The Leopard's Spots (1902)/Book 1/Chapter 9
THE first Monday in October was court day at Hambright, and from every nook and corner of Campbell county, the people flocked to town. The court house had not yet been transformed into the farce-tragedy hall where jail birds and drunken loafers were soon to sit on judge's bench and in attorney's chair instead of standing in the prisoner's dock. The merciful stay laws enacted by the Legislature had silenced the cry of the auctioneer until the people might have a moment to gird themselves for a new life struggle.
But the black cloud was already seen on the horizon. The people were restless and discouraged by the wild rumours set afloat by the Freedman's Bureau, of coming confiscation, revolution and revenge. A greater crowd than usual had come to town on the first day. The streets were black with negroes.
A shout was heard from the crowd in the square, as the stalwart figure of General Daniel Worth, the brigade commander of Colonel Gaston's regiment was seen shaking hands with the men of his old army.
The General was a man to command instant attention in any crowd. An expert in anthropology would have selected his face from among a thousand as the typical man of the Caucasian race. He was above the average height, a strong muscular and well-rounded body, crowned by a heavy shock of what had once been raven black hair, now iron grey. His face was ruddy with the glow of perfect health and his full round lips and the twinkle of his eye showed him to be a lover of the good things of life. He wore a heavy moustache which seemed a fitting ballast for the lower part of his face against the heavy projecting straight eyebrows and bushy hair.
As he shook hands with his old soldiers his face was wreathed in smiles, his eyes flashed with something like tears and he had a pleasant word for all.
Tom Camp was one of the first to spy the General and hobble to him as fast as his peg-leg would carry him.
"Howdy, General, howdy do! Lordy it's good for sore eyes ter see ye!" Tom held fast to his hand and turning to the crowd said,
"Boys, here's the best General that ever led a brigade, and there wasn't a man in it that wouldn't a died for him. Now three times three cheers!" And they gave it with a will.
"Ah! Tom you're still at your old tricks," said the General. "What are you after now?"
"A speech General!"—"A speech! A speech!" the crowd echoed.
The General slapped Tom on the back and said,
"What sort of a job is this you're putting up on me—I'm no orator! But I'll just say to you, boys, that this old peg-leg here was the finest soldier that I ever saw carry a musket and the men who stood beside him were the most patient, the most obedient, the bravest men that ever charged a foe and crowned their General with glory while he safely stood in the rear."
Again a cheer broke forth. The General was hurrying toward the court house, when he was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of negroes. In the front ranks were a hundred of his old slaves who had worked on his Campbell county plantation. They seized his hands and laughed and cried and pleaded for recognition like a crowd of children. Most of them he knew. Some of their faces he had forgotten.
"Hi dar, Marse Dan'l, you knows me! Lordy, I'se your boy Joe dat used ter ketch yo hoss down at the plantation!"
"Of course, Joe! Of course."
"I know Marse Dan'l aint forget old Uncle Rube," said an aged negro pushing his way to the front.
"That I haven't Reuben! and how's Aunt Julie Ann?"
"She des tollable, Marse Dan'l. We'se bof un us had de plumbago. How is you all sence de wah?"
"Oh! first rate, Reuben. We manage somehow to get enough to eat and if we do that nowadays we can't complain."
"Dats de God's truf, Marster sho! En now Marse Dan'l, we all wants you ter make us er speech en 'splain erbout dis freedom ter us. Dey's so many dese yere Buroers en Leaguers round here tellin' us niggers what's er coming', twell we des doan know nuttin' fur sho."
"Yassir dat's hit! You tell us er speech Marse Dan'l!"
The white men crowded up nearer and joined in the cry. There was no escape. In a few moments the court house was filled with a crowd.
When he arose a cheer shook the building, and strange as it may seem to-day, it came with almost equal enthusiasm from white and black.
"I thank you, my friends," said the General, "for this evidence of your confidence. I was a Whig in politics. I reckon I hated a Democrat as God hates sin. I was a Union man and fought Secession. My opponents won. My state asked me to defend her soil. As an obedient son I gave my life in loyal service.
"I need not tell you as a Union man that I am glad this war is over. I have always felt as a business man, a cotton manufacturer as well as farmer, in touch with the free labour of the North as well as the slave labour of the South, that free labour was the most economical and efficient. I believe that terrible as the loss of four billions of dollars in slaves will be to the South, if the South is only let alone by the politicians and allowed to develop her resources, she will become what God meant her to be, the garden of the world. I say it calmly and deliberately, I thank God that slavery is a thing of the past."
A whirlwind of applause arose from the negroes. Uncle Reuben's voice could be heard above the din.
"Hear dat! You niggers! Dat's my ole Marster talkin' now!"
"Let me say to the negroes here to-day, this war was not fought for your freedom by the North, and yet in its terrific struggle, God saw fit to give you freedom. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are now yours and the birthright of your children.
"We need your labour. Be honest, humble, patient, industrious and every white man in the South will be your friend. What you need now is to go to work with all your might, build a roof over your head, get a few acres of land under your feet that is your own, put decent clothes on your back, and some money in the bank, and you will become indispensable to the people of the South. They will be your best friends and give you every right and privilege you are prepared to receive.
"The man who tells you that your old Master's land will be divided among you, is a criminal, or a fool, or both. If you ever own land, you will earn it in the sweat of your brow like I got mine."
"Hear dat now, niggers!" cried old Reuben.
"The man who tells you that you are going to be given the ballot indiscriminately with which you can rule your old masters is a criminal or a fool, or both. It is insanity to talk about the enfranchisement of a million slaves who can not read their ballots. Mr. Lincoln who set you free was opposed to any such measure.
"Let me read an extract from a letter Mr. Lincoln wrote me just before the war."
The General drew from his pocket a letter in the handwriting of the President and read:—
"My Dear Worth:—You must hold the Union men of the South together at all hazards. The one passion of my soul is to save the Union. In answer to the question you ask me about the equality of the races I enclose you a newspaper clipping reporting my reply to Judge Douglas at Charleston, Sept. 18, 1858. I could not express myself more plainly. Have this extract published in every paper in the South you can get to print it."
The General paused and turning toward the negroes said,
"Now listen carefully to every word. Says Mr. Lincoln,
I am not, nor ever have been in favour of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races! (here is marked applause from a Northern audience.) I am not, nor ever have been in favour of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality: and inasmuch as they can not so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of the inferior and superior, and I am, as much as any other man, in favour of having the superior position assigned to the white race.
"This was Lincoln's position and is the position of nine-tenths of the voters of his party. It is insanity to believe that the Anglo-Saxon race at the North can ever be so blinded by passion that they can assume any other position.
"Slavery is dead for all time. It would have been destroyed whatever the end of the war. I know some of the secrets of the diplomatic history of the Confederacy. General Lee asked the government at Richmond to enlist 200,000 negroes to defend the South, which he declared was their country as well as ours, and grant them freedom on enlistment. General Lee's request was ultimately accepted as the policy of the Confederacy though too late to save its waning fortunes. Not only this, but the Confederate government sent a special ambassador to England and France and offered them the pledge of the South to emancipate every slave in return for the recognition of the independence of the Confederacy. But when the ambassador arrived in Europe, the lines of our army had been so broken, the governments were afraid to interfere.
"The man who tells you that your old masters are your enemies and may try to reinslave you is a wilful and malicious liar."
"Hear dat, folks!" yelled old Reuben as he waved his arm grandly toward the crowd.
"To the white people here to-day, I say be of good cheer. Let politics alone for awhile and build up your ruined homes. You have boundless wealth in your soil. God will not forget to send the rain and the dew and the sun. You showed yourselves on a hundred fields ready to die for your country. Now I ask you to do something braver and harder. Live for her when it is hard to live. Let cowards run, but let the brave stand shoulder to shoulder and build up the waste places till our country is once more clothed in wealth and beauty."
The General bowed in closing to a round of applause. His soldiers were delighted with his speech and his old slaves revelled In it with personal pride. But the rank and file of the negroes were puzzled. He did not preach the kind of doctrine they wished to hear. They had hoped freedom meant eternal rest, not work. They had dreamed of a life of ease with government rations three times a day, and old army clothes to last till they put on the white robes above and struck their golden harps in paradise. This message the General brought was painful to their newly awakened imaginations.
As the General passed through the crowd he met the Ex-Provisional Governor, Amos Hogg, busy with the organising work of his Leagues.
"Glad to see you General," said Hogg extending his hand with a smile on his leathery face.
"Well, how are you, Amos, since Macon pulled your wool?"
"Never felt better in my life, General. I want a few minutes' talk with you."
"All right, what is it?"
"General, you're a progressive man. Come, you're flirting with the enemy. The truly loyal men must get together to rescue the state from the rebels who have it again under their heel."
"So Macon's a rebel because he licked you?"
"You know the rebel crowd are running this state," said Hogg.
"Why, Hogg you were the biggest fool Secessionist I ever saw, and Macon and I were staunch Union men. We had to fight you tooth and nail. You talk about the truly loyal!"
"Yes but, General, I've repented. I've got my face turned toward the light."
"Yes, I see,—the light that shines in the Governor's Mansion."
"I don't deny it. 'Great men choose greater sins, ambition's mine.' Come into this Union movement with me, Worth, and I'll make you the next Governor."
"I'll see you in hell first. No, Amos, we don't belong to the same breed. You were a Secessionist as long as it paid. When the people you had misled were being overwhelmed with ruin, and it no longer paid, you deserted and became 'loyal' to get an office. Now you're organising the negroes, deserters, and criminals into your secret oath-bound societies. Union men when the war came fought on one side or the other, because a Union man was a man, not a coward. If he felt his state claimed his first love, he fought for his native soil. The gang of plugs you are getting together now as 'truly loyal' are simply cowards, deserters, and common criminals who claim they were persecuted as Union men. It's a weak lie."
"We'll win," urged Hogg.
"Never!" the General snorted, and angrily turned on his heel. Before leaving he wheeled suddenly, faced Hogg and said,
"Go on with your fool societies. You are sowing the wind. There'll be a lively harvest. I am organising too. I'm organising a cotton mill, rebuilding our burned factory, borrowing money from the Yankees who licked us to buy machinery and give employment to thousands of our poor people. That's the way to save the state. We've got water power enough to turn the wheels of the world."
"You'll need our protection in the fight that's coming," replied Hogg, with a straight look that meant much.
The General was silent a moment. Then he shook his fist in Hogg's face and slowly said,
"Let me tell you something. When I need protection I'll go to headquarters. I've got Yankee money in my mills and I can get more if I need it. You lay your dirty claws on them and I'll break your neck."