The Journal of Negro History Volume II Part 9

FROM JOHN WESLEY

"Mr. Oglethorp you know went so far as to begin settling a colony without negroes, but at length the voice of those villains prevailed who sell their country and their G.o.d for gold, who laugh at human nature and compa.s.sion, and defy all religion but that of getting money. It is certainly our duty to do all in our power to check this growing evil, and something may be done by spreading those tracts which place it in a true light. But I fear it will not be stopped till all the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms of our G.o.d."

FROM NATHANIEL GILBERT, OF ANTIGUA

"October 29, 1768.

"I desire to embrace as my brethern all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. I cannot but think that all true Christians agree in fundamentals. Your tracts concerning slavery are very just, and it is a matter I have often thought of, even before I became acquainted with the truth: your arguments are forcible against purchasing slaves, or being any way concerned in that trade."

"PHILADELPHIA, SEVENTH MONTH, 16th, 1781.

"_My Friend Abbe Raynal_,

"From the idea which I conceived of the justice, and generosity of thy sentiments, I took the liberty of writing to thee about seven or eight months past under cover of my friend Benjamin Franklin, and likewise by J---- B----, who we are afraid was lost on his pa.s.sage. Having received no answer by several vessels, nor knowing whether my letters reached thee, or whether thine miscarried, and a good opportunity offering by my friend Dr. Griffitts, I now seize it to send thee two copies of a small extract of origin and principles of my brethern the Quakers, whom I observe in such of thy writings as have come to our hands, thou didst not think unworthy of thy attention. I have nothing to add to what I have already wrote thee, but I shall repeat my wish of saluting thee affectionately on the principles of reason and humanity, which const.i.tutes that grand circle of love and charity, unconfined by our parentage or country, but which affectionately embraces the whole creation, earnestly desiring to the utmost of my abilities to promote the happiness of all men, even of my enemies themselves, could I have any. I beseech G.o.d to give thee strength that thou mayest continue to hold up to mankind, thy brethren, principles tending to replenish their hearts with goodness, friends.h.i.+p and charity towards each other, that thus thou mayest, to the utmost of thy power, render men reasonable, useful, and consequently happy; and more especially that thou mayest combat that false principle of honour, or rather of intolerable pride and folly, which so strongly prevails in our nation, where the most indolent, and the least useful, fancy themselves, and are reputed the most n.o.ble. Let us endeavour to make them sensible that men are n.o.ble, but in exact proportion with their being rational. The happiness which is to be found in virtue alone, is sought for by men through the t.i.tles acquired by their fathers for their activity in those wars which have desolated the world, or in the wealth acc.u.mulated by their ancestors; both means generally unjust and oppressive, and consequently rather sources of shame and humiliation. For as the Chinese philosopher well observes, 'there is scarcely one rich man out of an hundred, who was not himself an oppressor, or the son of an oppressor.'

"Let us display to princes and rulers of nations, the example of Numa Pompilius, who, by a conduct opposite to that of Romulus, his predecessor, and most of his successors, rendered the Romans, during his long reign, so respectable and happy. Above all, my dear friend, let us represent to our compatriots the abominable iniquity of the Guinea trade. Let us put to the blush the pretended disciples of the benign Saviour of the World, for the encouragement given to the unhappy Africans in invading the liberty of their own brethren. Let us rise, and rise with energy against the corruption introduced into the principles and manners of the masters and owners of slaves, by a conduct so contrary to humanity, reason, and religion. Let us be still more vehement in representing its baneful influence on the principles and manners of their wretched offspring, necessarily educated in idleness, pride, and all the vices to which human nature is liable.

"How desirable is it that Lewis the Sixteenth, whose virtues, and good disposition have been so n.o.bly praised, would set an example to the other potentates of Europe, by forbidding his subjects to be concerned in a traffic so evil in itself, and so corrupting in its consequences; and that he would also issue out ordinances in favour of the negroes, who are now slaves in his dominions. Alas! should christianity, that law of love and charity, work its proper effect on the hearts of its pretended disciples, we should see numbers of christians traverse Africa, and both the Indies, not to pollute themselves with slavery and slaughter, nor to acc.u.mulate wealth, the supreme wish of the present nominal christians, but that divine love would impel them to visit remote regions in order to make the inhabitants acquainted with the corruption of the human heart, and invite them to seek for the influence of that grace proposed by the gospel, by which they may obtain salvation. I am under the necessity of concluding hastily, requesting thou wouldst excuse faults, which time does not allow me to correct, and to write to me by various opportunities, the vessels bound to those parts often missing their destination.

"I am affectionately thy friend, "ANTHONY BENEZET."

To this energetic and impa.s.sioned epistle, the abbe made the following answer.

"BRUXELLES, DECEMBER 26, 1781.

"All your letters have miscarried; happily I received that of the sixteenth of July, 1781, with the pamphlets filled with light and sensibility, which accompany it. Never was any present more agreeable to me. My satisfaction was equal to the respect I have always had for the society of Quakers. May it please Heaven to cause all nations to adopt their principles; men would then be happy, and the globe not stained with blood. Let us join in our supplications to the supreme Being, that he may unite us in the bonds of a tender and unalterable charity.

"I am, &c.

"RAYNAL."

TO CHARLOTTE, _Queen of Great Britain_.

"Impressed with a sense of religious duty, and encouraged by the opinion generally entertained of thy benevolent disposition to succour the distressed, I take the liberty, very respectfully, to offer to thy perusal some tracts which I believe faithfully describe the suffering condition of many hundred thousands of our fellow creatures of the African race, great numbers of whom, rent from every tender connexion in life, are annually taken from their native land, to endure, in the American islands and plantations, a most rigorous and cruel slavery, whereby many, very many of them, are brought to a melancholy and untimely end. When it is considered, that the inhabitants of Britain, who are themselves so eminently blessed in the enjoyment of religious and civil liberty, have long been, and yet are, very deeply concerned in this flagrant violation of the common rights of mankind, and that even its national authority is exerted in support of the African slave trade, there is much reason to apprehend that this has been, and as long as the evil exists, will continue to be, an occasion of drawing down the Divine displeasure on the nation and its dependencies. May these considerations induce thee to interpose thy kind endeavours on behalf of this greatly oppressed people, whose abject situation gives them an additional claim to the pity and a.s.sistance of the generous mind, inasmuch as they are altogether deprived of the means of soliciting effectual relief for themselves. That so thou may not only be a blessed instrument in the hand of Him '_by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice_,' to avert the awful judgments by which the empire has already been so remarkably shaken, but that the blessings of thousands ready to perish may come upon thee, at a time when the superior advantages attendant on thy situation in this world, will no longer be of any avail to thy consolation and support. To the tracts on the subject to which I have thus ventured to crave thy particular attention, I have added some others, which at different times, I have believed it my duty to publish, and which I trust will afford thee some satisfaction; their design being for the furtherance of that universal peace, and good will amongst men, which the gospel was intended to introduce. I hope thou will kindly excuse the freedom used on this occasion, by an ancient man, whose mind for more than forty years past, has been much separated from the common course of the world, and long painfully exercised in the consideration of the miseries under which so large a part of mankind equally with us the objects of redeeming love, are suffering the most unjust and grievous oppression, and who sincerely desires the temporal, and eternal felicity of the queen and her royal consort.

"ANTHONY BENEZET.

"PHILADELPHIA, EIGHTH MONTH, 25th, 1783."

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

_The Life and Times of Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton_. By B. F. RILEY, D.D., LL.D. Introduction by EDGAR Y. MULLINS, D.D., LL.D., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 301.

_Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, Builder of a Civilization_. By EMMETT J. SCOTT and LYMAN BEECHER STOWE. Doubleday, Page & Company, 1916. Pp. 331.

Since the death of Dr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, the press has been loud in singing his praises and writers have hurriedly published sketches of his career. These first biographies unfortunately have been inadequate to furnish the public a proper review of the record of the distinguished man. In these two volumes before us, however, this requirement has certainly been met.

The first is a valuable work which must find its way into every up-to-date library in this country. It is an excellent estimate of the services of a distinguished Negro, written by a white man who is unselfishly laboring for the uplift of the black race. "Though of another race," says Dr. Riley, "the present biographer is not affected by the consciousness that he is writing of a Negro." Throughout this work the writer is true to this principle. He has endeavored to be absolutely frank in noting here and there the difficulties and handicaps by which white men of the South have endeavored to keep the Negro down. The aim of the author is so to direct attention to the needs of the Negro and so to show how this Negro demonstrated the capacity of the blacks that a larger number of white men may lend these struggling people a helping hand.

Primarily interested in the bearing of the educator's career on the conditions now obtaining in this country, the author has little to say about his private life, choosing rather to present him as a man of the world. Tracing his career, the author mentions his antecedent, his poverty, his training at Hampton, his first ventures and the establishment of Tuskegee. He then treats with more detail Dr.

Was.h.i.+ngton's national prominence, widening influence, ability to organize, and increasing power. He carefully notes, too, the great educator's chief characteristics, his sane and balanced views, his belief in the cooperation of the two races, and his power to interpret one race to the other. It is mainly this portion of the book that makes this biography a work of incalculable value in the study of the Negro during the last quarter of the century.

The other biography of Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton is a somewhat more intensive study of his life than that of Dr. Riley. The authors are Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton's confidential a.s.sociate and a trained and experienced writer, sympathetically interested in the Negro because of the career of his grandmother, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It contains a fitting foreword by Major R. R. Moton, Dr.

Was.h.i.+ngton's successor, and a forceful preface by Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. The book is well written and well ill.u.s.trated.

These authors were chosen by Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton himself with the hope that they would produce "a record of his struggles and achievements at once accurate and reliable." Coming from persons so closely a.s.sociated with the distinguished educator, the reader naturally expects some such treatment as the "Life and Letters of Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton." A work of such scope, however, the authors themselves maintain is yet to be written. Pa.s.sing over his childhood, early training and education, which they consider adequately narrated in "Up From Slavery," the authors have directed their attention toward making an estimate of the services of the educator during the last fifteen years of his life.

Written with this purpose in view the work serves as a complement of Dr. Riley's book which is more concerned with the earlier period.

Each chapter is complete in itself, setting forth a distinct achievement or the manifestation of some special ability. Here we get an excellent account of the making of Tuskegee, the leaders.h.i.+p of its founder, his att.i.tude on the rights of the Negro, how he met race prejudice, the way in which he taught Negroes to cooperate, how he encouraged the Negro in business, what he did for the Negro farmer, his method of raising large sums of money, his skill in managing a large inst.i.tution, and finally an appropriate estimate of the man.

_In Spite of Handicap. An Autobiography._ By JAMES D. CORROTHERS. With an Introduction by RAY STANNARD BAKER. George H. Doran Co., New York, 1916. Pp. 238.

This book is a study of Negro race prejudice, chiefly in the North.

One can not read the life of this member of the Negro race without becoming much more vividly informed of the terrible power race prejudice plays in r.e.t.a.r.ding the progress of undeniably capable persons when they are known to have some Negro blood. It is a sadly true picture not only of the handicaps to Mr. Corrothers, but of practically all Negroes of talent who essay to come out of the caste to which barbaric prejudice a.s.signs his group. For this reason we could subst.i.tute for this individual as subject of this story most of his race in the North.

The student of history will be more interested in his description of his boyhood home, a Negro settlement in Ca.s.s County, Michigan. This place was first an Under-Ground Railroad Station established in 1838 by some Southern Quakers whose conscience no longer allowed them to hold their black brethren in slavery. They brought their slaves into this far Northern region and soon protected other fugitive slaves from the South. It became such a place of security for these runaway slaves that in a few years they became sufficiently numerous to const.i.tute a large settlement. In 1847 a number of slave owners raided the place in an effort to capture some of their Negroes. They had little success, however. Manumitted slaves, free persons of color, and fugitives continued to come and at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War the community had been well established. Since the Civil War many of the descendants of these pioneers have risen in various walks of life and have left an impress on the world. The author of this volume is a representative of this cla.s.s.

The writer describes how that early in his career in this Ca.s.s County atmosphere he met with the awful handicap of race prejudice which forced upon him the conviction as to the difficulty of a colored man to rise. In running from the conditions in the South his people did not find a paradise in the North. Just as the author began by fighting his way among the white boys who objected to him because of his manifestation of superior talent for one of his color so he has had to struggle throughout life. He has, however, become a writer of some note, contributing verse and stories to such leading publications as the _Century Magazine_, _Harper's_, _The Dial_, _The Crisis_, _The Southern Workman_, _The Boston Transcript_, and _The Chicago Tribune_.

The author makes no pretence of writing a scientific historical or sociological treatise. He relates such anecdotes of his own life as will throw light on the influence of race prejudice in impeding the progress of capable Negroes. His style is easy and clear, at times beautiful. The book is well worth the reading of any person seriously interested in our race problems.

E. L. MCLEAN

_The Administration of President Hayes._ BY JOHN W. BURGESS. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1916. Pp. 154.

These lectures, the author says, give in bare outline a description of the administration of President Hayes. For various reasons his administration has not received extended treatment by the students of American History. Professor Burgess seeks to show that Hayes was one of the greatest executives in the history of our nation, and that wrongfully "the manner of his election has been used to depreciate his service." He says: "As time goes on, however, and as the partisan hatreds which are cl.u.s.tered around the election are lost from view, his work looms larger and ever larger."

At the present time when there is such uncertainty in the election of President and reference is made to that one of 1876, many are repeating the contention that a partisan vote of the Electoral Commission unconst.i.tutionally made Hayes President. The author very clearly points out that no president was more ent.i.tled to his office on const.i.tutional grounds than Rutherford B. Hayes. Contrary to the a.s.sertion that eight Republican members of the Electoral Commission voted on partisan grounds, Professor Burgess says that it was they who stood squarely on the const.i.tution and the seven Democratic members of that commission voted purely on party lines. The Democrats had neither "a leg nor a peg to stand upon in any one of the cases" of Oregon, Louisiana, Florida or South Carolina. The Electoral Commission in each case went back of the returns and accepted those certified by the officials of the State, who had been in conformity with the Const.i.tution of the United States duly qualified to make them.

These lectures review the important problems of Hayes's administration. Among these problems growing out of the Civil War was the increasing aggression of the legislative branch of the federal government. Beginning with the Reconstruction Period the government was more and more becoming a parliamentary one. Hayes was determined to reestablish it on its const.i.tutional foundations. When he came into power the lower house was in control of the Democrats and it was they who were determined to usurp executive power. Riders were placed on appropriation bills and efforts were made to force the President to a.s.sent to laws which would eliminate the Federal Government from all interference with the affairs of the Southern States. Notwithstanding the fact that they forced an extra session of Congress when both branches were Democratic, Hayes stood firm and in a long fight curbed the aggression of the legislative branch. Among other great achievements of his administration the author points out the reform of the currency, improvements in civil service, and the adoption of a wise policy in the treatment of the Indians.

The withdrawal of the troops from the defence of the Republican governments in the South, President Hayes thought was necessary that strife might cease and that those best fitted to rule should take charge of their home affairs. The author considers this to be one of the greatest acts of statesmans.h.i.+p that any president ever performed.

The old charge that this was a result of a deal between Southern Democrats who were peacefully to permit Hayes to become President in return for relieving them of military rule, he terms an invention of the politicians and radical friends of the Negro. He maintains that before Hayes ever became a candidate for the presidency it was well known that he held such views favorable to the South.

The reader should bear in mind here that this theory of Mr. Burgess is in keeping with his radical position that the Negro being inferior and unfit for citizens.h.i.+p he should have been left at the mercy of the white man who wanted to enslave him. Here as in all of Mr. Burgess's Reconstruction discussions he sees only one side of the question. The white man should be supreme and the Negro should merely have freedom of body with no guarantee that even this would not be of doubtful tenure. Reconstruction studies will always be valueless as long as they are prosecuted by men of biased minds.

ORVILLE HOLLIDAY.