Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South CarolinaAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
Manuel Pereira; Or, The Sovereign Rule of South Carolina
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
African Americans -- Fiction; Biographical fiction; Pereira, Manuel -- Fiction; South Carolina -- Fiction
“Who he? De State Souf Ca'lina, vat I know 'bout him, ah? Bring de
silver oar when come take my man. Il y a de la malhomme tet‚ dans sou
proces,” said Captain Gilliet, turning to his mate.
“Avaunt! avaunt!” said the big man with the large whiskers, and they all
made a rush at Dusenberry, and drove him over the rail and back to the
wharf, where he demanded the assistance of those anxious spectators, for
and in the name of the State. It was a right good vaudeville comique,
played in dialogue and pantomime. The point of the piece, which, with a
little arrangement, might have made an excellent production, consisted
of a misunderstanding between an Irishman and a Frenchman about South
Carolina, and a law so peculiar that no stranger could comprehend its
meaning at first and as neither could understand the language of the
other, the more they explained the more confounded the object became,
until, from piquant comique, the scene was worked into the appearance of
a tragedy. One represented his ship, and to him his ship was his nation;
the other represented South Carolina, and to him South Carolina was the
United States; and the question was, which had the best right to the
little darkie.
The spectators on the wharf were not inclined to move, either not
wishing to meddle themselves with South Carolina's affairs-wanting
larger game to show their bravery-or some more respectable officer
to act in command. The little darkie, seeing Dusenberry driven to the
wharf, ran to the gangway, and protruding his head over the rail, worked
his black phiz into a dozen pert expressions, showing his ivory,
rolling the white of his eyes, and crooking his finger upon his nose in
aggravating contempt.
“Shure, we'll turn the guard out and take ye an' yer ship, anyhow. Why
don't yees give the nager up dasently, an' don't be botherin'. An'
isn't it the law of South Carolina, be dad; an' be the mortis, ye'd be
getting' no small dale of a pinalty for the same yer doin',” said Dunn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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