eedom as
much as de white. De same blessed LORD made dem both, and HE made dem
all 'like, 'cep de skin. De blacks hab strong hands, and when de day
come you'll see dey hab heads, too!"

Much other conversation, showing him possessed of a high degree of
intelligence, passed between us. In answer to my question if he had a
family, he said: "No, sar. My blood shall neber be slaves! Ole massa
flog me and threaten to kill me 'cause I wouldn't take to de wimmin; but
I tole him to kill, dat 't would be more his loss dan mine."

I asked if the negroes generally felt as he did, and he told me that
many did; that nearly all would fight for their freedom if they had the
opportunity, though some preferred slavery because they were sure of
being cared for when old and infirm, not considering that if their
labor, while they were strong, made their masters rich, the same labor
would afford _them_ provision against old age. He told me that there are
in the _district_ of Georgetown twenty thousand blacks, and not more
than two thousand whites, and "Suppose," he added, "dat one-quarter ob
dese niggas rise--de rest keep still--whar den would de white folks be?"

"Of course," I replied, "they would be taken at a disadvantage; but it
would not be long before aid came from Charleston, and you would be
overpowered."

"No, massa, de chivarly, as you call dem, would be 'way in Virginny, and
'fore dey hard of it Massa Seward would hab troops 'nough in Georgetown
to chaw up de hull state in less dan no time."

"But you have no leaders," I said, "no one to direct the movement. Your
race is not a match for the white in generalship, and without generals,
whatever your numbers, you would fare hardly."

To this he replied, an elevated enthusiasm lighting up his face, "De
LORD, massa, made generals ob Gideon and David, and de brack man know as
much 'bout war as dey did; p'raps," he added, with a quiet humor, "de
brack aint equal to de white. I knows most ob de great men, like
Washington and John and James and Paul, and dem ole fellers war white,
but dar war Two Sand (Tousaint L'Overture), de Brack Douglass, and de
Nigga Demus (Nicodemus), dey war brack."

The argument was unanswerable, and I said nothing. If the day which sees
the rising of the Southern blacks comes to this generation, that negro
will be among the leaders. He sang to me several of the songs current
among the negroes of the district, and though of little poetic value,
they inter