The weekly Anglo-African. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1859-1861, 1859-12-24
CALLING THE ROLL

! Toombs, of Georgia, boosted that he would
yet "call the roll Of his slaves beneath the
| shadow Of Bunker Hill Monument" he
was answered by shout of derision from
the whole North. What was then an emp
ty boast is today historic fact, to the We
ry letter, Last week, within the shadow
1 of Bunker Hill monument, in Boston, with
in the sound of the old Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia, and this week in the gneiss
rock of New York City, the "roll" has been
"called' of the slaves of the South, and
tens of thousands have answered with hum
1 BILE gladness, HERE, NASSAU Nay, more
s-these well clothed slaves, fat and sleek,
have "Scrouged" to have theirname called
| "Jatst," in order to win an approving smile
from the overseer and to merit the conde-
1 scending notice Of stern. "old massa."
To be sure, negro blood is not know
! ingly) tainted with this damning disgrace,
for these slaves Of Boston, New York, and
| Philadelphia are all white males; but, as a
white man is at least as good as negro,
the value and availability of these slaves
cannot be gainsayed
There was Edward Everett, for exam
l pie, q very aged but very faithful slave
old enough to be turned out, to live with
out any more labor-who briskly crawls
up, and answers loudest, in voice which
| age has spared. No one can question his
market value Bonner gives him ten
1 thousand dollars for about two hundred
hours work in one year A most valuable
slave almost of equal cash value with the
old African servant Of Terentius Lucanus,
who wrote" Homo sum human mihil
ataeaauns a me puto."
There was Ex-Governor Lincoln-for
the shareholders Of the South, wiser in their
| day than the Romans of old, make their
slaves not only upper servants, stewards,
engineers, physicians, priests, bank presi-
dents, but even governors Of provinces,
and occasionally presidents of the confede-
racy. Surely, Ex-Governor Lincoln is
worth as much as any ield-hand in Geor-
gia.
II There was Charles w. Austin, Collector
of the port of Boston-once famous for q
free tea-party-a faithful and valuable ser
want, fully earning his peck Of corn and
three pounds Of salt pork per week.
III In Philadelphia were two Ingersolls, ole
but "likely boys" one of them bearing OIL
his forehead the 'short, emphatic word
which Daniel Webster scared in with red
hot iron. These prudent servants and
their fellows, in answer to the "roll call, ;
| spared cole massa's" feelings in their ad
| dresses and resolutions, by never once men
| tioning the name of Old John Brown, wise
ly foreseeing that it would rouse the iror
| tongue over Independence Hall to "pro
claim liberty throughout the land to all thu
| inhabitants thereof" What an affecting
| proof of the loyal nature of the servic'
which the patriarchal institution engen
ders
3l If the 'roll calls" in Boston and Phila
| delphia brought up slaves of culture ant
4 | scars, that in New York evoked men who's,
riches placed thep
Ss "On throne which far outshons
5f The wealth of OrInus or of Ind
II
servants, several of whom could buy one O
two of the Southern States, and pay 70
1 them their market value in cash-yet an
1 other touching feature of the "divine inst
tution;' at theerack of the whip there they
are, not only shrieking out +" Here, Massa.r
but compelling the children of their bodies
| children with white bodies, children borl
1 with silver spoons in their mouths, to ran
sack the streets and alleys and slums 0
New York City to hunt up their fellow
slaves to come to the "roll-call."
Surely Senator Toombs must be salts
fed; he has more than fulfilled his boast
ed promise He must, as a white man
spare the feelings OF his fellow white men
by retaining to bring his black slaves tt
| the North and place them on level witt
his white slaves He is too wise man tt
do SO unwlse an act. The cool air ant
bracing winds which blow around Bunker
Hill, and Concord, and germantown, might
stir in their dark bosoms an inspiration
which would cause them to stretch forth
their hands and break their shackles, and
/ even redden the cheeks of the Eyeretts
the Lincolns, the Austins, the Stewards, the
Ingersolls, and the Kings, with dim per.
ception Of the degradation in which they
tester and stink in the nostrils of the civil
lied world.