +10,000 had left the South during a brief period, and the wildest rumors +circulated as to reception and success of these forerunners, and, as bad +news is ever alert, much was heard that was discouraging and demanded +investigation; hence the action of the Nashville Conference referred to. +In pursuance of our appointment, J. T. Rapier and myself, in August, +1879, went to Topeka, Kan., and from there, chiefly by wagon travel, +visited different colonies of the immigrants. Kansas had received seven +or eight thousand. At Topeka we found nearly 100 at immigrant camp +receiving rations, some sick, others looking for work; the balance had +settled on lands or had found work as laborers. At Dunlop we found a +colony of 300 families settled upon 20,000 acres of land. In Wabunsee +County 230 families had settled on their land, while in Lawrence and +other counties hundreds had found work. Mechanics receiving $2 to $2.25 +per day and farm hands $13 to $15 per month and board. We found women in +great demand for house servants from $6 to $8 per month. + +In our interviews with the colonists we found the list and nature of +their grievances were the same as have impelled men in all ages to +endeavor to better their condition, and should five or ten thousand, +for a period, annually leave the South and settle in Western States and +Territories, the effect would be mutually beneficial to whites and +blacks alike. In Emporia we found the colony in a very prosperous state. +Out of 120 families one-half owned their houses and land on which they +lived. We remained twenty days in Kansas and had not opportunity to +visit Indiana and other States that had received immigrants. But the +information we received, with few exceptions, was similar to that of +those visited. There had been suffering and destitution in some +localities during the past winter; that was to be expected, as many had +come wholly unprepared and without that push and ready adaptation to the +status of a new country. + +We made an extended report to Senator Windom, which contained data as to +the success and prosperity of the many and advice to the moneyless to +avoid the suffering which might lie in wait. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +In 1877 I was appointed by the President Register of the United States +Land Office for the Little Rock District of Arkansas. The State was +blessed with a valuable patrimony, by having at the time of its +admission into the Union an extensive area of agricultural, besides +thousands of acres of swamp, school and other lands, under State control +and disposition. The United States Government had reserved many millions +of acres, which under its homestead law became available for applicants +for 40, 80, or 160 acres. No economy of the Government has been more +fruitful in substantial blessing upon the industrious poor than throwing +open these lands for entrance and ownership of homes by the payment of a +nominal fee for recording and proof of actual settlement thereon. + +The renowned and lamented Robert J. Ingersoll, once, while extolling the +benignity and patriotic effect of the homestead law, said: "Who do you +suppose would take up arms to defend a boarding house?" The opportunity +to enjoy the ownership of a home strongly appeals, not alone to our +avarice, but to the instincts of our nature. For here is located the +citadel of our hopes and fears, our joys and griefs; here congregated +are ties the most sacred, and a love devoted. It is the ever-burning +light, the steady heat-giving impulse, and inspiration to deeds of +domestic utility or of noble daring. For its protection the heart leaps +and the arm strikes. Hence, for domestic felicity, or national autonomy, +the home is an experience, and for liberty a conservator. Having these +convictions during my 12 years' service in the Land Office as Register +and afterwards as Receiver of Public Moneys, I was earnest in my +endeavor to have the poor of all classes enter these lands. On the +political stump at every election, while having as my mission the +political ascendancy of my party, I always felt it a duty to dwell +impressively upon that theme. Upon asking all those living on their own +lands to hold up their hands, the gleam of pride on the countenances of +many of my colored auditors as, standing tiptoe, with hands at arms' +length, was shared by me, and a stimulus to the luke-warm, for on +subsequent visits I would find an increase of holdings. + +For the Negro ownership of land and home is not only an important +factor, in his domestic life, for as taxpayer, there is a mutuality of +interest between himself and other members of the body politic, business +and trade seek him, it impels reverence for the law, and protection of +the public peace. His own liability to outrage becomes small. His +character for credit increases in the ratio of his holdings, and while +manhood suffrage is the professed but often disavowed legacy for all +born beneath the flag, his rights of citizenship are more often +accorded. + +While in the Land Service of the United States there were many examples +of heroic conduct by colored settlers worthy of the highest praise. Many +of them, emigrants from other Southern States, seeking better +conditions, and arriving with barely sufficient to pay entrance fee, and +nothing to sustain them in their fight with nature to clear their +heavily-wooded land and fit it for cultivation. Hiring to others for +brief spells, as necessity compelled them, to obtain small stocks of +food and tools, five years after entrance, when they proved up their +holdings and got their deeds, found them in comfortable log or frame +houses of two or more rooms; sheds, with a cow, calves, swine, and +poultry, and ten or more acres under cultivation, according to the +number and availability of labor in their families. And, best of all, +better than the mere knowledge of success, themselves crowned with that +pride of great achievement ever and only the result of rigid self-denial +and incessant toil. + +In the National Republican Convention held at Chicago, June, 1880, was a +contest that will be ever memorable as pertaining to a third term for +the Presidency. + +Landing at San Francisco, September, 1879, from his tour of two years +around the world, and the honored guest of the crowned heads of Europe, +General Grant's travel through the States was a continued ovation. On +his arrival at Little Rock, Ark., citizens from all over the State +hastened to do him honor, culminating with a banquet at the Capitol +Hotel. The gathering was democratic in the best sense of that word, +political lines were erased, Republicans and Democrats vieing with each +other in giving the distinguished man a fitting reception. Nor were +social lines adhered to, the writer being a guest and responding to the +toast "The Possibilities of American Citizenship." + +At the Arkansas Republican State Convention in 1880 I was elected a +delegate to the National Convention of June 2 of that year. As a memento +I highly prize my bronze medal proclaiming me as one of the historic +"306" that never surrendered--compact and erect, "with every gun shotted +and every banner flying," went down with General Grant in an +unsuccessful effort to nominate him for a third term. It was there that +Roscoe Conkling made the nominating speech in behalf of the General that +will live in history, stirring the hearts of the immense audience to a +climax of patriotic fervor. When he said, "Should you ask from whence he +comes, the answer it shall be, He comes from Appomattox and the famous +apple tree." + +The fiat of the Convention was an illustration of the ephemeral +character of cotemporary popular acclaim. Ambitious rivalry, the +anticipations of envy, the bitterness of disappointed office seekers +during two former Administrations, the honest belief of the timid that a +third term for one soever trustworthy presaged and paved the way to an +imperial monarchy; the mistakes unavoidable from misplaced confidence, +happening in the career of all men and inseparable in the administration +of government--all these elements, although incongruous in their nature +and make-up, when they conspire are a formidable factor, and as such +accomplished his defeat. Though dead, Ulysses Grant still lives on; the +attributes of his personal nobility as a man, his patriotism as a +citizen of the Republic, his ability and clear perspective as a +statesman, his genius as a warrior, his magnanimity and kindness to a +chivalrous, heroic but fallen foe, will ever typify his greatness in +civic virtues and valiant deeds. + +The manner of General Grant's defeat was peculiar. The name of James A. +Garfield, the successful nominee, and in political parlance the "dark +horse" (undoubtedly foreplanned but kept in the shade), was suddenly +sprung upon the Convention and amid a whirlwind of excitement quickly +received adherents from the opposition which increased in volume at each +successive balloting, until the climax was reached that gave General +Garfield the coveted prize. For some time there was much bitterness, +and interchange of compliments more emphatic than polite. Within the +party charges of infidelity to promises were rife. But the second sober +thought of a wise conservatism, which is ever evidence and measure of a +people's civilization, tempered strife and assuaged the pangs of +disappointment. He was handsomely supported and elected, and on the 4th +of March, 1881, was inaugurated as President, amid acclaim, with promise +of a successful Administration. But upon what a slender thread do human +plans rely! Scarcely had five months elapsed when President Garfield was +assassinated by Charles Guiteau, a man of no repute, and emblems of +sorrow drooped throughout the nation. This national calamity +necessitated the second inauguration of a President during the year +1881. The then Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur, was duly installed +September 30 of that year. His execution of the duties of that high +office, assumed under conditions intricate and most trying, disarmed +criticism by its wisdom and ability. + +When a prospective candidate for re-election in 1884 the press of New +York, having solicited expressions of fitness from delegates to the last +National Convention, I was pleased with the opportunity to make this +small contribution. + + Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 1, 1884. + + Dear Sir: + +"I but voice the sentiment of the country when I say that I consider the +Administration of President Arthur has been signalized by its justice, +eminent statesmanship and wise discretion." + +Such was the tenor of mention, but much more pronounced, by men of the +party, and Mr. Arthur's nomination previous to the assembling of the +next Presidential Convention seemed a foregone conclusion. + +Nothing I can write will fittingly describe the personnel of James G. +Blaine, who was to be the prime feature of the Convention on nomination +day. As a man in the field of statesmanship and in intensity of +devotion, he was more idolized than any since his prototype, Henry Clay. +With political erudition was blended an eloquence inspiring and +fascinating; a nobility of character often displayed as the champion of +the weak; a disputant adept in all the mazes of analysis, denunciation, +or sarcasm, he had created antipathy as bitter as his affections were +unyielding. While Speaker of the House, with his counterpart in +eloquence, Roscoe Conkling, he had many tilts. One of the most noted and +probably far-reaching in impeding his Presidential aspirations, was his +defense of General Fry, whom Conkling sought to have impeached, but who +was successfully vindicated and afterwards promoted by the War +Department. During the struggle Conkling hurled a javelin of taunt and +invective, incisive, but thought to be unjust, inducing a response said +to have been terrific in its onslaught, confounding the speaker and +raising excitement in the House to the highest pitch. I transcribe an +epitome of the speech, which will be seen to have bristled with galling +ridicule: "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm, I hope he will not be +too severe. The contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting, +his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic supereminent, +overpowering turkey-gobbler strut, has been so crushing to myself and +all the members of this House that I know it was an act of the greatest +temerity for me to enter upon a controversy with him." Then, quoting +ironically a newspaper comparison of Mr. Conkling and Henry Winter +Davis, ascribing qualities held by them in common, he proceeded: "The +resemblance is great, and it has given his strut additional pomposity. +The resemblance is great, it is striking--Hyperion to a satyr; Thersites +to Hercules; mud to marble; dunghill to diamond; a singed cat to a +Bengal tiger; a whining puppy to a roaring lion. Shade of the mighty +Davis, forgive the almost profanation of that jocose satire!" + +But James G. Blaine, that master of diplomacy and magnetic fame, with an +astute following inspired and wild with gilded promises; the nominating +speech of Robert J. Ingersoll, prince of orators, lauding the nominee as +"like a mailed warrior, like a plumed knight"--all these forces +contributed to turn the tide from Arthur and give him the nomination. I +was one of a lonely three of the Arkansas delegation that stood by the +State's instructions and voted for Arthur, nine of the delegation voting +for Blaine. For obeying the State and not the after conclusion of the +delegation, in my next race for a delegate I was "left at the stand." + +My failure reminded me of the boy--a humble imitator of the great George +Washington--who hacked to death a choice tree. When asked who did it, +jolly, gushing and truthful, said, "I did it, pap." The old man seized +and gathered him, stopping the whipping occasionally to get breath and +wipe off the perspiration, would remark: "And had der imperdence to +confess it." The boy, when finally released, between sobs sought solace +by saying, "I will never tell the truth again as long as I live." I did +not conclude that one should be false to an implied promise with +instructions received, but I was impressed with the conviction that it +is unwise to trammel a delegation with decisive instructions. A general +expression of the feeling or bias of the State Convention is proper, but +so much can happen during the interim to change conditions that ultimate +action should be largely left to the judgment and integrity of the +delegation. + +The manner of choosing a President is entirely different from that +designed by the founders of the republic. The selection of candidates by +an organized party was not anticipated. It was intended that men of +high character should be chosen by the citizens of each State as +electors, and they should select the men they deemed most fit to be +President, and the selection thereafter ratified by the vote of the +people. An elector now is but the mouthpiece of his party; no matter +what may be his individual judgment, he dare not disregard its fiat. The +result of the national election was the defeat of Mr. Blaine and the +election of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland +had an independent personality and the courage of his convictions. +Affable and cordial in his intercourse with Afro-Americans, and to those +of his political household was prodigal in the bestowal of appointments. +The effect of this was that many colored men, leaders of thought and +race action, not seeing an increase of oppression, so freely predicted +in the event of a Democratic President, advocated a division of the +colored vote, with a view of harmonizing feeling and mutual benefit. A +welcoming of that approach in the South may be deferred, but will yet be +solicited, despite its present disloyalty to the fourteenth and +fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The closing decade of the past century was conspicuous for exhibitions +of products of nature and skill intended to stimulate a country's +consumption, but mainly to increase exportation; for a nation, not +unlike an individual, that buys more than its resources warrant, +bankruptcy is inevitable. Hence the industrial struggle of all +progressive nations to produce more than they consume, export the +residue and thereby add to the national wealth. + +The United States not only excels in the magnitude of natural +productions, but in skill in manufacturing articles. The vast stretch of +agricultural lands for natural products, superiority of mechanical +appliance, and the expertness of American workmen herald the supremacy +of the United States for quantity, quality and celerity. For Yankee +ingenuity has not only invented a needed article, but has invented a +"thing to make the thing." + +National and State expositions for the extension of American commerce +and development of State undertakings have been marked features of +American enterprise, creating a national fraternity, and stimulating +domestic industries. While the financial motive is ever in the forefront +and the impetus that gives it "a habitation and a name," the moral +effect is the reflex influence of contact, the interchange of fraternal +amenities that ripen and become helpful for the world's peace, progress +and civilization. At the present time Consuls of our Government inform +the State Department that agents of American manufacturers of steel, +electric apparatus, city railroads and improvements in machinery are in +evidence in Europe to an extent hitherto unknown. The directors of the +World's Exposition held at New Orleans, La., in 1884, gave a pressing +invitation to Afro-Americans to furnish exhibits of their production +from farm, shop and home. The late B. K. Bruce, having been created +Chief Director, appointed commissioners for the various States to +solicit and obtain the best specimens of handicraft in their respective +localities for "The Department of Colored Exhibits," and to which the +following refers: + + Washington, D. C., Aug. 13, 1884. + + Hon. M. W. Gibbs, + + Little Rock, Ark. + + Dear Sir: + +By virtue of authority vested in me as Chief Director of the Department +of Colored Exhibits of the World's Exposition, I have nominated you for +Honorary Commissioner for the State of Arkansas. It is unnecessary for +me at this time to make any suggestions relative to the importance of +managing this business in a manner that will reflect credit on all +immediately concerned and our people in general further than to say that +my heart is thoroughly in the work. I will communicate with you from +time to time, after being advised of your acceptance, giving necessary +information and instructions. + +Hoping that you will undertake the fulfillment of the trust, I am, + + Very respectfully and truly yours, + + B. K. BRUCE, + Chief Director. + +I therefore accepted, and proceeded to canvass my State urging the great +opportunity offered to show our progress in industry and culture, on the +fields of nature or within the realms of art. The movement was a novel +one, and the leading colored men and women in the different sections of +the State had much to do to awaken the interest that resulted in a very +commendable showing. + +One of the specialties of these expositions was what was designated as +"Emancipation Day," or colored people's day, for the two-fold purpose of +directing the attention of the general public to race advancement, and +inducing a larger attendance of the class directly concerned, and +thereby stimulate race pride for greater achievements. With some of our +brethren this appointment of a particular day seemed derogatory to +their claim of recognition and equality of citizenship, and evoked +considerable discussion. In this I thought some of us were unduly +sensitive. Where intention can be ascertained it should largely govern +our estimate of human action. This exposition was not only open each and +every day to our people, but we were constantly invited, and the few who +attended were most cordially treated and our exhibits were properly +placed without distinction. + +The directors of the exposition were gentlemen known to be most liberal +in their dealings with us, and regretted the small attendance, remarking +that aside from our patronage, the exhibits would be beneficial as +object lessons, educating and inspiring, and proposed a +day--"Colored-People's Day." It was not unlike in design and effect +"Emancipation Day" at the Minneapolis Exposition, where noted colored +leaders from various States attended and spoke, and were not impressed +that it was derogatory to the race. + +We have a deal of "gush" about recognition. A demand for +recognition presupposes a rightful claim based upon an inherent +interest--deportment, special fitness, or legal right. In politics we +rightfully claim recognition in the ratio of our numerical contribution +to the body politic, and from public carriers, for the reason of +performance of our part of the contract. + +[Illustration: PAUL LAWRENCE DUNBAR. + +Born in 1872 at Dayton, Ohio--Author and Poet--The Foremost of his Race +for Versatility in the Field of Literature--His Poetry and Prose are +Read in Every Clime Where Men Love Truth and Nature the More For Being +Clothed in Beauty of Diction, or Quaintness of Dialect--He has Published +a Number of Books.] + +In our demand for a more extended recognition on these material lines, +we should first remember that our contributions are generally meager, +and that these exhibitions are quite the product of the business +ventures and expenditure of our "brother in white," and then brace up +and thank Providence that excessive modesty will never "strike in" and +kill the Negro. We have the men, the money and the ability to do much, +very much more, on many business lines that are now almost exclusively +followed by our more prosperous fellow-citizens. No man in our country +need beg for recognition; he can compel it if he labors assiduously and +takes advantage of opportunity. It can be truly said of Little Rock that +the press and leading citizens have been more just and liberal to her +colored citizens than any other Southern city. I well remember when her +institutions relating to commerce, literature, professions, Board of +Trade, Real Estate Exchange, bar and lyceum were open to us, whilst +two-thirds of their members were our political opponents. These required +but a moderate yearly outlay, repaying, largely, in the amount of +information received. Scarcely any availed themselves of these +opportunities. If for any reason we do not wish to profit by these +overtures, when these trees bear let us not insist upon receiving the +choicest of the fruit. + +At an indignation mass meeting some time ago a good brother reached the +climax of the grievance and then exclaimed: + +"How long, O Lord, are we to bear these discriminations?" + +"For some time longer," I answered, and then said: "All things +considered, we are making progress, and will continue in the ratio we +obtain education and wealth, and come forward in the incipiency of +public enterprises with our money and practical knowledge from the best +possible sources; and, although race identity still exists, the +antagonisms and much of the prejudice of which we now complain will be +buried under higher activities and greater enterprises--when we have +more bank and railroad stock, fewer high-sounding societies, such as +"The Seventeen Stars of the Consolidation," "The Rising, Persevering +Free Sons of Joshua"; more landlords and fewer tenants, more owners of +plantations and fewer share-workers, more merchants and fewer dudes, +more piety and less religion, more economy and less wastefulness, more +confidence and less envy. I simply rise to submit these as irresistible +claims to a higher recognition." I succeeded in making my escape, for +which I was thankful. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Previous to the exposition at New Orleans in 1885, Mr. Henry Brown, of +Oberlin, Ohio, visited the Southern States to obtain information as to +the views and desire of leading colored men regarding the establishment +of "Schools of Trade" in the South where the race could become +proficient in all the mechanical arts. He came at the suggestion of +philanthropic men of capital in Northern States, who thought by such +special means colored men and women could have an opportunity to equip +themselves with handicraft, denied them by the trades unions and other +influences in the country. + +On his presentation of the project in Little Rock, it being so +completely in line with my view of a factor so important for the +uplifting of the race to a higher manhood and financial standing, I +eagerly co-operated. It was determined to take advantage of the +attraction of the exposition at New Orleans, issue a call for a +conference at that point, and thereby have a representative gathering to +obtain their views. I therefore proposed, had printed and issued the +following: + + +CALL FOR A CONFERENCE ON "SCHOOLS OF TRADE." + +"Emancipated, turned loose, poor, ignorant and houseless, continually +surrounded by difficulties and embarrassments sufficient to appall and +retard, by commendable effort on their part, sustained by the generous +aid of philanthropists friendly to education, our race in the South has +made gratifying advance, mentally and morally. But with this progress of +mind and morals, we are confronted with the need of opportunity to +qualify ourselves for those activities and industries necessary to make +a people prosperous and happy. Our great want now is 'cunning hands' to +accompany cultured brains. After obtaining the benefit of our public +schools our boys should be fitted for some useful and profitable means +of livelihood. The restrictions engendered by trades unions, and the +obstacles of race prejudice concur to make it impossible for them to +obtain trades in the workshops of the country. Therefore, we need +industrial schools where our youth can qualify in the various mechanical +pursuits and thereby ennoble themselves, and add value to the State. For +the establishment of these "schools of trade" we require a united effort +and should make earnest appeal to the philanthropy of the nation. + +"In view of this vital necessity the undersigned do hereby call a +conference, without distinction, of delegates appointed by mass +meetings in cities and counties; presiding officers of colleges, +principals of schools, bishops, and leading ministers; editors and +publishers friendly to the movement are also invited to meet at New +Orleans, La., January 15, 1885, for expression on this subject. Signed, + + "M. W. Gibbs, Little Rock, Ark.; Hon. J. C. Napier, Nashville, + Tenn.; A. De Pose, New Orleans, La.; Hon. J. C. Clousen, + Charleston, S. C.; Rev. B. F. Tanner, Philadelphia, Pa.; Joseph + Carey, Galveston, Tex.; H. C. Smith, Cleveland, Ohio; W. G. + Simmons, Louisville, Ky.; Peter H. Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio; + Hon. B. K. Bruce, Washington, D. C.; P. A. Bell, San Francisco, + Cal.; J. W. Cromwell, Washington, D. C.; J. Henri Herbert, + Trenton, N. J.; Hon. Henry Demas, New Orleans, La.; Rev. E. + Lee, Jacksonville, Fla.; W. H. Russell, Indianapolis, Ind.; F. + L. Barnett, Chicago, Ill.; A. H. Grimke, Boston, Mass.; E. N. + Overall, Omaha, Neb.; H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.; Hon. James + Lewis, New Orleans, La.; John S. Leary, Fayettville, N. C.; + Hon. Fred Douglass, Washington, D. C.; T. Thomas Fortune, New + York; Rev. M. Van Horn, Newport, R. I.; Lloyd G. Wheeler, + Chicago, Ill.; J. W. Birney, La Crosse, Wis.; M. M. McLeod, + Jackson, Miss.; George T. Downing, Newport, R. I.; D. Augustus + Straker, Columbia, S. C.; Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, New Orleans, + La.; Peter Joseph, Mobile, Ala.; H. O. Wagner, Denver, Colo.; + Hon. W. A. Pledger, Atlanta, Ga.; H. Fitzbutler, Louisville, + Ky.; J. L. Walker, Atchison, Kan.; E. P. Wade, St. Paul, Minn.; + F. G. Barbadoes, Washington, D. C." + +As a duty, mingled with pleasure, by this humble means I reproduce a +record of the names of men who in the last century were intent upon +every occasion to promote the welfare of the race, many of whom were +conspicuous in their battle for justice and the betterment of their +fellow man, thus fitting themselves for harmonies of a higher clime, +have now "quiet sleep within the grave," while with the residue "life's +shadows are meeting" and will ere long "be lost to sight," with, let us +hope, their memory only dimmed by greater activity and deeper +consecration by their successors for the ideals they cherished. Ever +loyal, we should not-- + + "Rob the dead of their sweet heritage, + Their myrrh, their wine, their sheet of lead and trophies buried"-- + +but-- + + "Go get them where they got them, when alive, + And as resolutely dig or dive." + +[Illustration: BLANCHE K. BRUCE, + +Late United States Senator, Register of the United States Treasury. + +Born a Slave in 1841 in Virginia--Studied at Oberlin--Sergeant-at-Arms +of the Senate of Mississippi--Elected United States Senator in +1874--President Garfield Appointed Him Register of the Treasury May, +1881--A Record Honorable and Inspiring.] + +With the departed was Hon. B. K. Bruce, who, living to manhood under the +blighting influences of slavery, by honesty, native ability and +persevering study, placed his name in the forefront, leaving his career +as a model. With an astuteness of perception for the retention of +friends, he had suavity of manner for the palliation of foes; with +diligence and faithfulness winning a constituency that honored him with +a seat in the United States Senate. + +The conference called at New Orleans, La., to promote industrial +education, above referred to, failed to be fruitful. Members of +different religious organizations, without suggestion that their +particular sect would furnish a modicum of the large expenditure +necessary to the establishment of such "schools of trade," strove to +have the movement inaugurated, and launched under some particular +denominational control. + +Mr. Brown, whose only object in desiring to have a conference, was to +elicit an expression from leading colored men, an earnest desire for +such "schools of trade," and helpful suggestions, looked on the needless +strife with amazement and regret, and finally determined, as unity of +purpose and a proper conception of what was needed were so sadly +lacking, to abandon such an instrumentality to favor his purpose. + +It can be properly noted here that among the many helpful signs of race +advancement not the least is a broader fraternalization of our religious +bodies, an increasing tolerance, indicative of greater intelligence, the +product of a more widely discriminated educated ministry. Our churches, +being our largest organizations numerically (and greatest of moral +educators), having the ear of the masses, their opportunity and growing +disposition to unite for the material as well as the spiritual progress +of our people, cannot be too highly commended. + +Industrial fairs, promulgated and held by the colored people in +different Southern States, have been exceedingly beneficial and cannot +be too often repeated. Several have occurred at Pine Bluff, Ark., on the +extensive race and fair grounds owned by Mr. Wiley Jones, who, with Dr. +J. H. Smith, Ferdinand Havis and other prominent colored men of the +State, by executive ability, tact and judgment made them a success. + +The following notice is from a correspondent of the Arkansas Gazette: + + "Pine Bluff, Ark., Oct. 21, 1886. + + "This, the third day, of the fair was sunny and bright, and the + hearts of the management were correspondingly light. Even + before the gates were open a long array of teams were seeking + admission. The executive officers were early at their posts and + no time was lost in beginning the exercises of the day. + President J. H. Smith won golden opinions by the pleasant yet + firm manner he performed his duties. This morning the Capital + Guards were formally received by the Colored Industrial + Association. + + "Judge Gibbs, of Little Rock, delivered the welcome address, + which was a very eloquent and scholarly effort. + + "He first praised the directors of the fair for their wonderful + success, and said it argues well for the future of the colored + people in that they have had extended such cordial support; + that nations were influential in the ratio of their + agricultural and mechanical development, and that the array of + production here made proclaimed in hopeful tones that 'we are + coming.' + + "He recognized in the formation of the Capital Guards a hopeful + omen. Drill develops precision and accuracy, aside from + physical development; discipline is invaluable in inculcating + the idea of subordination, without which no constitutional + government can long exist. Even if they never come within the + reach of fiery shot and shell, they would be benefited, and if + war's stern summons swept over the land, he felt confident that + no more ready response would be made by any class than by the + Negro." + +Captain Thompson responded in behalf of his company, and alluded to the +whole-souled hospitality that had been bestowed upon them by the +authorities of the fair and the citizens generally. The Press +Association had by their speeches proclaimed that the "pen was mightier +than the sword," which he denied; "that the independence of this country +from the thraldom of England was won by Washington's sword, and that +Lincoln's pen only became effective after the sword had paved the way. +It was a recognized arbiter in the disputes of nations, although the pen +could render secure what the sword had won." The Captain put his company +through several evolutions that were very creditably performed. + +In affairs of this character the comingling of the substantial and best +element of the white race, their liberal subscriptions and fraternal +endeavor, give impetus and valuable assistance, emphasizing the fact +along the lines of a higher industrial advancement that they are in +hearty sympathy. We cannot too often have these object evidences of our +progress. They speak loud and convincing far beyond oral announcement +the most eloquent. It stimulates the farmer to extra exertion and more +careful measures for increase of quality and quantity of his crop; it +inspires the artisan and mechanic for his best handiwork, and welcomes +articles the product of our cultured and refined women from the realms +of the home. We need this continued stimulus, shut out as we are from +most of the higher industries, the incentive born of contact, and which +promotes rivalry, to us is denied; hence our inspiration must be inborn +and unceasing. + +In the economy of God and nature, His handiwork, prominent is "the +survival of the fittest." The fittest survive because they excel. +Whether within the student's study or the mechanic's bench, it is +excellence that counts and heralds its own superiority. If we desire not +only the best personal success, but to be helpful to the race, it is not +enough for one to be known as doctor, lawyer, mechanic, or planter; but +it is upon what round of the ladder of science mechanics or agriculture +he stands. Is he above mediocrity; does he excel? The affirmative answer +to this is the heroic offspring of self-denial and unceasing mental +toil. + +A feature of attraction at these fairs has been the drill and martial +bearing of our military companies, for while jubilant in the "pride and +pomp and circumstance of glorious war," the measure of praise for +precision of manouver of the soldier is only excelled by commendation +for his bravery in action. The colored citizen took quiet pride and much +interest in these companies and were saddened when many were commanded +by the State authorities to disband. The motives which conspired and +demanded their dissolution were not commendable, but ungrateful, for the +Negro soldier in every war of the Republic has been valorous, loyal, and +self-denying, and has abundantly earned a reputation for discipline and +obedience to every military requirement. + +The organization of these companies, furnished with State arms, +authorized and under the patronage of the government of many of the +Southern States, created an "esprit d'corps," a fellowship and worthy +ambition conducive to harmony and the general welfare. + +Political friction, no doubt, had much to do with their displacement. +But now the Democracy, so long in power, with majorities in many of +these States almost cumbersome, could well afford to allow and patronize +these conservators for peace and efficient protectors in war, who are +ever ready to say, as Jehu to Jonahab, "Is thy heart right, as my heart +is with thine heart? If it be, give me thine hand." + +Previous to a Presidential campaign I attended a meeting of leading +colored Republicans at New Orleans, La. It was not called as a strictly +political conference in the interest of any particular candidate, but to +exchange views and hear suggestions relating to pending legislation in +Mississippi and South Carolina for curtailing, if not abolishing Negro +suffrage in those States. Although the political condition of the Negro +was then and continues to be of such moment that at no intelligent +gathering will it fail to "bob up" and demand a hearing, and this was no +exception. While the claims of Reed, Morton, Allison, Harrison, and +McKinley were freely discussed, the suffrage was the leading topic. + +Prominent among the attendants were T. T. Fortune, of New York; N. W. +Cuney and E. J. Scott, of Texas; W. A. Pledger and H. E. Johnson, of +Georgia; P. B. S. Pinchback, James Lewis, and J. Madison Vance, of +Louisiana; Stevens, of Alabama; Stevens, of Louisville, Ky.; E. Fortune, +of Florida; C. W. Anderson, of New York, and others. + +[Illustration: TIMOTHY T FORTUNE. + +Editor and Publisher of "New York Age." + +Born in Jackson County, Florida, October 6, 1856--Polished and Able--On +the Staff of the White Press at Metropolitan Centers--The Most +Aggressive and Trenchant Writer of the Negro Press.] + +The late N. W. Cuney, of Texas, was a man of commanding presence, +forceful and emphatic as a speaker; honest, tireless and +self-sacrificing. His sterling qualities as a leader of men grows +brighter as time recedes from his demise. + +Fearless in enunciation, the timid thought him impractical. But there is +ever this concerning unpopular truth: When it induces honest thought +that burns to be spoken, you can depend it is not confined to a single +possessor; it has habitation in many hearts. But he alone is the "leader +of leaders," who, with Eolian harp or trumpet call summons its +worshipers. Among matters discussed was the charge that Negro +delegations were a marketable commodity, with no convictions as to +national policy, no regard for manly probity, and were ever at the beck +of the highest purchaser in the political market. Such a sweeping charge +is most unjust; but, if granted, the admission cuts deeply in the +opposite direction, requiring no analysis to discover the preponderance +of venality. It may happen between the receiver of stolen goods and the +thief that impulse to steal is sometimes weakened by uncertainty of +market. The Negro delegate has no market to seek; the market is jammed +under his nose at every turn by immaculate white men, often entrusted +with large sums to be placed "where it will do the most good," report to +those interested the purchase of Negro votes, when such was not the +fact. Satisfied they had placed it where it would do them the most good, +by allowing it to rest in their pockets, this was not only hard on the +Negro, but mean to charge him up with it, then not let him have it. To +say there were no colored men susceptible to such advances would be as +idle as to say there were no white men thereby influenced; but in either +case let us hope it was the exception and not the rule. + +Conferences for statement and appeal for removing harsh conditions are +historic, ante-dating and creating constitutional government; for, +implanted in the hearts is a consciousness of right, however much +selfish hate may shut out recognition, or avarice stifle its egress, and +the measure of accord granted just claims of the petitioner is the moral +and Christian status of a commonwealth. + +It may be noted here that the character of accord given the Negro in his +now severe battle for justice and equality before the law by the +Christian churches and other organizations is of a peculiar kind. While +the benefactions for moral and Christian education is to him +indispensable, it is not the kind most prominent and effectually +practiced by the Divine Master to dissipate wrong. He forbids the cry of +peace when there is no peace. He was aggressive and distinct. The +peculiarity of accord can be accounted for in this, that it is so much +easier for the well-to-do Christian to donate to the Negro than by word +or pen to denounce the wrongs to which he is subject. Wrong smiles +complacently at any mode save direct attack. It is not in silent +acquiescence, but on the forum of agitation and denouncement, that +reform finds lodgment, so sadly needed in many of the States where he is +the victim of lawlessness and murder, his ballot suppressed, and denied +representation. The partiality and indecent haste with which he is tried +and almost invariably sent to the penitentiary, where as convict he +receives the most barbarous treatment. As a people no one denies that +they are law-abiding; as laborers in all the avenues of industry in +which they are capable they are faithful and honest: as patriots at the +incipiency and duration of the Government they have been faithful and +brave. If, then, in the roll of patriots, citizens and producers, they +have maintained character for fidelity, deportment and industry, surely +they can rightly claim and demand as citizens of the Republic protection +from outrage, justice in the courts and in every way equality before the +law. They ask for nothing more, and would be unworthy to be content with +any less. + +The cry of "Negro domination," like the "baseless fabric of a vision," +has as little foundation. The problem to be solved is not what is or +shall be the status of the colored man born beneath the flag, but +whether the forces of Christian civilization, the genius and spirit of +our Government, impartiality in the execution of law, without let or +hindrance, are equal to the performance of their missions, or are only +"sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." That is the problem for our white +fellow-citizens to solve. That which most troubles the Negro is has the +nation sufficient Christianity and regard for justice to allow these +forces to prevail? The assumption that citizens of a common country +cannot live together in amity is false, denying as it does that lawful +citizenship is the panoply and bulwark of him who attains it, that +should vindicate and shield him, whether he be high or low, at home or +abroad, whenever or wherever his civil rights are invaded. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +Never in the history of conventions was there recorded such evidence of +unswerving fidelity by an equal number to the nominee of their choice as +that shown at the National Convention in 1880, when General Grant's name +was before the assembly. Ordinarily when a leader is nominated for +ballot his supporter's are faithful as long as his prospects are +inviting, but at the first evidence of decadence no flock of partridges +scamper more readily to find cover. For years his birthday has been +celebrated by a reunion of the 306 who, from the first to the last of +sounding of the 36th ballot, stood with ranks solidly closed and courage +undaunted. At such a reunion at Philadelphia, in 1893, eighty were +present, and with speech, reminiscence and good cheer "a feast of reason +and a flow of soul," time sped "till the wee sma' hours." Of the colored +delegates, Mr. Ferdinand Havis and the writer were present. + +Mr. Havis, of Arkansas, "to the manor born," deserves more than mere +mention as the representative of a class in the South. + +He is a gentleman of fine qualities of head and heart. As a member of +the Arkansas Legislature in 1873 and Clerk of Jefferson County for many +years, he has by honesty as an official and courtesy of manner made an +unimpeachable record, and was only dethroned "by fraud and force and +iron will." During his leadership of Jefferson County, where +three-quarters of all voters are colored, he was ever conservative and +regardful of the views and business interests of the numerically weak +but financially strong minority of Democrats, and by supporting a +compromise ticket that gave most prominence to the minority sought to +preserve harmony. But the efforts of such men have proved unavailing to +stem the tide of political usurpation, now rampant at many places in the +South. + +The greatest menace to representative government is not solely the +disfranchisement of the Negro, for according with the eternal verities +there cannot be a continued disregard for the ballot in his hand and +protection for his life, and respect for them in the person of the white +man. Under the genius of our Government the rights of claim and exercise +are linked and interlinked. + +This truth stands out in bold relief on historic page, and should the +future historian record the dismemberment of the Republic, he will +indite its decay from the commencement of the violation of this basic +principle of civil government, his being but another link in the +evidence that rapidity of material, without equality of moral, +advancement is ever attended with national decline. + +Meanwhile, it is the duty (which is ever the highest policy) of the +Negro to be patriotic in his devotion to his country, manly in his +appeals for justice, and wise by discarding, by word or action, the +fomenting of strife; ever on the alert to close the breach by increase +of intelligence, moral worth and financial progress, and thus in great +measure dissipate ignorance, vice and poverty, the abolition of which +can be assisted, but not dispelled, save by a spirit of self-sacrifice +on his part, subjecting his lower nature to the control of the higher. +With such effort, united to a faith in God and the American conscience, +he will yet soften ascerbities, dispel hindrance, and stem the tide. + +Philanthropy may assist a man to his feet, but cannot keep him there +unaided by self-effort and an unconquerable will power to stand; while +relinquishing no part of his claim upon his white brother as recompense +for more than a century of unrequited labor, if with an equal chance for +work, education and legal protection, he cannot not only stand, but +advance, exertion in his behalf is "love's labor lost," he having no +rights worthy of respect. + +But in no fair mind can there exist doubt as to his advancement. A +people nine-tenths of whom 40 years ago did not legally own themselves +or property, now having 140,000 farms, homes and industries worth +$800,000,000; a people who, for a century previous to emancipation, were +by law forbidden to learn to read or write, now have 3,000,000 children +in 27,000 schools, and have reduced their illiteracy 45 per cent., have +school and church property to the amount of $50,000,000, contributing +themselves thereto $20,000,000; have written 300 books; have over 250 +newspapers issued each week. His comparative success as merchant, +mechanic or other line of industry which he is permitted to enter, +speaks for itself, and finally, with per capita valuation of $75. Yet, +in face of such statistical evidence, there are not wanting the +Tillmans, Morgans, Burke Cockrans and other seers of a Montgomery +convention, who, because the Negro, trammeled, as he is, does not keep +step with the immense strides of the dominant class in their wondrous +achievement, the product of a thousand years of struggle and culture, +unblushingly allege that he is relapsing into barbarism, and with an +ingratitude akin to crime, are oblivious to the fact that a large +measure of the intellectual and material status of the nation and the +cultured ability they so balefully use to retard him, are the product of +a century of his unrequited labor. + +The feeling that the results of the civil war have been beneficent, +harmonizing theory and practice in the autonomy of the nation is +manifest and conceded. The growing unity of the people of our country +who 40 years ago were engaged in fraternal strife, should be a source of +pleasure and welcomed by every patriotic heart; for, while bitterness +can be assuaged, and laudable effort made to conform to new conditions, +still convictions formed and baptized in the fiery ordeal of war, blood +and material loss require fortitude, generosity and patriotism to soften +their asperity, and much kindly intercourse to promote the general +welfare. The increased desire in this direction is evidenced at each +recurring "Decoration Day," when the Blue and the Gray harmoniously +intermingle, recalling memories and incidents of the internal strife. +The soldiers of each vieing in reciprocity, as with "a union of hearts +and a union of hands" with fragrant flowers they bedeck historic sod. + +But will the nation remember that after all that can be said or written, +of heroic circumstance of war, or in praise of its participants, all +these bereft of humanity and justice to the weak, fail to constitute an +enduring State, for eternal and immutable is the decree that +"righteousness exalteth a nation." Relative to this intermingling of +former foes, whatever our estimate of the results of human action may +be, we cannot unerringly divine impurity of motive; hence respect for +honest conviction must be the prelude to that unity of patriotism which +is ever the safeguard to the integrity of a nation. + +The spirit that impelled contributions for the erection of the +Confederate monuments in different sections of our country from donors, +irrespective of former affiliation, has been benign in its influence. In +1897 the Hon J. N. Smithea instituted a movement for such a memorial in +Little Rock, Ark., stipulating that responses should be limited to one +dollar. Impressed that our race should not be indifferent to such an +appeal, I transmitted the following: + + J. N. Smithea, Editor "Gazette," + Little Rock, Ark.: + +I notice your effort to erect a monument to the Confederate dead. A +third of a century has elapsed since the civil war. Conviction in the +minds of the participants on either side as to who was right and who was +wrong is as firmly fixed as the eternal hills. Given, that a view of +events leading up to that fraternal strife, the bravery of the one or +heroic conduct of the other from standpoints necessarily different will +never find mutual ground for justification, it seems the mission of +patriotism and national unity to give the hand of welcome to every +effort that will unite us in all that will promote the common glory of +the Republic. As one of the representatives of a race, especially in +this southland, I cheerfully subscribe my dollar to the fund, feeling +that the Negro should joyfully hail every effort to soften animosities +which are the outgrowth of a struggle in which, unwittingly, he was so +important a factor. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM A. PLEDGER, + +Chairman Republican State Central Committee of Georgia. + +Born near Athens forty-five years ago--Has been a delegate to every +National Republican Convention for the last twenty-five years--A leader +trusted and tried.] + +No one should be more anxious to cement the friendly and good offices of +our more-favored fellow-citizens, from whom we are receiving the largest +share of our educational and material assistance, so greatly needed to +bring us up to the full measure of a noble citizenship. By the +providence of God we are here, and are here to stay. We are producers of +wealth and the conservators of peace. Therefore, encourage us by the +exercise of justice and magnanimity, that we can say to you, as Ruth to +Naomi in Holy Writ: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from +following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou +lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; +where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so +to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." + + Very truly yours, etc., + +Monuments are the mute mile stones, the connecting links between a +finished effort, and an inspiration for continued struggle. But +monuments are not created after the death of those they commemorate, +although they may seem to be; they are but memorials of the structure +already built, the solidity of whose base and symmetry of whose lines +were projected and fashioned by intensity of conviction and the +unswerving courage of their prototypes in ameliorating conditions while +they lived. Bereft of this, "monuments themselves memorials need." + +Having administered the office of Register of United States land by +appointments from Presidents Hayes and Arthur, my last service in the +Interior Department was under an appointment from President Harrison, +who, in 1889, placed me as Receiver of Public Moneys at Little Rock, +Ark., Land District. It was during this term that the Department ordered +and appointed Special Commissioners to conduct the sale of unsold lots +on the Hot Springs Reservation at auction. As one of the Commissioners +and Receiver of Public Moneys, I was required and gave a qualified bond +for $100,000 for the faithful performance of the trust, and with +Register Raleigh proceeded and discharged the duties thereto. Harrison's +term ended a career of twelve years in the land office. If in +retrospective moments amid the many beneficent things you might have +done, but left undone, you catch here and there glimpses of unselfish +ambition or benefit you have conferred, it does much to abate regret, +for the recollection to me is a source of pleasure that during those +terms by personal convass and unofficial publication I contributed in +inducing thousands of immigrants and others to homestead the virgin soil +of Arkansas, who have now good homes, comprising 40, 80 or 160 acres of +land, besides assisting them in establishing schools for their +children. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +In October, 1897, by telegrams from my friends, Nathaniel McKay and Dr. +Purvis, of Washington, D. C., I was informed that I had been appointed +United States Consul for the island of Madagascar. + +It was a surprise; for, while truth compels the admission that I was not +averse to "being taken in and done for," Madagascar had not come within +my purview; its distance had not "lent enchantment to the view." I gave +it some thought, but could not perceive that I had been so annoyingly +persistent to merit a response from the President, not unlike that given +by Mr. Blaine to one Mr. Tite Barnacle, who was willing to compromise on +a foreign appointment. "Certainly," was the reply; the "foreigner the +better." I concluded, however, that the bard may have been right when he +wrote "There is a destiny that shapes our ends," for it often happens +that what a man desires is just what he ought not to have; and whether +what he gets is to be beneficial depends largely upon its use. + +I was summoned to Washington, and after a conference received my +commission, returned to Little Rock to prepare for departure to my post, +"10,000 miles away." + +I received a warm greeting and a "jolly send-off" at a banquet given me +on Christmas eve by many friends. To name a few of the devoted would be +invidious to the many. It will suffice to say I felt grateful and +touched by the many expressions, which added testimony to their valued +appreciation. Arriving at New York I was met by Mr. W. H. Hunt, who had +applied and been highly commended for the position of clerk to the +consulate, and who, after a year's faithful service, in pursuance of my +recommendation, was appointed Vice-Consul, and is now Consul. + +This, my appointment as Consul to Tamatave, severs a decade's connection +as "Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee," and especially +with its Chairman, Mr. Henry Cooper, who, indefatigable as a worker, +genial, but positive in his convictions, has managed the machinery of +the party with but little friction. The remembrance of the partiality, +honors and kindness of which I have been a recipient from members of the +party, irrespective of "race or previous condition," will be ever bright +and cheery. + +On January, 1, 1898, we embarked on the French steamship Champagne, and +arrived at Havre on the 9th, and took train for Paris. The cars either +for comfort or retirement in no way equal ours, eight in a compartment, +sitting omnibus fashion, face to face. We rolled on to the Capital, +passing many fine villas, the product of French architecture. +Everywhere one is impressed with the national peculiarities--the houses, +the streets, modes of conveyance and transportation. Compactness, +neatness, order and precision pervades their every undertaking; but for +celerity and despatch of business they were painful to encounter or +behold, for it ill accords with the American mode. A ride of four hours +and we reach Paris. At the depot the baggage is placed on long tables +awaiting examination by custom-house officers. Mine was passed without. +Took cab for "Hotel de Binda," exquisitely furnished and centrally +located, having easy access to places of note. + +This being the most disagreeable time of year, a fire in the rooms was +necessary, for outside everywhere was a damp, penetrating air, remaining +here 15 days with the sight of the sun but once. + +The next day after my arrival I called on the American Ambassador, Mr. +Porter, in relation to my exequator, to be issued by the French +Government. It is a recognition of status, and a formal permit from one +nation to another to allow their respective Consuls to exercise the +duties appertaining thereto and a guarantee of protection in their +performance. Had a very cordial reception from Mr. J. R. Gowdy, our +Consul at Paris. Visited the Paris office of the New York Herald, where +many files of American and European papers can be perused. A visit to +the "Louvre" is a joy for the layman, as for the connoisseur, galleries +a mile or more in length hung with paintings grand in imagery and beauty +of old masters, French and Italian, centuries old. Many showed the +silent, slow and impressive steps of age. But "you may break, you may +scatter the vase if you will, the scent of the roses will linger there +still," for on shrunken canvas or from luster dimmed was imperial tone +of materialized conception "not born to die." + +Among the guests of the hotel were two gentlemen, one an American +capitalist, the other a German merchant from Berlin, the latter speaking +French like a native. We became pleasant companions, and concluded on +Sunday evening to go to the "Follies Bergere"--in American parlance a +variety theater. + +Ten minutes' drive brought us to a very large building, lighted as if by +sunlight, where a hundred finely-dressed men and women crowded for +entrance. Outside of what we term pit and dress circle is a partition, +three or four feet high, dividing them from a promenade ten or fifteen +feet wide. You can stand or sit in this promenade, and see the +performance. Our friends suggested this plan, as we could see and hear +more of Parisian peculiarities. Here many very beautiful women +promenaded. They had evidently been touched by artists, for their +make-up was superb. But I could not but think of the refrain of a song +we have all heard, "Oh, but what a difference in the morning." They had +sweet, pretty sayings, clothed in all the softness of modulation and +earnestness of gesture of the French people. My American friend, like +myself, was Frenchless, and as a consequence invulnerable. The +appearance of the occupants of the front row of seats very forcibly +reminded me of a similar locality at the Capital Theater in the City of +Roses, on similar occasions, where many of my old friends with gaze +intent loved to congregate. The performance was spectacular and +acrobatic, with usual evolutions, with more "abandon" and very artistic. +Passing through the cafe, where hundreds of finely-dressed men and women +were sitting at tables quietly talking, smoking and drinking wine or +coffee, we passed to the street. + +There is much to delight in a walk through the Tulleries and "Palace de +la Concord." These public squares have an acreage of several hundred, +and are adorned with flowing fountains and marvelous statuary. Passing +through the Tulleries brings you to the "Dome de Invalids," in which is +Napoleon's tomb. The building and dome is of the most exquisite +architecture. Upon entry everywhere your gaze is confronted by stately +columns of Italian marble arches, statuary, flags of many varieties, +captured by Napoleon from his enemies on many battlefields, besides +other trophies of war. + +As you look down a circular pit twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, +enclosed by a balustrade of Italian marble, you see the sarcophagus, in +which is inclosed all that was mortal of the great Napoleon. The mosaic +pavement at the bottom of the pit represents a wreath of laurels; on it +rests the sarcophagus, consisting of a single block, highly polished, of +reddish brown granite, fourteen feet high, thirteen long and seven wide, +brought from Finland at a cost of $25,000. Above rises a lofty dome 160 +feet high, divided into two sections, one of twelve compartments, each +containing a figure of one of the twelve apostles; the other +representing St. Louis offering to Christ the sword with which to +vanquish his enemies. + +While in Paris I visited Mrs. Mason, widow of James Mason, deceased. Mr. +Mason was formerly a member of the Arkansas Senate and Sheriff of Chicot +County. It will be remembered by old residents that the death of Mason's +father, an old bachelor and rich planter, who died intestate, caused a +suit at law of great interest and importance. It was an exciting trial, +as many thousands of dollars were at stake in the issue. The fatherly +care he had ever evinced for the education of his children (James having +been educated in France and Martha at a Northern college); the +solicitude and unfailing recognition, the many instances of which he had +designated them as direct heirs, and other evidence, collateral and +convincing, were availing. They received a jury award. + +[Illustration: HON. JOHN C. DANCY, + +Recorder of Deeds for District of Columbia. + +Born at Torboro, S. C., May, 1857--Entered Howard University--Elected +Recorder of Deeds of Edgecombe County, S. C., in 1880 and 1882--Late +Collector of the Port at Willmington, S. C.--Christian and Progressive +in the Church--Eminent and Eloquent in the State.] + +An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was taken, which +dragged its weary way for a number of years, but resulted in confirming +the decision of the lower court. Mrs. Mason was for many years, through +the patronage and kindness of Senator Garland and other members of +Congress from Arkansas, a clerk in the Land Office at Washington. I +found Mrs. Mason living in well-appointed apartments with her daughter, +an artistic painter of some note, with studio adjoining, where I was +shown many beautiful productions of her brush. I was conversant with +many instances in the North where Southern planters had brought their +colored families to be educated, purchasing and giving them property for +settlement and sustenance, especially that their girls might escape the +environments which undoubtedly awaited them at the South. These were in +fine and valuable contradistinction to many cases similarly related, +where they were sold on the auction block to the highest bidder. But in +all candor it cannot but be supposed that in many instances the sale of +the planter's own flesh and blood was involuntary. High living, neglect +of the comparative relation of resource and expenditure, gambling for +big stakes on steamboat and at Northern watering places, brought the +evil day with attending results to the "chattel" subject to the baneful +caprice of unrestrained liberty. + +On the 23d of January, 1898, I was taking my leave of Paris to meet my +steamer at Marseilles for a 20-day voyage for Madagascar. My stay at +the hotel had been pleasant, and I supposed had received all necessary +attention from the servants that occasion demanded; but in character it +had been individual. Now it was united, for in doorway and on staircase +they were (like Tennyson's cannon) servants "to the right of me and +servants to the left of me," smiling and gracious. One, of whom I had no +recollection of having previously seen, approached me with an obeisance +decidedly French to remind me that he was the "baggage man" and attended +to it when I arrived. I replied, "You are not the man who took up my +baggage." "No," he said; "I am the man who looked after the man who +watched the man who did take it up." "Oh!" I said; and then remembering +that he and I had much in common, his English and my French being twins, +I conceded his claim, "tipped" others that impeded my exit, and made +hasty retreat. + +Leaving Paris at 2:30 P. M., at 2 in the morning we reached Lyons, +stopping 25 minutes for coffee and refreshments, which reached a +long-felt want, arriving at Hotel de Louvre et de la Paix, at +Marseilles, three hours later. Paris is prolific in names of its hotels, +but this was commensurate in luxury and first class in every particular, +very large, the finest in Marseilles and said to be unsurpassed in +France. It is approached by a hall-way fifty feet long from Rue +Canebrian (the street), which leads you into an oval-shaped court 100 +by 200 feet. Around this court in niches are finely-sculptured statuary, +paintings and choice flowers in porcelain vases. Out of this court you +are conducted into the hotel proper. Spacious stairways of Italian +marble, the tread of which covered with Turkish carpets, leads you to +the interior. The court in the inner center of the hotel rises to a +height of five or six stories, and is covered by parti-colored glass, +which emits a soft and pleasing tint on all below. The dining room was +"a thing of beauty," and the menu "a joy forever." The adornments of the +room would well befit a palace. Oh, that I had the tongue of an orator +or the pen of a ready writer, to fitly describe! Took breakfast and then +a stroll along the principal streets of the city and the wharves of the +Mediterranean. The city resembled a bee hive; the houses and streets are +literally crowded with men and women of all nationalities and costumes. + +Wending our way to "Notre Dame," a magnificent church on a hill, one +thousand feet above the level of the city, entirely overlooking it, +while the Mediterranean lies sparkling in the distance directly below. +On the top of the dome of this edifice is a figure encased in gold, +representing "Holy Mary" with the Christ in her arms. A gallery +surrounds the church, from which the view is grand and imposing. Ascent +and descent can be made by an elevator. + +On the 25th of January we embarked on board our ship, the "Pie Ho," and +found state room comfortable for the longest voyage of our travel. The +view as we pass out of the harbor of Marseilles is quite picturesque, +with its quaint old buildings, mountainous surroundings, its medley of +ships, soldiers and sailors of every nation, differing in uniform and +costume. Here, as I suppose it is everywhere where love and friendship +dwell, hundreds had assembled at docks and quays and other points of +vantage to waive hands and handkerchiefs of a loving farewell. I thought +of my dear daughter on the wharf at New York and her anxious gaze until +we were lost in the distance. This ship, the "Pie Ho," of a French line, +is said to be old, but staunch, comfortable and giving good service; but +a failure in that particular the want of which retards the success of +many people of whom it could be truthfully said by Christian and +moralist that they were good and reliable. The "Pie Ho" is not swift, +but if she retains the commendation that oft accompanies slowness, that +of being sure, we should be content. But age has its limits, and happy +should all be who safely and honorably round up the voyage of life. + +We are now in full view of Mount Strombol in the Mediterranean, a +volcano in full blast, emitting fire and clouds of smoke. Yesterday we +entered the Ionian Sea; today we have land on either side, Sicily on our +right and Italy on our left, with a good view of its coast lines; +cities, towns, cultivated fields and trains in motion. At 2 P. M. +January 30 we see Dermot Lighthouse, and at 3 reach Port Said. The +Khedive's dominion, a Government and business point, with many consular +residences. It was the first sight of the "old flag" since leaving +Marseilles. It is a new baptism of patriotism for one to see the +national banner so far from home, and impromptu he sings, "long may it +wave," for "with all thy faults I love thee still." + +We anchored out in the bay, and with small boats went ashore. Port Said +is quite cosmopolitan both in its business and residence features. +Nearly every nationality has its representative in trade, but +numerically the unspeakable Turk is very much in evidence. On landing +one of the guards, numerous and whose charges are fixed by law, took us +in charge to show us the city. The streets generally were unimproved and +irregular, both in architecture and location. Through several dingy and +untidy streets he led us to the public park, which made considerable +pretension to order and neatness. The turban, the wrap, the sandals and +other Oriental costumes, which made up the dress, were not more varied +than the complexion of the people, but their features were generally +fine-cut. A marble bust of De Lesseps, the contractor of the Suez Canal, +which we shall soon enter, has a prominent place. + +Through several streets, monotonous for disorder and uncleanliness, we +reached the "Mosque," the Mahomedan place of worship. In the minaret +high up on the tower stood an officer awaiting the hour to lower the +flag as a signal to all Musselmen that they could eat, the day being one +of their fast days. In all the streets through which we passed could be +seen groups of the faithful with anxious look toward the minaret to +catch the first downward movement of the flag. It came at last, and with +it the shouting and running of the crowds to booths and stands for +eating purposes that lined the sidewalks. We approached the "Mosque" +with all the solemnity possible for hypocritical heretics to assume, and +were met at the door by a grave and reverent sire, who interviewed the +guide. + +We had been told that we would have to take off our shoes (just here we +noted the same pliancy observable in many of our own denomination when +there is prospect of getting the almighty dollar). In some way the +matter was compromised by putting on over our shoes large sandals made +of straw. After paying 50 centimes each (equal to 10 cents in our +currency), we entered a large room without furniture or other adornment, +with stone floor, some matting, upon which a number of worshipers were +kneeling and supplicating "Allah," their supreme being. There was an +earnestness that bespoke sincerity, and an all-abiding faith. I could +but think how few of us who would criticise are true to the creed we +profess. + +In a kind of lavatory adjoining could be seen men washing their feet and +doing oddities unmentionable preparatory to worship. + +After wandering about the building for some time I was accosted by one +of the attendants, and was made to understand that one of my feet was +uncovered. I had lost one of my sandals. I was rather uneasy for a +while, not knowing what they might do with that unholy foot that had +desecrated the temple. The guide found it, however, and "Richard was +himself again." After leaving the "Mosque" the guide escorted us +shipward through the business portion of the city, neat and cleanly, +with hotels and stores creditable to a metropolis. But for beggars of +unrivaled persistency I commend you to Port Said, for with a +pitiableness, sincere or assumed, they dog your every footstep. + +At the southern part of the city is a large cemetery, having stones with +many hieroglyphics and inscriptions denoting the former locality, +character and virtues of the dead. With the scholar are interred copies +of his literary productions; with the soldier, his sword; with the +statesman, a roll of his achievements for the good of the state, for +presentation to "Allah." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The passage through the Suez Canal was somewhat monotonous, but a +continued reminder of bible history. On either side as far as the eye +could reach the desert spread out its sandy atoms glistening in the sun. + +Out of the canal we are in the Gulf of Suez, and in a few hours in the +Red Sea, an interesting locality in ancient history. It is there we +learn that Pharaoh and his hosts met their Waterloo (with the accent on +the water) in the pursuit of the children of Israel. But here we find +conflicting opinions. Some say that Pharaoh, arriving at the bank and +seeing the impossibility of overtaking them, turned and retired; others, +that there were shoal places in those far-away days where any one could +cross; others, that they crossed on flats very like the ordinary modern +mortal. But I do not accept this attempt to question the orthodox +version, but will verify it as far as my observation will admit. The sea +was likely red in those days, and has very properly retained its name on +account of the locality being red-hot at times, or, perhaps, chameleon +like, changes its color. This morning, however, it is a deep blue. As to +Pharaoh and his hosts getting drowned, there cannot be doubt, if it was +in its present condition and they attempted to cross on foot. + +But this we do know, that the success of the "Children of Israel" in not +being "overtaken" has been the prototype of father to son in every +effort to do so from that day to the present. There is a serious view, +however. Here the sea, sky and neighborhood of Jerusalem, pyramids, +monuments and sacred traditions all conspire to have a solemn and +awe-inspiring effect. Thousands of generations of men have lived and +moved in the activities that engage modern humanity, but have passed +like fleeting shadows, leaving only these sentinels as perpetual +reminders. While the "Red Sea" sings in murmuring cadence that "men may +come, and men may go, but I go on forever," doubly impressing us that + + "So the multitude goes, like the flower or weed, + That wither away to let others succeed; + So the multitude comes, even those we behold, + To repeat every tale that has often been told." + +But a truce to moralizing on the past. The children of Israel seem to +have made and kept their record as "passengers." I was interested in the +passage of a child of Ham. I am somewhat deficient in Bible history, and +am without knowledge of the whereabouts of Ham's children at that time, +or whether they had "crossing" to do; but if they possessed the +proverbial character imputed to some of their offspring, antipathy to +water, especially for lavatory purposes, I am of the opinion they took +no desperate chances, "content to bear the ills they had than fly to +those they knew not of." + +Passing Hurich Island, a British possession, and having had a very +pleasant passage on the Red Sea, we arrive at Djiboute, Abyssinia, the +terminus of King Menelik's domain, the scenes of recent conflict between +Italy and the King's forces, the "unpleasantness" resulting unprofitably +to the Italians. There were landed from the ship many boxes of rifles +and ammunition for the King's governor, who resides here. During the few +hours we remained there, we were interested in and enjoyed the gathering +of ten or fifteen native boys around the ship diving for centimes or +francs thrown by the passengers, their dexterity as divers, securing +every penny, was as clever as grotesque. They remained in the water six +or eight hours during the ship's stay. A few hours brought us to Aden, a +very strongly fortified appendage to the British Empire at the south end +of the Red Sea. For armament and strategical locality it is the +Gibraltar of the southern seas. + +The rivalry of native boatmen for passengers and luggage to take ashore +was appalling. When I say it surpassed a third ward political meeting in +"ye olden times" in Little Rock I faintly describe it. Sunday morning; +once more on the way; one more stop, and then to Tamatave, our +destination. + +Looking this beautiful morning on the foam-crest waves as they roll in +sportive emulation, with a cloudless sky coming down on every side to +kiss the horizon, shutting out human vision of all else beyond, one +could not fail to be impressed with the greatness, the omnipotence of +the Creator. This being but a speck of that vast whole, comprising the +celestial and terrestrial aggregation, he, indeed, who regards this +sublime workmanship as the product of chance and not that of a +super-human architect and law-giver, by Whom every atom of nature is +controlled, is more to be pitied than condemned. + +To conclude our voyage, we have six or seven days of "innocuous +desuetude." That is what I believe President Cleveland designated a +monotonous and unprofitable period. I am not certain, however, and one +should be careful in quoting great authors. + +We pass the Gulf of Aden and enter the Indian Ocean, Rem Huffien Island +to the right, and now appears the eastern coast lines of the continent +of Africa. On that continent, I learn, lies the ashes of my forefathers. +Peace abide with them, and may peace crowned with justice come to such +of their descendants as are still the victims of dishonesty and +inhumanity by enlightened and professedly Christian nations. + +Travel by sea loses in interest as you recede or are midway between +distant points. You somehow feel yourself located in the neighborhood of +"Mahomet's coffin," and have a sort of a "don't-care-a-continental" +atmosphere surrounding you, with nothing to arrest attention save the +usual incidents of ocean voyage, with no land in sight. The +constitutional promenade on deck before and after meals, with the French +etiquette of raising your hat or cap as you pass; reading or lounging on +sofas or reclining chairs; relating individual experiences of life or +travel; criticising the conduct of others than yourselves; the welcome +sound of the bell that calls you to meals; the last view of the sun as +it bids you "good-bye," with its ineffectual rays, and gently sinks +beneath the horizon; the rising of the moon, shedding its sheen of +sparkling light on the dancing waves; retirement to your couch to listen +awhile to the heavy breathing, and feel the pulse-beat of the iron +monitor as it speeds you onward; finally to sleep, to dream of loved +ones at home. + +The suavity of the French is in notable contrast with the more taciturn +deportment of the English; amiable contact has much to do with softening +the asperities of life. + +We are now crossing the heretofore much-dreaded equator--weather +splendid, light, cloth suit not uncomfortable, but we are at sea and not +on land. The forward deck is today given up to the sports of the +sailors (the custom when crossing the line), and is now the center of +attraction--running "obstacle races," the two competitors getting under, +and from under a canvas-sheet held to the deck by a number of their +fellows, and then running for the goal, picking up potatoes as they ran. +Afterwards, with bucket of paste and paintbrush, lathering head and +face, shaving with a large wooden razor the unlucky competitor--were a +part of the amusements they imposed on "Old Father Time." + +Arrived at Diego Suarez, on the northern port of Madagascar, a French +naval station, having a land-locked harbor, providing good shelter and +anchorage. The town is located on a plateau overlooking the bay. Many +officers disembarked and a large amount of freight discharged. The +resident population consisted of a medley from all eastern nations. +Anchored a mile off and in small boats, and after 20 minutes' rowing we +were landed. A dozen stores, barracks and the hospital on the opposite +side of the bay were the only objects of interest. The large amount of +freight discharged indicated it to be a prominent distributing point for +the interior. Leaving Diego and running down the eastern coast with land +in view, mountainous and apparently sterile, we reach Tamatave and +anchor in the bay. + +The ship was soon boarded by a messenger from Mr. Wetter, the outgoing +American Consul at Madagascar, and I was piloted ashore. The view of +Tamatave from the ship was not prepossessing, and my walk through the +city to the hotel was not inspiring. The attempt to dignify the six or +eight feet wide alleys (which were the main arteries for travel) as +avenues or streets, seemed ludicrous, and the filthy condition, the +absence of all sanitary regulations in a province pretending a civilized +administration, was to me a revelation. The natural sequence of such +neglect was the visitation of the "Bubonic plague" a few months after my +arrival and an immense death-rate. The alarm proved a conservator for +the living, for the burning of the effected districts, widening the +streets and enforcement of sanitary rules have tended to lessen its +virulence, although it has been yearly in its visitations; for while +foul surroundings are recognized as hot-beds for the propagation of the +germs of this pest, recent experience has demonstrated that while +cleanliness and rigid sanitary measures are less inviting, they are not +positive barriers to its approach and dire effect. The "terror" +originally supposed to be indigenous only to India, Egypt, and China, +and so domestic in its habits as to confine its ravages to few +precincts, now stalks forth as on a world mission--to Mauritius in +Indian Ocean, to Japan, Brazil, Australia, Honolulu, and last and not +least, interesting from an American point of view, are the stealthy +footsteps of the unwelcome guest in the city of San Francisco, Cal. +"While medical information relating to the plague is still less definite +and extensive than it should be," says an eminent physician, "it is now +well demonstrated that the disease depends upon a specific microbe." + +It may be communicated from one person to another through expectoration, +oozings from the mouth of dying persons, or through the excretions of +the body. "The fears it inspires are well grounded, for the recoveries +in a case of severe epidemics are only ten per cent. Of 126 cases +reported from Manila from January 20 to March 30, 1900, 112 cases +resulted fatally." In India, where the plague has been the most severe, +the deaths from this cause have averaged 5,000 a week of recent years, a +considerable amount of study has been devoted to the various phases of +the plague, by physicians in Europe and the East especially, and a +number have given their lives to the cause of medical science in +attempts to find some method of successfully combating it. It is +needless to say that no specific has as yet been discovered in its +treatment, and ordinary curative measures have but little effect on its +course. + +In Chinatown, San Francisco, where it made its appearance, a rigid +"cordon sanitaire" was established, and all outer intercourse +prohibited. It is not believed that conditions are inviting in North +America, although "the wish may be father to the thought." + +The following brief expression relative to Madagascar and comment on +Negro status in the following letter to the "Colored American," +published in Washington City, may be in place: + + Tamatave, Madagascar, Aug. 5, 1900. + + Dear Friend Cooper: I have your favor June 14th last, in which + you say you would like to have a line from me, that you "may + let the friends over here know what you are doing." Well, here + it is, line upon line, if not precept, etc. I am "still doing + business at the same old stand," and doubt if I have anything + to say regarding this "far-away post" that would particularly + interest your readers, engrossed as I perceive they are in + domestic phases and in the alignment of our recent + acquisitions. + + Regarding the physical development or moral progress of + Madagascar, as you know it is now a French province, with a + Governor General and staff, all appointees from France. The + Government is doing considerable to open up the country by + means of telegraphs, railroads, turnpikes and canals. At Paris + they recently voted sixty millions francs (12 million dollars) + for a railroad from here to Tananarivo, the capital, 200 miles + from here, over a mountainous and broken country. The capital + is situated on a plateau 5,000 feet above sea level, with a + climate cool and bracing. Here at Tamatave a fireplace or + heating stove in a house are unknown appendages. The Hovas for + a long period were the rulers previous to the conquest and + occupation by the French, who by diplomacy--"force and iron + will"--the means usually adopted by the strong when a coveted + prize looms in the distance, added an immense territory to + their colonial possessions. But perhaps in the interest of + civilization the change is not to be deplored. The Hovas were a + superior class of Madagascan people the rulers being men of + education and ability, but not equal in quality or quantity to + cope with the energy, wealth and military prowess of a power + like France. + + The mental and physical conditions of the great bulk of the + natives were not, and are not, inviting; they were held by a + mild system of slavery, a system that in substance still exists + under French rule as to forced labor on public works. The + severity of tasks and bad rum are said by a friendly society at + Paris in its protest "to be fast decimating their number." The + French Government, however, are establishing an extension of + schools for the natives, where industrial training will be the + marked feature, and which on yesterday, the occasion being an + official visit the Governor was pleased to pay me, I took pains + to extol; as you know industrial training is my pet. The + General wisely remarking, "we wish first to place the present + generation in a position to earn more money, so they will be + able to give their offspring a higher education if they wish." + The English, Norwegians from America, the Friends and other + missions, are doing something for their educational and moral + progress, but the appliances are meager compared with the + herculean task that awaits them. + + There is, however, this difference in the problem here. There + are colored men occupying places of prominence as officials, as + tellers in banks, clerks in counting-houses and merchant + stores. Here it is condition, and not color, wealth and + position, the "open sesame." On social occasions the brother in + black is in evidence, without special notice of the fact, and, + strangest of it all, on the following day the sun and other + heavenly bodies seem to stand or revolve in their accustomed + orbits. My health has been good, although the bubonic pest, + periodical in its visitations, has been alarming in the + suddenness of its destruction of life. In the spring it is + again expected to alight without "healing in its wings." But I + will not longer dwell on Madagascan peculiarities, many of + which, as elsewhere, are not chastening. What I am interested + in, and want to know about is, how you are getting on with the + "old grudge?" If I judge correctly from the journals that reach + me, that during my near three years' absence, its status, + unlike renowned grape-juice, has neither dissipated or improved + by lapse of time, and that lynching and disfranchisement still + have the right of way. + + The expansion of our sovereignty is fraught with complications, + and onerous duties from the statesman, the zeal of the + humanitarian, and of reformers and friends of equitable + government, unflinching determination are required, that + kindness and justice shall be ceded to the people thereof. But + is the prospect for the dissemination or ascendancy of these + virtues either bright or promising? If the exercise and + enjoyments of these attributes are not granted to millions of + the American household, is it reasonable to expect they will + dominate abroad? There is reason for apprehension that our + cousins in the East will find little change of despotic + tendencies amid the rank and file of American adventurers. The + philosophy of our system of government seems out of balance. + Cicero wrote "that excessive liberty leads both nations and + individuals into excessive slavery." + + But amid the lights and shadows that environ the Negro, he is + neither undeserving of the assistance rendered, and + indispensable for educational development, which has been + generous, and for which he is grateful, although handicapped by + a prejudice confronting on so many avenues of industry, and + forbidding his entry. Not undeserving for patient and + non-anarchist in the realms of labor, his right to possess and + enjoying equality of citizenship is written with blood and + bravery on the battlefield of every war of the Republic where + he "fell forward as fits a man." Munificent contributions of + Christians and philanthropists, for missionary work abroad, are + greatly in evidence, given with a self-complacency of duty + done; but, however, fail to vivify the declining pulse-beat for + equality before the law and justice at home. Manifestly there + is an absence of that arraignment and condemnation of wrong + done the weak, that contributed so largely to abolish the "corn + laws of England" and slavery in the United States. History is + the record that it is the men of moral courage and heroism who + by pen and voice, that sociality and gain cannot intimidate and + combat evil in their very midst that "leave footprints in the + sands of time." + + I must close this letter, already too long. Don't regard me as + a pessimist. I know that Bacon wrote that "men of age object + too much," but the fact is, Cooper, it has been so long since I + heard a Fourth of July hallelujah chorus that I am getting out + of tune. + + McKinley has been again nominated, I see, and doubtless will be + elected, with a Congress in harmony, thus giving the party + another lease of power, which, God grant, let us hope, may + redound to the welfare of all the people. Say to my many + friends that they are, "though lost to sight to memory dear." + Truly your friend, + + M. W. GIBBS. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +The Island of Madagascar was discovered in 1506 by Lawrence Almeyda, a +Portuguese; but the Persians and Arabs are said to have known it from +time immemorial. The island is divided into 28 provinces and is said to +contain two hundred millions acres of excellent land, watered on all +sides by streams and large rivers. Its two highest mountains are +Vigagora in the north and Batistmene in the south, said to contain in +their bowels abundance of fossils and valuable minerals. This island, +situated near the eastern coast of Africa, with 300 miles of the +Mozambique Channel intervening, is 1,000 miles in length and varying +from 200 to 400 miles in width, and is supposed to have been in remote +ages a portion of the continent of Africa and that the progenitors of +its people were to that "manor born;" others that the channel was +crossed in canoes and Madagascar populated. + +Rev. W. E. Cousins, an English missionary, in a late edition of +"Madagascar of Today," says that "its people are not on the whole an +African people, and much of its flora and fauna indicate a very long +separation from the neighboring continent. Particularly notable is the +fact that Madagascar has no lions, deer, elephants or antelopes, which +are abundant in Africa; the people generally are not Africans, but +belong to the same family as Malays and Malayo Polynesians." How the +Malayon came to be the predominant language has exercised the thoughts +of many, Africa being not more than 300 miles from the west coast of +Madagascar, whereas the nearest point, Malayon Peninsula, is 3,000 miles +away. That the distinct type of African presents itself in large numbers +of native population is beyond question. + +For much of the following as to the religion, morals and customs of the +Madagascar people, I am indebted to Rev. Cousins, the missionary above +referred to, and a work entitled "Madagascar, or Drury's Journal," +edited by Pasfield Oliver and published in 1729. Robert Drury was an +English lad that ran away from home, was shipwrecked, and held in +captivity by the natives for 15 years, and redeemed by Captain Mackett, +commanding the "Prince of Wales" in the East India Company's service. +Also to the "Island of Madagascar," by Abbe Alexis Rochon, a learned +Frenchman, who visited the island in 1767 and made an extensive report. + +Mr. Oliver mentions that there are authors who say that the religion of +these people is Mahometanism, but he is at a loss to know from what +they drew their conclusions, since their sacrifices and their antipathy +to revelation; and, besides, at the only place where a Moorish ship +(Mahometan) came, swines' flesh is eaten. These obviously show that +there can be nothing in more direct opposition to it. There is no one +circumstance like it, except circumcision, and that is well known to +those learned in ancient history to have been common to some Eastern +nations, even before the Jews had it, and where there is no reason to +think the name of the Jews was ever heard, and we have more reason to +think that the Jews derived a great deal from them instead of they from +the Jews; that their religion is more ancient is evident for several +obvious reasons. + +First, by their regarding dreams and divining by them, which so early as +the Mosaic law the Children of Israel were warned against. + +Secondly, these people shave their hair all off in mourning for the +dead. This Moses expressly commands the Israelites not to do, and the +Jews do superstitiously observe this last and suffer their hair to grow +in their mourning. + +Thirdly, Moses commanded none but males to be sacrificed. On the +contrary, these sacrifice cows for the most part. They have no burnt +offerings but near their sepulchers, which with gum, burnt likewise, may +only arise from a defense of cadaverous scents. + +[Illustration: BISHOP ABRAHAM GRANT. + +Joined Church at an Early Age--Advanced Until he Was Elected Bishop of +the A. M. E. Church--An Able Pulpit Orator, and Among the Bishops He is +Known as the Politician of his Church--Having a Competency, He is +Devoting His Closing Years to Benevolence and the Promotion of His +Race.] + +Fourthly, but the most remarkable instance of all is, that the "owley," +which these Madagascar people divine by and procure most extraordinary +dreams, is evidently the Ephod and Teraphin which the Levites used who +lived in Micah's house (see Judges 17) and which the Israelites could +never be wholly brought off from, though contrary to their law. Some +have taken these Teraphin for images like a man, and there seems a show +of reason in it from Micah, Saul's daughter putting one in David's bed +to deceive her father's messenger, while he escaped. This, it is +possible, alludes to some divination by the Teraphin which she used in +his behalf, for Teraphin is the plural number; therefore, could not +signify only one image; neither could the gods which Rachel stole from +her father, Labon, be one god as big as a man, for she sat on them and +hid them. The word is here in the original "Teraphin," although +translated gods. Then, in Hosea, chapter 3, verse 4, "an image, an Ephod +and Teraphin," are all mentioned in one verse, plainly showing that they +are distinct things. It is further to be remarked that by this Teraphin +they invoked the dead, which is exactly the same as these people do by +the "Owley" always invoking the spirits of their forefathers, which is +expressly forbidden to Israelites, and often sharply inveighed against +by the prophets. + +That these people had not their religion from any polite or learned +nation is by their retaining no notion or meaning of letters, nor their +having a horse among them, either for carriage or other use, which could +never have been forgotten had they ever had it. + +Mr. Oliver positively asserts that these Madagascar people came from +Africa, and is certain on account of their color, while other writers +think most of them to be descendants of Malays. + +Captain Mackett, previously mentioned as the redeemer of Robert Drury +from his 15 years' captivity, states that Devon (King) Toak, often told +him they had a tradition of their coming to the island many years ago in +large canoes; "but," says Captain Oliver, "let them come from where they +will, it is evident that their religion is the most ancient in the known +world and not much removed from natural religion, and whether the +Egyptians and Canaanites had their religion from them, or that they are +Egyptians originally, it had its rise long before the Children of Israel +were in bondage, for Egypt was then a very polite country, and although +idolators, they were not any more so than their neighbors before +Abraham's time. + +"The respect due from children to parents is taught them early by those +parents and grows with them, besides the gratitude naturally arising to +those who have fed and protected them when they were helpless infants. +So it is no wonder to find a law there against cursing parents. The +notion of the Being of one Supreme Author of nature arises from natural +reflection on the visible harmony and uniformity of the universe and +seeing that men and things did not produce themselves. The reverence due +to this stupendous Being is only of a pious and rightly amazement, dread +and respect. The testimony was everywhere uniform that where Europeans +or Mahometans had not corrupted them they were innocent, moral and +humane. + +"Physically the island has lost none of its picturesque character, so +vividly portrayed by Abbe Rochon more than a century ago, who wrote 'The +Traveler,' who in pursuit of knowledge traverses for the first time wild +and mountainous countries, intersected by ridges and valleys, where +nature, abandoned to its own fertility, presents the most singular and +varied productions, cannot help being struck with terror and surprise on +viewing those awful precipices, the summits of which are covered with +trees as ancient perhaps as the world. His astonishment is increased +when he hears the noise of immense cascades which are so inaccessible +that it is impossible for him to approach them. But these scenes, truly +picturesque, are always succeeded by rural views, delightful hills and +plains, where vegetation is never interrupted by the severity and +vicissitudes of the seasons. The eye with pleasure beholds those +extensive savannas which afford nourishment to numerous herds of cattle +and flocks of sheep. Fields of rice and potatoes present also a new and +highly interesting spectacle. One sees agriculture flourishing, while +nature alone defrays almost all the expense. The fortunate inhabitants +of Madagascar need not moisten the earth with their sweat; they turn it +up slightly with a pick-axe, and this labor alone is sufficient. They +make holes in the ground at a little distance from each other and throw +into them a few grains of rice, over which they spread the mold with +their feet. And what proves the great fertility of the soil is that a +field thus sown produces an hundred-fold. The forests contain a +prodigious variety of the most beautiful trees, such as palms of every +kind, ebony, wood for dyeing, bamboos of an enormous size, and orange +and lemon trees." The Abbe's picture is quite enchanting, for it seems +that "every prospect pleases." + +A view of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, in the word-painting +of Cameron, a war correspondent of the London Standard, is interesting. +"Antananarivo was in sight and we could plainly see the glass windows of +the palace glistening in the morning sun, on the top of the long hill +upon which the city is built. It was Sunday, and the people were +clustering along the foot-paths on their way to church or sitting in the +grass outside waiting for the services to begin, as they do in villages +at home. The women, who appeared to be in the majority, wore white +cotton gowns, often neatly embroidered, and white or black and white +striped lambas, thrown gracefully over their shoulders. The men were +clad also in cotton, white cotton pantaloons, cotton lambas, and straw +hats, with large black silk band. In the morning sun the play of colors +over the landscape was lovely. The dark green hills, studded with the +brilliant red brick houses of the inhabitants, whose white garments +dotted the lanes and foot-paths, contrasted with the brighter emerald of +the rice fields in the hollows. The soil everywhere is deep red, almost +magenta, in color, and where the roads or pathways cross the hills they +shine out as if so many paint-brushes had streaked the country in broad +red stripes. Above all, the spires of the strange city, set on top of +its mountain with a deep blue sky for a background, added to the beauty +of the scene. + +"It was difficult to imagine that this peaceful country, with its pretty +cottages, its innumerable chapels, whose bells were then calling its +people to worship, and its troops of white-robed men and women answering +the summons, was the barbarous Madagascar of twenty years ago." + +Mention of the form of government had by the Madagascar people and which +is now being superseded by occupancy of the French and the introduction +of laws of a civilized nation, may not be out of place. As far back as +tradition will carry, there existed in Madagascar a kind of feudalism. +Villages were usually built on the hilltops, and each hilltop had its +own chieftain, and these petty feudal chiefs were constantly waging war +with each other. The people living on these feudal estates paid taxes +and rendered certain services to their feudal lords. Each chief enjoyed +a semi-independence, for no strong over-lord existed. Attempts were made +from time to time to unite these petty chieftains into one Kingdom, but +no one tribe succeeded in making itself supreme till the days of Radam +I, who succeeded in bringing the whole of Imerina under his government, +and to his son, Radama, he left the task of subduing the rest of the +island. By allying himself closely with England, Radama obtained +military instruction and carried war into distant provinces. He +ultimately succeeded in conquering many of the tribes and his reign +marked the beginning of a new era in Madagascar. Indeed, only from his +days could Madagascar in any sense be regarded as a political unit. + +In one direction, however, the results of Radama's policy must be +regarded as retrogressive. Before his reign no chief or king was +powerful enough to impose his rule upon the people without their +consent. + +Opposition to rule, without the consent of the governed, has been the +shibboleth with which liberty has rallied the votaries of constitutional +government in all its reforms. It was the magna charter extorted from +King John at Runnymead--the trumpet call echoing and re-echoing by hill +and through valley in our Declaration of Independence. Before Radama, +although rude and primitive in form, it was the basic principle +cherished by the people of Madagascar. The principal men of each +district had to be constantly consulted and Kabary, or public assemblies +like the Greek or the Swiss Communal assemblies, were called for the +discussion of all important affairs, and public opinion had a fair +opportunity of making itself effective. + +"A single tree does not make a forest, but the thoughts of many +constitute a government," is handed down by tradition as one of the +farewell sayings of their early kings, and is often quoted by the +people. This was the spirit that existed in "ye olden time," but after +Radama I. formed a large army and a military caste was created there was +a strong tendency to repress and minimize the influence of civilians in +public affairs, and men holding military rank have wielded the chief +authority. + +It was ever thus; for while the chiefs of victorious legions are +received with strains of "conquering hero," have roses for a pathway +canopied with waving flag and triumphant banner, there is not wanting a +latent, reserved concern for the legitimate use of the franchise granted +and whether vaulting ambition may not destroy the sacred inheritance +they were commissioned to preserve. Military rank in Madagascar was +strangely reckoned by numbers. The highest officers being called men of +"sixteen honors," the men of twelve honors would be equal in rank to a +field marshal, the men of nine honors to a colonel, and the man of three +honors to a sergeant, and so on, through the whole series. + +When any important government business had to be made known the men from +12 honors upward were summoned to the palace. Above all these officers +stood the Prime Minister. His Excellency Ramiloiarivony. The supreme +head of the state was the Mpanjaka, or sovereign, and every proclamation +was issued in her name and was generally countersigned and confirmed as +a genuine royal message by the Prime Minister. For three reigns, namely, +from the accession of Rasaherina in 1863, Mpanjaka had been a woman and +the wife of the Prime Minister. A general impression exists in England +that this is an old Madagascar custom, but such is not the case. The +arrangement is of quite recent date. The last Prime Minister (not being +of royal blood) was content to be Mpanjaka, or ruler, and while all +public honor was shown to the Queen, and her authority fully +acknowledged, those behind the scenes would have us believe that the +Queen was supreme only in name. + +As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister, and even his supposed wishes +and preferences, were the most potent forces in Madagascar. No one +seemed able to exercise any independent influence, and time after time +the men who showed any special ability or gained popularity have been +removed, swept away as it were, out of the path of the man who had +assumed and by his ability and astuteness maintained for thirty years +the highest position in the country. There was, no doubt, a large amount +of latent rebellion against this "one-man government," but those who +were the most ready to grumble in private were in public, perhaps, the +most servile of any. It is conceded that in many ways the Prime Minister +was an able ruler, and compared with those who went before him was +deserving of great praise. + +He made many attempts to prevent the corruption of justice, and +strenuously endeavored to improve the administration, and for many years +had managed to hold in check the ambitious projects of French statesmen, +and had shown at many times his interest in the cause of education. + +But his monopoly as a ruler, the idea of omnipotent control, refusal to +allow his subordinates to take their share of responsibility, like many +similar instances which history records, loosened the bond of patriotic +interest, love and integrity for country, and made easy the ingress of +the French in subduing and appropriating the Island of Madagascar. + +It has been stated that no account of Madagascar government would be +complete that did not include a description of their system of +"fanompoana," or forced service, which answers very nearly to the old +feudal service, and to the system known in Egypt as "corvee." The +tax-gatherer is not the ubiquitous person in Madagascar he is generally +supposed to have been. + +There were a few taxes paid by the people, such, for example, as a small +tax in kind on the rice crop, and occasionally a small poll-tax, and +money paid the sovereigns as a token of allegiance on many occasions. + +Taxes of this kind were not burdensome. The one burden that galled and +irritated the people was the liability to be called upon at any moment +to render unrequited service to the government. + +[Illustration: HON. JOHN E. BUSH, + +Receiver of United States Lands at Little Rock, Arkansas. + +Former Principal of Public Schools of Little Rock--Clerk in Railway Mail +Service--Grand Scribe of "Mosaic Templars of America"--An Able and +Leading Republican of Arkansas.] + +Every man had something that was regarded as "fanompoana." The people of +one district might be required to make mats for the government, in +another pots, the article required. From one district certain men were +required to bring crayfish to the capital, charcoal from another, iron +from another, and so on through all the series of wants. The jeweler +must make such articles as the Queen would desire, the tailor use his +needle and the writer his pen, as the government might need. The system +had in it some show of rough-and-ready justice, and was based on the +idea that each must contribute to the needs of the state according to +his several abilities; but in the actual working it had a most injurious +influence on the wellbeing of the country. Each man tried to avoid the +demands made upon him, and the art "how not to do it" was cultivated to +a very high degree of perfection. Many of the head men made this +"fanompoana" system a means of enriching themselves, compelling the +subordinates to serve them as well as the government. History does but +repeat itself, as there are not wanting instances in our own country +where certain heads of department "fanomponed" subordinates for private +service. + +In many ways are recorded the product of the fertile brain of these head +men. For instance, the centurion, or head man of a certain district, +gave out a notice in the church yard, on Sunday morning, or at a +week-day market, that a hundred men would be required next morning to +carry charcoal for the government. As a matter of fact, he required only +twenty, but he knew that many would come to him to beg off, and as none +would come empty-handed, his profit on the transaction was considerable. +Another illustration was given Mr. Cousins by the British Consul. It was +customary to send up mails from the coast by government runners, but +English ideas being adverse to demanding unrequited service, the Consul +had always sent the usual wages for the runners to the Governor, who +pocketed the dollars and "fanomponed" the mail. But enough of this, as +it has a flavor of our "Star Route Mail" disclosures, which startled the +country some years ago, and conclude with a tribute to Tammany, as: + + We arise to remark, and our language is plain, + That the Tweeds and the Crokers are of Malagash fame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +The introduction and perpetuation of the Christian religion in +Madagascar has been attended with vicissitudes, hopeful, discouraging, +and finally permanent. The Catholics were the first to attempt to gain a +footing on the southeast corner of the island. A French mission settled +and commenced to instruct the natives in the Roman Catholic faith, and +maintained a mission in spite of many discouragements for twenty years, +and then came to an end. Protestants who a century and a half later +carried the Gospel to Madagascar found it virgin soil. They found a +people without a written language or knowledge of the Christian faith. +Both in their literary and evangelical labors they had to revive a work +that was not dying out, but to start de novo, and the London Missionary +Society had to seek its own way to carry out its objects. + +The men to whom it appears that the Madagascar people are indebted for +their written languages and the first translation of the Scriptures were +two Welshmen. + +David Jones and David Griffiths--these two men were the pioneers of +Protestant missions in Madagascar--the first in 1820, the second a year +later. The main strength of these early missionaries was devoted to +educational work, in which they were vigorously supported by King Radama +I, and Mr. Hastie, the British agent. Besides this they began very early +to make a translation of the Scriptures, and in ten years after the +arrival of Mr. Jones in Antananarivo the first edition of 3,000 copies +of the New Testament was completed, in March, 1830. At this time much +progress had been made in the translation of the Old Testament. The +account of the completion of it is interesting. Soon after the death of +King Radama I, in 1828, the missionaries saw clear indications of the +uncertainty of their positions; ominous clouds began to gather until the +storm burst. + +The edict of Queen Ranavalona I against the Christian Church was +published March 1, 1835. A portion of the Old Testament translation was +uncompleted. The missions were deserted by their converts, and they +could procure no workman to assist; so with trembling haste they +proceeded with their task, and at the end of June they had joy in seeing +the first bound copies of the completed Bible. Most of these were +secretly distributed, and seventy remaining copies were buried for +safety in the earth--precious seed over which God watched and which in +due season produced a glorious harvest. The translators were driven +away, but the book remained. Studied in secret, and at the risk of life, +it served during more than a quarter of a century of persecution to keep +alive faith in the newly received religion; for, during all this time, +to use the familiar native phrase, "the land was dark." At its +commencement Queen Ranavalona (the Queen Mary of Madagascar), with all +the force of her strong will, set herself to destroy the new religion. +"It was cloth," she said, "of a pattern she did not like, and she was +determined none of her people should use it." + +The victims of her fury form a noble army of martyrs, of whom Madagascar +is justly proud. The causes that led to the persecution are not far to +seek. On the one hand, they were intensely conservative, clinging to +ancestral customs; and on the other hand, a suspicious and jealous fear +of foreign influence. The zealous work of the missionaries was believed +by many of the Queen's advisers to be only a cloak to conceal political +designs. The teachings of the foreigners were proving so attractive that +their chapels were crowded, and the influence of this new religion was +making itself felt in many families. Whither would all this lead? Was it +to pave the way to annex the island to the English Government? The word +"society" to a native ignorant of English would suggest a phrase of +their own which sounds alike, viz: "sosoy-oty"--"push the canoe over +this way." This to the ingenuous or suspicious mind of the hearers +suggested the idea of pushing over the Government of Madagascar to those +across the ocean who were supposed to be greedily seeking to seize it. +This is seemingly absurd, but not too ridiculous to obtain credence with +a people excited and suspicious. + +The former King Radama showed his shrewdness in giving permission to the +missionaries to reside in his country, for he expressly stipulated that +some of them should be skilled artisans, so that his people might be +instructed in weaving, smith-work, carpentry, etc. To this the society +wisely assented, and a number of Christian artisans were sent out. The +influence of these were of immense value, and to them is to be +attributed much of the skill of the Madagascar workman of today. + +There is no doubt that the manifest utility of their work did much to +win for the mission a measure of tolerance from the heathen rulers of +the country. One of the missionaries with great mechanical skill, in his +"Recollections," states that Queen Ranavalona in 1830 was beginning to +feel uneasy about the growing influence of foreign ideas and wished to +get rid of the missionaries. She sent officers to carry her message, and +the missionaries were gathered together to meet the messengers, and were +told that they had been a long time in the country and had taught much, +and that it was time for them to think of returning to their native +land. The missionaries, alarmed at this message, answered that they had +only begun to teach some of the elements of knowledge, and that very +many more remained to be imported, mentioning sundry branches of +education, among which were Greek and Hebrew languages, which had +already been taught to some. The messengers returned to the Queen, and +soon came back with the answer: "The Queen does not care much for Greek +and Hebrew. Can you teach how to make soap?" (And if cleanliness is akin +to godliness she was evidently groping in the right direction.) This was +an awkward question to address theologians; almost as much so as "Do you +know enough to come in out of the rain?" to some college graduates; but +after a moment's pause Mr. Griffith turned to Mr. Cameron and asked him +if he could answer it. "Give me a week," and it was given, and when the +messengers again met at the close of the week a bar of tolerable good +white soap, made from materials found in the country, was presented. +This was entirely satisfactory, and the manufacture of soap was +forthwith introduced, and is still continued to the present day. This +bar of soap gained the missionaries a respite of five years, the Queen +tolerating their presence on account of material advantage derived from +the work of the artisans. In believing that industrial training, the +knowledge to make things in demand, was the first necessary step for +the elevation of her people, the Queen was eminently correct. + +During the fifteen years (from 1820 to 1835) the mission was allowed to +exist it was estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 children passed through +school, so that when the missionaries were compelled to leave the island +there were thousands who had learned to read, and thereby raised far +above the mass of their heathen fellow-countrymen. + +Dark Days--January, 1835, a formal complaint was presented to the +missionaries by one of the Queen's officers against the Christian +religion under six different heads. Excitement increased and opposition +to the new teaching grew bolder. The Queen, in passing a native chapel +and hearing singing, was heard to say: "They will not stop till some of +them lose their heads." + +On the first of March, 1835, the edict publicly prohibiting the +Christian religion was delivered in the presence of thousands of people +who had been summoned to hear it. The place of meeting was a large open +space lying to the west of the long hill on which the city of +Antananarivo is built, and large enough to contain two or more thousand +people. In the middle of the plain crops up a large mass of granite +rock, on which only royal persons were allowed to stand; hence probably +the name "Imohamosine," which means "having power to make sacred." There +from time to time large public assemblies have been held, but never one +of greater significance or of more far-reaching issues than that. Of +this great "kabary," or meeting, notices had been sent far and wide. All +possible measures had been taken to inspire the people with awe and to +make them feel that a proclamation of unusual importance was about to be +published. Queen Ranavalona seemed anxious to make her people feel that +her anger was burning with an unwonted fury. It is stated that morning +had scarcely dawned when the report of the cannon intended to strike +terror and awe into the hearts of the people ushered in the day on which +the will and power of the sovereign of Madagascar to punish the +defenseless followers of Christ was to be declared. Fifteen thousand +troops were drawn up, part of them on the plain and the rest in two +lines a mile in length along the road leading to the place. The booming +of artillery from the high ground overlooking the plain and the reports +of musketry of the troops, which was continued during the preparatory +arrangements, produced among the multitude the most intense and anxious +feelings. At length the Chief Justice, attended by his companions in +office, advanced and delivered the message of the Sovereign, which was +enforced by Ramiharo, the chief officer of the Government. After +expressing the Queen's confidence in the idols, and her determination to +treat as criminals all who refused to do them homage, the message +proceeded: + +"As to baptism, societies, places of worship, and the observance of the +Sabbath--how many rulers are there in the land? Is it not I, alone, that +rule? These things are not to be done. They are unlawful in my country," +said the Queen, "for they are not the customs of our ancestors." + +As a result of this "kabary" 400 officers were reduced in rank and fines +were paid for 2,000 others, and thus was ushered in a persecution which +lasted a quarter of a century. + +The Rev. William Ellis, on English missionaries, in his book entitled +"Madagascar Revisited," states that the first martyr for Christ who +suffered there in 1836 was "Rosolama." She was a Christian woman, +between twenty and thirty years of age, bearing no common name, for +Rosolama signifies peace and happiness. She was imprisoned at +Ambotonakonga, the site of the first house built exclusively for +Christian worship in the country. A memorial church has been erected on +the spot. When brought to the place she knelt down and asked a few +minutes to pray. This was granted, and then her body fell, pierced with +the spears of her executioners. + +[Illustration: REV. J. P. ROBINSON, + +Pastor of First Baptist Church, Little Rock, Arkansas. + +Eminent as a Successful Preacher, with Much Originality of Thought and +Strength of Convictions.] + +The second martyr, Rayfarolahy, a young man, suffered on the same place +some time after. At the request of Rosolama when she was taken forth to +death he had walked by her side to the place of execution and offered +words of encouragement to her to the last. When brought to the place +himself the executioners seized him and were about, as was their custom, +to forcibly throw him down, he said to them calmly, "There is no need to +do that; I will not cause any trouble." He also asked to be allowed to +pray, and then gently laid himself down and received the executioners' +spears. The measures taken to destroy Christianity were not at all times +equally severe. The years that stand out with special prominence are +1835, 1837, 1840, 1849 and 1857. Of what took place in 1840 was depicted +at the time in a letter written by Rev. D. Griffiths, who was then +residing at Antananarivo. The nine condemned Christians were taken past +Mr. Griffiths' house. "Ramonisa," he says, "looked at me and smiled; +others also looked at me, and their faces shone like those of angels in +the posture of prayer and wrestling with God. They were too weak to +walk, having been without rice or water for a long time. The people on +the wall and in the yard before our house were cleared off by the swords +and spears of those leading them to execution. That we might have a +clear, full and last sight of them, they were presented opposite the +balcony on the road and at the entrance of the yard for about ten +minutes, carried on poles by the executioners, with merely a hand +breadth of cloth to cover them, they were then led away to execution. +The cannon fired to announce their death was shattered to pieces, and +the gunners' clothes burnt, which was considered ominous, many +whispering 'Thus will the kingdom of Ranavalona Manjaka be shattered to +pieces.'" + +In 1849 what may be called the great persecution took place; not less +than 1,900 persons suffered persecution of various kinds--fines, +imprisonment, chains, or forced labor in the quarries. Of this number 18 +suffered death, four, of noble birth, by being burned, and 14 by being +thrown over the great precipice of Ampomarinona. It is not easy to +estimate exactly the number of those who suffered the punishment of +death in these successive outbursts of persecution. It is most probable +the victims were between seventy or eighty. But these form only a small +portion of the total number of sufferers. Probably hundreds of others +died from their heavy irons, chains, or from fevers, severe forced +labor, or privations during the time they were compelled to hide in +caves or in the depths of the forests. + +Notwithstanding the severe persecution much quiet Christian work was +carried on in the lulls between storms--sometimes on hilltops, sometimes +in caves, or even in unfinished tombs. Thus the story of the Covenanters +was repeated, and the impossibility of destroying the Christian faith by +persecution again shown. Through these long years of persecution the +Christians were constantly receiving accessions to their ranks, and the +more they were opposed "the more they multiplied and grew." + +[Illustration: CHRISTIAN MARTYR, + +In Madagascar in chains--Receiving consolation.] + +The year 1861 will ever be a period from which date results momentous in +behalf of civil and religious liberty for the Negro. It was the +beginning of the end of Negro slavery in the United States and the +permanent establishment of religious freedom in Madagascar. Queen +Ranavalona had a long reign of thirty-three years, but in that year it +became evident she could not reign much longer. Natives give details of +her last days. The aged Queen had for some time been suffering in +health; diviners had been urgently consulted, charms and potent herbs +had been employed, with no avail. Late in the summer of 1861 it became +generally known that the fatal moment could not long be delayed. +Mysterious fires were said to be seen on the tops of mountains +surrounding the capital, and a sound like music was rising from Iatry to +Andohalo. The Queen eagerly questioned those around her as to the +meaning of these portents. But while the dying Queen was anxiously +praying to the idol in which she placed her trust, there were those who +whispered to the prince that the fire was the sign of jubilee to bring +together the dispersed, and to redeem the lost, and so the event +proved. + +The aged Queen passed away during the night of August 15, 1861, and +early on the morning of August 16 the news spread rapidly through the +capital, and her son was proclaimed as Radama II. One of the first acts +of the new sovereign was to proclaim religious liberty. The chains were +struck off from the persecuted Christians and the banished were +recalled. Many came back who had long been in banishment or in hiding, +and their return seemed to friends who had supposed them to be dead like +a veritable resurrection. + +The joy of the Christian was intense. The long season of repression had +at last come to an end. Now it was no longer a crime to meet for +Christian worship, or to possess Christian books. On that first Friday +evening some of the older Christians met and spent the night in prayer, +and Sunday services were begun in eleven private houses; but these were +soon consolidated into three large congregations. Radama II eagerly +welcomed intercourse with foreigners and gave Christians permission to +write at once, urging that missionaries be sent out, himself writing to +the London Missionary Society making the same request. The society +responded promptly with a large band of men and women missionaries, +twenty or thirty thousand copies of the Bible, New Testament and tracts. + +The result of three-quarters of a century of Christian work in +Madagascar has been that the Christian religion has taken firm hold on +the people. Manifest and noticeable are the number and prominence of +church buildings in and around the capital. There are four stone +memorial churches, built by the friends of the London Missionary Society +to remind coming generations of the fidelity of the martyrs, and a very +fine and well situated Roman Catholic cathedral in Ambodin Andaholo. +Prominent as Christian agencies in Madagascar are "The Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel," who sent out Bishop Kestel Cornish and James +Coles; "The Norwegian Missionary Society," "The Roman Catholic +Missionary Society," and "The Society of Friends in England." + +To summarize, approximately there are now 110 foreign missionaries on +the island; over 2,000 congregations, with a total of 400,000 adherents, +which include 100,000 church members; while the Protestant schools +contain 150,000 children. No statement of the Christianizing agencies +and influences would be just or correct that did not include that of the +Roman Catholic Church. "No one," it has been truly said, "can be long in +Madagascar without learning to admire the self-denial, patience and +heroic fortitude with which its work is carried on." It has been thus +fittingly described, a few years ago, by an English visitor: "In 1861, +when Catholic missionaries landed on the shores of Tamatave there was +not a Catholic on the island; but little by little, by dint of +unwearied labor, suffering and preaching, they won over not hundreds but +thousands of pagans to the love and knowledge of our Lord and His truth, +so that their pagan converts number over 130,000. They have built a +magnificent cathedral, which is the glory and pride of Antananarivo. +They have also 300 churches and 400 or more Catholic stations scattered +over the island, where 18,000 children are taught and trained by a large +and elevated staff of Christian brothers and sisters of St. Joseph, and +641 native teachers. They have also created industrial schools, where +various trades are taught by two devoted brothers, Benjamin and Arnoad, +and at Ambohipo they have a flourishing college for young Malagash. They +have also on the island four large dispensaries, where thousands of +prescriptions are distributed gratis to all who seek to relieve their +sufferings. They have also established a leper hospital at Ambohivoraka, +where the temporal and spiritual wants of 150 poor lepers are freely +administered to, and have already opened another such establishment, in +Betsilio land. Prison visitation, dispensing rice, clothing, and +spiritual instruction to half-starved and naked prisoners under the +Madagascar rule; their catalogue of books devotional, literary and +scientific; a dictionary, all of which have been edited and published in +the Madagascan language, are among the golden contributions for +civilization by the Catholics in this far-off island continent in the +Indian seas." + +In referring to their labors, and to which, comparatively, I have made +but brief reference, Mr. Cousins says: "To much in the Roman Catholic +system we may be strenuously opposed; but to their zeal, their skill, +their patience, their self-denial, we render the homage of an ungrudging +admiration." + +The foregoing were the labors and results of missionary effort up to the +date of the French taking absolute possession of the island. It is to be +hoped there will be no retrograde movement lessening the efficiency of +these civilizing agencies. Although it is alleged that French control +and influence in Tahiti and other South Sea islands have been averse to +both morality and evangelical Christianity, and hence there are not +wanting those who predict incumbrances in missionary work, now French +authority is established. But in this age of progress along all the +lines of human endeavor the French Government will undoubtedly see the +justice and utility of governing with a regard to the advancement of +these wards that the prowess of its arms have committed to its care. It +is not unreasonable to expect, and the promise should be flattering, +that with the European ideas of the proper functions of government, the +incipient steps for the mental culture of the natives, present evidence +of large expenditure and introduction of the most modern applications +for the physical development of the island, the Madagascan people will +attain in the future a higher degree of human advancement from contact +with the civilization of the French than it was possible they could have +under "Hova rule." And in this connection it is gratifying to note that +"The Native Race Protection Committee," headed by Mr. Paul Viollet, of +the Paris Institute, in June, 1899, addressed an appeal to the Colonial +Minister in behalf of the Malagash, entreating him to shorten the forced +labor, to reduce the taxes, and to annul decrees, which greatly +re-established slavery. + +The appeal dwelt on the fearful mortality occasioned by forced labor on +the roads, which threatened to reduce the most robust population of the +highlands as to de-bar colonists from commercial and agricultural +enterprises, and very pertinently asks "Is it not better to be without +roads than without a healthy population?" The appeal also denounced +arbitrary acts. "The native," it is said, "is arrested and imprisoned +for months without a trial, and this with all the less forbearance, as +the prisoner is always utilized as an economic laborer." The justice of +this appeal and prompt reception and accord with the French conscience +was evidenced in the public announcement to the natives by Gen. +Gallieni, the Governor of Madagascar, a few months later, that forced +labor would be discontinued after January 1, 1900, and thereafter they +could work for whom they pleased, and if for government they would be +paid wages agreed to. + +It is needless to say that this proclamation was received by the natives +with tumultuous rejoicing. Forced labor is now abolished, and the +natives rejoice in a jubilee from a servitude the most galling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +The adaptability of the Negro to conditions that are at the time +inevitable has been the paladium that has sustained and multiplied him +amid the determined prejudice that has ever assailed him. The Indian, +unassimilating, combatted the prejudice of caste by physical force, and +has been well nigh extinguished, while the Negro has bowed to the +inevitable with the mental reservation to rise to a higher recognition +by a persistent assimilation of the forces that disenthralled and +exalted the Saxon. + +The foregoing chapter, indicating the policy of the French in their +occupation and dealing with Madagascar, the planting of a nation's +authority and establishing a colony on the ruins of a weaker power, or +of subject races, under the plea of humanity, or through the chicanery +of diplomacy, has ever been the rule when territory has been desired by +a stronger power. The proximity of Cuba to the States, and Spanish +misrule of that island, and also of the Philippines, were the "open +sesame," it is alleged, that beckoned the armed force of the United +States to take possession. But in truth the Spanish jewel, Cuba, shone +in the distance, "so near, and yet so far"--so near for mischievous +complication, and so far for material and diplomatic control. With a +vicious administration by a nation of decaying prestige were all +elements promising success to the invader. The covert and dastardly +destruction of the U. S. warship "Maine" in Cuban waters, the offspring +of Spanish suspicion of American designs, was all, and more than +required, to inaugurate a "causi belli" and complete the conquest of the +island. To claim that these movements had their incipiency in a +consensus of desire of the American people for justice to subject races, +and was solely, or even mainly, on account of Spanish tyranny, is a +statement that will not bear investigation for moral consistency. It +being the very antipodes of their current behavior to a large class of +citizens born beneath the pinions of their eagle of freedom at home. + +For how does it happen that the alien Cuban and Filipino colored +brothers are so much more entitled to protection and the enjoyment of +civil and political rights than the colored American brother, that +thousands of lives and millions of treasure must be expended to +establish that humanity and justice abroad denied by these "world +reformers" to millions of their citizens at home? Really, it would seem +that to duty and the bestowal of justice 'tis "distance that lends +enchantment to the view." "Wherever you see a head, hit it," was the +slogan of Pat, at Donnybrook Fair, and wherever there has been a +territorial plum ripe in its loneliness, and tempting in its +lusciousness, there has not been wanting a "grabber." It was the French +in Madagascar, the English in Africa, and the Americans in the Antilles. +"O! civilization; what crimes are committed in thy name!" The record of +our stewardship is in the tomb of the future for the coming historian to +"point a moral or adorn a tale." + +The acquisition of new territory, when honorably acquired, is ever +attended with peculiar conditions and vicissitudes. The transformation +of the population of which into a desirable element of the body politic +depends much upon the wisdom of the statesman, and the insistence of +moral rectitude on the part of the Christian and philanthropist whether +it shall be a blessing or an evil to both parties in interest. + +It is no secret that in many minds the motive and manner of acquiring +the Philippines are open to much disparaging comment. We are charged +with wresting by superior force that independence that a weak but heroic +people were and had been for ten years struggling to attain from the +Spanish yoke; that we, whom they hailed as an assistant and in good +faith co-operated with in turn, became their hostile enemies and +destroyed that identity as an independent entity for which they fought. + +[Illustration: CHESTER W. KEATTS, + +Grand Master "Mosaic Templars of America." + +Born In Pulaski County, Arkansas, in 1860--For Many Years Prominent in +the Mail Service of that State--Broad in His Sympathies, and Strong as +an Advocate for the Beneficent Principles of the Institution of which He +is the Head.] + +The conditions which confronted Aguinaldo as the leader of the +Philippine revolution have been vividly described by a writer of English +history: "With the statesman in revolutionary times, it is not through +decisive moments that seemed only trivial, and by important turns that +seemed indifferent; for he explores dark and untried paths; groping his +way through a jungle of vicissitudes, ambush and strategem; expedient, a +match for fortune in all her moods. Regardless of what has been called +'history's severe and scathing touch,' we cannot forget the torrid air +of revolutionary times, the blinding sand storms of faction, the +suspicions, jealousies and hatreds, the distinctions of mood and aim, +the fierce play of passions that put an hourly strain of untold +intensity on the constancy, the prudence, and the valor of a leader." + +No one can read the state papers and proclamations of Aguinaldo without +being impressed with his ability as a leader, the intensity of his +patriotism and honesty of purpose depicted for the independence of his +country from Spanish rule. The statesmanship he displayed, the +intelligent and liberal conception of constitutional government, and the +needs and aspirations of his people, are at variance with the allegation +that the Filipinos were unfit for self-government. + +Hence it is that men ask, "Would it not have been national nobility of a +high order if as a protector we should have given them a protectorate +instead of the ignoble action of shooting them down in their patriotic +attempt?" Indeed, it remains to be seen whether absolute authority +obtained by such means, together with current American usage of colored +races, will not evolve the fact that they have but changed masters. For +here in our own hemisphere our country's history continues to be rife +with lawlessness at the bidding of a vicious sentiment, and in some +sections it is the rule and not the exception. Free from the restraint +of law-abiding localities in the States, the American adventurer of +lawless propensity will have free reign in bullying and oppressing, and +probable partiality in the administration of the law. + +George E. Horr, the able editor of the "Watchman," under "Treatment to +Subject Races," is pointed and timely when he says: "The Englishman who +emigrates to an English colony finds that he comes under the same laws +that apply to the natives; he is not a privileged personage, by virtue +of the fact that he is an Englishman. Law is enacted and executed with +absolute impartiality. In India a native and an Englishman stand exactly +on the same plane before the law. Indeed, in many cases, an Englishman +will be tried by an Indian judge. The British have not succeeded in +winning the affections of the natives, but the natives are thoroughly +convinced the Englishman will act justly. There will not be (in +practice) one law for European and another for the native, as in too +many cases in our own country there is one law for the white man and +another for the black man." + +But let us all work, hope and trust that the best of American +Christianity and civilization may be equal to the emergency, giving the +Filipinos a larger measure of liberty and civil rights than they had +under the erstwhile rule of Spain. + +Under a constitutional government it is premised that sustenance and +valor for "amor patria" proceeds from the fact that its institutions are +designed as bulwarks for the citizen's liberty, and that its political +and economic features are such as guarantee equality before the law and +promote an equal chance in the race of life. + +That there is a degree of selfishness in his patriotism, and that +government is revered only as a means to an end, is evidenced by +revolutionary tendencies ever uppermost when there are reasons to +believe that these benign purposes are being thwarted. But if for +wrongs, the return be fidelity, for obloquy patience, for maltreatment +loyalty, be a high type of Christian ethics, the reflex influence of +which, we read, are God-like; surely the Negro has virtues "not born to +die," presaging an endurance that must evolve out of this nettle +discomfort, justice and contentment. For, as heretofore, in the last war +with Spain, putting behind him his century of oppression in slavery, and +the vicious discrimination since his emancipation, forgetful of all +else save the honor and glory of the flag, there, as, always, he wrote +his name high up on the roll of his country's heroes. "Our's not to ask +the reason why; our's to do or die." To read the reports of commanders +and other officers, and the narratives of bystanders, all attesting to a +bravery invincible, causes the blood to tingle and the patriot heart to +leap. We are making history replete with self-abnegation as we continue +to bring to our country's altar an unstinted devotion and brilliant +achievement. These take their places fittingly, and we should keep them +in the forefront of our claim for equality of citizenship. + +For it is declared that "not the least valuable lesson taught by the war +with Spain is the excellence of the Negro soldiery". In the battle of +San Juan, near Santiago, a Negro regiment is said to have borne the +brunt of the battle. Three companies suffered nearly as seriously, yet +they remained steady under fire without an officer. The war has not +shown greater heroism. In the battle of Guasimas it is said by some of +the "Rough Riders" themselves that it was the brilliant supporting +charge of the Tenth Cavalry that saved them from destruction. George +Rennon writes: "I do not hesitate to call attention to the splendid +behavior of the colored troops." It is the testimony of all who saw them +under fire that they fought with the utmost courage, coolness and +determination; and Colonel Roosevelt said to a squad of them in the +trenches in my presence that he never expected to have and could not ask +to have better men beside him in a hard fight. If soldiers come up to +Colonel Roosevelt's standard of courage, their friends have no reason to +be ashamed of them. His commendation is equivalent to a medal of honor +for conspicuous gallantry, because, in the slang of the camp, he is +himself a fighter "from way back." I can testify, furthermore, from my +own personal observation in the hospital of the Fifth Army Corps, +Saturday and Sunday night, that the colored regulars who were brought in +there displayed extraordinary fortitude and self-control. There were a +great many of them, but I cannot remember to have heard a groan or +complaint from a single man. + +General Miles is quoted as favoring an increased number of colored +soldiers in the United States service. He said that "in no instance had +they failed to do their full duty in this war, or in the campaigns in +the West; in short, they were model soldiers in every respect; not only +in courage have they done themselves credit, but in their conduct as +well." + +When the Second Volunteer regiment of Immunes (white) became so +disorderly in Santiago that they had to be sent outside to the hills for +better discipline, General Shafter ordered into the city the Eighth +Illinois regiment of colored troops, who had an unsullied name for +sobriety and discipline, and enjoyed the thorough confidence of those in +command. And the following brief compendium of Spanish war mention from +a few of the leading press of the country is good reading. A soldier +writing home to friends in Springfield said: "You want to see the +Negroes; they let out a yell and charge, and the fight is over." Arthur +Partridge, of Co. B, writes: "At first we got the worst of it, but we +received reinforcements from the two regiments of colored infantry, who +walked right up to the block house, against their whole fire; they lost +heavily, but it put heart into everybody, and the way we drove those +Spaniards was a caution. A colored man can have anything of mine he +wants. When storming they yelled like fiends." Corporal Keating of Co. B +writes: "The Negroes are fighters from their toes up. They saved +Roosevelt at the first battle, and took one of the forts in the battle a +few days ago." + +Thomas Holmes, a Rough Rider, who hails from Newkirk, Oklahoma, was the +magnet of attraction at St. Paul's Hospital, says a writer in the New +York Tribune. "He is a handsome, stalwart fellow, full of anecdote and +good humor, and popular all around. He was sitting next to Corporal +Johnson, of the Tenth Cavalry, a Negro who still carries a Mauser bullet +somewhere 'inside of me inside,' as he expressed it. 'The colored +cavalry fought well, eh?' interjected the clergyman. 'Indeed they did,' +said Holmes, fervently. 'That old idea about a "yellow streak" being in +a Negro is all wrong. No men could have fought more bravely, and I want +to tell you that but for the coming up of the Tenth Cavalry the Rough +Riders might have been cut to pieces.' 'Oh, he is just talking,' said +the colored man, who smiled like a happy child nevertheless." + +Says the "Philadelphia Daily Press:" "At every forward movement in our +national life the Negro comes to the front and shares in the advance +with each national expansion. He does his part of the work, and deserves +equal recognition. At Santiago two Negro regiments--the Ninth, in +General Sumner's Brigade, and the Tenth, in General Bates'--were at the +front in the center of the line. With the rest they crested the heights +of San Juan; with the rest they left their men thickly scattered on the +slope, and since they shared in death every member of the race has a +right to ask that in life no rights be denied and no privileges +curtailed. The white regiments that connected them in that thin blue +line, that slender hoop of steel which hemmed in more than its opposing +number, may have held men who hesitate about this and that, contact with +color; but on that Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, when risk and +peril hung heavy over the line, there was no hesitation in closing up +on the Ninth and Tenth Regiments, because the men in them were colored. +All honor to the black troops of the gallant Tenth." + +Says the "New York Mail and Express:" "No more striking example of +bravery and coolness has been shown since the destruction of the Maine +than by the colored veterans of the Tenth Cavalry during the attack on +Fort Caney of Saturday. By the side of the intrepid 'Rough Riders' they +followed their leader up the terrible hill from whose crest the +desperate Spaniards poured down a deathly fire of shell and musketry. +They never faltered; the rents in their ranks were filled as soon as +made. Firing as they marched, their aim was splendid, their coolness +superb, and their courage aroused the admiration of their comrades. +Their advance was greeted with wild cheers from the white regiments, and +with an answering shout they pressed onward over the trenches they had +taken close in pursuit of the retreating enemy. The war has not shown +greater heroism. The men whose freedom was baptised in blood have proven +themselves capable of giving their lives that others may be free. Today +is a glorious 'Fourth' for all races of people in this great land." + +The "New Orleans Item" gives its contemporary, the "States," the +following spanking (with the usual interrogation, "Now will you be +good?"): "The 'States' has evidently failed to profit by the beneficial +lesson taught since the opening of the Santiago campaign. Had our +esteemed contemporary been present in Richmond a few days since; when +the form of a Negro soldier pierced by nine Mauser bullets was tenderly +borne through the streets by four stalwart white infantry men, he would +have heard the lustiest cheers that ever went up from the throats of the +residents of the former capital of the Confederacy. Perhaps our +anti-Negro friend would have learned wisdom from the statement of a +member of Roosevelt's regiment, who declared in an interview with a +press representative, that had it not been for the valiant conduct of +the Negro cavalry at Baguiri the Rough Riders would have found the +routing of the Spaniards almost a hopeless task. The attack of the +'States' on the Negro soldier is vicious and unpardonable. There is no +more intrepid or hardy fighter to be found anywhere than the much-abused +descendant of Ham. He has dogged persistence and a determination to +conquer which triumphs over all obstacles. He is aware of his social +inferiority and never seeks to attain positions of eminence to which his +valor and his spirit of daring do not entitle him. The 'States' presents +one of the most rabid cases of negrophobia extant. It should seek an +immediate cure." + +Such indorsements from the white press of the country is not only +timely, but for all time. History of his endurance and endeavor in +peace, and his valor in war, stimulates his demand and strengthens his +claim for equal justice. Such and kindred books as "Johnson's School +History of the Race in America" should be prominent as household gods in +every Afro-American home, that along the realm of time the vista of +heroic effort "bequeathed from sire to son" may gladden hearts in "the +good time coming;" for it is display in endurance, a vigorous courage, a +gladsome self-control, a triumphant self-sacrifice, that mankind applaud +as supreme for exaltation, and the highest types of self-abnegation for +human advancement; for "before man made us citizens, Great Nature made +us men." + +Equally as in the realm of war has the race produced its noblemen in the +arena of peace and mental development. For, if it be true that "the +greatest names in history are those who in the full career and amid the +turbid extremities of political action, have yet touched the closest and +at most points the ever-standing problems of the world and the things in +which the interests of men never die," our industrial educators are +fittingly placed. + +[Illustration: HON. JOSIAH T. SETTLE, A. B. A. M. + +Born in Tennessee September, 1850--Entered Oberlin College in +1868--Graduated From Howard University, 1872--A Leading Member +of the Bar--Member of State Legislature of 1883--Assistant +Attorney-General--For Integrity as a Man, Learning as a Jurist, and +Eloquence of Appeal, He Has Made an Honorable Record.] + +Of the ever-standing problem of the world, and in which mankind is ever +alert, is the struggle for survival, and he that by inspiring word and +untiring deeds leads the deserving poor and destitute to prosperity and +contentment, is entitled to unstinted praise as a great human force +directed to a high moral purpose. While an advocate for the higher +education of as many of the race who have the will or means to obtain +it, for the majority, after obtaining a good English education, it +should be immediately supplemented by a trade, to labor skillfully, is +its great want today. + +The question has been asked: "Can any race safely exist in any country +composed only of unskilled laborers and professional men? Must not the +future leaders of our people come from the middle classes, from those +who work and think?" Education to be of practical advantage must not +only sharpen the intellect, but it must be of that sort that will enable +them to engage in pursuits and avocations above those of mere drudgery; +those that are more lucrative, and from which accumulate wealth. The +school room must be the stepping stone to a good trade. The statement +has been made (which may be problematical) that we have fewer, +comparatively, very many fewer, mechanics of all kinds now than we had +in the days of slavery. The master knew that the money value of the +slave was increased in the ratio of his efficiency as a skilled laborer. + +To the credit of Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas and other Southern States, +they have made generous provisions for industrial education by supplying +machinery and the most modern appliances to teach skilled labor to +those who prefer them to the white apron of the waiter or the grubbing +hoe of the plantation. Of the students that graduate from our high +schools and colleges there are those who have not the qualities of head +and heart essential for teaching and preaching, including a love and +devotion to those callings, and possibly would have been shining marks +had their studies fitted them to grapple with the mercantile or +industrial factors that promise a future more independent and lucrative. + +The advancement of any race in morals and culture is retarded when poor +and dependent. It is indispensable to progress that it has the benefit +of earnings laid by. It is therefore to these industrial features that +we must look for the foundation of advancement for the race. It will not +be found at either extreme of our present avocations; neither the +attainment of the professions, nor devotion to menial labor will solve +the problem of the "better way." A greater number must be fitted to +obtain work more lucrative in character and more ennobling in effect. +Institutions of applied science and business pursuits seem to me the +great doorway to ultimate success. Economy and industries of this kind +will more rapidly produce the means to achieve that higher education for +the race so desirable. Morality, learning and wealth are a trio +invincible. + +To content ourselves with denouncing injustice is to fail to enlist the +economic features so necessary as assistants. For amid all our +disadvantages we are to a large extent arbiters of our fortunes, for we +can by an indomitable will dispel many, many seeming mountains that +encumber our way. But we have much to unlearn, and especially that the +road to financial prosperity is not chiefly the dictum of the facile +mouth, but through the manifestation of skilled hands and routine of +business methods, however much the mouth may attempt to compete, +conscious of its wealth of assertion and extent of capacity. While it is +eminently proper we should strive for the administration of equitable +laws for our protection, it should be ever remembered that while local +laws under our constitutional government are supposed to be the equity +of public opinion, for us they are not sustained unless in harmony with +feelings and sentiments of their environments. Our work as a dependent +element is plainly to use such, and only such, methods as will sustain +or create the sentiment desired by a fraternization of business and +material interests. This we cannot do either in the arena of politics or +the status of the menial laborer. For in the one, when the polls are +closed, we are continuously reminded of "Othello's occupation gone." In +the other, the abundance of raw and uncouth labor robs it of its +vitality as a force to compel conditions. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +The spirit in which these "schools of trade" have been conceived, and +the success of their conduct, indicate they have struck a responsive +chord in the communities where local approval is a necessity. +Constituting an agreeable counterpoise to the fixed determination of the +white people of the South that within its purview the Negro, however +worthy, shall not occupy political prominence. This, while diametrically +opposed to the genius and spirit of republican government, may yet be +the boomerang, beneficent in its return, redounding to his advantage by +turning the current of his aspirations to trades and business activities +rich with promise of material and ennobling fame. From this point of +view history records the Jew as a shining example. The Negro, +constitutionally buoyant, should be energetic and hopeful, for "there is +a destiny that shapes our ends," blunt them however much by "damning +with faint praise" or apology for oppression from whilom friends. In the +darkest hour of slavery and ignorance came freedom and education. When +lynchings became prevalent, lynching of whites made it unpopular; when +disfranchisement came, debasing him in localities as a factor in civil +government, came elevation and high honor ungrudgingly bestowed for +heroic deeds by commanders of the national armies. + +President McKinley, in his order for the enlistment and promotion of the +colored soldier in the Spanish war, added additional luster to his page +in history, it being an act the result of which has been of inestimable +value to the race. Just and inspiring is the speech of Hon. Charles H. +Grosvenor, of Ohio, delivered at the close of the 56th Congress, +entitled "The Colored Citizen; His Share in the Affairs of the Nation in +the Years of 1897 to 1900. Fifteen thousand participated in the war. The +President's generous treatment of colored men in the military and civil +service of the Government." + +General Grosvenor commences with an exordium eloquent in succinctness +and noble in generosity. "I cannot let pass this opportunity at the +close of a long session of Congress, and at the end of three years of +this Administration, without putting on record to enlighten future +generations the history of the part which the colored citizen has had in +the stirring events of this remarkable period. It is a period in the +history of the country of which future generations will be proud, as are +those of today, and as the colored citizens of the United States have +participated nobly in it, it is but just to them that the facts be put +on record. + +"I want to speak of his part in the war in Cuba, in Porto Rico, in the +Philippines. Would a war with Spain benefit the Negro? was a popular +question for debate. Some thought it would benefit, others thought not. +In many respects it has been a Godsend and beyond dispute a great +benefit. If in no other way, 15,048 privates have shown their patriotism +and their valor by offering their bared breasts as shields for the +country's honor; 4,114 regulars did actual, noble and heroic service at +El Caney, San Juan and Santiago, while 266 officers (261 volunteers and +five regulars) did similar service and demonstrated the ability of the +American Negro to properly command ever so well, as he does readily +obey." + +General Grosvenor then pertinently adds: "When we learn to appreciate +the fact that three years ago the Negro had in the army only five +officers and 4,114 privates, and that one year ago he had 266 officers +and 15,048 privates, we must know that inestimable benefit has come to +the race. Among the officers are to be found many of the brightest minds +of the race. Fully 80 per cent of those in authority come from the best +known and most influential families in the land. Their contact with and +influence upon their superior officers will be sure to raise the Negro +in the popular esteem and do an incalculable good." + +Reference is made to disbursements to Negro officers and soldiers during +the Spanish war, which he colates to be $5,000,000; adding the salaries +of those employed in the civil service brings up to a sum exceeding +$6,000,000 paid the Negro citizen. This, coupled with the high honor +attached to such military designations as colonels, lieutenants and +captains conferred upon him, shed a halo of generosity over President +McKinley's Administration. + +General Grosvenor is richly entitled to and received a just meed of +praise for the great service he has done by putting this grand array of +fact and heroic deed in popular form, and thereby strengthening the +Negro appeal for justice and opportunity, while its pages are a noble +contribution to a valor that will illumine Negro history for all time. +It was most opportune, for the then pressing need to strengthen the weak +and recall the recalcitrants who indiscriminately charge the party with +being remiss in requiting and acknowledging the Negro's devotion. The +well-earned plaudits for his bravery on the battlefield should widen the +area of his consciousness, intensify conviction that mediocrity is a +drug in every human activity, for whether in the professions, +literature, agriculture or trades, it is excellence alone that counts +and will bring recognition, despite the frowning battlements of caste. +As we become more and more valued factors in the common cause of the +general welfare, that the flexibility of American sentiment on +conviction of merit will be more apparent we cannot but believe; for +conditions seem to have surmounted law and seek their own solution, +since the supreme law of the land seems ineffectual and local sentiment +the arbiter, when the Negro is plaintiff. + +In the first section of Article 14 of the Constitution we have: "All +persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the +jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the +several States wherein they reside. No State shall enforce any law which +shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United +States." To neutralize this pronounced and unequivocal legislation we +have the dictum of the Supreme Court of the United States that this +constitutional right, so plainly set forth, can be legally abrogated by +a State convention or legislature. While from the premises stated the +conclusion may be evident to a jurist, to the layman it is perplexing; +and while bowing in obeyance to this court of last resort, he cannot but +admire the judicial agility in escaping the problem. He is reminded of a +final response touching the character and standing of a church member of +whom the inquirer wishes to know. The reply was: "Brother B. is quite +prominent and well known here." "Well, what is his standing?" "Oh, very +high; he is the elder of our church and superintendent of the Sunday +school." "Yes, but as I am thinking of having some business dealings +with him, what I want to know is, how does he stand for credit and +promptness?" "Well, stranger, if you put it that way, I must say that +heavenward Bro. B. is all right, but earthward he is rather twistical." +Ordinaryward, the Supreme Court is all right; but Negroward, twistical. + +[Illustration: JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN, + +Chief Justice of the United States. + +Born in Kentucky--A Colonel in the Union Army--Candidate for +Vice-President of the United States--One of the Foremost Authorities on +Constitutional Law--Learned and Impartial.] + +For the law-abiding citizens of these Commonwealths we have this other, +the second section of the same article: "When the right to vote at any +election for the choice of electors for President or Vice-President of +the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive or +judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, +is denied to any one of the male inhabitants of such State being +twenty-one years of age and a citizen of the United States, or in any +way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the +basis of representation thereon shall be reduced in the proportion which +the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male +citizens twenty-one years of age in such State." + +If, as avowed, that it is for the welfare of such Southern States that +they desire to banish the Negro from politics, can welfare be promoted +or national integrity sustained by such rank injustice, as their Members +of Congress occupying seats therein, or having representation in the +electoral college based upon an apportionment in which the Negro +numerically is so prominent a factor, and in the exercise of rights +pertaining thereto, he is a nonentity. + +"The Baptist Watchman" takes this unassailable position of this misrule: +"Ex-Governor Northen, of Georgia, in his address before the +Congregational Club the other evening, declared that the status of the +black race in the South was that of permanent dependence upon the white +race. The central point of his contention is that capacity to rule +confers the right to rule. The white man can give the black man a better +government that he can give himself; therefore, the black man should be +glad to receive the blessing at the hands of the white man. For our +part, we believe that, whatever specious defense on the ground of +philanthropy, civilization and religion may be made for this position, +it is radically repugnant to the genius of American institutions. If the +men of the nation who are best qualified to rule have a right to rule, +they themselves being the judge of their qualifications, England or +Russia would be justified in attempting to impose their sovereignty on +the United States, if they thought they could give us a better +government than we are apt to give ourselves. Unless the doctrine is +vigorously maintained that governments 'derive their just powers from +the consent of the governed,' and not from the conceit of an aristocracy +as to its own capacity, then we of the North will not find it easy to +protest effectively against the disfranchisement of the Southern +Negroes." + +But the issue will not be made in opposition to a great national party +that draws a large measure of its strength from the South till disaster +from material issues compel. With the Republican party (as of a +Christmas morning) "everything is lovely and the goose hangs high;" but +discomfiture, sometimes laggard, is ever attendant on dereliction of +duty. This usurpation, which should have been throttled when a babe, has +now become a giant seated in its castle, compelling deference and +acquiescence to an anomaly, reaching beyond the Negro in its menace to +representative government. + +And now, while from inertia the Republican party has been privy to this +misrepresentation, prominent Northern leaders are trying to take +advantage of their own neglect in an attempt to reduce representation in +national conventions from Southern States, irregularly Democratic. But +the friends of just government need not despond, for the political and +industrial revolution which the war for the perpetuation of the Union +and the basic principle of equity it evolved will continue to demand and +eventually secure equal rights for all beneath the flag. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +Now, on the eve of my departure from Madagascar, and approaching four +years of consular intercourse, I have only pleasant memories. My +relations with General Gallieni, Governor-General of the Island, and his +official family, have ever been most cordial. On learning of my intended +departure, he very graciously wrote me, as follows: + + Madagascar and Dependencies. + + Governeur-General. + + Tananarivo, 19th Mch., 1901. + +My Dear Consul: + +I learn with much displeasure of your early departure from Madagascar, +and would have been very glad to have met you again at the beginning of +May, when going down to the coast. But I always intend to take a trip to +America, and perhaps may find an opportunity to see you again in your +powerful and flourishing country, which I wish so much to know. I thank +you very much for your kind letter, and reciprocate. I had always with +you the best relations, and I could appreciate your friendly and highly +estimable character, and regret your departure. I have read with great +pleasure your biographical sketch, and I see that you have already +rendered many valuable services to your country, where your name is +known very honorably. Yours faithfully, + + GALLIENI. + +Socially, as a member of the "Circle Francais", a club of the elite of +the French residents, a constant recipient of its sociability, the +urbanity and kindness of Messrs. Proctor Brothers, Messrs. Dadabhoy & +Co., and Messrs. Oswold & Co., representing, respectively, the leading +English and German mercantile firms in the island, contributed much in +making life enjoyable at that far-away post. My official life in +Madagascar was not without its lights and shadows, and the latter +sometimes "paled the ineffectual rays" of belated instructions. Of an +instance I may make mention. I was in receipt of a cablegram from the +Department of State advising me that the flagship "Chicago," with +Admiral Howison, would at an early date stop at Tamatave and instructing +me to obtain what wild animals I could indigenous to Madagascar and have +them ready to ship thereby for the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, +D. C. How I responded, and the result of the response, is attempted to +be set forth in the following dispatch to the Department of State: + + Consulate of the United States, + Tamatave, Madagascar; July 3, 1899. + Mr. Gibbs to the Department of State. + + Subject: + + Madagascar Branch of Smithsonian Institute. + + A Consul's "Burden." + + + Abstract of Contents: + + Procuration of Live Animals, as per Order of the Department, and + Declination of the Admiral to Receive Them on Board. + + Honorable Assistant Secretary of State, + + Washington, D. C. + +Sir:--Referring to your cablegram under date of May 22d last, directing +me to secure live animals for the Smithsonian Institute, to be sent home +on the flagship "Chicago" on its arrival at this port, I have to report +that I proceeded with more or less trepidation to accomplish the same, +the wild animals of Madagascar being exceedingly alive. With assistance +of natives I succeeded, after much trouble and expense, in obtaining +twelve, had them caged and brought to the consulate weeks before the +arrival of the ship. This, I regret to say, was a misadventure. I should +have located them in the woods and pointed them out to the Admiral on +his arrival. At first they seemed to agree, and were tractable until a +patriotic but unlucky impulse induced me to give them the names of a +few prominent Generals in the late war. After that, oh, my! + +The twelve consist of different varieties. One of the twelve seems a +cross of panther and wild cat, and rejoices in the appelation of "Aye +Aye." + +On the arrival of the "Chicago," forthwith I reported to Admiral Howison +my success in capturing "these things of beauty," and eternal terrors, +and my desire that they change domicile. He received me with such +charming suavity, and my report with so many tender expressions of +sympathy for the monkeys that I got a little mixed as to his preference. +Still joy-smitten, I was ill-prepared for the announcement "that it was +unwise to take them, as it was impossible to procure food to keep them +alive until the termination of the voyage." + +It was then, Mr. Secretary, that I sadly realized that I was confronted +by a condition. Over seventy years of age, 10,000 miles from home, a +beggarly salary, with a menagerie on my hands, while bankruptcy and a +humbled flag threatened to stare me in the face. There remained nothing +for me, but to "bow to the inevitable," transpose myself into a +committee of ways and means for the purpose of securing sleep for my +eyelids and a saving to the United States Treasury. For while ever loyal +to "the old flag and an appropriation," a sense of duty compels me to +advise that this branch of the Smithsonian Institute is of doubtful +utility. + +With a desire to avoid, if possible, "the deep damnation of their +taking-off," by starvation, several plans promising relief suggested +themselves, viz: Sell them, turn them loose, or keep them at Government +expense. I very much regret that the latter course I shall be compelled +to adopt. My many offers to sell seemed not understood, as the only +response I have yet received has been: "I get you more like him, I can." +As to turning them loose, I have been warned by the local authorities +that if I did so I would do so at my peril. A necessary part of diet for +these animals is condensed milk, meat, bread, jam, and bananas, but they +are not content. Having been a member of the bar, and retaining much +veneration for the Quixotic capers of judicial twelve, on their desire +to leave I "polled" them and found a hung jury, swinging by their tails; +eleven indicated "aye," but the twelfth, with his double affirmative cry +of "Aye, Aye," being equal to negative, hung them up. Meanwhile, they +bid fair to be a permanent exhibit. + +Under cover of even date I enclose account for animals' food and +attention to June 30, and beg to say regarding the item of food, that I +anticipate a monthly increase of cost, as the appetite of the animals +seem to improve in captivity. I conclude, Mr. Secretary, with but a +single solace: They may possibly eat off their heads, but their tails +give abundant promise of remaining in evidence. Patiently awaiting +instructions as the future disposition of these wild and wayward wards +of the Government, I have the honor to be, + + Your obedient servant, + M. W. GIBBS, + U. S. Consul. + +How and when "I got rid of my burden" and the joyous expressions of a +long-suffering Government on the event, will (or will not) "be continued +in our next." + +Having asked for leave of absence, and leaving Mr. William H. Hunt, the +Vice-Consul, in charge of the consulate, on the 3d of April, 1891, I +took passage on the French steamer, "Yantse," for Marseilles, France. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +April 3, 1901.--It was not without regret, that found expression at a +banquet given me on the eve preceding my departure, by Mr. Erlington, +the German Consul at Tamatave, that I took my leave of Madagascar, when +the flags of the officials of the French Residency and flags of all the +foreign consuls were flying, honoring me with a kindly farewell. A jolly +French friend of mine, who came out to the steamer to see me off, said: +"Judge, don't you be too sure of the meaning of the flags flying at your +departure from Tamatave, for we demonstrate here for gladness, as well +as for regret." "Well," I replied, "in either event I am in unison with +the sentiment intended to be expressed; for I have both gladness and +regret--gladness with anticipations of home, and with regret that, in +all human probability, I am taking leave of a community from whom for +nearly four years I have been the recipient, officially, of the highest +respect; and socially of unstinted friendliness." + +[Illustration: CHARLES W. CHESNUTT. + +A Distinguished Colored Writer--Author of "The House Behind the Cedars," +"The Wife of My Youth," "The Conjure Woman," "The Morrow of +Tradition"--All Sparkling with Justice, Wisdom, and Wit.] + +I found Vice-Consul Hunt had secured and had had my baggage placed in a +desirable state room. The ringing of the bell notified all +non-passengers ashore. After hearty handshakes from the Vice-Consul, +German, French, and other friends, taking with them a bottle or two of +wine that had been previously placed where it would do the most good, +they took the consular boat, and with the Stars and Stripes flying, and +handkerchiefs waving a final farewell, they were pulled ashore. The +anchor weighs, and the good ship "Yantse" inhales a long, moist, and +heated breath and commences to walk with stately strides and quickened +pace--weather charming and the sea as quiet as a tired child. The next +day a stop at the Island of St. Maria, a French possession, and on the +fifth day at Diego Suarez, on the north end of Madagascar. + +On the ninth day from Tamatave we entered the Gulf of Aden, and after +some hours dropped anchor at Camp Aden, in Arabia. Mr. Byramzie, a +Tamatave friend of mine, and of the London firm of Dadabhoy & Co., with +a branch at Aden, came off to meet me and accompany me ashore. Camp Aden +is a British fortification I cannot readily describe with reference to +its topography or the heterogenous character and pursuits of its +inhabitants. Nature was certainly in no passive mood when last it flung +its constituents together; for, with the exception of a few circling +acres forming a rim around the harbor, high, broken, and frowning +battlements of rock, ungainly and sterile, look down upon you as far as +the eye can reach. No sprig, or tree, or blade of grass takes root in +its parched soil or stony bed, or survives the blasting heat. Scattered +and dotted on crag, hilltop or slope, in glaring white, are the many +offices and residence buildings of the camp. While in hidden crevices +and forbidden paths are planted the most approved armament, with its +"dogs of war" to dispute a passage from the Gulf. + +In a dilapidated four-wheeler, drawn by one horse, after considerable +time spent by my friend in agreeing on terms (concerning which I pause +to remark that these benighted Jehus can give a Bowery cabman points on +"how not to do it"), over a macadam road of five miles we reach Aden +proper--the site of hotels, stores and residences with little +pretensions to architectural beauty; the buildings are quite all +constructed of stone, that material being in superabundance on every +intended site; their massive walls contributing to a cool interior +indispensable as a refuge from the blistering heat. Pure water for +drinking is a luxury, spasmodic in its supply. I once heard an hilarious +Irish song that stated: + + "We are jolly and happy, for we know without doubt, + That the whisky is plenty, and the water is out." + +This, I learn is the normal condition at Aden as to the relative status +of whisky and water--a very elysium for the toper who could not +understand why whisky should be spoiled by mixing it with water. + +Rains are infrequent and well water unpalatable. Sea water is distilled, +but the mineral and health-giving qualities are said to be absent. The +water highly prized and sold is the rainwater caught in tanks. Hollowed +out at the foot of the rock hills, there are numbers of peculiar +construction, connected and on different elevations. But for the last +three years the non-rainfall has kept them without a tenant. As I looked +in them not a drop sparkled within their capacious confines; they are +seldom filled, and the supply is ever deficient. The population is from +6,000 to 8,000, amid which the Parsee, the Mohammedan, Jew, Portuguese, +and other nationalities compete for the commerce of the interior. The +natives are of varied castes, the Samiles the most energetic and +prevailing type. The inferior classes go about almost naked and live in +long, unprepossessing structures, one story high, divided into single +rooms, rude and uncleanly. + +While at Aden I availed myself of the honor and pleasure of a visit to +the American Consulate, and received a warm, jolly, and spiritual +welcome from the incumbent, the Hon. E. T. Cunningham, of Knoxville, +Tenn. Mr. Cunningham intended to stay at Aden for six months. Like +"linked sweetness long drawn out," that period has extended to three +years, and is now "losing its sweetness on the desert air." He stated +that he was not infatuated with those "scarlet days" and "Arabian +nights," and is seeking relief or placement amid more congenial +surroundings, where distance (does not) "lend enchantment to the view." +But I assured him the Department was as astute as selfish. It knows when +it has a good thing, and endeavors to keep it. Mr. Cunningham has proved +himself to be an efficient and trusted official. We parted with mutual +hope of again meeting in "the land of the cotton and the corn." + +On my way to the landing I passed many convoys of camels and asses, +laden with coffee, it being one of the main articles of export. Arriving +at the steamer and bidding my Parsee friend a last, long farewell, +shortly we weighed anchor and away for a five days sail to Suez. + +On the 17th of April, eventful to me, being my birthday, we arrived at +Suez for a short stay, without time or inclination to go ashore. But, +seeing the Stars and Stripes flying from a ship lying in the distance, I +could not withstand the temptation. Jumping into a native sailboat that +described every point of the compass with oars and adverse wind, I +reached the United States cruiser, "New York." Capt. Rodgers and his +gentlemanly officers gave me a very cordial reception, ensuring an +enjoyable visit. Capt. Rodgers informed me that Lieutenant Poundstone +was aboard, who knew me as a "promoter" for the Smithsonian Institute at +Washington, he having been aboard the "Chicago" when it visited +Tamatave, and when Admiral Howison declined to convey my "gay and +festive" collection of wild animals to America. I would be most happy to +see him. He soon appeared with pleasant greetings and recollections of +Tamatave incidents. My stay from ship being limited, after a chat, +mingled with sherry and cigars and an expression of regret from Capt. +Rodgers that, not being in our "bailiwick," he could not give me a +consular salute from his guns, he ordered the ship's steam launch, and, +escorted by the Lieutenant, under our national banner, I soon boarded my +ship. I was much indebted to Capt. Rodgers and officers for their +charming courtesy. + +Leaving Suez at mid-day, we shortly enter the Suez Canal--85 miles, with +numerous tie-ups to allow other ships the right of way. + +At 8 o'clock the following morning we dropped anchor at Port Said, a +populous city of Arabia with 30,000 inhabitants, much diversified as to +nativities, Turks, Assyrians, Jews, and Greeks being largely +represented. The city is quite prepossessing, and seems to have improved +its sanitary features since my visit four years ago. There are many +charming views; an interesting place for the tourist, alike for the +virtuous and the vicious, for those so inclined can see human nature +"unadorned." Wide streets pierce the city, the stores on which are a +continuous bazaar, lined with many exquisite productions of necessity +and Eastern art. But I have previously dwelt on Port Said peculiarities. + +Leaving Port Said on the 18th, our good ship soon enters the +Mediterranean, and with smooth seas passes through the Straits of +Messina, with a fine view of Mt. Etna, as of yore, belching forth flames +and smoke, with Sicily on our left and Italy and her cities on our +right. Again entering the Mediterranean, we encounter our first rough +seas and diminution of guests at the table. Neptune, who had been +lenient for 17 days, now demanded settlement before digestion should +again be allowed to resume its sway. For myself, I was like and unlike +the impecunious boarder, who "never missed a meal nor paid a cent," but +like him only in constant attendance, for I could ill-afford to miss any +part of the pleasure of transit or menu costing $10 a day--happy, +however, that I was minus "mal de mer," seasickness. But this temporary +ailment of the passengers was soon banished by another phase of ocean +travel, that of being enveloped in a fog so dense that the ship's length +could not be seen ahead from the bow--every officer of the ship alert, +the fog horn blowing its warnings at short intervals, answered by the +"ships that pass in the night" of fogs. The anxiety of the passengers +that the fog would lift was relieved after 36 hours, and our ship hied +away and reached Marseilles on the 23d. From there by rail to Paris. +Ensconced again at the "Hotel Binda," the next day I visited the site of +the great Paris Exposition. Few of the buildings were in their entirety, +but what remained of the classic beauty of their construction shone the +more vivid amid the debris of demolition that surrounded them. The +French were not enthusiastic in relation to the financial benefit of the +exposition. + +A few days in Paris, and thence to Cherbourg to cross the English +Channel to Southampton, London. This channel, which has a well-merited +reputation for being gay and frolicsome, was extremely gracious, +allowing us to glide over its placid bosom with scarce a tremor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +This was my first visit to the land of Wilberforces and Clarksons of the +seventeenth century, whose devotion and fidelity to liberty abolished +African slavery in Britain's dominion and created the sentiment that +found expression in the immortal utterance of Judge Mansfield's +decision: "Slaves cannot breathe in England; upon touch of its soil they +stand forth redeemed and regenerated by the genius of universal +liberty." With my English friend, C. B. Hurwitz, as an escort, I enjoyed +an excursion on the Thames, and visited many places of note, including +England's veteran bank, designated as the "Old Lady of Threadneedle +Street," and the Towers of London. One of these, the Beauchamp Tower, is +supposed to have been built in the twelfth or thirteenth century, the +architecture corresponding with that in use at that period, and lately +restored to its original state. Herein are many inscriptions, some very +rude, others quite artistic. It was during the restoration that these +inscriptions were partially discovered and carefully preserved. They +were cut in the stone walls and partitions by the unhappy occupants, +confined for life or execution for their religion or rebellion in the +thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Many are adorned with rude devices +and inscriptions denoting the undying faith of the martyr; others the +wailing of distress and despair. Five hundred years have elapsed, yet +the sadness of the crushed hearts of the unhappy occupants still lingers +like a funeral pall to point a moral that should strengthen tolerance +and cherish liberty. + +Leaving Southampton, London, on the steamship St. Louis, after an +uneventful passage I arrived in New York, and from thence to Washington, +D. C. After my leave of absence had expired, I decided not to return to +Madagascar. For after nearly four years' dalliance with the Malagash +fever in the spring and dodging the bubonic plague in the fall, I +concluded that Madagascar was a good place to _come from_. + +W. H. Hunt, the Vice-Consul, who had filed application for the +Consulship, conditioned upon my resignation, was appointed. An admirable +appointment, for the duties pertaining thereto, I have no doubt, will be +performed with much credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the +Government. + +I was honored as a delegate to a very interesting assembly of colored +men from 32 States, designated the "National Negro Business Men's +League," which met in Chicago, Ill., Aug. 27, 1901. Of its object and +labors my conclusions were: That no better evidence can be produced +that the negro has a good hold on the lever which will not only give a +self-consciousness of latent powers, but will surely elevate him in the +estimation of his fellow-citizens, than the increasing interest he is +taking and engaging in many of the business ventures of the country, and +the popular acquiescence manifested by the crowded attendance at every +session of the meeting. + +The President of the League, Booker T. Washington, expressed the +following golden thoughts in his opening speech: + +"As a race we must learn more and more that the opinion of the world +regarding us is not much influenced by what we may say of ourselves, or +by what others say of us, but it is permanently influenced by actual, +tangible, visible results. The object-lesson of one honest Negro +succeeding magnificently in each community in some business or industry +is worth a hundred abstract speeches in securing opportunity for the +race. + +"In the South, as in most parts of the world, the Negro who does +something and possesses something is respected by both races. Usefulness +in the community where we live will constitute our most lasting and +potent protection. + +"We want to learn the lesson of small things and small beginnings. We +must not feel ourselves above the most humble occupation or the simple, +humble beginning. If our vision is clear, our will strong, we will use +the very obstacles that often seem to beset us as stepping-stones to a +higher and more useful life." + +The enrollment of the members present was not completed at the first +session, but the hall was crowded and 200 of those present were visitors +in Chicago. Pictures and some of the product of Negro concerns decorated +the walls, as evidence that the black man is rising above the cotton +plantation, his first field of labor in this country. Pictures of brick +blocks, factories, livery stables, farms and shops of every description +owned by Negroes in many different States of the Union were in the +collection, but the greater evidence of the Negro's development were the +men taking part in the deliberations of the sessions. They are clean +cut, well-dressed, intelligent, and have put a business method into the +organization. + +The Governor of the State and Mayor of Chicago were represented with +stirring addresses of welcome. The convention was singular and peculiar +in this: The central idea of the meeting was scrupulously adhered to; +there was present no disposition to refer to grievances or deprivations. +A feeling seemed to permeate the participants of confidence and surety +that they had fathomed the depths of much that stood in the way of a +just recognition of Negro worth and a just appreciation and resolution +to "fight it out on that line if it took all summer," or many summers. + +There were so many expressions so full of wisdom; so many suggestions +practical and adaptable, I would, had I space, record them all here. + +Theodore Jones, of Chicago, a successful business man, in concluding an +able paper, "Can a Negro Succeed as a Business Man," said: + +"The tone of this convention clearly indicates that the Negro will +succeed as a business man in proportion as he learns that manhood and +womanhood are qualities of his own making, and that no external forces +can either give or take them away. It demonstrates that intelligence, +punctuality, industry, and integrity are the conquering forces in the +business and commercial world, as well as in all the affairs of human +life." + +Giles B. Jackson, Secretary of the Business League of Virginia, read a +paper on "Negro Industries," showing what had been done toward the +solution of the so-called "Negro problem." The Negroes, he stated, had +$14,000,000 invested in business enterprises in Virginia. + +William L. Taylor, President of the "True Reformers' Bank," of Richmond, +Va., gave interesting details in an able and intelligent effort, of the +aims and accomplishments of that successful institution, presenting many +phases of the enterprise--its branch stores, different farms, hotel and +printing department, giving employment to more than 100 officers, +clerks, and employees. Dr. R. H. Boyd, of Nashville, Tenn., the head of +the "Colored Publishing Company, of Nashville," employing 123 +assistants, delivered an able address on the "Negro in the Publishing +Business," which was discussed with marked ability by the Rev. Dr. +Morris, of Helena, Ark. + +All the participants are worthy of a meed of praise for their many +helpful utterances and manly deportment. Prominent among them were +Charles Banks, merchant and a large property owner of Clarkesdale, +Miss., who spoke on "Merchandizing"; William O. Murphy, of Atlanta, Ga., +on the "Grocery Business"; Harris Barrett, of Hampton, Va., on "The +Building and Loan Association of Hampton, Va."; A. N. Johnson, publisher +and editor, of Mobile, on "The Negro Business Enterprises of Mobile"; F. +D. Patterson, of Greenfield, Ohio, on "Carriage Manufacturing"; Martin +Ferguson on "Livery Business," small in stature, light in weight, but +herculean in size and heavy in force of persistency, told how by +self-denial he had gained a fair competency; L. G. Wheeler, of Chicago, +Ill., on "Merchant Tailoring"; Willis S. Stearns, a druggist, of +Decatur, Ala., in his address stated that 14 years ago there was not a +Negro druggist in that State; now there are over 200 such stores owned +by colored men in various cities of that State, with an invested capital +of $500,000. Walter P. Hall, of Philadelphia, Pa., an extensive dealer +in game and poultry, spoke on that subject. + +And possibly as a fitting wind-up, as all sublunary things must come to +an end, George E. Jones, of Little Rock, Ark., and G. E. Russel, of St. +Louis, Mo., undertakers, spoke pathetically to their fellow-members of +the League (I trust not expectantly) of the advance in the science of +embalming and other facilities for conveying them to that "bourne from +which no traveller returns." The session was "a feast of reason and a +flow of soul" from its commencement until its close. And, as ever has +been the case on our upward journey, there were women lighting the +pathway and stimulating effort; for during the sessions Mrs. Albreta +Smith read a very interesting paper on "The Success of the Negro Women's +Business Club of Chicago"; a delightful one was read by Mrs. Dora +Miller, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; "Dressmaking and Millinery" was +entertainingly presented by Mrs. Emma L. Pitts, of Macon, Ga., the +ladies dwelling on the great good that was being done by their +establishments by teaching and giving employment to scores of poor but +worthy girls, and thereby helping them to lead pure and useful lives. + +I have given this exhibition of what the Negro is doing the foregoing +space for encouragement and precept, because I believe it to be the key +to unlock many doors to honorable and useful lives heretofore barred +against us. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM McKINLEY, + +Late Martyred President of the United States. + +With a Record for Statesmanship, Patriotism, and Justice +Imperishable--"His Life Was Gentle and the Elements so Mixed in Him, +that Nature Might Stand Up and Say to all the World, 'This is a Man.'"] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +Leaving Chicago, and having business with the President, I visited him +at Canton, was kindly received, and accomplished the object of my visit, +little thinking that, in common with my countrymen I was so soon to be +horrified and appalled by an atrocity which bathed the country in tears +and startled the world in the taking-off of one of the purest patriots +that had ever trod his native soil. + +The tragedy occurred at 4 o'clock p. m., on the 6th of September, 1901, +in the Temple of Music on the grounds of and during the Exposition at +Buffalo, N. Y. Surrounded by a body-guard, among whom was Secret Service +Detective Samuel R. Ireland, of Washington, who was directly in front of +the President, the latter engaged in the usual manner of handshaking at +a public reception at the White House. Not many minutes had expired; a +hundred or more of the line had passed the President, when a +young-looking man named Leon Czolgosz, said to be of Polish, extraction, +approached, offering his left hand, while his right hand contained a +pistol concealed under a handkerchief, fired two shots at the +President. + +James Parker, a colored man, a very hercules in height, who was next to +have greeted the President, struck the assassin a terrific blow that +felled him to the floor, preventing him (as Czolgosz himself avers in +the following interview) from firing the third shot: + +"Yesterday morning I went again to the Exposition grounds. Emma +Goldman's speech was still burning me up. I waited near the central +entrance for the President, who was to board his special train from that +gate, but the police allowed nobody but the President's party to pass +where the train waited. So I stayed at the grounds all day waiting. + +"During yesterday I first thought of hiding my pistol under my +handkerchief. I was afraid if I had to draw it from my pocket I would be +seen and seized by the guards. I got to the Temple of Music the first +one, and waited at the spot where the reception was to be held. + +"Then he came, the President--the ruler--and I got in line and trembled +and trembled until I got right up to him, and then I shot him twice +through my white handkerchief. I would have fired more, but I was +stunned by a blow in the face--a frightful blow that knocked me +down--and then everybody jumped on me. I thought I would be killed, and +was surprised the way they treated me." + +Czolgosz ended his story in utter exhaustion. When he had about +concluded he was asked: + +"Did you really mean to kill the President?" + +"I did," was the cold-blooded reply. + +"What was your motive; what good could it do?" + +"I am an anarchist. I am a disciple of Emma Goldman. Her words set me on +fire," he replied, with not the slightest tremor. + +During the first few days after he was shot there were cheering +bulletins issued by the medical fraternity in attendance, all typical of +his early recovery, and the heart of the nation was elated, to be, a +week later, depressed with sadness at the announcement that a change had +come and that the President was dying. Never was grief more sincere for +a ruler. He was buried encased with the homage and love of his people. +William McKinley will live in history, not only as a man whose private +life was stainless, and whose Administration of the Government was +beyond reproach, but as one brilliant, progressive, wise, and humane. + +Pre-eminent as an arbiter and director, developing the nation as a world +power, and bringing to the effete and semi-civilized peoples of the +Orient the blessings of civilized Government; as a leader and protector +of the industrial forces of the country, William McKinley was +conspicuous. With strength of conviction, leading at one time an almost +forlorn hope, by his statesmanship and intensity of purpose, he had +grafted on the statute books of the Nation a policy that has turned the +wheels of a thousand idle mills, employed a hundred thousand idle hands, +and stimulated every manufacturing industry. + +This accomplished, in his last speech, memorable not only as his last +public utterance, but doubly so as to wise statesmanship in its advocacy +of a less restrictive tariff, increased reciprocity, and interchange +with the world's commodities. His love of justice was imperial. He was +noted in this, that he was not only mentally eminent, but morally great. +During his last tour in the South, while endeavoring to heal animosities +engendered by the civil war and banish estrangement, he was positive in +the display of heartfelt interest in the Negro, visiting Tuskegee and +other like institutions of learning, and by his presence and words of +good cheer stimulating us to noble deeds. + +Nor was his interest manifest alone in words; his appointments in the +bureaus of the Government of colored men exceeded that of any previous +Executive--a representation which should increase in accordance with +parity of numbers and fitness for place. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: JAMES B. PARKER. + +Who, Inspired by Patriotism and Fidelity, Struck Down the Assassin of +President McKinley.] + +The following excerpts from the Washington Post, the verity of which was +echoed in the account of the crime by the New York and other +metropolitan journals on the day following the sad occurrence, gives a +sketch of the manner and expressions of the criminal, and throws light +on a peculiar phase of the catastrophe, that for the truth of history +and in the interest of justice should not be so rudely and covertly +buried 'neath the immature "beatings of time." + +Washington Post: In an interview Secret Service Detective Ireland, who, +with Officers Foster and Gallagher, was near the President when the +shots were fired, said: + +"A few moments before Czolgosz approached a man came along with three +fingers of his right hand tied up in a bandage, and he had shaken hands +with his left. When Czolgosz came up I noticed he was a boyish-looking +fellow, with an innocent face, perfectly calm, and I also noticed that +his right hand was wrapped in what appeared to be a bandage. I watched +him closely, but was interrupted by the man in front of him, who held on +to the President's hand an unusually long time. This man appeared to be +an Italian, and wore a short, heavy, black mustache. He was persistent, +and it was necessary for me to push him along so that the others could +reach the President. Just as he released the President's hand, and as +the President was reaching for the hand of the assassin, there were two +quick shots. Startled for a moment, I looked and saw the President draw +his right hand up under his coat, straighten up, and, pressing his lips +together, give Czolgosz the most scorn and contemptuous look possible to +imagine. + +"At the same time I reached for the young man, and caught his left arm. +The big Negro standing just back of him, and who would have been next to +take the President's hand, struck the young man in the neck with one +hand, and with the other reached for the revolver, which had been +discharged through the handkerchief, and the shots from which had set +fire to the linen. + +"Immediately a dozen men fell upon the assassin and bore him to the +floor. While on the floor Czolgosz again tried to discharge the +revolver, but before he could point it at the President, it was knocked +from his hand by the Negro. It flew across the floor, and one of the +artillerymen picked it up and put it in his pocket." + +Another account: "Mr. McKinley straightened himself, paled slightly, and +riveted his eyes upon the assassin. He did not fall or make an outcry. A +Negro, named Parker, employed in the stadium, seized the wretch and +threw him to the floor, striking him in the mouth. As he fell he +struggled to use the weapon again, but was quickly overpowered. Guard +Foster sprang to the side of Mr. McKinley, who walked to a chair a few +feet away." + +Washington Post, Oct. 9: James Parker, the six-foot Georgia Negro, who +knocked down the assassin of President McKinley on the fatal day in the +Temple of Music, after the two shots were fired, gave a talk to an +audience in the Metropolitan A. M. E. Church last night. He was +introduced by Hon. George H. White. Parker arose, and after a few +preliminary remarks, in which he thanked the crowd for its presence, he +said he was glad to see so many colored people believed he did what he +claimed he did at Buffalo. + +"When the assassin dealt his blow," said Parker, "I felt it was time to +act. It is no great honor I am trying to get, but simply what the +American people think I am entitled to. If Mr. McKinley had lived there +would have been no question as to this matter. President McKinley was +looking right at me; in fact, his eyes were riveted upon me when I +felled the assassin to the floor. + +"The assassin was in front of me, and as the President went to shake his +hand, he looked hard at one hand which the fellow held across his breast +bandaged. I looked over the man's shoulder to see what the President was +looking at. Just then there were two flashes and a report, and I saw the +flame leap from the supposed bandage. I seized the man by the shoulder +and dealt him a blow. I tried to catch hold of the gun, but he had +lowered that arm. Quick as a flash I grasped his throat and choked him +as hard as I could. As this happened he raised the hand with the gun in +it again as if to fire, the burning handkerchief hanging to the weapon. +I helped carry the assassin into a side room, and helped to search him." + +Parker told of certain things he was about to do to the assassin when +one of the officers asked him to step outside. Parker refused. He +declared the officers wanted to get him out of the way. He said he +helped to carry the assassin to the carriage in which the wretch was +taken to jail. + +"I don't know why I wasn't summoned to the trial," he said. + +Parker said Attorney Penney took his testimony after the shooting. + +"I was not at the trial, though," concluded Parker in an injured tone. +"I don't say this was done with any intent to defraud me, but it looks +mighty funny, that's all." + +The above interviews with officers present agree with Parker's version +of the affair, and whether the afterthought that further recognition of +his decisive action would detract from the reputation for vigilance +which they were expected to observe is a fitting subject for +presumption. + +At the time of the occurrence Parker was the cynosure for all eyes. +Pieces of the clothing that he wore were solicited and given to his +enthusiastic witnesses of the deed, to be preserved as trophies of his +action in preventing the third shot. No one present at that perilous +hour and witnessing doubted or questioned that Parker was the hero of +the occasion. This, the better impulse, indicating a just appreciation +was destined soon to be stifled and ignored. At the sittings of the +coroner's jury to investigate the shooting of the President, he was +neither solicited nor allowed to be present, or testimony adduced in +proof of his bravery in attempting to save the life of the Chief +Magistrate of the Republic. Therefore, Parker, bereft of the well-earned +plaudits of his countrymen, must content himself with duty done. + +Remarkable are the coincidences at every startling episode in the life +of the Nation. Beginning at our country's history, the Negro is always +found at the fore. He was there when Crispus Attacks received the first +of English bullets in the struggle of American patriots for +Independence; there in the civil war, when he asked to be assigned to +posts of greatest danger. He was there quite recently at El Caney; and +now Parker bravely bares his breast between the intended third shot of +the assassin and that of President McKinley. + +If this dispensation shall awaken the Nation to the peril of admitting +the refuse of nations within our borders, and clothing them with the +panoply of American citizenship; if it shall engender a higher +appreciation of the loyalty and devotion of the Negro citizens of the +Republic by the extension of justice to all beneath the flag, William +McKinley will not have died in vain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +Taking up the reins of the Administration of the Government, with its +complex statesmanship, where a master had laid them down, President +Roosevelt, heretofore known for his sterling worth as an administrator, +and his imperial honesty as a man, has put forth no uncertain sound as +to his intended course. The announcement that the foreign policy of his +illustrious predecessor would be chiefly adhered to has struck a +responsive chord in every patriotic heart. The appointment of ex-Gov. +Jones, of Alabama, to a Federal judgeship was an appointment in unison +with the best of popular accord. The nobility of the Governor in his +utterances on the subject of lynching should endear him to every lover +of justice and the faithful execution of law. For he so grandly evinced +what is so sadly wanting in many humane and law-abiding men--the courage +of his convictions. + + "For when a free thought sought expression, + He spoke it boldly, spoke it all." + +It is only to the fruition of such expressions, the molding of an +adverse sentiment to such lawlessness that we can look for the +abolishment of that crime of crimes which, to the disgrace of our +country, is solely ours. + +[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, + +President of the United States. + +Civil Service Commissioner--Police Commissioner of New York--Assistant +Secretary of War and Vice-President of the United States--A Hero in War, +a Statesman in Peace.] + +This appointment is considered eminently wise, not only for the superior +ability of the appointee as a jurist, but for his broad humanity as a +man, fully recognizing the inviolability of human life and its +subjection to law. For the Negro, his primal needs are protection and +the common liberty vouchsafed to his fellow-countrymen. To enjoy them it +is necessary that he be in harmony with his environments. A bulwark he +must have, of a friendship not the product of coercion, but a concession +from the pulse-beat of justice. Such appointments pass the word down the +line that President Roosevelt, in his endeavor to be the exponent of the +genius of American citizenship, will recognize the sterling advocates of +the basic elements of constitutional Government, those of law and order, +irrespective of party affiliation. + +This appointment will probably cause dissent in Republican circles, but +it may be doubted if the Negro advances his political fortunes by +invidious criticism of the efforts of a Republican Administration to +harmonize ante-bellum issues. For while he in all honesty may be +strenuous for the inviolability of franchises of the Republican +household, and widens the gap between friendly surroundings, each of +the political litigants meet with their knees under each other's +mahogany, and jocularly discuss Negro idiosyncrasies, and tacitly agree +to give his political aspirations a "letting alone." For, with character +and ability unquestioned for the discharge of duties, the vote polled +for him usually falls far short of the average of that polled by his +party for other candidates on the ticket. + +The summary killing of human beings by mobs without the form of law is +not of late origin. Ever since the first note of reconstruction was +sounded, each Administration has denounced lynching. All history is the +record that it is only through discussion and the ventilation of wrong +that right becomes a valued factor. But regard for justice is not +diminishing in our country. The judiciary, although weak and amenable to +prevailing local prejudices in localities, as a whole is far in advance +on the sustenance of righteous rule than in the middle of the last +century, when slavery ruled the Nation and its edicts were law, and its +baleful influence permeated every branch of the Government. + +Of the judiciary at that period Theodore Parker, an eminent +Congregational divine and most noted leader of Christian thought, during +a sermon in 1854, said: + +"Slavery corrupts the judicial class. In America, especially in New +England, no class of men has been so much respected as the judges, and +for this reason: We have had wise, learned, and excellent men for our +judges, men who reverenced the higher law of God, and sought by human +statutes to execute justice. You all know their venerable names and how +reverentially we have looked up to them. Many of them are dead, and some +are still living, and their hoary hairs are a crown of glory on a +judicial life without judicial blot. But of late slavery has put a +different class of men on the benches of the Federal Courts--mere tools +of the Government creatures who get their appointments as pay for past +political service, and as pay in advance for iniquity not yet +accomplished. You see the consequences. Note the zeal of the Federal +judges to execute iniquity by statute and destroy liberty. See how ready +they are to support the Fugitive Slave Bill, which tramples on the +spirit of the Constitution and its letter, too; which outrages justice +and violates the most sacred principles and precepts of Christianity. +Not a United States Judge, Circuit or District, has uttered one word +against that bill of abominations. Nay, how greedy they are to get +victims under it. No wolf loves better to rend a lamb into fragments +than these judges to kidnap a fugitive slave and punish any man who +desires to speak against it. You know what has happened in Fugitive +Slave Bill courts. You remember the 'miraculous' rescue of a Shadrach; +the peaceable snatching of a man from the hands of a cowardly kidnapper +was 'high treason;' it was 'levying war.' You remember the trial of the +rescuers! Judge Sprague's charge to the jury that if they thought the +question was which they ought to obey, the laws of man or the laws of +God, then they must 'obey both,' serve God and Mammon, Christ and the +devil in the same act. You remember the trial, the ruling of the bench, +the swearing on the stand, the witness coming back to alter and enlarge +his testimony and have another gird at the prisoner. You have not +forgotten the trials before Judge Kane at Philadelphia and Judge Greer +at Christiana and Wilkesbarre. + +"These are natural results from causes well known. You cannot escape a +principle. Enslave a negro, will you? You doom to bondage your own sons +and daughters by your own act." + +[Illustration: HON. GEORGE B. CORTELYOU. + +Secretary to the President. + +Born July, 1862, in State of New York--Has Made Mark in Literature and +Art--His Promotion Has Been Rapid, From Stenographer to Executive Clerk, +Thence to Secretary to Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, an Office Now +Grown to the Dignity of a Cabinet Position.] + +At the death of Theodore Parker, among the many eulogies on his life was +one by Ralph Waldo Emerson, highly noted for his humanity, his learning +and his philosophy. It contains apples of gold, and richly deserves +immortality; for in the worldly strife for effervescent wealth and +prominence, a benign consciousness that our posthumous fame as unselfish +benefactors to our fellow-men is to live on through the ages, would be a +solace for much misrepresentation. Emerson said: "It is plain to me that +Theodore Parker has achieved a historic immortality here. It will not be +in the acts of City Councils nor of obsequious Mayors nor in the State +House; the proclamations of Governors, with their failing virtue failing +them at critical moments, that generations will study what really befel; +but in the plain lessons of Theodore Parker in this hall, in Faneuil +Hall and in legislative committee rooms, that the true temper and +authentic record of these days will be read. The next generation will +care little for the chances of election that govern Governors now; it +will care little for fine gentlemen who behaved shabbily; but it will +read very intelligently in his rough story, fortified with exact +anecdotes, precise with names and dates, what part was taken by each +actor who threw himself into the cause of humanity and came to the +rescue of civilization at a hard pinch; and those who blocked its +course. + +"The vice charged against America is the want of sincerity in leading +men. It does not lie at his door. He never kept back the truth for fear +of making an enemy. But, on the other hand, it was complained that he +was bitter and harsh; that his zeal burned with too hot a flame. It is +so hard in evil times to escape this charge for the faithful preacher. +Most of all, it was his merit, like Luther, Knox, and Latimer and John +the Baptist, to speak tart truth when that was peremptory and when there +were few to say it. His commanding merit as a reformer is this, that he +insisted beyond all men in pulpit--I cannot think of one rival--that +the essence of Christianity is its practical morals; it is there for +use, or it is nothing: If you combine it with sharp trading, or with +ordinary city ambitions to glaze over municipal corruptions or private +intemperance, or successful frauds, or immoral politics, or unjust wars, +or the cheating of Indians, or the robbing of frontier natives, it is +hypocrisy and the truth is not in you, and no love of religious music, +or dreams of Swedenborg, or praise of John Wesley or of Jeremy Taylor, +can save you from the Satan which you are." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +The accord so generally given to the appointment of ex-Governor Jones, +of Alabama--a Gold Democrat, having views on domestic order in harmony +with the Administration--to a Federal judgeship was destined to be +followed by a bitter arraignment of President Roosevelt for having +invited Booker T. Washington to dine with him at the White House. As a +passing event not without interest, in this era of the times, indicative +of "shadow and light," I append a few extracts from Southern and +Northern Journals: + + +SHADOW. + +In all parts of the country comment has been provoked by the fact that +President Roosevelt, on Wednesday night last, entertained at dinner in +the White House, Booker T. Washington, who is generally regarded as the +representative of the colored race in America. Especially in the South +has the incident aroused indignation, according to the numerous news +dispatches. The following comments from the editorial columns of +newspapers and from prominent men are given: + +New Orleans, Oct. 19.--The Times-Democrat says: + +"It is strange news that comes from Washington. The President of the +United States, for the first time in the history of the nation, has +entertained a Negro at dinner in the White House. White men of the +South, how do you like it? White women of the South, how do you like it? + +"Everyone knows that when Mr. Roosevelt sits down to dinner in the White +House with a Negro he that moment declares to all the world that in the +judgment of the President of the United States the Negro is the social +equal of the white man. The Negro is not the social equal of the white +man. Mr. Roosevelt might as well attempt to rub the stars out of the +firmament as to try to erase that conviction from the heart and brain of +the American people." + +The Daily States: "In the face of the facts it can but appear that the +President's action was little less than a studied insult to the South +adopted at the outset of his Administration for the purpose of showing +his contempt for the sentiments and prejudices of this section." + +Richmond, Va., Oct. 19.--The Dispatch says: + +"With many qualities that are good--with some, possibly, that are +great--Mr. Roosevelt is a negrophilist. While Governor of New York he +invited a Negro (who, on account of race prejudice, could not obtain +accommodation at any hotel) to be his guest at the Executive Mansion, +and, it is said, gave him the best room in the house. + +"Night before last the President had Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine +with him at the White House. That was a deliberate act, taken under no +alleged pressure of necessity, as in the Albany case, and may be taken +as outlining his policy toward the Negro as a factor in Washington +society. We say 'Washington society,' rather than 'American society,' +because the former, on account of its political atmosphere, is much more +'advanced' in such matters than that of any other American city of which +we know anything. The President, having invited Booker T. Washington to +his table, residents of Washington of less conspicuous standing may be +expected to do likewise. And if they invite him they may invite lesser +lights--colored lights. + +"When Mr. Cleveland was President he received Fred Douglass at some of +his public entertainments--'functions,' so-called--but we do not +remember that Fred was singled out for the distinguished honor of dining +with the President, as Booker Washington has been. + +"We do not like Mr. Roosevelt's negrophilism at all, and are sorry to +see him seeking opportunities to indulge in it. He is reported to have +rejoiced that Negro children were going to school with his children at +Oyster Bay. But then, it may be said, too, that he has more reasons than +the average white man to be fond of Negroes, since it was a Negro +regiment that saved the Rough Riders from decimation at San Juan Hill. +And but for San Juan Hill it is quite unlikely that Mr. Roosevelt would +be President today. + +"Booker Washington is said to have been very influential with the +President in having Judge Jones put upon the Federal bench in Alabama, +and we are now fully prepared to believe that statement. + +"With our long-matured views on the subject of social intercourse +between blacks and whites, the least we can say now is that we deplore +the President's taste, and we distrust his wisdom." + +Birmingham, Ala., Oct. 19.--The Enterprise says: + +"It remained for Mr. Roosevelt to establish a precedent humiliating to +the South and a disgrace to the nation. Judge Jones owes a duty to the +South, to his friends and to common decency to promptly resign and hurl +the appointment back into the very teeth of the white man who would +invite a nigger to eat with his family." + +Augusta, Ga., Oct. 19.--The Augusta Chronicle says, in its leading +editorial, today: + +"The news from Washington that President Booker T. Washington, of +Tuskegee Institute, was a guest at the White House at a dinner with +President and Mrs. Roosevelt and family, and that after dinner there was +the usual social hour over cigars, is a distinct shock to the favorable +sentiment that was crystallizing in the South for the new President. + +"While encouraging the people in the hope that the Negro is to be +largely eliminated from office in the South, President Roosevelt throws +the fat in the fire by giving countenance to the Negro's claims for +social equality by having one to dine in the White House. + +"President Roosevelt has made a mistake, one that will not only efface +the good impression he had begun to create in the South, but one that +will actively antagonize Southern people and meet the disapproval of +good Anglo-Saxon sentiment in all latitudes. + +"The South does not relish the Negro in office, but that is a small +matter compared with its unalterable opposition to social equality +between the races. President Roosevelt has flown in the face of public +sentiment and precipitated an issue that has long since been fought out, +and which should have been left in the list of settled questions." + +Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 19.--The Evening Banner says: + +"Whatever justification may be attempted of the President's action in +this instance, it goes without saying that it will tend to chill the +favor with which he is regarded in the South, and will embarrass him in +his reputed purpose to build up his party in this section." + +Louisville, Ky., Oct. 19.--The Times of yesterday afternoon says: + +"The President has eliminated the color line from his private and +official residences and with public office is hiring white Democrats to +whitewash it down South." + +Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 19.--Governor Candler says: + +"No self-respecting white man can ally himself with the President after +what has occurred. The step has done the Republican party no earthly +good, and it will materially injure its chances in the South. The effect +of the Jones appointment is largely neutralized. Still, I guess it's +like the old woman when she kissed the cow. As a matter of fact, +Northern people do not understand the Negro. They see the best types and +judge of the remainder by them." + + +LIGHT. + +Philadelphia, Oct. 19.--The Ledger this morning says: + +"Because President Roosevelt saw fit, in his good judgment, to invite +Booker T. Washington to dinner, strong words of disapproval are heard in +the South. Mr. Washington is a colored man who enjoys the universal +respect of all people in this country, black and white, on account of +attainments, character and deeds. As the President invited him to be his +private guest, and did not attempt to enforce the companionship of a +colored man upon any one to whom the association could possibly be +distasteful, any criticism of the President's act savors of very great +impertinence. But, considered in any light, the invitation is not a +subject for criticism. Booker T. Washington is one of the most notable +citizens of the country, just because he has done noteworthy things. He +is the founder and the successful executive of one of the most +remarkable institutions in the United States, the Tuskegee (Alabama) +Institute, which not only aims, but in fact does, educate and train the +youth of the negro race to become useful, industrious and +self-supporting citizens. + +"Booker T. Washington is the embodiment of common sense and, instead of +inciting the members of his race to dwell upon their wrongs, to waste +their time upon politics and to try to get something for nothing in this +life, in order to live without work, he has constantly preached the +gospel of honest work, and has founded a great industrial school, which +fits the young Negroes for useful lives as workers and teachers of +industry to others. This is the man who was justly called by President +McKinley, after he had inspected Tuskegee, the "leader of his race," and +in the South no intelligent man denies that he is doing a great service +to the whole population of both colors in this land. It is evident that +the only objection that could be brought against association with such a +man as that is color alone, and President Roosevelt will not recognize +that prejudice." + +The Evening Bulletin says: + +"President Roosevelt night before last had Booker T. Washington, the +worthy and much-respected colored man who is at the head of the Tuskegee +Institute, as a guest at his private table in the White House. This has +caused some indignation among Southerners and in Southern newspapers. + +"Yet all the President really seems to have done was an act of courtesy +in asking Mr. Washington to sit down with him to dinner and have a talk +with him. As Booker T. Washington is an entirely reputable man, as well +as an interesting one, the President doubtless enjoyed his company. Many +Presidents in the past have had far less reputable and agreeable men at +their table. If Mr. Roosevelt shall have no worse ones among his private +guests, the country will have no cause for complaint. + +"The right of the President to dine with anyone he may please to have +with him is entirely his own affair, and Theodore Roosevelt is not a +likely man to pick out bad company, black or white, for his personal or +social companionship. The rumpus which some indiscreet Southerners are +trying to raise because he has been hospitable to a colored man is a +foolish display of both manners and temper." + +Boston, Oct. 19.--Commenting on President Roosevelt's action in +extending hospitality to Booker T. Washington, President Charles Eliot, +of Harvard, said: + +"Harvard dined Booker Washington at her tables at the last commencement. +Harvard conferred an honorary degree on him. This ought to show what +Harvard thinks about the matter." + +William Lloyd Garrison: "It was a fine object lesson, and most +encouraging. It was the act of a gentleman--an act of unconscious +natural simplicity." + +Charles Eliot Norton: "I uphold the President in the bold stand that he +has taken." + + +NO SYMPATHY WITH PREJUDICE. + +New York Herald: The President has absolutely no sympathy with the +prejudice against color. He has shown this on two occasions. Once he +invited to his house at Oyster Bay, Harris, the Negro half-back of Yale, +and entertained him over night. The other occasion was when he took in +at the Executive Mansion at Albany, Brigham, the Negro baritone of St. +George's Church, who was giving a concert in Albany and had been +refused food and shelter by all the hotels. + + +WASTING THEIR BREATH. + +Philadelphia Press: President Roosevelt's critics are wasting breath and +spilling ink. There is an obstinate man in the White House. The cry of +"nigger" will neither prevent him from continuing to appoint to any +office in the Southern States the best men, under whatever color of +politics, who can be found under current conditions, or recognizing in +the hospitalities of the White House the best type of American manhood, +under whatever color of skin it can be found. + + +THAT DINNER. + +New York Tribune: The Southern politician who criticises President +Roosevelt's action in inviting Prof. Booker T. Washington to dine at the +White House is likely to raise the query whether the manager of the +Tuskegee Institute or himself is really the more deserving and genuine +friend of the South. + + +DEMOCRATS HAVE CHANGED ATTITUDE. + +Glad of Booker T. Washington's Help in Securing Office. + +NOW JEER ROOSEVELT. + +Berate President for Dining With a Negro. + +Some Noted Occasions When the Alabama Educator Has Received the Plaudits +of the South. + +Washington, D. C., Oct. 19.--President Roosevelt has a fine sense of +humor, and while he regrets that he has without malice stirred up a +tempest in a teapot for the Southern editors by entertaining Professor +Booker T. Washington at dinner, he cannot put aside the humorous side of +the situation. It is only a few weeks since a number of white Democrats +co-operated with Booker Washington in regard to the appointment of +ex-Governor Jones to the vacancy on the Federal bench in Alabama, and +Washington spoke for these white Democrats when he came to the capital +and assured President Roosevelt that Jones would accept the appointment +and that it would be satisfactory to all classes. + +Washington had seen the President and had acted as his agent in +interviewing Governor Jones and others as to the appointment. The +Southern Democrats applauded the appointment of Jones, and they praised +Washington for using his influence at the White House to secure such an +appointment for a Democrat. Then they all spoke of Washington as a +gentleman of culture, who had the refined sense to cut loose from the +Republican leaders of the Negro party in the South and work in harmony +with the best class of whites. Now they are abusing the President for +dining with a "nigger." + +Washington has entertained more distinguished Northern men and more +distinguished Southern men at the Tuskegee Institute than any other man +in the State, if not in the South. President McKinley and his Cabinet, +accompanied by many other distinguished gentlemen, were the guests of +Washington at Tuskegee two years ago, and they lunched at his table. +Washington was the guest of honor at a banquet in Paris three years ago, +when Ambassador Porter presided and ex-President Harrison and Archbishop +Ireland were among the guests. This same "nigger" was received by Queen +Victoria and took tea in Buckingham Palace the same year. + + +INVITATION FROM WHITE HOUSE. + +When he returned to this country Washington received invitations from +all parts of the South to deliver addresses and attend receptions given +by white people. He was received by the Governors of Georgia, Virginia, +West Virginia and Louisiana. He spoke to many mixed audiences in the +South, where whites and blacks united to do him honor. When the people +of Atlanta wanted an appropriation from Congress for their Exposition in +1895 they sent a large committee of the most distinguished men in the +South to the National Capital to plead their cause. Booker T. Washington +was one of these distinguished Southern men. Congressman Joseph E. +Cannon, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in the House, says +that Washington by his force and eloquence secured that appropriation of +$250,000 for the Atlanta Exposition. + +The Southern people had only praise for him when he was arranging to +take Vice-President Roosevelt to Tuskegee and Montgomery and Atlanta +this fall, and they were eager to co-operate with him in entertaining +such a distinguished visitor. They still hope to have President +Roosevelt visit the South, and if he goes he will go as the guest of +Booker T. Washington. + +The President knows, too, that the real leaders of the South, white +Democrats, do not sympathize with this hue and cry of Southern editors +because Washington was a guest at the White House. Today the President +has received many messages from Southern men, urging him to pay no +attention to the yawp of the bourbon editors, who have not been able to +get over the old habit of historical discussion of "social equality." +Southern men called at the White House today as usual to ask for favors +at the hands of the President, and they are not afraid of contamination +by meeting the man who "ate with a nigger." + + +AMUSES THE PRESIDENT. + +President Roosevelt cannot help seeing the humorous side of the +situation he has created by asking his friend to dinner, and he is +pursuing the even tenor of his way as President without worrying over +the outcome. He has, in the last two weeks, given cause for much +excitement in the South. The first was when he appointed a Democrat to +office and ignored the professional Republican politicians, who claimed +to carry the "nigger" vote in their pocket. He was not disturbed by the +threats of the Southern Republican politicians over that incident, and +he is not disturbed by the threats of the Southern Democratic editors +over this incident. + +As to the Southern objection to dining, with a Negro, Opie Read, of +Chicago, tells a story about M. W. Gibbs, who has just resigned his +position as United States Consul at Tamatave, Madagascar. Gibbs is now +in Washington on his way home to Little Rock. He resigned to give a +younger man a chance to serve his country as a Consul. Here is the story +Opie Read told about Gibbs dining with white men at a banquet in honor +of General Grant in Little Rock: + +In the reconstruction days a Negro by the name of Mifflin Wistar Gibbs +located in Little Rock, Ark. He showed the community that he was keener +than a whole lot of its leading citizens, who had kept the offices in +their families for generations. Under the new order of things he was +appointed Attorney of Pulaski County. His ability and the considerate +manner in which he conducted his relationship with the whites gave him a +greater popularity than any other colored man had ever before enjoyed in +that place. His influence increased, until General Grant, then +President, appointed him Register of the United States Land Office at +Little Rock. + + +GIBBS' SPEECH THE BEST. + +"When General Grant visited our city a banquet was prepared, and it was +finally decided that for the first time in the history of the 'Bear +State' a Negro would be welcomed at a social function on terms of +absolute equality. I was then editor of the Gazette, and my seat was +next to that of Gibbs. The speaker who had been selected to respond to +the toast, 'The Possibilities of American Citizenship' was absent. I +asked Gibbs if he would not talk on that subject. He consented, and I +arranged the matter with the toastmaster. The novelty and the +picturesqueness of the thing appealed to me. Every guest was +spellbound, and General Grant was astonished. Not only was the speech +of the Negro the best one delivered on that occasion, but it was one of +the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. + +"The owner of the Gazette was a Democrat of the Democrats, and a strict +keeper of the traditions of the South. Moreover, his paper was the +official organ of the Democratic party, and we were in the heat of a +bitter campaign. In spite of all this, however, I came out with the +editorial statement that Gibbs had scored the greatest oratorical +triumph of the affair. Perhaps this didn't stir things up a little. But +the gratitude of Gibbs was touching. He is now United States Consul at +Tamatave, Madagascar. In my opinion he is the greatest living +representative of the colored race. We have been close friends ever +since that banquet." + + +BOOKER WASHINGTON THE VICTIM. + +(From the Washington (D. C.) Post, October 23, 1901.) + +Quite the most deplorable feature of the Booker Washington incident is, +in our opinion, the effect it is likely to have on Washington himself; +yet this is an aspect of the case which does not seem to have occurred +thus far to any of the multitudinous and more or less enlightened +commentators who have bestowed their views upon the country. Criticisms +of the President are matters of taste. For our part, we hold, and have +always held, that a President's private and domestic affairs are not +proper subjects of public discussion. A man does not surrender all of +his personal liberties in becoming the Chief Executive of the Nation. At +least, his purely family arrangements are not the legitimate concern of +outsiders. The Presidency would hardly be worth the having otherwise. +The country, however, has a right to consider the incident in the light +of its probable injury to Washington and to the great and useful work in +which he is engaged. + + * * * * * + +In closing this page of "Shadow and Light" I am loath to believe that +this extreme display of adverse feeling regarding the President's action +in inviting Mr. Washington to dine with him, as shown in some +localities, is fully shared by the best element of Southern opinion. Few +Southern gentlemen of the class who so cheerfully pay the largest amount +of taxation for the tuition of the Negro, give him employment and do +much to advance him along educational and industrial lines, fear that +the President's action will cause the obtrusion of his bronze pedals +beneath their mahogany. Trusting that he will be inspired to foster +those elements of character so conspicuous in Mr. Washington and that +have endeared him to his broad-minded countrymen both North and South. +The best intelligence, the acknowledged leaders of the race, are not +only conservative along political lines, but are in accord with those +who claim that social equality is not the creature of law, or the +product of coercion, for, in a generic sense, there is no such thing as +social equality. The gentlemen who are so disturbed hesitate, or refuse +such equality with many of their own race; the same can be truthfully +said of the Negro. Many ante-bellum theories and usages have already +vanished under the advance of a higher civilization, but the "old +grudge" is still utilized when truth and justice refuse their service. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +Washington, the American "Mecca" for political worshipers, is a +beautiful city, but well deserving its "nom de plume" as "the city of +magnificent distances;" for any one with whom you have business seems to +live five miles from every imaginable point of the compass; and should +you be on stern business bent, distance will not "lend enchantment to +the view." It is here that the patriot, and the mercenary, the ambitious +and the envious gather, and where unity and divergence hold high +carnival. + +Dramatists have found no better field for portraying the vicissitudes +and uncertainties, the successes and triumphs of human endeavor. The +ante-room to the President's office presents a vivid picture, as they +wait for, or emerge from, executive presence, delineating the varied +phases of impressible human nature--the despondent air of ill success; +the pomp of place secured; the expectant, but hope deferred; the +bitterness depicted in waiting delegations on a mission of opposition +bent; the gleam of gladness on success; homage to the influential--all +these figure, strut or bemoan in the ratio of a self-importance or a +dejected mien. There is no more humorous reading, or more typical, than +the ups and downs of office-seekers. Sometimes it is that of William the +"Innocent," and often that of William the "Croker." The trials of "an +unsuccessful," a prototype of "Orpheus C. Kerr," the nom de plume of +that prince of writers, on this subject, is in place: + +Diary of an office-seeker, William the "Innocent": + +March 2d--Just arrived. Washington a nice town. Wonder if it would not +be as well to stay here as go abroad. + +March 4th--Saw McKinley inaugurated. We folks who nominated him will be +all right now. Think I had better take an assistant secretaryship. The +Administration wants good men, who know something about politics; +besides, I am getting to like Washington. + +March 8th--Big crowd at the White House. They ought to give the +President time to settle himself. Have sold my excursion ticket and will +stay awhile. Too many people make a hotel uncomfortable. Have found a +good boarding house. + +March 11th--Shook hands with the President in the East Room and told him +I would call on a matter of business in a few days. He seemed pleased. + +March 15th--Went to the Capitol and found Senator X. He was sour. Said +the whole State was there chasing him. Asked me what I wanted, and +said, "Better go for something in reach." Maybe an auditorship would be +the thing. + +March 23d--Took my papers to the White House. Thought I'd wait and have +a private talk with the President, but Sergeant Porter said I'd have to +go along with the rest. What an ill-natured set they were. Elbowed me +right along just because they saw the President wanted to talk with me. +Will have to go back and finish our conversation. + +March 27--Got some money from home. + +March 29th--Went to the White House, but the chap at Porter's door +wouldn't let me in. Said it was after hours. He ought to be fired. + +April 3d--Saw Mark Hanna, after waiting five hours. Asked him why my +letter had not been answered. He said he was getting 400 a day and his +secretaries would catch up some time next year. I always thought Hanna +overestimated. Now I know it. + +April 5th--Had an interview with the President. Was last in the line, so +they could not push me along. When I told him of my services to the +party, he replied: "Oh, yes;" and for me to file my papers in the State +Department. Said he had many good friends in Indiana and hoped they +would be patient. Can he have forgotten I am not from Indiana? Probably +the tariff is worrying him. Shameful the way the Senate is acting. + +April 7th--Borrowed a little more money. Washington is an expensive town +to live in. + +April 11th--Senator X. says all the auditorships were mortgaged before +the election, but he will indorse me for a special agency or a chief +clerkship, if I can find one that is not under the civil service law. + +April 12th--D--n the civil service law. + +April 17th--Didn't know there were so many good positions abroad. Ought +to have gone for one of them in the first place. That State Department +is a great thing. Think I'll start with Antwerp and check off a few +which will suit me. Wonder where I can negotiate a small loan? + +April 19th--Got in to see the President and told him I could best serve +the Administration and the party abroad. He said, "Oh, yes," and to file +my papers in the Post-office Department, and he hoped his friends in +Massachusetts would be patient. What made him think I was from +Massachusetts? I suppose he gets mixed sometimes. + +April 20th--Senator X. says there is one chance in a million of getting +a Consulate; but if I will concentrate on Z town he and the delegation +will do what they can. Salary, $1,000; fees, $87. + +April 21st---Have concentrated on Z town. Got in line today just for a +moment to tell the President it would suit me. He said, "Oh, yes," and +to file my papers in the Treasury Department, and he hoped his friends +in Minnesota would be patient till he could get around to them. Queer he +should think I was from Minnesota. + +April 26th--The ingratitude of that man McKinley! He has nominated Jones +for Z town, when he knew I had concentrated on it. After my services to +the party, too! Who is Jones, anyhow? + +April 27th--I am going home. Senator X has got me a pass. Will send for +my trunk later. It is base ingratitude. + +William the "Croker," the other applicant for official favor, wanted +"Ambassador to Russia," and while not attaining the full measure of his +ambition, was nevertheless rewarded for his pertinacity. His sojourn in +Washington had been long, and was becoming irksome, particularly so to +the Senators and Members of Congress from his State, who had from time +to time ministered to his pecuniary wants. But Seth Orton was noted at +home and abroad for his staying qualities. He came from an outlying +district in his State that was politically pivotal, and Seth had been +known on several occasions by his fox-horn contributions to rally the +"unwashed" and save the day when hope but faintly glimmered above the +political horizon. For his Congressional delegation Seth was both useful +at home and expensive abroad. That the mission for which he aspired was +beyond his reach they were fully aware; that he must be disposed of +they were equally agreed. After having adroitly removed the props to his +aspirations for Ambassador, Minister Plenipotentiary and Consul, they +told him they had succeeded in getting him an Indian agency, paying +$1,000 a year. He was disgusted, and proclaimed rebellion. They appeased +him by telling him that the appropriation for supplies and other +necessaries the last year was ten thousand dollars, and they were of the +opinion that the former agent had saved half of it. A gleam of joy and +quick consent were prompt! Walking up and down his Congressman's room, +pleased, then thoughtful, then morose, he finally exclaimed to his +patron, "Look here, Mr. Harris; don't you think that $5,000 of the +$10,000 too much to give them d--n nigger Indians?" + +On the official side of colored Washington life, we see much that is +gratifying recognition. The receipt by us of over a million dollars +annually, on the one side, and the rendering of a creditable service on +the other, while our professional and business status in the District is +equally commendable, and much more prolific in the bestowal of +substantial and lasting benefit. And on the domestic side we have much +that is cheering, comprising a large representation of wealth and +intelligence, living in homes indicating refinement and culture, and +with a social contact the most desirable. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM CALVIN CHASE, + +Lawyer, and Editor of "Washington Bee." + +Born in Washington, D. C., February, 1854--Leaving the Public School +entered Howard University and there Graduated--As Editor or Lawyer He is +Tireless in His Adherence to well-formed Convictions--The "Bee" Hums no +Uncertain Sound.] + +Mr. Andrew F. Hilyer, editor and compiler of "The Twentieth Century +Union League Directory," in his introduction to that able and useful +publication, says: "This being the close of the nineteenth century, +after a generation of freedom, it was thought to be a good point at +which to stop and take an account of stock, and see just what is the +actual status of the colored population of Washington, the Capital of +the Nation, where the colored population is large, and where the +conditions are the most favorable, to see what is their actual status as +skilled workmen, in business, in the professions, and in their +organizations; in short, to make a study, at first hand, of their +efforts for social betterment." + +This publication contains the names, character and location of 500 +business men and women. It is creditable to the compiler and encouraging +for the subjects of its reference. + +The colored newspapers of the District, several in number, are of high +order, and maintain a reputation for intelligent journalism, and for +energy and devotion to the cause they espouse are abreast with those of +sister communities. The growth of Negro journals in our country has been +marked. We have now three hundred or more newspapers and magazines, +edited and published by colored men and women. The publisher of a race +paper early finds that it is not a sinecure nor a bed of roses. If he is +zealous and uncompromising in the defense of his race, exposing +outrages and injustice; advertisements are withdrawn by those who have +the most patronage to bestow. Should he "crook the pregnant hinges of +the knee, that thrift may follow fawning," and fail to denounce the +wrong, the paper loses influence and subscriptions of those in whose +interest it is professedly established, and hence, as an advertising +medium, it is deserted. + +So, as for the publisher (in the words of that eccentric Puritan, +Lorenzo Dow), "He'll be damned if he does, and be damned if he don't." +He is between "Scilla and Carribdes," requiring versatility of ability, +courage of conviction and a wise discretion, that he may steer "between +the rocks of too much danger and pale fear," and reach the port of +success. The mission of the Negro press is a noble one, for "Right is of +no sex, and Wrong of no color," and God, the Father of us all, with +these as its standard, to be effectual it must give a "plain, +unvarnished tale, nor set down aught in malice." The white journals of +the country often quote the Negro press as to Negro wants and Negro +aspirations, and as time and conditions shall justify it will +necessarily become more metropolitan and less exclusive, dealing more +with economic and industrial subjects on broader lines and from more +material standpoints. + +[Illustration: HON. WILLIAM H. HUNT. + +United States Consul to Madagascar. + +Born May, 1860, in Louisiana--Graduated at Groton Academy, +Massachusetts, and Studied at Williams' College--Secretary and +Vice-Consul to the Consulate--Appointed Consul by President McKinley +August 27, 1901--Competent and Worthy.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HOWARD UNIVERSITY. + + +Howard University was established by a special act of Congress in 1867. +It takes its name from that of the great philanthropist and soldier, +Gen. O. O. Howard, who may be called its founder and greatest patron. It +was through the untiring efforts of General Howard that this special act +passed Congress to establish a university on such broad and liberal +lines as those that characterize Howard University. + +This University admits students of both sexes and any color to all of +its departments. The great majority of its students, however, are +colored, and some of its graduates are the most distinguished men of the +Negro race in America. It has splendid departments of law, medicine, +theology and the arts and sciences. + +Howard University is situated on one of the most beautiful sites of the +Capital of the Nation. + +Having two members of my family as teachers in the public schools of +Washington City, I have learned considerable about them. They are said +to rank among our best public schools, and are constantly improving, +under the careful supervision of a highly competent superintendent, and +a paid board of trustees. There are 112 school buildings in the city--75 +for white and 37 for colored, the number being regulated according to +population, about one-third being colored. New manual training schools +have just been erected, for both races, and a growing disposition exists +to provide equal (though separate) accommodation and opportunity. The +colored schools are taught exclusively by colored teachers, the grade +schools being conducted by the graduates of the Washington Normal School +almost entirely. The M Street High School, a leading sample of the best +public schools of the country, has a teaching faculty of twenty +teachers, most of them graduates of our best colleges, such as Howard, +Yale, Oberlin, University of Michigan, Amherst, Brown and Cornell. + +R. H. Terrill, the present principal, is a graduate of Howard, with the +degree of "Cum laude," and, after having won golden opinions from the +board and attaches of the school for his scholarship and supervising +ability, has been appointed by President Roosevelt to a judgeship of the +District, and will assume the duties thereof in January, 1902. + +[Illustration: JUDGE ROBERT H. TERRILL. + +Was born in Virginia in 1837--A Graduate of Harvard College--A Chief of +Division in the United States Treasury and Principal of the Colored High +School--Appointed one of the Judges of the District of Columbia +November, 1901.] + +All such appointments are helpful, coming from the highest ruler, and +for place, at the fountain head of the Government, have a reflex +influence upon much which is unjust. With each success we should beware +of envy, the offspring of selfishness, which is apt to creep insidiously +into our lives. We should crown the man who has achieved distinction and +advise him as to pitfalls. "No sadder proof," Carlisle has said, "can be +given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men." There +is no royal road to a lasting eminence but the toilsome pathway of +diligence, self-denial and high moral rectitude; surely not by turning +sharp corners to follow that "will-o'-the wisp" transient success, at +the expense of upright conduct. Neither suavity of manner nor the +gilding of education will atone for disregarding the sanctity of +obligation, the violation of which continues to wreck the lives and +blast the promise of many. By sowing the seed of uprighteousness, by +unceasing effort and rigid frugality, the harvest, though sometimes +tardy, will be sure to produce an hundred fold in Christian virtues and +material prosperity. The latter is a necessity for our progress; for, +say what you will about being "just as good as anybody," the world of +mankind has little use for a penniless man. The ratio of its attention +to you is largely commensurate with your bank account and your ability +to further ends involving expenditure. Whether this estimate is in +accord with the highest principle, the Negro has not time to +investigate, for he is up against the hard fact that confronts the great +majority of mankind, and one with which each for himself must grapple. +Opportunity may be late, but it comes to him who watches and waits while +diligent in what his hands may find to do. For, with all that may be +said, gracious or malicious, of the "Negro problem," we are unmistakably +on the upward grade, educationally and financially, while these bitter +criticisms and animadversions will be the moral weights to steady our +footsteps and give surety to progress. + +Granting no excuse for ignorance or unfitness in a political aspirant, +or for a religious ministry at the present day, we cannot but remember +that our present lines in more pleasant places, both in Church and +State, had impetus through the trying ordeal of toil, suffering and +massacre during the era of reconstruction. Many, though unlettered, with +a nobility of soul that oppression could not humble, were martyrs to +their Christian zeal for the right and finger boards and beacon lights +on the dark and perilous road to our present advanced position. + +In concluding this imperfect autobiography, containing mention of "men I +have met" in the nineteenth century, absence of many co-laborers, both +white and colored, will be observable, whose ability, devotion and +sacrifice should be treasured as heirlooms by a grateful people. + +And now, kind reader, who has followed me in my wanderings-- + +"Say not 'Good night,' but in some brighter clime bid me 'Good +morning.'" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW AND LIGHT*** + + +******* This file should be named 28183.txt or 28183.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/1/8/28183 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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