The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus · Chapter 91Part 91
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"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
Total number of Apprentices punished from the
Total compromised, admonished and dismissed
FREEDOM.
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:
Offences in August, September, and to the 15th, October, 1837 heard before the General Justices of the Peace, and estimated as follows:
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.