CONCLUDING REMARKS.
I appeal to candid readers whether I have not, in the preceding pages,
fairly made out a case in favor of immediate emancipation. I have not
advanced opinions, or theories; I have simply stated facts. In view of
these facts, is it not unjust and irrational to persist in calling
immediate emancipation a "fanatical" idea? Leaving the obvious
considerations of justice and humanity entirely out of the question, I
ask whether experience has not proved it to be a measure of plain,
practical good sense, and sound policy. The trouble in forming a correct
estimate on this subject arises mainly from our proneness to forget that
negroes are _men_, and, consequently, governed by the same laws of human
nature, which govern all men. Compulsion always excites resistance;
reward always stimulates exertion. Kindness has upon the human soul an
influence as renovating as sunshine upon the earth; and no race is so
much and so easily influenced by it as the negroes. Jamaica overseers,
blinded by the long habit of considering slaves as cattle, said to them,
after they became apprentices, "Work faster, you black rascal! or I'll
flog you." That excited the apprentice to remind them they had no power
to do it. The retort enraged the overseers; and the magistrate was
called upon to punish the laborer for his insolence in expressing the
feelings of a man. The Antigua planters acted with more enlightened
policy. They wisely gave up their power into the hands of the law. If
they chanced to see a laborer rather dilatory, they said, "We expect
better things of _freemen_:" and that simple appeal to their manhood, we
are told, invariably quickened their motions, while it gratified their
feelings.
Free labor has so obviously the advantage, in all respects, over slave
labor, that posterity will marvel to find in the history of the
nineteenth century any record of a system so barbarous, so clumsy, and
so wasteful. Let us make a very brief comparison. The slave is bought,
sometimes at a very high price; in free labor there is no such
investment of capital. The slave does not care how slowly or carelessly
he works; it is the freeman's interest to do his work well and quickly.
The slave is indifferent how many tools he spoils; the freeman has a
motive to be careful. The slave's clothing is indeed very cheap, but it
is provided by his master, and it is of no consequence to him how fast
it is destroyed; the hired laborer pays more for his garments, but he
has a motive for making them last six times as long. The slave contrives
to spend as much time as he can in the hospital; the free laborer has no
time to spare to be sick. Hopeless poverty and a sense of being unjustly
dealt by, impels the slave to steal from his master, and he has no
social standing to lose by indulging the impulse; with the freeman pride
of character is a powerful inducement to be honest. A salary must be
paid to an overseer to compel the slave to work; the freeman is impelled
by a desire to increase his property, and add to the comforts of himself
and family. We should question the sanity of a man who took the
main-spring out of his watch, and hired a boy to turn the hands round.
Yet he who takes from laborers the natural and healthy stimulus of
wages, and attempts to supply its place by the driver's whip, pursues a
course quite as irrational.
When immediate emancipation is proposed, those who think loosely are apt
to say, "But would you turn the slaves loose upon society?" There is no
sense in such a question. Emancipated slaves are restrained from crime
by the same laws that restrain other men; and experience proves that a
consciousness of being _protected_ by legislation inspires them with
_respect_ for the laws.
But of all common questions, it seems to me the most absurd one is,
"What would you _do_ with the slaves, if they were emancipated?" There
would be no occasion for doing _any_ thing with them. Their labor is
needed where they are; and if white people can get along with them,
under all the disadvantages and dangers of slavery, what should hinder
their getting along under a system that would make them work better and
faster, while it took from them all motive to rebellion?
It is often asked, "What is your plan?" It is a very simple one: but it
would prove as curative as the prophet's direction, "Go wash, and be
clean." It is merely to stimulate laborers by wages, instead of driving
them by the whip. When that plan is once adopted, education and
religious teaching, and agricultural improvements will soon follow, as
matters of course.
It is not to be supposed that the transition from slavery to freedom
would be unattended with inconveniences. All changes in society involve
some disadvantages, either to classes or individuals. Even the
introduction of a valuable machine disturbs for a while the relations of
labor and capital. But it is important to bear in mind that _whatever
difficulties might attend emancipation would be slight and temporary;
while the difficulties and dangers involved in the continuance of
slavery are permanent, and constantly increasing_. Do you ask in what
way it is to be accomplished? I answer. That must finally be decided by
legislators. It is _my_ business to use all my energies in creating the
_will_ to do it; because I know very well that "Where there is a _will_
there is a _way_;" and I earnestly entreat all who wish well to their
country to aid me in this work.
APPENDIX.
IN WHICH STATEMENTS ARE BROUGHT DOWN TO THE CLOSE OF 1860
Mr. Bigelow, of the _New York Evening Post_, whose book is often quoted
in the preceding pages, testifies to the condition of the British West
India Islands as late as 1850. Ten years later, Mr. William G. Sewell,
of the _New York Times_, visited those Islands, and on his return
published a book called, "THE ORDEAL OF FREE LABOR." It is written in a
very candid spirit, and evinces careful observation. He has no
disposition to conceal that temporary difficulties attend the transition
from one system of labor to another; but he proves conclusively, that
slavery brought increasing ruin, and freedom is bringing increasing
prosperity. We subjoin a few brief extracts:
IMPORTS. "Between 1820 and 1834, British Guiana imported annually to the
value of $3,700,000; in 1850, the imports of Guiana were valued at
$5,660,000. The annual imports of Trinidad, between 1820 and 1834,
averaged in value $1,600,000; in 1859, they were valued at $3,000,000.
The annual imports of Barbadoes, during the same period, averaged in
value $2,850,000; in 1859, they were valued at $4,660,000. The imports
of Antigua, during the same period, averaged $600,000; in 1859, they
were valued at $1,280,000. The total exhibit represents the annual
import trade, before emancipation, as valued at $8,840,000; and valued
at the present time at $14,600,000; or, _an excess of imports, under a
free system, of the value of five millions, seven hundred and sixty
thousand dollars_."
EXPORTS. "For four years prior to emancipation, British Guiana exported
an annual average of 98,000,000 lbs. of sugar; while from 1856 to 1860,
its annual average export rose to 100,600,000 lbs. For four years prior
to emancipation, Trinidad annually exported an average of 37,000,000
lbs. of sugar; while from 1856 to 1860, its annual average export rose
to 62,000,000 lbs. Four years prior to emancipation, Barbadoes annually
exported an average of 32,800,000 lbs. of sugar; from 1856 to 1860, its
annual average export rose to 78,000,000 lbs. Four years prior to
emancipation, Antigua exported an annual average of 19,500,000 lbs. of
sugar; from 1856 to 1860, its annual average export rose to 24,400,000
lbs. The total exhibit is 187,300,000 lbs. annually exported before
emancipation, and 265,000,000 lbs. annually exported now; or, _an excess
of exports, with free labor, of seventy-seven millions, seven hundred
thousand pounds of sugar_."
"In the exports, I have made mention of sugar only; but if all other
articles of commerce be included, and a comparison be instituted between
the import and export trade of Guiana, Trinidad, Barbadoes, and Antigua,
under slavery, and their trade under freedom, _the annual balance in
favor of freedom will be found to have reached already fifteen millions
of dollars, at the very lowest estimate_."
"The increase of imports is to be attributed to the improved condition
and ampler means of the peasantry developed by the dawn of freedom."
EFFECTS OF FREEDOM ON THE LABORERS.
"In Barbadoes, within the last fifteen years, in spite of the
extraordinary price of land and the low rate of wages, the small
proprietors, holding less than five acres, have increased from 1100 to
3537. A great majority of them were formerly slaves. This fact speaks
volumes. It is certainly an evidence of industrious habits, and is a
remarkable contradiction to the prevailing idea that the negro will work
only under compulsion. That idea was formed and fostered from the habits
of the negro as a _slave_. His habits as a _free man_, developed under a
wholesome stimulus and settled by time, are in striking contrast to his
habits as a slave. None are more ready than the planters themselves to
admit that the free laborer is a better, more cheerful, and more
industrious workman than the slave ever was under a system of
compulsion. These are the opinions of men, who were themselves once
violently opposed to freedom, and who still strive to keep the laboring
classes in complete dependence; and they are opinions so universal that
I have sought diligently, but in vain, to hear them contradicted."
"In St. Vincent, the returns for 1857 show that no less than 8209
persons were then living in their own houses, built by themselves since
emancipation. Within the last twelve years, from ten to twelve thousand
acres have been brought under cultivation by small proprietors, owning
from one to five acres, and growing arrow-root, provisions, and minor
articles for export. The statistical returns from which I gather these
figures further state that _there are no paupers on the island_."
"In Trinidad, there is, unquestionably, a certain amount of idleness and
vagabondism among the Creole laborers; but I see no evidence that these
vices exist in larger proportion among them, than they would exist
among any other class of laborers similarly situated. In leaving the
estates, the great majority were actuated by a desire to better their
circumstances, and to lead a more independent life. Land was cheap and
abundant, and they preferred to have their own property, rather than
labor at low wages in a condition of precarious servitude. Added to
this, the course of the planters contributed greatly to the very evil
which they dreaded, and from which they afterward so severely suffered.
Instead of endeavoring by liberal terms to induce the laborers to remain
on the estates, they commenced, shortly after emancipation, a system of
giving less wages, and exacting more work; and when the laborers retired
from estate to field work, they were summarily ejected from the houses
and lands they occupied on the estates, and their provision grounds were
destroyed. The emancipated laborers had, therefore, no resource left but
to separate themselves from the planting interest. Five-sixths of them
became proprietors of from one to ten acres, which they now own, and
which they grow in provisions for themselves and families. To supply
other wants, they give casual labor to the estates; but they are free of
the estates, and can work for whom they deem the best paymaster. If any
doubts that a very large number, a very astonishing number, of the
emancipated laborers have become independent proprietors, let him look
at the score of villages built up since abolition, and so thickly
scattered throughout the cultivated districts of Trinidad that it would
be superfluous in me to point them out."
"Antigua hastened in advance of all other colonies to emancipate her
slaves. She refused to believe in the virtues of an apprenticeship, or
in the doctrine that her bondmen needed a purgatory to prepare them for
freedom. Her rulers were wise in their generation. They foresaw that
with the substitution of free labor for slave labor much had to be
learned, and much to be unlearned; that the success of the new system
could only be determined by time and experience; and that an early start
in the race was a point to be gained, not to be neglected. Antigua has
never had any cause to regret the independent course she then thought
proper to pursue. * * * The improved condition of the peasantry is never
doubted or questioned in the island itself, and it is well shown by the
nature and extent of the imports during late years, as compared with
their nature and extent before emancipation. From 1822 to 1832, the
average annual value of goods imported by Antigua was £130,000 sterling;
in 1858, the island imported to the value of £266,364 sterling. During
ten years preceding emancipation, the average number of vessels that
annually entered the different ports of the island was 340, and the
tonnage 30,000. In 1858, the number of vessels was 668, and the tonnage
42,534. In 1846, there were in the island 67 villages, containing 3187
houses and 9033 inhabitants. All these villages were founded, and all
these houses built, since emancipation. In 1858, 2000 additional houses
had been built, and the number of village residents had risen to 15,644.
At the same period, there were only 299 paupers in the island. The
planters of Antigua avow, what is unquestionably true, that by the
introduction of a cheaper system of labor, the island was saved, in
1834, from impending ruin."
"With regard to Jamaica, I do not mean to say that the estates have
anything like a sufficiency of labor. I merely wish to give point-blank
denial to a very general impression, that the Jamaica negroes will not
work at all. Nine out of ten rely principally upon their own properties
for the support of themselves and their families; but they are willing,
nevertheless, to work for the estates, or on the roads, when it does not
interfere with necessary labor on their own lands. When the choice lies
between the roads and the estates, it is not surprising that they should
select the employer that _pays best and most regularly_. The Jamaica
negro gives as much labor, even to the sugar estates, as he consistently
can, and it is no fault of his if he cannot give enough. They are a
peaceable, law-abiding peasantry, with whom the remembrance of past
wrongs has had so little weight that, from the day of emancipation until
now, they have never dreamed of a hostile combination, either against
their old masters, or the government under which they live; though in
the time of slavery, insurrections were numerous and terrible. The
condition of the Jamaica peasants in 1860 is a standing rebuke to those
who, wittingly or unwittingly, encourage the vulgar lie, that the
African cannot possibly be elevated. The dissolute idlers, loafers, and
vagabonds, that congregate in Kingston and other towns, are as different
from their country brethren, as the rowdy of New York city is different
from the honest farmers of the State."
COMPARATIVE CHEAPNESS OF FREE LABOR.
"No Barbadian planter, in 1859, would hesitate to select free labor in
preference to slave labor, as in his belief the more economical of the
two. Every planter in Jamaica knows from his own books, if they go back
far enough, that free labor is cheaper than slave labor. He knows that
the cultivation of an acre of cane does not now cost him $40, when in
other times it cost him $80. He knows that under slavery, the digging an
acre of cane-holes cost from $35 to $45, while under freedom it is from
$8 to $15. He knows that under one system 30 per cent. of his laboring
force were non effectives, and had to be fed and clothed like the rest;
while under freedom no work is paid for that is not actually performed.
He knows that a free laborer is not bought, and that the sum he would
cost can be otherwise laid out at profitable interest. He knows that it
is no longer necessary to make allowance of ten or even fifteen per
cent. for death or depreciation. These are facts readily admitted, and
whoever takes the trouble to think will see their force."
"If I were asked to point out the chief obstruction to a satisfactory
solution of the West India labor question, I should answer, without
hesitation, want of confidence between employer and employed. The
planters cling unwittingly to the shreds of the system of coercion in
which they were once taught to believe. They do not yet recognize the
overwhelming advantages of perfectly free labor; for they have checked
its development, by imposing upon it some of the heaviest burdens of
feudalism and of serfdom. They do not seem to reflect for a moment that
the interest of a proprietor is to elevate, not to degrade, his laborer.
They have misjudged the negro throughout, and have put too much faith in
his supposed inferiority. After the important step of emancipation was
taken, they did little to turn it to the best account."
"I came to the West Indies imbued with the American idea, that African
freedom had been a curse to every branch of agricultural and commercial
industry. I shall leave these islands overwhelmed with a very opposite
conviction. I deny that the negroes lack industry, when by industry they
can add to their means, or advance their prosperity. The more I saw, the
more I became convinced that _debt and want of capital_, much more than
want of _labor_, had led to the abandonment of so many estates; and be
it always remembered, that _the burden of debt was incurred before
freedom was tested_. Freedom, when allowed fair play, has injured none
of these colonies. It saved them from a far deeper and more lasting
depression than any they have yet known. It was a boon conferred upon
all classes of society; upon planter and laborer; upon commerce and
agriculture; upon industry and education; upon morality and religion. If
a perfect measure of success remains to be achieved, let not freedom be
condemned; for the obstacles to overcome were great, and the workers
were few and unwilling. If I can stimulate inquiry on a subject so
important, and so widely misunderstood as the West India labor question,
I shall have achieved all the success at which I have aimed."
EMANCIPATION IN THE WEST INDIES.
A public meeting was held at Willis's Rooms, London, on Wednesday, Feb.
20th, 1861, to receive a report from E. B. Underhill, Esq., and the Rev.
J. T. Brown, the deputation of the Baptist Missionary Society, of their
recent visit to the West Indies. Charles Buxton, Esq., M. P., took the
chair at twelve o'clock.
The CHAIRMAN said it must be remembered that, in the time of slavery,
whatever the island produced was exported; the food of the slaves
consisting principally of salt fish and yams, their clothes and lodging
being of the most wretched description. At the present time, however,
the creoles were rapidly rising in their social and physical condition,
and appropriated, to a great extent, the productions of the country for
their own use. He would not anticipate the report of the deputation, but
would simply add that, in his opinion, notwithstanding every
discouragement, emancipation had proved itself, beyond all doubt, to be
a good thing for Jamaica, not only by producing glorious moral results,
but by enormously enhancing the prosperity of the island.
Mr. UNDERHILL said Mr. Brown and himself proceeded towards the close of
1859 to the West Indies. Mr. Brown spent, altogether, about six months
in Jamaica, and he (Mr. Underhill) about a year, in that and the other
islands of the West Indies; and therefore the statements they were
prepared to make were the result of no rapid and cursory view, but of
close investigation, followed out to the best of their ability. He would
not attempt to make a speech calculated to move their feelings; but,
having laid before them some bare facts, he would leave these facts to
tell their own tale. He must admit that, at the first show of things,
those who maintained that emancipation had failed had something in their
favor. There could be no question that, with regard to Jamaica, there
had been a very considerable diminution in the exportation of the staple
products of the country. The exportation of sugar had, for instance,
declined from 1,400,000 cwt. in 1831--three years before the passing of
the first Act of Emancipation--to 535,000 cwt. in 1858. The exportation
of rum also had declined from 35,000 puncheons in 1833 to 18,000 in
1858. In coffee the reduction was still more manifest, since whereas in
1830 the island exported 22,000,000 lbs., in 1858 it only exported
5,250,000 lbs. He must also admit that upon entering the island of
Jamaica, the representations as to its decline struck one as being very
truthful. On landing at Kingston, one found a large city, the streets of
which were either deep in mud or sand. The whole town appeared sadly
neglected, and many large warehouses were wholly unoccupied, whilst
beggars and drunkards abounded. The feeling of depression was still
further increased upon reading the newspapers, or going into the
country. Estates, once flourishing, were desolate and uncultivated, and
the buildings in every direction were rapidly falling into decay. But
there were one or two circumstances which materially altered the first
impression which this state of things produced on the mind. In the first
place, while Jamaica, to use a favorite expression, had been ruined, the
West Indies generally had prospered. It was a curious fact, for
instance, that while the exportation of sugar for three years before
emancipation had averaged from all the islands 3,600,000 cwts., in 1858
it amounted to 3,500,000 cwts., being only a diminution of 100,000
cwts., or about 2,000 hogsheads. It was obvious, therefore, that there
was some other cause for the decay of Jamaica. Then, with regard to
coffee, it must be remembered that Ceylon had thrown an immense quantity
of that commodity into the English market. For example, in 1839 Ceylon
exported 4,500,000 lbs. of coffee, whereas sixteen years afterwards it
actually exported 56,000,000 lbs. (Hear, hear.) That would partly
account for the decline of the production of that commodity in Jamaica.
With regard to Kingston, also, he learnt that instead of being, as it
once was, a kind of central market for the Spanish Main, the merchants
of the different ports in South America either stopped at St. Thomas's
island, or preferred to trade direct with Europe, which would account
largely for the appearance of Kingston. It must also be remembered that
the trade in Kingston had changed from being principally wholesale to a
retail character, so that while, on the one hand, it had suffered by the
diminution of the former, it had gained by the increase of the latter.
He would proceed to show what was the condition of the general
population in Jamaica. There were 380,000 people in the island, and
dependant to a great extent on the cultivation of the land. These people
were the slaves of former days, but were now the enfranchised peasantry,
and it was only right to consider how emancipation had affected their
interests. On this point he could at once say that their position had in
every respect immensely improved. It had been said that the negroes were
an idle lot of people, who squatted upon the land, and were quite
content if they got a pumpkin to eat. But this was quite false. The
first thing the negroes did was to leave the estates in great numbers.
There were now but few estates on which they resided, and in those cases
the planters had treated them as free men, and consequently secured
their affections and services. A contrary line of treatment was pursued
in the majority of instances, and that, together with want of capital
wherewith to pay the wages weekly, had the effect of driving them away.
The slaves who thus left the estates were compelled to seek other means
of subsistence, but they did not "squat upon the land," as had been
alleged--that is, settle upon it without paying rent. The circumstance
that nearly every inch of land in Jamaica was owned by some one made
such a thing impossible.
On the contrary, great numbers of the old slaves had purchased land, and
it was an amazing fact that, at this moment, three-fifths of the
cultivated land in Jamaica was the _bona fide_ property of the blacks.
(Applause.) He held in his hand a return of one mission congregation,
and there were some interesting facts contained in it which he would
take the liberty of quoting. In that congregation there were
seventy-three heads of families, of whom sixty-two were once slaves,
which should be charitably considered when looking at the progress they
have made in the arts of civilization and mental culture. It could not
be expected that in twenty-one years all the old feelings and passions
and moral taints of slavery would be removed from the land. These
seventy-three families possessed among them 342 acres of freehold land,
and rented an average of two acres each besides. They possessed amongst
them seventy horses or mules--a species of property negroes were very
anxious to have. Surely these facts proved that they were not
"squatters," in the sense in which that word was used. The report of the
Hanover Agricultural Society strongly supported him in the conclusions
to which he had arrived in reference to the negro population. That
report stated that in six districts of the parish, containing four or
five thousand people, there were 802 proprietors, holding about 4,200
acres amongst them, which would be about five and a-half acres to each
family. He valued the land possessed by the people at 3l. 10s. per acre,
which was a much lower estimate than he might fairly put upon it. This
would make 1,050,000l. as the price they had paid for the land. But they
had not only bought land--they had built houses upon it. The cottages in
which they lived during slavery had been destroyed, and he was thankful
it was so. The people had built for themselves a better class of houses,
at a cost which could not be less than 10l. per house, and he was very
glad to say it was very rare to find more than one family in a house.
That amounted at least to 600,000l. Their furniture would be very
moderately valued at 3l. per house--about half the real value--making an
additional 180,000l.; and their carts, horses, mules, pigs, &c., could
not be put at less than 50,000l., which was, in fact, much under the
mark. The next item was a very interesting one, namely, the value of the
sugar-mills, and implements used in the production of sugar. There were
143 sugar-mills in a portion of Hanover alone, and there could not be
less than 5,000 in the island of Jamaica. These mills were valued by the
Hanover Agricultural Society at 10l. each. Then, as to their clothes,
they were as well dressed as the agricultural laborers of England, and
every negro had at least one if not two suits. It was not true that the
moral and respectable people were gaudily dressed. Upon the whole, the
clothes would be cheaply valued at 1l. per head--making 380,000l. Then,
and lastly, there were deposits in the savings' banks to the extent of
49,395l. The sum total of all this property, which had been accumulated
since the emancipation, was 2,358,000l.--an estimate which he ventured
to say was much below the mark. Of course there were some idle and some
ragged people among them, as, indeed, there were in every country on the
face of the earth. But, at any rate, it would be very unfair to take
Kingston as a fair sample of the island. It only numbered 30,000 people
out of a population of 380,000, and it would never do to judge of a
people by the minority. The annual value of the exports from Jamaica,
taking an average of three years, was 1,057,000l., including sugar, rum,
coffee, and the other products of the island, but it must not be
supposed that the whole of that was grown by white people. It might be
purchased and owned by the whites, but the work had been done by black
hands, and directed by black heads. He found that each family cultivated
some land for itself--say an acre to each family. An acre would produce
from 15l. to 50l. worth per annum; he had estimated it at 20l. The
entire produce of this island would be 2,500,000l. per annum. Was that
an idle people? His calculations were checked in a very interesting way
by those of the Hanover Agricultural Society, to which he had previously
alluded. That society estimated the average earnings of each family at
30l. per annum. The number of families was 76,000, so that, according to
the society, the annual earnings of the negroes in Jamaica amounted to
2,280,000l., a conclusion nearly similar to his own, though he had
arrived at it by a totally different process of calculation. Another
interesting feature was the decrease which had taken place in the
importation of salt fish. In the days of slavery the yam and salt fish
constituted the chief food of the people, but now there was a growing
taste for fresh meat, and many planters were turning their property into
pens for the breeding and fattening of cattle. One black man, who was
formerly a slave, but who now carried on the business of butcher in one
of the towns, told him that in Christmas week he had killed nine head of
cattle, and the returns of his business amounted to 5,000l. a year,
though there were two other butchers in the same town. In one town--the
town which owed its existence almost entirely to Mr. Knibb--from five to
seven head of cattle were slaughtered every week. All these things
showed that the people were advancing in their social condition.
A few facts might not be uninteresting with reference to the religious
condition of the people. In the first place they had built 220 chapels,
quite independent of the Established Church, of which he could find no
record showing their number. In connection with these chapels there were
53,000 communicants, or about one-eighth of the entire population. This
itself was a very gratifying and rather unusual state of things. The
number of people regularly attending these chapels was 91,000, or about
a fourth part of the population, and the Sunday-schools contained about
22,000 children, or about a third of the children who were capable of
attending school. Lastly, they raised every year for religious purposes
about 22,000l.
Crime was rare in the West Indies--he meant crime which brought men to
the courts of law. He found from the published returns, that the number
of men in prison during 1854 was 908, whilst the number in prison at one
time in 1858 was only 600. That was not a very considerable number for
so large a population. The people were very fond of cutlasses, and there
was hardly a man who had not got one, but yet one scarcely ever heard of
a cutlass being used to the injury of another man. Men had been known to
throw away their cutlasses when they have been quarrelling, lest they
should be tempted to use them against each other--a circumstance which
showed a great amount of self-control, and accounted for the unfrequency
of great crimes. There was a rising feeling in favor of marriage, and an
increasing respect for the marriage tie amongst the negroes since the
abolition of slavery. True, the feeling was not yet so prevalent as
could be wished, but the missionaries were doing all they could to
encourage it. The question of education was one of vast importance in
relation to the negro. The progress made in the island in this respect
had been slight, but from a census taken by one of the missionaries at
an interval of twenty-five years, he found that whereas just before
freedom only three negroes in 5,000 could be found in one particular
district that could read and write, at the next census 1,700 were able
to do so. That showed that some progress had been made, but for all that
the great want of Jamaica was education. The conclusion he had come to
was this, that though emancipation might have occasioned some
difficulties to the planters, it had been an unmixed blessing to the
people. He did not know a single drawback or qualification that need be
made to that statement. Should the planters continue in their present
course, they also would reap the advantage in the general peace and
security of the country, and in their own increased pecuniary gains.
Last of all, he believed the tide in Jamaica was now turned, and that
ordinary foresight, prudence, and care might make the island even more
prosperous in years to come than it had ever been in the past. He
recalled his visit to Jamaica with sincere pleasure. He went with deep
trembling, but had come away with a gladdened heart, satisfied--as he
trusted the meeting was, after having the facts he had laid before
it--that Jamaica had not suffered from emancipation, but that its
results, both to the people and to their country, would prove to be of
the highest, most blessed, and most advantageous kind. (Applause.)
The REV. J. T. BROWN said he rose with a very great deal of pleasure to
add a few words to those which his friend and colleague had addressed to
the meeting. He concurred in the statements of his colleague as to the
social results which had flowed from emancipation; and he could, if he
had time, adduce many facts in their corroboration; but there were many
doubtless in that meeting who felt, with him, that whilst the social
welfare of a people was a good thing, yet that their religious welfare
was paramount, and that if they could not have brought good tidings in
that respect, they must have come home indeed with a heavy heart. One
source of difficulty in judging of the state of Jamaica was the fact
that false reports of the land were circulated by disappointed planters,
by bigots, by clever writers, and by disheartened missionaries. What the
_Times_ newspaper chose to say upon the subject was, to a great extent,
matter of indifference, because every one knew what worth to attach to
it; but when he saw a statement so utterly untrue as that contained in
the "Encyclopædia Britannica,"--he did not impute wilful falsehood to
the writer,--he was grieved indeed. That statement was to the effect
that, during slavery, the Dissenting ministers possessed great influence
over the negro, but that the latter now preferred the Established
Church, because it cost him nothing, though, in point of fact, he cared
but little for either. This was altogether a misrepresentation. (Great
cheering.) One of the last persons who had contributed to this popular
error was that clever writer of fiction, Mr. Trollope, who deserved to
be described as a writer of fiction, not only as the author of
"Barchester Towers" and "Framley Parsonage," but of the book he had
published on the West Indies. ("Hear, hear," and laughter.) Whenever
persons in Jamaica wished to represent a violent, prejudiced, and
obstinate person,--one who judged as hastily of a religious body as Mr.
Trollope judged of the Baptists,--who would rather dance with a Jew than
pray with a Baptist, when they wished to speak of a person of violent
and prejudiced character, looking only at one side of a question,
running and jumping through a country,--one, in fact, who was altogether
untrustworthy,--they would say of him that he had been "Trollopeing."
(Laughter.) That was the name Mr. Trollope had given to such a character
in Jamaica. But facts were facts, and, though Mr. Trollope avowed his
dislike for statistics, there were some very stubborn ones which stared
him in the face. In the first place, the people were orderly in their
conduct--well governed and well behaved; persons and property were
perfectly safe on the island, and serious crimes were very rare. The
marriage tie was respected, and children respected their parents. These
were facts which forcibly contrasted with the awful condition of society
before the emancipation. Again, the religious statistics of the country
spoke loudly in favor of emancipation. They contributed largely towards
the expenses of religious worship, and many attended punctually the
means of grace. The European Dissenting ministers on the island received
150l. per annum, and the native preachers, of whom there were sixteen,
from 100l. to 120l. per annum. There were seventy-seven churches
connected with the Baptist body in the island; these included 20,000
communicants and 2,000 anxious inquirers; and although there were at
times instances of false profession and cases of backsliding, yet the
discipline of the churches was good, and their condition altogether in
many respects furnished good examples for Christian congregations at
home. He could not forbear also paying a high tribute to the deacons and
elders, who, taken upon the whole, were a fine body of Christian
disciples, and true helpers of the ministry. He was aware that there was
a great deal of mental ignorance in the island, but even in that respect
its condition had materially improved since the emancipation. He wished
many of the persons now listening to him could have listened to the
speeches of some of the Christian negroes at some of their meetings in
Jamaica, and have marked the strong common sense and great intelligence
which tumbled awkwardly out of their mouths; or could have heard their
prayers, where beautiful thoughts and clear and holy aspirations
struggled through their broken speech--indications of a mental vigor
which only needed cultivation, and which even now commanded respect.
The REV. WILLIAM ARTHUR then moved the following resolution:--
"That this meeting has heard with great pleasure the satisfactory
account given by the deputation of the Baptist Missionary Society
of the results of emancipation in the West Indies, and Jamaica in
particular, and of the progress made by the negro population in
civilization, intelligence, and piety, and deem the great Act of
Emancipation of 800,000 slaves, an act just and right in itself, as
amply vindicated by the success which has attended it."
He felt it to be a real honor to be asked to move this resolution, and
he congratulated the Baptist Missionary Society on having sent out so
able a deputation to the West Indies. Their report was a most important
one, and the more so at this juncture, when the attention of the people
of America was anxiously directed to the results of emancipation in the
West Indies, and especially in Jamaica. The friends of freedom had
reason to be deeply thankful to Mr. Underhill for his careful and
comprehensive inquiry into the real state of affairs.
The REV. EDWARD MATHEWS, in seconding the resolution, said that he could
testify from his own experience in the State of Ohio that the facts
adduced by the deputation would have much influence in America, and help
forward the cause of emancipation there.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Right Way the Safe Way, by Lydia Maria Child