The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus · Chapter 81Part 81
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A woman was brought before Mr. Hill a few days before we were there, charged with not being in the field till one hour after the rest of the gang. She had twins, and appeared before him with a child hanging on each arm. What an eloquent defence! He dismissed the complaint.
He mentioned another case, of a woman whose master resided in Spanishtown, but who was hired out by him to some person in the country. Her child became sick, but her employer refused any assistance. With it in her arms, she entreated aid of her master. The monster drove her and her dying little one into the street at night, and she sought shelter with Mr. Hill, where her child expired before morning. For such horrid cruelty as this, the apprenticeship law provides no remedy. The woman had no claim for the support of her child, on the man who was receiving the wages of her daily toil. That child was not worth a farthing to him, because it was no longer his chattel; and while the law gives him power to rob the mother, it has no compulsion to make him support the child.
3. The complaints are generally of the most trivial and frivolous nature. They are mostly against mothers for neglect of duty, and vague charges of insolence. There is no provision in the law to prevent the master from using abusive language to the apprentice; any insult short of a blow, he is free to commit; but the slightest word of incivility, a look, smile, or grin, is punished in the apprentice, even though it were provoked.
4. There is still much flogging by the overseers. Last week a girl came to Mr. H. terribly scarred and "slashed," and complained that her master had beaten her. It appeared that this was the seventh offence, for neither of which she could obtain a hearing from the special magistrate in her district. While Mr. H. was relating to me this fact, a girl came in with a little babe in her arms. He called my attention to a large bruise near her eye. He said her master knocked her down a few days since, and made that wound by kicking her.
Frequently when complaints of insolence are made, on investigation, it is found that the offence was the result of a quarrel commenced by the master, during which he either cuffed or kicked the offender.
The special magistrates also frequently resort to flogging. Many of them, as has been mentioned already, have been connected with the army or navy, where corporal punishment is practised and flogging is not only in consonance with their feelings and habits, but is a punishment more briefly inflicted and more grateful to the planters, as it does not deprive them of the apprentice's time.
5. Mr. H. says that the apprentices who have purchased their freedom behave well. He has not known one of them to be brought before the police.
6. Many of the special magistrates require much looking after. Their salaries are not sufficient to support them independently. Some of them leave their homes on Monday morning, and make the whole circuit of their district before returning, living and lodging meanwhile, free of expense, with the planters. If they are not inclined to listen to the complaints of the apprentices, they soon find that the apprentices are not inclined to make complaints to them, and that they consequently have much more leisure time, and get through their district much easier. Of the sixty magistrates in Jamaica, but few can be said to discharge their duties faithfully. The governor is often required to interfere. A few weeks since he discharged two magistrates for putting iron collars on two women, in direct violation of the law, and then sending him false reports.
7. The negro grounds are often at a great distance, five or six miles, and some of them fifteen miles, from the plantation. Of course much time, which would otherwise be spent in cultivating them, is necessarily consumed in going to them and returning. Yet for all that, and though in many cases the planters have withdrawn the watchmen who used to protect them, and have left them entirely exposed to thieves and cattle, they are generally well cultivated--on the whole, better than during slavery. When there is inattention to them, it is caused either by some planters hiring them during their own time, or because their master permits his cattle to trespass on them, and the people feel an insecurity. When you find a kind planter, in whom the apprentices have confidence, there you will find beautiful gardens. In not a few instances, where the overseer is particularly harsh and cruel, the negroes have thrown up their old grounds, and taken new ones on other plantations, where the overseer is better liked, or gone into the depths of the mountain forests, where no human foot has been before them, and there cleared up small plats. This was also done to some extent during slavery. Many of the people, against whom the planters are declaiming as lazy and worthless, have rich grounds of which those planters little dream.
8. There is no feeling of insecurity, either of life or property. One may travel through the whole island without the least fear of violence. If there is any danger, it is from the emigrants, who have been guilty of several outrages. So far from the planters fearing violence from the apprentices, when an assault or theft is committed, they refer it, almost as a matter of course, to some one else. A few weeks ago one of the island mails was robbed. As soon as it became known, it was at once said, "Some of those villanous emigrants did it," and so indeed it proved.
People in the country, in the midst of the mountains, where the whites are few and isolated, sleep with their doors and windows open, without a thought of being molested. In the towns there are no watchmen, and but a small police, and yet the streets are quiet and property safe.
9. The apprentices understand the great provisions of the new system, such as the number of hours they must work for their master, and that their masters have no right to flog them, &c., but its details are inexplicable mysteries. The masters have done much injury by deceiving them on points of which they were ignorant.
10. The apprentices almost to a man are ready to work for wages during their own time. When the overseer is severe towards them, they prefer working on other plantations, even for less wages, as is very natural.
11. Almost all the evils of the apprenticeship arise from the obstinacy and oppressive conduct of the overseers. They are constantly taking advantage of the defects of the system, which are many, and while they demand to the last grain's weight "the pound of flesh," they are utterly unwilling to yield the requirements which the law makes of them. Where you find an overseer endeavoring in every way to overreach the apprentices, taking away the privileges which they enjoyed during slavery, and exacting from them the utmost minute and mite of labor, there you will find abundant complaints both against the master and the apprentice. And the reverse. The cruel overseers are complaining of idleness, insubordination, and ruin, while the kind master is moving on peaceably and prosperously.
12. The domestic apprentices have either one day, or fifty cents cash, each week, as an allowance for food and clothing. This is quite insufficient. Many of the females seem obliged to resort to theft or to prostitution to obtain a support. Two girls were brought before Mr. Hill while we were with him, charged with neglect of duty and night-walking. One of them said her allowance was too small, and she must get food in some other way or starve.
13. The apprentices on many plantations have been deprived of several privileges which they enjoyed under the old system. Nurseries have been abolished, water-carriers have been taken away, keeping stock is restricted, if not entirely forbidden, watchmen are no longer provided to guard the negro grounds, &c.--petty aggressions in our eyes, perhaps, but severe to them. Another instance is still more hard. By the custom of slavery, women who had reared up seven children were permitted to "sit down," as it was termed; that is, were not obliged to go into the field to work. Now no such distinction is made, but all are driven into the field.
14. One reason why the crops were smaller in 1835 and 1836 than in former years, was, that the planters in the preceding seasons, either fearful that the negroes would not take off the crops after emancipation, and acting on their baseless predictions instead of facts, or determined to make the results of emancipation appear as disastrous as possible, neglected to put in the usual amount of cane, and to clean the coffee fields. As they refused to sow, of course they could not reap.
15. The complaints against the apprentices generally are becoming fewer every week, but the complaints against the masters are increasing both in number and severity. One reason of this is, that the apprentices, on the one hand, are becoming better acquainted with the new system, and therefore better able to avoid a violation of its provisions, and are also learning that they cannot violate these provisions with impunity; and, on the other hand, they are gaining courage to complain against their masters, to whom they have hitherto been subjected by a fear created by the whips and dungeons, and nameless tortures of slavery. Another reason is, that the masters, as the term of the apprenticeship shortens, and the end of their authority approaches nearer, are pressing their poor victims harder and harder, determined to extort from them all they can, before complete emancipation rescues them for ever from their grasp.
While we were in conversation with Mr. Hill, Mr. Ramsay, one of the special magistrates for this parish, called in. He is a native of Jamaica, and has been educated under all the influences of West India society, but has held fast his integrity, and is considered the firm friend of the apprentices. He confirmed every fact and opinion which Mr. Hill had given. He was even stronger than Mr. H. in his expressions of disapprobation of the apprenticeship.
The day which we spent with Mr. Hill was one of those on which he holds a special justice's court. There were only three cases of complaint brought before him.
The first was brought by a woman, attended by her husband, against her servant girl, for "impertinence and insubordination." She took the oath and commenced her testimony with an abundance of vague charges. "She is the most insolent girl I ever saw. She'll do nothing that she is told to do--she never thinks of minding what is said to her--she is sulky and saucy," etc. Mr. H. told her she must be specific--he could not convict the girl on such general charges--some particular acts must be proved.
She became specific. Her charges were as follows:
1. On the previous Thursday the defendant was plaiting a shirt. The complainant went up to her and asked her why she did not plait it as she ought, and not hold it in her hand as she did. Defendant replied, that it was easier, and she preferred that way to the other. The complainant remonstrated, but, despite all she could say, the obstinate girl persisted, and did it as she chose. The complainant granted that the work was done well, only it was not done in the way she desired.
2. The same day she ordered the defendant to wipe up some tracks in the hall. She did so. While she was doing it, the mistress told her the room was very dusty, and reproved her for it. The girl replied, "Is it morning?" (It is customary to clean the rooms early in the morning, and the girl made this reply late in the afternoon, when sufficient time had elapsed for the room to become dusty again.)
3. The girl did not wash a cloth clean which the complainant gave her, and the complainant was obliged to wash it herself.
4. Several times when the complainant and her daughter have been conversing together, this girl had burst into laughter--whether at them or their conversation, complainant did not know.
5. When the complainant has reproved the defendant for not doing her work well, she has replied, "Can't you let me alone to my work, and not worry my life out."
A black man, a constable on the same property, was brought up to confirm the charges. He knew nothing about the case, only that he often heard the parties quarrelling, and sometimes had told the girl not to say any thing, as she knew what her mistress was.
It appeared in the course of the evidence, that the complainant and her husband had both been in the habit of speaking disrespectfully of the special magistrate, stationed in their district, and that many of the contentions arose out of that, as the girl sometimes defended him.
While the accused was making her defence, which she did in a modest way, her mistress was highly enraged, and interrupted her several times, by calling her a liar and a jade. The magistrate was two or three times obliged to reprove her, and command her to be silent, and, so passionate did she become, that her husband, ashamed of her, put his hand on her shoulder, and entreated her to be calm.
Mr. Hill dismissed the complaint by giving some good advice to both parties, much to the annoyance of the mistress.
The second complaint was brought by a man against a servant girl, for disobedience of orders, and insolence. It appears that she was ordered, at ten o'clock at night, to do some work. She was just leaving the house to call on some friends, as she said, and refused. On being told by her mistress that she only wanted to go out for bad purposes, she replied, that "It was no matter--the allowance they gave her was not sufficient to support her, and if they would not give her more, she must get a living any way she could, so she did not steal." She was sentenced to the house of correction for one week.
The third case was a complaint against a boy for taking every alternate Friday and Saturday, instead of every Saturday, for allowance. He was ordered to take every Saturday, or to receive in lieu of it half a dollar.
Mr. Hill said these were a fair specimen of the character of the complaints that came before him. We were much pleased with the manner in which he presided in his court, the ease, dignity, and impartiality which he exhibited, and the respect which was shown him by all parties.
In company with Mr. Hill, we called on Rev. Mr. Phillips, the Baptist missionary, stationed at Spanishtown. Mr. P. has been in the island thirteen years. He regards the apprenticeship as a great amelioration of the old system of slavery, but as coming far short of the full privileges and rights of freedom, and of what it was expected to be. It is beneficial to the missionaries, as it gives them access to the plantations, while before, in many instances, they were entirely excluded from them, and in all cases were much shackled in their operations.
Mr. P. has enlarged his chapel within the last fifteen months, so that it admits several hundreds more than formerly. But it is now too small. The apprentices are much more anxious to receive religious instruction, and much more open to conviction, than when slaves. He finds a great difference now on different plantations. Where severity is used, as it still is on many estates, and the new system is moulded as nearly as possible on the old, the minds of the apprentices are apparently closed against all impressions,--but where they are treated with kindness, they are warm in their affections, and solicitous to be taught.
In connection with his church, Mr. P. has charge of a large school. The number present, when we visited it, was about two hundred. There was, to say the least, as much manifestation of intellect and sprightliness as we ever saw in white pupils of the same age. Most of the children were slaves previous to 1834, and their parents are still apprentices. Several were pointed out to us who were not yet free, and attend only by permission, sometimes purchased, of their master. The greater part live from three to five miles distant. Mr. P. says he finds no lack of interest among the apprentices about education. He can find scholars for as many schools as he can establish, if he keeps himself unconnected with the planters. The apprentices are opposed to all schools established by, or in any way allied to, their masters.
Mr. P. says the planters are doing nothing to prepare the apprentices for freedom in 1840. They do not regard the apprenticeship as intermediate time for preparation, but as part of the compensation. Every day is counted, not as worth so much for education and moral instruction, but as worth so much for digging cane-holes, and clearing coffee fields.
Mr. P.'s church escaped destruction during the persecution of the Baptists. The wives and connections of many of the colored soldiers had taken refuge in it, and had given out word that they would defend it even against their own husbands and brothers, who in turn informed their officers that if ordered to destroy it, they should refuse at all peril.
RESULTS OF ABOLITION.
The actual working of the apprenticeship in Jamaica, was the specific object of our investigations in that island. That it had not operated so happily as in Barbadoes, and in most of the other colonies, was admitted by all parties. As to the degree of its failure, we were satisfied it was not so great as had been represented. There has been nothing of an insurrectionary character since the abolition of slavery. The affair on Thornton's estate, of which an account is given in the preceding chapter, is the most serious disturbance which has occurred during the apprenticeship. The fear of insurrection is as effectually dead in Jamaica, as in Barbadoes--so long as the apprenticeship lasts. There has been no increase of crime. The character of the negro population has been gradually improving in morals and intelligence. Marriage has increased, the Sabbath is more generally observed, and religious worship is better attended. Again, the apprentices of Jamaica have not manifested any peculiar defiance of law. The most illiberal magistrates testified that the people respected the law, when they understood it. As it respects the industry of the apprentices, there are different opinions among the planters themselves. Some admitted that they were as industrious as before, and did as much work in proportion to the time they were employed. Others complained that they lacked the power to compel industry, and that hence there was a falling off of work. The prominent evils complained of in Jamaica are, absconding from work, and insolence to masters. From the statements in the preceding chapter, it may be inferred that many things are called by these names, and severely punished, which are really innocent or unavoidable; however, it would not be wonderful if there were numerous instances of both. Insolence is the legitimate fruit of the apprenticeship, which holds out to the apprentice, that he possesses the rights of a man, and still authorizes the master to treat him as though he were little better than a dog. The result must often be that the apprentice will repay insult with insolence. This will continue to exist until either the former system of absolute force is restored, or a system of free compensated labor, with its powerful checks and balances on both parties, is substituted. The prevalence and causes of the other offence--absconding from labor--will be noticed hereafter.
The atrocities which are practised by the masters and magistrates, are appalling enough. It is probable that the actual condition of the negroes in Jamaica, is but little if any better than it was during slavery. The amount of punishment inflicted by the special magistrates, cannot fall much short of that usually perpetrated by the drivers. In addition to this, the apprentices are robbed of the time allowed them by law, at the will of the magistrate, who often deprives them of it on the slightest complaint of the overseer. The situation of the free children[A] is often very deplorable. The master feels none of that interest in them which he formerly felt in the children that were his property, and consequently, makes no provision for them. They are thrown entirely upon their parents, who are unable to take proper care of them, from the almost constant demands which the master makes upon their time. The condition of pregnant women, and nursing mothers, is decidedly worse than it was during slavery. The privileges which the planter felt it for his interest to grant these formerly, for the sake of their children, are now withheld. The former are exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, and the hardships of toil--the latter are cruelly dragged away from their infants, that the master may not lose the smallest portion of time,--and both are liable at any moment to be incarcerated in the dungeon, or strung up on the treadwheel. In consequence of the cruelties which are practised, the apprentices are in a disaffected state throughout the island.
[Footnote A: All children under six years of age at the time of abolition, were made entirely free.]
In assigning the causes of the ill-working of the apprenticeship in Jamaica, we would say in the commencement, that nearly all of them are embodied in the intrinsic defects of the system itself. These defects have been exposed in a former chapter, and we need not repeat them here. The reason why the system has not produced as much mischief in all the colonies as it has in Jamaica, is that the local circumstances in the other islands were not so adapted to develop its legitimate results.
It is not without the most careful investigation of facts, that we have allowed ourselves to entertain the views which we are now about to express, respecting the conduct of the planters and special justices--for it is to them that we must ascribe the evils which exist in Jamaica. We cheerfully accede to them all of palliation which may be found in the provocations incident to the wretched system of apprenticeship.
The causes of the difficulties rest chiefly with the planters. They were originally implicated, and by their wily schemes they soon involved the special magistrates. The Jamaica planters, as a body, always violently opposed the abolition of slavery. Unlike the planters in most of the colonies, they cherished their hostility after the act of abolition. It would seem that they had agreed with one accord, never to become reconciled to the measures of the English government, and had sworn eternal hostility to every scheme of emancipation. Whether this resulted most from love for slavery or hatred of English interference, it is difficult to determine. If we were to believe the planters themselves, who are of the opposition, we should conclude that they were far from being in favor of slavery--that they were "as much opposed to slavery, as any one can be[A]." Notwithstanding this avowal, the tenacity with which the planters cling to the remnant of their power, shows an affection for it, of the strength of which they are not probably themselves aware.
[Footnote A: It seems to be the order of the day, with the opposition party in Jamaica, to disclaim all friendship with slavery. We noticed several instances of this in the island papers, which have been most hostile to abolition. We quote the following sample from the Royal Gazette, (Kingston) for May 6, 1837. The editor, in an article respecting Cuba, says:
"In writing this, one chief object is to arouse the attention of our own fellow-subjects, in this colony, to the situation--the dangerous situation--in which they stand, and to implore them to lend all their energies to avert the ruin that is likely to visit them, should America get the domination of Cuba.
The negroes of this and of all the British W.I. colonies have been 'emancipated.' Cuba on the other hand is still a slave country. (Let not our readers imagine for one moment that we advocate the continuance of slavery," &c.)
]
When public men have endeavored to be faithful and upright, they have uniformly been abused, and even persecuted, by the planters. The following facts will show that the latter have not scrupled to resort to the most dishonest and unmanly intrigues to effect the removal or to circumvent the influence of such men. Neglect, ridicule, vulgar abuse, slander, threats, intimidation, misrepresentation, and legal prosecutions, have been the mildest weapons employed against those who in the discharge of their sworn duties dared to befriend the oppressed.
The shameful treatment of the late governor, Lord Sligo, illustrates this. His Lordship was appointed to the government about the period of abolition. Being himself a proprietor of estates in the island, and formerly chairman of the West India Body, he was received at first with the greatest cordiality; but it was soon perceived that he was disposed to secure justice to the apprentices. From the accounts we received, we have been led to entertain an exalted opinion of his integrity and friendship for the poor. It was his custom (unprecedented in the West Indies,) to give a patient hearing to the poorest negro who might carry his grievances to the government-house. After hearing the complaint, he would despatch an order to the special magistrate of the district in which the complainant lived, directing him to inquire into the case. By this means he kept the magistrates employed, and secured redress to the apprentices to many cases where they would otherwise have bean neglected.
The governor soon rendered himself exceedingly obnoxious to the planters, and they began to manoeuvre for his removal, which, in a short time, was effected by a most flagitious procedure. The home government, disposed to humor their unruly colony, sent them a governor in whom they are not likely to find any fault. The present governor, Sir Lionel Smith, is the antipode of his predecessor in every worthy respect. When the apprentices come to him with their complaints, he sends them back unheard, with curses on their heads. A distinguished gentleman in the colony remarked of him that he was a heartless military chieftain, who ruled without regard to mercy. Of course the planters are full of his praise. His late tour of the island was a triumphal procession, amid the sycophantic greetings of oppressors.
Several special magistrates have been suspended because of the faithful discharge of their duties. Among these was Dr. Palmer, an independent and courageous man. Repeated complaints were urged against him by the planters, until finally Sir Lionel Smith appointed a commission to inquire into the grounds of the difficulty.
"This commission consisted of two local magistrates, both of them planters or managers of estates, and two stipendiary magistrates, the bias of one of whom, at least, was believed to be against Dr. Palmer. At the conclusion of their inquiry they summed up their report by saying that Dr. Palmer had administered the abolition law in the spirit of the English abolition act, and in his administration of the law he had adapted it more to the comprehension of freemen than to the understandings of apprenticed laborers. Not only did Sir Lionel Smith suspend Dr. Palmer on this report, but the colonial office at home have dismissed him from his situation."
The following facts respecting the persecution of Special Justice Bourne, illustrate the same thing.
"A book-keeper of the name of Maclean, on the estate of the Rev. M. Hamilton, an Irish clergyman, committed a brutal assault upon an old African. The attorney on the property refused to hear the complaint of the negro, who went to Stephen Bourne, a special magistrate. When Maclean was brought before him, he did not deny the fact; but said as the old man was not a Christian, his oath could not be taken! The magistrate not being able to ascertain the amount of injury inflicted upon the negro (whose head was dreadfully cut,) but feeling that it was a case which required a greater penalty than three pounds sterling, the amount of punishment to which he was limited by the local acts, detained Maclean, and afterwards committed him to jail, and wrote the next day to the chief justice upon the subject. He was discharged as soon as a doctor's certificate was procured of the state of the wounded man, and bail was given for his appearance at the assizes. Maclean's trial came on at the assizes, and he was found guilty by a Jamaica Jury; he was severely reprimanded for his inhuman conduct and fined thirty pounds. The poor apprentice however got no remuneration for the severe injury inflicted upon him, and the special justice was prosecuted for false imprisonment, dragged from court to court, represented as an oppressor and a tyrant, subjected to four hundred pounds expenses in defending himself, and actually had judgment given against him for one hundred and fifty pounds damages.
Thus have the planters succeeded in pulling down every magistrate who ventures to do more than fine them three pounds sterling for any act of cruelty of which they may be guilty. On the other hand, there were two magistrates who were lately dismissed, through, I believe, the representation of Lord Sligo, for flagrant violations of the law in inflicting punishment; and in order to evince their sympathy for those men, the planters gave them a farewell dinner, and had actually set on foot a subscription, as a tribute of gratitude for their "Impartial" conduct in administering the laws, as special justices. Thus were two men, notoriously guilty of violations of law and humanity, publicly encouraged and protected, while Stephen Bourne, who according to the testimony of the present and late attorney-general had acted not only justly but legally, was suffering every species of persecution and indignity for so doing."