Robert Campbell

“ Every one will consider Robert Campbell totally beyond his senses. He is. That creature in a place called Kendal, has bewitched him. As you well know, the prime and notable quality of Robert Campbell was, that he could make money, and especially save money. He always, in this respect, reminded me of his grandfather, whom every one called 'Old Economy.' Now, what is he doing? Squandering money on every hand! Expensive journeys for the sole end of love-making, expensive presents no doubt, half of Traquair House redecorated and refurnished, wedding expenses coming on, honeymoon expenses ”

“ He isn't such a big man physically, but when he is marching round among his workers, ordering this, and abusing that, you would think he was ten feet high, and the men are sure of it. But Campbell isn't a bad fellow take him by and long; he goes to Kirk regular, and when he feels like giving, gives with both hands."
"We might ask him to join us in a game of whist."
"Nay, we had better let him alone. I think some American has maybe stolen one o' his patents, or got ahead o' him in some way or other; and he is going to have it out with him face to face—that would be like Robert Campbell. ”

“ Carved deep in the physical tissues of the brain, they spoke dimly as implanted instincts to George Campbell; and his human consciousness seized them and translated them to show him the way not only to safety and freedom, but to the power his soul, stripped to its primitive impulses, craved. Not as a slave would he dwell on Yekub, but as a king! Just as of old barbarians had sat on the throne of lordly empires. ”

“ As the variform creature that was George Campbell crawled between the black blocks of stone thousands of worm-shapes prostrated themselves in the scintillating dust before it. A godlike power seemed to emanate from its weaving body as it moved with a slow, undulant motion toward a throne of spiritual empire transcending all the sovereignties of earth.
A trapper stumbling wearily through the dense woods of earth near the tent where the worm-creature dwelt in the body of George Campbell came to the gleaming waters of the lake and discerned something dark floating there. ”

“ Can I in honour give him up? What would you think, Mont—er—Campbell?”
“Not Mont-Campbell, but Campbell,” I corrected. “I will be thinking, sir, that it would be a matter for your conscience, and at all events it iss fery lucky that you do not hafe to decide it.”
“Still the case might arise. It’s always well to be prepared,” he answered, laughing.
“Nonsense, Robert! What the deuce do you mean by discussing such a matter with a Highland kerne? I never saw your match for oddity,” said the Duke.
While he was still speaking there was a commotion in the outer room of the inn. ”

“ He still lay on the couch-like thing in the midst of that fantastic room, and the centipede man stood before him, holding the polished metal object, and clashing its neck-spikes. Thus it spoke to him, Campbell knew, and what it said he dimly understood, through the implanted thought processes of Tothe, just as he knew the creature was Yukth, supreme lord of science. ”

“ Inquiry is sometimes made as to whether wives agree among themselves. I answer, they do, as well as a number of women living in the same house can under other circumstances: at any rate, their disputes do not arise from the fact that they are all the wives of the same husband. ”

“ I oppose it because a human being is by it reduced to the condition of a thing, a mere chattel, to be bought or sold at the option of his fellow-man, whose only right to do so is the accidental circumstance of superior power—a power which the good should use to protect rather than oppress the weak. ”

“ The chief comes out and all together enjoy a vigorous dance. They then sit down, all but one, who praises the chief to his face. A few strings of cowries are then distributed and the procession moves on. ”

“ We were finally obliged to go to seek them ourselves, in which we succeeded by lending each carrier a shirt, for so great is the respect entertained for the civilized, that even the assumption of the garb affords protection and the liberty of passing unmolested through a hostile country. ”

“ Nevertheless I assert, and appeal to every one who has visited this section of Africa to verify my assertion, that there is not a more industrious people on the face of the earth. Rise as early as you please and enter a native compound, and you will there find the women engaged at their varied occupations. ”

“ The young always prostrate to the aged. Women kneel, but never prostrate. Sons, without reference to age or rank, prostrate to their mothers or senior female relatives. They never suffer any thing to interfere with the observance of these courtesies. ”

“ The beautiful blue, almost purple dye of their cloths is not from the common indigo-plant of the East and West-Indies, but from a large climbing plant. The leaves and shoots are gathered while young and tender. ”

“ Slaves are often found filling the most exalted positions: thus at Abbeokuta all the king's chief officers are his slaves, and they are among his most confidential advisers. On certain state occasions, one or other of these slaves is often permitted to assume in public the position of the king, and command and receive in his own person the homage and respect due to his master. ”

“ All this time there was moving through the city a procession, made up of drummers, men bearing a board covered with cloths to represent the corpse, women singing alternately songs of lamentation and of praises to the dead, with other men firing guns, and all dancing and otherwise enacting the most extravagant gestures. ”

“ The lady for whom Campbell thus braved the uncertain future was a daughter of his maternal cousin, Mr Robert Sinclair, who had been a wealthy Greenock merchant and magistrate, and was now, after having suffered some financial reverses, living retired in London. She bore ‘the romantic name of Matilda,’ and is described by Campbell as a beautiful, lively, and lady-like woman, who could make the best cup of Mocha in the world. ”

“ I oppose it because I feel the common instinct that man has an inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Hence I do not regard a slave-owner, even when he makes his slave as comfortable and happy as a slave can be—in all other respects, it may be, as well off as himself—I do not, I say, regard such a person as therefore less guilty: indeed, if there is one class of them whom I detest more heartily than another, it is that class whose course is to render the slave, if possible, contented with his condition. ”

“ A single ant attaches itself to it: the poor creature naturally stops to rid itself of the paltry aggressor, but this delay enables others to join in the attack: for a few minutes a desperate combat is waged, and many an ant, persistently retaining its grasp on the flanks of the victim, is parted asunder by the effort to detach it. ”

“ He calls himself, not inappropriately, the Friend of Civilization; he is a man of large stature, fine proportion, and in all as fine-looking a Negro as I ever saw. No one could mistake him for any other than a chief, so commanding and dignified is his bearing. ”

“ Every one knows the impossibility of keeping, blindfolded, in a given direction, so we continually deviated from the narrow path, and were in imminent danger of falling into one or other of the numerous excavations from which the natives procure clay to construct their walls. ”

“ Although, as I have before shown, slavery in Africa is not like slavery in America, or even as it is in Cuba, yet it is still a fact which must not be disregarded, that, more or less, it is slavery—such, it is true, as the teachings and example of good men might quietly but certainly in time overthrow, but which might also by an obverse course assume most of the abhorrent phases of the American institution. ”

“ The Mohammedans do not sell their co-religionists into slavery: they sometimes hold them as slaves, but only when they were bought as heathens and con-verted after coming into their possession; but these are never after sold. ”

“ It is perhaps impossible for men to evince more dexterity than these natives in the control of their canoes, especially on approaching the beach. There were twelve men paddling with two others, one steering and the other in the prow watching the approaching surges and directing accordingly. ”

“ The practice of physicking while in health to keep well is very unwise: try to keep off disease by living carefully, and when in spite of this it comes, then physic, but carefully. Many suffer more from medicines than from disease. ”

“ But in any case as a rule the title of the absolute owner prevails in a prize court over the interests of a lien holder, whatever the equities between consignor and consignee may be. [56] Consequently the policy adopted by Secretary Hay in demanding that Great Britain should settle with all American shippers on an equitable basis without forcing them to take their chances in a prize court was the wisest course that could have been pursued. ”

“ On the death of the Abbot Oilbold, Abbon was selected to succeed him, but one of the monks who had secured the support of the King and his son Robert, the Bishop of Orléans, contested the choice, and the matter assumed national importance in the political forces it brought into play. ”

“ No wonder that the slave-trade should be so difficult to suppress, when no punishment awaits such wretches as these. What scamp would fear to embark in such an enterprise, if only assured that there was no personal risk—that he has only to destroy the ship's flag and papers on the approach of a cruiser, not only to shield himself and his crew from the consequence of his crime, but to receive the consideration rightly accorded distressed honest men. ”

“ There is certainly no more industrious people any where, and I challenge all the world besides to produce a people more so, or capable of as much endurance. Those who believe, among other foolish things, that the Negro is accustomed lazily to spend his time basking in the sunshine, like black-snakes or alligators, should go and see the people they malign. ”

“ Many of these, however, are only nominally so, for according to a custom among them, the wives of a father at his death become the wives of his son, and frequently we find very old women calling themselves, on account of the position in society it gives them, the wives of one or other of the kings or chiefs, who in reality were only the wives of the grandfathers of such. ”

“ Overcome chiefly by fatigue from its own vigorous exertions, the rat at length passively resigns itself to the voracity of its assailants, making now and then only a convulsive effort indicative of the extreme torture to which it is subjected. ”

“ So rich is the language in salutations, that the above list could have been increased indefinitely.
At Oyo, the capital of the Yoruba nation, there is an old man, apparently in a very humble position, for no one is more condescending and courteous than he. He is, nevertheless, no less a personage than the Onoshoko, or "Father of the King," an officer of state so called. In the event of the king's demise, the privilege of choosing a successor devolves on him; hence his position is really very exalted: besides, he is the party with whom the king is bound to advise on all important affairs. ”

“ He was very anxious that some civilized person should come to live in his town. It is strange that while, including teachers and catechists, a place like Abbeokuta should have ten or twelve missionaries, besides an indefinite number of native readers or visitors, there should be only an ignorant visitor, whose sole qualification is his ability to read, allowed to a town of from sixteen to twenty thousand people. ”

“ Industrious, enterprising, and carrying with them, one here and another there, a knowledge of some of the useful arts, they have doubtless been the means of inaugurating a mighty work, which, now that it has accomplished its utmost, must be continued in a higher form by the more civilized of the same race, who for a thousand reasons, are best adapted to its successful prosecution. ”

“ Let any disinterested person visiting Abbeokuta, place himself in a position to notice the manner in which such a person, for instance, as the Reverend Samuel Crowther, or even his son of the same name, each a pure Negro, is treated, and he would soon perceive the profound respect with which Africans treat those of their own race worthy of it. The white man who supposes himself respected in Africa, merely because he is white, is grievously mistaken. ”

“ Although the person made king must be of the royal family, yet a son seldom succeeds, but usually a brother by the same mother, or a son of a sister, also of the same mother. Such a person is certainly a relative, while from circumstances growing out of the system of polygamy, the son of from fifty to two hundred wives might not be the child of the husband. ”

“ When near the beach, the last, who is their head man, with much ceremony pours a few drops of rum on the water, and a great deal more down his throat, after which he very vehemently harangues, first I suppose the demon of the water to whom the rum was offered, and then his crew, cheering them for their work. ”

“ One of the chiefs of Abbeokuta, Atambala, was with us one day when a young missionary entered, and passed him with only a casual nod of the head. As soon as he was seated the haughty old chief arose and said, in his own tongue: "Young man, whenever any of my people, even the aged, approaches me, he prostrates himself with his face to the ground. I do not expect the same from you, or from civilized men, (oyibo,) nevertheless remember always that I shall demand all the respect due to a chief of Abbeokuta." ”