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Page 62
The ablest speaker on the subject of Peace, is Charles Sumner. Standing
more than six feet in height, and well proportioned, Mr. Sumner makes a
most splendid and commanding appearance before an assembly. It is not
his looks alone that attract attention--his very countenance indicates a
superior mind. Born in the upper circle, educated in the first College
in the country, and finally becoming a member of the Bar, he is well
qualified to take the highest possible position as a public speaker. As
an orator, Charles Sumner has but one superior in the United States, and
that is Wendell Phillips. Mr. Sumner is an able advocate for the
liberation of the American Slaves as well as of the cause of Peace, and
has rendered great aid to the abolition movement.
The name of Elihu Burritt, for many reasons, should be placed at the
head of the Peace Movement. No man was ever more devoted to one idea
than he is to that of peace. If he is an advocate of Temperance, it is
because it will promote peace. If he opposes Slavery, it is upon the
grounds of peace. Ask him why he wants an "Ocean Penny Postage," he will
tell you to engender the principles of peace. Everything with him hinges
upon the doctrine of peace. As a speaker, Mr. Burritt does not rank
amongst the first. However, his speeches are of a high order, some think
them too high, and complain that he is too much of a cloud-traveller,
and when he descends from these aerial flights and cloudy thrones, they
are unwilling to admit that he can be practical. If Mr. Burritt should
prove as good a statesman as a theorist, he would be an exception to
most who belong to the aerial school. As a writer he stands deservedly
high. In his "Sparks from the Anvil," and "Voice from the Forge," are to
be found as fine pieces as have been produced by any writer of the day.
His "Drunkard's Wife" is the most splendid thing of the kind in the
language. His stature is of the middle size, head well developed, with
eyes deeply set, and a prepossessing countenance, though not handsome;
he wears an exterior of remarkable austerity, and everything about him
is grave, even to his smile. Being well versed in the languages, ancient
and modern, he does not lack variety or imagination, either in his
public addresses or private conversation; yet it would be difficult to
find a man with a better heart, or sweeter spirit, than Elihu Burritt.
LETTER XXII.
_A Narrative of American Slavery._
Although the first slaves, introduced into the American Colonies from
the coast of Africa, were negroes of a very dark complexion with woolly
hair, and it was thought that slavery would be confined to the blacks,
yet the present slave population of America is far from being black.
This change in colour, is attributable, solely to the unlimited power
which the slave owner exercises over his victim. There being no lawful
marriage amongst slaves, and no encouragement to slave women to be
virtuous and chaste, there seems to be no limits to the system of
amalgamation carried on between master and slave. This accounts for the
fact, that most persons who go from Europe, or from the Free States,
into Carolina or Virginia, are struck with the different shades of
colour amongst the slaves. On a plantation employing fifty slaves, it is
not uncommon to see one third of them mulattoes, and some of these
nearly white.
In the year 1831, there resided in the state of Virginia, a slave who
was so white, that no one would suppose for a moment that a drop of
African blood coursed through his veins. His skin was fair, hair soft,
straight, fine and white; his eyes blue, nose prominent, lips thin; his
head well formed, forehead high and prominent; and he was often taken
for a white free person, by those who did not know him. This made his
condition as a slave still more intolerable; for one so white, seldom
ever receives fair treatment at the hands of his fellow slaves; and the
whites usually regard such slaves as persons, who, if not often flogged
and otherwise ill treated, to remind them of their condition, would soon
"forget" that they were slaves, and "think themselves as good as white
folks." During that year, an insurrection broke out amongst the slave
population, known as the Southampton Rebellion, or the "Nat Turner
Insurrection." Five or six hundred slaves, believing in the doctrine
that "all men are created equal," armed with such weapons as they could
get, commenced a war for freedom. Amongst these was George, the white
slave of whom we have spoken. He had been employed as a house servant,
and had heard his master and visiters speak of the down-trodden and
oppressed Poles; he heard them talk of going to Greece to fight for
Grecian liberty, and against the oppressors of that ill-fated people.
George, fired with the love of freedom, and zeal for the cause of his
enslaved countrymen, joined the insurrection. The result of that
struggle for liberty is well known. The slaves were defeated, and those
who were not taken prisoners, took refuge in the dismal swamps. These
were ordered to surrender; but instead of doing so, they challenged
their proud oppressors to take them, and immediately renewed the war. A
ferocious struggle now commenced between the parties; but not until the
United States troops were called in, did they succeed in crushing a
handful of men and women who were fighting for freedom. The negroes were
hunted with dogs, and many who were caught were burnt alive; while some
were hung, and others flogged and banished from the State.
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