The _reasons_ for this opinion consist in part of naked assumptions, and

in part of inferences from _supposed_ facts. The assumed reasons are

such as these. The negroes will not cultivate the cane _without the

whip_. How is this known? Simply because _they never have_, to any great

extent, in Jamaica. Such, it has been shown, was the opinion formerly in

Barbadoes, but it has been forever exploded there by experiment. Again,

the negroes are _naturally improvident_, and will never have enough

foresight to work steadily. What is the evidence of _natural_

improvidence in the negroes? Barely this--their carelessness in a state

of slavery. But that furnishes no ground at all for judging of _natural_

character, or of the developments of character under a _totally

different system_. If it testifies any thing, it is only this, that the

natural disposition of the negroes is not always _proof_ against the

degenerating influences of slavery.[A] Again, the actual wants of the

negroes are very few and easily supplied, and they will undoubtedly

prefer going into the woods where they can live almost without labor, to

toiling in the hot cane fields or climbing the coffee mountains. But

they who urge this, lose sight of the fact that the negroes are

considerably civilized, and that, like other civilized people, they will

seek for more than supply for the necessities of the rudest state of

nature. Their wants are already many, even in the degraded condition of

slaves; is it probable that they will be satisfied with _fewer of the

comforts and luxuries of civilized life_, when they are elevated to the

sphere, and feel the self-respect and dignity of freemen? But let us

notice some of the reasons which profess to be _founded on fact_. They

may all be resolved into two, _the laziness of negroes, and their

tendency to barbarism_.

[Footnote A: Probably in more instances than the one recorded in the

foregoing chapter, the improvidence of the negroes is inferred from

their otherwise unaccountable preference in walking six or ten miles to

chapel, rather than to work for a maccaroni a day.]

i. They _now_ refuse to work on Saturdays, even with wages. On this

assertion we have several remarks to make.

1.) It is true only to a partial extent. The apprentices on many

estates--whether a majority or not it is impossible to say--do work for

their masters on Saturdays, when their services are called for.

2.) They often refuse to work on the estates, because they can earn

three or four times as much by cultivating their provision grounds and

carrying their produce to market. The ordinary day's wages on an estate

is a quarter of a dollar, and where the apprentices are conveniently

situated to market, they can make from seventy-five cents to a dollar a

day with their provisions.

3.) The overseers are often such overbearing and detestable men, that

the apprentices doubtless feel it a great relief to be freed from their

command on Saturday, after submitting to it compulsorily for five days

of the week.

2. Another fact from which the laziness of the negroes is inferred, is

their _neglecting their provision grounds_. It is said that they have

fallen off greatly to their attention to their grounds, since the

abolition of slavery. This fact does not comport very well with the

complaint, that the apprentices cultivate their provision grounds to the

neglect of the estates. But both assertions may be true under opposite

circumstances. On those estates which are situated near the market,

provisions will be cultivated; on those which are remote from the

market, provisions will of course be partially neglected, and it will be

more profitable to the apprentices to work on the estates at a quarter

of a dollar per day, raising only enough provisions for their own use.

But we ascertained another circumstance which throws light on this

point. The negroes expect, after emancipation, to _lose their provision

grounds_; many expect certainly to be turned off by their masters, and

many who have harsh masters, intend to leave, and seek homes on other

estates, and _all_ feel a great uncertainty about their situation after

1840; and consequently they can have but little encouragement to

vigorous and extended cultivation of their grounds. Besides this, there

are very many cases in which the apprentices of one estate cultivate

provision grounds on another estate, where the manager is a man in whom

they have more confidence than they have in their own "busha." They, of

course, in such cases, abandon their former grounds, and consequently

are charged with neglecting them through laziness.

3. Another alleged fact is, that _actually less work_ is done now than

was done during slavery. The argument founded on this fact is this:

there is less work done under the apprenticeship than was done during

slavery: therefore _no work at all_ will be done after entire freedom!

But the apprenticeship allows _one fourth less time_ for labor than

slavery did, and presents no inducement, either compulsory or

persuasive, to continued industry. Will it be replied that emancipation

will take away _all_ the time from labor, and offer no encouragement

_but to idleness_? How is it now? Do the apprentices work better or

worse during their own time when they are paid? Better, unquestionably.

What does this prove? That freedom will supply both the time and the

inducement to the most vigorous industry.

The _other reason_ for believing that the negroes will abandon

estate-labor after entire emancipation, is their _strong tendency to

barbarism!_ And what are the facts in proof of this? We know but one.

We heard it said repeatedly that the apprentices were not willing to

have their free children educated--that they had pertinaciously declined

every offer of the _bushas_ to educate their children, and _this_, it

was alleged, evinced a determination on the part of the negroes to

perpetuate ignorance and barbarism among their posterity. We heard from

no less than four persons of distinction in St. Thomas in the East, the

following curious fact. It was stated each time for the double purpose

of proving that the apprentices did not wish to have their children

_learn to work_, and that they were opposed to their _receiving

education_. A company of the first-gentlemen of that parish, consisting

of the rector of the parish, the custos, the special magistrate, an

attorney, and member of the assembly, etc., had mustered in imposing

array, and proceeded to one of the large estates in the Plantain Garden

River Valley, and there having called the apprentices together, made the

following proposals to them respecting their free children, the rector

acting as spokesman. The attorney would provide a teacher for the

estate, and would give the children four hours' instruction daily, if

the parents would _bind them to work_ four hours every day; the attorney

further offered to pay for all medical attendance the children should

require. The apprentices, after due deliberation among themselves,

unanimously declined this proposition. It was repeatedly urged upon

them, and the advantages it promised were held up to them; but they

persisted in declining it wholly. This was a great marvel to the

planters; and they could not account for it in any other way than by

supposing that the apprentices were opposed both to labor and education,

and were determined that their free children should grow up in ignorance

and indolence! Now the true reason why the apprentices rejected this

proposal was, _because it came from the planters_, in whom they have no

confidence. They suspected that some evil scheme was hid under the fair

pretence of benevolence; the design of the planters, as they firmly

believed, was to get their _free children bound to them_, so that they

might continue to keep them in a species of apprenticeship. This was

stated to us, as the real ground of the rejection, by several

missionaries, who gave the best evidence that it was so; viz. that at

the same time that the apprentices declined the offer, they would send

their free children _six or eight miles to a school taught by a

missionary_. We inquired particularly of some of the apprentices, to

whom this offer was made, why they did not accept it. They said that

they could not trust their masters; the whole design of it was to get

them to give up their children, and if they should give them up _but for

a single month_, it would be the same as acknowledging that they (the

parents) were not able to take care of them themselves. The busha would

then send word to the Governor that the people had given up their

children, not being able to support them, and the Governor would have

the children bound to the busha, "and _then_," said they, "_we might

whistle for our children_!" In this manner the apprentices, the

_parents_, reasoned. They professed the greatest anxiety to have their

children educated, but they said they could have no confidence in the

honest intentions of their busha.

The views given above, touching the results of entire emancipation in

1840, are not unanimously entertained even among the planters, and they

are far from prevailing to any great extent among other classes of the

community. The missionaries, as a body, a portion of the special

magistrates, and most of the intelligent free colored people, anticipate

glorious consequences; they hail the approach of 1840, as a deliverance

from the oppressions of the apprenticeship, and its train of

disaffections, complaints and incessant disputes. They say they have

nothing to fear--nor has the island any thing to fear, but every thing

to hope, from entire emancipation. We subjoin a specimen of the

reasoning of the minority of the planters. They represent the idea that

the negroes will abandon the estates, and retire to the woods, as wild

and absurd in the extreme. They say the negroes have a great regard for

the comforts which they enjoy on the estates; they are strongly attached

to their houses and little furniture, and their provision grounds. These

are as much to them as the 'great house' and the estate are to their

master. Besides, they have very _strong local attachments_, and these

would bind them to the properties. These planters also argue, from _the

great willingness_ of the apprentices now to work for money, during

their own time, that they will not be likely to relinquish labor when

they are to get wages for the whole time. There was no doubt much truth

in the remark of a planter in St. Thomas in the East, that if _any_

estates were abandoned by the negroes after 1840, it would be those

which had harsh managers, and those which are so mountainous and

inaccessible, or barren, that they _ought_ to be abandoned. It was the

declaration of a _planter_, that entire emancipation would _regenerate_

the island of Jamaica.

* * * * *

We now submit to the candid examination of the American, especially the

Christian public, the results of our inquiries in Antigua, Barbadoes,

and Jamaica. The deficiency of the narrative in ability and interest, we

are sure is neither the fault of the subject nor of the materials. Could

we have thrown into vivid forms a few only of the numberless incidents

of rare beauty which thronged our path--could we have imparted to pages

that freshness and glow, which invested the institutions of freedom,

just bursting into bloom over the late wastes of slavery--could we, in

fine, have carried our readers amid the scenes which we witnessed, and

the sounds which we heard, and the things which we handled, we should

not doubt the power and permanence of the impression produced. It is due

to the cause, and to the society under whose commission we acted,

frankly to state, that we were not selected on account of any peculiar

qualifications for the work. As both of us were invalids, and compelled

to fly from the rigors of an American winter, it was believed that we

might combine the improvement of health, with the prosecution of

important investigations, while abler men could thus be retained in the

field at home; but we found that the unexpected abundance of materials

requires the strongest health and powers of endurance. We regret to add,

that the continued ill health of both of us, since our return, so

serious in the case of one, as to deprive him almost wholly of

participation in the preparation of the work, has necessarily, delayed

its appearance, and rendered its execution more imperfect.

We lay no claim to literary merit. To present as simple narrative of

facts, has been our sole aim. We have not given the results of our

personal observations merely, or chiefly, nor have we made a record of

private impressions or idle speculations. _Well authenticated facts_,

accompanied with the testimony, verbal and documentary, of public men,

planters, and other responsible individuals, make up the body of the

volume, as almost every page will show. That no statements, if

erroneous, might escape detection and exposure, we have, in nearly every

case, given the _names_ of our authorities. By so doing we may have

subjected ourselves to the censure of those respected gentlemen, with

whose names we have taken such liberty. We are assured, however, that

their interest in the cause of freedom will quite reconcile them to what

otherwise might be an unpleasant personal publicity.

Commending our narrative to the blessing of the God of truth, and the

Redeemer of the oppressed, we send it forth to do its part, however

humble, toward the removal of slavery from our beloved but

guilty country.

APPENDIX.

We have in our possession a number of official documents from gentlemen,

officers of the government, and variously connected with its

administration, in the different islands which we visited: some of

these--such as could not be conveniently incorporated into the body of

the work--we insert in the form of an appendix. To insert them _all_,

would unduly increase the size of the present volume. Those not embodied

in this appendix, will be published in the periodicals of the American

Anti-Slavery Society.

* * * * *

OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION FROM E.B. LYON, ESQ., SPECIAL MAGISTRATE.

_Jamaica, Hillingdon, near Falmouth, Trelawney, May 15, 1837_.

TO J.H. KIMBALL., ESQ., and J.A. THOME, ESQ.

DEAR SIRS,--Of the operation of the apprenticeship system in this

district, from the slight opportunity I have had of observing the

conduct of managers and apprentices, I could only speak conjecturally,

and my opinions, wanting the authority of experience, would be of little

service to you; I shall therefore confine the remarks I have to make, to

the operation of the system in the district from which I have

lately removed.

I commenced my duties in August, 1834, and from the paucity of special

magistrates at that eventful era, I had the superintendence of a most

extensive district, comprising nearly one half of the populous parish of

St. Thomas in the East, and the whole of the parish of St. David,

embracing an apprentice population of nearly eighteen thousand,--in

charge of which I continued until December, when I was relieved of St.

David, and in March, 1835, my surveillance was confined to that portion

of St. Thomas in the East, consisting of the coffee plantations in the

Blue Mountains, and the sugar estates of Blue Mountain Valley, over

which I continued to preside until last March, a district containing a

population of four thousand two hundred and twenty-seven apprentices, of

which two thousand eighty-seven were males, and two thousand one hundred

and forty, females. The apprentices of the Blue Mountain Valley were, at

the period of my assumption of the duties of a special magistrate, the

most disorderly in the island. They were greatly excited, and almost

desperate from disappointment, in finding their trammels under the new

law, nearly as burdensome as under the old, and their condition, in many

respects, much more intolerable. They were also extremely irritated at

what they deemed an attempt upon the part of their masters to rob them

of one of the greatest advantages they had been led to believe the new

law secured to them--this was the half of Friday. Special Justice

Everard, who went through the district during the first two weeks of

August, 1834, and who was the first special justice to read and explain

the new law to them, had told them that the law gave to them the extra

four and a half hours on the Friday, and some of the proprietors and

managers, who were desirous of preparing their people for the coming

change, had likewise explained it so; but, most unfortunately, the

governor issued a proclamation, justifying the masters in withholding

the four and a half hours on that day, and substituting any other half

day, or by working them eight hours per day, they might deprive them

altogether of the advantage to be derived from the extra time, which, by

the abolition of Sunday marketing, was almost indispensable to people

whose grounds, in some instances, were many miles from their

habitations, and who were above thirty miles from Kingston market, where

prices were fifty per cent. more than the country markets in their favor

for the articles they had to dispose of, and correspondingly lower for

those they had to purchase. To be in time for which market, it was

necessary to walk all Friday night, so that without the use of the

previous half day, they could not procure their provisions, or prepare

themselves for it. The deprivation of the half of Friday was therefore a

serious hardship to them, and this, coupled to the previous assurance of

their masters, and Special Justice Everard, that they were entitled to

it, made them to suspect a fraud was about being practised on them,

which, if they did not resist, would lead to the destruction of the

remaining few privileges they possessed. The resistance was very

general, but without violence; whole gangs leaving the fields on the

afternoon of Friday; refusing to take any other afternoon, and sometimes

leaving the estates for two or three days together. They fortunately had

confidence in me--and I succeeded in restoring order, and all would have

been well,--but the managers, no longer alarmed by the fear of rebellion

or violence, began a system of retaliation and revenge, by withdrawing

cooks, water-carriers, and nurses, from the field, by refusing medicine

and admittance to the hospital to the apprentice children, and by

compelling old and infirm people, who had been allowed to withdraw from

labor, and mothers of six children, who were exempt by the slave law

from hard labor, to come out and work in the field. All this had a

natural tendency to create irritation, and did do so; though, to the

great credit of the people, in many instances, they submitted with the

most extraordinary patience, to evils which were the more onerous,

because inflicted under the affected sanction of a law, whose advent, as

the herald of liberty, they had expected would have been attended with a

train of blessings. I effected a change in this miserable state of

things; and mutual contract for labor, in crop and out of it, were made

on twenty-five estates in my district, before, I believe, any

arrangement had been made in other parts of the island, between the

managers and the apprentices; so that from being in a more unsettled

state than others, we were soon happily in a more prosperous one, and so

continued.

No peasantry in the most favored country on the globe, can have been

more irreproachable in morals and conduct than the majority of

apprentices in that district, since the beginning of 1835. I have, month

after month, in my despatches to the governor, had to record instances

of excess of labor, compared with the quantity performed during slavery

in some kinds of work; and while I have with pleasure reported the

improving condition, habits, manners, and the industry which

characterized the labors of the peasantry, I have not been an

indifferent or uninterested witness of the improvement in the condition

of many estates, the result of the judicious application of labor, and

of the confidence in the future and sanguine expectations of the

proprietors, evinced in the enlargements of the works, and expensive and

permanent repair of the buildings on various estates, and in the high

prices given for properties and land since the apprenticeship system,

which would scarcely have commanded a purchaser, at any price, during

the existence of slavery.

I have invariably found the apprentice willing to work for an equitable

hire, and on all the sugar estates, and several of the plantations, in

the district I speak of, they worked a considerable portion of their own

time during crop, about the works, for money, or an equivalent in

herrings, sugar, etc., to so great a degree, that less than the time

allotted to them during slavery, was left for appropriation to the

cultivation of their grounds, and for marketing, as the majority, very

much to their credit, scrupulously avoided working on the Sabbath day.

In no community in the world is crime less prevalent. At the quarter

sessions, in January last, for the precinct of St. Thomas in the East,

and St. David, which contains an apprentice population of about thirty

thousand, there was only one apprentice tried. And the offences that

have, in general, for the last eighteen months, been brought before me

on estates, have been of the most trivial description, such as an

individual occasionally turning out late, or some one of an irritable

temper answering impatiently, or for some trifling act of disobedience;

in fact, the majority of apprentices on estates have been untainted with

offence, and have steadily and quietly performed their duty, and

respected the law. The apprentices of St. Thomas in the East, I do not

hesitate to say, are much superior in manners and morals to those who

inhabit the towns.

During the first six or eight months, while the planters were in doubt

how far the endurance of their laborers might be taxed, the utmost

deference and respect was paid by them to the special magistrates; their

suggestions or recommendations were adopted without cavil, and opinions

taken without reference to the letter of the law; but when the obedience

of the apprentice, and his strict deference to the law and its

administrators, had inspired them with a consciousness of perfect

security, I observed with much regret, a great alteration in the

deportment of many of the managers towards myself and the people;

trivial and insignificant complaints were astonishingly increased, and

assaults on apprentices became more frequent, so that in the degree that

the conduct of one party was more in accordance with the obligations

imposed on him by the apprenticeship, was that of the other in

opposition to it; again with the hold and infirm harassed; again were

mothers of six living children attempted to be forced to perform field

labor; and again were mothers with sucking children complained of, and

some attempts made to deprive them of the usual nurses.

Such treatment was not calculated to promote cordiality between master

and apprentice, and the effect will, I fear, have a very unfavorable

influence upon the working of many estates, at the termination of the

system; in fact, when that period arrives, if the feeling of

estrangement be no worse, I am convinced it will be no better than it is

at the present moment, as I have witnessed no pains taking on the part

of the attorneys generally to attach the apprentices to the properties,

or to prepare them in a beneficial manner for the coming change. It was

a very common practice in the district, when an apprentice was about to

purchase his discharge, to attempt to intimidate him by threats of

immediate ejectment from the property, and if in the face of this

threatened separation from family and connections, he persevered and

procured his release, then the sincerity of the previous intimations was

evinced by a peremptory order, to instantly quit the property, under the

penalty of having the trespass act enforced against him; and if my

interference prevented any outrageous violation of law, so many

obstructions and annoyances were placed in the way of his communication

with his family, or enjoyment of his domestic rights, that he would be

compelled for their peace, and his own personal convenience, to submit

to privations, which, as a slave, he would not have been subject to. The

consequence is, that those released from the obligations of the

apprenticeship by purchase, instead of being located, and laboring for

hire upon the estate to which they were attached, and forming a nucleus

around which others would have gathered and settled themselves, they

have been principally driven to find other homes, and in the majority of

instances have purchased land, and become settlers on their own account.

If complete emancipation had taken place in 1834, there would have been

no more excitement, and no more trouble to allay it, than that which was

the consequence of the introduction of the present system of coerced and

uncompensated labor. The relations of society would have been fixed upon

a permanent basis, and the two orders would not have been placed in that

situation of jealousy and suspicion which their present anomalous

condition has been the baneful means of creating.

I am convinced there never was any serious alarm about the consequences

of immediate emancipation among those who were acquainted with the

peasantry of Jamaica. The fears of the morbidly humane were purposely

excited to increase the amount of compensation, or to lengthen the

duration of the apprenticeship; and the daily ridiculous and untruthful

statements that are made by the vitiated portion of the Jamaica press,

of the indolence of the apprentices, their disinclination to work in

their own time, and the great increase of crime, are purposely and

insidiously put forward to prevent the fact of the industry, and

decorum, and deference to the law, of the people, and the prosperous

condition of the estates, appearing in too prominent a light, lest the

friends of humanity, and the advocates for the equal rights of men,

should be encouraged to agitate for the destruction of a system which,

in its general operation, has retained many of the worst features of

slavery, perpetuated many gross infringements of the social and domestic

rights of the working classes; and which, instead of working out the

benevolent intention of the imperial legislature, by aiding and

encouraging the expansion of intellect, and supplying motives for the

permanent good conduct of the apprentices, in its termination, has, I

fear, retarded the rapidity with which civilization would have advanced,

and sown the seeds of a feeling more bitter than that which slavery,

with all its abominations, had engendered.

I am, dear sirs, your very faithful servant,

EDMUND B. LYON, _Special Justice._

Extract from a communication which we received from Wm. Henry Anderson,

Esq., of Kingston, the Solicitor-General for Jamaica.

The staples of the island must be cultivated after 1840 as now, because

if not, the negroes could not obtain the comforts or luxuries, of which

they are undoubtedly very desirous, from cultivation of their grounds.

The fruits and roots necessary for the public markets are already

supplied in profusion at tolerably moderate prices: if the supply were

greatly increased, the prices could not be remunerative. There is no way

in which they can so readily as by labor for wages, _obtain money_, and

therefore I hold that there must ever be an adequate supply of labor in

the market.

The negroes are in my opinion very acute in their perceptions of right

and wrong, justice and injustice, and appreciate fully the benefits of

equitable legislation, and would unreservedly submit to it where they

felt confidence in the purity of its administration.

There is not the slightest likelihood of rebellion on the part of the

negroes after 1840, unless some unrighteous attempts be made to keep up

the helotism of the class by enactments of partial laws. _They_ could

have no interest in rebellion, they could gain nothing by it; and might

lose every thing; nor do I think they dream of such a thing. They are

ardently attached to the British government, and would be so to the

colonial government, were it to indicate by its enactments any purposes

of kindness or protection towards them. Hitherto the scope of its

legislation has been, in reference to them, almost exclusively coercive;

certainly there have been no enactments of a tendency to conciliate

their good will or attachment.

The negroes are much desirous of education and religious instruction: no

one who has attended to the matter can gainsay that. Formerly marriage

was unknown amongst them; they were in fact only regarded by their

masters, and I fear by themselves too, as so many brutes for labor, and

for increase. Now they seek the benefits of the social institution of

marriage and its train of hallowed relationships: concubinage is

becoming quite disreputable; many are seeking to repair their conduct by

marriage to their former partners, and no one in any rank of life would

be hardy enough to express disapprobation of those who have done or

may do so.

WM. HENRY ANDERSON.

_Kingston, Jamaica, 24th April, 1837_.

* * * * *

The following communication is the monthly report for March, 1837, of

Major J.B. Colthurst, special justice for District A., Rural Division,

Barbadoes.

The general conduct of the apprentices since my last report has been

excellent, considering that greater demands have been made upon their

labor at this moment to save perhaps the finest crop of canes ever grown

in the island.

Upon the large estates generally the best feeling exists, because they

are in three cases out of four conducted by either the proprietors

themselves, or attorneys and managers of sense and consideration. Here

all things go on well; the people are well provided and comfortable, and

therefore the best possible understanding prevails.

The apprentices in my district _perform their work most willingly_,

whenever the immediate manager is a man of sense and humanity. If this

is not the case, the effect is soon seen, and complaints begin to be

made. Misunderstandings are usually confined to the smaller estates,

particularly in the neighborhood of Bridgetown, where the lots are very

small, and the apprentice population of a less rural description, and

more or less also corrupted by daily intercourse with the town.

The working hours most generally in use in my district are as follows:

On most estates, the apprentices work from six to nine, breakfast; from

ten to one, dinner--rest; from three to six, work.

It is almost the constant practice of the apprentices, particularly the

praedials or rural portion, to work in their own time for money wages,

at the rate of a quarter dollar a day. They sometimes work also during

those periods in their little gardens round their negro houses, and

which they most generally enjoy without charge, or in the land they

obtain in lieu of allowance, they seem ALWAYS well pleased to be fully

employed at _free_ labor, and work, when so employed, exceedingly well.

I know a small estate, worked exclusively on this system. It is in

excellent order, and the proprietor tells me his profits are greater

than they would be under the apprenticeship. He is a sensible and

correct man, and I therefore rely upon his information. During the hurry

always attendant on the saving of the crop, the apprentices are

generally hired in their own time upon their respective estates at the

above rate, and which they seldom refuse. No hesitation generally occurs

in this or any other matter, whenever the employer discharges his duty

by them in a steady and considerate manner.

The attendance at church throughout my district is most respectable; but

the accommodation, either in this respect or as regards schools, is by

no means adequate to the wants of the people. The apprentices conduct

themselves during divine service in the most correct manner, and it is

most gratifying to perceive, that only very little exertion, indeed,

would be required to render them excellent members of society. This fact

is fully proved by the orderly situation of a few estates in my

district, that have had the opportunity of receiving some moral and

religious instruction. There are sixty-four estates in my district over

twenty-five acres. Upon four of those plantations where the apprentices

have been thus taught, there are a greater number of _married_ couples

(which may be considered a fair test) than upon the remaining sixty. I

scarcely ever have a complaint from these four estates, and they are

generally reported to be in a most orderly state.

In the memory of the oldest inhabitant, the island has never produced a

finer crop of canes than that now in the course of manufacture. All

other crops are luxuriant, and the plantations in a high state of

agricultural cleanliness. The season has been very favorable.

Under the head of general inquiry, I beg leave to offer a few remarks. I

have now great pleasure in having it in my power to state, that a

manifest change for the better has taken place _gradually_ in my

district within the last few months. Asperities seem to be giving way to

calm discussion, and the laws are better understood and obeyed.

It is said in other colonies as well as here, that there has been, and

still continues to be, a great want of natural affection among the negro

parents for their children, and that great mortality among the free

children has occurred in consequence. This opinion, I understand, has

been lately expressed in confident terms by the legislature of St.

Vincent's, which has been fully and satisfactorily contradicted by the

reports of the special justices to the lieutenant-governor. The same

assertion has been made by individuals to myself. As regards Barbadoes,

I have spared no pains to discover whether such statements were facts,

and I now am happy to say, that not a _single instance_ of unnatural

conduct on the part of the negro parents to their children has come to

my knowledge--far, perhaps too far, the contrary is the case; _over

indulgence_ and _petting_ them seems in my judgment to be the only

matter the parents can be, with any justice, accused of. They exhibit

their fondness in a thousand ways. Contrasting the actual conduct of the

negro parents with the assertions of the planters, it is impossible not

to infer that _some bitterness is felt by the latter on the score of

their lost authority_. When this is the case, reaction is the natural

consequence, and thus misunderstandings and complaints ensue. The like

assertions are made with respect to the disinclination of the parents to

send their children to school. This certainly does exist to a certain

extent, particularly to schools where the under classes of whites are

taught, who often treat the negro children in a most imperious and

hostile manner. As some proof that no decided objection exists in the

negro to educate his children, a vast number of the apprentices of my

district send them to school, and take pride in paying a bit a week each

for them--a quarter dollar entrance and a quarter dollar for each

vacation. Those schools are almost always conducted by a black man and

his _married_ wife. However, they are well attended, but are very few

in number.

To show that the apprentices fully estimate the blessings of education,

many females _hire their apprentice_ children at a quarter dollar a week

from their masters, for the express purpose of sending them to school.

This proves the possibility of a _voluntary_ system of education

succeeding, provided it was preceded by full and satisfactory

explanation to the parties concerned. I have also little doubt that

labor to the extent I speak of, may be successfully introduced when the

apprentices become assured that nothing but the ultimate welfare of

themselves and children is intended; but so suspicious are they from

habit, and, as I said before, so profoundly ignorant of what may in

truth and sincerity be meant only for their benefit, that it will

require great caution and delicacy on the occasion. Those suspicions

have not been matured in the negroes mind without cause--the whole

history of slavery proves it. Such suspicions are even _now_ only

relinquished under doubts and apprehensions; therefore, all new and

material points, to be carried successfully with them, should be

proposed to them upon the most liberal and open grounds.

J.B. COLTHURST, _Special Justice Peace, District A, Rural Division_.

* * * * *

_General return of the imports and exports of the island of Barbadoes,

during a series of years--furnished by the Custom-house officer at

Bridgetown_.

£. s, d.

1832 481,610 6 3

1833 462,132 14 4

1834 449,169 12 4

1835 595,961 13 2

1836 622,128 19 11

IMPORTS OF LUMBER.

Feet. Shingles.

1833 5,290,086 5,598,958

1834 5,708,494 5,506,646

1835 5,794,596 4,289,025

1836 7,196,189 7,037,462

IMPORTS OF PROVISIONS.

| Flour. | Corn Meal. |

Y'rs.| bbls. |1/2 bbls.| bush.| bbls.|

-----+--------+---------+-------+------+

1833 | 21,535 | 397 | 629 | 265 |

1834 | 34,191 | 865 | 1675 | 1580 |

1835 | 32,393 | 828 | 160 | 809 |

1836 | 41,975 | 433 | 823 | 1123 |

-----+--------+---------+-------+------+

| Bread and Biscuits. |Oats & Corn.|

Y'rs.| hds.| bbls.|1/2 bbls.|kegs.|bags.| bags.| qrs.|

-----+-----+------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+

1833 | 49| 2146| 30 | " | " | 430| 50|

1834 | 401| 8561| 99 | 57 | " | 100| 1025|

1835 | 2024| 10762| " | " | " | 2913| 3134|

1836 | 4| 4048| " | " | 1058| 8168| 3119|

-----+-----+------+---------+-----+-----+------+-----+

IMPORTS OF CATTLE, ETC.

Cattle. Horses. Mules.

1833 649 462 65

1834 549 728 24

1835 569 1047 43

1836 1013 1345 104

RETURN OF EXPORTS--SUGAR.

hhds. trcs. bbls.

1832 18,804 1278 838

1833 27,015 1505 651

1834 27,593 1464 1083

1835 24,309 1417 938

1836 25,060 1796 804

* * * * *

VALUATIONS OF APPRENTICES IN JAMAICA.

"From the 1st of August, 1834, to 31st of May, 1836, 998 apprentices

purchased their freedom by valuation, and paid £33,998. From 31st May,

1836, to 1st November, in the same year, 582 apprentices purchased

themselves, and paid £18,217--making, in all, £52,216--a prodigious sum

to be furnished by the negroes in two years. From the above statement it

appears that the desire to be free is daily becoming more general and

more intense, and that the price of liberty remains the same, although

the term of apprenticeship is decreasing. The amount paid by the

apprentices is a proof of the extent of the exertions and sacrifices

they are willing to make for freedom, which can scarcely be appreciated

by those who are unacquainted with the disadvantages of their previous

condition. The negroes frequently raise the money by loans to purchase

their freedom, and they are scrupulous in repaying money lent them for

that purpose."

The above is extracted from the "West Indies in 1837," an English work

by Messrs. Sturge and Harvey, page 86, Appendix.

* * * * *

We insert the following tabular view of the crops in Jamaica for a

series of years preceding 1837.--As the table and "Remarks" appended

were first published in the St. Jago Gazette, a decided "pro-slavery"

paper, we insert, in connection with them, the remarks of the Jamaica

Watchman, published at Kingston, and an article on the present condition

of slavery, from the Telegraph, published at Spanishtown, the seat of

the colonial government.

A GENERAL RETURN OF EXPORTS _From the island of Jamaica, for 53 years,

ending 31st December, 1836--copied from the Journals of the House._

___________________________________________________________________

. | | | | |

d | | |MO-| |

e | SUGAR | RUM |LAS| GINGER |

t | | |SES| |

r |____________________|_______________________|___|____________|

o | s | | | s | s | | | | | |

p | d | | | n | d | | | | | |

x | a | s | s | o | a | | s | | | |

E | e | e | l | e | e | | l | | | |

| h | c | e | h | h | s | e | s | s | |

r | s | r | r | c | s | k | r | k | k | s |

a | g | e | r | n | g | s | r | s | s | g |

e | o | i | a | u | o | a | a | a | a | a |

Y | H | T | B | P | H | C | B | C | C | B |

___________________________________________________________________

1772| 69,451| 9,936| 270| | | | | | | |

1773| 72,996|11,453| 849| | | | | | | |

1774| 69,579| 9,250| 278| | | | | | | |

1775| 75,291| 9,090| 425| | | | | | | |

1776| | | | | | | | | | |

1788| 83,036| 9,256|1,063| | | | | | | |

1789| 84,167|10,078|1,077| | | | | | | |

1790| 84,741| 9,284|1,599| | | | | | | |

1791| 85,447| 8,037|1,718| | | | | | | |

1792| | | | | | | | | | |

1793| 77,575| 6,722| 642|34,755| 879| | | | 62| 8,605|

1794| 89,532|11,158|1,224|39,843|1,570| | | | 121|10,305|

1795| 88,851| 9,537|1,225|37,684|1,475| | | | 426|14,861|

1796| 89,219|10,700| 858|40,810|1,364| | | | 690|20,275|

1797| 78,373| 9,963| 753|28,014|1,463| | | | 259|29,098|

1798| 87,896|11,725|1,163|40,823|2,234| | | | 119|18,454|

1799|101,457|13,538|1,321|37,022|1,981| | | | 221|10,358|

1800| 96,347|13,549|1,631|37,166|1,350| | | | 444| 3,586|

1801|123,251|18,704|2,692|48,879|1,514| | | | 12| 239|

1802|129,544|15,403|2,403|45,632|2,073| 473| 205|366| 23| 2,079|

1803|107,387|11,825|1,797|43,298|1,416| | |461| 51| 3,287|

1804|103,352|12,802|2,207|42,207| 913| | |429|1,094| 1,854|

1805|137,906|17,977|3,689|53,211|1,328| 133| 167|471| 315| 2,128|

1806|133,996|18,237|3,579|58,191|1,178| | |499| 485| 1,818|

1807|123,175|17,344|3,716|51,812|1,998| | |699| 512| 1,411|

1808|121,444|15,836|2,625|52,409|2,196| | |379| 436| 1,470|

1809|104,457|14,596|3,534|43,492|2,717| | |230|2,321| 572|

1810|108,703| 4,560|3,719|42,353|1,964| | |293| 520| 1,881|

1811|127,751|15,235|3,046|54,093|2,011| | |446|1,110| 2,072|

1812|105,283|11,357|2,558|43,346|1,531| | |151| 804| 1,235|

1813| 97,548|10,029|2,304|44,618|1,345| 382| 874|208| 816| 1,428|

1814|101,846|10,485|2,575|43,486|1,551| 202|1,146|145| 884| 1,668|

1815|118,767|12,224|2,817|52,996|1,465| 574|1,398|242|1,493| 1,667|

1816| 93,881| 9,332|2,236|35,736| 769| 281| 903|166|2,354| 1,118|

1817|116,012|11,094|2,868|47,949|1,094| 203| 916|254|3,361| 1,195|

1818|113,818|11,388|2,786|50,195|1,108| 121| 191|407|2,526| 1,067|

1819|108,305|11,450|3,244|43,946|1,695| 602|1,558|253|1,714| 718|

1820|115,065|11,322|2,474|45,361|1,783| 106| 460|252|1,159| 316|

1821|111,512|11,703|1,972|46,802|1,793| 153| 534|167| 984| 274|

1822| 88,551| 8,705|1,292|28,728|1,124| 9| 442|144| 891| 72|

1823| 94,905| 9,179|1,947|35,242|1,935| 20| 118|614|1,041| 60|

1824| 99,225| 9,651|2,791|37,121|3,261| 5| 64|910|2,230| 52|

1825| 73,813| 7,380|2,858|27,630|2,077| 101| 215|894|3,947| 348|

1826| 99,978| 9,514|3,126|35,610|3,098|1,852| |549|5,724| 517|

1827| 82,096| 7,435|2,770|31,840|2,672|1,573| |204|4,871| 240|

1828| 94,912| 9,428|3,024|36,585|2,793|1,013| |189|5,382| 279|

1829| 91,364| 9,193|3,204|36,285|2,009| 563| | 66|4,101| 168|

1830| 93,882| 8,739|3,645|33,355|2,657|1,367| |154|3,494| 15|

1831| 88,409| 9,053|3,492|34,743|2,846| 982| |230|3,224| 22|

1832| 91,453| 9,987|4,600|32,060|2,570|1,362| |799|4,702| 38|

1833| 78,375| 9,325|4,074|33,215|3,034| 977| |755|4,818| 23|

1834| 77,801| 9,860|3,055|30,495|2,588|1,288| |486|5,925| 116|

1835| 71,017| 8,840|8,455|26,433|1,820| 747| |300|3,985| 486|

1836| 61,644| 7,707|2,497|19,938| 874| 646| |182|5,224| 69|

. | | |

d | | |

e | PIMENTO | COFFEE |

t | | |

r |_____________|__________|

o | | | |

p | | | |

x | | | | REMARKS

E | | | s |

| s | | d |

r | k | s | n |

a | s | g | u |

e | a | a | o |

Y | C | B | P |

________________________________________________________________

1772| | | 841,558|

1773| | | 779,303|

1774| | | 739,039|

1775| | | 493,981|

1776| | | |

1788| | | 1,035,368|

1789| | | 1,493,282|

1790| | | 1,783,740|

1791| | | 2,299,874| August--Destruction of

1792| | | | Santo Domingo.

1793| 420| 9,108| 3,983,576|

1794| 554|22,153| 4,911,549|

1795| 957|20,451| 6,318,812|

1796| 136| 9,820| 7,203,539|

1797| 328| 2,935| 7,869,133|

1798| 1,181| 8,961| 7,894,306|

1799| 1,766|28,273|11,745,425| Bourbon cane introduced.

1800| 610|12,759|11,116,474|

1801| 648|14,084|13,401,468|

1802| 591| 7,793|17,961,923|

1803| 867|14,875|15,866,291|

1804| 1,417|19,572|22,063,980|

1805| 288| 7,157|21,137,393| Largest sugar crop.

1806| 1,094|19,534|29,298,036|

1807| 525|19,224|26,761,188| March 25th, abolition of

1808| 225| 6,529|29,528,273| African slave trade.

1809|21,022| 1,177|25,586,668|

1810| 4,276|21,163|25,885,285|

1811| 638|22,074|17,460,068|

1812| 598| 7,778|18,481,986|

1813| 1,124|14,361|24,623,572| Storm in October, 1812

1814| 394|10,711|34,045,585| Largest coffee crop.

1815| 844|27,386|27,362,742|

1816| 851|28,047|17,289,393| Storm in October, 1815

1817| 946|15,817|14,793,706|

1818| 941|21,071|25,329,456|

1819| 882|24,500|14,091,983|

1820| 673|12,880|22,127,444|

1821| 1,224|24,827|16,819,761|

1822| 699|18,672|19,773,912| Extreme drought.

1823| 1,894|21,481|20,326,445| Mr. Canning's resolutions

1824| 599|33,306|27,667,239| relative to slavery.

1825| 537|20,979|21,254,656|

1826| 522|16,433|20,352,886| Severe drought in 1824, the previous year.

1827| 3,236|26,691|25,741,520|

1828| 4,003|25,352|22,216,780|

1829| 3,733|48,933|22,234,640|

1830| 5,609|37,925|22,256,950|

1831| 2,844|22,170|14,055,350|

1832| 3,736|27,936|19,815,010|

1833| 7,741|58,581| 9,866,060| Emancipation act passed.

1834| 496|29,301|17,725,731| Seasons favorable.

1835| 1,115|59,033|10,593,018| do.

1836| 227|46,779|13,446,053| do.

The following are the remarks of the editor of the Jamaica Watchman, on

the foregoing, in his paper of April 8, 1837:--

A general return of exports from the island for fifty-three years,

ending the 31st December last, and purporting to be extracted from the

journals of the assembly, has been published, and as usual, the decrease

in the crops of the respective years has been attributed to the

resolutions passed by the British House of Commons in 1823, and the

abolition of slavery in 1833. It is remarkable that in preparing this

table, a manifest disposition is evinced to account for the falling off

of the crops in certain years anterior, and subsequent to the passing of

Mr. Canning's memorable resolution, whilst opposite to the years 1834

and 1835, is written "seasons favorable." In 1813, the sugar crop fell

off 8,000 hhds. compared with the previous year, and we are told in

reference to this circumstance, that there was a storm in October, 1812.

This remark is evidently made to account for the decrease, and perhaps

the storm at the close of the previous year was the cause of it. But it

is astonishing, and the circumstance is worthy of notice, that whilst

the sugar crop fell off nearly 8,000 hhds. the coffee crop increased

nearly six millions of pounds. We should have supposed that the coffee

trees would have suffered more from the effects of a storm, than the

canes. However, the effect was as we have stated it, whatever might have

been the cause. In 1814, the largest coffee crop was made. Again, in

1816, there was a decrease in the sugar crop compared with the year

immediately preceding it of nearly 25,000 hhds. And here we have the

storm of October, 1815, assigned as a reason. The coffee crop in this

instance also fell off nearly ten millions of pounds. In 1822, the sugar

crop was reduced 23,000 hhds., and the coffee crop increased three

millions of pounds. The reason now assigned is an "extreme drought." The

celebrated resolutions relative to slavery now appear to begin to

exercise their baneful influence on the _seasons_ and the _soil_ of our

island. In the year in which they were passed, 1823, 94,900 hogsheads of

sugar were made, and twenty millions of pounds of coffee gathered. 1824

came, and the crop, instead of being reduced, was increased from nearly

95,000 hogsheads to upwards of 99,000 hogsheads. The coffee crop was

also greater by seven millions of pounds. In 1825, they fall off to

73,860 hogsheads and twenty-one millions. In 1826, the sugar crop rather

exceeded that of 1824, but the coffee crop was seven millions less. In

1827, from causes not known to us, for none were assigned, there was a

difference of 16,000 hhds. of sugar, and an increase of five millions of

pounds of coffee. 1828, 29, and 30, were pretty nearly alike in sugar

and coffee crops, and about equal to 1823. The crops of 1831 fell off

from 93 to 88,000 hogsheads of sugar, and from 22 to 14 millions of

pounds of coffee. No reason is assigned for this reduction. It was

during the continuance of the driving system, and therefore no blame can

attach to the managers. In 1832, the crop rose to 91,000 hogsheads of

sugar, and nearly twenty millions of pounds of coffee. But 1833 comes,

and, with it, fresh troubles for the planters. In that ill-fated year,

there was a decrease of 13,000 hogsheads sugar, and of ten millions of

pounds of coffee. Its sugar crop was the smallest made, with the

exception of that of 1825, since 1793, and its coffee crop since that of

1798. But if this determination be alarming, what must be that of the

succeeding years. Can we be blamed, if, in a strain truly lachrymal, we

allude to the deductions which have annually been made from the

miserable return which 1833 gave to the unfortunate proprietors of

estates? What boots it to tell us that we have fingered thousands of

pounds sterling, in the shape of compensation: and what consolation is

it to know, that a hogshead of sugar will now bring thirty pounds,

which, a short time ago, was only worth twelve. Let any _unprejudiced_

individual look at the return now before us, and say whether our

prospects are not deplorably dull and obscure. If we take the four years

immediately preceding the passing of Mr. Canning's resolutions, say

1819, 20, 21, and 22; we will find the average to be 105,858 hogsheads,

and if from this we even deduct one fourth for the time now lost, there

will be an average crop of 79,394 hhds., being 7,185 hogsheads mere than

the average of 1833, 34, 35, and 36; and no one will deny that this

falling off of one tenth, (supposing that the hogsheads made during the

last four years are _not larger_ than those of 1819 to 1822) is

_nearly_, if not _quite equal_ to the increase of price, from twelve to

thirty pounds, or one hundred and fifty per cent.

It is true some persons may be disposed to take the four years

subsequent to the passing of Mr. Canning's resolutions, say 1823, 4, 5,

and 6, and compare them with the four years ending 31st December last.

Should this be done, it will be found that the average crop of the

previous four years is 91,980 hhds., and if from it is deducted one

fourth, there will remain 68,985 hhds., whilst the average of the other

four years is 72,200 hhds. Such a mode of comparison must, however, be

obviously incorrect; because, in the first place, Mr. Canning's

resolutions had reduced the crops of those years considerably below the

average of the years immediately preceding them, and next, because it

would show the advantage to be on the side of freedom in the ratio of

seventy-two to sixty-nine, which cannot be correct. Besides, in 1824,

there was a severe drought, whereas in 1834 and 35 the seasons are

reported as being favorable. Again, it is necessary, in instituting such

an inquiry, to go back more than fourteen years; nor is it a valid

objection to this to say, that even during that period a number of

estates have been thrown out of cultivation, in consequence of being

worn out and unprofitable. "Deplorable," however, as is the "falling off

in the yearly amounts of our staple productions, which have decreased,"

gentle reader, according to the despatch, "in an accelerated ratio

within the last few years, till in the year 1836, when they do not

average one half the returns of former years preceding that of 1823, the

year that Mr. Canning's resolutions for the ultimate abolition of

slavery in the British colonies passed the House of Commons," still it

is a matter of sincere gratification to know, that the sugar planters

are better off now than they have been for the last fourteen or fifteen

years. With the compensation money a great many of them have been

enabled to pay off their English debts, and the remainder very

considerably to reduce them, whilst the reduction in the quantity of

sugar produced, has occasioned such a rise in the price of that article

as will place the former in easy circumstances, and enable the latter

entirely to free themselves from the trammels of English mortgagees, and

the tender mercies of English mortgagees before the 1st August, 1840,

arrives. And ought these parties not to be thankful? Unquestionably they

ought. Ingratitude, we are told, is as the sin of witchcraft, and

although the table of exports exhibits our fair island as hastening to a

state of ruin, and the despatch tells us that "by the united influence

of mock philanthropy, religious cant, and humbug," a reformed parliament

was _forced_ "to precipitate the _slavery spoliation_ act under the

specious pretext of promoting the industry and improving the condition

of the manumitted slaves," still we maintain, and the reasonable will

agree with us, that we are much better off now than we have been for a

long time, and that Jamaica's brightest and happiest days have not yet

dawned. Let the croakers remember the remarkable words of the Tory Lord,

Belmore, the planter's friend, and be silent--"The resources of this

fine island will never be fully developed until slavery ceases." The

happiness and prosperity of the inhabitants of Jamaica are not

contingent, nor need they be, upon the number of hogsheads of sugar

annually exported from her shores.

* * * * *

To the foregoing we add the remarks of the editor of the "Spanishtown

Telegraph," on the present state of the colony, made in his paper of May

9, 1837:--

"When it was understood that the island of Jamaica and the other

British West Indian colonies were to undergo the blessed transition

from slavery to freedom, it was the hourly cry of the pro-slavery

party and press, that the ruin of Jamaica would, as a natural

consequence, follow liberty! Commerce, said they, will cease; hordes

of barbarians will come upon us and drive us from our own

properties; agriculture will be completely paralyzed; and Jamaica,

in the space of a few short months, will be seen buried in

ashes--irretrievably ruined. Such were the awful predictions of an

unjust, illiberal faction!! Such the first fruits that were to

follow the incomparable blessings of liberty! The staple productions

of the island, it was vainly surmised, could never be cultivated

without the name of slavery; rebellions, massacres, starvation,

rapine and bloodshed, danced through the columns of the

liberty-hating papers, in mazes of metaphorical confusion. In short,

the name of freedom was, according to their assertions, directly

calculated to overthrow our beautiful island, and involve it in one

mass of ruin, unequalled in the annals of history!! But what has

been the result? All their fearful forebodings and horrible

predictions have been entirely disproved, and instead of liberty

proving a curse, she has, on the contrary, unfolded her banners,

and, ere long, is likely to reign triumphant in our land. _Banks,

steam companies, railroads, charity schools, etc._, seem all to have

remained dormant until the time arrived when Jamaica was to be

_enveloped in smoke_! No man thought of hazarding his capital in an

extensive _banking establishment_ until _Jamaica's ruin_, by the

introduction of _freedom, had been accomplished_!! No person was

found possessed of sufficient energy to speak of navigation

companies in Jamaica's brightest days of slavery; but now that ruin

stares every one in the face--now that we have no longer the power

to treat out peasantry as we please, they have taken it into their

heads to establish so excellent an undertaking. Railroads were not

dreamt of until _darling_ slavery had (_in a great measure_)

departed, and now, when we thought of throwing up our estates, and

flying from the _dangers of emancipation_, the best projects are

being set on foot, and what is _worst_, are likely to _succeed_!

This is the way that our Jamaica folks, no doubt, reason with

themselves. But the reasons for the delay which have taken place in

the establishment of all these valuable undertakings, are too

evident to require elucidation. We behold the _Despatch_ and

_Chronicle_, asserting the ruin of our island; the overthrow of all

order and society; and with the knowledge of all this, they speak of

the profits likely to result from steam navigation, banking

establishments, and railroads! What in the name of conscience, can

be the use of steam-vessels when Jamaica's ruin is so fast

approaching? What are the planters and merchants to ship in steamers

when the apprentices will not work, and there is nothing doing? How

is the bank expected to advance money to the planters, when their

total destruction has been accomplished by the abolition of slavery?

What, in the name of reason, can be the use of railroads, when

commerce and agriculture have been nipped in the bud, by that

_baneful weed, Freedom_? Let the unjust panderers of discord, the

haters of liberty, answer. Let them consider what has all this time

retarded the development of Jamaica's resources, and they will find

that it was _slavery_; yes, it was its very name which prevented the

idea of undertakings such as are being brought about. Had it not

been for the introduction of freedom in our land; had the cruel

monster, Slavery, not partially disappeared, when would we have seen

banks, steamers, or railroads? No man thought of hazarding his

capital in the days of slavery, but now that a new era has burst

upon us, a complete change has taken possession of the hearts of all

just men, and they think of improving the blessing of freedom by the

introduction of other things which must ever prove beneficial to

the country.

The vast improvements that are every day being effected in this

island, and throughout the other colonies, stamp the assertions of

the pro-slavery party as the vilest falsehoods. They glory in the

introduction of banks, steam-vessels, and railroads; with the

knowledge (as they would have us believe) that the island is fast

verging into destruction. They speak of the utility and success of

railroads, when, according to their showing, there is no produce to

be sent to market, when agriculture has been paralyzed, and Jamaica

swept to destruction."

* * * * *

The following copious extracts from a speech of Lord Brougham, on the

workings of the apprenticeship, and on the immediate emancipation

substituted therefor in Antigua and the Bermudas, are specially

commended to the notice of the reader. The speech was delivered in the

House of Lords, Feb. 20, 1838. We take it from the published report of

the speech in the London Times, of Feb. 25:--

I now must approach that subject which has some time excited almost

universal anxiety. Allow me, however, first to remind your

lordships--because that goes to the root of the evil--allow me first

to remind you of the anxiety that existed previous to the

Emancipation Act which was passed in January, 1833, coming into

operation in August, 1834. My lords, there was much to apprehend

from the character of the masters of the slaves. I know the nature

of man. * * * * I know that he who has abused power clings to it

with a yet more convulsive grasp. I know his revenge against those

who have been rescued from his tyrannous fangs; I know that he never

forgives those whom he has injured, whether white or black. I have

never yet met with an unforgiving enemy, except in the person of one

of whose injustice I had a right to complain. On the part of the

slaves, my lords, I was not without anxiety; for I know the corrupt

nature of the degrading system under which they groaned. * * * * It

was, therefore, I confess, my lords, with some anxiety that I looked

forward to the 1st of August, 1834; and I yielded, though

reluctantly, to the plan of an intermediate state before what was

called the full enjoyment of freedom--the transition condition of

indentured apprenticeship.

The first of August arrived--that day so confidently and joyously

anticipated by the poor slaves, and so sorely dreaded by their hard

taskmasters--and if ever there was a picture interesting to look

upon--if ever there was a passage in the history of a people

redounding to their eternal honor--if ever there was a complete

refutation of all the scandalous calumnies which had been heaped

upon them for ages, as if in justification of the wrongs which we

had done them--(Hear, hear)--that picture and that passage are to be

found in the uniform and unvarying history of that people throughout

the whole of the West India islands. Instead of the fires of

rebellion, lit by a feeling of lawless revenge and resistance to

oppression, the whole of those islands were, like an Arabian scene,

illuminated by the light of contentment, joy, peace, and good-will

towards all men. No civilized people, after gaining an unexpected

victory, could have shown more delicacy and forbearance than was

exhibited by the slaves at the great moral consummation which they

had attained. There was not a look or a gesture which could gall the

eyes of their masters. Not a sound escaped from negro lips which

could wound the ears of the most feverish planter in the islands.

All was joy, mutual congratulation, and hope.

This peaceful joy, this delicacy towards the feelings of others, was

all that was to be seen, heard, or felt, on that occasion,

throughout the West India islands.

It was held that the day of emancipation would be one of riot and

debauchery, and that even the lives of the planters would be

endangered. So far from this proving the case, the whole of the

negro population kept it as a most sacred festival, and in this

light I am convinced it will ever be viewed.

In one island, where the bounty of nature seems to provoke the

appetite to indulgence, and to scatter with a profuse hand all the

means of excitement, I state the fact when I say not one drunken

negro was found during the whole of the day. No less than 800,000

slaves were liberated in that one day, and their peaceful festivity

was disturbed only on one estate, in one parish, by an irregularity

which three or four persons sufficed to put down.

Well, my lords, baffled in their expectations that the first of

August would prove a day of disturbance--baffled also in the

expectation that no voluntary labor would be done--we were then told

by the "practical men," to look forward to a later period. We have

done so, and what have we seen? Why, that from the time voluntary

labor began, there was no want of men to work for hire, and that

there was no difficulty in getting those who as apprentices had to

give the planters certain hours of work, to extend, upon emergency,

their period of labor, by hiring out their services for wages to

strangers. I have the authority of my noble friend behind me, (the

Marquis of Sligo,) who very particularly, inquired into the matter,

when I state that on nine estates out of ten there was no difficulty

in obtaining as much work as the owners had occasion for, on the

payment of wages. How does all this contrast with the predictions of

the "practical men?" "Oh," said they, in 1833, "it is idle talking;

the cart-whip must be used--without that stimulant no negro will

work--the nature of the negro is idle and indolent, and without the

thought of the cartwhip is before his eyes he falls asleep--put the

cartwhip aside and no labor will be done." Has this proved the case?

No, my lords, it has not; and while every abundance of voluntary

labor has been found, in no one instance has the stimulus of the

cartwhip been found wanting. The apprentices work well without the

whip, and wages have been found quite as good a stimulus as the

scourge even to negro industry. "Oh, but" it is said, "this may do

in cotton planting and cotton picking, and indigo making; but the

cane will cease to grow, the operation of hoeing will be known no

more, boiling will cease to be practised, and sugar-making will

terminate entirely." Many, I know, were appalled by these

reasonings, and the hopes of many were dissipated by these confident

predictions of these so-deemed experienced men. But how stands the

case now? My lords, let these experienced men, come forth with their

experience. I will plant mine against it, and you will find he will

talk no more of his experience when I tell him--tell him, too,

without fear of contradiction--that during the year which followed

the first of August, 1834, twice as much sugar per hour, and of a

better quality as compared with the preceding years, was stored

throughout the sugar districts; and that one man, a large planter,

has expressly avowed, that with twenty freemen he could do more work

than with a hundred slaves or fifty indentured apprentices. (Hear,

hear.) But Antigua!--what has happened there? There has not been

even the system of indentured apprentices. In Antigua and the

Bermudas, as would have been the case at Montserrat if the upper

house had not thrown out the bill which was prepared by the planters

themselves, there had been no preparatory step. In Antigua and the

Bermudas, since the first of August, 1834, not a slave or indentured

apprentice was to be found. Well, had idleness reigned there--had

indolence supplanted work--had there been any deficiency of crop?

No. On the contrary, there had been an increase, and not a

diminution of crop. (Hear.) But, then, it was said that quiet could

not be expected after slavery in its most complete and abject form

had so long reigned paramount, and that any sudden emancipation must

endanger the peace of the islands. The experience of the first of

August at once scattered to the winds that most fallacious prophecy.

Then it was said, only wait till Christmas, for that is a period

when, by all who have any practical knowledge of the negro

character, a rebellion on their part is most to be apprehended. We

did wait for this dreaded Christmas; and what was the result? I will

go for it to Antigua, for it is the strongest case, there being

there no indentured apprentices--no preparatory state--no

transition--the chains being at once knocked off, and the negroes

made at once free. For the first time within the last thirty years,

at the Christmas of the year 1834, martial law was not proclaimed in

the island of Antigua. You talk of facts--here is one. You talk of

experience--here it is. And with these facts and this experience

before us, I call on those _soi-disant_ men of experience--those men

who scoffed at us--who laughed to scorn at what they called our

visionary, theoretical schemes--schemes that never could be carried

into effect without rebellion and the loss of the colonies--I say,

my lords, I call on these experienced men to come forward, and, if

they can, deny one single iota of the statement I am now making. Let

those who thought that with the use of those phrases, "a planter of

Jamaica" "the West India interest," "residence in Jamaica and its

experience," they could make our balance kick the beam--let them, I

say, hear what I tell, for it is but the fact--that when the chains

were knocked off there was not a single breach of the peace

committed either on the day itself, or on the Christmas festival

which followed.

Well, my lords, beaten from these two positions, where did the

experienced men retreat to under what flimsy pretext did they next

undertake to disparage the poor negro race? Had I not seen it in

print, and been otherwise informed of the fact, I could not have

believed it possible that from any reasonable man any such absurdity

could issue. They actually held out this last fear, which, like the

others, was fated to be dissipated by the fact. "Wait only," said

they, "till the anniversary of the first of August, and then you

will see what the negro character is, and how little these

indentured apprentices are fit to be entrusted with freedom." Was

there ever such an absurdity uttered, as if my lords, the man who

could meet with firm tranquillity and peaceful thankfulness the

event itself, was likely to be raised to rebellion and rioting by

the recollection of it a year afterwards. My lords, in considering

this matter, I ask you, then, to be guided by your own experience,

and nothing else; profit by it, my lords, and turn it to your own

account; for it, according to that book which all of us must revere,

teaches even the most foolish of a foolish race. I do not ask you to

adopt as your own the experience of others; you have as much as you

can desire of your own, and by no other test do I wish or desire to

be judged. But I think my task may be said to be done. I think I

have proved my case, for I have shown that the negro can work

without the stimulant of the whip; I have shown that he can labor

for hire without any other motive than that of industry to inspire

him. I have demonstrated that all over the West Indies, even when

fatigued with working the allotted hours for the profit of his

master, he can work again for wages for him who chooses to hire him

and has wherewithal to pay him; I have also most distinctly shown

that the experience of Antigua and the Bermudas is demonstrative to

show that without any state of preparation, without any indenture of

apprenticeship at all, he is fit to be intrusted with his freedom,

and will work voluntarily as a free laborer for hire. But I have

also demonstrated from the same experience, and by reference to the

same state of facts, that a more quiet, inoffensive, peaceable,

innocent people, is not to be found on the face of this earth than

the negro--not in their own unhappy country, but after they have

been removed from it and enslaved in your Christian land, made the

victim of the barbarizing demon of civilized powers, and has all

this character, if it were possible to corrupt it, and his feelings,

if it were possible to pervert them, attempted to be corrupted and

perverted by Christian and civilized men, and that in this state,

with all incentives to misdemeanor poured around him, and all the

temptation to misconduct which the arts and artifices and examples

of civilized man can give hovering over him--that after this

transition is made from slavery to apprenticeship, and from slavery

to absolute freedom, a negro's spirit has been found to rival the

unbroken tranquillity of the Caribbean Seas. (Cheers.) This was not

the state of things we expected, my lords; and in proof that it was

not so, I have but to refer you to the statute book itself. On what

ground did you enact the intermediate state of indenture

apprenticeship, and on what arguments did you justify it? You felt

and acknowledged that the negro had a right to be free, and that you

had no right to detain him in bondage. Every one admitted this, but

in the prevailing ignorance of their character it was apprehended

that they could not be made free at once, and that time was

requisite to train the negro to receive the boon it was intended

bestowing upon him.

This was the delusion which prevailed, and which was stated in the

preamble of the statute--the same delusion which had made the men on

one side state and the other to believe that it was necessary to pay

the slave-owners for the loss it was supposed they would sustain.

But it was found to be a baseless fear, and the only result of the

phantom so conjured up was a payment of twenty millions to the

conjurors. (Hear, and a laugh.) Now, I maintain that had we known

what we now know of the character of the negroes, neither would this

compensation have been given to the slave-owners, nor we have been

guilty of proposing to keep the negro in slavery five years, after we

were decided that he had a right to his freedom. The noble and

learned lord here proceeded to contend that up to the present time

the slave-owners, so far from being sufferers, had been gainers by

the abolition of slavery and the enactment of the system of

apprenticeship, and that consequently up to the present moment

nothing had occurred to entitle them to a claim upon the

compensation allotted by parliament. The slave-owners might be said

to have pocketed the seven millions without having the least claim

to them, and therefore, in considering the proposition he was about

to make, parliament should bear in mind that the slave proprietors

were, if anything, the debtors to the nation. The money had, in

fact, been paid to them by mistake, and, were the transaction one

between man and man, an action for its recovery might lie. But the

slave-owners alleged that if the apprenticeship were now done away

there would be a loss, and that to meet that loss they had a right

to the money. For argument's sake he would suppose this to be true,

and that there would be loss; but would it not be fair that the

money should be lodged in the hands of a third party, with authority

to pay back at the expiration of the two years whatever rateable sum

the master could prove himself to have lost? His firm belief was,

that no loss could arise; but, desirous to meet the planter at every

point, he should have no objection to make terms with him. Let him,

then, pay the money into court, as it were, and at the end of two

years he should be fully indemnified for any loss he might prove. He

called upon their lordships to look to Antigua and the Bermudas for

proof that the free negro worked well, and that no loss was

occasioned to the planters or their property by the granting of

emancipation. But it was said that there was a difference between

the cases of Antigua and other colonies, such as Jamaica, and it was

urged that while the negroes of the former, from the smallness and

barrenness of the place, would be forced into work, that in the

latter they would run away, and take refuge in the woods. Now, he

asked, why should the negro run away from his work, on being made

free, more than during the continuance of his apprenticeship? Why,

again, should it be supposed that on the 1st of August, 1840, the

emancipated negroes should have less inclination to betake

themselves to the woods than in 1838? If there was a risk of the

slaves running to the woods in 1838, that risk would be increased

and not diminished during the intermediate period up to 1840, by the

treatment they were receiving from their masters, and the deferring

of their hopes.

My lords, (continued the noble lord,) I have now to say a few words

upon the treatment which the slaves have received during the past

three years of their apprenticeship, and which, it is alleged,

during the next two years is to make them fitted for absolute

emancipation. My lords, I am prepared to show that in most respects

the treatment the slaves have received since 1834 is no better, and

in many others more unjust and worse, than it ever was in the time

of absolute slavery. It is true that the use of the cartwhip as a

stimulus to labor has been abolished. This, I admit, is a great and

most satisfactory improvement; but, in every other particular, the

state of the slave, I am prepared to show, is not improved, and, in

many respects, it is materially worse. First, with regard to the

article of food, I will compare the Jamaica prison allowance with

that allotted to the apprenticed negroes in other colonies. In the

Jamaica prison the allowance of rice is 14 pints a week to each

person. I have no return of the allowance to the indentured

apprentice in Jamaica, but I believe it is little over this; but in

Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, it is much under. In Barbadoes,

instead of receiving the Jamaica prison allowance of 14 pints a

week, the apprenticed negro received but 10 pints: while in the

Leeward Islands he had but 8 pints. In the crown colonies, before

1834, the slave received 21 pints of rice, now the apprentice gets

but 10; so that in the material article, food, no improvement in the

condition of the negro was observable. Then, with regard to time, it

is obviously of the utmost importance that the apprentice should

have at least two holidays and a half a week--the Sabbath for

religious worship and instruction, the Saturday to attend the

markets, and half of Friday to work in his own garden. The act of

emancipation specified 45 hours a week as the period the apprentice

was to work for his master, but the master so contrived matters as

in most instances to make the 45 hours the law allotted him run into

the apprentice's half of Friday, and even in some cases into the

Saturday. The planter invariably counted the time from the moment

that the slave commenced his work; and as it often occurs that his

residence was on the border of the estate, he may have to walk five

or six miles to get to the place he has to work. This was a point

which he was sure their lordships would agree with him in thinking

required alteration.

The next topic to which I shall advert relates to the administration

of justice; and this large and important subject I cannot pass over

without a word to remind your lordships how little safe it is, how

little deserving the name of just, or any thing like just, that

where you have two classes you should separate them into conflicting

parties, until they became so exasperated in their resentment as

scarcely to regard each other as brethren of the same species; and

that you should place all the administration of justice in the hands

of one dominant class, whose principles, whose passions whose

interests, are all likely to be preferred by the judges when they

presume to sit where you have placed them on the judgment seat. The

chief and puisne judges are raised to their situations from amongst

the class which includes the white men and planters. But, worse than

that, the jurors are taken from the same privileged body: jurors,

who are to assess civil damages in actions for injuries done to the

negroes--jurors, who are to try bills of indictment against the

whites for the maltreatment of the blacks--jurors who are to convict

or acquit on those bills--jurors who are to try the slaves

themselves--nay, magistrates, jailors, turnkeys, the whole apparatus

of justice, both administrative and executive, exclusively in the

hands of one race! What is the consequence? Why, it is proverbial

that no bills are found for the blacks. (Hear, hear.) Six bills of

indictment were preferred, some for murder and some for bad

manslaughter, and at one assizes every one of these six indictments

was thrown out. Assizes after assizes the same thing happened, until

at length wagers were held that no such bill would be found, and no

one was found to accept them. Well was it for them that they

declined, for every one of the bills preferred was ignored. Now,

observe that in proceedings, as your lordships know; before grand

jurors, not a tittle of evidence is heard for the prisoners; every

witness is in favor of the indictment, or finding of the bill; but

in all these instances the bills were flung out on the examination

of evidence solely against the prisoner. Even in the worst cases of

murder, as certainly and plainly committed as the sun shines at noon

day, monstrous to all, the bills were thrown out when half the

witnesses for the prosecution remained to be examined. (Hear, hear.)

Some individuals swore against the prisoners, and though others

tendered their evidence, the jury refused to hear them. (Hear,

hear.) Besides, the punishments inflicted are monstrous; thirty-nine

lashes are inflicted for the vague, indefinite--because incapable to

be defined--offence of insolence. Thirty-nine lashes for the grave

and the more definite, I admit, offence of an attempt to carry a

small knife. Three months imprisonment, or fifty lashes for the

equally grave offence of cutting off the shoot of a cane plant!

There seems to have prevailed at all times amongst the governors of

our colonies a feeling, of which, I grieve to say, the governors at

home have ever and anon largely partaken, that there is something in

the nature of a slave--something in the habits of the African

negro--something in the disposition of the unfortunate hapless

victims of our own crimes and cruelties, which makes what is mercy

and justice to other men cruelty to society and injustice to the law

in the case of the negro, and which condemns offences slightly

visited, if visited at all, with punishment, when committed by other

men, to the sentence that for his obdurate nature none can be too

severe. (Hear, hear.) As if we had any one to blame but

ourselves--as if we had any right to visit on him that character if

it were obdurate, those habits if they were insubordinate, that

dishonest disposition if it did corrupt his character, all of which

I deny, and which experience proves to be contrary to the fact and

truth; but even if these statements were all truth instead of being

foully slanderous and absolutely false, we, of all men, have

ourselves to blame, ourselves to tax, and ourselves to punish, at

least for the self abasement, for we have been the very causes of

corrupting the negro character. (Cheers.)

If some capricious despot, in his career of ordinary tyranny, were

to tax his imagination to produce something more monstrous and

unnatural than himself, and were to place a dove amongst vultures,

or engraft a thorn on the olive tree, much as we should marvel at

the caprice, we should be still more astounded at the expectation,

which exceeds even a tyrant's proverbial unreasonableness, that he

should gather grapes from the thorn, or that the dove should be

habituated to a thirst for blood. Yet that is the caprice, that is

the unreasonable, the foul, the gross, the monstrous, the

outrageous, incredible injustice of which we are hourly guilty

towards the whole unhappy race of negroes. (Cheers.) My lords, we

fill up the incasare of injustice by severely executing laws badly

conceived in a still more atrocious and cruel spirit. The whole

punishments smell of blood. (Hear, Hear.) If the treadmill stop in

consequence of the languid limbs and exhausted frames of the

victims, within a minute the lash resounds through the building--if

the stones which they are set to break be not broken by limbs

scarred, and marred, and whaled, they are summoned by the crack of

the whip to their toilsome task! I myself have heard within the last

three hours, from a person, who was an eye-witness of the appalling

and disgusting fact, that a leper was introduced amongst the

negroes; and in passing let me remark, that in private houses or

hospitals no more care has been taken to separate those who are

stricken with infectious diseases from the sound portion, any more

than to furnish food to those in prison who are compelled, from the

unheard-of, the paltry, the miserable disposition to treat with

cruelty the victims of a prison, to go out and gather their own

food,--a thing which I believe even the tyrant of Siberia does not

commit. Yet in that prison, where blood flows profusely, and the

limbs of those human beings are subjected to perpetual torture, the

frightful, the nauseous, the disgusting--except that all other

feelings are lost in pity towards the victim and indignation against

the oppressor--sight was presented of a leper, scarred from the

eruptions of disease on his legs and previous mistreatment, whaled

again and again, and his blood again made to flow from the jailer's

lash. I have told your lordships how bills have been thrown out for

murdering the negroes. But a man had a bill presented for this

offence: a petition was preferred, and by a white man. Yes, a white

man who had dared, under feelings of excited indignation, to

complain to the regularly constituted authorities, instead of

receiving for his gallant conduct the thanks of the community, had a

bill found which was presented against him as a nuisance. I have,

within the last two hours, amid the new mass of papers laid before

your lordships within the last forty-eight hours, culled a sample

which, I believe, represents the whole odious mass.

Eleven females have been flogged, starved, lashed, attached to the

treadmill, and compelled to work until nature could no longer endure

their sufferings. At the moment when the wretched victims were about

to fall off--when they could no longer bring down the mechanism and

continue the movement, they were suspended by their arms, and at

each revolution of the wheel received new wounds on their members,

until, in the language of that law so grossly outraged in their

persons, they "languished and died." Ask you if a cringe of this

murderous nature went unvisited, and if no inquiry was made

respecting its circumstances? The forms of justice were observed;

the handmaid was present, but the sacred mistress was far away. A

coroner's inquest was called; for the laws decreed that no such

injuries should take place without having an inquiry instituted.

Eleven inquisitions were held, eleven inquiries were made, eleven

verdicts were returned. For murder? Manslaughter? Misconduct? No;

but that "they died by the visitation of God." A lie--a perjury--a

blasphemy! The visitation of God! Yes, for of the visitations of the

Divine being by which the inscrutable purposes of his will are

mysteriously worked out, one of the most mysterious is the power

which, from time to time, is allowed by him to be exercised by the

wicked for the torment of the innocent. (Cheers.) But of those

visitations prescribed by Divine Providence there is one yet more

inscrutable, for which it is still more difficult to affix a reason,

and that is, when heaven rolls down on this earth the judgment, not

of scorpions, or the plague of pestilence, or famine, or war--but

incomparably the worse plague, the worser judgment, of the injustice

of judges who become betrayers of the law--perjured, wicked men who

abuse the law which they are sworn to administer, in order to

gratify their own foul passions, to take the part of the wrong-doer

against his victim, and to forswear themselves on God's gospel, in

order that justice may not be done. * * * * My lords, I entirely

concur in what was formerly said by Mr. Burke, and afterwards

repeated by Mr. Canning, that while the making of laws was confined

to the owners of slaves, nothing they did was ever found real or

effectual. And when, perchance, any thing was accomplished, it had

not, as Mr. Burke said, "an executive principle." But, when they

find you determined to do your duty, it is proved, by the example

which they have given in passing the Apprenticeship Amendment Act,

that they will even outstrip you to prevent your interference with

them. * * * * Place the negroes on the same footing with other men,

and give them the uncontrolled power over their time and labor, and

it will become the interest of the planter, as well as the rest of

the community, to treat the negro well, for their comfort and

happiness depend on his industry and good behavior. It is a

consequence perfectly clear, notwithstanding former distinctions,

notwithstanding the difference of color and the variety of race in

that population, the negro and the West Indian will in a very few

generations--when the clank of his chain is no longer heard, when

the oppression of the master can vex no more, when equal rights are

enjoyed by all, and all have a common interest in the general

prosperity--be impressed with a sense of their having an equal share

in the promotion of the public welfare; nay, that social

improvement, the progress of knowledge, civility, and even

refinement itself, will proceed as rapidly and diffuse itself as

universally in the islands of the Western Ocean as in any part of

her Majesty's dominions. * * * *

I see no danger in the immediate emancipation of the negro; I see no

possible injury in terminating the apprenticeship, (which we now

have found should never have been adopted,) and in causing it to

cease for slaves previous to August, 1838, at that date, as those

subsequent to that date must in that case be exempt. * * * * I

regard the freedom of the negro as accomplished and sure. Why?

Because it is his right--because he has shown himself fit for

it--because a pretext or a shadow of a pretext can no longer be

devised for withholding that right from its possessor. I know that

all men now take a part in the question, and that they will no

longer bear to be imposed upon now they are well informed. My

reliance is firm and unflinching upon the great change which I have

witnessed--the education of the people unfettered by party or by

sect--from the beginning of its progress, I may say from the hour of

its birth. Yes; it was not for a humble man like me to assist at

royal births with the illustrious prince who condescended to grace

the pageant of this opening session, or the great captain and

statesman in whose presence I now am proud to speak. But with that

illustrious prince, and with the father of the Queen I assisted at

that other birth, more conspicuous still. With them and with the

lord of the house of Russel I watched over its cradle--I marked its

growth--I rejoiced in its strength--I witnessed its maturity--I have

been spared to see it ascend the very height of supreme

power--directing the councils of the state--accelerating every great

improvement--uniting itself with every good work--propping honorable

and useful institutions--extirpating abuses in all our

institutions--passing the bounds of our dominion, and in the new

world, as in the old, proclaiming that freedom is the birthright of

man--that distinction of color gives no title to oppression--that

the chains now loosened must be struck off, and even the marks they

have left effaced by the same eternal law of our nature which makes

nations the masters of their own destiny, and which in Europe has

caused every tyrant's throne to quake. But they need to feel no

alarm at the progress of right who defend a limited monarchy and

support their popular institutions--who place their chiefest pride

not in ruling over slaves, be they white or be they black--not in

protecting the oppressor, but in wearing a constitutional crown, in

holding the sword of justice with the hand of mercy, in being the

first citizen of a country whose air is too pure for slavery to

breathe, and on whose shores, if the captive's foot but touch, his

fetters of themselves fall off. (Cheers.) To the resistless progress

of this great principle I look with a confidence which nothing can

shake; it makes all improvement certain--it makes all change safe

which it produces; for none can be brought about, unless all has

been accomplished in a cautious and salutary spirit. So now the

fulness of time is come; for our duty being at length discharged to

the African captive, I have demonstrated to you that every thing is

ordered--every previous step taken--all safe, by experience shown to

be safe, for the long-desired consummation. The time has come--the

trial has been made--the hour is striking: you have no longer a

pretext for hesitation, or faltering, or delay. The slave has shown,

by four years' blameless behavior and devotion, unsurpassed by any

English peasant, to the pursuit of peaceful industry, that he is as

fit for his freedom as any lord whom I now address. I demand his

rights--I demand his liberty without stint, in the names of justice

and of law--in the name of reason--in the name of God, who has given

you no right to work injustice. I demand that your brother be no

longer trampled upon as your slave. (Hear, hear.) I make my appeal

to the Commons, who represent the free people of England; and I

require at their hands the performance of that condition for which

they paid so enormous a price--that condition which all their

constituents are in breathless anxiety to see fulfilled! I appeal to

his house--the hereditary judges of the first tribunal in the

world--to you I appeal for justice. Patrons of all the arts that

humanize mankind, under your protection I place humanity herself! To

the merciful Sovereign of a free people I call aloud for mercy to

the hundreds of thousands in whose behalf half a million of her

Christian sisters have cried aloud, that their cry may not have

risen in vain. But first I turn my eye to the throne of all justice,

and devoutly humbling myself before Him who is of purer eyes than to

behold any longer such vast iniquities--I implore that the curse

over our heads of unjust oppression be averted from us--that your

hearts may be turned to mercy--and that over all the earth His will

may at length be done!

* * * * *

INDEX.

ABSCONDING from labor,

Accident in a boiling house,

Aged negro,

Allowance to Apprentices,

"Amalgamation,"

American Consul, (_See Consul_.)

American Prejudice,

Amity Hall Estate,

Anderson, Wm. II. Esq.,

Anguilla,

Annual Meeting of Missionaries,

Antigua, Dimensions of,

" Sugar Crop of,

Applewhitte, Mr.

Appraisement of Apprentices,

Apprentice, provisions respecting the,

Apprenticeship compared with slavery,

Apprenticeship System,

" Design of,

" Good effect of,

" No preparation for freedom,

Apprenticeship, Operation of,

Apprenticeship, Opinion of, in Antigua;--in Barbadoes;--in Jamaica,

Apprentices liberated,

Apprentices' work compared with slaves

Archdeacon of Antigua,

" of Barbadoes,

Aristocracy of Antigua,

Armstrong, Mr. H.,

Ashby, Colonel,

Athill, Mr.,

Attachment to home,

Attorney General of Jamaica,

Attendance on Church

August, First of

Baijer, Hon. Samuel O.,

Baines, Major,

Banks, Rev. Mr.,

Baptist Chapel

Baptists in Jamaica,

Barbadoes,

Barbuda,

Barber in Bridgetown,

Barclay, Alexander, Esq.,

Barnard, Samuel, Esq.,

Barrow, Colonel,

Bath,

Bazaar,

Bell, Dr.,

Belle Estate,

Bell not tolled for colored person,

"_Belly, 'blige_ 'em to work,"

Belmore, Lord,

Belvidere Estate,

Benevolent institutions of Antigua,

Bible Society,

Bishop of Barbadoes,

Blessings of Abolition, (See _Morals_, &c.)

Blind man,

Boiling House,

Bookkeepers, Slaver of,

"Bornin' Ground,"

Bourne, Mr. London,

Bourne, Mr. S., (of Antigua,)

Bourne, Stephen, Esq., (of Jamaica,)

Breakfast at Mr. Bourne's,

" at Mr. Prescod's,

" at Mr. Thorne's,

Briant, Mr.,

Bridgetown,

Brown, Colonel,

Brown, Thomas C.,

C., Mr., of Barbadoes,

"Cage,"

Cane cultivated by apprentices on their own ground,

Cane-cutting,

Cane-holing,

Cecil, Mr.,

Cedar Hall,

Chamberlain, R., Esq.,

Change of opinion in regard to slavery,

Chapel erected by apprentices,

Character of colored people,

Cheesborough, Rev. Mr.,

Children, care of, (See _Free_.)

Christmas,

Church, Established,

Civility of negroes,

Clarke, Dr.,

Clarke, Hon. R.B.,

Clarke, Mr.,

Classification of apprentices,

Codrington Estate,

Coddrington, Sir Christopher.

Coffee Estates.

College, Coddrington.

Colliton Estate.

Colored Architect.

" Editors.

" Lady.

" Legislators.

" Magistrates.

" Merchants.

" Policemen.

" Population.

" Proprietor.

" Teachers.

Colthurst, Major.

Complaints to Special Magistrates.

Concubinage.

Condition of the negroes, changed.

Conduct of the Emancipated on the first of August.

Confidence increased.

Conjugal attachment.

Consul, American at Antigua.

" " at Jamaica.

Constabulary force, colored.

Contributions for religious purposes.

Conversation with a negro boatman.

Conversation with negroes on Harvey's estate.

Conversation with apprentices.

Corbett, Mr. Trial of.

Corner stone laid.

Courts in Barbadoes.

Courts in Jamaica.

Cox, Rev. James.

Cranstoun, Mr.

Crimes, Diminution of.

Crimes in Jamaica.

Crookes, Rev. Mr.

Crops in Barbadoes.

Crops in Jamaica.

Cruelty of slavery.

" to apprentices.

Cultivation in Barbadoes, (See _Crops_.)

Cultivation in Jamaica.

Cummins, Mr.

Cummins, Rev. Mr.

Cuppage, Captain.

Custom House returns, Barbadoes.

Daily meal Society.

Dangers of slavery.

Daniell, Dr.

Death-bed of a planter.

Deception.

Defect of law.

Demerara, Apprenticeship in.

Desire for instruction.

Dinner at Mr. Harris's.

" at the Governor's.

Disabilities of colored people.

Discussion, Effect of.

Distinction between _serving_ and being _property_.

Distressed Females' Friend Society.

Disturbances, Reason of.

Docility of the negroes.

Domestic Apprentices.

Donovan's Estate.

Drax Hall.

Dress in Antigua.

"Driver and overseer."

Drought in Antigua.

Dublin Castle Estate.

Duncan, Mr.

Dungeons in Antigua.

" in Barbadoes.

Economy of the negroes.

Edgecomb Estate.

Edmonson, Rev. Jonathan.

Education of Apprentices.

" in Antigua.

" in Barbadoes. (See _Schools_.)

Education, Queries on, replied to.

" Results, in regard to.

Edwards, Colonel.

Eldridge, R. B. Esq..

Elliot, Rev. Edward.

Emancipation, Immediate. (See _Preparation, &c._)

Emancipation, Motives of, in Antigua.

Emigrants from Europe.

Employments of the colored.

English Delegation.

Enrolment of colored militia.

Escape of slaves from French islands.

Expectations in regard to 1838 and 1840.

Expense of free compared with slave labor.

Expense of Apprenticeship compared with slavery.

Explanation of terms.

Exports of Jamaica for 53 years.

Fair of St. John's.

Favey, Mr.

Feeding in Barbadoes.

Feeling, intense, of the negroes.

Females in the field.

Fences wanting in Antigua.

Ferguson, Dr.

Fines upon the planters.

Fire in the canes.

Fitch's Creek Estate.

Flogging.

" machine.

Forten, James.

Four and a half per cent tax.

Fraser, Rev. Edward.

" Mrs., ----

Free children.

Freedom in Antigua.

Free labor less expensive.

Freeman, Count.

Frey's Estate.

Friendly Societies.

Fright of American vessels.

Galloway, Mr.

Gangs, Division of.

Gardiner, Rev. Mr.

Gilbert, Rev. N.

Girl sold by her mother.

Gitters, Rev. Mr.

Golden Grove Estate.

Gordon, Mr.

Governor of Antigua.

" of Barbadoes.

Grace Bay.

Grenada.

"Grandfather Jacob."

Gratitude of the Negroes.

"Grecian Regale."

Green Castle Estate.

Green Wall Estate.

Guadaloupe.

Guarda Costas.

"Gubner poisoned."

H., Mr., an American.

Hamilton, Capt.

Hamilton, Cheny, Esq.

Hamilton, Rev. Mr.

Harrison, Colonel.

Harris, Thomas, Esq.

Harvey, Rev. B.

Hatley, Mr.

Heroism of colored women.

Higginbothom, Ralph, Esq.

Hill, Richard, Esq.

Hinkston, Samuel, Esq.

Holberton, Rev. Robert.

Holidays in Antigua.

Horne, Rev. Mr.

"Horse."

Horton Estate.

Horsford, Hon. Paul.

Hostility to Emancipation. (See also, _Change, &c._)

House of Correction.

Howell, Mr., (of Jamaica).

Howell, James Esq.

Hurricane.

Imports and Exports of Barbadoes.

Improvement since Emancipation. (See _Morals_.)

Indolence of Apprentices.

" of Whites.

Industry of Emancipated Slaves.

Industry of Apprentices.

Infanticide.

Insolence.

Insubordination. (See _Subordination_.)

Insurrection in Barbadoes in 1816.

Insurrection not feared in Antigua;

nor in Barbadoes;

nor in Jamaica.

Intelligence of blacks, as compared with whites.

Intemperance in Antigua. (See _Temperance_.)

Intermixture. (See also _Amalgamation_.)

Internal Improvement.

Jamaica.

Jarvis, Colonel.

Jobs.

Jocken, Mr.

Jones, Mr.

Jones, Rev. Mr.

Jones, T. Watkins, S. M.

Jordon, Edward, Esq.

Jury on the body of a negro woman.

"Juvenile Association."

Kingdon, Rev. Mr.

Kingston.

Kirkland, Mr.

Law, respect for.

Lear's Estate.

Legislature of Antigua.

Letter to a Special Magistrate.

License to marry.

Licentiousness.

Lighthouse.

Lock-up house at St. John's.

Lyon, E.B., Esq.

Lyon's Estate.

Machinery, Labor-saving.

Managers, Testimony of.

Manchioneal.

Market in St. John's.

Market people.

Maroons.

Marriage.

Marshall, Mr.

Martinique.

Master's power over the apprentice.

McCornock, Thomas, Esq.

McGregor, Sir Evan, J. M.

Megass.

Merchants, Testimony of.

Messages of Sir Lionel Smith.

Mico Charity Infant School.

Miller's Estate.

Missionaries, Wesleyan.

Missionary associations.

" Society, Wesleyan.

Mob, Pro-Slavery, in Barbadoes.

Möhne, Mr. and Mrs.

Montserrat.

Morals, improvement of.

Morant Bay.

Moravian Chapel.

" Missionary.

Moravians.

Morrish, Rev. Mr.

Mule-traveling.

Murder of a planter.

Musgrave, Dr.

Negro Grounds.

Negro Quarters.

Nevis.

Newby, Mr.

Newfield, visit to.

Noble trait in the apprentices.

Nugent, Hon. Nicholas.

Obstacles to free labor in Antigua.

Old school tyrant.

Opinions in Antigua in regard to Emancipation.

Opinions of the United States.

Opposition to slavery in Jamaica.

O'Reily, Hon. Dowel.

Osburne, Mr.

Overseers.

Packer, Rev. Mr.

Parry, Archdeacon.

Partiality of the Special Magistrates.

Peaceableness of negro villages.

Peaceableness of the change from slavery to freedom.

Peaceableness of the negro character.

Persecution of a Special Justice.

Peter's Rock.

Phillips, Rev. Mr.

Physician, Testimony of.

Pigeot, Mr.

Plantain Garden River Valley.

Planter, a severe one.

Planters, cruelty of.

" in Barbadoes.

Plough.

Police Court.

" of Antigua.

" Officers, Testimony of.

" Reports.

Policy of colored people in regard to prejudice.

Port Royal.

Prejudice against color.

"Prejudice Bell."

Preparation for freedom.

Prescod, Mr.

Promiscuous seating in church (See _"Amalgamation," &c._)

Proprietor, testimony of.

Pro-slavery pretences.

Providence of the emancipated, the.

Provost Marshal, Testimony of.

Punishment, cruel.

Punishment in Antigua.

Ramsay, Mr.

Real Estate.

Rebellion, so called.

Rector of St. John's.

"Red Shanks."

Reid, Mr. E.

Religion in Antigua;

in Barbadoes;

in Jamaica.

Religious condition of slaves in Antigua.

Religious instruction desired.

Report of a Special Magistrate.

Resolution in regard to Messrs. Thome and Kimball.

Resolutions of Wesleyan Missionaries.

Respect for the aged.

Results in Antigua.

Revengefulness.

Ridge Estate.

Right of suffrage.

Rogers, Mr.

Ross, A., Esq.

Rowe, Rev. Mr.

Rum, use of in Antigua.