We made an extended report to Senator Windom, which contained data as to the success and prosperity of the many and advice to the moneyless to avoid the suffering which might lie in wait.



CHAPTER XVI.

In 1877 I was appointed by the President Register of the United States Land Office for the Little Rock District of Arkansas. The State was blessed with a valuable patrimony, by having at the time of its admission into the Union an extensive area of agricultural, besides thousands of acres of swamp, school and other lands, under State control and disposition. The United States Government had reserved many millions of acres, which under its homestead law became available for applicants for 40, 80, or 160 acres. No economy of the Government has been more fruitful in substantial blessing upon the industrious poor than throwing open these lands for entrance and ownership of homes by the payment of a nominal fee for recording and proof of actual settlement thereon.

The renowned and lamented Robert J. Ingersoll, once, while extolling the benignity and patriotic effect of the homestead law, said: "Who do you suppose would take up arms to defend a boarding house?" The opportunity to enjoy the ownership of a home strongly appeals, not alone to our avarice, but to the instincts of our nature. For here is located the citadel of our hopes and fears, our joys and griefs; here congregated are ties the most sacred, and a love devoted. It is the ever-burning light, the steady heat-giving impulse, and inspiration to deeds of domestic utility or of noble daring. For its protection the heart leaps and the arm strikes. Hence, for domestic felicity, or national autonomy, the home is an experience, and for liberty a conservator. Having these convictions during my 12 years' service in the Land Office as Register and afterwards as Receiver of Public Moneys, I was earnest in my endeavor to have the poor of all classes enter these lands. On the political stump at every election, while having as my mission the political ascendancy of my party, I always felt it a duty to dwell impressively upon that theme. Upon asking all those living on their own lands to hold up their hands, the gleam of pride on the countenances of many of my colored auditors as, standing tiptoe, with hands at arms' length, was shared by me, and a stimulus to the luke-warm, for on subsequent visits I would find an increase of holdings.

For the Negro ownership of land and home is not only an important factor, in his domestic life, for as taxpayer, there is a mutuality of interest between himself and other members of the body politic, business and trade seek him, it impels reverence for the law, and protection of the public peace. His own liability to outrage becomes small. His character for credit increases in the ratio of his holdings, and while manhood suffrage is the professed but often disavowed legacy for all born beneath the flag, his rights of citizenship are more often accorded.

While in the Land Service of the United States there were many examples of heroic conduct by colored settlers worthy of the highest praise. Many of them, emigrants from other Southern States, seeking better conditions, and arriving with barely sufficient to pay entrance fee, and nothing to sustain them in their fight with nature to clear their heavily-wooded land and fit it for cultivation. Hiring to others for brief spells, as necessity compelled them, to obtain small stocks of food and tools, five years after entrance, when they proved up their holdings and got their deeds, found them in comfortable log or frame houses of two or more rooms; sheds, with a cow, calves, swine, and poultry, and ten or more acres under cultivation, according to the number and availability of labor in their families. And, best of all, better than the mere knowledge of success, themselves crowned with that pride of great achievement ever and only the result of rigid self-denial and incessant toil.

In the National Republican Convention held at Chicago, June, 1880, was a contest that will be ever memorable as pertaining to a third term for the Presidency.

Landing at San Francisco, September, 1879, from his tour of two years around the world, and the honored guest of the crowned heads of Europe, General Grant's travel through the States was a continued ovation. On his arrival at Little Rock, Ark., citizens from all over the State hastened to do him honor, culminating with a banquet at the Capitol Hotel. The gathering was democratic in the best sense of that word, political lines were erased, Republicans and Democrats vieing with each other in giving the distinguished man a fitting reception. Nor were social lines adhered to, the writer being a guest and responding to the toast "The Possibilities of American Citizenship."

At the Arkansas Republican State Convention in 1880 I was elected a delegate to the National Convention of June 2 of that year. As a memento I highly prize my bronze medal proclaiming me as one of the historic "306" that never surrendered—compact and erect, "with every gun shotted and every banner flying," went down with General Grant in an unsuccessful effort to nominate him for a third term. It was there that Roscoe Conkling made the nominating speech in behalf of the General that will live in history, stirring the hearts of the immense audience to a climax of patriotic fervor. When he said, "Should you ask from whence he comes, the answer it shall be, He comes from Appomattox and the famous apple tree."

The fiat of the Convention was an illustration of the ephemeral character of cotemporary popular acclaim. Ambitious rivalry, the anticipations of envy, the bitterness of disappointed office seekers during two former Administrations, the honest belief of the timid that a third term for one soever trustworthy presaged and paved the way to an imperial monarchy; the mistakes unavoidable from misplaced confidence, happening in the career of all men and inseparable in the administration of government—all these elements, although incongruous in their nature and make-up, when they conspire are a formidable factor, and as such accomplished his defeat. Though dead, Ulysses Grant still lives on; the attributes of his personal nobility as a man, his patriotism as a citizen of the Republic, his ability and clear perspective as a statesman, his genius as a warrior, his magnanimity and kindness to a chivalrous, heroic but fallen foe, will ever typify his greatness in civic virtues and valiant deeds.

The manner of General Grant's defeat was peculiar. The name of James A. Garfield, the successful nominee, and in political parlance the "dark horse" (undoubtedly foreplanned but kept in the shade), was suddenly sprung upon the Convention and amid a whirlwind of excitement quickly received adherents from the opposition which increased in volume at each successive balloting, until the climax was reached that gave General Garfield the coveted prize. For some time there was much bitterness, and interchange of compliments more emphatic than polite. Within the party charges of infidelity to promises were rife. But the second sober thought of a wise conservatism, which is ever evidence and measure of a people's civilization, tempered strife and assuaged the pangs of disappointment. He was handsomely supported and elected, and on the 4th of March, 1881, was inaugurated as President, amid acclaim, with promise of a successful Administration. But upon what a slender thread do human plans rely! Scarcely had five months elapsed when President Garfield was assassinated by Charles Guiteau, a man of no repute, and emblems of sorrow drooped throughout the nation. This national calamity necessitated the second inauguration of a President during the year 1881. The then Vice-President, Chester A. Arthur, was duly installed September 30 of that year. His execution of the duties of that high office, assumed under conditions intricate and most trying, disarmed criticism by its wisdom and ability.

When a prospective candidate for re-election in 1884 the press of New York, having solicited expressions of fitness from delegates to the last National Convention, I was pleased with the opportunity to make this small contribution.

Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 1, 1884.

Dear Sir:

"I but voice the sentiment of the country when I say that I consider the Administration of President Arthur has been signalized by its justice, eminent statesmanship and wise discretion."

Such was the tenor of mention, but much more pronounced, by men of the party, and Mr. Arthur's nomination previous to the assembling of the next Presidential Convention seemed a foregone conclusion.

Nothing I can write will fittingly describe the personnel of James G. Blaine, who was to be the prime feature of the Convention on nomination day. As a man in the field of statesmanship and in intensity of devotion, he was more idolized than any since his prototype, Henry Clay. With political erudition was blended an eloquence inspiring and fascinating; a nobility of character often displayed as the champion of the weak; a disputant adept in all the mazes of analysis, denunciation, or sarcasm, he had created antipathy as bitter as his affections were unyielding. While Speaker of the House, with his counterpart in eloquence, Roscoe Conkling, he had many tilts. One of the most noted and probably far-reaching in impeding his Presidential aspirations, was his defense of General Fry, whom Conkling sought to have impeached, but who was successfully vindicated and afterwards promoted by the War Department. During the struggle Conkling hurled a javelin of taunt and invective, incisive, but thought to be unjust, inducing a response said to have been terrific in its onslaught, confounding the speaker and raising excitement in the House to the highest pitch. I transcribe an epitome of the speech, which will be seen to have bristled with galling ridicule: "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm, I hope he will not be too severe. The contempt of that large-minded gentleman is so wilting, his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic supereminent, overpowering turkey-gobbler strut, has been so crushing to myself and all the members of this House that I know it was an act of the greatest temerity for me to enter upon a controversy with him." Then, quoting ironically a newspaper comparison of Mr. Conkling and Henry Winter Davis, ascribing qualities held by them in common, he proceeded: "The resemblance is great, and it has given his strut additional pomposity. The resemblance is great, it is striking—Hyperion to a satyr; Thersites to Hercules; mud to marble; dunghill to diamond; a singed cat to a Bengal tiger; a whining puppy to a roaring lion. Shade of the mighty Davis, forgive the almost profanation of that jocose satire!"

But James G. Blaine, that master of diplomacy and magnetic fame, with an astute following inspired and wild with gilded promises; the nominating speech of Robert J. Ingersoll, prince of orators, lauding the nominee as "like a mailed warrior, like a plumed knight"—all these forces contributed to turn the tide from Arthur and give him the nomination. I was one of a lonely three of the Arkansas delegation that stood by the State's instructions and voted for Arthur, nine of the delegation voting for Blaine. For obeying the State and not the after conclusion of the delegation, in my next race for a delegate I was "left at the stand."

My failure reminded me of the boy—a humble imitator of the great George Washington—who hacked to death a choice tree. When asked who did it, jolly, gushing and truthful, said, "I did it, pap." The old man seized and gathered him, stopping the whipping occasionally to get breath and wipe off the perspiration, would remark: "And had der imperdence to confess it." The boy, when finally released, between sobs sought solace by saying, "I will never tell the truth again as long as I live." I did not conclude that one should be false to an implied promise with instructions received, but I was impressed with the conviction that it is unwise to trammel a delegation with decisive instructions. A general expression of the feeling or bias of the State Convention is proper, but so much can happen during the interim to change conditions that ultimate action should be largely left to the judgment and integrity of the delegation.

The manner of choosing a President is entirely different from that designed by the founders of the republic. The selection of candidates by an organized party was not anticipated. It was intended that men of high character should be chosen by the citizens of each State as electors, and they should select the men they deemed most fit to be President, and the selection thereafter ratified by the vote of the people. An elector now is but the mouthpiece of his party; no matter what may be his individual judgment, he dare not disregard its fiat. The result of the national election was the defeat of Mr. Blaine and the election of the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland had an independent personality and the courage of his convictions. Affable and cordial in his intercourse with Afro-Americans, and to those of his political household was prodigal in the bestowal of appointments. The effect of this was that many colored men, leaders of thought and race action, not seeing an increase of oppression, so freely predicted in the event of a Democratic President, advocated a division of the colored vote, with a view of harmonizing feeling and mutual benefit. A welcoming of that approach in the South may be deferred, but will yet be solicited, despite its present disloyalty to the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.



CHAPTER XVII.

The closing decade of the past century was conspicuous for exhibitions of products of nature and skill intended to stimulate a country's consumption, but mainly to increase exportation; for a nation, not unlike an individual, that buys more than its resources warrant, bankruptcy is inevitable. Hence the industrial struggle of all progressive nations to produce more than they consume, export the residue and thereby add to the national wealth.

The United States not only excels in the magnitude of natural productions, but in skill in manufacturing articles. The vast stretch of agricultural lands for natural products, superiority of mechanical appliance, and the expertness of American workmen herald the supremacy of the United States for quantity, quality and celerity. For Yankee ingenuity has not only invented a needed article, but has invented a "thing to make the thing."

National and State expositions for the extension of American commerce and development of State undertakings have been marked features of American enterprise, creating a national fraternity, and stimulating domestic industries. While the financial motive is ever in the forefront and the impetus that gives it "a habitation and a name," the moral effect is the reflex influence of contact, the interchange of fraternal amenities that ripen and become helpful for the world's peace, progress and civilization. At the present time Consuls of our Government inform the State Department that agents of American manufacturers of steel, electric apparatus, city railroads and improvements in machinery are in evidence in Europe to an extent hitherto unknown. The directors of the World's Exposition held at New Orleans, La., in 1884, gave a pressing invitation to Afro-Americans to furnish exhibits of their production from farm, shop and home. The late B. K. Bruce, having been created Chief Director, appointed commissioners for the various States to solicit and obtain the best specimens of handicraft in their respective localities for "The Department of Colored Exhibits," and to which the following refers:

Washington, D. C., Aug. 13, 1884.

Hon. M. W. Gibbs,

Little Rock, Ark.

Dear Sir:

By virtue of authority vested in me as Chief Director of the Department of Colored Exhibits of the World's Exposition, I have nominated you for Honorary Commissioner for the State of Arkansas. It is unnecessary for me at this time to make any suggestions relative to the importance of managing this business in a manner that will reflect credit on all immediately concerned and our people in general further than to say that my heart is thoroughly in the work. I will communicate with you from time to time, after being advised of your acceptance, giving necessary information and instructions.

Hoping that you will undertake the fulfillment of the trust, I am,

Very respectfully and truly yours,

B. K. BRUCE, Chief Director.

I therefore accepted, and proceeded to canvass my State urging the great opportunity offered to show our progress in industry and culture, on the fields of nature or within the realms of art. The movement was a novel one, and the leading colored men and women in the different sections of the State had much to do to awaken the interest that resulted in a very commendable showing.

One of the specialties of these expositions was what was designated as "Emancipation Day," or colored people's day, for the two-fold purpose of directing the attention of the general public to race advancement, and inducing a larger attendance of the class directly concerned, and thereby stimulate race pride for greater achievements. With some of our brethren this appointment of a particular day seemed derogatory to their claim of recognition and equality of citizenship, and evoked considerable discussion. In this I thought some of us were unduly sensitive. Where intention can be ascertained it should largely govern our estimate of human action. This exposition was not only open each and every day to our people, but we were constantly invited, and the few who attended were most cordially treated and our exhibits were properly placed without distinction.

The directors of the exposition were gentlemen known to be most liberal in their dealings with us, and regretted the small attendance, remarking that aside from our patronage, the exhibits would be beneficial as object lessons, educating and inspiring, and proposed a day—"Colored-People's Day." It was not unlike in design and effect "Emancipation Day" at the Minneapolis Exposition, where noted colored leaders from various States attended and spoke, and were not impressed that it was derogatory to the race.

We have a deal of "gush" about recognition. A demand for recognition presupposes a rightful claim based upon an inherent interest—deportment, special fitness, or legal right. In politics we rightfully claim recognition in the ratio of our numerical contribution to the body politic, and from public carriers, for the reason of performance of our part of the contract.



In our demand for a more extended recognition on these material lines, we should first remember that our contributions are generally meager, and that these exhibitions are quite the product of the business ventures and expenditure of our "brother in white," and then brace up and thank Providence that excessive modesty will never "strike in" and kill the Negro. We have the men, the money and the ability to do much, very much more, on many business lines that are now almost exclusively followed by our more prosperous fellow-citizens. No man in our country need beg for recognition; he can compel it if he labors assiduously and takes advantage of opportunity. It can be truly said of Little Rock that the press and leading citizens have been more just and liberal to her colored citizens than any other Southern city. I well remember when her institutions relating to commerce, literature, professions, Board of Trade, Real Estate Exchange, bar and lyceum were open to us, whilst two-thirds of their members were our political opponents. These required but a moderate yearly outlay, repaying, largely, in the amount of information received. Scarcely any availed themselves of these opportunities. If for any reason we do not wish to profit by these overtures, when these trees bear let us not insist upon receiving the choicest of the fruit.

At an indignation mass meeting some time ago a good brother reached the climax of the grievance and then exclaimed:

"How long, O Lord, are we to bear these discriminations?"

"For some time longer," I answered, and then said: "All things considered, we are making progress, and will continue in the ratio we obtain education and wealth, and come forward in the incipiency of public enterprises with our money and practical knowledge from the best possible sources; and, although race identity still exists, the antagonisms and much of the prejudice of which we now complain will be buried under higher activities and greater enterprises—when we have more bank and railroad stock, fewer high-sounding societies, such as "The Seventeen Stars of the Consolidation," "The Rising, Persevering Free Sons of Joshua"; more landlords and fewer tenants, more owners of plantations and fewer share-workers, more merchants and fewer dudes, more piety and less religion, more economy and less wastefulness, more confidence and less envy. I simply rise to submit these as irresistible claims to a higher recognition." I succeeded in making my escape, for which I was thankful.



CHAPTER XVIII.

Previous to the exposition at New Orleans in 1885, Mr. Henry Brown, of Oberlin, Ohio, visited the Southern States to obtain information as to the views and desire of leading colored men regarding the establishment of "Schools of Trade" in the South where the race could become proficient in all the mechanical arts. He came at the suggestion of philanthropic men of capital in Northern States, who thought by such special means colored men and women could have an opportunity to equip themselves with handicraft, denied them by the trades unions and other influences in the country.

On his presentation of the project in Little Rock, it being so completely in line with my view of a factor so important for the uplifting of the race to a higher manhood and financial standing, I eagerly co-operated. It was determined to take advantage of the attraction of the exposition at New Orleans, issue a call for a conference at that point, and thereby have a representative gathering to obtain their views. I therefore proposed, had printed and issued the following:

CALL FOR A CONFERENCE ON "SCHOOLS OF TRADE."

"Emancipated, turned loose, poor, ignorant and houseless, continually surrounded by difficulties and embarrassments sufficient to appall and retard, by commendable effort on their part, sustained by the generous aid of philanthropists friendly to education, our race in the South has made gratifying advance, mentally and morally. But with this progress of mind and morals, we are confronted with the need of opportunity to qualify ourselves for those activities and industries necessary to make a people prosperous and happy. Our great want now is 'cunning hands' to accompany cultured brains. After obtaining the benefit of our public schools our boys should be fitted for some useful and profitable means of livelihood. The restrictions engendered by trades unions, and the obstacles of race prejudice concur to make it impossible for them to obtain trades in the workshops of the country. Therefore, we need industrial schools where our youth can qualify in the various mechanical pursuits and thereby ennoble themselves, and add value to the State. For the establishment of these "schools of trade" we require a united effort and should make earnest appeal to the philanthropy of the nation.

"In view of this vital necessity the undersigned do hereby call a conference, without distinction, of delegates appointed by mass meetings in cities and counties; presiding officers of colleges, principals of schools, bishops, and leading ministers; editors and publishers friendly to the movement are also invited to meet at New Orleans, La., January 15, 1885, for expression on this subject. Signed,

"M. W. Gibbs, Little Rock, Ark.; Hon. J. C. Napier, Nashville, Tenn.; A. De Pose, New Orleans, La.; Hon. J. C. Clousen, Charleston, S. C.; Rev. B. F. Tanner, Philadelphia, Pa.; Joseph Carey, Galveston, Tex.; H. C. Smith, Cleveland, Ohio; W. G. Simmons, Louisville, Ky.; Peter H. Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio; Hon. B. K. Bruce, Washington, D. C.; P. A. Bell, San Francisco, Cal.; J. W. Cromwell, Washington, D. C.; J. Henri Herbert, Trenton, N. J.; Hon. Henry Demas, New Orleans, La.; Rev. E. Lee, Jacksonville, Fla.; W. H. Russell, Indianapolis, Ind.; F. L. Barnett, Chicago, Ill.; A. H. Grimke, Boston, Mass.; E. N. Overall, Omaha, Neb.; H. M. Turner, Atlanta, Ga.; Hon. James Lewis, New Orleans, La.; John S. Leary, Fayettville, N. C.; Hon. Fred Douglass, Washington, D. C.; T. Thomas Fortune, New York; Rev. M. Van Horn, Newport, R. I.; Lloyd G. Wheeler, Chicago, Ill.; J. W. Birney, La Crosse, Wis.; M. M. McLeod, Jackson, Miss.; George T. Downing, Newport, R. I.; D. Augustus Straker, Columbia, S. C.; Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, New Orleans, La.; Peter Joseph, Mobile, Ala.; H. O. Wagner, Denver, Colo.; Hon. W. A. Pledger, Atlanta, Ga.; H. Fitzbutler, Louisville, Ky.; J. L. Walker, Atchison, Kan.; E. P. Wade, St. Paul, Minn.; F. G. Barbadoes, Washington, D. C."

As a duty, mingled with pleasure, by this humble means I reproduce a record of the names of men who in the last century were intent upon every occasion to promote the welfare of the race, many of whom were conspicuous in their battle for justice and the betterment of their fellow man, thus fitting themselves for harmonies of a higher clime, have now "quiet sleep within the grave," while with the residue "life's shadows are meeting" and will ere long "be lost to sight," with, let us hope, their memory only dimmed by greater activity and deeper consecration by their successors for the ideals they cherished. Ever loyal, we should not—

"Rob the dead of their sweet heritage, Their myrrh, their wine, their sheet of lead and trophies buried"—

but—

"Go get them where they got them, when alive, And as resolutely dig or dive."



With the departed was Hon. B. K. Bruce, who, living to manhood under the blighting influences of slavery, by honesty, native ability and persevering study, placed his name in the forefront, leaving his career as a model. With an astuteness of perception for the retention of friends, he had suavity of manner for the palliation of foes; with diligence and faithfulness winning a constituency that honored him with a seat in the United States Senate.

The conference called at New Orleans, La., to promote industrial education, above referred to, failed to be fruitful. Members of different religious organizations, without suggestion that their particular sect would furnish a modicum of the large expenditure necessary to the establishment of such "schools of trade," strove to have the movement inaugurated, and launched under some particular denominational control.

Mr. Brown, whose only object in desiring to have a conference, was to elicit an expression from leading colored men, an earnest desire for such "schools of trade," and helpful suggestions, looked on the needless strife with amazement and regret, and finally determined, as unity of purpose and a proper conception of what was needed were so sadly lacking, to abandon such an instrumentality to favor his purpose.

It can be properly noted here that among the many helpful signs of race advancement not the least is a broader fraternalization of our religious bodies, an increasing tolerance, indicative of greater intelligence, the product of a more widely discriminated educated ministry. Our churches, being our largest organizations numerically (and greatest of moral educators), having the ear of the masses, their opportunity and growing disposition to unite for the material as well as the spiritual progress of our people, cannot be too highly commended.

Industrial fairs, promulgated and held by the colored people in different Southern States, have been exceedingly beneficial and cannot be too often repeated. Several have occurred at Pine Bluff, Ark., on the extensive race and fair grounds owned by Mr. Wiley Jones, who, with Dr. J. H. Smith, Ferdinand Havis and other prominent colored men of the State, by executive ability, tact and judgment made them a success.

The following notice is from a correspondent of the Arkansas Gazette:

"Pine Bluff, Ark., Oct. 21, 1886.

"This, the third day, of the fair was sunny and bright, and the hearts of the management were correspondingly light. Even before the gates were open a long array of teams were seeking admission. The executive officers were early at their posts and no time was lost in beginning the exercises of the day. President J. H. Smith won golden opinions by the pleasant yet firm manner he performed his duties. This morning the Capital Guards were formally received by the Colored Industrial Association.

"Judge Gibbs, of Little Rock, delivered the welcome address, which was a very eloquent and scholarly effort.

"He first praised the directors of the fair for their wonderful success, and said it argues well for the future of the colored people in that they have had extended such cordial support; that nations were influential in the ratio of their agricultural and mechanical development, and that the array of production here made proclaimed in hopeful tones that 'we are coming.'

"He recognized in the formation of the Capital Guards a hopeful omen. Drill develops precision and accuracy, aside from physical development; discipline is invaluable in inculcating the idea of subordination, without which no constitutional government can long exist. Even if they never come within the reach of fiery shot and shell, they would be benefited, and if war's stern summons swept over the land, he felt confident that no more ready response would be made by any class than by the Negro."

Captain Thompson responded in behalf of his company, and alluded to the whole-souled hospitality that had been bestowed upon them by the authorities of the fair and the citizens generally. The Press Association had by their speeches proclaimed that the "pen was mightier than the sword," which he denied; "that the independence of this country from the thraldom of England was won by Washington's sword, and that Lincoln's pen only became effective after the sword had paved the way. It was a recognized arbiter in the disputes of nations, although the pen could render secure what the sword had won." The Captain put his company through several evolutions that were very creditably performed.

In affairs of this character the comingling of the substantial and best element of the white race, their liberal subscriptions and fraternal endeavor, give impetus and valuable assistance, emphasizing the fact along the lines of a higher industrial advancement that they are in hearty sympathy. We cannot too often have these object evidences of our progress. They speak loud and convincing far beyond oral announcement the most eloquent. It stimulates the farmer to extra exertion and more careful measures for increase of quality and quantity of his crop; it inspires the artisan and mechanic for his best handiwork, and welcomes articles the product of our cultured and refined women from the realms of the home. We need this continued stimulus, shut out as we are from most of the higher industries, the incentive born of contact, and which promotes rivalry, to us is denied; hence our inspiration must be inborn and unceasing.

In the economy of God and nature, His handiwork, prominent is "the survival of the fittest." The fittest survive because they excel. Whether within the student's study or the mechanic's bench, it is excellence that counts and heralds its own superiority. If we desire not only the best personal success, but to be helpful to the race, it is not enough for one to be known as doctor, lawyer, mechanic, or planter; but it is upon what round of the ladder of science mechanics or agriculture he stands. Is he above mediocrity; does he excel? The affirmative answer to this is the heroic offspring of self-denial and unceasing mental toil.

A feature of attraction at these fairs has been the drill and martial bearing of our military companies, for while jubilant in the "pride and pomp and circumstance of glorious war," the measure of praise for precision of manouver of the soldier is only excelled by commendation for his bravery in action. The colored citizen took quiet pride and much interest in these companies and were saddened when many were commanded by the State authorities to disband. The motives which conspired and demanded their dissolution were not commendable, but ungrateful, for the Negro soldier in every war of the Republic has been valorous, loyal, and self-denying, and has abundantly earned a reputation for discipline and obedience to every military requirement.

The organization of these companies, furnished with State arms, authorized and under the patronage of the government of many of the Southern States, created an "esprit d'corps," a fellowship and worthy ambition conducive to harmony and the general welfare.

Political friction, no doubt, had much to do with their displacement. But now the Democracy, so long in power, with majorities in many of these States almost cumbersome, could well afford to allow and patronize these conservators for peace and efficient protectors in war, who are ever ready to say, as Jehu to Jonahab, "Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thine heart? If it be, give me thine hand."

Previous to a Presidential campaign I attended a meeting of leading colored Republicans at New Orleans, La. It was not called as a strictly political conference in the interest of any particular candidate, but to exchange views and hear suggestions relating to pending legislation in Mississippi and South Carolina for curtailing, if not abolishing Negro suffrage in those States. Although the political condition of the Negro was then and continues to be of such moment that at no intelligent gathering will it fail to "bob up" and demand a hearing, and this was no exception. While the claims of Reed, Morton, Allison, Harrison, and McKinley were freely discussed, the suffrage was the leading topic.

Prominent among the attendants were T. T. Fortune, of New York; N. W. Cuney and E. J. Scott, of Texas; W. A. Pledger and H. E. Johnson, of Georgia; P. B. S. Pinchback, James Lewis, and J. Madison Vance, of Louisiana; Stevens, of Alabama; Stevens, of Louisville, Ky.; E. Fortune, of Florida; C. W. Anderson, of New York, and others.



The late N. W. Cuney, of Texas, was a man of commanding presence, forceful and emphatic as a speaker; honest, tireless and self-sacrificing. His sterling qualities as a leader of men grows brighter as time recedes from his demise.

Fearless in enunciation, the timid thought him impractical. But there is ever this concerning unpopular truth: When it induces honest thought that burns to be spoken, you can depend it is not confined to a single possessor; it has habitation in many hearts. But he alone is the "leader of leaders," who, with Eolian harp or trumpet call summons its worshipers. Among matters discussed was the charge that Negro delegations were a marketable commodity, with no convictions as to national policy, no regard for manly probity, and were ever at the beck of the highest purchaser in the political market. Such a sweeping charge is most unjust; but, if granted, the admission cuts deeply in the opposite direction, requiring no analysis to discover the preponderance of venality. It may happen between the receiver of stolen goods and the thief that impulse to steal is sometimes weakened by uncertainty of market. The Negro delegate has no market to seek; the market is jammed under his nose at every turn by immaculate white men, often entrusted with large sums to be placed "where it will do the most good," report to those interested the purchase of Negro votes, when such was not the fact. Satisfied they had placed it where it would do them the most good, by allowing it to rest in their pockets, this was not only hard on the Negro, but mean to charge him up with it, then not let him have it. To say there were no colored men susceptible to such advances would be as idle as to say there were no white men thereby influenced; but in either case let us hope it was the exception and not the rule.

Conferences for statement and appeal for removing harsh conditions are historic, ante-dating and creating constitutional government; for, implanted in the hearts is a consciousness of right, however much selfish hate may shut out recognition, or avarice stifle its egress, and the measure of accord granted just claims of the petitioner is the moral and Christian status of a commonwealth.

It may be noted here that the character of accord given the Negro in his now severe battle for justice and equality before the law by the Christian churches and other organizations is of a peculiar kind. While the benefactions for moral and Christian education is to him indispensable, it is not the kind most prominent and effectually practiced by the Divine Master to dissipate wrong. He forbids the cry of peace when there is no peace. He was aggressive and distinct. The peculiarity of accord can be accounted for in this, that it is so much easier for the well-to-do Christian to donate to the Negro than by word or pen to denounce the wrongs to which he is subject. Wrong smiles complacently at any mode save direct attack. It is not in silent acquiescence, but on the forum of agitation and denouncement, that reform finds lodgment, so sadly needed in many of the States where he is the victim of lawlessness and murder, his ballot suppressed, and denied representation. The partiality and indecent haste with which he is tried and almost invariably sent to the penitentiary, where as convict he receives the most barbarous treatment. As a people no one denies that they are law-abiding; as laborers in all the avenues of industry in which they are capable they are faithful and honest: as patriots at the incipiency and duration of the Government they have been faithful and brave. If, then, in the roll of patriots, citizens and producers, they have maintained character for fidelity, deportment and industry, surely they can rightly claim and demand as citizens of the Republic protection from outrage, justice in the courts and in every way equality before the law. They ask for nothing more, and would be unworthy to be content with any less.

The cry of "Negro domination," like the "baseless fabric of a vision," has as little foundation. The problem to be solved is not what is or shall be the status of the colored man born beneath the flag, but whether the forces of Christian civilization, the genius and spirit of our Government, impartiality in the execution of law, without let or hindrance, are equal to the performance of their missions, or are only "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." That is the problem for our white fellow-citizens to solve. That which most troubles the Negro is has the nation sufficient Christianity and regard for justice to allow these forces to prevail? The assumption that citizens of a common country cannot live together in amity is false, denying as it does that lawful citizenship is the panoply and bulwark of him who attains it, that should vindicate and shield him, whether he be high or low, at home or abroad, whenever or wherever his civil rights are invaded.



CHAPTER XIX.

Never in the history of conventions was there recorded such evidence of unswerving fidelity by an equal number to the nominee of their choice as that shown at the National Convention in 1880, when General Grant's name was before the assembly. Ordinarily when a leader is nominated for ballot his supporter's are faithful as long as his prospects are inviting, but at the first evidence of decadence no flock of partridges scamper more readily to find cover. For years his birthday has been celebrated by a reunion of the 306 who, from the first to the last of sounding of the 36th ballot, stood with ranks solidly closed and courage undaunted. At such a reunion at Philadelphia, in 1893, eighty were present, and with speech, reminiscence and good cheer "a feast of reason and a flow of soul," time sped "till the wee sma' hours." Of the colored delegates, Mr. Ferdinand Havis and the writer were present.

Mr. Havis, of Arkansas, "to the manor born," deserves more than mere mention as the representative of a class in the South.

He is a gentleman of fine qualities of head and heart. As a member of the Arkansas Legislature in 1873 and Clerk of Jefferson County for many years, he has by honesty as an official and courtesy of manner made an unimpeachable record, and was only dethroned "by fraud and force and iron will." During his leadership of Jefferson County, where three-quarters of all voters are colored, he was ever conservative and regardful of the views and business interests of the numerically weak but financially strong minority of Democrats, and by supporting a compromise ticket that gave most prominence to the minority sought to preserve harmony. But the efforts of such men have proved unavailing to stem the tide of political usurpation, now rampant at many places in the South.

The greatest menace to representative government is not solely the disfranchisement of the Negro, for according with the eternal verities there cannot be a continued disregard for the ballot in his hand and protection for his life, and respect for them in the person of the white man. Under the genius of our Government the rights of claim and exercise are linked and interlinked.

This truth stands out in bold relief on historic page, and should the future historian record the dismemberment of the Republic, he will indite its decay from the commencement of the violation of this basic principle of civil government, his being but another link in the evidence that rapidity of material, without equality of moral, advancement is ever attended with national decline.

Meanwhile, it is the duty (which is ever the highest policy) of the Negro to be patriotic in his devotion to his country, manly in his appeals for justice, and wise by discarding, by word or action, the fomenting of strife; ever on the alert to close the breach by increase of intelligence, moral worth and financial progress, and thus in great measure dissipate ignorance, vice and poverty, the abolition of which can be assisted, but not dispelled, save by a spirit of self-sacrifice on his part, subjecting his lower nature to the control of the higher. With such effort, united to a faith in God and the American conscience, he will yet soften ascerbities, dispel hindrance, and stem the tide.

Philanthropy may assist a man to his feet, but cannot keep him there unaided by self-effort and an unconquerable will power to stand; while relinquishing no part of his claim upon his white brother as recompense for more than a century of unrequited labor, if with an equal chance for work, education and legal protection, he cannot not only stand, but advance, exertion in his behalf is "love's labor lost," he having no rights worthy of respect.

But in no fair mind can there exist doubt as to his advancement. A people nine-tenths of whom 40 years ago did not legally own themselves or property, now having 140,000 farms, homes and industries worth $800,000,000; a people who, for a century previous to emancipation, were by law forbidden to learn to read or write, now have 3,000,000 children in 27,000 schools, and have reduced their illiteracy 45 per cent., have school and church property to the amount of $50,000,000, contributing themselves thereto $20,000,000; have written 300 books; have over 250 newspapers issued each week. His comparative success as merchant, mechanic or other line of industry which he is permitted to enter, speaks for itself, and finally, with per capita valuation of $75. Yet, in face of such statistical evidence, there are not wanting the Tillmans, Morgans, Burke Cockrans and other seers of a Montgomery convention, who, because the Negro, trammeled, as he is, does not keep step with the immense strides of the dominant class in their wondrous achievement, the product of a thousand years of struggle and culture, unblushingly allege that he is relapsing into barbarism, and with an ingratitude akin to crime, are oblivious to the fact that a large measure of the intellectual and material status of the nation and the cultured ability they so balefully use to retard him, are the product of a century of his unrequited labor.

The feeling that the results of the civil war have been beneficent, harmonizing theory and practice in the autonomy of the nation is manifest and conceded. The growing unity of the people of our country who 40 years ago were engaged in fraternal strife, should be a source of pleasure and welcomed by every patriotic heart; for, while bitterness can be assuaged, and laudable effort made to conform to new conditions, still convictions formed and baptized in the fiery ordeal of war, blood and material loss require fortitude, generosity and patriotism to soften their asperity, and much kindly intercourse to promote the general welfare. The increased desire in this direction is evidenced at each recurring "Decoration Day," when the Blue and the Gray harmoniously intermingle, recalling memories and incidents of the internal strife. The soldiers of each vieing in reciprocity, as with "a union of hearts and a union of hands" with fragrant flowers they bedeck historic sod.

But will the nation remember that after all that can be said or written, of heroic circumstance of war, or in praise of its participants, all these bereft of humanity and justice to the weak, fail to constitute an enduring State, for eternal and immutable is the decree that "righteousness exalteth a nation." Relative to this intermingling of former foes, whatever our estimate of the results of human action may be, we cannot unerringly divine impurity of motive; hence respect for honest conviction must be the prelude to that unity of patriotism which is ever the safeguard to the integrity of a nation.

The spirit that impelled contributions for the erection of the Confederate monuments in different sections of our country from donors, irrespective of former affiliation, has been benign in its influence. In 1897 the Hon J. N. Smithea instituted a movement for such a memorial in Little Rock, Ark., stipulating that responses should be limited to one dollar. Impressed that our race should not be indifferent to such an appeal, I transmitted the following:

J. N. Smithea, Editor "Gazette," Little Rock, Ark.:

I notice your effort to erect a monument to the Confederate dead. A third of a century has elapsed since the civil war. Conviction in the minds of the participants on either side as to who was right and who was wrong is as firmly fixed as the eternal hills. Given, that a view of events leading up to that fraternal strife, the bravery of the one or heroic conduct of the other from standpoints necessarily different will never find mutual ground for justification, it seems the mission of patriotism and national unity to give the hand of welcome to every effort that will unite us in all that will promote the common glory of the Republic. As one of the representatives of a race, especially in this southland, I cheerfully subscribe my dollar to the fund, feeling that the Negro should joyfully hail every effort to soften animosities which are the outgrowth of a struggle in which, unwittingly, he was so important a factor.



No one should be more anxious to cement the friendly and good offices of our more-favored fellow-citizens, from whom we are receiving the largest share of our educational and material assistance, so greatly needed to bring us up to the full measure of a noble citizenship. By the providence of God we are here, and are here to stay. We are producers of wealth and the conservators of peace. Therefore, encourage us by the exercise of justice and magnanimity, that we can say to you, as Ruth to Naomi in Holy Writ: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."

Very truly yours, etc.,

Monuments are the mute mile stones, the connecting links between a finished effort, and an inspiration for continued struggle. But monuments are not created after the death of those they commemorate, although they may seem to be; they are but memorials of the structure already built, the solidity of whose base and symmetry of whose lines were projected and fashioned by intensity of conviction and the unswerving courage of their prototypes in ameliorating conditions while they lived. Bereft of this, "monuments themselves memorials need."

Having administered the office of Register of United States land by appointments from Presidents Hayes and Arthur, my last service in the Interior Department was under an appointment from President Harrison, who, in 1889, placed me as Receiver of Public Moneys at Little Rock, Ark., Land District. It was during this term that the Department ordered and appointed Special Commissioners to conduct the sale of unsold lots on the Hot Springs Reservation at auction. As one of the Commissioners and Receiver of Public Moneys, I was required and gave a qualified bond for $100,000 for the faithful performance of the trust, and with Register Raleigh proceeded and discharged the duties thereto. Harrison's term ended a career of twelve years in the land office. If in retrospective moments amid the many beneficent things you might have done, but left undone, you catch here and there glimpses of unselfish ambition or benefit you have conferred, it does much to abate regret, for the recollection to me is a source of pleasure that during those terms by personal convass and unofficial publication I contributed in inducing thousands of immigrants and others to homestead the virgin soil of Arkansas, who have now good homes, comprising 40, 80 or 160 acres of land, besides assisting them in establishing schools for their children.



CHAPTER XX.

In October, 1897, by telegrams from my friends, Nathaniel McKay and Dr. Purvis, of Washington, D. C., I was informed that I had been appointed United States Consul for the island of Madagascar.

It was a surprise; for, while truth compels the admission that I was not averse to "being taken in and done for," Madagascar had not come within my purview; its distance had not "lent enchantment to the view." I gave it some thought, but could not perceive that I had been so annoyingly persistent to merit a response from the President, not unlike that given by Mr. Blaine to one Mr. Tite Barnacle, who was willing to compromise on a foreign appointment. "Certainly," was the reply; the "foreigner the better." I concluded, however, that the bard may have been right when he wrote "There is a destiny that shapes our ends," for it often happens that what a man desires is just what he ought not to have; and whether what he gets is to be beneficial depends largely upon its use.

I was summoned to Washington, and after a conference received my commission, returned to Little Rock to prepare for departure to my post, "10,000 miles away."

I received a warm greeting and a "jolly send-off" at a banquet given me on Christmas eve by many friends. To name a few of the devoted would be invidious to the many. It will suffice to say I felt grateful and touched by the many expressions, which added testimony to their valued appreciation. Arriving at New York I was met by Mr. W. H. Hunt, who had applied and been highly commended for the position of clerk to the consulate, and who, after a year's faithful service, in pursuance of my recommendation, was appointed Vice-Consul, and is now Consul.

This, my appointment as Consul to Tamatave, severs a decade's connection as "Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee," and especially with its Chairman, Mr. Henry Cooper, who, indefatigable as a worker, genial, but positive in his convictions, has managed the machinery of the party with but little friction. The remembrance of the partiality, honors and kindness of which I have been a recipient from members of the party, irrespective of "race or previous condition," will be ever bright and cheery.

On January, 1, 1898, we embarked on the French steamship Champagne, and arrived at Havre on the 9th, and took train for Paris. The cars either for comfort or retirement in no way equal ours, eight in a compartment, sitting omnibus fashion, face to face. We rolled on to the Capital, passing many fine villas, the product of French architecture. Everywhere one is impressed with the national peculiarities—the houses, the streets, modes of conveyance and transportation. Compactness, neatness, order and precision pervades their every undertaking; but for celerity and despatch of business they were painful to encounter or behold, for it ill accords with the American mode. A ride of four hours and we reach Paris. At the depot the baggage is placed on long tables awaiting examination by custom-house officers. Mine was passed without. Took cab for "Hotel de Binda," exquisitely furnished and centrally located, having easy access to places of note.

This being the most disagreeable time of year, a fire in the rooms was necessary, for outside everywhere was a damp, penetrating air, remaining here 15 days with the sight of the sun but once.

The next day after my arrival I called on the American Ambassador, Mr. Porter, in relation to my exequator, to be issued by the French Government. It is a recognition of status, and a formal permit from one nation to another to allow their respective Consuls to exercise the duties appertaining thereto and a guarantee of protection in their performance. Had a very cordial reception from Mr. J. R. Gowdy, our Consul at Paris. Visited the Paris office of the New York Herald, where many files of American and European papers can be perused. A visit to the "Louvre" is a joy for the layman, as for the connoisseur, galleries a mile or more in length hung with paintings grand in imagery and beauty of old masters, French and Italian, centuries old. Many showed the silent, slow and impressive steps of age. But "you may break, you may scatter the vase if you will, the scent of the roses will linger there still," for on shrunken canvas or from luster dimmed was imperial tone of materialized conception "not born to die."

Among the guests of the hotel were two gentlemen, one an American capitalist, the other a German merchant from Berlin, the latter speaking French like a native. We became pleasant companions, and concluded on Sunday evening to go to the "Follies Bergere"—in American parlance a variety theater.

Ten minutes' drive brought us to a very large building, lighted as if by sunlight, where a hundred finely-dressed men and women crowded for entrance. Outside of what we term pit and dress circle is a partition, three or four feet high, dividing them from a promenade ten or fifteen feet wide. You can stand or sit in this promenade, and see the performance. Our friends suggested this plan, as we could see and hear more of Parisian peculiarities. Here many very beautiful women promenaded. They had evidently been touched by artists, for their make-up was superb. But I could not but think of the refrain of a song we have all heard, "Oh, but what a difference in the morning." They had sweet, pretty sayings, clothed in all the softness of modulation and earnestness of gesture of the French people. My American friend, like myself, was Frenchless, and as a consequence invulnerable. The appearance of the occupants of the front row of seats very forcibly reminded me of a similar locality at the Capital Theater in the City of Roses, on similar occasions, where many of my old friends with gaze intent loved to congregate. The performance was spectacular and acrobatic, with usual evolutions, with more "abandon" and very artistic. Passing through the cafe, where hundreds of finely-dressed men and women were sitting at tables quietly talking, smoking and drinking wine or coffee, we passed to the street.

There is much to delight in a walk through the Tulleries and "Palace de la Concord." These public squares have an acreage of several hundred, and are adorned with flowing fountains and marvelous statuary. Passing through the Tulleries brings you to the "Dome de Invalids," in which is Napoleon's tomb. The building and dome is of the most exquisite architecture. Upon entry everywhere your gaze is confronted by stately columns of Italian marble arches, statuary, flags of many varieties, captured by Napoleon from his enemies on many battlefields, besides other trophies of war.

As you look down a circular pit twenty feet deep and forty feet wide, enclosed by a balustrade of Italian marble, you see the sarcophagus, in which is inclosed all that was mortal of the great Napoleon. The mosaic pavement at the bottom of the pit represents a wreath of laurels; on it rests the sarcophagus, consisting of a single block, highly polished, of reddish brown granite, fourteen feet high, thirteen long and seven wide, brought from Finland at a cost of $25,000. Above rises a lofty dome 160 feet high, divided into two sections, one of twelve compartments, each containing a figure of one of the twelve apostles; the other representing St. Louis offering to Christ the sword with which to vanquish his enemies.

While in Paris I visited Mrs. Mason, widow of James Mason, deceased. Mr. Mason was formerly a member of the Arkansas Senate and Sheriff of Chicot County. It will be remembered by old residents that the death of Mason's father, an old bachelor and rich planter, who died intestate, caused a suit at law of great interest and importance. It was an exciting trial, as many thousands of dollars were at stake in the issue. The fatherly care he had ever evinced for the education of his children (James having been educated in France and Martha at a Northern college); the solicitude and unfailing recognition, the many instances of which he had designated them as direct heirs, and other evidence, collateral and convincing, were availing. They received a jury award.



An appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was taken, which dragged its weary way for a number of years, but resulted in confirming the decision of the lower court. Mrs. Mason was for many years, through the patronage and kindness of Senator Garland and other members of Congress from Arkansas, a clerk in the Land Office at Washington. I found Mrs. Mason living in well-appointed apartments with her daughter, an artistic painter of some note, with studio adjoining, where I was shown many beautiful productions of her brush. I was conversant with many instances in the North where Southern planters had brought their colored families to be educated, purchasing and giving them property for settlement and sustenance, especially that their girls might escape the environments which undoubtedly awaited them at the South. These were in fine and valuable contradistinction to many cases similarly related, where they were sold on the auction block to the highest bidder. But in all candor it cannot but be supposed that in many instances the sale of the planter's own flesh and blood was involuntary. High living, neglect of the comparative relation of resource and expenditure, gambling for big stakes on steamboat and at Northern watering places, brought the evil day with attending results to the "chattel" subject to the baneful caprice of unrestrained liberty.

On the 23d of January, 1898, I was taking my leave of Paris to meet my steamer at Marseilles for a 20-day voyage for Madagascar. My stay at the hotel had been pleasant, and I supposed had received all necessary attention from the servants that occasion demanded; but in character it had been individual. Now it was united, for in doorway and on staircase they were (like Tennyson's cannon) servants "to the right of me and servants to the left of me," smiling and gracious. One, of whom I had no recollection of having previously seen, approached me with an obeisance decidedly French to remind me that he was the "baggage man" and attended to it when I arrived. I replied, "You are not the man who took up my baggage." "No," he said; "I am the man who looked after the man who watched the man who did take it up." "Oh!" I said; and then remembering that he and I had much in common, his English and my French being twins, I conceded his claim, "tipped" others that impeded my exit, and made hasty retreat.

Leaving Paris at 2:30 P. M., at 2 in the morning we reached Lyons, stopping 25 minutes for coffee and refreshments, which reached a long-felt want, arriving at Hotel de Louvre et de la Paix, at Marseilles, three hours later. Paris is prolific in names of its hotels, but this was commensurate in luxury and first class in every particular, very large, the finest in Marseilles and said to be unsurpassed in France. It is approached by a hall-way fifty feet long from Rue Canebrian (the street), which leads you into an oval-shaped court 100 by 200 feet. Around this court in niches are finely-sculptured statuary, paintings and choice flowers in porcelain vases. Out of this court you are conducted into the hotel proper. Spacious stairways of Italian marble, the tread of which covered with Turkish carpets, leads you to the interior. The court in the inner center of the hotel rises to a height of five or six stories, and is covered by parti-colored glass, which emits a soft and pleasing tint on all below. The dining room was "a thing of beauty," and the menu "a joy forever." The adornments of the room would well befit a palace. Oh, that I had the tongue of an orator or the pen of a ready writer, to fitly describe! Took breakfast and then a stroll along the principal streets of the city and the wharves of the Mediterranean. The city resembled a bee hive; the houses and streets are literally crowded with men and women of all nationalities and costumes.

Wending our way to "Notre Dame," a magnificent church on a hill, one thousand feet above the level of the city, entirely overlooking it, while the Mediterranean lies sparkling in the distance directly below. On the top of the dome of this edifice is a figure encased in gold, representing "Holy Mary" with the Christ in her arms. A gallery surrounds the church, from which the view is grand and imposing. Ascent and descent can be made by an elevator.

On the 25th of January we embarked on board our ship, the "Pie Ho," and found state room comfortable for the longest voyage of our travel. The view as we pass out of the harbor of Marseilles is quite picturesque, with its quaint old buildings, mountainous surroundings, its medley of ships, soldiers and sailors of every nation, differing in uniform and costume. Here, as I suppose it is everywhere where love and friendship dwell, hundreds had assembled at docks and quays and other points of vantage to waive hands and handkerchiefs of a loving farewell. I thought of my dear daughter on the wharf at New York and her anxious gaze until we were lost in the distance. This ship, the "Pie Ho," of a French line, is said to be old, but staunch, comfortable and giving good service; but a failure in that particular the want of which retards the success of many people of whom it could be truthfully said by Christian and moralist that they were good and reliable. The "Pie Ho" is not swift, but if she retains the commendation that oft accompanies slowness, that of being sure, we should be content. But age has its limits, and happy should all be who safely and honorably round up the voyage of life.

We are now in full view of Mount Strombol in the Mediterranean, a volcano in full blast, emitting fire and clouds of smoke. Yesterday we entered the Ionian Sea; today we have land on either side, Sicily on our right and Italy on our left, with a good view of its coast lines; cities, towns, cultivated fields and trains in motion. At 2 P. M. January 30 we see Dermot Lighthouse, and at 3 reach Port Said. The Khedive's dominion, a Government and business point, with many consular residences. It was the first sight of the "old flag" since leaving Marseilles. It is a new baptism of patriotism for one to see the national banner so far from home, and impromptu he sings, "long may it wave," for "with all thy faults I love thee still."

We anchored out in the bay, and with small boats went ashore. Port Said is quite cosmopolitan both in its business and residence features. Nearly every nationality has its representative in trade, but numerically the unspeakable Turk is very much in evidence. On landing one of the guards, numerous and whose charges are fixed by law, took us in charge to show us the city. The streets generally were unimproved and irregular, both in architecture and location. Through several dingy and untidy streets he led us to the public park, which made considerable pretension to order and neatness. The turban, the wrap, the sandals and other Oriental costumes, which made up the dress, were not more varied than the complexion of the people, but their features were generally fine-cut. A marble bust of De Lesseps, the contractor of the Suez Canal, which we shall soon enter, has a prominent place.

Through several streets, monotonous for disorder and uncleanliness, we reached the "Mosque," the Mahomedan place of worship. In the minaret high up on the tower stood an officer awaiting the hour to lower the flag as a signal to all Musselmen that they could eat, the day being one of their fast days. In all the streets through which we passed could be seen groups of the faithful with anxious look toward the minaret to catch the first downward movement of the flag. It came at last, and with it the shouting and running of the crowds to booths and stands for eating purposes that lined the sidewalks. We approached the "Mosque" with all the solemnity possible for hypocritical heretics to assume, and were met at the door by a grave and reverent sire, who interviewed the guide.

We had been told that we would have to take off our shoes (just here we noted the same pliancy observable in many of our own denomination when there is prospect of getting the almighty dollar). In some way the matter was compromised by putting on over our shoes large sandals made of straw. After paying 50 centimes each (equal to 10 cents in our currency), we entered a large room without furniture or other adornment, with stone floor, some matting, upon which a number of worshipers were kneeling and supplicating "Allah," their supreme being. There was an earnestness that bespoke sincerity, and an all-abiding faith. I could but think how few of us who would criticise are true to the creed we profess.

In a kind of lavatory adjoining could be seen men washing their feet and doing oddities unmentionable preparatory to worship.

After wandering about the building for some time I was accosted by one of the attendants, and was made to understand that one of my feet was uncovered. I had lost one of my sandals. I was rather uneasy for a while, not knowing what they might do with that unholy foot that had desecrated the temple. The guide found it, however, and "Richard was himself again." After leaving the "Mosque" the guide escorted us shipward through the business portion of the city, neat and cleanly, with hotels and stores creditable to a metropolis. But for beggars of unrivaled persistency I commend you to Port Said, for with a pitiableness, sincere or assumed, they dog your every footstep.

At the southern part of the city is a large cemetery, having stones with many hieroglyphics and inscriptions denoting the former locality, character and virtues of the dead. With the scholar are interred copies of his literary productions; with the soldier, his sword; with the statesman, a roll of his achievements for the good of the state, for presentation to "Allah."



CHAPTER XXI.

The passage through the Suez Canal was somewhat monotonous, but a continued reminder of bible history. On either side as far as the eye could reach the desert spread out its sandy atoms glistening in the sun.

Out of the canal we are in the Gulf of Suez, and in a few hours in the Red Sea, an interesting locality in ancient history. It is there we learn that Pharaoh and his hosts met their Waterloo (with the accent on the water) in the pursuit of the children of Israel. But here we find conflicting opinions. Some say that Pharaoh, arriving at the bank and seeing the impossibility of overtaking them, turned and retired; others, that there were shoal places in those far-away days where any one could cross; others, that they crossed on flats very like the ordinary modern mortal. But I do not accept this attempt to question the orthodox version, but will verify it as far as my observation will admit. The sea was likely red in those days, and has very properly retained its name on account of the locality being red-hot at times, or, perhaps, chameleon like, changes its color. This morning, however, it is a deep blue. As to Pharaoh and his hosts getting drowned, there cannot be doubt, if it was in its present condition and they attempted to cross on foot.

But this we do know, that the success of the "Children of Israel" in not being "overtaken" has been the prototype of father to son in every effort to do so from that day to the present. There is a serious view, however. Here the sea, sky and neighborhood of Jerusalem, pyramids, monuments and sacred traditions all conspire to have a solemn and awe-inspiring effect. Thousands of generations of men have lived and moved in the activities that engage modern humanity, but have passed like fleeting shadows, leaving only these sentinels as perpetual reminders. While the "Red Sea" sings in murmuring cadence that "men may come, and men may go, but I go on forever," doubly impressing us that

"So the multitude goes, like the flower or weed, That wither away to let others succeed; So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that has often been told."

But a truce to moralizing on the past. The children of Israel seem to have made and kept their record as "passengers." I was interested in the passage of a child of Ham. I am somewhat deficient in Bible history, and am without knowledge of the whereabouts of Ham's children at that time, or whether they had "crossing" to do; but if they possessed the proverbial character imputed to some of their offspring, antipathy to water, especially for lavatory purposes, I am of the opinion they took no desperate chances, "content to bear the ills they had than fly to those they knew not of."

Passing Hurich Island, a British possession, and having had a very pleasant passage on the Red Sea, we arrive at Djiboute, Abyssinia, the terminus of King Menelik's domain, the scenes of recent conflict between Italy and the King's forces, the "unpleasantness" resulting unprofitably to the Italians. There were landed from the ship many boxes of rifles and ammunition for the King's governor, who resides here. During the few hours we remained there, we were interested in and enjoyed the gathering of ten or fifteen native boys around the ship diving for centimes or francs thrown by the passengers, their dexterity as divers, securing every penny, was as clever as grotesque. They remained in the water six or eight hours during the ship's stay. A few hours brought us to Aden, a very strongly fortified appendage to the British Empire at the south end of the Red Sea. For armament and strategical locality it is the Gibraltar of the southern seas.

The rivalry of native boatmen for passengers and luggage to take ashore was appalling. When I say it surpassed a third ward political meeting in "ye olden times" in Little Rock I faintly describe it. Sunday morning; once more on the way; one more stop, and then to Tamatave, our destination.

Looking this beautiful morning on the foam-crest waves as they roll in sportive emulation, with a cloudless sky coming down on every side to kiss the horizon, shutting out human vision of all else beyond, one could not fail to be impressed with the greatness, the omnipotence of the Creator. This being but a speck of that vast whole, comprising the celestial and terrestrial aggregation, he, indeed, who regards this sublime workmanship as the product of chance and not that of a super-human architect and law-giver, by Whom every atom of nature is controlled, is more to be pitied than condemned.

To conclude our voyage, we have six or seven days of "innocuous desuetude." That is what I believe President Cleveland designated a monotonous and unprofitable period. I am not certain, however, and one should be careful in quoting great authors.

We pass the Gulf of Aden and enter the Indian Ocean, Rem Huffien Island to the right, and now appears the eastern coast lines of the continent of Africa. On that continent, I learn, lies the ashes of my forefathers. Peace abide with them, and may peace crowned with justice come to such of their descendants as are still the victims of dishonesty and inhumanity by enlightened and professedly Christian nations.

Travel by sea loses in interest as you recede or are midway between distant points. You somehow feel yourself located in the neighborhood of "Mahomet's coffin," and have a sort of a "don't-care-a-continental" atmosphere surrounding you, with nothing to arrest attention save the usual incidents of ocean voyage, with no land in sight. The constitutional promenade on deck before and after meals, with the French etiquette of raising your hat or cap as you pass; reading or lounging on sofas or reclining chairs; relating individual experiences of life or travel; criticising the conduct of others than yourselves; the welcome sound of the bell that calls you to meals; the last view of the sun as it bids you "good-bye," with its ineffectual rays, and gently sinks beneath the horizon; the rising of the moon, shedding its sheen of sparkling light on the dancing waves; retirement to your couch to listen awhile to the heavy breathing, and feel the pulse-beat of the iron monitor as it speeds you onward; finally to sleep, to dream of loved ones at home.

The suavity of the French is in notable contrast with the more taciturn deportment of the English; amiable contact has much to do with softening the asperities of life.

We are now crossing the heretofore much-dreaded equator—weather splendid, light, cloth suit not uncomfortable, but we are at sea and not on land. The forward deck is today given up to the sports of the sailors (the custom when crossing the line), and is now the center of attraction—running "obstacle races," the two competitors getting under, and from under a canvas-sheet held to the deck by a number of their fellows, and then running for the goal, picking up potatoes as they ran. Afterwards, with bucket of paste and paintbrush, lathering head and face, shaving with a large wooden razor the unlucky competitor—were a part of the amusements they imposed on "Old Father Time."

Arrived at Diego Suarez, on the northern port of Madagascar, a French naval station, having a land-locked harbor, providing good shelter and anchorage. The town is located on a plateau overlooking the bay. Many officers disembarked and a large amount of freight discharged. The resident population consisted of a medley from all eastern nations. Anchored a mile off and in small boats, and after 20 minutes' rowing we were landed. A dozen stores, barracks and the hospital on the opposite side of the bay were the only objects of interest. The large amount of freight discharged indicated it to be a prominent distributing point for the interior. Leaving Diego and running down the eastern coast with land in view, mountainous and apparently sterile, we reach Tamatave and anchor in the bay.

The ship was soon boarded by a messenger from Mr. Wetter, the outgoing American Consul at Madagascar, and I was piloted ashore. The view of Tamatave from the ship was not prepossessing, and my walk through the city to the hotel was not inspiring. The attempt to dignify the six or eight feet wide alleys (which were the main arteries for travel) as avenues or streets, seemed ludicrous, and the filthy condition, the absence of all sanitary regulations in a province pretending a civilized administration, was to me a revelation. The natural sequence of such neglect was the visitation of the "Bubonic plague" a few months after my arrival and an immense death-rate. The alarm proved a conservator for the living, for the burning of the effected districts, widening the streets and enforcement of sanitary rules have tended to lessen its virulence, although it has been yearly in its visitations; for while foul surroundings are recognized as hot-beds for the propagation of the germs of this pest, recent experience has demonstrated that while cleanliness and rigid sanitary measures are less inviting, they are not positive barriers to its approach and dire effect. The "terror" originally supposed to be indigenous only to India, Egypt, and China, and so domestic in its habits as to confine its ravages to few precincts, now stalks forth as on a world mission—to Mauritius in Indian Ocean, to Japan, Brazil, Australia, Honolulu, and last and not least, interesting from an American point of view, are the stealthy footsteps of the unwelcome guest in the city of San Francisco, Cal. "While medical information relating to the plague is still less definite and extensive than it should be," says an eminent physician, "it is now well demonstrated that the disease depends upon a specific microbe."

It may be communicated from one person to another through expectoration, oozings from the mouth of dying persons, or through the excretions of the body. "The fears it inspires are well grounded, for the recoveries in a case of severe epidemics are only ten per cent. Of 126 cases reported from Manila from January 20 to March 30, 1900, 112 cases resulted fatally." In India, where the plague has been the most severe, the deaths from this cause have averaged 5,000 a week of recent years, a considerable amount of study has been devoted to the various phases of the plague, by physicians in Europe and the East especially, and a number have given their lives to the cause of medical science in attempts to find some method of successfully combating it. It is needless to say that no specific has as yet been discovered in its treatment, and ordinary curative measures have but little effect on its course.

In Chinatown, San Francisco, where it made its appearance, a rigid "cordon sanitaire" was established, and all outer intercourse prohibited. It is not believed that conditions are inviting in North America, although "the wish may be father to the thought."

The following brief expression relative to Madagascar and comment on Negro status in the following letter to the "Colored American," published in Washington City, may be in place:

Tamatave, Madagascar, Aug. 5, 1900.

Dear Friend Cooper: I have your favor June 14th last, in which you say you would like to have a line from me, that you "may let the friends over here know what you are doing." Well, here it is, line upon line, if not precept, etc. I am "still doing business at the same old stand," and doubt if I have anything to say regarding this "far-away post" that would particularly interest your readers, engrossed as I perceive they are in domestic phases and in the alignment of our recent acquisitions.

Regarding the physical development or moral progress of Madagascar, as you know it is now a French province, with a Governor General and staff, all appointees from France. The Government is doing considerable to open up the country by means of telegraphs, railroads, turnpikes and canals. At Paris they recently voted sixty millions francs (12 million dollars) for a railroad from here to Tananarivo, the capital, 200 miles from here, over a mountainous and broken country. The capital is situated on a plateau 5,000 feet above sea level, with a climate cool and bracing. Here at Tamatave a fireplace or heating stove in a house are unknown appendages. The Hovas for a long period were the rulers previous to the conquest and occupation by the French, who by diplomacy—"force and iron will"—the means usually adopted by the strong when a coveted prize looms in the distance, added an immense territory to their colonial possessions. But perhaps in the interest of civilization the change is not to be deplored. The Hovas were a superior class of Madagascan people the rulers being men of education and ability, but not equal in quality or quantity to cope with the energy, wealth and military prowess of a power like France.

The mental and physical conditions of the great bulk of the natives were not, and are not, inviting; they were held by a mild system of slavery, a system that in substance still exists under French rule as to forced labor on public works. The severity of tasks and bad rum are said by a friendly society at Paris in its protest "to be fast decimating their number." The French Government, however, are establishing an extension of schools for the natives, where industrial training will be the marked feature, and which on yesterday, the occasion being an official visit the Governor was pleased to pay me, I took pains to extol; as you know industrial training is my pet. The General wisely remarking, "we wish first to place the present generation in a position to earn more money, so they will be able to give their offspring a higher education if they wish." The English, Norwegians from America, the Friends and other missions, are doing something for their educational and moral progress, but the appliances are meager compared with the herculean task that awaits them.

There is, however, this difference in the problem here. There are colored men occupying places of prominence as officials, as tellers in banks, clerks in counting-houses and merchant stores. Here it is condition, and not color, wealth and position, the "open sesame." On social occasions the brother in black is in evidence, without special notice of the fact, and, strangest of it all, on the following day the sun and other heavenly bodies seem to stand or revolve in their accustomed orbits. My health has been good, although the bubonic pest, periodical in its visitations, has been alarming in the suddenness of its destruction of life. In the spring it is again expected to alight without "healing in its wings." But I will not longer dwell on Madagascan peculiarities, many of which, as elsewhere, are not chastening. What I am interested in, and want to know about is, how you are getting on with the "old grudge?" If I judge correctly from the journals that reach me, that during my near three years' absence, its status, unlike renowned grape-juice, has neither dissipated or improved by lapse of time, and that lynching and disfranchisement still have the right of way.

The expansion of our sovereignty is fraught with complications, and onerous duties from the statesman, the zeal of the humanitarian, and of reformers and friends of equitable government, unflinching determination are required, that kindness and justice shall be ceded to the people thereof. But is the prospect for the dissemination or ascendancy of these virtues either bright or promising? If the exercise and enjoyments of these attributes are not granted to millions of the American household, is it reasonable to expect they will dominate abroad? There is reason for apprehension that our cousins in the East will find little change of despotic tendencies amid the rank and file of American adventurers. The philosophy of our system of government seems out of balance. Cicero wrote "that excessive liberty leads both nations and individuals into excessive slavery."

But amid the lights and shadows that environ the Negro, he is neither undeserving of the assistance rendered, and indispensable for educational development, which has been generous, and for which he is grateful, although handicapped by a prejudice confronting on so many avenues of industry, and forbidding his entry. Not undeserving for patient and non-anarchist in the realms of labor, his right to possess and enjoying equality of citizenship is written with blood and bravery on the battlefield of every war of the Republic where he "fell forward as fits a man." Munificent contributions of Christians and philanthropists, for missionary work abroad, are greatly in evidence, given with a self-complacency of duty done; but, however, fail to vivify the declining pulse-beat for equality before the law and justice at home. Manifestly there is an absence of that arraignment and condemnation of wrong done the weak, that contributed so largely to abolish the "corn laws of England" and slavery in the United States. History is the record that it is the men of moral courage and heroism who by pen and voice, that sociality and gain cannot intimidate and combat evil in their very midst that "leave footprints in the sands of time."

I must close this letter, already too long. Don't regard me as a pessimist. I know that Bacon wrote that "men of age object too much," but the fact is, Cooper, it has been so long since I heard a Fourth of July hallelujah chorus that I am getting out of tune.

McKinley has been again nominated, I see, and doubtless will be elected, with a Congress in harmony, thus giving the party another lease of power, which, God grant, let us hope, may redound to the welfare of all the people. Say to my many friends that they are, "though lost to sight to memory dear." Truly your friend,

M. W. GIBBS.



CHAPTER XXII.

The Island of Madagascar was discovered in 1506 by Lawrence Almeyda, a Portuguese; but the Persians and Arabs are said to have known it from time immemorial. The island is divided into 28 provinces and is said to contain two hundred millions acres of excellent land, watered on all sides by streams and large rivers. Its two highest mountains are Vigagora in the north and Batistmene in the south, said to contain in their bowels abundance of fossils and valuable minerals. This island, situated near the eastern coast of Africa, with 300 miles of the Mozambique Channel intervening, is 1,000 miles in length and varying from 200 to 400 miles in width, and is supposed to have been in remote ages a portion of the continent of Africa and that the progenitors of its people were to that "manor born;" others that the channel was crossed in canoes and Madagascar populated.

Rev. W. E. Cousins, an English missionary, in a late edition of "Madagascar of Today," says that "its people are not on the whole an African people, and much of its flora and fauna indicate a very long separation from the neighboring continent. Particularly notable is the fact that Madagascar has no lions, deer, elephants or antelopes, which are abundant in Africa; the people generally are not Africans, but belong to the same family as Malays and Malayo Polynesians." How the Malayon came to be the predominant language has exercised the thoughts of many, Africa being not more than 300 miles from the west coast of Madagascar, whereas the nearest point, Malayon Peninsula, is 3,000 miles away. That the distinct type of African presents itself in large numbers of native population is beyond question.

For much of the following as to the religion, morals and customs of the Madagascar people, I am indebted to Rev. Cousins, the missionary above referred to, and a work entitled "Madagascar, or Drury's Journal," edited by Pasfield Oliver and published in 1729. Robert Drury was an English lad that ran away from home, was shipwrecked, and held in captivity by the natives for 15 years, and redeemed by Captain Mackett, commanding the "Prince of Wales" in the East India Company's service. Also to the "Island of Madagascar," by Abbe Alexis Rochon, a learned Frenchman, who visited the island in 1767 and made an extensive report.

Mr. Oliver mentions that there are authors who say that the religion of these people is Mahometanism, but he is at a loss to know from what they drew their conclusions, since their sacrifices and their antipathy to revelation; and, besides, at the only place where a Moorish ship (Mahometan) came, swines' flesh is eaten. These obviously show that there can be nothing in more direct opposition to it. There is no one circumstance like it, except circumcision, and that is well known to those learned in ancient history to have been common to some Eastern nations, even before the Jews had it, and where there is no reason to think the name of the Jews was ever heard, and we have more reason to think that the Jews derived a great deal from them instead of they from the Jews; that their religion is more ancient is evident for several obvious reasons.

First, by their regarding dreams and divining by them, which so early as the Mosaic law the Children of Israel were warned against.

Secondly, these people shave their hair all off in mourning for the dead. This Moses expressly commands the Israelites not to do, and the Jews do superstitiously observe this last and suffer their hair to grow in their mourning.

Thirdly, Moses commanded none but males to be sacrificed. On the contrary, these sacrifice cows for the most part. They have no burnt offerings but near their sepulchers, which with gum, burnt likewise, may only arise from a defense of cadaverous scents.



Fourthly, but the most remarkable instance of all is, that the "owley," which these Madagascar people divine by and procure most extraordinary dreams, is evidently the Ephod and Teraphin which the Levites used who lived in Micah's house (see Judges 17) and which the Israelites could never be wholly brought off from, though contrary to their law. Some have taken these Teraphin for images like a man, and there seems a show of reason in it from Micah, Saul's daughter putting one in David's bed to deceive her father's messenger, while he escaped. This, it is possible, alludes to some divination by the Teraphin which she used in his behalf, for Teraphin is the plural number; therefore, could not signify only one image; neither could the gods which Rachel stole from her father, Labon, be one god as big as a man, for she sat on them and hid them. The word is here in the original "Teraphin," although translated gods. Then, in Hosea, chapter 3, verse 4, "an image, an Ephod and Teraphin," are all mentioned in one verse, plainly showing that they are distinct things. It is further to be remarked that by this Teraphin they invoked the dead, which is exactly the same as these people do by the "Owley" always invoking the spirits of their forefathers, which is expressly forbidden to Israelites, and often sharply inveighed against by the prophets.

That these people had not their religion from any polite or learned nation is by their retaining no notion or meaning of letters, nor their having a horse among them, either for carriage or other use, which could never have been forgotten had they ever had it.

Mr. Oliver positively asserts that these Madagascar people came from Africa, and is certain on account of their color, while other writers think most of them to be descendants of Malays.

Captain Mackett, previously mentioned as the redeemer of Robert Drury from his 15 years' captivity, states that Devon (King) Toak, often told him they had a tradition of their coming to the island many years ago in large canoes; "but," says Captain Oliver, "let them come from where they will, it is evident that their religion is the most ancient in the known world and not much removed from natural religion, and whether the Egyptians and Canaanites had their religion from them, or that they are Egyptians originally, it had its rise long before the Children of Israel were in bondage, for Egypt was then a very polite country, and although idolators, they were not any more so than their neighbors before Abraham's time.

"The respect due from children to parents is taught them early by those parents and grows with them, besides the gratitude naturally arising to those who have fed and protected them when they were helpless infants. So it is no wonder to find a law there against cursing parents. The notion of the Being of one Supreme Author of nature arises from natural reflection on the visible harmony and uniformity of the universe and seeing that men and things did not produce themselves. The reverence due to this stupendous Being is only of a pious and rightly amazement, dread and respect. The testimony was everywhere uniform that where Europeans or Mahometans had not corrupted them they were innocent, moral and humane.

"Physically the island has lost none of its picturesque character, so vividly portrayed by Abbe Rochon more than a century ago, who wrote 'The Traveler,' who in pursuit of knowledge traverses for the first time wild and mountainous countries, intersected by ridges and valleys, where nature, abandoned to its own fertility, presents the most singular and varied productions, cannot help being struck with terror and surprise on viewing those awful precipices, the summits of which are covered with trees as ancient perhaps as the world. His astonishment is increased when he hears the noise of immense cascades which are so inaccessible that it is impossible for him to approach them. But these scenes, truly picturesque, are always succeeded by rural views, delightful hills and plains, where vegetation is never interrupted by the severity and vicissitudes of the seasons. The eye with pleasure beholds those extensive savannas which afford nourishment to numerous herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Fields of rice and potatoes present also a new and highly interesting spectacle. One sees agriculture flourishing, while nature alone defrays almost all the expense. The fortunate inhabitants of Madagascar need not moisten the earth with their sweat; they turn it up slightly with a pick-axe, and this labor alone is sufficient. They make holes in the ground at a little distance from each other and throw into them a few grains of rice, over which they spread the mold with their feet. And what proves the great fertility of the soil is that a field thus sown produces an hundred-fold. The forests contain a prodigious variety of the most beautiful trees, such as palms of every kind, ebony, wood for dyeing, bamboos of an enormous size, and orange and lemon trees." The Abbe's picture is quite enchanting, for it seems that "every prospect pleases."

A view of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, in the word-painting of Cameron, a war correspondent of the London Standard, is interesting. "Antananarivo was in sight and we could plainly see the glass windows of the palace glistening in the morning sun, on the top of the long hill upon which the city is built. It was Sunday, and the people were clustering along the foot-paths on their way to church or sitting in the grass outside waiting for the services to begin, as they do in villages at home. The women, who appeared to be in the majority, wore white cotton gowns, often neatly embroidered, and white or black and white striped lambas, thrown gracefully over their shoulders. The men were clad also in cotton, white cotton pantaloons, cotton lambas, and straw hats, with large black silk band. In the morning sun the play of colors over the landscape was lovely. The dark green hills, studded with the brilliant red brick houses of the inhabitants, whose white garments dotted the lanes and foot-paths, contrasted with the brighter emerald of the rice fields in the hollows. The soil everywhere is deep red, almost magenta, in color, and where the roads or pathways cross the hills they shine out as if so many paint-brushes had streaked the country in broad red stripes. Above all, the spires of the strange city, set on top of its mountain with a deep blue sky for a background, added to the beauty of the scene.

"It was difficult to imagine that this peaceful country, with its pretty cottages, its innumerable chapels, whose bells were then calling its people to worship, and its troops of white-robed men and women answering the summons, was the barbarous Madagascar of twenty years ago."

Mention of the form of government had by the Madagascar people and which is now being superseded by occupancy of the French and the introduction of laws of a civilized nation, may not be out of place. As far back as tradition will carry, there existed in Madagascar a kind of feudalism. Villages were usually built on the hilltops, and each hilltop had its own chieftain, and these petty feudal chiefs were constantly waging war with each other. The people living on these feudal estates paid taxes and rendered certain services to their feudal lords. Each chief enjoyed a semi-independence, for no strong over-lord existed. Attempts were made from time to time to unite these petty chieftains into one Kingdom, but no one tribe succeeded in making itself supreme till the days of Radam I, who succeeded in bringing the whole of Imerina under his government, and to his son, Radama, he left the task of subduing the rest of the island. By allying himself closely with England, Radama obtained military instruction and carried war into distant provinces. He ultimately succeeded in conquering many of the tribes and his reign marked the beginning of a new era in Madagascar. Indeed, only from his days could Madagascar in any sense be regarded as a political unit.