An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans Part 15

She finally concluded a treaty, upon the single condition of restoring all the Portuguese prisoners. When the audience was ended, the Viceroy, as he conducted her from the room, remarked that the attendant upon whose back she had been seated, still remained in the same posture.

Zhinga replied: "It is not fit that the amba.s.sadress of a great king should be twice served with the same seat. I have no further use for the woman."

Charmed with the politeness of the Europeans, and the evolutions of their troops, the African princess long delayed her departure. Having received instruction in the christian religion, she professed a deep conviction of its truth. Whether this was sincere, or merely a.s.sumed from political motives, is uncertain. During her visit, she received baptism, being then forty years old. She returned to Angola loaded with presents and honors. Her brother, notwithstanding a solemn promise to preserve the treaty she had formed, soon made war upon the Portuguese.

He was defeated, and soon after died of poison; some said his death was contrived by Zhinga. She ascended the throne, and having artfully obtained possession of her nephew's person, she strangled him with her own hands. Revenge, as well as ambition, impelled her to this crime; for her brother had, many years before, murdered _her_ son, lest he should claim the crown.

The Portuguese increased so fast in numbers, wealth, and power, that the people of Angola became jealous of them, and earnestly desired war.

Zhinga, having formed an alliance with the Dutch, and with several neighboring chiefs, began the contest with great vigor. She obtained several victories, at first, but was finally driven from her kingdom with great loss. Her conquerors offered to re-establish her on the throne, if she would consent to pay tribute. She haughtily replied, "If my cowardly _subjects_ are willing to bear shameful fetters, _I_ cannot endure even the thought of dependence upon any foreign power."

In order to subdue her stubborn spirit, the Portuguese placed a king of their own choosing upon the throne of Angola. This exasperated Zhinga to such a degree, that she vowed everlasting hatred against her enemies, and publicly abjured their religion. At the head of an intrepid and ferocious band, she, during eighteen years, perpetually hara.s.sed the Portuguese. She could neither be subdued by force of arms, nor appeased by presents. She demanded complete rest.i.tution of her territories, and treated every other proposal with the utmost scorn. Once, when closely besieged in an island, she asked a short time to reflect on the terms of surrender. The request being granted, she silently guided her troops through the river at midnight, and carried fire and sword into another portion of the enemy's country.

The total defeat of the Hollanders, and the death of her sister, who had been taken captive during the wars, softened her spirit. She became filled with remorse for having renounced the christian religion. She treated her prisoners more mercifully, and gave orders that the captive priests should be attended with the utmost reverence. They perceived the change, and lost no opportunity of regaining their convert. The queen was ready to comply with their wishes, but feared a revolt among her subjects and allies, who were strongly attached to the customs of their fathers. The priests, by numerous artifices, worked so powerfully upon the superst.i.tious fears of the people, that they were prepared to hail Zhinga's return to the Catholic faith with joy.

The queen, thus reconciled to the church, signed a treaty of peace; took the Capuchins for her counsellors; dedicated her capital city to the Virgin, under the name of Saint Mary of Matamba; and erected a large church. Idolatry was forbidden, under the most rigorous penalties; and not a few fell martyrs to Zhinga's fiery zeal.

A law prohibiting polygamy excited discontent. Zhinga, though seventy-five years old, publicly patronized marriage, by espousing one of her courtiers; and her sister was induced to give the same example.

The Portuguese again tried to make her a va.s.sal to the crown; but the priests, notwithstanding their almost unlimited influence, could never obtain her consent to this degradation.

In 1657, one of her tributaries having violated the treaty of peace, she marched at the head of her troops, defeated the rebel, and sent his head to the Portuguese.

In 1658, she made war upon a neighboring king, who had attacked her territories; and returned in triumph, after having compelled him to submit to such conditions as she saw fit to impose. The same year, she abolished the cruel custom of immolating human victims on the tombs of princes; and founded a new city, ornamented with a beautiful church and palace.

She soon after sent an emba.s.sage to the Pope, requesting more missionaries among her people. The Pontiff's answer was publicly read in the church, where Zhinga appeared with a numerous and brilliant train.

At a festival in honor of this occasion she and the ladies of her court performed a mimic battle, in the dress and armor of Amazons. Though more than eighty years old, this remarkable woman displayed as much strength, agility, and skill, as she could have done at twenty-five. She died in 1663, aged eighty-two. Arrayed in royal robes, ornamented with precious stones, with a bow and arrow in her hand, the body was shown to her sorrowing subjects. It was then, according to her wish, clothed in the Capuchin habit, with crucifix and rosary.[AH]

[Footnote AH: See Biographie Universelle.]

The commandant of a Portuguese fort, who expected the arrival of an African envoy, ordered splendid preparations, that he might be dazzled with the idea of European wealth. When the negro entered the richly-ornamented saloon, he was not invited to sit down. Like Zhinga, he made a signal to an attendant, who knelt upon the floor, and thus furnished him a seat. The commandant asked, "Is thy king as powerful as the King of Portugal?" The colored envoy replied: "My king has a hundred servants like the king of Portugal; a thousand like thee; and but one like myself." As he said this, he indignantly left the room.

Michaud, the elder, says that in different places on the Persian Gulf, he has seen negroes as heads of great commercial houses, receiving orders and expediting vessels to various parts of India. Their intelligence in business is well known on the Levant.

The Czar Peter of Russia, during his travels became acquainted with Annibal, an African negro, who was intelligent and well educated. Peter the Great, true to his generous system of rewarding merit wherever he found it, made Annibal Lieutenant-General and Director of the Russian Artillery. He was decorated with the riband of the order of St.

Alexander Nenski. His son, a mulatto, was Lieutenant-General of Artillery, and said to be a man of talent. St. Pierre and La Harpe were acquainted with him.

_Job Ben Solomon_, was the son of the Mohammedan king of Bunda, on the Gambia. He was taken in 1730, and sold in Maryland. By a train of singular adventures he was conveyed to England, where his intelligence and dignified manners gained him many friends; among whom was Sir Hans Sloane, for whom he translated several Arabic ma.n.u.scripts. After being received with distinction at the Court of St. James, the African Company became interested in his fate, and carried him back to Bunda, in the year 1734. His uncle embracing him, said, "During sixty years, you are the first slave I have ever seen return from the American isles." At his father's death, Solomon became king, and was much beloved in his states.

The son of the King of Congo, and several of the young people of rank were sent to the Portuguese universities, in the time of King Immanuel.

Some of them were distinguished scholars, and several of them promoted to the priesthood.

In 1765, a negro in England was ordained by Doctor Keppell, bishop of Exeter. In Prevot's General History of Voyages, there is an account of a black bishop who studied at Rome.

_Antonio Perrura Reboucas_, who is at the present time Deputy from Bahia, in the Cortes of Brazil, is a distinguished lawyer, and a good man. He is learned in political economy and has written ably upon the currency of Brazil. I have heard intelligent white men from that country speak of him in terms of high respect and admiration.

_Henry Diaz_, who is extolled in all the histories of Brazil, was a negro and slave. He became Colonel of a regiment of foot-soldiers, of his own color; and such was his reputation for sagacity and valor, that it was considered a distinction to be under his command. In the contest between the Portuguese and Hollanders, in 1637, Henry Diaz fought bravely against the latter. He compelled them to capitulate at Arecise, and to surrender Fernanbon. In a battle, struggling against the superiority of numbers, and perceiving that some of his soldiers began to give way, he rushed into the midst of them, exclaiming, "Are these the brave companions of Henry Diaz!" His example renewed their courage, and they returned so impetuously to the charge, that the almost victorious army were compelled to retreat hastily.

Having wounded his left-hand in battle, he caused it to be struck off, rather than to lose the time necessary to dress it. This regiment, composed of blacks, long existed in Brazil under the popular name of Henry Diaz.

_Antony William Amo_, born in Guinea, was brought to Europe when very young. The Princess of Brunswick, Wolfenb.u.t.tel, defrayed the expenses of his education. He pursued his studies at Halle and at Wittenberg, and so distinguished himself by his character and abilities, that the Rector and Council of Wittenberg thought proper to give public testimony of their respect in a letter of congratulation. In this letter they remark that Terence also was an African--that many martyrs, doctors, and fathers of the church were born in the same country, where learning once flourished, and which by losing the christian faith, again fell back into barbarism. Amo delivered private lectures on philosophy, which are highly praised in the same letter. He became a doctor.

_Lislet Geoffroy_, a mulatto, was an officer of Artillery and guardian of the Depot of Maps and Plans of the Isle of France. He was a correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences, to whom he regularly transmitted meteorological observations, and sometimes hydrographical journals. His map of the Isles of France and Reunion is considered the best map of those islands that has appeared. In the archives of the Inst.i.tute of Paris is an account of Lislet's voyage to the Bay of St.

Luce. He points out the exchangeable commodities and other resources which it presents; and urges the importance of encouraging industry by the hope of advantageous commerce, instead of exciting the natives to war in order to obtain slaves. Lislet established a scientific society at the Isle of France, to which some white men refused to belong, because its founder had a skin more deeply colored than their own.

_James Derham_, originally a slave at Philadelphia, was sold to a physician, who employed him in compounding drugs; he was afterward sold to a surgeon, and finally to Doctor Robert Dove, of New-Orleans.

In 1788, at the age of twenty-one, he became the most distinguished physician in that city, and was able to talk with French, Spanish, and English, in their own languages. Doctor Rush says, "I conversed with him on medicine, and found him very learned. I thought I could give him information concerning the treatment of diseases; but I learned from him more than he could expect from me."

_Thomas Fuller_, an African residing in Virginia, did not know how to read or write, but had great facility in arithmetical calculations. He was once asked, how many seconds has an individual lived when he is seventy years, seven months, and seven days old? In a minute and a half he answered the question. One of the company took a pen, and after a long calculation, said Fuller had made the sum too large. "No," replied the negro, "the error is on your side. You did not calculate the leap years." These facts are mentioned in a letter from Doctor Rush, published in the fifth volume of the American Museum.

In 1788, _Oth.e.l.lo_, a negro, published at Baltimore an Essay against Slavery. Addressing white men, he says, "Is not your conduct, compared with your principles, a sacrilegious irony? When you dare to talk of civilization and the gospel, you p.r.o.nounce your own anathema. In you the superiority of power produces nothing but a superiority of brutality and barbarism. Your fine political systems are sullied by the outrages committed against human nature and the divine majesty."

_Olandad Equiano_, better known by the name of Gustavus Vasa, was stolen in Africa, at twelve years old, together with his sister. They were torn from each other; and the brother, after a horrible pa.s.sage in a slave-s.h.i.+p, was sold at Barbadoes. Being purchased by a lieutenant, he accompanied his new master to England, Guernsey, and the siege of Louisbourg. He afterwards experienced great changes of fortune, and made voyages to various parts of Europe and America. In all his wanderings, he cherished an earnest desire for freedom. He hoped to obtain his liberty by faithfulness and zeal in his master's service; but finding avarice stronger than benevolence, he began trade with a capital of three pence, and by rigid economy was at last able to purchase--_his own body and soul_; this, however, was not effected, until he had endured much oppression and insult. He was several times s.h.i.+pwrecked, and finally, after thirty years of vicissitude and suffering, he settled in London and published his Memoirs. The book is said to be written with all the simplicity, and something of the roughness, of uneducated nature. He gives a _naive_ description of his terror at an earthquake, his surprise when he first saw snow, a picture, a watch, and a quadrant.

He always had an earnest desire to understand navigation, as a probable means of one day escaping from slavery. Having persuaded a sea-captain to give him lessons, he applied himself with great diligence, though obliged to contend with many obstacles, and subject to frequent interruptions. Doctor Irving, with whom he once lived as a servant, taught him to render salt water fresh by distillation. Some time after, when engaged in a northern expedition, he made good use of this knowledge, and furnished the crew with water they could drink.

His sympathies were, very naturally, given to the weak and the despised, wherever he found them. He deplores the fate of modern Greeks, nearly as much degraded by the Turks as the negroes are by their white brethren.

In 1789, Vasa presented a pet.i.tion to the British parliament, for the suppression of the slave-trade. His son, named Sancho, was a.s.sistant librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, and Secretary to the Committee for Vaccination.

Another negro, named _Ignatius Sancho_, was born on board a Guinea s.h.i.+p, where his parents were both captives, destined for the South American slave market. Change of climate killed his mother, and his father committed suicide. At two years old the orphan was carried to England, and presented to some ladies residing at Greenwich. Something in his character reminded them of Don Quixote's squire, and they added Sancho to his original name of Ignatius. The Duke of Montague saw him frequently and thought he had a mind worthy of cultivation. He often sent him books, and advised the ladies to give him a chance for education; but they had less liberal views, and often threatened to send the poor boy again into slavery. After the death of his friends, he went into the service of the d.u.c.h.ess of Montague, who at her death left him an annuity of thirty pounds; beside which he had saved seventy pounds out of his earnings.

Something of dissipation mixed with his love of reading, and sullied the better part of his character. He spent his last s.h.i.+lling at Drury Lane, to see Garrick, who was extremely friendly to him. At one time he thought of performing African characters on the stage, but was prevented by a bad articulation.

He afterward became very regular in his habits, and married a worthy West Indian girl. After his death, two volumes of his letters were printed, of which a second edition was soon published, with a portrait of the author, designed by Gainsborough, and engraved by Bartolozzi.

Sterne formed an acquaintance with Ignatius Sancho; and in the third volume of his letters, there is an epistle addressed to this African, in which he tells him that varieties in nature do not sunder the bands of brotherhood; and expresses his indignation that certain men wish to cla.s.s their equals among the brutes, in order to treat them as such with impunity. Jefferson criticises Sancho with some severity, for yielding too much to an eccentric imagination; but he acknowledges that he has an easy style, and a happy choice of expressions.

The letters of Sancho are thought to bear some resemblance to those of Sterne, both in their beauties and defects.

_Francis Williams_, a negro, was born in Jamaica. The Duke of Montaigne, governor of the island, thinking him an unusually bright boy, sent him to England to school. He afterward entered the University of Cambridge, and became quite a proficient in mathematics. During his stay in Europe, he published a song which became quite popular, beginning, "Welcome, welcome, brother debtor." After his return to Jamaica, the Duke tried to obtain a place for him in the council of the government, but did not succeed. He then became a teacher of Latin and mathematics. He wrote a good deal of Latin verse, a species of composition of which he was very fond. This negro is described as having been pedantic and haughty; indulging a profound contempt for men of his own color. Where learning is a rare attainment among any people, or any cla.s.s of people, this effect is very apt to be produced.

_Phillis Wheatly_, stolen from Africa when seven or eight years old, was sold to a wealthy merchant in Boston, in 1761. Being an intelligent and winning child, she gained upon the affections of her master's family, and they allowed her uncommon advantages. When she was nineteen years old, a little volume of her poems was published, and pa.s.sed through several editions, both in England and the United States. Lest the authenticity of the poems should be doubted, her master, the governor, the lieutenant-governor, and fifteen other respectable persons, acquainted with her character and circ.u.mstances, testified that they were really her own productions. Jefferson denies that these poems have any merit; but I think he would have judged differently, had he been perfectly unprejudiced. It would indeed be absurd to put Phillis Wheatly in compet.i.tion with Mrs. Hemans, Mary Hewitt, Mrs. Sigourney, Miss Gould, and other modern writers; but her productions certainly appear very respectable in comparison with most of the poetry of that day.

Phillis Wheatly received her freedom in 1775; and two years after married a colored man, who, like herself, was considered a prodigy. He was at first a grocer; but afterward became a lawyer, well known by the name of Doctor Peter. He was in the habit of pleading causes for his brethren before the tribunals of justice, and gained both reputation and fortune by his practice. Phillis had been flattered and indulged from her earliest childhood; and, like many literary women in old times, she acquired something of contempt for domestic occupations. This is said to have produced unhappiness between her and her husband. She died in 1780.

Mr. Wilberforce, (on whom may the blessing of G.o.d rest for ever!) aided by several benevolent individuals, established a seminary for colored people at Clapham, a few leagues from London. The first scholars were twenty-one young negroes, sent by the Governor of Sierra Leone. The Abbe Gregoire says, "I visited this establishment in 1802, to examine the progress of the scholars; and I found there existed no difference between them and European children, except that of color. The same observation has been made, first at Paris, in the ancient college of La Marche, where Coesnon, professor of the University, taught a number of colored boys. Many members of the National Inst.i.tute, who have carefully examined this college, and watched the progress of the scholars in their particular cla.s.ses, and public exercises, will testify to the truth of my a.s.sertion."

Correa de Serra, the learned Secretary of the Academy at Portugal, informs us that several negroes have been able lawyers, preachers, and professors.

In the Southern States, the small black children are proverbially brighter and more forward than white ones of the same age. Repartees, by no means indicative of stupidity, have sometimes been made by negroes. A slave was suddenly roused with the exclamation, "Why don't you wake, when your master calls!" The negro answered, "_Sleep has no master._"

On a public day the New-England Museum, in Boston, was thronged with visiters to see the representation of the Salem murder. Some colored women being jostled back by a crowd of white people, expostulated thus: "Don't you know it is always proper to let the _mourners_ walk first?"

It argues some degree of philosophy to be able to indulge wit at the expense of what is, most unjustly, considered a degradation. Public prejudice shamefully fetters these people; and it has been wisely said, "If we cannot _break_ our chains, the next best thing we can do, is to _play_ with them."[AI]

[Footnote AI: In a beautiful little volume called Mary's Journey, by Francis Graeter.]

Among Bonaparte's officers there was a mulatto General of Division, named Alexander Dumas. In the army of the Alps, with charged bayonet, he ascended St. Bernard, defended by a number of redoubts, took possession of the enemy's cannon, and turned their own ammunition against them. He likewise signalized himself in the expedition to Egypt. His troop, composed of blacks and mulattoes, were everywhere formidable. Near Lisle, Alexander Dumas, with only four men, attacked a post of fifty Austrians, killed six, and made sixteen prisoners. Napoleon called him the Horatius Cocles of the Tyrols.

On his return from Egypt, Dumas unluckily fell into the hands of the Neapolitan government, and was two years kept in irons. He died in 1807.

Between 1620 and 1630, some fugitive negroes, united with some Brazilians, formed two free states in South America, called the Great and Little Palmares; so named on account of the abundance of palm trees.

The Great Palmares was nearly destroyed by the Hollanders, in 1644; but at the close of the war, the slaves in the neighborhood of Fernanbouc, resolved to form an establishment, which would secure their freedom.

Like the old Romans, they obtained wives by making incursions upon their neighbors, and carrying off the women.