[Ads-l] hirelings and slaves (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Aug 31 22:41:53 UTC 2016

For partisan purposes, *all* British soldiers could be called "hirelings,"
because they fought for pay, not patriotism (as was said by the Germans as
late as 1914; cf. Houseman's ironically titled "Epitaph on an Army of
Mercenaries.")

>I don't think that "slaves" in instances of "hirelings and slaves" from
the 1770s has the same meaning as uses in 1814 (by Key) and during the 19th
century generally.

Why not? Contemptible mercenary opportunists and gutless lackeys are
timeless.

Were escaped slaves likely to be part of a "Band" that "so vauntingly
swore" that war would wipe the United States from the map?

>From the perspective of argumentation,  and it makes no sense to me that
Key would suddenly shift his focus from treating the war in general and
typically elevated terms to zeroing in on the fate of a relative handful of
escaped slaves in British service. Whose deaths he then takes an
opportunity to gloat over, particularly since, though he owned slaves
himself, he represented in court (pro bono) several slaves seeking their
freedom; he eventually manumitted his own slaves.

Not the sort of person, one would think, who'd "advocate the killing of
slaves" in a patriotic poem. (Though I assume no one here subscribes to the
hot-topic "advocacy" theory.)

Besides the "Corps of Colonial Marines" (supposedly alluded to) was tiny,
stationed in the Caribbean, and (so far as I can tell) never saw combat
against the United States in the War of 1812.

So, no reference to a "grave" for them seems likely - or even plausible.

JL

On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 6:20 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> For propaganda purposes, *all* British soldiers could be called
> "hirelings," because they fought for pay, not patriotism (as it was said -
> and said by the Germans as late as 1914; cf. Houseman's ironically titled
> "Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries.")
>
> >I don't think that "slaves" in instances of "hirelings and slaves" from
> the 1770s has the same meaning as uses in 1814 (by Key) and during the 19th
> century generally.
>
> Why not? Contemptible mercenary opportunists and gutless lackeys are
> timeless.
>
> From a literary perspective, it makes no sense to me that Key would
> suddenly shift his focus from treating the war in general terms to zeroing
> in on the fate of a relative handful of escaped slaves in British service.
>
> Besides, the bombardment of Ft. McHenry (and the writing of the poem) took
> place in mid September, 1813, while the "Corps of Colonial Marines"
> (supposedly alluded to) seems not to have been formed until the following
> year:
>
> https://maryland1812.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/a-corps-of-colonial-marines-
> april-1814/
>
> JL.
>
>
>
>
>
> >
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 5:03 PM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> But "slave[ry]" at the time of the Revolution was widely used in contrast
>> to "liberty" -- "slavery" was being subject to British rule, not being in
>> involuntary servitude; "liberty", or "freedom", was being free from
>> submission to the British parliament and king.  I don't think that "slaves"
>> in instances of "hirelings and slaves" from the 1770s has the same meaning
>> as uses in 1814 (by Key) and during the 19th century generally.
>>
>> (Bill's quotation is from before the Revolution, so "hirelings" must
>> refer to something other than military mercenaries.  My guess is that it
>> refers to "placemen", officials who accepted appointments to royal
>> positions in the colonial governments only for the salary and other
>> perquisites -- civil mercenaries; see OED sense 2 -- but were widely seen
>> by the colonials as incompetent and corrupt.)
>>
>>
>> I am convinced of the "stronger alternative theory" presented in the
>> Snopes article:  "the word "hirelings" in The Star-Spangled Banner refers
>> literally to mercenaries and "slaves" refers literally to the enslaved,
>> persons (predominantly black, of course)  in involuntary servitude.  That
>> is, "hirelings" refers to hired British soldiers (such as Hessians) and
>> "slaves" refers to black slaves offered freedom by the British if they were
>> to escape from their owners and join the British forces.
>>
>> By the way, from what I remember, those former slaves, like those who
>> joined the British side during the Revolution, were not treated well by
>> Britain after the end of warfare; they were essentially abandoned.  But I
>> do not have specifics at hand.
>>
>>
>> Joel
>>
>>
>>       From: "MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US)" <
>> william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 3:43 PM
>>  Subject: [ADS-L] hirelings and slaves (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>>
>> More support for JL's interpretation
>>
>> [Philadelphia] _Pennsylvania Gazette_ 18 Jan 1770 p 3 col 2
>> "Happy, Like you, in the Name of Britons, and secure of your Affection to
>> this your native Kingdom, we would rather give up all we hold most dear,
>> than disturb your Peace, or the good Order of Government; but we cannot
>> silently let pass those tyrannical Measures which your Majesty's Servants
>> have adopted, nor tamely suffer those Rights to be trampled on, which were
>> purchased by the Blood of our illustrious Ancestors; nor can we weakly
>> submit to see the Treasures of the Nation thus basely confiscated by
>> Self-interested Men, and prostituted to the vilest Purposes -- to pension
>> Hirelings, Slaves, and Murderers."
>>
>>
>> Speech of Alderman Wilkes to the Livery at Guildhall, Oct 8 1772
>> London _Public Advertiser_ 9 Oct 1772 p 2 col 1
>> "I congratulate you, Gentlemen, that you possess several excellent
>> Magistrates, who in a good Cause have the Fortitude to meet the Rage of a
>> Senate, composed chiefly of Hirelings and Slaves."
>>
>> Address to the Patriots of Belfast by Rev. James Glass
>> Belfast Northern Ireland _Northern Star_ 14 Mar 1792 p 4 col 1
>> "When hireling slaves the rights of man oppose,
>> In you they ever meet undaunted foes;
>> Their threats and mandates you indiff'rent hear,
>> And tell them, "Patriots spurn at servile fear;""
>>
>> _Edenton [NC] Gazette_ 9 Dec 1808 p 3 col 2
>> "In the space of three months Buonaparte had defeated the Austrian
>> armies, taken the capitol of the empire, and finally terminated the war by
>> the signal defeat of the Russians, and Austrians, at Austerlitz -- But he
>> was contending with hireling slaves, and traitors; he has now to contend
>> with a people, brave and patriotic."
>>
>> A stanza from "Ode to the Pensioned Presses"
>> NY _Evening Post_  7 Apr 1834 p 2 col 6
>> "And wear on your foreheads the brand you have sought!
>> Prove that yours is the task of the hireling and slave,
>> Whose honour and conscience are sold and are bought,
>> And who toils in the ditch of his own freedom's grave!"
>>
>>
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
>> > Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2016 1:13 PM
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: Re: "slave"
>> >
>> >
>> > I believe Snopes and some of the historians have dropped the ball on
>> this.
>> >
>> > Have they any understanding, themselves, of what the song and its third
>> stanza are about?
>> >
>> > Don't they know (Duhhh...Why should they?) that "hirelings and slaves"
>> was a political idiom of the period meaning, essentially,
>> > "contemptible mercenaries and gutless lackeys."
>> >
>> > ECCO, ?1747: "Their Senators shall be Fools and Debauchees, Hirelings
>> and Slaves."
>> >
>> > 1748: "And dare the Hireling slave recommend the suppressing of our
>> JUST and LEGAL LIBERTY?"
>> >
>> > Etc.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 1:12 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > > This piece has been widely circulated over the last few days:
>> > >
>> > > https://theintercept.com/2016/08/28/colin-kaepernick-is-
>> > > righter-than-you-know-the-national-anthem-is-a-celebration-
>> of-slavery/
>> > >
>> > > Snopes investigates:
>> > >
>> > > http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/29/star-spangled-banner-and-slav
>> > > ery/
>> > >
>> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org