mission of Messrs. Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry, with instructions to use all proper efforts toward conciliation. The French cabinet haughtily refused to receive them. 1Great forbearance was exercised to avoid or postpone a declaration of war. Yet, a state of war actually existed, and the dilemma of the Government was painful. French ships of war were depredating on American commerce, and decrees were issued by the French Directory subjecting to seizure all American vessels having on board British goods or products, or which had sailed from British ports. In retaliation and defense, an act of Congress suspended commercial intercourse between the United States and France and her possessions. Merchant vessels were authorized to be armed in their voyages to the West Indies or Europe. The president was empowered to increase the standing army and the navy by large additions. Pending these belligerent threatenings, parties divided in Kentucky, the Democratic still in sympathy with their old friends and allies, and the Federal supporting the administration of Adams. Many assemblies passed resolutions of the tenor of the day, of which the following at a Lexington meeting are a sample: "Resolved, That the present war with France is impolitic, unnecessary, and unjust, inasmuch as the means of reconciliation have not been unremittingly and sincerely pursued, hostilities having been unauthorized against France by law while a negotiation was pending. "Resolved, That a war with France will only be necessary and proper when engaged in for the defense of our territory, and to take any part in the present political commotions of Europe will endanger our liberty and independence. Any intimate connection with the corrupt and sinking monarchy of England ought to be abhorred and avoided." Against this, a meeting of citizens of Mason county presented an address to the president, numerously signed, which brought a response of grateful encomium, from which address we quote: "We have seen, with the anxiety inseparable from the love of our country, the situation of the United States under the aggressions of the French nation on our commerce, our rights, and our sovereignty. As freemen, we do not hesitate; we will rally around the standard of our country and support the constituted authorities. An insidious enemy shall in vain attempt to divide us from the Government of the United States, to the support of which, against any foreign enemy, we pledge' our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Other similar addresses accompanied this. Washington was appointed commander-in-chief and all made ready for war, with an impression that France would invade our territory, or attempt it. No declaration of war yet came from either side; still, war was begun. The United States frigate Constitution, of thirty-eight guns, on February 19, 1799, fell in with the French frigate La Insurgent, forty guns, and after a hot fight of an hour, captured her. On February 1, 1800, the Constitu 1 Statesman's Manual. AFRICAN SLAVERY IN KENTUCKY. 367 tion met the La Vengeance, of fifty-four guns, and after an action of five hours, the latter hauled off and escaped, by a favoring squall, after being silenced, with a loss of one hundred and sixty killed and wounded. Three hundred private American vessels had been armed for self-defense, while much damage had been done to American shipping by French vessels. A change in the French Government was effected by Napoleon becoming first consul. It was intimated that commissioners would now be received at the French capital. Messrs. Murray, Ellsworth, and Governor Davis, of North Carolina, were appointed such commissioners, and proceeded in November, 1799, to France. Toward the close of 1800, a treaty was ratified between the two countries and further hostilities avoided. African slavery, transplanted from the other States, was now deeply rooted in the civil and social soil of Kentucky. From the first immigration and settlement of 1775, to this date, slaves often formed a part of the family retinue, or swelled the body of colonists, who usually combined for mutual safety. In the solitudes of the wilderness, and the isolations of the settlements, the intense longings for the society of human kind made the companionship of master and household with the colored slaves an essential condition to the contentment and happiness of both. If Uncle Ben and Black Sam felled the trees for fencing and fuel, plowed the corn-ground, or hoed the garden, Mars Tom often bore a hand with them; and when he did not, they knew he was on an Indian scout, or supplying the wants of the household with spoils of the hunt, or sharing in some other way the diligent toils and exposures incident to the rude life and home. If Aunt Dinah or Jenny plied the loom, spun the yarns, or cooked the meals, Mistress Anna was often pressed to direct and aid, or diligently employed in other domestic duties. Together the children played, together they went errands, and together they did the lighter work of boys and girls; and if sometimes it became necessary, the boys were ever ready to fight for each other, almost forgetting the difference of race and color. Conversational intercourse, between the females especially, was cheerful and confiding, and only restrained by the respectful deference which the slave always manifested to the master or mistress. Hence, while the relations were civilly and socially so distinct, they were mutually confiding and affectionate. The white. and colored elements were thus pleasantly blended in the household unit, ever respecting the differences which nature and fortune had prescribed, yet useful and happy in the respective spheres in which they were placed. Of these relations we may have to speak further on, and from the personal experience and study of a lifetime. In 1798, the Legislature passed an act concerning slaves, modifying the previous laws to some extent. Good treatment was enjoined upon the master, and all contracts between the two positively forbidden. The execution of the law was placed under the jurisdiction of the county courts, and these were authorized to admonish the master for any ill-treatment toward his servant. If persisted in, the court had the option and power to discharge the abused slave. Moderate chastisement with stripes, as in the punishment of children, was not considered ill-treatment. In this law, white and colored being free-but from any cause reduced to servitude-were recognized alike. Any purchase of a white servant by a colored man or an Indian was prohibited. In 1797, the great orator and statesman, Henry Clay, came to make Kentucky his adopted home, at the early age of twenty-one years. Among his first declaration of principles was an avowed advocacy of the emancipation of slaves, and the abolishment of the institution, pending the discussions of the issues of a constitutional change. There were many persons then in the State who were averse to the institution of slavery, from scruples of conscience, and from a conviction that it would prove a great social and political evil to the country. 1 In 1792, Rev. David Rice, an eminent pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church, was one of the members of the first constitutional convention, at Danville. He introduced and advocated a resolution in that body for the gradual extinction of slavery, but without success, though he found sympathy and support. In 1804, a formidable movement, under the lead of Revs. Tarrent, Barrow, Sutton, Holmes, and other ministers of the Baptist Church, was concertedly made in the same direction. They openly declared for the abolition of slavery, alleging that no fellowship should be had with slaveholders, as in principle and practice slavery was a sinful and abominable system, fraught with peculiar evils and miseries, which every good man should condemn. They are known in the records of the times as Emancipators, but styled themselves Friends of Humanity. The movement compelled the attention of the associations, which passed resolutions, declaring it improper for ministers, churches, or associations to meddle with the question of the emancipation of slaves, or any other political subject. This gave such offense to the Emancipators, that they withdrew from the General Baptist Union, and, in 1807, formed an association of their own, called the Licking-Locust Association, Friends to Humanity. They did not proselyte with aggressive success, and in time died out as a distinct body, seeming to be consumed in the intensity of their own zeal. Expressions of hostility from other quarters signalized a disposition to agitate the question of abolition; but slavery had already become an interest and a sentiment among the people of Kentucky, too deep-rooted and entwined in every branch and fiber of the Commonwealth, to be dissevered and torn away by anything less than the cyclone of civil war. 1 Collins, Vol. II., pp. 419, 460. Settlement in Woodford county. Revs. Haw and Ogden first itinerant Methodist ministers appointed. Others preceded them. Francis Clark pre-eminent. Bishop's Asbury's visit. Results in 1800. First Presbyterian work. Rev. David Rice's labors. Presbytery of Transylvania. Churches in Washington county. Rev. John Poage Campbell, Archibald First Episcopal service and church. Talent and learning. Aggressiveness and combativeness of the ministers of all denominations. Dividing doctrines. Much information upon the nature, habits, and character of the Indians will be found interspersed through the pioneer period of history, upon which to form a general idea of savage life. Yet, upon this essential subject, the story of the incidents of the founding of our Commonwealth out of the rudest original elements of nature, and of the remarkable people from whom its territory was wrested, would be incomplete without a more special and coherent description of the wild children of the forest. A picturesque and intensely-interesting sketch is condensed from the narrative of Colonel James Smith, following the description of the burning at the stake of prisoners taken at Braddock's defeat, from which we quote: 1 "Two or three days after this shocking spectacle, most of the Indian tribes dispersed and returned to their homes, as is usual with them after a great and decisive battle. Young Smith was demanded of the French by the tribe to whom he belonged, and was immediately surrendered into their hands. "The party embarked in canoes, and ascended the Alleghany river as far as a small Indian town, about forty miles above Fort Duquesne. There they abandoned their canoes, and, striking into the woods, traveled in a western direction, until they arrived at a considerable Indian town, in what is now the State of Ohio. This village was called Tullihas, and was situated upon the western branch of the Muskingum. During the whole of this period, Smith suffered much anxiety from the uncertainty of his future fate, but at this town all doubt was removed. On the morning of his arrival, the principal members of the tribe gathered around him, and one old man, with deep gravity, began to pluck out his hair by the roots, while the others looked on in silence, smoking their pipes with great deliberation. Smith did not understand the design of this singular ceremony, but submitted very patiently to the man's labors, who performed the operation of 'picking' him with great dexterity, dipping his fingers in ashes occasionally, in order to take a better hold. In a very few moments Smith's head was bald, with the exception of a single tuft upon the center of his crown, called the scalp-lock. This was carefully plaited in such a manner as to stand upright, and was ornamented with several silver brooches. His ears and nose were then bored with equal gravity, and ornamented with ear-rings 1 McClung's Sketches of Western Adventures. |