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Applied Process Control

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Michael Mulholland

Applied Process Control

Essential Methods
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 V

Essential Methods Contents

Preface XI
Acknowledgements XIII
Abbreviations XV
Frontispiece XIX

1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Idea of Control 1
1.2 Importance of Control in Chemical Processing 3
1.3 Organisation of This Book 5
1.4 Semantics 6
References 7

2 Instrumentation 9
2.1 Piping and Instrumentation Diagram Notation 9
2.2 Plant Signal Ranges and Conversions 11
2.3 A Special Note on Differential Pressure Cells 14
2.4 Measurement Instrumentation 16
2.4.1 Flow Measurement 17
2.4.1.1 Flow Measurement Devices Employing Differential Pressure 17
2.4.1.2 Other Flow Measurement Devices 22
2.4.2 Level Measurement 22
2.4.2.1 Level Measurement by Differential Pressure 22
2.4.2.2 Other Level Measurement Techniques 25
2.4.3 Pressure Measurement 25
2.4.4 Temperature Measurement 26
2.4.4.1 Thermocouple Temperature Measurement 26
2.4.4.2 Metal Resistance Temperature Measurement 28
2.4.4.3 Temperature Measurements Using Other Principles 28
2.4.5 Composition Measurement 29
2.5 Current-to-Pneumatic Transducer 31
2.6 Final Control Elements (Actuators) 31
VI Essential Methods Contents

2.6.1 Valves 32
2.6.1.1 Pneumatically Operated Globe Control Valve 32
2.6.1.2 Valve Characteristics 35
2.6.1.3 Valve CV and KV 36
2.6.1.4 Specification of Valves for Installed Performance 37
2.6.1.5 Control Valve Hysteresis 39
2.6.1.6 Various Flow Control Devices 40
2.6.2 Some Other Types of Control Actuators 42
2.7 Controllers 42
2.8 Relays, Trips and Interlocks 44
2.9 Instrument Reliability 45
References 51

3 Modelling 53
3.1 General Modelling Strategy 54
3.2 Modelling of Distributed Systems 59
3.3 Modelling Example for a Lumped System: Chlorination Reservoirs 61
3.4 Modelling Example for a Distributed System: Reactor Cooler 63
3.5 Ordinary Differential Equations and System Order 67
3.6 Linearity 69
3.7 Linearisation of the Equations Describing a System 73
3.8 Simple Linearisation ‘Δ’ Concept 75
3.9 Solutions for a System Response Using Simpler Equations 77
3.9.1 Mathematical Solutions for a System Response in the t-Domain 77
3.9.2 Mathematical Solutions for a System Response in the s-Domain 79
3.9.2.1 Review of Some Laplace Transform Results 79
3.9.2.2 Use of Laplace Transforms to Find the System Response 84
3.9.2.3 Open-Loop Stability in the s-Domain 95
3.9.3 Mathematical Solutions for System Response in the z-Domain 97
3.9.3.1 Review of Some z-Transform Results 98
3.9.3.2 Use of z-Transforms to Find the System Response 104
3.9.3.3 Evaluation of the Matrix Exponential Terms 109
3.9.3.4 Shortcut Methods to Obtain Discrete Difference Equations 110
3.9.3.5 Open-Loop Stability in the z-Domain 111
3.9.4 Numerical Solution for System Response 113
3.9.4.1 Numerical Solution Using Explicit Forms 114
3.9.4.2 Numerical Solution Using Implicit Forms 115
3.9.5 Black Box Modelling 117
3.9.5.1 Step Response Models 117
3.9.5.2 Regressed Dynamic Models 122
3.9.6 Modelling with Automata, Petri Nets and Their Hybrids 126
3.9.7 Models Based on Fuzzy Logic 132
3.10 Use of Random Variables in Modelling 136
3.11 Modelling of Closed Loops 141
References 142
 Essential Methods Contents VII

4 Basic Elements Used in Plant Control Schemes 143

4.1 Signal Filtering/Conditioning 143
4.2 Basic SISO Controllers 147
4.2.1 Block Diagram Representation of Control Loops 147
4.2.2 Proportional Controller 150
4.2.3 Proportional–Integral Controller 151
4.2.4 Proportional–Integral–Derivative Controller 153
4.2.5 Integral Action Windup 155
4.2.6 Tuning of P, PI and PID Controllers 155
4.2.6.1 Step Response Controller Tuning 158
4.2.6.2 Frequency Response Controller Tuning 159
4.2.6.3 Closed-Loop Trial-and-Error Controller Tuning 160
4.2.7 Feedforward Control 160
4.2.8 Other Simple Controllers 162
4.2.8.1 On/Off Deadband Control 162
4.2.8.2 Simple Nonlinear and Adaptive Controllers 162
4.3 Cascade Arrangement of Controllers 163
4.4 Ratio Control 164
4.5 Split Range Control 165
4.6 Control of a Calculated Variable 165
4.7 Use of High Selector or Low Selector on Measurement Signals 168
4.8 Overrides: Use of High Selector or Low Selector on Control
Action Signals 168
4.9 Clipping, Interlocks, Trips and Latching 170
4.10 Valve Position Control 171
4.11 Advanced Level Control 172
4.12 Calculation of Closed-Loop Responses: Process Model with
Control Element 173
4.12.1 Closed-Loop Simulation by Numerical Techniques 174
4.12.2 Closed-Loop Simulation Using Laplace Transforms 176
References 177

5 Control Strategy Design for Processing Plants 179

5.1 General Guidelines to the Specification of an Overall Plant Control Scheme 180
5.2 Systematic Approaches to the Specification of an Overall Plant Control Scheme 180
5.2.1 Structural Synthesis of the Plant Control Scheme 181
5.2.2 Controllability and Observability 184
5.2.3 Morari Resiliency Index 188
5.2.4 Relative Gain Array (Bristol Array) 191
5.3 Control Schemes Involving More Complex Interconnections of Basic Elements 193
5.3.1 Boiler Drum-Level Control 193
5.3.1.1 Note on Boiler Drum-Level Inverse Response 194
5.3.2 Furnace Full Metering Control with Oxygen Trim Control 195
5.3.3 Furnace Cross-Limiting Control 196
References 198
VIII Essential Methods Contents

6 Estimation of Variables and Model Parameters from Plant Data 199

6.1 Estimation of Signal Properties 199
6.1.1 Calculation of Cross-Correlation and Autocorrelation 199
6.1.2 Calculation of Frequency Spectrum 202
6.1.3 Calculation of Principal Components 203
6.2 Real-Time Estimation of Variables for Which a Delayed Measurement Is
Available for Correction 205
6.3 Plant Data Reconciliation 208
6.4 Recursive State Estimation 211
6.4.1 Discrete Kalman Filter 213
6.4.2 Continuous Kalman–Bucy Filter 220
6.4.3 Extended Kalman Filter 222
6.5 Identification of the Parameters of a Process Model 225
6.5.1 Model Identification by Least-Squares Fitting to a Batch of
Measurements 227
6.5.2 Model Identification Using Recursive Least Squares on Measurements 229
6.5.3 Some Considerations in Model Identification 233
6.5.3.1 Type of Model 233
6.5.3.2 Forgetting Factor 239
6.5.3.3 Steady-State Offset 240
6.5.3.4 Extraction of Physical Parameters 241
6.5.3.5 Transport Lag (Dead Time) 243
6.6 Combined State and Parameter Observation Based on a System of Differential
and Algebraic Equations 243
6.7 Nonparametric Identification 246
6.7.1 Impulse Response Coefficients by Cross-Correlation 246
6.7.2 Direct RLS Identification of a Dynamic Matrix (Step Response) 247
References 250

7 Advanced Control Algorithms 251

7.1 Discrete z-Domain Minimal Prototype Controllers 251
7.1.1 Setpoint Tracking Discrete Minimal Prototype Controller 251
7.1.2 Setpoint Tracking and Load Disturbance Suppression with a Discrete
Minimal Prototype Controller (Two-Degree-of-Freedom Controller) 255
7.2 Continuous s-Domain MIMO Controller Decoupling Design by Inverse
Nyquist Array 256
7.3 Continuous s-Domain MIMO Controller Design Based on Characteristic Loci 259
7.4 Continuous s-Domain MIMO Controller Design Based on Largest Modulus 260
7.5 MIMO Controller Design Based on Pole Placement 261
7.5.1 Continuous s-Domain MIMO Controller Design Based on Pole Placement 261
7.5.2 Discrete z-Domain MIMO Controller Design Based on Pole Placement 264
7.6 State-Space MIMO Controller Design 266
7.6.1 Continuous State-Space MIMO Modal Control: Proportional Feedback 266
7.6.2 Discrete State-Space MIMO Modal Control: Proportional Feedback 267
7.6.3 Continuous State-Space MIMO Controller Design Based on ‘Controllable
System’ Pole Placement 267
 Essential Methods Contents IX

7.6.4 Discrete State-Space MIMO Controller Design Based on ‘Controllable

System’ Pole Placement 270
7.6.5 Discrete State-Space MIMO Controller Design Using the Linear Quadratic
Regulator Approach 271
7.6.6 Continuous State-Space MIMO Controller Design Using the Linear
Quadratic Regulator Approach 277
7.7 Concept of Internal Model Control 279
7.7.1 A General MIMO Controller Design Approach Based on IMC 280
7.8 Predictive Control 282
7.8.1 Generalised Predictive Control for a Discrete z-Domain MIMO System 283
7.8.1.1 GPC for a Discrete MIMO System Represented by z-Domain Polynomials
(Input–Output Form) 284
7.8.1.2 Predictive Control for a Discrete MIMO System Represented in the
State Space 289
7.8.2 Dynamic Matrix Control 291
7.8.2.1 Linear Dynamic Matrix Control 296
7.8.2.2 Quadratic Dynamic Matrix Control in Industry 298
7.8.2.3 Recursive Representation of the Future Output 298
7.8.2.4 Dynamic Matrix Control of an Integrating System 300
7.8.2.5 Dynamic Matrix Control Based on a Finite Impulse Response 303
7.8.3 Approaches to the Optimisation of Control Action Trajectories 305
7.8.3.1 Some Concepts Used in Predictive Control Optimisation 306
7.8.3.2 Direct Multiple Shooting 309
7.8.3.3 Interior Point Method and Barrier Functions 311
7.8.3.4 Iterative Dynamic Programming 312
7.8.3.5 Forward Iterative Dynamic Programming 316
7.8.3.6 Iterative Dynamic Programming Based on a Discrete Input–Output
Model Instead of a State-Space Model 318
7.9 Control of Time-Delay Systems 320
7.9.1 MIMO Closed-Loop Control Using a Smith Predictor 321
7.9.2 Closed-Loop Control in the Presence of Variable Dead
Time 322
7.10 A Note on Adaptive Control and Gain Scheduling 323
7.11 Control Using Artificial Neural Networks 324
7.11.1 Back-propagation Training of an ANN 324
7.11.2 Process Control Arrangements Using ANNs 326
7.12 Control Based on Fuzzy Logic 328
7.12.1 Fuzzy Relational Model 330
7.12.2 Fuzzy Relational Model-Based Control 334
7.13 Predictive Control Using Evolutionary Strategies 337
7.14 Control of Hybrid Systems 341
7.14.1 Process Control Representation Using Hybrid Petri Nets 342
7.14.2 Process Control Representation Using Hybrid Automata 345
7.14.3 Mixed Logical Dynamical Framework in Predictive Control 350
7.15 Decentralised Control 358
References 364
X Essential Methods Contents

8 Stability and Quality of Control 367

8.1 Introduction 367
8.2 View of a Continuous SISO System in the s-Domain 369
8.2.1 Transfer Functions, the Characteristic Equation and Stability 369
8.2.1.1 Open-Loop Transfer Functions 369
8.2.1.2 Angles and Magnitutes of s and GO(s) 370
8.2.1.3 Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Stability 371
8.2.1.4 Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Steady-State Gain 373
8.2.1.5 Root Locus Analysis of Closed-Loop Stability 374
8.3 View of a Continuous MIMO System in the s-Domain 382
8.4 View of Continuous SISO and MIMO Systems in Linear State Space 383
8.5 View of Discrete Linear SISO and MIMO Systems 385
8.6 Frequency Response 386
8.6.1 Frequency Response from G(jω) 387
8.6.2 Closed-Loop Stability Criterion in the Frequency Domain 391
8.6.3 Bode Plot 393
8.6.4 Nyquist Plot 396
8.6.5 Magnitude versus Phase-Angle Plot and the Nichols Chart 401
8.7 Control Quality Criteria 403
8.8 Robust Control 404
References 408

9 Optimisation 409
9.1 Introduction 409
9.2 Aspects of Optimisation Problems 409
9.3 Linear Programming 412
9.4 Integer Programming and Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) 418
9.5 Gradient Searches 421
9.5.1 Newton Method for Finding a Minimum or a Maximum 421
9.5.2 Downhill Simplex Method 422
9.5.3 Methods Based on Chosen Search Directions 423
9.5.3.1 Steepest Descent Method 425
9.5.3.2 Conjugate Gradient Method 427
9.6 Nonlinear Programming and Global Optimisation 429
9.6.1 Global Optimisation by Branch and Bound 429
9.7 Combinatorial Optimisation by Simulated Annealing 432
9.8 Optimisation by Evolutionary Strategies 434
9.8.1 Reactor Design Example 435
9.8.2 Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) 437
9.9 Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming 441
9.9.1 Branch and Bound Method 442
9.9.2 Outer Approximation Method (OA) 443
9.9.3 Comparison of Other Methods 444
9.10 The GAMS Modelling Environment 444
9.11 Real-Time Optimisation of Whole Plants 449
References 454

Index 457
 XI

Preface

Material in this book is sequenced for the process engineer who needs ‘some’ background in process
control (Chapters 1–5) through to the process engineer who wishes to specialise in advanced pro­
cess control (Chapters 1–9). The theory needed to properly understand and implement the methods
is presented as succinctly as possible, with extensive recourse to linear algebra, allowing multi-input,
multi-output problems to be interpreted as simply as single-input, single-output problems.
Before moving on to the more advanced algorithms, an essential practical background is laid out
on plant instrumentation and control schemes (Chapters 2, 4 and 5). Chapter 3 builds modelling
abilities from the simplest time-loop algorithm through to discrete methods, transfer functions,
automata and fuzzy logic. By the end of Chapter 5, the engineer has the means to design simple
controllers on the basis of his or her models, and to use more detailed models to test these control­
lers. Moreover, ability has been developed in the use of the multi-element control schemes of
‘advanced process control’.
Chapter 6 focuses on observation. Whereas Chapter 3 reveals the tenuous chain of preparation of
plant signals, Chapter 6 aims to make sense of them. Important issues on the plant are signal con­
ditioning, data reconciliation, identification of model parameters and estimation of unmeasured
variables.
Chapter 7 addresses more advanced control algorithms, drawing on a wide range of successful
modern methods. To a large extent, continuous and discrete versions of an algorithm are presented
in parallel, usually in multi-input, multi-output formats – which simply devolve to the single-input,
single-output case if required. State–space, input–output, fuzzy, evolutionary, artificial neural
network and hybrid methods are presented. There is a strong emphasis on model predictive control
methods which have had major industrial benefits.
A review of the classical methods of stability analysis is delayed until Chapter 8. This has been
kept brief, in line with reduced application in the processing industries. One recognises that stability
criteria, such as pole locations, do underlie some of the design techniques of Chapter 7. Certainly,
frequency domain concepts are part of the language of control theory, and essential for advanced
investigation. But with the slower responses and inaccurate models of processing plants, controllers
are not predesigned to ‘push the limits’ and tend to be tuned up experimentally online.
A review of a range of optimisation techniques and concepts is given in Chapter 9. Although not a
deep analysis, this imparts a basic working knowledge, enabling the development of simple applica­
tions, which can then later be built upon. Topics covered include linear, integer, mixed, and non­
linear programming, search techniques, global optimisation, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms
and multi-objective optimisation. These methods, and dynamic programming, underlie the
XII Preface

predictive control and optimal scheduling topics in Chapter 7, and are also important as static opti­
misers in such applications as supply chain, product blending/distribution and plant economic
optimisers.
This book tries to make the methods practically useful to the reader as quickly as possible. How­
ever, there is no shortcut to reliable results, without a basic knowledge of the theory. For example,
one cannot make proper use of a Kalman filter, without understanding its mechanism. Complex
multi-input, multi-output applications will require a good theoretical understanding in order to
trace a performance problem back to a poorly calibrated input measurement. Hence, an adequate
theoretical background is provided.
A few distinctions need to be clarified:

1) Modelling is a particular strength of the process engineer, and is a basis of all of the algorithms
– especially model predictive control. The reader needs to distinguish state-based models ver­
sus input–output models. The state-based models can predict forward in time knowing only
the initial state and future inputs. Some algorithms rely on this. In contrast, input–output
models will need additional information about past inputs and outputs, in order to predict
future outputs. To use state-based algorithms on these, a state observer algorithm (e.g. Kal­
man filter) will be required to estimate the states.
2) The forward shift operator z = eTs is used to relate discrete versions of systems to their transfer
function forms G(s) in the s (Laplace/frequency) domain. In a lot of what follows, this theoret­
ical connection is not significant, and the data sampling shift parameter q could be used, but
sometimes it is not in this text.
3) The text consistently uses bold characters to signify matrices [A], vectors [x] and matrix trans­
fer functions [G(s), G(z)]. Non-bold characters are used for scalars.

A number of examples are presented in this book in order to clarify the methods. In addition, the
separate accompanying book Applied Process Control: Efficient Problem Solving presents 226 solved
problems, using the methods of this text. These often make use of MATLAB code which is
arranged in obvious time loops, allowing easy translation to the real-time environment. There will,
however, be the challenge to provide additional routines such as matrix inversion.
A simple interactive simulator program has been made available at https://sourceforge.net/
projects/rtc-simulator/. It includes 20 different applications for such aspects as PID and DMC con­
troller tuning, advanced level control, Smith prediction, Kalman filtering and control strategies for a
furnace, a boiler and a hybrid system. No support is available for the simulator.
Although I have personally used a variety of methods on industrial and research applications, in
writing this book I have been fascinated to discover the brilliant ideas of many other workers in the
field. To all of those people who get excited about process control, I wish you an optimal trajectory.

University of KwaZulu-Natal Michael Mulholland

March, 2016
 XIII

Acknowledgements

Many of the problems in this book are dealt with using the MATLAB program, which is distrib­
uted by the MathWorks, Inc. They may be contacted at
The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA 01760–2098, USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: mathworks.com
How to buy: http://www.mathworks.com/store
A few problems are dealt with in the GAMS optimisation environment, distributed by
GAMS Development Corporation
1217 Potomac Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007, USA
General Information and Sales: (+1) 202 342-0180
Fax: (+1) 202 342-0181
Contact: [email protected]
Some problems make use of the LPSOLVE mixed integer linear programming software which is
hosted on the SourceForge Web site at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lpsolve/
 XV

Abbreviations

A/D analogue to digital

AC/FO air to close/fail open
ANN artificial neural network
AO/FC air to open/fail closed
APC advanced process control
ARIMAX autoregressive integrated moving average exogenous
ARMAX autoregressive moving average exogenous
ARX autoregressive exogenous
BB branch and bound
BFW boiler feedwater
BIDP backward iterative dynamic programming
CEM cause and effect matrix
CRT cathode ray tube
CV controlled variable
CVP control variable parameterisation
CW cooling water
D/A digital to analogue
DAE differential and algebraic equations
DCS distributed control system
DMC dynamic matrix control
DP differential pressure
DV disturbance variable
E{ . . . } expectation of . . .
EKF extended Kalman filter
ES evolutionary strategy
FFT fast Fourier transform
FIDP forward iterative dynamic programming
FIMC fuzzy internal model controller
FIR finite impulse response
FRM fuzzy relational model
FRMBC fuzzy relational model-based control
FSQP feasible sequential quadratic programming
XVI Abbreviations

Fuzzy fuzzy logic

GA genetic algorithm
GAMS General Algebraic Modelling System
GM gain margin
GPC generalised predictive control
HP high pressure (port)
HS high select
I identity matrix
I/O input–output
I/P current to pressure (pneumatic) converter
IAE integral of absolute error
IDP iterative dynamic programming
IMC internal model control
INA inverse Nyquist array
IO input–output
IP integer programming
ISE integral of squared error
KO knockout (separation drum)
LAN local area network
LBT lower block triangular
LCD liquid crystal display
LDMC linear dynamic matrix control
LP linear programming
LP low pressure (port)
LPG liquefied petroleum gas
LPSOLVE MILP program (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lpsolve/)
LQR linear quadratic regulator
LS low select
LS least squares
MATLAB MATLAB program, distributed by the MathWorks, Inc.
MEK methyl ethyl ketone
MIDO mixed integer dynamic optimisation
MILP mixed integer linear programming
MIMO multi-input, multi-output
MINLP mixed integer nonlinear programming
MIP mixed integer programming
MIQP mixed integer quadratic programming
MLD mixed logical dynamical
MM molecular mass
MPC model predictive control
MRI Morari resiliency index
MTBF mean time between failures
MV manipulated variable
NC normally closed
NLP nonlinear programming
NO normally open
 Abbreviations XVII

NSGA-II fast non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II

OA outer approximation
ODE ordinary differential equation
OHTC overall heat transfer coefficient
P proportional
P/I pressure (pneumatic) to current converter
PCA principal components analysis
PDE partial differential equation
PI proportional integral
PID proportional integral derivative
PLC programmable logic controller
PM phase margin
PV process variable
QDMC quadratic dynamic matrix control
RAID redundant array of independent discs
RGA relative gain array (Bristol array)
RLS recursive least squares
RTD resistance temperature detector
RTO real-time optimisation
SCADA supervisory control and data acquisition
SG specific gravity
SISO single-input single-output
SP setpoint
SQP sequential quadratic programming
VPC valve position control
WABT weighted average bed temperature
WAN wide area network (e.g. using telecommunication, radio)
WG water-gauge
ZOH zero-order hold
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHY COLORED

PEOPLE IN PHILADELPHIA ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE STREET CARS
***
WHY COLORED PEOPLE

IN

PHILADELPHIA

ARE

EXCLUDED FROM THE STREET

CARS.

PHILADELPHIA:
MERRIHEW & SON, PRINTERS,
No. 243 Arch Street, below Third St.
1866.
 THE COLORED PEOPLE AND THE
CARS.

Some remarks lately communicated to the New York Anti-Slavery

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street cars, leave the impression that no efforts have been made
here to procure for this class of people admission to these cars. This
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approbation; as the right to exclude colored people has been
claimed by the railway companies, and has not been judicially
determined, the police assists in maintaining the rules of the
companies, to prevent breaches of the peace." And he added: "I am
not with you, gentlemen; I do not wish the ladies of my family to
ride in the cars with colored people." It is proper to state here, that
at the time of this interview, the latest three decisions of the Courts
of the country, bearing on this question, had been directly against
the right of exclusion,—the last being that of Judge Allison, of our
Court of Quarter Sessions.
The Committee then turned to the Legislature. A bill to prevent
exclusion from the cars on account of race or color had been
introduced into, and passed by the Senate, early in the session of
1865, and was referred to the Passenger Railway Committee of the
House. Here it was smothered. No persuasion could induce this
Railway Committee,—twelve out of its fifteen members being
Republicans, and eight Republicans from Philadelphia,—to report the
bill to the House in any shape. According to the statement of the
Chairman, Mr. Lee, the school-boy trick was resorted to of stealing it
from his file, in order that it might be said that there was no such bill
in the hands of the Committee. This assertion was made to an
inquirer, several times over, by Mr. Freeborn, one of its members.
Finally, recourse was had to the Courts. Funds were raised, and
within the last sixteen months, the Committee has attempted to
bring suits for assault in seven different cases of ejection, all of
which have been ignored by various grand juries,—the last only a
few days ago. In one case, a white man,—a highly respectable
physician,—who interposed, by remonstrance only, to prevent the
ejection of a colored man, was himself ejected. He brought an action
for assault, and his complaint was ignored also. In five of these
cases civil actions for damages have been commenced, which are
still pending. One of them, by appeal from a verdict, given under a
charge of Judge Thompson, in Nisi Prius, against the ejected
plaintiff, is now on its way to the Supreme Court in banc, where it is
hoped the whole question will be finally and justly settled.
The colored people at present rarely make any attempt to enter the
cars. As is their wont, they submit peaceably to what they must. The
last case of ejection was that of a young woman, so light of color
that she was mistaken for white, and invited into a car of the Union
Line by its conductor. When he found she was colored, he ejected
her with violence, and somewhat to her personal injury.
Thus stands this matter at present; and such has been the action of
official bodies in it. Let us now see what has been the action of the
unofficial public, and what spirit that public has manifested towards
it indirectly, by its action on kindred matters. The claim of the
colored people to enter the cars, though a local question, is
inseparable from the great policy of Equality before the Law, now
offering itself to the national acceptance; and any local fact which
bears on the one relates also to the other, and is therefore relevant
to this subject.
And first, it is found that even colored women, when ejected from
the cars with insult and violence, seldom meet with sympathy from
the casual white passengers, of either sex, who are present, while
the conductor often finds active partisans among them. But one
white passenger has ever volunteered testimony in any case; and for
want of this, generally the only proof possible, several cases have
been dropped.
Events early last year, such as the voting in the cars, the petition of
the men working at the Navy Yard for continued exclusion of colored
people on the Second and Third Street Line, the "fillibustering" of
several hundred women, employed by the Government on army
clothing, to defeat the Fifth and Sixth Street experiment of
admission, and other acts of violence, show clearly that the classes
represented by these men and women are bitterly opposed to
admission.
Of our seven daily newspapers, two—the Press and Bulletin—have
spoken out manfully and repeatedly in reproof of these outrages and
in defence of the rights of the colored people. The others, it is
believed, while admitting communications on both sides, have been
editorially silent on the subject. In their local items, however, they
have generally given a version of these disturbances unfavorable to
the ejected colored people, under the heading of "riotous conduct of
negroes," or some similar caption.
Grand juries, from the way in which their members are brought
together, may be supposed fairly to represent the average public
sentiment on this question, and their uniform action has been
shown. Colored children have never been admitted to our general
public schools, and the Associated Friends of the Freedmen in this
city, who have lately adopted, as one of their cardinal rules, the
admission of children of both colors, indiscriminately, to their schools
in the South, consider that any effort to introduce the same rule
here would be vain.
Only three members—Generals Owen, Tyndale, and Collis—of the
Military Committee of Arrangements of sixteen, for the late
celebration of the Fourth of July in this city, favored inviting colored
troops to join in it; and the officers of the "California" Regiment
(71st P. V.) gave notice, that if such troops did parade, their
regiment must decline to do so, and would forward its colors to
Harrisburg by express.
On the 30th of June last there were, distributed through sixteen
counties of the State, and supported by State appropriations
amounting in all to $525,000, twenty-nine School-Homes, three
being in this city, containing 1837 orphans of white soldiers; and,
according to the estimate of the Superintendent, by the 1st of
December next, the number is expected to reach 3000. But, after
careful inquiry, it does not appear that an orphan child of any one of
the 1488 colored soldiers who lost their lives in the service, out of
the 8681 belonging, according to official records, to Pennsylvania,
and enlisted at Camp Wm. Penn, has yet found its way into any of
these schools, or been provided for in any manner out of the above
fund. You examine the Act, and find nothing there to exclude them
from these privileges; you ask explanation of the school matrons,
and are told that they never before heard the thing mentioned; and
in reading the two annual reports of the Superintendent, Mr. Thomas
H. Burrows, you find not a word implying knowledge of the fact that
there was a single colored soldier enlisted in the State. Now on the
6th of July, 1863, at National Hall, the Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, a
member of the late Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored
Regiments, in presence of his colleagues and a large concourse of
people, white and colored, asked, addressing his colored auditors:
"Will you not spring to arms, and march to the higher destiny which
awaits your race?" Then turning to his colleagues and their white
friends, he asked: "Will you not see that their orphans are secured
such educational opportunities as a great and humane
commonwealth should provide for the orphans of patriots?" Both
these appeals were answered by loud shouts of assent. And the men
of color did "spring to arms," and marched—not exactly "to the
higher destiny which awaits their race," for that seems to be rather a
long march. They, however, kept their pledge; the country admits
that. But, Men of the late Supervisory Committee, and the thousands
whom you represented, how have you kept yours?
Again: at the corner of Sixteenth and Filbert Streets, in this city,
there is a most comfortable Home for Disabled Soldiers. The State,
thus far, has appropriated $5000 a year and the rent of the building
to its support; the balance of its fund, $115,000, is chiefly the
proceeds of a fair held last October at the Academy of Music for the
benefit of disabled soldiers without regard to color. Colored disabled
soldiers are of course admitted to this institution, as well as white,
and both receive the same kind of fare. But the 160 white inmates
eat, sleep, amuse themselves, and attend the four schools of
different grades, under hired teachers, in well-aired and well-lighted
rooms, distributed through the high main building, separate things,
for them, being kept separate. The seven colored disabled soldiers
(enlisted at Camp William Penn) are quartered in a frame appendage
to this establishment, built on the pavement of the back yard, to
which their privileges are mainly restricted; and here they receive
gratuitous lessons from their benevolent volunteer teacher, Miss
Biddle. There is still room in this Home for one hundred more white
soldiers, but there are present accommodations for no more who are
colored. An applicant, formerly of the 1st U. S. C. T., wounded in the
hand, lately requested to be allowed quarters there for a day or two,
until he could get work, and was told that the colored ward was full.
Another colored soldier, his regiment not known, but who had lost an
arm in the service, was also lately turned away for the same reason.
To the inquiry whether it is absolutely necessary to make the
distinction above noted, the prompt answer is, "Yes; for otherwise
the white soldiers would make a row." But according to all testimony
received, the white soldiers most cheerfully accorded the post of
danger, during the late war, to the enlisted Blacks; and that the latter
as cheerfully accepted and bravely maintained this post, many
battle-fields—Fort Wagner, Port Hudson and Petersburg among the
rest—testify. And it would seem that this fact might be used as an
unanswerable reason for establishing equality of privilege in quarters
where these soldiers meet in time of peace. The quarters being free
of expense to all, those who might dislike the conditions could be
made free to leave them. But it is found that this suggestion, when
made, cannot be entertained for a moment.
Now let us look at the question in its political aspect. And attention
may be called first to the fact that several members of the late
House Passenger Railway Committee,—the gentlemen who, in their
quality of legislative abortionists, prevented the anti-exclusion bill
from seeing the light,—were returned to the Legislature at the last
Fall election, by a full party vote, although this transaction had been
fully made known through the newspapers. This shows clearly that,
by their course in regard to the rights of the colored people, they
had not forfeited the confidence of our so-called radicals. One of
these gentlemen, the same who reiterated the assertion that "there
was no such bill in the hands of the Committee," is reputed to be
one of the most respectable and useful members of the Philadelphia
delegation. He is an especial favorite of the Union League, of which
he has become a member since his services on the above Committee
were rendered, and he was lately the recipient of a complimentary
gift, with appropriate ceremonials, in one of its rooms, as a token of
his legislative merit. This incident is mentioned only because it
serves to show what manner of spirit the League is of, in regard to
this question of admission; and one is constrained to believe that
this spirit partakes largely of indifference, tinged with contempt, and
therefore of inert opposition. And if anything were wanting to
confirm this impression, it is to be found in the fact that the League
declines to permit the rare distributing powers of its Publication
Committee to be used in spreading over the State documents which
distinctly advocate negro suffrage.
Next, it will be remembered how, last Fall, all classes of Republicans,
from the most conservative to, with few exceptions, the most
radical, united in expressions of the sincerest regret that the late
Mayor Henry positively declined again to be their candidate. Now it
is the general belief of those who have all along taken an interest in
this matter, that, with the assistance of the Mayor, our colored
people could have gained full admission to the cars more than
eighteen months ago, just as similar admission was obtained for the
colored people of New York, through the energetic course adopted in
their favor by Police Commissioner Ecton. There was then a sort of
factitious public feeling still running in favor of colored folks; war-
made abolitionism had not all melted away; peace had not come,
and we might need more of them to fight for us; these facts had
their effect on the public mind, and were reflected on the Board of
Presidents; the Fifth and Sixth Street Company tried the experiment
of admission for a month; their whole line was beginning to waver,
when just then the Mayor stepped to their side with his powerful
official influence and aid, and turned the scale in their favor. In their
battle with the car-invading negroes, he was their needle-gun. And
yet, with a full knowledge of these facts, no one doubts that the
Republicans, last October, would gladly have re-elected Mr. Henry as
their Mayor, and that by a larger majority than he ever before
received. And it must be admitted that the late Mayor is a most
respectable man. By almost universal consent, he was as brave and
incorruptible in office as he has always been pure in morals and
unaffected in piety in private life. Possibly, here and there an
extremist might be found to object, that, thus openly to set up, as
he did, his own prejudices and those of his family, in the place of
law, justice and humanity, as his rule of official conduct, to the
manifest injury of twenty-seven thousands of innocent people, was a
most shameless abuse of power and perversion of authority. But this
objection, with the word shameless, cannot be admitted except
"with a difference." A young child, rolling upon the carpet and freely
exposing its little person, no one calls shameless; it is simply
unconscious. Just so was the late Mayor Henry. Many great and
good men have done gross wrongs unconsciously. Paul, when he
was "haling men and women," very much as our policemen were
permitted to do last year, and with purposes not dissimilar, since
both were actuated by the spirit of persecution, "verily thought" that
he "ought to do" these things; though it is true, at that time, Paul
did not pretend to be a Christian. We may, however, rest assured
that when by such an inverted arrangement of the moral forces as is
described above, only negroes are brought within the official vice
and made to feel sharp pressure, neither the late Mayor, nor the
great majority of his friends and supporters, see the matter in any
discreditable light. And it may as well be confessed, once for all, that
to treat a man's sentiments in respect to negroes as of any
importance, in making up your estimate of his character; or to
announce, as your own motive, in whatever you may do for colored
people, the simple desire to do them good, because it is just,
irrespective of any object beyond, such as to save white recruits, to
weaken an enemy, or to gain possible future votes,—is to bring upon
yourself the contempt, secret or open, strong or mild, of nine-tenths
of the people you meet.
When Mr. Charles Gibbons, in his stirring address to the Union
League, shortly after the murder of Mr. Lincoln, described this
murder and other crimes of the South as "representative acts of
slavery," and logically referred to the wrongs done to the colored
people in this city in the same connection, the conclusion of his
address was pronounced "anti-climax." "After electrifying his
audience," it was said, "he flatted right down to the small matter of
the cars and colored people." Now while anything relating to the
final position in this country of four millions of its people, a question
which has already caused one war, and which may cause another, is
contemptuously termed "small" by highly intelligent and influential
men, we have much to learn and much to suffer before this question
can be settled.
Another class indication of public feeling on this subject must not be
passed by in silence. At a late series of large and excited meetings of
our clergy and laity convened to remonstrate against the running of
the street cars on Sunday, not a word was said by the remonstrants,
though their attention was called to the matter, against the exclusion
of colored people from these cars on week-days. Like the grand
juries, they ignored the subject. Further, it is believed that only three
of the white clergy of this city have spoken, either from pulpit or
platform, in reprobation of this gross wrong; and if there are cases
in which saying nothing is committing sin, this would seem to be one
of them. But fair and reasonable men are tired of hearing clergymen
berated for not doing that which, if they would still remain
clergymen, they cannot do. It is easy and safe for a pastor to lay
before his people a certain set of what may be called sins by
common consent, such as over-worldliness, inattention to religion
and the like. One portion of his hearers meekly bows to this reproof,
and the remainder tacitly accepts it without argument. But when he
earnestly calls on them to give up some darling sin, which they hug
to their bosoms because they do not admit that it is such, his
relations to them are apt, at once, to become such as were those of
St. Paul to the beasts of Ephesus. And to expect a pastor fiercely to
throttle each living, vigorous, but unconfessed, if not unconscious sin
of his people, as it comes up, for $400 a year, (the average clerical
pay, it is said, of the wealthiest sect in this State,) and then to lose
this small stipend, which he is likely to do by dismissal, as the result
of the conflict, is asking more than a fair day's work for less than a
fair day's wages. Here and there may be found a man who can
afford to enter into this fight. One, rich in natural gifts, holds his
hearers, by the power of personal magnetism, while he pours into
their ears a torrent of unwelcome truths, to which they listen, like
the Wedding Guest, because they "cannot choose but hear," and
then, not a few go away, like an awakened medium, uninfluenced by
them. Another, whose voice neither denouncement nor desertion can
silence, or make falter, because its words are but the imperative
utterances of a great heart ever flowing in full tide, with good will to
man, simply as man, always finds fit audience though few. But these
are exceptions, and though courage might add to them, the great
body of our clergymen must preach what their people are not
unwilling to hear, or cease to earn bread for their families as
clergymen. And here is the true reason of their silence, or hesitating
speech, on such proposed subjects of reform as, at the time, have
found but small acceptance; and as men and things go, this reason
is sufficient. Their grave fault is that they keep it shut up in that
dark, back cell of the heart, to which men never admit each other,
and rarely themselves, and put forward such phrases as "secular
subjects," "politics in the pulpit," and (a profanation of the Holy
Word) "my kingdom is not of this world," in the place of it. Hence
the chronic false position in which they stand to society. For from the
very nature of their relations either to their people, an aristocracy, or
their own order, the clergy are everywhere conservative and not
progressive. When Luther began to be a reformer he ceased to be a
monk. All that can reasonably be expected of them is not to break
new soil, but to refrain from upholding old abuses, and (a most
important trust) carefully to keep in order in the old way, but with a
readiness to accept new principles and improved methods, the
ground already fenced in. Their true type of reform is that of Mr.
Lincoln. He never professed to move except at the word of the
people, but he always watched for and joyfully obeyed the first sure
signal to advance. But there are cases in which clergymen are called
on to make a direct attack on a social abuse, and in which the
practical good sense of all classes will uphold them in so doing,
whether that abuse has general countenance or not; and that is
where the defence of their own order demands it. Such a supposed
demand was the true cause of their late loud and unwise protest
against the running of the cars on Sunday. They mistakenly believed
this movement to be an invasion of their special domain, which it
was their duty to repel; whereas, if permitted, it would
unquestionably here, as it has done elsewhere, not only benefit the
poor, but increase church-going. And yet, notwithstanding this
readiness to rally in general self-defence, it appears that when the
Rev. Mr. Allston, rector of St. Thomas' (Colored Episcopal) Church,
was expelled from a Lombard and South Street car, and in such a
manner that the strength of his hands alone kept his head from
being dashed on the pavement, some of his brethren simply offered
to see that any expense which he might incur in case he chose to
prosecute, should be made up to him. One feels inclined to ask
these gentlemen if they would have contented themselves with this,
as sufficient action in the case, had the rector of Christ Church, or of
St. Luke's, or even so young a man as the rector of Holy Trinity,
been subjected to such an outrage as this,—one at any time likely to
be repeated, and which is, in fact, regularly kept up by continued
exclusion. There can hardly be a doubt that, had this been the case
of a white clergyman, a meeting would have been called, a protest
made, and a deputation, lay and clerical, appointed to wait on Mr.
Dropsie, the President of the company, or some other vigorous
measures taken, to exact redress for present, and guarantees
against future injuries. This would be due, not only to the outraged
brother, but to themselves, outraged in him. The preservation of
their influence with, and the respect in which it is necessary they
should be held by, society, would imperatively demand such a
course; and the only conceivable reason why it was not pursued in
the case of the Rev. Mr. Allston is, that except by a sort of
ecclesiastical fiction, the Episcopal clergy of Philadelphia do not
consider him of their order, nor feel that, in the eyes of this
community, their reputation is in any manner identified with his; and
therefore it was not necessary to their common interests that they
should pursue it.
But there is a symptom of public opinion on this subject worse than
the foregoing. The very Committee appointed for the special purpose
of securing to the colored people their rights, failed to be true to
their trust when tried by the test of party politics. At a meeting of
the said Committee, held not long before the last municipal election,
a resolution was offered, the purport of which was, to ask of the
present Mayor, when a candidate, a statement in writing as to the
course he intended to pursue in regard to this question, if elected.
But the Committee deprecated the very thought of jeopardizing the
success of the Republican candidate, by a committal on such a
question as this. The resolution was voted down by a majority of
more than ten to one of the members present. This action is to be
regretted, not only on account of its immediate effect on the work in
hand,—for it was of course reported to the Board of Presidents, who
naturally concluded that the Committee was not in earnest,—but
because it established the fact of weakness in that part of society in
which, of late, we have most looked for strength; and that is in the
part which consists of our able and leading private men of business.
If it is true of clergymen that they cannot be our leaders in reform, it
is no less so of politicians, even of the best class, in or out of office,
and of professional philanthropists, and of managers of the various
bodies of benevolent men and women permanently organized for
particular purposes relating to the public good. All these are, or in
time will be, biassed, either consciously or unconsciously, by private
interests, or party ties, or special objects in connection with these
Associations, whose plans they will seek to shape with a view to
their own purposes. But there is another disqualification common to
them all. They are not independent. They have somebody to consult
besides themselves. They do not act directly from their own
convictions, but are constantly striving to ascertain the average
conviction of the public, or of their constituents, in order to act from
that; and as each of their constituents, to a degree, is independent,
and therefore gives fair play to his convictions, they are very apt to
under-estimate this average, and fall short of it in action: Or, as
Wendell Phillips tersely states it, "representatives are timid,
principals are bold." Successful private men of business are free
from these entanglements and temptations; they alone, as a class,
can afford to disregard them, and therefore they and no others are
fitted to take the lead in, or be the chief promoters of, new
movements for the good of society. The best of this class are
earnest, liberal, intelligent, brief in discussion, practical and direct in
operation, regardless of official honors and the gains connected
therewith, and, above all, they know how to master and use wealth,
without being in turn mastered by it. The danger of such men is not
in imprudence; the difficulty is to find quite enough of them who are
not too prudent; and if there are some working with them who are
earnest even to bitterness, and have nothing which they greatly fear
to lose, or hope to gain,—not even reputation,—so that uses are
performed, truths told and justice satisfied, it will be all the better.
Not the least valuable effect of the late war was the discovery which
it made for us of the great wealth of the country in this kind of men.
A few such men, in spite of the covert contempt and inert opposition
of President, Cabinet, congressmen, generals, and army surgeons,
made the Sanitary Commission an institution, whose great and
business-like work of patriotic charity and mercy became the
admiration of the civilized world. They first made the necessity and
practicability of their plan clear to the people, and then, with them at
their back, forced an unwilling government to recognize and accept
the Commission as a power to do good. Similar in character and
results was the Christian Commission, in the President of which is
found the most eminent single example that the war afforded, in
support of this position; such, also, but more limited in their
operations, because less popular, are the Freedmen's Associations;
and such, in its original conception and working during the war, was
the Union League.
The men who led in these movements did not go to politicians and
ask if their plans were expedient, party interests considered. But
with the desire to do good for their motive and their own native
energies for their power, success soon brought the politicians to
them. And if private men, or associations of private men, will, this
may always be the case. To this end they have but to accept, and
act up to these propositions: That this country, with such a people in
it as carried through the late war, can never be ruined, politicians to
the contrary notwithstanding; that its nearest approach to ruin will
come from temporizing; that party management never saved a
country nor advanced a just cause; that a country is saved and a
just cause advanced only by doing justice and cultivating a right
public opinion; that power on any other basis is better lost than
kept, even when the party that gains is worse than the party that
loses it; that when legitimate means fail, or have not been used, to
form this basis by a party in power, then the misdeeds of evil men in
power are the only resource left to the country for creating a public
opinion against their own evil policy and in favor of justice, which
they will do by causing reaction; that this is the chief use of, and
necessity for, a second party in the State, and that these
propositions are good at all times and in every crisis, not excepting
the present. By taking a firm stand on this ground, and refusing
absolutely to support for office candidates of inadequate ability, bad
personal character, or doubtful firmness of principle, private men
may become a power in the State, instead of remaining the mere
voting machines which they are at present in the hands of cunning,
short-sighted and selfish politicians. The chief political value of such
private men, in their associated capacity, and the special advantage
they possess over all other bodies convened for consultation with a
view to the public good, consist in their being free to discuss and
advocate just measures, with simple directness and without side
issues, and in their ability to enlighten, advance and fortify public
opinion in respect to these measures. When they do this, they
furnish to representative bodies—what they most need—firm and
well cleared ground to stand and work upon. But they never can do
this as mere appendages of State Central Committees, nor if, while
they are free from the representative responsibilities of
congressmen, they are more timid than Congress and speak only in
echo of it, and long after it. And whether they act as political or
social reformers, there must be no distrust of justice, as always a
safe guide, and no putting her aside for the lead of party hacks, as
was unfortunately the case with the aforesaid Car Committee; and
the colored people, when they saw their chosen champions thus
postpone justice, in their case, to party expediency, might well ask
where they were to look for any real support in this demand for their
simple rights.
Aside then from the action of official and conventional bodies, it has
been shown that large numbers of the laboring classes are opposed
to the unreserved use of the cars by the colored people; and it must
be inferred from the foregoing facts that but a small number of any
class earnestly and actively advocate it. Between these extremes is
the great body of the respectable, intelligent and influential portion
of the community, the members of which are generally self-
restraining and above violence in speech or act, and who, at first
sight, one might suppose to be indifferent on the question, or
perhaps torpidly in favor of admission. A little friction, however,
brings to the surface unmistakable evidence that this body also is
permeated with latent prejudice sufficient to carry it, imperceptibly
perhaps and by dead weight only, but still to carry it against the
colored people. Many belong to this class who would take offence if
told so. It is not hard to find old hereditary abolitionists—Orthodox
and other Friends, and members of the late Supervisory Committee
for Recruiting Colored Regiments, who coldly decline all overtures for
coöperation in this work. The abolition of Slavery away in the South
was all very well, but here is a matter of personal contact. They are
not opposed, themselves, to riding with colored people—certainly
not. The colored people may get into the cars if they can; they will
not hinder it. But they do wish there were baths furnished at the
public expense, for the use of these friends, in order that they might
be made thereby less offensive to ladies. And from these ladies, no
doubt, comes an opposition—indirect and partially concealed—
apparent perhaps only through the manner and tone of the father,
husband or brother, but still most obstinate. It is often curious to
observe how the discussion of this subject will set in motion two
opposing moral currents in the same religious and cultivated female
mind; that of conscience, which calls for the admission of the
colored people, and that of prejudice, which hopes they will not get
it. And thus the moral nature of many men and women, who in
general are friendly to equal rights, on this question is divided. The
sense of justice not being quickened by sympathy, their movements
in respect to it are like those of a man palsied on one side—
hindering rather than helpful. And it is this great, respectable and
intelligent portion of the community that is really responsible for
these wrongs and disturbances.
John Swift, a hard, shrewd man, now gone to his place, but in 1838
Mayor of this city, told a committee of Friends who called on him, on
the 17th of May of that year, for protection against men who
threatened violence, that "public opinion makes mobs;" and on the
same night a mob, so made, after a short, mild speech from the said
Mayor, counselling order and stating that the military would not be
called out, burnt down Pennsylvania Hall. And every mob that the
country has seen, during the last century, has had a similar origin
and support, from that of the Paxton Boys against harmless Indians,
in 1763, encouraged up to the threshold of murder, and then only
opposed, when too late, by the Rev. Mr. Elder and his colleagues, to
that of the New York Irish rioters against the negroes and the draft,
in 1863, that was addressed as "my friends" by Gov. Seymour, the
representative of a great party. And, to bring this subject up to date,
may be added the late rebel mob at New Orleans, hissed on, in its
wholesale work of murder, by the President of the United States
through the telegraph. The brain does not more surely impel or
restrain the hand, than do the more educated and influential classes,
however imperceptibly, those that are less so, in all cases in which
premeditated violence is forseen. And had there really existed any
considerable degree of this moral restraining power in our
community, these outrages against the people of color would long
since have ceased.
We are forced then to the conclusion that this community, as a body,
by long indulgence in the wicked habit of wronging and maltreating
colored people, has become, like a moral lunatic, utterly powerless,
by the exercise of its own will, to resist or control the propensity.
And unless it finds an authoritative and sane guardian and controller
in the Supreme Court—unless this Court has itself, by chance,
escaped this widely spread moral imbecility of vicious type, there
seems to be no cure for the disease, nor end to its wickedness. And
Philadelphia must still continue to stand, as she now does, alone,
among all the cities of the old free States, in the exercise of this
most infamous system of class persecution.
When Lear cries out "Let them anatomise Regan; see what breeds
about her heart," we are made to perceive that his mind was not so
wholly absorbed in his wrongs as to prevent it from speculating, in a
wild way, on their cause: a touch of nature suggesting that any
statement of wrongs which does not enter into the causes and
conditions that made their commission possible, is imperfect. And to
the question constantly recurring: What is it that has caused the
people of Philadelphia thus to stand apart from other northern and
western free cities, in the disposition to persecute negroes? the true
answer seems to be this: Philadelphia once owned more slaves than
any other northern city, with the possible exception of New York; she
retains a greater number of colored people now, in proportion to her
white population, than any other such city, with the accidental
exception of New Bedford,[1] when emancipation took place the
process was left incomplete, and of all cities, north or south, she
most fears amalgamation.
The evils of slavery are in proportion to its density. In South
Carolina, which is the part of the United States where it was most
dense, these evils, especially in their effect on the Whites, were
more distinct and apparent than in any other State. The South
Carolinians were the most despotic of our slave owners, and they
were the first to secede in order to remain such undisturbed. But
great as were these evils in our slave States, where the Whites
always outnumbered the Blacks, they were infinitely greater in the
West Indies, and especially in St. Domingo, where the Blacks, in a
much greater degree, outnumbered the Whites. The most
comprehensive evidence of this is to be found in the fact that, in the
United States there was a natural increase in the slave population,
while in the West Indies the reverse was the case, to a remarkable
degree. A slave, when landed in the United States, always found
here at least two Whites to one Black; for before the introduction of
the cotton gin, which was not until after the abolition of the slave
trade, the temptation was not great to drive plantation work, or to
increase the number of slaves. He came at once into such multiplied
contact with Whites that, though he was taught nothing, he learnt
much. His African superstitions soon died out, or became greatly
diluted; camp meeting exercises took their place; his games and
dances were assimilated to those of white people, and his
spontaneous songs, unlike those of the St. Domingo negroes, which
mostly relate to eating, satire and venery, early became emotional
and religious.[2] The first tincture of Christianity which West India
slaves received, was communicated to them by slaves from the
United States. When Dr. Coke landed in St. Eustatia, in 1788, he
found, as his Journal says, that "the Lord had raised up lately a
negro slave named Harry, brought here from the continent to
prepare our way." The Baptists, now the great sect of Jamaica, owe
their origin there to George Lisle, a slave preacher, who was taken
thither from Georgia, by his tory master, at the evacuation of
Savannah by the British in 1782.
But a cargo of slaves, on being landed in French St. Domingo, found
there, towards the last days of the colony, nearly twenty of their own
to one of the white race. They were at once herded with the former.
As their immediate overseers were mostly creole Blacks, many of
them rarely, except at a distance, saw white people, of whom there
were barely enough to conduct the business of the colony. The
number of doctors was insufficient. The planters depended on
importation rather than personal care to keep up their stock of
slaves. This stock was often changed, in consequence of its being
worked up. There was a constant renewal of the savage element by
slave ships. The new slaves always found in St. Domingo the
customs and superstitions they had left in Africa. They added
freshness to them, and then all went on together, as nearly as
possible, in the old African way. In fact, it might almost have
seemed, had it been possible, as if parts of French St. Domingo had
been covered with African sod, bearing with it its native life and
growth, little disturbed by the transfer. Hence vaudouxism, or
serpent-worship went on, in full vigor, in spite of law and the police,
and, to some extent, cannibalism, up to the very moment when the
colony was suddenly blown to atoms by the over-generation of its
own wickedness,—the Whites, who worked it, being thereby
destroyed, or scattered to distant lands, with all their means and
appliances of civilization. And as the Blacks, who remained in
possession, shut the door against the return of the Whites, from fear
of returning slavery, and yet keep it shut, in consequence of a still
remaining vague jealousy, thus barring out foreign improvements, it
is not surprising that the superstitious and barbarous usages of St.
Domingo at this day prevail, to no small degree, in Hayti. The towns
around the coast, where a few white merchants and the educated
mulattoes reside, may be considered as tufts of civilization, and the
savage traits inseparable from dense slavery have been a good deal
softened down among the country people. But we might as
reasonably expect to find an advanced state of civilization in the
neighborhood of the Portuguese trading settlements on the west
coast of Africa as in the interior of Hayti. For want of a proper
knowledge of these facts, the non-civilization of Hayti has always
been a thorn in the side of abolitionists, and from the same cause,
the North generally, during the first half of the late war, was
constantly looking for a second edition of the "Horrors of St.
Domingo" in the South. But the freedmen of the South have no
more in common with the insurrectionary slaves of 1791, in St.
Domingo, than any other humanized people have with savages. It is
fair to admit that this superior moral and physical condition of our
southern Blacks over those of St. Domingo is due, in some degree,
to difference of race in the masters. The descendants of French
Protestants, English Wesleyans and Baptists, and Austrian
Salzburgers, and even those resulting from a cross between
Cavaliers and convict-servants, were doubtless less inhuman slave-
masters than the progeny of buccaneers and flibustiers. Still the
main difference arose from different degrees of density in slavery.
Our southern slaves had the best opportunities to learn by looking
on. And the most valuable trait in the negro, and that which will
most avail to his salvation as a race, is that, whenever he is within
reach of civilization, he silently puts forth a tendril and clasps it.
On the Whites, the most curious effect of dense slavery is that of
destroying, or greatly impairing the power of moral vision in all
matters relating to Blacks. In this respect, the trial for murder of the
Hon. Arthur Hodge, planter and member of His Majesty's Council in
the island of Tortola, and there hanged, in 1811, is a psychological
study. Along through the years including 1805 and 1808, this
gentleman, by cart-whipping at "short quarters," by pouring boiling
water down the throat, by burning with hot irons and by dipping in
coppers of scalding water, murdered eight of his slaves and one
freeman. Tortola is twelve miles long by four broad and at the time
in question contained about 6000 inhabitants. These murders were
well known to the slave population, when committed, and as
testimony afterwards proved, to many of the Whites. But Hodge was
not brought to trial till 1811, and then formal complaint against him
only reached his brother magistrates through a family quarrel about
property. John M'Donough declined to serve on the jury because
"the case would make the negroes saucy." Stephen M'Keough, a
planter and an important witness, who saw some of these cases of
flogging which ended in death, described Mr. Hodge as "a good man,
but comical, because he had bad slaves." Both the Attorney General
and the presiding Judge, apparently functionaries from England,
thought it necessary to go into a set argument to show that killing
negro slaves was really murder, and the jury, under the charge,
brought Hodge in guilty, but recommended him to mercy. Here was
moral blindness produced by an atmosphere of slavery which can
only find its physical counterpart in the eyeless fishes bred in the
dark waters of the Kentucky cave. Probably no case could be found
in our Southern States equal to this in enormity of crime and
corresponding absence of moral vision in respect to it, though that
of Mrs. Abrahams, of Virginia, with her four murders, and the alacrity
with which "all the Richmond lawyers" volunteered in her defence
may approach it.
In Pennsylvania the slaves were never more than a sprinkling
compared to the free population, slavery never appeared in these
dark colors, and it was early declared to be prospectively abolished.
And yet this old, unmistakable characteristic of the slaveholder—
defect of moral vision where the black man is concerned, is to this
day a distinct feature of our society. We are still unable to see clearly
the wickedness of denying him the vote and expelling him from the
cars; and the same spirit of outrage and murder, which now shocks
us by the terrible energy with which it moves the late slaveholders
against the freedmen, is at this moment acting in a small, feeble,
mean way within ourselves against our own colored population. The
difference is one of degree, not of kind. Thus, eighty-six years after
the passage of the act for the gradual emancipation of the slaves of
Pennsylvania, life enough remains in the old institution, long since
supposed extinct, still to disturb the peace of society.
Our fathers made two great mistakes in this matter. First, the
process of extinction was to be gradual, which was as if one, instead
of a bullet, should give a dose of slow poison to a mad dog and then
let him run; and next, it was not only gradual but incomplete. The
chain of the slave was broken but not taken off; and any degree of
civil disability under which an emancipated slave is left, is just so
much slavery left. It not only restrains his movements both of
progress and self-defence, but it keeps alive the spirit of oppression
in the "master race" as air keeps alive flame. By a natural law,
whatever of the slave is left in one race will, while it lasts, always
tempt into exercise and encounter a corresponding amount of the
slave master in the other. So long as the law degrades a man, his
neighbor will degrade him. Whoever can call to mind a celebration of
our day of Independence in Philadelphia five and thirty years ago,
may remember that the part of the day's exercises which the boys
took upon themselves was to stone and club colored people out of
Independence Square, because "niggers had nothing to do with the
Fourth of July." The fathers of these boys looked on with placid
satisfaction, cheerfully and hopefully remarking to each other, how
well their sons were learning to perform the duties of free American
citizens. Twenty years later and a change might be seen. Colored
people—place and occasion the same—were allowed to carry water
about among the crowd, without meeting other insult from the
thirsty than words of good-natured contempt. This was an
improvement. Those whom we formerly drove forth with blows and
curses, we had now learned to utilize. Twelve more years go by, and
on the Fourth of July we were enlisting our able bodied colored men
to fight for us. But we still were mindful of what was due to
ourselves, as belonging to the superior race, and when they came
back to us, wounded in our defence, we carefully restricted their
wives and sisters to the front platform of the cars, when they visited
their husbands and brothers at the hospitals. And now to-day, out of
sixteen Philadelphia generals and colonels, most of whom are
believed to have seen some service in the field, three vote in favor
of permitting these returned colored veterans actually to join in the
celebration of our great National Anniversary. This is progress, but it
is slow, and the causes of the obstruction to it must be sought in the
incomplete emancipation of 1780.
But another cause which gives Philadelphia a bad eminence in
respect to the treatment of colored people, is the comparatively
large numbers of them which she possesses over other northern
cities, with the one exception above noted; and this cause seems
simply to connect with and form part of another—the fear of
amalgamation. This fear greatly disturbs a large portion of our white
population. In discussing the car question, an opponent of admission
at once urges that it will be a stepping stone to amalgamation. The
suggestion that seven disabled colored soldiers might safely be
allowed equal privileges in a military hospital with 160 white soldiers,
is put aside with the remark that such a rule would countenance
amalgamation. The matron, with downcast eyes and timid horror,
intimates this objection to the reception, into the same Orphan
Home, of little white and colored children, mostly between the ages
of four and ten. All this sounds very illogical. Hitherto, there has
been little amalgamation of the two races at the North, and as the
colored people never make advances to the Whites, that little cannot
be increased until the Whites make advances to them. When is this
to begin? Let each one answer this question individually. This matter,
in its negative aspect, rests entirely within the control of the white
population.
The broad distinction, so often pointed out, between political and
social equality, is still by many of our people persistently
confounded, and perhaps it may be necessary to state it once more.
Political equality everybody has the present or prospective right to
demand—social equality nobody; for the barrier which separates the
two is made up of private door-steps. Each of these, its owner has
absolutely at his own command, and no man has a right to
prescribe, even by implication, whom he shall permit, or forbid, to
pass it. It is not an open question.
But supposing the relations, so long sustained at the North, between
the two races, and which the Blacks do not complain of, when
unaccompanied with wrongs, were suddenly to cease; and
everywhere, North and South, on both sides, impelled by an
irrepressible orgasm, they should rush together. There are, in round
numbers, 26,000,000 of white and 4,000,000 of colored people in
the United States; and after every Black had found a White, there
would remain 22,000,000 of Whites still unmated. These, by
necessity, would carry on the pure white population, and they might
safely be left, without help, to sustain themselves in the struggle of
race, against the 8,000,000 of amalgamationists. But here it is
asserted, they will receive aid from a distinct source. According to
the theory of Doctors Nott and Cartwright, the mixed race rapidly
decays, and after three generations dies out. This theory is accepted
by those who fear amalgamation, and is often quoted by them, as
an argument against the theory of equal rights. They also hate
negroes and would be glad to see their numbers less. But pure-
blooded negroes, it is generally conceded, possess great vitality of
race and are killed off with difficulty. This difficulty, it seems, can be
overcome by amalgamation. By this process, in one generation, all
these negroes become mulattoes, and this once accomplished, the
whole African race is in a fair way to disappear from the land. These
advocates for pure white blood have been defeating their own
purpose. Let them reverse their policy and encourage, for a time,
the amalgamation they have hitherto opposed, and, with patience,
they can have a white man's government yet.
This proposition is less extravagant than are these insane and
wicked fears of impending amalgamation;—wicked, because they are
made the excuse, by the race that has the entire preventive control
of the matter, for maltreating colored people and denying them
rights which are accorded, without dispute, to every other man and
woman in the country.
But these people will never come to such an end as this; and if it is
true that amalgamation, here, leads towards it, then here, to any
considerable extent, it will never take place. They were never made
the valuable element of our population, which they are, simply to die
out. The greater part of the work which has yet been done on a
large portion of this continent has been done by them, and
apparently they ever will be, as they ever have been, absolutely
essential to its full development.
This statement does not imply that the slave trade and slavery were
right or necessary. The sin was not in the bringing of Africans to
America, but in the manner of bringing them. God has established
His own fixed laws to govern the movements of peoples, but He
permits men to carry them out according to their will. Had men
willed to be just and humane, they could have induced Africans to
come to this continent as free emigrants; but they were selfish and
wicked, and therefore forced them to come as slaves. Slavery has
been, and is, destroying itself everywhere; and in this country, the
great system of free labor and equal rights which prevails, without
qualification, in some of the Northern States, is now being offered,
and in spite of all opposition will soon be applied, to every State,