Clotel; or, The President\'s Daughter
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William Wells Brown >> Clotel; or, The President\'s Daughter
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13 CLOTEL;
OR,
THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER.
PREFACE
MORE than two hundred years have elapsed since the first cargo of
slaves was landed on the banks of the James River, in the colony
of Virginia, from the West coast of Africa. From the introduction
of slaves in 1620, down to the period of the separation of the
Colonies from the British Crown, the number had increased to five
hundred thousand; now there are nearly four million. In fifteen
of the thirty-one States, Slavery is made lawful by the
Constitution, which binds the several States into one
confederacy.
On every foot of soil, over which Stars and Stripes wave, the
Negro is considered common property, on which any white man may
lay his hand with perfect impunity. The entire white population
of the United States, North and South, are bound by their oath to
the constitution, and their adhesion to the Fugitive Slaver Law,
to hunt down the runaway slave and return him to his claimant,
and to suppress any effort that may be made by the slaves to gain
their freedom by physical force. Twenty-five millions of whites
have banded themselves in solemn conclave to keep four millions of
blacks in their chains. In all grades of society are to be found
men who either hold, buy, or sell slaves, from the statesmen and
doctors of divinity, who can own their hundreds, down to the
person who can purchase but one.
Were it not for persons in high places owning slaves, and thereby
giving the system a reputation, and especially professed
Christians, Slavery would long since have been abolished. The
influence of the great "honours the corruption, and chastisement
doth therefore hide his head." The great aim of the true friends
of the slave should be to lay bare the institution, so that the
gaze of the world may be upon it, and cause the wise, the prudent,
and the pious to withdraw their support from it, and leave it to
its own fate. It does the cause of emancipation but little good
to cry out in tones of execration against the traders, the
kidnappers, the hireling overseers, and brutal drivers, so long
as nothing is said to fasten the guilt on those who move in a
higher circle.
The fact that slavery was introduced into the American colonies,
while they were under the control of the British Crown, is a
sufficient reason why Englishmen should feel a lively interest in
its abolition; and now that the genius of mechanical invention has
brought the two countries so near together, and both having one
language and one literature, the influence of British public
opinion is very great on the people of the New World.
If the incidents set forth in the following pages should add
anything new to the information already given to the Public
through similar publications, and should thereby aid in bringing
British influence to bear upon American slavery, the main object
for which this work was written will have been accomplished.
W. WELLS BROWN
22, Cecil Street, Strand, London.
CONTENTS.
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR
THE NEGRO SALE
GOING TO THE SOUTH
THE NEGRO CHASE
THE QUADROON'S HOME
THE SLAVE MASTER
THE RELIGIOUS TEACHER
THE POOR WHITES, SOUTH
THE SEPARATION
THE MAN OP HONOUR
THE YOUNG CHRISTIAN
THE PARSON POET
A NIGHT IN THE PARSON'S KITCHEN
A SLAVE HUNT
A FREE WOMAN REDUCED TO SLAVERY
TO-DAY A MISTRESS, TO-MORROW A SLAVE
DEATH OF THE PARSON
RETALIATION
THE LIBERATOR
ESCAPE OF CLOTEL
A TRUE DEMOCRAT
THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH
A RIDE IN A STAGE COACH
TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION
DEATH IS FREEDOM
THE ESCAPE
THE MYSTERY
THE HAPPY MEETING
CONCLUSION
CHAPTER I
THE NEGRO SALE
"Why stands she near the auction stand,
That girl so young and fair?
What brings her to this dismal place,
Why stands she weeping there?"
WITH the growing population of slaves in the Southern States of
America, there is a fearful increase of half whites, most of
whose fathers are slaveowners and their mothers slaves. Society
does not frown upon the man who sits with his mulatto child upon
his knee, whilst its mother stands a slave behind his chair. The
late Henry Clay, some years since, predicted that the abolition
of Negro slavery would be brought about by the amalgamation of
the races. John Randolph, a distinguished slaveholder of
Virginia, and a prominent statesman, said in a speech in the
legislature of his native state, that "the blood of the first
American statesmen coursed through the veins of the slave of the
South." In all the cities and towns of the slave states, the real
Negro, or clear black, does not amount to more than one in every
four of the slave population. This fact is, of itself, the best
evidence of the degraded and immoral condition of the relation of
master and slave in the United States of America. In all the
slave states, the law says:--"Slaves shall be deemed, sold [held],
taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the
hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,
administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes whatsoever. A slave is one who is in the power of a
master to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of
his person, his industry, and his labour. He can do nothing,
possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to
his master. The slave is entirely subject to the will of his
master, who may correct and chastise him, though not with unusual
rigour, or so as to maim and mutilate him, or expose him to the
danger of loss of life, or to cause his death. The slave, to
remain a slave, must be sensible that there is no appeal from his
master." Where the slave is placed by law entirely under the
control of the man who claims him, body and soul, as property,
what else could be expected than the most depraved social
condition? The marriage relation, the oldest and most sacred
institution given to man by his Creator, is unknown and
unrecognised in the slave laws of the United States. Would that
we could say, that the moral and religious teaching in the slave
states were better than the laws; but, alas! we cannot. A few
years since, some slaveholders became a little uneasy in their
minds about the rightfulness of permitting slaves to take to
themselves husbands and wives, while they still had others
living, and applied to their religious teachers for advice; and
the following will show how this grave and important subject was
treated:--
"Is a servant, whose husband or wife has been sold by his or her
master into a distant country, to be permitted to marry again?"
The query was referred to a committee, who made the following
report; which, after discussion, was adopted:--
"That, in view of the circumstances in which servants in this
country are placed, the committee are unanimous in the opinion,
that it is better to permit servants thus circumstanced to take
another husband or wife."
Such was the answer from a committee of the "Shiloh Baptist
Association;" and instead of receiving light, those who asked the
question were plunged into deeper darkness! A similar question
was put to the "Savannah River Association," and the answer, as
the following will show, did not materially differ from the one
we have already given:--
"Whether, in a case of involuntary separation, of such a character
as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties
ought to be allowed to marry again."
Answer:--
"That such separation among persons situated as our slaves are, is
civilly a separation by death; and they believe that, in the
sight of God, it would be so viewed. To forbid second marriages
in such cases would be to expose the parties, not only to stronger
hardships and strong temptation, but to church-censure for acting
in obedience to their masters, who cannot be expected to
acquiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to the slaves,
and to the spirit of that command which regulates marriage among
Christians. The slaves are not free agents; and a dissolution by
death is not more entirely without their consent, and beyond their
control than by such separation."
Although marriage, as the above indicates, is a matter which the
slaveholders do not think is of any importance, or of any binding
force with their slaves; yet it would be doing that degraded
class an injustice, not to acknowledge that many of them do
regard it as a sacred obligation, and show a willingness to obey
the commands of God on this subject. Marriage is, indeed, the
first and most important institution of human existence--the
foundation of all civilisation and culture--the root of church
and state. It is the most intimate covenant of heart formed
among mankind; and for many persons the only relation in which
they feel the true sentiments of humanity. It gives scope for
every human virtue, since each of these is developed from the
love and confidence which here predominate. It unites all which
ennobles and beautifies life,--sympathy, kindness of will and
deed, gratitude, devotion, and every delicate, intimate feeling.
As the only asylum for true education, it is the first and last
sanctuary of human culture. As husband and wife, through each
other become conscious of complete humanity, and every human
feeling, and every human virtue; so children, at their first
awakening in the fond covenant of love between parents, both of
whom are tenderly concerned for the same object, find an image of
complete humanity leagued in free love. The spirit of love which
prevails between them acts with creative power upon the young
mind, and awakens every germ of goodness within it. This
invisible and incalculable influence of parental life acts more
upon the child than all the efforts of education, whether by
means of instruction, precept, or exhortation. If this be a true
picture of the vast influence for good of the institution of
marriage, what must be the moral degradation of that people to
whom marriage is denied? Not content with depriving them of all
the higher and holier enjoyments of this relation, by degrading
and darkening their souls, the slaveholder denies to his victim
even that slight alleviation of his misery, which would result
from the marriage relation being protected by law and public
opinion. Such is the influence of slavery in the United States,
that the ministers of religion, even in the so-called free
states, are the mere echoes, instead of the correctors, of public
sentiment. We have thought it advisable to show that the present
system of chattel slavery in America undermines the entire social
condition of man, so as to prepare the reader for the following
narrative of slave life, in that otherwise happy and prosperous
country.
In all the large towns in the Southern States, there is a class
of slaves who are permitted to hire their time of their owners,
and for which they pay a high price. These are mulatto women, or
quadroons, as they are familiarly known, and are distinguished
for their fascinating beauty. The handsomest usually pays the
highest price for her time. Many of these women are the
favourites of persons who furnish them with the means of paying
their owners, and not a few are dressed in the most extravagant
manner. Reader, when you take into consideration the fact, that
amongst the slave population no safeguard is thrown around
virtue, and no inducement held out to slave women to be chaste,
you will not be surprised when we tell you that immorality and
vice pervade the cities of the Southern States in a manner
unknown in the cities and towns of the Northern States. Indeed
most of the slave women have no higher aspiration than that of
becoming the finely-dressed mistress of some white man. And at
Negro balls and parties, this class of women usually cut the
greatest figure.
At the close of the year, the following advertisement appeared in a
newspaper published in Richmond, the capital of the state of
Virginia:--"Notice: Thirty-eight Negroes will be offered for sale
on Monday, November 10th, at twelve o'clock, being the entire
stock of the late John Graves, Esq. The Negroes are in good
condition, some of them very prime; among them are several
mechanics, able-bodied field hands, ploughboys, and women with
children at the breast, and some of them very prolific in their
generating qualities, affording a rare opportunity to any one who
wishes to raise a strong and healthy lot of servants for their
own use. Also several mulatto girls of rare personal qualities:
two of them very superior. Any gentleman or lady wishing to
purchase, can take any of the above slaves on trial for a week,
for which no charge will be made." Amongst the above slaves to be
sold were Currer and her two daughters, Clotel and Althesa; the
latter were the girls spoken of in the advertisement as "very
superior." Currer was a bright mulatto, and of prepossessing
appearance, though then nearly forty years of age. She had hired
her time for more than twenty years, during which time she had
lived in Richmond. In her younger days Currer had been the
housekeeper of a young slaveholder; but of later years had been a
laundress or washerwoman, and was considered to be a woman of
great taste in getting up linen. The gentleman for whom she had
kept house was Thomas Jefferson, by whom she had two daughters.
Jefferson being called to Washington to fill a government
appointment, Currer was left behind, and thus she took herself to
the business of washing, by which means she paid her master, Mr.
Graves, and supported herself and two children. At the time of the
decease of her master, Currer's daughters, Clotel and Althesa,
were aged respectively sixteen and fourteen years, and both, like
most of their own sex in America, were well grown. Currer early
resolved to bring her daughters up as ladies, as she termed it,
and therefore imposed little or no work upon them. As her
daughters grew older, Currer had to pay a stipulated price for
them; yet her notoriety as a laundress of the first class enabled
her to put an extra price upon her charges, and thus she and her
daughters lived in comparative luxury. To bring up Clotel and
Althesa to attract attention, and especially at balls and
parties, was the great aim of Currer. Although the term "Negro
ball" is applied to most of these gatherings, yet a majority of
the attendants are often whites. Nearly all the Negro parties in
the cities and towns of the Southern States are made up of
quadroon and mulatto girls, and white men. These are democratic
gatherings, where gentlemen, shopkeepers, and their clerks, all
appear upon terms of perfect equality. And there is a degree of
gentility and decorum in these companies that is not surpassed by
similar gatherings of white people in the Slave States. It was at
one of these parties that Horatio Green, the son of a wealthy
gentleman of Richmond, was first introduced to Clotel. The young
man had just returned from college, and was in his twenty-second
year. Clotel was sixteen, and was admitted by all to be the most
beautiful girl, coloured or white, in the city. So attentive was
the young man to the quadroon during the evening that it was
noticed by all, and became a matter of general conversation;
while Currer appeared delighted beyond measure at her daughter's
conquest. From that evening, young Green became the favourite
visitor at Currer's house. He soon promised to purchase Clotel, as
speedily as it could be effected, and make her mistress of her
own dwelling; and Currer looked forward with pride to the time
when she should see her daughter emancipated and free. It was a
beautiful moonlight night in August, when all who reside in
tropical climes are eagerly gasping for a breath of fresh air,
that Horatio Green was seated in the small garden behind Currer's
cottage, with the object of his affections by his side. And it
was here that Horatio drew from his pocket the newspaper, wet from
the press, and read the advertisement for the sale of the slaves
to which we have alluded; Currer and her two daughters being of
the number. At the close of the evening's visit, and as the young
man was leaving, he said to the girl, "You shall soon be free and
your own mistress."
As might have been expected, the day of sale brought an unusual
large number together to compete for the property to be sold.
Farmers who make a business of raising slaves for the market were
there; slave-traders and speculators were also numerously
represented; and in the midst of this throng was one who felt a
deeper interest in the result of the sale than any other of the
bystanders; this was young Green. True to his promise, he was
there with a blank bank check in his pocket, awaiting with
impatience to enter the list as a bidder for the beautiful slave.
The less valuable slaves were first placed upon the auction
block, one after another, and sold to the highest bidder.
Husbands and wives were separated with a degree of indifference
that is unknown in any other relation of life, except that of
slavery. Brothers and sisters were torn from each other; and
mothers saw their children leave them for the last time on this
earth.
It was late in the day, when the greatest number of persons were
thought to be present, that Currer and her daughters were brought
forward to the place of sale.--Currer was first ordered to ascend
the auction stand, which she did with a trembling step. The slave
mother was sold to a trader. Althesa, the youngest, and who was
scarcely less beautiful than her sister, was sold to the same
trader for one thousand dollars. Clotel was the last, and, as was
expected, commanded a higher price than any that had been offered
for sale that day. The appearance of Clotel on the auction block
created a deep sensation amongst the crowd. There she stood, with
a complexion as white as most of those who were waiting with a
wish to become her purchasers; her features as finely defined as
any of her sex of pure Anglo-Saxon; her long black wavy hair done
up in the neatest manner; her form tall and graceful, and her
whole appearance indicating one superior to her position. The
auctioneer commenced by saying, that "Miss Clotel had been
reserved for the last, because she was the most valuable. How
much, gentlemen? Real Albino, fit for a fancy girl for any one.
She enjoys good health, and has a sweet temper. How much do you
say?" "Five hundred dollars." "Only five hundred for such a girl
as this? Gentlemen, she is worth a deal more than that sum; you
certainly don't know the value of the article you are bidding
upon. Here, gentlemen, I hold in my hand a paper certifying that
she has a good moral character." "Seven hundred." "Ah; gentlemen,
that is something like. This paper also states that she is very
intelligent." "Eight hundred." "She is a devoted Christian, and
perfectly trustworthy." "Nine hundred." "Nine fifty." "Ten."
"Eleven." "Twelve hundred." Here the sale came to a dead stand.
The auctioneer stopped, looked around, and began in a rough
manner to relate some anecdotes relative to the sale of slaves,
which, he said, had come under his own observation. At this
juncture the scene was indeed strange. Laughing, joking,
swearing, smoking, spitting, and talking kept up a continual hum
and noise amongst the crowd; while the slave-girl stood with
tears in her eyes, at one time looking towards her mother and
sister, and at another towards the young man whom she hoped would
become her purchaser. "The chastity of this girl is pure; she has
never been from under her mother's care; she is a virtuous
creature." "Thirteen." "Fourteen." "Fifteen." "Fifteen hundred
dollars," cried the auctioneer, and the maiden was struck for
that sum. This was a Southern auction, at which the bones,
muscles, sinews, blood, and nerves of a young lady of sixteen
were sold for five hundred dollars; her moral character for two
hundred; her improved intellect for one hundred; her
Christianity for three hundred; and her chastity and virtue for
four hundred dollars more. And this, too, in a city thronged with
churches, whose tall spires look like so many signals pointing to
heaven, and whose ministers preach that slavery is a God-ordained
institution! What words can tell the inhumanity, the atrocity,
and the immorality of that doctrine which, from exalted office,
commends such a crime to the favour of enlightened and Christian
people? What indignation from all the world is not due to the
government and people who put forth all their strength and power
to keep in existence such an institution? Nature abhors it; the
age repels it; and Christianity needs all her meekness to forgive
it. Clotel was sold for fifteen hundred dollars, but her purchaser
was Horatio Green. Thus closed a Negro sale, at which two
daughters of Thomas Jefferson, the writer of the Declaration of
American Independence, and one of the presidents of the great
republic, were disposed of to the highest bidder!
"O God! my every heart-string cries,
Dost thou these scenes behold
In this our boasted Christian land,
And must the truth be told?
"Blush, Christian, blush! for e'en the dark,
Untutored heathen see
Thy inconsistency; and, lo!
They scorn thy God, and thee!"
CHAPTER II
GOING TO THE SOUTH
"My country, shall thy honoured name,
Be as a bye-word through the world?
Rouse! for, as if to blast thy fame,
This keen reproach is at thee hurled;
The banner that above the waves,
Is floating o'er three million slaves."
DICK WALKER, the slave speculator, who had purchased Currer and
Althesa, put them in prison until his gang was made up, and then,
with his forty slaves, started for the New Orleans market. As
many of the slaves had been brought up in Richmond, and had
relations residing there, the slave trader determined to leave
the city early in the morning, so as not to witness any of those
scenes so common where slaves are separated from their relatives
and friends, when about departing for the Southern market. This
plan was successful; for not even Clotel, who had been every day
at the prison to see her mother and sister, knew of their
departure. A march of eight days through the interior of the
state, and they arrived on the banks of the Ohio river, where
they were all put on board a steamer, and then speedily sailed
for the place of their destination.
Walker had already advertised in the New Orleans papers, that he
would be there at a stated time with "a prime lot of able bodied
slaves ready for field service; together with a few extra ones,
between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five." But, like most who
make a business of buying and selling slaves for gain, he often
bought some who were far advanced in years, and would always try
to sell them for five or ten years younger than they actually
were. Few persons can arrive at anything like the age of a Negro,
by mere observation, unless they are well acquainted with the
race. Therefore the slave-trader very frequently carried out this
deception with perfect impunity. After the steamer had left the
wharf, and was fairly on the bosom of the Father of Waters,
Walker called his servant Pompey to him, and instructed him as to
"getting the Negroes ready for market." Amongst the forty Negroes
were several whose appearance indicated that they had seen some
years, and had gone through some services. Their grey hair and
whiskers at once pronounced them to be above the ages set down in
the trader's advertisement. Pompey had long been with the trader,
and knew his business; and if he did not take delight in
discharging his duty, he did it with a degree of alacrity, so
that he might receive the approbation of his master. "Pomp," as
Walker usually called him, was of real Negro blood, and would
often say, when alluding to himself, "Dis nigger is no countefit;
he is de genewine artekil." Pompey was of low stature, round
face, and, like most of his race, had a set of teeth, which for
whiteness and beauty could not be surpassed; his eyes large, lips
thick, and hair short and woolly. Pompey had been with Walker so
long, and had seen so much of the buying and selling of slaves,
that he appeared perfectly indifferent to the heartrending scenes
which daily occurred in his presence. It was on the second day of
the steamer's voyage that Pompey selected five of the old slaves,
took them in a room by themselves, and commenced preparing them
for the market. "Well," said Pompey, addressing himself to the
company, "I is de gentman dat is to get you ready, so dat you
will bring marser a good price in de Orleans market. How old is
you?" addressing himself to a man who, from appearance, was not
less than forty.
"If I live to see next corn-planting time I will either be
forty-five or fifty-five, I don't know which."
"Dat may be," replied Pompey; "But now you is only thirty years
old; dat is what marser says you is to be."
"I know I is more den dat," responded the man.
"I knows nothing about dat," said Pompey; "but when you get in de
market, an anybody axe you how old you is, an you tell 'em
forty-five, marser will tie you up an gib you de whip like smoke.
But if you tell 'em dat you is only thirty, den he wont."
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