Letter from William Yates and Robert Carter Nicholas to Rev. John Waring (September 30, 1762)

Virginia Williamsburg 30th. September 1762

Sir,

Agreeable to your Request, we send you inclosed a List of the Negro Children now at the School under our Direction in this City, with an Account of their Ages as nearly as they can be judged of; but it is not in our Power to determine exactly. The Dates of their Admission into the School are various, some of them having been there ever since it was first opened & others admitted just as Vacancies have happened. The Mistress has not been so exact as to keep any Account of the Times of their Entrance, so that it is impossible for us to give the desired Satisfaction in this Point. You may from hence easily judge how difficult it must be for us to inform you particularly of the Progress each Child has made. We can only say in general that at a late Visitation of the School we were pretty much pleased with the Scholars’ Performances, as they rather exceeded our Expectations. The Children, we believe, have all been regularly baptized; indeed we think it is a pretty general Practice all over Virginia for Negro Parents to have their Children christened, where they live tolerably convenient to the Church or Minister, & some Times a great Number of Adults are baptized together in different Parts of the Country. We would not have you think, from what was wrote to you last Fall, that we had the least Inclination to discourage so good & pious an Institution; we were indeed & still are apprised of many Difficulties, which we shall have to struggle with, & were willing to prepare you for a Disappointment, in Case the Undertaking should not answer your Expectations. From the small View we have had of the Associates’ extensive Charity, we flatter ourselves that we see the Situation of our poor Slaves, with Respect to their spiritual Concerns, with the same piteous Eyes that they do, & should think ourselves extremely fortunate if any Endeavours of ours could contribute towards their Happiness. You no Doubt are already apprised that the Slaves in this & the neighbouring Colonies are the chief Instruments of Labour & we fear that they are treated by too many of their Owners as so many Beasts of Burthen, so little do they consider them as entitled to any of the Privileges of human Nature; & indeed many Owners of Slaves, ‘tho they may view them in a different Light & treat them with a great Degree of Tenderness, concern themselves very little or not at all with their religious Concerns, so far from it, that we don’t think ourselves the least uncharitable in saying that we fear the Negroes are often corrupted & rendered more abandoned by the ill Examples that are set them by many white People in the Country & no inconsiderable Number of these themselves Masters of Slaves. This Observation may be justified by a Comparison of new Negroes when they are first imported with those who have resided among us for some Years; for ‘tho’ the former, no Doubt, bring with them vicious Inclinations & a Number of ill Customs, yet we may venture to say that they contract new Vices, which they were Strangers to in their native Country. From this cursory View of the Situation of our Slaves, you may easily judge how extremely difficult it would be, if not morally impossible, to work any Thing like a thorough Reformation amongst them, unless some of their Masters & the Generality of white People were first reformed, we had almost said new moulded. We would not have it infered from hence that we intend any particular pointed Reflections upon the People of this Country; on the contrary we believe them as good as their Neighbours & think they are much of the same Complexion as the Inhabitants of other Countries. And ‘tho’ we almost despair of an entire Reformation, yet we have our Hopes that a Scheme like yours properly conducted, if it could meet with due Encouragement, might have a good Effect. We find that many People in this City, upon the first opening of your School, were well enough inclined towards it &, if the Fund allotted was sufficient, we believe that double the Number of Scholars might easily be procured; but at the same Time we fear that many People who have sent or would send their little Negroes to School, would not do it upon Principles which they ought; we mean purely with a View to have them instructed in the Principles of Religion, & enabled to instruct their Fellow Slaves at Home. Some People we fear send their Children more to keep them out of Mischief, others to improve them in Hopes by their being made a little more sensible, that they may be more handy & useful in their Families; We form this Opinion from observing that several, who put their Negroes to School, have taken them Home again so soon as they began to read, but before they had received any real Benefit or so it could be supposed that they were made acquainted with the Principles of Christianity. This is one great Impediment which we are apprehensive will obstruct the Success of our Endeavours. We shall strive to guard against it, ‘tho’ ’twill be with great Difficulty that we shall be able to accomplish our Purpose. Few People have more Negroes than they can employ, & ‘tho’ when they are very young & useless, they may be willing to send them to School, yet when they grow up a little & become able to send their Owners Children or do any other little Offices in their Families, they chuse & will take them Home. Another Difficulty which arises on the Part of the Owners is that an Opinion prevails amongst many of them, that it might be dangerous & impolitick to enlarge the Understandings of the Negroes, as they would probably by these Means become more impatient of their Slavery & at some future Day be more likely to rebel; they urge farther from Experience, that it is generally observable that the more sensible of our Slaves are the most wicked & ungovernable; these Observations, we think, are illy founded when used as Objections to your Scheme, which is by no Means calculated to instruct the Slaves in dangerous Principles, but on the contrary has a probable & direct Tendency to reform their Manners; & by making them good Christians they would necessarily become better Servants. We shall not fail endeavouring to remove Scruples of this & every other Sort, but finding they have taken deep Root in many Minds, we are apprehensive of great Difficulties in overcoming them. There is still one greater Discouragement which we fear we shall labour under. ‘Tho’ the Owners of the Negro Children should chearfully close with our Proposals & submit them entirely to our Government; ‘tho the Mistress of the School should be ever so diligent in her Duty, & ‘tho the Scholars should make as great a Progress as could be wished, yet we fear that, notwithstanding all our Endeavours to prevent it, any good Impression which may be made on the Children’s Minds at School will easily be effaced by their mixing with other Slaves, who are most abandoned to every Kind of Wickedness. If evil Communications have a general Tendency to corrupt good Manners, the Observation is never more likely to be verified than in Instances of this Sort, where the very Parents of the Children will probably much oftner, from their Intimacy, set them bad Examples than any others. Notwithstanding these & many other Difficulties, which the narrow Limits of a Letter will not permit us to particularize, stare us fully in the Face, we are resolved not to be discouraged; but hope, by the Blessing of God upon your Charity & our Endeavours, that the Undertaking will greatly prosper. The late Reverend Mr. Dawson & Mr. Hunter, we believe, had it in their Intention to form Rules for the better Government of the School but were prevented by Death; we have hitherto contented ourselves with permitting the Mistress to carry on the School in the Way it was begun; but, being sensible that Nothing of the Sort can be properly conducted without certain uniform Regulations, by which all Parties concerned may know how to govern themselves, we have drawn up such a Set of Rules as appear to us properly adapted & send you a Copy of them inclosed for your & the rest of the Associates’ Approbation & should be glad to know your Sentiments; we shall be willing to add or diminish any Thing as you may advise. We probably shall have Occasion for a few Testaments Psalters & spelling Books & perhaps a Number of Mr. Bacon’s Sermons, recommending the Instruction of the Negroes in the Christian Faith, properly dispersed over the Country might have a good Influence. We would not put you to the Expence of any other Books at present. We will not conclude without offering our best Respects to you & the rest of the worthy Associates; Believe us, Sir, we cannot enough admire a Set of Gentlemen, who at the same Time that they are employed in exercising every Act of Benevolence at Home, have so far enlarged their Charity as to extend it to the most distant Colonies. We are, Sir, with the greatest Esteem Your most obedient humble Servants

William Yates

Ro. C. Nicholas