for registering persons going voluntarily, and commissions were given to
the Lord High Admiral and the officers of the ports to establish
registration offices and give certificates. Yet the spiriting still went
on, for in April, 1668, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper was asked to move the
House of Commons to make the offence capital. His petitioner, said he,
had found one lost child, and after much expense and trouble, freed him,
but there were several others in the same ship, and other ships in the
river at the same work. Even if the parents found their children, they
could not recover them without money, and he was sure that if such a law
were passed the mercy to these innocents would ground a blessing on
those concerned in introducing it. This Act was finally passed on the
1st of March, 1670, punishing the spirits with death without benefit of
clergy.
There were, however, other means of procuring servants. In 1649, when
Cromwell took Drogheda by storm, about thirty prisoners were saved from
the massacre to be shipped to Barbados, and in 1651 seven or eight
thousand Scots, taken at the battle of Worcester, were reserved for a
similar fate. After the Restoration, however, there was an intermission
in such supplies, and the planters began to look to Newgate and
Bridewell for their labour supply.
The supply was by no means equal to the demand, for the agents in London
of the planters of Virginia, Barbados, St. Christopher's, and other
islands were equally clamorous for their share. As for King Charles the
Second, he granted the prisoners as a privilege to his favourites, and
even mistresses, who generally sold it to the highest bidder. The agent
must have had influence to get into the presence of the holder, say of a
hundred prisoners sentenced to transportation, and this was only
obtainable by largess to door-keepers and servants. Then came the
trouble of obtaining delivery from the prison authorities, and here
again fees were demanded. In one case that is recorded the amount paid
to the gaoler of Newgate was fifty-five shillings a head. But even now
the trouble was only beginning. The prisoners were supposed to be
delivered at the door of the gaol, and the planter was under a heavy
bond not to allow one to escape. He must account for each by a
certificate of death on the voyage or of landing in Barbados, on penalty
of five hundred pounds for every one missing. It followed, therefore,
that a sufficiently strong guard had to be provided, and provision made
for attempts at rescue by the prisoners' friends. Even this was not all,
for the concession simply granted a certain number, and it rested with
the gaoler to palm off the old, weak, and infirm on those who were at
all wanting in liberality. Then, at the best the prisoners were hatters,
tailors, and haberdashers, rather than agricultural labourers, many of
whom ultimately proved valueless. If a large number was available, and
there were several applicants, the competition became quite
spirited--every one wanted his pick before the others, and the gaoler
made the best of the occasion, leaving those to whom he allotted the
refuse to curse their evil fortune.
Up to the passing of the Navigation Act the Dutch had been free to trade
with English colonies, and had brought a fair number of negroes; and
afterwards the king established the Royal African Company to prevent the
supply being cut off. The average price of the African was then about
L16 or 2,400 pounds of sugar, but the Dutch sold their slaves for a
little less, which led the planters to evade the Navigation Act when
they had opportunities.
The white bond-servant was valued at about 2,200 pounds of sugar, very
little less than the slave for life, although he had generally but five
years to serve. The cost of transport was about L5 per head; it
followed, therefore, that if the London agent got his prisoners cheap he
made a good profit. There was also another way of making money in this
business. Some of the gaol-birds had friends who were willing to pay
good sums on consideration that the convict should be virtually freed on
his arrival. Many a sum of fifty pounds was obtained in this way,
sometimes without helping the bond-servant in the least. How were the
relations to prove that the promise had not been fulfilled, and if they
did so what redress could be obtained? They certainly could not go to
law, as the whole transaction was illegal.
We have seen how Charles the Second tried to people Jamaica with free
settlers, but this did not prevent the transportation of criminals. In
1665 four young men, who had been convicted of interrupting and abusing
a preacher, were whipped through the streets of Edinburgh and afterwards
sent to Barbados, and in 1684 some of the Rye House plotters were
reprieved on condition that they served ten years in the West Indies.
When these plotters arrived in Jamaica, the Governor, "by His Majesty's
command," directed the Assembly to pass an Act "to prevent all
clandestine releasements or buying out of their time," so that their
punishment should not be evaded. But it was after the Monmouth
rebellion, in 1685, that the greatest deportation took place. The
miserable followers of the duke were executed by Judge Jeffreys until
even his thirst for blood was somewhat slackened, when the remainder
were sent to the plantations. The story of one of these unfortunates
gives such a graphic picture of the life of a bond-servant that we
cannot do better than give an outline of the "Relation of the great
sufferings and strange adventures of Henry Pitman, surgeon to the late
Duke of Monmouth."
Having been taken prisoner after the battle of Sedgemoor, he was
committed to Ilchester Gaol, had his pockets rifled, his clothes torn
off his back, and was remanded until the Wells assizes. While in gaol he
was inveigled into telling all he knew, by promises of pardon, and then
his acknowledgments were treated as a confession. Those who pleaded not
guilty on the first day of the trial were convicted and executed the
same afternoon; others who confessed were equally condemned. After two
hundred and thirty had been hanged the remainder were ordered to be
transported to the Caribbee islands, of whom Pitman was one. With some
others, including his brother, he was disposed of to an agent who took
L60 from his friends to set him free on his arrival at Barbados.
The Legislative Assembly of that island, however, in consequence of the
"most horrid, wicked, and execrable rebellion," lately raised, and
because many of the rebels had been transported for ten years, passed a
special Act, under which they were bound to serve, notwithstanding any
bargain to the contrary. If they attempted to escape they were to be
flogged, and burnt in the forehead with the letters "F.T.," meaning
"Fugitive Traitor."
By this law Pitman's hopes were frustrated, and, utterly disheartened,
he was not inclined to work at his profession for the master to whom he
had been sold. Although the status of a surgeon was not then as high as
it is now, it was yet a great downfall to practise the profession on
rations of five pounds of salt beef or fish per week, with nothing else
but corn meal. As for the fees, which were large, the master pocketed
them, leaving Pitman to endure the discomforts of a tropical residence
and semi-starvation as best he could. On one occasion he refused to go
on with his work, and for this he was beaten by his master until the
cane used was broken in pieces. Then the master became bankrupt, and,
with his brother, Pitman was sent back to the merchant to whom they had
been first consigned.
Here his brother died of the hardships he had experienced, and Pitman
resolved to escape, notwithstanding the risk of attempting such a thing.
Having made the acquaintance of a poor man who was willing to help, he
got a consignment of goods from his friends in England, with which to
raise the means. A boat was purchased for twelve pounds; but this led
to inquiries, as the buyer was known to be poor, and his creditors began
to come down upon him. However, Pitman contributed enough to satisfy
them, meanwhile postponing his departure until suspicion had been
lulled.
On the evening of the 9th of May, 1687--this being a holiday, when most
of the people were revelling--he and seven other bond-servants got
safely off in their open boat, with a small supply of provisions and
water, a few tools, a compass, and a chart. They intended to make for
the Dutch island of Curacao, six hundred miles distant; but even before
they were out of Carlisle Bay their frail craft began to leak, and they
had to tear up their clothes to stop the gaping seams. At sunrise they
were out of sight from the land, but so enervated by sea-sickness that
some would willingly have gone back. However, they went on as best they
could, with nothing but their hats to bale out the water, which still
continued to trickle into the boat. They were a little more comfortable
as the sun rose, but when night came a gale arose which kept them
employed baling for their lives. To add to their difficulties the rudder
broke, and they had to steer with an oar.
Five days passed in this manner, the refugees hardly able to get an
hour's rest for the baling and continual fear that the boat would sink
if left alone. On the sixth morning they saw Margarita, but could not
land on account of the rocky shore, which nearly wrecked them on their
making the attempt. Sheering off, they next day sighted Saltatudos
island, one of the Dry Tortugas, where they met a boat manned with
privateers, who treated them very kindly, and wanted them to join their
company. To this, however, Pitman and his companions would not agree,
and this annoyed the privateers, who burnt their boat and virtually kept
them as prisoners. When they went on a cruise the refugees were left in
charge of four men, and had much ado to find enough turtle to keep them
from starving. After remaining here for three months an English
privateer arrived, and, at their request, took them on to New
Providence, to which the inhabitants had just returned after being
driven off by Spaniards. Pitman at last got to Amsterdam, and from
thence to England, where the revolution had just taken place, and his
friends had succeeded in obtaining a free pardon.
The white bond-servant, being under a short engagement, was generally
worked to his utmost capacity. No matter if he died before the end of
his term as long as he paid for the expense incurred. But Englishmen
were no more inclined to be slaves then than they are now, and the
planters of St. Kitt's found them so troublesome to manage that they
soon became afraid of buying, and showed a preference for negroes. Some
of the English servants committed suicide, and it is recorded that a
pious master told one of them, who had expressed his intention of
destroying himself, that he trusted that God would give him more grace,
than, for a short term of trouble in this life, to precipitate himself
into hell.
Even in the earliest times some of the planters were absentees, living
in England. The system was always more or less fortune-hunting, the
whole end and aim being to get rich and return to the old country. There
were, as we have seen, many difficulties and dangers to encounter, and
not the least of the drawbacks was the want of good society. We who live
in an age when there is daily communication with the whole world, can
hardly conceive how entirely these pioneers were cut off from their
friends. The long voyage was full of discomfort, and at the best
uncertain as to its termination. The words still found on bills of
lading, "the act of God or the queen's enemies," had a meaning then
hardly appreciable by the present generation. Barbary pirates and French
corsairs ranged the Channel; in the broad Atlantic storms shook the
crazy vessels to pieces; and when they escaped these dangers, it was
often to fall into the hands of the buccaneers when in sight of their
destination. Then there were hurricanes on both sea and land, and
earthquakes on some of the islands. Vessels were sunk in harbour, houses
blown away, and sugar buildings torn down. As for the negro huts, they
were carried off altogether, and the crops injured so as to become
useless. Then, perhaps, when the planter had strained himself to the
utmost to put things straight, another tornado would put him in a worse
plight than before.
Yet with all this the planter struggled on, generally doing his best to
carry the traditions and fashions of the mother country into his new
home. We have already noticed Barbados, and how it was affected by the
"great rebellion." Many other examples might be noted had we sufficient
space. The planter was nearly always a gentleman, even if he had begun
his career as a transported rebel. Some were gallants, and dressed in
the extreme of London fashion, often living beyond their means. Others
were merchants, trading with their own vessels, and selling their
surplus goods for produce to make up cargoes. With their own sugar, and
as much as they could procure from others, they filled their ships for
the homeward voyage, and in return got enough merchandise for trading.
These were the fortune-hunters, who were always looking forward to that
happy time when, with money in their pouches, they could once more
settle down in Merry England. The old country was always "home," as it
is still for the West Indian, although perhaps neither himself nor his
parents ever saw it--then it was the will-o'-the-wisp that drove him to
endure all the discomforts of a life in the tropics, often to die of
fever before his work was hardly begun.
While Jamaica was under the dominion of Spain little was done to develop
the island. The Indians were exterminated, as in Hispaniola, to be
replaced by wild cattle and horses, and fifteen hundred negroes were
introduced to cultivate provision grounds. From these, passing vessels,
which called in on their way to Mexico, got their supplies. As yet it
was not a rendezvous for buccaneers, and taken altogether it was quite
insignificant. Thousands of white men and tens of thousands of negroes
were required before it became the important island which ultimately
rivalled Hispaniola. However, although the Spaniard was driven out he
left his sting behind in the shape of his slaves, who took to the
mountains, to be afterwards known as Maroons, and to worry the English
colonists for over a century.
And here, as we are dealing with the planter and his labour supply, we
must say something of the negro slaves, to whom the West Indies were
indebted for their very existence as European colonies. Unlike the
American, the African had known slavery for ages. Prisoners taken in war
were kept in servitude as a matter of course; debtors were slaves to
their creditors, and even children were sold by their parents. Yet there
were great differences between the tribes--the Coromantees, for example,
were particularly troublesome, and the Foulahs often dangerous. The
first slave-traders took their cargoes from the more northern coasts,
and from this cause, perhaps, as well as the want of proper supervision
in the Indies, runaways, or Simerons, were mentioned at very early
periods. Later, the trade was carried on in a particularly judicious
manner, and the more docile tribes selected, to be sold in the colonies
as "Prime Gold Coast Negroes."
In their native countries these people were all virtually slaves to
their chiefs, and as such were liable to be sold at any time. The
authority was unlimited; the slightest offence meant slavery; death was
the only alternative. Often when, for some reason or other, the negro
was rejected by the trader, he was executed at once. Adultery was
punished by the sale of both offenders, and debtors could be sold by
their creditors. Bryan Edwards, author of a history of the West Indies,
took much pains to procure information from the slaves themselves,
through an interpreter; and as they had no reason to misrepresent their
cases, we can safely give the outlines of one.
The most interesting story is, perhaps, that of the boy Adam, a Congo,
about fourteen years of age when he was brought to Jamaica. His country
was named Sarri, and was situated a long distance from the coast. While
walking one morning through a path, about three miles from his native
village, the boy was captured by one of his countrymen. With his
prisoner the man hid himself in the woods during the whole of the day,
and at night stole away from the neighbourhood, going on like this for a
whole month. Then he came to the country of another tribe, where he sold
the boy for a gun, some powder and shot, and a little salt. His new
owner afterwards sold Adam for a keg of brandy to another black man who
was going about collecting slaves, and when twenty had been collected
they were taken to the coast and sold to a Jamaica captain.
Of the five-and-twenty interrogated by Bryan Edwards, fifteen frankly
declared that they had been born in slavery, and were sold to pay the
debts, or bartered to supply the wants, of their owners. Five were
secretly kidnapped in the interior, and sold to black merchants; the
other five fell into the hands of the enemy in some of those petty wars
which were continually going on, when, if there had been no market for
their sale, they would almost certainly have been killed.
It is hardly necessary to state that in giving these statements we are
not attempting the impossible task of vindicating slavery either of the
black or white man. It would be well, however, if, in mitigation of the
offence against the negro, his former condition were taken into
consideration, and the undoubted fact that he was better treated by the
West India planter than by his own countrymen. His lot was by no means
so hard as slavery had been to the Indian and white bond-servant. He did
not sink under the hardships of a life of toil in the burning sun, but
was happy in his way, and in most cases better off than his descendant,
the West Indian peasant of to-day. He was certainly treated as a
domestic animal, but his value was always high enough to prevent
anything like ill-usage. There were certainly people who could be cruel
to their negroes, as there are yet men so low as to brutally flog
valuable horses, but that such were common is a statement utterly
without foundation. As a well-kept animal, the planter took a pride in
him, fed and doctored him, patted him on the back, and proudly showed
him to his friends. All this appears very degrading to humanity, but
after all the negro did not see it in that light. On the contrary, he
took a pride in exhibiting his strong muscles and in showing the
"buccras" what a fine nigger massa had got.
The slave of the rich planter, like the horse of the English gentleman,
was undoubtedly very comfortable. First, he was a picked lot--the
healthiest, strongest, and most suitable for his work--one of those
"pieces d'India," as the best negroes were called by the traders. Then,
as an expensive chattel, everything was done to make him still more
valuable, and to prevent his deteriorating. But unfortunately there was
another class--the miserable, broken-down creatures sold cheap as refuse
lots to poor white men or even to slaves. Yes, the slaves bought their
diseased fellow-countrymen, to work on their own allotments, treating
them as the costermonger sometimes does his donkey. Half-starved,
hard-worked, and covered with sores, they lingered in misery until death
came to make them free. Some were so disfigured with yaws, or leprosy,
that none but a negro could bear the sight of them; these were kept out
of the way and treated worse than mangy dogs.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
VIII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY.
By the time of the Dutch war of 1665 the pretensions of Spain to the
exclusive possession of the Indies had been entirely ignored. Now began
the great struggle of other nations for supremacy, and the position of
"sovereign of the seas," the islands and Guiana becoming scenes of
contention between English, French, and Dutch. To these struggles is
greatly due the positions the naval powers of the world hold to-day, and
especially that of Britain.
As it was mainly a demand for free trade which led to so many attacks on
the Spanish possessions, so it was now the same question which led to
the struggle between the two great mercantile nations which succeeded
Spain and Portugal, as these had followed Venice and Genoa. In the West
Indies there was no line of demarcation between these new powers, and
consequently their interests often clashed, but on the whole the
colonists were favourable to the Dutch, and did all they could to evade
the Navigation Act.
Early in 1665 preparations were made in Barbados to repel an expected
invasion by the Dutch. Vessels were ordered to keep together and
protect each other, and men-of-war were sent out to afford convoy.
Already the English buccaneers had been somewhat discountenanced by the
home government, although they were generally encouraged by the
colonies, especially Jamaica, which derived considerable advantage from
their sales of booty. Now that there was a demand for all the forces
that could be gathered together, the Governor of that island gave the
rovers letters of marque, under which they were empowered to ravage the
Dutch colonies. At St. Eustatius they succeeded in carrying off
everything portable, including nine hundred slaves, and even such heavy
articles as sugar coppers and stills. De Ruyter made an attempt on
Barbados on the 20th of April, but the people there made such a stand
that he had to retire. He commenced the attack at ten o'clock in the
morning with his fourteen vessels, but by three in the afternoon the
fleet was so much damaged that he was forced to move away his own ship,
with a hole in her side "as big as a barn-door." He then went on to
Montserrat and Nevis, where he captured sixteen ships, but did not take
either of the islands.
In Guiana, the English from Barbados captured the Dutch trading factory
in the river Essequebo, as well as the young sugar colony in the
Pomeroon, and in retaliation the Dutch took Surinam. In January, 1666,
France joined the Netherlands, and an English fleet was sent out to
protect Barbados, which now began to feel alarmed at the possible result
of such a powerful combination.
Then came the critical period for the island of St. Kitt's, which, as we
have before stated, had been divided between English and French, the
former holding the middle portion with the enemy on either side. As soon
as the news of the declaration of war arrived, the relations between the
two nationalities, which had often before been much strained, became
ruptured. The English Governor, Watts, gave his rival three days'
notice, and prepared to attack him, with the assistance of five hundred
men from Nevis, and two hundred buccaneers. General de la Salle, on the
French side, asked and obtained forty-eight hours' longer grace, and
took advantage of this to steal into the English territory with a large
body of horse and foot, as well as a mob of negroes armed with bills and
hoes. The slaves also carried firebrands, and were said to have been
promised, in return for their assistance, freedom, English women as
wives, and the liberty to plunder and burn. At the town of St. Nicholas
a gentlewoman with three or four children, on trying to escape, was
forced back into her blazing house and kept there until the whole family
were burnt to death. A party of English, who advanced to check their
progress, was overwhelmed by the number of the enemy and driven back,
thus leaving them to advance over the island with fire and sword.