Part 183

The Underground Railroad was the popular designation given [in the United States] to those systematic and co-operative efforts which were made by the friends of the fleeing slave to aid him in eluding the pursuit of the slave-hunters, who were generally on his track. This 'institution,' as it was familiarly called, played an important part in the great drama of slavery and anti-slavery. By its timely and effective aid thousands were enabled to escape from the prison-house of bondage. … The practical working of the system required 'stations' at convenient distances, or rather the houses of persons who held themselves in readiness to receive fugitives, singly or in numbers, at any hour of day or night, to feed and shelter, to clothe if necessary, and to conceal until they could be despatched with safety to some other point along the route. There were others who held themselves in like readiness to take them by private or public conveyance. … When the wide extent of territory embraced by the Middle States and all the Western States east of the Mississippi is borne in mind, and it is remembered that the whole was dotted with these 'stations,' and covered with a network of imaginary routes, not found, indeed, in the railway guides or on the railway maps; that each station had its brave and faithful men and women, ever on the alert to seek out and succor the coming fugitive, and equally intent on deceiving and thwarting his pursuers; that there were always trusty and courageous conductors waiting, like the 'minute-men' of the Revolution, to take their living and precious freights, often by unfrequented roads, on dark and stormy nights, safely on their way; and that the numbers actually rescued were very great, many counting their trophies by hundreds, some by thousands, two men being credited with the incredible estimate of over 2,500 each,—there are materials from which to estimate, approximately at least, the amount of labor performed, of cost and risk incurred on the despised and deprecated Underground Railroad, and something of the magnitude of the results secured."

_H. Wilson, History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, volume 2, chapter 6._

ALSO IN: _J. F. Clarke, Anti-Slavery Days, chapter 3._

_W. Still, The Underground Railroad._

_M. G. McDougal, Fugitive Slaves (Fay House Monographs, 3)._

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1844. Attempted insurrection in Cuba.

See CUBA: A. D. 1514-1851.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1844-1845. The contest over the annexation of Texas.

See TEXAS: A. D. 1836-1845.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1845-1846. Revolt in the Democratic Party against slavery extension. The Wilmot Proviso.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1854.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1854. Abolition in Venezuela.

See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1829-1886.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1854-1855. Solidification of anti-slavery sentiment in the North. Birth of the Republican Party of the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1854-1855.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1854-1859. The struggle for Kansas.

See KANSAS: A. D. 1854-1859.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1856. Abolition in Peru.

See PERU: A. D. 1826-1876.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1857. The Dred Scott case.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1857.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1859. John Brown at Harper's Ferry.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1859.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1860-1865. The slaveholders' Rebellion in the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER), and after.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1861 (May). The first war-thrust. General Butler declares the slaves to be Contraband of War.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (MAY).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1861 (August). Act of Congress freeing slaves employed in the service of the Rebellion.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (AUGUST).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1861 (August-September). Fremont's premature Proclamation of Emancipation in Missouri, and Lincoln's modification of it.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (AUGUST-OCTOBER: MISSOURI).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. Compensated Emancipation proposed by President Lincoln.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH) PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROPOSAL OF COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. Federal officers forbidden, by the amended Military Code, to surrender fugitive slaves.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MARCH) AMENDMENT OF THE MILITARY CODE.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. Abolition in the District of Columbia and the Territories of the United States.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (APRIL-JUNE).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. General Hunter's Emancipation Order, rescinded by President Lincoln.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MAY) GENERAL HUNTER'S EMANCIPATION ORDER.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. First arming of the Freedmen in the War for the Union.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MAY: SOUTH CAROLINA).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. Gradual Emancipation in West Virginia provided for.

See WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1862 (APRIL-DECEMBER).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862 Act confiscating the property and freeing the slaves of Rebels.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (JULY).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. President Lincoln's preliminary or monitory Proclamation of Emancipation.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (SEPTEMBER).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1862. Abolition in the Dutch West Indies.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1884.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1863. President Lincoln's final Proclamation of Emancipation.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JANUARY).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1864. Repeal of the Fugitive Slave Laws.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (JUNE).

{2930}

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1864. Constitutional abolition of slavery in Louisiana.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863-1864 (DECEMBER-JULY).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1865. Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, forever prohibiting slavery.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (JANUARY).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1865. Abolition in Tennessee by Constitutional Amendment.

See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1865-1866.

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1865. Emancipation of the families of colored soldiers.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MARCH).

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1869-1893. The slave-trade in Africa and the European measures for its suppression.

"While Livingstone was making his terrible disclosures respecting the havoc wrought by the slave-trader in east central Africa, Sir Samuel Baker was striving to effect in north central Africa what has been so successfully accomplished in the Congo State. During his expedition for the discovery of the Albert Nyanza, his explorations led him through one of the principal man-hunting regions, wherein murder and spoliation were the constant occupations of powerful bands from Egypt and Nubia. These revelations were followed by diplomatic pressure upon the Khedive Ismail, and through the personal influence of an august personage he was finally induced to delegate to Sir Samuel the task of arresting the destructive careers of the slavers in the region of the upper Nile. In his book Ismailïa we have the record of his operations by himself. The firman issued to him was to the effect that he 'was to subdue to the Khedive's authority the countries to the south of Gondokoro, to suppress the slave trade, to introduce a system of regular commerce, to open to navigation the great lakes of the equator, and to establish a chain of military stations and commercial depots throughout central Africa.' This mission began in 1869, and continued until 1874. On Baker's retirement from the command of the equatorial Soudan the work was intrusted to Colonel C. G. Gordon—commonly known as Chinese Gordon. Where Baker had broken ground, Gordon was to build; what his predecessor had commenced, Gordon was to perfect and to complete. If energy, determination and self-sacrifice received their due, then had Gordon surely won for the Soudan that peace and security which it was his dear object to obtain for it. But slaving was an old institution in this part of the world. Every habit and custom of the people had some connection with it. They had always been divided from prehistoric time into enslavers and enslaved. How could two Englishmen, accompanied by only a handful of officers, removed 2,000 miles from their base of supplies, change the nature of a race within a few years? Though much wrong had been avenged, many thousands of slaves released, many a slaver's camp scattered, and many striking examples made to terrify the evil-doers, the region was wide and long; and though within reach of the Nile waters there was a faint promise of improvement, elsewhere, at Kordofan, Darfoor, and Sennaar, the trade flourished. After three years of wonderful work, Gordon resigned. A short time afterwards, however, he resumed his task, with the powers of a dictator, over a region covering 1,100,000 square miles. But the personal courage, energy, and devotion of one man opposed to a race can effect but little. … After another period of three years he again resigned. Then followed a revulsion. The Khedivial government reverted to the old order of things. … All traces of the work of Baker and Gordon have long ago been completely obliterated. Attention has been given of late to Morocco. This near neighbor of England is just twenty years behind Zanzibar. … While the heart of Africa responds to the civilizing influences moving from the east and the west and the south, Morocco remains stupidly indifferent and inert, a pitiful example of senility and decay. The remaining portion of North Africa which still fosters slavery is Tripoli. The occupation of Tunis by France has diverted such traffic in slaves as it maintained to its neighbor. Though the watchfulness of the Mediterranean cruisers renders the trade a precarious one, the small lateen boats are frequently able to sail from such ports as Benghazi, Derna, Solum, etc., with living freight, along the coast to Asia Minor. In the interior, which is inaccessible to travellers, owing to the fanaticism of the Senoussi sect, caravans from Darfoor and Wadai bring large numbers of slaves for the supply of Tripolitan families and Senouissian sanctuaries. … The partition of Africa among the European powers [by the Berlin Conference of 1885 and the Anglo-German Convention of 1890] … was the first effective blow dealt to the slave trade in inner Africa.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891.

The east coast, whence a few years ago the slaves marched in battalions to scatter over the wide interior of the continent for pillage and devastation, is to-day guarded by German and British troops. The island of Zanzibar, where they were equipped for their murderous enterprises, is under the British flag. … The final blow has been given by the act of the Brussels Antislavery Conference, lately [1893] ratified by the powers, wherein modern civilization has fully declared its opinions upon the question of slavery, and no single power will dare remain indifferent to them, under penalty of obloquy and shame. … The Congo State devotes her annual subsidies of £120,000 and the export tax of £30,000 wholly to the task of securing her territory against the malign influences of the slave trade, and elevating it to the rank of self-protecting states. The German government undertakes the sure guardianship of its vast African territory as an imperial possession, so as to render it inaccessible to the slave-hunter. … The coast towns are fortified and garrisoned; they [the Germans] are making their advance towards Lake Tanganika by the erection of military stations; severe regulations have been issued against the importation of arms and gun-powder; the Reichstag has been unstinted in its supplies of money; an experienced administrator, Baron von Soden, has been appointed an imperial commissioner, and scores of qualified subordinates assist him. … So far the expenses, I think, have averaged over £100,000 annually. The French government devotes £60,000 annually for the protection and administration of its Gaboon and Congo territory."

_H. M. Stanley, Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa (1893). _

ALSO IN: _R. F. Clarke, Cardinal Lavigerie and the African Slave Trade, part 2._

SLAVERY: Modern: Negro: A. D. 1871-1888. Emancipation in Brazil.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1871-1888.

{2931}

SLAVES AND GLADIATORS, Rising of the.

See SPARTACUS, RISING OF.

SLAVONIC PEOPLES: Start--------

SLAVONIC PEOPLES AND LANGUAGE.

"The name under which the Slavonians appear in ancient literature is generally Venedi or Veneti. … This name, unknown to the Slavonians themselves, is that by which the Teutonic tribes have from the first designated these their eastern neighbours, viz. Wends, and the use of this appellation by the Roman authors plainly shows that their knowledge of the Slavonians was derived only from the Germans. The Old German form of this name was Wineda, and Wenden is the name which the Germans of the present day give to the remnants of a Slavonic population, formerly large, who now inhabit Lusatia, while they give the name of Winden to the Slovens in Carinthia, Carniola and Styria. … If the Slavonians themselves ever applied any common name to the whole of their family, it must most probably have been that by which we now are accustomed to call them, Slavs, or Slavonians; its original native form was Slovene. … The most ancient sources from which we derive a knowledge of the Wends or Slavonians, unanimously place them by the Vistula. From that river, which must have formed their western frontier, they extended eastward to the Dnieper, and even beyond. To the south the Carpathians formed their boundary. To the north they perhaps crossed the Dwina into the territory afterwards known as Novgorod. In the extensive woods and marshes which cover these remote tracts the Slavonians seem to have dwelt in peace and quiet during the first centuries after Christ, divided into a number of small tribes or clans. … It was not long, however, before their primitive home became too narrow for the Slavs, and as their numbers could no longer be contained within their ancient boundaries—and, perhaps, compelled to it by pressure from without—they began to spread themselves to the west, in which direction the great migrations of the fourth and fifth centuries had made abundant room for the new immigrants. By two different roads the Slavs now begin to advance in great masses. On the one side, they cross the Vistula and extend over the tracts between the Carpathian mountains and the Baltic, right down to the Elbe, the former Germanic population of this region having either emigrated or been exhausted by their intestine contests and their deadly struggle with the Roman empire. By this same road the Poles, and probably also the Chekhs of Bohemia and Moravia, reached the districts they have inhabited since that period. In the rest of this western territory the Slavonians were afterwards almost exterminated during their bloody wars with the Germans, so that but few of their descendants exist. The other road by which the Slavonians advanced lay to the south-west, along the course of the Danube. These are the so-called South-Slavonians: the Bulgarians, the Servians, the Croatians, and farthest westward, the Slovens."

_V. Thomsen, Relations between Ancient Russia and Scandinavia, lecture 1._

"A controversy has been maintained respecting the origin of the name [Slave]. The fact that … it has become among ourselves a synonyme of servitude, does not of course determine its real meaning. Those who bear it, naturally dignify its import and themselves by assigning to it the signification of 'glory';—the Slavonians to themselves are, therefore, 'the glorious race.' But the truth seems to be, that 'Slava' in its primitive meaning, was nothing but 'speech,' and that the secondary notions of 'fama,' 'gloria,' followed from this, as it does in other tongues. ['If I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.' I. Corinthians, xiv. 11.]. … Slave or Slavonian was, therefore, nothing more than the gentile appellative, derived from the use of the national tongue, and intended as antithetical to 'foreigner.' In the ancient historic world, the Slaves played an insignificant part. Some have identified them with the Scythians of Herodotus. … Like the Celts, they seemed destined to be driven into corners in the old world."

_J. G. Sheppard, The Fall of Rome, lecture 3._

See SLAVE: ORIGIN, &c.

"The Wendic or Slav group [lingual] … came into Europe during the first five centuries of our era; it is divided into two great branches, Eastern and Western. The first includes Russian, Great Russian in West Central Russia; Little Russian, Rusniac, or Ruthene in the south of Russia and even into Austria, … Servian, Croatian, Slovenic, and Bulgarian, of which the most ancient form is to the whole group what Gothic is to the German dialects; modern Bulgarian is, on the contrary, very much altered. … The western branch covered from the 7th to the 9th century vast districts of Germany in which only German is now known: Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony, Western Bohemia, Austria, Styria, and Northern Carinthia. Though now much restricted, it can still boast numerous dialects; among others the Wendic of Lusatia, which is dying out, Tzech or Bohemian, which is very vigorous (ten millions), of which a variety, Slovac, is found in Hungary; lastly, Polish (ten millions)."

_A. Lefèvre, Race and Language, pages 239-240._

See, also: ARYANS; SARMATIA; and SCYTHIANS.

SLAVONIC PEOPLES: 6-7th Centuries. Migrations and settlements.

"The movements of the Avars in the sixth century [see AVARS] seem to have had much the same effect upon the Slaves which the movements of the Huns in the fourth century had upon the Teutons. … The Slaves seem to have been driven by the Turanian incursions in two directions; to the North-west and to the South-west. The North-western division gave rise to more than one European state, and their relations with Germany form an important part of the history of the Western Empire. These North-western Slaves do not become of importance till a little later. But the South-western division plays a great part in the history of the sixth and seventh centuries. … The Slaves play in the East, though less thoroughly and less brilliantly, the same part, half conquerors, half disciples, which the Teutons played in the West. During the sixth century they appear only as ravagers; in the seventh they appear as settlers. There seems no doubt that Heraclius encouraged Slavonic settlements south of the Danube, doubtless with a view to defence against the more dangerous Avars. … A number of Slavonic states thus arose in the lands north and east of the Hadriatic, as Servia, Chrobatia or Croatia, Carinthia. … Istria and Dalmatia now became Slavonic, with the exception of the maritime cities, which, among many vicissitudes, clave to the Empire. … {2932} The Slaves pressed on into a large part of Macedonia and Greece, and, during the seventh and eighth centuries, the whole of those countries, except the fortified cities and a fringe along the coast, were practically cut off from the Empire. The name of Slavinia reached from the Danube to Peloponnêsos, leaving to the Empire only islands and detached points of coast from Venice round to Thessalonica. … The Slavonic occupation of Greece is a fact which must neither be forgotten nor exaggerated. It certainly did not amount to an extirpation of the Greek nation; but it certainly did amount to an occupation of a large part of the country, which was Hellenized afresh from those cities and districts which remained Greek or Roman."

_E. A. Freeman, Historical Geography of Empire, chapter 5, section 4._

See, also, BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 7TH CENTURY.

SLESWIG.

See SCHLESWIG.

SLIDING SCALE OF CORN DUTIES.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (ENGLAND): A. D. 1815-1828; and 1842.

SLIVNITZA, Battle of (1885).

See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1878-1886 (BULGARIA).

SLOBADYSSA, Battle of (1660).

See POLAND: A. D. 1668-1696.

SLOVENES, The.

See SLAVONIC PEOPLES.

SLUYS: A. D. 1587. Siege and capture by the Spaniards.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1587-1588.

SLUYS: A. D. 1604. Taken by Prince Maurice of Nassau.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1594-1609.

SLUYS, Battle of (1340).

Edward III. of England, sailing with 200 ships on his second expedition to France (see FRANCE: A. D. 1337-1360), found a French fleet of about equal numbers lying in wait for him in the harbor of Sluys. The English attacked, June 24, 1340, and with such success that almost the entire French fleet was taken or destroyed, and 25,000 to 30,000 men slain.

_W. Warburton, Edward III., pages 77-79. _

ALSO IN: _Sir J. Froissart, Chronicles, (translated by Johnes). volume 1, book 1, chapter 50._

SMALKALDE, League of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1530-1532.

SMALL-POX, AND VACCINATION.

See PLAGUE, ETC.: 6-13TH CENTURIES, and MEDICAL SCIENCE: 18TH CENTURY.

SMERWICK, Massacre of (1580).

See IRELAND: A. D. 1559-1603.

SMITH, Captain John: American voyages and adventures.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1607-1610, and 1609-1616; also, AMERICA: A. D. 1614-1615.

SMITH, Joseph, and the founding of Mormonism.

See MORMONISM.

SMITH, Sir Sidney, and the siege of Acre.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-AUGUST).

SMITH COLLEGE.

See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS, &c.: A. D. 1804-1891.

SMOLENSK, Battle of.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

SMYRNA: Turkish massacre of Christians (1821).

See GREECE: A. D. 1821-1829.

SNAKE INDIANS, OR SHOSHONES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

SNUFF-TAKERS, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.

SOBIESKI, John, King of Poland, A. D. 1674-1697, and his deliverance of Vienna.

See POLAND: A. D. 1668-1696; and HUNGARY: A. D. 1668-1683.

SOBRAON, Battle of (1846).

See INDIA: A. D. 1845-1849.

SOBRARBE, Kingdom of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1035-1258.

SOCAGE TENURE. FREESOCAGE.

See FEUDAL TENURES.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Start--------

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS. Communism. Socialism. Labor Organization.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Utopias, Ancient and Modern.