Pictures of slavery in church and state; including personal reminiscences, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. etc. with an appendix, containing the views of John Wesley and Richard Watson on slavery

Front matter

S. G. and E. L. ELBERT

KATHARINE E, COHAN

IN

Introduction

I was born in New Town, Worcester County, Maryland, on the 26th day of September, 1811. My mother's name was Sally Laws Henderson. She was a devout member of the M. E. Church, and died in June, 1828. From her lips I received my first antislavery lesson. Could she have had her way, no slave would ever have been held by any member of her family. My father, John W. Long, was a native of Maryland, and a slaveholder. In the early part of his life he was a sea-captain, with all the generosity of the sailor, but with few of the faults common to him. During the war of 1812 he abandoned the sea, and commenced the mercantile business in New Town. In 1824 he removed to the Ferry on the Somerset side of the Pocomoke River, nearly a mile from New Town. He died in 1834, leaving my two sisters and brother under my protection.

I was received into the M. E. Church in 1835, by the Rev. John A. Roche, of the Philadelphia Conference, who is an accomplished Christian gentleman and eloquent preacher. I commenced my ministerial career in 1839, and was received into full connection in the Philadelphia Conference in 1842. In 1848 my health failed ; and since that time the Conference has permitted me to labor when and where I have pleased, according to the state of my health.

INTRODUCTION.

I am an ardent lover of Methodism, and consider that man its greatest enemy who strives, directly or indirectly, to fasten to it the dead and putrid body of chattel slavery. I trust I am no bigot ; for I love those who love our Lord Jesus Christ, of whatever church, race, or color.

Fifteen months ago it was my expectation to live and die in my native State — in private to bear my testimony to masters against slavery, and in public to labor for the salvation of slaves. I had resolved to bear the reproaches of those who would regard me as an abolitionist, and to endure the slang to which I would necessarily be subjected from fellows of the " baser sort." But I had four boys, and, as a Christian father, I wished to train them to honorable labor ; and was desirous that they should regard all mankind as members of one universal family. They were beginning to imbibe the common prejudices of slave society— hatred of work and of slaves. Accordingly, I determined to remove to a free State. A Southern gentleman remarked to me that, if he had sons, and held my views on slavery, he would act precisely as I have acted.

In October, 1856, I removed to Philadelphia, the "city of brotherly love in which, to my astonishment, I found prevailing a vast deal of pro-slavery sentiment. At this discovery all my latent antislavery feeling awoke into activity. A Southern antislavery man can listen with some patience to one who obtains his bread and butter by the institution ; but the justification of slavery by a Northern man is almost intolerable. A conviction that I ought to bear my testimony against the system by writing now took possession of my mind. But difficulties loomed up before me. I should lose my friends, and would have to encounter persecution. Again, I was no scholar. Save a few scraps and obituary notices, I had never written

INTRODUCTION.

line for publication. But, in view of the responsibilities of the great future, the path of duty seemed plain. Accordingly, last Christmas I commenced to write my book, which, justice to myself requires me to state, has been written in a small room with my family around me, subject to the interruptipns of visitors, and to all the depressing influences of feeble health, and the discouraging advice of friends. When my manuscript was ready, no publisher in Philadelphia that I approached would undertake its publication. I have but little money to lose ; yet I have published it at my own risk. It goes forth on my own responsibility. Its glory or its shame will fall on my own head. No minister or layman in the Philadelphia Conference is accountable for it. If any of either class shall approve it after reading it, I shall be gratified. I most devoutly believe what I have written. I have no misgivings that the principles I have advocated will be found unsound in the Great Day. I regret that I have not been able to present my thoughts and facts in a more attractive form. Like a plate of strawberries, or a quiver full of arrows, they have association, but little arrangement. I fear that the repetition of my thoughts, and the egotism almost inseparable from such a work, will be offensive. All criticisms aimed at the literary execution of the book will be unheeded. If I have misstated facts, I am open to conviction. , I have not written for the learned ; yet even to these some of my thoughts may prove suggestive. I am from the masses, and have lived and labored with them. I love and sympathize with the oppressed of all classes and colors. Yet I honor the rich, the wise, the learned, and those high in authority. My design is not to array the poor against the rich, or the colored against the white ; but to array all classes against slavery as it exists in the Southern States of this Union.

INTBODUCTION.

Slavery will be found, on close examination, to be the common foe of church and state ; of master and slave ; of rich and poor. I have added my mite of facts and observations against it. I believe that all truth is profitable, sooner or later. I have done what I conceive to be my duty to the church and to my country. May the blessing of Christ rest on the antislavery cause !

Philadelphia, May 1, 1857.

Chapter VI

Love of military titles — Common schools and school-houses — Missionary speeches — The pastorate — A dangerous maxim — Selling negroes by the pound — Hog thief — Freedom of speech — Washington and Patrick Henry — Martyrs — The bee-hive — Border troubles — Cease agitating slavery — The white crow — Slavery and popery.... 88

Chapter X

Rum and slavery — Southern literature — Going to school — A plea for the slave — A prayer of Christian slaves 172

(ii)

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL page The wicked slave — The execution — William Otterbein — R,ev. John Nicholson — Rev. David Shields — Slavery and health; white ladies — Complaints — Slave literature — The monkey theory 183

Chapter XV

Slavery and novels — Slavery and Mormonism — Uncle Stephen — The parting — Courtship and marriage — The lecture — Who is the true gentleman? — To the white women of the free States — The great

Southern aristocracy 257

Chapter XX

The Fourth of July— The poor whites of the South— The effect of slavery on the higher classes in the slave States — The privateer and the heretics — Impudence — The sailor — Miss Margaret Darrah — The murderer — The drunkard 351

Chapter XXI

A dying babe in jail — The African M. E. Church — Covetousness — Degrading epithets — Negro prayer-meetings — Have you made your will?— The fugitive slave— The infidel 373

Appendix

I. — Testimony of Rev. John Wesley against slavery * 397

TI. — Testimony of Rev. Richard Watson against slavery 399

II. — Judge Taney and Rev. Jacob Gruber 407

Chapter I. What Is Southern Slavery, And Who Are Slaves

" Slaves shall be deemed, sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever. " " A slave is one doomed, in his own person and his posterity, to live without knowledge, and without the capacity to make any thing his own ; and toil that another may reap the fruits."

My observations of Slavery have been confined, in the main, to the States of Delaware and Maryland, where it exists in its mildest form : if, therefore, it shall be found to be a great crime against God and humanity in those States, what must it be in its most aggravated manifestations ? I shall endeavor to draw truthful pictures of what I have seen and heard. I shall do justice to master and slave. In treating of slaves, 1 shall group them into three 2 (13)

classes. First, there are the slaves owned by large planters and farmers,, and governed by overseers or a nigger-drivers/' as they are called. This class being excluded from all contact and association with the families of their wealthy owners, are, as a general rule, as degraded as their ancestors were before they were stolen from the west coast of Africa. Their language is shockingly barbarous; they say "dis" for this, " dat" for that, and " tudder" for the other.

They are great believers in charms, spells, witches, wizards, and ghosts ; if they are sick, they are "in misery." They do not say that they have the headache or pain in the side, but " misery" in the head or side, as the case may be. Their food and clothing are of the coarsest kind ; one suit of coarse cloth for winter, and of cotton cloth for summer. Their allowance of food is one peck of Indian corn meal and three pounds of fat pork per week. This they cook as best they can. Among this class there is no respect paid to sex: the females work in the field, cut wood, drive the ox-cart, make fences. Indeed, I have often seen them in situations, where, if the pecuniary value of their offspring had been consulted, they should have been removed to the " quarters" till after a certain time. Chastity is out of the question. There is a certain attachment between male and female, but the horrible slave laws allow it to be little more than the promiscuous commerce of beasts. There is, however, a genuine love between mother and child. The slave can truly say, "I have no father, but I know my mother." The males, like the dogs of their masters, are frequently called after the celebrated philosophers and generals of Greece and Rome. Almost every plantation has a Plato, Cato, Pompey, and Csesar. This seems like a retribution. The great men of Rome were slaveholders on a magnificent scale, and their names are now borne by slaves more abject than theirs.

The cowhide is their only coat of arms. They seldom hear a kind word spoken to them on the part of their overseers. With them there is neither digression nor progression. The common plantation slave is but little better informed than those of the same class fifty years ago ; and one hundred years hence will find them the same, if slavery continues as it is. Their principal amusements are hunting and dancing. They are very fond of hunting the raccoon and opossum, which they call "varmint." Reader, did you ever see a genuine negro dog? There is as much difference between such a cur and a gentleman's dog, as there is between an oyster cart-horse and an Arabian charger.

See that poor slave. He is just returning from the lordly mansion of his master, with his week's allowance of meal and pork. Over his left shoulder is suspended a wallet, wTith meal in one end and pork in the other. His left hand presses against it. In his right hand he holds his stick (he never says cane). He is trudging along to the adjoining plantation, where he belongs. He has a downcast look, and a gentle, forward stoop. His dog alternately trots and walks behind him. His tail is cut midway, and his ears are cropped. Look : yonder comes his young master on his fine horse, with his glossy spaniel bounding before him. He approaches ; the negro makes a low bow, and says, "Sarvent, massa." His dog skulks to one side : if the spaniel attacks him, he makes no resistance; he falls flat on the ground, turns on his back, curves his cut tail between his legs, and appeals to the magnanimity of his master's dog, and says by actions, " Oh don't ! I am but a poor slave of a slave !" The slave loves his dog. They are constant companions. He talks with him by day and hunts with him at night, and shares with him his scanty meals. His dog is the only thing under the sun that he can call his own; for the master claims the woman that is called his wife, his offspring, his hut, his pig, his own body — and his very soul.

The master despises " nigger dogs." If he is given to profanity, he swears at them whenever he sees them, accusing them of killing sheep and his fat young pigs.

The plantation slaves often suffer with hunger. Despite the common boasts of the slaveholder, the Allwise only knows how much penury and starvation wear out the lives of the slaves. Dancing is one of their favorite amusements. I have often looked at their dances during their different holidays. The 2* banjo is of all instruments the best adapted to the lowest class of slaves. It is the very symbol of their savage degradation. They talk to it, and a skillful performer can excite the most diverse passions among the dancers. Generally, however, they have no instruments, but dance to the tunes and words of a leader, keeping time by striking their hands against the thighs, and patting the right foot, to the words of

" ' Juber,7 ' Cesar boy/

Ash-cake in de fire,

'Possum up de gum tree, , Raccoon in de holler."

I have seen males and females dancing, rapidly whirling round, whooping and yelling with brutal delight, alike unmindful of the past and future. I have never known, in a single instance, of a colored man of any moral tone who was fond of the banjo or common dance.

The " quarters" of the large slaveholders are generally mere shells ; very few are plastered ; and no arrangement is made for the separation of male and female. The men generally have no beds, but sleep in their clothes on benches made of wide plank, with their feet to the fire. The plantation slaves are remarkable for their fine teeth. The slave is never supposed to be sick, unless he is very ill. The ignorant over- Beer takes for granted that, if the slave complains, he is " acting the 'possum," and frequently, before the master or physician knows it, the slave dies. The death of a slave is considered a mere money loss. Neighbor A says that " neighbor B has lost a fine slave wTorth one thousand dollars."

The humble body is buried in the negro graveyard, in some obscure part of the plantation. For the slave there is no tombstone. The flowers of memory and affection never bloom over the lonely hillock that marks his resting-place. The wild rose and dewberry mat his grave ; and the lark builds there her lowly nest, and sings at morn his only requiem. Many an undeveloped poet, orator, and artist lies entombed in such obscure cemeteries throughout the South. A slave-burying is one of the saddest sights I ever saw. They do not cry and weep like freemen ; they are sad and 6tupid. They have no religious services at the grave, and could not have them if they wished. The negro preacher on the adjoining plantation must not leave his hoe. The white minister is either too grand to bury the slave, or is not called on. I have never known of more than one white minister of the gospel who has performed religious service at the burial of the slaoe.

A negro funeral is different from the " burying/' and is a unique affair. Several weeks after burial the funeral is preached ; and never was there more frolic at an Irish wake than at these funerals, held frequently in the woods ; and sometimes as many as three funerals are preached at once. Unless a colored person's funeral is preached, whether he be saint or sinner, there is no peace of mind to his friends.

There are 3,000,000 of these slaves in these United States.

The second class of slaves embraces such as are owned by the less extensive slaveholders and farmers. These have no overseer, live in the kitchen, mingle with the master's family, eat the same kind of food as the other members of the family, are not generally overworked, use good language for slaves, and are attended to when sick. Their children are raised with their master's children, play with them, and nurse them. In mind and body they are greatly superior to the plantation slaves. A strong attachment frequently exists between them and their masters and mistresses. From this class we derive most of our church members. After they arrive at the age of 45, many of them become truly chaste and pious, according to the light they have, and receive the honorable appellations of " aunt" and u uncle;" until that age, they are usually called u girls" and " boys."

Notwithstanding the superior physical condition of this class of slaves, they are generally more unhappy and restless than the more degraded classes. Their superior advantages only serve as a lamp to show them their degradation. They are just as liable as any other class of chattels to be sold by the master or his creditors. Take an illustration. Beaufort owns a young negro man, brought up in his own house. Beaufort becomes security for neighbor Miflin. Miflin fails; the creditors resort to Beaufort. The boy must be sold. His master and negro buyer fix on the price. The boy is to be delivered at a certain place where I happen to be. The poor fellow comes on an errand, as he supposes, little dreaming of the trap that is set for him. The master is there. The " Georgia trader" presently arrives. This worthy orders the boy to cross his hands ; the concealed rope is produced, and the boy is tied. The poor slave is stunned, and turns ashy pale. The dealer in human souls hurries him off to the county town to await transportation. Beaufort weeps and trembles, and mutters, " He was a good boy ; / never ate him or drank him ; I shall never be happy again." Unhappy master ! if he had set him free before going in debt, he would have escaped thorns that will be planted in his dying pillow ; and if he should ever read these lines, he will attest the faithfulness of this narration. Colored people love to sing, "The judgment day is rolling around, is rolling around," &c.

The third class constitute the aristocracy and chivalry of the slave population of the South. They are the household servants of our Congressmen, judges, lawyers, doctors, naval officers, wealthy merchants, clergymen, planters, and farmers. Very few of them are jet black; nearly all are more or less white. The men are line looking. The women are beautiful, and many of them even opulent in charms. Nor is this a wonder. The best blood of the Saxon courses through their veins; the intellect of that race gleams in their eye. They have the health and beautiful form of the African, with the polish and gracefulness of the Caucasian race. They seldom mix with the common slave, and feel great contempt for poor white people. Many of them can read; and many of the female servants are brought up virtuously, sleeping in the same room with their young mistresses. Notwithstanding their accomplishments, they are often sold with mules, horses, and hogs. The females bring the highest prices in the South. For them there is no virtue after a certain age, unless they die the martyr's death. They never can say "this man is my husband;" "that woman is my wife ;" " this is my child." From this class, as fugitives, have arisen such men as Frederick Douglass, Wm. Wells, Brown, and, I presume,

Dr. Pennington. I have seen them so white that a stranger could not have told that they were slaves or even negroes.

0 chattel slavery, if I had no other name by which to call thee, " I would call thee Devil !"

FREE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH.

The free colored people of the South constitute a distinct class of colored persons in that section of the Union. They labor under many civil and religious disabilities, and are the most slandered and persecuted class of men in the United States. The early Methodists in England and America were not more so. They are not permitted to educate their children, unless they reside in the cities, notwithstanding they pay taxes. They have to take the raking fires from three batteries. The slave envies theqi. The poor white man is jealous of them lest they encroach upon his assumed rights and privileges; and the large slaveholder hates them, as their very presence puts notions of freedom in the minds of his slaves. They are expected to please every body, which is a very difficult matter. They are the scape-goats of

FREE COLORED PEOPLE. 25

southern society. If any crime is committed, and the perpetrator is not disco vered, it is laid to the free negro. If he commits a crime, and it is proved on him, he is sure to get the full penalty of the law. If he steals from the white man, he goes to the penitentiary; which is right. If the white man steals from him, he goes clear; which is wrong. If he is lazy, he is a nuisance ; if industrious, and lays up money, he is accused of dealing with slaves ; if he conducts himself properly, he is proud and wants taking down a little. His w7ife and daughter may be insulted by rowdies, and he must hold his tongue. Yet for intelligence, industry, economy, and morality, he is far superior to the third class of slaves. His wife and children are his ; his body is his own. He can remove to a free State or go to Africa. Partial liberty is better than pampered slavery. Considering his antecedents and circumstances, he has met the expectations of all reasonable men. Many of them are lazy, but it must be remembered that laziness is a contagious disease in the South. My advice to all young enterprising free colored people of the Southern States is, to leave for the

free States. Canada, or Liberia.

PICTURES OF SLAVERY.

THE NEGRO RACE.

I consider the Negro race inferior in mental endowment only to the great European or white race. The negro is as full of music as an egg is full of meat ; and music is allied to poetry and eloquence. No people have the religious element more deeply grounded in their nature. As a race, they are proverbial for kindness and affection, and respect for authority and age. In their religious meetings they exhibit more reverence in their devotion than the whites. We defy any set of atheists to make many converts among them in theory. In drollery they are unequalled ; and are only inferior to the Irish in wit ; even rivalling the French in politeness. If properly trained, they would make first-class orators and musicians. I have seen an exceedingly fine portrait executed by a colored artist of Baltimore. They are great aristocrats ; and pay much respect to those above them in intellect and authority. Hence our great Southern aristocracy, by emancipating their negroes, could retain them by affection and their own choice ; and thus reap all the benefits of slavery without its crime and consequences.

Chapter II. Methodist Episcopal Church And Slavery

The M. E. Church was organized in 1784, in the city of Baltimore. What did the fathers of the church think of slavery at that time ? We will quote their own language, taken from th$ first Discipline of the church, compared with the Large Minutes. See the History of the Discipline by Rev. Robert Emory, former President of Dickinson College. Published at the Book-room, New York, for the M. E. Church : p. 43.

" Question 42. What methods can we take to extirpate slavery ? Ans. We are deeply conscious of the impropriety of making new terms of communion for a religious society already established, excepting on the most pressing occasion : and such we esteem the practice of holding our fellow-creatures in slavery. We view it as contrary to the golden law of God, on which hang all the law and the prophets, and the unalienable rights of mankind, as well as every principle of the Revolution, to hold in the deepest debasement, in a

PICTURES OF SLAVERY.

more abject slavery than is perhaps to be found in any part of the world except America, so many souls that are capable of the image of God. We therefore think it our most bounden duty to take immediately some effective method to extirpate this abomination from among us ; and for that purpose we add the following to the rules of our society — viz.

1st. Every member of our society who has slaves in his possession shall, within twelve months after notice given him by the assistant (which notice the assistants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give in their respective circuits), legally execute and record an instrument, whereby he emancipates and sets free every slave in his possession who is between the ages of forty and forty-five immediately, or at furthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five.

And every slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at furthest at the expiration of five years from the date of the said instrument.

And every slave who is between the ages of twenty and twenty-five immediately, or at furthest when they arrive at the age of thirty.

And every slave under the age of twenty, as soon as they arrive at the age of twenty- five at furthest.

And every infant born in slavery after the above mentioned rules are complied with, immediately on its birth.

2d. Every assistant shall keep a journal, in which he shall regularly minute down the names and ages of all the slaves belonging to all the masters in his respective circuit, and also the date of every instrument executed and recorded for the manumission of the slaves, with the name of

METHODIST CHURCH AND SLAVERY. 29 the court, book, and folio, in which said instrument respectively shall have been recorded ; which journal shall be handed down in each circuit to the succeeding assistants.

3d. In consideration that these rules form a new term of communion, every person concerned who will not comply with them, shall have liberty quietly to withdraw himself from our society within the twelve months succeeding the notice given as aforesaid ; otherwise the assistants shall exclude him from the society.

4th. No person holding slaves shall in future be admitted into society or the Lord's Supper, till he previously complies with these rules concerning slavery.

N. B. These rules are to affect the members of our society no further than as they are consistent with the laws of the States in which they reside.

Question 43. What shall be done with those who buy or sell slaves, or give them away ? Ans. They are immediately to be expelled ; unless they buy them on purpose to free them."

1. It will be seen, by the above, that our preachers, in 1784, viewed the holding of slaves, or the sustaining voluntarily the relation of master and slave, as contrary to the golden law of God. Hence, not only official members, but private members, were to break that relation by manumission according to the conditions laid down.

3*

2. They regarded slavery in America the most abject of any perhaps in the known world.

3. They considered that holding a fellow-creature in bondage was a sin sufficient to exclude any one from the Supper of the Lord, and was an abomination which they sought to extirpate from the church. These fathers then were a band of Christian abolitionists, and contended for emancipation. For " extirpation" means, according to Webster, to " destroy, to pull up by the roots f which is all we mean by abolition.

4. We have painfully to admit that the church did afterward fall from her noble and New Testament position on the subject of slavery ; and many of these fathers tried to undo with their own hands what they had so nobly accomplished. So that in 1808 was stricken out of the Discipline all that related to private members; and slaveholding was only considered an official impediment. Private members could hold for life their fellow-creatures in bondage, give them away to their children during their lifetime, and leave them in perpetual slavery. So the whole ground wras in effect conceded to slavery. What a fearful history the

METHODIST CHURCH AND SLAVERY. 81

M. E. Church has read to the world by this concession — a history written with the blood and tears of oppressed thousands ! Private members holding slaves, soon involved class-leaders, exhorters, local preachers, and travelling preachers, and finally debauched the moral sentiments of the whole church, so that in 1836 the General Conference was in direct antagonism to the Conference of 1784. The year 1836 was the darkest hour in the history of the M. E. Church. Eum and slavery were both triumphant in her at this time. At that period private members could manufacture and sell rum, but an ordained elder could not. The church has seen the folly of such a distinction, and has since decreed that rumselling for gain is sin in any man ; and she will arrive at the same conclusion with regard to slavery.