American Notes for General Circulation

by Dickens, Chales

  to be savage, merciless, and cruel; and of whom every man on his

  own ground, in republican America, is a more exacting, and a

  sterner, and a less responsible despot than the Caliph Haroun

  Alraschid in his angry robe of scarlet.

  The third, and not the least numerous or influential, is composed

  of all that delicate gentility which cannot bear a superior, and

  cannot brook an equal; of that class whose Republicanism means, 'I

  will not tolerate a man above me: and of those below, none must

  approach too near;' whose pride, in a land where voluntary

  servitude is shunned as a disgrace, must be ministered to by

  slaves; and whose inalienable rights can only have their growth in

  negro wrongs.

  It has been sometimes urged that, in the unavailing efforts which

  have been made to advance the cause of Human Freedom in the

  republic of America (strange cause for history to treat of!),

  sufficient regard has not been had to the existence of the first

  class of persons; and it has been contended that they are hardly

  used, in being confounded with the second. This is, no doubt, the

  case; noble instances of pecuniary and personal sacrifice have

  already had their growth among them; and it is much to be regretted

  that the gulf between them and the advocates of emancipation should

  have been widened and deepened by any means: the rather, as there

  are, beyond dispute, among these slave-owners, many kind masters

  who are tender in the exercise of their unnatural power. Still, it

  is to be feared that this injustice is inseparable from the state

  of things with which humanity and truth are called upon to deal.

  Slavery is not a whit the more endurable because some hearts are to

  be found which can partially resist its hardening influences; nor

  can the indignant tide of honest wrath stand still, because in its

  onward course it overwhelms a few who are comparatively innocent,

  among a host of guilty.

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  The ground most commonly taken by these better men among the

  advocates of slavery, is this: 'It is a bad system; and for myself

  I would willingly get rid of it, if I could; most willingly. But

  it is not so bad, as you in England take it to be. You are

  deceived by the representations of the emancipationists. The

  greater part of my slaves are much attached to me. You will say

  that I do not allow them to be severely treated; but I will put it

  to you whether you believe that it can be a general practice to

  treat them inhumanly, when it would impair their value, and would

  be obviously against the interests of their masters.'

  Is it the interest of any man to steal, to game, to waste his

  health and mental faculties by drunkenness, to lie, forswear

  himself, indulge hatred, seek desperate revenge, or do murder? No.

  All these are roads to ruin. And why, then, do men tread them?

  Because such inclinations are among the vicious qualities of

  mankind. Blot out, ye friends of slavery, from the catalogue of

  human passions, brutal lust, cruelty, and the abuse of

  irresponsible power (of all earthly temptations the most difficult

  to be resisted), and when ye have done so, and not before, we will

  inquire whether it be the interest of a master to lash and maim the

  slaves, over whose lives and limbs he has an absolute control!

  But again: this class, together with that last one I have named,

  the miserable aristocracy spawned of a false republic, lift up

  their voices and exclaim 'Public opinion is all-sufficient to

  prevent such cruelty as you denounce.' Public opinion! Why,

  public opinion in the slave States IS slavery, is it not? Public

  opinion, in the slave States, has delivered the slaves over, to the

  gentle mercies of their masters. Public opinion has made the laws,

  and denied the slaves legislative protection. Public opinion has

  knotted the lash, heated the branding-iron, loaded the rifle, and

  shielded the murderer. Public opinion threatens the abolitionist

  with death, if he venture to the South; and drags him with a rope

  about his middle, in broad unblushing noon, through the first city

  in the East. Public opinion has, within a few years, burned a

  slave alive at a slow fire in the city of St. Louis; and public

  opinion has to this day maintained upon the bench that estimable

  judge who charged the jury, impanelled there to try his murderers,

  that their most horrid deed was an act of public opinion, and being

  so, must not be punished by the laws the public sentiment had made.

  Public opinion hailed this doctrine with a howl of wild applause,

  and set the prisoners free, to walk the city, men of mark, and

  influence, and station, as they had been before.

  Public opinion! what class of men have an immense preponderance

  over the rest of the community, in their power of representing

  public opinion in the legislature? the slave-owners. They send

  from their twelve States one hundred members, while the fourteen

  free States, with a free population nearly double, return but a

  hundred and forty-two. Before whom do the presidential candidates

  bow down the most humbly, on whom do they fawn the most fondly, and

  for whose tastes do they cater the most assiduously in their

  servile protestations? The slave-owners always.

  Public opinion! hear the public opinion of the free South, as

  expressed by its own members in the House of Representatives at

  Washington. 'I have a great respect for the chair,' quoth North

  Carolina, 'I have a great respect for the chair as an officer of

  the house, and a great respect for him personally; nothing but that

  respect prevents me from rushing to the table and tearing that

  petition which has just been presented for the abolition of slavery

  in the district of Columbia, to pieces.' - 'I warn the

  abolitionists,' says South Carolina, 'ignorant, infuriated

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  barbarians as they are, that if chance shall throw any of them into

  our hands, he may expect a felon's death.' - 'Let an abolitionist

  come within the borders of South Carolina,' cries a third; mild

  Carolina's colleague; 'and if we can catch him, we will try him,

  and notwithstanding the interference of all the governments on

  earth, including the Federal government, we will HANG him.'

  Public opinion has made this law. - It has declared that in

  Washington, in that city which takes its name from the father of

  American liberty, any justice of the peace may bind with fetters

  any negro passing down the street and thrust him into jail: no

  offence on the black man's part is necessary. The justice says, 'I

  choose to think this man a runaway:' and locks him up. Public

  opinion impowers the man of law when this is done, to advertise the

  negro in the newspapers, warning his owner to come and claim him,

  or he will be sold to pay the jail fees. But supposing he is a

  free black, and has no owner, it may naturally be presumed that he

  is s
et at liberty. No: HE IS SOLD TO RECOMPENSE HIS JAILER. This

  has been done again, and again, and again. He has no means of

  proving his freedom; has no adviser, messenger, or assistance of

  any sort or kind; no investigation into his case is made, or

  inquiry instituted. He, a free man, who may have served for years,

  and bought his liberty, is thrown into jail on no process, for no

  crime, and on no pretence of crime: and is sold to pay the jail

  fees. This seems incredible, even of America, but it is the law.

  Public opinion is deferred to, in such cases as the following:

  which is headed in the newspapers:-

  'INTERESTING LAW-CASE.

  'An interesting case is now on trial in the Supreme Court, arising

  out of the following facts. A gentleman residing in Maryland had

  allowed an aged pair of his slaves, substantial though not legal

  freedom for several years. While thus living, a daughter was born

  to them, who grew up in the same liberty, until she married a free

  negro, and went with him to reside in Pennsylvania. They had

  several children, and lived unmolested until the original owner

  died, when his heir attempted to regain them; but the magistrate

  before whom they were brought, decided that he had no jurisdiction

  in the case. THE OWNER SEIZED THE WOMAN AND HER CHILDREN ITS THE

  NIGHT, AND CARRIED THEM TO MARYLAND.'

  'Cash for negroes,' 'cash for negroes,' 'cash for negroes,' is the

  heading of advertisements in great capitals down the long columns

  of the crowded journals. Woodcuts of a runaway negro with manacled

  hands, crouching beneath a bluff pursuer in top boots, who, having

  caught him, grasps him by the throat, agreeably diversify the

  pleasant text. The leading article protests against 'that

  abominable and hellish doctrine of abolition, which is repugnant

  alike to every law of God and nature.' The delicate mamma, who

  smiles her acquiescence in this sprightly writing as she reads the

  paper in her cool piazza, quiets her youngest child who clings

  about her skirts, by promising the boy 'a whip to beat the little

  niggers with.' - But the negroes, little and big, are protected by

  public opinion.

  Let us try this public opinion by another test, which is important

  in three points of view: first, as showing how desperately timid

  of the public opinion slave-owners are, in their delicate

  descriptions of fugitive slaves in widely circulated newspapers;

  secondly, as showing how perfectly contented the slaves are, and

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  how very seldom they run away; thirdly, as exhibiting their entire

  freedom from scar, or blemish, or any mark of cruel infliction, as

  their pictures are drawn, not by lying abolitionists, but by their

  own truthful masters.

  The following are a few specimens of the advertisements in the

  public papers. It is only four years since the oldest among them

  appeared; and others of the same nature continue to be published

  every day, in shoals.

  'Ran away, Negress Caroline. Had on a collar with one prong turned

  down.'

  'Ran away, a black woman, Betsy. Had an iron bar on her right

  leg.'

  'Ran away, the negro Manuel. Much marked with irons.'

  'Ran away, the negress Fanny. Had on an iron band about her neck.'

  'Ran away, a negro boy about twelve years old. Had round his neck

  a chain dog-collar with "De Lampert" engraved on it.'

  'Ran away, the negro Hown. Has a ring of iron on his left foot.

  Also, Grise, HIS WIFE, having a ring and chain on the left leg.'

  'Ran away, a negro boy named James. Said boy was ironed when he

  left me.'

  'Committed to jail, a man who calls his name John. He has a clog

  of iron on his right foot which will weigh four or five pounds.'

  'Detained at the police jail, the negro wench, Myra. Has several

  marks of LASHING, and has irons on her feet.'

  'Ran away, a negro woman and two children. A few days before she

  went off, I burnt her with a hot iron, on the left side of her

  face. I tried to make the letter M.'

  'Ran away, a negro man named Henry; his left eye out, some scars

  from a dirk on and under his left arm, and much scarred with the

  whip.'

  'One hundred dollars reward, for a negro fellow, Pompey, 40 years

  old. He is branded on the left jaw.'

  'Committed to jail, a negro man. Has no toes on the left foot.'

  'Ran away, a negro woman named Rachel. Has lost all her toes

  except the large one.'

  'Ran away, Sam. He was shot a short time since through the hand,

  and has several shots in his left arm and side.'

  'Ran away, my negro man Dennis. Said negro has been shot in the

  left arm between the shoulder and elbow, which has paralysed the

  left hand.'

  'Ran away, my negro man named Simon. He has been shot badly, in

  his back and right arm.'

  'Ran away, a negro named Arthur. Has a considerable scar across

  his breast and each arm, made by a knife; loves to talk much of the

  goodness of God.'

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  'Twenty-five dollars reward for my man Isaac. He has a scar on his

  forehead, caused by a blow; and one on his back, made by a shot

  from a pistol.'

  'Ran away, a negro girl called Mary. Has a small scar over her

  eye, a good many teeth missing, the letter A is branded on her

  cheek and forehead.'

  'Ran away, negro Ben. Has a scar on his right hand; his thumb and

  forefinger being injured by being shot last fall. A part of the

  bone came out. He has also one or two large scars on his back and

  hips.'

  'Detained at the jail, a mulatto, named Tom. Has a scar on the

  right cheek, and appears to have been burned with powder on the

  face.'

  'Ran away, a negro man named Ned. Three of his fingers are drawn

  into the palm of his hand by a cut. Has a scar on the back of his

  neck, nearly half round, done by a knife.'

  'Was committed to jail, a negro man. Says his name is Josiah. His

  back very much scarred by the whip; and branded on the thigh and

  hips in three or four places, thus (J M). The rim of his right ear

  has been bit or cut off.'

  'Fifty dollars reward, for my fellow Edward. He has a scar on the

  corner of his mouth, two cuts on and under his arm, and the letter

  E on his arm.'

  'Ran away, negro boy Ellie. Has a scar on one of his arms from the

  bite of a dog.'

  'Ran away, from the plantation of James Surgette, the following

  negroes: Randal, has one ear cropped; Bob, has lost one eye;

  Kentucky Tom, has one jaw broken.'

  'Ran away, Anthony. One of his ears cut off, and his left hand cut

  with an axe.'

  'Fifty dollars reward for the negro Jim Blake. Has a piece cut out

  of each ear, and the middle finger of the left hand cut off to the

  second joint.'

  'Ran away, a negro woman named Maria. Has a scar on one side of

  her cheek, by a cut. Some scars on her back.'

  '
Ran away, the Mulatto wench Mary. Has a cut on the left arm, a

  scar on the left shoulder, and two upper teeth missing.'

  I should say, perhaps, in explanation of this latter piece of

  description, that among the other blessings which public opinion

  secures to the negroes, is the common practice of violently

  punching out their teeth. To make them wear iron collars by day

  and night, and to worry them with dogs, are practices almost too

  ordinary to deserve mention.

  'Ran away, my man Fountain. Has holes in his ears, a scar on the

  right side of his forehead, has been shot in the hind part of his

  legs, and is marked on the back with the whip.'

  'Two hundred and fifty dollars reward for my negro man Jim. He is

  much marked with shot in his right thigh. The shot entered on the

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  outside, halfway between the hip and knee joints.'

  'Brought to jail, John. Left ear cropt.'

  'Taken up, a negro man. Is very much scarred about the face and

  body, and has the left ear bit off.'

  'Ran away, a black girl, named Mary. Has a scar on her cheek, and

  the end of one of her toes cut off.'

  'Ran away, my Mulatto woman, Judy. She has had her right arm

  broke.'

  'Ran away, my negro man, Levi. His left hand has been burnt, and I

  think the end of his forefinger is off.'

  'Ran away, a negro man, NAMED WASHINGTON. Has lost a part of his

  middle finger, and the end of his little finger.'

  'Twenty-five dollars reward for my man John. The tip of his nose

  is bit off.'

  'Twenty-five dollars reward for the negro slave, Sally. Walks AS

  THOUGH crippled in the back.'

  'Ran away, Joe Dennis. Has a small notch in one of his ears.'

  'Ran away, negro boy, Jack. Has a small crop out of his left ear.'

  'Ran away, a negro man, named Ivory. Has a small piece cut out of

  the top of each ear.'

  While upon the subject of ears, I may observe that a distinguished

  abolitionist in New York once received a negro's ear, which had

  been cut off close to the head, in a general post letter. It was

  forwarded by the free and independent gentleman who had caused it

  to be amputated, with a polite request that he would place the

  specimen in his 'collection.'

  I could enlarge this catalogue with broken arms, and broken legs,

  and gashed flesh, and missing teeth, and lacerated backs, and bites