xt7f1v5bcs9f https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7f1v5bcs9f/data/mets.xml Tower, Philo. 1856  books b92326t6546s2009 English H. Darrow  : Rochester, NY. Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Slavery --United States. Southern States --Description and travel. Kansas --History --1854-1861. Slavery unmasked: being a truthful narrative of a three years  residence and journeying in eleven southern states, to which is added the invasion of Kansas, including the last chapter of her wrongs. text Slavery unmasked: being a truthful narrative of a three years  residence and journeying in eleven southern states, to which is added the invasion of Kansas, including the last chapter of her wrongs. 1856 2009 true xt7f1v5bcs9f section xt7f1v5bcs9f 
  
  
  
  
SLAVERY UNMASKED:
BEING A

TRUTHFUL
OF

NARRATIVE
A

THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE A N D JOURNEYING IN

E L E V E N SOUTHERN STATES:
TO WHICH IS ADDED

T H E INVASION OF KANSAS,
INCLUDING THE

L A S T C H A P T E R OF H E R BY REV. PHILO

WRONGS. TOWER.

"FIAT

JUSTITIA

RUAT

COELUM."

EOC HESTER:
PUBLISHED BY E. BARROW    B R O T H E R , 05 M A I N A N D 2 ST. P A U L ST8.

1S5G.

  
  
T A B L E O F C ONTENTS.
C H A P T E R I.
T he a uthor starts for the South     A r r i v a l at New Y o r k     Starting E xpedition     W e n t to the Park     Down Broadway     Barnum's M useum     T o the Methodist Book R o o m     Takes the cars tor W ashington     Pauses at Philadelphia for dinner        Starts again at three     Baltimore     A r r i v a l a t Washington     Stopped at t he National     Midnight Promenade     Senator Went to the AVhite H o u s e     I n t r o d u c t i o n to Walbridge     President F i l l -

m o r e     National G a l l e r y     F r a n k l i n ' s Press     Smithsonian Ins t i t u t e     Capitol H i l l     S enate B a l l     T o u r through the buildi n g s     Pictures on the W a l l     V i e w from roof of Capitol     P opulation o f Washington     General aspect of the City     P u b lic B uildings     Public Squares     Slavery     Solomon Northrup     E monson Family     Tragic Scene     Start for R i c h m o n d .

C H A P T E R II.
R ichmond     Its locality, institutions and business a spects     S ituation o f the city     I t s s treets     T he Capitol     City B a l l     M o n u m e n tal C hurch     Water-power     Articles of produce     Slave mart     S lave breeders     Rice grounds     Slave g irl flogged into c riminal i ntercourse with her master     P r e m i u m offered by a m aster to white men for improving the stock of his slaves, &c.     I nternal slave trade     Profits thence accruing     Isaac W illiams' t hrilling n arrative     Dullness of R i c h m o n d     Start for Wilmington, N . C .     P a s s large plantations     Scenes appear antiprogressive     N o r t h Carolina forests     A r r i v a l at W i l m i n g t o n .

C H A P T E R IIL
W ilmington     Its site, locality and institutions     appearance from a d i s t a n c e     I t s population, commerce, hotels, churches     Sab-

  
iv

CONTENTS. b aths here     W e n t to M . E . C hurch S outh     Sacraments     N o c olored pastors here     Number of colored communicants     S abbath desecration     I nhumanity of slave holders     Frightened f ugitive     Hounds upon his track     They tree him     Hounds taught to regard the slave as his natural enemy     Puppies taught to hunt slaves     Torture of young H arry     N egro in the creek     D ogs attack J ohn L ittle. him     Drowned h i m s e l f     T h r i l l i n g narrative of

C H A P T E R IV.
C harleston     Its locality, institutions of blood, groans, &c.     A r r i v a l at Charleston     Promenade through the market     Large commercial c ity     Fort Moultrie     Nullifiers     South Carolina Arsen a l     E arly h istory of Charleston     Shade trees     Dwellings     C hurches     Hotels     scarcity of southern Artists     Classes of s ociety     P o o r whites     Dined with a slaveholder     Slaves let out     M unicipal r egulations     Slave mother's b abe s old from h e r -     S l a v e with an i ron c ollar o n     Lower law inquisition     B eautiful Q uadroon tortured by the inquisitors     Old Austrian l l . i v i i . M I o utdone        Torture of a captured fugitive     Murder of p oor Pompey     B l a c k J e d in the stocks     City gossip     Slave A uction     B oarding with an ex-clergyman     Lady inquisitor     Slaves chief wealth of the south     Dialogue with the slave of a c lergyman     N o St. Clair's or little Eva's     I maginary life of the southerner     The martyred slave     Item of black code Improved inquisitorial tortue     human head stuck upon a pole     T he Charlestonians.

CHAPTER V.
C olumbia     Its situation, institutions, &c.     Start for Columbia     C ountry t hrough which we passed     Carolina s wamps     C olumbia a fine appearing town     The state house     Hotels     Sell m en and women here     No prospect of escape f or the poor slave     Torture of a poor slave woman in the public s treets     R amble to the wooden bridge     B rick y ard     Southern hatred o f Abolitionists     Negro fishing     Dialogue with old M aster came up     Dialogue with a slave mother     fisherman    Incredulity

  
CONTENTS. o f the nah,

V

old woman     Return to Charleston     Start for Savanfields on Savannah river    

G eorgia     Passage     Rice

S outherners read Uncle Tom's Cabin.

CHAPTER VI.
S avannah     Its history, locality, institutions, &c.     Situation of Savannah     Its streets a nd p a r k s     Pulaski House     Old F o r t or b attle ground     The writer's reflections on this field     H essian descendants Anglo     Soldier in the Mexican war     Visited

the garrison with him     Georgia colony and slavery     W esley a nd Whitelield     Patriotic Georgians     C ruel t orture of a slave w oman     Public whipping of a y oung mulatto man     Slavery a nd its apologists     Slaves treated worse here than dumb brutes     F ood of slaves in Georgia     Plantation side view of slavery     S lave huts     Exposure to the beating storms     Wearing a pparel     Master slave     Manner in the midst of his slaves with pistol in one of whipping slaves     Sometimes die under

h and and long knife in the other     Unmerciful flogging of a the lash     Negro sermon     Cathauling     Negro shot down     A frico-American r ace springing up here     Plantation life continued     Jesuits of slavery willing northern apologists     b eastly, b arbarous conduct towards a slave woman     Man tied to a tree and received three hundred lashes     Poor Ike flogged a lmost to death     Business a spects o f Savannah     Slaves have n o b eds     J o h n and the northerner     Col. H.'s plantation     B lood and murder     Murder of Cuffee     Slave burning     R eturn n orth     Storm at sea     Saw a w hale     A r r i v a l at New Y o r k     Take the cars for Cincinnati     A rrival t here.

CHAPTER VII.
C incinnati     Its progress, locality, Fugitive Slave Scenes, &c. &c.     A c hapter on Cincinnati called for     Underground railroads h ere     Liberty and slavery m eet i n open combat     C i n c i n n a t i t he great metropolis of the west     Its situation     Its s treets     I ts Levee     Its public buildings     Cincinnati College     cantile L ibrary     M elodeon H all     M asonic MerH all     B urnet

H o u s e     T h e Cincinnati Observatory     Great Equatorial Tele-

  
vi

CONTENTS. scope     C hurches     Institutions     Western R oom     Commerce     Trade of the city     Methodist Book

Manufactures    

P opulation     U nderground railroad     Stock increasing     The w riter's stand here     Underground railroad company     k indness o f F riend O badiah, the superintendent     conversation with the fugitives     Rev. Mrs. II. one of the conductors     H e r escape from the blood-hounds of Kentucky     Rebecca, Obadiah's c ompanion     Colored orphan asylum     Slave hunters all round     B lack Robert begging for the freedom of his wife     Missis" s ippi slave woman     B o w she escaped     Introduction to the f ugitives     Dialogue with them     Arrest of five fugitives and m urder of a c hild     T he inquest on the c hild     T he o bject o f t he habseas c orpus     The slave mother Margaret     The slave m other Margaret taken down south again     Slave case     c urious developments    The mail boat for Louisville     A r r i v a l t here.

C H A P T E R VIII.
L o u i s v i l l e     I t s position, locality, and institutions     Landing s cene     F inding a b oarding house     Louisville a large city     Has a g reat business aspect     Many eastern men here     Cassius M . droviers C lay a mong the Kentuckiaus     Slavery here     Negro

    R ev. Mr. K i n g     A n apostate m inister     Colored church     H eard a n egro sermon     Dialogue with black S a m     Cassius M . C lay's opinion of slavery     Kentucky chivalry     U . S. AustrioAmerican d espotism.

CHAPTER IX.
Passage to New Orleans     The Ohio     New A l b a n y     S a l t River     F irst e vening in the saloon     Slavery on one side and freedom o n the other     Get upon the shoals     Religious tracts     H a d s acred music on Sundays     Cairo and the Mississippi     Southerners aboard     Northerner going m erchant M emphis     Fugitive sold here d rowned     Vicksburg     to Texas     Presbyterian of A l a b a m a     N e w Y o r k e r     F u g i t i v e in irons     on the auction block     Casper church     Gamblers hung    

H auser     Chickasaw bluffs     Slave camp     Arkansas     Man Slave

  
CONTENTS. G rand G u l f     I r i s h m a n B aton Rouge     B a y o u drowned     N a t c h e z     R o d

vii River    

Placquemine     B a y o u L a Fouchie    

D onaldsonville     B r o a d Mississippi     Pass a large ship     Carrollton     F irst s ight of rotunda of the St. Charles     A forest of masts     A forest of s moke p ipes     Enter New Orleans.

CHAPTER
N ew Orleans     Its ment     mixed

X.
Levee     Its panoramic proper        

masses     T he

scenes     S ituation of the city     Its length     Levee embankOld s treets     P ublic Squares     Old city T hree municipalities     Its boat navigation     Its commerce

P ublic b uildings     De Soto     Character of New Orleans a century a go     Its character now     Algiers     Marine Bospital     Y ellow Fever     Cypress Grove Cemetery     Marks of the stroyer     Population     New L ouisiana s old to the United S tates     S ources of disease de    Orleans under the Spaniards    

R eign of Terror     Black Bob sent off to starve     Slave auction     H arry H i l l     M urder of stubborn B i l l     F ollow the gang to t heir quarters     E n t e r the y oung Quadroon     Sale s cene b etween J a c k and his large room     Sir H y e n a     The     of J a c k to a clergyman     Parting

wife     Anniversary of battle

B attle F ield     M ysteries of New Orleans     Southern amalgamation     S lave girls as bed companions     A father hires a white y oung man to marry his quadroon daughter     M a n sold his w hole family     Free colored people     Intelligent colored ladies     F andango ball     Seven slaves hung     Old man chained     o n his k n e e s     W o m a n m aster     Miss J ulia Iv., d eath at the whipped to death     B o b killed by his of Kentucky     W o m a n whipped to

stake g ave b irth to child at same t ime     Chain whipping     down whipping    

g ang of women     Pious slaveholding l a d i e s     W o m a n     S lave marriage     iron collar     Break S lave barracoons     Quadroons bought

for bed companions

H ouses of assignation     Low brothels     Kept mistresses.

CHAPTER XI.
P oor whites     Number of slaveholders     B e Bow     Maryland, V i r g i n i a a nd the District of Columbia     Non-slaveholding whites

  
V III

CONTENTS.     H ow r egarded south     M . T raver     D istressing picture     W hite l a b o r     M r . Taylor's views     W m . Gregg, E s q .     W hite p opulation o f S outh Carolina     G ov. Hammond     N o m anufacturies South     L ow wages S outh     R ichmond Dispatch     I gnorance o f S outhern whites     S outhern Agriculture rude a nd s hiftl e s s     Poor whites are h unters     M r. Montgomery o n C otton     E migrants from slave to free states     W hite population o f free states d ouble to that o f slave states     E xtension o f a rea o f s lavery n o benefit to the s laves.

CHAPTER XII.
T he effects o f s lavery o n l abor     F ree labor v s. slave labor     C e n B U S o f 1850     S lavery stagnates p rogress     C ontrast     P e n n sylvania a nd V irginia     O hio and Kentucky     D e B ow's compendium     S lavery retards natural increase o f p opulation     B epreeiates value o f l and     W astes t he r esources o f a c ommunity        I n fifty years V irginia s unk four d egrees     O hio accumulates wealth     K entucky remains poor     N ine northern states h ave a t otal area o f o nly 134,556 s quare miles     T e n s outhern states a n a rea 42*7,979.

CHAPTER XHI.
S outhern morality and ruffianism     B lood, blood, blood     F earful r evelations, & c.     B urning o f a h uman being     N egro burned to death     A n e ditor killed     D uel fought     S hooting o f R ees S lurry     F ather shot h is d aughter     M urder o f F r a n k H yatt     P . C. B uthell stabbed     B owie knife fight     M r. H a r ris b utchered     A son c ut his father's head open with a n axe    Brother m urdered h is sister     W ife s tabbed     F ive slaves hung     D uel i n N orth Carolina     L y n c h law     B r u t a l Murder     T . J ones killed b y his own son     A trocious Murder     N egro w oman killed b y her s on-in-law     D ouble murder     A M onster     B loody d e e d     D u e l fought b y two b oys     J o h n Casena killed b y h is wife     B loody fight v s. s outhern chivalry     M urder a nd n egro hanging     M a n a nd wife murdered b y a slave     H orrible t ragedy     M urder o f an o verseer     B urning o f a N egro     S lave whipped to death     S lave g irl m urdered b y h er mistress

  
CONTENTS.

Lx

    L ynch law in V irginia     D esperate affray     Murder in Memplus     F atal affair     Negro fight     Suieide of a slave mother a nd h er two children     Brutality of a slave g irl     A p lanter k illed b y his negro overseer     H o r r i d A ffair in Missouri     F . D embriski s hot     N egro killed by an Overseer     N egress m urdered her O rleans. Master     Duellist     B l o o d and rulfinism in New

CHAPTER XIV.
S lavery and the Sabbath     Southern Sabbath desecration     Shocking to a New Englander     Sabbath in Charleston     Sabbath a h oliday     S abbath in New Orleans     Horse racing on Sunday     T heatres open Authorities sanction it     Washington Society B all     M asked Balls     G r a n d Balloon Ascension     P o n chartraiu b all room for white persons Sunday and Quadroons M ondays, &c.     A ssemblage o f lewd women     Prostitutes m asked     W omen a dmitted free     Masked wives and husbands     B ull F ight     B ull f ight described     Appearance in the r ing     C onsumptive g amester d ied in a cock pit     Sabbath working     P u b l i c Market.

CHAPTER

XV.
N umber of s laves o wned

S lavery and Religion     Physical cruelties of slavery     Social evils     R eligious instructions of s laves     _ b y c l e r g y     V a l u a t i o n of this c leric.il h uman s t o c k     P a g a n Rome o utdone     Object of slave culture     Extent of slave culture     Slave privileges a mockery     Slave piety vs. auction block Albert Barns         S lave Missionary     Southern ecclessiastical report     Slaveholders piety     Preaching to s l a v e s     R e v . Slave L ooseness of Slave holding churches     Intemperance south     communion at Savannah     Slave religion     Butler's Island     B aptizing slaves     D r . Nelson     Synod of South Carolina     S ome s laves r eally pious.

CHAPTER XVI.
S pirit o f slavery     Its influence upon 1* the slave holders     Influence o f institutions upon the people     S lavery a state o f war

  
X

CONTENTS.         Type of southern manners     S o u t h e r n politeness the polished     c overing of slavery     Aristocratic bearing of slaveholders     C ross his path and he is a tiger     Bully Brooks     r ich s outherners n ever hung    Southerners almost universally carry arms     Often s hoot e ach other     D r . Graham     Improvidence of southerners     S outhern profusion vs. generosity     Southern penuriousncss     S outherners anii-progressive     Southern idleness     Slaveholders lack energy     Slavery despots     S outherners ignorant     S outhern hospitality hollow hearted     Southern gambling     D runkenness     Colored gamblers     Tarty politics.

CHAPTER XVII.
S outhern tourists versus slavery Apologists     Free states k nowledge o f slavery through northern tourists     Of pleasure whom are three Third, classes     F irst, 11 i nvalids     Second, takers    

A gents, Artists, &c.     Jlr. II

,     The writer's talk with Mr.

, after his return North     C lerical a pologists for slavery

    H is pay for it     His relation to author of South side view of s lavery     Southern hospitality a chain-gang plea     Fallacy o f s uch pleas     J ohn the Baptist     Alexander the tyrant     Chief J ustice Henderson     N . P. Rogers     S tage d river     T hompson     Judge Durells     Apologists of slavery George would'nt and

b e a slave     Epps, Lagree & Co.,     Slaves have feelings affections like other men.

CHAPTER

XVIII.

S lavery in Free States     E cclesiastical and political slavery     Great O utrage     The letter of a clergyman respecting himself     Rev. T . B . McCormick     A m eeting     native Kentuckian minister Brown     of a C u m Indignation berland Presbyterian church     Thomas

$500 B ribe to an Indiana Sheriff     Under-ground of Kentucky     Said Rev. Mc-

r ailroad business a grave offence     U nchurched a minister for e ngaging in it     Gov. Powell Cormick n ot only expelled from the church, but driven out of his state b y the slave power     Quaker bottom Virginians cross over i nto Ohio and break up an an anti-slavery meeting     Clubs and axes u sed     Several quiet people wounded.

  
CONTENTS.

xi

CHAPTER
K ansas, its invasion     The

XIX.
and

last chapter of her wrongs     Missouri

ruffians     Law and order men     Depredations by the law

o rder radians     Twelve pound Howitzer     Shrewdness of Mr. B uffum     F ree state l adies of Lawrence, patriotism of seventysix     Ladies carrying powder into Lawrence     Gen. Robinson's l aconic reply to a s ummons to surrender     Take them by instalments     M urder of Mr. Barber     F ranklin     M arshal Jones 700 armed     Sent into a Ruffian camp     Gov. Shannon         men in c a m p     D i s a r m i n g s t r a n g e r s     N o r t h e r n editor disWestern

M issourian lire     Abolitionists     Blue bellied Yankee     Gen. P omeroy attacked     Dialogue with the ruffians     Judge J o h n son lynched     Odd Fellowship     Rev. Gentleman g oes to K a n pas     Mobbed and sent d own the Mississippi on a raft     T arred a nd Feathered     Sacking of Lawrence     F ranklin B eginning of the end     Rein turn to Kansas     Mobbed by South Carolinians     Gen. T u t     d anger     The Cox h oax     Jefferson     yet

o n the bench     A n a r c h y and Revolution     Henry W a r d Beecher's rifles     $ 150,000 p lundered and destroyed at Lawrence J enkins     J effrey's Lecompte     Old revolutionary spirit A rrest of G. W . B r o w n     D r . Cutler     Mrs. B r o w n and Mrs. a live     Beecher's bibles     Record of Kansas ruffianism     Illegal

v oters     P rinting offices d estroyed     Murders     Unlawful arrests     P retended laws     I ncidents of the glorious victory     L etter from a grand J u r o r     N o e xcuse f or destroying Lawrence     Rapes     Stringfellow     M urder and in a s tore     H orses e xodus stolen     R e d F lag o f the pirates     Mr. C h a p i n     A ppeal of Mr. B r o w n Robberies     The s topped     United States t roops at Topeka     Pro-slavery men ordered to l eave the t erritory     V olunteers for Kansas.

  
  
AUTHOR'S P R E F A C E .
T H E a uthor i s a c lergyman o f one of the E vangelical N orthern Churches. Being somewhat disabled b y t wenty years' pulpit labor, h e s ought t he s outhern c limate i n w hich t o recuperate h is w asted energies. T o accomplish which h e engaged i n s everal light agencies leading h i m through portions o f e leven slave states, keeping h i m south nearly three years. U n l i k e h is b rother tourist, author o f S O U T H S I D E
"VIEW O P S L A V E R Y , " h e was a colonizationist, and

o ccupied strong pro-slavery grounds previous t o his s outhern tour. Indeed, t o t hat degree d i d he c arry h is p ro-slavery sentiments, that many worthy members o f h is c hurch were deeply grieved i n consequence thereof, while others for the same reason declared h i m u nworthy to p reach the g ospel. E ntertaining these opinions, he s tarted south, a nd p ublicly p roclaimed them immediately o n a rriving at C harleston, S . C. H e h ad not been long there, however, before h is c onvictions o n the subject became g reatly modified, b y m atter o f fact occurrences which L I F E I N T H E S O U T H f orced upon h is o bservations.

  
XIV

PREFACE.

H a v i n g been solicited b y a n orthern editor to become a w eekly contributor to his paper, h e c omplied, a nd w rote some s ixty numbers, which appeared i n his c olumns under t he c aption o f " S O U T H E R N CORRESP O N D E N T " a nd over the s ignature o f " A R G U S . "

O n a rriving n orth from N e w Orleans, through the a dvice o f s everal clerical friends, t he a uthor was i n duced to t hrow the whole into b ook f orm and give i t to the public. I n a ccomplishing this design, the numhave been r ebers constituting said correspondence

duced to chapters w ith a n a ddition o f e ight new ones, a ll c arefully revised, thus embracing nearly twice the a mount o f r eading matter contained i n the o riginal n umbers. A few selections have been made from the
OF SLAVERY, INSIDE V I E W OF C O D E , & C , SO that out of NORTH SIDE V I E W

S L A V E R Y , f rom the S L A V E

t he mouth o f two or three witnesses every word m ay be established. T he author would b eg to .assure a l l those who may h onor his b ook w ith a p erusal, that they s hall not have been indulging i n fictions; but i n facts, i n r ealities, i n h istory, w ritten o ut i n blood a nd stereotyped w ith tears a nd groans. T hose o f his s outhern friends into whose h ands i t m ay chance to f all, h e w ould assure that h e t akes pleasure i n acknowledging their k i n d attentions to h i m

  
PREFACE.

XV

w hile i n their midst, andrfurtkermore, that no personal a nimosity o r i l l t reatment from any person of persons i n the slave-holding states has influenced his pen i n the least. W ere the plan of this work to allow it, many things m ight be said in favor of southerners and the south, w hich i n these pages w ould appear i ll-timed a nd out o f place. This ground being occupied by S O U T H S I D E V I E W E R S a nd Northern Apologists, i t is not d eemed meet t hat any intrusion should be made upon it. A n d finally, i n as much as the author lays no special churn to l iterary m erit, he would request his readers to be indulgent i n their c riticisms, a nd also to make a l . lowance for the circumstances of time, place, and i l l h ealth o f the author while bringing out the
A vork

; all

of which presented obstacles to be o vercome the reader
k n o w s n ot of.

  
  
INTRODUCTION.
T H E a bility o f nations for self-government, we need s carcely state, is one of the great questions of the nineteenth century. The frequent and stormy discussions o f this subject are prompted by events which follow each other i n such rapid and awful succession as to resemble the tragic scenes o f some c omplicated drama. I n l ooking at the old world, we find governments w hich h ad subsisted undisturbed through long, long c enturies of despotism, now fallen into a state of decrepitude; and i n some instances, their foundations h ave been d estroyed by convulsions, requiring but a s ingle hour comparatively to effect t heir overthrow. C ircumstances of such a character are fearfully ominous to statesmen of the school of Montesquieu, Guizot, a nd M etternich w ho have elaborated upon the philosophy of Monarchy, Republics, and Revolutions, who s agely maintain that republican institutions are only adapted to p oor a nd t hinly i nhabited countries, and that, as the United States of A m e r i c a become r ich a nd p opulous, d emocracy w i l l d ie out and be superceded b y aristocracy and monarchy. To t his, i t is only necessary to remark, that the States of Massachusetts, C onnecticut, and Rhode Island, portions of the U n i o n the wealthiest and most thickly populated,   portions c ompared w ith w hich few districts of Europe stand

  
Is

INTRODUCTION.

v ery greatly ahead, are, at the same t ime, the most t horoughly democratic; having grown so just i n pro. p ortion as wealth has increased, and population m ultiplied   a p henomenon b y no means p eculiar to them, b ut one of which the operation may be traced i n all t he free States of the American U n i o n . T o this fair prospect, h owever, e very freeman is f orced to admit a painful drawback, viz : the unfortunate introduction of A F R I C A N S L A V E R Y . A t first a m ere excrescence u pon the original plan, it has grown i n s everal of the Southern States, both new and old, u ntil i t has become t he most m arked feature and predominating influence i n their social system; introducing into that portion of the American Union, and i ndeed into the administration of the national government, a strange and most i ncongruous mixture of the r epublican system of equal rights, backed by the metaphysical t heory of the natural equality of man, with t he miserable spirit of caste a nd hereditary aristocracy o f birth and race   a state of s ociety e ngendering a l l t hat spirit of c ontempt f or manual labor ; all that spirit o f plunder and domineering insolence and cruelty w hich distinguished the haughty republics of a ntiquity, w ithout their taste, eloquence, a nd artistical a nd warlike renown; and at the same t ime all the h uckstering trickery, sharpness and meanness o f modern m unicipal system, without its equality, industry, w ealth and comfort. N o r can any man yet t ell w hat, as to the entire American Union, the result is to be of t his most d iscordant and incongruous mixture. T he following fact is well known by every histori-

  
INTRODUCTION'.

19

c al student, v i z ; that i n all nations i n which republican government has either not been t ried, o r has u ltimately been overthrown, there has been some r igorous organization of the privileged part which has p roved too strong for the liberty of the whole. Our ancestors, who drew up the Federal C onstitution, w ere n ot only great and wise men, but also w e l l read i n p olitical h istory, and when they inquired for the antagonists t o f reedom against which it would be prudent t o erect safe-guards, they found two to be largely treated of i n the books, v i z : an order of priesthood, a nd a n order of hereditary nobles. Thus instructed, t hey t ook g ood care to provide that no t itle o f " nobility s hall be granted by the U n i t e d States," [Constitution, A r t . 1,    9,] and that Congress " shall m ake no law r especting an establishment of r eligion," [ Amendments, A r t . I.] Unfortunatelj'- for us, however, history g ave t hem no warning i n respect to the subversion of free i nstitutions b y an aristocracy constituted and organized o n the basis of ownership of slaves. Such a revolution was without precedent, and against it accordingly t hey failed t o set up any express constitutional defence. A s a result, A ve are noAV, to s ay the least, i n the last stage of a vigorous attempt at a revolution of that k ind. T he slave-holding oligarchy of these U n i t e d States, c onsisting a ccording to the late census of but three hundred thousand i n a population of twenty-five millions, ( while others on apparently g ood g rounds, believe them to amount to not more than one-third that number,) is a iming to confirm and consolidate beyond recall, that

  
20

INTRODUCTION.

c ontrol over the government of the country, which, f rom an early period, has been passing more and more r apidly i nto its hands. Hence the Reign of Terror n ow desecrating w ith b lood the v irgin s oil of Kansas, a nd the rattle of chains amid the strongholds of freedom at the north, as the captured fugitive is forced b ack into perpetual bondage b y the minions of this despicable oligarchy. Hence the cruel infanticide by f ugitive slave mothers i n northern cities, and the i m prisonment of northern freemen by south-side northern j udges i n northern prisons. There is a tremendous issue to be met i n this country between the descendants o f its revolutionary sires, between the north and the s outh, i n short between republicanism and despotism; a nd the nations of the world are interested sjjectators of the approaching contest. The struggle has a lready commenced, the combatants are i n the field, a nd i t is i n v ain w e at the north cry out that the contest is unseasonable and premature. A d m i t that over zealous and fanatical haste may have precipitated a s truggle which we would gladly have deferred, and, s lumbering out our own time i n quiet, have thrust upon t he days of our children. N o matter. There is no b locking the wheels of destiny i n this t h i n g ; we cannot have our w ay. The trumpet has sounded, and o pposing forces are wheeling into position on the gory f ield. " W e may cry peace, peace, b ut there is no peace." F ight we must, upon one side or the other. A s a bove r emarked, the contest is already begun, and w ill soon become g eneral. I n s uch a struggle it is clearly seen there can be no

  
INTRODUCTION.

2]

n eutrality, a nd it is time to be choosing under what b anner we w i l l m arshal ourselves: whether the ensign o f freedom, or the dark flag of s l a v e y , drenched i n the blood' of murdered bondmen. Republicanism, d emocracy, freedom, & c , are meaning terms i n the N orth, p erfectly familiar to all classes ; a l l have a correct knowledge of their import, or suppose t hey have. B ut despotism, southern despotism, or the despotism o f the slave states, is a thing known at the N o r t h o nly by name, and i n general. Few have seen it and g azed upon it, face to face, i n its own blood-stained l and o f tears and groans; fewer s till h ave studied i t ; w hile the great mass are totally ignorant of its real d ebasing character. B ut w hat is southern despotism, or American s lavery, this curse and incubus of our common country, t his stench i n the nostrils of C hristendom, a nd by-word o f reproach among the heathen? S outhern s lavery can, probably, be best d efined by i ts o wn statute b ook. A t least, we s hall attempt to show it up in this light first, a nd then illustrate by our p ersonal observations made i n eleven slave states. S laveholders cannot, surely, complain of this mode o f t reating i t   cannot complain that the system should be taken to be the very thing which the law of the s lavcholding states have declared it to be, laws framed b y themselves for the very purpose of defending and p rotecting their claims. N o laws were ever framed b y a iry people for the sole p urpose of restraining specific a nd enumerated crimes, unless the instances of s uch crimes had become a ggravated and general

  
22

I NTRODUCTION".

a mong them. The laws of the slave states, therefore, w hich f ix the condition of slavery, for the most part d escribe that condition. A n d even the laws made to r estrain i ts cruelties, bear testimony to their existence. F o r a n i llustration, u nder the item last mentioned: W h e n the laws of South Carolina gravely forbid the masters, under a petty pecuniary penalty, to " cut out the tongues, put out the eyes, or cruelly scald, burn o r deprive any slave of any limb, or murder," and w hen they specify other enormities too gross for the p ublic eye, they proclaim to the world the fac