In his reply, dated New York, May 12, 1783, Sir Guy Carleton says, "I enclose a copy of an order, which I have given out to prevent the carrying away any negroes or other property of the American inhabitants." It is clear, that notwithstanding the Act of the Massachusetts Legislature, and in the face of the law of Congress on the question of recaptures, Gen. Washington, the Congress of the United Colonies, and subsequently of the United States, regarded Negroes as property from the beginning to the end of the war. The following treaties furnish abundant proof that Negroes were regarded as property during the war, by the American government : “PROVISIONAL ARTICLES BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY. "Agreed upon by and between Richard Oswald, Esquire the Commissioner of His Britannic Majesty, for treating of Peace with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said Majesty, on one part, and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Laurens, four of the Commissioners of the said States, etc., etc., etc. “Article VII. * * * All prisoners on both sides shall be set at liberty, and His Britannic Majesty shall with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any negroes or other property' of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the said United States, and from every port, place and harbour within the same. "Done at Paris, Nov. 30, 1782. "RICHARD OSWALD, [L.S.] "JOHN ADAMS, "B. FRANKLIN, "JOHN JAY, [L.S.] [L.S.] [L.S.] "HENRY LAURENS, [L.S.]" 2 "DEFINITE TREATY OF PEACE, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERI CA AND HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY. "Article VII. * * * And His Britannic Majesty shall, with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any ‘negroes or other property' of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, etc., etc., etc. * * * "TREATY OF PEACE AND AMITY, BETWEEN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, "[Ratified and confirmed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Feb. 11, 1815.] "Article I. Shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any 'slaves or other private property. ** It was not a difficult matter to retake Negroes captured by the enemy, and then treat them as prisoners of war. But no officer in the American army, no member of Congress, had the moral courage to proclaim that property ceased in a man the moment he donned the uniform of a Revolutionary soldier, and that all Negro soldiers captured by the enemy should be treated as prisoners of war. So, all through the war with Britain, the Negro soldier was liable to be claimed as property; and every bayonet in the army was at the command of the master to secure his property, even though it had been temporarily converted into an heroic soldier who had defended the country against its foes. The unprecedented spectacle was to be witnessed, of a master hunting his slaves under the flag of the nation. And at the close of hostilities many Negro soldiers were called upon to go back into the service of their masters; while few secured their freedom as a reward for their valor. The following letter of Gen. Washington, addressed to Brig.-Gen. Rufus Putnam, afterwards printed at Marietta, O., from his papers, indicates the regard the Father of his Country had for the rights of the master, though those rights were pushed into the camp of the army where many brave Negroes were found; and it also illustrates the legal strength of such a claim : IU. S. Statutes at large, vol. viii. P. 218. "HEAD QUARTERS, Feb. 2, 1783. "SIR, Mr. Hobby having claimed as his property a negro man now serving in the Massachusetts Regiment, you will please to order a court of inquiry, consisting of five as respectable officers as can be found in your brigade, to examine the validity of the claim, the manner in which the person in question came into service, and the propriety of his being discharged or retained in service. Having inquired into the matter, with all the attending circumstances, they will report to you their opinion thereon; which you will report to me as soon as conveniently may be. "I am, Sir, with great respect, "Your most obedient servant, "G. WASHINGTON. 66 - "P.S. All concerned should be notified to attend. "Brig. Gen. PUTNAM.” Enlistment in the army did not work a practical emancipation of the slave, as some have thought. Negroes were rated as chattel property by both armies and' both governments during the entire war. This is the cold fact of history, and it is not pleasing to contemplate. The Negro occupied the anomalous position of an American slave and an American soldier. He was a soldier in the hour of danger, but a chattel in time of peace. THE NEGRO CHAPTER XXIX. INTELLECT. - BANNEKER THE ASTRONOMER.'. FULLER THE MATHEMATICIAN.-DERHAM THE PHYSICIAN. STATUTORY PROHIBITION AGAINST THE EDUCATION of Negroes.-BENJAMIN Banneker, the NEGRO ASTRONOMER AND PHILOSOPHER. HIS ANTECEDENTS. YOUNG BANNEKER AS A FARMER AND INVENTOR. THE MILLS OF ELLICOTT & Co. - BANNEKER CULTIVATES HIS MECHANICAL GENIUS AND MATHEMATICAL TASTES. - BANNEKER'S FIRST CALCULATION OF AN ECLIPSE SUBMITTed for INSPECTION IN 1789. - HIS LETTER TO MR. ELLICOTT. THE TESTIMONY OF A PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE OF BANNEKER AS TO HIS UPRIGHT CHARACTER. HIS HOME BECOMES A PLACE OF INTER. EST TO VISITORS. RECORD OF HIS BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. MRS. MASON'S VISIT TO HIM. — SHE ADDRESSES HIM IN VERSE. BANNEKER REPLIES BY LETTER TO HER. PREPARES HIS FIRST ALMANAC FOR PUBLICATION IN 1792.-TITLE OF HIS ALMANAC. - BANNEKER'S LETTER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. THOMAS JEFFERSON'S REPLY. BANNEKER INVITED TO ACCOMPANY THE COMMISSIONERS TO RUN THE LINES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. - BannekeR'S HABITS OF STUDYING THE HEAVENLY BODIES.-MINUTE DESCRIPTION GIVEN TO HIS SISTERS IN REFERENCE to the DISPOSITION OF HIS PERSONAL PROPERTY AFTER DEATH. HIS DEATH.-REGARDED AS THE MOST DISTINGUISHED NEGRO OF HIS TIME. - Fuller the MATHEMATICIAN, OR "THE Virginia CALCULATOR."-FULLER OF AFRICAN BIRTH, BUT STOLEN AND SOLD AS A SLAVE INTO VIRGINIA. VISITED BY MEN OF LEARNING. HE WAS PRONOUNCED TO BE A PRODIGY IN THE MANIPULATION OF FIGURES. HIS DEATH. -Derham THE PHYSICIAN. -SCIENCE OF MEDICINE regarded AS THE MOST INTRICATE PURSUIT OF MAN. EARLY LIFE OF JAMES DERHAM. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINES, HOW ACQUIRED. — - HE BECOMES A PROMINENT PHYSICIAN IN NEW ORLEANS. -DR. RUSH GIVES AN ACCOUNT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH HIM.-What the NEGRO RACE PRO. DUCED BY THEIR GENIUS IN AMERICA. FR ROM the moment slavery gained a foothold in North America until the direful hour that witnessed its dissolution amid the shock of embattled arms, learning was the forbidden fruit that no Negro dared taste. Positive and explicit statutes everywhere, as fiery swords, drove him away hungry from the tree of intellectual life; and all persons were forbidden to pluck the fruit for him, upon pain of severe penalties. Every yearning for intellectual food was answered by whips and thumb-screws. But, notwithstanding the state of almost instinctive ignorance in which slavery held the Negro, there were those who occasionally 1 William Wells Brown, William C. Nell, and all the Colored men whose efforts I have seen, have made a number of very serious mistakes respecting Banneker's parentage, age, accomplishments, etc. He was of mixed blood. His mother's name was not Molly Morton, but one of his sisters bore that name. I have used the Memoirs of Banneker, prepared by J. H. B. Latrobe and J. Saurin Norris, and other valuable material from the Maryland Historical Society. astounded the worid with the brightness of their intellectual genius. There were some Negroes whose minds ran the gauntlet of public proscription on one side and repressive laws on the other, and safely gained eminence in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. BANNEKER THE ASTRONOMER. BENJAMIN BANNEKER, the Negro astronomer and philosopher, was born in Maryland, on the 9th of November, 1731. His maternal grandmother was a white woman, a native of England, named Molly Welsh. She came to Maryland in a shipload of white emigrants, who, according to the custom of those days, were sold to pay their passage. She served her master faithfully for seven years, when, being free, she purchased a small farm, at a nominal price. Soon after she bought two Negro slaves from a ship that had come into the Chesapeake Bay, and began life anew. Both of these Negroes proved to be men of more than ordinary fidelity, industry, and intelligence. One of them, it was said, was the son of an African king. She gave him his freedom, and then married him. His name was Banneker. Four children were the fruit of this union; but the chief interest centres in only one, -a girl, named Mary. Following the example of her mother, she also married a native of Africa: but both tradition and history preserve an unbroken silence respecting his life, with the single exception that, embracing the Christian religion, he was baptized "Robert Banneker;" and the record of his death is thus preserved, in the family Bible: "Robert Banneker departed this life, Fuly ve 10th 1759." Thus it is evident that he took his wife's surname. Benjamin Banneker was the only child of Robert and Mary Banneker. Young Benjamin was a great favorite with his grandmother, who taught him to read. She had a sincere love of the Sacred Scriptures, which she did not neglect to inculcate into the youthful heart of her grandson. In the neighborhood, — at that time an almost desolate spot, a school was conducted where the master admitted several Colored children, with the whites, to the benefits of his instructions. It was a "pay school," and thither young Banneker was sent at a very tender age. His application to his studies was equalled by none. When the other pupils were In the most remote records the name was written Banneky. |