Chapter 19

[3] See Ramsey's _History of South Carolina_, Vol. I, p. 158, note 19, p. 159; Steven's _History of Georgia_, Vol. I, pp. 255-256; Gibbes' _Documentary History of American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, pp. 235-236 and 158-159; Furman's _History Charleston Baptist Association_, p. 77; Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 445, 474, 477, 541; _State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, pp. 15, 32, 35, 36; Lossing's _Field Book of Revolution_, Vol. II, p. 484; article on Henry Lee in Appleton's _Cyclopedia_, Vol. X, p. 487; _Light Horse Harry_ in Larner's _History of Ready Reference_, Vol. V, pp. 32-74-5; _American Cyclopedia_, Vol. II, p. 378; N. W. Jones' _History of Georgia_, Vol. II, pp. 136-138; _Abraham Marshall_ in Cathcart's _Baptist Encyclopedia_, Vol. II, p. 349.

[4] George and John Galphin, brothers, are mentioned in _State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, pp. 32, 35, 36, 158, 159. Thomas Galphin is referred to in Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 540-541. Milledge Galphin, according to Act of Congress, passed August 14, 1848, and statement of United States for 1850, set forth in Lossing's _Field Book of the American Revolution_, Vol. II, p. 484, received in settlement of his claim against the United States as heir of George Galphin, $200,000.

[5] For date of fall of Savannah, Dec. 29, 1778, Sir Archibald Campbell in Appleton's _Cyclopedia of American Biography_, Vol. I, p. 511, and for troubles at Silver Bluff, South Carolina, see Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, p. 477, and compare with pp. 473-480 and 332-337. For conditions necessitating the exile of Silver Bluff Church, see letter of Wm. H. Drayton, written from Hammond's place near Augusta, Georgia, August 30, 1775, to the Council of Safety in Gibbes' _Documentary History of the American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, p. 162, and for distance from Silver Bluff see letter of Rev. Wm. Tennett, p. 236, and compare with note in Lossing's _Field Book of the American Revolution_, Vol. II, 484. See also Rev. Tennett's letter of September 7, 1775, for movement of men at Silver Bluff and surrounding country. Gibbes' _Documentary History of the American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, pp. 245-246.

[6] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1791, p. 336, compare with 1790-1793, pp. 476-477.

[7] See Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_ for 1793, pp. 540-541. Compare with 1790-1793, pp. 544-545.

[8] Lossing's _Field Book_, p. 484; Steven's _Georgia_, Vol. II, pp. 255-256, etc., as above in note 3.

[9] Gibbes' _Documentary History American Revolution_, Vol. I, pp. 235-236; Furman's _History Charleston Baptist Association_, p. 77, and compare letters of George and John Galphin in _State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, pp. 15, 35, 36, and G. No. 2, p. 32.

[10] Ramsey's _History of South Carolina_, Vol. I, p. 158.

[11] Steven's _History of Georgia_, Vol. II, pp. 255-256; article on Henry Lee, Appleton's _American Cyclopedia_, Vol. X, p. 487.

[12] But who was "Elder Palmer," the man who planted the first of this series of churches? David George states that he was a powerful preacher, and that he was pastor of a church some distance from Silver Bluff. We are satisfied that the church alluded to was not in South Carolina, nor in Georgia, nor were the members of the church in question, nor its pastor, of African descent. It is our opinion that "Elder Palmer" was no less a distinguished person than Wait Palmer, the founder of the First Baptist Church of Stonington, Connecticut. It was possible that he should be the cause of this remarkable beginning of Negro Baptist churches in the United States, for he was living and active during and prior to the Revolutionary period, and long before.

Wait Palmer, of Stonington, Connecticut, moreover, was, as his biographer states, "an actor in the great New Light, or Separatist movement," and in this capacity he "preached often in destitute regions." Benedict testifies that "he became a famous pioneer in Virginia and North Carolina." But what is more, Mrs. Marshall, the mother of Abraham Marshall, of Kiokee, Georgia, was a sister of Shubal Sterns, and Shubal Sterns was baptized and ordained to the work of the ministry by Wait Palmer, at Tolland, Connecticut, in the spring of 1751. It was but natural that, in his zeal to preach Christ in destitute regions, Palmer would visit this Connecticut family and preach the gospel to any who might desire to hear it.

If it should be thought by some that no man would, in the circumstances, have gone on a preaching tour from Connecticut to South Carolina, it may be well to recall the fact that Rev. Abraham Marshall covered the ground in question, in the year 1786, travelling both ways on horseback, preaching nearly every day during the three months he was away from home. But Palmer was now in the South and not in the North, as Benedict states. No other Palmer, known to Baptists, fits the case like this friend of Shubal Stearns. We shall continue to assign to him the credit of the first Negro Baptist Church in America, until we can find another "Elder Palmer," whose claim is absolutely certain. See Rippon, _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 475-476; Catheart's _Baptist Encyclopedia_, II, 882.

[13] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, edition 1790-1793, pp. 473-480, and compare article, Sir Archibald Campbell, in Appleton's _Cyclopedia of American Biography_, Vol. I, p. 511.

[14] See Bill's letter of March 12, and one of March 14, 1776; also March 26, 1776, printed in Gibbes' _Documentary History of the American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, pp. 266-273. Compare with letter in Vol. II, p. 62. See also Dunmore's Emancipation Proclamation issued in November, 1775, in Joseph T. Wilson's _Emancipation_, pp. 36-37.

[15] _Cyclopedia American Biography_, Vol. I, p. 511. Compare with Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, edition 1790-1793, pp. 332-333.

[16] Cathcart's _Encyclopedia_, Vol. II, p. 749, and compare article of John Houston in Appleton's _Cyclopedia of American Biography_, Vol. III, p. 273.

[17] Appleton's _Cyclopedia of American Biography_, Vol. IV, p. 219. Compare Vol. III, p. 273. See article, Savannah in Appleton's _American Cyclopedia_, Vol. III, p. 646.

[18] See Drayton's letter in Gibbes' _Documentary History of American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, p. 162, and for distance from Silver Bluff compare letter of Tennett, p. 235, note in Lossing's _Field Book of Revolution_, Vol. II, p. 484.

[19] Gibbes' _Documentary History of the American Revolution_ (South Carolina), Vol. I, pp. 235-236, letter of Tennett, of September 7, 1775.

[20] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1770-1773, pp. 332-337.

[21] _Ibid._, 1790-1793, p. 344.

[22] White's _History of Georgia_, pp. 246-247; Jones, Vol. II, p. 137.

[23] _State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, G. No. 2, p. 32.

[24] See Jonathan Odell, Appleton's _Cyclopedia of American Biography_, Vol. IV, p. 556; Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, p. 481; Bill's _History of the Canadian Baptists_, pp. 26, 176, 653, 657. Compare with Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_ for 1798-1800, p. 336.

[25] Sabine's _American Loyalists_, Vol. I, p. 127. Compare pp. 122-123.

[26] G. W. Hervey, _Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands_, p. 596. Compare article on Sierra Leone in Appleton's _American Cyclopedia_, Vol. XV, p. 32; also article on Nova Scotia, Vol. XII, pp. 524-525; See Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 481-483. See also article on Sierra Leone in _The Earth and its Inhabitants_--Africa--Vol. III, p. 207.

[27] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 481-484.

[28] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 473, 544-545; 1791, p. 336; 1793, pp. 540-541.

[29] Joseph T. Wilson's _Emancipation_, pp. 36-38; Dunmore's Emancipation Proclamation issued 1775.

[30] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1793, pp. 540-541.

[31] _Ibid._, 1791, p. 336.

[32] White's _Historical Collections of Georgia_, p. 316.

[33] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_, p. 170.

[34] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1798-1801, p. 367. Compare 263.

[35] _Ibid._, p. 263.

[36] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, p. 476.

[37] Benedict's _History_ (edition 1848), p. 723.

[38] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_ (edition 1813), Vol. II, p. 193.

[39] Article on Augusta, Georgia, First Baptist Church of, Cathcart's _Baptist Encyclopedia_, Vol. I, p. 49.

[40] James M. Simm's _First Colored Baptist Church in North America_, p. 57.

[41] _Ibid._, pp. 58-59.

[42] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_, edition 1813, Vol. II, p. 193, quoted from Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_.

[43] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1791, p. 336.

[44] White's _Historical Collections of Georgia_, p. 316; Benedict's _History of the Baptists_ (edition 1848), p. 740. Compare with Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1793, p. 545. Benedict's _History of the Baptists_, edition 1848, p. 727, note 5, shows no white minister was present except Abraham Marshall, and he says here he "assisted in the constitution of the church, and the ordination of the minister."

[45] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_ (edition 1813), Vol. II, p. 193.

[46] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1791, p. 332.

[47] Hervey's _Story of Baptist Missions in Foreign Lands_, pp. 611-612; Cox's _History of the British Baptist Missionary Society_, 1792-1842, p. 12. Phillipo, _Jamaica, Past and Present_; E. K. Love's _History First African Baptist Church_, p. 35; Brown, _Propagation of Christianity among Heathen_, Vol. II, p. 94.

[48] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1791, p. 336, and compare Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1790-1793, pp. 476, 481-483.

[49] _Ibid._, 1791, p. 344.

[50] _Ibid._, 1791, p. 336.

[51] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_ (edition 1813), Vol. II, p. 206.

[52] James M. Simm's _The First Colored Baptist Church in North America_, p. 15.

[53] "Andrew Bryan, and his brother Sampson, who was converted about a year after Andrew was, were twice imprisoned and they with about fifty others, without much ceremony, were severely whipped. Andrew was inhumanly cut and bled abundantly; but while under their lashes he held up his hands and told his persecutors that he rejoiced not only to be whipped but would _freely suffer death_ for the cause of Christ." _Baptist Home Missions in America_, 1832-1882, Jubilee Volume, p. 388.

[54] Benedict's _History of the Baptists_, edition 1848, p. 170. Compare with p. 723.

[55] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1793, p. 545.

[56] Rippon's _Annual Baptist Register_, 1793-1801, p. 367. Compare with Clark's letter, 1790-1793, p. 540.

THE NEGROES IN MAURITIUS[1]

Mauritius was discovered by the Portuguese in 1505 and remained in their possession until 1598, when it was ceded to the Dutch, who gave it the name by which it is now known. Aside from erecting a fort at Grand Port, however, the Dutch did no more for the development of the colony than the Portuguese. The Dutch finally abandoned it in 1710 when the island was taken over by the French. Under the French the island was considerably developed, especially during the second half of the eighteenth century, and this new step, as the majority saw it, necessitated the introduction of slavery. During the Napoleonic Wars Mauritius was captured by England and was formally ceded by France in 1814.

The significant history of the Negroes in Mauritius, however, dates from the year 1723 when the East India Company of France, in order to promote agriculture in the Island, sanctioned the introduction of slaves, whom they sold to the inhabitants at a certain fixed price. This price was seldom paid at the moment of purchase, and, as many evaded payment altogether. Mahé de Labourdounais, the then Governor of the Colony, received instructions on this point, the execution of which made him unpopular among the inhabitants.[2]

The slave trade, at this period, was principally in the hands of those pirates who had formed a settlement at Nossibé (Nossé Ibrahim), on the northeast coast of Madagascar, where they had been received with kindness and hospitality by the natives. In return they excited a war between the tribes in the interior and those inhabiting the seacoast, and purchased the prisoners made by both for the purpose of conveying them for sale to Bourbon or Mauritius. If the prisoners thus obtained proved insufficient to the demands of the slave market, a descent was made on some part of the Island, a village was surrounded, and its younger and more vigorous inhabitants were borne off to a state of perpetual slavery.[3]

Harrowing as the scenes witnessed in such forays must have been, the slave trade from Madagascar to Mauritius was not accompanied with the same horrors as from the neighboring continent to America, if history be credited. Its victims were spared the toiling and harassing march from the interior and the horrors of being cribbed and confined for successive weeks beneath the hatches till they reached their final destination; and yet, of every five Negroes embarked at Madagascar, not more than two were found fit for service in Mauritius. The rest either stifled beneath the hatches, starved themselves to death, died of putrid fever, became the food of sharks, fled to the mountains, or fell beneath the driver's lash.

Mahé de Labourdounais was not the founder of slavery. The institution preceded his arrival. Slavery existed in Mauritius even under the Dutch régime. Of every eighteen slaves in the colony one died annually, so that if the traffic had ceased for eighteen years, at the end of that time the whole black population would have died out. From first to last Mauritius has been the tomb of more than a million of Africans. Their lamentable history is like the roll of the prophet, written within and without, and the writing thereof is mourning and lamentation.

Many became fugitives, and sometimes by daring adventure returned to Africa. In order to check the fugitive slaves, Labourdounais employed their countrymen against them, and formed a mounted police who protected the colonists from their incursions.[4] To preserve the inhabitants from famine, he introduced the cassava from the Island of St. Jago and the Brazils, and published an ordinance by which every planter was compelled to put under cultivation five hundred feet of cassava for every slave that he possessed. The planters, an ignorant and indolent race, used every measure to degenerate and discredit this innovation, and in some cases destroyed the plantations of the cassava by pouring boiling water on the root. The benefit conferred by this ordinance was later felt and appreciated when their crops were destroyed by the hurricanes or devoured by locusts. The cassava was immune from either of these casualties and was the usual article of food for the Negroes. Labourdounais instructed the slaves in the art of ship building, made them sailors and soldiers and found them highly useful in the expedition which he undertook against the English in India. He endeavored also to mitigate their sufferings from the enforcement of the regulations of the _Code Noir_.

After the dispersion of the pirates, the slave trade fell into the hands of European merchants or Creole colonists, who extended it to the adjoining coasts of Africa. The Mozambique Negroes were found more tractable than those of Madagascar, but Negroes were obtained from both points, according to the difficulties and exigencies of the traffic. The price paid by the French at Madagascar for a man or a woman from the age of thirteen to forty was two muskets, two cartridge boxes, ten flints, and ten balls, or fifteen hundred balls or seventeen hundred flints. In spite of the price the trade developed. In 1766 there were about 25,000 slaves and 1200 free Negroes in the colony. In 1799 there were 55,000 of the former class and 35,000 of the latter. In 1832 they were estimated at 16,000 free Negroes and 63,500 slaves. It seems difficult to account for the diminution among the free Negro population. Baron Grant de Vaux[5] states that to prevent the increase of this class it was enacted that no slaves should be liberated save those who had saved the lives of their masters. A kind-hearted master, however, could always give his slave an opportunity to save his life.

Slavery as it developed in Maritius falls in three epochs. During the earliest period the institution gradually took the form of a system somewhat like that of the bondage of the Hebrews, modified in the case of Mauritius, however, according to the requirements of the temper and habits of the natives and the situation of the planters. There was no regard for the comfort of the slaves and they tended to degrade to the lowest depths. Yet the slaves were not considered altogether as chattels, convertible at the will of their masters. In the second stage, however, the bondage of the Negro reached the darkest age of irresponsibility to law and cruelty absolutely intolerable. A few officials and planters protested, and travelers who saw the horror appealed for mercy in behalf of the unfortunate.[6] A change in the attitude of the planters toward the slaves was finally forced and characterized the third stage of slavery in Mauritius. These cruelties were mitigated largely by the agitation of _Les Amis des Noirs_, among whom were some of the most distinguished actors in the grand drama of the French Revolution. The leading reformers were the brilliant orators Mirabeau and Madam de Poivre, the wife of the deceased Intendant of the Isle of France. At a much earlier date, even under Labourdounais, under whose economic development of Mauritius slavery flourished, much was said about improving the condition of the slaves.[7] Yet it was not until the rule of De Caen that we observe actual efforts to provide for the slaves, such as better nourishment, religious instruction and legal marriage.[8]

The first attempt to emancipate the slaves was made by the leaders of the French Revolution, who, while they professed to discard Christianity as a revelation from God, deduced the equality of all men before God from the principles of natural reason.[9] The prohibition of slavery was rendered null and void by the planters of Mauritius and the members of local government, all of whom were slaveholders and opposed to any change. The only effect of the prohibition was to alienate the affections of the colonists from the mother-country, and to lead them to rejoice when Napoleon assumed the consular power and annulled the ordinance prohibiting slavery after the capture of the island by the British. The importation of slaves was prohibited under severe penalties.

As the execution of this law was vested in the local authorities, who had a direct personal interest in the continuance of this traffic, slaves were still imported in sufficient numbers to satisfy the wants of the planters.[10] It is true that trading in slaves was declared to be felony, that the two harbors of Port Louis and Matubourg were closed against their entrance, that a slave registry was opened in 1815, and that credulous Governors wrote to the home authorities that the Mauritians, far from wishing to renew this nefarious traffic, were filled with indignation at the remembrance of its horrors. All this may be true, but the slave trade was as brisk as ever, and the island swarmed with Negroes whose peculiar appearance and ignorance of the Creole language proved them to be of recent introduction.

No law can be executed unless it be in accordance with public opinion, and the feelings of the white Mauritians were altogether in favor of slavery. The illicit introduction of slaves was a felony by law, and yet, notwithstanding the notorious violations of this law, no one was ever convicted. The prisoner might have turned on the judge and proved his complicity in the crime. The only convictions that were obtained were in the case of offenders that were sent to England for trial. This statement will excite no astonishment on the part of those who are acquainted with the manner in which justice is still administered in Mauritius. The slave registry was opened in 1815, but the entries were so falsified that instead of checking slavery it threw its mantle of protection upon it.[11] Slaves were not introduced publicly at the two chief ports of the island from Africa, but the Seychelles Islands lay at a convenient distance, and slaves registered at the Seychelles were admitted into Mauritius without any questions being asked. The coral reef that surrounds the island could easily be passed and the slaves loaded in those light coasters that are used by fishermen. The governors were surrounded by functionaries who were slaveholders and who were therefore interested in supporting the traffic and screening the offenders from punishment, so that their reports, based on information received from these parties, were not entitled to much credit.

As to the feelings of indignation expressed by the colonists at the remembrance of the horrors of the slave trade, it is sufficient to remark that rogues are always louder in protestation of their innocence than honest men--that this change of feeling was too rapid to be sincere, and that truthfulness of character does not stand high in the code of Mauritian morality, to judge from the attitude of the white population.

In judging the treatment of the slaves in Mauritius, recourse must be had to those writers who visited or lived in the colony during the prevalence of slavery, and have given the world the benefit of their experience. These are St. Pierre, Soumerat and Baron Grant. St. Pierre spent several years in the island, and mingled freely with the inhabitants of all classes. The last was born in the island where his father had sought to retrieve his fortune after the failure of Law's Mississippi scheme. The pictures presented in the writings of St. Pierre might appear exaggerated, or prejudiced, if drawn by a foreigner; but it must be borne in mind that he describes only what he witnessed, and that his good faith has never been questioned.[12] He thus speaks of the importation and treatment of slaves:

"They are landed with just a rag around their loins. The men are ranged on one side and the women on the other with their infants, who cling from fear to their mothers. The planter, having examined them as he would a horse, buys what may then attract him. Brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, are now torn asunder, and bidding each other a long farewell, are driven weeping to the plantations they are bought for. Sometimes they turned desperate, fancying that the white people intended eating their flesh, making red wine of their blood, and powder of their bones. They were treated in the following manner: