_Q._ Are the negroes grateful for attentions and favors?

_A._ They are; I have met some who have been so much affected by acts of

kindness, that they have burst into tears, exclaiming, 'Massa so

kind--my heart full.' Their affection to their teachers is very

remarkable. On my return lately from Kingston, after a temporary

absence, the negroes flocked to our residence and surrounded the chaise,

saying, 'We glad to see massa again; we glad to see school massa.' On my

way through an estate some time ago, some of the children observed me,

and in a transport of joy cried, 'Thank God, massa come again! Bless God

de Savior, massa come again!'

Mr. R., said he, casually met with an apprentice whose master had lately

died. The man was in the habit of visiting his master's grave every

Saturday. He said to Mr. R., "Me go to massa grave, and de water come

into me yeye; but me can't help it, massa, _de water will come into

me yeye_."

The Wesleyan missionary told us, that two apprentices, an aged man and

his daughter, a young woman, had been brought up by their master before

the special magistrate who sentenced them to several days confinement in

the house of correction at Morant Bay and to dance the treadmill. When

the sentence was passed the daughter entreated that she might be allowed

to _do her father's part_, as well as her own, on the treadmill, for he

was too old to dance the wheel--it would kill him.

From Bath we went into the Plantain Garden River Valley, one of the

richest and most beautiful savannahs in the island. It is an extensive

plain, from one to three miles wide, and about six miles long. The

Plantain Garden River, a small stream, winds through the midst of the

valley lengthwise, emptying into the sea. Passing through the valley, we

went a few miles south of it to call on Alexander Barclay, Esq., to whom

we had a letter of introduction. Mr. Barclay is a prominent member of

the assembly, and an attorney for eight estates. He made himself

somewhat distinguished a few years ago by writing an octavo volume of

five hundred pages in defence of the colonies, i.e., in defence of

colonial slavery. It was a reply to Stephen's masterly work against West

India slavery, and was considered by the Jamaicans a triumphant

vindication of their "peculiar institutions." We went several miles out

of our route expressly to have an interview with so zealous and

celebrated a champion of slavery. We were received with marked courtesy

by Mr. B., who constrained us to spend a day and night with him at his

seat at Fairfield. One of the first objects that met our eye in Mr. B.'s

dining hall was a splendid piece of silver plate, which was presented to

him by the planters of St. Thomas in the East, in consideration of his

able defence of colonial slavery. We were favorably impressed with Mr.

B.'s intelligence, and somewhat so with his present sentiments

respecting slavery. We gathered from him that he had resisted with all

his might the anti-slavery measures of the English government, and

exerted every power to prevent the introduction of the apprenticeship

system. After he saw that slavery would inevitably be abolished, he drew

up at length a plan of emancipation according to which the condition of

the slave was to be commuted into that of the old English _villein_--he

was to be made an appendage to _the soil_ instead of the "chattel

personal" of the master, the whip was to be partially abolished, a

modicum of wages was to be allowed the slave, and so on. There was to be

no fixed period when this system would terminate, but it was to fade

gradually and imperceptibly into entire freedom. He presented a copy of

his scheme to the then governor, the Earl of Mulgrave, requesting that

it might be forwarded to the home government. Mr. B. said that the

anti-slavery party in England had acted from the blind impulses of

religious fanaticism, and had precipitated to its issue a work which

required many years of silent preparation in order to its safe

accomplishment. He intimated that the management of abolition ought to

have been left with the colonists; they had been the long experienced

managers of slavery, and they were the only men qualified to superintend

its burial, and give it a decent interment.

He did not think that the apprenticeship afforded any clue to the dark

mystery of 1840. Apprenticeship was so inconsiderably different from

slavery, that it furnished no more satisfactory data for judging of the

results of entire freedom than slavery itself. Neither would he consent

to be comforted by the actual results of emancipation in Antigua.

Taking leave of Mr. Barclay, we returned to the Plantain Garden River

Valley, and called at the Golden Grove, one of the most splendid estates

in that magnificent district. This is an estate of two thousand acres;

it has five hundred apprentices and one hundred free children. The

average annual crop is six hundred hogsheads of sugar. Thomas McCornock,

Esq., the attorney of this estate, is the custos, or chief magistrate of

the parish, and colonel of the parish militia. There is no man in all

the parish of greater consequence, either in fact or in seeming

self-estimation, than Thomas McCornock, Esq. He is a Scotchman, as is

also Mr. Barclay. The custos received us with as much freedom as the

dignity of his numerous offices would admit of. The overseer, (manager,)

Mr. Duncan, is an intelligent, active, business man, and on any other

estate than Golden Grove, would doubtless be a personage of considerable

distinction. He conducted us through the numerous buildings, from the

boiling-house to the pig-stye. The principal complaint of the overseer,

was that he could not make the people work to any good purpose. They

were not at all refractory or disobedient; there was no difficulty in

getting them on to the field; but when they were there, they moved

without any life or energy. They took no interest in their work, and he

was obliged to be watching and scolding them all the time, or else they

would do nothing. We had not gone many steps after this observation,

before we met with a practical illustration of it. A number of the

apprentices had been ordered that morning to cart away some dirt to a

particular place. When we approached them, Mr. D. found that one of the

"wains" was standing idle. He inquired of the driver why he was keeping

the team idle. The reply was, that there was nothing there for it to do;

there were enough other wains to carry away all the dirt. "Then," inquired

the overseer with an ill-concealed irritation, "why did not go to some

other work?" The overseer then turned to us and said, "You see, sir,

what lazy dogs the apprentices are--this is the way they do every day,

if they are not closely watched." It was not long after this little

incident, before the overseer remarked that the apprentices worked very

well during their own time, _when they were paid for it_. When we went

into the hospital, Mr. D. directed out attention to one fact, which to

him was very provoking. A great portion of the patients that come in

during the week, unable to work, are in the habit of getting well on

Friday evening, so that they can go out on Saturday and Sunday; but on

Monday morning they are sure to be sick again, then they return to the

hospital and remain very poorly till Friday evening, when they get well

all at once, and ask permission to go out. The overseer saw into the

trick; but he could find no medicine that could cure the negroes of that

intermittent sickness. The Antigua planters discovered the remedy for

it, and doubtless Mr. D. will make the grand discovery in 1840.

On returning to the "great house," we found the custos sitting in state,

ready to communicate any official information which might be called for.

He expressed similar sentiments in the main, with those of Mr. Barclay.

He feared for the consequences of complete emancipation; the negroes

would to a great extent abandon the sugar cultivation and retire to the

woods, there to live in idleness, planting merely yams enough to keep

them alive, and in the process of time, retrograding into African

barbarism. The attorney did not see how it was possible to prevent this.

When asked whether he expected that such would be the case with the

negroes on Golden Grove, he replied that he did not think it would,

except with a very few persons. His people had been _so well treated_,

and had _so many comforts_, that they would not be at all likely to

abandon the estate! [Mark that!] Whose are the people that will desert

after 1840? Not Thomas McCornock's, Esq.! _They are too well situated.

Whose_ then will desert? _Mr. Jocken's_, or in other words, those who

are ill-treated, who are cruelly driven, whose fences are broken down,

and whose provision grounds are exposed to the cattle. They, and they

alone, will retire to the woods who can't get food any where else!

The custos thought the apprentices were behaving very ill. On being

asked if he had any trouble with his, he said, O, no! his apprentices

did quite well, and so did the apprentices generally, in the Plantain

Garden River Valley. But in _far off parishes_, he _heard_ that they

were very refractory and troublesome.

The custos testified that the negroes were very easily managed. He said

he had often thought that he would rather have the charge of six hundred

negroes, than of two hundred English sailors. He spoke also of the

temperate habits of the negroes. He had been in the island twenty-two

years, and he had never seen a negro woman drunk, on the estate. It was

very seldom that the men got drunk. There were not more than ten men on

Golden Grove, out of a population of five hundred, who were in the habit

of occasionally getting intoxicated. He also remarked that the negroes

were a remarkable people for their attention to the old and infirm among

them; they seldom suffered them to want, if it was in their power to

supply them. Among other remarks of the custos, was this sweeping

declaration--"_No man in his senses can pretend to defend slavery._"

After spending a day at Golden Grove, we proceeded to the adjacent

estate of Amity Hall. On entering the residence of the manager, Mr.

Kirkland, we were most gratefully surprised to find him engaged in

family prayers. It was the first time and the last that we heard the

voice of prayer in a Jamaican planter's house. We were no less

gratefully surprised to see a white lady, to whom we were introduced as

Mrs. Kirkland, and several modest and lovely little children. It was the

first and the last _family circle_ that we were permitted to see among

the planters of that licentious colony. The motley group of colored

children--of every age from tender infancy--which we found on other

estates, revealed the state of domestic manners among the planters.

Mr. K. regarded the abolition of slavery as a great blessing to the

colony; it was true that the apprenticeship was a wretchedly bad system,

but notwithstanding, things moved smoothly on his estate. He informed us

that the negroes on Amity Hall had formerly borne the character of being

the _worst gang in the parish_; and when he first came to the estate, he

found that half the truth had not been told of them; but they had become

remarkably peaceable and subordinate. It was his policy to give them

every comfort that he possibly could. Mr. K. made the same declaration,

which has been so often repeated in the course of this narrative, i.e.,

that if any of the estates were abandoned, it would be owing to the

harsh treatment of the people. He knew many overseers and book-keepers

who were cruel driving men, and he should not be surprised if _they_

lost a part, or all, of their laborers. He made one remark which we had

not heard before. There were some estates, he said, which would probably

be abandoned, for the same reason that they ought never to have been

cultivated, because they require _almost double labor_;--such are the

mountainous estates and barren, worn-out properties, which nothing but a

system of forced labor could possibly retain in cultivation. But the

idea that the negroes generally would leave their comfortable homes, and

various privileges on the estates, and retire to the wild woods, he

ridiculed as preposterous in the extreme. Mr. K. declared repeatedly

that he could not look forward to 1840, but with the most sanguine

hopes; he confidently believed that the introduction of complete freedom

would be the _regeneration of the island_. He alluded to the memorable

declaration of Lord Belmore, (made memorable by the excitement which it

caused among the colonists,) in his valedictory address to the assembly,

on the eve of his departure for England.[A] "Gentlemen," said he, "the

resources of this noble island will never be fully developed until

slavery is abolished!" For this manly avowal the assembly ignobly

refused him the usual marks of respect and honor at his departure. Mr.

K. expected to see Jamaica become a new world under the enterprise and

energies of freedom. There were a few disaffected planters, who would

probably remain so, and leave the islands after emancipation. It would

be a blessing to the country if such men left it, for as long as they

were disaffected, they were the enemies of its prosperity.

[Footnote A: Lord Belmore left the government of Jamaica, a short time

before the abolition act passed in parliament.]

Mr. K. conducted us through the negro quarters, which are situated on

the hill side, nearly a mile from his residence. We went into several of

the houses; which were of a better style somewhat than the huts in

Antigua and Barbadoes--larger, better finished and furnished. Some few

of them had verandahs or porches on one or more sides, after the West

India fashion, closed in with _jalousies_. In each of the houses to

which we were admitted, there was one apartment fitted up in a very neat

manner, with waxed floor, a good bedstead, and snow white coverings, a

few good chairs, a mahogany sideboard, ornamented with dishes,

decanters, etc.

From Amity Hall, we drove to Manchioneal, a small village ten miles

north of the Plantain Garden River Valley. We had a letter to the

special magistrate for that district, R. Chamberlain, Esq., a colored

gentleman, and the first magistrate we found in the parish of St. Thomas

in the East, who was faithful to the interests of the apprentices. He

was a boarder at the public house, where we were directed for lodgings,

and as we spent a few days in the village, we had opportunities of

obtaining much information from him, as well as of attending some of his

courts. Mr. C. had been only five months in the district of Manchioneal,

having been removed thither from a distant district. Being a friend of

the apprentices, he is hated and persecuted by the planters. He gave us

a gloomy picture of the oppressions and cruelties of the planters. Their

complaints brought before him are often of the most trivial kind; yet

because he does not condemn the apprentices to receive a punishment

which the most serious offences alone could justify him in inflicting,

they revile and denounce him as unfit for his station. He represents the

planters as not having the most distant idea that it is the province of

the special magistrate to secure justice to the apprentice; but they

regard it as his sole duty to _help them_ in getting from the laborers

as much work as whips, and chains, and tread-wheels can extort. His

predecessor, in the Manchioneal district, answered perfectly to the

planters' _beau ideal_. He ordered a _cat_ to be kept on every estate in

his district, to be ready for use as he went around on his weekly

visits. Every week he inspected the cats, and when they became too much

worn to do good execution, he _condemned_ them, and ordered new ones

to be made.

Mr. C. said the most frequent complaints made by the planters are for

_insolence_. He gave a few specimens of what were regarded by the

planters as serious offences. An overseer will say to his apprentice,

"Work along there faster, you lazy villain, or I'll strike you;" the

apprentice will reply, "You _can't_ strike me now," and for this he is

taken before the magistrate on the complaint of _insolence_. An

overseer, in passing the gang on the field, will hear them singing; he

will order them, in a peremptory tone to stop instantly, and if they

continue singing, they are complained of for _insubordination_. An

apprentice has been confined to the hospital with disease,--when he gets

able to walk, tired of the filthy sick house, he hobbles to his hut,

where he may have the attentions of his wife until he gets well. That is

called _absconding from labor_! Where the magistrate does not happen to

be an independent man, the complaint is sustained, and the poor invalid

is sentenced to the treadmill for absenting himself from work. It is

easy to conjecture the dreadful consequence. The apprentice, debilitated

by sickness, dragged off twenty-five miles on foot to Morant Bay,

mounted on the wheel, is unable to keep the step with the stronger ones,

slips off and hangs by the wrists, and his flesh is mangled and torn by

the wheel.

The apprentices frequently called at our lodgings to complain to Mr. C.

of the hard treatment of their masters. Among the numerous distressing

cases which we witnessed, we shall never forget that of a poor little

negro boy, of about twelve, who presented himself one afternoon before

Mr. C., with a complaint against his master for violently beating him. A

gash was cut in his head, and the blood had flowed freely. He fled from

his master, and came to Mr. C. for refuge. He belonged to A. Ross, Esq.,

of Mulatto Run estate. We remembered that we had a letter of

introduction to that planter, and we had designed visiting him, but

after witnessing this scene, we resolved not to go near a monster who

could inflict such a wound, with his own hand, upon a child. We were

highly gratified with the kind and sympathizing manner in which Mr. C.

spoke with the unfortunate beings who, in the extremity of their wrongs,

ventured to his door.

At the request of the magistrate we accompanied him, on one occasion, to

the station-house, where he held a weekly court. We had there a good

opportunity to observe the hostile feelings of the planters towards this

faithful officer--"faithful among the faithless," (though we are glad

that we cannot quite add, "_only he_.")

A number of managers, overseers, and book-keepers, assembled; some with

complaints, and some to have their apprentices classified. They all set

upon the magistrate like bloodhounds upon a lone stag. They strove

together with one accord, to subdue his independent spirit by taunts,

jeers, insults, intimidations and bullyings. He was obliged to threaten

one of the overseers with arrest, on account of his abusive conduct. We

were actually amazed at the intrepidity of the magistrate. We were

convinced from what we saw that day, that only the most fearless and

conscientious men could be _faithful magistrates_ in Jamaica. Mr. C.

assured us that he met with similar indignities every time he held his

courts, and on most of the estates that he visited. It was in his power

to punish them severely, but he chose to use all possible forbearance,

so as not to give the planters any grounds of complaint.

On a subsequent day we accompanied Mr. C. in one of his estate visits.

As it was late in the afternoon, he called at but one estate, the name

of which was Williamsfield. Mr. Gordon, the overseer of Williamsfield,

is among the fairest specimens of planters. He has naturally a generous

disposition, which, like that of Mr. Kirkland, has out-lived the

witherings of slavery.

He informed us that his people worked as well under the apprenticeship

system, as ever they did during slavery; and he had every encouragement

that they would do still better after they were completely free. He was

satisfied that he should be able to conduct his estate at much less

expense after 1840; he thought that fifty men would do as much then as a

hundred do now. We may add here a similar remark of Mr. Kirkland--that

forty freemen would accomplish as much as eighty slaves. Mr. Gordon

hires his people on Saturdays, and he expressed his astonishment at the

increased vigor with which they worked when they were to receive wages.

He pointedly condemned the driving system which was resorted to by many

of the planters. They foolishly endeavored to keep up the coercion of

slavery, _and they had the special magistrates incessantly flogging the

apprentices_. The planters also not unfrequently take away the provision

grounds from their apprentices, and in every way oppress and

harass them.

In the course of the conversation Mr. G. accidentally struck upon a

fresh vein of facts, respecting the SLAVERY OF BOOK-KEEPERS,[A] _under

the old system_. The book-keepers, said Mr. G., were the complete slaves

of the overseers, who acted like despots on the estates. They were

mostly young men from England, and not unfrequently had considerable

refinement; but ignorant of the treatment which book-keepers had to

submit to, and allured by the prospect of becoming wealthy by

plantership, they came to Jamaica and entered as candidates. They soon

discovered the cruel bondage in which they were involved. The overseers

domineered over them, and stormed at them as violently as though they

were the most abject slaves. They were allowed no privileges such as

their former habits impelled them to seek. If they played a flute in the

hearing of the overseer, they were commanded to be silent instantly. If

they dared to put a gold ring on their finger, even that trifling

pretension to gentility was detected and disallowed by the jealous

overseer. (These things were specified by Mr. G. himself.) They were

seldom permitted to associate with the overseers as equals. The only

thing which reconciled the book-keepers to this abject state, was the

reflection that they might one day _possibly_ become overseers

themselves, and then they could exercise the same authority over others.

In addition to this degradation, the book-keepers suffered great

hardships. Every morning (during slavery) they were obliged to be in the

field before day; they had to be there as soon as the slaves, in order

to call the roll, and mark absentees, if any. Often Mr. G. and the other

gentleman had gone to the field, when it was so dark that they could not

see to call the roll, and the negroes have all lain down on their hoes,

and slept till the light broke. Sometimes there would be a thick dew on

the ground, and the air was so cold and damp, that they would be

completely chilled. When they were shivering on the ground, the negroes

would often lend them their blankets, saying, "Poor _busha pickaninny_

sent out here from England to die." Mr. Gordon said that his

constitution had been permanently injured by such exposure. Many young

men, he said, had doubtless been killed by it. During crop time, the

book-keepers had to be up every night till twelve o'clock, and every

other night _all night_, superintending the work in the boiling-house,

and at the mill. They did not have rest even on the Sabbath; they must

have the mill put about (set to the wind so as to grind) by sunset every

Sabbath. Often the mills were in the wind before four o'clock, on

Sabbath afternoon. They knew of slaves being flogged for not being on

the spot by sunset, though it was known that they had been to meeting.

Mr. G. said that he had a young friend who came from England with him,

and acted as book-keeper. His labors and exposures were so intolerable,

that he had often said to Mr. G., confidentially, _that if the slaves

should rise in rebellion, he would most cheerfully join them_! Said Mr.

G., _there was great rejoicing_ among the book-keepers in August 1834!

_The abolition of slavery was_ EMANCIPATION TO THE BOOK-KEEPERS.

[Footnote A: The book-keepers are subordinate overseers and drivers;

they are generally young white men, who after serving a course of years

in a sort of apprenticeship, are promoted to managers of estates.]

No complaints were brought before Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. Gordon pleasantly

remarked when we arrived, that he had some cases which he should have

presented if the magistrate had come a little earlier, but he presumed

he should forget them before his next visit. When we left Williamsfield,

Mr. C. informed us that during five months there had been but two cases

of complaint on that estate--and but _a single instance of punishment._

Such are the results where there is a good manager and a good special

magistrate.

On Sabbath we attended service in the Baptist chapel, of which Rev. Mr.

Kingdon is pastor. The chapel, which is a part of Mr. K.'s

dwelling-house, is situated on the summit of a high mountain which

overlooks the sea. As seen from the valley below, it appears to topple

on the very brink of a frightful precipice. It is reached by a winding

tedious road, too rugged to admit of a chaise, and in some places so

steep as to try the activity of a horse. As we approached nearer, we

observed the people climbing up in throngs by various footpaths, and

halting in the thick woods which skirted the chapel, the men to put on

their shoes, which they had carried in their hands up the mountain, and

the women to draw on their white stockings and shoes. On entering the

place of worship, we found it well filled with the apprentices, who came

from many miles around in every direction. The services had commenced

when we arrived. We heard an excellent sermon from the devoted and pious

missionary, Mr. Kingdon, whose praise is among all the good throughout

the island, and who is eminently known as the negro's friend. After the

sermon, we were invited to make a few remarks; and the minister briefly

stated to the congregation whence we had come, and what was the object

of our visit. We cannot soon forget the scene which followed. We begun

by expressing, in simple terms, the interest which we felt in the

temporal and spiritual concerns of the people present, and scarcely had

we uttered a sentence when the whole congregation were filled with

emotion. Soon they burst into tears--some sobbed, others cried aloud;

insomuch that for a time we were unable to proceed. We were, indeed, not

a little astonished at so unusual a scene; it was a thing which we were

by no means expecting to see. Being at a loss to account for it, we

inquired of Mr. K. afterwards, who told us that it was occasioned by our

expressions of sympathy and regard. They were so unaccustomed to hear

such language from the lips of white people, that it fell upon them like

rain upon the parched earth. The idea that one who was a stranger and a

foreigner should feel an interest in their welfare, was to them, in such

circumstances, peculiarly affecting, and stirred the deep fountains of

their hearts.

After the services, the missionary, anxious to further our objects,

proposed that we should hold an interview with a number of the

apprentices; and he accordingly invited fifteen of them into his study,

and introduced them to us by name, stating also the estates to which

they severally belonged. We had thus an opportunity of seeing the

_representatives of twelve different estates_, men of trust on their

respective estates, mostly constables and head boilers. For nearly two

hours we conversed with these men, making inquiries on all points

connected with slavery, the apprenticeship, and the expected

emancipation.

From no interview, during our stay in the colonies, did we derive so

much information respecting the real workings of the apprenticeship;

from none did we gain such an insight into the character and disposition

of the negroes. The company was composed of intelligent and pious

men;--so manly and dignified were they in appearance, and so elevated in

their sentiments, that we could with difficulty realize that they were

_slaves_. They were wholly unreserved in their communications, though

they deeply implicated their masters, the special magistrates, and

others in authority. It is not improbable that they would have shrunk

from some of the disclosures which they made, had they known that they

would be published. Nevertheless we feel assured that in making them

public, we shall not betray the informants, concealing as we do their

names and the estates to which they belong.

With regard to the wrongs and hardships of the apprenticeship much as

said; we can only give a small part.

Their masters were often very harsh with them, more so than when they

were slaves. They could not flog them, but they would scold them, and

swear at them, and call them hard names, which hurt their feelings

almost as much as it would if they were to flog them. They would not

allow them as many privileges as they did formerly. Sometimes they would

take their provision grounds away, and sometimes they would go on their

grounds and carry away provisions for their own use without paying for

them, or as much as asking their leave. They had to bear this, for it

was useless to complain--they could get no justice; there was no law in

Manchioneal. The special magistrate would only hear the master, and

would not allow the apprentices to say any thing for themselves[A]. The

magistrate would do just as the busha (master) said. If he say flog him,

he flog him; if he say, send him to Morant Bay, (to the treadmill,) de

magistrate send him. If we happen to laugh before de busha, he complain

to de magistrate, and we get licked. If we go to a friend's house, when

we hungry, to get something to eat, and happen to get lost in de woods

between, we are called runaways, and are punished severely. Our half

Friday is taken away from us; we must give that time to busha for a

little salt-fish, which was always allowed us during slavery. If we lay

in bed after six o'clock, they take away our Saturday too. If we lose a

little time from work, they make us pay a great deal more time. They

stated, and so did several of the missionaries, that the loss of the

half Friday was very serious to them; as it often rendered it impossible

for them to get to meeting on Sunday. The whole work of cultivating

their grounds, preparing their produce for sale, carrying it to the

distant market, (Morant Bay, and sometimes further,) and returning, all

this was, by the loss of the Friday afternoon, crowded into Saturday,

and it was often impossible for them to get back from market before

Sabbath morning; then they had to dress and go six or ten miles further

to chapel, or stay away altogether, which, from weariness and worldly

cares, they would be strongly tempted to do. This they represented as

being a grievous thing to them. Said one of the men; in a peculiarly

solemn and earnest manner, while the tears stood in his eyes, "I declare

to you, massa, if de Lord spare we to be free, we be much more

'ligiours--_we be wise to many more tings_; we be better Christians;

because den we have all de Sunday for go to meeting. But now de holy

time taken up in work for we food." These words were deeply impressed

upon us by the intense earnestness with which they were spoken. They

revealed "the heart's own bitterness." There was also a lighting up of

joy and hope in the countenance of that child of God, as he looked

forward to the time when he might become _wise to many more tings_.

[Footnote A: We would observe, that they did not refer to Mr.

Chamberlain, but to another magistrate, whose name they mentioned.]

They gave a heart-sickening account of the cruelties of the treadmill.

They spoke of the apprentices having their wrists tied to the handboard,

and said it was very common for them to fall and hang against the wheel.

Some who had been sent to the treadmill, had actually died from the

injuries they there received. They were often obliged to see their wives

dragged off to Morant Bay, and tied to the treadmill, even when they

were in a state of pregnancy. They suffered a great deal of misery from

_that; but they could not help it_.

Sometimes it was a wonder to themselves how they could endure all the

provocations and sufferings of the apprenticeship; _it was only "by de

mercy of God_!"

They were asked why they did not complain to the special magistrates.

They replied, that it did no good, for the magistrates would not take

any notice of their complaints, besides, it made the masters treat them

still worse. Said one, "We go to de magistrate to complain, and den when

we come back de busha do all him can to vex us. He _wingle_ (tease) us,

and _wingle_ us; de book-keeper curse us and treaten us; de constable he

scold us, and call hard names, and dey all strive to make we mad, so we

say someting wrong, and den dey take we to de magistrate for insolence."

Such was the final consequence of complaining to the magistrate. We

asked them why they did not complain, when they had a good magistrate

who would do them justice. Their answer revealed a new fact. They were

afraid to complain to a magistrate, who they knew was their friend,

_because their masters told them that the magistrate would soon be

changed, and another would come who would flog them; and that for every

time they dared to complain to the GOOD magistrate, they would be

flogged when the BAD one came_. They said their masters had explained it

all to them long ago.

We inquired of them particularly what course they intended to take when

they should become free. We requested them to speak, not only with

reference to themselves, but of the apprentices generally, as far as

they knew their views. They said the apprentices expected to work on the

estates, if they were allowed to do so. They had no intention of leaving

work. Nothing would cause them to leave their estates but bad treatment;

if their masters were harsh, they would go to another estate, where they

would get better treatment. They would be _obliged_ to work when they

were free; even more than now, for _then_ they would have no other

dependence.

One tried to prove to us by reasoning, that the people would work

when they were free. Said he, "In slavery time we work _even_ wid de

whip, now we work 'till better--_what tink we will do when we free?

Won't_ we work den, _when we get paid_?" He appealed to us so earnestly,

that we could not help acknowledging we were fully convinced. However,

in order to establish the point still more clearly, he stated some

facts, such as the following:

During slavery, it took six men to tend the coppers in boiling sugar,

and it was thought that fewer could not possibly do the work; but now,

since the boilers are paid for their extra time, the work is monopolized

by _three_ men. They _would not have any help_; they did all the work

"_dat dey might get all de pay_."

We sounded them thoroughly on their views of law and freedom. We

inquired whether they expected to be allowed to do as they pleased when

they were free. On this subject they spoke very rationally. Said one,

"We could never live widout de law; (we use, his very expressions) we

must have some law when we free. In other countries, where dey are free,

_don't_ dey have law? Wouldn't dey shoot one another if they did not

have law?" Thus they reasoned about freedom. Their chief complaint

against the apprenticeship was, that it did not allow them _justice_.

"_There was no law now_." They had been told by the governor, that there

was the same law for all the island; but they knew better, for there was

more justice done them in some districts than in others.

Some of their expressions indicated very strongly the characteristic

kindness of the negro. They would say, we work now as well as we can

_for the sake of peace; any thing for peace_. Don't want to be

complained of to the magistrate; don't like to be called hard names--do

any thing to keep peace. Such expressions were repeatedly made. We asked

them what they thought of the domestics being emancipated in 1838, while

they had to remain apprentices two years longer? They said, "it bad

enough--but we know de law make it so, and _for peace sake_, we will be

satisfy. _But we murmur in we minds_."

We asked what they expected to do with the old and infirm, after

freedom? They said, "we will support dem--as how dey brought us up when

we was pickaninny, and now we come trong, must care for dem." In such a

spirit did these apprentices discourse for two hours. They won greatly

upon our sympathy and respect. The touching story of their wrongs, the

artless unbosoming of their hopes, their forgiving spirit toward their

masters, their distinct views of their own rights, their amiable bearing

under provocation, their just notions of law, and of a state of

freedom--these things were well calculated to excite our admiration for

them, and their companions in suffering. Having prayed with the company,

and commended them to the grace of God, and the salvation of Jesus

Christ, we shook hands with them individually, and separated from them,

never more to see them, until we meet at the bar of God.

While one of us was prosecuting the foregoing inquiries in St. Thomas in

the East, the other was performing a horse-back tour among the mountains

of St. Andrews and Port Royal. We had been invited by Stephen Bourne,

Esq., special magistrate for one of the rural districts in those

parishes, to spend a week in his family, and accompany him in his

official visits to the plantations embraced in his commission--an

invitation we were very glad to accept, as it laid open to us at the

same time three important sources of information,--the magistrate, the

planter, and the apprentice.

The sun was just rising as we left Kingston, and entered the high road.

The air, which the day before had been painfully hot and stived, was

cool and fresh, and from flowers and spice-trees, on which the dew still

lay, went forth a thousand fragrant exhalations. Our course for about

six miles, lay over the broad, low plain, which spreads around Kingston,

westward to the highlands of St. Andrews, and southward beyond

Spanishtown. All along the road, and in various directions in the

distance, were seen the residences--uncouthly termed 'pens'--of

merchants and gentlemen of wealth, whose business frequently calls them

to town. Unlike Barbadoes, the fields here were protected by walls and

hedges, with broad gateways and avenues leading to the house. We soon

began to meet here and there, at intervals, person going to the market

with fruits and provisions. The number continually increased, and at the

end of an hour, they could be seen trudging over the fields, and along

the by-paths and roads, on every hand. Some had a couple of stunted

donkeys yoked to a ricketty cart,--others had mules with

pack-saddles--but the many loaded their own heads, instead of the

donkeys and mules. Most of them were well dressed, and all civil and

respectful in their conduct.

Invigorated by the mountain air, and animated by the novelty and

grandeur of the mountain scenery, through which we had passed, we

arrived at 'Grecian Regale' in season for an early West Indian

breakfast, (8 o'clock.) Mr. Bourne's district is entirely composed of

coffee plantations, and embraces three thousand apprentices. The people

on coffee plantations are not worked so hard as those employed on sugar

estates; but they are more liable to suffer from insufficient food

and clothing.

After breakfast we accompanied Mr. Bourne on a visit to the plantations,

but there were no complaints either from the master or apprentice,

except on one. Here Mr. B. was hailed by a hoary-headed man, sitting at

the side of his house. He said that he was lame and sick, and could not

work, and complained that his master did not give him any food. All he

had to eat was given him by a relative. As the master was not at home,

Mr. B. could not attend to the complaint at that time, but promised to

write the master about it in the course of the day. He informed us that

the aged and disabled were very much neglected under the apprenticeship.

When the working days are over, the profit days are over, and how few in

any country are willing to support an animal which is past labor? If

these complaints are numerous under the new system, when magistrates are

all abroad to remedy them, what must it have been during slavery, when

master and magistrate were the same!

On one of the plantations we called at the house of an emigrant, of

which some hundreds have been imported from different parts of Europe,

since emancipation. He had been in the island eighteen months, and was

much dissatisfied with his situation. The experiment of importing whites

to Jamaica as laborers, has proved disastrous--an unfortunate

speculation to all parties, and all parties wish them back again.

We had some conversation with several apprentices, who called on Mr.

Bourne for advice and aid. They all thought the apprenticeship very

hard, but still, on the whole, liked it better than slavery. They "were

killed too bad,"--that was their expression--during slavery--were worked

hard and terribly flogged. They were up ever so early and late--went out

in the mountains to work, when so cold busha would have to cover himself

up on the ground. Had little time to eat, or go to meeting. 'Twas all

slash, slash! Now they couldn't be flogged, unless the magistrate said

so. Still the busha was very hard to them, and many of the apprentices

run away to the woods, they are so badly used.

The next plantation which we visited was Dublin Castle. It lies in a

deep valley, quite enclosed by mountains. The present attorney has been

in the island nine years, and is attorney for several other properties.

In England he was a religious man, and intimately acquainted with the

eccentric Irving. For a while after he came out he preached to the

slaves, but having taken a black concubine, and treating those under his

charge oppressively, he soon obtained a bad character among the blacks,

and his meetings were deserted. He is now a most passionate and wicked

man, having cast off even the show of religion.

Mr. B. visited Dublin Castle a few weeks since, and spent two days in

hearing complaints brought against the manager and book-keeper by the

apprentices. He fined the manager, for different acts of oppression, one

hundred and eight dollars. The attorney was present during the whole

time. Near the close of the second day he requested permission to say a

few words, which was granted. He raised his hands and eyes in the most

agonized manner, as though passion was writhing within, and burst

forth--"O, my God! my God! has it indeed come to this! Am I to be

arraigned in this way? Is my conduct to be questioned by these people?

Is my authority to be destroyed by the interference of stranger? O, my

God!" And he fell back into the arms of his book-keeper, and was carried

out of the room in convulsions.

The next morning we started on another excursion, for the purpose of

attending the appraisement of an apprentice belonging to Silver Hill, a

plantation about ten miles distant from Grecian Regale. We rode but a

short distance in the town road, when we struck off into a narrow defile

by a mule-path, and pushed into the very heart of the mountains.

We felt somewhat timid at the commencement of our excursion among these

minor Andes, but we gained confidence as we proceeded, and finding our

horse sure-footed and quite familiar with mountain paths, we soon

learned to gallop, without fear, along the highest cliffs, and through

the most dangerous passes. We were once put in some jeopardy by a drove

of mules, laden with coffee. We fortunately saw them, as they came round

the point of a hill, at some distance, in season to secure ourselves in

a little recess where the path widened. On they came, cheered by the

loud cries of their drivers, and passed rapidly forward, one after

another, with the headlong stupidity which animals, claiming more wisdom

than quadrupeds, not unfrequently manifest. When they came up to us,

however, they showed that they were not unaccustomed to such encounters,

and, although the space between us and the brow of the precipice, was

not three feet wide, they all contrived to sway their bodies and heavy

sacks in such a manner as to pass us safely, except one. He, more stupid

or more unlucky than the rest, struck us a full broad-side as he went by

jolting us hard against the hill, and well-nigh jolting himself down the

craggy descent into the abyss below. One leg hung a moment over the

precipice, but the poor beast suddenly threw his whole weight forward,

and by a desperate leap, obtained sure foothold in the path, and again

trudged along with his coffee-bags.

On our way we called at two plantations, but found no complaints. At one

of them we had some conversation with the overseer. He has on it one

hundred and thirty apprentices, and produces annually thirty thousand

pounds of coffee. He informed us that he was getting along well. His

people are industrious and obedient, as much so, to say the least, as

under the old system. The crop this year is not so great as usual, on

account of the severe drought. His plantation was never better

cultivated. Besides the one hundred and thirty apprentices, there are

forty free children, who are supported by their parents. None of them

will work for hire, or in any way put themselves under his control, as

the parents fear there is some plot laid for making them apprentices,

and through that process reducing them to slavery. He thinks this

feeling will continue till the apprenticeship is entirely broken up, and

the people begin to feel assured of complete freedom, when it will

disappear.

We reached Silver Hill about noon. This plantation contains one hundred

and ten apprentices, and is under the management of a colored man, who

has had charge of it seven years. He informed us that it was under as

good cultivation now as it was before emancipation. His people are

easily controlled. Very much depends on the conduct of the overseer. If

he is disposed to be just and kind, the apprentices are sure to behave

well; if he is harsh and severe, and attempts to _drive_ them, they will

take no pains to please him, but on the contrary, will be sulky and

obstinate.

There were three overseers from other estates present. One of them had

been an overseer for forty years, and he possessed the looks and

feelings which we suppose a man who has been thus long in a school of

despotism, must possess. He had a giant form, which seemed to be

breaking down with luxury and sensualism. His ordinary voice was hoarse

and gusty, and his smile diabolical. Emancipation had swept away his

power while it left the love of it ravaging his heart. He could not

speak of the new system with composure. His contempt and hatred of the

negro was unadulterated. He spoke of the apprentices with great

bitterness. They were excessively lazy and impudent, and were becoming

more and more so every day. They did not do half the work now that they

did before emancipation. It was the character of the negro never to work

unless compelled. His people would not labor for him an hour in their

own time, although he had offered to pay them for it. They have not the

least gratitude. They will leave him in the midst of his crop, and help

others, because they can get a little more. They spend all their half

Fridays and their Saturdays on other plantations where they receive

forty cents a day. Twenty-five cents is enough for them, and is as much

as he will give.

Mr. B. requested the overseer to bring forward his complaints. He had

only two. One was against a boy of ten for stealing a gill of goat's

milk. The charge was disproved. The other was against a boy of twelve

for neglecting the cattle, and permitting them to trespass on the lands

of a neighbor. He was sentenced to receive a good switching--that is, to

be beaten with a small stick by the constable of the plantation.

Several apprentices then appeared and made a few trivial complaints

against 'busha.' They were quickly adjusted. These were all the

complaints that had accumulated in five weeks.

The principal business which called Mr. Bourne to the plantation, as we

have already remarked, was the appraisement of an apprentice. The

appraisers were himself and a local magistrate. The apprentice was a

native born African, and was stolen from his country when a boy. He had

always resided on this plantation, and had always been a faithful

laborer. He was now the constable, or driver, as the office was called

in slavery times, of the second gang. The overseer testified to his

honesty and industry, and said he regretted much to have him leave. He

was, as appeared by the plantation books, fifty-four years old, but was

evidently above sixty. After examining several witnesses as to the old

man's ability and general health, and making calculations by the rule of

three, with the cold accuracy of a yankee horse-bargain, it was decided

that his services were worth to the plantation forty-eight dollars a

years, and for the remaining time of the apprenticeship, consequently,

at that rate, one hundred and fifty-six dollars. One third of this was

deducted as an allowance for the probabilities of death, and sickness,

leaving one hundred and four dollars as the price of his redemption. The

old man objected strongly and earnestly to the price; he said, it was

too much; he had not money enough to pay it; and begged them, with tears

in his eyes, not to make him pay so much "for his old bones;" but they

would not remit a cent. They could not. They were the stern ministers of

the British emancipation law, the praises of which have been shouted

through the earth!

Of the three overseers who were present, not one could be called a

respectable man. Their countenances were the mirrors of all lustful and

desperate passions. They were continually drinking rum and water, and

one of them was half drunk.

Our next visit was to an elevated plantation called Peter's Rock. The

path to it was, in one place, so steep, that we had to dismount and

permit our horses to work their way up as they could, while we followed

on foot. We then wound along among provision grounds and coffee fields,

through forests where hardly a track was to be seen, and over hedges,

which the horses were obliged to leap, till we issued on the great path

which leads from the plantation to Kingston.

Peter's Rock has one hundred apprentices, and is under the management,

as Mr. Bourne informed us, of a very humane man. During the two years

and a half of the apprenticeship, there had been _only six complaints_.

As we approached the plantation we saw the apprentices at the side of

the road, eating their breakfast. They had been at work some distance

from their houses, and could not spend time to go home. They saluted us

with great civility, most of them rising and uncovering their heads. In

answer to our questions, they said they were getting along very well.

They said their master was kind to them, and they appeared in

fine spirits.

The overseer met us as we rode up to the door, and received us very

courteously. He had no complaints. He informed us that the plantation

was as well cultivated as it had been for many years, and the people

were perfectly obedient and industrious.

From Peter's Rock we rode to "Hall's Prospect," a plantation on which

there are sixty apprentices under the charge of a black overseer, who,

two years ago, was a slave. It was five weeks since Mr. B. had been

there, and yet he had only one complaint, and that against a woman for

being late at work on Monday morning. The reason she gave for this was,

that she went to an estate some miles distant to spend the Sabbath with

her husband.

Mr. Bourne, by the aid of funds left in his hands by Mr. Sturge, is

about to establish a school on this plantation. Mr. B., at a previous

visit, had informed the people of what he intended to do, and asked

their co-operation. As soon as they saw him to-day, several of them

immediately inquired about the school, when it would begin, &c. They

showed the greatest eagerness and thankfulness. Mr. B. told them he

should send a teacher as soon as a house was prepared. He had been

talking with their master (the attorney of the plantation) about fixing

one, who had offered them the old "lock-up house," if they would put it

in order. There was a murmur among them at this annunciation. At length

one of the men said, they did not want the school to be held in the

"lock-up house." It was not a good place for their "pickaninnies" to go

to. They had much rather have some other building, and would be glad to

have it close to their houses. Mr. B. told them if they would put up a

small house near their own, he would furnish it with desks and benches.

To this they all assented with great joy.

On our way home we saw, as we did on various other occasions, many of

the apprentices with hoes, baskets, &c., going to their provision

grounds. We had some conversation with them as we rode along. They said

they had been in the fields picking coffee since half past five o'clock.

They were now going, as they always did after "horn-blow" in the

afternoon, (four o'clock,) to their grounds, where they should stay till

dark. Some of their grounds were four, others six miles from home. They

all liked the apprenticeship better than slavery. They were not flogged

so much now, and had more time to themselves. But they should like

freedom much better, and should be glad when it came.

We met a brown young woman driving an ass laden with a great variety of

articles. She said she had been to Kingston (fifteen miles off) with a

load of provisions, and had purchased some things to sell to the

apprentices. We asked her what she did with her money. "Give it to my

husband," said she. "Do you keep none for yourself?" She smiled and

replied: "What for him for me."

After we had passed, Mr. B. informed us that she had been an apprentice,

but purchased her freedom a few months previous, and was now engaged as

a kind of country merchant. She purchases provisions of the negroes, and

carries them to Kingston, where she exchanges them for pins, needles,

thread, dry goods, and such articles as the apprentices need, which she

again exchanges for provisions and money.

Mr. Bourne informed us that real estate is much higher than before

emancipation. He mentioned one "pen" which was purchased for eighteen

hundred dollars a few years since. The owner had received nine hundred

dollars as 'compensation' for freedom. It has lately been leased for

seven years by the owner, for nine hundred dollars per year.

A gentleman who owns a plantation in Mr. B.'s district, sold parcels of

land to the negroes before emancipation at five shillings per acre. He

now obtains twenty-seven shillings per acre.

The house in which Mr. B. resides was rented in 1833 for one hundred and

fifty dollars. Mr. B. engaged it on his arrival for three years, at two

hundred and forty dollars per year. His landlord informed him a few days

since, that on the expiration of his present lease, he should raise the

rent to three hundred and thirty dollars.

Mr. B. is acquainted with a gentleman of wealth, who has been

endeavoring for the last twelve months to purchase an estate in this

island. He has offered high prices, but has as yet been unable to obtain

one. Landholders have so much confidence in the value and security of

real estate, that they do not wish to part with it.

After our visit to Silver Hill, our attention was particularly turned to

the condition of the negro grounds. Most of them were very clean and

flourishing. Large plats of the onion, of cocoa, plantain, banana, yam,

potatoe, and other tropic vegetables, were scattered all around within

five or six miles of a plantation. We were much pleased with the

appearance of them during a ride on a Friday. In the forenoon, they had

all been vacant; not a person was to be seen in them; but after one

o'clock, they began gradually to be occupied, till, at the end of an

hour, where-ever we went, we saw men, women, and children laboring

industriously in their little gardens. In some places, the hills to

their very summits were spotted with cultivation. Till Monday morning

the apprentices were free, and they certainly manifested a strong

disposition to spend that time in taking care of themselves. The

testimony of the numerous apprentices with whom we conversed, was to the

same effect as our observation. They all testified that they were paying

as much attention to their grounds as they ever did, but that their

provisions had been cut short by the drought. They had their land all

prepared for a new crop, and were only waiting for rain to put in the

seed. Mr. Bourne corroborated their statement, and remarked, that he

never found the least difficulty in procuring laborers. Could he have

the possession of the largest plantation in the island to-day, he had no

doubt that, within a week, he could procure free laborers enough to

cultivate every acre.

On one occasion, while among the mountains, we were impressed on a jury

to sit in inquest on the body of a negro woman found dead on the high

road. She was, as appeared in evidence, on her return from the house of

correction, at Half-Way-Tree, where she had been sentenced for fourteen

days, and been put on the treadmill. She had complained to some of her

acquaintances of harsh treatment there, and said they had killed her,

and that if she ever lived to reach home, she should tell all her

massa's negroes never to cross the threshold of Half-Way-Tree, as it

would kill them. The evidence, however, was not clear that she died in

consequence of such treatment, and the jury, accordingly, decided that

she came to her death by some cause unknown to them.

Nine of the jury were overseers, and if they, collected together

indiscriminately on this occasion, were a specimen of those who have

charge of the apprentices in this island, they must be most degraded and

brutal men. They appeared more under the influence of low passions, more

degraded by sensuality, and but little more intelligent, than the

negroes themselves. Instead of possessing irresponsible power over their

fellows, they ought themselves to be under the power of the most strict

and energetic laws. Our visits to the plantations, and inquiries on this

point, confirmed this opinion. They are the 'feculum' of European

society--ignorant, passionate, licentious. We do them no injustice when

we say this, nor when we further add, that the apprentices suffer in a

hundred ways which the law cannot reach, gross insults and oppression

from their excessive rapaciousness and lust. What must it have been

during slavery?

We had some conversation with Cheny Hamilton, Esq., one of the special

magistrates for Port Royal. He is a colored man, and has held his office

about eighteen months. There are three thousand apprentices in his

district, which embraces sugar and coffee estates. The complaints are

few and of a very trivial nature. They mostly originate with the

planters. Most of the cases brought before him are for petty theft and

absence from work.

In his district, cultivation was never better. The negroes are willing

to work during their own time. His father-in-law is clearing up some

mountain land for a coffee plantation, by the labor of apprentices from

neighboring estates. The seasons since emancipation have been bad. The

blacks cultivate their own grounds on their half Fridays and Saturdays,

unless they can obtain employment from others.

Nothing is doing by the planters for the education of the apprentices.

Their only object is to get as much work out of them as possible.

The blacks, so far as he has had opportunity to observe, are in every

respect as quiet and industrious as they were before freedom. He said if

we would compare the character of the complaints brought by the

overseers and apprentices against each other, we should see for

ourselves which party was the most peaceable and law-abiding.

To these views we may here add those of another gentleman, with whom we

had considerable conversation about the same time. He is a proprietor

and local magistrate, and was represented to us as a kind and humane

man. Mr. Bourne stated to us that he had not had six cases of complaint

on his plantation for the last twelve months. We give his most important

statements in the following brief items:

1. He has had charge of estates in Jamaica since 1804. At one time he

had twelve hundred negroes under his control. He now owns a coffee

plantation, on which there are one hundred and ten apprentices, and is

also attorney for several others, the owners of which reside out of

the island.

2. His plantation is well cultivated and clean, and his people are as

industrious and civil as they ever were. He employs them during their

own time, and always finds them willing to work for him, unless their

own grounds require their attendance. Cultivation generally, through the

island, is as good as it ever was. Many of the planters, at the

commencement of the apprenticeship, reduced the quantity of land

cultivated; he did not do so, but on the contrary is extending his

plantation.

3. The crops this year are not so good as usual. This is no fault of the

apprentices, but is owing to the bad season.

4. The conduct of the apprentices depends very much on the conduct of

those who have charge of them. If you find a plantation on which the

overseer is kind, and does common justice to the laborer, you will find

things going on well--if otherwise, the reverse. Those estates and

plantations on which the proprietor himself resides, are most peaceable

and prosperous.

5. Real estate is more valuable than before emancipation. Property is

more secure, and capitalists are more ready to invest their funds.

6. The result of 1840 is as yet doubtful. For his part, he has no fears.

He doubts not he can cultivate his plantation as easily after that

period as before. He is confident he can do it cheaper. He thinks it not

only likely, but certain, that many of the plantations on which the

people have been ill used, while slaves and apprentices, will be

abandoned by the present laborers, and that they will never be worked

until overseers are put over them who, instead of doing all they can to

harass them, will soothe and conciliate them. The apprenticeship has

done much harm instead of good in the way of preparing the blacks to

work after 1840.

A few days after our return from the mountains, we rode to Spanishtown,

which is about twelve miles west of Kingston. Spanishtown is the seat of

government, containing the various buildings for the residence of the

governor, the meeting of the legislature, the session of the courts, and

rooms for the several officers of the crown. They are all strong and

massive structures, but display little architectural magnificence

or beauty.

We spent nearly a day with Richard Hill, Esq., the secretary of the

special magistrates' department, of whom we have already spoken. He is a

colored gentleman, and in every respect the noblest man, white or black,

whom we met in the West Indies. He is highly intelligent, and of fine

moral feelings. His manners are free and unassuming, and his language in

conversation fluent and well chosen. He is intimately acquainted with

English and French authors, and has studied thoroughly the history and

character of the people with whom the tie of color has connected him. He

travelled two years in Hayti, and his letters, written in a flowing and

luxuriant style, as a son of the tropics should write, giving an account

of his observations and inquiries in that interesting island, were

published extensively in England; and have been copied into the

anti-slavery journals in this country. His journal will be given to the

public as soon as his official duties will permit him to prepare it. He

is at the head of the special magistrates, (of which there are sixty in

the island,) and all the correspondence between them and the governor is

carried on through him. The station he holds is a very important one,

and the business connected with it is of a character and an extent that,

were he not a man of superior abilities, he could not sustain. He is

highly respected by the government in the island, and at home, and

possesses the esteem of his fellow-citizens of all colors. He associates

with persons of the highest rank, dining and attending parties at the

government-house with all the aristocracy of Jamaica. We had the

pleasure of spending an evening with him at the solicitor-general's.

Though an African sun has burnt a deep tinge on him, he is truly one of

nature's noblemen. His demeanor is such, so dignified, yet bland and

amiable, that no one can help respecting him.

He spoke in the warmest terms of Lord Sligo,[A] the predecessor of Sir

Lionel Smith, who was driven from the island by the machinations of the

planters and the enemies of the blacks. Lord Sligo was remarkable for

his statistical accuracy. Reports were made to him by the special

magistrates every week. No act of injustice or oppression could escape

his indefatigable inquiries. He was accessible, and lent an open ear to

the lowest person in the island. The planters left no means untried to

remove him, and unhappily succeeded.

[Footnote A: When Lord Sligo visited the United States in the summer of

1836, he spoke with great respect of Mr. Hill to Elizur Wright, Esq.,

Corresponding Secretary of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Mr. Wright

has furnished us with the following statement:--"Just before his

lordship left this city for England, he bore testimony to us

substantially as follows:--'When I went to Jamaica, Mr. Hill was a

special magistrate. In a certain case he refused to comply with my

directions, differing from me in his interpretation of the law. I

informed him that his continued non-compliance must result in his

removal from office. He replied that his mind was made up as to the law,

and he would not violate his reason to save his bread. Being satisfied

of the correctness of my own interpretation, I was obliged, of course,

to remove him; but I was so forcibly struck with his manly independence,

that I applied to the government for power to employ him as my

secretary, which was granted. And having had him as an _intimate of my

family_ for several months, I can most cordially bear my testimony to

his trustworthiness, ability, and gentlemanly deportment.' Lord Sligo

also added, that Mr. Hill was treated in his family in all respects as

if he had not been colored, and that with no gentleman in the West

Indies was he, in social life, on terms of more intimate friendship."]

The following items contain the principal information received from Mr.

Hill:

1. The apprenticeship is a most vicious system, full of blunders and

absurdities, and directly calculated to set master and slave at war.

2. The complaints against the apprentices are decreasing every month,

_except, perhaps, complaints against mothers for absence from work,

which he thinks are increasing_. The apprenticeship _law_ makes no

provision for the free children, and on most of the plantations and

estates no allowance is given them, but they are thrown entirely for

support on their parents, who are obliged to work the most and best part

of their time for their masters unrewarded. The nurseries are broken up,

and frequently the mothers are obliged to work in the fields with their

infants at their backs, or else to leave them at some distance under the

shade of a hedge or tree. Every year is making their condition worse and

worse. The number of children is increasing, and yet the mothers are

required, after their youngest child has attained the age of a few

weeks, to be at work the same number of hours as the men. Very little

time is given them to take care of their household. When they are tardy

they are brought before the magistrate.

A woman was brought before Mr. Hill a few days before we were there,

charged with not being in the field till one hour after the rest of the

gang. She had twins, and appeared before him with a child hanging on

each arm. What an eloquent defence! He dismissed the complaint.

He mentioned another case, of a woman whose master resided in

Spanishtown, but who was hired out by him to some person in the country.

Her child became sick, but her employer refused any assistance. With it

in her arms, she entreated aid of her master. The monster drove her and

her dying little one into the street at night, and she sought shelter

with Mr. Hill, where her child expired before morning. For such horrid

cruelty as this, the apprenticeship law provides no remedy. The woman

had no claim for the support of her child, on the man who was receiving

the wages of her daily toil. That child was not worth a farthing to him,

because it was no longer his _chattel_; and while the law gives him

power to rob the mother, it has no compulsion to make him support

the child.

3. The complaints are generally of the most trivial and frivolous

nature. They are mostly against mothers for neglect of duty, and vague

charges of insolence. There is no provision in the law to prevent the

master from using abusive language to the apprentice; any insult short

of a blow, he is free to commit; but the slightest word of incivility, a

look, smile, or grin, is punished in the apprentice, even though it

were provoked.

4. There is still much flogging by the overseers. Last week a girl came

to Mr. H. terribly scarred and "slashed," and complained that her master

had beaten her. It appeared that this was the _seventh offence_, for

neither of which she could obtain a hearing from the special magistrate

in her district. While Mr. H. was relating to me this fact, a girl came

in with a little babe in her arms. He called my attention to a large

bruise near her eye. He said her master knocked her down a few days

since, and made that wound by kicking her.

Frequently when complaints of insolence are made, on investigation, it

is found that the offence was the result of a quarrel commenced by the

master, during which he either cuffed or kicked the offender.

The special magistrates also frequently resort to flogging. Many of

them, as has been mentioned already, have been connected with the army

or navy, where corporal punishment is practised and flogging is not only

in consonance with their feelings and habits, but is a punishment more

briefly inflicted and more grateful to the planters, as it does not

deprive them of the apprentice's time.

5. Mr. H. says that the apprentices who have purchased their freedom

behave well. He has not known one of them to be brought before

the police.

6. Many of the special magistrates require much looking after. Their

salaries are not sufficient to support them independently. Some of them

leave their homes on Monday morning, and make the whole circuit of their

district before returning, living and lodging meanwhile, _free of

expense_, with the planters. If they are not inclined to listen to the

complaints of the apprentices, they soon find that the apprentices are

not inclined to make complaints to them, and that they consequently have

much more leisure time, and get through their district much easier. Of

the sixty magistrates in Jamaica, but few can be said to discharge their

duties faithfully. The governor is often required to interfere. A few

weeks since he discharged two magistrates for putting iron collars on

two women, in direct violation of the law, and then sending him

false reports.

7. The negro grounds are often at a great distance, five or six miles,

and some of them fifteen miles, from the plantation. Of course much

time, which would otherwise be spent in cultivating them, is necessarily

consumed in going to them and returning. Yet for all that, and though in

many cases the planters have withdrawn the watchmen who used to protect

them, and have left them entirely exposed to thieves and cattle, they

are generally well cultivated--on the whole, better than during slavery.

When there is inattention to them, it is caused either by some planters

hiring them during their own time, or because their master permits his

cattle to trespass on them, and the people feel an insecurity. When you

find a kind planter, in whom the apprentices have confidence, there you

will find beautiful gardens. In not a few instances, where the overseer

is particularly harsh and cruel, the negroes have thrown up their old

grounds, and taken new ones on other plantations, where the overseer is

better liked, or gone into the depths of the mountain forests, where no

human foot has been before them, and there cleared up small plats. This

was also done to some extent during slavery. Many of the people, against

whom the planters are declaiming as lazy and worthless, have rich

grounds of which those planters little dream.

8. There is no feeling of insecurity, either of life or property. One

may travel through the whole island without the least fear of violence.

If there is any danger, it is from the _emigrants_, who have been guilty

of several outrages. So far from the planters fearing violence from the

apprentices, when an assault or theft is committed, they refer it,

almost as a matter of course, to some one else. A few weeks ago one of

the island mails was robbed. As soon as it became known, it was at once

said, "Some of those villanous emigrants did it," and so indeed

it proved.

People in the country, in the midst of the mountains, where the whites

are few and isolated, sleep with their doors and windows open, without a

thought of being molested. In the towns there are no watchmen, and but a

small police, and yet the streets are quiet and property safe.

9. The apprentices understand the great provisions of the new system,

such as the number of hours they must work for their master, and that

their masters have no right to flog them, &c., but its details are

inexplicable mysteries. The masters have done much injury by deceiving

them on points of which they were ignorant.

10. The apprentices almost to a man are ready to work for wages during

their own time. When the overseer is severe towards them, they prefer

working on other plantations, even for less wages, as is very natural.

11. Almost all the evils of the apprenticeship arise from the obstinacy

and oppressive conduct of the overseers. They are constantly taking

advantage of the defects of the system, which are many, and while they

demand to the last grain's weight "the pound of flesh," they are utterly

unwilling to yield the requirements which the law makes of them. Where

you find an overseer endeavoring in every way to overreach the

apprentices, taking away the privileges which they enjoyed during

slavery, and exacting from them the utmost minute and mite of labor,

there you will find abundant complaints both against the master and the

apprentice. And the reverse. The cruel overseers are complaining of

idleness, insubordination, and ruin, while the kind master is moving on

peaceably and prosperously.

12. The domestic apprentices have either one day, or fifty cents cash,

each week, as an allowance for food and clothing. This is quite

insufficient. Many of the females seem obliged to resort to theft or to

prostitution to obtain a support. Two girls were brought before Mr. Hill

while we were with him, charged with neglect of duty and night-walking.

One of them said her allowance was too small, and she must get food in

some other way or starve.

13. The apprentices on many plantations have been deprived of several

privileges which they enjoyed under the old system. Nurseries have been

abolished, water-carriers have been taken away, keeping stock is

restricted, if not entirely forbidden, watchmen are no longer provided

to guard the negro grounds, &c.--petty aggressions in our eyes, perhaps,

but severe to them. Another instance is still more hard. By the custom

of slavery, women who had reared up seven children were permitted to

"sit down," as it was termed; that is, were not obliged to go into the

field to work. Now no such distinction is made, but all are driven into

the field.

14. One reason why the crops were smaller in 1835 and 1836 than in

former years, was, that the planters in the preceding seasons, either

fearful that the negroes would not take off the crops after

emancipation, and acting on their baseless predictions instead of facts,

or determined to make the results of emancipation appear as disastrous

as possible, neglected to put in the usual amount of cane, and to clean

the coffee fields. As they refused to sow, of course they could

not reap.

15. The complaints against the apprentices generally are becoming fewer

every week, but the complaints against the masters are increasing both

in number and severity. One reason of this is, that the apprentices, on

the one hand, are becoming better acquainted with the new system, and

therefore better able to avoid a violation of its provisions, and are

also learning that they cannot violate these provisions with impunity;

and, on the other hand, they are gaining courage to complain against

their masters, to whom they have hitherto been subjected by a fear

created by the whips and dungeons, and nameless tortures of slavery.

Another reason is, that the masters, as the term of the apprenticeship

shortens, and the end of their authority approaches nearer, are pressing

their poor victims harder and harder, determined to extort from them all

they can, before complete emancipation rescues them for ever from

their grasp.

While we were in conversation with Mr. Hill, Mr. Ramsay, one of the

special magistrates for this parish, called in. He is a native of

Jamaica, and has been educated under all the influences of West India

society, but has held fast his integrity, and is considered the firm

friend of the apprentices. He confirmed every fact and opinion which Mr.

Hill had given. He was even stronger than Mr. H. in his expressions of

disapprobation of the apprenticeship.

The day which we spent with Mr. Hill was one of those on which he holds

a special justice's court. There were only three cases of complaint

brought before him.

The first was brought by a woman, attended by her husband, against her

servant girl, for "impertinence and insubordination." She took the oath

and commenced her testimony with an abundance of vague charges. "She is

the most insolent girl I ever saw. She'll do nothing that she is told to

do--she never thinks of minding what is said to her--she is sulky and

saucy," etc. Mr. H. told her she must be specific--he could not convict

the girl on such general charges--some particular acts must be proved.

She became specific. Her charges were as follows:

1. On the previous Thursday the defendant was plaiting a shirt. The

complainant went up to her and asked her why she did not plait it as she

ought, and not hold it in her hand as she did. Defendant replied, that

it was easier, and she preferred that way to the other. The complainant

remonstrated, but, despite all she could say, the obstinate girl

persisted, and did it as she chose. The complainant granted that the

work was done well, only it was not done in the way she desired.

2. The same day she ordered the defendant to wipe up some tracks in the

hall. She did so. While she was doing it, the mistress told her the room

was very dusty, and reproved her for it. The girl replied, "Is it

morning?" (It is customary to clean the rooms early in the morning, and

the girl made this reply late in the afternoon, when sufficient time had

elapsed for the room to become dusty again.)

3. The girl did not wash a cloth clean which the complainant gave her,

and the complainant was obliged to wash it herself.

4. Several times when the complainant and her daughter have been

conversing together, this girl had burst into laughter--whether at them

or their conversation, complainant did not know.

5. When the complainant has reproved the defendant for not doing her

work well, she has replied, "Can't you let me alone to my work, and not

worry my life out."

A black man, a constable on the same property, was brought up to confirm

the charges. He knew nothing about the case, only that he often heard

the parties quarrelling, and sometimes had told the girl not to say any

thing, as she knew what her mistress was.

It appeared in the course of the evidence, that the complainant and her

husband had both been in the habit of speaking disrespectfully of the

special magistrate, stationed in their district, and that many of the

contentions arose out of that, as the girl sometimes defended him.

While the accused was making her defence, which she did in a modest way,

her mistress was highly enraged, and interrupted her several times, by

calling her a liar and a jade. The magistrate was two or three times

obliged to reprove her, and command her to be silent, and, so passionate

did she become, that her husband, ashamed of her, put his hand on her

shoulder, and entreated her to be calm.

Mr. Hill dismissed the complaint by giving some good advice to both

parties, much to the annoyance of the mistress.

The second complaint was brought by a man against a servant girl, for

disobedience of orders, and insolence. It appears that she was ordered,

at ten o'clock at night, to do some work. She was just leaving the house

to call on some friends, as she said, and refused. On being told by her

mistress that she only wanted to go out for bad purposes, she replied,

that "It was no matter--the allowance they gave her was not sufficient

to support her, and if they would not give her more, she must get a

living any way she could, so she did not steal." She was sentenced to

the house of correction for one week.

The third case was a complaint against a boy for taking every alternate

Friday and Saturday, instead of every Saturday, for allowance. He was

ordered to take every Saturday, or to receive in lieu of it half

a dollar.

Mr. Hill said these were a fair specimen of the character of the

complaints that came before him. We were much pleased with the manner in

which he presided in his court, the ease, dignity, and impartiality

which he exhibited, and the respect which was shown him by all parties.

In company with Mr. Hill, we called on Rev. Mr. Phillips, the Baptist

missionary, stationed at Spanishtown. Mr. P. has been in the island

thirteen years. He regards the apprenticeship as a great amelioration of

the old system of slavery, but as coming far short of the full

privileges and rights of freedom, and of what it was expected to be. It

is beneficial to the missionaries, as it gives them access to the

plantations, while before, in many instances, they were entirely

excluded from them, and in all cases were much shackled in their

operations.

Mr. P. has enlarged his chapel within the last fifteen months, so that

it admits several hundreds more than formerly. But it is now too small.

The apprentices are much more anxious to receive religious instruction,

and much more open to conviction, than when slaves. He finds a great

difference now on different plantations. Where severity is used, as it

still is on many estates, and the new system is moulded as nearly as

possible on the old, the minds of the apprentices are apparently closed

against all impressions,--but where they are treated with kindness, they

are warm in their affections, and solicitous to be taught.

In connection with his church, Mr. P. has charge of a large school. The

number present, when we visited it, was about two hundred. There was, to

say the least, as much manifestation of intellect and sprightliness as

we ever saw in white pupils of the same age. Most of the children were

slaves previous to 1834, and their parents are still apprentices.

Several were pointed out to us who were not yet free, and attend only by

permission, sometimes purchased, of their master. The greater part live

from three to five miles distant. Mr. P. says he finds no lack of

interest among the apprentices about education. He can find scholars for

as many schools as he can establish, if he keeps himself unconnected

with the planters. The apprentices are opposed to all schools

established by, or in any way allied to, their masters.

Mr. P. says the planters are doing nothing to prepare the apprentices

for freedom in 1840. They do not regard the apprenticeship as

intermediate time for preparation, but as part of the _compensation_.

Every day is counted, not as worth so much for education and moral

instruction, but as worth so much for digging cane-holes, and clearing

coffee fields.

Mr. P.'s church escaped destruction during the persecution of the

Baptists. The wives and connections of many of the colored soldiers had

taken refuge in it, and had given out word that they would defend it

even against their own husbands and brothers, who in turn informed their

officers that if ordered to destroy it, they should refuse at all peril.

CHAPTER III.

RESULTS OF ABOLITION.

The actual working of the apprenticeship in Jamaica, was the specific

object of our investigations in that island. That it had not operated so

happily as in Barbadoes, and in most of the other colonies, was admitted

by all parties. As to the _degree_ of its failure, we were satisfied it

was not so great as had been represented. There has been nothing of an

_insurrectionary_ character since the abolition of slavery. The affair

on Thornton's estate, of which an account is given in the preceding

chapter, is the most serious disturbance which has occurred during the

apprenticeship. The _fear_ of insurrection is as effectually dead in

Jamaica, as in Barbadoes--so long as the apprenticeship lasts. There has

been no _increase of crime_. The character of the negro population has

been gradually improving in morals and intelligence. Marriage has

increased, the Sabbath is more generally observed, and religious worship

is better attended. Again, the apprentices of Jamaica have not

manifested any peculiar _defiance of law_. The most illiberal

magistrates testified that the people respected the law, when they

understood it. As it respects the _industry_ of the apprentices, there

are different opinions among the _planters_ themselves. Some admitted

that they were as industrious as before, and did as much work _in

proportion to the time they were employed_. Others complained that they

_lacked the power_ to compel industry, and that hence there was a

falling off of work. The prominent evils complained of in Jamaica are,

absconding from work, and insolence to masters. From the statements in

the preceding chapter, it may be inferred that many things are called by

these names, and severely punished, which are really innocent or

unavoidable; however, it would not be wonderful if there were numerous

instances of both. Insolence is the legitimate fruit of the

apprenticeship, which holds out to the apprentice, that he possesses the

rights of a man, and still authorizes the master to treat him as though

he were little better than a dog. The result must often be that the

apprentice will repay insult with insolence. This will continue to exist

until either the former system of _absolute force_ is restored, or a

system of free compensated labor, with its powerful checks and balances

on both parties, is substituted. The prevalence and causes of the other

offence--absconding from labor--will be noticed hereafter.

The atrocities which are practised by the masters and magistrates, are

appalling enough. It is probable that the actual condition of the

negroes in Jamaica, is but little if any better than it was during

slavery. The amount of punishment inflicted by the special magistrates,

cannot fall much short of that usually perpetrated by the drivers. In

addition to this, the apprentices are robbed of the _time_ allowed them

by law, at the will of the magistrate, who often deprives them of it on

the slightest complaint of the overseer. The situation of the _free

children_[A] is often very deplorable. The master feels none of that

interest in them which he formerly felt in the children that were his

property, and consequently, makes no provision for them. They are thrown

entirely upon their parents, who are _unable_ to take proper care of

them, from the almost constant demands which the master makes upon their

time. The condition of pregnant women, and nursing mothers, is

_decidedly worse_ than it was during slavery. The privileges which the

planter felt it for his interest to grant these formerly, for _the sake

of their children_, are now withheld. The former are exposed to the

inclemencies of the weather, and the hardships of toil--the latter are

cruelly dragged away from their infants, that the master may not lose

the smallest portion of time,--and _both_ are liable at any moment to be

incarcerated in the dungeon, or strung up on the treadwheel. In

consequence of the cruelties which are practised, the apprentices are in

a _disaffected state_ throughout the island.

[Footnote A: All children under _six years_ of age at the time of

abolition, were made entirely free.]

In assigning the causes of the ill-working of the apprenticeship in

Jamaica, we would say in the commencement, that nearly all of them are

embodied in the intrinsic defects of the system itself. These defects

have been exposed in a former chapter, and we need not repeat them here.

The reason why the system has not produced as much mischief in all the

colonies as it has in Jamaica, is that the local circumstances in the

other islands were not so adapted to develop its legitimate results.

It is not without the most careful investigation of facts, that we have

allowed ourselves to entertain the views which we are now about to

express, respecting the conduct of the planters and special

justices--for it is to _them_ that we must ascribe the evils which exist

in Jamaica. We cheerfully accede to them all of palliation which may be

found in the provocations incident to the wretched system of

apprenticeship.

The causes of the difficulties rest chiefly with the _planters_. They

were _originally_ implicated, and by their wily schemes they soon

involved the special magistrates. The Jamaica planters, as a body,

always violently opposed the abolition of slavery. Unlike the planters

in most of the colonies, they cherished their hostility _after the act

of abolition_. It would seem that they had agreed with one accord, never

to become reconciled to the measures of the English government, and had

sworn eternal hostility to every scheme of emancipation. Whether this

resulted most from love for slavery or hatred of English interference,

it is difficult to determine. If we were to believe the planters

themselves, who are of the opposition, we should conclude that they were

far from being in favor of slavery--that they were "as much opposed to

slavery, as any one can be[A]." Notwithstanding this avowal, the

tenacity with which the planters cling to the remnant of their power,

shows an affection for it, of the strength of which they are not

probably themselves aware.

[Footnote A: It seems to be the order of the day, with the opposition

party in Jamaica, to disclaim all friendship with slavery. We noticed

several instances of this in the island papers, which have been most

hostile to abolition. We quote the following sample from the Royal

Gazette, (Kingston) for May 6, 1837. The editor, in an article

respecting Cuba, says:

"In writing this, one chief object is to arouse the attention of our

own fellow-subjects, in this colony, to the situation--the dangerous

situation--in which they stand, and to implore them to lend all

their energies to avert the ruin that is likely to visit them,

should America get the domination of Cuba.

The negroes of this and of all the British W.I. colonies have been

'_emancipated_.' Cuba on the other hand is still a _slave country_.

(Let not our readers imagine for one moment that we advocate the

_continuance of slavery_,") &c.

]

When public men have endeavored to be faithful and upright, they have

uniformly been abused, and even persecuted, by the planters. The

following facts will show that the latter have not scrupled to resort to

the most dishonest and unmanly intrigues to effect the removal or to

circumvent the influence of such men. Neglect, ridicule, vulgar abuse,

slander, threats, intimidation, misrepresentation, and legal

prosecutions, have been the mildest weapons employed against those who

in the discharge of their sworn duties dared to befriend the oppressed.

The shameful treatment of the late governor, Lord Sligo, illustrates

this. His Lordship was appointed to the government about the period of

abolition. Being himself a proprietor of estates in the island, and

formerly chairman of the West India Body, he was received at first with

the greatest cordiality; but it was soon perceived that he was disposed

to secure justice to the apprentices. From the accounts we received, we

have been led to entertain an exalted opinion of his integrity and

friendship for the poor. It was his custom (unprecedented in the West

Indies,) to give a patient hearing to the poorest negro who might carry

his grievances to the government-house. After hearing the complaint, he

would despatch an order to the special magistrate of the district in

which the complainant lived, directing him to inquire into the case. By

this means he kept the magistrates employed, and secured redress to the

apprentices to many cases where they would otherwise have bean

neglected.

The governor soon rendered himself exceedingly obnoxious to the

planters, and they began to manoeuvre for his removal, which, in a short

time, was effected by a most flagitious procedure. The home government,

disposed to humor their unruly colony, sent them a governor in whom they

are not likely to find any fault. The present governor, Sir Lionel

Smith, is the antipode of his predecessor in every worthy respect. When

the apprentices come to him with their complaints, he sends them back

unheard, with curses on their heads. A distinguished gentleman in the

colony remarked of him that he _was a heartless military chieftain, who

ruled without regard to mercy_. Of course the planters are full of his

praise. His late tour of the island was a _triumphal procession_, amid

the sycophantic greetings of oppressors.

Several special magistrates have been suspended because of the faithful

discharge of their duties. Among these was Dr. Palmer, an independent

and courageous man. Repeated complaints were urged against him by the

planters, until finally Sir Lionel Smith appointed a commission to

inquire into the grounds of the difficulty.

"This commission consisted of two local magistrates, both of them

planters or managers of estates, and two stipendiary magistrates, the

bias of one of whom, at least, was believed to be against Dr. Palmer. At

the conclusion of their inquiry they summed up their report by saying

that Dr. Palmer had administered the abolition law in the spirit of the

English abolition act, and in his administration of the law he had

adapted it more to the comprehension of freemen than to the

understandings of apprenticed laborers. Not only did Sir Lionel Smith

suspend Dr. Palmer on this report, but the colonial office at home have

dismissed him from his situation."

The following facts respecting the persecution of Special Justice

Bourne, illustrate the same thing.

"A book-keeper of the name of Maclean, on the estate of the Rev. M.

Hamilton, an Irish clergyman, committed a brutal assault upon an old

African. The attorney on the property refused to hear the complaint

of the negro, who went to Stephen Bourne, a special magistrate. When

Maclean was brought before him, he did not deny the fact; but said

as the old man was not a Christian, his oath could not be taken! The

magistrate not being able to ascertain the amount of injury

inflicted upon the negro (whose head was dreadfully cut,) but

feeling that it was a case which required a greater penalty than

three pounds sterling, the amount of punishment to which he was

limited by the local acts, detained Maclean, and afterwards

committed him to jail, and wrote the next day to the chief justice

upon the subject. He was discharged as soon as a doctor's

certificate was procured of the state of the wounded man, and bail

was given for his appearance at the assizes. Maclean's trial came on

at the assizes, and he was found guilty by a Jamaica Jury; he was

severely reprimanded for his inhuman conduct and fined thirty

pounds. The poor apprentice however got no remuneration for the

severe injury inflicted upon him, and the special justice was

prosecuted for false imprisonment, dragged from court to court,

represented as an oppressor and a tyrant, subjected to four hundred

pounds expenses in defending himself, and actually had judgment

given against him for one hundred and fifty pounds damages.

Thus have the planters succeeded in pulling down every magistrate

who ventures to do more than fine them three pounds sterling for any

act of cruelty of which they may be guilty. On the other hand, there

were two magistrates who were lately dismissed, through, I believe,

the representation of Lord Sligo, for flagrant violations of the law

in inflicting punishment; and in order to evince their sympathy for

those men, the planters gave them a farewell dinner, and had

actually set on foot a subscription, as a tribute of gratitude for

their "Impartial" conduct in administering the laws, as special

justices. Thus were two men, notoriously guilty of violations of law

and humanity, publicly encouraged and protected, while Stephen

Bourne, who according to the testimony of the present and late

attorney-general had acted not only justly but _legally_, was

suffering every species of persecution and indignity for so doing."

Probably nothing could demonstrate the meanness of the artifices to

which the planters resort to get rid of troublesome magistrates better

than the following fact. When the present governor, in making his tour

of the island, came into St. Thomas in the East, some of the planters of

Manchioneal district hired a negro constable on one of the estates to go

to the governor and complain to him that Mr. Chamberlain encouraged the

apprentices to be disorderly and idle. The negro went accordingly, but

like another Balaam, he prophesied _against his employers_. He stated to

the governor that the apprentices on the estate where he lived were lazy

and wouldn't do right, _but he declared that it was not Mr. C.'s fault,

for that he was not allowed to come on the estate!_

Having given such an unfavorable description of the mass of planters, it

is but just to add that there are a few honorable exceptions. There are

some attorneys and overseers, who if they dared to face the allied

powers of oppression, would act a noble part. But they are trammelled by

an overpowering public sentiment, and are induced to fall in very much

with the prevailing practices. One of this class, an attorney of

considerable influence, declined giving us his views in writing, stating

that his situation and the state of public sentiment must be his

apology. An overseer who was disposed to manifest the most liberal

bearing towards his apprentices, and who had directions from the

absentee proprietor to that effect, was yet effectually prevented by his

attorney, who having several other estates under his charge, was fearful

of losing them, if he did not maintain the same severe discipline

on all.

The special magistrates are also deeply implicated in causing the

difficulties existing under the apprenticeship. They are incessantly

exposed to multiplied and powerful temptations. The persecution which

they are sure to incur by a faithful discharge of their duties, has

already been noticed. It would require men of unusual sternness of

principle to face so fierce an array. Instead of being _independent_ of

the planters, their situation is in every respect totally the reverse.

Instead of having a central office or station-house to hold their courts

at, as is the case in Barbadoes, they are required to visit each estate

in their districts. They have a circuit from forty to sixty miles to

compass every fortnight, or in some cases three times every month. On

these tours they are absolutely dependent upon the hospitality of the

planters. None but men of the "sterner stuff" could escape, (to use the

negro's phrase) _being poisoned by massa's turtle soup._ The _character_

of the men who are acting as magistrates is thus described by a colonial

magistrate of high standing and experience.

"The special magistracy department is filled with the most worthless

men, both domestic and imported. It was a necessary qualification of the

former to possess no property; hence the most worthless vagabonds on the

island were appointed. The latter were worn out officers and dissipated

rakes, whom the English government sent off here in order to get rid of

them." As a specimen of the latter kind, this gentleman mentioned one

(special Justice Light) who died lately from excessive dissipation. He

was constantly drunk, and the only way in which to get him to do any

business was to take him on to an estate in the evening so that he might

sleep off his intoxication, and then the business was brought before him

early the next morning, before he had time to get to his cups.

It is well known that many of the special magistrates are totally

unprincipled men, monsters of cruelty, lust, and despotism. As a result

of natural character in many cases, and of dependence upon planters in

many more, the great mass of the special justices are a disgrace to

their office, and to the government which commissioned them. Out of

sixty, the number of special justices in Jamaica, there are not more

than fifteen, or twenty at farthest, who are not the merest tools of the

attorneys and overseers. Their servility was graphically hit off by the

apprentice. "If busha say flog em, he flog em; if busha say send them to

the treadmill, he send em." If an apprentice laughs or sings, and the

busha represents it to the magistrate as insolence, he _feels it his

duty_ to make an example of the offender!

The following fact will illustrate the injustice of the magistrates. It

was stated in writing by a missionary. We conceal all names, in

compliance with the request of the writer. "An apprentice belonging to

---- in the ---- was sent to the treadmill by special justice G. He was

ordered to go out and count the sheep, as he was able to count higher

than some of the field people, although a house servant from his

youth--I may say childhood. Instead of bringing in the tally cut upon a

piece of board, as usual, he wrote the number eighty upon a piece of

paper. When the overseer saw it, he would scarcely believe that any of

his people could write, and ordered a piece of coal to be brought and

made him write it over again; the next day he turned him into the field,

but unable to perform the task (to hoe and weed one hundred coffee roots

daily) with those who had been accustomed to field work all their lives,

he was tried for neglect of duty, and sentenced to fourteen days on the

treadmill!"

We quote the following heart-rending account from the Telegraph,

(Spanishtown,) April 28, 1837. It is from a Baptist missionary.

"I see something is doing in England to shorten the apprenticeship

system. I pray God it may soon follow its predecessor--slavery, for

it is indeed slavery under a less disgusting name. Business lately

(December 23) called me to Rodney Hall; and while I was there, a

poor old negro was brought in for punishment. I heard the fearful

vociferation, 'twenty stripes.' 'Very well; here ----, put this man

down.' I felt as I cannot describe; yet I thought, as the supervisor

was disposed to be civil, my presence might tend to make the

punishment less severe than it usually is--but I was disappointed. I

inquired into the crime for which such an old man could be so

severely punished, and heard various accounts. I wrote to the

magistrate who sentenced him to receive it; and after many days I

got the following reply."

"_Logan Castle, Jan. 9, 1836._

Sir--In answer to your note of the 4th instant, I beg leave to

state, that ---- ----, an apprentice belonging to ---- ----, was

brought before me by Mr. ----, his late overseer, charged upon oath

with continual neglect of duty and disobedience of orders as

cattle-man, and also for stealing milk--was convicted, and sentenced

to receive twenty stripes. So far from the punishment of the

offender being severe, he was not ordered one half the number of

stripes provided for such cases by the abolition act--if he received

more than that number, or if those were inflicted with undue

severity, I shall feel happy in making every inquiry amongst the

authorities at Rodney Hall institution.

I remain, sir, yours, truly,

T.W. JONES, S.M."

'Rev. J. Clarke, &c., &c.'

From Mr. Clarke's reply, we make the following extract:

"_Jericho, January 19, 1836._

Sir--I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th

instant.

Respecting the punishment of ---- ----, I still adhere to the

opinion I before expressed, that, for an old man of about sixty

years of age, the punishment was severe. To see a venerable old man

tied as if to be broken on the wheel, and cut to the bone by the

lash of an athletic driver--writhing and yelling under the most

exquisite torture, were certainly circumstances sufficiently strong

to touch the heart of any one possessed of the smallest degree of

common humanity. The usual preparations being made, the old man

quietly stripped off his upper garments, and lay down upon the

board--he was then tied by his legs, middle, above the elbows, and

at each wrist. Mr. ---- then called out to the driver, 'I hope you

will do your duty--he is not sent here for nothing.' At the first

lash the skin started up; and at the third, the blood began to flow;

ere the driver had given ten, the cat was covered with gore; and he

stopped to change it for a dry one, which appeared to me somewhat

longer than the first. When the poor tortured creature had received

sixteen, his violent struggles enabled him to get one of his hands

loose, which he put instantly to his back--the driver stopped to

retie him, and then proceeded to give the remaining four. The

struggles of the poor old man from the first lash bespoke the most

extreme torture; and his cries were to me most distressing. 'Oh! oh!

mercy! mercy! mercy! oh! massa! massa! dat enough--enough! oh,

enough! O, massa, have pity! O, massa! massa! dat enough--enough!

Oh, never do de like again--only pity me--forgive me dis once! oh!

pity! mercy! mercy! oh! oh!' were the cries he perpetually uttered.

I shall remember them while I live; and would not for ten thousand

worlds have been the cause of producing them. It was some minutes

after he was loosed ere he could rise to his feet, and as he

attempted to rise, he continued calling out, 'My back! oh! my back!

my back is broken.' A long time he remained half-doubled, the blood

flowing round his body; 'I serve my master,' said the aged sufferer,

'at all times; get no Saturday, no Sunday; yet this is de way

dem use me.'

With such planters, and such magistrates to play into their hands,

is it to be wondered at that the apprentices do badly? Enough has

been said, we think, to satisfy any candid person as to the _causes

of the evils in Jamaica_. If any thing further were needed, we might

speak of the peculiar facilities which these men have for

perpetrating acts of cruelty and injustice. The major part of the

island is exceedingly mountainous, and a large portion of the sugar

estates, and most of the coffee plantations, are among the

mountains. These estates are scattered over a wide extent of

country, and separated by dense forests and mountains, which conceal

each plantation from the public view almost as effectually as though

it were the only property on the island. The only mode of access to

many of the estates in the mountainous districts, is by mule paths

winding about, amid fastnesses, precipices, and frightful solitudes.

In those lone retirements, on the mountain top, or in the deep glen

by the side of the rocky rivers, the traveller occasionally meets

with an estate. Strangers but rarely intrude upon those little

domains. They are left to the solitary sway of the overseers

dwelling amid their "gangs," and undisturbed, save by the weekly

visitations of the special magistrates. While the traveller is

struck with the facilities for the perpetration of those enormities

which must have existed there during slavery; he is painfully

impressed also with the numerous opportunities which are still

afforded for oppressing the apprentices, particularly where the

special magistrates are not honest men.[A]

[Footnote A: From the nature of the case, it must be impossible to know

how much actual flogging is perpetrated by the overseers. We might

safely conjecture that there must be a vast deal of it that never comes

to the light. Such is the decided belief of many of the first men in the

island. The planters, say they, flog their apprentices, and then, to

prevent their complaining to the magistrate, threaten them with severe

punishment, or bribe them to silence by giving them a few shillings. The

attorney-general mentioned an instance of the latter policy. A planter

got angry with one of his head men, who was a constable, and knocked him

down. The man started off to complain to the special magistrate. The

master called him back, and told him he need not go to the

magistrate--that he was constable, and had a right to fine him himself.

"Well, massa," said the negro, "I fine you five shillings on de spot."

The master was glad to get off with that--the magistrate would probably

have fined him £5 currency.]

In view of the local situation of Jamaica--the violent character of

its planters--and the inevitable dependency of the magistrates, it

is very manifest _that immediate emancipation was imperatively

demanded there_. In no other colony did the negroes require to be

more _entirely released from the tyranny of the overseers, or more

thoroughly shielded by the power of equal law_. This is a principle

which must hold good always--that where slavery has been most

rigorous and absolute, there emancipation, needs to be most

unqualified; and where the sway of the master has been _most

despotic, cruel, and_ LONG CONTINUED, there the protection of law

should be most SPEEDILY _extended and most impartially applied_."[B]

[Footnote B: Since the above was written we have seen a copy of a

message sent by Sir Lionel Smith, to the house of assembly of Jamaica,

on the 3d November, 1837, in which a statement of the deprivations of

the apprentices, is officially laid before the house. We make the

following extract from it, which contains, to use his Excellency's

language, "the principal causes, as has been found by the records of the

special magistrates, of complaints among the apprentices; and of

consequent collisions between the planters and magistrates."

"Prudent and humane planters have already adopted what is

recommended, and their properties present the good working of this

system in peace and industry, without their resorting to the

authority of the special magistrates; but there are other properties

where neither the law of the apprenticeship nor the usages of

slavery have been found sufficient to guard the rights of the

apprentices.

First, the magistrates' reports show that on some estates the

apprentices have been deprived of cooks and water-carriers while at

work in the field--thus, the time allowed for breakfast, instead of

being a period of rest, is one of continual labor, as they have to

seek for fuel and to cook. The depriving them of water-carriers is

still more injurious, as the workmen are not allowed to quit their

rows to obtain it. Both these privations are detrimental to the

planter's work. Second, a law seems wanting to supply the estates'

hospitals with sufficient attendants on the sick apprentices, as

well as for the supply of proper food, as they cannot depend on

their own grounds, whilst unable to leave the hospitals. The first

clause of the abolition law has not been found strong enough to

secure these necessary attentions to the sick. Third, in regard to

jobbers, more exposed to hardships than any other class. A law is

greatly required allowing them the distance they may have to walk to

their work, at the rate of three miles an hour, and for compelling

the parties hiring them to supply them with salt food and meal;

their grounds are oftentimes so many miles distant, it is impossible

for them to supply themselves. Hence constant complaints and

irregularities. Fourth, that mothers of six children and upwards,

pregnant women, and the aged of both sexes, would be greatly

benefited by a law enforcing the kind treatment which they received

in slavery, but which is now considered optional, or is altogether

avoided on many properties. Fifth, nothing would tend more to effect

general contentment and repress the evils of comparative treatment,

than the issue of fish as a right by law. It was an indulgence in

slavery seldom denied, but on many properties is now withheld, or

given for extra labor instead of wages. Sixth, his Excellency during

the last sessions had the honor to address a message to the house

for a stronger definition of working time. The clause of the act in

aid expressed that it was the intention of the legislature to

regulate 'uniformity' of labor, but in practice there is still a

great diversity of system. The legal adviser of the crown considers

the clause active and binding; the special magistrate cannot,

therefore, adjudicate on disputes of labor under the eight hour

system, and the consequences have been continual complaints and

bickerings between the magistrates and managers, and discontent

among the apprentices by comparison of the advantages which one

system presents over the other. Seventh, if your honorable house

would adopt some equitable fixed principle for the value of

apprentices desirous of purchasing their discharge, either by

ascertained rates of weekly labor, or by fixed sums according to

their trade or occupation, which should not be exceeded, and

allowing the deduction of one third from the extreme value for the

contingencies of maintenance, clothing, medical aid, risk of life,

and health, it would greatly tend to set at rest one cause of

constant disappointment. In proportion as the term of apprenticeship

draws to a close, THE DEMANDS FOR THE SALE OF SERVICES HAVE GREATLY

INCREASED. It is in the hope that the honorable house will be

disposed to enforce a more general system of equal treatment, that

his Excellency now circumstantially represents what have been the

most common causes of complaint among the apprentices, and why the

island is subject to the reproach that the negroes, in some

respects, are now in a worse condition than they were in slavery."

]

We heard frequent complaints in Jamaica respecting the falling off of

the crops since abolition. In order that the reader may know the extent

of the failure in the aggregate island crops, we have inserted in the

appendix a table showing the "exports for fifty-three years, ending 31st

December, 1836, condensed from the journals of the House."

By the disaffected planters, the diminished crops were hailed as "an

evident token of perdition." They had foretold that abolition would be

the ruin of cultivation, they had maintained that sugar, coffee, rum,

&c., could not be produced extensively without the _whip of slavery_,

and now they exultingly point to the short crops and say, "See the

results of abolition!" We say exultingly, for a portion of the planters

do really seem to rejoice in any indication of ruin. Having staked their

reputation as prophets against their credit as colonists and their

interests as men, they seem happy in the establishment of the former,

even though it be by the sacrifice of the latter. Said an intelligent

gentleman in St. Thomas in the East, "The planters have _set their

hearts upon_ ruin, and they will be sorely disappointed if it should

not come."

Hearing so much said concerning the diminution of the crops, we spared

no pains to ascertain the _true causes_. We satisfied ourselves that the

causes were mainly two.

First. The prevailing impression that the negroes would not _work well_

after the abolition of slavery, led many planters to throw a part of

their land out of cultivation, in 1834. This is a fact which was

published by Lord Sligo, in an official account which he gave shortly

before leaving Jamaica, of the working of the apprenticeship. The

overseer of Belvidere estate declared that he knew of many cases in

which part of the land usually planted in canes was thrown up, owing to

the general expectation that _much less work_ would be done after

abolition. He also mentioned one attorney _who ordered all the estates

under his charge to be thrown out of cultivation_ in 1834, so confident

was he that the negroes would not work. The name of this attorney was

White. Mr. Gordon, of Williamsfield, stated, that the quantity of land

planted in cane, in 1834, was considerably less than the usual amount:

on some estates it was less by twenty, and on others by forty acres. Now

if such were the fact in the Parish of St. Thomas in the East, where

greater confidence was felt probably than in any other parish, we have a

clue by which we may conjecture (if indeed we were left to conjecture)

to what extent the cultivation was diminished in the island generally.

This of itself would satisfactorily account for the falling off in the

crops--which at most is not above one third. Nor would this explain the

decrease in '34 _only_, for it is well known among sugar planters that a

neglect of planting, either total or partial, for one year, will affect

the crops for two or three successive years.

The other cause of short crops has been the _diminished amount of time

for labor_. One fourth of the time now belongs to the laborers, and they

often prefer to employ it in cultivating their provision grounds and

carrying their produce to market. Thus the estate cultivation is

necessarily impeded. This cause operates very extensively, particularly

on two classes of estates: those which lie convenient to market places,

where the apprentices have strong inducements to cultivate their

grounds, and those (more numerous still) which _have harsh overseers_,

to whom the apprentices are averse to hire their time--in which cases

they will choose to work for neighboring planters, who are better men.

We should not omit to add here, that owing to a singular fact, the

falling off of the crops _appears_ greater than it really has been. We

learned from the most credible sources that _the size of the hogsheads_

had been considerably enlarged since abolition. Formerly they contained,

on an average, eighteen hundred weight, now they vary from a ton to

twenty-two hundred! As the crops are estimated by the number of

hogsheads, this will make a material difference. There were two reasons

for enlarging in the hogsheads,--one was, to lessen the amount of

certain port charges in exportation, which were made _by the hogshead_;

the other, and perhaps the principal, was to create some foundation in

appearance for the complaint that the crops had failed because of

abolition.

While we feel fully warranted in stating these as the chief causes of

the diminished crops, we are at the same time disposed to admit that the

apprenticeship is in itself exceedingly ill calculated either to

encourage or to compel industry. We must confess that we have no special

zeal to vindicate this system from its full share of blame; but we are

rather inclined to award to it every jot and tittle of the dishonored

instrumentality which it has had in working mischief to the colony.

However, in all candor, we must say, that we can scarcely check the

risings of exultation when we perceive that this party-fangled

measure--this offspring of old Slavery in her dying throes, _which was

expressly designed as a compensation to the proprietor_, HAS ACTUALLY

DIMINISHED HIS ANNUAL RETURNS BY ONE THIRD! So may it ever be with

legislation which is based on _iniquity and robbery!_

But the subject which excites the deepest interest in Jamaica _is the

probable consequences of entire emancipation in 1840_. The most common

opinion among the prognosticators of evil is, that the emancipated

negroes will abandon the cultivation of all the staple products, retire

to the woods, and live in a state of semi-barbarism; and as a

consequence, the splendid sugar and coffee estates must be "thrown up,"

and the beautiful and fertile island of Jamaica become a waste howling

wilderness.