Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 36.djvu/348

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
332
Southern Historical Society Papers.

sippi; of the slaves in the fields, "running to the fences to see us pass, and to chaff with the men." On July 11th he wrote: "A man here with 1,000 or 1,500 acres is a prince. His slaves fare better than our working farmers." In the moral judgment of time, will not freedom to work in Mississippi sustain a contrast with freedom to be an outcast north of the Ohio? One more word from this officer and gentleman, bearing date July 28th: "Seventeen hundred people have left Memphis within three days, rather than take the oath of allegiance. Leaving, they have sacrificed estate, wealth, luxury." War meant this for the South. Self was annihilated. The annihilation of self was in death grapple with the coronation of self-moral with material power.

In the fascinating autobiography of Augustus Hare is narrated. "'Bayard mentioned a Southern lady, who, when the army of liberation approached, entrusted all her silver and jewels to her slaves, and they brought it back safely after the army had passed." In the trial fire of war the negro said: "I obey where I revere." Could consent of the governed be more authentically certified? Under similar conditions would philanthropy in the Philippines receive a vote of confidence like this? "Have seen," said John Randolph, "the dissolution of many friendships, such at least as were so called; but I have seen that of the master and slave endure, so long as there was a drop of the blood of the master to which the slave could cleave."

SLAVERY AT UNIVERSITY.

Dr. A. B. Mayo, of Massachusetts, in the report of the bureau of education (1900-1901) writes: "Here in contact with a superior class, through a period of more than 200 years, this people underwent the most rapid and effectual transition from the depths of pagan barbarism to the threshold of a Christian civilization on record in the annals of mankind. The 250 years of slavery had, indeed, been in itself a great university and the history of the world may be challenged to present a spectacle so remarkable." In the report of 1895 the same writer stated: "It was found after emancipation that all the mechanical trades were represented among these people, a portion of whom were free and themselves slave-holders." In circular No. I, 1892, he