Historical Romance of the American Negro

When Mrs. Sutherland had done speaking as above, she resumed her seat amidst a scene of great enthusiasm. Indeed the whole audience was worked up to a pitch of great excitement. The glee club now advanced to the front, and gave us one of their best songs, which was most heartily enjoyed by every person present.

The reverend chairman now rose to his feet, and thus addressed the immense assembly:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: – Just think upon the glorious speech to which we have listened, and the unanswerable arguments of the beautiful and accomplished speaker! There are wonderful changes in store for this nation, and the end is not yet. I will now call upon Mrs. Thomas Lincoln, of Kentucky, to address the house. Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Lincoln."

Although this was my first appearance in public, and though that mighty audience looked formidable enough to scare an African lion or royal Indian tiger, still my own mind was firmly made up to brook no failure, and I proceeded to speak as follows:

"My good Christian friends of the North: I bless and magnify the Lord this famous night, not only because I am permitted to address you, but because I am even free. It is very true that in yonder great slave land my lines fell to me in pleasant places; but after all, though I figured as 'The Flower-Girl of Riverside Hall,' I was no more in the eyes of the 'peculiar institution,' ridiculously so called, than a pampered and favored greyhound with a gold chain around his neck! (Loud laughter.) That golden chain marked me for a slave, although it was my privilege, upon grand occasions, to become an ornament to grace my owner's triumph among his visitors, just like any other fragile vase set upon a mantelpiece. (More laughter). Upon those grand occasions our masters used to bring out the finest wines, richest fruits and rarest delicacies of the whole earth. The land and the sea were ransacked to find dainties for the glorious lords and ladies of the South, to set before their guests far more than the lords and dukes and barons of Europe and Asia ever even attempted to display. At our grand banquets it was my duty to pour out the wine, and assist in a general way in the dining-room, as the necessity of the moment might require. Then nature has endowed me with a voice for music, and as I am fond of singing, I had to obey, whenever I was bid, by giving them some of our Southern songs to the accompaniment of the grand piano, and even play for the company whenever they wanted to dance. (Loud applause from the young people). But I am bound to confess that often in the midst of these grand pastimes, when I deemed it prudent to look pleasant, and even to smile sweetly for the purpose of concealing my real thought, I was longing and praying for freedom, and regarded myself as no more than that aforementioned chained greyhound among other greyhounds that were free. (Cheers from the audience). I could not forget that at that very hour there were good men and women of color, down in the slave quarter, dressed in little more than sackcloth, stretching their weary limbs for the night upon their miserable beds, after a miserable meal of coarse cornbread, and a swallow of tea or coffee, perfect dish water, besides other stuff not fit for a horse or a dog to feed on! In the slave quarter there lay the best of men and women, of whom this world is not worthy, and here we were in the ball-room, abandoned to the dance as if there were no suffering in the world, much less not many yards away from the place where all our revelry was going on. Was it wonder, then, as my fingers flew over the piano, that I internally prayed, 'O my Good Lord, set me free! Set me free! and take me away from all this shallow and hollow mockery!' I had a tremendous presentiment, which I could not keep down, that the Lord God Almighty would yet visit the South for all this, and give our great lords and masters, on some near future day, the field of battle whereon they could show off their talents, instead of robbing and murdering the oppressed African, and thus living at his expense. O my God, it was too much! (Great cheering).

"I was still very young. It was only spring when I was seventeen, when the Bishop and his wife were invited to our house. They were to be our guests during a great religious gathering at Louisville. I felt a sudden inspiration to make a rush for liberty, now or perhaps never. Besides, slavery is so uncertain, and as it is usually the unexpected thing that happens on their estates and plantations, if you don't take time by the forelock when you can, you may never have so good a chance again. I will leave it to my kind and gallant Tom to tell you how we got away; because I think that was the luckiest day in my whole life – unless, indeed, I consider also the day that my own dear mother and I sailed from New Orleans on the Columbia. There are great days in the lives of individuals as well as in the lives of nations, and I feel a heavenly presentiment in my own heart and soul that a great war is impending upon this nation, and that Almighty God will send it to set His people free. We are the Lord's own people, and we pray to Him every day. He has promised, many a time, in His holy word, to hear our prayers, and He does hear our prayers, and there are thousands and millions of prayers sent up to heaven every day to the throne of mercy that God would set the captives free. The North and South between them, may pass 'Fugitive Slave Bills,' and plan and scheme to keep the curse of slavery going till the end of time, if they like; but at the same time this world belongs to the great Lord of heaven and earth, and He will hear all the prayers of the oppressed before much more time rolls over our heads, for He is sure to set our people free.

"I have been studying what I can to help on the good cause of emancipation, abolitionism, or by whatsoever name you may call it – I mean in this campaign that is now raging and at fever heat all along the Northern states, and from ocean to ocean. I am willing to do all I can to help the cause of the oppressed and terribly down-trodden slave. I am willing to place my services at the command of the managing committee in these parts, and to speak, to play, and to sing, and do my best in every way for the good cause. (Loud applause all over the hall). Fred. Douglass, and William Lloyd Garrison, and Henry Ward Beecher, and many others of the 'big guns' will be coming around; and perhaps even Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe herself. I think she, at least, ought to pay us a visit, for if any free colored person in the South is detected with her 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' in his possession, that person may be sent to prison for twelve months. Now I myself managed to read 'Uncle Tom,' even in slavery. So did my honored mother and husband – all here present before you – and Mr. Jackson, our owner, could have been fined so much apiece for us three, had the State of Kentucky been made aware of the fact! (Loud ironical cheers and great laughter by the whole house). In a campaign like this, we must all put our shoulders to the wheel, and give a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together; and each and every one of us must do all we can to bring the abominations of slavery to an end. 'There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will.' Such are the words of Shakespeare. We also are rough-hewing the cause of freedom for the slave. The divinity of heaven will give the proper shape and finish to these ends of ours.

"As I have myself already drunk so deeply of the fountain of liberty, I think it is my bounden duty to do all I can to help on that good cause that lies so near all our hearts. And yet I do not see that I can do much more, when I have done my best, than to aid in heaping more fuel upon the top of the fire now raging, and thus assist in firing the Northern heart. Other weak women, besides me, have worked wonders in forwarding the cause of freedom and of God. Several of the greatest heroines of history are mentioned in both the Old and New Testament. One of the very first who was mentioned is Miriam, who led forth the women with timbrels and with dances at the Red Sea, for she commanded the people 'to praise the Lord, because He had done gloriously; the horse and the rider He had cast into the sea.' Then we come to the case of the brave and valiant Deborah, the most conspicuous of all the heroines of the Bible, for she led the Jewish nation to the war, and placed herself at the head of her volunteers on the mountains of Israel. So long as freedom and liberty are held sacred in this world, so long shall the name of the victorious and intrepid Deborah be ever green. (Loud applause). Another famous heroine of history was Boadicea, the Queen of the Britons, who placed herself at the head of her army and fought with the Romans. Then we have the burning and shining example of Joan d'Arc, who led on the armies of France, and cleared that country of the English invaders. Nor must we forget the intrepidity and courage of Her Majesty Elizabeth, Queen of England, who placed herself at the head of her troops when her native isle was threatened with invasion by the Spanish Armada. Such women were – each one of them – worth a hundred thousand men, not so much for what they could do in themselves, but because they greatly assisted in firing the national heart, and urging on the hosts of men to war.

"Now, I am not saying that I myself will make a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, or an Elizabeth; but there are already in this campaign several heroic American women, who are doing yeoman service on behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed African, and if they can do something in this good cause, so can I. (Loud shouts of 'Yes, yes! so you can! Hurrah for Mrs. Lincoln!') I am at least willing to do my best in talking, in singing and in striking the dulcet chords of music, and wherein I may happen to fall short, others will atone for my deficiencies. Let the work go on! Let us lay the axe to the roots of this deadly and devilish upas tree! Let slavery be shaken to its lowest foundations, and be driven into the Gulf of Mexico! Forward, ye brave! And even if war itself must come, let it come, and even we women will go to the field!"

With the last exhortation, I resumed my seat, when the audience rose to their feet and cheered, and almost made me blush at the results of my own small efforts. When the excitement had abated, and the audience was in readiness to hear the next speaker, the Rev. Dr. Henderson arose once more and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen: – After the eloquent and stirring address we have heard from the wife, we shall now look forward with much pleasure to an address from that noble and gallant husband who safely piloted both himself and her out of slavery, as we plainly see here before us to-night. I beg to introduce to you Mr. Thomas Lincoln!"

Tom arose at once, and as he advanced towards the footlights, he pulled down his vest and cleared his throat in the masculine fashion, the audience in the meanwhile cheering loudly, after which he proceeded to speak as follows:

"My right good Christian friends: – It is with no small pleasure that I appear before you to-night to give you some of my sentiments, veins and opinions on the coming war in this country. (Sensation). I firmly believe that a war is impending over us, as I believe that there is a God of vengeance and of justice. Look at the millions and billions of money that the Southern chivalry have piled up, and they are piling it up still, at the expense of the poor, oppressed and enslaved African! And shall a sinful nation indeed escape from blood-red crimes like these? I am neither a prophet by profession, nor the son of a prophet, but even a child can understand that the funeral bell of slavery will be tolled before long, and depend upon it, ye young men! both you and I will be called into the field, and we will all be needed to pull down that most abominable and 'peculiar institution!' (Loud applause).

"Though neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, I affirm that a day is coming, and is now on the home stretch, indeed, when you young men and I will not be permitted to stay at home and dally with the apron strings of our mothers and sweethearts, but we will have to march to the field. We will then make it manifest what we men of Africa can dare and can do. I shall be quite willing to go for one, when the South, in her frantic anger, will secede; I am willing to do all I can for my own country, and if those who are soldiers themselves never come home, we, at least, will clear the great national gangway for coming generations, and the glories that are to follow! (Loud cheers).

"I suppose that some of our friends on the other side of the fence will begin to tell us here that the colored man will not fight, and that there is neither pluck nor courage in him. We shall certainly be told a hundred thousand times that there is no fighting in him, and that he was never intended for anything but a docile slave! Such persons who say so have never read even the A B C of history; for colored men fought quite as well as white men on many a hard-fought field, both in the War of the Revolution, and in the War of 1812; and what we did once, and did well, we can do again, and do better, and with a better motive, too, because we will be fighting for our own complete emancipation, and to put an end, once for all, to slavery in the United States, and purge the nation of a great crime. (Loud applause throughout the hall).

"I need not go back in history to prove the bravery of the African race, for this is a well-known fact, and the very school-books are full of it. The bravery of the slave is one of the main reasons why the slave-holders make such stringent laws in attempting to perpetuate their iniquitous system. They know our prowess, and the risks they would run in the case of a general rising, and therefore they exercise double caution in order to keep down even the slightest attempts at insurrection. But for all that, there is not the slightest doubt in my own mind that they will go out of the Union, as they have been promising us to do for the last fifty years, if they cannot get their own way! In all their plans, schemes and calculations, this slave-holding oligarchy have thrown the Almighty overboard, and every sacred right of the human race. They have treated the wronged and oppressed African as if he had neither rights nor feelings, and, indeed, as if he were not a human being at all. But there is a day coming, and it will soon be here, when the Great Creator of the entire human race will call an imperative halt to all this, and go into this war as we may, we will come out with four millions of people who will be redeemed from the yoke and curse of Southern bondage. (Loud cheers).

"I did not intend to make a lengthy address. I only wished to point out that we are drifting into war, and my own willingness to lend a hand to liberate the oppressed slave."

Tom now resumed his seat amidst great applause. The audience, though taken by surprise by his speech, were greatly delighted, because of his willingness to go to the field.

The reverend chairman now called on the glee club to give us some more of their musical compositions and campaign songs. These were given with a hearty good will, so that the enthusiasm of the audience rose higher and higher. The newspaper reporters were also kept busy, and a good account of the proceedings of this very successful abolition meeting was found in several of the papers next morning, and very extensively read. Before we scattered for the night, the Rev. Doctor Henderson arose, and made the following closing remarks to the audience:

"Ladies and gentlemen: We have all listened to a rare treat this night. Just think of it! The South calls these two ladies and this gentleman their 'goods and chattels,' and for the very life of me I do not see how a war can be avoided, and then we shall know what their so-called goods and chattels will do when the storm shall burst upon us in all its fury. No, no! I do not see how a war is to be avoided, for the passions of both the North and the South are being worked up in precisely the same way as is usual in quarrels between individuals, and no doubt but it will all end by coming to blows in a terrible conflict.

"In the meantime it is our duty to keep agitating as never before. It is a perfect outrage on humanity to hold in bondage such refined persons as these three here present to-night. We must agitate this great question, night and day, till the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. I now call for a vote of thanks to Mrs. John B. Sutherland, and to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lincoln. Let three rousing cheers be given for them!"

The audience rose to their feet, gave three cheers and a tiger, and the great demonstration came to an end.

CHAPTER V

The Negro's Complaint – John Brown's Raid – The Secession of the Southern States – Battle of Milliken's Bend – Battle at Fort Hudson – The Effect of the Emancipation Proclamation on this Nation and the Entire Christian World.

As my indulgent readers would perhaps like to know the lines of "The Negro's Complaint," which were sung so beautifully by the campaign glee club that night at the great meeting at Buffalo, I will here insert them. They were written by the Honorable William Cowper, of England, and directed against British slavery in the West Indies, and the slave trade generally. They apply with such force and truth to that self-same blood-red crime as carried on by the United States that they are worthy of being committed to memory by every true lover of poetry in the English language throughout the world.

THE NEGRO'S COMPLAINTForced from home and all its pleasures,Africa's coast I left forlorn,To increase a stranger's treasuresO'er the raging billows borne.Men from England bought and sold me,Paid my price in paltry gold;But, though theirs they have enrolled me,Minds are never to be sold.Still in thought as free as ever,What are England's rights? I ask;Me from delights to sever,Me to torture, me to task?Fleecy locks and dark complexionCannot forfeit nature's claim;Skins may differ, but affectionDwells in white and black the same.Why did all-creating natureMake the plant for which we toil?Sighs must fan it – tears must water,Sweat of ours must dress the soil.Hark! Ye masters, iron-hearted,Lolling at your jovial boards —Think how many backs have smartedFor the sweets your cane affords!Hark! He answers. Wild tornadoesStrewing yonder seas with wrecks,Wasting towns, plantations, meadows,Are the voice with which he speaks;He, foreseeing what vexationsAfric's sons should undergo,Fixed their tyrant's habitationsWhere his whirlwinds answer – No!By our blood in Afric wasted,Ere our necks received the chain,By the miseries we have tastedCrossing in your barks the main;By our sufferings since ye brought usTo the man-degrading mart —All, sustained by patience, taught us,Only by a broken heart.Count our nation brutes no longer,Till some reason ye shall findWorthier of regard, and strongerThan the color of the kind;Slaves of gold, whose sordid dealingsTarnish all your boasted powers,Prove that ye have human feelingsEre ye proudly question ours!

Time passed on, and Tom and I, and Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland, still continued to occupy the same house. The Lord blessed the entire household, and none of us had ever cause to regret the steps we had taken and carried out with such speed. We enlisted heart and soul in the grand anti-slavery movement, and blew the bellows with all our might to help on the good cause of liberty and perfect freedom. The border ruffians in Kansas had been beaten back into the South, which was the first open fight between the two high contending parties. That put the angry South in no good humor. Like an ungovernable, high-strung virago, her temper was up, and she threatened secession, and dreamed of extending a new slave empire around the Gulf of Mexico. The abolitionists of the North were unyielding, and the two sections were drifting into war.

In the midst of so much combustion and heated temper, it would have been remarkable, indeed, if there had been no "flame" that burst out here or there. In all impending struggles and revolutions there is always someone who voices the pent-up feelings of one party or the other, and sometimes of both. On the impulse of the moment, as it were by an act of inspiration, somebody steps out of the ranks, and becomes the leader on his side. The man who led the way on the part of the anti-slavery party, was the famous John Brown, who figured so largely in Kansas, and in 1859 seized upon the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, while he was leading on a handful of white and colored men for the purpose of effecting a general rising of the slaves throughout the South. But the Virginians came pouring down upon him and his little band. Some were killed and wounded; others were missing, and John Brown himself and a few of his followers were hung. Still, John Brown was in the right. He was simply an outgrowth of the times. He regarded the slaves as prisoners, whom it was the duty of any man to set at liberty. They or their forefathers, at least, had been taken captive in Africa, and it – that is, American slavery – was the crying scandal of the entire Christian world. John Brown was one of the abolitionists of the North, and they were responsible for his actions. But the South was alarmed all over its dark domain. From Mason and Dixon's Line to the Rio Grande the news of John Brown's raid flew like wildfire, and the violent temper of the South grew to a white heat. And all the world – both at home and abroad – remarked,

"If one single spark like this can raise such a conflagration, what shall we have when the anti-slavery party shall set their foot into the whole 'business' on a grand scale? If one man at Harper's Ferry can effect such a disturbance, what will ensue when the great overshadowing North will arise in her might, and call for a settlement of the whole question in favor of the oppressed African?"

The war, indeed, was now nearer than before. The South would listen to no compromise nor reason of any kind. The haughty Southern lords would brook no interference. The Northern intruders who touched her "peculiar institution" touched "the apple of her eye." And now for war!

The war came at last, and South Carolina was the state that struck the first blow. Then one state seceded after another, and they set up the "Southern Confederacy," with slavery as its corner-stone. Then the wildest and most tremendous excitement spread over all the great North, and the interest reached even the ends of the earth. For the time being, so great was the national delirium that the great masses of the population seemed to have completely forgotten the glorious cause of abolitionism, the grand doings of the underground railroad, and even the eternal decree of the Most High God that one man should not own property in another. But all the same the deep and thoughtful minds of all thorough-going Christians all over the world could see that this war should not close till every slave was set free. It was Pharaoh and the captive Israelites over again, "Let my people go, that they may serve me."

That which threw the great North into such a state of excitement and alarm was not the slave question at all. The people were concerned over the breaking up of this great united republic, because the establishment of the Southern Confederacy cut the nation in two, and took away from us the middle and lower Mississippi. If the hair is the glory of a woman, as Paul says, the Mississippi river is the glory of the United States. Uncle Sam, therefore, even yet did all he could to induce the seceded states to come home again, and assured them in every possible way that not a finger should be laid upon their slaves, but that they should keep them all! But the haughty South had made up her mind to set up house-keeping for herself, and she thought she could do so even if the worst came to the worst. She had been getting ready for secession for fifty years, and now the crisis had come.

There did not appear to be the slightest idea on either side that more than four years would elapse before the dreadful business would be settled. A call was made by President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men to serve for three months, but a far greater number offered themselves. There were thousands, if not millions, of people who believed that the small affair would be all over in a very little while, and nothing was talked of but marching to Richmond, and winding things up. Then the rebellious leaders would return to their duties, slavery would go on as before, and the Mississippi river would once more flow through our glorious republic – one and undivided, from the headwaters of the same to the Gulf of Mexico.