GENEALOGY EXPRESS

 

Welcome to
Black
History & Genealogy

COLORED PATRIOTS
of the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
with sketches of several
DISTINGUISHED COLORED PERSONS:
to which is added a brief survey of the
Condition and Prospects of Colored Americans.
By Wm. C. Nell,
with an introduction by
Harriet Beacher Stowe
Published
Boston:
Published by Robert R. Wallcut
1855.

CHAPTER I.

MASSACHUSETTS

Crispus Attucks - Colored Americans on Bunker Hill - Seymour Burr -Jeremy Jonah - A Brave Colored Artilleriest - Governor Hancock's Flag - Big Dick - Primus Hall - James and Hosea Easton - Job Lewis - Quack Matrick - Jack Grove - Bosson Wright - Petitions of Colored Men in Old Colony

     ON the 5th of March, 1851, the following petition was presented to the Massachusetts Legislature, asking an appropriation of $1,500, for the erection of a monument to

[Page 14]
the memory of CRISPUS ATTUCKS, the first martyr in the Boston Massacre of March, 5th, 1770; -

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the
     State of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled:
     The undersigned, citizens of Boston, respectfully ask that an appropriation of fifteen hundred dollars may be made by your Honorable Body, for a monument to be erected to the memory of CHRISPUS ATTUCKS, the first martyr of the American Revolution.

                                                                   WILLIAM C. NELL,
                                                                   CHARLES LENOX REMOND,
                                                                   HENRY WEEDEN,
                                                                   LEWIS HAYDEN,
                                                                   FREDERICK G. BARBADOES,
                                                                   JOSHUA B. SMITH,
                                                                   LEMUEL BURR.

BOSTON, Feb. 22d, 1851.

     This petition was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, who granted a hearing to the petitioners, in whose behalf appeared Wendell Phillips, Esq., and William C. Nell, but finally submitted an adverse report, on the ground that a boy, Christopher Snyder, was previously killed.  Admitting this fact, (which was the result of a very different scene from that in which Attucks fell,) it does not offset the claims of Attucks, and those who made the 5th of March famous in our annals - the day which history selects as the dawn of the American Revolution.
     Botta's History, and Hewes's Reminiscences (the tea party survivor), establish the fact that the colored man, ATTUCKS,

[Page 15]
was of and with the people, and was never regarded otherwise.
     Botta, in speaking of the scenes of the 5th of March, says: - "The people were gently exasperated.  The multitude ran towards King street, crying, 'Let us drive out these ribalds; they have no business here!'  The rioters rushed furiously towards the Custom House; they approached the sentinel, crying, Kill him, kill him'  They assaulted him with snowballs, pieces of ice, and whatever they could lay their hands upon.  The guard were then called, and, in marching to the Custom House, they encountered," continues Botta, "a band of the populace, led by a mulatto named ATTUCKS, who brandished their clubs, and pelted them with snowballs.  The maledictions, the imprecations, the execrations of the multitude, were horrible.  In the midst of a torrent of invective from every quarter, the military were challenged to fire.  The populace advanced to the points of their bayonets.  The soldiers appeared like statues; the cries, the howlings, the menaces, the violent din of bells still sounding the alarm, increased the confusion and the horrors of these moments; at length, the mulatto and twelve of his companions, pressing forward, environed the soldiers, and striking their muskets with their clubs, cried to the multitude: 'Be not afraid; they dare not fire: why do you hesitate, why do you not kill them, why not crush them at once?'  The mulatto lifted his arm against Capt. Preston, and having turned one of the muskets, he seized the bayonet with his left hand, as if he intended

[Page 16]
to execute his treat.  At this moment, confused cries were heard:  'The wretches dare not fire!' Firing succeeds.  ATTUCKS is slain.  The other discharges follow.  Three were killed, five severely wounded, and several others slightly."
     ATTUCKS had formed the patriots in Dock Square, from whence they marched up King street, passing through the street up to the main guard, in order to make the attack.
     ATTUCKS was killed by Montgomery, one of Capt. Preston's soldiers.  He had been foremost in resisting, and was first slain.  As proof of a front engagement, he received two balls, one in each breast.
     John Adams, counsel for the soldiers, admitted that Attucks appeared to have undertaken to be the hero of the night, and to lead the people.  He and Caldwell, not being residents of Boston, were both buried from Faneuil Hall.  The citizens generally participated in the solemnities.
     The Boston Transcript of Mar. 7, 1861, published an anonymous communication, disparaging the whole affair; denouncing CRISPUS ATTUCKS as a very firebrand of disorder and sedition, the most conspicuous, inflammatory, and uproarious of the misguided populace, and who, if he had not fallen a martyr, would richly have deserved hanging as an incendiary.*  If the leader, ATTUCKS, deserved the epithets above applied, is it not a legitimate inference, that the citizens who followed on are included, and hence should swing in his company on the gallows?  If the leader and his pa
---------------
* The Transcript of March 5th, 1855, honorably alludes to CRISPUS ATTUCKS.

[Page 17]
triot band were misguided, the distinguished orators who, in after days, commemorated the 5gth of March, must, indeed, have been misguided, and with them, the masses who were inspired by their eloquence; for John Hancock, In 1774, invokes the injured shades of Maverick, Gray, Caldwell, ATTUCKS, Carr; and Judge Dawes, in 1775, thus alludes to the band of "misguided incendiaries": - "The provocation of that night must be numbered among the master-springs which gave the first motion to a vast machinery, - a noble and comprehensive system of national independence."
     Ramsey's History of the American Revolution, Vol. I., p. 22, says - "The anniversary of the 5th of March was observed with great solemnity; eloquent orators were successively employed to preserve the remembrance of it fresh in the mind.  On these occasions, the blessings of liberty, the horrors of slavery, and the danger of a standing army, were presented to the public view.  These annual orations administered fuel to the fire of liberty, and kept it burning with an irresistible flame."
     The 5th of March continued to be celebrated for the above reasons, until the Anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence was substituted in its place; and its orators were expected to honor the feelings and principles of the former as having given birth to the latter.
     On the 5th of March, 1776, Washington repaired to the intrenchments.  "Remember," said he, "it is the 5th of March, and avenge the death of your brethren!"
     In judging, then, of the merits of those who launched

[Page 18]
the American Revolution, we should not take counsel from the Tories of that or the present day, but rather heed the approving eulogy of Lovell, Hancock, and Warren.
     Welcome, then, be every taunt that such correspondents may fling at ATTUCKS and his company, as the bet evidence of their merits and their strong claim upon our gratitude!  Envy and the foe do not labor to traduce any but prominent champions of a cause.
     The rejection of the petition was to be expected, if we accept the axiom that a colored man never gets justice done him in the United States, except by mistake.  The petitioners only asked for justice, and that the name of CRISPUS ATTUCKS might be honored as a grateful country honors other gallant Americans.
     And yet, let it be recorded, the same session of the Legislature which had refused the ATTUCKS monument, granted one to ISAAC DAVIS, of Concord.  Both were promoters of the American Revolution, but one was white, the other was black; and this is the only solution to the problem why justice was not fairly meted out.
     In April, 1861, Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave from Georgia, was returned to bondage from the city of Boston, and on Friday, June 2d, 1854, Anthony Burns, a fugitive from Virginia, was dragged back to slavery, - both marching over the very ground that ATTUCKS trod.  Among the allusions to the man, and the associations clustering around King street of the past and State street of the present, the following are selected.  The first is from a speech of the

[Page 19]
HON. ANSON BURLINGAME, in Faneuil Hall, Oct. 13, 1862, on the rendition of Thomas Sims: -

     "The conquering of our New England prejudices in favor of liberty 'does not pay.'  It 'does not pay,' I submit, to put our fellow-citizens under practical martial law; to beat the drum in our streets; to clothe our temples of justice in chains, and to creep along, by the light of the morning star, over the ground wet with the blood of CRISPIS ATTUCKS, the noble colored man, who fell in King street before the muskets of tyranny, away in the dawn of our Revolution; creep by Faneuil Hall, silent and dark; by the Green Dragon, where that noble mechanic, Paul Revere, once mustered the sons of liberty; within sight of Bunker Hill, where was first unfurled the glorious banner of our country; creep along, with funeral pace, bearing a brother, a man made in the image of God, not to the grave, - O, that were merciful, for in the grave there is no work and no device, and the voice of a master never comes, - but back to the degradation of a slavery which kills out of a living body an immortal soul.  O, where is the man now, who took part in that mournful transaction, who would wish, looking back upon it, to avow it!"

     "Thousands of agitated people came out to see the preacher [Burns] led off to slavery, over the spot where Hancock stood and ATTUCKS fell." *

     "And at high 'change, over the spot where, on the 5th of March, 1770, fell the first victim in the Boston Massacre, - where the negro blood of CHRISTOPHER CRISPUS ATTUCKS stained the ground, - over that spot, Boston authorities carried a citizen of Massachusetts to Alexandria as a slave."

---------------
     *Worcester Spy.
     †
THEODORE PARKER, June 4th.

[Page 20]

     "A short distance from that sacred edifice, [Faneuil Hall,] and between it and the Court House, where the disgusting rites of sacrificing a human being to slavery were lately performed, was the spot which was first moistened with American blood in resisting slavery, and among the first victims was a colored person." *

     "Nearly all those who had watched the trial of poor Burns, who heard his doom, saw the slave-guard march from the Court House, that had been closed so long, through State street, swept as if by a pestilence, down to the vessel that, under our flag, bore him out of the Bay of Pilgrims entered, into captivity, would rather have looked on a funeral procession, rather have heard the rattling of British guns again .  .  .  .  .  Sad, shocking, was the sight of the harmless, innocent victim of all that mighty machinery, as he passed down Queen's street and King's street, all hung in mourning.  Better to have seen the halter and the coffin for a criminal again paraded through our streets, than the cutlasses and the cannon for him.  As he went down to the dock into which the tea was thrown, the spirits that lingered about the spots he passed vanished and fled, whilst dire and frightful images arose in their place."

     HENRY HILL, a colored man, and a Revolutionary soldier, died in Chilicothe, on the 12th of August, 1833, aged eighty years.  He was buried with the honors of war, - a singular tribute of respect to the memory of a colored man, but not doubt richly merited in this case.  Henry, I should infer from an obituary notice in the Chilicothe Advertiser, was at the battle of Lexington, Brandywine, Monmouth, Princeton, and Yorktown.

---------------
     * Hon. CHARLES SUMNER'S Speech in Congress, June 28, 1854.
     † Speech of CHARLES M. ELLIS, (one of Burns' counsel,) July, 1854.

 


Peter Salem, the Colored American, at Bunker Hill.  Page 21.

[Page 21]

     Swett, in his "Sketches of Bunker Hill Battle," alludes to the presence of a colored man in that fight.  He says: - "Major Pitcairn caused the first effusion of blood at Lexington.  In that battle, his horse was shot under him, while he was separated from his troops.  With presence of mind, he feigned himself slain; his pistols were taken from his holsters, and he was left for dead, when he seized the opportunity, and escaped.  He appeared at Bunker Hill, and, says the historian, 'Among those who mounted the works was the gallant Major Pitcairn, who exultingly cried out, "The day is ours!" when a black soldier named SALEM shot him through, and he fell.  His agonized son received him in his arms, and tenderly bore him to the boats.'  A contribution was made in the army for the colored soldier, and he was presented to Washington as having performed this feat." *

     Besides SALEM, PETER SALEM there were quite a number of colored soldiers at Bunker Hill.  Among them, TITUS COBURN, ALEXANDER AMES,  and BARZILAI LEW, all of Andover; and also CATO HOWE, of Plymouth, - each of whom received a pension.  Lew was a fifer.  His daughter, Mrs. Dalton, now lives within a few rods of the battle field.

     SEYMOUR BURR was a slave in Connecticut, to a brother of Col. Aaron Burr, from whom he derived his name.  Though treated with much favor by his master, his heart

---------------
     * In some engravings of the battle, this colored soldier occupies a prominent position; but in more recent editions, his figure is non est inventus,  A significant, but inglorious omission.  On some bills, however, of the Monumental Bank, Charlestown and Freeman's Bank, Boston, his presence is manifest.

[Page 22]
yearned for liberty, and he seized an occasion to induce several of his fellow slaves to escape in a boat, intending to join the British, that they might become freemen; but being pursued by their owners, armed with the implements of death, they were compelled to surrender.
     Burr's master, contrary to his expectation, did not inflict corporeal punishment, but reminded him of the kindness with which he had been treated, and asked what inducement he could have for leaving him.  Burr replied,  that he wanted his liberty.  His owner finally proposed, that if he would give him the bounty money, he might join the American army, and at the end of the war be his own man.  Burr, willing to make any sacrifice for his liberty, consented, and served faithfully during the campaign, attached to the Seventh Regiment, commanded by Colonel, afterwards Governor Brooks, of Medford.  He was present at the siege of Fort Catskill, and endured much suffering from starvation and cold.  After some skirmishing, the army was relieved by the arrival of Gen. Washington, who, as witnessed by him, shed tears of joy on finding them unexpectedly safe.
     Burr married one of the Punkapog tribe of Indians, and settled in Canton, Mass.  He received a pension from Government.  His widow died in1852, aged over one hundred years.

     JEREMY JONAH served in the same Regiment, (Col. Brooks's,) at the same time with Seymour Burr.  The two veterans used to make merry together in recounting their military adventures, especially the drill on one occasion,

[Page 23]
when Jonah stumbled over a stone heap; for which he was severely caned by the Colonel.  He drew a pension.

     LEMUEL BURR, (grandson of Seymour,) a resident of Boston, often speaks of their reminiscences of DEBORAH GANNETT.  In confirmation of this part of their history, I give the following extract from the Resolves of the General Court of Massachusetts during the session of 1791: -

XXIII. - Resolve on the petition of DEBORAH GANNETT, granting her £34 for services in the Continental Army.  January 20, 1792.

     On the petition of DEBORAH GANNETT, praying for compensation for services performed in the late army of the United States:
     Whereas, it appears to this Court that the said DEBORAH GANNETT enlisted, under the name of Robert Shurtliff, in Capt. Webb's company, in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, on May 20th, 1782, and did actually perform the duty of a soldier, in the late army of the United States, to the 23d day of October, 1783, for which she has received no compensation; and, whereas, it further appears that the said Deborah exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism, by discharging the duties of a faithful, gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex unsuspected and unblemished, and was discharged from the service with a fair and honorable character; therefore,

     Resolved, That the Treasurer of this Commonwealth be, and he hereby is, directed to issue his note to the said Deborah for the sum of thirty four pounds, bearing interest from Oct. 23, 1783.

     Joshua B. Smith has stated to me that he was present at a company of distinguished Massachusetts men, when the conversation turned upon the exploits of Revolutionary times; and that the late Judge Story related an incident of

[Page 24]
a colored S who, while having charge of a cannon with a white fellow soldier, was wounded in one arm.  He immediately turned to his comrade, and proposed changing his position, exclaiming that he  had yet one arm left with which he could render some service to his country.  The change proved fatal to the heroic soldier, for another shot from the enemy killed him upon the spot.  Judge Story furnished other incidents of the bravery of colored soldiers, adding, that he had often thought them and their descendants too much neglected, considering the part they had sustained in the wars; and he regretted that he did not, in early life, gather the facts into a shape for general information.
     The late Governor Eustis, of Massachusetts, the pride and boast of the Democracy of the East, himself an active participant in the war, and therefore a most competent witness, states that the free colored soldiers entered the ranks with the whites.  The time of those who were slaves was purchased of their masters, and they were induced to enter the service in consequence of a law of Congress, by which, on condition of their serving in the ranks during the war, they were made freemen.  This hope of liberty inspired them with fresh courage to oppose their breasts to the Hessian bayonet at Red Bank, and enabled them to endure with fortitude the cold and famine of Valley Forge.
     At the close of the Revolutionary War, John Hancock presented the colored company, called "the Bucks of America," with an appropriate banner, bearing his initials,

[Page 25]
as a tribute to their courage and devotion throughout the struggle.  The "Bucks," under the command of Colonel Middleton, were invited to a collation in a neighboring town, and, en route, were requested to halt in front of the Hancock Mansion, in Beacon street, where the Governor and his son united in the above presentation.

     LYDIA MARIA CHILD gives the following sketch of Col. MIDDLETON, commander of the "Bucks": -
     "Col. Middleton was not a very horse-breaker, who owned a house that he inhabited at the head of Belknap street.  He was greatly respected by his own people, and his house was thronged with company.  His morals were questioned, - he was passionate, intemperate, and profane.  We lived opposite to him for five years; during all this time, my father treated this old negro with uniform kindness.  He had a natural compassion for the ignorant and the oppressed, and I never knew him fail to lift his hat to this old neighbor, and audibly say, with much suavity, 'How do you do, Col. Middleton?' or "Good morning, colonel.'  My father would listen to the dissonant sounds that came from an old violin that the colonel played on every summer's evening, and was greatly amused at his power in subduing mettlesome colts.  He would walk over and compliment the colonel on his skill in his hazardous employment, and the colonel would, when thus praised, urge the untamed animal to some fearful caper, to show off his own bold

[Page 26]
daring.  Our negroes, for many years, were allowed peaceably to celebrate the abolition of the slave trade; but it became a frolic with the white boys to deride them on this day, and finally, they determined to drive them, on these occasions, from the Common.  The colored people became greatly incense by this mockery of their festival, and this infringement of their liberty, and a rumor reached us, on one of these anniversaries, that they were determined to resist the whites, and were going armed, with this intention.  About three o'clock in the afternoon, a shout of a beginning fray reached us.  Soon, terrified children and women ran down Belknap street, pursued by white boys, who enjoyed their fright.  The sounds of battle approached; clubs and brickbats were flying in all directions.  At this crisis, Col. Middleton opened his door, armed with a loaded musket and, in a loud voice, shrieked death to the first white who should approach.  Hundreds of human beings, white and black, were pouring down the street, the blacks making but a feeble resistance, the odds in numbers and spirit being against them.  Col. Middleton's voice could e heard above every other, urging his party to turn and resist to the last.  His appearance was terrific, his musket was levelled, ready to sacrifice the first white man that came within its range.  The colored party, shamed by his reproaches, and fired by his example, rallied, and made a short show of resistance.  Capt. Winslow Lewis and my father determined to try and quell this tumult.  Capt. Lewis valiantly grappled with the

[Page 27]
ringleaders of the whites, and my father coolly surveyed the scene from his own labor, and instantly determined what to do.  He calmly approached Col. Middleton, who called to him to stop, or he was a dead man!  I can see my father at this distance of time, and never can forget the feelings his family expressed, as they saw him still approach this armed man.  He put aside his musket, and, with his countenance all serenity, said a few soothing words to the colonel, who burst into tears, put up his musket, and, with great emotion, exclaimed, loud enough for us to hear across the street, 'I will do it for you, for you have always been kind to me,' and retired into his own house, and shut his door upon the scene."
     When a boy, living in West Boston,  I was familiar with the person of "BIG DICK," and have heard the following account of him (which is taken from the Boston Patriot) confirmed.  It is not wholly out of place in this collection.  "RICHARD SEAVERS," said that journal, a few days after his decease, "was a man of mighty mould.  A short time previous to his death, be measured six feet five inches in height, and attracted much attention when seen in the street.  He was born in Salem, or vicinity, and when about sixteen years old, went to England, where he entered the British navy.  When the war of 1812 broke out, he would not fight against his country, gave himself up as an American citizen, and was made a prisoner of war.
     "A surgeon on board an American privateer, who experienced the tender mercies of the British Government in

[Page 28]
Dartmoor prison, during the War of 1812, makes honorable mention of "King Dick," as he was there called: -

     " ' There are about four hundred and fifty negroes in prison No. 4, and this assemblage of blacks affords many curious anecdotes, and much matter for speculation.  These blacks have a ruler among them, whom they call King Dick.  He is by far the largest, and, I suspect, the strongest man in the prison.  He is six feet five inches in height, and proportionably large.  This black Hercules commands respect, and his subjects tremble in his presence.  He goes the rounds every day, and visits every berth to see if they are all kept clean.  When he goes the rounds, he puts on a large bearskin cap, and carries in his hand a huge club.  If any of his men are dirty, drunken, or grossly negligent, he threatens them with a beating; and if they are saucy, they are sure to receive one.  They have several times conspired against him, and attempted to dethrone him, but he has always conquered the rebels.  One night, several attacked him, while asleep in his hammock; he sprang up and seized the smallest of them by his feet, and thumped another with him.  The poor negro who had thus been made a beetle of was carried next day to the hospital, sadly bruised, and provokingly laughed at.  This ruler of the blacks, this King Richard IV, is a man of good understanding, and he exercises it to a good purpose.  If any one of his color cheats, defrauds, or steals from his comrades, he is sure to be punished for it.' "

     CHARLES BOWLES (says his biographer, Rev. John W. Lewis,) "was born in Boston, 1761.  His father was an African; his mother was a daughter of the celebrated Col. Morgan, who was distinguished as an officer in the Rifle Corps of the American army, during the revolutionary struggle for independence.  At the early age of twelve, he

[Page 29]
was placed in the family of a Tory; but his young heart did not fancy his new situation, for at the tender age of fourteen, we find him serving in the colonial army, in the capacity of waiter to an officer.  He remained in this situation for two years, and then enlisted, - a mere boy, - in the American army, to risk his life in defence of the holy cause of liberty.  He served during the entire war, after which he went to New Hampshire, and engaged in agricultural pursuits.  He succeeded in drawing a pension, became a Baptist preacher, and died Mar. 16, 1843, aged 82."

     PRIMUS HALL, a native Bostonian, was the son of Prince Hall, founder of the Masonic Lodge of that name in Boston.  Primus Hall was long known to the citizens as a soap-boiler.  Besides his revolutionary services, he was among those who, in the war of 1812, repaired to Castle Island, in Boston Harbor, to assist in building fortifications.
     The following anecdote of Primus is extracted from Godey's Lady's Book for June, 1849, to which it was communicated by Rev. HENRY F. HARRINGTON: -

     "Throughout the Revolutionary War, PRIMIS HALL was the body servant of Col. PICKERING, of Massachusetts.  He was free and communicative and delighted to sit down with an interested listener and pour out those stores of absorbing and exciting anecdotes with which his memory was stored.
     "It is well known that there was no officer in the whole American army whose memory was dearer to WASHINGTON,  and whose counsel was more esteemed by him, than that of the honest and patriotic Col. PICKERING.  He was on inti-

[Page 30]
mate terms with him, and unbosomed himself to him with as little reserve as, perhaps, to any confidant in the army.  Whenever he was stationed with such a distance as to admit of it, he passed many hours with the Colonel, consulting him upon anticipated measures, and delighting in his reciprocating friendship.
     "WASHINGTON was, therefore, often brought into contact with the servant of Col. PICKERING, the departed PRIMUS.  An opportunity was afforded to the negro to note him, under circumstances very different from those in which he is usually brought before the public, and which possess, therefore, a striking charm.  I remember two of these anecdotes from the mouth of PRIMUS.  One of them is very slight, indeed, yet so peculiar as to be replete with interest.  The authenticity of both may be fully relied upon.
     "WASHINGTON once came to Col. PICKERING'S quarters, and found him absent.
     " ' It is no matter,' said said he to PRIMUS; 'I am greatly in need of exercise.  You must help me to get some before your master returns.'
     "Under WASHINGTON'S directions, a negro busied himself in some simple preparations.  A stake was driven into the ground about breast high, a rope tied to it, and then PRIMUS was desired breast high, a rope tied to it, and then horizontally extended.  The boys, the country over, are familiar with this plan of getting sport.  With true boyish zest, WASHINGTON ran forwards and backwards for some time, jumping over the rope as he came and went, until he expressed himself satisfied with the 'exercise.'

[Page 31]

     "Repeatedly afterwards, when a favorable opportunity offered, he would say - 'Come, PRIMUS, I am in need of exercise;' whereat the negro would jump over the rope until he had exerted himself to his content.
     "On the second occasion, the great General was engaged in earnest consultation with Col. PICKERING in his tent until after the night had fairly set in.  Head-quarters were at a considerable distance, and WASHINGTON signified his preference to staying with the Colonel over night, provided he had a spare blanket and straw.
     " 'O, yes,' said PRIMUS, who was appealed to; 'plenty of straw and blankets - plenty.'
     " Upon this assurance, WASHINGTON continued his conference with the Colonel until it was time to retire to rest.  Two humble beds were spread, side by side, in the tent, and the officers laid themselves down, while PRIMUS seemed to be busy with duties that required his attention before he himself could sleep.  He worked, or appeared to work, until the breathing of the prostrate gentlemen satisfied him that they were sleeping; and then, seating himself upon a box or stool, he leaned his head on his hands to obtain such repose as so inconvenient a position would allow.  In the middle of the night, WASHINGTON awoke.  He looked about, and descried  the negro as he sat.  He gazed at him awhile, and then spoke.
     " 'PREMUS!"  said he, calling; 'PRIMUS!'
     " PREMUS started up and rubbed his eyes.  'What, General'?' said he.

[Page 32]

     "WASHINGTON rose up in his bed.  "PRIMUS,' said he, 'what did you mean by saying that you had blankets and straw enough?  Here you have given up your blanket and straw to me, that I may sleep comfortably, while you are obliged to sit through the night.'
     " 'It's nothing, General,' said PRIMUS.  'It's nothing.  I'm well enough.  Don't trouble yourself about me, General, but go to sleep again.  No matter about me.  I sleep very good.'
     " 'But it is matter - it is matter,' said WASHINGTON, earnestly.  'I cannot do it, PRIMUS.  If either is to sit up, I will.  But I think there is no need of either sitting up.  The blanket is wide enough for two.  Come and lie down here with me.'
     " 'O, no General!' said PRIMUS, starting, and protesting against the proposition.  'No; let me sit here.  I'll do very well on the stool.'
     " 'I say, come and lie down here!' said WASHINGTON, authoritatively.  'There is room for both, and I insist upon it!'
     "He threw open the blanket as he spoke, and moved to one side of the straw.  PRIMUS professes to have been exceedingly shocked at the idea of lying under the same covering with the commander-in-chief, but his tone was so resolute and determined that he could not hesitate.  He prepared himself, therefore, and laid himself down by WASHINGTON, and on the same straw, and under the same blanket, the General and the negro servant slept until morning."

[Page 33]

     JAMES EASTON, of Bridgewater, was one who participated in the erection of the fortification on Dorchester Heights, under command of Washington, which the next morning so greatly surprised the British soldiers then encamped in Boston.
     Mr. Easton was a manufacturing blacksmith, and his forge and nail factory, where were also made edge tools and anchors, was extensively known, for its superiority of workmanship.  Much of the iron work for the Tremont Theatre and Boston Marine Railway was executed under his supervision.  Mr. Easton was self educated.  when a young man, stipulating for work, he always provided for chances of evening study.  He was welcome to the business circles of Boston as a man of strict integrity, and the many who resorted to him for advice in complicated matters styled him "the Black Lawyer."  His sons, Caleb, Joshua, Sylvanus, and Hosea, inherited his mechanical genius and mental ability.
     The family were victims, however, to the spirit of colorphobia, then rampant in New England, and were persecuted even to the dragging out of some of the family from the Orthodox Church, in which, on its enlargement, a porch had been erected, exclusively for colored people.  After this disgraceful occurrence, the Easton's left the church.  They afterwards purchased a pew in the Baptist church at Stoughton Corner, which excited a great deal of indignation.  Not succceding in their attempt to have the bargain cancelled, the people tarred the pew.  The next Sunday,

[Page 34]
the family carried seats in the waggon.  The pew was then pulled down; but the family set in the aisle.  These indignities were continued until the separation of the family.

     HOSEA EASTON published a Treatise on the Intellectual Condition of the Colored People, in which was shown the heart of a philanthropist and the head of a philosopher.  His work did great execution among those who proclaim the innate inferiority of colored men.  Here is a chapter from his experience: -

     "I, as an individual, have had a sufficient opportunity to know something about prejudice and its destructive effects.  At an early period of my life, I was extensively engaged in mechanism, associated with a number of other colored men, of master spirits and great minds.  The enterprise was followed for about twenty years perseveringly, in direct opposition to public sentiment and the tide of popular prejudice.  So intent were the parties in carrying out the principles of intelligent, active freemen, that they sacrificed every thought of comfort and ease to the object.  The most rigid economy was adhered to, at home and abroad.  A regular school was established for the youth connected with the factory; the rules of morality were supported with surprising assiduity, and ardent spirits found no place in the establishment.  After the expenditure of this vast amount of labor and time, together with many thousands of dollars, the enterprise ended in a total failure.  By reason of the repeated surges of the tide of prejudice, the establishment, like a ship in a boisterous hurricane at sea, went beneath the waves, - richly laden, well manned and well managed, sank to rise no more.  It fell, and with it fell the hearts of several of its projectors in despair, and their bodies into their graves.

[Page 35]

     QUACK MATRICK, of Stoughton Corner, was a regular Revolutionary soldier, and drew a pension.

     JOB LEWIS, of Lancaster, (formerly a slave,) enlisted for two terms of three years each; and a third time for the remainder of the war.  He died in November, 1797.  His son, JOEL W. LEWIS, when a boy, was very persevering in study, and as he depended mainly upon himself, when away from a brief country school term, busied himself for seven weeks in solving one complicated lesson in arithmetic.  Mr. Lewis is now proprietor of an extensive blacksmithing establishment in Boston, where he gives employment to several white and colored mechanics.

     PRINCE RICHARDS, of East Bridgewater, was a pensioned Revolutionary soldier.  While a slave, he learned to write with a charred stick; thus evincing a burning desire to improve, even against the command of his self-styled owner.

     PHILIP ANDREWS, a colored man, was drowned in Ludlow, on the 30th of May, 1842.  He was over eighty years of age.  He was the servant of a captain of the British army, in the Revolution, and, at the age of sixteen, deserted to the American army, and has remained in this country ever since.

     JACK GROVE, of Portland, while steward of a brig, sailing from the Wet Indies to Portland, in 1812, was taken by a French vessel, whose commander placed a guard on board.  Jack urged his commander to make an effort to retake the vessel, but the captain saw no hope.  Says Jack, "Captain McLellan, I can take her, if you will let me go ahead."

[Page 36]
The captain checked him, warning him not to lisp such a word, - there was danger in it; but Jack, disappointed though not dautned, rallied the men on his own hook.  Captain McLellan and the rest, inspired by his example, finally joined them, and the attempt resulted in victory.  They weighed anchor, and took the vessel into Portland.  The owners of the brig offered Jack fifty hogsheads of molasses for his valor and patriotism, but Jack demanded one half of the brig, which being denied him, he commenced a suit, engaging two Boston lawyers in his behalf.  I have not been able to learn how the case was decided, if, indeed, a decision has yet been made.

     BOSSON WRIGHT resided in Massachusetts upwards of eighty years, and could well remember when the British burned the town of Portland.  He assisted in building two of the Forts, and parted with two of his companions on their way to join the American army.  He was a tax-payer for more than fifty years.
     Bosson said that one Mayberry, a slave from Gorham, saw a British sailor in the act of setting fire to the old Parish church, (now the First Parish in Portland,) when he (Mayberry) seized him, and carried him before the leading men, who, being Tories, ordered the sailor's discharge.
     Being one afternoon on sailing excursion down Portland harbor, Bosson directed attention to the Fort as not being properly located, indicating the spot which he would have selected.  Some years after, when President Munroe visited the Eastern States the same observation was made by him,

[Page 37]
and the same spot pointed out as had been by Bosson Wright.
     One of his acquaintances, a colored soldier at the Battle of Saratoga, walked up, quite elated, to Cornwallis, after his surrender, saying: - "You used to be named Cornwallis, but it is Corn-wallis no longer; it must now be Cobwallis, for General Washington has shelled off all the corn."

-------------------------

COLONIAL REMINISCENCES.

Extract from the Speech of Hon. CHARLES SUMNER, of Massachusetts, in reply to Senator Butler, of South Carolina, in the Senate of the United States, June 28, 1854.

     "Sir, slavery never flourished in Massachusetts; nor did it ever prevail there at any time, even in early colonial days, to such a degree as to be a distinctive feature in her powerful civilization.  Her few slaves were merely for a term of years, or for life.  If, in point of fact, their issue was sometimes held in bondage, it was never by sanction of any statute law of Colony or Commonwealth.  (Lanesboro' vs. Westfield, 16 Mass., 73.)  In all her annais, no person was ever born a slave on the soil of Massachusetts.  This of itself is a response to the imputation of the Senator.
     "A benign and brilliant act of her Legislature, as far back

[Page 38]
as 1646, shows her sensibility on this subject.  A Boston ship had brought home to negroes, seized on the coast of Guinea.  Thus spoke Massachusetts: -

     " 'The General Court, conceiving themselves bound by the first opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of man-stealing, also, to prescribe such timely redress for what is past, and such a law for the future as may sufficiently deter all those belonging to us to have to do in such vile and most odius conduct, justly abhorred of all good and just men, do order that the negro interpreter, with others unlawfully taken, be, by the first opportunity, at the charge of the country, for the present, sent to his ative country of Guinea, and a letter with him of the indignation of the Court thereabout and justice thereof.'"

     "The Colony that could issue this noble decree wa inconsistent with itself, when it allowed its rocky face to be pressed by the footsteps of a single slave.  But it righteous public opinion earnestly and constantly set its face against slavery.  As early as 1701, a vote was entered upon the records of Boston to the following effect: - 'The Representatives are desired to promote the encouraging the bringing of white servants, and to put a period to negroes being slaves.' Perhaps, in all history, this is the earliest testimony from any official body against negro slavery, and I thank God that it came from Boston, my native town.  In 1705, a heavy duty was imposed upon every negro imported into the province; in 1712, the importation of Indians as servants or slaves was strictly forbidden, but the general

[Page 39]
subject of slavery attracted little attention till the beginning of the controversy which ended in the Revolution, when the rights of the blacks were blended by all true patriots with those of the whites.  Sparing all unnecessary details, suffice it to say, that, as early as 1769, one of the courts of Massachusetts, anticipating, by several years, the renowned judgment in Somersett's case, established with its jurisdiction the principle of emancipation; and under its touch of magic power, changed a slave into a freeman.  Similar decisions followed in other places."

     An author, who signs himself "Old Style Freeman," says that "the contest commenced in 1761, in the town of Boston, in the old court-house, in the masterly speech of James Otis against the writs of assistance.  He boldly asserted the rights not only of the white, but of the black man .   .   .   .   Our colonial charters make no difference between black and white colonists.
     "Massachusetts passed resolutions, in 1764, in which the rights of all the colonists were declared without respect to mark or color, and James Otis, under the sanction of the House of Representatives, published his work on the Rights of the British Colonies, in which it was declared that all the colonists are, by the law of nature, 'freeborn, as, indeed, all men are, white or black; nor can any logical inference in aid of slavery,' said Otis, 'be drawn from a flat nose or a long or short face.' "
     June 23d, 1773, the following petition was presented to

[Page 40]
the General Court, which wa sread, and referred to the next session: -

PETITION OF SLAVES IN BOSTON.

PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
          To His Excellency, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., Governor: -
    
To the Honorable, His Majesty's Council, and to the Honorable House of Representatives, in general court assembled at Boston, the 6th day of January, 1773: - The humble petition of many slaves living in the town of Boston, and other towns in the province, is this, namely: -
     That Your Excellency and Honors, and teh Honorable the Representatives, would be pleased to take their unhappy state and condition under your wise and just consideration.
     We desire to bless God, who loves mankind, who sent his Son to die for their salvation, and who is now respector of persons, that he hath lately put it into the hearts of multitudes, on both sides of water, to bear burthens, some of whom are men of great note and influence, who have pleaded our cause with arguments, which we hope will have their weights with this Honorable Court.
     We presume not t dictate to Your Excellency and Honors, being willing to rest our cause on your humanity and justice, yet would bet leave to say a word or two on the subject.
     Although some of the negroes are vicious, (who, doubtless, may be punished and restrained by the same laws which are in force against others of the King's subjects,) there are many others of a quite different character, and who, if made free, would soon be able, as well as willing, to bear a part in the public charges.  Many of them, of good natural parts, are discreet, sober, honest and industrious; and may it not be said of many, that they are virtuous and religious, although their condition is in itself so unfriendly to reli-

[Page 41]
gion, and every moral virtue, except patience?  How may of that number have there been, and now are, in this province, who had every day of their lives embittered with thsi most intolerable reflection, that, let their behavior be what it will, neither they nor their children, to all generations, shall ever be able to do or to possess and enjoy any thing - no, not even life itself - but in a manner as the beasts that perish!
     We have no property! we have no wives! we have no children! we have no city! no country!  But we have a Father in heaven, and we are determined, as far as his grace shall enable us, and as far as our degraded condition and contemptuous life will admit, to keep all his commandments; especially will we be obedient to our masters, so long as God, in his sovereign providence, shall suffer us to be holden in bondage.
     It would be impudent, if not presumptuous, in us to suggest to Your Excellency and Honors, any law or laws proper to be ade in relation to our unhappy state, which, although our greatest unhappiness, is not our fault; and this gives us great encouragement to pray and hope for such relief as is consistent with your wisdom, justice and goodness.
     We think ourselves very happy, that we may thus address the great and general court of this province, which great and good court is to us the best judge, under God, of what is wise, just and good.
     We humbly beg leave to add but this one thing more:  we pray for such relief only, which by no possibility can ever be productive of the least wrong or injury to our masters, but to us will be as life from the dead.

     In January, 1774, a bill was brought in, which passed all the forms in the two Houses, and was laid before Governor Hutchinson for his approval, March 8th.  The negroes

[Page 42]
had deputed a committee respectfully to solicit the Governor's consent; but he told them that his instructions forbade.  His successor, General Gage, gave them the same answer, when they waited on him.
     The blacks had better success in the judicial court.  A pamphlet containing the case of a negro who had accompanied his master from the West Indies to England, and had there sued for and obtained his freedom, was reprinted here, and this encouraged seeral others to sue their masters for their freedom, and recompense for their services.
     The first trial of this kind was in 1770.  James, a servant of Richard Lechmere, of Cambridge, brought an action against his master for detaining him in bondage.  The negroes collected money among themselves to carry on the suit, and the verdict was in favor of the plaintiff.  Other suits were instituted between that time and the Revolution, and the juries invariably gave their verdicts in favor of liberty.
     During the Revolutionary War, public opinion was so strongly in favor of the abolition of slavery, that, in some of the country towns, votes were passed in town meetings that they would have no slaves among them; and that they would not exact of the masters any bonds for the maintenance of liberated blacks, should they become incapable of supporting themselves.  A liberty-loving antiquarian copied the following from the Suffolk Probate Record, and published it in the Boston Liberator, February, 1847: -

     "Know all men by these presents, that I, Jonathan Jackson, of Newburyport, in the county of Essex, gentleman, in consideration

[Page 43]
of the impropriety I feel, and have long felt, in beholding any person in constant bondage, - more especially at a time when my country is so warmly contending for the liberty every man ought to enjoy, - and having sometime since promised my negro man, Pomp, that I would give him his freedom, and in further consideration of five shillings, paid me by said Pomp, I do hereby liberate, manumit, and set him free; and I do hereby remise and release unto said Pomp, all demands of whatever nature I have against said Pomp.
     "In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this nineteenth June, 1776.

                                                                          "JONATHAN JACKSON [Seal]
     "Witness - MARY COBURN
                         WILLIAM NOYES.

     It only remains to say a word respecting the two parties to the foregoing instrument.

     JONATHAN JACKSON, of Newburyport, we well remember to have heard spoken of, in our younger days, by honored lips, as a most upright and thorough gentleman of the old school, possessing talents and character of the first standing.  He was the first Collector of the Port of Boston, under Washington's administration, and was Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for many years, and died in 1810.  A tribute to his memory and his worth, said to be from the pen of the late John Lowell, appeared in the Columbian Centinel, March 10, 1810.  His immediate descendants have long resided in this city, are extensively known, and as widely and justly honored.

     POMP took the name of his late master, upon his eman-

[Page 44]
cipation, and soon after enlisted in the army, as POMP JACKSON, served through the whole war of the Revolution, and obtained an honorable discharge at its termination.  He afterwards settled in Andover, near a pond still known as "Pomp's Pond," where some of his descendants yet live.  In this case of emancipation, it appears, instead of "cutting his master's throat," he only slashed the throats of his country's enemies.
     Rev. Charles Lowell, in a letter to the Boston, Courier, May 17, 1847, says: - "I well remember, myself, when I was a boy at Andover Academy, being often told by an intelligent old black man, who sold buns, that my father was the friend of the blacks, and the cause of their being freed, or something to that effect, and that I often had a bun or two extra on that account.  I may further state, that in October, 1773, an action was brought against Richard Greenleaf, of Newburyport, by Caesar (Hendrick), a colored man, whom he claimed as his slave, for holding him in bondage.  He laid the damages at fifty pounds.  The counsel for the plaintiff, in whose favor the jury brought in their verdict, and awarded him eighteen pounds, damages and costs, was John Lowell, Esq., afterwards Judge Lowell." *
     From the archives in the State House, I have gleaned many petitions and resolves of Revolutionary times, on questions concerning the rights of Massachusetts colored citizens, some of which I have deemed of sufficient historical alue to be recorded in this volume.

-------------------------
     *Coffin's History of Newbury, p. 339.

[Page 45]

LEGISLATION ACTION TO REDEEM TWO SLAVES.

     I find the following Resolution on the Records of the House of Representatives, Sept. 13, 1776.  The Council concurred, Sept. 16, 1776: -

     Whereas, this House is credibly informed that two negro men, lately brought into this State as prisoners taken on the high seas, are advertised to be sold at Salem, the 17th inst., by public auction, -
     Resolved, That the selling and enslaving the human species is a direct violation of the natural rights alike vested in all men by their Creator, and utterly inconsistent with the avowed principles on which this and the other United States have carried their struggles on for liberty, even to the last appeal; and therefore, that all persons concerned with the said negroes be, and they hereby are, forbidden to sell them, or in any manner to treat them other way than is already ordered for the treatment of prisoners of war taken in the same vessel, or others in the like employ, and if any sale of the said negroes shall be made, it hereby is declared null and void.

-------------------------

AN ACT FOR PREVENTING THE PRACTICE OF HOLDING PERSONS AS SLAVES - A. D. 1777.

     Whereas, the practice of holding Africans and the children born of them, or any other persons, in clavery, is unjustifiable in a civil government, at a time when they are asserting their natural freedom; wherefore, for preventing such a practice for the future, and establishing to every person residing within the State the invaluable blessing of liberty, -
     Be it enacted, by the Council and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, - That

[Page 46]
all persons, whether black or other complexion, above 21 years of age, now held in slavery, shall, from and after the - day of - next, be free from any subjection to any master or mistress, who have claimed their servitude by right of purchase, heirship, free gift or otherwise, and they are hereby entitled to all the freedom, rights, privileges and immunities that do, or ought to of right, belong to any of the subjects of this State, any usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.
     And be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that all written deeds, bargains, sales or conveyances, or contracts, without writing, whatsoever, for conveying or transferring any property in any person, or to the service and labor of any person whatsoever, of more than twenty-one years of age, to a third person, except by order of some court of record for some crime that has been, or hereafter shall be, made, or by their own voluntary contract for a term not exceeding seven years, shall be and hereby are declared null and void.
     And, whereas, divers person now have in their service negroes, mulattoes, or others who have been deemed their slaves or property, and who are now incapable of earning their living by reason of age or infirmities, and may be desirous of continuing in the service of their masters or mistresses, - be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that whatever negro or mulatto, who shall be desirous of continuing in the service of his master or mistress, and shall voluntarily declare the same before two justices of the county in which said master or mistress resides, shall have a right to continue in the service, and to a maintenance from their master or mistress, and if they are incapable of earning their living, shall be supported by the said master or mistress, or their heirs, during the lives of said servants, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.
     Provided, nevertheless, that nothing in this act shall be understood to prevent any master of a vessel or other person from bringing into this State any persons, not Africans, from any other part of the

[Page 47]
world, except the United States of America, and selling their service for a term of time not exceeding five years, if 21 years of age, or, if under 21, not exceeding the time when he or she so brought into the State shall be 26 years of age, to pay for and in consideration of the transportation and other charges said master of vessel or other person may have been at, agreeable to contracts made with the persons to transported, or their parents or guardians in their behalf, before they are brought from their own country.
     Ordered to lie until second session of the General Court. *

-------------------------

SECOND PETITION OF MASSACHUSETTS SLAVES.

     The petition of a great number of negroes, who are detained in a state of slavery in the very bowels of a free and Christian country,
humbly showing, —

     That your petitioners apprehend that they have, in common with all other men, a natural and inalienable right to that freedom, which the great.  Parent of the universe hath bestowed equally on all man kind, and which they have never forfeited by any compact or agreement whatever.  But they were unjustly dragged by the cruel hand of power from their dearest friends, and some of them even torn from the embraces of their tender parents, — from a populous, pleasant and plentiful country, and in violation of the laws of nature and of nations, and in defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity, brought hither to be sold like beasts of burthen, and, like them, condemned to slavery for life — among a people possessing the mild religion of Jesus — a people not insensible of the sweets of national freedom, nor without a spirit to resent the unjust endeavors
of others to reduce them to a state of bondage and subjection.
     Your Honors need not to be informed that a life of slavery like

---------------
     •Vol. VII.  Revolutionary Resolves.

[Page 48]
that of your petitioners, deprived of every social privilege, of everything requisite to render life even tolerable, is far worse than non-existence.
     In imitation of the laudable example of the good people of these States, your petitioners have long and patiently waited the event of petition after petition, by them presented to the legislative body of this State, and cannot but with grief reflect that their success has been but too similar.
     They cannot but express their astonishment that it has never been considered, that every principle from which America has acted, in the course of her unhappy difficulties with Great Britain, bears stronger than a thousand arguments in favor of your humble petitioners.  They therefore humbly beseech Your Honors to give their petition its due weight and consideration, and cause an act of the legislature to be passed, whereby they may be restored to the enjoyment of that freedom, which is the natural right of all men, and their children (who were born in this land of liberty) may not be held as slaves after they arrive at the age of twenty-one years.  So may the inhabitants of this State (no longer chargeable with the inconsistency of acting themselves the part which they condemn and oppose in others) be prospered in their glorious struggles for liberty, and have those blessings secured to them by Heaven, of which benevolent minds cannot wish to deprive their fellow-men.
     And your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray: —

LANCASTER HILL,
PETER BESS,
BRISTER SLENFEN,
PRINCE HALL,
JACK PIERPONT, [his X mark.]
NERO FUNELO, [his X mark.]
NEWPORT SUMNER, [his X mark.]

[Page 49]

     In 1778, Lieut. THOMAS KENCH presented a petition to the Legislature, asking for the appointment of a colored regiment.  The Legislature responded thus: —

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY:
     The Committee of both Houses upon the letter of THOMAS KENCH, with other papers accompanying it, have attended to that
service, and report —
     That there be one regiment of volunteers raised, as soon as possible, to serve during the war, to consist of the same number of
officers and privates as those of a continental regiment; — That one sergeant in each company, and every higher officer in said regiment,
shall be white men, and that all the other sergeants, inferior officers and privates shall be negroes, mulattoes, or Indians.     *     *    *

     At a later date, Lieut KENCH addressed the following letter to the Council: -

To the Honorable Council:
     The letter I wrote before I heard of the disturbance with Col. Seaver, Mr. Spear, and a number of other gentlemen, concerning the freedom of negroes, in Congress street.  It is a pity that riots should have their freedom, and non amount us be held as slaves, as freedom and liberty is the grand controversy that we are contending for, and I trust, under the smiles of Divine Providence, we shall obtain it, if all our minds can be united; and putting the negroes into the service will prevent much uneasiness, and give more satisfaction to those that are offended at the thoughts of their servants being free.
     I will not enlarge, for fear I should give offence, but subscribe myself,              Your faithful servant,
     CASTLE ISLAND, April 7, 1778.          THOMAS KENCH

[Page 50]

FORMATION OF A COLORED REGIMENT IN RHODE ISLAND.

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND REGIMENT PLANTATIONS, IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
February Session, 1778.

     Whereas, for the preservation of the rights and liberties of the United States, it is necessary that the whole power of Government should be exerted in recruiting the Continental battalions; and, whereas, His Excellency, General Washington, hath inclosed to this State a proposal made to him by Brigadier General Varnum, to enlist into the two battalions raising by this State such slaves as should be willing to enter into the service; and, whereas, history affords us frequent precedents of the wisest, and freest and bravest nations having liberated their slaves and enlisted them as soldiers to fight in defence of their country; and also, whereas, the enemy have, with great force, taken possession of the capital and of a great part of this State, and this State is obliged to raise a very consider able number of troops for its own immediate defence, whereby it is in a manner rendered impossible for this State to furnish recruits for the said two battalions without adopting the said measures so recommended, —
     It is Voted and Resolved, That every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian man-slave in this State may enlist into either of the said two battalions, to serve during the continuance of the present war with Great Britain; — That every slave so enlisting shall be entitled to and receive all the bounties, wages and encouragements allowed by the Continental Congress to any soldiers enlisting into this service.
     It is further Voted and Resolved, That every slave so enlisting shall, upon his passing muster by Col. Christopher Greene, be immediately discharged from the service of his master or mistress, and be absolutely free, as though he had never been incumbered with any kind of servitude or slavery.  And in case such slave shall, by sickness or otherwise, be rendered unable to maintain himself, he

[Page 51]
shall not be chargeable to his master or mistress, but shall be supported at the expense of the State.
     And, whereas, slaves have been by the laws deemed the property of their owners, and therefore compensation ought to be made to the owners for the loss of their service, —
     It is further Voted and Resolved, That there be allowed and paid by this State to the owners, for every such slave so enlisting, a sum according to his worth, at a price not exceeding one hundred and twenty pounds for the most valuable slave, and in proportion for a slave of less value,—provided the owner of said slave shall deliver up to the officer who shall enlist him the clothes of the said slave, or otherwise he shall not be entitled to said sum.
     And for settling and ascertaining the value of such slaves, — It is further Voted and Resolved, That a committee of five shall be appointed, to wit, — one from each county, any three of whom to be a quorum', — to examine the slaves who shall be so enlisted, after they shall have passed muster, and to set a price upon each slave, according to his value as aforesaid.
     It is further Voted and Resolved, That upon any able-bodied negro, mulatto or Indian slave enlisting as aforesaid, the officer who shall so enlist him, after he has passed muster as aforesaid, shall deliver a certificate thereof to the master or mistress of said negro, mulatto, or Indian slave, which shall discharge him from the service of said master or mistress.
     It is further Voted and Resolved, That the committee who shall estimate the value of the slave aforesaid, shall give a certificate of the sum at which he may be valued to the owner of said slave, and the general treasurer of this State is hereby empowered and directed to give unto the owner of said slave his promissory note for the sum of money at which he shall be valued as aforesaid, payable on demand, with interest, — which shall be paid with the money from Congress.
               A true copy, examined, HENRY WARD, Sec'y.

[Page 52]

     In 1782, a female slave named BELINDA presented a petition to the Legislature, in which she says: - "Although I have been servant to a Colonel forty years, my labors have not procured me any comfort.  I have not yet enjoyed the benefits of creation.  With my poor daughter, I fear I shall pass the remainder of my days in clavery and misery.
For her and myself, I beg freedom" *

MUM BETT.

     I extract the following account of this remarkable woman from an Address delivered in Stockbridge, Mass., February, 1831, by THODORE SEDGWICK, Esq., a son of Judge Sedgwick, who had the honor of judicially pronouncing the doom of slavery in Massachusetts, under her Bill of Rights: -
     "We have arrived, by imperceptible degrees, to a point of elevation from which we look down and around, with a sense of superiority, as if the height had been attained by our unaided efforts, and without remembering or regarding the means whereby we ascended.  We despise the abject African, become he does not at once leap up to the ascent upon which we have been placed by circumstances, which we could no more control than he could have controlled his destiny.
     "We should look at the subject in a different aspect.  We should make all allowances for the different condition of the Africans and ourselves; give them credit for what

-------------------------
     * American Museum Collection.

[Page 53]
they have done, and not reproach them for not doing what they had no means of doing.  They have the same principle of buoyancy with ourselves, and the instant that the weight which depresses their level in society is taken off, they will rise and occupy the space which is left vacant for them.
     "Such has been my acquaintance with individuals of this race, that I regard the pretence of original and natural superiority in the whites, very much as I regard the tales of ancient fables, setting forth the superior bodily strength of heroes.  But for the care of one of this calumniated race, I should not now, probably, be living to give this testimony.
     "A very slight sketch of the history of the person to whom I refer may serve to illustrate this argument.  Elizabeth Freeman (known afterwards by the name of Mum Bett) was born a slave, and lived in that condition thirty or forty years.  She first lived in Claverac, Columbia county, in the State of New York, in the family of a Mr. Hogeboom.  She was purchased at an early age by Col. Ashley, of Sheffield, in the county of Berkshire, in the now Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  In both these States, and I believe every where in the Northern States, slavery existed in a very mitigated form.  This is not so much to be ascribed to the superior humanity of the people, as to the circumstances of the case.  The slaves were comparatively few.  Society, except, perhaps, in the capitals, was in a state nearly primitive.  The slaves were precluded from the table in but few families. Their masters and mistresses wrought with the

[Page 54]
slaves.  A great degree of familiarity necessarily resulted from this mode of life.  Slavery in New York and New England was so marked, that but a slight difference could be perceived in the condition of slaves and hired servants.  The character of the slaves was moulded accordingly.  Sales were very rare.  The same feeling which induces a father to retain a child in his family, or at least under his control, disinclined him from parting with his slave.  There was little distinction of rank in the country.  The younger slaves not only ate and drank, but played with the children.  They thus became familiar companions with each other.  The black women were cooks and nurses, and, as such, assisted by their mistresses.  There was no great difference between the fare or clothing of black and white laborers.
     "In this state of familiar intercourse, instances of cruelty were uncommon, and the minds of the slaves were not so much subdued but that they caused a degree of indignation not much less than if committed upon a freeman.
     "Under this condition of society, while Mum Bett resided in the family of Col. Ashley, she received a severe wound in a generous attempt to shield her sister.  Her mistress, in a fit of passion, resorted to a degree and mode of violence very uncommon in this country: she struck at the weak and timid girl with a heated kitchen shovel; Mum Bett interposed her arm, and received the blow; and she bore the honorable scar it left to the day of her death.  The spirit of Mum Bett had not been broken down by ill usage — she resented the insult and outrage as a white person would have done.  She

[Page 55]
left the house, and neither commands nor entreaties could induce her to return.  Her master, Col. Ashley, resorted to the law to regain possession of his slave.  This was shortly after the adoption of the Constitution of Massachusetts.  The case was tried at Great Barrington.  Mum Bett was declared free; it being, I believe, the first instance (or among the first instances) of the practical application of the declaration in the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, that 'all men are born free and equal.'
     "The late Judge Sedgwick had the principal agency in her deliverance.  She attached herself to his family as a servant.  In that station she remained for many years, and was never entirely disconnected from his family.
     "She was married when young; her husband died soon after, in the continental service of the Revolutionary War, leaving her with one child.  During the residue of her life, she remained a widow.  She died in December, 1829, at a very advanced age.  She supposed herself to be nearly a hundred years old.
     "If there could be a practical refutation of the imagined natural superiority of our race to hers, the life and character of this woman would afford that refutation.  She knew her station, and perfectly observed its decorum; yet she had nothing of the submissive or the subdued character, which succumbs to superior force, and is the usual result of the state of slavery.  On the contrary, without ever claiming superiority, she uniformly, in every case, obtained an ascendency over all those with whom she was associated in

[Page 56]
service.  Her spirit of fidelity to her employers was such as has never been surpassed.  This was exemplified in her whole life.  I can convey an idea of it only by the relation of a single incident.
     "The house of Mr. Sedgwick, in this town, (Stockbridge,) was attacked by a body of insurgents, during the Shay's war, so well remembered in this vicinity.  Mr. Sedgwick was then absent in Boston, and Mum Bett was the only guardian of the house.  She assured the party that Mr. Sedgwick was absent, but suffered them to search the house to find him, which they did, by feeling under the beds and other places of concealment, with the points of their bayonets.  She did not attempt to resist, by direct force, the rifling of property, which was one of the objects of the insurgents.  She, however, assumed a degree of authority; told the plunderers that they 'dare not strike a woman,' and attended them in their exploring the house, to prevent wanton destruction.  She escorted them into the cellar with a large kitchen shovel in her hand, which she intimated that she would use in case of necessity.  One of the party broke off the neck of a bottle of porter.  She told him that if he or his companions desired to drink porter, she would fetch a corkscrew, and draw a cork, and they might drink like gentlemen; but that, if the neck of another bottle should be broken, she would lay the man that broke it flat with her shovel.  Upon tasting the liquor, the party decided that 'if gentlemen loved such cursed bitter stuff, they might keep it.'

[Page 57]

     'Understanding, from the conversation of the party, that they intended to take with them, in their retreat, a very fine gray mare that was in the stable, which she had been in the habit of riding, she left the house and went directly to the stable.  Before the rioters were apprised of her intention, she led the animal to a gate that opened upon the street, stripped off the halter, and, by a blow with it, incited the mare to a degree of speed that soon put her out of danger from the pursuit of the marauders.
     "Even in her humble station, she had, when occasion required it, an air of command which conferred a degree of dignity, and gave her an ascendency over those of her rank, which is very unusual in persons of any rank or color.  Her determined and resolute character, which enabled her to limit the ravages of a Shay's mob, was manifested in her conduct and deportment during her whole life.  She claimed no distinction; but it was yielded to her from her superior experience, energy, skill, and sagacity.  In her sphere, she had no superior, nor any equal.  In the latter part of her life, she was much employed as a nurse.  Here she had no competitor.  I believe she never lost a child, when she had the care of its mother, at its birth.  When a child, wailing in the arms of its mother, heard her steps on the stairway, or approaching the door, it ceased to cry.
     "This woman, by her extreme industry and economy, supported a large family of grand-children and great-grandchildren.  She could neither read nor write; yet her conversation was instructive, and her society was much sought.

[Page 58]
She received many visits at her own house, and very frequently received and accepted invitations to pass considerble intervals of time in the families of her friends.  Her death, notwithstanding her great age, was deeply lamented.
     "Having known this woman as familiarly as I knew either of my parents, I cannot believe in the moral or physical inferiority of the race to which she belonged.  The degradation of the African must have been otherwise caused than by natural inferiority.  Civilization has made slow progress in every portion of the earth; where it has made progress, it proceeds in an accelerated ratio."

     In 1795, Judge Tucker, of Virginia, propounded to Rev. Dr. Belknap, of Massachusetts, eleven queries respecting the slavery and emancipation of negroes in Massachusetts, which were answered by Dr. Belknap in a very intelligent manner.  The queries and replies may be found in the fourth volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.  In one of his letters, Dr. Belknap says: — "The present Constitution of Massachusetts was established in 1780.  The first article of the Declaration of Rights asserts that 'all men are born free and equal.'  This was inserted not merely as a moral or political truth, but with a particular view to establish the liberation of the negroes on a general principle, and so it was understood by the people at large: but some doubted whether this was sufficient.  Many of the blacks, taking advantage of the public opinion and of this general assertion in the Bill of Rights, asked

[Page 59]
their freedom and obtained it.  Others took it without leave.  In 1781, at the Court in Worcester County, an indictment was found against a white man for assaulting, beating and imprisoning a black.  He was tried at the Supreme Judicial Court in 1783.  His defence was that the black (Walker) was his slave, and that the beating, &c, was the necessary restraint and correction by the master.
     "The judges and jury were of opinion that he had no right to beat or imprison him.  He was found guilty, and fined forty shillings.  This decision was a mortal wound to slavery in Massachusetts."
     There is no specific record of the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts; and, of course, different versions are given concerning it.  John Quincy Adams, in reply to a question put by J. C. Spencer, stated that "a note had been given for the price of a slave in 1787.  This note was sued, and the Court ruled that the maker had received no consideration, as man could not be sold.  From that time forward, slavery died in the Old Bay State."
     I find, in Dr. Belknap's letters, the following account of an early kidnapping enterprise in the city of Boston.  The kidnappers were not so successful as others of a more recent date, since they do not seem to have had the State authorities on their side. " In the month of February, 1788," says Dr. Belknap, "just after the adoption of the present Federal Constitution by the Convention of Massachusetts, a most flagrant violation of the laws of so

[Page 60]
ciety and humanity was perpetrated in Boston, by one Avery, of Connecticut.  By the assistance of another infamous fellow, he decoyed three unsuspecting black man on board a vessel, which he had chartered, and sent them down into the hold to work.  Whilst they were there employed, the vessel came to sail and went to sea, having been previously cleared out for Martinice.
     "As soon as this infamous transaction was known, Governor Hancock and M. L. Etombe, the French consul, wrote letters to the governors of all the islands in the West Indies, in favor of the decoyed blacks.  The public indignation being greatly excited against the actors in this affair, and against others who had been concerned in the traffic of slaves it was thought proper to take advantage of the ferment, and bring good out of evil.
     "The three blacks who were decoyed were offered for sale at the Danish island of St. Bartholomew.  They told their story publicly, which coming to the ears of the governor, he prevented the sale.  A Mr. Atherton, of the island, generously became bound for their good behavior for six months, in which time letters came, in forming of their case, and they were permitted to return.
     "They arrived in Boston on the 20th of July following; and it was a day of jubilee, not only among their countrymen, but among all the friends of justice and humanity.

[Page 61]

Extract from a charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24th, 1797, at Menotomy, (now West Cambridge,) Mass., by the Eight "Worshipful Prince Hall.

     "Beloved Brethren of the African Lodge:

     " It is now five years since I delivered a charge to you on some parts and points of masonry.  As one branch or superstructure of the foundation, I endeavored to show you the duty of a mason to a mason, and of charity and love to all mankind, as the work and image of the great God and the Father of the human race.  I shall now attempt to show you that it is our duty to sympathise with our fellowmen under their troubles, and with the families of our brethren who are gone, we hope, to the Grand Lodge above.
     "We are to have sympathy," said he, " but this, after all, is not to be confined to parties or colors, nor to towns or states, nor to a kingdom, but to the kingdoms of the whole earth, over whom Christ the King is head and grand master for all in distress.
     " Among these numerous sons and daughters of distress, let us see our friends and brethren; and first let us see them dragged from their native country, by the iron hand of tyranny and oppression, from their dear friends and connections, with weeping eyes and aching hearts, to a strange land, and among a strange people, whose tender mercies are cruel, — and there to bear the iron yoke of slavery and cruelty, till death, as a friend, shall relieve them.  And must not the unhappy condition of these, our fellow-men, draw forth

[Page 62]
our hearty prayers and wishes for their deliverance from those merchants and traders, whose characters you have described in Revelations xviii. 11-13? And who knows but these same sort of traders may, in a short time, in like man ner bewail the loss of the African traffic, to their shame and confusion?  The day dawns now in some of the West India Islands.  God can and will change their condition and their hearts, too, and let Boston and the world know that He hath no respect of persons, and that that bulwark of envy, pride, scorn and contempt, which is so visible in some, shall fall.
     "Jethro, an Ethiopian, gave instructions to his son-in-law, Moses, in establishing government. Exodus xviii. 22— 24.  Thus, Moses was not ashamed to be instructed by a black man.  Philip was not ashamed to take a seat beside the Ethiopian Eunuch, and to instruct him in the gospel.  The Grand Master Solomon was not ashamed to hold conference with the Queen of Sheba.  Our Grand Master Solomon did not divide the living child, whatever he might do with the dead one; neither did he pretend to make a law to forbid the parties from having free intercourse with one another, without the fear of censure, or be turned out of the synagogue.
     "Now, my brethren, nothing is stable; all things are changeable.  Let us seek those things which are sure and steadfast, and let us pray God that, while we remain here, he would give us the grace of patience, and strength to bear up under all our troubles, which, at this day, God knows, we

[Page 63]
have our share of. Patience, I say; for were we not possessed of a great measure of it, we could not bear up under the daily insults we meet with in the streets of Boston, much more on public days of recreation.  How, at such times, are we shamefully abused, and that to such a degree, that we may truly be said to carry our lives in our hands, and the arrows of death are flying about our heads.  Helpless women have their clothes torn from their backs. . . . And by whom are these disgraceful and abusive actions committed?  Not by the men born and bred in Boston, — they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons — some of them, not long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives, horse-tenders, chaise-drivers.  I was told by a gentleman who saw the filthy behavior in the Common, that, in all places he had been in, he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life; and that a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays, or holidays, enjoys himself and friends without molestation.  Not only this man, but many in town, who have seen their behavior to us, and that, without provocation, twenty or thirty cowards have fallen upon one man.  (O, the patience of the blacks!)  T is not for want of courage in you, for they know that they do not face you man for man; but in a mob, which we despise, and would rather suffer wrong than to do wrong, to the disturbance of the community, and the disgrace of our reputation; for every good citizen doth honor to the laws of the State where he resides.
     " My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and

[Page 64]
many other abuses we at present are laboring under, - for the darkest hour is just before the break of day.  My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was with our African brethren, six years ago, in the French West Indies.  Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard, from morning to evening.  Hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures, were inflicted on those unhappy people.  But, blessed be God, the scene is changed.  They now confess that God hath no respect of persons, and, therefore, receive them as their friends, and treat them as brothers.  Thus doth Ethiopia stretch forth her hand from slavery, to freedom and Equality."
     About this time, the celebrated Prince Sanders was teaching in Boston.  He subsequently prepared a compilation of Hatien documents, and presented, December 11, 1818, to the American Convention, a memorial for the abolition of slavery, and improving the condition of the African race.

PHILLIS WHEATLY.

     PHILLIS WHEATLY was a native of Africa, and was brought to this country in the year 1761, and sold as a slave.  She was purchased by Mr. John Wheatly, a respectable citizen of Boston.  This gentleman, at the time of the purchase, was already the owner of several slaves; but the females in his possession were getting something beyond the active periods of life, and Mrs. Wheatly wished to obtain a young negress, with the view of training her up

[Page 65]
under her own eye, that she might, by gentle usage, secure to herself a faithful domestic in her old age.  She visited the slave-market, that she might make a personal selection from the group of unfortunates for sale.  There she found several robust, healthy females, exhibited at the same time with Phillis, who was of a slender frame, and evidently suffering from change of climate.  She was, however, the choice of the lady, who acknowledged herself influenced to this decision by the humble and modest demeanor, and the interesting features, of the little stranger.
     The poor, naked child (for she had no other covering than a quantity of dirty carpet about her, like a "fillibeg") was taken home in the chaise of her mistress, and comfortably attired.  She is supposed to have been about seven years old, at this time, from the circumstance of shedding her front teeth.  She soon gave indications of uncommon intelligence, and was frequently seen endeavoring to make letters upon the wall with a piece of chalk or charcoal.
     A daughter of Mrs. Wheatly, not long after the child's irst introduction to the family, undertook to learn her to read and write; and, while she astonished her instructress by her rapid progress, she won the good-will of her kind mistress by her amiable disposition and the propriety of her behavior.  She was not devoted to menial occupations, as was at first intended; nor was she allowed to associate with the other domestics of the family, who were of her own color and condition, but was kept constantly about the person of her mistress.

 

[Page 66]

     She does not seem to have preserved any remembrance of the place of her nativity, or of her parents, excepting the simple circumstance, that her mother poured out water before the sun at its rising — in reference, no doubt, to an ancient African custom.
     As Phillis increased in years, the development of her mind realized the promise of her childhood; and she soon attracted the attention of the literati of the day, many of whom furnished her with books. These enabled her to make considerable progress in belles-lettres; but such gratification seems only to have increased her thirst after knowledge, as is the case with most gifted minds, not misled by vanity; and we soon find her endeavoring to master the Latin tongue.
     She was now frequently visited by clergymen, and other individuals of high standing in society; but, notwithstanding the attention she received, and the distinction with which she was treated, she never for a moment lost sight of that modest, unassuming demeanor, which first won the heart of her mistress in the slave-market.  Indeed, we consider the strongest proof of her worth to have been the earnest affection of this excellent woman, who admitted her to her own board.  Phillis ate of her bread, and drank of her cup, and was to her as a daughter; for she returned her affection with unbounded gratitude, and was so devoted to her interests, as to have no will in opposition to that of her benefactress.
     In 1770, at the age of sixteen, Phillis was received as a member of the church worshipping in the Old South Meet-

[Page 67]
ing House, then under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Dr. Sewall.  She became an ornament to her profession; for she possessed that meekness of spirit, which, in the language of inspiration, is said to be above all price.  She was very gentle-tempered, extremely affectionate, and altogether free from that most despicable foible, which might naturally have been her besetting sin, — literary vanity.
     The little poem, commencing,

" 'T was mercy brought me from my heathen land,"

will be found to be a beautiful expression of her religious sentiments, and a noble vindication of the claims of her race.  We can hardly suppose any one, reflecting by whom it was written — an African and a slave — to read it, without emotions both of regret and admiration.
     Phillis never indulged her muse in any fits of sullenness or caprice. She was at all times accessible.  If any one requested her to write upon any particular subject or event, she immediately set herself to the task, and produced something upon the given theme.  This is probably the reason why so many of her pieces are funeral poems, many of them, no doubt, being written at the request of friends.  Still, the variety of her compositions affords sufficient proof of the versatility of her genius.  We find her, at one time, occupied in contemplation of an event affecting the condition of a whole people, and pouring forth her thoughts in a lofty strain.  Then the song sinks to the soft tones of sympathy, in the affliction occasioned by domestic bereavement.

[Page 68]
Again, we see her seeking inspiration from the sacred volume, or from the tomes of heathen lore; now excited by the beauties of art, and now hymning the praises of Nature to "Nature's God."  On one occasion, we notice her — a girl of but fourteen years — recognizing a political event, and endeavoring to express the grateful loyalty of subjects to their rightful king — not as one, indeed, who had been trained to note the events of nations, by a course of historical studies, but one whose habits, taste and opinions, were peculiarly her own; for in Phillis, we have an example of originality of no ordinary character.  She was allowed, and even encouraged, to follow the leading of her own genius; but nothing was forced upon her, nothing suggested or placed before, her as a lure; her literary efforts were altogether the natural workings of her own mind.
     There is another circumstance respecting her habits of composition which peculiarly claims our attention.  She did not seem to have the power of retaining the creations of her own fancy, for a long time, in her own mind.  If, during the vigil of a wakeful night, she amused herself by weaving a tale, she knew nothing of it in the morning — it had vanished in the land of dreams.  Her kind mistress in dulged her with a light, and, in the cold season, with a fire, in her apartment, during the night.  The light was placed upon a table at her bedside, with writing materials, that, if any thing occurred to her after she had retired, she might, without rising or taking cold, secure the swift-wing fancy ere it fled.

[Page 69]

     By comparing the accounts we have of Phillis's progress with the dates of her earliest poems, we find that she must have commenced her career as an authoress as soon as she could write a legible hand, and without being acquainted with the rules of composition. Indeed, we very much doubt if she ever had any grammatical instruction, or any knowledge of the structure or idiom of the English language, except what she imbibed from the perusal of the best English writers, and from mingling in polite circles, where, fortunately, she was encouraged to converse freely with the wise and the learned.
     We gather, from her writings, that she was acquainted with astronomy, ancient and modern geography, and ancient history: and that she was well versed in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament.  She discovered a decided taste for the stories of Heathen Mythology, and Pope's Homer seems to have been a great favorite with her.
     The reader is already aware of the delicate constitution and frail health of Phillis.  During the winter of 1773, the indications of disease had so much increased, that her physician advised a sea voyage.  This was earnestly seconded by her friends; and a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wheatly, being about to make a voyage to England, to arrange a mercantile correspondence, it was settled that Phillis should accompany him, and she accordingly embarked in the summer of the same year.
     She was at this time but nineteen years old, and was at the highest point of her short and brilliant career.  It is

[Page 70]
with emotions of sorrow that we approach the strange and splendid scenes which were now about to open upon her — to be succeeded by grief and desolation.
     Phillis was well received in England, and was presented to Lady Huntingdon, Lord Dartmouth, Mr. Thornton, and many other individuals of distinction; but, says our informant, "not all the attention she received, nor all the honors that were heaped upon her, had the slightest influence upon her temper or deportment.  She was still the same singlehearted, unsophisticated being."
     During her stay in England, her poems were given to the world, dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, and embellished with an engraving, which is said to have been a striking representation of the original.  It is supposed that one of these impressions was forwarded to her mistress, as soon as they were struck off; for a grand niece of Mrs. Wheatly informs us that, during the absence of Phillis, she one day called upon her relative, who immediately directed her attention to a picture over the fire-place, exclaiming, — "See!  look at my Phillis!  Does she not seem as though she would
speak to me?"
     Phillis arrived in London so late in the season, that the great mart of fashion was deserted.  She was, therefore, urgently pressed, by her distinguished friends, to remain until the Court returned to St. James, that she might be presented to the young monarch, George III.  She would probably have consented to this arrangement, had not letters from America informed her of the declining health of

[Page 71]
her mistress, who entreated her to return, that she might once more behold her beloved protege.  Phillis waited not a second bidding, but immediately reembarked for that once happy home, soon after made desolate by the death of her affectionate mistress.
     She soon after received an offer of marriage from a respectable colored man, of Boston.  The name of this individual was Peters.  He kept a grocery in Court street, and was a man of handsome person.  He wore a wig, carried a cane, and quite acted out "the gentleman.''  In an evil hour, he was accepted; and, though he was a man of talents and information, — writing with fluency and propriety, and, at one period, reading law, — he proved utterly unworthy of the distinguished woman who honored him by her alliance.*
     The following letter, written by General Washington in reply to a communication sent to him by Phillis, will be read with the deepest interest.  The letter may be found in Spark's Life of Washington.

    CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 28, 1776

MISS PHILLIS
     Your favor of the 26th. of October did not reach my hands till the middle of December.  Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted.  But a, variety of important occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and with draw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead

---------------
    * For this account of Phillis Wheatlv, I am principally indebted to a compilation from the original memoir published by Mr. George W. Light, and understood to have been written by Miss M. M. OdelL

[Page 72]
my excuse for the seeming, but not real, neglect.  I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed: and, however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents; in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehensive that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity.  This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it place in the public prints.
     If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I should be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, and to whom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.
     I am, with great respect, your obedient, humble servant

    GEORGE WASHINGTON

     As a preface to the edition of Miss Wheatly's poems published in Boston about 1770, I find this card from the publisher: —

TO THE PUBLIC.

     As it has been repeatedly suggested to the publisher, by persons who have seen the manuscript, that numbers would be ready to suspect they were not really the writings of PHILLIS, he has procured the following attestation, from the most respectable characters in Boston, that none' might have the least ground for disputing their Original.

     We whose Names are under-written, do assure the World, that the Poems specified in the following page were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was, but a

[Page 73]
few Years since, brought, an uncultivated Barbarian, from Africa, and has ever since been, and now is, under the disadvantage of serving as a Slave in a family in this town.  She has been examined by some of the best judges, and is thought qualified to write them.

His Excellency THOMAS HUTCHINSON, Governor,
The Hon.
ANDREW OLIVER, Lieutenant Governor,
Hon. Thomas Hubbard,
Hon. John Erving,
Hon. James Pitts,
Hon. Harrison Gray,
Hon. James Bowdoin,
John Hancock
, Esq.
John Green Esq.
Richard Cary Esq.
Rev. Charles Chauncey
Rev. Mather Byles,
Rev.
Ed. Pemberton
Rev. Andrew Elliot
Rev. Samuel Cooper
Rev. Samuel Mather
Rev. John Morrhead
Mr. John Wheatly her master.

PAUL CUFFE.

     PAUL CUFFE'S father was a native of Africa, whence, at an early age, he was dragged by the unfeeling hand of avarice from his home and connections; torn from the parental roof and every thing in this world that was near and dear to him; transported over the wide and trackless ocean, many thousand miles from the land of his birth, to be for ever consigned to rigorous and cruel bondage:

"To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows born."

     He was purchased as a slave by a person named Slocum, residing in Massachusetts, one of the United States of North America, by whom he was kept in slavery a considerable

[Page 74]
portion of his life; and there is no reason to doubt, had it not been for his laudable enterprise, aided by great perseverance, he would have worn out his life in perpetual bondage, and ended his days, like many of his degraded and unjustly oppressed fellow-countrymen, under the galling yoke of fetters and chains, or the smart inflicted by the whip of the unrelenting driver.  Being possessed, however, of a mind far superior to his degraded and unhappy condition, he was always diligent in his master's business, and proved himself in numerous instances faithful to his interests; so that, by unremitting industry and economy, he was enabled, after a considerable length of time, under the blessing of a kind Providence, to procure the means for purchasing his personal liberty, of which he had been deprived, as already stated, in very early life.
     According to the custom of the country into which he was transported, Cuffe also received the name of Slocum, as expressing to whom he belonged; though it appears in after life he was known by the name of John Cuffe.  Soon after the happy period in which Cuffe effected his emancipation, and succeeded in releasing himself from the bonds of slavery and unjust oppression, he became acquainted with Ruth Moses, an honorable woman, descended from one of the Indian tribes residing in Massachusetts.
     Cuffe's acquaintance- with Ruth Moses ended in their taking each other in marriage; and continuing in his praise worthy habits of industry and frugality, he was enabled, soon after this occurrence, to purchase a farm of 100 acres

[Page 75]
of land, in Westport, Massachusetts. Cuffe and Ruth continued to live happily together, and brought up a family of ten children — four sons, and six daughters.  Three of the former, David, Jonathan and John, were farmers in the neighborhood of Westport, filled respectable stations in society, and were endowed with good intellectual capacities.  They all married well, and gave their children a good education.
     Cuffe died in 1745, leaving behind him a considerable property in land, the fruits of his industry.
     PAUL, the youngest son of Cuffe, and the interesting subject of the present memoir, was born on Cutterhunker, one of the Elizabeth Islands, near New Bedford, in the year 1759; so that, when his father died, he was about fourteen years of age, at which time he had learned but little more than the letters of the alphabet.  The land which his father had left behind him proving unproductive, afforded but little provision for the numerous family; so that the care of supporting his mother and sisters devolved jointly upon himself and his brothers..  Thus he labored under great disadvantages, being deprived of the means and opportunity for acquiring even the rudiments of a good education.  He was not, however, easily to be discouraged, and found opportunities of improving himself in various ways, and cultivating his mind.  Having never received the benefits of an education, the knowledge he possessed was obtained entirely by his own indefatigable exertions, and the little assistance which he occasionally received from persons who were

[Page 76]
friendly disposed towards him.  Aided by these means, he soon learned to read and write, and he also attained to a considerable proficiency in arithmetic, and skill in navigation; and we may form some estimate of the natural talent with which he was endowed for the speedy reception of learning, from the fact that, with the assistance of a friend, he acquired such a knowledge of the latter science, in the short space of two weeks, as enabled him to command the vessel, in the voyages which he subsequently made to England, to Russia, to Africa, and to the West Indies, as well as to several different ports in the southern section of the United States.
     It has already been stated that his three brothers were respectable farmers in the neighborhood of Westport.  The mind of Paul, however, was early inclined to the pursuits of commerce.  Conceiving that they furnished to industry more ample rewards than agriculture, and conscious that he possessed qualities which, under proper culture, would enable him to pursue commercial employments with prospects of success, he entered, at the age of sixteen, as a common hand, on board of a vessel destined to the Bay of Mexico, on a whaling expedition.  His second voyage was to the West Indies; but on his third, which was during the American war, about the year 1776, he was captured by a British ship.  After three months' detention as a prisoner at New York, he was permitted to return home to Westport, where, owing to the unfortunate continuance of hostilities, he spent about two years in agricultural pursuits.  During this inter-

[Page 77]
val, Paul and his brother, John Cuffe, were called on by the collector of the district in which they resided for the payment of a personal tax.  It appeared to them that, by the laws and the Constitution of Massachusetts, taxation and the whole rights of citizenship were united.  If the laws demanded of them the payment of personal taxes, the same laws must necessarily and constitutionally invest them with the rights of representing, and being represented, in the State Legislature.  But they had never been considered as entitled to the privilege of voting at elections, or of being elected to places of trust and honor.  Under these circumstances, they refused to comply.  The collector resorted to the force of the laws and after many delays and vexations, Paul and his brother deemed it most prudent to silence the suit by payment of the demands, which were only small.  But they resolved, if it were possible, to obtain the rights which they believed to be connected with taxation.  In pursuance of this resolution, they presented a respectful petition to the State Legislature, which met with a warm and almost indignant opposition from some in authority.  A considerable majority, however, perceiving the propriety and justness of the petition, were favorable to the object, and, with an honorable magnanimity, in defiance of the prejudice of the times, a law was enacted by them, rendering all free persons of color liable to taxation, according to the ratio established for white men, and granting them all the privileges belonging to other citizens.  This was a day equally honorable to the petitioners and to the Legislature; a day in which justice

[Page 78]
and humanity triumphed over prejudice and oppression, and a day which ought to be gratefully remembered by every person of color within the boundaries of Massachusetts, and the names of John and Paul Cuffe should always be united with its recollection.
     Paul, being at this time about twenty years of age, thought himself sufficiently skilled to enter into business on his own account, and laid before his brother David a plan for opening a commercial intercourse with the State of Connecticut.  His brother was pleased with the prospect, and they built an open boat and proceeded to sea.
     They encountered such numerous and untoward discomfitures, as would have caused the courage of most persons to fail.  But Paul's dispositions were not of that yielding nature.  He possessed that inflexible spirit of perseverance, and firmness of mind, which entitled him to a more successful issue of his endeavors; and he believed that, while he maintained integrity of heart and conduct, he might humbly hope for the protection of Providence.  Under these impressions, he prepared for another voyage.  In his open boat, with a small cargo, he again directed his course
towards the island of Nantucket.  The weather was favorable, and he arrived in safety at the destined port, and disposed of his little cargo to advantage.  The profits of this voyage, by strengthening the confidence of his friends, enabled him further to enlarge his plans, and by a steady perseverance, he was at length enabled, under Divine assistance, to overcome obstacles apparently insurmountable.

[Page 79]

     Having become master of a small covered vessel, of about twelve tons burthen, he hired a person to assist him as a seaman, and made many advantageous voyages to different parts of the State of Connecticut; and, when about twenty-five years of age, he married a native of the country, and a descendant of the same tribe to which his mother belonged.  For some time after his marriage, he attended chiefly to his agricultural concerns; but from an increase of family, he at length deemed it necessary to pursue his commercial undertakings more extensively than he had before done.  He arranged his affairs for a new expedition, and hired a small house on Westport river, to which he removed, his family. A vessel of eighteen tons was now procured, in which he sailed to the banks of St. George, in quest of codfish, and returned home with a valuable cargo.  This important adventure was the foundation of an extensive and profitable fishing establishment from Westport river, which continued for a considerable time, and was the source of an honest and comfortable living to many of the inhabitants of that district.
     At this period, Paul formed a connection with his brother-in-law, Michael Wainer, who had several sons well qualified for the sea service, four of whom, subsequently, laudably filled responsible situations as captains and first mates.  A vessel pf twenty-five tons was built, and in two voyages to the Straits of Bellisle and Newfoundland, he met with such success as enabled him, in conjunction with another person,

[Page 80]
to build a vessel of forty-two tons burthen, in which he made several profitable voyages.
     Paul had experienced the many disadvantages of his very limited education, and he resolved, as far as it was practicable, to relieve his children from similar embarrassments.  The neighborhood had neither a tutor nor a school for the instruction of youth, though many of the citizens were desirous that such an institution should be established.  About 1797, Paul proposed convening a meeting of the inhabitants, for the purpose of making such arrangements as should accomplish the desired object, the great utility and necessity of which was undeniable.  The collision of opinion, however, respecting mode and place, occasioned the meeting to separate without arriving at any conclusion.  Several meetings of the same nature were held, but all were alike unsuccessful in their issue.  Perceiving that all efforts to procure a union of sentiment were fruitless, Paul, by no means disheartened, set himself to work in earnest, and had a suitable house built on his own ground, and entirely at his own expense, which he freely offered for the use of the public, without requiring any pecuniary remuneration, feeling himself fully compensated in the satisfaction he derived in seeing it occupied for so useful and excellent a purpose; and the school was opened to all who pleased to send their children.
     How gratifying to humanity is this anecdote! and who, that justly appreciates human character, would not prefer Paul Cuffe, the off spring of an African slave, to the proud-

[Page 81]
est statesman that ever dealt out destruction amongst man kind?
     About this time, Paul proceeded on a whaling voyage to the Straits of Bellisle, where he met with "four other vessels, completely equipped with boats and harpoons, for capturing whales.  Paul discovered that he had not made proper preparations for the business, having only ten hands on board, and two boats, one of which was old and almost useless.  When the masters of the other vessels discovered his situation, they refused to comply with the customary practices adopted on such voyages, and refused to mate with his crew. In this emergency, Paul resolved to prosecute his undertaking alone, till, at length, the other masters thought it most prudent to accede to the usual practice, apprehending his crew, by their ignorance, might alarm and drive the whales from their reach, and thus defeat the object of their voyage.  During the season, they took seven whales.  The circumstances which had taken place roused the ambition of Paul and his crew; they were diligent and enterprising, and had the honor of killing six of the seven whales, two of which fell by Paul's own hands.
     He returned home in due season, heavily freighted with oil and bone, and arrived in the autumn of 1793, being then about his thirty-fourth year.  He went to Philadelphia to dispose of his cargo, and found his pecuniary circumstances were by this time in a flourishing train.  When in Philadelphia, he purchased iron necessary for bolts, and other work suitable for a schooner of sixty or seventy tons, and, soon

[Page 82]
after his return to Westport, the keel for a new vessel was laid.  In 1795, his schooner, of sixty tons burthen, was launched, and called "The Ranger."
     He also possessed two small fishing boats; but his money was exhausted, and the cargo of his new vessel would require a considerable sum beyond his present stock.  He now sold his two boats, and was enabled to place on board his schooner a cargo valued at two thousand dollars; with this he sailed to Norfolk, on the Chesapeake Bay, and there learned, that a very plentiful crop of Indian corn had been gathered that year on the eastern shore of Maryland, and that he could procure a schooner-load, for a low price, at Vienna, on the Nantcoke river.  Thither he sailed, but, on his arrival, the people were filled with astonishment and alarm.  A vessel, owned and commanded by a black man, and manned with a crew of the same complexion, was unprecedented and surprising.
     The white inhabitants were struck with apprehensions of the injurious effects which such circumstance would have on the minds of their slaves, suspecting that he wished secretly to kindle the spirit of rebellion, and excite a destructive revolt among them.  Under these notions, several persons associated themselves, for the purpose of preventing Paul from entering his vessel or remaining among them.  On examination, his papers proved to be correct, and the custom-house officers could not legally refuse the entry of his vessel.  Paul combined prudence with resolution; and, on this occasion, conducted himself with candor, modesty,

[Page 83]
and firmness; and his crew behaved, not only inoffensively, but with a conciliating propriety.  In a few days, the inimical association vanished, and the inhabitants treated him and his crew with respect, and even kindness.  Many of the principal people visited his vessel, and, in consequence
of the pressing invitation of one of them, Paul dined with his family in the town.
     During the year 1797, after his return home, he purchased the house in which his family resided, and the adjoining farm.  For the latter, including improvements, he paid $3500, and placed it under the management of his brother, who, as before stated, was a farmer.
     By judicious plans, and diligence in their execution, Paul gradually increased his property, (one farm covered a hundred acres,) and by the integrity and consistency of his conduct, he gained the esteem and regard of his fellow-citizens.  In the year 1800, he was concerned in one-half of the expenses of building and equipping a brig of 162 tons burthen.  One fourth belonged to his brother, and the other fourth was owned by persons not related to his family.  The brig was commanded by Thomas Wainer, Paul Cuffe's nephew, whose talents and character were perfectly adapted to such a situation.
     The ship "Alpha," of 268 tons, carpenter's measure, of which Paul owned three fourths, was built in 1806.  Of this vessel, he was the commander; the rest of the crew consisting of seven men of color.  The ship performed a

[Page 84]
voyage, under his command, from Wilmington to Savannah, thence to Gottenburg, and thence to Philadelphia.
     After Paul's return, in 1806, the brig "Traveller," of 109 tons burthen, was built at Westport, of one half of which he was the owner.  After this period, being extensively engaged in his mercantile and agricultural pursuits, he resided at Westport.
     In his person, Paul Cuffe was tall, well-formed, and athletic; his deportment conciliating, yet dignified and prepossessing; his countenance blending gravity with modesty and sweetness, and firmness with gentleness and humanity; in speech and habit, plain and unostentatious.  His whole exterior indicated a man of respectability and piety, and such would a stranger have supposed him to be at first view.  His prudence, strengthened by parental care and example, was, no doubt, a safeguard to him in his youth, when exposed to the dissolute company which unavoidably attends a seafaring life; whilst the religion of Jesus Christ, influencing his mind, under the secret guidance of the Holy Spirit of Truth, in silent reflection, added, in advancing manhood, to the brightness of his character, and instituted or confirmed his disposition to practical good.
     He became fully convinced of the principles of truth, as held by the Society of Friends, and, uniting himself in membership with them, it pleased the great Head of the Church, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, who respecteth not the persons of men, in his own due time,

[Page 85]
to entrust him with a gift in the ministry, which he frequently exercised, to the comfort and edification of his friends and brethren.
     When he was prevented from going abroad, as usual, in the pursuit of his business, on account of the rigors of the winter, he often devoted a considerable portion of his time in teaching navigation to his own sons, and to the young men in the neighborhood in which he resided.  And, even on his voyages, when opportunities occurred, he employed him self in imparting a knowledge of this invaluable science to those under him, so that he had the honor of training-up, both amongst the white and colored population, a considerable number of skilful navigators.
     He was careful to maintain a strict integrity and uprightness in all his transactions in trade, and, believing himself to be accountable to God for the mode of using and acquiring his possessions, he was at all times willing, and conceived it to be his bounden duty, as a humble follower of a crucified Lord, to sacrifice his private interests, rather than engage in any enterprise, however lawful in the eyes of the world, or however profitable, that might have a tendency, in the smallest degree, either directly or indirectly, to injure his fellowmen.  On these grounds, he would not deal in intoxicating liquors, or in slaves, though he might have done either, without violating the laws of his country, and with great prospects of pecuniary gain.
     He turned his attention to the British settlement at Sierra Leone, being induced to believe, from various communica-

[Page 86]
tions he had received from Europe and other sources, that his endeavors to contribute to its welfare, and to that of his fellow-men, might not be ineffectual.  On examination, he found his affairs were in so prosperous and flourishing a state as to warrant the undertaking; and, being fully convinced that he was called upon to appropriate a portion of what he had freely received from the hands of an ever bountiful Providence, to the benefit of his unhappy race, he embarked, in the commencement of 1811, in his own brig" Traveller," manned entirely by persons of color, his nephew, Thomas Wainer, being the captain.  After a passage of about two months, they arrived at Sierra Leone, where Paul remained about the same length of time, during which interval he made himself acquainted with the real state and condition of the colony.  He had frequent conversations with the Governor and principal inhabitants, during which opportunities he suggested several important improvements.  Amongst other things, he recommended the formation of a society, for the purpose of promoting the interests of its members and the colonists in general; which measure was immediately acceded to and adopted, and the society named, " he Friendly Society of Sierra Leone," composed principally of respectable men of color.
     Paul Cuffe terminated his labors and his life, which he departed in peace, the 7th of the 9th mo., 1817, being then in the fifty-ninth year of his age.*
---------------
     * I am indebted for this account of PAUL CUFFE to the Address of Rev. Peter Williams, delivered in 1812, and since published in the Liverpool Mercury.

[Page 87]
     Joseph Congdon, Esq., of New Bedford, has kindly obtained for me the following valuable documents, bearing on Paul Cuffe's exertions in behalf of equal suffrage: —

"To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting:
     "We the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for calling a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before said town, by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether all free negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in this said Town of Dartmouth as the white people have, respecting places of profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together with all other privileges in all cases that shall or may happen or be brought in this our said Town of Dartmouth.  We, your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

[Page 88]
depressed circumstances; and your poor petitioners, ass in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c

    JOHN CUFFE,
ADVENTUR CHILD,
PAUL CUFFE,
SAMUEL X GRAY,
      his mark
PERO X HOWLAND
      his mark
PERO X RUSSELL
      his mark
PERO COGGESHALL

Dated at Dartmouth, the 10th of February, 1780.

     Memorandum in the hand-writing of John Cuffe: -
"This is the copy of the petition which we did deliver unto the Honorable Council and House, for relief from taxation in the days of our distress.  But we received non.

    JOHN CUFFE."

     There is also a copy of the petition, with the date, "January 22d, 1781," not signed, by which it would appear that they intended to renew their applicaiton to the government for relief.

[From the Records of Dartmouth, May 10, 1780]

     "The town [Dartmouth] took in consideration the form of Government, &c.

     "The Committee recommend     *     *     *     that in the 4th article, 25th page, the words 'sui juris and that pays a pole taxx, except such who, from their respective offices and age, are exempted by law,' be added after the words, 'every male person'; and to expunge the following clause in said article, namely, - 'having a

[Page 89]
freehold estate within the same town of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds,' — for the following reason: such qualification appears to your Committee to be inconsistent with the liberty we are contending for, so long, especially, as any subject, who is not a qualified voter, is obliged to pay a poll tax.

  "(Signed,) EDWARD POPE, Chairman

     "The report was accepted by an unamious vote of one hundred and fifty persons present."

     Extract from the Town warrant of Dartmouth, dated Feb. 20, 1781:

     " To choose an agent or agents to defend an action against John and Paul Cuff, at the next Court to be holden at Taunton."  At the meeting, March 8, 1781, — "The Honorable Walter Spooner, Esquire, chosen agent, in behalf of the town, to make answer to John and Paul Cuff at the next Inferior Court to be held at Taunton."

"A REQUEST.

"To the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, Greeting:

     "We the subscribers, your humble petitioners, desire that you would, in your capacity, put a stroke in your next warrant for calling a town meeting, so that it may legally be laid before said town, by way of vote, to know the mind of said town, whether all free negroes and mulattoes shall have the same privileges in this said Town of Dartmouth as the white people have, respecting places of profit, choosing of officers, and the like, together with all other privileges in all cases that shall or may happen or be brought in this our said Town of Dartmouth.  We, your petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

  "(Signed,) JOHN CUFFE,
PAUL CUFFE.

     "Dated at Dartmouth, the 22d of the 4th mo., 1781."

[Page 90]
     This "Request" bears the following endorsement: -

     "A true copy of the request which John Cuffe and Paul Cuffe delivered unto the Selectmen of the Town of Dartmouth, for to have all free negroes adn mulattos to be entered equally with the white people, or to have relief granted us jointly from taxation, &c.

  "Given under my hand, JOHN CUFFE."

 

    "DARTMOUTH, June 11, 1781.

     "Then received of John Cuffe, eight pounds twelve shillings, silver money, in full for all John Cuffe's and Paul Cuffe's Rates, until this date; also, for all my Court charges.  Received  by me,

    RICHARD COLLENS, Constable"


     "John and Paul Cuff, of Dartmouth, Dr. to Elijah Dean, of Taunton, -
          To summoning the assessors of Dartmouth to Taunton Court 24f.                       £1 4 0

[On the back]

     "Rec'd of John Cuff twenty-four shillings, being the contents of the within acc't, in behalf of Elijah Dean.

  "(Signed,) EDWARD POPE."

     It was ascertained by these proceedings, that taxes must be paid, the receipts being forwarded; and this case, although no action followed in Court, settled the right of the colored man to the elective franchise in the State of Massachusetts.


     RICHARD JOHNSON, who married a daughter of Paul Cuffe, resided at New Bedford nearly fifty years.  In early life, he was engaged as a mariner, and filled every capacity, from a cabin boy to a captain.

[Page 91]

     During the war of 1812, he was taken prisoner, but was released, after having been confined six months.
     He was distinguished for prudence and sagacity in his business operations, and, despite the obstacles that prejudice against color so constantly strewed in his path, he succeeded in his mercantile affairs, accumulated a competency, and retired from business several years since.
     Mr. Johnson was always ready to extend the hand of relief to his enslaved countrymen, and no one was more ready to assist, according to his ability, in the elevation of his people.
     He was one of the earliest friends of Mr. Garrison; a subscriber to his paper, from the time the first number was issued in Baltimore, and for several years an efficient agent for the Liberator; and very active in circulating Mr. Garrison's " Thoughts on Colonization," in 1832.  In all the vicissitudes through which the anti-slavery cause has been called to pass, Mr. J. always maintained a straight-forward, consistent course, firmly adhering to the pioneer who first sounded the alarm.
     He died in peace, February 15, 1853, aged seventy-seven; and the funeral service of himself and wife (whose death preceded his one day) was numerously attended by New Bedford citizens.

RICHARD POTTER.

     On the Northern New Hampshire Railroad, some thirty miles from Concord, in the town of Andover, is a station

[Page 92]
from RICHARD POTTER, the celebrated Ventriloquist and Professor of Legerdemain.  Within twenty rods of the track stands a neat white, one-story building, with two projecting wings, all of Grecian architecture.  From this extends, south-westerly, a fine expanse of level meadow.  This house, and the adjacent two hundred acres, were owned by RICHARD POTTER.  There once stood, on pillars before the house, two graven images, taken from Lord Timothy Dexter's place, in Newburyport.  Potter built the house and cultivated the farm, which were estimated, in the days of Potter, and long before the railroad was built, to be worth $5000.  This Potter owned in fee simple, unincumbered, - the fruits of his successful illusions, optical and auricular.
     Potter was a colored man, half-way between fair and black.  He for a long time monopolized the market for such wares as sleight of hand, and "laborious speaking from the stomach."  Says one writer in the Boston Traveler, of November 6, 1861: -
     "We well remember how our astonished eyes first beheld his debut upon the stage, - a portentous-looking magician from India.  And then, to see him perform; eat two, spit fire, and draw from his mouth yards and yards of ribbon, all made out of tow; far down in his crop to hear him command an egg to roll all over him, from head to foot, from foot to head, etc., etc.  And then his comic songs!  Donning another attire, he would hobble around in stage, an old woman; and the old woman would tell over her

[Page 93]
various troubles, in successive stanzas, always concluding with the cheerful refrain - 'Howsever, I keep up a pretty good heart.' "
     Richard was born in the town of Hopkinton, Mass., and, when quite a boy, was prevailed upon to engage himself in the service of Samuel Dillaway, Esq., of Boston, - a relative of the family being on a wedding tour to that pleasant town.  After being " brought up" by Mr. Dillaway, he became a valued and esteemed servant in the family of Rev. Daniel Oliver, of Boston; and in his kitchen, he studied out the theory and began the practice of legerdemain.  Mr. Oliver's son, late Adjutant General of Massachusetts, often alludes to the winter evening amusements afforded to the children at home by the tricks and pranks of Potter.
     He, who was so successful in these, his first efforts, and so able to set up business on his own account, could not long be retained as a servant.  He followed his vocation, ever after, till death arrested him in his course.  Columbian Hall, and Concert Hall, in the olden time, were the prominent places, in Boston, for Potter's levees.
     Potter was temperate, steady, attentive to his business, and his business was his delight.  He took as much pleasure in pleasing others, as others did in being pleased.  I have never heard a lisp against his character for honesty and fair dealing.  He was once the victim of persecution from a Mr. Fitch, who had him arrested as a juggler.  Potter plead his own case, and secured an acquittal.
     Close by Potter's house, in a small enclosure, stands two

[Page 94]
monumental slabs, of white marble; one, for his wife, Sally H., ____ the other.

In Memory of
RICHARD POTTER,
THE CELEBRATED VENTRILOQUIST,
Who died
Sept. 20, 1835,
Aged 52 years

THE MARSHPEE INDIANS.

     The Marshpee Indians also did noble service in our revolutionary struggle.  During the discussion of the subject of the militia laws before the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1853, it was stated that the practice of excluding colored men from the militia did not exist previous to the United States Militia Law of 1792, which first introduced the word "white"; and in confirmation of this statement, the following interesting fact in our own State history was mentioned.  During the War of the Revolution, when the county of Barnstable was required to raise a regiment of four hundred men in the Continental army, the Indian district of Marshpee, in that county, furnished twenty-seven colored soldiers, who fought in the battles, and all but one of them perished, and he died a pensioner a few years ago.  At that time, (1776,) Marshpee had a population of thre hundred and twenty-seven colored persons, of whom fourteen were negroes married to Indian women.  There were sixty-four married couples and thirty-three widows on

[Page 95]
the plantation; so that, in proportion to adult male population, Marshpee furnished a larger quota for that regiment than any white town in the county.  A census taken after the Revolutionary War, showed that there were seventy-three colored widows in Marshpee, whose husbands had been slain or died in the service of their country during that war.
     And yet, the Legislature of Massachusetts, in 1788-89, treated these Indians with extreme rigor, by abolishing their charter - under which, in 1763, they had been incorporated into a district, with right to choose their selectmen - and putting them under guardians, who had power to take all their lands and income, and treat the proprietors as paupers.  Under these laws, the Indians could make no contract and hold no property, that the overseers could take all their earnings, bind out their children without their parents' consent; and, still further, by a subsequent act, these overseers, from whose decision there was no appeal, could sell the proprietors, male or female adults, to service, for three years at a term, and renew it at pleasure.
     These laws, and worse, against these poor Indians, who all the time were sole owners of ten thousand acres of land, were continued in force util 1834, when, principally by the efforts of Benj. F. Hallett, Esq., as their counsel, in exposing their injustice, the system was broken up, and the district of Marshpee was incorporated under free laws, and the property divided among the proprietors in fee.  They are now a very prosperous and thriving community, deserving.

[Page 96]
the interest and encouragement of every wise statesman or true philanthropist.
     Among the Marshpee volunteers in the War of the Revolution were the following: -  

Francis Websquish,
Samuel Moses,
Demps Squibs,
Mark Negro,
Tom Caesar,
Joseph Ashur,
James Keeter,
Joseph Keeter,
Daniel Pocknit,
Job Rimmon,
George Shaun,
Castel Barnet,
Joshua Pognit,
Job Rimmon,
George Shaun,
Castel Barnet,
Joshua Pognit,
James Rimmon,
David Hatch,
James No Cake,
Abel Hoswitt,
Elisha Keeter,
John Pearce,
John Mapix,
Amos Babcock,
Hosea Pognit,
Church Ashur,
Gideon Tumpum.

     In 1783, Parson Holly presented a memorial to the Legislature, in behalf of the seventy-three widows whose husbands had died in their country's service.

PATRIOTS OF THE OLDEN TIME.

     The wife of Samuel Adams, of revolutionary celebrity, one day informed her husband that a friend had made her a present of a female slave.  Mr. Adams replied, in a very decided manner, "She may come, but not as a slave; for a slave cannot breathe in my house.  If she comes, she must come free."  The woman took up her abode with the family of this champion of liberty; and there she lived free and died free.

LOYALTY OF AN AFRICAN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

     Some of the colored citizens, in 1796, instituted at Boston the African Society.  Its objects were benevolent ones, as

[Page 97]
set forth in the preamble, which also expressed its loyalty as follows: - "Behaving ourselves, at the same time, as true and faithful citizens of the commonwealth in which we live, and that we take no one into the Society who shall commit any injustice or outrage against the laws of their country."
     I subjoin the names of the members of the African Society."

Plato Alderson,
Hannibal Allen,
Thomas Burdine,
Peter Bailey,
Joseph Ball,
Peter Branch,
Prince Brown,
Boston Ballard,
Anthony Battis,
Serico Collens,
Rufus Callehorn,
John Clark,
Scipio Dalton,
Arthur Davis,
John Decruse,
Hamlet Earl,
Caesar Fayerweather,
Mingo Freeman,
Cato Gardner,
Jeremiah Green,
James Hawkins,
John Harrison,
Glosaster Haskins,
Prince M. Harris,
Juber Holland,
Richard Holsted,
Thomas Jackson,
George Jackson,
Lewis Jones,
Isaac Johnson,
John Johnson,
Sear Kimball,
Thomas Lewis,
Joseph Low,
George Middleton,
Derby Miller,
Cato Morey,
Richard Marshall,
Joseph Ocruman,
John Phillips,
Cato Rawson,
Richard Standley,
Cyrus Vassall,
Derby Vassall

[Page 98]

ISAAC WOODLAND.

     The following obituary of one who will be long remembered in Boston is inserted here as connected with the associations of by-gone days.

     ISAAC WOODLAND was a native of Maryland, but many years since, he adopted for his home the State of Massachusetts.  His life here was marked with an active zeal for the fugitive from Southern bondage.  His money was always generously appropriated for their aid and comfort.  At one of the meetings in Belknap Street Church, when the question whether Boston jail should longer confine George Latimer as a slave was the theme of discussion in every gathering, I well remember Isaac Woodland walking up the aisle, and placing upon the table a handful of silver, with the remark that he had more shot in the locker, if by that means the man could be kept from slavery.  In the olden time, when the abolitionists of Boston celebrated the 14th of July, commemorative of the abolition of slavery in the State, (the day was not historical, for no special act of emancipation had taken place, but the grateful heart of the colored man thus wished to signalize the fact that slavery had departed from the old Bay State,) in their processions, his towering and manly form was always the observed of all observers.  And when that was superseded by the glorious First of August, the Jubilee of British West India Emancipation, no one name was more sure of appointment as Marshal than

[Page 99]
his; and, surely, but few, if any, could better adorn the office.
     His occupation was that of grain inspector, and by his application and integrity in business, he won the respect and patronage of a large circle of Boston merchants.
     He was genial and mirthful, fond of children and friends, but yet had that in him which, when roused in defence of his race, was not easily subdued.  This last trait was fully illustrated in an encounter on one of the wharves, several years since, between a party of white aud colored laborers, when, but for his prowess and Herculean strength, the fate of his companions would have been much worse than the event proved.  He was " in war a tiger chafed by the hunter's spear; but in peace, more gentle than the unweaned lamb."  His death took place in Boston, May 24, 1853, aged 68.

EPITAPHS ON SLAVES.

     The following celebrated epitaph from the old burial ground of Concord, Mass., although it has been often published, will bear to be reprinted here.  It is understood to have been written by Daniel Bliss, Esq., a lawyer at Concord, before the Revolutionary War.  He was the son of a minister of that place, whose name and history occupy a large space in the ecclesiastical annals of the town.  This single production will secure to its author for ever the credit of taste, ingenuity, and an enlightened moral sense;

[Page 100]
and proves that sound abolition sentiments were cherished then as strongly as at the present day.

GOD
"Wills us free.
MAN
Wills us slaves.
I mil as God wills.
God's will be done.
Here lies the body of John Jack, a native of Africa,
who died March, 1773, aged about 60 years.
Though born in a land of slaves,
He was born free.
Though he lived in a land of liberty,
He lived a slave;
Till, by his honest, though stolen labors,
He acquired the source of Slavery,
"Which gave him his freedom.
Though not long before
Death, the grand tyrant,
Gave him his final emancipation,
And set him upon a footing with kings.
Tho' a slave to vice,
He practic'd those virtues
Without which, kings are but slaves.

     The following inscription is taken from a gravestone in a burying-ground in the town of North Attleboro, Mass., near what was formerly called " Hatch's Tavern."  It is an interesting memento of what the state of things was in this Commonwealth seventy years, ago.  The testimony thus borne to the goodness of Caesar's" heart certainly reflects

[Page 101]
but little credit on the person who could make him or keep him a slave.

" Here lies the best of slaves,
    Now turning into dust;
Caesar, the Ethiopian, craves,
    A place among the just.
His faithful soul is fled,
    To realms of heavenly light,
And, by the blood that Jesus shed,
    Is changed from black to white.
Jan. l0th he quitted the stage,
In the 77th year of his age,

1780."

-------------------------

THE EQUAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

     A number of the chivalric portion of the colored Bostonians, having taken the initiatory steps for a military company, petitioned the Legislature, in the year 1852, for a charter, the claims of which were advocated by Charles Lenox Remond and Robert Morris, Esqs.; but, like the Attucks petitioners, they, too, "had leave to withdraw."  In February, 1853, the subject was again presented to the Constitutional Convention, and Robert Morris, Esq., before a committee of that body, alluded to an old law of the Massachusetts colony, which called upon all negroes, inhabitants of

[Page 102]
the colony, of the age of sixteen and upwards, to make their appearance in case of alarm, armed and equipped, in connection with the regularly enrolled militia company, under a penalty of twenty shillings. And they always did appear, and performed efficient service.  He further remarked, that a charter had been lately granted to an Irish company, and said that the colored citizens, who are native born, desired the same rights which were given to our adopted brethren.  "We do not want," said he, " a step-mother in the case, who will butter the bread for one, and sand it for another.  We hunger and thirst for prosperity and advancement, and, so far as in your power lies, we wish you to do all you can to aid us in our endeavors.  We wish you to make us feel that we are of some use and advantage, in this our day and generation."
     William J. Watkins, Esq., concluded an able argument as follows: —
     " We love Massachusetts; if she reciprocates that love, let her show forth her love by her works.  Let her throw around us the mantle of her protection, and then, O Massachusetts, if we forget thee, " may our right hand forget its cunning, and our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth."  Yes! let the old Bay State treat us as men, and she shall elicit our undying, indissoluble attachment; and neither height, nor depth, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall ever be able to alienate our affection from her.  We will be with her in the sixth trouble, and in the seventh; we will neither leave nor forsake

[Page 103]
her. Amid the angry howling of the tempest, as well as in the cheering sunshine, we shall be ever found, a faithful few, indomitable, unterrified, who know their friends to love them with that affection which nought but the destroying angel can annihilate.
     " Again, grant us this petition, and it will induce in us a determination to surmount every obstacle calculated to impede our progress; to rise higher, and higher, and Higher, until we scale the Mount of Heaven, and look down, from our lofty and commanding position, upon our revilers and persecutors.  Yes, sir; it will incite us to renewed diligence, and cause our arid desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose.  It will inspire us with confidence, and encourage us to hope, amid the almost tangible darkness that envelopes us.  We care not for the hoarse, rough thunder's voice, nor the lightning's lurid gleamings, if we are yet to be a people; if we are yet to behold the superstructure of our liberties consummated amid paeans of thanksgiving, and shouts from millions, redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled."
     Sixty-five colored citizens of Boston petitioned the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, in June, 1853, — "That the Constitution be so amended as to remove the disabilities of colored citizens from holding military commissions and serving in the militia."
     An amendment was offered, "That it is inexpedient to act thereon; " when Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner, E. L. Keyes, D. S. Whitney, and others, advocated the colored

[Page 104]
man's equality.  The following are extracts from the speech of Hon. Henry Wilson, in support of his amendment, viz.:
     "Resolved, That no distinction shall ever hereafter be made, in organizing the volunteer militia of the Commonwealth, by reason of color or race."
     " If it be true," said Mr. Wilson, "that our 'volunteer system' is 'not contemplated by the laws of the United States' — that it is the creature of Massachusetts law — that 'no reference in the law is made to color '— that the ' officers 'authorized' to grant petitions for raising companies 'have' control and authority' over the ' whole subject' — and that they may grant petitions for companies without distinction of color, — then it is in accordance with the ideas and sentiments of the people, to declare in the fundamental law of the Commonwealth, that in the organization of these volunteer companies, no distinction on account of color or race shall ever be made by those 'officers ' having' control and authority over the whole subject.'  This is my proposition — nothing more, nothing less.  If our voluntary militia system is the creature of local law, purely a Massachusetts system, 'not contemplated by the laws of the United States,' no distinction on account of race or color should be allowed.  The Constitution of this Commonwealth knows no distinction of color or race.  A colored man may fill any office in the gift of the people.  A colored man may be the 'Supreme Executive Magistrate' of Massachusetts, and ' Commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the military forces of

[Page 105]
the State by sea and land,' and he 'shall have full power from time to time to train, instruct, exercise, and govern the militia,' and ' to lead and conduct them, and with them to encounter, repel, resist, expel and pursue,' 'and also to kill, slay and destroy ' the invading enemies of the Commonwealth.  If a colored man may be by the Constitution 'Captain General and Commander-in-chief and Admiral' of the Commonwealth, should he be denied admission into the ranks of her volunteer militia? The colored men of Massachusetts have been denied admission into the volunteer militia, although the Committee tell us that ' no reference is made by law to color or race.' If 'officers,' who are authorized by law 'to grant petitions for companies,' and who have 'control and authority over the whole subject,' have made distinctions on account of color or race, when 'no reference is made to color' in the laws, then they should be compelled by constitutional authority to abandon the position they have without law assumed, and to carry out the idea which pervades our Constitution, that all men, of every race, are equal before the laws of this Commonwealth.  The democratic idea of the equality before the law of all men, no matter where they were born or from what race they sprung, is the sentiment of the people.
     "This right, claimed by the colored men of Massachusetts, to become members of the volunteer militia, is of little practical importance to them or to the public.  They feel the exclusion as an indignity to their race.  If we have the power to remove that unjust exclusion, we are false to the

[Page 106]
principles and ideas upon which our Constitution is founded, if we do not do so.  If we have not the power, or if its exercise would bring us in conflict with the laws of the United States, which we acknowledge to be the supreme laws of the land, we must submit to the necessity imposed upon us, and bow to what we cannot control.  I have said, Sir, that the question was of little practical importance, whether the right of the colored men of Massachusetts to become members of the volunteer militia was admitted or not.  To them, it can be of little practical value, although they have wives, children and homes, and a country, to defend. To the country, it is of little practical importance. We are strong and powerful now, able to drive into the ocean any power on earth
that should step with hostile foot upon the soil of the Republic.  But it was not always so.  In our days of weakness, the men of this wronged race gave their blood freely for the defence and liberties of the country.
     "The first victim of the Boston massacre, on the 5th of March, 1770, which made the fires of resistance burn more intensely, was a colored man. Hundreds of colored men entered the ranks and fought bravely on all the fields of the Revolution.  Graydon, of Pennsylvania, in his Memoirs, informs us that many of the Southern officers disliked the New England regiments, because so many colored men were in their ranks.  When the country has required their blood in days of trial and conflict, they have given it freely, and we have accepted it; but in times of peace, when their blood is not needed, we spurn and trample them under foot.

[Page 107]
I have no part in this great wrong to a race.  Wherever and whenever we have the power to do it, I would give to all men, of every clime and race, of every faith and creed, freedom and equality before the law.  My voice and my vote shall ever be given for the equality of all the children of men before the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States."
     The petition was received, referred, and finally rejected, on the ground that it could not be granted without bringing Massachusetts into conflict with the United States Constitution and the laws of the land.
     On the last day of the Convention, the following petition was presented by the Hon. E. L. Keyes, of Dedham: —

To the Convention for revising and amending the Constitution of Massachusetts:

     The undersigned, acknowledged citizens of this Commonwealth, (notwithstanding their complexional differences,) and there fore citizens of the United States, with the feeling and spirit becoming freemen, and with the deepest solicitude, respectfully submit —

     That having petitioned your honorable body for such a modification of the laws as that no able-bodied male citizen shall be forbidden or prevented from serving, or holding office or commission, in the militia, on account of his color, their petition was duly referred and considered, but not granted, and therefore they are still a proscribed and injured class.  The reason assigned for the rejection of their request, in the report submitted by the Committee to whom the subject was referred, was, " that this Convention cannot incorporate into the Constitution of Massachusetts any provision which

[Page 108]
shall conflict with The Laws of the United States."  In the course of the debate that ensued upon this report, the Attorney General of Massachusetts [Hon. Rufus Choate] said, — "You can raise no colored regiment, or part of a regiment, that shall be of the militia of the
United States — none whatever. . . . It is certain that, if they were to go upon parade, and to win Bunker Hills, yet they never can be part of the militia of the United States. . . . Nay, more; he did not see how he could do any thing for this colored race, by putting them in one of the high places of the Commonwealth, with weapons in their hands, and allow our glorious banner to throw around them all the pomp and parade and condition of war; the color cleaves to them there, and on parade is only the more conspicuous."
     Another distinguished member of the Convention [Hon. Benj. F. Hallett] said, — "If Massachusetts should send a colored commander-in-chief at the head of her militia, the United States would not recognise his authority, and would at once supersede him."
     Your petitioners feel bound to protest, (in behalf of the colored citizens of Massachusetts,) that all such opinions and declarations constitute —
     (1) A denial of their equality as citizens of this Commonwealth, and are clearly at variance with the Constitution of this State, which knows nothing of the complexion of the people, and which asserts [Art. I.] that "all men are born free and EQUAL, and have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and DEFENDING their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness."  It would be absurd to say that the General Government, or that Congress, has the constitutional right to declare, if it think proper, that the white citizen of Massachusetts shall not be enrolled in the militia of the country; and it is not to be supposed, for a moment,

[Page 109]
that, if such a proscriptive edict were to be issued, it would be tamely submitted to.  It is, surely, just as great an absurdity, just as glaring an insult, to assume that colored citizens may be legally excluded from the national militia.

     (2) In the Constitution of the United States, not a sentence or a syllable can be found, recognising any distinctions among the citizens of the States, collectively or individually, but they are all placed on the same equality. Article IV., Section 2d, declares — "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." It is not possible to make a more unequivocal recognition of the equality of all citizens; and, therefore, whatever contravenes or denies it, in the shape of legislation, is manifestly unconstitutional.  Whatever may have been the compromises of the Constitution, in regard to those held in bondage as chattel slaves, none were ever made, or proposed, respecting the rights and liberties of citizens.
     (3) It is true that, by the United States Constitution, Congress is empowered "to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia";  it is also true, that Congress, in "organizing" the militia, has authorised none but "white" citizens to be enrolled therein; nevertheless, it is not less true, that the law of Congress, making this unnatural distinction, is, in this particular, unconstitutional, and therefore ought to exert no controlling force over the legislation of any of the States.  To organize the militia of the country is one thing; to dishonor and outrage a portion of the citizens, on any ground, is a very different thing.  To do the former, Congress is clothed with ample constitutional authority; to accomplish the latter, it has no power to legislate, and resort must be had, and has been had, to usurpation and tyranny.
     Your petitioners, therefore, earnestly entreat the Convention, by every consideration of justice and righteousness, not to adjourn without asserting and vindicating the entire fitness and equal right

[Page 109]
that, if such a proscriptive edict were to be issued, it would be tamely submitted to.  It is, surely, just as great an absurdity, just as glaring an insult, to assume that colored citizens may be legally excluded from the national militia.
     (2) In the Constitution of the United States, not a sentence or a syllable can be found, recognising any distinctions among the citizens of the States, collectively or individually, but they are all placed on the same equality.  Article IV., Section 2d, declares — " The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States."  It is not possible to make a more unequivocal recognition of the equality of all citizens; and, therefore, whatever contravenes or denies it, in the shape of legislation, is manifestly unconstitutional.  Whatever may have been the compromises of the Constitution, in regard to those held in bondage as chattel slaves, none were ever made, or proposed, respecting the rights and liberties of citizens.
     (3) It is true that, by the United States Constitution, Congress is empowered " to provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia"; it is also true, that Congress, in "organizing" the
militia, has authorised none but "white" citizens to be enrolled therein; nevertheless, it is not less true, that the law of Congress, making this unnatural distinction, is, in this particular, unconstitutional, and therefore ought to exert no controlling force over the legislation of any of the States.  To organize the militia of the country is one thing; to dishonor and outrage a portion of the citizens, on any ground, is a very different thing.  To do the former, Congress is clothed with ample constitutional authority; to accomplish the latter, it has no power to legislate, and resort must be had, and has been had, to usurpation and tyranny.
     Your petitioners, therefore, earnestly entreat the Convention, by every consideration of justice and righteousness, not to adjourn without asserting and vindicating the entire fitness and equal right

[Page 110]
of the colored citizens of Massachusetts to be enrolled in the national militia; or, if this be not granted, then they respectfully ask that this protest may be placed on the records of the Convention, and published with the official proceedings, that the stigma may not rest upon their memories of having tamely acquiesced in a proscription, equally at war with the American Constitution, the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, and the claims of human nature.

William C. Nell,
Jonas W. Clark,
Edward Gray,
John Thompson,
Enoch L. Stallad,
John Wright,
John P. Coburn,
Thomas Brown,
John Lockley,
Ira S. Gray,
Benjamin P. Bassett,
Benjamin Weeden,
William J. Watkins,
Isaac H. Snowden,
Simpson H. Lewis,
John J. Fatal,
Lemuel Burr,
Thomas Cummings,
N. L. Perkins,
John Oliver,
H. L. W. Thacker,
George Washington,
James Scott.

     This petition having been read, it was ordered to be entered upon the records, by a vote of 97 to 66; but subsequently, on motion of Mr. Stetson, of Braintree, the vote was reconsidered.
     Hon. B. F. Hallett, for Wilbraham, upon a question of privilege, spoke at some length in defence of his action in the matter, and in favor of reconsideration, which, under the previous question, was carried - 97 to 57; and, on motion of Mr. Bird, of Walpole, the whole question was laid on the table without dissent.  This final action was highly discreditable to the Convention; for the petitioners.

[Page 111]
having been virtually excluded from the pale of American citizenship by that body, had a right at least to have their protest against such an exclusion placed on the records of the Convention; nor was there a sentence or word in their petition uncalled for or offensively used.
     The limits of this work will not allow of an elaborate or statistical report of the present condition of the colored Americans, though very much that is encouraging is at the compiler's disposal.  It will be found that, throughout the book, references are made to representative cases of individual enterprise and genius, sufficient, it is presumed, to convey a general idea of the improvements daily developed by that class, which has commonly been stigmatized as incapable of mental and social elevation.
     So far as Massachusetts' is concerned, it is safe to say that, in many respects, her record is one to be proud of.  Her colored citizens (in all but the militia clause in the Constitution) stand, before the law, on an equality with the whites.  Her public schools are accessible to all, irrespective of complexion, - prophetic of the day, soon, I hope, to be ushered in, when the mechanic's shop and the merchant's counting-room will be alike ready to extend to them equal facilities with those of another and more favored race.
     New Bedford occupies a very prominent position in all that contributes to the prosperity of the colored American, in general intelligence, business enterprise, and public spirit; much of which is justly attributable to the impetus given by Paul Cuffe's efforts for the franchise.  Some of his de-

[Page 112]
scendants yet live in New Bedford.  The colored voters there hold the balance of power, and hence exert a potent influence on election day.  The faithful Friends, or Quakers, have always borne such a testimony at New Bedford, as materially to have aided the progress of the colored citizens.
     Worcester can boast, among her colored mechanics, Wm. H. Brown, whose well-established reputation as an upholsterer reflects great credit upon the large firm in Boston with whom he served a faithful apprenticeship.
     Salem, Springfield, and Lowell, together with many smaller localities, have good and true colored men among their inhabitants, sustaining creditable business relations, and the owners of real estate in a fair proportion with their white fellow-citizens.
     Boston compares favorably, in this respect, with larger cities in the United States.  Several causes have combined to retard the progress of colored mechanics; but these are being removed, and, in a few years, the results will be manifest.  Business and professional en are continually increasing.  In addition to the mechanical, artistical, and professional colored men in Boston, elsewhere mentioned, it may be noted, that the two most popular gymnasium galleries are in the proprietorship of J. B. Bailey and Peyton Stewart; the prince of caterers is J. B. Smith; a dentist highly recommended is J. S. Rock J. S. Rock, M. D.; a young artist in crayon portraits is winning his way to excellence and reputation; and other equally meritorious aspirants, - women inclu-

[Page 113]
ded, — are soaring to those heights that challenge the ambition of earth's gifted children.  Real estate to the value of, at least, $200,000, is in the hands of our colored citizens.  During the struggle for equal school rights, many of the largest tax payers removed into the neighboring towns, and withdrew their investments from Boston real estate.
     American colorphobia is never more rampant towards its victims, than when one would avail himself of the facilities for mental improvement, in common with the more favored dominant party, — as if his complexion was, indeed, prima facie evidence that he was an intruder within the sacred portals of knowledge.  In Boston, the so-called " Athens of America," large audiences have been thrown almost into spasms by the presence of one colored man in their midst; and, on one occasion, (in the writer's experience,) a mob grossly insulted a gentleman and two ladies, who did not happen to exhibit the Anglo-Saxon (constitutional) complexion.
     But, within a few years past, this spirit of caste has lost much of its virulence, owing somewhat to the efforts put forth by the colored people themselves.  For ten years, they sustained the Adelphic Union Library Association, and were generally fortunate in securing the most talented and distinguished gentlemen as lecturers.  Though proscribed themselves, they removed from the colored locality, opened a hall in the central part of the city, and magnanimously in vited all to avail themselves of its benefits.  A number of white young men associated themselves with this Society,

[Page 114]
and participated in several public elocutionary exhibitions; and their lecture-room was usually visited by representatives from all classes of the community, which has had a tendency to excite something of a reciprocal feeling on the part of other associations, — now extending itself through all the ramifications of society; so that the presence of colored persons at popular lectures is now a matter of common occurrence, and excites scarcely any notice or remark.  This agreeable state of things superseded the necessity of an exclusive organization, though social literary clubs, mostly composed of colored members, have continued to exist.
     In New Bedford, a deserved rebuke was administered to colorphobia, which grew out of an attempt to prescribe colored patrons of the Lyceum from the privileges heretofore shared by them in common with others.  This persecution aroused the indignation of those ever-to-be-honored
friends of equal rights, Charles Sumner and Ralph Waldo Emerson.  They were both announced to lecture, but, on learning the proceedings, they immediately, recalled their engagements, rather than sanction, by their presence on the rostrum, such an outrage on the rights of man.  This noble
deed was not without its effect, and, as a legitimate consequence, prompted the freemen of New Bedford to establish an independent Lyceum, where men, irrespective of accidental differences, could freely assemble, and have dispensed to them the precious stores of knowledge.  Various
circumstances combined to create an impetus in favor of the free Lyceum, which completely superseded the other, and thus a victory was achieved in humanity's behalf.

[Page 115]

     A similar triumph, in many respects, was also won in Lynn, where opposition was manifested to a Lyceum lecture by Charles Lenox Remond.  A majority united in the formation of another institution, thus proving that, where there is a will, a way can always be found for united hearts to bear a faithful and effective testimony against proscription and tyranny.
     Since then, Samuel R. Ward, Frederick Douglass, and other distinguished colored lecturers, have been welcomed to Lyceum platforms in different parts of the country.
     To Raynal, who expressed surprise that America had not produced any celebrated man, Jefferson replied, — "When we shall have existed as a nation as long as the Greeks be fore they had a Homer, the Romans a Virgil, or the French a Racine, there will be room for inquiry; " and I would say, Let the evil spirit of American pro-slavery and prejudice only remove its feet from the neck of its outraged victims, and if improvement be not made commensurate with the means afforded, then, — but not till then, — will we admit the truth of the gratuitous assertion, that the Author of the universe has stamped upon the brow of the colored American a mark of inferiority.
     This feeling must have moved C. V.Caples, a colored teacher, when he uttered the following eloquent words at an early Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston: — " I am pained," said he, " when I think of the condition of colored men in the United States.  My blood is as warm as yours, Mr. President, or that of any patriot; and when I behold the finger

[Page 116]
of scorn pointed at my brethren, and the curled lip, my soul weeps.  I think, there may be thus insulted one possessing the highest attributes of man; a mind, perhaps, that, if trained like other minds, might leads to great deeds, - some Cincinnatus, capable of influencing the destinies of a nation, a Hampden, to inspire patriotism, or a Milton, 'pregnant with celestial fire.' "
   The colored man's friends are constantly claiming of him an equality of privileges, based on his nativity, loyalty, and the immutable law of God.  There have been those, however, sometimes found deficient in a trying hour.  Such "fallings from grace" doubtless occur in the ranks of every reform; for all who profess are not always fully imbued with the principle, thereby losing opportunities of squaring their practice with their preaching.  To those colored friends, however, who constantly harp upon real or supposed derelictions of white Abolitionists, it is but seasonable to hint, that some of their own number are very indifferent to practical Anti-Slavery, and that, at the South, there are black, as well as white, slaveholders, - a fact teaching humility to both classes, while, at the same time, it proves the identity of both with the human family.  These Anti-Slavery tests are presented in the every-day routine of business and social life, and ofttimes prove severe trials, except to those of the genuine radical stamp.  All reformers owe it to their high calling to be consistent; not to place their light under a bushel, but to let its rays be conspicuous, as a direct means of influencing public sentiment.

[Page 117]

     A few years since, when the State of Massachusetts was agitated, from Cape Cod to Berkshire, with the exclusion of colored passengers from equal railroad privileges, many an instance occurred where Abolitionists wholly identified themselves with the proscribed, - "remembering those in bonds as bound with them;" and, on some occasions, encountering peril of life and limb, and sharing indignities equally with those whose sin was the "texture of hair and hue of their skin.""
     It is with the most grateful emotions that I would here record the names of WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON and WENDELL PHILLIPS, both of whom, on separate occasions, remonstrated against the colonization of colored friends from the cars, and, in the crisis, exiled themselves to the "Jim Crow car," rather than remain in comfort with the oppressor.  Such exhibitions of fidelity to principle were not lost upon their fellow-passengers.
     There is abundant reason to believe that these and similar incidents, in connection with the eloquent appeals of CHARLES LENOX REMOND and other Anti-Slavery lecturers, were instrumental in removing asll odious restrictions from the Eastern Railroad; and, at this day, who ventures to exclude a colored passenger, in this section of country?  The idea has been consigned to the tomb of the capulets, from whence we do not anticipate a resurrection.  Until within a few years, the Boston Directory had a Liberia department for persons of color; but it luckily fell into the hands of an Anti-Slavery man, GEORGE ADAMS, Esq., who, to his honor

[Page 118]
be it remembered, abolished this inglorious distinction, inserted the names of colored citizens among "the rest of mankind," and, to this day, no orb ahs been so eccentric as to wander from its sphere in consequence thereof.  "So shines a good deed in a naughty world."  Live the true life, speak the true word, and God will bless the effort.
     There is a sun-dial in Italy, with the inscription," I mark only the hours that shine," - inculcating the lesson, that through this life is not all happy and beautiful, yet we should not dwell always upon the darker portion of the picture, but remember to look also upon the bright side.  What a satisfaction to the proscribed colored American is the fact, that, in this slavery-cursed land, there are those true hearts ready to accord the rights and privileges to others so prized by them selves; that, in the highways and byways of life, on the railroad car and in the steamboat, in the lyceum and college, in the street, the store, and the parlor, a noble band is found, united in purpose, uncompromising in principle, fearless in action, whose examples are like specks of verdure amidst universal barrenness, - as scattered lights amidst thick and prevailing darkness.

END OF CHAPTER I.

< CLICK HERE to RETURN to TABLE of CONTENTS >

.

-----
 

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO
BLACK HISTORY INDEX PAGE

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO
GENEALOGY EXPRESS

GENEALOGY EXPRESS
FREE GENEALOGY RESEARCH is My MISSION

This Webpage has been created by Sharon Wick exclusively for Genealogy Express  ©2008
Submitters retain all copyrights