Charles Duncan to John Dixon, Dr.

1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house

and ground, from 1st of August to

date, 6s. 8d. per week. 2 3 9-1/2

Cr. By balance, five days, 1s.8d. per day 0 8 4

-------------

1 15 5-1/2

Charles Brown, to John Dixon, Dr.

1838. Sept. 13. To rent of house

and ground, 6s. 8d. per week,

from 1st Aug, to date. 2 1 10

Charge for running a sow and pigs,

from 1st Aug. to date, 2s. 6d. per

week 0 15 8-1/2

-------------

2 17 6-1/2

John Alfred Bullock to John Dixon, Dr.

1838. Sept. 15. To rent of house

and garden, from 1st of Aug.

to date, 6s. 8d. per week, 2 3 9-1/2

Rent of provision ground, 5s. per

week, 1 12 6

Pasturage, two weeks, for an ass,

6s. 3d, per month, 0 3 4

Two hogs, 1s. 8d. per week, 1 1 10-3/4

-------------

5 1 6-1/4

Cr. By two days' labour, 1s.

8d. per day 0 3 4

-------------

4 18 2-1/3

LETTER TO MR. STURGE, FROM A SPECIAL JUSTICE.

_Jamaica, Oct. 12th, 1838._

Freedom has brought with it the blessings we anticipated; and as we

progress in civilization we shall all be happier. I have ever been

sanguine as to its beneficial results, and I am not in the least

disappointed. I cannot find language sufficiently strong to express the

commendation due to the negroes for their steady and good conduct since

the 1st of August. Amidst the most trying circumstance, they have

exhibited the greatest forbearance, and placed their whole reliance on

the laws for protection. I am satisfied that no other nation of free men

could conduct themselves so temperately and well, under similar

circumstances; and in my opinion, they have proved themselves infinitely

superior to many of those who so lately exercised almost unlimited

control over them. I declare to you, to see such a mass of persons,

whose morals have been little regarded by those who held them in

slavery, and without education, rise all at once, and express and

conduct themselves so admirably, is wonderful. When seeking redress

before the magistrates for wrongs committed by there former owners they

have maintained more coolness and temper than their more fortunate

brethren, when maters are decided against them. There is a hard struggle

on the part of the pro-slavery faction to compel the negro to work for

little or nothing, in order that the attorneys and overseers may keep

their places as before; and I am informed, by a gentleman whose veracity

is not to be doubted, and who is himself an attorney, that he can still

keep his overseer and merchant as in former days, draw his own

commissions, and send home to his employer a very handsome surplus.

Under such circumstances, well may the friends of freedom cry shame at

the opposition which has for so long a time been thrown in the way of

liberty, by these West Indians of practical knowledge. The facts are,

that the absent proprietors have been led by the advice they have

received from their attorneys; and these have had so many ways of making

more than an honest commission, and have so speedily made their

fortunes, that as long as they could continue slavery, they have exerted

every influence. The overseer was paid, housed, fed, and waited upon,

all at the expense of master and slave, beside; keeping a fine stud of

horses, and as many brood mares at pasture on the property as would

enable him to dispose of seven or eight prime mules annually; and so

long as he drove and tormented the poor negro, and made good crops for

the attorney's commissions, and supplied his horses with corn, these

_little perquisites_ were never discovered. Now the proprietor will

hardly pay for more labor than is absolutely necessary to grow and

manufacture the produce of his estate; and these gentlemen must

henceforth look to their own resources, for the payment of servants to

attend and take care of their own interests and comforts. An overseer's

situation on an estate making 300 hogsheads, was calculated in slavery

to be equal to 2000l. a year. Indeed no man in any town could have lived

in such luxury for that sum. If the proprietor would only come out, and

live prudently, he would save all this by residing on his property,

which he could easily manage by employing, for extra wages, his former

steady head people. _They_, from long residence, know the best manner of

working the land; and, as to the manufacture of sugar, they are the

persons who have _all their lives_ been working at it. The most

important part of an overseer and book-keeper's business was to make use

of their _eyes_. The negro had to make use of his legs, arms and

strength; and, in nine cases out of ten, his brains kept the white

people in their situations, by preventing matters from going wrong.

I perfectly coincide with you, as to the propriety of the negro speedily

becoming possessed of the elective franchise. In Antigua there is very

little more land than is in cultivation for the estates, but here it is

widely different; and they are beginning to settle themselves by

purchasing small lots very fast. At Sligoville there are nearly fifty

new freeholders. The negroes are taught to do this by the perpetual

worry of their employers, threatening to oust them on every trifling

occasion, and withholding part of their wages on the plea of

non-performance of work.--The root of all evil is the Assembly and the

Juries. Nothing requires greater alteration; and I shall never rest,

until I see the black man stand the same chance at the bar of his

country as the white man.--The negroes will not work under their former

hard task-masters. They determinedly resist all solicitations to labor

with those who treated them ill. They say that the pain is gone, but the

mark remains, and I respect them for this proud feeling.

* * * * *

I have come under his displeasure for taking the opinion of Middleton

and McDougal, as to the legality of charging the negro hire for his

house and grounds, for the three months during which the notices to quit

are running.--Had we not taken these opinions, what a fearful state

things might we have been brought to in this country! I am quite

satisfied that no rent could be recovered until the expiration of the

three months, from which time it would commence to run, and the

plaintiff would in law be considered in possession of his lands again,

which, in slavery, he was compelled to give to his slave for his support

and maintenance. He must re-enter before he could demand rent, for it is

impossible for him to prove a contract, or imply one. The negro did not

willingly come from Africa, and occupy his land; he was torn from his

native land, and compelled by his owner, under laws that took his life,

not to quit the land; how therefore can he be considered to have made a

contract, or consented to one?

FROM THE REV. J. KINGDON

_Manchioneal, Oct. 9, 1838._

In passing through Hector's River great house yard, in my way to my

preaching spot, I have the most sensible demonstration of the reality of

the political change happily brought about; for that hot-house, in which

I have seen one of my own members in irons for having a bad sore leg,

and in which I have been grossly insulted for daring to go to see my

poor people--that house is _shut up_! Delightful, I assure you, are my

feelings, whenever I go by that place, attached to which, too, was the

old-time prison, a perfect charnel-house.

FROM THE REV. S. OUGHTON.

_Lucea, October 2, 1838._

Unused to acts of justice and humanity, the Planters, in a moment of mad

excitement passed an act to abolish the accursed system of Slavery. The

debates on that occasion proved with what an ill grace they performed

that scanty act of justice, and all experience since that period proves

how bitterly they repent it. It is true, we are not now, as before,

distressed by hearing recitals of barbarous corporeal punishments, and

we are no longer pained by seeing human beings chained to each other by

the neck; but, although cruelty has, to a certain extent, ceased,

oppression has become ten thousand times more rampant than ever. Every

act which ingenuity or malice can invent, is employed to harass the poor

negroes. Prior to August 1st, the planter studiously avoided every thing

like an arrangement with the laborer, and when, on the following Monday,

they turned out to work, the paltry pittance of 12-1/2d. (7-1/2d.

sterl.) was all that in the majority of cases was offered for the

services of an able-bodied negro, although 2s. 6d. per day (currency),

had before been invariably exacted from them, when they were desirous of

purchasing the remaining term of their apprenticeship. Of course, the

people refused to receive so paltry a remuneration for their labour, and

this has laid the foundation for a course of systematic oppression

scarcely conceivable. Notices to quit were served indiscriminately on

every one, old and young, sick and healthy. Medical attendance was

refused, and even a dose of physic from the Estates' hospitals. Cattle

were turned into the provision-grounds of the negroes, thus destroying

their only means of support; and assaults of the most wanton and brutal

description were committed on many of the peasantry. On one estate the

proprietor and his brother assaulted a young man in the most unprovoked

manner. One presented a pistol to his breast, and threatened to shoot

him; while the other levelled a gun at his head for the same purpose.

They were bound over to take their trial at the Quarter Sessions; but

what hope is there in such a tribunal as that, composed principally of

men engaged in the same reckless course, and banded together by mutual

interests? On another estate (_Content_), the attorney ordered the

cattle of a poor man (a member of my Chapel) to be taken up and

impounded. It was done, and the man was obliged to pay 6l. to redeem

them; when, as soon as he carried them back, they were again taken and

impounded. The man has been to my house with his case of oppression, on

my return from Kingston. He states that he exhausted his last farthing

to redeem the cattle the first time, and was also obliged to borrow of

his friends; they have now been impounded five weeks, and unless he can

raise the money to redeem them (upwards of 10l.), they will be sold to

pay the expenses. Thus is an honest and worthy man, in a few weeks,

stripped of every thing which, by years of industry and care, he had

accumulated for the comfort of his old age, or the benefit of his

family. Yesterday a negro came and informed me that the owner of a

property had told him last year, that he must cultivate more ground, so

as to be able to continue possession as a tenant; and now that he has

done so, another person, saying that he had purchased the property, came

a few days ago, and told him that in three weeks he would drive him from

the place. He then ordered a man whom he had with him to climb a

bread-fruit tree, and pull the fruit, which he forcibly carried away to

give to his hogs. But I must forbear: were I to state half the cases of

oppression which have occurred in Hanover since August 1st; I should

require a volume instead of a sheet. I think, however, I have said

enough to prove the bitter and rancorous spirit which at present

animates the planters. Enclosed I send a specimen of another artifice

adopted to harass and distress the negroes. They have adopted the notion

(sanctioned by the opinion of the old Planters' Jackall, Batty, and the

Attorney General), that the people are liable to pay rent for houses and

grounds during the three months' possession to which the Abolition Act

entitled them, and notices have been served on the people, demanding the

most extravagant amounts for the miserable sheds which the people

inhabited. You will perceive that in once case 21l. 6s. 9d. has been

demanded. This conscientious demand was made by John Houghton James,

Executor and Attorney for Sir Simon Clark. Another is from a Mr. Bowen,

of _Orchard_ Estate; and the third from Mr. Brockett, of _Hopewell_ and

_Content_ Estates, the property of Mr. Miles, M.P. for Bristol. Let it

be borne in mind that these shameful and exorbitant demands are not

made, as in England, on the head of the family only, but on _every

member who is able to do the least work_, and even little children have

papers demanding 2s. 4d. per week for ground, although unable to do the

least thing: one of these I also enclose.

Jamaica, ss. Notice is hereby Given, That the sum of eight shillings and

four pence, weekly, will be exacted from you and each of you

respectively, for the houses and grounds at Orchard Estate, in the

parish of Hanover, from August of the present year, until the expiration

of the three months' notice, from its period of service to quit; or to

the period of surrendering to me the peaceable possession of the

aforesaid house and provision grounds.

J. R. BOWEN.

Dated this 17th day of Sep. 1838.

TO JAMES DARLING and SARAH DARLING, of the parish of HANOVER.

Here then, my dear Sir, you may perceive something of the atrocious

proceedings in the island of Jamaica. Pray insert these documents in the

_Emancipator_. Let the Anti-slavery friends know the state of things,

and urge them to redoubled diligence. The House of Assembly will meet on

the 30th instant, and then, I fear, dreadful measures will be taken. A

letter from Mr. Harker, of the Jamaica Royal Gazette, about a fortnight

since, addressed to Mr. Abbott, shows what absolute and cruel statutes

they would wish either to act upon, or to make the models of new laws.

Every act must be watched with the most jealous scrutiny. Experience

shows that the planters possess an ingenuity truly diabolical, in

twisting and distorting the laws to suit their own selfish purpose. Our

hope is in British Christians; and we confidently hope every one of them

will feel the importance of increased diligence, lest the great, and

long prayed-for boon of freedom, should become a curse, instead of a

blessing. The papers will inform you of the odium I have drawn on myself

in defending the people's rights. That contained in the great mass, only

provokes a smile. I know that every friend in England will interpret it

inversely. I did feel Mr. ----'s letter in the Falmouth Post, but he

knows his error, and is sorry for it. I could have answered it, but did

not choose to cause a division amongst the few friends of the negro,

when they had quite enough to do to withstand the attacks of

their enemies.

FROM THE REV. J. M. PHILIPPO.

_Spanish Town, Oct. 13, 1838._

The following is one of the seven of the same tenor now in my

possession, which will, in addition to those I forwarded by last mail,

inform you of the cause of the late disinclination of the people in some

districts to labour--which, with so much effrontery, has been proclaimed

through the public Journals here:--

Charles Michael Kelly and Wife, to J.S. Benbow, Dr.

1830: July 14th to Sept. 9th.

1. To the rent of house and

ground on Castle Kelly

plantation, for eight weeks,

at 6s. 8d. per week. 3l. 13 4

2. Richard Kelly and Wife. Same.

3. Elenor Mercer. Same.

4. John Ried and Wife. Same.

5. Mary Ann Christie. Same.

6. Venus Owen (or such like name). Same.

FROM THE REV. J. HUTCHINS.

_Savanna-la-Mar, Sept. 17, 1838._

I now, according to promise in my last, send you a few out of the many

cases I am almost hourly troubled with. Some of our would-be great men

are, I am sorry to say, harassing the poor free labourers shamefully;

and should it prove, as I think in some cases it must, of serious injury

to the absentee proprietors, I shall publish the cases of grievance

brought me, together with the names of the estates, owners, attorneys,

overseers, &c., and leave all parties to form their own opinion on

the subject.

Amelia Martin, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.

1838: August 29.

To house and ground, rent at

5s. per week, from 1st August

to date 4_l._ 0 0

[A]Alliac Davis, ground

rent at

10d. per week 3 0

[A]William Davis; ditto

ditto 0 3 4

-------------

4_l._ 6 4

-------------

Thos. Tats, Esq. is Attorney, and Mr. Comry

Overseer,

[Footnote A: Boys from 9 to 11, her sons.]

* * * * *

Louisa Patter, to Retrieve Estate, Dr.

1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground from 1st

Aug. to date 1_l._ 0 0

She states she has been sickly so long, that she has no ground in

cultivation, and cannot help herself, and has only what yams her

friends give her.

* * * * *

Susan James, to Albany Estate, Dr.

1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground rent at

5s. per week, from 1st August,

to date 1l. 0 0

Thos. Hewett, ground rent 0 13 4

Elizabeth James, ditto 0 13 4

Mary Dunn, ditto 0 10 0

Letitia, ditto[A] 0 6 8

-------------

3l. 3 4

-------------

[Footnote A: These are a mother and four children in

one house, and with but one ground, they tell

me.]

* * * * *

Richard Warren, to Albany Estate, Dr.

1838: Aug. 28.

To house and ground rent to

date 1l. 0 0

Wife 0 15 4

Child[B] 0 10 0

-------------

2l. 5 4

-------------

[Footnote B: The child is quite young, and in daily attendance

at one of my schools.]

* * * * *

On this property, under the same managers as Retrieve, the people state

that they are going on shamefully. "The last Sabbath but one, when we

were at service, Stephen Campbell, the book-keeper, and Edward Pulsey,

old-time constable, come round and mark all for we house, and charge for

ebery one of we family. We don't know what kind of fee dis we hab at

all; for we attorney, Mr. Tate, neber come on we property, leave all to

Mr. Comeoy. We peak to him for make bargain, him say him can't make law,

and him no make bargain till him heare what law come out in packet. Him

say dem who make bargain are fools; beside him no call up a parcel of

niggers to hold service wid me; should only get laughed at. So we know

not what for do. You are for we minister, and for we only friend; and if

you did not advise we to go on work till things settle down, we no lift

another hoe. We would left the property." Unless an arrangement is soon

entered into, I shall advise them to do so.

James Greenheld, to New Galloway Estate, Dr.

To one week's rent of house, garden, and

ground, and to 5 ditto for his wife, Margaret

Greenfield, at 5s. per week. £1 10 0

J.G. states, "I come for massa. When we make bargain with Mr. McNeal, it

was a maccaroni (1s. 8d.) a day, and for we house and ground. Me is able

and willing for work, so let my wife stop home; so him charge me de same

sum for my wife, as for me own house and ground. And den last week me

sick and get no money, and they charge me over again, (as above) one

week me sick. Me no able for say what to call dat massa, me sure."

I leave with you to make your own comments, and to do what you please

with the above. Although my chapel is £700 in debt, and my schools, one

of 180 and one of 160 scholars, are heavy, very heavy on me, I cannot do

other than advise my people to save every mite, buy an acre of land, and

by that means be independent, and job about wherever they may be wanted.

FROM THE REV. T. BURCHELL.

_Montego Bay, October_ 2, 1838.

The reason why I have not written to you so long, is the intensely

anxious time we have had. I feel, however, that it is high time now to

address you; for, if our friends in England relax their efforts, my

conviction is, that freedom will be more in name than in reality, in

this slave-holding Island. There is nothing to be feared, if the noble

band of friends who have so long and so successfully struggled, will but

continue their assistance a short time longer. The planters have made a

desperate struggle, and so, I have no doubt, will the House of Assembly,

against the emancipated negroes. My firm conviction has been, and still

is, that the planters have endeavored, by the offer of the most paltry

wages, to reduce the condition of the laborer, and make him as badly off

as he was when an apprentice or a slave, that he may curse the day that

made him free.

Though unable to conduct the usual services on Sunday the 5th August, at

the close I addressed the congregation, urging upon them the necessity

of commencing their work on the following day, whether arrangements were

made between themselves and their masters or not; as by so doing they

would put it out of the power of their opponents to say anything evil of

them. They assembled, and on Monday the 6th thousands turned out to

work, and continued to labor, unless prevented by the Manager, until

arrangements were made.

You will remember, that prior to the 1st of August, a white man who

hired out a gang of apprentices to an estate was paid at the rate of 1s.

6d. sterling per diem for each able laborer. The apprentice received the

same when he worked for the estate on his own days, Friday and Saturday;

and whenever they were valued for the purpose of purchasing the

remaining time of their apprenticeship, the planter upon oath stated

that their services were worth at least 1s. 6. per diem to the estate,

and the apprentice had to redeem himself at that rate.

After the 1st of August, the planters discovered, that, whilst the

properties would well afford to continue the lavish and extravagant

expenditure in managing the estates, "it would be certain ruin to the

properties, if the labourer was paid more than 71/2d. per diem. for the

1st class of labourers, 6d. the 2nd class, and 41/2d. for the 3rd

class:" and why? I know not why, unless it was because the long

oppressed negro was to put the money into his own pocket, and not his

white oppressors. This seems to have made all the difference. The above

wages were accordingly offered, and rejected with scorn; the people

feeling the greatest indignation at the atrocious attempt of their old

oppressors to grind them down now they are free, and keep them in a

state of degradation. The greatest confusion and disorder ensued; the

labourers indignant at the conduct of their masters, and the planters

enraged against the people, for presuming to think and act for

themselves. As a matter of course, the fury of the planters was directed

against half a dozen Baptist missionaries, and as many more friends and

stipendiary Magistrates; and I can assure you that the Jamaica press

equalled its most vituperative days, and came forth worthy of itself.

The Despatch, or the Old Jamaica Courant, so well known in 1832 for

advocating the burning of chapels, and the hanging of missionaries; was

quite in the shade. The pious Polypheme, the Bishop's paper, with the

Jamaica Standard of infamy and falsehood, published in this town, took

the lead, and a pretty standard it is. Let foreigners judge of Jamaica

by the Jamaica Standard of August last, and they must suppose it is an

island of savages, or a little hell. The press teemed with abuse of the

most savage nature against us, and published the most barefaced lies.

That, however, you who know the generality of the Jamaica Press, will

say is nothing new or strange; well, it is not, nor do we regard any

statements they make; for no one believes what they publish, and it is a

source of gratification to us that we have never forfeited our character

or principles in the estimation of the reflecting, the philanthropist,

or the Christian public, by meriting their approbation.

In the mulct of this seemingly general conspiracy to defraud the laborer

of his wages by exorbitant rents, &c. Sir Lionel Smith, the Governor,

proceeds from district to district, giving advice to both of the

contending parties, and striving to promote a mutual understanding. His

testimony to the designs of the planters given to their faces, and not

denied, is very important; we give therefore one of his meetings, as the

find it reported in the Jamaica papers. Here is a rather familiar

conversation among some of the chief men of that island--where can we

expect to find more authoritative testimony?

SIR LIONEL SMITH'S VISIT TO DUNSINANE.

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited Dunsinane on Thursday last,

agreeably to arrangements previously entered into, for the purpose of

addressing the late apprenticed population in that neighborhood, on the

propriety of resuming the cultivation of the soil. About two miles from

Dunsinane, his Excellency was met by a cavalcade composed of the late

apprentices, who were preceded by Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent,

late Special Justices. On the arrival of his Excellency at Dunsinane, he

was met by the Hon. Joseph Gordon, Custos, the Lord Bishop attended by

his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander Campbell; the Hon. Hector Mitchel,

Mayor of Kingston, and a large number of highly respectable planters,

proprietors, and attorneys. His Excellency, on being seated in the

dwelling, said, that from information which he had received from other

parishes, and facts gathered from personal observation, he believed that

the same bone of contention existed there as elsewhere--a source of

discontent brought about by the planters serving the people with notices

to quit their houses and grounds. He did not question their right to do

so, or the legality of such a proceeding, but he questioned the prudence

of the step. The great change from slavery to unrestricted freedom

surely deserved some consideration. Things cannot so soon be quiet and

calm. Depend upon it, nothing will be done by force. Much may be by

conciliation and prudence. Do away with every emblem of slavery; throw

off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt in its stead, like rational men,

Britannia's cap of liberty. He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the

planters to rent their houses and grounds; in order to be more certain

on that head, he had procured the opinion of the Attorney General; but

the exercise of the right by the planter, and getting the people to

work, were very different matters. Much difficulty must be felt in

getting rid of slavery. Even in the little island of Antigua, it had

taken six months to get matters into a quiet state; but here, in a large

country like Jamaica, could it be expected to be done in a day, and was

it because it was not done, that the planters were to be opposed to him?

You are all in arms against me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of

you is to exercise patience, and all will be right. I have done, and am

doing all in my power for the good of my country. If you have served the

people with notices to quit, with a view to compel them to work, or

thinking to force them to work for a certain rate of wages, you have

done wrong. Coercive measures will never succeed. In Vere, which I

lately visited, the planters have agreed to give the people 1s. 8d. per

day, and to let them have their houses and grounds for three months free

of charge. His Excellency, on seeing some symptoms of disapprobation

manifested, said, Well, if you cannot afford to pay so much, pay what

you can afford; but above all, use conciliatory measures, and I have not

a doubt on my mind but that the people will go to their work. Seeing so

many planters present, he should be happy if they would come to an

arrangement among themselves, before he addressed the people outside.

Mr. WELLWOOD HYSLOP remarked, that Vere and other rich sugar parishes

might be able to pay high rates of wages, because the land yielded

profitable crops, but in this district it was impossible to follow the

example of those parishes. He thought that two bits a day might do very

well, but that was as much as could be afforded.

His EXCELLENCY said that in Manchester, where he believed he had more

enemies than in any other parish, he had advised them to work by the

piece, and it had been found to answer well.

Mr. HINTON EAST said that he would submit a measure which he thought

would be approved of. He proposed that the people should be paid 5s. for

four days' labor; that if they cleaned more than 130 trees per day,

either themselves or by bringing out their wives and children, they

should be paid extra wages in the same proportion.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that he could not afford to pay the rates named

by his Excellency. It was entirely out of the question; that a good deal

depended upon the state the fields are in--that his people, for

instance, could, with much ease, if they chose, clean 170 trees by

half-past three o'clock.

Mr. MASON, of St. George's, said he was willing to pay his people 1s.

8d. per day, if they would but work; but the fact was that they refused

to do so, on account of the stories that had been told them by Special

Justice Fishbourne; willingly too would I have given them their houses

and grounds for three months, free of charge, had they shown a desire to

labor; but what was the lamentable fact? the people would not work,

because Mr. Fishbourne had influenced them not to do so, and he (Mr.

Mason) had been a loser of one thousand pounds in consequence. He had

been compelled in self-defence to issue summonses against two of his

people. He had purchased his property--it was his all--he had sacrificed

twenty of the best years of his life as a planter, he had a wife and

family to support, and what was the prospect before him and them? He

admitted having served notices on his people to quit their houses--in

truth he did not now care whether they were or were not located on the

property--he was willing to pay fair, nay, high wages, but the demand

was exorbitant. He had a servant, a trustworthy white man, who laboured

from day-dawn to sunset for 2s. 1d. per day, and he was quite satisfied.

All the mischief in his district had been owing to the poisonous stories

poured into the ears of the people by Special Justice Fishbourne. If he

were removed, the parish might probably assume a healthy state; if

allowed to remain, no improvement could possibly take place.

His EXCELLENCY said that the Assembly had passed a law preventing the

special magistrates from going on the estates; they could not, however,

prevent the people from going to them, and taking their advice if they

wished it. He had understood that the people had gone to the special

magistrates, informing them that the planters demanded 3s. 4d. per week

rent for the houses and grounds, and that they had been advised, if such

were the case, that they ought to be paid higher wages. He understood

that to be a fact.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON said that the people would, he had no doubt, have

worked, but for the pernicious advice of Mr. Fishbourne. He had heard

that the people had been told that the Governor did not wish them to

work, and that he would be vexed with them if they did.

Sir LIONEL replied that he was aware that white men were going about the

country disguised as policemen, pretending to have his (Sir Lionel's)

authority, telling the people not to work. He knew well their intention

and design, he understood the trick. You are anxious (said his

Excellency) to produce a panic, to reduce the value of property, to

create dismay, in order that you may speculate, by reducing the present

value of property; but you will be disappointed, notwithstanding a press

sends forth daily abuse against me, and black-guard and contemptible

remarks against my acts. I assure you I am up to your tricks.

Mr. ANDREW SIMPSON would be glad if his Excellency would speak

individually. There was a paper called the West Indian, and another the

Colonial Freeman. He wished to know whether his Excellency meant either

of those papers. [Some slight interruption here took place, several

gentlemen speaking at the same time.]

His EXCELLENCY said he had not come to discuss politics, but to

endeavour to get the people to work, and it would be well for them to

turn their attention to that subject.

Mr. SIMPSON said he had a gang who had jobbed by the acre, and had done

well, but it was unfortunate in other respects to observe the

disinclination shown by the laborers to work. He wished them to know

that they must work, and trusted that his Excellency would endeavour to

force them to labor.

Sir LIONEL--I can't compel them to do as you would wish, nor have I the

power of forcing them to labor. The people will not suffer themselves to

be driven by means of the cart-whip. It is the policy of every man to

make the best bargain he can. I can say nothing to the people about

houses and grounds, and price of wages. I can only ask them to work.

Mr. WILES said that the planters were anxious to come to amicable

arrangements with the people, but they were unreasonable in their

demands. The planters could not consent to be injured--they must profit

by their properties.

Mr. MASON said, that the only bone of contention was the subject of

rent. His people were outside waiting to be satisfied on that head. He

hesitated not to say, that the proprietors were entitled to rent in

every instance where the laborer was unwilling to labor, and unless that

subject was at once settled, it would involve both parties in endless

disagreement. He was not one of those persons alluded to by his

Excellency, who circulated misrepresentations for private benefit, nor

was he aware that any one in the parish in which he lived had done so.

All that he desired was the good of the country, with which his

interests were identified.

Sir LIONEL--I could not possibly be personal towards any gentleman

present, for I have not the honour of knowing most of you. My

observations were not confined to any particular parish, but to the

Island of Jamaica, in which the occurrences named have taken place.

Dr. RAPKY, of St. George's--If your Excellency will only do away with a

curtain magistrate, things will go on smoothly in the parish of St.

George. This gentleman has told the people that they are entitled to the

lands occupied by them, in consequence of which the parish is now in an

unsettled state.

Sir LIONEL--Who is the magistrate!

Dr. RAPKY--Mr. Fishbourne.

Sir LIONEL--I am afraid I cannot please you. The question of possession

of lands and houses has for the present been settled by the opinion of

the Attorney-General, but it is still an undetermined question at law.

There are many persons in the island who are of opinion that the

legislature had not so intended; he (Sir Lionel) was at a loss to know

what they meant; seeing, however, some members of the assembly present,

perhaps they would be disposed to give some information.

Mr. S.J. DALLAS said, that it was the intention of the legislature that

rent should be paid. He thought it fair that 1s. 8d. per day should be

offered the people to work five days in the week, they returning one

day's labor for the houses and grounds.

Mr. SPECIAL JUSTICE HAMILTON said that complaints had been made to him,

that in many instances where the husband and wife lived in the same

house, rent had been demanded of both. The laborers had, in consequence,

been thrown into a state of consternation and alarm, which accounted for

the unsettled state of several properties--a serious bone of contention

had in consequence been produced. He held a notice in his hand demanding

of a laborer the enormous sum of 10s. per week for house and ground. He

had seen other notices in which 6s, 8d. and 5s. had been demanded for

the same. He did not consider that the parties issuing those notices had

acted with prudence.

Mr. HYSLOP explained--He admitted the charge, but said that the sum was

never intended to be exacted.

Sir LIONEL said he was aware of what was going on; he had heard of it.

"It was a policy which ought no longer to be pursued."

We have given the foregoing documents, full and ungarbled, that our

readers might fairly judge for themselves. We have not picked here a

sentence and there a sentence, but let the Governor, the Assembly, the

Missionaries, and the press tell their whole story. Let them be read,

compared, and weighed.

We might indefinitely prolong our extracts from the West India papers to

show, not only in regard to the important island of Jamaica, but

Barbados and several other colonies, that the former masters are alone

guilty of the non-working of the emancipated, so far as they refuse to

work. But we think we have already produced proof enough to establish

the following points:--

1. That there was a strong predisposition on the part of the Jamaica

planters to defraud their labourers of their wages. They hoped that by

yielding, before they were driven quite to the last extremity, by the

tide of public sentiment in England, they should escape from all

philanthropic interference and surveillance, and be able to bring the

faces of their unyoked peasantry to the grindstone of inadequate wages.

2. That the emancipated were not only peaceful in their new freedom, but

ready to grant an amnesty of all post abuses, and enter cheerfully into

the employ of their former masters for reasonable wages. That in cases

where disagreement has arisen as to the rate of daily or weekly wages,

the labourers have been ready to engage in task work, to be paid by the

piece, and have laboured so efficiently and profitably--proving a strong

disposition for industry and the acquisition of property.

3. That in the face of this good disposition of the laborers, the

planters have, in many cases, refused to give adequate wages.

4. That in still more numerous cases, including many in which the wages

have been apparently liberal, enormous extortion has been practiced upon

the laborer, in the form of rent demanded for his hovel and provision

patch--£20 per annum being demanded for a shanty not worth half that

money, and rent being frequently demanded from _every member_ of a

family more than should have been taken from the whole.

5. That the negroes are able to look out for their own interest, and

have very distinct ideas of their own about the value of money and the

worth of their labour, as well as the best methods of bringing their

employers to reasonable terms. On this point we might have made a still

stronger case by quoting from the Despatch and Standard, which assert

numerous instances in which the labourers have refused to work for wages

recommended to them by the Governor, Special Magistrates, or

Missionaries, though they offered to work for 3s. 4d., 5s., or a dollar

a day. They are shown to be rare bargain-makers and not easily trapped.

6. That the attorneys and managers have deliberately endeavoured to

raise a panic, whereby property might be depreciated to their own

advantage; showing clearly thereby, that they consider Jamaica property,

even with the laborers, irreclaimably free, a desirable investment.

7. That in spite of all their efforts, the great body of the laborers

continue industrious, doing more work in the same time than in slavery.

_The testimony to his very important point, of the Governor and House of

Assembly, is perfectly conclusive_, as we have already said. A house

that represents the very men who, in 1832, burnt the missionary chapels,

and defied the British Parliament with the threat, that in case it

proceeded to legislate Abolition, Jamaica would attach herself to the

United States, now HOPES for the agricultural prosperity of the island!

Indeed no one in Jamaica expresses a doubt on this subject, who does not

obviously do so _for the sake of buying land to better advantage_! Were

the colony a shade _worse_ off than before Emancipation, either in fact

or in the opinion of its landholders, or of any considerable portion of

persons acquainted with it, the inevitable consequence would be a

depreciation of _real estate_. But what is the fact? said Rev. John

Clark, a Jamaica Baptist Missionary, who has visited this country since

the first of August, in a letter published in the Journal of Commerce:--

"The Island of Jamaica is not in the deplorable state set forth by your

correspondent.--Land is rising in value so rapidly, that what was

bought five years ago at 3 dollars per acre, is now selling for 15

dollars; and this in the interior of the Island, in a parish not

reckoned the most healthy, and sixteen miles distant from the nearest

town. Crops are better than in the days of slavery--extra labour is

easily obtained where kindness and justice are exercised towards the

people. The hopes of proprietors are great, and larger sums are being

offered for estates than were offered previous to August, 1834, when

estates, and negroes upon them, were disposed of together."

Again, as in Jamaica commerce rests wholly upon agriculture, _its_

institutions can only flourish in a flourishing condition of the

latter.--What then are we to infer from an imposing prospectus which

appears in the island papers, commencing thus:--

"Kingston, October 26, 1838

Jamaica Marine, Fire, and Life Assurance Company.

Capital £100,000,

In 5000 shares of £20 each.

It has been long a matter of astonishment that, in a community so

essentially mercantile as Jamaica, no Company should have been

formed for the purpose of effecting Insurance on Life and Property;

although it cannot be doubted for an instant, that not only would

such an establishment be highly useful to all classes of the

community, but that it must yield a handsome return to such persons

as may be inclined to invest their money in it," &c.

Farther down in the prospectus we are told--"It may here be stated,

that the scheme for the formation of this Company has been mentioned to

some of the principal Merchants and _Gentlemen of the Country_, and has

met with decidedly favourable notice: and it is expected that the

shares, a large number of which have been already taken, will be rapidly

disposed of."

The same paper, the Morning Journal, from which we make this extract,

informs us: Nov. 2d--

"The shares subscribed for yesterday, in the Marine Fire and Life

Insurance Company, we understand, amount to the almost unprecedented

number of One Thousand Six Hundred, with a number of applicants whose

names have not been added to the list."

The Morning Journal of October 20th in remarking upon this project

says:--

"Jamaica is now happily a free country; she contains within herself the

means of becoming prosperous. Let her sons develope those resources

which Lord Belmore with so much truth declared never would be developed

_until slavery had ceased_. She has her Banks.--Give her, in addition,

her Loan Society, her Marine, Fire, and life Assurance Company, and some

others that will shortly be proposed, and capital will flow in from

other countries--property will acquire a value in the market, that will

increase with the increase of wealth, and she will yet be a flourishing

island, and her inhabitants a happy and contented people."

Now men desperately in debt _might_ invite in foreign capital for

temporary relief, but, since the _compensation_, this is understood not

to be the case with the Jamaica planters; and if they are rushing into

speculation, it must be because they have strong _hope_ of the safety

and prosperity of their country--in other words, because they confide in

the system of free labor. This one prospectus, coupled with its prompt

success, is sufficient to prove the falsehood of all the stories so

industriously retailed among us from the Standard and the Despatch. But

speculators and large capitalists are not the only men who confide in

the success of the "great experiment."

The following editorial notice in the Morning Journal of a recent date

speaks volumes:--

SAVINGS BANK.

"We were asked not many days ago how the Savings Bank in this City was

getting on. We answered well, very well indeed. By a notification

published in our paper of Saturday, it will be seen that £1600 has been

placed in the hands of the Receiver-General. By the establishment of

these Banks, a great deal of the money now locked up, and which yields

no return whatever to the possessors, and is liable to be stolen, will

be brought into circulation. This circumstance of itself ought to

operate as a powerful inducement to those parishes in which no Banks are

yet established to be up and doing. We have got some _five_ or _six_ of

them fairly underweigh, as Jack would say, and hope the remainder will

speedily trip their anchors and follow."

We believe banks were not known in the West Indies before the 1st of

August 1834. Says the Spanishtown Telegraph of May 1st, 1837, "_Banks,

Steam-Companies, Rail-Roads, 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!" And it was not till

after the 1st of August, 1838, that Jamaica had either savings banks or

savings. These institutions for the industrious classes came only with

their manhood. But why came they at all, if Emancipated industry is, or

is likely to be, unsuccessful?--In Barbados we notice the same

forwardness in founding monied institutions. A Bank is there proposed,

with a capital of £200,000. More than this, the all absorbing subject in

all the West India papers at the present moment is that of the

_currency_. Why such anxiety to provide the means of paying for labor

which is to become valueless? Why such keenness for a good circulating

medium if they are to have nothing to sell? The complaints about the old

fashioned coinage we venture to assort have since the first of August

occupied five times as much space in the colonial papers, we might

probably say in each and every one of them, as those of the non-working

of the freemen. The inference is irresistible. _The white colonists take

it for granted that industry is to thrive_.

It may be proper to remark that the late refusal of the Jamaica

legislature to fulfil its appropriate functions has no connection with

the working of freedom, any further than it may have been a struggle to

get rid in some measure of the surveillance of the mother country in

order to coerce the labourer so far as possible by vagrant laws, &c. The

immediate pretext was the passing of a law by the imperial Parliament

for the regulation of prisons, which the House of Assembly declared a

violation of that principle of their charter which forbids the

mother-country to lay a tax on them without their consent, in as much as

it authorized a crown officer to impose a fine, in a certain case, of

£20. A large majority considered this an infringement of their

prerogatives, and among them were some members who have nobly stood up

for the slave in times of danger. The remarks of Mr. Osborn especially,

on this subject, (he is the full blooded, slave-born, African man to

whom we have already referred) are worthy of consideration in several

points of view. Although he had always been a staunch advocate of the

home government on the floor of the Assembly are now contended for the

rights of the Jamaica legislature with arguments which to us republicans

are certainly quite forcible. In a speech of some length, which appears

very creditable to him throughout, he said--

"Government could not be acting fair towards them to assume that the

mass of the people of this island would remain in the state of political

indifference to which poverty and slavery had reduced them. They were

now free, every man to rise as rapidly as he could; and the day was not

very distant when it would be demonstrated by the change of

representatives that would be seen in that house. It did appear to him,

that under the pretext of extending the privileges of freemen to the

mass of the people of this country, the government was about to deprive

them of those privileges, by curtailing the power of the representative

Assembly of those very people. He could not bring himself to admit, with

any regard for truth, that the late apprentices could now be oppressed;

they were quite alive to their own interests, and were now capable of

taking care of themselves. So long as labor was marketable, so long they

could resist oppression, while on the other hand, the proprietor, for

his own interest's sake, would be compelled to deal fairly with them."

Though it is evidently all important that the same public opinion which

has wrested the whip from the master should continue to watch his

proceedings as an employer of freemen, there is much truth in the speech

of this black representative and alderman of Kingston. The brutalized

and reckless attorneys and managers, _may_ possibly succeed in driving

the negroes from the estates by exorbitant rent and low wages. They

_may_ succeed in their effort to buy in property at half its value. But

when they have effected that, they will be totally dependent for the

profits of their ill-gotten gains upon the _free laboring people_. They

may produce what they call idleness now, and a great deal of vexation

and suffering. But land is plenty, and the laborers, if thrust from the

estates, will take it up, and become still more independent. Reasonable

wages they will be able to command, and for such they are willing to

labor. The few thousand whites of Jamaica will never be able to

establish slavery, or any thing like it, over its 300,000 blacks.

Already they are fain to swallow their prejudice against color. Mr.

Jordon, member for Kingston and "free nigger," was listened to with

respect. Nay more, his argument was copied into the "Protest" which the

legislature proudly flung back in the face of Parliament, along with the

abolition of the apprenticeship, in return for Lord Glenelg's Bill. Let

all in the United States read and ponder it who assert that "the two

races cannot live together on term of equality."

Legislative independence of Jamaica has ever been the pride of her

English conquerors. They have received with joy the colored fellow

colonists into an equal participation of their valued liberty, and they

were prepared to rejoice at the extension of the constitution to the

emancipated blacks. But the British Government, by a great fault, if not

a crime, has, at the moment when all should have been free, torn from

the lately ascendant class, the privileges which were their birthright,

another class, now the equals of the former, the rights they had long

and fortunately struggled for, and from the emancipated blacks the

rights which they fondly expected to enjoy with their personal freedom.

The boon of earlier freedom will not compensate this most numerous part

of our population for the injustice and wrong done to the whole

Jamaica people.

The documents already adduced are confined almost exclusively to

Jamaica. We will refer briefly to one of the other colonies. The next in

importance is

BARBADOS

Here has been played nearly the same game in regard to wages, and with

the same results. We are now furnished with advices from the island down

to the 19th of December 1838. At the latter date the panic making papers

had tapered down their complainings to a very faint whisper, and withal

expressing more hope than fears. As the fruit of what they had already

done we are told by one of them, _the Barbadian_, that the unfavourable

news carried home by the packets after the emancipation had served to

raise the price of sugar in England, which object being accomplished, it

is hoped that they will intermit the manufacture of such news. The first

and most important document, and indeed of itself sufficient to save the

trouble of giving more, is the comparison of crime during two and a half

months of freedom, and the corresponding two and a half months of

slavery or apprenticeship last year, submitted to the legislature at the

opening of its session in the latter part of October. Here it is. We

hope it will be held up before every slave holder.

From the Barbadian of Dec. 1.

Barbados.--Comparative Table, exhibiting the number of Complaints

preferred against the Apprentice population of this Colony, in the

months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838; together

with the Complaints charged against Free Labourers of the same Colony,

during the months of August, September and to the 15th of October, 1838.

The former compiled from the Monthly Journals of the Special Justice of

the Peace and the latter from the Returns of the Local Magistracy

transmitted to his excellency the Governor

APPRENTICESHIP.

Total of Complaints vs. Apprentices from the

1st to 31st August 1837. 1708

Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 1464

Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 574

Grand Total 3746

Total number of Apprentices punished from the

1st to 31st August 1608

Ditto from 1st to 31st September 1321

Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 561

Grand Total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed

from 1st to 31st August 105

Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 113

Ditto from 1st to 15th October 38

Total 256

Deficiency in compromised cases in 1837 comparatively

with those of 1838 158

Grand Total 414

FREEDOM.

Total of Complaints vs. Labourers from the

1st to the 31st August 1838 582

Ditto from the 1st to the 30th September 386

Ditto from the 1st to the 15th October 103

Total 1071

Comparative Surplus of Complaints in 1838 2675

Grand Total 3746

Total of Laborers punished from the 1st to

the 31st August, 1838, 334

Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 270

Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 53

Total 657

Comparative surplus of punishment in 1837 2833

Grand total 3490

Total compromised, admonished and dismissed

from the 1st to the 31st August 248

Ditto from the 1st to 30th September 116

Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 50

Grand Total 414

NOTE.

It may be proper to remark that the accompanying General Abstract

for August, September, and to the 15th October, 1837, does not

include complaints preferred and heard before the Local Magistrates

during those months for such offences--viz. for misdemeanors, petty

debts, assaults and petty thefts--as were not cognizable by the

Special Justices; so that estimating these offences--the number of

which does not appear in the Abstract for 1837--at a similar number

as that enumerated in the Abstract for 1838, the actual relative

difference of punishments between the two and a half months in 1837

and these in 1838, would thus appear:

Surplus of Apprentices punished in 1837, as

above 2833

Offences in August, September, and to the

15th, October, 1837 heard before the General

Justices of the Peace, and estimated as follows:

Petty thefts 75

Assaults 143

Misdemeanors 98

Petty Debts 19--835

Actual surplus of punishment in 1837, 3168

From the Journal of Commerce.

_Letter from W.R. Hays, Esq. Barbados, W.I. to Rev. H.G. Ludlow, of New

Haven_.

BARBADOS, Dec. 26, 1838.

I gave you in my last, some account of the manner in which the first

day of emancipation came and went in this island. We very soon

afterwards received similar accounts from all the neighboring

islands. In all of them the day was celebrated as an occasion "of

devout thanksgiving and praise to God, for the happy termination of

slavery." In all of them, the change took place in a manner highly

creditable to the emancipated, and intensely gratifying to the

friends of liberty. The quiet, good order, and solemnity of the day,

were every where remarkable. Indeed, is it not a fact worth

remembering, that whereas in former years, a single day's relaxation

from labor was met by the slaves with shouting and revelry, and

merry-making, yet now, when the last link of slavery was broken

forever, sobriety and decorum were especially the order of the day.

The perfect order and subordination to the laws, which marked the

first day of August, are yet unbroken. We have now nearly five

months' experience of entire emancipation; and I venture to say,

that a period of more profound peace never existed in the West

Indies. There have been disputes about wages, as in New England and

in other free countries; but no concert, no combination even, here;

and the only attempt at a combination was among the planters, to

keep down wages--and that but for a short time only. I will not

enter particularly into the questions, whether or not the people

will continue to work for wages, whether they will remain quiet,--or

on the other hand, whether the Island will be suffered to become

desolate, and the freed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c. These

things have been speculated about, and gloomy predictions have had

their day; the time has now come for the proof. People do not buy

land and houses, and rent property for long terms of years, in

countries where life is insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and

the tendency of things is to ruin and decay. In short, men, in their

senses, do not embark on board a sinking ship. Confidence is the

very soul of prosperity; of the existence of this confidence in this

Island, the immense operations in real estate, since the first of

August, are abundant proof. There are multitudes of instances in

which estates have sold for $20,000 _more_ than was asked for them

six months ago; and yet at the time they were considered very

high. A proprietor who was persuaded a few weeks since to part with

his estate for a very large sum of money, went and bought _it back

again_ at an _advance_ of $9600. A great many long leases of

property have been entered into. An estate called "Edgecombe,"

mentioned by Thome and Kimball, has been rented for 21 years at

$7500 per annum. Another called the "hope" has been rented for 10

years at £2000 sterling, equal to $9600 per annum. Another, after

being rented at a high price, was relet, by the lessee, who became

entirely absolved from the contract, and took $16,000 for his

bargain. If required, I could give you a host of similar cases, with

the names of the parties. But it seems unnecessary. The mere impulse

given to the value of property in this island by emancipation, is a

thing as notorious _here_, as the _fact_ of emancipation.

But, are not crimes more frequent than before? I have now before me

a Barbados newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which the fact is

stated, that in _all_ the county prisons, among a population of

80,000, only _two_ prisoners were confined for any cause whatever!

"But," says a believer in the necessity of Colonization, "how will

you _get rid_ of the negroes?" I answer by adverting to the

spectacle which is now witnessed in _all_ the Islands of the former

proprietors of slaves, now _employers_ of _free_ laborers, using

every endeavor to _prevent_ emigration. Trinidad, Demerara, and

Berbice, _want_ laborers. The former has passed a law to pay the

passage money of any laborer who comes to the Island, leaving him

free to choose him employment. Demerara and Berbize have sent

Emigration agents to this and other islands, to induce the laborers

to join those colonies, offering high wages, good treatment, &c. On

the other hand, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, and all the old and

populous islands, individually and collectively, by legislative

resolves, legal enactments, &c. &c.--loudly protest that they have

_not a man to spare_! What is still better, the old island

proprietors are on every hand building new houses for the peasantry,

and with great forethought adding to their comfort; knowing that

they will thereby secure their contentment on their native soil. As

a pleasing instance of the good understanding which now exists

between proprietors and laborers, I will mention, that great numbers

of the former were in town on the 24th, buying up pork, hams, rice,

&c. as presents for their people on the ensuing Christmas; a day

which has this year passed by amid scenes of quiet Sabbath

devotions, a striking contrast to the tumult and drunkenness of

former times. I cannot close this subject, without beating my

testimony to the correctness of the statements made by our

countrymen, Thome and Kimball. They were highly esteemed here by all

classes, and had free access to every source of valuable

information. If they have not done justice to the subject of their

book, it is because the manifold blessings of a deliverance from

slavery are beyond the powers of language to represent. When I

attempt, as I have done in this letter, to enumerate a few of the, I

know not where to begin, or where to end. One must _see_, in order

to know and feel how unspeakable a boon these islands have

received,--a boon, which is by no means confined to the emancipated

slaves; but, like the dew and rains of heaven, it fell upon all the

inhabitants of the land, bond and free, rich and poor, together.

It is a common thing here, when you hear one speak of the benefits

of emancipation--the remark--that it ought to have taken place long

ago. Some say fifty years ago, some twenty, and some, that at any

rate it ought to have taken place all at once, without any

apprenticeship. The noon-day sun is not clearer than the fact, that

no preparation was required on the part of the slaves. It was the

dictate of an accusing conscience, that foretold of bloodshed, and

burning, and devastation. Can it be supposed to be an accidental

circumstance, that peace and good-will have _uniformly_, in _all_

the colonies, followed the steps of emancipation. Is it not rather

the broad seal of attestation to that heaven born principle, "It is

safe to do right." Dear brother, if you or any other friend to down

trodden humanity, have any lingering fear that the blaze of light

which is now going forth from the islands will ever be quenched,

even for a moment, dismiss that fear. The light, instead of growing

dim, will continue to brighten. Your prayers for the safe and happy

introduction of freedom, upon a soil long trodden by the foot of

slavery, may be turned into praises--for the event has come to pass.

When shall we be able to rejoice in such a consummation in our

beloved America? How I long to see a deputation of slaveholders

making the tour of these islands. It would only be necessary for

them to use their eyes and ears. Argument would be quite out of

place. Even an appeal to principle--to compassion--to the fear of

God--would not be needed. Self-interest alone would decide them in

favor of immediate emancipation.

Ever yours,

W.R. HAYES.

DEMERARA.

SPEECH OF THE GOVERNOR, ON OPENING THE SESSION OF THE COURT OF POLICY,

SEPT. 17, 1838.

From the Guiana Royal Gazette.

"I should fail in my duty to the public, and perhaps no respond to

the expectations of yourselves, Gentlemen of the Colonial Section of

this Honorable Court, did I not say a few words on the state of the

Colony, at this our first meeting after the memorable first

of August.

We are now approaching the close of the second month since that

date--a sufficient time to enable us to judge of the good

disposition of the new race of Freemen, but not perhaps of the

prosperity of the Colony. It is a proud thing for the

Colonist--Proprietors and Employers--that nothing has occurred to

indicate a want of good feeling in the great body of the laborers.

It is creditable to them, satisfactory to their employers, and

confounding to those who anticipated a contrary state of affairs.

That partial changes of location should have taken place, cannot

surprise any reasonable mind--that men who have all their lives been

subject to compulsory labor should, on having this labor left to

their discretion, be disposed at first to relax, and, in some

instances, totally abstain from it, was equally to be expected. But

we have no reason to despond, nor to imagine that, because such has

occurred in some districts, it will continue.

It is sufficient that the ignorant have been undeceived in their

exaggerated notions of their rights as Freemen: it was the first

step towards resumption of labor in every part of the Colony. The

patient forbearance of the Employers has produced great changes. If

some Estates have been disappointed in the amount of labor

performed, others again, and I have reason to believe a great

number, are doing well. It is well known that the Peasantry have not

taken to a wandering life: they are not lost to the cultivated parts

of the Colony: for the reports hitherto received from the

Superintendents of Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an augmented

population in the distant parts of their respective districts.

I hear of few commitments, except in this town, where, of course,

many of the idle have flocked from the country. On the East Coast,

there has been only one case brought before the High Sheriff's Court

since the 1st of August. In the last Circuit, not one!

With these facts before us, we may, I trust, anticipate the

continued prosperity of the Colony; and though it be possible there

may be a diminution in the exports of the staple commodities in this

and the succeeding quarter, yet we must take into consideration that

the season had been unfavorable, in some districts, previous to the

1st August, therefore a larger proportion of the crops remained

uncut; and we may ask, whether a continuance of compulsory labor

would have produced a more favorable result? Our united efforts

will, I trust, not be wanting to base individual prosperity on the

welfare of all."

The Governor of Demerara is HENRY LIGHT, Esq., a gentlemen who seems

strongly inclined to court the old slavery party and determined to shew

his want of affinity to the abolitionists. In another speech delivered

on a similar occasion, he says:

"Many of the new freemen may still be said to be in their infancy of

freedom, and like children are wayward. On _many of the estates_ they

have repaid the kindness and forbearance of their masters; on others

they have continued to take advantage of (what? the kindness and

forbearance of their masters? No.) their new condition, are idle or

irregular in their work. The good sense of the mass gives me reason to

hope that idleness will be the exception, not the rule."

The Barbadian of NOV. 28, remarks, that of six districts in Demerara

whose condition had been reported, _five_ were working favorably. In the

sixth the laborers were standing out for higher wages.

TRINIDAD.

In the _Jamaica Morning Journal_ of Oct. 2d and 15th, we find the

following paragraphs in relation to this colony:

"Trinidad.--The reports from the various districts as to the conduct of

our laboring population, are as various and opposite, the Standard says,

to each other as it is possible for them to be. There are many of the

Estates on which the laborers had at first gone on steadily to work

which now have scarcely a hand upon them, whilst upon others they muster

a greater force than they could before command. We hear also that the

people have already in many instances exhibited that propensity common

to the habits of common life, which we call squatting, and to which we

have always looked forward as one of the evils likely to accompany their

emancipation, and calling for the earliest and most serious attention of

our Legislature. We must confess, however, that it is a subject not easy

to deal with safely and effectually."

TRINIDAD,--The Standard says: "The state of the cultivation at present

is said to be as far advanced as could have been anticipated under the

new circumstances in which the Island stands. The weather throughout the

month has been more than usually favorable to weeding, whilst there has

also been sufficient rain to bring out the plants; and many planters

having, before the 1st of Augus, pushed on their weeding by free labor

and (paid) extra tasks, the derangement in their customary labor which

has been experienced since that period, does not leave them much below

an average progress."

"Of the laborers, although they are far from being settled, we believe

we may say, that they are not working badly; indeed, compared with those

of the sister colonies, they are both more industrious and more disposed

to be on good terms with their late masters. Some few estates continue

short of their usual compliment of hands; but many of the laborers who

had left the proprietors, have returned to them, whilst many others have

changed their locality either to join their relations, or to return to

their haunts of former days. So far as we can learn, nothing like

insubordination or combination exists. We are also happy to say, that on

some estates, the laborers have turned their attention to their

provision grounds. There is one point, however, which few seem to

comprehend, which is, that although free, they cannot work one day and

be idle the next, _ad libitum_."

Later accounts mention that some thousands more of laborers were wanted

to take off the crop, and that a committee of immigration had been

appointed to obtain them. [See Amos Townsend's letter on the last page.]

So it seems the free laborers are so good they want more of them. The

same is notoriously true of Demerara, and Berbice. Instead of a

colonization spirit to get rid of the free blacks, the quarrel among the

colonies is, which shall get the most. It is no wonder that the poor

negroes in Trinidad should betake themselves to squatting. The island is

thinly peopled and the administration or justice is horribly corrupt,

under the governorship and judgeship of Sir George Hill, the well known

defaulter as Vice Treasurer of Ireland, on whose appointment Mr.

O'Connell remarked that "delinquents might excuse themselves by

referring to the case of their judge."

GRENADA.

"GRENADA--The Gazette expresses its gratification at being able to

record, that the accounts which have been received from several parts of

the country, are of a satisfactory nature. On many of the properties the

peasantry have, during the week, evinced a disposition to resume their

several accustomed avocations, at the rates, and on the terms proposed

by the directors of the respective estates, to which they were formerly

belonging; and very little desire to change their residence has been

manifested. One of our correspondents writes, that 'already, by a

conciliatory method, and holding out the stimulus of extra pay, in

proportion to the quantity of work performed beyond that allowed to

them, he had, 'succeeded in obtaining, for three days, double the former

average of work, rendered by the labors during the days of slavery; and

this, too, by four o'clock, at which hour it seems, they are now wishful

of ceasing to work, and to enable them to do so, they work continuously

from the time they return from their breakfast.'"

"It is one decided opinion, the paper named says, that in a very short

time the cultivation of the cane still be generally resumed, and all

things continue to progress to the mutual satisfaction of both employer

and laborer. We shall feel indebted to our friends for such information,

as it may be in their power to afford us on this important subject, as

it will tend to their advantage equally with that of their laborers,

from the same being made public. We would wish also that permission be

given as to mention the names of the properties on which matters have

assumed a favorable aspect."

_Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2_.

GRENADA.--According to the _Free Press_, it would appear that 'the

proprietors and managers of several estates in Duquesne Valley, and

elsewhere, their patience being worn out, and seeing the cultivation of

their estates going to ruin, determined to put the law into operation,

by compelling, after allowing twenty-three or twenty-four days of

idleness, the people either to work or to leave the estates. They

resisted; the aid of the magistrates and of the constabulary force was

called in, but without effect, and actual violence was, we learn, used

towards those who came to enforce the law. Advices were immediately sent

down to the Executive, despatched by a gentleman of the Troop, who

reached town about half past five o'clock on Saturday morning last. We

believe a Privy Council was summoned, and during the day, Capt. Clarke

of the 1st West-India Regiment, and Government Secretary, Lieut. Mould

of the Royal Engineers, and Lieut. Costabodie of the 70th, together with

twenty men of the 70th, and 20 of the 1st West India, embarked, to be

conveyed by water to the scene of insubordination.'

"'We have not learnt the reception this force met with, from the

laborers, but the results of the visit paid them were, that yesterday,

there were at work, on four estates, none: on eleven others, 287 in all,

and on another all except three, who are in the hands of the

magistrates. On one of the above properties, the great gang was, on

Friday last, represented in the cane-piece by one old woman!'"

"'The presence of the soldiers has had, it will be seen, some effect,

yet still the prospects are far from encouraging; a system of stock

plundering, &c. is prevalent to a fearful degree, some gentlemen and the

industrious laborers having had their fowls, &c. entirely carried off by

the worthless criminals; it is consolatory, however, to be able to quote

the following written, to us by a gentleman: "Although there are a good

many people on the different estates, still obstinate and resisting

either to work or to leave the properties, yet I hope that if the

military are posted at Samaritan for some time longer, they will come

round, several of the very obstinate having done so already." Two

negroes were sent down to goal on Monday last, to have their trial for

assaulting the magistrates.'"

"'Such are the facts, as far as we have been able to ascertain them,

which have attended a rebellious demonstration among a portion of the

laboring population, calculated to excite well-founded apprehension in

the whole community. Had earlier preventive measures been adopted, this

open manifestation of a spirit of resistance to, and defiance of the

law, might have been avoided. On this point, we have, in contempt of the

time-serving reflections it has drawn upon us, freely and fearlessly

expressed our opinion, and we shall now only remark, that matters having

come to the pass we have stated, the Executive has adopted the only

effective means to bring affairs again to a healthy state; fortunate is

it for the colony, that this has been done, and we trust that the

effects will be most beneficial.'"

TOBAGO.

The following testifies well for the ability of the emancipated to take

care of themselves.

"'Tobago.--The Gazette of this Island informs us that up to the period

of its going to press, the accounts from the country, as to the

disinclination of the laborers to turn out to work are much the same as

we have given of last week. Early this morning parties of them were seen

passing through town in various directions, accompanied by their

children, and carrying along with them their ground provisions, stock,

&c. indicating a change of location. Whilst on many estates where

peremptory demands have been made that work be resumed, or the laborers

should leave the estate, downright refusal to do either the one or the

other has been the reply; and that reply has been accompanied by threat

and menace of personal violence against any attempts to turn them out of

their houses and grounds. In the transition of the laborers from a state

of bondage to freedom, much that in their manners and deportment would

have brought them summarily under the coercion of the stipendiary

magistrate, formerly, may now be practised with impunity; and the fear

is lest that nice discrimination betwixt restraints just terminated and

rights newly acquired, will not be clouded for some time, even in the

minds of the authorities, before whom laborers are likely to be brought

for their transgression. Thus, although it may appear like an alarming

confederacy, the system of sending delegates, or head men, around the

estates, which the laborers have adopted, as advisers, or agents, to

promote general unanimity; it must be borne in mind that this is

perfectly justifiable; and it is only where actual violence has been

threatened by those delegates against those who choose to work at under

wages, that the authorities can merely assure them of their protection

from violence.'--_Morning Jour., Oct. 2._"

The _Barbadian_ of November 21, says, "An agricultural report has been

lately made of the windward district of the Island, which is favorable

as to the general working of the negroes." The same paper of November

28, says, "It is satisfactory to learn that _many_ laborers in Tobago

are engaging more readily in agricultural operations."

ST. VINCENT.

"Saint Vincent.--Our intelligence this week, observes the Gazette of

25th August, from the country districts, is considerably more favorable

than for the previous fortnight. In most of the leeward quarter, the

people have, more or less, returned to work, with the exception of very

few estates, which we decline naming, as we trust that on these also

they will resume their labor in a few days. The same may be said

generally of the properties in St. George's parish; and in the more

extensive district of Charlotte, there is every prospect that the same

example will be followed next week particularly in the Caraib country,

where a few laborers on some properties have been at work during the

present week, and the explanation and advice given them by Mr. Special

Justice Ross has been attended with the best effect, and we doubt not

will so continue. In the Biabou quarter the laborers have resumed work

in greater numbers than in other parts of the parish, and the exceptions

in this, as in ether districts, we hope will continue but a short time."

The Barbadian of November 21, speaks of a "megass house" set on fire in

this island which the peasantry refused to extinguish, and adds that but

half work is performed by the laborer in that parish. "Those of the

adjoining parish," its says, "are said to be working satisfactorily." In

a subsequent paper we notice a report from the Chief of Police to the

Lieutenant Governor, which speaks favorably of the general working of

the negroes, as far as he had been able to ascertain by inquiry into a

district comprising one-third of the laborers.

The New York Commercial Advertiser of February 25, has a communication

from Amos Townsend, Esq., Cashier of the New Haven Bank; dated New

Haven, February 21, 1839, from which we make the following extract. He

says he obtained his information from one of the most extensive shipping

houses in that city connected with the West India trade.

"A Mr. Jackson, a planter from St. Vincents, has been in this city

within a few day, and says that the emancipation of the slaves on

that island works extremely well; and that his plantation produces

more and yields a larger profit than it has ever done before. The

emancipated slaves now do in eight hours what was before considered

a two-days' task, and he pays the laborers a dollar a day.

Mr. Jackson further states that he, and Mr. Nelson, of Trinidad,

with another gentleman from the same islands, have been to

Washington, and conferred with Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, _to

endeavour to concert some plan to get colored laborers from this

country to emigrate to these islands, as there is a great want of

hands._ They offer one dollar a day for able bodied hands. The

gentlemen at Washington were pleased with the idea of thus disposing

of the free blacks at the South, and would encourage their efforts

to induce that class of the colored people to emigrate. Mr. Calhoun

remarked that it was the most feasible plan of colonizing the free

blacks that had ever been suggested.

This is the amount of my information, and comes in so direct a

channel as leaves no room to doubt its correctness. What our

southern champions will now say to this direct testimony from their

brother planters of the West Indies, of the practicability and

safety of immediate emancipation, remains to be seen. Truly yours."

AMOS TOWNSEND, JUN.

ST. LUCIA.

Saint Lucia.--The Palladium states that affairs are becoming worse every

day with the planters. Their properties are left without labourers to

work them; their buildings broken into, stores and produce stolen,

ground provisions destroyed, stock robbed, and they themselves insulted

and laughed at.

On Saturday night, the Commissary of Police arrived in town from the

third and fourth districts, with some twenty or thirty prisoners, who

had been convicted before the Chief Justice of having assaulted the

police in the execution of their duty, and sent to gaol.

"It has been deemed necessary to call for military aid with a view of

humbling the high and extravagant ideas entertained by the

ex-apprentices upon the independence of their present condition;

thirty-six men of the first West India regiment, and twelve of the

seventy-fourth have been accordingly despatched; the detachment embarked

yesterday on board Mr. Muter's schooner, the Louisa, to land at

Soufriere, and march into the interior."

In both the above cases where the military was called out, the

provocation was given by the white. And in both cases it was afterwards

granted to be needless. Indeed, in the quelling of one of these

factitious rebellions, the prisoners taken were two white men, and one

of them a manager.

* * * * *

THE

CHATTEL PRINCIPLE

THE ABHORRENCE OF

JESUS CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES;

OR

NO REFUGE FOR AMERICAN SLAVERY

IN

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

NEW YORK

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

NO. 143 NASSAU STREET.

1839

_Please read and circulate._

The

NEW TESTAMENT AGAINST SLAVERY.

* * * * *

"THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST."

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? In 1776 THOMAS JEFFERSON,

supported by a noble band of patriots and surrounded by the American

people, opened his lips in the authoritative declaration: "We hold these

truths to be SELF-EVIDENT, _that all men are created equal; that they

are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among

these are life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness._" And from the

inmost heart of the multitudes around, and in a strong and clear voice,

broke forth the unanimous and decisive answer: Amen--such truths we do

indeed hold to be self-evident. And animated and sustained by a

declaration, so inspiring and sublime, they rushed to arms, and as the

result of agonizing efforts and dreadful sufferings, achieved under God

the independence of their country. The great truth, whence they derived

light and strength to assert and defend their rights, they made the

foundation of their republic. And in the midst of _this republic_, must

we prove, that He, who was the Truth, did not contradict "the truths"

which He Himself, as their Creator, had made self-evident to mankind?

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? What, according to those

laws which make it what it is, is American slavery? In the Statute-Book

of South Carolina thus it is written:[A] "Slaves shall be deemed, sold,

taken, reputed and adjudged in law to be _chattels personal_ in the

hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors,

administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes

whatever." The very root of American slavery consists in the assumption,

that _law has reduced men to chattels_. But this assumption is, and must

be, a gross falsehood. Men and cattle are separated from each other by

the Creator, immutably, eternally, and by an impassable gulf. To

confound or identify men and cattle must be to _lie_ most wantonly,

impudently, and maliciously. And must we prove, that Jesus Christ is not

in favor of palpable, monstrous falsehood?

[Footnote A: Stroud's Slave Laws, p. 23.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? How can a system, built

upon a stout and impudent denial of self-evident truth--a system of

treating men like cattle--operate? Thomas Jefferson shall answer. Hear

him.[B] "The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual

exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting despotism

on the one part, and degrading submission on the other. The parent

storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the

same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives loose to his worst

passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, can

not but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a

prodigy, who can retain his manners and morals undepraved by such

circumstances." Such is the practical operation of a system, which puts

men and cattle into the same family and treats them alike. And must we

prove, that Jesus Christ is not in favor of a school where the worst

vices in their most hateful forms are systematically and efficiently

taught and practiced?

[Footnote B: Notes on Virginia.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? What, in 1818, did the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian church affirm respecting its nature

and operation?[C] "Slavery creates a paradox in the moral system--it

exhibits rational, accountable, and immortal beings, in such

circumstances as scarcely to leave them the power of moral action. It

exhibits them as dependent on the will of others, whether they shall

receive religious instruction; whether they shall know and worship the

true God; whether they shall enjoy the ordinances of the gospel; whether

they shall perform the duties and cherish the endearments of husbands

and wives, parents and children, neighbors and friends; whether they

shall preserve their chastity and purity, or regard the dictates of

justice and humanity. Such are some of the consequences of slavery;

consequences not imaginary, but which connect themselves with its very

existence. The evils to which the slave is _always_ exposed, _often take

place_ in their very worst degree and form; and where all of them do not

take place, still the slave is deprived of his natural rights, degraded

as a human being, and exposed to the danger of passing into the hands of

a master who may inflict upon him all the hardships and injuries which

inhumanity and avarice may suggest." Must we prove, that Jesus Christ is

not in favor of such things?

[Footnote C: Minutes of the General Assembly for 1818, p. 29.]

Is Jesus Christ in favor of American slavery? It is already widely felt

and openly acknowledged at the South, that they can not support slavery

without sustaining the opposition of universal christendom. And Thomas

Jefferson declared, that "he trembled for his country when he reflected,

that God is just; that his justice can not sleep forever; that

considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the

wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events;

that it may become practicable by supernatural influences! The Almighty

has no attribute which can take sides with us in such a contest."[A] And

must we prove, that Jesus Christ is not in favor of what universal

christendom is impelled to abhor, denounce, and oppose;--is not in favor

of what every attribute of Almighty God is armed against?

[Footnote A: Notes on Virginia]

"YE HAVE DESPISED THE POOR."

It is no man of straw, with whom in making out such proof we are called

to contend. Would to God we had no other antagonist! Would to God that

our labor of love could be regarded as a work of supererogation! But we

may well be ashamed and grieved; to find it necessary to "stop the

mouths" of grave and learned ecclesiastics, who from the heights of Zion

have undertaken to defend the institution of slavery. We speak not now

of those, who amidst the monuments of oppression are engaged in the

sacred vocation; who as ministers of the Gospel can "prophesy smooth

things" to such as pollute the altar of Jehovah with human sacrifices;

nay, who themselves bind the victim and kindle the sacrifice. That

_they_ should put their Savior to the torture, to wring from his lips

something in favor of slavery, is not to be wondered at. They consent to

the murder of the children; can they respect the rights of the Father?

But what shall we say of theological professors at the North--professors

of sacred literature at our oldest divinity schools--who stand up to

defend, both by argument and authority, southern slavery! And from the

Bible! Who, Balaam-like, try a thousand expedients to force from the

mouth of Jehovah a sentence which they know the heart of Jehovah abhors!

Surely we have here something more mischievous and formidable than a man

of straw. More than two years ago, and just before the meeting of the

General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, appeared an article in the

Biblical Repertory,[A] understood to be from the pen of the Professor of

Sacred Literature at Princeton, in which an effort is made to show, that

slavery, whatever may be said of _any abuses_ of it, is _not a violation

of the precepts of the Gospel_. This article, we are informed, was

industriously and extensively distributed among the members of the

General Assembly--a body of men, who by a frightful majority seemed

already too much disposed to wink at the horrors of slavery. The effect

of the Princeton Apology on the southern mind, we have high authority

for saying, has been most decisive and injurious. It has contributed

greatly to turn the public eye off from the sin--from the inherent and

necessary _evils of slavery_ to incidental evils, which the _abuse_ of

it might be expected to occasion. And how few can be brought to admit,

that whatever abuses may prevail nobody knows where or how, any such

thing is chargeable upon them! Thus our Princeton prophet has done what

he could to lay the southern conscience asleep upon ingenious

perversions of the sacred volume!

[Footnote A: For April, 1836. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian

Church met in the following May, at Pittsburgh, where, in pamphlet form,

this article was distributed. The following appeared upon the

title page:

PITTSBURGH:

1836.

_For gratuitous distribution_.

]

About a year after this, an effort in the same direction was jointly

made by Dr. Fisk and Prof. Stuart. In a letter to a Methodist clergyman,

Mr. Merritt, published in Zion's Herald, Dr. Fisk gives utterance to

such things as the following:--"But that you and the public may see and

_feel_, that you have the ablest and those who are among the honestest

men of this age, arrayed against you, be pleased to notice the following

letter from Prof. Stuart." I wrote to him, knowing as I did his integrity

of purpose, his unflinching regard for truth, as well as his deserved

reputation as a scholar and biblical critic, proposing the following

questions:--

1. Does the New Testament directly or indirectly teach, that slavery

existed in the primitive church?

2. In 1 Tim. vi. 2, And they that have believing masters, &c., what is

the relation expressed or implied between "they" (servants) and

"_believing masters_?" And what are your reasons for the construction of

the passage?

3. What was the character of ancient and eastern slavery?--Especially

what (legal) power did this relation give the master over the slave?

PROFESSOR STUART'S REPLY.

ANDOVER, 10th April, 1837.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,--Yours is before me. A sickness of three months'

standing (typhus fever,) in which I have just escaped death, and

which still confines me to my house, renders it impossible for me to

answer your letter at large.

1. The precepts of the New Testament respecting the demeanor of

slaves and of their masters, beyond all question, recognize the

existence of slavery. The masters are in part "believing masters,"

so that a precept to them, how they are to behave as _masters_,

recognizes that the relation may still exist, _salva fide et salva

ecclesia_, ("without violating the Christian faith or the church.")

Otherwise, Paul had nothing to do but to cut the band asunder at

once. He could not lawfully and properly temporize with a _malum in

se_, ("that which is in itself sin.")

If any one doubts, let him take the case of Paul's sending Onesimus

back to Philemon, with an apology for his running away, and sending

him back to be his servant for life. The relation did exist, may

exist. The _abuse_ of it is the essential and fundamental wrong. Not

that the theory of slavery is in itself right. No; "Love thy

neighbor as thyself," "Do unto others that which ye would that

others should do unto you," decide against this. But the relation

once constituted and continued, is not such a _malum in se_ as calls

for immediate and violent disruption at all hazards. So Paul did

not counsel.

2. 1 Tim. vi. 2, expresses the sentiment, that slaves, who are

Christians and have Christian masters, are not, on that account, and

because _as Christians they are brethren_, to forego the reverence

due to them as masters. That is, the relation of master and slave is

not, as a matter of course, abrogated between all Christians. Nay,

servants should in such a case, a _fortiori_, do their duty

cheerfully. This sentiment lies on the very face of the case. What

the master's duty in such a case may be in respect to _liberation_,

is another question, and one which the apostle does not here

treat of.

3. Every one knows, who is acquainted with Greek or Latin

antiquities, that slavery among heathen nations has ever been more

unqualified and at looser ends than among Christian nations. Slaves

were _property_ in Greece and Rome. That decides all questions about

their _relation_. Their treatment depended, as it does now, on the

temper of their masters. The power of the master over the slave was,

for a long time, that of _life and death_. Horrible cruelties at

length mitigated it. In the apostle's day, it was at least as great

as among us.

After all the spouting and vehemence on this subject, which have

been exhibited, the _good old Book_ remains the same. Paul's conduct

and advice are still safe guides. Paul knew well that Christianity

would ultimately destroy slavery, as it certainly will. He knew too,

that it would destroy monarchy and aristocracy from the earth; for

it is fundamentally a doctrine of _true liberty and equality_. Yet

Paul did not expect slavery or anarchy to be ousted in a day; and

gave precepts to Christians respecting their demeanor _ad interim_.

With sincere and paternal regard,

Your friend and brother,

M. STUART.

* * * * *

--This, sir, is doctrine that will stand, because it is _Bible

doctrine_. The abolitionists, then, are on a wrong course. They have

traveled out of the record; and if they would succeed, they must

take a different position, and approach the subject in a different

manner. Respectfully yours,

W. FISK

"SO THEY WRAP [SNARL] IT UP."

What are we taught here? That in the ecclesiastical organizations which

grew up under the hands of the apostles, slavery was admitted as a

relation, that did not violate the Christian faith; that the relation

may now in like manner exist; that "the abuse of it is the essential and

fundamental wrong;" and, of course, that American Christians may hold

their own brethren in slavery without incurring guilt or inflicting

injury. Thus according to Prof. Stuart, Jesus Christ has not a word to

say against "the peculiar institutions" of the South. If our brethren

there do not "abuse" the privilege of exacting unpaid labor, they may

multiply their slaves to their hearts' content, without exposing

themselves to the frown of the Savior or laying their Christian

character open to the least suspicion. Could any trafficker in human

flesh ask for greater latitude? And to such doctrines, Dr. Fisk eagerly

aid earnestly subscribes. He goes further. He urges it on the attention

of his brethren, as containing important truth, which they ought to

embrace. According to him, it is "_Bible doctrine_," showing, that "the

abolitionists are on a wrong course," and must, "if they would succeed,

take a different position."

We now refer to such distinguished names, to show, that in attempting to

prove that Jeans Christ is not in favor of American slavery, we contend

with something else than a man of straw. The ungrateful task, which a

particular examination of Prof. Stuart's letter lays upon us, we hope

fairly to dispose of in due season.--Enough has now been said, to make

it clear and certain, that American slavery has its apologists and

advocates in the northern pulpit; advocates and apologists, who fall

behind few if any of their brethren in the reputation they have

acquired, the stations they occupy, and the general influence they are

supposed to exert.

Is it so? Did slavery exist in Judea, and among the Jews, in its worst

form, during the Savior's incarnation? If the Jews held slaves, they

must have done so in open and flagrant violation of the letter and the

spirit of the Mosaic Dispensation. Whoever has any doubts of this may

well resolve his doubts in the light of the Argument entitled "The Bible

against Slavery." If, after a careful and thorough examination of that

article, he can believe that slaveholding prevailed during the ministry

of Jesus Christ among the Jews and in accordance with the authority of

Moses, he would do the reading public an important service to record the

grounds of his belief--especially in a fair and full refutation of that

Argument. Till that is done, we hold ourselves excused from attempting

to prove what we now repeat, that if the Jews during our Savior's

incarnation held slaves, they must have done so in open and flagrant

violation of the letter and the spirit of the Mosaic Dispensation. Could

Christ and the Apostles every where among their countrymen come in

contact with slaveholding, being as it was a gross violation of that law

which their office and their profession required them to honor and

enforce, without exposing and condemning it.

In its worst forms, we are told, slavery prevailed over the whole world,

not excepting Judea. As, according to such ecclesiastics as Stuart,

Hodge, and Fisk, slavery in itself is not bad at all, the term "_worst_"

could be applied only to "_abuses_" of this innocent relation. Slavery

accordingly existed among the Jews, disfigured and disgraced by the

"worst abuses" to which it is liable. These abuses in the ancient world,

Prof. Stuart describes as "horrible cruelties." And in our own country,

such abuses have grown so rank, as to lead a distinguished

eye-witness--no less a philosopher and statesman than Thomas

Jefferson--to say, that they had armed against us every attribute of the

Almighty. With these things the Savior every where came in contact,

among the people to whose improvement and salvation he devoted his

living powers, and yet not a word, not a syllable, in exposure and

condemnation of such "horrible cruelties," escaped his lips! He

saw--among the "covenant people" of Jehovah he saw, the babe plucked

from the bosom of its mother; the wife torn from the embrace of her

husband; the daughter driven to the market by the scourge of her own

father;--he saw the word of God sealed up from those who, of all men,

were especially entitled to its enlightening, quickening

influence;--nay, he saw men beaten for kneeling before the throne of

heavenly mercy;--such things he saw without a word of admonition or

reproof! No sympathy with them who suffered wrong--no indignation at

them who inflicted wrong, moved his heart!

From the alledged silence of the Savior, when in contact with slavery

among the Jews, our divines infer, that it is quite consistent with

Christianity. And they affirm, that he saw it in its worst forms; that

is, he witnessed what Prof. Stuart ventures to call "horrible

cruelties." But what right have these interpreters of the sacred volume

to regard any form of slavery which the Savior found, as "worst," or

even bad? According to their inference--which they would thrust gag-wise

into the mouths of abolitionists--his silence should seal up their lips.

They ought to hold their tongues. They have no right to call any form of

slavery bad--an abuse; much less, horribly cruel! Their inference is

broad enough to protect the most brutal driver amidst his deadliest

inflictions!

"THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW OR THE PROPHETS; I AM NOT

COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFILL."

And did the Head of the new dispensation, then, fall so far behind the

prophets of the old in a hearty and effective regard for suffering

humanity? The forms of oppression which they witnessed, excited their

compassion and aroused their indignation. In terms the most pointed and

powerful, they exposed, denounced, threatened. They could not endure the

creatures, who "used their neighbors' service without wages, and gave

him not for his work;"[A] who imposed "heavy burdens"[B] upon their

fellows, and loaded them with "the bands of wickedness;" who, "hiding

themselves from their own flesh," disowned their own mothers' children.

Professions of piety, joined with the oppression of the poor, they held

up to universal scorn and execration, as the dregs of hypocrisy. They

warned the creature of such professions, that he could escape the wrath

of Jehovah only by heartfelt repentance. And yet, according to the

ecclesiastics with whom we have to do, the Lord of these prophets passed

by in silence just such enormities as he commanded them to expose and

denounce! Every where, he came in contact with slavery in its worst

forms--"horrible cruelties" forced themselves upon his notice; but not a

word of rebuke or warning did he utter. He saw "a boy given for a

harlot, and a girl sold for wine, that they might drink,"[C] without the

slightest feeling of displeasure, or any mark of disapprobation! To such

disgusting and horrible conclusions, do the arguings which, from the

haunts of sacred literature, are inflictcd on our churches, lead us!

According to them, Jesus Christ, instead of shining as the light of the

world, extinguished the torches which his own prophets had kindled, and

plunged mankind into the palpable darkness of a starless midnight! O

Savior, in pity to thy suffering people, let thy temple be no longer

used as a "den of thieves!"

[Footnote A: Jeremiah xxii. 13.]

[Footnote B: Isaiah lviii. 6,7.]

[Footnote C: Joel iii. 3.]

"THOU THOUGHTEST THAT I WAS ALTOGETHER SUCH AN ONE AS THYSELF."

In passing by the worst forms of slavery, with which he every where came

in contact among the Jews, the Savior must have been inconsistent with

himself. He was commissioned to preach glad tidings to the poor; to heal

the broken-hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives; to set at

liberty them that are bruised; to preach the year of Jubilee. In

accordance with this commission, he bound himself, from the earliest

date of his incarnation, to the poor, by the strongest ties; himself

"had not where to lay his head;" he exposed himself to misrepresentation

and abuse for his affectionate intercourse with the outcasts of society;

he stood up as the advocate of the widow, denouncing and dooming the

heartless ecclesiastics, who had made her bereavement a source of gain;

and in describing the scenes of the final judgment, he selected the very

personification of poverty, disease, and oppression, as the test by

which our regard for him should be determined. To the poor and wretched;

to the degraded and despised, his arms were ever open. They had his

tenderest sympathies. They had his warmest love. His heart's blood he

poured out upon the ground for the human family, reduced to the deepest

degradation, and exposed to the heaviest inflictions, as the slaves of

the grand usurper. And yet, according to our ecclesiastics, that class

of sufferers who had been reduced immeasurably below every other shape

and form of degradation and distress; who had been most rudely thrust

out of the family of Adam, and forced to herd with swine; who, without

the slightest offense, had been made the foot-stool of the worst

criminals; whose "tears were their meat night and day," while, under

nameless insults and killing injuries, they were continually crying, O

Lord, O Lord:--this class of sufferers, and this alone, our biblical

expositors, occupying the high places of sacred literature, would make

us believe the compassionate Savior coldly overlooked. Not an emotion of

pity; not a look of sympathy; not a word of consolation, did his

gracious heart prompt him to bestow upon them! He denounces damnation

upon the devourer of the widow's house. But the monster, whose trade it

is to make widows and devour them and their babes, he can calmly endure!

O Savior, when wilt thou stop the mouths of such blasphemers!

IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH.

It seems, that though, according to our Princeton professor, "the

subject" of slavery "is hardly alluded to by Christ in any of his

personal instructions[A]," he had a way of "treating it." What was that?

Why, "he taught the true nature, DIGNITY, EQUALITY, and destiny of men,"

and "inculcated the principles of justice and love."[B] And according to

Professor Stuart, the maxims which our Savior furnished, "decide

against" "the theory of slavery." All, then, that these ecclesiastical

apologists for slavery can make of the Savior's alledged silence is,

that he did not, in his personal instructions, "_apply his own principles

to this particular form of wickedness_." For wicked that must be, which

the maxims of the Savior decide against, and which our Princeton

professor assures us the principles of the gospel, duly acted on, would

speedily extinguish[C]. How remarkable it is, that a teacher should

"hardly allude to a subject in any of his personal instructions," and

yet inculcate principles which have a direct and vital bearing upon

it!--should so conduct, as to justify the inference, that "slaveholding

is not a crime[D]," and at the same time lend his authority for its

"speedy extinction!"

[Footnote A: Pittsburgh pamphlet, (already alluded to,)p.9.]

[Footnote B: Pittsburgh pamphlet, p.9.]

[Footnote C: The same, p.34.]

[Footnote D: The same, p.13.]

Higher authority than sustains _self-evident truths_ there can not be.

As forms of reason, they are rays from the face of Jehovah. Not only are

their presence and power self-manifested, but they also shed a strong

and clear light around them. In this light, other truths are visible.

Luminaries themselves, it is their office to enlighten. To their

authority, in every department of thought, the sane mind bows promptly,

gratefully, fully. And by their authority, he explains, proves, and

disposes of whatever engages his attention and engrosses his powers as a

reasonable and reasoning creature. For what, when thus employed and when

most successful, is the utmost he can accomplish? Why, to make the

conclusions which he would establish and commend, _clear in the light of

reason_;--in other words, to evince that _they are reasonable_. He

expects, that those with whom he has to do, will acknowledge the

authority of principle--will see whatever is exhibited in the light of

reason. If they require him to go further, and, in order to convince

them, to do something more that show that the doctrines he maintains,

and the methods he proposes, are accordant with reason--are illustrated

and supported by "self-evident truths"--they are plainly "beside

themselves." They have lost the use of reason. They are not to be argued

with. They belong to the mad-house.

"COME NOW, LET US REASON TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD."

Are we to honor the Bible, which Prof. Stuart quaintly calls "the good

old book," by turning away from "self-evident truths" to receive its

instructions? Can these truths be contradicted or denied there? Do we

search for something there to obscure their clearness, or break their

force, or reduce their authority? Do we long to find something there, in

the form of premises or conclusions, of arguing or of inference, in

broad statements or blind hints, creed-wise or fact-wise, which may set

us free from the light and power of first principles? And what if we

were to discover what we were thus in search of?--something directly or

indirectly, expressly or impliedly prejudicial to the principles, which

reason, placing us under the authority of, makes self-evident? In what

estimation, in that case, should we be constrained to hold the Bible?

Could we longer honor it, as the book of God? _The book of God opposed

to the authority of_ REASON! Why, before what tribunal do we dispose of

the claims of the sacred volume to divine authority? The tribunal of

reason. _This every one acknowledges the moment he begins to reason on

the subject_. And what must reason do with a book, which reduced the

authority of its own principles--broke the force of self-evident truths?

Is he not, by way of eminence, the apostle of infidelity, who, as a

minister of the gospel or a professor of sacred literature, exerts

himself, with whatever arts of ingenuity or show of piety, to exalt the

Bible at the expense of reason? Let such arts succeed and such piety

prevail, and Jesus Christ is "crucified afresh and put to an

open shame."