16 WILLIAM BARTRAM 



eat at his table, paid them a fair wage, and taught them to read 

 and write. One of his negro freedmen, Harvey, acted as his 

 steward. "Thee perhaps," Crevecoeur quotes him as saying to 

 his Russian visitor, "hast been surprised to see them at my table, 

 but by elevating them to the rank of freemen, they necessarily 

 acquire that emulation without which we ourselves should fall 

 into debasement and profligate ways." ^° William Bartram see- 

 ing some Indian slaves among the Creeks delivers himself of a 

 similar sentiment: " In observing these slaves, we behold at 

 once, in their countenance and manners, the striking contrast 

 betwixt a state of freedom and slavery. They are the tamest, the 

 most abject creatures that we can possibly imagine: mild, peace- 

 able, and tractable, they seem to have no will power to act but 

 as directed by their masters." ®^ 



On the negro slavery question specifically, William Bartram 

 has left an interesting document. Among his papers, on the 

 back of a " Catalogue of American Trees, Shrubs and Herba- 

 cious Plants growing in John Bartram's Garden " are scribbled 

 some notes for a speech or a petition. There is nothing in the 

 document to indicate to what part of his life it belongs ; on the 

 basis of handwriting and punctuation it presumably belongs to 

 his later years — but this is a mere conjecture. The paper reads, 

 with some omissions: 



I am about to speak to you on a subject . . . the most indispensibly 

 deserving your serious consideration perhaps that ever hath or ever will 

 come before you. 



I am fully sensible of my inability to speak to nations on a subject 

 of reformation of morals, being fully persuaded that it requires more 

 than human wisdom and oratorical talents. . . . Yet ... I find it a 

 duty incumbent on me to declare my sentiments, and render my little 

 talent for the good and safety of my fellow creature & citizens of the 

 World. 



Men! do you believe that the Universe . . . was made by a supreme 

 Creator. ... Our divine Oracles teach us to do Justice and mercy 

 and fear God. . . . Who was it said to man do thou the same to others 

 thou wouldst them do unto these. 



^"Letter XI, p. 193- 



*^ Travels, 186. For William Bartram's attitude towards the Indian question 

 and Indians generally, see Chapter III. 



