Stabroek, May 8.
General Whyte and part of the detachment which accompanied him, are
returned to Demarara, leaving the 93d regiment, in garrison, at
Berbische; that colony having capitulated upon the same terms as
Demarara and Essequibo. The commerce is to be directed to the ports of
England; in return for which she offers protection and defence. All that
concerns the military proceedings is to rest with the English; but, in
whatever regards the civil administration, the settlements are to
preserve the established laws and form of government, until the end of
the war; and the present Dutch governors are not to be removed.
Under these conditions most of the Dutch soldiers, who were in the
garrison, have consented to enlist into our service, and to act
conjointly with our troops in defence of this coast. We thus acquire the
aid of a corps well seasoned to the country, and ready, at all moments,
to act in concert for the general benefit of the settlements.
It is likewise intended to strengthen the garrison by forming a corps of
negroes to be called “The South American Rangers.” This will be a
valuable addition to our force, as these men are not subject to the
debilitating effects of climate, but are active in the greatest heat;
and are capable of supporting the most fatiguing duties under the direct
rays of a vertical sun.
Surinam, belonging to the Dutch, borders Berbische, on our right, and a
little further up the coast is the French colony of Cayenne. With such
restless neighbours about us, we shall require to be watchful and alert.
On our left we approach the river Oronoko, and what is termed the
Spanish main: and not far from the coast of Essequibo is the Spanish
island of Trinidad. From this quarter we hope to procure beef: from the
other we expect only blows.
A communication is to be opened directly with the Spaniards, in order to
negotiate for the purchase of cattle from the woods; which, we are told,
they will be glad to sell at six or seven dollars per head.
We are now very much in want of fresh animal provisions; for, since the
time of our arrival, I have only been able to procure two or three small
sheep, for the use of the hospital. But, as the guardian of the sick, I
owe much gratitude to the gentlemen of the colony, for some liberal
presents of beef and mutton, which their humanity has induced them to
send to the hospital for the comfort of the suffering soldiers. Two
neighbouring gentlemen, in particular, Mr. T. Cuming, and Mr. Waterton,
have the prayers of the sick, and the best acknowledgments of their
attendants. Occasionally they have sent us an ox, or a sheep; or have
shared, with the sick, the best provisions of their table.
Fruits are given to us from various estates, not only by gallons and
bushels, but by cartloads and boat-loads, at a time; and, by these
generous aids, we have been able to improve the comforts of the sick,
beyond all that money could have effected.
A few days ago I had the opportunity of being present at a more regular
sale, or market of slaves than I had seen before, and here I witnessed
all the heart-rending distress attendant upon such a scene. I saw
numbers of our fellow-beings regularly bartered for gold, and
transferred, like cattle, or any common merchandise, from one possessor
to another. It was a sight which European curiosity had rendered me
desirous to behold, although I had anticipated from it only a painful
gratification, I may now say——_I have seen it!_ and while nature
animates my breast with even the feeblest spark of humanity, I can never
forget it!
The poor Africans, who were to be sold, were exposed, naked, in a large
empty building, like an open barn. Those, who came with intention to
purchase, minutely inspected them; handled them; made them jump, and
stamp with their feet, and throw out their arms and their legs; turned
them about; looked into their mouths; and, according to the usual rules
of traffic with respect to cattle, examined them, and made them show
themselves in a variety of ways, to try if they were sound and healthy.
All this was distressful as humiliating, and tended to excite strong
aversion and disgust: but a wound, still more severe, was inflicted on
the feelings, by some of the purchasers selecting only such as their
judgment led them to prefer, regardless of the bonds of nature! The
urgent appeals of friendship and attachment were unheeded; sighs and
tears made no impression; and all the imploring looks, and penetrating
expressions of grief were unavailing. Hungry commerce corroded even the
golden chains of affection; and sordid interest burst every tie of the
heart asunder. The husband was taken from the wife, children were
separated from their parents, and the lover was torn from his mistress:
the companion was bought away from his friend, and the brother not
suffered to accompany the sister.
In one part of the building was seen a wife clinging to her husband, and
beseeching, in the strongest eloquence of nature, not to be left behind
him. Here was a sister hanging upon the neck of her brother, and, with
tears, intreating to be led to the same home of captivity. There stood
two brothers, enfolded in each other’s arms, mutually bewailing their
threatened separation. In other parts were friends, relatives, and
companions, praying to be sold to the same master; using signs to
signify that they would be content with slavery, might they but toil
together.
Silent tears, deep sighs, and heavy lamentations proved the bitter
suffering of these poor blacks, and told that nature was ever true to
her feelings. Never was a scene more distressful. Among these unhappy,
degraded Africans scarcely an unclouded countenance could be seen. Every
feature was veiled in the gloom of woe; and their grief was poured forth
in all the sadness of affliction.
A host of painful ideas rushed into my mind at the moment; and all the
distorted images of this abhorrent traffic presented themselves to my
recollection. The many horrors and cruelties, which I had so often heard
of, appeared in their worst shapes before me; and my imagination was
acutely alive to the unmerited punishment sometimes inflicted, the
incessant labour exacted, the want of freedom, and all the catalogue of
hardships endured by slaves. I endeavoured to combat the effect of these
impressions by directing my mind to opposite images. The kind treatment
of negroes under humane masters occurred to me; I recollected the
comfort and harmony of the slaves I had lately seen at “Profit.” I
contemplated their exemption from care, and the many anxieties of the
world; and I remembered the happiness and contentment expressed in their
songs and merry dances: but all in vain! The repugnant influence would
not thus be cheated. With such distress before my eyes, all palliatives
were unavailing. The whole was wrong, and not to be justified. I felt
that I execrated every principle of the traffic. Nature revolted at it;
and I condemned the whole system of slavery under all its forms and
modifications.
When purchased, the slaves were marked by placing a bit of string, or of
red or white tape round their arms or necks. One gentleman, who bought a
considerable number of them, was proceeding to distinguish those he had
selected, by tying a piece of red tape round the neck; when I observed
two negroes, who were standing together entwined in each other’s arms,
watch him with great anxiety. Presently he approached them, and, after
making his examination, affixed the mark only to one of them. The other,
with a look of unerring expression, and with an impulse of marked
disappointment, cast his eyes up to the purchaser, seeming to say——“And
will you not have me, too?” then jumped, and danced, and stamped with
his feet, and made other signs to denote that he, also, was sound and
strong, and worthy his choice. He was, nevertheless, passed by
unregarded; upon which he turned to his companion, his friend, brother,
whichever he was, took him to his bosom, hung upon him, and, in
sorrowful countenance, expressed the strongest marks of affliction. The
feeling was mutual: it arose from reciprocal affection: his friend
participated in his grief, and they both wept bitterly. Soon afterwards,
on looking round to complete his purchase, the planter, again, passed
that way, and not finding any one that better suited his purpose, he
hung the token of choice round the neck of the negro whom he had before
disregarded. All the powers of art could not have effected the change
that followed. More genuine joy was never expressed. His eye became
enlivened: grief and sadness vanished, and flying into the arms of his
friend, he caressed him with rapture, then skipped, and jumped, and
danced about, exhibiting all the purest signs of mirth and
gratification. His companion was not less delighted, and a more pure and
native sympathy was never exhibited. Happy in being reassociated, they
now retired apart from the crowd, and sat down, in quiet contentment,
hugging and kissing the red signal of bondage, like two attached and
affectionate brothers—satisfied to toil out their days, for an unknown
master, so they might but travel their journey of slavery together.
In the afternoon of the same day I chanced to be present when another
gentleman came to purchase some of the slaves, who were not sold in the
morning. After looking through the lot, he remarked that he did not see
any who were of pleasant aspect; and going on to make further
objections, respecting their appearance, he was interrupted by the
vendor, who observed that, at that moment, they were seen to great
disadvantage, as they looked worse, “_from having lost their friends and
associates in the morning_.” Ay, truly, I could have replied—a very
powerful reason why they are unfit for sale this afternoon! If to be of
smiling visage were necessary to their being sold, it were politic not
to expose them for long to come. Still, some were selected, and the mark
of purchase being made, the distressful scene of the morning was, in a
degree, repeated.
Only a few of the most ill-looking now remained, who were meager, and of
rough skin; not thoroughly black, but of a yellowish, or dirty brown
colour; of hungry, unhealthy aspect, feeble, of hideous countenance,
and, in general appearance, scarcely human. These remained to a future
day, and would, probably, be sold, not to the planters, but to the
boat-women, tailors, hucksters, or some of the inferior mechanics, or
shopkeepers of the town, at a price somewhat lower than that demanded
for the more robust, and well-looking; and, alas! though least able to
bear fatigue, these feeble beings would be subjected to a far more heavy
slavery than those of stronger frame; for it is, commonly, seen that the
labour exacted by the poorer orders of people, from their few and weakly
slaves, is more severe than that required by the opulent planter from
his regular, and better-appointed gang.
We find it extremely difficult to procure a sufficient number of workmen
and labourers, in this colony, for the services required. Although the
wages are extravagantly high, an extraordinary number of hands, for any
emergency, cannot be obtained, without having recourse to a system of
coercion.
A few days since a soldier was admitted into the hospital with the
direful malady of the country, called “yellow fever.” The disease had
made great progress before he was brought to us, and he died on the
sixth day after his admission. The body was examined, with a view to
ascertain the changes produced by the disease, but the appearances were
not precisely such, as from conversing with the colonial practitioners,
and reading a variety of authors, we had been led to expect. The stomach
was found to be the organ which exhibited the strongest marks of
derangement. The inner coat was surcharged with blood, appearing very
red, and at one spot near the upper orifice it was of a livid hue, and
its texture so weakened, that the finger was passed through it, by only
a slight degree of pressure.
The name commonly given to this disorder seems to be highly inaccurate.
Our patient, although several days ill, had no yellowness of the skin,
until a few hours before he died. If, therefore, his dissolution had
occurred only a short time sooner; or if he had recovered previous to
the period when this change of colour took place, we could not, with any
correctness, have called the fever he had suffered a _yellow_ fever,
although he had undergone all the characteristic symptoms of the disease
so termed, except the casual one from which it has been improperly
named. Moreover, affixing to a disease a name derived from a symptom,
and particularly a symptom which is not always present, is calculated to
deceive, and may be of dangerous tendency, by rendering the practitioner
unsuspicious of the real nature of the disorder, until it be too late to
arrest its destructive progress.