it required an almost superhuman effort to confine the evil to one section of the country. Like a loathsome disease it spread itself over the body politic until our nation became the eyesore of the age, and a byword among the nations of the world. The time came when our beloved country had to submit to heroic treatment, and the cancer of slavery was removed by the sword. In giving an account of the Anti-Slavery Agitation Movement, I have found myself able to deal briefly with methods and results only. I have striven to honor all the multifarious measures adopted to save the Negro and the Nation. I have not attempted to write a history of the AntiSlavery Movement. Many noble men and women have not even been mentioned. It should not be forgotten that this is a history of the Negro race; and as such I have not run into the topic discussed by the late Henry Wilson in his "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power." In discussing the problem of the rendition of fugitive slaves by the Union army, I have given the facts with temperate and honest criticism. And, in recounting the sufferings Negro troops endured as prisoners of war in the hands of the Rebels, I have avoided any spirit of bitterness. A great deal of the material on the war I purchased from the MS. library of Mr. Thomas S. Townsend of New-York City. The questions of vital, prison, labor, educational, and financial statistics cannot fail to interest intelligent people of all races and parties. These statistics are full of comfort and assurance to the Negro as well as to his friends. Every cabinet minister of the President wrote me full information upon all the questions I asked, and promptly too. The refusal of the general and adjutant-general of the army did not destroy my hope of getting some information concerning the Negro regiments in the regular army. I visited the Indian Territory, Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico, where I have seen the Ninth and Tenth Regiments of cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth Regiment of infantry. The Twenty-fifth Regiment of infantry is at Fort Randall, Dakota. These are among the most effective troops in the regular army. The annual desertions in white regiments of cavalry vary from ninety-eight to a hundred and eighteen; while in Negro regiments of cavalry the desertions only average from six to nine per annum. The Negro regiments are composed of young men, intelligent, faithful, brave. I heard but one complaint from the lips of a score of white officers I met, and that was that the Negroes sometimes struck their horses over the head. Every distinction in law has disappeared, except in the regular army. Here Negroes are excluded from the artillery service and engineer's department. It is wrong, and Congress should place these brave black soldiers upon the same footing as the white troops. I have to thank Drs. George H. Moore and S. Austin Allibone, of the Lenox Library, for the many kind favors shown me while pursuing my studies in New-York City. And I am under very great obligations to Dr. Moore for his admirable "History of Early Slavery in Massachusetts," without which I should have been put to great inconvenience. To Mr. John Austin Stevens, late editor of "The Magazine of American History," who, during several months residence in New-York City, placed his private library and office at my service, and did every thing in his power to aid my investigations, I return my sincerest thanks. To the Librarians of the New-York Historical, Astor, and New-York Society Libraries, I return thanks for favors shown, and privileges granted. I am especially grateful to the Hon. Ainsworth R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, for the manner in which he facilitated my researches during my sojourn in Washington. I had the use of many newspapers of the last century, and of other material to be found only in the Congressional Library. To Sir T. Risely Griffith, Colonial Secretary and Treasurer of Sierra Leone, I am indebted for valuable statistics concerning that colony. To the Assistant Librarian of the State Library of Ohio, the accomplished and efficient Miss Mary C. Harbough, I owe more than to any other person. Through her unwavering and untiring kindness and friendship, I have been enabled to use five hundred and seventy-six volumes from that library, besides newspaper files and Congressional Records. To Gov. Charles Foster, Chairman of the Board of Library Commissioners, I offer my profoundest thanks for the intelligent, active, and practical interest he has taken in the completion of this work. And to Major Charles Townsend, Secretary of State, I offer thanks for favors shown me in securing documents. To the Rev. J. L. Grover and his competent assistant, Mr. Charles H. Bell, of the Public Library of Columbus, I am indebted for the use of many works. They cheerfully rendered whatever aid they could, and for their kindness I return many thanks. I am obliged to the Rev. Benjamin W. Arnett, Financial Secretary of the A. M. E. Church of the United States, for the statistics of his denomination. And to all persons who have sent me newspapers and pamphlets I desire to return thanks. I am grateful to C. A. Fleetwood, an efficient clerk in the War Department, for statistics on the Freedmen's Bank. And, above all and more than all, I return my profoundest thanks to my heavenly Father for the inspiration, health, and money by which I have been enabled to complete this great task. I have mentioned such Colored men as I thought necessary. To give a biographical sketch of all the worthy Colored men in the United States, would require more space than has been occupied in this work. Not as the blind panegyrist of my race, nor as the partisan apologist, but from a love for " the truth of history," I have striven to record the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I have not striven to revive sectional animosities or race prejudices. I have avoided comment so far as it was consistent with a clear exposition of the truth. My whole aim has been to write a thoroughly trustworthy history; and what I have written, if it have no other merit, is reliable. I commit this work to the public, white and black, to the friends and foes of the Negro, in the hope that the obsolete antagonisms which grew out of the relation of master and slave may speedily sink as storms beneath the horizon; and that the day will hasten when there shall be no North, no South, no Black, no White, but all be American citizens, with equal duties and equal rights. NEW YORK, November, 1882. GEORGE W. WILLIAMS. CONTENTS. Part E. Cushim and Ethiopia. — Ethiopians, White and Black. — Negro Characteristics. — The Dark Continent. The Antiquity of the Negro. Indisputable Evidence. - The Military and Social Condition of Negroes.- Cause of Color.—The Term "Ethiopian " The Ancient and High Degree of Negro Civilization. - Egypt, Greece, and Rome borrow from the Negro the Civilization that made them Great. - Cause of the Decline and Fall of Negro Civilization. - Confounding the Terms "Negro" and "African" Religion. — The King as a Missionary. — His Fidelity to the Church purchased by a White Wife. Decline of Religion. - Introduction of Slavery. Suppression of the Trade by the English Government. - Restoration and Peace. DAHOMEY: Its Location. - Origin of the Kingdom. - Meaning of the Name. - War.- Capture of the English Governor, and his Death. The Military Establishment.— Women as Soldiers. - Wars and their Objects. Human Sacrifices. The King a Despot. His Powers. His Wives. - Polygamy. - Kingly Succession. - Coronation. - Missionaries and Teachers from Sierra Leone. - Prosperity and Peace attend the Peo- ple.-Capacity of the People for Civilization. Bishop Crowther. His Influence Its Location and Extent. Its Famous Kings. - The Origin of the Ashantees Obscure. The War with Denkera. - The Ashantees against the Field conquer two Kingdoms, and annex them.- Death of Osai Tutu. The Envy of the King of Dahomey.— Invasion of the Ashantee Country by the King of Dahomey. His Defeat shared by his Allies.- Akwasi pursues the Army of Dahomey into its own Country.-Gets a Mortal Wound and suffers a Humiliating Defeat. — The King of Dahomey sends the Royal Kudjoh his Congratulations. - Kwamina deposed for attempting to introduce Mohammedanism into the Kingdom. The Ashantees conquer the Mohammedans. -Numerous Wars. - In- vasion of the Fanti Country.- Death of Sir Charles McCarthy. - Treaty. - Peace Patriarchal Government. - Construction of Villages. Negro Architecture. - Election of Kings. Coronation Ceremony. - Succession.- African Queens.- Law, Civil and Criminal. - Priests. Their Functions. - Marriage. — Warfare. — Agriculture. - Me- Its Discovery and Situation. Natural Beauty. - Founding of a Negro Colony. - The Sierra Leone Company. - Fever and Insubordination. It becomes an English Province. Its Location. Extent. - Rivers and Mountains. History of the First Colony. -The Noble Men who laid the Foundation of the Liberian Republic. - Native Tribes. - Translation of the New Testament into the Vei Language. The Beginning and Triumph of Christian Missions to Liberia. - History of the Different Denominations on the Field. A Missionary Republic of Negroes. - Testimony of Officers of the Royal Navy as to the Efficiency of the Republic in suppressing the Slave-Trade. |