The Journal of Negro History Volume II Part 35

19th. Pregnant women shall be at liberty to work with the small gang as customary, and when confined, not to be called on to work for seven weeks after their confinement.

Young children shall be fed and attended to during the hours of work at some proper place, at the cost of the estate.

n.o.body is allowed to stay from work on pretence of attending a sick person, except the wife and the mother in dangerous cases of illness.

20th. It is the duty of the managers to report to the police any contagious or suspicious cases of illness and death; especially when gross neglect is believed to have taken place, as when children have been neglected by their mothers, in order that the guilty person may be punished according to law.

21st. The driver or foreman on the estate, is to receive in wages four and a half dollars monthly, if no other terms have been agreed upon. The driver may be dismissed at any time during the year with the consent of the magistrate. It is the duty of the driver to see the work duly performed, to maintain order and peace on the estate during the work, and at other times, and to prevent and report all offences committed. Should any laborer insult, or use insulting language towards him during, or on account of the performance of his duties, such person is to be punished according to law.

22nd. No laborer is allowed, without the especial permission of the owner or manager, to appropriate wood, gra.s.s, vegetables, fruits, and the like, belonging to the estate, nor to appropriate such produce from other estates, nor to cut canes, or to burn charcoal. Persons making themselves guilty of such offences, shall be punished according to law, with fines or imprisonment with hard labor; and the possession of such articles not satisfactorily accounted for, shall be sufficient evidence of unlawful acquisition.

23d. All agreements contrary to the above rules, are to be null and void, and owners and managers of estates convicted of any practice tending wilfully to counteract or avoid these rules by direct or indirect means, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $200.

(Signed,) P. HANSEN.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, ST. CROIX, 26th January, 1849.

--KNOX, _An Historical Account of St. Thomas, West Indies_, pp. 248-255.

FOOTNOTES:

[397] Father O'Ryan.

[398] He had obtained this brilliant military t.i.tle on account of his fantastic attire.

[399] Extract from Captain Irminger's Report to the Minister of Marine. Despatched 12th July, 1848.

[400] Then Captain-General of Porto Rico.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

_A History of the United States_, Vol. IV. By EDWARD CHANNING, Professor in Harvard University. New York, MacMillan Company, 1917.

Pp. 575. Price $2.75.

This is the fourth volume of what promises to be the most interesting and possibly the most valuable single work hitherto produced in this field. It begins with the discovery of the New World and when completed will come down to 1910. The volume herein referred to covers the period of "Federalists and Republicans from 1789 to 1815." The work, therefore, goes over ground which has been extensively treated by such writers as Richard Hildreth, James Schouler, Herman von Holst, and James B. McMaster. Professor Channing, however, has given this period an original treatment and incorporated into his narrative so much material of human interest that his history makes a more readable and at the same time a more informing work than any of the general histories of the United States.

Professor Channing does not fall a victim to the mistakes of his predecessors. Hildreth is prejudiced, Schouler is dry and ex parte, von Holst is lost in the debates over slavery, and McMaster, at times, sinks beneath the load of his undigested material. Realizing that the problems of peace are greater than those of war and that the mere proceedings of legislative bodies cannot altogether be depended upon to reflect the political development of a country, Professor Channing is making his history economic as well as political. It is just as important to him to know the prices of commodities in 1800 as to know the terms of Jay's treaty. In other words, Professor Channing has a new point of view. He aims not to set forth an interesting narrative but to marshall his facts so as to make interesting his well-balanced account of the various forces which have operated to make this country what it is to-day. The smooth style, common sense, and thoroughness with which he is now doing this task will doubtless make this the standard history of the United States.

In reading this valuable work, however, one cannot but express regret that Professor Channing did not see fit to spell the word "Negro"

with a capital letter and to say more about the people of color. In the volumes to follow the treatment of this element of our population will probably be more extensive in keeping with the increasing importance of the Negro as a factor in history of the later period.

Professor Channing will hardly be so unfortunate as most writers of American history, who in their voluminous works give s.p.a.ce for honorable mention of every race but the black, considering it sufficient to mention it, merely as the cause of the great agitation which finally rent the nation and the present cause of the race problem in the United States. The bearing of worthy achievements of the Negroes on the development of this country should be mentioned along with the deeds of others who have helped to make the nation.

_The Early History of Cuba, 1492 to 1586_. By I. A. WRIGHT. The MacMillan Company, New York, 1916. Pp. 390.

This book begins with the discovery of Cuba by Columbus and ends with the raid of Sir Francis Drake in the West Indies in 1586, by which it was demonstrated that Great Britain ruled the sea and that the retention of the Spanish possessions in the New World required that they be provided with means of local defence rather than be left in the position of dependence on protection from Spain. With this change is connected the subsequent economic development of Cuba and the success of the Spanish colonial policy.

In writing this book the author had an advantage over most historians in this field. It was compiled from doc.u.ments now available at Seville, Spain. Miss Wright, however, did not use the doc.u.ments found in other archives. What doc.u.ments she had access to, however, are considered sufficient as they contain "letters and reports of the island's governors, of royal officials and lesser clergy, of munic.i.p.al and ecclesiastical councils, of distinguished and humble citizens."

This large collection, too, contains some of the doc.u.ments copied by Munoz in his collection preserved at Madrid and some printed in the unsatisfactory series of _Doc.u.mentos Ineditos_. The author, therefore, gives this book to the public as the only exhaustive treatment of Cuban history of this period, which has. .h.i.therto been published, despite the estimate we have placed on such works as those of De las Casas, Oviedo, Gomara, Solis, Bernal Diaz del Costillo, and Herrera.

The introduction of slavery and the treatment of the bondmen, although not objective points in this treatise, are given considerable s.p.a.ce.

The slave trade was authorized in Cuba in 1513 and we hear of Bishop Ubite in the possession of as many as 200 slaves in 1523 and later of Bishop Maestro Miguel Ramirez with a license from the crown to take half a dozen slaves and two white slave women. The writer shows how the failure of the native captives to meet the demand for labor eventually led to declaration making them the free va.s.sals of the crown and authorizing the enslavement of Negroes in sufficiently large numbers to make up the deficiency. It was necessary to issue another order rescinding the license of the slave-traders because of the fear of servile insurrection, should the slave population too far exceed that of the whites. This restricted importation of Negroes, however, did not prevent their uprising in 1533, which, however, was easily quelled, the four Negroes defending themselves to death.

The author explains too how slavery in Cuba or in the Spanish possession differed from that of other nations in that although the Spaniard regarded the black as socially and politically inferior, he did not look down upon him as a "soul-less son of Cain condemned to servitude by divine wrath" but recognized the black's equality with him before the altar of the church. When he became free and even before he became free the slave had rights before the law. "This att.i.tude of mind of the Spaniard--so very different indeed from that of the slave-holding North American,--partly explains the facility with which he mingled his 'pure, clean' white blood with black, so begetting a mulatto population to be reckoned with later." Free blacks, therefore, soon appeared. By 1568 forty in Havana had bought their freedom. Others, though still slaves, lived independently, the men doing such as working at trades and the women running eating houses, but all reporting their earnings to their masters at intervals.

C. B. WALTER.

_Sierra Leone: Its Peoples, Products and Secret Societies_. By H.

OSMAN NEWLAND, F. R. Hist. S., F.I.D. John Bale, Sons and Danielsson, London, 1916. Pp. 247.

This work consists of the observations on a journey by canoe, rail and hammock through Sierra Leone. To this is appended fifty-three pages of matter on "Practical Planting Notes for Sierra Leone and West Africa,"

by H. Hamel Smith. Subject to sufficient demand, however, it is proposed to issue this book, annually or biennially, with amendments and additions to date, as a Sierra Leone Year Book and with a Who's Who section. Accordingly, it treats of the geographic and economic conditions of that land and the rule of 1,500,000 Africans, largely by less than 900 Europeans. Taking up the elements of population the author devotes much s.p.a.ce to the Creole and Aborigine elements, giving the characteristics of these cla.s.ses. He then considers the river system, the railroads, life in the interior, the rubber industry, the native chiefs, the amus.e.m.e.nts of the people, native law, peculiar customs of the people, their secret societies, the important products and the management of estates.

The author undertakes to answer the questions as to whether this is a country for a black or white man to live in, which of the two should rule, whether the people are becoming Europeanized in their habits and religion and whether it is a place for commerce and capital. Answering the last question first the author a.s.serts that there are in Sierra Leone many possibilities for smaller capitalists and companies. As for the climate, Sierra Leone is much maligned, especially so since science has reclaimed its swamps and decreased the death rate. The writer too is satisfied with the progress with which the natives are taking over European civilization, although he is not anxious to see the African adopt this culture _in toto_ because of the difference in climate. Unlike some other travelers, he found the natives industrious, honest, and truthful. Moreover, he does not share the prejudices foreigners have against the Creoles and blacks. He believes that the white man should rule not so long as he is white but so long as he can prove his superiority. "The black man," says he, "will only respect the rule of the white man as long as the latter can prove his superiority, and consequently, reasonableness." The natives have such a keen sense of justice that they are not blinded by hypocrisy. The writer believes that neither the white man nor his religion must rule because they are white and not black. The administrators, too, must not rule for themselves but as representatives only. "It is Britain that must rule--Britain which has one law for all, and administers it not for white or black, but for all who own her sway whatever their colour, race, or religion." While the portraiture of the sense of justice of Great Britain does not square with her colonial policy, the caution to those administering the affairs of Sierra Leone is well put.

After all that he says, however, the writer does not seem to be so sanguine as to future of West Africa. "Probably West Africa," says he, "will always remain a land of romance, mystery and imagination,"

Science may reclaim the swamp. The iron railroad may open up tracks for the engineer and planter to exploit its vast resources. But Nature, unchecked by man, has been allowed too long to run riot there among its impenetrable forests. Never, perhaps, will it be entirely subdued. As with the primeval forest, so with the people.

Mohammedanism, Christianity, modern education, have all tried their civilizing influences upon the West African, and nowhere, perhaps, with more success than in Sierra Leone. But the old Adam dies slowly.

Civilization is too tame, too quiet for those who love noise and mystery. And this feeling is infectious.

J. O. BURKE.

_Trade Politics and Christianity in Africa and the East_. By A. J.

MACDONALD, M.A. With an introduction by SIR HARRY JOHNSTON. Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1916. Pp. 296.

This is a dissertation awarded the Maitland Prize at Cambridge in 1915 for an essay on the thesis, _Problems raised by the contact of the West with Africa and the East and the part that Christianity can play in their solution_. The work shows scientific treatment. The facts used were obtained largely from the Government Blue Books, the Minutes of Evidence attached to Reports of the Committee of Inquiry into the Liquor Trade in Southern Nigeria together with the reports of the United Races Committee, the Journal of the Anglo-Indian Temperance a.s.sociation, the British Quarterlies, the publications of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, and the reports of the Proceedings of the First Universal Race Congress.

The writer traces the development of contact with the natives by means of trade which, supplying them with what they want rather than with what they need, often demoralizes them. Then along with the problem of trade comes that of labor, giving rise to labor contracts or forced labor, and this with another problem of preventing the native population from too far exceeding that of the whites. Then comes the consideration of the liquor question, the opium trade, education and self-government, and inter-racial marriage, with the merits and demerits of the methods of those who have attacked these problems.

Caution is given in the a.s.sertion that Christianity must be the life-principle. "Imperialism," says the author, "is a matter of religion." The extension of the empire, therefore, is an extension of religion. The success of an imperial policy then depends upon the degree of attention paid religion, which lies deeper than statesmanship, deeper than civilization, which is, indeed, the inspiration of both. Administrators, therefore, must not neglect Christianity, as they are only imperialists so long as they remember that they are in spite of themselves religious men. "Translated into practical terms," says he, "the theory means that if the black and white races are unequal in intelligence and social capacity they are equal on the basis of common Christianity. The old doctrine of the 'solidarity of humanity' needs to be revived and to be applied over a wider area. The Empire can only be extended securely by the extension of its religion, but that means that settler, trader and administrator must realize in the black man a capacity to receive Christianity." The Church, too, must cease to regard the propagation of the gospel as its own task and missionaries must no longer r.e.t.a.r.d the extension of the empire by carrying on their work as members of an independent organization.

Taking up inter-racial marriage, the author raises many questions. He does not seem to fear race fusion, as there is evidence "to prove that the crossing of the different races does produce definite physical and mental results in succeeding generations." He contends that the white man's objection to connection with women of colored races and to the children who spring from those unions has no scientific justification.

The exclusive att.i.tude of the white man is accounted for by the difference in degree of civilization, the so-called superiority of the white race. Although he does not show how science has uprooted the idea of racial superiority, the author does raise the question as to whether the integrity of the dominant races has been maintained. As evidence of this he cites the facts that the Pelasgii of Greece were, according to Professor Sturgis, of African origin, that Sir Harry Johnston traced Negro blood across India and the Malay States to Polynesia, that a negroid race penetrated Italy and France, according to recent discoveries, leaving traces at the present day in the physiognomy of the people of Southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Western France, and even in parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and that even to-day there are some examples of Keltiberian peoples of western Scotland and western Wales and southern and western Ireland of distinctly negroid type.

W. R. WARD.

NOTES

The following letter was addressed to the _New Orleans Daily States_ by Mr. W. O. Hart: