Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-09-18
JUAN PLACLn0.

may not be aware that the leader of that re-
volt was a "NEGRo AND A MAN. one wor-
thy to be ranked with George Washington or
any other hero. We have made the follow
ing extracts from Whittier's STRANGER IN
LOWELL" believing it viii be interesting TO
most of our readers. We regret we have
not room TO give the article entire:-
have recently been deeply interested in
the late OF PLAcIDo-ihe black Revolutionist
OF Cuba-the acknowledged leader Of the
late widespread add well-planned revolt of
the slaves in the city Of Havana, and the
nelghbOring plantations and villages.
Juan Placido was born a slave on the
estate Of Don Terrible de Castro. His
father was an African, his mother a mulatto.
His mistress treated him with great kind
ness, and taught him to read. When he was
twelve years OF age she died, and he fell in
10 other and less compassionate hands. At
the age of eighteen, on seeing his mother
struck with a heavy whip, he for the first
time turned upon his tormentors. To use his
own words, -" | felt the blow in my heart
10 utter a loud cry, and from a downcast boy
with the timidity Of one weak as a lamb, to
become all at once like a raging lion, was
the thing of a moment" He was, however,
s%Hbdued, and the next morning, together with
his mother, a tenderly-nurtured and delicate
woman, severely scourged. On seeing his
mother rudely stripped and thrown down up
on the ground, he at first with tears implor-
ed the overseer to spare her; but at the sound
OF the first blow, as it cut into her naked
flesh, he sprang once more upon the rullian.
who, having superior strength, beat him until
he was nearer dead than alive.
After suffering all the vicissitudes Of slave
ry-hunger, nakedness, stripes; after brave.
ly and nobly bearing up against that slow,
dreadful process which reduces the man to
Il thing-the image of God to a piece Of mer-
chandiZe, until he had reached his thirty
eighth year, lie was Unexpectedly released
from his bonds. Some literary gentleman in
Havana, into whose hands two or three
pieces Of his composition had flllen, struck
with the vigor, spirit and natural grace which
they manifested, sought out the author, and
raised a subscription to purchase his freedom.
He came to Havana, and maintained himself
by house painting, and such other employ
ments as his ingenuity and talents placed
within his reach. lie wrote sevpILl poems,
which have been published in Spanish at Ha-
vana, and translated by DR.. Madden, under
the title of Poems by a Slave"
1t is not too much to say of these poems,
that they will bear "A comparison with most
of the productions of modern Spanish lilcra-
ture. Certain it is, that their author is the
only Cuban poet. His style is bold, free,
energetic. Some of his pieces are sportive
and graceful; such is his address TO "The
Cucuya,'' or Cuban FREELY.
y y = X = =
Some of his devotional pieces evince the
fervor and true feeling of the Christian poet.
His "Ode to Religion" contains many adj
mirable lines. Speaking of the martyrs of
the early days Of Christianity, he says finely:
..Still in that cradle, purpled with Their blood
The infant Faith waXed stronger day by day."
| cannot fcrbear quoting the last stanza Of
this poem:
40 God of mercy, throned in glory high,
On earth and all its misery look down.
Behold the wretched, hear the captive's cry,
And call thy eXiIed children round thy
throne!
There would | fain in contemplation gaze
On thy eternal beauty, and would make
OF love one lasting canticle of praise,
And every theme but Thee hencelorlh for
sake!"
i = X y X 4 y
The disastrous result of the late ~insurrec-
ton of the slaves in Cuba is well known
Betrayed, and driven into premature coils
ion with their 'oppressors, the wronged and
maddened bondmen were speedily crushed
into subsection. Placido was arrested, and
after a long hearing, was condemned, to be
executed, and consigned to the Chapel OF
the Condemned"
How far Placido was implicated in the in
surrectionary movement, it is now perhaps
impossible to ascertain. The popular voice
at Havana pronounced him its leader anC
projectors; and as such he was condemned
His W bitter wrongs; the terrible ~recollec
tons of his life of servitude; the impunlty
with which the most dreadful outrages upon
the persons of slaves We're inflicted acting
upon a mind fully capable of approaching
the beauty of Freedom, furnished abundan
incentive to an effort for the redemption o
his race, and the humiliation of his oppres
sors. The HeraidO, of Madrid, speaks o
him as the celebrated poet, a man of grea
natural genius, and beloved and appreciated
by the most respectable young men of Ha
vana.'' 1t accuses him of wild and am
bilious projects, and states that he was in
tended to be the chief of the black race aite
they had thrown off the yoke OF bondage.
He was executed at Havana in the III
month, 1914. According TO the custom /
Cuba with condemned criminals, he wa
conducted from the prison 10 the " Chapel O
the Doomed He passed thither with sin
qular composure, amidst a great concOurse q
people, gracefully saluting his numerous &C
nnuaintances. The Chapel was hung wit
Hack cloth, dimly lighted. Placido wa
seated beside his coffin. Priests in lonl
black robes stood around him, chanting l
sepulchral voices the service Of the dead. !
is an ordeal under which the stoutest-hearte
and most r~esolute have been found to sink
After enduring it for tweuty-four hours h
was led out TO execution. Placldo cam
forth calm and undismayed; holding a cruci
fix in his hand, he recited, in a loud, clea
voice, a solemn prayer in verse, which b
had composed amidst the horrors ct tn