THERE are several churches in the town, which deserve some attention. 1. The English Church, built in the year Trinity 1695, at the west end of [the] town, consisting of stone, and Church. has a steeple with a bell. 2. The new Dutch Church, which is likewise built of stone, is pretty large and is provided with a steeple, it also has a clock, which is the only one in the town. ... sterdam under the TOWARDS the sea, on the extremity of the promontory is a pretty good fortress, called Fort George, which entirely Fort Amcommands the port, and can defend the town, at least from a sudden attack on the sea side. Besides that, it is likewise secured on the north or towards the shore, by a pallisade, which however (as for a considerable time the people have had nothing to fear from an enemy) is in many places in a very bad state of defence. Dutch; in at the close of the Revo THERE is no good water to be met with in the town itself, lution. but at a little distance there is a large spring of good water, which the inhabitants take for their tea, and for the uses of the kitchen. Those however, who are less delicate in this point, make use of the water from the wells in town, though it be very bad. This want of good water lies heavy upon the horses of the strangers that come to this place; for they do not like to drink the water from the wells in the town. Peter Kalm, Travels into North America (translated by John Reinhold Forster, Warrington, 1770), I, 247–252 passim. By COLONEL 46. A Southern Criticism of Slavery (1736) 1744). Byrd, YOU is YOUR Lord" [Lordship's] opinion concerning Rum and Rum and Negros is certainly very just, and your excludeing both of them from your Colony of Georgia will be very happy; tho' with Respect to Rum, the Saints of New England I fear will find out some trick to evade receiver general of member of the council, agent for the colony in England, and founder of Richmond, was one of the most cultivated and influential men of his time. The extract given is from a let ter written in 1736 to the Earl of Egmont, first president of the trustees your Act of Parliament. They have a great dexterity at palliating a perjury so well as to leave no taste of it in the mouth, nor can any people like them slip through a penal statute. They will give some other Name to their Rum, which they may safely do, because it go[e]s by that of KillDevil in this country from its banefull qualitys. A watchfull Eye must be kept on these foul Traders or all the precautions of the Trustees will be in vain. I wish my Lord we cou[1]d be blesst with the same Prohibition. They import so many Negros hither, that I fear this Colony will some time or other be confirmd by the Name of New Guinea. I am sensible of many bad conseand just esti- quences of multiplying these Ethiopians amongst us. They for Georgia. It presents a most sane mate of the conse quences of slavery, by a slave-holder and keen buyer of slaves. It is an excellent example of the value of unrestrained private letters as historical evidence. For Byrd, see Contempora- Byrd was an Importation of slaves began in 1619. blow up the pride, and ruin the Industry of our White People, who se[e]ing a Rank of poor Creatures below them, detest work for fear it shou[1]d make them look like Slaves. Then that poverty which will ever attend upon Idleness, disposes them as much to pilfer as it do[e]s the Portuguese, who account it much more like a Gentleman to steal, than to dirty their hands with Labour of any kind. Another unhappy Effect of Many Negros is the necessity of being severe. Numbers make them insolent, and then foul Means must do what fair will not. We have however nothing like the Inhumanity here that is practiced in the Islands, and God forbid we ever shou[1]d. But these base Tempers require to be rid[den] with a tort [taut] Rein, or they will be apt to throw their Rider. Yet even this is terrible to a good natur[e]d Man, who must submit to be either a Fool or a Fury. And this will be more our unhappy case, the more. Negros are increast amongst us. But these private mischeifs are nothing if compar[e]d to the publick danger. We have already at least 10,000 Men of these descendants of Ham fit to bear Arms, and their Numbers increase every day as well by birth as Importation. And in case there shoud arise a Man of desperate courage against negroes, see above, No. 35. amongst us, exasperated by a desperate fortune, he might For laws with more advantage than Cataline kindle a Servile War. Such a man might be dreadfully mischeivous before any opposition could be formd against him, and tinge our Rivers as wide as they are with blood. besides the Calamitys which wou[l]d be brought upon us by such an Attempt, it woud cost our Mother Country many a fair Million to make us as profitable as we are at present. It were therefore worth the consideration of a British Parliament, My Lord, to put an end to this unchristian Traffick of makeing Merchandize of Our Fellow Creatures. At least the farthar Importation of them into our Our Colonys shoud be prohibited lest they prove as troublesome and dangerous everywhere, as they have been lately in Jamaica, where besides a vast expence of Mony, they have cost the lives of many of his Majesty's Subjects. We have mountains in Virginia too, to which they may retire as safely, and do as much mischeif as they do in Jamaica. All these matters duly consider[e]d, I wonder the Legislature will Indulge a few ravenous Traders to the danger of the Publick safety, and such Traders as woud freely sell their Fathers, their Elder Brothers, and even the Wives of their bosomes, if they coud black their faces and get anything by them. On the contrary, the English government cancolonial statutes limiting or taxing the trade. celled all See below, for John Brown's raid. No. 112, I entirely agree with your Lord' in the Detestation you seem to have for that Diabolical Liquor Rum, which dos more mischeif to Peoples Industry and morals than any thing except Gin and the Pope. And if it were not a little too Poetical, I shoud fancy, as the Gods of Old were said to quaff Nectar, so the Devils are fobbd off with Rumm. Fobb'd= Tho' my Dear Country Men woud think this unsavory Spirit tricked. much too Good for Devils, because they are fonder of it than they are of their Wives and Children American Historical Review (New York, etc., 1896), I, 88–90. By ALEX ANDER (1752-1818), author, lawyer, and for a time captain in the continental army. His memoirs are a most interesting commentary on the times in which he lived. The piece is a good example of reminiscences written late in life, in which details are of little weight but the general impression is accurate. - For intellectual life in the colonies, see Contemporaries, I, Nos. 89, 137, 146, 171; II, ch. xiv. 47. A Colonial School-Boy (1760-1766) EING now, probably, about eight years of age, it was deemed expedient to enter me at the academy, then, as it now continues to be, under the name of a university, the principal seminary in Pennsylvania; and I was accordingly introduced by my father, to Mr. Kinnesley, the teacher of English and professor of oratory. . . . The task, of the younger boys, at least, consisted in learning to read and to write their mother tongue grammatically; and one day in the week (I think Friday) was set apart for the recitation of select passages in poetry and prose. For this purpose, each scholar, in his turn, ascended the stage, and said his speech, as the phrase was. This speech was carefully taught him by his master, both with respect to its pronunciation, and the action deemed suitable to its several parts. More profit attended my reading. After Æsop's fables, and an abridgment of the Roman history, Telemachus was put into our hands; and if it be admitted that the human heart may be bettered by instruction, mine, I may aver, was benefited by this work of the virtuous Fenelon. . . ... A few days after I had been put under the care of Mr. Kinnersley, I was told by my class mates, that it was necessary for me to fight a battle with some one, in order to establish my claim to the honor of being an academy boy. I found that the lists were appointed, and that a certain John Appowen, a lad who, though not quite so tall, [was] yet better set and older than myself, was pitted against me. . . A combat immediately ensued between Appowen and myself, which for some time, was maintained on each side, with equal vigor and determination, when unluckily, I received his fist directly in my gullet. The blow for a time depriving me of breath and the power of resistance, victory declared for my adversary, though not without the acknowledgment of the party, that I had at last behaved well, and shewn myself not unworthy of the name of an academy boy. ... I have said that I was about to enter the Latin school. The person whose pupil I was consequently to become, was Mr. John Beveridge, a native of Scotland, who retained the smack of his vernacular tongue in its primitive purity. His acquaintance with the language he taught, was I believe, justly deemed to be very accurate and profound. But as to his other acquirements, after excepting the game of backgammon, in which he was said to excel, truth will not warrant me in saying a great deal. He was, however, diligent and laborious in his attention to his school; and had he possessed the faculty of making himself beloved by the scholars, and of exciting their emulation and exertion, nothing would have been wanting in him to an entire qualification for his office. But unfortunately, he had no dignity of character, and was no less destitute of the art of making himself respected than beloved. Though not perhaps to be complained of as intolerably severe, he yet made a pretty free use of the ratan and the ferule, but to very little pur pose. . . . as my evil star would have it, I was thoroughly tired of books and confinement, and her [his mother's] advice and even entreaties were overruled by my extreme repugnance to a longer continuance in the college, which, to my lasting regret, I bid adieu to when a little turned of fourteen, at the very season when the minds of the studious begin to profit by instruction. We were at this time reading Horace and Cicero, having passed through Ovid, Virgil, Cæsar and Sallust. [Alexander Graydon] Memoirs of a Life, chiefly passed in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, 1811), 16–31 passim, Flogging was discipline in the common schools. |